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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Gamble with Life, by Silas K. Hocking
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: A Gamble with Life
+
+Author: Silas K. Hocking
+
+Release Date: April 10, 2012 [EBook #39417]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A GAMBLE WITH LIFE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Chris Curnow, Sue Fleming, Lindy Walsh and the
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                              A GAMBLE WITH LIFE
+
+                               SILAS K. HOCKING
+
+
+          [Illustration: "OPEN YOUR EYES," HE CRIED, "AND SPRING."]
+
+
+                              A GAMBLE WITH LIFE
+
+                                      BY
+
+                                SILAS K. HOCKING
+
+                                   AUTHOR OF
+
+                "Pioneers," "The Flaming Sword," "God's Outcast,"
+                   "One in Charity," "The Heart of Man," etc.
+
+                                    London
+                   JAMES CLARKE & CO., 13 & 14 FLEET STREET E.C.
+                                     1906
+
+
+                             _All rights reserved_
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+  CHAPTER                          PAGE
+
+       I. A STRANGE COMPACT           7
+
+      II. DREAMS AND REALITIES       15
+
+     III. THE VALUE OF A LIFE        26
+
+      IV. PAYING THE PENALTY         35
+
+       V. A PERILOUS TASK            44
+
+      VI. FAITH AND PHILOSOPHY       54
+
+     VII. THE NICK OF TIME           63
+
+    VIII. THE SOUL'S AWAKENING       72
+
+      IX. THE CAPTAIN'S LETTER       82
+
+       X. A VISITOR                  92
+
+      XI. A TALK BY THE WAY         101
+
+     XII. FAIRYLAND                 112
+
+    XIII. THE AWAKENING             123
+
+     XIV. EVOLUTION                 134
+
+      XV. MISGIVINGS                145
+
+     XVI. GROWING SUSPICIONS        157
+
+    XVII. RETROSPECTIVE             168
+
+   XVIII. THE OLD AND THE NEW       178
+
+     XIX. AFTER THREE YEARS         189
+
+      XX. FATHER AND SON            200
+
+     XXI. GERVASE SPEAKS HIS MIND   211
+
+    XXII. A HUMAN DOCUMENT          222
+
+   XXIII. MEANS TO AN END           232
+
+    XXIV. THE JUSTICE OF THE STRONG 243
+
+     XXV. THE END OF A DREAM        254
+
+    XXVI. QUESTIONS TO BE FACED     266
+
+   XXVII. THE VALUE OF A LIFE       277
+
+  XXVIII. THE RETURN OF THE SQUIRE  288
+
+    XXIX. GETTING AT THE TRUTH      299
+
+     XXX. THE TOILS OF CIRCUMSTANCE 310
+
+    XXXI. OLD FRIENDS               320
+
+   XXXII. FACING THE INEVITABLE     331
+
+  XXXIII. WAS IT PROVIDENCE?        342
+
+   XXXIV. DISCOVERIES               352
+
+    XXXV. CONFLICTING EMOTIONS      363
+
+   XXXVI. HIS HEART'S DESIRE        373
+
+
+
+
+                          A GAMBLE WITH LIFE
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER I
+
+                          A STRANGE COMPACT
+
+
+"Well, of all the hare-brained proposals I ever listened to, this takes
+the bun"; and Felix Muller adjusted his pince-nez and lay back in his
+chair and laughed softly.
+
+"But why hare-brained?" asked his companion, seriously. "Singular, I
+admit it may be; startling if you like, but I do not see that there is
+anything in it to laugh at."
+
+"You don't?" and the lawyer's face became suddenly grave. "Do you
+realise what your proposal implies?"
+
+"I think I do," and Rufus Sterne's face flushed slightly; "but you are
+thinking of a contingency that will never arise."
+
+"Perhaps I am; but every contingency must be guarded against," and Felix
+Muller took off his glasses and wiped them meditatively. "You say you
+are confident of success, and I am bound to admit, from what I know of
+you and your scheme, I think your confidence is well founded. But you
+know as well as I do, that nothing is certain in this world but death."
+
+"Well?"
+
+"You may fail. Something may happen you cannot foresee."
+
+"I grant it, as a remote--an exceedingly remote--possibility. But in
+such an event you will be covered by my life assurance policy."
+
+"But you may live for another fifty years."
+
+Rufus Sterne shook his head and smiled gravely.
+
+"If I fail," he said, "I shall have no further use for life. You need be
+under no apprehension on that score. The money for which my life is
+insured will be paid into your hands without any unnecessary delay. I
+know the company."
+
+"But it would be a direct contravention of the law, and would entitle
+the company to refuse----"
+
+"My dear sir," Sterne interrupted, sharply, "there are many roads into
+the land of oblivion. Exits can be arranged, if the parties so desire,
+in a perfectly natural manner. You need not fear that trouble will arise
+on that score."
+
+"Nevertheless, I confess I do not like the proposal."
+
+"You seem to have grown suddenly very squeamish," Sterne said, with a
+slight curl of the lip. "I have always understood that you set no
+particular value on human life. Indeed, I have heard you argue that a
+man's life is his own to do as he likes with--to continue it or end it,
+as seems good in his own eyes."
+
+"I am still of the same opinion. No, I am no sentimentalist. The rubbish
+talked by parsons and so-called humanitarians makes me ill. All the same
+I would prefer that someone else----"
+
+"There is no one else," Rufus Sterne broke in, irritably. "You are my
+last hope. A thousand pounds now will lead me on to fame and fortune.
+You have the money. You can lend it to me if you like, and for security
+I make you my sole legatee."
+
+"But the money is not mine, and must be paid back by the 31st of
+December of next year without fail."
+
+"That gives eighteen months and more," and Sterne laughed. "My dear
+fellow, six months or a little more will see the thing through."
+
+"I like to see a man confident," Felix Muller said, a little uneasily.
+"But there is such a thing as over-confidence, as you know. I should be
+better pleased if you were a little less cocksure."
+
+"But man alive, I have been working at this thing for years. I have
+tested every link in the chain, if you will allow me to say so. I have
+faced every possible contingency. I have gone over the ground so often
+that I know every inch of the way. I have anticipated every objection,
+every weakness, every flaw, and have provided against it. All I want now
+is a thousand pounds in hard cash, and in a year's time I shall be able
+to repay it ten-fold."
+
+"You hope so."
+
+"I am sure of it; as far as a man can be sure of anything in this stupid
+world. The more or less unpleasant contingency that you persist in
+looking at will never occur."
+
+"But it may occur," Muller persisted.
+
+"Well, if it does you will not suffer; and I shall be glad to hide
+myself and be at rest."
+
+"You say that now."
+
+"Do you doubt my courage or my honour?" Sterne demanded, sharply.
+
+"No, I doubt neither," Muller said, slowly; "but the instinct of life is
+strong--especially in the young."
+
+"When a man has something to live for--some great purpose to achieve, or
+some proud ambition to realise, he naturally wants to live. But take
+away that something, and life is a squeezed orange which he is glad to
+fling away."
+
+"People still cling to life when they have nothing left to live for,"
+Muller said, reflectively.
+
+"Sentimentalists and cowards," Sterne broke in, hastily. "Men who have
+been robbed of their courage by priestly superstitions. But you and I
+have thrown off the swaddling clothes in which we were reared. Your
+German philosophers have not reflected and written for nothing."
+
+"I am an Englishman," Muller broke in, hastily.
+
+"I do not dispute it for a moment," Sterne said, with a laugh. "But let
+us not get away from the subject we have in hand. The question is will
+you accommodate me or will you not?"
+
+"If I do not you will curse me to-day," Muller said, with a drawl; "and
+if I do, you may curse me more bitterly eighteen months hence. So it
+seems to me it is a choice between two evils."
+
+"There you are mistaken," Sterne replied. "I certainly shall curse you
+if you refuse me, but if you become my friend to-day I shall never cease
+to bless you."
+
+"Not if you fail?"
+
+"Why will you persist in harping on that one string? I shall not fail.
+Failure is out of the reckoning. I am as certain of success as I am of
+my own existence."
+
+"'Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.'"
+
+"Please, Muller, don't quote the Bible to me."
+
+"It is sound philosophy wherever it is taken from. Besides, the Bible is
+good literature."
+
+"So is Dante's 'Inferno.' But if you were dosed with it morning, noon
+and night, for the space of fifteen or twenty years, you would be glad
+to have a little respite. But we are getting away again from the subject
+in hand. Let's stick to the one point till we've done with it. If you've
+made up your mind that you won't help me, say so."
+
+"My dear fellow, all that I've been anxious to do is to enable you, if
+possible, to realise all that such a contract implies."
+
+"Well, if I didn't realise it before, I do now. You've been very
+faithful."
+
+"And you still wish to enter into the arrangement?"
+
+"Of course I do. What do you take me for?"
+
+"Remember, I am no sentimentalist, and whatever may happen to you, I
+shall be compelled in the end to claim my bond."
+
+Sterne laughed a little bitterly. "You do not mean to insult me, I know.
+Nevertheless your words imply a doubt that I cannot help resenting. If
+the worst comes to the worst, you will have no need to _claim_ your
+bond. You will get your own back without effort, and with compound
+interest."
+
+"I have no desire to insult you, certainly. But equally am I desirous of
+preventing any misunderstanding later on. In a business transaction of
+this kind one cannot be too explicit. The time-limit I am compelled to
+insist upon."
+
+"It is quite ample," Sterne broke in, impatiently. "I shall know my fate
+long before the end of next year."
+
+"I hope you will succeed even beyond what you hope for."
+
+"Let me tell you for the twentieth time that I am bound to succeed. When
+shall I have the money?"
+
+"The day after to-morrow."
+
+"That will do. Now I am a happy man."
+
+"I hope you will never have cause to regret the bargain."
+
+"You shall not, in any case."
+
+The lawyer smiled, and lowered his eyebrows. "From a professional point
+of view," he said, reflectively, "it is not, of course, good business."
+
+Sterne looked up suddenly. "I see what you mean," he said, after a
+pause. "You are not covered against any failure of courage or honour on
+my part?"
+
+The lawyer nodded assent.
+
+"I appreciate your trust in me," Sterne replied, with a touch of emotion
+in his voice. "I do indeed. You are lending me the money without any
+legal security."
+
+"And the money is not mine," the lawyer added.
+
+"I understand; and when the time comes you shall be rewarded," and
+Sterne rose to his feet and picked up his bowler hat, which had been
+lying on the floor.
+
+The lawyer rose also, and held out his hand to his client. "The money
+shall be ready for you the day after to-morrow." So they parted.
+
+Rufus Sterne went out into the street feeling as though all the world
+lay at his feet. No thought of failure crossed his mind. The thing he
+had been working for for years was at last to be realised. His invention
+would not only put money into his own pocket, but it would revolutionise
+the chief industry of his native county, and find work for thousands of
+willing hands.
+
+In imagination he saw himself not only prosperous, but honoured and
+respected and hailed as a public benefactor. He had a long walk over the
+hills to the village in which he resided, but it seemed as nothing to
+him that evening. His heart was beating high with hope, his eyes
+sparkled with eager anticipation.
+
+From the crest of the second hill the wide sweep of the Atlantic came
+into view, and for several minutes he stood still, with bared head. He
+had spent all his life in sight and sound of the sea, and he never tired
+of it. Relatives, friends, acquaintances by the dozen, slept their last
+sleep far out in its cool embrace. He had a feeling sometimes that he
+would like, when his day's work was done, to pillow his head among the
+seaweed and sleep for ever, while the waves sobbed and sang above him.
+
+The sun was slowly sinking in a sea of molten gold. The window-panes of
+the scattered farmhouses were flashing back the evening fire. From the
+valley behind him came the bleating of lambs and the answering call of
+the mother sheep, and with the cooling of the day a breeze stirred
+faintly in the tree tops and through the hazel bushes.
+
+He replaced his hat, and was about to continue his tramp when he was
+arrested by the sound of carriage wheels behind him. A sharp bend in the
+road hid the vehicle from sight, but he knew it would be on him in a
+moment. So he stepped aside, as the road was narrow, and waited for it
+to pass.
+
+The horse came first into sight, and then the Squire's waggonette. Two
+people sat on the front seat, the coachman and a lady. The back of the
+vehicle was piled almost to the level of their heads with luggage. The
+horse came on slowly, which gave Rufus Sterne an opportunity of scanning
+the face of the lady.
+
+"Evidently a stranger," was his first reflection. "Greatly taken with
+the view of the sea," his second. After that his reflections were of a
+very mixed character.
+
+Two or three points, however, stood out in his mind with great
+distinctness. The first was the lady was young--"not more than twenty if
+she is a day," he reflected. The second was that she belonged to a type
+he had never seen before. "She's not Cornish, that's certain," he said
+to himself. "I question if she is English." The third was that she was
+most becomingly dressed. Whether she was richly or expensively attired
+he did not know. He had had no experience in such matters. But that her
+dress became her there could be no doubt. The hat she wore might have
+been designed by an artist for her alone. On some people's heads it
+might look a fright, but on the head of this fair creature it was a
+picture.
+
+He stood so far back in the shadow of the hedge that she did not notice
+him. Besides, her eyes were fixed on the distant sea, which flashed in
+the sunset like burnished gold.
+
+"Isn't it just too lovely for words?" Whether she addressed the
+coachman, or whether she was speaking to herself, he did not know. But
+her words fell very distinctly on his ear, and touched his heart with a
+curious sense of kinship or sympathy.
+
+"No; she's not English," he said to himself. "An Englishwoman never
+speaks with an accent just like that. But wherever she comes from she's
+the loveliest creature I ever saw. I wonder who she is?"
+
+He came out into the middle of the road, and followed in the wake of the
+vanishing vehicle. After a few minutes it disappeared completely, and he
+did not see it again.
+
+"I wonder who she is?" The question occurred to him several times as he
+tramped steadily on in the direction of St. Gaved. It even pushed into
+the background his recent interview with Felix Muller, and the strange
+compact he had made.
+
+The twilight was deepening rapidly by the time he reached the cottage in
+which he rented two tiny rooms. A frugal supper was laid ready for him
+on the table, but there was no one to give him welcome, no one to say
+good-night when he retired to rest. Yet no feeling of loneliness or
+friendlessness oppressed him. He felt that the day had been an eventful
+one, and that a future of unmeasured possibilities was opening up before
+him.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER II
+
+                         DREAMS AND REALITIES
+
+
+Rufus Sterne awoke next morning with a feeling of buoyancy and
+hopefulness such as he had never before experienced. The sun was
+streaming brightly through the little window and gilding the humble
+furniture of the room with thin lines of gold; the house-sparrows were
+chirruping noisily under the eaves; the fishermen, early in from their
+night's fishing, were calling "Mackerel" in the winding street below;
+whilst the memory of pleasant dreams was still haunting the chambers of
+his brain--dreams in which his own identity had got mixed up in some
+curious fashion with that of the fair stranger he had seen the evening
+before.
+
+Mrs. Tuke, his landlady, laid his breakfast in silence. It was very
+rarely now that she spoke to him. On her face was a look of injured
+innocence or pained resignation. She had done her best in days gone by
+to lead him to see what she called the error of his ways, but without
+success. Now she had given him over--though not without considerable
+reluctance--to the hardness of his heart. She sometimes wondered whether
+she ought to keep as a lodger a man who was claimed neither by church
+nor chapel, and whose religious opinions not a man in the entire village
+would endorse.
+
+However, as he paid his bill regularly and gave no trouble, and as
+moreover he had no bad habits, and was exceedingly gentlemanly both in
+manners and appearance, she concluded that on the whole she was
+justified in giving him shelter and taking his money.
+
+Rufus did not notice Mrs. Tuke's resigned look and pathetic eyes this
+morning. His thoughts were intent on other things. At last he was on the
+road to fame and fortune, so he honestly and sincerely believed.
+To-morrow he would walk into Redbourne and take possession of a thousand
+pounds. Then life would begin in earnest. He would give up his position
+at the Wheal Gregory Mine and devote all his energies to the completion
+of the great scheme, which would take the whole county by surprise.
+
+What a relief it would be to get away from the common-place and humdrum
+tasks that had filled his hands for the last three or four years--tasks
+that any young man with a School Board education could discharge without
+difficulty. He did not despise the work--no honest labour was to be
+despised. But the work was not of the kind that appealed to him. It was
+monotonous, mechanical, uninteresting. There was nothing in it to call
+out latent skill or originality. He might go on doing it till his brain
+stagnated and the springs of imagination ceased to flow.
+
+He was called the secretary of the mine--a high-sounding name
+enough--but the name was the only important thing about it. He was
+time-keeper, clerk, and office-boy rolled into one.
+
+The salary was just enough to keep him in a position of respectable
+poverty. The only way he could hope to save any money was by insuring
+his life until he was a certain age. But there were times when he was
+half disposed to let his policy lapse. It was such a pinch to find the
+money to pay the premiums.
+
+At last, however, he believed the struggle was over. His thoughts were
+going to take tangible shape; his nebulous dreams were to be reduced to
+concrete form. The lines he had so carefully traced on paper would be
+seen in brass and steel; the mental travail of years would end in the
+birth of a great invention.
+
+He walked away from the house humming a popular waltz, and his steps
+kept time to the music. Wheal Gregory lay over the hill more than a mile
+away. Taking a field path he skirted the park of Trewinion Hall, the
+residence of Sir Charles Tregony, the squire of the parish and the
+largest landowner in the district. It was Sir Charles's waggonette that
+passed him the previous evening when returning from Redbourne.
+
+He slackened his pace almost unconsciously, and looked over the tall
+thorn hedge in the direction of the squire's mansion. An opening in the
+belt of trees brought a portion of the terrace into view, with a strip
+of lawn and a glimpse of the rose garden. At the moment, however, Rufus
+saw neither the garden nor the lawn. It was a graceful girlish figure
+clad in white that arrested his attention. She was flitting in and out
+among the standard roses with a pair of scissors in one hand and a large
+bunch of blooms in the other. She stood still at length and looked
+towards the house, then waved her hand to someone Rufus could not see.
+Then she turned right about face and looked in his direction. Rufus
+lowered his head in a moment and peeped at her between the branches of a
+tree. It might not be the height of good manners, but he could not help
+it. She was so fair a picture, so graceful, so piquant and fresh, that
+he would be almost less than human if he did not make the most of his
+opportunity.
+
+A few minutes later she was joined by the squire's daughter, Beryl, and
+together they walked away till the thick foliage hid them from view.
+
+Rufus heaved a little sigh, and then continued his walk in the direction
+of Wheal Gregory.
+
+"I wonder if people who live in big houses, and have lovely gardens and
+lawns and all the other pleasant things of life are happier than
+ordinary folks," he said to himself. "I wonder if that girl is happy. I
+wonder if she knows how pretty she is? I wonder where she came from? I
+wonder who she is? I wonder if she has come to stay?"
+
+He laughed at length quite loudly, for no one was near to listen. It was
+strange that he should be interested in anyone who had come to stay at
+the Hall. Sir Charles was one of the proudest and most exclusive men in
+the county. There was no one in the parish of St. Gaved, excepting
+perhaps the vicar, that he considered good enough to associate with, and
+Sir Charles's visitors were generally as exclusive as himself.
+
+The rattle of the "fire stamps" down in the valley called him back at
+length to more mundane affairs. It was nothing to him who the new
+visitor at the Hall might be, and whether she stayed a week or a year
+was no concern of his. He had his own work to do, and just now that work
+would fill his thoughts night and day.
+
+He did his best to give all his attention to his ordinary duties, but it
+was no easy matter. He had lost all interest in Wheal Gregory Mine. His
+resignation as secretary would be handed in on Saturday morning: for the
+future he would live on another plane, and more important issues would
+claim his thought and attention.
+
+The day seemed interminably long, but it came to an end at length, and
+he turned his face towards St. Gaved with a light heart. Every day now
+would shorten the period of his exile and inactivity. He was eager to
+get his own great enterprise under weigh, eager to show the people among
+whom he lived the stuff of which he was made.
+
+On the following day he opened a banking account with a thousand pounds
+to his credit, and the day following that he handed his resignation in
+as secretary of Wheal Gregory Mine.
+
+He walked homeward slowly in the glow of the evening's sun, taking a
+wide sweep round by the coast. The sky was almost cloudless, but the
+warmth was tempered by a cool breeze from the West. A pathway skirted
+the edge of the cliffs which was rarely used by anyone after sunset, for
+the cliffs were treacherous and a false step might mean instant death.
+
+On one of the highest points he sat down on the spongy turf and looked
+westward. The sun was sinking in a lake of burnished gold. The sea was
+like glass mingled with fire. He could not help wondering if these
+bright days and glorious sunsets were an augury of his own future.
+
+As yet no cloud dimmed the brightness of his vision, no thought of
+failure flung a shadow across his path. He was as confident of success
+as he was that the Atlantic was rolling at his feet. It was this
+confidence that had blinded his eyes to the moral obliquity of his
+contract with Felix Muller.
+
+"If I fail," he had said, "you shall have my insurance money," and he
+had said it in the most light-hearted fashion, for he never suspected
+for a moment that he would fail.
+
+Moreover, if he did fail the defeat would be so crushing that he was
+quite sure he would not want to live. And as he had lost the faith of
+his childhood, and death meant only an endless and a dreamless sleep,
+dying gave him no concern.
+
+But there was one thing he had never considered, and that was the rights
+of the insurance company. He did not see that it was a felony he
+proposed in case of failure. The idea had never crossed his mind. He had
+laid stress on his honour in making his appeal to Muller, and he failed
+to see that in case his schemes came to nothing he was proposing an act
+of deliberate dishonesty. He would save his honour at the expense of his
+honesty.
+
+It was not of failure, however, he thought, as he looked towards the
+sunset. The future was opening out before his imagination in widening
+vistas of success.
+
+"I shall astonish everybody," he said to himself, a bright, eager smile
+spreading itself over his face. "Muller believes in me, but he has no
+idea how great my scheme is. I don't see the end of it myself, for one
+thing will lead to another. Oh! I shall have a crowded life; for one
+success will beget other successes, and so I shall go forward--never
+idle--till my day's work is done."
+
+He was roused from his pleasant reverie by a light footstep near him,
+and looking round quickly he saw the fair stranger who had interested
+him on two previous occasions. She did not hesitate for a moment in her
+walk, but came briskly forward till she was directly opposite where he
+sat.
+
+"Pardon me," she said, in a voice that was distinctly musical in spite
+of its unfamiliar accent, "but can you tell me if there is a path
+anywhere hereabouts leading down to the beach?"
+
+He was on his feet in a moment, and raising his hat he said, with a
+smile, "The nearest point is down Penwith Cove; that is at least half a
+mile further on."
+
+"And is the path easy?"
+
+"Quite easy."
+
+"Not dangerous at all?"
+
+"Not a bit," he answered, with a smile.
+
+"You will excuse me speaking, won't you?" she said, with a mirthful
+light in her eyes. "I'm not at all sure that it's a bit proper. Sir
+Charles has read me several lectures already about speaking to people I
+don't know, but if I only speak to people I know I shall never speak at
+all when I'm out of the house."
+
+"You are a stranger in St. Gaved?" he questioned, nervously.
+
+"I come from across the water," she answered, with delightful frankness.
+"I never saw your country till four days ago."
+
+"And do you like it?" he questioned.
+
+"Well, yes--up to a certain point. I shall get used to it in time, no
+doubt. But at present it seems a bit dull and slow."
+
+"You've lived in a city, perhaps?"--he was astonished at his boldness,
+but her whole manner seemed to invite conversation.
+
+"That's just it," she replied. "And after New York this place seems a
+trifle dull and quiet."
+
+"I should think so," he said, with a laugh. "Why, even natives like
+myself find it almost insufferable at times."
+
+"Then why do you stay here? Why don't you go right away where the pulse
+of life beats more quickly?"
+
+"Ah! that question is not easy to answer," he said, looking out over the
+fire-flecked sea. "Our home is here, our work lies here. Beyond is a
+great unknown. Many have gone out and have never returned."
+
+"Got lost, eh?" she questioned, with a musical laugh.
+
+"Lost to us who have remained," he answered. "Some have prospered, I
+have no doubt. Some have failed, and died in obscurity and neglect.
+Better, perhaps, endure the ills we have than fly to others we know not
+of."
+
+"Well, yes, I guess there's truth in that," she answered, raising
+frankly her soft brown eyes to his. "Yet there's always fascination in
+the unknown, don't you think so?"
+
+"No doubt of it."
+
+"That's the reason, I expect, why I'm just aching to explore these
+cliffs, and the caves of which Sir Charles says there's any number."
+
+"That won't take you very long," he answered, "though it would hardly be
+safe for you to go alone."
+
+"That's what Sir Charles says; but would you mind telling me just where
+the danger comes in?"
+
+"Well, you see, the rocks are often slippery. And if you are not
+acquainted with the tides you might get caught."
+
+"Ah! that would be interesting."
+
+"Well, scarcely. Strangers have been caught and drowned before now."
+
+"They could not swim?"
+
+"It would take a very strong swimmer to clear St. Gaved Point and get
+into the harbour."
+
+She turned her eyes in that direction and looked grave.
+
+He studied her face a little more closely and allowed his eyes to wander
+over her graceful and well-knit figure. She was very simply dressed,
+without ornament of any kind. A large picture hat shaded her pale face.
+Her eyes were large and dark, her forehead broad, her nose straight, her
+lips full and red.
+
+She caught him looking at her and he blushed a little. "I don't think I
+could swim that distance," she said, turning her eyes again in the
+direction of St. Gaved Point.
+
+"I don't think you would be wise to attempt it." Then he blushed again,
+for she turned on him a swift and searching glance, while her lips
+parted in a smile that seemed to say, "I did not ask you for advice."
+
+For a moment there was silence, then she said, "Do you know the sea has
+been calling me ever since I came."
+
+"Calling you?" he questioned.
+
+"Well, I mean it fascinates me, if you understand. I want to get close
+to it, to paddle in it. It is so beautiful. It looks so cool and
+friendly. Beryl says she cannot bear the sea; that it is not friendly a
+bit; that it is cruel and noisy, and treacherous."
+
+"Ah! she has lived near the sea most of her life."
+
+"And yet you can scarcely see it from the Hall."
+
+"But it can be heard on stormy nights, and when a westerly gale is
+raging its voice is terrible."
+
+"You have lived here all your life?" and her lips parted in the most
+innocent smile.
+
+"Here, and in a neighbouring parish," he answered, frankly.
+
+"And do you like the sea?"
+
+"Sometimes. On an evening like this, for instance, I could sit for hours
+looking at it, and listening to the low murmur of the waves. But in the
+winter I rarely come out on the cliffs."
+
+"I have never seen the sea real mad," she said, reflectively; "but I
+expect I shall if I stay here long enough."
+
+"Do you expect to stay long?" he questioned. If she asked questions he
+did not see why he might not.
+
+"Well, I guess I shall stay in England a good many months anyhow," she
+answered slowly, and with an unmistakable accent; and she turned away
+her eyes, and a faint wave of colour tinged her pale cheeks.
+
+He would have liked to have asked her a good many other questions, but
+he felt he had gone far enough.
+
+"I fear I shall have to go back now," she said at length, without
+looking at him, "or they'll all be wondering what has become of me."
+
+"You could not easily get lost in a place like this," he said, with a
+laugh.
+
+"No, nobody would kidnap me," she said, arching her eyebrows.
+
+"No, I don't think so," he answered in a tone that was half-mirthful,
+half-serious.
+
+She raised her eyes to his for a moment in a keen searching glance,
+then, with a hasty "Good evening," turned and walked away in the
+direction she had come.
+
+He stood and watched her until she had passed over the brow of the hill
+in the direction of Trewinion Hall. Then he slowly resumed his journey
+towards St. Gaved.
+
+That night he awoke from a dream with a feeling of horror tearing at his
+heart. He dreamed that his great scheme had proved a failure, and that
+Felix Muller stood over him demanding the immediate fulfilment of the
+contract.
+
+So vivid had been the dream that, for the moment, he seemed powerless to
+shake off the impression. He sat up in bed, and stared round him, while
+a cold perspiration broke out in beads upon his brow.
+
+For the first time he realised, in any clear and vivid sense, the nature
+of the compact he had entered into. The possibilities of failure had
+seemed so infinitely remote that he had never seriously tried to realise
+what failure would mean.
+
+Now that awful contingency forced itself upon his heart and imagination
+in a way that seemed almost to paralyse him. It was as though some
+invisible but powerful hand had pushed him to the edge of a dark and
+awful precipice, and compelled him to look over. His knees shook under
+him, his head seemed to reel, he struggled to get back to safer ground.
+
+The feeling of horror passed away after a few minutes, and he lay down
+again.
+
+"Of course, I shall not fail," he said to himself. "The contingency is
+so remote that I need not give the matter a second thought."
+
+And yet the impression of that dream was destined to remain with him in
+spite of all his efforts to shake it off.
+
+
+
+
+                               CHAPTER III
+
+                           THE VALUE OF A LIFE
+
+
+During the next few weeks Rufus Sterne was kept so busy that he had very
+little time for either retrospect or anticipation. His great complaint
+was that the days were all too short for the work he wanted to crowd
+into them. He had told Felix Muller that six months would see his scheme
+well on its way to completion. But he had not been at work many weeks
+before he began to fear that twelve months would be much nearer the
+limit. Contractors were so slow, workmen were so careless, and
+accidents--none of them serious--were so numerous, that delays were
+inevitable, and the days grew into weeks unconsciously.
+
+He maintained, however, a brave and hopeful spirit. Delays and
+disappointments were, no doubt, inevitable. No one ever carried out a
+great scheme without encountering a few disappointments. Later on, when
+victory was assured, they would seem as nothing, and would be quickly
+forgotten.
+
+He saw no more of the beautiful stranger who had so much interested him.
+For several days he kept a sharp look out, and wondered if by any chance
+he would cross her path. Then he heard that Sir Charles and all his
+family had gone to London till the end of the season, and he assumed
+that she had gone to London with them.
+
+He had had a second interview with Felix Muller, which had left an
+impression that was not altogether pleasant. Muller was in his most
+cynical and ungenerous mood. He had not a word of encouragement to give
+to his client. On the contrary, he appeared to take a delight in
+pricking Rufus with pointed and unpleasant suggestions.
+
+"It is well, no doubt, to hope for the best," he said to Rufus; "but it
+is equally well to be prepared for the worst."
+
+"I really think you would not trouble much if I should fail," Rufus
+said, in a tone of irritation.
+
+"Then you do me an injustice," was the suave and tantalising answer. "If
+you were to fail I might have trouble in getting my own."
+
+"You mean that I would back out of the contract at the last?"
+
+"No, I don't mean any such thing. I know you are not only a man of
+honour, but a man of courage; but if you should bungle----"
+
+"Look here, we need not go any further into details," Rufus said,
+impatiently. "My point is you are not a bit troubled about me as long as
+you get your money back."
+
+"Oh, but I am! I would rather you prospered than that you failed, any
+day. Still, if in the order of chance you should fail--well----," and he
+shrugged his shoulders, "It would be in the eternal order, that's all."
+
+"You would not fret, of course?"
+
+"My dear fellow, why should I? We must all pass out into the great
+silence sooner or later. And now, or next year, or next century for that
+matter, matters little. You and I have got beyond the region of
+sentiment in such things. Nature sets no value on human life. We take
+our place among the ants and flies, and the human is treated as
+remorselessly as the insect. The wind passeth over both, and they are
+gone."
+
+"Yes, that is true enough," Rufus answered, looking out of the window.
+
+"Besides," Muller went on, as if he read his thoughts, "in the business
+of life we are bound to take risks."
+
+"You mean money risks?"
+
+"Not only money risks. A man who drives to market, who explores a mine,
+who crosses the sea in the interests of commerce, who fights for his
+country, not only risks his property, but he risks his life."
+
+"Not always intentionally."
+
+"Well, not always, perhaps. But in the greatest and noblest enterprises,
+yes. And what is more, it is counted to a man an honour when he risks
+his life in a great cause. If you become a martyr for a great ideal I
+shall revere your memory."
+
+Rufus winced, and looked uncomfortable. "I am not risking my life in the
+public interest," he said, "but in my own."
+
+"It all amounts to the same thing," Muller said, cynically. "You are
+part of the public, and anything that benefits a part benefits, more or
+less, the whole. I am taking risks myself on the same chance of doing
+good."
+
+"Doing good to whom?"
+
+"To myself in the first place. Charity should always begin at home."
+
+"And don't you think also that it should stop there?"
+
+"Well, in the main, I do. I am no sentimentalist, as you very well know.
+Every man for himself is the first law of life."
+
+"So while Nature sets no value on human life, you think that each
+individual should set great value on his own?"
+
+"No, I don't. Everything depends on the individual, or on his
+circumstances. If a man thinks his life is worth preserving, well, let
+him preserve it by all means. But if he thinks it is worthless, why
+should he not let it slip?"
+
+"There seems no particular reason," Rufus answered, reflectively.
+
+"There's no reason at all," Muller went on, dogmatically, "while a man
+is doing something, something useful I mean, something that is of
+benefit to himself and to others, he ought to keep agoing as long as he
+can. But when he is a failure, when he becomes a burden to himself and
+his neighbours, it is cowardly to hang on, and why should anybody fret
+because he makes himself scarce?"
+
+"You mean this as a little homily to myself?" Rufus questioned.
+
+"Oh, not a bit of it! I am not afraid of you not doing the right thing!
+Besides, you are not going to fail," and he laughed, cynically.
+
+"No, I am not going to fail," Rufus answered, rising from his seat; "I
+am going to succeed."
+
+"That's right. I hope you will. But don't forget that there is nothing
+certain in this world but death," and he smilingly bowed Rufus out of
+the room.
+
+In the street Rufus purchased an evening paper, that he might get the
+latest news of the war. He did not open it until he got into the quiet
+lanes outside the town. There had been another big battle in which there
+had been an appalling loss of life. The work of extermination was going
+on rapidly. Modern civilisation was showing what it could do in
+preventing the too rapid growth of the human race.
+
+Rufus hurriedly glanced down the columns, then folded the paper and put
+it into his pocket. "Yes, Muller is right," he mused. "Nature sets no
+value on human life, neither do governments, and neither does religion.
+I wonder how many thousands of human beings have been sacrificed during
+the last few weeks, and who gives to the matter a second thought.
+Religion accepts it as inevitable and even meritorious. Governments
+approve and applaud, and make provision for slaughter on a larger scale
+in the future. Nature, not to be outdone, tries her hand at earthquakes,
+or famine, or disease. It is only the individual who thinks his own life
+is of value, and he, of course, is a conceited prig."
+
+He paused when he reached the hill-top from which the sea came into
+view. The days were beginning to shorten a little. The light of the sun
+was less brilliant, and the green of the fields had given place to
+harvest gold.
+
+"It is curious that we should cling to life so much for its own sake,"
+he said, reflectively. "Curious that the law should label a man a
+criminal who takes his own life when he has no longer any use for it.
+What hypocrites men are, especially those who make our laws. The
+weaklings and worthless they preserve, the able-bodied and useful they
+destroy. The single life, however pitiful, must be protected. The crowd
+is mowed down like grass to gratify some coward's insatiable ambition.
+The creatures who talk about the glory of dying for one's country are
+careful to keep out of the danger line themselves. The man who fails,
+after an heroic struggle, and takes his own life rather than be a burden
+to others, they brand as a coward or dub insane; while he who grows rich
+by trafficking on the weakness or vices of his fellows is made a Right
+Honourable, or given a seat in the councils of the State. It is all very
+sickening, and I refuse to be bound by such traditional falsehood and
+hypocrisy."
+
+He hurried on at a more rapid rate, as if to get away from his thoughts,
+but his brain persisted in working in the same groove. The possibility
+of failure obtruded itself with obstinate persistency.
+
+"I'm glad Muller does not doubt either my courage or my honour," he went
+on. "And really if I fail it will not matter to anyone but myself. I
+have no ties, neither father nor mother, brother nor sister, wife nor
+child. I am happy in that----"
+
+Then he moved to the side of the road for a closed landau drawn by a
+pair of horses to pass him.
+
+"Going to fetch the Hall people from the station very likely," he said
+to himself, and he turned and looked after the retreating vehicle.
+
+"I wonder if she will return?" and a far-away expression came into his
+eyes. "I should like to see her again," he went on, "she is wonderfully
+fresh and natural."
+
+For the rest of the way home he walked very slowly. Now and then he
+paused, and turned his head, and listened. But the sound of wheels,
+which he expected to hear, did not break the evening's stillness, nor
+did he see the face that he hoped to see.
+
+It was nearly a fortnight later that he went out one afternoon on the
+cliffs alone. A somewhat difficult and complicated problem had
+unexpectedly presented itself to him, and he fancied he would be better
+able to see his way through it in the open air than in his workshop or
+study. Generally speaking, he could think best on his feet, and the
+sights and sounds of nature, instead of distracting him, soothed him.
+
+It was a warm, drowsy afternoon. The wind slept, and a soft impalpable
+haze imparted a new mystery to the sea. The tide was coming in slowly
+and imperceptibly, and rippling like silver bells on the shingly beach.
+The distant landscape was an impressionist picture in which all the
+sharp outlines melted into space. The sunshine filtered through a veil
+of gauze. Half-way to Penwith Cove he sat down on a ledge of rock on
+the very edge of the cliff, and looked seaward. He saw nothing
+distinctly, heard no song of the sea. He was too intent on the problem
+that was baffling his brain.
+
+Suddenly he started and opened his eyes wide. Was it a human voice he
+heard, or was it merely fancy? He looked round him swiftly in all
+directions, but no one was in sight. "It was only the cry of a sea-gull,
+I expect," he said to himself, and he half closed his eyes again. The
+next moment he was on his feet and staring round him in all directions.
+"Surely that was a cry for help," he said, and he looked over the edge
+of the cliff and swept with his eyes the narrow stretch of sand, but
+there was no one in sight in any direction.
+
+For a moment or two he stood irresolute, listening. "There it is again,"
+he said, with blanched cheeks, and he lay flat on the ground and dragged
+himself forward slowly till his head and shoulders overhung the cliff.
+
+"Help! oh, help!" came a feeble voice from the abyss below.
+
+"Where are you? What is the matter?" he called, searching in vain for
+any sign of life.
+
+"Oh, save me!" was the quick response. "I cannot possibly hold on much
+longer."
+
+"Have you fallen over the cliff?" he called.
+
+"No, no. I tried to climb up, and I cannot get back again."
+
+"Then shut your eyes and hold tight," he called. "I'll be round in a few
+minutes."
+
+"Oh, do be quick, for I'm getting faint."
+
+"If you faint you're lost," he called. "Hold on like grim death and
+don't look down. I'll be with you directly."
+
+It was a long way round by Penwith Cove, but there was no nearer way. He
+ran like a man pursued by wild beasts. The path was narrow and uneven,
+and followed the irregularities of the cliffs. A dozen times he came
+within an ace of breaking his neck, but he managed to keep on his feet.
+The question of his own safety never once occurred to him. Someone was
+in deadly peril, and a moment later or earlier might be a matter of life
+or death.
+
+The path into the cove was by a series of zigzags; but he took a
+straight cut in most instances to the imminent risk of life and limb. A
+few cuts and bruises he did not mind. His clothes might not be fit to
+wear again. Tobogganning without a toboggan might not be elegant, but it
+was certainly exciting, and if it did nothing else it would find work
+for his tailor.
+
+He was never quite certain whether he reached the beach head foremost or
+feet foremost. He found himself stretched full length on the sand,
+bleeding from innumerable cuts and quite out of breath.
+
+There was no time, however, to make an inventory of his own hurts.
+Indeed, he was scarcely conscious that he had received any damage
+whatever. Picking himself up, he began to run with all his remaining
+strength. He limped a good deal, but he was not aware of it; neither did
+he make any attempt to pick his way. He swept eagerly the face of the
+cliff as he ran, and feared that he was too late.
+
+At length he caught a glimpse of something white perched high above the
+beach.
+
+"Good heavens; how did she get there?" he said to himself; and pausing
+for a moment he drew in a long breath, then shouted: "Hold tight, I'm
+coming!" though even as he spoke his heart failed him.
+
+How was he to get to her, and even if he succeeded in reaching her side,
+how was he to get her down? The face of the cliff was almost
+perpendicular, the footholds were few and treacherous. Empty-handed, he
+might climb up and back again without very much difficulty; but with a
+half-fainting woman in his arms the descent would be practically
+impossible.
+
+He was still running while these thoughts were passing through his mind,
+his breathing was laboured and painful, his bruised limbs were becoming
+stiff and obstinate.
+
+He came to a full stop at length, and the fear that had haunted him from
+first hearing the cry became a certainty.
+
+"Can you hold on a little longer?" he called.
+
+"I guess I'll have to try," came the cheery answer, though there was the
+sound of tears in her voice. It was evident she was making a desperate
+effort to keep up her courage.
+
+"Don't lose heart," he said, with a gasp, "and keep your eyes shut."
+
+Then he shut his teeth grimly and began the ascent. "I'll save her or
+die in the attempt," he said to himself, with a fierce and determined
+look in his eyes.
+
+Then something seemed to whisper in his ear: "Why trouble about a single
+life? One life more or less can make no difference. If people like to
+fling away their life in foolish adventures, let them do it; why should
+you worry?"
+
+But his philosophy found no response in his heart just then. His own
+life might be of little consequence, but this fair creature must be
+saved at all costs.
+
+He made his way up the face of the cliff surely and steadily. "It is
+easier than I thought," he said. Then he came to a sudden stop, while a
+groan escaped his lips.
+
+"I cannot do it," he gasped; "nobody can do it. Without ropes and
+ladders she is doomed."
+
+
+
+
+                                 CHAPTER IV
+
+                             PAYING THE PENALTY
+
+
+When Madeline Grover got used to the cliffs they did not seem nearly so
+forbidding or dangerous as at the first. Exploring the caves and
+crannies for sea shells and lichen and gulls' eggs became a favourite
+pastime of hers. To stay within the precincts of Trewinion Park she
+declared was like being in prison. To wander across the level lawns, or
+through the woods by well-kept paths, was an exercise altogether too
+tame and unexciting. She loved something that had in it a spice of
+adventure. To do something that nobody else had ever done was very much
+more to her taste.
+
+Sir Charles took her to task gently on several occasions. It was not
+quite the proper thing to go out alone and unattended. She would need to
+put a curb on her exuberant and adventurous spirit. She would have to
+remember that she was no longer in America, where, in his judgment,
+girls had far too much freedom. She must learn to fall into English ways
+and customs, with a good deal more to the same effect.
+
+Madeline always listened patiently and good-humouredly to all Sir
+Charles had to say, and even promised him that she would be all he could
+desire; but she generally forgot both the lecture and the promise five
+minutes later. She had been used all her life to go her own way. At
+home, in America, she received her own friends of both sexes without
+reference to her father or mother. A liberty of action had been allowed
+her that seemed almost shocking to Sir Charles and Lady Tregony, and now
+that she had come to live in England for an indefinite period it was all
+but impossible for her to drop into English ways at once.
+
+As a matter of fact, she did not try very much. She told Beryl Tregony
+that she had no desire to be a tame kitten, and since she was
+responsible to no one, she followed in the main the prompting of her own
+heart.
+
+It was by no means difficult to slip away unobserved, and to be absent
+for hours on the stretch without being missed. She had her own rooms at
+the big house, and often when she was supposed to be quietly reading
+somewhere, she was out on the cliffs or down on the shore searching for
+rare flowers or shells, or else talking to the fishermen.
+
+She found life terribly dull after her return from London. Yet, on
+the whole, she was not unhappy. The great sweep of the Atlantic had
+an unfailing attraction for her. The cliffs were glorious, and
+offered infinite scope for adventure. While the people of St.
+Gaved--particularly the fishermen--caught her fancy amazingly, and
+she became a prime favourite with them all.
+
+Here was a young lady of the upper circle, a distant relative of the
+squire, who was not in the least exclusive or proud; who went in and out
+among the ordinary toiling folk as though she was one of them, and who
+had always a smile and a cheery word for the humblest. It was so
+different from the Tregony tradition, that it took their honest hearts
+by storm.
+
+Rufus Sterne considered himself particularly unfortunate that when she
+came into St. Gaved he always missed her. Three or four times he heard
+of her being in the town--it was really only a big village, but the St.
+Gavedites all spoke of it as a town; but he was either in his workshop
+or away directing the operations of others; consequently, she came and
+went without giving him a chance of renewing their acquaintance.
+
+"Not that it mattered," he said to himself. She was nothing to him. She
+belonged to a circle far removed from his. Yet for some reason he was
+curious to look again into her bright, laughing eyes, and listen to her
+naive and unconventional talk. Moreover, when he heard people talking
+about her, and praising her good looks and charming freeness of manner,
+he had a feeling that he had been cheated out of something to which he
+was justly entitled.
+
+What added to the interest excited by the pretty young American was the
+fact that nobody had been able to find out the exact relationship in
+which she stood to the Tregony family. Neither had anybody been able to
+discover why she had come, or how long she intended to stay.
+
+Any number of guesses had been hazarded, but they were only guesses at
+best. Some said she had been sent to England by her parents simply to
+learn society ways and manners. Others, that her parents were dead, and
+that her mother being related to Sir Charles, the latter had taken her
+out of charity. Mrs. Tuke, who, in the one glimpse she got of her, had
+been greatly impressed by the richness of her attire, ventured the
+opinion that she was an heiress in her own right, and that Sir Charles,
+who was not noted for his generosity, had not undertaken to be her
+guardian for nothing. But all these guesses lacked the essential thing,
+and that was authority. Sir Charles was as close as an oyster about his
+own family affairs. Moreover, he would no more think of talking to
+anyone in St. Gaved about his visitors than of taking a journey to the
+moon. And if he thought they were so impertinent as to desire to know,
+that would be a double reason why he should, under no circumstances,
+allude to the matter.
+
+Madeline might have given the information desired if her new
+acquaintances had had the courage to question her. But they were
+a little shy in her presence as yet; in some instances they were
+completely over-awed. She was so bright, so quick, so confident,
+that she almost took their breath away. They felt like fools in
+her presence.
+
+This was how matters stood when Rufus discovered her on a narrow ledge
+of rock high up the cliffs, unable either to advance or retreat. She had
+slipped away from the Hall unobserved after going to her own room
+ostensibly to write letters. Consequently, she had not been missed, and
+was not likely to be until the family met for dinner.
+
+As usual the sea had been "calling her," as she expressed it; and after
+a short ramble on the beach she turned her attention to the serrated
+cliffs that loomed high above her. A sea-gull first attracted her
+attention, then a large patch of lichen, then a path that seemed to
+zig-zag to the top of the cliff.
+
+Wise people think first and act afterwards, but wisdom comes with
+experience and experience with age. Madeline was quite young, and made
+no pretension to wisdom, hence she frequently reversed the recognised
+order, and acted first and did the thinking afterwards.
+
+Seeing the path she began to climb. It was an exhilarating ascent. Had
+it been free from danger it would have been humdrum and fatiguing. And
+yet it was neither so dangerous nor so difficult as to frighten her
+away. Indeed, the higher she got, the less dangerous it seemed, and the
+more she was fascinated by the adventure. She did not think of looking
+back. Had she done so she might have been warned in time.
+
+Looking up, the rim of the cliff came perceptibly nearer, and she
+conceived the wild idea of reaching the top. Why not? Because nobody had
+ever done it that was no proof that it could not be done. If fifty feet
+could be scaled, why not a hundred? Besides, it would be an achievement
+to be proud of. If she could do what never had been done before she
+would become something of a hero in her own eyes, and perhaps in the
+eyes of other people.
+
+The path took a horizontal turn at length along the uneven face of the
+cliff. She was higher up than she knew, and the foothold was less secure
+than she suspected. It was all over in a moment. She had not time even
+to scream; before even her thoughts could take shape she was brought up
+with a jerk, and when she dared turn her head she discovered that she
+was perched on a narrow ledge of rock with the cliff shelving away
+underneath her. For a moment she felt sick and faint, and was in
+imminent danger of falling off the ledge, which would mean almost
+certain death.
+
+After a while she made an effort to regain her feet and reach the path
+from which she had slipped, but almost with the first movement her head
+swam and a mist came up before her eyes that blotted out everything.
+There was nothing for it, therefore, but to remain perfectly still until
+she had recovered her nerve.
+
+But every minute seemed an hour as she lay perched on that dangerous
+ledge, and yet every time she opened her eyes and looked into the
+yawning gulf below, her heart failed her, and she became more and more
+convinced that she would never get down alive. Instead of her nerve
+steadying she got increasingly excited and terrified.
+
+She had plenty of time for reflection now, but her reflections brought
+her no satisfaction. She discovered--what most people discover sooner or
+later--that it is easy to be wise after the event.
+
+"Oh, how foolish I have been," she said to herself. "Why did I refuse to
+take advice? Sir Charles warned me, and that handsome young man I met on
+the cliffs told me how dangerous they were. Now I am paying the penalty
+of my foolishness and obstinacy."
+
+She became so terrified at last that she screamed for help at the top of
+her voice, but the only answer that came was the weird and plaintive cry
+of the gulls startled from their perches.
+
+She began to wonder, at length, how long her strength would hold out,
+and whether, if consciousness left her, she would roll off into
+eternity. The ledge was so narrow that she dared not move in any
+direction, and she was becoming stiff and cramped from remaining so long
+in one position.
+
+For the most part she kept her eyes tightly shut, and tried to forget
+the yawning gulf beneath her. Every time she looked down her head grew
+dizzy. It scarcely seemed possible to her that she had climbed to such a
+height.
+
+She began to count her heart-beats so that she might get some conception
+of the flight of time. The Tregonys dined at half-past seven; until that
+hour the chances were she would not be missed. Then a search would be
+made through the house and grounds--that would take up the best part of
+an hour. By the time anybody reached the cliffs it would be well on to
+nine o'clock, and too dark to see a single object.
+
+"I shall never hold out till then," she said to herself; "never! I
+believe I am slipping nearer the edge all the time. I wonder if the fall
+will kill me outright?"
+
+She clutched at the rough wall of rock with desperation, and at length
+found a narrow crevice into which she thrust her hand and held on with
+the tenacity of despair. The fear of falling off the ledge was less for
+a little while, but in time her arm and hand began to ache intolerably,
+and the old terror came back with redoubled force. So appalling was the
+situation that she was severely tempted to end it at once and for ever.
+The deep below fascinated while it terrified. She shrank back with
+horror from the brink of the ledge, and yet the abyss seemed to draw her
+like a magnet. If she opened her eyes she felt certain that no power of
+will she possessed would keep her from falling over.
+
+She called at intervals for help, but her voice became as feeble as that
+of a tired child. Then suddenly the blood began to leap in her veins and
+her heart to throb with a new hope. From the heights above an answering
+voice came to her cry--a strong, resolute voice that seemed to beat back
+her fears and to assure her of deliverance. She recognised the voice in
+a moment, and the warm blood surged in a torrent to her neck and face.
+
+She could be patient now. She lay quite still and waited. How her
+deliverance was to be effected she did not know. She did not trouble to
+debate the question. She gave herself up unconsciously to a stronger
+will and a stronger personality. He had heard her call and _he_ was
+coming to save her.
+
+Who the _he_ was she did not know. She had seen him only once. She did
+not even know his name. But she felt instinctively that he was a brave
+man. He had a strong face, a stern yet tender mouth, and kind and
+sympathetic eyes.
+
+The task might be difficult, but, of course, he would succeed. He was
+strong of limb as well as resolute in purpose. Moreover, a face like
+his bespoke a resourceful mind. He was no common man. She felt that the
+moment she saw him; her instinct told her also that he was an honourable
+man, or she would never have dared to speak to him. Women know without
+being told when they are in the presence of bad men.
+
+She had thought of him scores of times since their one and only meeting.
+Had wondered who he was and what he was, and had speculated on the
+chances of meeting him again. He was the only man she had met since her
+arrival in England who had impressed her. She had enjoyed her
+conversations with the fishermen and the farmers and the small
+shopkeepers, had sampled the curate and the vicar and the few county
+people who had called at the Hall; but her second thought and her third
+thought had been given to the lonely man who sat on the cliffs, with his
+big dreamy eyes fixed on the sunset.
+
+She was glad for some reason that it was he who had found her, and not
+Sir Charles. Sir Charles would fume and scold and declare there was no
+possible way of saving her. The "lonely man" might not talk very much,
+but he would act.
+
+It seemed a long time since he had responded to her cry, but she was not
+in the least impatient. Confidence was coming steadily back into her
+heart, and the fascination of the abyss was slowly passing away. She did
+not dare open her eyes yet. She would wait till the stranger called her
+again. Her hand and arm were very cramped; she was uncomfortably near
+the lip of the ledge. Her strength--in spite of the new hope--was a
+steadily diminishing quantity, but she was quite sure she would be able
+to hold on a good many minutes yet.
+
+Then clear and distinct came the voice again--from below this time,
+instead of from above. How wildly her heart throbbed in spite of all her
+efforts to be calm, but she flung her answer back as cheerily as
+possible. She would not make herself appear a greater coward than she
+really was.
+
+"How did you get there?" The question was abrupt, and the voice sounded
+almost close to her ears.
+
+"My foot slipped and I fell," she replied.
+
+"You fell?" he questioned, in a tone of incredulity, and he swept the
+face of the cliff above her.
+
+"Oh! I see," he went on a moment later. "You took a path further to the
+south."
+
+"Cannot you reach me?" she called with an undertone of anxiety in her
+voice.
+
+For a moment he did not answer. He was anxious not to discourage her,
+and yet he could see no chance of getting her down alive.
+
+"Can you hold on much longer?" he asked at length.
+
+"Not much," she replied, frankly. "I guess I'm near the end."
+
+"No, don't say that," he said, encouragingly; "keep your heart up a
+little longer. I must try another tack."
+
+"You cannot reach me?" the question ended almost in a cry.
+
+"Not from this point," he answered, cheerfully. "But we've not got to
+the end of all things yet," and he began to retrace his steps.
+
+"Are you leaving me?" she called, feebly.
+
+"Never," he answered, and there was something in his tone that made her
+heart leap wildly.
+
+"I see the path you took," he said a moment later, but though he spoke
+cheerfully he had no real hope of saving her.
+
+
+
+
+                                 CHAPTER V
+
+                              A PERILOUS TASK
+
+
+Rufus reached a point at length from which he was able to look down on
+the prostrate figure of Madeline Grover. She was lying almost flat on
+her face, with her right hand thrust into a cleft of the rock.
+
+For several minutes no word had passed between them. She was afraid to
+ask any more questions lest she should hear from his lips that her case
+was hopeless. He was afraid to buoy her up with empty words that would
+end in nothing.
+
+She could hear distinctly the sound of his footsteps as he threaded his
+way in and out among the pinnacles of rock, she could even hear his
+breathing at times. She knew when he stood above her without being told.
+
+That there was peril in his enterprise she knew. He was risking his life
+to save hers. He, a stranger, upon whom she had not the smallest claim.
+It was a brave and generous thing to do, and she began to doubt whether
+she ought to allow him to take such risk.
+
+His life was of infinitely greater value than hers--at least, so she
+told herself. He was a man and might accomplish something great for the
+race. She was only a girl, and girls were plentiful, and a good many of
+them useless, and she was not at all sure that she did not belong to the
+latter class. At any rate, she had never done anything yet, had as a
+matter of fact, never been expected to do anything, and if she lived
+till she was a hundred she was not sure that she would ever be able to
+do anything that would be of the least benefit to the world.
+
+She was the first to break the silence. "Don't risk your life for my
+sake," she said, and she managed to keep all trace of emotion out of her
+voice.
+
+"And why not?" he asked.
+
+"I am not worth it," she replied. "I had no business to get into
+danger."
+
+"You did not know the risks you ran," he replied, kindly.
+
+"I might have known; I had been warned often enough."
+
+"We have all to learn by experience," he said, with a short laugh. "Now
+let us get to work."
+
+"What do you want me to do?" she asked.
+
+"Get on to your feet, if possible. Don't open your eyes, and keep your
+face towards the cliff. Do you understand?"
+
+"Yes, I understand, and I will try."
+
+"Take your time over it," he said, cheerfully. "I expect you feel pretty
+stiff, don't you? Slip your right hand up the crevice. I will be eyes
+for you, and tell you what to do."
+
+She obeyed him implicitly. His firm, resolute voice gave her courage.
+The nearness of his presence imparted strength and determination. If she
+felt a coward she would not let him see it. He might not feel any great
+admiration for her, that was not at all likely, since she had acted so
+foolishly, but she hoped he would not feel contempt.
+
+She stood at length upright with her face against the cliff.
+
+"Now don't open your eyes," he said, "and please do what I tell you."
+
+"I am in your hands," she replied.
+
+"You will be directly, I hope," he answered, with a laugh, "but in the
+meanwhile move slowly in this direction."
+
+"That's right," he continued, a little later. "Come on, I will tell you
+when to stop."
+
+She sidled on steadily inch by inch, while he watched her with
+fast-beating heart.
+
+"That will do," he said at length. "Now reach out your left hand as far
+as possible."
+
+She obeyed at once, and a moment later he held it in his own firm grasp.
+
+The colour came into her face when she felt his fingers close round
+hers, and her heart beat perceptibly faster.
+
+"So far, so good," he said, cheerily. "Now the next step is not with
+your hand, but with your foot. It will be a very long stride for you,
+but you've got to do it. Don't open your eyes. And in the first place
+lean as far as you dare in this direction."
+
+She obeyed him instantly. "That will do," he called. "Now just on a
+level with your chin is a hole in the rock. Get your right hand into it,
+if you can, and hold tight."
+
+"That's right," he said, brightly. "Now for the long stride."
+
+She began very slowly and carefully. Her heart was thumping as though it
+would come through her side. She knew that beneath her was empty space.
+
+"That's right," he went on, "just a little farther--another inch--a
+quarter of an inch more; there you are! Don't speak and don't open your
+eyes. When you are ready let me know. Push your foot a little farther on
+the ledge if you can--that is it. It will be a big effort for you, but I
+have you fast on this side. Bend your body forward as much as you can.
+When you are ready, say so, and give a lurch in this direction, letting
+go with your right hand at the same moment. Do you understand?"
+
+"Yes." The answer came in a whisper.
+
+It was an awful moment for both. She drew a long breath, and cried
+"now." For a second she seemed poised in mid-air.
+
+"Lean forward," he almost shrieked.
+
+She clutched eagerly at the bare rocks in front of her, but there was
+nothing she could grasp.
+
+Rufus felt his heart stop.
+
+"Open your eyes," he cried, "and spring." It was her last chance, the
+last chance for both, in fact, for if she fell she would drag him with
+her.
+
+Her confidence in him was absolute. She did in a moment what she was
+told. He pulled her towards him with a jerk that nearly dislocated her
+shoulder. Then both his arms closed round her, and he sank back into a
+deep and safe recess behind a large pinnacle of rock.
+
+For several minutes she lost consciousness. Her head drooped upon his
+shoulder, her cheeks became as pale as the dead.
+
+He would have given all he possessed at that moment to have kissed her
+lips. It was the strongest temptation that ever came to him. It was the
+first time in his experience that so beautiful a face had been so close
+to his own, and the impulse to claim toll was all but irresistible; but
+he fought the temptation, and conquered. He felt that it would be a
+cowardly thing to do.
+
+His reverence for women was one of the strongest traits in his
+character. Felix Muller had told him more than once in his cynical way
+that he reverenced women because he did not know them. Rufus admitted
+that it might be so; but his reverence remained. It was nearly all that
+was left of his early religious faith--a remnant of a complicated creed,
+but it influenced his life more profoundly than he knew.
+
+He watched the colour come slowly back into Madeline's pale face with
+infinite interest. How beautiful she was, how finely pencilled were her
+eyebrows, how perfect the contour of her dimpled chin. Her hair had
+become loose, and a long rich tress sported itself over the sleeve of
+his coat. The slanting sunlight played upon it, and turned it to bronze,
+and then to gold.
+
+Her eyelids trembled after a while, then she opened them slowly, and
+looked up into his face, with a wondering expression, then her lips
+parted in a smile. A moment later she sat up, while a wave of crimson
+mounted suddenly to her face.
+
+"I am so sorry to have given you so much trouble," she said, hurriedly.
+
+"Let us not talk about that until we get safe down from this height," he
+said, with a smile.
+
+"Oh! I was forgetting," she said, with some little confusion. "But the
+rest is comparatively easy, isn't it?"
+
+"Comparatively," he replied. "But there are several very awkward places
+to be negotiated."
+
+"It was wicked of me to put any one to so much trouble and risk. I do
+hope you will forgive me," and she looked appealingly up into his face.
+
+"I hope you will not talk any more about trouble," he answered. "To have
+served you will be abundant compensation."
+
+"It is kind of you to say nice things," she answered, looking at the
+yellow sand below; "but I feel very angry with myself all the same. You
+told me when we met on the top weeks and weeks ago that the cliffs were
+very dangerous. I don't know what possessed me to think I could climb to
+the top."
+
+"You are not the first to make the attempt," he answered. "A visitor was
+killed at this very point only last summer."
+
+"A girl?"
+
+"No, a young man."
+
+"I shall never attempt to do anything so foolish again, and I shall
+never forget that but for you I should have lost my life. It was surely
+a kind providence that sent you; don't you think so?"
+
+"Do you think so?" he questioned, with a smile.
+
+"I would like to think so, anyhow," she answered, seriously. "And yet it
+sounds conceited, doesn't it? If I were anybody of importance it would
+be different. I don't wonder you smile at the idea of providence
+interfering to save a chit of a girl after all."
+
+"I don't know that I smiled at the idea," he answered, turning away
+his head. "If there is any interference or any interposition in human
+affairs, why should not you be singled out as well as anybody else?"
+
+"Well, you see, it would presuppose, wouldn't it? that I was a person of
+some value, or of some use in the world?"
+
+"You may be of very great use in the world."
+
+"Ah! now you flatter me. What can an ordinary girl do?"
+
+"I do not know," he answered. "We none of us can tell what lies hidden
+in the chambers of destiny. You may be----"
+
+"What?"
+
+"I cannot say."
+
+"But you were going to mention something."
+
+"Second thoughts are sometimes best," and he turned his head, and smiled
+frankly in her face.
+
+"Now you are tantalising," she said, with a laugh; "but I will not find
+fault with you. I cannot forget how much you have risked for my sake."
+
+"Had we not better try and complete the journey?" he questioned. "We are
+not out of the wood yet, and the tide is coming in rapidly."
+
+She rose slowly to her feet, and steadied herself against the cliff. She
+was very stiff and cramped, and a good deal bruised.
+
+He followed her example with a hardly suppressed groan.
+
+"Are you hurt?" she asked, looking at him eagerly.
+
+"Not at all," he answered, gaily. "A few scratches, but nothing to speak
+of. Now let me walk in front, and you can lean on my shoulder."
+
+Neither spoke again for a long time. Rufus picked his way with great
+caution, and she was too frightened to run any more unnecessary risks.
+
+They were within a dozen feet or so of the beach, and he with his back
+to the sea was helping her down a slippery bit of rock, when suddenly a
+stone gave way beneath his foot, and he was precipitated to the bottom.
+Feeling himself going he let go her hand, or he would have dragged her
+with him. With a little cry of alarm she sat down to save herself, while
+he disappeared from sight.
+
+She was on her feet, however, in an instant, and scrambled quickly down
+to his side. He was lying on a broad slab of rock with his right leg
+doubled under him.
+
+"Are you hurt?" she asked, eagerly and excitedly.
+
+"A little," he answered with a pitiful smile.
+
+She came and knelt by his side, and took his hand in hers. "Cannot I
+help you to get up?" she inquired.
+
+"I am not sure," he said, pulling a very wry face. "I'm very much
+afraid I shall have to lie here until you can get assistance. You see it
+is my turn now."
+
+"But what is the matter?" she asked, eagerly.
+
+"I fear my leg is broken," he said, knitting his brows, as if in pain.
+"Something went with a snap, and I'm afraid to move."
+
+"But you cannot lie here," she said, "for the tide is coming in. Oh! let
+me help you to get up. Do try your best."
+
+"I will, for your sake," he answered, and he smiled at her in a way she
+never forgot.
+
+"Oh, I shall never forgive myself," she said, chokingly, and the tears
+filled her eyes, and rolled down her cheeks. "All this comes of my
+stupid folly!"
+
+"No, you must not blame yourself," he insisted. "You could not help the
+stone giving way. Now give me your hand. How strong you are! There, I'm
+in a perpendicular position once more," but while he spoke he became
+deathly pale, and the perspiration stood in big drops on his brow.
+
+"Lean on me," she said; "lean all your weight on me."
+
+He smiled pitifully, but he could not trust himself to speak.
+
+He put his right arm about her neck, and used her as a crutch. This was
+no time to stand on ceremony. But the pain was too intolerable to move
+more than a few steps. With a groan he fell against the sloping foot of
+the cliff. "You must leave me here," he said, with a gasp.
+
+"Leave you here?" she cried. "Why you will drown."
+
+"We shall both drown if you stay," he answered.
+
+"It doesn't matter about me a bit," she wailed, and she brushed away the
+blinding tears with her hand. "But you--you--oh! you must be saved at
+all costs."
+
+"Perhaps, if you make haste you will be able to get help before it is
+too late," he said.
+
+"But how? Oh! I will do anything for you. Tell me what I can do for the
+best."
+
+"Make your way into town as fast as you can. Tell the first man you meet
+how I am situated. Let one party come round here with a boat, and
+another party come over the cliffs with a stretcher. Everything depends
+on the time it takes."
+
+"Oh! I will fly all the distance," she said, with liquid eyes; "but who
+shall I say is hurt? I do not even know your name."
+
+"Rufus Sterne," he answered. "Everybody in St. Gaved knows me."
+
+She looked at him for a moment, pityingly, pleadingly, then rushed away
+over the level sand in the direction of Penwith Cove. She forgot her
+bruises and stiffness, and did not heed that every step was a stab of
+pain.
+
+Rufus Sterne was lying helpless--helpless because he had risked his life
+to save her from the consequences of her folly. And all the while the
+tide was coming in, and he would be watching it rising higher and
+higher, and if help did not reach him before the cold salt water swept
+over his face, he would be drowned, and she would be the cause of his
+death.
+
+How she climbed the zig-zag path out of Penwith Cove she never knew. She
+ran and ran until she felt as though she could not go a step farther
+even to save her life, and if her own life only had been at stake she
+would have lain down on the cliffs and taken her chance.
+
+But it was _his_ life that was in jeopardy, and to her excited
+imagination his life seemed of more value than the lives of a hundred
+ordinary people.
+
+She had read of heroes in her girlhood days, and thrilled over the story
+of their exploits, but no hero of fact or fiction had ever so touched
+her heart as this lonely man who was lying helpless at the foot of the
+cliffs, watching with patient and suffering eyes the inflowing of the
+tide.
+
+"Oh! he must be saved," she kept saying to herself, "for he deserves to
+live. And I must be the means of saving him."
+
+She stumbled into St. Gaved rather than ran. Her hat had disappeared,
+her glorious hair fell in billows on her shoulders and down her back,
+her eyes were wild and tearless, her lips wide apart, her breath came
+and went in painful gasps. She nearly stumbled over one or two children,
+and then she pulled up suddenly in front of a policeman.
+
+Constable Greensplat stared at her as though she had escaped from Bodmin
+lunatic asylum.
+
+"There's--not--a--moment--to--be--lost," she began, and she brought out
+the words in jerks. "Rufus Sterne is lying with a broken leg at the foot
+of the cliffs half-way between here and Penwith Cove."
+
+Then she staggered to a lamp-post and put her arm round it. A small
+group of people gathered in a moment.
+
+"How did he break his leg?" Greensplat asked, putting on an official
+air.
+
+"He slipped over a rock," she answered; "but there's no time for
+explanations. The tide is coming in, and if he's not rescued quickly
+he'll be drowned. He told me to ask that one party go round with a boat,
+and the other go over the cliffs with a--a stret----" But she did not
+finish the sentence. The light of consciousness went out like the flame
+of a candle before a sudden gust of wind. She reached out her hands
+blindly and appealingly, staggered toward the nearest house, and before
+anyone could reach her side she fell with a thud, and lay in a dead
+faint on the floor.
+
+
+
+
+                                  CHAPTER VI
+
+                             FAITH AND PHILOSOPHY
+
+
+Rufus watched the rising tide with as much composure as he could
+command. It was the first time in his life that his philosophy had been
+put to the test, and the strain brought it near to breaking-point. He
+found it easy enough to pick holes in the creed in which he had been
+reared, and had rather prided himself that he had shaken himself free
+from what he called the bondage of ecclesiastical superstition. But
+there was something that still remained and which he was scarcely
+conscious of until now--something which he could not very well shape
+into words; something for which he could find no name.
+
+His landlady, Mrs. Tuke, called him an unbeliever, and he accepted the
+description without demur; but a negative implies a positive. Unbelief
+in one direction means belief in the opposite. He certainly did not
+believe the dogmas his grandfather insisted upon with so much passion
+and vehemence. He had laughed to scorn the thunderings of the little
+Bethel to which he had been compelled to listen as a lad. He had torn
+the swaddling clothes of orthodoxy into tatters, and cast them from him
+as though they were unclean. He had wandered for three or four years in
+the realm of pure negation, scorning all creeds and denying all
+religion. Yet now, when life seemed narrowing to its final close, he
+discovered as in a sudden accession of light, that the last word on the
+subject had not been spoken.
+
+For the first time in his life he realised that religion is not a creed,
+nor an ordinance; that it is not something apprehended by the exercise
+of the mind, and that it is only remotely related to ecclesiasticism.
+Its roots went deeper. It is instinct; it is of the very substance of
+life.
+
+He had drawn himself as far up the shelving cliff as possible, though
+every movement was torture, and with steady eyes he watched the tide
+rising higher and higher. There was something fascinating in its steady
+approach. It was not an angry tide, breaking and foaming and struggling
+to reach its prey. It came on with slow and tranquil movement. There was
+scarcely a ripple on its surface. Far out in the line of the sinking sun
+it was like a great sheet of gold. Its voice was a low monotone, as it
+washed the pebbles in a slow and languid way. Here and there it raised
+itself like a sleeping monster taking in a long breath, but the swell
+never broke into sound or foam.
+
+And yet to Rufus Sterne it never seemed more relentlessly cruel. Its
+stealthy creep and crawl seemed positively vindictive. Its voice was no
+longer the tinkle of silver bells, but the cynical laughter of fiends.
+
+He made a desperate effort to pull himself still higher up the cliff,
+but that proved to be impossible. He could only lie still and wait. When
+the tide reached its flood it would be a dozen feet above where he lay.
+Would he sleep soundly or would dreams disturb his rest?
+
+He had very little hope of being rescued alive. It was a long way round
+by Penwith Cove to St. Gaved, and even if the beautiful girl he had
+rescued--he did not know her name--ran all the distance, and men with
+the stretcher ran all the way back, it seemed scarcely possible that
+they could reach him in time.
+
+He would like to live. The desire for life was never stronger than now.
+It was not so much that he was afraid of death--he was a _little_
+afraid of it, he was compelled to be honest with himself--but two things
+seemed to intensify his desire for life. The first was his great
+invention, which was now in process of being perfected; and the other
+was----
+
+Well the other was an indefinable something which he was not able to
+shape into words. Something vaguely connected with the sweet-eyed girl
+whom he had that afternoon rescued from death. He did not understand
+what subtle influence had been set in motion; did not comprehend the
+nature of the spell, but the fact remained that the world seemed a
+brighter place since she came to the Hall, and life a richer
+inheritance.
+
+It was not a matter that he could discuss even with himself. It was too
+shadowy and elusive. To attempt to reason the matter out would be to
+destroy a sweet illusion--for that it was illusion he had no doubt. And
+yet the illusion, or the impression, or the sensation, or whatever it
+might be, was so delightful that he had not the courage to touch it.
+
+Life had not possessed so many pleasures for him that he could afford to
+scorch with the white flame of logic even the faintest and most shadowy
+of them. He had had a hard and unloved childhood, a youth from which all
+sympathy had been excluded, and a manhood of badly compensated toil and
+unrealised ambition. And now when life's stern and dusty way seemed
+opening out into the green pastures of success, and there had strayed
+across his path a sweet-eyed stranger whose very smile breathed hope and
+peace, it was not at all surprising that the desire for life burned with
+an intenser flame than ever.
+
+He counted his heart beats, and watched the tide creeping higher and
+higher. The nearer it came the swifter appeared to be its approach. The
+gold on the sea was giving place to grey, the fire was dying out of the
+Western sky, a chill wind sprang up and whispered in the crevices of the
+cliffs. The gulls circled high above his head, and cried in melancholy
+tones. He shivered a little, perhaps with fear, perhaps because the
+evening was growing cold.
+
+Did he regret saving the stranger's life and losing his own in doing it?
+On the whole, he did not think he did. It was surely a noble thing to
+save a human life.
+
+"But why?" The old question pulled him up with a suddenness that almost
+startled him.
+
+"Wherein lay the nobleness?" Nature set no store on human
+life--earthquake, tempest, pestilence, famine, swept human beings into
+the jaws of death by the thousand and tens of thousands. And mankind was
+as contemptuous of human life as nature herself. It's professed regard
+was but a hollow sham.
+
+Was not the first law of life that every man should look after himself?
+What had he gained by the sacrifice? What had the world gained? Was not
+the life sacrificed of infinitely greater value than the life saved? His
+great discovery would now never see the light, the toil of years would
+be wasted, the travail of his brain would end in darkness and silence,
+and in return a foolish girl would dance her heedless way through life.
+
+But in the great crises of life logic perpetually fails, and philosophy
+proves but a broken staff. Neither logic nor philosophy comforted Rufus
+in that solemn and trying hour. He could not reason it out, but deep
+down in his soul he felt that death was far less terrible than being a
+coward. Better die in the service of others than live merely for self.
+
+The tide had reached his feet, and was beginning to creep round his
+legs. He drew up the foot that he still had the use of, for the water
+felt icy cold. All the gold had gone out of the sky by this time, and
+the sea was of a leaden hue. Moreover the monster seemed as if waking
+from his sleep. Here and there the long swell broke into a line of foam,
+and the waves began to leap over the low-lying rocks.
+
+He began to talk to himself; perhaps to keep his courage up, for it was
+very weird and lonely lying under the dark cliffs, while the cruel sea
+crept steadily higher.
+
+"I wonder if dying will be so very painful," he said. "I wonder if the
+struggle will last long, and when it is over, and I am lying here with
+the cold waves surging above me, what then? Of course, I shall know
+nothing about it, for there is nothing beyond. Science can find nothing,
+and pure reason rejects the suggestion. I shall be as the rocks and the
+seaweed."
+
+He shuddered painfully and tried to drag himself higher up the cliff,
+then with a groan he laid his head against the rock and closed his eyes.
+
+It was foolish to struggle. He had better meet his fate like a man. The
+tide was rising round him rapidly now. The cold seemed to be numbing his
+heart. The struggle could not be long at the most.
+
+"She will think of me," he said to himself, and a smile played round the
+corners of his mouth. "I have earned her gratitude and she is not likely
+to forget. Not that her gratitude can do me any good. And yet----"
+
+He opened his eyes again and looked out over the darkening sea.
+
+"If one were only sure," he said, with a gasp. "Why does my nature
+protest so violently? Why this instinctive looking beyond if there is
+nothing beyond which can respond to the look? Why this longing for
+reunion, for vision, for immortality?"
+
+His lips moved though no sound escaped them. Creeds might be false, and
+yet religion might be true. The Church might be a sham, and yet the
+Kingdom of God a reality. Prayer might be degraded or its meaning
+misunderstood, and yet it might be as natural and as necessary as
+breathing. Philosophy might be an interesting hone on which to sharpen
+one's wits, but utterly useless in the crucial moments of life.
+
+He swept the horizon with a despairing glance, then closed his eyes once
+more.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Meanwhile St. Gaved was in a state of considerable excitement. Madeline
+Grover's breathless story had set every one on the _qui vive_, and for
+several minutes everyone was wondering what all the rest would do.
+
+Several clumsy, though willing pairs of hands carried the unconscious
+girl into Mrs. Tuke's cottage, which happened to be the nearest at hand.
+The policeman hurried down to the quay, to convey the news to the
+fishermen, after which he made for the police-station and fished out
+from a lumber room an antiquated ambulance. All this took considerable
+time, and Madeline had nearly recovered consciousness again when the
+little procession started out over the cliffs in the direction of
+Penwith Cove.
+
+Madeline might have remained in a state of faint much longer than she
+did, but for Mrs. Tuke's extreme measures. Sousing the patient's face
+with cold water appeared to produce no effect. But when she placed a
+saucer of burnt or burning feathers under her nostrils the result was
+almost instantaneous.
+
+Mrs. Juliff, who assisted in the operation, declared it was enough to
+make a dead man sneeze, and there was reason for the remark. Madeline
+came to herself with violent gaspings and splutterings, and stared round
+her with a look of terror and perplexity in her eyes.
+
+"There, my dear, I hope you feel better now?" Mrs. Tuke said,
+encouragingly, giving the patient another sniff of the pungent odour.
+
+"Better," Madeline gasped. "Why you suffocate me," and she made an
+attempt to reach the door.
+
+"No, no, don't try to walk," Mrs. Tuke said, soothingly. "You can't do
+no good to nobody by being flustered."
+
+"But Mr. Sterne is drowning by slow inches," she cried, "and I
+promised----"
+
+"Yes, my dear," Mrs. Tuke interrupted, "and everything is being done as
+can be done. I'm terribly upset myself. But I always feared evil would
+befall him."
+
+"Why did you fear that?" Madeline asked, in a tone of surprise.
+
+"Well, my dear, it's a serious thing to remove the ancient landmarks, to
+deny the faith, and to put the Bible to open shame as it were."
+
+Madeline could hardly help smiling in spite of her anxiety, as Mrs. Tuke
+further enlarged on Rufus Sterne's moral and spiritual decadence.
+
+"Not that I wish to bring against him a railing accusation," Mrs. Tuke
+said, pulling herself up suddenly; "far be it from me to judge anyone."
+
+"But you appear to have judged him very freely," Madeline said, a little
+indignantly.
+
+"But not in anger, my dear, but only in love. He is a good lodger in
+many ways, pays regular and keeps good hours. But the Sabbaths! Oh, my
+dear, it cuts me to the heart, and he the grandson of a minister."
+
+"He is a very brave man, anyhow," Madeline said, warmly, "and I owe my
+life to him. Oh, I do hope he will be rescued before it's too late."
+
+"And I hope so, too. It will be terrible for him to go unprepared into
+the other world, and as a lodger he would not be easy to replace."
+
+Madeline darted a somewhat contemptuous glance at Mrs. Tuke, then made
+for the door again. "I cannot stay here doing nothing," she said, "while
+he may be drowning," and she rushed out into the rapidly-growing
+twilight.
+
+She wondered why she should feel so weak and exhausted, forgetting that
+she had tasted no food since lunch. In spite of weakness, however, she
+hurried on back over the cliffs. She could not rest until she knew the
+best or the worst. She felt acutely the burden of her responsibility.
+She was the cause of all the trouble. If she had not run in the teeth of
+everyone whose advice was worth taking this would not have happened. It
+was hard that the penalty of her foolishness should be paid by another,
+and if this young man were drowned, she believed she would never be able
+to forgive herself to the day of her death. Away in front of her the
+cliffs were dotted with people who had come out from St. Gaved on
+hearing the news. Some were standing still and looking seaward, others
+were hurrying forward in the direction of Penwith Cove. A few were
+crouched on the edge of the cliff and were peering over, to the imminent
+risk of life and limb.
+
+Several fishing boats were rounding St. Gaved's Point, and some were
+hugging the shore so closely that they could not be seen unless one
+stood on the very edge of the cliff.
+
+Madeline's lips kept moving in prayer as she walked. Her chief concern
+was lest the burden of this young man's death should be upon her soul.
+There were other considerations no doubt. She would be sorry in any case
+for a life of so much promise to be so suddenly cut off. But as she had
+seen him only twice she would soon get over a very natural regret, so
+long as no blame attached to her.
+
+The thought crossed her mind at length that her prayer was a very
+selfish one. She was concerned only for her own peace of mind. The
+welfare of Rufus Sterne apart from her own responsibility was not a
+matter that troubled her.
+
+Then a question slowly entered her brain, and the warm blood mounted in
+a torrent to her neck and face.
+
+The next moment all the people on the cliff began to run in the
+direction of Penwith Cove. She stood still and pressed her hand to her
+side to check the violent throbbing of her heart. She felt as though she
+could not walk a step further, even if her life depended upon it.
+
+"They have found him," she whispered to herself. "I wonder whether alive
+or dead."
+
+And she sank down on the turf and waited. The sea was surging among the
+rocks below with a dirge-like sound, the stars were coming out in the
+sky above, the distant landscape was disappearing in a sombre haze.
+
+A little later her attention was caught by the sound of running feet,
+and looking up she saw the people who, a few minutes before, were
+hurrying in the direction of Penwith Cove, were now retracting their
+steps with all possible haste.
+
+She rose slowly to her feet and waited. A swift-footed lad had
+out-distanced all the rest.
+
+"Have they found him?" she questioned, eagerly, as he drew near.
+
+"No, Miss," he answered. "The tide is too high; there's no getting along
+under the cliffs."
+
+"Then he's drowned," she said, with a gasp.
+
+"Well, it looks like it unless a boat has got to him in time. I want to
+get down to the quay to see," and without waiting to answer any further
+questions he hurried away at the top of his speed.
+
+
+
+
+                               CHAPTER VII
+
+                             THE NICK OF TIME
+
+
+On the return journey to St. Gaved Madeline lagged painfully behind. Her
+strength was completely spent. She was as eager as any of the others to
+know if the fishermen had rescued Rufus Sterne, but her limbs refused to
+render obedience to her will. But for her intense desire to know the
+fate of the man who had rescued her, she would have laid down on the
+spongy turf, fearless of all consequences.
+
+What her friends at the Hall might think of her absence had never once
+occurred to her. The events of the afternoon had been so painful and
+startling that all minor matters had been driven out of her mind. Hence
+when the voice of Sir Charles sounded close to her ear she looked up
+with a start of mingled inquiry, and surprise.
+
+"Madeline, Madeline," he exclaimed. "What have you been doing with
+yourself? We've been hunting all over the place for you."
+
+"Oh, I am so sorry," she answered, wearily. "I'd forgotten all about
+you. I've had such a--a--such a terrible adventure."
+
+"Such a terrible adventure," he exclaimed, with a note of alarm in his
+voice. "Has anyone dared----"
+
+"No, no," she interrupted. "No one would molest me in these parts, but I
+have come near losing my life," and she sank to the ground, feeling she
+could not go a step further.
+
+Sir Charles blew a policeman's whistle which he carried in his pocket,
+and a few minutes later several of the Hall servants came running up.
+
+"Miss Grover has met with an accident!" he explained. "One of you go and
+fetch the brougham at once, and another run into St. Gaved and fetch the
+doctor."
+
+Madeline was too exhausted to protest. She was barely conscious where
+she was or what had happened. The events of the afternoon seemed more
+like a dream to her than a reality. She heard other voices speaking near
+her, Beryl's among the rest, but she was too utterly exhausted to pay
+any attention. She found herself lifted into a carriage at length, and
+after that she remembered no more until she opened her eyes and
+discovered that she was lying snug and warm in her own bed.
+
+Meanwhile the little quay had become black with people waiting the
+return of Sam Tregarrick's boat. Sam had been the first to grasp the
+purport of Constable Greensplat's message, and without waiting to ask
+questions or consult with his neighbours, he and his son Tom had bent to
+their oars and pulled with all possible haste in the direction
+indicated.
+
+Rounding St. Gaved point they hugged the coast as closely as possible,
+keeping a sharp look out all the time for any moving figure on the dark
+line of rocks. The beach was completely under water by the time they had
+rounded the point.
+
+"It's us or nobody, father," Tom said to his father, as he gave to his
+oar a swifter stroke.
+
+"What do you mean by that, sonny?" Sam asked, staring hard at the coast
+line.
+
+"I mean that those who've gone over the downs will never be able to get
+round Penwith Cove way in time."
+
+"It looks like it, sartinly," Sam answered.
+
+"Why the tide is two foot up the cliffs already," Tom protested. "And
+Greensplat ain't the sort to wet his feet, if he knows it."
+
+"Fortunately there ain't no sea running," the elder man remarked after a
+pause. "So if he can drag hisself up the rocks a bit, he may come to
+nothing worse than a bit of a fright."
+
+"Rufus Sterne ain't the sort of chap they make cowards of," Tom replied,
+doggedly. "And if he's got to drown he'll drown, and he won't make no
+fuss 'bout it, nuther."
+
+"Nobody wants to drown, sonny, afore his time," Sam answered, mildly.
+"It's aisy enough to talk 'bout dying when you're safe and sound and out
+of danger; but when you're face to face with it--well, a man is on'y a
+man at best."
+
+"I say nothing agin that, father," Tom answered; "but heaps of folks
+squeal afore they're hurt, and send for the parson to pray with 'em
+afore the doctor's had time to feel their pulse. But Rufus Sterne don't
+belong to that class."
+
+"I fear he wouldn't send for the parson in no case," Sam answered,
+thoughtfully; "but do you see anything, sonny, just to the right of that
+big rock?"
+
+Tom slackened his oar for an instant; then he shouted at the top of his
+voice, "Ahoy there! Ahoy!"
+
+A moment later a white handkerchief was fluttered feebly for an instant,
+and then allowed to drop.
+
+"It's he sure 'nough," Tom said, excitedly; "but he's got to the far
+end. If we don't pull like blazes, father, we shall be too late."
+
+From that moment father and son wasted no more of their breath in talk.
+They felt as though they were engaged in a neck to neck race with death.
+The distance seemed no more than a stone's throw, and yet though they
+pulled with might and main it appeared to grow no less. Tom was stroke,
+and the elder man bravely kept time.
+
+The wide Atlantic swell rocked them gently. Now the grey speck on the
+face of the cliffs disappeared as they sank into a hollow, and now it
+came into full view again as they rose on the gently heaving tide.
+
+"Ahoy!" Tom called once or twice as they drew nearer, but there was no
+response, and both men began to fear that they were too late. Moreover,
+as they neared the cliffs they had to pick their way. Hidden rocks
+showed their dark pinnacles for a moment in all directions.
+
+There was no time, however, for excess of caution. If they were to
+succeed they must be daring, even to the point of recklessness.
+
+They could see Rufus now, reclining against a rock; he appeared to be
+clutching it tightly with both hands. Now and then the swell of the tide
+surged almost up to his neck.
+
+"Pull like blazes, father," Tom shouted, excitedly, and they ran the
+boat, defying all risks, close up to Rufus' side.
+
+"Hold tight, mate," Tom called, encouragingly; "father and I'll do the
+job, if you keep a steady nerve."
+
+"I'll try," was the feeble response.
+
+"Leave the getting him in to me, dad," Tom said, turning to his father.
+"You keep on this side, or we shall capsize in two jiffeys."
+
+The elder man obeyed. The boat drifted almost broadside on. Tom laid his
+oar aside and watched his opportunity. It was clear enough that Rufus
+had no strength left. Nevertheless his brain was clear still.
+
+Tom explained the _modus operandi_ which he proposed, and Rufus smiled
+approvingly. It was a ticklish operation, the boat was not large, and an
+inch too near the rocks might prove the destruction of all.
+
+At a signal from Tom, Rufus let go his hold of the rocks and reached out
+his hands to his rescuer. The next moment he felt himself floating on
+the tide. Sam, with his oar, pushed into deeper water, and then began
+the delicate operation of getting a half drowned man, handicapped by a
+broken leg, into the boat.
+
+To Rufus it was torture beyond anything he had ever felt or imagined. He
+felt so sick that he feared he would lose consciousness altogether; even
+pain at that moment was better than oblivion. Now that life was in sight
+again, the passion for existence seemed to burn with a stronger flame
+than ever.
+
+Tom dragged him over the side of the boat as tenderly as he was able. It
+was a breathless moment for the two fishermen. The little craft came
+within an ace of being capsized, and nothing but the skill of the older
+man saved her from turning turtle. Rufus was too far gone to realise the
+danger. The sickening torture was more than he could endure, and
+unconsciousness mercifully intervened.
+
+Father and son laid him in as easy a position in the bottom of the boat
+as they knew how, then they took their oars again and pulled for home.
+It was growing rapidly dark by this time, and a cool and grateful breeze
+was sweeping across the wide expanse of sea.
+
+They saw the little harbour black with people when they rounded the
+point, accompanied by a dozen other boats that had come too late upon
+the scene to be of any service.
+
+A shout went up that could be heard at the far end of the village when
+it became known that Rufus Sterne had been rescued alive, for though
+many people regarded him as "a cut above his station," as they expressed
+it, yet he was with the majority of the villagers exceedingly popular.
+
+Besides, it had got to be known by this time that the accident which had
+brought him into a position of such imminent peril had been caused by
+trying to save the life of another.
+
+In what that effort consisted was as yet by no means clear. But
+sufficient had been told by the lady visitor at the Hall to leave no
+doubt that it was through helping her he had met with his accident.
+Hence, for the moment, Rufus was regarded in the light of a hero, and
+some people went so far as to suggest that if there was such a thing as
+gratitude in the world, Sir Charles Tregony would do something handsome
+for him.
+
+It was fortunate, perhaps, for Rufus that he heard none of the
+irresponsible chatter that went on round him while he was being conveyed
+from the quay to Mrs. Tuke's cottage. Momentary glimmers of
+consciousness came back to him, but accompanied by such insufferable
+torture, that his very brain seemed to stagger under the shock.
+
+Dr. Pendarvis had just returned from a long round in the country, and
+was listening to a more or less incoherent story told him by his wife,
+when there came a violent ring at the surgery bell.
+
+"You say that Chester has gone to the Hall to see Miss Grover?" the
+Doctor questioned.
+
+"That is as I understand it," his wife replied; "though I confess the
+story is a bit complicated."
+
+"In which way?"
+
+"Well, late this afternoon Miss Grover rushed into the town considerably
+dishevelled and in a state of breathless excitement, and told the first
+man she saw, which happened to be Greensplat, that Rufus Sterne was
+lying at the foot of the cliffs near Penwith Cove with a broken leg, and
+that if he wasn't rescued quickly he would be drowned."
+
+"And has he been rescued?"
+
+"I don't know. But some considerable time after one of the Hall servants
+came hurrying here for you, saying that you were wanted at once as Miss
+Grover had met with an accident, and as you were not at home, of course,
+Mr. Chester went."
+
+"I don't see how the two things hang together," Dr. Pendarvis said, with
+knitted brows.
+
+"Neither do I," replied his wife; "but there goes the surgery bell
+again."
+
+Five minutes later Dr. Pendarvis was hurrying down the long main street
+in the direction of Mrs. Tuke's cottage. He found Rufus in a state of
+collapse, and with the broken limb so swollen that he made no attempt to
+set the bone.
+
+"We will have to get the swelling down first," he explained in his
+old-fashioned way. "Meanwhile, we must make the patient as comfortable
+as possible."
+
+What he said to himself was, "This is a case for Chester. These young
+men, with their hospital practice and their up-to-date methods, can make
+rings round the ordinary G.P."
+
+When he got back to his house he found his assistant waiting for him.
+
+"So you have been to the Hall, I understand?" he questioned. "Nothing
+serious, I hope?"
+
+"Oh, no! an attack of nerves mainly. A few cuts and bruises, but they
+are scarcely more than skin deep. She's evidently had a narrow squeak
+though."
+
+"Ah! I tried to get something out of Sterne, but he's in too much pain
+to be very communicative."
+
+"What was troubling Miss Grover most when I got there," Chester replied,
+"was the fear that he had not been rescued."
+
+"An attachment between them already?" the elder man queried, with a
+twinkle in his eye.
+
+"I don't think so," was the reply, "though naturally if a man saves a
+woman's life she becomes interested in him."
+
+"Unless he happens to be a doctor, eh?"
+
+"Oh! well, doctors do not count," Chester said, with a laugh.
+
+"Perhaps women have no faith in our ability to save life," Dr. Pendarvis
+questioned.
+
+"Oh, yes, I think they have," the younger man replied, slowly; "but then
+you see, we do it professionally. There is no touch of romance about it,
+and we are not supposed to take any risks."
+
+"We take the fees instead," the older man laughed.
+
+"When we can get them. But do you know in what relationship Miss Grover
+stands to the Tregony family?"
+
+"Not the ghost of an idea. Sir Charles is as close as an oyster on the
+subject, and as far as I can make out, the girl is not in the habit of
+talking about herself."
+
+"She's distinctly American," Chester said, thoughtfully.
+
+"And therefore piquant and interesting?"
+
+"I prefer English girls myself; that is, in so far as girls interest me
+at all."
+
+"You think you are proof against their wiles?"
+
+"I hope I am, though it is a matter on which one does not like to
+boast."
+
+"Better not," Pendarvis laughed, "better not. I've heard many men boast
+in my time, and seen them go down like ninepins before the whirlwind of
+a petticoat."
+
+"It's a bit humiliating, don't you think?"
+
+"It all depends on how you look at it. You see, we have to take human
+nature as it is, and not how we would like it to be. It is just because
+we are men that women triumph over us."
+
+"Then you admit that they are our masters?"
+
+"Not the least doubt of it. Of course, we keep up the pretence of being
+the head and all that. But a woman who knows her business can twist a
+man round her finger and thumb."
+
+"I believe you, and for that reason I do not intend to get entangled in
+the yoke of bondage."
+
+"Be careful," the older man laughed. "There are bright eyes and pretty
+frocks in an out-of-the-way place like St. Gaved. But let us get back to
+something more practical. I want you to call round and see Sterne first
+thing to-morrow morning."
+
+"He has broken his leg, I suppose?"
+
+"I fear it's a very bad fracture, and being tumbled about so much since
+the accident has not tended to mend matters. I hope by to-morrow morning
+the swelling will have subsided."
+
+"It seems very unfortunate for him, for I understand he has some big
+scheme on hand which he is labouring to complete."
+
+"So it is said. But I have no faith in these big schemes. Young men
+should keep to their legitimate work. It may be a mercy for him if his
+scheme is knocked on the head." Saying which he bade his assistant
+good-night and retired to his own room.
+
+
+
+
+                               CHAPTER VIII
+
+                           THE SOUL'S AWAKENING
+
+
+Two people did not sleep at all that night. Pain kept Rufus Sterne
+awake--an active brain banished slumber from the eyes of Madeline
+Grover. Possibly some subtle and intractable current of sympathy ran
+between the cottage and the mansion--some occult and undiscovered
+movement of the air between brain and brain or heart and heart, some
+telepathic communication that science had not scheduled yet. Be that as
+it may, neither Rufus nor Madeline could woo a wink of sleep. All
+through the long hours of the night they lay with wide-open eyes--the
+one weaving the threads of fancy into all imaginable shapes, the other
+fighting for the most part the twin demons of pain and fear.
+
+Madeline lived through that fateful afternoon a thousand times. She
+recalled every incident, however trivial it might be. Memory would let
+nothing escape. Things that she scarcely noticed at the time became
+hugely significant. Simple words and gestures seemed to glow with new
+meanings.
+
+She was not superstitious--at least she believed she was not. Neither
+was she a fatalist, and yet she had a feeling that for good or ill, her
+life was in some way or other bound up with this stranger. It was not
+his fault that he had come into her life. He had not sought her. The
+beginning of the acquaintanceship was all on her side. She had made the
+first advance, and the whirligig of chance or the workings of an
+inscrutable providence had done all the rest.
+
+In some respects it was scarcely pleasant to feel that she was so much
+in debt to a stranger. Whatever might happen in the future, or wherever
+her lot was cast, she would never be able to get away from the feeling
+that she owed her life to this Rufus Sterne. To make matters all the
+worse, he was suffering considerable pain and loss on her account. How
+much this accident might mean to him she had no means of knowing. All
+his immediate prospects might be wrecked in consequence. For a young man
+dependent on his own exertions to be incapacitated for two or three
+months might be a more serious matter than she could guess.
+
+Sometimes she wished that some homely fisherman or ignorant ploughboy
+had rescued her. She might in such a case have given material
+compensation, and it would have been accepted with gratitude, and her
+obligation would be at an end.
+
+But Rufus Sterne was a gentleman--that fact was beyond all dispute--and
+doubtless he had all the pride that generally attaches to genteel
+poverty. The obligation, therefore, would have to remain. There was, as
+far as she could see, no possible way of discharging it. To speak of
+compensation would be to insult him.
+
+Behind all this there was another feeling: What did he think of her? Did
+he resent her intrusion into the quiet sanctuary of his life? Did he
+wish that she had never crossed his path? Was his thought of her at that
+moment such as her cheeks would redden to hear? She wished she knew what
+he thought of her--what in his heart he felt. It would be humiliating if
+he regarded her with contempt, or even with mild dislike.
+
+She would not live to be regarded by him even with indifference. Her
+cheeks grew hot when she made this confession to herself. If he had been
+a fisherman or a ploughboy it would not have mattered, and she would not
+have cared. But he was one of the most noticeable men she had ever seen.
+A man who would win a second look in any crowd. A man who--given a fair
+chance--would make his mark in the world.
+
+She hoped that he was not very angry with her, that he was not writing
+her down in his mind as a foolish and headstrong girl. She would like,
+after all, to have his good opinion--like him to think that in saving
+her he had saved a life that was worth saving. It might not be true in
+fact, but she would like him to think so all the same.
+
+To what end had he saved her? As she looked at her life stretching
+forward into the future she saw nothing great or heroic in it. It had
+all been mapped out for her, and mapped out in a very excellent way. The
+exhortation "take no thought for the morrow," was not needed in her
+case. Everything was being settled to everyone's satisfaction, her own
+included. She had only to fall in with the drift and current of events
+and all would be as she would like it to be.
+
+Other women might have to plan and struggle, and labour and contrive;
+but in the scheme of her life such unpleasant things had no place. All
+contingencies had been provided against. She did not need to take any
+thought for to-morrow.
+
+"I'm not sure that my life was worth saving after all," she said to
+herself, a little bit fretfully. "It seems an aimless, selfish kind of
+thing as I look at it now. A poor woman who inspires her husband to do
+some great deed, even if she is incapable of any great deed herself,
+surely lives a nobler life than that which seems marked out for me."
+
+Her cheeks grew red again. How proud she would be if she could be the
+inspiration of some great achievement! To give hope to some great soul
+struggling amid adverse circumstances would be an end worth living for.
+To stand by the side of a man she could look up to, and help him to win
+in the hard battle of life--that would be the crown of all existence.
+
+She began to wonder, after a while, why such thoughts came to her. Why
+the future should look different from what it had always done. Why a
+thread of a different hue should show itself in the pattern that had
+been woven for her. Why a doubt should arise in her heart as to whether
+the absolutely best had been marked out for her.
+
+Until to-night she had been quite content to take things as she found
+them. Of course, she had had her troubles, like other girls. It was a
+trouble to her that she had never known the love of her mother, a
+trouble that she had never been able to get on with her step-mother, a
+trouble when her father died--though, as she had seen very little of him
+for seven years previously, the sense of loss was not so keen as it
+might have been. It was a trouble to her to say good-bye to her
+schoolfellows and friends, and cross the seas to a new home in England.
+
+Of course, the last trouble had its compensations. To an American girl
+whose forebears were English, "The Old Country," as it is affectionately
+termed, is the land of romance, the home of chivalry, the cradle of
+heroes and of history. To see the things she had read about in her
+childhood, to visit spots made sacred by the blood of the heroic dead,
+to tread on the ground where kings have stood, to pay homage at the
+shrine of poets and seers--that would be worth crossing a thousand
+oceans for.
+
+It is true she had been more than a little disappointed. Trewinion Hall
+was so far away from everywhere, and the people who visited it from time
+to time were very little to her taste. She would have liked to live in
+London always. Life and colour and movement were there. Its very streets
+were historic. Many of its public buildings were hoary with antiquity,
+and "rich with the spoils of time." The men and women of rank and name
+and power moved in and out amongst the crowd. History was being made
+from day to day in its Halls of Assembly.
+
+St. Gaved seemed to her like a little place that had got stranded in the
+dim and distant past. The rest of the world had run away from it. It
+lived on its traditions because it had no hope of a future. Like the
+granite cliffs that stretched north and south, it never changed. Its
+business, its politics, its morals, its religion, were what they had
+been from time immemorial. A man who said anything new, or advanced an
+opinion that was not strictly orthodox, was regarded with suspicion.
+
+St. Gaved had its charm, no doubt. The charm of antiquity, the charm of
+leisureliness, the charm of immobility. Moreover, it was beautiful for
+situation. The cliffs were magnificent beyond anything she had ever
+dreamed. The great ocean was a never-failing source of interest. The
+valleys that cleft their way inland, the streams that lost themselves in
+tangled brakes of undergrowth, the hillsides rich in timber, the
+hedgerows that were masses of wild flowers, the moorlands yellow with
+gorse--all these things were a set off against its dull and slow-moving
+life.
+
+Then, besides all that, life would not always be dull. Gervase was
+returning from India in the spring, and a great many things might happen
+then.
+
+Gervase was Sir Charles' only son, and heir to the title and estates. He
+was a handsome soldier of the genuine military type, tall and straight,
+and not over-burdened with flesh. His hair was pale, his complexion
+ruddy, his voice harsh, his manner that of one born to command.
+
+Madeline had met him three years before at Washington, and as he was in
+some far-off and round-about way related to her, he had escorted her to
+any number of receptions, and danced with her more times than she could
+count. She thought him then the most handsome man she had ever seen,
+especially in his uniform. She liked him, too, because he was so
+dogmatic and masterful; there was nothing timid, or feeble, or retiring
+about him. He was a man who meant to have his own way, and generally got
+it.
+
+His courage and daring also touched her heart and imagination. His talk
+had been mainly about shooting dervishes in Egypt and hunting tigers in
+India, and some of his exploits had thrilled her to the finger-tips. It
+puzzled her that he could talk so light-heartedly about the slaughter of
+human beings, even though they were Arabs and Hindoos, but then he was
+trained to be a soldier, and soldiers were trained to kill.
+
+It was one of those things she had looked forward to with the greatest
+interest in coming to England. She would see Gervase Tregony again. It
+seemed to her like a special providence that Sir Charles Tregony should
+be her trustee until she was twenty-one, and of course nothing could be
+kinder than that he should invite her to stay at the Hall as long as she
+liked--to make her permanent abode there if she chose to do so.
+
+She was glad to accept the invitation for several reasons. In the first
+place, it was impossible to live with her step-mother, who for some
+reason appeared to resent her very existence. In the second place, she
+longed, with all a school-girl's longing, for change, and to see England
+and Europe had been the very height of her ambition. And in the third
+place--and this was a secret that she safely guarded in her own
+bosom--she would the sooner see Captain Tregony; for if she were in
+England she would be among the first to give him welcome on his return
+from India, and she imagined with a little thrill at her heart how his
+face would light up and his eyes sparkle when he saw her standing behind
+the rest, waiting to give him the warmest welcome of all.
+
+This little secret added a peculiar charm and zest to life, and all the
+more so because every arrangement had been made respecting her future,
+as though Captain Tregony had no existence. She imagined sometimes that
+her father had been under the guidance of a special providence when he
+made Sir Charles Tregony her trustee, that Sir Charles was under the
+same kindly influence when he accepted the responsibility and took her
+to the shelter of his own home.
+
+Had she known the scheming and man[oe]uvering that went on at an earlier
+date, her faith in providence would have been rudely shaken. But she had
+no idea that she was only a pawn in a game that was being played by
+others. It was some solace to John Grover, even when dying, that his
+only child would mix with the English aristocracy and probably become
+"my lady" before she had finished her earthly course.
+
+To John Grover, who had started life with empty pockets, who had
+struggled through years of grinding poverty, who had "struck oil," as he
+termed it, in middle life and made a huge fortune before he was
+fifty--to such a man the thought of his daughter marrying an English
+officer who was also heir to a baronetcy was a distinction almost too
+great to be shaped into words.
+
+To have married the President of the United States would have been
+nothing comparable to it. It was a proud day for John Grover when he
+discovered that his first wife, the mother of Madeline, was remotely
+connected with the Tregonys of Trewinion Hall, Cornwall. He wrote
+claiming relationship with Sir Charles on the strength of it, much to
+the Baronet's annoyance and disgust. But several years later, when John
+Grover had become a millionaire, Sir Charles decided to hunt him up. A
+penniless man was one thing, a man with a million was another.
+
+Sir Charles himself was as poor as a church mouse, that is taking his
+position into account. His son and heir, Gervase, was a young man of
+very expensive tastes and very lax notions of economy. Hence if their
+ancestral hall could be refurnished by American dollars, and Gervase's
+debts paid off out of the savings of this John Grover, it would be a
+happy and an ingenious stroke of business.
+
+Of course, diplomacy would be needed, and diplomacy of the most delicate
+and subtle kind. Sir Charles took Gervase into his confidence, and
+Gervase confided to his father that he was prepared to marry anybody in
+reason so long as she had plenty of the needful.
+
+Sir Charles took a voyage to the United States and interviewed his
+relatives. A few months later Gervase went across and paid court to
+Madeline, and with remarkable success. Madeline was in her seventeenth
+year at the time, romantic, inexperienced and impressionable. Then came
+the death of her father, the discovery that Sir Charles Tregony was her
+trustee, and the option of spending her minority in Trewinion Hall.
+
+So far everything had happened as anticipated. There had been no hitch
+anywhere, and to all appearances the little scheme would be brought to a
+successful issue.
+
+Sir Charles kept Gervase well posted up as to the course of events.
+
+"She has not the remotest idea that we have any designs upon her," he
+said, in one of his early letters. "If she got the smallest hint I fear
+she might jib. She has grown to be a remarkably handsome girl, high
+spirited and intelligent. There is nobody here to whom she will lose her
+heart, and I am keeping her as secluded as possible till you return. I
+trust to you to put as much warmth in your letters to her as you think
+advisable. At present she thinks the world of you. I am sure of it. You
+impressed her mightily when you were in the States. She regards you as a
+sort of saint and hero rolled into one. She thinks also that you are
+immensely clever. Hence it is rather a difficult _r�le_ you will have to
+play. By letter you can do a great deal between now and the new year.
+Keep up the idealism. She is very puritanic in some of her notions.
+Don't shock her, for the world. If you can arrange an engagement before
+you return so much the better. A long courtship, I fear, might spoil
+everything. She has sharp eyes; and yet you have to guard against being
+too precipitate. So far, I flatter myself we have both handled the
+matter with great delicacy. A few months more, and--with care and
+judgment, you may snap your fingers at the world."
+
+Sir Charles had rightly estimated her character in one respect. If
+Madeline had had the smallest suspicion that he and his son had designs
+upon her--that a deliberate plot was being hatched--her indignation
+would have known no bounds.
+
+But her own little secret had been, perhaps, the best safeguard against
+any such suspicion. To her ingenuous mind the world was the best of all
+possible places. Her friends had so arranged her life and her lot that
+everything appeared to be working together for the best. She had not to
+worry about anything. The Captain's letters had as much warmth in them
+as she could desire. Her future, shaped for her without any contriving
+of her own--shaped by friends and by Providence, left nothing to be
+desired.
+
+It was clear what the Captain wished. It would have pleased her father
+had he been alive, it would be satisfactory to Sir Charles, it would fit
+in with her own conception of life. So she would dance along the
+primrose way without a want, without a care, without a responsibility.
+There would be gaiety, and mirth, and music, balls and crushes, and
+social functions of all sorts and kinds. She would get into social
+circles she had never known before, and be "Lady" Tregony before she
+died.
+
+It was all as straight as a rule, and as clear as a sunbeam.
+
+Why had it never seemed empty and sordid and selfish until to-night? Why
+did her inward eyes look for a sterner and more heroic way? Why did
+pleasure look so uninviting and duty wear such a noble mien? Why was all
+her future outlook changed as in a flash?
+
+These were questions she was debating with herself when a new day stole
+into the room.
+
+
+
+
+                                 CHAPTER IX
+
+                            THE CAPTAIN'S LETTER
+
+
+A few days later, Madeline received a letter from Captain Tregony, which
+contained a carefully-worded, though very definite, proposal of
+marriage. Gervase had been only too pleased to carry out his father's
+suggestion. The prospect of fingering at an early date a few of her
+surplus dollars was a very tempting one. He was not particularly in love
+with her. He had got through the sentimental age, so he believed.
+Moreover, he had seen so much of life and the world, and had had such a
+wide and varied experience of feminine kind that he was not likely to be
+carried off his feet by a pretty face or engaging manners.
+
+Nevertheless, if he was to marry at all--and since he was an only son
+and heir to a title and estates, marriage seemed a very obvious
+duty--then there was no one, all things considered, he would sooner take
+to his heart and endow with all his worldly goods than Madeline Grover.
+She was very young, very pretty, very sweet-tempered, and, best of all,
+very rich; and he knew no one else who possessed such a combination of
+excellencies.
+
+It had been a great relief to him when he went out to America to make
+the acquaintance of John Grover's daughter, to discover that she was
+such an unspoiled child of nature. He had been haunted by the fear that
+she might be ugly or ignorant or uneducated. Hence, when he found a
+charming school-girl, ingenuous, unsophisticated, impressionable, he
+heaved a big sigh of relief, and set to work at once to make a
+favourable and an abiding impression.
+
+He would have proposed then and there had he considered it politic to do
+so. His father, however, who was his chief adviser, would not hear of
+it. "You will spoil the whole game if you do," Sir Charles insisted.
+"Make a good impression now, and let time and absence deepen it. She
+will put a halo round your head after a few weeks' absence, and eagerly
+look forward to the next meeting."
+
+In this Sir Charles showed his knowledge of human nature, especially of
+feminine human nature.
+
+Gervase had hinted that, if he was not getting old, he was getting
+distinctly older, that the crows'-feet were very marked about his eyes,
+and that his hair was getting decidedly thin.
+
+"My dear boy," Sir Charles said, affectionately, "that is all in your
+favour. If she were eight or nine and twenty, she might cast longing
+eyes on the youths, but a girl of seventeen always dotes on an elderly
+man. Always! I don't know why it should be so, but I simply state a
+fact. Girls have not a particle of reverence or even respect for youths
+of twenty-one or two. They sigh for a man who bears the scars of years
+and battle."
+
+So Gervase went away to India, leaving his father to work the oracle for
+him at home. On the whole, Sir Charles's forecast had proved correct.
+Things had turned out much as he anticipated they would.
+
+Madeline read the Captain's letter with a distinct heightening of
+colour. She was still weak and a little inclined to be hysterical. Her
+adventure on the cliffs had shaken her nerves to an extent she was only
+just beginning to realise.
+
+She closed her eyes after she had put the letter back in the envelope,
+and tried to think. The Captain's proposal had not surprised her in the
+least, while the manner of it was just what she had expected. He had
+used just the right words and said neither too much nor too little.
+
+She admired him for his reticence, and for his strength in holding
+himself so well in check, and yet there was a passionate earnestness in
+his well-chosen words that revealed the depth of his affection, as well
+as his determination to win.
+
+Very adroitly and diplomatically also he had hinted of the good time
+they might have together. They would not settle down in a sleepy place
+like St. Gaved. They would have a town house, and perhaps a
+shooting-box in Scotland, and when tired of the United Kingdom they
+would travel on the Continent--Paris, Vienna, Monte Carlo, Florence,
+were delightful places to visit, and to tarry in for a few weeks or
+months. The common work-a-day world might roar and fret and toil and
+perspire, but they would live in a serener atmosphere, undisturbed by
+the jar and strife that went on around them.
+
+It was a very fair and enticing picture that his words conjured up, and
+one that she had often pictured for herself. This was the future that
+her friends, in conjunction with a kindly Providence, had shaped for
+her. There seemed nothing for her to do but say "Yes." It was all in the
+piece. Her life had been beautifully planned, and planned without effort
+or contrivance by anybody. The current had borne her along easily and
+gently to the inevitable union with Gervase Tregony.
+
+His face and form came up before her again as she last saw him. How
+handsome he looked in his uniform! How fierce his eyes were when he
+looked at other people, how gentle when he looked at her! Some people
+might think his voice harsh and raucous, but there was an undertone of
+music in it for her. It was the voice of a hero, of a man born to
+command. Its echoes seemed to be in the air even now.
+
+And yet for some reason her heart did not respond as it once did. Was it
+that her nerves had been shaken--that she had not quite got over the
+shock of the adventure? Something had happened during the last few days,
+but what it was she could not quite understand. The life of pleasure, to
+which she had looked forward, undisturbed by a single note of human
+pain, did not appeal to her, for some reason, as once it did. A new
+ingredient had been dropped into the cup, a new thought had come into
+her brain, a new impulse had shaken her heart.
+
+Had she looked at death so closely that life could never be the same to
+her again, or was it that she looked at life more truly and steadily?
+Had a change come over other people, or was the change wholly in
+herself? That something had happened she was certain, but what it was,
+was a question she could not definitely answer.
+
+Of one thing, however, she was sure. If the letter had come three or
+four days sooner, it would have found her in a wholly different frame of
+mind. Hence, whatever the change was, it was compassed by these few
+days.
+
+Her meditations were disturbed by a knock at the door, and a moment
+later Dr. Pendarvis entered. "Ah! you are better this morning," he said,
+in his bright, cheery fashion. "Now, let me feel your pulse." And he
+drew up a chair and sat down by her side.
+
+"A little inclined to be jumpy still, eh? Ah, well, you had rather a
+nasty experience. But you'll be all right again in a few days."
+
+"I think I am all right now," she said, with a smile. "Don't you think I
+might go out of doors?"
+
+"Well, now, what do you think yourself?" he questioned, stroking his
+chin and smiling.
+
+"I'm just a little shaky on my feet," she answered, "but I guess that
+would go off when I got into the fresh air."
+
+"And how about the bruises?"
+
+"Oh, they are disappearing one by one."
+
+"And how far do you think you could walk?"
+
+"I don't know, but I do know it's awfully dull being in the house."
+
+"And do you want to go anywhere in particular?" he asked innocently, and
+he glanced at her furtively out of the corner of his eye.
+
+"Oh, no!" she answered, blushing slightly; "or, at any rate, not just
+yet. Of course, when I get stronger I shall be glad to walk into St.
+Gaved again."
+
+"You ran into it last time," he said, laughing. "What a day of
+adventures you had to be sure!"
+
+"I was compelled to run," she said, averting her eyes and looking out of
+the window; "he would have drowned if I hadn't."
+
+"Exactly. And it was touch and go by all accounts. He couldn't have held
+out many minutes longer."
+
+"And is he going on all right, doctor?" She turned her eyes suddenly
+upon him, and waited with parted lips for his answer.
+
+"Well, about as well as can be expected," he answered, slowly, "taking
+all the circumstances into account."
+
+"And is he suffering much pain?"
+
+"A good deal I should say. In fact, that is inevitable."
+
+"He must wish me far enough."
+
+"It depends how far that is, I should say," and the old doctor chuckled.
+
+"You've not heard him heaping maledictions on my defenceless head?"
+
+"No, I have not," he answered, with a satirical smile; "but then you see
+he's not given to expressing his thoughts in public."
+
+"Exactly. I guess his thoughts about me would not bear repeating in any
+polite society."
+
+"That is possible," the old doctor said, pursing his lips, and looking
+thoughtful.
+
+"I suppose no one sees him yet?"
+
+"Well, Chester or I myself see him every day--sometimes twice."
+
+"I intend seeing him myself soon."
+
+"You do?"
+
+"Yes I do. There's nothing wrong in it, is there?"
+
+"Why do you ask that question?"
+
+"Because you've got such stupid notions about propriety in this country.
+In fact, few things seem to be regarded as proper except what is highly
+improper. I'm constantly stubbing my toes against the notice tablets,
+'keep off the grass,' the dangerous places are left without warning."
+
+The doctor laughed.
+
+"Isn't it true what I'm saying?" she went on. "Half the people seem to
+be straining at gnats and swallowing camels. Directly you propose to do
+some perfectly innocent thing, if it should happen to be unconventional,
+you are met with shocked looks and outstretched hands and cries of
+protest. I'm getting rather tired of that word 'proper.'"
+
+"But Society must have some code to regulate itself by," he said, with
+an air of pretended seriousness.
+
+"Aren't the Ten Commandments good enough?" she questioned.
+
+"Well, hardly," he said, in a tone of banter. "You see they are a bit
+antiquated and out of date. Society, as at present constituted, must
+have everything of the most modern type. And modernity is not able to
+tolerate such an antiquated code as the Decalogue."
+
+"What do you mean by Society?" she questioned.
+
+"Ah! now you have cornered me," he said, with a laugh. "But just at the
+moment I was thinking of the idle rich. Men and women who have more
+money than they know how to spend, and more time than they know how to
+kill. The people who have never a thought beyond themselves, who live to
+eat and dress, and pander to the lowest passions of their nature. Who
+will spend thousands on a dinner fit only for gourmands, while the
+people around them are dying of hunger. Who waste in folly and luxury
+and vice what ought to go for the uplifting of the downtrodden and
+neglected. It is a big class in England, and a growing class, recruited
+in many instances from across the water----"
+
+"You mean from my country?" she questioned.
+
+"Yes, from your country," he said, with a touch of indignation in his
+voice, "they come bringing their bad manners and their diamonds, and
+they hang round the fringe of what is called the 'Smart Set,' and they
+bribe impecunious dowagers and such like to give them introductions, and
+they worm their way into the big houses, and God alone knows what
+becomes of them afterwards. I have a brother who has a big practice in
+the West-end. You should hear him talk----"
+
+"If people are rich," Madeline retorted warmly, "they have surely the
+right to enjoy themselves in their own way so long as they do no wrong."
+
+"Enjoy themselves," he snorted. "Is enjoyment the end of life?--and such
+enjoyment! Has duty no place in the scheme of existence? Because people
+have grown rich through somebody else's toil----"
+
+"Or through their own toil," she interrupted.
+
+"Or through their own toil--if any man ever did it--are they justified
+in wasting their life in idle gluttony, and in wasteful and wanton
+extravagance?"
+
+"Extravagance is surely a question of degree," she replied. "A hundred
+dollars to one man may be more than ten thousand to another."
+
+"I admit it. But your idle profligate, whether man or woman, is an
+offence."
+
+"What do you mean by profligate?"
+
+"I mean the creature who lives to eat and drink and dress. Who shirks
+every duty and responsibility, who panders to every gluttonous and
+selfish desire. Who hears the cry of suffering and never helps, who
+wastes his or her substance in finding fresh sources of so-called
+enjoyment, or discovering new thrills of sensation."
+
+"But we surely have a right to enjoy ourselves?"
+
+"Of course we have. But not after the fashion of swine. We are not
+animals. We are men and women with intellectual vision and moral
+responsibility. The true life lies along the road of duty and help and
+goodwill."
+
+"Yes, I agree with you in that. But I do not like to hear anyone speak
+slightingly of my country people."
+
+"For your country and your people as a whole, I have the greatest
+respect. But every country has its snobs and its parasites; and it is
+humbling that our own great army of idle profligates should receive
+recruits from the great Republic of the West."
+
+When Dr. Pendarvis had gone Madeline sat for a long time staring out of
+the window, but seeing nothing of the fair landscape on which her eyes
+rested. She tried to recall what it was that led their conversation into
+such a serious channel. To say the least of it, it was not a little
+strange that he should have taken the hazy and nebulous efforts of her
+own brain, and shaped them into clear and definite speech. The life of
+ease and pleasure and self-indulgence to which she had looked forward
+with so much interest and with such childish delight, he had denounced
+with a vigour she had half resented, and which all the while she felt
+answered to the deepest emotions of her nature.
+
+She took the Captain's letter from the envelope and read it again. It
+was a most proper letter in every respect. There was not a word or
+syllable that anyone could take the slightest exception to. The
+love-making was intense and yet restrained, the pleading eloquent and
+even tender, the prospect pictured such as any ordinary individual would
+hail with delight. What was it that it lacked?
+
+It seemed less satisfying since her talk with the doctor than before.
+
+The Captain pleaded for an answer by return of post. He wanted to have
+the assurance before he left India for home. He was tired of roughing it
+and wanted to look forward to long years of domestic peace. If the
+engagement were settled now they would be able to set up a house of
+their own soon after his return.
+
+She put away the letter after reading it through twice, and heaved a
+long sigh.
+
+"If it had come a week ago," she said to herself, "I should have
+answered 'Yes' without any misgiving. But now, everything seems
+changed. Perhaps I shall feel differently when I get out of doors
+again."
+
+On the following day she took a ramble in the rose garden, and sat for
+an hour on the lawn in the sunshine. On the second day she strayed into
+the plantation beyond the park, and on the third day she ventured on to
+the Downs, and came at length to the high point on the cliffs where she
+first met Rufus Sterne. Here she sat down and looked seaward, and
+thought of home and all that had happened since she left it.
+
+The plan of her life which had looked so clear was becoming more and
+more hazy and confused. Was Providence interposing to upset its own
+arrangements? Was she to tread a different path from what she had
+pictured.
+
+The fresh air brought the colour back to her cheeks again, and vigour to
+her limbs, but it did not clear away the mists that hung about her brain
+and heart. The Captain's letter remained day after day unanswered.
+
+"If I were engaged to the Captain," she said to herself, reflectively,
+"It might not be considered proper for me to call on Rufus Sterne. But
+while I am free, I am free. He saved my life, and it would be mean of me
+not to call. So I shall follow my heart"; and she rose to her feet and
+turned her steps towards home.
+
+
+
+
+                                  CHAPTER X
+
+                                  A VISITOR
+
+
+Mrs. Tuke came into the room on tip-toe, and closed the door softly
+behind her. There was a mysterious expression in her eyes, and she began
+at once to straighten the chairs and re-arrange the antimacassars. Her
+best parlour had been turned, for the time being, into a bedroom. To
+carry Rufus Sterne up the steep and narrow staircase was a task the
+fishermen refused to undertake, especially as Rufus had pleaded to be
+allowed to remain on the sofa. So a bed had been set up in the
+parlour--not without serious misgivings on the part of Mrs. Tuke, though
+she admitted the convenience of the arrangement later on. After Mrs.
+Tuke had arranged the furniture and antimacassars to her satisfaction,
+she advanced to the side of the bed.
+
+"A lady has called to see you," she said, in an awed whisper.
+
+"A lady?" Rufus questioned, with a slight lifting of the eyebrows.
+
+Mrs. Tuke nodded.
+
+"To see me or simply to inquire?"
+
+"To see you."
+
+"Do I know the lady?" and a faint tinge of colour came into his cheek.
+
+"I suppose so. You ought to do at any rate. It's that scare-away
+American as is staying at the Hall." And Mrs. Tuke turned and looked
+apprehensively toward the door.
+
+Rufus felt his heart give a sudden bound, but he answered quietly
+enough: "Is she waiting in the passage?"
+
+"No, I turned her into your room. Are you going to see her?"
+
+"Most certainly. I think it is awfully kind of her to call."
+
+"I suppose being a furrener explains things?"
+
+"Explains what, Mrs. Tuke?"
+
+"Well, in my day young ladies had different notions of what was the
+proper thing to do."
+
+"No doubt, Mrs. Tuke; but the world keeps advancing, you see."
+
+"Keeps advancing, do you call it. I am thankful that none of my girls
+was brought up that way." And Mrs. Tuke walked with her most stately
+gait out of the room.
+
+Rufus waited with rapidly beating heart. For days past--ever since the
+pain had become bearable, in fact--he had been longing for a glimpse of
+the sweet face that had captivated his fancy from the first. That she
+would call to see him he did not anticipate for a moment. That she had
+made inquiries concerning his condition he knew from his conversations
+with Dr. Pendarvis. More than that he could not expect, whatever he
+might desire. Hence, to be told that she was in the house, that she was
+waiting to see him, seemed to set vibrating every nerve he possessed.
+
+He heard a faint murmur of voices coming across the narrow lobby, and
+wondered what Mrs. Tuke was saying to her visitor. He hoped she would
+not feel it incumbent upon her to unburden her puritanical soul. When
+Mrs. Tuke was "drawn out," as she expressed it, she sometimes used great
+plainness of speech. At such times neither rank nor station counted. To
+clear her conscience was the supreme thing.
+
+On the present occasion, however, Madeline got the first innings. She
+guessed from the set of Mrs. Tuke's lips that she did not altogether
+approve. Moreover, she was afraid that on the occasion of her first
+visit--when Mrs. Tuke revived her with burnt feathers--she had not made
+a very good impression.
+
+Madeline came, therefore, fully armed and prepared to use all her wiles.
+She waited with a good deal of trepidation until Mrs. Tuke returned from
+her lodger's room.
+
+"What a noble, generous soul you must be, Mrs. Tuke," she said, and she
+looked straight into the cold, blue eyes and smiled her sweetest.
+
+Mrs. Tuke drew herself up and frowned.
+
+"And how lovely you keep your house," Madeline went on, "and what taste
+you have shown in arranging your furniture."
+
+Mrs. Tuke's face relaxed somewhat, and she gave the corner of the table
+cloth a little tug to straighten it.
+
+"I think people stamp their character on everything they do, don't you,
+Mrs. Tuke? If a woman is a lady the house shows it. Look at these
+flowers how beautifully arranged they are," and Madeline bent down her
+head and sniffed at them.
+
+"Some people never notice such things," Mrs. Tuke said, in an aggrieved
+tone.
+
+"Oh, Mrs. Tuke! how can they help it; I am sure you would recognise
+taste and beauty anywhere."
+
+"So many of the women hereabouts have no taste," Mrs. Tuke replied.
+"They keep their houses any fashion. I always say you can tell what a
+house is like by the window curtains. You need not put your head inside
+the door."
+
+"I quite agree with you, Mrs. Tuke. May I ask where you send your
+curtains to be got up so beautifully?"
+
+"I get 'em up myself."
+
+"No?"
+
+"I do, indeed," and Mrs. Tuke smiled upon her visitor most benignantly.
+
+"How clever you must be. Do you know I think we should become quite fast
+friends? We seem to understand each other so well. Some people never
+understand each other. Now, if you were like some narrow, uncharitable
+people you would not approve of my calling to see Mr. Sterne."
+
+Mrs. Tuke started, and took a sidelong glance out of the window.
+
+"And I have no doubt," Madeline went on, "if some of the people in St.
+Gaved got to know that I was in the habit of calling here they would say
+all sorts of uncharitable things."
+
+"I've not the least doubt of it," Mrs. Tuke said, severely.
+
+"It is so nice to think you are not one of that sort," Madeline said,
+with a winning smile. "If I came here fifty times I know you would not
+talk about it. You see you understand people, Mrs. Tuke. And in America,
+as you know, girls have so much more freedom than they have in this
+country."
+
+"So I've heard."
+
+"It's natural, perhaps; they go to the same State schools together, and
+they grow up to respect each other. The girls learn self-reliance, and
+the boys chivalry."
+
+"That sounds very nice," Mrs. Tuke remarked, with an interested look.
+
+"It ought to be so everywhere. I don't think much of a girl who is not
+able to take care of herself."
+
+"But men are not to be trusted, my dear," Mrs. Tuke said, with a pained
+expression in her eyes.
+
+"Then they should be avoided and ostracised."
+
+"Yes, I quite agree with you," Mrs. Tuke said, doubtfully; "but had you
+not better go and see Mr. Sterne now? Between ourselves, I believe he
+will be terribly impatient."
+
+"And we'll renew our interesting conversation some other time."
+
+"It's kind of you to want to talk to an old woman like me."
+
+"You must not call yourself old, Mrs. Tuke," and Madeline tripped across
+the hall, and knocked timidly at the parlour door.
+
+"Come in," called a clear, even voice, and Madeline turned the handle
+and entered. Her heart was beating considerably faster than usual, and
+directly she caught sight of Rufus a choking sensation came into her
+throat.
+
+It was painfully pathetic to see this strong, handsome man lying pale
+and helpless on his narrow bed, and all because of her. If she had not
+been foolish and headstrong it would not have happened. And yet a great
+wave of gratitude surged over her heart at the same moment. His life had
+been spared. If he had been drowned she would never have forgiven
+herself to the day of her death.
+
+He greeted her with a smile that was all brightness and sunshine. For
+the moment all the pain and disappointment and foreboding of the last
+week were forgotten. The presence of this beautiful girl was
+compensation for all he had endured.
+
+"It is good of you to come," he said, in a tone that vibrated with
+unmistakable gratitude.
+
+"No, please don't say that," she answered, a mist coming up before her
+eyes. "I was afraid you might hate the very sight of me."
+
+He smiled at her for answer, and pointed to a chair.
+
+"I've been wanting to see you for days," she went on; "wanting to ease
+my heart by telling you how grateful I am, and how terribly I regret
+causing you so much loss and suffering."
+
+He smiled again. What answer could he make to such words of
+self-revealing? He would simply have to let her talk on until she gave
+him something to reply to.
+
+"I told Dr. Pendarvis that I expected in secret you were heaping
+maledictions on my defenceless head."
+
+"Have you so poor an opinion of me as all that?" he questioned, looking
+steadily into her sweet, brown eyes.
+
+"Well, you see, I calculate I was judging you by myself somewhat."
+
+"And if you had saved me, and slightly damaged yourself in the process,
+would you have been very angry with me?"
+
+"Oh! I am only a girl, and if I were disabled for a year, nobody would
+be the loser. But with you it is different. I wish it had been the other
+way about."
+
+"I don't."
+
+"No?"
+
+"No, I am glad things are as they are."
+
+"But your invention is at a standstill."
+
+"Who told you about my invention?"
+
+"Dr. Pendarvis, I think. Oh no, it was Dr. Chester; he said you would be
+a great man some day."
+
+"Dr. Chester will have to cultivate the habit of thinking before he
+speaks," he said, with a laugh, "If I can be a useful man, I shall be
+content."
+
+"Is it better to be useful than to be great?" she questioned, na�vely.
+
+"Oh, well, that all depends, I expect, on the meaning you attach to
+words," he answered, with a broad smile. "If a man is truly great, he
+is, of course, useful, while a man may be very useful without being
+great."
+
+"Oh, then, I shall back Dr. Chester," she said, with a pretty shrug of
+her shoulders.
+
+"You had better not," he said, soberly. "Not that it will matter, of
+course. For whether I win or lose, you cannot be affected by the one or
+the other."
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"Oh, for fifty reasons."
+
+"Please give me one."
+
+"I would rather not."
+
+"But I insist upon it."
+
+"And if I still refuse?"
+
+"I shall stay here till you do answer."
+
+"Oh, that will be delightful," he answered, laughing. "How quickly the
+days will pass."
+
+"Oh, Mr. Sterne, I did not know you could be so provoking," she said,
+with a little pout.
+
+"Do you really want a reason?" he said, looking gravely into her eyes.
+
+"Really and truly."
+
+"Well, then, my invention will affect only the toilers--the poor people
+if you like. Its success or failure will not matter one whit to Sir
+Charles Tregony, for instance, and you belong to the same circle, do you
+not?"
+
+"But its success or failure will matter to you, won't it?"
+
+"It will matter everything to me."
+
+"What do you mean by that?"
+
+"Just what I say. Everything means everything. I've staked my all."
+
+"Oh, no, you have not," she said, brightly. "You may have staked your
+fortune, and your reputation as an inventor, and your immediate
+prospects. But life is left."
+
+He caught his breath sharply. "But what is life worth when all you have
+lived for is swept away?"
+
+"And have you nothing else to live for?" she questioned, seriously.
+
+"Nothing! I'm a lonely soul in a lonely world."
+
+"But there is still life," she persisted. "And no great soul gives up at
+one failure or at ten."
+
+He felt the hot blood rush to his face and he averted his eyes
+instinctively. He did his best to recover himself before she should
+notice, but her keen eyes were quick to see the look of pain and
+distress that swept over his face.
+
+"Now I have said something foolish--something that has hurt you----" she
+began.
+
+"My leg hurts me occasionally," he answered, with a poor attempt at a
+smile.
+
+"I have been very thoughtless," she said, rising suddenly to her feet.
+"I did not think how I must be tiring you."
+
+"But you have not tired me at all," he persisted. "You have done me
+good. You cannot think how intolerably irksome it is lying here helpless
+day after----" then he checked himself suddenly. It was his turn now to
+see a look of distress come into her eyes.
+
+"And it is all my fault," she interrupted. "Oh, if I could only atone in
+some measure."
+
+"You have atoned, if atonement were needed, by coming to see me. Will
+you not come again?"
+
+"May I? Really and truly it would do me good if I could serve you in
+some way. I might read to you if you would let me, or write your
+letters."
+
+He felt himself shaken as if with a tempest. He knew, as if by instinct,
+that he had reached the most fateful--perhaps the most perilous--crisis
+in his life. He had only to say the word and this beautiful girl would
+come and sit by his side day after day, come out of pure goodness and
+gratitude, never dreaming what her presence might mean to him.
+
+He was only too painfully conscious that he was half in love with her
+already. She had touched his heart and imagination as no one had ever
+done before. From the time he caught that first glimpse of her face as
+she was driving from the station until now, she had been almost
+constantly in his thoughts. It was as though the fates--malicious as
+usual--had conspired to throw them together, for if he learned to love
+her, only misery and heart-ache could be the result. She would think of
+him only as someone she ought to be kind to. She was out of his circle.
+Whoever, or whatever she might have been in America, here she was the
+ward of Sir Charles Tregony, one of the proudest and most exclusive men
+in the county. Besides, for all he knew, she might be engaged already.
+
+Beyond all, there was the fact that his life was at stake. If his
+project failed he was bound in honour to see that Felix Muller suffered
+no loss. The rights of the Life Assurance Company had not occurred to
+him even yet. There must be no human ties to make the struggle harder.
+If the worst came to the worst--a possibility that would persist in
+haunting him--he must go unmourned and unmourning into the darkness.
+
+The brain works quickly in times of excitement and emotion, and all
+these considerations passed through his mind as in a flash. Should he
+tell this sweet-eyed girl that she must not come to see him again, and
+let her go away believing that he disapproved of her coming at all?
+
+Better so. Better a few hours or days of sharp pain now than a life-long
+agony after.
+
+"I must be brave," he said to himself. "The first lesson in life is
+self-conquest."
+
+The form of words he decided to use shaped themselves quickly. The more
+explicit the better.
+
+He turned his head toward her with resolutions full grown in his heart,
+and their eyes met again.
+
+
+
+
+                                CHAPTER XI
+
+                            A TALK BY THE WAY
+
+
+Generally speaking, Rufus Sterne was not lacking in courage, either
+physical or moral. But no man knows his strength till he is tested. Many
+a man has passed through tempest and flood, fire and sword, unscathed
+and undaunted, and in the end has gone down helplessly and ignominiously
+before a pair of soft brown eyes.
+
+When Rufus turned his head he meant to say firmly but kindly that it
+would be better if they did not meet again. And then he would soothe the
+hurt--if hurt there should be--by telling her how grateful he was for
+her visit and how much he appreciated her kindness.
+
+He was quite sure she would understand. She was not a child and her eyes
+were more than ordinarily sharp. If she chose to take offence, of
+course, he would be sorry; but better she should be offended than that
+he should break his heart.
+
+He was bristling all over with courage when their eyes met, and then all
+his strength departed. Madeline had no thought of conquest. She only
+wanted to be kind. She felt infinitely pitiful toward this strong man
+who had been brought low through her, and her pity shone in her eyes and
+vibrated in every tone of her voice.
+
+It was her artlessness, her sweet ingenuousness that broke Rufus down.
+In addition to which she was so exquisitely beautiful, while the
+unfamiliar lilt and intonation of her voice were like music in his
+ears.
+
+"It will be just heaven if you will come and read to me sometimes," he
+heard himself saying, and then he wondered whether he was awake or
+dreaming.
+
+"Then I will come to-morrow. It will be perfectly lovely to do some
+little bit of good in the world."
+
+The room seemed to grow dark when she took her departure, as though a
+cloud drifted across the face of the sun. For a long time he lay quite
+still, looking at the door, behind which she had disappeared. His heart
+was in a strange tumult, but whether pleasure or pain predominated he
+did not know. What he did know was that the intoxication of her presence
+was the sweetest thing he had ever known, but below the sweet and
+struggling to get to the top, was a sense of something exceedingly
+bitter.
+
+He felt like a drunkard steadily gravitating toward the tap-room. His
+moral sense, his better judgment, urged him to turn aside or turn back;
+his appetite, his desire for excitement or forgetfulness lured him with
+irresistible force.
+
+"I know I am a fool," he said to himself, "and I shall have to pay
+dearly enough for my folly later on, but I can't help it."
+
+He had rather prided himself on his courage, and this confession of
+weakness, even to himself, was distinctly humiliating.
+
+It was the kind of thing for which he would have allowed no excuse in
+any other man. It was a pet theory of his that a man ought to be always
+master of himself, and that any man who allowed himself to be dominated
+and conquered by a human passion was not worthy of respect or even
+sympathy.
+
+Men who fail to live up to their theories are generally prolific in
+excuses. To own himself beaten out and out was too much for his
+self-respect. He had taken a step down, he knew, but there was a
+reason for it. Perhaps, if he searched diligently enough, he would be
+able to justify his conduct to the full.
+
+[Illustration: "IT WILL BE JUST HEAVEN IF YOU WILL COME AND READ TO ME
+SOMETIMES"]
+
+Before the day was out, he found any number of excuses. This life, he
+told himself, was all, and youth was the best part of life, in fact, the
+only part in which enjoyment could find a place, and if a cup of delight
+was placed to his lips, was it wise to dash it to the ground and spill
+all its contents, because it was possible and even probable it would
+leave a bitter taste in the mouth. But even though he was sure the
+bitter taste would follow, was he not justified in taking the sweet when
+he had the chance? Had not somebody said:
+
+    "'Tis better to have loved and lost
+    Than never to have loved at all"?
+
+Besides, he had not to consider only himself. That would be selfish.
+This sweet-eyed girl wanted an outlet for her gratitude and generosity,
+and if he rudely pushed aside the hand that was outstretched to help,
+and churlishly refused her sympathy, how hurt she would be. And a man
+would be a brute to give pain to so sweet a soul; he would rather cut
+his hand off than do it.
+
+Also it did not follow that because he saw more of her he would become
+more deeply in love with her. He would recognise, of course, all the way
+through that she was out of his circle--that was a fact he would never
+allow to pass out of his mind. And keeping that in mind, he would be
+able to keep guard over his own heart.
+
+So before the day was done, he was able to extract all the poison from
+his surrender. He might not have done the heroic thing, but it did not
+necessarily follow that he had done a foolish thing. Chance had flung
+this girl across his path, why should it be an evil chance? Why might
+there not grow out of the acquaintance something for the good of both?
+
+Having arrived at that position, he ceased calling himself a fool, and
+gave himself up to pleasant dreams and even more pleasant anticipations.
+Closing his eyes he recalled their conversation, recalled every
+expression of her sensitive face, every tone of her musical voice.
+
+He fancied her sitting again by his bedside. How dainty she was, how
+unobtrusively and yet how exquisitely attired. Things he had been aware
+of in a sub-conscious way now clearly defined themselves. He remembered
+her teeth, even and white, her ears small and coloured like a sea-shell,
+her eyebrows dark and straight, her eyelashes long, her mouth like
+Cupid's bow. He remembered, too, how her rich brown hair grew low in her
+neck, while a massive coil seemed to balance her shapely head.
+
+He smiled to himself at length. "How much I noticed," he said, "without
+seeming to notice. I wonder if other people think her so good to look
+upon."
+
+He slept better that night than he had done since his accident, and
+through all his dreams Madeline seemed to glide, a healing and an
+inspiring presence. He awoke with his nerves thrilling like harpstrings,
+and a happy smile upon his lips.
+
+He had dreamed that his invention had realised a thousand times more
+than he had ever hoped or imagined, that it had lifted him into the
+region of affluence and power, that he took his place among the
+successful men of his generation by right of what he had done, and that,
+thrilling with the knowledge of his success, he had laid his heart at
+the feet of Madeline Grover. "You have been my inspiration," he said to
+her. "But for my love for you I could not have wrought and striven as I
+have done," and for answer she laid her hands in his and lifted her face
+to be kissed; and then the twittering of the sparrows under the eaves
+awoke him.
+
+"Dreams are curious things," he said, the smile still upon his lips.
+"Now I dream I fail, and now that I succeed. Both dreams cannot be true,
+that is certain. I wonder. I wonder."
+
+He was still wondering when Mrs. Tuke brought him an early cup of tea.
+
+"Have you slept well?" she asked, and there was a sympathetic note in
+her voice that he did not remember to have heard before.
+
+"The best night I have yet had," he said, cheerfully.
+
+"Then you don't think having so much company yesterday did you any
+harm?"
+
+"It did me good, Mrs. Tuke. I was beginning to mope."
+
+"She is a beautiful creature."
+
+"You called her a scare-away American yesterday."
+
+"Did I? Oh, well, you see, I didn't know her so well then. Besides, I
+never denied that she was good-looking."
+
+"But looks are only skin deep, I have heard you say."
+
+"And that I sticks to. But Miss Grover has sense and judgment. You
+should have heard her talk yesterday. I never heard a girl of her age
+speak with so much wisdom. We've quite taken to each other."
+
+"I'm very glad to hear it."
+
+"She's not to be judged by the ordinary foot-rule either."
+
+"No?"
+
+"In America girls have more freedom. You see, they've no king there,
+only a president."
+
+Rufus laughed.
+
+"And everybody grows up equal, as it were. Girls learn to look after
+themselves and men to respect 'em."
+
+"That's as it ought to be."
+
+"But the women of St. Gaved would be envious enough to bite their thumbs
+off if they knew she made a friend of me; and would talk abominable. I
+know 'em, and what they are capable of."
+
+"Some of them can gossip a bit," he said, reflectively.
+
+"And if they know'd I allowed her to see you," Mrs. Tuke went on.
+
+"The fat would be in the fire," he interrupted.
+
+"But they're not going to know. Do you think I don't know a lady when I
+sees her, and know also what's due to her? You should hear Miss Grover
+talk."
+
+"She has a taking way with her."
+
+"No, 'tisn't that. There's no chaff with her, and as for myself, I can't
+abide flattery. But I do like common-sense," and with a self-satisfied
+smile lighting up her severe face, Mrs. Tuke bustled out of the room.
+
+Rufus closed his eyes and laughed softly. "The little scare-away
+American got in the first shot, that's evident," he chuckled, and he
+kept on smiling to himself at intervals during the day.
+
+The afternoon was beginning to wear away before Madeline put in an
+appearance. She came into the room like a breath of spring--gentle,
+fragrant, energising. She was not at all shy, neither was she obtrusive.
+There was never anything self-conscious in her movements. She was trying
+to be kind, trying to pay in some measure a big debt of gratitude she
+owed, and she was supremely happy in making the attempt.
+
+"Do you know, I feel real pleased with myself to-day," she said, in her
+quaint American way.
+
+"Do you?" he questioned.
+
+"Seems to me living up in a big house like Trewinion Hall, one has
+scarcely a chance of being kind or neighbourly, and when the chance does
+come, it seems great."
+
+"Do you think exclusiveness and selfishness mean the same thing?"
+
+"I don't know. That's a sum I haven't figured out yet. But what would
+you like me to read to you?"
+
+"Anything you like. I fear you will not consider my stock of books very
+interesting."
+
+"Have they all to do with science and mechanics, and that sort of
+thing?"
+
+"No, not all."
+
+She rose from her chair and went to a table on which several volumes
+lay, and began to read their titles. "Principles of Western
+Civilisation," "The Earth's Beginning," "Facts and Comments," "Education
+and Empire," "Philosophy and Life."
+
+"Ah! here is a story book I expect. 'The Buried Temple,' by Maurice
+Maeterlinck," and she picked up the book and began to turn over the
+pages, then with a faint sigh she laid it down again.
+
+"Would you rather I talked to you?" she questioned, turning her face
+toward him with a smile.
+
+"I think I would," he replied. "I am not much in the mood for philosophy
+to-day."
+
+"But why vex your brains with philosophy at all? What you need when you
+are ill is a real, good story. The next time I come to see you I'll
+bring a book along with me."
+
+"What will you bring?"
+
+"I don't know yet. Do you like poetry?"
+
+"When it is poetry."
+
+"Are you sure you know it when you see it?" and she laughed good
+humouredly.
+
+"Well, I would not like to dogmatise on that point," he answered.
+
+"You've read Whittier, of course?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Oh, I'm sorry for you. Whittier is great. I like him heaps better than
+your Browning."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Because I understand him better. I expect poetry is like beauty, in the
+eye of the beholder, don't you think so? Now if poetry don't touch me,
+don't thrill me, why, whatever it may be to other people it isn't poetry
+to me. Do I make myself plain?"
+
+"Quite plain."
+
+"Now Whittier just says what I feel, but what I haven't the power to
+express; just sums up in great, noble words the holiest emotions I have
+ever known."
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Then Whittier is a man of faith and vision, as all poets must be if
+they are to be great. I like Browning for that. He sees clear. He
+doesn't merely hope, he believes. He not only 'faintly trusts the larger
+hope,' he builds on the rock. A man who has no faith is like a bird with
+a broken wing. Don't you think so?"
+
+"But what do you mean by faith?" he asked, uneasily.
+
+"Ah, now you want to puzzle me," she said, with a smile.
+
+"Oh, no I don't," he replied, quickly. "I only want to get your meaning
+clearly."
+
+"But I'm not a poet," she answered. "I'm only a girl, and I can't find
+the right words. But I just mean faith. Seeing the invisible, if I may
+say so. Realising it. Being conscious of it."
+
+"The invisible?" he questioned.
+
+"Yes, God, and heaven, and immortality. Believing also in goodness and
+humanity and the sacredness of human life."
+
+"Do you believe that human life is a very sacred thing?"
+
+"Why, of course I do! What a question to ask."
+
+"Does it seem so very strange?"
+
+"Why, yes. Think of the care that is taken of everybody, even the
+worthless. Think of all the hospitals and asylums----"
+
+"Yes, that is one side of the question," he said. "What we may call the
+sentimental side. But place human life in the scale against money or
+territory or human ambition."
+
+"Well?"
+
+"We mow men down with machine guns or blow them up with dynamite--not in
+twos or threes, but in thousands and tens of thousands, and the more we
+kill the more satisfied we are."
+
+"Oh yes, I know. That is all very terrible," she said, with a puzzled
+expression in her eyes.
+
+"But why terrible?" he questioned.
+
+"I can't explain myself very well," she answered, slowly; "but, of
+course, we must defend our country."
+
+"Therefore country is more sacred than life."
+
+"Oh no, you are not going to catch me that way. To die for one's country
+must be great, heroic."
+
+"Exactly. Therefore, in comparison with what we call country--that is,
+our particular form of government, or our particular set of rulers, or
+our particular stake in it--what you call the sacredness of human life
+occupies a very subordinate position."
+
+"But you would risk your life in defence of your country?" she
+questioned, evasively.
+
+"Most certainly I would," he answered, promptly; "but then you see I am
+not hampered by any notions respecting the sacredness of human life."
+
+He was sorry a moment later that their conversation had taken the turn
+it had. He felt that he would bite his tongue out rather than give this
+sweet-eyed maiden pain; and that he had pained her was too evident by
+the look upon her face. And yet, having gone so far, he was bound to be
+honest.
+
+"If I held your views," he went on, "nothing would induce me to take a
+human life--neither patriotism nor any other ism."
+
+"Oh, but," she said, quickly, "there are some things more sacred even
+than life, honour for instance, and truth."
+
+"No doubt. But there is surely a difference between losing one's life,
+giving it up for the sake of some great principle, and taking the life
+of another."
+
+"Then you would not be afraid to die for something you valued much?"
+
+"Why should a man be afraid to die at all? Of course life is sweet while
+you have something to live for, but to rest and be at peace, should not
+that be sweet also?"
+
+"You want to live?"
+
+"Now I do. For the moment I have something to live for. Something that
+gives zest to existence and fills all my dreams."
+
+"I am so sorry to have delayed its execution. Perhaps you will come to
+it with more zest and insight after the long rest."
+
+"I think I shall," he answered, slowly, looking beyond her to where the
+day grew red in the west.
+
+"I wish I could help you," she said, as if thinking aloud; "but women
+can do so little."
+
+He withdrew his eyes from the window and looked at her again.
+
+"You will do much," he said, speaking earnestly.
+
+"How?"
+
+"By inspiring someone to be great. A clod would become a hero with
+your--your----" then he broke off suddenly and withdrew his eyes.
+
+"Won't you finish the sentence?" she questioned, looking at him shyly.
+
+"Not to-day," he answered, and a few minutes later she rose to go.
+
+
+
+
+                               CHAPTER XII
+
+                                FAIRYLAND
+
+
+Madeline did not put in an appearance the next day or the day following
+that. But on the third day she came into the room like a ray of
+sunshine.
+
+"Well, I'm here," she said, in her bright, eager fashion; "but I was
+just terribly afraid I wasn't going to get--there now, isn't that a
+sentence to be remembered?"
+
+Rufus showed his welcome in every line of his face. It was a dull, rainy
+day, with a blustering wind from the west and a sky that had not
+revealed a speck of blue since morning. He had lain mostly in one
+position, looking through the small window, watching the trees on the
+other side of the road swaying in the wind, and listening to the fitful
+patter of the rain.
+
+His thoughts had not been always of the most cheerful kind. The days and
+weeks were passing surely, if slowly, while the great scheme on which he
+had set his heart and his hopes was at a standstill. He was conscious,
+too, of a new and terrible hunger that was steadily growing upon him--a
+hunger for companionship, for sympathy, for love. The coming of Madeline
+had changed his life, changed his outlook, changed the very centre of
+gravity. Nothing seemed exactly the same as it did before. Even death
+had changed its face, and the possibility of a life beyond forced itself
+upon his brain with a new insistence.
+
+To win success had been his ambition--the one dream of his life. The
+only immortality he desired was to live in a beneficent invention he had
+wrought out. Now a new desire possessed him. There was something better
+than success, something sweeter than fame. If he could win love. If he
+could know the joy of a perfect sympathy. If--if----.
+
+His thoughts always broke off at a certain point. It seemed so hopeless,
+so foolish. Until he had won some kind of position for himself it was
+madness to think of love. At present he was working on borrowed capital,
+and there was always before him the grim possibility that he might fail,
+and failure meant the end of all things for him. Felix Muller should
+never have reason to doubt his courage or his honour.
+
+Then he would start again, dreaming of Madeline. The two preceding days
+had seemed painfully long. He had listened for her footsteps from noon
+to night. He had watched for her coming more than they who wait for the
+morning. He had pictured her smile a thousand times, and felt the warm
+pressure of her hand in his.
+
+When at length she glided into the room his heart was too full for
+speech. How bright she was, how winsome, how overflowing with life and
+vivacity! The gloom and chill of autumn went out of the room as if by
+magic, and the air was full of the perfume of spring violets and the
+warmth of summer sunshine.
+
+She pulled off her gloves and threw them on the table and seated herself
+in a chair near him.
+
+"Have you been very dull these last two or three days?" she questioned.
+
+"Rather," he answered. "You see, the fine weather has come to a sudden
+end."
+
+"But I guess it will soon clear up again, though I am told your English
+climate is not to be relied upon."
+
+"The only certain thing about it is its glorious uncertainty."
+
+"Well, there may be advantages in that; there's always a certain
+interest in not knowing. Don't you think so?"
+
+"Most things have their compensations," he said, with a smile.
+
+"Then there's a chance of your being compensated for this long spell of
+suffering and idleness."
+
+"As a matter of fact I have been compensated already."
+
+"No! in which way?"
+
+"Ah, that is not easy to explain," he said, turning away his eyes. "And
+you might not understand me if I tried."
+
+"Am I so dense?"
+
+"I don't think you are dense at all. But I am not good at saying things
+as they ought to be said. You will sympathise with me in that, I know."
+
+"Oh, that is mere equivocation. You simply don't want to tell me."
+
+"I would tell you a lot if I dared."
+
+"Dared?"
+
+"Yes. I should not like to drive you away or make you angry. Your
+friendship is very sweet to me--that is one of the compensations."
