When Leaves Were Green · 2 When L eaves w ere G reen shade upon the deer-trodden grass, and gather...

NEWNOVELS ATEVERY LIBRARY.MARRIED OR SIN GLE' By B. M. C RO' ER. 3 vols.

THE WOMAN IN THE DA R' . By F. W.

V

ROBI N SON . 2 vols.

THE VOICE OF THE CHARMER. By L. T. Mu ms. 3 vols.

HEART OF OA ' . By W . CLAR' RUSSELL. 3 vols.

THE PROFESSOR’S EXPER IMEN T. BysMrs. HUNGERFORD .

3 vols.

THE PA T A N D THE THIN . By E MILE Z OLA. 1 vol.

THE TRAC' OF A STORM. By OWEN HALL. 1 vol.THE GOLDEN ROC' . By E RNEST GLA NVILLE. 1 vol.

LILITH. By GEORGE MA CDONALD. 1 vol.

CLARENCE . By BRET HARTE. 1 vol.L A DY ' ILPATRIC' . By ROBERT BUC HA NA N . 1 vol .THE IMPRESSIONS OF AUREOLE . 1 vol.

BAGON ET ABROAD. By GEORGE R. SIMS. 1 vol .LONDON ' C HA TTO WINDUS, PIC C ADILLY.

WHEN L EA VES WERE GREE

A _N OVEL

SYDN EY HODGE SAUTHOR OF

‘GEOFFREY’

S W IFE, A N EW GODIVA ,

’ AMONG T HE G IBJIGS,’

ET C .

IN THREE VOLUMESVOL . I .

L O N DO NC H A TTO W IN DUS, PIC C A DI L L Y

1896

HCQ'

Tw

v . 1

T H E BA RON E SS BURDET T -C OUT T S

I N REMEMBRAN C E

OF UN VARY I N G ' I N DN ESS

THROUGH A FRIEN DSH IP OF T II IRTY YEARS

LONDON j a nua ry 1896

CONTENTS OF VOL . 1.

C HA PTER

I .

I I .

I I I .

IV.

V.

VI .

VII .

VI I I .

IX.

X I .

XI I .

X I I I .

IN THE SUMMER WOODS

AN I N VITAT ION

A DULL DA Y WITH A BRIGHT E N D ING

A MOONLIGHT MEETING

NEXT MORN I N G

CHIROMANCY

' ITTY

BLANCHE TO T HE RESCUE

TH E PICTURE PROGRESSES

MORE VISITORS

FORBES’S PROPOSIT ION

SIB’

s SECRET

AT THE LAND ’S EN D

Contents

C HA PT ER

X IV. THE WIDow’

s FREA'

xv. AT ST . M ICHA EL’S MOUNT

XVI . RUIN

XVI I . GLYN PUTS ASIDE H IS PALETTE

XVI I I . REJ ECTION

W hen L eaveswere G reen

CHAPTER I.

I N TH E SUMMER WOODS .

ELEVEN o ’clock on a bright June morning.

A stretch of wood on the northern slopes ofthe South Downs , and G lyn Beverley sketching in the midst of the w i ld-roses

,honey

suckles,and dappled foxgloves of early

summer.A lovely spot whereon to set up an easel .

A grassy knoll,bright W ith flowers . A

weal th of Ieafage on three s ides . On thefourth

,through a gap in the fol iage , a

glorious view of the Downs , fad ing away intothe blue of infini te distance .At its highest point the wood merges intoa park

,where stately beeches shed acres of

VOL. I . I

2 W h en L eavesw ere G reen

shade upon the deer-trodden grass, andgather velvet l i chens about their boles , andcarpet the pathways with purple leaves of

bygone seasons .A morning to sat isfy the most fast id ious

mind,and G lyn _Beverley revel led in its

brightness ; the more so because, l ike mostgeniuses

,he was d iscontented with his work ,

although it represented many days of patientlabour.

' I shal l only muddle it i f I do more,

’ hesaid

‘and yet how utterly it fa i ls to conveyaii z

i

idea of the beauty of the scene ; of therichness , the superabundance of Nature whichI see around ' H ow the simplest bit ofNature’s hand iwork defies our best efforts 'It must take ' its chance

,however. ’

He rose , and, throw ing his arms above hishead , gave a prolonged stretch to ease h ismuscles , for he had been s itting closely at hiswork for over three hours .G lyn had no reason to be ashamed of hlS ‘

proportions . He was close on SIX feet in hisstockings , broad-shouldered

,deep -chested

,

fair-haired ' well-featured,without being

I n the Summer Woods 3

strictly handsome. He had soft gray eyes.

wherein was a world of thought and no lackof sentiment , for he was not yet five-andtwenty . He wore a beard

,trimmed to

W i thin moderate bounds , whereby i t becamean ornament

,not an obtrusive disfigurement .

His suit of gray Chev iot sat neatly but easilyupon him , suggesting that happy medium ,

equal ly removed from the extremes of fop

p ishness and slovenliness , which marks a

man of good taste.G lyn strode away through the wood

towards the hill-top , where he con templatedpainting a companion picture. The spot hehad left was so secluded that he did notbestow a second thought on the unprotectedstate of his traps . He had been staying atthe l i ttle inn cal led the Coach and Horses; inthe neighbouring village of H arleyford , forthe last three weeks , working d i l igently onhis p i cture every day . I n al l that t ime hehad not once been - interrupted by a humanfootstep . But even Crusoe ’s domain wasinvaded in the end

,as G lyn Beverley ’s was

d estined to be on this particular morning.

4 When Leaveswere G reen

He had not been gone ten m inutes , whenvoices broke the st i llness of the spot—oneas melodious as the blackbird ’s , the othermore pronounced

,but st i l l seduct ive in its

tone.Blanche

,here’s someone sketching,

’ said

Then he must be a sprite , for he isinvisible

,

’ returned the other.Upon this two lad ies came through theopening in the wood and stood in the leafyamphitheatre .

‘Don ’t stop, Laura. He may be near,and may not l ike h is p icture looked at

,

’ saidthe one with the melod ious voice .

‘What nonsense rep l ied the other.There can ' be no possible harm in hav ing apeep . Do look . I t’s qu i te lovelyW i th that, the speaker planted herself in

front of the easel, and inspected the p i cturem inutely.

Voices are indicat ive of character. Thelow tones of the younger of the two madeyou look instinctively for the winning sweetness which was in her face and in her soft

In the Summer Woods 5

brown eyes . All was in harmony with thevoice. All soft-voiced creatures are gentle

,

and kind , and good . A harsh—tonguedwoman w i l l peck at you l ike a screechingparrot. But even the parrot drops i ts voiceto a low gurgle when i t is amiable and wouldbe caressed.

The one who was addressed as Laura wasolder by some years , but by no means un

attractive. She had gray eyes approachingto blue, and l ight-brown hai r with a t inge ofgold at the ends ; a matchless complexion ;cheeks that rival led the eglantine hard by ;and a jaunty l ittle hat set well back on thebright hair, according to the fashion of theday. A somewhat diminutive figure

,in

clining to embonpoint. Plump,rounded

neck and wrist,and the daintiest of gloves

and boots .The younger was dressed in an almost

uniform t int of brown ; the elder in moreshowy fashion , but with no abrupt contrasts .Each had an ai r of unmistakable breedingand refinement . A man m ight do a morefool ish thing than lose his heart to either

6 When Leaves w ere Green

one, on this fine morn ing In the summerwoods.Woman ’s curiosity triumphed over prudence . The d ark-eyed g i rl was beside herfriend in a moment

,gazing intently at the

picture . She looked so long and ardentlyso s ilently—that her companion became impat ient.Don ’t you think it exquis ite '’

‘Perfectly beautifu l Then , w ith a halfsigh ' ‘What wouldn ’t I give to paint l iketha t '’

You should get him to teach you , Blanche.But, there Iwe don

’t know that i t is a h im ”

yet . I t may be a woman . Women are soclever nowadays . Al l except me . ’

‘A woman wouldn ’t be sketching in th islonely place . ’

Oh ' I don ’t know that they do all sortso f things—catch salmon

,shoot pheasants

,

walk the hospitals,cl imb mountains with

short skirts and leather gaiters . I shouldn ’thalf m ind the last myself. I t must be ratherfun , especially if one has good ankles .

’

Hush, L aura H e may hear you .

’

I n the Summer Woods 7

‘You have made up your mind that it is ahe ,

” then . Oh , what funny l i ttle bottlesHer eyes had lighted on the tubes of paint

ly ing al l higgledy-piggledy on the ground ,Which she stirred up with her parasol . Thenext moment one was in her hand , and thedel icate tips of her fingers pressed with afatal suddenness on the yielding metal . Outcame a squirt of Pruss ian blue .

UghOh , Laura, what have you doneI n an instant the Prussian blue was allover gloves and pocket-handkerchief, whichlatter was pressed suddenly into serv ice, butonly to look as i f i t had come from the dyer’s .Laura was in despair.What ska/l I do‘W ipe your gloves on the grass . Never

m ind the handkerchief. ’

You are a creature of resources . There'’

She set to work as her companion suggested

,but Prussian blue sticks to everything

W ith which it comes in contact with all thetenacity of the Prussian race . Rub , rub ,rub ' Blanche knel t down to assist her

8 When Leavesw ere Green

friend,and in her eagerness overlooked the

fact that her own dress was smudging thepalette wh ich lay near at hand. A t lengththe dark eyes discovered the new catastrophe ,and vis ible alarm was in those eyes .Now we éave dOne it. Look thereLaura rose, and gazed in the direction

indicated,

and became the v ery image ofdespair. B lanche laughed outright, displaying between her rich , ripe l ips teeth of ex

qu isite whiteness .‘Why, Laura, you look more l ike a

naughty schoolgirl than a respectable middleaged widow I shall have to drop you asa chaperon ; you are always gett ing intomischief. Good graciousThe exclamat ion was called forth by thesudden appearance of G lyn in the opening ofthe trees .

‘I t is not of the least consequence,ladies

,

’

he said .

Laura—otherwise M rs . Courtenay Bynguttered a l ittleshriek . Blanche was startled ,but remained outwardly calm .

Beverley advanced and raised his hat.

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

I O When Leaves were Green

‘Thanks—but it is g iving you so muchtrouble. ’

‘None whatever,

’ responded G lyn, selec

’ ting a piece of clean rag .

G lyn was young and enthusiastic . H iseyes had met those of the younger lady

,and

something in them seemed to st ir his inmostheart . I n fact,

'

it was a‘

trying situation toone whose l ife had hitherto been passed ins imple seclusion. He was secretly shy

,

though one would not have suspected it fromhis outward bearing . This sudden invasion

of his domain by two women , so lovely thatthey might have come straight from theSpheres , bringing with them an air of something superior to his everyday world

, was nota thing that he could encounter with perfectequanimity . And now he was positivelykneel ing at the feet of the lovel ier of thetwo

,holding the skirt of her dress with

one hand,and endeavouring to erase the

treacherous paint with the other, she lookingdown on him with grateful eyes the whileGlyn ’s heart throbbed

,and h is hand

,usually

so steady , trembled a l ittle .

In the Summer Woods I I

A few moments of silence The twitteringof the birds and the hum of insects in thesunny air around became more audible.

‘ I am sure that w i ll do quite well . Howgood of you to take so much trouble I’

S tay—there is a l ittle more here .

’

Rub, rub, rub ' The last speck was beginning to disappear. Glyn was rather sorry.

The voice moved him even more than theeyes . I t was a voice one does not meet withtwice in a l ifetime—so soft , so sympathet ic ,so penetrating in its musical tones .Mrs . Byng began to be impatient . She

thought the artist had rubbed long enough ,and almost wished her own smart dress boresome stains . She had an eye for mascul inebeauty

,and Glyn ’s form and face were by no

means unattract ive .

They w i l l think we are lost,B lanche . ’

Yes —coming out of a sort of dream .

There ' I am sure i t is al l o ff now . Thankyou so muchGlyn rose

,showing unmistakably that he

was sorry his task was over. There was apause. Then the younger lady resumed

12 When Leaveswere Green

‘We took the l iberty of looking at yourpicture. H ow beaut iful i t is l’

I am very glad you th ink so. I fear I amrather discontented with i t myself. ’

The dark eyes opened widely .

Discontented with Mat

‘I fear so. ’

But why ' I t seems to me quite perfect. ’

Glyn sm i led .

‘ I on ly hope the crit ics w ill think so,

’ herepl ied. They are somewhat merciless . ’

There was a touch of sympathy in thedark-eyed girl when she spoke again . Wasit the despondent tone of the artist whichevoked it ' I t seemed so .

How much I should l ike my father to seeit ' He is a great connoisseur. I am surehe would l ike it . Would you think me veryintrus ive if I brought him '

’

On the contrary,i t w i l l give me great

pleasure to show it . On ly I fear i t is hardlyworth com ing far to see . ’

‘Oh,he is not far off We l eft him with

some friends near the South Lodge . I willgo for him atonce , i f I may.

’

I n the Summer Woods I 3

‘By all means . I feel much pleased thatyou think my picture worth the trouble . ’

‘Then we shall probably be back in aquarter of an hour. ’

Mrs . Byng struck in ' ‘I f I should notreturn

,I will say good-morning , with many

apologies for the trouble I have given you .

’

Glyn seemed to awake to the consciousnessof her presence .

I beg you w i l l not mention it ,’ he said .

But you w i l l come back with us,Laura

said her friend .

‘I am not sure I am a l ittle t ired . I t isno joke cl imbing the hill a second t ime inth is hot weather. ’

She let those dangerous eyes of hers l ingera moment on the art ist as she bowed heradieus ; but he was too much absorbed inthe contemplat ion of the brown ones tonot ice it They were about to turn backinto the path by which they had arrived—a

mere track in the grass and flowers .‘I f you are going to the Lodge , this w illbe your nearest way

,

’ said Glyn , point ing inthe opposite d irection .

14. When Leaves w ere Green

I know but the wood is rather too densethat way

,i f I remember rightly.

’

‘She i s not a stranger, then ,

’ thoughtG lyn .

‘I wonder who she can be. ’ ~ Thenaloud ' ‘ I don ’t think you will find it so. Ihave come that way every morn ing , andhave made the path easy. There is th istrunk of a tree in the way

,which seems to

have lain here for years ; that is the onlyobstacle . Let me help you over. ’

‘Oh,thank you ' but I think we can

manage i t very well . ’

Nevertheless,when Glyn advanced , a

hand was put out will ingly for assistance, soG lyn retained it in his own for some seconds ,until the passage of the tree was accompl ished .

He turned to M rs . Byng .

I ’m afraid I must have both ,’ said that

lady in a pretty l ittle helpless kind ofway.

‘ I am so dreadfully clumsy,and not

so l ight as my friend . I do hope i t isn ’thollow .

’

Glyn was on top of the trunk , and he wasno sl ight we ight.

‘You need have no fear on that score,

’ he

In the Summer Woods 15

laughed, stamping one foot heavily upon i t .I t ’s perfectly sound .

’

Thus assured,Mrs. Byng put both her

dainty l i ttle hands into his,and was l ifted up

in a trice,albeit she did strive to make her

self heavier than she really was . The descenton the other s ide being accomplished

,she

again turned on him a beaming smile .What heaps of trouble we are giv ing you

Thanks—so much .

’

Then she followed her friend , who wasalready some way dow n the path .

Glyn returned to his easel , and for the firstt ime s ince he commenced his picture ex

perienced a strange feel ing of sol itude.Then he broke into sol iloquy

‘What a lovely creature ' Not altogetherlovely, either, but so winning. And what onearth is i t in her voice ' I seem to hear itscadence now . Who can she be

,I wonder '

Her father a great connoisseur, she said . Iwonder what he w i ll say to this . I ’m halfsorry now that they have seen it . But then

,

i f they had not,I should not have seen her

,

and I wouldn ’t have lost the sight of that


face, or the tone of thatVo ice, for a kingdom .

I th ink now a touch or two more may improve this b it of foreground .

’

He set to work again but i t must ‘be confessed that his thoughts were running moreupon his recent v isitors than upon his picture .The st ill noon seemed to dwell upon al laround . The song of the b irds was reducedto an occasional twitter among the branches .The yellow butterfly fluttered idly by ; nowand then a wild bee hummed across theopen ing ; the lark had sti lled his morn ingsong

,and was at rest amid the grass . Even

the bleat of the sheep became musical,

mellowed by distance and the interven ingleafage Presently voices were heard again

,

and Glyn f ose and waited in some anxiety.

A moment after, four figures were seencom ing up the path the two ladies we

have seen before , an elderly gentleman , anda younger one .You see , I have come back after all ,

’ saidM rs . Byng , as soon as they were withinspeak ing distance I could not resist anotherpeep at your picture . ’


I 8 When Leaveswere Green

My mother was a Glyn of Firwo lds,’ the

artist repl ied briefly .

‘Ah indeed ' My daughter has quitefal len In love with your picture . May I be

perm itted to see i t P’

By all means . I t is here . ’

Ah , charming—charming said S ir Percy ,taking up a posit ion in front of the picture ,and wagging h is head from s ide to side w itha glass to his eye to catch the best l ight .' Pon my word , excellent—most excellent 'Quite a success

,I declare. ’

‘I am very glad you think so ,’ said

Beverley . I have certainly endeavoured tokeep as close to Nature as possible. ’

‘ I ndeed you have— indeed you have .Most wonderfully truthful . I congratulateyou , s i r. But am I right

P A little crudejust in that corner, eh R—just a very l ittle .

’

L ike all other would-be connoisseurs , S irPercy felt it was hardly the correct thing togive unqual ified praise ; and , indeed , i t ispossible that he was quite conscientious inhis object ion . Those who assume, or areaccredited Wi th, a crit ical knowledge of art ,

An Inv i tat ion 19

lose the unadulterated enjoyment of theignoramus in the contemplation of a finework The habit of searching for defectsgrows upon them , unt il they begin to imaginethem where they do not exist . That keenanalyst Schlegel says , and says truly, thatgreat minds enjoy beauties while l ittle onesare searching for defects .

‘You will observe that the green is veryintense in Nature just in that spot

,

’ said Glyn .

I don ’t think I have overdone it . ’

Perhaps not—perhaps not , ’ said theBaronet , retreating before the palpable fact ,then rallying again ; ‘but i t is not alwaysadv isable to keep too closely to Nature

,is i t

I n so perfect a scene as this I should not bedisposed to depart from what I see . PerhapsI may be quixotic

,but i f I intentionally alter

any scene I am paint ing, I have the sensationof hav ing told a l ie .

’

The dark-eyed girl looked up quickly,

Mrs . Byng smiled , S ir Percy gave a sidelongglance at the artist , and murmured to himself ' ‘A s ingular young man

,an original

evidently an original . ’

20 When Leaves were Green

I t seems to me ,’ pursued Glyn

,that

Nature admits of no comprom ise. There isyour scene , and you should paint it truthfu l lyor not at all . I f we allow imagination tostepin , and leave out th is , and put in that , wemay as well go back to S ir George Beaumont’sbrown tree at once . ’

S ir Percy was not good at argument . Hehad certain crochets , bu t had hardly the intellect to do battle in order to maintain them .

He was easily routed , so he shifted h is ground .

‘Quite the modern v iew of art , I see.Well , you have made good your words byproducing a very charming p icture . I l ike itimmensely—immensely .

’

I sn ’t that b it of sunl ight del ightful struckin B lanche .

‘Quite charming—quite charming ' l ike abit of real l ight, I declare. Excuse myasking , but have you done much in this way ,exhibited much P I don ’t remember anything similar to this in the Academy .

’

No , indeed ; I look upon this more as arecreation . My chief occupat ion is portraitpainting .

’

An Inv i tat ion 2 I

‘Had you anything in the Academy lastyear '’ asked Blanche .

‘Yes , one picture ' a portrait of a lady ina white dress with an open sunshade. ’

‘Of course '’ exclaimed Blanche in anexcited tone . I thought I remembered yourname. I t hung in the second room .

’

‘Yes . ’

‘Don ’t you remember,papa ' The one

we all l iked so much . I remember call ingyou back to look at it . Laura

,you were

with us . You must remember it . ’

Mrs . Byng was chattering with the secondgentleman of the party. He was a youngman of about three or four and twenty ;clear-eyed , but heavy featured , and for hisage mos t inordinately fat—so fat , indeed, thatevery movement was an effort , and he hadnot yet quite regained his breath after theascent of the hill .

‘Oh yes ' I remember it perfectly ,’ said

M rs . Byng .

‘You were with us also , Mr.Forbes . You must remember it . ’

' Pon my honour, I don’t,

’ was the re

sponse .

‘There ’s such an awful lot o f

2 2 When Leavesw ere Green

pictures there that I j umble them all uptogether. ’

How stupid of you said Mrs . Byng.

‘ Iknow I made you put a mark against i t inthe catalogue. ’

But you made me put a mark againstabout three hundred . I t was impossible to

remember half of them . Besides , I’ve no

head for that sort of thing,don ’t you know .

’

But don ’t you l ike this very much asked

B lanche.‘Yes

,I l ike that very well . ’ Then , by

way of saying something civil '‘ I t must be

awfully hard to do,ain ’t it ' I can ’t think

how you do it . I couldn ’t, to save my l ife .’

Miss Venab les laughed outright.‘ I don ’t think you ’re part icularly fond ofdoing anyth ing , Mr. Forbes , except smok ingsurrept itious pipes . I t ’s lucky you have Mrs .Byng to keep you in order. I know you ’redying for one now . Am I not right

‘W ell,to tell you the truth , you are.

