Sweet Anne Page - forgottenbooks.com€¦ · MENAGE OU MENAGERIE? AN GTON, said the Seraph, as they sat ove r their after-din n e r coffe e, do m e a favour. You

SW E E T A N N E P A G E .

M OR T IM E R C O LL IN S .

IN T HRE E VOLUM E S .

VOL. III.

L O N D O N

HURST A N D BLACKE TT,PUBLISHE RS

,

13,GREAT MARLBOROUGH S TREET .

1868 .

T he rig ht offiamlation is resa 'ved

LONDON

P RIN T ED BY MA CDON A LD A N D T UGWE LL, BLE N HE IM HOUS E ,BLE N HE IM S T RE E T , OXFORD S T RE E T .

S W E E T A N N E P A G E .

CHAPTE R I .

MENAGE OU MENAGERIE ?

AN GTON ,said the Seraph, as they sat

ove r their after-din n e r coffe e,

do mea favour . You’ve n othing to do , I kn ow ; you

’re

fond of poe tic dreaming ; go out of town for a

couple of days, and then come back to the

W olf’s Den .

W hat do you mean

N ever min d. W ill you do it ? T he re sult

may amuse you .

W here the deuce am I t o go ‘

3”

Run down to Idlech e ster and Kingsleat

talk to your aun t and W in ifred—make love to

Jack W in slow.

VOL . III.

2 SW EET ANNE PAGE .

W e ll, said Stephen , “ to oblige you I ll go .

W hen may I re turn ?”

T he day after to-morrow, if you like .

Al l right. The re ’s a n ight mail . I’

ll te ll

Auguste to pack a portman teau, and be off at

on ce .

He did accordingly. He aston ished the Halt

Moon at Idle che ster— its ostlers at least—byde scending at about two in the morn in g

from the box of the Quicksilver mail,and re

quiring a bed. W hen , at about n oon,he sat

down to breakfast, Jack W in slow came in with

the coffe e .

W e ll, Mr. Stephen , said she , what mis

chie f has brought you he re ? W e hear all sorts

of dreadful tale s of your doings in London .

“ I am come to se e if any young lady in Idl e

che ste r will accept my hand and heart and the

poor remain s of my property, said Stephen .

N ow,Jack, don

’t chaff ; te ll me the n ews .”

There ’s n on e . T he Bishop , they say, is to

be made Archbishop of York . They do talk of

Mr. W alte r Bran scombe as Bishop . Your grand

fathe r is lookin g ve ry we ll . S o is your Aun t

ME NAGE OU ME NAGERIE . 3

Harrie t. Mr. S tig g in s is Mayor this year.

W e ll , you’re a capital hand at te lling

n ews, Jack. S en d me up a bottle of clare t,

you ? and don ’t mention to anybody that

here .

Clare t for breakfast !”

Slightly. Just look alive,that’s a good

You’re n ot improved by livin g in London

like a gentleman , she said.

N ot lik e ly. Don ’t gossip, but send me the

win e . Be st you’ve got.”

T he buxom barmaid departed with an ironical

curtsey. Stephen , flexible and plian t, had taken

very readily to Bordeaux and Burgundy for

breakfast. There is n othing that commen ce s

the day so divin e ly as a bottle of light win e .

I ven erate ale and stout ; but I re cogn ize in

A nacre on’

s favourite fluid a stimulus alien from

stupefaction—afin e poe tic effe rve scen t powe r

which the stronge st ale of E dinburgh or the

walle d-up malt ofMount’

E dg e combe and W ool

ley Hall cann ot rival .

A s Stephen drank his clare t froma tumble r,

4 SWEET AN NE PAGE .

and smoked a lazy cigar, he reflected on the

circumstan ce s which had brought him there .

Que er en ough they were . Ce llini’

s ball with its

adven ture : the W olf’s re turn , and the ir long

sle ep : Raphae l’s re solve of revenge . Stephen

wondered at the con catenation of even ts which

had made him almost a Bran scombe . W hat

devilry there was among that strange race !

W hat pre sen ce of min d in Isola’s ready dagger !

W hat a grote sque hoax that sle eping draught

of the W olf’s ! W hat did it mean ? 'W as it

me re ly the horse-play of this retired pirate , or

had he any sin iste r in ten tion s in re feren ce to

the two girls ? H e could mean n o harm to

his own daughter, sure ly. But what did he

mean ?

Stephen Langton ’s was a temperamen t that

was both e quable and excitable . H e hadperiods

of absolute lotos-eating l azin e ss, and periods of

the most un quen chable re stle ssn e ss . IfOdysseus

had accepted the thron e of the LotOplzag oi he

might have fe lt ve ry much as S tephen did. A nd

he now foun d himse lf drawn in to a kind of eddy

oflife—a whirlpool , when ce e scape se eme d im

ME NAGE on ME NAGERIE . 5

practicable . The se Bran scombe s had annexed

him.

At this momen t h e could n ot understand what

was to happen in conn exion with Marmaduke

andRaphae l . W ould there be any tragical de

v elopment of this Aristophanic comedy ? ‘

E x

treme s me e t, w e kn ow ; and the ve ry wild

comedy of highly excitable men often ends in

horrible tragedy. E ven farce ends in tragedy

some time s—as when a P ope dies . W hat says

Robert Brown in g

Ofhow some actor playedDeath on a stag e

W ith pas teboard crown,sham orb

,and tinse lled dart ,

A nd call ed hims elf the monarch ofthe world,

T hen g oin g in the tire -room afterward,

Because the play was don e , to shift himse lf,

G ot touched upon the sleev e familiarlyT he moment he had shut the closet doorBy Death himse lf. T hus G odmig ht touch a P ope .

A t unawares,ask what his baubles mean ,

A ndwhose part he presumed to play just now

Stephen Langton,however

,having promise d

n ot to re -appear in the quiet stre e t till the day

afte r to-morrow at earlie st, dismissed the Bran s

combe en igma, and, as we ll as h e could, break

6 SWEET ANNE PAGE.

fasted le isure ly, and spe culated as to what he

should do with himse lf. T he re sult was pre tty

much as follows . H e paid a visit to the be loved

garden s where had be en passe d the happy hours

of his boyish wooing. To his visionary tempe

ramen t it was a de light to Wander on those n eglected lawn s, under those tre e s , where at every

turn of the garden alleys it se emed that brown

eyed fre sh-che eked An n e Page , the baby beauty ,

ought to dan ce out to me e t him. N ot there

alon e did Stephen Langton dream. He wan

dered, as of old, in the shadow of the great

cathedral, and by the sinuous verge of th e Rive r

Idle . He called back that half-forgotte n life of

his,with its sordid and its poetic moie tie s, as if

W itn ey blanke t were in some way worked in

with cloth of gold.

Of course his grandfather’s house and the

tanyard he lped him in this . T he oldgen tleman

and the old gen tleman ’s progeny we re little

altered. W hen Stephen saw his Aun t Harrie t

again ,he thought of that doleful school of the

S adbrooke s’

, with all its mendican t mise ry .

You cann ot de stroy the past. E xperience s such

MENAGE OU MENAGERIE .

as those of Stephen Langton ’s boyhood are in

de lible . They pass into the imagin ation ; they

photograph themse lve s upon the re tina of your

mind’s eye , Horatio. Stephen foun d his re

miniscen ce s almost painful. Olim hazememz’

nisse

iuvabit is n ot invariably true .

Stephen Langton hire d a horse and rode to

Kin g sleat. H e turn ed out of his way to visit

the scene of his early boyhood’s affliction . To

his extreme de light the old place was turn ed

into a farm-hous e ; in the playground the wheat

was gre en and flourishing ; the school-room—n o

great me tamorphosis—was now a thre shin g

floor. Stephen rode in to the farmyard,and

asked for a glass of cide r. Out came a buxom

lass, just such as Mr. Barn e s’ poe t of the Dorse t

Doric, de scribe s so naturally

S o quick’s a bird, so n eatfs a cat,

S o cheerful in her niater,

T he best 0’ maidens to come at’s afarmer’s woldest daeter.

It was just Farmer Gre en land’s dinn e r-time ;

n othing would induce him to le t Stephen depart

without taking a snack . So,byway ofa change


from his town life,he found himse lf eatin g

boiled fowls and bacon,with mighty masse s of

vege table matter, in the hospitable socie ty of

a stout agriculturist,his stout and smilingwife ,

and thre e very n ice -looking young female s of

the race . It was like a dream . Had the S ad

brooke family really dwe lt in what was n ow a

j olly farmhouse ? Had he be en tortured there

in his youth ? H e could n ot be lieve it.

W e ll, thought Stephen to himsef, when ,

having don e justice to good Farme r Gre en land’s

dinn e r, and taken frie ndly farewe ll ofhis daug h

ters , he rode slowly towards Kin g sleat,“ I

wonde r whe ther it would be a good spe culation

to marry a farmer’s daughte r. W hat would

the Seraph say ? H e’

d te ll me that she could

n ever be a fit compan ion for me , n ever un der

stand,me , n eve r en te r in to socie ty with me .

But hang it, afte r associatingwith such wild crea

ture s as Claudia and Isola,anything quie t and

common -place is deuce dly re fre shing I

wonde r whe re Claudia and Isola are n ow ?”

H e rode in to Kin g sleat . H e we n t first to the

public library, but his old acquain tance , Mr.

ME NAGE ou MENAGERIE . 9

Lon sdale , was away on his annual holiday.

Then ,havin g le ft his horse at the Mitre , he wen t

to th e Re ctory. E l luck pursued him ; the

Re ctor and his daughte r had just started for

Idle che ster, to din e at the Bishop’s . So he

strolled moodily back to the Mitre , and studied

the Idlechester Chronicle ove r some se ltze r and

brandy .

Suddenly, as he looked through the coffe e

room window on the de serte d stre e t, Dr. W in ter

was visible de scending the hill at his usual

swingin g pace . Stephen snatched up his hat,

anddid his be st to ov ertake th e Doctor . Itwas

n o easy busin e ss . His accustomed pace , when

n ot in a hurry, was fiv e mile s an hour. H e was

a light we ight,sound of win d

,with muscle s of

ste e l . Stephen ’s long stride scarce ly he lped

himmuch . But he didovertake the rapid head

master at last .

Then , it was difficul t to bring himse lf under

his n otice . Dr. W in ter was the most absen t of

men . H e had a marve llous faculty of abstrac

tion . H e often , stridin g along on his rapid

walks,ign ored the existen ce of most in timate

10 SWEET ANNE PAGE .

friends . Stephen could on ly attract his atten

tion by standing so dire ctly in his way that hecould pass on ly by walking through him .

‘ But

when he had attracted his atten tion, the Doctor

was as courte ous as possible .

As they stretched along the towing path on

the margin of Idle , Dr. W in ter found out a

good deal of his young frie nd’s state ofmind.

You are un se ttled, Langton . I must give

you a little advice . W hy don’t you de cide on

a care e r ? W hy don ’t you marry ? You are

n ot the man to be happy without occupation .

If you will findme a wife and a care er, sir,

said Langton with a slight laugh, “ I’ll do my

be st to follow your advice .

W e ll , I kn ow something of your adven ture s .

I am n ot surprise d at your re luctan ce to marry.

But sure ly you can find some on e to con sole

you. As to care er, I always thought you were

like ly to do some thing in literature .

I cann ot find fit topics,or satisfy myse lf

with my treatmen t. That is what perplexe s

me . N ow, your n ephew Humphrey always

se ems to do perfe ctly what the public wants .

MENAGE ou MENAGERIE . 1 1

Humphrey is a humbug, Mr. Langton .

There is n othing real about him . H e write s

succe ssful article s be cause he is unprin cipled

and ins in cere . H e . can adapt hims e lf to any

thin g, havin g n o definite faith . But stay and

din e with me , Mr. Langton . I’ll give you some

good advice , and be tte r port-win e—and then I’ll

ask you for your advice

Min e !

Y e s . Yours is n ot unl ike ly to be good, in

refe ren ce to a poin t which I have be en all day

puzzling myse lf to de te rmin e . So you shall

come home with me and give it .

They wen t, accordingly ; and the Doctor and

his young frien d sat down to an exce llen t sim

ple dinn er. Itwas a treat to listen to Dr. W in

ter’s converse . It was always fre sh and ke en .

H e looked on life from an origin al poin t of view.

More ove r, as an experien ced schoolmaster, with

a facul ty for finding out the characteristics of

youthful in te lle cts , and a magn etic influence

ove r them, h e foun d a pleasure in studyin g his

gue st. H e did n ot disdain the cruditie s and eu

thusiasms of youth. He foun d real pleasure in

12 SW EET ANNE PAGE.

e liciting Stephen Langton’s men tal perplexitie s ,

and in giving him coun se l . H e pitied'

a fine

young fe llow, born among barbarian s,le ft to

e ducate himse lf,and in extricably associated with

a race of lunatics .

If on ly,said Stephen Langton , I had

be en fortunate en ough to g e t a rational e duca

tion—ifI had be en sen t to Kin g sleat Grammar

School—I should n ot have be en so in capable as

I n ow fe e l myse lf. I have‘

n eve r re ce ived e ithe r

affe ction or culture . A boy wan ts two he lps—a

mother and a. schoolmaster . I had n e ithe r. I

was surrounde d all through my youth with pe o

ple whom I could n ot un derstand, and who could

n ot un derstand me , except when I v isited Mr.

Page ; and having had n o definite guidan ce , I

am n ow un able to de te rmin e what I ought to

do . I am unable to separate myse lf from the

Bran scombe s,who se em de stin ed to exercise a

mysterious influen ce ove r me . I cann ot re solve

on any occupation that will ke ep me out of mis

chie f. I just pass my time in amusing myse lf,

Dr. W in ter— that is all.

There is n o greater mistake , said the Doc

M ENAGE ou MENAGERIE . 13

Some Fren chman has said -Dr.W in te r

read eve rything La jouissance me parait le but

de la vie, et la seule chose utile au monde . A miser

able mistake ofthe poor idiot’s—at least when

we conn e ct it with his an imal longing for win e

and women and the like . E nj oymen t,doubt

le ss, is n oble when h e who enj oys can e nj oy n o

thin g ign oble . If I were capable of envy,”con

tinued the Doctor, who had got on his hobby,

andwas ridin g it with en thusiasm, I might

e nvy Shake speare or Keple r,N ewt on or Sir

Humphrey in some supreme momen t of imagi

nation , or invention , or discovery. But depend

upon it, Mr. Langton , to live . for amusement or

for mere comfort, is a fatal e rror —an error that

reduce s a man to the leve l of a woman or—a

dog .

Stephen laughed at the Doctor’s vehemen ce ,‘

and sipped his port—undeniable win e—with

the furtive refle ction that the severe W inte r

did not wholly dis dain comfort,or even luxury.

I wish you would te ll me what to do, Doc

tor, he said.

I n ever attempt impossibilitie s, re sponded

14“

SW EET ANN E PAGE.

the headmaste r quie tly. In your e spe cial case

I suspe ct femin in e entanglemen ts (Stephen

blushed! ; and I can only te ll you to follow

the coun se ls of your own conscience . You

kn ow be st whe the r the life you now live satisfie s

you. I fan cy n ot . You are independen t, and

can easily break away from it by starting to

trave l . It must re st with you to re solve whe

ther this would be wise or n ot .

Video meliora probogue, deteriora seguor,

quoted Stephen .

Ah I” laughe d the Doctor, “ that bit of clas

sicality is a poor excuse . Be tter, however, to

be long to the miserable half-and—half, weak

minded, emasculate race who follow that text,

than to those bolder mortals who rashly ex

claim, E vil, be thou my g ood !”

I don ’t kn ow, said Stephen . I abhor my

own mediocrity. I’d rather be an absolute

scoun dre l, like

W hom ?”

W e ll, I may say like any of the Bran

scombe s . My frie nd Raphae l is an exce llen t in

stance . He is utterly devoid ofcon science . H e

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1 6 SW EET AN NE PAGE .

I don ’t doubt it,said Stephen .

N obody ever took g ood°

advice , repeated

the head-maste r. N obody, by Z eus Kron ion .

Bad advice is winged—winge d to the fabulous

spe ed of those steam coache s they are just talk

in g of. N everthe le ss , I am about to ask yours .

Pe rhaps your young eye s will se e more clearly

than my old on e s through a mist of difficul ty

which be se ts me . You can ke ep a se cre t, I am

I can , and will .

I am asked to be Bishop of Idle che ster.

Dr. Bythe sea is to be tran slate d to York. T he

reason why I am asked, so far as I can gue ss it,

is curious Some years ag o I thwarte d the

Duke of Axmin ste r, who is , you knew ,an influ

e n tial membe r of the Cabin e t. H e is a singu

larly haughty man . I have reason to be lieve

that it is by his spe cial de sire this offer come s to

me . H e is reporte d to have said that I was the

on ly man who had eve r opposed.

him,and that

there fore I de served to be somethin g be tter than

a schoolmaste r.

He reminds me of Charle s the Se cond, said

Stephen .

MENAGE ou MENAGERIE . 1 7

W hat is that

It happen e d at W in che ste r, I think . King

Charle s was building a palace the re , and

brought N e ll Gwynn e down with him . A cer

tain can on of the cathedral de clin ed to le t he r

stay at his house . T h e kin g gave the n ext

vacan t bishopric to th e good little man who

wouldn ’t re ce ive poor N e ll . It was Bishop

I have he ard th e story, said Dr. W in te r .

T h e paralle l is . fair. I have n o obj e ction to

accept th e offe r on accoun t of the motive . But

I doubt whe the r I am fated to be a bishop .

A nd I kn ow I’m a pre tty good schoolmaste r.

A man who is a good schoolmaste r is fit for

anything,said Stephe n .

That may be . But suppose that I can do

more good as a schoolmaste r than I could as a

bishop .

Don ’t you thin k,

urge d Stephen , that it is

possible for the be st of schoolmasters to be a

schoolmaste r too long ? I fan cy all minds that

are worth anything are extreme ly versatile,and

ought n o t to be worked in a pe rpe tual routin e .

VOL . III.


For my own part,I should like to be a great

schoolmaste r, like yourse lf, for a few prosperous

years—and then to be a bishop—and then to be

a gen e ral in the army—and then prime ministe r

—and then a great poe t or astron ome r—and so

E ithe r you are treating the que stion with

irony,my young frien d, said the Doctor, de li

cate ly crackin g a filbert , or you are striving

to show the in compatibility of E piscopus with

Ludimag ister. To live'

a dozen live s in on e is

n ot possible : happy the man who can live on e

rightly .

I thought, said Stephen ,

“ that the re was

a report that Mr. Bran scombe was to be bishop .

W e ll, that is an othe r poin t . It se ems to

have be en an un de rstood thing that the vacan cy

would be his ; and doubtle ss , if I re fuse , the

offe r will be made to him. I don ’t like to dis

appoint him. His claims are far greate r than

min e ; he is on in timate te rms with Lord

Che iron ; and but for that little affair with the

Duke of Axmin ste r, th e offe r would n eve r have

reached me . I don ’t much like the look of

MENAGE OU MENAGERIE .

be in g made a bishop for treadin g on th e tende r

e st corn s of a duke .

I would accept, said Stephen , briefly and

oracularly .

T h e Doctor sat for some time sil en t,spe en

lating on the change from the head-maste r’s

de sk to th e episcopal thron e in that n oble old

cathedral of Idl e ch e ster. At last, afte r fillin g

for himse lf a glass of port , which h e eye d

curiously again st the light,examining its be e s

wing, and then drank with eviden t satisfaction,

Dr . W in te r said

I will take your advice . Rin g for coffe e,

my young fiiend, and then I’ll write my le tte r

of acceptan ce . You shall post it yourse lf,that

I may have n o chan ce of alte ring my min d .

If I have don e n othing '

e lse , said Stephen ,

I have made a bishop .

T he Doctor wrote his le tter ; Stephen took

it away with him,and droppe d it at the post

office as he wen t to the Mitre . Then he orde red

his horse,and rode back to th e Half-Moon at

Idl e che ster. T he embryo pre late ’s hours we re

early Stephen was back at his quarters be fore


midn ight . In th e parlour,to which he paid a

visit,be found his grandfathe r and on e of his

un cle s , and sev e ral of the ir cron ie s , smoking and

drinkin g hot S pirit and wate r,with that solemn

sedulity which n obly characterise s the Great

British trade sman . He spen t a quarter of an

hour with them ; then ,taking re fuge in his own

room,he indulge d in a meditative mon ologue on

the value of education .

It was curious , ce rtain ly . The se pe ople we re

of his own blood, but they and h e could n o t g e t

o n toge the r with satisfaction . They we re man i

fe stly un easy in his pre sen ce,while he was

simply bore d .

If you are worth anythi ng,0 re ade r— and

if you are n ot, you will hardly have read as far

as this— ifyou are we rth anything, I say, you

have got a dog . Look at him— i nto his eye s,

as you would look in to human eye s that you

love . He turn s from you ; he.

is unhappy ; if

you persist, he ge ts up and walks away . So

with th e un e ducate d, undeve loped man . T he

glan ce of nous autres make s him un comfortable .

His half-un con scious infe riority be trays itse lf

ME NAGE OU ME NAGERIE . 2 1

when you look at him— when you speak t o

him . T h e man whom e ducated in te lligen ce has

raised above those of his own blo od, has this

force d upon him with emphasis .

I suppose this— n o t the canin e part of it

prove s that everybody ought to be e ducated .

In which case , who is to cart dung and criticise

n ove ls ? I fear this is Utopian . Starved

souls mus t be worse than starve d bodie s , how

eve r .

T h e n ext morn in g Stephen Langton re turn e d

to Lon don . Ple asan t was his e arly drive

through th e swe e t coun try, on the blushful

verge of summe r. Y e t had the tre e s the ir

virginal gre en ; ye t the larks , blithe spirits , in

visible in the e ther,made music eve rywhe re

ye t the blackbird flute d in th e cherry orchards.

and th e thrush sang an thems in th e de n se e lm

leafage ye t lay upon the le afy world th e fre sh

de licious air of sprin g . T he world was yormg

at least to Stephen so it se emed . A s four flying

horse s whirle d him Londonward, h e fe lt as if all

the scen e s through which he passe d had youth

22 S W EET ANNE PAGE .

and fre shn e ss —while he alon e was old andweary

and stale .

A nd he made a re solve : and that was,to

abandon the stupid empty course of life to which

he had be come accustomed— to be gin a n ew

e ra—to find some thing to do if he could n o t

find somebody to love , and to do it re so lute ly

to make a fre sh start , syn chron ous with Dr .

VVin t er’

s e piscopation .

W e shall s e e how he kept his re solve .

W hen Stephen had washe d from himse lf the

soil of trave l , and re fre she d himse lf the re afte r,

h e starte d for the quie t stre e t . A nd I will

say this for the e rratic gen ius of the Bran s

combe s h e was aston ished .

As he turn e d i nto th e stre e t by th e e nd most

remote from th e house first kn own to him as

Isola’s , h e saw that some thing had occurre d .

T he house was altered . Previously quie t and

subdue d, it se eme d to have sudde n ly thrown

out a couple of bow windows . Ove r the door

way was suspen de d some thin g strange ly like a

sign . A n inquisitive crowd obstructe d n ot on ly



T he scen e within was even more remarkable .

Both walls of the passage had be e n removed,

and th e two fron t rooms made in to a good-sized

shop . W he n h e e n te re d,Stephen was con

fron te d by an odd fig ure— a dwarf, ve ry short

very stout, ve ry hairy about the face , and look

ing altoge the r almost inhuman . This grote sque

creature was the guardian of a motley colle e

tion— the re were lion s,tige rs , pan the rs , os

triche s,kan garoos

,wombats ; it was a wonde r

how so many an imals could be packed in the ir

cage s in to so small a space .

Stephen Langton ce rtain ly was surprise d .

H e in quire d for Mr. Raphae l Bran scombe .

That gen tleman was e n tire ly unkn own . T he

grote sque dwarf, whose E nglish was strange ly

alloye d by some patois toStephe n utte rly alien ,

main tain e d en tire ign oran ce of th e S e raph. But

when Stephen ’s state of wonde rmen t had laste d

lon g en ough, a door at the back sudden ly

open ed, and Raphae l appeare d for a momen t,

be ckon ing ; and Stephen , of course , followed

him . H e was led to a small back room on th e

first floor, with a couple of chairs in it, and a

N!

01

MENAGE OU ME NAGERIE .

great numbe r of small monkeys in cage s .

Have a cigar, old boy, said the S e raph ;

you’ll n eve r stan d th e sten ch if you don ’t

smoke .

Stephen obeye d . Then he said

W hat th e deuce doe s all this mean ?

Surprised,eh ?

”aske d th e S eraph .

Rathe r, certain ly .

W e ll, if you are surprise d,how will the o ld

VVGlffe e l when h e come s back ?”

A stounde d, I S hould think . But how in th e

world have you man age d th e affair ? W h ere

did you g e t all the se in fe rnal be asts ?

From an acquain tan ce of min e in Ratcliffe

Highway— a fe ll ow with a big colle ction,who

was wil lin g en ough to bring them all he re for a

trifle . Oddly en ough, th e fe llow’s n ame’s

W olf. By heaven ,what a row there ’ll be when

the re spe ctable Mr. Marmaduke Bran scombe ap

Do you mean to wait in this vile en toura ge

of effluvia till that happen s ?

I don ’t kn ow what e lse to do . I would n o t

miss his adven t for a thousand pounds .

2 G SW EE T ANNE PAGE .

Couldn ’t we take lodgings just opposite ?

sugge ste d Stephe n . That’s what The odore

Hook did in Bern e rs Stre e t. ’

W e ll , that’s a good n otio n

,replied the S e

raph . Suppose you go across and n e gociate ?

They are n early all lodging-house s in this

stre e t .

This little affair was soon arranged .

You must take care of yourse lf, W olf, said

the S e raph to the dwarf. T he old gen tleman

will come back in a towe ring rage , and wan t to

murde r you .

Le t him try,snarle d the troglodyte , glar

in g fie rce ly .

Raphae l and Stephen , e stablishe d in the first

floor of th e opposite house , watche d by turn s

for th e arrival of Marmaduke Bran scombe .

S everal days passe d, and they did n o t ve n ture

to leave the ir quarters , for fe ar of missin g him .

The ir patien ce was rewarded at length .

A trave lling carriage with four horse s pulle d

up in fron t of the W olf’s Den at about o n e

o’clock. T he two friends we re just at lun che on,

which meal they conducte d close to a win dow,

MENAGE OU MENAGERIE . 2 7

so as to comman d the situation .

Here h e is at last ejaculate d the S e ra’

ph .

The re he was .

T he postilion s had thrown the horse s on

the ir haun che s , for Marmaduke had accustomed

them to vigorous ve locity . On e Of his myrmi

don s,de scen din g from the fron t seat, Open e d

the carriage door . Out came th e Old pirate,

and looke d up at the house,and was

,

S ile n t .

The re ’s a Yanke e story of poor Pre siden t Lin

coln somewhat to this effe ct — A profan e ruf

fian,imagin ative in his oaths

,sudden ly got in to

some unpre ce de n te d fix. A n expe ctan t audi

e n ce surroun ded him,an ticipatin g boun dle ss

blasphemy. But he said n o word he could n o t

do justice to the subj e ct .

S O with the old W olf. S O thoroughly flab

berg asted was h e , that his fair compan ion s ,

Isola and Claudia, had both reache d the pave

men t be fore he had got toge the r voice en ough

for a remark .

W hy, papa ! W hy, un cle !” cried a

couple of charmi ng voice s .

T he windows Of the opposite first-floor we re

28 SW EET AN NE PAGE .

open,and the ir silve r surprise trave lle d e asily

across .

By Jove , this is rich !” said Stephen Lang

Choleric was the Old W olf as h e en te re d the

wild beast shop . Loud and de ep was his voice

as h e exclaimed

W hat doe s this mean ?”

T h e dwarf came forward,and in a p atois

which I cann ot reproduce,but which was quite

in te lligible to Marmaduke Bran scombe , to whom

irregular language s we re profe ssion ally familiar,

inquired what h e could do for him.

T he two ladie s had followe d th e Old VVOlf

in to the shop , and we re dain tily holding the ir

dain ty dre sse s,and pre ssin g perfumed ke rchie fs

to the ir in sulted n ostrils .

This is MY house !” exclaime d Marmaduke

Bran scombe , with violen t fe rocity. W ho are

My name is W olf,replied th e dwarf

,volu

bly . I ke ep a me nagerie . W hat can I se ll

you ? This is the fin e st chimpanze e in E urope-almost as handsome as a man ; if he could

MENAGE OU MENAGERIE . 29

talk he would be be tte r than some men . That

pan the r— the ladie s are lookin g at that pan the r.

Ah ! she is a beautiful creatu r e— so tame,but

she hate s men ; sh e like s ladie s , pre tty ladie s .

S he kille d a boy on ce,but don ’t say anything

about it, please . S h e is cheap . I can se ll h e r

for a hun dre d poun ds . S he would de fen d you,

S en ora, h e said, looking at th e Pan the r’s n ame

S top ! his foolery thu nde re d Marmaduke .

t at th e devil is the me an in g of my house

be in g turn e d in to this con foun ded bear-garden ?

Y ou’re a robber and a scoundre l . I’

v e a great

min d to murder you .

\Vith which utte ran ce the fierce Old man ad

v anced towards th e dwarf menageri e—ke ep er in

a threaten ing attitude . T h e troglodyte Ope n ed

wide eye s,and a wide r mouth

,and drew from

his breast a pistol . Thin gs looke d serious .

Practical j oke s to o Often e nd se riously .

Papa exclaimed th e arge nt voice Of Isola,

didn ’t you te ll us you had playe d Raphae l a

trick ? You may be sure he has playe d you

this trick in re turn .

30 S WEET ANNE PAGE .

T he Old W olf acquired sudden en lighten

men t and at this poin t th e two con spirators

en te red th e shop , and accosted the ladie s with

courte ous empressement.

Marmaduke Bran scombe burst in to prodigious

laughter .

You’

re too much for me , my boy, he said to

the S e raph . You’

re a Bran scombe . By hea

v en , I almost thought I was mad, or dreamin g

but n ow ,as you have turn e d my house upside

down,pe rhaps you’ll te ll me where I’m to go

“ Come to Clarg e s Stre e t, said the S e raph .

The re ’s ple n ty of room for you there but

won ’t you take a chimpan ze e or a pan the r with

They wen t on to Clarg e s Stre e t, and we re

soon comfortably e stablished there .

Pray, said Raphae l to his siste r ,

mischie f have you be en doing or plottin g

you ran away ? ’

W e have on ly be en to Brighton, S h e re

plied . It was a whim Of my un cle ’s,just to

play you a trick. H e gave you some thin g to

make you sle ep .



I wonder ? S he had mon ey beyond limit . W hat

will n o t mon ey procure ?

Claudia had me t Sir Arthur W ille sden at

Brighton,and con tin ue d her flirtation . Matters

inde ed we re beginn ing to g e t serious . S he had

succe eded in convin cing him that sh e me an t

some thing ; he , hav ing had that conviction

thrust through his taurin e brow,pushe d with

prodigious obstinacy again st all Obstacle s .

Claudia fe lt in danger.

Did she like Sir Arthur ? W as he the strong

man with the gove rn ing hand whom h er fan cy

pain ted him ? Did h e love h er ? Could they

possibly assimilate in taste s and occupation s ?

T he poor Pan the r pe rplexe d he rse lf pe rp e tually

with e ndle ss que stion ings of this and othe r

kin ds . S he foun d n o an swe rs . S he on ly foun d

that he laid pe rsisten t siege to h er— that,

h e

looke d on h er as his prope rty— that h e would

n o t leave her alon e .

How Often— ah , how Often— she sorrowe d

ove r the poe tic boy whose love she had thrown

away’

A S to Stephen , whe n h e separate d that even

MENAGE OU ME NAGERI'E . 33

ing from his friends , and shut himse lf up in his

Jermyn Stre e t san ctuary, h e be came se riously

meditative . W h at a gulf was fixe d be twe e n

the calm wisdom Of Dr. W in te r and the mad

freaks Ofthis wild race of Bran scombe W e ll

he was a boy ye t , almost ; h e woul d separate

himse lf from the se pe ople ; h e woul d try an othe r

life pe rhaps even an othe r love . Oh, de

licious thought W he re dwe lt th e beautiful

creature who would give him the v irgin touch

of h er lip , th e virgin blush of h er heart ? Sure

ly h e was n ot doomed to lon e lin e ss be cause his

truth had be en foile d by frailty and false

hood— sure ly life had its treasure awaiting him

ye t

But where to se ek —N O , mere search would

be futile . H e must qualify himse lf for love by

work ; h e was empty and use le ss n ow , a mere

votary of pl easure— a be ing unl oveable by any

woman whose love was worth posse ssion . W hat

should he do to attain manhood Ofmind? How

should h e conque r his virility ? To be like Hum

phrey, Ofsome sordid profe ssion ,se emed disgust

in g to him ; while he hadmode sty enough to

VOL . III.


be lieve that, though he longed to be a poe t, he

did n ot posse ss the. vision and the faculty di

vin e ye t to think, to Obs e rve , to write —to de

scribe , ifunable to create—this was the thirst ofhis soul .

H e would trave l . It se eme d to him, as it has

se emed to thousan ds , that ifhe sought he must

find At the ve ry le ast, if the love for which he

pin e d we re impossible , inachiev able , and if to be

a poe t we re utte rly beyon d him, h e might turn

trave l to some se rious lite rary import .

In the adyta of his heart he be lieve d in the

possibility of a n ew,en thralling, absorbing love

a love be side which his boy-pen chan t for swe e t

An n e Page and his fan tastic flirtation with th e

Pan the r, would be like sepia ske tche s in the pre

s en ce of a picture pain te d by Titian in his

n in e tie th year. W hy his n in e tie th ? Be cause

th e love Ofc olour grows with ag e . S O Stephe n

Langton saw in th e far distan ce a de licious

creature whom he first cre ated and afte rwards

love d—a creature to madde n p oe ts , to cause the

blood of: l liads , the wande ring of Odysseus , the

MENAGE OU MENAGERIE . 35

ebrious j oy Of An acre on tics. A nd he fe lt the

fulle st faith that his gue ss must have succe ssful

issue—little kn owing that to chase such a phan

tom Of the imagination is like attempting to

reach the horizon,which ke eps just as far

ahead of the man who gallops as of the manwho

loite rs .

Be tter to stay at home and wait till that

which you long for de scends upon you with sud

den swe e tn ess . Be tte r to be calm and patien t ,

and sure ly the very stre ngth of your thirst will

make the foun tain flow. There are some

which any man—any vulgar man in de ed—may

gain . Gold is on e he has on ly to e n te r upon a

trade,to work from sunrise to sun s e t, to be per

fe ctly hon e st and pe rfe ctly un scrupulous ; he

will die a mil lionaire . Fame is an othe r ; if it be

lite rary fame he require s , le t him on ly write

books which are slightly stupid and singularly

re ligious ; le t him combin e Tuppe r with A . K . H .

B. , i nfusing a slight touch Of Spurge on-and

water ; he will be famous , and G ood W ords and

the Recordwill prais e him .