+
+"The friendship of a mere girl is worth nothing to a grown, busy man,
+who is fighting big problems and aiming at great conquests. If I could
+only help you that would be just fine. But it is of no use hankering
+after impossible things, is it? So I am going to read to you."
+
+"What are you going to read?"
+
+"A piece called 'Snow Bound.' Now listen," and for half-an-hour he did
+not speak. Her voice rose and fell in musical cadence. He closed his
+eyes so that he might catch all the melody of her voice. The lines she
+read did not interest him at first. All his interest was in the
+sweet-eyed reader.
+
+But he grew interested after awhile, and was touched unconsciously by
+the beautiful faith and tender humanity that flashed out here and there.
+
+When she reached the end he opened his eyes and looked at her, her lips
+were still apart, her eyes aglow with emotion. She was no longer the
+bright, merry irresponsible girl. She seemed to have changed suddenly
+into a strong, great-souled woman.
+
+"Would you mind reading a few stanzas over again?" he questioned, after
+a pause.
+
+"With pleasure."
+
+"Beginning, 'O time and change.'"
+
+"Yes, I know," and she opened the book again. He listened with intense
+eagerness. She dropped her voice a little when she came to the words:
+
+    Alas for him who never sees
+    The stars shine through his cypress trees!
+    Who, hopeless, lays his dead away,
+    Nor looks to see the breaking day
+    Across the mournful marbles play!
+    Who hath not learned in hours of faith
+      The truth to flesh and sense unknown,
+    That Life is ever Lord of death,
+      And Love can never lose its own!
+
+She closed the book again and waited for him to speak.
+
+"It is a beautiful thought," he said, without opening his eyes. "If one
+could only be sure it is true."
+
+"Be sure that what is true?" she asked, in a tone of surprise.
+
+"That Life is ever Lord of death. That Love can never lose its own."
+
+"Why do you think there can be any doubt about it?"
+
+He opened his eyes again and looked at her, and his heart smote him. It
+would be a cruel thing to disturb her serene and simple faith with his
+own doubts. Almost for the first time in his life he felt the utter
+futility of the agnostic's creed. It had nothing to offer but a
+catalogue of negations. To the parched and thirsty lips it placed an
+empty cup, and before tired and longing eyes it held up a blank canvas.
+
+He had grown out of his religious creed as he had grown out of his
+pinafores. His heart and his intellect alike had revolted against the
+narrow orthodoxy of his grandfather. He had been driven farther into the
+barren desert of negations by the pitiful parody of religion exhibited
+by ecclesiastical organisations, and to complete the work Felix Muller
+had inoculated him with the views of German materialists. He fancied,
+like many another man who had followed in the same track, that he had
+got to the bed-rock at last, that after much delving he had found the
+truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
+
+Yet it was truth that brought no hope, no comfort, no inspiration. He
+was not eager to proclaim it to others. Men would be just as well off if
+they never reached this _ultima Thule_--perhaps, better off. To persuade
+men that there was no God, nor heaven, nor immortality, that this life
+was all and the grave the end, was not the kind of thing to inspire men
+to great deeds or heroic achievements.
+
+His intellect might mock at the simple faith of the sweet-eyed maiden.
+He might honestly believe that she was living in a fool's paradise. But
+if it was a paradise and there was nothing beyond it, why disturb her?
+If death ended everything, let her enjoy her paradise as long as
+possible. If it was the only paradise she would ever have, it would be
+sheer cruelty to drive her out of it.
+
+If he destroyed her faith, what had he to give her to fill its place?
+There was nothing in a string of negations to satisfy the hunger of a
+human soul. Granted that her faith was folly, that her religion was pure
+superstition, there was no denying that it was a very beautiful
+superstition, that it invested life with a grandeur that nothing else
+could give to it.
+
+And, after all, was he so sure that he had found the ultimate truth? He
+had inscribed on his little banner _Ne plus ultra_, but had he any right
+to dogmatise more than others? There might be a farther "beyond" which
+faith could pierce. There might be truth which flesh and sense could
+never apprehend. There might be spirit as well as matter.
+
+"I should like you to read me more from the same book," he said, at
+length.
+
+"Oh! I will do that with pleasure," she said, eagerly. "I knew you would
+like my dear old Quaker poet."
+
+"He has the gift of expression," he answered, cautiously.
+
+Then she began to read "The Eternal Goodness," slowly and reverently.
+
+He closed his eyes again, and listened with wrapt attention. The
+beautiful faith of the poet seemed to strike a new chord in his being.
+Moreover, the religion in which he had been reared, and from which he
+had broken away, seemed a nobler and a Diviner thing than it had ever
+appeared to him before. Stripped of its human glosses and paraphrases,
+released from the rusty fetters of dogma, stated in simple language, it
+awoke a dormant emotion in his nature that had never been touched until
+now.
+
+"Would you mind leaving the book with me when you go?" he questioned,
+when she had finished.
+
+"Of course I will leave it," she answered.
+
+"I am afraid I shall not see so much when I read it for myself," he went
+on. "There is so much in the right emphasis being given."
+
+"Do you mean me to take that as a compliment?" she questioned,
+playfully.
+
+"Not as an empty compliment," he answered, gravely. "You read
+beautifully."
+
+She did not reply to that, but her eyes glowed with pleasure.
+
+During the next week or ten days he lived in a kind of fairyland. Every
+now and then he had an unpleasant feeling that he would wake up sooner
+or later with a start to discover that the gold was only tinsel, that
+the rippling streams were dry, and the green and shady meadows a hot and
+arid desert.
+
+Every day or two Madeline came to see him--came quite naturally and
+without ceremony. She did not hide from herself the fact that she liked
+to come. She frankly admitted that she liked the invalid. She told
+herself that she would be an ungrateful little wretch if she didn't. He
+had saved her life, and saved it at terrible risk to himself and
+terrible suffering, and it would be selfish, indeed, on her part if she
+did not try to cheer and brighten the long days that he was enduring,
+and enduring so patiently on her account.
+
+Moreover, Rufus Sterne was no ordinary man. He belonged to a type she
+had not met before. As yet she did not know how to describe him. He was
+more or less of a mystery to her, and that in itself kindled and
+sustained her interest. Most of the young men she had met she "saw
+through" in ten minutes, and in half-an-hour had weighed them up,
+classified and labelled them.
+
+But Rufus Sterne baffled her. He was altogether too complex for her
+simple and easy method of analysis, too massive for her six-inch rule.
+At times he seemed to her a huge bundle of contradictions. His face
+could be as stern as the granite cliffs, his smile as sweet and winning
+as spring sunshine. At times he was as silent and mysterious as the
+sphinx, at other times brimming over with mirth and merriment. His
+passion for truth and right filled her with admiration, his apparent
+indifference to all religion struck her with dismay. He was a man of the
+people in theory, in practice he lived alone, remote and friendless.
+
+It seemed to her sometimes a wonderful condescension on his part that he
+deigned to notice her at all. Like most of her sex, she did not in her
+heart think much of girls. She would defend them readily enough if they
+were attacked, and if driven into a corner would acclaim their
+superiority over men; but in reality she thought little of them. In the
+main they were small and niggling, and not particularly magnanimous.
+Neither did she place herself an inch higher than the average girl. She
+was as conscious of her own limitations as anybody.
+
+Hence, that this strong, self-reliant man, who was fighting the world
+single-handed, and toiling to complete some great invention, should make
+her his friend, tell her that her friendship was very sweet to him, was
+a compliment greater than had ever been paid to her before.
+
+She had never placed Rufus Sterne for a moment in the same category with
+Gervase Tregony. Gervase was on her own level. He was not to her a
+mysterious and unexplored country. She knew him thoroughly, knew what he
+was capable of; had sounded all his depths and tabulated all his
+qualifications.
+
+Hence, Gervase never over-awed her; never made her feel small or
+insignificant. On the whole, she thought she liked him all the better
+for that. Gervase might not be profound--that was hardly to be expected
+in a soldier; he might not be morally sensitive--that also was
+incompatible with the profession. But he was a good sort, so she
+believed. A bit rough and over-mastering, but generous at heart. Not
+vexed by social or political problems, but fond of life, and intent on
+having a good time of it if he had the opportunity.
+
+She had never doubted for a moment that she and Gervase would get on
+excellently together. Indeed, they appeared to have been designed for
+each other, and yet she had hesitated to accept his proposal, and every
+day her hesitation grew more and more pronounced.
+
+The fascination of Rufus Sterne's personality intensified as the days
+passed away. Her admiration for his character increased. There was
+nothing small or petty or niggling about him. She did not compare him
+with Gervase Tregony, and yet unconsciously she found herself
+contrasting the two men--contrasting them to Gervase's disadvantage.
+
+And yet in her heart she was very loyal to the man who had proposed to
+her--the man who had captivated her girlish imagination by his splendid
+uniform and masterful ways.
+
+Her feeling towards Rufus was of a different order. At first it was
+merely a sense of gratitude; later on gratitude became suffused with
+sympathy; but as the days passed away, other ingredients were added,
+the most marked being admiration. His strength, his patience, his
+reticence, all called forth her approval, till in time he became
+something of a hero in her eyes.
+
+And all this time Rufus yielded himself more and more to the witchery of
+her presence, and felt in some respects a better man in consequence.
+There were compensations, no doubt. Her very presence created an
+atmosphere that softened and humanised him. His hard, defiant cynicism
+melted before her smile like snow in spring sunshine. Their
+conversations touched and unlocked springs of emotion that had been
+sealed for years; the books and poems she read to him broadened his
+horizon and led him to re-open questions that he imagined were closed.
+Her smile, her voice, her look, set all his nerves to music, and made
+life a more beautiful thing than ever it had seemed before.
+
+But he knew all the time that there would come an awakening sooner or
+later. They were like two happy children sauntering through green and
+pleasant glades, screened from the storm and recking naught of the
+desert beyond.
+
+For himself he avoided looking into the future. He would enjoy the
+sunshine and the flowers as long as possible. In the long intervals
+between her visits he recalled their conversations, and re-read the
+pieces to which her voice had given so much meaning and melody.
+Moreover, he turned the pages of the books she had lent him and
+committed to memory some of the passages she had marked. They were sweet
+to him because she loved them.
+
+So all unconsciously he strayed back from the hard desert of negations
+in which he had wandered so long. Because he loved this sweet flower, he
+loved all flowers for her sake. Indeed, love became the medium through
+which he looked at all things; far distances became near, and new and
+wider horizons loomed beyond.
+
+Whatever pain might come to him later on, the memory of these days would
+remain an inspiration to him. To have loved so truly was surely in
+itself an ennobling thing. Nothing would ever take out of his life these
+golden threads that had been woven into its texture. The song might
+cease, the voice of the singer be hushed, but the echo of the song would
+remain in his heart to the very last.
+
+So he enjoyed those bright, peaceful days to the full, and tried not to
+anticipate the future. "Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof," he
+said to himself. But the day of awakening was nearer than he thought.
+
+
+
+
+                                   CHAPTER XIII
+
+                                  THE AWAKENING
+
+
+Rufus had not seen Madeline for three whole days, and had begun to
+wonder what had happened. On the fourth day, however, she came during
+the forenoon.
+
+"It was now or never," she said, by way of explanation; "the house has
+been full of people during the last three days, and this afternoon some
+others are coming. So I had to pretend!"
+
+"Pretend?" he questioned.
+
+"I'm afraid they're getting suspicious," she replied.
+
+"Suspicious of what?"
+
+"That I'm not so great a student, or so devoted to my books, as I seem
+to be. So I had to pretend I was going to write to the Captain!"
+
+"What Captain?"
+
+She laughed. "Oh! there's only one Captain, as far as the Tregonys are
+concerned, and that, of course, is Gervase. Do you know him?"
+
+"I've seen him, of course; but I have never spoken to him."
+
+"He's very handsome, isn't he?"
+
+"I really don't know," he answered, bluntly; "it had never occurred to
+me."
+
+"I suppose men don't notice such things where men are concerned," she
+said, reflectively; "but in his uniform he is just superb."
+
+"Then you think fine feathers make fine birds?"
+
+"Well, in some respects, yes," she answered, slowly, "though Gervase
+looks handsome in ordinary evening dress."
+
+Then silence fell for several seconds. The subject was one in which
+Rufus was not greatly interested, and as yet not a suspicion of the
+truth had dawned upon him. "Do you like Gervase?" she said at length,
+speaking abruptly.
+
+The question took him by surprise, and almost threw him off his guard.
+As a matter of fact, he did not like him, and was on the point of saying
+so, but checked himself in time. "Why do you ask that question?" he
+stammered, evasively.
+
+"Well, you see," she answered, quite frankly, "they want me to marry
+him."
+
+"To marry him?" he questioned, raising his eyebrows in astonishment.
+
+"You won't think it strange my talking to you about the matter, will
+you?" she said, with perfect simplicity. "You see, apart from the
+Tregonys, I haven't a friend in all England except--except you."
+
+"It is kind of you to look upon me as your friend," he said, with
+heightened colour.
+
+"No, no; it is the other way about," she answered; "all the kindness is
+on your part."
+
+Then there was another moment of silence. He felt stunned, bewildered,
+and was almost afraid to speak lest he should betray his feelings.
+
+"I ought to have written days and days ago," she went on, at length.
+"You see, he expects to be home by the New Year at latest. Sir Charles
+hopes that he will be able to eat his Christmas dinner with us.
+And--and--Sir Charles, and Gervase also, would like to have the matter
+settled before he comes home."
+
+"Yes?"
+
+"Oh, well! I hardly know why I have hesitated. I expect it is that I am
+naturally obstinate. When nobody said a word about the matter, and I
+thought nobody cared very much--why--why, I looked upon the matter as
+good as settled," and she blushed quite frankly and smiled as she did
+so.
+
+"And have they become anxious all at once?"
+
+"Oh! I don't know. Sir Charles tells me that it was a wish of my
+father's long before he died, and that nothing would please him so much,
+and all that. And really it looks as if Gervase and I were meant for
+each other."
+
+"Do you believe in fate or destiny?" he questioned, moistening his lips
+with the tip of his tongue.
+
+"No, but I believe in Providence," she answered, promptly.
+
+"But how can you be sure what Providence means?" he asked. "If
+Providence speaks how do you know you have interpreted the message
+aright?"
+
+"Yes, there is something in that," she said, reflectively. "On the other
+hand, one must be careful not to fly in the face of Providence."
+
+"Admitting your theory of a Providence," he said, slowly, "is not the
+true Providence our heart and judgment? Must we not in the last resort
+fall back on what we feel and believe to be right?"
+
+"Yes, go on," she said, eagerly.
+
+"And if one goes against his own heart--his own instincts if you
+like--if one ignores his own clear judgment, would not that be flying in
+the face of what you call Providence?"
+
+"But is our own heart to be trusted?" she questioned; "and is not our
+judgment often blind?"
+
+"Should we be wiser in trusting to somebody else's heart and judgment?"
+
+"We might be. You see, I am only a girl. I have had no experience. I
+know very little of the world or its ways. On the other hand, here is
+Sir Charles. He is getting old. He knows a good deal more than there is
+in the copy-books. Then there was my father; he did not talk to me about
+the matter, but from what I know now he talked freely to Sir Charles.
+Then there is Gervase, he's over thirty, and has seen a good deal of the
+world, and he's quite sure. And then there is myself, and I think
+Gervase is one in a thousand. So, you see, all the streams appear to be
+flowing in the same direction, and that looks a clear indication of
+Providence. Now, doesn't it?"
+
+"If you are convinced I should say nothing else matters," he answered,
+with averted eyes.
+
+"Well, there's only one thing that worries me," she said, thoughtfully;
+"and that's only worried me lately."
+
+"Yes?"
+
+"I used to think nothing else mattered so long as one could enjoy
+himself or herself. That to have a good time was the chief end of life.
+Gervase is retiring from the Army, and intends to do nothing for the
+rest of his days."
+
+"Well?"
+
+"It seems to me a much nobler thing to do something. You told me once
+that I should inspire somebody to great deeds. But that would be rather
+hard on Gervase after he has roughed it for so many years."
+
+"If you inspire him, it will not be hardship," he answered.
+
+"I am not sure that I could," she said, turning her head, and looking
+out of the window. "He is very brave and fearless, and all that. But the
+great things that work for human good--well, you see, he is not an
+inventor like you."
+
+"Do not mock me," he said, almost fiercely. "My poor scheme may never
+see the light."
+
+"Oh, yes it will. You are bound to succeed. You are not the kind of man
+to give up in despair."
+
+"Give up what in despair?"
+
+"Anything on which you have set your heart. You're like Gervase in that
+respect, and it is a quality I admire immensely in a man."
+
+"But what if two strong men set their hearts on the same thing?"
+
+"What thing?"
+
+"Oh, anything. A woman, for instance," he said, with a forced laugh.
+
+"Ah, then I expect the stronger and the worthier would win."
+
+"Do women admire strength and worth so much? Do they not rather admire
+position and name and title? Has the poor man a chance against the rich;
+the plain man any chance against gold lace and epaulets?"
+
+"No one can speak in the name of all women. But I must run away now or
+Sir Charles may go to my room in search of me."
+
+"Will you write your letter to-day?"
+
+"I don't know. Very likely I shall if I can find time."
+
+"And will you say 'Yes?' Pardon me being so inquisitive."
+
+"Oh, I expect I shall," she said, with a smile. "It seems the proper
+thing to do. Gervase and I appear to have been meant for each other."
+
+"I hope you will be happy," he said, holding out his hand to her.
+"Good-bye."
+
+Half-an-hour later Mrs. Tuke found him staring fixedly out of the window
+as though he had been turned to stone. The trees were still swaying in
+the wind, but he did not see them. Through breaks in the clouds bright
+gleams of sunshine shot into the room every now and then, but he did not
+heed. From over the cliffs came the faint roar of the sea, but he did
+not hear. The world had become suddenly dark and silent. The fairy
+garden had vanished, leaving a bleak cold desert in its place; his heart
+seemed to have stopped beating. For the moment all interest had gone out
+of life. He almost wished that he could close his eyes in sleep and
+never awake again.
+
+"Are you getting impatient to get out of doors?" Mrs. Tuke questioned.
+
+"It will be a relief to get out again," he answered, absently.
+
+"Well, I'm bound to say you've been wonderfully patient, all things
+considered. But then, as I often say, what can't be cured must be
+endured."
+
+"Yes; that's sound philosophy."
+
+"And then you've been well looked after."
+
+"Yes; you are an excellent nurse, Mrs. Tuke, and I shall always be
+grateful."
+
+"Oh, I was not thinking of myself in particular," Mrs. Tuke said, with
+humility. "The doctors have attended to you as if you were Sir Charles
+himself. And as for that sweet creature Miss Grover, she's just a
+sunbeam."
+
+"Yes; she's delightful company."
+
+"You know, it's my belief," Mrs. Tuke said, mysteriously, "that the
+folks at the Hall haven't the ghost of an idea that she's been coming
+here to see you."
+
+"What leads you to think that?"
+
+"Oh, well, from little 'ints she's dropped now and then; but of course,
+time will tell," and Mrs. Tuke began to make preparations for his midday
+meal.
+
+Time did tell, and tell much sooner than anyone anticipated. The next
+morning's post brought a letter from Madeline which scattered the last
+remnants of fairyland.
+
+     "I'm afraid I shall not be able to come and see you again," it
+     began. "Sir Charles has found out, and he's angrier than I've ever
+     seen him. He says it's most improper, and that I ought to be
+     ashamed of myself. Such a lecture he's read to me as I guess you
+     never listened to. If he hadn't been so grave and serious I should
+     have fired up and given him a piece of my mind. I suppose,
+     according to English customs, I've done something real awful.
+     Anyhow, my heart doesn't condemn me, and if I've lightened your
+     suffering with my chatter ever so little I'm real glad. As long as
+     I live I shall be in your debt, and I shall never forget it either.
+     It seems real stupid that just because I'm a girl I'm not allowed
+     to play the part of a decent neighbour. England is awfully behind
+     in some things, and your Mrs. Grundy is a terror.
+
+     "However, I've got to obey, I suppose. You see, Sir Charles is my
+     trustee till I'm twenty-one, and he's angrier than a snake at the
+     present moment, and as I'm here by his favour, why I can't quite do
+     what I would like. But I shall think of you every day, and pray for
+     you, and when you get well and your great invention has astonished
+     everybody, none of your friends will rejoice more or be prouder of
+     you than I shall. I don't know if it's a proper thing to say, but
+     I've said it, and it'll have to stand. One has to be constantly
+     looking round the corner in this old country of yours. I hope you
+     will be as well as ever soon, and that you won't think too hardly
+     of the foolish girl who caused your accident. If you would like to
+     keep my books for yourself, I shall be real glad. Whittier is
+     great, don't you think so? Good-bye till we meet again.
+     Yours very sincerely,
+
+                                         "MADELINE GROVER."
+
+Rufus read the letter with very mingled feelings. There were touches in
+it that almost brought the tears to his eyes. The assurance that she
+would think of him every day and pray for him moved him strangely. He
+would have told Mrs. Tuke, or the vicar, or anyone else that he had no
+faith in prayer; that the whole network of religious belief was an
+ingenious superstition. Yet, with curious inconsistency, the thought of
+Madeline praying for him was undoubtedly comforting. The general effect
+of the letter, however, was like that produced by a heavy blow. Coming
+after her own simple and naive confession of the previous day it seemed
+almost to paralyse him. He scarcely realised how much her visits had
+been to him till now, and the knowledge that she would not come again,
+that her face and smile would no more brighten that little room, was
+like the sudden falling of night without the promise of rest and sleep.
+
+As the day passed away and he was able to think over the matter a little
+more calmly, he tried to persuade himself that Sir Charles's
+interposition was the best thing that could have happened. That since
+any vague hope he might have cherished of winning her love was now at an
+end, it was desirable from every point of view that he should not meet
+her or even see her.
+
+"The awakening was bound to come," he said to himself, trying hard to be
+resigned. "I knew, of course, from the beginning that she was not for
+me, I would have kept myself from loving her if I could; but it was just
+beyond me. She won my heart before I knew."
+
+And yet the bitterest drop in the cup was not that she was beyond his
+reach, but that Gervase Tregony, would possess the prize. He had no wish
+to be censorious, and it might be quite true that Gervase would compare
+favourably with most young men in his own walk of life. He had not been
+brought up on puritanic lines. Moreover, as the only son of the Squire
+and heir to the title and estates it was generally conceded in an
+off-hand way that some latitude ought to be allowed. The rich claimed a
+larger liberty or a larger licence than the poor, and however much the
+poor resented it in their hearts, usually they said nothing. Protests
+did no good, and to get into the black books of the Squire was not a
+matter to be regarded with indifference.
+
+If people with grown-up families looked a little anxious when it was
+known that Gervase was to be in residence at the Hall, and raised the
+domestic fence a few inches higher than usual--there was reason in the
+past annals of St. Gaved's history.
+
+Rufus, with his innate chivalry, and his romantic reverence for women as
+a whole, recoiled with a feeling almost of loathing at the thought of
+Gervase Tregony taking so sweet and pure a soul to his heart as Madeline
+Grover. Was it true, he wondered, that women did not care what a man's
+past had been; that they accepted without demur a social order that
+condoned any and every offence so long as no public scandal was
+produced? Or, was it that young women were deliberately kept in
+ignorance of what was common knowledge?
+
+He spent several more or less wakeful nights in striving against his own
+heart, and in trying to cultivate a philosophic attitude which should
+give the impression of a supreme unconcern. Fortunately, the broken
+bone was so far knit that his doctors allowed him to hobble about on a
+pair of crutches, and though he was not able yet to do any work, he
+could contemplate some of the things he had done, and shape in his mind
+what yet remained to be accomplished.
+
+He got out of doors as much as possible, but he was still weak, while
+his crutches were such unwieldy things that he quickly got tired. His
+favourite resting-place was by the garden gate, he could see the people
+as they passed up and down the street, and often have a few minutes'
+chat with his neighbours. He scarcely dared to admit the truth to
+himself, but there was always a lingering hope in his heart that
+Madeline might come into the village for some purpose, perhaps to do a
+little shopping, and that his heart might be cheered by a sight of her
+face.
+
+Mrs. Tuke's cottage stood at a point where the "town" ended and the
+country began. Toward the Quay the houses were generally close together,
+and abutted on to the side walk, but in the other direction, there were
+more trees and fences than houses, and nearly all the cottages had
+gardens in front of them. Hence, when Rufus stood or sat at the garden
+gate, he looked down "the street" in one direction, and up "the lane" in
+the other.
+
+The lane led away in the direction of Trewinion Hall, and if Madeline
+came into the town she would more likely than not pass Mrs. Tuke's
+cottage. In any case, she would come very near to it.
+
+Rufus looked up the lane fifty times a day, and sometimes his heart
+would flutter for a moment as some girlish figure came into sight. But
+Madeline never came.
+
+Then, one evening, while chatting with Dr. Chester, the doctor mentioned
+incidentally that the Squire had left the Hall and had taken up his
+residence in London till the middle of December.
+
+Rufus heaved a little sigh, but he did not pursue the topic. It seemed
+to him like the last nail in the coffin wherein lay hidden all the wild
+dreams and unexpressed longings and hopes of his heart. Madeline was to
+be strictly guarded until the return of Gervase from India, and then,
+perhaps, before she had fully realised what she was doing, or before she
+had an opportunity of getting a true estimate of his character, she
+would be tied to him for life.
+
+"It is no business of mine," he said to himself; "she is entirely out of
+my sphere, and even if she were not, it would be foolish of me, under
+present circumstances, to think of any woman."
+
+But his heart protested all the same. For Madeline to marry Gervase
+Tregony seemed to him an offence against all that was sacred in human
+life.
+
+
+
+
+                                CHAPTER XIV
+
+                                 EVOLUTION
+
+
+It wanted a week to Christmas. Rufus sat in his easy chair with his feet
+on the fender and an open book on his knee. He had been hard at work
+till dark, after which he had taken a mile's walk into the country, and
+was now waiting for his supper to be brought in. He was not impatient,
+however. The book he had been reading was one that Madeline Grover had
+left with him. A volume of Tennyson, containing nearly all the poet's
+published work, and, as was nearly always the case, the writer had set
+him thinking on the problems of life and death and immortality.
+
+Outwardly there had been no change in his life during the last two or
+three months. Directly his doctors gave him permission he turned again
+to his invention, glad of the relief that work afforded. As far as he
+could judge, he was moving, slowly but surely, to complete success. The
+thought of failure very rarely crossed his mind.
+
+But while outwardly there was no change, inwardly there was a distinct
+evolution. He found himself unconsciously viewing life from a different
+standpoint. It was easy to laugh at the claims of priests and prelates,
+and to poke fun at musty and worn-out creeds. Easy to riddle with
+merciless logic the stupendous dogmas of the Churches, and the
+monumental follies of so-called theologians, but when all that had been
+done to his complete satisfaction, he was no nearer the solution of the
+riddle of life.
+
+Moreover, he became painfully conscious of the fact that a philosophy of
+denials was not sufficient. He wanted something definite and something
+positive. An iconoclast might be a very useful individual; but when the
+destructive process had been completed, was there nothing more to be
+done? Were there no positive blocks of truth with which to erect a
+temple? There were questions instinctive in the human soul which asked
+for an answer. Had the broad universe no answer to give? Had faith no
+place in the eternal and immeasurable scheme.
+
+If science could not prove, if philosophy halted and broke down, was
+there nothing left? Was religion a thing to be dismissed with a sneer?
+Might not faith be as truly a faculty of the human soul as reason?
+
+So all unconsciously he retraced his steps from the barren realm of
+negation to the region of inquiry. He ceased to be dogmatic. Materialism
+did not explain everything. Theology, like other sciences, might be
+empirical, and yet its groundwork and framework might still be truth.
+
+When a man begins to inquire he begins to grow, when he ceases to
+inquire the winter of decay sets in. Moreover, it is not the province of
+the human will to determine the direction of growth. It may be upward or
+outward, in this direction or in that. The mind pursues its way with an
+unerring instinct as the roots of trees follow the courses of the
+springs.
+
+Rufus had been reading "Crossing the Bar" for the fiftieth time, and now
+he sat with the open book on his knees, wondering where he was
+intellectually and religiously. He refused however, to question himself
+too closely. He preferred for the present to drift. Some day he might
+sight land, and find a safe anchorage.
+
+Yet one or two things were becoming daily more clear. One was, that in
+any perfect scheme a future life was necessary to the completion of
+this. Another was, that human life, if only because of its relationships
+and possibilities, was a more sacred thing than he at one time had been
+willing to grant. And a third was, that love was not a mere physical or
+mental affinity. It was something that went farther and struck deeper.
+It was a soul relation that remained untouched and independent of time
+and change.
+
+He had not seen Madeline Grover for considerably more than two months.
+No message or whisper had passed between them. In the chances of human
+life he knew that he might never speak to her again. Yet his love
+remained fixed and unshaken. It was not something that he had put on as
+an extra garment, and that in the wear and tear of life he might lose
+again. It was part of himself--woven into the fibre of his being.
+
+Perhaps his love for Madeline, more than anything else, made him think
+of the problem of immortality. Whittier had said:
+
+    Life is ever Lord of Death,
+    And Love can never lose its own.
+
+How well he remembered that afternoon when Madeline read "Snow-Bound" to
+him, in which these lines occurred. He had never been able to get them
+out of his mind since. They had followed him like a haunting echo of
+something long forgotten, had stirred his heart with a thousand vague
+hopes and dreams.
+
+If Love could never lose its own, Madeline might yet be his. In some
+far-away region beyond the reach of human vision, beyond the stress and
+passion of earth, beyond the darkness and the doubting, beyond the
+ravages of time and trouble, they might meet again--the soul finding its
+mate and life its eternal complement.
+
+Madeline had a habit of marking with a pencil the passages in a book she
+liked, and in one of the volumes she left behind he found these words
+marked with a double line down the margin:
+
+    I sometimes think that heaven will be
+    A green place and an orchard tree,
+    And one sweet Angel known to me.
+
+Could he have put his wildest dreams and longings into words, nothing
+could have fitted better. It expressed all the heaven he wanted--all the
+beauty, and all the companionship his soul desired.
+
+He was disturbed in his meditations by a knock on the outer door, and a
+minute or two later he heard a familiar voice in the passage inquiring
+if he were at home.
+
+He rose to his feet in a moment, and pushed Tennyson into a dark corner
+out of sight. Then the door of his sitting-room was flung open, and
+Felix Muller entered unannounced. Rufus greeted him with a look of
+inquiry in his eyes--an inquiry, however, which he did not attempt to
+shape into words.
+
+Muller made his way to the fire at once, and spread his hands over the
+grate. "It's a glorious night," he said, "but cold. The roads are as
+hard as iron, and the moon makes it almost as light as day."
+
+"Have you driven over?" Rufus inquired.
+
+"Yes, I had to see Farmer Udy at Longridge, and so I thought as I was so
+near, I would drive a little farther and see you. How have you been
+getting on this long time?"
+
+"Fairly well on the whole, I think. Of course, my accident upset all my
+calculations for a while, but at present things are moving steadily and
+in the right direction."
+
+"That's right, I'm glad to hear it. And when do you think the thing will
+be properly launched?"
+
+"Well, it is not easy to say positively, but I should give six months as
+an outside limit."
+
+"You expected at first that the whole thing would be completed in six
+months."
+
+"That is true, but I had not reckoned on the contingency of a broken
+leg."
+
+"But apart from your accident you were out of your calculations."
+
+"A little. When you are dependent to so large an extent upon other
+people, it is impossible to be absolutely sure as to dates."
+
+"Then your six months may run into nine months?"
+
+"Oh, no; six months more gives a wide margin for every contingency."
+
+Muller withdrew from the fire and dropped into an easy-chair that Rufus
+had pulled round for him.
+
+For a moment or two there was silence, then Muller, diving his hand into
+his breast-pocket, said in his most casual tone, "You don't mind my
+having a smoke, do you?"
+
+"My dear fellow, I beg your pardon," Rufus said, hurriedly, "but the
+truth is I was waiting for supper; won't you have something to eat
+first? The cold drive ought to have given you an appetite!"
+
+"Well, now that you mention it, I think I do feel a bit peckish."
+
+"You will have to be content with simple fare, but such as I have,
+etc.," and he went out of the room to hunt up Mrs. Tuke.
+
+Rufus watched his guest narrowly while he ate, and felt sure that he
+owed this visit not to the proximity of Longridge, but to some other
+cause that had not yet been revealed.
+
+Conversation flagged during the meal. Muller ate like a man whose
+thoughts were engaged somewhere else, and on something vastly more
+important than eating and drinking.
+
+Rufus began to have an uncomfortable feeling that his visit boded no
+good, and yet he had not the courage to precipitate matters by asking
+impertinent questions.
+
+As soon as the supper-tray was taken away, Rufus produced a box of
+cigars, and for a minute or two they blew smoke in silence.
+
+Muller was the first to speak. Looking at his cigar carefully, as if
+examining the brand, he said in his most casual manner, "I suppose,
+Sterne, you have never considered the possibility of being forestalled
+in your invention?"
+
+"Well, no," he said slowly, but with a startled look in his eyes. "I
+cannot say that I have ever seriously considered such a possibility."
+
+"And yet it is notorious in the realm of discovery and invention, that
+the same idea has been hit upon by different men in different parts of
+the world almost at the same time."
+
+"I do not remember that fact being brought clearly to my mind," Rufus
+said, wondering if someone had forestalled him.
+
+"It is true, nevertheless. I could give you illustrations if I had time.
+But what is important at the present moment is that a man away up in
+Westmorland has got ahead of you."
+
+"No!" Rufus said, in a tone of alarm.
+
+"Well, perhaps I ought to have said that he appears to have got his
+claim in first. I do not understand all the technicalities of the case,
+but he appears to me to have achieved, or to have achieved very
+largely, the thing you are aiming at," and he took a newspaper cutting
+out of his pocket, and passed it on to Rufus.
+
+Rufus unfolded the cutting with hands that trembled in spite of himself.
+If he had been forestalled then life with him was at an end. The greater
+part of the thousand pounds was spent or pledged already. Failure meant
+that he would have now to employ his ingenuity in devising a method of
+escaping from the world in a way that would not awaken suspicion.
+
+Muller adjusted his _pince-nez_ and watched his companion while he read.
+Rufus summoned to his aid all the resolution he possessed and preserved
+a perfectly impassive face.
+
+"Well?" Muller questioned, when Rufus had got to the bottom of the slip.
+
+"It's a little disconcerting," was the answer. "But I shall not fling up
+the sponge yet."
+
+"But he has got hold of your idea!"
+
+"Not exactly."
+
+"At any rate he has got uncomfortably near to it."
+
+"He has got nearer than I like, I admit. But the greater part of what he
+claims is mere bluff."
+
+"But his objective and yours are precisely the same?"
+
+"No, not precisely. I go much farther than he does, as Stephenson went
+farther than Watt."
+
+"That is in your application of the principle. But is not the principle
+the same?"
+
+"It is similar, though not identical. I have gone all over the ground he
+is travelling now."
+
+"And in another month he may be all over your ground."
+
+"There is danger, of course, but I think still I shall get in first."
+
+"I hope you may. But I confess when I tumbled across that article this
+morning it made me feel mightily uncomfortable."
+
+"It is a little upsetting, no doubt."
+
+"You see, he must have secured himself pretty well, or he would not have
+permitted so much of the scheme to get into print. Don't you see it
+largely discounts anyone else who comes after, though he may have
+something better."
+
+"Yes, I admit the force of all you say," Rufus answered slowly. "But my
+game is not up yet."
+
+"I hope not, indeed. I should regard it as nothing short of a calamity
+were you to fail."
+
+"If the worst comes to the worst it will have to be faced, that is all.
+In any case, you will not suffer loss."
+
+"There you are mistaken. You are my friend. And friends are not so
+plentiful that one can contemplate the disappearance of even one of them
+with equanimity."
+
+"That may be true. But mercifully, the dead are soon forgotten. You will
+soon get used to my absence."
+
+"I sincerely hope the occasion will not arise," Muller said, speaking
+slowly and gravely. "Indeed, as I said before, I should regard your
+failure as a calamity. Still, there is no getting over the fact that
+what you regarded as impossible less than six months ago has come very
+definitely within the realm of possibility."
+
+"Yes," Rufus said, with some hesitation. "I am bound to admit that the
+chance of failure seems less remote than it did."
+
+"I am sorry to have to discuss this matter with you again," Muller went
+on, after a pause. "I can assure you it is almost as painful to me as it
+must be to you. Still business is business, and I have to think of my
+own position. If I were a rich man, I would not mention the matter--upon
+my soul, I wouldn't."
+
+"I thought you had no soul," Rufus said, with a pathetic smile.
+
+"Oh, don't joke over mere figures of speech," Muller said, staring into
+the fire. "I tell you I feel terribly upset."
+
+"But my cause is not lost yet," Rufus said with forced cheerfulness.
+
+"No, it may not be. But, on the other hand, it may be. If your
+competitor has gone so far, he may during the next week or month go all
+the rest of the distance."
+
+"I must take my chance of that."
+
+"The point with me is--supposing the worst comes to the worst, have you
+anything on which you can raise a loan? I hate the thought of your
+slipping out of life in the flower of your youth."
+
+"Look here, Muller," Rufus said, summoning to his aid all his strength
+and resolution. "We discussed this matter at the beginning. I counted
+the cost and took the risk. If the worst comes to the worst I am not
+going to show the white feather."
+
+"I do not doubt your courage for a moment," Muller said. "But I want to
+point out that it will take a little time to realise your estate. I
+presume you have made your will."
+
+Rufus went to a drawer and took out a large envelope which he passed on
+to his companion.
+
+Muller opened the envelope and drew out the paper slowly. Then he
+adjusted his _pince-nez_, and began to read. "Yes," he said, after a
+long pause, "this is quite in order--quite."
+
+"And in case I am driven to take my departure," Rufus said, in a hard,
+even voice, "I will give you sufficient time to wind up my small estate
+before the end of next year."
+
+"You think there is no other way of meeting the case?" Muller
+questioned.
+
+"In case my scheme fails there is no other way," Rufus answered. "Now
+let us not discuss the matter again. I understand your anxiety. I should
+be a bit anxious if I were in your place. But you have my word of
+honour. Let that be enough."
+
+"It is enough, my boy--it is enough!" Muller said, gushingly.
+
+"Meanwhile we need not count upon failure until forced to do so. I shall
+not fail if effort and determination can avert it."
+
+When Muller had gone, Rufus sat for a long time staring into the dying
+fire. Then he picked up the newspaper cutting, and read through the
+article very carefully a second time.
+
+"No, he has not got my idea quite," he muttered, "but he has come
+uncomfortably near to it."
+
+Then he drew a long breath and shut his teeth tightly. Life had grown a
+more precious thing of late, and hope had taken new shapes and forms.
+Moreover, the possibility of a conscious existence beyond the shadow of
+death had been looming larger and larger for months past, and with that
+possibility other possibilities had come into view. What if the
+consequences of conduct followed men into the unseen? What if sin should
+separate a soul from the soul it loved? What if this life were a trust
+for which we should be held responsible? What if suicide should be as
+heinous a crime as murder? What if dying by one's own hand should stain
+the soul with deeper dishonour than any broken vow or unfulfilled
+promise? He drew away his eyes from the fire and shuddered
+slightly as these thoughts passed through his mind. In whatever
+direction he turned his thoughts he was faced with possibilities that,
+to say the least, were not a little disconcerting.
+
+"If I had only known six months ago what I know now," he reflected, "I
+should not have put my head into this noose with so light a heart. I
+should have been content to have gone on with my work as time-keeper at
+the mine. But I was impatient for success, and quite certain that death
+was the end of all things."
+
+Then across the frosty air the parish clock fixed high in the church
+tower struck the hour of eleven.
+
+Rufus counted the strokes as they vibrated solemnly through the night.
+
+"Do the dead ever hear, I wonder," he said to himself, and he shuddered
+again.
+
+Then his thoughts turned to the book that he had been reading earlier in
+the evening and he began to repeat almost unconsciously one of the
+stanzas that Madeline had marked:
+
+    Twilight and evening bell,
+        And after that the dark,
+    And may there be no sadness of farewell
+        When I embark.
+    And though from out the bounds of time and space
+        The floods may bear me far,
+    I hope----
+
+Then he stopped suddenly and rose hurriedly to his feet. "I am growing
+morbid," he said. "I wish Muller had kept the article to himself. In a
+case of this kind ignorance is bliss." And he turned out the lamp and
+climbed slowly upstairs to bed.
+
+
+
+
+                                CHAPTER XV
+
+                                MISGIVINGS
+
+
+The day after Felix Muller's visit to Rufus the squire and his family
+returned to the Hall. The news soon spread through St. Gaved that the
+big house was alive once more, and that the captain was expected home in
+time to eat his Christmas dinner with the family. Rufus heard the news
+with a curious thrill, but whether of pain or of pleasure it would be
+hard to say.
+
+His heart had been aching for a sight of Madeline's face ever since she
+went away. And yet there were times when he desired above all things
+that he might never look into her eyes again. Pain was not to be cured
+by additional pain. To see Madeline would not appease the hunger, it
+would only increase it. Hence to keep out of her way would be the wise
+thing for him; to avoid the field-path in front of the park, and the
+familiar road across the downs and round by the cliffs. If they met she
+would be sure to speak, and the very sound of her voice would awaken
+into life all the wild longings of his soul once more. It was far
+better, therefore, for him that they never met.
+
+Besides, it was more than probable that by this time she was the
+promised wife of Gervase Tregony. He was coming home to claim her and
+coming home at express speed. Was he delighted at the prospect, he
+wondered. Did he love her as she deserved to be loved?
+
+"Oh, if it had only been my lot to win so sweet a soul," he said to
+himself. "Is it true, I wonder, that we always long most passionately
+for the impossible?"
+
+For several days he kept close to business, never venturing out of doors
+till after sunset. Once he thought he passed her in the bright
+moonlight, and his heart almost stopped, but he never paused in his
+walk, never looked back; indeed he strode on with a longer and quicker
+stride, and did not breathe freely again till a sharp bend in the road
+prevented any possibility of recognition.
+
+When he yielded to the witchery of her presence before, there was some
+excuse for his doing so, but all the circumstances were different now.
+He had no excuse to-day, no right. His tenure of life hung on a thread.
+His chance of success was growing less hopeful day by day.
+
+Even if Madeline were free and within his reach he would have no right
+to speak to her of love. While this sword of Damocles was suspended over
+his head he was bound in honour to be silent. But since she was neither
+free nor within his reach, and he was walking across a volcano that at
+any moment might burst open beneath his feet, it would be the part of a
+madman to put himself in her way if there was any chance of keeping out
+of it.
+
+So he pursued his work with all the earnestness and intensity he could
+command, but he was conscious all the time that something had gone out
+of his life. The enthusiasm that springs from certainty had left him,
+the chill and lethargy of doubt had crept into his blood. Instead of
+constantly dwelling on the delights of success, he found himself
+brooding over the prospect of failure, and wondering what lay beyond the
+grim shadow of death.
+
+By a curious combination of circumstances both life and death had become
+doubly hard to contemplate. Success had once been his dream. To-day
+success of itself seemed nothing. The one thing that was of value, that
+would have turned earth into heaven was love. He would have courted
+failure--gloried in it--if failure would have given him Madeline. But
+since Madeline was denied him, neither success nor failure mattered
+much, and life and death were both robbed of the light of hope. He told
+himself one minute that he did not care to live since Madeline could
+never be his, and the next minute he dreaded the thought of death, since
+death would blot out the sight of her and the thought of her for ever
+and ever. So, in whatever direction he looked, he found neither solace
+nor inspiration.
+
+The thing that spurred him on from day to day was not so much the hope
+of victory as the humiliation of defeat. There was any number of people
+in St. Gaved who had no sympathy whatever with him in his ambitions,
+whose invincible creed was that a man ought to be content to remain in
+that state of life to which it had pleased God to call him. These people
+had expressed themselves with great freedom and candour on his folly in
+giving up a good position at the mine, and devoting all his time and
+energy to something in the clouds; and which, in all likelihood, would
+never be of any benefit to man or beast.
+
+Rufus used to smile at the criticisms of these people, and anticipate
+the day when he would stand proud and triumphant before them. Now he
+began to fear that the day might come when they would triumph over him,
+when they would expand their chests and smile wisely, and say to their
+neighbours: "There, didn't we tell you so?" It was rather with the
+object of preventing such a triumph than of winning any triumph for
+himself that he toiled on from day to day, throwing into his work more
+of the energy of despair than the inspiration of hope.
+
+Meanwhile Madeline had been suffering from what she called "an acute
+attack of the blues." For no sufficient reason, so she admitted to
+herself, she became restless and peevish, and generally discontented.
+She was not ill. Generally speaking, her appetite was as good as it had
+been, while her energy was greater than ever. But for some reason
+nothing satisfied her--things that at one time she would have gone into
+ecstacies over barely interested her. She was in the mood to be pleased
+at nothing, and to find fault with everything.
+
+That this condition of things began on the day Sir Charles took her to
+task for visiting Rufus Sterne she was well aware; but why it should
+have continued was a puzzle. She had been angry with Sir Charles at the
+moment it was true, but after a day's reflection she had been led to see
+that he was perfectly in the right. Moreover Sir Charles had behaved
+very handsomely all the way through. She was convinced that it was very
+largely on her account that they went to London for the autumn, and
+while in London she had scarcely a wish that was not gratified. She had
+gone to receptions and balls and dinners by the dozen. She had been
+taken to every place of interest she wanted to see. She had blossomed
+out into what she termed "a tame celebrity," and had had more
+compliments showered upon her than ever before in her life, yet, in
+spite of all this, she was not happy. Indeed, after a few weeks, she
+tired utterly of London and wanted to return again to Trewinion Hall.
+That however, was shown to be an impossibility. The house had been taken
+practically till the end of the year, and the servants at Trewinion
+Hall had been put on board wages till Christmas.
+
+"Are you sure you are quite well, Madeline?" Sir Charles said to her,
+when she preferred her request.
+
+"Quite sure," she replied. "In fact I was never better in my life."
+
+"Then why do you want to go back to the Hall?"
+
+"Oh! I don't know. This endless whirl and excitement has got on my
+nerves, I think."
+
+"But you complained of Cornwall getting on your nerves some time ago."
+
+"Did I? Well, it did seem rather flat and tame at first."
+
+"No, it was not at the beginning. You were delighted with it on your
+arrival----"
+
+"And I am still," she interrupted. "I think it is just too lovely for
+anything."
+
+"But have you really got tired of London life?"
+
+"I think it is too stupid for words. Oh! no, I don't mean that exactly.
+Pardon me, Sir Charles"--seeing the pained look in his eyes--"I won't
+complain any more if I can help it, I won't really."
+
+"I am very anxious that you should enjoy yourself all you possibly can.
+Beryl is dreading the time when she will have to go back again."
+
+"She knows so many people," Madeline said, reflectively.
+
+"And you have made hosts of acquaintances, have you not?"
+
+"Yes, acquaintances, but they don't mean anything. I never realised
+before, I think, how many people there are in the world, and how many
+things there are in the world I can do without."
+
+"That oughtn't to be a very startling discovery," he said, with a
+smile.
+
+"But you don't feel it in a place like St. Gaved," she said. "There
+everybody seems necessary to everybody else."
+
+"Indeed?" he questioned, dryly.
+
+"Well, I mean that in a little community where each one plays his part,
+and each one's part is known to all the rest----"
+
+"Yes?" he questioned, seeing she hesitated.
+
+"Oh! I can't explain myself very well, but you must know very well what
+I mean."
+
+"No; really you flatter me," he said, in a tone of banter, "for in
+reality your meaning is quite beyond me."
+
+"Then I must be stupider than I thought," she answered, with a pout, and
+relapsed into silence.
+
+Sir Charles was not only perplexed, he was more or less troubled. If he
+dared he would have been angry, but he knew that anger would defeat the
+particular end he had in view. Whatever Madeline might or might not be
+she was not the kind of person to be coerced. She might be led in many
+directions, but no one could drive her. At the least suggestion of the
+lash, she would jib and back, and nothing short of physical force would
+move her a step forward.
+
+Hence Sir Charles had felt from the first that his task was one of
+extreme difficulty and delicacy. Moreover, every day as it passed
+increased the difficulty. Madeline was swiftly growing out of girlhood
+into womanhood, and the things that fascinated her as a girl quickly
+palled upon her as a woman, and Sir Charles was growing desperately
+afraid lest when she saw Gervase again she might be disillusioned, as
+she evidently had been in other matters.
+
+He was more troubled also than he liked to confess over her intimacy
+with Rufus Sterne. He could not forget the romantic circumstances under
+which they had met, the signal service he had rendered her, and the long
+weeks of suffering and idleness that followed as a consequence, and on a
+romantic and generous nature like Madeline's, these things would make an
+abiding impression. For that reason he had got her away from St. Gaved
+as quickly as possible after he had made the discovery that she was in
+the habit of visiting him, and for the same reason he intended to keep
+her away until within a few days of his son's return.
+
+Sir Charles had counted so long on annexing the American heiress for his
+son, that any thought of failure now was too humiliating to be
+entertained. It was his last hope of rehabilitating Trewinion Hall, and
+the historic name of Tregony. Gervase's record was of such a character
+that no English heiress would look at him unless, indeed, he consented
+to marry the daughter of a tradesman, and even in such case as that his
+chances would be very doubtful.
+
+The beautiful thing about an American heiress was that nobody inquired
+into her antecedents. So long as she had the requisite number of dollars
+nothing else mattered. Her father might be a pork-butcher, or a
+pawnbroker, or an oilman; that was no barrier to his daughter becoming a
+countess or even a duchess.
+
+Poor as Sir Charles was, he would have fainted at the idea of Gervase
+marrying the daughter of a Redbourne tradesman, however rich or
+beautiful or accomplished she might be. The very suggestion of "trade"
+was an offence to his aristocratic nostrils. But Madeline came from a
+country where the only aristocracy was that of cash, hence by virtue of
+her uncounted millions she was eligible for the highest positions on
+this side the water. The logic might not be very sound, but it was
+satisfying. If the Earl of this and the Duke of that had regilded their
+coronets with American dollars, why might not he refurbish the Tregony
+coat of arms with the same precious metal? The reasoning appeared to him
+to be without a flaw.
+
+Moreover, there was the additional argument of necessity. In consequence
+of the low price of corn along with nearly all other articles of food,
+agriculture was in a terribly depressed condition. In other words, the
+farmer could pay only about half the amount in rent that he would be
+able to do if wheat and barley, and bacon and butter, stood at twice
+their present prices.
+
+Sir Charles always grew white with anger when he thought of the foolish
+men who, in a previous generation, abolished the corn-laws and gave
+cheap food to the people.
+
+"Look at me," he would say; "my rent roll is only about one-half of what
+it was in my father's day, and there are hundreds and thousands of the
+best families up and down the country who have been reduced in
+circumstances by the same means. What the Government ought to do is to
+put a high duty on all imported corn and foodstuffs, that would send up
+the price of English wheat, and English beef, and everything else that
+is English, and so give the English nobility a chance of getting out of
+their estates all that they are capable of producing."
+
+The logic of this, if not quite sound, was also satisfying from his
+point of view. There seemed, however, no prospect just then that the
+food of the people would be taxed for the benefit of the noble and
+indispensable class to which he belonged. The working classes for some
+selfish reason, appeared to object to it. They were possessed by the
+stupid idea that the higher their wages and the cheaper their food, the
+better off they would be; and against such unreasoning prejudice as
+that, logic spent its strength in vain.
+
+Failing, therefore, any Government help in the shape of protection, he
+would have to guard his interests in some other way, and Madeline
+appeared to be an excellent way out of the difficulty. In fact, she
+almost reconciled him to the idea of free imports. If England had
+suffered loss through the importation of American wheat, it was only
+fair that England should be compensated by having the pick of America's
+richest and fairest women. Since there was no duty on corn, it was only
+just and right that heiresses should be free.
+
+But as the time drew near when Sir Charles hoped to see the full
+fruition of his little scheme, he grew increasingly nervous. Until the
+last few weeks everything had gone as smoothly as heart could desire.
+Madeline seemed like a ripe apple that would drop directly the tree was
+touched. Without any undue influence, with scarcely a suggestion from
+anyone, she was inclining in the very direction most desired.
+
+Then suddenly she had become captious and uncertain. The moment she
+reached the point when she was desired to make up her mind definitely
+she drew back. The increasing warmth of the Captain's letters she had
+appeared to reciprocate to the full. She had talked about him with a
+simple ingenuousness that had delighted the baronet's heart. The
+proposal seemed to have arrived in the very nick of time. She had
+gathered from Sir Charles, in detached fragments, the full story of her
+father's wish in the matter. She had been given one glimpse of London,
+with its life and gaiety, she had been supplied with every newspaper
+cutting that spoke of Captain Tregony's prowess as a hunter of big game,
+and she had tacitly accepted the situation, as though Providence had
+shaped her lot, and shaped it to her entire satisfaction. And then she
+hesitated, and became silent, and demanded time for further
+consideration.
+
+Sir Charles had broached the subject in the most delicate manner
+possible when they happened to be alone. Gervase's letter to the family
+had been left on the drawing-room table. The Baronet picked it up and
+read it again.
+
+"Gervase seems terribly impatient to get home this time," he remarked,
+casually.
+
+Madeline glanced up from her book, but did not reply.
+
+"I really do not wonder," Sir Charles went on. "Poor old boy, it is
+nearly three years since he saw you, and he must be pining for a sight
+of your face."
+
+"He seems a little home-sick," Madeline said, indifferently.
+
+"I don't think it is that altogether. Now that he has definitely
+proposed to you, it brings all the longing to a head, if I may say so. I
+hope you have written to him and put an end to his suspense?"
+
+"No, I have not replied yet. I thought of writing this afternoon."
+
+"I wish you would; I am sorry you have not written before."
+
+"I have been too busy with other things, Sir Charles."
+
+"Oh, well, I am not complaining, my dear. Take your own time, of course.
+But, naturally, I feel for my son, and I know how anxious he will be. It
+will be nice for him to meet you here in his ancestral home as his
+affianced wife."
+
+"I suppose it would simplify matters, wouldn't it?"
+
+"It would simplify matters a very great deal," Sir Charles said, in a
+tone of relief. "There is no reason why you should not go away on the
+Continent in the early spring for your honeymoon, and so escape our
+bitter east winds."
+
+"That would be lovely, wouldn't it?"
+
+"Lovely! Ah! well, I almost envy you young people. If one could only be
+young a second time how much he would appreciate it! But I will not
+detain you now if you are going to write letters," and he thrust
+Gervase's epistle into his pocket, and walked slowly out of the room.
+
+Later in the day he discovered that instead of writing letters she had
+been visiting Rufus Sterne at St. Gaved, and his anger almost got the
+better of him. By a tremendous effort, however, he kept himself well in
+hand, and talked to her with a seriousness that did full justice to the
+occasion.
+
+Two days later he learned that she had not yet replied to Gervase's
+letter; he made no remark, however, but on the following day he made a
+proposition that they should spent the late autumn in London.
+
+The experiment, however, had not been altogether satisfactory. Madeline
+had not been at all like her old self. She was moody and absent-minded,
+and by no means easy to please. That she had written to Gervase he knew,
+and written more than once, but she gave no hint to anyone of the nature
+of her communications.
+
+Sir Charles hoped for the best, but he was troubled all the time by
+serious misgivings. Her very uncommunicativeness was a disturbing
+factor. Several times he was strongly tempted to put a point-blank
+question to her; but when it came to the point his courage failed him.
+Moreover, his reason told him that the more anxious he appeared to be
+the more stubborn and intractable she would become. The only thing he
+could do was to wait patiently until Gervase's return, and trust to
+luck or Providence for what would follow.
+
+Madeline welcomed the morning of their departure from London more
+eagerly than any of the others. She was tired of the big city, with its
+murk and gloom, its dreary streets and muddy crossings, and its
+never-ceasing roar and turmoil. She longed for the "clean country," as
+she expressed it, with its quietness and peace and far distances. In
+truth, she hardly knew what she longed for. Some day her desire would
+take definite shape, then she would understand.
+
+
+
+
+                                CHAPTER XVI
+
+                             GROWING SUSPICIONS
+
+
+In the big house there were many things to be done in preparation for
+Christmas. Mottoes had to be selected and cut out of coloured paper, and
+surrounded with evergreens and hung in the hall, and naturally this task
+fell to the lot of Madeline and Beryl. Then, it was decided to have a
+house-party the day but one after Christmas Day, and invitations had to
+be sent out to all the gentry of the neighbourhood. Lady Tregony
+undertook this pleasant duty, but soon found the work of filling in
+cards and addressing envelopes altogether too exhausting; so Madeline,
+who was swift with her pen, was pressed into the service. In addition to
+all this, various tokens of affection and regard had to be sent to the
+extremely poor of the parish--nothing of very much value, it is
+true--still, the simplest parcel took time to make up and address.
+
+The result of all this was that the house was kept in a state of bustle
+from morning till night, and Madeline had no time to pay a single visit
+to any of her acquaintances in the village.
+
+She did steal out of the house one evening after dinner, and tramped in
+the bright moonlight nearly to St. Gaved and back again, but the walk
+did not yield her much satisfaction. She had an uncomfortable feeling
+that she passed Rufus Sterne on the way, and that he took pains not to
+be recognised. She turned and looked after the retreating figure, and
+felt certain she was not mistaken, but he did not halt for a moment or
+look back.
+
+It was a simple and trifling thing in itself, but it set her thinking.
+Of course, he might not have recognised her, as she for the moment had
+not recognised him. On the other hand, her face was toward the
+moonlight, his was in shadow. She scarcely saw his face at all, her face
+would be plainly visible. Moreover he hurried past, with his hat pulled
+low, as if he had no wish to be recognised. What did it mean?
+
+The more she thought about the matter, the more she was convinced that
+the man she met was Rufus Sterne, and that he deliberately avoided the
+chance of recognition. Was he offended with her, then? Was he sorry that
+they had ever become acquainted, and wished the acquaintanceship to end?
+Did he regard her as a sort of stormy petrel, heralding bad weather and
+bad fortune? Did he think that safety and success could be secured only
+by keeping out of her way?
+
+That he would have good reason for cherishing such sentiments there was
+no denying. She had been his evil genius in the most critical period of
+his life. She had thrust him back into idleness and helplessness when
+every day was of the utmost value to him.
+
+"I really don't wonder that he shuns me," she said to herself,
+regretfully. "I really don't, and if his invention should fail, he will
+hate me more than ever."
+
+Under ordinary circumstances her pride would have asserted itself, and
+she would have resolved--since he had ignored her--never to speak to him
+again. But the circumstances were not ordinary. The ties of gratitude,
+if nothing else, bound her to him for all time; the loss that he had
+suffered on her account made it impossible for her to treat him as she
+might have treated an ordinary acquaintance. He had good reasons, no
+doubt, for ignoring her, but that only made the pain the harder to bear.
+
+Two days before Christmas it became evident to her that there was a
+little conspiracy on foot to prevent her going into St. Gaved. She had
+not noticed at first any significance in the fact that there was always
+someone at hand to run errands for her and Beryl. But when, for the
+sixth or seventh time in succession, her suggestion that she should run
+into St. Gaved was met by the reply, "Oh, don't trouble, dear," or "You
+are too tired, dear," or "Peter will see to that, dear," or, "We shall
+not require it to-day, dear," she began to think that solicitude on her
+account had become a trifle overstrained.
+
+When once her suspicions were aroused, she began to put the matter to
+the test. During the morning of Christmas Eve she discovered on four
+separate occasions that she was short of something that she particularly
+needed, and each time, when she suggested that she should run into St.
+Gaved and get it, a servant was dispatched with most unusual haste to
+make the purchase.
+
+Madeline smiled to herself, but said nothing. But it set her thinking on
+fresh lines. She began to recall all that had happened since her last
+visit to Rufus Sterne, then her thoughts travelled farther back still,
+and after a very little while she saw, or fancied she saw, a tolerably
+consistent purpose, not to say conspiracy. When once she had got a clue,
+or what she fancied was a clue, it was easy to read meanings into a
+thousand little circumstances that otherwise would have had no
+significance whatever.
+
+She had been under the pleasing delusion that she had gone her own way,
+that practically she had followed her own wishes in everything--that her
+own wishes happened to exactly coincide with the wishes of her friends
+was simply a matter for congratulation. No attempt had been made to
+bring pressure to bear on her at any point. When Sir Charles had talked
+seriously to her, it was nearly always on questions of English etiquette
+and customs--subjects she was profoundly ignorant of. If she decided to
+go into St. Gaved now, she felt sure no direct attempt would be made to
+stop her.
+
+To test the matter, she went to her room, put on her hat and jacket, and
+announced to Sir Charles, whom she met in the Hall, that she was going
+into the town for her own amusement.
+
+"All right, Madeline," he said, with a smile; "this is Liberty Hall, you
+know."
+
+She was a little bit taken aback by his answer; it was so frank and
+spontaneous that it almost disarmed her.
+
+She walked very slowly toward the village, her thoughts being intent on
+the new problem. Ever since her meeting with Gervase Tregony nearly
+three years ago, her life had moved steadily in the same direction, and
+toward the same seemingly inevitable end. This she had regarded in the
+past as providential, and had accepted the omen with thankfulness.
+
+But she fancied now she saw a human motive running through all. Since
+her meeting with Gervase, she had practically never a chance of becoming
+acquainted with another man. As a matter of fact, the only man she had
+become intimate with was Rufus Sterne, and directly that intimacy was
+discovered, she was whisked off to London and kept out of his way. She
+was being guarded and protected until Gervase's return.
+
+Gervase was expected home that very day. He had landed at Marseilles the
+previous day, and was coming straight through without a break. For a man
+like Gervase such rush and hurry was most unusual.
+
+That a man like Gervase wanted to marry her was, no doubt, very
+flattering. He was a great soldier, a man of immense courage, and a
+distinguished-looking man to boot. On the other hand, she was a nobody,
+her father had been an ordinary working man--that he had "got on" late
+in life she knew. But what his financial position was she would not know
+till she was twenty-one. So that looking at the matter merely from a
+social point of view, it was a great condescension on the part of
+Gervase.
+
+But not only did Gervase want to marry her, but it had become extremely
+clear of late that Sir Charles was as eager as his son. In fact, events
+were being rushed. It was understood when she arrived in England that
+Gervase would not be home till the New Year. Now he was risking his neck
+in an eager rush to be here by Christmas. Why all this haste? Why was
+everybody so anxious she should marry the heir to a baronetcy, or, to
+put it the other way about, why were all the Tregonys so eager to marry
+the heir to an unknown American girl?
+
+That American girls by the shoal had married titled Englishmen she knew,
+and titled foreigners of all sorts and conditions. But it was clear and
+obvious to outsiders generally that the attractions had been dollars on
+the one side and titles on the other--a fair exchange, no doubt. There
+had been a _quid pro quo_ in each case.
+
+But in her case----!
+
+Then she pulled herself up suddenly, and a hot blush mantled her cheeks.
+Was she any better than the rest? Had not her girlish imagination
+been carried away by pictures of a baronial hall, ivy-grown and
+weather-beaten? and had not the thought of being "My Lady Tregony"
+dominated nearly everything else?
+
+"No," she said, at length, "I admired Gervase for his own sake. He is
+brave and distinguished-looking and--and--oh! I like a man who is strong
+and masterful."
+
+But the other question still remained unanswered. Why did Gervase want
+to marry her? He belonged to one of the oldest families in the county.
+Why did he not seek a wife in his own circle? Lord this and the Duke of
+that who went to America for their wives, married dollars. But----She
+stopped again, and looked round her, but no one was in sight. A keen
+north wind was blowing, and the pale wintry sun had not yet melted the
+hoar-frost from the grass, and yet she felt as hot as though she had
+been thrust suddenly into a Turkish bath.
+
+Was it possible that dollars lay at the bottom of all this haste and
+anxiety? For some reason she had been kept in ignorance of her father's
+financial position. He had never talked to her about the matter. She was
+at school when he died, and remained at school long after he was laid in
+his grave. Why she had been kept at school so long was always something
+of a puzzle to her.
+
+That she would have enough money to live upon comfortably she knew. She
+was allowed a thousand dollars a year now as pin-money--a sum much too
+large for her needs in St. Gaved, though in London she could easily
+spend it all. But that she was rich, or in any sense of the word an
+heiress, was an idea that had never occurred to her. It did not seem at
+all likely that she could be, or her allowance would be very much
+larger. On the other hand there might be method in the modest pittance
+that was meted out to her. To keep her in ignorance of the extent of her
+possessions might be part of the game. If she were rich and knew it she
+might be too ready to discover a reason why Gervase wanted to marry her.
+
+"I wonder if suspicion always comes with knowledge and experience," she
+said to herself. "Is it one of the penalties of being grown up? When I
+was a girl I wasn't suspicious of anything or anybody. Now I'm certain
+of nothing, not even of myself."
+
+She walked on more rapidly after awhile, but she took no notice of
+anything on the way. She was too absorbed with her own thoughts.
+
+"I am glad, at any rate, I did not give Gervase a definite promise," she
+said to herself. "I hardly know why I didn't, for I meant to at first.
+But it is best I should see him again before deciding. Best that I
+should find out everything I can. I think he wants me for my own sake.
+I'm almost sure he does, but it's well to be quite sure."
+
+"Well, anyhow, I shall see him again this evening," she said to herself,
+after a long pause. "I wonder if he has changed? I wonder if I have
+changed?"
+
+She reached the outskirts of the village, then turned back, and in a
+moment or two came face to face with Sir Charles. The meeting was
+unexpected, and the Baronet looked a little confused.
+
+"What, turning back so soon?" he questioned, nonchalantly.
+
+"I only came out for a little exercise and fresh air," she answered.
+
+"And you find the air too keen, eh?"
+
+"Oh! not at all; I am enjoying it immensely."
+
+So they passed each other. But a little way on, Madeline paused and
+looked back, but Sir Charles was out of sight.
+
+"Now, I wonder if he followed me on purpose?" she said to herself. "Has
+he begun to suspect me? Did he imagine I had gone to call on Mr. Sterne
+in defiance of his wishes? I wish I hadn't grown suspicious; it spoils
+everything."
+
+She was so busy with her thoughts that she scarcely noticed the turn in
+the road leading back to the Hall. Also there was no particular reason
+why she should return at once. So she tramped on into the country. The
+roads were dry and frosty. The keen wind hummed in the bare hazel bushes
+that crowned the tall hedges, the too brief glimmer of sunshine was
+fading on the hillside.
+
+Her thoughts alternated between the Squire, Gervase and Rufus Sterne. It
+seemed to her as though a big stone had been dropped into the still and
+placid pool of her life and that the troubled waters refused to settle
+again. It seemed but yesterday that the plan of her life lay before her
+like an open book. Everything was just as it ought to be and there was
+no hitch anywhere. Now the book was shut, the map was destroyed, and her
+future lay before her a treeless, trackless, mist-shrouded desert. What
+was the reason of it? Was Sir Charles to blame, or Gervase, or Rufus
+Sterne? Or should she take all the blame to herself?
+
+She was disturbed in her meditations by the sound of a quick and firm
+step behind her. Her first impulse was to turn her head, but she
+resisted it. The steps drew nearer; the hard road echoed distinctly. She
+drew slowly to the side of the road, so that the pedestrian, whoever he
+might be, might pass her. It was time she turned round and retraced her
+steps to the Hall, but she would wait a few minutes longer, until the
+man had passed her. Now he was almost by her side. She turned her head
+slightly and their eyes met. In a moment her face brightened, and her
+lips parted in an eager smile. He dropped a small bag he was carrying,
+so that he might grasp her outstretched hand. It was fate or destiny,
+and there was no use fighting against it.
+
+"I have been wondering if I was ever to see you again," she said, in her
+bright, unconventional way. "You are quite well again, I see. Oh, I am
+so thankful! I would have called round, only--well, you see the
+conventions of this old country have to be observed even by an
+American."
+
+"And you find them rather irksome?" he questioned, an eager light
+brightening his eyes.
+
+"Well, on the whole I fear I do. But we have to take things as we find
+them, I suppose. Discipline, they say, is good for us."
+
+"I believe that is a generally accepted doctrine," he said, with a
+laugh.
+
+"But you doubt it?" she asked, looking coyly up into his face.
+
+"I did not say so," he answered, jocularly. "Do you think I am such a
+doubter that I doubt everything?"
+
+"Well, no," she answered, slowly. "I will not go quite so far as that. I
+guess there are still a few things you stick to."
+
+"We all believe what we cannot help believing," he answered,
+enigmatically.
+
+"Oh, what a profound utterance!" she said, laughing brightly in his
+face.
+
+"It is rather profound, isn't it? But how have you enjoyed yourself in
+London?"
+
+"Oh! moderately well. For the first two weeks or so we had rather a gay
+time, then things got flat, or I got flat. And then the weather, you
+know, was atrocious. Those London fogs are a treat!"
+
+"So I've heard. I've had no experience of them."
+
+"Well, you needn't be envious. But how about your invention? I've been
+looking for your name in the papers. When are you going to astonish us
+all?"
+
+His face clouded in a moment and his eyes caught a far-away look. "It is
+never safe to prophesy," he said, after a pause.
+
+"But you are still quite sure of success?" she questioned, a little
+anxiously.
+
+He smiled a little bit sadly, and answered, "A friend of mine sometimes
+encourages me by telling me that there is nothing certain in this world
+but death."
+
+"Your friend must be a pessimist," she said, "and I don't like
+pessimists. But tell me candidly, has your success been imperilled in
+any way by--by--your accident?"
+
+"No, I do not think so," he answered, quickly. "My work has been delayed
+a little, that is all. If I fail, it will not be on that account."
+
+"But you are not going to fail, of course you are not."
+
+"I hope I shall not," he answered, seriously. "But in the chances of
+life there must be a great many failures. Think of the millions of
+toiling people in England to-day and how few of them have reached their
+hearts' desire."
+
+"Yes, I suppose that is so," she answered, thoughtfully, "or perhaps the
+bulk of them have never had any large desires. But don't you think that
+most of the great men who have striven long enough have won in the end?"
+
+"I was not thinking of the great men," he answered. "It is given only to
+a few men to be great, and of the rest, if they fail once, their chance
+is gone."
+
+"And do you mean to tell me that if you don't succeed this time you
+won't try again?"
+
+"If circumstances would let me, I would never cease trying," he
+answered. "But we are all of us more or less the slaves of
+circumstances, some more than others."
+
+"You told me once that you had staked your all on the success of this
+enterprise."
+
+"That is true."
+
+"And if you fail, you will lose everything?"
+
+"Everything!"
+
+"You mean, of course, your time and your money, and your labour!"
+
+"Yes, I mean that," he said, smiling wistfully.
+
+"Oh, well! that is not everything, after all," she answered, brightly.
+"You are young enough to begin again. And, after all, what we call
+failures may be stepping-stones to success, and you will win in the end,
+I know you will. God will not let you fail."
+
+"I wish I believed in God as you do," he said, with downcast eyes.
+
+"So long as God believes in you it won't matter so much," she answered,
+cheerfully. "But I must be going back now. You are going further, I
+presume?"
+
+"I am going to spend Christmas with my grandfather, at Tregannon."
+
+"Is that far?"
+
+"About six or seven miles."
+
+"And are you going to walk all the distance?"
+
+"I expect so, unless someone overtakes me who can give me a lift by the
+way."
+
+"I hope you will have a very happy Christmas."
+
+"Thank you. Let me wish the same wish for you."
+
+"We shall be gay at any rate," she said, with a little sigh. "The
+Captain returns this evening."
+
+"Ah! then you are sure to be happy. Good-bye!"
+
+He took her outstretched hand and held it for a long moment, looking
+earnestly the while into her sweet, fearless eyes. Then without another
+word he picked up his bag and hurried away.
+
+
+
+
+                                CHAPTER XVII
+
+                                RETROSPECTIVE
+
+
+Rufus tramped the seven long miles to Tregannon like one in a dream. Up
+hill and down dale he swung his way, heedless of the milestones and
+untroubled by distance. The short winter's day faded into darkness
+before he had covered half the journey. A little later the moon sailed
+slowly up in the eastern sky and flung weird shadows across the road,
+but he paid no heed. Through sleepy villages and hamlets he tramped, by
+lonely cottages and splashing water-wheels, but his thoughts were back
+in the quiet lane outside St. Gaved, and the warm hand of Madeline
+Grover still trembled in his.
+
+He had tried to forget her, tried to keep out of her way; but what was
+the use? She had come into his life for good or ill, and she had come to
+stay. Until he ceased to draw breath she would dominate his heart, and
+it was only waste of strength and energy to fight against his fate.
+
+He hardly knew whether he was sorry or glad. If he had to leave the
+world, loving her would make it all the harder, he knew. If his
+enterprise succeeded and his life stretched out to its natural span, the
+burden of an unrequited love would always press heavy upon him. And yet
+to love at all was worth living for. The thrill of her touch, the glance
+of her sweet, honest eyes, made heaven for the moment. Let the future
+go. Sufficient unto the day was the evil thereof. Twelve months hence
+he might be sleeping in the dust, and she might be the wife of Gervase
+Tregony. It was foolish, therefore, to anticipate the future. To-day
+alone was his, and he would make the most of it, and let his heart go
+out in free, unfettered affection, giving all and asking for nothing in
+return. It was in the inspiration and exaltation of this feeling that he
+swung along the quiet country lanes. No one could hinder him from
+loving, and love was its own reward. The joy was not so much in
+receiving as in giving. When love became selfish it ceased to be love.
+Madeline might never be his in the conventional sense. She might never
+know how much she had been to him, might never guess how much he loved
+her. That might not be all loss; it might, indeed, be gain. He felt
+already that he was a better man for this great passion that had come
+into his life--less selfish, less self-centred, less bitter and
+infinitely more pitiful.
+
+He found his grandfather, Rev. Reuben Sterne, still active and alert, in
+spite of the eighty-four winters that had passed over his head. He was
+no less sure of his election now than he was sixty years ago, when he
+was first called to the ministry, and he was as anxious to remain a
+little longer on the earth as he was in the flowery days of his youth.
+
+He extended to his grandson a grave and unemotional welcome, and then
+led the way into the little sitting-room, where his wife sat deep in an
+easy chair, a little, shrunken thing, who looked as if all the sap had
+dried out of her veins. Her welcome, however, was much warmer than her
+husband's, and the tears came into her faded eyes when he bent down to
+kiss her.
+
+While supper was being got ready Rufus stretched himself in an easy
+chair before the fire and listened while the old people talked.
+
+"Ah me, Rufus," Mrs. Sterne said, in her thin, quavering voice. "It is
+just sixteen years ago yesterday since news came that your father was
+dead. How time flies, to be sure, and your poor mother survived the
+shock just six months and a day."
+
+Rufus had heard the story recalled nearly every Christmas Eve since.
+Whoever might forget, the little grandmother remembered, Joshua
+Sterne--Rufus's father--was her firstborn and only child, and the wound
+caused by his death never seemed to heal.
+
+Rufus listened with no poignant sense of grief. His father had crossed
+the Atlantic to seek his fortune when he, Rufus, was little more than
+out-of-arms, and he had never returned. Rufus fancied that he remembered
+him. But he was never quite sure. The recollection--if such it was--was
+so vague and indistinct that it seemed little more than the shadow of a
+dream.
+
+He remembered well enough the day when the news came of his father's
+death. Remembered the grief and anguish of his mother, which, boy-like,
+he did his best to soothe, but which he could not understand.
+
+Six months later the broken-hearted mother slipped unexpectedly away
+into the land of shadows, and Rufus, bewildered and rebellious, was
+taken away from the silent house to live with his grandparents. That
+seemed like the beginning of all his griefs. He had often wondered since
+what his life would have been like if his mother had lived. How he would
+have rejoiced to toil for her and fight her battles. But it was not to
+be. In the cold and gloomy shadow of his grandfather's home it seemed to
+him that the better side of his nature had never a chance of developing.
+The sunshine was absent. The real joy of existence was unknown.
+
+Reuben Sterne was a disciplinarian of the severest type. A minister of
+the Gospel who had no real Gospel to preach. A theologian who had no
+true vision of God. A man severe and stern by nature, and made doubly so
+by an austere and loveless creed. "God was a jealous God." That lay at
+the foundation of all his beliefs and coloured all his actions. The
+burden of the Divine decrees lay heavy upon his heart in the brightest
+days, and touched every song to sadness. Of his own election he did not
+doubt. Of his call to preach to the elect he was equally sure. But his
+only son, Joshua, the child of many prayers, gave no evidence of saving
+grace, and died uncalled to the favours of the heavenly fold, while his
+grandson, Rufus, appeared, even from boyhood, to be as pagan as his
+name. This was a great grief to the old man, though he would not have
+made any sign of it for the world. It was his place to bow, not only in
+submission, but in thankfulness to the heavenly will. To kiss the hand
+that smote, and adore the unrelenting power that consigned to eternal
+burning those who were dear to him as his own life.
+
+At bottom his heart was better than his creed, but he was afraid of
+showing tenderness or affection lest he should be running counter to the
+Divine Will, or giving encouragement to the enemies of the cross to
+blaspheme.
+
+Twice every Sunday Rufus was led to the Baptist chapel to hear his
+grandfather preach, and early indicated the fate to which he was
+predestined by falling asleep under the old man's most terrible sermons.
+Among the memories that stood out most clearly in his brain was that of
+his grandfather in the pulpit. A tall, straight man, with clean-shaved,
+severe face, and eyes that never smiled. He always wore a frock-coat,
+tightly buttoned, a tall, stiff collar, and a large white bow, the ends
+of which touched the lapels of his coat. His grey hair was brushed
+smoothly from his forehead, his mouth was set in severe lines, his
+shoulders squared as if for battle. And indeed, every sermon was a
+battle. He was appointed of God to fight "spiritual wickedness in high
+places." He asked no quarter and gave none. His voice rang with the
+thunders of the law. Sinai was nearer to his heart than Calvary.
+
+Rufus gave evidence of intellectual revolt before he had reached his
+teens.
+
+"What is the use of preaching, grandfather?" he asked the old man, one
+Sunday morning, over the dinner table.
+
+"The use of preaching?" the Rev. Reuben questioned, aghast at the
+audacity of the young speaker; while Mrs. Sterne laid down her knife and
+fork, and stared.
+
+"Well, suppose you didn't preach, what would happen?" the boy went on,
+unconscious of the storm he was raising.
+
+"Happen? Happen? Be silent, boy; you know not of what you are speaking."
+
+"But if you didn't preach, would the elect be lost?" the boy persisted.
+
+"Of course not. How could they be lost? 'Whom He did foreknow, He also
+did predestinate.'"
+
+"And will you save any of those who are not elected by preaching to
+them?" the boy went on.
+
+"It is not in man's power to save at all," the old man said, severely.
+"Salvation belongeth unto the Lord."
+
+"Well, then, I don't see a bit of use in preaching or in going to
+chapel."
+
+The old man raised his eyes and stared. "You ungrateful, unregenerate
+youth," he said. "How dare you speak in such a way, and at my table?"
+
+"But, grandfather," said the boy, with astonishment in his eyes, "why am
+I ungrateful because I ask questions?"
+
+"Why? Because your questions savour of an unregenerate and unbelieving
+heart; because they make light of the Word of truth; because the Spirit
+of God is not in you."
+
+"But how can I help that, grandfather? Do you think it is that I am not
+called?"
+
+"I fear you are not," he said, with a groan. "I fear you are not."
+
+"But you are not sure, grandfather?"
+
+"No, I am not sure; but there is no evidence of saving grace in you."
+
+"But if I am elected I shall be all right in the end, sha'n't I?"
+
+"Yes, yes; the gracious Spirit always finds those who have the mark of
+the seal."
+
+"Then, I don't think I shall go to chapel to-night."
+
+"Not go to chapel!" and the old man's eyes flashed fire. "Not go to
+chapel? Did my ears deceive me? Is it for this I have cared for you
+since the death of your mother? Boy, boy, be careful how you disobey
+me!"
+
+"But, but----"
+
+"Not another word," the old man said, raising his right hand in a
+threatening attitude. "Not another word, or I will punish you as you
+were never punished before. How dare you blaspheme, and at my very
+board?"
+
+That was the beginning of open strife and rebellion. The boy went to
+chapel that night, and for many years after, but never in the same
+spirit again. Scarcely a Sunday passed that both his heart and
+intellect did not revolt against his grandfather's teachings, and there
+was no one to show him the other side of the shield. Had some whisper
+come to him in those days that truth was many-sided, that the Kingdom of
+God was broader than Church or Creed, and that the heart of the Eternal
+was not to be measured by an ecclesiastical tape-line, he might have
+been saved many long years of darkness and doubt. But in the village of
+Tregannon, teachers and seers were few, and books that would have helped
+him were out of his reach.
+
+So he grew first into the belief that he belonged to the non-elect, and
+later into the belief that the whole fabric of the Christian religion
+was a delusion and a snare.
+
+Yet no cloud of unbelief dimmed for a moment the purity of his soul. He
+loved goodness none the less because he hated human creeds. Right was
+right, whatever preachers preached or failed to preach; and wrong was
+wrong though stamped with the Church's approval.
+
+It was a great grief to the Rev. Reuben and to his wife when Rufus
+demonstrated by open and unabashed revolt that he belonged to the
+non-elect. They had suspected it early in his career; they had prepared
+themselves for the blow when it should fall. The tender-hearted little
+grandmother had hoped and prayed till the last, and even continued to
+pray when she believed that praying was vain and feared that it might be
+an offence to the Lord.
+
+The Rev. Reuben was made of sterner stuff. "Ephraim," he said, "is
+joined to his idols, let him alone."
+
+So the quiet, uneventful years passed away, and the boy grew into a man.
+A man of fine presence, of considerable intellectual attainments--for
+Reuben Sterne gave the lad the best education he could afford--and of
+unblemished character.
+
+Rufus wanted to be an engineer, but that was beyond his grandfather's
+means. His grandmother wanted to apprentice him to a draper, but the boy
+protested so vehemently that that laudable desire was never carried out.
+In the end, he found his way into a Redbourne Bank, where he became
+acquainted with Felix Muller, who was a solicitor's clerk in the town,
+and who later on succeeded to his master's business. From Redbourne,
+Rufus removed to St. Gaved as Secretary to the Wheal Gregory Tin Mining
+Company, Limited, and it was while there that he conceived a scheme for
+the bettering of his own fortunes and those of the county as a whole.
+
+Rufus could not help recalling the past as he stretched his legs before
+the fire and listened in dreamy fashion to the talk of the old people.
+All the years that had fled and gone seemed to live again. All the
+people that he knew in his boyhood's days gathered round him once more.
+Voices long since hushed in the great silence spoke to him as they used
+to do; and eyes that long since had fallen into dust smiled with all
+their old sweetness.
+
+He always felt a boy again when he came home to Tregannon. The old
+people were unchanged. They did not look a day older than ten years
+previously. The house and its ways had been stereotyped for a
+generation. The same coarse rug was before the fire, on which he had
+sprawled as a lad. The same kettle sang on the hob, the same poker and
+tongs shone in the firelight.
+
+The old people still talked on, recalling the events of other years, the
+one supplying what the other had forgotten. Rufus interposed a
+monosyllable now and then, but his thoughts in the main were far away
+from theirs. Suddenly his interest was aroused by an allusion his
+grandfather made to some wasteful and abortive lawsuit that followed his
+father's death.
+
+"The ways of the law may be crooked in this country," he said, with
+energy; "and English lawyers may be blood-suckers in the main, but in
+America things are fifty times worse."
+
+"Why do you think that?" he questioned, raising his eyes with interest.
+
+"Why, because I've proved it. Your father's title was clear enough,
+there's no doubt about that. He made his money honestly too. If he'd
+lived a month or two longer he'd have returned home a rich man."
+
+"Well?"
+
+"Well, just because some swindler disputed his right, and a blackmailer
+presented a bogus account, and somebody else claimed on the estate, on
+the ground of a letter which was clearly a forgery, the lawyers went to
+work with glee, and the State judge or attorney, or whoever he may be,
+aided and abetted the plunder. A grosser piece of corruption there never
+was in this world."
+
+"And they ate it all up between them?"
+
+"Every dollar. At least, I presume so. It was postponed--I mean the
+settlement--and postponed month after month, and year after year; and
+taken to this court and that, the lawyers licking their lips all the
+time--What cared they for the widow and the fatherless? And when there
+was nothing left of the estate, why the litigation ceased."
+
+"That's usually the case, isn't it?"
+
+"But in our English courts there is a chance of an honest man coming by
+his rights."
+
+"Not much if he should happen to be a poor man."
+
+"Then you believe we are as bad as the Americans?"
+
+"Every whit. Lawyers and law courts, all the world over mean the same
+thing."
+
+"But isn't one of your best friends a lawyer?"
+
+"You refer to Felix Muller? Well, yes. Muller has been a very good
+friend to me. But when it comes to business, like the rest of them, he
+will have his pound of flesh."
+
+"Ah, well!" the old man answered, with a sigh. "It's a sad world. Though
+many may be called, few are chosen, and Satan must work his will till
+the appointed time."
+
+"He seems to have had a pretty long innings," Rufus said, with a laugh.
+
+"And yet, beyond his chain he cannot go," the old man answered. And then
+supper was brought on to the table.
+
+
+
+
+                                CHAPTER XVIII
+
+                             THE OLD AND THE NEW
+
+
+Rufus awoke next morning to the sound of Christmas bells ringing wildly
+down the valley and out across the hills. It was a pleasant sound, and
+awoke many tender memories in his heart. Instinctively his thoughts
+turned back to the Gospel story, and to the Christ who had changed the
+history of the world. Whatever might be said of the doctrines and dogmas
+that his grandfather had preached for fifty years with so much vehemence
+and energy, there could be no doubt as to the ethical value of Christ's
+life and sayings.
+
+He had not looked into the New Testament for a good many years now, but
+it suddenly occurred to him that it was scarcely fair to hold Christ
+responsible for all the foolish things done and taught in His name. He
+recalled without effort whole paragraphs of the Sermon on the Mount, for
+he had been compelled, as a boy, to get off whole chapters both of the
+Old and New Testament by heart, and he felt that nothing nobler had been
+taught in all the history of the world. Besides all that, there was
+something infinitely beautiful and touching in the tragedy of Christ's
+life and death. He was a martyr for scorned ideals. He gave up his life
+rather than compromise with evil, or be a party to the hypocrisies of
+His time. He was, undoubtedly, the friend of the poor, and outcast, and
+oppressed, and was the only religious man of His time who had the
+courage to speak a kind word to publicans and harlots.
+
+Rufus began to have an uncomfortable feeling that he had scarcely
+treated this sacred figure with ordinary chivalry or fair play. The very
+ideals he stood for and advocated were among those the Man of Nazareth
+lived for and died for. From what, then, had he revolted? Against what
+had he protested?
+
+He closed his eyes while the bells rang on, and tried to think. He could
+recall no word of Christ to which he could take exception, no single act
+that was not in itself a message of goodwill to men. Here was a life
+absolutely unselfish, and sacrificed in the pursuit of the noblest
+ideal. Here was teaching that struck at the greed and hypocrisy and lust
+of a corrupt age. Here was an influence, if taken by itself, which must
+always be for the common good.
+
+Why, then, had he revolted? He had called Christianity a delusion and a
+snare. A benumbing superstition, an invention of priests for the
+enslavement of men and women. In his defence of the position he had
+taken up he had pointed out that Christianity had stood for slavery, for
+war, for oppression, for persecution, for greed, and for the rule of the
+strong over the rights and consciences of the weak. Had he been wrong in
+this contention? And if not, where was the discrepancy?
+
+Could it be true that Christ stood for one thing, and Christianity for
+another? In other words, was the thing that bore the name of
+Christianity, Christianity at all? Did it bear anything but the most
+distant resemblance to that sweet and ennobling influence that Jesus
+breathed into the life of the world?
+
+He became interested in the problem. The bells ceased their wild revel,
+and a little company of carol singers broke out in the front garden:
+
+    Hark! the glad sound, the Saviour comes,
+      The Saviour promised long,
+    Let every heart prepare a throne,
+      And every voice a song.
+
+They sang well and tunefully, sustaining all the parts, and throwing
+heart and enthusiasm into the exercise. He listened with interest and
+pleasure. A new chord seemed to have been struck in his nature. A fresh
+window had been opened in his mind. A year ago the carol might have
+irritated him, and he would probably have laid the flattering unction to
+his soul, that he had outgrown a mouldy and moth-eaten superstition.
+
+He wondered if loving Madeline Grover had made his heart sensitive to
+new influences, or if it was the possibility of a speedy escape from
+life that had turned his heart anew to these questions.
+
+The carol-singers had come to honour his grandfather. He was no longer
+their pastor. He had preached till he was eighty--preached till his once
+crowded congregation had dwindled down to a mere handful, and the glory
+of "Zion," as the chapel was called, had become but a memory. Yet his
+name was revered still. For fifty years and more he had lived in
+Tregannon, and had lived a life of strict and severe integrity, and,
+though the younger generation had drifted away from his ministry, and
+"Zion" was no longer enthusiastic about the terms of its title-deeds,
+yet there was no one who had not a good word to speak of the
+white-haired supernumerary.
+
+He heard the door open at length. The old servant had gone down to let
+the singers in, and he knew there would be cocoa and saffron cake, and a
+word of welcome and exhortation from his grandfather. It was pleasant,
+after all, to be remembered with so much affection after a life of
+eighty-four years.
+
+Rufus wondered if his name would ever be held in any degree of esteem by
+his fellows, or if he would live unhonoured, and die unlamented. Why was
+it his grandfather's name was so much revered? Was it the manner of his
+life or the character of his preaching that had touched the heart and
+imagination of Tregannon?
+
+He had not much difficulty in answering that question. Nobody cared
+about his sermons now. The few that were remembered, were remembered
+only to be discussed and discarded. His criticisms of Luther, his fierce
+attacks on Arminianism, his deadly assaults on Darwin and Huxley, who
+were beginning to be talked about, his righteous scorn at infant
+baptism, his ponderous defence of verbal inspiration, his laboured
+expositions of the prophecies of Daniel, his flounderings in the deep
+waters of the Apocalypse, his weighty disquisitions on foreknowledge and
+predestination, and his nicely-balanced definitions of such terms as
+atonement, justification, regeneration and the like--what did they all
+amount to now? Who recalled them or were made the better by them? The
+thing that mattered was goodness. In so far as he had set an example of
+uprightness of character, of simplicity of aim, of unselfishness in his
+dealings with his fellows, he had lived to purpose. The sermon that all
+Tregannon remembered was his upright life. Austere he had always been,
+carrying himself with a certain reserve that no one could break down,
+but beneath a cold and placid surface there had beaten a genuinely human
+heart. To the poor and suffering and heartbroken he had proved himself
+through two generations a genuine friend. Hence it was that though he
+had lived in retirement for the last four years his name was held in
+reverence still.
+
+Rufus found himself debating the question from a fresh standpoint. Was
+Christianity what his grandfather preached, or what he lived? He had
+heard him declare from the pulpit, with passionate vehemence, that good
+works were filthy rags, and that morality might be a millstone around
+the neck to sink the soul in deeper perdition. Yet who cared for his
+grandfather's theology in Tregannon? The thing that made his name
+revered was that very morality which he had so often warned his hearers
+against.
+
+"There's a screw loose somewhere," Rufus said to himself, with a smile.
+"Perhaps I had better read the New Testament again and try to find out
+what Christianity is. What passes in its name I like as little as ever I
+did. Its priestly assumptions, its grotesque dogmas, its truculent
+grovelling at the feet of wealth, its pitiful squabblings about forms
+and orders, its defence of oppression and war, and most other
+abominations, its silence and helplessness in face of public corruption.
+Great Scott! what does it all mean? Think of Christianity in Russia
+siding with the brutes who rule that unhappy land; think of it in
+France, where the people in disgust are trying to kick it out; think of
+it in England, allied to the State, intriguing for power and resorting
+to every kind of sharp practice to gain its own ends, and think of Jesus
+dying for a great ideal. I'll give up the problem, it's beyond me." And
+he got out of bed and began to dress. After breakfast he rather
+astonished the old people by announcing that he would go to chapel.
+
+"I hope you will go, Rufus, in a proper spirit," the old man said,
+severely.
+
+"I hope so," was the answer; "though I am bound to confess I am prompted
+mainly by a desire to hear your new minister."
+
+The Rev. Reuben looked grave. "It is possible he may say something you
+may approve of. I grieve to say that even the pulpit is touched by what
+is called the modern spirit."
+
+"But I hear that 'Zion' is regaining some of its former glory."
+
+"The congregations are large, I admit; but I fear in these days the
+people have itching ears."
+
+"That has been true, I am told, of every generation."
+
+"It may be so. Yet thirty years ago--aye, twenty years ago--the people
+endured sound doctrine even when it was galling to the flesh."
+
+"And to-day, grandfather?"
+
+The old man shook his head and smiled sadly. "I fear me they have no
+stomach for strong meat," he said, pathetically.
+
+"Well, it is not a bit of use trying to swallow what we cannot digest,"
+Rufus said, with a laugh. "However, I will hear this Rev. Marshall Brook
+for myself."
+
+He felt painfully conspicuous as he walked into the chapel behind the
+stooping form of his grandfather--the little grandmother was too feeble
+to attend. He thought that everybody was eyeing him with an unnecessary
+amount of curiosity. He slipped into the far corner of the pew, the
+place where he had spent many a weary and painful hour in the years gone
+by, and for awhile he kept his eyes fixed upon the floor. A quiet,
+slow-moving voluntary was being played on the organ, around him was a
+faint rustle of silks and the shuffling of feet. From the vestibule came
+a subdued hum of voices as acquaintances met and exchanged Christmas
+greetings.
+
+Rufus was carried back again to the days of his boyhood and youth. The
+present was forgotten. He had never been away from Tregannon. He was
+still a lad. He had a jack-knife in his pocket and a white alley and a
+piece of cobbler's wax and several yards of string. That was Billy
+Beswarick's suppressed cough coming from a neighbouring pew, and he was
+sure Dick Daddo was behind him waiting to pull his hair.
+
+He raised his eyes at length, and the illusion partially vanished; but
+not altogether. There was the same organ--how often he had counted its
+gilt dummy pipes; new brass book-rests had been placed in the gallery
+front for the convenience of the choir--that was an innovation, and
+brought him down to more modern days. The iron pillars that supported
+the galleries were festooned with evergreens, and over the arch of the
+organ loft was a text of Scripture, conspicuous in white against a
+scarlet background:--"On earth peace and good will toward men."
+
+The text set Rufus thinking again. He rather wondered that anyone had
+the courage to put it up. Perhaps the young people had done it,
+unthinkingly, for no sentiment could be more incongruous or out of
+place. The air was full of the clash of arms, the newspapers contained
+little else than records of battle and slaughter. Ministers all over the
+country were preaching sermons on patriotism and Imperialism. Churches
+and Sunday-schools were organising boys' brigades, and children were
+being taught how to shoot. Here and there a solitary voice protested
+against all war as unchristian, but the voice in the main was unheeded.
+How could war be unchristian? How could killing on a large scale be
+anything but an ennobling occupation? How could defending homes that
+were not attacked and destroying homes that were not defended, be
+anything less than heroic? How could stealing your neighbour's
+birthright and possessing his inheritance be anything but righteous?
+
+"There's evidently a screw loose somewhere," he said to himself, with a
+smile. "If that text sets forth the objective of Christ's mission, then
+a good deal that passes muster as Christianity to-day is loathsome
+hypocrisy."
+
+Then his attention was arrested by the entrance of the minister into the
+pulpit. A young man with a frank, boyish face, large, square forehead, a
+wide mouth, strong chin and jaw--all this he took in at a glance. A
+moment later he noticed that his dress was unclerical, his hands small
+and brown, his eyes deep-set and dark.
+
+Rufus felt interested in the man. Accustomed as he had been during all
+the years of his boyhood and youth to seeing the tall, stiff, clerical
+figure of his grandfather in the pulpit, there seemed something
+delightfully free and unconventional about this young man. The pulpit
+"tone" was absent from his voice, the pulpit manner he had evidently not
+yet learnt, the pulpit expression had to be acquired.
+
+Rufus got far back in his childhood days again during the singing and
+prayers. But directly the text was announced and the minister began to
+preach he felt wide awake and interested. To begin with, all his early
+notions about preaching were rudely upset. Taking his grandfather as a
+model this young man did not preach at all. He just talked and talked in
+a most delightfully easy and quickening way.
+
+The farther he advanced the more interested Rufus became. There were no
+attempts at oratory, no flights of rhetoric, no simulated passion, no
+declamation, but just earnest, lucid talk. He forgot that he was in a
+chapel and this man in a pulpit. They might be anywhere--in a workshop
+or by the fireside--and the man was talking to them on a subject of deep
+and perennial interest. He did not dogmatise; he did not ignore
+objections and difficulties. He faced every problem fairly and
+fearlessly, and gave his reason for the faith that was in him.
+
+"The desire of all nations shall come," was the text. What was the
+desire of all nations? What was the deep, passionate longing of all
+thoughtful, serious people of all ages and of all countries? And how was
+that longing met in Jesus of Nazareth?
+
+On the first point he touched Rufus to the quick. He described every
+mental emotion through which he had passed, and showed how every merely
+human philosophy had failed to satisfy the need of the human heart.
+Every word of this part of the discourse was absolutely true to Rufus's
+own experience.
+
+But when the preacher came to deal with the second part of his subject,
+Rufus felt all his old scepticism returning with a rush; and yet so
+reasonably did the preacher talk that he was compelled to listen. He did
+not speak like an advocate with a bad case. There were no evasions, no
+special pleadings, no attempts to browbeat witnesses, or to sail off on
+side issues. He spoke as one who had fought his way through every phase
+of doubt, and had reached the serene heights of absolute conviction.
+
+Christ had met his needs, and had answered his questions, had solved the
+riddle of life.
+
+Rufus shook his head more than once unconsciously. The argument from
+experience might be satisfactory enough to those who had the experience,
+but he wanted proof. The experience of another man was of very little
+value to him.
+
+If he could be sure that Christ spoke with absolute authority on these
+questions that vexed the human mind, then would he find rest also, but
+how was he to get that assurance.
+
+He walked home from chapel by his grandfather's side in silence. The old
+man was as little disposed to talk as Rufus, but for a different reason.
+
+After dinner Rufus went for a long walk alone. He wanted to shake off
+the effects of the sermon. Some of the conclusions of the preacher had
+made him feel distinctly uncomfortable. The possibility of life being a
+sacred trust for the use, or abuse, of which he would be held
+responsible by a Supreme Being was distinctly disquieting, especially in
+view of the unpleasant possibility that was hanging over his head.
+
+If life were not his own to do as he liked with--to spend or end how or
+when seemed good in his own eyes--then his attempt to gamble with it was
+more immoral than for a trustee or a lawyer to gamble with his client's
+property. Rufus had always prided himself on his honour. It was his
+sheet-anchor in all the mental storms through which he had passed; but
+if in throwing his life into pawn he had pawned his honour at the same
+time what was there left to him that was worth possessing? And if the
+worst should come to the worst, if, as he sometimes feared, his
+invention had been forestalled--not only a part of it, but the whole of
+it--if the demands of what he called honour should necessitate the
+giving up of his life, in what sort of moral dilemma would he find
+himself?
+
+His compact with Muller began to appear in a more unpleasantly lurid
+light than it had ever done before. Could a man steal money to pay his
+debts with, and then boast of his honesty in paying? Could he discharge
+a debt of honour by an act that in itself was criminal?
+
+It was dark when he got back to his grandfather's house, but the
+influence of the sermon was still upon him. He had passed cottages by
+the dozen from which had come sounds of mirth and festivity. Tregannon
+appeared to be enjoying itself to the full. The young people, untroubled
+about the future, were making merry in the hope and gladness of to-day;
+while he, having lost the faith of his childhood, had drifted into
+regions not only of hopelessness, but of peril.
+
+"It seems but a poor exchange," he said, sadly, "but I shall have to
+make the best of it."
+
+When he opened the door he was surprised to hear the voices of his
+grandfather and the Rev. Marshall Brook, in what seemed to him a very
+animated and even heated discussion.
+
+
+
+
+                                CHAPTER XIX
+
+                             AFTER THREE YEARS
+
+
+After her meeting with Rufus Sterne, Madeline walked slowly back to the
+Hall with a very thoughtful look upon her face. She knew that this
+Christmas Eve was to be a fateful time for her, her whole future seemed
+to be hanging in the balance. On what happened during the next few
+days--perhaps, during the next few hours--would depend in all
+probability the happiness, or the misery, of all the years that would
+follow.
+
+The point to which her life had been steadily drifting would be reached
+to-night. The man who had been waiting for her would ask her to come
+into his arms, the consummation of her girlish dreams was about to be
+realised. Why did she shrink from the fateful moment? Why did she
+contemplate the meeting with Gervase with something like alarm? Before
+she reached the Hall she put a question boldly to herself that she had
+never dared ask before. Had Rufus Sterne anything to do with this
+half-defined fear that haunted her. Suppose he had never crossed her
+path--had never awakened her gratitude by his courage and chivalry, had
+never touched her sympathy by his vicarious suffering--would she at this
+moment be almost dreading the appearance of Gervase Tregony on the
+scene?
+
+Till she met Rufus Sterne, Gervase had been her ideal. His bigness, his
+masterfulness, his fearlessness, his daring had awakened in her a sense
+of awe. He was her ideal still in many respects. She never expected to
+see a more soldierly man, never expected to hear a voice that was more
+clearly meant to command, never anticipated a stronger arm to lean upon.
+
+And yet there was no denying the fact that the brightness of the image
+had been somewhat dimmed of late. In point of bigness, in point of
+masterfulness, and, above all, in point of social position, Rufus Sterne
+was not to be mentioned in the same day with Gervase Tregony, and yet
+Rufus Sterne, poor and friendless as he was, had touched her heart and
+her imagination in a way that Gervase had never done.
+
+Her fingers were tingling still under the pressure of his hand. The
+tones of his voice were still vibrating through the chambers of her
+brain, the colour mounted to her cheeks whenever she thought of him.
+
+"Perhaps, when I see Gervase," she said to herself, "all my forebodings
+will vanish. It will be a comfort to know that I have been worrying
+myself for nothing. If he loves me for my own sake--and I shall soon
+find out if he doesn't--and if I--I--like him as I have always done, why
+there is no reason at all why we should not be two of the happiest
+people in the world. Nevertheless, I wish Sir Charles was not in such a
+hurry to arrange things."
+
+She found Lady Tregony and Beryl pretending concern at her long absence,
+but very little was said, and Madeline did not explain why she had been
+so long.
+
+"We have ordered dinner, my dear, for half-past seven," Lady Tregony
+said, in her blandest tones. "We have had another telegram from dear
+Gervase while you have been out. It was handed in at Bristol. He seems
+terribly impatient to be at home. I suppose you would not care to drive
+into Redbourne with Sir Charles to meet him?"
+
+"No, indeed. I would prefer to meet him here, thank you."
+
+"I am sure it would be quite proper, my dear, if you would care to go,
+and really Gervase seems dying to see you."
+
+"I don't think it would be proper at all," Madeline answered, quite
+frankly.
+
+"Oh, yes, my dear. Everybody now looks upon the engagement as a settled
+thing."
+
+"Indeed. I did not know people took so much interest in our affairs, or
+indeed, knew anything about the matter."
+
+"Oh, yes, my dear; it is impossible that such things can be kept a
+secret. I expect you will get tons and tons of congratulations on
+Friday."
+
+"Why on Friday, Lady Tregony?"
+
+"Why, because we shall have the house full of people on Friday, to be
+sure. I wouldn't that there should be a hitch for the world."
+
+Madeline walked upstairs to her room, feeling very perturbed, and not a
+little annoyed. It seemed now as if everybody was beginning to show his
+or her hand. Now that the game was practically won there was not quite
+so much need for caution or finesse. Indeed, to take the engagement for
+granted might be a good way of settling the matter once and for all.
+
+"But it is not settled yet," she said to herself, a little bit
+indignantly; "and what is more I will not have my affairs settled for me
+by anybody."
+
+It had been her intention to dress herself with the greatest care that
+evening, to don the smartest and most becoming frock she possessed. But
+she concluded now she would do nothing of the kind.
+
+"I am not going to lay myself out to make a conquest as though I were a
+husband hunter," she said to herself, with heightened colour; "and what
+is more I am not going to let anybody take things for granted," and she
+dropped into a basket chair before the fire.
+
+It was the first time Lady Tregony had so openly shown her hand, and it
+made Madeline think more furiously than ever.
+
+Her maid came a little later and lighted the lamp and drew the blinds,
+then quietly withdrew. Madeline sat staring into the fire, watching the
+faces come and go, and conjuring up all kinds of visions. She heard the
+brougham drive away; heard the Baronet's voice for a moment or two, then
+all grew still again. In another hour he would be back again,
+accompanied by his son. She wanted to get up and walk about the room,
+but she held herself in check with a firm hand, and sat resolutely
+still. She did not attempt to hide from herself the fact that she was
+painfully excited. Her heart was beating at twice its normal rate. She
+was longing to see Gervase, and yet she dreaded the moment when she
+would again look into his eyes.
+
+She did her best to put Rufus Sterne out of her mind. She had a vague
+kind of feeling that she was disloyal to her girlish ideals. The hour,
+to which all the other hours of her life had steadily and consistently
+moved, was on the point of striking. She ought to be supremely happy.
+One face only should fill all her dreams. She had grown to believe that
+Gervase Tregony had been ordained for her and she for him--until the
+last few months not a doubt had crossed her mind on this point, and
+now----
+
+She got up and began to walk about the room. She could sit still no
+longer. The very air had become oppressive. She felt as though a
+thunderstorm was brooding over the place.
+
+Her maid came in at length, much to her relief, and began to help her
+dress for dinner. While her hair was being brushed and combed she
+listened intently for the sound of carriage wheels. The roads were hard,
+and sounds travelled far on the still frosty air.
+
+She caught the sounds she had been listening for at length, and her
+heart seemed to come into her mouth. The beat of the horses' hoofs
+became as regular as the ticking of a clock. Nearer and nearer drew the
+sounds, till the maid stopped her brushing, and listened.
+
+"They are coming," she said, with a little catch in her breath. "I did
+not think they would be here so soon," and she dropped the brushes, and
+began to twist Madeline's glorious hair into a large coil low on her
+neck.
+
+"You need not hurry," Madeline said, quietly; "I shall not go downstairs
+till just before dinner."
+
+"Her ladyship is dressed already," the maid answered.
+
+"Naturally," she answered, significantly, and relapsed into silence.
+
+A few minutes later they heard the gritting of the carriage wheels on
+the drive. It curved round under Madeline's window, and pulled up at the
+front door.
+
+She listened for the sound of voices, but Sir Charles and his son
+alighted in silence. Then a little shrill cry of delight was wafted up
+from the hall as Lady Tregony fell into her son's arms. The next moment
+the harsh, raucous voice of the captain echoed distinctly through all
+the rooms.
+
+Madeline felt her heart give a sudden bound. How often she had heard
+that voice in her dreams, and thrilled at the sound--not a musical
+voice, by any means, not a voice to lure and soothe, but a voice to
+command; a voice to inspire confidence and awaken fear at the same
+time.
+
+Then a knock came to the door, and Beryl rushed in. "Gervase has come,
+dear," she said, excitedly.
+
+"Yes, I heard his voice."
+
+"But are you not coming down at once?"
+
+"I cannot very well," she answered, with a smile.
+
+"But he will be terribly disappointed. His first inquiry was for you."
+
+"We shall meet in the drawing-room before dinner is announced."
+
+"But what must I tell him?"
+
+"Anything you like, dear."
+
+Beryl departed with a pout, and a look of disappointment in her eyes. A
+little later there was a sound of heavy footsteps on the stairs.
+
+Madeline disappointed her maid by insisting on wearing her least
+becoming evening gown, and the only ornament she wore was a bunch of
+holly berries in her hair.
+
+She went downstairs alone, and was surprised to find the drawing-room
+empty. Where Lady Tregony and Beryl had taken themselves to she could
+not imagine. A big fire of logs was blazing in the grate, and in all the
+sconces candles were alight. She expected every moment that either Beryl
+or Lady Tregony would come to her; they were both dressed, and there was
+no reason whatever that they should remain in their rooms.
+
+After several minutes had gone by she began to suspect the truth. They
+were keeping away so that she might meet Gervase alone. It was very
+thoughtful of them certainly, but it was taking rather too much for
+granted. She disliked so many evidences of management and contrivance.
+If Providence was arranging all these matters she could not see why
+Providence might not be allowed a free hand. So much human assistance
+did not seem at all necessary.
+
+She was beginning to feel a little bit resentful when the door was
+thrown suddenly open, and Gervase entered. For a moment she started back
+with unfeigned surprise. She had expected seeing him in all the glory
+and splendour of his uniform, and here he was in ordinary evening dress,
+looking as common-place as any average country squire. The only splendid
+thing about him was his moustache, which was waxed out to its fullest
+dimensions.
+
+"Madeline," he said, huskily, coming hurriedly forward, with
+outstretched hands. "This is the supreme moment of my life."
+
+She placed both her hands in his, and looked him steadily in the eyes.
+She was quite calm again now. Her heart had ceased its wild gallop.
+
+"It seemed as if I should never get here," he said, in the same husky
+tones. "Oh! how impatient I have been to look into your dear eyes."
+
+"If you had missed this train you would not have got here for your
+Christmas dinner," she said, artlessly, "and that would have been
+horribly disappointing."
+
+"Would you have been very much disappointed?" he questioned, trying to
+throw a note of tenderness into his voice.
+
+"Of course, I should have been disappointed," she answered, frankly;
+"I've been quite consumed with curiosity to see what you look like."
+
+"Not with curiosity only, I hope, Madeline."
+
+"Why, isn't curiosity bad enough without having any other feeling to
+torment you?"
+
+"Did you think I should have changed toward you?" he said, in hurt
+tones. "Did you regard me as one of the fickle mob, who hold love so
+lightly?"
+
+"Nay, I have always regarded you as a brave, strong man who would place
+duty above everything."
+
+"In that, I trust, I shall never disappoint you," he said, humbly.
+"Henceforth my duty and my joy shall be to serve you."
+
+"I am only one," she said, quickly. "Is not your first duty to your
+country and your King?"
+
+"My first duty is to my queen," he answered gallantly, "and that is
+you."
+
+She drew her hands from his suddenly, and stepped back a pace. "Had we
+not better understand each other better before we talk so confidently?"
+she said, in hard decided tones.
+
+"What, after three long years?" he questioned, in an aggrieved voice.
+"Is it possible that there is anything left unexplained? Have I not
+opened all my heart to you in my letters? Do I need still to prove my
+devotion?"
+
+"No, no. You have been very candid and very loyal," she said, quickly.
+"But a matter of so much importance should not be decided in an hour."
+
+"But we have known each other for years, and did we not understand each
+other from the very beginning?"
+
+"Perhaps we did," she answered, with downcast eyes.
+
+"And everyone else understood," he went on. "It is true little or
+nothing was said at the beginning, for you--you--were--were--very young.
+But I was of full age, and when the proper time came I wrote plainly to
+you."
+
+"Yes, I know."
+
+"And you were not surprised? You expected I should write in that way,
+did you not?"
+
+"Yes, I think I did."
+
+"And yet now you talk of our understanding each other better. Oh,
+Madeline! Let me assure you that no other woman has crossed my path,
+that no other face has caught my fancy, that my heart has been true to
+you from the first, and I am prepared now to devote the rest of my life
+to you."
+
+"But is there not another side to the question?" she asked, seriously.
+"You said when first we met I was very young. But I have grown to be a
+woman now."
+
+"That is true, by Jove!" he answered, with a harsh laugh, "and a very
+lovely woman, too. But that only adds force and weight to what I have
+already said. If you had grown to be ill-favoured or plain, you might
+hesitate, thinking my heart would change. But no, Madeline, I am not of
+the fickle sort. If you were not half so handsome as you are I should
+still come to you eager, devoted, and determined."
+
+"You fail to understand my point," she said, quickly.
+
+"Not I, indeed," he interposed, with a laugh. "It is natural, I suppose,
+for a woman to have some doubts about a soldier. I know among the pious
+folk we have rather a bad reputation, and that we are supposed to have
+as many wives as Brigham Young. But that's a gross libel. I don't
+pretend that soldiers are saints, and some of them, I grant, change the
+objects of their affections frequently. But, Madeline, believe me, I
+have been true to you. True to that last smile and look you gave me in
+Washington. I come back offering you a complete and whole-hearted
+devotion. Now, come and let me kiss you, and settle the matter before
+dinner."
+
+She drew back a step further. "I think we understand each other less now
+than when we began our talk," she said, in hard, unnatural tones.
+
+"Well, by Jove, Madeline, you do astonish me," he said, in a tone of
+well-feigned surprise. "You surely don't think I'm insincere--that I'm
+putting it on, as it were; that I'm pretending what I don't feel? Let
+me assure you I'm absolutely certain of my regard for you. Even if I
+were in doubt before I got here--though, to tell you the candid truth, I
+never have been in any doubt. But even if I were, the sight of your
+face, the loveliness of your ripened womanhood, if you will allow me to
+say so, has drawn out my heart to you more strongly than ever."
+
+"I don't think we shall gain anything by pursuing this subject any
+further just now," she said, quietly. "And we shall have many
+opportunities for quiet talks later on."
+
+"And you are not going to let me kiss you?"
+
+"Most certainly not," she said, the colour rising in a crimson tide to
+her cheeks and forehead.
+
+"Then all I can say, it is a cold welcome," he said, using an adjective
+that need not be written down.
+
+"You do not understand me, Gervase," she said, a pained look coming into
+her eyes.
+
+"By Jove! I don't," he said, "and what is worse still, you persist in
+misunderstanding me."
+
+"I am sorry you put it in that way," she answered; "but there goes the
+dinner-gong," and the next moment the door was pushed open, and Lady
+Tregony bustled into the room.
+
+"So you have met!" she said, with a little giggle, "and no one to
+disturb your _t�te-�-t�te_. Well, that is delightful."
+
+Gervase frowned, but did not reply, and Madeline took the opportunity of
+escaping out of the room.
+
+In the dining-room she frustrated Lady Tregony's little design, and
+instead of seating herself next to Gervase she sat opposite him. She had
+not seen him for so long a time, that she wanted an opportunity of
+studying his face. Her first feeling of disappointment was confirmed as
+she looked at him more closely. In his uniform he looked magnificent--at
+least, that was the impression left on her mind; but in ordinary
+swallow-tail coat and patent leather slippers he looked common-place.
+There was no other word for it. Moreover, three years under the trying
+skies of India had aged him considerably. His straw-coloured hair no
+longer completely covered his scalp. The crow's feet about his eyes had
+grown deeper and more numerous. The skin of his face looked parched and
+drawn, his cheek bones appeared to be higher, his nose more hooked, and
+his teeth more prominent.
+
+Moreover, under an ordinary starched shirt-front the well-rounded chest
+had entirely disappeared. Perkins, the butler, could give him points in
+that respect.
+
+Madeline felt the process of disillusionment was proceeding all too
+rapidly. She wished he had come downstairs arrayed in scarlet and gold.
+As a study in black and white he was not altogether a success, and it
+was not pleasant to have her dreams blown away like spring blossoms in a
+gale.
+
+
+
+
+                               CHAPTER XX
+
+                             FATHER AND SON
+
+
+It was a great disappointment to the Tregonys that they were unable to
+announce on the night of their "At Home" that Gervase and Madeline were
+engaged. Madeline, however, was obdurate. She saw no reason for haste,
+and she saw many reasons for delay. The very anxiety of the Tregonys to
+get the matter settled at once made her only the more determined not to
+be rushed. The very masterfulness of Gervase--which she admired so
+much--for once defeated its own end.
+
+In her heart she had no real intention of upsetting what seemed to be
+the scheme and purpose of her life. It had seemed so long in the nature
+of things that she should marry Gervase Tregony--(why it should have
+seemed in the nature of things she hardly knew)--that to refuse to do so
+now would seem like flying in the face of Providence, and that required
+more courage than she possessed. Still, as far as she could see, it was
+no part of the providential plan that she should become engaged to
+Gervase that very year, and marry him early in the next. Dates did not
+appear to be included in the general arrangement, and she "guessed that
+in that matter she might be allowed considerable latitude."
+
+Gervase showed much less diplomacy than his father. Sir Charles had more
+correctly gauged Madeline's disposition than any other member of the
+family. He knew very well that she would never be driven, that any
+attempt at coercion would defeat its own end. On this assumption he had
+acted all the way through, and but for a single incident everything
+might have gone well.
+
+As the days passed away Gervase grew terribly impatient. He was hard up.
+"Horribly, disgustingly hard up," as he told his father, and here were
+Madeline's thousands or millions steadily accumulating, and nobody the
+better for it. If he could once get the knot tied he would be safe. She
+had so much that she could let him have all he wanted without feeling
+it, and there seemed no reason in the world why he should not begin to
+enjoy himself without delay.
+
+Madeline listened in the main with much patience to his appeals and
+protestations, but for some reason she could not understand, they failed
+to move her. He never touched the heroic side of her nature. His appeal
+was always to her vanity and selfishness. His pictures of happiness were
+merely pictures of self-indulgence. The aim and end of life as he
+shadowed it forth was "to take thy ease, eat, drink, and be merry." A
+town house, a shooting-box in Scotland. Two or three motor-cars, a steam
+yacht, and an endless round between times of balls and calls and grand
+operas.
+
+She frankly owned to herself that her idol had been taken off its
+pedestal, and there was no longer any halo about his head. To live in
+the same house with Gervase day after day was distinctly disquieting.
+His civilian attire made him look painfully common-place, his
+conversation was as common-place as his appearance.
+
+She asked him one day why he did not wear his captain's uniform.
+
+"Because I have resigned my commission," he answered.
+
+"Resigned your commission?" she questioned, slowly.
+
+"Why not?" he replied. "I have done my share of roughing it, surely."
+
+"But--but--oh! I don't know. I had an idea once an officer, always an
+officer."
+
+"Oh, nothing of the sort," he laughed, "I've given up soldiering to
+devote myself to you. Isn't that a much nobler occupation?"
+
+"I don't think so," she answered, slowly. "Besides, I did not want you
+to give up your commission to devote yourself to me."
+
+"At any rate, I've done it. I thought it would please you. It will show
+you, at any rate, how devoted I am. There is nothing I would not give up
+for your sake, and I never thought you would hesitate to speak the one
+word that would make me the happiest man in the world."
+
+"But you could not be happy unless I was happy also?" she interrogated.
+
+"But you would be happy. I should just lay myself out to make you as
+happy as a bird. By my soul, you would have a ripping time!"
+
+"I don't think that is just what I want," she said, abstractedly. "Don't
+you think there is something greater in life than either of us have yet
+seen?"
+
+He looked at her with as much astonishment in his eyes as if she had
+proposed suicide. "Greater," he said, in a tone of incredulity. "Well,
+I'm--I'm--. The truth is, Madeline, you're beyond me," he added,
+twisting suddenly round, and back again. "As if there could be anything
+greater. We might have a turn at Monte Carlo if you liked, or Homburg in
+the season, or--but the fact is, we might go anywhere. Think of it! You
+can't conceive of anything greater!"
+
+"Oh, yes! I can," she answered quietly, but firmly. "There's nothing
+noble or heroic in living merely for self and pleasure."
+
+"Noble! heroic!" he repeated, slowly, as if not quite comprehending.
+"Well, now, I wonder what preaching fool has been putting these silly
+notions into your head. Have you turned Methodist?"
+
+"I don't know why you call such notions silly," she said, ignoring his
+last question. "Did not Christ say that a man's life consisteth not in
+the abundance of the things he possesseth?"
+
+"Oh! well, I'm not going to say anything against that as an abstract
+thing," he said. "But the Bible must not be taken too literally, you
+know."
+
+"What do you mean by that?"
+
+"Why, I mean what I say, and what every man, if he's got any sense,
+means. Religion is a very respectable thing, and all that. And I think
+everybody ought to go to church now and then and take communion, and be
+confirmed when he's young, and all that. And if people are very poor
+there must be a lot of comfort in believing in Providence, don't you
+see, and in living in hope that they'll have a jolly good time later on,
+and all that, don't you see. But as for making oneself miserable for
+other people, and denying oneself that somebody else may have a better
+time, and turning the other cheek, and all that, don't you see--well,
+that's just rot, and can't be done."
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"Why not? Well, it's just too silly for words. Fancy a man or a woman
+not having a good time if he has the chance."
+
+"But it may be more blessed to give than to receive."
+
+"Don't you believe it, Madeline. I believe in taking a common-sense view
+of life. We've only one life to live, and it's our duty to squeeze all
+the juice out of it that we can."
+
+"But may not the pursuit of self end in missing self? Is there not more
+joy in pursuing duty than in chasing pleasure?"
+
+"Look here, Madeline," he said, after a long pause, staring hard at her,
+"tell me candidly who's been putting these silly notions into your
+pretty little head."
+
+"I wish you would not talk to me as though I had the head of a baby,"
+she said, a little indignantly. "You should remember that I am no longer
+a child," and she turned and walked slowly out of the room.
+
+Gervase went off to the library at once to interview his father. The
+days were passing away, and he was getting no nearer the realisation of
+his desire. All his interviews with her ended where they began. Whenever
+he approached the subject nearest his heart and his interests, she
+always managed to shunt him off to some side issue.
+
+Sir Charles was busy writing letters, but he looked up at once when
+Gervase entered.
+
+"Can you spare time for a little talk?" the son asked, abruptly.
+
+"Why, of course I can," was the reply. "Is there something particular
+you wish to talk about?"
+
+"Well, the truth is," he said, in a tone of irritation, "I am not
+getting on with Madeline a bit."
+
+"Perhaps you are too eager and impatient. You must remember that
+Madeline is not the girl to be driven."
+
+"Yes, I've heard that before," he said, angrily. "You have always harped
+on that string. But you've been in the wrong, I'm sure you have. If
+you'd only let me have my way I would have proposed to her three years
+ago."
+
+"And spoiled everything."
+
+"No, I should have won everything. She was only a girl then, and was
+immensely gone on me. A soldier in her eyes was a hero, and an officer's
+uniform the most splendid thing she could imagine. If I'd struck then,
+when the iron was hot, she'd have fallen into my arms, and once engaged
+there'd have been no backing out."
+
+"My dear boy, you don't know Madeline Grover," Sir Charles said,
+seriously. "No girlish promise would have bound her if she wanted to get
+out of it."
+
+"Oh, yes, it would. She has tremendously high notions about honour and
+duty."
+
+"Exactly. That's just where you fail to appreciate the difficulties of
+the situation. Very likely you tell her that some of her notions are
+silly, because you don't understand them."
+
+"That's just what I have been telling her this very morning."
+
+"And you think that's the way, perhaps, to win her promise."
+
+"But what's a fellow to do? One cannot sit mum while she talks rot
+about--about----"
+
+"About what?"
+
+"Oh! I don't know; but you know when a girl gets on to heroics she
+generally makes a fool of herself."
+
+"Madeline is very sane as a general thing."
+
+"Then why in the name of common-sense doesn't she jump?"
+
+"She wants to make sure of her ground, perhaps."
+
+"But she knows who I am and who you are, and, surely, it's something to
+ask a nameless girl to marry into a family like ours."
+
+"I confess I expected she would be more impressed than she is."
+
+"Does she know she's got the tin?"
+
+"I don't think so. She thinks we have the wealth and the position, and
+everything else."
+
+"And yet she doesn't jump. I'd no idea she'd hold out as she is doing."
+
+"You'll have to humour her, Gervase. I've told you from the first she's
+not to be driven. Sympathise with her in what you call her heroics.
+Encourage her in her mental flight after great ideals."
+
+Gervase shook his head, and looked blank. "It's no use, father," he
+said, despondingly, "I should only make a fool of myself if I tried.
+Nature never gave me any wings of that sort."
+
+"At any rate, don't contradict her, and call her a goose, and assume the
+airs of a superior person."
+
+"But surely I know a mighty lot more than she does. Think of my age and
+experience, and remember I haven't travelled over half the world with my
+eyes shut."
+
+"It is not experience of the world, but knowledge of the ways of women
+you want. It isn't strength, but diplomacy that you need."
+
+"You think she will come round in time, don't you?"
+
+"Oh, yes! I think so, provided you play your cards with skill. She has
+never said 'no' has she?"
+
+"That isn't the trouble exactly. She has never said 'yes,' and until she
+says it I'm not safe. You know she comes of age in May."
+
+"Well?"
+
+"You take it very coolly, father," Gervase said, in a tone of
+irritation. "I don't think it is at all well. Madeline is my only hope.
+Unless I marry a rich woman I'm stranded--absolutely stranded."
+
+"You've not been getting into deeper debt, I hope?"
+
+"I've not been getting into shallower water, you may bet your bottom
+dollar on that."
+
+"Am I to understand that you have been anticipating events?"
+
+"I have a little. I thought I was perfectly safe in doing so. Your
+letters indicated that the way was quite clear, that Madeline looked
+upon the thing as settled, that she knew it was her father's wish, that
+you were quite agreeable, that everything was as straight as straight
+could be."
+
+"But I never saw her letters to you."
+
+"They were almost entirely satisfactory, I can assure you. She did not
+accept my proposal, it is true. But--well--she couldn't have written in
+a more friendly way. She thought we should meet again first, that was
+all. No hint of any delay after I came back."
+
+"I hope you haven't been disappointing her in some way."
+
+"I believe she is a bit disappointed at my retiring from the army. Like
+most girls, she dotes on a soldier. She loves the uniform and the gold
+braid and all that. But I told her I gave up the army that I might
+devote myself to her."
+
+"And did that satisfy her?"
+
+"I don't know. I can't make out exactly where she is. She seems to have
+changed in some way. If she hadn't lived under your eye ever since she
+has been in England I should be half disposed to think some other fellow
+had been making love to her."
+
+Sir Charles gave a little start, then turned his head, and contemplated
+his writing pad.
+
+"I suppose she didn't flirt with anybody while you were in London?"
+Gervase questioned, after a pause.
+
+"Not that I am aware of. Oh, no! I'm certain she didn't," Sir Charles
+replied, looking up again.
+
+"And, of course, in St. Gaved there's nobody she would look at for a
+moment," Gervase went on.
+
+Sir Charles nibbled for a moment at the end of his penholder. He hardly
+knew whether to tell Gervase or no. It was but a vague fear at most. For
+months--so he believed--she had never seen Rufus Sterne, and his name
+was never mentioned under any circumstances. Gervase was a violent
+fellow, and if he were made jealous there was no knowing what he might
+do or say. On the other hand, it was almost certain that he would hear
+the story of Madeline's adventure on the cliffs sooner or later, and
+then he would be excessively angry at not having been told by his own
+people.
+
+On the whole, Sir Charles concluded that he had better let Gervase know
+all there was to be known. The simple truth might gain in importance in
+his eyes the longer it was kept from him.
+
+"I don't think, Gervase, you need have the least fear that you have a
+rival," he said, at length, looking up with what he intended to be a
+reassuring smile. "There was a little circumstance some months ago that
+caused me a moment's uneasiness; but only a moment's. I soon saw that it
+meant nothing, that it never could mean anything, in fact."
+
+"What was the circumstance?" Gervase asked, with a quick light of
+interest in his eyes.
+
+"Well, it came about in this way," and Sir Charles told in an off-hand
+and apparently indifferent manner the story of Madeline's escapade.
+
+Gervase listened in gloomy silence, tugging vigorously at his moustache
+all the time.
+
+"And you say she visited him in his diggings?" he questioned, sullenly,
+when Sir Charles had finished.
+
+"I understand she called twice. From her point of view it seemed right
+enough. He had broken his leg in rescuing her, and with her American
+notions of freedom and independence, she saw no harm in calling to see
+him when he was getting better."
+
+"But you say she went twice?"
+
+"She went a second time to take him some books she had promised to lend
+him."
+
+"Are you sure she went only twice?"
+
+"I think I may say yes to that question. Madeline is very truthful and
+very frank, and when I pointed out that it was scarcely in harmony with
+our English notions of propriety she fell in with the suggestion at
+once."
+
+"And she made no attempt to see him after?"
+
+"Not the smallest. She had expressed her gratitude and the episode had
+closed."
+
+Gervase looked thoughtful, and not quite satisfied.
+
+"Madeline can be as close as an oyster when she likes," he said, after a
+pause; "how do you know she has not been thinking about the fellow ever
+since?"
+
+"Why should she?"
+
+"Well, why shouldn't she? He saved her life, that is no small matter,
+especially to a romantic temperament like hers. He broke his leg, and
+nearly lost his life in doing it; that would add greatly to the interest
+of the situation. Then, if I remember rightly, he's a singularly
+handsome rascal, with an easy flow of speech, and a voice peculiarly
+rich and flexible."
+
+"My dear boy, you can make a mountain out of a molehill, if you like,"
+Sir Charles said, with a laugh. "That's your look-out. I thought it
+right to tell you everything--this incident among the rest; but I can
+assure you you need not worry yourself five seconds over the matter."
+
+"Perhaps I needn't; or it may be there is more at the back of Madeline's
+mind than you think. One thing is clear to me, something has changed
+her, and I'm going to find out what it is; and by Jove! if--if----" and
+he clenched his fists savagely, and walked out of the room.
+
+
+
+
+                                 CHAPTER XXI
+
+                           GERVASE SPEAKS HIS MIND
+
+
+On New Year's Day Gervase felt determined, if possible, to bring matters
+to a head, and with this laudable purpose pulsing through every fibre of
+his body he made his way to the drawing-room where, he understood from
+his mother, Madeline was sitting alone. He found her, as he expected,
+intent on a book. She looked up with a bored expression when he entered,
+smiled rather wearily, but very sweetly, and then went on with her
+reading.
+
+Gervase felt nettled and frowned darkly, but he had made up his mind not
+to be driven from his purpose by any indifference--pretended or
+genuine--on Madeline's part. For a whole week he had been beating the
+air and getting no nearer the goal of his desire; the time had now come
+when he would have an explicit answer. His worldly circumstances were
+desperate, and if Madeline failed him, he would have to exercise his
+wits in some other direction.
+
+Moreover, the story of Madeline's adventure on the cliffs grew in
+importance and significance the longer he contemplated it. The fact that
+she and Rufus Sterne never met was nothing to the point. She might be
+eating her heart out in silence for all he knew. Girls did such foolish
+things. For good or ill he would have to find out how the land lay in
+that direction.
+
+"Is your book very interesting, Madeline?" he asked, throwing himself
+into an easy chair near the fire.
+
+"Rather so," she answered, without looking up.
+
+"You seem very fond of reading," he said, after a brief pause.
+
+"I am very fond of it."
+
+Another pause.
+
+"Don't you think it is very hurtful to the eyes to read so much?" he
+said, edging his chair a little nearer to the couch on which she sat.
+
+"Really, I have never thought of it."
+
+"But you ought to think of it, Madeline. The eyesight is most
+important."
+
+"I suppose it is."
+
+Another pause, during which Gervase threw a lump of wood on the grate.
+Madeline went on reading, apparently oblivious of his presence.
+
+"I can't understand how people can become so lost in a book," Gervase
+said, a little petulantly.
+
+"No?"
+
+"No, I can't. It's beyond me."
+
+"Do you never read?"
+
+"Sometimes, but not often. I've too much else to do. Besides, doesn't
+the Bible say that much reading is a weariness to the flesh?"
+
+"Does it?"
+
+"I don't know; but I've heard it somewhere, and it's true."
+
+"You've proved it?"
+
+"Over and over again."
+
+"What sort of books do you find so wearisome?"
+
+"Oh, all sorts. There's not much to choose between them."
+
+"Do you really think that?"
+
+"Of course I do, or I shouldn't say it. I'm not the sort of man to say
+what I don't mean. I thought you had found that out long ago."
+
+"I don't think I have thought much about it."
+
+"I thought as much. It appears that I am of no account with you,
+Madeline. And yet I had hoped to be your husband. But devotion is lost,
+affection is thrown away, the burning hope of years is trampled upon."
+
+"I thought we were to let that matter drop, Gervase, until we had had
+more time to think it over?"
+
+"But I don't want more time, Madeline. My mind is quite made up. If I
+wait a year--ten years--it will be all the same. For me there is only
+one woman in the world, and her name is Madeline Grover."
+
+"It is very kind of you to say so, Gervase, and I really feel very much
+honoured. But, you see, I have only known you about a week."
+
+"Oh, Madeline, how can you say that? We have known each other for
+years."
+
+"In a sense, Gervase, but not in reality. In fact, I find that all the
+past has to be wiped out, and I have to start again."
+
+"Why so?"
+
+"I cannot explain it very well, but I expect we have both changed.
+Madeline Grover, the school-girl, is not the Madeline Grover of to-day."
+
+"By Jove, I fear that's only too true," he said, almost angrily.
+
+"And the Captain Tregony I met in Washington--excuse me for saying
+it--is not the Gervase Tregony of Trewinion Hall."
+
+"Have I deteriorated so much?" he questioned, with an angry flash in his
+eyes.
+
+"I do not say that you have deteriorated at all," she said, with a
+smile. "Perhaps we have both of us vastly improved. Let us hope so at
+any rate. But what I am pointing out is, we meet--almost entirely
+different people."
+
+"That you are different, I don't deny," he answered, sullenly. "In
+Washington you made heaps of me, now you are as cold as an iceberg. But
+I deny that I have changed. I loved you then, I have loved you ever
+since, I love you now."
+
+"Well, have it that I only have changed," she said, with a touch of
+weariness in her voice. "I don't want to make you angry, Gervase, but
+you must recognise the fact that I was only a school-girl when we first
+met. I am a woman now. Hence, you must give me time to adjust myself if
+you will allow the expression. You see, I have to begin over again."
+
+"That's very cold comfort for me," he said, angrily. "How do I know that
+some other fellow will not come along? How do I know that some
+adventurer has not come between us already?"
+
+She glanced at him for a moment with an indignant light in her eyes,
+then picked up her book again.
+
+"Pardon me, Madeline," he said, hurriedly, "I would not offend you for
+the world, but love such as mine makes a fellow jealous and suspicious."
+
+"Suspicious of what?" she demanded.
+
+"Well, you see," he said, slowly and awkwardly, turning away from her,
+and staring into the fire, "it's better to be honest about it, isn't
+it?"
+
+"Honest about what?"
+
+"I don't think I'm naturally jealous," he explained, "but father has
+told me all about your--your--well, your escapade with that scoundrel,
+Sterne."
+
+"Is he a scoundrel?"
+
+"You know nothing about him, of course, but he is just the kind of
+fellow that would take advantage of any service he had rendered."
+
+"I was not aware----"
+
+"Of course not," he interrupted, "but those--well, what I call low-born
+people have no sense of propriety; and in these days--I am sorry to have
+to say it--very little reverence for their betters."
+
+"Well, what is all this leading to?"
+
+"Oh, nothing in particular. Only father told me how he took some risks
+on your account, and I know that you are nothing if not grateful, and
+honestly I was half afraid lest the rascal had been in some way imposing
+on your good nature."
+
+"You are quite sure that you know this Mr. Sterne?"
+
+"I know of him, Madeline, which is quite enough for me. Of course, I
+have seen him dozens of times, but he is not the kind of man I should
+ever think of speaking to--except of course, as I would speak to a
+tradesman or a fisherman."
+
+"Yes?"
+
+"You see, those people who are too proud to work, and too ignorant and
+too poor to be gentlemen, and yet who try to ape the manners of their
+betters are really the most detestable people of all."
+
+"Is that so?"
+
+"It is so, I can assure you. As an American you have not got to know
+quite the composition of our English society. But you will see things
+differently later on. A good, honest working man, who wears fustian, and
+is not ashamed of it, is to be admired, but your working class upstart,
+with vulgarity bred in his bones, is really too terrible for words."
+
+"And is there no vulgarity in what you call the upper classes?"
+
+"Well, you see, the upper classes can afford to be anything they like,
+if you understand."
+
+"You mean that they are a law unto themselves?"
+
+"Well, yes, that is about the size of it. No one would think of
+criticising a duke, for instance, on a question of manners or taste."
+
+"Well, now, that is real interesting," she said, with a cynical little
+laugh. "It explains a lot of things that I had not seen before."
+
+"Then, too," he went on, warming to his theme, "it is largely a question
+of feeling. You can't explain some things; you can't say why they are
+wrong or right, only you feel they are so."
+
+"That is quite true, Gervase," she answered, with a smile.
+
+"For instance, I wear a monocle sometimes. Now that is quite right for a
+man in my position, and quite becoming."
+
+"Most becoming, Gervase."
+
+"But for Peter Day, the draper, for instance, to stand in his shop-door
+with a glass in his right eye would look simply ridiculous."
+
+"You would conclude he was cross-eyed, wouldn't you?"
+
+"You would conclude he was an idiot, and, between ourselves, that's just
+the trouble now-a-days. The common people seem to think that they have a
+perfect right to do what their betters do."
+
+"But to copy their virtues----"
+
+"That isn't the point exactly," he interrupted. "I don't pretend that we
+have any more virtues of the homely sort, than the cottage folk, but
+certain things belong to us by right."
+
+"Do you mean vices?" she queried, innocently.
+
+"Well, no, not in our case; but they might be vices if copied by the
+lower classes. I'm afraid I can't explain myself very clearly. But
+things that would be quite proper for the best people to do, would be
+simply grotesque, or worse, if the common orders attempted them."
+
+"Really, this is most interesting," she said, half-banteringly,
+half-seriously. "Now, out in our country we have no varying standards of
+right and wrong."
+
+"Ah! well, that is because you have no aristocracy," he said, loftily.
+
+"And if I were to marry you, Gervase, and become a lady of quality I
+should be judged, as it were, by a different set of laws."
+
+"You would become Lady Tregony when I succeeded to the title."
+
+She laughed. "That, I fear, is scarcely an answer to my question."
+
+"Not a full answer, but you see there are so many things that cannot be
+explained."
+
+"Evidently. In the meanwhile I belong to the common herd----"
+
+"No, no! Madeline," he interrupted, quickly.
+
+"My father was only a working man," she went on, "and across the water
+we have no blue bloods; we have blue noses, but that's another matter,
+but we're all on the same footing there."
+
+"Not socially, and dollars in America count for what name and titles
+count for here."
+
+"But I haven't even the dollars," she said, with a laugh.
+
+"But you have," he protested, quickly. "That is--I mean--you have not to
+work for your living. You are not a type-writer girl, or anything of
+that sort."
+
+"And should I be any the worse if I were?"
+
+"Well, of course, Madeline, you would be a lady anywhere, or under any
+circumstances," he said, grandiloquently.
+
+"Thank you, Gervase, but suppose we get back again now to the point we
+started from."
+
+"I'll be delighted," he said, eagerly. "I do want to start the new year
+with everything settled; that's the reason I pushed myself on to you, as
+it were, this afternoon. I hate beating about the bush, and all our
+friends are wondering why the engagement is not announced."
+
+"Oh, dear! you have gone back miles further than I intended," she
+laughed. "I understood you wanted to warn me against somebody."
+
+"I do, Madeline. I'm your best friend, if you'll only believe it. And I
+do beseech you, if you've been in the least friendly with that fellow
+Sterne, you'll drop him."
+
+"You think he isn't a good man."
+
+"Oh, blow his goodness. The point is, he's common, vulgar--bad form in
+every way, if you understand. Anyone in your position should never be
+seen speaking to him."
+
+"But is there anything against his moral character?"
+
+"Oh, confound his moral character," he said, with an oath, for which he
+apologised at once. "It isn't that I'm squeamish about. The point is,
+Madeline, he's no gentleman."
+
+"He seemed to me to be quite a gentleman."
+
+"I'm sorry to hear you say that," he said, mournfully, getting up and
+throwing another log on the fire. "It shows how you may be deceived by
+such scoundrels."
+
+"But is that a nice word to use of any man against whose moral character
+you have no complaint to make?"
+
+"No, it isn't a nice word, but he isn't a nice person. I don't care to
+mention such things, but you may not be aware that he is an infidel?"
+
+"What is that, Gervase?"
+
+"Oh! I don't know, but it's something bad, you bet. I heard the vicar
+talking about it last time I was at home, and he was pretty sick, I can
+assure you. If Sterne were to die to-morrow I question if the vicar
+would allow him to be buried in consecrated ground."
+
+"And what would happen then?" she asked, wonderingly.
+
+"Oh! don't ask me. I am not up in those things, but I just mention the
+matter to show you he's a pretty bad sort, and not the sort of person
+for any one like you to be on speaking terms with."
+
+"But what I want to know is, has he ever done anyone any wrong. Ever
+cheated people, or told lies about them, or stolen their property. Or
+has he ever been known to get drunk, or to behave in any way unworthy of
+a gentleman?"
+
+"My dear Madeline, I hate saying anything unpleasant about anyone. But a
+man who never goes to church, who doesn't believe in the Church, who has
+no respect for the clergy or the bishops, who has been heard to denounce
+some of our most sacred institutions, such as the land laws, who has
+even said that patriotism was a curse, and war an iniquity--what can you
+expect of such a man? He may not have actually stolen his neighbour's
+property, but he would very much like to."
+
+"I don't think that necessarily follows," she said, seriously. "I think
+it is possible for a man to have very small respect for the clergy, and
+for what is called the Church, and yet for him to have a profound sense
+of honour, and an unquenchable love for righteousness."
+
+"Then you don't think staying away from church is as bad as getting
+drunk?"
+
+"I should think not, indeed," she answered, quickly. "A man who gets
+drunk, I mean an educated man, a gentleman--sinks beneath contempt."
+
+"Sterne may get drunk for all I know," he said, uneasily. "You see, I
+have been out of England for a long time."
+
+She closed her book with a sudden movement, and rose to her feet.
+
+"No, you must not go yet," he said, in alarm. "We have not settled the
+matter which I wish particularly to have settled to-day."
+
+"We have talked quite long enough for one afternoon," she answered,
+coolly.
+
+"But, Madeline, have you no pity?" he said, pleadingly.
+
+"It would be folly to rush into such a matter hastily," she answered, in
+the same tone.
+
+"But--but, Madeline, answer me one question," he entreated. "Have
+you--have you seen this man Sterne since I came back?"
+
+"You have no right to ask that question," she said, drawing herself up
+to her full height. "Nevertheless, I will answer it. I have not," and
+without another word she swept out of the room.
+
+Her heart was in a tumult of conflicting emotions. She was less
+satisfied with Gervase than she had ever been before, and less satisfied
+with herself. And yet she saw no way out of the position in which she
+found herself. It was next to impossible, situated as she was, to upset
+what had been taken for granted so long, particularly as she had
+acquiesced from the first in the unspoken arrangement. She felt as if in
+coming to England she had been lured into a trap, and yet it was a trap
+she had been eager to fall into. She had hoped when she saw Gervase,
+that all her old reverence and admiration and hero worship would flame
+into life again, instead of which his coming had been as cold water on
+the faggots. Whether he had lost some of the qualities she had so much
+admired or whether all the change was in herself, she did not know, but
+the glamour had all passed away, and her eyes ached with looking at the
+common-place.
+
+She wondered if it were always so; if maturity always destroyed the
+illusions of youth, if the poetry of eighteen became feeble prose at
+twenty-one.
+
+She went to her own room, and donned her hat and jacket, and then stole
+unobserved out of the house. "I must get a little fresh air," she said
+to herself, "and, perhaps, a long walk will put an end to this
+restlessness."
+
+She turned her back upon St. Gaved, and made for the "downs" that
+skirted the cliffs. The wind was keen and searching, and the wintry sun
+was already disappearing behind the sea. "I suppose I shall have to say
+yes sooner or later," she went on, as she walked briskly forward. "I
+don't see how I can get out of it very well. All his people seem to be
+expecting it, and he is evidently very much in love with me. I am afraid
+there won't be very much romance on my side, but, after all, we may be
+very happy together."
+
+Then she looked up with a start as a step sounded directly in front of
+her, and she found herself face to face with Rufus Sterne.
+
+
+
+
+                               CHAPTER XXII
+
+                             A HUMAN DOCUMENT
+
+
+Rufus returned from Tregannon in a condition of mental unrest, such as
+he had not known before. It was Madeline Grover in the first instance
+who set him thinking along certain lines, and once started it was
+impossible to turn back. During all the time he remained a prisoner in
+the house, his brain had been unusually active. Unconsciously his fierce
+antagonisms subsided, his revolt against accepted creeds took new
+shapes, his belief in German philosophy began to waver.
+
+The process of mental evolution went on so quietly and silently, that he
+was almost startled when he discovered that his philosophic watchwords
+no longer represented his real beliefs. He felt as though while he slept
+all his beliefs had been thrown into the melting-pot to be cast afresh,
+and were now being poured out into new moulds. What the result would be
+when the process was complete it was impossible to say, but already one
+thing was certain, the blank negatives in which he once found refuge,
+would never again satisfy him. He might never evolve into an orthodox
+believer. The religiosity of the Churches appealed to him as little as
+ever it did. He despised the smug hypocrisy that on all hands usurped
+the place of Christianity, and defiled its name. He loathed the
+pretensions of priests and clerics of all sects. But out of the fog and
+darkness and uncertainty, certain great truths and principles loomed
+faintly and fitfully.
+
+The fog was no longer an empty void. The silence was now and then broken
+by a sound of words, though the language was strange to his ears. There
+appeared to be a moral order which answered to his own need, and a moral
+order implied the existence of what he had so long denied.
+
+His visit to his grandparents quickened his thoughts in the direction
+they had been travelling. Everything tended to serious reflection. The
+awful mystery and solemnity of life were forced upon him at all points.
+The old people walked and talked "as seeing Him who is invisible."
+
+He was quietly amused when he returned from his long walk on Christmas
+day to find his grandfather and the young minister engaged in a heated
+argument on the barren and thorny subject of verbal inspiration. He
+would have stopped the discussion if he could, for he discovered that
+his grandfather was getting much the worst of the argument, and was
+losing his temper in consequence. But the old man refused to be
+silenced. Getting his chance of reply he poured out a torrent of words
+that swept everything before it, and to which there seemed to be no end.
+
+Fortunately, tea was announced just as the young minister was about to
+reply, and over the tea-table conversation drifted into an entirely
+different channel. After tea the Rev. Reuben retired to his study
+accompanied by his wife, and Rufus and Mr. Brook were left in possession
+of the sitting-room.
+
+As there was no evening service on Christmas Day the young minister felt
+free to relax himself. Conversation tripped lightly from point to point,
+from general to particular, from gay to grave, from serious to solemn.
+
+They talked till supper time, and after supper Rufus walked with the
+young minister to his lodgings, and remained with him till long after
+midnight. The conversation was a revelation to Rufus in many ways.
+Marshall Brook was a scholar as well as a thinker. He was as familiar
+with the German writers as with the English. He was alive to all modern
+questions, conversant with all the work of the higher critics, alive to
+all that was fundamental in the creeds of the Churches, contemptuous of
+the narrowness and bigotry that brought religion into contempt, tolerant
+of all fresh light, patient and even sympathetic with every form of
+human doubt, and large-hearted and clear-eyed enough to see that there
+was good in everything.
+
+Marshall Brook had often heard of his predecessor's sceptical grandson,
+and was glad of the opportunity of meeting him, and was charmed with him
+when they did meet. It was easy to discover where the shoe pinched, easy
+to see how and when the revolt began, easy to trace the successive steps
+from doubt to denial, from unbelief to blank negation.
+
+Rufus talked freely and well. He knew that the young minister regarded
+him as an infidel, and he thought he might as well live up to the
+description. Marshall Brook led him on by easy and almost imperceptible
+steps. His first business was to diagnose the case, and if possible to
+find out the cause. For the first hour he allowed all Rufus's arguments
+to go by default.
+
+But when they got to close grips Rufus felt helpless. This young scholar
+could state his case better than he could state it himself. He had
+traversed all the barren and thorny waste, and much more carefully than
+Rufus had ever done. He knew the whole case by heart; knew every
+argument and every objection. He tore the flimsy fabric of Rufus's
+philosophy to shreds and left him with scarcely a rag to cover himself
+with.
+
+Rufus remained three days at Tregannon and spent the major portion of
+the time with Marshall Brook. Apart from the interest raised by the
+questions discussed, it was a delight to be brought into contact with a
+mind so fresh and well disciplined. They hammered out the _pros_ and
+_cons_ of materialistic philosophy with infinite zest. They wrestled
+with the joy of striplings at a village fair. They fought for supremacy
+with all their might, but in every encounter Rufus went under.
+
+When he returned to St. Gaved he was in a condition of mental chaos.
+Nearly every prop on which he supported himself had been knocked away.
+He was certain of nothing, not even of his own existence.
+
+It was not an uncommon experience; most thinking men have passed through
+it at one time or another. Destruction has often to precede
+construction. The old has to be demolished even to the foundations
+before the new building can arise.
+
+Yet none save those who have passed through it can conceive the utter
+desolation and darkness of soul, during what may be called the
+interregnum. The old has been destroyed, the new has not yet taken
+shape. The ark has been sunk and the mountain peaks have not yet begun
+to appear above the flood. The frightened soul flits hither and thither
+across the waste of waters, seeking some place on which to rest its
+feet, and finding none; and unlike Noah's dove there is no ark to which
+it can return. It must remain poised on wing till the floods have
+assuaged and the foundations of things have been discovered.
+
+In the last resort every man writes his own creed. No man, even
+mentally, can remain in a state of suspended animation for very long. A
+philosophy of negations is as abhorrent to the sensitive soul as a
+vacuum is to Nature. After destruction there is bound to be
+construction. Like beavers we are ever building, and when one dam has
+been swept away by the flood, we straightway set to work to build
+another.
+
+Rufus was trying to evolve some kind of cosmos out of chaos when he met
+Madeline on the downs. She came upon him suddenly and unexpectedly and
+his heart leaped like a startled hare. How beautiful she was. How lissom
+and graceful and strong.
+
+"This is an unexpected pleasure," she said, in her bright, frank,
+ingenuous way. "I am glad we have met."
+
+"Yes?" he replied, not knowing what else to say.
+
+"I have heard something about you recently and I would like to know if
+it is true."
+
+"What have you heard?" he questioned, with a puzzled look on his face.
+
+"That you are an infidel."
+
+"Who told you that?"
+
+"That is a matter of no consequence since it is common gossip."
+
+For a moment he was silent, and turned his eyes seaward as if to watch
+the sun go down. "Are you pressed for time?" he asked without turning
+his eyes.
+
+"No, I am quite free for the next hour," she answered, with a smile,
+though she wondered what the Tregonys would think if they knew.
+
+"I owe a good deal to you," he began, slowly and thoughtfully.
+
+"No, not to me, surely. I am the debtor," she interrupted.
+
+"Yes, to you," he went on in the same slow, even way. "And if you care
+to know--that is, if you are interested--why then it will be a pleasure
+to talk to you--as it always has been----"
+
+Then he paused and again turned his eyes toward the sea. She glanced at
+him shyly but did not reply.
+
+"It is easy to call people names," he said, at length, without looking
+at her. "I do not complain, however. I have believed the things I could
+not help believing. Can we any of us do more than that?"
+
+"I do not quite understand?" she answered, looking at him with a puzzled
+expression.
+
+"I mean that the things we believe, or do not believe, are matters over
+which we have no absolute control. You believe what you believe because
+you cannot help it. You have not been coerced into believing it. The
+evidence is all-sufficient for you though it might not be for me. On the
+same ground I believe what I believe--because--because I cannot help
+myself. Do you follow me? Faith after all is belief upon evidence, and
+if the evidence is insufficient----"
+
+"But what if people reject the evidence without weighing it, stubbornly
+turn their backs upon the light?" she interrupted.
+
+"Then they are not honest," he said, quickly; "but I hope you do not
+accuse me of dishonesty?"
+
+"I accuse you of nothing," she answered. "I have only told you what
+people are saying."
+
+"And you are sorry?" and he turned, and looked her frankly in the face.
