W I L D R O E .

A ‘

Zfiomanze.

J O H N H I L L .

Sah e in Kn ab’

e in Résle in étehn ,Rdsle in a lif d e r H eiden ,

War so jun g 11n d m o rge n scho n ,

Lief e r schn e ll e s n ahzusehe n ,

Sab's m it vie le n Freuden

Rosle in , Ro slem ,Rdsle in ro th

Rtislem auf d e r H eiden .

’

J . W. v. GOETH E.

IN TH REE VOLUMES.

VOL . I .

L O N D O N

TINSLEY BROTH ERS , 8 , CATH ERINE STREET,

STRAND.

1882 .

H ss a mv .21.

321372531211

T O M Y F R I E N D,

E. S . C .,

WH O APPRECIATES

‘

SZSZ'

I L D R O S E S .

II.

III.

VI.

CONTENTS OF VOL . I .

PAGE

PRELIMINARY

BAPTISM IN WINE AND FIRE

EAVE LODGE,WINTERDALE

J ACK MILLER

JACK’S ACADEMIC LIFE

ALMA PIA—DURA MATER

ROSA ENTERS SOCIETY

DOMESTIC

MAX LAURENCE

WH AT J ACK SAW IN CH URCH

ARTH UR RADFORD—MILES GLORIOSU S

W I L D RO S E .

CHAPTER I.

PRELIMINARY.

IT wa s early in the morning o n e S ep

tember som e years ago,during the first

decade o f the Second Em pire , in the

Boulevard St . Miche l, in‘

Pa ris ; early

enough for industrial a nd professional

Paris only to be awake o r astir. Workmen

,robust

,rubicund and sun-tanned

,in

blouses,were going in that leisurely con

ve rsatio n a l style peculiar to workmen whengoing toward their task— to build

,to found

and to destroy in the world of stone and

VOL . I .1

2 WILD ROSE.

cement,minute particles o f the latter rest

ing o n the black bristles o f their unshaven

cheeks,serving as an unmistakable trade

m ark . Cabmen and carters were standingin the doorways or leaning o n the zinccovered counters of Commerces des Vins

,

talking and pondering,in all probability

,o n

the inadvisability o f ever doing work,and

critically watching the laden tramcars that

j ingled ponderously past them,bearing

other workmen,clerks and the like

,whose

work wa s o n o n e side o f the Seine,a n d

their abode o n the other. Nea tly dressedgirls

,inheritors o f the pos ition o f the n ow

extinct grisettes,w ere walking toward their

sewing-rooms, cigar counters, or other and

manifold scenes o f labour, carefully avoid

ing the puddles of the night’

s production,

which the sun ,shining through a washed

blue sky,with white clouds storm-torn

like combed-out wool,had as yet not the

stren gth to efface . It could display stains,

PRELIMINAR Y. 3

d iscolorations,and de file m e n ts

,but

,like

many a reformer,stopped at that, n o t

havin g the power o r energy to remove

them . The Seine itself was a mistymirror

,fading into ae rial perspective

,with

e ach further bridge and tall pile o f o ld city

buildings looking more hazily mysteriousthan the nearer. The mist wa s over the

surface o f the water everywhere, and

seemed like the breath of sleeping Paris .

Pleasure-seekin g Paris wa s asleep—i n

dustrious,discontented

,revolution-making

Paris wa s,as usual

,wide awake but the

time had not arrived for the latter to

strangle the former as it slept,and pay o ff

o ld debts so .

The Boulevard St. Michel is,a s the

reader to whom Paris is familiar wellknows

,o n e o f those large

,n e w and rigid

roads o f the south side o f the river,divert

ing and collecting the dark and crowded

streams o f people from the dark and crowded

1— 2

4 WILD ROSE.

m ain arteries o f the Quartier Latin , suchas the Rue

,St. Jaque s, or the Rue de la

Harpe . The Boulevard St. Germ ain is

j ust such another,nearly at right angles to

it. These two are the forerunners o f the

great work o f destruction so ably begun

under Napoleon II I .,a n d other rulers and

their talented advisers,destined ultimately

to eliminate antiqu ity and picturesquenessfrom the Latin Quarter (which they n ow.

with their m athematical and statisticalprecision choose to split into the Arron

disse m e n ts da Pa n theo n a n d da Luxem

bourg), and with them the oldest histo ricalstreets

,and the shades o f the great de

parted—Musset,Murge r, Mimi Pin son ,

ct 7200 ge n us om n e— and all the literary

and romantic halo which the m ighty

a n d the darling dead have left behindthem . They are gone . Their memory

clings to the dear, dirty, tall o ld streets .

Why not leave them for o n e generation

PRELIMINAR Y. 5

m ore at least,till we have a ll been turned

,

by compulsory education and modern u tili

ta ria n ism,into m athematicians

,moralists

,

a n d meddlesome monomaniacs o f sanitary

reform,ready to sacrifice all beauty and

poetry to remodelled drainage,and all

artistic irregularity and Gothic quaintnessto canons of art

,in which every elemen t o f

art except'

rigid perspective is omitted

It is po ssible that the engineers o r archi

teets o f the o ld streets drew the designs

when their hands were in a state o f

bibulous tremor, and that the workmen

faithfully copied the pattern (both o f archi

tecture and conduct therewith). It is pos

sible that they showered down chimneys

o ut o f a supernatural and Brobdignagian

pepper-castor,letting them stick where

they would o n the roofs,totally irre spe c

tive o f the needs o f the coal-consuming

population below them,thus obliging these

last to bore holes in the walls,and stick

6 WILD ROSE.

black tubes through to let the smoke out,

and thus giving extra o ppo rtun ite s fo r

sentimental sufferers to suicidally suffocate

themselves . It is possible that drains were

as the mystery o f iniquity and the ab om i

n ation o f desolation to these m ediaeval

constructors . Still , face to face with thesem ighty and m anifold faults, which a

carping criticism could carry further,and

indefinitely multiply,an irresistible

,un

reasonable and unreasoning affection,like

that o f man for woman,unites those who

know the quarter,o r what remains o f it

through its poetic past,to that region o f

learning and love,gaiety and despair

,

fame and destitution,poetry and painting

,

folly a n d vice,kindness and brotherly

affection , and eternal romance, o n the south

side of the Seine .In the Boulevard St . Michel

,in the

m idst o f the said region,are many ca fes

a n d brasseries,patronised mainly by the

PRELIMINAR Y. 7

students of the University, and the misce llan e o us literary and artistic population

o f the n eighbourhood. These are different

from the ca fes to which you, wealthy and

aristocratic Briton,soj ourning in the Land

o f Philistia and plenty on the other side,

’

are accustomed,and unless you ca n put up

with seedy apparel,pipes

,saucy female

waiters who will be happy to share yourbreakfast

,and the rather free and ‘realistic ’

conversation o f the quarter,principally

con sisting o f m edical and legal shop ,’ the

fair sex,and the theatres

, you had better

stay o n the ‘other side,’ and n o t intrude

your spectacled nose into society in com

prehensible to yo u, whose shibboleths are

as hieroglyphics to you, and then write an

arti cle o n the depravity of the French .

In o n e o f' these ca fes

,two men— not

workmen this time— are sitting, eagerly

conversing with o n e another. The pur

pose o f this chapter is not, as the reader

8 WILD ROSE.

supposes,to diffuse opinions o n archi

te ctura l and social reform,but to explain

who these two 1n dividuals are,why they

are there,and what they are talking about .

To effect this, we will,if you please, go

back half an hour o r so into the earlier

part o f this September morning,and enter

a s tudio o n the fourth floor o f an o ld house

in the Rue de la Harpe,o n whose door is

n ailed a visiting card

PAUL FEL IX,

Artiste—Pe in tre .

’

Through the studio,which is untidy, large,

and full of work mostly un finished, w e

will walk,and find ourselves in the bed

room (if your sense of propriety ha s not

already m ade you hesitate,n o t knowin g

him as I do)o f the said Paul Felix ,and

behold him,in a shirt and a pair o f

trousers,leisurely balanc ing o n the side of

his bed,with a cigarette dangling lazily

from the corner o f his mouth. The sun

PRELIMDVAR Y.

shines fully and cruelly on the n o t n u

comely but worn face of a quite young man,

remorselessly displaying a complexion indicative o f late hours

,and those habits

usually described by the vague euphemism‘irregular.

’ His hair is long,leonine and

curly,and deep red ; a moustache feline

and bristly decorates his upper lip . His

cheeks and chin are,or rather soon will be

,

shaved,his nose is aquiline and his eyes

brown . The whole expression looks care

less,sensible to humour

,and unutterably

lazy,if you can imagine all that packed

into o n e expression . On a chair sits his

friend,Dr. Ivor T aylor

,an American

Parisian, completely e nf o mt de Pa ris, but

preserving always,throughout his fluent

French , inaccuracy o f accent and grammar,and his American straightforward

,hit-and

slash style o f diction . His appearance isas antithetic as possible to that o f Felix .

He is perhaps a y ear older, but his dark

lO WILD ROSE.

grizzled hair and the eternal Parisian

m oustache,also iron grey

,wrinkled eyelids ,

and thin lantern-Jawed face, n o t unhand

some w ithal,and a pair o f spectacles, give

him the air o f at least ten years ’ seniority.

His frame is strongly built,and he looks

the personification o f force,candour, and

energy—s omething about him always sug

ge sting a calm and courageous house-dog

o f massive proportions and gentle eyes .

His close-cropped hair adds to the illusion . Their conversation wa s o f course in

French,but as -this story is En glish

, n o t

French, it is advisable to translate it,Well, n ow that you have deprived me

o f hours o f my well-deserved rest,

’ began

the painter, what have you to tell me 2

Is there any news ' o r did you merely

come to annoy me,by protruding before

m e the horrible regularity and industry o f

your life,as a n example which yo u know I

never can o r will follow

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12 WILD ROSE.

It is as if you had successfully coloureda meerschaum pipe . It is no satisfactionexcept to draw the envious admiration o f

your friends .‘All very well in pipes ; not my notion

to treat girls quite the same way.

’

Why not They are very much a likeboth pretty— both easily go to de struc

tion,and both you get tired of when you

have burned the beauty o ut o f them‘Well

,w e won’t discuss ethics . We shan ’t

alter the eternal unfitn e ss of things much,

that way , I guess . Where’s the story‘The story ' Ah

,yes. By the way

your visit,you know

,has charmed me in

every respect,but it has not removed my

appetite. Suppose we go a n d breakfast '

The story w ill go better with a glass o f

wine and a cigarette,preceded by

, we’ll say

,

bread and butter,and perhaps cheese as

you are with me— for which meal, and for

this occasion only,I will permit you to

PRE LIAIINAR Y. 3

pay,my own resources havin g an unusual

strain upon them at this moment . Shallw e go ’

4’

Do you think of going a s you are ’

4’

Why not ' It is picturesque,and has

a certain savage beauty about it,which it

takes a true artist to appreciate . ’

‘I , not bein g a true artist, would press

you to a little less picturesque,and a little

more civilised,if I am going to walk o ut

with you.

’

I sacrifice myself to prejudice and

Philistinism . Come into the studio a m in ute .

I have a surprise fo r you.

’

Felix got up and strode from the b e d

room to the studio,where he stooped over

and appeared to unravel a kind of nest,

composed mainly of blan ket, and disclosed

in this,in the seat of his own arm -chair, a

m inute, pallid, brown-eyed infant , o f the

female sex . You wanted to see m y

newly discovered be zZe a m ie . There she is I

14 WILD ROSE.

Whether she can a ccommodate herself to

an atmosphere o f carbonate of lead, varnish ,

cognac and caporal tobacco,I know not.

We are going to try.

’

Dr. Taylor put on his glasses and ih

spe cte d it minutely, as if it were a sea

anemone,o r a cancer. It feebly and

helplessly waved small tentacle-like limbs,

and finally anchored its fingers in his

grizzly black moustache,and hauled at it .

N o t the first o f its sex that’s done tha t,

m e n cher,

’ remarked the painter,laughin g.

‘Where in thunder did he get thatexclaimed the bewildered American in hisnative tongue .

Entirely m y own opinion,

’ replied the

other,in his native tongue .

What’s this asked Taylor, relapsing

into French.

‘A human being ; youn g

specimen ; sex, female. Rare in this

locality— a t that age , at any rate .’

Where did you get it

PRELIMINAR Y. 15

That , my friend , is the story .

’

D r. Taylor gazed at it with a n expres

s ion o f gloom and embarrassment,and

a fter some silence remarkedI suppose it’s pretty

Pretty ' Good heaven s,she’s per

fe ctly beautiful ' But it takes an artist’s

e y e— min e

,for example— to see that . ’

‘Doubtless. I don’t know anything

about that kind o f being,except pro fe s

sio n ally .

‘Except professionally. Of course,

neither do I ; but then my profession

leads me to study the outsides o f beings,

yours merely the insides ; which re

minds me that our own insides require

speedy replenishment . Therefore I‘,will

adorn myself ; I am about to shave .

N ow don’t speak to me,o r make me

laugh,o r bang the door or stick pins into

the infant,o r anything calculated to m ake

me cut my throat. ’

l 6 WILD ROSE.

Some moments passed ; after whichFélix appeared in a rather ancient frock

coat, his hair combed, and o n his head a

tall hat,slightly o n o n e side

,and bearing

an appearance of antiquity equal at leastto that o f the coat

,and wearin g round

his neck a flowing crimson handkerchief,

which toned down the rather conflagration

suggesting hue of his hair.

H ow do I look n ow'’ asked he

,turning

up his moustaches and striking an atti

tude .

‘Just the same hopeless mixture of

vagabond and baby that you always do ;come along.

’

You,aristocratic Briton from the other

side,

’

whom I have previously had the

honour o f apostrophising, had you seen

Paul Felix,would have pronounced him a

thorough cad . That only shows that you

are too hasty in forming judgments from

external appearances,and have not a suffi

PRELIMINAR Y. 17

cie n tly wide acquaintance with mankind

to possess sympathy and largeness of

mind. For Paul Felix was nothing Of

the sort ; and c

n

ould enj oy a Greek play

as m uch and more than an opera b oufi’

e ,

’

a nd that is m ore than you c a n say.

Excuse plain language .‘N ow w e will go into the Boulevard, to

Madame Triboulet,and have coffee

,and

ask Cesarin e’

s advice ; I will take your

a rm, as that seems to irritate you more

than anything else in public .

’

As they walked along the pavement,in

the morning sunlight,Taylor said '

‘Has it ever occurred to you to ask

yourself what is going to becom e Of you '

What are you going to do ' H OW are yo u

going to live ' You can’t keep up this

sort o f existence for ever,you know.

’

I never speculate on such a very unsafe

and unpleasant subj ect as my future ; and

no o n e but an outspoken o ld bear like

VOL . I . 2

18 WILD ROSE.

yourself would have wounded me by

alluding to it. I am having an idle fit

just now. I sometimes do .

’

‘I believe your last idle fit has lasted

about three-and-twen ty years .’

‘Idleness is necessary to the artistictemperament. ’

Artistic blague‘Besides

,I have n o t been idle. What

wa s I to do ' I came here,ostensibly

,to

study medicine— at least such wa s the

intention Of my guardians,who hoped that

som e day the Faculty, in a fit Of temporary

aberration Of intellect,might make me a

doctor. But dissections a n d Operations

had not the attraction for me they have

for more fortunate and more utilitarian

minds,and I devoted myself to human and

mental physiology,giving my attention

chiefly to its phenomena as m an ifested by

the other sex— also to the consumption Of

the excellent beer a n d tobacco of the

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20 WILD ROSE.

produced the journal. My story wa s o f a

nature calculated to wither to the marrowand shake o n their thrones all the crowned

heads Of Europe— if they had only read it,

which they,in their blindness

,failed to do .

I imitated Victor Hugo,and wrote in

short,possibly pithy sentences, and talked

about the giants and spe ctres Of ’

93 o n

every other page . Here,however

,the

resemblance ceased. Victor Hugo did n o t

write to inform me that I wa s an

Apocalypse,though the sub-editor forged

a letter from him to that effect. Gambetta

did not give me the notice and patron age

due to my influence and sentiments . The

crowned heads remained o n their thrones,

and the paper fell through from lack o f

support before the editor had time to

realise his pet ambition o f getting im

prisoned fo r sedition,which would have

sold the paper a thousand a day. A fine

would have been nothing to him. You

PRELIMINARY. 21

cannot fine a man who has no money . SoI came to the conclusion that literature

was not the pathw pro vide d fo r me by the

fates,and returned to my Old study Of

human psycho logy,and here I am . I ’ve

7got an idea

You have got a tongue,anyhow. N ow

,

suppose you listen to me. I am not moral

and all that sort o f thing, as yo u know,but

I have certain sentiments,and prej udices

as yo u will call them ,and I ’ve been in the

world a trifle lon ger than yo u have , and

I ’ll tell you this much . Paris is not the

whole world,as you seem to think , and

my sympathies spread beyond the Barriere

de l’

EtOile,even across the Atlantic

,

where I know certain o ld folks at home— not educated like us

,though they had

me educated ; not looking at thin gs the

way we do, perhaps , but seeing the world

through Old-fashioned spectacles have

sent m e here at their expense,with

22 WILD ROSE.

the money they’ve worked for a n d I

haven’t,to learn things

,and come back

from Europe a better and a wiser man .

They think I ’m working hard,and b e

havin g proper,a n d going to church with a

high hat o n Sundays . Well, I can’t goto church n ow. You and your modern

thought and scepticism and progress and

all that have taken away from me all that

the Old folks believe in but I am entirely

blasted if I don’t do something— not much,

but what I can— to come up to their ex

pe ctatio n s. NO o n e ever does come up to

his parents’ expectations, but I guess I’m

trying. H o w am I to account for my grey

hairs a n d knowledge Of the world to my

mother Just think Of that . You know

how o n e gets grey hairs here . You know

what sort o f a world o n e gets knowledge Of

here,and I confess I like that world. But

you can enj oy life a n d work too . Now,

just chuck Off that cursed don’t care,don ’

t

PRELIMINAR Y. 23

believe sort of tone you are putting o n,and

put yourself in the same position with

regard to your\

relations,and honestly

say if you ain’t behavin g like a d —d

ungrateful young fool‘My dear sir, your words contain all

the rude w isdom Of the Bible,together

with all the impracticable principles o f

that va luable work . Yo u,in spite o f

your dissections and nasal accent,are a

poet, minus the power Of writing verse .

I know you like sunsets,fo r you never go

into eloquent rapture when you see o n e ,

but keep still . You also love humanity

and revere women,in spite Of your rather

inconsistent b ehavm ur to them . N ow,with

all this,it is perfectly natural that your

sentiments should be what they are . I

am not Of the same constitution I do n o t

feel any particular affection for humanity

at large,and I believe the feeling is pretty

m utual . As regards Obligations to others,

24 WILD ROSE.

I have n o such embarrassments as ex

pe cta n t fathers and mothers ; and the

only relations I have, would say, with a

sigh Of relief,I told you so '

” if I were

guillotined at three this afternoon . SO

that Obj ection to my conduct falls to the

ground. Your world may go beyond

Paris. Mine does not. At least, n o t

further than Asnieres by steamboat o n

Sunday afternoons . My whole life is

bound up w ith Paris . Have I never had

any human feelings ' Good heavens,yes

—but they have been cauterised out Of

me . Did you ever see the only girl you

ever loved,when you believed in love

,

lying o n a marble table in the Amphi

theatre Of Anatomy,with a score O f

students grinning at the exhibition through

eyeglasses,and saying

,

“You knew her,

Felix ,didn’t you '

”N ow you can realise

that I do not feel vehemently attracted

towards that place . I don’t respect

PRELIMINARY. 25

women . There is very little to respect about

them . They, like men, follow their desires

and feelin gs,and do n o t succeed in veiling

that fact so easily as men that is the

only difference . The devil alone knows

what there is in your society that always

m akes me serious and sentimental. Here

is our cafe ; come in, and change the

subj ect. ’

Here they entered o n e Of the above

a lluded to brasseries,solitary at this early

hour,but destined to be filled later in the

day , and most Of all later in the night,with a jovial, laughing, reckless crowd Of

s tudents,and those flirting waitresses

who are such a characte ristic Of suchplaces

,some o f whom are attractive

,all

Of whom possess ready tongues and eyes

a n d,I m ay add, ready appetites , and

a n eternal thirst,and who make their

breakfasts,dinners and suppers

,and sundry

interposed and miscellaneous courses o f

26 WILD ROSE.

refreshments,Off the charity o f their sworn

friend, allies and protectors, the students .