36 SWEET PAGE

But love is an other affair , thank God. It is

n ot a thing to be gain ed by utter abn egation Of

manhood—like mon ey and ren own .

CHAPTE R II.

MOREILL’

S AP POIN TMENT .

HOPE I have n ot be en hard upon Humphrey

Morfill. H e had on e great Obj e ct in life

his own advan cemen t. H e was marve llous in

pe rspicacity andman ipulation . H e could s e e at

a glan ce what was to be don e , and could do it .

This is a most valuable facul ty. H e made n o

mistake s . He n ev er'

lon g ed for the impossible .

H e saw in the world an arena whe re few men

were as stron g as himse lf, and he threw himse lf

in to it to win what prize s were Op en to him .

A nd he won prize s . H e hadmany qualification s .

B eyond his native ability, which was unusually

great, and the powe r of which h e could exactly

e stimate , he had his wife ’s fortun e and his


uncle ’s position . For Dr. W in te r was Bishop

de signate of Idle che ster.

A nd it so happen ed that the seve re and con

scien tious headmaste r who would n ot, afte r the

e lopement , have lifte d a finge r to aid the n ep

hew who had acted with dishon our,was the

mean s of his advan cemen t. T he Duke of A x

mmSter be ing the Dionysius of Kin g sleat , had

naturally a Dionysian ear. T he Duk e was the

proude st ofmen , but he was also a gen tleman .

H e Was angry beyon d expre ssion when Kings

leat rebelle d again st his parliamen tary influ

en ce. He was an grie r still whe n,de siring to

expe l Mr. Lon sdale from his position at the

Kingsleat library, he foun d an Obscure school

maste r, a man who n o t on ly re siste d his ducal

will,but drank his choice st clare t, and then

wrote a Gre ek epigram upon him. But in time

the Duke g rew calm,and saw the injustice Of

his own de sire s . He saw that ifhe had ousted

from the librarian ship the blame le ss Lon sdale ,

he should have regre tted it to the end Of his

ducal days . He fe lt truly grate ful to Dr . W in

t er for the re solute re sistance which had pre



that facile gen e rosity which pertain s to great

prin ce s who cann ot fe e l the cost of anything, he

put Morfil l on his list for an appoin tmen t .

W hen ce it happen ed that th e young man was

diverted from that high road to the W oolsack

which he had chosen ,by an Offe r of a temporary

appoin tmen t abroad, which would bring him

both reputation and mon ey, and at th e te rmina

tion'

wh ere ofth e Gove rnmen t would, Ofcourse ,

provide him with othe r rernun erativ e occupa

tion . Findin g that it would rathe r advan ce than

re tard him in his care er,Humphrey Morfill ac

cepted.

This ke e n -sighte d man did n ot unde rstand

women— least Of all his wife . Balzac has re

marked that even the Creator ofwomen cann ot

understan d them ; pcrhaps h e is right. Hum

phrey, when he persuaded Ann e Page to e lope

with him, did it just as he would have made a

strong move in a game Ofche ss . H e did n ot

trouble himse lf to an alyse the subtle complex

motive s at work even in that childish breast

to induce her to go with him. H e did n ot look

into the future , with any vague doubt as to

MORFILL’

S APPOINTMENT . 41

whe ther the girl who ran away to marriage

might hereafter wish to run away from marri

ag e . Humphrey had on e quality, which was a

source of weakn e ss as we ll as strength— confi

den ce in himse lf. This strengthen e d him when

he had to en ter the arena of inte lle ctual strife

but it weaken ed him when dealing with a wo

man . H e coul d n ot be lieve that a woman would

be tray him.

As most ofAnn e ’s in te rcourse with the S eraph

occurre d durin g her visits to Claudia in Clarg e s

Stre e t, Humphrey, absorbed in busin e ss, kn ew

n othing of it. But even h e rmore daring e sca

pade s did n ot come to his cogn izan ce . H e heard

n othin g of the late n ights out which had coin

cided with his absen ce on affairs . T he servan ts

pitie d the pre tty childish Mrs . Morfill, and did

n ot dream of in forming again st her. They dis

like d the ir maste r, whose re se rve and in flexié

bility we re n ot in ten ded for se rvile popularity .

Hen ce happen ed it that h e heard n othin g Ofthe

improprie tie s to which the S e raph had crue lly

forced his poor little victim,and fully be lieved

that she was as inn ocen t a creature as when he


stole her from King sleat Re ctory . His high

opin ion Ofhimse lf made him blin d to the possi

bilities which lay around him . He looke d on his

wife as a child still ; and, when he had accepted

an appoin tmen t which took him at on ce to Con

stan tin ople , he ann oun ced to his wife , with the

utmost cooln e ss, his in ten tion of going and tak

in g her with him .

W omen in love are wonde rful in the ir powe r

of dissimulation . S he re ce ive d the ann oun ce

men t with as much cooln e ss apparen tly as he

gave it with. But the thought OfRaphae l con

fe rre d upon h er this factitious strength. S h e

be lieved in the powe r of the man whom she

loved to save her from exile .

Humphrey Morfill, havin g quie tly on e even

in g told h er his inten tion s, wen t out to me e t

some friends . He spen t ve ry few even ings at

home . He waste d n o time , andmade eve n his

trifling dissipation s use ful .

W hen he was gon e poor little Ann e took

flight to her own room,and threw herse lf with

utter abandonmen t upon a couch,burying her

swe e t brown -tre ssedheadin her tinywhite hands,

MORFILL’

S APPOINTMENT . 43

and sobbing without re strain t.

How crue l he is S he mutte re d . How

wicke d he is ! W hy did he take me away from

Kin g sleat ? H e doe sn ’t love me , I kn ow—and

I hate him . Y e s I do . I won ’t go to Con stan

tin ople . I’d rather kil l myse lf.

A nd so On

A nd,as she lay the re , crushe d in to strange

care s, thinking wild thoughts , sobbin g mad re

solve s— exquisite ly be autiful so far as you could

s e e any part Of her—with brown disheve lle d

hair over plump white shoulde rs, and white

hands clen ching themse lve s pink—someon e

catche s her ; some on e had en te red th e room

quie tly, and closed the door, and n ow stood,

quie tly a sp e ctator of her childish grie f, with a

smile of amusemen t on his lip .

Pre sen tly h e steppe d forward—and raised her

suddenly in his strong arms from the couch

and, seating himse lf the re , and looke d laughingly

into h er tearful and aston ishe d face .

W hat is the matte r with my little pe t ?

asked Raphae l Bran scombe,and then kissed her

on the eye lids .


S he told him her grie f.

W e ll, child, you’ll have a ve ry n ice trip .

Con stan tin ople is a charming place . Perhaps I

may come and s e e you there .

First she trie d,in her indignation , to e scape

from th e grasp of ste e l which he ld her. This

was vain : so she n e stled closer to him, andwhis

pe re d

I’

m not g oing .

W ive s must Obey the ir husban ds,he said.

I don ’t en courage rebe llion . You’ll enj oy it,

my darling.

I shall come to you, she said, with serious

emphasis .“ Amusin g ! thought the Se raph. T h e

little girl’s entetee. W hat’s to be don e with

her ?”

Oh, Raphae l ! she exclaime d, sudden ly slip

ping from be twe en his arms and gliding to the

floor at his fe e t, I cann ot leave you . I cann ot

—I cann ot—I cann ot. I love you.

S he iterated and re ite rate d the se phrase s with

in exhaustible pertinacity.

Raphae l raised her from the ground, and

MORE ILL’

s AP POINTMENT . 45

walke d up anddown the room in refle ctive mood.

A t

’

last he said

My dear child, you are such a me re girl

that I doubt whe ther you kn ow your own mind .

”

Y e s I do , I do , I do , she in terrupted ,eagerly.

W e ll, you may, child . But you don ’t kn ow

th e re sult ofwhat you ask . N ow,wait aminute

,

and calm yourse lf a momen t, and think .

H e passed a very steady hand Ove r her flushed

forehead, as if to tranquillize her by some mag

n etism Oftouch .

If you leave your husband, he said, “ you

throw away your life . You will have a few

we eks or mon ths of de light with me—we eks

most like ly—and then you will die , or wish to

die . Can you throw away a comfortable home

for a mon th or two of pleasure ? It is absurd,

child. It is be cause I lik e you,and pity you,

that I te ll you so .

I shall come to you she repeated.

By Jove,thought the Seraph to himse lf,

what a singularly moral man I am,and didn

’

t

kn ow it ! If I were to go in to the Chandos to

46 SW E E T ANNE PAGE.

n ight, and te ll the fe llows that the pre ttie st

woman in London (bar on e ! had offe re d to run

away with me , and I had de clin e d, I wonde r

who'

would be lieve it ? ’

P on my life,though

,I

should lik e to save this little thing. She ’s such

a young bird — W hat the devil shall I do

Thus soliloquize d the S e raph in the bed

chambe r which should have be en sacre d to

Humphrey Morfill,while that learn e d ge ntleman

was supping with some distinguishe d barristers ,

and that gen tleman ’s charming little wife was

awaiting the S e raph’s de cision with anxie ty as

te rrible as that of E sthe r the Que en in the inn e r

court of the king’s house when she had come

unbidden into the pre sen ce of Ahasue rus .

W e ll,he said

“

at last, you must have your

way, I suppose . Give me due n otice ofMorfil l’s

moveme nts. If you are quite de te rmin e d to

ruin yourse lf,why should I in terfere ? But you

can’

t mean it.

I do mean it,

she said. I cann ot live

with that man ; I de spis e him I hate him. You

have made me love you—you kn ow you' have .

Raphae l , you must no t de se rt me .


SW EET ANNE PAGE .

afford a few thousands n ow . H e should by-and

by, of course , g e t tire d of th e little runaway

and then he must find her a place whe re she

could live in comfortable se clusion . All the se

matte rs passed rapidly ye t lucidly through his

mind during th e few mome n ts in which he kept

Mrs .Morfill in suspen se .

On e fe e ling which he had was pleasure at

ann oying Morfil l, alloyed, howeve r, by the im

pre ssion that the youn g lawye r would care

little about his wife so long as he kept his wife ’s

mon ey .

” Howeve r, that couldn’t be he lpe d ; h e

had commen ce d th e adven ture , and must carry

it to its issue , and he accordingly did n o t le ave

Mrs . Morfill un til h e had arrange d to take h er

away from h er husband’s house about an hour

before the time that should be fixed for that

husband’s departure . T he prospe ct of th e ad

venture de lighted the S e raph . N othing did he

S O thoroughly enjoyas a“n eat thing” Ofthis sort .

CHAPTE R III .

S TEPHEN LANGTON’

S GUES T .

HO se eks , shallfind. I like the aphorism .

It is highly e n couragin g. It is, in

some case s , pe rhaps , partially true . T he knight

e rran t may g e t his adven ture , the me rchan t v en

ture r his gold, coin ed hatred, the coque tte h er

flirtation . A y, the re may even come to the bar

riste r the woolsack, and to th e doctor th e accouclie

men t Of a prin ce ss . But anything n oble n o .

N e lson exclaime d,I wish I could catch Bona

parte on a wind !”W hy, if the passionate s ea

chivalry of E ngland, as embodied and crystal

lized in our N e lson ,had caught the conque ring

gre ed of Fran ce , the mighty Moloch, N apole on ,

on a wind,what a sublime crisis it would have

be en ! W ho doubts for the million th of a mo

VOL . III.


men t how it would have ende d ? W ho cann ot

conjure up a vision of the pale passionate face of

the avenging admiral runn ing the Victory along

side Gen eral Bonaparte ’s ship ? The re would

have be en n o W aterloo . But the glory was re

se rved for on e of calme r tempe r than the victor

OfTrafalgar.

W ith a longing as extreme as N e l’

son ’s to me e t

Bonaparte on the sea, longed Stephen for love .

Pe rchan ce , had h e be en an admiral , had the re

be en war, had there be en “ th e mean e st man of

men,

as W ordsworth we ll calls N apole on , to

thwart in his care e r Of fiend, Stephen would

have longed to fight . But n ow h e longed for

true love . Blame him n ot . W e re there more

E mmas,there would be more N e lson s . T he

man who can love we ll in pe ace , can fight we ll

whe n there is war.

Stephen Langton wen t down to the Chandos

to din e on the ve ry even ing that the S eraph

had devoted to Mrs . Morfill. T he first man he

saw was Phil Pallise r— be tte r kn own among his

cron ies as Seagull Pallise r . Phil was the most

res olute Of yachtsmen . H e kept a schoon e r

S TEPHEN LANGTON’

S GUES T . 51.

yacht calle d the S eag ull, at Cowe s , and h e de

vote d himse lf to that yacht . His re lation s, a

good family, were anxious that he should make a

figure in the world, and h e had the materials ;

he had mon ey and he had brain s ; but Phil had

fallen in love with his yacht,and it was ob

vions that n othing short Of shipwre ck would

cure him. In de e d I doubt if an ordin ary ship

wre ck would have had that effe ct . Possibly, if

h e had be en cast away in th e ve ry cen tre Ofthe

Pacific, and compe lled to cast lots with his com

rade s who should eat whom,S eagull Pallis e r

would have given up yachting. I doubt if anythin g e lse woul d have cured him .

H e and Stephen chan cing to be without othe r

acquain tan ce s , din ed te‘

te-a-téte . Of course , ove r

the clare t,they be came frightfully confiden tial

and Langton told Palliser that he was weary of

his un occupied life , that h e couldn’t stand it any

longer,that he mean t to trave l in search of a

care e r .

Ah ,said Phil , I like that. Trave l in

search of a care er Te ll you what,Old boy, I

’

v e

got a care er—which is , to trave l .


Stephen an swe re d n o t , but sipped his win e .

Look here , re sumed Pallise r, I ’m Offon a

yachting trip— going to the Medite rran ean .

Can ’t matter to you where you go . Be tte r g o

with me .

W hen are you Off aske d Stephen .

W hen you like . T O-morrow, if you like .

I’

v e be e n waiting for a fe llow to go with . Fe l

lows won ’t leave London this time of year, con

founded fools.

It would suit me ve ry we ll, said Stephen .

To-morrow is rathe r sharp,but I shall be

quite ready by th e day afte r.

Give us your hand,old boy

,said S eagull

Pallise r. Like your style,I do . Te ll you

what, I’ll go down to-morrow morn ing—n o

, by

Jove,I’ll catch the Southampton mail to-n ight

—heaps of time . You come on to Cowe s and

bring your traps as soon as you’re ready . That

do

Pe rfe ctly .

Hen ce was it that Stephe n Langton ,

taken leave of his friends among the

combe s—and I assure you he did n o t

S TEPHE N LANGTON’

S GUES T . 53‘

Isola— foun d himse lf,with his luggage , and his

servan t Aug uste Lan ce ! , on board the clipping

schoon er yacht S eag ull, within forty-e ight hours

of the colloquy briefly re corde d above . A ndPhil

P allisser was n ot th e man to le t th e grass grow

under his fe e t—assuming that to be a marin e

It may be asked, how in th e world could S te

Stephen exp e ct,by joinin g an en thus iastic

yachtsman, to realize his dream “las he g o

in g in for a mermaid W e ll , in th e first place ,

Stephen had re solve d to trave l , and rathe r

superstitiously jump ed at th e first Offe r . A nd,

secondly, it is to be Obs erved that yachtsmen oc

casionally go ashore , and have be en kn own to

make havoc amon g feminin e susceptibil itie s un

der such circumstan ce s .

I am n ot going to follow Seagull Pallise r and

Stephen Langton through all the ir adventure s

in the Midland S ea. On e adven ture shall suf

Steppen was lying in the ste rn , smoking,

with n o companion save P alliser’s big N ewfound

land dog, an animal that had taken a great

54 SWE ET ANNE PAGE .

fan cy to him. As he lay in on e of those satis

fied dreamy moods which Often come to the

poetic tempe ramen t, his eye s half closed ' from

ve ry wearin e ss of the in ten se blue of s ea and

sky, it se eme d to him that h e saw —ve ry far Off

—Raphae l Bran scombe pacing the sea-shore

with awoman inde scribably beautiful, though of

me lan choly beauty . N ot An n e Page , ce rtain ly

a creature of strange r and more poe tic charm .

T he vivid fan cy was interrupted by a clamour of

voice s ; he open ed his eye s and sprang to his

fe e t, and fou nd that the sky was sudden ly ove r

cloude d, that a storm had arisen ; he heard Phil

Pallise r exclaim to the clever young marin e r

who managed his yacht,

W here are w e ?”

OffMon te Cristo,sir.

Is there any harbourage , do you kn ow ?

I’

v e heard it’s pre tty fair,sir. W e

’

d be tte r

try it. W ith this win d we can ’t make E lba.

S O the S eagull ran in to the harbour Of the

little isle t ofMon te Cristo , nin e mile s in circuit,

con cern ing which Our be love d en te rtain e r, Alex

andre Dumas,has built up so de liciously absurd



E ven tide arrive d ; afte r an exce llen t Corsican

dinn er the two yachtsman loitered On the Place ,

among a crowd of promenade rs,the women

wearing the black falde tta, sugge stive ofmystery

and in trigue , while a military ban d playe d live ly

airs . The re came upon Stephen th e conviction

1 have some one to meet in this place . As he

stood that n ight on the seawall , inhaling the

de licious breath of the wooing we st, watching

the reflex of the Milky W ay and the E ven ing

Star.

(star of love ! in th e phosphore scen t waters

Ofthe gulf, watching poin t afte r poin t of light

which indicate d the fanali on poin t afte r poin t

of land, listen ing to the j oyous music and the

soft susurrus Of the loitering crowds , Stephen

was so impre sse d by his be lie f that h e turn ed

abruptly to Seagull Pallise r and said

I shall have an adven ture here .

Run away with a little Corsican , I suppose .

B e tter n ot . Vendetta, you kn ow. Awkward .

Howeve r, if you wan t to take some thing n ice

away in the yacht, she’s at your se rvice .

I don ’t con template any particular e scapade

of that kind, said Stephen quie tly but I have

S TEPHEN LANGTON’

S GUES T . 57

a conviction that some thing wil l happen to me

he re . I’m rather a que er fish,you kn ow Palli

ser. I’

v e Often had such pre sen timen ts , and

they’re always fulfille d. My impre ssion is that

the re is Some on e in this town of Ajaccio who

wan ts to se e me—whom I must s e e .

All right, Old boy. I don ’t quite understan d

it but I’ll stick to you lik e a brick .

You’re in n o particular hurry to move , are

you ?” asked Stephen .

N o t a bit . Stay here a mon th,if you like .

Buy re lics of Old Bony. It se ems a j olly island,

and the fish that plump little lan dlady gave us

for dinn er, we re as fre sh as he rrings .

They weren ’t he rrings, though, said S te

phen ,

“and they we re un common ly nice ; but

the win e was awfully strong. But I fe e l so cer

tain , Phil , that some thing’s going to happen

he re , that I should like to stay he re a few days

and se e .

Ifwe stay a few days , some thing will hap

pen—name ly, I shall fall in love . That quain t

black picture sque dre ss the women wear, and

the way they manage the ir dark flashin g eye s ,


have n early don e for me already . T he worst of

it is , I can’t talk Italian a bit.

N eve r mind . I can ,and so can Auguste .

W e’ll he lp you.

Don ’t like making love through an in terpre

said S eagull Palliser. Rathe r like ly to

g e t sold. In terpre te r may le t you in , and ke ep

the fun for himse lf.

T he re sult of this con fabulation was that

Langton and Pallise r amuse d themse lve s by

thoroughly exploring Ajaccio and its n e ighbour

hood. They visite d th e Casa Bonaparte , in the

Place L e titia, whe re dwe lt Carlo Maria Bona

parte , th e strugglin g advocate . At th e ag e of

e ighte en , this youn g lawye r, with a barrister’s

improviden ce , marrie d L e titia Ramolin o , th e

beauty of Corsica, fourte en years old . Those

were the days of the Corsican republic, when

Pasquale Paoli, immortal patriot, was de fending

his native island again st the aggre ssive and

tyrann ous Fren ch, to whom Gen oa had ceded

the island . Thirty years late r, afte r a weary

struggle,Corsica placed itse lf unde r the prote o

tion of E ngland, and' Sir Gilbert E lliot was ap

S TEPHE N LANGTON’S GUES T . 59

poi nted govern or ; but in 1 796 w e de serte d it in

a wonde rful hurry, at the first appearan ce of a

couple of Fren ch gen erals , sen t ove r by N apole

on in the flush of Italian conque st. I suppose

W illiam Pitt did n ot think th e roman tic isle t

worth a fight .

W e ll , in 1 7 64, young Carlo Bonaparte , n ewly

married to the exquisite little L e titia Ramolin o ,

was Paoli’s se cre tary, and a ve ry fiery oppo

n en t Ofthe Fren ch . H e died at Paris , at th e

early ag e Ofthirty-n in e , leaving e ight children

to the care of his youn g widow. Often had

Carlo Bonaparte,who spen t all that h e earn ed

,

be en trouble d for the future Ofthose e ight chil

dren : and lo, N apole on conque re d half a world,

and Joseph and Jerome and Louis we re

and Carolin e a que en ,and Paul in e and E liza

prin ce sse s . W hat a superfluouswealth ofroyalty

cradled in the little house Of the Corsican law

yer ! A nd N apole on made his un cle a cardinal,

and -would have made Lucian a king if that un

ambitious Bonaparte had n o t re solute ly de clin e d

the doubtful glory of a thron e . Stephen Lang

ton heartily approved Lucian ’s de termination .

60’

SWE ET AN NE PAGE .

Bad en ough to be a king, in any case , he thought,

but to be a sub-king to a N apole on must have

be e n an awful busin e ss .

T he two yachtsmen wan dered through the

vicin ity of Ajaccio , and ate grape s and almonds

and figs in the pleasan t orchards , and admired

the beautiful peasan t girls carrying fruit-baske ts

and win e -jars on the ir low-crow ne d straw hats .

Then they wen t out to s e e the an chovy-fishin gOff th e Bloody Islands

,and occasionally varie d

the ir amusemen t by a cruise as far as Cape Corso

in the S eag ull. But n o adven ture came to S te

phen Langton ,who quie tly submitted to the

chaffwhich his comrade n ow and then inflicte d

on him in re feren ce to his an ticipation . N orhad

Pallise r, though greatly smitten by the quaint

beauty of the Corsican damse ls , succe eded in the

in itiation of any e rotic e nterprise . His tongue

had a stubborn incapacity for adapting itse lf to

any language but its own sibilan t guttural

E nglish. S O,with the most adven turous imte n

tion s in the world, poor Seagull Pallise r could

make n o way.

On e de licious morn ing they wen t out immedi

S TEPHE N LANGTON’

S GUES T . 6 1

ate ly afte r breakfast to watch the arrival of the

Marseille steame r. On the quay Stephen took

spe cial n otice Ofa group of thre e person s . On e

was a n oble Old Corsican ,of state ly pre sen ce

,

but with the ve ry gleam of ven de tta in his eye .

W ith him was a creature exquisite ly beautiful,

but smitte n with the pallor of hope de ferred.

A nd the third person be ing Marc An tonio, th e

fishe rman,I n e e d n ot say who were the other

twain .

Ah,it was n ot the first time by many that the

swift Fan tasia had made vain voyage to Ajaccio

to me e t th e steamer from Marseil le s . Ange lo

Mon talti kn ew full we ll that it was vain ; but

he would n ot thwart poor Fiordilisa’s de sire s ;

and so Marc An tonio took the boat roun d eve ry

we ek, and more than on ce the de serted wife had

voyaged in it . H e r story was kn own through

Corsica. T he wild islande rs,when they saw

her pe rfe ct pallid beauty, mutte red menace s

again st th e false E nglishman . But she , in whom

love had begotten trust, be lieved that some

thing terrible had happen ed to him— that he

had be en stricken down by disease or accident


otherwise sh e fe lt full faith that he would

have re turn ed to her. A nd she had tragic

vision s of him whom she love d,lying de lirious

in hospitals , lying shattered and shape le ss at the

foot of mighty cliffs,lying shot through the

heart in a due l . Anythin g rathe r than false .

T he idea of Raphae l Bran scombe ’s falseho odleft

n o mark upon th e maide n purity Of th e mirror

of h er mind,though all Corsica had accepte d it,

and me lan choly dirge -like ballads , and fiercer

rhapsodie s,prophe sying vende tta

,we re heard

n ight afte r n ight, in eve ry lo can da.

Marc An ton io , se e ing strange rs (nig ri cyg ni!in Ajaccio , had soon made out that they were

countrymen OfRaphae l Bran scombe Raffae lle

Birbon e , as he was common ly calle d . S O h e

found out Auguste , Stephen’s vale t

,and from

him got a vague n otion that Fiordilisa’

s be traye r

was n ot unkn own to Auguste ’s maste r. It was

very vague and con fused, for th e Frenchified

Italian of the vale t,and th e soft flat Corsican

diale ct of the fishe rman had few poin ts of con

tact . But his report of the colloquy excite d the

anxious eager curiosity of the poor broken Lily



T he ke en eye Ofthe Oldman had watched all

the interview. Ange lo Mon talti could de te ct in

eve ry ton e Of Stephen Langton ’s voice the

natural re luctan ce to say too much in the se

critical circumstan ce s . Stephen ,of course , was

wholly ign oran t OfRaphae l’s position in re fe r

e n ce to Fiordilisa, and fearing to injure his

friend, told as little about him as possible . A n

ge lo n ote d this, and kn ew its mean ing ; his fore

gon e con clusion s we re justified ; h e fe lt at his

breast for that ivory-hafte d pon iard which he

had de ftly prepare d for th e in evitable vende tta.

S he will die soon ,h e mutte red to himse lf,

and then !’

Raphae l was very cool ; but the glan ce of that

Old Corsican ’s eye at that momen t might have

made even him n e rvous .

Fiordilisa was tende rly conveye d by her

grandfathe r and Marc An ton io to the ir locanda.

Hithe rto she had fe lt a certainty that her be

loved Raphae l was preven te d from reachin g her

or commun icating with he r by some dire dis

aste r ; but n ow this be lie f ofhers was ann ihilate d

by the te stimony of on e who profe ssed to kn ow

S TEPHEN LANGTON’

S GUES T . 65

him we ll, to be his friend. W here was he then?

Why—Oh ! why did h e n ot come to h er ? The se

unan swerable que stion s se emed to burn them

se lve s in to her brain ,to stab her loving heart

with woun ds of wonder.

W hy she ejaculated,

as she lay upon her bed in th e locanda, with her

le ft hand, white as a lily, n ervously clutching at

the seat of her fluttering heart, upon which had

suddenly come a sharp in explicable anguish .

H er eye s were set in a straining stare , as if she

fain would pierce the league s Ofre stle ss misty

foam which lay be twe en herse lf and Raphae l

and kn ow for herse lf whe re inde ed he was

why he had left her lon e ly.

But Ange lo Montalti,having left her in female

care , re turn e d to ask furthe r que stion s Of S te

phen , who was still walkin g on the seawall with

Pallise r in rather a disturbed state Ofmind .

Que er coin ciden ce said Seagull Pallis e r to

Stephen . W hat is all this about Bran scombe ‘2

I hardly understand, replied Stephen . S O

far as I can make it Ont , that pre tty creature

suppose s herse lf to be his wife . It se ems to me

VOL . III.

‘

66 SWEET ANNE PAGE.

hardly probable . H e is very carele ss of what

he doe s when women are concerne d ; but I can’t

fan cymarriage in his lin e .

Odd busin e ss . Your pre sentiment come s

true , afte r all—n o t in a ve ry pleasan t way,

though. Rathe r a bore to have to extenuat e

Bran scombe’

s e scapade s . Pre tty girl for your

se lf might have be en worth a little trouble .

Hadn ’t we be tte r bolt ?”

N 0 , said Stephen I don ’t like the affair ;

but it is clear that Bran scombe is in some way

implicated, and I must do what I can , both for

him and the girl.

Beautiful girl , by Jove ! said Pallise r.

N ever like d Bran scombe— fe llow always so

high andmighty— se ems to think you’re n obody .

My family’s as good as his any day. Be side s ,

he’

s too fast. I don ’t mind aman ’s be ing mode r

ate ly fast—but, hang it, Bran scombe don’t stop

at anything . I call him too fast. He has n ’t

got any heart, I don’t think.

Heart !” ejaculate d Stephen , who had scarce

ly listen ed to his friend’s tirade,until that

particular mon osyllable awoke him'

from his re

S TEPHEN LANGTON’S GUES T 67

veric.

“ Heart ! W hy, the devil himself, ifthere

is such a personage , has more heart, as you call

it,than Raphae l Bran scombe . H e

’

s a wretch

Phil— that’s a fact.

W e ll , said the hon e st yachtsman , looking

at Stephen with con siderable astonishmen t, “ I’m

surprise d to hear you say that . I thought you

were on e Ofhis chie f cron ie s ; you we re always

toge ther in London .

My dear fe llow,re turn ed Stephen ,

you say is quite true , and I am quite sure it

surpris e s me more than it ever coul d you to

remember my intimate association with him ;

but you kn ow it was a case of Faust andMe

phistoph ele s .

“ For God’s sake , don’t quote th e classics to

me , Old boy ; I n ever could remember anythin g

I learn t at school ; I haven’t Open ed a book

since—e xcept it was a n ove l . W ho the deuce

were the heavy swe lls you men tion ed ?”

It doe sn ’t matte r, said Stephen . W hat

I mean t to say was, that Bran scombe exerts a

strange kin d of influen ce over me I can ’t re sist

him .


Ha—me sme rism. S aw a fe llow me smerised

on ce—awful fool he looked. Shouldn ’t have

thought that would have operated with you.

This extreme ly in te re sting colloquy was in

terrupted by the advan ce of Ange lo Mon talti.

How change d from the hospitable patriarch, who

we lcomed Raphae l Bran scombe to the old house

amid the Olive orchards ! T hen he was full of

j oyous we lcome , of an tique poe try, Of S imple

Home ric de light in the curren t Of even ts ; n ow

he looke d like an avenge r. The re was a lam

ben t fire in his dark eye , and his firm lips

showed re solve immovable . A S h e approached,

Stephen Langton had a vision Of what must

happen if the Oldman and Raphae l Bran scombe

should me e t face to face .

Stephen kn ew the S e raph pretty we ll by this

time ; kn ew him utterly fearle ss— utterly re

morsele ss . He could imagin e this Old man

in spired by he roic grie f and in calculable injury

confronting Raphae l Bran scombe . H e could

se e the Seraph’s lips tighten , his ke en eye flash,

his un erring hand poin t th e pistol at his an tag o

nist, and pull the trigge r without an instan t’s

S TEPHE N LANGTON’S GUES T . 69

he sitation . H e fe lt ce rtain that if Ange lo Mon

talti attempted to revenge himse lf— the Cor

sican ,n o t the E nglishman ,

would suffe r.

Meanwhile the Old man had come n ear to

them,on the seawall

,ben eath which the sap

phire s e a lay like a magic mirror, redoubling

eve ry cloudl e t, every skiff, every seabird that

floated above it. W hereupon S eagul l Pallise r

said

I’ll leave you to your talk, Old fe llow. You

kn ow where to find me . Yacht’s at your s er

vice,if you wan t to go anywhe re or do any

thing.

A nd away wen t Phil Pallise r,rej oicin g to e s

cape from that atmosphere of tragedy where in

he who can breathe must have sound lun gs and

strong.

T he conversation be twe e n th e old Corsican

and Stephen soon placed the latte r thoroughly

in posse ssion Ofall the facts . Ange lo Mon talti

talke d with almost extreme calm— the calm of

an immovable re solve . Stephen was unable to

persuade himse lf that Fiordilisa’

s be traye r was

any other than the S eraph. N or, inde ed, had


it be en an ordinary be trayal,would he have tried

so to persuade himse lf, for he kn ew Raphae l’s

re ckle ssn e ss in such matters ; but when he heard

that the Se raph had actually married the girl ,

he be came in credulous . A ny numbe r of crime s

might be predicate d of the hope of the Bran s

combe s, and his be st friends would believe ; but

that he should commit a betise appeared more

in credible to those who kn ew him be st, than the

book OfE xodus to Bishop Colen so,or the supe

riority of Shake speare to Mr. Martin Tuppe r,Or the value Of common sen se to Mr. John

Bright.

Stephen greatly admired the heroic Old Cor

sican , who had given up what remain e d of his

life to con soling his gran ddaughte r, and then to

avenging her.

I talk n ot of vengean ce to her, he said .

I would n ot kill the poor child whom this man

has stabbed to the very core of her heart. S he

must die—it will n ot be long—and then I will

avenge her. Meanwhile , le t her be lieve , if she

can , that he is loyal . I shall live to avenge

h er—that I kn ow. I shall be the last Of the

Montalti.



of what she longed to be lieve , Fiordilisa had

grown calm.

Hearing a good report of her, Stephen crossed

the Place du Diaman t to his own locanda, and

he and Pallise r din ed satisfactorily. Corsica is

a rare place to din e , for a man of taste s un

spoilt . If you are in capable of ge tting beyond

the fashionable routin e of London cooke ry, in

Heaven ’s name stick to your club and your chef.

But I can eat anything ; I like the frogs’ legs of

Paris, and the vin e snails OfBurgundy I would

try fried boa-con strictor or deville d condor

without the he sitation Of an in stan t ; I should

n ot Obj e ct to the roaste d side s of she ep, with

dark gre en me lon s , and goble ts of mare s’ milk,

that Mr. Matthew Arn old make s the heroe s Of

his poems e at and drink. A nd the fish and fruit

of Corsica are div in e to an epicure of th e right

sort— an epicure,I mean ,

n ot afraid of fre sh

flavours , un trie d combination s, originalitie s of

the palate . T he man who would he sitate to try

a hedgehog upon an chovy toast has n o right to

the n oble title Of epicure— the se cond in the

world—poe t be in gfirst.

S TEPHEN LANGTON’

S GUES T. 73

Langton and Pallis e r din ed, and over the

fiery wine of Ajaccio the forme r commun icated

to the gallan t own er Of the S eag ull the offer he

hadmade . Pallise r was pe rfe ctly willin g.

Que er affair, old boy, he said ; you’re al

ways doing th e romantic. Glad to go round

and se e some more Of the island . Mus tn ’t ex

pe ot me to in terfere in the matter, though. N ot

my lin e , you kn ow.

S O it was se ttled. They had that evenin g

an othe r pleasan t stroll amid th e simple Corsican

flirtation s of the Cour N apoléon and the Place

du Diaman t . But Palliser, though en ticed by th e

myste ry of the falde tta, inaugurated n o adv en

ture . T he n ext morn ing shon e de liciously .

Old Ang e lo Mon talti and the faithful Marc

An tonio were astoun ded at the light step with

which Fiordilisa trippe d down to go on board

the E nglishman’s yacht . W hat did it mean ?

thought he r grandfather. Had the E nglishman

told her any se cre t n ews ? The re was a light

in her eye s, the pallor had passed from her per

fe ct oval che eks ; coul d the S eraph at this mo

me n t have behe ld her sure ly he would have


forgotten Ann e Morfill and re turn ed to the beau

tiful creature whom h e had de serted.