+
+"I am very sorry," she replied, with a faint suspicion of colour on her
+cheeks.
+
+"It is generous of you to be interested in me at all," he said, after a
+pause. "And if I were to tell you how much I value that interest you
+might not believe me."
+
+She darted a startled glance at him, but she did not catch his eyes for
+he was looking seaward again, and for a moment or two there was silence.
+
+"I should like to tell you everything about myself," he went on, at
+length, "my early troubles and battles, my boyish revolt against cruel
+and illogical creeds, my almost unaided pursuit of knowledge, my steady
+drift into blank negation; but I should bore you----"
+
+"No, no!" she said, quickly. "I should like to hear all the story. I
+should, indeed. Really and truly."
+
+They walked away northward, while the light went down in the West. The
+twilight deepened rapidly, and the frosty stars began to glimmer in the
+sky. But neither seemed to heed the gathering darkness nor the rapid
+flight of time.
+
+Rufus talked without reserve; it is easy to talk when those who listen
+are sympathetic. He told the story of his father's death abroad, of his
+mother's grief, of his own bitter sense of loss. He sketched his
+grandfather--upright and severe--preaching a creed that was more
+fearsome than any nightmare. He spoke of their slender means and their
+fruitless efforts to get any of the property his father left. Of his
+granny's wish that he should be a draper, of his own ambition to be an
+engineer, and the compromise which landed him in Redbourne as a bank
+clerk. And through all the story there ran the deeper current of his
+mental struggles till at last he fancied he found the _ultima Thule_ in
+pure materialism.
+
+Madeline listened quite absorbed. It was the most interesting human
+document that had ever been unfolded to her, and all the more
+interesting because it was told with such artlessness and sincerity. Yet
+it was not a very heroic story as he told it. Rufus was no hero in his
+own eyes, and he was too honest to pretend to be what he was not.
+Perhaps, in his hatred of pretence he made himself out a less admirable
+character than he was in reality.
+
+Madeline sighed faintly more than once. There were manifest weaknesses
+where there should have been strength. He had drifted here and there
+where he should have resisted, and taken for granted what he should
+have tried and tested.
+
+"And you still remain on the barren rocks of your _ultima Thule_?" she
+questioned, at length.
+
+He did not answer for several moments. Then he said quietly, "You will
+think me sadly lacking in mental balance, no doubt; but at present, I
+fear, I must say I am at sea again."
+
+"Yes?"
+
+"You compelled me to face the old problems once more, to re-examine the
+evidence."
+
+"I compelled you?"
+
+"Unwittingly, no doubt. You remember our talks when I was _hors de
+combat_. The fragments of poetry you read to me, the books you lent?"
+
+"Well?"
+
+"I found myself fighting the old battles over again. Before I was aware,
+I was in the thick of the strife."
+
+"And you are fighting still?"
+
+"Yes, I am fighting still."
+
+"With your face toward your _ultima Thule_?"
+
+"I cannot say that."
+
+"What is your desire, then?"
+
+"To find the truth. Perhaps I shall never succeed, but I shall try."
+
+"You should come to church, which is the repository of truth, our vicar
+says."
+
+He smiled a little wistfully, and shook his head. "At present I am
+making a fresh study of what Jesus said--or what He is reported to have
+said."
+
+"Then that is all the greater reason why you should come to church."
+
+He smiled again, and shook his head once more. "I do not think so," he
+answered.
+
+"You do not?"
+
+"No, the contrast is too sharp and startling."
+
+"What do you mean by that?"
+
+"I hardly like to discuss the matter at present," he said, diffidently;
+"I do not know sufficiently well where I am. Only I am conscious of
+this, that while Jesus wins my assent, the Church does the opposite."
+
+"That is because of your upbringing."
+
+"I do not think so. I have stood apart from all creeds and from all
+sects. At present I am a humble searcher after truth. I want some great
+principle to guide me. Some philosophy of life that shall appeal to the
+best that is in me."
+
+"Well?"
+
+"I turn to the Church, and I find a great bishop addressing such
+questions as these to his clergy: 'What ecclesiastical dress do you wear
+when celebrating the Holy Communion? Do you ever use any ceremony such
+as the Lavabo, or swinging of the incense immediately before or after
+the service? Do you have cards on the holy table? If so what do they
+contain? Do you ever read the first of the three longer exhortations? Do
+you ever have celebrations without communicants?' with a dozen other
+questions--to me--equally trivial and unimportant."
+
+"To the bishop such questions would not be trivial at all, but vastly
+important."
+
+He smiled a little sadly. "Isn't that the pity of it," he said, "that
+trifles are treated as though they were matters of life and death? I
+notice that a neighbouring vicar has even closed the church because
+women go into it with their heads uncovered."
+
+"I admit that that seems straining at a gnat."
+
+"But he does not think so. He is evidently righteously indignant,
+complains of the house of God being desecrated, because people go into
+it without some piece of millinery on their heads. One wonders
+whether it is a woman's hair or her head that is the offence."
+
+[Illustration: "THEN SUDDENLY FROM OUT THE SHADOW GERVASE APPEARED AND
+STOOD BEFORE THEM."]
+
+"I think it is rather insulting to women, of course," she answered, with
+a laugh. "But he is only one, and nobody need mind very much."
+
+"But how do these things help me? Think of the men who are wrestling
+with the great problems of life, who are fighting temptation and bad
+habits, who are groping in the darkness, and crying for the light, and
+the Church meets them with petty discussions about Lavabos and stoles
+and chasubles and incense, and hats off or on in church?"
+
+"But are they not parts of religion?"
+
+"I do not know. If they are, it is not to be surprised at that religion
+gets water-logged."
+
+"But such things may be helpful to some people."
+
+"In which way?"
+
+"Oh, I don't know! But some day you will see things differently,
+perhaps."
+
+"Perhaps so. I see some things differently already."
+
+"Then you are not an infidel?"
+
+"You can call me by any name you like. I do not mind so long as you
+understand me, and I have your sympathy."
+
+"My sympathy, I fear, can be of no help to you."
+
+"It will help me more than you can understand."
+
+"I am so glad we have had this long talk together," she said, brightly.
+"I shall know what to think now when I hear people calling you names.
+But here we are close to the lodge gates."
+
+She held out her hand to him, and the light from the lodge window fell
+full upon them. He took her hand in his, and held it for a moment.
+
+Then suddenly from out the shadow of the lodge Gervase appeared, and
+stood stock still before them.
+
+
+
+
+                                  CHAPTER XXIII
+
+                                 MEANS TO AN END
+
+
+"Where have you been, Madeline?" Gervase said, quietly. "We have all
+grown so concerned about you." His voice was quite steady, though there
+was an unpleasant light in his eyes.
+
+"I have been for a walk, that is all," she answered, in a tone of
+unconcern.
+
+"I wish you had let some one know," he said, in the same quiet tone. "It
+is hardly safe for you to be out after dark."
+
+"Why not?" she answered. "I know my way about, and there is no one in
+St. Gaved who would molest me."
+
+"You think so, perhaps," and he shot an angry glance at Rufus, who stood
+quite still, speaking no word.
+
+"Of course I think so. Besides, I have not been alone."
+
+"So I perceive. But had we not better return to the house and put an end
+to my mother's anxiety?"
+
+"I am sure Lady Tregony is not the least bit anxious," she said, with a
+pout.
+
+"I can assure you she is very much concerned. That is the reason I came
+to look for you."
+
+"Oh, indeed!" and with a hurried good-night to Rufus she walked away
+toward the Hall.
+
+Gervase was by her side in a moment. Rufus watched them till they had
+disappeared in the darkness, then turned, and made his way slowly
+in the direction of St. Gaved.
+
+He could not help feeling amused at the encounter he had witnessed,
+though he was almost sorry that Gervase had seen them together. It was
+clear enough that the Captain was terribly angry, though he did his best
+not to show it. Possibly he was more than angry. Natures like his were
+apt to be jealous on the slightest provocation.
+
+Rufus smiled broadly at the thought. The idea of a baronet's son being
+jealous of him was too comic for words. Yet such things had happened.
+Jealousy was often unreasonable. And if the Captain were really jealous
+it boded ill for Madeline's future happiness.
+
+"I should be sorry to cause unpleasantness," he said, knitting his
+brows. "If they have to live together, I should like her to be happy. I
+wonder if she has promised to be his wife?"
+
+Meanwhile, Gervase and Madeline were walking up the long drive in
+silence. Madeline was in no humour for speech. Gervase was bubbling
+over, and yet was afraid to trust himself to open a conversation. The
+case seemed to him almost desperate, and yet he knew it was to be met
+not by scolding, but by diplomacy.
+
+The thing that he feared more than anything had happened before his very
+eyes. And yet he was not disposed to blame Madeline very much, the blame
+belonged to Rufus Sterne--a handsome, intriguing rascal, who had used
+the girl's sense of gratitude for all it was worth.
+
+"I should like to twist the scoundrel's neck," he said to himself, with
+an ugly look upon his face. "I wonder what he expects to gain? Of
+course, he will never dare to make love to her. It might be a good
+thing if he did----"
+
+Then his thoughts took another turn. Madeline was an American, and under
+the Stars and Stripes social considerations counted for very little.
+Possibly she thought that Rufus Sterne was just as good as he, and if
+she did, heaven only knew what would happen.
+
+"I was a fool not to make love to her at the first," he thought, with a
+scowl. "She thought no end of me then, and I could have married her
+right off. I'm sure I could, but father insisted that waiting was the
+game. Father was a fool, and I was a fool to listen to him."
+
+The lights from the Hall windows began to glimmer through the trees, and
+he had spoken no word to her since they passed through the lodge gates.
+He had looked at her once or twice, but she kept her eyes straight in
+front of her. Did she expect he would scold her, he wondered? Had she
+begun to realise that her conduct was deserving of censure, or was she
+only annoyed that she had been seen?
+
+The silence was becoming embarrassing. He wished she would speak, and
+give him the opportunity of reply. To walk side by side like mutes at a
+funeral promised ill for the future.
+
+"Are you tired, Madeline?" He was bound to say something, and one
+question would serve as well as another.
+
+"Not in the least," and she quickened her steps to give point to her
+statement.
+
+"Oh! please don't walk so fast," he said, in a tone of entreaty. "One
+can't talk when walking so fast."
+
+"I don't want to talk."
+
+"Why not, Madeline? You are not angry with me, surely?"
+
+"Of course not. Why should I be?"
+
+"I might be angry with you, but I'm not. I never could be angry with
+you, Madeline. You have no idea how much I think of you, and how much I
+appreciate you."
+
+"Why might you be angry with me?" she asked, sharply, without turning
+her head.
+
+The question almost staggered him for a moment. Yet as he had brought it
+upon himself he was bound to answer it.
+
+"Well, you see," he said, desperately, "no man cares to see the woman he
+loves, and whom he expects to marry, walking out with another man,
+especially after dark."
+
+"Oh, indeed!"
+
+"But don't think I am angry with you, Madeline," he interposed, quickly.
+"I could trust you anywhere."
+
+"Then why did you come spying on me?" and she turned her eyes suddenly
+upon him.
+
+"No, not spying on you, Madeline," he said, humbly; "that is not the
+right word to use. But I knew that fellow might be loitering about. He
+is always hanging about somewhere."
+
+"Everybody hangs about somewhere--to quote your elegant phrase," she
+said, sharply.
+
+"Yes, yes. But anybody can see what that fellow is after. He did you a
+service, there is no denying it, and now he is presuming on your good
+nature."
+
+"In which way?"
+
+"Well, in getting you to notice him and speak to him."
+
+"Surely I can speak to anyone I choose?"
+
+"Of course you can. But he is not the kind of man you would choose to
+speak to, but for the unfortunate accident."
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"Well, Madeline, there should be some sense of fitness in everything.
+Here is a man without religion, who never goes to church or chapel, who
+has no sense of accountability or responsibility, who doesn't believe
+even in the Ten Commandments----"
+
+"Yes, go on," she interjected, suddenly.
+
+"Who at the present time," he continued, slowly, "is actually living by
+imposing on the credulity and good nature of other people."
+
+"How so?"
+
+"How so? He is spending money right and left, I am told, on some
+pretended invention, or discovery of his, which is to revolutionise one
+of the staple industries of the county. Of course, the whole thing is a
+fake. You may be quite sure of that. But whose money is he spending? He
+has none of his own. With his glib tongue I have no doubt he has imposed
+on a lot of people to lend him their savings. Honourable conduct, isn't
+it? Perhaps he is trying to interest you in his invention?"
+
+"No, he is not."
+
+"Not got sufficiently far yet. Oh, well, it will do you no harm to be
+warned in time."
+
+"You take a charitable view of your neighbours, Gervase."
+
+"My dear Madeline, charity is all right in its place. But in this world
+we must be guided by common-sense."
+
+They had reached the house, and were standing facing each other to
+continue the conversation.
+
+"Well?" she interrogated.
+
+"You may lay it down as a general principle that a man who is an infidel
+is not to be trusted."
+
+"For what reason?"
+
+"Because he has no moral standard to hold him in check. You believe in
+the Bible and in the Commandments and in the teachings of the Church,
+and you live in obedience to what you believe. But he believes none of
+these things. He is bound by no commandment except as a matter of
+policy."
+
+"May not a man have a moral instinct which he follows? Are all the
+unbelievers, all the doubters, all the sceptics, all the infidels--or
+whatever name you like to call them--are they all bad men?"
+
+"I do not say that, Madeline. Besides, policy often holds them in
+check."
+
+"And what holds you in check, Gervase? Is it your passionate attachment
+to the right, or the fear of being found out?"
+
+"I don't think that is quite a fair question," he said, uneasily. "I
+don't pretend to be a saint, though I do try to live like a Christian
+gentleman."
+
+"And you think Mr. Sterne does not?"
+
+"I have no wish to say all I think, or even to hint at what I know. A
+word to the wise is sufficient. I am sure you will be on your guard in
+the future."
+
+"But you do hint at a great deal, Gervase, whether you know or not."
+
+"It is because I love you, Madeline, and would shield you from every
+harm."
+
+She looked at him for a moment, as if about to reply, then turned and
+walked up the steps into the house.
+
+Gervase stood still for a moment or two, then turned slowly on his heel,
+and began to retrace his steps the way he had come.
+
+He chuckled audibly when he had got a few paces away. He felt that he
+had done a good stroke of business. He had sown tares enough to spoil
+any crop. If he had not proved to Madeline that Rufus Sterne was a man
+without moral scruples, he had succeeded in filling her mind with doubts
+on the subject.
+
+If that failed to answer the end he had in view he would have to go a
+step further. He had no wish to resort to extreme measures, for the
+simple reason that he did not like to run risks, but if Madeline was
+still unconvinced that Rufus Sterne was a man not to be trusted, some
+direct evidence would have to be manufactured and produced.
+
+It was clear to him that this man who had saved her life was the one
+stumbling-stone in his path. But for him she would have raised no
+objection to their engagement. Everything had gone in his favour until
+that adventure on the cliffs; everything would go right now if he were
+out of the way.
+
+The best way to get him out of the way would be to blacken his
+character. Madeline was a girl with high moral ideals. An immoral man
+she would turn away from with loathing. Gervase shrugged his shoulders
+significantly. He had already by implication thrown considerable doubt
+on his character; if that failed, further and more extreme measures
+would have to be considered.
+
+When he reached the lodge gates he turned back again. He walked with a
+quicker and more buoyant step. He felt satisfied with himself. He had
+more skill in argument than he knew. He believed he had spiked Rufus
+Sterne's guns once and for all.
+
+Madeline was very silent over the dinner-table, and during the rest of
+the evening. Evidently the poison was working. Gervase left her in
+peace. It would be bad policy to pay her too much attention just now.
+The poison should be left to do its utmost.
+
+Nearly a week passed, and nothing happened. Madeline remained silent,
+and more or less apathetic. She manifested no inclination to go for
+long walks alone, and kept herself for the most part in her own room.
+
+This from one point of view was so much to the good. It seemed to
+indicate that she had no desire to meet Rufus Sterne. On the other hand,
+it was not without an element of discouragement. She was no more cordial
+with Gervase. Indeed, she kept him at arm's length more persistently
+than ever. Gervase became almost desperate. His financial position was
+causing him increased anxiety, while his father began to upbraid him for
+not making better use of his opportunities. To crown his anxiety Beryl
+told him one day that Madeline was not at all pleased with him for
+trying to insinuate that Rufus Sterne was a man of bad character.
+
+Gervase swore a big oath and stalked out of the house. He was angrier
+than he had been since his return from India. He was ready to quarrel
+with his best friend. As for Rufus Sterne, he was itching to be at his
+throat. It would be a relief to him to strangle him.
+
+As fate would have it he had not got five hundred yards beyond the lodge
+gates before he came face to face with the man whom he believed was the
+cause of all his trouble and disappointment.
+
+Rufus was returning from Redbourne, tired and despondent. Things were
+not going well with his invention, and the dread possibility which at
+first he refused to entertain was looming ever more largely on the
+horizon.
+
+The sun had set nearly an hour previously, but the white carpet of snow
+and the myriads of glittering stars made every object distinctly
+visible.
+
+The two men recognised each other in a moment. Rufus would have passed
+on without a word. He wanted to be alone with his own thoughts. But
+Gervase was in a very different humour. Moreover, the sight of Rufus
+Sterne was like fuel to the fire, it seemed to throw him into a rage of
+uncontrollable passion.
+
+"Hello, scoundrel," he said, "loitering round Trewinion as usual," and
+he squared his shoulders and looked Rufus straight in the eyes.
+
+Rufus stopped short, and stared at the Captain in angry surprise. "What
+do you mean?" he said, scornfully and defiantly.
+
+"I mean that you are a contemptible cad," was the answer.
+
+Rufus laughed, mockingly.
+
+"Don't laugh at me," Gervase roared. "I won't have it. Because you
+rendered Miss Grover a service you think you have a right to hang about
+this place at all hours of the day, so that you may intercept her when
+she goes out for a walk, and poison her mind against her best friends."
+
+"It is a lie," Rufus said, fiercely. "I have neither intercepted her nor
+poisoned her mind."
+
+"Will you call me a liar?" Gervase almost shrieked.
+
+"Of course I will call you a liar when you make statements that are
+false."
+
+"Then take----"
+
+But the blow failed to reach its mark. Rufus sprang aside, his face
+white with anger, and almost before he knew what he had done, his heavy
+fist had loosened one of the Captain's teeth and considerably altered
+the shape of his nose.
+
+With a wild yell of rage the Captain struck out again, but he was so
+blind with rage that he could hardly see what he did. Moreover, this was
+a kind of combat he was not used to. With sword or rapier he could have
+made a very good show, but with his bare fists, in the light of the
+stars, he was at very considerable disadvantage. His second blow was as
+wild as the first, and when a blow between his eyes laid him prone on
+the ground, he began to yell for help at the top of his voice.
+
+Micah Martin, the gardener, who lived at the lodge, was on the scene in
+a very few moments.
+
+"Take the drunken brute away," Gervase screamed, "or he'll murder me."
+
+Rufus looked at his antagonist for a moment in silence, then staggered
+away, feeling limp and nerveless. The encounter had been so sudden and
+so sharp that he hardly realised yet what had happened. Reaching a
+neighbouring gate, he leaned on it and breathed hard.
+
+A few yards away he heard Gervase muttering and swearing, while Martin
+tried to encourage him with sympathetic words. He saw them walk through
+the lodge gates a little later and disappear in the darkness.
+
+Then Rufus pulled himself together and tried to realise what had taken
+place. His right knuckles were still smarting from their contact with
+the Captain's bony face, otherwise he had suffered no harm. The
+aggressor had clearly got the worst of it.
+
+Yet he felt no sense of elation. At best it was but a vulgar brawl,
+which any right-minded man ought to be ashamed of. It was true the
+Captain had struck the first blow, but he had returned it with more than
+compound interest. He wondered what the people of St. Gaved would say
+when they got to know. He wondered what Madeline Grover would say.
+
+He felt so excited, that, tired as he was, he took a long walk across
+the downs before returning to his lodgings. Mrs. Tuke, as usual, had
+laid his supper on the table, but she did not show her face.
+
+He was too much distressed in mind to eat. The events of the day,
+followed by the encounter with Gervase Tregony had taken away all his
+appetite.
+
+For a long time he sat in his easy chair staring into the fire.
+
+"I don't know why I should distress myself," he said to himself once or
+twice. "What if everything fails? There is an easy way out of all
+trouble. And I am not sure that Felix Muller, with all his pretence of
+friendship, will be sorry."
+
+He went to bed at length, but he did not sleep for several hours. The
+events of the day kept recurring like the refrain of a familiar song.
+
+He went about his work next day like a man who had almost abandoned
+hope. The buoyancy which he experienced at the beginning had nearly all
+gone. The promise of success was growing very faint and dim.
+
+As the day wore on he troubled himself less and less about Gervase
+Tregony. He thought it likely that for his own credit's sake he would
+say nothing about the encounter. Hence his surprise was great when
+toward evening a policeman called on him with a summons for assault.
+
+
+
+
+                               CHAPTER XXIV
+
+                         THE JUSTICE OF THE STRONG
+
+
+Rufus was brought before the magistrates, and remanded for a week.
+Gervase in the meanwhile made the most of his opportunity. Fate, or
+Providence, it seemed to him, had delivered his enemy into his hand, and
+he conceived it to be his duty now to assist Providence, to the best of
+his ability.
+
+Rufus treated the matter very lightly. He was out on bail, and he had
+little doubt that when he was allowed to tell his story before the
+magistrates he would be acquitted at once. Indeed, no other result
+seemed possible. He had only defended himself, and that a man should be
+punished for protecting his own head was almost unthinkable.
+
+He did not consider, however, that nearly all the magistrates belonged
+to the class of which Gervase was a member. That almost unconsciously
+they would be predisposed in his favour. That they regarded it almost as
+a religious duty to uphold the rights and privileges of their class, and
+that any insult offered to one of their own order meant a distinct
+weakening of that iron hand which had ruled the country for centuries,
+unless such insult was promptly met and punished.
+
+The magistrates were all of them honourable men. They belonged to the
+best county families. They had feasted at Sir Charles's table more than
+once, and ridden to hounds with his son. They had unbounded faith in the
+wisdom of the ruling classes, and an inborn contempt for what is
+vaguely termed the rights of the people. Political unrest was a
+dangerous symptom, and insubordination a crime.
+
+The toast they drank with the greatest gusto at their public functions
+was "His Majesty's Forces" and "The Navy." The Church they did not
+recognise as a defensive power, and though they repeated nearly every
+Sunday, "Because there is none other that fighteth for us, but only
+Thou, O God," they did not, in reality, believe it. The Gospel was all
+right for the social and domestic side of life, but when it came to
+larger affairs an army or a warship was much more to the purpose.
+
+Rufus was not beloved by any of these dispensers of the law. He was
+reputed to hold Socialistic views; he was not over-burdened with
+reverence for the "upper classes," and, worse still, was not content
+with the lowly condition in which he was born.
+
+On the day of the trial Rufus discovered that he had made a mistake in
+treating the matter so lightly. The prosecution had succeeded in working
+up a case. He was amazed when he discovered that he was charged, not
+only with assault but with drunkenness, and that the charge of
+drunkenness was sworn to by at least two witnesses. The terms of the
+indictment, by some oversight, had been furnished him too late for him
+to supply rebutting evidence. He had only his simple word of denial, and
+that stood him in no stead.
+
+Gervase swore that the accused struck him without warning and without
+provocation; that, in fact, he was given no time to defend himself, that
+almost before he knew what had happened he was lying on the ground
+bruised and bleeding. The accused, who was clearly mad with drink,
+sprang upon him out of the darkness, and felled him with a single blow,
+and but for the interposition of his gardener, Micah Martin, he had
+little doubt would have killed him.
+
+Micah corroborated his young master's evidence. He heard a cry for help,
+and running out saw the Captain on his back with the prisoner's knee on
+his chest. He was not absolutely certain as to the latter point, but
+that was his impression. Seeing him the prisoner staggered away, and
+leaned against a gate. He seemed to be just mad drunk, and in his
+judgment did not quite know what he was doing.
+
+The next witness was Timothy Polgarrow, barman at the "Three Anchors."
+He swore that he supplied the prisoner with two whiskies on the evening
+in question; that he appeared to be excited when he came into the
+public-house bar, but quite sober. After the second whisky, however, he
+showed signs of intoxication so that a third whisky which he demanded
+was refused. It was quite early in the evening when he called, not much
+after dark. He was able to walk fairly straight when he left the "Three
+Anchors," but appeared to be terribly angry that he was refused any more
+drink.
+
+Timothy gave his evidence glibly, and with great precision, and stuck to
+what he called his facts with limpet-like tenacity.
+
+Rufus startled the court, and horrified the magistrates by asking Tim
+how much the Captain had paid him for committing perjury.
+
+Rufus denied that he had ever crossed the threshold of the "Three
+Anchors." He had passed it on the evening in question on his way home
+from Redbourne, but he did not even slacken his pace, much less call.
+
+Tim, however, stuck to his story, and was quite certain that he was not
+mistaken in his man.
+
+As to the assault there could be no doubt. The Captain's face bore
+evidence of the severity of the attack. Rufus did not deny striking him
+and knocking him down, but persisted that Gervase was the aggressor.
+
+"But why should he attack you?" the chairman asked.
+
+"He accused me of something which I very much resented."
+
+"What did he accuse you of?"
+
+"I decline to say."
+
+"Why do you decline?"
+
+"Because it would introduce a name that I would not on any account have
+mixed up in this sordid affair."
+
+"Oh! indeed." And the Bench smiled in an ultra superior way.
+
+"Well, when he accused you of something you very much resented what did
+you do?"
+
+"I called him a liar."
+
+"Yes?"
+
+"This angered him, and he struck at me."
+
+"And what then?"
+
+"I dodged the blow, and struck back."
+
+"He didn't dodge the blow, I suppose?"
+
+"It appears not by his appearance."
+
+There was laughter in court at this reply, which was instantly
+suppressed.
+
+"And what followed then?"
+
+"What usually follows in such a case. Each tried to get at the other. I
+suppose my arm was the stronger or the longer. At any rate, when he
+found himself on his back he began to bellow for help."
+
+"So that you wish us to believe that in a stand-up fight between a
+soldier and a civilian the soldier got the worst of it?"
+
+"It looks as if he got the worst of it, at any rate."
+
+"Does it not occur to you that your story does not hang well together?
+Is it likely that a soldier--or an ex-soldier, a man trained to the use
+of arms--would allow himself to be felled to the ground unless he were
+taken unawares?"
+
+"Whether it is likely or not I have only stated the simple facts. Why
+should I attack him unawares, or attack him at all? His existence is a
+matter of supreme indifference to me. I should not have noticed him had
+he not charged me with conduct which I repudiate."
+
+"But you refuse to say what it is he charged you with?"
+
+"I do, and for the reasons I have already stated."
+
+At this point the Captain's solicitor took up the running, and insisted
+that the case had been proved up to the very hilt. Timothy Polgarrow, a
+man of unimpeachable character, had sworn upon oath that he had served
+the accused with whiskies on the evening in question. Generally
+speaking, it was, no doubt, true, that the accused was a very temperate
+man. Hence, when he took drink at all, he the more quickly got out of
+bounds. An inveterate toper would have taken half-a-dozen whiskies, and
+carried a perfectly steady head. The accused was excited when he entered
+the "Three Anchors." Perhaps he had business worries. It was hinted that
+his schemes were hanging fire. Perhaps he had imbibed freely before he
+left Redbourne. People drank sometimes to drown their care. But the one
+clear fact was that he left the "Three Anchors" considerably the worse
+for liquor. Liquor makes some people hilarious, others it makes
+quarrelsome. The accused evidently belongs to the latter class. He was
+ready to fight anybody. As it happened, Captain Tregony, as he would
+still call him, though he had resigned his commission, was the first man
+he met. The Captain was taking a constitutional before dinner. It was a
+clear, frosty evening with plenty of starlight. The Captain was walking
+slowly with no thought of evil, when suddenly, out of the night, loomed
+the accused. The sequel you know. He fell upon the Captain unawares and
+struck him to the ground, and the chances are, in his drunken fury,
+would have murdered him, but for the timely assistance of Micah Martin.
+
+The case was as simple and straightforward as any bench of magistrates
+could desire. The facts were borne out by independent testimony. There
+could be no shadow of doubt as to the drunkenness or the assault. The
+only matter to be considered was the measure of punishment to be meted
+out. They all agreed that drunkenness was no excuse for violence, while
+the offence was aggravated by a man in Rufus Sterne's position attacking
+a man of the rank of Captain Tregony.
+
+One or two of the magistrates were for committing him to gaol without
+the option of a fine. It was a serious matter for a civilian to attack
+even an ex-soldier. It was a species of _l�se majest�_ that ought not to
+be tolerated for a moment.
+
+Unfortunately for these extremists a similar case had been tried a
+fortnight previously, and the accused--a man of considerable means--had
+got off with a fine of ten shillings and costs.
+
+"And," argued the chairman, "we cannot with this case fresh in people's
+minds give colour to the fiction that there is one law for the rich and
+another for the poor."
+
+So in order to prove their absolute impartiality, and to mark at the
+same time their sense of what was due to an ex-officer of His Majesty's
+forces they inflicted a fine of five pounds and costs, or a month's
+imprisonment.
+
+Rufus was disposed at first not to pay the money. He was so angry that
+he almost felt that the seclusion of a prison cell would be a relief.
+But better thoughts prevailed. He was absolutely helpless. It was no
+use kicking or protesting. He could only grin, and abide, and hope that
+the day would come when justice would find her own.
+
+It was a humiliating day for him. He left the court branded as a
+drunkard and a brawler. The case for the prosecution had been so clear
+and circumstantial that even his best friends were confounded. That he
+should deny the accusation was natural enough; but there was an unspoken
+fear in their hearts that worry had driven him to drink, and that
+alcohol acting upon a highly-strung temperament had thrown him
+momentarily off his mental and moral balance.
+
+Madeline Grover was almost dumbfounded. Unconsciously she had been
+idealising Rufus for months past, while their last conversation had
+further exalted him in her estimation. Here was a man, honest in his
+doubts, sincere in his beliefs, and faithful to all his ideals. A man
+who "would not make his judgment blind," and who refused to play the
+hypocrite whatever the world might say in disparagement of him.
+
+Among all her acquaintances there was no man who had struck her fancy so
+much. He stood apart from the common ruck. His very antagonism to the
+religious conventions of his time had something of nobleness in it. If
+he derided the Church it was because he believed it had departed from
+the spirit and teachings of its founder. His reverence for what was good
+and helpful had won her admiration.
+
+And now suddenly it had been discovered to her that her idol had not
+only feet of clay, but was clay altogether, that he was a worse
+hypocrite than the hypocrites he derided. That behind all his
+pretence----
+
+She stopped short at that. He had made no pretence. If he had talked
+about himself it was in disparagement rather than praise. He
+claimed no virtues beyond what his fellows possessed. He had always been
+singularly modest in his estimate of his own abilities.
+
+Yet here were the facts in black and white. The unshaken testimony of
+unimpeachable witnesses, while poor Gervase's face bore unmistakable
+evidence of the fierceness of the onslaught.
+
+Four days after the trial the local paper came out with a verbatim
+report. Madeline took a copy to her own room, and spent the whole
+afternoon in studying its _pros_ and _cons_.
+
+The points that fastened themselves upon her memory most tenaciously
+were first, Rufus's refusal to give the name of someone about whom they
+quarrelled, and second, his suggestion that Timothy Polgarrow had been
+bribed by Gervase to give false evidence.
+
+Here was a phase of the question that seemed to grow larger and larger
+the more she looked at it. She would have to keep her eyes and ears
+open. Perhaps the last word on the subject had not been said. If Gervase
+was as honourable as she had always believed, then it was wicked of
+Rufus Sterne to throw out such a base and shameful insinuation. If, on
+the other hand, Rufus was as black as he had been painted, why this act
+of chivalry in the defence of the name of some unknown person?
+
+The subject was full of knots and tangles. She would have to wait until
+some fresh light was thrown upon it.
+
+As the days passed away she was pleased to note that Gervase showed no
+sign of triumph over the downfall of Rufus Sterne. He pointed no moral
+as he might reasonably have done. He did not come to her and say,
+"There, I told you so." His restraint and reserve were admirable, and
+she liked him all the better for his silence.
+
+When, at length, she herself alluded to the matter, he spoke with
+genuine feeling and sympathy.
+
+"I am really sorry for the fellow," he said. "Of course, he brought it
+upon himself. I could not possibly pass over the assault in silence. But
+all the same it is a pity that a man of parts should destroy his own
+reputation."
+
+"It seemed a momentary and unaccountable outburst," she said,
+reflectively.
+
+He smiled knowingly, and shook his head, but would not venture any
+further remark on the subject.
+
+Madeline was greatly puzzled. She supposed she had been mistaken. It
+seemed for once her instincts had led her wrong, her intuitions were at
+fault. It was a painful discovery to make, and yet there was no other
+conclusion she could come to. It was impossible to believe that Gervase
+had deliberately plotted to ruin him, for Gervase, at any rate, was a
+gentleman.
+
+Yet, somehow, she was never wholly satisfied. In spite of everything her
+sympathies were still with the accused man. She made no attempt,
+however, to see him again. She avoided every walk that would lead her
+across his path. She did her best to put him out of her thoughts and out
+of her life.
+
+Gervase, meanwhile, played his part with great skill. He no longer
+pestered her with his attentions, no longer blustered. He felt he was
+safe now from any rival, and that time was on his side. It was very
+galling to have to wait so long, his fingers itched to touch her
+dollars, but he was wise enough to see that he would gain nothing by
+precipitancy. Madeline was not to be hurried or driven.
+
+As the winter wore slowly away Madeline became more friendly and
+confidential. She sometimes asked him to take her a walk across the
+downs. She allowed him also to give her lessons in riding, she sought
+his advice in numberless little matters, in which she feared to trust
+her own judgment, and all unconsciously led him to think that the game
+was entirely in his own hands.
+
+Between the Hall and the village there was little or no intercourse.
+Lady Tregony did most of her shopping in Redbourne. It was only the
+common and inexpensive things of household use that St. Gaved was deemed
+worthy to supply. Hence it happened that sometimes for a week on the
+stretch no local news found its way into the Hall.
+
+Occasionally Madeline wondered whether Rufus Sterne after his sad fall,
+would give up in despair, and go to the bad altogether, or whether he
+would pull himself together and fight his battle afresh. She wondered,
+too, whether the scheme or invention in which he had risked his all
+would prove to be a success or a failure. She sometimes scanned the
+columns of the local paper, but his name was never mentioned, and
+somehow she had not the courage to ask anyone who knew him.
+
+The weather continued so cold and cheerless, and so trying to the
+Captain after his Indian experiences, that it was suggested by Sir
+Charles that they should spend a month or two in the South of France.
+
+Madeline caught at the idea with great eagerness, and that settled the
+matter. Both Sir Charles and Gervase were anxious to get her away from
+St. Gaved, but were not quite certain how it was to be accomplished.
+Madeline had grown so sick of London, and so eager to get back again to
+Trewinion Hall, that they were afraid she would object to going away
+again so soon.
+
+Gervase glanced at his father knowingly, and his eyes brightened.
+
+That evening father and son discussed affairs in the library.
+
+"I think the way is clear at last," Sir Charles said, with a smile.
+
+"Yes, I think so," Gervase answered, pulling at his briar.
+
+"We'll get away as soon as we can, the sooner the better. Under the
+sunny skies of the Riviera her thoughts will turn to love and
+matrimony," and Sir Charles laughed.
+
+"She's grown almost affectionate of late."
+
+"That is good. If she ever cherished any romantic attachment for that
+scoundrel Sterne it is at an end."
+
+"She never mentions his name."
+
+"And by the time we have been away a week she will have forgotten his
+existence."
+
+"I hope she will not be caught by some other handsome face."
+
+"Not likely, my boy, if you play your cards well."
+
+"I think, under the circumstances, I have played them remarkably well.
+Much better than you did when they were in your hands."
+
+"No, no. Everything is going on as well as well can be. I don't think
+either of us has anything to blame himself with."
+
+"I am not sure I did right in giving up my commission so soon. She was
+immensely taken, if you remember, with my uniform. She likes smart
+clothes."
+
+"Oh, she's got over that. She's a woman now, and a wide-awake woman to
+boot."
+
+"There's no doubt about her being wide-awake. But when shall we start?"
+
+"Why not next Monday?"
+
+"Aye, that will do. The sooner the better," and Gervase went off to his
+room to dream of matrimony and unlimited cash.
+
+
+
+
+                                  CHAPTER XXV
+
+                               THE END OF A DREAM
+
+
+It was not until March that Rufus realised that his dream was at an end.
+He had hoped against hope for weeks; had toiled on with steady
+persistency and tried to banish from his brain the thought of failure.
+The knowledge came suddenly, though he took a long journey to the North
+of England to seek it. When he turned his face toward home he knew that
+all his labour had been in vain.
+
+Not that the invention on which he had bestowed so much toil and thought
+was worthless. On the contrary, he saw greater possibilities in it than
+ever before. But he had been forestalled. Another brain, as inventive as
+his own, and with far greater facilities for reducing theories to
+practice, had conceived the same idea and carried it into effect, while
+he was still painfully toiling in the same direction. When he looked at
+the work brought out by his competitor in the North, he felt as though
+there was no further place for him on earth.
+
+"It is better than mine," he said to himself, sadly. "The main idea is
+the same, but he has shown more skill in developing it."
+
+It was the advantage of the trained engineer over the untrained, of
+experience over inexperience. He had no feeling of bitterness in his
+heart against the man who had succeeded; he was of too generous a nature
+to be envious. The man who had won deserved to win.
+
+He journeyed home like a man in a dream. The way seemed neither long nor
+short. The first faint odour of spring was in the air, but he did not
+heed it. His fellow passengers seemed more like shadows than real
+people. The world for him was at an end. He had no more to do. One
+question only was left to trouble him. How to put out life's brief
+candle without awakening any suspicion of foul play. He was more heavily
+stunned than he knew. Outwardly he was quite calm and collected, but it
+was the calmness of insensibility. For the moment he was past feeling;
+it was as though some powerful narcotic had been injected into his
+veins. He had an idea that nothing could ruffle him any more.
+
+He had fretted a good deal at first over the loss of his good name. It
+seemed a monstrous thing that any man should have the power to rob him
+of what he valued more than all else on earth. That Gervase Tregony had
+deliberately bribed Tim Polgarrow and his own gardener to say he was
+drunk he had not the least shadow of a doubt, but he had no proof; and
+to accuse a man of inciting to perjury--especially a man in the position
+of Gervase Tregony--was a very dangerous thing. So he had to keep his
+mouth shut, and bear in silence one of the cruellest wrongs ever
+inflicted upon a man.
+
+He was not at all sorry that he had disfigured the not too handsome face
+of Gervase Tregony for a few days. Indeed, he was human enough to feel
+that he would not mind paying another five pounds to be allowed to
+repeat the process. It was not "the assault" part of the affair that
+troubled him, nobody thought much the worse of him for that side of the
+episode. Gervase was not so popular in St. Gaved that he had many
+sympathisers.
+
+But to be accused of drunkenness, and to have the accusation sworn to,
+and set down as proved, was as the bitterness of death to him. If there
+was any vice in the world he loathed it was drunkenness. It seemed to
+him the parent of so many other vices as well as the Hades of human
+degradation. It is true he was not a pledged abstainer. He never cared
+to pledge himself to anything, but in practice he was above reproach.
+
+He knew, of course, why the charge of drunkenness had been tacked on to
+that of assault, without the former the latter would not hold water. It
+would be too humiliating to Gervase to admit that a sober man had beaten
+him in fair fight; hence the fiction that he was pounced upon suddenly
+and unawares by a man who was mad drunk. But the chief reason lay deeper
+still. He was not so blind that he could not see that Gervase was
+jealous of him, and sometimes he half wondered, half hoped, that he had
+reason to be jealous. It made his nerves tingle when he thought, that in
+the big house and before the Tregony family, Madeline Grover might have
+unwittingly let fall some word that could be construed into a partiality
+for him. It was a thought that would not bear to be looked at or
+analysed he knew. Nevertheless, it would flash across his brain, and
+that pretty frequently.
+
+Hence, from Gervase's point of view the charge of drunkenness was what
+the man in the street would call "good business." He often pictured
+Gervase gloating over his triumph. If ever Madeline thought
+affectionately of him she would do so no longer. She would try to forget
+that he ever crossed her path, and, perhaps be sorry to the end of her
+days that she had shown him so much favour.
+
+This was the bitterest part of the whole experience. That Madeline
+should think ill of him--the one woman that all unwittingly he had
+learned to love--was more painful than all the rest put together. It was
+bad enough to be held up as an awful example in Church and Sunday-school
+and Temperance meeting, as he heard was the case. But all that he did
+not mind so much. He might live it down in time. But if Madeline was
+once within his reach, and this cruel slander drove her into the arms of
+Gervase Tregony, that would be a tragedy that could never be lived down,
+that would darken his life to the end of the chapter.
+
+For several weeks he kept hoping that he would meet Madeline again. He
+wanted to have one more conversation with her. He hoped that her
+generous nature would allow him to put his side of the case; or, if that
+was denied him that he might be allowed to say with all the emphasis he
+could command, that the accusation was false. But she gave him no such
+opportunity. He watched for her in the streets of St. Gaved. He took
+long walks across the downs, he loitered in the road that led past the
+lodge gates, but never once did she show her face. She evidently meant
+to let him see that their acquaintanceship was at an end.
+
+Then came the news that the whole family had gone abroad, and that no
+one knew when they would return to Trewinion Hall again. He heard the
+news with a dull sense of pain at his heart. The brightest--the most
+beautiful thing--that had ever come into his life had gone out again,
+and he was left like a man stricken blind in a land of sunshine.
+
+Yet, strangely enough, his sense of grief and shame and loss increased
+his desire for life. He did not want to hide himself--to pass out into
+silence and forgetfulness. He wanted to live so that he might redeem his
+life from the shadow that had fallen upon it, and prove to Madeline
+Grover, however late in the day, how cruelly he had been wronged.
+
+On his return from the North, however, this and every other feeling was
+swallowed up in a strange insensibility to pain, both mental and
+physical. The one thought that dominated him was that he must keep his
+pledge to Felix Muller. As an honourable man he was bound to do that,
+and perhaps the sooner he did it the better.
+
+He had spent three-fourths of the money he had borrowed. He had a few
+assets in the shape of tools, the rest would have to be scrapped, and
+would only be worth the value of old iron. In case there were no mishaps
+over the insurance money, Felix Muller would be well repaid for the
+risks he had taken and the world would go on just as if nothing had
+happened.
+
+After a good deal of cogitation he came to the conclusion that the
+easiest way out of life would be by drowning. He was not a very good
+swimmer. He soon got exhausted and so was careful never to venture out
+of his depth. It would be quite easy, therefore, for him to swim out
+into deep water or take a header from a rock when the tide was up and
+then quietly drown.
+
+That would mean that he would have to wait until summer. Nobody in St.
+Gaved bathed in the sea in March. To avoid any suspicion of foul play he
+would have to follow his normal habits and preserve as far as possible a
+cheerful temper.
+
+It was soon whispered through the town that Rufus's great invention had
+proved a failure. Some sympathised with him. Some secretly rejoiced.
+For, curiously enough, no man can live in this world and do his duty
+without making enemies. There are narrow, ungenerous souls in every
+community who regard the success of their neighbours as a personal
+affront, who can see no merit in anyone, and who are never able to shape
+their lips to a word of praise or congratulation.
+
+These people always complained that Rufus was a cut above his station.
+They said it would do him good "to be taken down a peg." But they were
+dreadfully sorry for the people whom he had induced to invest money in
+his wild-cat enterprise.
+
+There were talks of his being made a bankrupt, and hints were thrown out
+that he might soon have to appear in a court of law on a worse charge
+than that of being drunk and disorderly. Moralists were able to see in
+his case striking illustrations of the truth that "the way of
+transgressors is hard." It was against the eternal order that a man
+should permanently prosper who had turned his back upon the faith of his
+fathers. His failure was heaven's punishment on him for neglecting
+church and chapel, and his fall into the sin of drunkenness was to be
+traced to precisely the same source.
+
+Some of these things were repeated to Rufus by not too judicious
+friends, but they little guessed how deeply they hurt him. It was not
+his habit to betray his feelings. When he was most deeply stung he said
+the least.
+
+A few days after his return Felix Muller drove over to see him. He came
+as usual after dark, and his excuse was that he had been to see clients
+in the neighbourhood.
+
+Felix was full of sympathy and generous in his language of
+commiseration.
+
+"We must still hope for the best," he said, after a long pause, looking
+into the fire with a grave and abstracted air. "You have several months
+yet to turn round in."
+
+"It will be impossible for me to find the money except in the way we
+agreed upon," Rufus answered, without emotion.
+
+"It may look so now," Muller answered, with pretended cheerfulness; "but
+in this topsy-turvy world there is no knowing what will turn up. I wish
+it were possible for me to allow you an extension of time."
+
+"I fear it would not help me, if you could," Rufus said, absently.
+
+"Well, perhaps it wouldn't, but all the same I should like to give you
+an extra chance or two if that were possible."
+
+"I am not asking for any favours," Rufus said, indifferently. "I am
+getting things straight for you with as little delay as possible."
+
+"And I shall loathe myself for being compelled to receive the money when
+you are gone."
+
+Rufus looked at him for a moment with a doubtful light in his eyes.
+
+"Why, what can it matter to you?" he questioned. "I thought you were a
+man without sentiment."
+
+"I am in the main. I am just a man of business, and nothing else. Yet
+there's no denying I am fond of you. You are a man of my own way of
+thinking. May I not say you are a disciple of mine?"
+
+"You may say what you like," Sterne replied, with a hollow laugh. "I
+believe you helped to destroy some of the illusions of my youth."
+
+"And therefore you are grateful to me, and I am interested in you."
+
+"I am not sure that I am particularly grateful," Rufus said, wearily,
+"What is there to be grateful for?"
+
+"What is there to be grateful for?" Muller questioned, raising his
+eyebrows. "Surely it is something to have got out of the fogs of
+superstition into the clear light of reason. To have escaped from the
+bondage of creeds into the freedom of humanity. To have discovered the
+true value and proportion of things, to have been delivered from all
+fear of the future----"
+
+"Are we not playing with words and phrases?" Rufus questioned, suddenly.
+
+"My dear friend, what do you mean?" Muller asked in surprise.
+
+"Suppose by reason and logic we can destroy everything until nothing is
+left? Is there any satisfaction in that? Is there any comfort in a
+philosophy of negations?"
+
+"Explain yourself."
+
+"Well, we will say for the sake of argument that we have proved there is
+no God and no future state. That all religions are myths and dreams.
+That matter explains everything, that thought is only sensation, that
+morality simply registers a stage in evolution, that death breaks up the
+elements which compose the individual, and they return to their native
+state. What then? Have we got any further? Are we not merely playing
+with words and phrases as children play with pebbles on the shore?"
+
+"My dear fellow, whom have you been talking with lately?"
+
+"That is nothing to the point," Rufus answered, with a touch of defiance
+in his voice. "What I want to know is, how or in what way we are better
+off than say the vicar and his curate?"
+
+"My dear fellow, surely you can see that they are the puppets of an
+exploded superstition."
+
+"Well, suppose they are. What are we the puppets of?"
+
+"We are not puppets at all. We are free men."
+
+"Words again," Rufus answered, with a pathetic smile. "We are as
+completely hemmed in by the forces that surround us as they are. As
+completely baffled by the riddle of existence. In what does our freedom
+consist? We have cast off one dogma to pin our faith to another."
+
+"No, no; we are not dogmatists at all."
+
+"Words again, Muller. You have your set of beliefs as clearly defined as
+the vicar has his. You have formulated your creed. That it is largely a
+denial of all he believes is nothing to the point. A negative implies a
+positive."
+
+"Ah, but he believes in what affects the freedom of the human mind and
+the human will. He believes in a personal God, in human accountability
+to that Being; in a Day of Judgment; in a future state of rewards and
+punishments."
+
+"And you believe in extinction?"
+
+"Of course I do, and so do you."
+
+"But is there any such thing as extinction? Can you destroy anything? If
+a thing ceases to exist in one form, does it not exist in another?"
+
+"Of course, that is the eternal process, the undeviating order. At death
+you disintegrate and turn to dust. In other words you are resolved into
+your native elements, those elements are used up again in other forms,
+they feed a rose, give colour to the grass, pass into the plumage of a
+bird, or into the structure of an animal."
+
+"But I am more than dust, Muller, and so are you. Your philosophy still
+leaves the riddle unsolved. I am coming round to the conviction that
+personality is not to be explained away by any such rough-and-ready
+method."
+
+"I am sorry to hear you say so."
+
+"Why should you be sorry?"
+
+"Because when a man is in the grip of superstition there is no knowing
+what he will do or leave undone. So-called religion is made an excuse
+for so many things."
+
+"For not committing suicide, for instance?"
+
+"Exactly. If a man gets the stupid notion into his head that he is
+accountable to somebody for his life, or that he will have to give an
+account at some hypothetical judgment day, that man becomes a slave at
+once. He is no longer his own master. No longer free to do what he
+likes."
+
+"My dear Muller," Rufus questioned, with a smile. "Are you free to do as
+you like? Is not the life of every one of us bounded by laws and
+conditions that we cannot escape?"
+
+"Up to a point, no doubt. Freedom is not chaos. Liberty moves within
+legitimate bounds. Our philosophy is at any rate rational."
+
+"Then you believe in a moral order as well as a physical?"
+
+"The moral order man has evolved for himself. It is a concomitant of
+civilisation."
+
+"Why not say he has evolved the physical order for himself? Would it not
+be just as reasonable? He may have evolved considerable portions of his
+creeds and any number of dogmas. But the moral order is no more a part
+of ecclesiasticism than earthquakes are. It is part of the universal
+cosmos before which we stand helpless and bewildered."
+
+"My dear Sterne, you talk like a parson. Who has been coaching you?"
+
+"No, no, Muller; the subject is too big and complex to be dismissed with
+a sneer."
+
+"I expect I shall hear of you next playing the martyr for moral ideals,"
+Muller said, with a slight curl of the lip.
+
+"That seems to be the next item on the programme," Rufus answered,
+quietly; "for, after all, what is honesty--the just payment of
+debts--but a moral ideal."
+
+"It belongs to that code of honour certainly that civilised peoples have
+shaped for themselves."
+
+"Then you think I am bound to my pledge by nothing more weighty than
+that?"
+
+"What could be more weighty? You could not escape from it
+without--without--but why discuss the impossible? You are a man of
+honour, that is enough."
+
+"And when is the latest you would like the money, Muller?"
+
+"It will need a month or two to clear up things," he said, evasively.
+
+"And if I am too precipitate I might be suspected?"
+
+"Exactly. You cannot be too wary. Companies have grown suspicious. There
+have been so many attempts of late to cheat them, and, of course, in the
+eye of the law robbing a company stands in precisely the same category
+as robbing an individual."
+
+Rufus gave a start, and all the blood left his cheeks, and for several
+moments he stared at the fire in silence.
+
+Muller rose from his chair, and began to brush his bowler hat with his
+hand.
+
+"I'm frightfully sorry it's happened," he said, consolingly, "but, after
+all, it will soon be over."
+
+"Ye--s."
+
+"I advised you against it. I did not like the risk from the first."
+
+"But you'll profit by the transaction?"
+
+"My dear fellow, we're bound to make a little profit now and then or we
+should starve."
+
+"Profit?" Rufus mused, as if to himself, "what shall it profit a
+man----"
+
+"Perhaps you will advise me nearer the time?" Muller said, uneasily, and
+he moved towards the door.
+
+"No. The papers will advise you."
+
+"Well, good-night. I will not say good-bye; perhaps something may turn
+up yet." And he pulled open the door and passed out into the hall.
+
+"Good-night," Rufus answered, and he turned back to his easy-chair and
+sat down.
+
+
+
+
+                                CHAPTER XXVI
+
+                            QUESTIONS TO BE FACED
+
+
+Rufus sat staring into the fire for the best part of an hour, with eyes
+full of pain and questioning. Unwittingly Felix Muller had startled him
+out of the condition of semi-insensibility into which he had fallen. The
+dull apathy, mental and moral, passed from him like a cloud. He was
+keenly alive once more, keenly sensitive to every question that touched
+his personal honour. He was amazed that he should have failed to see the
+moral issue raised by Muller. Amazed that he had never considered the
+rights of the company in which he had insured his life.
+
+Was it true, he wondered, that departure from the Christian faith, the
+relinquishing of the idea of accountability to a Supreme Being, lowered
+a man's moral standard? Would he have lost sight of the moral view if he
+had not drifted into the cold and barren regions of materialistic
+philosophy? He had prided himself on his personal honour, and yet had he
+not been sliding downwards, steadily and unconsciously, ever since he
+cast religion definitely aside? The Churches might concern themselves
+mainly with questions that were of little account. But, after all, they
+did keep alive the sense of God, the idea of accountability, the
+importance of right living.
+
+If he had held on, for instance, to the faith of his childhood, would he
+have lost sight for a moment of the fact that to cheat a public company
+was just as dishonest as to cheat a private individual? Could he under
+any circumstances have entered into the compact he had? Would he not
+have sighted the moral issue in a moment?
+
+He felt humiliated and ashamed. How could he patch the garment of his
+personal honour with stolen material. The conduct of Micawber in paying
+Traddles with his I.O.U. was nobility itself in comparison with his
+proposal to pay Muller by cheating an insurance company. The only
+question that had worried him until now was whether a man had any right
+to take his own life. And his materialistic philosophy had led him to
+the conclusion that in such a matter he was responsible to himself
+alone, that his life was his own to do what he liked with, to end it or
+use it, just as seemed good in his own eyes.
+
+That might be true still for all he knew, though he was beginning to
+doubt. But on a question of common honesty there was no room for two
+opinions. Society was built up and held together by the recognition of
+certain fundamental principles. There was practically universal
+agreement on certain things. No argument was necessary. No one was asked
+to prove that fire was hot or that ice was cold, for instance. So with
+honesty and dishonesty. A man who tried to defend cheating would be
+ostracised.
+
+But why had he failed to see this clear moral issue? That was the
+question that troubled him. He had struck a blow at his own integrity
+and was not conscious of it. Just as the worst kind of hell is to be in
+hell and not know it, so the most terrible state of depravity is to be
+depraved and to be unconscious of the fact.
+
+Rufus felt such a sense of personal loathing as he had never known
+before. He saw himself as in a mirror--not darkly, but clearly. He
+realised that in casting away the husks he had cast away the grain also,
+that in losing the sense of accountability he had obscured his vision of
+righteousness.
+
+There were certain excuses to be made for himself he knew. He had been
+so certain of the success of his scheme that he had never given himself
+time to consider the alternative issue. It was only recently that the
+idea of failure had seriously crossed his mind. At the beginning he had
+refused to consider it even as a remote contingency. That the company
+would ever be called upon to pay the money was too absurd to be thought
+of.
+
+In addition to that, there had been a vague idea somewhere at the back
+of his mind that a company and an individual were not in the same
+category, that they belonged to a different order of things.
+
+A company was something impersonal--something that had neither morals
+nor conscience, that had neither a body to be kicked nor a soul to be
+saved. Hence the idea of cheating a company was on a par with trying to
+cheat a steamship or a railway engine.
+
+He had never said this to himself. He had never really looked at the
+matter, but he was vaguely conscious that there had been some such
+feeling or idea in his mind. Why such an idea should have possessed his
+sub-consciousness he did not know. Now that he had become wide-awake to
+the real issue he was amazed.
+
+Then there was another question that went hand in hand with the others.
+Why did his moral sense become acutely awake at this particular
+juncture? He had been getting back again to the old landmarks. He had
+been recovering his lost faith on many points. His visit to Tregannon
+and his many conversations with Marshall Brook had helped him to
+discern what was vital in religion. He had been separating,
+unconsciously, ecclesiasticism from Christianity. He disliked the former
+as much as ever, but the philosophy of Jesus seemed the noblest thing
+ever given to the world. If he had been asked if he believed in Jesus
+Christ and His teachings he would have said yes. Had he been asked if he
+believed in the Church and its teachings, his answer would have still
+been a negative, or, if an affirmative it would have been conditioned by
+so many reservations that he would not have been deemed suitable for
+church membership in any communion. Yet he was not far from the kingdom
+of God. The kernel of Christianity he accepted. He knew it and felt it.
+His quarrel was no longer with Christ, but with those who pretended to
+represent Him, with an organisation that in the main had lost His
+Spirit.
+
+Was, then, the quickening of his moral sense the outcome of his
+recovered faith? If he had never known Madeline Grover, never read the
+books she lent him, never listened to the teachings of Marshall Brook,
+would he have troubled about the rights of an insurance company?
+
+These were questions he could not answer. He had not found his bearings
+yet. He would need more time. Moreover, the question of all others that
+hammered at his brain and conscience was, should he pay back the money
+he owed Muller by fraud? Should he be dishonest in one direction that he
+might be honest in another? Should he pay a debt of honour by an act of
+flagrant dishonour? He knew that Muller would answer yes in a moment;
+that with him honesty and honour did not belong to the same category. He
+would have said that men might be perfectly honourable without being
+honest; that honesty, after all, was merely a matter of policy; that
+perfectly honourable men cheated every day.
+
+But with his awakened moral sense Rufus could not see things in that
+light. What, therefore, was he to do?
+
+He stole off to bed at length, but not to sleep. Hour after hour he lay
+wide awake, thinking, thinking. But he could see no way out of the
+difficulty. The more he puzzled his brain the more perplexed he became.
+He was on the horns of a dilemma from which there seemed no escape.
+
+As a man of honour he was bound to hand back the money to Muller by the
+time appointed, and yet to do so he must take his own life and commit at
+the same time an act of roguery that would cover his name with infamy if
+men got to know. As far as his own life was concerned he was not in the
+mood to set much value upon it, and as the days passed away that mood
+deepened and intensified. He asked himself the question constantly, What
+had he to live for? The things that made life valuable had been taken
+from him. What was life without hope and without love? He was so
+absolutely stranded that even if he lived it would only be a miserable
+dragging out of existence.
+
+Sometimes he gave way to absolute despair, and the very thought of death
+was a relief to him. Peace and quietness and rest were to be found only
+in the grave. Why not end the struggle at once? Why wait until summer
+came? He could gain nothing by waiting, and a few days more or less
+could make no difference. The sooner the fatal slip was taken the sooner
+would come relief.
+
+And yet in the darkest days of despair his moral sense revolted. The
+idea of committing a fraud as the final act of his life seemed to jar
+every fibre of his being. It was not dying he shrank from, though death
+itself seemed a far more solemn thing than it had done for many years
+past. But he was no coward. He did not recoil even from suffering; but
+to die a cheat was what he could not bring himself to look upon with
+equanimity.
+
+Again and again he would say to himself, "What does it matter? I have
+been a cheat in intention if not in act. The proposal was my own. I
+entered into the compact with my eyes wide open."
+
+But such reasoning did not satisfy him. Even when he told himself that
+he had no character to lose, that even if the fraud were discovered it
+would only throw a little darker shadow upon his memory. It did not
+lessen his repugnance of the contemplated act.
+
+So one day of misery succeeded another, and he fancied sometimes he
+would lose his reason altogether.
+
+Fortunately for him his old place at the mine became vacant, and the
+manager, who had never lost faith in him, was only too glad to reinstate
+him.
+
+"Don't be downhearted, Sterne," he said. "Our greatest successes are won
+through failure. You will win yet if you have only patience to wait and
+strength to persevere."
+
+They were the first really friendly words that had been spoken to him,
+and the tears came into his eyes in spite of himself.
+
+Captain Tom Hendy turned away his head. He did not like to see tears in
+a strong man's eyes, and he guessed that Rufus must have suffered
+terribly for a few friendly words to affect him so much.
+
+"It is kind of you, Capt'n Tom, to say so much," Rufus said, at length,
+"but I am too hopelessly stranded ever to do very much."
+
+"Oh, that is all my eye," Captain Tom answered, with a brusque laugh.
+"You know the old saying, 'Rome was not built in a day.'"
+
+"Yes, I know the old saying, but I fear it won't help me very much.
+Still, I shall be glad to forget my disappointment for a while in my old
+tasks."
+
+"Disappointment is the seed-ground out of which grow the fairest
+flowers," was the cheery answer.
+
+Captain Tom was a Methodist local preacher, and was somewhat given to
+coining phrases that had a pleasant sound. Moreover, he had a big,
+kindly heart, a fact which was often unsuspected by those who did not
+know him.
+
+"Can I begin work soon?" Rufus questioned, after a pause.
+
+"On Monday morning. Jackson finishes on Saturday, so you can just take
+up the old threads as though there had been no break."
+
+"You are really awfully kind," Rufus said, impulsively. "You see, I come
+back with a damaged reputation."
+
+"Not much, sonny; not much. But, of course, your religious views
+predisposed people to believe the worst."
+
+"Yes, I suppose so. It is a curious world."
+
+"Well, it is in some respects; but in the long run people generally get
+what they deserve."
+
+"You think so?"
+
+"I am sure of it. There is a moral order that never varies. Don't you
+make any mistake, my boy. God is at the head of affairs, though you may
+think the world is run without a head."
+
+"I don't know that I have ever said that."
+
+"Well, not in so many words, perhaps. But you've drifted a long way.
+I've been awfully sorry. I'm sorry still. But you'll get back. I've
+never lost faith in you. You've always been better than your philosophy.
+But I'm not going to blame you."
+
+"You need not be afraid that I shall be offended."
+
+"No, 'tisn't that. I know what it is to doubt, myself. I fancy sometimes
+it's only the people who never think who never doubt. The way into the
+Kingdom is through tribulation. So long as a man is honest in his
+doubts, I don't mind. It is the blatant scepticism of ignorance that one
+resents. I am sure you have been anxious to find the truth."
+
+"I am still."
+
+"Light will come in good time, my boy. Only be patient and humble," and
+Captain Tom turned away.
+
+"One word more before you go," Rufus said, eagerly.
+
+"Yes, sonny, a dozen if you like."
+
+"I referred just now to my damaged reputation."
+
+"You did. But you'll be able to live that down."
+
+"That is not the point exactly. I was cruelly slandered in that matter.
+I was never drunk in my life, never, in the smallest degree, the worse
+for drink; and it would be a comfort to me if you could accept my word
+of honour on that point."
+
+"Then it was not a momentary weakness--a sudden lapse as it were?"
+
+"It was not. I have never tasted a drop of intoxicants since my leg was
+broken, and then it was given to me as a medicine by the doctor."
+
+"But why should three men swear you were drunk?"
+
+"One to damage my character. The other two were bribed."
+
+"Have you proof of that?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Then you had better keep a still tongue."
+
+"I have done so; but you have shown yourself so friendly that I could
+not help speaking. Besides, it is hard to keep silent under so great a
+wrong."
+
+"But why should any man--especially a man in the young Squire's
+position--bribe others to swear your character away?"
+
+"Because he feared I was coming between him and the girl he wanted to
+marry."
+
+Captain Tom started and looked incredulous.
+
+"Please don't think me egotistical," Rufus continued, with a painful
+blush. "I can assure you I have never aspired so high. But----"
+
+"You saved her life."
+
+"I had that good fortune, and she was grateful, and she showed her
+gratitude in many ways. One afternoon back in the winter I met her on
+the Downs, and we had a ramble together, and unfortunately the Captain
+saw us."
+
+"And you think he was jealous?"
+
+"I do. What led to the quarrel was, he charged me with loitering round
+Trewinion so that I might waylay her, and influence her against him."
+
+"But why did you not mention that in court?"
+
+"What would have been the good of it? He would have denied it on oath.
+Besides, I'd rather be accused of drunkenness than drag Miss Grover's
+name into such a sordid squabble."
+
+"Oh, indeed!" and the Captain's eyebrows went up perceptibly.
+
+"You'll excuse me talking so freely, Capt'n Tom," Rufus went on, "but it
+really does me good to open my heart to someone, and I know you'll
+respect my confidence."
+
+"I wish you had come to me sooner my boy, though I never thought very
+seriously of the matter. I concluded it was a sudden lapse, and in all
+probability would never happen again."
+
+"But it was nothing of the sort," Rufus said, with a touch of vehemence
+in his tone. "I am as innocent of the charge as you are."
+
+"Then the men who witnessed against you are guilty of perjury?"
+
+"Timothy Polgarrow is, without a doubt. Poor old Micah Martin may have
+fancied I was not sober. Besides, he would conceive it to be his bounden
+duty to accept his young master's word."
+
+For several seconds Captain Tom remained silent, with his eyes fixed
+upon the ground.
+
+"Such villainy ought to be exposed," he said, at length, raising his
+eyes suddenly.
+
+"But how is it to be done?"
+
+"I don't know, my boy," he answered, reflectively, "I don't know."
+
+"You said just now that in the long run people got their deserts."
+
+"I did, sonny, and I believe it."
+
+"But where shall I come in? Suppose they do get their deserts, that
+won't compensate me."
+
+The Captain's grave face relaxed into a broad smile. "Perhaps young
+Tregony's deserts will be in not getting the girl," he said, and he gave
+a loud guffaw.
+
+"Well?"
+
+"That may be where you come in. My stars, but if I were in your shoes,
+I'd make him jealous for something. By all accounts he hasn't got her
+yet."
+
+"I don't know; I've heard nothing."
+
+"Neither have I, for that matter. But if he had got her, it would have
+been in all the papers. You may be quite sure of that."
+
+"Whether he has won her or failed can make no difference to me. I have
+no dreams in that direction."
+
+Captain Tom lowered his eyebrows and puckered his lips. "Sonny," he
+said, "I've no wish to be inquisitive. But I've been a young man myself.
+Ah me! I'd like to be young again. Nothing is impossible to youth when
+there is a stout heart, a clear brain, and a clean conscience."
+
+"Which only a few possess."
+
+"Look here, sonny," Captain Tom said, after a pause, "you are too young
+to let the weeds of pessimism overrun the garden. Look up, that's my
+advice. You've had a big disappointment, I admit, and you've been
+shamefully slandered; but my belief is God has some big thing in store
+for you, if you will only wait patiently and trust in Him."
+
+Rufus dropped his head, but did not reply. However despondent he might
+feel, or however tired of life, it would be a fatal policy to show it.
+
+"We'll talk this matter over again some time," Captain Tom said at
+length. "Meanwhile, you keep your eyes open. My stars! but she's a girl
+worth winning!"
+
+Rufus looked up with a start.
+
+"I mean it," Captain Tom went on, with a laugh. "Besides, you got the
+first innings. If I were a sporting man, I know which horse I would
+back. My stars! but it would be no end of a joke!" and with another
+laugh, he walked away.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XXVII
+
+                          THE VALUE OF A LIFE
+
+
+Rufus settled himself down to his work with as much outward cheerfulness
+as he could command. It was a great comfort to him to know that Captain
+Tom believed in him, and that the past would never be flung into his
+teeth by his employer. The work was not exacting and the pay was
+proportionate. There was no scope for enterprise or ambition, which
+exactly suited his mood. He had no ambition left. He was only marking
+time at best. Before the autumn leaves had carpeted the ground he would
+be at rest.
+
+He faced the issue, most days, grimly and determinedly. There was no
+other alternative open to him. It seemed a greater wrong to defraud a
+friend than to take a few hundreds out of the coffers of a great and
+wealthy company. The company would not be perceptibly the poorer if it
+lost ten times the amount. It had accumulated funds for all
+contingencies. It lived by and for the purpose of taking risks. But to
+defraud Muller might be to ruin him. The money was not his own. The loss
+to him might mean bankruptcy and worse. Hence, as he was bound to commit
+a fraud whether he lived or died, it seemed the better part to commit
+the fraud that would give least pain and trouble, and dying, escape all
+consequences. It was a terrible alternative, and it filled him with
+self-loathing and contempt. He felt that he was a living falsehood,
+practising a daily hypocrisy. And yet what could he do?
+
+The dry east winds of March had given place to April's genial showers.
+Spring was greening the landscape in all directions. The throstles sang
+in the elm-trees as though glad to be alive, and in the uplands the
+young lambs sported in the sunshine. Every morning, as Rufus walked over
+the hills to the mine, he felt the joy of life throbbing in his veins.
+It was good to live when the world was becoming so fair; good to smell
+the pungent odours of the earth, and feel the warmth of the ascending
+sun. There were moments when he forgot the sword that was hanging over
+his head, and he would revel in the yellow of the gorse and in the
+changing colours of the sea. Then he would come to himself with a gasp,
+and a look of horror would creep into his eyes.
+
+In spite of himself the strain began to tell upon his health. The burden
+was becoming heavier than he could bear. In the company of others he
+simulated a cheerfulness that he never felt. If he spoke of the future,
+it was with a tone of well-feigned hopefulness in his voice. He
+pretended to have plans reaching into the next year and the year after
+that. He loathed himself for being so consummate a hypocrite. But for
+Muller's sake he would have to avoid waking the smallest suspicion.
+
+It is not surprising, perhaps, that the further he got away from the
+first shock of disappointment, and the nearer he got to the redemption
+of his pledge, the stronger his passion for life became. It might be the
+beauty of the springtime that made him so eager to live. It might be the
+growing sense of the sacredness of life. It might be the increasing
+moral revulsion from the act itself. It might be the slow lifting of the
+veil from his spiritual vision, or it might be all these things
+combined. Certain it is that as the spring advanced and the earth
+became more and more beautiful, the thought of dying became more and
+more repugnant.
+
+"There is no wealth but life," a great writer has said, and Rufus began
+to feel more and more the truth of that statement. He was an asset of
+his age and generation. He belonged to his own time. The treasure of a
+country was not its dollars but its life. To the individual himself life
+is his one real possession. Wealth and fame and distinction are nothing
+to the dead. Moreover, life without wealth, without recognition, without
+honour, is still worth possessing. It is a gladness merely to live and
+see the beauty of the earth and feel the warmth of the sun.
+
+Rufus began to count the days till the end of August, which he reckoned
+would mark the limit of his pilgrimage. The time passed all too quickly.
+He gave himself as little sleep as possible, for sleep seemed to rob him
+of what little of life was left, and he was anxious to make the most of
+it.
+
+Never a spring seemed so beautiful as that one. Never did the gorse
+flame so yellow on the moors, never did he see such sapphire in the
+deep. As the evenings grew longer he sat on the cliffs and watched the
+sunsets and ticked them off in his calendar as the day faded into night.
+
+His eyes grew large and pathetic and his voice took a softer tone.
+Sometimes he found his thoughts shaping themselves into supplication.
+The universal instinct asserted itself unconsciously. He wanted guidance
+and he wanted forgiveness for what he proposed to do.
+
+Marshall Brook came across to see him once or twice, and they had long
+walks and talks together, but he got no help out of their conversation
+and discussions. On the contrary, every talk seemed to make his task
+more and more difficult.
+
+By slow and almost imperceptible steps he was coming back to the faith
+he had cast aside. He read the gospels with new interest, and saw in the
+books Madeline Grover lent him, and which he still kept, new and deeper
+meanings. But all this only put fresh thorns in his path. He wished
+sometimes that his philosophy of negations had never been disturbed,
+that he could still believe what he believed honestly enough when he
+entered into this fatal compact.
+
+It seemed as though everything conspired to put difficulties in his
+path. He might be the victim of a malicious fate. He had told Muller
+that if he failed he should not want to live--that there would be
+nothing left worth living for. How little he knew! How little he guessed
+that that very day he would see a face that would change the world for
+him; that from that day a train of circumstances would be set in motion
+that would alter his entire outlook!
+
+He was a different man to-day from what he was nine months ago. He
+looked at life and the world through different eyes. He had loved, and
+love had greatened him in spite of the fact that he had loved in vain.
+He had reasoned about temperance, and righteousness, and a judgment to
+come, and out of the chaos of his own thinking had appeared the faint
+glimmerings of an eternal order. He had suffered, and suffering had
+developed in him the grace of patience, and toughened the fibres of his
+moral nature. He had come under influences which had quickened his
+drooping moral sense and made him look with steadier eyes at the meaning
+and mystery of life.
+
+He never more ardently desired to do the right thing, was never so
+absolutely compelled to do the wrong. He wished sometimes that he could
+take some one into his confidence, Captain Tom Hendy, for instance. With
+his clear vision and strong common sense he might see a way out of the
+difficulty. But to take anyone into his confidence would be to give the
+whole case away. For Muller's sake he would have to preserve an
+inviolable silence, and yet the very silence was becoming more and more
+intolerable.
+
+Toward the end of April he paid what he deemed would be his last visit
+to Muller. It would be a relief to put some of his thoughts into speech.
+That, however, was not the main purpose of his visit. He had succeeded
+in putting all his affairs in order, in turning into cash everything
+that was saleable, and in discharging all outstanding obligations, and
+he was pleased to discover that he had still three hundred pounds left.
+
+"I suppose this belongs to me," he said to himself, "to do what I like
+with," and he smiled sadly. Some men, under the circumstances, might
+have spent it in having what they would call a good time, but he was in
+no mood for feasting or mirth.
+
+"I will take it back to Muller," he went on, "and lessen my obligation
+by that amount." So one Saturday afternoon, when they left off early at
+the mine, he donned his holiday suit, and trudged off into Redbourne to
+see his friend.
+
+He found Muller in his office as he expected. Muller had no domestic
+ties, and he preferred his office, as a rule, to any other place in the
+world.
+
+Muller looked up with a little start of surprise when Rufus entered. In
+the first place, he was not expecting him, and in the second place, he
+was shocked at his appearance.
+
+"Hello, Sterne," he said, "what brings you into Redbourne to-day? Not to
+see a doctor, I hope," and a curious smile played round the corners of
+his mouth.
+
+"I came to see you," Rufus answered, with a smile. "Doctors are of no
+use to me."
+
+"Well, no," Muller replied, reflectively. "I presume you are right in
+that. But you look ill all the same--painfully ill."
+
+"Do I? I was not aware. I feel about as usual."
+
+"Not over cheerful, I presume. Well, I don't wonder. It's beastly hard
+luck. I think if I were in your place I should get the business over as
+quickly as possible."
+
+"I have to consider your interests as well as my own feelings," Rufus
+answered, going to the window and looking down into the street.
+
+"Well, yes, of course. If people suspected anything there might be old
+Harry to pay."
+
+"Exactly. Then, you know, I have had a good many things to square up,
+and, on the whole, I have come out fairly well."
+
+"What do you mean by that?"
+
+"I mean that out of the thousand pounds I borrowed of you, I have three
+hundred left."
+
+"So much?"
+
+"Three pounds, seventeen and ninepence over, to be exact. But what I
+propose to do is to hand over the three hundred pounds to you, and so
+lessen my obligation by that amount."
+
+Muller started, and a puzzled expression came into his eyes.
+
+"The burden will seem a little lighter," Rufus went on, looking down
+into the street again.
+
+"I confess I do not quite understand," Muller said, adjusting his
+pince-nez. "You don't mean t--t----" Then he stopped, and waited for
+Rufus further to explain himself.
+
+"I mean," Rufus answered, walking across the room, and dropping into a
+chair, "that if there is any profit arising out of the transaction you
+shall have the full benefit of it."
+
+"Oh, thanks, old man; that is good of you," and Muller's face brightened
+instantly.
+
+"There are always expenses, of course?"
+
+"A great many expenses, I am sorry to say. But you have been very
+thoughtful. Extremely considerate, if I may say so, without flattery."
+
+"Oh, you can flatter as much as you like," Rufus answered, with a
+mirthless laugh. "It would be much more to the purpose, however, if you
+could see some other way out of the difficulty."
+
+Muller's countenance changed again in a moment.
+
+"You like not the prospect?" he said, cynically.
+
+"To be honest, I don't. As a matter of fact, I despise myself for not
+seeing at the beginning all the issues involved."
+
+"What issues do you refer to?"
+
+"Moral issues in the main. The repayment of this loan is with us both a
+question of honour."
+
+"That is so. As an honourable man you cannot escape it."
+
+"I see that clearly enough. What I failed to see at the first--either
+because I refused to entertain the idea of failure, or else because my
+moral sense had become dull--was that I was proposing to pay a debt by
+fraud."
+
+Muller laughed uneasily. "I think I pointed that out to you quite
+clearly on the day we settled the matter."
+
+"I have no recollection of it."
+
+"I did so most distinctly. I said if the company scented suicide they
+would dispute the claim, or words to that effect."
+
+"And seeing this clearly you were willing to become a party to the
+fraud?"
+
+Muller's eyes blazed in a moment. "Look here, Sterne," he said, angrily,
+"this is above a joke. You know very well that the proposal was not
+mine. You badgered and bullied and persuaded and gave me no peace. I
+yielded at length, much against my will, to oblige you. I made you angry
+when I pointed out in the frankest and most explicit way the
+consequences of failure, and now, confound it, when you have failed you
+come and blame me."
+
+"No, no; you misunderstand me," Rufus said, mildly. "I have no wish to
+blame you. The proposal was my own, I frankly admit, and you yielded
+very reluctantly. But the thing that puzzles me is that while we talked
+about honour we neither of us seemed to realise that the proposal
+involved a glaring act of dishonour."
+
+"Do you refer to the insurance company?"
+
+"I do."
+
+"My dear fellow, would you consider it a dishonourable act to
+appropriate a pin from your neighbour's dressing-table?"
+
+"Well, no. There is no value in a pin."
+
+"Yes, there is. All values are relative. To the company concerned the
+amount involved is scarcely more than the value of a pin to your
+landlady."
+
+"If I took a penny from her dressing-table it would be theft."
+
+"You think that because the disc of copper represents a fixed amount of
+money. Call it theft if you like. So then taking a pin would be theft."
+
+"Perhaps so."
+
+"But a theft so small that in any moral or legal reckoning it would not
+count. It would not count because your landlady would not feel it. So
+the paltry amount under discussion would not be felt by the company."
+
+"You call it a paltry amount, and yet it represents the value of a
+life."
+
+"My dear fellow, human life is not of much account in this world.
+Governments--especially Christian Governments--sacrifice men by
+thousands for bits of barren territory that are not worth sixpence."
+
+"The Creator, perhaps, sets more value on them."
+
+"Use the word Nature and you talk sense. Only your suggestion is
+absolutely beside the mark. Nature puts no value on human life at all,
+no more than you do on the creeping things you trample to death at every
+step you take."
+
+"Nature does not destroy. She only changes the form. Nothing is lost."
+
+"Except life. That vanishes like the flame of a candle in a gust of
+wind."
+
+"Vanishes! But do you know what the word means?"
+
+"I think I do. But what is all this talk leading to? What have you got
+at the back of your brain? If you are going to funk the business, say
+so, and let me know the worst."
+
+"I don't think I have suggested anything of the kind," Rufus replied,
+uneasily. "I frankly admit that I do not like the alternative, and wish
+that some other way of escape could be found."
+
+"But if there is no other way?"
+
+"Then I must meet my doom, and go into darkness disgraced and
+dishonoured."
+
+"In a hundred years from now nothing will matter."
+
+"You are not even sure of that. But, candidly, I am as ready to face
+death as most other men. I am not aware that I have ever proved myself
+a coward, but I do abhor the thought of shrinking meanly out of life by
+a back door in order to cheat an insurance company."
+
+"You should have thought of all this earlier."
+
+"I know I should. I am simply amazed at myself. But I was so certain of
+success that I refused to look at failure, or the possible consequences
+of failure."
+
+"Exactly. But that is not my fault. I am sorry for you. More sorry than
+I can express. But I am powerless to help you."
+
+"And you are not concerned at my cheating the insurance company?"
+
+"Not in the least. I am only concerned that you do not cheat me."
+
+"But suppose I paid you interest on the seven hundred pounds for a year
+or two?"
+
+"It is not the interest I want, but the principal, which I must have by
+the first of January next, or I'm up a tree."
+
+"But could you not borrow the amount from some other client for awhile?"
+
+"Where am I to get security? Why don't you ask me to make you a free
+gift of the amount in question?"
+
+"I don't want any free gift. At the same time, I don't want to sacrifice
+my life if there is any chance of saving it."
+
+"You seem to set great store by it."
+
+"It is all I have. And of late I have not been able to shake off the
+conviction that I am responsible to God for it."
+
+"I thought as much," Muller said, with a sneer.
+
+Rufus raised his eyes questioningly.
+
+"Turning Christian again with Christian results," he went on. "I caught
+an echo of the jargon the last time I called on you, and feared you
+would turn coward, as all these religious people do."
+
+"Don't let us quarrel, Muller," Rufus said, mildly. "I confess I had not
+much hope that you would be able to help me, so I shall return not
+greatly disappointed."
+
+"I would help you a thousand times if I could," Muller replied, with a
+great burst of simulated friendliness, "but, alas! I cannot do
+impossibilities."
+
+"Very good, I will not trouble you again."
+
+"And you will not burst the thing up by awaking suspicion?"
+
+"Not if I can help it."
+
+"And take a word of advice. Get rid of those silly notions about
+accountability and all that rubbish. They don't become a man of your
+intellectual calibre."
+
+"Thank you: we must follow the light that is in us. Good afternoon and
+good-bye."
+
+"Good-bye," Muller said, lugubriously, grasping his outstretched hand.
+"I'm sorry, but I'm helpless."
+
+Rufus did not reply nor did he look back, and a moment later Muller
+heard his footsteps slowly descending the stairs.
+
+
+
+
+                                CHAPTER XXVIII
+
+                           THE RETURN OF THE SQUIRE
+
+
+Rufus was conscious as he descended the stairs that his feelings towards
+Felix Muller had undergone considerable change. Felix was not the close
+and attached friend that he had imagined him to be. Of late he had
+revealed himself in a new light. It was no doubt true that he had taken
+considerable risks on his account, but he began to fear that these risks
+had not been taken on the score of friendship merely. It seemed to Rufus
+that the passion for speculation and the desire for gain had been the
+chief factors in the case.
+
+"I think he might have helped me," Rufus said to himself, regretfully.
+"If he had really cared for my friendship he would have set my life
+before most things. I don't think my death will trouble him in the
+least."
+
+At the street door he paused for a few moments, and contemplated the
+busy street stretching right and left. It was market-day, and the youth
+of the entire country side had poured itself into the town. Up and down
+they sauntered--lads and maidens--aimless, vacant, but entirely happy.
+Hands in pockets, arms round waists, straws between teeth, caps tilted
+to the back of heads. The world for them was the best of all possible
+places, and Fore Street, Redbourne, on a market-day the most wonderful
+place in the world.
+
+Suddenly the crowd divided that a pair of horses drawing an open
+carriage might pass up the street. The carriage was empty. The coachman
+and footman sat stiff and erect in blue livery, and surveyed the scene
+with a look of pitying condescension on their faces.
+
+Rufus watched the carriage pass with more than ordinary interest. It was
+Sir Charles Tregony's carriage and was evidently on its way to the
+station. Very likely the family were returning to-day, though to put
+five people into an ordinary landau would be a tight squeeze.
+
+Rufus found his heart beating a little more rapidly than usual; the
+thought of seeing Madeline Grover again quickened his pulse
+unconsciously. In a moment the busy street faded, the noise died down
+into silence, and he was back in a quiet country lane, watching a
+carriage pass, with a strange lady sitting by the side of the driver. He
+would never forget that first vision of Madeline's face. He had never
+seen a face before that had so caught his fancy. He had never seen
+anything comparable to it since.
+
+That was one of the red-letter days of his life. He fancied then that
+all the world lay at his feet. No dream of failure dimmed the sunshine
+for a moment. He was on the heights of Pisgah, with all the fair land of
+promise stretched out before him. Now he was in the valley of the
+shadow, having relinquished his last hope. It was a curious coincidence
+that Madeline should return that day of all days. Return, possibly, as
+the wife of Gervase Tregony. To see her sitting by his side would be the
+last drop in the cup of humiliation, the deepest note in the solemn
+dirge of his despair.
+
+He looked at his watch. The down express from London was due in fifteen
+minutes, and it was generally well up to time.
+
+"I think I will loiter round in town until they have gone," he said to
+himself. "I need not suffer the humiliation of seeing her the happy
+bride of that----fellow," and he plunged at once into the throng that
+jostled each other in the street.
+
+But the desire to have another look at Madeline's face proved too strong
+for him.
+
+"It cannot do me any harm," he said to himself, moodily. "Nothing can do
+me any harm now. The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune have done
+their worst."
+
+Ten minutes later he was on the station platform waiting for the down
+express. Very few people were about. He lighted a cigarette, and
+strolled with apparent unconcern up and down the platform. He gave a
+little start when the signal dropped just in front of him. A couple of
+porters hurried across the line from the other platform, a newspaper boy
+appeared from somewhere round a corner, the people who had been walking
+up and down came to a sudden stop. The long train glided slowly round a
+curve, and came to a standstill.
+
+Rufus drew to the off side of the platform, and watched the scene. Fifty
+heads were thrust out of nearly as many windows, but only half a dozen
+people alighted. Sir Charles and party had a compartment to themselves
+near the middle of the train. The Baronet alighted first--slowly and
+stiffly as though cramped with the long journey. Beryl jumped out after
+him with light springy step, then came Lady Tregony, ponderous, but
+jaunty still.
+
+Rufus found his heart beating uncomfortably fast as he waited for
+Madeline to appear. The porter entered the compartment, and began
+handing out the wraps and umbrellas, then the footman hurried away to
+the luggage van. Rufus heaved a long sigh, partly of disappointment,
+partly of relief. Madeline had not returned with the others, neither had
+the Captain. That meant--what?
+
+He could think of only one possible explanation. They were man and wife,
+and were travelling on their own account. Perhaps they had been married
+recently, and were now on their honeymoon. That seemed the most probable
+supposition. It was hardly likely they would be married on the
+Continent. They would wait till they got back to London, and after the
+ceremony the others would return, of course, to St. Gaved, and the
+Captain and his bride would wander where they listed.
+
+He turned away from the station, and made his way slowly over the hill
+in the direction of St. Gaved. The Tregony carriage passed him before he
+had got very far, but no one noticed him. He kept his head bent low, and
+did not raise his eyes till the carriage had got a considerable
+distance.
+
+It was dark long before he reached St. Gaved, and he was so tired that
+it was a pain to lift his feet from the ground. It was the first time he
+fully realised how weak he was. He did not feel ill, though people were
+constantly telling him how ill he looked; but he was conscious that the
+spring had gone out of him, that the fires of life were burning low.
+
+When he went to bed that night there was an unspoken prayer in his heart
+that some illness would overtake him from which he would die. That would
+be a splendid solution of the whole difficulty. A severe illness would
+quench the passion for life, would dull all the sensibilities, would
+take the sting out of all earth's disappointments, and ring down the
+curtain so gently that he would not know when all the lights were turned
+out.
+
+Perhaps, after all, he would be saved the sin and the shame of taking
+his own life, and with this thought in his mind he fell asleep.
+
+The next day, however, brought back all the old pain in its acutest
+form. Once or twice he felt strongly tempted to let Felix Muller bear
+the brunt of his failure, and trust to the future and the chapter of
+accidents to enable him to discharge all his liabilities.
+
+Muller was not considering him in any way. Indeed, he had shown himself
+exceedingly callous. The one thing that concerned him was getting his
+money back with compound interest. Well, he had got three hundred pounds
+of it back already. Suppose he kept him waiting for the rest?
+
+But after a moment's reflection he would shake his head. "I should never
+be able to pay him back," he would say to himself. "Seven hundred pounds
+to a working man is an impossible sum. I should not be able to pay him
+interest at four per cent out of my earnings. Besides, what would he
+think? and it might mean bankruptcy and disgrace to him."
+
+But the thought of what he would think was the principal crux. How
+contemptuous he would be. With what scorn he would regard him. How
+bitter and venomous would be his taunts, with what biting sarcasm he
+would refer to his courage and chivalry, with what lofty disdain he
+would speak of his honour and his regard for the truth.
+
+Rufus would feel himself growing hot all over with shame. Shame that he
+let such a temptation have foothold for a single moment. Had he not
+pledged his word of honour, and was not that enough? Did it not outweigh
+every other consideration? If he departed from his word of honour he
+would never be able to hold up his head again, however long he might
+live, and were a few shadowed years worth purchasing at so great a
+price?
+
+So he debated the question now from one side and now from another, and
+still the days passed on, and he saw no escape from the doom he had
+prepared for himself.
+
+Sometimes he woke in the night with a start, and with the cry upon his
+lips, "How can I do this great evil, and sin against God?" and for
+awhile the thought of his responsibility to a supreme Being would
+outweigh every other consideration. His pledged word, the thin veneer of
+honour which took no account of honesty, the anger and contempt of
+Muller, the irrevocable loss of reputation--would all seem as of no
+account in comparison with the anger of an offended God.
+
+That he should grow pale, and thin, and hollow-eyed was inevitable. The
+constant nervous strain was exhausting the springs of life. The
+unresting activity of his brain was consuming his physical energies as
+with a fire. He was as free from disease as any child in St. Gaved, but
+he was unwittingly making himself an easy prey to any malady that might
+be prowling about.
+
+Meanwhile St. Gaved was considerably exercised in its mind over the
+non-appearance of the Captain--as people still called him--and Miss
+Grover. Mrs. Tuke, who claimed to be on terms of great intimacy with
+Madeline, and who was prepared to champion her under any and every
+circumstance, was almost indignant that no reliable information could be
+extracted from any source.
+
+The servants from the Hall came into the village as usual, and certain
+young men from St. Gaved, it was said, found their way occasionally into
+the Hall kitchen--though that was a point on which authentic
+information was difficult to obtain. But neither from the servants, nor
+from the young men in question, nor from the police, could anything be
+gathered as to the doings or the whereabouts of Gervase Tregony and
+Madeline Grover.
+
+Gossip, of course, ran riot, and rumour changed its headlines every day,
+but the true state of affairs remained as much a mystery as ever. Rufus
+found himself as much interested in the floating gossip as Mrs. Tuke
+herself, and as eager to listen to the latest canard.
+
+"It is said they ain't married at all," Mrs. Tuke remarked one evening,
+as she laid his supper on the table.
+
+"But nobody knows," Rufus said, wearily, looking up from his book.
+
+"Well, not for certain. But if they was married, don't you think as how
+it would have leaked out somehow?"
+
+"They may have been married quietly without a dozen people knowing."
+
+"But why should they be married on the sly? Sir Charles seemed mighty
+proud that the Captain was going to marry her before he turned up."
+
+"Yes, I believe that is so."
+
+"And the young man was that gone on her, that if she'd consented to
+marry him, he'd never have been able to keep it to himself."
+
+"It might be her wish, and I think he would do almost anything to oblige
+her."
+
+"No, he couldn't have done it, however much he'd tried. He'd just burst,
+that he would."
+
+"Then what is your theory, Mrs. Tuke?"
+
+"Well, I don't know that I has any theory. You see, if they ain't
+married, where are they?"
+
+"Exactly," Rufus said, with a smile; "that is a very pertinent
+question."
+
+"And if they ain't married, I say they can't be together."
+
+"That sounds probable, certainly."
+
+"And if they ain't together, where's he?"
+
+"Exactly; and where's she?"
+
+"That's the very question I was going to ax myself, but you took the
+words out of my mouth as it were."
+
+"I'm sorry I forestalled you, Mrs. Tuke, but----"
+
+"Oh, you needn't apologise, Mr. Sterne, not a bit. This is a free
+country, and anybody is allowed to ax as many questions as he likes. But
+to come back to the point we was talking about, the question is, where's
+she, and where's the both of 'em?"
+
+"Sir Charles is still silent on the subject, I presume?"
+
+"As silent as a boiled periwinkle by all accounts. The servants say they
+haven't heard him mention the Captain's name since he came back."
+
+"Perhaps they have quarrelled."
+
+"Well, my belief is that if the Captain failed to carry off the girl as
+his bride, Sir Charles would be terrible angry."
+
+"Then you have a theory after all, Mrs. Tuke?"
+
+"Well, no, I don't know that I has. I only puts two and two together, as
+it were."
+
+"But why should Sir Charles be so anxious that his son should marry this
+particular young lady? There would seem to be any number of eligible
+spinsters in the country."
+
+"But millionairesses ain't to be picked up every day, and I reckon the
+Captain ain't anything of his own to live upon, except what his father
+allows him; and Sir Charles, they say, is as poor as a church mouse;
+but that's all nonsense. I should like to have a quarter of what he's
+got to live on."
+
+"But you haven't his expenses, Mrs. Tuke."
+
+"And he needn't have 'em unless he liked. Think of their wintering
+abroad; it must have cost 'em a heap of money."
+
+"No doubt. But what about the 'millionairess'?"
+
+"Oh, well, it's this way. Squire Vivian's butler told long
+Joseph--that's Sir Charles's butler, you know--and he told the
+housekeeper, and she told Sarah Jelks--who is housemaid at the Hall--and
+she told Siah Small--who pretends to be courting her--and he told Dick
+Beswarick, and he told his wife Susan, and she told me, that he heard
+the family talking about it one day at dinner----."
+
+"Who heard the family----?"
+
+"Squire Vivian's butler, of course."
+
+"Yes, go on."
+
+"Well, he heard them saying that it would be the best day's work the
+Captain ever did if he got married, as the girl had no end of dollars."
+
+"How did they know?"
+
+"Very likely Sir Charles told them. Those big folks may be as close as
+oysters to the poor, but they talk to each other."
+
+"Well, Mrs. Tuke, and what is the inference you draw from all this?"
+
+"I don't draw no inference at all. I don't pretend to be anything but a
+plain woman, and I only put two and two together, though Miss Grover did
+say my curtains was a treat."
+
+"She took rather a fancy to you, didn't she?"
+
+"It's not for me to say that exactly, though it's quite true she never
+thought any of the other women up to much, and she came here frequent,
+as you know."
+
+"Yes, I remember. But when you have put two and two together, what
+then?"
+
+"Well, between ourselves, I shouldn't be a bit surprised if, after
+living in the same house with the Captain for a month or two, she found
+out he weren't her sort and told him so."
+
+"You think that is likely?"
+
+"Well, I can tell you, Mr. Sterne, he wouldn't be my sort, and Miss
+Grover ain't the kind of young woman to be hustled into anything against
+her will."
+
+"Well, and what next?"
+
+"Well, suppose she told him definite, that the more she'd seen of him
+the less she liked him, and that she wasn't for taking him on at any
+price, what would happen then?"
+
+"Well, Mrs. Tuke, what do you suppose would happen?"
+
+"It seems to me, Mr. Sterne," Mrs. Tuke said, impressively, "that
+there'd be a kettle o' fish, as it were; a kind of general upset, don't
+you think so?"
+
+"There might be."
+
+"She couldn't come back to Trewinion Hall again, could she?"
+
+"Why not? I understood from her that Sir Charles was her guardian, or
+trustee, or something of that kind."
+
+"But if they was all bent on her marrying the Captain and she wouldn't?"
+
+"The situation would be a little strained, no doubt; but she would not
+shun the house because she was in no humour to marry the son."
+
+"Well, my belief is she's cut the lot of them, as it were; that the
+Captain's sick, and Sir Charles sulky, and the others too cross to talk
+about it."
+
+"Meanwhile, what has become of Miss Grover?"
+
+Mrs. Tuke straightened herself, and looked perplexed. "That is what is
+atroubling me," she said, sympathetically. "Between you and me I got
+terrible fond of her. She weren't none of the starchy sort, and the way
+she would just sit down and talk to me was a treat. I might be her
+mother, she was that affable; and now to think she may be wandering
+round this lone world without a friend, as it were, fairly worries me at
+times."
+
+"I don't think you need worry, Mrs. Tuke. She is well able to take care
+of herself. But I am not convinced yet that she and the Captain are not
+married."
+
+"Well, I be," and Mrs. Tuke sidled out of the room.
+
+
+
+
+                               CHAPTER XXIX
+
+                           GETTING AT THE TRUTH
+
+
+Perhaps the only two people in St. Gaved--outside the Tregony
+family--who could have thrown any ray of light on the situation were
+Micah Martin and Timothy Polgarrow, and they, as far as the general
+public was concerned, were both of them discreet enough to keep their
+own counsel.
+
+Micah's chief characteristic was loyalty to the Tregony family. He had
+been on the estate as man and boy over fifty years. He had no ambition
+to be anything other than a servant, and a word of praise from his
+master now and then would atone for any amount of abuse. Comparative
+serfdom, continued through several generations, had eliminated from his
+blood every single corpuscle of independence. He possessed the genuine
+serf spirit and temper. If his master told him to lie on the floor that
+he might wipe his boots on him, he would have obeyed with a smile and
+asked no questions. He had no will of his own, no views or opinions or
+convictions. His master's politics were his. His master's wish his law.
+The serf spirit made a machine of him. Even questions of right and wrong
+were tested by loyalty to the family. If a thing was in the interests of
+the Tregonys, it was right, if not it was wrong.
+
+Yet Micah was not without a measure of shrewdness. He saw more than most
+people gave him credit for. In his own slow way he put two and two
+together. But he had the saving virtue of reticence--a most admirable
+quality in a servant.
+
+Micah knew very well that the Captain lied over the Sterne affair; but
+that was his business. He had a reason for lying, and it was not his
+place to contradict him. He knew well enough that Rufus was not drunk,
+but it would be disloyal to his master to say so. If there was one
+individual about the place who could break down Micah's reticence and
+get him to talk it was Madeline. She had not been a month at the Hall
+before she had made herself a general favourite with all the retainers.
+Micah idolised her and would have given his scalp almost to please her.
+
+Madeline discussed horticulture with him and floriculture--the mysteries
+of grafting and budding, the best aspect for peaches and the best soil
+for potatoes. Miss Grover was a wonder in Micah's eyes. She knew so much
+and yet was so teachable--was so beautiful and yet so humble withal.
+
+They talked about the Sterne affair one afternoon. Madeline approached
+the subject with great caution, and carefully felt her way at every
+step. When Micah became diffident she flattered him a little, and when
+he obtruded his loyalty to the family she encouraged him.
+
+She made him feel also that she was one of the family, and that he would
+be perfectly justified and perfectly safe in confiding anything to her.
+She talked to him about her early life, about the scenery and customs of
+America, and so hypnotised him with her confidence and her sweet
+graciousness that the old man talked more freely than he knew.
+
+"Of course you will not repeat what I have told you, Micah?" she said,
+with her most winning smile.
+
+"Of course not, Miss," Micah said, stoutly. "I wouldn't repeat it for
+the world."
+
+"It's nice to have confidence in people, don't you think so?" she
+questioned, demurely.
+
+"It is, Miss; it's a terrible comfort."
+
+"Some people repeat everything they hear. But you and I can trust each
+other, eh, Micah?"
+
+"I could trust you with uncounted gold, Miss," and Micah stuck his fork
+into the ground, with an energy that was meant to give emphasis to his
+assertion.
+
+For awhile they talked about St. Gaved folks in general, but gradually
+Madeline led the conversation round to Rufus Sterne and the quarrel
+outside the Lodge gates.
+
+"Mr. Sterne was not drunk, of course!" Madeline suggested, innocently.
+
+"Well, no, I shouldn't say as how he was, though he might have been."
+
+"Exactly. Now, between ourselves, Micah, how did the quarrel begin?"
+
+"Well, Miss, just between you and me, it was this way," and Micah raised
+his head and looked cautiously around him.
+
+"There's no one to hear what you are saying," Madeline said,
+encouragingly.
+
+"One can never be too careful, Miss; but as I was saying, I went out to
+close the gate after the Captin, and he hadn't gone many yards, before I
+heard 'im shout out to somebody."
+
+"Yes? What did he say?"
+
+"Well. I don't remember his words exact. But there's no doubt he meant
+you, Miss."
+
+"Me, Micah?"
+
+Micah nodded and smiled. "I should have felt just the same, Miss."
+
+"I'm sure you would, Micah."
+
+"'You scoundrel,'" he said, "or words like 'em. 'You're loiterin' round
+here again to waylay her an' poison her mind.'"
+
+"And what did the other say?"
+
+"Oh! he up and says it was a lie right out to 'is face."
+
+"Did he, really?"
+
+"It's gospel truth, Miss; and of course the Captin, bein' insulted like
+that, let fly at 'im."
+
+"Do you wonder, Micah?"
+
+"I don't, Miss. But lor', that young Sterne is a terrible strong and
+'andsome young fellow, and he gived the Captin beans in two seconds."
+
+"What a shame!"
+
+"Of course, Miss, it's natural that you and me should side with the
+Captin; but after all, it's human natur' to hit back again, ain't it?"
+
+"Yes, I suppose it is. But what happened after that?"
+
+"Oh! the Captin cried out, 'Martin, come and take away this drunken
+brute, or he'll murder me.'"
+
+"Of course, the Captain was bound to believe he was drunk?"
+
+"Well, he was bound to say so, Miss," Micah answered, with a twinkle in
+his eyes. "It 'ud never do to own he was beaten by a man as was sober in
+a stand up fight--and he a sodger."
+
+"Of course not, though you must admit, Micah, that the Captain was at a
+disadvantage if the other was sober."
+
+"That's what I've said to myself, Miss, fact is, Sterne was much too
+sober. He was just as cool as a cucumber, and then he's a younger man
+than the Captin."
+
+"But the Captain got the best of it in the end," she said, with a tone
+of triumph in her voice.
+
+"That he did, Miss. He got his revenge sharp, sudden an' complete."
+
+"The right nearly always wins in the end, Micah. But mind you don't
+repeat a word of our conversation this afternoon."
+
+"Me, Miss? You should see me gibbeted first."
+
+Madeline walked out of the kitchen garden in a very sober mood. The
+suspicion that had been haunting her mind for weeks was crystallising
+rapidly into a certainty. The admissions of Micah threw a new and
+sinister light on the entire situation. The underlying motive had been
+laid bare as in a flash, and Gervase stood revealed in his true colours.
+
+They were starting for the South of France in a week or so. She thought
+she saw now the reason of that particular move. She would not act
+precipitately, however. She would keep her eyes and ears open and her
+mouth shut. It might be possible, with a little diplomacy, to get the
+truth out of Tim Polgarrow as she had got it out of Micah Martin; but
+there was no time to be wasted if she was to accomplish her purpose.
+
+She was more than usually gracious with Gervase that evening, and in the
+highest spirits. She rattled off waltzes on the piano, and sang any
+number of cheery and sentimental songs. Gervase found the songs for her,
+and stood behind and turned the leaves.
+
+He felt that he was making headway rapidly. Now that Rufus Sterne was
+disgraced and out of the way, he had no rival; there was no one to
+distract her thoughts from him, and he flattered himself that something
+of the old feeling of hero-worship was coming back to her.
+
+He had given up pressing her to marry him, given up playing the part of
+injured and broken-hearted lover, and entertained her instead with
+stories of his exploits in India. And, generally speaking, he told his
+stories well, making light of his own courage and powers of endurance,
+and treating heroism as though it were an ordinary, common-place quality
+of every soldier.
+
+He had very little doubt that when he got her out of England she would
+consent to an engagement, and Sir Charles, who had watched carefully the
+progress of affairs, was of the same opinion.
+
+On the day following her conversation with Micah, Madeline tried to get
+an interview with Tim Polgarrow. She had seen Tim two or three times,
+and had made up her mind as to the kind of man he was and the kind of
+tactics she would have to adopt.
+
+Had she been a man she would have gone into the public-house and
+demanded an interview with him, but being a girl such a course was
+impossible. So she had to wait on the chapter of accidents, and fortune
+did not appear to favour her. She rode past the "Three Anchors" on
+several occasions, but Tim kept persistently out of sight. She began at
+last to fear that the opportunity would never come, and that the
+particular information she wanted would be denied her.
+
+In her heart she had little doubt of the truth of the accusation Rufus
+had flung out on the day of the trial--that Tim had been bribed to swear
+a falsehood. But she wanted direct evidence. She was anxious to be just
+to Gervase, whatever happened.
+
+On the day before leaving home she resolved on more direct measures.
+Getting her horse saddled, she rode straight away to the "Three Anchors"
+and knocked loudly on the front door with the handle of her
+riding-crop.
+
+[Illustration: "HAD MADELINE FIRED A REVOLVER HE COULD NOT HAVE BEEN
+MORE STARTLED."]
+
+A young man with a thick crop of reddish-brown hair, and a blue apron
+tied round his waist, appeared at length from the recesses of the
+tavern.
+
+"Can I have a drink of barley-water for my horse?" she inquired.
+
+"Yes, miss; I'll fetch it in a minute."
+
+She backed her horse a few paces and waited. No one appeared to be
+about. The inn stood at the junction of five roads, commonly known as
+Five Lane Ends, and there was not another house within half a mile.
+
+In a few minutes the shock-headed young man appeared with a pail, which
+he held under the horse's nose.
+
+Madeline felt her heart beating rapidly. She had resolved on a bold
+stroke. Nothing less than a frontal attack. No flank movement would do
+in the present case. She would have to stagger him with the first blow.
+
+"You are Timothy Polgarrow?" she questioned, looking down from her
+exalted position.
+
+"Yes, miss, that's my name, at your service," he answered, glibly and
+flippantly.
+
+"I'm glad I've met you," she said, quietly.
+
+"Yes?" And he looked up with a light of surprise in his eyes.
+
+"I want to ask you a question."
+
+"A dozen, if you like, miss. I'm always ready to oblige a lady."
+
+"Then you will tell me how much money Captain Tregony paid you to swear
+that Rufus Sterne was drunk?"
+
+Had Madeline fired a revolver at him he could not have been more
+startled. He dropped the bucket, which fell with a rattle on the
+cobbles, and his freckled face grew ashen.
+
+Madeline quickly followed the first blow with a second.
+
+"Now, be careful what you say," she went on. "If you lie, it will be the
+worse for you. You know that you committed perjury, and that you are
+liable to a long period of imprisonment; but if you tell the truth, I
+will be very merciful."
+
+"Has he been blabbing?" he gasped, trembling in every limb.
+
+"Don't trouble to ask questions," she said. "Your business is to answer
+them."
+
+Then he began to pluck up courage. "Nobody can prove nothing," he said,
+insolently.
+
+"There you are making a mistake," she answered. "It may be difficult to
+prove that you received money, but there will be no difficulty in
+proving that you committed perjury."
+
+"You mean that I'll get all the blame and he'll go scot free."
+
+"Exactly. The case against you is as clear as daylight."
+
+"Who said so?"
+
+"I say so."
+
+"What have you found out?"
+
+"That you swore falsely, and I cannot imagine that you would do it for
+nothing."
+
+"Look here," he said, still trembling, "you don't know nothing at all.
+You're trying to gammon me, but I don't take on. Do you understand? I
+know how to keep my mouth shut as well as other people."
+
+"Very good. I came to you as a friend. If you like to risk the
+consequences of a trial for perjury, that's your look-out."
+
+"If I do, I don't go into the dock alone, mind you that."
+
+"No, I guess when you get into the dock, you'll have to make a clean
+breast of it. Why not do it now and avoid going into the dock?"
+
+"You mean, if I tell the truth about--about--somebody, you won't
+proceed?"
+
+"I mean, I want to get hold of a certain fact. The fact of your
+committing perjury is already settled. What I want to know is, how much
+did the gentleman I have named pay you for doing it?"
+
+"Look here," he said, "if I tell you all I know about that blooming
+trial, will you promise not to split on me?"
+
+"Only on one condition."
+
+"And what is that?"
+
+"That you will tell the whole truth, and that you put it in writing and
+sign it."
+
+"Look here, miss," he said, insolently, "do you take me for a blooming
+fool?"
+
+"If you had been wise," she answered, "you would not have put yourself
+within reach of the law. However, you can take your own course." And she
+reined up her horse, as though the interview was at an end.
+
+"Don't go yet," he said, seizing the bridle-rein. "You don't give a
+fellow time to think. How do I know that you're not pretending?"
+
+"If I didn't know, how could I tell you?" she answered, severely. "What
+I don't know I have confessed to."
+
+"And if I tell you that, you won't blab about the rest?"
+
+"If you put it in writing and sign it, it shall be kept absolutely
+secret for a year."
+
+He laughed scornfully. "I can assure you, miss," he said, "I'm not so
+green as I look."
+
+"Very good," she answered, with a laugh. "You ought to know best," and
+she again pulled at the rein. But Tim was evidently afraid to let her
+go.
+
+"I'll put nothing in writing," he said; "not a blooming word. But if
+you'll promise me on your word of honour as a lady that you'll not blab,
+and that you'll not put the police on me, I'll tell you all I know. Mind
+you, I've confessed nothing yet. Not a word."
+
+"I don't want any confession as to your part. That's proved enough
+already. What I want to know is how much you were paid for swearing
+falsely?"
+
+"Will you promise me never to say a word? Mind you, I'll go to gaol
+sooner than put anything in writing."
+
+"I don't want to be too hard on you," she said, after a pause.
+
+"And the secret will be between our two selves?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"And if I don't tell you, you'll set the police on me?"
+
+"This very day."
+
+"And if I do tell, fair and square, you'll deal fair and square with
+me?"
+
+"Well, yes. You deserve to be sent to prison for robbing an honest man
+of his character, but for the information I want I will pay the price of
+silence."
+
+"You take your oath on it?"
+
+Madeline hesitated for a moment. She would like to clear Rufus Sterne's
+character if possible. But he had just as much proof of perjury as she
+had unless this man confessed, and he refused to confess unless she
+promised secrecy.
+
+"I take my oath on it," she answered.
+
+"Then he paid me twenty pounds."
+
+"Only twenty pounds?"
+
+"He offered me five at first, then ten, then fifteen; but when he rose
+to twenty it was too much to resist. He said 'twouldn't harm Sterne.
+That every gentleman got drunk now and then, and that as he was drunk it
+might be as well to prove he got drunk here as anywhere else."
+
+"And you didn't serve him with any drink?"
+
+"I never served him with a drink in my life. He passed the "Three
+Anchors" that night, but he didn't call."
+
+"Thank you; that is all I wish to know."
+
+"And you'll not set the police on me?"
+
+"No."
+
+She rode home by another way, and rode slowly. She was not an expert
+horsewoman yet, though she was rapidly becoming one.
+
+She entered the house without anyone seeing her, and went at once to her
+own room. She wanted time to think, to shape her plans for the future.
+Her life's programme had been torn into shreds. She would have to begin
+over again. But how, or when, or where?
+
+After lunch she took a stroll on the Downs and along the cliffs. "I
+shall never come back here again," she said to herself. "This must be my
+farewell."
+
+She walked slowly, and with many pauses. She half hoped she would see
+Rufus Sterne. She wanted to say good-bye to him, and in saying it tell
+him that she believed in him.
+
+But Rufus was busy elsewhere that afternoon, and they did not meet. She
+looked in all directions as she strolled back across the Downs to the
+Hall, and with a little sigh she passed through the lodge gates.
+
+Another chapter had been completed in the story of her life. To-morrow a
+fresh page would be turned.
+
+
+
+
+                                CHAPTER XXX
+
+                         THE TOILS OF CIRCUMSTANCE
+
+
+Madeline never felt so helpless or friendless as when she left with the
+Tregonys for the South of France. She had no one to advise her, no one
+to whom she could turn for a word of counsel. She wished a thousand
+times that her father had never made Sir Charles her trustee and
+guardian. He did so with the best intentions, no doubt. He was proud of
+the distant relationship, flattered by the Baronet's attention, and
+enamoured of the prospect for his only child; but for her it had meant
+disillusion and disappointment.
+
+She had not courage enough to tell Sir Charles and Gervase what she had
+discovered. The Baronet almost over-awed her at times, while the Captain
+was possessed of a dogged tenacity and determination that were anything
+but easy to deal with. She felt almost like a bird in a cage--a cage
+into which she had deliberately walked, or had been cleverly lured. To
+all appearances she was free, and yet in a very real sense she was a
+prisoner. The meshes of the net had been so deftly and so silently woven
+round her, that she was not conscious of the fact until the last
+loophole was closed.
+
+What could she do now? To whom could she go? There was the old solicitor
+in New York City, but there was no time to write to him and get an
+answer back. Her step-mother was travelling from place to place, and
+might be on the Pacific slope for all she knew, or in the South Seas, or
+Japan. She had a good many friends--rich and influential people in the
+States--but they were often on the wing, and they might be "doing
+Europe" or enjoying themselves in London or Paris.
+
+Besides, how could she explain the peculiarities of the position in
+which she found herself, and if she tried to explain she questioned if
+she would get any sympathy? She would have to bide her time till she was
+of age, and trust in Providence for the rest.
+
+She took away with her nearly everything she possessed that was of any
+value, for she had made up her mind never to return to Trewinion Hall,
+if there was any possibility of avoiding it, and that something would
+turn up she had the greatest confidence. Youth is ever optimistic, and
+Madeline could never look the dark side of things for very long
+together.
+
+She had only one regret in leaving Cornwall, and that was that in all
+probability she would never see Rufus Sterne again. Since her interview
+with Micah Martin, and the confession she had wrung from Tim Polgarrow,
+her thoughts, of necessity, had turned in his direction, and her
+strongest sympathies had gone out to him afresh. She knew now that he
+was a much wronged man. Moreover, she could never forget what he had
+done for her, and the memory of what he had suffered on her account
+would remain with her to the last.
+
+Still, life was made up of meetings and partings. We pass each other
+like ships in the night, or walk side by side for a mile or two, and
+then drift in different directions. Rufus Sterne would forget her as she
+in time might forget him. He would win his way in spite of opposition
+and misrepresentation, for he was strong and clever, and such men nearly
+always came into their own in the long run.
+
+She looked out for him on the morning they drove away from the Hall. She
+would have given almost anything for even a smile of recognition, but
+it was not to be. With a little sigh she resigned herself to the
+inevitable, and resolved that she would extract as much pleasure out of
+the tour as possible.
+
+They spent only one night in London, and stayed at the Charing Cross
+Hotel for the sake of convenience. In Paris they remained three or four
+days. Madeline would gladly have remained longer, but Gervase was
+anxious to push forward to a sunnier clime. The cold, he declared, got
+into his bones, and he would have no pleasure of life until he found
+himself in a more genial climate.
+
+At Nice they found letters waiting them which had been forwarded, and a
+copy of the local paper which Sir Charles had ordered to be sent every
+week direct from the office. For a couple of days they rested from the
+fatigues of the journey, and then began to make the usual excursions.
+Gervase, as might have been expected, was early bitten by the
+fascinations of Monte Carlo, and took to running over by train most days
+to see the play.
+
+Madeline was extremely grateful to be rid of his company. Not that he
+was obtrusive in his attentions, for on the whole he was playing his
+part with great tact and circumspection. But she had learned to mistrust
+him and despise him. Hence, the less she saw of him the happier she
+felt.
+
+Time slipped away very pleasantly on the whole. Sir Charles did
+everything possible to make her visit to the Riviera an enjoyable one.
+Indeed, he played the part of prospective father-in-law with great
+skill, and now and then threw out a sly hint about her cruelty in not
+putting poor Gervase out of his misery. But Madeline was in no humour to
+take hints, and Sir Charles often turned away with a look of
+disappointment on his face.
+
+Beryl talked to Madeline one evening with tears in her eyes.
+
+"I'm sure Gervase spends more time in the Casino than he ought to do,"
+she said, reproachfully; "and if he does, whose fault is it, Madeline?"
+
+"His own fault, I should say," she answered, sharply. "He's surely old
+enough to know what is good for himself?"
+
+"But people who are labouring under some great disappointment, or are
+tortured by some secret grief, sometimes gamble merely to forget their
+trouble."
+
+"Then they are very foolish."
+
+"You do not know, Madeline. You have never had any bitter
+disappointment. You have the world at your feet. You are an heiress, and
+will have millions when you come of age."
+
+"Is that so?" she asked, innocently.
+
+"Of course it is so!" she answered. "Why do you question me in that way?
+One might think you did not know how rich you are. But I do not think,
+for all that, your money gives you any right to treat Gervase badly."
+
+"Beryl!" Madeline said, indignantly. "Do you know what you are saying?"
+
+"I hope I am not rude, Madeline," was the quiet answer. "But Gervase is
+my brother, and I am very proud of him, and it cuts me to the heart to
+see him suffer."
+
+"I do not think he is suffering at all," Madeline replied. "Indeed, he
+seems in very good spirits."
+
+"That is all put on, Madeline, as you ought to know. Gervase is deeply,
+passionately attached to you. He came home from India hoping and
+expecting to marry you. He thought everything was settled. Cannot you
+imagine how hurt and humiliated he must feel?"
+
+"I do not see why. We were not engaged."
+
+"Not formally, perhaps, but it was your father's wish. We were all
+agreeable, because Gervase seemed devoted to you. You seemed wonderfully
+pleased with the idea when you first came to Trewinion; and, after all,
+it is no small thing to marry a man with Gervase's prospects."
+
+"Marriage is a serious thing, Beryl," Madeline said, gently. "When I met
+Gervase first I was only a school girl. I did not know my own mind. I
+own he attracted me greatly, and all the time he was away I cherished,
+and almost worshipped, an ideal----"
+
+"But surely Gervase has realised your ideal?" Beryl questioned. "He may
+not be as handsome as some men, but think how brave he is, how
+self-sacrificing, how devoted! He would almost lay down his life for
+you!"
+
+"I don't want any man to do that," Madeline said, quietly.
+
+"But surely such devotion as his is deserving of some recompense? He has
+waited patiently for you week after week, and month after month, and I
+am sure your coldness is driving him to the gaming-tables."
+
+"Would you have me marry him, Beryl, if I do not love him?"
+
+"Oh, you can love him well enough if you try, unless--unless----"
+
+"Unless what, Beryl?"
+
+"Oh, unless you have given way to some romantic nonsense about another
+man!"
+
+"What do you mean by that?" Madeline asked, raising her eyebrows
+slightly.
+
+"You know well enough what I mean, Madeline; so you need not pretend."
+
+"I am not pretending. Besides, it is not fair to fling out mere hints
+that may mean a great deal, or may mean nothing at all."
+
+"Oh, I am not blaming you very much. It was only natural, perhaps, that
+he should take your fancy for a moment."
+
+"That who should take my fancy?"
+
+"Why, the young man who saved your life, of course. You knew nothing
+about him, and there is no denying that he is very good-looking. But you
+have discovered his true character since."
+
+"I have, Beryl."
+
+"He pretended, too, to have made a discovery and induced, it is said, a
+number of people to lend him their savings, so that he might develop it,
+and now that is gone to smash. I pity the people he has swindled."
+
+"Who said it had gone to smash?" Madeline questioned eagerly.
+
+"It's in the St. Gaved _Express_ that came by post last evening."
+
+"Are you sure?"
+
+"Quite sure. There is quite a long paragraph about it. Besides, I heard
+father talking to mother about it last evening."
+
+"I wish I could see the paper. Where can I find it?"
+
+"I will run and fetch it for you if you like? But it is quite true, what
+I have told you."
+
+Beryl watched Madeline's face with great interest while she read, but it
+revealed nothing to her. Madeline was conscious that Beryl's eyes were
+upon her, and so held herself resolutely in check. Not for the world
+would she betray what she felt.
+
+The St. Gaved _Express_ was printed and published mainly in the
+interests of the landed and moneyed classes. Its politics were those of
+the people who held the shares. Its comments on local matters were
+coloured by its political views. Its snobbery was beyond dispute.
+
+Rufus Sterne received scant courtesy at its hands. He had been heard to
+say that he believed in the government of the people by the people, for
+the people. That was quite sufficient for the _Express_. Politically he
+was a dangerous character--a little Englander and a pro-foreigner.
+
+When it became known that Rufus had failed, that he had been forestalled
+with his invention, the _Express_ openly rejoiced. Such unpatriotic
+characters did not deserve to succeed. It hinted that there was a rough
+and ready justice in the world that dealt out to men the measure of
+their deserts--which, being interpreted, meant, that to those who had
+was given, and from those who had not was taken away even what they had.
+
+It further hinted its hope that the dupes of what was little less than a
+public fraud would do their duty to the public, to themselves, and to
+the ingenious young gentleman whose exposure was now pretty well
+complete.
+
+Madeline folded the paper without a word and handed it back to Beryl.
+
+"I should think you feel sorry now that you ever spoke to him," Beryl
+said, after a long pause.
+
+"There are many things we feel sorry for when it is too late," she
+answered, quietly, then turned and walked slowly out of the room.
+
+She had not thought much of Rufus for several weeks. She never expected
+to see him again. He had come into her life for a few months and passed
+out again, and the sooner she forgot him the better.
+
+But this story of his failure with the cutting comments and insinuations
+of the _Express_ called out her sympathies afresh, and in larger measure
+than ever. She did not think the less of him because he had not
+succeeded. He had not laboured at an invention that was useless. His
+failure was not due to the worthlessness of his idea, but simply to the
+fact that another man had got in before him.
+
+"Oh! I am sorry," she said to herself, when she got to her own room.
+"How terribly disappointed he will feel. It will seem as though
+everything is against him, and he had staked his all on the enterprise."
+
+Once or twice she was strongly tempted to sit down and write him a
+friendly letter of sympathy. But she could not summon up quite
+sufficient courage. If she had cared less for him she would have been
+less sensitive. Beryl had just told her that she had been carried away
+by a foolish and romantic attachment, or words to that effect, and it
+would never do to give colour and substance to the insinuation. She must
+keep her self-respect whatever happened.
+
+For several days Rufus was more frequently in her thoughts than was good
+for her peace of mind. She pictured his disappointment, his
+helplessness, his despair. She saw him in imagination wandering out on
+the cliffs alone, with knitted brows and troubled face. She wondered
+what he would do. She knew he had staked his all--though how much that
+"all" meant she never guessed--would it be possible for him to rise
+above this last calamity that had overtaken him, or would he go down in
+the general crash and ruin, and never be heard of again?
+
+He had ability, she knew, and energy and determination; but so had many
+another man who had absolutely failed. No man could do the impossible.
+Bricks could not be made without clay. Circumstances were sometimes
+stronger than the strongest.
+
+Rufus Sterne was not only penniless, but in debt. The money he had
+borrowed had gone with his own, and how was it possible in a sleepy
+little place like St. Gaved to retrieve his position? She wished she
+could help him. The beginning of his misfortunes seemed to be associated
+with her. His broken leg was entirely due to her adventurousness, while
+the loss of his reputation was the outcome of her friendliness to him.
+Try as she would she could never wholly dissociate herself from him. She
+was irretrievably mixed up with his success or failure.
+
+She did her best to appear cheerful and unconcerned before the Tregonys.
+Beryl informed her father that Madeline had seen the account in the
+paper of Sterne's failure, and had manifested not the slightest interest
+in the matter.
+
+"Did she say nothing at all?" Sir Charles questioned.
+
+"Scarcely a word."
+
+"And did you say nothing?"
+
+"I did suggest that I thought she would feel sorry now she had ever
+spoken to him."
+
+"And what did she reply?"
+
+"Oh, she just said, 'There are many things we feel sorry for when it is
+too late,' and walked out of the room."
+
+"She never saw him after the police court affair, I think."
+
+"I am sure she never did, father."
+
+"So that this will pretty well complete the disillusionment."
+
+"If she ever had any illusions."
+
+"I am afraid she had, Beryl, I'm afraid she had. That was a most
+unfortunate adventure on the cliffs--most unfortunate," and Sir Charles
+turned again to the paper he had been reading.
+
+Had the Tregonys been close observers they might have detected a forced
+and an unnatural note in Madeline's gaiety. She was mirthful at times
+when there appeared to be no sufficient reason for her mirth, and
+cheerful when the conditions were most depressing.
+
+When alone in her own room she generally paid the penalty. Frequently
+her spirits sank to zero. The desire to help Rufus Sterne was natural
+enough; but her helplessness drove her almost to despair. She could not
+even help herself. In a sense she was as much in the toils of
+circumstance as he was. She not only wondered what would become of him,
+but what would become of herself.
+
+The weeks were slipping away rapidly, and the Tregonys were beginning to
+talk about their return to England. The days were often almost
+insufferably warm, and the birds of passage that crowded the hotels were
+beginning to take flight to more Northern latitudes. Day after day she
+had hoped she might discover some way of effecting her deliverance, but
+no way revealed itself. She was without a friend outside the Tregony
+family, and yet to return with them to Trewinion Hall would be to put
+herself in a position as intolerable as it would be compromising.
+
+"What helpless things girls are," she would sometimes say to herself.
+"If I were only a man I could snap my fingers at everybody. But because
+I'm a girl I can just do nothing."
+
+She felt so miserable one morning that she refused everyone's company,
+and went out for a walk alone.
+
+Sir Charles was very cross when he knew, and he was still more cross
+when lunch time came and she did not return. As the afternoon wore away
+and she did not put in an appearance, his anger gave place to anxiety,
+and ultimately to very serious alarm.
+
+
+
+
+                               CHAPTER XXXI
+
+                                OLD FRIENDS
+
+
+"Well, I never! If this ain't the greatest surprise of the trip!"
+
+Madeline looked up with a start. She recognised the American accent,
+before she had any idea she was being spoken to.
+
+"Well, now, who _would_ have thought it? I regard this as a real streak
+of luck."
+
+"What, Kitty Harvey?" Madeline exclaimed, in a tone of eager surprise.
+"Oh, I am so glad!" And a moment later the two girls were embracing each
+other with a warmth and an effusiveness that would have done justice to
+an Oriental greeting.
+
+"I spied you from the other side of the way," Kitty Harvey said at
+length, tears of genuine pleasure shining in her eyes, "and I said to
+mamma, 'If that ain't Madeline Grover, then I'm the blindest coon that
+ever walked in shoe leather.'"
+
+"Is your mother here?" Madeline queried, eagerly.
+
+"We're all here, my dear, a regular family party, with sundry relations
+to keep things lively. But here comes the little mother, two hundred
+pounds of her, and as cheerful as ever."
+
+"But when did you come?"
+
+"Cast anchor this morning, my dear. That's our yacht out yonder, flying
+the stars and stripes."
+
+"What, that? I thought she was a transatlantic liner."
+
+"Well, I guess she is, or something nearly related to it. But you should
+talk to Dick; he knows her from stem to stern, and from the keel to the
+captain's bridge."
+
+"Then you are here on a yachting cruise?"
+
+"That's what we are here on just. In fact we've been two-thirds round
+this globe already."
+
+"And have you enjoyed it?"
+
+"Off and on. There are drawbacks to everything, but in the main it's
+been just great."
+
+Then Mrs. Harvey waddled up, panting, breathless, eager and happy. She
+almost smothered Madeline with kisses and talked incessantly between
+whiles.
+
+"Kitty said it was you, and I said it wasn't. But you have improved. You
+see my sight is not quite as good as it used to be."
+
+"Another of mother's compliments!" Kitty laughed.
+
+"It's nothing of the sort," Mrs. Harvey protested. "I meant what I said,
+but I really must get my glasses strengthened."
+
+"You must, mother. You really won't be able to recognise father at the
+rate you are going on."
+
+"And you are still Madeline Grover? I don't want to be inquisitive my
+dear, but we understood, you know, you were coming across to marry a
+title; was it a duke or a knight? I really get mixed up as to the order
+they stand in."
+
+"I'm not going to marry either," Madeline said, impulsively. "I'm going
+to remain as I am."
+
+"No-o?" from both mother and daughter.
+
+"It's the honest truth."
+
+"Well, with all your money you are independent of a title, my dear,"
+Mrs. Harvey said, absently.
+
+"But I haven't any money," Madeline said, "except what my trustee allows
+me. But really, do you know for certain if I shall be well off when I
+come of age?"
+
+"Don't you know yourself?"
+
+"I really know nothing. Father never talked to me about money matters,
+and Sir Charles copies his example in that respect."
+
+"Then you had better come and talk to my husband. If there's anything
+about money he doesn't know, I should like to discover it."
+
+"I should like to see Mr. Harvey very much."
+
+"Then come back and have lunch with us on the _Skylark_. There's plenty
+of room, and you'll be as welcome as the President of the United
+States."
+
+"Oh, it would be just delightful," Madeline said, eagerly, "there's
+nothing I should enjoy so much."
+
+Madeline was almost bewildered at the size and magnificence of the
+_Skylark_. Mr. Harvey, having struck a copper lode a few years
+previously, found himself with more money than he knew profitably how to
+spend, and with more time on his hands than he knew wisely how to use.
+He built for himself a marble mansion in New York, and purchased one of
+the largest steam yachts that ever ploughed the seas, and was now doing
+his best to earn a night's repose by sight-seeing.
+
+Peter J. Harvey welcomed Madeline on board the _Skylark_ with many
+expressions of delight. He was a typical American, tall,
+square-shouldered, and not over-burdened with flesh. He had straight
+hair, which he wore rather long, a clean-shaven face, a wide mouth, a
+strong, square chin, and a most refreshing American accent.
+
+He was not exactly a vain man. At any rate, he did his best to keep his
+vanity under proper control, and if he boasted occasionally he believed
+he had something to boast of. He was still in the prime of life, being
+the right side of fifty by two or three years. Kitty was the eldest of
+six--three boys and three girls, the youngest, Bryant, having
+celebrated his seventh birthday two days before. Besides the family,
+there were numerous cousins and uncles and aunts, with others whose
+relationship to the Harveys was difficult to trace.
+
+The lunch was set out in the grand saloon, and was served in the best
+style. The stewards wore bottle-green coats trimmed with gold braid.
+
+Madeline, having got among old friends, talked with a freedom and an
+abandon that she had not known since she left her native land. The grace
+of reticence was a virtue the Harveys had never cultivated. It was their
+boast that they had nothing to hide. Hence they discussed their domestic
+and business affairs with a freedom that would have staggered an
+Englishman of the old school.
+
+Confidence begets confidence; and so in the seclusion of the yacht's
+library, with only Mr. and Mrs. Harvey and Kitty present, Madeline
+explained as far as she dared the peculiarities of her present
+situation.
+
+Peter J. rose to the situation at once.
+
+"My dear child," he said, "I guess there ain't no difficulty at all. I
+don't see none. It's just as easy as falling off a stool. There ain't no
+occasion for you to go back to their moth-eaten ancestral abode for five
+minutes. You just come along with us----"
+
+"You mean----"
+
+"I mean what I say," continued Peter J. "There's room for you in this
+small frigate and to spare, and there's a welcome as long as from here
+to the United States and back again."
+
+"It would be just delightful," Madeline said, with dilating eyes.
+"But----"
+
+"Then let it be delightful," Mr. Harvey interrupted. "I guess we'd be as
+delighted as you would be. What say you, Kitty?"
+
+"It would be just too fine for words," Kitty replied.
+
+"It would be like a Providence," Mrs. Harvey chimed in, "so we'll
+consider it settled."
+
+"But Sir Charles might object," Madeline said, with a half-frightened
+look in her eyes.
+
+"You leave his lordship to me, my dear," Peter J. interposed. "I guess I
+know my way about, and if he cuts up nasty, I'll treat him to a chapter
+out of the gospel of Peter J. Harvey."
+
+"But what excuse should I make?"
+
+"You needn't make any excuse at all. I'll go across and see the General
+myself and explain things."
+
+"But what would you say?"
+
+"That we had fallen across you accidentally; that we were old friends;
+that I knew your father; that you and Kitty were chums at school; that
+we are cruising round this here little arm of the ocean for a week or
+two longer; and that we are taking you along with us just to give you a
+taste of sea-faring life."
+
+"But he might not believe you."
+
+"Then I would bring him across here and let him see for himself and hear
+your own wishes out of your own mouth."
+
+"But he would not consent for me to be out of his sight for more than a
+day or two at the outside."
+
+"Then to avoid trouble and hard words we will mention a day or two--wind
+and weather permitting."
+
+"Oh! Mr. Harvey, if you could get me clean away from them without any
+unpleasantness, I should be more thankful than words can tell."
+
+"I'll do it, my dear. And when Peter J. Harvey says he'll do a thing,
+why, that thing is done. Now give me the location of this Lord Tregony."
+
+"Oh! he isn't a lord," Madeline laughed, "he's only a baronet."
+
+"Well, it's all the same to me. He wouldn't alarm me if he were your
+Attorney-General."
+
+"Don't you think I had better go back with you. I'm afraid they'll be
+getting alarmed at my long absence."
+
+"I thought you tumbled across a page-boy belonging to the hotel and sent
+word by him that you would not be back till evening."
+
+"I did send word that I would not be in to lunch. But those boys are so
+stupid that it's ten to one if he conveyed my message."
+
+"Don't you alarm yourself on that point," Peter J. said, cheerfully.
+"But if you think you can explain things better yourself, why we'll go
+along together. But mind you, we return together, even at the risk of an
+earthquake."
+
+"Let Kitty come as well," Madeline said, her eyes sparkling with
+excitement.
+
+"All right, my dear. The more the merrier. I'll take the skipper and the
+crew if you think it might impress his lordship and make the way
+easier."
+
+"No, I think the three of us will be sufficient," Madeline said, with a
+laugh. "But no hint must be given that I'm to be absent more than two or
+three days. Sir Charles had made all arrangements to leave for Paris on
+Monday."
+
+"You leave that to P. J. H., my dear. If I'm not quite a full-blown
+diplomat it's only for want of opportunity. Now let us be off. If Lord
+Charles What's-his-other-name don't yield without a murmur, I shall be
+surprised."
+
+Half-an-hour later they were walking up the steps of the hotel. Sir
+Charles was in the lounge, with a cigar in his mouth and his eyes
+towards the door. He was feeling much more anxious than he cared to
+admit. Gervase had gone by an early train to Monte Carlo and had not
+returned. Lady Tregony and Beryl were in their bedrooms.
+
+Sir Charles sprang to his feet and heaved a big sigh of relief when the
+swing door was pushed open, and Madeline entered, radiant and smiling,
+followed by Kitty Harvey and her father.
+
+"My dear Madeline," he said, reproachfully, "you have given us a fright.
+We have been looking for you everywhere."
+
+"Oh! I am sorry," she answered. "But I told one of the page-boys I met
+outside to tell you I was going to lunch with some friends."
+
+"No such message was brought to me," he answered, severely. "It would
+have been better if you had left word at the office."
+
+"I am sorry if I have caused you any anxiety," she answered, quietly.
+"But I met some American friends on the promenade, and have been with
+them on their yacht to lunch."
+
+At the word yacht Sir Charles pricked up his ears, and a somewhat
+mollified expression stole over his face.
+
+"Allow me to introduce my friend Miss Kitty Harvey," Madeline said, in
+her most engaging manner, "and this is her father, Mr. P. J. Harvey, of
+New York City, and a friend of my father's."
+
+Sir Charles bowed very pompously, and muttered something under his
+breath about being delighted to meet them.
+
+Peter J. had said nothing up to this point, but stood in the
+background--as a modest man should--chewing the end of a cigar.
+
+"I can assure you, Colonel, the pleasure is reciprocated," he said, in
+his slowest manner, and with a twinkle in the corner of his eye. "The
+truth is my daughter and I have come along as a sort of deputation."
+
+"Indeed! Will you not be seated?"
+
+"Well, thank you. As it's as cheap to sit as to stand, and talking comes
+easier as a rule when you are sitting down, I guess I'll fall in with
+the suggestion."
+
+Sir Charles waited for Mr. Harvey to proceed. Madeline and Kitty sat on
+a lounge side by side, the former feeling very uncomfortable. She saw in
+a moment that Sir Charles did not like the American's free and easy
+ways, and Mr. Harvey was dimly conscious of the same truth.
+
+"Not to waste words over the business," Peter J. went on, "we want to
+take Miss Grover just for a little run on our steamer, and we came
+across to ask your consent. These formalities are considered proper I
+believe, and we fall in with them. Though as a citizen of the United
+States I presume the lady can just do as she likes."
+
+"Well, no!" Sir Charles replied, pompously. "Miss Grover is my ward till
+she comes of age. At any rate, it amounts to that----"
+
+"Of course I am, Sir Charles," Madeline interposed. "But we are not
+going to talk law or gospel, are we? Mr. Harvey has asked me to go for a
+little run on his yacht, and I really want to go ever so much!"
+
+"But we leave here for Paris on Monday, Madeline. I fear there is no
+time."
+
+Peter J. puckered his face into a knowing smile. "According to my
+calculations," he said, "Monday is five days off. We could almost
+circumnavigate this little arm of the ocean in that time. But we are
+talking of a run of a couple of days more or less."
+
+"It seems hardly worth the trouble, does it, Madeline?" Sir Charles
+questioned, in a bored tone.
+
+"Oh! quite worth it, Sir Charles. Think how lovely the sea is, and how
+beautifully calm, and then you know Mr. Harvey's yacht is as big as an
+ocean steamer. In a couple of days we could go to Naples and back, and
+wouldn't it be lovely to see Naples!"
+
+"Naples is an interesting place, no doubt. But the weather is getting
+warm--hot, I may say."
+
+"But we need not land unless we like," Mr. Harvey interposed.
+
+"Of course----" Sir Charles began, hesitatingly.
+
+"Then that is settled, my dears," Peter J. interrupted. "I knew his
+lordship would not deprive you of a pleasure if you desired it very
+much. Now, you girls, run away and put a few things in a bonnet-box,
+sufficient for a forty-eight hours' trip. Perhaps, when we return, your
+excellency will so far honour us as to come on board and dine with us."
+
+"Thank you, it is very kind of you."
+
+"Not at all. I believe in showing hospitality when it is in my power to
+do so. Would you mind trying one of my cigars? I think you will find the
+flavour excellent."
+
+Sir Charles hesitated for a moment, then took the proffered weed and
+proceeded to cut the end off with a penknife.
+
+Meanwhile Madeline and Kitty had rushed off to Madeline's room and began
+packing boxes with all possible speed.
+
+"Rather large bonnet boxes, eh, Madeline?" Kitty questioned, with a
+laugh.
+
+"Do you know, I feel like a burglar," Madeline answered.
+
+"I never was a burglar," was the reply, "so I don't know what it feels
+like to be one."
+
+"Everything will be terribly crushed," Madeline went on, "but I can't
+help it. Will you ring for the porter, Kitty?"
+
+"All right, my dear, and I will drive off with the baggage while you and
+father are paying your adieux to the Baronet. If he were to see you
+going off with all these boxes he might scent mischief."
+
+"How clever you are, Kitty," Madeline said, with a laugh. "That idea is
+just lovely. But will you lock these boxes, my hands are shaking so I
+can hardly hold the keys."
+
+"Why, we might be escaping from a robbers' castle. What is the use of
+getting so excited?"
+
+"I can't help it, Kitty. I've been looking round for weeks and weeks for
+some way of getting out of a most uncomfortable position, and you cannot
+imagine how helpless I have felt. And now I feel--oh, I can't tell you
+what I feel--but here's the porter."
+
+Madeline went down to the office and explained matters, and saw Kitty
+drive away with her luggage. Then she returned to the lounge, where Sir
+Charles, looking very bored, was listening to a long account of how
+Peter J. Harvey made his pile in copper.
+
+On catching sight of Madeline, Peter J. brought his story to an abrupt
+conclusion and rose slowly to his feet.
+
+"Need I disturb Lady Tregony and Beryl, do you think?" Madeline
+inquired, innocently, looking Sir Charles straight in the eyes.
+
+"As you think best, Madeline," Sir Charles replied, blandly. "I sent up
+word to them that you had returned safe and sound."
+
+"Then very likely they will be taking their afternoon nap now?"
+
+"That is very probable."
+
+"Should I awake them, do you think?"
+
+"If you were going away for a week I should say yes, certainly. But if
+you like I will explain your absence till Friday."
+
+"That will be best, I think." Then, turning to Mr. Harvey, she said:
+"Now I am ready. Kitty has gone on ahead, and has taken my few things
+along with her."
+
+"I guess Kitty has some shopping to do on the way. That child is never
+happy unless she is spending money," and Mr. Harvey smiled, innocently.
+
+"You will explain to Gervase, won't you, Sir Charles?" Madeline said,
+with one of her sweetest smiles. "It is unfortunate he did not come home
+to lunch. I am sure he would have liked to have seen over Mr. Harvey's
+yacht."
+
+"We shall probably accept Mr. Harvey's invitation to dinner on your
+return," Sir Charles said, pompously.
+
+"Of course you will, Colonel, of course you will," Peter J. said, with a
+drawl. "I never take a refusal from my friends without a very good
+reason."
+
+"It is good of you to let me go, Sir Charles," Madeline said, reaching
+out her hand to say good-bye. "But I am sure I shall enjoy myself
+immensely. You see, I have known Mr. and Mrs. Harvey and Kitty nearly
+ever since I can remember, and then, I'm tremendously fond of the sea."
+
+Sir Charles came with them to the door of the hotel and saw them into a
+carriage, then returned to the lounge and to his cigar.
+
+Madeline could almost have screamed with delight when she found herself
+once more on the _Skylark_.
+
+"At last I am free," she said to herself, "and when Sir Charles sees me
+again I shall be my own mistress."
+
+Half-an-hour later the _Skylark_ weighed anchor and put out to sea.
+
+
+
+
+                               CHAPTER XXXII
+
+                           FACING THE INEVITABLE
+
+
+When Saturday morning arrived and the _Skylark_ had not been sighted,
+Sir Charles began to grow suspicious. An hour or two later his worst
+fears were confirmed. A letter was handed to him in Madeline's
+handwriting. The postmark, he noticed, was Genoa. He could hardly keep
+his hand steady while he tore open the envelope, and when he began to
+read his face grew ashen.
+
+The letter was brief and quite explicit. She had no intention, she said,
+of returning again to Nice or to Cornwall. She was going back to America
+with the Harveys. For many things she was sorry she ever left it. She
+had been unhappy for months past--ever since the return of Gervase, in
+fact. To become his wife was simply impossible. She expressed her regret
+for any pain or annoyance she had caused, and her thanks for all
+kindnesses she had received. She regarded the appearance of the Harveys
+on the scene as an interposition of Providence, and her escape from an
+intolerable position as a direct answer to prayer.
+
+Sir Charles had not got over the anger and disgust produced by this
+frank epistle when Gervase came hurriedly into the room, with blanched
+cheeks and a wild light in his eyes.
+
+"Do you know that Madeline has given us the slip?" he said, in a hoarse
+whisper.
+
+"Have you heard from her also?"
+
+"Then you know?" he questioned, with a gasp. "What has she said to you?
+Let me see her letter."
+
+Sir Charles handed him Madeline's letter without a word. Gervase read it
+carefully, and then handed it back with a little sigh of relief. She had
+not told his father what she had told him, and for that mercy he was
+supremely grateful.
+
+For several moments the two men looked at each other in silence. Neither
+had the courage to blame the other, and yet neither was disposed to take
+the blame himself. Gervase was convinced that his father played the game
+badly at the beginning, but he had played it worse at the end. Hence it
+was bad policy to fling stones while he lived in a glass-house himself.
+A similar train of thought wound its way slowly through Sir Charles's
+brain. From his point of view Gervase had played the fool again and
+again, though he saw now that the waiting policy he had advocated was a
+huge mistake. So while he was inclined to throw the principal share of
+blame on to Gervase's shoulders, he was bound to take a share himself.
+
+"I suppose we may conclude," Gervase said, at length, in a lugubrious
+tone, "that the game is up."
+
+"I'm afraid it is," Sir Charles answered, with suppressed emotion.
+
+"It's a beastly shame, for I've been counting on her fortune for years
+past."
+
+"It's an awful miss. Her fortune would have set the Tregonys on their
+feet."
+
+"It's no use trying to get her back, I suppose?"
+
+"Do you think you could yet persuade her to marry you?"
+
+Gervase blushed, and walked to the window and looked out into the
+courtyard.
+
+"Girls are such curious things," he muttered, evasively. "You never know
+when you have them."
+
+"I can't help thinking you played your cards badly, Gervase. She seemed
+to idolise you when she came to Trewinion, and looked forward so eagerly
+to your return."
+
+"The mistake was in not marrying her right off when we met at
+Washington. She would have said 'yes' like a shot, for she was awfully
+gone on me. She adored soldiers at that time, and regarded me as a
+hero."
+
+Sir Charles heaved a sigh and remained silent for several moments.
+
+"Would you mind letting me see her letter to you?" he questioned, at
+length.
+
+"Sorry, father, but--but--I've destroyed it," he blurted out, awkwardly.
+This was not the truth, but he wouldn't for the world that his father
+should read what she said to him.
+
+"Destroyed it? What did you do that for?" Sir Charles asked,
+suspiciously.
+
+"I was just mad and hardly knew what I was doing. It seemed the only way
+I could give vent to my anger. I tore it into millions of bits."
+
+"What reasons did she give for her outrageous conduct?"
+
+"Well, in some respects it was an awfully nice letter she wrote. She
+said she admired me as a friend immensely. But she didn't love me as she
+felt she ought to do, which made her unhappy, and so she thought it best
+to go away without any fuss, and all that, don't you know."
+
+"And do you believe she still admires you?"
+
+"Why, of course I do. She said so, in fact. I wish I hadn't destroyed
+her letter. There were some awfully nice sentiments in it, I can assure
+you."
+
+"Then why were you so angry?"
+
+"Why, because I saw I was up a tree. When a girl you want to marry talks
+about being a sister to you, and all that, don't you know, it makes one
+angrier than anything."
+
+"Well, yes, I suppose it does. I'm terribly disappointed, Madeline was a
+chance in a lifetime."
+
+"But rather smacked of trade, don't you think? You know very well if
+she'd been an English girl, you wouldn't have considered her for a
+moment."
+
+"That may be. But since even dukes marry tradesmen's
+daughters--provided, of course, they hail from across the water--there
+was no reason why we should turn up our noses."
+
+"I'm too poverty-stricken to turn up my nose at anything. I'd marry a
+barmaid if she only had sufficient of the needful."
+
+"Don't talk nonsense, Gervase, I thought you were really fond of
+Madeline, apart from her money."
+
+"So I am. She's awfully pretty, there's no denying that. But I'm too old
+to break my heart over any woman. It's the tin--or the lack of it--that
+is troubling me."
+
+"You'll have to curtail your expenses, Gervase; there's nothing else for
+it. I cannot possibly increase your allowance. The fact is, we shall
+have to economise all round."
+
+"I'm always economising," was the angry retort. "It's been pinch and
+grind ever since I was born."
+
+"That's not my fault, my boy. I'm getting the biggest rents I can
+possibly squeeze out of the tenants as it is, and there's no chance of
+things mending unless we can get Protection."
+
+"And that we may whistle for."
+
+"Why so?"
+
+"Because the people have got educated. An awful mistake, I say, to
+educate the working classes. An ignorant proletariat you may hoodwink
+and bamboozle to your heart's content; but no enlightened community is
+going to consent to have its bread taxed for the benefit of the
+landowners."
+
+"The people will have to be shown it's for their benefit. That's the
+game to play."
+
+"No doubt. But it will take a mighty clever man to prove even to a
+public-house loafer that the dearer things are made, the better off he
+will be."
+
+"But you must not forget that there are some very clever men at work."
+
+"They are not clever enough for that."
+
+"You don't know. They have undertaken more difficult tasks and
+succeeded. Think of South Africa!"
+
+"I'd rather not. It won't bear thinking about."
+
+"Nevertheless, it shows what can be done. The masses of the people are
+more easily persuaded than you think. Education, you must remember, is
+not sense. Hit upon a popular cry, and the rest is easy."
+
+"But no country can be gulled twice in so short a period. No, dad, our
+fortunes are not to be mended along those lines."
+
+"I am not so sure. A good stirring appeal to patriotism will work
+wonders still. 'England for the English----'"
+
+"England for the English landlords, you mean, for that's what it comes
+to in the end."
+
+"No doubt it does. But while a few people own the land it is well that
+the masses should think that England belongs to them."
+
+"But do they think that England belongs to them?"
+
+"Of course they do. There isn't a man-jack among them that will not talk
+big about defending his country and dying for his country, when he
+doesn't possess a foot of it, and hasn't money enough to buy a grave to
+be buried in."
+
+"Well, dad, I sincerely trust that your hopes will be realised, and that
+England will consent to be gulled again for the benefit of a few. Good
+heavens! if I'd only been an army contractor instead of a soldier, I
+should have made my fortune."
+
+"Your only hope of a fortune, Gervase, is by marrying one," and Sir
+Charles put Madeline's letter into his pocket and walked out of the
+room.
+
+For the rest of the day Gervase loitered about alone. He was much more
+troubled than he let his father see. Madeline had accused him of
+treachery to Rufus Sterne, and had hinted in words too plain to be
+misunderstood that she had proof that he bribed Tim Polgarrow to commit
+perjury. If Madeline, therefore, had discovered this, how did he know
+that other people had not made the same discovery? He felt that he could
+not return to St. Gaved again until he knew. If Tim had let the secret
+out, his best course would be to keep out of sight until the storm had
+blown over, and people had forgotten the incident.
+
+So it came about that Sir Charles and the others returned without him.
+Gervase promised to follow in a week or two at the outside. But a run of
+luck at Monte Carlo kept him a slave at the Casino. This was followed by
+a run of bad luck during which he lost all he had won. Then he remained
+on, trying to recover his lost position, and in the end he had to cable
+to his father for a remittance to bring him home.
+
+Gervase had not been at Trewinion many days before the truth about
+Madeline began to leak out. Sir Charles had been too chagrined to give
+the smallest hint as to her whereabouts, or even to mention her name if
+it could be avoided, and Beryl and Lady Tregony took their cue from him.
+But Gervase, discovering that he was still in good odour among the
+people, and that the secret Madeline had discovered appeared to be known
+to no one else, concluded that nothing was to be gained by a policy of
+silence. He need not tell all the truth; in fact, he could put his own
+gloss on the facts as they stood, and so it began to be whispered about
+that Miss Grover had decided on visiting her friends in America before
+finally settling in England.
+
+Rufus Sterne heard the story from Mrs. Tuke with apparent unconcern. He
+argued quite naturally that it was a matter of supreme indifference to
+him whether she went to America or remained in England. His life--by
+fair means or by foul--was drawing to its inevitable close. There was
+some sense of satisfaction in the thought that she was not Gervase
+Tregony's wife. She deserved a better fate than that. He hoped she had
+discovered his true character and that among her own people in her own
+country she would find all the happiness she deserved; and with these
+reflections he tried to put her out of his mind.
+
+His thoughts in the main were intent upon the tragedy that was daily
+drawing nearer. His daily hope and prayer was that God would release him
+from the burden of life, and so save him from the guilt and shame of
+dying by his own hand.
+
+Failing this, he had no doubt as to how the final act would be brought
+about. Much as he shrank from the disgrace of dying in the manner
+contemplated, he shrank more from the disgrace of living, should his
+courage fail him. To face his ruined friend, his broken pledge, his
+tarnished honour, would be death repeated every day, and every hour of
+the day.
+
+He was not a little surprised to find, as the days and weeks passed
+swiftly away, how without effort and without volition his mind fastened
+itself upon the dominant truths of Christianity. He gave up reading. He
+still absented himself from church and chapel. But bit by bit the rags
+of his materialistic philosophy dropped from him, while the simple
+truths of the gospel possessed him and obsessed him, until he felt that
+only here was life in any true sense to be found.
+
+The philosophisings and hair-splittings of theologians did not concern
+him. The elaborate edifices built up by the creed-makers possessed for
+him no interest at all. But the warm sympathy of the Son of Man, the
+tender influence of the universal Spirit, the growing consciousness of a
+supreme Ruler, the clearing vision of a life beyond--these things seemed
+as parts of his being, the stuff out of which his life was woven.
+
+He wondered now that his youthful revolt from the narrow creed of his
+grandfather should have carried him so far; wondered that he had not
+earlier seen that human creeds must of necessity be ever too narrow to
+represent the Divine idea; wondered that he had not seen the obvious
+truth that ecclesiasticism may bear but a faint resemblance to
+Christianity, and that "the Church," so called, may form but a very
+small portion of the Kingdom of God.
+
+But it was all clear enough to him now. He had cast away what he fancied
+was only husk, not knowing that the kernel of truth was within. He had
+tried to wrap his naked spirit in something thinner than a shadow, had
+sought to choke the soul's deepest instinct in the quagmire of a Godless
+philosophy, and had prated about happiness, while steeping his senses in
+the fumes of a deadly narcotic.