Of these only o n e, Césarin e , wa s present,

fixing o n an apron leisurely before a

mirror, and rectifying the set o f her hair,her m outh full o f pins. Her Félix

accosted‘Césa rin e , thOu o f the classical name,

w ilt thou bring us certain portions Of

bread, butter, cheese, salt and wine— as

usual ' The only unusual element about

the repast is,that it will be paid for

,and

that by our learned friend here .

’

What w ill you have yourself, Césa rm e

asked Dr. Taylor.

Césarin e confessed a longing for herfavourite beverage

,

‘Vermouth gommé.

’

Dr. Taylor said‘Very bad for you so early. However,

it is no use , I suppose, to tell you that.

Bring it quick,with the other things

there’s a dear. ’

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28 WILD ROSE.

Hear,hear from Césa rin e .

I lit a cigarette,turned up the collar Of

my coat,and strolled o ut under the stars

into the wide world,especially that portion

o f it bordering o n the Seine . I paused

under a lamp-post,ostensibly w ith the a im

Of looking at my watch, really to look at a

remarkably pretty woman who was passin g .

under the lamp at the sam e time . Shecarried a bundle

,and wore o n e o f those

coffee-coloured mantles which forty thou

sand other women wear j ust n ow,and

which consequently is no identification .

She went o n to the Pont St. Michel . SO

did I . She deposited the bundle o n the

pavem ent in the middle o f the bridge. I

looked at it. It wa s an infant. Of course

I picked it up,overtook her

,took o ff my

ha t,and Observed : Pardon

,but madam

has dropped something.

”

She looked at me and it in some surprise

,a n d replied ' Monsieur is exceed

PRELIMINAR Y. 29

ingly polite . As a co n sidera tiOn for his

attention,I make over to his charge and

protection that,

”

p ointing to the bundle .

May I ifiquire madame’s name and

address '’

“‘I regret that circumstances prevent

my giving either the o n e o r the other,and

would suggest that I will trust to the sense

Of chivalry which monsieur has already

shown he possesses , to prevent his follow

ing me further. Good-night .”

‘What wa s I to do ' In your own

poetic language,I vow ,

it wa s a go .

”

Figure to yourself me,alone and un pro

te cte d, in the middle Of the night, in the

clutches Of a remorseless baby ' TO drop

it quietly over the parapet,a n d stroll away

whistling as I passed the police,wo uld

have been convenient, but a crime— besides ,these things are always found out. I put

my hat forward, rounded my back, limped

and tried to look as much like some one

30 WILD ROSE.

e lse as possible,in case any friend should

find me in such compromising society,and

put up an umbrella, although it was not

rain ing,and got into the first cab I met

and went home. The infant complicated

matters by beginning to wail and lament .

N ow it is in my armchair, and will soon

die Of inanition if you don’t tell me what

I am to give it. I Offered it brandy and

beer,last night—excellent beer

,but it

rej ected it with some violence . I ask your

advice,as a friend

, Césarin e .

’

Césarin e , choking with laughter at the

idea Of a young bachelor of the Quartier

raising an infant o n beer,said Give it

m ilk .

’

H ow much '’

Oh,as much as it will take, I suppose .

I don’t know.

’

GO and get some , will yo u You must

come and see and criticise it, and display

that mad and animal idolatry which all

PRELIMINAR Y. 31

young women have fo r the very youn g Of

their species . ’ And the good-natured girl

disappeared,to inquire if such a fluid ex

iste d in the establishment. When she was

gone,Félix said

‘N ow I have a proposition to make .

Don’t be surprised o r come o ut with Ob

j e ctio n s till I have don e . It is that you

a n d I , under the direction a n d advice Of

Césarin e , do undertake herewith and hence

forward the up-bringing

,physica l and

moral,Of the said female child, n ow re

siding in an armchair,fourth floor

,NO 2 5

,

Rue de la Harpe,Quartier Latin

,Paris .

Your m edical knowledge will be occasion

ally useful. More than this . You know

what sort Of life,and education , and morals,

girls in this quarter usually acquire. They

are like the flowers fallen from the jasmine

tree,that I saw at Asnieres this autumn ,

some still fa ir,and fresh and beautiful

lying there,some utterly withered and

32 WILD ROSE.

destroyed, but with enough o f the flower’s

soul and body about them to remind o n e

that they were once beautiful j asm ine blos

soms, filling the summer with scent. Now

I want to protect her, with your help, from

all this . I want to carve out for her an’

ideal, artistic existence, untainted alike bythe prejudices Of the rigidly righteous o r

the foulness o f the hopelessly fallen ; and I

want y ou to enter into a bargain or con

tract with me, that whichever of us lives

longest is to continue to care for and pre

serve our small jasmine flower,who pro

m ises to be pretty, and whom the fates

have cast in o ur path . Will you dothis

By the Lord in whom I don’t believe,

I will ' Shake hands, sir ; there’

s a m a n

alive in your body yet . ’

We will give her a name I will bap

tiz e her in champagne, which Madame

Triboulet here will give on tick for such a

PRELIMINAR Y. 3

charitable,not to say religious, purpose ,

and the provision for her future will be a

s timulus to us to work hard,and a slight

recompense to her’

sex fo r the many wrongs

we have done them,and the many hard

things we have said o f them .

’

Césarin e here entered with a dark w ine

bottle,through which cam e the greenish

gleams o f milk.

Hum 'doesn’t look nice . NO account

ing for tastes,

’ commented Fe lix You’re

a good fellow, Cesarin e proud to

know you -give m e a kiss . ’ And he

told her his plan with the eloquence o f a

s incere m a n,and castin g aside his habitual

tone Of bantering flippa n cy .

Césarin e was silent for a while,then

said

I ’ll help where I can .

’

She wa s thinking o f her own life,though

Felix purposely spared any allusions which

m ight bring her lost past too promin en tly

VOL . I. 3

3 t WILD ROSE.

before this frivolous foam-born girl of the

Quarter .

The whole undertaking wa s strange,

original,and to an unimaginative

mind impracticable. It wa s founded by

two m e n,purely and solely o ut o f their

own instincts, uncontrolled by sense Of

duty, m orality, o r religion,and as such

would surely be predicted to fail . Whetherit did or not we shall see . Felix took Ivor

Taylor’s arm under his own o n o n e side,

and the black bottle under the other,and

went away.

Césa rin e Observed to Old Madame Tri

boulet,the proprietress

,who wa s engaged

in the useful if prosaic occupation o f peelingpotatoe s in an inn er room

I think, M. Paul Felix is rather mad

,

but I like him all the same .

’

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36 WILD ROSE.

select company o f Paul’s most intimate

friends in his studio,he himself o f course

Officiatin g. He produced champagne a nd

handed it round in glasses, accompanied

by cigarettes . Césarin e Obtained a holi

day,and was present . She took an

immense interest in the child,and con

stituted herself m a rm in e . Paul made a

short speech,o f course . NO action wa s

satisfactory o r complete with him unless

accompanied by a short speech . He ex

plained his purpose with regard to the

just then sleeping Rosa,and invited them

a ll to co -operate and constitute themselves

her guardians . They waved their glasses

and exclaimed,Nous le jurons

The presence o f the unconscious child

seemed to recall everything that wa s pure,

virtuous, past and gone a n d for ever out

Of their reach to the three or four reckless,

billiard-playing,Bullier-frequentin g young

men present, a n d they really meant in ~ a ll

BAPTISM IN WINE AND FIRE . 37

honour to b e ‘ moral guardian s to Rosa.

Paul went o n :

I n ow baptize thee,Rosa la Rose

,

w ith the first foam o f my w ine, in hopes

that you may grow to be like the glorious

mother Of gods a n d men who wa s born

from the foam Of the ocean . May your

life be happy. I call you Rosa

Parce que le s plus be lle cho se s,Comme le s lis e t le s ro se s

,

N’out qu

’

un saison d’

ete .

”

Vive Rosa,fille da Quartier Latin '’

‘Vive Rosa,fille du Quartier Latin '’

replied everyone,emptyin g his glass.

Rosa awoke. She looked round at a ll

the stran ge faces with a stare Of surprise .

Oughtn’t some o n e to kiss her a sked

a student,whose acquaintance with the

ancient and religious cerem ony o f baptism

was somewhat rudimentary and vague in

details .

38 WILD ROSE .

NO man o f us shall k is s her,’ sa id Paul ,

until she can give him leave o r signify

her wish tha t he should do so . Cesarin e

may,if she likes . ’

I had rather not,

’

sa id Césarin e , ra ther

sadly. I would like to . I am n o t m ore fit

to kiss her tha n a nyone here,simply b e'

cause I am a woma n a n d you are all men.

’

[She went and looked a t Rosa,lyin g in the

a rm cha ir of honour . Rosa knew be st who

wa s fit to kiss her,a n d stretched o ut her

a rms towards Césa rin e ’

s neck a n d smile d .

Cesarino overcame all scruples,a n d e m

braced the baby Rosa in tha t gree dy

manner peculia r to women dealing w ith

children o r other animals o f whom they

are specia lly fond' ‘I wonder if you

will show as much cha rity to o n e like

me whe n you are older,’ sa id Cesarin e ,

laughing .

I thin k the godfathers , Taylor a n d

myself,

’ said Paul,ought to kiss the

BAPTISM IN WINE AzVD FIRE.

godmother as a natural part Of the cere

mony.

He saw Césarin e wa s depressed and

saddened about somethin g. It was pos

sible to guess what,and wanted to change ‘

the subject.‘I fail to see the doctrine Of that

,

’ said

the student, who had previously spoken ,

who wa s n o t a godfather. Paul began

e laborately to argue the point,

a nd

threatened to appeal to the Fathers,when

Césarin e settled the matter by saying au

revoir,messieurs and leaving the room .

S O Rosa has become Rosa,’ remarked

Paul. N ow the question remains, what in

the world is to become o f he r further Can

w e control a destiny, o r is she to control

o urs ' It seems rather like the latter,

hitherto. Taylor,I shall depend o n you

to assist in her education and amusement.

I will work— I have been prom ised a con

n e ctio n with a comic pap e r’

o f importance

40 WILD ROSE.

—and shall sell pictures,and work like a

fever. On Sundays we will take her to

the Luxembourg and the Tuileries . ’‘Shall w e buy a perambulator asked

Dr. Taylor.

I think not . You would look very well,

though,disguised as a bon n e . They Often

have m oustaches . ’

We can bring her up to speak two languages

,

’ said the other. You always

speak French to her,and I will a lwavs

speak American .

’

This really happened . Rosa learned

gradually both these languages .

Rosa gradually grew to the age Of ten .

Dr. Taylor postponed his return to America

till he had heard her speak distinct and

intelligible American,and then foun d '

him

self obliged to leave. He and Paul took

the child, then aged about eight, for their

last excursion together to the ChampsElysees o n e Sunday afternoon. She rode

BAPTISM IN WINE AND FIRE. 41

in a carrousel . They rode to o,merely o f

course to encourage her. In the interval

between o n e Of these rides,Taylor made

the new and original ObservationWhat an extraordinary couple we areWe are

,

’ replied Paul solemnly. He

then added :‘But how is Rosa to

keep up her American when you are

gone '’

‘I don’t know. D epends o n luck . I

will come and see her again some day.

Look here,if any necessity arises

, you send

to m e,will you

I will. Y ou are Rosa’s other god

father,and I believe she likes us both

e qually. I do not know what sort Of a

girl she will turn into, after o ur bringin g

her up . It seems to me inculcating moralprinciples is not our line . Her m orality is

o ur morality- that is,nothin g particular.

Her rules o f life are ours,that o n e m ust do

what o n e is compelled to do,and if o n e

42 WILD ROSE.

likes it,so much the better. When there

is any choice,do what is pleasantest. ’

She is goin g to be pretty, too,’ sa id

Taylor.

Rose wa s small and dark, with a pale

face and brown eyes . She looked as if shewould be pretty

,later.

Well,my friend

, we have done what we

could. It may have been a Quixotic

undertakin g,and proba bly was ; but it has

made her happy,and

,I think

,has made us

rather different. Fate and the future will

do what they please . ’

Dr. Ivor Taylor went home to the

United Stat e s . Rosa sat on Paul’s knee,

and cried a good deal quietly,in the cab

that brought them back from the railwaystation .

She then became more than ever thea ttached friend o f Paul . She had alwaysloved him

,and the studio

,the pictures

,and

the armcha ir which had been giv en up to

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44 WILD ROSE.

bons generally,and to regard them as the

m ore serious and n ecessary ingredients o f

life . At the age Of ten she smoked

cigarettes .

At this period the happiness and tran

quillity Of Paris wa s rather marred by the

advance o f the German army upon that

city, little as they,

believed,in Paris

,in an

ultimate German success. S till, annihilated

as they were double ss destined to be by a

patriotic nation rising e n m a sse to defend

its hearths and homes,the Prussians con

trive d in the meantime,durin g the winter

Of ”70, to give Paris considerable em

b arra ssm e n t by surroundin g it,taking its

star-forts , and occasionally dropping shellsinto its suburbs, and, worst Of all, cutting

Off its supplies .

All this was o f course new and interest

ing to Rosa . Paul told her she was going

to enj oy all the a dvantages Of a real wa r,

with real Obuses, which really damaged

BAPTISM IN WINE AN D FIRE . 45

bricks and mortar and imprudent hum an

b eings,and that it wa s all far superior,

from an artistic standpoint, to the Battle

o f Solferin o at the Circus .Rosa quite fell in with this View, un

aware that Paul sold half his portion Of

daily food to buy her chocolate,and rather

e nj oyed the siege, until o n e day, walkingo ut for some purpose o r other with Césarin e ,

she saw some soldiers carrying a hideously

mutilated mass,clothed in a torn uniform

,

into a church . This wa s the remains o f a

sentry who had been standing in the range

o f a shell battery,o n the ramparts . This

wa s the first real symptom Of war Rosa

had seen . She had heard guns in the

d istance,and knew that Paris looked

rather different and more dull than usual,

but o n seeing the horrible reality Of that

wounded man,she woke up to a conscious

ness that war wa s n o t Wholly picturesque .

Matters gradually grew worse . Instead

46 WILD ROSE .

o f the bright boy-like man that Paul the

painter had been,Rosa n ow saw a gaunt,

grizzly-bearded,sad-looking creature

,who ,

as Paul the National Guard,went peri

odically to do sen try o n snowy ramparts

under that unsympathetic starry winter

sky,which shines its brightest o n human

sorrow and wo e . He sat over the stove

in the studio,occasionally b e com lng j ocular

in a spasmodic way when Rosa wa s present,

and smoked cigarettes when he could ge t

them . Rosa took this occasion,when

nourishment was so scarce,to grow a good

deal and become rather weak. She alsodreamed frequently that Paul would be

brought home like that wounded soldier,

some night from his post. The fact Of

being a sentinel brought him home with a

renewed appetite,given hIm by the frosty

a ir. He once said If I had known long

ago how easy it was to get a healthy

hunger in the m orning,I should have tried

BAPTISM IN WINE AN D FIRE . 47

it before . I shall recommend a siege a s

an excellent rem edy to persons sufferingfrom dyspepsia and loss Of appetite .

’

SO matters went o n , week after week,

until a catastrophe came.A sortie was m ade from Paris : a very

badly m ade sortie,o n e among many such

,

and an utterly ineffectual o n e . Paul

Felix went out in it,and came back with

a bullet in his chest. , H e was brought to

a church full,like the rest

,o f wounded .

Césarin e was in some m anner made aware

o f it, and came to fetch Rosa .

What does he look like '’ asked Rosa,shivering with terror is he like thatman

we saw

I don’t know . He has a bullet in the

chest . That ought n o t to show much .

’

Rosa sile n tly'

fput o n some clothes, to pro

tee t her from j t

the cold,as if she were

going out fo r a walk—a furred jacket Paul

had given he r, as he had given her most

48 WILD ROSE.

other things— and went Off with Césarin e .

It wa s a long walk, a nd they did not speak

much by the way. They found the

church . At the door a sentry asked what

they wanted. Rosa spoke .

We want to see Paul FélixA young doctor wa s talking to a S ister

Of Charity in the doorway. He looked

round,and said

‘You can admit her, entry : it is Rosa

la Rose . Paul Félix is her father . ’

This wa s not true,but it served its

purpose,and Rosa and Césarin e went in .

You w ill find him at the other end,

n ear the altar, o n the left-hand side . You

had better look neither to the right nor

to the left till you get there . Poor child

he added to himself.

It wa s o n e Of the students who had been

present at Rosa ’s baptism. Rosa shut her

eyes and took Césarin e ’s arm . The atmo

sphere Of chloroform,carbolic acid

, an d other

BAPTISA/ IN WINE AN D FIRE. 49

miscellaneous I a n d worse odours,confined

by want Of ventilation,were suflicie n t to

bear,without seeing what lay to the right

and left Of he r.

'

A well-known voice atlast came from the dark heap near the

altar,saying in a feeble tone

‘Rosa '’

Rosa saw the poor painter lyIng o n his .

back, with great hollow eyes, into whichthe Old gay smile came

,as he looked at her.

An overcoat was lying o n his body. He

then said‘The game is played out. SO am I .

Césarin e, you will write , o r telegraph

,as

soon as possible to Taylor,in N e w York,

and tell him all this . Are you warm

enough, Rosa, in that fur thing '

Car c’e st l’étui d’une pe rle fin eLa robe de Mimi Pinson.

Tell Taylor that is the last song I sang.

Tell him I am gone to meet Miirge r, and

Musset, a n d Mimi, and Musette in such a

VOL. I . 4

50 WILD ROSE.

Quartier Latin as they may have in

Tartarus . Doctor says I am to die

could not have done it better than n ow

Listen 'I b e g to correct myself, Césarin e .

Tell Taylor this is the last song I sang

And the noise of a passin g crowd o f

soldiers,hurrying to the ramparts

,wa s

heard shouting the memorable and fo rm id

able words

‘Aux arme s,citoye ns'

Fo rme z vo s bata illons

Paul raised himself on both elbows,and

sang with a blaze Of j oy in his dark eyes

Marchons, ca ira

Marcho ns, ca ira'

Qu’un sang impur

Abre uve n o s sillo ns.

And then the blood came up into his

mouth,and he fell back dead. Césarin e

wa s crying quietly. Rosa wa s n o t. Shewa s very pale , and in a cold perspiration .

Césarin e took her away. She fainted

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CHAPTER III .

EAVE LODGE,WINTERDALE .

‘I want a he ro an uncommon wantWhe n eve ry ye ar a nd month se nds forth a n ew o n e .

’

BYRON.

IN a county in the south Of England , thename o f which Is Immaterial— say Damp

shire o r D irtshire— there is an antique littletown

,once Of historic importance, but n ow

alm ost completely insignificant from a publicpoint o f View

,called Winterdale . It con

tains a gaol , a cathedral, a barrack, a bishop ,

several minor canons, four churches, fourteen chapels

,and at least forty public

houses . The churches and chapels are full

o n o n e day in the week, the public-houseso n six

,the gaol o n seven. The barrack is

EAVE L GD GE ,WIN TERDALE . 53

n ever quite full,as it has to contribute to

keep the other above-me ntioned institutions

filled,in varying ‘proportions. The bishop

is, o rwa s whenWinterdale became involvedin this story

,a tall

,dignified man

,Of com

m anding and ascetic presence,and possess

ing a resonant voice . H e gave garden

parties , and sermons and addresses ; wa s

bullied by his junior clergy, wa s very

a ffable , and in every respect resembled any

other commonplace bishop,and signed him

s elf John James H ie m val. His real name

wa s Green,but it is a customary piece Of

e piscopal playfulness to name one’s self after

the diocese,translating the n ame Of the

latter into dubious Latin, which imposeso n the unlettered (who constitute the

majority o f the population Of any diocese),a n d would cause much honest mirth to any

ancient Roman who m ight read it, and

recognise the fine,Old

,widespread canine

dialect to be found pervading ecclesiastic

54 WILD ROSE .

literature throughout all the years in which

there wa s any church at all that had a

literature .

The cathedral wa s mostly m the early

perpendicular style , with a stumpy square '

tower in the middle .

The gaol wa s in the modern rectangular

a n d utilitarian style , Of black-brick walls ,

and apertures richly ornate with iron

work usually taking the form o f bars and

spikes .

0

The streets Of Winterdale were quaintand irregular, and c ontained comfortable

looking inns Of indefinite age, with court

yards and wooden o r brick colonnades ,

under which persons might, and frequentlydid

,sit roun d tables when the temperature

permitted . When some Of the soldiers continually being localised inWinterdale wereseen stand in g about and swaggering w ith

boots andwhips in the doorways,or gathered

round beer in the verandas o f these Old

EAVE L GD GE,WIN TERDALE . 55

inns,they had an exceedingly characteristic

and picturesque appearance . The beer a nd

other entertainment there provided was

usually very good,so much as to be ‘rather

celebrated in the county .