Marc An ton io was left to manage the dan cing

little Fantasia. W ith a favouring wind, the

S eagull soon came in sight Of those blood-red

cliffs which had behe ld the passionate idyl of

Fiordilisa’

s love . During the brie f voyage ,

Stephen had be en her courte ous cavalie r.

W hen she looked at him,her eye s hadmean in g

which Stephen could n ot fathom . They strove

to te ll him that his se cre t was discove red—that

he came from Raphae l— that he was a bringe r

Ofgood tidings n ot ye t to be reveale d. Stephen

could not at all understand this change in Fior

dilisa’

s mood. S he was almost g ay. S he made

him look at the distan t mass OfRoton do , across

S ag on e’

s gulf, and told him how the goatherds

dwe lt high up among the granite rocks, and

how the riverRe stonica thunde red down through

the fore st-be lt of gian t pin e s . S he showed him

Cape Rossa and the he ights OfPaglia, all gran ite

and porphyry, and little Calvi, whose citize ns

main tain that the ir town gave birth to Chris

topher Columbus . A nd soon the gray towers

S TEPHEN LANGTON’

S GUES T 75

and ruddy island-cliffs of Isola Rossa came in

sight and Fiordilisa poin te d out the old ston e

house Of the Mon talti among the an cien t or

chards on the hill-side,above the en chante d

beach, exclaiming

There ! That is Our home—Raffae lle ’s and

S trange inde ed this reaction Ofgaie ty se emed

to Stephen . W hat could it mean ? It was so

comple te a con trast to the passionate grief and

dumb de spair Of ye sterday. S he could have

heard n othing. S he was n ot light of love

con solable by on e E nglishman for the loss of

an othe r. N O ; he could s e e at on ce that her

love for Raphae l was pure and perfe ct—a g em

without flaw .

Ange lo Mon taltiwas also much perplexed by

his darlin g’s re covered gaie ty . Sorrow had

smitten her lon g. H er heart se emed broken .

A nd n ow she sat in the ste rn Of P allis er’

s beau

tiful little craft, carefully enve loped in many

coloure d flags and wrappings,such as E nglish

yachtmen always crowd around ladie s even in

the summer Mediterran ean—a perfe ct picture Of


ren ewed beauty and subdue d de light . More

beautiful than when first wooed by Raphae l , for

the tende r grace of grie f had touche d and re

fin ed her de licate fair face , and she might have

passed for a Madonna by her husband’s immor

tal n amesake , with the thought in her virgin

heart that her unborn baby was divin e .

S O the S eagull came gaily round the poin t to

Isola Rossa. It was the most languid momen t

of the aftern oon . All the village rs had turn e d

out to catch some fre shn e ss fiom the swift sea

bre eze , and to await the Fantasia. For they all

kn ew th e grie f OfFiordilisa, the child-beauty of

the little town , for whom they had begun to ex

pe ot a prin ce ss’s de stiny . They had crowded

to th e coral-ve in ed beach ; andamong themwas

our pleasan t little friend Chilina, hoste ss of the

locanda, expe cting Marc An ton io .

But it was n o t the Fan tasia that came round

the poin t. T he E nglish yacht had distan ced

the dan ci ng darling of the Midland S ea. T he

saucy schoon e r flirled her sails , and a boat was

le t down ,in to which de scended Fiordilisa and

h er guardian and two othe rs . Could on e of

S TEPHEN LANGTON’

S GUES T . 77

the se be Raffae lle ? thought the eager islanders .

T he stalwart stroke s of four stout E nglish s ea

men soon lan de d the pinnace . T he disappoin ted

crowd perce ived that the two men were

strangers , ye t even the crowd pe rce ive d that the

Lily Of Isola Rossa had a brighte r eye and

lighte r tread .

Absorbe d in th e landing OfFiordilisa and her

companion s , the folk on the beach had n o ears

for th e tread of horse s behind, but sudden ly a

rapid gallop of hoofs be came audible,and every

on e was aware oftwo horsemen approaching at

the top of the ir spe ed from the Algaj ola road .

T he foremost horse came on at a tremendous

pace ; reaching th e shore , the pan ting an imal

was re in ed up with a sudden sharpn ess, and

there sprang from the saddle close at Fiordilisa’

s

pre tty fe e t Raphae l Bran scombe !

CHAPTE R IV .

A BLACK N IGHT’

s W ORK.

the Seraph was the re , to the amazemen t

of eve rybody except Fiordilisa. S he saw

her expe ctation realised. S he sprang in to his

arms without a word. S he brighten ed blush

fully in to the wondrous beauty of her maiden

hood. H er fears and doubts we re put to flight

for ever.

How had Raphae l reached Isola Rossa at the

very n ick Of time —he whom we saw last ar

rangin g an e lopemen t in the'

purlieus OfMe so

potamia ? H e had se en a good many curious

even ts while the S eagull had be en voyaging the

blue wate rs of the Mediterran ean . I must fol

low his course for awhile .



Margot and Sir Arthur’s man . She ’s outside

waiting for him n ow . I expe ct She ’ll bring a

le tte r.

Margot was Claudia’s French maid, a tall

handsome girl,whom Louis rathe r

‘

admired .

Doubtle ss a touch of j ealousy had put him on

the scen t.

Raphae l looked at his watch ; it was n early

e leven . H e rose at on ce , and de scended in to

the passage . Swinging baize-covered doors in

terposed be twe en the staircase and the fron t

door . Ove r the latte r burn t a lamp .

Ke ep in th e backg round, Louis , he said .

L eave her to me .

T he Seraph stood behin d the baize doors, and

through an oval pan e of glass watched for the

girl’

s coming. Pre sently the fron t door cauti

ously open ed ; Margot stepped in softly, and

closed it soundle ssly, and Raphae l saw in her

han d a le tte r, which she hid in the bosom Ofher

dre ss before she pushe d open the inn e r doors .

T he momen t she e n te re d h e pin ion ed her arms

with irre sistible force , putting his hand upon

her mouth to stop the expe cted scream .

A BLA OK Ni GH T’

S W ORK. 81

You are found out , he said, in a

Be silen t.

H e took the letter from its hiding-place , and

hande d the girl ove r to th e vale t’s care .

Bring her up to Miss Bran scombe ’s room

he said.

Claudia was sittin g expectan t . S he had’

heard n othin g of the movemen t be low,for an .

ante-room divide d h er sitting-room from the

stairs . S he sat with those bright eye s of he rs

fixed upon the door, awaiting Margot’s arrival .

T he door open ed . Raphae l en te red,a le tter in

'

his hand.

Claudia sank back in her chair, and covere d'

her eye s with h er hands .

I have n o t yet read this le tter, he said,“ but I kn ow it is from Sir Arthur W ille sde n .

Le t me read it to you. He broke the seal, and“

read thus

Darlin g,to-night at twe lve , or as soon after

‘

as possible , come to me he re . T he door will be

ajar. You will se e nO‘

on e my se rvant Will be

VOL . III.


at

maid you brin g with you is trustworthy.

ARTHUR .

’

s stable s with the carriage . I hope the

A friend ofmin e on ce showed me a rare mini

ature pain ting on ivory Of the Archange l Mi

chae l . The re was marve llous youthful beauty

in the face , but it was the beauty of an avenger.

You would say that thus he looke d before he

fe ll with irre sistible might on the Arch-rebe l of

whom Mr. John Milton has made a he ro . E ven

thus looked the Se raph as he threw this n ote of

the Assyrian baron e t’s upon a table , and ex

claime d to his siste r, with in ten sity of con tempt,

You— a Branscombe 1”

The re was a brie f pause , which to Claudia

Seemed like an hour. Then she threw he rse lf

othe r’s fe e t, crying

Oh ! I love him so , Raphae l —I love him

so

S he had positive ly persuaded herse lf that it

was true . This is what come s of a passionate

woman’

s remain ing too long unmarried.

A BLAOK NIGHT S W ORK . 83

Love him said the Seraph, with utter

scorn .

It certain ly se emed strange . Claudia was a

woman fit to wed a Cae sar ; the baron e t was

simply a heavy swell , large , inan e , good-look

in g , perfumed.

N ow,said Raphae l , “ le t us se ttle this

matter at on ce . I am rather busy to-n ight .

W ill you write a n ote to this fell ow, de clin ing

all furthe r in tercourse with him, and I’ll take it

roun d and horsewhip him ? That’s the prope r

course .

I cann ot, she said .

“ I cann ot . I love him

Raphae l .’

Pshaw ! W il l h e marry you ?

Oh ! ye s , I kn ow he will—I kn ow he will .

DO you ?” H e took up the le tter again and

looked at it. It gav e him an idea. H e open ed

the door Of the ante-room,and be ckon ed Louis

andMargot to en ter. H e scann ed the Fre n ch

girl from head to foot.’Twill do , he said. Margot, go in to your

mistre ss’s bedroom and take off your dre ss and

underclothing. Quick ; don’t waste time .

SW EET ANNE PAGE .

I shall go with you, Claudia, in that girl’s dre ss .

Claudia was silen t . H er be droom was beyon d

the room in which they we re,and had n o othe r

outle t . T he girl obeye d orders .

Louis, said Raphae l, go to my room and

bring a lot of silk handkerchie fs—a dozen ,if

you can find them.

W hen the vale t re turne d, the Seraph said to

his sister

N ow, come and dre ss . Be quick !”

They en tered the be droom . Margot, dive sted

Of most Of h er appare l, had slipped in to Clau

dia’s bed. But sh e was n ot allowe d to remain

in peace . Raphae l was de termin e d that she

should n ot, in the ir absen ce , alarm the othe r

servan ts . It was n o time to stand on ceremony .

W ith the handkerchie fs that Louis had brought

he safe ly gagge d he r, and boun d her han d and

foot,fasten ing her immovably to the bed. Then

he pulle d Offhis coat and waistcoat, and array

ed himse lf in Margot’s dre ss,which fitted him

fairly en ough. This don e , he turn ed to his sis

ter, sayin g

Claudia, lead the way. W hen you g e t to

A BLA OK NIGHT ’S W ORK . 85

Jermyn Stre e t, you can ask W ille sden to marry

you . If he will, all right ; if h e won’t, he must

take th e con se quen ce s . Louis , ke ep n ear

us,but on th e othe r side of th e stre e t, and fol

low me'

quie tly when I come out again .

T h e Pan ther led th e way down stairs , and

along de solate Piccadilly, Raphae l following in

th e guise Of a female attendan t . H er heart

failed her. S he kn ew h er brothe r’s implacable

re solve . S h e walke d as if in a dream .

Arrive d at Sir Ar thur W ill e sden ’s re siden ce ,

Claudia pushed open th e fron t door, andquie tly

ascen de d to the first floor, Raphae l followin g.

Louis took up a position as sen tin e l in the

shadow Ofa doorway on the opposite side of the

stre e t .

Ah , my pe t , exclaimed Sir Arthur, as Clau

dia entered, “ how good Ofyou to be pun ctual !

H e spran g towards her,and tried to embrace

he r, he edle ss of the apparen t soubrettewho stood

re spe ctful ly at the door. But Claudia sank at

his fe e t, and cried in a low,pas sionate voice

W ill you marry me , Arthur ? W ill youL?”

This was n ot exactly what the baron e t had

8 6 SWEET ANNE PAGE .

expe cted, and he was by n o me an s the man for

the situation . He commen ced a he sitating ex

planation about his difficultie s—the Jews— that

they would be down upon him if he married

and much e lse that was equally to the purpose .

Claudia could on ly repeat her pitiful que stion

her pre sen ce of mind had de serte d her.

You don ’t intend to marry this young

lady ?” sudden ly said the S e raph in a false tto

voice .

W ho the devil are you ? W hat the devil

do you me an by. this impe rtin en ce said the

barone t,who

,like all stupid big men

,was de

lighte d to have somebody to bully when h e saw

n o way out of a difficulty.

T he effe ct was e le ctric. Probably S ir Arthur

would have preferre d some thing le ss surpris

I am Raphae l Bran scombe , said the Se raph,

taking Off poor Margot’s bonn e t and ve il , and

le isure ly proce eding to unpe tticoat himse lf.

Oh ! I s e e said the baron e t, sulkily swear

This is a trap .

A y, it’s a trap,

” re turn e d Raphae l, who



Having debts that I can n eve r pay, and

be ing in fear Ofarre st, I have de cided to commit

suicide .

ARTHUR W ILLESDEN .

A nd th e S e raph wrote

“ My siste r has e lope d with Sir Arthur W il

le sden . I will n ot survive the dishon our .

RAPHAEL BRA N SOOMBE .

There !” said th e Seraph . N ow,if you

kill me,just burn your own pape r.

Claudia shudde re d on her couch.

Raphae l pushed a side the cen tre table , and

the two men e ngaged. Sir Arthur attacked

passionate ly. T he S eraph, a maste r Of fen ce ,

with a wrist of ste e l , enraged him horribly by

disarming him,and then lowering his poin t

while he picked up his weapon . A skille d spe c

tator might have se en that Raphae l was only

playing with his victim .

A clock over the chimn ey struck on e .

As ifreminded that he had no time to spare ,

A BLA OK NIGHT ’S W ORK. 89

that in stan t Raphae l made a lun ge , and th e

ste el passed right in to Sir Arthur ’s heart. H e

fe ll heav ily , without a word .

Claudia, whom the te rrible music Of the col

lidin g foil s had rouse d from h er apathy, and

who , half raise d, with straining eye s and clen ch

ed hands , had watched eve ry pass , n ow fain ted

in good earn e st .

T he S eraph’s cooln e ss was diabolical . H e

put in his pocke t the documen t he had sign ed ;

took W ill e sden ’s foil from his re laxed han d, and

replaced it ; found some eau-de-Cologn e , with

which he partially re sus citated his sister . Then ,

again arran ging himse lf in the Fren ch girl’s

dre ss, he de scen ded the stairs , supporting Clau

dia made his way in to the stre e t, quie tly clos

in g th e door afte r him,and walked home , fol

lowed by Louis .

W hen they reached Claudia’s apartmen t Ra

phae l told Louis to re lease th e prison e r.

Take care Of your mistre ss,said the S e

raph to Margot ; and whateve r you may hear,

or whatv er que stion s are asked you, the be st

thing you can do is to kn ow n othing. You and


Miss Bran scombe both we nt to bed at e leven

O’clock ! DO you hear ?

T he ready-witted girl showed that she under

stood.

Raphae l left the mistre ss and maid to the ir

own device s,and wen t to his own rooms

,whe re

he care fully coole d himse lf afte r his exertion s,

having previously Observe d to his se rvan t

You hadbe tte r g e t ready for our n ext affair,

Louis . Half-past two , at Hyde Park Corn e r.

T he S e raph’s adven ture had made him n e ithe r

excited n or meditative . H e dre ssed himse lf for

trave l, mounting a coat lin ed with abundan t

furs . Then , lighting a cigar, he turn e d out

On ce more,and as he pace d th e pavemen t to

wards th e place Ofappoin tmen t, he sang in that

luscious ten or of his

Que d’

alarmes

Que de larmesUh pas d

’armes ,

C ’est tres-beau

A bright moon had arisen by the time he

reache d Hyde -park Corn er, at which place stood

motion le ss a carriage with four horse s . As he

A BLA OK NIGHT’S W ORK. 91

approached, Louis came forward and open ed

the door. Raphae l sprang in , to the baby

beauty who awaite d him the re with palpitatin g

heart ; Louis shut the door, and climbed to the

box ; and away wen t the horse s at that racing

pace which your postilion kn ows so we ll to

command when the re is certain ty of abun dan t

gold.

A nd away they wen t on the Bath-road, which

the subtle S eraph had chosen be cause h e de

sign ed, by doubling, to e scape the pursuit which

he hoped Morfill would in stitute . A nd poor

little foolish Ann e Page n e stled to his side in

pe rfe ct happin e ss . At this most pe rilous crisis

of her fate she for the first time fe lt safe ty.

N o t the first or the last, I suppose , of her sex,

to whom that has se eme d or will se em th e be st

which in ve ry truth is the worst possible .

At about sixty mile s from Hyde-park Corn er,in a dull town

,where post-chais e s were se ldom

se en , the S e raph’s rapid equipage pul led up

just as eve rybody was at breakfast. T h e prin

cipal inn was called the Bear ; this the tra

v e llers en te re d, and Raphae l at on ce sen t Ann e


to bed, with some warm liquid to comfort her.

S he was n ot able to bear th e toils of rapid tra

v e l, he kn ew ful l we ll. Then h e sen t back the

post-chaise,the postilion s havin g be en suffr

cie ntly fe e d to en sure secre sy as to the ir route ,

if any in quiry chan ced to be made Ofthem .

His first care was to arrange with the lan d

lord for a light trap and a fast horse to take him

some fourte en mile s that afte rn oon . T he days

were long ; he would give his victim a few

hours’ sle ep , and then drive her across coun try

into anothe r road. The re was n o difliculty

about the matter. Having se ttled it,and fe e l

ing re stle ss, he le ft Louis in charge , and took a

stroll through a pleasan t rive r valley n ear the

town . Chan ce led him to afin e Old hous e ; he

thought he woul d wear the time away by in

spe ctin g it, and so asked at a lodge whe the r he

could be admitted. T h e family we re absen t,

and h e foun d en tran ce . A quain t Old place— its

hall hung with the ve ritable armour—buff jer

kin s and ste e l caps— Of Cromwe ll’s irre sistible

Iron side s . There was a le g endA

conn e cted with

it—a legend Of a se cre t birth, and a n ew-born

A BLACK NIGHT’S W ORK . 93

child ruthle ssly thrust into a mightyfire—which

was told him by an Old-world cron e of a house

ke eper with a te rror in h er face

A poor, weak, palsy-stricken ,churchyard thing ,

W hose passin g -bell mig ht ere the midnig ht toll .

Raphae l lightly laughed at the we ird tale , and

de lighted her with a sove re ign , and strolled

back to the old inn in the somn olen t town .

In the afte rn oon ,his companion being re

fre she d with sle ep and food and win e , away

they starte d n orth-eastward . T he latter part

of the drive was ove r bre e zy chalk-down s,from

whose farther slope they de scended to a town

even more an cien t, though perhaps n ot dull er,

where they stopped at an in Ofthe same name ,

and at on ce ordered dinn er. T he S eraph re

joiced to fin d a bottle of good old port in this

quain t coun try inn . A nd when he strolled out

into the marke t place , he also rej oice d to find a

ye llow full moon ,high above the fin e towe r of

the Old church—a tower with a tre e growing on

its summit.

By Jove ! he said to himse lf, the little

party looks wonderfully re fre shed by h er fe ed .


An othe r drive of about the same length will do

her n o harm.

H e was ful l Ofthe pleasure of e luding pursuit.

He found already that he should soon be very

weary of his victim— though I think he con si

de re d himself hers—aud thought on ly of de

positing her in safe quarte rs,and baffling Mor

fil l. S he had such supreme confiden ce in him

that she obeyed him implicitly. Poor little

H e had sen t back his horse and trap . H e had

n o difficul ty in obtaining an othe r. Away they

wen t again,and at the end of about fourte en

mile s more , crossed the n oble st Of E ngland’s

rivers, and ascended a stre e t on whose right was

a long and lofty building. From the dome

above its n oble gateway a mighty be ll was slow

ly pealin g as they passed. They turn e d to the

right,beyond this famous edifice , and drove

down a superb stre e t, whe re Old-fashion e d shops

mingled with college s and churche s, and whe re

young men in scholastic costume j ostled the

crowds in ordinary dre ss, thronging th e pave

men t ben eath the seren e moonl ight. Half-way



graph be ing on ly too we ll kn own in the London

mon ey marke t. Again , his man-se rvan t de

posed that Sir Arthur had orde re d post-horse s,

and in tende d to leave town soon afte r midnight,

but he did n ot kn ow where he was going, or whe

ther h e was going alon e . Then Mr. Humphrey

Morfill had be en on the poin t Of startin g for

abroad,to perform the highly-importan t dutie s

of his appoin tmen t, when it was sudden ly dis

covered that Mrs . Morfill had le ft the house, and

could be traced n owhe re . Mr. andMrs . Morfill

had always be en on the be st of te rms . There

were , however, on e or two supe r-sapien t editors

who fan cie d there might be a conn exion be twe en

Mrs . Morfill’s disappearan ce and Sir Arthur’s

post-horse s . A nd an in te lligent member of the

n ew police re colle cted having se en two female s

n ear Sir Arthur’s house , in Jermyn-stre e t, late

on Tue sday n ight, or early on W edn e sday morn

in g , he didn ot quite kn ow which . Claudia and

Claudia’sfille de chambre se eme d to have made

n o sign . N ot a word was said Ofthe S e raph .

W hy, inde ed, should the re be

It was a que e r imbroglio , to which E dgar A l

A BLACK NIGHT’S W ORK. 97

Ian P oe might have don e justice . I don ’t think

I ought to have le t my reade rs in to the se cre t.

If I had open ed the story with a dead baron e t

lying in a Jermyn -stre e t first floor with a foil

through his heart—and a young barriste r, just

appoin ted on a mission to the E ast, losing his

wife half an hour before h e starte d—I doubt

whe the r my en igmatical name sake could have

pre sen te d a n eate r puzzle . Howeve r, it is a lit

tle too late to re -write the n ove l —I’m at fo lio

605—and so you must even be con ten t with a

straightforward story.

T he S eraph, havin g breakfasted, and read the

papers, le ft Louis in charge OfMrs . Butler, and

made his way we stward. His habits we re n o

toriously irregular, so that n obody was lik e ly to

inquire where he had spen t W edn e sday. H e

had din ed at the Chan dos at seven O’clock on

Tue sday evening : he loun ged in n ow,at about

four O’clock on Thursday, with the most n on

chalan t air imaginable .

Hallo,Bran scombe , said Frank Maule ,

whom he en coun te re d in the supe rb columnar

VOL. 111 .


atrium of the Chandos , you’ve heard the n ews,

Ofcourse ?”

Frank was a great mathematician,Senior

W rangle r and S mith’s Prizeman of his ye ar

and also a gre at drinke r of port win e . H e was

spe cially fond of difficult social problems , and

e stimates of probabil ity ; and there was some

talk OfLord Che iron ,who was a great friend of

his fathe r, forming a departme n t of High Police

and puttin g him at the he ad of it . But the

papers took the alarm ,de claring that such an

in stitution would be use d for political purpo se s ;

so n othing came Ofit . Frank ultimate ly took

holy orders,and married a bishop’s daughte r,

and is at pre sen t an archdeaco n and we ll-ben e

ficed re ctor. This double en igma excite d his

curiosity.

About W ille sden ,you mean ?

” said the S er

aph , quie tly. On ly just se en it in the papers .

I was out Of town ye ste rday . A man must be

a muff to commit suicide be cause he was in

W as it suicide ?” aske d Maule . You saw

he had made arrangemen ts for going away ;



stre e t to se e . In any case , whe the r Morfill’s sus

picion was just or n ot , they might have quarre l

led and fought.

You’re making it deucedly poten tial, said

Brabazon Aylm'

e r.

A nd I think, said Raphae l, in order to

con struct a scien tific the ory, it is n e ce ssary you

should accoun t for Mrs . Morfil l’s disappearan ce ,over which her unhappy husban d is at pre sen t

tearing his hair .

Te ll you what,said Horace Chiche ste r,

captain in the Guards,famous for his re ckle ss

n e ss of the ory,suppose Morfil l and W ille sde n

fought,and Morfil l kille d W ille sden , and then

the young woman came to W il le sden ’s rooms

expe cting to be run away with,and then Morfill

kil le d h er, and n ow hypocritically pre te nds h e

don ’t kn ow anythin g about her ? By Jove ,

perhaps he stuffe d her dead body up the Chim

n ey Did anybody look, Maule ?

I didn ’t,” said Maule

., laughing. Really,Chiche ste r, your the ory is n o t a bad on e . If

Mrs . Morfill was killed at W ille sden ’s rooms,it

would be difficult to remove her corpse .


Pshaw in terposed the S eraph, all this is

n on sen se . If there had be en anything be twe en

W ille sden and Mrs . Morfill, I should certain ly

have kn own it. She ’d have be en like lier to run

away with me , if that was at all my lin e .

E gad,I like that, said Captain Chiche ste r .

W hy, you’re a most dangerous fe llow, every

body kn ows .

W hen youfin dme runn in g away with any

body, Old fe llow, abuse me as much as you please .

But who can te ll me what Morfill is doing ?

T he poor fe llow is half mad, said Maule .

On e hears of him or me e ts him everywhere ,

making inquirie s in all sorts of impossible place s .

H e was here last n ight,takin g cormse l of me .

You won ’t fin d him at home .

“ I suppose n o t , Observ edRaphae l . “ If you’re

goin g to din e here , Maule , le t us fe e d toge the r.

I should like to se e Morfill if he should look in .

W e four will dine toge the r, said Chiche ste r .

I’ll order the dinn e r—an chovy salad to begin

and a bloate r to finish— e ight O ’clo ck. I like a

n ice little dinn er when there ’s a pleasan t subj e ct

of conversation . You fe llows may trust to me .


I’ll look to the win e s . T he Marg aux’

s be tte r

than the Lafitte , I think . Pe rhaps Mrs .Morfil l’s

body will be found by that time .

“ Be tter orde r some port with a body in it,

said Maul e drily.

W e ll, n eve r mind ; e ight sharp . You maydepend on me for a good dinn e r. You thre e go

and pick up all the n ews you can .

I shall stroll roun d to Jermyn—stre e t and

hear if there ’s anything fl e sh, said Frank

Maule .

You are the like lie st Ofus to pick up n ews ,

said the S eraph. I’m tOO lazy . If any of you

se e Morfill, te ll him I shall be he re this even

ing .

Raphae l , of course , kn ew that Morfill’s ser

vants, aware of the ir mistre ss’s intimacy with

him,might we ll suspe ct him of having taken

her away. But he had n ot heard of any such

suspicion be ing expre ssed by Humphrey, so he

thought he would me et him and ascertain for

himse lf how matte rs stood. On that W edn e s

day morn in g Ann e had slipt un se en from th e

house , me t Louis in a n e ighbourin g square , and



any source to conn e ct Jermyn-stre e t with Clar

g e s-stre e t on that n ight of horro r .

T he Se raph, having learn t from Margot the

position of affairs '

with her mistre ss, allowed her

to leave him, much to her satisfaction . H e did

n ot wan t to se e Claudia. H e fe lt as if sh e was

n o longe r his siste r. H e was as much amaze d

as anything could amaze him,by the be trayal

of such weakn e ss by a Bran scombe . It was n ot

the wickedn e ss , it was the sillin e ss of the thing

which ann oye d the S eraph. It may se em sur

prising that Raphae l Bran scombe , whose pas

time through life had be en taking advan tage of

th e weakn e ss of women , should visit an e sca

pade so ste rn ly on his siste r ; but th e truth is,

that he was surprised and disappoin te d at a

Bran scombe showing such weakn e ss . If she had

be en a Borgia or a Brinv illiers , he would have

readily forgiven her. But that she should suc

cumb to the gross attraction s Of Sir Arthur

W ille sden—that She should be willing to sacri

fice he rse lf for a man whom Raphae l he ld utterly

in con tempt, was what he could n ot forgive .

Raphae l Bran scombe con sidered women the

A BLACK NIGHT’S W ORK . 105

natural quarry ofmen , even as the heron of the

falcon . H e had

T he wing ofthe hawk that shal l fetch the hernshaw.

He was ready any day to run away with any

woman , and to give “ satisfaction to all her

re lation s , on e afte r the othe r. But he was dis

gusted to find that his siste r be longed to th e

he ron tribe . It was solemnly debated in the

Coun cil of Tren t whe the r woman is really the

female ofman . After this little affair ofClaudia’s ,Raphae l thought n ot .

Havin g ascertain ed to his own satisfaction the

state of affairs in Clarg e s-stre e t, the S eraph took

win g to the Old eastern hoste lry whe re he had

left Mrs . Morfill un de r Louis’s care . H e found

her safe and patien t . S he was in a curious

mood. Her absolute infatuated love for him

rendered her pe rfe ctly con ten t to do his bidding,

pre sen t or absen t ; she was his— that was all she

kn ew or cared to kn ow. Be ing his, she would

do all that he told h er, would Obey him in the

mere st minutiae , would find her fulle st de light

in so doing. T he love-fever has variable symp


toms : this was little Ann e ’s diagn osis . W hen

Raphae l told h er sh e was to leave E ngland in

Louis’s company, to be rej oin ed by him in the

course of days or we eks, she acquie sced de

lig htedly, happy to Obey whom she loved. S O

the S e raph, kn owing Louis’s abil ity and loyalty,

started them for the Con tin en t,makin g an ar

rangemen t for me e tin g in Italy.

A nd then h e re turn ed to th e Chan dos , whe re

Captain Chiche ster had occupie d the in te rval in

orde ring dinn e r. A n exce llen t dinn e r it was .

There were a heap of p e ople din ing at the club

that day. (“ H eap of pe ople— vulgar slang !”

Slang is youn g language , says my friend Mr.

Cayley, poe t and politician is it n ot rathe r

old lan guage , some time s — S e e the “ Saxon

Chron icle s ”

! W hat a paren the sis , ye gods !

As.

the four men sat ove r the ir win e , Hum

phrey Morfill en te red. How altered was that

e rudite , sagacious , busin e ss-like youn g scion of

the law ! Had h e loved his wife , then ? W as

it passion for Swe e t Ann e Page which had

made his eye s so wild, and given his che ek so

strange a pallor ? N ot a bit Ofit. It was the



listen ing to Frank Maule ’s subtle speculation s,

and Captain Chiche ster’s extravagan t the orie s,

when Morfill stalked up to the table .

Mr. Bran scombe , may I speak to you ?”

By all mean s , said the Seraph. W hat is

it Old fe llow ?”

W hat do you kn ow about my wife“ Just what I se e in the pape rs , he replied,

with in solen t cooln e ss . Is there anything new

about h er ?”

I am credibly in forme d you have be en on

very familiar terms with her —much too fa

miliar .

Cre dibly in formed said the Se raph, de

liberate ly. It se ems curious for a man to re ly

upon othe rs for in formation about his wife .

Have you any othe r credible information ?”

Morfill was ge tting more and more enraged,

while the men who were dining with the Seraph

looked on with surprise at his ton e .

“ If a man ’s profe ssion,he said, furiously,

“ take s him from home , the man who take s ad

van tage Ofhis absence is a villain .

Don ’t be offen sive , said the Seraph.

“ Your


wife was my cousin . Many a time have I had

her in my arms when sh e was a baby.

Don ’t aggravate him, Bran scombe , whis

pere d Aylmer. T h e poor devil doe sn ’t kn ow

what h e ’s about.

I can ’t stan d this,saidMorfill , impe tuous ly .

I be lieve you kn ow where my wife is gon e . I

be lieve you took her away.

My good friend, said Raphae l, rising from

his chair, and throwin g his napkin on the cloth,

sh e learn t fiom you to e lope . You shoul d n ot

be surprised if sh e doe s a se cond time what she

liked th e first. Chiche ster, if he wan ts

to fight, perhaps you’

ll act for me ?”

Therewith th e Se raph turn ed slowly away,

and wen t to the smokin g-room,whithe r Maule

and Aylmer followed him. By-and-by came the

excitable captain .

Al l right, he said ; “ he mean s fighting.

YVimbledon in the gray of the morning. Pistols .

By Jove , he’

s awfully mad.

W h o is his se cond ?” said Aylmer for the

Se raph was smoking as placidly as if the affair

in n o degre e conce rn ed him.

1 10 SWE ET ANNE PAGE .

An struthe r— sharp fe llow—unde rstands the

thing perfe ctly.

You didn ’t expe ct so exciting a de sse rt afte r

your little dinn e r, said Frank Maule .

I can ’t think why you provoke d that poor

devil , Bran scombe , remarked Aylme r. If you

hadn ’t be en so cursedly sarcastic there would

have be en n o row.

I dislike the man,said the Seraph . H e

behaved ve ry disreputably in taking away that

little girl from my Un cle W alte r’s house . H e

on ly wan te d her mon ey, and he persuade d her

—a mere baby at the time—t o e lope with him,

although he must have kn own sh e was engaged

to Langton . N ow, as I told the fe llow, she has

profite d by the le sson, and e loped with some

body e lse . It se rve s him right.

Raphae l , while his friends conve rse d, had

be en occupied by a de licate poin t Of casuistry.

There is n o casuist like your due llist . T h e S e

raph , unde r ordinary circumstan ce s of e lope

men t, would, be ing the person culpable , have

made it a poin t of hon our to fire in the air but,

in the pre sen t in stance , he argued that he had a


1 12 SW EET ANNE PAGE .

You se em to fe e l ve ry safe,said Maule .

I do . On e can pre tty we ll te ll,I think . I

shall g e t shot on e of the se days—a ball through

the lungs ; but Morfill won ’t do it. But sure ly

you fe llows are tired of this subj e ct. L e t’s have

a game at whist .

They playe d whist till daybreak. Then the

Se raph and his se cond, and a surgeon whose

se rvice s had be en re tain ed, drove Off to W imble

don ,while Maule and Aylme r walked to the ir

re spe ctive quarte rs through the fre sh quie t of

the mornin g.

I hope Bran scombe won ’t g e t hurt, re

marked the good—natured Aylme r. He’

s a

capital fe llow.

H e’

s a very curious characte r, refle ctively

replie d the more pe rspicacious Maule .

They me t in Glen Cardigan—years be fore its

baptism . Morfill was first on the ground ; A n

struther had be en utte rly unable to re strain his

n e rvous impatien ce , and they were twen ty min

ute s be fore the ir time . As the S eraph n eared

the spot, he touched Captain Chicheste r lightly

on the right shoulder, and said,

A BLACK NIGHT’S W ORK. 1 13

That’s where he ’ll g e t it .

I have n ever be e n much impre ssed by the

moralists who are horrified by the n otion of

two men standin g opposite on e an other with

this issue of life or death be twe en them . Mr.

Tennyson ’s lunatic he ro is very e loquent about

T he Christless codeT hat must have life for a blow ;

but the arguments Ofman iacs ought n ot to have

much we ight. Life for a blow, howeve r, save

in very bad case s , I would n o t demand ; but

there are crime s which on ly th e due l can pun ish

and the man who seduce s a woman ought to be

ready to stand and be shot at by her n eare st

re lation . This is a maudlin , mawkish, sen ti

men tal, hypocritical ag e . But there are symp

toms of reaction , and I be lieve an advan ced

civilization wil l brin g us back a few things we

have foolishly cast away—among them,in cases

Of deadly dishon our, the due l . I suppose the

critics will say this is“ padding . W ho care s ?

T he two men fire d simultan e ously . Morfill ’s

bulle t ploughe d the ground a yard on Raphae l’s

le ft. Morfill himse lf wen t down with a woun d

VOL. III.

114 SW EET ANNE PAGE,

in his right shoulde r. T he surge on

it, and de clared“

the re was n o serious harm done .

A nd s o ende d that act of the drama.


1 1 6 SWEET ANNE PAGE .

the de ed don e by his remorse le ss sword . But

she de spise d herse lf.

