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NEWPORT
A QUARELLE
B O S T O N
RO B ERT S B R O T H ER S
1 883 .
A NEWPORT AQUARELLE
CHAPTER I .
“1110 i s that tal l g irl Wi th Mrs . Fallow
Deer ?
You have been i n Newport twenty-fou r
hou rs and don ’ t know ? Why, that is Gladys
Carleton . You ’
ve heard of her, of course
Can ’t say I have . A New York belle , I
suppose,from her get-up ?
Yes ; her amb ition is to be taken for an
Engl ish g i rl,though , o f cou rse , you detected
the spurious im i tation of you r c ountrywo
men . A t what po in t does the Anglo veneer
fa i l to cover the American gi rl P
I shoul d n’
t say she was veneered at al l ,
but she ’
s a typical New Yorker. I can ’t tel l
you exactly whe re the diffe rence l ies , but I
09 9
6 A NE I/VPORT AQUARELLE .
cou ld pick you out a New York girl from a
crowd of specim en women from every town
i n England and America . They have a way
of holding the i r e lbows , and a certai n half
arrogant,half-fl irta tious , en ti re ly fetch ing
poise of the head , that beats al l th e other
women i n creation .
I being a New Yorker , thank you for the
com pl im en t . Do you th ink Gladys Carl eton
a beauty
Perhaps I should if y ou were not here ; I
can hardly tel l . My eyes are rather dazzled .
If M iss Carleton is your friend,won ’t you
presen t me to her ?
The lady addressed seem ed not al together
pleased at th is reques t , but she answered ,
Oh yes ; I wil l stop her when she passes
back th is way. I cannot leave my seat,or I
shal l never get another . ”
The speakers were seated i n the long cres
cent-shaped corridor of the Newport Casino .
The hands of the quaint golden clock on the
tower of th e oute r courtyard poi n ted to the
A NEWPORT AQUARELLE. 7
hour of twelve . I t was m id-day , and al l the
fashionable world of Newport was gathered
with i n the aristocrat ic enclosure j ust named .
Some of the more energet ic people were play
i ng lawn tenn is i n the fine grounds of the
i nne r courtyard , which separates the semi
circle of the open corridor from the theatre
and racket court . O the rs were lunch ing
luxuriously in the well-appointed restauran t,
and a few of the more serious-minded butter
fl ies were si tt ing in th e comfortable read ing
room,where ladies
,as wel l as gentl emen
,are
admitted to read the news,and wri te the i r
impressions of the place to the i r l ess fortu
nate friends and re latives , broi l i ng i n town or
rusticat ing in Maine . But the great c rowd
of people were assembled in the open corri
dor, l is ten ing to the music of the band , which
at that moment was pl aying th e exh i la ra t
i ng strains of th e Merry War. Seated on
ei the r s ide was a double row of people , who
laughed and chatted wi th each other , c ri tic is
ing th e less fortunate late-comers who had
8 A NEWPORT AQUARELLE.
found no seats , these last hav i ng no othe r
resource than to walk up and down between
the two rows of well -dressed men and wo
men . The most popular of th e ladies held
l i ttl e courts of th ei r own at diffe ren t points
of the corridor, and were surrounded. by
ci rcles of men , o f whom they spoke to thei r
husbands as friends , to thei r lady acquain t
auces as beaux .
The lady who had promised to stop.M iss
Carleton as sh e passed by , had succeeded i n
securing for herself a seat close to the steps
which led down from the corrido r to th e te n
nis courts , a ve ritable co igne of vantage,
from whence every el igible m an who passed
up or down the steps could be arres ted by a
smil e or a word . She had hurried her to i le t
in order to be early on the ground and make
sure of the coveted spot . I t was not to be
wondered at that she was not i n haste to
surrender i t, i n order to obl ige Mr . Cuthbert
Larkington by an introduct ion to Gladys
Carleton . She did not i n tend to surrende r
A NEWPOIET A QUARELLE. 9
e ither her seat or he r caval i e r, fo r Larkington
was c ertain ly the m ost styl ish -looking man in
the whole Casino , and was , bes ides , su re to
become the l ion of the season . He had ar
rived i n Newport only th e day before , bring
ing a le tter to Mrs . Fallow-Dee r. He had
been told that the only th ing necessary to
open al l doors i n tha t excl usive socie ty to
an Engl ishm an was the patronage o f th is
d isti nguished lady. Mrs . Fall ow—Deer hada right to the h igh posi tion she held i n
Newport society. She was by birth a Van
Schuylkil l , o f New York , and belonged to
one of the o ld Dutch famil ies , who had a l
ways s toocl wel l i n Manhattan , since th e days
when thei r ancestor , Pe ter Van Schuylki l l ,
came out am ong the earl iest settl ers . I n
her youth Miss Van Schuylkil l had a c c om
pan ied her father to England , whither he had
been sent as American M i nister, and whil e
there she had been sough t i n m arriage by
Mr . Fallow-Deer, an Engl ish gentleman , of
large fortune . After th i rty years of wedded
10. A NEWPORT A QUARELLE .
l ife in the mother country , Mrs . Fallow-Deer
had returned to the home of her youth , a
w idow,and a very rich woman . She had
soon made her house i n New York one of
the most attractive i n the c i ty . A social
leader she was born to be , always had been ,
and was l ikely to die i n harness . She had
certain eccen tric i t ies , but was essen tial ly con
ventiona l i n thought and conve rsat ion ; she
had talked so much soc ie ty talk that i t was
impossible for her to doff her worldly man
ner and her social vernacular , wh ich she
carried i nto her most i nt imate domestic
l ife . From her long residence in England,
she had come to be considered by the men
and women of her set as a sort of oracle of
[es c onven a m es .
On arriving , M r . Larkington had cal led at
Mrs . Fallow-Deer’s to depos i t h is card,h is
lette r, and a bunch of flowers , which Fadden
the florist assured h im was the fi nest bouquet
he had made up that season . The resul t of
h is attention had been an i nv i tation to cl i n
A NEWPORT A QUARELLE. 1 1
ner that ve ry even ing , which he had accepted
w i th d ign ified effusion . He had take n his
A ng lofié z’
l z’
c hostess down to dinner, and l is
tenecl w i th respect and atten tion to her six
month -stale stories o f the sayings and doings
of H . R. H . the P rince of Wales , and the
worsh ipful members of h is especial set .
Larkington had found a good deal o f amuse
ment during th e d inner i n his right-hand
neighbor. She was a pretty woman o f th e
Venus de Medic is type , which is by no means
uncommon among American women .
Mrs . Craig was not beautiful , though he
had told her before the dessert that she was ;
but she was the perfection of pretti ness .
Small,without being undersized , w i th charm
ing curves of face and figure , a well -shaped
face and head , blond hai r , deep-gray eyes,
and a m outh which , though wel l cu t , was too
narrow and bloodless to be token a generous
or passionate nature . She had received the
Engl ishman ’s attentions with cordial i ty and
friendl iness , and had promised , as he escorted
12 A A'
E IVPORT AQUARELLE.
her to her carriage , to meet h im at the Casino
the next morning at twe lve o’
clock .
Mrs . Craig had found Larkington awai t
ing her at the entrance of the Casino , and ,
after one anxious glance , had becom e reas
sured,and laughed at her own fea rs l est he
should not be “ presen table by day l ight .
I n the even ing ,
” Mrs . Craig had argued
to herself,any man can look swell ; but i t
is the morning dress wh ich really shows
h is social status and the club to wh ich he
belongs .”
Mrs . Craig had not exaggerated th e effect
which her entrance with the distingu ished
looking new arrival ” would m ake on the
c rowd of people at the Casi no,al ready t i red
of each other'
s faces,though the season was
but th ree weeks old . The women al l s topped
talking as she passed , and the m en looked
curious ly at the new Englishman Mrs .
Craig had in tow. If the lady ’s manner
had on the previous evening been cordial
to M r . Larkington,i t might now have been
A NEWPORT AQUARELLE. I 3
cal led famil iar ; for , conscious that the eyes
of all her friends and en emies were centred
upon her, she assumed that ai r o f condescend
ing possess ion wh ich women of her natu re
show to the men with whom thei r names
are more or less connected . During the
fi rst hal f-hour th ings had gone very wel l ,
and she had remained in undisturbed pos
session of the new man,who wa s—greate r
tri umph— an Engl ishman . She had in tro
duc ed h im to her husband ,who cam e clum
bering along , to use one of her coinages
o f language,to M r . Belhom m e , the Master of
the Hounds,to the respected Presiden t of
the Casino,and to the ru l ing spiri t o f the
Redwood Club .
These gen tlemen had al l received Larking
ton w i th cordial i ty and consideration , and
Mrs . Craig had the ineffable joy of s teal ing
Mrs . Fallow-Deer’s thunder , and playing pa
troness to the good-looking foreigner. But
her trium ph was short-l ived ; and when M rs .
Fa l l ow-Deer appeared upon the scene , bear
4, A NEWPOA’ T AQUARELLE.
iug down with ful l sail to a spot where chairs
were quickly placed fo r her and her com
pan ion,Gladys Carle ton , the eyes of the prize
roamed anxiously i n thei r d i rection .
Mrs . Craig was on her mettle ! th e equ ivo
cal express ion wi th which sh e looked ful l i nto
the eyes of Larkington was one which she
rarely allowed herself to use i n society ; and
the laughter which babbled from her l ips
was si lver-sweet i n tone,but when she spoke
her voice was sharpened by anxiety .
Mrs . Fallow-Deer , having seated her ample
person , and spread out her gorgeous raiment ,
soon espied the group of wh ich Mrs . Craig
was the centre , and , having attracted Larking
ton ’s attention , gave him a superb,rocking
horse bow ,full of cons ideration and sweet
ness The true state of affai rs at once
became evident to her, and ,tu rn ing to the
bearer of her fa n,a young aspi rant to fashion
,
she said , “ Won ’t you kindly ask Mrs . Craig
if she can tell me the hour of the rendezvous
for the picn ic to-morrow ?
A NEWPORT AQUARELLE. 1 5
The move was a successful one. Mrs.
Craig,turn ing to speak to the young myr
m idon ,Larkington was left un trammelled
by he r woo ing glance , and with a hurried
Excuse me for one moment ,” he crossed
the corridor and entered the enemy ’s l ines .
S o glad to see you here , Mr. Larkington ;
is i t not a pretty scene ? But of course , afte r
Cowes,i t se ems very smal l to you . Still , I
th ink i t is not quite un l ike the grounds of
the Royal Yacht Squadron ; how does i t
s trike you ?“ I th ink that the C lub garden never had
such a compl iment before , Mrs . Fallow-Deer
we have noth ing in England that compares
with Newport . I t is real ly a sort of modern
Pompei i , where al l the rich Americans come
to play at taking a rest .”
I t is ve ry good-natured o f you to say such
n ice th ings , I am su re . I want to presen t
you to Miss Carleton,who is my guest.
Gladys , let me presen t the Hon . Mr . Cuth
bert Larkington , of Oxfordsh i re .
16 A NEWPORT AQUARELLE.
The two young people bowed , the man
l ifting his hat and making a deep obeisance ,
the gi rl moving her graceful head perhaps a
quarte r of an inch , and looking wi th an ai r
of composed observance into the face of th e
dark , striking-looking stranger . Whether he
chose to admit i t to M rs . Craig or not , Lark
ing ton was much impressed w i th the beauty
of Gladys Carle ton . H e i nstinctively com
pared her to the A rab mare which had borne
h im many miles over the deserts of Syria,
and which he had cared fo r rather more than
for any other l iving creature .
She was tall , straight as an arrow ,and
slender,long-l imbed , w i th a sm all , round
waist,wide shoulders , and ful l , classic bust ,
careful ly displayed by the close-fitting dress
of dark-blue foulard,fastened at the throat
w i th a pair of deep sapphi re buttons . Her
head was m agn ific en tl y set on her shoulders ,
and its poise was , to quote the phrase Lark
ing ton had used ,“ half arrogant and wholly
fetch ing.
” The head itsel f was smal l,and
,
A NEWPORT AQUARELLE. I 7
if not in te l lectual , i n tel l igen t in shape . Her
fine black hai r was brushed simply back from
her temples,—she could afford to show her
brow . Her eyes were dark and ful l of fire ;
th e th ick l ine of the eyebrows not classic , but
effective . The straigh t , sensi t ive nose , with
i ts red nostri ls,showed what her friends
cal led her “ high spiri t ; her maid vulgarly
referred to i t as a mark of her “ ugly tem
per.” Her mouth was ful l and red , curved
and dainty,—a beauty rarely found among
the women of her race. Her ti ny rose l eaf ears
had never been desecrated by the needle of
the j ewel le r, and the faul tless teeth showed
no trace of a dentist ’s care . A s ingularly
striking-looking woman,whose age 772n/61 be
anywhere from eigh teen to twenty-eigh t , and
was exactly a quarte r of a century.
When Larkington looked at the smooth
flec kl ess skin , he thought that she could not
have passed her teens. Her assured and self
rel ian t bearing contradic ted this supposition ,
and betokened much experience of th e world .
18 A NEWPORT AQUARELLE.
I was so sorry to miss you at dinner last “
even ing,— I was din ing at Mrs . Be lhom m e
’
s .
Mrs . Fallow-Deer told me how you amused
them all , and has promised to ask you again
very soon for my spec ial benefit. Do you
th ink you wil l l ike Newport ?“ I know I shal l ; i n fact, I do . I am a l
most at home here al ready .
You wil l fee l yourself qu ite at home this
afternoon , I fancy, for i t i s the fi rst hunt
of the season . O i course you are going ?
If you are , Miss Carleton,I am , of
course. But what sort of a hunt is it,
a butterfly hunt ? Considering the season,
I suppose the game mus t have golden
wings .”
“ Butterflies ? Oh no ! we are not cann i
bals at Newport, and do not ki ll ou r kind .
The hunt is a real hun t as fa r as the prey is
concerned . The only sham part of i t i s the
scent , which is that of a red herring dragged
across the fields by a huntsman on the
morn ing of the meet .
20 A NEWPORT A QUARELLE.
shal l most certainly j oi n the hunt th is afte r
noon . Do the men wear the pink ?
Yes ; most of them . I t makes the spec
tacle so much gaye r, and the pink coats se t
off the dark habi ts very pretti ly . They are
not always becoming, but then one ought to
be will i ng to sa c r ific e one ’s self to the gen
era l pic turesqueness of the landscape .
Catch ing the last part of th is sen tence ,
Mrs . Fallow-Deer, who had been occupied in
scann ing with hal f-closed eyes the groups
of people scattered about the lawn , broke
into the conversation .
Yes , i t i s a picturesque scene , is i t not ?
But I want to presen t you , M r . Larkington ,
to one of i ts most picturesque obj ects , Mrs .
Belhomme . I am going to take you to a
reception at her house th is evening. I ’l l be
back again , Gladys ; keep my seat for me .
And the great woman sailed away on the
a rm of her new protege . Poor l i ttle Mrs.
Craig grew pale as the couple swept past
her. Her only caval ie r for the moment hap
A NEWPORT AQUARELLE.
pened to be M r . Craig, her devoted and long
suffering husband ; and th is fac t added gal l
to the wormwood of her defeat . She was
somewhat soothed , however, by the approach
of Count Cl awski , a foreign diplomate wi th
a h igh offic ial posi tion . This gentleman , af
ter the formal i ties of th e morn ing greeting,
i nquired of Mrs . Craig the name and station
of the tal l Engl ishman , who was the subj ec t
of general conversat ion that morning . Mrs .
Craig assured him that she was i n no way
responsible for the gentleman , whom she had
met at d i nner the even ing before at Mrs .
Fallow-Deer’s , and whom she had a cc identa l ly
encountered at the en trance o f the Casi no .
Count Cl awski had l ived in England , and
knew of an aristocrat ic family of the name
of Larkington .
Mrs . Craig now being qui te ready to leave
the Casino , the Count escorted her to her
carriage , and made h is most respectful obe i
sance to the pretty woman , who nodded a
fl irtatious farewel l , and , saying to her footman ,
A NEWPORT AQUARELLE.
Go to the Redwood L ibrary, was ro l led
away in her l uxurious Victoria to that vener
able and stately ed ific e .
Entering the quaint old l ibrary, Mrs . Craig
asked the custod ian for a book , wh ich was
quickly brought her, and , seat ing herself at
a table,the pretty woman soon became ab
sorbed i n the perusal of that volume which
i n importance ranks wi th the book of Com
mon P rayer i n all English households . Does
not the Bri ti sh Peerage contain between i ts
covers the A lpha and Omega of eve ry true
Briton ’s soc ial c reed , which should profess a
bel ief in the Queen and Empress of al l the
important parts of the earth ; a bel i ef i n the
House of Lords , the aristoc racy and al l thei r
friends ; a faith and reverence for al l the
decrees of H . R. H . the P rince of Wales, and
h is set ?
NEWPORT AQUARELLE. 23
CHAPTER I I .
IT was a perfect Newport afternoon . The
sun,which had shone brightly al l th e morn
ing,had drawn a vei l of soft gray clouds
before h is face , and a cool west wind blew
re fresh ingly over the road , whose dus t had
been laid by a showe r during the n igh t.
The West Road , which leads from the
town of Newport out in to the quie t country ,
was dotted here and there with groups o f
riders,and with carriages of al l degrees , from
trotting-wagons to four-in-ha ncl coaches .
A l l the veh icles were wending their way
to S outhwic k’
s Grove , the spot appointed for
that afternoon ’s meet .
I t was early as ye t , on ly half-past four
o ’c lock , and the road was not crowded by
the hurrying late-comers .
24 ,A NEWPORT AQUARELLE.
There were a few among the ride rs and
drive rs who could appreciate the views which
are to be had from diffe rent points on the
road .
A t the bend which marks th e boundary
between the townsh ips of Newport and M id
dl etown ,two riders had drawn rein , and
were looking out over the stretches of warm
hued meadow-land which l ie between the
h igh-road and the waters of the bay.
The bold outl ine of the h il l o n the right ,
and the group of dark green trees on the left
of the riders , made a frame for the great l ife
pic ture of sea , sky , and meadow,at which
they looked half understandingly .
The high rocky island of Conan icut , with
the ru ined fort of the Dumpl ings on i ts
s ummit , lay before them ,outl ined against
pearly gray clouds , the sea of a deeper gray
wash ing softly about its base . A sw ift
winged boat , w i th a flock of white sea-gul ls
wheel ing about i ts bow , came skimming
across the picture , and added the charm of
motion to the scene .
A NEWPORT AQUARELLE. 25
A l i tt le puff of smoke floa ted low down
beneath the c louds , and as they looked the
white prow of a steamer parted the gray
waves,and swiftly c rossed the l i ne of thei r
v i s i on . A sudden sc ream of a steam whistle
fell upon the quiet air, and the spel l was
broken,the charm of the pic ture was gone.
Slowly,regretful ly , the eyes of the young
woman in the trig blue habi t t urned from
the fa r-off peaceful sc ene , broken by the pro
saic sight and sound of the steamer, and ,
fol lowing the long l ines of brown and green
meadow-land , dwel t a moment on the group
of men and boys at work near by , and then
looked into the face of her companion .
“ I s i t not beautiful , Cid ? and to think
that I have ridden past th is spo t twenty
t imes this summer, and never noticed the
view ! You are never too busy to miss one
gl impse of the beauty which you say the
world is full o f, and I have to be told that
what I see is lovely before my dulness can
understand it. A ll the lovely th ings I have
s e e n i n m
26 A NEWPORT AQUARELLE.
The eyes of the speaker, Gladys Carleton ,
were so soft at that momen t that the man
by her side wondered if the hard , bold look ,
which was the i r dominan t express ion , was
not one acqui red by habi t and external influ
enc es , and this wistful , half-tender expression
thei r natural one . He had often before asked
h imself th i s question , and had always a n
swered i t sadly in the negative . And yet
th e query came again to h is mind on that
fai r summer afte rnoon , and was not to be
dismissed so easi ly as i t had been .
Charles Farwell , cal led by Gladys Carleton
Cid,
” was a handsome man of th i rty,with
certain t raits which dist i nguished him from
the hundred or two young New Yorkers who
we re at that time infesting Newport .
He was of the pure Saxon type some
times found among our people , with golden
hai r and beard , fair skin , and eyes of that
i ntense blue wh ich i s on ly seen with people
of vigorous temperamen t . His features were
almost too del icate for a man,bu t h is s ix
28 A NEWPORT A QUARELLE.
ch ildren on opposite sides of th e then fash
ionab l e quarter of Gramercy Park , and had
played together in the dusty c ity garden
through the long days when from Sunday
to Sunday seemed half a l ife time . They
had fallen i n love of course , and when
Gladys was seventeen and Farwel l twen ty
two,the re had be en an understa nding
between them . This was one of those
understandings i n to which American girl s
are apt to ente r, sometimes with more than
one man at a t ime,in wh ich the maiden
is left quite free , and the man is bound
unconditional ly.
Gladys did not know her own mind,
how could she , not having seen anythi ng
of th e world ? She l éougfi l she loved her
cousin , and was su re sh e cared more for
h im than for any other man ,—but she could
not promise .
Well , he would wait (they always do)and afte r waiting for th ree years , during
wh ich t ime he had th e doubtful happiness
A NEWPORT AQUARELLE. 29
of corresponding with h is lovely cousi n , of
sending her flowers , and of seeing her dance
at ball s with other men , h is roses held
against her cheek and thei r shoulders ,
after al l th is h e sti l l held only the position
of her acknowledged admirer, among many
others .
She would drive with h im in the park ,
if she were not engaged to drive with any
one else ; when she had an off even ing , she
telegraphed for h im to take herself and her
s ister to the play.
I n the early summer he was privileged
to spend a long month with her at the old
homestead i n Rhode I sland , where an old
relative , the Rev. Abel Carle ton,l ived .
I n th is quiet spot Gladys recruited her
strength for the Newport season .
Farwel l was looked upon in th e family as
the hope less adore r of h is cousin . Neither
her worldly mother nor her sisters doubted for
a moment that Gladys would make a great
match ; but meanwh ile Cousin Charl i e was a
30 A NE I/VPOIBT AQUARELLE.
dear good fel low, generous with h is th ree
thousand a year, honorable , and so ch ival
rous that Gladys had given h im the nick
name’
of Cid in the days i n which he had read
to her the wonderful s tories of the prowess
of th e fabled hero . Cid he had always been
cal led by the Carletons , who al l real ly loved
him,when they had time to think abou t it ,
and h e stood to them somewhat i n the rela
t ion of the property man ’ i n th e company
of a theatre , the person to be cal led on at al l
times , for al l necess ities .
A t first Farwe ll had been sure of Gladys ;
afte r she had seen someth ing of society and
had had her fl ing,
” she would give i t al l up ,
m arry h im , and settl e down somewhere out
of town , where they could l ive very comfort
ably on th eir j oin t i ncome (that of Gladys
suffic ed fo r her wardrobe) , and lead the happy ,
qu ie t domestic l ife for wh ich he fancied they
were both su ited .
But as t ime wore on , and Gladys grew
colder and harder, and more thoroughly a
A NEWPORT AQUARELLE. 3 r
woman of the world , hope grew fai nt , and
fina l ly on her twentieth birthday they had
taken a long walk together, and had talked
the matter ou t. The understanding was
now altered,and Farwell real ized that Gladys
was i n earnest when she told h im that “ for
two such beggars , with nothing a year,to
speak about marriage would be shee r lunacy.
”
He had taken the disappointment very
hard , and was thankful when the Carletons
soon after decided to make a trip to Europe .
I t was easie r to forget i t al l with her fa r
away from h im .
Gladys had been “ a great success ” in
England , i n Pari s , in Rome , wherever she
wen t. She had been twice engaged , and had
just missed becoming my lady” by the in
tr iguings of a siste r of the young Earl who
had fallen in love with her . The other
lover whom she had accepted and fina l ly
discarded was a German banker o f enor
mous weal th and h igh standing. Neverthe
less , when the time appointed for the mar
32 A NEWPORT AQUARELLE.
r iage drew near, Gladys had been seized
with a horror of he r pl igh ted lover,and
taking her maid with her had fled from
Berl i n to London , leaving her mother to
settl e the d iffic ul ty, while she amused the
London friend to whose house she had been
welcomed on her arrival , with m 1m 1c ry of
ponderous Herr Gol dz c h ink’
s ponderous
wooings .
The story of her escapade was soon
known , and she became the bel le of the
London season , dined at Marlboro’ House ,
and afterwards rece ived more i nvi tations than
wou ld have suffic ed three American bel les .
S ix months before the opening of ou r
story,Mrs . Carleton , somewhat d iscouraged ,
be i t said , by her want of success in the
matrimon ial market , had found i t necessary
to return to America and attend to some
urgent business matters .