On Saturday afternoon,when a m arket

wa s held,the streets and alehouses becam e

especially lively,and every lane wa s full o f

yokels and soldiers striving their rather

feeble best to ‘keep ‘ in de middle Ob de

road,

’ by closing-time o n Saturday evenings .There was on such occasion s plenty Of the

honest home-brewed ale floating about that

the Old school Of novelists affect so much ,

and plenty Of honest home-brewed head

ache a n d biliousness with it, assisted by the

more deleterious and less honest spirits ,

which are theoretically manufactured in

Nantes o r Holland by the un scrupulous

foreigner,which the British publican is too

honest to manufacture,and can co n scie n ti

o usly only permit himself to sell , and that

56 WILD ROSE .

at a considerable profit . All the features

Of fine Old English life,which have passed

away in m any places to such a lamentable

extent, were to be found here. The coun

trym e n wore smock-frocks,discarde d e lse

where save by men who pick pockets inFleet Street

,and the associate Of the

thimble-rigger a n d the stage.

They Observed with superstitious re

ve re n ce and wonderful saturnalia the greatChristian and Protestant festival Of what

they called ‘Guyfo x-day,

’ and the less im

portant a n d pagan one Of Yule-tide . They

had holidays,made a hideous din w ith all

the available church-bells,burned fires ;

cheered and sang,and eat and drank fa r

to o much on both Of these occasions .

Their idea Of outward a n d visible m a n ife s

tatio n o f j oy o r religious exaltation tookthe form Of excessive eating and drinking.

These were their religious festivals re

ferring Of course to that portion Of the

EA VE LODGE,WINTERDALE. 57

population which patronised the m arket

a n d the alehouse . The other and minor

portion OfWinterdale society,consisting Of

the clergy,military (active and retired),

a n d gentry,might observe harvest thanks

givings and such things if they liked , which

the bulk o f the rural population did n o t

‘hold w ith .

’ They felt’

that the harvest

was entirely a merit Of their own,to be

grumbled at if bad , a n d sold as dear as

possible if good,and failed to see what was

the use Of the clergy and gentry coating

the churches internally w ith corn enough

t o m ake a rick, and grapes , and apples , and

p otatoes. and such other fruits as the season

y ielded, and then holding services in the

m idst Of all this profusion, which were

a ttended by everyone except those inter

e ste d and concerned in the production Of a

harvest . They scornfully tolerated suchthings

,and Observed

,perhaps in lofty in

d ignation If passon don’t know no better

5 3 W'ILD ROSE .

what to do w ith the cam and that, than to

make a litter and dirty mess with it in t’

church,he can give ’em to me .

’

So’

ciety at Winterdale, as has beenhinted, consisted Of the clergy

,a few re

tired Oflice rs w ith families,

a n d some

scattered country gentlemen whose pro

fe ssio n in the main wa s to o wn land,chase

vermin w ith horses and dogs,and fill

‘chairs ’ at sessions and meetings o f

Guardians,and Local Boards

,and such

lik e distin guished and in telligent bodies ,and to give each other large dinner-parties .

The younger portion Of society,the

tennis - playin g,dancing

,flirting portion

,

consisted entirely and almost exclusively

o f curates and young Officers , and those

who hoped to be curates o r young Officers

some day ,w ith very fe w exceptions . The

d ifference between the curates and the

Officers wa s n o t great,consistin g mainly in

the difference Of uniform,and Of the fact

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60 WILD ROSE.

and overpowered with the consequence o f

themselves and their opinion s. There

wa s a club at Winterdale, where the localgentry m e t

,and talked long

,eagerly and

fiercely about nothing,fo r hours o r

,a less

innocent amusement,dissected their neigh

bour’s characters and financial upright

n ess,and circulated with the most innocent

and sincere intentions most fearful andatrocious lies

,which no o n e wa s responsible

for,which did perhaps some little harm ,

but did not usually Obtain any n otice o r

credit.

The m ost entertaining a n d intelligent

m an actually in Winterdale wa s Old Mr.Andrew McSwin e y , M.D . the

Doctor. ’ He wa s a short,sturdy man Of

the globular type,had a burnt

,weather

beaten face like a coastguard,and a bald

head and a fringe o f iron-grey hair round

it. He wa s the life a n d soul Of any

e ntertainment o r con versation . TO ladies

EA VE LODGE, WINTERDALE. 61

he wa s kind and polite and with the men

he could relate stories over tobacco and

Kin aha n’

s L .L\

till they n early choked

with laughter.”

He never got drunk,but

could calmly absorb wine and spirits lik e wa

large round sponge,o r like any Of Mr.

Charles Lever’s Irish country gentlemen .

He wa s very kind and'

charitable,rather

impulsive,but withal possessed Of great

acuteness and self - reliance ; was no re

specter o f persons, feared not D ean o r

Devil o r D isease,and wa s universally

abused , laughed at, a n d loved .

About a mile outside Winterdale city,

among the rising down s and undulatingmeadow and woodland, in the district o f

St . Wotan,wa s an o ld country house

,

called Eave Lodge,o f lichenous grey lime

stone, patched in many places with ivy,

and roofed with thin slabs o f shaly

stone .

The date o f the house was uncertain,

62 WILD ROSE .

likewise the style of architecture . It stood

On a piece Of grass-ground which rose

e astward,where the wind cam e from

,into

a sm all down,and westward stretched

level, with irregularly placed trees and

shrubs till it developed into a group o f fir

trees,o n a slight eminen ce

,which sent

their stiff,slender spires and branches

straight athwart the sunsets .

A path,paved accidentally with brown

needles a n d fir-cones,led under these over

arching firs to an Old wooden five -barred

gate,covered with worm -tracks and snail

trails,with n ames e n carve n by the kni fe

Of youth,and softened and b e autifie d by

the lichen of age. A person leaning o n

this gate could see undulating,corn-pro

ducing country extending far to the west ,a n d ending in cloudy woods o n the distant

horizon .

The grass grew right up to the walls of

the house,and except for o n e square patch

EAVE LODGE, WINTERDALE. 63

O f shaven lawn , intersected by a mysticpattern of white-washed lines for lawntennis

, wa s allowed to grow freely and

long away und’em the yews and cypresses .

Yellow irises,tall lilies

,and thistles and

sunflowers,a n d the miscellaneous herbage

known generally to gardeners as weeds,

’

grew in the grass , under the trees , and

fringin g this square lawn,in their seasons .

There was also o n o n e side Of the house

a n Old rose-garden with gra ss walks and

wooden seats , and beyond it an old apple

o rchard.

The house wa s fortified On the north

west corner by a stone terrace,extending

round portions o f the western and northern

side,o n to which French windows Opened

from the house. On its walls and parapet

hung heavy,rich clusters o f jasmine ,

clematis,and passion-flowe r. Theoretically

this terrace wa s destined by the architect,n o doubt

,to be walked o n when the grass

64 W'ILD ROSE.

wa s too w e t. As a m atter Of fact, the

grass wa s usually the first to dry after

rain, since the o ld stone pavement wa s

hollowed,separated a n d broken into a

series o f receptacles for puddles,only to b e

removed by the b e n e fice n t natural law o f

evaporation.

Just n ow,September, 187 1, autumn wa s

beginning to make itself very apparent

around Eave Lodge . This was an annual

occurrence,although from the seemingly

surprised and unprepared state Of the

neighbourhood,o n e might be led to sup

pose that such wa s n o t the case .

Old D iggo ry ,who wa s called the

gardener here,a n d who condescended to

accept wages for occasionally visiting andseverely criticising

,spade in hand

,the

garden,if it might be so called , remarked

sententiously that the ‘days was gettin’

in,

’ by‘

which mysterious announcementhe doubtless imagined him self to be con

EA VE LODGE, WINTERDALE. 65

veying information o f a new and usefuldescription . He also delicately referred

to the advent Of rheum atism in what he

wa s pleased to term his ‘lines,

’ and person

generally ; and admitted, o n cross-e xam i

n ation,that port-wine

,o r even rum (for

strictly external application), would n o t be

wholly unacceptable as a remedy.

The deciduous trees were becoming

bronze, and the evergreens looked greener

in contrast. The sun set gradually m ore

to the southward Of west. The mornings

began with a chill m ist,developing into a

calm cool fine day,ending in a shower and

a sunset behind scattered,ragged-edged

black clouds,with glimpses o f golden , red,

and peach-coloured light at their underedges

,o r through wind-torn holes, o n a

ground Of white sky, becoming pale blue

towards the zenith . Or else,perhaps, it

blew hard,and acorns and leaves descended

in heaps,and the heave n becam e grey and

VOL . I . 5

66 WILD ‘ROSE.

overcast,the wind south-east, and the

temper o f the fraction o f humanity sub

j e cte d to such weather deteriorated.

The fire -places,filled durin g the summer

m onths with that truly awful form of de

co ratio n in which housemaids appear to

delight,made o f strips o f paper o f various

colours and tinsel, became brilliant and

inviting with burning coal and wood and

it became almost comforting, as the weeks

wore o n,to read descriptions Of disastrous

fires in the papers,ascents Of Mount

Vesuvius,and sermons o n eternal punish

ment .

Having so far touched on the external

appearance and surroundings Of EaveLodge a n d its neighbourhood

,it will n ow

perhaps be as well to examine the internal

o r soul-part o f the house,and the aspect

o f its inhabitants . It will be favourable to

do so,and will give a characteristic View

o f these, by glancing at the drawing-room

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6S WILD ROSE.

manufacture,and expressed comfort rather

than any rigid adherence to high-art dictation . Little tables stood around, bearingthe materials for afternoon-tea

,which wa s

administered in charmingly minute china

cups,always a cause Of trembling to the

nervous visitor,unwilling to destroy his

neighbours’ goods .

Brackets and shelves in corners bore

various useful and ornamental Obj ects, such

as brass candlesticks with ecclesiastical

looking,twisted stems

,and cup-shaped

upper extremities w ith scalloped edges ;

a lso bronze figures,flowe r-vases

,Pompeian

lamps,match-holders ; and lastly, a clock,

of some dark, polished and heavy-lookingmaterial

,apparently Of mineral origin

,so

constructed as to give the public a painful,

if not indecent,insight into its throbbing

Vital organs— a sort Of Alexis St. Martinamong clocks.

Of course,a fe w ‘library ’ books were

EAVE L 01)GE , WIN TERDALE . 09

lying about, together with the Co n tem

p ora ry Review,Pun ch

,and the I llustra ted

Lo ndo n N e ws.

N ow let us glance at the occupants o f

this room in detail. There wa s,first of all;

in an arm-chair o n one side o f the fire

place,a n elderly gentleman Of spare frame

a n d strikingly intelligent appearance, and

having rather long grey hair,grizzled

brown whiskers clipped short,a long face

,

aquiline nose,bright blue eyes a n d rough

grey-brown eyebrows, and a rather wide,

thin-lipped mouth,with the wrinkles pro

duce d by frequent speech and laughter at

the corners,and a prominent

,gracefully

shaped chin and lower maxillary bone.

This wa s Professor John Miller, the Own er

o f the house, a great comparative ana

tom ist,and recently retired from a pro

fe sso rship he had for some years held in

the medical faculty of a celebrated and

ancient Scotch university. He occupied

70 WILD ROSE.

himself in writing treatises for the scientificperiodicals

,a n d in e nj oym g the society Of

his family. A m a n o f great general

attainments,S cotch

,kind-hearted

,humor

o us,carelessly good—nature d

,and afraid o f

no man ’s opinion o r Of anything else . He

wa s regarded as a man Of some consequence

by the scientific world,as a genius by his

family,and as a kind o f harmless lunatic

by the m aj ority ofWinterdale society.

Conversing with him o n a paper . on

Evolution in the review that lay betweenthem o n a table

,sat a man Of near his own

age , tall, portly, bald, with regular features ,long expressive dark eyes

,and a long black

beard. He wa s laying down the law with.

that decision peculiar to people Imperfectlyacquainted w ith their subj ect. This was

Mr. James Exeter,vicar Of the n e w parish

Of St. Wotan .

He and Professor Miller had been

fellow-students at an English university

EAVE LODGE, WINTERDALE. 7 1

together . They were so very antithetic in

their tastes,opinions

,and pursuits that

they became fast friends .

Jam es ExeterIn those days pronouncedJohn Miller to be a loose freethinker,though a pleasant en ough fellow and

clever in his way.

John Miller spoke Of J ames Exeter asa good fellow ,

and clever in his way a n d

well-read,though extraordinarily sup e rsti

tious , and impervious to a j oke .

James Exeter learned Hebrew and

other ancient ton gues,and became a o

qua in te d intimately with the Fathers, the

Talmud,and the Septuagint

,and studied

decorative religious art,and crawled about

the floors Of Old churches with a long

sheet Of paper, tak ing impre ssions o f

brasses and grew into a country vicar o f

apostolic and picturesque appearance .

John Miller plunged into acids and

dissections and German poets and philo

7 2 WILD ROSE.

so phers all at once,drank beer

,sat up

all night smoking clay pipes and singing

songs with kindred spirits,m ade love to

every available pretty girl,and grew into

a retired professor,rather invalided

,but

with the fire o f intellect burning fierce inhis grey head

,and keen and kindly fun

glancing out o f his Scotch blu e eyes.He had married a n English lady

,who

was n ow present,a handsome o ld lady

with white hair and black e ve brows, con

versing with her sister the Marquise deTo rto le o n e

,who had married a French

man,and wa s very French indeed, even

to her accent,in consequence

,and was as

young,beautiful

,and fashionable as human

efforts could m ake her,though only a

few years younger in reality than Mrs .

Miller. She had been staying in Englandlately

,in . consequence Of the war o f the

Commune in Paris . Her so n,a regular

featured , dark, expressionless lad Of fifteen

EA VE LODGE,WINTERDALE. 73

was silently devourin g currant-cake in acorner .

Professor Miller had a son , n ow aged

e ighteen— a handsome, fair, slender youth ,

with his father’s long face and blue eyes,

a n d determined jaw,and his mother’s

s traight nose—who just n ow was lounging

against the mantelpiece With a cup Of tea

in his hand,and gazing through the

window at the sunset . He was just at

the end o f his school career,and had been

a pupil o f Mr. Exe te r’s for some little

time,with the a im o f going in the ensuing

O ctober to the university.

It is worth while to look carefully a t

this youth with the far-gazin g eyes,the

short yellow hair,and the invisible mous

tache which he nervously feels for,for he ,

if any, is the hero Of this story.

His sister,o n e year younger than him

self, wa s occupied in the practice , which

since the publication Of Werther has b e

74 WILD ROSE .

come memorable,o f cutting thin slices Of

brown bread and butter. She wa s a prettygirl

,with light-brown hair plaited into a

tail,with the dignified air o f o n e who

imagines herself grown up, having just

got past the uninteresting s tage Of girl

hood and arrived at that physical change

late,as is usual in fair pers

’

on s,which pro

duces all that natural development in a

girl which changes her from an uninterest

ing and ungraceful nonentity to a very

interestin g and graceful entity. She wasa good-natured

,rather lazy girl

,brought

up at home , very properly and religiously,

under her mother’s eye

,as any girl in

early life ought to be,and instructed

tolerably in the French and German lan

guages— n o t in the Stratford-atte-B ow

style,but by n atives and visits to the

various countries— also in music an d

ordinary drawin g. She wa s generally

liked,and few ventured to say a word

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7 6 WILD ROSE.

Old friend and then because both their

heads were replete with that earnest tragi

comic muddle Of noble aspirations and

form al trivialities which it pleases someladies to term religion

,and Mr. Exeter

was just the man to encourage them . He

wa s picturesque and grandiloquen t in the

pulpit, and his services were co n sum matelysupreme. D O not let it be supposed from

this that Mrs . Miller wa s a fool . Go tt

bewahre ' She wa s an estimable lady o f

m ore than average abilities,but

,as her so n

respectfully remarked,Her o n e loose slate

is religion,alias High Churchism .

’

Mr. Exeter wa s not married. He had

believed in the celibacy o f the clergy ever

since a young lady,an Obj ect Of particular

admiration to him in his curate days,had

cruelly thrown him over in favour Of a tall

gentleman with very short hair,a very

long,very drooping

,and very silky

’

moustache (viole fem inine rom ance o f the

EA VE LODGE,WINTERDALE. 7 7

day, p a ssim), large stan d-up collars, and

an uncontrollable habit of saying‘By

Jove whose profession was to defend his

country,or attack some o n e else’s if ordered

by his sovereign . Mr. Exeter, by a n

exquisite cruelty Of the Parcae,had been

asked to assist in j oining these two to

gether at St. George’s, H anover Square ,a labour which o n e clergyman appeared

insufficient to perform . He had still a

vivid recollection o f hearing the bride

groom mutte r an audible ‘By Jove '’

when he (James Exeter)pronounced in duecourse ‘that these two be man and w ife

together. ’

If Mr. Exeter had perused the maximsOf the impious but amusing M. de la

Rochefoucauld,he would have discovered

another reason why he remained celibateIf we resist our passions it is because

they are weak,rather than because we are

strong.

7 8 WILD ROSE .

It is apparently a law Of nature that

d isappointed lovers sho uld take to dissipation Of some form

,sometim es of more tha n

o n e form,as a temporary relief to the

feeling . Som e choose ‘Our Lady o f

Pain,

’ others brandy,both more o r less

rapid forms of moral suicide if persisted in .

James Exeter plun ged into the fiercest

excesses of Anglo-Catholicism.

His mind and time were n ow pretty

fully occupied with services,sermon s ,

Sunday - schools,and sundry such like

forms of duty,and he had withal the con

soling conviction that his time wa s being

use fullv as well as pleasantly spent .He had found some of his parishione rs

largely prepared to assist in the practical

carrying out of his views,as any e n thusi

astio good-looking man will find supporters,

particularly among the fem ales of a com

munity, if even to get up a Guild for the

Propagation Of ‘Hymns Ancient and

EA VE LODGE,WINTERDALE. 7 9

Modern in the Moon . So Mrs . and MissMiller taught in the Sunday-school

,of

which the little b oys and girls Of the parishwere the Victims . The said Sundayschool

,by dint Of illustrated tickets,

’

treats,teas

,buns

,bunting

,bands

,and pro

cessions,and sermons plain for children ’

(and coloured for adults , added the flippa n t)became well attended, to the intense

gratitude o f the parents who go t rid in thisway Of their noisy and rowdy Offspring fo r

a fraction o f the day.

The Vicar also played cricket,without

being in the least a muscular Christian,

’

though decidedly muscular and undeniablya Christian . This endeared him to the

Older lads Of the parish,who respected him

far m ore because he could bowl them o ut

than because he was— according to hispulpit assertions a successor Of theapostles .

Finding Professor Miller apparently to o

80 WILD ROSE .

lazy this afternoon to contradict him o n

Huxley a n d -Darwin, Mr. Exeter adaptedhis conversation to the supposed scale Of

intelligence Of a female audience,and

inquired if Miss Miller were going to the

Bishop’s garden-party. Miss Miller hoped

so,but was n o t sure it depended o n how

mamma was . ‘Would Mr. Exeter haveanother cup Of tea

Thank you, if you please ; half a cup

will be plenty. Yes I wa s going to say ,

Miss Miller,that you must persuade your

mamma to abstain from all risks Of ailments till then . I should be sorry for

you to m iss it. The Bishop is to give an

address . ’

And when it is over and my duty

as chaperon done,

’ said Mrs . Miller, ‘I

suppose I am at liberty to relapse again

in to neuralgia a n d quietude to my heart’s

content

I believe,

’ said Jack, Hel never

WIN TERDALE . 8 1

d iscovered that paren ts w ere o f any use

in life till just n ow, when she is always

wanting chaperons . ’

The Pro fessor’s quick Scotch tones wereheard retorting

And yo u,Jack

,have n o t found a use

fo r us at all yet,except the o n e that

o ccurred to you in earliest infancy,that

w e were a ready source of cash . Just

think,Exete r

,he began by soliciting pence

t o buy bull’s-eyes and chocolate,

o n the

in genious pretext that they were for Helo r a beggar

, o r som e equally deservingperson

,just to take away a n y lurking sus

picio n Of greed o n his own part, which o f

c ourse had never entered our heads . Then

he grew Older,and required shillings fo r

m aterials wherewith to compound fire

works and for other em inently scientific

purposes . Six months ago he became

ambitious to ride a bicycle,and having

surreptitiously obtained o n e,permitted the

VOL . I . 6

52 WILD ROSE .

bill to fall into my hands . I admit,w ith

some pleasure,that he suffered a good deal

in learning to ride it, and has n o t succeeded

in destroying the instrument yet. He

has recently discovered that colouring,

and incidentally breaking,clay pipes is a

manly and desirable accomplishment and

I have reason to suppose has undergone

m uch private anguish in acquiring It.