This was the worst Of it . That she , who

hithe rto had worked her wicke d will with men ,

should have be e n the victim of a gross half

coward, half-fop, like th e dead baron e t ! That

she should have surrendered her heart to this

me re an imal— a kind of human bladde r, which

collapse d at th e touch Of Raphae l’s foil ! That

Stephen Langton should re fuse her was,we

may we ll de em, a te rrible humiliation ; but at

any rate Stephen was worth loving. He was

n e ithe r fop n or coward. H e was true to th e

c ore . H e would n ot have made lame excuse s

to a woman whom h e loved, pleading at his fe e t

for hon ourable treatmen t.

Inde e d, Claudia looked back to h er liaison

with Stephen , and did n ot blush the reat . H e

had re fused her, true , but it was h er own fault .

H e was loyal and loving . If she had playe d

fast and loose with him, she had n on e but her

se lf to blame . It was quite othe rwise in this

last affair . S he fe lt that she had fallen far

short ofthe Bran scombe standard in this matter .

FATHE R A N D DAUGHTER . 1 1 7

S h e de se rved th e con tempt of h er family. \Vhat ,

if he kn ew it, would her fathe r say ?

A n d where was her fathe r ? Occupie d with

h er own affairs , sh e had thought but little of

the Old gen tleman . Probably he was back at

Kin g sleat , supe rin ten ding the rebuilding Of th e

man or house , and enj oying the homage of his

acquain tan ce and tenan try . S he would go

down and s e e . E ven if he happen e d to be e lse

where , h er un cle W alte r would re ce ive her.

Amid all h er wanderin g thoughts the re came

n o terror of the pe ril to Raphae l by possible

discovery Ofhis havin g slain Sir Arthur lVille s

den . Somehow or othe r she had come to think

Of Raphae l ve ry much as he thought of himse lf

as safe from all such dange r .

T he S e raph had th e most comple te confide n ce

that his hour was n o t ye t come— that the w ea

pon to wound him was ye t un forged . Claudia

Shared her brothe r’s faith. S he kn ew of his re

turn to Clarg e s Stre e t on Thursday, but she did

n ot wish to s e e him,fe e ling that h e must de

spise h er ; and sh e heard from Margot with in

te n se satisfaction that he was gon e .

SWE ET ANNE PAGE .

T he beautiful wild creature lay for hours to

ge ther on a couch, scarce moving a limb, scarce

lifting an eye lash, scarce con scious Of anythin g

exte rnal . All the while she was in agon ise d

pe rplexity. W hat could she do ? W hat would

remove the con tempt which her brothe r must

fe e l for her ? How should she regain the posi

tion from which sh e had de scen ded— debasing,

de thron ing, un -Bran scombe -in g he rse lf?

Suddenly a thought struck her like fire. S he

had be en as quie t as death : the e le ctric idea

se emed to raise her from the dead. S he sprang

to her fe e t, and wen t to the in n e r room , and

looke d upon th e tall mirror, which refle cte d h er

beauty day and n ight . S he saw a wild and

weary face be fore her. W ith curious eage r

eye s, in whose depths lurke d lamben t fire ,looked Claudia upon he rse lf. S he searched

with wild anxie ty for fading colours and dis

tortin g curve s . Sure ly the re we re n on e .

Sure ly, as she stood the re , half-ve iled by her

wondrous hair, she was still right be autiful .

S he might do mischief ye t . S he might have

hearts thrown at her fe e t— and tread upon them



civil I fe e l in clin e d to kn ock them down . I’

v e

got no excitemen t now .

How is the house gettin g on ?” inquire d

Claudia.

Slowly—but we ll . It will be a n oble place

when it’s fin ishe d . But I don ’t wan t to live in

it : I’m n ot fit for a coun try gen tleman ’s life .

A nd I don ’t be lieve Raphae l will eve r settle

down quie tly. You’d be tte r pick out some we ll

conducte d coun try squire , Claudia, and go and

live at Bran scombe .

Claudia laughe d.

I am n o t much fon de r of a quie t life than

you, papa. But are you goin g to stay in Lon

don ? E verybody is just leaving town .

”

London ! N ot if I kn ow it. I shall go

abroad you can come withme if you like . You

can be bon camarade, I kn ow.

Inde e d D evil Bran scombe had often foundhis

daughter be tte r company than his son . S he

had n o trouble some effeminacie s and sh e did

n ot posse ss that indolen t obstinacy which made

the Se raph an un satisfactory comrade un le ss he

always had his own way .

FATHER AND DAUGHTER . 12 1

Among the many varie tie s of wive s , I should

think th e femme bon camarade , as Devil Bran s

combe put it, must be on e of the be st. There

is the superior woman , a remarkably nice

party to marry. A nd then there is her ve ry

opposite .

W e ll , the natural woman is far supe rior to

the supe rior woman — but when Dame N ature

take s it in to her gran d mate rn al head to say

I will make

A lady ofmy own ,

the re sult is some times a little namby—pamby.

As for the accomplishe d woman,who draws

and dan ce s and plays and sin gs as if she were

the maj ority of the Muse s rolle d in to on e , any

body may have her for me . Preferable , doubt

le ss , is the dome stic woman,who has Cussy

and Ude and Soye r and Fran cate lli and Dr.

Kitchen e r and Miss Acton and Crefydd at her

fin gers’ ends , and would rather be roaste d at

the stake herse lf than allow th e cook to over

roast a woodcock . Admirable , also , is the

pre tty state swoman— the Mrs . Con in gsby and

Lady Vivian Ashle igh— of the two greate st


living n ove lists . But th e varie tie s are e ndle ss

and of th e rare st is the bon camarade. I rathe r

think the se fast days will in crease th e class .

Imagin e a wife who can write a leader, or smoke

a cigar, or look afte r luggage,or un derstand

Dod or Bradshaw or the Owl as we ll as your

se lf ! Is n ot the idea pleasan t ? W ould it n ot

be be tte r to wed a woman who could be with

you at all hours , than on e whom you must leave

in orde r to give certain portion s Of your min d

full play ?

It’s half the world to me dear,It

’s all the world to you,

says a modern poe taste r. W hy should the re be

the distin ction ? W hy should women lose half

the world ? The re are a se t Of strong-min de d

female s who se e this absurdity, but would

remedy it by the far greate r absurdity Ofse tting

up woman as a rival to man . Pshaw, ye Cobbe s

and Martin eaus ! W hat woman wan ts is,n ot

rivalry, but full partn ership . E ducate young

girls to regard the ir future care e r as involving

th e most in timate association with men , and the

happin e ss of the human race will be doubled.


124 S W EET ANNE PAGE.

Ve ry we ll, said the old gen tleman ; “ the n

that’s arranged. Can you start the day afte r

to-morrow

Y es .

“ I’m at the Clarendon . I’ll send ove r and

le t you kn ow what time to be ready. Have you

se en your Un cle Marmaduke or Isola late ly ?”

They are staying i n Spring Garden s . Ra

phae l turn e d the ir house upside down . Didn ’t

you hear of it ?”

N O .

W e ll, le t them te ll you. You’ll laugh ama

zin g ly, I assure you.

I was thinking they might like to go with

us. Marmaduke must find it rathe r slow in

London , whe re he kn ows n obody. Suppose you

we re to ask him ?”

Oh ! ye s , that I will . W e should make

quite a re spe ctable family party, and rathe r as

ton ish Raphae l when we came down upon him .

I’ll go roun d at on ce .

S O , as soon as D evil Bran scombe had left her,

the Pan the r orde red her carriage , and drove to

Spring Garden s . S he found Isola at home .

FATHE R AND DAUGHTER . 125

That little party was thinking OfStephen Lang

ton ,I fear .

W here is your fathe r, cug ina mia said

Claudia.

I hardly kn ow. He will be here soon n o

doubt .

Papa is going abroad, goin g to N aple s, and

propose s that you andUn cle Marmaduke should

come with us . W hat do you say ?

De lightful !” exclaime d Isola,clapping her

fairy hands and I think papa wil l go,for he

se ems to have n o thing at all to do just n ow .

W hen the Old W olf came in,he expre ssed his

perfe ct willingn e ss to j oin the party with his

daughte r. Thus happen ed it that they four

started toge the r for N aple s— the fathers hoping

at least to dissipate the ir ennui, the daughters

hopin g for far more than that— hOpin g for love .

I’ll start afre sh,re solv ed the Pan ther .

“ I’m young ye t— and n o t ugly.

I may se e Stephen , thought Isola.

I may.

A pagan maiden would have prayed A phro

dite for that re sult—a Roman Catho lic would

126 SWE E T . A N N E PAGE .

have be sought th e Virgin , or a favourite female

sain t. W he re fore n o t ?

Raphae l Bran scombe , when he told his sire to

write to him at N aple s , had n o idea Of be ing

followe d thithe r. H e fan cied the Oldgen tleman

so thoroughly occupied with re-edifying the

man sion of the Bran scombe s , that n othin g would

attract him from that ple asan t occupation . His

own idea was to mystify everybody as far as

possible— to avoid eve rybody whom h e kn ew.

W ith this Obj e ct, which he had s e t before him

se lf rathe r for the fun of th e thing than any real

good he could do by it, he hadbought a sailing

boat at Gen oa, which he fitted up with con side r

able comfort, and ran along the glorious coast,

looking in at Spe zzia, L eghorn ,Grosse to

,Civita

Vecchia, Te rracina— runn in g round Ischia and

Capri, and at last se ttling down in the pleasan t

little Hote l Rispoli at Sorren to .

S orrento , stella d’amore l”

exclaims Filicaia ; and what saye th Frede rick

Locke r, P raed’

s legitimate succe ssor ?

S orrentO ! Love’s star ! LandOfmyrtle and vine !



at Sorren to , Heave n kn ows whatmay have hap

pen ed sin ce— there was a divin e pavilion on the

brink of th e pre cipice , where breakfast and dinn e r

alfresco were in ten se ly enj oyable . He re the S e

raph and his erring compan ion e stablished them

se lve s for a while , the courte ous landlord fan cy

in g he had two E nglish ladie s to deal with, and

n ot for a momen t suspe ctin g that the e lde r and

handsomer was in reality a dangerous, dexter

Ous due llist, a fearle ss wooe r of women ,and an

tag onist Of men . This be ing so,it se eme d

highly un like ly that the S e raph would be de

tected by his re lation s .

But he soon de te cte d them . They had hired

a palazzo—at least,the chie f rooms— th e prin ce

to whom it be longed ge tting himse lf in to some

distant and difficult suite of garre ts . Raphae l

was won t, in the morn ing, leaving Ann e to

amuse herse lf by wan dering in the orange

grove s,to cross the bay in a light skiff

,with

, as

sole compan ion ,a young Columbus , such as my

dear Old friend (who has forgotten me ! , W alte r

Thornbury, me t at Ge n oa t en years ag o . A nd

so on e day, in the Stre e t of the Gian t, Raphae l

FATHER AND DAUGHTER . 129

dre sse d in the blue serge dre ss with an chor

button s Ofgold and a flat straw hat of an E n g

lish yachtswoman , and smokin g jaun tily a Rus

sian cigare tte—came right upon Ralph Bran s

combe , and Marmaduke , Claudia, and Isola.

N o t on e of them re cognise d him,though every

On e Ofthem made some remark upon the e ccen

tric E nglishwoman . I sola was charme d. T h e

n otion of loungin g in dependen tly through th e

broad square s and stre e ts of a fore ign city ar

rided her greatly . T he cigare tte was th e ex

quisite poe tic climax .

The re That’s what I should like , sh e

said, turnin g to look at the love ly apparition in

n avy blue . W ouldn ’t you, Claudia ? W hat’s

the good of be ing in bella N apoli, as they call it,

with two e lde rly ge n tlemen to look afte r on e ?

Couldn ’t you and I manage to e scape,lik e yon -4

der youn g woman,and smoke our cigare tte s in

happy independen ce ?

I don ’t smoke , said the Pan the r, though

I used to take just the first whiff at dear Old

Raphae l’s cigars for him . Papa, sh e wen t on

—for the two gen tlemen we re also watching

VOL . III.

130 SW E ET ANNE PAGE .

the departing Se raph in pe tticoats have you

found out anythin g about Raphae l ? Has he

arrived he re ye t

H e hadn ’t inquired for le tte rs when I was

at the Post Office this morn ing. W e may as

we ll stroll that way n ow. H e may come at any

momen t.

But no inquiry had be en made . T he Se raph

had given his fathe r an addre ss simply for cer

tain legal purpose s . As his fathe r had reached

N aple s , he knew that his addre ss was n ot wan t

ed. A nd he had n o othe r corre sponden ts . S O

he wen t n ot n ear the Post Office—and his fa

the r was baffled .

As , howeve r, he did n o t wish to lose sight Of

the Old gentleman,in case of anything turn in g

up, he ascertain e d—it was easy en ough—where

they lived, and droppe d a lin e to the Pan the r .

It had de lighte d him to se e her so fl e sh and

g ay : evidently she had n o t taken Sir Arthur’s

death seve re ly to heart . A nd he was glad to

le t her kn ow that he forgave her. S O he

wrote

DEAR CLAUDIA,—I was glad to se e you



writin g . Raphae l’s firm bold autograph was

ve ry like Hen ry VIII.

’

s . S he read it through ,

hurriedly . Isola’s ke en eye marke d a blush

upon h er face . S he read it through again ,

slowly ; then , looking up, she me t Isola’s glan ce ,

and smiled .

Mayn ’t I have a love -le tter she asked,

gaily .

Twenty, if you like but that is n o t a love

le tter.

You are a witch !

Am I ? W e ll , if I may gue ss , I should say

that come s from Raphae l .

You saw the handwriting ?”

N O— by St . Januarius,who is the right

sain t to swear by here , I should think . I

gue sse d it from your looks .“ Then you’re a witch

,re ite rated Claudia

,

and I shall be afraid to have you look at me .

W ould you like to se e the le tte r ? It is from

Raphae l .

Isola read it.

D ear old S e raph !” she exclaime d.

“ Crafty,

cunn ing Old Seraph ! Fan cy his being he re and

FATHE R AND DAUGHTER . 133

se e ing us,and our kn owi ng n othin g about it !

W e ll,h e is cleve r .

That n ight, as Isola un dre ssed he rse lf in so

litude , a sudden thought flashe d upon h er.

There is some thing very curious in that abrupt

e le ctric flash Of thought,which brings back

some vague idea Of .th e past, givin g it shape

and mean ing. Hazlitt in his Table Talk,

re

late s a story of a man ,who

,prose cute d by g o

v ernmen t for some political crfi e , and acquit

ted, wen t away in to a solitary part Of W ale s

with in ten t to purge his brain of th e sordid

horrors of attorn eys and spie s . Afte r long so

j ourn with nature , it chan ced that on e morn ing

a man passed his window h e scarce ly n oticed

him, but all through the day he was miserable ,

and the unbe traying heart of maternal nature

could n o t con sole him . H e was n ervous , fre t

ful , worried ; h e kn ew n ot why. T he even ing

explain ed ; the chan ce passer whose scarce-n o

ticed face had thus affe cte d him was a hired

scoundre l who had born e witn e ss again st him at

his trial .

This phen omen on is n ot un like the sudden


reve lation from what se ems an utte r blank of a

photographic picture , when mercurial vapour is

applied . Few are they who have n o t often ex

perien ced it—as did Isola at this momen t,

when ,brushing her wild wealth of hair, she

sudden ly fe lt sure that the handsome E nglish

woman in blue serge yachting costume,coolly

s moking a cigare tte , was Raphae l,and n on e

othe r. Y e s : she was absolute ly certain . S he

won dered Claudia had n ot de te cte d him. S he

re solved n ot to say a word—as h e eviden tly

de sire d to lie pe rdu—but to watch for him in

stre e t and square , and act as the mo

men t might de cide .

Vain re solve Vain ly did she ke ep her ke en

bright eye s ready and re cognizan t . N O Se raph

T he ve ry n ext day the whim had se ize d him to

ascertain what had be come of Fiordilisa. H e

kn ew it was pe rilous ; but peril was pleasure .

T he Lily of Isola Rossa might be dead of grie f-if so , his life was n ot worth fiv e minute s

’

purchase . But he would kn ow : afte r all, the

Lily had love d him passionate ly, and had be en

loved—pre tty we ll . S O he le ft Mrs . Morfil l un


136 SW EET ANN E PAGE .

ous ride,but te rrible for its toil . Mighty hills ,

wild rivers, state ly fore sts of che stnut, won

drous views ove r pale peaks and misty gorge s

to the ce rulean sea beyond : with this wealth of

beauty his eye was de lighted as h e made his.

re solute way n orthward . S e ldom was the re a

locanda at which to eat or sle ep : but hospitable

prie sts and godlike goathe rds gave him the ir

be st, and h e saw a simple n oble rude Homeric

life . A nd, leaving his babyish love behin d him

Raphae l Bran scombe had for a while a touch of

n oblen e ss , and thought with remorse Ofhis long

absen ce , with j oy of again pre ssing the pure

lips ofthe Lily of Isola Rossa.

CHAPTE R VI .

BEHIND IN LONDON .

UMPHRE Y MORFILL’

S wound kept him

for some time a prison e r . When he was

able to leave the house his sole re solve was to

discover what had be come of his wife , and to

Obtain revenge . H e had thrown up his E aste rn

appoin tmen t, which Inde e d could n o t be kept

open for him,requiring in stan t pe rforman ce . H e

threw aside all his occupation s,legal and lite

rary, and con cen trate d all his facultie s , and de

voted all his time,in orde r to trace his lost

spouse and avenge himse lf. H e was like an

expre ss en g in e , which, doing its mile a min ute

fromLondon towards Bris tol , is turn e d by the

switche s upon an othe r lin e , and con tinue s with

undimin ished spe ed and power away towards


Birmingham . T he dynamic force which had

driven Humphrey Morfill on the path Of ambi

tion drove him n ow with n o le ss ve locity on the

path of revenge .

As soon as h e was we ll en ough to move

about he re stle ssly sought the solution of the

myste ry. H e wen t to de te ctiv e s , Offe re d heavy

rewards , and kept up a pe rpe tual excitemen t .

A good many post-chaise s had le ft Lon don on

that fatal Tue sday even ing. Among those

which Morfill traced was on e which took a lady

and gen tleman , with the ir se rvan t, to a dull

marke t town on the borde rs of W iltshire and

Be rkshire . T he proprie tor of the post-chaise did

n ot kn ow t he gen tleman who hired it, could n ot

remember his personal appearan ce ; the postil

lion s we re equally un remin iscen t : but Humphrey

re solved to follow the scen t—as he had don e in

several previous case s . S O he trave lle d down

to the place at which the post-chaise had be en

dismissed.

Hon e st stupidity baffle s an inquire r more com

ple te ly than anything e lse . T he landlord ofthe

Bear remembe red the early arrival of a post



they have n eve r se en ,n or eve r will s e e , and call

it nature,what shall be expe cted from the ordi

nary public

Ifthe eye cann ot Obtain justice , what hope is

the re ‘ for palate or n ostril ? W hen , for example ,

will the re be a scien tific ae sthetic of perfume ?

W hen will pe ople learn that musk and laven de r

water andE ss .Bouque t are quite as n asty as asa

foe tida ? Strong pe rfume s indicate con scious

n e ss Of tragus . W ood viole ts are swe e t,

smothered up in leav e s and so are the May-lily

and the blue-be ll ; and so—ah,how swe e t, ye t

with how fain t andd e licate a swe e tn e ss —is th e

cyclamen .

T hose delicate W hite leaflets, upward turningT he perfect odour ofthat rose -ting ed mouth,

Curved e loquently, and for ever yearningT o g ain warm kisses from the wooin g south

T here is no blossom,theme ofpoet

’s pen ,

Dowered with like beauty to the cyclamen .

But swe e ter than any breath of flower -and

more sugge stive of de light than th e most ex

quisite bouque t Ofchoice st claret—is the Odorous

breath Ofa healthy young girl,

BEHIND IN LONDON . 141

“ W ith red lips breathed apart

By the music ofher heart .

As to the ae sthe tic Oftaste , that I fear mus t con

tinue un deve loped, so lon g as th e E picure,poe t

Ofthe palate , is stigmatiz ed with grossn e ss— so

long as

G od sends us g oodmeat , but the devil sends cooks .

W e ll, thanks to the utte r absen ce of the eye ’s

e ducation , the pe ople at the Bear we re en tire ly

at issue among each othe r as to what mann er of

man h e was who brought thither the beautiful

lady in th e postchaise . That he was a remark

able man to look upon they all agre e d ; but the

maj ority he ld that h e was a tall man,rathe r

gigan tic,inde ed, than otherwis e , with a vast

quan tity of raven -black hair. Humphrey could

remember n o man of his acquain tan ce whom

this de scription fitted even loose ly. It is to be

observed that he had given up his n otion of

Raphae l’s be in g the person h e sought, having

sagaciously con cluded that the S e raph would

have candidly con fe ssed what h e had don e when

the matter had led to a hostil e me e ting be twe e n


them. A nd, in de ed, he told his se cond and his

surge on , so soon as his sen se s re turn ed to him,

that he re gre tted having wronged Mr. Bran s

combe by his suspicion s—a phrase which found

its way to the pape rs .

Humphrey could n o t discove r whithe r the

e rran t gen tleman and lady had driven in that

hired conveyan ce . H e explored in all dire c

tion s, but somehow did n ot reach the historic

town beyond the chalk down s in which Raphae l

had taken brie f re st . S O from this j ourn ey, as

from many before,he re turn ed baffled and dis

appoin ted . But the ardour Of pursuit was n o t

che cked.

On the day of his re turn he din e d at the

Chandos with Frank Maule . Frank, whose love

Of diflicult inquiry we kn ow, was much in te

re ste d in this inve stigation of Morfill’s . His

opin ion,howeve r, diffe re d from Humphrey’s in

regard to Raphae l. H e had n otice d th e S e raph’s

pe culiar ton e towards Humphrey, and had in

fe rre d that he kn ew more aboutMrs .Morfill than

he care d to te ll .‘You have don e n othing ye t , he said, as

they waited for dinn e r.



late . W hat I hear is that Hudson used the Old

lady’s name very fre e ly, n ot to say foully— that

Shotte sbrooke heard of it—and that they’re

going to fight to-morrow morning.

DO you think you are we ll in forme d ?”

It reache d me through Aylme r, who is ve ry

in timate with Shotte sbrooke , and who is to be‘

his se cond. You kn ow what sort Of fe llow the

youn g E arl is ?

N o .

Then I’ll te ll you . I don ’t kn ow an other

man like him. H e is a child in purity, a Bayard

in courage , almost a Christ in pitifuln e ss . H e

is spotle ss , ifa ny man ever was . H e is on ly

two or thre e-and-twen ty,but far Older men who

kn ow him reve ren ce him. A nd for him to be

mixe d up in so vile an affair !”

W hat will h e do , think you ?”

Me e t Hudson , of course : that first. If he

survive s, I should predict that he will follow

Raphae l Bran scombe

T O the death ! said Morfill, fierce ly .

I don ’t kn ow . I am n ot sure that he would

de em that right . W e shall se e .


Bran scombe is an in fernal scoundre l, said

Morfill, afte r a pause . I wish I had shot

him !”

W hy ? W hat quarre l have you with him ?

N on e , of course , but he de serve s to be shot .

If he me e ts the young E arl , he’ll sure ly kill him .

He’

s a fiend, I think. W hy should he have pro

v oked me that day, in stead Of saying in a

straightforward way that he kn ew n othing of

my wife ?”

Frank Maule lean ed back in his chair, and

refle cted. Should he te ll Morfill his suspicion

a suspicion so strong that it almost amoun te d

to certain ty ? W hy n ot ? Morfill could n ot

again challenge Raphae l : all h e could do was to

search for his wife .

Could he say that ?”h e aske d, at length .

Morfil l half rose from his chair.

W hy shouldn’t h e ? W hat do you kn ow ?”

he exclaimed.

I kn ow n othing . I mere ly think that Ra

phae l Bran scombe is your man ,from the way he

talke d to you that n ight. Doe s he dislike you ?

Has be any reason to dislike you ?”

VOL. III.

SW EET ANNE PAGE .

He intended to marry his cousin—my wife ,

you know, for her mon ey .

Ah,said Maul e , then that supplie s a mo

tive . H e may have taken away your wife , le ss

from love Of her, than from hatre d of you .

That would be his disposition , if I am any

judge .

Morfill struck th e table with his cle n che d fist .

By God ! he exclaimed, I be lieve you’re

right. W he re is he ? I’ll find him, by H ea

v en l '

Quie t,my dear fe llow—quie t ! said Maule .

The ir colloquy had be en carrie d on in the

lowe st possible ton e of voice , and Humphrey’s

sudden excitemen t calle d atte n tion to the re

mote table at which they sat .

It will be a very strange thing, said Frank

Maule after a pause , “ if we cann ot discover

what has be come Of so we ll-known a man as

Raphae l Bran scombe . W e’ll make inquiry this

ve ry eve ning. If my the ory is right,you have

on ly to ove rtake him in orde r to find Mrs . Mor

fill. But don ’t be hasty. You kn ow he has

fought you once .



of the whole affair— it sudden ly occurre d to him

to visit a ce rtain quarte r of Lon don whe re you

and I, de corous reade r, have n eve r spen t an

hour,and where inde e d life is at this period far

slowe r than it was in the days of the Marquis

ofW aterford.

An d in that piquan t pooh-pooh purlieu— that

florid fi-fifie ld Offlash and fan cy—they en coun

tered a little bird . A very pre tty little bird,

exquisite of shape , brilliant of plumage , with

the swe e te st beak and gre edie st claws in th e

world, with a marve llous thirst for fizz . A nd

this g ay wild-winged creature , of a spe cie s un

kn own to Audubon and W ilson ,chirpe d and

carolle d musical n ews Of the Se raph. A nd the

burden Ofthat n ews was

B ella N ap oli

I shall go ove r at once , said Morfill.

I’ll go with you, said Frank Maule ,

you’ll wait till to—morrow. I’

v e n o particular

occupation at pre sen t.

W ait till to-morrow ! exclaimed Humphrey.

You didn ’t expe ct me to start for the coast at

on ce , sure ly ?

BEHIND IN LONDON 149

W e ll, I don’t kn ow. You se emed rather im

pe tuous . However,I really will go with you ,

and to-morrow we shall p erhaps have an other

comrade .

’

W hat do you mean ?

W hy, whe ther Shotte sbrooke kills Hudson

or Hudso n Shotte sbrooke,th e survivor will

sure ly look afte r Bran scombe . A nd the re is n o

time to be lost .

T he characte r which Frank Maul e had give n

of th e young E arl of Shotte sbrooke was n o ex

aggeration . H e was th e fair ideal of a Christian

gen tleman— or rathe r would have be en , if Frois

S art had written a fifth gospe l . There was a

ce rtain gen tleman ly monarch Of the Un ite d

Kingdom (thank God, he was n ot King OfE ngland! Ofwhom a poe t wrote

A noble nasty course he ran ,

S upreme lyfil thy and fastidious ,H e was the world’

s first g entleman ,

A ndmade the appe llation hideous .

N o t such sort of gen tleman was Lord Shotte s

brooke . H e was the Sir Galahad of the n in e

150 SW EE T ANNE PAGE .

te en th century . Boy though he was , his native

purity made his inte lle ctual eye sight ke en , and

h e judge d characte r more truly than many an

expe rien ced man of the world. Knave ry mar

v e lled to find itse lf fathome d of this lordly

child.

I have calle d the young E arl a Christian g en

tleman . This , of a sure ty, he was . But he was

a kn ight—in the highe st sen se of that gloriousmon osyllable . Sir Philip Sydney would have

we lcome d him as a true brothe r in arms . Cow

ardice , dishon our, falsehood, we re things to him

unimaginable . H e was chivalry’s n oble st pro

duct .

Conce ive , dear reade r, what I cann ot de scribe

—the grie f and shame of this young n obleman

when the conviction was forced upon him that

his siste r had “be en false to h er husban d—ay,

and more , and infin ite ly worse , that h er fair

fame had been soile d in her maidenh ood, and

that her dead mothe r was her accomplice My

G od, how cold the words look as I write them

—mendin g my pen , mayhap , in th e midst of a

sentence How would Shake speare have g iv gn


1 52 SW EET ANNE PAGE.

un comfortable me e ting. T he'

E arl fe lt ne ither

n ervous n or‘ bloodthirsty ; he longe d for death,

and fe lt a definite pre sentimen t that what he

longed for would n ot come . It would be hard

to say how he fe lt towards the man whom he

had challenged—his siste r’s husband. By n o

mean s in clin ed to kill him,certain ly . Possibly

Mr. Hudson fe lt similarly towards his brothe r

in-law— for both men fired in the air.

A nd when the affair was ov e r, and Brabazon

Aylme r was going to take his prin cipal off the

ground,that young n obleman walked across to

Hudson , and said,

Ge orge , shake hands . I don’t kn ow how

this affair will end. I wish I had be en dead be

fore it began . But it cann ot end he re . W e

must fin d that man who has brought us so

muchmisery and shame . H e must n ot e scape .

I don ’t kn ow,my lord

,said Hudson plain

tiv ely. I don ’t think he is a man. I look

upon him as a fiend.

W he re is h e ? W hat has be come Of him ?”

inquired the E arl.

I wish I kn ew ! exclaimed Hudson .

BEHIND IN LONDON. 1 53

I think I kn ow whe re he is , said the E arl s

second, Brabazon Aylme r.

How so said the E arl .

Simply thus —Frank Maul e kn ew of this

busin ess . H e came to my rooms at about thre e

this morn ing, and said, ‘ You will wan t,in an

hour or two , to kn ow whe re Bran scombe is . H e

is at N aple s .

How did h e kn ow ?

Hudson calle d Bran scombe a fien d just n ow,

said Aylmer . H e spoke truth . You are n o t

the on ly men who are in ke en pursuit Of him.

On ly last n ight was it discovere d where he had

gon e , and th e first ve sse l will take a re solute

avenge r in search of him. God kn ows by whose

hand he will first me e t punishmen t.“ I’ll te ll you what, said Hudson ,

from all

I have se en and heard Ofthat man ,I be lieve n o

on e Of us wil l pun ish him. Howeve r, le t us

make trial . How soon can we start for N aple s ?

A curious conversation afte r a m e e tin g at

Chalk Farm. It’s re sult was that Lord Shotte s

brooke and Hudson j oin ed Morfill andMaule in

the ir expedition . A we ek later the four g en


tlemen were to be se en in th e ple asan t, lazy

stre e ts of the Siren City,Parthen ope , though

assuredly without any ideas in the ir heads of

e ithe r lazin e ss or pleasure .

Inquirie s soon led them to the palazzo in the

Strada Mon te di Dio , where th e Bran scombe s

had taken up the ir quarters . The ir cards we re

sen t up , on e languid morn ing, when the ladie s

were lying on couche s andwatchin g the magical

movemen t Ofthe slow Ve suvian smoke .

Four E nglishmen !”exclaime d the Pan the r ,

scrutinizing those polished paralle lograms .

Lord“ Shotte sbrooke —ah,he

’

s a n ice fe llow ;

but h e ’s engage d to Ge rard Morley’s daughter,

so he ’s n o good . Hudson — the re are so many

Hudson s— Oh , this must be th e on e that married

S hotte sbro oke’

s sister. Maule —don ’t kn ow

him. Morfill —kn ow him,rather. W hat can

bring him here,Isola

I’m sure I can ’t imagin e , replied that young

lady indolen tly. Ask him. I suppose you’re

going to le t them come up by-and-by.

They we re admitte d, andMaule , as the most

colle cted Ofthe party, explain ed that they had


SW EET ANNE PAGE .

she thought, scornfully. They don ’t kn ow

th e Seraph. I gue ss h e ’s amusing himse lf, and

don ’t choose to be interrupte d.

H er conj e cture was n ot a wild on e , as we

kn ow. Pre sen tly Devil Bran scombe and the

old W olf re turn ed from the ir stroll, and from

lounging at the Caffe d’

E uropa.

Friends of Raphae l’s , eh ?” said Ralph Bran s

combe I can ’t make out what’s be come of

him . H e wrote to say he should be he re , for

there were some legal documen ts be expe cted

to hand to sign . I have be en able to hear n othing

of him from post office or passport pe ople . A nd

I have already staye d here rathe r longe r than I

intended, be cause , if I miss him, I don’t kn ow

when I may fin d him again . H e wanders all

ove r the world.

”

T he four visitors could se e that this was the

truth .

W on ’t you,gen tlemen , din e with us ?

” said

the W olf, hospitably . W e can ’t give you an

E nglish dinn e r, you kn ow, but our cook S hall do

her be st.

Thank you,said the young E arl, “

unfor


tunate ly it is impossible . I wish it we re other

They took leave . As they walked to the ir

hote l, Maule remarked

They eviden tly have n o idea where Raphae l

Bran scombe is . W e can do n othing with them .

W e mus t wait .

H e is expe cted here , said the E arl .

I was n o t quite satisfie d with th e woman’s

looks,said Morfill. I fan cy the little on e , at

least, kn ows some thing.

W hat can we do n ow ?”

asked Hudson ,

de spairingly.

Play a waiting game , an swere d Maule .

Our quarry will turn up whe re the re st Of th e

brood are . Of course it isn ’t as easy for you to

be patien t, with your passionate in te re st in the

que st, as for me , who regard it as a simple

scien tific problem . There is th e more reason

that you should put yourse lve s in my hands .

Frank Maule quite enj oye d his captain cy .

He had thre e men to ke ep in orde r, all as dif

feren t as possible . H e had very little idea as

to what would happe n when they ran down


the ir fo e . But he de eme d it his duty to ke ep

his men we ll in hand, and was quite de termin ed

that n e ither Ofthem should do anything prema

ture or rash, if h e could he lp it.

W hat did those four fe llows wan t of Ra

phae l ?” growle d the OldW olf on the ir departure .

They se eme d de vilish anxious to find him.

If they wan t anything he don ’t like , they’ll

be devilish anxious to g e t away again , when

they do find him, said D evil Bran scombe .

“ I suppose , remarke d Claudia to Isola, as

those two youn g ladie s , with true P arthe n opean

lazin e ss and languor we re loitering through the ir

preparation for din n e r— “ I suppose those men

have got some awkward busin e ss with Raphae l .

It looke d like it.’

Very much,” said Isola. L e t’s hope they

mayn ’t find him.

“ W hy ?” inquire d the Pan the r. You don ’t

suppose he’

d be afraid of them— four to on e

e ven

N o t a bit of it. I mean t for their

sakes.

A nd emitting one of those silvery laughs of


CHAPTE R VII.

FAUS T A N D MEPHIS TOPHELES .

are all tempte rs and all tempted I sup

pose , in this world . Some time s we play

Mephistophe le s—some time s Faust. Goe the ’s

separation of the two characters is both un scien

tific andunpoe tic—be cause un true . W e have de

mon strated the n on-existen ce of devils . W e

have dismisse d he ll with costs . W e have

found out that the true seat of evil is man’s

heart, man’s soul , man

’s self. Moloch was a

child to N ana Sahib B e lial an ass to Ge orge IV

Mammon a muff to Rothschild ; while Satan

himse lf— the Arch-Rebe l— the ve ry an tagon ist of

God—sinks into in sig nificance be side N apole on .

‘

A y, in .

the core of man is the seat Of evil .