+
+What lay beyond he did not know. But he had a fancy that the great
+universal Heart of Love would give him a chance under better conditions,
+and that at worst it would be better than the awful torture of the last
+few months. He was not afraid, and he was becoming again so terribly
+weary that the thought of rest was infinitely sweet. There was very
+little he had to give up. No home ties bound him to earth, no arms of
+wife or children hung about his neck. His ambitions had been nipped by
+the frosts of disappointment, and were now dead. His love for Madeline
+Grover--which had been the strongest and purest passion of his life--was
+hopeless from the first.
+
+It was only existence amid familiar surroundings that he had to part
+with--only existence! And yet how much that meant to him, even in the
+darkest hours, no words could tell. The passion for life nothing could
+kill, and that seemed to him one of the strong arguments in proof of
+immortality.
+
+One afternoon, in his little office, he fell down in a dead faint, and
+remained unconscious for several hours. The long summer day was fading
+into twilight when he opened his eyes, and saw the familiar face of Dr.
+Pendarvis bending over him.
+
+"Have I been ill?" he asked, looking round the room with wondering eyes.
+
+"You've had a slight heat stroke, I think, but you needn't be alarmed."
+
+"I'm not in the least alarmed," he said, with a pathetic smile; "but I
+hate giving Mrs. Tuke so much trouble."
+
+"You've been overworking yourself rather. I've seen it for months past.
+When you are a little recovered, I'll give you a complete overhauling,"
+and he smiled cheerfully.
+
+"Then you think I shall recover?"
+
+"Of course you will recover. But, meanwhile, keep quite still, and don't
+worry."
+
+Rufus hoped for a day or two that his illness would take a fatal turn.
+He wanted so much to die quietly at home in bed; it would be such a
+perfect solution of the whole difficulty. But it was not to be.
+
+In a few days he was up and about again. "You want toning up," the
+doctor said to him. "There is really nothing the matter with you except
+that you are run down. Take more exercise, get a sea bath two or three
+times a week, and be careful what you eat."
+
+Rufus told Mrs. Tuke and Captain Tom Hendy what the doctor had
+prescribed, and proceeded at once to carry out his orders. But no one
+knew the thought that was in his mind. Some day he would not return from
+his short swim in the sea, and then he would be at rest. It would be
+very easy, and almost as natural as dying at home in bed.
+
+The weather was brilliantly fine. The yellow corn was falling before the
+sickle in all directions, the sea danced and shimmered in the sunshine,
+the flowers drooped in the windless heat. To all appearances Rufus was
+recovering his health and spirits. He told Mrs. Tuke that he enjoyed his
+morning bath. His appetite seemed better than it had been for weeks
+past, and once or twice she heard him humming a hymn tune after he had
+gone upstairs to bed.
+
+"I'm glad I stood by him," Mrs. Tuke reflected, with a smile of
+self-satisfaction, "for I believe he is coming back to the fold again."
+
+One evening Rufus sat up very late. He had gone through his papers again
+to see that everything was in order, and now he sat staring at the clock
+on the mantelpiece, and listening to its solemn and regular tick.
+
+"To-morrow will be just as good as next week," he said to himself. "As
+it must come, better it should come quickly. I could have done it this
+morning easily enough, and I don't think it will be at all painful. So
+let it be then," he added, rising to his feet. "The next time I go into
+the sea I do not return," and he put the lights out, and climbed slowly
+and silently to his bedroom.
+
+Before undressing he knelt down and prayed. He asked for strength and
+pardon, and a just and merciful judgment.
+
+He felt like a child when he rose from his knees, and a few minutes
+after he laid his head on the pillow he was fast asleep.
+
+
+
+
+                               CHAPTER XXXIII
+
+                             WAS IT PROVIDENCE?
+
+
+When Rufus awoke next morning, the wind was blowing half a gale, and the
+rain was coming down in torrents.
+
+"This puts an end to my morning bath," he said to himself, with a faint
+sigh. "I can have no excuse for going into the sea on a day like this,"
+and he sighed again.
+
+He was not quite sure that he welcomed the respite.
+
+"Since it must be," he kept saying to himself, "the sooner the better."
+
+Mrs. Tuke greeted him with a sorrowful face. "What a pity the weather's
+broke before all the harvest is got in," she said.
+
+"It does seem a pity," he answered, quietly.
+
+"The ways of Providence is past finding out," she replied; "though no
+doubt it's for some good end."
+
+"Do you really think that Providence regulates the weather, Mrs. Tuke?"
+he questioned, with a smile.
+
+"Why, of course I do," she answered, in a tone of reproach. "Providence
+over-rules everything, and not a sparrow falls to the ground without the
+notice of His eye," and she walked out of the room without waiting for
+him to answer.
+
+Mrs. Tuke's theology was a puzzle to him still, but all the time he sat
+at breakfast the word "Providence" kept echoing through the chambers of
+his brain. What was Providence? How far did God interfere with the
+operation of His own laws? Did He sometimes reach out a controlling
+hand? Did He cause events to work together for a special end?
+
+That day at the mine seemed one of the longest he had known. The wind
+moaned through every crevice of door and window, the rain came down
+unceasingly.
+
+Evening came, but there was no chance of a swim in the sea. He would
+have to wait until the morrow or the day following. Whatever he did, he
+would have to avoid awaking suspicion.
+
+Several times during the night he awoke and listened. The wind was still
+swishing through the trees, and the patter of rain could be distinctly
+heard against the window.
+
+"If Mrs. Tuke knew," he said to himself, "she would say Providence was
+interposing to prevent me putting an end to my useless life."
+
+He lay in bed an hour longer than he would have done had the weather
+been fine. "It is of no use getting up till breakfast-time," he
+reflected.
+
+He heard the postman's rat-tat-tat while he was dressing, and wondered
+if there were any letters for him.
+
+He came slowly and listlessly down the stairs. Another day of weariness
+and mental distress stretched out before him. "I am only prolonging the
+agony," he said to himself, as he took his lonely seat at the head of
+the table.
+
+Then his eye rested on a large envelope by the side of his place, with a
+blue stamp in the corner.
+
+He was alert in a moment. "An American letter," he said, half aloud, and
+his thoughts flew off to Madeline Grover unconsciously. The address,
+however, was in a man's handwriting--there could be no doubt about
+that.
+
+He tore open the envelope quickly and mechanically, and turned to the
+signature at the end of the letter. "Seaward and Graythorne," he read,
+and a look of perplexity came into his eyes.
+
+He opened out the letter, and an enclosure fluttered on to his plate. He
+picked it up and stared.
+
+"There must be some mistake," he said with a gasp, and he drew his hand
+across his eyes as though to remove some dimness that had gathered. Yet,
+there was his own name clear and distinct enough. "Pay to the order of
+Mr. Rufus Sterne the sum of five thousand dollars."
+
+"Five thousand dollars," he muttered. "Why, that is a thousand pounds--a
+thousand pounds. I must be dreaming surely."
+
+He turned to the letter at length, and began to read. Slowly, as he
+waded his way through the legal jargon, the truth began to dawn upon
+him. It had to do with the property his father had accumulated. Some
+Judge Cowley, of the Supreme Court of somewhere, had authorised a
+distribution, and the enclosed was the sum paid on account.
+
+That was about all he could make out. But why a firm of solicitors in
+New York should be acting in a case of disputed property somewhere out
+in Pennsylvania, was a problem he could not understand.
+
+He was in no mood, however, to worry himself over legal subtleties. The
+great outstanding fact--the fact that dominated all others--was that he
+was in possession of a thousand pounds.
+
+The revulsion of feeling was so great that for a moment or two it seemed
+to unman him. The cords that had been strung up so long to the very
+highest point of tension were suddenly relaxed. The hard stoicism with
+which he had fortified himself, melted like wax in the flame of a
+candle. The dull numbness of despair, which was rendering him
+indifferent to life, vanished like mist before the summer sun. The joy
+of hope, the dream of love, the fire of ambition, were all kindled
+afresh as by an electric spark. The wailing wind, instead of sobbing
+began to sing. The moaning ocean commenced to laugh and rejoice. The
+rain-drops were tears of joy that Nature shed. Light and love, and
+beauty and delight were everywhere. His breakfast remained untouched. He
+was quite unconscious of the fact until Mrs. Tuke came into the room.
+
+"Why, you haven't tasted your breakfast," she said, lifting her eyes and
+hands in astonishment.
+
+"Haven't I?" he said, with a smile.
+
+"And your bacon is quite cold."
+
+"I forgot all about it, Mrs. Tuke."
+
+"And your tea is like ditch-water."
+
+"I'm very sorry."
+
+"It's like throwing money away."
+
+"Oh, never mind."
+
+"But I do mind, I hate wastefulness, especially in young people."
+
+"Well, forgive me this time. I've had a surprise."
+
+"Oh, indeed! A pleasant surprise, I hope. You've had enough of the other
+sort."
+
+"A very pleasant surprise. Now, brew me a fresh pot of tea and warm up
+the bacon. I really feel as if I had got an appetite."
+
+"Well, it's time you had. You've been wasting to a shadow the last six
+months," and Mrs. Tuke hurried out of the room.
+
+Rufus laughed aloud when she was gone. He felt he would either have to
+laugh or cry. "If only granny were here I should hug her," he said to
+himself. "I feel so buoyant that I could almost hug Mrs. Tuke."
+
+The wind was still blowing strong from the west as he made his way over
+the hill to the mine, but its voice was like a song in his ears. The
+rain had ceased, though the sky was still dark with clouds; but all the
+landscape seemed flooded with golden sunshine. His nerves were tingling
+with a new joy, his eyes sparkling with an unwonted fire. He was glad to
+be alive again, glad to feel the wind of heaven upon his face.
+
+How wearily he had dragged his steps over the hill morning by morning;
+how dull and continuous had been the pain at his heart! Now all sense of
+weariness was gone; he seemed to tread on air; his heart was light and
+buoyant, and all the pain had passed away.
+
+He paused a moment where he paused a year before to look at a patch of
+green lawn that sloped away from Trewinion Hall. A vision of Madeline
+Grover came back to him for a second and vanished.
+
+"If it be God's will," he said to himself, reverently, and with a smile
+upon his face he continued his way.
+
+During the dinner hour he lodged the precious draft in the bank, and
+then hurried back to the mine again. In a day or two he got word that
+the draft was quite in order, and had been duly honoured. With that
+message vanished his last fear, for he had dreamed the previous night
+that the whole thing was a hoax and the draft not worth the paper on
+which it was printed.
+
+His first act was to pay back Felix Muller what he owed him with
+interest. This he did by cheque.
+
+"I cannot see him," he said to himself. "He would pour ridicule on my
+beliefs, and laugh my new-found faith to scorn. Moreover, I am not sure
+that he will be grateful, and I would not like my faith in him to be
+totally destroyed."
+
+Saturday, being half-holiday, he made his way to Tregannon, to see his
+grandparents and tell them the news. The old folks were greatly
+excited, and the Rev. Reuben hunted up all the papers and correspondence
+dealing with his son's property. The names of Seaward and Graythorne did
+not appear, however, in any of the documents; nor was the name of Judge
+Cowley ever mentioned.
+
+"I do not understand it at all," the old man said in his most solemn
+tones. "But then what can you expect in a new country like America?
+Everything appears to be haphazard and go-as-you-like."
+
+"Haphazard or no," Rufus replied, "the property has not been all eaten
+up by the lawyers."
+
+"Well, yes," the old gentleman said, reflectively, "there would appear
+after all, to be some sense of honesty and justice in the country. But
+why don't you take a journey across and look after things for yourself?"
+
+Rufus gave a little start, and looked at his grandfather with a
+questioning light in his eyes.
+
+"I mean it," the old man said, quietly. "If I were a few years younger
+nothing would please me better."
+
+"It had never occurred to me," Rufus replied, slowly and thoughtfully.
+
+"Then think about it. You can travel cheaply in these days; besides, you
+may be able to pick up ideas."
+
+"Yes, that is true," he answered, reflectively. "At any rate it is worth
+considering."
+
+For the rest of the evening Rufus thought of little else. Conversation
+ranged over a dozen topics, but he heard scarcely half of what was said.
+Constantly his thoughts harked back to his grandfather's suggestion, and
+his eyes caught a far-away expression.
+
+"I think you are tired," his granny said to him at length, and she
+looked at him with a quizzical smile on her wrinkled face.
+
+"I am a little."
+
+"Will you remain while we have prayers?" she questioned, hesitatingly.
+
+"Yes granny. I would like to hear grandfather pray again."
+
+They both started, and looked at him and then at each other, but neither
+made any remark.
+
+The chapter the old man read was a long one, and the prayer was longer
+still, but Rufus showed no sign of weariness. In fact, the little
+granny's quick ears fancied they heard a whispered "Amen" when the
+prayer ended.
+
+Rufus rose slowly from his knees with a serene look upon his handsome
+face.
+
+"My dear boy, we have never ceased praying for you," his granny said,
+placing her thin hands upon his strong shoulders and looking up into his
+face.
+
+"I hope you will continue to pray for me," he answered, quietly. "I
+shall need all your prayers."
+
+"Rufus?" the old man said, in a questioning tone, and he turned suddenly
+and looked into his grandson's eyes.
+
+Rufus felt that, having said so much, he was bound to say more.
+
+"No, grandfather," he answered, quietly; "you must not claim me as a
+returning prodigal. Your creed is as far beyond me as ever. But--I
+think--I think I have found the Christ."
+
+Instantly the old man's arms were about his neck, and, raising his face,
+he laughed aloud.
+
+"It is enough," he said, exultantly. "It is enough! To God be all the
+praise."
+
+The ice being broken, conversation flowed in a deeper channel, and when
+the Rev. Reuben laid his head upon his pillow that night, it was with a
+kindlier feeling in his heart for those who doubted, and with a larger
+charity for those who preached a broader creed.
+
+"It is very strange," he mused, "that my preaching should have driven
+the lad to doubt, while the preaching of my successor should have helped
+him back to faith."
+
+On the following morning Rufus went with the old people to chapel. The
+place seemed very cool and restful after the glare of the sunshine
+outside, and while the familiar hymns were being sung he felt like a boy
+again.
+
+Marshall Brook took for his text: "Are ye not better than many
+sparrows?" It was a quiet, thoughtful, searching sermon, without
+dogmatism and with no trace of declamation. The care of the Great Father
+for His children, the doctrine of a Divine Providence, was unfolded
+carefully, lucidly, reasonably. There was no attempt to ignore
+difficulties or to give scientific objections the go-by. Providence was
+not in conflict with the operations of nature. Providence worked on
+parallel lines. The universal Spirit was ever moving upon the hearts of
+men, suggesting, inspiring, renewing.
+
+"I am hungry and in need," said the preacher, "and someone is moved to
+bring me help. Why did he think of me at all? Who put the impulse into
+his heart? Ordinarily, it may be, he is not a generous man; yet he
+trampled down his selfishness, and came to my succour when I needed it
+most.
+
+"Was it a miracle? Not in the ordinary sense, and yet in truth it was a
+miracle. To me it was the interposition of God's Providence. God saw my
+need and sent His help."
+
+Rufus did not hear the end of the sermon. He was thinking of his own
+case. Help came to him when he needed it most. He had prayed for death,
+prayed that he might be saved from an act which was unworthy of any
+true man. And in the very nick of time salvation came. Was it a mere
+accident, a stroke of luck, a fortunate turn in the wheel of chance? Or
+was it Providence, an impulse or an inspiration from the all-pervading
+Spirit?
+
+His faith was but a tender plant as yet, and it would need much
+watchfulness and care if it was to grow.
+
+He was brought back from his reflections by the announcement of Cowper's
+well-known hymn:
+
+    God moves in a mysterious way
+      His wonders to perform;
+    He plants His footsteps in the sea
+      And rides upon the storm.
+
+Rufus stood up with the rest and tried to sing, but a lump rose in his
+throat constantly and threatened to choke him. It seemed as if every
+line met his case and expressed some experience of his own:
+
+    Blind unbelief is sure to err,
+      And scan His work in vain:
+    God is His own interpreter,
+      And He will make it plain.
+
+The congregation sang on with deep feeling and emotion. Most of them had
+known trouble. Many had experienced the joy of deliverance. And the tune
+was one that seemed exactly to suit the words:
+
+    His purposes will ripen fast,
+      Unfolding every hour.
+    The bud may have a bitter taste,
+      But sweet will be the flower.
+
+How wonderfully true and apposite it all was! More than once he swept
+his hand across his eyes to remove the mist that had gathered. Surely
+God had led him to that little chapel that morning. He knelt with the
+rest when the benediction was pronounced, and breathed an audible "Amen"
+at the close.
+
+Marshall Brook walked home with him and remained to dinner and to
+afternoon tea. But they did not spend the time in discussing knotty
+theological problems; their talk ran on the strange happenings and
+experiences of life.
+
+After the evening's service Rufus walked all the way back to St. Gaved,
+so that he might be in time for his work on the following morning. The
+way did not seem a bit long. He had so much to think about, so much to
+dream about, so much to be grateful for and to rejoice in, that the old
+church tower loomed into sight before he knew he had covered half the
+distance.
+
+He astonished Captain Tom next morning by throwing up his post.
+
+"You really don't mean it?" was the incredulous reply.
+
+"I do. I am going to America, and the sooner you can let me off the
+better I shall be pleased." And he told Captain Tom some of the things
+that had happened.
+
+"You are in the right of it, sonny," was the reply. "Yes, you are in the
+right," and he laughed, good-humouredly. "And, mark my words, we shall
+see some time what we shall see."
+
+"No doubt about that," Rufus answered, with a smile.
+
+"I'm glad you think so. Yes, some time we shall see what we shall see,"
+and he laughed again. "But,"--and he took off his hat and scratched his
+head, "my stars! but won't it be just----Well, well, we'll wait and see.
+You have my best wishes, sonny, and my blessing."
+
+On the following Saturday but one, Rufus sailed for New York.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER XXXIV
+
+                               DISCOVERIES
+
+
+On reaching New York Rufus made his way at once to the office of Messrs.
+Seaward and Graythorne. He discovered that Mr. Seaward had been dead a
+dozen years and that Mr. Graythorne was a man well advanced in life.
+
+Mr. Graythorne received him without enthusiasm, and with some slight
+evidence of embarrassment, and during the time they talked he appeared
+to be preoccupied and more or less distraught.
+
+Rufus wondered if this was some new type of American that he had not
+heard of, or whether it was merely professional dignity. He had to drag
+everything out of him, and what he did say appeared to be capable of
+divers interpretations.
+
+Rufus wanted facts about his father's property--why the litigation had
+continued so long, what was the nature of the claims that had to be
+considered, in what court or courts the litigants were heard, and on
+what principle the distribution of funds had been made.
+
+But to none of these questions could he get an intelligible answer. Mr.
+Graythorne talked vaguely and ponderously. He enlarged on American law
+in general, pointed out how different methods obtained in different
+States, showed how the interests of clients were safeguarded by the
+judges of the supreme courts, and how the wastefulness of English
+Chancery cases was avoided by the simpler American methods.
+
+But all this failed to touch the real point at issue. Rufus became
+pertinacious, and Mr. Graythorne somewhat restive.
+
+In the end the lawyer had to admit that he knew little about the matter.
+It was a very old case, and his partner, Mr. Seaward, had been dead a
+dozen years. A hint was given that Mr. Seaward had the case in hand at
+the beginning, but at present the case was entirely in the hands of the
+judge. The claims were disposed of as they rose; in time they would all
+be disposed of. He (Mr. Graythorne) had been commissioned to forward
+five thousand dollars, which he had done. If he received any similar
+commission he would execute it with the greatest pleasure.
+
+Rufus left the lawyer's office feeling not a little perplexed, and ten
+minutes later Mr. Graythorne descended to the street with a look of
+annoyance on his face.
+
+Getting on to the elevated railway, he was soon speeding in the
+direction of Central Park. Alighting at length, he made his way slowly
+along a quiet street for some considerable distance, paused for a moment
+in front of a house that had no distinguishing features, then ran
+lightly up the steps and rang the door bell.
+
+He was ushered by a maid-servant into a comfortably but modestly
+furnished room, where he flung himself into an easy chair and waited.
+
+In a few seconds a light step sounded outside; the door was pushed
+quickly open, and Madeline Grover came smiling and radiant into the
+room. The old lawyer rose slowly, and his face relaxed.
+
+"This is an unexpected pleasure," she said, brightly. "Have you been
+hearing again from Sir Charles?"
+
+"Not a word. It's the other man we have to deal with now."
+
+"What other man?"
+
+"Why the man I sent the money to, of course."
+
+"Well, what of him?"
+
+"He's in New York, and has nearly worried the life out of me this
+morning!"
+
+"In New York!" and the hot blood rushed suddenly to her neck and face.
+
+"In New York! And if he don't clear out soon there'll be complications!"
+
+"Why has he come?"
+
+"To look after his property, of course. Are you surprised?"
+
+"I am a little. It never occurred to me that he might come to America."
+
+"Well, he has come, and the question is whether you are going to
+make--well, a clean breast of it, or allow him to ferret it out
+himself?"
+
+"Oh! he must not know for the world!" she said, in a tone of alarm.
+
+"He's bound to get to know sooner or later that somebody has made him a
+present of five thousand dollars----"
+
+"No, it is only a loan," she interrupted, quickly.
+
+Mr. Graythorne laughed. "A loan that was never to be paid, eh? A loan by
+an anonymous lender? Well, what's in a name? Call it a loan if the word
+pleases you better."
+
+"But you know what I mean. Some day, of course,--years and years hence,
+when nothing matters"--and she blushed uncomfortably; "but just now
+nothing need be said or even hinted----"
+
+"I understand," he said, with a twitching of the lips.
+
+"You know very well that he has property out West somewhere, which he is
+bound to come into possession of soon, and it seemed a pity that he
+should starve and perhaps die while waiting for it."
+
+"Well, yes; the motive does you credit."
+
+"You ascertained beforehand, as you know, that he would have plenty to
+pay me back with later on, and, after all, the sum was only a small
+one."
+
+"To you, perhaps."
+
+"But to him it would mean everything, and I owe him more than gold can
+ever pay. As I told you before, he saved my life and nearly lost his own
+in doing it."
+
+"Quite a pretty little romance, I own; worked up into a story it would
+read very well. But how about the present situation?"
+
+"He must not know, of course."
+
+"And you expect me, a lawyer, to equivocate--to say one thing and mean
+another--to talk, as it were, with my tongue in my cheek? Oh, Miss
+Grover, what would become of the profession--I mean morally--if all
+clients were like you?"
+
+"It would be much nearer the kingdom," she said, with a laugh. "I don't
+ask you to tell lies; I only ask you to hold your tongue."
+
+"But it is much easier said than done. You know this young man, and he
+ain't no fool either; and he has a pretty little way of asking
+point-blank questions. And if I ain't mistaken he can draw an inference
+as slick as most folks."
+
+"But lawyers never reveal secrets," she said, smiling at him with her
+eyes.
+
+"Nothing more quickly awakens suspicion than silence," he said. "And if
+he once gets on the trail----"
+
+"He cannot possibly find me among eighty millions of people scattered
+over this continent."
+
+"But suppose he were to drop on you by accident?" and the old lawyer
+pretended to be looking at a picture on the other side of the room.
+
+She tried her best to keep back the tell-tale blush, but it would come.
+"Oh, we should shake hands," she said, in a tone of indifference, "and
+pretend to be surprised, of course, and then we should talk about what
+had happened in St. Gaved since I left."
+
+"He is a very handsome young man," the lawyer said absently.
+
+"Yes, he is rather good-looking, isn't he?" and the colour grew deeper
+on her usually pale face.
+
+"I think you told me once you admired his spirit?"
+
+"I admire him very much."
+
+"And if he calls to-morrow I must say no more than I have said to-day?"
+
+"Say what you like so long as you keep my name out of it."
+
+"And you don't want to see him? And you wouldn't for the world that he
+should know you are alive in New York City?"
+
+"For the present at any rate."
+
+"I think I understand," he said, gravely, but a smile twinkled in the
+corner of his eye.
+
+Meanwhile Rufus was busy reading through once more the papers he had
+obtained from his grandfather. He folded them up at length and replaced
+them in his portmanteau.
+
+"It's not a bit of use waiting here," he said to himself. "That old
+lawyer knows no more about it than I do. I'll go westward to-night."
+
+The next morning found him in the busy town of Pittsburg, where he spent
+a couple of days making inquiries; then he pressed forward again until
+he reached Reboth, on the borders of Ohio.
+
+Settling himself in the most comfortable hotel he could find he
+commenced his investigations. It was here his father had lived for
+several years. It was here he died. Reboth was only a village then. Its
+mineral wealth was unknown; its blast furnaces had not been lighted, its
+coal seams undiscovered. Joshua Sterne foresaw some of its
+possibilities, and invested all his savings, lived long enough to see
+the prospect of great wealth, and then almost suddenly passed out of
+life.
+
+After that followed years of litigation, Joshua Sterne had left no one
+who could fight his battles. The widow quickly yielded up the ghost, and
+the Rev. Reuben was too far away, too other-worldly, too lacking in
+business tact, and too suspicious of American lawyers and American ways
+to follow up any advantage that came to him.
+
+The litigants appeared to be numberless. Disputes arose over boundaries.
+Part of the property appeared to be in Pennsylvania and part in Ohio.
+Different States had different laws. The findings of one court were
+rejected by another. So the fight went on in a fitful and desultory way
+year after year. Some of the claimants died and their heirs dropped the
+struggle. Others had their claims allowed. Others who never had any real
+case gave up the contention. But there were a few who held on like grim
+death. They had no real claim, but they hoped for a good deal, and in
+the end they succeeded in the case being hung up indefinitely.
+
+In time it was practically forgotten. New judges were appointed.
+Important questions came before them which demanded immediate attention.
+The papers relating to the Sterne property grew yellow in their
+pigeon-holes. The rents accumulated, but the mineral wealth remained
+undeveloped.
+
+One of the first discoveries Rufus made was that there had been no
+distribution of profits.
+
+"There must be some mistake," he declared.
+
+But the court was positive. There had been some inquiries lately through
+a New York solicitor, but beyond that there was no record of any kind
+for several years, but certainly no money had been paid.
+
+Rufus felt bewildered. Why should Mr. Graythorne send him five thousand
+dollars on such a pretence? Why should anybody be so generous? Who was
+there in the whole of America who knew him or cared two straws whether
+he lived or died? As a matter of fact, he did not know a single soul on
+all that broad continent. But stop----
+
+All the colour left his face in a moment. He did know one person.
+Madeline Grover was in America. Had she done this?
+
+He felt himself trembling from head to foot; the very suggestion meant
+so much.
+
+That night he lay awake for hours thinking. He recalled the night after
+his return from Tregannon--the long walk he had with Madeline Grover
+across the downs, the frank confession he made to her of his toils and
+struggles, the generous sympathy she had extended to him. It was their
+last walk and talk. He remembered now he had told her how his father's
+savings had been lost at Reboth, and how they had long given up hope of
+recovering a penny of it.
+
+"I must get to know somehow," he said to himself. "Bless her! If she has
+done this she is the noblest woman on earth."
+
+Rufus was not long in getting his father's case reopened. There were
+only two men left to be dealt with. The claims of the others had gone by
+default. The court was anxious that the case should be disposed of once
+for all.
+
+Rufus employed the cleverest lawyer he could find, and together they
+struggled through the whole case from the beginning.
+
+"Look here," said the lawyer; "if these fellows are ugly it may last
+years longer."
+
+"Well, Mr. Mason, what do you advise?" Rufus questioned.
+
+"Come to terms with them."
+
+"They may not be reasonable."
+
+"Or they may be. They don't appear to have the ghost of a claim, but
+they may keep the thing hanging on for ever and ever."
+
+"There can be no harm in making the attempt," Rufus said.
+
+"Then I will see their solicitors at once."
+
+Rufus hung about Reboth two months longer, hoping, expecting, sometimes
+despairing. But in the end all the parties agreed that a bird in the
+hand was worth two in the bush. So terms were accepted and ratified by
+the court.
+
+"Now," said Mr. Mason, "you can begin to develop your property."
+
+"You think it is valuable?"
+
+"No doubt about that. If it had been worthless the whole thing would
+have been settled a generation ago."
+
+"But how should I begin?"
+
+"Form a syndicate. Let me take the matter in hand for you."
+
+Rufus was eager to go in search of Madeline. But he found himself,
+suddenly, one of the busiest men, so he believed, in the United States.
+Moreover, he refused to be rushed. A good many American methods he did
+not like, and would not have. There was any number of capitalists ready
+to stake large sums in the new venture. Any number of Stock Exchange
+men who flickered around like flies. Any number of sharpers who tried
+the confidence trick, but tried it in vain.
+
+In a great many instances Yankee cuteness was pitted against British
+caution and common-sense, and in the end the caution and common-sense
+won the day.
+
+Moreover, Rufus's sense of accountability was particularly keen. He had
+only just come out of the furnace, in which he had been tried as few men
+have been tried. The consciousness of God had not been blurred by long
+years of professionalism. There was no latent or acquired taint of
+Pharisaism in his nature. His faith was as pure and simple as that of a
+child.
+
+He might have made his pile in a week in an exciting gamble. On the mere
+chance of mineral being found he might have become a rich man; but he
+refused to proceed on those lines. He wanted occupation for himself. He
+wanted moral authority for all he did.
+
+The breathless haste to be rich which he saw all around him almost made
+him angry. The majority of men seemed to be too eager to be honest, they
+were tumbling over each other in their passion to be first in the field.
+
+The Rebothites began to understand the young Englishman after a while,
+and to respect him. His sterling honesty, his refusal to take a mean
+advantage, won their admiration. It might not be business. Judged by
+local standards, his conduct was Quixotic. They could not understand a
+man who was not eager and impatient to scoop up the dollars when he had
+the chance. But they had to take him as they found him, and in their
+hearts they admired him while they blamed him.
+
+Rufus came slowly to the consciousness that he was a man of considerable
+importance. Slowly, too, he realised that in time he would be a rich
+man, not through any merit of his own, but through the judgment and
+foresight of his father.
+
+For months he only thought of Madeline Grover at odd moments. He was too
+busy with the tasks that had been thrown suddenly upon him. Fresh duties
+appeared nearly every day, and better still, from his point of view,
+fresh opportunities were given for the exercise of his inventive talent.
+
+He was no longer cribbed, and cabined, and confined. There was a sense
+of freedom he had never known in other days. He had room to work in,
+scope for all his energies, and release from the bars and bands imposed
+by a landed aristocracy. There were many things American he cordially
+disliked, but the air of freedom that was over everything was most
+exhilarating. He felt as though his brain worked with only half the
+effort, and with no slightest sense of weariness.
+
+Besides all that, he was free to adopt new methods. Nobody was bound by
+precedent. He could exercise his inventive faculty without hostility and
+without criticism. Hence, life became to him a daily unfolding of fresh
+interests.
+
+The days grew rapidly into weeks, and the weeks into months. Autumn gave
+place to winter, and winter to spring, and spring to summer, and summer
+began to fade into autumn once more. He had expected to be in Reboth a
+month, and he had been there a year. And what a year it had been! The
+most crowded year of his life, and the most formative. He had found his
+feet at last, had taken the measure of his strength, and realised some
+of the things of which he was capable.
+
+He heard from his grandfather every week, and now and then he got a
+letter from Captain Tom Hendy; but the old life was becoming more and
+more distant, while the last six months he spent in St. Gaved seemed
+like a hideous dream.
+
+And yet there were times when it seemed an integral and necessary part
+of the great scheme of his life. A cog in the wheel that couldn't be
+dispensed with. How strangely he had been led, step by step, through
+darkness to light, through pain to peace.
+
+It was not until nearly the end of September that he was able to leave
+Reboth for a little excursion to New York. He felt sure that Madeline
+was in that city, and his heart was aching for another sight of her
+face.
+
+That he might have great difficulty in finding her he saw clearly
+enough, but after all he had passed through, nothing seemed impossible.
+He might fail in his first effort, and in his second, but he resolved to
+let nothing daunt him or lead him to give up the quest. Life could never
+be complete for him until he had found her. He must have answers to the
+questions that were baffling him to-day--must know the best or the
+worst.
+
+So he made preparations for a stay of months, if necessary. But in his
+heart there was a secret hope that Providence was guiding him still.
+
+
+
+
+                                 CHAPTER XXXV
+
+                             CONFLICTING EMOTIONS
+
+
+Madeline was at the Harvey Mansion, having afternoon tea with her
+friend, Kitty. Since their accidental meeting on the promenade at Nice,
+not many days passed that they did not see each other.
+
+"You will have to go with us," Kitty was saying to her friend. "If you
+don't I guess I shall mope myself to death."
+
+"Oh, no, you won't," Madeline answered. "You will have lots of company,
+and any amount of excitement."
+
+"Oh, I don't know. Father is beginning to think more about the climate
+than anything else. He fancies that New York winters try his health, and
+what I fear is he'll steer the _Skylark_ away down into the South Seas
+somewhere, and stick there."
+
+"Well, wouldn't that be very jolly?"
+
+"I don't know. It might be jolly miserable. It all depends on one's
+company. If you'll promise to go with us, I won't raise any more
+objections."
+
+"Have you been raising objections?"
+
+"Tons. I much prefer wintering in New York City."
+
+"I should like to visit the South Seas very much," Madeline said,
+meditatively, "only----," then she hesitated.
+
+"Only what?"
+
+"Well, the truth is, I am going to be a home-bird," Madeline answered,
+with a slight tinge of colour in her cheeks.
+
+"Oh, that's all fiddlesticks. You haven't a single tie on all this
+continent. You are your own mistress; you can do precisely what you like
+without any one calling you to account, and----"
+
+"I admit all you say," Madeline answered, with a smile. "Nevertheless,
+it is quite true that what appeals to me most is a quiet life in my own
+little home."
+
+"I wonder you don't get married."
+
+"Well, you see," Madeline answered, blushing slightly, "the man I
+expected to marry did not come up to my expectations."
+
+"But surely one hailstone doesn't make a winter."
+
+"That is quite true. But perhaps one gets suspicious as one gets older."
+
+"You have had offers enough, I am sure."
+
+"Have I? How knowing you are, Kitty."
+
+"Oh, one needn't be a philosopher to put two and two together. By the
+bye, do you ever hear anything of your rejected suitor?"
+
+"Occasionally. He's recently had another big disappointment."
+
+"In the matrimonial line?"
+
+"It seems so."
+
+"Oh, do tell me all about it."
+
+"Well, you know I get all my news through dear old Mr. Graythorne. The
+Tregonys have dropped me altogether, as you know."
+
+"Yes, you've told me that before."
+
+"Well, it would seem that Captain Tregony, soon after his return from
+Nice last year, fell in love with a widow lady, and they were to have
+been married some time this fall."
+
+"Yes."
+
+"And now the lady has refused to marry him."
+
+"For what reason?"
+
+"Oh, well, it's a curious story rather, and I'm not sure that I know all
+the ins and outs of it. But there was a young fellow in St. Gaved--a
+very clever young fellow, but poor--whom the Captain for some reason
+hated. One night they met and quarrelled, and this young fellow punished
+the Captain terribly. Well, don't you see that for a soldier to be
+thrashed by a civilian is terribly humiliating. So what did he do in
+order to cover himself but invent a story that the young fellow was mad
+drunk, that he sprang upon him unawares, and would have murdered him if
+the gardener had not come upon the scene, and in order to place his
+story beyond dispute he bribed the barman of a public-house to swear
+that on the evening in question the young fellow was so drunk that he
+(the barman) refused to serve him with any more whisky."
+
+"What a shame!"
+
+"Well, recently, this barman, who was prosecuted for poaching on Sir
+Charles Tregony's estates, and who was angry because the Captain did not
+shield him, just blurted out all the truth. Of course, I know nothing of
+the details, but from all Mr. Graystone has been able to gather there
+was immense excitement in St. Gaved. Mrs. Nancarrow, the lady to whom he
+had become engaged, refused to see him again, while the people were so
+incensed against him that he was glad to leave Trewinion Hall under
+cover of darkness, and, at present, no one, outside the members of his
+own family, appears to know where he is."
+
+"What a horrid man!"
+
+"And yet, when I met him first, he was most fascinating."
+
+"It's a mercy for you the fascination wore off. But tell me: did you
+know the young man the Captain tried to disgrace?"
+
+"A little. But you see the Tregonys had practically no intercourse with
+what they termed the common people."
+
+"He will be greatly relieved that his name has been cleared."
+
+"If he knows--which, no doubt, he does by this time."
+
+"Why by this time?"
+
+"Because he left the country a year ago."
+
+"Why did he leave the country?"
+
+"To better his fortune, I expect. But would you mind giving me another
+cup of tea? The year I spent on the other side the water made me an
+inveterate tea-drinker."
+
+"I'll not only give you another cup of tea, I'll give you the entire
+tea-service if you'll promise to go with us on the _Skylark_."
+
+"How generous you are!"
+
+"Generosity is my besetting sin as a matter of fact. But say you'll
+promise."
+
+"Oh, you must give me time to think the matter over. I can't decide in a
+moment."
+
+"Why not? You've no one to consult but yourself."
+
+"But if self should happen to be divided against self?"
+
+"Oh, you are just too tantalising for words. I believe there is someone
+in New York you want to capture."
+
+"No, Kitty, dear, you are quite mistaken. The young men of New York
+don't appeal to me in the least."
+
+"Then I'll go on badgering you until you promise. In fact, I'll set
+poppa on to you."
+
+"Please don't," and Madeline rose from her chair and began to pull on
+her gloves.
+
+That evening, in the privacy of her own room, Madeline debated seriously
+with herself whether or not she should accept the Harveys' invitation.
+For many things, she would like to winter in a more genial clime. New
+York was by no means an ideal city when the thermometer was at zero, and
+the streets were blocked with snow. In fact, it was not an ideal city
+under any circumstances, and but that most of her friends were there,
+she would gladly pitch her tent somewhere else.
+
+There was the further fact to be considered, that the departure of the
+Harveys meant the departure of the people whom she liked best of all,
+and New York would be terribly dull when their mansion was no longer
+open to her to run in and out as she liked.
+
+"I think I'll accept their invitation," she said to herself. "It will be
+a change, and it's awfully good of them to ask me." Then she hesitated
+and looked abstractedly out of the window.
+
+"It will mean an absence of six months at least," she went on, after a
+long pause, and she gave a little sigh and withdrew her eyes from the
+window.
+
+"It is curious that my thoughts will so constantly turn in the same
+direction," she thought, with another little sigh. "I surely don't owe
+him any more now. I have paid my debt as far as any human being can pay
+it. Why cannot I put the whole episode out of my life?"
+
+A ring came to the door-bell after awhile, and her old solicitor was
+shown in.
+
+"I am so glad you have come," she said, with a smile. "I want you to
+help me decide a question that I'm unable to decide for myself."
+
+"I'm always at your service," he said, genially; "but what's troubling
+your little head now?"
+
+"The Harveys want me to go with them on a yachting cruise."
+
+"Well?"
+
+"I can't make up my mind whether to go or not."
+
+"What is there to keep you here?"
+
+"Nothing."
+
+"Then why hesitate?"
+
+"I don't know. I'm growing to like my little home very much."
+
+"You mustn't become a hermit. My advice is go."
+
+"You really mean that?"
+
+"I do. Mind you, I shall miss you very much, but all the same, such a
+chance may not come to you again."
+
+"Then I'll take your advice."
+
+"By the bye, I heard news this morning of your Cornish friend."
+
+"Sir Charles Tregony?"
+
+"No; the other one."
+
+"You mean----"
+
+"The same! He's evidently done well out of the money you lent him."
+
+"Yes?"
+
+"I've been following him up as well as I could ever since that day he
+called on me."
+
+"So you've told me before."
+
+"But a man was in my office this morning who knows him, who lives in
+Reboth, in fact, and who has watched him closely."
+
+"Well?"
+
+"He says if he keeps on he'll be one of the most remarkable men in the
+State of Pennsylvania."
+
+"Indeed?"
+
+"That's what he says. At the beginning, the financiers swarmed round him
+like bees. But he wasn't to be had. He just went his own way. Slow
+according to American notions, but that's the man. Level-headed as they
+make 'em, and honest to a fault."
+
+"A man can't be too honest, surely?"
+
+"Well, business is so rushed in these days that a man has no time to
+look up the commandments before he decides. If he don't seize his chance
+on the dot it's gone."
+
+"Better the chance should go than that he should lose his honour."
+
+"Well, that is a very fine sentiment, no doubt--a very fine sentiment.
+And your friend, it seems, acts up to it."
+
+"And what has he lost in consequence?"
+
+"Heaps they say. Not permanently, perhaps; for as it happens, the iron
+is of better quality than was expected. But he might have made his pile
+right off without trouble or risk."
+
+"And without giving any honest _quid pro quo_?"
+
+"Those who speculate must take their chance, my child. If people are
+willing to take risks, why let 'em. Suppose there had been no iron at
+all?"
+
+"Well, what then?"
+
+"Why, he would have been the poorer by hundreds of thousands of
+dollars."
+
+"That might not be to his disadvantage. 'A man's life consisteth not in
+the abundance of the things he possesseth.'"
+
+"Most people think it does, at any rate."
+
+"But you know majorities are nearly always wrong."
+
+"Excuse me, I claim no such knowledge. I know that majorities rule."
+
+"And rule oppressively frequently."
+
+"That may be so. Human nature is essentially tyrannical. Give a man
+power, and, without great grace, he becomes a tyrant right off."
+
+"I don't think Rufus Sterne would ever become a tyrant."
+
+"He might, my child, under some circumstances. Never trust a man too
+far. I hear he is coming east."
+
+"Indeed!"
+
+"Has some new scheme on hand, I expect," and Mr. Graythorne picked up
+his hat and smiled knowingly.
+
+Left alone again, the look of perplexity in Madeline's eyes deepened.
+She had told Mr. Graythorne that she would take his advice and accept
+the Harveys' invitation. But she was disposed to change her mind again.
+She did not want to leave New York at present. She might hide the truth
+from other people, but she could not hide it from herself, that if Rufus
+Sterne came to New York she wanted to see him.
+
+She would not own to herself that she was in love, or anything
+approaching it. But she was undeniably interested. She had been from the
+first. Rufus Sterne appealed to her as no other man had done. His
+loneliness, his self-reliance, his courage, his independence made him an
+object of curiosity, to use no stronger term.
+
+Moreover, there was a certain aloofness about him--a curious air of
+detachment, that quickened her curiosity into something she had no name
+for. In their last conversation he had been wonderfully frank--had
+opened his heart to her in a way that touched her sympathies to the
+quick, yet she knew she had not fathomed him yet. She had a feeling all
+the time that he was greater than he appeared, that his reticence was
+much more marked than its opposite.
+
+He had suffered wrong without a murmur, and suffered wrong for her sake.
+He had kept her name out of what he had called a sordid quarrel, and
+gone on his way in silence, asking no sympathy and seeking no revenge.
+
+How was it possible, therefore, that she could fail to be interested in
+him? He was so different from most of the men she knew. So strong, so
+self-contained, so doggedly determined.
+
+Some day he would find her out; she was sure of that. He was not the
+kind of man to remain in anyone's debt. She did not doubt for a moment
+that he guessed long ago who had sent him the money, but with the true
+instinct of chivalry he had not thrust himself upon her. He had allowed
+the months to go by, and had made no effort to find her; and during
+those months he had proved the stuff of which he was made. In an age of
+rush and greed and money-grabbing he had shown a fidelity to principle
+that even his detractors admired.
+
+He might have "made his pile," in the slang phrase of the time, but he
+had shown no eagerness to do so. He had gambled once with life itself
+(though she did not know that); he would not gamble now with the things
+of life, with what men called "the world."
+
+He had learnt his lesson and he would never forget it. To wrong a
+community was just as wicked as to wrong an individual. He refused to
+treat his employ�es as "hands"; they were men, not serfs to be
+exploited, but human beings to be protected and helped. He introduced a
+new industrial code and made himself one with his fellows.
+
+Mr. Graythorne, who had followed his movements with great interest and
+curiosity, gave hints to Madeline every now and then, though he was
+never quite able to take the measure of Madeline's interest in him.
+
+In truth, however, her interest had been a growing quantity. Silence and
+separation but quickened her imagination. The hints and fragments of
+news that reached her concerning him all helped in the same direction.
+His apparent indifference to her made her all the more curious to see
+him again.
+
+"No, I cannot leave New York," she said to herself, at length. "If he
+comes I want to be here. He may think I have tried to discharge my debt
+with dollars and do not want to see him again. To convey such an
+impression would be to wrong myself, and--and--him, for there was a
+time----"
+
+She did not finish the sentence, however, but the warm colour stole
+swiftly to her neck and face and a bright light came into her eyes.
+
+On the following day she told the Harveys--much to Kitty's grief and
+disappointment--that she could not accept their invitation.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER XXXVI
+
+                            HIS HEART'S DESIRE
+
+
+Rufus made his way to New York with the fixed intention of finding
+Madeline Grover if that were possible. He had come to very definite
+conclusions as to the part she had played; but there was a good deal
+still that wanted explaining, and he was eager to get the riddle solved
+and his fate determined once for all.
+
+Of his own feelings he had no doubt. She was the one woman in the world
+he loved or ever could love. He owed to her not only his life, but all
+that made life worth living--his faith, his vision of God, his hope of
+immortality. It was she who had come to him in the darkest mental and
+moral night that had ever fallen upon him, and had touched his eyes with
+a new vision, and had opened up to him the promise of a larger day.
+
+But what her feelings were in regard to him he did not know. That she
+was grateful he had had proof enough, but gratitude might exist where
+there was little or no love. It might exist even with positive dislike.
+Her attempts to discharge her debt of gratitude might not be any proof
+of affection. They might rather be evidence of a desire to get rid of an
+unpleasant responsibility.
+
+He had hope, however, that Providence was in this as in other things.
+That God had moved her heart to send him help when he needed it most he
+could no longer doubt. And since she had been the inspiration of what
+was best in his life, it might be the purpose of that Higher Will that
+she should stand by his side during the rest of his life.
+
+At any rate, he would prove the matter for himself, as far as it could
+be proved. New York--or even America--was not so big but he might find
+her with patience and determination.
+
+On reaching New York he made his way to Mr. Graythorne's office.
+Presuming that it was she who had commissioned him to send the money, he
+would know where she lived. If it was not she, a new riddle would
+confront him, which he would have to try to solve sooner or later.
+
+Mr. Graythorne received him, as before, without enthusiasm, and with no
+manifestation of surprise. Indeed, he quite expected that sooner or
+later he would call.
+
+Rufus plunged into the object of his visit without any waste of words.
+Indeed, his first question was so sudden and direct that it threw Mr.
+Graythorne completely off his guard.
+
+"I have called to ask you for the address of Miss Madeline Grover," he
+said.
+
+Mr. Graythorne gave a start, and turned half round in his chair.
+
+"Eh--eh? What's that?" he asked, abruptly.
+
+"Miss Grover is a client of yours, I believe----"
+
+"Who said she was a client of mine?"
+
+Rufus smiled. "Of course, if you object to give me her address," he
+said, "I will not press the matter."
+
+"I did not say I refuse, but such a request is somewhat unusual. Miss
+Grover may not care to have people calling on her. Her business affairs
+she leaves in my hands."
+
+"And she is no doubt well advised in so doing. But I don't think Miss
+Grover will object to my calling."
+
+"You know her?"
+
+"A little. We met a few times when she was staying with the Tregonys."
+
+"Oh, indeed." Mr. Graythorne expected he would say something about the
+five thousand dollars, but that was no part of his programme just then.
+
+The lawyer felt in a quandary. He did not know what to do for the best.
+He could not very well refuse her address, and yet he was not sure she
+would like being pounced upon by this young man without a moment's
+warning. Unfortunately, he could not ring her up, for she had no
+telephone in her house. What was he to do? Rufus stood looking at him
+with a smile on his face.
+
+"If you are acquaintances," he said at length, "that of course settles
+the matter," and he wrote the address on a sheet of paper and handed it
+to his visitor.
+
+Rufus thanked him and turned to go at once.
+
+"Your property has turned out all right, I hear?" the lawyer said,
+insinuatingly.
+
+"Oh, yes, excellently."
+
+"And you finished the litigation?"
+
+"Easily. A little give and take, and the thing was done."
+
+"More give than take, I am told."
+
+"Perhaps so, but better that than fighting, and bad blood, and ruinous
+lawyers' fees."
+
+Mr. Graythorne winced and grew red in the face, and before he could
+recover himself Rufus had slipped out of the room.
+
+It did not take him long to reach the street in which Madeline lived. He
+looked down its long length and gave a little sigh of relief. It was
+not a street of mansions. It was unpretentious and comparatively
+obscure.
+
+His heart was beating very fast when he walked slowly up the steps and
+rang the door-bell. He felt as though the supreme moment of his life had
+come.
+
+He was shown into a room that harmonised with the street, quiet, cosy,
+comfortable, but quite unpretentious. He had not to wait many moments.
+Almost before he had time to turn round, the door was pushed open, and
+Madeline stood before him, bright, winning, smiling, and radiantly
+beautiful.
+
+There was no trace of stiffness or embarrassment in her manner. Indeed,
+her greeting was more cordial than he had dared hope for. The
+embarrassment was on his side; he felt he had undertaken a task that
+would tax all his nerve.
+
+"It is like old times to see you again," she said, in her old frank,
+ingenuous way. "Do you remember our last long walk over the downs?"
+
+"Then you have not forgotten?" he replied, with a little sigh of relief.
+
+"Why should I forget? I was so sorry not to see you again."
+
+"I looked out for you once or twice; then I heard you had gone away."
+
+"Did you look out for me? And I wanted so particularly to see you."
+
+"Yes?" he questioned, eagerly.
+
+"I wanted to let you know that I had discovered Gervase Tregony's
+perfidy."
+
+"Before you went away?"
+
+"Yes; but I was unable to make it known. However, all the truth has come
+out since."
+
+"You have heard?"
+
+"Oh, yes. I get Cornish news regularly."
+
+"Then you knew I had left?"
+
+"Oh, yes," she answered, with a blush and a smile, "I knew that also."
+
+"I came to look after that disputed property of my father's I once told
+you about," he said, after a pause.
+
+"Yes, I remember. You said you had given up all hope of ever getting a
+penny."
+
+"You see, my grandfather and I were too far away to look after it, and
+too poor to fight it. So it was just hung up. You have heard, perhaps,
+that it has turned out well?"
+
+She blushed again, and hesitated for a moment. She felt that his eyes
+were upon her. She knew she would gain nothing by fencing. The truth
+would have to come out sooner or later. This man had eyes so clear that
+he could see through all sham and pretence. So she answered quite
+frankly. "My solicitor knows a good deal about Reboth, and he has told
+me."
+
+"You mean Mr. Graythorne?"
+
+His eyes were still upon her and there was no escape.
+
+"Yes," she answered, almost in a whisper.
+
+For a moment or two there was an almost painful silence. She felt what
+was coming, and shrank from meeting it. He knew what he wanted to say,
+and yet had scarcely the courage to say it.
+
+"There is something I want to find out very much," he said, at length;
+"perhaps you can help me."
+
+She looked up with an inquiring light in her eyes, but did not reply.
+
+"You heard that my invention failed, or rather that it had been
+forestalled?"
+
+She nodded assent.
+
+"What the failure meant to me only God knew. I had borrowed the money to
+develop and perfect my idea, and when failure came it was overwhelming.
+I was stripped of everything. I look back now as upon a long and hideous
+nightmare. I wonder how I endured?"
+
+He paused for a moment, but she made no reply, but her eyes were full of
+eager interest.
+
+"Well, when the night was darkest, and I was praying for death as the
+only escape for me, a letter came from Messrs. Seaward and Graythorne,
+enclosing a draft for five thousand dollars. The letter was long, and
+more or less incoherent, but it vaguely hinted that the money was a
+first instalment of the property left by my father.
+
+"During that day, and I think for several days after, I was almost
+beside myself with joy. Then I went to see my grandfather, and he and I
+puzzled over the letter, but we could make very little out of it. In the
+end he suggested that I should come to America and look after the
+property myself.
+
+"So I came, and at once called on Messrs. Seaward and Graythorne. Mr.
+Graythorne I found, but I left his office more perplexed than ever. He
+talked in generalities, but he appeared to know little or nothing about
+the matter, though he admitted, of course, sending me the money.
+
+"That night I left New York and made my way to Reboth, where I
+discovered that no distribution of the property left by my father had
+been made. That the whole of it was still in Chancery, as we should say
+in England.
+
+"You can imagine how perplexed I felt, and naturally I began to wonder
+what kind friend had commissioned Mr. Graythorne to send me so much
+money. I said to myself: 'There is not a soul on the American continent
+that I know.' Then I remembered that you were here. You will forgive me
+if I wrong you, but I could think, and can think, of no one else. The
+money was my salvation. It not only saved me from despair, but from all
+that follows despair, and now that God has prospered me I want to pay it
+back. May I give it to you?"
+
+Her eyes were full almost to overflowing by this time, but she
+resolutely beat back her emotion.
+
+"Yes, I will take it back," she answered, slowly. "I am glad it served
+you in the hour of need."
+
+"You meant it as a loan, I know," he said, with a smile.
+
+"That was as God should will," she answered, with her eyes upon the
+floor. "I heard in Nice of your misfortune. I knew from what you told me
+that you had risked your all, and I wondered if I could help you without
+wounding you. As soon as I reached home I commissioned Mr. Graythorne to
+make inquiries about your late father's property in Reboth. It seemed
+certain that you would be well off some day, and so I advanced five
+thousand dollars on account; it was but a small return for all you had
+done for me."
+
+"But I might not have won the suit, might not have discovered who had
+befriended me."
+
+"I should still have been in your debt," she replied, with a smile. "You
+saved my life, you know," and she rose and touched the bell.
+
+He rose also, and moved towards the door.
+
+"No, no," she said, "you must not go, I have rung for tea. I know the
+English habit, and you must be thirsty after so much talking," and she
+laughed merrily.
+
+"Thank you," he said. "I shall be glad of a cup of tea," and he sat down
+again.
+
+Over the teacups conversation became more general, and flowed more
+freely in consequence. They talked about St. Gaved, about the Tregonys,
+and Captain Tom Hendy, and Dr. Pendarvis, and Mrs. Tuke. She related
+some of her experiences at Trewinion Hall, and in London and Nice, and
+how and why she escaped from the guardianship of Sir Charles. The
+afternoon sped like a dream, and when he rose to go, he felt as though a
+new vision of life had been vouchsafed to him.
+
+"You will call again?" she said, when he was leaving.
+
+"May I?" he asked eagerly.
+
+She laughed brightly in his face. "Does our American freedom or our lack
+of British formality shock you?" she questioned.
+
+"No, no. I was not thinking of that at all," he answered, hurriedly.
+"May I call again to-morrow?"
+
+"At the same hour?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"I will wait in for you."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Rufus remained in New York as many weeks as he had expected to remain
+days. He fixed the date of his return to Reboth time after time, but
+when the day arrived he found some excuse for remaining a day or two
+longer. He did not call to see Madeline every day. Indeed, sometimes for
+days on the stretch he did not go near her house, but he discovered that
+New York furnished endless opportunities for meeting. He got to know
+when she went shopping, and when she rode or drove in the park, and so
+he way-laid her at all sorts of unexpected times, and discovered that
+his interest in her movements was the all-absorbing concern of his
+life.
+
+Their conversation that winter evening on the Downs was picked up at the
+point at which it broke off, and Madeline got a yet clearer insight into
+the human document that had fascinated her from the first.
+
+Rufus opened his heart to Madeline as he never did to any other. Her
+sympathy touched the deepest chords of his emotion, her generosity won
+his confidence.
+
+Bit by bit the truth was revealed to her that she, under God, had been
+his salvation. Her quick imagination saw the path along which he had
+travelled. His loss of faith, his gropings in the desert of a barren
+philosophy.
+
+She saw, too--not that he told her in so many words--that the loss of
+all sense of accountability was destroying the moral basis of conduct.
+That his honour was saved to him because he won back his faith.
+
+It was no small satisfaction to her that she, in the supreme crisis of
+his life, had been his helper and his inspiration. If he had saved her,
+she, in a yet deeper sense, had saved him.
+
+That the same thought should grow almost unconsciously in the minds and
+hearts of both was natural--perhaps inevitable. In due course it would
+blossom into speech.
+
+He returned to Reboth in December--business demanded his presence--but
+he was back in New York again in January. Madeline looked up with a
+start of surprise when he was shown into the room in which she was
+reading.
+
+"I hope I do not intrude?" he said, hesitatingly.
+
+"No, no," she replied, with almost childish delight. "I am so glad to
+see you again. But I was not aware you were in New York."
+
+"I arrived this morning," he answered, "and so took an early opportunity
+of looking you up."
+
+"You are just in time for afternoon tea, and you must be almost frozen,"
+and she rang the bell at once.
+
+Rufus watched her moving about the room with almost hungry eyes. She was
+so dainty, so lissom, so strong. He wanted to take her in his arms and
+tell her that he loved her more than all else on earth, but he had not
+the courage yet.
+
+He remained not only to tea, but to dinner; and during the evening
+conversation strayed over many subjects.
+
+He was naturally reticent, and greatly disliked talking about himself.
+But when he was with Madeline all reticence disappeared. She was the
+warm sun that thawed the ice. He would have deemed it impossible once
+that he could have told anyone of his spiritual struggles, of the mental
+strain and agony through which he passed before his feet touched the
+rock. But Madeline was like a second self; there was nothing he wanted
+to hide from her.
+
+Before the evening was out he found himself discussing the moral effects
+of materialism.
+
+"It takes away the moral basis of conduct," he said, in reply to one of
+her questions. "I found myself losing the true sense of right and
+wrong--_as_ right and wrong. Things might be wise or foolish, profitable
+or unprofitable, politic or impolitic; but right and wrong were becoming
+meaningless words in any moral sense. If there is no God there is no
+moral law, and the highest authority is the State."
+
+"But materialists are sometimes very good people?" she questioned.
+
+"Yes, that is true; but not because of their philosophy, but in spite of
+it. And yet is not their goodness mainly negative? Do they build
+hospitals, or endow charities, or sacrifice themselves in fighting the
+battles of Temperance and peace and purity? I speak from experience; it
+dulls the moral sensibilities. For a man to lose his sense of God is to
+lose his best. The noblest work of the world is done by the men who
+believe, who endure as seeing Him who is invisible."
+
+"Then you think if you had remained a materialist----"
+
+"I should have perished," he interrupted, gravely, "and I use that word
+in no thoughtless sense. But God sent me you----" then he paused, and
+for awhile silence fell.
+
+When they began to talk again it was about some entirely different
+matter.
+
+A few days later he called to say good-bye. He was going back to Reboth
+again the following day. For a full hour they chatted in the freest
+manner about matters of no importance. Then he rose suddenly and began
+to button his coat. He shook hands with her in silence and reached the
+door. For a moment he paused with his hand on the knob, then turned
+hurriedly round and faced her. His face was very pale, his lips were
+trembling.
+
+"Madeline," he said, "I cannot go away without telling you that I love
+you. I belong to you. To you I owe more than life. I owe all that makes
+life worth living. You befriended me in my hour of greatest need. You
+led me out of darkness into the light. Will you be my inspiration still,
+my companion, the light of my eyes?"
+
+He paused, almost breathless with the earnestness of his speech.
+
+She stood looking at him, all the colour gone out of her face.
+
+"Forgive me if I am presumptuous," he went on, in lower tones. "But I
+have loved you so long, so hopelessly, so passionately, that I could not
+keep the truth back any longer. Yet if you say there is no hope for me I
+will not trouble you again."
+
+She came toward him slowly, a great light shining in her eyes, and
+placed her hands in his.
+
+"You are sure you are not mistaken?" she said, and her eyes grew full of
+tears.
+
+"Mistaken? Oh! Madeline, if I were only so sure of heaven! I have loved
+you since the day you read 'Snow Bound' to me--loved you with an
+ever-growing passion. I have never loved but you--I shall never love
+another!"
+
+"Do not all men say that?" she questioned, with a pathetic smile.
+
+"I know not what other men say," he replied, earnestly. "I only know
+that without you life will be dark. Oh! Madeline, have you no word of
+hope for me?"
+
+"Do you need words?" she asked, smiling through her tears into his face.
+"Have I not shown my heart all too plainly?"
+
+"Do you mean that----"
+
+But the sentence was never finished. Swiftly he gathered her in his arms
+till she could feel the beating of his heart against her own. Silently
+their lips met in a passionate seal of love. Then he led her to a couch
+and sat down by her side, and for an hour they talked and the hour
+seemed but as the flying of a shuttle.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+                               CATALOGUE
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+                          =THE POLYCHROME BIBLE.=
+
+ A New English Translation of the Books of the Bible. Printed in
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+ =The Book of Ezekiel.= Translated by the Rev. C. H. TOY, D.D., LL.D.,
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+ =A History of the United States.= By JOHN FISKE, Litt.D., LL.D. For
+    Schools. With Topical Analysis, Suggestive Questions and Directions
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+                        =THE POLYCHROME BIBLE.=
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+
+ =The Book of Joshua.= Translated by the Rev. W. H. BENNETT, M.A.,
+    Litt.D., Professor of Old Testament Languages and Literature at
+    Hackney and New Colleges, London, formerly Fellow of St. John's
+    College, Cambridge. 94 pp., printed in nine colours (43 pp.
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+    culminating in the Protectorate System of Church Government. By
+    HENRY ALEXANDER GLASS, Author of "The Story of the Psalters: A
+    History of the Metrical Versions of Great Britain and America."
+    Demy 8 vo, cloth, 6s.
+
+    "A careful and very instructive account of the period, frankly
+    Puritan in sympathy."--_The Echo._
+
+ =Memorials of Theophilus Trinal.= By T. T. LYNCH. Crown
+    8 vo, cloth, 6s.
+
+ =The Mornington Lecture.= By T. T. LYNCH. Thursday
+    Evening Addresses. Second Edition. Crown 8 vo, cloth, 6s.
+
+
+                                 5/-
+
+ =Theology and Truth.= By NEWTON H. MARSHALL, M.A., Ph.D.
+    Large crown 8 vo, cloth boards, gilt top, 5s.
+
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+
+    PROFESSOR GARVIE says: "... Cordial congratulations to the author
+    for his valuable contribution to the solution of one of the most
+    important and urgent problems of the day."
+
+    "The author treats his difficult subject with skill and philosophic
+    ability."--_The Notts Guardian._
+
+ =A Backward Glance.= The Story of John Ridley, A Pioneer. By ANNIE E.
+    RIDLEY, Author of "Frances Mary Buss and her Work for Education,"
+    &c. Crown 8 vo, photogravure portraits and illustrations, 5s.
+
+ =Church, Ministry and Sacraments in the New Testament.= By W. T.
+    WHITLEY, M.A., LL.D. Demy 8 vo, cloth boards, 5s.
+
+ =Cartoons of St. Mark.= By R. F. HORTON, M.A., D.D. Third
+    Edition. Crown 8 vo cloth, 5s.
+
+    "Certainly reproduce to a degree attained by few preachers the vivid
+    picturesqueness of the Gospel."--_The Manchester Guardian._
+    "This is, we think, the best book Dr. Horton has written."--_The
+    British Weekly._
+
+ =The Christ of the Heart, and Other Sermons.= By Z. MATHER.
+    Crown 8 vo, cloth, 5s.
+
+    "One of the most readable collections of sermons that we have seen
+    for a long time. The style is lucid, limpid, and attractive."--_The
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+
+ =Seven Puzzling Bible Books.= A Supplement to "Who Wrote the Bible?" By
+    WASHINGTON GLADDEN. Crown 8 vo, cloth, 5s.
+
+ =The Incarnation of the Lord.= A Series of Discourses tracing the
+    unfolding of the Doctrine of the Incarnation in the New Testament.
+    By CHARLES AUGUSTUS BRIGGS, D.D., D.Litt. Large crown 8 vo, cloth
+    extra, gilt top, 5s.
+
+    "A scientific and stimulating examination of the New Testament
+    _data_ on the Incarnation. It will fully sustain Dr. Briggs's
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+    works."--_The Christian World._
+
+ =The Theology of an Evolutionist.= By LYMAN ABBOTT, D.D.
+    Crown 8 vo, cloth, 5s.
+
+ =The Growing Revelation.= By AMORY H. BRADFORD, D.D.
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+
+ =Christianity and Social Problems.= By LYMAN ABBOTT, D.D.
+    Crown 8 vo, cloth, 5s.
+
+    "They are very carefully worked out and supported by a mass of
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+
+
+                                 4/6 Net.
+
+ =The Life and Letters of Alexander Mackennal, B.A., D.D.=
+    By D. MACFADYEN. Large crown 8 vo, Photogravure Portrait, and
+    Illustrations on Art Paper. Bound in Art Vellum. 4s. 6d. net.
+
+    "Mr. Macfadyen is to be congratulated on the skill with which he
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+    character, as a reverent and yet original thinker, an administrator
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+
+
+                                 4/6
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+ =The Christian World Pulpit.= Half-Yearly Volumes, cloth boards,
+    4s. 6d.
+
+    "A notable collection of the utterances of Protestant preachers on a
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+
+
+                                 4/- Net.
+
+ =Where Does the Sky Begin?= By WASHINGTON GLADDEN, D.D., Author of "Who
+    Wrote the Bible?" &c. Crown 8 vo, cloth boards, gilt top, 4s. net.
+
+    "Washington Gladden has a great name amongst us. This book is riper
+    and richer than anything he has yet published."--_Expository Times._
+
+ =Witnesses of the Light.= By WASHINGTON GLADDEN, D.D., Author of "Who
+    Wrote the Bible?" &c. Crown 8 vo, cloth boards, with portraits, 4s.
+    net.
+
+    "A sketch of such lives treated in this entirely free, human manner,
+    with adequate knowledge and a fine gift for interpretation, makes
+    this volume most welcome."--_Yorkshire Observer._
+
+
+                                 4/-
+
+ =How Much is Left of the Old Doctrines.= A Book for the People. By
+    WASHINGTON GLADDEN, D.D. Crown 8 vo, cloth, 4s.
+
+    "Very able, fresh and vigorous.... There is much to commend in Dr.
+    Gladden's book. Its teaching is manly and direct, and the writer
+    draws his illustrations from a wide field of literature. The
+    chapters on 'Conversion,' 'The Hope of Immortality,' and 'Heaven'
+    could only be written by a man of warm heart and true spiritual
+    insight. The general impression left by the book is invigorating and
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+
+ =Social Salvation.= By WASHINGTON GLADDEN. Crown 8 vo, cloth, 4s.
+
+    "Dr. Gladden's book is eminently sane; his subjects are not treated
+    in any academic spirit, but are viewed in the light of a long and
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+    World._
+
+    "The book is very broad in its outlook, and its author is very frank
+    in dealing with questions that are discussed everywhere. It will
+    command attention in many quarters."--_The Weekly Leader._
+
+ =Tools and the Man.= Property and Industry under the Christian Law. By
+    WASHINGTON GLADDEN. Crown 8 vo, cloth, 4s.
+
+    "A calmly written, closely reasoned, and trenchant indictment of the
+    still prevalent dogmas and assumptions of political economy."--_The
+    Speaker._
+
+ =Ruling Ideas of the Present Age.= By WASHINGTON GLADDEN.
+    Crown 8 vo, cloth, 4s.
+
+ =*The Rosebud Annual for 1907.= The Ideal Book for the Nursery. Four
+    coloured plates and one-half of the pages in colour. Handsome cloth
+    boards, 4s. Coloured paper boards, varnished, 3s.
+
+    "An old favourite, and anyone looking through its pages will see at
+    once why it is a favourite. Not a page opens without disclosing
+    pictures. The stories are fresh and piquant, and printed in good
+    large type. A rich fund of enjoyment for the nursery."--_Aberdeen
+    Free Press._
+
+    "A veritable treasury of the best of good things."--_Liverpool
+    Mercury._
+
+ =Higher on the Hill.= A Series of Sacred Studies. By ANDREW BENVIE,
+    D.D., Minister of St. Aidan's, Edinburgh. Crown 8 vo, cloth, 4s.
+
+    "A brilliant piece of writing."--_Dundee Advertiser._
+
+
+                                 3/6 Net.
+
+ =*Friars Lantern.= By G. G. COULTON, Author of "From St. Francis to
+    Dante," "Medi�val Studies," &c. Crown 8 vo, cloth boards, 3s. 6d.
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+
+ =The Inward Light.= By AMORY H. BRADFORD, D.D., Author of "The Growth
+    of the Soul," &c. Large crown 8 vo, cloth boards, 3s. 6d. net.
+
+    "A refreshing, stimulating, and enlightening book."--_Aberdeen Free
+    Press._
+
+    "A work of real spiritual and intellectual power."--_Dundee
+    Advertiser._
+
+ =The Story of the English Baptists.= By J. C. CARLILE. Large crown
+    8 vo, 320 pages, 8 Illustrations on art paper, 3s. 6d. net.
+
+    "Possesses a freshness and vivacity not always present in
+    ecclesiastical histories."--_Scotsman._
+
+ =The Courage of the Coward.= By C. F. AKED, D.D., Author of "Changing
+    Creeds and Social Problems." Crown 8 vo, cloth boards, with
+    photogravure portrait, 3s. 6d. net.
+
+    "The sermons are the work of a thoughtful and earnest Nonconformist,
+    whose pointed language and frequent illustrations from general
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+
+ =G. H. R. Garcia. Memoir, Sermons and Addresses.= By Rev. J. G.
+    HENDERSON. Crown 8 vo, cloth boards, with photogravure portrait,
+    3s. 6d. net.
+
+    "We are grateful to Mr. Henderson for having prepared this memorial
+    of so daring and original a ministry."--_Methodist Times._
+
+ =The First Christians; or, Christian Life in New Testament Times.= By
+    ROBERT VEITCH, M.A. Crown 8 vo, cloth boards, gilt top, 3s. 6d. net.
+
+    DR. FAIRBAIRN expresses himself as "charmed" with the author's
+    "knowledge of the world into which Christianity came; and his
+    appreciation of the Christianity that came into the world."
+
+
+                                 3/6
+
+ =*A Gamble with Life.= By SILAS K. HOCKING, Author of "To Pay the
+    Price." Large crown 8 vo, bevelled boards, 3s. 6d.
+
+    One of the best stories written by this popular author.
+
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+    By MRS. C. L. ABBOT, of Berlin. Crown 8 vo, cloth boards, 3s. 6d.
+
+ =Burning Questions.= By WASHINGTON GLADDEN. Fourth Edition. Crown 8 vo,
+    cloth, 3s. 6d.
+
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+    has been our good fortune to enjoy for many a day. The writer is
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+    not always been easy, handling realities so vast, to make the truth,
+    in the condensed expression which must here be given to it, so
+    luminous as could have been wished.' But luminous is precisely the
+    word which describes these admirable essays. They shine with
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+
+ =Changing Creeds and Social Struggles.= By C. F. AKED.
+    Crown 8 vo, cloth, 3s. 6d.
+
+    "A brave book."--_The Liverpool Mercury._
+
+                         _By J. BRIERLEY, B.A._
+
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+    "Problems of Living," &c. Crown 8 vo, cloth boards, 3s. 6d.
+
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+
+ =Problems of Living.= By J. BRIERLEY, B.A. ("J. B."), Author of
+    "Ourselves and the Universe." Crown 8 vo, cloth boards, 3s. 6d.
+
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+
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+    BRIERLEY, B.A. Tenth Thousand. Crown 8 vo, cloth, 3s. 6d.
+
+    "We have not for a long time read a brighter, cheerier, or wiser
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+
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+
+ =Studies of the Soul.= By J. BRIERLEY, B.A. Seventh Edition.
+    Crown 8 vo, cloth, 3s. 6d.
+
+    MRS. HUMPHRY WARD says:--"There is a delicate truth and fragrance, a
+    note of real experience in the essays that make them delightful
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+
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+    have lighted on for a year past."
+
+    "The supreme charm of the book is not the wealth of fine sayings,
+    gathered together from so many sources, ... it is the contribution
+    of 'J. B.' himself, his insight, his humour, his acute criticisms,
+    and, above all, perhaps, his perfectly tolerant and catholic
+    spirit.... A better book for 'the modern man' does not exist."--REV.
+    C. SILVESTER HORNE in _The Examiner_.
+
+    _For other books by J. Brierley see page 4._
+
+ =Gloria Patri; or, Our Talks About the Trinity.= By J. M. WHITON.
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+
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+
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+    Daily Times._
+
+ =The Christ that is To Be: A Latter-Day Romance.= By J. COMPTON
+    RICKETT, M.P. New Edition. Demy 8 vo, cloth, 3s. 6d.
+
+ =His Rustic Wife.= By MRS. HAYCRAFT, Author of "A Lady's Nay," &c.
+    Cloth boards, 3s. 6d.
+
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+
+ =Paxton Hood: Poet and Preacher.= With Photographic Portrait.
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+
+ =Family Prayers for Morning Use, and Prayers for Special Occasions.=
+    Compiled and Edited by J. M. G. Cloth, pott quarto, 3s. 6d.
+
+    "We cordially recommend the volume to all who share our sense of the
+    value of family religion."--_Willesden Presbyterian Monthly._
+
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+    "We Three and Troddles." With nearly 100 Illustrations by T. M. R.
+    WHITWELL. Crown 8 vo, cloth, 3s. 6d.
+
+ =Preaching to the Times.= By CANON HENSLEY HENSON.
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+
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+
+    "Earnest and eloquent discourses."--_The Scotsman._
+
+ =The Dutch in the Medway.= By CHARLES MACFARLANE, Author of "The Camp
+    of Refuge," &c. With a Foreword by S. R. CROCKETT. Crown 8 vo,
+    cloth, 3s. 6d.
+
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+    RICKETT, Author of "Christianity in Common Speech," &c. Large crown
+    8 vo, cloth, 3s. 6d.
+
+ =New Points to Old Texts.= By J. M. WHITON. Crown 8 vo, cloth, 3s. 6d.
+
+    "A volume of sermons to startle sleepy hearers."--_Western Morning
+    News._
+
+ =Nineteen Hundred? A Forecast and a Story.= By MARIANNE FARNINGHAM,
+    Author of "The Clarence Family," &c. Crown 8 vo, cloth boards,
+    3s. 6d.
+
+    "A pleasant and entertaining story and picture of life."--_Methodist
+    Recorder._
+
+                        _EMMA JANE WORBOISE'S NOVELS._
+                Crown 8 vo, uniformly bound in cloth, 3s. 6d. each.
+
+  =Thornycroft Hall.=
+  =St. Beetha's.=
+  =Violet Vaughan.=
+  =Margaret Torrington.=
+  =Singlehurst Manor.=
+  =Overdale.=
+  =Grey and Gold.=
+  =Mr. Montmorency's Money.=
+  =Nobly Born.=
+  =Chrystabel.=
+  =Millicent Kendrick.=
+  =Robert Wreford's Daughter.=
+  =Joan Carisbroke.=
+  =Sissie.=
+  =Esther Wynne.=
+  =His Next of Kin.=
+
+                           _AMELIA E. BARR'S NOVELS._
+                      Crown 8 vo, cloth extra, 3s. 6d. each.
+
+  =The Beads of Tasmar.=
+  =A Sister to Esau.=
+  =She Loved a Sailor.=
+  =The Last of the MacAllisters.=
+  =Woven of Love and Glory.=
+  =Feet of Clay.=
+  =The Household of McNeil.=
+  =A Border Shepherdess.=
+  =Paul and Christina.=
+  =The Squire of Sandal Side.=
+  =The Bow of Orange Ribbon.=
+  =Between Two Loves.=
+  =A Daughter of Fife.=
+             _For other books by this Author see pages 4 and 16._
+
+                           THE MESSAGES OF THE BIBLE.
+
+    Edited by FRANK KNIGHT SANDERS, Ph.D., Woolsey Professor of Biblical
+    Literature in Yale University, and CHARLES FOSTER KENT, Ph.D.,
+    Professor of Biblical Literature and History in Brown University.
+    Super royal 16mo, cloth, red top, 3s. 6d. a vol. (To be completed in
+    12 Volumes.)
+
+        I. THE MESSAGES OF THE EARLIER PROPHETS.
+       II. THE MESSAGES OF THE LATER PROPHETS.
+      III. THE MESSAGES OF ISRAEL'S LAW GIVERS.
+       IV. THE MESSAGES OF THE PROPHETICAL AND PRIESTLY HISTORIANS.
+        V. THE MESSAGES OF THE PSALMISTS.
+    *VIII. THE MESSAGES OF THE APOCALYPTICAL WRITERS.
+       IX. THE MESSAGES OF JESUS ACCORDING TO THE SYNOPTISTS.
+       XI. THE MESSAGES OF PAUL.
+      XII. THE MESSAGES OF THE APOSTLES.
+
+             Volumes 6, 7 and 10 will appear at intervals.
+
+    "A new series which promises to be of the greatest value to ordinary
+    readers of the Bible."--_Primitive Methodist Quarterly._
+
+    "Such a work is of the utmost service to every student of the
+    Scriptures."--_The Dundee Advertiser._
+
+    "The volumes in this series are singularly adapted for use in
+    Bible-classes and for the guidance of intelligent readers of the
+    Scriptures who have not been able to make themselves familiar with
+    modern 'Criticism.'"--_The Examiner._
+
+
+                                 3/- Net.
+
+ =*The Personality of Jesus.= By CHARLES H. BARROWS. Large
+    crown 8 vo, cloth boards, 3s. net.
+
+ =Poems.= By MADAME GUYON. Translated from the French by the late
+    WILLIAM COWPER, with a Prefatory Essay by D. MACFADYEN, M.A.
+    Fcap. 8 vo, handsomely bound in leather, 3s. net.
+
+    The Rev. F. B. MEYER writes: "This singularly beautiful book, with
+    its attractive get-up and its valuable introduction and notes, ought
+    to prove a welcome gift-book, as it is certain to be the companion
+    of many lonely walks and distant Journeys."
+
+ =Quiet Hints to Growing Preachers in My Study.= By CHARLES EDWARD
+    JEFFERSON, Pastor of Broadway Tabernacle Church, New York. Small
+    crown 8 vo, cloth, 3s. net.
+
+    "The work is the outcome of common-sense, thought, and long
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+    to missionary work, whether in the pulpit or outside."--_Bristol
+    Mercury._
+
+ =Episcopacy.= Historically, Doctrinally, and Legally Considered.
+    By J. FRASER. Cloth, crown 8 vo, 3s. net.
+
+
+                                 3/-
+
+ =*The Rosebud Annual for 1907.= The Ideal Book for the Nursery. Four
+    Coloured Plates and one-half of the pages in colour. Coloured paper
+    boards, varnished, 3s.; cloth boards, 4s.
+
+    "An old favourite, and anyone looking through its pages will see at
+    once why it is a favourite. Not a page opens without disclosing
+    pictures. A rich fund of enjoyment for the nursery."--_Aberdeen Free
+    Press._
+
+ =A Method of Prayer.= By MADAME GUYON. A Revised Translation with
+    Notes. Edited by DUGALD MACFADYEN, M.A. Crown 8 vo, cloth
+    boards, 3s.
+
+    "The pages will have a message for all prayerful readers; and as
+    often as they are perused they will yield help to such as apply
+    their hearts to wisdom, and aim at an experimental realisation of
+    the life of God."--_The Christian._
+
+ =School Hymns, for Schools and Missions.= With Music. Compiled by E. H.
+    MAYO GUNN. Harmonies Revised by ELLIOT BUTTON. Large Imp. 16mo, 3s.
+
+ =The School of Life: Life Pictures from the Book of Jonah.= By OTTO
+    FUNCKE. Cloth, 3s.
+
+                    _EMMA JANE WORBOISE'S NOVELS._
+                    Crown 8 vo, cloth extra, 3s. each.
+
+  =Our New House; or, Keeping up Appearances.=
+  =Heartsease in the Family=
+  =Maud Belingbroke=
+  =Helen Bury=
+
+           _For other books by this Author see pages 12 and 16._
+
+
+                                 2/6 Net.
+
+ =*The Challenge, and Other Stories for Boys and Girls.= By Rev. J. G.
+    STEVENSON, Author of "The Christ of the Children." 4to, cloth
+    boards, 240 pp. Eight Illustrations. 2s. 6d. net.
+
+ =*Liberty and Religion.= By P. WHITWELL WILSON, M.P., Author of "Why We
+    Believe," &c. Crown 8 vo, cloth boards, 2s. 6d. net.
+
+ =*Leaves for Quiet Hours.= By GEORGE MATHESON, F.R.S.E., D.D., LL.D.,
+    Author of "Words by the Wayside," &c. New and cheap edition.
+    Handsomely bound in cloth boards, with chaste design in gold, and
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+
+    "This is another of those unique productions for which Dr. Matheson
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+    spiritual insight to the extent of the author of this book."--_Daily
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+
+    "Dr. Matheson is one of the finest writers of the time in the domain
+    of religious meditation."--_Aberdeen Free Press._
+
+ =The Christ of the Children.= A Life of Jesus for Little People.
+    By Rev. J. G. STEVENSON. 4to, cloth boards. Twelve Illustrations.
+    2s. 6d. net.
+
+    The Rev. F. B. MEYER writes: "Mr. Stevenson has a rare gift.
+    Everywhere there is the trace of high culture and deep devotion....
+    The book should have a wide circulation."
+
+    "It is the very loveliest life of Jesus for children ever written by
+    a long way."--Rev. KINGSCOTE GREENLAND in _The Methodist Recorder_.
+
+ =The Pilot.= A Book of Daily Guidance from Master Minds. Contains
+    nearly 2,000 of the choicest extracts systematically arranged for
+    every day of the year. Printed on India paper and handsomely bound
+    in leather, with round corners and gilt edges, 2s. 6d. net.
+
+    "I thank you for the service you have done the public in the issuing
+    of this little book. It is a splendid collection. Nothing could be
+    more admirably adapted to suit the spiritual wants of an age which
+    has little leisure for reflection and much ground for care."--Rev.
+    GEORGE MATHESON, D.D.
+
+    "There is an air of distinction about the quotations which is
+    unusual.... The dainty volume is full of thoughtful
+    counsel."--_Dundee Courier._
+
+   _Her Majesty the Queen has graciously accepted a copy of this book._
+
+ =Why We Believe.= Papers on Religion and Brotherhood. By
+    PHILIP WHITWELL WILSON. Crown 8 vo, cloth boards, 2s. 6d. net.
+
+    CANON SCOTT HOLLAND says, in _The Commonwealth_: "Here is a kindly,
+    shrewd, and winning book. It is impossible not to be friends with a
+    writer who is so confident of your goodwill: and so open, and
+    sympathetic, and confidential, and hopeful. He is frankly intimate:
+    he confides to you his personal secret; he is not the least ashamed
+    of confessing his faith. And he looks to you to do the same by him."
+
+ =My Neighbour and God.= A Reply to Robert Blatchford's "God and My
+    Neighbour." By W. T. LEE. Crown 8 vo, cloth boards, 2s. 6d. net.
+
+    "A more overwhelming exposure of Mr. Blatchford's untrustworthiness
+    as a critic of the Bible it would be difficult to imagine."--_The
+    Wellingborough News._
+
+ =Undertones of the Nineteenth Century.= A Prelude and a Prophecy. A
+    comparison of the Relations between certain Spiritual Movements of
+    the last Century, with Sketches of the lives of some of the Leaders.
+    By Mrs. EDWARD TROTTER. Cloth boards, 2s. 6d. net.
+
+ =A Popular History of the Free Churches.= By C. SILVESTER
+    HORNE, M.A. Cheap Edition. Crown 8 vo, 464 pp. and 8 full-page
+    illustrations on art paper. Cloth boards, 2s. 6d. net.
+
+    "A vigorous and interesting book by an enthusiastic believer in the
+    Puritan spirit and the need of religious equality."--_The Times._
+
+ =The New Testament in Modern Speech.= An idiomatic translation into
+    everyday English from the text of "The Resultant Greek Testament."
+    By the late RICHARD FRANCIS WEYMOUTH, M.A., D.Lit., Fellow of
+    University College, London, and formerly Head Master of Mill Hill
+    School, Editor of "The Resultant Greek Testament." Edited and partly
+    revised by ERNEST HAMPDEN-COOK, M.A., formerly Exhibitioner and
+    Prizeman of St. John's College, Cambridge. Cloth boards, 2s. 6d.
+    net. Leather, 4s. net. Also on Oxford India paper, 3s. 6d. net.
+    Leather, 5s. net.
+
+    "Every intelligent reader of the New Testament should profit by this
+    careful and correct translation. Indeed, none can afford to ignore
+    it unless he is able to read with ease the original Greek. It is
+    probably the best modern translation."--_Examiner._
+
+ =A Young Man's Religion and his Father's Faith.= By N. MCGHEE WATERS.
+    Small crown 8 vo, cloth boards, gilt top, 2s. 6d. net.
+
+    "It is an earnestly religious and well-written work."--_The
+    Scotsman._
+
+ =The Comforts of God.= Lectures on the 14th Chapter of St. John.
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+
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+
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+
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+
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+
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+
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+
+
+                                 2/6
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+
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+
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+    2s. 6d.
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+
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+
+ =A Popular Argument for the Unity of Isaiah.= By JOHN KENNEDY, D.D.
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+
+    "A book that will be eagerly welcomed by thoughtful students of the
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+
+ =The Epistle to the Galatians.= By J. MORGAN GIBBON. The Ancient
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+
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+
+ =The Bible Story: Retold for Young People.= The Old Testament Story,
+    by W. H. BENNETT, M.A. (sometime Fellow of St. John's College,
+    Cambridge), Professor of Hebrew and Old Testament Exegesis at
+    Hackney and New Colleges, London. The New Testament Story, by
+    W. F. ADENEY, M.A., Principal of Lancashire College, Manchester.
+    With Illustrations and 4 Maps. Cloth, 2s. 6d.
+
+    "We have nothing but good to say of a book, which will certainly
+    appeal strongly to the children themselves, and will teach them more
+    truly to appreciate the Bible itself."--_Huddersfield Examiner._
+
+ =The Ordeal of Faith.= By C. SILVESTER HORNE, M.A. Meditations on the
+    Book of Job, designed as a "ministry of consolation to some who are
+    pierced with many sorrows." Fcap. 8 vo, cloth, gilt top, 2s. 6d.
+
+    "We have read many productions on this wonderful Old Testament book,
+    but have met with nothing we would so gladly put into the hands of
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+
+ =The Wife as Lover and Friend.= By GEORGE BAINTON. Fcap.
+    8 vo, cloth, 2s. 6d.
+
+    On the Threshold of the Marriage State; The Sorrow of an Unwise
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+    Affection; The Better Part.
+
+    "One of the most beautiful and at the same time one of the truest
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+
+ =Nonconformist Church Buildings.= By JAMES CUBITT. Cloth
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+
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+
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+
+    A book that every parent should place in the hands of their
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+
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+
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+                                 2/-
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+                    CLARKE'S COPYRIGHT LIBRARY.
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+  =*The Loves of Miss Anne.= By S. R. CROCKETT.
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+  =Flower-o'-the-Corn.= By S. R. CROCKETT.
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+                         _POPULAR EDITION OF
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+  =A Woman's Patience.=
+  =The Grey House at Endlestone.=
+  =The Abbey Mill.=
+  =The Story of Penelope.=
+  =Fortune's Favourite.=
+  =Nobly Born.=
+  =The Heirs of Errington.=
+  =Lady Clarissa.=
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+  =Canonbury Holt.=
+  =Millicent Kendrick.=
+  =Violet Vaughan.=
+  =Joan Carisbroke.=
+  =Sissie.=
+  =His Next of Kin.=
+  =Thornycroft Hall.=
+  =The Fortunes of Cyril Denham.=
+  =Overdale.=
+  =Grey and Gold.=
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+          _For other books by this Author see pages 12 and 13_.
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+  =A Town Romance; or, On London Stones.= By C. C. ANDREWS.
+  =A Daughter of Fife.= By AMELIA E. BARR.
+  =The Pride of the Family.= By ETHEL F. HEDDLE.
+  =Unknown to Herself.= By LAURIE LANSFELDT.
+  =The Squire of Sandal Side.= By AMELIA E. BARR.
+  =The Bow of Orange Ribbon.= By AMELIA E. BARR.
+  =The Scourge of God.= By J. BLOUNDELLE-BURTON.
+  =The New Mrs. Lascelles.= By L. T. MEADE.
+  =Miss Devereux, Spinster.= By AGNES GIBERNE.
+  =Jan Vedder's Wife.= By AMELIA E. BARR.
+
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+    Over 500 Tested Receipts. Crown 8 vo, cloth boards, 2s.
+
+    A book that should be in every household.
+
+ =My Baptism, and What Led to it.= By Rev. JAMES MOUNTAIN.
+    Crown 8 vo, cloth boards, 2s.
+
+ =Adrift on the Black Wild Tide.= A Weird and Strange Experience in
+    Dreamland, and a Nautical Version of "The Pilgrim's Progress." By
+    JAMES J. KANE, G.T. Chaplain U.S. Navy. Cloth gilt, 2s.
+
+    "One of the most remarkable books of the day."--_Western Daily
+    Mercury._
+
+ =Early Pupils of the Spirit, and What of Samuel?= By J. M.
+    WHITON, Ph.D. New Edition, Crown 8 vo, cloth, 2s.
+
+ =The Religion of Jesus.= By J. ALLANSON PICTON, M.A., J.P.
+    Crown 8 vo, 2s.
+
+    "Many of the more thoughtful of religious people will find here the
+    clues which will enable them to understand how to be abreast of the
+    latest science, and yet preserve a sincere piety, a reverent faith
+    in God, and a tender love for Jesus Christ."--_The Inquirer._
+
+
+                                 1/6 Net.
+
+                    _THE "FREEDOM OF FAITH" SERIES._
+
+An entirely New Series of Small Fcap. 8 vo Books, 128 pp., handsomely
+bound in Green Leather, with chaste design in gold. Price =1s. 6d.= net.
+
+  =*The Wideness of God's Mercy.= By F. B. MEYER, B.A.
+  =The Letters of Christ.= By Rev. CHARLES BROWN.
+  =Christ's Pathway to the Cross.= By J. D. JONES, M.A., B.D.
+  =The Crucible of Experience.= By F. A. RUSSELL.
+  =The Passion for Souls.= By J. H. JOWETT, M.A.
+  =The Value of the Apocrypha.= By J. BERNARD SNELL, M.A.
+  =The Economics of Jesus.= By E. GRIFFITH-JONES, B.A.
+  =Inspiration in Common Life.= By W. L. WATKINSON, M.A.
+  =Prayer.= By WILLIAM WATSON, M.A.
+  =A Reasonable View of Life.= By J. M. BLAKE, M.A.
+  =Common-sense Christianity.= By C. SILVESTER HORNE, M.A.
+
+"There are precious things in every volume, and the Series deserves
+success."--_Dundee Advertiser._
+
+ =Who Wrote the Bible?= By WASHINGTON GLADDEN, D.D.
+    Author of "The Growing Revelation," &c. New and cheap Edition, 256
+    pages, cloth boards, 1s. 6d. net.
+
+    "Well named 'A book for the people.' It fulfils its promise; it is
+    simple, untechnical, careful without being erudite. It is a reverent
+    book, too; a man who believes the Bible to be inspired and the Word
+    of God here explains how it has been handled by modern criticism,
+    and with what results. For the intelligent reader interested in
+    these questions, and wanting a survey of the whole field, it would
+    be hard to find a more suitable book."--_The Speaker._
+
+ =Reasons Why for Congregationalists.= By Rev. J. D. JONES,
+    M.A., B.D. Crown 8 vo, cloth boards, 1s. 6d. net.
+
+ =*Women and their Work.= By MARIANNE FARNINGHAM, Author of "Harvest
+    Gleanings," "Women and their Saviour." Crown 8 vo, cloth boards,
+    1s. 6d. net.
+
+ =Sunny Memories of Australasia.= By Rev. W. CUFF. Crown 8 vo, cloth
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+
+ =Christian Baptism: Its Significance and its Subjects.= By J. E.
+    ROBERTS, M.A., B.D. Crown 8 vo, cloth boards, 1s. 6d. net.
+
+ =William Jeffery, the Puritan Apostle of Kent.= A Message and an Appeal
+    to Young Nonconformists. By CHAS. RUDGE, with an Introduction by
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+
+ =Reform in Sunday School Teaching.= By Professor A. S. PEAKE.
+    Crown 8 vo, cloth boards, 1s. 6d. net.
+
+    "The volume is the best and ablest on the subject, and the Professor
+    writes as one who knows.... The book is timely and of utmost
+    importance."--_Sunday School Times._
+
+    "Should be studied by all who have any connection, official or
+    otherwise, with Sunday-schools."--_The Sheffield Independent._
+
+ =The Forgotten Sheaf.= A Series of Addresses to Children. By
+    Rev. D. J. LLEWELLYN. Crown 8 vo, cloth boards, 1s. 6d. net.
+
+ =Seven Puzzling Bible Books.= By WASHINGTON GLADDEN, D.D.
+    Cheap Edition. Cloth boards, 1s. 6d. net.
+
+
+                                 1/6
+
+                     SMALL BOOKS ON GREAT SUBJECTS.
+
+            Pott 8 vo, bound in buckram cloth, 1s. 6d. each.
+
+ =The Christ Within.= By Rev. T. RHONDDA WILLIAMS.
+
+    "Thoughtful and well written, and can be read with interest and
+    profit."--_Glasgow Herald._
+
+ =Old Pictures in Modern Frames.= By J. G. GREENHOUGH, M.A.
+
+    "Bright and unconventional."--_Glasgow Herald._
+
+ =The Taste of Death and the Life of Grace.= By P. T. FORSYTH,
+    M.A., D.D.
+
+    "The value of this little book is out of all proportion to its size.
+    It is a bit of modern religious thinking with a quality entirely its
+    own. The writer is not an echo, but a voice."--_The Christian
+    World._
+
+ =Types of Christian Life.= By E. GRIFFITH-JONES, B.A.
+
+    "A thoughtful little book."--_The Guardian._
+
+ =Faith the Beginning, Self-Surrender the Fulfilment, of the Spiritual
+    Life.= By JAMES MARTINEAU, D.D., D.C.L. Second Edition. Sixth
+    Thousand.
+
+    "Full of lovely and exalted ethical teaching."--_The Methodist
+    Times._
+
+ =Words by the Wayside.= By GEORGE MATHESON, D.D. Third Edition. Fifth
+    Thousand.
+
+    "One of the best gifts of recent literature."--_The Speaker._
+
+ =How to Become Like Christ.= By MARCUS DODS, D.D. Second
+    Edition.
+
+    "Characteristic of the author and worthy of his reputation."--_The
+    North British Daily Mail._
+
+ =The Kingdom of the Lord Jesus.= By ALEXANDER MACKENNAL, D.D.
+
+    "Marked by spiritual insight, intellectual force, and literary
+    feeling."--_The Examiner._
+
+ =The Way of Life.= By H. ARNOLD THOMAS, M.A.
+
+    "Puts with sweet reasonableness the case for undivided allegiance to
+    lofty ideals."--_The Speaker._
+
+ =The Ship of the Soul.= By STOPFORD A. BROOKE, M.A.
+
+    "A tract for the times. In clear, nervous English Mr. Brooke says
+    many things which need saying."--_The Star._
+
+ =The Christian Life.= By W. M. SINCLAIR, D.D., Archdeacon of
+    London.
+
+    "Marked by Dr. Sinclair's characteristic simplicity, earnestness and
+    force."--_The Scotsman._
+
+ =Character Through Inspiration.= By T. T. MUNGER, D.D.
+
+    "Admirable for a quiet Sunday at home."--_Newcastle Daily Leader._
+
+ =Infoldings and Unfoldings of the Divine Genius, in Nature and Man.= By
+    JOHN PULSFORD, D.D. New Edition.
+
+    "The book will help to give the reader many suggestive ideas of the
+    relationship between God and man."--_East Anglian Daily Times._
+
+ =The Jealousy of God.= By JOHN PULSFORD, D.D.
+
+    "Worth its weight in gold."--_The Sunday School Chronicle._
+
+ =Martineau's Study of Religion.= By RICHARD A. ARMSTRONG.
+
+    "An analysis and appreciation of Dr. James Martineau's great book.
+    It is excellently well done, clear and intelligible."--_The
+    Spectator._
+
+ =The Art of Living Alone.= By AMORY H. BRADFORD.
+
+    "Very attractive, ... full of sweet wisdom--allusive, stimulating,
+    encouraging."--_The Dundee Advertiser._
+
+ =The Supreme Argument for Christianity.= By W. GARRETT HORDER.
+
+    "Very readable and suggestive."--_The Glasgow Herald._
+
+ =Reconsiderations and Reinforcements.= By J. M. WHITOP.
+    Ph.D., Author of "Beyond the Shadow," &c.
+
+    "A book of much beauty and force."--_The Bradford Observer._
+
+ =The Conquered World.= By R. F. HORTON, M.A., D.D.
+
+    "Has all Dr. Horton's charm of manner, his unexpectedness, and his
+    glorious optimism."--_The Methodist Times._
+
+ =The Making of an Apostle.= By R. J. CAMPBELL, M.A.
+
+    "Profitable and instructive reading, not only to our ordained
+    ministers, but to our lay preachers and others as well."--_Christian
+    Life._
+
+ =The Angels of God.= By JOHN HUNTER, D.D.
+
+    "Many charming volumes in the series.... None better than these
+    papers by Dr. Hunter."--_The Liverpool Mercury._
+
+ =Social Worship an Everlasting Necessity.= By JOHN CLIFFORD,
+    D.D.
+
+    "Most cheerful, inspiring, and illuminative."--_The Church Times._
+
+ =Ancient Musical Instruments.= A popular Account of their Development,
+    as illustrated by Typical Examples in the Galpin Collection at
+    Hatfield, Broad Oak, Essex. By WILLIAM LYND. Linen cover, 1s, 6d.;
+    cloth, 2s.
+
+    "The book is unique, and lovers of orchestral music cannot fail to
+    be profited and interested by the material offered for
+    study."--_Ardrossan Herald._
+
+ =The Church and the Kingdom.= By WASHINGTON GLADDEN. Crown 8 vo, cloth,
+    1s. 6d.
+
+ =Let us Pray.= A Handbook of Selected Collects and forms of Prayer for
+    the Use of the Free Churches. By C. SILVESTER HORNE and F. HERBERT
+    DARLOW, M.A. Crown 8 vo, cloth, 1s. 6d. net.
+
+ =Race and Religion.= Hellenistic Theology, its Place in Christian
+    Thought. By THOMAS ALLIN, D.D. Fcap. 8 vo, 1s. 6d.
+
+    "The book is crammed with facts and ideas. It would be difficult to
+    find anywhere in the same compass a richer collection of living and
+    suggestive thought."--"J. B.," in _The Christian World_.
+
+ =Short Devotional Services.= By GEORGE AITCHISON. Limp
+    cloth, 1s. 6d.
+
+    Thirteen services, compiled chiefly from the Bible and the Book of
+    Common Prayer. Intended not to supersede but to supplement the usual
+    extempore prayer.
+
+    =The Children's Pace; and Other Addresses to Children.= By Rev. J.
+    S. MAVER, M.A., of Paisley. Fcap. 8 vo, cloth, 1s. 6d.
+
+    "Mr. Maver has produced one of the best books of the kind published
+    for some time."--_Banffshire Journal._
+
+
+                                 1/- Net.
+
+ =Women and their Saviour.= Thoughts of a Minute for a Month. By
+    MARIANNE FARNINGHAM, Author of "Harvest Gleanings," &c. Cloth,
+    1s. net.
+
+    "These 'thoughts of a minute for a month of mornings' are the
+    out-pourings of an entirely unaffected piety."--_Glasgow Herald._
+
+    "A very touching little book of devotional reflections."--_Christian
+    Life._
+
+ =Reasons Why for Free Churchmen.= By Rev. J. D. JONES, M.A., B.D. Small
+    8 vo, cloth boards, 1s. net.
+
+ =The Price of Priestcraft.= By HOWARD EVANS. Crown 8 vo, paper covers,
+    1s. net; cloth, 1s. 6d. net.
+
+    "We wish for it a very large circulation. No one has served the
+    cause of religious freedom better than Mr. Howard Evans by his
+    labours in the press and elsewhere."--_British Weekly._
+
+ =Gain or Loss?= An Appreciation of the Results of Recent Biblical
+    Criticism. Five Lectures delivered at Brixton Independent Church,
+    London. By BERNARD J. SNELL, M.A., B.Sc. Cheap Edition. Fcap. 8 vo,
+    cloth, 1s. net.
+
+    "Many students who are unable to follow all the lines and results of
+    Biblical criticism have desired precisely such a book.... The
+    treatment of the whole subject is most satisfactory, and appeals
+    throughout both to reason and religious sentiment."--_Dundee
+    Advertiser._
+
+
+                                 1/-
+
+ =*Animal Fun.= Humorous Pictures of Animals drawn by LOUIS WAIN, HARRY
+    B. NEILSON, J. A. SHEPHERD, and others. 4to, Coloured Paper Boards,
+    varnished, 1s.
+
+    A delightful book for the young.
+
+ =Louis Wain's Animal Show.= Full of Pictures specially drawn for the
+    book, with Stories in Prose and Verse. Coloured paper boards,
+    varnished, 1s.
+
+    "'Louis Wain's Animal Show' will cause endless amusement in the
+    nursery, and the difficulty will be to get the fortunate little ones
+    who receive the volume to put it down. There will be tears to get
+    it, and tears of happiness when it is obtained. The contents, like
+    the matter and illustrations, will fascinate all children, and they
+    blend the humorous and the instructive with undoubted
+    success."--_Sunday School Chronicle._
+
+    "Will keep the youngsters in merry mood for hours."--_Lloyd's Weekly
+    News._
+
+ =Funny Animals and Stories About Them.= Comical Pictures of Animals,
+    drawn by LOUIS WAIN, J. A. SHEPHERD, and other Artists. 4to,
+    coloured paper boards, varnished, 1s.
+
+    A book that will be eagerly welcomed by children of all ages.
+
+ =Louis Wain's Baby's Picture Book.= Coloured paper boards, varnished,
+    1s.
+
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+    recommendation; for nobody else can sketch animals, birds, fishes,
+    and young folks as he can. He is a grand shilling's-worth for the
+    nursery."--_The Methodist Times._
+
+ =Outline Text Lessons for Junior Classes.= By GLADYS DAVIDSON, Author
+    of "Kindergarten Bible Stories," &c. Fcap. 8 vo, cloth boards, 1s.
+
+    "The book is simple and practical, and will be found suggestive and
+    helpful by teachers."--_Sunday School Chronicle._
+
+
+ =Golden Truths for Young Folk.= By J. ELLIS, Author of "The Seed
+    Basket," "Tool Basket," "By Way of Illustration," &c. Crown 8 vo,
+    cloth boards, 1s.
+
+    "Useful, direct and easily understood set of talks to
+    children."--_British Weekly._
+
+    "Mr. Ellis, who has already given many workers his help, continues
+    his assistance, and is fresh and suggestive as ever."--_The
+    Yorkshire Daily Observer._
+
+    "Talks and chats with young folk. They are to the point. Calculated
+    to win the attention."--_Sheffield Independent._
+
+ =How to Read the Bible.= Hints for Sunday-school Teachers and Other
+    Bible Students. By W. F. ADENEY, M.A., Principal of Lancashire
+    College, Manchester, Author of "The Bible Story Retold," &c. New
+    and Revised Edition. Nineteenth Thousand. Cloth boards, 1s.
+
+    "A most admirable little work. We know of no book which deals with
+    this subject so dearly and adequately within so small a compass. It
+    speaks of itself modestly as 'Hints for Sunday-School Teachers and
+    other Bible Students,' but it is one of the very few manuals which
+    are well worth the study of the clergy."--_The Guardian._
+
+ =A Manual for Free Church Ministers.= Cloth, 1s. net; leather, 2s. 6d.
+
+ =Health and Home Nursing.= By Mrs. LESSELS MATHER, Health Lecturer to
+    the Northumberland County Council. Fcap. 8 vo, cloth, 1s.
+
+    A book that should be in every household. Contains chapters on The
+    Care of the Invalid, Homely Local Applications, Feeding the Invalid,
+    Infection and Disinfection, Care of the Teeth, The Value of Foods,
+    Influenza, its Causes and Prevention, Consumption, its Causes and
+    Prevention, Digestion and Indigestion, Headaches, Home Nursing of
+    Sick Children, What to do till the Doctor Comes, Habits in Relation
+    to Health, The Health of the Town Dweller.
+
+ =Helps To Health And Beauty.= Two Hundred Practical Prescriptions
+    by a Pharmaceutical Chemist.
+
+    "This little book contains two hundred practical prescriptions or
+    formul� for preparations for the hair, hands, nails, feet, skin,
+    teeth, and bath, in addition to perfumes, insecticides, and
+    medicaments for various ailments. As far as possible technical
+    language is avoided, and the directions are clear and
+    concise."--_Pharmaceutical Journal._
+
+ =Morning, Noon and Night.= By R. F. HORTON, M.A., D.D. Fcap. 8 vo,
+    parchment cover with gold lettering, 1s.
+
+    "Deeply suggestive, and as earnest as its fancies are pleasing and
+    quaint."--_Dundee Advertiser._
+
+    "A very charming companionship. Many who read 'Morning, Noon, and
+    Night' once will want to take it up again and again."--_Sussex Daily
+    News._
+
+ =Wayside Angels, and Other Sermons.= By W. K. BURFORD, Minister of the
+    Wicker Congregational Church, Sheffield. Pott 8 vo, cloth, 1s.
+
+ =Tasty Dishes.= A Choice Selection of Tested Recipes, showing what we
+    can have for Breakfast, Dinner, Tea and Supper. It is designed for
+    people of moderate means who desire to have pleasant and varied
+    entertainment for themselves and their friends. It is a book of
+    genuine and tested information. New Edition. Thoroughly revised and
+    brought up to date. 130th Thousand. Crown 8 vo, 1s.
+
+    "No home ought to be without this timely, useful, and practical
+    family friend."--_Brighton Gazette._
+
+ =More Tasty Dishes.= A Book of Tasty, Economical, and Tested Recipes.
+    Including a Section on Invalid Cookery. A Supplement to "Tasty
+    Dishes." New Edition. Price 1s.
+
+    "Every recipe is so clearly stated that the most inexperienced cook
+    could follow them and make dainty dishes at a small
+    cost."--_Pearson's Weekly._
+
+    "The recipes given have been carefully tried and not been found
+    wanting."--_The Star._
+
+ =Talks to Little Folks.= A Series of Short Addresses. By Rev. J. C.
+    CARLILE. Crown 8 vo, art vellum, 1s.
+
+    "No one who reads this book can reasonably doubt that Mr. Carlile is
+    master of the difficult art of catching and sustaining the interest
+    of young people. He is wise enough to dispense with the preacher's
+    framework, texts, introductions, &c., and at once he arrests
+    attention by a direct question or a brief story."--_Literary World._
+
+ =Oliver Cromwell.= By R. F. HORTON, D.D., Author of "John Howe," "The
+    Teaching of Jesus," &c., &c. Sixth Edition. Nineteenth Thousand. 1s.
+
+    "Worthy a place in the library of every Christian
+    student."--_Methodist Recorder._
+
+    "It is an able and scholarly and thoughtful book."--_Bradford
+    Observer._
+
+ =Rome from the Inside; or, The Priests' Revolt.= Translated and
+    Compiled by "J. B." of _The Christian World_. Third Thousand.
+    Fcap. 8 vo, price 1s.
+
+    This pamphlet may be described in brief as a record of the new
+    revolt in the French priesthood. Its contents are chiefly letters
+    and addresses from priests and ex-priests. These, it will be
+    recognised at once, are a testimony of the very first order as to
+    what modern Rome really stands for in relation to spiritual life,
+    to morality, and to intellectual progress.
+
+ =The Bible Definition of Religion.= By GEORGE MATHESON, M.A., D.D.
+    Printed on deckle-edged paper, with red border lines and decorated
+    wrapper, in envelope. Price 1s.
+
+    "Each of Dr. Matheson's chapters is a prose-poem, a sonata. This is
+    a book to be read and re-read. It is in every sense 'a thing of
+    beauty'; it is a veritable 'necklace of pearls.'"--C. SILVESTER
+    HORNE.
+
+ =The Awe of the New Century.= By R. F. HORTON, M.A., D.D. Fcap. 8 vo,
+    1s. Decorated parchment cover and decorated margins to each page
+    printed in colours. Gilt top. Each copy in envelope. Second Edition.
+
+    "A most impressive and delightful little book, displaying all the
+    best qualities of the popular pastor of Hampstead."--_The Western
+    Mercury._
+
+ =The Sceptre Without a Sword.= By Dr. GEORGE MATHESON.
+    In envelope. Pott 8 vo, 1s.
+
+    "'The Sceptre Without a Sword,' by Dr. George Matheson, is worth
+    reading, and that is more than one can say for the vast majority of
+    booklets now turned out to order. The subject is more important than
+    ever to-day when it is the fashion to ignore the root principles of
+    Christianity."--_The Echo._
+
+    "This is a very charming little book--both externally and
+    internally."--_Ardrossan and Saltcoats Herald._
+
+ =Our Girls' Cookery.= By the Author of "Tasty Dishes." Crown 8 vo,
+    linen, 1s.
+
+    "A most artistic-looking little volume, filled with excellent
+    recipes, that are given so clearly and sensibly that the veriest
+    tyro in the culinary art will be able to follow them as easily as
+    possible."--_The Lady._
+
+    "The contents are varied and comprehensive.... The directions given
+    are clear and reliable, each recipe having been specially
+    tested."--_Dundee Advertiser._
+
+ =The Divine Satisfaction.= A Review of what should and what should not
+    be thought about the Atonement. By J. M. WHITON. Crown 8 vo, paper,
+    1s.
+
+                        By MARY E. MANNERS.
+                Crown 8 vo, Linen Covers, 1s. each.
+
+ =A Tale of a Telephone, and Other Pieces.=
+
+    "Narrative pieces, suitable for recitation."--_Outlook._
+
+    "Facile and effective pieces in verse of the sort that tells well on
+    the recitation platform. They have a pleasant light humour and a
+    lilt often like that of the Ingoldsby Legends, and should not fail
+    to entertain any reader in a jocular mood."--_Scotsman._
+
+ =The Bishop and the Caterpillar= (as recited by the late Mr. Brandram),
+    and Other Pieces. Dedicated by permission to Lewis Carroll. Fourth
+    Edition.
+
+    "The first two pieces are quite worthy of Ingoldsby, and that
+    reverend gentleman would not have been ashamed to own them. The
+    pieces are admirably suited for recitation."--_Dramatic Review._
+
+ =Aunt Agatha Ann=; and Other Ballads. Illustrations by ERNOLD A. MASON
+    and LOUIS WAIN.
+
+    "Excellent pieces for recitation from a popular pen."--_Lady's
+    Pictorial._
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+ =Sunday Afternoon Song Book, with Tunes.= Compiled by H. A. KENNEDY and
+    R. D. METCALFE. 1s. net. Words only, 12s. 6d. per hundred net.
+
+    "The airs have been selected and arranged under the editorship of
+    Mr. R. D. Metcalfe, and add so much to the value of the collection
+    that this edition will easily supersede all others and give the work
+    a new popularity with choral societies and others interested in
+    Church music."--_The Scotsman._
+
+ =Christianity in Common Speech=: Suggestions for an Everyday Belief.
+    By J. COMPTON RICKETT. Demy 8 vo, 1s.
+
+                       SMALL BOOKS ON GREAT SUBJECTS.
+                              (CHEAP EDITION.)
+                        Bound in red cloth, 1s. each.
+
+  =*Social Worship an Everlasting Necessity.= By JOHN CLIFFORD, D.D.
+  =*The Taste of Death and the Life of Grace.= By P. T. FORSYTH, M.A.,
+        D.D.
+  =The Conquered World.= By R. F. HORTON, M.A., D.D.
+  =The Christian Life=. By Archdeacon SINCLAIR.
+  =The Ship of the Soul.= By STOPFORD A. BROOKE, M.A.
+  =Faith and Self-Surrender.= By JAMES MARTINEAU, D.D., D.C.L.
+  =Martineau's Study of Religion.= By RICHARD A. ARMSTRONG.
+  =The Kingdom of the Lord Jesus.= By ALEXANDER A. MACKENNAL, D.D.
+
+
+                                 6d.
+
+ =*Thornycroft Hall.= By EMMA JANE WORBOISE. Demy 8 vo, paper covers,
+    6d.
+
+ =A Helping Hand to Mothers.= By MINNIE ELLIGOTT, Fcap.
+    8 vo, paper, 6d.
+
+    "A sensibly-written and practical little treatise on the upbringing
+    of children."--_Newcastle Daily Leader._
+
+ =Max Hereford's Dream.= By EDNA LYALL, Author of "Donovan," "We Two,"
+    "Doreen," &c. New Edition. Price 6d.
+
+    "The 'Dream' is intended to illustrate the efficacy of prayer to
+    those in suffering, and Max Hereford, an orator and philanthropist,
+    is on a bed of sickness at the time."--_Nottingham Daily Guardian._
+
+ =England's Danger.= By R. F. HORTON, M.A., D.D. Price 6d. Contents:
+    ROMANISM AND NATIONAL DECAY; ST. PETER AND THE ROCK; TRUTH;
+    PROTESTANTISM; HOLY SCRIPTURE; PURGATORY.
+
+    "Good fighting discourses. They contend that Roman Catholicism has
+    ruined every country in which it prevails, and controvert the
+    leading positions taken by Roman theologians."--_Scotsman._
+
+
+                                 4d. Net.
+
+ =Holy Christian Empire.= By Rev. PRINCIPAL FORSYTH, M.A., D.D., of
+    Hackney College, Hampstead. Crown 8 vo, paper cover, 4d. net.
+
+    "Rich in noble thought, in high purpose, in faith and in courage.
+    Every sentence tells, and the whole argument moves onward to its
+    great conclusion. Dr. Forsyth has put the argument for missions in a
+    way that will nerve and inspire the Church's workers at home and
+    abroad for fresh sacrifice."--_London Quarterly Review._
+
+ =The Unique Class Chart and Register.= By Rev. J. H. RIDETTE. Specially
+    arranged and absolutely indispensable for keeping a complete record
+    of the scholars according to the requirements of the Meggitt Scheme
+    of Sunday-school Reform. Linen cover, 4d. net.
+
+
+                                 3d. Net.
+
+ =School Hymns, for Schools and Missions.= Words only. Compiled by E. H.
+    MAYO GUNN. Cloth limp, 3d.; cloth boards, 6d.; music, 3s.
+
+
+                                 2d. Net.
+
+ =The Sunday Afternoon Song Book.= Containing 137 Hymns. For use at
+    "Pleasant Sunday Afternoons," and Other Gatherings. Compiled by H.
+    A. KENNEDY, of the Men's Sunday Union, Stepney Meeting House.
+    Twentieth Thousand. 2d.; music, 1s.
+
+    "Contains 137 hymns, the catholic character of which, in the best
+    sense of the term, may be gathered from the names of the authors,
+    which include Tennyson, Ebenezer Elliott, Whittier, G. Herbert, C.
+    Wesley, Thomas Hughes, J. H. Newman, Longfellow, Bonar, and others.
+    While the purely dogmatic element is largely absent, the Christian
+    life, in its forms of aspiration, struggle against sin, and love for
+    the true and the good, is well illustrated."--_Literary World._
+
+
+
+
+Index of Titles.
+
+
+  Abbey Mill, The, 16
+  Adrift on the Black Wild Tide, 17
+  America in the East, 5
+  Ancient Musical Instruments, 20
+  Angels of God, The, 19
+  Animal Fun, 21
+  Apocalyptical Writers, The Messages of the, 11
+  Apostles, The Messages of the, 11
+  Art of Living Alone, The, 19
+  Atonement in Modern Thought, The, 4
+  Aunt Agatha Ann, 24
+  Awe of the New Century, The, 23
+
+  Backward Glance, A, 5
+  Baptist Handbook, The, 14
+  Barbone Parliament, The, 5
+  Barrow, Henry, Separatist, 2
+  Beads of Tasmar, The, 10
+  Between Two Loves, 10
+  Bible Definition of Religion, The, 23
+  Bible Story, The: Retold for Young People, 15
+  Bishop and the Caterpillar, The, 24
+  Black Familiars, The, 4, 16
+  Border Shepherdess, A, 10
+  Bow of Orange Ribbon, The, 10, 16
+  Brudenells of Brude, The, 16
+  Burning Questions, 8
+
+  Canonbury Holt, 16
+  Cartoons of St. Mark, 6
+  Challenge, The, 12
+  Changing Creeds and Social Struggles, 8
+  Character through Inspiration, 19
+  Children's Pace, The, 20
+  Christ of the Children, The, 12
+  Christ of the Heart, The, 6
+  Christ that is To Be, The, 9
+  Christ Within, The, 18
+  Christ's Pathway to the Cross, 17
+  Christian Baptism, 18
+  Christian Life, The, 19, 24
+  Christian World Pulpit, The, 6
+  Christianity and Social Problems, 6
+  Christianity in Common Speech, 24
+  Chrystabel, 10, 16
+  Church and the Kingdom, The, 20
+  Church, Ministry and Sacraments in the New Testament, 5
+  Cinderella, 3, 16
+  Comforts of God, The, 14
+  Common Life, The, 9
+  Common-sense Christianity, 17
+  Conquered World, The, 19, 24
+  Courage of the Coward, The, 8
+  Crucible of Experience, The, 17
+
+  Daughter of Fife, A, 10, 16
+  Debt of the Damerals, The, 16
+  Divine Satisfaction, The, 23
+  Dutch in the Medway, The, 10
+
+  Early Pupils of the Spirit, and What of Samuel, 17
+  Earlier Prophets, The Messages of the, 11
+  Earliest Christian Hymn, The, 15
+  Economies of Jesus, The, 17
+  Emilia's Inheritance, 16
+  England's Danger, 25
+  Episcopacy, 11
+  Epistle to the Galatians, The, 15
+  Esther Wynne, 10
+  Eternal Religion, The, 4
+  Ezekiel, The Book of, 2
+
+  Faith the Beginning, Self-Surrender the Fulfilment, of the Spiritual
+        Life, 18, 24
+  Family Prayers for Morning Use, 9
+  Father Fabian, 16
+  Feet of Clay, 10
+  First Christians, The, 8
+  Flower-o'-the-Corn, 3, 16
+  Forgotten Sheaf, The, 18
+  Fortune's Favourite, 16
+  Fortunes of Cyril Denham, The, 16
+  Friars Lantern, 8
+  Friend Olivia, 4
+  Funny Animals and Stories about Them, 21
+
+  Gain or Loss?, 20
+  Gamble with Life, A, 8
+  Garcia, G. H. R., 8
+  Gloria Patri: Talks about the Trinity, 9
+  Glorious Company of the Apostles, The, 15
+  God's Greater Britain, 9
+  Golden Truths for Young Folk, 21
+  Grey and Gold, 10, 16
+  Grey House at Endlestone, 16
+  Growing Revelation, The, 6
+
+  Haromi: A New Zealand Story, 4
+  Harvest Gleanings, 14
+  Health and Home Nursing, 22
+  Heartsease in the Family, 12
+  Heirs of Errington, The, 16
+  Helen Bury, 12
+  Helping Hand to Mothers, 25
+  Helps to Health and Beauty, 22
+  Higher on the Hill, 7
+  His Next of Kin, 10, 16
+  His Rustic Wife, 9
+  History of the United States, A, 2
+  Holy Christian Empire, 25
+  Household of MacNeil, The, 10
+  House of Bondage, The, 16
+  How Much is Left of the Old Doctrines, 7
+  How to Become Like Christ, 18
+  How to Read the Bible, 21
+  Husbands and Wives, 16
+
+  Ideals for Girls, 15
+  Incarnation of the Lord, The, 6
+  Industrial Explorings in and around London, 10
+  Infoldings and Unfoldings of the Divine Genius in Nature and Man, 12
+  Inspiration in Common Life, 17
+  Inward Light, The, 8
+  Israel's Law Givers, The Messages of, 11
+
+  Jan Vedder's Wife, 16
+  Jealousy of God, The, 19
+  Jesus according to the Synoptists, The Messages of, 11
+  Joan Carisbroke, 10, 16
+  Job and His Comforters, 14
+  Joshua, The Book of, 3
+  Judges, The Book of, 3
+
+  Kid McGhie, 3
+  Kingdom of the Lord Jesus, The, 19, 24
+  Kit Kennedy: Country Boy, 3, 16
+
+  Lady Clarissa, 16
+  Last of the MacAllisters, The, 10
+  Later Prophets, The Messages of the, 11
+  Leaves for Quiet Hours, 12
+  Letters of Christ, The, 17
+  Let us Pray, 20
+  Liberty and Religion, 12
+  Life and Letters of Alexander Mackennal, The, 6
+  Louis Wain's Animal Show, 21
+  Louis Wain's Baby's Picture Book, 21
+  Loves of Miss Anne, The, 3, 16
+  Lynch, Rev. T. T.: A Memoir, 5
+
+  Making of an Apostle, The, 19
+  Manual for Free Church Ministers, A, 21
+  Margaret Torrington, 10
+  Martineau's Study of Religion, 19, 24
+  Maud Bolingbroke, 12
+  Max Hereford's Dream, 25
+  Messages of the Bible, The, 11
+  Method of Prayer, A, 12
+  Millicent Kendrick, 10, 16
+  Miss Devereux, Spinster, 16
+  Model Prayer, The, 15
+  More Tasty Dishes, 22
+  Morning and Evening Cries, 14
+  Morning Mist, A, 16
+  Morning, Noon, and Night, 22
+  Mornington Lecture, The, 5
+  Mr. Montmorency's Money, 10, 16
+  My Baptism, 17
+  My Neighbour and God, 13
+
+  New Mrs. Lascelles, The, 16
+  New Points to Old Texts, 10
+  New Testament in Modern Speech, The, 13
+  Nineteen Hundred?, 10
+  Nobly Born, 10, 16
+  Nonconformist Church Buildings, 15
+
+  Old Pictures in Modern Frames, 18
+  Oliver Cromwell, 23
+  Oliver Westwood, 16
+  Ordeal of Faith, The, 15
+  Our Girls' Cookery, 23
+  Our New House, 12
+  Ourselves and the Universe, 9
+  Outline Text Lessons for Junior Classes, 21
+  Overdale, 10, 16
+
+  Passion for Souls, The, 17
+  Paul and Christina, 10
+  Paul, The Messages of, 11
+  Paxton Hood: Poet and Preacher, 19
+  Personality of Jesus, The, 11
+  Pilot, The, 13
+  Poems. By Mme. Guyon, 11
+  Polychrome Bible, The, 2, 3
+  Popular Argument for the Unity of Isaiah, A, 14
+  Popular History of the Free Churches, A, 4, 13
+  Practical Points in Popular Proverbs, 14
+  Prayer, 17
+  Preaching to the Times, 10
+  Price of Priestcraft, The, 20
+  Pride of the Family, The, 16
+  Principles and Practices of the Baptists, 14
+  Problems of Living, 9
+  Prophetical and Priestly Historians, The Messages of, 11
+  Psalmists, The Messages of the, 11
+
+  Quickening of Caliban, The, 10
+  Quiet Hints to Growing Preachers, 11
+
+  Race and Religion, 20
+  Reasonable View of Life, A, 17
+  Reasons Why for Congregationalists, 17
+  Reasons Why for Free Churchmen, 20
+  Reconsiderations and Reinforcements, 19
+  Reform in Sunday School Teaching, 18
+  Religion and Experience, 4
+  Religion of Jesus, The, 17
+  Religion that will Wear, A, 14
+  Rights of Man, The, 5
+  Rise of Philip Barrett, The, 4
+  Robert Wreford's Daughter, 10
+  Rogers, J. Guinness, 2
+  Rome from the Inside, 23
+  Rosebud Annual, The, 7, 12
+  Rose of a Hundred Leaves, A, 4
+  Ruling Ideas of the Present Age, 7
+
+  School Hymns, 12, 25
+  School of Life, The, 12
+  Sceptre Without a Sword, The, 23
+  Scourge of God, The, 16
+  Seven Puzzling Bible Books, 6, 18
+  Ship of the Soul, The, 19, 24
+  She Loved a Sailor, 10
+  Short Devotional Services, 20
+  Simple Cookery, 17
+  Singlehurst Manor, 10
+  Sissie, 10, 16
+  Sister to Esau, A, 10, 16
+  Small Books on Great Subjects, 18, 19
+  Social Salvation, 7
+  Social Worship an Everlasting Necessity, 19, 24
+  Spirit Christlike, The, 14
+  Squire of Sandal Side, The, 10, 16
+  St. Beetha's, 10, 16
+  Story of the English Baptists, The, 3
+  Story of Penelope, The, 16
+  Studies of the Soul, 9
+  Sunday Afternoon Song Book, 24, 25
+  Sunday Morning Talks with Boys and Girls, 14
+  Sunny Memories of Australasia, 18
+  Supreme Argument for Christianity, The, 19
+
+  Tale of a Telephone, A, 24
+  Talks to Little Folks, 22
+  Taste of Death and the Life of Grace, The, 18, 24
+  Tasty Dishes, 22
+  Ten Commandments, The, 14
+  Theology and Truth, 5
+  Theology of an Evolutionist, The, 6
+  Theophilus Trinal, Memorials of, 5
+  Thornycroft Hall, 10, 16, 25
+  Through Science to Faith, 4
+  Tommy, and Other Poems, 22
+  Tools and the Man, 7
+  Town Romance, A; or, On London Stones, 16
+  Trial and Triumph, 14
+  Types of Christian Life, 18
+
+  Undertones of the Nineteenth Century, 13
+  Unique Class Chart and Register, 25
+  Unknown to Herself, 16
+
+  Value of the Apocrypha, The, 17
+  Violet Vaughan, 10, 16
+
+  Wanderer, The, 8
+  Warleigh's Trust, 16
+  Way of Life, The, 19
+  Wayside Angels, 22
+  What Shall this Child Be?, 14
+  Where does the Sky Begin?, 7
+  Who Wrote the Bible?, 17
+  Why We Believe, 13
+  Wideness of God's Mercy, The, 17
+  Wife as Lover and Friend, The, 15
+  William Jeffrey, 13
+  Witnesses of the Light, 7
+  Woman's Patience, A, 16
+  Women and their Saviour, 20
+  Women and their Work, 18
+  Words by the Wayside, 18
+  Woven of Love and Glory, 10
+
+  Young Man's Religion, A, 13
+
+
+
+
+Index of Authors.
+
+
+  Abbot, C. L., 8
+  Abbott, Lyman, 5, 6
+  Adeney, W. F., 21
+  Aitchison, George, 20
+  Aked, C. F., 8
+  Andom, R., 10
+  Andrews, C. C., 16
+  Armstrong, Richard A., 19, 24
+
+  Bainton, George, 15
+  Barr, Amelia E., 4, 10, 16
+  Barrett, G. S., 15
+  Barrows, C. H., 11
+  Bennett, Rev. W. H., 3, 15
+  Benvie, Andrew, 7
+  Blake, J. M., 17
+  Bloundelle-Burton, J., 16
+  Bradford, Amory H., 6, 8, 19
+  Brierley, J., 4, 9
+  Brock, W., 14
+  Brooke, Stepford A., 19, 24
+  Brown, C., 14, 17
+  Burford, W. K., 22
+
+  Campbell, Rev. R. J., 19
+  Carlile, Rev. J. C., 8, 22
+  Clifford, Dr., 19, 24
+  Coulton, G. G., 8
+  Crockett, S. R., 3, 16
+  Cubitt, James, 15
+  Cuff, W., 18
+
+  Davidson, Gladys, 21
+  Dode, Marous, 18
+
+  Elligott, Minnie, 25
+  Ellis, J., 21
+  Evans, H., 20
+
+  Farningham, Marianne, 10, 14, 18, 20
+  Fiske, J., 2
+  Forsyth, Rev. Principal, 18, 24, 25
+  Fraser, J., 11
+  Funeke, O., 12
+
+  Gibbon, J. Morgan., 15
+  Giberne, Agnes, 16
+  Gladden, Washington, 6, 7, 8, 17, 18, 20
+  Glass, Henry Alexander, 5
+  Glover, R., 14
+  Greenhough, J. G., 14, 18
+  Griffith-Jones, E., 17, 18
+  Griffis, William Elliot, 5
+  Gunn, E. H. Mayo, 12, 25
+  Guyon, Madame, 11, 12
+
+  Haweis, H. R., 15
+  Haycraft, Mrs., 9
+  Heddle, E. F., 16
+  Henderson, J. G., 8
+  Henson, Canon Hensley, 10
+  Hocking, S. K., 8
+  Horder, W. Garrett, 19
+  Horne, C. Silvester, 4, 13, 15, 17, 20
+  Horton, Dr. R. F., 6, 19, 22, 23, 24, 25
+  Hunter, John, 19
+
+  "J. B." of _The Christian World_, 23
+  Jefferson, C. E., 11
+  J. M. G., 9
+  Jones, J. D., 15, 17, 20
+  Jowett, J. H., 17
+
+  Kane, James J., 17
+  Kaye, Bannerman, 4
+  Kennedy, H. A., 24, 25
+  Kennedy, John, 14
+
+  Lansfeldt, L., 16
+  Lee, W. T., 13
+  Llewellyn, D. J., 13
+  Lyall, David, 4
+  Lyall, Edna, 25
+  Lynch, T. T., 5
+  Lynd, William, 20
+
+  Macfadyen, D., 6
+  Macfarland, Charles S., 14
+  Macfarlane, Charles, 10
+  Mackennal, Alexander, 19, 24
+  Manners, Mary E., 24
+  Marchant, B., 16
+  Marshall, J. T., 14
+  Marshall, N. H., 5
+  Martineau, James, 18
+  Mather, Lessels, 22
+  Mather, Z., 6
+  Matheson, George, 12, 18, 23
+  Maver, J. S., 20
+  Meade, L. T., 16
+  Metcalfe, R. D., 24
+  Meyer, F. B., 17
+  Moore, G. F., 3
+  Morgan, Rev. G. Campbell, 14
+  Mountain, J., 17
+  Munger, T. T., 19
+
+  Peake, A. S., 18
+  Pharmaceutical Chemist, A, 22
+  Picton, J. Allanson, 17
+  Powicke, F. J., 2
+  Pulsford, John, 19
+
+  Rees, F. A., 14
+  Rickett, J. Compton, 9, 10, 24
+  Ridette, J. H., 25
+  Ridley, A. E., 5
+  Robarts, F. H., 14
+  Roberts, J. E., 18
+  Rogers, Dr. Guinness, 2
+  Rudge, C., 18
+  Russell, F. A., 17
+
+  Sanders, Frank Knight, 11
+  Scottish Presbyterian, A, 14
+  Sinclair, Archdeacon, 19, 24
+  Smyth, Dr. Newman, 4
+  Snell, Barnard J., 17, 20
+  Stevenson, J. G., 12
+
+  Thomas, H. Arnold, 19
+  Trotter, Mrs. E., 13
+  Toy, Rev. C. H., 2
+  Tytler, S., 16
+
+  Veitch, R., 8
+
+  Wain, Louis, 21
+  Walford, L. B., 4, 16
+  Waters, N. McG., 13
+  Watkinson, W. L., 17
+  Watson, W., 17
+  Weymouth, R. F., 13
+  White, William, 5
+  Whitley, W. T., 5
+  Whiton, J. M., 9, 10, 17, 19, 23
+  Williams, C., 14
+  Williams, T. R., 18
+  Wilson, Philip Whitwell, 12, 13
+  Worboise, Emma J., 10, 16, 25
+
+_W. Speaight and Sons, Printers, Fetter Lane, E.C._
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Transcriber's Note:
+
+On page 172 the word "lapels" was written as "lappels" and has been
+changed.
+
+On page 378 the name "Seaward" was written as "Seward" and has been
+changed.
+
+The oe ligature is represented by [oe].
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+Words marked in bold are surrounded by =.
+
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+
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+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Gamble with Life, by Silas K. Hocking
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: A Gamble with Life
+
+Author: Silas K. Hocking
+
+Release Date: April 10, 2012 [EBook #39417]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A GAMBLE WITH LIFE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Chris Curnow, Sue Fleming, Lindy Walsh and the
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 247px;">
+<img src="images/cover.jpg" width="247" height="400" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+
+<h2>A GAMBLE<br />
+WITH LIFE</h2>
+
+<p class="center">SILAS K. HOCKING<br /></p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 265px;">
+<img src="images/i002.jpg" width="265" height="400" alt="" />
+<span class="caption">&ldquo;OPEN YOUR EYES,&rdquo; HE CRIED, &ldquo;AND SPRING.&rdquo;</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+
+
+<h1><span class="smcap">A Gamble with Life</span></h1>
+
+<p class="center">BY</p>
+
+<p class="center">SILAS K. HOCKING</p>
+
+<p class="center">AUTHOR OF</p>
+
+<p class="center">"Pioneers," "The Flaming Sword," "God's Outcast,"<br />
+             "One in Charity," "The Heart of Man," etc.</p>
+
+<p class="center">London<br />
+JAMES CLARKE &amp; CO., 13 &amp; 14 FLEET STREET E.C.<br />
+1906</p>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="center"><i>All rights reserved</i><br /></p>
+
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS</h2>
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" summary="Table of Contents">
+<tr>
+ <td align="right"><small>CHAPTER</small></td>
+ <td>&nbsp;</td>
+ <td align="right"><small>PAGE</small></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">I.</a></td>
+ <td align="left">A STRANGE COMPACT</td>
+ <td align="right"><a href="#Page_7">7</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">II.</a></td>
+ <td align="left">DREAMS AND REALITIES</td>
+ <td align="right"><a href="#Page_15">15</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">III.</a></td>
+ <td align="left">THE VALUE OF A LIFE</td>
+ <td align="right"><a href="#Page_26">26</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">IV.</a></td>
+ <td align="left">PAYING THE PENALTY</td>
+ <td align="right"><a href="#Page_35">35</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">V.</a></td>
+ <td align="left">A PERILOUS TASK</td>
+ <td align="right"><a href="#Page_44">44</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">VI.</a></td>
+ <td align="left">FAITH AND PHILOSOPHY</td>
+ <td align="right"><a href="#Page_54">54</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">VII.</a></td>
+ <td align="left">THE NICK OF TIME</td>
+ <td align="right"><a href="#Page_63">63</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">VIII.</a></td>
+ <td align="left">THE SOUL'S AWAKENING</td>
+ <td align="right"><a href="#Page_72">72</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">IX.</a></td>
+ <td align="left">THE CAPTAIN'S LETTER</td>
+ <td align="right"><a href="#Page_82">82</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">X.</a></td>
+ <td align="left">A VISITOR</td>
+ <td align="right"><a href="#Page_92">92</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">XI.</a></td>
+ <td align="left">A TALK BY THE WAY</td>
+ <td align="right"><a href="#Page_101">101</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">XII.</a></td>
+ <td align="left">FAIRYLAND</td>
+ <td align="right"><a href="#Page_112">112</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">XIII.</a></td>
+ <td align="left">THE AWAKENING</td>
+ <td align="right"><a href="#Page_123">123</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">XIV.</a></td>
+ <td align="left">EVOLUTION</td>
+ <td align="right"><a href="#Page_134">134</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">XV.</a></td>
+ <td align="left">MISGIVINGS</td>
+ <td align="right"><a href="#Page_145">145</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">XVI.</a></td>
+ <td align="left">GROWING SUSPICIONS</td>
+ <td align="right"><a href="#Page_157">157</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">XVII.</a></td>
+ <td align="left">RETROSPECTIVE</td>
+ <td align="right"><a href="#Page_168">168</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">XVIII.</a></td>
+ <td align="left">THE OLD AND THE NEW</td>
+ <td align="right"><a href="#Page_178">178</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">XIX.</a></td>
+ <td align="left">AFTER THREE YEARS</td>
+ <td align="right"><a href="#Page_189">189</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XX">XX.</a></td>
+ <td align="left">FATHER AND SON</td>
+ <td align="right"><a href="#Page_200">200</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXI">XXI.</a></td>
+ <td align="left">GERVASE SPEAKS HIS MIND</td>
+ <td align="right"><a href="#Page_211">211</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXII">XXII.</a></td>
+ <td align="left">A HUMAN DOCUMENT</td>
+ <td align="right"><a href="#Page_222">222</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIII">XXIII.</a></td>
+ <td align="left">MEANS TO AN END</td>
+ <td align="right"><a href="#Page_232">232</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIV">XXIV.</a></td>
+ <td align="left">THE JUSTICE OF THE STRONG</td>
+ <td align="right"><a href="#Page_243">243</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXV">XXV.</a></td>
+ <td align="left">THE END OF A DREAM</td>
+ <td align="right"><a href="#Page_254">254</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVI">XXVI.</a></td>
+ <td align="left">QUESTIONS TO BE FACED</td>
+ <td align="right"><a href="#Page_266">266</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVII">XXVII.</a></td>
+ <td align="left">THE VALUE OF A LIFE</td>
+ <td align="right"><a href="#Page_277">277</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVIII">XXVIII.</a></td>
+ <td align="left">THE RETURN OF THE SQUIRE</td>
+ <td align="right"><a href="#Page_288">288</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIX">XXIX.</a></td>
+ <td align="left">GETTING AT THE TRUTH</td>
+ <td align="right"><a href="#Page_299">299</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXX">XXX.</a></td>
+ <td align="left">THE TOILS OF CIRCUMSTANCE</td>
+ <td align="right"><a href="#Page_310">310</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXI">XXXI.</a></td>
+ <td align="left">OLD FRIENDS</td>
+ <td align="right"><a href="#Page_320">320</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXII">XXXII.</a></td>
+ <td align="left">FACING THE INEVITABLE</td>
+ <td align="right"><a href="#Page_331">331</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXIII">XXXIII.</a></td>
+ <td align="left">WAS IT PROVIDENCE?</td>
+ <td align="right"><a href="#Page_342">342</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXIV">XXXIV.</a></td>
+ <td align="left">DISCOVERIES</td>
+ <td align="right"><a href="#Page_352">352</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXV">XXXV.</a></td>
+ <td align="left">CONFLICTING EMOTIONS</td>
+ <td align="right"><a href="#Page_363">363</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXVI">XXXVI.</a></td>
+ <td align="left">HIS HEART'S DESIRE</td>
+ <td align="right"><a href="#Page_373">373</a></td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<h1>A GAMBLE WITH LIFE</h1>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I</h2>
+
+
+<h3>A STRANGE COMPACT</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Well, of all the hare-brained proposals I ever listened to, this takes
+the bun"; and Felix Muller adjusted his pince-nez and lay back in his
+chair and laughed softly.</p>
+
+<p>"But why hare-brained?" asked his companion, seriously. "Singular, I
+admit it may be; startling if you like, but I do not see that there is
+anything in it to laugh at."</p>
+
+<p>"You don't?" and the lawyer's face became suddenly grave. "Do you
+realise what your proposal implies?"</p>
+
+<p>"I think I do," and Rufus Sterne's face flushed slightly; "but you are
+thinking of a contingency that will never arise."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps I am; but every contingency must be guarded against," and Felix
+Muller took off his glasses and wiped them meditatively. "You say you
+are confident of success, and I am bound to admit, from what I know of
+you and your scheme, I think your confidence is well founded. But you
+know as well as I do, that nothing is certain in this world but death."</p>
+
+<p>"Well?"</p>
+
+<p>"You may fail. Something may happen you cannot foresee."</p>
+
+<p>"I grant it, as a remote&mdash;an exceedingly remote&mdash;possibility. But in
+such an event you will be covered by my life assurance policy." <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"But you may live for another fifty years."</p>
+
+<p>Rufus Sterne shook his head and smiled gravely.</p>
+
+<p>"If I fail," he said, "I shall have no further use for life. You need be
+under no apprehension on that score. The money for which my life is
+insured will be paid into your hands without any unnecessary delay. I
+know the company."</p>
+
+<p>"But it would be a direct contravention of the law, and would entitle
+the company to refuse&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"My dear sir," Sterne interrupted, sharply, "there are many roads into
+the land of oblivion. Exits can be arranged, if the parties so desire,
+in a perfectly natural manner. You need not fear that trouble will arise
+on that score."</p>
+
+<p>"Nevertheless, I confess I do not like the proposal."</p>
+
+<p>"You seem to have grown suddenly very squeamish," Sterne said, with a
+slight curl of the lip. "I have always understood that you set no
+particular value on human life. Indeed, I have heard you argue that a
+man's life is his own to do as he likes with&mdash;to continue it or end it,
+as seems good in his own eyes."</p>
+
+<p>"I am still of the same opinion. No, I am no sentimentalist. The rubbish
+talked by parsons and so-called humanitarians makes me ill. All the same
+I would prefer that someone else&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"There is no one else," Rufus Sterne broke in, irritably. "You are my
+last hope. A thousand pounds now will lead me on to fame and fortune.
+You have the money. You can lend it to me if you like, and for security
+I make you my sole legatee."</p>
+
+<p>"But the money is not mine, and must be paid back by the 31st of
+December of next year without fail."</p>
+
+<p>"That gives eighteen months and more," and Sterne laughed. "My dear
+fellow, six months or a little more will see the thing through." <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I like to see a man confident," Felix Muller said, a little uneasily.
+"But there is such a thing as over-confidence, as you know. I should be
+better pleased if you were a little less cocksure."</p>
+
+<p>"But man alive, I have been working at this thing for years. I have
+tested every link in the chain, if you will allow me to say so. I have
+faced every possible contingency. I have gone over the ground so often
+that I know every inch of the way. I have anticipated every objection,
+every weakness, every flaw, and have provided against it. All I want now
+is a thousand pounds in hard cash, and in a year's time I shall be able
+to repay it ten-fold."</p>
+
+<p>"You hope so."</p>
+
+<p>"I am sure of it; as far as a man can be sure of anything in this stupid
+world. The more or less unpleasant contingency that you persist in
+looking at will never occur."</p>
+
+<p>"But it may occur," Muller persisted.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, if it does you will not suffer; and I shall be glad to hide
+myself and be at rest."</p>
+
+<p>"You say that now."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you doubt my courage or my honour?" Sterne demanded, sharply.</p>
+
+<p>"No, I doubt neither," Muller said, slowly; "but the instinct of life is
+strong&mdash;especially in the young."</p>
+
+<p>"When a man has something to live for&mdash;some great purpose to achieve, or
+some proud ambition to realise, he naturally wants to live. But take
+away that something, and life is a squeezed orange which he is glad to
+fling away."</p>
+
+<p>"People still cling to life when they have nothing left to live for,"
+Muller said, reflectively.</p>
+
+<p>"Sentimentalists and cowards," Sterne broke in, hastily. "Men who have
+been robbed of their courage <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> by priestly superstitions. But you and I
+have thrown off the swaddling clothes in which we were reared. Your
+German philosophers have not reflected and written for nothing."</p>
+
+<p>"I am an Englishman," Muller broke in, hastily.</p>
+
+<p>"I do not dispute it for a moment," Sterne said, with a laugh. "But let
+us not get away from the subject we have in hand. The question is will
+you accommodate me or will you not?"</p>
+
+<p>"If I do not you will curse me to-day," Muller said, with a drawl; "and
+if I do, you may curse me more bitterly eighteen months hence. So it
+seems to me it is a choice between two evils."</p>
+
+<p>"There you are mistaken," Sterne replied. "I certainly shall curse you
+if you refuse me, but if you become my friend to-day I shall never cease
+to bless you."</p>
+
+<p>"Not if you fail?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why will you persist in harping on that one string? I shall not fail.
+Failure is out of the reckoning. I am as certain of success as I am of
+my own existence."</p>
+
+<p>"'Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.'"</p>
+
+<p>"Please, Muller, don't quote the Bible to me."</p>
+
+<p>"It is sound philosophy wherever it is taken from. Besides, the Bible is
+good literature."</p>
+
+<p>"So is Dante's 'Inferno.' But if you were dosed with it morning, noon
+and night, for the space of fifteen or twenty years, you would be glad
+to have a little respite. But we are getting away again from the subject
+in hand. Let's stick to the one point till we've done with it. If you've
+made up your mind that you won't help me, say so."</p>
+
+<p>"My dear fellow, all that I've been anxious to do is to enable you, if
+possible, to realise all that such a contract implies." <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Well, if I didn't realise it before, I do now. You've been very
+faithful."</p>
+
+<p>"And you still wish to enter into the arrangement?"</p>
+
+<p>"Of course I do. What do you take me for?"</p>
+
+<p>"Remember, I am no sentimentalist, and whatever may happen to you, I
+shall be compelled in the end to claim my bond."</p>
+
+<p>Sterne laughed a little bitterly. "You do not mean to insult me, I know.
+Nevertheless your words imply a doubt that I cannot help resenting. If
+the worst comes to the worst, you will have no need to <i>claim</i> your
+bond. You will get your own back without effort, and with compound
+interest."</p>
+
+<p>"I have no desire to insult you, certainly. But equally am I desirous of
+preventing any misunderstanding later on. In a business transaction of
+this kind one cannot be too explicit. The time-limit I am compelled to
+insist upon."</p>
+
+<p>"It is quite ample," Sterne broke in, impatiently. "I shall know my fate
+long before the end of next year."</p>
+
+<p>"I hope you will succeed even beyond what you hope for."</p>
+
+<p>"Let me tell you for the twentieth time that I am bound to succeed. When
+shall I have the money?"</p>
+
+<p>"The day after to-morrow."</p>
+
+<p>"That will do. Now I am a happy man."</p>
+
+<p>"I hope you will never have cause to regret the bargain."</p>
+
+<p>"You shall not, in any case."</p>
+
+<p>The lawyer smiled, and lowered his eyebrows. "From a professional point
+of view," he said, reflectively, "it is not, of course, good business."</p>
+
+<p>Sterne looked up suddenly. "I see what you mean," he said, after a
+pause. "You are not covered against any failure of courage or honour on
+my part?" <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The lawyer nodded assent.</p>
+
+<p>"I appreciate your trust in me," Sterne replied, with a touch of emotion
+in his voice. "I do indeed. You are lending me the money without any
+legal security."</p>
+
+<p>"And the money is not mine," the lawyer added.</p>
+
+<p>"I understand; and when the time comes you shall be rewarded," and
+Sterne rose to his feet and picked up his bowler hat, which had been
+lying on the floor.</p>
+
+<p>The lawyer rose also, and held out his hand to his client. "The money
+shall be ready for you the day after to-morrow." So they parted.</p>
+
+<p>Rufus Sterne went out into the street feeling as though all the world
+lay at his feet. No thought of failure crossed his mind. The thing he
+had been working for for years was at last to be realised. His invention
+would not only put money into his own pocket, but it would revolutionise
+the chief industry of his native county, and find work for thousands of
+willing hands.</p>
+
+<p>In imagination he saw himself not only prosperous, but honoured and
+respected and hailed as a public benefactor. He had a long walk over the
+hills to the village in which he resided, but it seemed as nothing to
+him that evening. His heart was beating high with hope, his eyes
+sparkled with eager anticipation.</p>
+
+<p>From the crest of the second hill the wide sweep of the Atlantic came
+into view, and for several minutes he stood still, with bared head. He
+had spent all his life in sight and sound of the sea, and he never tired
+of it. Relatives, friends, acquaintances by the dozen, slept their last
+sleep far out in its cool embrace. He had a feeling sometimes that he
+would like, when his day's work was done, to pillow his head among the
+seaweed and sleep for ever, while the waves sobbed and sang above him.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The sun was slowly sinking in a sea of molten gold. The window-panes of
+the scattered farmhouses were flashing back the evening fire. From the
+valley behind him came the bleating of lambs and the answering call of
+the mother sheep, and with the cooling of the day a breeze stirred
+faintly in the tree tops and through the hazel bushes.</p>
+
+<p>He replaced his hat, and was about to continue his tramp when he was
+arrested by the sound of carriage wheels behind him. A sharp bend in the
+road hid the vehicle from sight, but he knew it would be on him in a
+moment. So he stepped aside, as the road was narrow, and waited for it
+to pass.</p>
+
+<p>The horse came first into sight, and then the Squire's waggonette. Two
+people sat on the front seat, the coachman and a lady. The back of the
+vehicle was piled almost to the level of their heads with luggage. The
+horse came on slowly, which gave Rufus Sterne an opportunity of scanning
+the face of the lady.</p>
+
+<p>"Evidently a stranger," was his first reflection. "Greatly taken with
+the view of the sea," his second. After that his reflections were of a
+very mixed character.</p>
+
+<p>Two or three points, however, stood out in his mind with great
+distinctness. The first was the lady was young&mdash;"not more than twenty if
+she is a day," he reflected. The second was that she belonged to a type
+he had never seen before. "She's not Cornish, that's certain," he said
+to himself. "I question if she is English." The third was that she was
+most becomingly dressed. Whether she was richly or expensively attired
+he did not know. He had had no experience in such matters. But that her
+dress became her there could be no doubt. The hat she wore might have
+been designed by an artist for her alone. On some people's heads it
+might look a <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> fright, but on the head of this fair creature it was a
+picture.</p>
+
+<p>He stood so far back in the shadow of the hedge that she did not notice
+him. Besides, her eyes were fixed on the distant sea, which flashed in
+the sunset like burnished gold.</p>
+
+<p>"Isn't it just too lovely for words?" Whether she addressed the
+coachman, or whether she was speaking to herself, he did not know. But
+her words fell very distinctly on his ear, and touched his heart with a
+curious sense of kinship or sympathy.</p>
+
+<p>"No; she's not English," he said to himself. "An Englishwoman never
+speaks with an accent just like that. But wherever she comes from she's
+the loveliest creature I ever saw. I wonder who she is?"</p>
+
+<p>He came out into the middle of the road, and followed in the wake of the
+vanishing vehicle. After a few minutes it disappeared completely, and he
+did not see it again.</p>
+
+<p>"I wonder who she is?" The question occurred to him several times as he
+tramped steadily on in the direction of St. Gaved. It even pushed into
+the background his recent interview with Felix Muller, and the strange
+compact he had made.</p>
+
+<p>The twilight was deepening rapidly by the time he reached the cottage in
+which he rented two tiny rooms. A frugal supper was laid ready for him
+on the table, but there was no one to give him welcome, no one to say
+good-night when he retired to rest. Yet no feeling of loneliness or
+friendlessness oppressed him. He felt that the day had been an eventful
+one, and that a future of unmeasured possibilities was opening up before
+him.</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II</h2>
+
+<h3>DREAMS AND REALITIES</h3>
+
+
+<p>Rufus Sterne awoke next morning with a feeling of buoyancy and
+hopefulness such as he had never before experienced. The sun was
+streaming brightly through the little window and gilding the humble
+furniture of the room with thin lines of gold; the house-sparrows were
+chirruping noisily under the eaves; the fishermen, early in from their
+night's fishing, were calling "Mackerel" in the winding street below;
+whilst the memory of pleasant dreams was still haunting the chambers of
+his brain&mdash;dreams in which his own identity had got mixed up in some
+curious fashion with that of the fair stranger he had seen the evening
+before.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Tuke, his landlady, laid his breakfast in silence. It was very
+rarely now that she spoke to him. On her face was a look of injured
+innocence or pained resignation. She had done her best in days gone by
+to lead him to see what she called the error of his ways, but without
+success. Now she had given him over&mdash;though not without considerable
+reluctance&mdash;to the hardness of his heart. She sometimes wondered whether
+she ought to keep as a lodger a man who was claimed neither by church
+nor chapel, and whose religious opinions not a man in the entire village
+would endorse.</p>
+
+<p>However, as he paid his bill regularly and gave no trouble, and as
+moreover he had no bad habits, and <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> was exceedingly gentlemanly both in
+manners and appearance, she concluded that on the whole she was
+justified in giving him shelter and taking his money.</p>
+
+<p>Rufus did not notice Mrs. Tuke's resigned look and pathetic eyes this
+morning. His thoughts were intent on other things. At last he was on the
+road to fame and fortune, so he honestly and sincerely believed.