’

But I don ’t intend to allow it,’ cried M rs .

Byng .

‘ I shal l let you off duty by-and-by,and then youmay indulge as much as you

A n I nv i tation 2 3

l ike. I don ’t know what would become ofyou if I didn ’t look after you .

’

I s i t fair to ask who your sitter was,Mr.

Beverley '’ asked M iss Venables . ‘Wethought her so very pretty. You only putthat provoking Portrait of a Lady in thecatalogue

,i f I remember rightly .

’

‘ I t is no secret—it was my s ister,’ Glyn

answered .

How pretty she must be '’ said Blanchemusingly .

Do you flatter your sitters,Mr. Beverley

asked Mrs . Byng archly. I f so,I might be

tempted to ask you to paint me . ’

Glyn was in a dilemma. He must pay theusual trite compliment

,or appear boorish .

Sir Percy came to his rescue,speaking with

the priv i lege of his years .

‘Why,my dear Mrs . Byng, you have been

painted scores of times , and yet they havenever made you half as pretty as you are, Imust admit . But , upon my life , I shouldvery much l ike to have you painted , Blanche.N ow I think of it

,this would be a capital

opportunity.

’


‘Oh,papa ' I t is not wo rth while ,

’

protested B lanche

,in s incere self-deprec iat ion .

‘Let me be the best judge of that , my'

dear. What do you say , M r. Beverley '

could you undertake it ' Something in thestyle of the one at the Academy , you know .

’

I should be on ly too del ighted ,’ answered

Beverley .

What shall we arrange , then ' Whatstay do you make here

I ' can make any arrangement that w i l lsu it MissVenables . ’

‘Yes . ’

‘We can place a room ent irely at yourd isposal . We are close at hand—LuptonPark . You could pursue your land scapestud ies here at the same time. ’

‘You are very good . That rem inds methat I have been a trespasser all this tim

’

e . ’

Not a bit of it . Art ists are privileged,

you know . We don ’t , as a rule,l ike the

pheasants d isturbed , but you won’t carry o ff

any eggs . Have the keepers found youout '


2 6 When Leaves w ere Green

he fel t that it was an ordeal which would beabsolutely repugnant to one so del icateminded as M iss Venables appeared to be .

He could have choked Sir Percy for hismaunderings

,while

,at the same t ime, he

inwardly blessed hi m for giving him so rarean Opportunity of putt ing forth his bestpowers .

‘ I shall hardly have my materials fromtown by Monday ; but I shall be pleased tocome on that day , as you are so good as tosuggest . There is no need to persecute M issVenables

,however

,until I really commence. ’

‘ I t is rather dreadful , I must confess , tothink one is undergoing a process of constant inspection

,

’ said Blanche .‘ I t is nothing when you are used to it ,dear

,

’ struck in Mrs . Byng , with the air ofone who had been martyrized t imes withoutnumber.I t is a process to which I have no desire

to become inured ,’ responded her friend .

Then,as if feel ing the speech was a l ittle un

gracious to the art ist , she added ' But IShall be quite pleased to give M r. Beverley

An I nv i tation 27

as many sittings as he may think necessary ,s ince papa wishes to have the picture . ’

Glyn bowed his thanks , with increas ingrespect for the unaffected common-sense ofthe girl who was to be his next subject .

‘We must be going ,’ said the Baronet .

I t is quite arranged , then ,’ he added

,turning

to the artist . ‘We shal l look for you onMonday. Come as early as you like. Goodday . Very pleased to have made youracquaintance. ’

He was mov ing away,when a thought

suddenly seemed to strike him‘By the way

,i f you cou ld conveniently

bring your landscape with you , I think itwould be adv isable . We are expecting somev isitors . I t might be an advantage to you .

’

‘Thanks very much,

’ said Glyn . I will

certainly bring it. ’

A warm shake of the hand from theBaronet

,a frank ‘good-bye ’ from his daughter ,

a fascinat ing smile and bow from Mrs . Byng ,and they were gone—all except Mr. Forbes ,who l ingered . When the others were out ofearshot

,he spoke


I say .

’

‘YesDo you th ink you can hit her off '’

I hope so .

’

‘She ’s awfully pretty, ain’t she ' I can ’t

think how the deuce you do it. Have acigar

‘Thanks ,’ said G lyn ,

‘selecting one fromthe proffered case.Then Mr. Forbes said good-morn ing , andmoved off after the others

,and G lyn was

again left to the s ilence of the woods .

CHAPTER I I I .

A DULL DA V WITH A BRIGHT ENDING .

LOO' ING from the window of the Coach andHorses at an early hour next morning , Glynbeheld a dismal prospect . A change hadcome over the aspect of Nature—a changeso great that it seemed difficult to realize thefact that he was in the same glad worldwhich l iterally revelled in sunshine twenty

four hours ago—a sunshine which shed i tsgifts of gold upon man

,and bird

,and beast

,

with a hand more lavish than that of the last

Lydian king when he showered h is treasureson the renowned temple of Delphi .I f Nature was a sybarite yesterday, shebecame a Spartan to-day ; for the strongsouth-west gale lashed the woods and fields


with thongs of stmgmg hai l and rain . No

anchorite of old could have torn his v i le bodywith more cruel self-infl icted stripes thanNature dealt herself this day. The draggingrain-clouds swooped along the hills ides .Fierce channels of whitened waters sweptdown the chalk roads

,leaving a hundred

min iature deltas on the soddened fieldsbelow. Every separate leaf and branch sentits l i ttle cascade to the spongy moss beneath .

Sheep huddled under the lee of stray patchesof gorse on the uplands above, while thewretched cattle in the fields below crammedtheir tails into the hedgerows to escape, asbest they might

,the fury of the storm .

Glyn’s sketching umbrella no longer rearedits white dome like a huge mushroom amidthe summer grass. The flowers , shapeless

and forlorn,lay scattered and strewn like

dead v ictims of some fairy warfare ; whilethe melancholy birds—the sunshine ’s truestrevellers - hidden in the densest Coverts of thewoods

,were too sad even for a sol itary chirp .

H arleyford was not a big place , and therewere but few people to talk to . Glyn , how

A Du l l Day w i th a Brigh t End ing 3 1

ever,had struck up an acquaintance with the

Vicar, Mr. Dyke , who had a taste for art , sohe seized the opportunity of an idle day toaccept an oft-repeated inv i tat ion to lunch atthe Vicarage . The v iew of Lupton Parkfrom the window led to the subject of yesterday ’s meeting in the woods

,and the Vicar

expressed some surprise on hearing that theVenables had returned .

‘I go there on Monday to paint MissVenables said Glyn .

The V icar Opened his eyes wide.Pon my word , you are a lucky man '

’ hesaid .

‘I t is seldom an artist gets such alovely face to paint . ’

‘Nor such a charm ing girl,either

,

’ saidMrs . Dyke . Clever

,but with the sweetest

disposition in the world . She has , of course ,had great responsibil it ies since her mother ’sdeath

,but she manages the house admirably .

’

‘And her father, too,’ said the Vicar ;

‘and I don ’t know a man who requires morecareful management. I find it rather difficultto get on with him in parish matters . I tdoesn ’t do to rub him the wrong way.

’


M iss Venables seems very charming , ’said Glyn .

I‘And clever as well ,

’ said Mrs . Dyke. I fShef had been obl iged to get her l ivmg, Ibelie

’

y e she would have made a figure in theworld. Her s inging is exquis ite—that is ,when you can get her to S ing , for She has avery modest est imate of

'her own ab il ity .

’

I suppose you w ill let us have a peep atthe picture when it is far enough advanced ,

’

said the Vicar. ‘ I t ought to make yourfortune . Blanche Venables will become amuch

'

more important personage by-and-bythan

l

‘

she i s at present . The t itle dies w ithS ir ’Percy

,and she is sole heiress to the

estates . A trying pos ition for a young andpretty girl .

’

'Glyn spent the day w ith the Vicar, butdecl ined stay ing to dine, as he wished toprepare for his work the next day, i n casethe

'

weather should clear up . Moreover, hehad letters to write .

The rain came on again in torrents as hereached his quarters at the village inn . The

’

prospects ‘for the morrow were certainly not



t imes interfere sadly with our enj oyments .As G lyn read the note , he remembered hehad no dress clothes w ith him

,and he could

not very well present himself at Lupton Parkwi thout them .

‘ A moment ’s reflect ion , however, told himwhat was the right thing to do . He wrotethe following to S ir Percy .himself

‘DEAR SIR,I have received your k ind inv itation

tli’

ro

’

ugh MISS Venables . Unfortunately , Ihave no dress clothes w i th me , nor shallI

'

have for a . day or two . I f you have noone with you , and wi l l receive me as I am , Ishall be del ighted to come at once.

Yours very truly,

‘GLYN BEVERLEY.

’

To wh ich note an answer came in half anhour from Sir Percy

’

himself

MY DEAR SIR,

Never mind your clothes . We arequite a Small party , and shall be very pleased

A Du l l Day w i th a Bright End ing 35

to see you . The carriage comes withthis .

Very truly yours,

PERCY VENABLES . ’

So Glyn set out for Lupton,and on

arriving was del ivered by the hall-porter intothe custody of Thomas ,

’

who ,with every

mark of respect for your well - tra inedservant is respectful even to the humblestguest—conducted him up the big s taircaseto his room where

,meekly requesting the

key of Glyn 5 bag, he proceeded forthwith todive among the clothes for the requisites ofthe coming toilet .I have explained to S ir Percy that I have

no dress clothes with me ,’ said Glyn , observ

ing a puzzled look on Thomas ’s face as heturned over the shirts and socks . ‘Theywill be here to-morrow.

’

Yes,sir

,

’ answered Thomas , as if rel ievedof a responsibil ity .

‘Dinner at half-pastseven , sir,

’ he added .

Glyn,lucki ly

,had brought a black coat , so

he made as good a toilet as he could under


the c ircumstances,and passed down the

great staircase somewhat impressed by thesplendours of the house.H e

- found S i r Percy in the draw ing-room ,

and received a hearty welcome .‘ I f I had thought of it , I should haveasked you when we met yesterday ,

’ theBaronet said but it didn ’t occur to me thatyou were alone at the inn . Do they treatyou pretty well thereYes

,fairly. I t is small , but it is

clean .

’

‘And that ’s a great po int,’ struck in S i r

Percy. My daughter has a fancy for

gett ing into out-o f-the-way places abroad ,where there is next to noth ing in the way ofhotel accommodat ion , and what I go throughI can ’t describe. Have you ever been atBouillon '’

Never. ’

‘Ah ' Pretty place—Belgian frontiercastle of the renowned God frey,

~

and al l thatsort of thing, you know—go there to get toSedan but of al l the places for d irt B lessmy soul , the place reeked

A Du l l Day w ith a Bright End ing 37

‘I ndeed ,’ said Glyn , wondering when the

ladies were com ing.

‘Yes ,’ pursued the Baronet

,too much

engrossed with the remembrance of what hehad gone through to relinquish the subject .Hotel there , where that unlucky EmperorSlept the night after the capitulat ion—onlyone in the place—built over a stable . Wentinto it , and was positively knocked backwardsby the odour—knocked backwards , my dearsir I assure you .

’

But were you obl iged to stay there

'Stay there' no , impossible. Beat a

retreat , and got some lodgings at a leathercutter’s—positively at a leather-cutter’s andhow that unfortunate Emperor could havestood it passes my comprehension .

’

Perhaps he was too much overwhelmedby his reverses to th ink of smaller matters ,

’

suggested Glyn .

Th ink of them , my dear sir '’ echoed the

Baronet . ‘There was no need to think ofthem ; they thrust themselves upon youwhether you thought of them or not . Blanchewanted to Sketch the castle , but that inn


Seemed to pervade the whole place,and we

got away next morn ing.

’

‘W ithout the sketch '’

‘Yes, w ithout the sketch . I t was not tobe borne , you know.

’

Glyn heard a soft rustle behind him. He

had been watching the door, but M issVenables came from an inner drawing-roomon the other s ide. She held out her ' hand .

H ow do you do she said softly . Verypleased you are able to come to us .

’

Glyn thought her even prett ier than onthe previous day . I t is u seless to deny thefact that even the prett ies t faces are underobl igations to pretty dresses. There was avague softness about M iss Venables ’ dress ,an indefin ite mingling of s ilk and lace andtul le , which was exquis itely becom ing , andGlyn at that momen t almost despaired ofever be ing able to convey such beauty to

canvas .‘Mr. Beverley—my cousin , Miss Mait

land f

Glyn found h imself bowing to a girl whohad followed ‘Miss Venables into the room .

A Du l l Day w i th a Bright End ing 39

He could not help regarding her attentively,

there was something so uncommon in herappearance. She was not actually pretty

,

but there was an indefinable sentiment abouther wh ich made you think her so . Her facewas perfectly pale, her hair the l ightestbrown , her eyes pure gray. Her figure wassl ight and del icate in the extreme

,but grace

ful and easy in its movements. She worewh i te silk, with scarcely any adornments .The only scrap

~

o f colour from head to footwas one blush arose in her bosom .

‘A zephyr might waft her away,’ thought

Glyn,as he -returned the gaze of the earnest

eyes which l ingered on him a moment as hisname was mentioned .

Artists a nd actors are generally sources ofcuriosity to the young. Whether they expectto see flashes of genius darting out of theireyes

,or whether they regard them as a

species of [w as na imw to be avoided , is aquestion but it is certain that S ib Maitland ,as her friends called her

,allowed her eyes ,

from under thei r deep lashes , to dwell onGlyn a moment longer than they would on


men in general . Then , in an instant , sheseemed to become consc ious of it , and thefaintest t inge of pink flitted over her cheek ,

’

l ike the reflection of the flower she wore.Glyn did not notice it , however, for at that

moment he was consc ious of the approach ofMrs. Courtenay Byng

,who was not given to

gl iding into rooms,but made her presence

known at once. There was a rustle of s ilk ,a j ingle of bracelets

,a perfume of ‘Wh ite

Rose,’ and a flutter of fan which proclaimed

her before you turned your head , and Glynturned his to behold her radiant in eau-deni l s ilk , which

’

set off the fresh roses of hercheeks to perfection . She held out herplump l ittle hand with a fortune in d iamondsand Opals on its taper fingers .

‘H ave you brought your lovely p icture ,Mr. Beverley ' I have been dreaming of it ,I assure you .

’

I am glad you l ike it so much ,’ said Glyn .

Yes , it is here. S ir Percy was good enoughto request me to bring it . ’

‘You’ve not seen It, S ibyl ,’ said Miss

Venables to her cousin .



when he had fairly settled to h is soup .

‘Youw i l l confirm what I say , I

’m sure,about that

abominable inn.

’

‘Yes , but I was very sorry to m iss mysketch . Have you seen the castle, M r.Beverley The castle of the renowned

'

Godfrey, you know .

’

No , I have not been there ,’ answered

G lyn. I s it very fine‘Yes

,a splendid old place

,on a steep hill

overlooking the r iver,which makes a sudden

bend there. We were there in autumn ; Inever saw anything to equal the t ints In thewoods which surround the castle. Our ownare very lovely , but they cannot compare w iththe woods at Bouillon .

’

‘Your beeches must be very fine inautumn .

’

‘ I ndeed they are . You should pay usanother v is it at that t ime . I t would be qu iteworth your while. ’

‘ I should like it,of al l th ings' I ndeed, I

am so much in love with the neighbourhoodthat I hOpe to come here often. I t is a news tyle of scenery to me. ’

A Dull Day w ith a Bright End ing ‘43

‘And yet you ought to know it well,

’ saidS ir Percy. Your family

,at least your

mother’s family , had extensive possessionsinthese parts. Wasn ’t there a queer affairabout a will or something connected with theestatesI t was about the Firwo lds property,

’ saidGlyn .

‘ I t was known that my uncle madea wil l in favour of my mother and herchildren , but the will never turned up . Idon ’t exactly know the particulars—I was

quite a child at the time —but I bel ieve everyth ing was done that could be done . Therewas a previous will which gave the propertyto a distant cousin . I derive one consolat ionfrom our loss

,however. I f the property had

come to us,in all probabil ity I should never

have taken to art. ’

And would have missed a very enjoyablel i fe

,

’ said M iss Venables .Yes

,indeed

,

’ answered Glyn .

‘Although ,’

he added,

‘the pursuit of art is a lifelongstruggle after something we never quite attain—a perpetual striv ing to reach an im

possible ideal . ’

44. When Leavesw ere Green

‘A gloomy view of an artist’s l ife,’ said

Miss Venables.A true one

,I fear

,

’ responded Glyn .

' I

should mistrust any man who was thoroughlysatisfied with h is work.

’

Sir Percy and Mrs. Byng were deep inconversation . Glyn fell into a té‘te-d-Zé’l e w ithM iss Venables .You w i l l not take so gloomy a view of an

artist ’s l ife by-and-by. I mean when youhave gained more complete success

,and

your name is more widely known,

’ she said .

Then , I fear, if indeed that time shouldever come, I may tumble into that most fatalof all p itfalls , carelessness . I t seems to bethe inevitable result of great success . ’

But it need not be . A man devoted toh is art , whatever his success might be, wou ldsurely go on striving for art’s sake. ’

He m ight but how few do '’

‘Do you feel that you would follow themany

‘That remains to be proved. I see noreason for supposing I am more strongm inded thanothers . ’

A Du l l Day w i th a Bright End i ng ‘45

There was a short pause.‘Do you remember Fra A ngelico

’

s l i fe '’

she asked at length .

‘Yes , perfectly.

’

How he shut himself out from the worldto devote himself exclusively to art ' Howhe refused all pecuniary rewards for his work

,

and made each picture a matter of prayer '’

But w ith him art was rel igion ,’ said Glyn .

A nd why should it not be wi th others '’

she asked quickly .

Glyn looked up . There was a flush offeel ing , of enthusiasm ,

in his questionerwhich surprised him .

‘I am afraid we are all more or lesssceptics nowadays

,in art as well as rel igion

,

’

he said .

‘We throw over our faith in thegreat masters as we do in deeper things .We no longer put our trust in the B ible , butin School Boards . ’

And art decl ines . ’

‘ I n loftiness of conception,certainly ,

though our impressionists would cons iderany man a heretic who said so . But Iconfess, when I think of the work achieved

When Leavesw ere Green

by the great masters, I cannot help sm i l ingat the efforts of some men, now l iving, whomthe world cal ls great. Put them bes ideRubens or Paul Veronese ' What p igm iesthey seem A haystack or a flock of geeseseems the end and aim of art now.

’

‘ I am afraid I cannot get up any enthusiasm for Rubens . There are others I somuch prefer. Rubens seems always to paintw ithout a soul . ’

Stil l , one stands amazed at h is power and'

versatil ity . H is rapidity must have beensomething astounding. H is work seemed toflood a cont inent . ’

‘Of course you have been in Rome,M r.

Beverley '’ struck in Mrs . Courtenay Byng.

‘ I regret to say I have not ,’ Glyn an

swered with some constraint.‘Haven

’t you really '’ exclaimed the gaywidow. I thought all artists went to Rome.Don ’t you care about it .

‘Very much indeed,’ responded Glyn .

‘Ihope to go one day. We have not all theopportun ity.

’

He m ight have added or the means,

’ but

A Du l l D ay w i th a Bright End i ng 47

that would have been an affectat ion . Mrs .Byng went onBut i t is so easy now you can get there

in two or three days . ’

The not ion of the want of fifty pounds todo it with never entered the widow ’s head .

Miss Venables seemed to read the difficulty,

and with ready tact came to the rescue .‘Some of our best artists never went toRome, I bel ieve,

’ she said .

‘Some few ,

’ Glyn answered.

‘There aresome notable except ions , certainly, but Ialways look upon it that going to Rome is toan artist what taking a degree is to a man ofletters. I t gives him a status he does nototherwise possess , unless his talent is someth ing astounding ; then, of course, he canoverride al l obstacles . ’

‘You should come next winter, Mr.Beverley,

’ said Mrs . Byng.

‘ I shall bethere most probably

,and I should l ike to

introduce you to some friends of mine. ’

There is nothing I should enjoy more , i fI could so arrange it ,

’ said Glyn .

CHAPTER IV .

A MOONLIGHT MEETING .

No more W ine said the Baronet,soon after

the ladies had left the room .

No , thank you,’ answered Glyn , who was

severely abstemious .So

,Instead of putting themselves u nder

the table in the attractive fashion of our forefathers , Glyn and the Baronet went to thedrawing-room .

M iss Maitland was just finishing Spohr ’sexqu is i te Rose softly bloom ing,

’ and Glynbegged a repet it ion, wh ich was accorded .

There was a certain sweetness in the girl ’svo ice which attracted h im , but there was alsoa tendency to dreaminess and sentimental itywhich rendered the performance weak .



The widow was concil iated, and gave Glynone of her sweetest sm iles .What a wonderful change in the weather'’

she said,go ing to the window.

‘Fancyhav ing such a splendid night after such aday ' There is t ime for a stroll on theterrace . S ib , will you come '

’

I should l ike it,of al l things ,

’ said S ibyl .I should strongly recommend shawls and

goloshes,

’ said Miss Venables .But of course you will come, Blanche '

’

exclaimed Mrs . Byng.

‘No I will stay with papa. Mr. Beverleyw il l take care of you

,I dare say .

’

Glyn was provoked . He was a man of

quick sympathies , and al l h is desire was tol inger in the draw ing-room with the ladyof the party towards whom he was mostdrawn .