I t is a cheap amusement,however

I say,draw it mild

,father,

’ said Jack,

laughin g. You can’t invent many more

examples o f extortion.

’

I do not think,

’ said Mr . Exetergravely and pleadingly

,

‘that your son is

quite so mercenary as you seem to think .

’

Mr. Exeter wonders to this day why

both Jack and his father laughed so much

at this reply .

‘We were just discussing when yo u

came in,Exeter

,

’ continued the Professor,

in a differen t tone,what to do with this

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84 WILD ROSE.

e xclaimed the Marquise,who had been

hitherto rather sile nt .‘D O you really think so, madam '' in

quired the Vicar,with some hesitation .

D O yo u not think that would be leadinga young man into many and unn ecessarytem ptations

Perhaps ; but it would give him the

best education in medicine o r in art,and

civilise him . I do not know what Englishuniversities are like

,but imagine they

must be rather barbarous,she wa s about

to say,had she not suddenly recollected

that the Professor, and probably his friend,were English university m e n

,and so modi

fie d he r termination to different,

’

which

wa s rather weak.

Ah said the Vicar ; I often wish for

m y three years at the dear o ld college

o ver again . You know , madam’

(he wa s

dubious how to address a marquise, and

fluk e d along), Professor Miller and my

WIN TERDALE. 85

self were fellow-students at Oxbridge,and

we, o r at any rate I , have the pardonable

Opinion that in an English university isfound the best intellectual and sociale ducation for a youn g man .

’

‘Yes ; and'

a moral o n e,

’ added the

Professor. I found it so ; didn’

t I ,ExeterThe Vicar smiled faintly

,and shook his

head reprovingly.

‘I did contemplate sending him to

Leipzig and Berlin,where I wa s myself

once ; but I incline to ParIs now,and so

does b e It is always well to study in a

European as well as an En glish o r Scotchuniversity . I t tends to remove the too

prevalent impression o f the immeasurable

superiority o f Great Britain in matters

social and intellectual . ’

‘Besides,

’ said the Marquise, ‘in Paris

I can keep an e y e o n him .

’

Two,if you like ,

’ replied the Profe ssor,

86 WILD ROSE .

‘though I fancy by that time it will be

considered immaterial by him whose eye is

fixed o n him .

’

‘Not altogether,I hope

,

’ said Mrs .

Miller gravely.

‘Hadn’t I better leave the room ,

’

in

te rpo se d Jack , with the delightful pertness

Of an only son,

‘if you are all going to

spend the afternoon talking about me '’

‘If there is any painting in him,

’ said

the Professor,

‘it w ill break o ut Of its own

accord, and in the meantime a little

general scientific education— o n the top

Of your IEschylus and Horace , Exeterwill be no disadvantage

,and may be even

an assistance in other professions thanmedicine . Anatomy n ow

,for example

Here the Marquise hastily changed the

conversation, well aware what was likely

to follow if her terrible and scientific

brother-in -law once go t the conversational

bit in his teeth o n anatomy,by a sking

WINTERDALE. 87

‘D O yo u have a musical service here ,

Mr. Exeter ' Y ou know I am a Catholic

but I take a gre at interest in these matters

(‘She didn’t the least, half-a n -hour ago,

’

muttered the snubbed Professor),‘a nd

would be happy to give any assistance I

could .

’

‘Certainly . We do what w e can with

o ur little choir. There is nothing w e

should welcome so much as a lady’s voice

in the singing. You,perhaps

,would be

unaccustomed partly to our music and style

Of chant,but that would come readily after

a fe w practices . We have a full choral

service twice o n Sundays,and an in com

ple te ly choral matins every week-day at

8’

a m . Besides which , w e have,of course

,

the frequent occasional festivals,with which

you must be as well acquainted as we, to

enlighten the comparatively monotonous

week,as well as the weddings a n d funerals .

Ah,what a lovely funeral wa s that la st

88 W'ILD ROSE.

Thursday ' I fancy you were not there,

Miller '’

I fancy not,Exeter. I have given up

assisting professionally at parish death-beds

n ow. Probably the next fun eral I per

so n a lly attend will be my own . Good

that ' Personally conducted funerals '

Might advertise an agency for them,a la

Cook .

’

‘You are incorrigibly flippan t, Pro

fe sso r. May I ask,

’ proceeded Mr. Exeterto the Marquise

,

‘if we may expect you

in o ur little church to -morrow— Sunday '

The Bishop will preach,and it will b e

rather a favourable occasion for gaining afirst impression .

’

Oh,certainly— thank you very much

,

’

replied the Marquise,as if accepting an

invitation to din ner. ‘I have no doubt

my sister will have great pleasure in taking

me there .

’

Hel and Jack were n ow sittin g o n a

WINTERDALE. 89

sofa,displayin g their discretion by talking

about their visitor,as wa s perfectly Obvious

from their low and cautious tones a n d fur

tive glances at the Obj ect o f the n discourse .

Mr. Exeter startled them by asking, durlnga lull in the conversation , if Miss Helenwould not favour him with a song, and

m ade rem arks ab out Ulysses and thesirens, intending, Of course, to institute a

comparison between Miss Miller and a

siren, it following n aturally that he re pre

sen ted the subtle and travelled Greek.

‘But I hope you are not going to stop

your ears , Mr. Exeter,’ replied Hel .

I think I am right in saying that

Ulysses stopped the ears o f his crew and

kept his own open . I shall follow his

example an d dispense with a crew.

’

Of course,Hel ' Wron g again

,a s

usual,

’ rem arked Ja ck with m asculine de

cisio n ,calculated to display the superiority

Of the British boy’s acqua intance with the

90 WILD ROSE.

ancient litera ture Of G reece over that o f

the British girl.

Hel darted a fiery glance at he r brother,

a n d Observed gravely,I am forgetting my

Homer dreadfully,

’ as if Bentley,Wolff,

Gladston e,and the inevitable Scholia st

were her intimate friends,and w ith the

satisfied tone Of o n e who could readily tell

you the shades Of difference between two

durup ém t

’

s in two consecutive sentences .

As a matter Of fact,she had once opened

Pope’s Homer’s Iliad in the course Of he r

e xistence,and in five minutes pronounced

it heavy and stupid— to which Opinion,as

she j ourneys through life,she will find

m any adherents.

Hel arranged herself before the piano.

Her particular enthusiasm just then wa s

Germany,so she gave in a clear

,expres

sive,though not powerful soprano, a

German song— a common song enough,

but beautiful when heard seldom . This

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CHAPTER IV

JACK MILLER.

‘N o,n o I

’

d se nd him out be time s to co llege,

For the re it was I pick e d up m y own knowledge .

’

BYRON .

IT is n ow tim e to devote a fe w special

words to o ur youn g friend Jack Miller,

who will be a figure Of some importance in

these pages.

He wa s sent to school at the age Of

nine,where he remained till he wa s six

teen . It does n o t much signify which

school ; they are much alike. We will

call it Whippingham . But Jack wa s n o t

constructed quite after the pattern Of all

English schoolboys . He worked w ith

364CR MILLER. 93

facility,and spent his spare time in help

ing his friends . Of active games he wasn o t over-fond ; rH e preferred lo afing in

summ er with a novel, to playing cricket.C ricket meant fielding to him,

as he wa s asorry batsman and could n o t bowl . In

winter he'

o cca sio n ally played football with

valourand violence, but Without attainingm uch skill .

He read a Waverley novel at the age Ofn ine

,mispronouncing half the names

, a n d

gaining a somewhat hazy conception as to

the meaning and point of some Of the

a ction ; but, nevertheless, extracting a

good deal o f entertainment to himself

therefrom . He organised bands Of outlaws

am ong the lower boys,who assembled at

the sound o f a whistle from the leafy

glades o f Sherwood (Sherwood consistingOf a clump o f laurels). He besieged Tor

quilsto n e , and repulsed the captors Of Ro b

Roy with hard fallen chestnuts— o n e o f

WILD ROSE.

which’

n e arly put another boy’s eye out— and

so forth,until the dram atic representation

Of the Waverley novels was summarilyprohibited

,Dirk H atte ra ick having sur

re ptitiously procured a real pistol an d shoto n e Of his invaders in the left hand .

At the age Of twelve he read some

Tennyson,and pronounced ‘

it stupid and

affected— a n opinion he had’

he ard som e

one else enounce . At seventeen he thought

it beautiful,and wa s constantly discovering

imaginary Mauds ’ in the most commonplace people twice his age .

Shakespeare he found an unfathom ablemine Of delight . He had a great dea l Ofmis

ce llan e ous literature at his hand at home .

He read popular science,and messed

with nitric acid and fireworks . He pur

chased a sm all work on logic,at the insti

ga tio n Of n o b o dv when he was fifteen ;a n d what is more , read it.

He found his father’s collection o f

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9 6 WILD ROSE.

course Of actors from the novels you have

read,and your blank verse is decidedly in

fe rio r to that Of Shakespeare,whatever

you may think to the contrary. Yo u ca n

draw,and you can work at science . Don’t

have tOO many irons in the fire,and don ’t

be too sure Of anything.

’

Jack,temporarily ann ihilated

,a n dwra th

ful,saw in tim e that there was sense and

truth in his father’s words,and ceased to

be a dramatic author. He went,however

,

to the Win terdale School o f Art,where

he worked hard , made m any friends,a n d

a cquired what skill in manipulation the

place could give him,which

, p lus his naturaltalen t, gave him a respectable power Of re

presentation .

At sixteen o r seventeen he left school,

a n d became a pupil of Mr. Exeter,residing

o f course at home. Naturally,his mind

wa s n o t what is usually understood by

pure, innocent, and moral . N O o n e'

e xce pt

31AGR MILLER.

his mother could believe that an Englishschoolboy Of seven years ’ standing could beall o r any o f these . If a proved specimen

is to be found,I should like to see it. He

had a certain code Of ethics,such as never

to tell a lie except to shield a friend,o r o n

such like urgent necessity ; never to hurt

o ther people if avoidable w ithout loss Of

prestige . He wa s with difficulty provoked ,

and took most things pretty calmly. He

wa s not shy

C’était la son mo indre de fant. ’

But he could not be called forward o r ill

mannered, and was seldom impertinent .

He had a strong sense Of justice,and

logic and Euclid combined to give him avery clear insight into arguments . Rever

ence he was almost absolutely devoid o f,

though he might admire and respect certain

persons and things .

Religion had been represented to him

VOL . I . 7

98 WILD ROSE.

at home,as well as at school , as a matter

Of authority,a foregone conclusion

,a

m atter o f course. His father had decided

n o t to dictate to him in favour Of, o r

against,distinct articles o f belief

,mean ing

to assist him when Old enough to com e to

rational conclusions by using his own

judgment. His mother had,Of course

,

decided nothing Of the kind,and instructed

him,contemporaneously w ith his A B C

,

o n the Bible and religion Of the Church

as matters to be believed, staggered and

horrified as she might be by his Occasional

naive matter-o f—fact questions . All the

preachers he had ever heard had done the

same .

But at sixteen,logic

,Euclid, curiosity and

a strong bia s for fact had set the ston e o f

free thought rollin g in Jack’s active brain ,

and authority in matters of opinion and fore

gone conclusions sank and were shattered

b eneath it. His mind at first got into a

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100 WILD ROSE .

up a little too early. His tastes were not

y e t fully developed. He had been a o

quain te d with many intelligent persons,

among whom perhaps the most importa nt

wa s his o wn father,and wa s capable o f

sustaining a conversation with spirit and

sense . He could speak and read French

and German moderately well. It may

be further added,for the benefit Of the

curious,that his hair wa s short, yellow,

and parted in the middle ; his eye

brows n o t white,as everyone feared they

would ; that he wa s five feet ten inches

high,well shaped

,though slender, and

fond o f bird’s-eye. He could draw an d

colour well . At school he had covered

his books w ith devices and designs,to the

great ire of his masters. All schoolboys

convert the ir books into repositories forsuperfluous ink

,but fe w can draw b e

yond,perhaps

,a rude representation o f a

human figure depending stiffly from a

_

‘

7ACR MILLER. 101

gibbet, with the inscription ,‘This is Old

SO-and-so .

’

In the year 187 0,the Emperor o f the

French endeavoured to invade Germany ,

and in doin g so gave the King Of Prussia

an Opportunity Of invadin g France and

Of becomin g Emperor,Of German y. SO

much European history relates . But

European history omits to mention thatin that year Jack Miller fell in love , as

far as it is possible at least for a youth o f

seventeen to fall. This wa s as important

a page o f history to him as the invasionOf France to William vo n Hohenzollern .

It wa s less important to the obj ect Of hisadmiration

,though she too found amuse

men t in it .

She wa s a barmaid at the Winterdalerailway buffet . She wa s really pretty ,

and only three-and-twenty. N othin g pa r

ticular came Of it except a n inordinate

expen diture o n Jack’s part o n unwhole

102 WILD ROSE.

some food and beve rages between meals ,

which the stom ach Of a man reading at

Exe ter’

s,

’ aged seventeen,could easily

tolerate ; so the consequences were not as

serious as mothers might fear and doctors

hope .

The idea Of m arriage flitte d, perhap s ,

vaguely through his brain . It was,how

e ver,only what a sa va n t calls ‘a certain

m arshallin g and re -marshalling o f the

atoms ’ in his cranial cavity,and never

gave itself vent in articulate speech . I n

his literary lessons in the ga i scie n ce , more

over,all the gay Lothario characters and

French musketeers,and countless such

like,held marriage in ridicule and aversion

,

and he felt that he must adhere to the

lofty ideal thus portrayed,a n d not lower

himself by travelling in the well-worn rutso f the wain o f virtue and respectability.

Such a step as marriage here,he had also

,

apart from the Don Juan affectation,sens‘e

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104 IVILD ROSE.

a t St . Audit College, in the university

usually described by Thackeray as Cx

bridge ,’ though its manners and customs

,

spirit a n d style Of learning,have somewhat

developed a n d differentiated since the

days o f Pendennis, Fok e r, Magnus Char

te rs, e t hoc ge nus om n e .

CHAPTER V.

JACK’

s ACADEM IC LIFE .

Vivat AcademiaVivant Profe sso re s

Old Studen ts’Song.

J ACK had n o t the advan tage Of an uncle

like Major Pendennis to guard his m oralwell-bein g

,a n d in troduce him to the

un iversity. Even his father wa s to o unwellat the time o f his starting to accompanyhim

,so he had to march into the world by

him self,armed with a letter Of in tro duc

tion to D r. Scalpel , the then Professoro f Pathology at O xbridge (Oxbridge,un like the sister university Of Cam fo rd,

possessed an active Faculty of Medicin e

106 WILD ROSE.

and a large hospital), who promptly

asked him '

to dinner o n his arrival,and

made him welcome to the n e w life,and

m ade him feel that he had a friend he

could respect and trust. Jack never forgot

the kin dness o f Professor Scalpel to afreshman in a strange world .

As has been already hinted,Oxbridge

wa s not then what it wa s in the reign o f

Thackeray and his friend George the

Fourth . The work was harder,more

extensive, and more rationally conducted

than in the Old days,the average o f culture

slightly higher,the gen eral spirit rather

more secular. The advance Of learning,

civilisation, and toleration had made thetone Of the insular university more

European , and some at least Of the Oldprejudices had fled into the eternal lim bo

prepared fo r such things . On e great

change had taken place a lmost before

Jack’s very eyes, and o n e Of which the

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108 ll/I LD ROSE .

be able to state the interesting fact in somany modern languages . After his first

year,he saw through his o wn ambition

little pieces o f affectation , a n d began to

look the great realities Of nature and j oy

a n d w o e in the face . H e could find

delight in the scarlet autumn blaze o f

a Virginian vine,o r the dark

,graceful

,

stiff-twigged fir-trees outlined against thegreen pallor Of the western sky at his

home,as well as in the refined and wearied

sensuousness o f the m arble-fa ced Dionysos,

w ith vine-leaves wreathing his drooped

head in the Art Museum at Oxbridge,o r

in the less refined though perhaps equa lly

weary legs o f burlesque , ‘movin g to the

music Of passion,with a lithe a n d lascivious

regret,’ in a Hall Of Varieties in Leicester

Square . Fo r,be it remembered

,a uni

versity educa tion is incomplete in these

latter days w ithout frequent Visits to the

Metropolis,and to the various ‘shrines

7 ACR’

s ACAD EMI C LIFE.

where a sin is a prayer .’ He wa s com

ple te ly Of the earth, e a rthy ,’

a n d wa s n o t

ashamed o f’

it,but considered it as a

natural and inevitable fact that he should

be so. He said : If I ought to be other

w ise than I am,I should have been made

otherwise . I am a man,and act as fully

as possible up to my n ature . What elsecan you expect

He attended his college cha pel occasion

a lly. This fact,combined w ith his home

religious education,possibly in some part

accounts for the dislike he felt to the

popular religion Of England. For irre

ligious, it is to be feared , Jack Millercertainly was , and, lamentable as it may

sound, found many con genial spirits atOxbridge who sincerely and entirely dis

believed everythin g that deans hold

sacred.

He got-to have friends Of all sorts and

descriptions , Christian and Parsee , German

110 WILD ROSE.

and French,industrious and idle

,worthless

a n d worthy but gradua lly, in the lapse o f

time,he got more intimate w ith what som e

called the ‘modern fast set. ’ This wa s

a small circle,and utterly distinct from

the ancient fast set, which is composed Of

rich or noble idlers , app e titous athletes e t

hoc ge nus om n e , and which is as Old and

respected an academ ic institution as the’varsity sermon .

N O. Jack’s friends were men o f

moderate , some less than moderate,

means , who worked hard,mostly in his

o wn line o f study,some sen ior and some

junior to himself,possessing plenty Of

talent and wit,little o r no religion

,and

delighting in the ancient classics,Shake

speare, the Elizabethan and Restorationdramatists , Theophile Gautier, Baudelaire

Hugo,and a certain school Of modern

English ' poets : not that they were all

alike,Of course

,in these respects — a general

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112 WILD ROSE.

He wa s some years older than Jack,

and possessed more experience o f the

world , and had more pronounced opinions

in consequence . He wa s naturally e h

dowed w ith a capacity for languages,and

wa s familiar with all Jack’s favourite

authors,and a great man y more beside .

He appreciated nature , music , and poetry

keenly,and they seemed to be the romantic

e lement in his nature , and the symptoms

Of the Hungarian blood . Perhaps it wa s

his Teutonic education that w a s responsible

for his attachment to pure reason and free

speculation,unfettered by the authority o f

men ’s Opinions and traditions . The Englishelement in his composition came out in hislove o f comfort, o f cavendish

,and Of

Shakespeare .

In the details Of the political and religious

disputes Of the day he took but slight

interest . He wa s n o t overj oyed o r afflicted

a t the existen ce o f an Established Church in

934CR’

S ACADEMIC LIFE. 113

England,though he thought it contrary to

the principles Of pure reason . He said

If I hoped o r struggled to see Englandgoverned by pure reason

,I should wear

out my body and mind,and leave England

such as I found it. ’

If you replied to him that if everyone

used such arguments there would be n o

progress at all,he would say

‘Perhaps . But everyone does not use

such arguments. ’

As long as there existed good theatres,

painters,musicians and poets

,tobacco

,

girls and beer,he said anEstablishedChurch

o r an established anything else in no wayaffected the stream Of his life . And a

sparkling,j oyous

,and intelligent stream it

was . He enj oyed life intensely,and almost

every man and woman who knew him liked

him,and every animal .

He wa s quite fearless in enunciating hisOpinions

,though he did n o t do so o n n u

VOL. I .

114 WILD ROSE.

called for occasions,and wa s careful to

avoid giving unnecessary Offence in his talk .

To sum Maxm ilia n Laurence up, he wa so n e o f those keen -minded

,strong-bodied ,

refined and en lightened young beings Of this

latter day , for whose existence w e may

largely thank,if thanks be due

,the authors

o f the new revolution— Voltaire,Goethe ,

Musset, Heine, and multitudinous others ,whose names will readily occur to the

reader,whose chief ally

,it may be added

,

in the spiritual regeneration (o r revolution,whichever the reader likes) may be safely

a sserted to be the Older mediaeval spirit

that .so Often asserts itself in fierce abusea gainst them.