Gladys had become i n these six months
qui te at home again in the country which
she had not seen in as many years , and after
A NEWPORT A QUARELLE. 33
a win ter in New York had passed a month
at the old homestead as i n other days . Hav
ing accepted Mrs . Fallow-Deer ’s i nvitat ion
to pass the month of August with her at
Newport , she was enjoying for the fi rst t ime
i n several years the bril l ian t entertainments of
our summer city . She found that th ings had
changed much during her absence , and fel t, as
she had never done before , the great diffic u l tywhich people with moderate means find i n
mai ntai n ing thei r place in a socie ty which
has become vulgarized by the vast quanti ties
of wealth brought i n to i t by uncu lt ivated
people.
The tone of the society seemed also to
have become in a certain sense European
iz ed ,and she did not find the great contrast
she had expected ; Newport manners and
customs,unl ike those of th e ‘Medes and
Pers ians,having changed considerably.
’
“ I find people here much broader than I
remember them to have been ,” Gladys had
said to her cousin .
A NEWPORT AQUARELLE.
Yes,Cid had rather grimly repl ied ;
you will find people here j us t as broad
as you wil l allow them to be ,”
fo r which
rem ark he had been promptly and prop
erly snubbed .
As the two young people gave th ei r horses
the rein,a carriage roll ed by them , i n wh ich
were seated Mrs . Craig and Mrs . Fallow
Deer ; the latter cal led out to Gladys ,
You are late , dear' You must trot along
very fast , or they will be off without you .
”
An excell en t horsewoman was Gladys
Carleton,and she never appeared to more
advantage than when in the saddle . A t
Mrs . Fallow-Deer ’s warn ing , sh e touched
her tal l sorrel l ightly with her crop , and
the two young people rode off at a sharp
pace . A rrivi ng at the rendezvous , th ey
found a large g roup b f riders , twenty or
th i rty men , and half as many women , al l
wel l mounted and well got up .
Some o f th e gentlemen wore pink coats,
others were in plai n riding-dress . The
36 A NEWPOIE’T AQUARELLE.
She neve r was qu ite grac ious to any one .
An i n troduction to Farwel l followed , and as
the two gentlemen bowed , the horn s of the
h untsmen warned them that the run was
about to begin .
Off went the hounds across the road ,
sc rambl ing over the loose stone-wal l which
divided i t from the field .
They ran sn iffing and crying at the her
ring scen t,as if they knew al l about the im
posture pract ised on them , and resented it.
A fter them fol lowed the ride rs , men and
women . The wal l was not a very h igh one ,
and the horses leaped l ightly over it, no one
coming to grief.
The carriages by th is t ime were al l tearing
down the high - road , which was also l ined
with a number of riders,who followed the
hun t from this safe vantage -ground,endan
gering noth ing but thei r eyesight,which the
cloud of dust threatened,and enjoying the
hunt qui te as much as its fol lowers ,—so
they a ffirm ed.
A NEWPOIBT A QUARELLE. 37.
Gladys was among the foremost riders,
and Farwell and Larkington pressed thei r
horses to keep at her side .
Away they gal loped across stubble-fields
and open meadows , taking a five-barred gate
he re , and a°
water jump there , as th ey came .
No side roads or opened gates for Gladys ;
sh e loved the exci tement of the run as much
as did her sorrel , Nimbus .
H e was a splendid beast , strong , power
fully bu ilt , and in fine cond ition .
Before they had ridden th ree m i les i t
became apparen t to both of the caval i ers
that Gladys had the best moun t , and i t was
w i th d iffic ul ty that the two men kept at
h er s ide .
She Spoke to Larkington occasionally ,
but oftene r to her horse , wh ich she enc our
aged by call i ng h is name constantly . A t
las t,afte r a run of about seven miles , during
wh ich seve ral ugly croppers were taken by
some of th e riders and horses , a l ittl e puppy
fox was seen to i ssue from the leathern bag
38 A NEWPORT AQUARELLE.
i n which he had been c onfined , a field ahead
of the hun ting party.
The hounds leaped forward at a quicker
pace,crying at the s ight of thei r prey , and
the men and women spurred thei r horses
on fo r the las t field .
Exci ted exclam at ions escaped from the
men as they lashed thei r t i red steeds , and
a cry o f Go on , Nimbus ! fel l on Farwel l ’s
ear. I t had come from the l ips of Gladys ;
and as he looked at her,he wondered where
the tender expression could have vanished
which had sti rred h is heart an hour ago .
She was flushed , and her eyes sparkled
with exc itement . She struck he r horse and
urged h im over the las t wal l as a j ockey
m ight have done , and with the cry which
he had heard , and which had no sound of
her natural voice in i t , she swept across
the fie ld even with the huntsmen,and lead
ing the whole cavalcade.
And the fox ? well , he was on ly a stupid
l i tt l e c reature after al l,and
,quite dazed bv
A NEWPORT AQUARELLE. 39
the sudden l ight , by the cries of the hounds ,
and the approach of all these men , women ,
and horses,he did nothing but j ump up
on the stone wal l and look wonderingly at
the superior anim als who had com e so fa r
to find h im .
When the pack were close upon him he
real ized what i t all meant , that i t was to
take h is miserable l i ttle l ife that al l these
great creatures— brave men and del icate
women , hounds and horses had come out
on th is bright summer afternoon .
He real ized it, but too late even to t ry
for an escape . He looked about h im over
a strange open country w i th fields on either
side,and
,seeing how hopeless i t was , stood
qu ite still,looking at the an imals , guided by
thei r king,man
,who were now close upon
him .
One great cry he gave as he fel t the
teeth of the foremost hound fasten on his
th roat , and then al l was over,and in a
Space o f tim e som eth ing less than sixty
40. A NEWPORT AQUARELLE.
seconds,the Master of the Hunt approached
Miss Carleton wi th the brush of th e fox,
wh ich she hung at the pomme l of her
saddle .
As they al l rode home together th rough
the quiet country'
lanes , l i ttl e ch ildren ran
to the doors of the farm-houses and looked
admiri ngly at the cavalcade .
The feathered creatures , j ust preparing to
go to rest in the arms of the great trees,
flapped thei r wings angri ly at the dust and
disturbance c reated on the h ighway , which
a fte r s ix o ’clock was deserted save on the
days of the hunt .
An apple orchard on the righ t side of
th e road lay between th e riders and the
sett i ng sun .
The l igh t fall ing i n low, slanting rays
between the shadows of the wonderful old
gnarled trees,gray and twisted , gave a color
to th e grass which is found nowhere i n
the world save i n the island of . Rhode
Island ,—a color as of a mil l ion emeralds
A NEWPORT AQUARELLE. 4 1
softened and deepened by the yellow ligh t
of the sett ing sun .
If I were obl iged to say what was the
most beautiful th ing i n al l Newport, I
should say the turf of this orchard , i n th e
a fte rnoon .
Gladys was the speaker.“ And you say that you never see any
thing that i s beauti ful ,” Farwel l remarked .
“ I should n’
t have seen i t if I had not
been w i th you , Cid .
”
As they rode down Bellevue Avenue to
Mrs . Fallow-Deer ’s house , which was s ituated
on the cl iffs , Larkington made h im sel f very
agreeable to Farwel l , who rece ived the ad
vances of the Engl ishman cord ially.
The two gentlemen then took leave of
Miss Carleton , Farwel l l ifting her from her
horse in a matter-oi-course manner.
A t the moment i n which her palm lay
upon h is shoulder, and h is hands spanned
her slender waist , she gave a l i ttl e tired sigh ,
almost l ike a chi ld ’s . She smiled with her
42 . A JVEWPORT AQUARELLE.
eyes as wel l as her l ips i n that brief i nstan t
when her face was so near, to his , and though
she gave her hand to Larkington at parti ng ,
and only nodded Aim a good-night , Cid rode
away with h is heart beati ng fast , h is whol e
being quickened bv the i n fl uence of that
t i red sigh,that deep smile.
Farwel l fel t so much at peace with the
world in general , and in especial with th e
man who had not l ifted Gladys from he r
horse , that i n a moment of expansiveness
he asked Larkington to dine wi th h im at
the restau ran t of th e Casino .
The invi tation was accepted,and th e two
men passed the even ing together, playing
a game of bil l iards afte r d inner.
Farwel l was r ightly counted by the men
of his club as an excel len t playe r, but he
found that i n Larkington he had met more
than his match . Though Larkington had
taken tw ice as much wine as he had at
dinne r , his strokes seemed as steady as
those of a profess ional bil l iard-player.
44' A NEWPORT AQUARELLE.
when the charm of her presence was re
moved .
If she was , as she had been that day,
almost tender to h im , the old convic tion,
always laten t i n h is mind , that she really
loved him,would assert itse lf, and the feel
ing that if he chose to exert h is wi ll , he could
i nduce her to marry him , would grow in to a
certain ty.
But with this certain ty came also the re
m em bra nc e of the great , i nsuperable objec
tion to such a step , that of his l imited
income , which to her mean t poverty.
He knew that to her luxurious nature
any en forced economy would be i rksome,
perhaps in tolerable , and feared lest i t might
imbitte r her character, whose selfish impulses
he knew so wel l .
H e wou ld not now, with his knowledge o f
the world and its men and women,beg her
to renounce i t all,for l ove and for h im .
That he h imsel f was generous to a faul t,
giving away h is money whenever he had any
A NEWPO/er AQUARELLE. 45
to give,and working year i n and year out in
a broker’s offic e i n Wal l S treet i n order that
h is s isters might have his share of the in
come from h is father ’s estate , made him
none the le ss aware of th e selfish s ide of
G ladys’
s nature .
H e could make her marry h im ,- of that
he was sure now, but could he make her
happy ? A s if to answer the se lf-asked ques
t ion he drew from his pocke t a crumpled bi t
of paper , and read for the th i rd time a de
spa tc h which he had that afternoon received ,
and wh ich ran as fol lows !
LEADVILLE,Aug. 19, 1882 .
To CHARLES FARWELL,
Redwood Reading Room ,
Newport, R. I .
New lead d isc overed assay
of s i lver. Com e at onc e.
CARTWRIGHT.
46 NEWPORT AQUARELLE.
CHAPTER I I I .
ON the morning foll owing the fox-hun t,
M r . Larkington , i nqu i ring at the post-offic e
for letters , was somewhat surprised at the
large bundle of notes wh ich the clerk put in to
h is hand .
H e glanced hurriedly over the addresses
there wa s one foreign let te r,with an Engl ish
postmark , directed i n a pointed femin in e
hand .
This lette r he impatien tly tore open, un
folding i t w i thout glancing at the wri ting,
and looked between the closely wri t ten pages
of the sheet .
Here he found a narrow sl ip of paper,
wh ich the lady clerk observed afte rwards to
the postmaster was a check , as any one
coul d see .
”
A NEWPORT AQUARELLE. 47
Whether th is lady was righ t i n he r hy
pothesis or not , the perusal of the narrow
bi t of paper seemed to have an agreeable
effect upon M r. Larkington . His face , which
unti l then had been rather moody, cleared ,
and, folding the paper, he placed i t carefully
i n h is pocket-book,thrust the unread l etter
which had been so careful ly wri tten , i n to
his pocket , and proceeded to open leisurely
the other notes .
A l l of these bore the local postmark .
The fi rs t one was marked by an elaborate
crest , i n blue and gold , and read as follows !
Mrs . Craig requests the pleasure of Mr .
La rking ton’
s company at dinner on Monday
even ing next , at half-past seven .
”
Anothe r inform ed h im that M rs . Fal low
Deer hopes that M r. Larkington w i l l drive
with her on Saturday afternoon .
”
A th ird read ! “ M r. Belhomme wil l be
very glad to lend M r . Larkington his coach
and horses on Friday and Saturday of this
week , during his absence i n New York .
4 A NEWPORT AQUARELLE.
There were half a dozen other i nvi tations
to bal ls and routs of various kinds , and , most
important of all to the mind of the Engl ish
man,i nvitations fo r a month to the Redwood
and Casino Clubs . To the first of these ,
i ncorrectly cal led the “ Reading Room ,
”
Larkington im mediately repai red .
Here he was warmly greeted by the men
whose acquaintance he had made on th e pre
vious day and even ing . These gentlemen
in troduced h im to othe rs .
Cuthbert Larkington had come to New
port , forty-eight hours before , a stranger , with
no further claim on society than that impl ied
by a singl e lette r of i n troduction .
This lette r,which was addressed to Mrs .
Fallow-Deer, had been given h im by a
steamer acquaintance , to whom he had lent
twen ty-five pounds . He now felt that he
had gained a footi ng from which he could
cl imb to the heights of success and popu
l a rity .
A s he was leaving the C lub , Larkington
A NEWPORT AQUARELLE . 9
met Count Cl awsk i , and the two walked down
Bellevue Avenue together.
A carriage , drawn by a pai r of m agn ific en t
bay horses , rattled past them , the harnesses
j ingl ing with enough chains to secure al l the
prisoners i n Newport j ail .
Two ladies bowed from the back seat of
the carriage , and Larkington , recogn iz ing the
face of the girl whose acquain tance he had
made the day before , made a deep obeisance ;
Count C l awski , who seemed on good te rms
with the ladies , waved his hat with ai ry grace .
You have the good fortune to know Miss
Carleton,th e he i ress ? asked the Coun t .
Yes ; I met her yesterday. I s she one of
th e very rich people here“ Oh yes ; her fortune is counted in mi l
l ions,hal f a dozen , I bel ieve , and i t is al l
i n her own righ t . An i nte rest ing woman ,
very. Her cous in i s very pretty , i s she
not ?
I did not notice the cousin,
” answered
Larkington , absently .
“ Is she an o rphan ,
50’
A NEWPORT AQUARELLE .
—Miss Carleton , that she is so ric h P
From whom did she get al l her money ?
Oh,old Mr . Carleton was an enormously
rich man,and sh e is h is only ch ild . She i s
an excellen t woman of business , and man
ages h er own affai rs enti rely. She has a
mother ; but Mrs . Carleton is not he re this ‘
summer. She is an old lady , and finds New
port too excit ing for her tas te .
”
This is what was said on the s idewalk.
The lady i n the carriage who was the sub
jec t of th is conversation said to her com
pan ion ,
Do you know who that man with Count
C l awski i s , Gladys ?“ Oh yes , Cousin Amelia ; I can tel l you
all about him . His name is . Larkington,
the Hon . Cuthbert Larkington . H e i s an
Engl ishman , of high family. Mrs . Craig was
tel l i ng us all about h im th is morn ing . She
had been looking him up i n the Pee rage .
He i s th e son of Lord Lucre,and is i n the
A rmy . I met him yesterday,and found him
A NEWPORT AQUARELLE .
There was , of course , some old romance ,
her friends al l said , but who the hero of i t
was,even rumor whispered not.
I t i s qu ite possible that neithe r hero nor
rom ance had eve r entered her l ife .
She belonged to that type of women , not
uncommon i n New England , who do not feel
the necessi ty o f domest ic relat ions for the i r
happiness , and to whom men are rather an
tagon istic than attract ive .
These women are often among the hardest
workers i n the social c ommunity , and are un
remitt ing i n their chari table labors . They
are dubbed strong-m i nded ,” a titl e wh ich
they resent alm os t un iversal ly , and yet i t i s
one they fully deserve .
I t seem s as though a w ise provision o f
P rov idence had created a certai n proportio n
of the women of th e Eastern States with
this independence of natu re , to fit th em for
the l ife of moral and physical self-support
imposed upon them by the disproportion
ately small number of men in these regions .
A NEWPORT AQUARELLE. 5 3
On reach ing h is hotel , Larkington walked
slowly up the long stairs wh ich led to the
thi rd floor , upon which his room was sit
ua ted.
He seemed deeply absorbed i n thought ,
and stood before the window , looking wi th
unsee ing eyes into the blue sky. Yet th e
tenor of his thoughts was of a natu re more
terrestrial than celestial , as the anxious ex
press io n of the eyes and l ips betokened .
Shal l I , or shal l I not , go i n fo r the
heiress was th e question he asked himself,
as he paced slowly up and down the narrow
c ofli n-l ike apartment , with its i ron bedstead ,
chair,table
,and wash -stand , fo r the use of
wh ich he would be obliged to pay fi ve dol
lars a day, when he should settle h is bi l l .
When he should settle h is bil l ! The though t
reminded h im o f his unread letter, and seat
ing h imself at the table he soon became ab
sorbed i n the perusal of the fine ly crossed
epistl e.
After reading i t th rough,he sat s ilen t
54 A NEWPORT AQUARELLE .
for another space , staring out in to the bright
sun l ight of the summer morn ing, and then
qui te suddenly drew toward h im the pen
and ink and paper, and rapid ly indi ted the
fol lowing note
DEAREST MUZ,—Thank you so m uc h for the
en c losure of one hundred pounds , a nd your k ind
letter, both th is m orn ing rec e ived . I t i s the la st
penny I ’
l l ever a sk you to send m e, I swea r tha t
to you. I wa s pretty we l l c leaned out when it
c am e, and never w a s gladder in m y l ife to see
your writ ing. Tel l S issy tha t I am go ing to m ake
a dash for a fortune here . There ’
s a pretty girl
a tta c hed to i t, to whom I c an ea s i ly bec om e a t
ta c h ed . Fa il ing th is , I sha l l sta rt for Mexi c o , and
s trike out for m yse lf. I suppose Dad does n ’
t sus
peot where I am ; don’t l et h im know . Does n
’
t
he wonder who your fem in ine c orrespondent is P
Love to S issy and your dear ol d self.
From your ever a ffec tionate
CUTHBERT.
The le tte r was written i n a smal l but bold
hand . He di rected the envelope i n a large
A NEWPORT AQUARELLE. 5 5
pointed lady-l ike ch i rography. I t bore
superscription
To MRS . MARTIN LAR! INGTON,Care LAR! INGTON Co .
,
No . 7 Washleather S t . ,
S trand,London.
Now, if Mrs . Craig or Mrs . Fallow-Deer
had happened to see th is lette r wh ich thei r
new acquai ntance had j ust written to h is
mother, they would have been somewhat sur
prised at the busi ness address wh ich i t bore .
They would have looked fo r th e following
aristocratic superscription !
LADY LAR ! INGTON LUCRE,Lark ington House,
Larkington, Oxfordshi re.
Having pe rformed th is fi l ia l duty, Lark
ing ton proceeded to look over the notes
which he had so hurriedly read at the Post
Offic e . One there was wh ich he had passed
over, and on opening i t he gave an exclama
tion of pleasure . The note was from Charles
56 0 A NEWPORT AQUARELLE.
Farwe l l , who offered M r . Larkington th e use
of his two polo ponies during his absence ,
which would las t for about two weeks , and
tel l i ng h im that a match was to take place
that very afte rnoon , i n wh ich Fa rwe l l had ar
ranged for Larkington to take his place .
If there was one pu rsui t which the E ng
l ishman cared for , more than any other
i n the world , i t was certainly the game of
polo .
Larkington was a tal l ath let ic fel low, l ight
of body and si newy of l imb . His arms and
legs were long, and he had that grace of
movement which comes only from a con
dit ion of perfect physical health and m usc u
lar development . Nimrod was h is hero and
his god . From hunting and ath letic pur
sui ts and sports he derived the greates t en
joym en t of his l ife .
H e was withal not lacking i n other attain
ments which made h im an agreeabl e man
i n a drawing-room,as well as a prominen t
one i n the fie ld . He had a gift for music
A NEWPOIBT AQUARELLE. 57
which , although uncu l t ivated , was all the
more remarkable . H e could play any ai r
that he had ever heard , with an a éa na’on
and spi rit wh ich to unmusical people were
more captivating than the careful perform
ance of a fin ished music ian . He could talk
of Engl ish pol i tics wi th a certai n knowledge
of facts , but with an indifference to princ i
ples which proved that he was not guided
by them .
He was fairly wel l educated , had been at
a good publ ic school , bu t had not passed
through a univers ity .
He knew quite as much of Paris,Vienna
,
and Rome , as of London , and seemed even
rather more at home i n the society of these
European capi tals than i n that of London ,
j udging from his conversation concern ing
them . He spoke aston ish ing fac t fo r
an Engl ishm a n l— excel len t French , good
German , and could make h imself understood
in the other languages of Europe . His ideas
about art were absolutely without value .
5 8 A NEWPORT A QUARELLE.
I ndeed , i t shou ld rather be said that h e
had none , being en ti rely wanting in artisti c
sense .
W i th al l that belonged to nature h e was
i n perfect sympathy , and h is advice about
the care of horses or cattle , and h is com
ments on vegetables and frui t and the best
manner of rai sing them , were well worth
hearing.
Children l iked h im and came to him , as
did dogs and al l other uncivi l ized beings,but
with women he was , strangely enough , not
popular . He got on much bette r with men ,
and had had l ittle to do wi th women . Of
love in i ts h igher form he knew noth i ng.
Five o ’c lock was the time appointed fo r
polo,and at ten minutes past the hour,
Larkington entered the grounds of the West
cheste r Polo Club , and rode down to the
smal l pavil ion ten t, from th e top of which
floa ted a wh i te flag. His fai th fu l servant
S ti rrups,who was by turns h is vale t , groom ,
and compan ion,s tood waiting h im with
60 ° A NEWPORT AQUARELLE .
of which a dozen were assemb led , covered
with maids and matrons , i n rainbow-hued
gowns and smart coach ing-hats .
Equestrians were there , too , and a group of
people stand i ng and s itti ng i n the corner ,
where stood a covered p latform fi l led with
chai rs .
The hor ses and thei r trappings were mag
n ific en t, and the sloping beams of l igh t th rown
by the afternoon sun revealed a spectacl e of
gli t teri ng wealth and display which is not
su rpassed i n any city of the world .
S o though t Larkington , and so said Lark
ing ton , wi th that Bri t ish frankness wh ich , if
i t brusquely sneers at t imes at American man
ners and solec isms,qui te as freely and mag
nan im ously praises , on occasion .
There comes the coach wi th the P res i
dent ,” said one of th e bachelors from the
ten t ; the game wil l be cal led i n five min
utes . A re you ready , Larkington ?” The
Engl ishman fo r answer th rew off his cove r
coat,and , s tanding revealed i n his whi te j er
A NEWPORT AQUARELLE. 6 1
sey , boots , and breeches , proceeded to tie
about h is head a white si lk éufi a , adj usting
i t with a twisted cord , and fasten i ng the ends
at the back of h is head , afte r the fash ion of
the Bedouin s of Syria . The match on th i s
part icular afternoon was between the bach
e l ors and married men of th e club ; and as
Charles Farwel l was to have played in it ,
he had arranged for Larkington to take h is
place .
Mrs . Fallow-Deer had begged h im to do
someth ing for the Engl ishman , and thi s had
been the eas ies t thing to do .
A prize cup had been offered by the ladies
of Newport , and the match was undoub tedly
th e most importan t one of the season .
J ust l ike my luck to be in for th is
game Larkington had said to S ti rrups that
m orn1ng .
The signal to ride in to the fie ld was now
given and the six bachelors,chastely and ap
prOpr1a tely att i red in wh ite , rode into place at
the ir end of the ground . Ranged side by side ,
62 A NEWPORT A QUARELLE .
with raised mal lets,they sat waiti ng , the i r
eyes fixed upon the red flag i n the umpi re ’s
hand .
Their adversaries , six married men , at the
opposi te end of the fiel d , were well ab le to
cope with them ,if one might j udge from thei r
appearance and that of the i r pon ies . The
figures of these m en were fine and ath letic ;
thei r costume was of dark blue and yellow
stripes .
A re you ready ? One , two , th ree , go l
said the umpire ; the red flag was dropped
and the bal l th rown in to the middle of th e
ground .
Flash ! crash ! went the twelve ponies and
thei r twelve riders , dash ing toward each other
at l ightn ing speed , each and every one deter
min ed to have the first blow at the l it tl e whi te
wooden bal l , which lay peaceful ly on the
grass .
I t was a grand stroke , the first one , dealt by
the mal le t of a wh ite player,who to most of
the spectators was a stranger.
A NEWPORT AQUA [BELLE 63
The bal l was d riven straight and c lear to
ward the goal,and the blues had hard work
i n getting i t back again . I t was a hard
fough t game , however, and both s ides played
wel l and pluckily ; but the married men and
thei r backers,who had been hopeful of suc
cess s ince i t had been learned that Farwell ,
by long odds the best p layer of th e club ,
was not i n the fie ld , began to be rather de
spondent
Finally , afte r ten minutes’ sharp contest, a
splend id stroke from Larkington put the bal l
out between the two upright wands wh ich
marked the adversaries ’ goal , and the fi rst
game was scored by the bachelors .
Five games were played , three being won
by the wh ite players , and th e Benedicts being
defeated by one game .
At the close o f th e match Larkington was
congratulated on h is playing by h is al l ies and
adversaries al ike , and he fel t that the polo
match had raised h im another step i n the
seemingly easy ladder of American society.
64 A NEWPORT AQUARELLE.
Larkingto n cal led that even ing at M rs .
Fal l ow-Deer’s , and found th e ladies at
home .
Count Cl awski , who had been din ing m
f am z
’
Z/e with Mrs . Fal low-Deer , obl igingly de
voted himself to h er, and Larkington was
left free to talk to Miss Carleton .