But there was no help for i t ; the shawlswere brought , and G lyn passed out of thelow window after Mrs . Byng and M iss Maitland.

The weather had indeed undergone achange. It was a magnificent n ight, but

A M oonl ight M eet ing 5 I

under the circumstances Glyn was in nohumour to enjoy i t . He listened to Mrs .Byng

’

s somewhat inane prattle with c on

siderable impatien ce . Miss Maitland wassilent as usual . I wonder if she ever speaks

,

’

thought Glyn . Presently she wandered awayfrom them into the deep shade of somebeeches , which stood up spectral in the moonl ight to the left of the house.

‘She looks l ike a ghost in white glidingamong those mysterious shadows ,

’ said

Glyn .

‘Good grac ious ' don ’t suggest such anidea

,

’ exclaimed his companion .

‘I’

m

frightened to death at the thought of aghost

,for I firmly bel ieve in them .

’

‘The ghost is laid ,’ said Glyn , as Miss

Maitland disappeared in the shadow .

‘Is

she always so silent‘Generally but

,then

,she is very young,

scarcely eighteen,and I should imagine they

l ive a very quiet l ife in the country.

’

Does she l ive near here ' I fancy I have

seen her. ’

‘Yes ; her father is the rector of a parish


about fifteen miles from here . Pretty , d on’t

you think herWell, interest ing.

’

‘You art ists are so critical . I hope youare satisfied with your sitter that is to be. ’

‘I ndeed I am .

’

She is very lovely , I must admit but shewas pre ttier three years ago , before

She stopped abruptly .

Before what pursued Glyn .

‘Oh,noth ing in particular ; but she was

much prett ier,there is no doubt , three years

ago . More of rosy girlhood about her.She is so very staid now .

’

The responsibil ity of her position ,’

sug

gested Glyn .

Not altogether. But she is a dear girl ,and I am very fond of her,

’ she added as ifto evade the subj ect.They wandered from the terrace on to the

lower paths,and looked over the slopes,

where ,The deer half in the gl immer strewed the hollows of

the park .

’

The notes of the p iano reached them as

A M oonl ight M eet i ng 53

they w ent on , and Glyn could hardly concealhis impatience to return . Mrs. Byng tookin the s ituation . She was too skilled‘ infl irtation to endeavour to restrain a neophyte.

‘You would like to return and have somemore music ,

’ she said.

‘How idiotic it isnot to be fond of music ' but I confess I donot care for it . I t is a l ittle chilly perhapswe had better go in . Might I take your armup the slope I t is rather Sl ippery.

’

By the time they reached the terrace ,however, the mus ic had ceased .

‘Where can that mad girl S ibyl be '’ saidMrs . Byng. I must look for her . ’

Pray let me do that,’ Glyn answered with

another effort to control his impatience .

‘Oh,thanks

,so much . I don ’t think we

ought to leave her out here alone , althoughshe did desert us. ’

Glyn turned along the terrace , at the endof which was the beech-grove wherein S ibylMaitland had disappeared . I t was not morethan a hundred yards across , and presentlyhe could see the moonl ight bright upon thedrive which swept round the grove to the


hal l-door. Finding no one there , he wasabout to retrace his steps , when a soundstruck his ear—the noise of a horse ’s hoof'

upon the hard ground . He turned his head.

A little more to the right,~ in the shadow

of the trees bordering the drive, he saw twofigures a man leading a horse , and a womanin a wh ite dress .The woman was Miss Maitland, w ithout a

doubt . The man was tall , and , with thebridle thrown over his arm

,he was leaning

down , apparently in earnest conversation ,but the tones were too low to be heard .

Glyn judged it prudent to beat a retreat.He retraced his steps to the house, but wasdestined to be the disturber of moonl ightcolloquies and reveries . As he turned theangle of the terrace, he came suddenly uponMiss Venables .Oh

,Mr. Beverley ' is that you '’ she

exclaimed as Glyn approached . Have you

found S ibyl ' Mrs . Byng told me you hadgone to look for her. ’

‘She will be here presently,’ said Glyn , not

knowing what else to say. T hen , to change

A M oonl ight M eet ing 55

the subject ‘\N hat a magnificent night 'The flood of moonl ight seems actually tohave swept away the stars . The heavensare filled with i t to overflowing .

’

He talked on , to avoid a recurrence to thesubject of M iss Maitland , but at that momentthe young lady in question emerged from thebeech-grove and came towards them .

‘Why, S ibyl , have you taken to sol itarywanderings asked her cous in .

‘I t is such a lovely night ,’ answered Sibyl

briefly.

And you prefer the company of your ownthoughts

Sometimes . ’

Glyn was discreetly silent. The girl ’s facebetrayed no emotion . She looked supremelyhappy

,but more fragi le than ever in the

white moonl ight .I promised you some music, Mr. Beverley

shall we go in said M iss Venables .I should l ike i t, of all things ,

’ Glynanswered with alacrity .

So they went back to the drawing-room .

Sir Percy was hav ing a nap . Mrs . Byng


had disappeared. Sibyl took up a book.

M iss Venables went to the piano . G lynglanced unconsc iously at S i r Percy .

‘Oh,i t won ’t d isturb papa,

’ said B lanche,reading G lyn’s look.

‘He sleeps throughChopin and Beethoven serenely . Whichshall it be ' The Moonl ight Sonata ”

‘I f you will be so kind' One never t ireso f that . ’

The lamp was at the other end of theroom

,but there was qu ite enough l ight from

the moon to enable the fair performer’sfingers to wander over the notes at will.Glyn seated himself where he could watchher face as he l i stened to those matchlessnotes .And so w ith perfect taste she played thatexquisite adagio movement unti l Glyn was ina seventh heaven of del ight, and then h issent imental ity—for he had not yet passed thesent imental age—was tempered by the l ivel ier tones of Chopin ’s ‘ Impromptu ,

’ wh ichagain gave place to Schumann ’s ‘Schlum

merlied ,’

so dreamy and tender. And thenthe door opened and a tall man entered the


C H A PT E R V .

NEXT MORN ING .

‘N OT looking so well as she did beforewka z‘ was the quest ion Glyn propounded tohimself as he opened his eyes next morning ;but having no clue, he of course went onspeculating in vain .

I t was a magn ificent morn ing. The glassmust have taken quite a leap upward sincethe day before. Glyn was ou t of bed and atthe window long before Thomas made h isappearance. He drew up the bl inds , andthrew open the w indow to drink in the fresh ,pure

,sunny air, which filled the World w ith

gladness .Lupton Court was s ituated on an elevatedplateau of the park , and Glyn looked straight

N ext Morning 59

over some twenty m i les of magnificentlywooded country , before his eyes rested on thedim, blue hills which bounded the V iew.

Massed by the morning mists , there was aperfect sea of fol iage before him

,with und ula

tions of leafage l ike a ground-swell,and here

and there a ripple,where the leaves were

stirred by the breeze as a glassy sea is stirredby a wind of june. Great herds of deer werebrowsing on the wide slopes of grass , halfhidden here and there by square patches ofbracken , which were kept in park-l ike order,but which served to vary the monotony of thesmooth green turf. The beeches—moremagnificent than any Glyn had yet seen , withthei r knotted moss-grown roots and greenand silver boles stood up grandly here andthere , sometimes in clumps , sometimes insol itary statel iness . Far away to the left, astrip of blue sea closed the v iew , and betweeni t and the park a l ine of white steam , hovering in the st ill air

,showed the course of an

early train .

Glyn leaned far out over the window-sill ,and met the faint entrancing odour of a

60 W hen Leavesw ere Green

magnol ia which spread its great creamy petalsbelow. The house was an old one , withbroad

,stone-mull ioned w indows and gabled

ends . Quaint carvings of man , and bird ,and beast flanked and surmounted the l intels .as if the arch i tect and workmen of the oldendays had no fixed pu rpose

,but had broken

out into pleasant fa ncies as the work went on .Time too

,who 15 always our friend if we

w ill trust him,and no t try to anticipate his

actions,had given the finishing touches of

beauty to the quaint old mans ion . Not allthe looms of Genoa or Lyons could surpass inrichness and softness the mosses and lichenswhich clothed the gray stones—a mingl ing ofcrimson and gold

,and green and gray

,i n t ints

so exquis itely pure that G lyn sighed to thinkhow vainly his poor pigments might strive toreach thei r harmony. Those anomal ies

,the

roses , too—which blush so persistently , andyet come smil ing in at our windows withsuch perfect yet careless grace—were everyw here ' in the parterres beneath ; round theGoth ic porch ; leaning their carmine cheeksagainst the glossy leaves of the magnol ia ;

N ext M orn ing 6 1

tapping softly at the windows of the sleepers,

as if they wished to say ' ‘Why don ’t youwake up and open your window and let in ourfragrance Thick clustering ivy

,too

,soared

away so ambitiously that even the verychimneys were assailed but i t stil l creptupwards , as if it would fain reach the blue skyabove and lose itself in its dreamy depths .

‘ I f there is one thing more than anotherthat we have to thank God for, i t is the bluesky,

’ said Glyn,as his eyes followed the

course of the ivy into the stainless ether.Fancy

,if we had to gaze everlast ingly at a

canopy of crimson,or yellow, or green ' H ow

s ick we should get of i t I But the blue is aneverlasting joy. And there goes a lark whoquite agrees with me

,I ’m sure, for his notes

seem to flood all the world below.

’

Glyn dressed as quickly as poss ible , as hewas anxious for a stroll before breakfast. Hemade his way across the lawn to the beechgrove

,where the sunl ight was lying on the

l ichened boles in great flakes and splashes ofgold

,and the shadows were making a blue

black tracery on the ground . The trunks of

6 2 When Leaves were Green

the beeches were so colossal that a personbehind one was eas i ly hidden from V iew .

Glyn reached the extremity of the grove nearthe drive , and , on turning round a tree , C amesuddenly upon M iss Maitland .

She was seated on one of the moss-grownroots that projected above the ground . Anopen book was in her lap , . and her head wasthrown back against the tree

,and as Glyn

came upon her, she was gazing out absentlyacross the park towards the distant sea. Hehad thought her interest ing the n ight beforebut

,with the flecks of sunshine l ight ing up

her hair, and with the faint t int of colourwh ich the morn ing walk had given to herdel icate cheek , she looked quite pretty .

There was a pecul iar dreamy softness alsoin her eyes which added to the charm .

She started as G lyn ’s footstep fel l on herear

,and half rose.

‘Good-morn ing , M iss Maitland ,’ he said

,

raising his cap .

‘ I had no idea I shouldfind anyone down . Have you been herelong '’

Not long ,

’ she answered , rising and

N ext M orn ing 63

shaking hands . I am always awake early,

and the morning is so lovely.

’

Glyn thought the wakefulness odd in oneso young. He considered himself quitevenerable in comparison with the girl beforehim .

‘What are your studies '’ he asked,point

ing to the book .

The novel everyone is talking about,

’ sheanswered , holding it towards him .

‘Ah said Glyn , running h is eyes over theleaves . Rather sensat ional

,isn ’t it

‘I t is , decidedly ,’ said S ibyl with a little

laugh . Most novels are nowadays . ’

Yes,the old order changes with novels , as

with everything else ,’ said Glyn .

‘Theymust be flavoured to suit the taste of theday. Even Scott is at a discount withyoung people now

,and Dickens does not

possess half the charm for the ris ing generation that he did a few years ago . I t is allrush and hurry now

,in books as well as in

real l ife. How lovely that bit of blue sealooks , through the trees yonder '

’ he added .

‘Yes . This is a favourite seat of m ine .


The V iew is so pretty. I come here veryoften .

’

Glyn thought of the night before,and was

s ilent .‘By the way , what has become of M r .

Forbes '’ he asked .

‘H e was with M issVenables and S ir Percy the day beforeyesterday. I thought he was staying here . ’

N0 ; he was only here for the day. Hecomes to stay next week

,I bel ieve. Several

v is itors are com ing then . I am rathersorry .

’

Glyn thought he was , too , but, being acomparative stranger, he hardly l iked to sayso . They were sauntering back towards thehouse now .

You l ike the quiet of this place he said .

Yes . I l ike a few v isitors , but not agreat rush of them . We live so very quietlyat home . When do you begin your portrai tof Blanche '’

‘As soon as my materials arrive, I suppose.I was to begin on Monday , but i f they comesooner, there is no reason why I should notset to work.

”



‘I have had no opportun ity of hearinggood singers

,unfortunately .

But you have been In London '’

‘Only once since I was qu ite a child, andthen papa was i ll and I had to attend to hima good deal . H e went up to consult aphysician . My uncle

,S ir Percy , was abroad ,

and I knew very few people . Lucy has alot of schoolfellows l iv ing in town , and sheoften stays with them .

’

Glyn began to think Lucy must be a b it ofa prig.

‘ I am glad M iss Sibyl has foundher tongue , however,

’ he thought .Being himself somewhat unversed in theways of the world , he fel t drawn towards thisapparently unsophist icated girl

, who possesseda simple beauty and a quiet grace wh ichwould have attracted most men . The meeting of last night certainly puzzled h im , but itmight be suscept ible of an easy explanation ,and i t was clearly no business of his . Theywalked up and down the terrace ‘

chatting onall sorts of topics

,unt i l the breakfast-bell

rang, and M ISS'Venables came to look for

them . Glyn thought her more beautiful

N ext M orn ing 67

under each new aspect,and

,in truth

,the cool

white morn ing dress,with scarcely any

adornment,did set off her graceful figure to

perfection .

‘What an example of early rising you haveset us '’ she said , as she kissed Sibyl andshook hands with Glyn .

‘ I have beenwatching you from my window for the lasthalf-hour. ’

I don ’t know at what unearthly hour MissMaitland made her appearance

,for I found

her here when I came down,

’ said Glyn,

laughing.

‘Why,Sib,

’ said her cousin , putting herarm round her waist

,

‘is your conscienceuneasy that you are awake so early '’

Sibyl could not avoid the gaze that wasfixed upon her

,and her usually pale cheek

went to the tint of the roses by her side.She blushed so painfully that Glyn , whocould not help noticing it

,turned aside and

made some remark about the v iew.

‘Yes,i t is all very lovely ,

’ said Blanche ;‘but I ’m sure the sight of the urn will beequally apprec iated by two such early risers .


Papa will be impatient , too , so comealong .

’

Thereupon they went in to breakfast .M rs . Courtenay Byng and Captain D ’

Eyn

court were the del inquents , and had not yetappeared ; but the

’

former soon came in ,radiant in a morn ing gown , w ith all sorts offussy l ittle points and bows and tricks aboutit . Captain D ’

Eyncourt came later, sauntering in w i th the air of a man who was insufferably bored at hav ing to come ' to breakfast at all though , when once fairly started ,he managed to dispose of a fair quant i ty ofgri l led fowl , together with copious draughtsof iced' claret-and-water, averring , as he didso

,that he could only indulge in a feel ing of

p ity for those who were mad enough to taketea and coffee while the weather was so insufferably hot .Glyn had a fair opportunity of observ inghim closely, as he was seated opposite . He

was one of those not always agreeable specimens of the human race, a thoroughly handsome man . H is face , indeed , as far asfeatures and

'

complexion were concerned,

N ext M orn ing 69

was faultless . Hair and moustache blackand in perfect condition dark searching eyesshaded by long lashes nose sl ightly aquil ine

,

with a perfectly-shaped nostri l fine ripe l ipsalmost hidden by a full drooping moustacheteeth as white as the table-cloth ; a richcolour in his cheeks , and a firm blue chinwith a deep cleft in the centre which gaveadditional character to its mass iveness . Theweakness of the face was in the short upperl ip

,though this was hidden by the moustache .

Through all the range of mascul ine geniusthere is hardly a man to be found w ith ashort upper l ip .

There is l ittle doubt that a long upper l ipis a sign of strength in woman as well , butcertainly not of beauty ; and perhaps , afterall

,i f woman ’s intellect is to run rampant , as

it has done of late, men will begin to think

'which the sens ible ones have not done heretofore' that beauty without brains is a farmore desirable thing than brains withoutbeauty .

D’

Eyncourt was a man of about five-andthirty

,though he still affected quite a juvenile


attire . He was clad in a check suit of faultless cut

,wore a collar very open at the neck ,

and had an easy lounging way with himwhich indicated perfect satisfaction with himself. Altogether Glyn was not prepossessedbut then

,possibly, he might have set up his

bristles against any man , not a relat ion , whocalled M iss Venables ‘B lanche ,

’ as D ’

Eyn

court did . The fact is , Glyn env ied h im ,and

envy is a dev i l ’s snare, and ak in to hate.‘So you ’re go ing to be painted , B lanche ,

’

said D’

Eyncourt. How are you to betakenHe did not address the quest ion to Glyn

,

as under the circumstances he might havedone , so Glyn sat s ilent. M iss Venables putmatters right , as was her wont .I shall leave that entirely to Mr. Beverley ,

’

she said .

Ah said the Captain , unabashed ; ‘Isuppose you ’ll let us into the studio now andthen , Mr. Beverley '

’

Not at first, I’m afraid

,

’ said Glyn . Perhaps when the picture is fairly advanced

‘And if yOu behave properly , and don’t

N ex t M orn ing 7 I

poison us with your everlasting cigarettes,

’

struck in Miss Venables .‘What are your plans

,Blanche '’ the

Baronet asked , when he had finished his tea.‘I have hardly thought about them

,

’

Blanche answered .

‘Are you incl ined toride, Laura '

’ she asked,turning to Mrs .

Byng.

Now,the widow had made up her mind

quite privately to another attack upon theinexperienced heart of Mr. Glyn Beverley,and for some reason or other she concludedhe did not ride so she answered accordinglyNo ; I think it will be much too hot , and

I am feeling very t ired to-day .

’

‘Then,

’ said Blanche,in the most pro

vokingly ingenuous manner,‘if you don ’t

mind,I will ride Saladin

,and M r. Beverley

can have Polly . That is , i f you would careto go

,

’ she added , turning to Glyn .

‘I should l ike i t,of all things ,

’ exclaimedGlyn .

‘ I have so few chances in London .

I have not ridden for years,and I used to

have so much of it in my younger days inthe country .

’


Now , these younger days meant the timewhen his father was al ive. Later on hismother had been left alone to that task ofnever-end ing anxiety

,the bringing up

’

of alarge family, wh ich in some marvellousmanner, known on ly to mothers so si tuated ,she had managed to accomplish on a sumwhich in these days would not suffice to payan ordinary butcher’s bill . But the familyhad dw indled SIckness and d isease , possiblyaccelerated by insufficent means , had reducedit to Glyn and one sister. Whereupon thewidow, instead of increasmg her own comforts ,stil l practised that system of self-denial forthe sake of her children wh ich alone shouldwin her a place among the angels. Shep inched herself to get instruction in musicfor her daughter, and to keep Glyn goingthrough his artist ic studies , seeing that histalent was great and his appl icat ion incessant.She might have put h im in an office at twopounds a week

,but she preferred to stint

herself and see him a great man,and nowshe

was beg inn ing to reap her reward .

I t so happened that Saladin,to whom



each other, M rs . Byng ,’

Said the Baronet,with a smi le.

SO It seems ,’ the w idow responded , w ith

Vis ible chagrin .

’

I ’ve brought K itty,’

D’

Eyncourt quietlyremarked .

Brought Kitty '’ exclaimed everybody .

G lyn wondered who on earth K itty ’

was,

that she should cause such general aston ishment.I ndeed I have.

’

But you don’t mean to ride her '’ said

the Baronet,st i ll staring hard at the Captain .

I ndeed I do . I rode her here last night,and I don ’t see why I shouldn

’t ride her th ismorning.

’

You certa inly want to break your neck ,’

said the Baronet decis ively .

‘You ’ll be killed before our very eyes ,’

said Blanche .S imple madness

,

’ said M rs . Byng.

S ibyl said nothing , but sat attentivelyregarding the worked corner of her pockethandkerchief and looking pale.G lyn requested to be enl ightened as to the

N ext M orn ing 75

peculiar nature of the Kitty in quest ion,since

she had caused such perturbation of spirit.‘Well , She

’s a chestnut mare of m ine ,’ said

the Captain , ‘and is responsible for threebroken collar-bones

,a broken leg

,and a

dislocated shoulder,since I have had her.

How many people she killed or maimedbefore , I wouldn

’t venture to say, but Ishould think their name is legion . Shecame to me with about as bad a character asa four-legged brute could possess, and shehas maintained it . ’

‘But why on earth did you buy her '’

asked Glyn .

Because I ’ve rather a fancy for subduingthings in general

,especial ly when they Oppose

me . I ’ve had my own way with Kittyhitherto

,and I mean to keep it. ’

The Captain set his l ips w ith a look thatwas not pleasant to behold .

Glyn observed him closely . I should notl ike to have that man for an enemy ,

’ hethought

C H A PT ER VI .

CH IROMANCY.

YOU would l ike to look round and select aroom to pa int

'

m,would you not '’ said the

Baronet, as they rose from the breakfasttable.Thanks ,

’ answered G lyn. I suppose we

shal l not be starting jus t yet,’ he added ,

looking at M iss Venables .No, not for an hour at least. I have

some things I must attend to first,’ said

B lanche. Laura,you know the house well

I depute yo u to take Mr . Beverley round ,and let him see the rooms . ’

‘I shall want a northerly aspect, if possible

,

’ said Glyn .