Some Of Laurence’s Oxbridge friendscalled him ‘Der Geist de r stets verneint

and others,

‘Der Kritik der reinen Ver

n un ft.

’

His influence enlarged Jack’s literarytaste

,and stimulated him to study the

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116 WILD ROSE.

doubtful if his parents would have felt all

the gratitude to his guide that Jack him

self felt. SO progressed his academic life .It is unnecessa ry to do more than just giveon e real extract from his career there

,

tending to give more definite ideas Of Ox

bridge and its associations for Jack thanwould be given by pages Of description .

To this a separate chapter is due, which

will bring us to the termination o f his third

a cademic year,and the twenty-first a n d

twe n ty-second o f his life .

CHAPTER VI .

ALMA PIA— DURA MATER.

IT is just possible to become tired Of

Oxbridge,isn ’t it asked Jack Of Max, as

they walked slowly arm-in -arm , in the

dusk Of a March evening,towards the

latter’s rooms,where he had invited a few

friends to a sort o f formal farewell assem

blage,previous to their both leaving Ox

bridge,and subsequently to their both

having taken their degrees.

I think it is possible at certain momentsto absolutely hate it

,

’ the other replied.

‘However,this is our last Bumm e l in

these streets . Let us look at it with akindly and pitying eye . ’

118 WILD ROSE .

It wa s a Saturday evening,about half

past eight,and the sky wa s clear and star

lit after a very we t afternoon,which had

left a thin layer Of sticky,dark slime o n

the pavement,interrupted at intervals by

a puddle glittering in the gaslight,through

which the numerous passers-by splashed

carelessly ; The large gutters , for whichOxbridge is so famous

,were filled to over

flowing with rushing clear water, and the

oath o f some o n e accidentally treading in

one wa s occasionally audible.

Jack and Laurence were in a long

irregular street which extends from the

heart Of the town to its uttermost outskirt,

and whose pavement in the evening, par

ticula rly Saturday evening,is usually

crowded. At every step they were j ostled

by Old peasants in lon g smock-frocks,who

were goin g home from their marketing,

usually slightly unsteady from beer and

gin undergrown youths from shops, from

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120 WILD ROSE.

young girls,leaning with their backs to

the wall,talking

, laughin g, and addressing

rem arks Of a personal a n d chaffy ’ nature

to passing students . N ow and then a

hussar was visible,from the neighbourin g

garrison-town o f Sho re dale,in a great

cloak, with crimson legs showing under itmuch spur and swagger

,and

,o f course

,

like the rest Of the world o n such an evening

,slightly drunk .

At o n e side o f the street was the bril

liant gas-lit descent to a skating-rink,

where the sounds Of a bad piano and fiddle

were fain tly audible,playing a well-known

and popular polka,nearly drowned in the

grinding Of the wheels of the skaters. I f

o n e were to glance inside, o n e would see a

crowd Of men in four-cornered caps,and

girls set free from their shop-counters,etc . ,

for the evening, going round and round

their prescribed course,like the heavenly

bodies,in a hot

,gassy atm osphere

,which

ALMA PIA— DORA MATER. 12 1

appeared to have permanently deprived the

poor,pale

,j deform ed pianist o f a com

plexion . In its entrance-passage m ore

youths in square caps were to be seen ,smokin g cigarettes a n d drinkin g beer sent

in large shining pewter p ots from a neigh

b o uring public-house. -(As a m atter Of

fact,there was always a n eighbouring

’

public-house and a neighbouring to

ba cco n ist in any part o f Oxbridge .)By Jove said Jack

,I thin k we really

have slummed along these streets about

enough . About as much as the exigencieso f our education demand. It is rather

terrible,isn’t it

,to thin k how much time

m e n waste here '’

‘Pity that idea doesn’t occur to thewould-b e dissipated freshman a little earlier

in his academic career,

’ said the other.

Let’s go home . ’

And they went to Laurence’s rooms inSt. Audit’s College— large

,comfortable

122 WILD ROSE .

rooms, with an artistic and refined lookabout them

,and containing a great number

Of books and a piano . Laurence wa s a nenthusiastic and talented musician. Regi

ments Of claret bottles were o n a side-table,

flanked by squadrons of soda-water bottles .

On a table in the middle Of the room were

large beakers of glass,borrowed from o n e

Of the laboratories,to hold claret-cup,

which Laurence and Jack,denuded Of their

coats,were hastening to make . The kettle

wa s boiling o n the fire,and an em pty china

bowl for the later manufacture o f whisky

punch wa s in the background . The

groceries ’ strewed the table. The latter

day paganism,with all its culture , does

not despise the ancient and j ovial in stitu

tions Of cup and punch and ringing song,

nor even pipes and tobacco,a b o x of which

wa s Open o n the table . Just as Laurencehad lit a magnificent German porcelain

pipe, w ith a stem o f immense length, the

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124 WILD ROSE .

tall,bearded handsome man

,who had just

been giving his ideas o n egoistic Hedo

nism, H egal and‘uvver fings,

’ suddenlysaid

By the way,apropos o f Hedonism, wa s

anyone at Thompson’s drunk,day before

yesterday

N o ; were you '’

‘Oh yes . I am thinking Of writing a

College Drinking-party ” in emulation Of

George Eliot’s College Breakfast-party,

”

which,as yo u all know,

gives such a truly

accurate and realistic notion of the waymen converse

,here

,o n such occasions . ’

What wa s the drunk like,Villars

asked Jack ; ‘wa s it interesting, o r wa s

there anything original about it Rather

surprised, you know,

to hear that you

should have connection with such a per

fo rm a n ce .

’

Well,

’ said Villars,

‘it is not a frequent

amusement Of m ine,as you are aware .

Thompson, you know,

has recently m ade a

ALMA PIA— D (IRA MATER . 125

valiant and praiseworthy attempt to take a

degree in honours, which has met with that

cruel form ‘Of repulse from the examiners,

In honour

apparently o f this, he decided to have a

wine,

” and invited me among others. I

popularly called a“plo ug

had no decent excuse for refusing, and

n o t to hurt his feelings,went . It wa s

crowded,as anything Of that sort given in

lodgings is likely to be . There wa s a

great deal o f the brutal athlete elementpresent

,more particularly in the form Of

Sloane. Know Sloane,don’t you ' enor

mous m an whose rooms are furnished

principally with rowing and athleticphotos

I know,

’ said Jack great pal Of LilyJones Of the Pig and Whistle bar

,in

Watergate Lane. ’‘I know nothing o f his amorous ex

ploits, but I can readily suppose it . I

only know that he got fearfully o n at this

126 WILD ROSE.

entertainment I am speaking o f very early

in the evening,and it took many men

and much labour to keep him within some

bounds ’

‘I believe that man will have D .T .

soon,

’ said Jack ;‘he can’t do an hour’s

reading without bottled beer,even In the

morning. His fingers speak a lcoholism in

every attempt to lift a gla ss or light a

pipe . ’

He amused him self for a fe w minutes ,’

continued Villars,

‘in throwing chairs

downstairs,and his conversation wa s Of

the most hair-raisin g description .

’

I ’ll bet it wa s,

’ said the l ittle demonstrato r Of anatomy, taking his short blackpipe from his mouth

,and blowing an

additional puff Of the perfume Of burnt

shag through the already clouded atmo

sphere .

’

After a. while,when o n e o r two rather

quiet m e n had gone, Dawkins went to the

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128 WILD ROSE.

fo rm a n ce wa s getting Sloane home,

’ went

o n Villars . He had firmly decided,with

that determination which is so strong in a

drunken man,tha t going home was a

foolish and unnecessary proceeding,and

argum ent and persuasion had very littleeffect . He placed his great back against awall, and se t his beastly dog at us . He

lives in som e back street,to which the

route is rather involved,and it took som e

three quarters Of an hour before we couldget him into the hands Of a philanthropic

policeman som ewhere in his n eighbour

hood,who promised to see him hom e. I

hope he enj oyed the j ob .

’

‘I hope it hasn ’t dem oralised you , and

given you tha t taste for vinous excess

Horace so viciously encourages '’ askedJack.

I hOpe not. When are you going

down

TO-morrow m orning. This is—I say it

ALMA FIA-DURA MATER . 29

with som e feeling, m ade up o f a little

pride,som e pain

,and much satisfaction

the last D Ight Of my Oxbridge career.

Max and I go to town to-morrow.

’

‘The devil yo u do said Villars.

‘Where you are going to be Faust andMephistopheles, Max a n d Moritz

,com

panions in iniquity,I suppose . ’

Oh yes, go o n Villars : David and

‘Jonathan, Crosse and Blackwell, Hell

and Tomm y,’ cried some voice from the

corner Of a sofa.

We have what the knights Of Old ca lleda quest

,

’ said Laurence,

‘to follow for a

few days . After that,Gra s inge n s

scire n ef a s.

’

‘What’s the quest in this case '’ a sked

the demonstrator,with a sm ile in his dark,

vivacious eyes .

N ous so n ge ons qu a nous réjo uir7) 7

La grande a ffaire e st le pla isir.'And the nature Of that pleasure

VOL. I . 9

130 WILD ROSE .

Soyo ns toujours amoure uxC

’e st lo moye n d’etre he ure ux.

‘Ah,I went in for that sort o f thing

when I wa s your age .

’

Really That must be about two

years ago,when you were my present age ; ’

You are very full o f quotation to-night

what have you been reading

A work entitled M. de Pource augn a c

by Moliere . Would yo u like -One more

short moral lesson from the same

I’m n o t very keen o n it,but I suppose

you will not be satisfied till y o u haveem itted it . ’

Aimo ns jusque au trépasLa ra ison n o us y convieH élas si l

’On n

’a im ait pas

Q ue se ra it-ce de la vieAh pe rdo ns plutOt le j our,Q ui se pe rdre no tre amour.”

‘Hear,hear said Jack .

‘Alm ost thou persuadest me to be a

heathen,

’ said Villars,

o n your pattern .

’

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132 WILD ROSE.

through the still n ight,startling stray

passers and policemen,fo r the rooms

looked o n to the street.

Between the songs came general refresh

m ent and confused j ocular conversation,in

the midst o f which Laurence began tom ake the punch

,and a sprightly young

Frenchman,after distinguishing himself in

a contest with Jack with a pair of foils,

sa t down to the piano and began the well

known o ld song

Mo n pere e st ‘

a Pa ris,

Ma m ere e st a Ve rsa ille,

Et m o i j e suis iciMe couchant sur la pa ille .

Just as the deafening chorus o f L ’amour,

la n uit comme le j our wa s b ein g rendered

by the whol e force o f the com pany,the

punch wa s placed o n the table,and the

college porter came to the door to request

mitigation o f the ro w.

Who sent you '’ asked Laurence .

ALMA PIA— D (IRA IlIATER.

The master,sir

Take this glass o f punch fo r yourself,

and tell the m aste r,if he has a n y complaint

to make to me he can make it in person at

King’s Cross to -morrow,at where

I shall be . In a ny case, tell him to

faireL

’

amo ur,

La nuit comme le j our

shouted the multitude. The porter

grinned, swallowed his punch and withdrew.

Some o n e volunteered to drop a mouse

through the letter-slit in the m aster’s door,

a nd wa s restrained with some difficulty

from carryin g out the project,which would

have'

p e rille d his prospects rather, as hewould be certain to be detected in his

present condition .

Laurence filled glasses round, and the

o ld English song Three Jolly Post-boys’

followed,and several m ore . Finally,

Auld Langsyne wa s sun g w ith very n u

134 WILD ROSE.

steady Highland honours,

’ and the party

broke up, and went whooping home o n a

continuous slide,the street having frozen

in the night . Max and Jack instan tly

calmed down,closed the piano

,a n d sat

pensively smokin g in armchairs before the

fi re .

S trange isn’t it '’ observed the former ;‘any visitor would have fancied himself

strayed into a barrack or a private asylum ,

who had come here half an hour ago, and

would never have guessed that some o f the

best and cleverest fellows in the ’varsity

were here,j oking

,drinkin g punch

,and

generally raising Hades in the way theydid . Villars will get a professorship bfmetaphysics in Scotland ; Smith is a

le cturer, a n d prosector and fellow o f his

college already the other men are going to

ge t high places , if they have not go t them,

except y ou and I , who remain and lament

Mimi Pinson,and the temp s p erdu.

’

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136 WILD ROSE.

whom we pay to do nothing except send

us down if necessary, and the chaplains

that m ake services a caricature o f religion,

and the deans who would force us toattend them .

’

‘And we shall n o t forget the few good

friends we have made,and the real good

tim es we have had .

’

Have you packed up‘N o .

’

When do you m ean to Because thetrain’s at ten

,and you won’t be in a hurry

to r ise to morrow,

“when later larks giv e

warning the later lark bein g regardeda s j ust over. ’

‘Oh , I

’

ll m anage in time . I’

m not

drunk , and there’s a whole n ight y e t.

’

‘Stay with m e, and help make som e

anchovy toast and coffee . ’

It’s o n e a m . I ’m n o t such a bird o f

night as you .

’

‘You’

d better stay. I want to show

ALMA PIA— DURA MATER. 137

yOu some n ew books— Spinoza in Dutchlinguistic exercise .

’

d,at this hour in the

morn ing ; as he probably is from a -theo'

Spinoza be (1

logical standpoint . No, sir ' I ’m goingto pack and sleep— perchance to dream .

Then there’s my tub ' We will meet atPhilippi— that is to say

,in m y rooms, where

you will breakfast later in the course o f

the m orning. Good-night. ’

Good-night. ’

And Laurence sat up reading Spinoz aa mong the remains o f claret-cup , punch,bits o f lemon

,an d tobacco ashes .

CHAPTER VI I .

R O S A E N T E R S S O C I ETY.

AFTER the Germ an war, Dr. Taylor, on

receipt o f a letter from Césarin e , a n d a

posthumous o n e from Felix ,written in case

o f his death,sailed fo r Europe uia’ Ham

burg, and went, as he said, as straight as

railroad cars could take him to the Rue de

la Harpe,and the Boulevard St. Michel,

a n d found Rosa,overj oyed to see him,

grown into a tall, lithe girl o f fourteen,

w ith the experiences o f wa r and starvation

o n her pale face and thin limbs, and look

ing at him with unlimited affection o ut of

hollow large brown eyes. He a t once

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140 WILD ROSE.

after some protector o f her o wn sex, more

efficient,though none could be more willing

o r kind-hearted,than Césarin e . He ex

plained this to the latter as delicately as

possible, and she assen ted, with some

tears,o n the condition that she was to be

occasionally visited by Rosa.

SO Rosa wa s transferred to the care o f

Mrs . Maston Frankland,who wa s the

acme o f elegance and propriety, and who,

after listening to the true story o f Rosa,as

told by her brother— who , in his direct,

simple-minded way , expected the sam eenthusiastic approval from this lady-like

sister o f his that he go t from Césarin e , the

brasserie waitress saidWell

,if you ain

’t the oddest kind , Ivor

However, I suppose I must try what I can

do .

’

Mrs . Frankland wa s too weak to refuse to

do what she wa s even slightly unwilling to

do . Taylor went o n ,in a hesitating voice

ROSA ENTERS SOCIETY. 141

Say,you’ll dress her properly, won

’t

you—way other smart girls a re dressed '

I ’ll stand that and,see here

,she’s learnt

a whole crowd o f things already— I don’

t

know that it’s exactly n ecessary that she

should go to school— see

I see. ’

‘And you’ll give her a good time,a s

much as you can

I ’ll try.

’

And Rosa came,shy a n d anxious-look

ing,to a n ew and

,to her eyes

,magnificent

quarter o f Paris, and drove about in one of

those carriages she had sometimes admired

and envied,as they splashed her while

crossing.

the Boulevard des Capucines .

Mrs . Frankland liked Rose in her own

gelatinous, lazy way ,but wa s a little afraid

o f her direct fearless eyes,and direct fear

less questions and sayin gs . Rosa had been

brought up to habits of outspoken sincerity

from the example of Taylor himself, and it

142 WILD ROSE.

made Mrs . Frankland lament that she had

not had the charge o f her sooner,so as to

have made her more elegant and hightoned in her opinions . She resolved thatit m ust be still possible to reform Rosa

,and

turn her into an elegant and high-toned

girl,with proper respect for rank and

fashion and money. She believed in

dollars , did Mrs . Frankland, and had

plenty o f them,and had no objection to

expending them o n Rosa’s improvement.

She firmly believed that money, generously

and”

j udiciously laid o ut, could, in some

mysterious way ,instil a spirit o f proper

opinion and proper reverence for great and

good things,such as dresses , dinners ,

dances and dollars , in to Rosa’s mind , and

resolved to have a consultation w ith her

friend the Marquise de To rto le o n e on the

subj ect .The Marquise de To rto le o n e , o n her

m arriage, wa s not the prettiest woman in

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144 WILD ROSE.

supplies were under his control, and that

the Marquise’s love o f flirtation wa s to o

universal,and her discretion too great

,to

permit her,under the circumstances, to go

in any sense too far. Besides,he could

find m eans o f consoling himself,while

living so long apart from her and n u

noticed by her,as he generally did.

The Marquis wa s French . Before he

became,by right o f purchase

,the possessor

o f the Italian estate and title o f To rto le o n e,

his n am e had been Jean Bouvier. He wa s

a lucky speculator,a man ignorant in all

m atters outside the Bourse,and in society

the perfection o f snobbery. The Bourse

was his Paradise,and the demoniac yells of

the frequenters of that Institution were to

him a s angels’ son gs . The god he wo r

shipped was called ‘Rentes,

’ and wa s a

near relation,with modern improvements

,

o f the deity to which Shadrach,Meshach

,

and Abednego refused to b ow down on the

ROSA ENTERS S OCIE TY 145

plain of Dura. Society sneered at him’

but tolerated him . His means were an

apology for his m anners . He knew the

celebrity one can ga in from being the pro

prietor o f a pretty wife, when o n e can

afford to pay M. Worth and his like todress her, a n d

,o n the strength o f this

knowledge and his own affluence, he went'

into the ‘Babylonian m arket,

’ and,after

some bargaining, procured the article re

quired . The n ew speculation wa s a

success . People grew tired o f asking who

the Marquise wa s,because no o n e could

answer the question . But she wa s unde

n iably a beauty. After looking at her and

talking to her in a surprised and almost

reverent way for a fe w days, the Marquis

returned to his o ld love , the Bourse , and

left his w ife to amuse herself in her own

way, which she was n o t slow to do. In

due time the NIarquise became the mother

o f a son . This wa s Alfred de To rto le o n e ,

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146 WILD ROSE.

who has been n oticed slightly in a form er

chapte r.

After five years o f conjugal bliss,the

Marquis disappeared entirely,leavin g a

polite note to say that pressing business

required his immediate presence in a part

o f the world which he vaguely described

a s the East. ’ The uncharitable,and par

ticularly his creditors,hinted that the

business alluded to wa s carried o n in the

Levant,o r consisted in raising a harem

somewhere in Roumelia. The affliction o f

the Marquise at his loss wa s not over

whe lmm g,and w a s alleviated by the fact

that he had se ttled a comfortable income

o n her,o n her wedding-day. She showed

a glimmer o f common sense by sending

her boy to be educated in England,say ing

that if he were sent to a French school

he would grow up a n insufferable little

fool : a rash prediction,perhaps , a n d

foun ded o n a hasty generalisation from

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WILD ROSE .

w itty comedies and ‘proverbes,’

a n dfancied

herself to resem ble the charming and

epigrammatic marquises and coun te ssesw ith which they were populated . She

had a ‘salon ’ and receptions,and endea

voure d to be a species o f female Maecenas .

She wa s not unpopular. H e r talents were

few,but the greatest of them wa s one of a

n ature calculated to win popularity .

This wa s a marvellous capacity o f simu

latin g an enthusiasm for whatever . might

interest the person she wa s conversingw ith

,and dexterously inserting compli

ments at the same time . Her friends

called this capacity amicability and large

m m de dn e ss. It was what is known in

the S ister Isle as ‘blarney,

’ and in thiscountry by the more downright if more

coarse name o f humbug.

’

It was to this lady that Mrs . Frankland

w ent for advice in her difficulty about

Rosa,and laid her case confidently before

ROSA ENTERS SOCIETY. 149

he r. The Marquise said she perfectlycomprehended the whole situation, and

a dvised the sending o f Rosa to a con

ve n tua l educational institution with which

she wa s acquainted . This wa s j ust what

Mrs . Frankland wanted an excuse and e u

courage m e n t for doing,and the Marquise

soon persuaded her that it would b e a

most benevolent act,and o n e in no way

coming under Dr. Taylor’s prohibition

anent schools . The two ladies embra ced,

a n d . parted with expressions o f mutual

e steem . Rosa wa s unsuspectingly led to

suppose,in a vague way , that she wa s

going where Dr. Taylor thought proper,

a n d entered this pension,conducted by

re’

ligieuse s .