He was i n h igh spiri ts . The spl endid
exerc ise of the afte rnoon had se t h is blood
aglow,and a convivial dinner with th e bach
e l ors , which had followed at the house of
thei r captain , had not decreased his pleas
urabl e condition of mind and body . Miss
Carle ton was as charming a person to talk
to , to l isten to , to look a t , as Larkington had
ever met .
She was si tting the attitude would be
better described as recl in ing— in a low arm
chai r ; her strong and svel l‘e young figure
took a natural and thorough ly graceful pose ,
and the fo lds of her whi te dress fel l about i ts
outl ines , reveal i ng them,but not too dis
tinc tl y for maiden l iness .
A NEWPORT AQUARELLE. 6 5
Her dress , which was of some thick and
soft material , was close at the neck and
wrists . She had the shou lders and arms of
a goddess,but she never showed them . I t
was one of th e few bits of sentiment wh ich
her m other had never laughed her ou t of.
I n the old days , when she and Cid had
had the one-sided understanding, he had
begged he r to keep those beauties from the
eyes o f th e world .
I t is enough that they can see your face ,
he said j ealously ; he would almost have
l iked her to wear a y a sém a cé , and keep that
face for his eyes alone.
She had promised h im in a weak momen t
never to wear the undress of bal l dress , and
she had kept her word .
Larkington was real ly pleased with the
beauty and grace of the girl,and
,as he had
wri tten to his mother,he thought it would
be an easy as wel l as pleasant th ing to
become attached to her.
He was not much used to making love to
66 A NEWPORT AQUARELLE.
lad ies , and was not very su re of h imself,but
he d id h is best , and found that his pretty
speeches were grac iously , if cynical ly , l is
tened to .
She puzzled h im , th is beauty , whose eyes
did not droop , nor color change , under the
arden t look of admirat ion wh ich he fixed
upon her.
She was thoroughly mistress of the si tua
tion , and when , afte r a too flag ran t compl i
ment, she turned upon h im and with good
natured satire analyzed and caricatured al l
h is Speeches,cutti ng them to pieces , he was
forced to laugh at her wit , though i t had
been at his own expense.
She liked his flattery , as he pla in ly saw,
though i t d id no t dece ive her .
And when he asked if he might come to
morrow and coach her a l i ttle i n her serving
at tenn is , wh ich had seemed to h im faultythat day at the Casino , she consented , and
appointed the hour of twe lve for the lesson .
You wil l stay and lunch with us after the
68 A NEWPORT AQUARELLE.
equal ly natural to her , and which was as
sco rnful and aristocratic as if she had been
born a princess.
Do you not find the American gi rl s very
differen t from any others , Cl awski he asked ,
as the two men left the house together.
M on Dim ,yes
,repl i ed the d iplomate .
I do not pretend to unde rstand them , and
have never anyth ing to say to them . They
are to me charming , but i ncomprehensibl e .
W i th the married women I am at home , but
w i th the young ladies who rule so much i n
American soc iety, I am quite at a loss to
understand , or make myse lf unders tood.
”
NEWPORT AQUA ! ELLE. 69
CHAPTER IV.
GLADYS CARLETON was not one of th e
women who are born possessed of a demon
of coquetry. The mere suffering wh ich a
man undergoes at the hands of a coquette is
not i n its first effects so greatly tb be depre
c a ted . I t i s i n the consequences that l ies
the deepes t wrong wh ich the insincere woman
does to the man who loves her. For the
distrust of her whole sex wh ich grows upon
h im,and the convict ion that nei the r she nor
her kind are worthy of th e best that i s
i n h is nature , she is responsibl e . The disdai n
which he may fee l toward her cannot greatly
i nj ure h im .
But the spiri t i n wh ich he regards that
tendency in his nature wh ich looks to woman
for the truest support of h is l ife, and the
70 A NEWPORT AQUARELLE.
systematic h ardening of those qual i t ies i n
him which reach out ins ti nc tively to the
femin ine side of humanity , are sou l hurts ,
which are not healed when the pain of the
dece ived love has passed .
His j udgment of the whole sex cannot
fail to be biassed by h is experience of th e
woman who has most deeply in terested him .
Thus i t i s that the coquette,by lowering th e
whole s tandard of womanhood in the eyes of
m an , i nj u res her own sex as wel l as the other.
The forms of coquetry are infin ite ly va
ried , and some of them are much more rep
rehens ible than others . The woman who
undertakes conquests s imply for th e glo ry of
displaying at the wheels of her chariot th e
capt ive she holds by the rosy bonds of love ,
i s the commonest type .
As her coquetry i s of th e most paten t ki nd ,
i ts wounds are rarely severe or lasting, and ye t
there is a certain vulgari ty about th is spiri t of
conquest , which makes th is type of women
dangerous to both men and women .
A NEWPORT AQUARELLE. 7 1
A more subtle and disastrous influenc e i s
wielded by the woman who is bent on the
sc ien tific analysis of the vari ous effects pro
duc ed by the tender passion on men of differ
ent character and nature .
She has l i ttle pigeon -holes marked with
different characteristic names , and into these
she c l assifies every new specimen . She is
apt soon to discove r that the pigeon-holes
may be very few ,and that nearly al l the men
she meets w i l l fi t exactly in to one or another
of them .
When she has arrived a t th is conclusion
she i s sa tisfied ; two or three good specim ens
of every sort having been coo l ly analyzed
and properly pigeon-holed .
I t is variety, and not quant i ty , she desi res
and , having al ready become qu ite famil iar
with the manner i n which a certain spec ies
of the g en us fiom o i s affected by the greates t
of passions , sh e al lows many possible victims
to pass by without an effort or desire to add
them to her co l lection ; but if a specimen
72 A NEWPORT A QUARELLE.
h itherto un c l assified c rosses her path , she is
ready with her l i ttl e dissecti ng-knife to peer
into the labyrinths of a new phase of human
nature .
A nother class,perhaps th e most dan
gerons one , i n to which we are dividing c o
quettes , includes those women who fancy
themselves i n love with each fresh love r.
These are emotional and sympathetic wo
men,who
,being incapable of strong feel ings
themselves , are borne along by th e force o f
a passion which fasc inates them , and which
they wou ld gladly rec iprocate . I n thei r often
renewed disappoin tment at finding that the
n ew lover cannot make them forget them
se lves , they fee l a sense of i nj ust ice , and
never dream that they are not the i nj ured
ones.
To none of these classes of coquettes did
Gladys belong. She had broken he r share
of hearts i n her day , but i t was more for
wan t of an occupation than for any other
reason . She had no very particular talen t
A NEWPORT AQUARELLE. 73
for anything , no t even for society, i n which
she was a prominent bu t no t a popular
figure .
A great bel le she undoubted ly was,wh ich
did not make the women particularly fond of
her. Men al l admired her, and elbowed and
fought for a place at her s ide i n the bal l
room . A good many of them were i n love
with her,and yet few l iked her . She was
admirabl e , she was lovable , but she was d is
tinc tly unl ikable .
A certain fondness for the t ruth made her
speak i t at al l t im es , even when it carried
something of a sting with it.
Her intel lec t was of a high order enough
to show her the insipid ity o f th e men and
women among whom her lo t was cast . I t
was not s trong enough to force her to leave
the ci rcle i n which she was born , and strive
for a footing in the world of thought , act ion ,
art , or l i terature .
She laughed at the Phil ist ines,and ye t
avowed herself to be one o f them .
74 A NEWPORT AQUARELLE.
The clever men , those who wrote books
a nd pain ted pictures , if they found them
selves in her company , were i nvariably drawn
toward her . She numbered a poet, two jour
na l ists , and a mari ne painte r among her win
ter’s conquests .
Tenn is was one of her favori te amuse
men ts,and when her English acquaintance
appeared , i n accordance with her permiss ion ,
at twe lve o ’clock on the morning afte r the
po lo match , he found h er dressed for the
game . A long practice fol lowed , at the end
of which Miss Carleton acknowledged her
i ndebtedness to Mr . Larkington for several
points .
What can I teach you i n return for your
excel lent coach ing , M r . Larkington ? ” asked
Gladys , as they sat on the veranda after
lunch . The young man was s i len t,and ab
sen tly rolled h imself a cigarette , using one
hand in the operation, 52 fEspag nol .
You are s i lent. Does that mean that
I cannot teach you anyth ing ? Well , per
76 A NEWPORT A QUARELLE.
otic i n the matte r of promises ; yes , real ly
I am ,and neve r break one . M r . Bel hom
me has promised to take me j ust where I
wan t to go . Wou ld you l ike to go with
us ?
I shou ld of cou rse be del igh ted ; but
would i t be conven ien t , do you th ink ?
Oh,perfectly ; I make up my own party ,
and invi te al l the people . Mrs . Fallow-Deer
is going as chaperon . I don ’ t know how
you will l ike th e company, I fancy you wil l
not know any of them ; i t i s the Boston gang
princ ipal ly .
”
I ndeed,I never met a Boston ian to know
h im— o r her. They are said to be m ore
l ike Engl ish people than New Yorkers are ;is that true ?
“ Yes , I suppose i t i s . Those who come
to Newport are a queer lot We have a
great many trad it ions about the cl everness
of the Boston women , the fascination s of the
men , but I confess to be greatly at a loss to
account fo r the i r reputation , wh ich I don’ t
A NEWPORT AQUARELLE. 77
thi nk is deserved . The women are not any
prettie r,and certainly the specim ens we see
here are no bette r i nformed , than the average
New Yorker. They have a curious e l ephan
t ine way of carrying on fl irta tions , which is
quite pecul iar to them . The men are al l
married and very much married ; they seem
to have entirely severed the ir relations with
al l womankind , save their wives . The few
bachelors I have met are so petted and
spoiled that there i s no enduring them .
”
You dispose of them in a few words .
”
You shal l j udge if my remarks are with
o r without a foundation .
”
Before many hours passed , M r . Larkington
had an excel len t opportun i ty of notic ing the
manners and custom s of the Boston gang ,
”
as Gladys had disrespectfully spoken of her
guests of the afternoon .
The distance from the wharf to the great
steam yacht was safely accompl ished in a
pretty rowboat . A s soon as th e party were
al l on board , th e good yacht Dolph in steamed
78 A NEWPORT AQUARELLE .
out of the harbor, and headed for quie t wate r,
pass ing along the coast of the island , toward
P rov idenc e.
Gladys,who was a capital sai lor rathe r
vic iously suggested going outside in to the
rough wate rs of the open sea , but she was
silenced by a sharp rebuke from Mrs . Fallow
Deer,who grew pale at the ve ry thought .
The ladies of the Boston gang seemed no
bette r pleased at the idea , and the Dolph in ,
abandon ing all hopes of a tumble with the
waves , cut the qu iet waters evenly wi th her
sharp prow.
Miss Carle ton expatiated upon the j oys of
riding over the big waves .
M r . Larkington was presen ted fi rst to on e
and then to another of the lad ies,with al l of
whom he found h imself qui te at home in a
short time .
Thei r names he was somewhat puzzled by ;
many of them he had never before met with
i n any part of the world .
One pretty married woman with an im pos
A NEWPORT A QUARELLE. 79
sible three-syllabled patronymic advised h im
to come to Boston for the winter, if he
should remain so long in America .
She explai ned that for a man the A thens
of America was real ly th e most del ightful
place in the world . Nowhere else were they
so wel l t reated , i n spite of al l the talk about
the rights of women .
“ Things are rather reversed with us , and
i t i s the men who have al l the privi leges.
We women are so much in the maj ori ty
that we practical ly have the same rights that
men do . I ndeed , th e male sex are , i n our
communi ty,the privi leged class . They are
exempt from every soc ial duty , and included
i n every social pleasu re . The chari ties and
the reforms are carried on by ladies , who
minis ter to the sick and uphold the priv
i leges of the criminals . We visi t th e hos
pita ls and the prisons , pay the taxes , give
the parties , oversee the schools , and keep
up the churches . I t i s a fai r d ivi s ion , i s i t
not ? ”
80 A NEWPORT A QUARELLE.
The lady laughed as she asked the ques
t ion,and Larkington , not knowing What to
answer, laughed too .
H e was not qui te su re whether she was i n
earnest or i n j est . There was a certain want
of softness about the voice of the lady with
the three-syl labled name , a certai n indepen
dence of manner, wh ich did not please h im ,
though he thought he r pre tty and bright.
The pil low beh ind her sl ipped to the ground
as she sat looking at the group of people
at the othe r end of th e boat. Larkington
started to pick i t up for her, but she had
i nvol untarily stooped and regained it.
Then she laughed and said,
If Miss Carle ton had dropped that pi llow,
i t would never have occurred to her that she
migh t pick i t up . You see that I quite nat
u ra l ly l eaned forward to ge t it, though you
were so near me . That i s the difference be
tween the New York and Boston woman .
We expect noth ing from mankind ; they re
gard the male sex as simply created for thei r
A NEWPORT A QUARELLE.8 1
se rvice . Let us j o i n the others ; I th ink
there will be some singing . S omebody has
brought M iss Carleton ’s banj o .
The Engl ishman was not d ispleased at
the opportuni ty thus offered o f re turn ing to
that part of th e deck where Gladys Carleton
had thrown herself on a pi le of ropes . The
mast b eh ind her served for a support. She
sat i n Turk fash ion , a thing few women can
do with comfort o r w i th grace . A t the mo
ment when Larkington approached , Gladys
was indulging in the infanti le amusement of
playing bal l with M r . Sil sbee Saltonstal l, of
Boston . A red apple provided by the s tew
ard served for the playth ing .
M r . Sal tonstal l was a good-looking young
fel low of eigh t and twenty,tal l
,rathe r grace
fully modelled , with a decidedly handsome
head . His was an ea rnest face, w i th deep
blue near-sighted eyes , blond beard , a wide
forehead , and pecul iarly sparkl ing white
teeth .
Gladys threw the apple i n the most pro
82’
A NEWPORT As ARELLE .
voking man ner , trying eve ry time to toss i t
out of his reach , bu t Saltonstal l had not
played i n the Harvard Base Bal l Nine for
noth ing, and he caught i t eve ry t ime , making
im possibl e reaches i n al l di rections .
A fte r a few minutes , Gladys wearied of th e
game , and tossed the apple overboard fo r
th e fishes ,” she said .
Then Salton stal l , i n obedienc e to a half
gestu re from the girl , took h is place beside
her on an adjacen t pile of ropes .
G ladys did not look at Larkington,who
stood near by , but began talking seriously
and i n a rather low voice to the Bostonian .
Your s iste r tel l s me you are wri ting a
book, Mr . Saltonstal l , on the h igher eth ics of
soc iology . I was much in terested in talking
to her about it . I fancy you do not agree
with Herbert Spencer in al l his premises ,
from what I know of your characte r.”
You are qui te right,M iss Carleton . I
find that , i n working out to a'
l ogical conclu
sion the princ ip les which Spencer adva nces ,
84 A NEWPORT A QUARELLE.
I see I am boring you al ready, and I have
driven your Engl ish friend away from you r
s ide i n terror and amaze .
”
And why should you assume th at you are
bori ng me , Mr . Saltonstall ? Do you th ink
me incapable of following your conversa
tion
Not fo r an instant , Miss Carleton ; i t i s
not that you could not think , and th ink inte l
l igen tly , upon th is subj ec t , or any other that I
cou ld talk to you about only—I do not
th ink to speak frankly , that i t i n te rests
you .
Then why shou ld I have begun by speak
ing of i t P
Your natural goodness of heart prompted
you to try to put me at my ease .
”
You have known me long enough to
know that I have n ’
t any natural goodness
of heart .”
Pol i te ness , then . You wil l acknowledge
that you have that qual i ty to an u ncommon
degree
A NEW’PORT AQUARELLE. 85
Prevarication . Pure prevarication th is ,
M r . Saltonstal l . I t is qu i te useless to pu r
sue i t wi th me . Remember that I have
known you a very long t ime , and though our
acquai ntance has been a superfic ia l one , st i l l
i t has give n me some chances to j udge o f
your character . Dissimulat ion is not a nat
u ral weakness of yours . You have , no
doubt,quite enough sins wi thout c ul tiva t
i ng that one . Take my advice and remain
the l iv ing curiosity that you are , the one
man who is not a l iar. Now tell me why a
cloud came into your eyes suddenly , and you
sh rouded th e thoughts i n which I was be
coming so deeply interested . Frankly now
— tel l me .
If you w i l l have the truth , Miss Carleton ,
I have a particular and possibly unreason
able objection to submitting myself to the
process known among ladies as ‘ drawing a
man out. ’ I distinctly disl ike to be made to
ride my hobby around a lady ’s drawing-room ,
or even around her yacht .”
86 A NEWPORT AQUARELLE .
And why do you th i nk I wa s draw i ng
you out ? ”
Because you are aware that a man is
neve r so agreeably employed as when ex
pounding h is own particular th eory to an
indulgent l iste ner.”
I n other words , you imagine that I was
martyrizi ng myse lf by l i sten ing to your talk ,
i n order that I might in spi re you with the
pleasant impressio n that you had succeeded
in in terest i ng me P
Yes
From what source have you‘
drawn these
conclusions P
From my former experience of the fai r
s ex. A man may be flattered even when he
is not dece ived , Miss Carleton . I t is a source
o f sati sfaction to know that one has aroused
a des i re to please .
You flatte r yourself too much in this
case , i n fancying that I would take the
trouble to coun terfei t an in terest I do not
feel,to act a part , fo r your benefi t .
A NEWPORT AQUARELLE. 87
I t is hardly an effort to follow the dic
tates o f one’s nature , Miss Carl eton .
And you imply exactly what ?
That the love of conques t i s fixed i n the
feminine character. I t is the old fable of the
kn ight and the witch .
‘ The love of power ’
i s the answer to the femin ine riddle .
”
I really ought to be angry at your imper
t inenc e , I suppose . But a soft answer turneth
away wrath . I wil l rather try to convince
you of the error of your ways . Women are
by nature sympathetic . That natural sympa
thy of temperament is touched not only on
the emotional s ide , but also on the in tellec t
ual . They have th inking-mach ines which
are fo r the most part kept quite idle , —with
out feed ,
’ to use a mechan ical simi le . The
new thoughts which a man may bring them
quickly set the th inking-machine i n motion,
and i t eagerly draws the ‘ feed ’ i n to i ts in te
rior . Your hobby is to another man who
has a stable ful l of his own , a bore and a
nuisance ; to a woman who is hobbyless , i t is
88 A NEWPORT AQUARELLE .
sometimes the greatest pleasure to go for a
gal lop m c r oufie behind a gallant rider whobestrides a wel l -groomed hobby. Now I was
i n mid gallop over a new road , familiar to you ,
i n te resti ng to me , when the hobby,being
wel l bred , does not stumble , but the man
does,and down we al l come together, dissa t
isfied and ba lked of our ride . The stone in
the road wh ich upset us being noth ing i n the
world but the suspic ion vani ty how shal l
I cal l that qual ity in the Boston man wh ich
is so i nd ividual , so in tangibl e , so utterly
exaspe rat ing
You cannot expect me to help you to find
that word which is to condemn myself.
I have i t caution .
”
Miss Carleton,if a man would keep h is
peace of m i nd ,he must hold fast to cau tion
i n your soc iety .
Why ? ”
Because your fa sc m a tions are so devas
tati ng to future secu ri ty and peace .
”
Then you would rather no t be fascinated ?
A NEWPORT AQUARELLE. 89
Strange creature ! A European would look
on you as a l unatic . And ye t i t i s the char
a c ter istic of your race . One would almost
fancy you to be l ike the youth in the song
of Heine , who , when the beautiful m aiden
asks h im the source of h is grief, repl ies !‘ I belong to that race of Asra s who must
die when they love .
’ But , to convi nce you
that I have no design i n ‘ draw i ng you out ,’
to prove that I am not plotting against your
peace of mind , I shall j o i n the Ph il i st i nes ,
who have been clam oring for a song ; wi l l
you help me i n the chorus P
Saltonstall could not s i ng,un fortunate ly
,
and he rather unreasonably resen ted th e
breaking up of a féfe-ci -téz‘e so agreeable,so
dangerous . Gladys tuned her banj o,and
,a
m andol i n being found i n the depths of M r .
Be lhom m e’
s stateroom, Larkington a c c om
pan ied th e music o f the t inkl ing instrumen t
w i th the softe r picking of the m andol in
stri ngs . He had learned to play the instru
ment i n Naples long ago,he said . The girl
90 A NEWPORT A QUARELLE.
had a strong , sweet soprano voice ; the m an ,
a baritone of velvety qual i ty.
They fi rst sang the popular music of th e
t ime,th e strains o f Iolan the and the Sor
cere r. Then , as the day waned and the sea
and sky grew rosy and golden with the
sunse t colors , they sang tender I tal ian folk
songs .
Sal tonstall stood leaning against th e mast,
looking at Gladys as she stood facing h im,
her figure i n a pose of perfec t grace,her
head thrown back a l i tt le , her white hands
touch ing the strings of he r i nstrumen t . Her
face was l i t up wi th the warm hues of th e
sunset c louds ; behind her was a background
of dark land and gray sky.
A s the boat gl ided smooth ly along the
shores of th e island,the mighty trees of
Redwood loomed up ,looking twi ce the i r s ize
i n the uncertain l igh t . Over th e tops of the
proud trees crept th e big yel low moon slowly ,
flooding th e heavens with he r l igh t , shaming
the garish fi res of th e western sky.
92 A NEWPORT AQUAA’ELLE.
strange gi rl with the deep eyes and lovely
voice . I t was not in accordance w i th h is
plan of l ife to fal l i n love for the next ten
years .
He followed Miss Carleton ’s advice i n
avoid ing Moun t Desert,and chose instead
a month ’s camping out in Northern Maine .
The sonnet h e wrote to her that n igh t after
the sai l Gladys never saw ti l l years after,
when she stum bled upon i t i n a book of his
VGI‘
SGS .
A NEWPORT AQUARELLE. 93
CHAPTER V .
ON Monday evening al l the ém u m ona’e of
Newport assemble and meet together in the
hall,or theatre , of the Casino .
I t is a pretty building, with w ide-roofed
piazzas running around i t on two sides .
There are del ic ious corners and angles i n
these p iazzas , where c onfiden c es may be
whispered , and protestations might be made ,
if anybody had time to make protestations
at Newport during the season .
The hal l i s a large apartmen t,with a stage
at one end . The walls are of a pretty l igh t
t i n t , and the gal lery with its rounded arches
is of a graceful design . The pol ished hard
wood floor is cleared on Monday evening for
dancing.
On the evening i n question,the hal l was
fi l led with an unusual ly large company of
94 A NEWPORT A QUARELLE.
gayly dressed people . Every avai lable seat
was occupied , and the crowd of black coats
i n the doorways was as dense as i t i s at a
Boston Papau t i party . The corresponding
number of pretty , fresh , unattended young
girls on the benches was not,however , to be
found .
The hum of th e voices was very loud,
almost deafen ing to a si len t person whe n the
sound was not drowned by the music .
“
A t
the right-hand upper co rne r of the room the
talk seemed to be the loudest . Here sat a
group of people convers ing busily and - ear
nestly . This l i t tle knot of eigh teen or twenty
persons included those whom Gladys had
yclept the Boston gang .
” The central fig
ure was that of a tal l handsome lady , with a
loud voice and brusque manner.
I cal l i t very shabby of Mrs . Fallow-Deer
to leave me out of the hunt d inner ; but i t’
s
a comfort to know that non e of th e rest of
you are said the handsome brusque
lady.
A NEWPORT A QUARELLE. 95
I t was j us t l ike he r, but I suppose Gladys
Carleton was at the bottom of it. Were the
invi tations given out in Mrs . Fallow-Deer’
s
nam e P
The speaker was the lady w i th the three
syllabled name whom Larkington had met
on board the Dolph in on th e occasion of the
yachting party.
“ No,said the handsome brusque lady ;
bu t everybody knows that she and Gray
Grosvenor made out the l ist. A s to Gladys
Carleton,I can ’t say I blame her for not
l iki n ’ Boston people .
”
WhyP asked several vo ices .
Because , when she came on there to
make a vis i t last win te r, she had a perfectly
horrid time . She stayed w i th some people
l ivi n ’ on Newbury Street, whom she had met
in Europe . They were from Philadelph ia ,
and nobody knew them in Boston,though
they had l ived the re five years . I got her an
inv i tation to the assembly,but she would no t
go because her friends were no t asked . They
96 A NEWPORT A QUARELLE .
were very n ice people , but somehow they did
not ‘ ge t on ’ i n Boston .
Don ’t you th ink that the Hub i s a pretty
hard place for any stranger to ‘ get on ’
in ?
M r . Curtis Sears was the speaker. H e
was a young Boston ian , with a cold thought
ful face , who looked as if he had been fed on
ice-water du ring his i nfancy, i nstead of th e
less ch i lly fluid prov ided by natu re for the
human young. His quest ion was answered
by the handsome brusque lady.
Yes , M r. Sears , I qui te agree with you .
A st ranger who comes to Boston for a few
weeks , if he brings proper le tte rs , is su re to
receive a great deal of attent ion . We l ike a
l ion immensely. But with people who come
to l ive amongst us , i t i s a very differen t mat
ter. Then i t i s no t a question o f an acquaint
an c esh ip of a few weeks , bu t a permanent
one . That makes such a difference .