‘Then the,room next the l ibrary would be

Chi romancy 77

a good one ; but you can choose whicheveryou l ike. ’

‘Come along , Mr. Beverley ,’ said the

widow , who was ev idently not disincl ined forthe task I wil l show you all round .

’

They crossed the hall , where the sunl ightwas stream ing in through the open doors .

‘How lovely it is '’ said the widow ; ‘ Iquite envy you your ride . I t is too bad toleave me all alone . ’

‘But I understood you decl ined coming,

’

said Glyn .

‘ I thought some of you would remainat home

,

’ answered the widow,with a l ittle

pout. ‘However,I dare say I can amuse

myself. Now, would this room do sheasked .

‘ I t has a nice dark paper,and that

you l ike,don ’t you

Not always . I think it best to keepladies ’ portraits rather l ight in tone

,as a rule .

I t is a high window,though

,and the l ight is

good . I fancy this room will do verywell . ’

‘And you will want a cloth halfway upthe window

,and something in the way of


a throne,won’t you ' You see, I know all

about it ’

‘I don’t have the cloth too h igh . I wantmore of a d iffused l ight. We don’t , go infor the black shadow under the nose and thatsort of th ing nowadays . That was a veryfunny system which the old painters pursued.

They used to pa int quite . black shadows onthe face

,and then put a landscape back

ground the two things being utterly incon

gruous.

I n what wayWhy, you never get black shadows on

the face out of doors ; there are too manyreflected l ights . You only get them when aroom is darkened and the l ight comes fromone direct ion .

’

‘ I see ,’ said M rs . Byng,

throwing herselflangu idly into an easy-chair

,and turn ing

melt ing eyes on the art ist. Dear me 'howhot it is ' Don ’t you think a turn on theterrace would be nice '’

I f you l ike . This room will do very wellto paint in . We need not bother any moreabout that now .

’

Chiromancy 79

‘A llons, then . We can go through thewindow of the next room . I t is shorter. ’

She led the way, followed by Glyn . Asthey approached the window leading to theterrace, she stopped .

‘Sib and the Captain are there already.

A case of the sp ider and the fly,’ she said .

There was a touch almost of malice in hertone . Glyn could not help smil ing.

‘Rather severe,Mrs . Byng,

’ he said .

Not a bit more than the occasion callsfor. He is l ike a certain gentleman not tobe named , seeking whom he may devour.

’

‘You don ’t l ike him '’

The widow turned upon him suddenly,the

look of spite still in her face.Do you '’ She asked .

The question came so quickly that Glynwas taken aback. He was not prepared tocritic ise the guests at Lupton the day afterhis arrival . St i ll , he felt bound to be honest.I am not particularly impressed

,I admit

still , I know so l ittle of him that i t is hardlyfair to give an opin ion he may be an awful lygood fellow, for anything I know .

’


‘H e may ,

’ said the widow,with sti ll th e

l ittle spiteful emphas is . Shall we join them ,

or would you rather not spo il their téte-ciz‘é‘fe

Just as you please . You are my C icerone ,you know .

’

They descended the few steps to theterrace. As they did so

,D

’

Eyncou rt andhis companion sat down side by s ide on agarden -seat . The Captain put out his handpalm upwards

,and S ib

,with her slender

forefinger, appeared to be tracing certain l inesupon it

' The widow ran forward quickly .

‘Why , S ib , what are you about '’ she

said .

S ib started slightly as she heard thewidow ’s voice

,and withdrew her hand

quickly .

‘Only tell ing Captain D’

Eyncourt whatyou told me,

’ she answered in some confusion .

How can you be so foolish answered thewidow

,looking somewhat confused hersel f.

‘Why , you told me you bel ieved in it ,’

said S ib .



at th is moment Miss Venab les came towa rdsthem from the drawing-room .

What is this solemn conclave about '’ sheexclaimed as she drew near.

‘A discussion of the deepest importance ,’

said the widow .

‘M r. Beverley is great atpalm istry. He knows all the l ines andmounts , and bel ieves in it firmly.

’

That is a dec ided l ibel,M rs . Byng ,

’ saidBeverley .

‘Well , we w il l put h im to the test , then ,’

said M iss Venables . He shall read ourfortunes . Come, Captain D

’

Eyncourt, putout your hand .

’

By all means . I have been such an um

lucky dog hitherto, that i f M r. Beverleyprognosticates any good luck in the fu ture

,I

shal l be infinitely obl iged to him .

Glyn thought the joke had gone far enough .

I ’m afraid I cannot undertake the 7 07 3 ofa prophet,

’ he said , turning away .

Oh , you can’t get out of it that way'

’ saidthe w idow .

‘You said you knew the l inescome , Captain D

’

Eyncourt, put out yourhand f

C h iromancy 83

‘Certainly ; I am most anxious to knowmy fate. ’

Glyn glanced at his outstretched hand amoment , and his attent ion seemed suddenlyarrested .

‘Well , that is rather odd ,’ he said .

‘What is '’ asked the Captain .

‘Well , i f I bel ieved in it for one moment ,I should hes itate to tell you . But as Idon ’t , I may point out that your l ine of l ifeends somewhat abruptly . Unusually so

,in

fac t . ’

‘And what does that mean‘Why , by all the rules of palmistry, i tmeans that you will come to a violent endbut I don ’t think you need distress yourself,Glyn added

,laughing .

I don ’t mean to,

’ said the Captain , ‘thoughI dare say it is what I deserve. But is i t nott ime for us to be starting We Shall lose thebest of the morning .

’

‘I think it is time we got into our habits ,’

said Miss Venables . ‘The horses will beround in ten minutes . ’

They turned towards the house, Miss


Venables leading the way. S ib Mai tlandl ingered behind by the side of Glyn .

‘You don ’t real ly bel ieve in i t, do you ,M r. Beverley '’ she said in a low tone .

‘

Bel ieve in it no , of course not. H ow canthe l ines of the hand possibly foretel l thefuture ' You may as wel l bel i eve that thestars can . Of Course , certain hands go withcertain temperaments , and therefore the hand18 to some extent an Index of character, butnot of the future . I t is sheer nonsense . ’

‘I am glad'

you think so,but M rs . Byng

told me she did bel ieve in it,and showed me

the l ines . ’1

‘ I fancy M rs . Byng may have taken it upl ike any other fad

, fi aurfiasser le temps. Shewill get some other bel ief before long

,and

forget al l about this . ’

You have not much faith in her,evidently .

’

‘I don ’t say that . She is very amusingand very good-natured but I should say herfanc ies are l ike the man ’s sweethearts in thesong , ' The youngest and the newest is thedearest of them all . ”

CHAPTER VI I .

' ITTY.

A QUARTER of an hour later there was agrand trampling in the drive in front of thehall-door as the grooms brought round thehorses .Lurl ine and Saladin came first

,the former

with long sloping fetlocks and a step as l ightas a fawn . N ot much to look at in the wayof strength , certainly, but a pretty gracefulhack for a l ight-weight . Saladin was amodel of an Arab , with the long , curved neck ,hollow back

,and square haunch , peculiar to

that breed . C ream¢white , also, from nose toheel

,and with mane and tail l ike white floss

silk. Polly,already described , came next ,

with fine points and showy action , a safe


three hundred pounds whenever you l iked toput her In the market . And then , w ith astableman on each s ide of her, came K itty ,To look at her

,you would have said she

was as qu iet as a lamb . The presence oftwo men seemed a farce

,but her well-known

qual i ties caused her to be held in respect, andto be waited on by a large ret inue of anxiousattendants . She was in colour bright chestnut

,had a long

,easy stride

,throwing her

feet wel l out, and bringing them down firmlyfrom the ful l

-

stretch . She kept her headdown pertinaciously , showing the fine curveOf her neck. The only evidence o f restlessness about her at present was the quickchamping of her snaffle

,wh ich went on in

cessantly.

‘I think you had better mount and getaway , and leave me a clear space and nofavour

,

’ said D’

Eyncourt.‘There ’s no

saying where my lady may go in the fi rstfive m inutes . She took a standing jumpover the gate of the drive at Oaklands lastweek while the groom who rode her wastrying to Open it . I t measured four feet

K i tty 87

eleven perpendicular. The man gave mewarning next day.

’

So the ladies and Glyn mounted and gotaway, but curiosi ty was aroused , and fiftyyards off they stopped to look .

Kitty was stil l head down at the hall-door,

with a man on each side. Except for thechamping, she was as motionless as a rock

but out of the corner of her eye she wasregarding the Captain carefully.

The man on the off-side held down onest irrup

,while the Captain laid a hand on

Kitty ’s mane and l ifted his foot to the other.As his toe touched the iron , i t seemed tosend an electric thril l through the mare.She went straight up on end without amoment ’s warning

,the two men hanging on

to her l ike grim death . Fight ing out wildlywith her fore-legs , she turned as on a pivot ,and came down again the other way, leavingher foes baffled and d iscomfited .

They coaxed her round again , and againthe performance was gone through , as if itwere a rehearsal for a pantomime.

‘Confound the brute ' when she begins


th is game she keeps i t up for an hour,’ said

the Captain. Bring her close to thes tep .

’

K itty did not object to th is . From hismore commanding posit ion the Captainagain gathered the r eins in his hand, andclutched the mare’s mane. This t ime hewas too quick for her , for in an instant hewas in the saddle.The spectators trembled, the grooms flewon one side ; but you never knew how tomeet Kitty’s freaks . W idening her fore-feet,she planted them in front of her as firmly astwo young oak-trees, and so stood stock st i l l ,the champ

,champ , champ , still going on as

if nothing had happened.

There stood K itty , and there sat theCaptain , looking the pictu re of patience , butwondering much what was to be the nextmove. I t was a somewhat ridiculous pos ition .

S trong measures m ight have proved fata l ,and even concil iatory ones must not be triedyet. Something, however, must be done,so, squaring his reins , he touched the marel ightly with his heels . The champ , champ ,



deer fled from his path,the w ind hissed past

h is ears , the ground seemed to fly fromunder him . Edging gradual ly away to the ,

right w ith so gentle a pressure that Kitty ,W i ly as she was

,hardly suspected it , D

’

Eyn

court brought her gradually round towardsthe drive

,and presently came up

,Kitty one

lather of sweat,and st i l l tugging l ike a

demon at the bridle.‘Not bad for a beginning , was it said the

Captain with a laugh ; but I th ink I’ve got

my lady in hand now .

’

‘ I hope so,

’ said Blanche ; ‘for if sheintends to keep up that game all day

,I don ’t

see the use of your coming with us . ’

‘Oh , she’ll go quietly enough now ,

’

re

j oined the Captain , edging up besideB lanche.

‘ I want you to take S ibyl under yourwing ,

’ said Blanche . M r. Beverley is to bemy p retax céew l z

’

er to-day. I am anxious toshow him the v iews . ’

‘Then , you had better drop beh ind ,’

answered the Captain , looking anything butpleased .

‘K 'itty has a most distinct objec

K i tty 9 I

tion to keeping in the rear,and now that she

is behav ing respectably,we had better

humour her. ’

So Blanche fel l back to where Glyn wasriding with M iss Maitland

,and that young

lady was ordered to the front , and Glyn’s

temper was ev i dently improved by thearrangement.

‘A magnificent rider '’ said Glyn , with hiseyes stil l upon the Captain .

‘Yes , he does everything well ,’ answered

Blanche. He is one of the cleverest men Iknow .

’

Glyn felt another twinge of envy .

‘ I suppose he has seen and done mostthings

,

’ he answered .

‘Oh yes . There is noth ing he has notseen or done .

’

Has he left the serv ice '’

‘Yes . He was in the Carabineers,but

sold out four years ago,when his father died .

He has enough to l ive upon , and has ex

pectations from an uncle , a Mr. Dalrymple , Ibel ieve . ’

Fields , trees and hedges were passed in

9 2 When Leavesw ere G reen

rapid succession . The fresh’

s unny air andthe cool breeze from o ff the distant sea sentthe colour mantl ing into the face of Glyn ’scompanion . The impudent breeze Indeed ,sported with her hair; and sent i t In prettyl ittle waves about her ”eyes and forehead .

The rapid motion and the bright morningseemed to transfigure B lanche . The sober,subdued look of home gave way to thesparkl ing sunny smile she had worn whenGlyn first saw her in the wood . Only theday before yesterday

,

’ he mused,

‘and yet itseems an age. So manv events arecrowd ed into the time—such new thoughtsand hopes— that I cannot bel ieve it is onlytwo days . ’

They were increasing their pace,for the

others had gone on ahead . The rapidmotion exhilarated like champagne . Theirhorses seemed to share the excitement .Even the staid Saladin was deporting himself in a manner quite unworthy of thegravity of the great Eastern potentate whosename he bore ; and as to Polly , she was

throwing the foam-flakes from her bi t and


94, When Leaves w ere Green

The Cap tain was evidently’

not in a goodtemper yet.Shall we get on again , M iss Maitland

he asked .

Yes,if you l ike,

’ the g i rl answered in herqu iet tones , and so ,

_ the slope being eas ier,they went on at a canter

,while Glyn and

M iss Venables again fel l into the rear.The soft carpet of herbage , upon wh ich

their horses’ hoofs fel l with the faintestpossible sound ; the pretty w ild-flowers ofpurple and gold and blue wh ich studded thethymy turf ; the bright sunsh ine, the purplecloud shadows wh ich met them on their way,the strip of pure blue sea which now openedto the right as they neared the crest of theDowns , and that everlasting chorister, thelark

,whose song of praise goes up at morn

and noon and dewy eve -what more waswant ing , with such a compan ion by his side ,to fil l G lyn ’s cup of happiness to the brim '

Presently they left the Downs and cameupon the sea-shore. The waves were roll ingin over the flat sands in long, even bars ofwhite foam

,and with a ceaseless

,mono

K i tty 95

tonous musical murmur the result , asTyndall tells us

,of the bursting of innumer

able air -bubbles . The sea-breeze , withnothing to intercept i t , brought its fresh ,sal t flavour to thei r l ips

,and came as a

pleasant antidote to the beams of noon whichwere now beating fiercely on the yellowsands and on the low, grassy flats, where redcattle grazed , or floundered in the cool ingdykes , switching the fl ies from their torturedflanks and tossing them in myriads from theirrestless heads .The tide was low, and they rode far out onto the sands among the t ide-pools borderedwith s l ippery green rocks . Stray starfishlay flabby and helpless in the sun . Wandering crabs skittered off at their approach

,and ,

seeking the nearest pool , indulged in thepleasure and protect ion of self-inhumation inthe soft sand of the bottom .

Glyn seemed to think a new world ofrapture was opening before him ; but greathappiness is sometimes rudely dashed , as i twas at th is moment by the Captain . Heand Miss Maitland had somehow fallen


behind . He now came rid ing up, and edgedin unceremon iously between Glyn and MissVenables .

‘I want to tell you about the Fortescues,Blanche . You know I was at Edith ’swedding.

’

Blanche didn ’t appear particularly anxiousto hear the intel l igence , but without positiverudeness she could not d ecl ine. M iss Maitland was alone in the rear, so Glyn was

constrained to fall back upon that younglady .

‘What a charm ing ride , M iss Maitland ' is

it not‘Yes ; but I am rather tired , and are we

not going a very long way‘Do you think so ' I t had not occurred

to me . I suppose we are in M iss Venables ’

hands with respect to distance '’

Oh ' but she can ride any number ofmiles without fatigue . I t is quite wonderfulto see her follow the hounds on Polly. Bu tplease don ’t say I said so .

’

Why not‘Oh

,I don ’t know. She doesn ’t qu ite



‘I f you choose to think so ,’ Blanche

answered ; ‘but in th is case I am not, evenfrom your point of view . Mr. Beverley ’smother was a Glyn . The G lyns wereacquaintances of my father—a very goodfamily indeed .

’

‘And you intend to shut yourself up withhim al l day ' Quiet , you brute '

’ he exclaimed angri ly , as K itty swerved from anencroach ing wave .Kitty ’s pricked ear went backwards , as if

checking off the insult,and treasuring it up

for the future. But she took no furthernotice .

‘As far as may be necessary ,’ B lanche

answered quietly ; ‘but,

’ she added , ‘Ishould think that can be but of l ittle consequence to you .

’

‘You think so 7”

I Izope so. You remember the condit ionsof your retu rn .

’

‘I do ; but I had hoped that. t ime wouldhave somewhat modified those condit ions . ’

Time wi ll never modify them B lancheanswered, in a determ ined tone .

99

K itty swerved again . A dark look flittedacross D ’

Eyncourt’

s face,and

,with a mut

tered imprecation , he brought his cane downheav i ly on her shoulder.The mare fairly uttered a scream . Shewent straight up on end, without an instant

’swarning, toppled , and came down heav i lybackwards

,with the Captain underneath .

Miss Maitland and Glyn were fifty yardsbehind . He was hastening forward to therescue , when he heard a low cry by his side ,and turned , to see his companion looking asWhite as a sheet and ev idently about to fall .He sprang from his saddle , and caught heras she fell towards him . She gave onesc 'ared look at the prostrate form of D ’

Eyn

court,and then consciousness passed away

,

and she lay fainting in Glyn ’s arms .

CHAPTER V I I I .

BLANCHE To THE RESCUE .

H ERE was a pretty kettle of fish ' Imaginethe mz

'

se-en-sce‘

ne / D’

Eyncourt flat on h isback on the sands, with K itty struggl ing andkicking over him , and try ing to get on herlegs . Miss Venables , transfixed with horror,on the back of Saladin , who was sn iffing athis fallen compan ion . Polly and Lurl ine ,free as the winds , trotting round with headshigh in air and snorts of astonishment. Glynsupporting M iss Ma itland

’

s head as she laystretched on the sand, and the creepingwaves coming on with stealthy

,relentless

footsteps , up towards the very spot wherethese luckless ones lay.

G lyn did not waste much time over h is



manage one,but there is M iss Ma itland .

Stay,though,

’ he added ; ‘she is so l igh tthat I think I can manage to carry her tothe beach

,and sti ll be back before the t ide

reaches us. ’

He l ifted Sibyl ’s l ight form in his arms ,and hurried with her across the sands.Depos i ting her by the s ide of a l ittle ri llwhich ran down among the shingle

,he

sprinkled some water on her face. Signs ofreturn ing animation began to appear. G lyn ,however, had no t ime to lose. He hurriedback as fast as poss ible.B lanche had found a pool in the sands

,and

was moistening D ’

Eyncourt’

s face wi th herwetted handkerch ief.Even in this emergency, Glyn could notbut admire the wonderful calmness of the girlunder such exceptionally trying circumstances .He could see , moreover, that it was not thecalmness of indifference, for varying emot ionswere fl it ting over her face , and her handtrembled in her self- imposed task. I t wasthe strength arising from a strong sense ofduty.

B lanche to the Rescu e 03

I sn ’t it possible to util ize Polly in carry inghim up '’ she asked .

I couldn ’t possibly mount with him in myarms

,and i t would injure him to put him up

alone. There is nothing for it but to carryh im .

’

But it i s such a terrible distance. ’

‘That cannot be helped . I must do thebest I can , and at once .

’

W i thout another word Glyn l ifted theCaptain bodily . S trong as he was

,i t was as

much as he could accompl ish,and after

staggering a few yards only he was compelledto stop.

As he did so , he heard a cry from Blanche,and looked round . She was pointing witha look of terror in her face towards theland .

Glyn followed the direction of her hand ,and saw a sight which filled him almostwith despair.The portion of the sand he was on wasraised—a sort of rounded ridge—and betweeni t and the beach a long l ine of water wascom ing rapidly in from the sea, forming a


sh ining barrier,which cut himoff from his

goal .He turned to look at his compan ion .

She had recovered her presence of mind .

‘Can you help me to mount Pol ly '’ shesaid .

‘There is noth ing for i t but to gethelp .

’

But you cannot ride on a man ’s saddle ,’

Glyn answered.

Oh yes,when I am once seated . Help

me up quickly .

’

Glyn l ifted her into the saddle , and thenext moment she was going across the sandsat full speed .

Glyn glanced round . The t ide was closeupon him now , and the channel near theshore was rap idly widen ing . Immediateaction was imperative.L i fting his helpless burthen again , hestruggled in desperat ion towards the l ine ofwater. I n a few minutes he was at thebrink , but the incom ing t ide was looseningthe sand . H is feet sl ipped

,he floundered

about in the water and nearly fell .‘I must give it up ,

’ he said . What is to



st raw and a sack or two in’

the’

bottom. Wi ththe assistance of the man , Glyn l ifted theCaptain into it and laid him on the straw.

Then he got in himself and was taken acrossthe channel on to the h igher ground , B lanchefo llowing on Polly.

Now that she had accompl ished her task ,she showed some S igns of g iv ing way. Thestrain had been such as few women could haveborne. Luckily

,they found Salad in graz ing

quietly on the short herbage at the top ofthe sands . Glyn quickly transferred M issVenables to her own steed

,while he himself

went off on Pol ly to look after Sib Maitland .

He found that young lady sitting up on theslope of the beach in a state of great perturbation, and as yet unable to move. Assoon as she saw Glyn she made an effort torise , but he begged her to keep st i ll .Oh

,M r. Beverley what has happened

she cried as he approached .

‘ I t is all toodreadful I s he al ive '

Yes ,’ answered Glyn confidently perhaps

h e is not so much hurt , after all . He is snugin a cart now. Don ’t alarm yourself. ’

B lanche to the Rescue 107

‘I t is so dreadfully fool ish of me,’ Sibyl

went on , but I never could bear to see anaccident . ’

Did you notice which way Lurl ine went '’

said Glyn , to divert her thoughts .I have not an idea. I feel quite be

wildered ,’ said S ib

,shuddering again at the

bare remembrance of the scene.‘Then

,I think you had better mount Polly ,

if you can ride on this saddle ,’ Glyn said ,

springing to the ground .