The brilliant success o f this step

o n Mrs . Fra n klan d’

s part may be sur

m ise d from the following letter fro m the

Mother Superior,received a week after

the entrance o f Rosa,which reached Mrs .

150 WILD ROSE.

Frankland at breakfast sent her into wild

dismay and disarray

CHERE MADAME,

‘Mademoiselle your ward has this

afternoon left us,after defiantly refusing to

perform a punishm ent set her,o n the plea

that it wa s unjust ; which assertion in the

mouth o f o n e o f her years to her superiors,

is in itself an act o f insubordination . Whereshe has gone I know not ; but, dear Madame,I feel it my painful duty to add

,that fin d

ing Mademoiselle Rosa Taylor to be with

o ut religion,o r a distinct code o f disciplinary

morality,I cannot readmit he r here

,as

such a step would imply the total demora

lisa tio n o f my other charges,who have

already a tendency to sympathise with the

r ebellious conduct o f Mademoiselle Taylor .‘Agree , Madame, my considerations the

most distinguished,and believe me

,

Your always devoted

OLIVIA , Mere Sup e’

rie ure .

’

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152 WILD ROSE.

I don’t mean to have the finishing o f her

run by nuns— see I have given her over

to you to have her kept pure,and if that is

your notion of ho w to do it,she might just

as well come back to the Quartier. I don ’t

suppose it’s your fault . Your mind ain’t

strong enough to take such a decided

s tep alon e,but I ’m particularly grateful to

w hoever put it in to your head, and would

like to have an opportunity o f expressing

my feelings to he r it must be her a

Well,all

right . I ’m not going to cuss,don’t put o n

that scared face . Do you like Rosa ' Do

you and she get along together

I like her very much . I think she

likes me .

’

Mrs . Frankland here sobbed.

Her brother said

I’

ve seen a good many cases of hysteria

man w ouldn’t be such a

and weeping women,in hospitals and out

‘

Of’ ’em , and they don

’t alter my feelin gs

ROSA ENTERS SOCIETY. 153

much by n ow. If you want to have Rosa

back, you shall ; but o n the distinct under

s tanding that yo u keep her w ith yourself.

She did quite right to leave that place yo usent her to , and an elegant scare she

’s

given them . They don’t quite know what

a Yankee-bred . girl means yet,there

,I

fancy— kind o f n e w and dangerous animal ;might encourage the French girls to be

riotous and playful,and shy their rosaries

a t o n e another’s heads . Perhaps you’ll

write to them to send back her traps . I ’ve

a lready sent them the stamps for the

quarter’s pay

,so they can’t complain that

Rosa defrauded them any. Do you under

s tand me '’

‘Yes,’

(Mrs. Frankland was frightened,

thrown o ff her dignity, and thoroughly

subdued .) Well,I ’ll sen d her back.

’

Rosa came back . The only remark she

ever condescended to make about her short

school experience wa s : They all liked

154 WILD ROSE.

me ; the girls, I m ean . I be lieve they

thought I was a sort o f boy.

’

She a n d Mrs. Frankland go t used tO

o n e another in time,and got o n quietly

and amicably. Rosa soon understood her

guardian . Mrs . Frankland soon gave uptrying to understand Rosa.

A few years later,when Rosa becam e

sixteen,Colonel Fran klan d suddenly died

and Mrs . Frankland,at the re com m e n da

tion o f her mentor,the Marquise

, deter

mined to go to England.

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156 WILD ROSE.

step,Or rather to form an audience while

he pointed o ut to her the merits and

demerits o f various schools o f medicine ,

and laid down the law o n other things o n

which she was not competent to dis

pute .

He wa s determined to go to Paris and

when he wa s determined that a thing

should happen,it somehow generally did

happen. Having ann ounced his various

proj ects and their reasons,and discovered

the way in which his parents were likely

respectively to regard them,he went o n

to more general matters,in which Hel

could take a greater interest. Laurenc ewa s expected at Eave Lodge next day.

Jack had to answer numerous questions

about him , and give a minute description'

o f him to his sister .

I wonder if I shall like him said she.‘I fancy you will : you ought. Most

girls only care as long as a man is good

DOMESTIC. 157

looking. Max is undeniably good-looking,

and has got some w its as well . ’

‘What a stra nge way you have of

talking of most girls,

” as if they were '

a

class o f inferior animal whose habits y ou .

had been studying‘Just the state o f the case . And very

nice little animals they are ' What havethey done to prove the contrary I gra nt

you they have ambition— Lucifer’s own ;

but what does it produce ' Members o f

school-boards,Girto n ite s In sap-green with

silver chains round their wrists and double

eye-glasses . I believe in the higher cul

ture o f women , because it make s them

more agreeable to men . They recognise

themselves,perhaps unconsciously

,the

truth in a certain sense o f the saying,

“The wom an wa s made fo r the m a n .

”

One o f the most prominent female a rtists

o f o ur country devotes herself to the glori

fica tio n o n canvas o f men,particularly men

158 WI LD ROSE.

engaged in an unintellectual and savageprofession .

’

But soldiers needn’t be unintellectual‘Who mentioned soldiers ' However,

as y ou have assumed, presumably from the

accuracy o f my description,that I meant

soldiers,I may add that I didn’t say

soldiers were necessarily without intellect .

I said that the profession wa s eminentlysavage

,a profession o n lv existing in virtue

o f the imperfection o f civilisation,like that

o f the clergy

Oh, Jack‘Like that o f the clergy, and co n se

quently only advancing men’s minds in

the direction o f ingenuity o f destruction

o r subjugation o f other men,m ind and

body— the soldiers the body, the clergy the

m ind.

’

I don’t think that’s quite fair. ’

Well,no

,perhaps not. I apologise to

a ll your military and clerical partners in

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160 WILD ROSE.

havinga squarishprotuberance in its middle .

This wa s Winterdale and its cathedra l

fields and downs were m oderately bright,

goin g away into grey and foggy per

spe ctive . Above all wa s the starlit sky.

Come and look at all this,Hel Jack

wa s drinking in the wonderful though

m elancholy a n d thought-bringing beauty

o f the scene .

Hel came to the w indow-sill alongside

him, and looked out.

‘Es stehe n un beweglich die S te rn e in cler

H ohe ,’ quoted Jack .

‘Heine might have

known,

’ he added,laughing that the

stars are n o t imm ovable at all . However,

they are immovable to human joy and

sorrow. In his sense it is true . They a re

the pitiless and passion less eyes o f heaven .

’

That doesn’t sound quite original,some

how,

’ observed Hel gently.

Jack looked at his watch .

‘Three minutes past twelve. On e

IDOALES I YCZ 161

begins to feel like Faust . It is Easterm orning. Let us listen for the chorus o f

angels . ’ And they were both mom entarily

silent . A long low wailing shriek came

borne upon the still air,from some distance .

Hel started, and said

What’s thatThe mail coming into Winterdale .

Seven minutes late,to o . I should think

you might know a railway whistle thistime in the nineteenth century. So muchfor that century’s answer to Faust. ’

‘I think the nineteenth century has

advanced to that stage properly called bed

time ,’ said Hel. Wait till my pipe ’s

done . Well,yes

,I ’ll go to Paris .

N ecessary part o f my education— also

to bed, necessary part o f m y physica l

maintenance—to sleep,perchance to dream

— perchance not. ’

These short, disjointed remarks were

em itted alternately with smoke-clouds .VOL . I . 11

162 WILD ROSE.

Jack then carefully knocked out and

otherwise extracted ashes and oily refuse

from his pipe,stroked it with a silk

handkerchief,and laid it in its case.

I think you’ll like Max,

’ he said, as

they separated for the night.‘Perhaps I shall . I hope so. Good

night. ’

Just a t this time another conclave had

been dissolved in another smoking-room,o r

rather study in which smoking was pra c

tise d. Professor Miller sat in his writing

chair,in a dressing-gown, with a lon g

German pipe in his hand. Opposite to

him o n the wall,wa s a copy o f Rem

brandt’s ‘Anatomy Lesson .

’ Around the

walls stood shelves bearing bottles o f what

Mrs . Miller and Hel called ‘things ,’ in

spirits, which gave the room a vague air of

alchemy,the Black Art

,a n d general

horror to unscientific Winterdale. Of

course there wa s a book-case, with several

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164 WILD ROSE.

I f Faustus had gone to bed at the proper

time, instead o f talking blank verse a ll

night about things he didn’t understand,

matters would have taken a very different

course,and a great deal o f n n sfo rtun e

would have been averted . He would

have discovered the elixir o f life,and

swallowed a dose . The funeral would

probably -have taken place next day, and

the will would have been found to devis e

his whole hypothec, consisting of a furnace,two skulls, his manuscripts, and a small

phial o f poison ,w ith directions ‘for in

ternal application ,’ toWagner—who would

richly deserve it all,particula rly the last

item . Gretchen would have continued to

attend public worship,clothed in a white

dress and a bag,and would have married

some respectable young Philister,who

also habitually went to church,and would

have been the mother o f twelve children .

Valentine would have lived to be a general,

DOMESTIC. 165

and would come home and tell stories o f

the wars to his nephews and grand

nephews— fin e . o ld crusted lies which they

knew by heart,and he nearly believed at

last himself. What '’

I thought you were going to talk about

Jack .

’

Poor Mrs . Miller had patiently bornethe comparative merits o f German and

English poetry,and incidentally pipes ;

some funny remarks about the Bishop o f

Winterdale,which somehow contrived to

get into the conversation,and the import

an ce o f visceral arches in relation to the

segmentation of the skull ; and finallyFaust,

as a last straw,hoping all the time that he

would give her an opportun ity of uttering

advice a n d predictions concerning Jack.

‘Jack ' He wants to go to Paris . I

suppose he’d better go in the autumn .

’

Don ’t you think it rather a mistake to

let him go so far by himself,and so un pro

166 WILD ROSE.

te cte d, into the way o f all sorts o f te m pta

tions

He would have just as much temptation

in London,and o f a less civilised kind . H e

must learn medicine somewhere,

a nd it

can’t very well be here .

’

‘Couldn’t we go to Paris,too

,for a

while ' It would do Hel good to get an

outing,and we could then have Jack with

us.

’

‘And keep an eye o n him,and see that

he doesn’t go to theatres o n Sundays'

He’d thank you . You didn’t want to keep

an eye o n him at Oxbridge

But that is England,and so dif

fe re n t.

’

Unless Oxbridge has altered,largely

since my time,there are j ust as good

opportunities there as anywhere for trans

gre ssio n o f all laws moral and divine.

Temp tations, as people are pleased to call

them , are to be met WIth in large numbers .

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168 WILD ROSE.

som ething for his amusement. Let’s invitethe Fran klan ds to dinner. ’

We’ll see. ’

An d Eave Lodge slept.

CHAPTER IX.

MAx LAURENCE .

ON Easter-day,a brilliant day, with an

east wind and dust,Mrs . Miller and Hel

deserted Mr. Ex e te r’s church in the morn

ing for the cathedral at Winterdale As

they came out of it,at the end of the ser

vice,they met two young men , ih ulsters

and hard round felt hats,with pipes in

their m o n ths.

One o f these wa s Laurence,the other

wa s Jack . The former asked the latter in

an undertone,

‘Who is that '’ as he saw

Hel, in a n ew olive-green costume , looking

quietly charming,with that submissive sort

170 WILD ROSE.

o f expression that young ladies wear o n

Sundays,and slightly flushed with the

warm , impure atmosphere o f the crowded

cathedral, and just in that kitten-like pur

suit o f her train Which always took placeat church doors .Jack replied by approaching his relations

and saying‘Allow m e to introduce Mr. Laurence ;my mother and sister.

’

Max hastily pocketed a hot pipe and

took Off his hat. Mrs . Miller a sked him if

his luggage were disposed o f,and Jack

explained that it had gon e o n to EaveLodge

,and that they proposed walking

home . Mrs . Miller engaged Laurence ina conversation about the weather and his

j ourney, and Jack talked to Hel .

Max’s last remark to Jack had been

Y ou know,it is an entirely n ew ex

p e rie n ce to me to be in an English familyresidence. I don’t know how I shall

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17 2 I/VILD ROSE.

Magyar. I wa s a student for some two o r

three years In Vienna

Mrs . Miller then talked about Vienna,

and society there, a n d scenery, in a general

way . She had been there once for a week ,and made excursions into the environs .

Scenery Laurence knew a good deal about ,and the features o f the neighbourhood.

Society he knew only by sight and reputation (o r the absence o f it), but as Mrs .

Miller did n o t know even that much ,

he wa s equal to the situation . He

said‘You see

,a student does not know any

society in the English sense,unless he is a

prince,o r very noble

,o r very rich, and I

was none of these. But I can be a guide

book to you to every ca fe,theatre

, pro

menade,and music and art curiosity in the

place,if you should wish to obtain in fo r

m ation before visiting Vienna again ; but

I dare say you know much o f this already.

’

IlIAX LA[IRENCE 3

‘I am afraid n o t m uch . And how do

you like Oxbridge ' Jack seems very well

pleased with it. I should think itmust be rather different to you after

Vienna.

’

I thought so,certainly. At first

,the

costumes and the ancient character o f the

place struck and enchanted me. I seemed

to have lighted o n an island o f Middle

Age in the midst o f a sea o f N ineteenthCentury. I soon found that the form only

wa s mediaeval, and the spirit modern .

Modern,at least

,after allowing for in

sular peculiarities o f idea and method o f

studyl

a n d amusement . There seems still

to be a great deal o f religious spirit in

existence, however, for a modern uni

versity.

’

This was a slip o f Max’s, as he felt the

moment he had said it. He thought‘H o w could I say this to a woman just

coming o ut of an English cathedral o n a

174 WILD ROSE.

Sunday '’ and waited anxiously fo r the

result.‘Well

,I hope so

,

’ said Mrs . Miller,‘though I am afraid there is none toom uch o f it. I suppose there is very little

religion in the German universities

Oh,very little

,except in the faculties

o f theology,it always seem ed to me

,

’

re

plied this young philosopher,in a calm and

satisfied tone . I think,

’ he added,

‘they

are at a stage o f thought in Englandwhich has already been gone through byGermany .

’

Here Mrs . Radford passed with a b ow

a n d a sweet smile,and explained to he r

husband,at lunch

,that those Millers had

got a queer-looking young man with them

and that young Miller smoked pipes o n

S unday, and close to the cathedral door

to o ; and that she was so sorry for them,

a s she had a real regard for Mrs . Miller.

B ut it wa s to be expected, when their

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176 WILD ROSE.

in an old brown suit, which might be called

a shooting-suit,if there had been the

slightest tra ce of eviden ce to show that hehad ever shot anything in his life

,except a

fo x that once managed to effect a raid o n

Hel’

s chickens when . she wa s a small girl .

(Which action, it is hardly n ecessary to

remark, confirmed the county gentry in

the opinion that ‘that ’ Miller wa s a

beastly Radical and an Atheist .)He wa s wondering why the pelvic girdle

in some fish is anterior to the pectoral,a t

this m oment,and also why an east wind

wa s so detrimental to the equanimity o f his

temper. These questions occupied him

until the lunch-bell rang. Hel fetched

him in .

During the meal they all had an oppo r

tun ity of studying their guest . Mrs .

Miller wa s relieved to find that he ate

with a fork , and did not look surprised

when it and his knife were renewed at

MAX LA URENCE . 17 7

each course,he r notions o f German habits

and customs bein g derived from ta ble s

cl’

hOte . She saw in Laurence a well-mann e re d

,well - info rmed youn g m a n

, with a

pleasant face,and perhaps slight symptoms

o f rather advanced ideas,with a quiet

,self

convinced decision about most things that

he said that sometim e s surprised her.‘Hel, Of course , noticed his appear

ance first. This w as not o f a style to

which she was accustom ed,but im

pressed her favourably ,notwithstanding.

She saw a pale,well-shaped face with a

straight nose (which she described as

Grecian su bsequently), dark eyes, deeply

placed un der black eyebrows,a low wide

forehead,and quantities o f curly wavy

black hair,rather longer than the prevail

ing fashion in En gland perm itted . The

mouth was a little wide, with good regular

white teeth, and surmounted by a small

black m oustache, scarcely deserving theVOL. I. 12

178 WILD ROSE.

name. Then his body,though thin

,wa s

well-shaped,and his hands were white ,

and his fingers long. When he talkedshe thought he must be very clever, an dseemed to know a good deal about places

and subj ects o f which she knew very little .

This impressed he r with a sense o f his

superiority. In short , Hel approved o f

the man instinctively,though she knew

very little about him .

The Professor thought Laurence wa s ayouth with some brains . He drew from

him- information concerning the present

state of learning in Oxbridge,the personal

appearan ce n o w of this and that professor

in German y whom he had known years

ago,and incidentally got scraps o f opinion

from him o n many topics,which made the

Professor say tohimself

You’ll some day run that good-looking

head o f yours against the rock o f British

Philistinism,young man , that Matthew

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180 WILD ROSE.

m ind and youn ger ideas than mother

n aturally comes o f association w ith the

nin eteenth-century brother. ’

After lunch,Jack proposed going o ut o f

doors to smoke,and asked Hel to come .

‘Take a plaid,dear

,

’ said Mrs . Miller ;

you'

know there is an east w ind

Hel Obtained a plaid, and set o ut with

her brother and Laurence for the fir-grove.This rendered their tread silent

,with its

carpet o f re ddish -brown fir-n eedles mixed

w ith broken branches and fallen cones .

Where the tall,stiff stems of the trees

were not covered with rough scaly bark,

they were light-red in the sunlight,where

it arrived at them through the interstices

o f the branch-roof. They arrived at the

grey wooden five -barred frontier-gate,and

stopped and leaned on it,sheltered from

the wind . The three found themselves

looking westward and north-westwa rd overa fa r extending valley, with fields near

MAX LA (IREN CE . 81

a n d woods and down s in the distance,

looking far-Off and still,w ith the warm

spring mist upo n them . Church-bells and

sheep-bells were mingling together in the

distance,calling their several flocks

,as

Jack irreverently remarked.

‘L e t us stay here awhile said he,

immediately after this,

a n d talk o f some

thing sensible,and take in the scenery.

’

‘I am n o t surprised,’ said Laurence,

after a long look at the prospect,‘that

England has produced nature-poets likeShelley and Keats . And this is all so

English. Except these fir-trees . They ‘

carry o n e to Germany, in the mind, quickerthan the magic cloak o f Mephistopheles .

Have you been in Germany,Miss Miller '’

‘I have been up the Rhine once. It

was beautiful . ’

‘Did you read the Rhine stories and

the Nibelungen Lied” then ' That wa s

the time to do it. ’

l 82 WILD [6OSE .

I am afraid my Ge rman wa s not good

enough ; and w e had so many things to

think about that w e hadn ’t time to think

at all. ’

We thought o f time-tables,tariffs

,and

ta ble s-d’

hétc I believe principally,

’ said

Jack.

‘You read German,however

,n ow 9’

asked Laurence o f Hel .‘Yes ; but I haven

’t read much . I

read with a governess at first, and she

didn’t select the nicest pieces, I fancy.

I don’t suppose the Thirty Years’ War ”

is exactly the most interesting thing to a

girl that Schiller ever wrote, and I had

to read it. It took so long— almost as

long as the wa r,I think— that I haven ’t

had time to do much else but recover

from it since .

’

Goethe 7 ’

‘The “Erl-Konig,

se t to the piano .

The rest wa s pronounced beyond m y— that

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184 WILD ROSE.

when you have lived a little longer, youw ill read Heine . You will not so m uch

care for him yet. He is Goethe ’s suc

cessor in literature .

’

I dare say I will begin soon ,’ replied

Hel . ‘I think papa has Goethe ’s and

Schiller’s works . ’

Probably. Y o u have perhaps many

things to do in the household which occupyyour time

,however ' In Germany young

ladies do not ‘have too much time to give

to literature. ’

“I have been decorating the church a

good deal lately. It has occupied me

nearly all the morning and all the after

noon for several days. You see,there

were so fe w people to do it We wouldhave made you help if you had been

there .

’

Decorate the church 7 What for ’

3’

asked this young heathen.

Hel’s turn to instruct n ow cam e .

MAX [A UREN CE . 185

‘This is Easter Day,you know

,

’ she

explained gently,as o n e breaking some

rather startling-tidings to an unprepared

person.