”
One of my old c lassmates a t college
m arried last year, and brough t h is wife , who
was a New York bel le , to Boston . She hap
s
A NEWPORT AQUARELLE. 97
pened to have ne i ther re latives nor friends i n
our city , and as he was l i ttle given to society ,
he had few personal re lations wi th it. He
belonged to one of the best famil i es,but that
served the l itt le bride i n no wise . People
s imply let he r alone . A few of the best
mannered of the neighbors cal led upon her,
and the husband ’s relat ives asked her to dine
once at the i r several houses , and t here i t
s topped . She now rail s against Boston,and
l ives but i n the hope of i nducing her hus
band to remove to New York .
”
The truth of th e matte r i s,said the
pretty lady Wi th the three-syllabled name,
that we don ’t want al l the nice men to
marry out of Boston . We al l have cous ins
and siste rs,even if our daughters are too
young to th ink abou t from a matrimon ial
s tandpoint,and i t i s ve ry aggravating to
have these New York women j ust pick and
choose al l ou r bes t matches , whi le we are
groan ing under the overwhelming surplus of
our female population .
!
98 A NEWPOA’T A QUARELLE.
This remark was rece ived by the ladies of
the “ gang ” with a not iceable warmth and
sym pathy.
At th is moment a group o f people entered
the ball room , attracti ng the at tention of all
i ts occupants .
These are the people from the hunt di n
ner,said the handsome lady .
The gentlemen of the party of new ar
rival s—th ere were perhaps fifteen of them
—were dressed in red evening coats and
wh i te breeches . The costumes of the ladies
were al l pretty , and bore enough resemblance
to each othe r to make the whole company
appear to be i n u niform . Mrs . Fal low-Deer,
lean ing on the arm of M r. Be lhomme , headed
the train . I n her hand she carried a long
polo mall et of flowers . Mrs . Craig bore on
her arm a saddle of pansies . Gladys Carle
ton , who entered the room last with M r .
Larkington , had been awarded , as a fl oral
token from the dinner , a hunting-horn of
scarl et flowers , which she wore over her
v
100 A NEWPORT AQUARELLE.
Larkington . No , nothi ng has happened,
and you have nothi ng to do with my in
digo fit .
”
S ometh ing has
G ladys again i n terrupted her interlocutor
No , noth ing has ! I am s imply ti red of
myself. There i s the diffic ul ty . You know
someth ing of th e ways of peopl e ; have you
ever before known a person i n my pos ition,
with plen ty to eat and drink , good clothes to
wear,kind friends , and perfect health , who
was perfectly weary of herself P I t i s not
l ife that I am bored with , but myself. I am
so t i red of my own face that I cannot bear
to look in the glass ; as to my inne r self,
i t is th e most ti resome , utterly un interest ing
th i ng to me in the wide world .
“ I cannot understand your state of mind ,
Miss Gladys , I beg pardon , I forgot ,
Miss Carleton . I s i t not Newport that you
are bored with P Why not t ry some o the r
place for a c hangeP
Why ? I cannot leave myself behind , no
A NEWPORT AQUARELLE. 10 1
matter how fast I might travel , seeking new
scenes,from Mt . Desert to Saratoga.”
The Englishman looked mildly bewi ldered
and answered nothing ; gaz ing, meanwhile ,
straight into the deep eyes wh ich knew no
shadow of turn ing . He was certain ly fal l
ing in love— perhaps he had already fal len
in love—with this original , many-s ided crea
ture,as fasc inating to h im as she was in c om
prehensible . Larkington had steadily per
s is ted i n his attentions to Miss Carleton , and
was not ashamed to have i t known that he
was her devoted admire r. H e avoided mak
ing th e acquain tance o f other lad ies as much
as possible ; and when he could not be at her
s ide in society , he would stand alone , watch
ing her every movement. The sort of cow
a rd ic e which Gladys had found in some o f
her compatriot lovers , who endeavored to
screen their admirat ion of her from the
world , had no place in the actions of the
Engl ishman . He wai ted for her every morn
ing when she drove out for shopping or visi t
102 A NEWPORT A QUARELLE.
i ng in her cousin Amel ia ’s pretty cart with
the Carleton crest on harness and trappings .
He fol lowed on horseback , meeting her at
every turn . I n the afternoon he was always
in attendance,even if there were other men
about,and in society sh e was the only woman
under fi fty with whom he ever exchanged a
remark .
This absolu te devotion was rath er a ttra c
tive to Gladys . She was amused by the big,
handsome man who was so entirely of the
world worldly, i n most respects,and yet
seemed so perfect ly unaccustomed to the
ways of women .
He had a fund of i n te rest ing experiences
to relate and , being gifted with a powerfu l
imaginat i on and a vivid faculty of desc rip
t ion , he was never at a loss for an anecdote
of t ravel o r adven tu re .
H is stories of l ife i n Australia were th ri l l
i ng and ful l of crisp humor. He knew
Russia and the other northern countries of
Europe , as wel l as the more frequented
A NEWPORT AQUARELLE.
known in a sort of misty garmen t of he r own
imagin ings , which blurred the i r rea l outl ines .
If you wil l not dance , Miss Carleton , wil l
you not come out on the piazza during the
wal tz,i t i s so very warm here P
By al l means ; le t us go .
”
The two young people , whose names were
already l inked together by the busybodies of
Newport,left th e hot bal lroom and passed
ou t in to th e coo l even ing air. I t i s neve r
hot at n igh t in Newport. The sea-breeze
sweeps across the is land , refresh ing those
who have suffered the te rrible heats of the
c i ty summer , and have come to the fresh
health-givi ng c l imate for rest .
O n the wide p iazza groups of men were
sitti ng togethe r, talking and smoking,or
s ilently enj oying the beau ty of the perfect
summer n igh t .
I n on e of the shadowy corners stood two
chai rs late ly vacated by Mrs . Craig and
Coun t Cl awski . G ladys placed herself i n
one of th ese , her companion seating himself
A NEWPORT A QUARELLE. 105
Now tel l me things , said the gi rl , impera
tive ly .
What shal l i t be about to-n ightP
Oh ! anyth ing you l ike . You might fin
i sh tel l ing me about the Bedouin ch ief who
fel l i n love w i th the English lady.
”
No,that is rather too long a sto ry . May
I not tel l you something abou t Newport and
what has happened to me since I first met
you here i n th is ve ry Casino ?
Decidedly not. That would be qui te too
commonplace and everyd ay an expe rience .
”
Larkington was si lent and medi tat ively
stroked his moustache , from which action he
seemed to derive a certain comfort.
As they sat qui te si len t,a l ight flashed
close to th e face of Gladys,
a t iny golden
spark , and was quickly lost again i n the
darkness .
What a pret ty firefly , and how bright !
You should take the firefly as your dev ice ,
Miss Carle ton , fo r i t resembles you more
than anything else that I have seen .
”
106 A NEWPORT AQUARELLE.
If i t i s a compl imen t , thank you kindly .
You know I l ike pretty speeches as wel l as
Mrs . Craig l ikes bonéons . But exac tly wéy
am I l ike a fi refly ? I have no w ings .
I n the song about Z ule ika ’s eyes wh ich
you l iked,they are compared to the light o f
the fi refly . When they are turned upon her
lover all i s brigh t and beautiful , but when
the l ids drop before the i r l igh t,l ike the
wings of the fi refly, the world is dark .
”
Did you ever know any one cal led
Z u leika P“ Yes .
Where did she l ive ?
In a l i t tle ten t near the banks of the river
J ordan .
”
Was she prettyP
Hardly pretty ; the te rm is too Engl ish
to describe the black-browed Zuleika .
Who was she P
The daughter of th e sheik Abdu l , with
whom I l ived some time .
”
But how was i t possible that you should
108 A NEWPORT AQUARELLE.
sued by a hostile band , had come to take
refuge with i n his gates , i n the ci ty of Damas
cus . For a week th e whole band claimed
the hospital i ty of their brother, and made
thei r camp in the house and grounds of
Lady Margare t. Her attention was attracted
to Abdul , then young and handsome (he has
often assured me) as the morning star, tall as
the palm-tree , and strong as the whirlwind .
Abdu l was at that t ime in great t rouble ; h is
favori te wife had d ied , leaving h im the one
daughter of h is house , Zu leika , then a ch ild
of five. I nstead of i n trus ting her to the care
of the women , Abdu l was always with the
l i tt le girl , who was as dear to him as the
spring of water i n the dese rt . Lady Mar
garet was struck by the devotion of thi s
young father to h is ch i ld , and became deeply
interested i n the pai r. When the welcome
time came fo r the departure of her s trange
guests , Lady Margaret asked of Abdul h is
daughte r, h is Zu le ika , the breath of his body,
the sun of his sky. I t was al l she asked of
A NEWPORT A QUARELLE. 109
h im,and he , the sheik of the tribe , could
refuse no request made by the woman who
had shel tered his people .
‘ I gave m y Z u
l e ika to the wife of my brothe r to th e
woman with great learn ing— without a tear
without a sigh .
’
I remember the way in
wh ich Abdul told me this , as if i t were but
yeste rday . We were s it t ing on the sand
outs ide the tent, a great fi re blaz ing before
us . S ome of the men of th e tribe were
danc ing one of the i r wi ld barbaric war dances
on the other side of the fire . The l ight
gleamed on thei r naked swords , thei r dark
fierc e faces , and the white drapery of thei r
burnooses . I t was a scene n eve r to be for
gotten . Zuleika remained with Lady Margaret
and learned many th ings which were of use to
her in after l ife . First of al l , Lady Margaret
taugh t her th e Engl ish language. Zu le ika’
s
new friend showed much common-sense i n
her education of the girl . She knew that i t
would be impossible to make an Engl i sh
woman of her, and so , beyond the habi ts of
1 10 A NEWPORT A QUARELLE.
c leanl i ness , and the arts oi. sew i ng and cook
ing , she made no attempt to angl ic ize the
l i ttl e maiden . Zule ika was taught to em
broider the beautiful patterns you value so
much in th is country . I have a scarf she
worked for me , which I will show you some
t ime . For seven years the daughte r of Ab
dul remained th e constan t com panion of
Lady Margaret , but at the end of that t ime
the restlessness w h ich had ever been upon
her grew too great to bear. She was a
woman now,according to the reckon ing of
her people , and the l ife of rest rict ion had
neve r been pleasant to her She fled away
i n the night to the desert , where ‘ she heard
the stars call i ng her,’ and with the help of
one of her people found her father. Abdu l
rej oiced at the return of the daughter he had
mourned as one dead , and kept her always
near h im . Her condit ion was a pi tiable
one. Her father had not the heart to force
her to marry among his people , fo r the
girl was natural ly intel l igen t , and with the
1 12 A NEWPORT AQUARELLE.
t ions of his tribe , and s ing th e songs of h is
nation . Zu leika , as you will imagine , added
much to the interes t of these conversat ions,
tel l i ng me of her strange l ife with Lady Mar
garet,and the terribl e gulf which i t had made
between he rse lf and her people . What a
long story ! and how ti red you must be l
Have you heard enough about Zule ika ? ”
La rkm g ton asked .
No,not half enough ! But there is Mrs .
Fal low-Deer,looking for me . I suppose I
must go . You may come to-morrow evening
and tell me the rest of your romance of
A rabia. Good-night .
A NEWPORT AQUARELLE.1 13
CHAPTER VI .
MUCH that i s best worth se eing i n New
port is never seen by a majori ty of the
people who V is i t th e town during th e sea
son . I n the eighteen miles length and n ine
miles breadth of th e island are many nooks
and grottos unknown to those individual s
who limit thei r expedit ion to the ocean drive ,
and the path across the beaches . A rtists
know these spots and l inger i n them . Lovers
fi nd th em out somehow instinc tively. But
Newport has now become the resort of th e
rich , and even the dwel le rs i n the quie t
country farm-houses demand exorbitant price s
for thei r s imple accommodations . 8 0 artists
are rarely met with , and , as i t has been
h inted , there are few people who take time at
th is most bri l l ian t of watering-places to fal l8
1 14 A NEWPORT AQUARELLE.
i n love . Love-Lane , Fairy Dell , Glen Anna ,
Vaucluse,and Lawton ’s Valley have few
visitors .
I t is a pi ty that the world l ings have found
out th is region o f del igh t. Any other place
would have se rved as wel l for the display of
th e ir horses and carriages , diamonds , clothes ,
beauty,a nd beaux . Why should they have
chosen to e rect thei r palat ial cottages on our
quiet island,to pass their id le summer in the
quai nt old town ?
The love o f nature is not always a natura l
gift. W i th the dwel lers i n c i t ies , the taste is
usual ly one which has been acqu ired through
the influen c e of some coun try-bred or poetic
mind . How many beaut ies of sky and wood
land , flower and tree,has not Wordsworth
taugh t us to see P ! eats has led thousands
of ears to note the m u5 1c 1n the wild bi rd ’s
carol , wh ich else had hardly heeded it. Who
does not see a new deligh t i n the s imple
fiel d flower after reading Burns’
s descript ion
of the daisy ?
1 16 A NE I/VPORT AQUARELLE.
seemed to be gradual ly coming to her of i ts
sec ret s and charms. I t was not without a
certai n pain that th is new feel ing crept about
her,
i t seemed to be a part of the gri eved
lonel i ness wh ich she had lately experienced .
“ People can be noth ing to us ; there i s
noth ing wh ic li can stand by us but our work ,
and when we have not any work , we are
a lone .
”
The speech was not a ve ry coheren t one,
and th e person to whom it was addressed
rece ived i t i n si lence .
“ Books are a help , but i t is so one-sided
a friendsh ip one has wi th one ’s book friends .
We cannot answer , and only rece ive , never
giving anything i n return for what we get
from them .
”
Gladys Carleton was the speaker,and the
l istener , Larkington , her faithfu l caval ie r .
You l ive too much with you r books,Miss
Carle ton , and too littl e with your ki nd . I t
makes you melancholy. You shou ld learn
to care more for people and less for ideas .”
A NEWPORT A QUARELLE. 1 17
What nonsense you are talking, Mr.
Larkington ' Excuse me for plain speaking,
but you are,real ly. I do not think you
under stand at al l what I mean .
”
I fear that I do not .
There was a pause , afte r which Gladys
said abruptly
How fa r IS i t to the sea ?
About hal f a mil e , I fancy.
P lease go down to the shore and bring
me a piece of red seaweed .
”
I cannot leave you here alone .
Why not , if I order you to go ? Do you
not know how to be obedient P
You are teaching me , Miss Carleton . I
never knew before that i t was pleasanter to
obey than to be obeyed .
”
Of course it is . There is no such luxury
in the world as self—abnegation i t i s the
th ing we al l long for .
”
“ I do not fancy that you would enj oy it ;
you are too imperious by nature . You were
born to command . I never heard you make
1 18 A NEWPORT AQUARELLE.
I n other words , you th ink me a bu l ly ?
Now go th is instant ! I won ’t have you stay
he re and abuse me . Go, I say , and bring
me the bunch of red seaweed .
”
You are cruel , but I yield . You are not
afraid to be left a l one P
No ; I am with in cal l ing distance from
the house .
When she was alone,the tal l beauty rose
from he r seat on the t runk of a fal len tree ,
and walked rapid ly i n the opposi te d i rec tion .
The path over which she passed was fragrant
with pine need les and wild flowers. Over
head hung the ! boughs of the larch-t rees
which l i ned the walks,and over the trees was
the soft bl ue of the sum mer sky. Carrying
her riding crop in one hand,and holding her
habit with the other,sh e ran down th e path ,
which sloped suddenly toward the great
pond at its foot .
Gladys had ridden out to visi t a coun try
friend , who l ived in a quie t val e m any miles
d istant from the gay town . Finding her
120 A NEWPORT AQUARELLE.
toi
be frothed into a white mass of foam at
the bottom o f the fall . A s trong young
wil low-t ree behind the rock se rved her as a
support,and
,tw in ing one arm about i ts sl eu
der s tem , she sat overhanging the waterf al l ,
l ooking down into the deep pool .
The bare hand which embraced th e trunk
touched a rough surface , and her fingers
t raced the outl ine of some letters , c ut into
the bark . She could not see the letters,
they were on th e other side of the tree,
but she had not forgotten the day when
they . were carved , al l those years ago , G . C .
and C . F with a true lover’
s knot between
the in it ials . She laid he r cheek against
the wil low and sat qu ite s i lent , looking
down , always down , i n to the black pool at
her feet . The downcast eyel ids quivered
and let fal l a tear , which dropped unnoted on
her knee. Another and another drop of
nature ’s balm coursed down the pale cheek ,
and the ches t . trembled with emotion of a
s ilen t weeping. There was no violence ,
A NEWPORT A QUARELLE. 12 1
noth ing of that teari ng grief with which the
women who have l ived , loved , and suffered
weep out the agony wh ich seems l ike to rend
body and soul apart. The burden of her
l ife seemed too great for her to bear,and she
wept fo r the em ptiness of her lot , of her
heart . A verse from a poem wh ich had
always seemed appropriate to herself ran
through her mind
El le est morte , e t n ’
a po in t véc u ;El le faisai t semblan t de v ivre .
De ses mains es t tombé l e l ivreDans leque l e l le n
’a r ien ln .
”
When she was dead , what so appropriate as
th is poem ,Sur une Morte ,
”
of De Musset ’s ,
could be read over he r cold c l ayP Why
should she not die now ? How easy would
i t be to sl ip down from the great rock ,
and lose herself i n th e obl ivion of the b lack
pool , with the white foam danc ing above
her ? Who would care much P” she
asked herself,and answered her own ques
tion with more tears . No one would real ly
122 A NEWPORT AQUARELLE.
miss her. Her mother would gri eve a l i ttle
wh ile,but th e othe r daughters would soon
receive the share o f affection wh ich the shal
l ow paren t had given her I t was a love of
offspri ng only , and had no tie of sympathy
to deepen it.
How easy i t would be to move a few s teps
to the edge of the great stone , to lean fa r
over the abyss , holding on by the tree , « a nd
at last to let go her grasp and fal l th rough
the soft ai r to the coo l black water, then one
great pain and afterwards , rest ! There
was the terrible though t if i t should not
be rest wh ich she shou ld find beneath the
dancing foam bubbles .
Was i t that thought on ly which kept he r
from doing the th ing which she had pic tured
to herself P Was i t th e doubt wh ich held her
back ? Yes ,” she reasoned , only that .
We re we but sure of what awaits us on the
other side , how many of us would remain
upon the h i the r bank of the dark rive r which
men cal l death , and wh ich saints bel i eve( Y
’ ,
124 A NEWPORT A QUARELLE.
0
great power. Death , whom she had thought
about so l ightly, had now come to claim her
grim ly . She looked up i nto the bl ue sky,
which was so fair, and out over the beauty of
th e lonely gorge . She fel t , as she had never
done before , the beauty about her on every
s ide . She saw the possib i l i ties of happiness
and usefulness which she had so u tte rly neg
l ec ted. She knew that l ife was a blessing,
and in the c ry which startled the st i l l ai r
there was remorse for her thanklessness as
wel l as agony fo r her danger.
The rock th ri lled once more beneath her,
and as i t trembled ’twixt the ledge and the
prec ipice , Gladys lifted a prayer for her l ife
to the God whose existence she had some
t ime den ied .
A s trong hand c lasped her finge rs , she fel t
h er waist fi rm ly seized , and in an instan t she
knew that she was safe , though the great
rock had fal le n from i ts bed with a m ighty
crash , and the wh ite foam was dashed upon
her cheek and brow. She was carried a few
A NEWPORT AQUARELLE. 125
s teps i n a pai r o f strong arms wh ich pressed
her close to a fast-beating heart. She was
placed gently on a mossy bank by some one
who spoke no word . Her eyes were c losed ,
though she had not fainted , and she knew
whose arm had saved her in the hour o f
danger. She was gratefu l and looked up to
speak .
The face into which she glanced was deadly
white , and the eyes were dim . She rose to
her feet , for he looked so strangely. A s she
stood up strong , though trembl ing sl igh t ly,
the man at her s ide reeled , as if he had been
struck , and fel l fainting to the ground at he r
feet .
The girl knew quite wel l what to do,and
,
be ing one o f those persons who are never
overcome by an emergency,she quickly
brought the swooning man to his senses . A
copious sprinkl ing with cold water and the
appl icat ion of Miss Carleton ’s vi naigret te to
h is nostri ls caused Mr. Cuthbert Larkington
to open h is eyes in a few moments . When
126 A NEWPORT AQUARELLE.
he was qui te restored , Gladys , tu rning her
face from him ,said ,
You have saved my life—and I am very
grateful to you ! May I ask you a great
favor ? ”
Need you doubt it ?
I t is th is,that you wil l never mention
what has happened to day to any one . P rom
ise me . Do not even speak of i t to me. I
cannot bear to th ink of it. I t was too
te rrible .
Yes , I will promise on one condi tion .
And that i s P
That you wi l l swear to me neve r to
risk your prec ious l ife again so wilful ly, so
w ickedly
I t should be a precious l ife ?
I t is deare r to me than my own .
Wel l , I promise. Now pledge me your
word .
”
She held out to h im her del icate hand ,
white as snow, pink as apple blossoms . The
man touched i t with his own strong fingers.
1 28 A NEWPORT AQUARELLE.
Yes . I t was awful ly soft of me to faint i n
that way ; I am thorough ly ashamed of m y
self. Do you despise me for it ? ”
No . Afte r you had saved me you had a
right to be terrified . Had you bee n frigh t
ened before , I shou ld not have bee n here
now. A re you glad you saved me ? ”
HDo you not know
Oh yes , of course I know , said the girl
hast i ly,i n t errupting his vehemence ; and I
am glad , too .
”
She tu rned and looked at th e place where
she had so late ly stood in mortal danger.
Everyth ing was peaceful and quiet now.
The cool plash o f th e water came to he r
ea rs,and th e tender song of a wild bird fel l
l ike a tri umphan t hymn of praise upon the
st i l lness of th e day.
I t i s good to l ive , said the song of the
I t is enough to be a l i t tle part of such
a world ,” sighed the girl . Why cannot we
forget ourse lves and our petty ambitions ,
A NEWPORT AQUARELLE.1 29
our loves and our hates , i n the peace of al l
th is beauty ?
She spoke half to herse lf and hal f to th e
bi rd . Larkington knew that h e was not ad
dressed . H e fel t a te rrible sense of l one l i
ness . H e was with the woman he loved ,
close at her side . H e had carried he r in h is
arms but now , and yet she was farther from
h im at that moment than she had eve r
seemed before .
W i th the feel ing of th is d istance there
came to him a great pain unknown before .
What it meant he could not know . If one
had told h im , he could not have understood
the words . He suffe red dumbly , ignorantly ,
with a new sense of his capac i ty for suffe r
i ng.
Poor wretch ! Miserable sham , impostor,
and liar, false to al l men and women,false
to h imsel f ; i n that keen suffering awoke
with i n him the sou l which had ti l l now
slept .
130 A NEWPORT AQUARELLE.
CHAPTER VI I .
THE morn ing of the great Newport picn ic
dawned bright and clear,and the hearts of
al l the happy people who were privi leged to
j o in the exclusive and aristocratic affai r were
much l ighte r than th ey had been on the pre
vious even ing , when the weather looked very
dubious . No heart so l igh t,though , as that
of M r. Gray Grosvenor , the prime mover in
the picnic,
the man i n whose brai n the
idea had at first originated , broadened , and
fina l ly emerged i n the complete and perfec t
plan .
M r. Gray Grosvenor was a verv prominen t
m a n i n Newport soc iety , more prominent
than Mr . Belhomme , though he was not
nearly so rich . He was m ore cou rted even
than M rs . Fal low-Deer, though he “ did
A NEWPORT AQUARELLE. 133
holds , beside th is , another pos i t ion , that
o f a sort of gentleman caterer. I t is a unique
ofl‘i c e , I th ink . He gets up al l the assembl ies
,
and arranges the m enu of the supper,as wel l
as the l i s t of subsc ribers . H e is wi ll ing to
do th is sort of work for soc ie ty, and on the
whole society is grateful to h im,as no one
else would give the time , pains , and trouble
to it. Though he is i n a sense the servant
o f society , i nasmuch as he serves it , he is also
i ts ru le r, and he is courted from fear, if from
nothing else,l ike the French king with the
l ittl e leaden images i n h is hat . Gray Gros
venor’
s images are of gold , and not of lead .
”
One sees that you do not l ike the gentle
man , Mrs . Craig P” said Larkington .
L ike h im P Why should 1 ? Because I
come from Baltimore , and he does n’
t happen
to know anyth ing about me , he leaves me
out o f his picn ic . I not only d isl ike h im ,
but I have been praying solemnly for the
las t week that i t migh t rain on the clay fixed
fo r h is fe te , and spoil i t al l .”
134 A NEWPORT A QUARELLE.
0
Count Cl awski , who was i n these days the
devoted slave of th e pretty M rs . Craig,
j o i ned the two , who were s i tt ing where we
fi rst saw them , i n th e long balcony of the
Casin o .