But, thank God, it is also the seat of good. A nd

FAUS T AND MEPHIS TOPHELES . 1 6 1

the race which has given us Philip Sidn ey, and

Collingwood,and Charle s N apie r, may de fy the

devils .

That the ory Of exte rnal influen ce is absurd .

That it could eve r have Obtain ed has always

p erplexed me . T he wise st utteran ce of any

living man is Matthew Arn old’s

W e mortal millions liv e alone .

This is the true key to th e kn owle dge of hu

man ity, if such kn owledge be obtainable , which

I doubt. But that any man ,kn owin g himse lf

,

or making any con scientious attempt to kn ow

himse lf,should hon e stly be lieve in the existen ce

of evil influen ce s outside hims e lf,'

is to me perfe ct .

ly astoun ding.

T he world, the fle sh, the devil . Those

thre e . Verily there have be en sermon s en ough

about them sin ce somebody (Paul , was it thus

classified the an tichristian influen ce s . W e ll, le t

us look at them. W hat is the World ? Simply

and sole ly the agglomeration ofmen and women

Thackeray’s Van ity Fair , Tom Robertson’s

Socie ty . N othing more . Shun the world, ex

VOL. III.


claims E ccle siaste s . How ? A me e ting of Qua

kers and Quakere sse s is— the world. Le t the

fiv e wise st v irtuouse st men that eve r live d sup

with the fiv e wise virgin s (if the re eve r were so

many! and you have— the world.

W hat is the fle sh ? Humph ! Inquire of the

poe ts andn ove lists . Is there a rhyme or a story

worth reading that hasn ’t love in it. If so,for

the love of he aven le t me have a copy,that I

may imitate it . But, say you, that

’s all fiction

take the history of the world . Wéll,take it .

Women have the making of it. N eve r was

there a great glory or a great mischie f without

a woman at the heart of it. I don ’t be lieve the

Siege of Troy was exactly a myth. Afte r all,

howeve r,what we call history refle cts a ve ry,

ve ry small portion ofhuman life . T h e en ormous

mass of action which is n ever re corded would,

if it we re possible to inve stigate it, show th e in

fluence of “ th e fle sh . A nd why should it n ot

have influen ce ? Preach as ye will, e loquen t

and emasculate the ologian s , a beautiful woman

will, to the end of time , make havoc with the

hearts ofmen n or will a man in whom intelle c



himse lf upon S eagull Pallise r, simply for th e

purpose of e scaping from the Bran scombe s , with

whom he had in extricably involun tarily be en

conn e cte d h~om his boyhood . A ndat Ajaccio he

is accosted by Raphae l Bran scombe ’s wife and

at Isola Rossa, when he lands with that lady

on the beach,h e finds himse lf face to face with

Raphae l Bran scombe himse lf ! You kn ow if a

fe llow me t with that sort Of thin g in a n ove l

he’

d say it was perfe ctly absurd .

Stephen ,whose visionary ten den cie s were the

ve ry growth Ofhis nature , was much impre ssed

by th e coin ciden ce . It appeare d to him as if it

was impossible for him to e scape from th e influ

e nce of this strange family. H e be gan to think

he had bette r n ot try. H e pin ed to be fre e ; he

longed to find real work to do in the world ;

above all, he longe d with all the strength of a

poe tic nature,for that which h e had more than

once so n early gain ed— so narrowly lost—a wO

man ’s love . A true woman’s true love , Stephen

wan ted. N ot much to wan t, you may say .

N ot much W orth more than the empire of

the un iverse,physical or inte lle ctual . Be tter to

FAUS T AND MEPHIS TOPHELES . 1 65

be truly loved by a true woman than to be

Caesar or Shake speare .

That open s an othe r que stion . W hat is the

good of havin g such love if you cann ot appre ci

ate it ? Cae sar or Shake speare would probably

and have all the ir other gifts in to th e bargain .

I fan cy those Sonn e ts of Shake sp eare ’s mean

th e ve ry hotte st fire of love—that fire which

scorche s the moist marrow in th e strong bon e s

Ofmen .

Le t us re turn to our mutton s— to Raphae l and

Stephen , pacing the sands of Isola Rossa,at

even tide,when the sapphire s ea was a vision

and the saffron sun se t a lyric, and the soft sus

urrus of the swe e t South a breath frcm paradise .

W hat explanation Raphae l had made to Ange lo

and Fiordilisa I kn ow n ot . H e was plausible

enough . Fiordilisa be lieve d him thoroughly, of

course . W ith h er,as with all lovin g women ,

love had trust as a companion . S he had n eve r

for an in stan t doubte d Raphae l . H e might be

dead,wounded, in prison—h e could n o t be false .

W hat a pity,you may say, that such faith

should be wasted on such falsehood ! N o t so .


Be tte r far to have loved and trusted and be en

ruthle ssly be trayed than n eve r to have loved at

all.

E ven Ange lo Mon talti se eme d at last to ao

cept Raphae l Bran scombe ’s explanation s , but

the re was an occasional look of the Old Corsi

can ’s which the ke en-eye d S e raph n oticed, and

did n o t approve . I have n eve r be en able to

learn whe the r‘Ange lo re turn ed to it s caske t

that ivory-hafted dagger.

Raphae l and Stephen ,then

,we re pacin g the

shore . They had din e d at the Casa Mon talti in

the e nj oyable primaeval style , which made S te

phen think of the Odyssey. They had drunk .

some OfAnge lo’s olde st and choice st win e , and

followe d it with coffe e of Mocha,

and rare

liqueurs from Raphae l ’s Piccadilly win e mer

chant ."

They were n ow smokin g placidly,and

watching the multitudin ous colours with which

the departing chariot Of Hyperion ' dyed the

ruddy cliffs and sn owy sands and emeralds ea.

Stephen was poe tic in mood— quoting some

rhyme , the product of th e day .



few days . You can ke ep Pallise r, I kn ow.

W hen shall you start ?” asked Stephen .

Oh,I’

ll go to-morrow. I wouldn ’t go at all

if I could he lp it—but I have left things that

positive ly must be attende d to .

This was a fact, we kn ow. There was young

Columbus waiting for him at Bon ifazio— and his

boat atT erran ova—andA nn e Page unde r Louis’s

care at the Hote l Rispoli . There we re fourmen

waiting for him at N aple s too - but that he kn ew

n ot . Howeve r,it was clearly requisite for him

to make some le ss temporary arrangemen t for

Mrs . Morfill,be fore he se ttled down quie tly in

Corsica—which, strange to say, had be come his

inten tion .

Y e s , it was so . T he S e raph had at last dis

cove red the infin ite value of a pure love . T he

mise rable me thod of his life hitherto began to

strike him as con temptibly foolish . H e would

have given a good deal n ot to have embar

rassed himse lf with Mrs . Morfill. H e de spised

her. H e de spised himse lf for having be en such

a con founde d ass as to run away with h er,

chiefly to annoy her husband. W hy should he

FAUS T AND MEPHIS TOPHE LES . 1 69

wan t revenge on the man ? H e ought to have

fe lt in fin ite ly obliged to him for taking so com

monplace a woman Off his hands . W hen h e

compared h er with Fiordilisa— that creature so

pure , so poe tic, so utte rly in capable of imagin in g

falsehood or un de rstanding vilen e ss—h e abso

lute ly shuddere d at th e idea that h e had made

himse lf re spon sible for Mrs . Morfil l.

A nd there was an other thing which came very

strongly upon him. N o t lon g, and Fiordilisa

would be a mothe r . N ot long, and h e would

have a child to succe e d him as head of th e long

lin e of Bran scombe s of Bran scombe . A son , as

fearle ss and acute as himse lf, as truthful and

loving as Fiordilisa How h e would love such

a boy — how n obly might such a Bran scombe

aton e for the faults and follie s of his fore fathe rs .

Or a daughte r, mayhap : we ll , a daughter like

Fiordilisa would be a good gift from God . So

thought the S eraph ; and so thinking, h e made

immediate re solve to re turn to Sorren to , to

make some arrangemen t for the we ll-be ing of

the woman with whom he had foolishly in

cumbered himse lf, and then to re turn to Isola

SW EET ANNE PAGE .

Rossa, to Fiordilisa, to the on ly home and the

on ly love he had eve r kn own .

Thus re solved, he induced Stephe n to promise

to remain at the Casa Mon talti till his re turn .

A nd, when h e ann oun ced to old Ange lo the n e

ce ssity for his going to Sardin ia, and possiblyto the Con tin en t, for a few days

,so Obviously

sin ce re was his regre t at leaving,so j oyful his

hope of re turn ,that the n oble Old Corsican be

g an to accuse himse lf of en tertain ing wrongful

suspicion s of his loyalty .

As to Fiordilisa, that darlin g of the island of

roman ce heard j oyful ly of his in tention to depart,“

be cause when h e re turn e d he was to re turn

for ever . N O more severan ce— til l the Death

Ange l came to sun der for a time the bon ds of

love . T he thought filled h er with perfe ct happi

n e ss . A nd when the Fantasia was made ready,

with Marc An ton io as his comrade , to take him

round to Bon ifazio—while , as Often here tofore ,

all the dwe llers in the little town turn e d out to

se e him Off—Fiordilisa clung to him with a loving

kiss,and whispe re d

Come back soon , .Raffae lle you knowwhy. .



nuse , or to prove that “ the re can be on ly fiv e

regular solids,” or to finda poin t such that tan

gen ts drawn from it to touch two given circle s

shall con tain a given angle Le t me hope that

you have n o t . I have . I am n o t at all like ly to

forge t it.

Howeve r,the S e raph’s problem tran scende d

thi s . It was : how to g e t rid of Ann e Page and

re turn quie tly to the Lily of Isola Rossa. A n

amazing problem . For, to begin with, the S e

raph was a man n ot to be missed from the Lon

don horizon without some effort on the part of

friends and associate s to trace him to his hiding

place . H e had exactly the popularity you might

expe ct . H e had the two great e lemen ts Ofpop

ularity. H e was loveable h e was

dange rous . How could a man both loveable

and dange rous van ish utte rly from the ken of

all who love d and feare d him without be in g

missed—without be ing pursued by the fie ry

fiercen e ss Ofboth en emie s and friends ?

Then ,in the n ext place , there was poor little

Ann e to dispose of. How to do that ? This

puzzle d Raphae l con siderably while on his voy


ag e from Terran ova to Sorren to . T he child

loved him that was the worst Ofit.

S he had surrendere d her life for him. A nd the

n ew fe e ling— utte rly n ew to him—which had

sprung up in his heart for Fiordilisa,made him

unwilling to act crue lly to the foolish child,

whom he had brought to Sorren to,takin g h er

away from h er husban d . W hat was he to do

with h er ? That was the great que stion Of th e

momen t— a que stion almost unan swe rable . It

occupied him all through his pleasan t voyage

from Isola Rossa to Ajaccio , from Ajaccio to

Bon ifazio , fiom Bon ifazio across th e en chan ted

straits . E qually did it occupy him from Te rra

n ova to Sorren to . W hat could he do with her ?

Here was a beautiful little creatur e , in whom (as

if she were an Un din e ! h e hadawaken ed a soul

whom h e had seve red from the highly re spe ct

able world whe re in she live d, and from all the

dutie s of her life , and who n ow live d upon his

love,and obeye d him as if h e we re a god, and

thought of n othing but him and it was his e s

pe cial obj e ct to g e t rid of he r. W hy, myriads

Ofmen would be de lighted to find themse lve s in


his position—in the position when ce he chiefly

de sire d to e scape . W hat to do with th e foolish

child whom,in a foolish freak, h e had taken

from her home ? That was th e point . It per

plexed him . But n eve r for a momen t did he

falte r in his re solve quie tly to g e t rid of her.

Though, be it obse rve d, the strong love which

had filled his heart for Fiordilisa made him ve ry

pitiful towards Ann e . Heartily did he wish h e

had n ever e n tice d h er away from that grim dull

quie t Me sopotamian terrace . Heartily did he

wish the re was some magical way of re storing

her to her stupid cleve r lawyer-husband with

out fracas or e sclan dre . It could n ot be . H e

must just accept his fate with all its ann oyan ce s .

Raphae l had all his life be en accepting his

fate . H e had n eve r he sitated,whe the r woman

or man was in the way. His cre ed had be en

that of our moral youn g friend Mr. W ynyard

Powys .

My want’

s at the worst , so W hy should I spare

(S ince just such a thing my want supplies!T his little g irl with the silky hair,A nd the lov e in her two larg e eyes ?

”



You se e , he had always be en a de cidedly cle

v er amateur actor in the amorous comedy— or

even tragedy Oflife . But he was n ow in a n ew

position . For the first time the thing was real.

H e really love d this little Corsican : this had

brought him back to her, con trary to the guid

an ce of that extreme ly common-sen se which

ordinarily ruled his action s ; this hadde te rmin ed

hrm to g et rid of this poor foolish child whom h e

had taken away from her husband, whateve r

might happen— and the lov e which h e bore to

wards Fiordilisa fille d him with pity for the

woman whom h e had de te rmin e d to de se rt .

W e ll , Raphae l Bran scombe reached the HOte l

Rispoli at Sorren to , where I may at pre sen t

leave him for a while to se ttle affairs with

Mrs . Morfill. Meanwhile, as w e have n oticed

,

S eagull Palliser had run across to the Con tin en t

for a cruise , and had looke d in at N aple s . It

was hardly to be expe cte d that he should e nte r

that pleasan t city without en coun te ring E n glishmen . Of course he en coun te red those four

E nglishmen who were searching for Raphae l

Bran scombe .


But S eagul l Pallis er, though rathe r a hare

brain e d young yachtsman,was n ot a man to

be tray a friend. H e could n ot be long in the

company of Lord Shotte sbrooke , Humphrey

Morfil l, Ge orge Hudson— to say n othin g of

Frank Maul e—without dis coverin g that they

sought Raphae l Bran scombe , and sought him

with hostile in ten t . H e foun d out quickly

en ough that Raphae l was pre sume d to have

taken away Morfill ’s wife . H e wasn ’t th e sort

ofman to care much about anybody ’s wife . H e

saw the re was a row brewing ; he had heard

e n ough of the Se raph to be sure he could take

his own part in th e row ; he thought the be st

thing he could do was to re turn to Isola Rossa

andwarn him. So afte r enj oyin g a pleasan t

day or two in N aple s,and afte r

'

having had

several con fabulation s with Frank Maule , who

saw clearly that Pallise r kn ew some thing of

Raphae l, but could n o tfind out what, our yachts

man started again for Corsica.

T oo late . The se two mon osyllable s come

with diabolic frequen cy in to a life history .

Raphae l was gon e . Pallise r confided to S te

VOL. III.


phe n Langton all that he had learn t . Stephen

was pe rfe ctly as tounde d. Of course he was

aware that his little swe e theart of childhood

t he baby be auty of Idle che ste r—was quite ready

t o run away with Raphae l. But he fan cie d the

:Se raph was too hon ourable— or, if n ot , too piti

ful—thus t o ruin her life. H e could n ot un de r

stand the position fiofaffairs . If he had really

t aken he r away, where was s he n ow ? The re

must be some mis take .

S tephen Langt on saw that Raphae l truly

llov ed Fiordi

lisa. It was the real thing—lunmis

t akable. A nd he n aturally suppose d— as who

w ould n o t — that this love had existed from the

momen t of the ir marriag e . This be ing s o , he

c ould n o t imagine that Raphae l would have

take n away Morfill’s wife , n otwithstanding that

young lady’s Obvious infatuation . S O he c on

cluded the re was some mistake , and told S ea

g ull Pallise r that such must be the case , where

in the youn g y achtsman c ordially agre e d with

Un luckily it happen ed that among the crew

ofthe S eag ull the re was a man of inquisitive



who has breakfaste d on Yarmouth bloate rs,

lun che d on an chovy toast, prepare d himse lf for

dinn e r with a little Russian caviar, and drunk

n othin g. I remembe r learning froin the dear

Old grammar OfE ton this adage , which probably

occurs in the works Ofsome Roman poe t

P ercontatorem fug ito , nam g arrulus idem est .

N e ithe r Kin g Solomon n or my frien d Mr.

Martin Farquhar Tuppe r eve r said anything

truer . A nd the cautiously inquisitive man is

Often the most dangerous babble r— for the which

the re be soun d philosophic reason s . I n e ed n o t

inve stigate the se reason s at pre sen t . Suffice it

to say that this inquisitive Scotchman brought

to Isola Rossa n ews which cause d rathe r an ef

fe rve scen ce in that pleasan t Corsican town .

How that n ews reached Ange lo Mon talti, who

can say ? It did reach him,and the re sult was

his sudden disappearan ce , without much at

tempt to accoun t for it. T he Fantasia had taken

th e Se raph to Bon ifazio , but there was an other

boat in the bay, the Jesus andMary, and in this

did Ange lo Montalti voyage to the Con tin en t,

FAUS T AND MEPHIS TOPHELES . 181

mere ly te lling his darlin g daughter that he had

busin e ss in N aple s . A nd he told the truth .

H e had business in

Those who kn ow anything of the Corsican

temperamen t are aware that such busin e ss as

Ange lo Mon talti de emed h e had to tran sact

with Raphae l Bran scombe would be ve ry de ci

sive busin e ss in de ed . A nd those who have

made anything like an acquain tan ce with my

friend th e Se raph must be aware that it will be

rathe r an awkward affair if h e and Ange lo

should me e t with definite purpose s Ofhostility

and hatred . W hich island would you back, E n gland or Corsica ?

CHAPTE R VIII .

PADDING—A N D CONFES S ION .

AM at pre sen t waiting for my publishe r to

in form me how n early I have approache d

the end of my thre e volume s . You se e , I have

n o t the slighte st idea of giving the public too

much for the ir mon ey. My lite rary tende n cie s

are pe culiar. I am,to begin with, horribly lazy.

I n eve r use two words when on e will do .

But, till I promise d to fill thre e volume s

with roman ce— I had n o idea in the world

of the awful bore of occupying space . I

found that my lazin e ss improve d my style .

Saying things briefly, I, somehow, said them

we ll . Con sequently I have got in to a charming

habit Of brevity and tersen e ss ; and, if the rO



their value . As I poe t, I am be low Brown ing in

in sight, above him in lyrical powe rs , anda trifle

above Te nnyson in both. As a n ove list, I am

le ss succe ssful than Thacke ray, be cause I take

le ss pain s,but far supe rior to your Trollope s

or W ilkie Collin se s .

Having made the se statemen ts , in which , I

n e ed n ot -s ay, there is n o t the slighte st touch of

e go ism,I may proce e d to remark that my chie f

de sire is to find reade rs who will readme in

frien dly fashion . I like frien dly readers -fe l

lows who will take on e ’s n ove l easily with the ir

cigars , and make allowan ce for the abomin

able nuisan ce which it is to have to write

at all.

If,n ow, on e could on ly con cen trate on e

’s ef

fe cts ! If pe ople would on ly be satisfie d with

brie f and in ten se picture s of characte r, with in ci

den ts of the most original and amazing kind ,

following each othe r with as much rapidity as

you please , it would be satisfactory . If on e

might issue blank page s to fill the in te rstice s be

twe en the in cide nts it would save a world of

trouble . But,alas and alack, the garrulous few

PADDING—AND CONFES S ION. 185

cann ot somehow or othe r fil l up those wide

space s be twe en in ciden t and in ciden t . You

have n o idea, dear reade r, what an in efi'able

bore it be come s . For example , it is a chill De

cember night . A friend of min e has just come

back from Sweden , full of information con ce rn

in g the habits of the dwe llers in that Lilliputian

kingdom . H e is ripe for talk , and pleasan t to

listen to , and a n ice chorus of pe tticoats sur

rounds him and extract his racy storie s

whil e I am oblige d to sit in a remote cor

n er of the vast saloon , and plod wearily away

at this chapter. Terrible fate of the n ove list

A nd I am on the ve ry verge of a pre cipice . I

find myse lf as the repre sen tative of awhole host

of characters the Se raph, the Pan the r,

Devil Bran scombe , the W olf, the W olf’s de lici

ous daughter, Swe e t Ann e Page , !E milia and

her j ealous husband, the Bayard-E arl of Shot

te sbro oke , and I forge t whom e lse urged for

ward as if in a dream , to the brink of a per

pendicular cliff falling she e r to the sea. As if

in a dream, all the se pe ople pre ss forward to

that dizzy verge , and I am in advan ce of them .

186 SWE ET A NNE PAGE .

As if in a dream I wave them back, te lling them

that the supreme momen t has n ot arrived, that

they must n ot rush upon the ir fate that the d

stimie s though sure are slow,that the dénofiment

is n ot ye t to de scend upon us that, in fact,

the re is this diabolical chapte r of padding to be

written be fore any action can occur.

Padding I W hat do you me an , critics, by

obj e cting to it ? Isn ’t the catalogue of ships

paddin g ? W hat do you say to this’

.2

P eneleus,P rothoenor

,Leitus,

(T hese are the captains and the ships they led!A rcesilaus

,and brave Colonius ,

M id their Boeotian followers ranked as head.

From Hyria they and rocky A ulis spedFrom S choinos

,E teonus

’ woodland kneesFrom S colos

,Graia

,and the plain outspread

OfMycalessus , T hisbe n ear the seas ,W here the divine dov es haunt the H eliconian trees .

This is the in imitable Philip Stanhope W orsley’s

rendering of Homer. N ow,why shouldn ’t I

catalogue with similar de te rmination all th e

inhabitan ts of Isola Rossa,and eve ry on e of

them is as much or as little conce rn e d in the

issue of my story as was that un lucky Protho


188 SW EET A NNE PAGE.

least who were le ft alive when my roman ce

came to an end—I cann ot pre ten d to give you

the ir pre sen t addre sse s . Inquire of Lord Stan

ley of Alde rley, who live s somewhe re n ear

Alde rley E dge .

Howeve r I, who kn ow or kn ew all the se pe o

ple , am anxious to bring them in an easy and

artistic mann e r to the in evitable crisis which I

have fore se en ever sin ce I began the chroni

cle of Stephen Langton ’s boyhood and Anne

Page ’s babyhood. A nd I perce ive that the crisis

cann ot long be re tarded. Raphae l Bran scombe

is hurrying back to Sorren to (did you se e my

old frien d N afte l’s picture the re of ?! in orde r, in

some way or othe r, to g e t quit of my he roin e ,

Swe e t Ann e Page . Across the most beautiful

of bays the re watch for him thre e men who se ek

revenge , led by a fourth who se eks n othing of

the sort, but regards the pursuit as of scien tific

in te re st . Hudson and Lord Shotte sbrooke fol

low him to avenge Lady ZEmilia—Morfill to re

venge his wife . T he pre sen ce of a whole group

of Bran scombe s in the city of N aple s rathe r in

creased the chan ce s against the S e raph . A nd

PADDING—AND CONFES S ION. 189

then , in Isola Rossa itse lf, the re is on e more

dange rous still . Ange lo Mon talti has gathe re d

from Ramsay’s story sufficien t to revive his an

cient thirst for vende tta .

Stephen Langton was sore p erplexe d whe n

he heard of Ange lo’s disappearan ce . H e too

sure ly fe lt that it had a siniste r meaning. But

all that he could do was to remain and con sole

Fiordilisa, who at this momen t n e e de d th e

tendere st care . Our good friend Stephen did

n ot kn ow who was most to be pitied for inv ol

un tary conn exion with the Bran scombe s , the

beautiful Corsican or himse lf. S he , it was clear

to him , on the ve rge of giving an he ir to the

W ild race , was also on the ve rge of a terrible

tragedy. H e did n ot kn ow what to make of

the S e raph’s departure and Mon talti’

s rapid

movemen t so soon afte r ; but he could n o t he lp

conn e cting them . Some thin g was about to hap

pen , it was clear. His vis ionary temperamen t

fe lt the e le ctric throb of even ts .

A S to himse lf, it was really too bad. I think

everybody will agre e with him . H e had put

himse lf on board the S eagull, P alliser’

s yacht, o n

190 SW E E T A NNE PAGE .

purpose to avoid the whole clan ofBran scombe s,

and he re he was le ft in charge of Raphae l’s

wife , while Raphae l wen t n o on e kn ew

whithe r. It was a deal too bad.


1 92 SWEET A NNE PAGE .

who are in search of him . I hOpe he isn’t hiding

from them.

Hiding from them ! I’m ashame d of you,

Claudia. You ought to kn ow your own brothe r

by this time . I don ’t be lieve he is afraid of any

creature upon earth .

E n thusiastic darlin g !” laughed the Pan the r .

I don ’t think him a coward , I assure you, hav

in g be tte r reason s pe rhaps than your own for

kn owin g that Raphae l would face the devil

himse lf. But h e may be in hiding for reason s

be side s cowardice . H e may have run away

with somebody,you kn ow. A nd, if he is hiding,

I fear we shan ’t come across him till he choose s

to show himse lf. That’s what I me an t .

I s e e , said Isola. But do you kn ow any

body he ’s like ly to have run away with

Oh ! exclaime d the Pan the r what did

those four men wan t the other day ? Sure ly

and she pause d.

Sure ly what,Claudia ?”

I was thinking of that silly little Ann e . H e

can ’t have thought her worth taking away. Y e t

what could Morfill wan t

T E E EARL IN PURSUIT . 1 93

I dare say h e came as a lawyer,

Pe rhaps h e did, replied Claudia refle c

tiv e ly .

I can ’t con ce ive Raphae l’s taking a fan cy to

that babyish creature . But sure ly the re isn ’t

anything be twe en him and Lady E milia Hud

son .

It isn ’t much us e our attempting to guess ,

said Isola. There is some thing un common ly

que e r about it . But your brothe r kn ows pre tty

we ll how to take his own part .

T hat’s true en ough, said Claudia, with a

sigh .

Both those youn g ladie s kn ew that Raphae l

had ve ry re cen tly be en in the ir imme diate n e igh

bourho od, on e of them inde e d having re cogn ised

him but they also kn ew his erratic habits , and

fe lt by n o mean s sure that he was still within

the limits of the con tin en t of E urope . A nd

they we re in a charming state of eage r curiosity

as to what in th e world could in duce him to be

have so strange ly.

W hat a de lightful thing female curiosity is !

VOL. III.

1 94 SWE ET A NNE PAGE .

E ver since E v e foun d it impossible to de ny her

se lf a taste of a certain appe tizing apple , it has

don e its work in the world. If you wan t a

man’s wife to read a le tte r which you addre ss to

him,mark it private

”in porten tous characte rs .

A nd femin in e folk far le ss in te re ste d in you than

your wife , are kind en ough to scrutin ize th e e n

v e lops of your le tters and to conj e cture the ir

con ten ts . If we S hould eve r g et thorough pe tti

coat gove rnment—a female bureaucracyr—I trust

the re won ’t be a Postmistre ss-Gen e ral . If the re

is,by Jove , I

’ll write n o le tte rs .

It must,I thi nk, be admitted that the Pan the r

and Isola had be tte r reason s than many ladie s

for be ing inquisitive . Kn owing what they did,

each i n her own way , of Raphae l’s pe culiar

characte ristics, they might very we ll suppose

that his pre sent con duct had some ve ry sin gular

reason s .

So they spe culate d and won de red, and n oth

in g whateve r came of it .

Deuced que e r, said Devil Bran scombe to his

brothe r, what can have be come of that boy ?



to s e e him but, afte r waiting so long for him,

it se ems absurd to give him up and go away.

I don ’t se e that,said Marmaduke ,

you’re tired of the place , le t s move . W e haven ’t

be en over to Oaste llamare or Sorrento all this

time . Suppose we cross to-morrow,or n ext

day By the Lord Harry,that’s a

fin e girl .

D evil Bran scombe raised his vast bulk lazily,and looked afte r the pe rson who had aroused

W olf Bran scombe ’s admiration .

Ve ry tidy, he said ; “ E nglish eviden tly .

Can ’t she walk !

A y, Mr. Ralph Bran scombe , E nglish, eviden t

ly. That fin e steppe r in yachting costume ,

some thing of th e build ofMr. L e ighton ’s “ He len

of Troy, is your son Raphae l, little as you gue ss

I am very weary of this Maule , said the

you ng E arl of Shotte sbrooke waiting, u nder

our circumstan ce s , is terrible work ; waiting

he re , amid all the wicke d witche ry and in dolen t

beauty of N aple s is she e r torture to me .

T HE EA RL IN PURSUIT .

It is very tryin g, said Maul e . I can only

preach patien ce . Hudson and Morfil l are n ot so

re stle ss .

”

It is worse for me than for them . A siste r

is worse than a wife . You can divorce an adul

t erous wife you cann ot de stroy th e tie s of

blood . My case is worse than the irs, Frank .

They were j oin ed at this momen t by the

two other men,who had be en at some little dist

an ce . It was a weary busin e ss, loun ging and loi

terin g through the long summe r days ,with a fain t

vague hope of vengean ce some time in the fu

ture . They we re all tire d of it in their several

ways . T he Bayard blood of the young E arl was

chiefly fre tted. Hudson was a man ofphlegma

tic temperamen t, but even he was re stle ss . Mor

fill,pe rhaps

, was quie te st h e had sacrificed the

ambition of his life for revenge,and could af

ford to wait . As to Frank Maul e , though he

con fe ssed it to n on e of the others, he heartilywished h e had n ever taken the command of the

expe dition . W hat had he to do with it that he

Should waste the whole de licious summe r in this

fashion ? But h e fe lt bound in hon our, n ot on ly


n o t todraw back, but also to en courage his com

rade s to the utmost .

Fin e girl , that said Hudson ,abruptly

,leve l

ling a large double -barre lle d glass at a bright

blue figure in the middle distan ce . Look ,

Maule .

Frank Maule took the glass and looke d

through it for some time .

By Jove , he said, I’

v e se e n that young

lady somewhere . She ’s remarkably handsome .

Do you re cogn ise h er, S hotte sbro ode

H e passed the glass to the E arl,who looke d

through it atten tive ly for a momen t,and the n

shut it up with a crash that threaten e d the

le n se s .

My God ! it’s impossible , he exclaimed un

der his breath .

You kn ow her ?” said Maule in terrogative ly .

T he E arl did n ot reply for aminute . H e was

n ot famous for pre sen ce of mind . At last he

I think I do . W ill you ke ep those two fe l

lows quie t if I follow her ? It may be importan t

for our search .



se emed to indicate a n otable characte r,he n ote d

it ; and, be ing young, such face s adhe re d to his

memory. H e was won t to try -to fathom the

mean ing of eye s whose colour,of lips whose

curve , were to most men in scrutable and a face

more e n igmatic than usual was to him deare r

than to th e numismatist an un de cipherable coin ,

than to the n aturalist an un classifie d an imal .

N ow ,he had on ly on ce or twice , and then casu

ally, en coun te re d Raphae l Bran scombe but the

glimpse s he had caught of him had shown him

that the S e raph’s was a face of mean ings many

and de ep , and he the re fore remembere d that

face with such accuracy that h e could have

sketche d it unmistakably on his thumb n ail with

a pen cil .

A nd it chan ced that as he looke d through the

bin ocular whichMaule passed to him, the supe rb

azure figure in th e middle distan ce turn ed round,

probably to look at the pale con e of Ve suvius ,

and the E arl caught a face so easy to re cogn ise

that h e could n ot repre ss the exclamation which

came to his lips .

H e was n ot,as I have said, a man wlth

T HE EARL IN PURSUIT. 201

much pre sen ce of min d, which quality inde ed

is usually th e re sul t of expe rien ce . W hen

eve rythin g that possibly can happen to a

man has happen e d to him,he is n ot like ly

to be frighten ed by old even ts in fre sh forms .

On the othe r hand, whe n you are youn g and

living amid strong excitemen t, your brain works

with a rapidity which,on refiexion ,

often ap

pears miraculous . It took Shotte sbrooke scarce ly

a mome nt to de cide that this dashing lady must

be Raphae l Bran scombe in disguise , that the

right thin g for him to do was to seve r himse lf

from his companion s, and pursue this trail

alon e .

A nd he had be en longing to do this . To the

n oble youn g E arl the re se emed some thing ve ry

base in four men following th e track of on e .

H e loathed his companion s . Frank Maule was

the be st of them but he de spise d Frank for u n

de rtakin g a que st which in n o way con ce rn e d

him, just to gratify his amateur de te ctive taste s .

A nd he abhorred Morfill, with whom it was im

possible to pass any time without discove ring

that he was se lfish and a sn ob. A nd he de te st


ed Hudson , in whom the cad attained deve lop

men t more en ormous every day .

H e wan te d to be alon e with his revenge . H e

had got so far as to de spise himse lf for even a

temporary partn ership in th e search for his sis

te r’s be trayer. A nd n ow God had given him

his opportun ity. T he house of Hastings was to

be avenge d by th e good sword of its chie f. It

was thus the young E arl fe lt, when he saw th e

light blue yachting suit in th e distan ce !

worn , he kn ew,by Raphae l Bran scombe .

H e could on ly ven ture to watch that patch of

brillian t colour,followin g with almost a loite re r’s

step . Haste would arouse his comrade s , from

whom he was as e ager to e scape as h e was to

ove rtake his quarry : even if h e was wrong

which h e fe lt to be impossible— h e would n eve r

again rej oin them . H e would pursue the que st

alon e . This re solve burn t within him as he

cautiously con tinued his pursuit.

W hat had brought the S eraph in his favourite

disguise to N aple s ? W e ll , ju'

st to re conn oitre .

H e had heard from Louis that the re we re hawks

abroad. Those four gen tlemen could n o t re



trouble . But n o,

’twould be cowardly. More

than that I should lose a good deal of fun . W hy

shouldn ’t I shoot Hudson and Morfill, and give

poor young Shotte sbrooke a slight fle sh wound

as a le sson to him, and then horsewhip Maule

for his in fernal impertin en ce in in terferi ng in my

affairs ? Faith,that’s what I’ll do . I’ll g e t

back to Sorren to at on ce , and make some ar

rangemen t about Morfill’s wife,and then come

back here and me e t them face to face .

Having thus re solve d,he got on board a light

skiffthat awaite d him,and was soon half way

across the bay. T he heat of the afte rn oon had

raised a slight mist from the divin e wate rs , so

that from the shore he and young Columbus,

his sole compan ion ,we re very easily discern ible .

But the E arl of Shotte sbrooke had be en in

time to trace the bright blue figure he pursued

to its disappearan ce at the steps . Arrive d at

the head of the wate r stair, h e saw the boat

with its late en sail already half lost amid the

mist of the wave s . But he could still follow

th e solen t blue : so he de scen ded the steps , look

ing about for boat and boatman .

T HE EARL IN PURSUIT . 205

T he former h e saw at on ce . A small boat,

fit e ither for sail or car, was fasten e d by a rope

to an iron rin g. H e cast her offand stepped the

mast,and was soon in ful l pursuit of his en emy

—heartily rej oicing that he was alon e in his

pursuit. It soon be came obvious that Raphae l

was boun d for Sorren to : this asce rtain e d, the

E arl,whose tempe ramen t was calm

, allowed his

impe tuosity to die away . H e couldfin d his fo e

in Sorrento .

Meanwhile Raphae l Bran scombe , whose boat

was th e fie e ter, soon reache d his de stin ation .