’

‘And you decorat e your church at

Easter ' How is it done ' Might I

s e e it‘Yes ; you can come this afternoon, if

y ou like, when the service is over. Wecollect flowers and evergreens

,m ake

wreaths,bouquets and crosses

,and arran ge

them about the church . Jack is made to

go up very high ladders , to put up what

w e can’t reach . Have yo u never been

to an English church a t Easter,Mr .

Laurence '’ asked she suddenly, w ith an

inexplicable feeling o f sympathy for what

wa s to her a strange and foreign variety

o f indefinitely dreadful outer darkness .

I do not remember any such occasion,

’

replied he .

Don’t they decorate your chapels at

186 WILD ROSE.

Oxbridge ' I should think it would be a

nice occupation fo r you.

’

I am afraid it is not seen in that light

at Oxbridge . I believe it is not usual to

decorate college chapels ; but I cannot sayfor certain what deans

,in their poetic and

vacation moments,may be capable o f

doing . I seldom enter them myself. ’

‘Will you come to church with us

some day,here '’ asked Hel.

Max wa s in a dilemm a . Pure reason

within him said : Going to church is a

performance which you must admit to b e

idiotic,and therefore un necessary. It is

only to encourage the o ld,dark

,dead

creeds into galvanic life . You cannot

possibly gain aught by such a proceeding.

’

He listened to pure reason fo r a moment,

and then looked at Hel’s eyes . They

looked an xious,interested

,and blue .

There is nothing in pure reason that tells

why one will obey eyes like these, and

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188 WYLD ROSE.

‘It is said to be the mother-land o f

moonshine,

’ observed Max. Read Hegel ,

and you will be convinced .

’

Maximilian Laurence and He len Millereach wa s a n ew experience to the other,

and likely to be such continually,in co n se

que n ce o f some newly apparent quality o r

feature in either,which only appeared

when summoned by occasion .

He was so entirely different to all the

young m e n she had known,who were

principally young officers in regiments

stationed atWinterdale,and curates . The

fact that it was almost exclusively tot hes e

that he wa s compared and contrasted wa s

naturally much to Laurence’s advantage .

He had brought n ew elem ents into con

versation, which was always a relief at

Winterdale,where the barometer (known

o f course as the and approaching

o r past dances, and remarks about the

peculiarities o f appearance and conduct o f

MAX [A UREN CE . 189

one’s neighbours,were the prevailing in

gre die n ts o f social 1n te rcourse . He ap

p e are d to Hel -as one a long way above

her in the intellectual world , and a person

o f some condescension to talk to her aboutRhine stories and church decorations

,

when he might have talked to the Pro

fesse r,o r even Jack , about bones, o r

Hegel,o r something more congenial to his

mental tastes,and more on his intellectual

level .

She still held to the doctrine o f the

omniscience of papa in matters philos ophic,

having had no opportunity of exercisingthe critical faculty

,from want o f know

ledge o f the subj ects . Jack she thought

clever, but a little too conscious of it, and

a little too fond o f what he called sitting

o n’ other people who were unfortunate

e nough to differ from him in opinion but,

nevertheless,more fit than herself to con

verse with o n e like the young An glo

190 WILD ROSE.

Magyar. The fact that the latter had a

good-looking,as well as an intelligent face

,

probably had,after all, some undefined in

flue n ce in his favour. Then came that

sense of pity for o n e evidently ‘brought

up without a n y religion . Hel had no doubt

he would be religious if it was only ex

plained to him and put before him in an

attractive form . She had unconscio uslyput before him religion in what he tempo

rarily thought its most attractive form

herself. She h oped,however

,by the

seductions o f Easter decoration , and Mr.Exe te r

’

s persuasive harangues (and her

o wn influence,perhaps

,a little), to effect a

con version . Elle n’

cstp a s la p rem iere .

Laurence wa s almost for the first time

brought in to the society of a pure and innocent

,and

,o n e may add, a High Church ,

girl. The c1rcum stan ce s o f his birth had

e xcluded him from society in Vien na , and

the opportunity of associating with English

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192 WILD ROSE.

more beautiful parts of Germany and

Austria,

o f mountain inns,and moun

ta in e e r and huntsman innkeepers , o f

students sitting together in crowds,o n the

green glades o f the ThuringerWald, amongthe fir-trees

,round wooden tables with huge

krugs o f beer,and long pipes

,singing a

chorus o f farewell to the departing sun,

and shouting out their freedom and youth

and love to the listening starlight . Also

perhaps to the listening village girls,if

any. Then he talked o f the Harz and

o f the districts o f Schirk e and Elend,

where he had wandered with a friend the

whole night o n the first o f May , o n e year,

and described the appearance o f the place,

and told the story o f the Walpurgisnacht.Jack made remarks now and then

,

but wa s rather silent Hel wa s m uch

interested . German student life was some

thing distant,m ediaeval and romantic to

her, knowing it only by scraps o f allusion

MAX LAURE ZVCE . 3

in novels,songs

,and her father’s occasional

anecdotes. Legends too,had a great

fascination for ‘her, especially if well told

a nd Max’s were always lucidly and grace

fully told, with occasional interruption

from that dreadful realist Jack,who brought

down upon everything his irresistible sense

o f the ridiculous .So much time passed in this way that

the conversation wa s interrupted by a

sound in the distance,which at first was

mistaken fo r o n e o f the numerous sheep

bells,but which was found o n nearer in

ve stiga tio n to be produced by the Profe sso r

,who was standing o n the lawn

,

swm gm g the domestic tocsin, with somevigour

,to announce to straying members

o f the household that the season o f after

noon . tea was come . Hel,Max and

Jack wa lked into the drawing-room , to

find there Mrs. Radford . Jack shook

hands with a well simulated appearance

VOL . I. 13

194 WILD ROSE.

o f intense j oy and cordiality,a n d ‘Mr.

Laurence wa s introduced .

Mrs . Radford had several serious reasons

for calling,o n this particular afternoon .

The principal wa s curiosity,to know some

thing about the n ew youn g m a n . Sheparticipated in the very laudable desire fo r

news , which wa s such a distinctive featureamon g the later Athenians

,but did n o t

possess that reverence for accuracy o f

detail,without which

,the possession o f

n ew information , however desirable a thing

in itself,may become not o n lv a snare to

the possessor,but a bane to society at

large . In other words,Mrs . Radford

delighted in accumulating hypotheses abouther n eighbours

,and distributing them as

fa cts This sort o f person is ca lled a

gossip by the vulgar and those o f low

culture . A liar by the very vulgar, and

the utterly destitute of culture .

The Professor treated her with the

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196 IVJ LD ROSE.

the idea o f a n obleman o r prince in dis

guise o r exile flitting through her head .

Max replied in excellent English that hehad just arrived from Oxbridge

,thus leav

ing his n ature a n d antecedents still a m atter

o f speculation . Mrs . Radford gave him up

fo r the present,and turned to other topics .

Have you called o n those Fra n kla n ds,

Mrs . Miller she inquired . I have n o t

yet; though every one seems to .

’

Mrs . Frankland came with a letter o f

i n troduction from my sister in Paris,so I

have n aturally called .

’

‘Ah 'then you can perhaps tell me ,which no o n e seems to know

,who is Mrs .

Frankland ' I know they are American,

and they seem to like her ; but that is

about the extent o f my information .

’

(Mrs.

Radfo rd wa s o n e o f those people who

a lways use a n ambiguous mixture of pro

n ouns )Colonel Frankland was attached to the

MAX LAUREN CE. 19 7

American Legation in Paris before hed ied for some time. I do n o t know Mrs .

Frankland very w ell yet ; but I think she

is very nice,and I think ladylike

,though

Americans a re rather different from us in

som e things . ’

Jack listened hard.

- H e had intended

to ask who these n e w people were who

had arrived while he wa s up at Oxbridge .

‘Y e s,to be sure . I have seen very

fe w,but they seem to have such strange

ways of looking at some things . And

the girl, n ow do yo u know ,is she Miss

Frankland —for,if so

,she is ve ry unlike

her mother ' People say a ll sorts o f

things about her here,but I daresay with

o ut foundation . My servants have it that

she wa s picked up in Paris,during the

war,by Mrs. Frankland, and that she wa s

seen carrying a flag am ongst the Com

m un ists and all sorts o f things,but o n e

can’t believe these things . I make it a

19 8 WYLD ROSE.

rule never to believe gossip . I always

tell m y se rvants n o t to repeat things theyhea r in this way .

’

The Professor chuckled grimly,a n d

saidThe young lady speaks very good

American for a Parisian petroleuse,

” and

I do not know that there were any of that

profession at the age of about thirteen,as

she must have been at the time .

’

I think I can explain,

’ said Mrs . Miller.

She is Mrs . Fra n kla n d’

s niece, daughtero f her brother

,Dr. Taylor, who lived in

Paris .

’

Oh,indeed replied Mrs . Radford,

apparently rather offended at the discoveryo f Miss Taylor’s comparatively respectable

o rigin .

‘Well,

’ added she,

‘I think we

will call . Dear Arthur has been urging meto do so for some time ; and he generally

has the right opinion after all, dear b oy .

I depend a good deal on him for a dvice .

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200 WILD ROSE.

I don’t see why an o ld beast like

that should presume that,because she

has known you from infancy , she may say

any stupid impertinence she pleases o n

that account. It’s not the least funny,and very ineffective

,if she thinks it is

going to rouse my temper. ’

This wa s exactly what it did . Jack replied

a t this moment,in a matter of course

,

cheerful tone,which he trusted would

irritate his interlocutrix

Oh no I seldom go .

’

Mrs. Radford became serious and said‘Don’t you think that is rather a bad

preparation for that Sabbath which we aretold w ill be eternalBut w e aren’t told it will be an English

Sabbath,o r that the whole week will be

spent in a cathedral,listening to the ser

mons o f bishops,the reading o f canons

,

and the si nging of choirs in rhythmical

monotony.

’

MAX LAOREN CE. 201

Mrs . Miller saw a storm wa s brewing,

a n d said

Don’t be silly,Jack and then rapidly

,

to prevent Mrs . Radford’s crushing rej oin

d e r Let me give you another cup of tea‘Thank you ; I will take just o n e cup

more .

’

Max wa s talking to Hel quietly,and

being told that afternoon tea was a usual

m eal in English families,and telling her

how German families took meals. Hel felt

slightly uncomfortable from the conscious

n ess that Mrs. Radford had an eye upon

he r,a n d would talk about her in associa

tion with Laurence . This made her de fi

a n tly confidential and attentive to him,

from a mere feeling o f irritation .

It wa s a long time before the elimination

o f Mrs . Radford could be effected. Shehad a petition to the Home Secretarya dvisin g him

,as he valued his position and

the stability o f the Cabinet,to at once

202 WILD ROSE.

suppress entirely what the document somewhat tautologically described as the vivisection of live animals . This wa s to b e

signed by women only she explained.

‘Don’t yo u allow children to sign it '’

asked the Professor.

Oh,I don’t suppose the poor dear dogs

a n d things will ge t much sympathy from

you, Dr. Miller ' But I thought Mrs

Miller and Miss .Miller,and some o f your

servants might have a little more feeling

There is a pamphlet,Mrs . Miller, that

ought to go w ith the petition it has illustra tio n s

,which ought to convince anyon e

who hesitated to sign .

’ And she handed

all the docum ents,which resided tempora

rily in her black reticule,to Mrs . Miller

fo r inspection .

They certainly ought,as Mrs . Radford

remarked,to have convinced any wavering

sympathiser w ith the oppressed animal

kingdom .

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204 WILD ROSE.

opinion,in matters not precisely what she

would call o f conscience .

’ Her'husband

did not,and amused himself in giving Mrs .

Radford, who had a faint but irritating sus

picio n that she wa s being made fun o f,

Opportunities o f describing him in glowing

S atanic colours, to the rather extensive

circle o f her acquaintance.Jack simply looked the superb contempt

which propriety prevented him from ex

pressing otherwise than guardedly. Laurawa s being shown roses by Hel, and talking

about them .

Mrs . Radford got up to go, after the

doctor’s startling remarks,anent the inqui

sitio n,looking rather warm— a phenomenon

for which the te a and the east wind were

perhaps responsible . Having ceremoniously

conducted her to the door,and carefully

shut it, Jack returned, performing a sort o f

ca n ccmdia bo liquc intended to express super

a bundant joy,and generally relieve his

MAX LAUREN CE. 205

mind from the oppression and irritation

under which it usually suffered, in the

presence o f the ir departing visitor. Hel

made an onslaught o n the pian o,forgetful

o f the day,a n d began a vivacious mazurka .

Mrs . Miller mildly said Hush,dear. ’

Hel revolved on the stool and saidYo u must not suppose

,Mr. Laurence,

that all our friends are like that . ’

I think this lady wa s rather interesting,’

he replied with a faint laugh .

That’s what I thought once,by Jove 1’

said Jack. It’s wonderful ho w time tires

us o f things . What rather fetched me wa she r extreme curiosity to have details as toyour individuality

,Max. I am rather

sorry I didn’t give her some . ’

I am not. ’

H ow do you young people propose to

amuse yourselves this evening asked the

doctor.

By going to church, I believe,’

said

206 WILD ROSE.

Jack,

‘for the e difica tio n o f Max s Pagan

mind . By the way ,Hel , you had better

go and ge t ready, as your pleasing sex

generally takes some time to do so. Put

that fur thing on your shoulders— it will

be cold coming back, and we shall have

a tendency to loiter and look at the moon,

and smoke pipes,I know.

’

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208 WILD ROSE.

pression , apparently, that it is vitallyimportant to m ake their conversation a s

public as possible . Several villagers werewalking leisurely to church

,in the pictur

esque Sunday garb of the British peasant,

so suited to the sort o f Sabbath he usuallyspends, consisting o f very shiny black

clothes,a tall hat

,and a thick umbrella

w ith a thin cane stalk,with a weak looking

hooked handle . Jack,Hel

,and Max

walked in a row. Hel in the m iddle,

listening to the mixture o f sounds fillingthe air— cawings o f rooks

,singin g o f larks

,

and chimes o f churches resounding faintlythrough the still evening air

,all the way

from Winterdale, to which the small

edifice over which Mr . Exeter presided,replied with a rather weak , though de

te rm in e d and defiant tinkle.Hel looked very pretty

,with the green

boughs above her,and the grass grown

ground at her feet, with spots and flashes

WH AT 7 ACK SAW IN CH URCH . 209

and strokes o f yellow horizontal sunlight

o n her at intervals . She wore a black furtippet

,which sat well o n her rather square

shoulders,and harmonised pleasingly with

the dark green dress she wore,whose

train she bore in o n e hand, the other

being,o f course

,occupied with a prayer

book .

Her face wore a rather happy expression . Why not Was she not guiding the pale and handsome world-tired

youn g heathen by her side into the ways

o f righteousness and the paths of peace '

Though it must be acknowledged that she

wa s listening with interest to a story from

him at this moment o f ho w the heroes o f

the Nibelungen-Lied rode to rescue E riemhilde

,and how they accomplished their

task by miscellaneous and abundant slaugh

ter,giving a ground for the m instrels to

construct the great epic of their death.

All this wa s enchanting, n o doubt, but

VOL . I . 14

210 WILD ROSE.

scarcely a good preliminary for an Easterevening service .

Laurence n ow felt him self quite at homewith He'

,and had lost his embarrassing

fear o f saying that which he ought not,

finding it quite easy to converse with

an intelligent young English girl,even

when she lay under the disadvantages o f

comparative innocence and a sweet andamiable superstition .

Jack wa s knocking the vegetation about

vicio usly with an ash stick,and wondering

what had come over Max,to make him

loiter o ff to church in this lamb-like manner,

as a way o f spending the best part of the

evening.

It scarcely occurred to him that Hel,

although his own sister,wa s n o t Max’s

sister.

Don ’t suppose you will find the temp

tatio n sufficient to make you repeat the

performance,

’ he observed ; old Exeter

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212 WILD ROSE.

sulphur,o r any other o f those devices that

their talented minds were so rich in .

’

It wa s Nero,wasn ’t it

,

’ said Hel,that

used to burn people with straw and sul

phur '’

I believe so,

’ replied Max . He was

not a lovable character,though some were

o f the contrary Opln lo n at the time .

’

S till,there is something rather mag

n ifice n t,though no doubt horrible

,about

him,

’ said Jack I can easily imagine the

ladies o f the period to have all had a sort

Of sneaking admiration for Nero,uttered

o r unexpressed— principally the latter.’

Here w e are a t church,

’ sa id Hel‘Perhaps

'

we shall hear some more about

it. ’

‘Take a farewell look at the sunlight l’

exclaimed Jack, as he rem oved his hat.

Hullo,Miller I’ said a voice in the porch .

Didn’t know you went in for church .

’

Jack turned round and observed the

WH AT yACR SAW H v CH URCH . 2 13

solid form and brick-coloured face o f young

Radford,who has been already partially

alluded to under the title o f dear

Arthur. ’

Well, I don’t go in for it as a rule,but

I am going in to it n ow. How are you'

How’s the GeneralOh

,I ’m all right

,so is the governor.

Croker is go ing to preach to -night,so I

thought he’d like me to come. ’ Generous

young man,to sacrifice yourself to please

your poor hard-working curate-coach '

Artful young man,to apologise an d

invent a motive for your presence I‘I am sure Croker will consider it a

graceful attention,

’ said Jack,as he followed

his sister into the church . By Jove

whispered he to young Radford,

‘who is

that‘Who 'Where '’ replied he

,in a very

audible tone,with the true tact of British

youth. Oh ' that’s those American

WILD ROSE.

people,I believe

,

’ he added,in a tone Of

uninterested uncertainty.

I see,

’ said Jack,as they walked up the

aisle . Well,I must go to my stall. See

yOu between the acts . Hope you’ll enjoy

Cro k e r’

s discourse. ’

‘What the devil brings Jack Miller

and that other fellow here ' I wonder

who the other fellow is. Some beastlyclever London fellow,

I suppose— intellect

and all that '’ were Mr. Arthur Radford’s

reflections,as he found a seat whence he

could see ‘those American people,

’

o f

whose identity he had j ust expressed a

careless uncertainty.

It is perhaps almost superfluous to re

mark that they were what brought him to

church , and that a desire to have his mind

improved by the Rev. Chrysostom Croker

wa s but a flimsy veil to conceal a deeper

rooted and more sentimental motive .

When Jack inquired Who is that '’ in

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16 WILD ROSE .

j uvenility about her was the fact that her

curly black-brown hair was allowed to re

m ain o n he r back,in the shape o f a sort o f

half-open fan,being tied in at the back o f

he r Small sun-burnt neck with a piece o f

crimson ribbon .

She had taken Off a long pair o f black

gloves,and wa s em ploying a pair o f small

tawny hands in abstracting bon-bons from

a b o x which lay o n the book -shelf in front

o f her. Jack called Max’s attention to her,

who looked at her awhile,and then said

Half kitten a n d half snake . H iit’

dich,mein Freund

,vo r grimmen Teufels

Fratzen . Doch schlimm er sind die sanften

Enge lsfratz che n .

”

This wa s Rosa .

Mr. Crok e r’s sermon may have been

distinctly edifyin g, and m ay have co n

tain e d n ew facts,n e w ideas

,and n ew

Opinions o f the greatest solemnity and

significance, though it is highly probable,

WH AT 7 ACK SAW H V CH URCH : 217

judging from precedent,that itwas nothing

o f the sort . Either way ,it wa s entirely

thrown away upon Jack,as well as o n

Mr. Arthur Radford , in spite o f its having

been the ostensible inducement to thelatter to come to church ; for neither o f

them had the slightest idea what it had

been about when they came out . Jacksaid to Hel, as soon as they got outside

the door‘They are coming to dine w ith us, I

think some o n e said, a ren

’t they '’

‘Who Oh yes ' Those Americanpeople . To-morrow . Yo u noticed themin church

,I suppose

Yes. “D ear Arthur called my atten

tion to them . I suppose he is awfully

gone o n the girl— Miss Fra n kla n d‘Miss Taylor I really don

’

t know ,

I can’t say that I feel much interest in hi s

attachments . I shouldn ’t wonder if you

were awfully gone ” o n her yourself soon .

’

218 WILD ROSE.

What a charming sunset it is'’ observedJack in reply.

It was . It consisted o f a glowing golden

ground,cross streaked by numerous

narrow nebulous grey and purple bars o f

m any shades and shapes , finding their way

into the south -western blue, o n the one

side,and the northern leaden grey on the

other. Laurence was gazing abstractedlyinto it

,looking apparently for something he

had lost there . He wa s suddenly brought

back again to earth by a question from Hel .Mr. LaurenceFrauleinH ow did you like the service '

’

That is a difficult question to entirelyanswer. I have n o t been able to com

ple te lv analyse my opinions and reduce

them to intelligibility, o r to separate the

accidental from the essential features of

the entertainment,as it is o n e to which I

am not accustomed .