‘The man tells methere is an inn over yonder. We can all goto it unti l we can get help and catch thehorses. ’

Oh no , I can walk quite well now. Don ’tmind me. Do get assistance for CaptainD

’

Eyncourt as soon as possible . I shall beso distressed if I delay you . I will fol low

you .

’

Glyn thought it m ight be as well for hernot to see the Captain in his present plight.Are you quite sure you can come alone '’

he asked .

‘Yes , quite sure. Do go on ; I am sureyou must be wanted.

’


Glyn thought so too,so he hastened back

to the cart, which was now crossing the flatsto the l ittle inn . He found Blanche hadgone on to prepare for their arrival .Very soon they had D ’

Eyncourt on an oldfashioned sofa in the inn’s best parlour

,and a

man was despatched on Pol ly for the nearestdoctor. Before he arrived

,however

,the

united exert ions of Glyn and Miss Venableshad brought the pat ient round . He openedhis eyes , but closed them again with a spasmof pain .

‘What on earth is the matter with me '’

he said . This,

pain is horrible .

’

Glyn was rel ieved . I t was by no meansthe voice of a dying man

,though he was

ev idently In great suffering . He put somebrandy to his l ips

,begging h im to l ie quite

sti ll unt i l the d octor came. Then Blanchewent to the next room to see after S ib and totel l her that consc iousness had returned , uponwhich S ib burst into tears

,somewhat to

Blanche’s amazement.I n due course the doctor arrived andexamined the pat ient . I t was not a cheerful



man who had been sent to lOOk for Lurlineand Kitty returned w ith the former, but thelatter was nowhere to be seen .

Th is was Soon explained. Within'

two

hours , to the amazement of everybody, acarriage arrived from Lupton , and S ir Percywas seen stepping out .

‘What a merciful thing '’ exclaimed Glyn

when he saw the Baronet but how on earthdid he know about it '’

K i tty was not so mad as she seemed . Shehad taken the w isest course , and gone straigh tback to Lupton at fu ll gallop , rousing all thevillages and hamlets as she passed . Onarriv ing at Lupton she galloped straight intothe stableyard .

‘Lord save us '’ exclaimed the old coachman , who was lounging on a corn-chest.Somebody must be ki lled .

’

He turned K itty into a loose-box, and then

went straight to the house , bouncing in uponS ir Percy and Mrs . Byng w i thout ceremony

,

j ust as they were going to luncheon .

‘What on earth is the matter '’ cried SirPercy , seeing the man

’s scared face .

Blanche to the Rescue 1 1

Don ’t know, Sir Percy , but somethingawful must ha ’ happened . Kitty has comeback W i thout the Captain

,and all in a lather

of sweat . ’

Good God exclaimed Sir Percy ‘I knewsomething dreadful would happen if hepersisted in riding that brute ' Why , he mayhave broken his neckAs the words passed his l ips

,Mrs .

Courtenay Byng turned quite crimson,and

then deadly pale. She moved away to hideher confus ion , but quickly recovered herself.

‘What shall you do '’ she asked .

DO Start at once and see what i t means .But where is one to go ' They were goingtowar

‘

d s the beach , weren’t they

‘Yes I heard them say they meant to goquite down to the sea. You will let me gowith you

‘Quite unnecessary , my dear. I t will onlycomplicate matters . ’

‘But I think I ought to go . I may be ofuse ,

’ the W idow answered anxiously. Sheseemed unusually disturbed . Sir Percy couldnot help not icing it .

I 12 When Leavesw ere Green

‘No , no , my dear. You are too muchupset already, and no wonder. You w il l bemore useful here in preparing for any emer

gency. The doctor ought to be sent for, too .

Dear, dear ' to th ink that people W l ll be soidiotic ' Let us hope , at least , that he is notk illed '’


I 14. When Leavesw ere Green

wild career, were sti l l assembled in the roadsand hamlets , and were only too eager topoint out the direction from which She came ,so that the speed of the carriage was scarcelyslackened unt il it arrived at the inn .

S ir Percy was,of course , greatly concerned

on learning the state of affairs .‘ I knew that brute would cause somehorrible catastrophe,

’ he said . I was almostincl ined to say it serves him right for ridingher ; but he always was as obst inate as amule . I must get back at once , and sendsomebody to nurse h im.

’

So , seeing that he could do no good bystay ing, S ir Percy departed , taking S ibylwith him . She begged hard to be allowedto stay with B lanche , but this they would nothear of, as it would be only crowding thealready l imited space at their disposal .Blanche was to remain unti l the nursearrived , and Glyn had also announced hisIntention of remaining . The doctor hadreturned and set the broken bones

,and

made all snug ; but although he was notpart icularly

,

anx ious about the patient,he

The Pi ctu re progresses i I 5

said it would be impossible to move him atpresent.When the carriage arrived the second timewith a nurse from the village

,and all sorts of

comforts from Lupton,Glyn begged Blanche

to return home in i t . To this , however, shewould not at first consent

,but

,finding Glyn

was resolved in any case to remain withD

’

Eyncourt, she at length yielded .

‘ I don ’t know how to thank you for allyour kindness she said .

‘Of course it willrel ieve our m inds greatly to think he is insuch good hands ; but i t is a melancholycommencement of your hol iday .

’

‘I f I only consulted my own feel ings , Ishould stay ,

’ said Glyn ; ‘and if i t is a satisfaction to you

,that is an additional induce

ment'’

He was beginning to feel that there wasno sacrifice he would not make for this girl

,

who was herself so considerate to others ;and as for Blanche , the l iking she had felt forGlyn from the first was increased by thesingle-heartedness he had displayed in connection with this unfortunate event .


The acc ident had, of course , put Glyn onquite a different foot ing with the Venables .He had come only as an artist engagedto paint a portrait

,but he had proved himself

a friend in t ime of need , and they so regardedhim . I f it be true that one touch of Natu remakes the whole world kin , certainly onetouch of trouble does no less .So when the nurse arrived , and B lanchehad gone home, and the patient had beenmade snug for the night

,Glyn sat down and

smoked his pipe,with an indefinable sense of

happiness wh ich the situat ion hardly war

ranted . The Ci rcumstances were certainlynot cheerful in themselves . There was noabsolute certainty yet that a change for theworse might

'

not take place in the conditionof the injured man ; and , apart from this ,Glyn was compelled to pass the night insolitude at a little ways ide inn

,instead of

enjoying another del ightful even ing at Luptonl ike the last . But the consciousness that hewas rel ieving the mind of M iss Venables

,

and was at the same t ime doing '

a kindlyact, gave him that sense of passive satisfac


I I 8 When Leavesw ere Green

did so soon after the predict ion , was, tosay the least

,a strange coinc idence. Were

the injuries more severe than the doctorimagined ' And would the result prove fatalafter al lGlyn strove in va in to shake off the gloom

that oppressed him at the bare suggestion ofsuch a calamity . He retraced his steps tothe house with increased anxiety , and eagerlyinquired the latest news of the injured man .

The nurse herself came to answer his in

qu iries. She reported that D ’

Eyncou rt wassleeping so soundly that she had left him fora time to get her supper, and make arrangements for her night-watch

,upon which Glyn

shook off his fears and went to bed himself,

and was soon wrapped in the slumber thatcomes from youth and health .

Three days after the accident , the doctor ,to the surprise of everyone

,pronounced

D’

Eyncou rt sufficiently recovered to beremoved to Lupton in a comfortable familycarriage . He was decidedly better as to thehead , and the doctor had discovered nofurther injuries beyond the broken bones .

T he Picture progresses 1 19

‘ I think the brute ’s head mus t have hi tmine a crack as she came down

,

’ said D ’

Eyn

court , as Glyn was taking him to Lupton .

‘Or it might have been the pommel of thesaddle . I don ’t feel at all clear which it was ,and i t doesn ’t much matter now . I t ’s lucky

I ’m al ive at all . That is , if there is any luckin being al ive . I ’l l tame that brute yet ,though he added .

Glyn ’s traps arrived early the follow ingweek , and as he had made one or two prel iminary sketches , he was soon fairly at work ,with B lanche doing penance upon a deal case

covered with a drugget,which served as a

throne,

’ and S ibyl sitting by with her work ,and now and then steal ing sly glances at thepicture

,in spite of prohibit ions to the

contrary .

‘Why won ’t you let people look at thepicture at the commencement '’ asked S ibyl ,as Glyn went on paint ing .

‘Because they make such odd remarks ,’

said Glyn .

‘They can ’t help cri tic is ing, andcriticism at the outset is absurd . Of coursepeople who have a practical knowledge of


painting don ’t critic ise, as they understand

what is to be done. ’

‘But Why do you notice the criticisms ofthe ignorant '’ asked B lanche.One tries not to ,

’ said Glyn , ‘but the

remarks dwell in the m ind , and one is almostunconsciously influenced , and then it inter~

feres with one’s, own conception . Besides ,

you have no idea what absurd th ings happen .

I was once paint ing a certain noble lord, andwhen the face was fairly advanced , I justrubbed in the

'

figure and background w ithbrown paint to cover the canvas . A friendof my sitter came to see the portrait , and Iwas fool ish enough to show it to her, at thesame time impress ing upon her that it wasonly just begun . I n spite of this , she wroteto the family to say I was paint ing his lordship in a brown coat , with a brown background . As he never wore a brown coat

,

you may imagine their consternation .

’

H ow utterly absurd of her said Blanche.Yes ; and what made i t more absurd was

that she was supposed to be something of anart critic , but of course she could not have



‘Yes, I was with him half an hour ago .

He is getting on fast. The doctor says hemay come down to-morrow

,though o f

course he wil l carry his arm in a sl ing forweeks . By the way

,he told me to thank

you for the flowers,Miss Maitland.

’

‘What 'have you been indulging in earlyrambles again , Sib asked Miss Venables ,turning her eyes towards her cousin .

‘Yes . The roses looked so fresh thismorn ing that—that I thought they would beespecially refreshing to our inval id ,

’ saidS ibyl hesitatingly .

‘Miss Venables was s ilent for a few

minutes,and then made a remark on some

other subj ect . Glyn went on paint ing .

Mrs . Byng seems to lead a sort of butterfly l ife , ' fl itt ing for ever from flower toflower,

” he said .

Yes . But,then

,she has a good income ,

and l iterally nothing to do but to amuse herself. No cares or responsibil ities of anykind .

’ Then,after a pause , she added '

You must make the most of me in the nextfew days

,Mr. Beverley. We shall not have

T he Pi cture progresses 12 3

so much quiet time after Thu rsd ay. as we

have v isi tors coming. I shall o nly be ableto give you two hours in the mo rn ing , Ifear,

’ pursued Blanche .I must do the best I can answ e red Glyn

with a sudden sense of disappoin tme nt.

But you must come to my doma in sometimes in the afternoon

,

’ continu ed Blanche .

‘S ibyl and I generally escape fo r an hour,and you promised us some reading , youknow.

’

‘You may depend upon it I d o no t need areminder,

’ said Glyn earnestly .

The Captain did not make h is a ppearance

for some days . Something in the na ture ofa relapse took place—feverish symp toms andgeneral weakness . Glyn V is ited h im once ortwice a day

,and naturally a kind o f intimacy

sprang up between them,though . a s far as

Glyn was concerned,i t could hard ly be said

to ripen into a l iking . Meanwh i le he pushedon the picture

,hour after hour

,d a v a fter day ,

making the most of the quiet time,as Miss

Venables had suggested,and look ing forward

with a considerable amount of d rea d to the

124. When Leaves were Green

return of M rs . Byng and Forbes, and to the

advent of other V is itors , whom he beganrespectively to regard as h is natural enem ies ,i nasmuch as they would rob him o f '

some ofthose prec ious hours when Blanche sat before

h im in all her exquisite beauty , and the

moments flew by laden with that mysterious ,i neffable enchantment which comes with thedawn of love .

Those were dangerous hours . Sometimesby Blanche’s request he would put aside hispalette, and , tak ing a favourite book of poems ,stroll with her and her cousin far out into thepark, and , under the shade

’

o f some of thosemagnificent beeches

,read to them a dreamy

lay , or a st irring rhyme of the olden time,pregnant with love and doughty deeds.Then came those long delic ious hours in

the summer twil ight,when Blanche l ingered

over the piano,and S ibyl the silent sat with

he r embroidery,and S ir Percy slept the

s leep of the man without a care , and Glynhung entranced over the instrument , drinking in , still unconsciously , deep draughts ofthat del ic ious poison which too often results


126 W hen Leavesw ere Green

l ittle bits o f melody so charming, that youpos i t ively crave for more, and then hesuddenly breaks off and wearies you to deathwith desi re .

’

You want half a dozen of them at once ,’

said Glyn .

‘ I don ’t know ; half the charm is in thethought of the bird ’s so l i tude , or qu ietude ,rather, fo r I suppose he has his mate. Iw onder if he is really happy . H is noteshardly convey that not ion .

’

‘Christina Rossett i touches on that ,’ said

S ibyl .

I shall not hear the nightingaleSing on as if in pain .

Don ’t vo u remember, B lanche ' in that

p retty song you have.’

Yes,I know

,

’ Blanche answered mus ingly .

‘ I shou ld doubt very much if he is un

happy ,’

sa id Glyn .

‘ I don ’t bel ieve in anyl iv ing th ing s inging when it is unhappy—notvoluntarily , a t least ; not even the tradit ionalswan .

Wha t a bout Ophelia

The Picture progresses 127

‘Oh,she was mad, so it was involuntary

in her case . ’

‘And she went mad for love . Poorthing said Blanche .

‘You are sceptical as to love ’s power inthat respect ,

’ said Glyn, detecting the tone ofi rony in her last words .

‘Yes,I am . I don ’t bel ieve it kills

,and I

don’t bel ieve i t drives people mad,unless

they have very weak minds to begin with .

Possibly,though , a woman who loved very ,

very deeply might go mad—l ike Opheliaunder extreme ci rcumstances . I don ’tknow.

’

But not a man '’

‘No—certainly not‘You bel ieve a man incapable of lov ing

very deeply '’ said Glyn hurriedly .

Yes I bel ieve a man incapable o f lovingvery deeply,

’ Blanche answered .

She was seated on the branch of a beechwhich gave a long sweep from the parentstem almost to

'

the ground , and then soaredupwards again full of leafage . Thechequered ivory light was playing on her


face and neck and bosom ,for the n ight' was

sultry,and she had not cared to put on even

a l ight shawl . W ith the leas t pressure[of

her foot on the ground,she was causmg the

branch to sway sl ightly up and down,and

she continued the mot ion unconsciously asshe talked .

‘I t is a hard Op in ion of our sex , MissVenables ,

’ pursued Glyn , who was standingin front of her.I t is a true one , M r. Beverley .

’

‘You may Change your opinion one day .

’

‘I don ’t th ink i t l ikely . I t seems hard to

you ,no doubt , but even you may change

your opin ion of your own sex one dayWho knows ' I t is so true that ' Man ’slove is of man ’s l ife a thing apart . ”

‘A nd i t is ' Woman ’s whole existence,

you thinkI am not going to say what I th ink of my

own sex . At least , you will admit thatwomen are most constant. ’

‘I will not even admit that , and I don’t

agree w ith Coleridge in his ' notion thatConstancy lives in realms above. ”


CHAPTER X .

MORE VIS ITORS .

M ISS VENABLES was a d iscreet young lady.

The moment she found she was left alonewith Glyn , she rose from her seat , shaking,as she did so , a hundred moonflakes fromher head and shoulders . She emerged atonce into the ful l moonl ight .

‘Where can she have gone '’ she said .

‘What a strange girl she is ' She used not

to be so dreamy and si lent. ’

I don ’t think she is very far o ff,’ answered

l n . She has a favourite seat yonder—at

least, I n have found her there two or threetimes . ’

He thought he might venture thus farwithout becom ing a babbler. And yet it

M ore Visi to rs 13 1

troubled him to keep anything concealedfrom Miss Venables , for Glyn was asstraightforward and honest as the day.

‘Let us go there , then ,’ said Blanche

,and

with that they went to the beech grove,

where they found S ibyl seated in herfavourite spot .She rose hasti ly as they approached .

Even in the moonl ight , Glyn discoveredtraces of tears in her eyes . She had turnedher face away from her cousin

,and Glyn

,

who was on the other side,could not avoid

seeing it .‘Why , Sib , what an odd girl you are '

Why did you desert us so suddenly '’

‘ I did not mean to desert you. I shouldprobably have been back by the time youhad finished your discussion . I t was not onethat interested me. ’

Glyn tried to recall what they had beensaying.

‘Was there anything in that l i ttle discussion about constancy which had touchedher home '’ he asked himself. ‘ I t was oddthat she should have left them in the midst


o f it to indulge'

in sol itary tears . a What did

i t all mean '’

H is compan ions,l ike h imself, seemed to

have fallen into a reverie; and they returned

to the draw ing-room , Where they found S irPercy awake

,and clamorous for tea.

The next day Forbes and Mrs . CourtenayByng returned .

You will find them great fun , M r.Beverley,

’

said Blanche. ‘You have notseen much of them together. She ordershim about l ike a slave—indeed , she callshim S lave—and he is so good-natured hedoes everything she wishes , though I amsure it must try his pat ience sorely att imes . ’

G lyn found them al l on the terrace whenhe left his painting-room that afternoon .

‘And how i s the picture getting on,M r.

Beverley '’ asked Mrs . Byng.

‘I supposewe are not al lowed to have a peep yet. ’

Not yet, I think.

’

‘I am dying with curiosity . S lave , bringme that seat ' Posit ively dying

,

’ the w idowadded , as she sank into the garden-chair


134. When Leaves w ere Green

you would do if you hadn ’t me to keep youin order. Your appearance now is evidenceof the melancholy results of a dissipated

T here was a general laugh . Forbes wasthe most perfect picture of robust health it ispossible to conceive . The widow flew o ff to

another topic .Now,

candidly,Mr. Beverley , don

’t yo u

think I should make just as good a pictureas B lanche

‘I have no doubt you w ould make a verygood picture indeed ,

’ answered Glyn .

‘That ’s not an answer ' I ask you

whether I should not make as good a pictureas Blanche .

’

‘There are such different types of beauty ,you know ,

’ said Glyn , feel ing he was beingdriven into a corner.Blanche knew that he would not beallowed to escape . She ju st raised her eyessl ightly, and watched him . She was oneWho judged character by l ittle things , andl i ttle things are

,in most

’

cases,an infall ible

guide .A s they say in court, give me a stra ight

M ore Visi tors 135

forward answer—yes or no , ’ pursued theW idow.

‘You really wish for my candid‘Yes . ’

Then, I don’t think you would .

’

Blanche dropped her eyes .‘ I l ike you for that , Mr. Beverley ,

’ shesaid to herself.

‘And now I suppose,M rs . Byng , I have

sacrificed my last chance of ever paint ingyou ,

’ said Glyn .

‘I ndeed,I am not such a goose as that '’

answered the widow,whose vanity, never

theless, was a l ittle ruffled .

‘Perhaps , afterall , I only did it to try you . Men aresuch humbugs

,and artists are always

flatterers

Not always,

’ Blanche said quietly.

‘Well , perhaps not quite always . Wehave a rare exception amongst us now. Butyou are a very bold man I might have beenvery angry w ith you. As i t is , I am not atall sure I shall not ask you to paint me oneof these days . On ly I have no one to givethe picture to .

’


‘I shall be charmed to have it ,’

sa idBlanche.So you shall , i f I remain an unhappy

w idow. But I may astonish you al l bytaking to myself a husband one of these finemornings . What should you say to that ,S lave '’

‘That there would be’

several su ic idesamong our sex on the same day,

’ said

Forbes,w ith another sly look at Glyn .

‘Existence is bad enough as i t is , don’t

you know, but with M rs . Courtenay Byngma rried , it would be simply unendurableThey all opened their eyes .‘Why , M r. Forbes '

’ laughed Blanche , ‘ Ihaven ’ t heard you make such a long speechfor years. ’

He must be going into Parl iament ,’ said

the widow.And what makes existence so hard to

you '’ asked S ibyl , who looked brighter thanusual .

‘What ' Everyth ing '’ said Forbes emphatical ly. Why, take dressing alone . I t

’sperfectly awful to th ink you have to put on


138 When LeavesWere Green

utterly helpless expression i f by chance ittumbled out for a moment. Then therewere the Vicar and his w i fe and the curateso that quite a respectable party surroundedthe festal board .

When S ir Percy and the Vicar got together, they were rather longer than usualover their w ine; having

'

many matters tod iscuss . Forbes went to sleep in his chair,and Glyn became dreadfully impatient . Atlength the discuss ion about parish matterscame to a close

, and Forbes woke’

up' and

tried to look as if he had not been asleep,

and said ‘Eh '’ as if someone had put aquest ion to him . Then they all went towardsthe draw ing-room , and in the hal l

' they en

countered D’Eyncourt, leaning on the armof a servant, and going in the same d irection .

‘G lad to see you down , D’

Eyncourt,’ said

S ir Percy . Feel better '’

Yes,thanks . Rather groggy about the

knees . ’

Take my advice , and don’t ride that

brute anymore . ’

M ore Visi tors 139

‘We’ l l see about that by-and -by,’ said the

Captain .