You are speaking of the p ic n ic , madam ,
said the d ip lomate , whose calm and punc
til ious manner was for th e n once upset. He
looked angry and exc i ted .
“ Pa r é/eu , I wi ll
not go ,if i t rain s o r sh ines .
I heard you had orde red a wonde rfu l
a u-vw l at Hartman ’s for your contribution ,
said Mrs . Craig.
He asks me , th i s m an , conti nued the
Coun t , notwi th standing Mrs . Craig ’s re
m arks , to subsc ribe fo r h is picnic ,‘
to bri ng
a d i sh , and a bottle of wine ; and when I say
to h im ,
‘ Now , I wi l l a lady with m e bring ,’
he says , Excuse me , I must ask you to send
h e r n ame i n for th e approva l of the com
m ittee 1’ C ommittee indeed ! I never heard
of any but that of Mr. Gray Grosvenor h im
sel f ; i t i s to m e an insu l t . Should I bring
1 36 A NEW’
PORT AQUARELLE.
Over across the rose-beds where the flowers
nodded a gay good-morning to her, stretched
the green lawn , which ran sloping down to
the cl iffs , at whose foot the waves murmured
with a kindly melody.
No other sound was in the land,and i n
the sea no motion save for the white arms of
a youth who was swimming by leisurely , and
who slackened h is strokes and looked up at
th e balcony, which showed h im a woman
who was young and graceful , th e distance
not al low ing h im to guess more .
Gladys looked at the swimmer,and thought
how grace fu l were his motions,and how
much the boyish head of gold hair and the
white,supple
,strong l imbs , sh in ing through
the gree n waters,added to the scene . I t
brought human l ife into what had been be
fore but an empty background ; i t made her
fee l that of al l the grand th ings in the world ,
m an may be the grandest . Why did the
face of Charles Farwel l seem to look at her
from the green wavesP If i t had been
A NEWPORT AQUARELLE. 1 37
Farwel l she could no t have seen h im , and
she knew h im to be a thousand miles away .
And yet,when the youth out there , lying i n
the cool wate r , raised one arm and waved a
greet ing to her,she answered it i nvoluntari ly ,
and then,remembering fo r the fi rst momen t
herself,stand ing ou t i n the broad dayl igh t in
her wrapper,he r hai r streaming about he r
shoulders , her l i tt l e rosy feet bare , she gave
a startled cry and sprang back i nto her room ,
blush ing hotly though no one was there to
see .
Her maid came to he r i n half an hou r,
bringing the morning mail . She was sur
prised to see that one of the letters bore the
handwriting of her cousin , Amelia Carle ton ,
who was sti l l at Lenox . The first part of
the lette r she glanced through carelessly,but
the last paragraph fixed her atten tion ; she
read i t slowly , and afterwards sat looking at
i t abstractedly.
I hear tha t your la st c onquest is the goodlook ing Engl ishm a n we m e t driving tha t day . I
138 A NEWPORT AQUARELLE.
0
have a sked Lady Ca rew ,who is s tay ing here, a l l
about h im . H e is the son of Lord Luc re,sh e tel ls
m e she knows h is fam i ly wel l . I t is,a s you know ,
a n exc el len t one in po int of pos it ion ; ‘
and th is
young m an is better off than m ost younger son s,
for he ha s h is m other’s whole fortune , wh ic h issom e th ing very handsom e . The e lder bro ther ha sepi lepsy , w i l l never m arry, and your friend is suresooner or later to suc c eed to the t i tle a nd esta tes .
Lady Carew says it w i l l probably be sooner, for
h is brother is not expec ted to l ive long . Now ,if
th ings have gone a s fa r a s I suppose they have, m yso lem n advic e to you, Gladys, i s to m arry M r .
La rk ington . H e is the sort of m an best c a l c u
la ted to m ake you happy, a s he br ings a l l the
th ings you n eed m ost, m oney , an a ssured pos it ion , and in t im e a t i tle . My dear , take the advi c e
of a lone ly wom an ,an old m a id , and do not hes i
ta te . You have grown , a s I d id before you, toodéfi c z
’
l e. I t is the c urse of Am eric a n g irls w i th
beauty or m oney,that they have so m a ny c ha n c es
to m a rry . They d isc a rd th is one fo r one fault,tha t one be c ause he la c ks som e c erta in v irtue ; infine, they end by expec ting to find a paragon ,
wh ic h sha l l un ite a l l th e virtues and be w i thouta ny of the faul ts of m anhood . Of c ourse theydon ’t find h im , a nd they rem a in unm arried and
140 A NEWPORT AQUARELLE.
forehead with two strait d i n ts , had come only
with her cousi n ’s l etter. She took her si lve r
comb (she would have l iked a golden one)and parted the th ick soft hai r on her left
temple . Yes , there they were , those fi rst
terribl e finge r-marks of t ime Wh ite hai rs
a few ,half a dozen , perhaps j us t i n th is
spot flec ked the dusky mass of hair . No one
knew of thei r ex is tence but Gladys and he r
maid . The Abigail assured her that th ey
were the resul t o f some knock she must have
given her head , fo r only i n th i s spot was
there one to be found ; but Gladys refused
to console herself with th is hypothesis , and
accepted the warn ing which they gave her of
th e instabil i ty of beauty and the fl igh t of
t ime .
For a quarter of an hour she sat motion
less , her eyes fixed upon her own shadow ,
and i n that space she reviewed al l he r past ,
looked her presen t in the face,and weighed
th e poss ibil i ties o f the future , quietly , cool ly ,
and methodical ly. She put aside the rose
A NEPVPORT AQUARELLE. 14 1
colored il lus ions in which women wrap thei r
thoughts of themselves to the i r very selves ,
and looked,for once in her l ife , at the hard
plain facts of her existence .
She had passed her fi rst youth , girlhood
wa s behind her , and at twen ty-five she wa s a
woman . Her beauty was stil l at i ts heigh t,
but i t must wane , and the waning must
begin before long. She had not so many
chances open to he r of changing he r name
as she had had last year,and every twelve
months the chances would grow l ess and
less . She had that very week walked as a
bridesmaid before a bride whose bridegroom,
a year previous , had declared him sel f desolate
and broken-hearted at her refusal o f h is su i t .
He had consoled h imsel f i n so short a time
w ith a pretty ch i t of eighteen , with pale ,
pleading bl ue eyes,and no figure at al l !
The constancy of man But the re was Cid .
Did he sti l l love her ? She doubted i t. He
had neve r told her so since her re tu rn from
Europe , though he had had many chances
142 A NEWPORT AQUARELLE.
tb do so . Then h is abrupt departu re from
Newport without one word of farewe l l, be
yond the A u r evoz
'
r written on the card
wh ich came with a bunch of red roses.Did
not that im ply that he did not wish to see
anyth ing more of her ? Pe rhaps he had
seen how th ings would go betwee n herself
and Larkington , and wished to prove that he
d id not consider himself as a p rélm a’am for
he r hand , so left th e ground clear for th e
new sui to r. I t seemed more than likely.
I t was rather unkind of Cid,though ; but
did she dese rve anyth ing bette r from h im P
She grew qu ite red as she asked herself the
quest ion . And on seeing the flush mount
to her forehead in the m i rror, she sprang to
her feet , angry and defia n t , at war w i th
herse lf,and with a bitte r cry against th e
cruel ty o f fate , i n her heart .
She dressed herself not the less with great
care,and chose the dark blue gown i n wh ich
Larkington had fi rst seen her at the Casino ,
and which he preferred to any other of her
144 A NE I/VPORT A QUARELLE.
soul who sat opposite her had been a beauty,
too , i n her day , but what t race was left
of her lost graces ! She S ighed again,at
which unusual sound M rs . Fal low-Deer pu t
down her teacup and , looking search ingly
at Gladys , said slowly and solemn ly ,
My clear, i t i s my private opin ion that
you are in love .
”
Gladys laughed .
“ I wish I were,she
cried half bitterly, half i n j es t . L ike Pa
t ien c e , I am quite ignorant of the sensation
of the tender passion . I have never been
i n love .
”
That is nonsense , my dear ; however, i t
i s a nonsense that al l girls talk , and I sup
pose I can’
t expect you to be wiser than
your kind . But seriously,my child , are you
not th inking a good deal about somebody P
Yes , but that somebody is myself.”
Of course i t i s always so with a girl
who has no busi ness to be a gi rl any longer .
I have had something of your experience ,
Gladys,and my advice ought not to be value
A NEWPORT AQUARELLE. I 45
less to you . I did not marry unti l I was a
year or two older than you , and was heartily
sick of mysel f, and of th i nking about myself,
and of al l th e shadowy joys and triumphs
I was supposed to enj oy . Now, you have a
heart,and were meant to love (as was I)
someth ing and somebody bes ides yoursel f.
Suppose the man whom you marry is not
your young ideal ; what of that ? A l l men
are troublesome comforts , but i t’
s a grea t
th ing to have a companion of your own
time, whose interests are one with your own ,
and who wil l go with you th rough l ife. My
clear, i t is very dreary to si t over the embers
alone . Husbands are at best a good deal
of a trial , but then the compensation comes
i n one ’s ch ildren . I am a woman who has,
as you know, experienced a great deal and
enjoyed many th ings,but the comfort and
pleasure I have had i n my boys outweighs
al l the rest of the goods of my l ife beyond
comparison . But I suppose you can ’t under
stand that.”
146 A NEWPORT AQUARELLE.
Gladys had not sat patien tly during th is
homi ly , but had moved uneasi ly about the
room , looking first out of the window and
then in to the cream j ug on the table,as if
to find some help there . Everybody seemed
to be agains t he r and i n league with Lark
ington ,for she knew perfectly well to what
al l Mrs . Fallow-Deer had said pointed . Even
Charl ie , h is absence from Newport was i n
i tself a sanction to her encouragement of
Larkington .
A servant entered , bringing a great bunch
of deep gold ye l low roses for Miss Carleton ,
and a note i n an al ready fami l iar hand . I t
was from Larkington , asking her if she
would drive wi th h im to the picn ic . She
stood sti l l and si lent for one awful moment ,
during which it se emed to he r that the whol e
of her l ife hung in the balance . Should she
go , or not ? She sat down at the writing
desk , took up a quil l , examined i ts poin t
carefully , took out a sheet of paper, dated it,
wrote,Dear M r . Larkington , and had no t
148 NEWp ozer AQUARELLE.
breast was one smal l old ring . I t was of
very lit tle value , and had cost Charles Far
wel l the fi rs t score of dol lars he had earned,
all those years ago . She sm iled a l i ttle sadly
as sh e looked at the ring, and then kissed it
and sl ipped i t off from her finger .
A NEWPORT AQUARELLE. 149
CHAPTER V I I I .
MR. LAR! INGTON stood looking anxiously
from his window,on the morn ing of the al l
important day of M r. Gray Grosvenor’s pic
n ic . That gentleman h imself, pass ing by
and catch ing a gl impse of La rkington’
s rather
gloom y face , nodded reassuri ngly to h im ,as
if to say that the l i ttl e cloud which had j ust
floa ted before the face of th e sun did not
mean anyth i ng. The weather would not
th ink of doing so i l l-j udged a thing as to
i nte rfere with one of Mr . Gray Grosvenor ’s
fe tes . S o on passed the great man,wrapped
i n a mysterious vision of th e new mode of
cooking macaron i wi th madei ra sauce,and
th e effect i t would have upon the experienced
palates of M r. Belhomme and Mrs.Fallow
Deer.
1 50 A NEWPORT AQUARELLE .
La rking ton’
s anxiety had no reference to
the weather, or to the prospects of the picn ic ,
but was centred i n the smal l and dainty bi lle t
wh ich h is quick eye already detected in the
hand of Sti rrups , who appeared on the hori
zon,bearing down fo r the hotel .
St i rrups , a h ideous l i t tle gnome of a groom ,
was dressed in a neat and prec ise l ivery,and
walked gravely and composedly up to the side
en trance of the hotel , giving a glance at the
sm al l window i n the th i rd story where he had
rightly expected to see La rkington’
s face .
H e passed through the hall and up the
fi rst flight of stai rs with the slow and conde
scending step wh ich these gentl emen of th e
rum bl e affect when they are obl iged to touch
the vulgar earth with their feet,being used to
be carried by the swiftest steeds and driven
by the fai rest of l adies . I n the upper corri
dor he saw no one,nor on th e stai rs above
or below,and at once
,losing the grand ai r
and his s low step,he ran up the next two
fl igh ts , taking th ree steps at a time , and
1 52 A NEWPORT A QUARELLE .
Hear it not , Dunc an for i t is a knel l
That summons thee to heaven or to
Not a very pretty place to talk about , she
cried,as she rose slowly from her seat in
Mrs . Fal low-Deer’s morning-room .
What an odd gi rl you are , Gladys ! Wel l ,
good-by. I shal l be out , te l l Gray Grosvenor ,
by half-past one . Make h im wa i t lunch eon
t i l l I come . Don ’t forget your dish of cro
quettes , nor the champagne ; th ey are a l l
packed in a basket in the hall . A re y ou
warm ly enough dressed , c hi ldP How pale
you look ! Give your cheeks a l i t tle rub , so l
That ’
s bette r. Now trot along , and remem
ber what I said to you at breakfast .”
Gladys did look pale , and l istless too , as
she s tepped into the dogcart , steadied by Mr .
La rking ton’
s hand ; bu t he though t she never
before had looked so lovely. There was a
shadow in the eyes , wh ich were usual ly so
open and c lear, without d issimulation or
consciousness .
Larkington was not quite h imself ei the r,
A NEWPORT AQUARELLE. 1 5 3
and the two people , who usually chatted l ike
magpies on the hundred l ight topics which
are the straws on which socie ty conversations
are kept afloa t , hardly spoke during the drive
to the picn ic ground .
Stirrups,s i t ting behind with folded a rms
and stony face , seemed to feel the constrain t
of his betters , which he himself shared
A t the entrance of the Glen , the spot
chosen for the picnic , they encountered Mr .
Gray Grosvenor, who welcomed them c o r
dia l ly but hurriedly. He was one of those
hosts who cannot give themselves t ime to
welcome quietly the guests who have arrived,
but whose eyes and thoughts are forever wan
dering to the next comers , who may be of
more importance than the ones whom he is at
that moment greeting.
“ Ah , how de doo , Miss Gladys ? Ah,
um , um , Larkington , del ighted to see you .
Basket ? oh yes , um ,yes
,thanks
,yes ; give
i t to the waiter . Good of you , I’
m sure.
Yes , yes , you’
l l find my siste r i n the Glen .
1 54 A NEWPORT A QUARELLE.
Wait for Mrs . Fallow—DeerPoh , um , yes , yes ,
of course , of course . And he turned to
speak to som e later arrivals .
Larkington drove down the picturesque
road which h angs over a m iniature preC1p1c e ,
w i th a min iature st ream at the bot tom,and
a l arge mill and mil l-wheel , as romantic in
i ts appearance as the on e used in S onnam
bula at Her Maj esty ’s ,” so Larkington said .
The road leads in to a w ide,open space
,
with enough shade trees to insure cooln ess ,
but without a trace of dampness . Long
tables were spread beneath the tal l oaks , and
dain ties of every kind loaded the boards .
The l ittl e b rook ran babbl ing merrily by
on one side , but i ts melody was quickly
d rowned in the loud s trains o f an orchestra ,
hidden by a group of th ick palm-trees ,
brought ou t from town for the occasion . A
danc ing pavil ion with a smooth floor had
been bu il t up during the previous day and
night,and was gayly decorated with flags ,
J apanese lanterns , fans , and um brel las .
1 56 A NEWPORT AQUARELLE.
distance which i ntervened between the two
great trees,so that even that vi ew was spoi led
to the few among the company who knew
and loved the G len i n i ts wild and natural
beauty.
Am ong those few person s who were not
so loud in praises of the “ beautifu l decora
tions ” as the rest o f the company were M rs .
Craig and Count Cl awski ! How they came
there,what power had been brought to bear
on Gray Grosvenor to i nduce him at the
e leventh hour to revoke h is dec is ion to leave
out th e pretty l i ttle Balt imorean , Gladys was
not ab le to discover. But there she was , al l
smi les and roses and dimples,as pretty a
c reature i n her rainbow draperies as was to
be see n on that brigh t summer morning.
The Count , who was someth ing of an art
is t , was real ly a good deal d isturbed by the
sunflowers and Japanese decorative kn ick
knacks , which he affirm ed would spoi l his
appeti te .
Mrs . Craig, who in heart had loved the
A NEWPO/BT AQUARELLE. 1 57
whole 7 517 51232M a éz'
l le appearance of th e place,
quickly took the cue from him , and said,
sol to wore, to Gladys ,
Shocking bad taste ; don’t you th ink so ,
dear ? ”
I had not thought about it,” said Gladys
,
frankly. There is perhaps a l i ttle too much
of it, but you know I am rather barbaric i n
my taste and l ike al l sorts of gay-colored
things .
”
The majority of the guests were of G ladys’
s
Opinion , and on the arrival of Mrs . Fallow
Deer the whole company—some sixty souls
— sat down to meat i n h igh spiri ts and with
excel len t appetites . Meat , d id I say ? Ay ,
and to fish of every sort, and game , al l that
there was i n o r out of season , shel l fish ,
too, from the bea tific l i ttle neck clam to the
rubicund lobster,pates and game pies , galan
t ines and roast fowls , Mayonnaises , Lyon
na ises , mushrooms,j el l ies , ices ,
blanc-manges, fru its , cakes , wines , cordial s ,
and fina l ly , by way of a saving grace , coffee .
1 58 A NEWPORT AQUARELLE .
I notice that the Americans have the
largest appeti tes and th e worst digest ions of
any people in the world ,” said Coun t Cl awski
to h is left-hand neighbo r , Gladys Carle ton .
The Count’s appeti te was miss i ng on th is
fest ive occasion , and it was owing to th is fact
that he spoke so bitte rly , and thought so bi t
ter ly too , of the din ne r las t n igh t at Mrs.
Craig ’s,where he had overeaten h imself.
However,h is i l l temper was too small a
drop of gal l i n th e cup o f j ol l i ty of th e com
pany to have any not iceabl e effect , and the
luncheon wen t off as gayly as possible .
M r . Belhomme and M r . Gray Grosvenor
toasted each other, and were more fri endly
than they had been since thei r memorabl e
dispute over th e best method of se rving
ch icken l ive rs , which had i nterrupted for
two years a frie ndship of a l ifetime . Socie ty
agreed that i t was bette r that they did make
the matter up ,for i t would be diffic ul t to de
cide which of th e two g ourm ets was the bette r
authori ty o n ch icken l ivers , as they both had
160 A NEWPORT A QUARELLE .
m ea l
i
were bought with the gratu i ti es which
S ti rrups had rece ived from various of h i s
master’
s friends , i n compensation for some
s l igh t se rvices . The cigar which Larkington
had smoked on th e morning of the p icn ic
had been given to S tirrups by Mr. Belhomme ,
a week before , when he had taken a stone
from the hoof of th at gen tleman ’s horse .
The groom ,foresee ing th e not unpreceden ted
s tate of affairs wh ich was approach ing,had
put by th e fragran t Havana,and o n th e
morn ing of the memorabl e p icn ic had laid
i t beside La rkington’
s plate at h is frugal
breakfast.
If th e maste r did no t make a good lunch
eon ,th e man
,with gl isten ing eyes , su rveyed
th e luxuriously spread tables , and chose th e
various dishes wh ich he wou ld attack vigor
ously, when th e time shou ld come for h im
and his fel lows to gath er up the fragmen ts
of the feast .
A t last—it seemed to th e hungry S ti r
rups a very long luncheon M r . Gray Gros
A NEWPORT AQUARELLE.16 1
venor rose from h is chai r , and the worsh ipful
company of th e el ect had fin ished the ir mid
day repast,whose ch ief and greate st charm
had been that i t had been eaten beneath the
canopy of God’s blue sky , between the wal l s
of l iving green , and in the pure ai r, sweet
with the stacks of new-mown grass and clove r
i n the fie l d hard by .
The sunflowers i n st iff flor ist’
s garlands ,
the colored paper gewgaws , were , to an over
sensi tive mind , a discord ; but few among
the guests detected the i nharmon iousness
of t rimming , with art i ntended to be decora
t ive , one of th e most beautifu l bits of nature
in the idyl l ic is land . And there was not one
among them who was not m ade th e bet te r,
the more kindly, by that day passed among
the ferns and sweet-bri ers of G le n Anna .
The dance in the pavi l ion was rathe r a
fai l u re . Somehow , the incongru ity of the
l i t tl e stiff town bouquets and th e fl im sy
favors seemed to st rike most of the com
pany , and the coti llon on ly inc luded the army
162 A NEWPORT AQUAA’ELLE.
0
of veteran wal tzers , grown old in the pract i ce
of their favori te step,of whom Gray G rosve
nor was the maj or-general .
The young people wandered off i n groups,
some o f them cl imbing the h i l l to get a
wider view . O thers explored the damp and
mildewed granaries of the old mill , while
al l to whom the seaboard was nat ive were
drawn to the beach,where th e wavelets gently
lapped the stony shore .
A t th e back of th e narrow beach rises a
bank on which some chari table person has
placed a bench beneath the shadow of a
group of heavy shade trees . On th is bench
Gladys and Larkington seated themselves ,
and the gi rl,collecting a heap of flat pebbles
at her feet , tried to skip them across the
wate r.
Larkington watched her as sh e rose and
stood , i n ten t on maki ng her pebbles skip
th ree t imes ; she was so w i l lowy and grace
ful , standing j ust beside h im ,touching him
with her dress,qui te with i n h is reach , that
164 A NEWPORT AQI/ARELLE.
0
The ch i l l of the reminiscence , the cool look
i n the eyes of Gladys Carle ton as she stooped
to pick up another pebble , arrested h is
arms stretched impuls ively toward her. H e
al tered h is att i tude rather c lumsi ly,and
sprang to h is feet as if the gesture which sh e
had seen had been on ly an effort to steady
h imself i n ri sing.
But Gladys had both seen and unders tood
it , and afte r making a last and most s uccess
ful toss o f her biggest stone , she said ,
I th i nk we had better go back now ; don’t
you P
A s they rej oined the party, the band was
striki ng up the music for a Virgin ia reel .
The long l ines were formed upon the green
sward , and were headed by Mrs . Fallow-Deer
and M r . Gray Grosvenor
S tand at the foot , Miss Gladys and Lark
ing ton !” c ried the l ight-footed and l ighter
witted host . Now then , off we go l
And off they did go at a great pace , Mrs .
Fallow—Deer danc m g to Larkington , and Mr .
A NEWPORT A QUARELLE. 165
Gray Grosvenor bowing to Gladys . Down
the long row of dancers that i ntervened be
tween the head and the foot , tripped th e
young-hearted matron and bobbed a courtesy ,
back again,and down once more to turn ,
giving the right hand , then to favor Larking
ton with the left. Then both pudgy hands
were offered to the long-l imbed Engl ishman ,
who could shake a foot i n the reel wi th the
bes t of th em . Her rotund back contrasted
with h is s inewy outline i n the dos-ci -a’os , and
then began the turning of the gentlemen .
Fi rst came the breath less dowager to Coun t
Cl awski , who with a grave court bow tu rned
her slowly and sedately about , and re turned
her to Gray Grosvenor, waiti ng fo r his partne r
afte r hav i ng squeezed the pre tty hand of Mrs .
Craig unti l her ring cut her finger. M r .
Belhomme next h opped briskly about her
portly form , doing al l th e turn ing h imsel f,
and again she returned to the charge o f
Gray Grosvenor, who , afte r another turn ,
rel inquished her to her son , a graceless
166 A NEWPORT AQUARELLE .
youth , who clasped h is mother’s waist and
whirl ed her off her feet . At las t afte r many
adventures she reached the foot,exhausted
but cheerful , and the next coupl e had their
t urn .
I t was a grand dance , everybody said when
i t was over , and Mrs . Fal low-Deer rece ived
many congratulations on her brisk dancing.
La rkington’
s sp i ri ts had been raised to a
very high point by the dance , and a parting
bottle of champagne cracked wi th Coun t
Cl awski fai led to lowe r them. When the
time came for h im to l ift Gladys into the
dogcart , he fel t equal to any feat o f prowess ,
even that of asking th is tall proud gi rl if she
would be h is wife , and accept the endow
men t of all h is worldly goods , which at that
moment might easily have been packed in
hi s large portmanteau,i n exchange for the
mill ions which he supposed to be her dower.
G ladys,too , seemed less l ike a statue than
she had been half an hour before by the sea
shore . Her pale checks were a l it tle flushed
168 A NE I/VPORT AQUARELLE.
I suppose you mean that for a compl i
ment,M r. Larkington , bu t , upon my word ,
I do not consider i t such . I have never
before bee n told that ‘ managing ’ was one
of my characterist ics .
“ I d id no t mean that ; you are perverse ,
but i t does not matter. You look j ust as
lovely when you play at bei ng cross as when
you are smili ng. I w i sh you would always
wear that wreath of oak leaves on you r hat ;
i t makes you look so much more l ike the girls
at home , and so much less of a great lady .