+To-morrow he would walk into Redbourne and take possession of a thousand
+pounds. Then life would begin in earnest. He would give up his position
+at the Wheal Gregory Mine and devote all his energies to the completion
+of the great scheme, which would take the whole county by surprise.</p>
+
+<p>What a relief it would be to get away from the common-place and humdrum
+tasks that had filled his hands for the last three or four years&mdash;tasks
+that any young man with a School Board education could discharge without
+difficulty. He did not despise the work&mdash;no honest labour was to be
+despised. But the work was not of the kind that appealed to him. It was
+monotonous, mechanical, uninteresting. There was nothing in it to call
+out latent skill or originality. He might go on doing it till his brain
+stagnated and the springs of imagination ceased to flow.</p>
+
+<p>He was called the secretary of the mine&mdash;a high-sounding name
+enough&mdash;but the name was the only important thing about it. He was
+time-keeper, clerk, and office-boy rolled into one.</p>
+
+<p>The salary was just enough to keep him in a position of respectable
+poverty. The only way he could hope to save any money was by insuring
+his life until he was a certain age. But there were times when he was
+half disposed to let his policy lapse. It was such a pinch to find the
+money to pay the premiums.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>At last, however, he believed the struggle was over. His thoughts were
+going to take tangible shape; his nebulous dreams were to be reduced to
+concrete form. The lines he had so carefully traced on paper would be
+seen in brass and steel; the mental travail of years would end in the
+birth of a great invention.</p>
+
+<p>He walked away from the house humming a popular waltz, and his steps
+kept time to the music. Wheal Gregory lay over the hill more than a mile
+away. Taking a field path he skirted the park of Trewinion Hall, the
+residence of Sir Charles Tregony, the squire of the parish and the
+largest landowner in the district. It was Sir Charles's waggonette that
+passed him the previous evening when returning from Redbourne.</p>
+
+<p>He slackened his pace almost unconsciously, and looked over the tall
+thorn hedge in the direction of the squire's mansion. An opening in the
+belt of trees brought a portion of the terrace into view, with a strip
+of lawn and a glimpse of the rose garden. At the moment, however, Rufus
+saw neither the garden nor the lawn. It was a graceful girlish figure
+clad in white that arrested his attention. She was flitting in and out
+among the standard roses with a pair of scissors in one hand and a large
+bunch of blooms in the other. She stood still at length and looked
+towards the house, then waved her hand to someone Rufus could not see.
+Then she turned right about face and looked in his direction. Rufus
+lowered his head in a moment and peeped at her between the branches of a
+tree. It might not be the height of good manners, but he could not help
+it. She was so fair a picture, so graceful, so piquant and fresh, that
+he would be almost less than human if he did not make the most of his
+opportunity.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>A few minutes later she was joined by the squire's daughter, Beryl, and
+together they walked away till the thick foliage hid them from view.</p>
+
+<p>Rufus heaved a little sigh, and then continued his walk in the direction
+of Wheal Gregory.</p>
+
+<p>"I wonder if people who live in big houses, and have lovely gardens and
+lawns and all the other pleasant things of life are happier than
+ordinary folks," he said to himself. "I wonder if that girl is happy. I
+wonder if she knows how pretty she is? I wonder where she came from? I
+wonder who she is? I wonder if she has come to stay?"</p>
+
+<p>He laughed at length quite loudly, for no one was near to listen. It was
+strange that he should be interested in anyone who had come to stay at
+the Hall. Sir Charles was one of the proudest and most exclusive men in
+the county. There was no one in the parish of St. Gaved, excepting
+perhaps the vicar, that he considered good enough to associate with, and
+Sir Charles's visitors were generally as exclusive as himself.</p>
+
+<p>The rattle of the "fire stamps" down in the valley called him back at
+length to more mundane affairs. It was nothing to him who the new
+visitor at the Hall might be, and whether she stayed a week or a year
+was no concern of his. He had his own work to do, and just now that work
+would fill his thoughts night and day.</p>
+
+<p>He did his best to give all his attention to his ordinary duties, but it
+was no easy matter. He had lost all interest in Wheal Gregory Mine. His
+resignation as secretary would be handed in on Saturday morning: for the
+future he would live on another plane, and more important issues would
+claim his thought and attention.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The day seemed interminably long, but it came to an end at length, and
+he turned his face towards St. Gaved with a light heart. Every day now
+would shorten the period of his exile and inactivity. He was eager to
+get his own great enterprise under weigh, eager to show the people among
+whom he lived the stuff of which he was made.</p>
+
+<p>On the following day he opened a banking account with a thousand pounds
+to his credit, and the day following that he handed his resignation in
+as secretary of Wheal Gregory Mine.</p>
+
+<p>He walked homeward slowly in the glow of the evening's sun, taking a
+wide sweep round by the coast. The sky was almost cloudless, but the
+warmth was tempered by a cool breeze from the West. A pathway skirted
+the edge of the cliffs which was rarely used by anyone after sunset, for
+the cliffs were treacherous and a false step might mean instant death.</p>
+
+<p>On one of the highest points he sat down on the spongy turf and looked
+westward. The sun was sinking in a lake of burnished gold. The sea was
+like glass mingled with fire. He could not help wondering if these
+bright days and glorious sunsets were an augury of his own future.</p>
+
+<p>As yet no cloud dimmed the brightness of his vision, no thought of
+failure flung a shadow across his path. He was as confident of success
+as he was that the Atlantic was rolling at his feet. It was this
+confidence that had blinded his eyes to the moral obliquity of his
+contract with Felix Muller.</p>
+
+<p>"If I fail," he had said, "you shall have my insurance money," and he
+had said it in the most light-hearted fashion, for he never suspected
+for a moment that he would fail.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Moreover, if he did fail the defeat would be so crushing that he was
+quite sure he would not want to live. And as he had lost the faith of
+his childhood, and death meant only an endless and a dreamless sleep,
+dying gave him no concern.</p>
+
+<p>But there was one thing he had never considered, and that was the rights
+of the insurance company. He did not see that it was a felony he
+proposed in case of failure. The idea had never crossed his mind. He had
+laid stress on his honour in making his appeal to Muller, and he failed
+to see that in case his schemes came to nothing he was proposing an act
+of deliberate dishonesty. He would save his honour at the expense of his
+honesty.</p>
+
+<p>It was not of failure, however, he thought, as he looked towards the
+sunset. The future was opening out before his imagination in widening
+vistas of success.</p>
+
+<p>"I shall astonish everybody," he said to himself, a bright, eager smile
+spreading itself over his face. "Muller believes in me, but he has no
+idea how great my scheme is. I don't see the end of it myself, for one
+thing will lead to another. Oh! I shall have a crowded life; for one
+success will beget other successes, and so I shall go forward&mdash;never
+idle&mdash;till my day's work is done."</p>
+
+<p>He was roused from his pleasant reverie by a light footstep near him,
+and looking round quickly he saw the fair stranger who had interested
+him on two previous occasions. She did not hesitate for a moment in her
+walk, but came briskly forward till she was directly opposite where he
+sat.</p>
+
+<p>"Pardon me," she said, in a voice that was distinctly musical in spite
+of its unfamiliar accent, "but can you tell me if there is a path
+anywhere hereabouts leading down to the beach?" <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>He was on his feet in a moment, and raising his hat he said, with a
+smile, "The nearest point is down Penwith Cove; that is at least half a
+mile further on."</p>
+
+<p>"And is the path easy?"</p>
+
+<p>"Quite easy."</p>
+
+<p>"Not dangerous at all?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not a bit," he answered, with a smile.</p>
+
+<p>"You will excuse me speaking, won't you?" she said, with a mirthful
+light in her eyes. "I'm not at all sure that it's a bit proper. Sir
+Charles has read me several lectures already about speaking to people I
+don't know, but if I only speak to people I know I shall never speak at
+all when I'm out of the house."</p>
+
+<p>"You are a stranger in St. Gaved?" he questioned, nervously.</p>
+
+<p>"I come from across the water," she answered, with delightful frankness.
+"I never saw your country till four days ago."</p>
+
+<p>"And do you like it?" he questioned.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, yes&mdash;up to a certain point. I shall get used to it in time, no
+doubt. But at present it seems a bit dull and slow."</p>
+
+<p>"You've lived in a city, perhaps?"&mdash;he was astonished at his boldness,
+but her whole manner seemed to invite conversation.</p>
+
+<p>"That's just it," she replied. "And after New York this place seems a
+trifle dull and quiet."</p>
+
+<p>"I should think so," he said, with a laugh. "Why, even natives like
+myself find it almost insufferable at times."</p>
+
+<p>"Then why do you stay here? Why don't you go right away where the pulse
+of life beats more quickly?" <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Ah! that question is not easy to answer," he said, looking out over the
+fire-flecked sea. "Our home is here, our work lies here. Beyond is a
+great unknown. Many have gone out and have never returned."</p>
+
+<p>"Got lost, eh?" she questioned, with a musical laugh.</p>
+
+<p>"Lost to us who have remained," he answered. "Some have prospered, I
+have no doubt. Some have failed, and died in obscurity and neglect.
+Better, perhaps, endure the ills we have than fly to others we know not
+of."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, yes, I guess there's truth in that," she answered, raising
+frankly her soft brown eyes to his. "Yet there's always fascination in
+the unknown, don't you think so?"</p>
+
+<p>"No doubt of it."</p>
+
+<p>"That's the reason, I expect, why I'm just aching to explore these
+cliffs, and the caves of which Sir Charles says there's any number."</p>
+
+<p>"That won't take you very long," he answered, "though it would hardly be
+safe for you to go alone."</p>
+
+<p>"That's what Sir Charles says; but would you mind telling me just where
+the danger comes in?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you see, the rocks are often slippery. And if you are not
+acquainted with the tides you might get caught."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! that would be interesting."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, scarcely. Strangers have been caught and drowned before now."</p>
+
+<p>"They could not swim?"</p>
+
+<p>"It would take a very strong swimmer to clear St. Gaved Point and get
+into the harbour."</p>
+
+<p>She turned her eyes in that direction and looked grave.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>He studied her face a little more closely and allowed his eyes to wander
+over her graceful and well-knit figure. She was very simply dressed,
+without ornament of any kind. A large picture hat shaded her pale face.
+Her eyes were large and dark, her forehead broad, her nose straight, her
+lips full and red.</p>
+
+<p>She caught him looking at her and he blushed a little. "I don't think I
+could swim that distance," she said, turning her eyes again in the
+direction of St. Gaved Point.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't think you would be wise to attempt it." Then he blushed again,
+for she turned on him a swift and searching glance, while her lips
+parted in a smile that seemed to say, "I did not ask you for advice."</p>
+
+<p>For a moment there was silence, then she said, "Do you know the sea has
+been calling me ever since I came."</p>
+
+<p>"Calling you?" he questioned.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I mean it fascinates me, if you understand. I want to get close
+to it, to paddle in it. It is so beautiful. It looks so cool and
+friendly. Beryl says she cannot bear the sea; that it is not friendly a
+bit; that it is cruel and noisy, and treacherous."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! she has lived near the sea most of her life."</p>
+
+<p>"And yet you can scarcely see it from the Hall."</p>
+
+<p>"But it can be heard on stormy nights, and when a westerly gale is
+raging its voice is terrible."</p>
+
+<p>"You have lived here all your life?" and her lips parted in the most
+innocent smile.</p>
+
+<p>"Here, and in a neighbouring parish," he answered, frankly.</p>
+
+<p>"And do you like the sea?"</p>
+
+<p>"Sometimes. On an evening like this, for instance, I could sit for hours
+looking at it, and listening to the low murmur of the waves. But in the
+winter I rarely come out on the cliffs." <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I have never seen the sea real mad," she said, reflectively; "but I
+expect I shall if I stay here long enough."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you expect to stay long?" he questioned. If she asked questions he
+did not see why he might not.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I guess I shall stay in England a good many months anyhow," she
+answered slowly, and with an unmistakable accent; and she turned away
+her eyes, and a faint wave of colour tinged her pale cheeks.</p>
+
+<p>He would have liked to have asked her a good many other questions, but
+he felt he had gone far enough.</p>
+
+<p>"I fear I shall have to go back now," she said at length, without
+looking at him, "or they'll all be wondering what has become of me."</p>
+
+<p>"You could not easily get lost in a place like this," he said, with a
+laugh.</p>
+
+<p>"No, nobody would kidnap me," she said, arching her eyebrows.</p>
+
+<p>"No, I don't think so," he answered in a tone that was half-mirthful,
+half-serious.</p>
+
+<p>She raised her eyes to his for a moment in a keen searching glance,
+then, with a hasty "Good evening," turned and walked away in the
+direction she had come.</p>
+
+<p>He stood and watched her until she had passed over the brow of the hill
+in the direction of Trewinion Hall. Then he slowly resumed his journey
+towards St. Gaved.</p>
+
+<p>That night he awoke from a dream with a feeling of horror tearing at his
+heart. He dreamed that his great scheme had proved a failure, and that
+Felix Muller stood over him demanding the immediate fulfilment of the
+contract.</p>
+
+<p>So vivid had been the dream that, for the moment, he seemed powerless to
+shake off the impression.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> He sat up in bed, and stared round him, while
+a cold perspiration broke out in beads upon his brow.</p>
+
+<p>For the first time he realised, in any clear and vivid sense, the nature
+of the compact he had entered into. The possibilities of failure had
+seemed so infinitely remote that he had never seriously tried to realise
+what failure would mean.</p>
+
+<p>Now that awful contingency forced itself upon his heart and imagination
+in a way that seemed almost to paralyse him. It was as though some
+invisible but powerful hand had pushed him to the edge of a dark and
+awful precipice, and compelled him to look over. His knees shook under
+him, his head seemed to reel, he struggled to get back to safer ground.</p>
+
+<p>The feeling of horror passed away after a few minutes, and he lay down
+again.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course, I shall not fail," he said to himself. "The contingency is
+so remote that I need not give the matter a second thought."</p>
+
+<p>And yet the impression of that dream was destined to remain with him in
+spite of all his efforts to shake it off.</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III</h2>
+
+<h3>THE VALUE OF A LIFE</h3>
+
+
+<p>During the next few weeks Rufus Sterne was kept so busy that he had very
+little time for either retrospect or anticipation. His great complaint
+was that the days were all too short for the work he wanted to crowd
+into them. He had told Felix Muller that six months would see his scheme
+well on its way to completion. But he had not been at work many weeks
+before he began to fear that twelve months would be much nearer the
+limit. Contractors were so slow, workmen were so careless, and
+accidents&mdash;none of them serious&mdash;were so numerous, that delays were
+inevitable, and the days grew into weeks unconsciously.</p>
+
+<p>He maintained, however, a brave and hopeful spirit. Delays and
+disappointments were, no doubt, inevitable. No one ever carried out a
+great scheme without encountering a few disappointments. Later on, when
+victory was assured, they would seem as nothing, and would be quickly
+forgotten.</p>
+
+<p>He saw no more of the beautiful stranger who had so much interested him.
+For several days he kept a sharp look out, and wondered if by any chance
+he would cross her path. Then he heard that Sir Charles and all his
+family had gone to London till the end of the season, and he assumed
+that she had gone to London with them.</p>
+
+<p>He had had a second interview with Felix Muller, which had left an
+impression that was not altogether <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> pleasant. Muller was in his most
+cynical and ungenerous mood. He had not a word of encouragement to give
+to his client. On the contrary, he appeared to take a delight in
+pricking Rufus with pointed and unpleasant suggestions.</p>
+
+<p>"It is well, no doubt, to hope for the best," he said to Rufus; "but it
+is equally well to be prepared for the worst."</p>
+
+<p>"I really think you would not trouble much if I should fail," Rufus
+said, in a tone of irritation.</p>
+
+<p>"Then you do me an injustice," was the suave and tantalising answer. "If
+you were to fail I might have trouble in getting my own."</p>
+
+<p>"You mean that I would back out of the contract at the last?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, I don't mean any such thing. I know you are not only a man of
+honour, but a man of courage; but if you should bungle&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Look here, we need not go any further into details," Rufus said,
+impatiently. "My point is you are not a bit troubled about me as long as
+you get your money back."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, but I am! I would rather you prospered than that you failed, any
+day. Still, if in the order of chance you should fail&mdash;well&mdash;&mdash;," and he
+shrugged his shoulders, "It would be in the eternal order, that's all."</p>
+
+<p>"You would not fret, of course?"</p>
+
+<p>"My dear fellow, why should I? We must all pass out into the great
+silence sooner or later. And now, or next year, or next century for that
+matter, matters little. You and I have got beyond the region of
+sentiment in such things. Nature sets no value on human life. We take
+our place among the ants and flies, and the human is treated as
+remorselessly as the insect. The wind passeth over both, and they are
+gone." <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Yes, that is true enough," Rufus answered, looking out of the window.</p>
+
+<p>"Besides," Muller went on, as if he read his thoughts, "in the business
+of life we are bound to take risks."</p>
+
+<p>"You mean money risks?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not only money risks. A man who drives to market, who explores a mine,
+who crosses the sea in the interests of commerce, who fights for his
+country, not only risks his property, but he risks his life."</p>
+
+<p>"Not always intentionally."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, not always, perhaps. But in the greatest and noblest enterprises,
+yes. And what is more, it is counted to a man an honour when he risks
+his life in a great cause. If you become a martyr for a great ideal I
+shall revere your memory."</p>
+
+<p>Rufus winced, and looked uncomfortable. "I am not risking my life in the
+public interest," he said, "but in my own."</p>
+
+<p>"It all amounts to the same thing," Muller said, cynically. "You are
+part of the public, and anything that benefits a part benefits, more or
+less, the whole. I am taking risks myself on the same chance of doing
+good."</p>
+
+<p>"Doing good to whom?"</p>
+
+<p>"To myself in the first place. Charity should always begin at home."</p>
+
+<p>"And don't you think also that it should stop there?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, in the main, I do. I am no sentimentalist, as you very well know.
+Every man for himself is the first law of life."</p>
+
+<p>"So while Nature sets no value on human life, you think that each
+individual should set great value on his own?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, I don't. Everything depends on the individual, or on his
+circumstances. If a man thinks his life is worth preserving, well, let
+him preserve it <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> by all means. But if he thinks it is worthless, why
+should he not let it slip?"</p>
+
+<p>"There seems no particular reason," Rufus answered, reflectively.</p>
+
+<p>"There's no reason at all," Muller went on, dogmatically, "while a man
+is doing something, something useful I mean, something that is of
+benefit to himself and to others, he ought to keep agoing as long as he
+can. But when he is a failure, when he becomes a burden to himself and
+his neighbours, it is cowardly to hang on, and why should anybody fret
+because he makes himself scarce?"</p>
+
+<p>"You mean this as a little homily to myself?" Rufus questioned.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, not a bit of it! I am not afraid of you not doing the right thing!
+Besides, you are not going to fail," and he laughed, cynically.</p>
+
+<p>"No, I am not going to fail," Rufus answered, rising from his seat; "I
+am going to succeed."</p>
+
+<p>"That's right. I hope you will. But don't forget that there is nothing
+certain in this world but death," and he smilingly bowed Rufus out of
+the room.</p>
+
+<p>In the street Rufus purchased an evening paper, that he might get the
+latest news of the war. He did not open it until he got into the quiet
+lanes outside the town. There had been another big battle in which there
+had been an appalling loss of life. The work of extermination was going
+on rapidly. Modern civilisation was showing what it could do in
+preventing the too rapid growth of the human race.</p>
+
+<p>Rufus hurriedly glanced down the columns, then folded the paper and put
+it into his pocket. "Yes, Muller is right," he mused. "Nature sets no
+value on human life, neither do governments, and neither does religion.
+I wonder how many thousands of <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> human beings have been sacrificed during
+the last few weeks, and who gives to the matter a second thought.
+Religion accepts it as inevitable and even meritorious. Governments
+approve and applaud, and make provision for slaughter on a larger scale
+in the future. Nature, not to be outdone, tries her hand at earthquakes,
+or famine, or disease. It is only the individual who thinks his own life
+is of value, and he, of course, is a conceited prig."</p>
+
+<p>He paused when he reached the hill-top from which the sea came into
+view. The days were beginning to shorten a little. The light of the sun
+was less brilliant, and the green of the fields had given place to
+harvest gold.</p>
+
+<p>"It is curious that we should cling to life so much for its own sake,"
+he said, reflectively. "Curious that the law should label a man a
+criminal who takes his own life when he has no longer any use for it.
+What hypocrites men are, especially those who make our laws. The
+weaklings and worthless they preserve, the able-bodied and useful they
+destroy. The single life, however pitiful, must be protected. The crowd
+is mowed down like grass to gratify some coward's insatiable ambition.
+The creatures who talk about the glory of dying for one's country are
+careful to keep out of the danger line themselves. The man who fails,
+after an heroic struggle, and takes his own life rather than be a burden
+to others, they brand as a coward or dub insane; while he who grows rich
+by trafficking on the weakness or vices of his fellows is made a Right
+Honourable, or given a seat in the councils of the State. It is all very
+sickening, and I refuse to be bound by such traditional falsehood and
+hypocrisy."</p>
+
+<p>He hurried on at a more rapid rate, as if to get away from his thoughts,
+but his brain persisted in working <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> in the same groove. The possibility
+of failure obtruded itself with obstinate persistency.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm glad Muller does not doubt either my courage or my honour," he went
+on. "And really if I fail it will not matter to anyone but myself. I
+have no ties, neither father nor mother, brother nor sister, wife nor
+child. I am happy in that&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Then he moved to the side of the road for a closed landau drawn by a
+pair of horses to pass him.</p>
+
+<p>"Going to fetch the Hall people from the station very likely," he said
+to himself, and he turned and looked after the retreating vehicle.</p>
+
+<p>"I wonder if she will return?" and a far-away expression came into his
+eyes. "I should like to see her again," he went on, "she is wonderfully
+fresh and natural."</p>
+
+<p>For the rest of the way home he walked very slowly. Now and then he
+paused, and turned his head, and listened. But the sound of wheels,
+which he expected to hear, did not break the evening's stillness, nor
+did he see the face that he hoped to see.</p>
+
+<p>It was nearly a fortnight later that he went out one afternoon on the
+cliffs alone. A somewhat difficult and complicated problem had
+unexpectedly presented itself to him, and he fancied he would be better
+able to see his way through it in the open air than in his workshop or
+study. Generally speaking, he could think best on his feet, and the
+sights and sounds of nature, instead of distracting him, soothed him.</p>
+
+<p>It was a warm, drowsy afternoon. The wind slept, and a soft impalpable
+haze imparted a new mystery to the sea. The tide was coming in slowly
+and imperceptibly, and rippling like silver bells on the shingly beach.
+The distant landscape was an impressionist picture in which all the
+sharp outlines melted into space. The sunshine filtered through a veil
+of gauze.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> Half-way to Penwith Cove he sat down on a ledge of rock on
+the very edge of the cliff, and looked seaward. He saw nothing
+distinctly, heard no song of the sea. He was too intent on the problem
+that was baffling his brain.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly he started and opened his eyes wide. Was it a human voice he
+heard, or was it merely fancy? He looked round him swiftly in all
+directions, but no one was in sight. "It was only the cry of a sea-gull,
+I expect," he said to himself, and he half closed his eyes again. The
+next moment he was on his feet and staring round him in all directions.
+"Surely that was a cry for help," he said, and he looked over the edge
+of the cliff and swept with his eyes the narrow stretch of sand, but
+there was no one in sight in any direction.</p>
+
+<p>For a moment or two he stood irresolute, listening. "There it is again,"
+he said, with blanched cheeks, and he lay flat on the ground and dragged
+himself forward slowly till his head and shoulders overhung the cliff.</p>
+
+<p>"Help! oh, help!" came a feeble voice from the abyss below.</p>
+
+<p>"Where are you? What is the matter?" he called, searching in vain for
+any sign of life.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, save me!" was the quick response. "I cannot possibly hold on much
+longer."</p>
+
+<p>"Have you fallen over the cliff?" he called.</p>
+
+<p>"No, no. I tried to climb up, and I cannot get back again."</p>
+
+<p>"Then shut your eyes and hold tight," he called. "I'll be round in a few
+minutes."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, do be quick, for I'm getting faint."</p>
+
+<p>"If you faint you're lost," he called. "Hold on like grim death and
+don't look down. I'll be with you directly."</p>
+
+<p>It was a long way round by Penwith Cove, but there was no nearer way. He
+ran like a man pursued by <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> wild beasts. The path was narrow and uneven,
+and followed the irregularities of the cliffs. A dozen times he came
+within an ace of breaking his neck, but he managed to keep on his feet.
+The question of his own safety never once occurred to him. Someone was
+in deadly peril, and a moment later or earlier might be a matter of life
+or death.</p>
+
+<p>The path into the cove was by a series of zigzags; but he took a
+straight cut in most instances to the imminent risk of life and limb. A
+few cuts and bruises he did not mind. His clothes might not be fit to
+wear again. Tobogganning without a toboggan might not be elegant, but it
+was certainly exciting, and if it did nothing else it would find work
+for his tailor.</p>
+
+<p>He was never quite certain whether he reached the beach head foremost or
+feet foremost. He found himself stretched full length on the sand,
+bleeding from innumerable cuts and quite out of breath.</p>
+
+<p>There was no time, however, to make an inventory of his own hurts.
+Indeed, he was scarcely conscious that he had received any damage
+whatever. Picking himself up, he began to run with all his remaining
+strength. He limped a good deal, but he was not aware of it; neither did
+he make any attempt to pick his way. He swept eagerly the face of the
+cliff as he ran, and feared that he was too late.</p>
+
+<p>At length he caught a glimpse of something white perched high above the
+beach.</p>
+
+<p>"Good heavens; how did she get there?" he said to himself; and pausing
+for a moment he drew in a long breath, then shouted: "Hold tight, I'm
+coming!" though even as he spoke his heart failed him.</p>
+
+<p>How was he to get to her, and even if he succeeded in reaching her side,
+how was he to get her down? The face of the cliff was almost
+perpendicular, the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> footholds were few and treacherous. Empty-handed, he
+might climb up and back again without very much difficulty; but with a
+half-fainting woman in his arms the descent would be practically
+impossible.</p>
+
+<p>He was still running while these thoughts were passing through his mind,
+his breathing was laboured and painful, his bruised limbs were becoming
+stiff and obstinate.</p>
+
+<p>He came to a full stop at length, and the fear that had haunted him from
+first hearing the cry became a certainty.</p>
+
+<p>"Can you hold on a little longer?" he called.</p>
+
+<p>"I guess I'll have to try," came the cheery answer, though there was the
+sound of tears in her voice. It was evident she was making a desperate
+effort to keep up her courage.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't lose heart," he said, with a gasp, "and keep your eyes shut."</p>
+
+<p>Then he shut his teeth grimly and began the ascent. "I'll save her or
+die in the attempt," he said to himself, with a fierce and determined
+look in his eyes.</p>
+
+<p>Then something seemed to whisper in his ear: "Why trouble about a single
+life? One life more or less can make no difference. If people like to
+fling away their life in foolish adventures, let them do it; why should
+you worry?"</p>
+
+<p>But his philosophy found no response in his heart just then. His own
+life might be of little consequence, but this fair creature must be
+saved at all costs.</p>
+
+<p>He made his way up the face of the cliff surely and steadily. "It is
+easier than I thought," he said. Then he came to a sudden stop, while a
+groan escaped his lips.</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot do it," he gasped; "nobody can do it. Without ropes and
+ladders she is doomed." <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV</h2>
+
+<h3>PAYING THE PENALTY</h3>
+
+
+<p>When Madeline Grover got used to the cliffs they did not seem nearly so
+forbidding or dangerous as at the first. Exploring the caves and
+crannies for sea shells and lichen and gulls' eggs became a favourite
+pastime of hers. To stay within the precincts of Trewinion Park she
+declared was like being in prison. To wander across the level lawns, or
+through the woods by well-kept paths, was an exercise altogether too
+tame and unexciting. She loved something that had in it a spice of
+adventure. To do something that nobody else had ever done was very much
+more to her taste.</p>
+
+<p>Sir Charles took her to task gently on several occasions. It was not
+quite the proper thing to go out alone and unattended. She would need to
+put a curb on her exuberant and adventurous spirit. She would have to
+remember that she was no longer in America, where, in his judgment,
+girls had far too much freedom. She must learn to fall into English ways
+and customs, with a good deal more to the same effect.</p>
+
+<p>Madeline always listened patiently and good-humouredly to all Sir
+Charles had to say, and even promised him that she would be all he could
+desire; but she generally forgot both the lecture and the promise five
+minutes later. She had been used all her life to go her own way. At
+home, in America, she received her own friends of both sexes without
+reference to her father or mother. A liberty of action <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> had been allowed
+her that seemed almost shocking to Sir Charles and Lady Tregony, and now
+that she had come to live in England for an indefinite period it was all
+but impossible for her to drop into English ways at once.</p>
+
+<p>As a matter of fact, she did not try very much. She told Beryl Tregony
+that she had no desire to be a tame kitten, and since she was
+responsible to no one, she followed in the main the prompting of her own
+heart.</p>
+
+<p>It was by no means difficult to slip away unobserved, and to be absent
+for hours on the stretch without being missed. She had her own rooms at
+the big house, and often when she was supposed to be quietly reading
+somewhere, she was out on the cliffs or down on the shore searching for
+rare flowers or shells, or else talking to the fishermen.</p>
+
+<p>She found life terribly dull after her return from London. Yet, on the
+whole, she was not unhappy. The great sweep of the Atlantic had an
+unfailing attraction for her. The cliffs were glorious, and offered
+infinite scope for adventure. While the people of St.
+Gaved&mdash;particularly the fishermen&mdash;caught her fancy amazingly, and she
+became a prime favourite with them all.</p>
+
+<p>Here was a young lady of the upper circle, a distant relative of the
+squire, who was not in the least exclusive or proud; who went in and out
+among the ordinary toiling folk as though she was one of them, and who
+had always a smile and a cheery word for the humblest. It was so
+different from the Tregony tradition, that it took their honest hearts
+by storm.</p>
+
+<p>Rufus Sterne considered himself particularly unfortunate that when she
+came into St. Gaved he always missed her. Three or four times he heard
+of her being in the town&mdash;it was really only a big village, but the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> St.
+Gavedites all spoke of it as a town; but he was either in his workshop
+or away directing the operations of others; consequently, she came and
+went without giving him a chance of renewing their acquaintance.</p>
+
+<p>"Not that it mattered," he said to himself. She was nothing to him. She
+belonged to a circle far removed from his. Yet for some reason he was
+curious to look again into her bright, laughing eyes, and listen to her
+naive and unconventional talk. Moreover, when he heard people talking
+about her, and praising her good looks and charming freeness of manner,
+he had a feeling that he had been cheated out of something to which he
+was justly entitled.</p>
+
+<p>What added to the interest excited by the pretty young American was the
+fact that nobody had been able to find out the exact relationship in
+which she stood to the Tregony family. Neither had anybody been able to
+discover why she had come, or how long she intended to stay.</p>
+
+<p>Any number of guesses had been hazarded, but they were only guesses at
+best. Some said she had been sent to England by her parents simply to
+learn society ways and manners. Others, that her parents were dead, and
+that her mother being related to Sir Charles, the latter had taken her
+out of charity. Mrs. Tuke, who, in the one glimpse she got of her, had
+been greatly impressed by the richness of her attire, ventured the
+opinion that she was an heiress in her own right, and that Sir Charles,
+who was not noted for his generosity, had not undertaken to be her
+guardian for nothing. But all these guesses lacked the essential thing,
+and that was authority. Sir Charles was as close as an oyster about his
+own family affairs. Moreover, he would no more think of talking to
+anyone in St. Gaved about his visitors than of taking a journey <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> to the
+moon. And if he thought they were so impertinent as to desire to know,
+that would be a double reason why he should, under no circumstances,
+allude to the matter.</p>
+
+<p>Madeline might have given the information desired if her new
+acquaintances had had the courage to question her. But they were a
+little shy in her presence as yet; in some instances they were
+completely over-awed. She was so bright, so quick, so confident, that she
+almost took their breath away. They felt like fools in her presence.</p>
+
+<p>This was how matters stood when Rufus discovered her on a narrow ledge
+of rock high up the cliffs, unable either to advance or retreat. She had
+slipped away from the Hall unobserved after going to her own room
+ostensibly to write letters. Consequently, she had not been missed, and
+was not likely to be until the family met for dinner.</p>
+
+<p>As usual the sea had been "calling her," as she expressed it; and after
+a short ramble on the beach she turned her attention to the serrated
+cliffs that loomed high above her. A sea-gull first attracted her
+attention, then a large patch of lichen, then a path that seemed to
+zig-zag to the top of the cliff.</p>
+
+<p>Wise people think first and act afterwards, but wisdom comes with
+experience and experience with age. Madeline was quite young, and made
+no pretension to wisdom, hence she frequently reversed the recognised
+order, and acted first and did the thinking afterwards.</p>
+
+<p>Seeing the path she began to climb. It was an exhilarating ascent. Had
+it been free from danger it would have been humdrum and fatiguing. And
+yet it was neither so dangerous nor so difficult as to frighten her
+away. Indeed, the higher she got, the less dangerous it seemed, and the
+more she was fascinated by the adventure. She did not think of looking <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span>
+back. Had she done so she might have been warned in time.</p>
+
+<p>Looking up, the rim of the cliff came perceptibly nearer, and she
+conceived the wild idea of reaching the top. Why not? Because nobody had
+ever done it that was no proof that it could not be done. If fifty feet
+could be scaled, why not a hundred? Besides, it would be an achievement
+to be proud of. If she could do what never had been done before she
+would become something of a hero in her own eyes, and perhaps in the
+eyes of other people.</p>
+
+<p>The path took a horizontal turn at length along the uneven face of the
+cliff. She was higher up than she knew, and the foothold was less secure
+than she suspected. It was all over in a moment. She had not time even
+to scream; before even her thoughts could take shape she was brought up
+with a jerk, and when she dared turn her head she discovered that she
+was perched on a narrow ledge of rock with the cliff shelving away
+underneath her. For a moment she felt sick and faint, and was in
+imminent danger of falling off the ledge, which would mean almost
+certain death.</p>
+
+<p>After a while she made an effort to regain her feet and reach the path
+from which she had slipped, but almost with the first movement her head
+swam and a mist came up before her eyes that blotted out everything.
+There was nothing for it, therefore, but to remain perfectly still until
+she had recovered her nerve.</p>
+
+<p>But every minute seemed an hour as she lay perched on that dangerous
+ledge, and yet every time she opened her eyes and looked into the
+yawning gulf below, her heart failed her, and she became more and more
+convinced that she would never get down alive. Instead of her nerve
+steadying she got increasingly excited and terrified.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>She had plenty of time for reflection now, but her reflections brought
+her no satisfaction. She discovered&mdash;what most people discover sooner or
+later&mdash;that it is easy to be wise after the event.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, how foolish I have been," she said to herself. "Why did I refuse to
+take advice? Sir Charles warned me, and that handsome young man I met on
+the cliffs told me how dangerous they were. Now I am paying the penalty
+of my foolishness and obstinacy."</p>
+
+<p>She became so terrified at last that she screamed for help at the top of
+her voice, but the only answer that came was the weird and plaintive cry
+of the gulls startled from their perches.</p>
+
+<p>She began to wonder, at length, how long her strength would hold out,
+and whether, if consciousness left her, she would roll off into
+eternity. The ledge was so narrow that she dared not move in any
+direction, and she was becoming stiff and cramped from remaining so long
+in one position.</p>
+
+<p>For the most part she kept her eyes tightly shut, and tried to forget
+the yawning gulf beneath her. Every time she looked down her head grew
+dizzy. It scarcely seemed possible to her that she had climbed to such a
+height.</p>
+
+<p>She began to count her heart-beats so that she might get some conception
+of the flight of time. The Tregonys dined at half-past seven; until that
+hour the chances were she would not be missed. Then a search would be
+made through the house and grounds&mdash;that would take up the best part of
+an hour. By the time anybody reached the cliffs it would be well on to
+nine o'clock, and too dark to see a single object.</p>
+
+<p>"I shall never hold out till then," she said to herself; "never! I
+believe I am slipping nearer the edge all the time. I wonder if the fall
+will kill me outright?" <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>She clutched at the rough wall of rock with desperation, and at length
+found a narrow crevice into which she thrust her hand and held on with
+the tenacity of despair. The fear of falling off the ledge was less for
+a little while, but in time her arm and hand began to ache intolerably,
+and the old terror came back with redoubled force. So appalling was the
+situation that she was severely tempted to end it at once and for ever.
+The deep below fascinated while it terrified. She shrank back with
+horror from the brink of the ledge, and yet the abyss seemed to draw her
+like a magnet. If she opened her eyes she felt certain that no power of
+will she possessed would keep her from falling over.</p>
+
+<p>She called at intervals for help, but her voice became as feeble as that
+of a tired child. Then suddenly the blood began to leap in her veins and
+her heart to throb with a new hope. From the heights above an answering
+voice came to her cry&mdash;a strong, resolute voice that seemed to beat back
+her fears and to assure her of deliverance. She recognised the voice in
+a moment, and the warm blood surged in a torrent to her neck and face.</p>
+
+<p>She could be patient now. She lay quite still and waited. How her
+deliverance was to be effected she did not know. She did not trouble to
+debate the question. She gave herself up unconsciously to a stronger
+will and a stronger personality. He had heard her call and <i>he</i> was
+coming to save her.</p>
+
+<p>Who the <i>he</i> was she did not know. She had seen him only once. She did
+not even know his name. But she felt instinctively that he was a brave
+man. He had a strong face, a stern yet tender mouth, and kind and
+sympathetic eyes.</p>
+
+<p>The task might be difficult, but, of course, he would succeed. He was
+strong of limb as well as resolute in <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> purpose. Moreover, a face like
+his bespoke a resourceful mind. He was no common man. She felt that the
+moment she saw him; her instinct told her also that he was an honourable
+man, or she would never have dared to speak to him. Women know without
+being told when they are in the presence of bad men.</p>
+
+<p>She had thought of him scores of times since their one and only meeting.
+Had wondered who he was and what he was, and had speculated on the
+chances of meeting him again. He was the only man she had met since her
+arrival in England who had impressed her. She had enjoyed her
+conversations with the fishermen and the farmers and the small
+shopkeepers, had sampled the curate and the vicar and the few county
+people who had called at the Hall; but her second thought and her third
+thought had been given to the lonely man who sat on the cliffs, with his
+big dreamy eyes fixed on the sunset.</p>
+
+<p>She was glad for some reason that it was he who had found her, and not
+Sir Charles. Sir Charles would fume and scold and declare there was no
+possible way of saving her. The "lonely man" might not talk very much,
+but he would act.</p>
+
+<p>It seemed a long time since he had responded to her cry, but she was not
+in the least impatient. Confidence was coming steadily back into her
+heart, and the fascination of the abyss was slowly passing away. She did
+not dare open her eyes yet. She would wait till the stranger called her
+again. Her hand and arm were very cramped; she was uncomfortably near
+the lip of the ledge. Her strength&mdash;in spite of the new hope&mdash;was a
+steadily diminishing quantity, but she was quite sure she would be able
+to hold on a good many minutes yet.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Then clear and distinct came the voice again&mdash;from below this time,
+instead of from above. How wildly her heart throbbed in spite of all her
+efforts to be calm, but she flung her answer back as cheerily as
+possible. She would not make herself appear a greater coward than she
+really was.</p>
+
+<p>"How did you get there?" The question was abrupt, and the voice sounded
+almost close to her ears.</p>
+
+<p>"My foot slipped and I fell," she replied.</p>
+
+<p>"You fell?" he questioned, in a tone of incredulity, and he swept the
+face of the cliff above her.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! I see," he went on a moment later. "You took a path further to the
+south."</p>
+
+<p>"Cannot you reach me?" she called with an undertone of anxiety in her
+voice.</p>
+
+<p>For a moment he did not answer. He was anxious not to discourage her,
+and yet he could see no chance of getting her down alive.</p>
+
+<p>"Can you hold on much longer?" he asked at length.</p>
+
+<p>"Not much," she replied, frankly. "I guess I'm near the end."</p>
+
+<p>"No, don't say that," he said, encouragingly; "keep your heart up a
+little longer. I must try another tack."</p>
+
+<p>"You cannot reach me?" the question ended almost in a cry.</p>
+
+<p>"Not from this point," he answered, cheerfully. "But we've not got to
+the end of all things yet," and he began to retrace his steps.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you leaving me?" she called, feebly.</p>
+
+<p>"Never," he answered, and there was something in his tone that made her
+heart leap wildly.</p>
+
+<p>"I see the path you took," he said a moment later, but though he spoke
+cheerfully he had no real hope of saving her.</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V</h2>
+
+<h3>A PERILOUS TASK</h3>
+
+
+<p>Rufus reached a point at length from which he was able to look down on
+the prostrate figure of Madeline Grover. She was lying almost flat on
+her face, with her right hand thrust into a cleft of the rock.</p>
+
+<p>For several minutes no word had passed between them. She was afraid to
+ask any more questions lest she should hear from his lips that her case
+was hopeless. He was afraid to buoy her up with empty words that would
+end in nothing.</p>
+
+<p>She could hear distinctly the sound of his footsteps as he threaded his
+way in and out among the pinnacles of rock, she could even hear his
+breathing at times. She knew when he stood above her without being told.</p>
+
+<p>That there was peril in his enterprise she knew. He was risking his life
+to save hers. He, a stranger, upon whom she had not the smallest claim.
+It was a brave and generous thing to do, and she began to doubt whether
+she ought to allow him to take such risk.</p>
+
+<p>His life was of infinitely greater value than hers&mdash;at least, so she
+told herself. He was a man and might accomplish something great for the
+race. She was only a girl, and girls were plentiful, and a good many of
+them useless, and she was not at all sure that she did not belong to the
+latter class. At any rate, she had never done anything yet, had as a
+matter of fact, never been expected to do anything, and if she lived
+till she was a hundred she was not sure that she would ever be able to <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span>
+do anything that would be of the least benefit to the world.</p>
+
+<p>She was the first to break the silence. "Don't risk your life for my
+sake," she said, and she managed to keep all trace of emotion out of her
+voice.</p>
+
+<p>"And why not?" he asked.</p>
+
+<p>"I am not worth it," she replied. "I had no business to get into
+danger."</p>
+
+<p>"You did not know the risks you ran," he replied, kindly.</p>
+
+<p>"I might have known; I had been warned often enough."</p>
+
+<p>"We have all to learn by experience," he said, with a short laugh. "Now
+let us get to work."</p>
+
+<p>"What do you want me to do?" she asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Get on to your feet, if possible. Don't open your eyes, and keep your
+face towards the cliff. Do you understand?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I understand, and I will try."</p>
+
+<p>"Take your time over it," he said, cheerfully. "I expect you feel pretty
+stiff, don't you? Slip your right hand up the crevice. I will be eyes
+for you, and tell you what to do."</p>
+
+<p>She obeyed him implicitly. His firm, resolute voice gave her courage.
+The nearness of his presence imparted strength and determination. If she
+felt a coward she would not let him see it. He might not feel any great
+admiration for her, that was not at all likely, since she had acted so
+foolishly, but she hoped he would not feel contempt.</p>
+
+<p>She stood at length upright with her face against the cliff.</p>
+
+<p>"Now don't open your eyes," he said, "and please do what I tell you."</p>
+
+<p>"I am in your hands," she replied.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"You will be directly, I hope," he answered, with a laugh, "but in the
+meanwhile move slowly in this direction."</p>
+
+<p>"That's right," he continued, a little later. "Come on, I will tell you
+when to stop."</p>
+
+<p>She sidled on steadily inch by inch, while he watched her with
+fast-beating heart.</p>
+
+<p>"That will do," he said at length. "Now reach out your left hand as far
+as possible."</p>
+
+<p>She obeyed at once, and a moment later he held it in his own firm grasp.</p>
+
+<p>The colour came into her face when she felt his fingers close round
+hers, and her heart beat perceptibly faster.</p>
+
+<p>"So far, so good," he said, cheerily. "Now the next step is not with
+your hand, but with your foot. It will be a very long stride for you,
+but you've got to do it. Don't open your eyes. And in the first place
+lean as far as you dare in this direction."</p>
+
+<p>She obeyed him instantly. "That will do," he called. "Now just on a
+level with your chin is a hole in the rock. Get your right hand into it,
+if you can, and hold tight."</p>
+
+<p>"That's right," he said, brightly. "Now for the long stride."</p>
+
+<p>She began very slowly and carefully. Her heart was thumping as though it
+would come through her side. She knew that beneath her was empty space.</p>
+
+<p>"That's right," he went on, "just a little farther&mdash;another inch&mdash;a
+quarter of an inch more; there you are! Don't speak and don't open your
+eyes. When you are ready let me know. Push your foot a little farther on
+the ledge if you can&mdash;that is it. It will be a big effort for you, but I
+have you fast on this side. Bend your body forward as much as you can.
+When you are ready, say so, and give a lurch in this direction,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> letting
+go with your right hand at the same moment. Do you understand?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes." The answer came in a whisper.</p>
+
+<p>It was an awful moment for both. She drew a long breath, and cried
+"now." For a second she seemed poised in mid-air.</p>
+
+<p>"Lean forward," he almost shrieked.</p>
+
+<p>She clutched eagerly at the bare rocks in front of her, but there was
+nothing she could grasp.</p>
+
+<p>Rufus felt his heart stop.</p>
+
+<p>"Open your eyes," he cried, "and spring." It was her last chance, the
+last chance for both, in fact, for if she fell she would drag him with
+her.</p>
+
+<p>Her confidence in him was absolute. She did in a moment what she was
+told. He pulled her towards him with a jerk that nearly dislocated her
+shoulder. Then both his arms closed round her, and he sank back into a
+deep and safe recess behind a large pinnacle of rock.</p>
+
+<p>For several minutes she lost consciousness. Her head drooped upon his
+shoulder, her cheeks became as pale as the dead.</p>
+
+<p>He would have given all he possessed at that moment to have kissed her
+lips. It was the strongest temptation that ever came to him. It was the
+first time in his experience that so beautiful a face had been so close
+to his own, and the impulse to claim toll was all but irresistible; but
+he fought the temptation, and conquered. He felt that it would be a
+cowardly thing to do.</p>
+
+<p>His reverence for women was one of the strongest traits in his
+character. Felix Muller had told him more than once in his cynical way
+that he reverenced women because he did not know them. Rufus admitted
+that it might be so; but his reverence remained. It was <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> nearly all that
+was left of his early religious faith&mdash;a remnant of a complicated creed,
+but it influenced his life more profoundly than he knew.</p>
+
+<p>He watched the colour come slowly back into Madeline's pale face with
+infinite interest. How beautiful she was, how finely pencilled were her
+eyebrows, how perfect the contour of her dimpled chin. Her hair had
+become loose, and a long rich tress sported itself over the sleeve of
+his coat. The slanting sunlight played upon it, and turned it to bronze,
+and then to gold.</p>
+
+<p>Her eyelids trembled after a while, then she opened them slowly, and
+looked up into his face, with a wondering expression, then her lips
+parted in a smile. A moment later she sat up, while a wave of crimson
+mounted suddenly to her face.</p>
+
+<p>"I am so sorry to have given you so much trouble," she said, hurriedly.</p>
+
+<p>"Let us not talk about that until we get safe down from this height," he
+said, with a smile.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! I was forgetting," she said, with some little confusion. "But the
+rest is comparatively easy, isn't it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Comparatively," he replied. "But there are several very awkward places
+to be negotiated."</p>
+
+<p>"It was wicked of me to put any one to so much trouble and risk. I do
+hope you will forgive me," and she looked appealingly up into his face.</p>
+
+<p>"I hope you will not talk any more about trouble," he answered. "To have
+served you will be abundant compensation."</p>
+
+<p>"It is kind of you to say nice things," she answered, looking at the
+yellow sand below; "but I feel very angry with myself all the same. You
+told me when we met on the top weeks and weeks ago that the cliffs <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> were
+very dangerous. I don't know what possessed me to think I could climb to
+the top."</p>
+
+<p>"You are not the first to make the attempt," he answered. "A visitor was
+killed at this very point only last summer."</p>
+
+<p>"A girl?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, a young man."</p>
+
+<p>"I shall never attempt to do anything so foolish again, and I shall
+never forget that but for you I should have lost my life. It was surely
+a kind providence that sent you; don't you think so?"</p>
+
+<p>"Do you think so?" he questioned, with a smile.</p>
+
+<p>"I would like to think so, anyhow," she answered, seriously. "And yet it
+sounds conceited, doesn't it? If I were anybody of importance it would
+be different. I don't wonder you smile at the idea of providence
+interfering to save a chit of a girl after all."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know that I smiled at the idea," he answered, turning away
+his head. "If there is any interference or any interposition in human
+affairs, why should not you be singled out as well as anybody else?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you see, it would presuppose, wouldn't it? that I was a person of
+some value, or of some use in the world?"</p>
+
+<p>"You may be of very great use in the world."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! now you flatter me. What can an ordinary girl do?"</p>
+
+<p>"I do not know," he answered. "We none of us can tell what lies hidden
+in the chambers of destiny. You may be&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"What?"</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot say."</p>
+
+<p>"But you were going to mention something."</p>
+
+<p>"Second thoughts are sometimes best," and he turned his head, and smiled
+frankly in her face.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Now you are tantalising," she said, with a laugh; "but I will not find
+fault with you. I cannot forget how much you have risked for my sake."</p>
+
+<p>"Had we not better try and complete the journey?" he questioned. "We are
+not out of the wood yet, and the tide is coming in rapidly."</p>
+
+<p>She rose slowly to her feet, and steadied herself against the cliff. She
+was very stiff and cramped, and a good deal bruised.</p>
+
+<p>He followed her example with a hardly suppressed groan.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you hurt?" she asked, looking at him eagerly.</p>
+
+<p>"Not at all," he answered, gaily. "A few scratches, but nothing to speak
+of. Now let me walk in front, and you can lean on my shoulder."</p>
+
+<p>Neither spoke again for a long time. Rufus picked his way with great
+caution, and she was too frightened to run any more unnecessary risks.</p>
+
+<p>They were within a dozen feet or so of the beach, and he with his back
+to the sea was helping her down a slippery bit of rock, when suddenly a
+stone gave way beneath his foot, and he was precipitated to the bottom.
+Feeling himself going he let go her hand, or he would have dragged her
+with him. With a little cry of alarm she sat down to save herself, while
+he disappeared from sight.</p>
+
+<p>She was on her feet, however, in an instant, and scrambled quickly down
+to his side. He was lying on a broad slab of rock with his right leg
+doubled under him.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you hurt?" she asked, eagerly and excitedly.</p>
+
+<p>"A little," he answered with a pitiful smile.</p>
+
+<p>She came and knelt by his side, and took his hand in hers. "Cannot I
+help you to get up?" she inquired.</p>
+
+<p>"I am not sure," he said, pulling a very wry face.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> "I'm very much
+afraid I shall have to lie here until you can get assistance. You see it
+is my turn now."</p>
+
+<p>"But what is the matter?" she asked, eagerly.</p>
+
+<p>"I fear my leg is broken," he said, knitting his brows, as if in pain.
+"Something went with a snap, and I'm afraid to move."</p>
+
+<p>"But you cannot lie here," she said, "for the tide is coming in. Oh! let
+me help you to get up. Do try your best."</p>
+
+<p>"I will, for your sake," he answered, and he smiled at her in a way she
+never forgot.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I shall never forgive myself," she said, chokingly, and the tears
+filled her eyes, and rolled down her cheeks. "All this comes of my
+stupid folly!"</p>
+
+<p>"No, you must not blame yourself," he insisted. "You could not help the
+stone giving way. Now give me your hand. How strong you are! There, I'm
+in a perpendicular position once more," but while he spoke he became
+deathly pale, and the perspiration stood in big drops on his brow.</p>
+
+<p>"Lean on me," she said; "lean all your weight on me."</p>
+
+<p>He smiled pitifully, but he could not trust himself to speak.</p>
+
+<p>He put his right arm about her neck, and used her as a crutch. This was
+no time to stand on ceremony. But the pain was too intolerable to move
+more than a few steps. With a groan he fell against the sloping foot of
+the cliff. "You must leave me here," he said, with a gasp.</p>
+
+<p>"Leave you here?" she cried. "Why you will drown."</p>
+
+<p>"We shall both drown if you stay," he answered.</p>
+
+<p>"It doesn't matter about me a bit," she wailed, and she brushed away the
+blinding tears with her hand. "But you&mdash;you&mdash;oh! you must be saved at
+all costs." <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps, if you make haste you will be able to get help before it is
+too late," he said.</p>
+
+<p>"But how? Oh! I will do anything for you. Tell me what I can do for the
+best."</p>
+
+<p>"Make your way into town as fast as you can. Tell the first man you meet
+how I am situated. Let one party come round here with a boat, and
+another party come over the cliffs with a stretcher. Everything depends
+on the time it takes."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! I will fly all the distance," she said, with liquid eyes; "but who
+shall I say is hurt? I do not even know your name."</p>
+
+<p>"Rufus Sterne," he answered. "Everybody in St. Gaved knows me."</p>
+
+<p>She looked at him for a moment, pityingly, pleadingly, then rushed away
+over the level sand in the direction of Penwith Cove. She forgot her
+bruises and stiffness, and did not heed that every step was a stab of
+pain.</p>
+
+<p>Rufus Sterne was lying helpless&mdash;helpless because he had risked his life
+to save her from the consequences of her folly. And all the while the
+tide was coming in, and he would be watching it rising higher and
+higher, and if help did not reach him before the cold salt water swept
+over his face, he would be drowned, and she would be the cause of his
+death.</p>
+
+<p>How she climbed the zig-zag path out of Penwith Cove she never knew. She
+ran and ran until she felt as though she could not go a step farther
+even to save her life, and if her own life only had been at stake she
+would have lain down on the cliffs and taken her chance.</p>
+
+<p>But it was <i>his</i> life that was in jeopardy, and to her excited
+imagination his life seemed of more value than the lives of a hundred
+ordinary people.</p>
+
+<p>She had read of heroes in her girlhood days, and thrilled over the story
+of their exploits, but no hero <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> of fact or fiction had ever so touched
+her heart as this lonely man who was lying helpless at the foot of the
+cliffs, watching with patient and suffering eyes the inflowing of the
+tide.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! he must be saved," she kept saying to herself, "for he deserves to
+live. And I must be the means of saving him."</p>
+
+<p>She stumbled into St. Gaved rather than ran. Her hat had disappeared,
+her glorious hair fell in billows on her shoulders and down her back,
+her eyes were wild and tearless, her lips wide apart, her breath came
+and went in painful gasps. She nearly stumbled over one or two children,
+and then she pulled up suddenly in front of a policeman.</p>
+
+<p>Constable Greensplat stared at her as though she had escaped from Bodmin
+lunatic asylum.</p>
+
+<p>"There's&mdash;not&mdash;a&mdash;moment&mdash;to&mdash;be&mdash;lost," she began, and she brought out
+the words in jerks. "Rufus Sterne is lying with a broken leg at the foot
+of the cliffs half-way between here and Penwith Cove."</p>
+
+<p>Then she staggered to a lamp-post and put her arm round it. A small
+group of people gathered in a moment.</p>
+
+<p>"How did he break his leg?" Greensplat asked, putting on an official
+air.</p>
+
+<p>"He slipped over a rock," she answered; "but there's no time for
+explanations. The tide is coming in, and if he's not rescued quickly
+he'll be drowned. He told me to ask that one party go round with a boat,
+and the other go over the cliffs with a&mdash;a stret&mdash;&mdash;" But she did not
+finish the sentence. The light of consciousness went out like the flame
+of a candle before a sudden gust of wind. She reached out her hands
+blindly and appealingly, staggered toward the nearest house, and before
+anyone could reach her side she fell with a thud, and lay in a dead
+faint on the floor.</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI</h2>
+
+<h3>FAITH AND PHILOSOPHY</h3>
+
+
+<p>Rufus watched the rising tide with as much composure as he could
+command. It was the first time in his life that his philosophy had been
+put to the test, and the strain brought it near to breaking-point. He
+found it easy enough to pick holes in the creed in which he had been
+reared, and had rather prided himself that he had shaken himself free
+from what he called the bondage of ecclesiastical superstition. But
+there was something that still remained and which he was scarcely
+conscious of until now&mdash;something which he could not very well shape
+into words; something for which he could find no name.</p>
+
+<p>His landlady, Mrs. Tuke, called him an unbeliever, and he accepted the
+description without demur; but a negative implies a positive. Unbelief
+in one direction means belief in the opposite. He certainly did not
+believe the dogmas his grandfather insisted upon with so much passion
+and vehemence. He had laughed to scorn the thunderings of the little
+Bethel to which he had been compelled to listen as a lad. He had torn
+the swaddling clothes of orthodoxy into tatters, and cast them from him
+as though they were unclean. He had wandered for three or four years in
+the realm of pure negation, scorning all creeds and denying all
+religion. Yet now, when life seemed narrowing to its final close, he
+discovered as in a sudden accession of light, that the last word on the
+subject had not been spoken.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>For the first time in his life he realised that religion is not a creed,
+nor an ordinance; that it is not something apprehended by the exercise
+of the mind, and that it is only remotely related to ecclesiasticism.
+Its roots went deeper. It is instinct; it is of the very substance of
+life.</p>
+
+<p>He had drawn himself as far up the shelving cliff as possible, though
+every movement was torture, and with steady eyes he watched the tide
+rising higher and higher. There was something fascinating in its steady
+approach. It was not an angry tide, breaking and foaming and struggling
+to reach its prey. It came on with slow and tranquil movement. There was
+scarcely a ripple on its surface. Far out in the line of the sinking sun
+it was like a great sheet of gold. Its voice was a low monotone, as it
+washed the pebbles in a slow and languid way. Here and there it raised
+itself like a sleeping monster taking in a long breath, but the swell
+never broke into sound or foam.</p>
+
+<p>And yet to Rufus Sterne it never seemed more relentlessly cruel. Its
+stealthy creep and crawl seemed positively vindictive. Its voice was no
+longer the tinkle of silver bells, but the cynical laughter of fiends.</p>
+
+<p>He made a desperate effort to pull himself still higher up the cliff,
+but that proved to be impossible. He could only lie still and wait. When
+the tide reached its flood it would be a dozen feet above where he lay.
+Would he sleep soundly or would dreams disturb his rest?</p>
+
+<p>He had very little hope of being rescued alive. It was a long way round
+by Penwith Cove to St. Gaved, and even if the beautiful girl he had
+rescued&mdash;he did not know her name&mdash;ran all the distance, and men with
+the stretcher ran all the way back, it seemed scarcely possible that
+they could reach him in time.</p>
+
+<p>He would like to live. The desire for life was never stronger than now.
+It was not so much that he was <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> afraid of death&mdash;he was a <i>little</i>
+afraid of it, he was compelled to be honest with himself&mdash;but two things
+seemed to intensify his desire for life. The first was his great
+invention, which was now in process of being perfected; and the other
+was&mdash;&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>Well the other was an indefinable something which he was not able to
+shape into words. Something vaguely connected with the sweet-eyed girl
+whom he had that afternoon rescued from death. He did not understand
+what subtle influence had been set in motion; did not comprehend the
+nature of the spell, but the fact remained that the world seemed a
+brighter place since she came to the Hall, and life a richer
+inheritance.</p>
+
+<p>It was not a matter that he could discuss even with himself. It was too
+shadowy and elusive. To attempt to reason the matter out would be to
+destroy a sweet illusion&mdash;for that it was illusion he had no doubt. And
+yet the illusion, or the impression, or the sensation, or whatever it
+might be, was so delightful that he had not the courage to touch it.</p>
+
+<p>Life had not possessed so many pleasures for him that he could afford to
+scorch with the white flame of logic even the faintest and most shadowy
+of them. He had had a hard and unloved childhood, a youth from which all
+sympathy had been excluded, and a manhood of badly compensated toil and
+unrealised ambition. And now when life's stern and dusty way seemed
+opening out into the green pastures of success, and there had strayed
+across his path a sweet-eyed stranger whose very smile breathed hope and
+peace, it was not at all surprising that the desire for life burned with
+an intenser flame than ever.</p>
+
+<p>He counted his heart beats, and watched the tide creeping higher and
+higher. The nearer it came the swifter appeared to be its approach. The
+gold on the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> sea was giving place to grey, the fire was dying out of the
+Western sky, a chill wind sprang up and whispered in the crevices of the
+cliffs. The gulls circled high above his head, and cried in melancholy
+tones. He shivered a little, perhaps with fear, perhaps because the
+evening was growing cold.</p>
+
+<p>Did he regret saving the stranger's life and losing his own in doing it?
+On the whole, he did not think he did. It was surely a noble thing to
+save a human life.</p>
+
+<p>"But why?" The old question pulled him up with a suddenness that almost
+startled him.</p>
+
+<p>"Wherein lay the nobleness?" Nature set no store on human
+life&mdash;earthquake, tempest, pestilence, famine, swept human beings into
+the jaws of death by the thousand and tens of thousands. And mankind was
+as contemptuous of human life as nature herself. It's professed regard
+was but a hollow sham.</p>
+
+<p>Was not the first law of life that every man should look after himself?
+What had he gained by the sacrifice? What had the world gained? Was not
+the life sacrificed of infinitely greater value than the life saved? His
+great discovery would now never see the light, the toil of years would
+be wasted, the travail of his brain would end in darkness and silence,
+and in return a foolish girl would dance her heedless way through life.</p>
+
+<p>But in the great crises of life logic perpetually fails, and philosophy
+proves but a broken staff. Neither logic nor philosophy comforted Rufus
+in that solemn and trying hour. He could not reason it out, but deep
+down in his soul he felt that death was far less terrible than being a
+coward. Better die in the service of others than live merely for self.</p>
+
+<p>The tide had reached his feet, and was beginning to creep round his
+legs. He drew up the foot that he still had the use of, for the water
+felt icy cold. All <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> the gold had gone out of the sky by this time, and
+the sea was of a leaden hue. Moreover the monster seemed as if waking
+from his sleep. Here and there the long swell broke into a line of foam,
+and the waves began to leap over the low-lying rocks.</p>
+
+<p>He began to talk to himself; perhaps to keep his courage up, for it was
+very weird and lonely lying under the dark cliffs, while the cruel sea
+crept steadily higher.</p>
+
+<p>"I wonder if dying will be so very painful," he said. "I wonder if the
+struggle will last long, and when it is over, and I am lying here with
+the cold waves surging above me, what then? Of course, I shall know
+nothing about it, for there is nothing beyond. Science can find nothing,
+and pure reason rejects the suggestion. I shall be as the rocks and the
+seaweed."</p>
+
+<p>He shuddered painfully and tried to drag himself higher up the cliff,
+then with a groan he laid his head against the rock and closed his eyes.</p>
+
+<p>It was foolish to struggle. He had better meet his fate like a man. The
+tide was rising round him rapidly now. The cold seemed to be numbing his
+heart. The struggle could not be long at the most.</p>
+
+<p>"She will think of me," he said to himself, and a smile played round the
+corners of his mouth. "I have earned her gratitude and she is not likely
+to forget. Not that her gratitude can do me any good. And yet&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>He opened his eyes again and looked out over the darkening sea.</p>
+
+<p>"If one were only sure," he said, with a gasp. "Why does my nature
+protest so violently? Why this instinctive looking beyond if there is
+nothing beyond which can respond to the look? Why this longing for
+reunion, for vision, for immortality?"</p>
+
+<p>His lips moved though no sound escaped them. Creeds might be false, and
+yet religion might be true.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> The Church might be a sham, and yet the
+Kingdom of God a reality. Prayer might be degraded or its meaning
+misunderstood, and yet it might be as natural and as necessary as
+breathing. Philosophy might be an interesting hone on which to sharpen
+one's wits, but utterly useless in the crucial moments of life.</p>
+
+<p>He swept the horizon with a despairing glance, then closed his eyes once
+more.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Meanwhile St. Gaved was in a state of considerable excitement. Madeline
+Grover's breathless story had set every one on the <i>qui vive</i>, and for
+several minutes everyone was wondering what all the rest would do.</p>
+
+<p>Several clumsy, though willing pairs of hands carried the unconscious
+girl into Mrs. Tuke's cottage, which happened to be the nearest at hand.
+The policeman hurried down to the quay, to convey the news to the
+fishermen, after which he made for the police-station and fished out
+from a lumber room an antiquated ambulance. All this took considerable
+time, and Madeline had nearly recovered consciousness again when the
+little procession started out over the cliffs in the direction of
+Penwith Cove.</p>
+
+<p>Madeline might have remained in a state of faint much longer than she
+did, but for Mrs. Tuke's extreme measures. Sousing the patient's face
+with cold water appeared to produce no effect. But when she placed a
+saucer of burnt or burning feathers under her nostrils the result was
+almost instantaneous.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Juliff, who assisted in the operation, declared it was enough to
+make a dead man sneeze, and there was reason for the remark. Madeline
+came to herself with violent gaspings and splutterings, and stared round
+her with a look of terror and perplexity in her eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"There, my dear, I hope you feel better now?" <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> Mrs. Tuke said,
+encouragingly, giving the patient another sniff of the pungent odour.</p>
+
+<p>"Better," Madeline gasped. "Why you suffocate me," and she made an
+attempt to reach the door.</p>
+
+<p>"No, no, don't try to walk," Mrs. Tuke said, soothingly. "You can't do
+no good to nobody by being flustered."</p>
+
+<p>"But Mr. Sterne is drowning by slow inches," she cried, "and I
+promised&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, my dear," Mrs. Tuke interrupted, "and everything is being done as
+can be done. I'm terribly upset myself. But I always feared evil would
+befall him."</p>
+
+<p>"Why did you fear that?" Madeline asked, in a tone of surprise.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, my dear, it's a serious thing to remove the ancient landmarks, to
+deny the faith, and to put the Bible to open shame as it were."</p>
+
+<p>Madeline could hardly help smiling in spite of her anxiety, as Mrs. Tuke
+further enlarged on Rufus Sterne's moral and spiritual decadence.</p>
+
+<p>"Not that I wish to bring against him a railing accusation," Mrs. Tuke
+said, pulling herself up suddenly; "far be it from me to judge anyone."</p>
+
+<p>"But you appear to have judged him very freely," Madeline said, a little
+indignantly.</p>
+
+<p>"But not in anger, my dear, but only in love. He is a good lodger in
+many ways, pays regular and keeps good hours. But the Sabbaths! Oh, my
+dear, it cuts me to the heart, and he the grandson of a minister."</p>
+
+<p>"He is a very brave man, anyhow," Madeline said, warmly, "and I owe my
+life to him. Oh, I do hope he will be rescued before it's too late."</p>
+
+<p>"And I hope so, too. It will be terrible for him to go unprepared into
+the other world, and as a lodger he would not be easy to replace." <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Madeline darted a somewhat contemptuous glance at Mrs. Tuke, then made
+for the door again. "I cannot stay here doing nothing," she said, "while
+he may be drowning," and she rushed out into the rapidly-growing
+twilight.</p>
+
+<p>She wondered why she should feel so weak and exhausted, forgetting that
+she had tasted no food since lunch. In spite of weakness, however, she
+hurried on back over the cliffs. She could not rest until she knew the
+best or the worst. She felt acutely the burden of her responsibility.
+She was the cause of all the trouble. If she had not run in the teeth of
+everyone whose advice was worth taking this would not have happened. It
+was hard that the penalty of her foolishness should be paid by another,
+and if this young man were drowned, she believed she would never be able
+to forgive herself to the day of her death. Away in front of her the
+cliffs were dotted with people who had come out from St. Gaved on
+hearing the news. Some were standing still and looking seaward, others
+were hurrying forward in the direction of Penwith Cove. A few were
+crouched on the edge of the cliff and were peering over, to the imminent
+risk of life and limb.</p>
+
+<p>Several fishing boats were rounding St. Gaved's Point, and some were
+hugging the shore so closely that they could not be seen unless one
+stood on the very edge of the cliff.</p>
+
+<p>Madeline's lips kept moving in prayer as she walked. Her chief concern
+was lest the burden of this young man's death should be upon her soul.
+There were other considerations no doubt. She would be sorry in any case
+for a life of so much promise to be so suddenly cut off. But as she had
+seen him only twice she would soon get over a very natural regret, so
+long as no blame attached to her.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The thought crossed her mind at length that her prayer was a very
+selfish one. She was concerned only for her own peace of mind. The
+welfare of Rufus Sterne apart from her own responsibility was not a
+matter that troubled her.</p>
+
+<p>Then a question slowly entered her brain, and the warm blood mounted in
+a torrent to her neck and face.</p>
+
+<p>The next moment all the people on the cliff began to run in the
+direction of Penwith Cove. She stood still and pressed her hand to her
+side to check the violent throbbing of her heart. She felt as though she
+could not walk a step further, even if her life depended upon it.</p>
+
+<p>"They have found him," she whispered to herself. "I wonder whether alive
+or dead."</p>
+
+<p>And she sank down on the turf and waited. The sea was surging among the
+rocks below with a dirge-like sound, the stars were coming out in the
+sky above, the distant landscape was disappearing in a sombre haze.</p>
+
+<p>A little later her attention was caught by the sound of running feet,
+and looking up she saw the people who, a few minutes before, were
+hurrying in the direction of Penwith Cove, were now retracting their
+steps with all possible haste.</p>
+
+<p>She rose slowly to her feet and waited. A swift-footed lad had
+out-distanced all the rest.</p>
+
+<p>"Have they found him?" she questioned, eagerly, as he drew near.</p>
+
+<p>"No, Miss," he answered. "The tide is too high; there's no getting along
+under the cliffs."</p>
+
+<p>"Then he's drowned," she said, with a gasp.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, it looks like it unless a boat has got to him in time. I want to
+get down to the quay to see," and without waiting to answer any further
+questions he hurried away at the top of his speed.</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII</h2>
+
+<h3>THE NICK OF TIME</h3>
+
+
+<p>On the return journey to St. Gaved Madeline lagged painfully behind. Her
+strength was completely spent. She was as eager as any of the others to
+know if the fishermen had rescued Rufus Sterne, but her limbs refused to
+render obedience to her will. But for her intense desire to know the
+fate of the man who had rescued her, she would have laid down on the
+spongy turf, fearless of all consequences.</p>
+
+<p>What her friends at the Hall might think of her absence had never once
+occurred to her. The events of the afternoon had been so painful and
+startling that all minor matters had been driven out of her mind. Hence
+when the voice of Sir Charles sounded close to her ear she looked up
+with a start of mingled inquiry, and surprise.</p>
+
+<p>"Madeline, Madeline," he exclaimed. "What have you been doing with
+yourself? We've been hunting all over the place for you."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I am so sorry," she answered, wearily. "I'd forgotten all about
+you. I've had such a&mdash;a&mdash;such a terrible adventure."</p>
+
+<p>"Such a terrible adventure," he exclaimed, with a note of alarm in his
+voice. "Has anyone dared&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"No, no," she interrupted. "No one would molest me in these parts, but I
+have come near losing my life," and she sank to the ground, feeling she
+could not go a step further.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Sir Charles blew a policeman's whistle which he carried in his pocket,
+and a few minutes later several of the Hall servants came running up.</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Grover has met with an accident!" he explained. "One of you go and
+fetch the brougham at once, and another run into St. Gaved and fetch the
+doctor."</p>
+
+<p>Madeline was too exhausted to protest. She was barely conscious where
+she was or what had happened. The events of the afternoon seemed more
+like a dream to her than a reality. She heard other voices speaking near
+her, Beryl's among the rest, but she was too utterly exhausted to pay
+any attention. She found herself lifted into a carriage at length, and
+after that she remembered no more until she opened her eyes and
+discovered that she was lying snug and warm in her own bed.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile the little quay had become black with people waiting the
+return of Sam Tregarrick's boat. Sam had been the first to grasp the
+purport of Constable Greensplat's message, and without waiting to ask
+questions or consult with his neighbours, he and his son Tom had bent to
+their oars and pulled with all possible haste in the direction
+indicated.</p>
+
+<p>Rounding St. Gaved point they hugged the coast as closely as possible,
+keeping a sharp look out all the time for any moving figure on the dark
+line of rocks. The beach was completely under water by the time they had
+rounded the point.</p>
+
+<p>"It's us or nobody, father," Tom said to his father, as he gave to his
+oar a swifter stroke.</p>
+
+<p>"What do you mean by that, sonny?" Sam asked, staring hard at the coast
+line.</p>
+
+<p>"I mean that those who've gone over the downs will never be able to get
+round Penwith Cove way in time." <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"It looks like it, sartinly," Sam answered.</p>
+
+<p>"Why the tide is two foot up the cliffs already," Tom protested. "And
+Greensplat ain't the sort to wet his feet, if he knows it."</p>
+
+<p>"Fortunately there ain't no sea running," the elder man remarked after a
+pause. "So if he can drag hisself up the rocks a bit, he may come to
+nothing worse than a bit of a fright."</p>
+
+<p>"Rufus Sterne ain't the sort of chap they make cowards of," Tom replied,
+doggedly. "And if he's got to drown he'll drown, and he won't make no
+fuss 'bout it, nuther."</p>
+
+<p>"Nobody wants to drown, sonny, afore his time," Sam answered, mildly.
+"It's aisy enough to talk 'bout dying when you're safe and sound and out
+of danger; but when you're face to face with it&mdash;well, a man is on'y a
+man at best."</p>
+
+<p>"I say nothing agin that, father," Tom answered; "but heaps of folks
+squeal afore they're hurt, and send for the parson to pray with 'em
+afore the doctor's had time to feel their pulse. But Rufus Sterne don't
+belong to that class."</p>
+
+<p>"I fear he wouldn't send for the parson in no case," Sam answered,
+thoughtfully; "but do you see anything, sonny, just to the right of that
+big rock?"</p>
+
+<p>Tom slackened his oar for an instant; then he shouted at the top of his
+voice, "Ahoy there! Ahoy!"</p>
+
+<p>A moment later a white handkerchief was fluttered feebly for an instant,
+and then allowed to drop.</p>
+
+<p>"It's he sure 'nough," Tom said, excitedly; "but he's got to the far
+end. If we don't pull like blazes, father, we shall be too late."</p>
+
+<p>From that moment father and son wasted no more of their breath in talk.
+They felt as though they were engaged in a neck to neck race with death.
+The <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> distance seemed no more than a stone's throw, and yet though they
+pulled with might and main it appeared to grow no less. Tom was stroke,
+and the elder man bravely kept time.</p>
+
+<p>The wide Atlantic swell rocked them gently. Now the grey speck on the
+face of the cliffs disappeared as they sank into a hollow, and now it
+came into full view again as they rose on the gently heaving tide.</p>
+
+<p>"Ahoy!" Tom called once or twice as they drew nearer, but there was no
+response, and both men began to fear that they were too late. Moreover,
+as they neared the cliffs they had to pick their way. Hidden rocks
+showed their dark pinnacles for a moment in all directions.</p>
+
+<p>There was no time, however, for excess of caution. If they were to
+succeed they must be daring, even to the point of recklessness.</p>
+
+<p>They could see Rufus now, reclining against a rock; he appeared to be
+clutching it tightly with both hands. Now and then the swell of the tide
+surged almost up to his neck.</p>
+
+<p>"Pull like blazes, father," Tom shouted, excitedly, and they ran the
+boat, defying all risks, close up to Rufus' side.</p>
+
+<p>"Hold tight, mate," Tom called, encouragingly; "father and I'll do the
+job, if you keep a steady nerve."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll try," was the feeble response.</p>
+
+<p>"Leave the getting him in to me, dad," Tom said, turning to his father.
+"You keep on this side, or we shall capsize in two jiffeys."</p>
+
+<p>The elder man obeyed. The boat drifted almost broadside on. Tom laid his
+oar aside and watched his opportunity. It was clear enough that Rufus
+had no strength left. Nevertheless his brain was clear still.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Tom explained the <i>modus operandi</i> which he proposed, and Rufus smiled
+approvingly. It was a ticklish operation, the boat was not large, and an
+inch too near the rocks might prove the destruction of all.</p>
+
+<p>At a signal from Tom, Rufus let go his hold of the rocks and reached out
+his hands to his rescuer. The next moment he felt himself floating on
+the tide. Sam, with his oar, pushed into deeper water, and then began
+the delicate operation of getting a half drowned man, handicapped by a
+broken leg, into the boat.</p>
+
+<p>To Rufus it was torture beyond anything he had ever felt or imagined. He
+felt so sick that he feared he would lose consciousness altogether; even
+pain at that moment was better than oblivion. Now that life was in sight
+again, the passion for existence seemed to burn with a stronger flame
+than ever.</p>
+
+<p>Tom dragged him over the side of the boat as tenderly as he was able. It
+was a breathless moment for the two fishermen. The little craft came
+within an ace of being capsized, and nothing but the skill of the older
+man saved her from turning turtle. Rufus was too far gone to realise the
+danger. The sickening torture was more than he could endure, and
+unconsciousness mercifully intervened.</p>
+
+<p>Father and son laid him in as easy a position in the bottom of the boat
+as they knew how, then they took their oars again and pulled for home.
+It was growing rapidly dark by this time, and a cool and grateful breeze
+was sweeping across the wide expanse of sea.</p>
+
+<p>They saw the little harbour black with people when they rounded the
+point, accompanied by a dozen other boats that had come too late upon
+the scene to be of any service.</p>
+
+<p>A shout went up that could be heard at the far end of the village when
+it became known that Rufus Sterne <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> had been rescued alive, for though
+many people regarded him as "a cut above his station," as they expressed
+it, yet he was with the majority of the villagers exceedingly popular.</p>
+
+<p>Besides, it had got to be known by this time that the accident which had
+brought him into a position of such imminent peril had been caused by
+trying to save the life of another.</p>
+
+<p>In what that effort consisted was as yet by no means clear. But
+sufficient had been told by the lady visitor at the Hall to leave no
+doubt that it was through helping her he had met with his accident.
+Hence, for the moment, Rufus was regarded in the light of a hero, and
+some people went so far as to suggest that if there was such a thing as
+gratitude in the world, Sir Charles Tregony would do something handsome
+for him.</p>
+
+<p>It was fortunate, perhaps, for Rufus that he heard none of the
+irresponsible chatter that went on round him while he was being conveyed
+from the quay to Mrs. Tuke's cottage. Momentary glimmers of
+consciousness came back to him, but accompanied by such insufferable
+torture, that his very brain seemed to stagger under the shock.</p>
+
+<p>Dr. Pendarvis had just returned from a long round in the country, and
+was listening to a more or less incoherent story told him by his wife,
+when there came a violent ring at the surgery bell.</p>
+
+<p>"You say that Chester has gone to the Hall to see Miss Grover?" the
+Doctor questioned.</p>
+
+<p>"That is as I understand it," his wife replied; "though I confess the
+story is a bit complicated."</p>
+
+<p>"In which way?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, late this afternoon Miss Grover rushed into the town considerably
+dishevelled and in a state of breathless excitement, and told the first
+man she saw,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> which happened to be Greensplat, that Rufus Sterne was
+lying at the foot of the cliffs near Penwith Cove with a broken leg, and
+that if he wasn't rescued quickly he would be drowned."</p>
+
+<p>"And has he been rescued?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know. But some considerable time after one of the Hall servants
+came hurrying here for you, saying that you were wanted at once as Miss
+Grover had met with an accident, and as you were not at home, of course,
+Mr. Chester went."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't see how the two things hang together," Dr. Pendarvis said, with
+knitted brows.</p>
+
+<p>"Neither do I," replied his wife; "but there goes the surgery bell
+again."</p>
+
+<p>Five minutes later Dr. Pendarvis was hurrying down the long main street
+in the direction of Mrs. Tuke's cottage. He found Rufus in a state of
+collapse, and with the broken limb so swollen that he made no attempt to
+set the bone.</p>
+
+<p>"We will have to get the swelling down first," he explained in his
+old-fashioned way. "Meanwhile, we must make the patient as comfortable
+as possible."</p>
+
+<p>What he said to himself was, "This is a case for Chester. These young
+men, with their hospital practice and their up-to-date methods, can make
+rings round the ordinary G.P."</p>
+
+<p>When he got back to his house he found his assistant waiting for him.</p>
+
+<p>"So you have been to the Hall, I understand?" he questioned. "Nothing
+serious, I hope?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no! an attack of nerves mainly. A few cuts and bruises, but they
+are scarcely more than skin deep. She's evidently had a narrow squeak
+though."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! I tried to get something out of Sterne, but he's in too much pain
+to be very communicative." <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"What was troubling Miss Grover most when I got there," Chester replied,
+"was the fear that he had not been rescued."</p>
+
+<p>"An attachment between them already?" the elder man queried, with a
+twinkle in his eye.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't think so," was the reply, "though naturally if a man saves a
+woman's life she becomes interested in him."</p>
+
+<p>"Unless he happens to be a doctor, eh?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! well, doctors do not count," Chester said, with a laugh.</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps women have no faith in our ability to save life," Dr. Pendarvis
+questioned.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes, I think they have," the younger man replied, slowly; "but then
+you see, we do it professionally. There is no touch of romance about it,
+and we are not supposed to take any risks."</p>
+
+<p>"We take the fees instead," the older man laughed.</p>
+
+<p>"When we can get them. But do you know in what relationship Miss Grover
+stands to the Tregony family?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not the ghost of an idea. Sir Charles is as close as an oyster on the
+subject, and as far as I can make out, the girl is not in the habit of
+talking about herself."</p>
+
+<p>"She's distinctly American," Chester said, thoughtfully.</p>
+
+<p>"And therefore piquant and interesting?"</p>
+
+<p>"I prefer English girls myself; that is, in so far as girls interest me
+at all."</p>
+
+<p>"You think you are proof against their wiles?"</p>
+
+<p>"I hope I am, though it is a matter on which one does not like to
+boast."</p>
+
+<p>"Better not," Pendarvis laughed, "better not. I've heard many men boast
+in my time, and seen them <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> go down like ninepins before the whirlwind of
+a petticoat."</p>
+
+<p>"It's a bit humiliating, don't you think?"</p>
+
+<p>"It all depends on how you look at it. You see, we have to take human
+nature as it is, and not how we would like it to be. It is just because
+we are men that women triumph over us."</p>
+
+<p>"Then you admit that they are our masters?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not the least doubt of it. Of course, we keep up the pretence of being
+the head and all that. But a woman who knows her business can twist a
+man round her finger and thumb."</p>
+
+<p>"I believe you, and for that reason I do not intend to get entangled in
+the yoke of bondage."</p>
+
+<p>"Be careful," the older man laughed. "There are bright eyes and pretty
+frocks in an out-of-the-way place like St. Gaved. But let us get back to
+something more practical. I want you to call round and see Sterne first
+thing to-morrow morning."</p>
+
+<p>"He has broken his leg, I suppose?"</p>
+
+<p>"I fear it's a very bad fracture, and being tumbled about so much since
+the accident has not tended to mend matters. I hope by to-morrow morning
+the swelling will have subsided."</p>
+
+<p>"It seems very unfortunate for him, for I understand he has some big
+scheme on hand which he is labouring to complete."</p>
+
+<p>"So it is said. But I have no faith in these big schemes. Young men
+should keep to their legitimate work. It may be a mercy for him if his
+scheme is knocked on the head." Saying which he bade his assistant
+good-night and retired to his own room.</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII</h2>
+
+<h3>THE SOUL'S AWAKENING</h3>
+
+
+<p>Two people did not sleep at all that night. Pain kept Rufus Sterne
+awake&mdash;an active brain banished slumber from the eyes of Madeline
+Grover. Possibly some subtle and intractable current of sympathy ran
+between the cottage and the mansion&mdash;some occult and undiscovered
+movement of the air between brain and brain or heart and heart, some
+telepathic communication that science had not scheduled yet. Be that as
+it may, neither Rufus nor Madeline could woo a wink of sleep. All
+through the long hours of the night they lay with wide-open eyes&mdash;the
+one weaving the threads of fancy into all imaginable shapes, the other
+fighting for the most part the twin demons of pain and fear.</p>
+
+<p>Madeline lived through that fateful afternoon a thousand times. She
+recalled every incident, however trivial it might be. Memory would let
+nothing escape. Things that she scarcely noticed at the time became
+hugely significant. Simple words and gestures seemed to glow with new
+meanings.</p>
+
+<p>She was not superstitious&mdash;at least she believed she was not. Neither
+was she a fatalist, and yet she had a feeling that for good or ill, her
+life was in some way or other bound up with this stranger. It was not
+his fault that he had come into her life. He had not sought her. The
+beginning of the acquaintanceship was all on her side. She had made the
+first advance,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> and the whirligig of chance or the workings of an
+inscrutable providence had done all the rest.</p>
+
+<p>In some respects it was scarcely pleasant to feel that she was so much
+in debt to a stranger. Whatever might happen in the future, or wherever
+her lot was cast, she would never be able to get away from the feeling
+that she owed her life to this Rufus Sterne. To make matters all the
+worse, he was suffering considerable pain and loss on her account. How
+much this accident might mean to him she had no means of knowing. All
+his immediate prospects might be wrecked in consequence. For a young man
+dependent on his own exertions to be incapacitated for two or three
+months might be a more serious matter than she could guess.</p>
+
+<p>Sometimes she wished that some homely fisherman or ignorant ploughboy
+had rescued her. She might in such a case have given material
+compensation, and it would have been accepted with gratitude, and her
+obligation would be at an end.</p>
+
+<p>But Rufus Sterne was a gentleman&mdash;that fact was beyond all dispute&mdash;and
+doubtless he had all the pride that generally attaches to genteel
+poverty. The obligation, therefore, would have to remain. There was, as
+far as she could see, no possible way of discharging it. To speak of
+compensation would be to insult him.</p>
+
+<p>Behind all this there was another feeling: What did he think of her? Did
+he resent her intrusion into the quiet sanctuary of his life? Did he
+wish that she had never crossed his path? Was his thought of her at that
+moment such as her cheeks would redden to hear? She wished she knew what
+he thought of her&mdash;what in his heart he felt. It would be humiliating if
+he regarded her with contempt, or even with mild dislike.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>She would not live to be regarded by him even with indifference. Her
+cheeks grew hot when she made this confession to herself. If he had been
+a fisherman or a ploughboy it would not have mattered, and she would not
+have cared. But he was one of the most noticeable men she had ever seen.
+A man who would win a second look in any crowd. A man who&mdash;given a fair
+chance&mdash;would make his mark in the world.</p>
+
+<p>She hoped that he was not very angry with her, that he was not writing
+her down in his mind as a foolish and headstrong girl. She would like,
+after all, to have his good opinion&mdash;like him to think that in saving
+her he had saved a life that was worth saving. It might not be true in
+fact, but she would like him to think so all the same.</p>
+
+<p>To what end had he saved her? As she looked at her life stretching
+forward into the future she saw nothing great or heroic in it. It had
+all been mapped out for her, and mapped out in a very excellent way. The
+exhortation "take no thought for the morrow," was not needed in her
+case. Everything was being settled to everyone's satisfaction, her own
+included. She had only to fall in with the drift and current of events
+and all would be as she would like it to be.</p>
+
+<p>Other women might have to plan and struggle, and labour and contrive;
+but in the scheme of her life such unpleasant things had no place. All
+contingencies had been provided against. She did not need to take any
+thought for to-morrow.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm not sure that my life was worth saving after all," she said to
+herself, a little bit fretfully. "It seems an aimless, selfish kind of
+thing as I look at it now. A poor woman who inspires her husband to do
+some great deed, even if she is incapable of any great <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> deed herself,
+surely lives a nobler life than that which seems marked out for me."</p>
+
+<p>Her cheeks grew red again. How proud she would be if she could be the
+inspiration of some great achievement! To give hope to some great soul
+struggling amid adverse circumstances would be an end worth living for.
+To stand by the side of a man she could look up to, and help him to win
+in the hard battle of life&mdash;that would be the crown of all existence.</p>
+
+<p>She began to wonder, after a while, why such thoughts came to her. Why
+the future should look different from what it had always done. Why a
+thread of a different hue should show itself in the pattern that had
+been woven for her. Why a doubt should arise in her heart as to whether
+the absolutely best had been marked out for her.</p>
+
+<p>Until to-night she had been quite content to take things as she found
+them. Of course, she had had her troubles, like other girls. It was a
+trouble to her that she had never known the love of her mother, a
+trouble that she had never been able to get on with her step-mother, a
+trouble when her father died&mdash;though, as she had seen very little of him
+for seven years previously, the sense of loss was not so keen as it
+might have been. It was a trouble to her to say good-bye to her
+schoolfellows and friends, and cross the seas to a new home in England.</p>
+
+<p>Of course, the last trouble had its compensations. To an American girl
+whose forebears were English, "The Old Country," as it is affectionately
+termed, is the land of romance, the home of chivalry, the cradle of
+heroes and of history. To see the things she had read about in her
+childhood, to visit spots made sacred by the blood of the heroic dead,
+to tread on the ground <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span> where kings have stood, to pay homage at the
+shrine of poets and seers&mdash;that would be worth crossing a thousand
+oceans for.</p>
+
+<p>It is true she had been more than a little disappointed. Trewinion Hall
+was so far away from everywhere, and the people who visited it from time
+to time were very little to her taste. She would have liked to live in
+London always. Life and colour and movement were there. Its very streets
+were historic. Many of its public buildings were hoary with antiquity,
+and "rich with the spoils of time." The men and women of rank and name
+and power moved in and out amongst the crowd. History was being made
+from day to day in its Halls of Assembly.</p>
+
+<p>St. Gaved seemed to her like a little place that had got stranded in the
+dim and distant past. The rest of the world had run away from it. It
+lived on its traditions because it had no hope of a future. Like the
+granite cliffs that stretched north and south, it never changed. Its
+business, its politics, its morals, its religion, were what they had
+been from time immemorial. A man who said anything new, or advanced an
+opinion that was not strictly orthodox, was regarded with suspicion.</p>
+
+<p>St. Gaved had its charm, no doubt. The charm of antiquity, the charm of
+leisureliness, the charm of immobility. Moreover, it was beautiful for
+situation. The cliffs were magnificent beyond anything she had ever
+dreamed. The great ocean was a never-failing source of interest. The
+valleys that cleft their way inland, the streams that lost themselves in
+tangled brakes of undergrowth, the hillsides rich in timber, the
+hedgerows that were masses of wild flowers, the moorlands yellow with
+gorse&mdash;all these things were a set off against its dull and slow-moving
+life.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Then, besides all that, life would not always be dull. Gervase was
+returning from India in the spring, and a great many things might happen
+then.</p>
+
+<p>Gervase was Sir Charles' only son, and heir to the title and estates. He
+was a handsome soldier of the genuine military type, tall and straight,
+and not over-burdened with flesh. His hair was pale, his complexion
+ruddy, his voice harsh, his manner that of one born to command.</p>
+
+<p>Madeline had met him three years before at Washington, and as he was in
+some far-off and round-about way related to her, he had escorted her to
+any number of receptions, and danced with her more times than she could
+count. She thought him then the most handsome man she had ever seen,
+especially in his uniform. She liked him, too, because he was so
+dogmatic and masterful; there was nothing timid, or feeble, or retiring
+about him. He was a man who meant to have his own way, and generally got
+it.</p>
+
+<p>His courage and daring also touched her heart and imagination. His talk
+had been mainly about shooting dervishes in Egypt and hunting tigers in
+India, and some of his exploits had thrilled her to the finger-tips. It
+puzzled her that he could talk so light-heartedly about the slaughter of
+human beings, even though they were Arabs and Hindoos, but then he was
+trained to be a soldier, and soldiers were trained to kill.</p>
+
+<p>It was one of those things she had looked forward to with the greatest
+interest in coming to England. She would see Gervase Tregony again. It
+seemed to her like a special providence that Sir Charles Tregony should
+be her trustee until she was twenty-one, and of course nothing could be
+kinder than that he should invite her to stay at the Hall as long as she
+liked&mdash;to make her permanent abode there if she chose to do so.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>She was glad to accept the invitation for several reasons. In the first
+place, it was impossible to live with her step-mother, who for some
+reason appeared to resent her very existence. In the second place, she
+longed, with all a school-girl's longing, for change, and to see England
+and Europe had been the very height of her ambition. And in the third
+place&mdash;and this was a secret that she safely guarded in her own
+bosom&mdash;she would the sooner see Captain Tregony; for if she were in
+England she would be among the first to give him welcome on his return
+from India, and she imagined with a little thrill at her heart how his
+face would light up and his eyes sparkle when he saw her standing behind
+the rest, waiting to give him the warmest welcome of all.</p>
+
+<p>This little secret added a peculiar charm and zest to life, and all the
+more so because every arrangement had been made respecting her future,
+as though Captain Tregony had no existence. She imagined sometimes that
+her father had been under the guidance of a special providence when he
+made Sir Charles Tregony her trustee, that Sir Charles was under the
+same kindly influence when he accepted the responsibility and took her
+to the shelter of his own home.</p>
+
+<p>Had she known the scheming and man&oelig;uvering that went on at an earlier
+date, her faith in providence would have been rudely shaken. But she had
+no idea that she was only a pawn in a game that was being played by
+others. It was some solace to John Grover, even when dying, that his
+only child would mix with the English aristocracy and probably become
+"my lady" before she had finished her earthly course.</p>
+
+<p>To John Grover, who had started life with empty pockets, who had
+struggled through years of grinding poverty, who had "struck oil," as he
+termed it, in <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> middle life and made a huge fortune before he was
+fifty&mdash;to such a man the thought of his daughter marrying an English
+officer who was also heir to a baronetcy was a distinction almost too
+great to be shaped into words.</p>
+
+<p>To have married the President of the United States would have been
+nothing comparable to it. It was a proud day for John Grover when he
+discovered that his first wife, the mother of Madeline, was remotely
+connected with the Tregonys of Trewinion Hall, Cornwall. He wrote
+claiming relationship with Sir Charles on the strength of it, much to
+the Baronet's annoyance and disgust. But several years later, when John
+Grover had become a millionaire, Sir Charles decided to hunt him up. A
+penniless man was one thing, a man with a million was another.</p>
+
+<p>Sir Charles himself was as poor as a church mouse, that is taking his
+position into account. His son and heir, Gervase, was a young man of
+very expensive tastes and very lax notions of economy. Hence if their
+ancestral hall could be refurnished by American dollars, and Gervase's
+debts paid off out of the savings of this John Grover, it would be a
+happy and an ingenious stroke of business.</p>
+
+<p>Of course, diplomacy would be needed, and diplomacy of the most delicate
+and subtle kind. Sir Charles took Gervase into his confidence, and
+Gervase confided to his father that he was prepared to marry anybody in
+reason so long as she had plenty of the needful.</p>
+
+<p>Sir Charles took a voyage to the United States and interviewed his
+relatives. A few months later Gervase went across and paid court to
+Madeline, and with remarkable success. Madeline was in her seventeenth
+year at the time, romantic, inexperienced and impressionable. Then came
+the death of her <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> father, the discovery that Sir Charles Tregony was her
+trustee, and the option of spending her minority in Trewinion Hall.</p>
+
+<p>So far everything had happened as anticipated. There had been no hitch
+anywhere, and to all appearances the little scheme would be brought to a
+successful issue.</p>
+
+<p>Sir Charles kept Gervase well posted up as to the course of events.</p>
+
+<p>"She has not the remotest idea that we have any designs upon her," he
+said, in one of his early letters. "If she got the smallest hint I fear
+she might jib. She has grown to be a remarkably handsome girl, high
+spirited and intelligent. There is nobody here to whom she will lose her
+heart, and I am keeping her as secluded as possible till you return. I
+trust to you to put as much warmth in your letters to her as you think
+advisable. At present she thinks the world of you. I am sure of it. You
+impressed her mightily when you were in the States. She regards you as a
+sort of saint and hero rolled into one. She thinks also that you are
+immensely clever. Hence it is rather a difficult <i>r&ocirc;le</i> you will have to
+play. By letter you can do a great deal between now and the new year.
+Keep up the idealism. She is very puritanic in some of her notions.
+Don't shock her, for the world. If you can arrange an engagement before
+you return so much the better. A long courtship, I fear, might spoil
+everything. She has sharp eyes; and yet you have to guard against being
+too precipitate. So far, I flatter myself we have both handled the
+matter with great delicacy. A few months more, and&mdash;with care and
+judgment, you may snap your fingers at the world."</p>
+
+<p>Sir Charles had rightly estimated her character in one respect. If
+Madeline had had the smallest suspicion that he and his son had designs
+upon her&mdash;that <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> a deliberate plot was being hatched&mdash;her indignation
+would have known no bounds.</p>
+
+<p>But her own little secret had been, perhaps, the best safeguard against
+any such suspicion. To her ingenuous mind the world was the best of all
+possible places. Her friends had so arranged her life and her lot that
+everything appeared to be working together for the best. She had not to
+worry about anything. The Captain's letters had as much warmth in them
+as she could desire. Her future, shaped for her without any contriving
+of her own&mdash;shaped by friends and by Providence, left nothing to be
+desired.</p>
+
+<p>It was clear what the Captain wished. It would have pleased her father
+had he been alive, it would be satisfactory to Sir Charles, it would fit
+in with her own conception of life. So she would dance along the
+primrose way without a want, without a care, without a responsibility.
+There would be gaiety, and mirth, and music, balls and crushes, and
+social functions of all sorts and kinds. She would get into social
+circles she had never known before, and be "Lady" Tregony before she
+died.</p>
+
+<p>It was all as straight as a rule, and as clear as a sunbeam.</p>
+
+<p>Why had it never seemed empty and sordid and selfish until to-night? Why
+did her inward eyes look for a sterner and more heroic way? Why did
+pleasure look so uninviting and duty wear such a noble mien? Why was all
+her future outlook changed as in a flash?</p>
+
+<p>These were questions she was debating with herself when a new day stole
+into the room.</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX</h2>
+
+<h3>THE CAPTAIN'S LETTER</h3>
+
+
+<p>A few days later, Madeline received a letter from Captain Tregony, which
+contained a carefully-worded, though very definite, proposal of
+marriage. Gervase had been only too pleased to carry out his father's
+suggestion. The prospect of fingering at an early date a few of her
+surplus dollars was a very tempting one. He was not particularly in love
+with her. He had got through the sentimental age, so he believed.
+Moreover, he had seen so much of life and the world, and had had such a
+wide and varied experience of feminine kind that he was not likely to be
+carried off his feet by a pretty face or engaging manners.</p>
+
+<p>Nevertheless, if he was to marry at all&mdash;and since he was an only son
+and heir to a title and estates, marriage seemed a very obvious
+duty&mdash;then there was no one, all things considered, he would sooner take
+to his heart and endow with all his worldly goods than Madeline Grover.
+She was very young, very pretty, very sweet-tempered, and, best of all,
+very rich; and he knew no one else who possessed such a combination of
+excellencies.</p>
+
+<p>It had been a great relief to him when he went out to America to make
+the acquaintance of John Grover's daughter, to discover that she was
+such an unspoiled child of nature. He had been haunted by the fear that
+she might be ugly or ignorant or uneducated. Hence, when he found a
+charming school-girl, ingenuous,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span> unsophisticated, impressionable, he
+heaved a big sigh of relief, and set to work at once to make a
+favourable and an abiding impression.</p>
+
+<p>He would have proposed then and there had he considered it politic to do
+so. His father, however, who was his chief adviser, would not hear of
+it. "You will spoil the whole game if you do," Sir Charles insisted.
+"Make a good impression now, and let time and absence deepen it. She
+will put a halo round your head after a few weeks' absence, and eagerly
+look forward to the next meeting."</p>
+
+<p>In this Sir Charles showed his knowledge of human nature, especially of
+feminine human nature.</p>
+
+<p>Gervase had hinted that, if he was not getting old, he was getting
+distinctly older, that the crows'-feet were very marked about his eyes,
+and that his hair was getting decidedly thin.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear boy," Sir Charles said, affectionately, "that is all in your
+favour. If she were eight or nine and twenty, she might cast longing
+eyes on the youths, but a girl of seventeen always dotes on an elderly
+man. Always! I don't know why it should be so, but I simply state a
+fact. Girls have not a particle of reverence or even respect for youths
+of twenty-one or two. They sigh for a man who bears the scars of years
+and battle."</p>
+
+<p>So Gervase went away to India, leaving his father to work the oracle for
+him at home. On the whole, Sir Charles's forecast had proved correct.
+Things had turned out much as he anticipated they would.</p>
+
+<p>Madeline read the Captain's letter with a distinct heightening of
+colour. She was still weak and a little inclined to be hysterical. Her
+adventure on the cliffs had shaken her nerves to an extent she was only
+just beginning to realise.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>She closed her eyes after she had put the letter back in the envelope,
+and tried to think. The Captain's proposal had not surprised her in the
+least, while the manner of it was just what she had expected. He had
+used just the right words and said neither too much nor too little.</p>
+
+<p>She admired him for his reticence, and for his strength in holding
+himself so well in check, and yet there was a passionate earnestness in
+his well-chosen words that revealed the depth of his affection, as well
+as his determination to win.</p>
+
+<p>Very adroitly and diplomatically also he had hinted of the good time
+they might have together. They would not settle down in a sleepy place
+like St. Gaved. They would have a town house, and perhaps a
+shooting-box in Scotland, and when tired of the United Kingdom they
+would travel on the Continent&mdash;Paris, Vienna, Monte Carlo, Florence,
+were delightful places to visit, and to tarry in for a few weeks or
+months. The common work-a-day world might roar and fret and toil and
+perspire, but they would live in a serener atmosphere, undisturbed by
+the jar and strife that went on around them.</p>
+
+<p>It was a very fair and enticing picture that his words conjured up, and
+one that she had often pictured for herself. This was the future that
+her friends, in conjunction with a kindly Providence, had shaped for
+her. There seemed nothing for her to do but say "Yes." It was all in the
+piece. Her life had been beautifully planned, and planned without effort
+or contrivance by anybody. The current had borne her along easily and
+gently to the inevitable union with Gervase Tregony.</p>
+
+<p>His face and form came up before her again as she last saw him. How
+handsome he looked in his uniform!<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> How fierce his eyes were when he
+looked at other people, how gentle when he looked at her! Some people
+might think his voice harsh and raucous, but there was an undertone of
+music in it for her. It was the voice of a hero, of a man born to
+command. Its echoes seemed to be in the air even now.</p>
+
+<p>And yet for some reason her heart did not respond as it once did. Was it
+that her nerves had been shaken&mdash;that she had not quite got over the
+shock of the adventure? Something had happened during the last few days,
+but what it was she could not quite understand. The life of pleasure, to
+which she had looked forward, undisturbed by a single note of human
+pain, did not appeal to her, for some reason, as once it did. A new
+ingredient had been dropped into the cup, a new thought had come into
+her brain, a new impulse had shaken her heart.</p>
+
+<p>Had she looked at death so closely that life could never be the same to
+her again, or was it that she looked at life more truly and steadily?
+Had a change come over other people, or was the change wholly in
+herself? That something had happened she was certain, but what it was,
+was a question she could not definitely answer.</p>
+
+<p>Of one thing, however, she was sure. If the letter had come three or
+four days sooner, it would have found her in a wholly different frame of
+mind. Hence, whatever the change was, it was compassed by these few
+days.</p>
+
+<p>Her meditations were disturbed by a knock at the door, and a moment
+later Dr. Pendarvis entered. "Ah! you are better this morning," he said,
+in his bright, cheery fashion. "Now, let me feel your pulse." And he
+drew up a chair and sat down by her side.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"A little inclined to be jumpy still, eh? Ah, well, you had rather a
+nasty experience. But you'll be all right again in a few days."</p>
+
+<p>"I think I am all right now," she said, with a smile. "Don't you think I
+might go out of doors?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, now, what do you think yourself?" he questioned, stroking his
+chin and smiling.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm just a little shaky on my feet," she answered, "but I guess that
+would go off when I got into the fresh air."</p>
+
+<p>"And how about the bruises?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, they are disappearing one by one."</p>
+
+<p>"And how far do you think you could walk?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know, but I do know it's awfully dull being in the house."</p>
+
+<p>"And do you want to go anywhere in particular?" he asked innocently, and
+he glanced at her furtively out of the corner of his eye.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no!" she answered, blushing slightly; "or, at any rate, not just
+yet. Of course, when I get stronger I shall be glad to walk into St.
+Gaved again."</p>
+
+<p>"You ran into it last time," he said, laughing. "What a day of
+adventures you had to be sure!"</p>
+
+<p>"I was compelled to run," she said, averting her eyes and looking out of
+the window; "he would have drowned if I hadn't."</p>
+
+<p>"Exactly. And it was touch and go by all accounts. He couldn't have held
+out many minutes longer."</p>
+
+<p>"And is he going on all right, doctor?" She turned her eyes suddenly
+upon him, and waited with parted lips for his answer.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, about as well as can be expected," he answered, slowly, "taking
+all the circumstances into account."</p>
+
+<p>"And is he suffering much pain?" <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"A good deal I should say. In fact, that is inevitable."</p>
+
+<p>"He must wish me far enough."</p>
+
+<p>"It depends how far that is, I should say," and the old doctor chuckled.</p>
+
+<p>"You've not heard him heaping maledictions on my defenceless head?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, I have not," he answered, with a satirical smile; "but then you see
+he's not given to expressing his thoughts in public."</p>
+
+<p>"Exactly. I guess his thoughts about me would not bear repeating in any
+polite society."</p>
+
+<p>"That is possible," the old doctor said, pursing his lips, and looking
+thoughtful.</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose no one sees him yet?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Chester or I myself see him every day&mdash;sometimes twice."</p>
+
+<p>"I intend seeing him myself soon."</p>
+
+<p>"You do?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes I do. There's nothing wrong in it, is there?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why do you ask that question?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because you've got such stupid notions about propriety in this country.
+In fact, few things seem to be regarded as proper except what is highly
+improper. I'm constantly stubbing my toes against the notice tablets,
+'keep off the grass,' the dangerous places are left without warning."</p>
+
+<p>The doctor laughed.</p>
+
+<p>"Isn't it true what I'm saying?" she went on. "Half the people seem to
+be straining at gnats and swallowing camels. Directly you propose to do
+some perfectly innocent thing, if it should happen to be unconventional,
+you are met with shocked looks and outstretched hands and cries of
+protest. I'm getting rather tired of that word 'proper.'" <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"But Society must have some code to regulate itself by," he said, with
+an air of pretended seriousness.</p>
+
+<p>"Aren't the Ten Commandments good enough?" she questioned.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, hardly," he said, in a tone of banter. "You see they are a bit
+antiquated and out of date. Society, as at present constituted, must
+have everything of the most modern type. And modernity is not able to
+tolerate such an antiquated code as the Decalogue."</p>
+
+<p>"What do you mean by Society?" she questioned.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! now you have cornered me," he said, with a laugh. "But just at the
+moment I was thinking of the idle rich. Men and women who have more
+money than they know how to spend, and more time than they know how to
+kill. The people who have never a thought beyond themselves, who live to
+eat and dress, and pander to the lowest passions of their nature. Who
+will spend thousands on a dinner fit only for gourmands, while the
+people around them are dying of hunger. Who waste in folly and luxury
+and vice what ought to go for the uplifting of the downtrodden and
+neglected. It is a big class in England, and a growing class, recruited
+in many instances from across the water&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"You mean from my country?" she questioned.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, from your country," he said, with a touch of indignation in his
+voice, "they come bringing their bad manners and their diamonds, and
+they hang round the fringe of what is called the 'Smart Set,' and they
+bribe impecunious dowagers and such like to give them introductions, and
+they worm their way into the big houses, and God alone knows what
+becomes of them afterwards. I have a brother who has a big practice in
+the West-end. You should hear him talk&mdash;&mdash;" <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"If people are rich," Madeline retorted warmly, "they have surely the
+right to enjoy themselves in their own way so long as they do no wrong."</p>
+
+<p>"Enjoy themselves," he snorted. "Is enjoyment the end of life?&mdash;and such
+enjoyment! Has duty no place in the scheme of existence? Because people
+have grown rich through somebody else's toil&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Or through their own toil," she interrupted.</p>
+
+<p>"Or through their own toil&mdash;if any man ever did it&mdash;are they justified
+in wasting their life in idle gluttony, and in wasteful and wanton
+extravagance?"</p>
+
+<p>"Extravagance is surely a question of degree," she replied. "A hundred
+dollars to one man may be more than ten thousand to another."</p>
+
+<p>"I admit it. But your idle profligate, whether man or woman, is an
+offence."</p>
+
+<p>"What do you mean by profligate?"</p>
+
+<p>"I mean the creature who lives to eat and drink and dress. Who shirks
+every duty and responsibility, who panders to every gluttonous and
+selfish desire. Who hears the cry of suffering and never helps, who
+wastes his or her substance in finding fresh sources of so-called
+enjoyment, or discovering new thrills of sensation."</p>
+
+<p>"But we surely have a right to enjoy ourselves?"</p>
+
+<p>"Of course we have. But not after the fashion of swine. We are not
+animals. We are men and women with intellectual vision and moral
+responsibility. The true life lies along the road of duty and help and
+goodwill."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I agree with you in that. But I do not like to hear anyone speak
+slightingly of my country people."</p>
+
+<p>"For your country and your people as a whole, I have the greatest
+respect. But every country has its snobs and its parasites; and it is
+humbling that our own <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span> great army of idle profligates should receive
+recruits from the great Republic of the West."</p>
+
+<p>When Dr. Pendarvis had gone Madeline sat for a long time staring out of
+the window, but seeing nothing of the fair landscape on which her eyes
+rested. She tried to recall what it was that led their conversation into
+such a serious channel. To say the least of it, it was not a little
+strange that he should have taken the hazy and nebulous efforts of her
+own brain, and shaped them into clear and definite speech. The life of
+ease and pleasure and self-indulgence to which she had looked forward
+with so much interest and with such childish delight, he had denounced
+with a vigour she had half resented, and which all the while she felt
+answered to the deepest emotions of her nature.</p>
+
+<p>She took the Captain's letter from the envelope and read it again. It
+was a most proper letter in every respect. There was not a word or
+syllable that anyone could take the slightest exception to. The
+love-making was intense and yet restrained, the pleading eloquent and
+even tender, the prospect pictured such as any ordinary individual would
+hail with delight. What was it that it lacked?</p>
+
+<p>It seemed less satisfying since her talk with the doctor than before.</p>
+
+<p>The Captain pleaded for an answer by return of post. He wanted to have
+the assurance before he left India for home. He was tired of roughing it
+and wanted to look forward to long years of domestic peace. If the
+engagement were settled now they would be able to set up a house of
+their own soon after his return.</p>
+
+<p>She put away the letter after reading it through twice, and heaved a
+long sigh.</p>
+
+<p>"If it had come a week ago," she said to herself, "I should have
+answered 'Yes' without any misgiving.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> But now, everything seems
+changed. Perhaps I shall feel differently when I get out of doors
+again."</p>
+
+<p>On the following day she took a ramble in the rose garden, and sat for
+an hour on the lawn in the sunshine. On the second day she strayed into
+the plantation beyond the park, and on the third day she ventured on to
+the Downs, and came at length to the high point on the cliffs where she
+first met Rufus Sterne. Here she sat down and looked seaward, and
+thought of home and all that had happened since she left it.</p>
+
+<p>The plan of her life which had looked so clear was becoming more and
+more hazy and confused. Was Providence interposing to upset its own
+arrangements? Was she to tread a different path from what she had
+pictured.</p>
+
+<p>The fresh air brought the colour back to her cheeks again, and vigour to
+her limbs, but it did not clear away the mists that hung about her brain
+and heart. The Captain's letter remained day after day unanswered.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span>"If I were engaged to the Captain," she said to herself, reflectively,
+"It might not be considered proper for me to call on Rufus Sterne. But
+while I am free, I am free. He saved my life, and it would be mean of me
+not to call. So I shall follow my heart"; and she rose to her feet and
+turned her steps towards home.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X</h2>
+
+<h3>A VISITOR</h3>
+
+
+<p>Mrs. Tuke came into the room on tip-toe, and closed the door softly
+behind her. There was a mysterious expression in her eyes, and she began
+at once to straighten the chairs and re-arrange the antimacassars. Her
+best parlour had been turned, for the time being, into a bedroom. To
+carry Rufus Sterne up the steep and narrow staircase was a task the
+fishermen refused to undertake, especially as Rufus had pleaded to be
+allowed to remain on the sofa. So a bed had been set up in the
+parlour&mdash;not without serious misgivings on the part of Mrs. Tuke, though
+she admitted the convenience of the arrangement later on. After Mrs.
+Tuke had arranged the furniture and antimacassars to her satisfaction,
+she advanced to the side of the bed.</p>
+
+<p>"A lady has called to see you," she said, in an awed whisper.</p>
+
+<p>"A lady?" Rufus questioned, with a slight lifting of the eyebrows.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Tuke nodded.</p>
+
+<p>"To see me or simply to inquire?"</p>
+
+<p>"To see you."</p>
+
+<p>"Do I know the lady?" and a faint tinge of colour came into his cheek.</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose so. You ought to do at any rate. It's that scare-away American
+as is staying at the Hall." And Mrs. Tuke turned and looked
+apprehensively toward the door.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Rufus felt his heart give a sudden bound, but he answered quietly
+enough: "Is she waiting in the passage?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, I turned her into your room. Are you going to see her?"</p>
+
+<p>"Most certainly. I think it is awfully kind of her to call."</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose being a furrener explains things?"</p>
+
+<p>"Explains what, Mrs. Tuke?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, in my day young ladies had different notions of what was the
+proper thing to do."</p>
+
+<p>"No doubt, Mrs. Tuke; but the world keeps advancing, you see."</p>
+
+<p>"Keeps advancing, do you call it. I am thankful that none of my girls
+was brought up that way." And Mrs. Tuke walked with her most stately
+gait out of the room.</p>
+
+<p>Rufus waited with rapidly beating heart. For days past&mdash;ever since the
+pain had become bearable, in fact&mdash;he had been longing for a glimpse of
+the sweet face that had captivated his fancy from the first. That she
+would call to see him he did not anticipate for a moment. That she had
+made inquiries concerning his condition he knew from his conversations
+with Dr. Pendarvis. More than that he could not expect, whatever he
+might desire. Hence, to be told that she was in the house, that she was
+waiting to see him, seemed to set vibrating every nerve he possessed.</p>
+
+<p>He heard a faint murmur of voices coming across the narrow lobby, and
+wondered what Mrs. Tuke was saying to her visitor. He hoped she would
+not feel it incumbent upon her to unburden her puritanical soul. When
+Mrs. Tuke was "drawn out," as she expressed it, she sometimes used great
+plainness of speech. At such times neither rank nor station counted. To
+clear her conscience was the supreme thing.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>On the present occasion, however, Madeline got the first innings. She
+guessed from the set of Mrs. Tuke's lips that she did not altogether
+approve. Moreover, she was afraid that on the occasion of her first
+visit&mdash;when Mrs. Tuke revived her with burnt feathers&mdash;she had not made
+a very good impression.</p>
+
+<p>Madeline came, therefore, fully armed and prepared to use all her wiles.
+She waited with a good deal of trepidation until Mrs. Tuke returned from
+her lodger's room.</p>
+
+<p>"What a noble, generous soul you must be, Mrs. Tuke," she said, and she
+looked straight into the cold, blue eyes and smiled her sweetest.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Tuke drew herself up and frowned.</p>
+
+<p>"And how lovely you keep your house," Madeline went on, "and what taste
+you have shown in arranging your furniture."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Tuke's face relaxed somewhat, and she gave the corner of the table
+cloth a little tug to straighten it.</p>
+
+<p>"I think people stamp their character on everything they do, don't you,
+Mrs. Tuke? If a woman is a lady the house shows it. Look at these
+flowers how beautifully arranged they are," and Madeline bent down her
+head and sniffed at them.</p>
+
+<p>"Some people never notice such things," Mrs. Tuke said, in an aggrieved
+tone.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Mrs. Tuke! how can they help it; I am sure you would recognise
+taste and beauty anywhere."</p>
+
+<p>"So many of the women hereabouts have no taste," Mrs. Tuke replied.
+"They keep their houses any fashion. I always say you can tell what a
+house is like by the window curtains. You need not put your head inside
+the door."</p>
+
+<p>"I quite agree with you, Mrs. Tuke. May I ask where you send your
+curtains to be got up so beautifully?"</p>
+
+<p>"I get 'em up myself."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"No?"</p>
+
+<p>"I do, indeed," and Mrs. Tuke smiled upon her visitor most benignantly.</p>
+
+<p>"How clever you must be. Do you know I think we should become quite fast
+friends? We seem to understand each other so well. Some people never
+understand each other. Now, if you were like some narrow, uncharitable
+people you would not approve of my calling to see Mr. Sterne."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Tuke started, and took a sidelong glance out of the window.</p>
+
+<p>"And I have no doubt," Madeline went on, "if some of the people in St.
+Gaved got to know that I was in the habit of calling here they would say
+all sorts of uncharitable things."</p>
+
+<p>"I've not the least doubt of it," Mrs. Tuke said, severely.</p>
+
+<p>"It is so nice to think you are not one of that sort," Madeline said,
+with a winning smile. "If I came here fifty times I know you would not
+talk about it. You see you understand people, Mrs. Tuke. And in America,
+as you know, girls have so much more freedom than they have in this
+country."</p>
+
+<p>"So I've heard."</p>
+
+<p>"It's natural, perhaps; they go to the same State schools together, and
+they grow up to respect each other. The girls learn self-reliance, and
+the boys chivalry."</p>
+
+<p>"That sounds very nice," Mrs. Tuke remarked, with an interested look.</p>
+
+<p>"It ought to be so everywhere. I don't think much of a girl who is not
+able to take care of herself."</p>
+
+<p>"But men are not to be trusted, my dear," Mrs. Tuke said, with a pained
+expression in her eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Then they should be avoided and ostracised."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I quite agree with you," Mrs. Tuke said,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> doubtfully; "but had you
+not better go and see Mr. Sterne now? Between ourselves, I believe he
+will be terribly impatient."</p>
+
+<p>"And we'll renew our interesting conversation some other time."</p>
+
+<p>"It's kind of you to want to talk to an old woman like me."</p>
+
+<p>"You must not call yourself old, Mrs. Tuke," and Madeline tripped across
+the hall, and knocked timidly at the parlour door.</p>
+
+<p>"Come in," called a clear, even voice, and Madeline turned the handle
+and entered. Her heart was beating considerably faster than usual, and
+directly she caught sight of Rufus a choking sensation came into her
+throat.</p>
+
+<p>It was painfully pathetic to see this strong, handsome man lying pale
+and helpless on his narrow bed, and all because of her. If she had not
+been foolish and headstrong it would not have happened. And yet a great
+wave of gratitude surged over her heart at the same moment. His life had
+been spared. If he had been drowned she would never have forgiven
+herself to the day of her death.</p>
+
+<p>He greeted her with a smile that was all brightness and sunshine. For
+the moment all the pain and disappointment and foreboding of the last
+week were forgotten. The presence of this beautiful girl was
+compensation for all he had endured.</p>
+
+<p>"It is good of you to come," he said, in a tone that vibrated with
+unmistakable gratitude.</p>
+
+<p>"No, please don't say that," she answered, a mist coming up before her
+eyes. "I was afraid you might hate the very sight of me."</p>
+
+<p>He smiled at her for answer, and pointed to a chair.</p>
+
+<p>"I've been wanting to see you for days," she went on; "wanting to ease
+my heart by telling you how<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> grateful I am, and how terribly I regret
+causing you so much loss and suffering."</p>
+
+<p>He smiled again. What answer could he make to such words of
+self-revealing? He would simply have to let her talk on until she gave
+him something to reply to.</p>
+
+<p>"I told Dr. Pendarvis that I expected in secret you were heaping
+maledictions on my defenceless head."</p>
+
+<p>"Have you so poor an opinion of me as all that?" he questioned, looking
+steadily into her sweet, brown eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you see, I calculate I was judging you by myself somewhat."</p>
+
+<p>"And if you had saved me, and slightly damaged yourself in the process,
+would you have been very angry with me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! I am only a girl, and if I were disabled for a year, nobody would
+be the loser. But with you it is different. I wish it had been the other
+way about."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't."</p>
+
+<p>"No?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, I am glad things are as they are."</p>
+
+<p>"But your invention is at a standstill."</p>
+
+<p>"Who told you about my invention?"</p>
+
+<p>"Dr. Pendarvis, I think. Oh no, it was Dr. Chester; he said you would be
+a great man some day."</p>
+
+<p>"Dr. Chester will have to cultivate the habit of thinking before he
+speaks," he said, with a laugh, "If I can be a useful man, I shall be
+content."</p>
+
+<p>"Is it better to be useful than to be great?" she questioned, na&iuml;vely.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, well, that all depends, I expect, on the meaning you attach to
+words," he answered, with a broad smile. "If a man is truly great, he
+is, of course, useful, while a man may be very useful without being
+great."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, then, I shall back Dr. Chester," she said, with a pretty shrug of
+her shoulders.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"You had better not," he said, soberly. "Not that it will matter, of
+course. For whether I win or lose, you cannot be affected by the one or
+the other."</p>
+
+<p>"Why not?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, for fifty reasons."</p>
+
+<p>"Please give me one."</p>
+
+<p>"I would rather not."</p>
+
+<p>"But I insist upon it."</p>
+
+<p>"And if I still refuse?"</p>
+
+<p>"I shall stay here till you do answer."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, that will be delightful," he answered, laughing. "How quickly the
+days will pass."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Mr. Sterne, I did not know you could be so provoking," she said,
+with a little pout.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you really want a reason?" he said, looking gravely into her eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Really and truly."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, then, my invention will affect only the toilers&mdash;the poor people
+if you like. Its success or failure will not matter one whit to Sir
+Charles Tregony, for instance, and you belong to the same circle, do you
+not?"</p>
+
+<p>"But its success or failure will matter to you, won't it?"</p>
+
+<p>"It will matter everything to me."</p>
+
+<p>"What do you mean by that?"</p>
+
+<p>"Just what I say. Everything means everything. I've staked my all."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no, you have not," she said, brightly. "You may have staked your
+fortune, and your reputation as an inventor, and your immediate
+prospects. But life is left."</p>
+
+<p>He caught his breath sharply. "But what is life worth when all you have
+lived for is swept away?"</p>
+
+<p>"And have you nothing else to live for?" she questioned, seriously.</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing! I'm a lonely soul in a lonely world." <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"But there is still life," she persisted. "And no great soul gives up at
+one failure or at ten."</p>
+
+<p>He felt the hot blood rush to his face and he averted his eyes
+instinctively. He did his best to recover himself before she should
+notice, but her keen eyes were quick to see the look of pain and
+distress that swept over his face.</p>
+
+<p>"Now I have said something foolish&mdash;something that has hurt you&mdash;&mdash;" she
+began.</p>
+
+<p>"My leg hurts me occasionally," he answered, with a poor attempt at a
+smile.</p>
+
+<p>"I have been very thoughtless," she said, rising suddenly to her feet.
+"I did not think how I must be tiring you."</p>
+
+<p>"But you have not tired me at all," he persisted. "You have done me
+good. You cannot think how intolerably irksome it is lying here helpless
+day after&mdash;&mdash;" then he checked himself suddenly. It was his turn now to
+see a look of distress come into her eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"And it is all my fault," she interrupted. "Oh, if I could only atone in
+some measure."</p>
+
+<p>"You have atoned, if atonement were needed, by coming to see me. Will
+you not come again?"</p>
+
+<p>"May I? Really and truly it would do me good if I could serve you in
+some way. I might read to you if you would let me, or write your
+letters."</p>
+
+<p>He felt himself shaken as if with a tempest. He knew, as if by instinct,
+that he had reached the most fateful&mdash;perhaps the most perilous&mdash;crisis
+in his life. He had only to say the word and this beautiful girl would
+come and sit by his side day after day, come out of pure goodness and
+gratitude, never dreaming what her presence might mean to him.</p>
+
+<p>He was only too painfully conscious that he was half in love with her
+already. She had touched his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> heart and imagination as no one had ever
+done before. From the time he caught that first glimpse of her face as
+she was driving from the station until now, she had been almost
+constantly in his thoughts. It was as though the fates&mdash;malicious as
+usual&mdash;had conspired to throw them together, for if he learned to love
+her, only misery and heart-ache could be the result. She would think of
+him only as someone she ought to be kind to. She was out of his circle.
+Whoever, or whatever she might have been in America, here she was the
+ward of Sir Charles Tregony, one of the proudest and most exclusive men
+in the county. Besides, for all he knew, she might be engaged already.</p>
+
+<p>Beyond all, there was the fact that his life was at stake. If his
+project failed he was bound in honour to see that Felix Muller suffered
+no loss. The rights of the Life Assurance Company had not occurred to
+him even yet. There must be no human ties to make the struggle harder.
+If the worst came to the worst&mdash;a possibility that would persist in
+haunting him&mdash;he must go unmourned and unmourning into the darkness.</p>
+
+<p>The brain works quickly in times of excitement and emotion, and all
+these considerations passed through his mind as in a flash. Should he
+tell this sweet-eyed girl that she must not come to see him again, and
+let her go away believing that he disapproved of her coming at all?</p>
+
+<p>Better so. Better a few hours or days of sharp pain now than a life-long
+agony after.</p>
+
+<p>"I must be brave," he said to himself. "The first lesson in life is
+self-conquest."</p>
+
+<p>The form of words he decided to use shaped themselves quickly. The more
+explicit the better.</p>
+
+<p>He turned his head toward her with resolutions full grown in his heart,
+and their eyes met again.</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI</h2>
+
+<h3>A TALK BY THE WAY</h3>
+
+
+<p>Generally speaking, Rufus Sterne was not lacking in courage, either
+physical or moral. But no man knows his strength till he is tested. Many
+a man has passed through tempest and flood, fire and sword, unscathed
+and undaunted, and in the end has gone down helplessly and ignominiously
+before a pair of soft brown eyes.</p>
+
+<p>When Rufus turned his head he meant to say firmly but kindly that it
+would be better if they did not meet again. And then he would soothe the
+hurt&mdash;if hurt there should be&mdash;by telling her how grateful he was for
+her visit and how much he appreciated her kindness.</p>
+
+<p>He was quite sure she would understand. She was not a child and her eyes
+were more than ordinarily sharp. If she chose to take offence, of
+course, he would be sorry; but better she should be offended than that
+he should break his heart.</p>
+
+<p>He was bristling all over with courage when their eyes met, and then all
+his strength departed. Madeline had no thought of conquest. She only
+wanted to be kind. She felt infinitely pitiful toward this strong man
+who had been brought low through her, and her pity shone in her eyes and
+vibrated in every tone of her voice.</p>
+
+<p>It was her artlessness, her sweet ingenuousness that broke Rufus down.
+In addition to which she was so exquisitely beautiful, while the
+unfamiliar lilt and intonation of her voice were like music in his
+ears.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"It will be just heaven if you will come and read to me sometimes," he
+heard himself saying, and then he wondered whether he was awake or
+dreaming.</p>
+
+<p>"Then I will come to-morrow. It will be perfectly lovely to do some
+little bit of good in the world."</p>
+
+<p>The room seemed to grow dark when she took her departure, as though a
+cloud drifted across the face of the sun. For a long time he lay quite
+still, looking at the door, behind which she had disappeared. His heart
+was in a strange tumult, but whether pleasure or pain predominated he
+did not know. What he did know was that the intoxication of her presence
+was the sweetest thing he had ever known, but below the sweet and
+struggling to get to the top, was a sense of something exceedingly
+bitter.</p>
+
+<p>He felt like a drunkard steadily gravitating toward the tap-room. His
+moral sense, his better judgment, urged him to turn aside or turn back;
+his appetite, his desire for excitement or forgetfulness lured him with
+irresistible force.</p>
+
+<p>"I know I am a fool," he said to himself, "and I shall have to pay
+dearly enough for my folly later on, but I can't help it."</p>
+
+<p>He had rather prided himself on his courage, and this confession of
+weakness, even to himself, was distinctly humiliating.</p>
+
+<p>It was the kind of thing for which he would have allowed no excuse in
+any other man. It was a pet theory of his that a man ought to be always
+master of himself, and that any man who allowed himself to be dominated
+and conquered by a human passion was not worthy of respect or even
+sympathy.</p>
+
+<p>Men who fail to live up to their theories are generally prolific in
+excuses. To own himself beaten out and out was too much for his
+self-respect. He had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span><br />taken a step down, he knew, but there was a
+reason for it. Perhaps, if he searched diligently enough, he would be
+able to justify his conduct to the full.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 300px;">
+<img src="images/i103.jpg" width="257" height="400" alt="" /><br />
+<span class="caption">&ldquo;IT WILL BE JUST HEAVEN IF YOU WILL COME AND READ TO ME&rdquo;</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>Before the day was out, he found any number of excuses. This life, he
+told himself, was all, and youth was the best part of life, in fact, the
+only part in which enjoyment could find a place, and if a cup of delight
+was placed to his lips, was it wise to dash it to the ground and spill
+all its contents, because it was possible and even probable it would
+leave a bitter taste in the mouth. But even though he was sure the
+bitter taste would follow, was he not justified in taking the sweet when
+he had the chance? Had not somebody said:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"'Tis better to have loved and lost<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Than never to have loved at all"?<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Besides, he had not to consider only himself. That would be selfish.
+This sweet-eyed girl wanted an outlet for her gratitude and generosity,
+and if he rudely pushed aside the hand that was outstretched to help,
+and churlishly refused her sympathy, how hurt she would be. And a man
+would be a brute to give pain to so sweet a soul; he would rather cut
+his hand off than do it.</p>
+
+<p>Also it did not follow that because he saw more of her he would become
+more deeply in love with her. He would recognise, of course, all the way
+through that she was out of his circle&mdash;that was a fact he would never
+allow to pass out of his mind. And keeping that in mind, he would be
+able to keep guard over his own heart.</p>
+
+<p>So before the day was done, he was able to extract all the poison from
+his surrender. He might not have done the heroic thing, but it did not
+necessarily follow<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> that he had done a foolish thing. Chance had flung
+this girl across his path, why should it be an evil chance? Why might
+there not grow out of the acquaintance something for the good of both?</p>
+
+<p>Having arrived at that position, he ceased calling himself a fool, and
+gave himself up to pleasant dreams and even more pleasant anticipations.
+Closing his eyes he recalled their conversation, recalled every
+expression of her sensitive face, every tone of her musical voice.</p>
+
+<p>He fancied her sitting again by his bedside. How dainty she was, how
+unobtrusively and yet how exquisitely attired. Things he had been aware
+of in a sub-conscious way now clearly defined themselves. He remembered
+her teeth, even and white, her ears small and coloured like a sea-shell,
+her eyebrows dark and straight, her eyelashes long, her mouth like
+Cupid's bow. He remembered, too, how her rich brown hair grew low in her
+neck, while a massive coil seemed to balance her shapely head.</p>
+
+<p>He smiled to himself at length. "How much I noticed," he said, "without
+seeming to notice. I wonder if other people think her so good to look
+upon."</p>
+
+<p>He slept better that night than he had done since his accident, and
+through all his dreams Madeline seemed to glide, a healing and an
+inspiring presence. He awoke with his nerves thrilling like harpstrings,
+and a happy smile upon his lips.</p>
+
+<p>He had dreamed that his invention had realised a thousand times more
+than he had ever hoped or imagined, that it had lifted him into the
+region of affluence and power, that he took his place among the
+successful men of his generation by right of what he had done, and that,
+thrilling with the knowledge of his success, he had laid his heart at
+the feet of Madeline Grover. "You have been my inspiration," he said<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span> to
+her. "But for my love for you I could not have wrought and striven as I
+have done," and for answer she laid her hands in his and lifted her face
+to be kissed; and then the twittering of the sparrows under the eaves
+awoke him.</p>
+
+<p>"Dreams are curious things," he said, the smile still upon his lips.
+"Now I dream I fail, and now that I succeed. Both dreams cannot be true,
+that is certain. I wonder. I wonder."</p>
+
+<p>He was still wondering when Mrs. Tuke brought him an early cup of tea.</p>
+
+<p>"Have you slept well?" she asked, and there was a sympathetic note in
+her voice that he did not remember to have heard before.</p>
+
+<p>"The best night I have yet had," he said, cheerfully.</p>
+
+<p>"Then you don't think having so much company yesterday did you any
+harm?"</p>
+
+<p>"It did me good, Mrs. Tuke. I was beginning to mope."</p>
+
+<p>"She is a beautiful creature."</p>
+
+<p>"You called her a scare-away American yesterday."</p>
+
+<p>"Did I? Oh, well, you see, I didn't know her so well then. Besides, I
+never denied that she was good-looking."</p>
+
+<p>"But looks are only skin deep, I have heard you say."</p>
+
+<p>"And that I sticks to. But Miss Grover has sense and judgment. You
+should have heard her talk yesterday. I never heard a girl of her age
+speak with so much wisdom. We've quite taken to each other."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm very glad to hear it."</p>
+
+<p>"She's not to be judged by the ordinary foot-rule either."</p>
+
+<p>"No?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"In America girls have more freedom. You see, they've no king there,
+only a president."</p>
+
+<p>Rufus laughed.</p>
+
+<p>"And everybody grows up equal, as it were. Girls learn to look after
+themselves and men to respect 'em."</p>
+
+<p>"That's as it ought to be."</p>
+
+<p>"But the women of St. Gaved would be envious enough to bite their thumbs
+off if they knew she made a friend of me; and would talk abominable. I
+know 'em, and what they are capable of."</p>
+
+<p>"Some of them can gossip a bit," he said, reflectively.</p>
+
+<p>"And if they know'd I allowed her to see you," Mrs. Tuke went on.</p>
+
+<p>"The fat would be in the fire," he interrupted.</p>
+
+<p>"But they're not going to know. Do you think I don't know a lady when I
+sees her, and know also what's due to her? You should hear Miss Grover
+talk."</p>
+
+<p>"She has a taking way with her."</p>
+
+<p>"No, 'tisn't that. There's no chaff with her, and as for myself, I can't
+abide flattery. But I do like common-sense," and with a self-satisfied
+smile lighting up her severe face, Mrs. Tuke bustled out of the room.</p>
+
+<p>Rufus closed his eyes and laughed softly. "The little scare-away
+American got in the first shot, that's evident," he chuckled, and he
+kept on smiling to himself at intervals during the day.</p>
+
+<p>The afternoon was beginning to wear away before Madeline put in an
+appearance. She came into the room like a breath of spring&mdash;gentle,
+fragrant, energising. She was not at all shy, neither was she obtrusive.
+There was never anything self-conscious in her movements. She was trying
+to be kind, trying to pay in some measure a big debt of gratitude she
+owed, and she was supremely happy in making the attempt.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Do you know, I feel real pleased with myself to-day," she said, in her
+quaint American way.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you?" he questioned.</p>
+
+<p>"Seems to me living up in a big house like Trewinion Hall, one has
+scarcely a chance of being kind or neighbourly, and when the chance does
+come, it seems great."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you think exclusiveness and selfishness mean the same thing?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know. That's a sum I haven't figured out yet. But what would
+you like me to read to you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Anything you like. I fear you will not consider my stock of books very
+interesting."</p>
+
+<p>"Have they all to do with science and mechanics, and that sort of
+thing?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, not all."</p>
+
+<p>She rose from her chair and went to a table on which several volumes
+lay, and began to read their titles. "Principles of Western
+Civilisation," "The Earth's Beginning," "Facts and Comments," "Education
+and Empire," "Philosophy and Life."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! here is a story book I expect. 'The Buried Temple,' by Maurice
+Maeterlinck," and she picked up the book and began to turn over the
+pages, then with a faint sigh she laid it down again.</p>
+
+<p>"Would you rather I talked to you?" she questioned, turning her face
+toward him with a smile.</p>
+
+<p>"I think I would," he replied. "I am not much in the mood for philosophy
+to-day."</p>
+
+<p>"But why vex your brains with philosophy at all? What you need when you
+are ill is a real, good story. The next time I come to see you I'll
+bring a book along with me."</p>
+
+<p>"What will you bring?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know yet. Do you like poetry?"</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"When it is poetry."</p>
+
+<p>"Are you sure you know it when you see it?" and she laughed good
+humouredly.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I would not like to dogmatise on that point," he answered.</p>
+
+<p>"You've read Whittier, of course?"</p>
+
+<p>"No."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I'm sorry for you. Whittier is great. I like him heaps better than
+your Browning."</p>
+
+<p>"Why?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because I understand him better. I expect poetry is like beauty, in the
+eye of the beholder, don't you think so? Now if poetry don't touch me,
+don't thrill me, why, whatever it may be to other people it isn't poetry
+to me. Do I make myself plain?"</p>
+
+<p>"Quite plain."</p>
+
+<p>"Now Whittier just says what I feel, but what I haven't the power to
+express; just sums up in great, noble words the holiest emotions I have
+ever known."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"Then Whittier is a man of faith and vision, as all poets must be if
+they are to be great. I like Browning for that. He sees clear. He
+doesn't merely hope, he believes. He not only 'faintly trusts the larger
+hope,' he builds on the rock. A man who has no faith is like a bird with
+a broken wing. Don't you think so?"</p>
+
+<p>"But what do you mean by faith?" he asked, uneasily.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, now you want to puzzle me," she said, with a smile.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no I don't," he replied, quickly. "I only want to get your meaning
+clearly."</p>
+
+<p>"But I'm not a poet," she answered. "I'm only a girl, and I can't find
+the right words. But I just<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> mean faith. Seeing the invisible, if I may
+say so. Realising it. Being conscious of it."</p>
+
+<p>"The invisible?" he questioned.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, God, and heaven, and immortality. Believing also in goodness and
+humanity and the sacredness of human life."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you believe that human life is a very sacred thing?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, of course I do! What a question to ask."</p>
+
+<p>"Does it seem so very strange?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, yes. Think of the care that is taken of everybody, even the
+worthless. Think of all the hospitals and asylums&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, that is one side of the question," he said. "What we may call the
+sentimental side. But place human life in the scale against money or
+territory or human ambition."</p>
+
+<p>"Well?"</p>
+
+<p>"We mow men down with machine guns or blow them up with dynamite&mdash;not in
+twos or threes, but in thousands and tens of thousands, and the more we
+kill the more satisfied we are."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes, I know. That is all very terrible," she said, with a puzzled
+expression in her eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"But why terrible?" he questioned.</p>
+
+<p>"I can't explain myself very well," she answered, slowly; "but, of
+course, we must defend our country."</p>
+
+<p>"Therefore country is more sacred than life."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh no, you are not going to catch me that way. To die for one's country
+must be great, heroic."</p>
+
+<p>"Exactly. Therefore, in comparison with what we call country&mdash;that is,
+our particular form of government, or our particular set of rulers, or
+our particular stake in it&mdash;what you call the sacredness of human life
+occupies a very subordinate position."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"But you would risk your life in defence of your country?" she
+questioned, evasively.</p>
+
+<p>"Most certainly I would," he answered, promptly; "but then you see I am
+not hampered by any notions respecting the sacredness of human life."</p>
+
+<p>He was sorry a moment later that their conversation had taken the turn
+it had. He felt that he would bite his tongue out rather than give this
+sweet-eyed maiden pain; and that he had pained her was too evident by
+the look upon her face. And yet, having gone so far, he was bound to be
+honest.</p>
+
+<p>"If I held your views," he went on, "nothing would induce me to take a
+human life&mdash;neither patriotism nor any other ism."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, but," she said, quickly, "there are some things more sacred even
+than life, honour for instance, and truth."</p>
+
+<p>"No doubt. But there is surely a difference between losing one's life,
+giving it up for the sake of some great principle, and taking the life
+of another."</p>
+
+<p>"Then you would not be afraid to die for something you valued much?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why should a man be afraid to die at all? Of course life is sweet while
+you have something to live for, but to rest and be at peace, should not
+that be sweet also?"</p>
+
+<p>"You want to live?"</p>
+
+<p>"Now I do. For the moment I have something to live for. Something that
+gives zest to existence and fills all my dreams."</p>
+
+<p>"I am so sorry to have delayed its execution. Perhaps you will come to
+it with more zest and insight after the long rest."</p>
+
+<p>"I think I shall," he answered, slowly, looking beyond her to where the
+day grew red in the west.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I wish I could help you," she said, as if thinking aloud; "but women
+can do so little."</p>
+
+<p>He withdrew his eyes from the window and looked at her again.</p>
+
+<p>"You will do much," he said, speaking earnestly.</p>
+
+<p>"How?"</p>
+
+<p>"By inspiring someone to be great. A clod would become a hero with
+your&mdash;your&mdash;&mdash;" then he broke off suddenly and withdrew his eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Won't you finish the sentence?" she questioned, looking at him shyly.</p>
+
+<p>"Not to-day," he answered, and a few minutes later she rose to go.</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII</h2>
+
+<h3>FAIRYLAND</h3>
+
+
+<p>Madeline did not put in an appearance the next day or the day following
+that. But on the third day she came into the room like a ray of
+sunshine.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I'm here," she said, in her bright, eager fashion; "but I was
+just terribly afraid I wasn't going to get&mdash;there now, isn't that a
+sentence to be remembered?"</p>
+
+<p>Rufus showed his welcome in every line of his face. It was a dull, rainy
+day, with a blustering wind from the west and a sky that had not
+revealed a speck of blue since morning. He had lain mostly in one
+position, looking through the small window, watching the trees on the
+other side of the road swaying in the wind, and listening to the fitful
+patter of the rain.</p>
+
+<p>His thoughts had not been always of the most cheerful kind. The days and
+weeks were passing surely, if slowly, while the great scheme on which he
+had set his heart and his hopes was at a standstill. He was conscious,
+too, of a new and terrible hunger that was steadily growing upon him&mdash;a
+hunger for companionship, for sympathy, for love. The coming of Madeline
+had changed his life, changed his outlook, changed the very centre of
+gravity. Nothing seemed exactly the same as it did before. Even death
+had changed its face, and the possibility of a life beyond forced itself
+upon his brain with a new insistence.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>To win success had been his ambition&mdash;the one dream of his life. The
+only immortality he desired was to live in a beneficent invention he had
+wrought out. Now a new desire possessed him. There was something better
+than success, something sweeter than fame. If he could win love. If he
+could know the joy of a perfect sympathy. If&mdash;if&mdash;&mdash;.</p>
+
+<p>His thoughts always broke off at a certain point. It seemed so hopeless,
+so foolish. Until he had won some kind of position for himself it was
+madness to think of love. At present he was working on borrowed capital,
+and there was always before him the grim possibility that he might fail,
+and failure meant the end of all things for him. Felix Muller should
+never have reason to doubt his courage or his honour.</p>
+
+<p>Then he would start again, dreaming of Madeline. The two preceding days
+had seemed painfully long. He had listened for her footsteps from noon
+to night. He had watched for her coming more than they who wait for the
+morning. He had pictured her smile a thousand times, and felt the warm
+pressure of her hand in his.</p>
+
+<p>When at length she glided into the room his heart was too full for
+speech. How bright she was, how winsome, how overflowing with life and
+vivacity! The gloom and chill of autumn went out of the room as if by
+magic, and the air was full of the perfume of spring violets and the
+warmth of summer sunshine.</p>
+
+<p>She pulled off her gloves and threw them on the table and seated herself
+in a chair near him.</p>
+
+<p>"Have you been very dull these last two or three days?" she questioned.</p>
+
+<p>"Rather," he answered. "You see, the fine weather has come to a sudden
+end."</p>
+
+<p>"But I guess it will soon clear up again, though I am told your English
+climate is not to be relied upon."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"The only certain thing about it is its glorious uncertainty."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, there may be advantages in that; there's always a certain
+interest in not knowing. Don't you think so?"</p>
+
+<p>"Most things have their compensations," he said, with a smile.</p>
+
+<p>"Then there's a chance of your being compensated for this long spell of
+suffering and idleness."</p>
+
+<p>"As a matter of fact I have been compensated already."</p>
+
+<p>"No! in which way?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, that is not easy to explain," he said, turning away his eyes. "And
+you might not understand me if I tried."</p>
+
+<p>"Am I so dense?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't think you are dense at all. But I am not good at saying things
+as they ought to be said. You will sympathise with me in that, I know."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, that is mere equivocation. You simply don't want to tell me."</p>
+
+<p>"I would tell you a lot if I dared."</p>
+
+<p>"Dared?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. I should not like to drive you away or make you angry. Your
+friendship is very sweet to me&mdash;that is one of the compensations."</p>
+
+<p>"The friendship of a mere girl is worth nothing to a grown, busy man,
+who is fighting big problems and aiming at great conquests. If I could
+only help you that would be just fine. But it is of no use hankering
+after impossible things, is it? So I am going to read to you."</p>
+
+<p>"What are you going to read?"</p>
+
+<p>"A piece called 'Snow Bound.' Now listen," and for half-an-hour he did
+not speak. Her voice rose and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span> fell in musical cadence. He closed his
+eyes so that he might catch all the melody of her voice. The lines she
+read did not interest him at first. All his interest was in the
+sweet-eyed reader.</p>
+
+<p>But he grew interested after awhile, and was touched unconsciously by
+the beautiful faith and tender humanity that flashed out here and there.</p>
+
+<p>When she reached the end he opened his eyes and looked at her, her lips
+were still apart, her eyes aglow with emotion. She was no longer the
+bright, merry irresponsible girl. She seemed to have changed suddenly
+into a strong, great-souled woman.</p>
+
+<p>"Would you mind reading a few stanzas over again?" he questioned, after
+a pause.</p>
+
+<p>"With pleasure."</p>
+
+<p>"Beginning, 'O time and change.'"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I know," and she opened the book again. He listened with intense
+eagerness. She dropped her voice a little when she came to the words:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Alas for him who never sees<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The stars shine through his cypress trees!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Who, hopeless, lays his dead away,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Nor looks to see the breaking day<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Across the mournful marbles play!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Who hath not learned in hours of faith<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">The truth to flesh and sense unknown,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">That Life is ever Lord of death,<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">And Love can never lose its own!<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>She closed the book again and waited for him to speak.</p>
+
+<p>"It is a beautiful thought," he said, without opening his eyes. "If one
+could only be sure it is true."</p>
+
+<p>"Be sure that what is true?" she asked, in a tone of surprise.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"That Life is ever Lord of death. That Love can never lose its own."</p>
+
+<p>"Why do you think there can be any doubt about it?"</p>
+
+<p>He opened his eyes again and looked at her, and his heart smote him. It
+would be a cruel thing to disturb her serene and simple faith with his
+own doubts. Almost for the first time in his life he felt the utter
+futility of the agnostic's creed. It had nothing to offer but a
+catalogue of negations. To the parched and thirsty lips it placed an
+empty cup, and before tired and longing eyes it held up a blank canvas.</p>
+
+<p>He had grown out of his religious creed as he had grown out of his
+pinafores. His heart and his intellect alike had revolted against the
+narrow orthodoxy of his grandfather. He had been driven farther into the
+barren desert of negations by the pitiful parody of religion exhibited
+by ecclesiastical organisations, and to complete the work Felix Muller
+had inoculated him with the views of German materialists. He fancied,
+like many another man who had followed in the same track, that he had
+got to the bed-rock at last, that after much delving he had found the
+truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.</p>
+
+<p>Yet it was truth that brought no hope, no comfort, no inspiration. He
+was not eager to proclaim it to others. Men would be just as well off if
+they never reached this <i>ultima Thule</i>&mdash;perhaps, better off. To persuade
+men that there was no God, nor heaven, nor immortality, that this life
+was all and the grave the end, was not the kind of thing to inspire men
+to great deeds or heroic achievements.</p>
+
+<p>His intellect might mock at the simple faith of the sweet-eyed maiden.
+He might honestly believe that she was living in a fool's paradise. But
+if it was a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> paradise and there was nothing beyond it, why disturb her?
+If death ended everything, let her enjoy her paradise as long as
+possible. If it was the only paradise she would ever have, it would be
+sheer cruelty to drive her out of it.</p>
+
+<p>If he destroyed her faith, what had he to give her to fill its place?
+There was nothing in a string of negations to satisfy the hunger of a
+human soul. Granted that her faith was folly, that her religion was pure
+superstition, there was no denying that it was a very beautiful
+superstition, that it invested life with a grandeur that nothing else
+could give to it.</p>
+
+<p>And, after all, was he so sure that he had found the ultimate truth? He
+had inscribed on his little banner <i>Ne plus ultra</i>, but had he any right
+to dogmatise more than others? There might be a farther "beyond" which
+faith could pierce. There might be truth which flesh and sense could
+never apprehend. There might be spirit as well as matter.</p>
+
+<p>"I should like you to read me more from the same book," he said, at
+length.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! I will do that with pleasure," she said, eagerly. "I knew you would
+like my dear old Quaker poet."</p>
+
+<p>"He has the gift of expression," he answered, cautiously.</p>
+
+<p>Then she began to read "The Eternal Goodness," slowly and reverently.</p>
+
+<p>He closed his eyes again, and listened with wrapt attention. The
+beautiful faith of the poet seemed to strike a new chord in his being.
+Moreover, the religion in which he had been reared, and from which he
+had broken away, seemed a nobler and a Diviner thing than it had ever
+appeared to him before. Stripped of its human glosses and paraphrases,
+released from the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span> rusty fetters of dogma, stated in simple language, it
+awoke a dormant emotion in his nature that had never been touched until
+now.</p>
+
+<p>"Would you mind leaving the book with me when you go?" he questioned,
+when she had finished.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course I will leave it," she answered.</p>
+
+<p>"I am afraid I shall not see so much when I read it for myself," he went
+on. "There is so much in the right emphasis being given."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you mean me to take that as a compliment?" she questioned,
+playfully.</p>
+
+<p>"Not as an empty compliment," he answered, gravely. "You read
+beautifully."</p>
+
+<p>She did not reply to that, but her eyes glowed with pleasure.</p>
+
+<p>During the next week or ten days he lived in a kind of fairyland. Every
+now and then he had an unpleasant feeling that he would wake up sooner
+or later with a start to discover that the gold was only tinsel, that
+the rippling streams were dry, and the green and shady meadows a hot and
+arid desert.</p>
+
+<p>Every day or two Madeline came to see him&mdash;came quite naturally and
+without ceremony. She did not hide from herself the fact that she liked
+to come. She frankly admitted that she liked the invalid. She told
+herself that she would be an ungrateful little wretch if she didn't. He
+had saved her life, and saved it at terrible risk to himself and
+terrible suffering, and it would be selfish, indeed, on her part if she
+did not try to cheer and brighten the long days that he was enduring,
+and enduring so patiently on her account.</p>
+
+<p>Moreover, Rufus Sterne was no ordinary man. He belonged to a type she
+had not met before. As yet she did not know how to describe him. He was
+more or less of a mystery to her, and that in itself kindled<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span> and
+sustained her interest. Most of the young men she had met she "saw
+through" in ten minutes, and in half-an-hour had weighed them up,
+classified and labelled them.</p>
+
+<p>But Rufus Sterne baffled her. He was altogether too complex for her
+simple and easy method of analysis, too massive for her six-inch rule.
+At times he seemed to her a huge bundle of contradictions. His face
+could be as stern as the granite cliffs, his smile as sweet and winning
+as spring sunshine. At times he was as silent and mysterious as the
+sphinx, at other times brimming over with mirth and merriment. His
+passion for truth and right filled her with admiration, his apparent
+indifference to all religion struck her with dismay. He was a man of the
+people in theory, in practice he lived alone, remote and friendless.</p>
+
+<p>It seemed to her sometimes a wonderful condescension on his part that he
+deigned to notice her at all. Like most of her sex, she did not in her
+heart think much of girls. She would defend them readily enough if they
+were attacked, and if driven into a corner would acclaim their
+superiority over men; but in reality she thought little of them. In the
+main they were small and niggling, and not particularly magnanimous.