Glyn was a discontented man that night .There was a buzz of conversation all overthe drawing-room . There was no hangingover the piano in the quiet twil ight hours

,no

cosy tea-table with Blanche dispensing thebeverage with her own fair hands . Theywere invaded by an army of powderedservants with trays

,and the songs that were

sung were feebly heard amid the prattle ofmany tongues .Glyn had rather taken to Mrs . HarringtonD

’

Eyncou rt’

s sister. She was a quiet ,well- informed woman

,who had seen much of

the world and talked well,but she had made

an unhappy marriage,and the sunshine had

gone out of her l ife and dulled the onceardent spiri t.You have been very kind to my brother ,

’

she said to Glyn, who had seated himself by

her s ide. ‘ I t is so good of you . Howfortunate i t was you were with them whenit happened

‘I am only too glad that I was able to be

When Leavesw ere Green

o f any assistance ,’ said Glyn.

‘I t waS a

g rievous affair altogether.’

Mrs . Harrington was near-s ighted , andhad the usual trick of half closing her eyesand peering out between the lashes so as

to focus any object she wished to exam ineminutely. She peered out at this moment ather brother, who was seated w ith S ibyl nearone of the windows .

‘Who is that l ight-haired g irl my brotheri s talking to

,M r. Beverley '’

Miss Mai tland—Miss Venables ’ cousin.

’

‘Oh yes,I remember . She was quite a

child when I Was here last. What a del icate

looking creature ' I t was she who was w ithyou when the accident took place , was itnot '

‘Yes . ’

‘And increased the compl ications by fainting. I t was fortunate for you that B lanchewas more strong-minded .

’

‘Yes , indeed .

’

Blanche was always very calm in emer

gencies—even as a girl. Her mother was

a great invalid for many_

.years before she


142 When Leaves w ere Gree n

a re so ready to suspect. I suppose no onebut Beverley knew you sent them '’

No that is The girl stopped abruptly.

That is what '’ asked D ’

Eyncourt, w ith

some anxiety .

M r. Beverley unfortunately gave me yourmessage when Blanche was present . ’

Message ' What messageThat you thanked me

‘

for the flowers . ’

I sent no message—oh yes, by the way,I was obliged to say someth ing of the k ind .

He would have thought me a Goth else .But was B lanche present when he gave it '

’

Yes . ’

The Captain ’s brow darkened.

And she heard what he said he asked .

Of course. I t was whi le she was sitting.

’

There was a pause. Then Sibyl spoke ina still lower tone, and with her eyes st i l l onthe ground .

I am very sorry indeed if it annoys you .

’

Did Blanche make any remark '’‘

H’

Eyn

c ourt asked, without noticing. her’

regrets .‘I think she did . She said something

a bout my taking to early rambles again . She

M ore Visitors 3

thought nothing of it,I assure you .

’ Then ,after a pause ' How I wish you would endthis ' I cannot tell you what I suffer. ’

Hush '’ the Captain said nervously.

‘I tis not safe to talk of this here . Talk aboutsomething else .

’

‘My brother and his compan ion seem tobe hav ing a very confidential chat

,

’ said Mrs .Harrington , peering out through her eyelashes again .

Glyn thought she was approaching dangerous ground

,and got away as soon as he could .

Blanche was going towards the piano,and

Glyn stepped forward and Opened it for her.‘What was that song Miss Maitlandmentioned about the nightingale singing onas if in pain

,Miss Venables

‘Don ’t you know it ' One of AliceMary Smith ’s . ’

I wish you would sing it. Oh , I forgot,though . I am afra id I mustn ’t ask you .

’

Do you really w ish it very much '’

I do indeed,if it would not be asking too

much .

’

Blanche searched for the song.


You are a favoured mortal , Mr. Beverley,’

said the Vicar’s W i fe , who was close by.

‘What song is it , M iss Venables she asked .

I f thou w ilt remember,'

o r if thouwilt answered Blanche . ChristinaRossetti ’s Words ,

’ she added , seating herselfat the piano, and running through the prelude.Blanche is actually go ing to sing ex

claimed S ibyl , in amaz ement, as she watchedthe proceedings at the piano .

The next moment Miss Venables ’ vo icewas thrill ing through the room with anintensity of sweetness and pathos impossibleto describe . The V icar’s w ife had not exaggerated in the praise she had bestowedon her friend ’s s inging when Glyn was at theVicarage .I shall never cease to feel grateful to you

for that song,’ he said , as B lanche rose from

the piano .

I t is very sweet,is it not '’ she answered.

I t is one of my especial favourites , butintensely mournful . ’

Our sweetest songs are those wh ich tellof saddest thoughts,

” quoted . Glyn .


CHAPTER XI .

FORBES ’S PROPOS ITION .

T HE question is ,’ said Forbes , as soon as he

had broken theballs , and had fairly settled toth e game and his cigar, how long shal l yoube about that picture '’

I t is rather hard to say at present ,’

answered Glyn . I t depends to a certainextent on the frequency of the sittings . ’

But you get them every day .

’

I have hitherto .

’

‘What an awfully lucky fel low you are 'By Jove I wish I could paint. Fancyhav ing Blanche Venables in front of you fortwo mortal hours

,with the privi lege of staring

at her as much as you l ike By Jove '’

The p icture even in imagination seemed

Forbes’s Proposi tion 147

too much for Forbes’s equanimity. Hesighed and missed an easy hazard .

‘Don ’t you think her awfully pretty '’ heasked .

Yes, I do , most decidedly,’ answered Glyn .

I don ’t think there can be two opinionsabout it . I wonder she’s never married .

’

‘Oh ' She ’s young yet,’ pursued Forbes .

Besides,I don ’t suppose she’s quite got

over that affair yet , don’t you know .

’

Mrs . Byng’

s words rushed into Glyn’smind . He paused in his stroke, droppingthe butt of his cue on the ground .

‘What affair '’ he asked .

Forbes j erked his thumb over his shoulderin the direction of the drawing-room .

‘Why,that affair with him—D ’

Eyncourt,

don’

t you know .

’

‘No,I don ’t . I never heard anything

about it . Do you mean that Miss Venableswas engaged to Captain D

’

Eyncourt, orwhat

‘Well,yes . She was engaged to him , of

course. Everybody knew that . But nobodyknew why she threw him over. ’


‘Threw h im overWell

,something very l ike i t the engage

ment was broken off, any way , and every,

body understood that i t was Blanche’s doing.

D’

Eyncou rt never came near the place ti l labout a fortnight ago.

’

Glyn took up his cue again , but histhoughts were anywhere but on the game.This is al l new to me ,

’ he said .

‘Ah , yes , I forgot You ’ve only knownthem the last few days . But , I say , you geton with them first-rate . Blanche seems tohave taken you under her special umbrel la.

’

Glyn laughed.

‘ I should be very glad to think so ,’

he

said .

And I tel l you what,’ cont inued Forbes.

I t ’s deuced few people she does take underher umbrel la, I can tell you . I ’d give—byJ ove ' I don ’t know what I wouldn ’t give ifshe’d take me under it. ’

Forbes took out his handkerchief and

wiped the perspirat ion from his forehead .

The room was hot , and his feel ings werestrongly excited for so portly a young man


I 50 When Leavesw ere Green

I ndeed,he cou ld hardly keep from laugh ing,

although his thoughts were st i ll runn ing onthat engagement with D ’

Eyncou rt.

But why did you want to know about thesittings '’ he asked at length .

‘Well,that ’s just what I want to talk to

you about. I ’ve got my vessel , the M ayfly ,

fitt ing out at Southampton,and I want to

get S ir Percy and Blanche to come for a cruisedown westward . I f you’ l l come too , it wouldbe awfully jol ly

,and we m ight take S ib

Maitland , i f she cared to go . There ’s lot ’sof room in the yacht. She’s buil t more forcomfort than Speed , don

’ t you know .

’

Glyn thought this highly necessary , considering the size of the owner.I t ’s very

'

good of you to invite me. Ishould l ike it immensely ,

’ he said.

‘Whatshall you do about Mrs . Byng he added .

‘Oh , I don’t much care to have her

,

’ saidForbes .

‘You don ’t ' I thought you were thegreatest friends . ’

So we are when we meet. But she leadsme rather a ' l i fe, don

’t you know. Enough’s

Forbes’s Proposi t ion 15 I

as good as a feast of that sort of thing.

Besides , we shall be quite ful l without her,especially if S ib Maitland goes . I knowBlanche will l ike to have you . You get onwith her better than any fellow I have seenfor a long time. ’

A keen sensation of delight passed throughGlyn ’s heart as he heard these words . Hehad not even yet begun to count the cost ofthose delicious hours—this absolute sunshineof the present . And, indeed , what would thelove of youth be if it were clouded everlast

ingly by the shade of cautionGlyn could not help being struck with the

unselfishness of Forbes . Most men wouldhave shrunk from the idea of inv i ting a manwhom they knew to be a favourite of theirlady-love but Forbes was so enti rely singlehearted

,and had so humble an opinion of

himself,that it never occurred to him for a

moment to become an aspirant for the handof Miss Venables

,or even to endeavour

to win from her a warmer feel ing thanfriendship . He was quite content to sit andworship from afar

,and to administer to the


g irl ’s pleasure in every way in his‘

power.Glyn felt

,also, that he himself was a favourite

with this good-natured young man , and thatthe invitation arose as much from a feel ingof personal regard as from a desire to pleaseM iss Venables . But for this , his pride,perhaps

,m ight have taken alarm .

He went on thinking. Here , then , wasthe explanat ion of M rs . Byng

’

s words , ‘N otso pretty as she was before Had therebeen someth ing in the break ing off of thatengagement which had caused Blanche somuch pain as to change her very appearance

,

possibly to alter her character ' She wasmore sta id and serious in manner, as ageneral rule

,than most girls of her age but

this Glyn had attributed to her respons ibilities. Now he began to think it m ightarise from another source that she had beenvery fond of this man—perhaps was still .The last thought sent a sudden sharp pain

through him , so that he missed an easystroke , and called forth an exclamat ion fromForbes , which brought him to his senses.

‘Well , now, what do you say ' H ow



hate a man I hate him,and if I like

’

a man 1

l ike him , don’t you know . Your play '’

Glyn was gett ing abstracted again . Thisprojected trip was open ing a new del ight to

him, and D’

Eyncourt, concerning whom hebegan to have an uncomfortable feel ing ,would not be with them . I n the smallcompass of a yacht

,B lanche and himself

would be thrown into the closest companionship hour after hour

,day after day . The

thought was too entrancing. A las for poorGlyn ' He was gett ing deeper and deeperinto the wood

,and had not even begun to

consider the way out again .

CHAPTER XI I .

Si B’

s SECRET.

T HE next fortn ight gl ided away all too

quickly for Glyn . The picture grew apace .

Visitors came and went . The days increasedin warmth . Summer put on her mantle ofsober green—the most unlovely time forfol iage in all the leafy season . July was

passing, and Forbes was growing moreimpatient every day .

‘There is no reason why you should notreturn with us for a few days after our trip inthe yacht

,Mr. Beverley,

’ B lanche said onemorn ing as the sitting was drawing to aclose. ‘ I n fact

,

’ she added , ‘ I think thatwould be much the best arrangement . You

could then take all your things with you


d irect to London . Dear me ' it wil l seem

q u i te strange when there are no more sittings.I bel ieve I shall really miss them .

’

Glyn ’s heart was too full for words . ‘ Hew ent on with his work without making anyresponse. The truth is , in the last week ortwo he had begun to real ize the insanityo f hav ing allowed his feel ings to become soi nvolved H is enthusiast ic admiration ofBlanche Venables had ripened to an absolute

passion , and when once passion obtains themastery , the wi ll becomes a slave .These long, del ic ious morning hours had

been too del ightful to Glyn,and any refer

ence to the t ime when all this must be givenup , and he must return to his old l ife, wasl ike a sudden shock . I t is true the yacht ingtrip to which he had looked forward wi thsuch del ight yet intervened between thepresent and the time of his departure, buteven that was but the beginning of the end ,a nd was no longer anticipated with unalloyed

p leasure .

Mrs. Courtenay Byng had defeatedF orbes ’s arrangements , after al l . S ibyl had



D’

Eyncourt was better again—in fact,a lmost well , except that his arm was st i ll in asl ing. He passed most of the day on theterrace, reading the papers and smokingc igarettes . The sittings were a nu isance toD

’

Eyncourt. He was a man who l iked tobe in the th ick of everything, to make h imself the centre of attraction

,and to see people

-especial ly the fair sex’

-bow down andworship , not only his beauty, but h is cleverness . To be shut out from the paintingroom and the soc iety of two of the threewomen Who were now at Lupton—for hissister and the other guests had departedwas a spec ies of ban ishment which galledh im

,although it d id last for only two hours

in the morning.

Several people had seen the picture, whichw as now fairly advanced , and all spokeh ighly of its merit . Glyn had representedh is s itter in the l ight morning dress in wh ichhe had first seen her. She was lean ingforward, w ith her hand thrown easily

'

across

h er knees, and with her hat hanging carel essly from the hand, as if she had just come

Sib ’s Secret 159

in from a stroll . I t was certainly a charmingpicture, the best Glyn had done, they said .

D’

Eyncourt, who was supposed to be a greatauthority in these matters

,was loude st of all

in its praise, and thereby won a sl ice of gratitude from Blanche

,who was most anxious ,

for the artist ’s sake, that the picture shouldbe a success . I t might be ungrateful ofGlyn , but he mistrusted D

’

Eyncourt’

s praise.There was a suspicion of a motive about it ,he thought.The truth is

,Forbes ’s information with

regard to Blanche ’s engagement st il l rankledin his breast

,and caused him many uncom

fortab le thoughts . He had asked Forbeswhether Blanche had appeared very fond ofD

’

Eyncourt, and that young gentleman’s

reply had troubled him sorely.

‘I don ’t think I ever saw a girl so com

pletely over head and ears in love ,’ Forbes

had said.

‘I used to keep out of their wayalways ; not to play gooseberry, don

’

t you

know.

’

‘Breaking i t off must have been a hard

trial to her,’ answered Glyn .


‘Awful ly hard , I should say. That f was

the reason they went abroad, I fancy.

’

But,after al l , what right had Glyn to feel

hurt that th is girl had loved so deeply ' Hehad no definite hope of winn ing her himself,the thought was insanity b i it, then , we haveal l of us been more or less insane in loveaffairs at some t ime or other. Possibly somevague hope, a hope that had not yet shapedi tself even to his thoughts , flitted across hismind now and then in connection with thefuture

,but he scarcely dared to dwell on i t .

And then this renewed intercourse betweenthe parted lovers , and thei r intimacy . Whatm ight i t not lead to ' Cons idering allthings

,therefore , G lyn was very glad indeed

that the Captain was not to be one of theyachting-party .

‘Where can S ibyl be '’ said Blanche,as

she took her place for the last sitt ing on theday previous to the ir departure. ‘She hasnever failed us before. ’

‘I th ink I saw her w ith her hat on,cross

ing the terrace just now . She looked asif she were go ing for a walk.

’



other s ide . He st i ll claimed the priv ilegesof an inval id

,for his right arm was in a sl ing.

He passed his un injured one round her waistand drew her towards h im .

Do you really mean that , George '’ she

asked .

The words had passed from his reco llec

tion already .

Mean what '’ he said .

‘That I am nearest your heart . ’

Mean it ' of course. Why should youdoubt me '’

‘ I don ’t know ,

’

She answered , dropp ingher eyes to the long grass , where

'

a glossygreen beetle in its onward path was struggl ingwith the slender blades ; ‘I have been filledwith al l sorts‘ of sad thoughts lately . I don ’tthink you -appreciate the pos it ion in wh ichyou place me, or what I have to endure .

’

You know I can ’t help myself. ’

I try to think so but it seems to me thatany sacrifice would be better than this , and-and that you would think so , i f you reallyloved me. ’

Doubting me again '’ D ’

Eyncourt said

Sib ’s Secret 163

half angri ly, as he allowed the pressure of hisarm to relax .

‘I wonder when you willlearn to bel ieve in me. ’

‘Oh , George '’ she answered , turning sud

denly, and laying her face on his shoulder, asShe looked up into his eyes . ‘You know inmy heart of hearts I do bel ieve in you . Todoubt you really would break my heart . Butit is such a hard trial to undergo—al l th isconcealment and deceit . ’

‘I s i t so very hard to endure it for mysake '’ he asked in a softer tone .

Yes , even for your sake . I t is so againstmy nature. I t seems to have changed myvery l ife. Even Blanche , sweet as she is ,looks upon me at times with suspicion ; and—I am so wretchedly unhappy '’ she said ,with a sudd en burst of feel ing .

‘But why need you be ' I t is only for ashort time. ’

How can you be sure of that '’

‘Well,in the natural course of things . You

know well enough,i f my uncle had the least

suspicion that I intended to marry a girlwithout a penny

,I should never see a brass


farthing of eight thousand a year. You know ,

moreover,that he especially w ishes me to

marry Blanche . ’

Sibyl drew herself away w ith a sudden

motion .

‘I wish we had never,never met '’ she

said .

H er l ips were qu ivering with suppressedfeel ing. She clasped her hands in front ofher

,and sat gaz ing into the depths of the

flowery wood .

How can you say that, S ib I t is unfai rto you rself—to me. ’She went on

,without heed ing h is words

George,I don ’t know what would happen

if ever you married B lanche. ’

But I never shall marry Blanche. ’

‘Are you quite su re '’

Quite sure .

’

She went on dreamingly st il l‘What a happy girl I was before I met youat the Fortescues’ ' I don ’t think I had acare, and deceit was a thing unknown to me .Oh 'why did you come between me and sucha peaceful girlhood '’



took her other hand in his . She d id'

not

w ithdraw it,but it did not change her look.

‘But this l ittle flower attracted me morethan al l the rest ,

’ he said .

But w i l l i t always do so '’

‘Always . ’

‘You th ink so now , perhaps , but the ideahaunts me that by-and-by may come a timewhen I shal l be cast aside l ike the othersall except B lanche

,perhaps . ’

H e made a movement of impatience.‘Always harping on the same string,

’ hesaid . S ib

,it is awfully unkind of you .

’

I s i t she answered qu ietly .

D’

Eyncourt was skilled in the workings ofthe female heart. He had graduated in theschool of fl irtat ion . He had made womenunhappy for l ife merely for the pleasure ofthe passing t ime—for the mere exc itement ofconquest. He passed h is arm once moreround the girl ’s waist, and drew her towardshim.

‘ I t is too bad of you to be so cross andscept ical , cons idering my crippled condition ,S ib.

’

Sib ’s Secret 167

In an instant she had turned to him with alook of tenderness in her eyes

,and clung to

him as if to entreat forgiveness. Then theirl ips met , and for the moment all her doubtswere banished. At length she drew herselfaway , but D

’

Eyncourt saw that he had gainedhis point.

‘Oh, George '’ she exclaimed in an almost

despairing voice , ‘ I cannot resist your love,do what I will . I t would break my heart togive you up .

’

Have you thought of doing so , S ib‘I don ’t know what I have thought. Ihave felt almost out of my senses at times,when some doubt of you has crossed mym ind I feel that there is so l ittle in me, sovery l ittle to attract a man like you . Sometimes when I see you beside women so muchmore attract ive than I can ever be , I cannotbel ieve it possible that I have really wonyour love . I t is l ittle wonder if doubts sometimes cross my mind.

’

‘Try and banish them now , at all events .We must part to-morrow

,perhaps for a long

time . Don ’t let us mar the happiness of this


last day by any d isagreeable thoughts ’ orwords . ’

I f you would only let me tell Blanche . ’

Not for the world exc laimed D ’

Eyncou rt

in sudden alarm . I n the first place , it wouldbe a very bad compl iment to her to thinkthat I had so soon consoled myself ; and , inthe next place , the secret . once out of yourown keeping, you don

’t know what m ighthappenf

The girl s ighed again,but she was utterly

without the power of resistance in the presenceof this man . He wound his arms about heronce more, and in the intoxicat ion of themoment all fears and doubt ings againvan ished. Yet when D ’

Eyncourt saw howlove possessed her , soul and body , he almostshrank from the thought of the pass ion hehad invoked , and dreaded to think whatm ight happen if th is girl ever saw him as hereally was.

An hour later S ibyl entered the paint ingroom , looking radiantly happy, and with aflu sh on her usually pale cheeks .

‘Why have you deserted us this morn



idea, and as she had another v isit to pay inthe neighbourhood , she thought it would bewiser to depart , at least for a few days butshe had returned in ample time for the yachtingtrip .

And so it came about that on one lovelymorning , when the sky was bright above , anda fresh breeze was ruffling the leaves of thebeeches

,they all departed for Southampton ,

where they found the M ayfly w i th her hugemainsai l already hoisted and her anchorapeak ; and before sundown they were runn ing

,with the wind abeam , down past the

N eedles , which lay bathed in the even ingsunset

,while the yacht ’s stem pointed toward s

a glory of golden l ight , which seemed to Glynto symbol ize the very acme of human happ i

ness .

CHAPTER X I I I.

A T TH E LAN D ’ S E N D .

‘HAUL up the tack of the mainsail,Gibbs

,

and get the foresai l o ff her. We ’l l bring upa little further on .

’

L ike all ardent yachtsmen,Forbes l iked

,

whenever pract icable , to steer his vessel himself. He kept a steady hand on the til ler asthe M ayfly , with a breeze from the nor

’-west

,

stood well into Mount ’s Bay . Penzance wasbefore them , glittering in the beams of themorning sun , for they had run down fromFalmouth during the night , and all the partywere now gathered on deck to watch themarvellous beauty of the scene around .