’

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220 WILD ROSE.

I am afraid it is,

’ replied he ; I

certainly feel more moved by that skythan anything I have heard this evening

in the church .

’

‘A sky like that,

’ said Jack,

‘always

m akes me despair o f ever being able to

paint. ’

‘It is wonderful how intimately asso

ciate d with the j oy and sorrow o f one’s

life the sky becomes,

’ observed Laurence .‘You speak as if you had known

both '’

‘I have had a little o f both . I have

Often sought the o n e— I have often found

the other. D O yo u know the lines o f the

son g

Man schafl’

t so ge rn nach So rg’ und Muh’,Sucht D o rne n auf

,und fin de t sie

Oh yes It always seemed to me that

most o f those German songs were very

sentimental and unreal,though they have

very pretty tunes,it is true .

’

WH AT yACR’

SAW IN CH URCH . 221

‘You find that ' I congratulate you.

Many o f us find them only too real. ’

D o you ever write son gs '’ asked Hel

suddenly,while Jack was staying behind to

light a pipe .

Max looked into her blue eyes,with

their interested expression Of inquiry,and

said

Sometimes . ’

Are they visible to the public

They are . They exist in print o n a

remote bookseller’s shelves in London,

and thence they disappear very slowly. I

fancy you would call them sentimental and

unreal,and the v have n o t the compensating

advantage o f tunes . ’

Yo u must give me an opportunity o f

j udging fo r myself. ’

Thank you,I will . ’

Jack’s prediction concerning the probab ility o f the evening bein g spent in loiter

ing and smoking wa s distinctly fulfilled .

2 22 WILD ROSE.

Hel suggested o f her own accord that

they should, go for a short walk . Max

said he should like to see the country

under the evening light . So they walked

over fields,and alongside hedges

,and under

trees,listening for nightingales

, which were

to be heard in large n umbers at this time

Of the year,and talking of various things,

Laurence being the principal speaker,as

Hel had more interest in listening,and

had not quite so much to say,and n o t

quite as large an experience to extractillustrations from . Jack pulled away

s ilently at a pipe, which gave out a

gurgling sound at every suck, and had

small beady drops of liquid matter on the

o utside . Hel said it wa s a ho rrid thing.

Jack retorted that it wa s Fine '’ Jack

was not communicative . At last he in

quired‘Who is coming to dinner to-morrow

besides these Americans

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224 WILD ROSE.

ing does not draw the line at least a t

perj ury,’ said Jack.

Thus they walked o n,until the moon

became very brilliant an d the sky very

pale, with purple clouds streaked across it.

This wa s all that remained o f that flaming

golden sunset with grey bars. Hel gave

the word o f command to go back to EaveLodge . Max went into low-voiced

,con

fide n tial raptures over the beauties of the

scene,and Hel looked at his face and

listened . He looked paler than ever in

the twilight, and his eyes darker. He was

rather like a marble D ionysos,with nine

te e n th century clothes o n a Greek mind

and body. Jack said he looked like an

evil spirit who was m editating o n passingan examination for re -admission to Para

dise,and trym g to assume the proper

expression .

When they reached the house,Hel

said

WH AT y’ACK SAW IN CH URCH : 225

‘I am sure you must be hungry, Mr.

Laurence . You have had a long walk,

preceded by— a n entertainment to which

you are not accustomed,

’ she added, with a

quiet and rather sly smile .

‘Food had not entered into m y

head

Mouth, you mean,

’ said Jack.

Into my ideas,till you mentioned it.

It has been a beautiful walk,and o n e I

shall remember. The entertainm ent ” I

shall hope to repeat some day.

’

Will you help me to translate som e o f

Goethe to-morrow, if I find the book

asked Hel shyly,as they went through the

n ow darkened hall .

Of course . ’

.

‘7OL . I .

CHAPTER XI .

ARTH UR RADFORD—MILES cLo n ro sus.

MRS . RADFORD wa s sitting at her Daven

port writing letters,a n occupation which

generally occupied her Monday mornings .

Very long letters they generally were,

and crossed to a bewildering extent,for

that mysterious reason that makes all

women cross letters , although their meansallow them unlimited supplies o f paper.

When Mrs . Radford wrote letters,Winterdale might tremble . The amount Of ex

tra o rdin ary information, usually o f a per

sonal and unreliable nature,conveyed about

the British Isles by that fine,sloping

,neat

,

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2 28 WILD ROSE.

educated in England at a public school,

and had been two years at Cam fo rd,where

he had succeeded after great struggles,

in passin g Mods,which would save him

his prelim inary e xam ln a tio n for the army.

His friends there had nicknamed him the‘Muscular Christian .

’ There is no deny

ing that they were justified in using the

first adj ective . He once ran a narrow

risk o f rowing in the University eight,

and was gr eat in football,cricket and

athletics,appearing occasionally atVVin te r

dale sports in costumes o f striking colours,

a n d doing unheard - o f things in high

jumps .

It wa s perhaps unfortunate that the

physical element had predominated over

the m ental in his education but that was

better than having neither. Not onlyLatin

,and Greek

,and m athem atics

,but

ordinary literature,in most o f its a spects

,

with the e xception o f a certain class o f

ARTH UR RADFORD. 29

novels and newspapers, dealing largely in

technical sporting terms,and ‘incidents o f

flood a nd field,

’

were to him unfamiliar, and

by him unappreciated .

Society,in its usually accepted sense

,

was n o t his element.

Of ladies he was possessed a s a rule o f

a wholesome dread,and wa s usually dumb

in their presence,oppressed by the con

sciousn e ss that they mus t b e either laugh

ing at him,or pumping ’ him

,or shocked

at him . This wa s,indeed

,frequently the

case. He had gradually formed a n

Opinion— and when Arthur Radford took

the effort to form an Opinion,no power

,

natural o r. supernatural, could alter it

that if ‘ladies,

’

were replaced by barmaids

—with bars—in the circle in which he

moved,life

,freed from the galling re

straint of convention ality and decorum ,

would be far more worth living.

The greatest failing in his philosophy o f

230' WILD ROSE.

life,and the o n e which caused him even

more mental discomfort and disappoint

ment than even the slowness Of develop

m ent o f his moustache,wa s the firm co n

victio n that the world wa s his oyster,’

and no o n e else’s oyster,and only an

oyster. His own self and the oyster were

a life-long antithesis . He consumed the

beer,beef and tobacco o f the oyster

,and

gave it nothing in return . It laughed,

knowing that it would laugh last,by

a n d-by .

Arthur considered himself the important

side Of the antithesis . The oy ster wa s o f

the contrary Opinion,and in its eternal

god-like scorn laughed o n,contenting

itself with occasionally nipping him b e

tween the shells .

In plain English,Arthur Radford wa s

rather selfish,rather conceited

,and rather

stupid,and wa s by no means unique am ong

young Englishmen in those respects .

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232 WILD ROSE.

tions which he held in deepest reverence—the English public schools and Uni

ve rsitie s,fo r example .

Arthur,with all his short-sightedness

for the nature and merits o f others, wa s

obliged to admit to him self that Jack wa s

clever,after his fashion, and knew and

spoke o f topics which were as cuneiform

inscriptions to him .

He had a firm belief in consistency,as a

virtue by itself. Consequently his opinionsresembled, as has been hinted, those often

quoted laws of the Medes and Persians .

The proposition that it may be sometimes

consisten t to change a belief,he regarded

as a subtle and dangerous sophism . He

wa s much distracted by the freedom of

speech which Jack permitted himself in

political and religious questions,and would

listen to some half-nonsensical,half-serious

tirade of the latter against some respect

able and recognised prln clple , which he

ARTH UR RADFORD. 233

(Jack)would be heard vigorously defendm g a week afterwards, and reproduce it

triumphantly,and brandish it in his

antagonist’s face,with the prelude

Why,the other day you were say

ing

On which Jack would reply : Wa s I '

What then '’

This crippled Arthur momentarily. He

would soon,however

,retort

Well,which do you expect us to

believe a n d ‘lo ok round for applause at

his artful dilemma.

Whichever you like .

’

But don’t you mean what you say‘I have never completely satisfied m y

self o n that point . I generally leave it to

the person I am talking to,to find o ut.

’

Well then,

I suppose you don’t care

whether you are telling the truth o r not

This gratuitous assumption indicated

rapid rise o f temper o n Arthur’s part,and

234: WILD ROSE.

that a consequent descent to personalities

might be expected .

What is the particular obj ect o f tellingthe truth We should lose an immensed eal o f the charm o f this life if everyone

did. Fancy if no o n e said anything that

he did not know to be true ' Results

sudden disappearance o f novels,

“latest

intelligence,

” and special co rre spo n

dence dead silence at afternoon teas and

Dorcas meetin gs total cessation o f compli

ment and civility in conversation . Somewill say that there would be indisputably

beneficial results,for instance— sermons

would dwindle ; speeches in the Houses

o f Legislature would be shorter promiseswould cease to be made by candidates to

constituencies . In a general way,there

would be a refreshing silence about the

w ide earth, wherein o n e could m ore easily

pursue intellectual occupations . ’

Do yo u mean that yo u think it would

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WILD ROSE.

he wa s a very hardworking, honest fellow,

who never had told a lie since boyhood

at least,very seldom ; who was afraid Of

nothin g in this world, and would probably

make a capital soldier if the inquisitors o f

the Civil Service Commission permittedhim to become o n e ; that he had a bass

voice and could sing music-hall songs (and

practised them alone,in secluded woods

,

w ith the spok e n s and had a very grate

ful and amiable disposition,though his

wrath wa s easily evoked. Just n ow he

wa s in a n ew and peculiar condition . H e

yawned,and put his Euclid face down

wards o n a footstool,and said

Mother‘Yes

,dear. ’

Have you called o n the Fra n kla n ds yet'’

The who,dear ' Oh

,those American

people — no,not yet. ’

Then why the

you '’I mean

,why don’t

ARTH UR RADFORD. 37

I don’

t think there is any hurry. Yo u

see,I hardly know who they are yet . ’

Well,it

’

s n o t fo r want Of asking,any

how .

’

That is rude and uncalled-for,Arthur

.

If I like to be sure that my acquaintancesare proper sort o f people

,I think it is only

right . -Besides , they have hardly had

time to settle down yet. ’

I don’t know what you mean by

settling do wn .

” They have had tim e

to go an d see the Millers and go to

church, and go o ut walks and buy things

in the shops in Winterdale . The Millers

seem to think them all right . They have

asked them to dinner to -night. ’

‘The Millers are excellent people,but

they have very strange ideas . ’

Well,they’ve go t some ideas ' Wish I

had Jack’s head fo r some things . ’

Mrs . Radford’s maternal pride wa s fired

I ’m sure,dear

,you could do very well if

238 WILD ROSE.

you tried . I hope you will never grow up

like young Miller. He has very loose

ideas , and an impertinent mocking way o f

expressing them, which gives a very bad

impression . He has a reckless,dissipated

appearance

Oh, come n ow,draw it mild

,mother

I repeat it. I am very sorry for him,

continued Mrs . Radford,in a cheerful tone,

‘and for his mother. Do you know who

that strange - looking young man with

them is

Queer,long-haired

,pallid fellow N0

,

n o t the least . Some Oxbridge -m a n

hasn’t quite ge t the’Varsity ” out about

him— a t least, our

’Varsity cut.’

N O,dear

,he has not. Miss Hel seems

to find something in him,though .

’

Well,about the Fran kla n ds. They

have heaps o f tin,I know. I wa s talking

to a fellow in Winterdale (Arthur just

prevented himself from saying the bil

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240 WILD ROSE.

Indeed,he had some excuse . Having

seen nothing but barmaids and the youn g

ladies o f the n eighbourhood,who were

,

with the exception of Hel,n o t very a t

tractive,it is n o t surprising if he fell in

love, to such extent as his matter-o ffact soul wa s able

, with the rare and to

the sense enticing little morsel of humanity

put before him . He had a notion of

getting acquainted W1th her before Jack

had had the opportunity to do so , whichwould give him

,as it were

,a starting

handicap,in case Jack should feel a t

tracted in the same direction He in

tended to strike while the iron wa s ho t,

a n d induce his mother to call, o f course

with him,that very afternoon .

We will n ow,with the kind permission

Of the reader,chan ge the scene to the

sitting room o f Seymour Villa, Mrs .Fran kla n d

’

s n ew habitation . The time is

early o n the same afternoon . It is a very

ARTf IUR RADFORD . 241

warm April Monday. The room wa s ex

ce e dingly attractive and cool-looking. The

walls were dark green, with yellowish

brown decorative flowers,with very long

stalks and very curious leaves,wandering

almost imperceptibly over it,and bore

several small and strange pictures,mostly

the work of Paul Félix and brother artists .

The French windows were wide open,and

displayed a fringe o f white roses round

their apertures,and a pretty sloping lawn

,

covered with y e w and cypress, bushes o f

lilac and trees o f laburnum,under which

were chairs Of comfortable form,apparently

sunning themselves .In the room lVIrs . Frankland wa s sitting

at a grand piano,playing through Gounod’s

Faust with practised hands . On a dark

green velvet sofa,Rosa

,in a black dress

,

with her hair in an untidy but charmin g

curly mat,was lazily lying, smoking

cigarettes,and watching white clouds

VOL . I . 16

242 WILD ROSE.

wander slowly over the blue sky,occa

s1o n ally taking gulps o f very strong black

coffee from a,very pretty Dresden cup,

intermittently with sips o f m araschino from

a liqueur glass .

Mrs . Frankland left Off playing,and

said‘Say

,Rosie

,give me another cup

,will

you

Rosa,after a moment’s pause, rose a n d

poured out the desired coffee,and brought

it over to the piano . Mrs . Frankland

added‘Sorry to run against your principle o f

not making yourself useful, o f course .

Wonder what these English neighbours o fours would say

,if they came and found us

living like this

It don’t much matter,anyway, what

they would say o r think,’ replied Rosa.

Her French accent was getting alm ostentirely obliterated

,and being replaced by

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244 WILD ROSE.

looking young m e n’s faces in church,

Rosie .

’

What else is there to do But I don’t

find them here much,anyhow. Mr.

Miller— if that’s him -looks nice. I ex

pe ct he would be rather j olly to talk

to.

’

Well,you w ill find out to-night. He

is safe to take yo u in to dinner.’

Here a ring at the bell wa s heard .

‘D O fo r gracious sake,Rosie

,get o ff

that sofa,and make yourself a little less

like a tame panther ' There’s some o n e

calling. Throw that cigarette away.

’

‘It don’t matter if they do see me

smoking,

’ replied Rosa,at the same time ,

however,obeying. If people disapprove

o f o n e fo r things like that, they can’t be

worth much for friends, anyway.

’

‘Mrs . and Mr . Radford were announced

as the door opened,and Arthur wa s intro

duce d to the n e w world .

ARTH UR RADFORD. 245

Mrs . Radford began with the timehonoured common-place o f first visits

anent the weather and the neighbourhood

and hoped she did not in any way disturb

Mrs . Frankland,who replied :

Oh,not in the least. We were just in

that stage Of languid stupidity which o n e

generally gets into after a late breakfast ’

(it wa s half past two),‘and are only too

glad to see some friends to arouse our

sleeping intellects .’

Mrs . Radford opened her eyes at the

w o rd breakfa st,

’ and said

I suppose yo u have been accustomed to

keeping very late hours in Paris‘Why

,yes . You see o n e seldom gets

to bed there before o n e o r two ; and here,

although there is no particular reason for

sitting up late,o n e does it o ut o f habit ,

and from inability to sleep early. Very

sad,isn’t it '’

Well,w e are all rather early here ,

WILD ROSE .

except,perhaps

,the Millers . I think you

know them And they are out,I believe

,

at all sorts o f s trange hours,when the stars

are out,and everyone else is in bed and

asleep, o r‘Or ought to be '’ added Mrs . Frank

land , smiling.

‘Well , I am afraid Our

habits are rather irregular. I confess”

I

am glad to fin d that there is some one else

rather like us in that way here one won’t

feel so kind o f strange and Bohemian .

’

Oh,I think it is quite interestin g

,

’ said

Mrs . Radford , who wa s willing to excuse

anybody’s eccentricities who could affordto have them .

Rosa wa s entertaining Arthur,and o n

discoverin g that he wa s readin g for the

army— a piece o f information he thought

fit to volunteer,said

‘Oh,I like soldiers awfully ; if I had

been a man,I should have gone into the

army

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248 WILD ROSE.

m akin g statements beginning w ith ‘Mymother says . ’ He doesn’t care much

what he says o r does . ’

Arthur’s generously conceived attem pt

to prepossess Rosa against Jack did n o t

meet with entire success .

I like m e n like that— n o t afraid to

j o in in any sort o f lark,I suppose

Oh n o I believe he spent most o f his

time at Oxbridge in “j oining in larks.”

He knows a lot, and could pass exams ,

and have plenty o f time to muck about

as well . ’

N ow,do please tell me

,Mr . Radford,

what is Oxbridge, and what is muckin g

Arthur opened his eyes and m outh at

this unheard-o f ign orance .

‘You know I am in England fo r thefirst time , and want to know all about

everythin g .

’

Oh,Oxbridge is the university. The

ARTH UR RADFORD. 249

other o n e,you know

,

’ remarked Arthur

lucidly.

‘I see. I guess mucking about is

English fo r knocking around,isn ’t it

Very likely.

’

Arthur wa s getting rather tired o f con

versation o n Jack Miller. It was cruel o f

Rosa ; but then she did n o t know,and if

she had known ,would n o t have particu

larly cared .

What a charming place this is I’ saidMrs . Radford . I have never been here

before. ’

‘Well I hope you’ll come again, Mrs .

Radford,said Mrs . Frankland, good

naturedly. We have very few friends atpresent here .’

I hOpe we shall see you at our place

soon,when you have had a little m ore

time to look about yo u. I dare say you

will fin d the neighbours a little cold and

WILD ROSE.

restrained at first . They generally are

with strangers . ’

Well,I guess we ’ll bear it. We have

the Millers, who are among the best

people I ’ve ever m e t in England— n o t

much o f the Continental ideal of the

English about them .

’

‘N O,indeed . They are Old friends of

ours ; though I can’t help saying

’

(‘Why

can ’t you help it '’ thought Mrs . Fran k

land)‘that the children have been rather

loosely brought up . It is a pity.

’

‘Oh, do you think that ' I thoughtMiss Miller lo oked quite a sweet girl

,and

the pink o f propriety,when her mother

brought her round here . To be sure, I

don’t know anything about the youngman . Young men are always o dd

creatures . But I know n o t-hing against

him .

’

‘Jack is a dear good fellow,isn’t he

,

Arthur '’ said Mrs. Radford.

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252 WILD ROSE.

with thanks. Arthur,to his own and his

mother’s surprise,had the audacity to a o

cept. H ow could he refuse when Rosa saidYo u are going to have some, aren

’t

you with the coffee-po t in her small sun

tanned hands ' He looked round for the

milk,and n o t seeing any, silently resigned

himself to the novel sensation o f caf é n o ir

(the coffee provided by Mrs. Radford at

breakfast being o f the wateriest and milki

est description,also o n principle looking

forward to a subsequent discourse from his

mother o n the unhealthy effects o f strong

coffee o n the nerves and body generally .

He fortified himself for this with a glass

o f maraschino . Rosa smiled, and remarked

to herself '‘Duffer as she saw him blink

a t the first mouthful . She wa s restraining h e rself with difficulty from beginning

a second cigarette out o f pure defiance .

Mrs . Radford, a t this stage o f the proce ed

ARTH UR RADFORD. 253

ings, thought fit to w ithdraw herself and

son,who departed with obvious unwilling

ne ss,and ventured

,o n the strength o f the

m araschino,to say to Rosa he hoped to

see her again soon,to which she re

plied

Oh,you’re sure to see lots o f us . We

are going to be here some time— good

bye . ’

Mrs. Radford disapproved o f Rosa a ll

the way home, an d discovered that her

heels were absurdly high,and stated the

important aesthetic fact that when she wa s

a girl (Arthur wa s used to referen ces to

this rather remote period,as a criterion for

everything in feminine manners and cos

tum e s)young ladies never wore their hair

in untidy fringes o n the tops o f their heads .

Arthur silently w ished that there were

more heels (and feet generally)like thosein Winterdale

,and that Jack Miller had

2 54 WILD ROSE.

obtained the position o f physician-in -o r

din ary to the Emperor of Brazil, in vo lvingimmediate residence in that o r any other

remote and antipodal l and.

END OF VOL . I .