+Neither did she place herself an inch higher than the average girl. She
+was as conscious of her own limitations as anybody.</p>
+
+<p>Hence, that this strong, self-reliant man, who was fighting the world
+single-handed, and toiling to complete some great invention, should make
+her his friend, tell her that her friendship was very sweet to him, was
+a compliment greater than had ever been paid to her before.</p>
+
+<p>She had never placed Rufus Sterne for a moment in the same category with
+Gervase Tregony. Gervase<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span> was on her own level. He was not to her a
+mysterious and unexplored country. She knew him thoroughly, knew what he
+was capable of; had sounded all his depths and tabulated all his
+qualifications.</p>
+
+<p>Hence, Gervase never over-awed her; never made her feel small or
+insignificant. On the whole, she thought she liked him all the better
+for that. Gervase might not be profound&mdash;that was hardly to be expected
+in a soldier; he might not be morally sensitive&mdash;that also was
+incompatible with the profession. But he was a good sort, so she
+believed. A bit rough and over-mastering, but generous at heart. Not
+vexed by social or political problems, but fond of life, and intent on
+having a good time of it if he had the opportunity.</p>
+
+<p>She had never doubted for a moment that she and Gervase would get on
+excellently together. Indeed, they appeared to have been designed for
+each other, and yet she had hesitated to accept his proposal, and every
+day her hesitation grew more and more pronounced.</p>
+
+<p>The fascination of Rufus Sterne's personality intensified as the days
+passed away. Her admiration for his character increased. There was
+nothing small or petty or niggling about him. She did not compare him
+with Gervase Tregony, and yet unconsciously she found herself
+contrasting the two men&mdash;contrasting them to Gervase's disadvantage.</p>
+
+<p>And yet in her heart she was very loyal to the man who had proposed to
+her&mdash;the man who had captivated her girlish imagination by his splendid
+uniform and masterful ways.</p>
+
+<p>Her feeling towards Rufus was of a different order. At first it was
+merely a sense of gratitude; later on gratitude became suffused with
+sympathy; but as the days passed away, other ingredients were added,
+the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span> most marked being admiration. His strength, his patience, his
+reticence, all called forth her approval, till in time he became
+something of a hero in her eyes.</p>
+
+<p>And all this time Rufus yielded himself more and more to the witchery of
+her presence, and felt in some respects a better man in consequence.
+There were compensations, no doubt. Her very presence created an
+atmosphere that softened and humanised him. His hard, defiant cynicism
+melted before her smile like snow in spring sunshine. Their
+conversations touched and unlocked springs of emotion that had been
+sealed for years; the books and poems she read to him broadened his
+horizon and led him to re-open questions that he imagined were closed.
+Her smile, her voice, her look, set all his nerves to music, and made
+life a more beautiful thing than ever it had seemed before.</p>
+
+<p>But he knew all the time that there would come an awakening sooner or
+later. They were like two happy children sauntering through green and
+pleasant glades, screened from the storm and recking naught of the
+desert beyond.</p>
+
+<p>For himself he avoided looking into the future. He would enjoy the
+sunshine and the flowers as long as possible. In the long intervals
+between her visits he recalled their conversations, and re-read the
+pieces to which her voice had given so much meaning and melody.
+Moreover, he turned the pages of the books she had lent him and
+committed to memory some of the passages she had marked. They were sweet
+to him because she loved them.</p>
+
+<p>So all unconsciously he strayed back from the hard desert of negations
+in which he had wandered so long. Because he loved this sweet flower, he
+loved all flowers for her sake. Indeed, love became the medium through<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span>
+which he looked at all things; far distances became near, and new and
+wider horizons loomed beyond.</p>
+
+<p>Whatever pain might come to him later on, the memory of these days would
+remain an inspiration to him. To have loved so truly was surely in
+itself an ennobling thing. Nothing would ever take out of his life these
+golden threads that had been woven into its texture. The song might
+cease, the voice of the singer be hushed, but the echo of the song would
+remain in his heart to the very last.</p>
+
+<p>So he enjoyed those bright, peaceful days to the full, and tried not to
+anticipate the future. "Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof," he
+said to himself. But the day of awakening was nearer than he thought.</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII</h2>
+
+<h3>THE AWAKENING</h3>
+
+
+<p>Rufus had not seen Madeline for three whole days, and had begun to
+wonder what had happened. On the fourth day, however, she came during
+the forenoon.</p>
+
+<p>"It was now or never," she said, by way of explanation; "the house has
+been full of people during the last three days, and this afternoon some
+others are coming. So I had to pretend!"</p>
+
+<p>"Pretend?" he questioned.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm afraid they're getting suspicious," she replied.</p>
+
+<p>"Suspicious of what?"</p>
+
+<p>"That I'm not so great a student, or so devoted to my books, as I seem
+to be. So I had to pretend I was going to write to the Captain!"</p>
+
+<p>"What Captain?"</p>
+
+<p>She laughed. "Oh! there's only one Captain, as far as the Tregonys are
+concerned, and that, of course, is Gervase. Do you know him?"</p>
+
+<p>"I've seen him, of course; but I have never spoken to him."</p>
+
+<p>"He's very handsome, isn't he?"</p>
+
+<p>"I really don't know," he answered, bluntly; "it had never occurred to
+me."</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose men don't notice such things where men are concerned," she
+said, reflectively; "but in his uniform he is just superb."</p>
+
+<p>"Then you think fine feathers make fine birds?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Well, in some respects, yes," she answered, slowly, "though Gervase
+looks handsome in ordinary evening dress."</p>
+
+<p>Then silence fell for several seconds. The subject was one in which
+Rufus was not greatly interested, and as yet not a suspicion of the
+truth had dawned upon him. "Do you like Gervase?" she said at length,
+speaking abruptly.</p>
+
+<p>The question took him by surprise, and almost threw him off his guard.
+As a matter of fact, he did not like him, and was on the point of saying
+so, but checked himself in time. "Why do you ask that question?" he
+stammered, evasively.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you see," she answered, quite frankly, "they want me to marry
+him."</p>
+
+<p>"To marry him?" he questioned, raising his eyebrows in astonishment.</p>
+
+<p>"You won't think it strange my talking to you about the matter, will
+you?" she said, with perfect simplicity. "You see, apart from the
+Tregonys, I haven't a friend in all England except&mdash;except you."</p>
+
+<p>"It is kind of you to look upon me as your friend," he said, with
+heightened colour.</p>
+
+<p>"No, no; it is the other way about," she answered; "all the kindness is
+on your part."</p>
+
+<p>Then there was another moment of silence. He felt stunned, bewildered,
+and was almost afraid to speak lest he should betray his feelings.</p>
+
+<p>"I ought to have written days and days ago," she went on, at length.
+"You see, he expects to be home by the New Year at latest. Sir Charles
+hopes that he will be able to eat his Christmas dinner with us.
+And&mdash;and&mdash;Sir Charles, and Gervase also, would like to have the matter
+settled before he comes home."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Oh, well! I hardly know why I have hesitated. I expect it is that I am
+naturally obstinate. When nobody said a word about the matter, and I
+thought nobody cared very much&mdash;why&mdash;why, I looked upon the matter as
+good as settled," and she blushed quite frankly and smiled as she did
+so.</p>
+
+<p>"And have they become anxious all at once?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! I don't know. Sir Charles tells me that it was a wish of my
+father's long before he died, and that nothing would please him so much,
+and all that. And really it looks as if Gervase and I were meant for
+each other."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you believe in fate or destiny?" he questioned, moistening his lips
+with the tip of his tongue.</p>
+
+<p>"No, but I believe in Providence," she answered, promptly.</p>
+
+<p>"But how can you be sure what Providence means?" he asked. "If
+Providence speaks how do you know you have interpreted the message
+aright?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, there is something in that," she said, reflectively. "On the other
+hand, one must be careful not to fly in the face of Providence."</p>
+
+<p>"Admitting your theory of a Providence," he said, slowly, "is not the
+true Providence our heart and judgment? Must we not in the last resort
+fall back on what we feel and believe to be right?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, go on," she said, eagerly.</p>
+
+<p>"And if one goes against his own heart&mdash;his own instincts if you
+like&mdash;if one ignores his own clear judgment, would not that be flying in
+the face of what you call Providence?"</p>
+
+<p>"But is our own heart to be trusted?" she questioned; "and is not our
+judgment often blind?"</p>
+
+<p>"Should we be wiser in trusting to somebody else's heart and judgment?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"We might be. You see, I am only a girl. I have had no experience. I
+know very little of the world or its ways. On the other hand, here is
+Sir Charles. He is getting old. He knows a good deal more than there is
+in the copy-books. Then there was my father; he did not talk to me about
+the matter, but from what I know now he talked freely to Sir Charles.
+Then there is Gervase, he's over thirty, and has seen a good deal of the
+world, and he's quite sure. And then there is myself, and I think
+Gervase is one in a thousand. So, you see, all the streams appear to be
+flowing in the same direction, and that looks a clear indication of
+Providence. Now, doesn't it?"</p>
+
+<p>"If you are convinced I should say nothing else matters," he answered,
+with averted eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, there's only one thing that worries me," she said, thoughtfully;
+"and that's only worried me lately."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes?"</p>
+
+<p>"I used to think nothing else mattered so long as one could enjoy
+himself or herself. That to have a good time was the chief end of life.
+Gervase is retiring from the Army, and intends to do nothing for the
+rest of his days."</p>
+
+<p>"Well?"</p>
+
+<p>"It seems to me a much nobler thing to do something. You told me once
+that I should inspire somebody to great deeds. But that would be rather
+hard on Gervase after he has roughed it for so many years."</p>
+
+<p>"If you inspire him, it will not be hardship," he answered.</p>
+
+<p>"I am not sure that I could," she said, turning her head, and looking
+out of the window. "He is very brave and fearless, and all that. But the
+great things that work for human good&mdash;well, you see, he is not an
+inventor like you."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Do not mock me," he said, almost fiercely. "My poor scheme may never
+see the light."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes it will. You are bound to succeed. You are not the kind of man
+to give up in despair."</p>
+
+<p>"Give up what in despair?"</p>
+
+<p>"Anything on which you have set your heart. You're like Gervase in that
+respect, and it is a quality I admire immensely in a man."</p>
+
+<p>"But what if two strong men set their hearts on the same thing?"</p>
+
+<p>"What thing?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, anything. A woman, for instance," he said, with a forced laugh.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, then I expect the stronger and the worthier would win."</p>
+
+<p>"Do women admire strength and worth so much? Do they not rather admire
+position and name and title? Has the poor man a chance against the rich;
+the plain man any chance against gold lace and epaulets?"</p>
+
+<p>"No one can speak in the name of all women. But I must run away now or
+Sir Charles may go to my room in search of me."</p>
+
+<p>"Will you write your letter to-day?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know. Very likely I shall if I can find time."</p>
+
+<p>"And will you say 'Yes?' Pardon me being so inquisitive."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I expect I shall," she said, with a smile. "It seems the proper
+thing to do. Gervase and I appear to have been meant for each other."</p>
+
+<p>"I hope you will be happy," he said, holding out his hand to her.
+"Good-bye."</p>
+
+<p>Half-an-hour later Mrs. Tuke found him staring fixedly out of the window
+as though he had been turned to stone. The trees were still swaying in
+the wind,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span> but he did not see them. Through breaks in the clouds bright
+gleams of sunshine shot into the room every now and then, but he did not
+heed. From over the cliffs came the faint roar of the sea, but he did
+not hear. The world had become suddenly dark and silent. The fairy
+garden had vanished, leaving a bleak cold desert in its place; his heart
+seemed to have stopped beating. For the moment all interest had gone out
+of life. He almost wished that he could close his eyes in sleep and
+never awake again.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you getting impatient to get out of doors?" Mrs. Tuke questioned.</p>
+
+<p>"It will be a relief to get out again," he answered, absently.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I'm bound to say you've been wonderfully patient, all things
+considered. But then, as I often say, what can't be cured must be
+endured."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; that's sound philosophy."</p>
+
+<p>"And then you've been well looked after."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; you are an excellent nurse, Mrs. Tuke, and I shall always be
+grateful."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I was not thinking of myself in particular," Mrs. Tuke said, with
+humility. "The doctors have attended to you as if you were Sir Charles
+himself. And as for that sweet creature Miss Grover, she's just a
+sunbeam."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; she's delightful company."</p>
+
+<p>"You know, it's my belief," Mrs. Tuke said, mysteriously, "that the
+folks at the Hall haven't the ghost of an idea that she's been coming
+here to see you."</p>
+
+<p>"What leads you to think that?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, well, from little 'ints she's dropped now and then; but of course,
+time will tell," and Mrs. Tuke began to make preparations for his midday
+meal.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Time did tell, and tell much sooner than anyone anticipated. The next
+morning's post brought a letter from Madeline which scattered the last
+remnants of fairyland.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p>"I'm afraid I shall not be able to come and see you again," it began.
+"Sir Charles has found out, and he's angrier than I've ever seen him. He
+says it's most improper, and that I ought to be ashamed of myself. Such
+a lecture he's read to me as I guess you never listened to. If he hadn't
+been so grave and serious I should have fired up and given him a piece
+of my mind. I suppose, according to English customs, I've done something
+real awful. Anyhow, my heart doesn't condemn me, and if I've lightened
+your suffering with my chatter ever so little I'm real glad. As long as
+I live I shall be in your debt, and I shall never forget it either. It
+seems real stupid that just because I'm a girl I'm not allowed to play
+the part of a decent neighbour. England is awfully behind in some
+things, and your Mrs. Grundy is a terror.</p>
+
+<p>"However, I've got to obey, I suppose. You see, Sir Charles is my
+trustee till I'm twenty-one, and he's angrier than a snake at the
+present moment, and as I'm here by his favour, why I can't quite do what
+I would like. But I shall think of you every day, and pray for you, and
+when you get well and your great invention has astonished everybody,
+none of your friends will rejoice more or be prouder of you than I
+shall. I don't know if it's a proper thing to say, but I've said it, and
+it'll have to stand. One has to be constantly looking round the corner
+in this old country of yours. I hope you will be as well as ever soon,
+and that you won't think too hardly of the foolish girl who caused your
+accident. If you would like to keep my books for yourself, I shall be
+real glad. Whittier is great,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span> don't you think so? Good-bye till we meet
+again. Yours very sincerely,</p>
+
+<p style='text-align: right'>
+"<span class="smcap">Madeline Grover.</span>"<br />
+</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p>Rufus read the letter with very mingled feelings. There were touches in
+it that almost brought the tears to his eyes. The assurance that she
+would think of him every day and pray for him moved him strangely. He
+would have told Mrs. Tuke, or the vicar, or anyone else that he had no
+faith in prayer; that the whole network of religious belief was an
+ingenious superstition. Yet, with curious inconsistency, the thought of
+Madeline praying for him was undoubtedly comforting. The general effect
+of the letter, however, was like that produced by a heavy blow. Coming
+after her own simple and naive confession of the previous day it seemed
+almost to paralyse him. He scarcely realised how much her visits had
+been to him till now, and the knowledge that she would not come again,
+that her face and smile would no more brighten that little room, was
+like the sudden falling of night without the promise of rest and sleep.</p>
+
+<p>As the day passed away and he was able to think over the matter a little
+more calmly, he tried to persuade himself that Sir Charles's
+interposition was the best thing that could have happened. That since
+any vague hope he might have cherished of winning her love was now at an
+end, it was desirable from every point of view that he should not meet
+her or even see her.</p>
+
+<p>"The awakening was bound to come," he said to himself, trying hard to be
+resigned. "I knew, of course, from the beginning that she was not for
+me, I would have kept myself from loving her if I could; but it was just
+beyond me. She won my heart before I knew."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>And yet the bitterest drop in the cup was not that she was beyond his
+reach, but that Gervase Tregony, would possess the prize. He had no wish
+to be censorious, and it might be quite true that Gervase would compare
+favourably with most young men in his own walk of life. He had not been
+brought up on puritanic lines. Moreover, as the only son of the Squire
+and heir to the title and estates it was generally conceded in an
+off-hand way that some latitude ought to be allowed. The rich claimed a
+larger liberty or a larger licence than the poor, and however much the
+poor resented it in their hearts, usually they said nothing. Protests
+did no good, and to get into the black books of the Squire was not a
+matter to be regarded with indifference.</p>
+
+<p>If people with grown-up families looked a little anxious when it was
+known that Gervase was to be in residence at the Hall, and raised the
+domestic fence a few inches higher than usual&mdash;there was reason in the
+past annals of St. Gaved's history.</p>
+
+<p>Rufus, with his innate chivalry, and his romantic reverence for women as
+a whole, recoiled with a feeling almost of loathing at the thought of
+Gervase Tregony taking so sweet and pure a soul to his heart as Madeline
+Grover. Was it true, he wondered, that women did not care what a man's
+past had been; that they accepted without demur a social order that
+condoned any and every offence so long as no public scandal was
+produced? Or, was it that young women were deliberately kept in
+ignorance of what was common knowledge?</p>
+
+<p>He spent several more or less wakeful nights in striving against his own
+heart, and in trying to cultivate a philosophic attitude which should
+give the impression of a supreme unconcern. Fortunately, the broken
+bone<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span> was so far knit that his doctors allowed him to hobble about on a
+pair of crutches, and though he was not able yet to do any work, he
+could contemplate some of the things he had done, and shape in his mind
+what yet remained to be accomplished.</p>
+
+<p>He got out of doors as much as possible, but he was still weak, while
+his crutches were such unwieldy things that he quickly got tired. His
+favourite resting-place was by the garden gate, he could see the people
+as they passed up and down the street, and often have a few minutes'
+chat with his neighbours. He scarcely dared to admit the truth to
+himself, but there was always a lingering hope in his heart that
+Madeline might come into the village for some purpose, perhaps to do a
+little shopping, and that his heart might be cheered by a sight of her
+face.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Tuke's cottage stood at a point where the "town" ended and the
+country began. Toward the Quay the houses were generally close together,
+and abutted on to the side walk, but in the other direction, there were
+more trees and fences than houses, and nearly all the cottages had
+gardens in front of them. Hence, when Rufus stood or sat at the garden
+gate, he looked down "the street" in one direction, and up "the lane" in
+the other.</p>
+
+<p>The lane led away in the direction of Trewinion Hall, and if Madeline
+came into the town she would more likely than not pass Mrs. Tuke's
+cottage. In any case, she would come very near to it.</p>
+
+<p>Rufus looked up the lane fifty times a day, and sometimes his heart
+would flutter for a moment as some girlish figure came into sight. But
+Madeline never came.</p>
+
+<p>Then, one evening, while chatting with Dr. Chester, the doctor mentioned
+incidentally that the Squire had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span> left the Hall and had taken up his
+residence in London till the middle of December.</p>
+
+<p>Rufus heaved a little sigh, but he did not pursue the topic. It seemed
+to him like the last nail in the coffin wherein lay hidden all the wild
+dreams and unexpressed longings and hopes of his heart. Madeline was to
+be strictly guarded until the return of Gervase from India, and then,
+perhaps, before she had fully realised what she was doing, or before she
+had an opportunity of getting a true estimate of his character, she
+would be tied to him for life.</p>
+
+<p>"It is no business of mine," he said to himself; "she is entirely out of
+my sphere, and even if she were not, it would be foolish of me, under
+present circumstances, to think of any woman."</p>
+
+<p>But his heart protested all the same. For Madeline to marry Gervase
+Tregony seemed to him an offence against all that was sacred in human
+life.</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV</h2>
+
+<h3>EVOLUTION</h3>
+
+
+<p>It wanted a week to Christmas. Rufus sat in his easy chair with his feet
+on the fender and an open book on his knee. He had been hard at work
+till dark, after which he had taken a mile's walk into the country, and
+was now waiting for his supper to be brought in. He was not impatient,
+however. The book he had been reading was one that Madeline Grover had
+left with him. A volume of Tennyson, containing nearly all the poet's
+published work, and, as was nearly always the case, the writer had set
+him thinking on the problems of life and death and immortality.</p>
+
+<p>Outwardly there had been no change in his life during the last two or
+three months. Directly his doctors gave him permission he turned again
+to his invention, glad of the relief that work afforded. As far as he
+could judge, he was moving, slowly but surely, to complete success. The
+thought of failure very rarely crossed his mind.</p>
+
+<p>But while outwardly there was no change, inwardly there was a distinct
+evolution. He found himself unconsciously viewing life from a different
+standpoint. It was easy to laugh at the claims of priests and prelates,
+and to poke fun at musty and worn-out creeds. Easy to riddle with
+merciless logic the stupendous dogmas of the Churches, and the
+monumental follies of so-called theologians, but when all that had been
+done to his complete satisfaction, he was no nearer the solution of the
+riddle of life.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Moreover, he became painfully conscious of the fact that a philosophy of
+denials was not sufficient. He wanted something definite and something
+positive. An iconoclast might be a very useful individual; but when the
+destructive process had been completed, was there nothing more to be
+done? Were there no positive blocks of truth with which to erect a
+temple? There were questions instinctive in the human soul which asked
+for an answer. Had the broad universe no answer to give? Had faith no
+place in the eternal and immeasurable scheme.</p>
+
+<p>If science could not prove, if philosophy halted and broke down, was
+there nothing left? Was religion a thing to be dismissed with a sneer?
+Might not faith be as truly a faculty of the human soul as reason?</p>
+
+<p>So all unconsciously he retraced his steps from the barren realm of
+negation to the region of inquiry. He ceased to be dogmatic. Materialism
+did not explain everything. Theology, like other sciences, might be
+empirical, and yet its groundwork and framework might still be truth.</p>
+
+<p>When a man begins to inquire he begins to grow, when he ceases to
+inquire the winter of decay sets in. Moreover, it is not the province of
+the human will to determine the direction of growth. It may be upward or
+outward, in this direction or in that. The mind pursues its way with an
+unerring instinct as the roots of trees follow the courses of the
+springs.</p>
+
+<p>Rufus had been reading "Crossing the Bar" for the fiftieth time, and now
+he sat with the open book on his knees, wondering where he was
+intellectually and religiously. He refused however, to question himself
+too closely. He preferred for the present to drift. Some day he might
+sight land, and find a safe anchorage.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Yet one or two things were becoming daily more clear. One was, that in
+any perfect scheme a future life was necessary to the completion of
+this. Another was, that human life, if only because of its relationships
+and possibilities, was a more sacred thing than he at one time had been
+willing to grant. And a third was, that love was not a mere physical or
+mental affinity. It was something that went farther and struck deeper.
+It was a soul relation that remained untouched and independent of time
+and change.</p>
+
+<p>He had not seen Madeline Grover for considerably more than two months.
+No message or whisper had passed between them. In the chances of human
+life he knew that he might never speak to her again. Yet his love
+remained fixed and unshaken. It was not something that he had put on as
+an extra garment, and that in the wear and tear of life he might lose
+again. It was part of himself&mdash;woven into the fibre of his being.</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps his love for Madeline, more than anything else, made him think
+of the problem of immortality. Whittier had said:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Life is ever Lord of Death,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And Love can never lose its own.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>How well he remembered that afternoon when Madeline read "Snow-Bound" to
+him, in which these lines occurred. He had never been able to get them
+out of his mind since. They had followed him like a haunting echo of
+something long forgotten, had stirred his heart with a thousand vague
+hopes and dreams.</p>
+
+<p>If Love could never lose its own, Madeline might yet be his. In some
+far-away region beyond the reach of human vision, beyond the stress and
+passion of earth, beyond the darkness and the doubting, beyond<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span> the
+ravages of time and trouble, they might meet again&mdash;the soul finding its
+mate and life its eternal complement.</p>
+
+<p>Madeline had a habit of marking with a pencil the passages in a book she
+liked, and in one of the volumes she left behind he found these words
+marked with a double line down the margin:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">I sometimes think that heaven will be<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">A green place and an orchard tree,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And one sweet Angel known to me.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Could he have put his wildest dreams and longings into words, nothing
+could have fitted better. It expressed all the heaven he wanted&mdash;all the
+beauty, and all the companionship his soul desired.</p>
+
+<p>He was disturbed in his meditations by a knock on the outer door, and a
+minute or two later he heard a familiar voice in the passage inquiring
+if he were at home.</p>
+
+<p>He rose to his feet in a moment, and pushed Tennyson into a dark corner
+out of sight. Then the door of his sitting-room was flung open, and
+Felix Muller entered unannounced. Rufus greeted him with a look of
+inquiry in his eyes&mdash;an inquiry, however, which he did not attempt to
+shape into words.</p>
+
+<p>Muller made his way to the fire at once, and spread his hands over the
+grate. "It's a glorious night," he said, "but cold. The roads are as
+hard as iron, and the moon makes it almost as light as day."</p>
+
+<p>"Have you driven over?" Rufus inquired.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I had to see Farmer Udy at Longridge, and so I thought as I was so
+near, I would drive a little farther and see you. How have you been
+getting on this long time?"</p>
+
+<p>"Fairly well on the whole, I think. Of course, my accident upset all my
+calculations for a while, but at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span> present things are moving steadily and
+in the right direction."</p>
+
+<p>"That's right, I'm glad to hear it. And when do you think the thing will
+be properly launched?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, it is not easy to say positively, but I should give six months as
+an outside limit."</p>
+
+<p>"You expected at first that the whole thing would be completed in six
+months."</p>
+
+<p>"That is true, but I had not reckoned on the contingency of a broken
+leg."</p>
+
+<p>"But apart from your accident you were out of your calculations."</p>
+
+<p>"A little. When you are dependent to so large an extent upon other
+people, it is impossible to be absolutely sure as to dates."</p>
+
+<p>"Then your six months may run into nine months?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no; six months more gives a wide margin for every contingency."</p>
+
+<p>Muller withdrew from the fire and dropped into an easy-chair that Rufus
+had pulled round for him.</p>
+
+<p>For a moment or two there was silence, then Muller, diving his hand into
+his breast-pocket, said in his most casual tone, "You don't mind my
+having a smoke, do you?"</p>
+
+<p>"My dear fellow, I beg your pardon," Rufus said, hurriedly, "but the
+truth is I was waiting for supper; won't you have something to eat
+first? The cold drive ought to have given you an appetite!"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, now that you mention it, I think I do feel a bit peckish."</p>
+
+<p>"You will have to be content with simple fare, but such as I have,
+etc.," and he went out of the room to hunt up Mrs. Tuke.</p>
+
+<p>Rufus watched his guest narrowly while he ate, and felt sure that he
+owed this visit not to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span> proximity of Longridge, but to some other
+cause that had not yet been revealed.</p>
+
+<p>Conversation flagged during the meal. Muller ate like a man whose
+thoughts were engaged somewhere else, and on something vastly more
+important than eating and drinking.</p>
+
+<p>Rufus began to have an uncomfortable feeling that his visit boded no
+good, and yet he had not the courage to precipitate matters by asking
+impertinent questions.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as the supper-tray was taken away, Rufus produced a box of
+cigars, and for a minute or two they blew smoke in silence.</p>
+
+<p>Muller was the first to speak. Looking at his cigar carefully, as if
+examining the brand, he said in his most casual manner, "I suppose,
+Sterne, you have never considered the possibility of being forestalled
+in your invention?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, no," he said slowly, but with a startled look in his eyes. "I
+cannot say that I have ever seriously considered such a possibility."</p>
+
+<p>"And yet it is notorious in the realm of discovery and invention, that
+the same idea has been hit upon by different men in different parts of
+the world almost at the same time."</p>
+
+<p>"I do not remember that fact being brought clearly to my mind," Rufus
+said, wondering if someone had forestalled him.</p>
+
+<p>"It is true, nevertheless. I could give you illustrations if I had time.
+But what is important at the present moment is that a man away up in
+Westmorland has got ahead of you."</p>
+
+<p>"No!" Rufus said, in a tone of alarm.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, perhaps I ought to have said that he appears to have got his
+claim in first. I do not understand all the technicalities of the case,
+but he appears to me to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span> have achieved, or to have achieved very
+largely, the thing you are aiming at," and he took a newspaper cutting
+out of his pocket, and passed it on to Rufus.</p>
+
+<p>Rufus unfolded the cutting with hands that trembled in spite of himself.
+If he had been forestalled then life with him was at an end. The greater
+part of the thousand pounds was spent or pledged already. Failure meant
+that he would have now to employ his ingenuity in devising a method of
+escaping from the world in a way that would not awaken suspicion.</p>
+
+<p>Muller adjusted his <i>pince-nez</i> and watched his companion while he read.
+Rufus summoned to his aid all the resolution he possessed and preserved
+a perfectly impassive face.</p>
+
+<p>"Well?" Muller questioned, when Rufus had got to the bottom of the slip.</p>
+
+<p>"It's a little disconcerting," was the answer. "But I shall not fling up
+the sponge yet."</p>
+
+<p>"But he has got hold of your idea!"</p>
+
+<p>"Not exactly."</p>
+
+<p>"At any rate he has got uncomfortably near to it."</p>
+
+<p>"He has got nearer than I like, I admit. But the greater part of what he
+claims is mere bluff."</p>
+
+<p>"But his objective and yours are precisely the same?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, not precisely. I go much farther than he does, as Stephenson went
+farther than Watt."</p>
+
+<p>"That is in your application of the principle. But is not the principle
+the same?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is similar, though not identical. I have gone all over the ground he
+is travelling now."</p>
+
+<p>"And in another month he may be all over your ground."</p>
+
+<p>"There is danger, of course, but I think still I shall get in first."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I hope you may. But I confess when I tumbled across that article this
+morning it made me feel mightily uncomfortable."</p>
+
+<p>"It is a little upsetting, no doubt."</p>
+
+<p>"You see, he must have secured himself pretty well, or he would not have
+permitted so much of the scheme to get into print. Don't you see it
+largely discounts anyone else who comes after, though he may have
+something better."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I admit the force of all you say," Rufus answered slowly. "But my
+game is not up yet."</p>
+
+<p>"I hope not, indeed. I should regard it as nothing short of a calamity
+were you to fail."</p>
+
+<p>"If the worst comes to the worst it will have to be faced, that is all.
+In any case, you will not suffer loss."</p>
+
+<p>"There you are mistaken. You are my friend. And friends are not so
+plentiful that one can contemplate the disappearance of even one of them
+with equanimity."</p>
+
+<p>"That may be true. But mercifully, the dead are soon forgotten. You will
+soon get used to my absence."</p>
+
+<p>"I sincerely hope the occasion will not arise," Muller said, speaking
+slowly and gravely. "Indeed, as I said before, I should regard your
+failure as a calamity. Still, there is no getting over the fact that
+what you regarded as impossible less than six months ago has come very
+definitely within the realm of possibility."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," Rufus said, with some hesitation. "I am bound to admit that the
+chance of failure seems less remote than it did."</p>
+
+<p>"I am sorry to have to discuss this matter with you again," Muller went
+on, after a pause. "I can assure you it is almost as painful to me as it
+must be to you. Still business is business, and I have to think<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span> of my
+own position. If I were a rich man, I would not mention the matter&mdash;upon
+my soul, I wouldn't."</p>
+
+<p>"I thought you had no soul," Rufus said, with a pathetic smile.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, don't joke over mere figures of speech," Muller said, staring into
+the fire. "I tell you I feel terribly upset."</p>
+
+<p>"But my cause is not lost yet," Rufus said with forced cheerfulness.</p>
+
+<p>"No, it may not be. But, on the other hand, it may be. If your
+competitor has gone so far, he may during the next week or month go all
+the rest of the distance."</p>
+
+<p>"I must take my chance of that."</p>
+
+<p>"The point with me is&mdash;supposing the worst comes to the worst, have you
+anything on which you can raise a loan? I hate the thought of your
+slipping out of life in the flower of your youth."</p>
+
+<p>"Look here, Muller," Rufus said, summoning to his aid all his strength
+and resolution. "We discussed this matter at the beginning. I counted
+the cost and took the risk. If the worst comes to the worst I am not
+going to show the white feather."</p>
+
+<p>"I do not doubt your courage for a moment," Muller said. "But I want to
+point out that it will take a little time to realise your estate. I
+presume you have made your will."</p>
+
+<p>Rufus went to a drawer and took out a large envelope which he passed on
+to his companion.</p>
+
+<p>Muller opened the envelope and drew out the paper slowly. Then he
+adjusted his <i>pince-nez</i>, and began to read. "Yes," he said, after a
+long pause, "this is quite in order&mdash;quite."</p>
+
+<p>"And in case I am driven to take my departure," Rufus said, in a hard,
+even voice, "I will give you<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span> sufficient time to wind up my small estate
+before the end of next year."</p>
+
+<p>"You think there is no other way of meeting the case?" Muller
+questioned.</p>
+
+<p>"In case my scheme fails there is no other way," Rufus answered. "Now
+let us not discuss the matter again. I understand your anxiety. I should
+be a bit anxious if I were in your place. But you have my word of
+honour. Let that be enough."</p>
+
+<p>"It is enough, my boy&mdash;it is enough!" Muller said, gushingly.</p>
+
+<p>"Meanwhile we need not count upon failure until forced to do so. I shall
+not fail if effort and determination can avert it."</p>
+
+<p>When Muller had gone, Rufus sat for a long time staring into the dying
+fire. Then he picked up the newspaper cutting, and read through the
+article very carefully a second time.</p>
+
+<p>"No, he has not got my idea quite," he muttered, "but he has come
+uncomfortably near to it."</p>
+
+<p>Then he drew a long breath and shut his teeth tightly. Life had grown a
+more precious thing of late, and hope had taken new shapes and forms.
+Moreover, the possibility of a conscious existence beyond the shadow of
+death had been looming larger and larger for months past, and with that
+possibility other possibilities had come into view. What if the
+consequences of conduct followed men into the unseen? What if sin should
+separate a soul from the soul it loved? What if this life were a trust
+for which we should be held responsible? What if suicide should be as
+heinous a crime as murder? What if dying by one's own hand should stain
+the soul with deeper dishonour than any broken vow or unfulfilled
+promise? He drew away his eyes from the fire and shuddered
+slightly as these thoughts<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> passed through his mind. In whatever
+direction he turned his thoughts he was faced with possibilities that,
+to say the least, were not a little disconcerting.</p>
+
+<p>"If I had only known six months ago what I know now," he reflected, "I
+should not have put my head into this noose with so light a heart. I
+should have been content to have gone on with my work as time-keeper at
+the mine. But I was impatient for success, and quite certain that death
+was the end of all things."</p>
+
+<p>Then across the frosty air the parish clock fixed high in the church
+tower struck the hour of eleven.</p>
+
+<p>Rufus counted the strokes as they vibrated solemnly through the night.</p>
+
+<p>"Do the dead ever hear, I wonder," he said to himself, and he shuddered
+again.</p>
+
+<p>Then his thoughts turned to the book that he had been reading earlier in
+the evening and he began to repeat almost unconsciously one of the
+stanzas that Madeline had marked:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Twilight and evening bell,<br /></span>
+<span class="i8">And after that the dark,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And may there be no sadness of farewell<br /></span>
+<span class="i8">When I embark.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And though from out the bounds of time and space<br /></span>
+<span class="i8">The floods may bear me far,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">I hope&mdash;&mdash;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Then he stopped suddenly and rose hurriedly to his feet. "I am growing
+morbid," he said. "I wish Muller had kept the article to himself. In a
+case of this kind ignorance is bliss." And he turned out the lamp and
+climbed slowly upstairs to bed.</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV</h2>
+
+<h3>MISGIVINGS</h3>
+
+
+<p>The day after Felix Muller's visit to Rufus the squire and his family
+returned to the Hall. The news soon spread through St. Gaved that the
+big house was alive once more, and that the captain was expected home in
+time to eat his Christmas dinner with the family. Rufus heard the news
+with a curious thrill, but whether of pain or of pleasure it would be
+hard to say.</p>
+
+<p>His heart had been aching for a sight of Madeline's face ever since she
+went away. And yet there were times when he desired above all things
+that he might never look into her eyes again. Pain was not to be cured
+by additional pain. To see Madeline would not appease the hunger, it
+would only increase it. Hence to keep out of her way would be the wise
+thing for him; to avoid the field-path in front of the park, and the
+familiar road across the downs and round by the cliffs. If they met she
+would be sure to speak, and the very sound of her voice would awaken
+into life all the wild longings of his soul once more. It was far
+better, therefore, for him that they never met.</p>
+
+<p>Besides, it was more than probable that by this time she was the
+promised wife of Gervase Tregony. He was coming home to claim her and
+coming home at express speed. Was he delighted at the prospect, he
+wondered. Did he love her as she deserved to be loved?</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Oh, if it had only been my lot to win so sweet a soul," he said to
+himself. "Is it true, I wonder, that we always long most passionately
+for the impossible?"</p>
+
+<p>For several days he kept close to business, never venturing out of doors
+till after sunset. Once he thought he passed her in the bright
+moonlight, and his heart almost stopped, but he never paused in his
+walk, never looked back; indeed he strode on with a longer and quicker
+stride, and did not breathe freely again till a sharp bend in the road
+prevented any possibility of recognition.</p>
+
+<p>When he yielded to the witchery of her presence before, there was some
+excuse for his doing so, but all the circumstances were different now.
+He had no excuse to-day, no right. His tenure of life hung on a thread.
+His chance of success was growing less hopeful day by day.</p>
+
+<p>Even if Madeline were free and within his reach he would have no right
+to speak to her of love. While this sword of Damocles was suspended over
+his head he was bound in honour to be silent. But since she was neither
+free nor within his reach, and he was walking across a volcano that at
+any moment might burst open beneath his feet, it would be the part of a
+madman to put himself in her way if there was any chance of keeping out
+of it.</p>
+
+<p>So he pursued his work with all the earnestness and intensity he could
+command, but he was conscious all the time that something had gone out
+of his life. The enthusiasm that springs from certainty had left him,
+the chill and lethargy of doubt had crept into his blood. Instead of
+constantly dwelling on the delights of success, he found himself
+brooding over the prospect of failure, and wondering what lay beyond the
+grim shadow of death.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>By a curious combination of circumstances both life and death had become
+doubly hard to contemplate. Success had once been his dream. To-day
+success of itself seemed nothing. The one thing that was of value, that
+would have turned earth into heaven was love. He would have courted
+failure&mdash;gloried in it&mdash;if failure would have given him Madeline. But
+since Madeline was denied him, neither success nor failure mattered
+much, and life and death were both robbed of the light of hope. He told
+himself one minute that he did not care to live since Madeline could
+never be his, and the next minute he dreaded the thought of death, since
+death would blot out the sight of her and the thought of her for ever
+and ever. So, in whatever direction he looked, he found neither solace
+nor inspiration.</p>
+
+<p>The thing that spurred him on from day to day was not so much the hope
+of victory as the humiliation of defeat. There was any number of people
+in St. Gaved who had no sympathy whatever with him in his ambitions,
+whose invincible creed was that a man ought to be content to remain in
+that state of life to which it had pleased God to call him. These people
+had expressed themselves with great freedom and candour on his folly in
+giving up a good position at the mine, and devoting all his time and
+energy to something in the clouds; and which, in all likelihood, would
+never be of any benefit to man or beast.</p>
+
+<p>Rufus used to smile at the criticisms of these people, and anticipate
+the day when he would stand proud and triumphant before them. Now he
+began to fear that the day might come when they would triumph over him,
+when they would expand their chests and smile wisely, and say to their
+neighbours: "There, didn't we tell you so?" It was rather with the
+object of pre<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span>venting such a triumph than of winning any triumph for
+himself that he toiled on from day to day, throwing into his work more
+of the energy of despair than the inspiration of hope.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile Madeline had been suffering from what she called "an acute
+attack of the blues." For no sufficient reason, so she admitted to
+herself, she became restless and peevish, and generally discontented.
+She was not ill. Generally speaking, her appetite was as good as it had
+been, while her energy was greater than ever. But for some reason
+nothing satisfied her&mdash;things that at one time she would have gone into
+ecstacies over barely interested her. She was in the mood to be pleased
+at nothing, and to find fault with everything.</p>
+
+<p>That this condition of things began on the day Sir Charles took her to
+task for visiting Rufus Sterne she was well aware; but why it should
+have continued was a puzzle. She had been angry with Sir Charles at the
+moment it was true, but after a day's reflection she had been led to see
+that he was perfectly in the right. Moreover Sir Charles had behaved
+very handsomely all the way through. She was convinced that it was very
+largely on her account that they went to London for the autumn, and
+while in London she had scarcely a wish that was not gratified. She had
+gone to receptions and balls and dinners by the dozen. She had been
+taken to every place of interest she wanted to see. She had blossomed
+out into what she termed "a tame celebrity," and had had more
+compliments showered upon her than ever before in her life, yet, in
+spite of all this, she was not happy. Indeed, after a few weeks, she
+tired utterly of London and wanted to return again to Trewinion Hall.
+That however, was shown to be an impossibility. The house had been taken
+practically till the end of the year, and the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span> servants at Trewinion
+Hall had been put on board wages till Christmas.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you sure you are quite well, Madeline?" Sir Charles said to her,
+when she preferred her request.</p>
+
+<p>"Quite sure," she replied. "In fact I was never better in my life."</p>
+
+<p>"Then why do you want to go back to the Hall?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! I don't know. This endless whirl and excitement has got on my
+nerves, I think."</p>
+
+<p>"But you complained of Cornwall getting on your nerves some time ago."</p>
+
+<p>"Did I? Well, it did seem rather flat and tame at first."</p>
+
+<p>"No, it was not at the beginning. You were delighted with it on your
+arrival&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"And I am still," she interrupted. "I think it is just too lovely for
+anything."</p>
+
+<p>"But have you really got tired of London life?"</p>
+
+<p>"I think it is too stupid for words. Oh! no, I don't mean that exactly.
+Pardon me, Sir Charles"&mdash;seeing the pained look in his eyes&mdash;"I won't
+complain any more if I can help it, I won't really."</p>
+
+<p>"I am very anxious that you should enjoy yourself all you possibly can.
+Beryl is dreading the time when she will have to go back again."</p>
+
+<p>"She knows so many people," Madeline said, reflectively.</p>
+
+<p>"And you have made hosts of acquaintances, have you not?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, acquaintances, but they don't mean anything. I never realised
+before, I think, how many people there are in the world, and how many
+things there are in the world I can do without."</p>
+
+<p>"That oughtn't to be a very startling discovery," he said, with a
+smile.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"But you don't feel it in a place like St. Gaved," she said. "There
+everybody seems necessary to everybody else."</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed?" he questioned, dryly.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I mean that in a little community where each one plays his part,
+and each one's part is known to all the rest&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes?" he questioned, seeing she hesitated.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! I can't explain myself very well, but you must know very well what
+I mean."</p>
+
+<p>"No; really you flatter me," he said, in a tone of banter, "for in
+reality your meaning is quite beyond me."</p>
+
+<p>"Then I must be stupider than I thought," she answered, with a pout, and
+relapsed into silence.</p>
+
+<p>Sir Charles was not only perplexed, he was more or less troubled. If he
+dared he would have been angry, but he knew that anger would defeat the
+particular end he had in view. Whatever Madeline might or might not be
+she was not the kind of person to be coerced. She might be led in many
+directions, but no one could drive her. At the least suggestion of the
+lash, she would jib and back, and nothing short of physical force would
+move her a step forward.</p>
+
+<p>Hence Sir Charles had felt from the first that his task was one of
+extreme difficulty and delicacy. Moreover, every day as it passed
+increased the difficulty. Madeline was swiftly growing out of girlhood
+into womanhood, and the things that fascinated her as a girl quickly
+palled upon her as a woman, and Sir Charles was growing desperately
+afraid lest when she saw Gervase again she might be disillusioned, as
+she evidently had been in other matters.</p>
+
+<p>He was more troubled also than he liked to confess over her intimacy
+with Rufus Sterne. He could not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span> forget the romantic circumstances under
+which they had met, the signal service he had rendered her, and the long
+weeks of suffering and idleness that followed as a consequence, and on a
+romantic and generous nature like Madeline's, these things would make an
+abiding impression. For that reason he had got her away from St. Gaved
+as quickly as possible after he had made the discovery that she was in
+the habit of visiting him, and for the same reason he intended to keep
+her away until within a few days of his son's return.</p>
+
+<p>Sir Charles had counted so long on annexing the American heiress for his
+son, that any thought of failure now was too humiliating to be
+entertained. It was his last hope of rehabilitating Trewinion Hall, and
+the historic name of Tregony. Gervase's record was of such a character
+that no English heiress would look at him unless, indeed, he consented
+to marry the daughter of a tradesman, and even in such case as that his
+chances would be very doubtful.</p>
+
+<p>The beautiful thing about an American heiress was that nobody inquired
+into her antecedents. So long as she had the requisite number of dollars
+nothing else mattered. Her father might be a pork-butcher, or a
+pawnbroker, or an oilman; that was no barrier to his daughter becoming a
+countess or even a duchess.</p>
+
+<p>Poor as Sir Charles was, he would have fainted at the idea of Gervase
+marrying the daughter of a Redbourne tradesman, however rich or
+beautiful or accomplished she might be. The very suggestion of "trade"
+was an offence to his aristocratic nostrils. But Madeline came from a
+country where the only aristocracy was that of cash, hence by virtue of
+her uncounted millions she was eligible for the highest positions on
+this side the water. The logic might not be very sound, but it was
+satisfying. If the Earl of this and the Duke of that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span> had regilded their
+coronets with American dollars, why might not he refurbish the Tregony
+coat of arms with the same precious metal? The reasoning appeared to him
+to be without a flaw.</p>
+
+<p>Moreover, there was the additional argument of necessity. In consequence
+of the low price of corn along with nearly all other articles of food,
+agriculture was in a terribly depressed condition. In other words, the
+farmer could pay only about half the amount in rent that he would be
+able to do if wheat and barley, and bacon and butter, stood at twice
+their present prices.</p>
+
+<p>Sir Charles always grew white with anger when he thought of the foolish
+men who, in a previous generation, abolished the corn-laws and gave
+cheap food to the people.</p>
+
+<p>"Look at me," he would say; "my rent roll is only about one-half of what
+it was in my father's day, and there are hundreds and thousands of the
+best families up and down the country who have been reduced in
+circumstances by the same means. What the Government ought to do is to
+put a high duty on all imported corn and foodstuffs, that would send up
+the price of English wheat, and English beef, and everything else that
+is English, and so give the English nobility a chance of getting out of
+their estates all that they are capable of producing."</p>
+
+<p>The logic of this, if not quite sound, was also satisfying from his
+point of view. There seemed, however, no prospect just then that the
+food of the people would be taxed for the benefit of the noble and
+indispensable class to which he belonged. The working classes for some
+selfish reason, appeared to object to it. They were possessed by the
+stupid idea that the higher their wages and the cheaper their food, the
+better off they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span> would be; and against such unreasoning prejudice as
+that, logic spent its strength in vain.</p>
+
+<p>Failing, therefore, any Government help in the shape of protection, he
+would have to guard his interests in some other way, and Madeline
+appeared to be an excellent way out of the difficulty. In fact, she
+almost reconciled him to the idea of free imports. If England had
+suffered loss through the importation of American wheat, it was only
+fair that England should be compensated by having the pick of America's
+richest and fairest women. Since there was no duty on corn, it was only
+just and right that heiresses should be free.</p>
+
+<p>But as the time drew near when Sir Charles hoped to see the full
+fruition of his little scheme, he grew increasingly nervous. Until the
+last few weeks everything had gone as smoothly as heart could desire.
+Madeline seemed like a ripe apple that would drop directly the tree was
+touched. Without any undue influence, with scarcely a suggestion from
+anyone, she was inclining in the very direction most desired.</p>
+
+<p>Then suddenly she had become captious and uncertain. The moment she
+reached the point when she was desired to make up her mind definitely
+she drew back. The increasing warmth of the Captain's letters she had
+appeared to reciprocate to the full. She had talked about him with a
+simple ingenuousness that had delighted the baronet's heart. The
+proposal seemed to have arrived in the very nick of time. She had
+gathered from Sir Charles, in detached fragments, the full story of her
+father's wish in the matter. She had been given one glimpse of London,
+with its life and gaiety, she had been supplied with every newspaper
+cutting that spoke of Captain Tregony's prowess as a hunter of big game,
+and she had tacitly accepted the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span> situation, as though Providence had
+shaped her lot, and shaped it to her entire satisfaction. And then she
+hesitated, and became silent, and demanded time for further
+consideration.</p>
+
+<p>Sir Charles had broached the subject in the most delicate manner
+possible when they happened to be alone. Gervase's letter to the family
+had been left on the drawing-room table. The Baronet picked it up and
+read it again.</p>
+
+<p>"Gervase seems terribly impatient to get home this time," he remarked,
+casually.</p>
+
+<p>Madeline glanced up from her book, but did not reply.</p>
+
+<p>"I really do not wonder," Sir Charles went on. "Poor old boy, it is
+nearly three years since he saw you, and he must be pining for a sight
+of your face."</p>
+
+<p>"He seems a little home-sick," Madeline said, indifferently.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't think it is that altogether. Now that he has definitely
+proposed to you, it brings all the longing to a head, if I may say so. I
+hope you have written to him and put an end to his suspense?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, I have not replied yet. I thought of writing this afternoon."</p>
+
+<p>"I wish you would; I am sorry you have not written before."</p>
+
+<p>"I have been too busy with other things, Sir Charles."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, well, I am not complaining, my dear. Take your own time, of course.
+But, naturally, I feel for my son, and I know how anxious he will be. It
+will be nice for him to meet you here in his ancestral home as his
+affianced wife."</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose it would simplify matters, wouldn't it?"</p>
+
+<p>"It would simplify matters a very great deal," Sir Charles said, in a
+tone of relief. "There is no reason<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span> why you should not go away on the
+Continent in the early spring for your honeymoon, and so escape our
+bitter east winds."</p>
+
+<p>"That would be lovely, wouldn't it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Lovely! Ah! well, I almost envy you young people. If one could only be
+young a second time how much he would appreciate it! But I will not
+detain you now if you are going to write letters," and he thrust
+Gervase's epistle into his pocket, and walked slowly out of the room.</p>
+
+<p>Later in the day he discovered that instead of writing letters she had
+been visiting Rufus Sterne at St. Gaved, and his anger almost got the
+better of him. By a tremendous effort, however, he kept himself well in
+hand, and talked to her with a seriousness that did full justice to the
+occasion.</p>
+
+<p>Two days later he learned that she had not yet replied to Gervase's
+letter; he made no remark, however, but on the following day he made a
+proposition that they should spent the late autumn in London.</p>
+
+<p>The experiment, however, had not been altogether satisfactory. Madeline
+had not been at all like her old self. She was moody and absent-minded,
+and by no means easy to please. That she had written to Gervase he knew,
+and written more than once, but she gave no hint to anyone of the nature
+of her communications.</p>
+
+<p>Sir Charles hoped for the best, but he was troubled all the time by
+serious misgivings. Her very uncommunicativeness was a disturbing
+factor. Several times he was strongly tempted to put a point-blank
+question to her; but when it came to the point his courage failed him.
+Moreover, his reason told him that the more anxious he appeared to be
+the more stubborn and intractable she would become. The only thing he
+could do was to wait patiently until<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span> Gervase's return, and trust to
+luck or Providence for what would follow.</p>
+
+<p>Madeline welcomed the morning of their departure from London more
+eagerly than any of the others. She was tired of the big city, with its
+murk and gloom, its dreary streets and muddy crossings, and its
+never-ceasing roar and turmoil. She longed for the "clean country," as
+she expressed it, with its quietness and peace and far distances. In
+truth, she hardly knew what she longed for. Some day her desire would
+take definite shape, then she would understand.</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI</h2>
+
+<h3>GROWING SUSPICIONS</h3>
+
+
+<p>In the big house there were many things to be done in preparation for
+Christmas. Mottoes had to be selected and cut out of coloured paper, and
+surrounded with evergreens and hung in the hall, and naturally this task
+fell to the lot of Madeline and Beryl. Then, it was decided to have a
+house-party the day but one after Christmas Day, and invitations had to
+be sent out to all the gentry of the neighbourhood. Lady Tregony
+undertook this pleasant duty, but soon found the work of filling in
+cards and addressing envelopes altogether too exhausting; so Madeline,
+who was swift with her pen, was pressed into the service. In addition to
+all this, various tokens of affection and regard had to be sent to the
+extremely poor of the parish&mdash;nothing of very much value, it is
+true&mdash;still, the simplest parcel took time to make up and address.</p>
+
+<p>The result of all this was that the house was kept in a state of bustle
+from morning till night, and Madeline had no time to pay a single visit
+to any of her acquaintances in the village.</p>
+
+<p>She did steal out of the house one evening after dinner, and tramped in
+the bright moonlight nearly to St. Gaved and back again, but the walk
+did not yield her much satisfaction. She had an uncomfortable feeling
+that she passed Rufus Sterne on the way, and that he took pains not to
+be recognised. She turned and looked after the retreating figure, and
+felt certain<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span> she was not mistaken, but he did not halt for a moment or
+look back.</p>
+
+<p>It was a simple and trifling thing in itself, but it set her thinking.
+Of course, he might not have recognised her, as she for the moment had
+not recognised him. On the other hand, her face was toward the
+moonlight, his was in shadow. She scarcely saw his face at all, her face
+would be plainly visible. Moreover he hurried past, with his hat pulled
+low, as if he had no wish to be recognised. What did it mean?</p>
+
+<p>The more she thought about the matter, the more she was convinced that
+the man she met was Rufus Sterne, and that he deliberately avoided the
+chance of recognition. Was he offended with her, then? Was he sorry that
+they had ever become acquainted, and wished the acquaintanceship to end?
+Did he regard her as a sort of stormy petrel, heralding bad weather and
+bad fortune? Did he think that safety and success could be secured only
+by keeping out of her way?</p>
+
+<p>That he would have good reason for cherishing such sentiments there was
+no denying. She had been his evil genius in the most critical period of
+his life. She had thrust him back into idleness and helplessness when
+every day was of the utmost value to him.</p>
+
+<p>"I really don't wonder that he shuns me," she said to herself,
+regretfully. "I really don't, and if his invention should fail, he will
+hate me more than ever."</p>
+
+<p>Under ordinary circumstances her pride would have asserted itself, and
+she would have resolved&mdash;since he had ignored her&mdash;never to speak to him
+again. But the circumstances were not ordinary. The ties of gratitude,
+if nothing else, bound her to him for all time; the loss that he had
+suffered on her account made it impossible for her to treat him as she
+might have treated an ordinary acquaintance. He<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span> had good reasons, no
+doubt, for ignoring her, but that only made the pain the harder to bear.</p>
+
+<p>Two days before Christmas it became evident to her that there was a
+little conspiracy on foot to prevent her going into St. Gaved. She had
+not noticed at first any significance in the fact that there was always
+someone at hand to run errands for her and Beryl. But when, for the
+sixth or seventh time in succession, her suggestion that she should run
+into St. Gaved was met by the reply, "Oh, don't trouble, dear," or "You
+are too tired, dear," or "Peter will see to that, dear," or, "We shall
+not require it to-day, dear," she began to think that solicitude on her
+account had become a trifle overstrained.</p>
+
+<p>When once her suspicions were aroused, she began to put the matter to
+the test. During the morning of Christmas Eve she discovered on four
+separate occasions that she was short of something that she particularly
+needed, and each time, when she suggested that she should run into St.
+Gaved and get it, a servant was dispatched with most unusual haste to
+make the purchase.</p>
+
+<p>Madeline smiled to herself, but said nothing. But it set her thinking on
+fresh lines. She began to recall all that had happened since her last
+visit to Rufus Sterne, then her thoughts travelled farther back still,
+and after a very little while she saw, or fancied she saw, a tolerably
+consistent purpose, not to say conspiracy. When once she had got a clue,
+or what she fancied was a clue, it was easy to read meanings into a
+thousand little circumstances that otherwise would have had no
+significance whatever.</p>
+
+<p>She had been under the pleasing delusion that she had gone her own way,
+that practically she had followed her own wishes in everything&mdash;that her
+own wishes happened to exactly coincide with the wishes of her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span> friends
+was simply a matter for congratulation. No attempt had been made to
+bring pressure to bear on her at any point. When Sir Charles had talked
+seriously to her, it was nearly always on questions of English etiquette
+and customs&mdash;subjects she was profoundly ignorant of. If she decided to
+go into St. Gaved now, she felt sure no direct attempt would be made to
+stop her.</p>
+
+<p>To test the matter, she went to her room, put on her hat and jacket, and
+announced to Sir Charles, whom she met in the Hall, that she was going
+into the town for her own amusement.</p>
+
+<p>"All right, Madeline," he said, with a smile; "this is Liberty Hall, you
+know."</p>
+
+<p>She was a little bit taken aback by his answer; it was so frank and
+spontaneous that it almost disarmed her.</p>
+
+<p>She walked very slowly toward the village, her thoughts being intent on
+the new problem. Ever since her meeting with Gervase Tregony nearly
+three years ago, her life had moved steadily in the same direction, and
+toward the same seemingly inevitable end. This she had regarded in the
+past as providential, and had accepted the omen with thankfulness.</p>
+
+<p>But she fancied now she saw a human motive running through all. Since
+her meeting with Gervase, she had practically never a chance of becoming
+acquainted with another man. As a matter of fact, the only man she had
+become intimate with was Rufus Sterne, and directly that intimacy was
+discovered, she was whisked off to London and kept out of his way. She
+was being guarded and protected until Gervase's return.</p>
+
+<p>Gervase was expected home that very day. He had landed at Marseilles the
+previous day, and was coming straight through without a break. For a man
+like Gervase such rush and hurry was most unusual.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>That a man like Gervase wanted to marry her was, no doubt, very
+flattering. He was a great soldier, a man of immense courage, and a
+distinguished-looking man to boot. On the other hand, she was a nobody,
+her father had been an ordinary working man&mdash;that he had "got on" late
+in life she knew. But what his financial position was she would not know
+till she was twenty-one. So that looking at the matter merely from a
+social point of view, it was a great condescension on the part of
+Gervase.</p>
+
+<p>But not only did Gervase want to marry her, but it had become extremely
+clear of late that Sir Charles was as eager as his son. In fact, events
+were being rushed. It was understood when she arrived in England that
+Gervase would not be home till the New Year. Now he was risking his neck
+in an eager rush to be here by Christmas. Why all this haste? Why was
+everybody so anxious she should marry the heir to a baronetcy, or, to
+put it the other way about, why were all the Tregonys so eager to marry
+the heir to an unknown American girl?</p>
+
+<p>That American girls by the shoal had married titled Englishmen she knew,
+and titled foreigners of all sorts and conditions. But it was clear and
+obvious to outsiders generally that the attractions had been dollars on
+the one side and titles on the other&mdash;a fair exchange, no doubt. There
+had been a <i>quid pro quo</i> in each case.</p>
+
+<p>But in her case&mdash;&mdash;!</p>
+
+<p>Then she pulled herself up suddenly, and a hot blush mantled her cheeks.
+Was she any better than the rest? Had not her girlish imagination been
+carried away by pictures of a baronial hall, ivy-grown and
+weather-beaten? and had not the thought of being "My Lady Tregony"
+dominated nearly everything else?</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"No," she said, at length, "I admired Gervase for his own sake. He is
+brave and distinguished-looking and&mdash;and&mdash;oh! I like a man who is strong
+and masterful."</p>
+
+<p>But the other question still remained unanswered. Why did Gervase want
+to marry her? He belonged to one of the oldest families in the county.
+Why did he not seek a wife in his own circle? Lord this and the Duke of
+that who went to America for their wives, married dollars. But&mdash;&mdash;She
+stopped again, and looked round her, but no one was in sight. A keen
+north wind was blowing, and the pale wintry sun had not yet melted the
+hoar-frost from the grass, and yet she felt as hot as though she had
+been thrust suddenly into a Turkish bath.</p>
+
+<p>Was it possible that dollars lay at the bottom of all this haste and
+anxiety? For some reason she had been kept in ignorance of her father's
+financial position. He had never talked to her about the matter. She was
+at school when he died, and remained at school long after he was laid in
+his grave. Why she had been kept at school so long was always something
+of a puzzle to her.</p>
+
+<p>That she would have enough money to live upon comfortably she knew. She
+was allowed a thousand dollars a year now as pin-money&mdash;a sum much too
+large for her needs in St. Gaved, though in London she could easily
+spend it all. But that she was rich, or in any sense of the word an
+heiress, was an idea that had never occurred to her. It did not seem at
+all likely that she could be, or her allowance would be very much
+larger. On the other hand there might be method in the modest pittance
+that was meted out to her. To keep her in ignorance of the extent of her
+possessions might be part of the game. If she were rich and knew<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span> it she
+might be too ready to discover a reason why Gervase wanted to marry her.</p>
+
+<p>"I wonder if suspicion always comes with knowledge and experience," she
+said to herself. "Is it one of the penalties of being grown up? When I
+was a girl I wasn't suspicious of anything or anybody. Now I'm certain
+of nothing, not even of myself."</p>
+
+<p>She walked on more rapidly after awhile, but she took no notice of
+anything on the way. She was too absorbed with her own thoughts.</p>
+
+<p>"I am glad, at any rate, I did not give Gervase a definite promise," she
+said to herself. "I hardly know why I didn't, for I meant to at first.
+But it is best I should see him again before deciding. Best that I
+should find out everything I can. I think he wants me for my own sake.
+I'm almost sure he does, but it's well to be quite sure."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, anyhow, I shall see him again this evening," she said to herself,
+after a long pause. "I wonder if he has changed? I wonder if I have
+changed?"</p>
+
+<p>She reached the outskirts of the village, then turned back, and in a
+moment or two came face to face with Sir Charles. The meeting was
+unexpected, and the Baronet looked a little confused.</p>
+
+<p>"What, turning back so soon?" he questioned, nonchalantly.</p>
+
+<p>"I only came out for a little exercise and fresh air," she answered.</p>
+
+<p>"And you find the air too keen, eh?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! not at all; I am enjoying it immensely."</p>
+
+<p>So they passed each other. But a little way on, Madeline paused and
+looked back, but Sir Charles was out of sight.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, I wonder if he followed me on purpose?" she said to herself. "Has
+he begun to suspect me?<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span> Did he imagine I had gone to call on Mr. Sterne
+in defiance of his wishes? I wish I hadn't grown suspicious; it spoils
+everything."</p>
+
+<p>She was so busy with her thoughts that she scarcely noticed the turn in
+the road leading back to the Hall. Also there was no particular reason
+why she should return at once. So she tramped on into the country. The
+roads were dry and frosty. The keen wind hummed in the bare hazel bushes
+that crowned the tall hedges, the too brief glimmer of sunshine was
+fading on the hillside.</p>
+
+<p>Her thoughts alternated between the Squire, Gervase and Rufus Sterne. It
+seemed to her as though a big stone had been dropped into the still and
+placid pool of her life and that the troubled waters refused to settle
+again. It seemed but yesterday that the plan of her life lay before her
+like an open book. Everything was just as it ought to be and there was
+no hitch anywhere. Now the book was shut, the map was destroyed, and her
+future lay before her a treeless, trackless, mist-shrouded desert. What
+was the reason of it? Was Sir Charles to blame, or Gervase, or Rufus
+Sterne? Or should she take all the blame to herself?</p>
+
+<p>She was disturbed in her meditations by the sound of a quick and firm
+step behind her. Her first impulse was to turn her head, but she
+resisted it. The steps drew nearer; the hard road echoed distinctly. She
+drew slowly to the side of the road, so that the pedestrian, whoever he
+might be, might pass her. It was time she turned round and retraced her
+steps to the Hall, but she would wait a few minutes longer, until the
+man had passed her. Now he was almost by her side. She turned her head
+slightly and their eyes met. In a moment her face brightened, and her
+lips parted in an eager smile. He dropped a small bag he was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span> carrying,
+so that he might grasp her outstretched hand. It was fate or destiny,
+and there was no use fighting against it.</p>
+
+<p>"I have been wondering if I was ever to see you again," she said, in her
+bright, unconventional way. "You are quite well again, I see. Oh, I am
+so thankful! I would have called round, only&mdash;well, you see the
+conventions of this old country have to be observed even by an
+American."</p>
+
+<p>"And you find them rather irksome?" he questioned, an eager light
+brightening his eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, on the whole I fear I do. But we have to take things as we find
+them, I suppose. Discipline, they say, is good for us."</p>
+
+<p>"I believe that is a generally accepted doctrine," he said, with a
+laugh.</p>
+
+<p>"But you doubt it?" she asked, looking coyly up into his face.</p>
+
+<p>"I did not say so," he answered, jocularly. "Do you think I am such a
+doubter that I doubt everything?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, no," she answered, slowly. "I will not go quite so far as that. I
+guess there are still a few things you stick to."</p>
+
+<p>"We all believe what we cannot help believing," he answered,
+enigmatically.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, what a profound utterance!" she said, laughing brightly in his
+face.</p>
+
+<p>"It is rather profound, isn't it? But how have you enjoyed yourself in
+London?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! moderately well. For the first two weeks or so we had rather a gay
+time, then things got flat, or I got flat. And then the weather, you
+know, was atrocious. Those London fogs are a treat!"</p>
+
+<p>"So I've heard. I've had no experience of them."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Well, you needn't be envious. But how about your invention? I've been
+looking for your name in the papers. When are you going to astonish us
+all?"</p>
+
+<p>His face clouded in a moment and his eyes caught a far-away look. "It is
+never safe to prophesy," he said, after a pause.</p>
+
+<p>"But you are still quite sure of success?" she questioned, a little
+anxiously.</p>
+
+<p>He smiled a little bit sadly, and answered, "A friend of mine sometimes
+encourages me by telling me that there is nothing certain in this world
+but death."</p>
+
+<p>"Your friend must be a pessimist," she said, "and I don't like
+pessimists. But tell me candidly, has your success been imperilled in
+any way by&mdash;by&mdash;your accident?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, I do not think so," he answered, quickly. "My work has been delayed
+a little, that is all. If I fail, it will not be on that account."</p>
+
+<p>"But you are not going to fail, of course you are not."</p>
+
+<p>"I hope I shall not," he answered, seriously. "But in the chances of
+life there must be a great many failures. Think of the millions of
+toiling people in England to-day and how few of them have reached their
+hearts' desire."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I suppose that is so," she answered, thoughtfully, "or perhaps the
+bulk of them have never had any large desires. But don't you think that
+most of the great men who have striven long enough have won in the end?"</p>
+
+<p>"I was not thinking of the great men," he answered. "It is given only to
+a few men to be great, and of the rest, if they fail once, their chance
+is gone."</p>
+
+<p>"And do you mean to tell me that if you don't succeed this time you
+won't try again?"</p>
+
+<p>"If circumstances would let me, I would never cease trying," he
+answered. "But we are all of us more or less the slaves of
+circumstances, some more than others."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"You told me once that you had staked your all on the success of this
+enterprise."</p>
+
+<p>"That is true."</p>
+
+<p>"And if you fail, you will lose everything?"</p>
+
+<p>"Everything!"</p>
+
+<p>"You mean, of course, your time and your money, and your labour!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I mean that," he said, smiling wistfully.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, well! that is not everything, after all," she answered, brightly.
+"You are young enough to begin again. And, after all, what we call
+failures may be stepping-stones to success, and you will win in the end,
+I know you will. God will not let you fail."</p>
+
+<p>"I wish I believed in God as you do," he said, with downcast eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"So long as God believes in you it won't matter so much," she answered,
+cheerfully. "But I must be going back now. You are going further, I
+presume?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am going to spend Christmas with my grandfather, at Tregannon."</p>
+
+<p>"Is that far?"</p>
+
+<p>"About six or seven miles."</p>
+
+<p>"And are you going to walk all the distance?"</p>
+
+<p>"I expect so, unless someone overtakes me who can give me a lift by the
+way."</p>
+
+<p>"I hope you will have a very happy Christmas."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you. Let me wish the same wish for you."</p>
+
+<p>"We shall be gay at any rate," she said, with a little sigh. "The
+Captain returns this evening."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! then you are sure to be happy. Good-bye!"</p>
+
+<p>He took her outstretched hand and held it for a long moment, looking
+earnestly the while into her sweet, fearless eyes. Then without another
+word he picked up his bag and hurried away.</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII</h2>
+
+<h3>RETROSPECTIVE</h3>
+
+
+<p>Rufus tramped the seven long miles to Tregannon like one in a dream. Up
+hill and down dale he swung his way, heedless of the milestones and
+untroubled by distance. The short winter's day faded into darkness
+before he had covered half the journey. A little later the moon sailed
+slowly up in the eastern sky and flung weird shadows across the road,
+but he paid no heed. Through sleepy villages and hamlets he tramped, by
+lonely cottages and splashing water-wheels, but his thoughts were back
+in the quiet lane outside St. Gaved, and the warm hand of Madeline
+Grover still trembled in his.</p>
+
+<p>He had tried to forget her, tried to keep out of her way; but what was
+the use? She had come into his life for good or ill, and she had come to
+stay. Until he ceased to draw breath she would dominate his heart, and
+it was only waste of strength and energy to fight against his fate.</p>
+
+<p>He hardly knew whether he was sorry or glad. If he had to leave the
+world, loving her would make it all the harder, he knew. If his
+enterprise succeeded and his life stretched out to its natural span, the
+burden of an unrequited love would always press heavy upon him. And yet
+to love at all was worth living for. The thrill of her touch, the glance
+of her sweet, honest eyes, made heaven for the moment. Let the future
+go. Sufficient unto the day was the evil thereof. Twelve<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span> months hence
+he might be sleeping in the dust, and she might be the wife of Gervase
+Tregony. It was foolish, therefore, to anticipate the future. To-day
+alone was his, and he would make the most of it, and let his heart go
+out in free, unfettered affection, giving all and asking for nothing in
+return. It was in the inspiration and exaltation of this feeling that he
+swung along the quiet country lanes. No one could hinder him from
+loving, and love was its own reward. The joy was not so much in
+receiving as in giving. When love became selfish it ceased to be love.
+Madeline might never be his in the conventional sense. She might never
+know how much she had been to him, might never guess how much he loved
+her. That might not be all loss; it might, indeed, be gain. He felt
+already that he was a better man for this great passion that had come
+into his life&mdash;less selfish, less self-centred, less bitter and
+infinitely more pitiful.</p>
+
+<p>He found his grandfather, Rev. Reuben Sterne, still active and alert, in
+spite of the eighty-four winters that had passed over his head. He was
+no less sure of his election now than he was sixty years ago, when he
+was first called to the ministry, and he was as anxious to remain a
+little longer on the earth as he was in the flowery days of his youth.</p>
+
+<p>He extended to his grandson a grave and unemotional welcome, and then
+led the way into the little sitting-room, where his wife sat deep in an
+easy chair, a little, shrunken thing, who looked as if all the sap had
+dried out of her veins. Her welcome, however, was much warmer than her
+husband's, and the tears came into her faded eyes when he bent down to
+kiss her.</p>
+
+<p>While supper was being got ready Rufus stretched himself in an easy
+chair before the fire and listened while the old people talked.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Ah me, Rufus," Mrs. Sterne said, in her thin, quavering voice. "It is
+just sixteen years ago yesterday since news came that your father was
+dead. How time flies, to be sure, and your poor mother survived the
+shock just six months and a day."</p>
+
+<p>Rufus had heard the story recalled nearly every Christmas Eve since.
+Whoever might forget, the little grandmother remembered, Joshua
+Sterne&mdash;Rufus's father&mdash;was her firstborn and only child, and the wound
+caused by his death never seemed to heal.</p>
+
+<p>Rufus listened with no poignant sense of grief. His father had crossed
+the Atlantic to seek his fortune when he, Rufus, was little more than
+out-of-arms, and he had never returned. Rufus fancied that he remembered
+him. But he was never quite sure. The recollection&mdash;if such it was&mdash;was
+so vague and indistinct that it seemed little more than the shadow of a
+dream.</p>
+
+<p>He remembered well enough the day when the news came of his father's
+death. Remembered the grief and anguish of his mother, which, boy-like,
+he did his best to soothe, but which he could not understand.</p>
+
+<p>Six months later the broken-hearted mother slipped unexpectedly away
+into the land of shadows, and Rufus, bewildered and rebellious, was
+taken away from the silent house to live with his grandparents. That
+seemed like the beginning of all his griefs. He had often wondered since
+what his life would have been like if his mother had lived. How he would
+have rejoiced to toil for her and fight her battles. But it was not to
+be. In the cold and gloomy shadow of his grandfather's home it seemed to
+him that the better side of his nature had never a chance of developing.
+The sunshine was absent. The real joy of existence was unknown.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Reuben Sterne was a disciplinarian of the severest type. A minister of
+the Gospel who had no real Gospel to preach. A theologian who had no
+true vision of God. A man severe and stern by nature, and made doubly so
+by an austere and loveless creed. "God was a jealous God." That lay at
+the foundation of all his beliefs and coloured all his actions. The
+burden of the Divine decrees lay heavy upon his heart in the brightest
+days, and touched every song to sadness. Of his own election he did not
+doubt. Of his call to preach to the elect he was equally sure. But his
+only son, Joshua, the child of many prayers, gave no evidence of saving
+grace, and died uncalled to the favours of the heavenly fold, while his
+grandson, Rufus, appeared, even from boyhood, to be as pagan as his
+name. This was a great grief to the old man, though he would not have
+made any sign of it for the world. It was his place to bow, not only in
+submission, but in thankfulness to the heavenly will. To kiss the hand
+that smote, and adore the unrelenting power that consigned to eternal
+burning those who were dear to him as his own life.</p>
+
+<p>At bottom his heart was better than his creed, but he was afraid of
+showing tenderness or affection lest he should be running counter to the
+Divine Will, or giving encouragement to the enemies of the cross to
+blaspheme.</p>
+
+<p>Twice every Sunday Rufus was led to the Baptist chapel to hear his
+grandfather preach, and early indicated the fate to which he was
+predestined by falling asleep under the old man's most terrible sermons.
+Among the memories that stood out most clearly in his brain was that of
+his grandfather in the pulpit. A tall, straight man, with clean-shaved,
+severe face, and eyes that never smiled. He always wore a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span> frock-coat,
+tightly buttoned, a tall, stiff collar, and a large white bow, the ends
+of which touched the lapels of his coat. His grey hair was brushed
+smoothly from his forehead, his mouth was set in severe lines, his
+shoulders squared as if for battle. And indeed, every sermon was a
+battle. He was appointed of God to fight "spiritual wickedness in high
+places." He asked no quarter and gave none. His voice rang with the
+thunders of the law. Sinai was nearer to his heart than Calvary.</p>
+
+<p>Rufus gave evidence of intellectual revolt before he had reached his
+teens.</p>
+
+<p>"What is the use of preaching, grandfather?" he asked the old man, one
+Sunday morning, over the dinner table.</p>
+
+<p>"The use of preaching?" the Rev. Reuben questioned, aghast at the
+audacity of the young speaker; while Mrs. Sterne laid down her knife and
+fork, and stared.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, suppose you didn't preach, what would happen?" the boy went on,
+unconscious of the storm he was raising.</p>
+
+<p>"Happen? Happen? Be silent, boy; you know not of what you are speaking."</p>
+
+<p>"But if you didn't preach, would the elect be lost?" the boy persisted.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course not. How could they be lost? 'Whom He did foreknow, He also
+did predestinate.'"</p>
+
+<p>"And will you save any of those who are not elected by preaching to
+them?" the boy went on.</p>
+
+<p>"It is not in man's power to save at all," the old man said, severely.
+"Salvation belongeth unto the Lord."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, then, I don't see a bit of use in preaching or in going to
+chapel."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The old man raised his eyes and stared. "You ungrateful, unregenerate
+youth," he said. "How dare you speak in such a way, and at my table?"</p>
+
+<p>"But, grandfather," said the boy, with astonishment in his eyes, "why am
+I ungrateful because I ask questions?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why? Because your questions savour of an unregenerate and unbelieving
+heart; because they make light of the Word of truth; because the Spirit
+of God is not in you."</p>
+
+<p>"But how can I help that, grandfather? Do you think it is that I am not
+called?"</p>
+
+<p>"I fear you are not," he said, with a groan. "I fear you are not."</p>
+
+<p>"But you are not sure, grandfather?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, I am not sure; but there is no evidence of saving grace in you."</p>
+
+<p>"But if I am elected I shall be all right in the end, sha'n't I?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, yes; the gracious Spirit always finds those who have the mark of
+the seal."</p>
+
+<p>"Then, I don't think I shall go to chapel to-night."</p>
+
+<p>"Not go to chapel!" and the old man's eyes flashed fire. "Not go to
+chapel? Did my ears deceive me? Is it for this I have cared for you
+since the death of your mother? Boy, boy, be careful how you disobey
+me!"</p>
+
+<p>"But, but&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Not another word," the old man said, raising his right hand in a
+threatening attitude. "Not another word, or I will punish you as you
+were never punished before. How dare you blaspheme, and at my very
+board?"</p>
+
+<p>That was the beginning of open strife and rebellion. The boy went to
+chapel that night, and for many years after, but never in the same
+spirit again. Scarcely<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span> a Sunday passed that both his heart and
+intellect did not revolt against his grandfather's teachings, and there
+was no one to show him the other side of the shield. Had some whisper
+come to him in those days that truth was many-sided, that the Kingdom of
+God was broader than Church or Creed, and that the heart of the Eternal
+was not to be measured by an ecclesiastical tape-line, he might have
+been saved many long years of darkness and doubt. But in the village of
+Tregannon, teachers and seers were few, and books that would have helped
+him were out of his reach.</p>
+
+<p>So he grew first into the belief that he belonged to the non-elect, and
+later into the belief that the whole fabric of the Christian religion
+was a delusion and a snare.</p>
+
+<p>Yet no cloud of unbelief dimmed for a moment the purity of his soul. He
+loved goodness none the less because he hated human creeds. Right was
+right, whatever preachers preached or failed to preach; and wrong was
+wrong though stamped with the Church's approval.</p>
+
+<p>It was a great grief to the Rev. Reuben and to his wife when Rufus
+demonstrated by open and unabashed revolt that he belonged to the
+non-elect. They had suspected it early in his career; they had prepared
+themselves for the blow when it should fall. The tender-hearted little
+grandmother had hoped and prayed till the last, and even continued to
+pray when she believed that praying was vain and feared that it might be
+an offence to the Lord.</p>
+
+<p>The Rev. Reuben was made of sterner stuff. "Ephraim," he said, "is
+joined to his idols, let him alone."</p>
+
+<p>So the quiet, uneventful years passed away, and the boy grew into a man.
+A man of fine presence, of considerable intellectual attainments&mdash;for
+Reuben<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span> Sterne gave the lad the best education he could afford&mdash;and of
+unblemished character.</p>
+
+<p>Rufus wanted to be an engineer, but that was beyond his grandfather's
+means. His grandmother wanted to apprentice him to a draper, but the boy
+protested so vehemently that that laudable desire was never carried out.
+In the end, he found his way into a Redbourne Bank, where he became
+acquainted with Felix Muller, who was a solicitor's clerk in the town,
+and who later on succeeded to his master's business. From Redbourne,
+Rufus removed to St. Gaved as Secretary to the Wheal Gregory Tin Mining
+Company, Limited, and it was while there that he conceived a scheme for
+the bettering of his own fortunes and those of the county as a whole.</p>
+
+<p>Rufus could not help recalling the past as he stretched his legs before
+the fire and listened in dreamy fashion to the talk of the old people.
+All the years that had fled and gone seemed to live again. All the
+people that he knew in his boyhood's days gathered round him once more.
+Voices long since hushed in the great silence spoke to him as they used
+to do; and eyes that long since had fallen into dust smiled with all
+their old sweetness.</p>
+
+<p>He always felt a boy again when he came home to Tregannon. The old
+people were unchanged. They did not look a day older than ten years
+previously. The house and its ways had been stereotyped for a
+generation. The same coarse rug was before the fire, on which he had
+sprawled as a lad. The same kettle sang on the hob, the same poker and
+tongs shone in the firelight.</p>
+
+<p>The old people still talked on, recalling the events of other years, the
+one supplying what the other had forgotten. Rufus interposed a
+monosyllable now and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span> then, but his thoughts in the main were far away
+from theirs. Suddenly his interest was aroused by an allusion his
+grandfather made to some wasteful and abortive lawsuit that followed his
+father's death.</p>
+
+<p>"The ways of the law may be crooked in this country," he said, with
+energy; "and English lawyers may be blood-suckers in the main, but in
+America things are fifty times worse."</p>
+
+<p>"Why do you think that?" he questioned, raising his eyes with interest.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, because I've proved it. Your father's title was clear enough,
+there's no doubt about that. He made his money honestly too. If he'd
+lived a month or two longer he'd have returned home a rich man."</p>
+
+<p>"Well?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, just because some swindler disputed his right, and a blackmailer
+presented a bogus account, and somebody else claimed on the estate, on
+the ground of a letter which was clearly a forgery, the lawyers went to
+work with glee, and the State judge or attorney, or whoever he may be,
+aided and abetted the plunder. A grosser piece of corruption there never
+was in this world."</p>
+
+<p>"And they ate it all up between them?"</p>
+
+<p>"Every dollar. At least, I presume so. It was postponed&mdash;I mean the
+settlement&mdash;and postponed month after month, and year after year; and
+taken to this court and that, the lawyers licking their lips all the
+time&mdash;What cared they for the widow and the fatherless? And when there
+was nothing left of the estate, why the litigation ceased."</p>
+
+<p>"That's usually the case, isn't it?"</p>
+
+<p>"But in our English courts there is a chance of an honest man coming by
+his rights."</p>
+
+<p>"Not much if he should happen to be a poor man."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Then you believe we are as bad as the Americans?"</p>
+
+<p>"Every whit. Lawyers and law courts, all the world over mean the same
+thing."</p>
+
+<p>"But isn't one of your best friends a lawyer?"</p>
+
+<p>"You refer to Felix Muller? Well, yes. Muller has been a very good
+friend to me. But when it comes to business, like the rest of them, he
+will have his pound of flesh."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, well!" the old man answered, with a sigh. "It's a sad world. Though
+many may be called, few are chosen, and Satan must work his will till
+the appointed time."</p>
+
+<p>"He seems to have had a pretty long innings," Rufus said, with a laugh.</p>
+
+<p>"And yet, beyond his chain he cannot go," the old man answered. And then
+supper was brought on to the table.</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a>CHAPTER XVIII</h2>
+
+<h3>THE OLD AND THE NEW</h3>
+
+
+<p>Rufus awoke next morning to the sound of Christmas bells ringing wildly
+down the valley and out across the hills. It was a pleasant sound, and
+awoke many tender memories in his heart. Instinctively his thoughts
+turned back to the Gospel story, and to the Christ who had changed the
+history of the world. Whatever might be said of the doctrines and dogmas
+that his grandfather had preached for fifty years with so much vehemence
+and energy, there could be no doubt as to the ethical value of Christ's
+life and sayings.</p>
+
+<p>He had not looked into the New Testament for a good many years now, but
+it suddenly occurred to him that it was scarcely fair to hold Christ
+responsible for all the foolish things done and taught in His name. He
+recalled without effort whole paragraphs of the Sermon on the Mount, for
+he had been compelled, as a boy, to get off whole chapters both of the
+Old and New Testament by heart, and he felt that nothing nobler had been
+taught in all the history of the world. Besides all that, there was
+something infinitely beautiful and touching in the tragedy of Christ's
+life and death. He was a martyr for scorned ideals. He gave up his life
+rather than compromise with evil, or be a party to the hypocrisies of
+His time. He was, undoubtedly, the friend of the poor, and outcast, and
+oppressed, and was the only religious man of His time who had the
+courage to speak a kind word to publicans and harlots.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Rufus began to have an uncomfortable feeling that he had scarcely
+treated this sacred figure with ordinary chivalry or fair play. The very
+ideals he stood for and advocated were among those the Man of Nazareth
+lived for and died for. From what, then, had he revolted? Against what
+had he protested?</p>
+
+<p>He closed his eyes while the bells rang on, and tried to think. He could
+recall no word of Christ to which he could take exception, no single act
+that was not in itself a message of goodwill to men. Here was a life
+absolutely unselfish, and sacrificed in the pursuit of the noblest
+ideal. Here was teaching that struck at the greed and hypocrisy and lust
+of a corrupt age. Here was an influence, if taken by itself, which must
+always be for the common good.</p>
+
+<p>Why, then, had he revolted? He had called Christianity a delusion and a
+snare. A benumbing superstition, an invention of priests for the
+enslavement of men and women. In his defence of the position he had
+taken up he had pointed out that Christianity had stood for slavery, for
+war, for oppression, for persecution, for greed, and for the rule of the
+strong over the rights and consciences of the weak. Had he been wrong in
+this contention? And if not, where was the discrepancy?</p>
+
+<p>Could it be true that Christ stood for one thing, and Christianity for
+another? In other words, was the thing that bore the name of
+Christianity, Christianity at all? Did it bear anything but the most
+distant resemblance to that sweet and ennobling influence that Jesus
+breathed into the life of the world?</p>
+
+<p>He became interested in the problem. The bells ceased their wild revel,
+and a little company of carol singers broke out in the front garden:</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Hark! the glad sound, the Saviour comes,<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">The Saviour promised long,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Let every heart prepare a throne,<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">And every voice a song.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>They sang well and tunefully, sustaining all the parts, and throwing
+heart and enthusiasm into the exercise. He listened with interest and
+pleasure. A new chord seemed to have been struck in his nature. A fresh
+window had been opened in his mind. A year ago the carol might have
+irritated him, and he would probably have laid the flattering unction to
+his soul, that he had outgrown a mouldy and moth-eaten superstition.</p>
+
+<p>He wondered if loving Madeline Grover had made his heart sensitive to
+new influences, or if it was the possibility of a speedy escape from
+life that had turned his heart anew to these questions.</p>
+
+<p>The carol-singers had come to honour his grandfather. He was no longer
+their pastor. He had preached till he was eighty&mdash;preached till his once
+crowded congregation had dwindled down to a mere handful, and the glory
+of "Zion," as the chapel was called, had become but a memory. Yet his
+name was revered still. For fifty years and more he had lived in
+Tregannon, and had lived a life of strict and severe integrity, and,
+though the younger generation had drifted away from his ministry, and
+"Zion" was no longer enthusiastic about the terms of its title-deeds,
+yet there was no one who had not a good word to speak of the
+white-haired supernumerary.</p>
+
+<p>He heard the door open at length. The old servant had gone down to let
+the singers in, and he knew there would be cocoa and saffron cake, and a
+word of welcome and exhortation from his grandfather. It was pleasant,
+after all, to be remembered with so much affection after a life of
+eighty-four years.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Rufus wondered if his name would ever be held in any degree of esteem by
+his fellows, or if he would live unhonoured, and die unlamented. Why was
+it his grandfather's name was so much revered? Was it the manner of his
+life or the character of his preaching that had touched the heart and
+imagination of Tregannon?</p>
+
+<p>He had not much difficulty in answering that question. Nobody cared
+about his sermons now. The few that were remembered, were remembered
+only to be discussed and discarded. His criticisms of Luther, his fierce
+attacks on Arminianism, his deadly assaults on Darwin and Huxley, who
+were beginning to be talked about, his righteous scorn at infant
+baptism, his ponderous defence of verbal inspiration, his laboured
+expositions of the prophecies of Daniel, his flounderings in the deep
+waters of the Apocalypse, his weighty disquisitions on foreknowledge and
+predestination, and his nicely-balanced definitions of such terms as
+atonement, justification, regeneration and the like&mdash;what did they all
+amount to now? Who recalled them or were made the better by them? The
+thing that mattered was goodness. In so far as he had set an example of
+uprightness of character, of simplicity of aim, of unselfishness in his
+dealings with his fellows, he had lived to purpose. The sermon that all
+Tregannon remembered was his upright life. Austere he had always been,
+carrying himself with a certain reserve that no one could break down,
+but beneath a cold and placid surface there had beaten a genuinely human
+heart. To the poor and suffering and heartbroken he had proved himself
+through two generations a genuine friend. Hence it was that though he
+had lived in retirement for the last four years his name was held in
+reverence still.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Rufus found himself debating the question from a fresh standpoint. Was
+Christianity what his grandfather preached, or what he lived? He had
+heard him declare from the pulpit, with passionate vehemence, that good
+works were filthy rags, and that morality might be a millstone around
+the neck to sink the soul in deeper perdition. Yet who cared for his
+grandfather's theology in Tregannon? The thing that made his name
+revered was that very morality which he had so often warned his hearers
+against.</p>
+
+<p>"There's a screw loose somewhere," Rufus said to himself, with a smile.
+"Perhaps I had better read the New Testament again and try to find out
+what Christianity is. What passes in its name I like as little as ever I
+did. Its priestly assumptions, its grotesque dogmas, its truculent
+grovelling at the feet of wealth, its pitiful squabblings about forms
+and orders, its defence of oppression and war, and most other
+abominations, its silence and helplessness in face of public corruption.
+Great Scott! what does it all mean? Think of Christianity in Russia
+siding with the brutes who rule that unhappy land; think of it in
+France, where the people in disgust are trying to kick it out; think of
+it in England, allied to the State, intriguing for power and resorting
+to every kind of sharp practice to gain its own ends, and think of Jesus
+dying for a great ideal. I'll give up the problem, it's beyond me." And
+he got out of bed and began to dress. After breakfast he rather
+astonished the old people by announcing that he would go to chapel.</p>
+
+<p>"I hope you will go, Rufus, in a proper spirit," the old man said,
+severely.</p>
+
+<p>"I hope so," was the answer; "though I am bound to confess I am prompted
+mainly by a desire to hear your new minister."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The Rev. Reuben looked grave. "It is possible he may say something you
+may approve of. I grieve to say that even the pulpit is touched by what
+is called the modern spirit."</p>
+
+<p>"But I hear that 'Zion' is regaining some of its former glory."</p>
+
+<p>"The congregations are large, I admit; but I fear in these days the
+people have itching ears."</p>
+
+<p>"That has been true, I am told, of every generation."</p>
+
+<p>"It may be so. Yet thirty years ago&mdash;aye, twenty years ago&mdash;the people
+endured sound doctrine even when it was galling to the flesh."</p>
+
+<p>"And to-day, grandfather?"</p>
+
+<p>The old man shook his head and smiled sadly. "I fear me they have no
+stomach for strong meat," he said, pathetically.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, it is not a bit of use trying to swallow what we cannot digest,"
+Rufus said, with a laugh. "However, I will hear this Rev. Marshall Brook
+for myself."</p>
+
+<p>He felt painfully conspicuous as he walked into the chapel behind the
+stooping form of his grandfather&mdash;the little grandmother was too feeble
+to attend. He thought that everybody was eyeing him with an unnecessary
+amount of curiosity. He slipped into the far corner of the pew, the
+place where he had spent many a weary and painful hour in the years gone
+by, and for awhile he kept his eyes fixed upon the floor. A quiet,
+slow-moving voluntary was being played on the organ, around him was a
+faint rustle of silks and the shuffling of feet. From the vestibule came
+a subdued hum of voices as acquaintances met and exchanged Christmas
+greetings.</p>
+
+<p>Rufus was carried back again to the days of his boyhood and youth. The
+present was forgotten. He had never been away from Tregannon. He was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span>
+still a lad. He had a jack-knife in his pocket and a white alley and a
+piece of cobbler's wax and several yards of string. That was Billy
+Beswarick's suppressed cough coming from a neighbouring pew, and he was
+sure Dick Daddo was behind him waiting to pull his hair.</p>
+
+<p>He raised his eyes at length, and the illusion partially vanished; but
+not altogether. There was the same organ&mdash;how often he had counted its
+gilt dummy pipes; new brass book-rests had been placed in the gallery
+front for the convenience of the choir&mdash;that was an innovation, and
+brought him down to more modern days. The iron pillars that supported
+the galleries were festooned with evergreens, and over the arch of the
+organ loft was a text of Scripture, conspicuous in white against a
+scarlet background:&mdash;"On earth peace and good will toward men."</p>
+
+<p>The text set Rufus thinking again. He rather wondered that anyone had
+the courage to put it up. Perhaps the young people had done it,
+unthinkingly, for no sentiment could be more incongruous or out of
+place. The air was full of the clash of arms, the newspapers contained
+little else than records of battle and slaughter. Ministers all over the
+country were preaching sermons on patriotism and Imperialism. Churches
+and Sunday-schools were organising boys' brigades, and children were
+being taught how to shoot. Here and there a solitary voice protested
+against all war as unchristian, but the voice in the main was unheeded.
+How could war be unchristian? How could killing on a large scale be
+anything but an ennobling occupation? How could defending homes that
+were not attacked and destroying homes that were not defended, be
+anything less than heroic? How could stealing your neighbour's
+birthright and possessing his inheritance be anything but righteous?</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"There's evidently a screw loose somewhere," he said to himself, with a
+smile. "If that text sets forth the objective of Christ's mission, then
+a good deal that passes muster as Christianity to-day is loathsome
+hypocrisy."</p>
+
+<p>Then his attention was arrested by the entrance of the minister into the
+pulpit. A young man with a frank, boyish face, large, square forehead, a
+wide mouth, strong chin and jaw&mdash;all this he took in at a glance. A
+moment later he noticed that his dress was unclerical, his hands small
+and brown, his eyes deep-set and dark.</p>
+
+<p>Rufus felt interested in the man. Accustomed as he had been during all
+the years of his boyhood and youth to seeing the tall, stiff, clerical
+figure of his grandfather in the pulpit, there seemed something
+delightfully free and unconventional about this young man. The pulpit
+"tone" was absent from his voice, the pulpit manner he had evidently not
+yet learnt, the pulpit expression had to be acquired.</p>
+
+<p>Rufus got far back in his childhood days again during the singing and
+prayers. But directly the text was announced and the minister began to
+preach he felt wide awake and interested. To begin with, all his early
+notions about preaching were rudely upset. Taking his grandfather as a
+model this young man did not preach at all. He just talked and talked in
+a most delightfully easy and quickening way.</p>
+
+<p>The farther he advanced the more interested Rufus became. There were no
+attempts at oratory, no flights of rhetoric, no simulated passion, no
+declamation, but just earnest, lucid talk. He forgot that he was in a
+chapel and this man in a pulpit. They might be anywhere&mdash;in a workshop
+or by the fireside&mdash;and the man was talking to them on a subject of deep
+and perennial interest. He did not dogmatise; he did<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span> not ignore
+objections and difficulties. He faced every problem fairly and
+fearlessly, and gave his reason for the faith that was in him.</p>
+
+<p>"The desire of all nations shall come," was the text. What was the
+desire of all nations? What was the deep, passionate longing of all
+thoughtful, serious people of all ages and of all countries? And how was
+that longing met in Jesus of Nazareth?</p>
+
+<p>On the first point he touched Rufus to the quick. He described every
+mental emotion through which he had passed, and showed how every merely
+human philosophy had failed to satisfy the need of the human heart.
+Every word of this part of the discourse was absolutely true to Rufus's
+own experience.</p>
+
+<p>But when the preacher came to deal with the second part of his subject,
+Rufus felt all his old scepticism returning with a rush; and yet so
+reasonably did the preacher talk that he was compelled to listen. He did
+not speak like an advocate with a bad case. There were no evasions, no
+special pleadings, no attempts to browbeat witnesses, or to sail off on
+side issues. He spoke as one who had fought his way through every phase
+of doubt, and had reached the serene heights of absolute conviction.</p>
+
+<p>Christ had met his needs, and had answered his questions, had solved the
+riddle of life.</p>
+
+<p>Rufus shook his head more than once unconsciously. The argument from
+experience might be satisfactory enough to those who had the experience,
+but he wanted proof. The experience of another man was of very little
+value to him.</p>
+
+<p>If he could be sure that Christ spoke with absolute authority on these
+questions that vexed the human mind, then would he find rest also, but
+how was he to get that assurance.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>He walked home from chapel by his grandfather's side in silence. The old
+man was as little disposed to talk as Rufus, but for a different reason.</p>
+
+<p>After dinner Rufus went for a long walk alone. He wanted to shake off
+the effects of the sermon. Some of the conclusions of the preacher had
+made him feel distinctly uncomfortable. The possibility of life being a
+sacred trust for the use, or abuse, of which he would be held
+responsible by a Supreme Being was distinctly disquieting, especially in
+view of the unpleasant possibility that was hanging over his head.</p>
+
+<p>If life were not his own to do as he liked with&mdash;to spend or end how or
+when seemed good in his own eyes&mdash;then his attempt to gamble with it was
+more immoral than for a trustee or a lawyer to gamble with his client's
+property. Rufus had always prided himself on his honour. It was his
+sheet-anchor in all the mental storms through which he had passed; but
+if in throwing his life into pawn he had pawned his honour at the same
+time what was there left to him that was worth possessing? And if the
+worst should come to the worst, if, as he sometimes feared, his
+invention had been forestalled&mdash;not only a part of it, but the whole of
+it&mdash;if the demands of what he called honour should necessitate the
+giving up of his life, in what sort of moral dilemma would he find
+himself?</p>
+
+<p>His compact with Muller began to appear in a more unpleasantly lurid
+light than it had ever done before. Could a man steal money to pay his
+debts with, and then boast of his honesty in paying? Could he discharge
+a debt of honour by an act that in itself was criminal?</p>
+
+<p>It was dark when he got back to his grandfather's house, but the
+influence of the sermon was still upon him. He had passed cottages by
+the dozen from<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span> which had come sounds of mirth and festivity. Tregannon
+appeared to be enjoying itself to the full. The young people, untroubled
+about the future, were making merry in the hope and gladness of to-day;
+while he, having lost the faith of his childhood, had drifted into
+regions not only of hopelessness, but of peril.</p>
+
+<p>"It seems but a poor exchange," he said, sadly, "but I shall have to
+make the best of it."</p>
+
+<p>When he opened the door he was surprised to hear the voices of his
+grandfather and the Rev. Marshall Brook, in what seemed to him a very
+animated and even heated discussion.</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX"></a>CHAPTER XIX</h2>
+
+<h3>AFTER THREE YEARS</h3>
+
+
+<p>After her meeting with Rufus Sterne, Madeline walked slowly back to the
+Hall with a very thoughtful look upon her face. She knew that this
+Christmas Eve was to be a fateful time for her, her whole future seemed
+to be hanging in the balance. On what happened during the next few
+days&mdash;perhaps, during the next few hours&mdash;would depend in all
+probability the happiness, or the misery, of all the years that would
+follow.</p>
+
+<p>The point to which her life had been steadily drifting would be reached
+to-night. The man who had been waiting for her would ask her to come
+into his arms, the consummation of her girlish dreams was about to be
+realised. Why did she shrink from the fateful moment? Why did she
+contemplate the meeting with Gervase with something like alarm? Before
+she reached the Hall she put a question boldly to herself that she had
+never dared ask before. Had Rufus Sterne anything to do with this
+half-defined fear that haunted her. Suppose he had never crossed her
+path&mdash;had never awakened her gratitude by his courage and chivalry, had
+never touched her sympathy by his vicarious suffering&mdash;would she at this
+moment be almost dreading the appearance of Gervase Tregony on the
+scene?</p>
+
+<p>Till she met Rufus Sterne, Gervase had been her ideal. His bigness, his
+masterfulness, his fearlessness, his daring had awakened in her a sense
+of awe. He<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span> was her ideal still in many respects. She never expected to
+see a more soldierly man, never expected to hear a voice that was more
+clearly meant to command, never anticipated a stronger arm to lean upon.</p>
+
+<p>And yet there was no denying the fact that the brightness of the image
+had been somewhat dimmed of late. In point of bigness, in point of
+masterfulness, and, above all, in point of social position, Rufus Sterne
+was not to be mentioned in the same day with Gervase Tregony, and yet
+Rufus Sterne, poor and friendless as he was, had touched her heart and
+her imagination in a way that Gervase had never done.</p>
+
+<p>Her fingers were tingling still under the pressure of his hand. The
+tones of his voice were still vibrating through the chambers of her
+brain, the colour mounted to her cheeks whenever she thought of him.</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps, when I see Gervase," she said to herself, "all my forebodings
+will vanish. It will be a comfort to know that I have been worrying
+myself for nothing. If he loves me for my own sake&mdash;and I shall soon
+find out if he doesn't&mdash;and if I&mdash;I&mdash;like him as I have always done, why
+there is no reason at all why we should not be two of the happiest
+people in the world. Nevertheless, I wish Sir Charles was not in such a
+hurry to arrange things."</p>
+
+<p>She found Lady Tregony and Beryl pretending concern at her long absence,
+but very little was said, and Madeline did not explain why she had been
+so long.</p>
+
+<p>"We have ordered dinner, my dear, for half-past seven," Lady Tregony
+said, in her blandest tones. "We have had another telegram from dear
+Gervase while you have been out. It was handed in at Bristol. He seems
+terribly impatient to be at home. I suppose you would not care to drive
+into Redbourne with Sir Charles to meet him?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"No, indeed. I would prefer to meet him here, thank you."</p>
+
+<p>"I am sure it would be quite proper, my dear, if you would care to go,
+and really Gervase seems dying to see you."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't think it would be proper at all," Madeline answered, quite
+frankly.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes, my dear. Everybody now looks upon the engagement as a settled
+thing."</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed. I did not know people took so much interest in our affairs, or
+indeed, knew anything about the matter."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes, my dear; it is impossible that such things can be kept a
+secret. I expect you will get tons and tons of congratulations on
+Friday."</p>
+
+<p>"Why on Friday, Lady Tregony?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, because we shall have the house full of people on Friday, to be
+sure. I wouldn't that there should be a hitch for the world."</p>
+
+<p>Madeline walked upstairs to her room, feeling very perturbed, and not a
+little annoyed. It seemed now as if everybody was beginning to show his
+or her hand. Now that the game was practically won there was not quite
+so much need for caution or finesse. Indeed, to take the engagement for
+granted might be a good way of settling the matter once and for all.</p>
+
+<p>"But it is not settled yet," she said to herself, a little bit
+indignantly; "and what is more I will not have my affairs settled for me
+by anybody."</p>
+
+<p>It had been her intention to dress herself with the greatest care that
+evening, to don the smartest and most becoming frock she possessed. But
+she concluded now she would do nothing of the kind.</p>
+
+<p>"I am not going to lay myself out to make a conquest as though I were a
+husband hunter," she said<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span> to herself, with heightened colour; "and what
+is more I am not going to let anybody take things for granted," and she
+dropped into a basket chair before the fire.</p>
+
+<p>It was the first time Lady Tregony had so openly shown her hand, and it
+made Madeline think more furiously than ever.</p>
+
+<p>Her maid came a little later and lighted the lamp and drew the blinds,
+then quietly withdrew. Madeline sat staring into the fire, watching the
+faces come and go, and conjuring up all kinds of visions. She heard the
+brougham drive away; heard the Baronet's voice for a moment or two, then
+all grew still again. In another hour he would be back again,
+accompanied by his son. She wanted to get up and walk about the room,
+but she held herself in check with a firm hand, and sat resolutely
+still. She did not attempt to hide from herself the fact that she was
+painfully excited. Her heart was beating at twice its normal rate. She
+was longing to see Gervase, and yet she dreaded the moment when she
+would again look into his eyes.</p>
+
+<p>She did her best to put Rufus Sterne out of her mind. She had a vague
+kind of feeling that she was disloyal to her girlish ideals. The hour,
+to which all the other hours of her life had steadily and consistently
+moved, was on the point of striking. She ought to be supremely happy.
+One face only should fill all her dreams. She had grown to believe that
+Gervase Tregony had been ordained for her and she for him&mdash;until the
+last few months not a doubt had crossed her mind on this point, and
+now&mdash;&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>She got up and began to walk about the room. She could sit still no
+longer. The very air had become oppressive. She felt as though a
+thunderstorm was brooding over the place.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Her maid came in at length, much to her relief, and began to help her
+dress for dinner. While her hair was being brushed and combed she
+listened intently for the sound of carriage wheels. The roads were hard,
+and sounds travelled far on the still frosty air.</p>
+
+<p>She caught the sounds she had been listening for at length, and her
+heart seemed to come into her mouth. The beat of the horses' hoofs
+became as regular as the ticking of a clock. Nearer and nearer drew the
+sounds, till the maid stopped her brushing, and listened.</p>
+
+<p>"They are coming," she said, with a little catch in her breath. "I did
+not think they would be here so soon," and she dropped the brushes, and
+began to twist Madeline's glorious hair into a large coil low on her
+neck.</p>
+
+<p>"You need not hurry," Madeline said, quietly; "I shall not go downstairs
+till just before dinner."</p>
+
+<p>"Her ladyship is dressed already," the maid answered.</p>
+
+<p>"Naturally," she answered, significantly, and relapsed into silence.</p>
+
+<p>A few minutes later they heard the gritting of the carriage wheels on
+the drive. It curved round under Madeline's window, and pulled up at the
+front door.</p>
+
+<p>She listened for the sound of voices, but Sir Charles and his son
+alighted in silence. Then a little shrill cry of delight was wafted up
+from the hall as Lady Tregony fell into her son's arms. The next moment
+the harsh, raucous voice of the captain echoed distinctly through all
+the rooms.</p>
+
+<p>Madeline felt her heart give a sudden bound. How often she had heard
+that voice in her dreams, and thrilled at the sound&mdash;not a musical
+voice, by any means, not a voice to lure and soothe, but a voice to
+command; a voice to inspire confidence and awaken fear at the same
+time.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Then a knock came to the door, and Beryl rushed in. "Gervase has come,
+dear," she said, excitedly.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I heard his voice."</p>
+
+<p>"But are you not coming down at once?"</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot very well," she answered, with a smile.</p>
+
+<p>"But he will be terribly disappointed. His first inquiry was for you."</p>
+
+<p>"We shall meet in the drawing-room before dinner is announced."</p>
+
+<p>"But what must I tell him?"</p>
+
+<p>"Anything you like, dear."</p>
+
+<p>Beryl departed with a pout, and a look of disappointment in her eyes. A
+little later there was a sound of heavy footsteps on the stairs.</p>
+
+<p>Madeline disappointed her maid by insisting on wearing her least
+becoming evening gown, and the only ornament she wore was a bunch of
+holly berries in her hair.</p>
+
+<p>She went downstairs alone, and was surprised to find the drawing-room
+empty. Where Lady Tregony and Beryl had taken themselves to she could
+not imagine. A big fire of logs was blazing in the grate, and in all the
+sconces candles were alight. She expected every moment that either Beryl
+or Lady Tregony would come to her; they were both dressed, and there was
+no reason whatever that they should remain in their rooms.</p>
+
+<p>After several minutes had gone by she began to suspect the truth. They
+were keeping away so that she might meet Gervase alone. It was very
+thoughtful of them certainly, but it was taking rather too much for
+granted. She disliked so many evidences of management and contrivance.
+If Providence was arranging all these matters she could not see why
+Providence might not be allowed a free hand. So much human assistance
+did not seem at all necessary.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>She was beginning to feel a little bit resentful when the door was
+thrown suddenly open, and Gervase entered. For a moment she started back
+with unfeigned surprise. She had expected seeing him in all the glory
+and splendour of his uniform, and here he was in ordinary evening dress,
+looking as common-place as any average country squire. The only splendid
+thing about him was his moustache, which was waxed out to its fullest
+dimensions.</p>
+
+<p>"Madeline," he said, huskily, coming hurriedly forward, with
+outstretched hands. "This is the supreme moment of my life."</p>
+
+<p>She placed both her hands in his, and looked him steadily in the eyes.
+She was quite calm again now. Her heart had ceased its wild gallop.</p>
+
+<p>"It seemed as if I should never get here," he said, in the same husky
+tones. "Oh! how impatient I have been to look into your dear eyes."</p>
+
+<p>"If you had missed this train you would not have got here for your
+Christmas dinner," she said, artlessly, "and that would have been
+horribly disappointing."</p>
+
+<p>"Would you have been very much disappointed?" he questioned, trying to
+throw a note of tenderness into his voice.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course, I should have been disappointed," she answered, frankly;
+"I've been quite consumed with curiosity to see what you look like."</p>
+
+<p>"Not with curiosity only, I hope, Madeline."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, isn't curiosity bad enough without having any other feeling to
+torment you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Did you think I should have changed toward you?" he said, in hurt
+tones. "Did you regard me as one of the fickle mob, who hold love so
+lightly?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nay, I have always regarded you as a brave, strong man who would place
+duty above everything."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"In that, I trust, I shall never disappoint you," he said, humbly.
+"Henceforth my duty and my joy shall be to serve you."</p>
+
+<p>"I am only one," she said, quickly. "Is not your first duty to your
+country and your King?"</p>
+
+<p>"My first duty is to my queen," he answered gallantly, "and that is
+you."</p>
+
+<p>She drew her hands from his suddenly, and stepped back a pace. "Had we
+not better understand each other better before we talk so confidently?"
+she said, in hard decided tones.</p>
+
+<p>"What, after three long years?" he questioned, in an aggrieved voice.
+"Is it possible that there is anything left unexplained? Have I not
+opened all my heart to you in my letters? Do I need still to prove my
+devotion?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, no. You have been very candid and very loyal," she said, quickly.
+"But a matter of so much importance should not be decided in an hour."</p>
+
+<p>"But we have known each other for years, and did we not understand each
+other from the very beginning?"</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps we did," she answered, with downcast eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"And everyone else understood," he went on. "It is true little or
+nothing was said at the beginning, for you&mdash;you&mdash;were&mdash;were&mdash;very young.
+But I was of full age, and when the proper time came I wrote plainly to
+you."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I know."</p>
+
+<p>"And you were not surprised? You expected I should write in that way,
+did you not?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I think I did."</p>
+
+<p>"And yet now you talk of our understanding each other better. Oh,
+Madeline! Let me assure you that no other woman has crossed my path,
+that no other<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span> face has caught my fancy, that my heart has been true to
+you from the first, and I am prepared now to devote the rest of my life
+to you."</p>
+
+<p>"But is there not another side to the question?" she asked, seriously.
+"You said when first we met I was very young. But I have grown to be a
+woman now."</p>
+
+<p>"That is true, by Jove!" he answered, with a harsh laugh, "and a very
+lovely woman, too. But that only adds force and weight to what I have
+already said. If you had grown to be ill-favoured or plain, you might
+hesitate, thinking my heart would change. But no, Madeline, I am not of
+the fickle sort. If you were not half so handsome as you are I should
+still come to you eager, devoted, and determined."</p>
+
+<p>"You fail to understand my point," she said, quickly.</p>
+
+<p>"Not I, indeed," he interposed, with a laugh. "It is natural, I suppose,
+for a woman to have some doubts about a soldier. I know among the pious
+folk we have rather a bad reputation, and that we are supposed to have
+as many wives as Brigham Young. But that's a gross libel. I don't
+pretend that soldiers are saints, and some of them, I grant, change the
+objects of their affections frequently. But, Madeline, believe me, I
+have been true to you. True to that last smile and look you gave me in
+Washington. I come back offering you a complete and whole-hearted
+devotion. Now, come and let me kiss you, and settle the matter before
+dinner."</p>
+
+<p>She drew back a step further. "I think we understand each other less now
+than when we began our talk," she said, in hard, unnatural tones.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, by Jove, Madeline, you do astonish me," he said, in a tone of
+well-feigned surprise. "You surely don't think I'm insincere&mdash;that I'm
+putting it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span> on, as it were; that I'm pretending what I don't feel? Let
+me assure you I'm absolutely certain of my regard for you. Even if I
+were in doubt before I got here&mdash;though, to tell you the candid truth, I
+never have been in any doubt. But even if I were, the sight of your
+face, the loveliness of your ripened womanhood, if you will allow me to
+say so, has drawn out my heart to you more strongly than ever."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't think we shall gain anything by pursuing this subject any
+further just now," she said, quietly. "And we shall have many
+opportunities for quiet talks later on."</p>
+
+<p>"And you are not going to let me kiss you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Most certainly not," she said, the colour rising in a crimson tide to
+her cheeks and forehead.</p>
+
+<p>"Then all I can say, it is a cold welcome," he said, using an adjective
+that need not be written down.</p>
+
+<p>"You do not understand me, Gervase," she said, a pained look coming into
+her eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"By Jove! I don't," he said, "and what is worse still, you persist in
+misunderstanding me."</p>
+
+<p>"I am sorry you put it in that way," she answered; "but there goes the
+dinner-gong," and the next moment the door was pushed open, and Lady
+Tregony bustled into the room.</p>
+
+<p>"So you have met!" she said, with a little giggle, "and no one to
+disturb your <i>t&ecirc;te-&aacute;-t&ecirc;te</i>. Well, that is delightful."</p>
+
+<p>Gervase frowned, but did not reply, and Madeline took the opportunity of
+escaping out of the room.</p>
+
+<p>In the dining-room she frustrated Lady Tregony's little design, and
+instead of seating herself next to Gervase she sat opposite him. She had
+not seen him for so long a time, that she wanted an opportunity of
+studying his face. Her first feeling of disappoint<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span>ment was confirmed as
+she looked at him more closely. In his uniform he looked magnificent&mdash;at
+least, that was the impression left on her mind; but in ordinary
+swallow-tail coat and patent leather slippers he looked common-place.
+There was no other word for it. Moreover, three years under the trying
+skies of India had aged him considerably. His straw-coloured hair no
+longer completely covered his scalp. The crow's feet about his eyes had
+grown deeper and more numerous. The skin of his face looked parched and
+drawn, his cheek bones appeared to be higher, his nose more hooked, and
+his teeth more prominent.</p>
+
+<p>Moreover, under an ordinary starched shirt-front the well-rounded chest
+had entirely disappeared. Perkins, the butler, could give him points in
+that respect.</p>
+
+<p>Madeline felt the process of disillusionment was proceeding all too
+rapidly. She wished he had come downstairs arrayed in scarlet and gold.
+As a study in black and white he was not altogether a success, and it
+was not pleasant to have her dreams blown away like spring blossoms in a
+gale.</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XX" id="CHAPTER_XX"></a>CHAPTER XX</h2>
+
+<h3>FATHER AND SON</h3>
+
+
+<p>It was a great disappointment to the Tregonys that they were unable to
+announce on the night of their "At Home" that Gervase and Madeline were
+engaged. Madeline, however, was obdurate. She saw no reason for haste,
+and she saw many reasons for delay. The very anxiety of the Tregonys to
+get the matter settled at once made her only the more determined not to
+be rushed. The very masterfulness of Gervase&mdash;which she admired so
+much&mdash;for once defeated its own end.</p>
+
+<p>In her heart she had no real intention of upsetting what seemed to be
+the scheme and purpose of her life. It had seemed so long in the nature
+of things that she should marry Gervase Tregony&mdash;(why it should have
+seemed in the nature of things she hardly knew)&mdash;that to refuse to do so
+now would seem like flying in the face of Providence, and that required
+more courage than she possessed. Still, as far as she could see, it was
+no part of the providential plan that she should become engaged to
+Gervase that very year, and marry him early in the next. Dates did not
+appear to be included in the general arrangement, and she "guessed that
+in that matter she might be allowed considerable latitude."</p>
+
+<p>Gervase showed much less diplomacy than his father. Sir Charles had more
+correctly gauged Madeline's disposition than any other member of the
+family. He knew very well that she would never be driven,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span> that any
+attempt at coercion would defeat its own end. On this assumption he had
+acted all the way through, and but for a single incident everything
+might have gone well.</p>
+
+<p>As the days passed away Gervase grew terribly impatient. He was hard up.
+"Horribly, disgustingly hard up," as he told his father, and here were
+Madeline's thousands or millions steadily accumulating, and nobody the
+better for it. If he could once get the knot tied he would be safe. She
+had so much that she could let him have all he wanted without feeling
+it, and there seemed no reason in the world why he should not begin to
+enjoy himself without delay.</p>
+
+<p>Madeline listened in the main with much patience to his appeals and
+protestations, but for some reason she could not understand, they failed
+to move her. He never touched the heroic side of her nature. His appeal
+was always to her vanity and selfishness. His pictures of happiness were
+merely pictures of self-indulgence. The aim and end of life as he
+shadowed it forth was "to take thy ease, eat, drink, and be merry." A
+town house, a shooting-box in Scotland. Two or three motor-cars, a steam
+yacht, and an endless round between times of balls and calls and grand
+operas.</p>
+
+<p>She frankly owned to herself that her idol had been taken off its
+pedestal, and there was no longer any halo about his head. To live in
+the same house with Gervase day after day was distinctly disquieting.
+His civilian attire made him look painfully common-place, his
+conversation was as common-place as his appearance.</p>
+
+<p>She asked him one day why he did not wear his captain's uniform.</p>
+
+<p>"Because I have resigned my commission," he answered.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Resigned your commission?" she questioned, slowly.</p>
+
+<p>"Why not?" he replied. "I have done my share of roughing it, surely."</p>
+
+<p>"But&mdash;but&mdash;oh! I don't know. I had an idea once an officer, always an
+officer."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, nothing of the sort," he laughed, "I've given up soldiering to
+devote myself to you. Isn't that a much nobler occupation?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't think so," she answered, slowly. "Besides, I did not want you
+to give up your commission to devote yourself to me."</p>
+
+<p>"At any rate, I've done it. I thought it would please you. It will show
+you, at any rate, how devoted I am. There is nothing I would not give up
+for your sake, and I never thought you would hesitate to speak the one
+word that would make me the happiest man in the world."</p>
+
+<p>"But you could not be happy unless I was happy also?" she interrogated.</p>
+
+<p>"But you would be happy. I should just lay myself out to make you as
+happy as a bird. By my soul, you would have a ripping time!"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't think that is just what I want," she said, abstractedly. "Don't
+you think there is something greater in life than either of us have yet
+seen?"</p>
+
+<p>He looked at her with as much astonishment in his eyes as if she had
+proposed suicide. "Greater," he said, in a tone of incredulity. "Well,
+I'm&mdash;I'm&mdash;. The truth is, Madeline, you're beyond me," he added,
+twisting suddenly round, and back again. "As if there could be anything
+greater. We might have a turn at Monte Carlo if you liked, or Homburg in
+the season, or&mdash;but the fact is, we might go anywhere. Think of it! You
+can't conceive of anything greater!"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes! I can," she answered quietly, but firmly. "There's nothing
+noble or heroic in living merely for self and pleasure."</p>
+
+<p>"Noble! heroic!" he repeated, slowly, as if not quite comprehending.
+"Well, now, I wonder what preaching fool has been putting these silly
+notions into your head. Have you turned Methodist?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know why you call such notions silly," she said, ignoring his
+last question. "Did not Christ say that a man's life consisteth not in
+the abundance of the things he possesseth?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! well, I'm not going to say anything against that as an abstract
+thing," he said. "But the Bible must not be taken too literally, you
+know."</p>
+
+<p>"What do you mean by that?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, I mean what I say, and what every man, if he's got any sense,
+means. Religion is a very respectable thing, and all that. And I think
+everybody ought to go to church now and then and take communion, and be
+confirmed when he's young, and all that. And if people are very poor
+there must be a lot of comfort in believing in Providence, don't you
+see, and in living in hope that they'll have a jolly good time later on,
+and all that, don't you see. But as for making oneself miserable for
+other people, and denying oneself that somebody else may have a better
+time, and turning the other cheek, and all that, don't you see&mdash;well,
+that's just rot, and can't be done."</p>
+
+<p>"Why not?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why not? Well, it's just too silly for words. Fancy a man or a woman
+not having a good time if he has the chance."</p>
+
+<p>"But it may be more blessed to give than to receive."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't you believe it, Madeline. I believe in taking a common-sense view
+of life. We've only one<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span> life to live, and it's our duty to squeeze all
+the juice out of it that we can."</p>
+
+<p>"But may not the pursuit of self end in missing self? Is there not more
+joy in pursuing duty than in chasing pleasure?"</p>
+
+<p>"Look here, Madeline," he said, after a long pause, staring hard at her,
+"tell me candidly who's been putting these silly notions into your
+pretty little head."</p>
+
+<p>"I wish you would not talk to me as though I had the head of a baby,"
+she said, a little indignantly. "You should remember that I am no longer
+a child," and she turned and walked slowly out of the room.</p>
+
+<p>Gervase went off to the library at once to interview his father. The
+days were passing away, and he was getting no nearer the realisation of
+his desire. All his interviews with her ended where they began. Whenever
+he approached the subject nearest his heart and his interests, she
+always managed to shunt him off to some side issue.</p>
+
+<p>Sir Charles was busy writing letters, but he looked up at once when
+Gervase entered.</p>
+
+<p>"Can you spare time for a little talk?" the son asked, abruptly.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, of course I can," was the reply. "Is there something particular
+you wish to talk about?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, the truth is," he said, in a tone of irritation, "I am not
+getting on with Madeline a bit."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps you are too eager and impatient. You must remember that
+Madeline is not the girl to be driven."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I've heard that before," he said, angrily. "You have always harped
+on that string. But you've been in the wrong, I'm sure you have. If
+you'd only let me have my way I would have proposed to her three years
+ago."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"And spoiled everything."</p>
+
+<p>"No, I should have won everything. She was only a girl then, and was
+immensely gone on me. A soldier in her eyes was a hero, and an officer's
+uniform the most splendid thing she could imagine. If I'd struck then,
+when the iron was hot, she'd have fallen into my arms, and once engaged
+there'd have been no backing out."</p>
+
+<p>"My dear boy, you don't know Madeline Grover," Sir Charles said,
+seriously. "No girlish promise would have bound her if she wanted to get
+out of it."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes, it would. She has tremendously high notions about honour and
+duty."</p>
+
+<p>"Exactly. That's just where you fail to appreciate the difficulties of
+the situation. Very likely you tell her that some of her notions are
+silly, because you don't understand them."</p>
+
+<p>"That's just what I have been telling her this very morning."</p>
+
+<p>"And you think that's the way, perhaps, to win her promise."</p>
+
+<p>"But what's a fellow to do? One cannot sit mum while she talks rot
+about&mdash;about&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"About what?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! I don't know; but you know when a girl gets on to heroics she
+generally makes a fool of herself."</p>
+
+<p>"Madeline is very sane as a general thing."</p>
+
+<p>"Then why in the name of common-sense doesn't she jump?"</p>
+
+<p>"She wants to make sure of her ground, perhaps."</p>
+
+<p>"But she knows who I am and who you are, and, surely, it's something to
+ask a nameless girl to marry into a family like ours."</p>
+
+<p>"I confess I expected she would be more impressed than she is."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Does she know she's got the tin?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't think so. She thinks we have the wealth and the position, and
+everything else."</p>
+
+<p>"And yet she doesn't jump. I'd no idea she'd hold out as she is doing."</p>
+
+<p>"You'll have to humour her, Gervase. I've told you from the first she's
+not to be driven. Sympathise with her in what you call her heroics.
+Encourage her in her mental flight after great ideals."</p>
+
+<p>Gervase shook his head, and looked blank. "It's no use, father," he
+said, despondingly, "I should only make a fool of myself if I tried.
+Nature never gave me any wings of that sort."</p>
+
+<p>"At any rate, don't contradict her, and call her a goose, and assume the
+airs of a superior person."</p>
+
+<p>"But surely I know a mighty lot more than she does. Think of my age and
+experience, and remember I haven't travelled over half the world with my
+eyes shut."</p>
+
+<p>"It is not experience of the world, but knowledge of the ways of women
+you want. It isn't strength, but diplomacy that you need."</p>
+
+<p>"You think she will come round in time, don't you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes! I think so, provided you play your cards with skill. She has
+never said 'no' has she?"</p>
+
+<p>"That isn't the trouble exactly. She has never said 'yes,' and until she
+says it I'm not safe. You know she comes of age in May."</p>
+
+<p>"Well?"</p>
+
+<p>"You take it very coolly, father," Gervase said, in a tone of
+irritation. "I don't think it is at all well. Madeline is my only hope.
+Unless I marry a rich woman I'm stranded&mdash;absolutely stranded."</p>
+
+<p>"You've not been getting into deeper debt, I hope?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I've not been getting into shallower water, you may bet your bottom
+dollar on that."</p>
+
+<p>"Am I to understand that you have been anticipating events?"</p>
+
+<p>"I have a little. I thought I was perfectly safe in doing so. Your
+letters indicated that the way was quite clear, that Madeline looked
+upon the thing as settled, that she knew it was her father's wish, that
+you were quite agreeable, that everything was as straight as straight
+could be."</p>
+
+<p>"But I never saw her letters to you."</p>
+
+<p>"They were almost entirely satisfactory, I can assure you. She did not
+accept my proposal, it is true. But&mdash;well&mdash;she couldn't have written in
+a more friendly way. She thought we should meet again first, that was
+all. No hint of any delay after I came back."</p>
+
+<p>"I hope you haven't been disappointing her in some way."</p>
+
+<p>"I believe she is a bit disappointed at my retiring from the army. Like
+most girls, she dotes on a soldier. She loves the uniform and the gold
+braid and all that. But I told her I gave up the army that I might
+devote myself to her."</p>
+
+<p>"And did that satisfy her?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know. I can't make out exactly where she is. She seems to have
+changed in some way. If she hadn't lived under your eye ever since she
+has been in England I should be half disposed to think some other fellow
+had been making love to her."</p>
+
+<p>Sir Charles gave a little start, then turned his head, and contemplated
+his writing pad.</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose she didn't flirt with anybody while you were in London?"
+Gervase questioned, after a pause.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Not that I am aware of, Oh, no! I'm certain she didn't," Sir Charles
+replied, looking up again.</p>
+
+<p>"And, of course, in St. Gaved there's nobody she would look at for a
+moment," Gervase went on.</p>
+
+<p>Sir Charles nibbled for a moment at the end of his penholder. He hardly
+knew whether to tell Gervase or no. It was but a vague fear at most. For
+months&mdash;so he believed&mdash;she had never seen Rufus Sterne, and his name
+was never mentioned under any circumstances. Gervase was a violent
+fellow, and if he were made jealous there was no knowing what he might
+do or say. On the other hand, it was almost certain that he would hear
+the story of Madeline's adventure on the cliffs sooner or later, and
+then he would be excessively angry at not having been told by his own
+people.</p>
+
+<p>On the whole, Sir Charles concluded that he had better let Gervase know
+all there was to be known. The simple truth might gain in importance in
+his eyes the longer it was kept from him.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't think, Gervase, you need have the least fear that you have a
+rival," he said, at length, looking up with what he intended to be a
+reassuring smile. "There was a little circumstance some months ago that
+caused me a moment's uneasiness; but only a moment's. I soon saw that it
+meant nothing, that it never could mean anything, in fact."</p>
+
+<p>"What was the circumstance?" Gervase asked, with a quick light of
+interest in his eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, it came about in this way," and Sir Charles told in an off-hand
+and apparently indifferent manner the story of Madeline's escapade.</p>
+
+<p>Gervase listened in gloomy silence, tugging vigorously at his moustache
+all the time.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"And you say she visited him in his diggings?" he questioned, sullenly,
+when Sir Charles had finished.</p>
+
+<p>"I understand she called twice. From her point of view it seemed right
+enough. He had broken his leg in rescuing her, and with her American
+notions of freedom and independence, she saw no harm in calling to see
+him when he was getting better."</p>
+
+<p>"But you say she went twice?"</p>
+
+<p>"She went a second time to take him some books she had promised to lend
+him."</p>
+
+<p>"Are you sure she went only twice?"</p>
+
+<p>"I think I may say yes to that question. Madeline is very truthful and
+very frank, and when I pointed out that it was scarcely in harmony with
+our English notions of propriety she fell in with the suggestion at
+once."</p>
+
+<p>"And she made no attempt to see him after?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not the smallest. She had expressed her gratitude and the episode had
+closed."</p>
+
+<p>Gervase looked thoughtful, and not quite satisfied.</p>
+
+<p>"Madeline can be as close as an oyster when she likes," he said, after a
+pause; "how do you know she has not been thinking about the fellow ever
+since?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why should she?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, why shouldn't she? He saved her life, that is no small matter,
+especially to a romantic temperament like hers. He broke his leg, and
+nearly lost his life in doing it; that would add greatly to the interest
+of the situation. Then, if I remember rightly, he's a singularly
+handsome rascal, with an easy flow of speech, and a voice peculiarly
+rich and flexible."</p>
+
+<p>"My dear boy, you can make a mountain out of a molehill, if you like,"
+Sir Charles said, with a laugh. "That's your look-out. I thought it
+right to tell you everything&mdash;this incident among the rest; but I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span> can
+assure you you need not worry yourself five seconds over the matter."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps I needn't; or it may be there is more at the back of Madeline's
+mind than you think. One thing is clear to me, something has changed
+her, and I'm going to find out what it is; and by Jove! if&mdash;if&mdash;&mdash;" and
+he clenched his fists savagely, and walked out of the room.</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXI" id="CHAPTER_XXI"></a>CHAPTER XXI</h2>
+
+<h3>GERVASE SPEAKS HIS MIND</h3>
+
+
+<p>On New Year's Day Gervase felt determined, if possible, to bring matters
+to a head, and with this laudable purpose pulsing through every fibre of
+his body he made his way to the drawing-room where, he understood from
+his mother, Madeline was sitting alone. He found her, as he expected,
+intent on a book. She looked up with a bored expression when he entered,
+smiled rather wearily, but very sweetly, and then went on with her
+reading.</p>
+
+<p>Gervase felt nettled and frowned darkly, but he had made up his mind not
+to be driven from his purpose by any indifference&mdash;pretended or
+genuine&mdash;on Madeline's part. For a whole week he had been beating the
+air and getting no nearer the goal of his desire; the time had now come
+when he would have an explicit answer. His worldly circumstances were
+desperate, and if Madeline failed him, he would have to exercise his
+wits in some other direction.</p>
+
+<p>Moreover, the story of Madeline's adventure on the cliffs grew in
+importance and significance the longer he contemplated it. The fact that
+she and Rufus Sterne never met was nothing to the point. She might be
+eating her heart out in silence for all he knew. Girls did such foolish
+things. For good or ill he would have to find out how the land lay in
+that direction.</p>
+
+<p>"Is your book very interesting, Madeline?" he asked, throwing himself
+into an easy chair near the fire.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Rather so," she answered, without looking up.</p>
+
+<p>"You seem very fond of reading," he said, after a brief pause.</p>
+
+<p>"I am very fond of it."</p>
+
+<p>Another pause.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't you think it is very hurtful to the eyes to read so much?" he
+said, edging his chair a little nearer to the couch on which she sat.</p>
+
+<p>"Really, I have never thought of it."</p>
+
+<p>"But you ought to think of it, Madeline. The eyesight is most
+important."</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose it is."</p>
+
+<p>Another pause, during which Gervase threw a lump of wood on the grate.
+Madeline went on reading, apparently oblivious of his presence.</p>
+
+<p>"I can't understand how people can become so lost in a book," Gervase
+said, a little petulantly.</p>
+
+<p>"No?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, I can't. It's beyond me."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you never read?"</p>
+
+<p>"Sometimes, but not often. I've too much else to do. Besides, doesn't
+the Bible say that much reading is a weariness to the flesh?"</p>
+
+<p>"Does it?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know; but I've heard it somewhere, and it's true."</p>
+
+<p>"You've proved it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Over and over again."</p>
+
+<p>"What sort of books do you find so wearisome?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, all sorts. There's not much to choose between them."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you really think that?"</p>
+
+<p>"Of course I do, or I shouldn't say it. I'm not the sort of man to say
+what I don't mean. I thought you had found that out long ago."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I don't think I have thought much about it."</p>
+
+<p>"I thought as much. It appears that I am of no account with you,
+Madeline. And yet I had hoped to be your husband. But devotion is lost,
+affection is thrown away, the burning hope of years is trampled upon."</p>
+
+<p>"I thought we were to let that matter drop, Gervase, until we had had
+more time to think it over?"</p>
+
+<p>"But I don't want more time, Madeline. My mind is quite made up. If I
+wait a year&mdash;ten years&mdash;it will be all the same. For me there is only
+one woman in the world, and her name is Madeline Grover."</p>
+
+<p>"It is very kind of you to say so, Gervase, and I really feel very much
+honoured. But, you see, I have only known you about a week."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Madeline, how can you say that? We have known each other for
+years."</p>
+
+<p>"In a sense, Gervase, but not in reality. In fact, I find that all the
+past has to be wiped out, and I have to start again."</p>
+
+<p>"Why so?"</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot explain it very well, but I expect we have both changed.
+Madeline Grover, the school-girl, is not the Madeline Grover of to-day."</p>
+
+<p>"By Jove, I fear that's only too true," he said, almost angrily.</p>
+
+<p>"And the Captain Tregony I met in Washington&mdash;excuse me for saying
+it&mdash;is not the Gervase Tregony of Trewinion Hall."</p>
+
+<p>"Have I deteriorated so much?" he questioned, with an angry flash in his
+eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"I do not say that you have deteriorated at all," she said, with a
+smile. "Perhaps we have both of us vastly improved. Let us hope so at
+any rate.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span> But what I am pointing out is, we meet&mdash;almost entirely
+different people."</p>
+
+<p>"That you are different, I don't deny," he answered, sullenly. "In
+Washington you made heaps of me, now you are as cold as an iceberg. But
+I deny that I have changed. I loved you then, I have loved you ever
+since, I love you now."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, have it that I only have changed," she said, with a touch of
+weariness in her voice. "I don't want to make you angry, Gervase, but
+you must recognise the fact that I was only a school-girl when we first
+met. I am a woman now. Hence, you must give me time to adjust myself if
+you will allow the expression. You see, I have to begin over again."</p>
+
+<p>"That's very cold comfort for me," he said, angrily. "How do I know that
+some other fellow will not come along? How do I know that some
+adventurer has not come between us already?"</p>
+
+<p>She glanced at him for a moment with an indignant light in her eyes,
+then picked up her book again.</p>
+
+<p>"Pardon me, Madeline," he said, hurriedly, "I would not offend you for
+the world, but love such as mine makes a fellow jealous and suspicious."</p>
+
+<p>"Suspicious of what?" she demanded.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you see," he said, slowly and awkwardly, turning away from her,
+and staring into the fire, "it's better to be honest about it, isn't
+it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Honest about what?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't think I'm naturally jealous," he explained, "but father has
+told me all about your&mdash;your&mdash;well, your escapade with that scoundrel,
+Sterne."</p>
+
+<p>"Is he a scoundrel?"</p>
+
+<p>"You know nothing about him, of course, but he is just the kind of
+fellow that would take advantage of any service he had rendered."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I was not aware&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Of course not," he interrupted, "but those&mdash;well, what I call low-born
+people have no sense of propriety; and in these days&mdash;I am sorry to have
+to say it&mdash;very little reverence for their betters."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, what is all this leading to?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, nothing in particular. Only father told me how he took some risks
+on your account, and I know that you are nothing if not grateful, and
+honestly I was half afraid lest the rascal had been in some way imposing
+on your good nature."</p>
+
+<p>"You are quite sure that you know this Mr. Sterne?"</p>
+
+<p>"I know of him, Madeline, which is quite enough for me. Of course, I
+have seen him dozens of times, but he is not the kind of man I should
+ever think of speaking to&mdash;except of course, as I would speak to a
+tradesman or a fisherman."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes?"</p>
+
+<p>"You see, those people who are too proud to work, and too ignorant and
+too poor to be gentlemen, and yet who try to ape the manners of their
+betters are really the most detestable people of all."</p>
+
+<p>"Is that so?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is so, I can assure you. As an American you have not got to know
+quite the composition of our English society. But you will see things
+differently later on. A good, honest working man, who wears fustian, and
+is not ashamed of it, is to be admired, but your working class upstart,
+with vulgarity bred in his bones, is really too terrible for words."</p>
+
+<p>"And is there no vulgarity in what you call the upper classes?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you see, the upper classes can afford to be anything they like,
+if you understand."</p>
+
+<p>"You mean that they are a law unto themselves?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Well, yes, that is about the size of it. No one would think of
+criticising a duke, for instance, on a question of manners or taste."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, now, that is real interesting," she said, with a cynical little
+laugh. "It explains a lot of things that I had not seen before."</p>
+
+<p>"Then, too," he went on, warming to his theme, "it is largely a question
+of feeling. You can't explain some things; you can't say why they are
+wrong or right, only you feel they are so."</p>
+
+<p>"That is quite true, Gervase," she answered, with a smile.</p>
+
+<p>"For instance, I wear a monocle sometimes. Now that is quite right for a
+man in my position, and quite becoming."</p>
+
+<p>"Most becoming, Gervase."</p>
+
+<p>"But for Peter Day, the draper, for instance, to stand in his shop-door
+with a glass in his right eye would look simply ridiculous."</p>
+
+<p>"You would conclude he was cross-eyed, wouldn't you?"</p>
+
+<p>"You would conclude he was an idiot, and, between ourselves, that's just
+the trouble now-a-days. The common people seem to think that they have a
+perfect right to do what their betters do."</p>
+
+<p>"But to copy their virtues&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"That isn't the point exactly," he interrupted. "I don't pretend that we
+have any more virtues of the homely sort, than the cottage folk, but
+certain things belong to us by right."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you mean vices?" she queried, innocently.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, no, not in our case; but they might be vices if copied by the
+lower classes. I'm afraid I can't explain myself very clearly. But
+things that would be quite proper for the best people to do, would be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span>
+simply grotesque, or worse, if the common orders attempted them."</p>
+
+<p>"Really, this is most interesting," she said, half-banteringly,
+half-seriously. "Now, out in our country we have no varying standards of
+right and wrong."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! well, that is because you have no aristocracy," he said, loftily.</p>
+
+<p>"And if I were to marry you, Gervase, and become a lady of quality I
+should be judged, as it were, by a different set of laws."</p>
+
+<p>"You would become Lady Tregony when I succeeded to the title."</p>
+
+<p>She laughed. "That, I fear, is scarcely an answer to my question."</p>
+
+<p>"Not a full answer, but you see there are so many things that cannot be
+explained."</p>
+
+<p>"Evidently. In the meanwhile I belong to the common herd&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"No, no! Madeline," he interrupted, quickly.</p>
+
+<p>"My father was only a working man," she went on, "and across the water
+we have no blue bloods; we have blue noses, but that's another matter,
+but we're all on the same footing there."</p>
+
+<p>"Not socially, and dollars in America count for what name and titles
+count for here."</p>
+
+<p>"But I haven't even the dollars," she said, with a laugh.</p>
+
+<p>"But you have," he protested, quickly. "That is&mdash;I mean&mdash;you have not to
+work for your living. You are not a type-writer girl, or anything of
+that sort."</p>
+
+<p>"And should I be any the worse if I were?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, of course, Madeline, you would be a lady anywhere, or under any
+circumstances," he said, grandiloquently.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, Gervase, but suppose we get back again now to the point we
+started from."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll be delighted," he said, eagerly. "I do want to start the new year
+with everything settled; that's the reason I pushed myself on to you, as
+it were, this afternoon. I hate beating about the bush, and all our
+friends are wondering why the engagement is not announced."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, dear! you have gone back miles further than I intended," she
+laughed. "I understood you wanted to warn me against somebody."</p>
+
+<p>"I do, Madeline. I'm your best friend, if you'll only believe it. And I
+do beseech you, if you've been in the least friendly with that fellow
+Sterne, you'll drop him."</p>
+
+<p>"You think he isn't a good man."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, blow his goodness. The point is, he's common, vulgar&mdash;bad form in
+every way, if you understand. Anyone in your position should never be
+seen speaking to him."</p>
+
+<p>"But is there anything against his moral character?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, confound his moral character," he said, with an oath, for which he
+apologised at once. "It isn't that I'm squeamish about. The point is,
+Madeline, he's no gentleman."</p>
+
+<p>"He seemed to me to be quite a gentleman."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm sorry to hear you say that," he said, mournfully, getting up and
+throwing another log on the fire. "It shows how you may be deceived by
+such scoundrels."</p>
+
+<p>"But is that a nice word to use of any man against whose moral character
+you have no complaint to make?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, it isn't a nice word, but he isn't a nice person. I don't care to
+mention such things, but you may not be aware that he is an infidel?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"What is that, Gervase?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! I don't know, but it's something bad, you bet. I heard the vicar
+talking about it last time I was at home, and he was pretty sick, I can
+assure you. If Sterne were to die to-morrow I question if the vicar
+would allow him to be buried in consecrated ground."</p>
+
+<p>"And what would happen then?" she asked, wonderingly.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! don't ask me. I am not up in those things, but I just mention the
+matter to show you he's a pretty bad sort, and not the sort of person
+for any one like you to be on speaking terms with."</p>
+
+<p>"But what I want to know is, has he ever done anyone any wrong. Ever
+cheated people, or told lies about them, or stolen their property. Or
+has he ever been known to get drunk, or to behave in any way unworthy of
+a gentleman?"</p>
+
+<p>"My dear Madeline, I hate saying anything unpleasant about anyone. But a
+man who never goes to church, who doesn't believe in the Church, who has
+no respect for the clergy or the bishops, who has been heard to denounce
+some of our most sacred institutions, such as the land laws, who has
+even said that patriotism was a curse, and war an iniquity&mdash;what can you
+expect of such a man? He may not have actually stolen his neighbour's
+property, but he would very much like to."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't think that necessarily follows," she said, seriously. "I think
+it is possible for a man to have very small respect for the clergy, and
+for what is called the Church, and yet for him to have a profound sense
+of honour, and an unquenchable love for righteousness."</p>
+
+<p>"Then you don't think staying away from church is as bad as getting
+drunk?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I should think not, indeed," she answered, quickly. "A man who gets
+drunk, I mean an educated man, a gentleman&mdash;sinks beneath contempt."</p>
+
+<p>"Sterne may get drunk for all I know," he said, uneasily. "You see, I
+have been out of England for a long time."</p>
+
+<p>She closed her book with a sudden movement, and rose to her feet.</p>
+
+<p>"No, you must not go yet," he said, in alarm. "We have not settled the
+matter which I wish particularly to have settled to-day."</p>
+
+<p>"We have talked quite long enough for one afternoon," she answered,
+coolly.</p>
+
+<p>"But, Madeline, have you no pity?" he said, pleadingly.</p>
+
+<p>"It would be folly to rush into such a matter hastily," she answered, in
+the same tone.</p>
+
+<p>"But&mdash;but, Madeline, answer me one question," he entreated. "Have
+you&mdash;have you seen this man Sterne since I came back?"</p>
+
+<p>"You have no right to ask that question," she said, drawing herself up
+to her full height. "Nevertheless, I will answer it. I have not," and
+without another word she swept out of the room.</p>
+
+<p>Her heart was in a tumult of conflicting emotions. She was less
+satisfied with Gervase than she had ever been before, and less satisfied
+with herself. And yet she saw no way out of the position in which she
+found herself. It was next to impossible, situated as she was, to upset
+what had been taken for granted so long, particularly as she had
+acquiesced from the first in the unspoken arrangement. She felt as if in
+coming to England she had been lured into a trap, and yet it was a trap
+she had been eager to fall into. She had hoped when she saw Gervase,
+that all her old reverence and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span> admiration and hero worship would flame
+into life again, instead of which his coming had been as cold water on
+the faggots. Whether he had lost some of the qualities she had so much
+admired or whether all the change was in herself, she did not know, but
+the glamour had all passed away, and her eyes ached with looking at the
+common-place.</p>
+
+<p>She wondered if it were always so; if maturity always destroyed the
+illusions of youth, if the poetry of eighteen became feeble prose at
+twenty-one.</p>
+
+<p>She went to her own room, and donned her hat and jacket, and then stole
+unobserved out of the house. "I must get a little fresh air," she said
+to herself, "and, perhaps, a long walk will put an end to this
+restlessness."</p>
+
+<p>She turned her back upon St. Gaved, and made for the "downs" that
+skirted the cliffs. The wind was keen and searching, and the wintry sun
+was already disappearing behind the sea. "I suppose I shall have to say
+yes sooner or later," she went on, as she walked briskly forward. "I
+don't see how I can get out of it very well. All his people seem to be
+expecting it, and he is evidently very much in love with me. I am afraid
+there won't be very much romance on my side, but, after all, we may be
+very happy together."</p>
+
+<p>Then she looked up with a start as a step sounded directly in front of
+her, and she found herself face to face with Rufus Sterne.</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXII" id="CHAPTER_XXII"></a>CHAPTER XXII</h2>
+
+<h3>A HUMAN DOCUMENT</h3>
+
+
+<p>Rufus returned from Tregannon in a condition of mental unrest, such as
+he had not known before. It was Madeline Grover in the first instance
+who set him thinking along certain lines, and once started it was
+impossible to turn back. During all the time he remained a prisoner in
+the house, his brain had been unusually active. Unconsciously his fierce
+antagonisms subsided, his revolt against accepted creeds took new
+shapes, his belief in German philosophy began to waver.</p>
+
+<p>The process of mental evolution went on so quietly and silently, that he
+was almost startled when he discovered that his philosophic watchwords
+no longer represented his real beliefs. He felt as though while he slept
+all his beliefs had been thrown into the melting-pot to be cast afresh,
+and were now being poured out into new moulds. What the result would be
+when the process was complete it was impossible to say, but already one
+thing was certain, the blank negatives in which he once found refuge,
+would never again satisfy him. He might never evolve into an orthodox
+believer. The religiosity of the Churches appealed to him as little as
+ever it did. He despised the smug hypocrisy that on all hands usurped
+the place of Christianity, and defiled its name. He loathed the
+pretensions of priests and clerics of all sects. But out of the fog and
+darkness and uncertainty, certain great truths and principles loomed
+faintly and fitfully.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The fog was no longer an empty void. The silence was now and then broken
+by a sound of words, though the language was strange to his ears. There
+appeared to be a moral order which answered to his own need, and a moral
+order implied the existence of what he had so long denied.</p>
+
+<p>His visit to his grandparents quickened his thoughts in the direction
+they had been travelling. Everything tended to serious reflection. The
+awful mystery and solemnity of life were forced upon him at all points.
+The old people walked and talked "as seeing Him who is invisible."</p>
+
+<p>He was quietly amused when he returned from his long walk on Christmas
+day to find his grandfather and the young minister engaged in a heated
+argument on the barren and thorny subject of verbal inspiration. He
+would have stopped the discussion if he could, for he discovered that
+his grandfather was getting much the worst of the argument, and was
+losing his temper in consequence. But the old man refused to be
+silenced. Getting his chance of reply he poured out a torrent of words
+that swept everything before it, and to which there seemed to be no end.</p>
+
+<p>Fortunately, tea was announced just as the young minister was about to
+reply, and over the tea-table conversation drifted into an entirely
+different channel. After tea the Rev. Reuben retired to his study
+accompanied by his wife, and Rufus and Mr. Brook were left in possession
+of the sitting-room.</p>
+
+<p>As there was no evening service on Christmas Day the young minister felt
+free to relax himself. Conversation tripped lightly from point to point,
+from general to particular, from gay to grave, from serious to solemn.</p>
+
+<p>They talked till supper time, and after supper Rufus walked with the
+young minister to his lodgings, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span> remained with him till long after
+midnight. The conversation was a revelation to Rufus in many ways.
+Marshall Brook was a scholar as well as a thinker. He was as familiar
+with the German writers as with the English. He was alive to all modern
+questions, conversant with all the work of the higher critics, alive to
+all that was fundamental in the creeds of the Churches, contemptuous of
+the narrowness and bigotry that brought religion into contempt, tolerant
+of all fresh light, patient and even sympathetic with every form of
+human doubt, and large-hearted and clear-eyed enough to see that there
+was good in everything.</p>
+
+<p>Marshall Brook had often heard of his predecessor's sceptical grandson,
+and was glad of the opportunity of meeting him, and was charmed with him
+when they did meet. It was easy to discover where the shoe pinched, easy
+to see how and when the revolt began, easy to trace the successive steps
+from doubt to denial, from unbelief to blank negation.</p>
+
+<p>Rufus talked freely and well. He knew that the young minister regarded
+him as an infidel, and he thought he might as well live up to the
+description. Marshall Brook led him on by easy and almost imperceptible
+steps. His first business was to diagnose the case, and if possible to
+find out the cause. For the first hour he allowed all Rufus's arguments
+to go by default.</p>
+
+<p>But when they got to close grips Rufus felt helpless. This young scholar
+could state his case better than he could state it himself. He had
+traversed all the barren and thorny waste, and much more carefully than
+Rufus had ever done. He knew the whole case by heart; knew every
+argument and every objection. He tore the flimsy fabric of Rufus's
+philosophy to shreds and left him with scarcely a rag to cover himself
+with.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Rufus remained three days at Tregannon and spent the major portion of
+the time with Marshall Brook. Apart from the interest raised by the
+questions discussed, it was a delight to be brought into contact with a
+mind so fresh and well disciplined. They hammered out the <i>pros</i> and
+<i>cons</i> of materialistic philosophy with infinite zest. They wrestled
+with the joy of striplings at a village fair. They fought for supremacy
+with all their might, but in every encounter Rufus went under.</p>
+
+<p>When he returned to St. Gaved he was in a condition of mental chaos.
+Nearly every prop on which he supported himself had been knocked away.
+He was certain of nothing, not even of his own existence.</p>
+
+<p>It was not an uncommon experience; most thinking men have passed through
+it at one time or another. Destruction has often to precede
+construction. The old has to be demolished even to the foundations
+before the new building can arise.</p>
+
+<p>Yet none save those who have passed through it can conceive the utter
+desolation and darkness of soul, during what may be called the
+interregnum. The old has been destroyed, the new has not yet taken
+shape. The ark has been sunk and the mountain peaks have not yet begun
+to appear above the flood. The frightened soul flits hither and thither
+across the waste of waters, seeking some place on which to rest its
+feet, and finding none; and unlike Noah's dove there is no ark to which
+it can return. It must remain poised on wing till the floods have
+assuaged and the foundations of things have been discovered.</p>
+
+<p>In the last resort every man writes his own creed. No man, even
+mentally, can remain in a state of suspended animation for very long. A
+philosophy of negations is as abhorrent to the sensitive soul as a
+vacuum is to Nature. After destruction there is bound to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span> be
+construction. Like beavers we are ever building, and when one dam has
+been swept away by the flood, we straightway set to work to build
+another.</p>
+
+<p>Rufus was trying to evolve some kind of cosmos out of chaos when he met
+Madeline on the downs. She came upon him suddenly and unexpectedly and
+his heart leaped like a startled hare. How beautiful she was. How lissom
+and graceful and strong.</p>
+
+<p>"This is an unexpected pleasure," she said, in her bright, frank,
+ingenuous way. "I am glad we have met."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes?" he replied, not knowing what else to say.</p>
+
+<p>"I have heard something about you recently and I would like to know if
+it is true."</p>
+
+<p>"What have you heard?" he questioned, with a puzzled look on his face.</p>
+
+<p>"That you are an infidel."</p>
+
+<p>"Who told you that?"</p>
+
+<p>"That is a matter of no consequence since it is common gossip."</p>
+
+<p>For a moment he was silent, and turned his eyes seaward as if to watch
+the sun go down. "Are you pressed for time?" he asked without turning
+his eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"No, I am quite free for the next hour," she answered, with a smile,
+though she wondered what the Tregonys would think if they knew.</p>
+
+<p>"I owe a good deal to you," he began, slowly and thoughtfully.</p>
+
+<p>"No, not to me, surely. I am the debtor," she interrupted.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, to you," he went on in the same slow, even way. "And if you care
+to know&mdash;that is, if you are interested&mdash;why then it will be a pleasure
+to talk to you&mdash;as it always has been&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Then he paused and again turned his eyes toward the sea. She glanced at
+him shyly but did not reply.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"It is easy to call people names," he said, at length, without looking
+at her. "I do not complain, however. I have believed the things I could
+not help believing. Can we any of us do more than that?"</p>
+
+<p>"I do not quite understand?" she answered, looking at him with a puzzled
+expression.</p>
+
+<p>"I mean that the things we believe, or do not believe, are matters over
+which we have no absolute control. You believe what you believe because
+you cannot help it. You have not been coerced into believing it. The
+evidence is all-sufficient for you though it might not be for me. On the
+same ground I believe what I believe&mdash;because&mdash;because I cannot help
+myself. Do you follow me? Faith after all is belief upon evidence, and
+if the evidence is insufficient&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"But what if people reject the evidence without weighing it, stubbornly
+turn their backs upon the light?" she interrupted.</p>
+
+<p>"Then they are not honest," he said, quickly; "but I hope you do not
+accuse me of dishonesty?"</p>
+
+<p>"I accuse you of nothing," she answered. "I have only told you what
+people are saying."</p>
+
+<p>"And you are sorry?" and he turned, and looked her frankly in the face.</p>
+
+<p>"I am very sorry," she replied, with a faint suspicion of colour on her
+cheeks.</p>
+
+<p>"It is generous of you to be interested in me at all," he said, after a
+pause. "And if I were to tell you how much I value that interest you
+might not believe me."</p>
+
+<p>She darted a startled glance at him, but she did not catch his eyes for
+he was looking seaward again, and for a moment or two there was silence.</p>
+
+<p>"I should like to tell you everything about myself," he went on, at
+length, "my early troubles and battles, my boyish revolt against cruel
+and illogical creeds,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span> my almost unaided pursuit of knowledge, my steady
+drift into blank negation; but I should bore you&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"No, no!" she said, quickly. "I should like to hear all the story. I
+should, indeed. Really and truly."</p>
+
+<p>They walked away northward, while the light went down in the West. The
+twilight deepened rapidly, and the frosty stars began to glimmer in the
+sky. But neither seemed to heed the gathering darkness nor the rapid
+flight of time.</p>
+
+<p>Rufus talked without reserve; it is easy to talk when those who listen
+are sympathetic. He told the story of his father's death abroad, of his
+mother's grief, of his own bitter sense of loss. He sketched his
+grandfather&mdash;upright and severe&mdash;preaching a creed that was more
+fearsome than any nightmare. He spoke of their slender means and their
+fruitless efforts to get any of the property his father left. Of his
+granny's wish that he should be a draper, of his own ambition to be an
+engineer, and the compromise which landed him in Redbourne as a bank
+clerk. And through all the story there ran the deeper current of his
+mental struggles till at last he fancied he found the <i>ultima Thule</i> in
+pure materialism.</p>
+
+<p>Madeline listened quite absorbed. It was the most interesting human
+document that had ever been unfolded to her, and all the more
+interesting because it was told with such artlessness and sincerity. Yet
+it was not a very heroic story as he told it. Rufus was no hero in his
+own eyes, and he was too honest to pretend to be what he was not.