The V iew was indeed lovely . Old St .Michael ’s Mount

,with its stern rocks and


hoary castle, rose grandly up to the right.I n front were the quays and houses ofPenzance

,backed by the woods of Madron ,

and the purple hill of Castle an D inas . Tothe left lay the quaint old town of Newlyn 'theSchool of Newlyn yet unthought of', itsstrand al ive with a busy multitude who werelanding large quantit ies -o f hake from thefishing

-boats,which lay W ith their brown

sails fluttering in the breeze just off the quay .

Behind New lyn a steep slope of meadowlandrose up to the gray tower of S t . Paul , whichstood out i n C lear rel ief against the exqu is itefiligree of cloud in the western sky.

Hard down, s ir,’ said Gibbs

,the veteran

sail ing-master. ‘We’l l bring her up here.We’re quite Close enough in .

’

Forbes j ammed the t iller hard down . The

yacht rounded gracefully up into the wind ,the anchor flashed into the sea. The vesselforged ahead a l ittle unt i l she felt the strainof the cable, and then , w ith a fluttering mainsai l

,fel l back and lay l ike a bird at rest

on the placid waters of the bay.

By Jove'

'it i s a lovely place ,’ said Forbes

,



l ike of which is not to be seen elsewhere on allthe weather-beaten Western coast.F irst a few straggl ing cottages built ofhuge masses of granite strong enough to defyeven the Atlantic gales. Beyond these awide uncultivated tract of short grass andgray boulders

,interspersed with patches of

hardy ferns and stunted heather. The hoarl ichens of a thousand years lay on theseboulders , wh itening them as if w ith age.Beyond the brink , where the plain droppedsuddenly to the sea, lay a vast expanse ofblue heav ing water, i ts surface flecked by' wh ite horses,

’ wh ich , driven by the increasing gale , swept grandly on towards the savagerocks of the Land ’s End itself. A m ile ortwo from the shore the Longships L ighthousereared itself aloft amid a circle of wh ite foam

,

and far away on the d im horizon the faintforms of the Scilly I sles lay l ike specks ofgray cloud. Overhead the sky spread broadand blue, with here and there a few massesof cloud-wrack scudding hurriedly across theclear e xpanse , l ike heralds of the cominggale.

At the Land ’

s End 175

Glyn was in a seventh heaven of del ight .He had never before looked on such a sceneas this . He tempted Blanche out to the

furthest promontory , the veritable Land’s

End , and there, behind a sheltering rock ,they sat watching the ‘hell of waters below

,

with that keen rel ish which is intensified byclose artist ic observation . The stiff breezehad increased to half a gale

,and the waves

,

as clear and bright as emeralds,came rush

ing in with a deafening roar upon the rocksbeneath .

Forbes distinctly decl ined any participationin the rock-cl imbing

,and Mrs . Byng did not

seem in the humour for it at present . Sir

Percy sat in qu iet enjoyment of his cigar atthe window of the hotel . I t had come to besuch a recognised thing for Glyn and Blancheto be together in these excursions that nobodythought of interfering. Not that Mrs . Byngapproved

,only she did not see her way to

altering the arrangement so long as Sir

Percy did not object. The Baronet , l ikemost parents

, was bl ind to any danger whichm ight arise from the close intercourse of the


two young people , and never gave the’

subject

a thought .For all that, there was danger even to

Blanche. Glyn was for ever by her s ide ,a nt icipating her every w ish , m inistering toevery want

,and in a thousand l ittle ways

,

such as love only can prompt , adding to the

p leasure of her existence. Woman-l ike, shereceived these attent ions as a matter ofc ourse , without paus ing to analyze thef eel ings wh ich prompted them . Glynstrewed her ‘ pathway with flowers. Whyhe did so , or how that pathway would lookw ithou t the flowers , she had not yet pausedto consider.

I am so delighted that M r. Forbes thoughto f this trip ,

’ she said . I never enjoyed anything so much . I think you are enjoy ing it

,

too .

’

Enj oy ing it '’ Glyn exclaimed . Then hestopped abruptly. Some words were on hisl ips which he would have probably regretted .

Blanche looked at him in surprise. Hee nded tamely I should have l ittle sense ofthe beaut ifu l if I did not enjoy this. There



‘Pray don ’t stretch over too far '’ said

B lanche,a l ittle nervously .

‘Had we not

better go back to the others '’

‘Ah sighed G lyn , turning suddenly toh is companion

,that ’s just the one thing that

troubles me—going back. We have hadthree weeks of this happ iness, three weeksof perpetual sunsh ine ; we have reached theculm inating point, the Ultima Thule, add sowe must go back . I n another week or so Ishall be leavmg you , and on my way toLondon alone . ’

‘You forget ' I t was arranged you wereto stay w ith us for a time to give the fin ishingtouches to the picture. ’

No , I had not forgotten that .’

‘And,

’ continued B lanche, ‘I have anotherproject in store. You confided in me so faras to tel l me your l i fe had been a hardstruggle. W i ll you forgive my asking if thisis the reason you have never been to Rome '’

‘I don ’t mind tel l ing you that it i s,’ said

G lyn frankly.

Wel l , then , will you let me smooth awaythat difficul ty I know my father adm ires

At the Land ’s End 179

your landscape very much . At a word fromme he would purchase it. Could you not , inthat case, treat yourself to a trip to Romenext winter ' We shall be there. ’

W i th any other person in the world Glyn ’spride would have risen straight up onend . He could not feel this with Blanche .Besides , the last four words would , in anycase, have conquered him . To be able tocarry out the dream of his l ife , and to do itin the company of this fair girl , who wasdearer to him than all the world—thethought was E lys ium .

I do bel ieve you are my good angel heexclaimed fervently .

Blanche laughed .

‘Oh no , I am not—only your very goodfriend ,

’ she said .

‘ I am sure you deservefar more for all your kindness and attentionto me . And that prompts me to say what Ihave had in my mind for some time. Youalways speak as if you were the only personwho has derived any pleasure or benefit fromour intercourse this is hardly fair to yourself. ’

But I cannot understand how it is possible


that you have benefited in any way,’

saidmodest Glyn .

‘You cannot ' bu t I assure you I have .

I t is not only the pleasure you have-

givenme in seeing and watching your work , but ithas been a kind ofa wakening of art instinctsw ith in me. You know , from our many con ;

versations, that I have always fel t a keeninterest in the l ives of the old painters and intheir finest works , but I knew next to nothingof the art of to-day—o f the methods and aims

of l iv ing artists . Of course it is ‘contem

porary art wh ich should interest us most.You have given me a new interest in l ife.

’

‘You make me very happy by saying so ,’

Glyn answered .

Somehow,’ Blanche went on

,

‘the peoplewith whom I have been associated all my

l ife—people of education,too—know very

l ittle, and feel very little, about art. Thethought of the vast amount of pleasure andprofit to be der ived from it neve r seems tocross their m inds . With the men i t is allhorses and dogs with the women

,balls and

gossip . There has always been an inner



‘Well,then

, we will agree that we havebeen useful to each other. That is a verypleasant thought. But , in addition to al l thisinterchange of thought , think how much we

owe you for your help at the time of theacc ident . I am afraid Capta in D

’

Eyncourt

is not half sufficiently grateful for all you d idfor him .

’

Pray say no more abou t that,’ answered

Glyn .

‘ I merely did what any other manw ith a spark of feel ing would have done. ’

‘Wel l, we will not argue about

' i t ,’ said

B lanche.How glorious al l this is '’ she suddenly

exclaimed,looking over the vast stretch of

sea to where the white foam curled aroundthe rocks upon which stood the LongshipsL ighthouse. Fancy being shut up amidthe chimneys of London at such a time as

this , as so many people are—from choice '’

She broke into a si lvery laugh at the bareidea of such a thing . Ev idently she wasvery happy . Glyn noted this with a secretsat isfaction which was new to him .

‘ I have m ore than once been wondering

At the Land ’

s End 183

how i t was that I found you Spending thesummer at home instead of in London

,

’ hesaid . Do you despise a season in town '’

‘ I had two or three of them after I waspresented

,but I could not stand them any

longer. The utter weariness of it was un

endurable,and my father is always only too

anxious to get away . I t passes my comprehension how women can go on

,day after

day,night after night , thinking of nothing

but balls and receptions,to which they go

chiefly to see and be seen . I t is bad enoughwith the young, but to see the old dressed todeath and trying to look young, going thesame round day after day, hardly able , someof them

,to drag one foot after another—it is

simply horrible‘U se is second nature , I suppose,

’ said

Glyn .

‘Oh,they have no souls above it. They

have been brought up to it , and they continne in the same groove. But, goodheavens ' what a miss ion for a woman .

Happily,some break away nowadays and

settle down to useful work for the good of


the ir fellow-creatures . After al l , I sti ppose

i t is a matter of educat ion . They do astheir mothers did before them , and theirgrandmothers before that. But don ’

t’

let us

talk of it ; i t seems desecration even tothink of such things in the m idst of all th islovel iness . And al l this time we’re forgett ingthe Roman project. I suppose I may consider it settled

,then , and you wi ll go .

’

‘You don ’t know how happy you havemade me

,

’ said Glyn.

‘Instead of lookingforward to a dreaded W inter, it seems as if anew l i fe were Opening to me . ’

Are you two ever coming back '’ shoutedForbes , from what in relat ion to the promontory they were on m ight be consideredthe mainland ;

‘Our host is becoming impat ient,

’ said

B lanche laughingly. I think we had bettergo.’

She put her hand into G lyn ’s confid ingly,

and they cl imbed together over the gran iterocks and up the grassy slope

,on which the

sun lay bright and warm .

Glyn left his companion with Forbes and


CHAPTER X IV.

TH E W i Dow’

s F R EA' .

G L VN did not retrace h is steps for half anhour

,and Forbes availed himself of the

opportunity thus afforded to pass a few

coveted moments with Blanche , though ,w ith his usual unselfishness and modesty,he was th inking al l the time that he wasboring her

,and that she would far rather be

w ith Glyn ‘ or some more congenial compan ion . The widow had also disappeared

soon after Glyn ’s departure. They thoughtshe had returned to S ir Percy .

‘ I declare there is M rs . Byng gettingd own the rocks w ith M r. Beverley,

’ Blancheexclaimed, as she and Forbes wended theirway back to the hotel , after a short rambletowards Sennen Cove.

The Widow ’

s Freak 187

‘By Jove 'so She is ,’ answered Forbes in

amazement. ‘Doosid odd , you know ' Shevowed that nothing would induce her to goout to the furthest point where you andBeverley were . She ’s awfully inconsistent.They ’ l l both break their necks if they getdown there. ’

I ndeed the place had a perilous look.

Immediately in front of the hotel the magnificent granite rocks dropped abruptly to thesea some three hundred feet below . Thesemasses

,all square and gray and rugged

,were

piled one upon another l ike a gigant ic staircase fit for the Cyclopes of old . Glyn hadtaken it into his head to scramble downthese rocks so as to get as near the roar ofwaters below as the nature of the coastwould permit . Much to his amazement , justas he was swinging himself from the highestledge the widow ’s voice reached his ear.

‘Mr. Beverley , will you take me withyou '’

Glyn looked up .

‘Why,Mrs . Byng ,

’ he said , ‘ I had nonotion you were near. You don ’t mean to


say you wish to go down these rocks ' Ithought you were horribly nervous. ’

‘Oh yes,with M r. Forbes , naturally ' He

is so unwieldy and awkward . I ’m not a bitafraid

,really. At least , not with you

The empmssement thrown into the lastwords was not lost on Glyn

,but it failed in its

effect. He was not as a rule ungallant, buton this occasion he certainly felt that thesolitary scramble he had anticipated wouldbe spoiled by hav ing to look after the somewhat helpless widow . He tried to ' dissuadeher from going.

‘The rocks are very steep,Mrs. Byng.

See , I have to let myself down s ix or sevenfeet at the first go off. You will never beable to manage it . ’

Yes but here is a better way to the left-quite an easy slope of grass . Oh

,I must

go ' I am not in the least afraid ; and th isair is so exhilarating it makes one feel capableof anything .

’

Come along, then ,’ said Glyn , who saw

that ‘ opposit ion was useless . Let us seewhat you can do .

’



disturbed without the imputation o f Cowardice.Really , I think you had better let me take

you back,’ said Glyn , as they stood

' at theedge of a perpendicular rock , from wh ichthere was a drop of some five or s ix feet tothe one below .

‘There is hardly a footholdbetween this and the nex t, and a sl ip mightbe perilous. ’

‘I shal l go on , M r . Beverley , whether youhelp me or not said the determ ined l ittle

W idow.

‘ I have made up my mind to getdown to that ledge yonder, close to the sea,and when I have once made up my mindnoth ing turns me. ’

A t this moment, the vo ice of Forbes washeard from the heights above.

‘Beverley, Beverley , don’t go any lower '

You ’ll get into an awful mess , don’t you

know .

’

‘We ’re al l right so far,’ shouted Glyn in

reply .

‘ I am try ing to persuade M rs . Byngto come back.

’

‘And Mrs . Byngw ill do noth ing of the kind ,’

said the w idow quietly , and thereupon she sud

The Widow ’

s Freak 19 1

d enly sprang down to a lower ledge beforeGlyn could ant icipate her, or offer any help .

He was annoyed at her obstinacy .

‘You will really get into difficulties if youdon’t mind ,

’ he said ; but the widow on lylaughed the louder.What possessed the woman ' G lyn hadnever before seen her so flushed and excited .

He felt that al l his energies would be taxedto keep her from gett ing into real danger.They had to turn an angle of rock whichhid them from the v iew of anyone on theheights above . I t occurred to Glyn thatBlanche would be in a great state of anxietyabout her friend , and he said so .

Oh no ' She is quite accustomed to myeccentricities ’ said the W idow.

‘Besides , sheknows I am In good hands . ’

‘But you are not in my hands '’ remonstrated Glyn .

‘ I f you will go on, I decl inethe responsibil ity.

’

‘Then I wi ll go on my own ,’ cried the

widow,laughing again .

‘See , i t is as easy aspossible. I f you don ’t come on , I shal lpositively think you are afraid .

’


Glyn found it useless to protest. Theo nly thing , therefore, was to make the best ofi t. He had already concluded that h is compan ion ’s l ittle nervous fits were sheeraffectation . When it suited her, she had no lacko f pluck and energy .

‘At least,let me go first , M rs . Byng.

Y ou may sprain‘ your ankle in one’ of those

j umps, i f you won’t accept help .

’

Mrs . Byng had no object ion to th isa rrangement. The s ituation was dec idedlyromant ic . Their progress downward obl iged

the l ittle widow to pu t herself i n various

p ositions , which displayed her well-roundedfigure to the utmost advantage. She was

qu ite conscious of the fact, and did not i nthe least object to it .I n Spite of himself, G lyn could not help

a dmiring her pluck and perseverance . She

gave him very l ittle trouble even in the mostd ifficult places .Presently they reached the l owest attain

a ble point—a huge platform of rock,some

fi fty feet above the swirl ing waves . Theyc ould hardly draw breath , for the strong salt



bold,bare rocks , denuded even of l ichens at

this point,rose up l ike the bast ions of a

m ighty fortress sheer from base to summ it .The crann ies and ledges wh ich had helpedtheir descent were invisible from the effectsof foreshortening.

~ There really seemed nopract icable route . The widow ’s eye followedGlyn ’s glance , and then , to his horror, hesaw her turn qu ite white .I cannot go back ,

’ she said faintly.

Her nerve seemed suddenly to desert her.G lyn was seriously alarmed , but he put agood face on the matter.

‘Oh yes , you can ,’ he said . I t is not half

as difficult as it looks . Not a quarter asdifficult as it was com ing down .

’

‘But I didn ’t real ize it then . I t looksperfectly frightful '’ was the answer

,which

struck Glyn with fresh dismay .

L e‘t ‘us begin at once,’ he said . I t must

be done. ’

Not a word did the widow say . Shea l lowed herself to be led passively to the sorto f m iniature ckemz

’

ne’

e by which they hadreached the ' lowest point.

T he Widow ’

s Freak 195

‘Now , i f you will lay hold of my hand , Iwill pull you up

,

’ said Glyn .

She placed her hand in his . Glyn plantedhimself firmly on the slope of rock , holdingthe widow with his left hand and steady inghimself with the right. Then he managedto scramble up

,dragging his compan ion after

him .

They were over the first difficulty and ona safe ledge

,but suddenly Glyn felt his com

panion ’s hold relax,and the next moment

she sank down on the ledge , utterly helpless .

‘Mrs . Byng , for Heaven’s sake do not

give way '’ cried Glyn .

‘J ust one effort weshall soon be over the difficul t part '’

But there was no answer.Seriously alarmed

,Glyn knelt down beside

her and l ifted her head on to his arm .

Then her eyes opened,and she looked up

into his.She seemed in no way disconcerted . Thecolour had come back to her cheek , and herl ips were a l ittle parted , showing a row ofvery perfect pearls within .


The faint looked uncommonly l ike anart ifice .

I t was a trying moment for Glyn,as i t

would have been to any man,for ev idently

the w idow was very much in love with h im ,

and he was by no means prepared to be madelove to whether he l iked i t or not.



1

‘You will never betray me, M r. Beverley 'Promise me that '’

You cannot suppose me capable of suchmeanness

,M rs. Byng,

’ he answered coldly .

‘ I do not,

’ she said.

‘ I bel ieve you arean exception to the rule. I know how aptmen are to mal ign us when they get together.After al l

,it was my own weakness that brought

it on me, and I quite deserve to suffer.’

The w idow put on a look of affected penitence which was intended to el ic i t sympathy

,

but it was lost on Glyn , who was' staring

straight up the slope to where Blanche stood.

I think we had better say no more aboutit,

’ he answered quietly , and the next momentth ey rejoined their friends.

The notion of going back lost half itsterrors under the changed circumstances . Theproposed trip to Rome was a thing to lookforward to, and th is thought kept Glyn fromfall ing into those fits of despond ency wh ichw ill at t imes fasten upon all aesthetical natures.

Besides , m ight he not , with the advantagesthat were now open ing to him

,eventually

At St. M i chael ’sM ount 199

w in a name which might justify his evenaspiring to the hand of the woman he lovedThe thought thri lled him . He was firedwith an ambition which burned l ike new l i fewithin him . Fresh projects floated throughhis mind l ike inspirations . He would work ,work , work , as he had never worked before,to Show mankind what prodigies of art canspring from fervent love . Dreams 'dreams 'Who has not indulged in them ' but howoften are they real ized ' How Fate steps inwith her unrelenting fingers and quietly putsaside our most cherished plans

,While we can

only stand helplessly by and see our house ofcards

,built with such anxious fingers , lying in

hopeless ruin on the ground 'They were to leave Penzance on theirreturn trip the next morning , but this t imeNature stepped in , and there was no gainsaying her edict . I t began to blow from thesouth-west during the night, rain and w indcame up in fierce gusts and beat the windowsof the hotel

,Where they were located , wi th a

force which threatened to drive in the panes .The sky had cleared somewhat in the morn


ing,the w ind had shifted a point or two ,

f but

blew more fiercely than ever, and the sea wasa mass of white, raging foam for half a mileoutward from the beach . The yacht hadtaken shelter in the harbour, or she mustinev i tably have gone to pieces on the rocksduring the n ight. Not a sail was visible inthe offing , but here and there a Newlynfishing

-boat with close-reefed lug-sai l m ightbe seen struggl ing onward towards theharbour ; the weather being too w i ld for theanchorage under Newlyn heights .

‘What fun it would be to walk to S t.Michael ’s Mount i n this storm ' Who willvolunteer '’ said B lanche as they watchedthe wild waste of waters from the hotelwindow .

‘Why , you would simply be blown away,’

said M rs . Byng .

‘You couldn ’t stand up against the gale,

don ’t you know ,

’ said Forbes .‘Pack of nonsense ' Going out in suchweather as this '’ said S ir Percy .

Wherefore,papa'’ rejoined Blanche archly.

‘I t’s not - raining a bit,and who cares for a



But, then, Glyn thought each new aspectunder which he saw her was the prett iest,a nd who can blame him , seeing how deeplyhe was in love

‘ I t would have been a thousand pities tohave gone back without seeing the Mount,

’

said Blanche , as they paused a moment forbreath under a friendly sand-bank .

‘ I quite agree with you,’ G lyn answered.

I am much m istaken i f we do not find it themost interest ing part of our trip . Any way,i t recalls one ’s youthful days . I t. was thehome of G iant Cormoran

,you know .

’

‘Yes , but the story says he used to wadeover to the mainland. He might have savedh imself the trouble

,for there appears to be a

very substan tial causeway connecting theMount with the shore . ’

Luckily for us there is,but it is only dry

at low-water. At high-t ide all that is covered .

Cormoran must have been too impatient towait for the tides and preferred a wetting. Iwonder where the pit was that

’

Jack dug forh im . I t is an odd sensation to find one ’s selfa ctually in

,a spot so closely associated with

At St. M i chae l ’sM ount 203

the romance o f childhood. I n those far-offdays St . Michael ’s Mount seemed to me tobelong almost to another world .

’

‘And the idea of v is i t ing i t would haveseemed a fairy dream .