H e had a marve llous powe r of fascination ,the

S eraph . H e hadmade young Columbus his most

absolute slave . That ingenuous youn g Gen oe se

kept comple te se cre sy as to his employer’s fre

quen t change s of appare l . By the time the boat

had reached Sorren to,Raphae l had re sumed his

customary costume .

But he n e ede d a little time to de cide how to

deal with Ann e Page— and he had n o t the

slighte st idea that h e was foll owe d— and so h e

lit a cigar, and strolle d among the orange grove s ,

de laying his visit to the Hote l Rispoli . H e al


ways din ed late , so his haple ss lovin g little com

pan ion would n ot ye t expe ct him . H e wan te d

to pull himse lf toge ther . H e had to de te rmin e

whe re to send Ann e , unde r Louis’s charge , out

of the way of mischie f, be fore walking in to the

horn e ts’ n e st at N aple s , and saying

Gen tlemen , you are looking for some on e

apparen tly. Is it Raphae l Bran scombe you

wan t

So h e loitered and linge red in the fragran t

alleys of golde n fruitage , smoking cigars even

more fragran t than the apple s of Atalan ta, and

thinking n othing or ve ry little of th e

foolish child anxiously awaiting him at Rispoli’

s

— and utterly unaware of the stern young E n g

lish E arl so close upon his track .



markable thing about him. H e had n on e of his

father’s gen ius . His brothe r Absalomwas worth

a dozen of him .

Inde ed, Saul andAbsalom appear to me quite

th e two n oble st figure s in the days of regal

Je rusalem . David was a great poe t,n o doubt

,

but he was thoroughly treache rous . Solomon

was the Gladston e of those days . You can se e

the fin e he roic aspe ct of the first monarch,Saul

,

even through th e un fair history of the time s ,

produced by th e cle rical party, who support

ed the usurpe r. Prie st-s invariably falsify his

tory .

If on e could obtain sufficien t kn owledge of

the ways of the men in Je rusalem a thousan d

years be fore Christ, what a marve llous historical

roman ce could be written of th e time when

Solomon and Absalom we re young men about

town !

But I must re turn to Sorren to and the cur

ren t cen tury . Raphae l Bran scombe was n ot

de stin e d to carry out his de sign s pre cise ly as he

formed them . H e had take n two or thre e turn s ,

and just reache d the end of his cigar, when the

EDW ARD EARL OE SHOTTESBROOKE . 209

young 'E arl of Shotte sbrooke confron ted him,

sudden and ste rn . A me re boy,the E arl , but a

fin e gallant E nglish boy of the middle he ight,

ye t talle r than Raphae l with light Saxon com

plexion , and glisten ing hair,and soft ve rnal

moustache . At the first glan ce , you would pro

bably in clin e to pity him for be ing forced on

such stern sad busin e ss— to de em him too young

for rough con tact with a man devoid of fear and

of con scien ce but a se cond examination would

show that the purity and valour which shon e in

that fair young face made him n o childish en emy .

Blood of Hastings had n eve r ran in craven ve in s

ye t . T he high-hearte d young n oble would have

moun ted a breach or led a charge of cavalry as

gaily as h e de fende d his wicke t at E ton . At

this momen t the vile shame— th e double shame

—which had fallen upon him, would have cause d

him to forge t all fear, if fear had be en in his

blood .

H e stood right in Raphae l Bran scombe ’s way .

He said

Mr. Bran scombe , I have an accoun t to se ttle

with you .

VOL . III.

SW EET ANNE PAGE.

Raphae l had n ot expected this . But his ste e l

n e rve s we re un shake n . H e t hrew away the

e nd of his cigar, and took another from his case ,

and said

W e ll, my lord

T he E arl was too ste rn to be irritate d by any

min or in sole nce of mann er. H e said haugh

You n ee d n ot give me the pain to attempt

a n unn e ce ssary explanation . You cann ot st oop

so lovsr as to pre tend ign oran ce of the cause of

quarre l. You are n ot a coward,I think.

W hy, n o , said Raphae l , with a light laugh

which would have irritate d a man le ss unde r

th e sway of an avengin g re solve . T he S e raph

thought at that mome n t of Sir Arthur W ille sden ,to whom . he had addre sse d words s o similar.

I be lieve n ot , my lord. But,re ally

,I have n o

frien d here in S orren to .

You have friends in N aple s , said the E arl.

S o have I.

Ah You are in a hurry,I se e . To~morrow

morn ing, of cours e t he soon e r such an affair is

over, the be tte r. W ho is your friend ?”



his arms . Clothed in maiden-white , with her

long brown hair in girlish fashion , with n o touch

of trouble in h er love ly eye s,n o casual spe c

tator could have gue ssed h e r what she was .

S he looked a most inn ocen t and loving youn g

bride . Such,in truth

,she would have be en , had

she se en Raphae l Bran scombe be fore Humphrey

Morfill. S he came with a coo of love to Raphae l’s

breast, as if it were her home . Poor little fool !

W hat if she could have kn own the thoughts and

plan s of that in scrutable schemer ?

Go and dre ss for dinn e r, child, said Raphae l

afte r pe ttin g he r as if she had be en a favourite

dog . I am awfully hungry . Send Louis to

me .

”

i

H e wrote a brie f n ote , and gave it to that

exce llen t vale t, dire cting him to find old Mar

maduke Bran scombe and give it him as quie tly

as possible .

It is rathe r late to cross twice , Louis , said

the Seraph ; but you n e ed n ot hurry back .

Pe rhaps he will re turn with you. If so, and I

am gon e to bed, don’t le t him disturb me .

Louis promised obedien ce , and started at on ce .

EDW ARD EARL or SHOTTESBROOKE . 2 13

W hat did the S e raph do ? H e dre ssed for dinn e r ;

and then de scen ded to that meal, which Rispoli

had taste fully prepare d for him in a pleasan t

room overlookin g a pre cipitous cliff, with a

superb view of the sapphire bay . Gaily they

din e d toge the r, for An n e was always g ay whe re

Raphae l was , and even tful living brought him

gaie ty. It was a de licious even in g, and a de li

cious dinn e r ; and, when it was ove r, and Ra

phae l, with the gre en win e-flask at his e lbow,

sat by the open win dow and smoked , while Ann e

crouche d on a low seat at his kn e e,and his white

hand was half hidden in her abun dan t brown

tre sse s,a strange r would have said it was a de li

cions picture .

Young Lord Shotte sbrooke with all his ath

le tic trainin g, was thoroughly fagged when he

reached N aple s . In his excitemen t h e had n e ithe r

eaten n or drunk,and his re turn voyage had

be en a long on e . H e wen t at on ce to his room

and sen t his vale t for a bottle of champagn e

which he drank at a draught. His thre e com


pan ion s had din ed without him, and we re won

derin g what had be come of him .

Maule was particularly puzzle d . H e under

stood, somewhat be tte r than e ithe r ofthe others,

the E arl’s n obility and refin emen t of characte r,

and fe lt assure d that his sudden chase of a bright

blue yachtin g costume had some grave mean ing.

E ithe r Hudson orMorfillmight have been tempt

ed in to an in trigue , but n o t Shotte sbrooke .

But the myste ry was soon explain ed ’to him.

T he E arl’s se rvan t brought him a pen cilled n ote ,

which he con trive d to g ive him when n e ithe r

Hudson n or Morfill looke d thatway. So Maule

adroitly pe rsuade d those two gen tlemen to sit

down'

to écarté,and j oin e d th e E arl.

I have se en him,Maule , he said, when the

door was closed. I shall pun ish him,thank

God . Don ’t say a word to those men .

Maule expre ssed the extreme surprise which

he fe lt.~Y e s

,he

’

s at Sorren to . I’

v e crossed twice ,

and am regularly fagged . I must go to bed,

to be ready for to-morrow. You’ll be se cre t,

won ’t you ?” he said imploringly .



ove r here : I’m n ot coming across to fight. Fix

it as early as you can .

RAPHAEL BRANS COMBE .

T he old W olf read this characte ristic n ote

with eye s wide open,and then silen tly handed

it to his brothe r.

T he young scoundre l exclaimed Ralph .

He’

s be en close by all this time . W hat the

deuce can h e have to fight about? S hotte s

brooke ’s quite a boy , I think— too young to be

married.

Pe rhaps he ’s got siste rs, said Marmaduke .

W e ll, it doe sn’t much matte r. You’ll act for

him, of course , and I’ll go across and se e the fun

from a distan ce . Raphae l has be en out on ce or

twice be fore n ow .

T he two old ge n tlemen dismisse d Louis to

re fre sh himse lf, and walke d towards the ir P al

azzo from th e hote l at which, afte r con side rable

search, the vale t had found them.

W e mustn ’t te ll the girls , said Marmaduke .

I don’t think e ithe r of them would care a

stive r, replie d D evil Bran scombe . Claudia’s

EDW ARD EARL or SHOTTESBROOKE . 21 7

no coward, I kn ow, and I don’t suppose Isola is ,

be i ng a daughter of yours . However, it doe sn’t

matte r ; we’ll sup

,and then go to the Caffe.

How shall you kn ow this Mr. Maul e

E asily find him . The re aren ’t many E n g

lish he re just n ow .

Maul e had be en un able,with all his tact, to

separate himse lf from his compan ion s . To his

ann oyan ce they would go down to the Caffe

with him . He re , howeve r, he was in luck. They

fou nd a couple of othe r men playing écarté,

and, as they had be en thus occupie d themse lve s

all the even ing, what more natural than that

they should be disposed to be t ? Thus Maule

was enable d to stroll in search of Raphae l’s

friend . H e was almost immediate ly accoste d by

the W olf.

Le t us walk outside and se ttle this matte r,

said Maule . My prin cipal has frien ds here

whom he doe s n ot wish to kn ow what he in

tends .

They acted accordingly .

I kn ow n othing of the quarre l, Mr.

said Marmaduk e . I cann ot gue ss


fore whe the r it can be ende d peace fully .

Impossible , sir. W e are the challenging

party. N o apology can be accepte d .

N on e is offered, said th e old gen tleman ,

grimly. A lady in the case , eh ?”

Maule explain ed.

W e ll , said Marmaduke,

we give you

choice of weapon s , andwill fight as soon as you

like but it must be at Sorren to .

W hy ?

It is too late to arran ge othe rwise . Be side s ,

it is much safe r for all partie s con ce rn ed.

”

Ve ry we ll, replie d Maule , pe rhaps you

are right. W hat hour shall we fix for to-mor

S ay from e ight to n in e , replie d th e W olf.

Your man and min e wil l both wan t sle ep , and

it is impossible to calculate to half an hour the

time to be allowe d for crossing. It is a great

mistake to g e t up ve ry e arly if you are going

to fight. Pe rhaps we hadbe tter have a margin

up to ten .

You are very obliging,saidMaule .

you se e my prin cipal is at Sorrento . If you



what may happen to men . A few we eks ag o ,

E dward,E arl of Shotte sbrooke , was a man

whom the multitude might envy . H e was

young,handsome , gallan t, hon ourable ; mode r

ate ly rich for an E arl,mode rate ly in te lle ctual

for an E arl , and en dowe d with a mode st ambi

tion to pursue that care e r of politics in which a

young E arl, if h e cann ot succe e d, must be an

ass . E dward,E arl of Shotte sbrooke , was a

happy man , and had exce llen t reason s for be ing

happy. N ow,h e was the most mise rable of

men a man whose mise ry was complicate d

with a fierce indignan t sen se of wron g. For

what had he don e ? N othi ng. W hy h ad the

pitile ss powers smitten him with shame which

n o blood could wash away ? E ven if h e kille d

Raphae l Bran scombe , he could n eve r again

move with e re ct form and'

unwrinkled forehead

among the gen tlemen of E ngland,his pe e rs .

W hy ? Be cause a girl of his blood had for the

first time for the many cen turie s during which

the history of the house of Hastings be longed

to the history of E ngland disgrace d that house .

W orse . Be cause the woman who had given

EDWARD EARL OF SHOTTESBROOKE . 221

him birth had connive d at that disgrace

had n ot said to her sinning daughte r, Kill

yourse lf—you hav e n o right to live . But what

the E arl hope d again st hope was that Raphae l

Bran scombe might kill him. H e could n ot , that

was the worst of it . Bran scombe , as a gen tle

man and a man of hon our, could n ot shoot at

the man whose siste r’s fame h e had stain ed .

Lord Shotte sbrooke kn ew perfe ctly that this

was a rul e which his an tagonist would n o t

dream of breaking through . If it could have

be en ! If he might have fallen by Bran scombe ’s

un e rrin g bul le t, ending for eve r the long lin e of

the Shotte sbrooke E arls ! N o, there was n o

hope of it.

Shotte sbrooke was a Christian—n o t , of course ,

so thorough a Christian as to forge t that h e was

an E nglishman and an E arl . But his Christian

ity was sufficien t to make him shrink from sui

cide . Had he be e n a Roman he would n ot for

a momen t have blen che d from what Cato did

and Addison approved .

” It would have ap

peared to him the shorte st ste rn e st way of

dealing with an unjust fate . H e fought for a


long time agai nst the idea. But at last it was

too strong for such faith as he posse ssed. H e

began to be lieve that his case was base le ss

that the Rule r of the world was n ot g ood, but

evil— that fate was unjust to him— that he had

a right to take his life in to his own hands . H e

would do that thing. H e would kill Raphae l

Bran scombe if he could ; at any rate , howeve r

that might be , h e most assuredly would kill

himse lf. It was with this inflexible re solve ,

formed while in the hazy morn in g he crossed

Italy’s most beautiful bay, that he landed on the

shore of Sorren to . H e had n ot exchan ge d a

word withMaule th e whole way . N or was poor

Frank disposed to be loquacious n ow that the

supreme mome n t approache d, he wishe d him

se lf we ll out of it. T he morn ing was ripen

in g in to broad day when they landed . T he old

W olf and Raphae l’s vale t had arrived be fore

them,but had n ot gon e on to Rispoli

’

s .

Don ’t disturb him till the othe r fe llow

come s,

“ said Marmaduke . Sle ep steadie s the

S o he was sittin g on a great block of ston e


CHAPTE R XI.

VENDETTA .

CHAMBE R in the Hete l Rispoli, with a wide

window ove rlooking a s ea of verdure ,

which, dotte dwith golden fruitage , stre tche dfar.

be low to the white verge of the sapphire sea it

se lf. Two heads upon on e white pillow,calm

and beautiful heads, such as se eme d rathe r to

be long to an tique Gre e ce than to any mode rn

re gion or race . T he woman,scarce awoman ye t ,

with amplitude of glossy brown hair, with azure

ve in e d eye lids peace fully closed ove r eye s which

any prying Iachimo would kn ow to be divin e

with a mouth so small and ripe that Iachimo

afore said could hardly re frain from kissing.

Calmly she slept, her un se en bosom lightly

moving the light draperie s . T he othe r head

VENDETTA. 225

more beautiful than he rs and more calm .

A head that Iachimo , if previously ign oran t on

the topic, might we ll suppose a woman ’s also

but mingle d with its un rivalle d grace and

beauty, there was a strength, the re was a stern

n e ss , which n o woman n o , n or Artemis ,

nor even inviolate Athen e eve r posse ssed .

A n epicen e coun tenan ce , an epicen e characte r,

that ofRaphae l Bran scombe . A ndhow calm he

lie s,with n o dream of th e immin en t due l caus

in g his fingers to clen ch or his lips to twitch

W ill he eve r wake again ?

T he spongy air is absorbin g the broad light

of day. There come s a low kn ock at the cham

ber door . N e ithe r sle epe r move s . It grows

loud and impatien t . Then,after a while , Ann e

Morfill stirs in h er sle ep , and the white lids rise

from the de licious brown eye s , and she looks

around, wonde rin g. S he looks upon Raphae l

who doe s n ot move . Strange that he

S hould sle ep so tranquilly with s’

uch work

to do .

Sudden ly some thing strike s her eye , and she

starts back appalled . S he springs from th e bed

VOL . III.


in affright. S he tears at her n ight-dre ss as if to

tear it from her pe rson . S he shrieks with a

shriek so full of terror that n o human ear could

mistake its mean ing.

Louis had be en the first to kn ock at the door

ofhis maste r’s chamber. T he de lay had brought

up first Marmaduke and then his e lde r brothe r .

T he shriek, that most affrighting utte ran ce

of woman s utmost distre ss, had brought othe rs

also .

W hat is the matter ?” said Marmaduke , try

in g to open the be droom door .

It was locked .

This won ’t do,

exclaime d D evil Bran

scombe .

A nd with on e lurch of his strong shoulde rs

he burst it from its fasten in gs .

Right opposite him stood what on ce was

swe e tAnn e Page . A woman n o longer,for the

soul had left her strange Wild eye s , which we re

ghastly with sudden madn e ss . H er sn owy

night-dr e ss was stain e d with blood,blood still

we t , still warm. S he was striving to tear it

away with her weak white hands,hide ously



most matte rs . Devil Bran scombe cared for few

thin gs and few pe ople but he love d his son

with a fierce tigerish admiring love , as his na

tural succe ssor and as a man of his own mould,

more re solute and daring than even himse lf. I

suppose if the Arch Fiend had fruit of his loin s

h e would love it. Ralph Bran scombe mutte re d

a de ep and earn e st oath of ven gean ce , gave on e

last look at his son , and then with the dagge r

in his han d, which he had take n from Raphae l’s

breast,strode silen tly down stairs

,Marmaduk e

silen tly followin g him .

It was a strange sight to se e those two old

men on the steps of the Hbte l Rispoli, both un

con scious of the divin e swe ep of lan d and sea

ove r which they se eme d to gaze , both hungry

to clutch th e throat of th e man who had slain

th e hope of the ir house .

Lord Shotte sbrooke was stunn ed by th e un

fore se en even t. W hat could h e do n ow ? H e

was de frauded of even his revenge . This man ,

it se eme d, should have hadmany live s , and die d

as many deaths as h e had committe d crime s . T he

E arl had n ow to deal with himse lf on ly. E very

VENDETTA . 229

on e e lse at Sorrento was excite d by the myste ry

of Raphae l’s murde r, but Lord Shotte sbrooke

wen t away from them all , and strode up and

down the‘

shore of th e tran quil s ea as Homer’s

he ro had don e cen turie s be fore,and could

come to n o fix ed re solve as to what it was me e t

for'

him to do . T he pure shie ld of the Shotte s

brooke E arls was defil ed by the most crue l of

stain s . Men might n o t kn ow it ye t the re are

n o such things as se cre ts in th e world, n o hidden

thin gs which time doe s n o t reveal . E ven if

unreveale d to othe rs , he should kn ow it. W hat

should he do ? W hat should he do ?

H e longe d to kill himse lf. It was n o coward

ice that de te rred him—it was that sen se of duty

which is the spe cial characteristic of th e E n g lish

gen tleman . H e could n ot fe e l certain that he

had a right to kill himse lf. It was so easy a

solution of the te rrible difficul ty . Y e t the re

came for ever in to his mind the passionate que s

tionin g of the hero of the world’s most an cien t

tragedy‘W here fore is light given unto him that is in

mise ry, and life unto the bitte r in soul ?


Meanwhile , Stephen Langton in Corsica was

oppre sse d by a strange pre sen timent—a‘pre sen ti

men t which cause d Fiordilisa’s girlish gaie ty to

give him in ten se pain . S he had n o apprehen

sion s ; but the S eraph’s disappearan ce , and P al

lis er’

s report from N aple s, andMon talti’

s depart

ure , made Stephe n an ticipate a trage dy . His

old visionary faculty re turn e d to him. As , in

cigare sque indolen ce , h e loite re d along Isola

Rossa’s en chan te d coast, the re was ever be fore

him a dream of Raphae l dren ched in blood, of

swe e t Ann e Page we eping by his corpse . So

strong be came his conviction that the re was some

dre ad even t about to occur that he at last per

suaded Pallise r to take an other run across to

N aple s , and himse lf accompan ied him . But he

to ld Fiordilisa that theywe re on ly going to cruise

round Cape Corso .

T he beautiful S eagull had a fair win d all the

way to N aple s . S he ran in to the bay on the

morn ing fixed for th e due l . Langton and P al

liser foun d Hudson and Morfill perplexe d by the

absen ce of the ir compan ion s, which had be en

quie tly arrange d by Frank Maul e . But ill n ews



murde r. The re lay the mortal ten emen t of the

wilde st spirit he had eve r kn own . On e thrust

of ste e l , and Raphae l with all his bizarre

fan cie s, his de eds don e be cause they we re dar

in g , his capricious quarre ls and capricious love s

was a n on en tity, so far as men we re con

ce rn ed . H e had solved the great problem . It

is hard to de scribe what a blank was le ft in

Stephen ’s life -drama by the van ishing of its

chief dramatis p ersona. Stephen was e ssen tially

a poe t ; Raphae l e ssen tially an actor. T he dif

feren ce be twe en them was the differen ce be

twe en Richardson and Love lace .

A nd n ow Stephen wante d to kn ow what had

be come of the vivid force which passe d from the

chill remain s ofRaphae l . Force cann ot pe rish .

Oh, exclaims Buchn e r the Teuton ,

“ force

is matte r, matte r is force .

Is it ? A re they ? I wish some of us kn ew. Is

God con scious or un con scious, Buchn e r with

bathos of brain ? That is the crucial que s

tion .

W he re was Raphae l ? Visionary Stephen

Langton could n ot rest in his ignorance . From

VENDETTA . 233

the day whe n he , a boy-victim,had be en driven

by his grandfather,the tann e r, to se e the Bran

scombe s at breakfast, he had be en posse sse d by

membe rs of that strange family . A y, be fore that

time . Swe e t Ann e Page was his love in the days

long past when he learn e d dissyllabic spe lling

at a mixe d school of boys and girls, and did n ot

much fear the schoolmistre ss’s rod be cause Aun t

Harrie t’s heavie r han d had given him stoicism.

Then Claudia had almost conque re d him then

the oldW olf had sprung suddenly into the arena

of his life then the Seraph had be e n his guide ,

philosopher, friend, he ro , te rror, demon . A g de

mi ! Swe e t An n e Page was a man iac— and the

Pan the r had passe d out of his life—and the S e

re ph was dead.

Dead ! I won de r men grieve when those die

whom they love . They should rathe r fe e l a fierce

indignation . W hat, on any of the multiplex the

crie s which are pre sen te d for our be lie f, have

we don e that w e should be brought in to this

world (we kn ow n o t when ce ! without be in g

con sulted as to time or place,or the position

to be occupie d, or the pe ople to be our re lation s


and subj e cted to all mann e r of circumstan

ce s , still without choice and then be hurrie d

out of the world, without any courte sy or previ

ous con sultation or intimation,n obody kn owing

whithe r ? I say it is flat tyranny. Orthodoxy

(th e orthodoxy of a min ority! te lls us of e te rnal

happin e ss and e ternal pun ishme n t . Others prate ,

or have prated, of e lysian fie lds,of me tem

psychosis,ofabsorption ,

of ann ihilation . W hat

said A chilleus to Odysseus

‘ S coif not at death,

’he answered, noble chief

Rather would I in the sun ’s warmth divin e

S erve a poor churl who drag s his days in g rief,T han the whole lordship ofthe dead were mine .

Ift he yarn which Odysseus spun to Alcin ous

had any truth in it, most of us will agre e with

the Gre ek he ro . A shadow among shadows

wouldfind it slow.

Metempsychosis would be amusing if it we re

n ot dissociate d from con sciousn e ss andmemory .

That is a fatal blot in the arrangemen t. Afte r

be ing a great man for on e life , it would be

rathe r n ice to be a small man’s dog. W hen they

were fighting be fore Troy, Home r was a came l


236 SW EET ANN E PAGE.

saw that she was mad. N 0 on e had ven ture d

to remove her. T he two old men had n ot

thought of her. T he pe ople of the hote l kept

away from the room of death .

It immediate ly occurre d to Stephen that

Claudia should be he re . S he was n e e ded both

for h er fathe r and her cousin . H e turn e d slowly

away from the bloodstain e d bed— from Ra

phae l’

s corpse , and from the wre ck of the girl

whom he had love d—and upon the thre shold

me t Claudia and Isola, whom Louis had fe tch

ed from N aple s, Maul e sugge sting.

Thank God,you are come !” he e xclaimed ,

earn e stly.

It was inde e d fortunate ; women are n ot ten

de re r than men,n ot perhaps so tende r ; but they

have a capacity for unde rstanding illn e ss of anysort which men n e ve r posse ss . W omen have

le ss individuality than men ; are more fluen t

can more easily adapt themse lve s to an atmo

sphe re of impe rfe ct health. Pe rhaps n e ithe r the

Pan the r n or h er cousin was the most suitable

and de sirable creature for the busin e ss in hand,

but e ithe r of them was infin ite ly pre ferable to

VENDETTA. 237

any male human be ing, un le ss profe ssionally

medical .

Many matters had Stephen Langton to dis

cuss with himse lf. H e had come in to th e midst

of this trage dy, a Deus ea machina. What should

he do in re fe ren ce to Devil Bran scombe ? T he

dead man’s fathe r ought

,perhaps , to be told

why his son hadme t his death by an avenge r’s

stile tto . Then there was the old W olf to be

con sidered . If he kn ew whe re Raphae l s assas

sin might be foun d, he would, Stephen fe lt as

sured, follow him to the death without scruple .

T he W olfwas n ot a man for hon ourable de eds .

Given Ange loMon talti’

s whereabouts , th e W olf’s

myrmidon s would be s e t upon him at on ce .

Que stion le ss, when inquiry came to be made,th e

Bran scombe s would find some way of tracing

Mon talti ; but what was Stephe n’s duty in this

case ?

Again , what could he say to the ladie s of the

family ? T he Pan the r would be satisfied with

n o e vasion s . E ven we re h e given to lying, h e

could n ot lie , with her black lustrous eye s fixed

upon his . But Stephen loved the truth and


fre sh flowe rs and spring wate r almost as we ll as

Mr. Charle s Reade . S h e would easily perce ive

that he posse ssed the clue to this terrible affair.

H ow could h e con ceal it ?

Again ,there was Isola. A thrill had passe d

through Stephen Langton as h e looke d upon

Isola Bran scombe . Somehow or othe r, from th e

first day that he hadme t th e old W olf’s daug h

ter— creature of fan tasy and caprice— she had

exe rcise d ove r him a fascination in explicable .

A ndhis somewhat superstitious tempe ramen t in

duced him to be lieve that he was de stin ed to

link his de stiny with the de stiny of the strange

girl, whose strange r fathe r he had most strange

ly e n coun te re d at the corn e r of Maidenhead

Thicke t . W as she inde e d his de stiny Had

h e sudden ly le ft E nglan d to e scape th e influen ce

of the Bran scombe s , on ly to be more comple te lyinvolve d by that influen ce . W as he like some

stron g swimme r in a whirlpool, who strike s in to

what h e fan cie s to be calm wate r, and finds him

se lf in the ve ry cen tre of the e ddy— sucked

downwards into th e awful throat of Scylla ?

Ce rte s, Isola had"a charm about her which he


CHAPTE R XII.

IS OLA A N D S TEPHEN .

AUDIA was doing her utmost for the poor

little girl who had be en h er rival and her

victim . Little time to think had the Pan the r, but

remorse and grie f filled eve ry in te rstice of

thought . This child— this beautiful soulle ss crea

ture for whom she had n ow to make provision

—had fallen a sacrifice to herse lf and Raphae l .

That insatiable Bran scombe spirit ! If she had

only le ft Ann e Page alon e to be the happy wife

of Stephen Lan gton , how much be tte r would it

have be en . N ow,Ann e was aman iac ; n ow, Ra

phae l Bran scombe , the hOpe of his wild old house ,

the n oble st and most daring gen tleman that

eve r ruine d women and killed men, was lying

murde red in his bed. As Claudia thought of

IS OLA A N D S T EPHEN. 24 1

the se things , looking on her slain brother’s pla

cid face , beautiful in death, she might have re

minded a by-stander of Luttre l’s fin e verse—I

quote it from memory

M ethinks the furies with their snakesOr Venus with her zon e might g ird her

Offiend and g oddess sh e partakes ,A nd looks at once both lov e andmurder l”

T he conviction came upon h er that this in

de e d was the e nd of her care e r ; that, he r bro

the r dead, and h er haple ss little rival madden ed

by h er fate , it would be hen ce forth her doom to

live apart from all that made life j oyous .

Through Louis,Stephen Langton con trive d

t o g e t a me ssage conveye d to Isola. S he le ft

h e r cousin andj oin ed him in on e of the rooms of

the pleasan t pavilion on th e verge of the pre ci

pice . H er we ird eye s we re full of tears for Ra

phae l .

S tephen . This is a terrible busin e ss , Isola. I

wan t your he lp .

Isola . How can I he lp you ?

S tephen . Te ll me have you imagin e d who had

any reason to murde r Raphae l ?

VOL . III.


Isola. I ! could I imagin e ? I on ly kn ow a por

tion of his life . I knew him ve ry wild and very

tender . I n eve r kn ew him crue l .

S tephen . Y e t he was . I, his close friend, kn ow

that. H e was so crue l that this fie rce ven gean ce

which has come upon him is n o t too great a

pun ishmen t . But,Isola

,te ll me— his

and your fathe r too—shall they kn ow why this

murde rous de e d was don e

Isola. Do you kn ow

S tephen . Y e s .

Isola. Te ll me .

S tephen . I wish to do so . He love d a be autiful

young Corsican , and marrie d he r but,havin g

married her,he afte rwards e lope d with Morfill’s

wife—I fan cy to spite Morfill.

Isola. W hy was that

S tephen . Morfill, who kn ew that little Anne

had mon ey, induce d her to e lope with him .

N ow,Raphae l in tended to have marrie d her.

Isola. I se e . Go on .

S tephen . Raphae l re turn e d to Corsica, leaving

Ann e Morfill here . H e found his wife more love

able than when he wen t away. So he de te r



S tephen . Fiordilisa is a de licious creature .

Raphae l’s wife ought to be perfe ct, and I think

she is . If on ly she we re brought to me e t his

fathe r, I think we might preven t more blood

she d .

Isola. W e ll,shall I go offat on ce to Corsica

carry the ‘

n ews

S tephen . S he kn ows the n ews already . I hop e

it has n ot kille d her. Ange lo wen t home at

once to te ll her of his revenge , un le ss 'I fail to

unde rstan d his nature .

Isola. How crue l !

S tephen . Corsican s are very brave . I ve rily

be lieve that Fiordilisa will bear the n ews like

some ste rn Gre cian girl .

Isola. My e ducation was rathe r n egle cted ,

Mr. Langton ,so I kn ow n othing about ste rn

Gre cian girls . But I suppose from your stilte d

style of talk that my poor Raphae l’s widow is

n o t a n e rvous little fool like Ann e Page , but a

girl of ste e l like me and th e Pan the r . You say

her grandfathe r has probably told he r all about

it be fore this . W e ll , le t me go ove r the re

come with me if you like —and le t us '

explain‘ to

ISOLA AND S TEPHEN . 245

h e r the state of affairs , and do the be st we can

for her and h er child . Poor old Raphae l ! Poor

dear old boy ! H e save d me from a horrible

life,and th e least I can do is to stick to his wife

and child. A nd I wil l .

S tephen . You are a dear little girl,Isola

, and

I think you have made a wise proposal . But

the re are lots of difficultie s . How are we to

ke ep your fathe r and un cle quie t meanwhile ?

A nd suppose poor little Fiordilisa’s child is just

born .

Iso la . I must talk to Claudia. My father is a

dutiful old gen tleman,and will do exactly what

I te ll him, and I expe ct the Pan the r can manage

my un cle Ralph . I’

ll go and speak to her at

on ce , and then come back and te ll you .

Away sped Isola from the pavilion on her

e rrand of peace . As she crosse d the pleasan t

garden , Stephen said to himse lf

By Jove , that girl’s a trump !

N ot a poe ticway of expre ssin g the admiration

which he fe lt for her courage and promptitude

and loyalty, but an emphatic on e .


Meanwhile Isola wen t to Claudia, and told

he r what she had learn t from Stephen,but

Claudia was n ot so ready to support pacific mear

sure s as her cousin expe cted . S he thought but

little of Raphae l’s wife and child in comparison

W ith Raphae l himse lf. S he was n ot disposed to

forgive his murdere r— the le ss so be cause Ra

phae l had eviden tly inten ded to re turn to Fior

dilisa. If he had fallen in fair fight with Hudson

or Morfill, his siste r would have un complain in gly

accepte d the disaste r but to be stabbed in his

bed by a man whom he had n o t wronged was

too te rrible a fate .

But Isola’s earn e st pleadin g induced Claudia

to give way a little . S he would n ot at pre sen t

se t her father on the track ofthe assassin . W hen

the old man awoke from his mome n tary stupor,

he would be athirst for revenge , and if he se t

the French police at work,Ange loMontaltiwould

soon be hun te d to the death. S he would do h er

be st to quiet him,while Isola crossed to Corsica

‘

and judged for he rse lf.

N ext the re Was the old W olf—with him his

daughte r had little difficulty. Furious he was



mingle d also with the grie f that they must en

coun te r upon Isola Rossa’s coral-stain ed sea

marge . But be twe en two grie fs the re shon e an

immortal j oy . Be twe en the san guin e stain of

Sorre n to and th e lurid re dn e ss that se emed to

hove r above th e Corsican coast the re in te rpose d

a rosie r hue— the purp le light of love , the flush

of the daughte r of foam, orefloridulo nitens . For

Isola love d Stephen,and whe n in the soft even

tide the yacht passe d the straits just as the

twinkling lights be gan to flash from the fanali

of Longo Sardo and picture sque Bon ifazio,

Isola’sstrange beauty se eme d to Stephen more

beautiful than eve r,and He spe rus, rising above

Capre ra,looke d down upon a love scen e .

V e ry un fe e lin g to think about such things

when the young woman’s cousin was lying mur

de re d at Sorren to . Ve ry imprope r, I say

though h e was such a wicke d young man they

might have had some re spe ct for his memory . It

ought to have be en a le sson to them.

My dear Mrs . Grundy, your view is a highly

de corous on e . But youth is n ot to be re strain ed .

Love will find out the way, as the old song

ISOLA AND S TEPHE N . 249

says . A nd if it were n o t so, the multitudin ous

mise rie s of human life would soon be too much

for us—bearing us down and de stroying th e

beauty of existe n ce as a mighty army of locusts

de stroys the ve rdure of a provin ce . W hat wish

doe s on e of the most charmi ng of living poe ts

expre ss to his little daughte r

A nd place not a ston e to disting uish my name,

For stran g ers to see and discuss ,

But come with your lov er, as these lov ers came ,A nd talk to him sweetly ofus .

True love may we ll ke ep tryst by the grassy

mounds which te ll of love .

I do n o t kn ow what Stephen whispered in

Isola Bran scombe ’s ear as he sat be side h er on

the de ck of P alliser’s yacht,while that famous

yachtsman was gon e be low for some champagn e .

I do kn ow that when she lifted towards him

he r be autiful flushed face , he r eye s we re full of

tears .