”
Gladys did not quite understand”
thi s
speech . How could she fancy that Lark
ington , moved by a real fee l ing, had half
forgotten h imself, and told her frankly what
was in h is mind ? A t the nu tting parti es i n
the V i l lage whe re he had grown up , th e gi rls
used all to wear these pretty Chaple ts on
thei r uncovered heads , when they came home
together, thei r t in pails fi l led with fru i t , thei r
hands stained with the j u ices of the nuts .
A look of su rprise i n the gi rl ’s face showed
A NELVPORT A QUARELLE. 169
h im what he had said , and , remembering th e
business h e had i n hand , he determined to
plunge in m edia s r es , and so , gathering al l
h is forces togethe r, he said with a voice that
was not qu i te natural ,
Oi course you must have seen how much
I am i n love with you , Gladys , and I cannot
stand the uncertainty any longer ; will you
marry me ? ”
Gladys thought , of al l th e proposals sh e
had ever l istened to , they had been i n
number exactly twen ty-five , an average of
one a year for her whole l ife , th is one ce r
ta in l y was the most abrupt . But sh e had
been prepared for it , and wi th a sense of
thankfulness for the form in wh ich the fatal
question had been asked , she said quietly ,
her eyes fixed on the rumble of Mrs . Fallow
Deer ’s carriage in fron t of them ,
Yes , I will .”
For he had not asked he r if she loved
him,and she had been spared the l ie , which
h er proud lips could hardly have spoken .
170 A NEWPORT AQUARELLE.
CHAPTER IX .
IT was exactly half-past five o ’clock on
Saturday afternoon when Gladys Carleton
pronounced those th ree words wh ich made
Larkington for th e moment cons ider h imsel f
the most triumphant man in the wide world .
A t exactly hal f-past five o ’clock on the
same Saturday a fte rnoon , Charles Farwe l l
said to M r . J ohn Cartwright , his on ly com
pan ion ,
Jack I must start for home to-n igh t.
You re not i n earnest , Charl ie P
Yes,old man , i n dead earnest.
”
What has made you change your mind
so suddenly ?
Charles Fa rwe l l was silent , and Cartwrigh t
stood leaning against the damp wal l of the
m ine . The only l ight that showed the two
172 A NEWPORT A QUARELLE .
O
h im of the new vein which he had found in
the m ine wh ich was the i r j o int property,
and had remained ever s i nce,working w i th
him , and making plans for th e best runn ing
of the mine , which Cartwright was sure
would make thei r fortunes .
They had been col lege chums,and the
friendsh ip begun so early i n l ife was a very
strong one . Cartwright had led a roll ing
stone existence during the ten years that had
e lapsed s ince he had left col lege , and had cer
ta in ly gathered no moss.
Farwell,on the contrary , had led a quiet ,
i ndustrious l ife,working hard in a broker ’s
ofli c e in Wall S treet , and making a comfort
able income for h imself, with which he man
aged to do j ust twi ce as many chari table acts
as d id h is employer, a man whose fortune
was est imated by m i l l ions .
J ust about a year before the date of the
despatch wh ich had cal led Farwell to Lead
vil l e so sudden ly,J ack Cartwright had come
to him absolutely without means of subs ist
A NEWPORT AQUARELLE. 173
ence,but ful l of visions of a great fortune he
could real ize if Farwel l would supply h im
with th e capital to buy a certai n Leadvil l e
claim which Cartwright was persuaded would
prove to be a mine of riches , The man who
owned the claim was not o f the same san
guine mind,and so Cartwrigh t got i t for a
mere song,Farwel l paying the piper. W i th
varyi ng smal l successes Cartwrigh t had
worked the claim unti l th e d iscovery of
the rich vein of ore . Farwel l had,s ince h is
arrival , summoned the aid of several min ing
experts , and had fina l ly sa tisfied himself of
th e real val ue of the property, which he had
always considered worth less,as d id every
one else except the hopefu l Cartwright . Once
sure of th e sol id value of th e mine , the next
requisi te step was the forming of a com pany
to work i t, and i t had been decided that
Cartwrigh t should go to New York,and
make al l the necessary arrangements for th e
starting of such a company,while Farwel l
remained in charge of the “ c laim .
”
174 A NEWPORT AQUARELLE .
The two friends had been making a tour
of inspection th rough the deserted gal le rie s
of the mine , which were so soon to be fi l led
with a c rowd of to il i ng mine rs , when Fa rwel l
suddenly announced his inte ntion of return
ing to th e East .
Rece iv i ng no answer to his las t question,
Cartwright asked again somewhat more em
phat ical ly ,
What the deuce has put such an idea in to
your head , Charl ie ?
You did not hear any sound , I suppose , a
minute ago P” said Farwell .
No . What was i t l ike ?
I t was the sound of a woman ’s vo ice , and
i t call ed my name . No , Cartwrigh t , I did not
suppose that you had heard the voice but I
did . I t was the voice of the woman I love ;
she call ed to me in dist ress . I must go to
her.
He rose as he spoke , looked into the dark
ness dreamily , and then walked with a quick ,
determined pace down the galle ry , Cartwright
176 A NEWPORT AQUARELLE.
they were al ready repaired and in good con
di tion .
I n th e l i ttle othee , th e on e room wh ich
boasted a whole roof, were col l ected al l Cart
wright ’s worldly possessions , and i nto th is
apartmen t he led the way . Farwell stood
leaning against the door-post , his eyes fixed
on the wonderful scene spread before h im .
Across the wide plain , two miles distant , lay
th e c i ty of Leadvil l e , a straggl ing town , a t
th is d istance picturesque , outl i ned against the
h igh mountains which l i e beyond it, rough ,
i naccess ibl e,and grand . The clearness of
the atmosphere i n th is country is most dec ept ive
,and the sun-tipped range of h i l l s seemed
with i n easy walking distance . The summits,
which earl ie r i n the day had been dazzl ing
wh ite , were now touched i nto a soft rosy
color by the warm reflec tion of the sunset
t i nts , and th e sky had softened to a dim and
tender bl ue , more restful to the eyes than the
inten se and vivid color of mid-day.
“ Wel l , Charl i e , we must be off if you are
A NEWPORT A QUARELLE. 177
i n earnest about s tarting to-n ight , sa id Cart
wrigh t , as he unhitched the bridle of h is mus
tang. Fa rwe l l nodded an assen t, and mount
ing thei r horses the two friends rode off across
the arid plain , whose soil p roduces noth ing
but a few scraggy fir-trees , and the short
grayish grass so common in min ing distric ts .
As Farwel l rode through Ches tnut S tree t,
he said with a half—sigh ,
Jack , I am sorry to go , for some reasons .
I have not been here long enough to feel the
monotony which must come , I suppose , and
I st i l l am bound by the novel ty and freshness
of the exi stence here There is a vigor and
youth about the country which we in the
East have lost already ; before we have grown
to ou r prime , we are old .
”
“ Yes ,” said J ack ;
“ remember th i s is the
boss mining camp of the world that you are
turn ing your back upon,because of an echo
i n the mine that you fancy is the voice of
some wom an . I t ’
s no t l ike you , Charl i e , to
be so deuced fanciful .”
A NEWPORT AQUARELLE.
I s n ’
t i t ? Wel l , I don’t know . I may
come back , J ack , and become a pioneer of
the new S tate , a leading man i n Colorado ;
but I doubt it. If the voice did not cal l me,
if she tel ls me she did no t want to see me,
then I shall be back as soon as the business
can be settl ed . But if i t was the voice of
G ladys Carle ton , you wi l l have to manage the
mine by yourself, and I wil l take care of the
ci ty i nte rests . I suppose you and I will be
cal led rich men i n a month ’s t ime,J ack ?
Yes , I suppose we will , if you don’t ge t
muddled by hearing any more of these ech
oes ,” said Cartwright , peevish ly. I don ’ t fee l
al together sa tisfied to have the matter i n your
hands ; are you sure your head’
s all right P
Farwel l laughed , and answered more briskly
than he had done s i nce he had heard the
echo i n the mine . Seeing that h is friend
was real ly concerned about h is wits , he pro
c eeded to discuss the prospects and the busi
ness arrangements they had decided upon in
h is usual clear manner.
180 A NEWPORT AQUARELLE.
CHA PTER X .
THE j ourney from Leadvi l le to Cheyenne
i s not withou t i n terest , nor did it so prove to
Charles Farwell . To al l in tel l igen t travel
lers there is much to be learned i n the course
o f a long j ourney, both from observation of
the country through wh ich they pass,and i n
conversation wi th the ir fellow-travellers .
At Cheyenne , the poi nt where the great
t ranscont inental rail road crosses the local l ine
of t ravel , Farwel l arrived early one Septem
ber morning . Awaiting the adven t of the
Eastward-bound train forty or fi fty men were
assembled at the small wooden stat ion-house .
Every variety of costume was worn,from the
conven tional su i t of American morn ing dress
to th e pic turesque garb of the Mongol ian .
Long-hai red , red-sh i rted herders conversed
A NEWPORT AQUAA’ELLE. 18 1
famil iarly wi th gentlemen whose clothes
might have been forwarded them to this
remote spot by Poole . A Mexican m m fier o
with a wide som ér er o and h igh boots paced
up and down the narrow plank platform ,talk
ing earnestly with a smart-l ooking man of
the Teuton ic race .
From th e scraps of the i r conversation,
Fa rwel l gathered that the Mexican was con
su l ting the German profess ionally,on the
subj ec t of his w ife ’s heal th . Fa rwel l l earned
from a loquacious J ew,a commercial travel
le r who entered i nto conversat ion with him ,
that the Mexican l ived fifty miles distan t ,
and had ridden over to procure medic ine for
his ail i ng wife from the medical pract itione r
of Cheyenne . The same obl igi ng personage
gave Farwel l brief sketches of th e most
prominent of the ind ividuals who stood
about the platform ,lean ing against the sta
tion or s itting on the steps .
That l i ttl e fellow there with the red beard
is an Engl ishman ; call s h imself at home Lord
182 A NEWPORT A QUARELLE.
Arch ie A l veswor th , at Cheyenne he drops
th e title . He owns a great catt le ranch , ten
miles from here , which he manages h imself.
He has lots of friends vis iting him , and they
have a pretty gay time o f i t at h is shanty .
”
Who is the old man with the long white
h ai r ? ” asked Farwel l , pointing to a tal l
figure wrapped in a long loose gray cloak .
“ That is th e Frenchman . H e is rather
l ight in the uppe r s tory. That young girl
upon whose arm he is l ean ing is h is daugh
ter. I can ’t tel l you the i r real names ; th ey
have on ly been here a few months,and they
are a quee r , s i lent lot . The old fellow fa n
c ies he has found a diamond mine,and he
and th e daughte r, with an old servan t they
brought with them , are always search ing and
digg ing'
for the wonderfu l mine that wil l
make thei r fortune .
”
The face of the Frenchm an was that of an
enthusiast. The white hair and furrowed
brow were al l the s igns of age wh ich he
showed . The brigh t eyes , alert step ,and
184 A NEWPORT A QUARELLE.
partaken , the agreeable sensation of the cool
l iquid trembl ing down the parched throat.
I t was terribly hot. Even the dogs seemed
to suffer, fo r they crouched with i n the shadow
of the long bui lding . The m en bore the
extreme heat wi th res ignation ; they spoke
on every subj ec t of conversat ion save the
weather, as if by common consen t this
topic was avoided .
A sm art covered wagon drawn by a pai r
of s trong mules rattled up to the station .
From the vehicle a m an descended,carrying
a ch ild of two years of age in his arm s . He
p laced the l i ttle creature on the platform,
and t urned to assist i ts mothe r from the
wagon . She was a heal thy, strapping young
woman,dressed in a n eat s i lk gown , and
wearing a bonnet which must have come
from New York The husband made fast
h is mules,and the coupl e entered the express
offic e , where they were hospitably received
by the agent.
Tha t man is Dick Parsons , the stage
A IVEWPORT AQUARELLE. 185
drive r. His wife is going to Maine to st0p
with her folks . He came down to put he r
on board the‘ train .
”
Farwel l ’s i nformant , as they passed the
door of the bar-room , made a sl ight pause ,
as if m ore from habit than from a ny though t
of entering the room . Farwell , who had
been too much absorbed i n watching the
motley crowd of people , and l isten ing to
th e brief but comprehensive accounts of
them given by h is new friend , to remember
the etiquette of the country , took the gentle
hin t , and inv i ted h is new acquaintance to
take something. The invitat ion was a c
c epted , and the two men entered the bar
room .
The commerc ial traveller and the bar
tender exchanged a wink as the s tranger
ordered for himself a plain lemonade . The
Ganymede of Cheyenne stat ion was rather
a sin ister-looking fellow,with one eye . His
righ t hand boasted a thumb and two fingers
only , but the ai ry skil l wi th which he tossed
186 A NEWPORT AQUARELLE.
the icy fluid from the tin tumbler to the glass
one showed that th i s physical defect d id not
unfi t h im for h is profession .
As the commerc ial t ravel ler drained the
last drop of his whiskey cocktai l,a faint
rumbl ing was heard along the rail s,and a
few moments after the Eastward train came
i n s ight . Every car window had an ear
nest face beh ind i t, and the platforms were
c rowded with the passengers , who hardly
wai ted the stopping of the train , to dash
1nto the restaurant,where the preparations
for d inner were now completed . Farwel l
entered the room with the crowd , and
watched the al ready famil iar sigh t of the
hungry beings vainly endeavoring to satisfy
themselves w i th the indifferent food provided
for them .
There is bad management somewhere .
Whose faul t is it ? The prices charged by
the rai l roads are so h igh , that the t ravel le r
has a righ t to demand comfortable meals at
a j ust cost. The patience of the American
188 A NEWPORT AQUARELLE.
cramped l imbs . The Engl ish lord was talking
to the engineer of the tra in , an inte ll igen t
Scot ; and the stage-driver was i ntroduc ing
h is pretty w ife to the Pul lman -car conductor,
a n important personage in the society of th e
Pa c ific Rail road .
This half-hour ’s chat wi th the offic ia ls on
the trai n,and those among the passengers
who are des i rous of deriving in formation or
wil l ing to impart the lates t news from either
coast , i s one of the most important events i n
the day to many of the dwellers by the i ron
roadway. This l ink betwixt them and the
c ivil ization i n wh ich there was no room for .
them lessens immeasurably thei r sense of
i solat ion .
But now the whistle of the engine warned
the travel lers that the time had come when
they must again take up the thread of th ei r
j ourney .
Farwel l bade farewel l to the commercial
gen tleman , thanking him for his information .
He stepped upon the back platform of the
A NEWPORT AQUARELLE.189
rear car,and looked his last upon the li tt le
desolate station and i ts c rowd of fia éz’
tués .
The old French gent leman was al ready
cl imbing in to a rickety veh icle , while h is
daughter unfastened the h i tch ing-rei n . The
stage—driver was waving a last adieu to h iswife and his l i ttle ch i ld , wail ing at the grie f
of a first part ing . I nside the restaurant i ts
proprie tor was seen locking a cash-box wh ich
had been fil l ed at the cost of the pockets and
digest ion of the travel lers . The one-eyed
bar-tender was the on ly member of th e group
of people who was sti l l busy , and his ski l led
finge rs tossed a red l iquid from the tin to
the crystal tumbler accurately. His task was
never done , day or nigh t.
On sped the train , and i n a brief space
Cheyenne stat ion was lost to view.
As the day waned,the in tense heat moder
ated , and the passengers on the Eastward
train rev ived a littl e from the w il ted condi
tion they had experienced . They could look
out now over the wide “plains of sunburn t
190 A NEWPORT AQUARELLE.
prairie,whose l i nes were broken at rare in
terva ls by th e farm of some courageous set
tler. Near one of these green oases the train
stopped for some trifl ing repair. Farwell,
s tanding upon the p latform , looked wi th in
te rest at the wel l-buil t adobe house and out
buildings,the green trees , and the well-plan ted
garden . The group of cattl e , th e dogs , and
feathered creatures of the barnyard were the
on ly friends whose company th e family of
th is settl er could c laim . The grounds were
enc losed by a curious fence of woven twigs ;
wood and stone are materials l i ttl e used on
these frontier farms , owing to the great
d iffi c u l ty and expense of t ransporting them .
What hero ism is shown by these men and
women,who taking each other by the hand
turnf
from th e l uxu ries of the East ern c ivil i
z a tion and go out to conquer the savage
luxuriance of the West ! Courage , pat ience ,
self-rel iance,must h e possess who would
succeed i n th is struggle for weal th i n the
Western wi lderness .
192 A NEWPORT AQUARELLE.
verely from the want of fuel . Young , on his
return to the East , provided h im self with
enorm ous quantit ies of the seeds of the sun
flower,which th e second band of em igrants
sowed by the way, for the benefit of the
next party of deluded fanatics who should
be en ticed from the ir homes by the wily
prophet . The path over which the Morm ons
passed i s m arked by a golden l i ne,and the
camp-fi res of th e emigran ts to-day are l ighted
by the fibrous s talks of the sun fl owers which
the Mormon sai nts sowed forty years ago .
When they reached the stat ion where
supper was awaiting the travel l ers , Farwel l
dec ided not to venture a second time that
day in to a railway restaurant . From his
capacious lunch-basket he drew rations of
c rackers and cheese , with a bot tle o f claret.
I—Iis n ever-fail i ng comfort,th e c igarette
,was
the on ly ligh t save that of the stars,as he sat
i n his favorite place on the rear platform .
A s the trai n sped on once more through
the n ight , Farwel l sat th inking of Newport ,
A NEWPORT AQUARELLE. 193
and al l that might have happened there since
h is departure . He wondered if Gladys had
missed him , and then he smiled at the
thought. He knew that she must have
grieved over h is departure . He knew that
she loved him now ; he had never doubted
i t since that n ight when they rode home
together th rough the sweet country lanes of
Newport , th e very even ing before h is depart
ure . Then he thought again , and with a
sudden pain , of her voice as he had heard i t
cal l ing him , heavy with distress , full of pas
siona te entreaty. What could i t have meant ?
If any il l had befal len her, he certai nly wou ld
have learned i t by telegraph . He was com
ing to her now with al l the speed of steam
and iron,yet the j ourney seemed so long !
The dark prairie was al l about h im ,—be
fore , beh ind , on eithe r s ide ,—and the trai n
sped on rapidly. Suddenly,fa r off, a spark
of l ight broke the blackness of the n igh t . I t
grew brighter and clearer,as the train ap
proac hed it, a nd he now saw that i t cameI
194 A NEWPORT AQUARELLE.
0
from a fire . Not a chance flame l i t by
a wayward Spark , but a neatly bui lt camp
fire , cheerful and comfortable . The flames
c rackled about a gypsy kettl e , and shone on
a great white wagon standing tenantless by
the ways ide . The tired oxen were lying
near by , thei r noses h idden by thei r bags of
fodder. A group of people sat at a short
distance from the blaze , j us t where the i r
figures were l ighted by the flame . A woman
seated on the ground , an infan t i n her arms ,
looking up into the face of the man who
stood behind her,erec t , and in the uncertain
l ight seeming to be of a heroic bu ild . These
three,al l alone i n the midst of the vast prai
ri e , with hope for thei r guide , and love for
the ir companion . This was a home,though
the next even ing wou ld see the trio fa r on
thei r j ou rney , and th e kettle would swing
over a fire some twenty miles nearer its fina l
destination .
For one moment was th e l ife picture before
Farwel l , warm , happy, ful l of a deep sign ifi
196 A NEWPORT AQUARELLE.
were churned into a hundred streaks of white
foam by the furrowing padd le-whee ls of the
fe rry-boats'
which ply to and fro between the
great centre and i ts outlying dependencies.
The boats themse lves were laden with such
dense crowds of human beings that i t seem ed
impossibl e to fancy that th ere were any men
and women left i n the ci ty .
On reach ing the landing , Farwel l , giving
h is checks to the min ion of the express ,
mounted the stairs of the E l evated Rai l road .
H e entered the train , and in a breath less
haste was whirled up town by that wonder
fu l l in e of t rave l which hangs , l ike the c offin
of Mahomet,
’twixt earth and heaven . I t
had never struck him before that the E levated
Rail road was a part ic ularly noticeable featu re
of New York . After h is soj ourn i n Colo
rado,every detail wh ich goes to make the
vast conven ience of the c ity of Manhattan
impressed h im .
We are too c iv i l ized , sighed our traveller,
as he stepped from th e trai n at the Twenty
A NEWPORT AQUARELLE. 197
th i rd S treet S tation . As he walked down
the long fl ight of s tai rs , he smiled at the
though t which passed through his mi nd . H e
had invented a plan for transporting the pas
sengers of the E l evated Rail road up and
down th e long stairs which lead to the sta
t ions by means of a sl ide , i n the very moment
when he had protested against th e u ltra con
ven ienc e of the E levated Road .
A t Delmonico ’s the great d in ing—room was
c rowded with the same set of people he had
left d in ing there on the night when he
had started fo r Leadvil le . After Farwel l had
ordered his dinner with a certai n care , — it
was many weeks si nce he had dz’
nezzfi he
leaned back in h is chai r and looked about
the bril l iantly l ighted apartments .
At the table on his righ t sat Hewson,the
coolest speculator i n Wal l S treet. His
shadow, Hangou , a man triple h is s ize , had
j ust given his di rect ions to the servant for
dinner. The speculator looked careworn , h is
th i n face was flushed,and his hand shook as
198 A NEWPORT AQUARELLE.
he raised his glass to h is l ips . The client
H angon addressed some remark to the great
man , who answered h im shortly and rudely .
The face of the migh ty parasite flushed at
the rebuff , but h is vexation w as cooled and‘
soothed i n the beaker of wine which he
drained at the expense of hi s patron .
P resently Hewson spoke , rapidly and
earnestly. Farwel l could not hear the con
versat ion , but he doubted not i ts import . A
heavy fal l i n stocks had shaken! the market
that morn ing , and the even ing paper h inted
that H ewson , the great stock—gambler, had ,i n the phrase of the street , gone up.
” The
next day wou ld prove how the fal l i n the
stock market had affected h im .
Had the predict ion of failure been with or
without foundat ion ? Farwel l wondered , and
watched the operator closely. He was a
keen observer of character, and he had a
reason for wishing to ascertain whether
Hewson had lost or gained in the day’
s
gambling.
200 A NEWPORT AQUARELLE.
O
dish of pilaf to Mr . Hewson , with his com
pl im ents.
I t was a happy move for the bored,worn
expression of M r. Hewson’
s face changed to
one of pleasure , and the pilaf was fully appre
c ia ted by him . He ate i t with evident en
joym en t, and with noth ing of th e mechanical
manner which often characterized him while
at table .
Farwel l now knew what he wanted to .
The speculator was sti ll a “ finan c ier ,” and
had not made a false throw. Wh ile success
attends the great Ope rators they are give n
the high-sounding ti tle of “ fin an c ier . An
unsuccessful attempt at a corner,
” or a“ rush ” i n stocks which beggars them
,wins
them the titl e of “ gamble r,long ago de
served , but only granted when the game is
up .
From Far wel l ’s knowledge of the charac
ter and manner of Hewson , the appeti te with
which he ate the pilaf and trutfles convinced
him that whoever e lse had suffered from
A NEWPORT AQUARELLE .201
that day ’s Operations , Hewson had escaped
unscathed . Once convinced of th is fac t,
Fa rwel l’
s hext action was to leave the dining
room quiet ly and hurriedly. His movement
did not escape the keen eyes o f his n eighbor ,
and while he was l ighting his c igaret te i n the
outer hal l , Hangon the parasite followed h im
and asked h im to join M r . Hewson over a
bottle of famous old Burgundy.
Farwel l re turned to the din ing-room and
j oined the two men over thei r wine . They
asked h im about h is j ou rney wi th a certai n
curiosity as to i ts end . Farwel l gave them a
humorous account of h is trip , with a graph ic
pictu re of the l ife and manners i n the town
he had late ly vis i ted . H e was an excellen t
talke r at al l times , and this evening he seemed
at his best ; both men l istened to h im with
attenti on and interes t .
Hewson , worn and wearied with the terri
ble ferment and worry of h is l ife in the ex
citing atmosphere of Wal l S treet, wa s glad to
be taken out of himself and h is own thoughts
202 A NEWPORT AQUARELLE.
by th is bright and magnetic young man,
whose sl ightly bronzed face and hands Spoke
of a long absence from the c ity. H angon ,
ti red with the long and close attendance
upon the peevish patron , was thankful at so
pleasant an addit ion to the Zéz‘e-ci -z‘éte which
had lasted for severa l days .
When Farwel l fina l ly rose to go , th e two
men followed his example , and the trio left
the restaurant in company . M r . Hewson’
s
t rap s tood at the door awaiting h im .
Which way are you going , Fa rwel l P Can
I not give you a l ift ?
The offer was made in a manner which
showed that i t was meant seriously , and not
out of compl iment .