’

‘Precisely ; but I am incl ined to think itwill be a sort of fairy dream even now . Dolook at those steep slopes of velvet turf onthe landward side

,and the cold gray rocks ,

standing out l ike huge bast ions to seaward ,and that crumbling old castle perched on thesummit . What a wild , weather-beaten lookit hasThey were cross ing the rocky causewaynow , and the old Mount , so pregnant withmemories of the past

,was right before them .

Soon the harbour and the compact l i ttlehamlet at the foot of the Mountwere reached ,and

,passing through the narrow gateway

in the wall , Glyn and his companion stoodat length upon the slopes of the Mounti tself.The weather had brightened wonderfully.The storm had swept the clouds from thesapphire floor of heaven , and a vault of pure,


bright blue spread broad above. Only'

a fewtorn clouds sped rap idly across the sky

,l ike

stragglers from an army hastening‘

to comeup with the main body. The shadows fromthese stragglers flitted rap idly over the Mount ,with an al ternating play of l ight and shadewhich added a new charm to its manifoldbeauties . Castle and rock and velvet turfsank into shadow or stood out in bold rel iefas rapidly as the changes of a kaleidoscope.Here is the old causeway leading up to

the castle,

’

Said Glyn ; rugged and rockyand steep as it was in the days of P tolemy ,when the enterprising merchants of thosedays used to come hither for t in , and introd uced the luxury of clotted cream to theCornishmen of old .

’

Do you mean Devonshire cream '’

Yes, b ut i t is high treason , I am told , to

cal l it Devonshire cream in Cornwall . TheCornish folks had it from the Phoen ic ians . ’

I s that real ly true‘So tradit ion says , but I won

’t be re

sponsible for all tradit ion says . I bel ieve,

however,it is a fact that cream is prepared in



The Land ’s End was not better thanth is

,

’ said G lyn .

‘What a glorious day ithas turned out ' I think i t is the mostenchanting spot I was ever in .

’

And then he thought it was the veryhapp iest day he had ever known , for whathappiness could be greater to an enthusiast icm ind than to stand upon such a spot in suchsweet companionship ' Enthusiasm got thebetter of discret ion . He spoke again, th ist ime with more fervour.How can I ever repay you for al l the

pleasure you have g iven me What a blankthe future wil l seem without youThe instant the words had passed h is l ipshe felt that he had comm itted a fatal error.Blanche was lean ing out over the low battlemented wall , with her head partly turnedfrom him. She gave a sl ight start as thewords were uttered, and turned suddenly , soas to h ide her face from h im . There was aconstrained si lence for a moment or two ,

during wh ich the monotonous thunder-crashesof the waves on the rocks below seemed tocome up w ith appall ing d ist inctness .

At St. M ichae l ’sM ount 207

Then suddenly, and as if Glyn’s words had

not reached her,Blanche spoke

Let us go up to the castle itself. We

have a good deal to see yet, and the time ispassing quickly.

’

The tone was so unconstrained that for amoment Glyn thought i t possible his unluckyspeech had not been heard . He ferventlyprayed that it might be so, though it washardly conceivable. At any rate

,there was

no change in his companion ’s manner,and

when their eyes next met , hers at least wereas calm as usual .So together they wandered on through theold castle , and looked at the ancient armour,and the B lack Jack , and the old tables andchairs in the banqueting-hall , which saidchairs had borne the weight of successiveguests at that goodly board ‘for full fivehundred years . ’ Then they went down intothe dungeon below the chapel , and up the

narrow stairway of the tower to the stormbeaten battlements ; and then Glyn 'notw ithout a somewhat faltering ‘Take carefrom his companion'wriggled himself into


S t. Michael ’s chair, and sat with his’

legs

d angl ing over the giddy depths of rock and

sea below .

And the day increased in sunshine,and

the wind died out , and a great calm fel l uponthe face of Nature , broken only by the long

h eave of the waves and the dull thunder ofthe surf. And later, when they had againd escended to the ' shore , and Glyn had

,to

some extent, forgotten his incaut ious speech,a happ iness filled his heart -born of theb right day and the wondrous beauty of thescene—such as he had never known beforein all this novel a nd del ightful intercourse .And B lanche seemed happy too

,for

,whether

she had heard his words or not , by no wordo r sign d id she convey to her companion theleast notion of anger or annoyance. And so

,

l ike al l fairest dreams , the hours sl ipped by,n ever to return , and that bright morningc ame to an end .

I dare say we have all experienced the factthat the blackest misery too often follows ono ur brightest j oys . I s it the compensat ingb alance of fate, that must either maintain a


CHAPTER XVI .

RU IN .

UNDERWOOD ,BAGSHOT, AND Co. had gone all

to smash .

To put i t in a few words, that was thenews that greeted G lyn on his arrival i ntown . The news was appall ing enough , forh is mother ’s smal l fortune had gone withthem .

I n an em'moment, l ike too many otherco nfid ing mortals , she had been induced toplace the whole of her money , of wh ichshe had entire control

,in the hands of th is

renowned firm . The idea of any risk wasthe last thing that troubled her. Underwood, Bagshot, and Co . were as safe asthe Bank of England . To breathe a doubt

2 1 1

of their stabil i ty was tantamount to hightreason . A man would have been deemed arav ing maniac to have hinted at such a thing ,and in proportion to the confidence of 'thepubl ic was the widespread ruin and desolationwhich followed their fall .I t is no wonder Mrs . Beverley was seriouslyill . Her ruin was so complete that she hadl iterally nothing to look forward to in thefuture . She was too old and too enfeebledto work. She had always been del icate , andthis shock had completely robbed her of thesmall amount of energy she had beforeenjoyed . She knew the difficulty thatwomen have in finding any respectable employment

,so she had l ittle hope of any help

from her daughter. Glyn , therefore , was heronly resource ; and the thought of being aburden on him at the outset of his careertroubled her sorely. But this was all she

had to look to .

‘Never mind,mother

,

’ he said , as he satby her bedside the evening of his arrivalin town .

‘Worse things than this havehappened

,and we must strive to make the

2 12 When Leaveswere Green

best of it. You mustn ’t let it weigh youdown,

for that will not mend matters . ’

H is own heart sank , nevertheless , althoughhe would not let i t be seen . The blow tohim was sudden and severe . The Changefrom the brightness of the last few weeksfrom the heaven of sunshine in which hehad l ived and moved and had h is being—toth is home-l ife in gloomy London was in itselfbad enough

,but the sudden and fatal stroke

of fortune wh ich had prostrated his mothermade it additional ly hard to bear.And yet in

'

some mysterious way this verycalam ity became in one sense a rel ief, for theCons ideration of ways and means for thefuture kept him from dwell ing too constantlyon the thought of his separation from Blanche .He must s ink all thought of self

,at least for

the present . Others were dependent on h imnow . He did not fl inch from the thought

,

but he knew that, labour as he might, it mustneeds be a long time before he could hope tosurmount the difficulties that were suddenlythrown in his path .

Of course the trip to Rome must be g iven



concluded,it was better to d ismiss the matter

from their thoughts altogether for i f a hopewere indu lged in one week , it was su re to bedispelled the next.

‘We ’l l th ink no more about the wretchedconcern

,mother

,

’ he said . I f anythingshould come from the wreck in the future, al lwell and good b‘ut for the present i t is betterto make up our minds to rely on ourselvesalone . Thank God , I have got a fai r startnow ,

and some k ind friends ; and perhapscommissions Will come tumbl ing ' in much

faster than we anticipate .

’

The l ittle house at Brompton was givenup, and lodg ings were found near Glyn

’sstudio , wh ich was in the old-fashioned districtof Blooms ry. Blanche Venables had

,of

course, been informed of the catastrophe , andthe consequent imposs ibil ity of Glyn ’s trip toRome . She had written a most kind andsympathetic letter. She regretted much thatthey would not have Glyn with them in Rome,but hoped for that pleasure another time .My father will be del ighted to take yourlandscape,

’ she wen t on to say ; ‘indeed, he

2 15

tells me he never intended to part with it ;so you must remember that it is purchasedquite independently of any idea of your goingto Rome with us, though I must confess Iam very , very sorry for your disappo intment.You must , however, look on the bright sideof th ings . W i th your talent , you are sure tosucceed , and rely upon it that both my fatherand myself will always take the greatestinterest in your welfare . We shall passthrough London on our way , and shall , ofcourse

,see you

,as we must come and inspect

my picture .Pray tel l Mrs . Beverley how very s incerely

I sympathize with her in her great trouble .How shameful it is of these people to bringruin on thousands in th is way ' I hope somuch to hear better accounts of her health .

I shall look forward with the greatest pleasureto seeing her and your sister when we cometo town .

’

This letter was a great relief to Glyn . Thesale of his landscape helped him through thedreary weeks of early winter. The lengthening days of the new year found him still hope


fully at work, stil l touch ing on his portrait ofB lanche

,and fil l ing up h is time with a few

pot-boilers wh ich an enterpris ing dealer tooko ff h is hands at a price calculated by the riskof investing in the works of a comparativelyunknown artist.



l oved with al l the strength of her young heartaman in every way worthy of her—one Whoseposi tion and prospects, moreover, were suchas to give them every reason to antic ipate ahappy future . On the very eve of theirmarriage he was s truck down by a fataldisease

,which carried him off in a few hours ,

and Kate Beverley was a changed woman.

The l ight had gone out of her l ife. Fromthe brightness of girlhood she changedsuddenly to the sadness of mature years .She bore the stroke bravely, but from thatt ime she had never known a joyous moment.Why such bitter strokes of fate are infl ictedon some while others , apparently less worthy,escape

,it is hard to say . I t i s one of those

th ings which remain to be unriddled by-and

‘H ow delighted I Shall be to see heragain '’ said Glyn . I can fin ish the p icturetoo. Fancy if it should be hung on the l ineI do bel ieve i t w ill make a sensat ion . Thepapers will notice i t. They generally takethe pictures on the l ine first . By Jove 'myfortune would be made .

’

Glyn pu ts aside h is Pal ette 2 19

I t is a lovely picture,Glyn but I would

not be so confident,dear. I f you build your

hopes on it too much , think how dreadfulthe disappointment will be if i t is not wellhungf

Oh , hang it , Kate ' I don’t wish to be con

ceited , but they must hang that well .’

He would not entertain the thought for amoment that his peerless Blanche Should be‘skyed .

’ Even supposing the picture to bedeficient in artistic skill

,the loveliness of the

face would preserve it from such a fate.On this point he could not be despondent .The few days that the Venables were in

town flitted by all too rapidly for Glyn .

B lanche gave him two or three s ittings , andthe finishing touches were put to the face theday before thei r departure for I taly. Thethought of thei r going without him was ab itter trial to Glyn

,but

,apart from his narrow

means , there were circumstances connectedwith his mother’s affairs which prevented hisleaving town . I ndeed

,he could not have

had the heart to leave her in her presentstate , even if he had had the money .


‘When I come back I shall find you qii itefamous ,

’ Blanche said,as the last sitt ing was

draw ing to a close .Kate, who usually did propriety duringthe s ittings

,had been called from the room ,

and Glyn and h is s itter were alone.‘I can hardly hope that ,

’ he answered .

‘But , at any rate, I shall have to thank youfor any cred it it may bring me. ’

‘ I do not adm it that. I t is your own

talent which will have brought about thehappy result. I f I had not sat , someone elsewould , and the end would have been achievedwithout my i ntervent ion .

’

Glyn burned to say that no other facecould have looked so lovely on canvas , buthe knew h is s itter hated flattery

,so he was

s ilent.You wi l l of course let us know your fate

at the Academy ,’ Blanche went on . I wil l

send you our address in Rome , and you mustwrite. ’

‘But you will be home long before thatt ime , will you not

‘We may not be. I t is probable my



hardly trust h imself to look towards her. Asudden hope darted through his mind-T—ahope so bright, so entranc ing, that i t sent athri l l through all his frame . H is hand shookso that he could hardly hold the brush . He

put down h is palette.‘I th ink that w il l do , Miss Venables,

’ hesaid .

H e s trove in vain to control his vo ice .H is l ips almost refused to shape the words .There was no response from h is S itter.He looked round in surprise. A great changehad come over her, a change that was quitestartl ing to G lyn , who had always thoughther so self-possessed. Her whole frameseemed to droop . Her elbow rested on thearm of the chair, and her hand was pressedtightly against her cheek , wh ich was deadlypale. Her eyes were gazing intently beforeher, w ith a look in them of indescribablepain .

The next moment conventional i ties werecast aside

,and G lyn was leaning over her

w i th quickened breath .

M issVenables—Blanche—tell me quickly'

Glyn puts aside h is Palette 223

Dare I hope it is the thought of this partingthat—thatHe stopped abruptly. I f he should bemistaken That thought came upon him l ike

a chill , and stopped his utterance.‘Oh

,do not speak to me '’ she said . I t

is folly—madness ' How can I be so weakHer head sank back upon the cushions ofthe chair. Her eyes were closed , but thel ids were quivering with suppressed emot ion .

Glyn could bear it no longer. He sankon his knee beside her chair, and took herhand in his . She did not attempt to withdraw it , and he went on in broken words

‘ I t is too late now to recall my words ,even if I could ,

’ he said .

‘I cannot let yougo without tell ing you how intensely dearyou are to me . You have been my very l ifefor the last few months . No words candescribe the happiness you have given me .

To lose you is l ike losing my l ife‘Oh , hush ' Do not speak to me so 'I cannot bear it ' she answered.

‘Mr.Beverley, this must not be. You do notknow the unhappiness i t would cause. Oh ,


forg ive me if I have given you pain ' Ihave been very weak and fool ish . I oughtto have foreseen and guarded against this ;but I could not bear the thought that ' all thehappiness I have felt in the last few monthswas sl ipping away from me, never to return .

If—if what you say is true, I have done youa cruel wrong.

’

She spoke through her tears , and G lyncould see by the qu ivering of her l ips howsevere was the struggle she was undergo ing.

Th is,and the thought of h is own misery,

was more than he could bear.Blanche, for Heaven

’s sake do not let me

feel ,that I have made you unhappy . You ,

for whom I would sacrifice my l i fe ' I neverdreamed that I should say such words toyou . I never dreamed that you would caneone jot for me. I dare not hope, I knowthe very thought , in my present poverty ,would be an insult to you .

’

‘Oh,no

,no '’ she brOke

'

in.

‘ I t is notthat. You do yourself an inju stice. I t ismy father. You do not know his thoughtsand hopes w ith regard to me . Oh , do not



the next moment he was holding her closelyto h is heart. For a few minutes there wass ilence . Then , with a long s igh , she drewherself away .

Let me go now ,

’ she said .

‘This cannotbe good for either of us . W il l you everforgive me for the suffering I have causedyou ' W i l l you bel ieve that the pain ofpart ing is very hard to me as well

‘ I wil l bel ieve it . I t w ill be too preciousa remembrance , and , in spite of all , it willleave me hope . May God bless and keepyou alwaysTen m inutes later she was gone

,and Glyn

sat alone in his studio , his face buried in hishands .But , in spite of the b itter part ing , a vaguesensat ion of delight was in his heart—a

del ight such as he had never known beforethrough all his past and present struggles .The thought that he possessed this girl ’slove came to him like a gl impse of heaven .

But he saw the difficult ies in h is waysaw that in h is present pos ition it would bemadness even to hope . Her words told him ,

Glyn pu ts aside h is Palette 227

too, that , apart from his narrow means , therewas some other obstacle . She had trustedto his honour, and he resolved never tobetray that trust. Never again until hecould win fame and fortune should anotherword of love pass h is l ips . But he wouldwear the thought of her love l ike a tal ismanin his breast

,to lead him upwards to fame

and fortune.Dreams ' dreams ' How often indulgedin

,how seldom real ized ' And yet

,what

would youth be without them

CHAPTER XVI I I .

REJECTION .

‘T H E President and Counci l of the RoyalAcademy regret that they are unable to acceptM r. Beverley ’s picture , No . 1

,and request

that it may be sent for with as l ittle delay aspossible. ’

That was the fatal announcement wh ichGlyn sat gazing at with dazed and bew ilderedeyes . There was no m istake about it . T he

fia t had gone forth,the bol t had fallen , and

that neatly printed circular emanat ing fromBurl ington House had crushed at once thehope which had sustained him through thelong winter months—through all the caresand anxiet ies caused by his mother’s reverses ,through all the b itterness of his parting withBlanche .



I t was the depression of disappointmentact ing on his sens itive temperament wh ich

spoke within him . Then his thoughts tookanother turn , and a flood of burning indignation poured forth

,against the Council , against

the Academy as a body.

Such a rascally injustice My picture oflast year could not be named in the same day.

I t makes one sick to think o f

He forgot his del ight when h is formerpicture was accepted . He forgot that theCouncil had Some ten thousand pictures todeal with , and only space for a few hundreds .He abused the men when he should haveabused the system .

A soft hand stole round his neck,a loving

kiss was imprinted on his forehead, and hiss ister’s eyes looked consolation into h is own.

The fatal letter lay on the breakfast-table.

She understood its contents at a glance.Don ’t take it so to heart, Glyn .

’

That was all she said. She knew it wasno good to reason in the m idst of the presentbitterness . She felt, too, bitterly enough,that there were worse ev i ls in the world than

Reject ion 23 1

being turned out of the Academy , but shewould not obtrude her own grief at such at ime as this .

‘What on earth can we say to the mother '’

asked Glyn at length . I t will half kill her. ’

This was the best turn his thoughts couldtake—consideration for others . I t would lifthim out of himself.

‘She will not be down to-day. She isnot well ,

’ said Kate . ‘Let us keep it fromher for a day or two . Perhaps somethingmay happen to cheer her up before we needtell her. ’

I don ’t see what can happen . Everythingis as black as can well be ; all the l ife isknocked out of me. Things can ’t be worse . ’

Then , whatever happens wil l be a changefor the better. Come, Glyn , don

’t give uphope . Try and take some breakfast. ’

Her own food , which she forced herself toswallow , almost choked her, neverthelessbut she was determined to appear cheerful

,i f

only for her brother’s sake.‘What a fearful disappointment i t will beto Aer , too '

’ said Glyn as he sat staring at his


untasted coffee. ‘I dread to write to her,but I must. Al l my hopes completelyscattered

,

’ he added , s ink ing back again in

utter despair.Suddenly sitt ing up again , he said, I

wonder why she has not answered my lastletter

,tell ing her about my private view and

the send ing in . I made sure she would writeand w ish me success . Perhaps she is i ll . ’

Don ’t worry yourself with that idea, Glyn .

Many things may have happened to preventher Writing at once. ’

But she always answers so qu ickly. A tleast

,she did the last t ime I wrote . ’

By-and-by, in the afternoon , the clouds

l i fted,and a gl int of s ickly London sunsh ine

struggled into the l ittle parlour. Glyn wastoo heart-s ick to enter h is studio that day.

‘ I th ink I will take a turn out,

’ he said .

A stretch in the country may do me good .

’

He was beginn ing to rev ive already. Eventhe sunsh ine of a c ity had a rev ivifying effecton a nature l ike h is

,so quickly respons ive to

outward influences .H e took a turn round by Hampstead

,but



its treasures of art , rose before him as he hadseen them in pictures

,and ‘as he had fondly

hoped only so recently to have seen them inreal ity . He pictured Blanche in the -m idstof i t all , and wondered on what rel ic of thepast or on what treasure of art she migh tnow be gazing . Oh that he had the w ingsof a dove

,that he might fly th ither

,and share

with her the intoxicating del ight he wouldfeel in the contemplat ion of those wonders ofthe pastA sickening sense of something wrong inthe nature of things came over him when hereflected on the thousands of fools , with amplet ime and means to witness all these things ,and to whom they meant nothing beyondtheir outward aspect ; while he , with a soulal ive to the keenest impulses of nature andart

,was utterly debarred from partic ipat ion

i n them by misfortune and grinding poverty .

‘God help me 'everything is as black asblack can be . I may as wel l go home. Idon ’t think my walk has done me much goodafter all . ’

W i th that he turned his steps homeward .

Reject ion 2 35

But , for all that, his walk had done him good .

I t had sent oxygen into his lungs,purified

his blood,braced up his nerves

,and made

him fitter—though he was himself unconsciousof ir—for the battle of l ife that was still beforehim . For darker troubles were yet to come ,although he had thought things at the worst .When he reached home late in the evening ,he found his s ister waiting for him at the teatable .

‘There is a note for you , Glyn ,’ she said ,

pointing to a small missive on the table. I tis in a lady ’s hand . I hope it brings goodnews . ’

Glyn opened it somewhat l istlessly. I t wasas follows

‘Bruton Street, W .,

A pril 18th .

MY DEAR MR. BEVERLEY ,I have only been back from I taly for

a week or two , or I should have written earl ier,to ask you to be so kind as to undertake aportrait of my unworthy sel f. I f you thinkyou can make anything of me , will you kindly


call and arrange about it ' ‘ I am at homeevery even ing , and shall be very pleasedindeed to see you .

Bel ieve me ,Yours very s incerely ,

‘L A URA BYNG .

’

I n sp ite of himself, Glyn’s face brightened

as he handed the note to ' h is s ister. I t wasa new commission , at any rate, and wouldhelp to keep the wolf from the door while hest i l l . struggled up the stony pathway that leadsto fame .

‘This wil l help us to break the news tothe mother,

’ he said .

E N D OF VOL . I .

Date post:	01-Dec-2018
Category:	Documents
Upload:	phungdiep
View:	213 times
Download:	0 times

When Leaves Were Green · 2 When L eaves w ere G reen shade upon the deer-trodden grass, and gather...

Documents