T he mystic que stion has be en aske d by man

of woman in a myriad diffe ren t ways . N on e

pleasan te r,perhaps , than Mr. Cole ridge

’s lyrical

in te rrogation be side th e ruin ed towe r in the

250 S W EET ANNE PAGE .

moon light,when the music and the dole ful tale

,

the rich and balmy ev e , were too much for

guile le ss Gen evieve . But if, with Cole ridge ’s

powe r , I could depict the flying yacht passing

those magical straits,cutting the phosphore s

cen t waters whose S parkling sapphire borrowe d

multitudin ous colours from the sun se t glow,

while Stephen ’s arm en circle d Isola’s dain ty

waist, and Isola’s ever-varying eye s we re fil le d

with ten de re r mean ing than they had eve r

kn own be fore and Isola’s bouchette cora

line tempte d Stephen ’s lovin g lips I think

the scen e would be quite as pleasant. Un

luckily we are n ot all po ets of the first force .

A nd as swe e tn e ss is unutte rably swe e t be

twe en two bitte rn e sse s—as April pe rfume s in

hot Jun e s burn e d are more de licious, be cause

the n win te r separate s summe r from summe r- so

this brie f love-passage was all the more divin e

in that sad even ts pre ceded it, and n on e kn ew

how sad we re to be the events which should

follow it.

W hat words passed ? W ho kn ows ? W ords

such as Catullus whispered to Le sbia, and


CHAPTE R XIII .

VOCERO .

RE G OROVIUS most poe tic of trave lle rs,

de scribe s th e extreme me lan choly of Corsi

can song. I had hardly, he says , “ fallen

asle ep in my little locanda,l

when I was waken ed

by the sound of a guitar and singing in many

parts . They playe d and san g for pe rhaps an

hour in the still n ight,be fore my house . It was

in hon our of a young lady who live d the re ;

they sang first a serenata, and then voceros, or

dirge s . How strange ! the son g with which

they se renaded a young girl was a dirge , and

th e ve ry serenata sounde d as mourn ful as a

vocero .

They are a strange,

pe ople , the se Corsicans .

VOCERO. 253

They se e more of the Death An ge l than most

race s ofmen . H e move s among them a visible

pre sen ce . H e write s an autograph of blood up

o n the ir islan d-cliffs ; and familiar as they are

with death in its most te rrible and sudden forms ,

it is n o won de r that the vocero is the ir favourite

form of poe try.

T he death of a Corsican is followe d by a loud

lamen t— the g rido—fiom his re lation s around

his bed. Then th e body is laid on a table,the

to la, again st the wall a man be ing dre ss

ed in an tique E trurian fashion,a maiden in

white , an old woman in black,amarrie d woman

in parti-coloure d ve sture . They watch be side

the tola all n ight,lamen ting

,burn ing afire . In

the early morning come s the scirrata— a vast

crowd of lamen te rs . T h e wome n plunge in to a

wild pan tomime of gri ef—a dan ce of death ,

whose on ly pause s come from extreme weari

n e ss . A young voceratrice leads the fun e ral

song, which is almost always the production of

th e moment . Its form is invariable , terza rima,

with trochaic rhythm,so that improvisation is

n o t diflicult ; and, when the p rima voceratrice


pause s , the whole wild chorus of women burst

in with

A hi,ahi

,ahi

in long drawn ululation . T he voceri which have

grown in to a literature are full of power and

pathos ; and the sole fault which I find with Mr.

Russe ll Martin eau, tran slator of the Corsica of

G re g orovius , is that—n o t be ing a poe t— he has

ven tured on quasi-poe tic ve rsion s of those voceri.

T he S eag ull ran in to th e harbour of Isola

Rossa,early in th e morn ing.

T he son g of the voceratrici was audible fi'om

the Casa Mon talti. N e ithe r Lan gton n or Palli

ser kn ew th e mean ing of the mourn ful dirge

which swept across the wate rs . Isola had gon e

be low at Ajaccio,whe re h er compan ion s had

busine ss ashore , and so was asle ep on the ir arri

v al.

Stephen lan ded alon e , andmade his way to th e

Casa Mon talti. H e en tered its chie f room,hot

and stifling afte r the fre sh bre e ze on the schoon

er’

s de ck . T he tola was the re o n the tola,

dre sse d almost in white , but with a few black

patche s he re and the re,lay the corpse of Fiordi


256 SW E ET ANNE PAGE .

E nglish. Stephen listen ed sadly till the impas

sion ed young voceratrice, wearied by her wild

song, sank sudden ly down among her chorus .

He had n ot much to learn .

Ange lo Mon talti had come back to Isola Ros

sa proclaiming himse lf the avenge r of blood.

But his dread de e d had n ot reached the ears of

Fiordilisa. S he was dying when h e re turn ed

dying from weakn e ss—having given birth to a

s on . S he did n ot se e h er gran dfather, heard

n othing of his story, passe d calmly in to an othe r

world within a day or two of her husban d. Al l

that she had stren gth to say had re fe ren ce to

her boy .

N ame him Raphae l .

W e ll had the voceratrice told of this young

n ew-come r’s having his fathe r’s eye s . To

Stephen it se eme d that th e S e raph’s we ird

glan ce had issued from those baby orbs . A nd

the women told him that the child must have

been born almost at the ve ry mome n t that, ao

cording to Ange lo’s narrative , Raphae l was

slain . Stephen was a dreame r, you kn ow, and

had a pre disposition to be lieve in me tempsycho

VOCERO. 257

sis . Had Raphae l already commen ced a se con d

care e r in the person of his n ewborn son ? T he

idea caused him to shudde r. There was some

thin g un canny about Raphae l ; but Raphae l re

appearing as a b aby would be dreadful . H e

did n ot half like th e look of this young Bran s

combe .

W here was An ge lo ? H e had gon e to the

maebhia, afte r te llin g the pe ople of Isola Rossa

what he had don e . Of course , kn owing human

nature only in its spe cial form of Corsican na

ture , he assumed that Raphae l’s re lation s would

immediate ly vow vendetta again st him, andhun t

him down mercile ssly. Con sequen tly he fled at

once into the wild fore sts about Moun t Patro ,

prepared to live by the fusile if n e edful .

So there were Raphae l and Fiordilisa dead

and Ange lo in his old days gon e to the moun

tain s, and n on e to inh e rit the Mon talti prope rty

save this little creature,who

,in Stephen

’s eye s ,

se eme d pre ternaturally sagacious—a min iature

e dition of the Seraph . W e ll , what was he ,

Stephen Lan gton,to do ? H e must act , ev iden tly ,

as Raphae l’s repre sen tative . H e must se e what

VOL . III.


arrangemen t could be made for the young

he ir of the Bran scombe s of Bran scombe . This

was an importan t matte r. To him would come

a great e state in E ngland he must n ot be le ft

to a mere Corsican e ducat ion .

W e ll, he would talk to Isola about it.

Again ,he must endeavour to bring old Ange lo

Mon talti home again . T he old man doubtle ss

would de spise a race so mild that the ir young

chie f might be slain and n o v ende tta.

A nd, on the othe r hand, if Devil Bran scombe or

the W olf could, in the ir pre sen t tempe r, g e t

hold of the ven erable Corsican,the re would be a

pre tty swift end of him. Still, Stephen thought

it be st to bring him home again , and re solve d

to send in search of him as early as po ssible .

Soundly had Isola slept in the small but

dai ntily-appoin ted cabin of P alliser’

s yacht.

W hen sh e awoke it wan ted scarce an hour of

n oon . W hen she eme rged from the sn owy

drapery of he r narrow couch she fe lt a strange

in explicable sen se of happin e ss . For the momen t,

so sound had be e n her dreamle ss sle ep , she for

got where she was. W hat had happen ed ?



could have se en ! W hy, was n ot that Stephen

in the stern of the S eag ull’

s boat,just putting off

from shore —and here she was en chemise S he

had n ot thought of dre ssing yet . S he rushed

to the fair water in the great hip-bath, and

there re sulted a con side rable Splashing.

W e are not Actae on s , gen tle reader, nor do

we re semble Musidora’

s lover in Mr. Thomson ’s

S easons. So it n e ed on ly be re corded that

beautiful little Isola was . on de ck—Aas fre sh

as pain t—ih time to re ceive Stephen , when he

came on board. I n e e d n ot say that she had

made the most charming toile tte possible in a

small schoon e r yacht. But her bright eye s,and

half-parted lips , and rose-flushed che eks were

worth more than the most coquettefalbala in the

world . Stephen was a lucky dog beyond doubt.

It may we ll be suppose d that Isola’s advice to

Stephen in the pre sent posture of affairs coin

cide d with what Stephen had devised. Sure ly

if they we re n ot n ow,they n eve r would be of

on e mind. Search was made for Ange lo , in the

first in stan ce . It did n ot take long tofind him.

At a patriarchal ag e , the noble Corsican was

VOCERO. 261

not so surefooted as in.

his hot youth,when

Pasquale Paoli was rul e r of Corsica ; andhe had

unhappily lost his way on the outskirts of the

Mon te Rotondo,and fallen over a precipice of

the Frate . H e was re cognized at on ce by those

who foun d the body,for the chie f of the Mon

talti was we ll kn own from Corte to Cape Corso .

A nd so there was an other vocero in IsolaRossa.

If I we re writing a . poem in stead of a n ove l , I

would strive to bring before my readers the

wild scen e of lamen tation s when the S cirrata

came a Se cond time to theC asa Mon talti. But

this presen t gen eration of reade rs like s n ot

fun eral ce lebration s . D eaths as many as you

please , and as strange in the ir form but do

n ot invite us to the fun e rals . W ho can be ex

pected to mourn , when the puppe t of mode rn ro

mance—th e n ove list’s doll— is hurled over a

cliff, or stabbed in his bed, or othe rwise don e

away with ? If you had create d men andwomen ,

says th e reader, you wouldn’t be in such a hurry

to kill them. I think the reade r is right. There

shall be n o murder or sudden death in my n ext

2 62 SWEET ANN E PAGE .

S eagull Palliser was de spatched in his yacht

to Sorren to, to carry the n ews to Ralph andMar

maduke Bran scombe . It was an unpleasan t

e rrand, but Palliser was a good fe llow ; beside s,

h e carried his in formation in copious epistle s

from Stephen and Isola to the two old gen tle

men andClaudia. A nd the re sult of his embassy

was , that Ralph and Marmaduke—but n o t

Claudia— return e d in the S eagull, and saw S te

phen and Isola married by the same prie st who

had j oin ed toge the r Raphae l and Fiordilisa . It

was n ot so j oyous a wedding but it had some

promise ofhappin e ss , n everthe le ss .



are as much afraid of him as were the mauvais

sujets of King sleat Grammar School .

seve re W in ter ” cuts as ke en ly as eve r.

Old Langton the tann er has be en dead some

years. H e died in solvent, so that Stephen de rived

little profit from the will which made him his

grandfather’s sole he ir. T he pre sen t occupan t

of the tanyard is a scien tific tann e r ; pre cious

little oak bark doe s h e use in the manufacture

of leather ; h e is one of the pion e ers,of that

supreme civil ization which produce s S hams which

surpass th e original , and extracts exquisite

colours from g as refuse , and de licious odours

from ordure . T he wearers of boots may have

cause to regre t this scien tific tannin g, but let

the lovers of the oak tre e rej oice . Still there is

n othing like leathe r for wearin g out .

W hat has be come of all the youn g Langton s I

kn ow n ot . Turn ed commercial trave llers, pro

bably . It was the ir apparen t de stiny. Aunt

Harrie t live s in a cottage in the suburbs of the

city, re ce iving an annuity from Stephen , and

devoting herse lf with gen ial perseveran ce to the

e ducation of servan t girls . S he has but one .

TEN YEARS AFTER . 265

ancilla at a time , but S he se ldom ke eps her .

beyond a we ek . T he un happy young woman

can by n o chan ce do anything right. Aun t

Harrie t has n o patience with such hussie s .

Dr. W in te r was succe eded in th e head mas

t ership ofKin g sleat Grammar School by his s e

cond master, a very dul l man in de ed. Y e t th e

school flourishe s as to numbe rs, thoug h its pu

pils don ’t take hon ours . That this poor, stout,

fussy,in capable Corfe , whom Dr. W in te r con

tinued in his position as se con d maste r from

she er pity, should be pe rmitte d to de stroy the

ren own of Kin g sleat school, is a sharp thorn in

the episcopal fle sh, and it were vain to waste

Gre ek epigrams on Corfe , who couldn’t con strue

them or understand them if tran slated.

Mr. Lon sdale is stil l the librarian of the fa

mous Kin g sleat Library . T he other day the

Duke of Axmin ste r was in Berlin ,and made the

acquaintance of a certain Chevalie r Bun sen .

T he Duke , a thorough-pace d aristocrat, would

be lieve in n othing till it had re ce ived aristo

cratic patronage . H e assumed that there was

some thing in poe try, when Lord Byron conde


scended to write it. Your W ordsworths and

Rog erse s might have gon e on as long as they

pleased, and his Grace would n ot have read

them. If he had live d to se e the E arl of D erby

tran slating th e “ Iliad,he would have patron

ised Homer . W hen a Bun sen talke d of the

early monarchs of E gypt, the Duke was affably

in tere sted . It was his fate to be also sur

prised .

W hen I go to E ngland,said the Chevalie r,

“on e of my first visits will be to a place calle d

Kin g sleat . Do you know it ?”

I have a re siden ce close to it.

Ah, then ,you may kn ow a Mr. Lon sdale , per

haps . H e corre spon ds with me . H e has a pro

found kn owledge of the se subj e cts . I wish he

would publish his the orie s . I shall go to sit at

his fe e t and drink in his wisdom .

G ad, thought the Duke , W in ter save d me

from making a greate r mistake than I imagin ed .

ButMr. Lon sdale n eve r publishe d his the orie s ,

be ing we ll conten t that they S hould be incorpor

ate d in the system of an expounde r far more ih

fluen tial than himse lf.


2 68 SWEET ANNE PAGE.

You might se e them walking toge ther in those

exquisite avenue s of colour and perfume where

Stephen Langton had in his boyhood led eu

chan te d hours . T he e lde r ofthem was strange to

look upon— strange , y e t beautiful . Abundan t

tre sse s had she upon her shape ly head,but eve ry

hairwas white as sn ow. T he dark eye s, in which

had burn ed the flame of love , of wrath, of dis

dain , we re lumin ous still ; but in the ir depths

dwe lt a tranquil me lan choly, a divin e pity for

her compan ion .

A nd her compan ion also was exquisite in

beauty, but when you looked upon her eye s you

saw n o mean ing there . The ir lightwas quen ch

ed. All through the long years of her death in

life , n ever again would a re cogn isin g glan ce

flash from those swe e t brown eye s which S te

phen Langton love d of yore . W hat had chan ced

to the soul to which that beautiful body was

n ow a prison , a man sion n o longer ? Claudia

could n ot gue ss. It was impossible to say whe

ther any memory of the past, any clear kn ow

ledge of the pre sen t, was posse ssed by this

stricken creature . T he sen suous enj oymen t of

TEN YEARS AFTER . 2 69

the summe r garden , of the winter fire side , she

se emed to fe e l : but S he spoke se ldom, and only

once or twice during Claudia’s sisterly tenden ce

of her did she break through the even ten or of

her life . On ly on ce or twice , early in the morn

in g , she had sprungfiromher bed, and torn away

hern ight-dre ss with trembling hands,moan ing“ H is blood! His blood !

”

Claudia tended herwith pitiful remorseful ten

den ce . S he gave up her life to her cousin .

W hen Raphae l died, and Stephen wedded Isola,

the Panther re sign ed her passionate pursuit of

excitemen t. S he took swe e t Ann e Page away

to E ngland,with Morfil l’s full con sen t, and

dwe lt with her in the old Idl eche ster house , and

lived a very tranquil,very solitary life . S he

did daily, hourly penan ce for the past. T he re

were men of the world and women of fashion in

London who still remembe red the ren own ofthePanther—h er beauty and daring and caprice ;

but Miss Bran scombe , of Idleche ster, was on ly

kn own for her kindn e ss to the poor,and the re

tired life which she ledwith her imbe cile cousin .

Few visitors had S he save her Uncle W alte r,

270 S WEET AN NE PAGE.

whose de caying years found the ir chie f solace in

intercourse with th e n ie ce on ce so wild andn ow

so calm : for his daughte r had de se rted him to

be come Lady Superior of a Prote stan t nunn e ry,

and th e Re ctor was left alon e . As to Humphrey

Morfill,he wen t back to his profe ssion with

double e n e rgy . H e is n ow Solicitor-Gen eral

andM. P . for Idlech e ster,and occasionally passe s

the re ce ss with his un cle , the Bishop, who for

gave him when he saw his terrible pun ishmen t.

Sir Humphrey may probably'

take his seat on

the W oolsack as Lord Kin g sleat on e of those

days .

Stephen Langton accepte d the charge of Ra

phael Bran scombe’

s son . T he boy was half

E nglish, half Corsican . Stephen de cided that

h e should pass his e arly boyhood at least amid

the Homeric simplicity of his native island.

Stephen de termin ed to dwe ll at the Casa Mon

talti— to explore the whole roman tic island— to

make Raphae l’s son a daring boatman,a re solute

swimme r, a strong-lungedand sure-footed moun



colour would fill Millais or Leig htonwith e cstasy.

Bare footed and bareheade d, the se merry young

Corsican s play upon the ruddy-ve in ed sand,while

Stephen smoke s his cigar and dreams, and Isola

calmly drinks in the evermore magical beauty of

the familiar scen e .

There was in Stephen Langton ’s temperamen t

a touch of Goe the ’s artistic enj oying, with the

be lie f (Homeric but an ti-Tennysonian ! that man

is superior to woman . T he reduction of the

masculin e characte r to insig nificance ' is, as Mr.

He rman Merivale remarks (H istorical S tudies, p .

1 74, n ote ! , the“ first pe culiarity of Tennyson

,

and doubtle ss tends to that “en ormous pcpu

larity (among Women and effeminate men !which his works have attain ed . ButMr. Tenny

son ’s is n ot a true view of human nature . S te

phen , howeve r, while he had the Goe the capa

city for sen suous e nj oymen t and for Homeric

S implicity, had n ot passed in Corsica the se ten

de licious years without frequen t de sire s for

some in terruption of the div in e monoton e

some thing craggy to break upon , as Byron

called it. A long catenation of similar even ts

TEN YEARS AFTER . 2 73

is apt to be come in tole rable— even though each

e v en t be pleasan t—even though you live like

Laerte s of old in a divin e island like Corsica,

with a wife as beautiful andbrillian t as the most

poe tic imagination can con ce ive , andwith sturdy

Corsican boys whom you teach to swim and row

and climb and speak the truth and reve ren ce

God and read H amlet and the Odyssey in the

origin al, and a charming baby girl, e lf,witch, fairy,

embryo woman , whom you leave to her mothe r

to teach what she wil l . So Stephen foun d him

se lf n ow and then longing for a change , and

would pe rhaps have we lcome d a temporary

change for the worse T he dwe lle rs in Olympus

may kn ow con te nt, but to us articulate -speaking

mortals it is n o t given .

Be side s , Stephen Langton was too thorough

an E nglishman to satisfy himse lf with Goe the ’s

segmen t of the sphere of life . H e often fe lt

very strongly that the re must be dutie s for him

to do at home . E choe s , rare and remote , of the

life in E ngland—which in his heart h e de emed

th e n oble st life liveable amongmen—came to him

across land and s ea. Se ldom arrived the mail

VOL . III.


without bringing him some n ew impulse thithe r

ward. This fainéant life shame d him n ow and

then . Be side s,the re we re the se boys to educate

-young Raphae l, ten years old, ke en as a fal

con , with all his fathe r’s spirit, and all the st ern

re solve of the Montalti, inheritor of two de stin ie s,

was fit for E ton n ow . T he other youngste rs

would soon require a public school . H e was

silen tly ripen in g his de termination to move for

E ngland as he awaited the coming of the Fan

T he boat came swiftly roun d the poin t at

last . Stephen sprang to his fe e t, and put his

glass to his eye . The re sat in the ste rn an

unexpe cted voyage r, a kingly-throated, mighty

shoulde red, patriarch-bearded man , ste ering the

light craft through the glittering surf.

Hallo , Isola,

” said Stephen he re ’s a

strange r.

T he boat was run ashore ; the thre e boys ,

waist-de ep in th e wate r,we re clamorously

we lcoming the n ew come r with

E vviva ! evviva benvenuto


276 S WEET ANNE PAGE.

Raphae l the younge r ought to be prepared for

his comin g care er as an E nglish squire of an cien t

race ; all the boys ought to be e ducate d ; ay,

andthe youn g erIsola—IsolaRossa—ought to be

in doctrinated in E nglish young lady-hood, and

to be made avoid slang and cultivate hypocrisy .

This last Isola the e lde r be lieve d she would n eve r

learn .

Of course , when eve rybody is very much of

the same opin ion there is n o difficulty in action .

A nd, the momen t he had se riously en te rtain e d

the que stion ,Stephen began to pin e for E ngland .

T he idea flashed upon him that he was just of

the ag e to begin life seriously. Afte r a boy

hood and youth bf adven ture and love , he had

every chan ce of obtain ing ren own in his manhood .

This long isolation in Corsica, with his wife

and children and books and dreams , with the

moun tain s and the Medite rran ean and poe try,

would be n o bad preparative for an en e rge tic

care e r in E ngland. S o it was n ot long be fore

the be lls rang we lcome in Kin g sleat and Idle

che ste r—be fore the old W olf had found himse lf

a g rim dark lair in the most an cien t part of the

T EN YEARS A FTER . 277

Man or-house—be fore Raphae l and Stephen and

Claude and Isola Rossa we re laughin g on the

lawn s, and romping with the dogs , and riding

th e ponie s of the rare old place—before Mrs .

Langton was re ce iving the calls of coun ty and

city, and Stephen was thinking W hat

n ext

I leave Stephen Langton at Bran scombe .

T HE E N D.

LON DON : P RIN T E D BY MA CDON ALD A ND T UGWE LL, BLE N HE IM HOUS E


LIS T OF N EW WORKS .

SPIRITUAL W IVE S . By W . HE P W ORT H DIXON,

Auth or of ‘ N Ew AM ERICA , ’ &c. FOURTH EDITION,with A N E W

PRE FA CE . 2 vols . 8v o . W ith Portrait of th e Author, engraved byW . HOLL. 303 . bound.

BIT . Dixon h as treate d his subject in a philosophical sp irit, and in his usualgraph ic mann er. T he re is , to our thin kin g, more pernicious doctrin e in on e chapt er of some of th e sen sational n ove ls whichfin d admirers in drawin g-rooms and

eulog is ts in th e pre ss than in th e whole ofMr. Dixon ’

s in tere stin g work. ”—E .raminer.

No more wondrous narrative ofhuman passion and roman ce , n o stranger contribution to th e lite rature of psychology than M r. Dixon ’

s book h as be en publishedsin ce man firs t began to se ek after th e laws that gove rn th e moral and in te llectuallife of th e human race T o those readers wh o s e ek in curren t lite rature th e pleasure s oi in te llectual excitemen t we commend it as awork that affords more en te r

tainmen t than can b e extracted from a score ofroman ce s. But its power to amus eis le ss n oteworthy than its in structiven e ss on matte rs ofhighe stmomen t. S piritualW ive s ’

will b e studied with no le ss profit than in te re st. —M orning P ost.

T h e subj ect of S piri tual W ive s ’ is full ofde ep in tere st. Ifwe look at it simplyas a system, it is reple te with scen e s wh ich cann ot b e surpassed e ven in fiction .

Re garded from a social poin t of 'view, it appears a gigan tic e vil, and threate n ss ocie tywith disin te gration. E xamin ed care fully, as a phen omenon ofre ligious life ,for as such it must b e con sidered, it pre sen ts feature s of great psychological sig nifican ce , and w ill b e foun d to illus trate some importan t truths. Mr. H epworthDixon ‘

s bookwil l b e found an in tere stin g exposition of th e whole subj ect of Sp iritual W ive s.

’

H e has obtain ed hi s in formation from th e be st source s, sought andsecured in terviews with th e chie fs of th e movemen t, and th e inn er circle of the irsupporters at home and abroad T h e facts have be en most care ful ly co lle cted, andare collated with great skill and care . But what strike s us most forcibly is th epower and re ticence with which th e difiicul t an d de licate topic is dis cus sed in all

it s be arin gs. T h e obj ect which th e author proposed to himse lf at th e outs e t wasto write a chapter for th e history n e ce ssary to illustrate th e spiri tual passion s of

man . A n d this in te n tion h as be en fulfilled with un usua l ability. T h e's tyle of th e

work is charmin g. S ome of th e ske tche s of characte r are traced with th e highe startistic skill. T h e scen e s in troduced in t o th e n arrative are full of life and glowin gwith colour. In short, there is n othin g to de sire as regards th e mann er in whichMr. Dixon has tre ate d his subj ect. Regarded from a lite rary poin t of view, th e

work is emin en tly succe ssful. —G lobe.P ublic curiosity is thoroughly awaken ed on th e subj ect of S piritual W ive s, and

the se two handsome volume s , written in th e most vivid, animated, and picto rial ofstyle s, will te ll us all that we n e ed know about them. It se ems almost supe rfluousto say that th e moral of th e book, fromfirs t to last , is jus t what on e might exp ectfrom a cul tivated and high-prin cipled E n glish author. M r. Dixon has tre ated a

difficult and de licate subj e ct with g reat refin emen t and judgmen t, and h e has ce r

tain ly produced a book which is cal culated to absorb th e at ten tion of every in te lligen t reader wh o Open s it. -S tar.

T housan ds ofreaders have be en attracted to ‘ S piritual W ive s by th e bri llian tstyle in which th e theorie s and facts are put forward T h e publicwill be no longerig noran t of the se movemen ts , which stir socie ty lik e th e first throe s of an earthquake . Mr. Dixon accoun ts with perfe ct jus tice for th e orig in andmotive s of th esin gular movemen t In the se unhappy E b e lian s and blasphemous A gapemonite swe are h idden to discover th e un quie t and disordered re sult ofg reat and earne st

change s in social view.—Daily T eleg raph.

W e recommend to thoughtful person s th e perusal of the se volume s as con tainin g many pre gn an t reflection s on th e history of th e movemen ts wh ich they chronicle . A lithe and sinewy style , and a picture sque kn owledge of th e mos t attrac tivelite rary forms

, en able Mr. Dixon to make his subj e ct at once in te re stin g and ins tructive . T h e ton e of th e composition is refin ed and pure to a degre e . T he re isnot a coarse lin e or a coars e thought throughou t th e two volume s.

"—London Review.

T h e most remarkable work of th e season—a book which all thoughtfulmen wil lread with absorbed in te re st, and which will scarce ly s tart le more reade rs than itcharms. T h e lite rarymerit of th e book is high ; th e s ty le th e au thor'

s be st. —Leader.

M r. Dixon write s with rare abil ity, often e loquen tly, always en thrallin gly, inthe se two volume s about S piri tual W ive s .

—S un.

omznue

N E W AME RICA . ByW ILLIAM HE P W ORT H DIXON .

S E VE N T H E DIT ION . 2 vols . demy 8vo , with Illustrations. 3os .

T h e author ofthis very in tere stin g book having pen e trated through th e plain sand moun tain s of th e Far W e st in to th e S alt Lake Valley, here give s us an ex

ce llen t accoun t of th e Mormon s, and some striking de scription s of th e scene swhich h e saw, and th e conversation s which h e he ldwithmany of th e S ain ts duringh is soj ourn there . For a full accoun t of th e sin gular se ct called th e S hakers, ofthe ir patien t, loving industry, the ir admirable schools, and the ir perpe tual in tercours e with th e in visible world, we must re fer th e re ader to this work. Mr. Dixonhas written thoughtful ly and we ll, and we can re call no previous book on Americantrave l which dwe lls so fully on the se much vexed subje cts.

”—T z'mes.“ Mr. Dixon ’

s book is th e work of a ke en obse rver, and it appears at an opportun e season. T hose wh o would pursue all th e varied phen omena of which wehave attempted an outlin e will have reason to b e grate ful to th e in te lligen t andlive ly guide wh o h as given them such a sample of th e in quiry. Durin g h is re siden ce at S alt Lake City Mr. Dixon was able to gathermuch valuable and in tere stingin formation re spectin g M ormon life and socie ty : and th e accoun t of that sin gularbody, th e S hakers, from h is observation s during a visit to the ir chie f se ttlemen t atMoun t Leban on ,

is on e of th e be st parts ofM r. Dixon ’

s work. —Quarterly Review.

“ T here are few books of this se ason like ly to excite so much gen eral curiosity asMr. Dixon ’

s very en te rtain in g and in structive work on N ew America. Non e are

more n early in tere sted in th e growth and deve lopmen t of n ew ide as on th e otherside of th e A tlan tic than ourse lve s. T h e book is re ally in tere sting from th e firstpage to th e last, and it contain s a large amoun t of valuable and curious information.

”—P all M all G azette.In the se very entertainin g volume s Mr. Dixon touche s upon many other fea

ture s of American socie ty, but it is in h is ske tche s of M ormon s , S hakers, BibleCommun ists , and other kindred association s, that th e readerwill probablyfindmostto in tere st h im. W e re commend e very one who fe e ls any in te re st in human na

ture to read Mr. Dixon ’

s volume s for themse lve s.

"—S aturday Review.

W e have h adn othing about U tah and th e Mormon s so genuin e and satisfactoryas th e accoun t n ow given us by Mr. Dixon , but h e take s also a wider glan ce at th eFar W e st, and blends with his narrative such n ote s of life as h e thin ks use ful aidsto a study of th e n ewe st social condition s—germs ofa socie ty of th e future . T hereis no t achap ter fromwhich pleasan t extractmight n ot be made , n o t apage thatdoe sn ot by bright studie s of humanity in un accustomed forms ke ep th e atten tion alivefrom th e beginn ing to th e end of th e narrative .

”—E :raminer.

“ In ten se ly excitin g volume s. T h e cen tral in tere st of th e book lie s in Mr.Dixon’

s

picture ofMormon socie ty, and it is for its sin gular reve lation s re spe cting BrighamYoun g’s pe ople , and th e S hakers and Bible Commun ists, that n in e readers out

ofe very ten will send for an early copy of this strange story. W hilst Mr. Dixonspeaks frankly all that h e kn ows and thinks, h e speaks it in a fashion that willcarry h is volume s in to th e hands of e verywoman in E nglan d and America.

"—P ost.“ A book which it is a rare pleasure to read—andwhich will most indubitably be

read by all wh o care to study th e n ewe st phenomena of American life .

"—Sp ectator.

Mr. Dixon's N ew America is de cidedly th e clevere st andmost in tere sting, asit has alreadyproved th e most succe ssful, book published this season .

”—S tar.

Mr. Dixon has written a book about America having th e unusual me rit of be in gat once amusin g and in structive , true as we ll as n ew. Of th e books published thisseason there will be n on e more cordially read.

”—Macmillan’

s Magazine .

“ Mr. Dixon's book is a care ful , wise , and graphic picture of th e most prominen tsocial phen omena which th e n ewe st phase s of th e N ew W orld pre sen t. T h e narrative is full of in tere st from end to end, as we ll as ofmost importan t subje cts forcon sideration . No studen t of socie ty, n o historian of humanity, should be withoutit as a re liable and valuable text-book on N ew America.

”—A ll the Year Round.

“ In the se graphic volume s Mr. Dixon ske tche s American men and women ,

sharply, vigorously and truthful ly, under e very aspe ct. T h e smart Yanke e , th egrave politician ,

th e senate and th e stage , th e pulpit and th e prairie , loafe rs andph ilan thropists, crowded stree ts, and th e howlin gwildern e ss, th e saloon andboudoir,with woman everywhere at full length—all pass on be fore us in some of th e mos tvivid and bril liant page s everwritten .

"—Dubh’

n University Magazime.


SAIN T S A N D'

SIN N E RS ; OR,IN CHURCH

A N D ABOUT IT . By Dr. DORA N . 2 v olume s large post 8vo.

24s. bound.

M E MOIRS A N D CORRE SPON DE N CE OFFIELD-MARSHAL VIS COUNT COMBERMERE , &c.

From h is Family Pape rs . By th e Right H on . MARY VISCOUN T E S SCOMBERMERE and Capt . W . W . KN OLLYS . 2 v . 8vo , with Portraits . 308 .

T h e gallan t S taple ton Cotton , Viscoun t Combermere , was on e of those menwho be lon g to two epochs. H e was a soldier, active ly engaged, n early ten yearsbe fore th e last cen tury came to its troubled clos e ; and h e was amon g us but asye sterday, a n oble ve teran , gloriously laden with years, laure ls, and pleasan t reminiscence s. T o th e last this n oble soldier and most perfe ct gen tleman tookche erful part in th e dutie s and ple asure s of life , leaving to an on ly son an inheritan ce of a great name , and to a sorrowin g widow th e task ofrecording h ow th e

be arer of th e n ame won for it all h is greatn e ss. T his h as be en don e , e viden tly asa labour of love , by Lady Combermere , and sh e has be en efficien tly assisted in th e

military de tails by Captain Kn ollys. A part from th e biographical and profe ssionalde tails, th e volume s , moreover, are ful l of ske tche s ofperson s of importan ce or

in tere st wh o came in to conn e ction with Lord Combermere .

”—A thenaeum

A '

ROCK ABOUT LAW YE RS . By r o om s .

FRE S ON , Barrister-at-Law,author of ‘ A Book about Doctors

,

’830.

N ew,Re vised

,and Cheape r Edition . 2 vols . post 8v o . 24s .

P RIN CIP A L CON T E N T S —T h e Great S eal, Royal P ortraits , T h e P ractice of S ealin g,Lords Commissione rs, On Damaskin g, T h e Rival S e als , P urse s of S tate , A LadyK e eper, Lawyers in A rms, T h e Devil’s Own , Lawyers on H orseback, Chance llors

’ Cavalcade s , Ladie s in Law College s, York H ouse , P owis H ouse ,Lin coln ’

s Inn Fie lds, T h e Old Law Quarter, Love s of th e Lawyers , T h e T hre eGrace s, Re je cted A ddre sse s , Brothe rs in T rouble , Fe e s to Coun se l, Re tain ersS pe cial and Gen eral, Judicial Corruption , G ifts and S ale s, Judicial S alari e s ,Costume and T oile t, M illin ery, W igs

,Bands and Collars , Bags and Gown s, T h e

S ingin g Barrister, A ctors at th e Bar, P olitical Lawyers , T h e P e ers, Lawyers inth e H ouse , Legal E ducation ,

Inn s ofCourt and Inn s ofChan cery, Lawyers andG en tlemen ,

Law Fren ch and Law Latin, Readers and M ootmen ,

P upils inChambers , W it of Lawyers , H umorous S torie s, W its in S ilk and P un sters inE rmin e , Circuiters, W itn e sse s, Lawyers and S ain ts, Lawyers in Court andS ocie ty, A ttorn eys at Law,

W e stmin ster H all, Law and Literature , 850.