Thank you . I am bound on rather a
wild-goose chase . I want to find Grabal l ,
and I have no idea whether he is a t h is
house i n Fifth Avenue or at Long Branch .
Do you happen to know P“ No . But get in and I will drive you
up to h is house ; i t is on my way. You wi l l
204 A NEWPORT AQUARELLE.
Not s ince I had the typhoid fever,th ree
years ago .
”
I n al l that t ime you have not missed a
single business day i n the streetP
Not one .
”
For a few moments Farwe l l was s i len t.
He was registeri ng a vow that he wou ld
never al low himself to become so utterly
demoral ized , body and soul , by the demon of
play , as was th is poor nervous human being
at h is s ide . Hewson’
s mill ion s at that mo
men t numbered a score or more ; his name
was i n the mouths of the whole army of
gamblers , by whom he was envied , admired ,
and feared . I t seemed to Charles Farwel l
that of al l the unhappy human beings with
whom he had been thrown in contact, Hew
son , the great stock operator , was the most
to be pitied .
M r . Grabal l was not at home , the flunkey
who answered the summons of the bel l in
formed them . He had gone down to Long
Branch , and wou ld not be back that n igh t .
A NEWPORT AQUARELLE. 205
Farwe l l was disappointed , or he appeared to
be so.
“ W i l l you take a tu rn on the Park ?
asked M r. Hewson .
Yes , thanks. A re you not afraid of
malaria ? I am so much braced up by my
long vacation that I should enjoy it, but i s i t
wise for you to run the risk ?“ Yes ; I am used to i t. Do you think of
return ing to Colorado P
Yes , i t is possibl e . I have an i nterest i n
a c laim there . I t was apropos of that bus i
ness that I wanted to see Grabal l .
I s he interested i n the sc hem eP
No ; but I need th e backing of Graball ,
or some such man , i n the affai r.”
Silver ?
Yes .”
Who owns the claim ?
A man named Cartwrigh t , and myself.
You want a company formed P
I n which I shal l retain the controll ing
shares .”
206 A NEWPORT A QUARELLE.
Come round to my house and talk i t
over. If i t i s a good th ing, perhaps I wi l l
take an in terest i n it.”
This was what Farwel l had hoped for.
Of all the men he knew who cou ld help h im
in th e affai rs of the L i ttle Quic kga in Mine ,
Hewson was the best to deal with , notwith
standing his c rusty manner. Fa rwel l ’s was a
cautious , not over-sangu ine nature , and he
was sure of the value of the min e , and was
moreover certai n that he could convince
Hewson of i ts value , once having roused his
i n terest.
Come to my rooms , if you wi l l , Hewson .
I have the papers and c ertific a tes of ore ;
you can look them over there .
”
H e knew the advantage of being on his
own ground , and preferred , i n deal i ng with
th is man , to be the host rather than the
guest .
208 A NEWPORT AQUARELLE.
Whose ba l l P I tell you , man , I’
m j ust
from the backwoods. I have not heard or
though t of a bal l for many a day.
”
Oh , said Gray Grosvenor, and was sil en t.
S trange chance that he , who was s imply a
c lub acquain tance , shou ld be th e first person
to tel l Charles Farwel l of the bal l given
that even ing by M rs . Fal low—Deer on th eannouncement of the engagement of Miss
G ladys Carleton to M r . Cuthbe rt Larkington .
“ Where did you say the bal l wa sP” said
Farwel l , l igh ting a cigarette as h e spoke .
Gray Grosvenor hes i tated for an i nstant.
Shou ld he te ll Fa rwel l , who everybody knew
had always been in love wi th hi s cousin , the
news which he had eviden tly not heard ?
He had , somewhere about h is s tout person ,
the vestige of an organ which i n h is youth
he had called a heart , and for an instan t th e
promptings of that organ h indered him from
speaking ; but the thought of being ab le to
tel l peop le that he was the first one to break
the news to Farwe l l came to h im , and , as
A NEWPORT AQUARELLE. 209
gossip was h is profess ion , th e chance of
adding so choice a morse l to h i s store was
too tempting to be lost , so he said slowly ,
h is eyes fixed on Farwel l ’s face ,“ Why , of course you have heard of th e
new engagement , your cousin , Miss Carle
ton , to Larkington , that Engl ish fellow ?
Wel l,everybody knew it a week ago , on the
day of the picn ic , ah , what a pi ty you
missed the pic n ic l—but to day i t was otfi
c ia l ly announced .
”
H e paused and looked at Farwel l as if
expecti ng a remark , and Farwel l , having
nothing else to say , only answered ,“ Oh ,
i ndeed !
Gray Grosvenor was disappointed ; he had
a righ t to expec t something more than the
ejaculat ion of Oh , i ndeed ! I t would not
sound very th ri ll i ng in the tel l ing. But then
Farwell’
s face was a th ing to describe ; i t
had grown quite white and se t . “ And so ,
he continued , Mrs . Fallow-Deer is giving a
bal l to ce lebrate the j oyfu l occasion . You ’
l l
14
2 10 A NEWPORT AQUARELLE.
go , of c ourseP Everybody wil l b e t here ,
qu ite the biggest affai r of the season .
“ No . I’
m not i nvi ted , I fancy. I came
back quite unexpectedly.
”
“ But of course such an !mim e at th e
house as you are would not hesi tate to go
for th e want of a card . Come along !
Thank you , Grosvenor, I have some le t
ters to wri te .
”
And , throwing away his
unsmoked cigarette , Farwel l walked in to
the quiet l ib rary at the back of the C lub .
I t was empty,and , turning the gas low,
Farwel l th rew himself i n to a chair, h is
back toward the door, and sat quite st i l l
for a space . His face was deadly whi te , un
der al l the bronze he had acquired on the
j ourn ey , and h is forehead was l ined with
three deep furrows as he sat , h is head lean
i ng on h is hand , deep in thought . When
he moved at last , after a space of a quarte r
of an hou r, h is fi rst action was a very strange
one , and wou ld have been considered by any
of the men of the C lub as extremely repre
2 12 A NEWPORT A QUARELLE.
back of th e house , where he stood looking
through an open casemen t at the bri ll ian t
i nterior.
The house was an exce l len t one for en ter
tain ing,though a tr ifle large and formal
to be qui te comfortable for everyd ay use .
The spacious ball room into which Farwel l
l ooked was oblong in shape , the walls were
panel led in ebony half—way to the ce il ing, andthe furn iture was of massive carved wood .
“ Veri tab le Antique the old cabinet and
75723-13282; were , but sad ly out of place in th is
modern bal l room . The high th rone-l ike
chai rs had i n thei r day been used by cardi
n a ls and bishops , for they were from an old
Episcopal Palace at Avignon , and the great
clock had t icked away hours devoted to
prayer i n an I tal ian monastery. The som
breness of the dark wood was redeemed by
the deep red co lor of the wal ls and the du ll
gold ceil ing, the crystal chandel ie rs from
Ven ice , the garlands of splendid roses , and
the l iving flowers, t ricked out i n al l that was
A NEWPORT AQUARELLE. 2 13
most bec oming and bri l l ian t i n to i lettes and
j ewels.
At one end of th e room stood M rs . Fal
low-Deer, resp lendent i n red sati n and dia
monds , her sturdy arms almost bowed down
by the weigh t of the flowers with which she
was burdened ; at her side stood G ladys
Carleton , dressed qu ite s imply in a gown
which Mrs . Craig rather spiteful ly charac
teri z ed as “ a white sat i n rid ing-habi t.”
I t su i ted Gladys , who followed a fash ion
of her own in dress , and paid l ittle attention
to the prevailing mode . She was as whi te
as her dress , that n igh t , and her eyes and
hair seemed darker than ever, by the contrast
of her pal lor. On a stand at her s ide were
heaped her bouquets , which , had she as
many arms as the H indoo ido l , she could not
have carried .
She was rece iving with Mrs . Fal low-Deer,
and many were the good wishe s and gallan t
speeches made to her by the men and women
of the world , who were on the whole very
2 14 A NEWPORT AQUARELLE.
glad of the piece of good luck wh ich had
fal len to the beautiful Miss Carl eton .
G ladys had al l her l ife been petted and
spoiled by her rich fri ends , and had never
wanted for a good time , a fresh bal l-dress , a
seat at the opera, or a saddle-horse . She
belonged to that class of young gi rls whose
posi t ion i n soc iety is much better than their
finan c ia l resources , and who for thei r beauty
or the i r charm are the éflf am‘s g éz
‘ées of New
York society . I nstead of the spoi l ing which
a rich father and mother can give , they
enj oy th e indulgence of a dozen foster
mothe rs and fathers,who from the kindness
of thei r hearts , o r because they have no
daughters of th eir own and know the attrae
t io n of a handsome gi rl i n the drawing—room ,
socially adopt them,and stand sponsor to
th em from thei r first season ’ For a very
young girl i t is a charming thing , but for
a woman of Gladys Carleton’s age and char
acte r i t was a posit ion not without i ts
d rawbacks,and her friends were al l sincerely
2 16 A NEWPORT AQUARELLE.
0
was the first unconscious movemen t she had
made s ince he had been watch ing her,
that l i ttle s tart,and quick turn of the head .
She seemed to have grown restless , for i n a
moment she laid her hand on Gray Grosve
nor ’s arm ,and disappeared with him out in to
the square hall , where the crowd of butte r
fl i es was th ickest , and there he lost s ight of
her .
I t was a bri l l iant spectacl e at which Charl es
Farwel l stood looking , with the copy oi. th e
Even ing Te legram ” i n h is pocket , but when
Gladys left the room , i ts ch ief attract ion
had departed . I t was rather chil ly i n the
nigh t ai r, and , drawing a cigar from his
pocket , he was about to strikea match , when
he perce ived that he was not the on ly out
side spectator of th e scene ; a man of low
stature approached h im and stood looki ng
i n at the window next the one where he had
taken h is stand . Fa rwel l did not care to be
seen , so he quietly put back his c igar in the
case , and the match i n h is pocket , and drew
A NEWPORT AQUARELLE. 2 17
back into th e shadow cast by the angle of
the bay window.
He could stil l see the interior of the bal l
room , and , as he looked , he saw a servant
approach Larkington and whisper someth ing
to him . The Englishman looked a l i t tl e
puzzled , bowed an assen t, and after a mo
ment or two , excused himself to the lady he
was talking with , and left the room . The
man at the window seemed inte rested i n the
movements of Larkington , and , as he left
the ballroom , sl ipped quietly out of s igh t,
disappearing around the corner.
A moment afte r he retu rned , and th is time
he was not alone . The tal l figure of Lark
ing ton made that of his companion appear
even smal l e r and more puny than before .
They approached the spot where Farwel l
was standing, h idden by the dark shadow .
Here,
” said the smal l man who , Farwel l
now saw, wore the l ive ry of a groom , stand
here ; on the othe r s ide of the house there’
s
a c rowd of peop le looking i n at the doors
2 18 A NEWPORT AQUARELLE.
Wel l , St irrups, answered his companion ,
sharply , why did you send for me in this way P
Could n ’
t you wait til l after the ba l l P”
“ No . I’
m j ust back . Jacob wou ld n’
t
let me have the money.
”
D J ew ! Why not ?
Because , Cuthbert , you’
ve made a mis
take somehow or other. I t ’
s th e wrong girl ;
th is one ,” nodding toward the ball room
,i s
the cousin of the he iress , and has n’
t a penny
to bless herse lf with
I t ’
s a l i e , cried Larkington , catch
i ng at the arm of h is servan t for support.
The J ew deceived you .
”
I t ’
s certai n truth , Cuthbert, as I took
pains to find out. I t ’
s h er cousi n , an o ld
maid , wot’
s got the money , and no mistake
about it. I made dead sure .
”
La rkington’
s only answer was a groan,and
S tirrups con t inued ,
We must be off'
on the early boat for
Fal l R iver ; i t passes at two o’c lock. I have
packed the traps at the hotel , and wi ll get
220 A NEWPORT AQUARELLE.
the re ’
s on ly ten dollars left , that I saved ;
j ust enough to take us out of th is place to
New York. Once there , I’
11 ge t a si tuation
easy enough , and float us both ti ll someth ing
turns up .
”
“ I wi l l borrow something from one of
these fine friends of Miss Carleton . I have
not borrowed a penny si nce I have been
here . I won ’t run , Sti rrups ; that I swear.
I ’
l l marry Gladys Carleton if I blow my
brains ou t the week afte r.”
The two men had spoken in undertones ,
standing close together i n the moonl ight , but
th e i r vo ices had reached the ears of Charles
Farwell , who dis l iked the role of eavesdropper
and now stepped forward and j oi ned th e
pair.
If the excel lent advice of your friend does
not decide you to leave Newport , Mr .
I real ly am at loss for your name , I th i nk I
have an argument which wil l prove more per
suas ive to you than any he has brought for
ward . Have the goodness to look over the
A NEWPORT AQUARELLE. 22 1
te legrams from Egypt. And , drawing forth
the copy of the New York even ing paper, he
put i t i nto La rking ton’
s hand .
At the sigh t of Farwell , at his first word ,
al l La rkington’
s él ag ue and assurance re
turned .
“ I do not understand you , s i r,” he
answered cool ly,and
,stepping nearer the win
dow so that the l ight from the ballroom migh t
fal l upon the pape r , he read the paragraph to
which Farwel l pointed . I t ran as follows
ALEXANDRIA, Sept. 1882 . In the engage
m en t a t Tel -Rl -! eb ir to-day, there were twenty
m en k il led , and an offi c er in the 6oth Rifleswounded .
LATER. The offi c er who was serious ly wounded
to-cl ay is Capta in Cuthbert Lark ington , son of Lord
Luc re , of Oxfordsh ire, of the 6o th Rifles. H is
rec overy is doubtful .”
222 A NEWPORT AQUARELLE.
CHAPTER X I I.
GLADYS CARLETON woke early on the morn
ing afte r the ball , which had been , everybody
said , the great success of th e season . She
could not s leep , as she usual ly did after a
party, and after tossing for half an hour rest
lessly on her bed , she rang the bel l for her
maid , and stood looking out from the balcony
of her pretty room , as she had done that
morn ing on wh ich she had promised to be
the wife of Cuthbert Larkington . I t was
j ust such a morning as that had been , fresh ,
clear, and ful l of sunsh ine . But i t was of
another man than her fi a n cé that she was
th i nking,—the man who had sudden ly re
t u rned to Newport from Colorado , and whose
face sh e had not s een since she had become
engaged to the Engl ishman . Then she
224 A NEWPORT A QUARELLE .
roses was broken , and the blossoms were
trampled into the ground . She stooped to
pick up one of the faded flowe rs , and saw a
crumpled newspaper lying close at hand .
How care less people are l she ejaculated,
and was j us t stooping down to pick up the
paper when she heard wheels o n the grave l
driveway,and looking round saw Charles
Farwel l ’s trap coming up at a quick pace .
H e drew up the horses at the sight of her,
and,giving h is re ins to the servan t who had
come out at the sound of the whee ls , j o i ned
Gladys on the lawn .
What brings you out and up at th is hour,
G ladys ? i t is not eight o’clock yet , were h is
first words , whi le he looked anxiously into
her face .
“ Why, I might ask th e same question of
you , Cid . How are you ? I am so glad to
see you .
”
“ I forgot that I had not spoken to you
before . Have you seen Mrs Fal low-Deer thi s
morn ing or anybody e lse P
A NEWPORT AQUARELLE. 225
You forge t how early i t i s ; no , I have
not seen anybody. If you cam e to se e Mrs .
Fallow-Deer,you wil l have to wai t ; sh e may
com e down at ten ” She was piqued at h is
queer,cool manner.
No,I d id not come to see Mrs . Fallow
Dee r,or anybody but yourself. Come and
take a drive wi th me .
”
Wha tP Before breakfast P
Yes ; are you so hungry ? We wil l drive
to Finley ’s and get some grapes . I t i s a per
fec t day , and besides I want to see you ,
Gladys , for a few minutes . Come .”
“ I should l ike to— only I don ’ t suppose
I ought I suppose you know, Cid
Oh yes , I know al l about what has hap
pened in my absence . Run and get your hat,
chi ld , and take a drive with me .
”
“ Well , I will , Cid .
” She plucked a rose
bud from a bush which h is careless fee t had
crushed the n ight before,and held i t out to
h im , and then picked up the crumpled news
paper.
226 A NEWPORT AQUARELLE.
What is that paper, Gladys ? Have you
been reading i t P
No . I cannot imagine who could be
careless enough to throw i t on the lawn.
Put i t i n the baske t i n the l ibrary,wh ile I
get my cloak .
Farwel l gave a s igh of rel ief. He pu t th e
copy of th e Even ing Telegram,wh ich h e
had dropped the n igh t before,i n h is pocket
.
She did not know yet, and he would be the
fi rst one to tell her the mortifying truth .
They drove down Bel levue Avenue,and
out over ! ay Stree t, s topping on the road to
buy some rol l s at a bakery,and some great
bunches of black Hamburg grapes at a hot
house . Gladys laughed at her cousin,and
said that she real ly could wai t ti l l b reakfas t
time but Cid broke off for her tempting li ttl e
bunches of the fine grapes , and coaxed her to
eat a rol l . He had a great idea of fortifying
th e body before g ivm g a shock to the mind .
How pretty she looked that morning , all
dewy and fresh as the wi ld flowers by the
228 A NEWPORT A QUARELLE.
0
down the great b il l at the two-mi le corner.
The country was splend id with the glory of
th e goldenrod , which l ined the dusty road
s ide and spread l ike a great yel low cloak
over the fields , cu t into squares l ike a chess
board by the c rossi ng l i nes of the gray stone
wall s . S ome of th e squares were deep green ,
starred Wi th purpl e asters ; others were of
the rich brown color of new-ploughed earth ;
many of the d istan t ones were yellow with
the harvested grai n , and pi les of deep red
gold pumpkins s tood at the corners of the
fiel ds . The air was sweet with the smel l of
th e wild grapes wh ich c lung to the porches of
the bare unpainted farm-houses . The beauty
of the comple te and perfect year crowned
th e fair earth , and the peace of the fru itful
harvest was over the land . The air was
fresh , and , though ful l of l igh t and warmth ,
had a cool tinge i n it, that set th e blood run
n ing l ike new wine through the veins of the
man and woman who were so unreasonably
and unreasoningly happy,si tti ng , side by s ide ,
A NEWPORT A QUARELLE. 229
O u they wen t , past the quaint o ld gray
windm i l l on the left , whose four great wh i te
arms slowly revolved in the l igh t breeze . I n
a l ittl e window high up i n the qu iet m il l,
wh ich Gladys said looked l ike a giantess ’s
th imble , they saw the mil l er’s wife standing ,
a rosy child on he r strong shoulder. The
l i ttle c reatu re waved i ts hand to the two i n
the carriage ; he l iked to see the horses and
their shin ing harness .“ Why did you call me
,Gladys , that day ?
A week ago yesterday afternoon , you called
me , and I heard you i n th e depths of the
earth , fa r , very fa r off ; and now I have com e
to ask you why you called me , on the very
day, they tel l m e , i t was when you—when
you had no right to think of any oth er man
than the man you had chosen .
”
“ I d id not cal l your name ; did you hear
my voice ?
I do not know if I heard anyth ing with
my ears , but you r spiri t cal led to mine and
mine heard it ; do you not know this to be
true P
230 A NEW’
POIBT AQUARELLE.
Yes,Cid .
Wel l P”
She was si len t , and looked away from his
tender eyes,over the fai r landscape , and then
sh ivered at an ugly though t that came into
her m ind .
Shal l I te l l you why you cal led me ? ” he
asked . She did not speak , but bowed her
head i n assent . “ Because you love me ,
Gladys,with a love which i s not of th is
earth only ; because your lower self t ries
to ignore th is love , and would do i t an
outrage . Ah,ch i ld , you were i n sore need
oi. me when that spi ri t , so long subordi
nate to your worldly self, sighed to mine for
help . I have come , and offer you that help .
”
He paused , and then continued ! Why was
i t that at the last momen t you threw over
that ‘ splendid match ’ and gave such pain
and m ortific a tion to that man in Germ a nyP”
I could not marry h im , Cid .
”
And why ? Because you cou ld not put
a barrie r between our two souls , which have
232 A NEWPORT AQUARELLE.
O
though t of i n some of the st range pic tures
painted from a landscape seen only i n a
dream .
Gladys looked up into the eyes of the man
at her s ide , which were turned half from her.
There was no emotion in his face ; he was
qui te sti l l a nd si len t , nei ther pale nor red , but
with a fa r-away look of peace i n h is eyes,
which sh ed a calm on her fevered,world
weary spirit. The qu ie t , st i l l feel ing which
she saw on h is face was nestl ing at her heart,
and with the long , low sigh wh ich shook her
breast,al l i ts weigh t of care and trouble
,al l
the bitter l i ttlenesses of her life , seemed to sl ip
away from her, and i n that moment of peace ,
full of a strange awe , the shadow of a love which
should last for etern i ty swept over her soul .
A bird ’s note,cal l i ng to i ts m ate , fel l upon
the quie t of the morning , and with the sound
came the awakening . Farwel l ’s eyes , which
had been looking into the stil l blue of th e
skies,turned to seek those of the woman that
he loved,who was so near h im .
A NEWPORT AQUARELLE.233
Well,Gladys
,shal l i t not be to day ?
She knew quite wel l what he mean t , but ,
womanl ike,evaded .
“ Why , what do you
mean , CidP
You know wel l enough , dear. Shal l i t
no t be to day that al l the demons of pride
and worldl i ness which have kept us so long
apart shal l be utterly routed P Come , give
me your hand l ike a brave gi rl , and tel l me
that you wil l be my wife before sundown .
Cid , are you crazy P
A l ittl e,perhaps ; but how sweet a mad
ness,is i t notP Better than the san i ty which
I have so long known Come , give me your
hand ; that means yes ?“ 0 Cid , how um you ? I t ’
s wicked .
Think of them all , think of that man .
”
“ That is j ust what I won ’t th i nk of.
Gladys , I am i n very deep earnest,much
more so than you can guess . I ask you,
clear, what may seem strange to you ; but
have you not al l c onfiden c e i n me ? I ask
you to com e now to Fall R ive r,—why , we
234 A NEWPORT AQUARELLE.
are half-way there already ,—and go to Cousi n
Abel ’s house and ask the old fel low to marry
us . You know how gladly he wou ld do it.
He made me promise , years ago , that he
should perform the ceremony wh ich is to
make me the happiest man in th e world . I
know all about the law The l icense I can
ge t with h is assistance i n half an hour , and
l ittle cousi n Mary will stand as bridesmaid
to you in the parlor of the old house where
you first promised .
”
But to th is hai r-brained scheme the happy
gi rl would not l i s ten , half because she loved to
hear h im'
beseec h her so earnest ly, and partly
because , with her formal ideas,the who le
proceeding seemed wel l -n igh scandalous .“ What ! no wedding dress or cake
,
” she
cried , no reception , white sl ippers , or rice
th rown afte r us ,—no one to give me away ?
I t wou ld look as if I were afraid of my own
determination , and feared , if I did not marry
you righ t away , I should change m y mind .
”
And the sorrels , brave creatures , st i l l bore
236 A NEWPORT AQUARELLE.
0
i n her heart could not speak in words ; but as
the farm-houses were seen closer and closer
together,and the straggl ing outposts of the
town grew near, she became quite quiet , and ,
s l ipping her hand in to her lover’
s arm , looked
at h im with eyes dark with a shadow half of
love,half of fear, the sweetes t look that
woman ’s eyes can wear, the eyes of a bride .
I t was very strange that Gladys did not
come home to luncheon , Mrs . Fallow-Deer
said to Mrs . Craig , who had come round in
a state of w i ld excitemen t to te ll the news
which th e Egyptian telegram con tained .
“ S o he was an imposto r , afte r all , said
Mrs . Craig , after the two ladies had discussed
the matte r for at l east two hours,with th e
assistance of Gray Grosvenor and Coun t
Cl awski , who came to‘
bring the latest news
about the strange affai r, which was the talk
of th e town .
Mrs . Fallow - Deer had been genuinely
shocked , and had wept real tears for Gl adys’
s
A NEWPORT AQUARELLE. 237
disappointmen t and m ortific ation , fo r which
she fel t herself i n a measure respons ibl e .
She had brought down the lette r of i n tro
duction which the sozl a’z'
sa n t Larkington had
brought her,and i t was read by each and
every one of the friends who had come to
talk it over. Now that she looked at i t i n
this new l igh t , the l etter was a very guarded
one,and the wri ter, an Engl ishman of more
i ll ustrious name than character, asked leave
to presen t to Mrs . Fallow-Deer M r . Cuthbert
Larkington,whose acquaintance he had had
the great pleasure of making on board the
Servia .
Count Cl awski , who had befriended th e
Engl ishman because he l iked h im , had
brought the last news of h im . Going down
to the steamer to send off some importan t
despatches , he had encountered Larkington
on the gang-plank . The man had been too
much overcome to speak,and had grasped
the Count by the hand,and then staggered
into the boat , accompanied by his se rvant
238 A A’EWPORTLAQUARELLE.
Sti rrups , who had said , by way of expl a
nation ,
My m aster has had some bad news,s i r
,
which takes him away unexpectedly .