+Perhaps, in his hatred of pretence he made himself out a less admirable
+character than he was in reality.</p>
+
+<p>Madeline sighed faintly more than once. There were manifest weaknesses
+where there should have been strength. He had drifted here and there
+where he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span> should have resisted, and taken for granted what he should
+have tried and tested.</p>
+
+<p>"And you still remain on the barren rocks of your <i>ultima Thule</i>?" she
+questioned, at length.</p>
+
+<p>He did not answer for several moments. Then he said quietly, "You will
+think me sadly lacking in mental balance, no doubt; but at present, I
+fear, I must say I am at sea again."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes?"</p>
+
+<p>"You compelled me to face the old problems once more, to re-examine the
+evidence."</p>
+
+<p>"I compelled you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Unwittingly, no doubt. You remember our talks when I was <i>hors de
+combat</i>. The fragments of poetry you read to me, the books you lent?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well?"</p>
+
+<p>"I found myself fighting the old battles over again. Before I was aware,
+I was in the thick of the strife."</p>
+
+<p>"And you are fighting still?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I am fighting still."</p>
+
+<p>"With your face toward your <i>ultima Thule</i>?"</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot say that."</p>
+
+<p>"What is your desire, then?"</p>
+
+<p>"To find the truth. Perhaps I shall never succeed, but I shall try."</p>
+
+<p>"You should come to church, which is the repository of truth, our vicar
+says."</p>
+
+<p>He smiled a little wistfully, and shook his head. "At present I am
+making a fresh study of what Jesus said&mdash;or what He is reported to have
+said."</p>
+
+<p>"Then that is all the greater reason why you should come to church."</p>
+
+<p>He smiled again, and shook his head once more. "I do not think so," he
+answered.</p>
+
+<p>"You do not?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"No, the contrast is too sharp and startling."</p>
+
+<p>"What do you mean by that?"</p>
+
+<p>"I hardly like to discuss the matter at present," he said, diffidently;
+"I do not know sufficiently well where I am. Only I am conscious of
+this, that while Jesus wins my assent, the Church does the opposite."</p>
+
+<p>"That is because of your upbringing."</p>
+
+<p>"I do not think so. I have stood apart from all creeds and from all
+sects. At present I am a humble searcher after truth. I want some great
+principle to guide me. Some philosophy of life that shall appeal to the
+best that is in me."</p>
+
+<p>"Well?"</p>
+
+<p>"I turn to the Church, and I find a great bishop addressing such
+questions as these to his clergy: 'What ecclesiastical dress do you wear
+when celebrating the Holy Communion? Do you ever use any ceremony such
+as the Lavabo, or swinging of the incense immediately before or after
+the service? Do you have cards on the holy table? If so what do they
+contain? Do you ever read the first of the three longer exhortations? Do
+you ever have celebrations without communicants?' with a dozen other
+questions&mdash;to me&mdash;equally trivial and unimportant."</p>
+
+<p>"To the bishop such questions would not be trivial at all, but vastly
+important."</p>
+
+<p>He smiled a little sadly. "Isn't that the pity of it," he said, "that
+trifles are treated as though they were matters of life and death? I
+notice that a neighbouring vicar has even closed the church because
+women go into it with their heads uncovered."</p>
+
+<p>"I admit that that seems straining at a gnat."</p>
+
+<p>"But he does not think so. He is evidently righteously indignant,
+complains of the house of God being desecrated, because people go into
+it without some <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span>piece of millinery on their heads. One wonders
+whether it is a woman's hair or her head that is the offence."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 280px;">
+<img src="images/i233.jpg" width="264" height="400" alt="" /><br />
+<span class="caption">&ldquo;THEN SUDDENLY FROM OUT THE SHADOW GERVASE APPEARED AND
+STOOD BEFORE THEM.&rdquo;</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>"I think it is rather insulting to women, of course," she answered, with
+a laugh. "But he is only one, and nobody need mind very much."</p>
+
+<p>"But how do these things help me? Think of the men who are wrestling
+with the great problems of life, who are fighting temptation and bad
+habits, who are groping in the darkness, and crying for the light, and
+the Church meets them with petty discussions about Lavabos and stoles
+and chasubles and incense, and hats off or on in church?"</p>
+
+<p>"But are they not parts of religion?"</p>
+
+<p>"I do not know. If they are, it is not to be surprised at that religion
+gets water-logged."</p>
+
+<p>"But such things may be helpful to some people."</p>
+
+<p>"In which way?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I don't know! But some day you will see things differently,
+perhaps."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps so. I see some things differently already."</p>
+
+<p>"Then you are not an infidel?"</p>
+
+<p>"You can call me by any name you like. I do not mind so long as you
+understand me, and I have your sympathy."</p>
+
+<p>"My sympathy, I fear, can be of no help to you."</p>
+
+<p>"It will help me more than you can understand."</p>
+
+<p>"I am so glad we have had this long talk together," she said, brightly.
+"I shall know what to think now when I hear people calling you names.
+But here we are close to the lodge gates."</p>
+
+<p>She held out her hand to him, and the light from the lodge window fell
+full upon them. He took her hand in his, and held it for a moment.</p>
+
+<p>Then suddenly from out the shadow of the lodge Gervase appeared, and
+stood stock still before them.</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIII" id="CHAPTER_XXIII"></a>CHAPTER XXIII</h2>
+
+<h3>MEANS TO AN END</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Where have you been, Madeline?" Gervase said, quietly. "We have all
+grown so concerned about you." His voice was quite steady, though there
+was an unpleasant light in his eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"I have been for a walk, that is all," she answered, in a tone of
+unconcern.</p>
+
+<p>"I wish you had let some one know," he said, in the same quiet tone. "It
+is hardly safe for you to be out after dark."</p>
+
+<p>"Why not?" she answered. "I know my way about, and there is no one in
+St. Gaved who would molest me."</p>
+
+<p>"You think so, perhaps," and he shot an angry glance at Rufus, who stood
+quite still, speaking no word.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course I think so. Besides, I have not been alone."</p>
+
+<p>"So I perceive. But had we not better return to the house and put an end
+to my mother's anxiety?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am sure Lady Tregony is not the least bit anxious," she said, with a
+pout.</p>
+
+<p>"I can assure you she is very much concerned. That is the reason I came
+to look for you."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, indeed!" and with a hurried good-night to Rufus she walked away
+toward the Hall.</p>
+
+<p>Gervase was by her side in a moment. Rufus watched them till they had
+disappeared in the dark<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span>ness, then turned, and made his way slowly
+in the direction of St. Gaved.</p>
+
+<p>He could not help feeling amused at the encounter he had witnessed,
+though he was almost sorry that Gervase had seen them together. It was
+clear enough that the Captain was terribly angry, though he did his best
+not to show it. Possibly he was more than angry. Natures like his were
+apt to be jealous on the slightest provocation.</p>
+
+<p>Rufus smiled broadly at the thought. The idea of a baronet's son being
+jealous of him was too comic for words. Yet such things had happened.
+Jealousy was often unreasonable. And if the Captain were really jealous
+it boded ill for Madeline's future happiness.</p>
+
+<p>"I should be sorry to cause unpleasantness," he said, knitting his
+brows. "If they have to live together, I should like her to be happy. I
+wonder if she has promised to be his wife?"</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile, Gervase and Madeline were walking up the long drive in
+silence. Madeline was in no humour for speech. Gervase was bubbling
+over, and yet was afraid to trust himself to open a conversation. The
+case seemed to him almost desperate, and yet he knew it was to be met
+not by scolding, but by diplomacy.</p>
+
+<p>The thing that he feared more than anything had happened before his very
+eyes. And yet he was not disposed to blame Madeline very much, the blame
+belonged to Rufus Sterne&mdash;a handsome, intriguing rascal, who had used
+the girl's sense of gratitude for all it was worth.</p>
+
+<p>"I should like to twist the scoundrel's neck," he said to himself, with
+an ugly look upon his face. "I wonder what he expects to gain? Of
+course, he will<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span> never dare to make love to her. It might be a good
+thing if he did&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Then his thoughts took another turn. Madeline was an American, and under
+the Stars and Stripes social considerations counted for very little.
+Possibly she thought that Rufus Sterne was just as good as he, and if
+she did, heaven only knew what would happen.</p>
+
+<p>"I was a fool not to make love to her at the first," he thought, with a
+scowl. "She thought no end of me then, and I could have married her
+right off. I'm sure I could, but father insisted that waiting was the
+game. Father was a fool, and I was a fool to listen to him."</p>
+
+<p>The lights from the Hall windows began to glimmer through the trees, and
+he had spoken no word to her since they passed through the lodge gates.
+He had looked at her once or twice, but she kept her eyes straight in
+front of her. Did she expect he would scold her, he wondered? Had she
+begun to realise that her conduct was deserving of censure, or was she
+only annoyed that she had been seen?</p>
+
+<p>The silence was becoming embarrassing. He wished she would speak, and
+give him the opportunity of reply. To walk side by side like mutes at a
+funeral promised ill for the future.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you tired, Madeline?" He was bound to say something, and one
+question would serve as well as another.</p>
+
+<p>"Not in the least," and she quickened her steps to give point to her
+statement.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! please don't walk so fast," he said, in a tone of entreaty. "One
+can't talk when walking so fast."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't want to talk."</p>
+
+<p>"Why not, Madeline? You are not angry with me, surely?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Of course not. Why should I be?"</p>
+
+<p>"I might be angry with you, but I'm not. I never could be angry with
+you, Madeline. You have no idea how much I think of you, and how much I
+appreciate you."</p>
+
+<p>"Why might you be angry with me?" she asked, sharply, without turning
+her head.</p>
+
+<p>The question almost staggered him for a moment. Yet as he had brought it
+upon himself he was bound to answer it.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you see," he said, desperately, "no man cares to see the woman he
+loves, and whom he expects to marry, walking out with another man,
+especially after dark."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, indeed!"</p>
+
+<p>"But don't think I am angry with you, Madeline," he interposed, quickly.
+"I could trust you anywhere."</p>
+
+<p>"Then why did you come spying on me?" and she turned her eyes suddenly
+upon him.</p>
+
+<p>"No, not spying on you, Madeline," he said, humbly; "that is not the
+right word to use. But I knew that fellow might be loitering about. He
+is always hanging about somewhere."</p>
+
+<p>"Everybody hangs about somewhere&mdash;to quote your elegant phrase," she
+said, sharply.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, yes. But anybody can see what that fellow is after. He did you a
+service, there is no denying it, and now he is presuming on your good
+nature."</p>
+
+<p>"In which way?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, in getting you to notice him and speak to him."</p>
+
+<p>"Surely I can speak to anyone I choose?"</p>
+
+<p>"Of course you can. But he is not the kind of man you would choose to
+speak to, but for the unfortunate accident."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Why not?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Madeline, there should be some sense of fitness in everything.
+Here is a man without religion, who never goes to church or chapel, who
+has no sense of accountability or responsibility, who doesn't believe
+even in the Ten Commandments&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, go on," she interjected, suddenly.</p>
+
+<p>"Who at the present time," he continued, slowly, "is actually living by
+imposing on the credulity and good nature of other people."</p>
+
+<p>"How so?"</p>
+
+<p>"How so? He is spending money right and left, I am told, on some
+pretended invention, or discovery of his, which is to revolutionise one
+of the staple industries of the county. Of course, the whole thing is a
+fake. You may be quite sure of that. But whose money is he spending? He
+has none of his own. With his glib tongue I have no doubt he has imposed
+on a lot of people to lend him their savings. Honourable conduct, isn't
+it? Perhaps he is trying to interest you in his invention?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, he is not."</p>
+
+<p>"Not got sufficiently far yet. Oh, well, it will do you no harm to be
+warned in time."</p>
+
+<p>"You take a charitable view of your neighbours, Gervase."</p>
+
+<p>"My dear Madeline, charity is all right in its place. But in this world
+we must be guided by common-sense."</p>
+
+<p>They had reached the house, and were standing facing each other to
+continue the conversation.</p>
+
+<p>"Well?" she interrogated.</p>
+
+<p>"You may lay it down as a general principle that a man who is an infidel
+is not to be trusted."</p>
+
+<p>"For what reason?"</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Because he has no moral standard to hold him in check. You believe in
+the Bible and in the Commandments and in the teachings of the Church,
+and you live in obedience to what you believe. But he believes none of
+these things. He is bound by no commandment except as a matter of
+policy."</p>
+
+<p>"May not a man have a moral instinct which he follows? Are all the
+unbelievers, all the doubters, all the sceptics, all the infidels&mdash;or
+whatever name you like to call them&mdash;are they all bad men?"</p>
+
+<p>"I do not say that, Madeline. Besides, policy often holds them in
+check."</p>
+
+<p>"And what holds you in check, Gervase? Is it your passionate attachment
+to the right, or the fear of being found out?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't think that is quite a fair question," he said, uneasily. "I
+don't pretend to be a saint, though I do try to live like a Christian
+gentleman."</p>
+
+<p>"And you think Mr. Sterne does not?"</p>
+
+<p>"I have no wish to say all I think, or even to hint at what I know. A
+word to the wise is sufficient. I am sure you will be on your guard in
+the future."</p>
+
+<p>"But you do hint at a great deal, Gervase, whether you know or not."</p>
+
+<p>"It is because I love you, Madeline, and would shield you from every
+harm."</p>
+
+<p>She looked at him for a moment, as if about to reply, then turned and
+walked up the steps into the house.</p>
+
+<p>Gervase stood still for a moment or two, then turned slowly on his heel,
+and began to retrace his steps the way he had come.</p>
+
+<p>He chuckled audibly when he had got a few paces away. He felt that he
+had done a good stroke of business. He had sown tares enough to spoil
+any crop. If he had not proved to Madeline that Rufus<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span> Sterne was a man
+without moral scruples, he had succeeded in filling her mind with doubts
+on the subject.</p>
+
+<p>If that failed to answer the end he had in view he would have to go a
+step further. He had no wish to resort to extreme measures, for the
+simple reason that he did not like to run risks, but if Madeline was
+still unconvinced that Rufus Sterne was a man not to be trusted, some
+direct evidence would have to be manufactured and produced.</p>
+
+<p>It was clear to him that this man who had saved her life was the one
+stumbling-stone in his path. But for him she would have raised no
+objection to their engagement. Everything had gone in his favour until
+that adventure on the cliffs; everything would go right now if he were
+out of the way.</p>
+
+<p>The best way to get him out of the way would be to blacken his
+character. Madeline was a girl with high moral ideals. An immoral man
+she would turn away from with loathing. Gervase shrugged his shoulders
+significantly. He had already by implication thrown considerable doubt
+on his character; if that failed, further and more extreme measures
+would have to be considered.</p>
+
+<p>When he reached the lodge gates he turned back again. He walked with a
+quicker and more buoyant step. He felt satisfied with himself. He had
+more skill in argument than he knew. He believed he had spiked Rufus
+Sterne's guns once and for all.</p>
+
+<p>Madeline was very silent over the dinner-table, and during the rest of
+the evening. Evidently the poison was working. Gervase left her in
+peace. It would be bad policy to pay her too much attention just now.
+The poison should be left to do its utmost.</p>
+
+<p>Nearly a week passed, and nothing happened. Madeline remained silent,
+and more or less apathetic.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span> She manifested no inclination to go for
+long walks alone, and kept herself for the most part in her own room.</p>
+
+<p>This from one point of view was so much to the good. It seemed to
+indicate that she had no desire to meet Rufus Sterne. On the other hand,
+it was not without an element of discouragement. She was no more cordial
+with Gervase. Indeed, she kept him at arm's length more persistently
+than ever. Gervase became almost desperate. His financial position was
+causing him increased anxiety, while his father began to upbraid him for
+not making better use of his opportunities. To crown his anxiety Beryl
+told him one day that Madeline was not at all pleased with him for
+trying to insinuate that Rufus Sterne was a man of bad character.</p>
+
+<p>Gervase swore a big oath and stalked out of the house. He was angrier
+than he had been since his return from India. He was ready to quarrel
+with his best friend. As for Rufus Sterne, he was itching to be at his
+throat. It would be a relief to him to strangle him.</p>
+
+<p>As fate would have it he had not got five hundred yards beyond the lodge
+gates before he came face to face with the man whom he believed was the
+cause of all his trouble and disappointment.</p>
+
+<p>Rufus was returning from Redbourne, tired and despondent. Things were
+not going well with his invention, and the dread possibility which at
+first he refused to entertain was looming ever more largely on the
+horizon.</p>
+
+<p>The sun had set nearly an hour previously, but the white carpet of snow
+and the myriads of glittering stars made every object distinctly
+visible.</p>
+
+<p>The two men recognised each other in a moment. Rufus would have passed
+on without a word. He<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span> wanted to be alone with his own thoughts. But
+Gervase was in a very different humour. Moreover, the sight of Rufus
+Sterne was like fuel to the fire, it seemed to throw him into a rage of
+uncontrollable passion.</p>
+
+<p>"Hello, scoundrel," he said, "loitering round Trewinion as usual," and
+he squared his shoulders and looked Rufus straight in the eyes.</p>
+
+<p>Rufus stopped short, and stared at the Captain in angry surprise. "What
+do you mean?" he said, scornfully and defiantly.</p>
+
+<p>"I mean that you are a contemptible cad," was the answer.</p>
+
+<p>Rufus laughed, mockingly.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't laugh at me," Gervase roared. "I won't have it. Because you
+rendered Miss Grover a service you think you have a right to hang about
+this place at all hours of the day, so that you may intercept her when
+she goes out for a walk, and poison her mind against her best friends."</p>
+
+<p>"It is a lie," Rufus said, fiercely. "I have neither intercepted her nor
+poisoned her mind."</p>
+
+<p>"Will you call me a liar?" Gervase almost shrieked.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course I will call you a liar when you make statements that are
+false."</p>
+
+<p>"Then take&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>But the blow failed to reach its mark. Rufus sprang aside, his face
+white with anger, and almost before he knew what he had done, his heavy
+fist had loosened one of the Captain's teeth and considerably altered
+the shape of his nose.</p>
+
+<p>With a wild yell of rage the Captain struck out again, but he was so
+blind with rage that he could hardly see what he did. Moreover, this was
+a kind of combat he was not used to. With sword or rapier he could have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span>
+made a very good show, but with his bare fists, in the light of the
+stars, he was at very considerable disadvantage. His second blow was as
+wild as the first, and when a blow between his eyes laid him prone on
+the ground, he began to yell for help at the top of his voice.</p>
+
+<p>Micah Martin, the gardener, who lived at the lodge, was on the scene in
+a very few moments.</p>
+
+<p>"Take the drunken brute away," Gervase screamed, "or he'll murder me."</p>
+
+<p>Rufus looked at his antagonist for a moment in silence, then staggered
+away, feeling limp and nerveless. The encounter had been so sudden and
+so sharp that he hardly realised yet what had happened. Reaching a
+neighbouring gate, he leaned on it and breathed hard.</p>
+
+<p>A few yards away he heard Gervase muttering and swearing, while Martin
+tried to encourage him with sympathetic words. He saw them walk through
+the lodge gates a little later and disappear in the darkness.</p>
+
+<p>Then Rufus pulled himself together and tried to realise what had taken
+place. His right knuckles were still smarting from their contact with
+the Captain's bony face, otherwise he had suffered no harm. The
+aggressor had clearly got the worst of it.</p>
+
+<p>Yet he felt no sense of elation. At best it was but a vulgar brawl,
+which any right-minded man ought to be ashamed of. It was true the
+Captain had struck the first blow, but he had returned it with more than
+compound interest. He wondered what the people of St. Gaved would say
+when they got to know. He wondered what Madeline Grover would say.</p>
+
+<p>He felt so excited, that, tired as he was, he took a long walk across
+the downs before returning to his lodgings. Mrs. Tuke, as usual, had
+laid his supper on the table, but she did not show her face.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>He was too much distressed in mind to eat. The events of the day,
+followed by the encounter with Gervase Tregony had taken away all his
+appetite.</p>
+
+<p>For a long time he sat in his easy chair staring into the fire.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know why I should distress myself," he said to himself once or
+twice. "What if everything fails? There is an easy way out of all
+trouble. And I am not sure that Felix Muller, with all his pretence of
+friendship, will be sorry."</p>
+
+<p>He went to bed at length, but he did not sleep for several hours. The
+events of the day kept recurring like the refrain of a familiar song.</p>
+
+<p>He went about his work next day like a man who had almost abandoned
+hope. The buoyancy which he experienced at the beginning had nearly all
+gone. The promise of success was growing very faint and dim.</p>
+
+<p>As the day wore on he troubled himself less and less about Gervase
+Tregony. He thought it likely that for his own credit's sake he would
+say nothing about the encounter. Hence his surprise was great when
+toward evening a policeman called on him with a summons for assault.</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIV" id="CHAPTER_XXIV"></a>CHAPTER XXIV</h2>
+
+<h3>THE JUSTICE OF THE STRONG</h3>
+
+
+<p>Rufus was brought before the magistrates, and remanded for a week.
+Gervase in the meanwhile made the most of his opportunity. Fate, or
+Providence, it seemed to him, had delivered his enemy into his hand, and
+he conceived it to be his duty now to assist Providence, to the best of
+his ability.</p>
+
+<p>Rufus treated the matter very lightly. He was out on bail, and he had
+little doubt that when he was allowed to tell his story before the
+magistrates he would be acquitted at once. Indeed, no other result
+seemed possible. He had only defended himself, and that a man should be
+punished for protecting his own head was almost unthinkable.</p>
+
+<p>He did not consider, however, that nearly all the magistrates belonged
+to the class of which Gervase was a member. That almost unconsciously
+they would be predisposed in his favour. That they regarded it almost as
+a religious duty to uphold the rights and privileges of their class, and
+that any insult offered to one of their own order meant a distinct
+weakening of that iron hand which had ruled the country for centuries,
+unless such insult was promptly met and punished.</p>
+
+<p>The magistrates were all of them honourable men. They belonged to the
+best county families. They had feasted at Sir Charles's table more than
+once, and ridden to hounds with his son. They had unbounded faith in the
+wisdom of the ruling classes, and an inborn<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span> contempt for what is
+vaguely termed the rights of the people. Political unrest was a
+dangerous symptom, and insubordination a crime.</p>
+
+<p>The toast they drank with the greatest gusto at their public functions
+was "His Majesty's Forces" and "The Navy." The Church they did not
+recognise as a defensive power, and though they repeated nearly every
+Sunday, "Because there is none other that fighteth for us, but only
+Thou, O God," they did not, in reality, believe it. The Gospel was all
+right for the social and domestic side of life, but when it came to
+larger affairs an army or a warship was much more to the purpose.</p>
+
+<p>Rufus was not beloved by any of these dispensers of the law. He was
+reputed to hold Socialistic views; he was not over-burdened with
+reverence for the "upper classes," and, worse still, was not content
+with the lowly condition in which he was born.</p>
+
+<p>On the day of the trial Rufus discovered that he had made a mistake in
+treating the matter so lightly. The prosecution had succeeded in working
+up a case. He was amazed when he discovered that he was charged, not
+only with assault but with drunkenness, and that the charge of
+drunkenness was sworn to by at least two witnesses. The terms of the
+indictment, by some oversight, had been furnished him too late for him
+to supply rebutting evidence. He had only his simple word of denial, and
+that stood him in no stead.</p>
+
+<p>Gervase swore that the accused struck him without warning and without
+provocation; that, in fact, he was given no time to defend himself, that
+almost before he knew what had happened he was lying on the ground
+bruised and bleeding. The accused, who was clearly mad with drink,
+sprang upon him out of the darkness, and felled him with a single blow,
+and but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span> for the interposition of his gardener, Micah Martin, he had
+little doubt would have killed him.</p>
+
+<p>Micah corroborated his young master's evidence. He heard a cry for help,
+and running out saw the Captain on his back with the prisoner's knee on
+his chest. He was not absolutely certain as to the latter point, but
+that was his impression. Seeing him the prisoner staggered away, and
+leaned against a gate. He seemed to be just mad drunk, and in his
+judgment did not quite know what he was doing.</p>
+
+<p>The next witness was Timothy Polgarrow, barman at the "Three Anchors."
+He swore that he supplied the prisoner with two whiskies on the evening
+in question; that he appeared to be excited when he came into the
+public-house bar, but quite sober. After the second whisky, however, he
+showed signs of intoxication so that a third whisky which he demanded
+was refused. It was quite early in the evening when he called, not much
+after dark. He was able to walk fairly straight when he left the "Three
+Anchors," but appeared to be terribly angry that he was refused any more
+drink.</p>
+
+<p>Timothy gave his evidence glibly, and with great precision, and stuck to
+what he called his facts with limpet-like tenacity.</p>
+
+<p>Rufus startled the court, and horrified the magistrates by asking Tim
+how much the Captain had paid him for committing perjury.</p>
+
+<p>Rufus denied that he had ever crossed the threshold of the "Three
+Anchors." He had passed it on the evening in question on his way home
+from Redbourne, but he did not even slacken his pace, much less call.</p>
+
+<p>Tim, however, stuck to his story, and was quite certain that he was not
+mistaken in his man.</p>
+
+<p>As to the assault there could be no doubt. The Captain's face bore
+evidence of the severity of the attack.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span> Rufus did not deny striking him
+and knocking him down, but persisted that Gervase was the aggressor.</p>
+
+<p>"But why should he attack you?" the chairman asked.</p>
+
+<p>"He accused me of something which I very much resented."</p>
+
+<p>"What did he accuse you of?"</p>
+
+<p>"I decline to say."</p>
+
+<p>"Why do you decline?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because it would introduce a name that I would not on any account have
+mixed up in this sordid affair."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! indeed." And the Bench smiled in an ultra superior way.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, when he accused you of something you very much resented what did
+you do?"</p>
+
+<p>"I called him a liar."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes?"</p>
+
+<p>"This angered him, and he struck at me."</p>
+
+<p>"And what then?"</p>
+
+<p>"I dodged the blow, and struck back."</p>
+
+<p>"He didn't dodge the blow, I suppose?"</p>
+
+<p>"It appears not by his appearance."</p>
+
+<p>There was laughter in court at this reply, which was instantly
+suppressed.</p>
+
+<p>"And what followed then?"</p>
+
+<p>"What usually follows in such a case. Each tried to get at the other. I
+suppose my arm was the stronger or the longer. At any rate, when he
+found himself on his back he began to bellow for help."</p>
+
+<p>"So that you wish us to believe that in a stand-up fight between a
+soldier and a civilian the soldier got the worst of it?"</p>
+
+<p>"It looks as if he got the worst of it, at any rate."</p>
+
+<p>"Does it not occur to you that your story does not hang well together?
+Is it likely that a soldier&mdash;or an<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span> ex-soldier, a man trained to the use
+of arms&mdash;would allow himself to be felled to the ground unless he were
+taken unawares?"</p>
+
+<p>"Whether it is likely or not I have only stated the simple facts. Why
+should I attack him unawares, or attack him at all? His existence is a
+matter of supreme indifference to me. I should not have noticed him had
+he not charged me with conduct which I repudiate."</p>
+
+<p>"But you refuse to say what it is he charged you with?"</p>
+
+<p>"I do, and for the reasons I have already stated."</p>
+
+<p>At this point the Captain's solicitor took up the running, and insisted
+that the case had been proved up to the very hilt. Timothy Polgarrow, a
+man of unimpeachable character, had sworn upon oath that he had served
+the accused with whiskies on the evening in question. Generally
+speaking, it was, no doubt, true, that the accused was a very temperate
+man. Hence, when he took drink at all, he the more quickly got out of
+bounds. An inveterate toper would have taken half-a-dozen whiskies, and
+carried a perfectly steady head. The accused was excited when he entered
+the "Three Anchors." Perhaps he had business worries. It was hinted that
+his schemes were hanging fire. Perhaps he had imbibed freely before he
+left Redbourne. People drank sometimes to drown their care. But the one
+clear fact was that he left the "Three Anchors" considerably the worse
+for liquor. Liquor makes some people hilarious, others it makes
+quarrelsome. The accused evidently belongs to the latter class. He was
+ready to fight anybody. As it happened, Captain Tregony, as he would
+still call him, though he had resigned his commission, was the first man
+he met. The Captain was taking a constitutional before dinner. It was a
+clear, frosty evening with plenty of starlight.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span> The Captain was walking
+slowly with no thought of evil, when suddenly, out of the night, loomed
+the accused. The sequel you know. He fell upon the Captain unawares and
+struck him to the ground, and the chances are, in his drunken fury,
+would have murdered him, but for the timely assistance of Micah Martin.</p>
+
+<p>The case was as simple and straightforward as any bench of magistrates
+could desire. The facts were borne out by independent testimony. There
+could be no shadow of doubt as to the drunkenness or the assault. The
+only matter to be considered was the measure of punishment to be meted
+out. They all agreed that drunkenness was no excuse for violence, while
+the offence was aggravated by a man in Rufus Sterne's position attacking
+a man of the rank of Captain Tregony.</p>
+
+<p>One or two of the magistrates were for committing him to gaol without
+the option of a fine. It was a serious matter for a civilian to attack
+even an ex-soldier. It was a species of <i>l&egrave;se majest&eacute;</i> that ought not to
+be tolerated for a moment.</p>
+
+<p>Unfortunately for these extremists a similar case had been tried a
+fortnight previously, and the accused&mdash;a man of considerable means&mdash;had
+got off with a fine of ten shillings and costs.</p>
+
+<p>"And," argued the chairman, "we cannot with this case fresh in people's
+minds give colour to the fiction that there is one law for the rich and
+another for the poor."</p>
+
+<p>So in order to prove their absolute impartiality, and to mark at the
+same time their sense of what was due to an ex-officer of His Majesty's
+forces they inflicted a fine of five pounds and costs, or a month's
+imprisonment.</p>
+
+<p>Rufus was disposed at first not to pay the money. He was so angry that
+he almost felt that the seclusion of a prison cell would be a relief.
+But better thoughts<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span> prevailed. He was absolutely helpless. It was no
+use kicking or protesting. He could only grin, and abide, and hope that
+the day would come when justice would find her own.</p>
+
+<p>It was a humiliating day for him. He left the court branded as a
+drunkard and a brawler. The case for the prosecution had been so clear
+and circumstantial that even his best friends were confounded. That he
+should deny the accusation was natural enough; but there was an unspoken
+fear in their hearts that worry had driven him to drink, and that
+alcohol acting upon a highly-strung temperament had thrown him
+momentarily off his mental and moral balance.</p>
+
+<p>Madeline Grover was almost dumbfounded. Unconsciously she had been
+idealising Rufus for months past, while their last conversation had
+further exalted him in her estimation. Here was a man, honest in his
+doubts, sincere in his beliefs, and faithful to all his ideals. A man
+who "would not make his judgment blind," and who refused to play the
+hypocrite whatever the world might say in disparagement of him.</p>
+
+<p>Among all her acquaintances there was no man who had struck her fancy so
+much. He stood apart from the common ruck. His very antagonism to the
+religious conventions of his time had something of nobleness in it. If
+he derided the Church it was because he believed it had departed from
+the spirit and teachings of its founder. His reverence for what was good
+and helpful had won her admiration.</p>
+
+<p>And now suddenly it had been discovered to her that her idol had not
+only feet of clay, but was clay altogether, that he was a worse
+hypocrite than the hypocrites he derided. That behind all his
+pretence&mdash;&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>She stopped short at that. He had made no pretence. If he had talked
+about himself it was in dis<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span>paragement rather than praise. He
+claimed no virtues beyond what his fellows possessed. He had always been
+singularly modest in his estimate of his own abilities.</p>
+
+<p>Yet here were the facts in black and white. The unshaken testimony of
+unimpeachable witnesses, while poor Gervase's face bore unmistakable
+evidence of the fierceness of the onslaught.</p>
+
+<p>Four days after the trial the local paper came out with a verbatim
+report. Madeline took a copy to her own room, and spent the whole
+afternoon in studying its <i>pros</i> and <i>cons</i>.</p>
+
+<p>The points that fastened themselves upon her memory most tenaciously
+were first, Rufus's refusal to give the name of someone about whom they
+quarrelled, and second, his suggestion that Timothy Polgarrow had been
+bribed by Gervase to give false evidence.</p>
+
+<p>Here was a phase of the question that seemed to grow larger and larger
+the more she looked at it. She would have to keep her eyes and ears
+open. Perhaps the last word on the subject had not been said. If Gervase
+was as honourable as she had always believed, then it was wicked of
+Rufus Sterne to throw out such a base and shameful insinuation. If, on
+the other hand, Rufus was as black as he had been painted, why this act
+of chivalry in the defence of the name of some unknown person?</p>
+
+<p>The subject was full of knots and tangles. She would have to wait until
+some fresh light was thrown upon it.</p>
+
+<p>As the days passed away she was pleased to note that Gervase showed no
+sign of triumph over the downfall of Rufus Sterne. He pointed no moral
+as he might reasonably have done. He did not come to her and say,
+"There, I told you so." His restraint and reserve were admirable, and
+she liked him all the better for his silence.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>When, at length, she herself alluded to the matter, he spoke with
+genuine feeling and sympathy.</p>
+
+<p>"I am really sorry for the fellow," he said. "Of course, he brought it
+upon himself. I could not possibly pass over the assault in silence. But
+all the same it is a pity that a man of parts should destroy his own
+reputation."</p>
+
+<p>"It seemed a momentary and unaccountable outburst," she said,
+reflectively.</p>
+
+<p>He smiled knowingly, and shook his head, but would not venture any
+further remark on the subject.</p>
+
+<p>Madeline was greatly puzzled. She supposed she had been mistaken. It
+seemed for once her instincts had led her wrong, her intuitions were at
+fault. It was a painful discovery to make, and yet there was no other
+conclusion she could come to. It was impossible to believe that Gervase
+had deliberately plotted to ruin him, for Gervase, at any rate, was a
+gentleman.</p>
+
+<p>Yet, somehow, she was never wholly satisfied. In spite of everything her
+sympathies were still with the accused man. She made no attempt,
+however, to see him again. She avoided every walk that would lead her
+across his path. She did her best to put him out of her thoughts and out
+of her life.</p>
+
+<p>Gervase, meanwhile, played his part with great skill. He no longer
+pestered her with his attentions, no longer blustered. He felt he was
+safe now from any rival, and that time was on his side. It was very
+galling to have to wait so long, his fingers itched to touch her
+dollars, but he was wise enough to see that he would gain nothing by
+precipitancy. Madeline was not to be hurried or driven.</p>
+
+<p>As the winter wore slowly away Madeline became more friendly and
+confidential. She sometimes asked him to take her a walk across the
+downs. She allowed him also<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span> to give her lessons in riding, she sought
+his advice in numberless little matters, in which she feared to trust
+her own judgment, and all unconsciously led him to think that the game
+was entirely in his own hands.</p>
+
+<p>Between the Hall and the village there was little or no intercourse.
+Lady Tregony did most of her shopping in Redbourne. It was only the
+common and inexpensive things of household use that St. Gaved was deemed
+worthy to supply. Hence it happened that sometimes for a week on the
+stretch no local news found its way into the Hall.</p>
+
+<p>Occasionally Madeline wondered whether Rufus Sterne after his sad fall,
+would give up in despair, and go to the bad altogether, or whether he
+would pull himself together and fight his battle afresh. She wondered,
+too, whether the scheme or invention in which he had risked his all
+would prove to be a success or a failure. She sometimes scanned the
+columns of the local paper, but his name was never mentioned, and
+somehow she had not the courage to ask anyone who knew him.</p>
+
+<p>The weather continued so cold and cheerless, and so trying to the
+Captain after his Indian experiences, that it was suggested by Sir
+Charles that they should spend a month or two in the South of France.</p>
+
+<p>Madeline caught at the idea with great eagerness, and that settled the
+matter. Both Sir Charles and Gervase were anxious to get her away from
+St. Gaved, but were not quite certain how it was to be accomplished.
+Madeline had grown so sick of London, and so eager to get back again to
+Trewinion Hall, that they were afraid she would object to going away
+again so soon.</p>
+
+<p>Gervase glanced at his father knowingly, and his eyes brightened.</p>
+
+<p>That evening father and son discussed affairs in the library.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I think the way is clear at last," Sir Charles said, with a smile.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I think so," Gervase answered, pulling at his briar.</p>
+
+<p>"We'll get away as soon as we can, the sooner the better. Under the
+sunny skies of the Riviera her thoughts will turn to love and
+matrimony," and Sir Charles laughed.</p>
+
+<p>"She's grown almost affectionate of late."</p>
+
+<p>"That is good. If she ever cherished any romantic attachment for that
+scoundrel Sterne it is at an end."</p>
+
+<p>"She never mentions his name."</p>
+
+<p>"And by the time we have been away a week she will have forgotten his
+existence."</p>
+
+<p>"I hope she will not be caught by some other handsome face."</p>
+
+<p>"Not likely, my boy, if you play your cards well."</p>
+
+<p>"I think, under the circumstances, I have played them remarkably well.
+Much better than you did when they were in your hands."</p>
+
+<p>"No, no. Everything is going on as well as well can be. I don't think
+either of us has anything to blame himself with."</p>
+
+<p>"I am not sure I did right in giving up my commission so soon. She was
+immensely taken, if you remember, with my uniform. She likes smart
+clothes."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, she's got over that. She's a woman now, and a wide-awake woman to
+boot."</p>
+
+<p>"There's no doubt about her being wide-awake. But when shall we start?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why not next Monday?"</p>
+
+<p>"Aye, that will do. The sooner the better," and Gervase went off to his
+room to dream of matrimony and unlimited cash.</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXV" id="CHAPTER_XXV"></a>CHAPTER XXV</h2>
+
+<h3>THE END OF A DREAM</h3>
+
+
+<p>It was not until March that Rufus realised that his dream was at an end.
+He had hoped against hope for weeks; had toiled on with steady
+persistency and tried to banish from his brain the thought of failure.
+The knowledge came suddenly, though he took a long journey to the North
+of England to seek it. When he turned his face toward home he knew that
+all his labour had been in vain.</p>
+
+<p>Not that the invention on which he had bestowed so much toil and thought
+was worthless. On the contrary, he saw greater possibilities in it than
+ever before. But he had been forestalled. Another brain, as inventive as
+his own, and with far greater facilities for reducing theories to
+practice, had conceived the same idea and carried it into effect, while
+he was still painfully toiling in the same direction. When he looked at
+the work brought out by his competitor in the North, he felt as though
+there was no further place for him on earth.</p>
+
+<p>"It is better than mine," he said to himself, sadly. "The main idea is
+the same, but he has shown more skill in developing it."</p>
+
+<p>It was the advantage of the trained engineer over the untrained, of
+experience over inexperience. He had no feeling of bitterness in his
+heart against the man who had succeeded; he was of too generous a nature
+to be envious. The man who had won deserved to win.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>He journeyed home like a man in a dream. The way seemed neither long nor
+short. The first faint odour of spring was in the air, but he did not
+heed it. His fellow passengers seemed more like shadows than real
+people. The world for him was at an end. He had no more to do. One
+question only was left to trouble him. How to put out life's brief
+candle without awakening any suspicion of foul play. He was more heavily
+stunned than he knew. Outwardly he was quite calm and collected, but it
+was the calmness of insensibility. For the moment he was past feeling;
+it was as though some powerful narcotic had been injected into his
+veins. He had an idea that nothing could ruffle him any more.</p>
+
+<p>He had fretted a good deal at first over the loss of his good name. It
+seemed a monstrous thing that any man should have the power to rob him
+of what he valued more than all else on earth. That Gervase Tregony had
+deliberately bribed Tim Polgarrow and his own gardener to say he was
+drunk he had not the least shadow of a doubt, but he had no proof; and
+to accuse a man of inciting to perjury&mdash;especially a man in the position
+of Gervase Tregony&mdash;was a very dangerous thing. So he had to keep his
+mouth shut, and bear in silence one of the cruellest wrongs ever
+inflicted upon a man.</p>
+
+<p>He was not at all sorry that he had disfigured the not too handsome face
+of Gervase Tregony for a few days. Indeed, he was human enough to feel
+that he would not mind paying another five pounds to be allowed to
+repeat the process. It was not "the assault" part of the affair that
+troubled him, nobody thought much the worse of him for that side of the
+episode. Gervase was not so popular in St. Gaved that he had many
+sympathisers.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>But to be accused of drunkenness, and to have the accusation sworn to,
+and set down as proved, was as the bitterness of death to him. If there
+was any vice in the world he loathed it was drunkenness. It seemed to
+him the parent of so many other vices as well as the Hades of human
+degradation. It is true he was not a pledged abstainer. He never cared
+to pledge himself to anything, but in practice he was above reproach.</p>
+
+<p>He knew, of course, why the charge of drunkenness had been tacked on to
+that of assault, without the former the latter would not hold water. It
+would be too humiliating to Gervase to admit that a sober man had beaten
+him in fair fight; hence the fiction that he was pounced upon suddenly
+and unawares by a man who was mad drunk. But the chief reason lay deeper
+still. He was not so blind that he could not see that Gervase was
+jealous of him, and sometimes he half wondered, half hoped, that he had
+reason to be jealous. It made his nerves tingle when he thought, that in
+the big house and before the Tregony family, Madeline Grover might have
+unwittingly let fall some word that could be construed into a partiality
+for him. It was a thought that would not bear to be looked at or
+analysed he knew. Nevertheless, it would flash across his brain, and
+that pretty frequently.</p>
+
+<p>Hence, from Gervase's point of view the charge of drunkenness was what
+the man in the street would call "good business." He often pictured
+Gervase gloating over his triumph. If ever Madeline thought
+affectionately of him she would do so no longer. She would try to forget
+that he ever crossed her path, and, perhaps be sorry to the end of her
+days that she had shown him so much favour.</p>
+
+<p>This was the bitterest part of the whole experience. That Madeline
+should think ill of him&mdash;the one woman<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span> that all unwittingly he had
+learned to love&mdash;was more painful than all the rest put together. It was
+bad enough to be held up as an awful example in Church and Sunday-school
+and Temperance meeting, as he heard was the case. But all that he did
+not mind so much. He might live it down in time. But if Madeline was
+once within his reach, and this cruel slander drove her into the arms of
+Gervase Tregony, that would be a tragedy that could never be lived down,
+that would darken his life to the end of the chapter.</p>
+
+<p>For several weeks he kept hoping that he would meet Madeline again. He
+wanted to have one more conversation with her. He hoped that her
+generous nature would allow him to put his side of the case; or, if that
+was denied him that he might be allowed to say with all the emphasis he
+could command, that the accusation was false. But she gave him no such
+opportunity. He watched for her in the streets of St. Gaved. He took
+long walks across the downs, he loitered in the road that led past the
+lodge gates, but never once did she show her face. She evidently meant
+to let him see that their acquaintanceship was at an end.</p>
+
+<p>Then came the news that the whole family had gone abroad, and that no
+one knew when they would return to Trewinion Hall again. He heard the
+news with a dull sense of pain at his heart. The brightest&mdash;the most
+beautiful thing&mdash;that had ever come into his life had gone out again,
+and he was left like a man stricken blind in a land of sunshine.</p>
+
+<p>Yet, strangely enough, his sense of grief and shame and loss increased
+his desire for life. He did not want to hide himself&mdash;to pass out into
+silence and forgetfulness. He wanted to live so that he might redeem his
+life from the shadow that had fallen<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span> upon it, and prove to Madeline
+Grover, however late in the day, how cruelly he had been wronged.</p>
+
+<p>On his return from the North, however, this and every other feeling was
+swallowed up in a strange insensibility to pain, both mental and
+physical. The one thought that dominated him was that he must keep his
+pledge to Felix Muller. As an honourable man he was bound to do that,
+and perhaps the sooner he did it the better.</p>
+
+<p>He had spent three-fourths of the money he had borrowed. He had a few
+assets in the shape of tools, the rest would have to be scrapped, and
+would only be worth the value of old iron. In case there were no mishaps
+over the insurance money, Felix Muller would be well repaid for the
+risks he had taken and the world would go on just as if nothing had
+happened.</p>
+
+<p>After a good deal of cogitation he came to the conclusion that the
+easiest way out of life would be by drowning. He was not a very good
+swimmer. He soon got exhausted and so was careful never to venture out
+of his depth. It would be quite easy, therefore, for him to swim out
+into deep water or take a header from a rock when the tide was up and
+then quietly drown.</p>
+
+<p>That would mean that he would have to wait until summer. Nobody in St.
+Gaved bathed in the sea in March. To avoid any suspicion of foul play he
+would have to follow his normal habits and preserve as far as possible a
+cheerful temper.</p>
+
+<p>It was soon whispered through the town that Rufus's great invention had
+proved a failure. Some sympathised with him. Some secretly rejoiced.
+For, curiously enough, no man can live in this world and do his duty
+without making enemies. There are narrow, ungenerous souls in every
+community who regard the success of their neighbours as a personal<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span>
+affront, who can see no merit in anyone, and who are never able to shape
+their lips to a word of praise or congratulation.</p>
+
+<p>These people always complained that Rufus was a cut above his station.
+They said it would do him good "to be taken down a peg." But they were
+dreadfully sorry for the people whom he had induced to invest money in
+his wild-cat enterprise.</p>
+
+<p>There were talks of his being made a bankrupt, and hints were thrown out
+that he might soon have to appear in a court of law on a worse charge
+than that of being drunk and disorderly. Moralists were able to see in
+his case striking illustrations of the truth that "the way of
+transgressors is hard." It was against the eternal order that a man
+should permanently prosper who had turned his back upon the faith of his
+fathers. His failure was heaven's punishment on him for neglecting
+church and chapel, and his fall into the sin of drunkenness was to be
+traced to precisely the same source.</p>
+
+<p>Some of these things were repeated to Rufus by not too judicious
+friends, but they little guessed how deeply they hurt him. It was not
+his habit to betray his feelings. When he was most deeply stung he said
+the least.</p>
+
+<p>A few days after his return Felix Muller drove over to see him. He came
+as usual after dark, and his excuse was that he had been to see clients
+in the neighbourhood.</p>
+
+<p>Felix was full of sympathy and generous in his language of
+commiseration.</p>
+
+<p>"We must still hope for the best," he said, after a long pause, looking
+into the fire with a grave and abstracted air. "You have several months
+yet to turn round in."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"It will be impossible for me to find the money except in the way we
+agreed upon," Rufus answered, without emotion.</p>
+
+<p>"It may look so now," Muller answered, with pretended cheerfulness; "but
+in this topsy-turvy world there is no knowing what will turn up. I wish
+it were possible for me to allow you an extension of time."</p>
+
+<p>"I fear it would not help me, if you could," Rufus said, absently.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, perhaps it wouldn't, but all the same I should like to give you
+an extra chance or two if that were possible."</p>
+
+<p>"I am not asking for any favours," Rufus said, indifferently. "I am
+getting things straight for you with as little delay as possible."</p>
+
+<p>"And I shall loathe myself for being compelled to receive the money when
+you are gone."</p>
+
+<p>Rufus looked at him for a moment with a doubtful light in his eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, what can it matter to you?" he questioned. "I thought you were a
+man without sentiment."</p>
+
+<p>"I am in the main. I am just a man of business, and nothing else. Yet
+there's no denying I am fond of you. You are a man of my own way of
+thinking. May I not say you are a disciple of mine?"</p>
+
+<p>"You may say what you like," Sterne replied, with a hollow laugh. "I
+believe you helped to destroy some of the illusions of my youth."</p>
+
+<p>"And therefore you are grateful to me, and I am interested in you."</p>
+
+<p>"I am not sure that I am particularly grateful," Rufus said, wearily,
+"What is there to be grateful for?"</p>
+
+<p>"What is there to be grateful for?" Muller questioned, raising his
+eyebrows. "Surely it is something<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span> to have got out of the fogs of
+superstition into the clear light of reason. To have escaped from the
+bondage of creeds into the freedom of humanity. To have discovered the
+true value and proportion of things, to have been delivered from all
+fear of the future&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Are we not playing with words and phrases?" Rufus questioned, suddenly.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear friend, what do you mean?" Muller asked in surprise.</p>
+
+<p>"Suppose by reason and logic we can destroy everything until nothing is
+left? Is there any satisfaction in that? Is there any comfort in a
+philosophy of negations?"</p>
+
+<p>"Explain yourself."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, we will say for the sake of argument that we have proved there is
+no God and no future state. That all religions are myths and dreams.
+That matter explains everything, that thought is only sensation, that
+morality simply registers a stage in evolution, that death breaks up the
+elements which compose the individual, and they return to their native
+state. What then? Have we got any further? Are we not merely playing
+with words and phrases as children play with pebbles on the shore?"</p>
+
+<p>"My dear fellow, whom have you been talking with lately?"</p>
+
+<p>"That is nothing to the point," Rufus answered, with a touch of defiance
+in his voice. "What I want to know is, how or in what way we are better
+off than say the vicar and his curate?"</p>
+
+<p>"My dear fellow, surely you can see that they are the puppets of an
+exploded superstition."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, suppose they are. What are we the puppets of?"</p>
+
+<p>"We are not puppets at all. We are free men."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Words again," Rufus answered, with a pathetic smile. "We are as
+completely hemmed in by the forces that surround us as they are. As
+completely baffled by the riddle of existence. In what does our freedom
+consist? We have cast off one dogma to pin our faith to another."</p>
+
+<p>"No, no; we are not dogmatists at all."</p>
+
+<p>"Words again, Muller. You have your set of beliefs as clearly defined as
+the vicar has his. You have formulated your creed. That it is largely a
+denial of all he believes is nothing to the point. A negative implies a
+positive."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, but he believes in what affects the freedom of the human mind and
+the human will. He believes in a personal God, in human accountability
+to that Being; in a Day of Judgment; in a future state of rewards and
+punishments."</p>
+
+<p>"And you believe in extinction?"</p>
+
+<p>"Of course I do, and so do you."</p>
+
+<p>"But is there any such thing as extinction? Can you destroy anything? If
+a thing ceases to exist in one form, does it not exist in another?"</p>
+
+<p>"Of course, that is the eternal process, the undeviating order. At death
+you disintegrate and turn to dust. In other words you are resolved into
+your native elements, those elements are used up again in other forms,
+they feed a rose, give colour to the grass, pass into the plumage of a
+bird, or into the structure of an animal."</p>
+
+<p>"But I am more than dust, Muller, and so are you. Your philosophy still
+leaves the riddle unsolved. I am coming round to the conviction that
+personality is not to be explained away by any such rough-and-ready
+method."</p>
+
+<p>"I am sorry to hear you say so."</p>
+
+<p>"Why should you be sorry?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Because when a man is in the grip of superstition there is no knowing
+what he will do or leave undone. So-called religion is made an excuse
+for so many things."</p>
+
+<p>"For not committing suicide, for instance?"</p>
+
+<p>"Exactly. If a man gets the stupid notion into his head that he is
+accountable to somebody for his life, or that he will have to give an
+account at some hypothetical judgment day, that man becomes a slave at
+once. He is no longer his own master. No longer free to do what he
+likes."</p>
+
+<p>"My dear Muller," Rufus questioned, with a smile. "Are you free to do as
+you like? Is not the life of every one of us bounded by laws and
+conditions that we cannot escape?"</p>
+
+<p>"Up to a point, no doubt. Freedom is not chaos. Liberty moves within
+legitimate bounds. Our philosophy is at any rate rational."</p>
+
+<p>"Then you believe in a moral order as well as a physical?"</p>
+
+<p>"The moral order man has evolved for himself. It is a concomitant of
+civilisation."</p>
+
+<p>"Why not say he has evolved the physical order for himself? Would it not
+be just as reasonable? He may have evolved considerable portions of his
+creeds and any number of dogmas. But the moral order is no more a part
+of ecclesiasticism than earthquakes are. It is part of the universal
+cosmos before which we stand helpless and bewildered."</p>
+
+<p>"My dear Sterne, you talk like a parson. Who has been coaching you?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, no, Muller; the subject is too big and complex to be dismissed with
+a sneer."</p>
+
+<p>"I expect I shall hear of you next playing the martyr for moral ideals,"
+Muller said, with a slight curl of the lip.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"That seems to be the next item on the programme," Rufus answered,
+quietly; "for, after all, what is honesty&mdash;the just payment of
+debts&mdash;but a moral ideal."</p>
+
+<p>"It belongs to that code of honour certainly that civilised peoples have
+shaped for themselves."</p>
+
+<p>"Then you think I am bound to my pledge by nothing more weighty than
+that?"</p>
+
+<p>"What could be more weighty? You could not escape from it
+without&mdash;without&mdash;but why discuss the impossible? You are a man of
+honour, that is enough."</p>
+
+<p>"And when is the latest you would like the money, Muller?"</p>
+
+<p>"It will need a month or two to clear up things," he said, evasively.</p>
+
+<p>"And if I am too precipitate I might be suspected?"</p>
+
+<p>"Exactly. You cannot be too wary. Companies have grown suspicious. There
+have been so many attempts of late to cheat them, and, of course, in the
+eye of the law robbing a company stands in precisely the same category
+as robbing an individual."</p>
+
+<p>Rufus gave a start, and all the blood left his cheeks, and for several
+moments he stared at the fire in silence.</p>
+
+<p>Muller rose from his chair, and began to brush his bowler hat with his
+hand.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm frightfully sorry it's happened," he said, consolingly, "but, after
+all, it will soon be over."</p>
+
+<p>"Ye&mdash;s."</p>
+
+<p>"I advised you against it. I did not like the risk from the first."</p>
+
+<p>"But you'll profit by the transaction?"</p>
+
+<p>"My dear fellow, we're bound to make a little profit now and then or we
+should starve."</p>
+
+<p>"Profit?" Rufus mused, as if to himself, "what shall it profit a
+man&mdash;&mdash;"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps you will advise me nearer the time?" Muller said, uneasily, and
+he moved towards the door.</p>
+
+<p>"No. The papers will advise you."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, good-night. I will not say good-bye; perhaps something may turn
+up yet." And he pulled open the door and passed out into the hall.</p>
+
+<p>"Good-night," Rufus answered, and he turned back to his easy-chair and
+sat down.</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVI" id="CHAPTER_XXVI"></a>CHAPTER XXVI</h2>
+
+<h3>QUESTIONS TO BE FACED</h3>
+
+
+<p>Rufus sat staring into the fire for the best part of an hour, with eyes
+full of pain and questioning. Unwittingly Felix Muller had startled him
+out of the condition of semi-insensibility into which he had fallen. The
+dull apathy, mental and moral, passed from him like a cloud. He was
+keenly alive once more, keenly sensitive to every question that touched
+his personal honour. He was amazed that he should have failed to see the
+moral issue raised by Muller. Amazed that he had never considered the
+rights of the company in which he had insured his life.</p>
+
+<p>Was it true, he wondered, that departure from the Christian faith, the
+relinquishing of the idea of accountability to a Supreme Being, lowered
+a man's moral standard? Would he have lost sight of the moral view if he
+had not drifted into the cold and barren regions of materialistic
+philosophy? He had prided himself on his personal honour, and yet had he
+not been sliding downwards, steadily and unconsciously, ever since he
+cast religion definitely aside? The Churches might concern themselves
+mainly with questions that were of little account. But, after all, they
+did keep alive the sense of God, the idea of accountability, the
+importance of right living.</p>
+
+<p>If he had held on, for instance, to the faith of his childhood, would he
+have lost sight for a moment of the fact that to cheat a public company
+was just as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span> dishonest as to cheat a private individual? Could he under
+any circumstances have entered into the compact he had? Would he not
+have sighted the moral issue in a moment?</p>
+
+<p>He felt humiliated and ashamed. How could he patch the garment of his
+personal honour with stolen material. The conduct of Micawber in paying
+Traddles with his I.O.U. was nobility itself in comparison with his
+proposal to pay Muller by cheating an insurance company. The only
+question that had worried him until now was whether a man had any right
+to take his own life. And his materialistic philosophy had led him to
+the conclusion that in such a matter he was responsible to himself
+alone, that his life was his own to do what he liked with, to end it or
+use it, just as seemed good in his own eyes.</p>
+
+<p>That might be true still for all he knew, though he was beginning to
+doubt. But on a question of common honesty there was no room for two
+opinions. Society was built up and held together by the recognition of
+certain fundamental principles. There was practically universal
+agreement on certain things. No argument was necessary. No one was asked
+to prove that fire was hot or that ice was cold, for instance. So with
+honesty and dishonesty. A man who tried to defend cheating would be
+ostracised.</p>
+
+<p>But why had he failed to see this clear moral issue? That was the
+question that troubled him. He had struck a blow at his own integrity
+and was not conscious of it. Just as the worst kind of hell is to be in
+hell and not know it, so the most terrible state of depravity is to be
+depraved and to be unconscious of the fact.</p>
+
+<p>Rufus felt such a sense of personal loathing as he had never known
+before. He saw himself as in a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span> mirror&mdash;not darkly, but clearly. He
+realised that in casting away the husks he had cast away the grain also,
+that in losing the sense of accountability he had obscured his vision of
+righteousness.</p>
+
+<p>There were certain excuses to be made for himself he knew. He had been
+so certain of the success of his scheme that he had never given himself
+time to consider the alternative issue. It was only recently that the
+idea of failure had seriously crossed his mind. At the beginning he had
+refused to consider it even as a remote contingency. That the company
+would ever be called upon to pay the money was too absurd to be thought
+of.</p>
+
+<p>In addition to that, there had been a vague idea somewhere at the back
+of his mind that a company and an individual were not in the same
+category, that they belonged to a different order of things.</p>
+
+<p>A company was something impersonal&mdash;something that had neither morals
+nor conscience, that had neither a body to be kicked nor a soul to be
+saved. Hence the idea of cheating a company was on a par with trying to
+cheat a steamship or a railway engine.</p>
+
+<p>He had never said this to himself. He had never really looked at the
+matter, but he was vaguely conscious that there had been some such
+feeling or idea in his mind. Why such an idea should have possessed his
+sub-consciousness he did not know. Now that he had become wide-awake to
+the real issue he was amazed.</p>
+
+<p>Then there was another question that went hand in hand with the others.
+Why did his moral sense become acutely awake at this particular
+juncture? He had been getting back again to the old landmarks. He had
+been recovering his lost faith on many points. His visit to Tregannon
+and his many conversations with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span> Marshall Brook had helped him to
+discern what was vital in religion. He had been separating,
+unconsciously, ecclesiasticism from Christianity. He disliked the former
+as much as ever, but the philosophy of Jesus seemed the noblest thing
+ever given to the world. If he had been asked if he believed in Jesus
+Christ and His teachings he would have said yes. Had he been asked if he
+believed in the Church and its teachings, his answer would have still
+been a negative, or, if an affirmative it would have been conditioned by
+so many reservations that he would not have been deemed suitable for
+church membership in any communion. Yet he was not far from the kingdom
+of God. The kernel of Christianity he accepted. He knew it and felt it.
+His quarrel was no longer with Christ, but with those who pretended to
+represent Him, with an organisation that in the main had lost His
+Spirit.</p>
+
+<p>Was, then, the quickening of his moral sense the outcome of his
+recovered faith? If he had never known Madeline Grover, never read the
+books she lent him, never listened to the teachings of Marshall Brook,
+would he have troubled about the rights of an insurance company?</p>
+
+<p>These were questions he could not answer. He had not found his bearings
+yet. He would need more time. Moreover, the question of all others that
+hammered at his brain and conscience was, should he pay back the money
+he owed Muller by fraud? Should he be dishonest in one direction that he
+might be honest in another? Should he pay a debt of honour by an act of
+flagrant dishonour? He knew that Muller would answer yes in a moment;
+that with him honesty and honour did not belong to the same category. He
+would have said that men might be perfectly honourable without being
+honest; that honesty, after all,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span> was merely a matter of policy; that
+perfectly honourable men cheated every day.</p>
+
+<p>But with his awakened moral sense Rufus could not see things in that
+light. What, therefore, was he to do?</p>
+
+<p>He stole off to bed at length, but not to sleep. Hour after hour he lay
+wide awake, thinking, thinking. But he could see no way out of the
+difficulty. The more he puzzled his brain the more perplexed he became.
+He was on the horns of a dilemma from which there seemed no escape.</p>
+
+<p>As a man of honour he was bound to hand back the money to Muller by the
+time appointed, and yet to do so he must take his own life and commit at
+the same time an act of roguery that would cover his name with infamy if
+men got to know. As far as his own life was concerned he was not in the
+mood to set much value upon it, and as the days passed away that mood
+deepened and intensified. He asked himself the question constantly, What
+had he to live for? The things that made life valuable had been taken
+from him. What was life without hope and without love? He was so
+absolutely stranded that even if he lived it would only be a miserable
+dragging out of existence.</p>
+
+<p>Sometimes he gave way to absolute despair, and the very thought of death
+was a relief to him. Peace and quietness and rest were to be found only
+in the grave. Why not end the struggle at once? Why wait until summer
+came? He could gain nothing by waiting, and a few days more or less
+could make no difference. The sooner the fatal slip was taken the sooner
+would come relief.</p>
+
+<p>And yet in the darkest days of despair his moral sense revolted. The
+idea of committing a fraud as the final act of his life seemed to jar
+every fibre of his being.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span> It was not dying he shrank from, though death
+itself seemed a far more solemn thing than it had done for many years
+past. But he was no coward. He did not recoil even from suffering; but
+to die a cheat was what he could not bring himself to look upon with
+equanimity.</p>
+
+<p>Again and again he would say to himself, "What does it matter? I have
+been a cheat in intention if not in act. The proposal was my own. I
+entered into the compact with my eyes wide open."</p>
+
+<p>But such reasoning did not satisfy him. Even when he told himself that
+he had no character to lose, that even if the fraud were discovered it
+would only throw a little darker shadow upon his memory. It did not
+lessen his repugnance of the contemplated act.</p>
+
+<p>So one day of misery succeeded another, and he fancied sometimes he
+would lose his reason altogether.</p>
+
+<p>Fortunately for him his old place at the mine became vacant, and the
+manager, who had never lost faith in him, was only too glad to reinstate
+him.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't be downhearted, Sterne," he said. "Our greatest successes are won
+through failure. You will win yet if you have only patience to wait and
+strength to persevere."</p>
+
+<p>They were the first really friendly words that had been spoken to him,
+and the tears came into his eyes in spite of himself.</p>
+
+<p>Captain Tom Hendy turned away his head. He did not like to see tears in
+a strong man's eyes, and he guessed that Rufus must have suffered
+terribly for a few friendly words to affect him so much.</p>
+
+<p>"It is kind of you, Capt'n Tom, to say so much," Rufus said, at length,
+"but I am too hopelessly stranded ever to do very much."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Oh, that is all my eye," Captain Tom answered, with a brusque laugh.
+"You know the old saying, 'Rome was not built in a day.'"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I know the old saying, but I fear it won't help me very much.
+Still, I shall be glad to forget my disappointment for a while in my old
+tasks."</p>
+
+<p>"Disappointment is the seed-ground out of which grow the fairest
+flowers," was the cheery answer.</p>
+
+<p>Captain Tom was a Methodist local preacher, and was somewhat given to
+coining phrases that had a pleasant sound. Moreover, he had a big,
+kindly heart, a fact which was often unsuspected by those who did not
+know him.</p>
+
+<p>"Can I begin work soon?" Rufus questioned, after a pause.</p>
+
+<p>"On Monday morning. Jackson finishes on Saturday, so you can just take
+up the old threads as though there had been no break."</p>
+
+<p>"You are really awfully kind," Rufus said, impulsively. "You see, I come
+back with a damaged reputation."</p>
+
+<p>"Not much, sonny; not much. But, of course, your religious views
+predisposed people to believe the worst."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I suppose so. It is a curious world."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, it is in some respects; but in the long run people generally get
+what they deserve."</p>
+
+<p>"You think so?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am sure of it. There is a moral order that never varies. Don't you
+make any mistake, my boy. God is at the head of affairs, though you may
+think the world is run without a head."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know that I have ever said that."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, not in so many words, perhaps. But you've drifted a long way.
+I've been awfully sorry. I'm<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span> sorry still. But you'll get back. I've
+never lost faith in you. You've always been better than your philosophy.
+But I'm not going to blame you."</p>
+
+<p>"You need not be afraid that I shall be offended."</p>
+
+<p>"No, 'tisn't that. I know what it is to doubt, myself. I fancy sometimes
+it's only the people who never think who never doubt. The way into the
+Kingdom is through tribulation. So long as a man is honest in his
+doubts, I don't mind. It is the blatant scepticism of ignorance that one
+resents. I am sure you have been anxious to find the truth."</p>
+
+<p>"I am still."</p>
+
+<p>"Light will come in good time, my boy. Only be patient and humble," and
+Captain Tom turned away.</p>
+
+<p>"One word more before you go," Rufus said, eagerly.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sonny, a dozen if you like."</p>
+
+<p>"I referred just now to my damaged reputation."</p>
+
+<p>"You did. But you'll be able to live that down."</p>
+
+<p>"That is not the point exactly. I was cruelly slandered in that matter.
+I was never drunk in my life, never, in the smallest degree, the worse
+for drink; and it would be a comfort to me if you could accept my word
+of honour on that point."</p>
+
+<p>"Then it was not a momentary weakness&mdash;a sudden lapse as it were?"</p>
+
+<p>"It was not. I have never tasted a drop of intoxicants since my leg was
+broken, and then it was given to me as a medicine by the doctor."</p>
+
+<p>"But why should three men swear you were drunk?"</p>
+
+<p>"One to damage my character. The other two were bribed."</p>
+
+<p>"Have you proof of that?"</p>
+
+<p>"No."</p>
+
+<p>"Then you had better keep a still tongue."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I have done so; but you have shown yourself so friendly that I could
+not help speaking. Besides, it is hard to keep silent under so great a
+wrong."</p>
+
+<p>"But why should any man&mdash;especially a man in the young Squire's
+position&mdash;bribe others to swear your character away?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because he feared I was coming between him and the girl he wanted to
+marry."</p>
+
+<p>Captain Tom started and looked incredulous.</p>
+
+<p>"Please don't think me egotistical," Rufus continued, with a painful
+blush. "I can assure you I have never aspired so high. But&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"You saved her life."</p>
+
+<p>"I had that good fortune, and she was grateful, and she showed her
+gratitude in many ways. One afternoon back in the winter I met her on
+the Downs, and we had a ramble together, and unfortunately the Captain
+saw us."</p>
+
+<p>"And you think he was jealous?"</p>
+
+<p>"I do. What led to the quarrel was, he charged me with loitering round
+Trewinion so that I might waylay her, and influence her against him."</p>
+
+<p>"But why did you not mention that in court?"</p>
+
+<p>"What would have been the good of it? He would have denied it on oath.
+Besides, I'd rather be accused of drunkenness than drag Miss Grover's
+name into such a sordid squabble."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, indeed!" and the Captain's eyebrows went up perceptibly.</p>
+
+<p>"You'll excuse me talking so freely, Capt'n Tom," Rufus went on, "but it
+really does me good to open my heart to someone, and I know you'll
+respect my confidence."</p>
+
+<p>"I wish you had come to me sooner my boy, though I never thought very
+seriously of the matter. I con<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span>cluded it was a sudden lapse, and in all
+probability would never happen again."</p>
+
+<p>"But it was nothing of the sort," Rufus said, with a touch of vehemence
+in his tone. "I am as innocent of the charge as you are."</p>
+
+<p>"Then the men who witnessed against you are guilty of perjury?"</p>
+
+<p>"Timothy Polgarrow is, without a doubt. Poor old Micah Martin may have
+fancied I was not sober. Besides, he would conceive it to be his bounden
+duty to accept his young master's word."</p>
+
+<p>For several seconds Captain Tom remained silent, with his eyes fixed
+upon the ground.</p>
+
+<p>"Such villainy ought to be exposed," he said, at length, raising his
+eyes suddenly.</p>
+
+<p>"But how is it to be done?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know, my boy," he answered, reflectively, "I don't know."</p>
+
+<p>"You said just now that in the long run people got their deserts."</p>
+
+<p>"I did, sonny, and I believe it."</p>
+
+<p>"But where shall I come in? Suppose they do get their deserts, that
+won't compensate me."</p>
+
+<p>The Captain's grave face relaxed into a broad smile. "Perhaps young
+Tregony's deserts will be in not getting the girl," he said, and he gave
+a loud guffaw.</p>
+
+<p>"Well?"</p>
+
+<p>"That may be where you come in. My stars, but if I were in your shoes,
+I'd make him jealous for something. By all accounts he hasn't got her
+yet."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know; I've heard nothing."</p>
+
+<p>"Neither have I, for that matter. But if he had got her, it would have
+been in all the papers. You may be quite sure of that."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Whether he has won her or failed can make no difference to me. I have
+no dreams in that direction."</p>
+
+<p>Captain Tom lowered his eyebrows and puckered his lips. "Sonny," he
+said, "I've no wish to be inquisitive. But I've been a young man myself.
+Ah me! I'd like to be young again. Nothing is impossible to youth when
+there is a stout heart, a clear brain, and a clean conscience."</p>
+
+<p>"Which only a few possess."</p>
+
+<p>"Look here, sonny," Captain Tom said, after a pause, "you are too young
+to let the weeds of pessimism overrun the garden. Look up, that's my
+advice. You've had a big disappointment, I admit, and you've been
+shamefully slandered; but my belief is God has some big thing in store
+for you, if you will only wait patiently and trust in Him."</p>
+
+<p>Rufus dropped his head, but did not reply. However despondent he might
+feel, or however tired of life, it would be a fatal policy to show it.</p>
+
+<p>"We'll talk this matter over again some time," Captain Tom said at
+length. "Meanwhile, you keep your eyes open. My stars! but she's a girl
+worth winning!"</p>
+
+<p>Rufus looked up with a start.</p>
+
+<p>"I mean it," Captain Tom went on, with a laugh. "Besides, you got the
+first innings. If I were a sporting man, I know which horse I would
+back. My stars! but it would be no end of a joke!" and with another
+laugh, he walked away.</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVII" id="CHAPTER_XXVII"></a>CHAPTER XXVII</h2>
+
+<h3>THE VALUE OF A LIFE</h3>
+
+
+<p>Rufus settled himself down to his work with as much outward cheerfulness
+as he could command. It was a great comfort to him to know that Captain
+Tom believed in him, and that the past would never be flung into his
+teeth by his employer. The work was not exacting and the pay was
+proportionate. There was no scope for enterprise or ambition, which
+exactly suited his mood. He had no ambition left. He was only marking
+time at best. Before the autumn leaves had carpeted the ground he would
+be at rest.</p>
+
+<p>He faced the issue, most days, grimly and determinedly. There was no
+other alternative open to him. It seemed a greater wrong to defraud a
+friend than to take a few hundreds out of the coffers of a great and
+wealthy company. The company would not be perceptibly the poorer if it
+lost ten times the amount. It had accumulated funds for all
+contingencies. It lived by and for the purpose of taking risks. But to
+defraud Muller might be to ruin him. The money was not his own. The loss
+to him might mean bankruptcy and worse. Hence, as he was bound to commit
+a fraud whether he lived or died, it seemed the better part to commit
+the fraud that would give least pain and trouble, and dying, escape all
+consequences. It was a terrible alternative, and it filled him with
+self-loathing and contempt. He felt that he was a living falsehood,
+practising a daily hypocrisy. And yet what could he do?</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The dry east winds of March had given place to April's genial showers.
+Spring was greening the landscape in all directions. The throstles sang
+in the elm-trees as though glad to be alive, and in the uplands the
+young lambs sported in the sunshine. Every morning, as Rufus walked over
+the hills to the mine, he felt the joy of life throbbing in his veins.
+It was good to live when the world was becoming so fair; good to smell
+the pungent odours of the earth, and feel the warmth of the ascending
+sun. There were moments when he forgot the sword that was hanging over
+his head, and he would revel in the yellow of the gorse and in the
+changing colours of the sea. Then he would come to himself with a gasp,
+and a look of horror would creep into his eyes.</p>
+
+<p>In spite of himself the strain began to tell upon his health. The burden
+was becoming heavier than he could bear. In the company of others he
+simulated a cheerfulness that he never felt. If he spoke of the future,
+it was with a tone of well-feigned hopefulness in his voice. He
+pretended to have plans reaching into the next year and the year after
+that. He loathed himself for being so consummate a hypocrite. But for
+Muller's sake he would have to avoid waking the smallest suspicion.</p>
+
+<p>It is not surprising, perhaps, that the further he got away from the
+first shock of disappointment, and the nearer he got to the redemption
+of his pledge, the stronger his passion for life became. It might be the
+beauty of the springtime that made him so eager to live. It might be the
+growing sense of the sacredness of life. It might be the increasing
+moral revulsion from the act itself. It might be the slow lifting of the
+veil from his spiritual vision, or it might be all these things
+combined. Certain it is that as the spring<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span> advanced and the earth
+became more and more beautiful, the thought of dying became more and
+more repugnant.</p>
+
+<p>"There is no wealth but life," a great writer has said, and Rufus began
+to feel more and more the truth of that statement. He was an asset of
+his age and generation. He belonged to his own time. The treasure of a
+country was not its dollars but its life. To the individual himself life
+is his one real possession. Wealth and fame and distinction are nothing
+to the dead. Moreover, life without wealth, without recognition, without
+honour, is still worth possessing. It is a gladness merely to live and
+see the beauty of the earth and feel the warmth of the sun.</p>
+
+<p>Rufus began to count the days till the end of August, which he reckoned
+would mark the limit of his pilgrimage. The time passed all too quickly.
+He gave himself as little sleep as possible, for sleep seemed to rob him
+of what little of life was left, and he was anxious to make the most of
+it.</p>
+
+<p>Never a spring seemed so beautiful as that one. Never did the gorse
+flame so yellow on the moors, never did he see such sapphire in the
+deep. As the evenings grew longer he sat on the cliffs and watched the
+sunsets and ticked them off in his calendar as the day faded into night.</p>
+
+<p>His eyes grew large and pathetic and his voice took a softer tone.
+Sometimes he found his thoughts shaping themselves into supplication.
+The universal instinct asserted itself unconsciously. He wanted guidance
+and he wanted forgiveness for what he proposed to do.</p>
+
+<p>Marshall Brook came across to see him once or twice, and they had long
+walks and talks together, but he got no help out of their conversation
+and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span> discussions. On the contrary, every talk seemed to make his task
+more and more difficult.</p>
+
+<p>By slow and almost imperceptible steps he was coming back to the faith
+he had cast aside. He read the gospels with new interest, and saw in the
+books Madeline Grover lent him, and which he still kept, new and deeper
+meanings. But all this only put fresh thorns in his path. He wished
+sometimes that his philosophy of negations had never been disturbed,
+that he could still believe what he believed honestly enough when he
+entered into this fatal compact.</p>
+
+<p>It seemed as though everything conspired to put difficulties in his
+path. He might be the victim of a malicious fate. He had told Muller
+that if he failed he should not want to live&mdash;that there would be
+nothing left worth living for. How little he knew! How little he guessed
+that that very day he would see a face that would change the world for
+him; that from that day a train of circumstances would be set in motion
+that would alter his entire outlook!</p>
+
+<p>He was a different man to-day from what he was nine months ago. He
+looked at life and the world through different eyes. He had loved, and
+love had greatened him in spite of the fact that he had loved in vain.
+He had reasoned about temperance, and righteousness, and a judgment to
+come, and out of the chaos of his own thinking had appeared the faint
+glimmerings of an eternal order. He had suffered, and suffering had
+developed in him the grace of patience, and toughened the fibres of his
+moral nature. He had come under influences which had quickened his
+drooping moral sense and made him look with steadier eyes at the meaning
+and mystery of life.</p>
+
+<p>He never more ardently desired to do the right thing, was never so
+absolutely compelled to do the wrong.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span> He wished sometimes that he could
+take some one into his confidence, Captain Tom Hendy, for instance. With
+his clear vision and strong common sense he might see a way out of the
+difficulty. But to take anyone into his confidence would be to give the
+whole case away. For Muller's sake he would have to preserve an
+inviolable silence, and yet the very silence was becoming more and more
+intolerable.</p>
+
+<p>Toward the end of April he paid what he deemed would be his last visit
+to Muller. It would be a relief to put some of his thoughts into speech.
+That, however, was not the main purpose of his visit. He had succeeded
+in putting all his affairs in order, in turning into cash everything
+that was saleable, and in discharging all outstanding obligations, and
+he was pleased to discover that he had still three hundred pounds left.</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose this belongs to me," he said to himself, "to do what I like
+with," and he smiled sadly. Some men, under the circumstances, might
+have spent it in having what they would call a good time, but he was in
+no mood for feasting or mirth.</p>
+
+<p>"I will take it back to Muller," he went on, "and lessen my obligation
+by that amount." So one Saturday afternoon, when they left off early at
+the mine, he donned his holiday suit, and trudged off into Redbourne to
+see his friend.</p>
+
+<p>He found Muller in his office as he expected. Muller had no domestic
+ties, and he preferred his office, as a rule, to any other place in the
+world.</p>
+
+<p>Muller looked up with a little start of surprise when Rufus entered. In
+the first place, he was not expecting him, and in the second place, he
+was shocked at his appearance.</p>
+
+<p>"Hello, Sterne," he said, "what brings you into Redbourne to-day? Not to
+see a doctor, I hope," and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span> a curious smile played round the corners of
+his mouth.</p>
+
+<p>"I came to see you," Rufus answered, with a smile. "Doctors are of no
+use to me."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, no," Muller replied, reflectively. "I presume you are right in
+that. But you look ill all the same&mdash;painfully ill."</p>
+
+<p>"Do I? I was not aware. I feel about as usual."</p>
+
+<p>"Not over cheerful, I presume. Well, I don't wonder. It's beastly hard
+luck. I think if I were in your place I should get the business over as
+quickly as possible."</p>
+
+<p>"I have to consider your interests as well as my own feelings," Rufus
+answered, going to the window and looking down into the street.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, yes, of course. If people suspected anything there might be old
+Harry to pay."</p>
+
+<p>"Exactly. Then, you know, I have had a good many things to square up,
+and, on the whole, I have come out fairly well."</p>
+
+<p>"What do you mean by that?"</p>
+
+<p>"I mean that out of the thousand pounds I borrowed of you, I have three
+hundred left."</p>
+
+<p>"So much?"</p>
+
+<p>"Three pounds, seventeen and ninepence over, to be exact. But what I
+propose to do is to hand over the three hundred pounds to you, and so
+lessen my obligation by that amount."</p>
+
+<p>Muller started, and a puzzled expression came into his eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"The burden will seem a little lighter," Rufus went on, looking down
+into the street again.</p>
+
+<p>"I confess I do not quite understand," Muller said, adjusting his
+pince-nez. "You don't mean t&mdash;t&mdash;&mdash;" Then he stopped, and waited for
+Rufus further to explain himself.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I mean," Rufus answered, walking across the room, and dropping into a
+chair, "that if there is any profit arising out of the transaction you
+shall have the full benefit of it."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, thanks, old man; that is good of you," and Muller's face brightened
+instantly.</p>
+
+<p>"There are always expenses, of course?"</p>
+
+<p>"A great many expenses, I am sorry to say. But you have been very
+thoughtful. Extremely considerate, if I may say so, without flattery."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, you can flatter as much as you like," Rufus answered, with a
+mirthless laugh. "It would be much more to the purpose, however, if you
+could see some other way out of the difficulty."</p>
+
+<p>Muller's countenance changed again in a moment.</p>
+
+<p>"You like not the prospect?" he said, cynically.</p>
+
+<p>"To be honest, I don't. As a matter of fact, I despise myself for not
+seeing at the beginning all the issues involved."</p>
+
+<p>"What issues do you refer to?"</p>
+
+<p>"Moral issues in the main. The repayment of this loan is with us both a
+question of honour."</p>
+
+<p>"That is so. As an honourable man you cannot escape it."</p>
+
+<p>"I see that clearly enough. What I failed to see at the first&mdash;either
+because I refused to entertain the idea of failure, or else because my
+moral sense had become dull&mdash;was that I was proposing to pay a debt by
+fraud."</p>
+
+<p>Muller laughed uneasily. "I think I pointed that out to you quite
+clearly on the day we settled the matter."</p>
+
+<p>"I have no recollection of it."</p>
+
+<p>"I did so most distinctly. I said if the company scented suicide they
+would dispute the claim, or words to that effect."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"And seeing this clearly you were willing to become a party to the
+fraud?"</p>
+
+<p>Muller's eyes blazed in a moment. "Look here, Sterne," he said, angrily,
+"this is above a joke. You know very well that the proposal was not
+mine. You badgered and bullied and persuaded and gave me no peace. I
+yielded at length, much against my will, to oblige you. I made you angry
+when I pointed out in the frankest and most explicit way the
+consequences of failure, and now, confound it, when you have failed you
+come and blame me."</p>
+
+<p>"No, no; you misunderstand me," Rufus said, mildly. "I have no wish to
+blame you. The proposal was my own, I frankly admit, and you yielded
+very reluctantly. But the thing that puzzles me is that while we talked
+about honour we neither of us seemed to realise that the proposal
+involved a glaring act of dishonour."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you refer to the insurance company?"</p>
+
+<p>"I do."</p>
+
+<p>"My dear fellow, would you consider it a dishonourable act to
+appropriate a pin from your neighbour's dressing-table?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, no. There is no value in a pin."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, there is. All values are relative. To the company concerned the
+amount involved is scarcely more than the value of a pin to your
+landlady."</p>
+
+<p>"If I took a penny from her dressing-table it would be theft."</p>
+
+<p>"You think that because the disc of copper represents a fixed amount of
+money. Call it theft if you like. So then taking a pin would be theft."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps so."</p>
+
+<p>"But a theft so small that in any moral or legal reckoning it would not
+count. It would not count<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span> because your landlady would not feel it. So
+the paltry amount under discussion would not be felt by the company."</p>
+
+<p>"You call it a paltry amount, and yet it represents the value of a
+life."</p>
+
+<p>"My dear fellow, human life is not of much account in this world.
+Governments&mdash;especially Christian Governments&mdash;sacrifice men by
+thousands for bits of barren territory that are not worth sixpence."</p>
+
+<p>"The Creator, perhaps, sets more value on them."</p>
+
+<p>"Use the word Nature and you talk sense. Only your suggestion is
+absolutely beside the mark. Nature puts no value on human life at all,
+no more than you do on the creeping things you trample to death at every
+step you take."</p>
+
+<p>"Nature does not destroy. She only changes the form. Nothing is lost."</p>
+
+<p>"Except life. That vanishes like the flame of a candle in a gust of
+wind."</p>
+
+<p>"Vanishes! But do you know what the word means?"</p>
+
+<p>"I think I do. But what is all this talk leading to? What have you got
+at the back of your brain? If you are going to funk the business, say
+so, and let me know the worst."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't think I have suggested anything of the kind," Rufus replied,
+uneasily. "I frankly admit that I do not like the alternative, and wish
+that some other way of escape could be found."</p>
+
+<p>"But if there is no other way?"</p>
+
+<p>"Then I must meet my doom, and go into darkness disgraced and
+dishonoured."</p>
+
+<p>"In a hundred years from now nothing will matter."</p>
+
+<p>"You are not even sure of that. But, candidly, I am as ready to face
+death as most other men. I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span> am not aware that I have ever proved myself
+a coward, but I do abhor the thought of shrinking meanly out of life by
+a back door in order to cheat an insurance company."</p>
+
+<p>"You should have thought of all this earlier."</p>
+
+<p>"I know I should. I am simply amazed at myself. But I was so certain of
+success that I refused to look at failure, or the possible consequences
+of failure."</p>
+
+<p>"Exactly. But that is not my fault. I am sorry for you. More sorry than
+I can express. But I am powerless to help you."</p>
+
+<p>"And you are not concerned at my cheating the insurance company?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not in the least. I am only concerned that you do not cheat me."</p>
+
+<p>"But suppose I paid you interest on the seven hundred pounds for a year
+or two?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is not the interest I want, but the principal, which I must have by
+the first of January next, or I'm up a tree."</p>
+
+<p>"But could you not borrow the amount from some other client for awhile?"</p>
+
+<p>"Where am I to get security? Why don't you ask me to make you a free
+gift of the amount in question?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't want any free gift. At the same time, I don't want to sacrifice
+my life if there is any chance of saving it."</p>
+
+<p>"You seem to set great store by it."</p>
+
+<p>"It is all I have. And of late I have not been able to shake off the
+conviction that I am responsible to God for it."</p>
+
+<p>"I thought as much," Muller said, with a sneer.</p>
+
+<p>Rufus raised his eyes questioningly.</p>
+
+<p>"Turning Christian again with Christian results," he went on. "I caught
+an echo of the jargon the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span> last time I called on you, and feared you
+would turn coward, as all these religious people do."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't let us quarrel, Muller," Rufus said, mildly. "I confess I had not
+much hope that you would be able to help me, so I shall return not
+greatly disappointed."</p>
+
+<p>"I would help you a thousand times if I could," Muller replied, with a
+great burst of simulated friendliness, "but, alas! I cannot do
+impossibilities."</p>
+
+<p>"Very good, I will not trouble you again."</p>
+
+<p>"And you will not burst the thing up by awaking suspicion?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not if I can help it."</p>
+
+<p>"And take a word of advice. Get rid of those silly notions about
+accountability and all that rubbish. They don't become a man of your
+intellectual calibre."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you: we must follow the light that is in us. Good afternoon and
+good-bye."</p>
+
+<p>"Good-bye," Muller said, lugubriously, grasping his outstretched hand.
+"I'm sorry, but I'm helpless."</p>
+
+<p>Rufus did not reply nor did he look back, and a moment later Muller
+heard his footsteps slowly descending the stairs.</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVIII" id="CHAPTER_XXVIII"></a>CHAPTER XXVIII</h2>
+
+<h3>THE RETURN OF THE SQUIRE</h3>
+
+
+<p>Rufus was conscious as he descended the stairs that his feelings towards
+Felix Muller had undergone considerable change. Felix was not the close
+and attached friend that he had imagined him to be. Of late he had
+revealed himself in a new light. It was no doubt true that he had taken
+considerable risks on his account, but he began to fear that these risks
+had not been taken on the score of friendship merely. It seemed to Rufus
+that the passion for speculation and the desire for gain had been the
+chief factors in the case.</p>
+
+<p>"I think he might have helped me," Rufus said to himself, regretfully.
+"If he had really cared for my friendship he would have set my life
+before most things. I don't think my death will trouble him in the
+least."</p>
+
+<p>At the street door he paused for a few moments, and contemplated the
+busy street stretching right and left. It was market-day, and the youth
+of the entire country side had poured itself into the town. Up and down
+they sauntered&mdash;lads and maidens&mdash;aimless, vacant, but entirely happy.
+Hands in pockets, arms round waists, straws between teeth, caps tilted
+to the back of heads. The world for them was the best of all possible
+places, and Fore Street, Redbourne, on a market-day the most wonderful
+place in the world.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly the crowd divided that a pair of horses drawing an open
+carriage might pass up the street.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</a></span> The carriage was empty. The coachman
+and footman sat stiff and erect in blue livery, and surveyed the scene
+with a look of pitying condescension on their faces.</p>
+
+<p>Rufus watched the carriage pass with more than ordinary interest. It was
+Sir Charles Tregony's carriage and was evidently on its way to the
+station. Very likely the family were returning to-day, though to put
+five people into an ordinary landau would be a tight squeeze.</p>
+
+<p>Rufus found his heart beating a little more rapidly than usual; the
+thought of seeing Madeline Grover again quickened his pulse
+unconsciously. In a moment the busy street faded, the noise died down
+into silence, and he was back in a quiet country lane, watching a
+carriage pass, with a strange lady sitting by the side of the driver. He
+would never forget that first vision of Madeline's face. He had never
+seen a face before that had so caught his fancy. He had never seen
+anything comparable to it since.</p>
+
+<p>That was one of the red-letter days of his life. He fancied then that
+all the world lay at his feet. No dream of failure dimmed the sunshine
+for a moment. He was on the heights of Pisgah, with all the fair land of
+promise stretched out before him. Now he was in the valley of the
+shadow, having relinquished his last hope. It was a curious coincidence
+that Madeline should return that day of all days. Return, possibly, as
+the wife of Gervase Tregony. To see her sitting by his side would be the
+last drop in the cup of humiliation, the deepest note in the solemn
+dirge of his despair.</p>
+
+<p>He looked at his watch. The down express from London was due in fifteen
+minutes, and it was generally well up to time.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I think I will loiter round in town until they have gone," he said to
+himself. "I need not suffer the humiliation of seeing her the happy
+bride of that&mdash;&mdash;fellow," and he plunged at once into the throng that
+jostled each other in the street.</p>
+
+<p>But the desire to have another look at Madeline's face proved too strong
+for him.</p>
+
+<p>"It cannot do me any harm," he said to himself, moodily. "Nothing can do
+me any harm now. The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune have done
+their worst."</p>
+
+<p>Ten minutes later he was on the station platform waiting for the down
+express. Very few people were about. He lighted a cigarette, and
+strolled with apparent unconcern up and down the platform. He gave a
+little start when the signal dropped just in front of him. A couple of
+porters hurried across the line from the other platform, a newspaper boy
+appeared from somewhere round a corner, the people who had been walking
+up and down came to a sudden stop. The long train glided slowly round a
+curve, and came to a standstill.</p>
+
+<p>Rufus drew to the off side of the platform, and watched the scene. Fifty
+heads were thrust out of nearly as many windows, but only half a dozen
+people alighted. Sir Charles and party had a compartment to themselves
+near the middle of the train. The Baronet alighted first&mdash;slowly and
+stiffly as though cramped with the long journey. Beryl jumped out after
+him with light springy step, then came Lady Tregony, ponderous, but
+jaunty still.</p>
+
+<p>Rufus found his heart beating uncomfortably fast as he waited for
+Madeline to appear. The porter entered the compartment, and began
+handing out the wraps and umbrellas, then the footman hurried<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</a></span> away to
+the luggage van. Rufus heaved a long sigh, partly of disappointment,
+partly of relief. Madeline had not returned with the others, neither had
+the Captain. That meant&mdash;what?</p>
+
+<p>He could think of only one possible explanation. They were man and wife,
+and were travelling on their own account. Perhaps they had been married
+recently, and were now on their honeymoon. That seemed the most probable
+supposition. It was hardly likely they would be married on the
+Continent. They would wait till they got back to London, and after the
+ceremony the others would return, of course, to St. Gaved, and the
+Captain and his bride would wander where they listed.</p>
+
+<p>He turned away from the station, and made his way slowly over the hill
+in the direction of St. Gaved. The Tregony carriage passed him before he
+had got very far, but no one noticed him. He kept his head bent low, and
+did not raise his eyes till the carriage had got a considerable
+distance.</p>
+
+<p>It was dark long before he reached St. Gaved, and he was so tired that
+it was a pain to lift his feet from the ground. It was the first time he
+fully realised how weak he was. He did not feel ill, though people were
+constantly telling him how ill he looked; but he was conscious that the
+spring had gone out of him, that the fires of life were burning low.</p>
+
+<p>When he went to bed that night there was an unspoken prayer in his heart
+that some illness would overtake him from which he would die. That would
+be a splendid solution of the whole difficulty. A severe illness would
+quench the passion for life, would dull all the sensibilities, would
+take the sting out of all earth's disappointments, and ring down the
+curtain so gently that he would not know when all the lights were turned
+out.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Perhaps, after all, he would be saved the sin and the shame of taking
+his own life, and with this thought in his mind he fell asleep.</p>
+
+<p>The next day, however, brought back all the old pain in its acutest
+form. Once or twice he felt strongly tempted to let Felix Muller bear
+the brunt of his failure, and trust to the future and the chapter of
+accidents to enable him to discharge all his liabilities.</p>
+
+<p>Muller was not considering him in any way. Indeed, he had shown himself
+exceedingly callous. The one thing that concerned him was getting his
+money back with compound interest. Well, he had got three hundred pounds
+of it back already. Suppose he kept him waiting for the rest?</p>
+
+<p>But after a moment's reflection he would shake his head. "I should never
+be able to pay him back," he would say to himself. "Seven hundred pounds
+to a working man is an impossible sum. I should not be able to pay him
+interest at four per cent out of my earnings. Besides, what would he
+think? and it might mean bankruptcy and disgrace to him."</p>
+
+<p>But the thought of what he would think was the principal crux. How
+contemptuous he would be. With what scorn he would regard him. How
+bitter and venomous would be his taunts, with what biting sarcasm he
+would refer to his courage and chivalry, with what lofty disdain he
+would speak of his honour and his regard for the truth.</p>
+
+<p>Rufus would feel himself growing hot all over with shame. Shame that he
+let such a temptation have foothold for a single moment. Had he not
+pledged his word of honour, and was not that enough? Did it not outweigh
+every other consideration? If he departed from his word of honour he
+would never be able to hold up his head again, however long he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</a></span> might
+live, and were a few shadowed years worth purchasing at so great a
+price?</p>
+
+<p>So he debated the question now from one side and now from another, and
+still the days passed on, and he saw no escape from the doom he had
+prepared for himself.</p>
+
+<p>Sometimes he woke in the night with a start, and with the cry upon his
+lips, "How can I do this great evil, and sin against God?" and for
+awhile the thought of his responsibility to a supreme Being would
+outweigh every other consideration. His pledged word, the thin veneer of
+honour which took no account of honesty, the anger and contempt of
+Muller, the irrevocable loss of reputation&mdash;would all seem as of no
+account in comparison with the anger of an offended God.</p>
+
+<p>That he should grow pale, and thin, and hollow-eyed was inevitable. The
+constant nervous strain was exhausting the springs of life. The
+unresting activity of his brain was consuming his physical energies as
+with a fire. He was as free from disease as any child in St. Gaved, but
+he was unwittingly making himself an easy prey to any malady that might
+be prowling about.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile St. Gaved was considerably exercised in its mind over the
+non-appearance of the Captain&mdash;as people still called him&mdash;and Miss
+Grover. Mrs. Tuke, who claimed to be on terms of great intimacy with
+Madeline, and who was prepared to champion her under any and every
+circumstance, was almost indignant that no reliable information could be
+extracted from any source.</p>
+
+<p>The servants from the Hall came into the village as usual, and certain
+young men from St. Gaved, it was said, found their way occasionally into
+the Hall kitchen&mdash;though that was a point on which authentic<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[Pg 294]</a></span>
+information was difficult to obtain. But neither from the servants, nor
+from the young men in question, nor from the police, could anything be
+gathered as to the doings or the whereabouts of Gervase Tregony and
+Madeline Grover.</p>
+
+<p>Gossip, of course, ran riot, and rumour changed its headlines every day,
+but the true state of affairs remained as much a mystery as ever. Rufus
+found himself as much interested in the floating gossip as Mrs. Tuke
+herself, and as eager to listen to the latest canard.</p>
+
+<p>"It is said they ain't married at all," Mrs. Tuke remarked one evening,
+as she laid his supper on the table.</p>
+
+<p>"But nobody knows," Rufus said, wearily, looking up from his book.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, not for certain. But if they was married, don't you think as how
+it would have leaked out somehow?"</p>
+
+<p>"They may have been married quietly without a dozen people knowing."</p>
+
+<p>"But why should they be married on the sly? Sir Charles seemed mighty
+proud that the Captain was going to marry her before he turned up."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I believe that is so."</p>
+
+<p>"And the young man was that gone on her, that if she'd consented to
+marry him, he'd never have been able to keep it to himself."</p>
+
+<p>"It might be her wish, and I think he would do almost anything to oblige
+her."</p>
+
+<p>"No, he couldn't have done it, however much he'd tried. He'd just burst,
+that he would."</p>
+
+<p>"Then what is your theory, Mrs. Tuke?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I don't know that I has any theory. You see, if they ain't
+married, where are they?"</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[Pg 295]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Exactly," Rufus said, with a smile; "that is a very pertinent
+question."</p>
+
+<p>"And if they ain't married, I say they can't be together."</p>
+
+<p>"That sounds probable, certainly."</p>
+
+<p>"And if they ain't together, where's he?"</p>
+
+<p>"Exactly; and where's she?"</p>
+
+<p>"That's the very question I was going to ax myself, but you took the
+words out of my mouth as it were."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm sorry I forestalled you, Mrs. Tuke, but&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, you needn't apologise, Mr. Sterne, not a bit. This is a free
+country, and anybody is allowed to ax as many questions as he likes. But
+to come back to the point we was talking about, the question is, where's
+she, and where's the both of 'em?"</p>
+
+<p>"Sir Charles is still silent on the subject, I presume?"</p>
+
+<p>"As silent as a boiled periwinkle by all accounts. The servants say they
+haven't heard him mention the Captain's name since he came back."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps they have quarrelled."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, my belief is that if the Captain failed to carry off the girl as
+his bride, Sir Charles would be terrible angry."</p>
+
+<p>"Then you have a theory after all, Mrs. Tuke?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, no, I don't know that I has. I only puts two and two together, as
+it were."</p>
+
+<p>"But why should Sir Charles be so anxious that his son should marry this
+particular young lady? There would seem to be any number of eligible
+spinsters in the country."</p>
+
+<p>"But millionairesses ain't to be picked up every day, and I reckon the
+Captain ain't anything of his own to live upon, except what his father
+allows him; and Sir Charles, they say, is as poor as a church mouse;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[Pg 296]</a></span>
+but that's all nonsense. I should like to have a quarter of what he's
+got to live on."</p>
+
+<p>"But you haven't his expenses, Mrs. Tuke."</p>
+
+<p>"And he needn't have 'em unless he liked. Think of their wintering
+abroad; it must have cost 'em a heap of money."</p>
+
+<p>"No doubt. But what about the 'millionairess'?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, well, it's this way. Squire Vivian's butler told long
+Joseph&mdash;that's Sir Charles's butler, you know&mdash;and he told the
+housekeeper, and she told Sarah Jelks&mdash;who is housemaid at the Hall&mdash;and
+she told Siah Small&mdash;who pretends to be courting her&mdash;and he told Dick
+Beswarick, and he told his wife Susan, and she told me, that he heard
+the family talking about it one day at dinner&mdash;&mdash;."</p>
+
+<p>"Who heard the family&mdash;&mdash;?"</p>
+
+<p>"Squire Vivian's butler, of course."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, go on."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, he heard them saying that it would be the best day's work the
+Captain ever did if he got married, as the girl had no end of dollars."</p>
+
+<p>"How did they know?"</p>
+
+<p>"Very likely Sir Charles told them. Those big folks may be as close as
+oysters to the poor, but they talk to each other."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Mrs. Tuke, and what is the inference you draw from all this?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't draw no inference at all. I don't pretend to be anything but a
+plain woman, and I only put two and two together, though Miss Grover did
+say my curtains was a treat."</p>
+
+<p>"She took rather a fancy to you, didn't she?"</p>
+
+<p>"It's not for me to say that exactly, though it's quite true she never
+thought any of the other women up to much, and she came here frequent,
+as you know."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[Pg 297]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I remember. But when you have put two and two together, what
+then?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, between ourselves, I shouldn't be a bit surprised if, after
+living in the same house with the Captain for a month or two, she found
+out he weren't her sort and told him so."</p>
+
+<p>"You think that is likely?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I can tell you, Mr. Sterne, he wouldn't be my sort, and Miss
+Grover ain't the kind of young woman to be hustled into anything against
+her will."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, and what next?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, suppose she told him definite, that the more she'd seen of him
+the less she liked him, and that she wasn't for taking him on at any
+price, what would happen then?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Mrs. Tuke, what do you suppose would happen?"</p>
+
+<p>"It seems to me, Mr. Sterne," Mrs. Tuke said, impressively, "that
+there'd be a kettle o' fish, as it were; a kind of general upset, don't
+you think so?"</p>
+
+<p>"There might be."</p>
+
+<p>"She couldn't come back to Trewinion Hall again, could she?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why not? I understood from her that Sir Charles was her guardian, or
+trustee, or something of that kind."</p>
+
+<p>"But if they was all bent on her marrying the Captain and she wouldn't?"</p>
+
+<p>"The situation would be a little strained, no doubt; but she would not
+shun the house because she was in no humour to marry the son."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, my belief is she's cut the lot of them, as it were; that the
+Captain's sick, and Sir Charles sulky, and the others too cross to talk
+about it."</p>
+
+<p>"Meanwhile, what has become of Miss Grover?"</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[Pg 298]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Tuke straightened herself, and looked perplexed. "That is what is
+atroubling me," she said, sympathetically. "Between you and me I got
+terrible fond of her. She weren't none of the starchy sort, and the way
+she would just sit down and talk to me was a treat. I might be her
+mother, she was that affable; and now to think she may be wandering
+round this lone world without a friend, as it were, fairly worries me at
+times."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't think you need worry, Mrs. Tuke. She is well able to take care
+of herself. But I am not convinced yet that she and the Captain are not
+married."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I be," and Mrs. Tuke sidled out of the room.</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[Pg 299]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIX" id="CHAPTER_XXIX"></a>CHAPTER XXIX</h2>
+
+<h3>GETTING AT THE TRUTH</h3>
+
+
+<p>Perhaps the only two people in St. Gaved&mdash;outside the Tregony
+family&mdash;who could have thrown any ray of light on the situation were
+Micah Martin and Timothy Polgarrow, and they, as far as the general
+public was concerned, were both of them discreet enough to keep their
+own counsel.</p>
+
+<p>Micah's chief characteristic was loyalty to the Tregony family. He had
+been on the estate as man and boy over fifty years. He had no ambition
+to be anything other than a servant, and a word of praise from his
+master now and then would atone for any amount of abuse. Comparative
+serfdom, continued through several generations, had eliminated from his
+blood every single corpuscle of independence. He possessed the genuine
+serf spirit and temper. If his master told him to lie on the floor that
+he might wipe his boots on him, he would have obeyed with a smile and
+asked no questions. He had no will of his own, no views or opinions or
+convictions. His master's politics were his. His master's wish his law.
+The serf spirit made a machine of him. Even questions of right and wrong
+were tested by loyalty to the family. If a thing was in the interests of
+the Tregonys, it was right, if not it was wrong.</p>
+
+<p>Yet Micah was not without a measure of shrewdness. He saw more than most
+people gave him credit for. In his own slow way he put two and two
+together.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[Pg 300]</a></span> But he had the saving virtue of reticence&mdash;a most admirable
+quality in a servant.</p>
+
+<p>Micah knew very well that the Captain lied over the Sterne affair; but
+that was his business. He had a reason for lying, and it was not his
+place to contradict him. He knew well enough that Rufus was not drunk,
+but it would be disloyal to his master to say so. If there was one
+individual about the place who could break down Micah's reticence and
+get him to talk it was Madeline. She had not been a month at the Hall
+before she had made herself a general favourite with all the retainers.
+Micah idolised her and would have given his scalp almost to please her.</p>
+
+<p>Madeline discussed horticulture with him and floriculture&mdash;the mysteries
+of grafting and budding, the best aspect for peaches and the best soil
+for potatoes. Miss Grover was a wonder in Micah's eyes. She knew so much
+and yet was so teachable&mdash;was so beautiful and yet so humble withal.</p>
+
+<p>They talked about the Sterne affair one afternoon. Madeline approached
+the subject with great caution, and carefully felt her way at every
+step. When Micah became diffident she flattered him a little, and when
+he obtruded his loyalty to the family she encouraged him.</p>
+
+<p>She made him feel also that she was one of the family, and that he would
+be perfectly justified and perfectly safe in confiding anything to her.
+She talked to him about her early life, about the scenery and customs of
+America, and so hypnotised him with her confidence and her sweet
+graciousness that the old man talked more freely than he knew.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course you will not repeat what I have told you, Micah?" she said,
+with her most winning smile.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[Pg 301]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Of course not, Miss," Micah said, stoutly. "I wouldn't repeat it for
+the world."</p>
+
+<p>"It's nice to have confidence in people, don't you think so?" she
+questioned, demurely.</p>
+
+<p>"It is, Miss; it's a terrible comfort."</p>
+
+<p>"Some people repeat everything they hear. But you and I can trust each
+other, eh, Micah?"</p>
+
+<p>"I could trust you with uncounted gold, Miss," and Micah stuck his fork
+into the ground, with an energy that was meant to give emphasis to his
+assertion.</p>
+
+<p>For awhile they talked about St. Gaved folks in general, but gradually
+Madeline led the conversation round to Rufus Sterne and the quarrel
+outside the Lodge gates.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Sterne was not drunk, of course!" Madeline suggested, innocently.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, no, I shouldn't say as how he was, though he might have been."</p>
+
+<p>"Exactly. Now, between ourselves, Micah, how did the quarrel begin?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Miss, just between you and me, it was this way," and Micah raised
+his head and looked cautiously around him.</p>
+
+<p>"There's no one to hear what you are saying," Madeline said,
+encouragingly.</p>
+
+<p>"One can never be too careful, Miss; but as I was saying, I went out to
+close the gate after the Captin, and he hadn't gone many yards, before I
+heard 'im shout out to somebody."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes? What did he say?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well. I don't remember his words exact. But there's no doubt he meant
+you, Miss."</p>
+
+<p>"Me, Micah?"</p>
+
+<p>Micah nodded and smiled. "I should have felt just the same, Miss."</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[Pg 302]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I'm sure you would, Micah."</p>
+
+<p>"'You scoundrel,'" he said, "or words like 'em. 'You're loiterin' round
+here again to waylay her an' poison her mind.'"</p>
+
+<p>"And what did the other say?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! he up and says it was a lie right out to 'is face."</p>
+
+<p>"Did he, really?"</p>
+
+<p>"It's gospel truth, Miss; and of course the Captin, bein' insulted like
+that, let fly at 'im."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you wonder, Micah?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't, Miss. But lor', that young Sterne is a terrible strong and
+'andsome young fellow, and he gived the Captin beans in two seconds."</p>
+
+<p>"What a shame!"</p>
+
+<p>"Of course, Miss, it's natural that you and me should side with the
+Captin; but after all, it's human natur' to hit back again, ain't it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I suppose it is. But what happened after that?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! the Captin cried out, 'Martin, come and take away this drunken
+brute, or he'll murder me.'"</p>
+
+<p>"Of course, the Captain was bound to believe he was drunk?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, he was bound to say so, Miss," Micah answered, with a twinkle in
+his eyes. "It 'ud never do to own he was beaten by a man as was sober in
+a stand up fight&mdash;and he a sodger."</p>
+
+<p>"Of course not, though you must admit, Micah, that the Captain was at a
+disadvantage if the other was sober."</p>
+
+<p>"That's what I've said to myself, Miss, fact is, Sterne was much too
+sober. He was just as cool as a cucumber, and then he's a younger man
+than the Captin."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[Pg 303]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"But the Captain got the best of it in the end," she said, with a tone
+of triumph in her voice.</p>
+
+<p>"That he did, Miss. He got his revenge sharp, sudden an' complete."</p>
+
+<p>"The right nearly always wins in the end, Micah. But mind you don't
+repeat a word of our conversation this afternoon."</p>
+
+<p>"Me, Miss? You should see me gibbeted first."</p>
+
+<p>Madeline walked out of the kitchen garden in a very sober mood. The
+suspicion that had been haunting her mind for weeks was crystallising
+rapidly into a certainty. The admissions of Micah threw a new and
+sinister light on the entire situation. The underlying motive had been
+laid bare as in a flash, and Gervase stood revealed in his true colours.</p>
+
+<p>They were starting for the South of France in a week or so. She thought
+she saw now the reason of that particular move. She would not act
+precipitately, however. She would keep her eyes and ears open and her
+mouth shut. It might be possible, with a little diplomacy, to get the
+truth out of Tim Polgarrow as she had got it out of Micah Martin; but
+there was no time to be wasted if she was to accomplish her purpose.</p>
+
+<p>She was more than usually gracious with Gervase that evening, and in the
+highest spirits. She rattled off waltzes on the piano, and sang any
+number of cheery and sentimental songs. Gervase found the songs for her,
+and stood behind and turned the leaves.</p>
+
+<p>He felt that he was making headway rapidly. Now that Rufus Sterne was
+disgraced and out of the way, he had no rival; there was no one to
+distract her thoughts from him, and he flattered himself that something
+of the old feeling of hero-worship was coming back to her.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[Pg 304]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>He had given up pressing her to marry him, given up playing the part of
+injured and broken-hearted lover, and entertained her instead with
+stories of his exploits in India. And, generally speaking, he told his
+stories well, making light of his own courage and powers of endurance,
+and treating heroism as though it were an ordinary, common-place quality
+of every soldier.</p>
+
+<p>He had very little doubt that when he got her out of England she would
+consent to an engagement, and Sir Charles, who had watched carefully the
+progress of affairs, was of the same opinion.</p>
+
+<p>On the day following her conversation with Micah, Madeline tried to get
+an interview with Tim Polgarrow. She had seen Tim two or three times,
+and had made up her mind as to the kind of man he was and the kind of
+tactics she would have to adopt.</p>
+
+<p>Had she been a man she would have gone into the public-house and
+demanded an interview with him, but being a girl such a course was
+impossible. So she had to wait on the chapter of accidents, and fortune
+did not appear to favour her. She rode past the "Three Anchors" on
+several occasions, but Tim kept persistently out of sight. She began at
+last to fear that the opportunity would never come, and that the
+particular information she wanted would be denied her.</p>
+
+<p>In her heart she had little doubt of the truth of the accusation Rufus
+had flung out on the day of the trial&mdash;that Tim had been bribed to swear
+a falsehood. But she wanted direct evidence. She was anxious to be just
+to Gervase, whatever happened.</p>
+
+<p>On the day before leaving home she resolved on more direct measures.
+Getting her horse saddled, she rode straight away to the "Three Anchors"
+and knocked loudly on the front door with the handle of her
+riding-crop.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[Pg 305]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 300px;">
+<img src="images/i309.jpg" width="266" height="400" alt="" /><br />
+<span class="caption">&ldquo;HAD MADELINE FIRED A REVOLVER HE COULD NOT HAVE BEEN MORE STARTLED.&rdquo;</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>A young man with a thick crop of reddish-brown hair, and a blue apron
+tied round his waist, appeared at length from the recesses of the
+tavern.</p>
+
+<p>"Can I have a drink of barley-water for my horse?" she inquired.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, miss; I'll fetch it in a minute."</p>
+
+<p>She backed her horse a few paces and waited. No one appeared to be
+about. The inn stood at the junction of five roads, commonly known as
+Five Lane Ends, and there was not another house within half a mile.</p>
+
+<p>In a few minutes the shock-headed young man appeared with a pail, which
+he held under the horse's nose.</p>
+
+<p>Madeline felt her heart beating rapidly. She had resolved on a bold
+stroke. Nothing less than a frontal attack. No flank movement would do
+in the present case. She would have to stagger him with the first blow.</p>
+
+<p>"You are Timothy Polgarrow?" she questioned, looking down from her
+exalted position.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, miss, that's my name, at your service," he answered, glibly and
+flippantly.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm glad I've met you," she said, quietly.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes?" And he looked up with a light of surprise in his eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"I want to ask you a question."</p>
+
+<p>"A dozen, if you like, miss. I'm always ready to oblige a lady."</p>
+
+<p>"Then you will tell me how much money Captain Tregony paid you to swear
+that Rufus Sterne was drunk?"</p>
+
+<p>Had Madeline fired a revolver at him he could not have been more
+startled. He dropped the bucket, which fell with a rattle on the
+cobbles, and his freckled face grew ashen.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[Pg 306]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Madeline quickly followed the first blow with a second.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, be careful what you say," she went on. "If you lie, it will be the
+worse for you. You know that you committed perjury, and that you are
+liable to a long period of imprisonment; but if you tell the truth, I
+will be very merciful."</p>
+
+<p>"Has he been blabbing?" he gasped, trembling in every limb.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't trouble to ask questions," she said. "Your business is to answer
+them."</p>
+
+<p>Then he began to pluck up courage. "Nobody can prove nothing," he said,
+insolently.</p>
+
+<p>"There you are making a mistake," she answered. "It may be difficult to
+prove that you received money, but there will be no difficulty in
+proving that you committed perjury."</p>
+
+<p>"You mean that I'll get all the blame and he'll go scot free."</p>
+
+<p>"Exactly. The case against you is as clear as daylight."</p>
+
+<p>"Who said so?"</p>
+
+<p>"I say so."</p>
+
+<p>"What have you found out?"</p>
+
+<p>"That you swore falsely, and I cannot imagine that you would do it for
+nothing."</p>
+
+<p>"Look here," he said, still trembling, "you don't know nothing at all.
+You're trying to gammon me, but I don't take on. Do you understand? I
+know how to keep my mouth shut as well as other people."</p>
+
+<p>"Very good. I came to you as a friend. If you like to risk the
+consequences of a trial for perjury, that's your look-out."</p>
+
+<p>"If I do, I don't go into the dock alone, mind you that."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[Pg 307]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"No, I guess when you get into the dock, you'll have to make a clean
+breast of it. Why not do it now and avoid going into the dock?"</p>
+
+<p>"You mean, if I tell the truth about&mdash;about&mdash;somebody, you won't
+proceed?"</p>
+
+<p>"I mean, I want to get hold of a certain fact. The fact of your
+committing perjury is already settled. What I want to know is, how much
+did the gentleman I have named pay you for doing it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Look here," he said, "if I tell you all I know about that blooming
+trial, will you promise not to split on me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Only on one condition."</p>
+
+<p>"And what is that?"</p>
+
+<p>"That you will tell the whole truth, and that you put it in writing and
+sign it."</p>
+
+<p>"Look here, miss," he said, insolently, "do you take me for a blooming
+fool?"</p>
+
+<p>"If you had been wise," she answered, "you would not have put yourself
+within reach of the law. However, you can take your own course." And she
+reined up her horse, as though the interview was at an end.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't go yet," he said, seizing the bridle-rein. "You don't give a
+fellow time to think. How do I know that you're not pretending?"</p>
+
+<p>"If I didn't know, how could I tell you?" she answered, severely. "What
+I don't know I have confessed to."</p>
+
+<p>"And if I tell you that, you won't blab about the rest?"</p>
+
+<p>"If you put it in writing and sign it, it shall be kept absolutely
+secret for a year."</p>
+
+<p>He laughed scornfully. "I can assure you, miss," he said, "I'm not so
+green as I look."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[Pg 308]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Very good," she answered, with a laugh. "You ought to know best," and
+she again pulled at the rein. But Tim was evidently afraid to let her
+go.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll put nothing in writing," he said; "not a blooming word. But if
+you'll promise me on your word of honour as a lady that you'll not blab,
+and that you'll not put the police on me, I'll tell you all I know. Mind
+you, I've confessed nothing yet. Not a word."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't want any confession as to your part. That's proved enough
+already. What I want to know is how much you were paid for swearing
+falsely?"</p>
+
+<p>"Will you promise me never to say a word? Mind you, I'll go to gaol
+sooner than put anything in writing."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't want to be too hard on you," she said, after a pause.</p>
+
+<p>"And the secret will be between our two selves?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"And if I don't tell you, you'll set the police on me?"</p>
+
+<p>"This very day."</p>
+
+<p>"And if I do tell, fair and square, you'll deal fair and square with
+me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, yes. You deserve to be sent to prison for robbing an honest man
+of his character, but for the information I want I will pay the price of
+silence."</p>
+
+<p>"You take your oath on it?"</p>
+
+<p>Madeline hesitated for a moment. She would like to clear Rufus Sterne's
+character if possible. But he had just as much proof of perjury as she
+had unless this man confessed, and he refused to confess unless she
+promised secrecy.</p>
+
+<p>"I take my oath on it," she answered.</p>
+
+<p>"Then he paid me twenty pounds."</p>
+
+<p>"Only twenty pounds?"</p>
+
+<p>"He offered me five at first, then ten, then fifteen; but when he rose
+to twenty it was too much to resist.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[Pg 309]</a></span> He said 'twouldn't harm Sterne.
+That every gentleman got drunk now and then, and that as he was drunk it
+might be as well to prove he got drunk here as anywhere else."</p>
+
+<p>"And you didn't serve him with any drink?"</p>
+
+<p>"I never served him with a drink in my life. He passed the "Three
+Anchors" that night, but he didn't call."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you; that is all I wish to know."</p>
+
+<p>"And you'll not set the police on me?"</p>
+
+<p>"No."</p>
+
+<p>She rode home by another way, and rode slowly. She was not an expert
+horsewoman yet, though she was rapidly becoming one.</p>
+
+<p>She entered the house without anyone seeing her, and went at once to her
+own room. She wanted time to think, to shape her plans for the future.
+Her life's programme had been torn into shreds. She would have to begin
+over again. But how, or when, or where?</p>
+
+<p>After lunch she took a stroll on the Downs and along the cliffs. "I
+shall never come back here again," she said to herself. "This must be my
+farewell."</p>
+
+<p>She walked slowly, and with many pauses. She half hoped she would see
+Rufus Sterne. She wanted to say good-bye to him, and in saying it tell
+him that she believed in him.</p>
+
+<p>But Rufus was busy elsewhere that afternoon, and they did not meet. She
+looked in all directions as she strolled back across the Downs to the
+Hall, and with a little sigh she passed through the lodge gates.</p>
+
+<p>Another chapter had been completed in the story of her life. To-morrow a
+fresh page would be turned.</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[Pg 310]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXX" id="CHAPTER_XXX"></a>CHAPTER XXX</h2>
+
+<h3>THE TOILS OF CIRCUMSTANCE</h3>
+
+
+<p>Madeline never felt so helpless or friendless as when she left with the
+Tregonys for the South of France. She had no one to advise her, no one
+to whom she could turn for a word of counsel. She wished a thousand
+times that her father had never made Sir Charles her trustee and
+guardian. He did so with the best intentions, no doubt. He was proud of
+the distant relationship, flattered by the Baronet's attention, and
+enamoured of the prospect for his only child; but for her it had meant
+disillusion and disappointment.</p>
+
+<p>She had not courage enough to tell Sir Charles and Gervase what she had
+discovered. The Baronet almost over-awed her at times, while the Captain
+was possessed of a dogged tenacity and determination that were anything
+but easy to deal with. She felt almost like a bird in a cage&mdash;a cage
+into which she had deliberately walked, or had been cleverly lured. To
+all appearances she was free, and yet in a very real sense she was a
+prisoner. The meshes of the net had been so deftly and so silently woven
+round her, that she was not conscious of the fact until the last
+loophole was closed.</p>
+
+<p>What could she do now? To whom could she go? There was the old solicitor
+in New York City, but there was no time to write to him and get an
+answer back. Her step-mother was travelling from place to place, and
+might be on the Pacific slope for all she knew, or in the South Seas, or
+Japan. She had a good many<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[Pg 311]</a></span> friends&mdash;rich and influential people in the
+States&mdash;but they were often on the wing, and they might be "doing
+Europe" or enjoying themselves in London or Paris.</p>
+
+<p>Besides, how could she explain the peculiarities of the position in
+which she found herself, and if she tried to explain she questioned if
+she would get any sympathy? She would have to bide her time till she was
+of age, and trust in Providence for the rest.</p>
+
+<p>She took away with her nearly everything she possessed that was of any
+value, for she had made up her mind never to return to Trewinion Hall,
+if there was any possibility of avoiding it, and that something would
+turn up she had the greatest confidence. Youth is ever optimistic, and
+Madeline could never look the dark side of things for very long
+together.</p>
+
+<p>She had only one regret in leaving Cornwall, and that was that in all
+probability she would never see Rufus Sterne again. Since her interview
+with Micah Martin, and the confession she had wrung from Tim Polgarrow,
+her thoughts, of necessity, had turned in his direction, and her
+strongest sympathies had gone out to him afresh. She knew now that he
+was a much wronged man. Moreover, she could never forget what he had
+done for her, and the memory of what he had suffered on her account
+would remain with her to the last.</p>
+
+<p>Still, life was made up of meetings and partings. We pass each other
+like ships in the night, or walk side by side for a mile or two, and
+then drift in different directions. Rufus Sterne would forget her as she
+in time might forget him. He would win his way in spite of opposition
+and misrepresentation, for he was strong and clever, and such men nearly
+always came into their own in the long run.</p>
+
+<p>She looked out for him on the morning they drove away from the Hall. She
+would have given almost<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[Pg 312]</a></span> anything for even a smile of recognition, but
+it was not to be. With a little sigh she resigned herself to the
+inevitable, and resolved that she would extract as much pleasure out of
+the tour as possible.</p>
+
+<p>They spent only one night in London, and stayed at the Charing Cross
+Hotel for the sake of convenience. In Paris they remained three or four
+days. Madeline would gladly have remained longer, but Gervase was
+anxious to push forward to a sunnier clime. The cold, he declared, got
+into his bones, and he would have no pleasure of life until he found
+himself in a more genial climate.</p>
+
+<p>At Nice they found letters waiting them which had been forwarded, and a
+copy of the local paper which Sir Charles had ordered to be sent every
+week direct from the office. For a couple of days they rested from the
+fatigues of the journey, and then began to make the usual excursions.
+Gervase, as might have been expected, was early bitten by the
+fascinations of Monte Carlo, and took to running over by train most days
+to see the play.</p>
+
+<p>Madeline was extremely grateful to be rid of his company. Not that he
+was obtrusive in his attentions, for on the whole he was playing his
+part with great tact and circumspection. But she had learned to mistrust
+him and despise him. Hence, the less she saw of him the happier she
+felt.</p>
+
+<p>Time slipped away very pleasantly on the whole. Sir Charles did
+everything possible to make her visit to the Riviera an enjoyable one.
+Indeed, he played the part of prospective father-in-law with great
+skill, and now and then threw out a sly hint about her cruelty in not
+putting poor Gervase out of his misery. But Madeline was in no humour to
+take hints, and Sir Charles often turned away with a look of
+disappointment on his face.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[Pg 313]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Beryl talked to Madeline one evening with tears in her eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm sure Gervase spends more time in the Casino than he ought to do,"
+she said, reproachfully; "and if he does, whose fault is it, Madeline?"</p>
+
+<p>"His own fault, I should say," she answered, sharply. "He's surely old
+enough to know what is good for himself?"</p>
+
+<p>"But people who are labouring under some great disappointment, or are
+tortured by some secret grief, sometimes gamble merely to forget their
+trouble."</p>
+
+<p>"Then they are very foolish."</p>
+
+<p>"You do not know, Madeline. You have never had any bitter
+disappointment. You have the world at your feet. You are an heiress, and
+will have millions when you come of age."</p>
+
+<p>"Is that so?" she asked, innocently.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course it is so!" she answered. "Why do you question me in that way?
+One might think you did not know how rich you are. But I do not think,
+for all that, your money gives you any right to treat Gervase badly."</p>
+
+<p>"Beryl!" Madeline said, indignantly. "Do you know what you are saying?"</p>
+
+<p>"I hope I am not rude, Madeline," was the quiet answer. "But Gervase is
+my brother, and I am very proud of him, and it cuts me to the heart to
+see him suffer."</p>
+
+<p>"I do not think he is suffering at all," Madeline replied. "Indeed, he
+seems in very good spirits."</p>
+
+<p>"That is all put on, Madeline, as you ought to know. Gervase is deeply,
+passionately attached to you. He came home from India hoping and
+expecting to marry you. He thought everything was settled. Cannot you
+imagine how hurt and humiliated he must feel?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[Pg 314]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I do not see why. We were not engaged."</p>
+
+<p>"Not formally, perhaps, but it was your father's wish. We were all
+agreeable, because Gervase seemed devoted to you. You seemed wonderfully
+pleased with the idea when you first came to Trewinion; and, after all,
+it is no small thing to marry a man with Gervase's prospects."</p>
+
+<p>"Marriage is a serious thing, Beryl," Madeline said, gently. "When I met
+Gervase first I was only a school girl. I did not know my own mind. I
+own he attracted me greatly, and all the time he was away I cherished,
+and almost worshipped, an ideal&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"But surely Gervase has realised your ideal?" Beryl questioned. "He may
+not be as handsome as some men, but think how brave he is, how
+self-sacrificing, how devoted! He would almost lay down his life for
+you!"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't want any man to do that," Madeline said, quietly.</p>
+
+<p>"But surely such devotion as his is deserving of some recompense? He has
+waited patiently for you week after week, and month after month, and I
+am sure your coldness is driving him to the gaming-tables."</p>
+
+<p>"Would you have me marry him, Beryl, if I do not love him?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, you can love him well enough if you try, unless&mdash;unless&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Unless what, Beryl?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, unless you have given way to some romantic nonsense about another
+man!"</p>
+
+<p>"What do you mean by that?" Madeline asked, raising her eyebrows
+slightly.</p>
+
+<p>"You know well enough what I mean, Madeline; so you need not pretend."</p>
+
+<p>"I am not pretending. Besides, it is not fair to fling out mere hints
+that may mean a great deal, or may mean nothing at all."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[Pg 315]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I am not blaming you very much. It was only natural, perhaps, that
+he should take your fancy for a moment."</p>
+
+<p>"That who should take my fancy?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, the young man who saved your life, of course. You knew nothing
+about him, and there is no denying that he is very good-looking. But you
+have discovered his true character since."</p>
+
+<p>"I have, Beryl."</p>
+
+<p>"He pretended, too, to have made a discovery and induced, it is said, a
+number of people to lend him their savings, so that he might develop it,
+and now that is gone to smash. I pity the people he has swindled."</p>
+
+<p>"Who said it had gone to smash?" Madeline questioned eagerly.</p>
+
+<p>"It's in the St. Gaved <i>Express</i> that came by post last evening."</p>
+
+<p>"Are you sure?"</p>
+
+<p>"Quite sure. There is quite a long paragraph about it. Besides, I heard
+father talking to mother about it last evening."</p>
+
+<p>"I wish I could see the paper. Where can I find it?"</p>
+
+<p>"I will run and fetch it for you if you like? But it is quite true, what
+I have told you."</p>
+
+<p>Beryl watched Madeline's face with great interest while she read, but it
+revealed nothing to her. Madeline was conscious that Beryl's eyes were
+upon her, and so held herself resolutely in check. Not for the world
+would she betray what she felt.</p>
+
+<p>The St. Gaved <i>Express</i> was printed and published mainly in the
+interests of the landed and moneyed classes. Its politics were those of
+the people who held the shares. Its comments on local matters were
+coloured by its political views. Its snobbery was beyond dispute.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[Pg 316]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Rufus Sterne received scant courtesy at its hands. He had been heard to
+say that he believed in the government of the people by the people, for
+the people. That was quite sufficient for the <i>Express</i>. Politically he
+was a dangerous character&mdash;a little Englander and a pro-foreigner.</p>
+
+<p>When it became known that Rufus had failed, that he had been forestalled
+with his invention, the <i>Express</i> openly rejoiced. Such unpatriotic
+characters did not deserve to succeed. It hinted that there was a rough
+and ready justice in the world that dealt out to men the measure of
+their deserts&mdash;which, being interpreted, meant, that to those who had
+was given, and from those who had not was taken away even what they had.</p>
+
+<p>It further hinted its hope that the dupes of what was little less than a
+public fraud would do their duty to the public, to themselves, and to
+the ingenious young gentleman whose exposure was now pretty well
+complete.</p>
+
+<p>Madeline folded the paper without a word and handed it back to Beryl.</p>
+
+<p>"I should think you feel sorry now that you ever spoke to him," Beryl
+said, after a long pause.</p>
+
+<p>"There are many things we feel sorry for when it is too late," she
+answered, quietly, then turned and walked slowly out of the room.</p>
+
+<p>She had not thought much of Rufus for several weeks. She never expected
+to see him again. He had come into her life for a few months and passed
+out again, and the sooner she forgot him the better.</p>
+
+<p>But this story of his failure with the cutting comments and insinuations
+of the <i>Express</i> called out her sympathies afresh, and in larger measure
+than ever. She did not think the less of him because he had not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[Pg 317]</a></span>
+succeeded. He had not laboured at an invention that was useless. His
+failure was not due to the worthlessness of his idea, but simply to the
+fact that another man had got in before him.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! I am sorry," she said to herself, when she got to her own room.
+"How terribly disappointed he will feel. It will seem as though
+everything is against him, and he had staked his all on the enterprise."</p>
+
+<p>Once or twice she was strongly tempted to sit down and write him a
+friendly letter of sympathy. But she could not summon up quite
+sufficient courage. If she had cared less for him she would have been
+less sensitive. Beryl had just told her that she had been carried away
+by a foolish and romantic attachment, or words to that effect, and it
+would never do to give colour and substance to the insinuation. She must
+keep her self-respect whatever happened.</p>
+
+<p>For several days Rufus was more frequently in her thoughts than was good
+for her peace of mind. She pictured his disappointment, his
+helplessness, his despair. She saw him in imagination wandering out on
+the cliffs alone, with knitted brows and troubled face. She wondered
+what he would do. She knew he had staked his all&mdash;though how much that
+"all" meant she never guessed&mdash;would it be possible for him to rise
+above this last calamity that had overtaken him, or would he go down in
+the general crash and ruin, and never be heard of again?</p>
+
+<p>He had ability, she knew, and energy and determination; but so had many
+another man who had absolutely failed. No man could do the impossible.
+Bricks could not be made without clay. Circumstances were sometimes
+stronger than the strongest.</p>
+
+<p>Rufus Sterne was not only penniless, but in debt. The money he had
+borrowed had gone with his own,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[Pg 318]</a></span> and how was it possible in a sleepy
+little place like St. Gaved to retrieve his position? She wished she
+could help him. The beginning of his misfortunes seemed to be associated
+with her. His broken leg was entirely due to her adventurousness, while
+the loss of his reputation was the outcome of her friendliness to him.
+Try as she would she could never wholly dissociate herself from him. She
+was irretrievably mixed up with his success or failure.</p>
+
+<p>She did her best to appear cheerful and unconcerned before the Tregonys.
+Beryl informed her father that Madeline had seen the account in the
+paper of Sterne's failure, and had manifested not the slightest interest
+in the matter.</p>
+
+<p>"Did she say nothing at all?" Sir Charles questioned.</p>
+
+<p>"Scarcely a word."</p>
+
+<p>"And did you say nothing?"</p>
+
+<p>"I did suggest that I thought she would feel sorry now she had ever
+spoken to him."</p>
+
+<p>"And what did she reply?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, she just said, 'There are many things we feel sorry for when it is
+too late,' and walked out of the room."</p>
+
+<p>"She never saw him after the police court affair, I think."</p>
+
+<p>"I am sure she never did, father."</p>
+
+<p>"So that this will pretty well complete the disillusionment."</p>
+
+<p>"If she ever had any illusions."</p>
+
+<p>"I am afraid she had, Beryl, I'm afraid she had. That was a most
+unfortunate adventure on the cliffs&mdash;most unfortunate," and Sir Charles
+turned again to the paper he had been reading.</p>
+
+<p>Had the Tregonys been close observers they might have detected a forced
+and an unnatural note in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[Pg 319]</a></span> Madeline's gaiety. She was mirthful at times
+when there appeared to be no sufficient reason for her mirth, and
+cheerful when the conditions were most depressing.</p>
+
+<p>When alone in her own room she generally paid the penalty. Frequently
+her spirits sank to zero. The desire to help Rufus Sterne was natural
+enough; but her helplessness drove her almost to despair. She could not
+even help herself. In a sense she was as much in the toils of
+circumstance as he was. She not only wondered what would become of him,
+but what would become of herself.</p>
+
+<p>The weeks were slipping away rapidly, and the Tregonys were beginning to
+talk about their return to England. The days were often almost
+insufferably warm, and the birds of passage that crowded the hotels were
+beginning to take flight to more Northern latitudes. Day after day she
+had hoped she might discover some way of effecting her deliverance, but
+no way revealed itself. She was without a friend outside the Tregony
+family, and yet to return with them to Trewinion Hall would be to put
+herself in a position as intolerable as it would be compromising.</p>
+
+<p>"What helpless things girls are," she would sometimes say to herself.
+"If I were only a man I could snap my fingers at everybody. But because
+I'm a girl I can just do nothing."</p>
+
+<p>She felt so miserable one morning that she refused everyone's company,
+and went out for a walk alone.</p>
+
+<p>Sir Charles was very cross when he knew, and he was still more cross
+when lunch time came and she did not return. As the afternoon wore away
+and she did not put in an appearance, his anger gave place to anxiety,
+and ultimately to very serious alarm.</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[Pg 320]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXI" id="CHAPTER_XXXI"></a>CHAPTER XXXI</h2>
+
+<h3>OLD FRIENDS</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Well, I never! If this ain't the greatest surprise of the trip!"</p>
+
+<p>Madeline looked up with a start. She recognised the American accent,
+before she had any idea she was being spoken to.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, now, who <i>would</i> have thought it? I regard this as a real streak
+of luck."</p>
+
+<p>"What, Kitty Harvey?" Madeline exclaimed, in a tone of eager surprise.
+"Oh, I am so glad!" And a moment later the two girls were embracing each
+other with a warmth and an effusiveness that would have done justice to
+an Oriental greeting.</p>
+
+<p>"I spied you from the other side of the way," Kitty Harvey said at
+length, tears of genuine pleasure shining in her eyes, "and I said to
+mamma, 'If that ain't Madeline Grover, then I'm the blindest coon that
+ever walked in shoe leather.'"</p>
+
+<p>"Is your mother here?" Madeline queried, eagerly.</p>
+
+<p>"We're all here, my dear, a regular family party, with sundry relations
+to keep things lively. But here comes the little mother, two hundred
+pounds of her, and as cheerful as ever."</p>
+
+<p>"But when did you come?"</p>
+
+<p>"Cast anchor this morning, my dear. That's our yacht out yonder, flying
+the stars and stripes."</p>
+
+<p>"What, that? I thought she was a transatlantic liner."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[Pg 321]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Well, I guess she is, or something nearly related to it. But you should
+talk to Dick; he knows her from stem to stern, and from the keel to the
+captain's bridge."</p>
+
+<p>"Then you are here on a yachting cruise?"</p>
+
+<p>"That's what we are here on just. In fact we've been two-thirds round
+this globe already."</p>
+
+<p>"And have you enjoyed it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Off and on. There are drawbacks to everything, but in the main it's
+been just great."</p>
+
+<p>Then Mrs. Harvey waddled up, panting, breathless, eager and happy. She
+almost smothered Madeline with kisses and talked incessantly between
+whiles.</p>
+
+<p>"Kitty said it was you, and I said it wasn't. But you have improved. You
+see my sight is not quite as good as it used to be."</p>
+
+<p>"Another of mother's compliments!" Kitty laughed.</p>
+
+<p>"It's nothing of the sort," Mrs. Harvey protested. "I meant what I said,
+but I really must get my glasses strengthened."</p>
+
+<p>"You must, mother. You really won't be able to recognise father at the
+rate you are going on."</p>
+
+<p>"And you are still Madeline Grover? I don't want to be inquisitive my
+dear, but we understood, you know, you were coming across to marry a
+title; was it a duke or a knight? I really get mixed up as to the order
+they stand in."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm not going to marry either," Madeline said, impulsively. "I'm going
+to remain as I am."</p>
+
+<p>"No-o?" from both mother and daughter.</p>
+
+<p>"It's the honest truth."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, with all your money you are independent of a title, my dear,"
+Mrs. Harvey said, absently.</p>
+
+<p>"But I haven't any money," Madeline said, "except what my trustee allows
+me. But really, do you know for certain if I shall be well off when I
+come of age?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[Pg 322]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Don't you know yourself?"</p>
+
+<p>"I really know nothing. Father never talked to me about money matters,
+and Sir Charles copies his example in that respect."</p>
+
+<p>"Then you had better come and talk to my husband. If there's anything
+about money he doesn't know, I should like to discover it."</p>
+
+<p>"I should like to see Mr. Harvey very much."</p>
+
+<p>"Then come back and have lunch with us on the <i>Skylark</i>. There's plenty
+of room, and you'll be as welcome as the President of the United
+States."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, it would be just delightful," Madeline said, eagerly, "there's
+nothing I should enjoy so much."</p>
+
+<p>Madeline was almost bewildered at the size and magnificence of the
+<i>Skylark</i>. Mr. Harvey, having struck a copper lode a few years
+previously, found himself with more money than he knew profitably how to
+spend, and with more time on his hands than he knew wisely how to use.
+He built for himself a marble mansion in New York, and purchased one of
+the largest steam yachts that ever ploughed the seas, and was now doing
+his best to earn a night's repose by sight-seeing.</p>
+
+<p>Peter J. Harvey welcomed Madeline on board the <i>Skylark</i> with many
+expressions of delight. He was a typical American, tall,
+square-shouldered, and not over-burdened with flesh. He had straight
+hair, which he wore rather long, a clean-shaven face, a wide mouth, a
+strong, square chin, and a most refreshing American accent.</p>
+
+<p>He was not exactly a vain man. At any rate, he did his best to keep his
+vanity under proper control, and if he boasted occasionally he believed
+he had something to boast of. He was still in the prime of life, being
+the right side of fifty by two or three years. Kitty was the eldest of
+six&mdash;three boys and three girls,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[Pg 323]</a></span> the youngest, Bryant, having
+celebrated his seventh birthday two days before. Besides the family,
+there were numerous cousins and uncles and aunts, with others whose
+relationship to the Harveys was difficult to trace.</p>
+
+<p>The lunch was set out in the grand saloon, and was served in the best
+style. The stewards wore bottle-green coats trimmed with gold braid.</p>
+
+<p>Madeline, having got among old friends, talked with a freedom and an
+abandon that she had not known since she left her native land. The grace
+of reticence was a virtue the Harveys had never cultivated. It was their
+boast that they had nothing to hide. Hence they discussed their domestic
+and business affairs with a freedom that would have staggered an
+Englishman of the old school.</p>
+
+<p>Confidence begets confidence; and so in the seclusion of the yacht's
+library, with only Mr. and Mrs. Harvey and Kitty present, Madeline
+explained as far as she dared the peculiarities of her present
+situation.</p>
+
+<p>Peter J. rose to the situation at once.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear child," he said, "I guess there ain't no difficulty at all. I
+don't see none. It's just as easy as falling off a stool. There ain't no
+occasion for you to go back to their moth-eaten ancestral abode for five
+minutes. You just come along with us&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"You mean&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I mean what I say," continued Peter J. "There's room for you in this
+small frigate and to spare, and there's a welcome as long as from here
+to the United States and back again."</p>
+
+<p>"It would be just delightful," Madeline said, with dilating eyes.
+"But&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Then let it be delightful," Mr. Harvey interrupted. "I guess we'd be as
+delighted as you would be. What say you, Kitty?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[Pg 324]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"It would be just too fine for words," Kitty replied.</p>
+
+<p>"It would be like a Providence," Mrs. Harvey chimed in, "so we'll
+consider it settled."</p>
+
+<p>"But Sir Charles might object," Madeline said, with a half-frightened
+look in her eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"You leave his lordship to me, my dear," Peter J. interposed. "I guess I
+know my way about, and if he cuts up nasty, I'll treat him to a chapter
+out of the gospel of Peter J. Harvey."</p>
+
+<p>"But what excuse should I make?"</p>
+
+<p>"You needn't make any excuse at all. I'll go across and see the General
+myself and explain things."</p>
+
+<p>"But what would you say?"</p>
+
+<p>"That we had fallen across you accidentally; that we were old friends;
+that I knew your father; that you and Kitty were chums at school; that
+we are cruising round this here little arm of the ocean for a week or
+two longer; and that we are taking you along with us just to give you a
+taste of sea-faring life."</p>
+
+<p>"But he might not believe you."</p>
+
+<p>"Then I would bring him across here and let him see for himself and hear
+your own wishes out of your own mouth."</p>
+
+<p>"But he would not consent for me to be out of his sight for more than a
+day or two at the outside."</p>
+
+<p>"Then to avoid trouble and hard words we will mention a day or two&mdash;wind
+and weather permitting."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! Mr. Harvey, if you could get me clean away from them without any
+unpleasantness, I should be more thankful than words can tell."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll do it, my dear. And when Peter J. Harvey says he'll do a thing,
+why, that thing is done. Now give me the location of this Lord Tregony."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! he isn't a lord," Madeline laughed, "he's only a baronet."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[Pg 325]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Well, it's all the same to me. He wouldn't alarm me if he were your
+Attorney-General."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't you think I had better go back with you. I'm afraid they'll be
+getting alarmed at my long absence."</p>
+
+<p>"I thought you tumbled across a page-boy belonging to the hotel and sent
+word by him that you would not be back till evening."</p>
+
+<p>"I did send word that I would not be in to lunch. But those boys are so
+stupid that it's ten to one if he conveyed my message."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't you alarm yourself on that point," Peter J. said, cheerfully.
+"But if you think you can explain things better yourself, why we'll go
+along together. But mind you, we return together, even at the risk of an
+earthquake."</p>
+
+<p>"Let Kitty come as well," Madeline said, her eyes sparkling with
+excitement.</p>
+
+<p>"All right, my dear. The more the merrier. I'll take the skipper and the
+crew if you think it might impress his lordship and make the way
+easier."</p>
+
+<p>"No, I think the three of us will be sufficient," Madeline said, with a
+laugh. "But no hint must be given that I'm to be absent more than two or
+three days. Sir Charles had made all arrangements to leave for Paris on
+Monday."</p>
+
+<p>"You leave that to P. J. H., my dear. If I'm not quite a full-blown
+diplomat it's only for want of opportunity. Now let us be off. If Lord
+Charles What's-his-other-name don't yield without a murmur, I shall be
+surprised."</p>
+
+<p>Half-an-hour later they were walking up the steps of the hotel. Sir
+Charles was in the lounge, with a cigar in his mouth and his eyes
+towards the door. He was feeling much more anxious than he cared to
+admit. Gervase had gone by an early train to Monte<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">[Pg 326]</a></span> Carlo and had not
+returned. Lady Tregony and Beryl were in their bedrooms.</p>
+
+<p>Sir Charles sprang to his feet and heaved a big sigh of relief when the
+swing door was pushed open, and Madeline entered, radiant and smiling,
+followed by Kitty Harvey and her father.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear Madeline," he said, reproachfully, "you have given us a fright.
+We have been looking for you everywhere."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! I am sorry," she answered. "But I told one of the page-boys I met
+outside to tell you I was going to lunch with some friends."</p>
+
+<p>"No such message was brought to me," he answered, severely. "It would
+have been better if you had left word at the office."</p>
+
+<p>"I am sorry if I have caused you any anxiety," she answered, quietly.
+"But I met some American friends on the promenade, and have been with
+them on their yacht to lunch."</p>
+
+<p>At the word yacht Sir Charles pricked up his ears, and a somewhat
+mollified expression stole over his face.</p>
+
+<p>"Allow me to introduce my friend Miss Kitty Harvey," Madeline said, in
+her most engaging manner, "and this is her father, Mr. P. J. Harvey, of
+New York City, and a friend of my father's."</p>
+
+<p>Sir Charles bowed very pompously, and muttered something under his
+breath about being delighted to meet them.</p>
+
+<p>Peter J. had said nothing up to this point, but stood in the
+background&mdash;as a modest man should&mdash;chewing the end of a cigar.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">[Pg 327]</a></span></p><p>"I can assure you, Colonel, the pleasure is reciprocated," he said, in
+his slowest manner, and with a twinkle in the corner of his eye. "The
+truth is my daughter and I have come along as a sort of deputation."</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed! Will you not be seated?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, thank you. As it's as cheap to sit as to stand, and talking comes
+easier as a rule when you are sitting down, I guess I'll fall in with
+the suggestion."</p>
+
+<p>Sir Charles waited for Mr. Harvey to proceed. Madeline and Kitty sat on
+a lounge side by side, the former feeling very uncomfortable. She saw in
+a moment that Sir Charles did not like the American's free and easy
+ways, and Mr. Harvey was dimly conscious of the same truth.</p>
+
+<p>"Not to waste words over the business," Peter J. went on, "we want to
+take Miss Grover just for a little run on our steamer, and we came
+across to ask your consent. These formalities are considered proper I
+believe, and we fall in with them. Though as a citizen of the United
+States I presume the lady can just do as she likes."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, no!" Sir Charles replied, pompously. "Miss Grover is my ward till
+she comes of age. At any rate, it amounts to that&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Of course I am, Sir Charles," Madeline interposed. "But we are not
+going to talk law or gospel, are we? Mr. Harvey has asked me to go for a
+little run on his yacht, and I really want to go ever so much!"</p>
+
+<p>"But we leave here for Paris on Monday, Madeline. I fear there is no
+time."</p>
+
+<p>Peter J. puckered his face into a knowing smile. "According to my
+calculations," he said, "Monday is five days off. We could almost
+circumnavigate this little arm of the ocean in that time. But we are
+talking of a run of a couple of days more or less."</p>
+
+<p>"It seems hardly worth the trouble, does it, Madeline?" Sir Charles
+questioned, in a bored tone.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! quite worth it, Sir Charles. Think how lovely the sea is, and how
+beautifully calm, and then you<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">[Pg 328]</a></span> know Mr. Harvey's yacht is as big as an
+ocean steamer. In a couple of days we could go to Naples and back, and
+wouldn't it be lovely to see Naples!"</p>
+
+<p>"Naples is an interesting place, no doubt. But the weather is getting
+warm&mdash;hot, I may say."</p>
+
+<p>"But we need not land unless we like," Mr. Harvey interposed.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course&mdash;&mdash;" Sir Charles began, hesitatingly.</p>
+
+<p>"Then that is settled, my dears," Peter J. interrupted. "I knew his
+lordship would not deprive you of a pleasure if you desired it very
+much. Now, you girls, run away and put a few things in a bonnet-box,
+sufficient for a forty-eight hours' trip. Perhaps, when we return, your
+excellency will so far honour us as to come on board and dine with us."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, it is very kind of you."</p>
+
+<p>"Not at all. I believe in showing hospitality when it is in my power to
+do so. Would you mind trying one of my cigars? I think you will find the
+flavour excellent."</p>
+
+<p>Sir Charles hesitated for a moment, then took the proffered weed and
+proceeded to cut the end off with a penknife.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile Madeline and Kitty had rushed off to Madeline's room and began
+packing boxes with all possible speed.</p>
+
+<p>"Rather large bonnet boxes, eh, Madeline?" Kitty questioned, with a
+laugh.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you know, I feel like a burglar," Madeline answered.</p>
+
+<p>"I never was a burglar," was the reply, "so I don't know what it feels
+like to be one."</p>
+
+<p>"Everything will be terribly crushed," Madeline went on, "but I can't
+help it. Will you ring for the porter, Kitty?"</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">[Pg 329]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"All right, my dear, and I will drive off with the baggage while you and
+father are paying your adieux to the Baronet. If he were to see you
+going off with all these boxes he might scent mischief."</p>
+
+<p>"How clever you are, Kitty," Madeline said, with a laugh. "That idea is
+just lovely. But will you lock these boxes, my hands are shaking so I
+can hardly hold the keys."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, we might be escaping from a robbers' castle. What is the use of
+getting so excited?"</p>
+
+<p>"I can't help it, Kitty. I've been looking round for weeks and weeks for
+some way of getting out of a most uncomfortable position, and you cannot
+imagine how helpless I have felt. And now I feel&mdash;oh, I can't tell you
+what I feel&mdash;but here's the porter."</p>
+
+<p>Madeline went down to the office and explained matters, and saw Kitty
+drive away with her luggage. Then she returned to the lounge, where Sir
+Charles, looking very bored, was listening to a long account of how
+Peter J. Harvey made his pile in copper.</p>
+
+<p>On catching sight of Madeline, Peter J. brought his story to an abrupt
+conclusion and rose slowly to his feet.</p>
+
+<p>"Need I disturb Lady Tregony and Beryl, do you think?" Madeline
+inquired, innocently, looking Sir Charles straight in the eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"As you think best, Madeline," Sir Charles replied, blandly. "I sent up
+word to them that you had returned safe and sound."</p>
+
+<p>"Then very likely they will be taking their afternoon nap now?"</p>
+
+<p>"That is very probable."</p>
+
+<p>"Should I awake them, do you think?"</p>
+
+<p>"If you were going away for a week I should say yes, certainly. But if
+you like I will explain your absence till Friday."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">[Pg 330]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"That will be best, I think." Then, turning to Mr. Harvey, she said:
+"Now I am ready. Kitty has gone on ahead, and has taken my few things
+along with her."</p>
+
+<p>"I guess Kitty has some shopping to do on the way. That child is never
+happy unless she is spending money," and Mr. Harvey smiled, innocently.</p>
+
+<p>"You will explain to Gervase, won't you, Sir Charles?" Madeline said,
+with one of her sweetest smiles. "It is unfortunate he did not come home
+to lunch. I am sure he would have liked to have seen over Mr. Harvey's
+yacht."</p>
+
+<p>"We shall probably accept Mr. Harvey's invitation to dinner on your
+return," Sir Charles said, pompously.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course you will, Colonel, of course you will," Peter J. said, with a
+drawl. "I never take a refusal from my friends without a very good
+reason."</p>
+
+<p>"It is good of you to let me go, Sir Charles," Madeline said, reaching
+out her hand to say good-bye. "But I am sure I shall enjoy myself
+immensely. You see, I have known Mr. and Mrs. Harvey and Kitty nearly
+ever since I can remember, and then, I'm tremendously fond of the sea."</p>
+
+<p>Sir Charles came with them to the door of the hotel and saw them into a
+carriage, then returned to the lounge and to his cigar.</p>
+
+<p>Madeline could almost have screamed with delight when she found herself
+once more on the <i>Skylark</i>.</p>
+
+<p>"At last I am free," she said to herself, "and when Sir Charles sees me
+again I shall be my own mistress."</p>
+
+<p>Half-an-hour later the <i>Skylark</i> weighed anchor and put out to sea.</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">[Pg 331]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXII" id="CHAPTER_XXXII"></a>CHAPTER XXXII</h2>
+
+<h3>FACING THE INEVITABLE</h3>
+
+
+<p>When Saturday morning arrived and the <i>Skylark</i> had not been sighted,
+Sir Charles began to grow suspicious. An hour or two later his worst
+fears were confirmed. A letter was handed to him in Madeline's
+handwriting. The postmark, he noticed, was Genoa. He could hardly keep
+his hand steady while he tore open the envelope, and when he began to
+read his face grew ashen.</p>
+
+<p>The letter was brief and quite explicit. She had no intention, she said,
+of returning again to Nice or to Cornwall. She was going back to America
+with the Harveys. For many things she was sorry she ever left it. She
+had been unhappy for months past&mdash;ever since the return of Gervase, in
+fact. To become his wife was simply impossible. She expressed her regret
+for any pain or annoyance she had caused, and her thanks for all
+kindnesses she had received. She regarded the appearance of the Harveys
+on the scene as an interposition of Providence, and her escape from an
+intolerable position as a direct answer to prayer.</p>
+
+<p>Sir Charles had not got over the anger and disgust produced by this
+frank epistle when Gervase came hurriedly into the room, with blanched
+cheeks and a wild light in his eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you know that Madeline has given us the slip?" he said, in a hoarse
+whisper.</p>
+
+<p>"Have you heard from her also?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">[Pg 332]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Then you know?" he questioned, with a gasp. "What has she said to you?