‘ A Book about Lawyers ’

de serve s to be very popular. Mr. Jeaffre son has

accomplished h is work in a very creditable manne r. H e has taken pain s to colle ctin formation from person s as we ll as from books , and h e write s with a sen se ofke en en j oymen t which greatly enhan ce s th e reader’s pleasure . H e in troduce s us

to Lawyerdom un der a varie ty ofphase s—we have lawyers in arms , lawyers on

horseback. lawyers in love , and lawye rs in P arliamen t W e are told of the ir salarie s and fe e s , the irwigs and gowns , the ir j oke s and gaie tie s . W e mee t them at

home and abroad, in court, in chambers , and in company. In th e chapters headedM irth, ’ th e author h as gathe red toge ther a choice she af ofan ecdote s from th e days

ofMore down to E rskin e and E ldon .—T imes.

T he se volume s will afford pleasure and in struction to all wh o read them, and

they will incre ase th e reputation which Mr. Je affre son has already earn ed by h islarge industry and great ability. W e are in debted to h im for about seven hun dredpage s , all devoted to th e history and il lustration of legalme n and thin gs. It ismuchthat we can say for a book, that there is n ot a superfluous page in it. —A thena>wm.

“ T h e succe ss of h is ‘Book about Doctors has induced Mr. Jeaffre son to writeanother book—about Lawy ers. T h e subj e ct is attractive . It is a bright s trin g ofan e cdote s , skilfully put toge ther, on legal tOpiCS '

Ofall sorts , but e spe cially in illustration of th e live s of famous lawyers . Mr. Jeaffre son has not on ly colle cted a larg enumber ofgood storie s , but h e has grouped them pleasan tly, and te lls them we lW e need say little to recommend a book that can speak for itse lf so pleasan tlyNo live lie r readin g is to be found among th e new books of th e season.

E xaminer.

M E S S RS . HURS T A N D BLA CKE T T’

S

N E W WORK S—Continued.

THROUGH SPAIN TO T H E SA HARA . BYMA T ILDA BE T HAM EDWA RDS . Author of ‘A W inte r with th e Swailows

,

’&c. 1 v ol . 8 vo

,with Illustrations . 15s .

Miss E dwards is an exce llen t trave ller. S h e h as a ke en eye for th e beautiful innature and art, and in de scription h er lan guage has a polished and easy grace thatreminds us ofE othen .

”-S aturday Review.

“ Miss E dwards ’ ske tche s are live ly and original, and h er volume supplie s pleasant readin g.

"—A theneeum.

“ Ifpossible , ‘ T hrough S pain ’

is e ven a be tte r book than ‘ A W in terwith th eS wallows.

’ —M esseng er.

In the se en tertain in g page s Miss E dwards te lls us pleasan tly and grace fullyof h erwanderin gs m S pain. A ll sh e write s is fre sh an d sparklin g.

—E .raminer.

T hrough S pain to th e S ahara’ is th e title of a n ew book from th e pen of MissM . Be tham E dwards, W hose W in ter with th e Swallows ’ excited n o little in tere stby its vivid and ente rtain in g ske tche s of A lgie rs. H er pre sen t work is main lydevoted to S pain ; and th e reader wil l n ot fail to b e attracted by th e authore ss ’spicture sque style and sin gular clearn e ss of de scription. Visitin g Burgos, Madrid,T oledo, Cordova, Malaga, G ranada, and G ibraltar, sh e had ample opportrmi ty of

makin g herse lf acquain tedwith th e splendid remains ofM oori sh and Gothic architecture which are th e glory of S pain, although that de cayin g n ation h as long lostth e power to appre ciate them. Crossin g from G ibraltar to th e Fren ch town of

Nemours, sh e trave lled through th e provin ce ofOran to th e city of A lgiers , touching th e G reat De sert by th e way . In h er closing chapters sh e give s a pe ep of

colon ial andmilitary life in A lgeria, and draws some picture s of th e A rabs, bothse ttled and nomadic, which W ill amply repay study.” -S tar.

A TRIP TO T H E TROPICS,A N D HOME

THROUGH AMERICA . By th e MARQUIS OF LORN E . S econdE dition. 1 v ol . 8vo

,with Illustrations . 15s.

T h e be st book of trave ls of th e season.—P all Mall Gazette

T h e ton e of Lord Lorne ’

s book is thoroughly healthy and vigorous, and h isremarks upon men and thin gs are we ll-reason ed and acute . A s re cords of th e

fre sh impre ssion s le ft on th e mind of a youn g touri st who sawmuch, and can givea pleasan t, in te lligen t accoun t of what h e saw, th e book is in every way satis

factory.”—T imes.

A pleasan t record of trave l in th e W e stern Islands and th e United S tate s. LordLorn e saw a good deal of socie ty both in th e S outh and in th e North. H is ton e isgood, without un due partisan fe e lin g. W e can offer him our congratulations on

h is first e ssay as a trave ller and an author.

”—A theneeum.

Lord Lorn e ’

s book is pleasan tly written. It is th e unaffe cted narrative of atrave ller of con siderable impartiality and de sire for information.

—S aturdayReview.

In n o othe r book will th e readerfind amore corre ct and life-like picture of th eplace s and person s visited by th e Marquis of Lorn e , and n o W he re more frankn e ssand truthfulne ss in th e statemen t of facts and impression s."—E .raminer.

UN DE R T HE PALM S IN ALGE RIA A N DT UN IS . By th e H on . LEWIS W IN G FIE LD. 2 vols . post 8ve , withIllustrations . 2 1 8 .

T he se are sterlin g volume s, full ofen tertainmen t andwe ll stockedwith re liableinformation .

—P ost.“ Mr. W in g fle ld

’

s en te rtaining work con tain s a good deal of in formation con

cern in g th e pre sen t state , political and social, of th e pe ople ofA lgeria, both nativeand colon ial, and is very agre eably written, th e style being easy, an imated, andgen ial.” -Daily N ews.

“ T his book con tain s a g reat deal of very use ful and in tere sting in formationabout coun tri e s ofwhich n ot much is kn own by E nglishmen ; and th e A uthor'sstorie s of personal adven ture wil l be read with p leasure.”—S tar.

M E S S RS . HURS T A N D BLA OKE T T’

S

N E W WORK S— Continued.

T H E SPORTSMAN A N D N A T URA LIS T INCANADA. W ith Note s on th e Natural History of th e Game

,

Game Birds,and Fish of that c ountry. By MAJOR W . Ross KIN G ,

1 vol . super royal 8vo , Illustratedwith beautiful Coloured Plate s and W oodcuts . 20s . Elegantly bound.

T ruthful , simple , and extreme ly observan t, Maj or King h as be en able to throwmuch light upon th e habits as we ll as th e zoological re lation s of th e an imals withwhich h e came in collision ; and h is de scription s of th e coun try, as we ll as of th ecreature s inhabitin g it, are as bright and graphic as they are eviden tly corre ct.

In ‘ T h e S portsman and Naturalist in Canada we have a ful l , true , and comprehen sive re cord of all th e facts concern in g American animals which th e authorwas able in a thre e years ’ re siden ce to collect. W e have the se facts in a goodlyvolume , splendidly illustrated, and with its con ten ts so we ll arranged that a re feren ce to any de scription ofbird, beast. orfish may be made almost in stan tly. It is

an importan t con tribution to Natural H istory, and a work th e in tendin g trave llerW ill con sult on ce and again , sin ce it give s him th e in formation h e most ne eds, and

finds least gen erally acce ssible . T h e book will take its position in th e foremostrank of works of its class. T h e de scription s throughout are written by on e wh o isamaster ofh is subj ect, andwho write s E n glish such as few are able to e qual. Of

re cen t Bri tish trave llers few can vie with its author in close observation ofnature ,

and in those grace s of style and scholarship which make th e information con

tain ed in h is volume as pleasan t to obtain as it is valuable to pre se rve . In fact,sin ce th e works of E liot W arburton and K in glake , n o book of trave ls with whichwe are acquain ted has be en written in a style more clear, forcible picture sque .

”

S unday Times.

LIFE IN A FRE N CH CH ATE AU. By HUBERTE . H . JE RN IN G HAM

,E SQ. S econd E dition. 1 vol . post 8 vo

,with

Illustration s. 108 . 6d. bound.

Mr. Jern in g ham’

s attractive and amusin g volume wil l be perusedwith muchint ere st.

”—M orning P ost.“ A thoroughly fre sh and de lightful narrative—valuable , in structive , and enter

tain ing.

”—United S ervice Magazine.

A readable , pleasan t, and amusing book, in which Mr. Jern in g ham re cords h islife among th e den izen s of th e Fren ch Chateau, which extended its courtly hospitality to him, in a very agre eable and en tertainin g mann e r.”—Court Jowrnal.

IMPRE SSION S OF LIFE AT HOME A N DABROAD . By Lord EUS T A CE CE CIL, M .P . 1 vol . 8vo .

Lord E ustace Ce cil has se le cted from various j ourn eys th e poin ts which mostin tere sted h im, and has reported them in an unaffe cted sty le . T h e idea is a goodon e , and is carried out with succe ss . W e are grate ful for a good deal of information given with un pre tending good sen se .

”—S aturday Review.

A W IN TE R W ITH T H E SW ALLOW S INA LG E P

iI

5

A . By MA T ILDA BE T HAM EDWA RDS . 8vo,with Illustra

t ion s . 8 .

A pleasan t volume ; a genuin e , graphic re cord of a time of thorough en j oyment. —A thenaenn

A fre sh and fascinatin g book, full ofmatter and beauty. It is one of th e mostinstructive books of trave l of th e season , and on e of th e brighte st. It would be diifiCult to ove rpraise it. -S p ectator.

A bright, blithe , picture sque , artistic book, full of colour and sun shin e , and

reple te with good sense and sound observation . T o th e en thusiasm of th e book agre at portion of its beauty and its attraction are owin g, but solid in formation and

th e reality of thin gs in A lgeria are n ever disguised in favour of th e bright land towhich th e author followed th e S wallows.

—P ost.


E N GLIS H TRAVE LLE RS A N D ITALIANBRIGAND S : a Narrative ofCapture and Captivity. By W . J . C .

MOE N S . S e c ond Edition . Re vised with Addition s . 2 vols .

,with

Portrait and other Illustrations .

Mr. Moen s had a bad time Of it among th e Italian Brigands. But h is misfortun e s are n ow to himse lf and to h is friends a source of n o little en tertainmen t, andwe can say for those wh o listen to h is story that we have followed h im in h is

adven ture s with ple asure . H e te lls h is tale in a cle ar and simple style , and withthat confiden t man lin e ss which ’

1s n o t afraid to b e natural. —T he T imes .

TRAVE LS IN FRAN CE A N D GE RMAN Y IN1865 A N D 1866 : In cluding a S team Voyage down th e Danube ,and a Ride across th e M ountain s ofEuropean Turkey from Be l

grade to M onten e gro . By Captain S P E N CE R ,author of Trave ls in

Circassia,

’&c. 2 vols .

A JOURN E Y FROM LON DON TO PE RSEPOLIS ; in cluding W ANDERINGS IN DAGHES TAN , GEORGIA ,

ARMENIA,KURDIS TAN ,

MES OPOTAMIA ,A N D PERS IA .

By J . US SHER , E sq . F .R .G .S . Royal 8v o,with numerous beautiful

C oloured Illustrations . Elegantly bound.

T his is a very in tere stin g narrative . Mr. U ssher is one of th e pleasan te st companion swe have me twith for a long time . W e have rare ly read a book of trave ls inwhich so much was se en so rapidly and so easily, and in which th e scen ery, th ean tiquitie s, and th e pe ople impre ssed th e author’s mind with such gen tleman lysatisfaction . Mr. U ssher merited h is succe ss and this splendid monumen t of h istrave ls and pleasan t exploration s.

—T imes.

TRAVE L S IN T H E RE GION S OF T HEAMOOR

,A ND T HE RUS S IA N ACQUIS IT ION S ON T H E CON FIN E S or INDIA

A N D CHIN A . By T . W . AT KIN S ON , Auth or of“ Oriental and W e stern S iberia.

” Dedicated,by pe rmission

, to

H E R MA JE S TY. Royal 8v o,with Map and 83 Illustration s .

A PE RSON AL N ARRATIVE OF THIRTE E NYEARS ’ S ERVICE AMONGS T T H E W ILD TRIBES OF

KHON DIS T A N ,FOR T HE SUPPRES S ION OF HUMAN

S ACRIFICE . By Major-Gen e ral JOHN CAMP BE LL, C .B. 1 vol. 8vo ,with Illustrations.

TRAVE LS A N D ADVE N TURE S OF A N OFFICER’

S W IFE IN INDIA,CHINA

,A N D N E W ZEALAND .

By Mrs . MUT E R,W ife of Lieut .—Colon e l D. D. MUT E R , 13th (Prin ce

Albert’s ! Ligh t Infantry. 2 vols .

ADVE N TURE S AMON GST T H E DYAKS OFBORNEO. By FRE DE RICK BOYLE , E sq.

,1 vol. 8vo.

YA CH T IN G ROUN D T H E W E ST OF E N GLAND . By th e Re v . A . G. L ’ES T RA N G E , B .A .

,of Exe ter C ollege

,

Oxford,R .T . .Y C . 1 vol. 8vo , Illustrated.

ADVE N TURE S A N D RE SE ARCHE S among theANDAMAN ISLANDERS . By Dr. MOUA '

r,F.R .G.S . &c . 1 vol.

demy 8vo , with Illustrations.

M E S S RS .

'

HURS T A N D BLA CKE T T S

N E W WORK S— Continued.

CHARLIE VILLARS AT CAMBRIDGE . ByG. L . T O'

IT E N HAM,Trinity College . 2 vols . 2 1 s .

FROM T HE T unas,”A P RIL 9 . T here are many in te re sting and sugge stive topics

treated Of in Mr. T otte nham'

s book. T h e author de serve s credit for th e fide litywith which h e in troduce s to us th e succe ssive scen e s of a un iversity man

‘

s caree r.

Many Of hi s de scription s are given with a good deal of spirit. In on e re spect Mr.

T otte nham posse sse s an advan tage over Mr. H ughe s. H e de scribe s Cambridge1ife ,

fl

if n ot e xac tly as it is at th e pre sen t momen t, at any rate as it was very recen y.

T h e author of Charlie Villars is a most in tere stin g and amusing writer.

S cholars and state smen,dons an d un dergraduate s, naval and mil itarymen , sports

men and turfite s, amateurs and actors , will n o t le ave Ch arlie Villars ’

when on cethey have commen ced a perusal ofhi s adven ture s ; and th e gen tler sex will takede light in it as a work of great power and un doubted talen t, and one whichmusten chain their sympathie s. ”—Court Journal.Charlie V ill ars at Cambridge is agre ed on all side s to be a trus tworthy ac

coun t Of life at that University.”—Daz’ ly N ews.

T his book aboun ds in sport of all kin ds , and will please Old T rini ty men immen se ly. E very page gives th e read er an in sight in to Cambridge University life.

M E MOIRS OF QUE E N HORTE N SE,M OTHE R

OF NAPOLEON III. Che ape r Edition,in 1 v ol . 6s .

A biog raphy of th e be autiful and unhappy Que en, more satis factory than any wehave ye t me t with.—Daz‘ly N ews.

MY PILGRIMAGE TO E ASTE RN SHRIN E S .

By ELIZA C . BUSH. 8v o , with Illustration s . 1 53 .

T HE BE AUTIFUL IN N ATURE A N D A RT .

By MRS . ELLIS . Author of ‘ T h e W omen of England,

’&c. 1 vol .

crown 8vo,with fine Portrait . 10s . 6d.

W ith pleasure h er numerous admirers will we lcome a n ew book by th e popularauthore ss of T h e W omen ofE n gland.

’A very charmin g volume is this n ew work

by Mrs. E llis. Its aim is to assist th e young s tude n ts of art in those s tudie s and

subj ects of thought which shall enable them rightly to appreciate and realise thatoft-quote d truth, ‘ A thin g of beauty is a joy for eve r.

’

T h e T ruthfuln e ss ofA rt.’

T h e Love Of Beauty ,

’

T h e Love Of Ornamen t,’

E arly dawn Of A rt, ’ and variouschapters of a kin dred nature , are followed by othe rs de scriptive of ‘ Le arn in g toDraw,

’ ‘ Imitation,

’

Light and S hadow,

’ ‘Form,

’ Colour, ’ ‘ Lady’s W ork, ’ T h e

work will in tere st many fair readers.

"—S un.

W ILLIAM SHAKE SPE A RE . By CA RDINALW IS EMA N . 1 vol. S v o

,5 s .

PRISON CHARACT E RS DRAW N FROM LIFE .

BY A PRIS ON MA T RON,Author of ‘ Female Life in Prison .

’2 vols .

RE COLLE CTION S OF A LIFE OF A DVE NTURE . By W ILLIAM S T AM ER . 2 vols . with Portrait .

SPORT A N D SPORT SM E N : A Book Of Recolle ctions . By CHA RLE S S T RE T T ON , E sq. 8vo , with Illustrations .

BRIGAN D LIFE IN ITALY. By COUNT MA FFE I.2 vols . 8vo .

P UBLISHED BY HURS T BLACKETT.

A N OBLE W OMAN . By J . C . JE A E E RE SON ,Author of “ Live it Down

,

”850. S E COND EDIT ION . 3 vols.

Mr. Jeaffre son’

s pre sen t work is a very pleasan t book to read. It has th e air

of be in g a real narrative rather than a n ove l. T here is exce llen t portraiture of lifein an E nglish coun ty town. T h e care ers of th e two men wh o are th e chie f personag e s in th e book are worked out to the ir natural end and admirably de vised.

T h e story has a healthy. ge nuin e re ality which make s it charming.

”—A thenaeum.

A charming work, and on e that de serve s to be lastingly popular. Its ske tche sOf E nglish life and scen ery are sufficien t , apart from all que stion s of story, toentitle it to a large measure of admiration . W e have se ldom read a n ove l we canmore frankly comme nd.

‘ A Noble W oman is a clever, fre sh, and thoroughlyhealthy story. It has a clear, in tere sting, and care fully e laborated plot, and presents many admirable pie ce s ofde scription.

” —S unday T imes.

‘A Noble W oman is written fromfirst to last in a sty le that is lucid, easy, andvigorous. A great charm about it is its thoroughly pure and healthy ton e .

”—S ta!r.

FROM OLYM PUS TO HA DE S . By MRS . FORRE S T E R

,Author of Fair W omen . 3 v ols.

COLON E L FORTE SCUE ’

S DAUGHTE R . ByLADY CHA RLE S THYN N E

,Author of OH th e Line

,

” 850. 3 vols.

T HE COUN TE SS’S CROSS . By MRs. E GE RTON .

3 v ols.

DORA . By JULIA KAVANAGH . Author of ‘N athalie,

’

‘Ade le,

’&c. 3 vols .

T h e whole story is un ique in tale n t, in tere st, and charm.

”—E 'xaminer.

Miss Kavanagh always write s thin gs that are worth readin g. In th e presen tn ove l th ere are ske tche s of character, household interiors, bits ofde scriptive lifewhich are charmin g.

"—A thena9um.

A charming story, most charminglywritten, full ofin ciden ts and ful l of character. T his de lightful and en thralling n arrative is, in many re spects, th e happpie steffusion ofMiss Kavanagh’s imagin ation .

”—S un.

COUN TRY COTE RIE S . By LADY CH AT TE RTON .

Lady Chatterton has given us a clever and amusing n ove l. T h ere is en ough ofreal life and socie ty to make th e characters natural, and to give th e book th e ze stof gossip about n e ighbours with whomwe are personally acquain ted.

‘ Coun tryCoterie s is in tended to amuse a le isure hour

, and it is just th e book calculated to

do this pleasan tly and we ll. —A then5eum.

“ A remarkably cleve r and amusing story. T h e plot is in tricate and ingenious,th e style live ly and humourous.

”—P ost.

ME G . By MRS . E ILOA RT,Author of “ T he Curate ’s

Discipline,&c . 3 vols

“ T his n ove l is a very good on e .—E xamz’ner. Mrs. E iloart

’

s writing is veryclever.

”—Sp ectator. A ve ry clever and fin e ly con structed story, full of human

intere st and overflowin g with rich qualitie s of in te lle ct and art, and mirth ful , pathe tic, and unwearying re ading.

”—P ost. T his story is e verywhere we ll written .

It is pathe tic, it is humourous, it shows much originality, it is ful l ofobservation , it

gas

kmang we ll-drawn characte rs, and there is a de ep

,clear moral in th e whole

00 tar.

M ORTIME R’S MON E Y . By S . RUS S E LLW H IT NE Y .

T his story is de eply in tere stin g. T h e plot is natural and probable , th e dialogue


eng raved, handsomely bound, with g ilt edg es, price 313. 6d.

A ND BARONE TAG E

C ORRE C T E D BY T H E N OB ILIT Y .

‘

THE THIRTY-SEVENTH EDITION M R 1868 Is N OW READY;LODG E

’

s PE E RAG E A N D BA RON E T A G E is ackn owledged to be th e mcomple te

,as we ll as th e most e legan t

,work of th e kind. A s an e s

blish ed and authentic auth ority on all qu e stion s re spe cting th e famhistorie s , hon ours , and c onn e ction s of th e titled aristocracy

,no work

e ve r stood so high. It is publish ed unde r th e e spe cial patronage of

Maje sty, and is annually corre cted through out , from th e personal co

munications of th e Nobility. It is th e on ly work of its class in which,typ e being kep t constantly s tanding , e very c orre ction is made in its pro;place to th e date of publication

,an advantage which give s it suprema

ov er all its compe titors. Independen tly ofits full and authentic infortion re spe cting th e existing Pe ers and Baron e ts of th e realm,

th e m

sedulous atten tion is given in its page s to th e collateral bran ch e s of

various n oble familie s , and th e name s ofmany thousand individualsintroduced, which do n ot appe ar in oth e r re c ords ofth e titled classe s.

its authority,corre ctn e ss , and facility of arrangemen t

,and th e beauty

its typography and binding,th e work is justly en titled to th e place

occupie s on th e table s ofH e r Maje sty and th e Nobility.

LIS T OF T HE PRINCIPAL CONTENTS .

H istorical View of th e P e erage .

P arliamen tary Roll Of th e H ouse ofLords.

E nglish, S cotch, and Irish P e ers, in the irorders of P re ceden ce .

A lphabe tical List of P e ers OfGreat Britainand th e Un ited Kingdom, holding superior rank in th e S cotch or Irish P e erage .

A lphabe tical list Of S cotch and Irish P e ers ,holding superior title s in th e P e erage ofGreat Britain and th e United Kin gdom.

A Collective list ofP e ers, in their order OfP re cedence .

T able of P re ceden cy amon g M en .

T able of P receden cy amon g W omen .

T h e Que en and th e Royal Family.P e e rs of th e Blood Royal.T h e P e erage , alphabe tically arran ged.

Familie s Of such E xtin ct P e e rs as have le ftW idows or Issue .

A lphabe tical List ofth e S urname s of all th ee e rs.

T h e A rchbishops and Bishops of E nglaIre lan d, and th e Colon ie s .

T h e Baron e tage alphabe tically arrangeA lphabe tical List of S urn ame s assumed

membe rs ofNoble Familie s.

A lphabe tical List Of th e S econd T itle sP e ers, usually born e by the ir E ld

S on s.

A lphabe tical Index to th e DaughtersDuke s, Marquise s, and E arls, wh o, hin g married Common ers, re tain th e t

Of Lady be fore the ir own Christian 8

their Husband’

s S urname s.

A lphabe tical Index to th e DaughtersViscoun ts and Baron s , wh o, ha

married Common ers , are styledH on

able Mrs ; and, in case Of th e hushbein g a Baron e t or Kn ight, H on ourLady.

Mottoe s alphabe tically arranged and tralated.

“ Lodge ’

s P e erage must supersede all otherworks of th e kind, for two reasons : firsis on a be tter plan ; and se condly

, it is be tter exe cuted. W e can safe ly pron oun ce it tth e readie st , th e most use ful, and exacte st ofmodern works on th e subje ct.”—S p ectA workwhich corre cts all errors of formerworks. It is amostuse ful publication .

—T i7“ A work of great value . It is th e most faithful re cord we posse ss of th e aris

cracy of th e day.

”—P ost.“ T h e be st existing, and, we be lieve , th e best possible peerage. It is th e stand

authority on th e subj ect. -H erald.

N OW IN COURS E OF P UBLICA T ION

HURST ANDBLACKETT’S STANDARDLIBRARY

OF CHE AP E DIT IONS OF

P OP ULAR MODERN W ORKS ,ILLUS T RA T E D BY MILLAIS , HOLMAN HUNT , LE E CH , BIRKE T FOS TE R.

JOHN GILBE RT , T E NNIE L, etc.

E ach in a single volume , e legantly prin ted, bound, and illustrated, price 58 .

VOL . I.—S AM SLICK’

S N AT URE A N D HUMAN N AT URE .

T h e first volume ofM essrsH urst andBlackett’

s S tandard Library ofCh eagE dition s

forms a very good beginning to what wil l doubt less be a very succes sful un ertakin g .

Nature and H uman Nature ’

is on e of th e best of S am S lick’s witty and humorousproduction s , and iswe ll entitled to the large circulation which it cann ot fail to Obtain init s pre sen t convenien t and cheap shape . T h e volume combin es with th e g reat recommendation s of a clear, bold type , and good paper, the lesser, but attractive merits o fbeing we ll illus trated and e leg an tly bOImd.

”—P ost.

VOL . II.—JOHN HALIFAX, GE N TLEMAN .

T his is a very good and a very in tere sting work . It is de sig ned to trace th e careerfrom boyhood to ag e of a perfectman—aChristian gen tleman , and it abounds in in cidentboth we l l and highlywrought . T hroughout it is con ce ived in a high spirit , andwrittenwith g reat ability. T his cheap and handsome n ew edi tion isworthy to pas s free lyfromhand to hand as a gift book in many households .

”—E .v amin er .

T h e n ew and cheaper edi tion of this int ere stingworkwill doubtle ssmee twith g reatsucce ss. John H alifax, th e hero ofthis most beautiful story, is no ordinary hero, andthis h is history is n o ordinary book. It is a ful l-length portrait of a true g en t leman ,

on e o f nature ’

s own n obility. It is also th e history ofahome , anda thoroughly E nglishon e . T he work abounds in in ciden t , and is fu l l of graphic power and true pathos.

It is a book that few will readwithout becoming wiser and better.

”—S cotsman .

VOL . III.—T HE CRE S CE N T AN D T HE CROS S .

BY ELIOT W ARBURTON .

I ndependent of its value as an orig inal narrative , and its useful and interestingin formation , this work is remarkable for th e colouring power and p lay of fan cy withwhich its de scriptions are en live n ed. Amon g its greatest andmost las tin g charms isits reverent and serious spirit .

”—Quarte rly Rev iew.

“

A book cal culated to prove more prac tically use ful was never penn ed than ‘T he

Cresce nt and th e Cross -a work which surpasses al l others in its homag e for th e sublime and its love for th e beautiful in those famous reg ions c onsecrated to everlastin gimmortality in th e annals of th e prophe ts , and which no other writer has ever depioted with a pen cil at on ce so reveren t and so picturesque .

”—S un .

VOL . IV .—N AT HALIE . BY JULIA KAVAN AGH .

“ ‘ Nathalie ’

is M iss Kavanagh ’s be st imaginative e ffort. Its manner is graciousand attractwe . Its

.

matter is g ood. A se ntimen t , a tenderness , are commanded byher which are as 1nd1vidual ' they are e legan t .

”—A thenceum.

VOL. V .-A W OMAN ’

S THOUGHT S ABOUT W OMEN .

BY THE AUTHOR OF “ JOHN HALIFAX,GENTLEMAN.

”

.

A book ofsound counse l . It is on e of th e most sensible works o f its kind, we llwritten , true-heart ed, and altog e ther practical . W hoever wishe s to give advice to ayoun g lady may thank th e author formean s ofdoing so.

”—E xaminer.

VOL . VI.

—ADAM GRAE ME . BY MRS OLIPHAN T .

A story awakening ge nuine emotions of in tere st and de light by its admirable pictures of S cott ish l ife and scenery. T he author se ts be fore us the e sse ntial attributes ofChristian

.

n rtue , the ir de e p and silen t workings in th e heart.and the irbeautiful manifes tat1ons 1n life ,with ade licacy, power, and truthwhichcan hardlybe surpassed - P os t.

(CONT INUE D! .

VOL . VII.—S AM SLICK’

S W ISE SAW SAN D MODERN IN S TAN CE S .

W e have not the slighte st intention to criticise this book. Its reputation ismade ,andwill stand as long as that of S cott ’s or Bulwer’s Nove ls. T he remarkable ori

g inality ofits purpose , and the happy description it affords of American life andman

ners , stil l con tinue the subject 0 universal admiration . T o say thus much is tosay en ough, th ough we must just mention that the n ew edition forms a part of MessrsH urst and Blackett

’

s Cheap S tandard Library, which has in cluded some ofthe verybest specimens of lig ht literature that ever have been wri tten .

”—M esseng er.

VOL. VIII.—CARDIN AL W IS EMAN ’

S RE COLLE CT ION SOF THE LAS T FOUR P OP E S .

A icturesque book on Rome and its ecclesiastical sovereig ns, by an eloquent ROman atholic. Cardinal W iseman has treated a s ecial subje ct with so much g eniality,that his re collections will excite no ill-fee ling in t ose who aremost conscientiouslyOpposedto every ideaofhuman infal libilityrepresentedin P apal domination .

”—A themeum.

VOL. IX . A LIFE FOR A LIFE .

BY T HE AUTHOR OF “ JOHN HALIFAX,GENTLEMAN .

In A Life’

for a Life th e author is fortimate in ag ood subject, and has producedawork of strong efl’ec —A them um.

VOL. X .—T HE OLD COURT SUBURB. BY LE IGH HUN T .

A de lig htful book , that will be we lcome to all readers ,'

andmost we lcome to thosewho have a love forthe be st kinds ofreading.”—E xaminer.

A more ag re eable and entertain ing book has not be en published since Boswell produced his reminiscences ofJohnson.

”—Observer.

VOL. XI.

—MARGARE T AN D HE R BRIDE SMAIDS .

W e re commend all wh o are in search of a fascinating n ove l to read this work forthemse lve s. T hey will find

o

it we llworth theirwh ile . T here are a freshn e ss and ori

g inality about it quite charmmg .

" -A thenamm.

VOL. KIL—THE OLD JUDGE . BY SAM SLICK .

T h e publication s included in this Libra have all been of good quality ; many g iveinformation W hile th ey entertain , and of t at class th e book be fore us is a spe cime n .

T he manner in which th e Chea E ditions forming the serie s is produced de servesespecialmention . T he paper an print are un exce ptionable there is a stee l engravingin each volume , and th e outside s of themwill satisfy the purchaserwho likes to see

books in handsome uniform.

”—E xmniner.

VOL. XIII.—DARIE N . BY E LIOT W ARBURT ON .

T his last production of th e author of ‘ T he Crescen t and the Cross ’has the same

e lements ofa very wide popularity. It will p lease its thousands .-G lobe .

VOL . XIV.—FAMILY ROMAN CE ; OR, DOME S T IC

AN N ALS OF THE ARIS T OCRACY.

BY S IR BERNARD BURKE, ULS T E R KIN G OF ARM S .

It were impossib le to praise too high ly this most intere sting book . It ought to befound on every drawing-room table . H ere ou have nearlyfifty capt ivating romance swith th e pith ofall the ir in tere st preserve in undiminished poIg nancy, and any one

may be read in hal f an hour.—S tandard.

VOL. XV.—T HE LAIRD OF N ORLAW

BY MRS OLIP HAN T .

T he LairdofN orlaw fully sustains th e author’s high reputation .~ Swnday T imex


HURS T'

AND BLACKET T ’S STANDARD LIBRARY(CONT INUE D ! .

VOL. XXVIIl .—LE S MIS E RABLE S . BY VICT OR HUGO.

AUTHORIS ED COPYRIGHT ENGLIS H TRAN S LATION .

T he.

merits of Les Miserables do n ot merely consist in the conception of it as awhole ; it abounds , page after pa

ge , w1th de tails of unequal led beauty. In dealin with

all the emot1on s, doubts , fears , w ich go to make up our common humanit M . ictor6

H ug e has stamped upon every page the hall-mark of genius.

”—Quarterby zew.

VOL. XXIX .—BARBARA’

S HIS T ORY.

BY AME LIA B. E DW ARDS .

It is not often that.

we light upon a n ove l of so much merit aim intere st as

Barbara’s H 1story.

’It

c

1s a work conspicuous for taste and litera culture . It is avery grace ful and charming ‘

book, with a we ll-managed story,clear -cut characters ,

and sen t1ments expre ssed W Ith an exquisite e locution . It is a book which the worldwill like . T his is high praise of awork of art, and so we in tend it.

”—T imes.

VOL . XXX—LIFE OF THE REV. EDW ARD IRVIN G.

BY MRS OLIPHANT .

A good book on amost intere sting theme .

”—T imes.

A. truly in teresting andmost afi'ecting memoir. Irving ’

s Life ought to have anicheIn every gallery Ofre lig IOus biography. T here are few live s that will be fullerL Of instruct1on , in tere st , and con solation .

” -S aturday R eview.

Mrs O liphan t ’s Life of Irving supplie s a long-fe lt desideratum. It is copious,earne st , and e loquen t . Irving, as aman and as a pastor, is exhibited with many broad,

powerful , and life-like touche s, which leave a strong impression .

” -E dinburg h Review.

VOL . XXXI.—S T OLAVE ’

S .

T his charming novel is th e work of one wh o possesses a great talent for writing ,aswe ll as experience and knowledge of th e world. S t Olave

’

s’

is the work of an artist .

T h e whole book is worth readin g .

”—A thenceum.

VOL . XXXIL—S AM SLICK’

S TRAIT S OF AMERICANHUMOUR.

Dip where youwill into this lottery of fun , you are sure to drawout aprize .—P ost.

VOL . XXXIII.

— CHRIS T IAN ’

S MIS TAKE .

BY THE AUTHOR OF “ JOHN HALIFAX, GE NTLEMAN .

A more charming story , to our taste , has rare ly been written . T he writer has hit

off a circle Ofvaried characters all true to nature , and has en tangled them in a storywhich ke eps us in suspen se til l its kn ot is happily and grace fully resolved. E ven iftried by th e standard of th e A rchbishop of York , we should expect that even h e wouldpronounce Christian ’

s M istake a nove l without a fault.”—T imes .

VOL. XXXIV.

—ALE O FORBE S OF HOW GLE N .

BY GEORGE MA O DONALD ,M .A .

No account Ofthis storywould give any idea of th e profoundinterest that pervadesthe work from the first page to th e last .

” —A then(eum.

VOL. XXXV.-AGN E S . BY MRS OLIPHAN T .

A gne s is a n ove l superior to any of M rs O liphant’s formerworks .

”—A thenwum.

Mrs O liphan t is on e of the most admirable of our n ove lists . In h er works thereare always to be found high principle , good taste , sense , and refinement .

‘A g nes

’

is a

stewy wh ose pathetic beauty will appeal irresistibly to all rcaders.

”-P ost.

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Sweet Anne Page - forgottenbooks.com€¦ · MENAGE OU MENAGERIE? AN GTON, said the Seraph, as they sat ove r their after-din n e r coffe e, do m e a favour. You