”
I t was al l very st range , — s tranger that
Gladys did not come home ; perhaps sh e
had see n the news in the morn ing paper,
and had gone to her cousin Amel ia ’s house
to pass the day , and avoid meeting Mrs.
Fallow-Deer.
Poor gi rl , c ried that good lady at last ,
when the hual words had been said a hun
d red t imes on the exci ting top ic,and a hun
d red surm i ses made by M r . Gray Grosvenor,
I m ust real ly drive down to Amel ia ’s and
find hen
I t was th ree o ’clock , th e l uncheon had
protracted i tself until a very late hou r, and
Mrs . Fallow-Deer, excusing herself from he r
guests,rang for her carriage , and was j us t
preparing to start i n quest of the poor
deceived darl i ng, when Charles Farwe l l ’s
card was brough t up to her.
240 A NEWPORT AQUARELLE.
sobbed forth a broken greeting to the two
gentlemen .
My dear madam , said th e Rev. Abel ,
gallantly , “ pray do not cry . I t i s my duty
to break to you a piece of news .
No , no , M r. Carleton , I have already
heard of it,” wailed Mrs . Fal low-Deer , and
what um I say ? No one can suffer more
than I , at th is sad affai r ; you certa inly m ust
know how enti rely I was deceived by the
young m an .
I ndeed , ma’am , I was not aware that you
had heard the news ; but real ly , these tears ,
th is d istress I cannot th ink , madam , that
they are indicat ive of your real sentiments .
Mrs . Fallow-Dee r brid led and dried her
tears . M r . Carleton , she said i n her most
a cc en tuated and dramatic manner,“ I real ly
do 720i understand you , si r ; you seem in
c l ined to make l igh t of th is terrible—this
morti fying affai r.
Well , wel l , my dear madam ,that is taking
an extreme view of the case . I t was without
A A’EWPOIPT AQUARELLE. 24 1
doubt sudden and perhaps rash ; bu t , Mrs .
Fallow-Deer, young folks are not so slow as
we old ones i n thei r thoughts o r i n thei r ways,
and I thought si ncerely that I was act ing fo r
the best in helping the young man
What do you mean , M r. Carleton P
Farwel l , I don’t understand it , said
'
Mr s .
Fal low-Deer , fai ntly
The fact is , dear Mrs . Fallow-Deer,I
t rust you won ’t be angry, but Gladys
stammered Farwell .
Wel l , what about Gladys ? Do you know
where she is ? I have not seen her to-day .
”
There was a l itt le rustl e , and from beh ind
a curtain Gladys appeared , blush ing , c on
fused , radiant . She looked neither a t Charles
Farwell nor th e Rev. Abel , but gl ided up to
Mrs . Fallow-Deer, and , throwing her arms
about that good lady ’s n eck,buried her head
on her tight-laced but motherly bosom , and
whispered ,
Dear, forgive us , but I—am Charl ie’
s
242 A NEWPORT AQUARELLE.
L’
ENVOI .
I n th e early October days Newport is stil l
fai r w i th a beau ty t inged with sadness ; the
prime of the year i s past . I n the long
crescen t corridor o f the Casino there is noth
ing oi'
that gay th rong of people we first saw
the re . Where hundreds were wont to si t and
stare,walk and chat, only a dozen or two per
sons are to be seen scattered about . Am ong
these few “ late ” peopl e we recognize some
faces on th is October morning, whose a c
quaintance we first made in the merry month
of August .
Mrs . Fal low-Deer, i n the la tes t of Dono
van ’s imported costumes , and Mrs . Craig ,
fresh as a rosebud , are s i tt ing together, oc c u
pied for the mom en t in watch i ng two people
who are walking across the green that leads
to th e racket court . We can on ly see the i r
backs , but that carriage of the head could be
long to no one but G ladys Carleton—we
beg her pardon Farwell , and the l ight
244 A NEWPORT AQUARELLE.
I Iwow that she did not know about i t,”
rej oi ned Mrs . Fal low—Deer.Do you real ly bel i eve that
,dear Mrs .
Fallow—DeerP Wel l , i t i s refresh ing to find
some one who is not scept ical i n th is day and
gene ration . I suppose you bel ieve also that
Gladys did not know about Farwel l ’s having
made that pi l e of money in the L i t tle Q uick
gain Mine P
My dear,I know she d id not , for when
we talked i t al l ove r together that afternoon ,
after she came back , and surprised me into
hysterics,she spoke quite seriously about he r
having married a poor man . She had always
loved Charl ie Farwell in a way ,
‘
but she was a
queer gi rl,and the knowledge of her love for
h im only came to her in i ts full force on that
day when they went off for the fatal drive .
She had loved h im,bu t he had somehow
failed to say the righ t th ing to her ; he had
given h er up too easi ly, before her heart was
real ly awake .
But,
” i n te rrupted Mrs . Craig , i f sh e had
A NEWPORT AQUARELLE. 245
not heard al l about that horrid Engl ishman,
sh e neve r would have done so queer,so
utterly unheard -of a th ing as to ge t up i n
the m iddle o f the n igh t and steal away to
Fal l R iver, to be married by dear knows
who , to a m ail that she might have m arried
six years ago . I t was because she had no t
the face to stand the m ortific a tion alone , that
she took up wi th Charl ie Farwel l , who real ly
deserves bette r treatment.“ Now, Minnie Craig , once and for al l I
won ’ t hear any more such spi te about Gladys .
I t was because Charl ie would not be taken
as a p z'
s (2115 7 , that he married her that morn
ing . H e told her afterwards that if she had
not married h im Mm , before she knew of
La rk ing ton’
s being a humbug, and while sh e
thought Farwel l to be a man of moderate
means , she neve r would have had anoth er
chance . She never even knew there was
such a mine as the L ittl e Qu ic kga in , which
Charl i e real ly only bought to help that queer
Bohemian friend of his , Cartwright, never
246 A NEWPORT AQUARELLE.
dreaming that h is b read would come back to
h im toasted and buttered . Gladys married
a poor New York broker , wh ile she though t
herself engaged to an Engl ish peer, j us t as
surely as if the real Cuthbert Larkington
had neve r been shot , and the false one di s
covered , and the L i ttl e Quic kga in did not
stand at 2 75 . To her the credi t of s uch un
worldl i ness belongs , and only envy can deny
i t to her. I t i s not so often that we have a
love match in our set ; we had bette r make
th e most of i t, I th i nk .
”
The good Mrs . Fal low—Deer , at heart warmand kindly
,spoke ind ignant ly to the l it tle
pretty fribble of a worldl i ng at her s ide , and
Count Cl awski noticed , as he j oi ned the two
ladies , that some rather high words must have
passed betwee n them,but h e was too ful l of
his subj ect to keep it to h imself, he had a bi t
of news Wh ich he knew would be eagerly lis
tened to by them both .
“ I have j us t heard the real tru th about
our Engl ishman,he said , i n a letter from
248 A NEWPORT AQUARELLE.
while Clawski gave th is ske tch of the bogus
Hon . Cuthbert , and after l i s ten ing intently
to all the fa t diplom ate h ad to say , he heaved
a great sigh of rel i ef. No , Cl awski had not
heard the l a st th ing connected with the
strange affai r,and his thunder was not stolen .
Rapturous thought ! As Gray Grosvenor
stood s i l en t , a smile of superior knowledge
on his face , a warm complacency i n h is ex
pressm n ,awaiting the recovery of h is breath ,
l ost i n th e qu ick pace at which he had walked
from the racket court to the corridor, h is eyes
fel l upon a picture framed i n the oriel of
black wood i n the balcony of the racket
court . There , looking down at the group ,
stood Gladys and her lover husband , smil i ng ,
brigh t,and beautiful . What a contrast they
were , the Saxon-hai red man,strong and
ruddy with heal th , and the graceful s lender
woman with her wh ite face and great dark
eyes ! For on e moment they stood looking
down at thei r friends in the ful l sunl ight,and
then G ladys waved a whi te hand,Farwell
A NEWPORT AQUARELLE. 249
l ifted h is hat , and they disappeared under
the shadow of the balcony.
A s they were lost to view , Gray Grosvenor
gained h is los t breath , and said , Well , what
do you th ink the las t extraord inary act of
that extraordinary young man is P O i
course they could not guess and begged to
be told .
Why,the Farwel ls , passing through New
York on thei r return from thei r queer bridal
trip to Colorado , met Larkington in th e
street,looking seedy
,sick , and general ly
broken up. Sti rrups was with him , devoted
sti ll,but the two of them were in a bad
pl ight . What does Farwel l do , but pay the
passage of these two rascal s to Leadvil le , and
give Cartwrigh t d irections to find them
work in the mine , and le t them have one
more chance at support ing themselves hon
es tlyP What do you think of tha tP
Mrs . Craig sniffed and said , I t i s not
surpri sing that the Farwel ls wanted the man
out of the way ; he might talk and say some
250 A NEWPORT AQUARELLE.
0
things which they would rath er not have
heard .
”
Mrs . Fallow-Deer said nothing , but pressed
her handkerch ief to her eyes , in which were
real tears ; sh e was rather hysterical that
morning, and was eas i ly touched .
“ Ah ! noélesse obl ige.
” Coun t C l awsk i
was the speaker. For once the accom pl ished
diplomate forgot h is careful Engl ish and
spoke fee l i ngly i n h is native tongue. s i
m ent, c’
esf ag z'
r en g r a nd 5 2491122 7
THE END.
Un ivers i t y Press ! Joh n Wi l son 81 Son , Camb ridge.
M essr s. Roéer/s B rotéer s’
Puél z’
m tz’
ons.
FAMOUS WOMEN SERIES.
EM I LY BRO NTE.
BY A. MARY F. ROBINSON.
One vol . 16m o. Cl oth . Pri ce,
Miss Rob i n son h as w ri t t en a fasci n at i ng b i ography. Emi l y Bron t e i si n terest ing
,not because she wrote Wutherm g H e igh ts , ’ bu t becau se o f h erb rave
, ba ffled , human l ife , so lon e ly, so fu l l o f pa in , bu t w i t h a grea t h ope sh in ingbeyond a l l th e darkn ess, and a pass i on ate defian c e i n bearing more th an th ebutdens th a t we re l a id upon her Th e s tory o f th e th ree S is t ers i s infin i te ly sad ,bu t i t 15 t h e enn ob l ing sadness th a t be longs to large n atu res cramped and str i v i ngfo r freedom t o heroic , a lmost despera te , work , w 1th l i t t le or n o resu l t . Th e au th orof th i s i n tense l y i n terest i ng, sympathe t ic, and e loquen t biograph y, i s a young ladyand a poe t
,to whom a p lace 13 g i ven in a recen t an tho logy o f hvm g Engl i sh poe ts,wh ich i s su l i posed t o con ta in on ly t he be s t poems o f t h e best wr i ters .” —B oston
0 4 zZy A dver t z’
ser .
“ Miss Robi n son had many exce l len t qua l ific a tions for th e task sh e h as performed i n th i s l i t t l e vo l ume , among wh i ch may be named , an en th u si ast i c i n teres ti n h er subjec t and a rea l sympath y w i th Em i l y Bron te ’ s sad and hero ic l i fe . Torepresen t her as sh e wa s , ’ says M l SS Robm son , wou ld be h er n ob l es t and mostfi tti ng mon umen t . ’ Em i l y Bron te h ere becomes we l l known to us and , i n onesen se , th i s should be pra ise enough for a n y b iography New Yor k s es .
“ Th e b iograph er who finds such mate ria l be fore h im as th e hves and charactersof th e Bron té fam i ly need have no anx ie ty a s to th e in teres t of h i s work . Chara c ters no t on l y stron gr bu t so u n ique l y strong , gen i us so supreme , m isfortunes sooverwhe lm ing
,se t in i ts scenery so for lorn ly pic tu resque , cou ld not fa i l t o a t t ract
a l l readers , i f told even in th e most prosai c l anguage . When we add to th i s, t h a tM iss Robi nson has told t he i r s tory n ot i n prosa ic l anguage , bu t Wi t h a h terastyle exh ib i ti ng a l l t h e qua l i t i e s essen t ia l t o good biograph y
,ou r readers Wi l
u nderstan d th a t th i s l i fe o f Emi ly Bron te 15 n ot on ly as m terestm g as a n ove l , bu ta grea t dea l more i n terest ing t h an mos t n ove l s . A s i t presen ts most v iw d ly agenera l pict ure o f th e fam i ly, th ere seems h ard ly a reason for g i v i ng i t Em i l y ’s nam e
alone,excep t perhaps for th e masterl y chapters on Wu th eri ng H e igh ts , ’ whi ch
the reade r w i l l find a grate fu l conden sa t ion o f th e best i n t ha t power fu l bu t somewha t forb idd ing story . We know of n o poi n t i n th e Bron te h istory t hei r gen ius,thei r su rrou nd in g s , th ei r faul ts, th e i r h app in e ss, th e i r m ise ry, the 1r l ove and fri end !
sh ips , th ei r pecu l ia ri t i e s , th ei r power, th e i r gen t leness, th e i r pa tien c e , the1r pr 1de ,—Wl'l l Cl l Miss Robi nson h as not t ouc hed upon w i th c onscie n t iousn ess and sympath y .” Th e Cn t z c .
Emi l y Bron te i s th e secon d of th e Famou s Women Series , ’ wh ich Robert sB roth ers
,Boston , propose to pub l i sh , and o f “ t h George E l i o t wa s th e in i t ia l
vo l ume . Not th e least remarkab l e of a very remarkab le fami ly, the personagewhose l ife i s h e re w r i t ten , possesses a pecul i ar i nt erest to a l l wh o are a t a l l fam i l ia rWi t h th e sad and singu l ar h i story of he rse l f and h er si ste r Charlot te . Tha t t h eau t hor
,M I SS A . Mary F . Robi n son , has done h er wo rk w i t h m in u t e fide l i ty to
facts a s we l l as aff ect iona te devoti on to th e subj ec t of h er ske tch , i s p la in ly to besee n a l l t h rough the book .
” Wa s/zm g ton Past .
Sold by all Booksel lers , or mai led, post-paid , on rec e ipt ofpr ic e
,by the Pub l ishers ,
ROBERTS BROTHERS , BOSTON.
MESSRS. ROBERTS BROTHERS’ PUBLICATIONS.
f amous w omen 5 21185 .
GEO RGE EL I O TBY MATH ILDE BL IND.
One vo l . 16m o . C loth .
Messrs . Robert s B roth e rs begi n a seri es o f Biograph ies o f Famou sWomen W i th a l i fe of George E l iot , by Math i lde B l ind . The i dea of th eseri es i s a n exc e l len t on e , and the repu ta t ion of i ts pub l ishe rs i s a guaranteefor i t s adequate execu t i on . Th i s book con ta in s abou t th ree hundred pages i nOpen type, and no t on ly col lects and conden se s th e ma in facts tha t are knowni n regard t o t he hi story o f George E l iot , bu t supp l i es othe r materia l fromperson al research . I t i s agreeab l y wri t ten , an d Wi th a good idea o f proport ion i n a memo i r of i t s si ze . The grtt ic a l s tudy o f i ts subjec t ’ s works , whichis made i n the order of th ei r appe arance , i s part icularly we l l don e . I n fac t ,good tas te and good judgmen t pervade t he m emo i r t h roughou t .” S a turdayEw m
’
rzg Ga z ette.
Miss B l i n d ’ s l i t t l e book i s wri t t en w i t h adm i rab l e good t aste and judgmen t, and W i th n otable se l f-res t ra i n t . I t doc not weary the reader Wl l hc ri t i ca l d i sc ursweness, nor w i t h at tempt s to search ou t h t -fiown mean in sand rec on f l tte orac les i n t he pla i n ‘ yea ’ and nay of 1183 . I t IS a g race uiand unpre ten t ious l i t t l e biograph y
,and te l ls a l l th a t n eed be to ld concern i ng
one o f the grea tes t wri t ers of t he t ime . I t i s a deep ly in te rest in g i f n o tfasci na t ing woman whom M iss B l i n d presen ts, ” says the New YorkTr ibune .
“ Miss B l i nd’ s l i t t le b i ograph ica l s tudy of George E l i o t i s wr i t ten w i thm pa thy and good taste , and i s very we lcome . I t g iv es us a graph ic i f n ote abora te sketch of t h e persona l i ty and deve lopmen t o f th e grea t n ove l is t , i spart icu larly fu l l and au t hen t i c concern ing he r earl i e r years , te l ls enough ofth e lead ing mot ives i n her work to g i ve th e general reader a l l l C ld idea of th etrue dri ft and pu rpose of her art , and ana l yzes care fu l l y her vari ous wri t ings,w i t h n o at tempt a t profound cri t ic i sm or fine w r i t i ng , bu t wi th apprec iat i on ,i n s igh t , and a c lear grasp of those underlying psycho log ica l pri nciple s wh ichare so c lose ly i n terwoven i n every produc uo n t ha t c ame from her pe n .”Tr a vel le r .
The l ives o f few grea t wri ters h ave a t t racted more curiosi ty an d speCttl at i on t han tha t o f Geor e El i o t . H ad she on ly l ived ea r l ter tn t h e cen tu rysh e m igh t eas i ly have ec ome th e cen t re of a mythos. A s i t i s , many of t h eanecdotes common ly repeated abou t h er are made u p l arge l y of tab le . I t 18 ,th ere fc re , we l l , be fore i t i s too l a te , t o reduce th e t rue story o f h er career tothe lowes t t erms
,and th i s serv ic e has been we l l done by the au thor of t h e
pre se n t vo l ume .” Pl ula d e lp/z ia Pr ess .
So ld by al l booksel lers , or mai led, post-paid , on rec e ipt of
pr ic e , by the publ ishers ,ROBERTS BROTHERS , BOSTON .
NO NAM E (TH IRD) S ERI E S .
A DAUGHTEROF THEPHILISTINES.
Th ere i s n oth i ng l ike a we l l-wri t ten n ove l t o gi ve th e reader a tru e i n sigh t of hum an l i fe i n a l l i t s ph ases
,i t s socie ty , a ims , and asp ira t ion s , and of t h e scenes and sc en
e ry i n wh ich i t moves . The ‘ No Name ’ nove l s do th i s . They are a l l b l l g l l t an dt ru th ful , a nd o f a refined order ; th ey are so good i t i s sm q ul ar th a t th e pub l ishers ,R obert s B roth e rs, of Boston , are abl e to se l l t h em a t th e ch eap price o f one dol lar avol ume. The b ind ing i s tasteful , an d th e books are conven ien t t o h andl e , just th erigh t S i ze t o tuck away i n a sa tch e l , for reading duri ng a j ou rn ey ,
or fo r th e summerh ol iday s . Wln l e on e i s e n terta in ed by th ese charm i ng l i t t le s ton es , t h ere i s a lso asa t i s factory fee l in g th a t t ime i s n ot wasted i n th e i r perusa l
,bu t m uch p rofi t gai n ed .
Th ey keep on e abreast w i t h t h e t im es i n many soc ia l d i rect ions , and , in a p l easu rab l eway , t h ey are adapted to g i ve lad ies a grea t dea l o f th e genera l in format ion o f t h e day ,i n w ln c h many a t e sad l y lack ing . The No Name Ser ies 15 bet ter and bet te r th e o lde ri t grows . The Th i rd S e t ies i ncl udes some o f th e best . Bam ng ton
’s Fa te is fol lowed
by A Daugh ter of th e Ph th s tm es ,’ and i t i s good from begm n tng to end . The
book i s bri mm i ng w i th l i t t l e b i ts o f w i sdom , and gen u i n e World l y knowledgeA Daugh te r o f t h e Pln l ts tines ’ does n ot cla im to be a soc i e ty nove l , bu t i t gives
m ore c omprehen s i ve i n format i on of New York soc i e ty t h an th e books tha t m ake tha tsub jec t a speci al t y I t a l so depict s fai th fu l l y th e schemi ng stock Operat i on s ofWa l lst ree t ; b u t th e ug l i est facts of socwt y and of
' s tock gamb l ing are presen ted w i th a refined t ast e a nd a de l i c ate h umor th a t would p lease th e most fast id ious reader. ”H a rgf or a
' Tz'
m es .
We commend th e story as a p ic tu re of th e demora l i z in g eff ect ofWal l S t ree t specul a tion on domest i c l i fe , for i t s graph i c portra i tu re of fash ion ab l e l i fe on M urray H I”,and for th e l esson i t i ncu lca tes of th e m i s fortun e and d isaster tha t fol low m th e t rai nof th ose who give themse l ve s up to t h e worsh i p o f Mammon .” Pr ow den c e 7our m z l .
f‘ A Daugh ter of th e Ph i l i st i n es i s on e of th e l atest of th e No
.
Nam e Series an d11 15 th e mos t i n te t est tng of th e col l ect ion . I t s l itera rv super iori ty and o r tgm ah tyst r ike one upon i t s fi rs t page , an d t hey are con t in ued . There 15 not a du l l page i n th ebook .” —H nm e ? ou r fl a l
I f we were to h azard a gu ess, i t would be th a t th i s book i s by th e au thor of TheH ou se o f a Merchan t Prm c e ,
’ M r . B i shop, o f New York . We a re , h oweve r. i t
seem s , never to know who an y o f th ese No Name wri t ers a re , an d so even guessi ng i s unprofi tabl e The s tory i s of New York l i fe , and i ts i n ciden ts h e c h i eflv amongth e r ich and fash i onabl e . Th e Ph i l i st i nes ’ in qu est ion a re wh a t are ca l led thefzou z rea ux r i c/zes Th e i r ch aracter
,career
,and end are ske tched in a wa y to sh ow
where and how i n ten se world l in ess i s apt t o bring up . The ‘ Daugh ter, ’ h oweve r ,h as e l emen ts o f ch aracter of a be t te r order, and fa l l i ng i n love w i th a superi or man , i sby h im saved from t he fate wh ich a t fi rst th rea ten s h er . Th e “ h ol e i s managed w i t hth e sk i l l o f a pract ised wr i te r, Wi t h th e i n s igh t of t ru e gen i us , and w i t h an mm wh ichth e jud ic iou s reader fu l l y i n dorses. ” S ta nda r d , Ch ic ag o.
On e Vo l um e . 1 6m o . B r ow n C l o th . G i l t a n d B l a c k . Pr i c e ,
Our pub l i c a t i on s a re t o b e h a d o f a l l b o ok s e l l e rs , or w i l l b e m a i l e d ,post-pa i d , on r e c e i pt o f p r i c e , by t h e pub l i sh e rs ,
ROBERTS BROTHERS , BOSTON .
SUMMER READING .
Dorothy . A Country S tory in Eleg iac Verse . 16mo . C loth . 5A Par is i an Ye ar . By H enry Bac on . With i l lustrations by
the a uthor . 16m o . C l o th 1 . 50
H opes an d F ears fo r A rt . ByWi l l ianiM orr is . 16m o . C loth 1 .25C loth 1 . 50
Po ems by O s c ar Wi l de . 16mo . C lothL et ters H om e from Co lor ado , U t ah , a nd Cal i fo rn i a . ByCaro l ine H . Dal l . I amo . C loth
Coun try P le asure s . The Chron ic le of a Year ; c hie fly i na Ga rden . By George M i lner . 16mo . C lo th
Random Ramb les . In the beaten track of Engl ish a nd
Con t inen tal trave l , br istl ing w i th in tel l igenc e , good sense ,
and humor .
” By Lou ise Chandler M ou l ton . 16moB it s o f Trave l . By H . H . Square 16mo . C lothB i t s o f Trave l a t H om e . By H . H . Square 16mo. C lothGon e to Texas ; or , The VVonderfui Adventures of a Pul l
m an . By E. E. H ale . 16mo . C lothTh e M oun tain s . A Col lec tion of Poems . S quare 16mo 1 00
S e a a nd S hore . A Poet ic al Se lec t ion . S quare 16m o . 1 00
Wi ld L ife in a S ou thern Coun ty . 16m o . C lothTh e G amekeeper a t H ome . 1 2mo . C lothTh e Amat eu r Poac her . 1 2mo . C lothRoun d Abou t a G reat Estat e . 1 2mo . C loth 1 .50
Our Au tumn H o l id ay on F ren c h R ivers . By J. L. M o l
l oy. 16mo . C lothS arah d e B ereng er . A Nove l . By Jean I ngeIow . 16m o .
C lothS is te r Dora. A Biography. By M argaret Lonsda l e . 16m o .
C lo th . With portrait
New Novels by No Name Auf/zors.
Th e H ead o f M edus a . By th e author of “ ! ismet,” “ M1
rage .
”I 6m o
B y th e T iber .
H
By the author of S ign or Mona l din i’
sNiec e16mo
Ble ss ed S ain t C e rt ain ty . By the author of H is Maj esty,Myse l f.” 16mo
Sold by a l l booksel l ers, or m a i l ed,posf to a ny a dd ress on r eceipt of
j r zc e , [zy t/ze publ i slzer s,ROBERTS BROTHERS, Boston .