+Let me see her letter."</p>
+
+<p>Sir Charles handed him Madeline's letter without a word. Gervase read it
+carefully, and then handed it back with a little sigh of relief. She had
+not told his father what she had told him, and for that mercy he was
+supremely grateful.</p>
+
+<p>For several moments the two men looked at each other in silence. Neither
+had the courage to blame the other, and yet neither was disposed to take
+the blame himself. Gervase was convinced that his father played the game
+badly at the beginning, but he had played it worse at the end. Hence it
+was bad policy to fling stones while he lived in a glass-house himself.
+A similar train of thought wound its way slowly through Sir Charles's
+brain. From his point of view Gervase had played the fool again and
+again, though he saw now that the waiting policy he had advocated was a
+huge mistake. So while he was inclined to throw the principal share of
+blame on to Gervase's shoulders, he was bound to take a share himself.</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose we may conclude," Gervase said, at length, in a lugubrious
+tone, "that the game is up."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm afraid it is," Sir Charles answered, with suppressed emotion.</p>
+
+<p>"It's a beastly shame, for I've been counting on her fortune for years
+past."</p>
+
+<p>"It's an awful miss. Her fortune would have set the Tregonys on their
+feet."</p>
+
+<p>"It's no use trying to get her back, I suppose?"</p>
+
+<p>"Do you think you could yet persuade her to marry you?"</p>
+
+<p>Gervase blushed, and walked to the window and looked out into the
+courtyard.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">[Pg 333]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Girls are such curious things," he muttered, evasively. "You never know
+when you have them."</p>
+
+<p>"I can't help thinking you played your cards badly, Gervase. She seemed
+to idolise you when she came to Trewinion, and looked forward so eagerly
+to your return."</p>
+
+<p>"The mistake was in not marrying her right off when we met at
+Washington. She would have said 'yes' like a shot, for she was awfully
+gone on me. She adored soldiers at that time, and regarded me as a
+hero."</p>
+
+<p>Sir Charles heaved a sigh and remained silent for several moments.</p>
+
+<p>"Would you mind letting me see her letter to you?" he questioned, at
+length.</p>
+
+<p>"Sorry, father, but&mdash;but&mdash;I've destroyed it," he blurted out, awkwardly.
+This was not the truth, but he wouldn't for the world that his father
+should read what she said to him.</p>
+
+<p>"Destroyed it? What did you do that for?" Sir Charles asked,
+suspiciously.</p>
+
+<p>"I was just mad and hardly knew what I was doing. It seemed the only way
+I could give vent to my anger. I tore it into millions of bits."</p>
+
+<p>"What reasons did she give for her outrageous conduct?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, in some respects it was an awfully nice letter she wrote. She
+said she admired me as a friend immensely. But she didn't love me as she
+felt she ought to do, which made her unhappy, and so she thought it best
+to go away without any fuss, and all that, don't you know."</p>
+
+<p>"And do you believe she still admires you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, of course I do. She said so, in fact. I wish I hadn't destroyed
+her letter. There were some awfully nice sentiments in it, I can assure
+you."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">[Pg 334]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Then why were you so angry?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, because I saw I was up a tree. When a girl you want to marry talks
+about being a sister to you, and all that, don't you know, it makes one
+angrier than anything."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, yes, I suppose it does. I'm terribly disappointed, Madeline was a
+chance in a lifetime."</p>
+
+<p>"But rather smacked of trade, don't you think? You know very well if
+she'd been an English girl, you wouldn't have considered her for a
+moment."</p>
+
+<p>"That may be. But since even dukes marry tradesmen's
+daughters&mdash;provided, of course, they hail from across the water&mdash;there
+was no reason why we should turn up our noses."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm too poverty-stricken to turn up my nose at anything. I'd marry a
+barmaid if she only had sufficient of the needful."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't talk nonsense, Gervase, I thought you were really fond of
+Madeline, apart from her money."</p>
+
+<p>"So I am. She's awfully pretty, there's no denying that. But I'm too old
+to break my heart over any woman. It's the tin&mdash;or the lack of it&mdash;that
+is troubling me."</p>
+
+<p>"You'll have to curtail your expenses, Gervase; there's nothing else for
+it. I cannot possibly increase your allowance. The fact is, we shall
+have to economise all round."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm always economising," was the angry retort. "It's been pinch and
+grind ever since I was born."</p>
+
+<p>"That's not my fault, my boy. I'm getting the biggest rents I can
+possibly squeeze out of the tenants as it is, and there's no chance of
+things mending unless we can get Protection."</p>
+
+<p>"And that we may whistle for."</p>
+
+<p>"Why so?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">[Pg 335]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Because the people have got educated. An awful mistake, I say, to
+educate the working classes. An ignorant proletariat you may hoodwink
+and bamboozle to your heart's content; but no enlightened community is
+going to consent to have its bread taxed for the benefit of the
+landowners."</p>
+
+<p>"The people will have to be shown it's for their benefit. That's the
+game to play."</p>
+
+<p>"No doubt. But it will take a mighty clever man to prove even to a
+public-house loafer that the dearer things are made, the better off he
+will be."</p>
+
+<p>"But you must not forget that there are some very clever men at work."</p>
+
+<p>"They are not clever enough for that."</p>
+
+<p>"You don't know. They have undertaken more difficult tasks and
+succeeded. Think of South Africa!"</p>
+
+<p>"I'd rather not. It won't bear thinking about."</p>
+
+<p>"Nevertheless, it shows what can be done. The masses of the people are
+more easily persuaded than you think. Education, you must remember, is
+not sense. Hit upon a popular cry, and the rest is easy."</p>
+
+<p>"But no country can be gulled twice in so short a period. No, dad, our
+fortunes are not to be mended along those lines."</p>
+
+<p>"I am not so sure. A good stirring appeal to patriotism will work
+wonders still. 'England for the English&mdash;&mdash;'"</p>
+
+<p>"England for the English landlords, you mean, for that's what it comes
+to in the end."</p>
+
+<p>"No doubt it does. But while a few people own the land it is well that
+the masses should think that England belongs to them."</p>
+
+<p>"But do they think that England belongs to them?"</p>
+
+<p>"Of course they do. There isn't a man-jack among them that will not talk
+big about defending his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336">[Pg 336]</a></span> country and dying for his country, when he
+doesn't possess a foot of it, and hasn't money enough to buy a grave to
+be buried in."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, dad, I sincerely trust that your hopes will be realised, and that
+England will consent to be gulled again for the benefit of a few. Good
+heavens! if I'd only been an army contractor instead of a soldier, I
+should have made my fortune."</p>
+
+<p>"Your only hope of a fortune, Gervase, is by marrying one," and Sir
+Charles put Madeline's letter into his pocket and walked out of the
+room.</p>
+
+<p>For the rest of the day Gervase loitered about alone. He was much more
+troubled than he let his father see. Madeline had accused him of
+treachery to Rufus Sterne, and had hinted in words too plain to be
+misunderstood that she had proof that he bribed Tim Polgarrow to commit
+perjury. If Madeline, therefore, had discovered this, how did he know
+that other people had not made the same discovery? He felt that he could
+not return to St. Gaved again until he knew. If Tim had let the secret
+out, his best course would be to keep out of sight until the storm had
+blown over, and people had forgotten the incident.</p>
+
+<p>So it came about that Sir Charles and the others returned without him.
+Gervase promised to follow in a week or two at the outside. But a run of
+luck at Monte Carlo kept him a slave at the Casino. This was followed by
+a run of bad luck during which he lost all he had won. Then he remained
+on, trying to recover his lost position, and in the end he had to cable
+to his father for a remittance to bring him home.</p>
+
+<p>Gervase had not been at Trewinion many days before the truth about
+Madeline began to leak out. Sir Charles had been too chagrined to give
+the smallest hint as to her whereabouts, or even to mention her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337">[Pg 337]</a></span> name if
+it could be avoided, and Beryl and Lady Tregony took their cue from him.
+But Gervase, discovering that he was still in good odour among the
+people, and that the secret Madeline had discovered appeared to be known
+to no one else, concluded that nothing was to be gained by a policy of
+silence. He need not tell all the truth; in fact, he could put his own
+gloss on the facts as they stood, and so it began to be whispered about
+that Miss Grover had decided on visiting her friends in America before
+finally settling in England.</p>
+
+<p>Rufus Sterne heard the story from Mrs. Tuke with apparent unconcern. He
+argued quite naturally that it was a matter of supreme indifference to
+him whether she went to America or remained in England. His life&mdash;by
+fair means or by foul&mdash;was drawing to its inevitable close. There was
+some sense of satisfaction in the thought that she was not Gervase
+Tregony's wife. She deserved a better fate than that. He hoped she had
+discovered his true character and that among her own people in her own
+country she would find all the happiness she deserved; and with these
+reflections he tried to put her out of his mind.</p>
+
+<p>His thoughts in the main were intent upon the tragedy that was daily
+drawing nearer. His daily hope and prayer was that God would release him
+from the burden of life, and so save him from the guilt and shame of
+dying by his own hand.</p>
+
+<p>Failing this, he had no doubt as to how the final act would be brought
+about. Much as he shrank from the disgrace of dying in the manner
+contemplated, he shrank more from the disgrace of living, should his
+courage fail him. To face his ruined friend, his broken pledge, his
+tarnished honour, would be death repeated every day, and every hour of
+the day.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338">[Pg 338]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>He was not a little surprised to find, as the days and weeks passed
+swiftly away, how without effort and without volition his mind fastened
+itself upon the dominant truths of Christianity. He gave up reading. He
+still absented himself from church and chapel. But bit by bit the rags
+of his materialistic philosophy dropped from him, while the simple
+truths of the gospel possessed him and obsessed him, until he felt that
+only here was life in any true sense to be found.</p>
+
+<p>The philosophisings and hair-splittings of theologians did not concern
+him. The elaborate edifices built up by the creed-makers possessed for
+him no interest at all. But the warm sympathy of the Son of Man, the
+tender influence of the universal Spirit, the growing consciousness of a
+supreme Ruler, the clearing vision of a life beyond&mdash;these things seemed
+as parts of his being, the stuff out of which his life was woven.</p>
+
+<p>He wondered now that his youthful revolt from the narrow creed of his
+grandfather should have carried him so far; wondered that he had not
+earlier seen that human creeds must of necessity be ever too narrow to
+represent the Divine idea; wondered that he had not seen the obvious
+truth that ecclesiasticism may bear but a faint resemblance to
+Christianity, and that "the Church," so called, may form but a very
+small portion of the Kingdom of God.</p>
+
+<p>But it was all clear enough to him now. He had cast away what he fancied
+was only husk, not knowing that the kernel of truth was within. He had
+tried to wrap his naked spirit in something thinner than a shadow, had
+sought to choke the soul's deepest instinct in the quagmire of a Godless
+philosophy, and had prated about happiness, while steeping his senses in
+the fumes of a deadly narcotic.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_339" id="Page_339">[Pg 339]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>What lay beyond he did not know. But he had a fancy that the great
+universal Heart of Love would give him a chance under better conditions,
+and that at worst it would be better than the awful torture of the last
+few months. He was not afraid, and he was becoming again so terribly
+weary that the thought of rest was infinitely sweet. There was very
+little he had to give up. No home ties bound him to earth, no arms of
+wife or children hung about his neck. His ambitions had been nipped by
+the frosts of disappointment, and were now dead. His love for Madeline
+Grover&mdash;which had been the strongest and purest passion of his life&mdash;was
+hopeless from the first.</p>
+
+<p>It was only existence amid familiar surroundings that he had to part
+with&mdash;only existence! And yet how much that meant to him, even in the
+darkest hours, no words could tell. The passion for life nothing could
+kill, and that seemed to him one of the strong arguments in proof of
+immortality.</p>
+
+<p>One afternoon, in his little office, he fell down in a dead faint, and
+remained unconscious for several hours. The long summer day was fading
+into twilight when he opened his eyes, and saw the familiar face of Dr.
+Pendarvis bending over him.</p>
+
+<p>"Have I been ill?" he asked, looking round the room with wondering eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"You've had a slight heat stroke, I think, but you needn't be alarmed."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm not in the least alarmed," he said, with a pathetic smile; "but I
+hate giving Mrs. Tuke so much trouble."</p>
+
+<p>"You've been overworking yourself rather. I've seen it for months past.
+When you are a little recovered, I'll give you a complete overhauling,"
+and he smiled cheerfully.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_340" id="Page_340">[Pg 340]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Then you think I shall recover?"</p>
+
+<p>"Of course you will recover. But, meanwhile, keep quite still, and don't
+worry."</p>
+
+<p>Rufus hoped for a day or two that his illness would take a fatal turn.
+He wanted so much to die quietly at home in bed; it would be such a
+perfect solution of the whole difficulty. But it was not to be.</p>
+
+<p>In a few days he was up and about again. "You want toning up," the
+doctor said to him. "There is really nothing the matter with you except
+that you are run down. Take more exercise, get a sea bath two or three
+times a week, and be careful what you eat."</p>
+
+<p>Rufus told Mrs. Tuke and Captain Tom Hendy what the doctor had
+prescribed, and proceeded at once to carry out his orders. But no one
+knew the thought that was in his mind. Some day he would not return from
+his short swim in the sea, and then he would be at rest. It would be
+very easy, and almost as natural as dying at home in bed.</p>
+
+<p>The weather was brilliantly fine. The yellow corn was falling before the
+sickle in all directions, the sea danced and shimmered in the sunshine,
+the flowers drooped in the windless heat. To all appearances Rufus was
+recovering his health and spirits. He told Mrs. Tuke that he enjoyed his
+morning bath. His appetite seemed better than it had been for weeks
+past, and once or twice she heard him humming a hymn tune after he had
+gone upstairs to bed.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm glad I stood by him," Mrs. Tuke reflected, with a smile of
+self-satisfaction, "for I believe he is coming back to the fold again."</p>
+
+<p>One evening Rufus sat up very late. He had gone through his papers again
+to see that everything was in order, and now he sat staring at the clock
+on<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_341" id="Page_341">[Pg 341]</a></span> the mantelpiece, and listening to its solemn and regular tick.</p>
+
+<p>"To-morrow will be just as good as next week," he said to himself. "As
+it must come, better it should come quickly. I could have done it this
+morning easily enough, and I don't think it will be at all painful. So
+let it be then," he added, rising to his feet. "The next time I go into
+the sea I do not return," and he put the lights out, and climbed slowly
+and silently to his bedroom.</p>
+
+<p>Before undressing he knelt down and prayed. He asked for strength and
+pardon, and a just and merciful judgment.</p>
+
+<p>He felt like a child when he rose from his knees, and a few minutes
+after he laid his head on the pillow he was fast asleep.</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_342" id="Page_342">[Pg 342]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXIII" id="CHAPTER_XXXIII"></a>CHAPTER XXXIII</h2>
+
+<h3>WAS IT PROVIDENCE?</h3>
+
+
+<p>When Rufus awoke next morning, the wind was blowing half a gale, and the
+rain was coming down in torrents.</p>
+
+<p>"This puts an end to my morning bath," he said to himself, with a faint
+sigh. "I can have no excuse for going into the sea on a day like this,"
+and he sighed again.</p>
+
+<p>He was not quite sure that he welcomed the respite.</p>
+
+<p>"Since it must be," he kept saying to himself, "the sooner the better."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Tuke greeted him with a sorrowful face. "What a pity the weather's
+broke before all the harvest is got in," she said.</p>
+
+<p>"It does seem a pity," he answered, quietly.</p>
+
+<p>"The ways of Providence is past finding out," she replied; "though no
+doubt it's for some good end."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you really think that Providence regulates the weather, Mrs. Tuke?"
+he questioned, with a smile.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, of course I do," she answered, in a tone of reproach. "Providence
+over-rules everything, and not a sparrow falls to the ground without the
+notice of His eye," and she walked out of the room without waiting for
+him to answer.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Tuke's theology was a puzzle to him still, but all the time he sat
+at breakfast the word "Providence" kept echoing through the chambers of
+his brain. What was Providence? How far did God interfere with the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_343" id="Page_343">[Pg 343]</a></span>
+operation of His own laws? Did He sometimes reach out a controlling
+hand? Did He cause events to work together for a special end?</p>
+
+<p>That day at the mine seemed one of the longest he had known. The wind
+moaned through every crevice of door and window, the rain came down
+unceasingly.</p>
+
+<p>Evening came, but there was no chance of a swim in the sea. He would
+have to wait until the morrow or the day following. Whatever he did, he
+would have to avoid awaking suspicion.</p>
+
+<p>Several times during the night he awoke and listened. The wind was still
+swishing through the trees, and the patter of rain could be distinctly
+heard against the window.</p>
+
+<p>"If Mrs. Tuke knew," he said to himself, "she would say Providence was
+interposing to prevent me putting an end to my useless life."</p>
+
+<p>He lay in bed an hour longer than he would have done had the weather
+been fine. "It is of no use getting up till breakfast-time," he
+reflected.</p>
+
+<p>He heard the postman's rat-tat-tat while he was dressing, and wondered
+if there were any letters for him.</p>
+
+<p>He came slowly and listlessly down the stairs. Another day of weariness
+and mental distress stretched out before him. "I am only prolonging the
+agony," he said to himself, as he took his lonely seat at the head of
+the table.</p>
+
+<p>Then his eye rested on a large envelope by the side of his place, with a
+blue stamp in the corner.</p>
+
+<p>He was alert in a moment. "An American letter," he said, half aloud, and
+his thoughts flew off to Madeline Grover unconsciously. The address,
+however, was in a man's handwriting&mdash;there could be no doubt about
+that.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_344" id="Page_344">[Pg 344]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>He tore open the envelope quickly and mechanically, and turned to the
+signature at the end of the letter. "Seaward and Graythorne," he read,
+and a look of perplexity came into his eyes.</p>
+
+<p>He opened out the letter, and an enclosure fluttered on to his plate. He
+picked it up and stared.</p>
+
+<p>"There must be some mistake," he said with a gasp, and he drew his hand
+across his eyes as though to remove some dimness that had gathered. Yet,
+there was his own name clear and distinct enough. "Pay to the order of
+Mr. Rufus Sterne the sum of five thousand dollars."</p>
+
+<p>"Five thousand dollars," he muttered. "Why, that is a thousand pounds&mdash;a
+thousand pounds. I must be dreaming surely."</p>
+
+<p>He turned to the letter at length, and began to read. Slowly, as he
+waded his way through the legal jargon, the truth began to dawn upon
+him. It had to do with the property his father had accumulated. Some
+Judge Cowley, of the Supreme Court of somewhere, had authorised a
+distribution, and the enclosed was the sum paid on account.</p>
+
+<p>That was about all he could make out. But why a firm of solicitors in
+New York should be acting in a case of disputed property somewhere out
+in Pennsylvania, was a problem he could not understand.</p>
+
+<p>He was in no mood, however, to worry himself over legal subtleties. The
+great outstanding fact&mdash;the fact that dominated all others&mdash;was that he
+was in possession of a thousand pounds.</p>
+
+<p>The revulsion of feeling was so great that for a moment or two it seemed
+to unman him. The cords that had been strung up so long to the very
+highest point of tension were suddenly relaxed. The hard stoicism with
+which he had fortified himself, melted like wax<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_345" id="Page_345">[Pg 345]</a></span> in the flame of a
+candle. The dull numbness of despair, which was rendering him
+indifferent to life, vanished like mist before the summer sun. The joy
+of hope, the dream of love, the fire of ambition, were all kindled
+afresh as by an electric spark. The wailing wind, instead of sobbing
+began to sing. The moaning ocean commenced to laugh and rejoice. The
+rain-drops were tears of joy that Nature shed. Light and love, and
+beauty and delight were everywhere. His breakfast remained untouched. He
+was quite unconscious of the fact until Mrs. Tuke came into the room.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, you haven't tasted your breakfast," she said, lifting her eyes and
+hands in astonishment.</p>
+
+<p>"Haven't I?" he said, with a smile.</p>
+
+<p>"And your bacon is quite cold."</p>
+
+<p>"I forgot all about it, Mrs. Tuke."</p>
+
+<p>"And your tea is like ditch-water."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm very sorry."</p>
+
+<p>"It's like throwing money away."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, never mind."</p>
+
+<p>"But I do mind, I hate wastefulness, especially in young people."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, forgive me this time. I've had a surprise."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, indeed! A pleasant surprise, I hope. You've had enough of the other
+sort."</p>
+
+<p>"A very pleasant surprise. Now, brew me a fresh pot of tea and warm up
+the bacon. I really feel as if I had got an appetite."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, it's time you had. You've been wasting to a shadow the last six
+months," and Mrs. Tuke hurried out of the room.</p>
+
+<p>Rufus laughed aloud when she was gone. He felt he would either have to
+laugh or cry. "If only granny were here I should hug her," he said to
+himself. "I feel so buoyant that I could almost hug Mrs. Tuke."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_346" id="Page_346">[Pg 346]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The wind was still blowing strong from the west as he made his way over
+the hill to the mine, but its voice was like a song in his ears. The
+rain had ceased, though the sky was still dark with clouds; but all the
+landscape seemed flooded with golden sunshine. His nerves were tingling
+with a new joy, his eyes sparkling with an unwonted fire. He was glad to
+be alive again, glad to feel the wind of heaven upon his face.</p>
+
+<p>How wearily he had dragged his steps over the hill morning by morning;
+how dull and continuous had been the pain at his heart! Now all sense of
+weariness was gone; he seemed to tread on air; his heart was light and
+buoyant, and all the pain had passed away.</p>
+
+<p>He paused a moment where he paused a year before to look at a patch of
+green lawn that sloped away from Trewinion Hall. A vision of Madeline
+Grover came back to him for a second and vanished.</p>
+
+<p>"If it be God's will," he said to himself, reverently, and with a smile
+upon his face he continued his way.</p>
+
+<p>During the dinner hour he lodged the precious draft in the bank, and
+then hurried back to the mine again. In a day or two he got word that
+the draft was quite in order, and had been duly honoured. With that
+message vanished his last fear, for he had dreamed the previous night
+that the whole thing was a hoax and the draft not worth the paper on
+which it was printed.</p>
+
+<p>His first act was to pay back Felix Muller what he owed him with
+interest. This he did by cheque.</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot see him," he said to himself. "He would pour ridicule on my
+beliefs, and laugh my new-found faith to scorn. Moreover, I am not sure
+that he will be grateful, and I would not like my faith in him to be
+totally destroyed."</p>
+
+<p>Saturday, being half-holiday, he made his way to Tregannon, to see his
+grandparents and tell them the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_347" id="Page_347">[Pg 347]</a></span> news. The old folks were greatly
+excited, and the Rev. Reuben hunted up all the papers and correspondence
+dealing with his son's property. The names of Seaward and Graythorne did
+not appear, however, in any of the documents; nor was the name of Judge
+Cowley ever mentioned.</p>
+
+<p>"I do not understand it at all," the old man said in his most solemn
+tones. "But then what can you expect in a new country like America?
+Everything appears to be haphazard and go-as-you-like."</p>
+
+<p>"Haphazard or no," Rufus replied, "the property has not been all eaten
+up by the lawyers."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, yes," the old gentleman said, reflectively, "there would appear
+after all, to be some sense of honesty and justice in the country. But
+why don't you take a journey across and look after things for yourself?"</p>
+
+<p>Rufus gave a little start, and looked at his grandfather with a
+questioning light in his eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"I mean it," the old man said, quietly. "If I were a few years younger
+nothing would please me better."</p>
+
+<p>"It had never occurred to me," Rufus replied, slowly and thoughtfully.</p>
+
+<p>"Then think about it. You can travel cheaply in these days; besides, you
+may be able to pick up ideas."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, that is true," he answered, reflectively. "At any rate it is worth
+considering."</p>
+
+<p>For the rest of the evening Rufus thought of little else. Conversation
+ranged over a dozen topics, but he heard scarcely half of what was said.
+Constantly his thoughts harked back to his grandfather's suggestion, and
+his eyes caught a far-away expression.</p>
+
+<p>"I think you are tired," his granny said to him at length, and she
+looked at him with a quizzical smile on her wrinkled face.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_348" id="Page_348">[Pg 348]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I am a little."</p>
+
+<p>"Will you remain while we have prayers?" she questioned, hesitatingly.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes granny. I would like to hear grandfather pray again."</p>
+
+<p>They both started, and looked at him and then at each other, but neither
+made any remark.</p>
+
+<p>The chapter the old man read was a long one, and the prayer was longer
+still, but Rufus showed no sign of weariness. In fact, the little
+granny's quick ears fancied they heard a whispered "Amen" when the
+prayer ended.</p>
+
+<p>Rufus rose slowly from his knees with a serene look upon his handsome
+face.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear boy, we have never ceased praying for you," his granny said,
+placing her thin hands upon his strong shoulders and looking up into his
+face.</p>
+
+<p>"I hope you will continue to pray for me," he answered, quietly. "I
+shall need all your prayers."</p>
+
+<p>"Rufus?" the old man said, in a questioning tone, and he turned suddenly
+and looked into his grandson's eyes.</p>
+
+<p>Rufus felt that, having said so much, he was bound to say more.</p>
+
+<p>"No, grandfather," he answered, quietly; "you must not claim me as a
+returning prodigal. Your creed is as far beyond me as ever. But&mdash;I
+think&mdash;I think I have found the Christ."</p>
+
+<p>Instantly the old man's arms were about his neck, and, raising his face,
+he laughed aloud.</p>
+
+<p>"It is enough," he said, exultantly. "It is enough! To God be all the
+praise."</p>
+
+<p>The ice being broken, conversation flowed in a deeper channel, and when
+the Rev. Reuben laid his head upon his pillow that night, it was with a
+kindlier<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_349" id="Page_349">[Pg 349]</a></span> feeling in his heart for those who doubted, and with a larger
+charity for those who preached a broader creed.</p>
+
+<p>"It is very strange," he mused, "that my preaching should have driven
+the lad to doubt, while the preaching of my successor should have helped
+him back to faith."</p>
+
+<p>On the following morning Rufus went with the old people to chapel. The
+place seemed very cool and restful after the glare of the sunshine
+outside, and while the familiar hymns were being sung he felt like a boy
+again.</p>
+
+<p>Marshall Brook took for his text: "Are ye not better than many
+sparrows?" It was a quiet, thoughtful, searching sermon, without
+dogmatism and with no trace of declamation. The care of the Great Father
+for His children, the doctrine of a Divine Providence, was unfolded
+carefully, lucidly, reasonably. There was no attempt to ignore
+difficulties or to give scientific objections the go-by. Providence was
+not in conflict with the operations of nature. Providence worked on
+parallel lines. The universal Spirit was ever moving upon the hearts of
+men, suggesting, inspiring, renewing.</p>
+
+<p>"I am hungry and in need," said the preacher, "and someone is moved to
+bring me help. Why did he think of me at all? Who put the impulse into
+his heart? Ordinarily, it may be, he is not a generous man; yet he
+trampled down his selfishness, and came to my succour when I needed it
+most.</p>
+
+<p>"Was it a miracle? Not in the ordinary sense, and yet in truth it was a
+miracle. To me it was the interposition of God's Providence. God saw my
+need and sent His help."</p>
+
+<p>Rufus did not hear the end of the sermon. He was thinking of his own
+case. Help came to him when he needed it most. He had prayed for death,
+prayed that he might be saved from an act which was unworthy<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_350" id="Page_350">[Pg 350]</a></span> of any
+true man. And in the very nick of time salvation came. Was it a mere
+accident, a stroke of luck, a fortunate turn in the wheel of chance? Or
+was it Providence, an impulse or an inspiration from the all-pervading
+Spirit?</p>
+
+<p>His faith was but a tender plant as yet, and it would need much
+watchfulness and care if it was to grow.</p>
+
+<p>He was brought back from his reflections by the announcement of Cowper's
+well-known hymn:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">God moves in a mysterious way<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">His wonders to perform;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">He plants His footsteps in the sea<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">And rides upon the storm.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Rufus stood up with the rest and tried to sing, but a lump rose in his
+throat constantly and threatened to choke him. It seemed as if every
+line met his case and expressed some experience of his own:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Blind unbelief is sure to err,<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">And scan His work in vain:<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">God is His own interpreter,<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">And He will make it plain.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>The congregation sang on with deep feeling and emotion. Most of them had
+known trouble. Many had experienced the joy of deliverance. And the tune
+was one that seemed exactly to suit the words:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">His purposes will ripen fast,<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">Unfolding every hour.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The bud may have a bitter taste,<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">But sweet will be the flower.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>How wonderfully true and apposite it all was! More than once he swept
+his hand across his eyes to remove the mist that had gathered. Surely
+God had led him to that little chapel that morning. He knelt with the
+rest when the benediction was pronounced, and breathed an audible "Amen"
+at the close.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_351" id="Page_351">[Pg 351]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Marshall Brook walked home with him and remained to dinner and to
+afternoon tea. But they did not spend the time in discussing knotty
+theological problems; their talk ran on the strange happenings and
+experiences of life.</p>
+
+<p>After the evening's service Rufus walked all the way back to St. Gaved,
+so that he might be in time for his work on the following morning. The
+way did not seem a bit long. He had so much to think about, so much to
+dream about, so much to be grateful for and to rejoice in, that the old
+church tower loomed into sight before he knew he had covered half the
+distance.</p>
+
+<p>He astonished Captain Tom next morning by throwing up his post.</p>
+
+<p>"You really don't mean it?" was the incredulous reply.</p>
+
+<p>"I do. I am going to America, and the sooner you can let me off the
+better I shall be pleased." And he told Captain Tom some of the things
+that had happened.</p>
+
+<p>"You are in the right of it, sonny," was the reply. "Yes, you are in the
+right," and he laughed, good-humouredly. "And, mark my words, we shall
+see some time what we shall see."</p>
+
+<p>"No doubt about that," Rufus answered, with a smile.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm glad you think so. Yes, some time we shall see what we shall see,"
+and he laughed again. "But,"&mdash;and he took off his hat and scratched his
+head, "my stars! but won't it be just&mdash;&mdash;Well, well, we'll wait and see.
+You have my best wishes, sonny, and my blessing."</p>
+
+<p>On the following Saturday but one, Rufus sailed for New York.</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_352" id="Page_352">[Pg 352]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXIV" id="CHAPTER_XXXIV"></a>CHAPTER XXXIV</h2>
+
+<h3>DISCOVERIES</h3>
+
+
+<p>On reaching New York Rufus made his way at once to the office of Messrs.
+Seaward and Graythorne. He discovered that Mr. Seaward had been dead a
+dozen years and that Mr. Graythorne was a man well advanced in life.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Graythorne received him without enthusiasm, and with some slight
+evidence of embarrassment, and during the time they talked he appeared
+to be preoccupied and more or less distraught.</p>
+
+<p>Rufus wondered if this was some new type of American that he had not
+heard of, or whether it was merely professional dignity. He had to drag
+everything out of him, and what he did say appeared to be capable of
+divers interpretations.</p>
+
+<p>Rufus wanted facts about his father's property&mdash;why the litigation had
+continued so long, what was the nature of the claims that had to be
+considered, in what court or courts the litigants were heard, and on
+what principle the distribution of funds had been made.</p>
+
+<p>But to none of these questions could he get an intelligible answer. Mr.
+Graythorne talked vaguely and ponderously. He enlarged on American law
+in general, pointed out how different methods obtained in different
+States, showed how the interests of clients were safeguarded by the
+judges of the supreme courts, and how the wastefulness of English
+Chancery cases was avoided by the simpler American methods.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_353" id="Page_353">[Pg 353]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>But all this failed to touch the real point at issue. Rufus became
+pertinacious, and Mr. Graythorne somewhat restive.</p>
+
+<p>In the end the lawyer had to admit that he knew little about the matter.
+It was a very old case, and his partner, Mr. Seaward, had been dead a
+dozen years. A hint was given that Mr. Seaward had the case in hand at
+the beginning, but at present the case was entirely in the hands of the
+judge. The claims were disposed of as they rose; in time they would all
+be disposed of. He (Mr. Graythorne) had been commissioned to forward
+five thousand dollars, which he had done. If he received any similar
+commission he would execute it with the greatest pleasure.</p>
+
+<p>Rufus left the lawyer's office feeling not a little perplexed, and ten
+minutes later Mr. Graythorne descended to the street with a look of
+annoyance on his face.</p>
+
+<p>Getting on to the elevated railway, he was soon speeding in the
+direction of Central Park. Alighting at length, he made his way slowly
+along a quiet street for some considerable distance, paused for a moment
+in front of a house that had no distinguishing features, then ran
+lightly up the steps and rang the door bell.</p>
+
+<p>He was ushered by a maid-servant into a comfortably but modestly
+furnished room, where he flung himself into an easy chair and waited.</p>
+
+<p>In a few seconds a light step sounded outside; the door was pushed
+quickly open, and Madeline Grover came smiling and radiant into the
+room. The old lawyer rose slowly, and his face relaxed.</p>
+
+<p>"This is an unexpected pleasure," she said, brightly. "Have you been
+hearing again from Sir Charles?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not a word. It's the other man we have to deal with now."</p>
+
+<p>"What other man?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_354" id="Page_354">[Pg 354]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Why the man I sent the money to, of course."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, what of him?"</p>
+
+<p>"He's in New York, and has nearly worried the life out of me this
+morning!"</p>
+
+<p>"In New York!" and the hot blood rushed suddenly to her neck and face.</p>
+
+<p>"In New York! And if he don't clear out soon there'll be complications!"</p>
+
+<p>"Why has he come?"</p>
+
+<p>"To look after his property, of course. Are you surprised?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am a little. It never occurred to me that he might come to America."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, he has come, and the question is whether you are going to
+make&mdash;well, a clean breast of it, or allow him to ferret it out
+himself?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! he must not know for the world!" she said, in a tone of alarm.</p>
+
+<p>"He's bound to get to know sooner or later that somebody has made him a
+present of five thousand dollars&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"No, it is only a loan," she interrupted, quickly.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Graythorne laughed. "A loan that was never to be paid, eh? A loan by
+an anonymous lender? Well, what's in a name? Call it a loan if the word
+pleases you better."</p>
+
+<p>"But you know what I mean. Some day, of course,&mdash;years and years hence,
+when nothing matters"&mdash;and she blushed uncomfortably; "but just now
+nothing need be said or even hinted&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I understand," he said, with a twitching of the lips.</p>
+
+<p>"You know very well that he has property out West somewhere, which he is
+bound to come into possession of soon, and it seemed a pity that he
+should starve and perhaps die while waiting for it."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_355" id="Page_355">[Pg 355]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Well, yes; the motive does you credit."</p>
+
+<p>"You ascertained beforehand, as you know, that he would have plenty to
+pay me back with later on, and, after all, the sum was only a small
+one."</p>
+
+<p>"To you, perhaps."</p>
+
+<p>"But to him it would mean everything, and I owe him more than gold can
+ever pay. As I told you before, he saved my life and nearly lost his own
+in doing it."</p>
+
+<p>"Quite a pretty little romance, I own; worked up into a story it would
+read very well. But how about the present situation?"</p>
+
+<p>"He must not know, of course."</p>
+
+<p>"And you expect me, a lawyer, to equivocate&mdash;to say one thing and mean
+another&mdash;to talk, as it were, with my tongue in my cheek? Oh, Miss
+Grover, what would become of the profession&mdash;I mean morally&mdash;if all
+clients were like you?"</p>
+
+<p>"It would be much nearer the kingdom," she said, with a laugh. "I don't
+ask you to tell lies; I only ask you to hold your tongue."</p>
+
+<p>"But it is much easier said than done. You know this young man, and he
+ain't no fool either; and he has a pretty little way of asking
+point-blank questions. And if I ain't mistaken he can draw an inference
+as slick as most folks."</p>
+
+<p>"But lawyers never reveal secrets," she said, smiling at him with her
+eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing more quickly awakens suspicion than silence," he said. "And if
+he once gets on the trail&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"He cannot possibly find me among eighty millions of people scattered
+over this continent."</p>
+
+<p>"But suppose he were to drop on you by accident?" and the old lawyer
+pretended to be looking at a picture on the other side of the room.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_356" id="Page_356">[Pg 356]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>She tried her best to keep back the tell-tale blush, but it would come.
+"Oh, we should shake hands," she said, in a tone of indifference, "and
+pretend to be surprised, of course, and then we should talk about what
+had happened in St. Gaved since I left."</p>
+
+<p>"He is a very handsome young man," the lawyer said absently.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, he is rather good-looking, isn't he?" and the colour grew deeper
+on her usually pale face.</p>
+
+<p>"I think you told me once you admired his spirit?"</p>
+
+<p>"I admire him very much."</p>
+
+<p>"And if he calls to-morrow I must say no more than I have said to-day?"</p>
+
+<p>"Say what you like so long as you keep my name out of it."</p>
+
+<p>"And you don't want to see him? And you wouldn't for the world that he
+should know you are alive in New York City?"</p>
+
+<p>"For the present at any rate."</p>
+
+<p>"I think I understand," he said, gravely, but a smile twinkled in the
+corner of his eye.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile Rufus was busy reading through once more the papers he had
+obtained from his grandfather. He folded them up at length and replaced
+them in his portmanteau.</p>
+
+<p>"It's not a bit of use waiting here," he said to himself. "That old
+lawyer knows no more about it than I do. I'll go westward to-night."</p>
+
+<p>The next morning found him in the busy town of Pittsburg, where he spent
+a couple of days making inquiries; then he pressed forward again until
+he reached Reboth, on the borders of Ohio.</p>
+
+<p>Settling himself in the most comfortable hotel he could find he
+commenced his investigations. It was here his father had lived for
+several years. It was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_357" id="Page_357">[Pg 357]</a></span> here he died. Reboth was only a village then. Its
+mineral wealth was unknown; its blast furnaces had not been lighted, its
+coal seams undiscovered. Joshua Sterne foresaw some of its
+possibilities, and invested all his savings, lived long enough to see
+the prospect of great wealth, and then almost suddenly passed out of
+life.</p>
+
+<p>After that followed years of litigation, Joshua Sterne had left no one
+who could fight his battles. The widow quickly yielded up the ghost, and
+the Rev. Reuben was too far away, too other-worldly, too lacking in
+business tact, and too suspicious of American lawyers and American ways
+to follow up any advantage that came to him.</p>
+
+<p>The litigants appeared to be numberless. Disputes arose over boundaries.
+Part of the property appeared to be in Pennsylvania and part in Ohio.
+Different States had different laws. The findings of one court were
+rejected by another. So the fight went on in a fitful and desultory way
+year after year. Some of the claimants died and their heirs dropped the
+struggle. Others had their claims allowed. Others who never had any real
+case gave up the contention. But there were a few who held on like grim
+death. They had no real claim, but they hoped for a good deal, and in
+the end they succeeded in the case being hung up indefinitely.</p>
+
+<p>In time it was practically forgotten. New judges were appointed.
+Important questions came before them which demanded immediate attention.
+The papers relating to the Sterne property grew yellow in their
+pigeon-holes. The rents accumulated, but the mineral wealth remained
+undeveloped.</p>
+
+<p>One of the first discoveries Rufus made was that there had been no
+distribution of profits.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_358" id="Page_358">[Pg 358]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"There must be some mistake," he declared.</p>
+
+<p>But the court was positive. There had been some inquiries lately through
+a New York solicitor, but beyond that there was no record of any kind
+for several years, but certainly no money had been paid.</p>
+
+<p>Rufus felt bewildered. Why should Mr. Graythorne send him five thousand
+dollars on such a pretence? Why should anybody be so generous? Who was
+there in the whole of America who knew him or cared two straws whether
+he lived or died? As a matter of fact, he did not know a single soul on
+all that broad continent. But stop&mdash;&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>All the colour left his face in a moment. He did know one person.
+Madeline Grover was in America. Had she done this?</p>
+
+<p>He felt himself trembling from head to foot; the very suggestion meant
+so much.</p>
+
+<p>That night he lay awake for hours thinking. He recalled the night after
+his return from Tregannon&mdash;the long walk he had with Madeline Grover
+across the downs, the frank confession he made to her of his toils and
+struggles, the generous sympathy she had extended to him. It was their
+last walk and talk. He remembered now he had told her how his father's
+savings had been lost at Reboth, and how they had long given up hope of
+recovering a penny of it.</p>
+
+<p>"I must get to know somehow," he said to himself. "Bless her! If she has
+done this she is the noblest woman on earth."</p>
+
+<p>Rufus was not long in getting his father's case reopened. There were
+only two men left to be dealt with. The claims of the others had gone by
+default. The court was anxious that the case should be disposed of once
+for all.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_359" id="Page_359">[Pg 359]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Rufus employed the cleverest lawyer he could find, and together they
+struggled through the whole case from the beginning.</p>
+
+<p>"Look here," said the lawyer; "if these fellows are ugly it may last
+years longer."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Mr. Mason, what do you advise?" Rufus questioned.</p>
+
+<p>"Come to terms with them."</p>
+
+<p>"They may not be reasonable."</p>
+
+<p>"Or they may be. They don't appear to have the ghost of a claim, but
+they may keep the thing hanging on for ever and ever."</p>
+
+<p>"There can be no harm in making the attempt," Rufus said.</p>
+
+<p>"Then I will see their solicitors at once."</p>
+
+<p>Rufus hung about Reboth two months longer, hoping, expecting, sometimes
+despairing. But in the end all the parties agreed that a bird in the
+hand was worth two in the bush. So terms were accepted and ratified by
+the court.</p>
+
+<p>"Now," said Mr. Mason, "you can begin to develop your property."</p>
+
+<p>"You think it is valuable?"</p>
+
+<p>"No doubt about that. If it had been worthless the whole thing would
+have been settled a generation ago."</p>
+
+<p>"But how should I begin?"</p>
+
+<p>"Form a syndicate. Let me take the matter in hand for you."</p>
+
+<p>Rufus was eager to go in search of Madeline. But he found himself,
+suddenly, one of the busiest men, so he believed, in the United States.
+Moreover, he refused to be rushed. A good many American methods he did
+not like, and would not have. There was any number of capitalists ready
+to stake large sums<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_360" id="Page_360">[Pg 360]</a></span> in the new venture. Any number of Stock Exchange
+men who flickered around like flies. Any number of sharpers who tried
+the confidence trick, but tried it in vain.</p>
+
+<p>In a great many instances Yankee cuteness was pitted against British
+caution and common-sense, and in the end the caution and common-sense
+won the day.</p>
+
+<p>Moreover, Rufus's sense of accountability was particularly keen. He had
+only just come out of the furnace, in which he had been tried as few men
+have been tried. The consciousness of God had not been blurred by long
+years of professionalism. There was no latent or acquired taint of
+Pharisaism in his nature. His faith was as pure and simple as that of a
+child.</p>
+
+<p>He might have made his pile in a week in an exciting gamble. On the mere
+chance of mineral being found he might have become a rich man; but he
+refused to proceed on those lines. He wanted occupation for himself. He
+wanted moral authority for all he did.</p>
+
+<p>The breathless haste to be rich which he saw all around him almost made
+him angry. The majority of men seemed to be too eager to be honest, they
+were tumbling over each other in their passion to be first in the field.</p>
+
+<p>The Rebothites began to understand the young Englishman after a while,
+and to respect him. His sterling honesty, his refusal to take a mean
+advantage, won their admiration. It might not be business. Judged by
+local standards, his conduct was Quixotic. They could not understand a
+man who was not eager and impatient to scoop up the dollars when he had
+the chance. But they had to take him as they found him, and in their
+hearts they admired him while they blamed him.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_361" id="Page_361">[Pg 361]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Rufus came slowly to the consciousness that he was a man of considerable
+importance. Slowly, too, he realised that in time he would be a rich
+man, not through any merit of his own, but through the judgment and
+foresight of his father.</p>
+
+<p>For months he only thought of Madeline Grover at odd moments. He was too
+busy with the tasks that had been thrown suddenly upon him. Fresh duties
+appeared nearly every day, and better still, from his point of view,
+fresh opportunities were given for the exercise of his inventive talent.</p>
+
+<p>He was no longer cribbed, and cabined, and confined. There was a sense
+of freedom he had never known in other days. He had room to work in,
+scope for all his energies, and release from the bars and bands imposed
+by a landed aristocracy. There were many things American he cordially
+disliked, but the air of freedom that was over everything was most
+exhilarating. He felt as though his brain worked with only half the
+effort, and with no slightest sense of weariness.</p>
+
+<p>Besides all that, he was free to adopt new methods. Nobody was bound by
+precedent. He could exercise his inventive faculty without hostility and
+without criticism. Hence, life became to him a daily unfolding of fresh
+interests.</p>
+
+<p>The days grew rapidly into weeks, and the weeks into months. Autumn gave
+place to winter, and winter to spring, and spring to summer, and summer
+began to fade into autumn once more. He had expected to be in Reboth a
+month, and he had been there a year. And what a year it had been! The
+most crowded year of his life, and the most formative. He had found his
+feet at last, had taken the measure of his strength, and realised some
+of the things of which he was capable.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_362" id="Page_362">[Pg 362]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>He heard from his grandfather every week, and now and then he got a
+letter from Captain Tom Hendy; but the old life was becoming more and
+more distant, while the last six months he spent in St. Gaved seemed
+like a hideous dream.</p>
+
+<p>And yet there were times when it seemed an integral and necessary part
+of the great scheme of his life. A cog in the wheel that couldn't be
+dispensed with. How strangely he had been led, step by step, through
+darkness to light, through pain to peace.</p>
+
+<p>It was not until nearly the end of September that he was able to leave
+Reboth for a little excursion to New York. He felt sure that Madeline
+was in that city, and his heart was aching for another sight of her
+face.</p>
+
+<p>That he might have great difficulty in finding her he saw clearly
+enough, but after all he had passed through, nothing seemed impossible.
+He might fail in his first effort, and in his second, but he resolved to
+let nothing daunt him or lead him to give up the quest. Life could never
+be complete for him until he had found her. He must have answers to the
+questions that were baffling him to-day&mdash;must know the best or the
+worst.</p>
+
+<p>So he made preparations for a stay of months, if necessary. But in his
+heart there was a secret hope that Providence was guiding him still.</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_363" id="Page_363">[Pg 363]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXV" id="CHAPTER_XXXV"></a>CHAPTER XXXV</h2>
+
+<h3>CONFLICTING EMOTIONS</h3>
+
+
+<p>Madeline was at the Harvey Mansion, having afternoon tea with her
+friend, Kitty. Since their accidental meeting on the promenade at Nice,
+not many days passed that they did not see each other.</p>
+
+<p>"You will have to go with us," Kitty was saying to her friend. "If you
+don't I guess I shall mope myself to death."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no, you won't," Madeline answered. "You will have lots of company,
+and any amount of excitement."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I don't know. Father is beginning to think more about the climate
+than anything else. He fancies that New York winters try his health, and
+what I fear is he'll steer the <i>Skylark</i> away down into the South Seas
+somewhere, and stick there."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, wouldn't that be very jolly?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know. It might be jolly miserable. It all depends on one's
+company. If you'll promise to go with us, I won't raise any more
+objections."</p>
+
+<p>"Have you been raising objections?"</p>
+
+<p>"Tons. I much prefer wintering in New York City."</p>
+
+<p>"I should like to visit the South Seas very much," Madeline said,
+meditatively, "only&mdash;&mdash;," then she hesitated.</p>
+
+<p>"Only what?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, the truth is, I am going to be a home-bird," Madeline answered,
+with a slight tinge of colour in her cheeks.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_364" id="Page_364">[Pg 364]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Oh, that's all fiddlesticks. You haven't a single tie on all this
+continent. You are your own mistress; you can do precisely what you like
+without any one calling you to account, and&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I admit all you say," Madeline answered, with a smile. "Nevertheless,
+it is quite true that what appeals to me most is a quiet life in my own
+little home."</p>
+
+<p>"I wonder you don't get married."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you see," Madeline answered, blushing slightly, "the man I
+expected to marry did not come up to my expectations."</p>
+
+<p>"But surely one hailstone doesn't make a winter."</p>
+
+<p>"That is quite true. But perhaps one gets suspicious as one gets older."</p>
+
+<p>"You have had offers enough, I am sure."</p>
+
+<p>"Have I? How knowing you are, Kitty."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, one needn't be a philosopher to put two and two together. By the
+bye, do you ever hear anything of your rejected suitor?"</p>
+
+<p>"Occasionally. He's recently had another big disappointment."</p>
+
+<p>"In the matrimonial line?"</p>
+
+<p>"It seems so."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, do tell me all about it."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you know I get all my news through dear old Mr. Graythorne. The
+Tregonys have dropped me altogether, as you know."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, you've told me that before."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, it would seem that Captain Tregony, soon after his return from
+Nice last year, fell in love with a widow lady, and they were to have
+been married some time this fall."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"And now the lady has refused to marry him."</p>
+
+<p>"For what reason?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_365" id="Page_365">[Pg 365]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Oh, well, it's a curious story rather, and I'm not sure that I know all
+the ins and outs of it. But there was a young fellow in St. Gaved&mdash;a
+very clever young fellow, but poor&mdash;whom the Captain for some reason
+hated. One night they met and quarrelled, and this young fellow punished
+the Captain terribly. Well, don't you see that for a soldier to be
+thrashed by a civilian is terribly humiliating. So what did he do in
+order to cover himself but invent a story that the young fellow was mad
+drunk, that he sprang upon him unawares, and would have murdered him if
+the gardener had not come upon the scene, and in order to place his
+story beyond dispute he bribed the barman of a public-house to swear
+that on the evening in question the young fellow was so drunk that he
+(the barman) refused to serve him with any more whisky."</p>
+
+<p>"What a shame!"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, recently, this barman, who was prosecuted for poaching on Sir
+Charles Tregony's estates, and who was angry because the Captain did not
+shield him, just blurted out all the truth. Of course, I know nothing of
+the details, but from all Mr. Graystone has been able to gather there
+was immense excitement in St. Gaved. Mrs. Nancarrow, the lady to whom he
+had become engaged, refused to see him again, while the people were so
+incensed against him that he was glad to leave Trewinion Hall under
+cover of darkness, and, at present, no one, outside the members of his
+own family, appears to know where he is."</p>
+
+<p>"What a horrid man!"</p>
+
+<p>"And yet, when I met him first, he was most fascinating."</p>
+
+<p>"It's a mercy for you the fascination wore off. But tell me: did you
+know the young man the Captain tried to disgrace?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_366" id="Page_366">[Pg 366]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"A little. But you see the Tregonys had practically no intercourse with
+what they termed the common people."</p>
+
+<p>"He will be greatly relieved that his name has been cleared."</p>
+
+<p>"If he knows&mdash;which, no doubt, he does by this time."</p>
+
+<p>"Why by this time?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because he left the country a year ago."</p>
+
+<p>"Why did he leave the country?"</p>
+
+<p>"To better his fortune, I expect. But would you mind giving me another
+cup of tea? The year I spent on the other side the water made me an
+inveterate tea-drinker."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll not only give you another cup of tea, I'll give you the entire
+tea-service if you'll promise to go with us on the <i>Skylark</i>."</p>
+
+<p>"How generous you are!"</p>
+
+<p>"Generosity is my besetting sin as a matter of fact. But say you'll
+promise."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, you must give me time to think the matter over. I can't decide in a
+moment."</p>
+
+<p>"Why not? You've no one to consult but yourself."</p>
+
+<p>"But if self should happen to be divided against self?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, you are just too tantalising for words. I believe there is someone
+in New York you want to capture."</p>
+
+<p>"No, Kitty, dear, you are quite mistaken. The young men of New York
+don't appeal to me in the least."</p>
+
+<p>"Then I'll go on badgering you until you promise. In fact, I'll set
+poppa on to you."</p>
+
+<p>"Please don't," and Madeline rose from her chair and began to pull on
+her gloves.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_367" id="Page_367">[Pg 367]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>That evening, in the privacy of her own room, Madeline debated seriously
+with herself whether or not she should accept the Harveys' invitation.
+For many things, she would like to winter in a more genial clime. New
+York was by no means an ideal city when the thermometer was at zero, and
+the streets were blocked with snow. In fact, it was not an ideal city
+under any circumstances, and but that most of her friends were there,
+she would gladly pitch her tent somewhere else.</p>
+
+<p>There was the further fact to be considered, that the departure of the
+Harveys meant the departure of the people whom she liked best of all,
+and New York would be terribly dull when their mansion was no longer
+open to her to run in and out as she liked.</p>
+
+<p>"I think I'll accept their invitation," she said to herself. "It will be
+a change, and it's awfully good of them to ask me." Then she hesitated
+and looked abstractedly out of the window.</p>
+
+<p>"It will mean an absence of six months at least," she went on, after a
+long pause, and she gave a little sigh and withdrew her eyes from the
+window.</p>
+
+<p>"It is curious that my thoughts will so constantly turn in the same
+direction," she thought, with another little sigh. "I surely don't owe
+him any more now. I have paid my debt as far as any human being can pay
+it. Why cannot I put the whole episode out of my life?"</p>
+
+<p>A ring came to the door-bell after awhile, and her old solicitor was
+shown in.</p>
+
+<p>"I am so glad you have come," she said, with a smile. "I want you to
+help me decide a question that I'm unable to decide for myself."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm always at your service," he said, genially; "but what's troubling
+your little head now?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_368" id="Page_368">[Pg 368]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"The Harveys want me to go with them on a yachting cruise."</p>
+
+<p>"Well?"</p>
+
+<p>"I can't make up my mind whether to go or not."</p>
+
+<p>"What is there to keep you here?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing."</p>
+
+<p>"Then why hesitate?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know. I'm growing to like my little home very much."</p>
+
+<p>"You mustn't become a hermit. My advice is go."</p>
+
+<p>"You really mean that?"</p>
+
+<p>"I do. Mind you, I shall miss you very much, but all the same, such a
+chance may not come to you again."</p>
+
+<p>"Then I'll take your advice."</p>
+
+<p>"By the bye, I heard news this morning of your Cornish friend."</p>
+
+<p>"Sir Charles Tregony?"</p>
+
+<p>"No; the other one."</p>
+
+<p>"You mean&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"The same! He's evidently done well out of the money you lent him."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes?"</p>
+
+<p>"I've been following him up as well as I could ever since that day he
+called on me."</p>
+
+<p>"So you've told me before."</p>
+
+<p>"But a man was in my office this morning who knows him, who lives in
+Reboth, in fact, and who has watched him closely."</p>
+
+<p>"Well?"</p>
+
+<p>"He says if he keeps on he'll be one of the most remarkable men in the
+State of Pennsylvania."</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed?"</p>
+
+<p>"That's what he says. At the beginning, the financiers swarmed round him
+like bees. But he wasn't to be had. He just went his own way. Slow<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_369" id="Page_369">[Pg 369]</a></span>
+according to American notions, but that's the man. Level-headed as they
+make 'em, and honest to a fault."</p>
+
+<p>"A man can't be too honest, surely?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, business is so rushed in these days that a man has no time to
+look up the commandments before he decides. If he don't seize his chance
+on the dot it's gone."</p>
+
+<p>"Better the chance should go than that he should lose his honour."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, that is a very fine sentiment, no doubt&mdash;a very fine sentiment.
+And your friend, it seems, acts up to it."</p>
+
+<p>"And what has he lost in consequence?"</p>
+
+<p>"Heaps they say. Not permanently, perhaps; for as it happens, the iron
+is of better quality than was expected. But he might have made his pile
+right off without trouble or risk."</p>
+
+<p>"And without giving any honest <i>quid pro quo</i>?"</p>
+
+<p>"Those who speculate must take their chance, my child. If people are
+willing to take risks, why let 'em. Suppose there had been no iron at
+all?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, what then?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, he would have been the poorer by hundreds of thousands of
+dollars."</p>
+
+<p>"That might not be to his disadvantage. 'A man's life consisteth not in
+the abundance of the things he possesseth.'"</p>
+
+<p>"Most people think it does, at any rate."</p>
+
+<p>"But you know majorities are nearly always wrong."</p>
+
+<p>"Excuse me, I claim no such knowledge. I know that majorities rule."</p>
+
+<p>"And rule oppressively frequently."</p>
+
+<p>"That may be so. Human nature is essentially tyrannical. Give a man
+power, and, without great grace, he becomes a tyrant right off."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_370" id="Page_370">[Pg 370]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I don't think Rufus Sterne would ever become a tyrant."</p>
+
+<p>"He might, my child, under some circumstances. Never trust a man too
+far. I hear he is coming east."</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed!"</p>
+
+<p>"Has some new scheme on hand, I expect," and Mr. Graythorne picked up
+his hat and smiled knowingly.</p>
+
+<p>Left alone again, the look of perplexity in Madeline's eyes deepened.
+She had told Mr. Graythorne that she would take his advice and accept
+the Harveys' invitation. But she was disposed to change her mind again.
+She did not want to leave New York at present. She might hide the truth
+from other people, but she could not hide it from herself, that if Rufus
+Sterne came to New York she wanted to see him.</p>
+
+<p>She would not own to herself that she was in love, or anything
+approaching it. But she was undeniably interested. She had been from the
+first. Rufus Sterne appealed to her as no other man had done. His
+loneliness, his self-reliance, his courage, his independence made him an
+object of curiosity, to use no stronger term.</p>
+
+<p>Moreover, there was a certain aloofness about him&mdash;a curious air of
+detachment, that quickened her curiosity into something she had no name
+for. In their last conversation he had been wonderfully frank&mdash;had
+opened his heart to her in a way that touched her sympathies to the
+quick, yet she knew she had not fathomed him yet. She had a feeling all
+the time that he was greater than he appeared, that his reticence was
+much more marked than its opposite.</p>
+
+<p>He had suffered wrong without a murmur, and suffered wrong for her sake.
+He had kept her name out of what he had called a sordid quarrel, and
+gone<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_371" id="Page_371">[Pg 371]</a></span> on his way in silence, asking no sympathy and seeking no revenge.</p>
+
+<p>How was it possible, therefore, that she could fail to be interested in
+him? He was so different from most of the men she knew. So strong, so
+self-contained, so doggedly determined.</p>
+
+<p>Some day he would find her out; she was sure of that. He was not the
+kind of man to remain in anyone's debt. She did not doubt for a moment
+that he guessed long ago who had sent him the money, but with the true
+instinct of chivalry he had not thrust himself upon her. He had allowed
+the months to go by, and had made no effort to find her; and during
+those months he had proved the stuff of which he was made. In an age of
+rush and greed and money-grabbing he had shown a fidelity to principle
+that even his detractors admired.</p>
+
+<p>He might have "made his pile," in the slang phrase of the time, but he
+had shown no eagerness to do so. He had gambled once with life itself
+(though she did not know that); he would not gamble now with the things
+of life, with what men called "the world."</p>
+
+<p>He had learnt his lesson and he would never forget it. To wrong a
+community was just as wicked as to wrong an individual. He refused to
+treat his employ&eacute;es as "hands"; they were men, not serfs to be
+exploited, but human beings to be protected and helped. He introduced a
+new industrial code and made himself one with his fellows.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Graythorne, who had followed his movements with great interest and
+curiosity, gave hints to Madeline every now and then, though he was
+never quite able to take the measure of Madeline's interest in him.</p>
+
+<p>In truth, however, her interest had been a growing quantity. Silence and
+separation but quickened her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_372" id="Page_372">[Pg 372]</a></span> imagination. The hints and fragments of
+news that reached her concerning him all helped in the same direction.
+His apparent indifference to her made her all the more curious to see
+him again.</p>
+
+<p>"No, I cannot leave New York," she said to herself, at length. "If he
+comes I want to be here. He may think I have tried to discharge my debt
+with dollars and do not want to see him again. To convey such an
+impression would be to wrong myself, and&mdash;and&mdash;him, for there was a
+time&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>She did not finish the sentence, however, but the warm colour stole
+swiftly to her neck and face and a bright light came into her eyes.</p>
+
+<p>On the following day she told the Harveys&mdash;much to Kitty's grief and
+disappointment&mdash;that she could not accept their invitation.</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_373" id="Page_373">[Pg 373]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXVI" id="CHAPTER_XXXVI"></a>CHAPTER XXXVI</h2>
+
+<h3>HIS HEART'S DESIRE</h3>
+
+
+<p>Rufus made his way to New York with the fixed intention of finding
+Madeline Grover if that were possible. He had come to very definite
+conclusions as to the part she had played; but there was a good deal
+still that wanted explaining, and he was eager to get the riddle solved
+and his fate determined once for all.</p>
+
+<p>Of his own feelings he had no doubt. She was the one woman in the world
+he loved or ever could love. He owed to her not only his life, but all
+that made life worth living&mdash;his faith, his vision of God, his hope of
+immortality. It was she who had come to him in the darkest mental and
+moral night that had ever fallen upon him, and had touched his eyes with
+a new vision, and had opened up to him the promise of a larger day.</p>
+
+<p>But what her feelings were in regard to him he did not know. That she
+was grateful he had had proof enough, but gratitude might exist where
+there was little or no love. It might exist even with positive dislike.
+Her attempts to discharge her debt of gratitude might not be any proof
+of affection. They might rather be evidence of a desire to get rid of an
+unpleasant responsibility.</p>
+
+<p>He had hope, however, that Providence was in this as in other things.
+That God had moved her heart to send him help when he needed it most he
+could no longer doubt. And since she had been the inspiration<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_374" id="Page_374">[Pg 374]</a></span> of what
+was best in his life, it might be the purpose of that Higher Will that
+she should stand by his side during the rest of his life.</p>
+
+<p>At any rate, he would prove the matter for himself, as far as it could
+be proved. New York&mdash;or even America&mdash;was not so big but he might find
+her with patience and determination.</p>
+
+<p>On reaching New York he made his way to Mr. Graythorne's office.
+Presuming that it was she who had commissioned him to send the money, he
+would know where she lived. If it was not she, a new riddle would
+confront him, which he would have to try to solve sooner or later.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Graythorne received him, as before, without enthusiasm, and with no
+manifestation of surprise. Indeed, he quite expected that sooner or
+later he would call.</p>
+
+<p>Rufus plunged into the object of his visit without any waste of words.
+Indeed, his first question was so sudden and direct that it threw Mr.
+Graythorne completely off his guard.</p>
+
+<p>"I have called to ask you for the address of Miss Madeline Grover," he
+said.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Graythorne gave a start, and turned half round in his chair.</p>
+
+<p>"Eh&mdash;eh? What's that?" he asked, abruptly.</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Grover is a client of yours, I believe&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Who said she was a client of mine?"</p>
+
+<p>Rufus smiled. "Of course, if you object to give me her address," he
+said, "I will not press the matter."</p>
+
+<p>"I did not say I refuse, but such a request is somewhat unusual. Miss
+Grover may not care to have people calling on her. Her business affairs
+she leaves in my hands."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_375" id="Page_375">[Pg 375]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"And she is no doubt well advised in so doing. But I don't think Miss
+Grover will object to my calling."</p>
+
+<p>"You know her?"</p>
+
+<p>"A little. We met a few times when she was staying with the Tregonys."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, indeed." Mr. Graythorne expected he would say something about the
+five thousand dollars, but that was no part of his programme just then.</p>
+
+<p>The lawyer felt in a quandary. He did not know what to do for the best.
+He could not very well refuse her address, and yet he was not sure she
+would like being pounced upon by this young man without a moment's
+warning. Unfortunately, he could not ring her up, for she had no
+telephone in her house. What was he to do? Rufus stood looking at him
+with a smile on his face.</p>
+
+<p>"If you are acquaintances," he said at length, "that of course settles
+the matter," and he wrote the address on a sheet of paper and handed it
+to his visitor.</p>
+
+<p>Rufus thanked him and turned to go at once.</p>
+
+<p>"Your property has turned out all right, I hear?" the lawyer said,
+insinuatingly.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes, excellently."</p>
+
+<p>"And you finished the litigation?"</p>
+
+<p>"Easily. A little give and take, and the thing was done."</p>
+
+<p>"More give than take, I am told."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps so, but better that than fighting, and bad blood, and ruinous
+lawyers' fees."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Graythorne winced and grew red in the face, and before he could
+recover himself Rufus had slipped out of the room.</p>
+
+<p>It did not take him long to reach the street in which Madeline lived. He
+looked down its long length and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_376" id="Page_376">[Pg 376]</a></span> gave a little sigh of relief. It was
+not a street of mansions. It was unpretentious and comparatively
+obscure.</p>
+
+<p>His heart was beating very fast when he walked slowly up the steps and
+rang the door-bell. He felt as though the supreme moment of his life had
+come.</p>
+
+<p>He was shown into a room that harmonised with the street, quiet, cosy,
+comfortable, but quite unpretentious. He had not to wait many moments.
+Almost before he had time to turn round, the door was pushed open, and
+Madeline stood before him, bright, winning, smiling, and radiantly
+beautiful.</p>
+
+<p>There was no trace of stiffness or embarrassment in her manner. Indeed,
+her greeting was more cordial than he had dared hope for. The
+embarrassment was on his side; he felt he had undertaken a task that
+would tax all his nerve.</p>
+
+<p>"It is like old times to see you again," she said, in her old frank,
+ingenuous way. "Do you remember our last long walk over the downs?"</p>
+
+<p>"Then you have not forgotten?" he replied, with a little sigh of relief.</p>
+
+<p>"Why should I forget? I was so sorry not to see you again."</p>
+
+<p>"I looked out for you once or twice; then I heard you had gone away."</p>
+
+<p>"Did you look out for me? And I wanted so particularly to see you."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes?" he questioned, eagerly.</p>
+
+<p>"I wanted to let you know that I had discovered Gervase Tregony's
+perfidy."</p>
+
+<p>"Before you went away?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; but I was unable to make it known. However, all the truth has come
+out since."</p>
+
+<p>"You have heard?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_377" id="Page_377">[Pg 377]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes. I get Cornish news regularly."</p>
+
+<p>"Then you knew I had left?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes," she answered, with a blush and a smile, "I knew that also."</p>
+
+<p>"I came to look after that disputed property of my father's I once told
+you about," he said, after a pause.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I remember. You said you had given up all hope of ever getting a
+penny."</p>
+
+<p>"You see, my grandfather and I were too far away to look after it, and
+too poor to fight it. So it was just hung up. You have heard, perhaps,
+that it has turned out well?"</p>
+
+<p>She blushed again, and hesitated for a moment. She felt that his eyes
+were upon her. She knew she would gain nothing by fencing. The truth
+would have to come out sooner or later. This man had eyes so clear that
+he could see through all sham and pretence. So she answered quite
+frankly. "My solicitor knows a good deal about Reboth, and he has told
+me."</p>
+
+<p>"You mean Mr. Graythorne?"</p>
+
+<p>His eyes were still upon her and there was no escape.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," she answered, almost in a whisper.</p>
+
+<p>For a moment or two there was an almost painful silence. She felt what
+was coming, and shrank from meeting it. He knew what he wanted to say,
+and yet had scarcely the courage to say it.</p>
+
+<p>"There is something I want to find out very much," he said, at length;
+"perhaps you can help me."</p>
+
+<p>She looked up with an inquiring light in her eyes, but did not reply.</p>
+
+<p>"You heard that my invention failed, or rather that it had been
+forestalled?"</p>
+
+<p>She nodded assent.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_378" id="Page_378">[Pg 378]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"What the failure meant to me only God knew. I had borrowed the money to
+develop and perfect my idea, and when failure came it was overwhelming.
+I was stripped of everything. I look back now as upon a long and hideous
+nightmare. I wonder how I endured?"</p>
+
+<p>He paused for a moment, but she made no reply, but her eyes were full of
+eager interest.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, when the night was darkest, and I was praying for death as the
+only escape for me, a letter came from Messrs. Seaward and Graythorne,
+enclosing a draft for five thousand dollars. The letter was long, and
+more or less incoherent, but it vaguely hinted that the money was a
+first instalment of the property left by my father.</p>
+
+<p>"During that day, and I think for several days after, I was almost
+beside myself with joy. Then I went to see my grandfather, and he and I
+puzzled over the letter, but we could make very little out of it. In the
+end he suggested that I should come to America and look after the
+property myself.</p>
+
+<p>"So I came, and at once called on Messrs. Seaward and Graythorne. Mr.
+Graythorne I found, but I left his office more perplexed than ever. He
+talked in generalities, but he appeared to know little or nothing about
+the matter, though he admitted, of course, sending me the money.</p>
+
+<p>"That night I left New York and made my way to Reboth, where I
+discovered that no distribution of the property left by my father had
+been made. That the whole of it was still in Chancery, as we should say
+in England.</p>
+
+<p>"You can imagine how perplexed I felt, and naturally I began to wonder
+what kind friend had commissioned Mr. Graythorne to send me so much
+money.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_379" id="Page_379">[Pg 379]</a></span> I said to myself: 'There is not a soul on the American continent
+that I know.' Then I remembered that you were here. You will forgive me
+if I wrong you, but I could think, and can think, of no one else. The
+money was my salvation. It not only saved me from despair, but from all
+that follows despair, and now that God has prospered me I want to pay it
+back. May I give it to you?"</p>
+
+<p>Her eyes were full almost to overflowing by this time, but she
+resolutely beat back her emotion.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I will take it back," she answered, slowly. "I am glad it served
+you in the hour of need."</p>
+
+<p>"You meant it as a loan, I know," he said, with a smile.</p>
+
+<p>"That was as God should will," she answered, with her eyes upon the
+floor. "I heard in Nice of your misfortune. I knew from what you told me
+that you had risked your all, and I wondered if I could help you without
+wounding you. As soon as I reached home I commissioned Mr. Graythorne to
+make inquiries about your late father's property in Reboth. It seemed
+certain that you would be well off some day, and so I advanced five
+thousand dollars on account; it was but a small return for all you had
+done for me."</p>
+
+<p>"But I might not have won the suit, might not have discovered who had
+befriended me."</p>
+
+<p>"I should still have been in your debt," she replied, with a smile. "You
+saved my life, you know," and she rose and touched the bell.</p>
+
+<p>He rose also, and moved towards the door.</p>
+
+<p>"No, no," she said, "you must not go, I have rung for tea. I know the
+English habit, and you must be thirsty after so much talking," and she
+laughed merrily.</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you," he said. "I shall be glad of a cup of tea," and he sat down
+again.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_380" id="Page_380">[Pg 380]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Over the teacups conversation became more general, and flowed more
+freely in consequence. They talked about St. Gaved, about the Tregonys,
+and Captain Tom Hendy, and Dr. Pendarvis, and Mrs. Tuke. She related
+some of her experiences at Trewinion Hall, and in London and Nice, and
+how and why she escaped from the guardianship of Sir Charles. The
+afternoon sped like a dream, and when he rose to go, he felt as though a
+new vision of life had been vouchsafed to him.</p>
+
+<p>"You will call again?" she said, when he was leaving.</p>
+
+<p>"May I?" he asked eagerly.</p>
+
+<p>She laughed brightly in his face. "Does our American freedom or our lack
+of British formality shock you?" she questioned.</p>
+
+<p>"No, no. I was not thinking of that at all," he answered, hurriedly.
+"May I call again to-morrow?"</p>
+
+<p>"At the same hour?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"I will wait in for you."</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Rufus remained in New York as many weeks as he had expected to remain
+days. He fixed the date of his return to Reboth time after time, but
+when the day arrived he found some excuse for remaining a day or two
+longer. He did not call to see Madeline every day. Indeed, sometimes for
+days on the stretch he did not go near her house, but he discovered that
+New York furnished endless opportunities for meeting. He got to know
+when she went shopping, and when she rode or drove in the park, and so
+he way-laid her at all sorts of unexpected times, and discovered that
+his interest in her movements was the all-absorbing concern of his
+life.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_381" id="Page_381">[Pg 381]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Their conversation that winter evening on the Downs was picked up at the
+point at which it broke off, and Madeline got a yet clearer insight into
+the human document that had fascinated her from the first.</p>
+
+<p>Rufus opened his heart to Madeline as he never did to any other. Her
+sympathy touched the deepest chords of his emotion, her generosity won
+his confidence.</p>
+
+<p>Bit by bit the truth was revealed to her that she, under God, had been
+his salvation. Her quick imagination saw the path along which he had
+travelled. His loss of faith, his gropings in the desert of a barren
+philosophy.</p>
+
+<p>She saw, too&mdash;not that he told her in so many words&mdash;that the loss of
+all sense of accountability was destroying the moral basis of conduct.
+That his honour was saved to him because he won back his faith.</p>
+
+<p>It was no small satisfaction to her that she, in the supreme crisis of
+his life, had been his helper and his inspiration. If he had saved her,
+she, in a yet deeper sense, had saved him.</p>
+
+<p>That the same thought should grow almost unconsciously in the minds and
+hearts of both was natural&mdash;perhaps inevitable. In due course it would
+blossom into speech.</p>
+
+<p>He returned to Reboth in December&mdash;business demanded his presence&mdash;but
+he was back in New York again in January. Madeline looked up with a
+start of surprise when he was shown into the room in which she was
+reading.</p>
+
+<p>"I hope I do not intrude?" he said, hesitatingly.</p>
+
+<p>"No, no," she replied, with almost childish delight. "I am so glad to
+see you again. But I was not aware you were in New York."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_382" id="Page_382">[Pg 382]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I arrived this morning," he answered, "and so took an early opportunity
+of looking you up."</p>
+
+<p>"You are just in time for afternoon tea, and you must be almost frozen,"
+and she rang the bell at once.</p>
+
+<p>Rufus watched her moving about the room with almost hungry eyes. She was
+so dainty, so lissom, so strong. He wanted to take her in his arms and
+tell her that he loved her more than all else on earth, but he had not
+the courage yet.</p>
+
+<p>He remained not only to tea, but to dinner; and during the evening
+conversation strayed over many subjects.</p>
+
+<p>He was naturally reticent, and greatly disliked talking about himself.
+But when he was with Madeline all reticence disappeared. She was the
+warm sun that thawed the ice. He would have deemed it impossible once
+that he could have told anyone of his spiritual struggles, of the mental
+strain and agony through which he passed before his feet touched the
+rock. But Madeline was like a second self; there was nothing he wanted
+to hide from her.</p>
+
+<p>Before the evening was out he found himself discussing the moral effects
+of materialism.</p>
+
+<p>"It takes away the moral basis of conduct," he said, in reply to one of
+her questions. "I found myself losing the true sense of right and
+wrong&mdash;<i>as</i> right and wrong. Things might be wise or foolish, profitable
+or unprofitable, politic or impolitic; but right and wrong were becoming
+meaningless words in any moral sense. If there is no God there is no
+moral law, and the highest authority is the State."</p>
+
+<p>"But materialists are sometimes very good people?" she questioned.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, that is true; but not because of their philosophy, but in spite of
+it. And yet is not their goodness<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_383" id="Page_383">[Pg 383]</a></span> mainly negative? Do they build
+hospitals, or endow charities, or sacrifice themselves in fighting the
+battles of Temperance and peace and purity? I speak from experience; it
+dulls the moral sensibilities. For a man to lose his sense of God is to
+lose his best. The noblest work of the world is done by the men who
+believe, who endure as seeing Him who is invisible."</p>
+
+<p>"Then you think if you had remained a materialist&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I should have perished," he interrupted, gravely, "and I use that word
+in no thoughtless sense. But God sent me you&mdash;&mdash;" then he paused, and
+for awhile silence fell.</p>
+
+<p>When they began to talk again it was about some entirely different
+matter.</p>
+
+<p>A few days later he called to say good-bye. He was going back to Reboth
+again the following day. For a full hour they chatted in the freest
+manner about matters of no importance. Then he rose suddenly and began
+to button his coat. He shook hands with her in silence and reached the
+door. For a moment he paused with his hand on the knob, then turned
+hurriedly round and faced her. His face was very pale, his lips were
+trembling.</p>
+
+<p>"Madeline," he said, "I cannot go away without telling you that I love
+you. I belong to you. To you I owe more than life. I owe all that makes
+life worth living. You befriended me in my hour of greatest need. You
+led me out of darkness into the light. Will you be my inspiration still,
+my companion, the light of my eyes?"</p>
+
+<p>He paused, almost breathless with the earnestness of his speech.</p>
+
+<p>She stood looking at him, all the colour gone out of her face.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_384" id="Page_384">[Pg 384]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Forgive me if I am presumptuous," he went on, in lower tones. "But I
+have loved you so long, so hopelessly, so passionately, that I could not
+keep the truth back any longer. Yet if you say there is no hope for me I
+will not trouble you again."</p>
+
+<p>She came toward him slowly, a great light shining in her eyes, and
+placed her hands in his.</p>
+
+<p>"You are sure you are not mistaken?" she said, and her eyes grew full of
+tears.</p>
+
+<p>"Mistaken? Oh! Madeline, if I were only so sure of heaven! I have loved
+you since the day you read 'Snow Bound' to me&mdash;loved you with an
+ever-growing passion. I have never loved but you&mdash;I shall never love
+another!"</p>
+
+<p>"Do not all men say that?" she questioned, with a pathetic smile.</p>
+
+<p>"I know not what other men say," he replied, earnestly. "I only know
+that without you life will be dark. Oh! Madeline, have you no word of
+hope for me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Do you need words?" she asked, smiling through her tears into his face.
+"Have I not shown my heart all too plainly?"</p>
+
+<p>"Do you mean that&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>But the sentence was never finished. Swiftly he gathered her in his arms
+till she could feel the beating of his heart against her own. Silently
+their lips met in a passionate seal of love. Then he led her to a couch
+and sat down by her side, and for an hour they talked and the hour
+seemed but as the flying of a shuttle.</p>
+<hr />
+
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_385" id="Page_385">[1]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 15.5em;">CATALOGUE</span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 17.5em;"><small>OF</small></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 12.5em;"><big>THEOLOGICAL,</big></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 14.5em;"><big>ILLUSTRATED</big></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 17em;"><small>AND</small></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 16em;"><big>GENERAL BOOKS</big></span>
+<br /></p>
+
+<p class="center">Classified according to Prices.<br />
+<br /></p>
+<p class="center">Index of Titles and Authors at the end.<br />
+<br /></p>
+<p class="center"><i>New Books and New Editions marked with an asterisk.</i><br /></p>
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Published by</span><br /></p>
+<p class="center">JAMES CLARKE &amp; CO., 13 &amp; 14, FLEET ST., LONDON, E.C.<br /></p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_386" id="Page_386">[2]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p class="ft20"><b>10/6</b> Net.<br /></p>
+
+<p class="center"><b>THE POLYCHROME BIBLE.</b><br /></p>
+
+<p>A New English Translation of the Books of the Bible. Printed in various
+colours, showing at a glance the composite nature and the different
+sources of the Books. With many Notes and Illustrations from Ancient
+Monuments, &amp;c. Each volume is the work of an eminent Biblical
+scholar of Europe or America, and the whole work is under the general
+editorship of <span class="smcap">Paul Haupt</span>, of Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore,
+assisted by <span class="smcap">Horace Howard Furness</span>.</p>
+
+
+<p>"Really one of the greatest and most serious undertakings of our time.
+It has been planned on the grandest scale. It is being produced in
+magnificent style.... The various books are entrusted to the ablest
+scholars that are alive."&mdash;<i>Expository Times.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>The Book of Ezekiel.</b> Translated by the Rev. <span class="smcap">C. H. Toy</span>, D.D., LL.D.,
+Professor of Hebrew and other Oriental Languages, and Lecturer on
+Biblical Literature in Harvard University, 208 pp. (89 pp. translation
+and 119 pp. notes). With nine full-page illustrations including a Map
+of Western Asia and 102 illustrations in the Notes. Cloth, gilt top.
+10s. 6d. net.</p>
+
+<p>"They [Joshua and Ezekiel] will be of great use to the careful
+student.... The books include the best results of the higher
+criticism."&mdash;<i>Birmingham Daily Post.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p class="center"><i>For other Volumes in this Series see <a href="#Page_387">page 3</a>.</i><br /></p>
+
+
+<p class="ft20"><b>7/6</b><br /></p>
+
+<p><b>J. Guinness Rogers, D.D.: An Autobiography.</b> Demy 8vo, photogravure
+portrait and illustrations, 7s. 6d.</p>
+
+<p>"The reminiscences of Dr. Guinness Rogers go back ever nearly eighty
+years. It is hard to open the book anywhere without coming on something
+of interest."&mdash;<i>Manchester Guardian.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>A History of the United States.</b> By <span class="smcap">John Fiske</span>, Litt.D., LL.D. For
+Schools. With Topical Analysis, Suggestive Questions and Directions for
+Teachers, by <span class="smcap">Frank Alpine Hill</span>, Litt.D., formerly Headmaster of the
+English High School in Cambridge, and later of the Mechanic Arts High
+School in Boston. With 180 illustrations and 39 Maps. Crown 8vo, half
+leather, gilt top, 7s. 6d.</p>
+
+<p><b>Henry Barrow, Separatist; and the Exiled Church of Amsterdam.</b> By <span class="smcap">F. J.
+Powicke</span>, Ph.D., Author of "John Norris" and "Essentials of
+Congregationalism." Medium 8vo. 7s. 6d. net.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_387" id="Page_387">[3]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p class="ft20"><b>6/-</b> Net.<br /></p>
+
+<p class="center"><b>THE POLYCHROME BIBLE.</b><br /></p>
+
+
+<p><b>The Book of Joshua.</b> Translated by the Rev. <span class="smcap">W. H. Bennett</span>, M.A., Litt.D.,
+Professor of Old Testament Languages and Literature at Hackney and New
+Colleges, London, formerly Fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge. 94
+pp., printed in nine colours (43 pp. translation and 51 pp. notes,
+including an illustrated Excursus on the Tel-el-Amarna Tablets and a
+List of Geographical Names). Eleven full-page illustrations (one in
+colours) and 25 illustrations in the Notes. Cloth, gilt top, 6s. net.</p>
+
+<p><b>The Book of Judges.</b> Translated, with Notes, by <span class="smcap">G. F. Moore</span>, D.D.,
+Professor of Hebrew in Andover Theological Seminary. 98 pp., printed in
+seven colours (42 pp. translation, 56 pp. notes). Seven full-page
+illustrations including a map in colours and 20 illustrations in the
+Notes. Cloth, gilt top, price 6s. net.</p>
+
+<p class="center"><i>For other Volumes in this Series see <a href="#Page_386">page 2</a></i><br /></p>
+
+
+<p class="ft20"><b>6/-</b><br /></p>
+
+<p class="center"><b><i>By S. R. CROCKETT.</i></b><br /></p>
+
+<p><b>*Kid McGhie.</b> Large crown 8vo, cloth boards, gilt top, 6s.</p>
+
+<p>"As smart and as pat as ever."&mdash;<i>The Times</i>.</p>
+
+<p>"Admirers of Mr. Crockett will not be disappointed in 'Kid
+McGhie.'"&mdash;<i>The Daily Chronicle.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>The Loves of Miss Anne.</b> Large crown 8vo, 416 pp., cloth, gilt top, 6s.</p>
+
+<p>"A fine rousing story, comedy and tragedy being admirably co-mingled,
+and there are some excellent studies of character. A bright, breezy,
+well-written book, with clever descriptions of country
+life."&mdash;<i>Birmingham Post.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>Flower-o'-the-Corn.</b> Large crown 8vo, 464 pp., cloth, gilt top, 6s.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Crockett once more shows his skill in weaving an ingenious
+plot."&mdash;<i>The Times.</i></p>
+
+<p>"The narrative moves briskly, and secures the banishment of dullnesss with
+the frequency of adventure."&mdash;<i>Newcastle Daily Leader.</i></p>
+
+<p>"Fertile of incident."&mdash;<i>Daily Mail.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>Cinderella.</b> Illustrated. Crown 8vo, cloth, 6s.</p>
+
+<p>"A decidedly pleasing tale."&mdash;<i>St. James's Gazette.</i></p>
+
+<p>"Most animated from beginning to end."&mdash;<i>Dundee Advertiser.</i></p>
+
+<p>"Will assuredly not lack a kindly welcome on its merits."&mdash;<i>Bristol
+Mercury.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>Kit Kennedy: Country Boy.</b> With Six Illustrations. Crown 8vo, cloth, gilt
+top, 6s.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Crockett has never given better evidence of originality and
+dramatic power.... There is no doubt that 'Kit Kennedy' will add to his
+reputation and popularity."&mdash;<i>Manchester Guardian.</i></p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_388" id="Page_388">[4]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p class="center"><b><i>By J. BRIERLEY, B.A.</i></b><br /></p>
+
+<p><b>*Religion and Experience.</b> By <span class="smcap">J. Brierley</span>, B.A., Author of "The Eternal
+Religion," &amp;c. Large crown 8vo, cloth boards, gilt top, 6s.</p>
+
+<p><b>The Eternal Religion.</b> By <span class="smcap">J. Brierley</span>. B.A., Author of "Ourselves and the
+Universe," &amp;c. Crown 8vo, bevelled boards, gilt top, 6s.</p>
+
+<p>"Well written and helpful."&mdash;<i>The Times.</i></p>
+
+<p>"Suggestive of a wide knowledge and scholarship."&mdash;<i>The Scotsman.</i></p>
+
+<p class="center"><i>For other books by "J. B." see <a href="#Page_393">page 9</a>.</i><br /></p>
+
+
+<p><b>The Rise of Philip Barrett.</b> By <span class="smcap">David Lyall</span>, Author of "The
+Land o' the Leal," &amp;c. Crown 8vo, bevelled boards, gilt top, 6s.</p>
+
+<p>"The book is remarkable for the arresting interest of all, or nearly all
+the characters. Altogether, Mr. Lyall is to be congratulated on an interesting
+story."&mdash;<i>Aberdeen Free Press.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>A Popular History of the Free Churches.</b> By <span class="smcap">C. Silvester
+Horne</span>, M.A. Crown 8vo, 464 pp. and 39 full-page illustrations
+on art paper. Art vellum, gilt top, 6s.</p>
+
+<p>"A vigorous and interesting book by an enthusiastic believer in the Puritan
+spirit and the need of religious equality."&mdash;<i>The Times.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>The Black Familiars.</b> By <span class="smcap">L. B. Walford</span>, Author of "Stay-at-Homes," &amp;c.
+Large crown 8vo, cloth boards, 6s.</p>
+
+<p>" ... 'Black Familiars' is among the most able and attractive books of a
+very productive season."&mdash;<i>St. James's Gazette.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>The Atonement in Modern Thought.</b> By Professor <span class="smcap">Auguste Sabatier</span>,
+Professor <span class="smcap">Harnack</span>, Professor <span class="smcap">Godet</span>, <span class="smcap">Dean Farrar</span>, Dr. <span class="smcap">P. T. Forsyth</span>, Dr.
+<span class="smcap">Marcus Dods</span>, Dr. <span class="smcap">Lyman Abbott</span>, Dr. <span class="smcap">John Hunter</span>, Dr. <span class="smcap">Washington Gladden</span>,
+<span class="smcap">Dean Fremantle</span>, Dr. <span class="smcap">Cave</span>, Dr. <span class="smcap">R. F. Horton</span>, Rev. <span class="smcap">R. J. Campbell</span>,
+Professor <span class="smcap">Adeney</span>, Rev. <span class="smcap">C. Silvester Horne</span>, Rev. <span class="smcap">Bernard J. Snell,</span> and Dr.
+<span class="smcap">T. T. Munger</span>. Crown 8vo, 6s. <i>New Edition.</i></p>
+
+<p>"This interesting work.... Among the writers are men of great
+distinction.... Deserves careful attention."&mdash;<i>The Spectator.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>Friend Olivia.</b> By <span class="smcap">Amelia E. Barr</span>. Crown 8vo, cloth boards, 6s.</p>
+
+<p><b>A Rose of a Hundred Leaves.</b> By <span class="smcap">Amelia E. Barr</span>. Crown 8vo, cloth boards,
+6s.</p>
+
+<p><b>Haromi</b>: A New Zealand Story. By <span class="smcap">Bannerman Kaye</span>. Crown 8vo, cloth, 6s.</p>
+
+<p>"In every sense it is admirably written, the charming description of
+localities, none the less than the character-drawing and the construction of
+the romance, being most engaging."&mdash;<i>Western Daily Mercury.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>Through Science to Faith.</b> By Dr. <span class="smcap">Newman Smyth</span>, Author of "The Place of
+Death in Evolution," "Old Faiths in New Lights," "The Reality of Faith,"
+&amp;c. Large crown 8vo, cloth, gilt top, 6s.</p>
+
+<p>"We commend Dr. Smyth's work to the attention of all thoughtful
+readers."&mdash;<i>Liverpool Mercury.</i><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_389" id="Page_389">[5]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><b>The Rights of Man.</b> A Study in Twentieth Century Problems.
+By <span class="smcap">Lyman Abbott</span>, D.D. Crown 8vo, cloth, 6s.</p>
+
+<p>"This is one of his best books. It is good throughout."&mdash;<i>Expository Times.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>America in the East.</b> By <span class="smcap">William Elliot Griffis</span>, formerly of the Imperial
+University of Japan. Author of "The Mikado's Empire," "Corea, the Hermit
+Nation," &amp;c. Crown 8vo, cloth, gilt top, with 19 illustrations, 6s.</p>
+
+<p>"We need hardly say that there is much that is interesting in the book."&mdash;<i>Spectator.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>Rev. T. T. Lynch</b>: A Memoir. Edited by <span class="smcap">William White</span>.
+With Portrait. Crown 8vo, cloth, 6s.</p>
+
+<p><b>The Barbone Parliament</b> (<b>First Parliament of the Commonwealth of England</b>)
+and the Religious Movements of the Seventeenth Century culminating in
+the Protectorate System of Church Government. By <span class="smcap">Henry Alexander Glass</span>,
+Author of "The Story of the Psalters: A History of the Metrical Versions
+of Great Britain and America." Demy 8vo, cloth, 6s.</p>
+
+<p>"A careful and very instructive account of the period, frankly Puritan
+in sympathy."&mdash;<i>The Echo.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>Memorials of Theophilus Trinal.</b> By <span class="smcap">T. T. Lynch</span>. Crown
+8vo, cloth, 6s.</p>
+
+<p><b>The Mornington Lecture.</b> By <span class="smcap">T. T. Lynch</span>. Thursday
+Evening Addresses. Second Edition. Crown 8vo, cloth, 6s.</p>
+
+
+<p class="ft20"><b>5/-</b><br /></p>
+
+<p><b>Theology and Truth.</b> By <span class="smcap">Newton H. Marshall</span>, M.A., Ph.D.
+Large crown 8vo, cloth boards, gilt top, 5s.</p>
+
+<p>"The book is masterly both in constructive power and in exposition....
+It is a book which ought to be widely read."&mdash;<i>Aberdeen Free Press.</i></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Professor Garvie</span> says: " ... Cordial congratulations to the author
+for his valuable contribution to the solution of one of the most important
+and urgent problems of the day."</p>
+
+<p>"The author treats his difficult subject with skill and philosophic ability."&mdash;<i>The
+Notts Guardian.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>A Backward Glance.</b> The Story of John Ridley, A Pioneer.
+By <span class="smcap">Annie E. Ridley</span>, Author of "Frances Mary Buss and
+her Work for Education," &amp;c. Crown 8vo, photogravure
+portraits and illustrations, 5s.</p>
+
+<p><b>Church, Ministry and Sacraments in the New Testament.</b>
+By <span class="smcap">W. T. Whitley</span>, M.A., LL.D. Demy 8vo, cloth boards, 5s.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_390" id="Page_390">[6]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p><b>Cartoons of St. Mark.</b> By <span class="smcap">R. F. Horton</span>, M.A., D.D. Third
+Edition. Crown 8vo cloth, 5s.</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly reproduce to a degree attained by few preachers the vivid
+picturesqueness of the Gospel."&mdash;<i>The Manchester Guardian.</i></p>
+
+<p>"This is, we think, the best book Dr. Horton has written."&mdash;<i>The
+British Weekly.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>The Christ of the Heart, and Other Sermons.</b> By <span class="smcap">Z. Mather</span>.
+Crown 8vo, cloth, 5s.</p>
+
+<p>"One of the most readable collections of sermons that we have seen for a
+long time. The style is lucid, limpid, and attractive."&mdash;<i>The Independent.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>Seven Puzzling Bible Books.</b> A Supplement to "Who Wrote
+the Bible?" By <span class="smcap">Washington Gladden</span>. Crown 8vo, cloth,
+5s.</p>
+
+<p><b>The Incarnation of the Lord.</b> A Series of Discourses tracing the
+unfolding of the Doctrine of the Incarnation in the New Testament. By
+<span class="smcap">Charles Augustus Briggs</span>, D.D., D.Litt. Large crown 8vo, cloth extra,
+gilt top, 5s.</p>
+
+<p>"A scientific and stimulating examination of the New Testament <i>data</i> on
+the Incarnation. It will fully sustain Dr. Briggs's reputation with those
+English readers who know his previous works."&mdash;<i>The Christian World.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>The Theology of an Evolutionist.</b> By <span class="smcap">Lyman Abbott</span>, D.D.
+Crown 8vo, cloth, 5s.</p>
+
+<p><b>The Growing Revelation.</b> By <span class="smcap">Amory H. Bradford</span>, D.D.
+Crown 8vo, cloth, 5s.</p>
+
+<p><b>Christianity and Social Problems.</b> By <span class="smcap">Lyman Abbott</span>, D.D.
+Crown 8vo, cloth, 5s.</p>
+
+<p>"They are very carefully worked out and supported by a mass of argument
+which entitles them to the most respectful attention."&mdash;<i>Bristol Mercury.</i></p>
+
+
+<p class="ft20"><b>4/6</b> Net.<br /></p>
+
+
+<p><b>The Life and Letters of Alexander Mackennal, B.A., D.D.</b> By <span class="smcap">D. Macfadyen</span>.
+Large crown 8vo, Photogravure Portrait, and Illustrations on Art Paper.
+Bound in Art Vellum. 4s. 6d. net.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Macfadyen is to be congratulated on the skill with which he has
+enabled his hero to stand out in these pages in his native character, as
+a reverent and yet original thinker, an administrator of singular wisdom
+and insight, and, above all, as a courageous and attractive man."&mdash;<i>Manchester
+Guardian</i>.</p>
+
+
+<p class="ft20"><b>4/6</b><br /></p>
+
+<p><b>The Christian World Pulpit.</b> Half-Yearly Volumes, cloth
+boards, 4s. 6d.</p>
+
+<p>"A notable collection of the utterances of Protestant preachers on a
+wide variety of subjects which many people will rejoice to ponder at leisure."&mdash;<i>The
+Glasgow Herald.</i></p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_391" id="Page_391">[7]</a></span></p>
+
+<p class="ft20"><b>4/-</b> Net.<br /></p>
+
+<p><b>Where Does the Sky Begin?</b> By <span class="smcap">Washington Gladden, D.D.</span>, Author of "Who
+Wrote the Bible?" &amp;c. Crown 8vo, cloth boards, gilt top, 4s. net.</p>
+
+<p>"Washington Gladden has a great name amongst us. This book is riper and
+richer than anything he has yet published."&mdash;<i>Expository Times.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p><b>Witnesses of the Light.</b> By <span class="smcap">Washington Gladden, D.D.</span>, Author of "Who
+Wrote the Bible?" &amp;c. Crown 8vo, cloth boards, with portraits, 4s. net.</p>
+
+<p>"A sketch of such lives treated in this entirely free, human manner,
+with adequate knowledge and a fine gift for interpretation, makes this
+volume most welcome."&mdash;<i>Yorkshire Observer.</i></p>
+
+
+<p class="ft20"><b>4/-</b><br /></p>
+
+<p><b>How Much is Left of the Old Doctrines.</b> A Book for the People. By
+<span class="smcap">Washington Gladden, D.D.</span> Crown 8vo, cloth, 4s.</p>
+
+<p>"Very able, fresh and vigorous.... There is much to commend in
+Dr. Gladden's book. Its teaching is manly and direct, and the writer draws
+his illustrations from a wide field of literature. The chapters on 'Conversion,'
+'The Hope of Immortality,' and 'Heaven' could only be written by a
+man of warm heart and true spiritual insight. The general impression left
+by the book is invigorating and reassuring."&mdash;<i>The Pilot.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>Social Salvation.</b> By <span class="smcap">Washington Gladden</span>. Crown 8vo, cloth, 4s.</p>
+
+<p>"Dr. Gladden's book is eminently sane; his subjects are not treated in
+any academic spirit, but are viewed in the light of a long and close experience
+with the problems dealt with."&mdash;<i>The Literary World.</i></p>
+
+<p>"The book is very broad in its outlook, and its author is very frank in
+dealing with questions that are discussed everywhere. It will command
+attention in many quarters."&mdash;<i>The Weekly Leader.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>Tools and the Man.</b> Property and Industry under the Christian Law. By
+<span class="smcap">Washington Gladden</span>. Crown 8vo, cloth, 4s.</p>
+
+<p>"A calmly written, closely reasoned, and trenchant indictment of the
+still prevalent dogmas and assumptions of political economy."&mdash;<i>The Speaker.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>Ruling Ideas of the Present Age.</b> By <span class="smcap">Washington Gladden</span>.
+Crown 8vo, cloth, 4s.</p>
+
+<p><b>*The Rosebud Annual for 1907.</b> The Ideal Book for the Nursery. Four
+coloured plates and one-half of the pages in colour. Handsome cloth
+boards, 4s. Coloured paper boards, varnished, 3s.</p>
+
+<p>"An old favourite, and anyone looking through its pages will see at once
+why it is a favourite. Not a page opens without disclosing pictures. The
+stories are fresh and piquant, and printed in good large type. A rich fund
+of enjoyment for the nursery."&mdash;<i>Aberdeen Free Press.</i></p>
+
+<p>"A veritable treasury of the best of good things."&mdash;<i>Liverpool Mercury.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>Higher on the Hill.</b> A Series of Sacred Studies. By <span class="smcap">Andrew Benvie, D.D.</span>,
+Minister of St. Aidan's, Edinburgh. Crown 8vo, cloth, 4s.</p>
+
+<p>"A brilliant piece of writing."&mdash;<i>Dundee Advertiser.</i></p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_392" id="Page_392">[8]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p class="ft20"><b>3/6</b> Net.<br /></p>
+
+<p><b>*Friars Lantern.</b> By <span class="smcap">G. G. Coulton</span>, Author of "From St. Francis to Dante,"
+"Medi&aelig;val Studies," &amp;c. Crown 8vo, cloth boards, 3s. 6d. net.</p>
+
+<p><b>The Inward Light.</b> By <span class="smcap">Amory H. Bradford</span>, D.D., Author of "The Growth of
+the Soul," &amp;c. Large crown 8vo, cloth boards, 3s. 6d. net.</p>
+
+<p>"A refreshing, stimulating, and enlightening book."&mdash;<i>Aberdeen Free
+Press.</i></p>
+
+<p>"A work of real spiritual and intellectual power."&mdash;<i>Dundee Advertiser.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>The Story of the English Baptists.</b> By <span class="smcap">J. C. Carlile</span>. Large crown 8vo,
+320 pages, 8 Illustrations on art paper, 3s. 6d. net.</p>
+
+<p>"Possesses a freshness and vivacity not always present in ecclesiastical
+histories."&mdash;<i>Scotsman.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>The Courage of the Coward.</b> By <span class="smcap">C. F. Aked</span>, D.D., Author of "Changing
+Creeds and Social Problems." Crown 8vo, cloth boards, with photogravure
+portrait, 3s. 6d. net.</p>
+
+<p>"The sermons are the work of a thoughtful and earnest Nonconformist,
+whose pointed language and frequent illustrations from general literature
+leave a distinct impression."&mdash;<i>The Scotsman.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>G. H. R. Garcia. Memoir, Sermons and Addresses.</b> By Rev. <span class="smcap">J. G. Henderson</span>.
+Crown 8vo, cloth boards, with photogravure portrait, 3s. 6d. net.</p>
+
+<p>"We are grateful to Mr. Henderson for having prepared this memorial
+of so daring and original a ministry."&mdash;<i>Methodist Times.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>The First Christians; or, Christian Life in New Testament Times.</b> By
+<span class="smcap">Robert Veitch</span>, M.A. Crown 8vo, cloth boards, gilt top, 3s. 6d. net.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Dr. Fairbairn</span> expresses himself as "charmed" with the author's
+"knowledge of the world into which Christianity came; and his
+appreciation of the Christianity that came into the world."</p>
+
+
+
+<p class="ft20"><b>3/6</b><br /></p>
+
+<p><b>*A Gamble with Life.</b> By <span class="smcap">Silas K. Hocking</span>, Author of "To Pay the Price."
+Large crown 8vo, bevelled boards, 3s. 6d.</p>
+
+<p>One of the best stories written by this popular author.</p>
+
+<p><b>The Wanderer; or, Leaves from the Life Story of a Physician.</b> By <span class="smcap">Mrs. C.
+L. Abbot</span>, of Berlin. Crown 8vo, cloth boards, 3s. 6d.</p>
+
+<p><b>Burning Questions.</b> By <span class="smcap">Washington Gladden</span>. Fourth Edition. Crown 8vo,
+cloth, 3s. 6d.</p>
+
+<p>"Is one of the ablest, most opportune, and most readable books it has
+been our good fortune to enjoy for many a day. The writer is master of his
+subject. He modestly remarks at the close 'that it has not always been
+easy, handling realities so vast, to make the truth, in the condensed expression
+which must here be given to it, so luminous as could have been wished.'
+But luminous is precisely the word which describes these admirable essays.
+They shine with light."&mdash;<i>Dundee Advertiser.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>Changing Creeds and Social Struggles.</b> By <span class="smcap">C. F. Aked</span>.
+Crown 8vo, cloth, 3s. 6d.</p>
+
+<p>"A brave book."&mdash;<i>The Liverpool Mercury.</i></p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_393" id="Page_393">[9]</a></span></p>
+
+<p class="center"><i>By J. BRIERLEY, B.A.</i><br /></p>
+
+<p><b>*The Common Life.</b> By <span class="smcap">J. Brierley</span>, B.A. ("J. B."), Author of
+"Problems of Living," &amp;c. Crown 8vo, cloth boards, 3s. 6d.</p>
+
+<p>"Fluent, but thoughtful, essays on many aspects of life, written from a
+Christian standpoint&mdash;'Life's Positives,' 'Summits,' 'Rest and Unrest,'
+&amp;c."&mdash;<i>The Times.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>Problems of Living.</b> By <span class="smcap">J. Brierley</span>, B.A. ("J. B."), Author of
+"Ourselves and the Universe." Crown 8vo, cloth boards, 3s. 6d.</p>
+
+<p>"It is inspiring to come upon such a fresh and suggestive re-statement
+of the old faiths as we find in 'Problems of Living.'"&mdash;<i>Echo.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>Ourselves and the Universe: Studies in Life and Religion.</b> By <span class="smcap">J.
+Brierley</span>, B.A. Tenth Thousand. Crown 8vo, cloth, 3s. 6d.</p>
+
+<p>"We have not for a long time read a brighter, cheerier, or wiser book."&mdash;<i>Daily
+News.</i></p>
+
+<p>"Fresh and thoughtful."&mdash;<i>The Times.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>Studies of the Soul.</b> By <span class="smcap">J. Brierley</span>, B.A. Seventh Edition.
+Crown 8vo, cloth, 3s. 6d.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Mrs. Humphry Ward</span> says:&mdash;"There is a delicate truth and fragrance,
+a note of real experience in the essays that make them delightful reading."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Dr. Horton</span> says:&mdash;"I prefer this book to the best-written books I have
+lighted on for a year past."</p>
+
+<p>"The supreme charm of the book is not the wealth of fine sayings, gathered
+together from so many sources, ... it is the contribution of 'J. B.'
+himself, his insight, his humour, his acute criticisms, and, above all, perhaps,
+his perfectly tolerant and catholic spirit.... A better book for 'the
+modern man' does not exist."&mdash;<span class="smcap">Rev. C. Silvester Horne</span> in <i>The Examiner</i>.</p>
+
+<p class="center"><i>For other books by J. Brierley see <a href="#Page_388">page 4</a>.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>Gloria Patri; or, Our Talks About the Trinity.</b> By <span class="smcap">J. M. Whiton</span>. Cloth,
+3s. 6d.</p>
+
+<p><b>God's Greater Britain.</b> With Two Portrait Groups, one showing Dr.
+Clifford and party "in miner's attire." Crown 8vo, cloth, 3s. 6d.</p>
+
+<p>"It should be in the hands of all thinking men."&mdash;<i>East Anglian Daily
+Times.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>The Christ that is To Be: A Latter-Day Romance.</b> By <span class="smcap">J. Compton Rickett</span>,
+M.P. New Edition. Demy 8vo, cloth, 3s. 6d.</p>
+
+<p><b>His Rustic Wife.</b> By <span class="smcap">Mrs. Haycraft</span>, Author of "A Lady's Nay," &amp;c. Cloth
+boards, 3s. 6d.</p>
+
+<p>"A fresh and very capable story."&mdash;<i>Newcastle Daily Leader.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>Paxton Hood: Poet and Preacher.</b> With Photographic Portrait. Crown 8vo,
+cloth, 3s. 6d.</p>
+
+<p><b>Family Prayers for Morning Use, and Prayers for Special Occasions.</b>
+Compiled and Edited by J. M. G. Cloth, pott quarto, 3s. 6d.</p>
+
+<p>"We cordially recommend the volume to all who share our sense of the
+value of family religion."&mdash;<i>Willesden Presbyterian Monthly.</i><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_394" id="Page_394">[10]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><b>Industrial Explorings in and around London.</b> By <span class="smcap">R. Andom</span>. Author of "We
+Three and Troddles." With nearly 100 Illustrations by <span class="smcap">T. M. R. Whitwell</span>.
+Crown 8vo, cloth, 3s. 6d.</p>
+
+<p><b>Preaching to the Times.</b> By <span class="smcap">Canon Hensley Henson</span>.
+Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 3s. 6d.</p>
+
+<p>"Sound sense and scholarly solidity."&mdash;<i>Dundee Courier.</i></p>
+
+<p>"Earnest and eloquent discourses."&mdash;<i>The Scotsman.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>The Dutch in the Medway.</b> By <span class="smcap">Charles Macfarlane</span>, Author of "The Camp of
+Refuge," &amp;c. With a Foreword by <span class="smcap">S. R. Crockett</span>. Crown 8vo, cloth, 3s.
+6d.</p>
+
+<p><b>The Quickening of Caliban.</b> A Modern Story of Evolution. By <span class="smcap">J. Compton
+Rickett</span>, Author of "Christianity in Common Speech," &amp;c. Large crown 8vo,
+cloth, 3s. 6d.</p>
+
+<p><b>New Points to Old Texts.</b> By <span class="smcap">J. M. Whiton</span>. Crown 8vo, cloth, 3s. 6d.</p>
+
+<p>"A volume of sermons to startle sleepy hearers."&mdash;<i>Western Morning News.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>Nineteen Hundred? A Forecast and a Story.</b> By <span class="smcap">Marianne Farningham</span>, Author
+of "The Clarence Family," &amp;c. Crown 8vo, cloth boards, 3s. 6d.</p>
+
+<p>"A pleasant and entertaining story and picture of life."&mdash;<i>Methodist
+Recorder.</i></p>
+
+
+<p class="center"><i>EMMA JANE WORBOISE'S NOVELS.</i><br /></p>
+
+<p class="center">Crown 8vo, uniformly bound in cloth, 3s. 6d. each.<br /></p>
+
+<p>
+<b>Thornycroft Hall.</b><br />
+<b>St. Beetha's.</b><br />
+<b>Violet Vaughan.</b><br />
+<b>Margaret Torrington.</b><br />
+<b>Singlehurst Manor.</b><br />
+<b>Overdale.</b><br />
+<b>Grey and Gold.</b><br />
+<b>Mr. Montmorency's Money.</b><br />
+<b>Nobly Born.</b><br />
+<b>Chrystabel.</b><br />
+<b>Millicent Kendrick.</b><br />
+<b>Robert Wreford's Daughter.</b><br />
+<b>Joan Carisbroke.</b><br />
+<b>Sissie.</b><br />
+<b>Esther Wynne.</b><br />
+<b>His Next of Kin.</b><br />
+</p>
+
+
+<p class="center"><i>AMELIA E. BARR'S NOVELS.</i><br /></p>
+
+<p class="center">Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 3s. 6d. each.<br /></p>
+
+<p>
+<b>The Beads of Tasmar.</b><br />
+<b>A Sister to Esau.</b><br />
+<b>She Loved a Sailor.</b><br />
+<b>The Last of the MacAllisters.</b><br />
+<b>Woven of Love and Glory.</b><br />
+<b>Feet of Clay.</b><br />
+<b>The Household of McNeil.</b><br />
+<b>A Border Shepherdess.</b><br />
+<b>Paul and Christina.</b><br />
+<b>The Squire of Sandal Side.</b><br />
+<b>The Bow of Orange Ribbon.</b><br />
+<b>Between Two Loves.</b><br />
+<b>A Daughter of Fife.</b><br />
+</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_395" id="Page_395">[11]</a></span></p><p class="center"><i>For other books by this Author see pages <a href="#Page_388">4</a> and <a href="#Page_400">16</a>.</i><br /></p>
+
+<p class="center">THE MESSAGES OF THE BIBLE.<br /></p>
+
+<p>Edited by <span class="smcap">Frank Knight Sanders</span>, Ph.D., Woolsey Professor of Biblical
+Literature in Yale University, and <span class="smcap">Charles Foster Kent</span>, Ph.D., Professor
+of Biblical Literature and History in Brown University. Super royal
+16mo, cloth, red top, 3s. 6d. a vol. (To be completed in 12 Volumes.)</p>
+
+
+<div class='center'>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="">
+<tr><td align='right'>I.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Messages of the Earlier Prophets</span>.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>II.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Messages of the Later Prophets</span>.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>III.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Messages of Israel's Law Givers</span>.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>IV.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Messages of the Prophetical and Priestly Historians</span>.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>V.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Messages of the Psalmists</span>.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>*VIII.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Messages of the Apocalyptical Writers</span>.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>IX.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Messages of Jesus according to the Synoptists</span>.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>XI.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Messages of Paul</span>.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>XII.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Messages of the Apostles</span>.</td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+<p class="center">Volumes 6, 7 and 10 will appear at intervals.</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>"A new series which promises to be of the greatest value to ordinary
+readers of the Bible."&mdash;<i>Primitive Methodist Quarterly.</i></p>
+
+<p>"Such a work is of the utmost service to every student of the Scriptures."&mdash;<i>The
+Dundee Advertiser.</i></p>
+
+<p>"The volumes in this series are singularly adapted for use in Bible-classes
+and for the guidance of intelligent readers of the Scriptures who have not
+been able to make themselves familiar with modern 'Criticism.'"&mdash;<i>The
+Examiner.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+
+<p class="ft20"><b>3/-</b> Net.<br /></p>
+
+
+<p><b>*The Personality of Jesus.</b> By <span class="smcap">Charles H. Barrows</span>. Large
+crown 8vo, cloth boards, 3s. net.</p>
+
+<p><b>Poems.</b> By <span class="smcap">Madame Guyon</span>. Translated from the French by the late <span class="smcap">William
+Cowper</span>, with a Prefatory Essay by <span class="smcap">D. Macfadyen</span>, M.A. Fcap. 8vo,
+handsomely bound in leather, 3s. net.</p>
+
+<p>The Rev. <span class="smcap">F. B. Meyer</span> writes: "This singularly beautiful book, with its
+attractive get-up and its valuable introduction and notes, ought to
+prove a welcome gift-book, as it is certain to be the companion of many
+lonely walks and distant Journeys."</p>
+
+<p><b>Quiet Hints to Growing Preachers in My Study.</b> By <span class="smcap">Charles Edward
+Jefferson</span>, Pastor of Broadway Tabernacle Church, New York. Small crown
+8vo, cloth, 3s. net.</p>
+
+<p>"The work is the outcome of common-sense, thought, and long experience,
+and as such it ought to commend itself to all aspirants to missionary
+work, whether in the pulpit or outside."&mdash;<i>Bristol Mercury.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>Episcopacy.</b> Historically, Doctrinally, and Legally Considered.
+By <span class="smcap">J. Fraser</span>. Cloth, crown 8vo, 3s. net.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_396" id="Page_396">[12]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<p class="ft20"><b>3/-</b><br /></p>
+
+<p><b>*The Rosebud Annual for 1907.</b> The Ideal Book for the Nursery. Four
+Coloured Plates and one-half of the pages in colour. Coloured paper
+boards, varnished, 3s.; cloth boards, 4s.</p>
+
+<p>"An old favourite, and anyone looking through its pages will see at once
+why it is a favourite. Not a page opens without disclosing pictures. A
+rich fund of enjoyment for the nursery."&mdash;<i>Aberdeen Free Press.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>A Method of Prayer.</b> By <span class="smcap">Madame Guyon</span>. A Revised Translation with Notes.
+Edited by <span class="smcap">Dugald Macfadyen</span>, M.A. Crown 8vo, cloth boards, 3s.</p>
+
+<p>"The pages will have a message for all prayerful readers; and as often
+as they are perused they will yield help to such as apply their hearts to wisdom,
+and aim at an experimental realisation of the life of God."&mdash;<i>The Christian.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>School Hymns, for Schools and Missions.</b> With Music. Compiled by <span class="smcap">E. H.
+Mayo Gunn</span>. Harmonies Revised by <span class="smcap">Elliot Button</span>. Large Imp. 16mo, 3s.</p>
+
+<p><b>The School of Life: Life Pictures from the Book of Jonah.</b> By <span class="smcap">Otto
+Funcke</span>. Cloth, 3s.</p>
+
+
+<p class="center"><i>EMMA JANE WORBOISE'S NOVELS.</i><br /></p>
+
+<p class="center">Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 3s. each.<br /></p>
+
+<p>
+<b>Our New House; or, Keeping up Appearances.</b><br />
+<b>Heartsease in the Family</b><br />
+<b>Maud Belingbroke</b><br />
+<b>Helen Bury</b><br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="center"><i>For other books by this Author see pages <a href="#Page_396">12</a> and <a href="#Page_400">16</a>.</i><br /></p>
+
+
+
+<p class="ft20"><b>2/6</b> Net.<br /></p>
+
+<p><b>*The Challenge, and Other Stories for Boys and Girls.</b> By Rev. <span class="smcap">J. G.
+Stevenson</span>, Author of "The Christ of the Children." 4to, cloth boards,
+240 pp. Eight Illustrations. 2s. 6d. net.</p>
+
+<p><b>*Liberty and Religion.</b> By <span class="smcap">P. Whitwell Wilson</span>, M.P., Author of "Why We
+Believe," &amp;c. Crown 8vo, cloth boards, 2s. 6d. net.</p>
+
+<p><b>*Leaves for Quiet Hours.</b> By <span class="smcap">George Matheson</span>, F.R.S.E., D.D., LL.D.,
+Author of "Words by the Wayside," &amp;c. New and cheap edition. Handsomely
+bound in cloth boards, with chaste design in gold, and gilt edges, 2s.
+6d. net. Leather, 4s. net.</p>
+
+<p>"This is another of those unique productions for which Dr. Matheson is
+famous. There are few modern teachers who possess the gift of spiritual
+insight to the extent of the author of this book."&mdash;<i>Daily News.</i></p>
+
+<p>"Dr. Matheson is one of the finest writers of the time in the domain of
+religious meditation."&mdash;<i>Aberdeen Free Press.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>The Christ of the Children.</b> A Life of Jesus for Little People.
+By Rev. <span class="smcap">J. G. Stevenson</span>. 4to, cloth boards. Twelve Illustrations.
+2s. 6d. net.</p>
+
+<p>The Rev. <span class="smcap">F. B. Meyer</span> writes: "Mr. Stevenson has a rare gift. Everywhere
+there is the trace of high culture and deep devotion.... The book should
+have a wide circulation."</p>
+
+<p>"It is the very loveliest life of Jesus for children ever written by a long
+way."&mdash;Rev. <span class="smcap">Kingscote Greenland</span> in <i>The Methodist Recorder</i>.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_397" id="Page_397">[13]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p><b>The Pilot.</b> A Book of Daily Guidance from Master Minds. Contains nearly
+2,000 of the choicest extracts systematically arranged for every day of
+the year. Printed on India paper and handsomely bound in leather, with
+round corners and gilt edges, 2s. 6d. net.</p>
+
+<p>"I thank you for the service you have done the public in the issuing of
+this little book. It is a splendid collection. Nothing could be more admirably
+adapted to suit the spiritual wants of an age which has little leisure
+for reflection and much ground for care."&mdash;Rev. <span class="smcap">George Matheson</span>, D.D.</p>
+
+<p>"There is an air of distinction about the quotations which is unusual....
+The dainty volume is full of thoughtful counsel."&mdash;<i>Dundee Courier.</i></p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;"><i>Her Majesty the Queen has graciously accepted a copy of this book.</i></span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p><b>Why We Believe.</b> Papers on Religion and Brotherhood. By
+<span class="smcap">Philip Whitwell Wilson</span>. Crown 8vo, cloth boards, 2s. 6d. net.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Canon Scott Holland</span> says, in <i>The Commonwealth</i>: "Here is a kindly,
+shrewd, and winning book. It is impossible not to be friends with a writer
+who is so confident of your goodwill: and so open, and sympathetic, and
+confidential, and hopeful. He is frankly intimate: he confides to you his
+personal secret; he is not the least ashamed of confessing his faith. And
+he looks to you to do the same by him."</p>
+
+<p><b>My Neighbour and God.</b> A Reply to Robert Blatchford's "God and My
+Neighbour." By <span class="smcap">W. T. Lee</span>. Crown 8vo, cloth boards, 2s. 6d. net.</p>
+
+<p>"A more overwhelming exposure of Mr. Blatchford's untrustworthiness as a
+critic of the Bible it would be difficult to imagine."&mdash;<i>The
+Wellingborough News.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>Undertones of the Nineteenth Century.</b> A Prelude and a Prophecy. A
+comparison of the Relations between certain Spiritual Movements of the
+last Century, with Sketches of the lives of some of the Leaders. By Mrs.
+<span class="smcap">Edward Trotter</span>. Cloth boards, 2s. 6d. net.</p>
+
+<p><b>A Popular History of the Free Churches.</b> By <span class="smcap">C. Silvester
+Horne</span>, M.A. Cheap Edition. Crown 8vo, 464 pp. and 8 full-page
+illustrations on art paper. Cloth boards, 2s. 6d. net.</p>
+
+<p>"A vigorous and interesting book by an enthusiastic believer in the
+Puritan spirit and the need of religious equality."&mdash;<i>The Times.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>The New Testament in Modern Speech.</b> An idiomatic translation into
+everyday English from the text of "The Resultant Greek Testament." By
+the late <span class="smcap">Richard Francis Weymouth</span>, M.A., D.Lit., Fellow of University
+College, London, and formerly Head Master of Mill Hill School, Editor of
+"The Resultant Greek Testament." Edited and partly revised by <span class="smcap">Ernest
+Hampden-Cook</span>, M.A., formerly Exhibitioner and Prizeman of St. John's
+College, Cambridge. Cloth boards, 2s. 6d. net. Leather, 4s. net. Also on
+Oxford India paper, 3s. 6d. net. Leather, 5s. net.</p>
+
+<p>"Every intelligent reader of the New Testament should profit by this
+careful and correct translation. Indeed, none can afford to ignore it
+unless he is able to read with ease the original Greek. It is probably
+the best modern translation."&mdash;<i>Examiner.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>A Young Man's Religion and his Father's Faith.</b> By <span class="smcap">N. McGhee Waters</span>.
+Small crown 8vo, cloth boards, gilt top, 2s. 6d. net.</p>
+
+<p>"It is an earnestly religious and well-written work."&mdash;<i>The Scotsman.</i><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_398" id="Page_398">[14]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><b>The Comforts of God.</b> Lectures on the 14th Chapter of St. John.
+By Rev. <span class="smcap">R. Glover</span>, D.D. Crown 8vo, cloth boards, 2s. 6d. net.</p>
+
+<p><b>The Spirit Christlike.</b> By <span class="smcap">Charles S. Macfarland</span>. Crown
+8vo, cloth, gilt top, 2s. 6d. net.</p>
+
+<p><b>Principles and Practices of the Baptists.</b> By Rev. <span class="smcap">Chas.
+Williams</span>. Crown 8vo, cloth boards, 2s. 6d. net.</p>
+
+<p><b>Harvest Gleanings.</b> A Book of Poems. By <span class="smcap">Marianne Farningham</span>, Author of
+"Girlhood," &amp;c. Crown 8vo, cloth boards, 2s. 6d. net.</p>
+
+<p>"A delightful sheaf of little poems. They are messages of love, of comfort,
+of sympathy, of hope, and of encouragement."&mdash;<i>Northampton Herald.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>Morning and Evening Cries.</b> A Book of Prayers for the Household. By Rev.
+<span class="smcap">J. G. Greenhough</span>, M.A. Crown 8vo, cloth boards, 2s. 6d. net.</p>
+
+<p><b>Trial and Triumph.</b> By Rev. <span class="smcap">Charles Brown</span>. Crown 8vo, cloth boards, 2s.
+6d. net.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Job and His Comforters</span>. By <span class="smcap">J. T. Marshall</span>, M.A., B.D.
+Crown 8vo, cloth boards, 2s. 6d. net.</p>
+
+<p><b>Sunday Morning Talks with Boys and Girls.</b> By Rev. <span class="smcap">F. H. Robarts</span>. Crown
+8vo, cloth boards, 2s. 6d. net.</p>
+
+<p>"They have the marks of simplicity, directness, and charm."&mdash;<i>Baptist Times.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>The Baptist Handbook.</b> Published under the direction of the Council of
+the Baptist Union of Great Britain and Ireland. Paper boards, 2s. 6d.
+net; cloth boards, 3s. net.</p>
+
+
+
+<p class="ft20"><b>2/6</b><br /></p>
+
+<p><b>What Shall this Child Be?</b> By <span class="smcap">William Brook</span>. Crown 8vo,
+cloth boards, 2s. 6d.</p>
+
+<p><b>Practical Points in Popular Proverbs.</b> By <span class="smcap">F. A. Rees</span>, Author of "Plain
+Talks on Plain Subjects." With an Introduction by the Rev. <span class="smcap">Chas.
+Williams</span>, of Accrington. Crown 8vo, cloth boards, 2s. 6d.</p>
+
+<p><b>The Ten Commandments.</b> By <span class="smcap">G. Campbell Morgan</span>, Pott 8vo, cloth, 2s. 6d.</p>
+
+<p>"A more readable, practical, and searching exposition of the Decalogue it
+would be difficult to find."&mdash;<i>Leeds Mercury.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>A Religion that will Wear.</b> A Layman's Confession of Faith. Addressed to
+Agnostics by a <span class="smcap">Scottish Presbyterian</span>. Crown 8vo, cloth boards, 2s. 6d.</p>
+
+<p>"It is remarkable for its breadth of thought and catholicity of quotation,
+and will be found helpful to many who are doubtful as to the practical
+value of religion."&mdash;<i>Church Gazette.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>A Popular Argument for the Unity of Isaiah.</b> By <span class="smcap">John Kennedy</span>, D.D. With
+an Examination of the Opinions of Canons Cheyne and Driver, Dr.
+Delitzsch, the Rev. G. A. Smith, and others. Crown 8vo, 2s. 6d.</p>
+
+<p>"A book that will be eagerly welcomed by thoughtful students of the
+Scriptures."&mdash;<i>Western Morning News.</i></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_399" id="Page_399">[15]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><b>The Epistle to the Galatians.</b> By <span class="smcap">J. Morgan Gibbon</span>. The Ancient Merchant
+Lecture for January, 1895. Fcap. 8vo, cloth elegant, gilt top, 2s. 6d.</p>
+
+<p>"A clear, popular, and most effective analysis and application of this great
+epistle, this magna charta of the free Christian Church."&mdash;<span class="smcap">C. Silvester Horne.</span></p>
+
+<p><b>The Bible Story: Retold for Young People.</b> The Old Testament Story, by <span class="smcap">W.
+H. Bennett</span>, M.A. (sometime Fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge),
+Professor of Hebrew and Old Testament Exegesis at Hackney and New
+Colleges, London. The New Testament Story, by <span class="smcap">W. F. Adeney</span>, M.A.,
+Principal of Lancashire College, Manchester. With Illustrations and 4
+Maps. Cloth, 2s. 6d.</p>
+
+<p>"We have nothing but good to say of a book, which will certainly appeal
+strongly to the children themselves, and will teach them more truly to
+appreciate the Bible itself."&mdash;<i>Huddersfield Examiner.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>The Ordeal of Faith.</b> By <span class="smcap">C. Silvester Horne</span>, M.A. Meditations on the Book
+of Job, designed as a "ministry of consolation to some who are pierced
+with many sorrows." Fcap. 8vo, cloth, gilt top, 2s. 6d.</p>
+
+<p>"We have read many productions on this wonderful Old Testament book,
+but have met with nothing we would so gladly put into the hands of the
+sorrowful and suffering as this little publication."&mdash;<i>Methodist Times.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>The Wife as Lover and Friend.</b> By <span class="smcap">George Bainton</span>. Fcap.
+8vo, cloth, 2s. 6d.</p>
+
+<p>On the Threshold of the Marriage State; The Sorrow of an Unwise Choice;
+Facing Life's Responsibilities; Wifely Excellences; A Wife's
+Intelligence; A Wife's Industry; A Wife's Restfulness; A Wife's
+Affection; The Better Part.</p>
+
+<p>"One of the most beautiful and at the same time one of the truest sketches
+of the ideal wife we have ever seen. A valuable little <i>vade mecum</i> which every
+girl should read and treasure."&mdash;<i>The Liberal.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>Nonconformist Church Buildings.</b> By <span class="smcap">James Cubitt</span>. Cloth
+limp, 2s. 6d.</p>
+
+<p>"Will be useful to church-building committees of whatever denomination."&mdash;<i>Ardrossan
+Herald.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>The Earliest Christian Hymn.</b> By <span class="smcap">George S. Barrett</span>, D.D.
+Pott 8vo, cloth, gilt top, 2s. 6d.</p>
+
+
+
+<p class="ft20"><b>2/-</b> Net.<br /></p>
+
+<p><b>Ideals for Girls.</b> By the Rev. <span class="smcap">H. R. Haweis</span>, M.A., Author of "Music and
+Morals." New Edition, crown 8vo, handsomely bound in bevelled boards,
+gilt edges, 2s. net.</p>
+
+<p>A book that every parent should place in the hands of their daughters.</p>
+
+<p><b>The Glorious Company of the Apostles.</b> Being Studies in the
+Characters of the Twelve. By the Rev. <span class="smcap">J. D. Jones</span>, M.A.,
+B.D. Cloth boards, gilt top, 2s. net.</p>
+
+<p>"Many think that a readable sermon is a contradiction in terms. Let
+them read these pages and discover their mistake."&mdash;<i>Examiner.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>The Model Prayer.</b> A Series of Expositions on the Lord's
+Prayer. By Rev. <span class="smcap">J. D. Jones</span>, M.A., B.D. New Edition,
+cloth boards, gilt top, 2s. net.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_400" id="Page_400">[16]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p class="ft20"><b>2/-</b><br /></p>
+
+<p class="center">CLARKE'S COPYRIGHT LIBRARY.<br /></p>
+
+<p class="center"><i>A New Series of Books by Leading Authors at a Popular Price.</i><br /></p>
+
+<p class="center">Crown 8vo, tastefully bound in cloth boards, <b>2s.</b><br /></p>
+
+<p>
+<b>*The Loves of Miss Anne.</b> By <span class="smcap">S. R. Crockett</span>.<br />
+<b>Kit Kennedy.</b> By <span class="smcap">S. R. Crockett</span>.<br />
+<b>Cinderella.</b> By <span class="smcap">S. R. Crockett</span>.<br />
+<b>Flower-o'-the-Corn.</b> By <span class="smcap">S. R. Crockett</span>.<br />
+<b>The Black Familiars.</b> By <span class="smcap">L. B. Walford</span>.<br />
+</p>
+
+
+<p class="center"><i>POPULAR EDITION OF</i><br /></p>
+<p class="center"><i>EMMA JANE WORBOISE'S NOVELS.</i><br /></p>
+
+<p class="center">Crown 8vo, cloth boards, <b>2s.</b>; bevelled boards, <b>2s. 6d.</b><br /></p>
+
+<p>
+<b>*Husbands and Wives.</b><br />
+<b>*Oliver Westwood.</b><br />
+<b>Warleigh's Trust.</b><br />
+<b>Emilia's Inheritance.</b><br />
+<b>The Brudenells of Brude.</b><br />
+<b>A Woman's Patience.</b><br />
+<b>The Grey House at Endlestone.</b><br />
+<b>The Abbey Mill.</b><br />
+<b>The Story of Penelope.</b><br />
+<b>Fortune's Favourite.</b><br />
+<b>Nobly Born.</b><br />
+<b>The Heirs of Errington.</b><br />
+<b>Lady Clarissa.</b><br />
+<b>Father Fabian.</b><br />
+<b>House of Bondage.</b><br />
+<b>Canonbury Holt.</b><br />
+<b>Millicent Kendrick.</b><br />
+<b>Violet Vaughan.</b><br />
+<b>Joan Carisbroke.</b><br />
+<b>Sissie.</b><br />
+<b>His Next of Kin.</b><br />
+<b>Thornycroft Hall.</b><br />
+<b>The Fortunes of Cyril Denham.</b><br />
+<b>Overdale.</b><br />
+<b>Grey and Gold.</b><br />
+<b>Mr. Montmorency's Money.</b><br />
+<b>Chrystabel.</b><br />
+<b>St. Beetha's.</b><br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="center"><i>For other books by this Author see pages <a href="#Page_396">12</a> and <a href="#Page_397">13</a></i>.<br /></p>
+
+
+<p class="center"><i>NEW SERIES OF COPYRIGHT BOOKS.</i><br /></p>
+
+<p class="center">Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, <b>2s.</b><br /></p>
+
+<p>
+<b>*A Morning Mist.</b> By <span class="smcap">Sarah Tytler</span>.<br />
+<b>A Sister to Esau.</b> By<span class="smcap"> Amelia E. Barr</span>.<br />
+<b>The Debt of the Damerals.</b> By <span class="smcap">Bessie Marchant</span>.<br />
+<b>A Town Romance; or, On London Stones.</b> By <span class="smcap">C. C. Andrews</span>.<br />
+<b>A Daughter of Fife.</b> By <span class="smcap">Amelia E. Barr</span>.<br />
+<b>The Pride of the Family.</b> By <span class="smcap">Ethel F. Heddle</span>.<br />
+<b>Unknown to Herself.</b> By <span class="smcap">Laurie Lansfeldt</span>.<br />
+<b>The Squire of Sandal Side.</b> By <span class="smcap">Amelia E. Barr</span>.<br />
+<b>The Bow of Orange Ribbon.</b> By <span class="smcap">Amelia E. Barr</span>.<br />
+<b>The Scourge of God.</b> By <span class="smcap">J. Bloundelle-Burton</span>.<br />
+<b>The New Mrs. Lascelles.</b> By <span class="smcap">L. T. Meade</span>.<br />
+<b>Miss Devereux, Spinster.</b> By <span class="smcap">Agnes Giberne</span>.<br />
+<b>Jan Vedder's Wife.</b> By <span class="smcap">Amelia E. Barr</span>.<br />
+</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_401" id="Page_401">[17]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<p><b>*Simple Cookery.</b> Comprising "Tasty Dishes" and "More Tasty Dishes." Over
+500 Tested Receipts. Crown 8vo, cloth boards, 2s.</p>
+
+<p>A book that should be in every household.</p>
+
+<p><b>My Baptism, and What Led to it.</b> By Rev. <span class="smcap">James Mountain</span>.
+Crown 8vo, cloth boards, 2s.</p>
+
+<p><b>Adrift on the Black Wild Tide.</b> A Weird and Strange Experience in
+Dreamland, and a Nautical Version of "The Pilgrim's Progress." By <span class="smcap">James
+J. Kane</span>, G.T. Chaplain U.S. Navy. Cloth gilt, 2s.</p>
+
+<p>"One of the most remarkable books of the day."&mdash;<i>Western Daily Mercury.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>Early Pupils of the Spirit, and What of Samuel?</b> By <span class="smcap">J. M.
+Whiton</span>, Ph.D. New Edition, Crown 8vo, cloth, 2s.</p>
+
+<p><b>The Religion of Jesus.</b> By <span class="smcap">J. Allanson Picton</span>, M.A., J.P.
+Crown 8vo, 2s.</p>
+
+<p>"Many of the more thoughtful of religious people will find here the clues
+which will enable them to understand how to be abreast of the latest science,
+and yet preserve a sincere piety, a reverent faith in God, and a tender love
+for Jesus Christ."&mdash;<i>The Inquirer.</i></p>
+
+
+
+<p class="ft20"><b>1/6</b> Net.<br /></p>
+
+<p class="center"><i>THE "FREEDOM OF FAITH" SERIES.</i><br /></p>
+
+<p>An entirely New Series of Small Fcap. 8vo Books, 128 pp., handsomely
+bound in Green Leather, with chaste design in gold. Price <b>1s.</b> <b>6d.</b> net.</p>
+
+<p>
+<b>*The Wideness of God's Mercy.</b> By <span class="smcap">F. B. Meyer</span>, B.A.<br />
+<b>The Letters of Christ.</b> By Rev. <span class="smcap">Charles Brown</span>.<br />
+<b>Christ's Pathway to the Cross.</b>  By <span class="smcap">J. D. Jones</span>, M.A., B.D.<br />
+<b>The Crucible of Experience.</b> By <span class="smcap">F. A. Russell</span>.<br />
+<b>The Passion for Souls.</b> By <span class="smcap">J. H. Jowett</span>, M.A.<br />
+<b>The Value of the Apocrypha.</b> By <span class="smcap">J. Bernard Snell</span>, M.A.<br />
+<b>The Economics of Jesus.</b> By <span class="smcap">E. Griffith-Jones</span>, B.A.<br />
+<b>Inspiration in Common Life.</b> By <span class="smcap">W. L. Watkinson</span>, M.A.<br />
+<b>Prayer.</b> By <span class="smcap">William Watson</span>, M.A.<br />
+<b>A Reasonable View of Life.</b> By <span class="smcap">J. M. Blake</span>, M.A.<br />
+<b>Common-sense Christianity.</b> By <span class="smcap">C. Silvester Horne</span>, M.A.<br />
+</p>
+
+<p>"There are precious things in every volume, and the Series deserves
+success."&mdash;<i>Dundee Advertiser.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>Who Wrote the Bible?</b> By <span class="smcap">Washington Gladden</span>, D.D.
+Author of "The Growing Revelation," &amp;c. New and cheap
+Edition, 256 pages, cloth boards, 1s. 6d. net.</p>
+
+<p>"Well named 'A book for the people.' It fulfils its promise; it is
+simple, untechnical, careful without being erudite. It is a reverent
+book, too; a man who believes the Bible to be inspired and the Word of
+God here explains how it has been handled by modern criticism, and with
+what results. For the intelligent reader interested in these questions,
+and wanting a survey of the whole field, it would be hard to find a more
+suitable book."&mdash;<i>The Speaker.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>Reasons Why for Congregationalists.</b> By Rev. <span class="smcap">J. D. Jones</span>,
+M.A., B.D. Crown 8vo, cloth boards, 1s. 6d. net.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_402" id="Page_402">[18]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<p><b>*Women and their Work.</b> By <span class="smcap">Marianne Farningham</span>, Author of "Harvest
+Gleanings," "Women and their Saviour." Crown 8vo, cloth boards, 1s. 6d.
+net.</p>
+
+<p><b>Sunny Memories of Australasia.</b> By Rev. <span class="smcap">W. Cuff</span>. Crown 8vo, cloth boards.
+Portraits and Illustrations. 1s. 6d. net.</p>
+
+<p><b>Christian Baptism: Its Significance and its Subjects.</b> By <span class="smcap">J. E. Roberts</span>,
+M.A., B.D. Crown 8vo, cloth boards, 1s. 6d. net.</p>
+
+<p><b>William Jeffery, the Puritan Apostle of Kent.</b> A Message and an Appeal to
+Young Nonconformists. By <span class="smcap">Chas. Rudge</span>, with an Introduction by Rev. <span class="smcap">Dr.
+Clifford</span>. Crown 8vo, cloth boards, 1s. 6d. net.</p>
+
+<p><b>Reform in Sunday School Teaching.</b> By Professor <span class="smcap">A. S. Peake</span>. Crown 8vo,
+cloth boards, 1s. 6d. net.</p>
+
+<p>"The volume is the best and ablest on the subject, and the Professor writes
+as one who knows.... The book is timely and of utmost importance."&mdash;<i>Sunday
+School Times.</i></p>
+
+<p>"Should be studied by all who have any connection, official or otherwise,
+with Sunday-schools."&mdash;<i>The Sheffield Independent.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>The Forgotten Sheaf.</b> A Series of Addresses to Children. By
+Rev. <span class="smcap">D. J. Llewellyn</span>. Crown 8vo, cloth boards, 1s. 6d. net.</p>
+
+<p><b>Seven Puzzling Bible Books.</b> By <span class="smcap">Washington Gladden</span>, D.D.
+Cheap Edition. Cloth boards, 1s. 6d. net.</p>
+
+
+
+<p class="ft20"><b>1/6</b><br /></p>
+
+<p class="center">SMALL BOOKS ON GREAT SUBJECTS.<br /></p>
+
+<p class="center">Pott 8vo, bound in buckram cloth, 1s. 6d. each.<br /></p>
+
+<p><b>The Christ Within.</b> By Rev. T. <span class="smcap">Rhondda Williams</span>.</p>
+
+<p>"Thoughtful and well written, and can be read with interest and profit."&mdash;<i>Glasgow
+Herald.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>Old Pictures in Modern Frames.</b> By <span class="smcap">J. G. Greenhough</span>, M.A.</p>
+
+<p>"Bright and unconventional."&mdash;<i>Glasgow Herald.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>The Taste of Death and the Life of Grace.</b> By <span class="smcap">P. T. Forsyth</span>, M.A., D.D.</p>
+
+<p>"The value of this little book is out of all proportion to its size. It is a bit
+of modern religious thinking with a quality entirely its own. The writer
+is not an echo, but a voice."&mdash;<i>The Christian World.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>Types of Christian Life.</b> By <span class="smcap">E. Griffith-Jones</span>, B.A.</p>
+
+<p>"A thoughtful little book."&mdash;<i>The Guardian.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>Faith the Beginning, Self-Surrender the Fulfilment, of the Spiritual
+Life.</b> By <span class="smcap">James Martineau</span>, D.D., D.C.L. Second Edition. Sixth Thousand.</p>
+
+<p>"Full of lovely and exalted ethical teaching."&mdash;<i>The Methodist Times.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>Words by the Wayside.</b> By <span class="smcap">George Matheson</span>, D.D. Third Edition. Fifth
+Thousand.</p>
+
+<p>"One of the best gifts of recent literature."&mdash;<i>The Speaker.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>How to Become Like Christ.</b> By <span class="smcap">Marcus Dods</span>, D.D. Second
+Edition.</p>
+
+<p>"Characteristic of the author and worthy of his reputation."&mdash;<i>The
+North British Daily Mail.</i><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_403" id="Page_403">[19]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<p><b>The Kingdom of the Lord Jesus.</b> By <span class="smcap">Alexander Mackennal</span>, D.D.</p>
+
+<p>"Marked by spiritual insight, intellectual force, and literary feeling."&mdash;<i>The
+Examiner.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>The Way of Life.</b> By <span class="smcap">H. Arnold Thomas</span>, M.A.</p>
+
+<p>"Puts with sweet reasonableness the case for undivided allegiance to
+lofty ideals."&mdash;<i>The Speaker.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>The Ship of the Soul.</b> By <span class="smcap">Stopford A. Brooke</span>, M.A.</p>
+
+<p>"A tract for the times. In clear, nervous English Mr. Brooke says many
+things which need saying."&mdash;<i>The Star.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>The Christian Life.</b> By <span class="smcap">W. M. Sinclair</span>, D.D., Archdeacon of
+London.</p>
+
+<p>"Marked by Dr. Sinclair's characteristic simplicity, earnestness and
+force."&mdash;<i>The Scotsman.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>Character Through Inspiration.</b> By <span class="smcap">T. T. Munger</span>, D.D.</p>
+
+<p>"Admirable for a quiet Sunday at home."&mdash;<i>Newcastle Daily Leader.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>Infoldings and Unfoldings of the Divine Genius, in Nature and Man.</b> By
+<span class="smcap">John Pulsford</span>, D.D. New Edition.</p>
+
+<p>"The book will help to give the reader many suggestive ideas of the relationship
+between God and man."&mdash;<i>East Anglian Daily Times.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>The Jealousy of God.</b> By <span class="smcap">John Pulsford</span>, D.D.</p>
+
+<p>"Worth its weight in gold."&mdash;<i>The Sunday School Chronicle.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>Martineau's Study of Religion.</b> By <span class="smcap">Richard A. Armstrong</span>.</p>
+
+<p>"An analysis and appreciation of Dr. James Martineau's great book. It is
+excellently well done, clear and intelligible."&mdash;<i>The Spectator.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>The Art of Living Alone.</b> By <span class="smcap">Amory H. Bradford</span>.</p>
+
+<p>"Very attractive, ... full of sweet wisdom&mdash;allusive, stimulating,
+encouraging."&mdash;<i>The Dundee Advertiser.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>The Supreme Argument for Christianity.</b> By <span class="smcap">W. Garrett Horder</span>.</p>
+
+<p>"Very readable and suggestive."&mdash;<i>The Glasgow Herald.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>Reconsiderations and Reinforcements.</b> By <span class="smcap">J. M. Whitop</span>.
+Ph.D., Author of "Beyond the Shadow," &amp;c.</p>
+
+<p>"A book of much beauty and force."&mdash;<i>The Bradford Observer.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>The Conquered World.</b> By <span class="smcap">R. F. Horton</span>, M.A., D.D.</p>
+
+<p>"Has all Dr. Horton's charm of manner, his unexpectedness, and his
+glorious optimism."&mdash;<i>The Methodist Times.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>The Making of an Apostle.</b> By <span class="smcap">R. J. Campbell</span>, M.A.</p>
+
+<p>"Profitable and instructive reading, not only to our ordained ministers,
+but to our lay preachers and others as well."&mdash;<i>Christian Life.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>The Angels of God.</b> By <span class="smcap">John Hunter</span>, D.D.</p>
+
+<p>"Many charming volumes in the series.... None better than these papers
+by Dr. Hunter."&mdash;<i>The Liverpool Mercury.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>Social Worship an Everlasting Necessity.</b> By <span class="smcap">John Clifford</span>,
+D.D.</p>
+
+<p>"Most cheerful, inspiring, and illuminative."&mdash;<i>The Church Times.</i><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_404" id="Page_404">[20]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p><b>Ancient Musical Instruments.</b> A popular Account of their Development, as
+illustrated by Typical Examples in the Galpin Collection at Hatfield,
+Broad Oak, Essex. By <span class="smcap">William Lynd</span>. Linen cover, 1s, 6d.; cloth, 2s.</p>
+
+<p>"The book is unique, and lovers of orchestral music cannot fail to be
+profited and interested by the material offered for study."&mdash;<i>Ardrossan Herald.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>The Church and the Kingdom.</b> By <span class="smcap">Washington Gladden</span>. Crown 8vo, cloth, 1s.
+6d.</p>
+
+<p><b>Let us Pray.</b> A Handbook of Selected Collects and forms of Prayer for the
+Use of the Free Churches. By C. <span class="smcap">Silvester Horne</span> and <span class="smcap">F. Herbert Darlow</span>,
+M.A. Crown 8vo, cloth, 1s. 6d. net.</p>
+
+<p><b>Race and Religion.</b> Hellenistic Theology, its Place in Christian
+Thought. By <span class="smcap">Thomas Allin</span>, D.D. Fcap. 8vo, 1s. 6d.</p>
+
+<p>"The book is crammed with facts and ideas. It would be difficult to find
+anywhere in the same compass a richer collection of living and
+suggestive thought."&mdash;"J. B.," in <i>The Christian World</i>.</p>
+
+<p><b>Short Devotional Services.</b> By <span class="smcap">George Aitchison</span>. Limp
+cloth, 1s. 6d.</p>
+
+<p>Thirteen services, compiled chiefly from the Bible and the Book of
+Common Prayer. Intended not to supersede but to supplement the usual
+extempore prayer.</p>
+
+<p><b>The Children's Pace; and Other Addresses to Children.</b> By Rev. <span class="smcap">J. S.
+Maver</span>, M.A., of Paisley. Fcap. 8vo, cloth, 1s. 6d.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Maver has produced one of the best books of the kind published for
+some time."&mdash;<i>Banffshire Journal.</i></p>
+
+
+
+<p class="ft20"><b>1/-</b> Net.<br /></p>
+
+<p><b>Women and their Saviour.</b> Thoughts of a Minute for a Month. By <span class="smcap">Marianne
+Farningham</span>, Author of "Harvest Gleanings," &amp;c. Cloth, 1s. net.</p>
+
+<p>"These 'thoughts of a minute for a month of mornings' are the out-pourings
+of an entirely unaffected piety."&mdash;<i>Glasgow Herald.</i></p>
+
+<p>"A very touching little book of devotional reflections."&mdash;<i>Christian Life.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>Reasons Why for Free Churchmen.</b> By Rev. <span class="smcap">J. D. Jones</span>, M.A., B.D. Small
+8vo, cloth boards, 1s. net.</p>
+
+<p><b>The Price of Priestcraft.</b> By <span class="smcap">Howard Evans</span>. Crown 8vo, paper covers, 1s.
+net; cloth, 1s. 6d. net.</p>
+
+<p>"We wish for it a very large circulation. No one has served the cause of
+religious freedom better than Mr. Howard Evans by his labours in the
+press and elsewhere."&mdash;<i>British Weekly.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>Gain or Loss?</b> An Appreciation of the Results of Recent Biblical
+Criticism. Five Lectures delivered at Brixton Independent Church,
+London. By <span class="smcap">Bernard J. Snell</span>, M.A., B.Sc. Cheap Edition. Fcap. 8vo,
+cloth, 1s. net.</p>
+
+<p>"Many students who are unable to follow all the lines and results of
+Biblical criticism have desired precisely such a book.... The treatment
+of the whole subject is most satisfactory, and appeals throughout both to
+reason and religious sentiment."&mdash;<i>Dundee Advertiser.</i><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_405" id="Page_405">[21]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<p class="ft20"><b>1/-</b><br /></p>
+
+<p><b>*Animal Fun.</b> Humorous Pictures of Animals drawn by <span class="smcap">Louis Wain</span>, <span class="smcap">Harry B.
+Neilson</span>, <span class="smcap">J. A. Shepherd</span>, and others. 4to, Coloured Paper Boards,
+varnished, 1s.</p>
+
+<p>A delightful book for the young.</p>
+
+<p><b>Louis Wain's Animal Show.</b> Full of Pictures specially drawn for the book,
+with Stories in Prose and Verse. Coloured paper boards, varnished, 1s.</p>
+
+<p>"'Louis Wain's Animal Show' will cause endless amusement in the nursery,
+and the difficulty will be to get the fortunate little ones who receive
+the volume to put it down. There will be tears to get it, and tears of
+happiness when it is obtained. The contents, like the matter and
+illustrations, will fascinate all children, and they blend the humorous
+and the instructive with undoubted success."&mdash;<i>Sunday School Chronicle.</i></p>
+
+<p>"Will keep the youngsters in merry mood for hours."&mdash;<i>Lloyd's Weekly News.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>Funny Animals and Stories About Them.</b> Comical Pictures of Animals, drawn
+by <span class="smcap">Louis Wain</span>, <span class="smcap">J. A. Shepherd</span>, and other Artists. 4to, coloured paper
+boards, varnished, 1s.</p>
+
+<p>A book that will be eagerly welcomed by children of all ages.</p>
+
+<p><b>Louis Wain's Baby's Picture Book.</b> Coloured paper boards, varnished, 1s.</p>
+
+<p>"When we say that Louis Wain has drawn all the pictures it is enough
+recommendation; for nobody else can sketch animals, birds, fishes, and
+young folks as he can. He is a grand shilling's-worth for the
+nursery."&mdash;<i>The Methodist Times.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>Outline Text Lessons for Junior Classes.</b> By <span class="smcap">Gladys Davidson</span>, Author of
+"Kindergarten Bible Stories," &amp;c. Fcap. 8vo, cloth boards, 1s.</p>
+
+<p>"The book is simple and practical, and will be found suggestive and
+helpful by teachers."&mdash;<i>Sunday School Chronicle.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p><b>Golden Truths for Young Folk.</b> By <span class="smcap">J. Ellis</span>, Author of "The Seed Basket,"
+"Tool Basket," "By Way of Illustration," &amp;c. Crown 8vo, cloth boards,
+1s.</p>
+
+<p>"Useful, direct and easily understood set of talks to
+children."&mdash;<i>British Weekly.</i></p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Ellis, who has already given many workers his help, continues his
+assistance, and is fresh and suggestive as ever."&mdash;<i>The Yorkshire Daily
+Observer.</i></p>
+
+<p>"Talks and chats with young folk. They are to the point. Calculated to
+win the attention."&mdash;<i>Sheffield Independent.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>How to Read the Bible.</b> Hints for Sunday-school Teachers and Other Bible
+Students. By <span class="smcap">W. F. Adeney</span>, M.A., Principal of Lancashire College,
+Manchester, Author of "The Bible Story Retold," &amp;c. New and Revised
+Edition. Nineteenth Thousand. Cloth boards, 1s.</p>
+
+<p>"A most admirable little work. We know of no book which deals with this
+subject so dearly and adequately within so small a compass. It speaks of
+itself modestly as 'Hints for Sunday-School Teachers and other Bible
+Students,' but it is one of the very few manuals which are well worth
+the study of the clergy."&mdash;<i>The Guardian.</i></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_406" id="Page_406">[22]</a></span></p><p><b>A Manual for Free Church Ministers.</b> Cloth, 1s. net; leather, 2s. 6d.</p>
+
+
+<p><b>Health and Home Nursing.</b> By Mrs. <span class="smcap">Lessels Mather</span>, Health Lecturer to the
+Northumberland County Council. Fcap. 8vo, cloth, 1s.</p>
+
+<p>A book that should be in every household. Contains chapters on The Care
+of the Invalid, Homely Local Applications, Feeding the Invalid,
+Infection and Disinfection, Care of the Teeth, The Value of Foods,
+Influenza, its Causes and Prevention, Consumption, its Causes and
+Prevention, Digestion and Indigestion, Headaches, Home Nursing of Sick
+Children, What to do till the Doctor Comes, Habits in Relation to
+Health, The Health of the Town Dweller.</p>
+
+<p><b>Helps to Health and Beauty.</b> Two Hundred Practical Prescriptions
+by a Pharmaceutical Chemist.</p>
+
+<p>"This little book contains two hundred practical prescriptions or formul&aelig;
+for preparations for the hair, hands, nails, feet, skin, teeth, and bath, in
+addition to perfumes, insecticides, and medicaments for various ailments.
+As far as possible technical language is avoided, and the directions are clear
+and concise."&mdash;<i>Pharmaceutical Journal.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>Morning, Noon and Night.</b> By <span class="smcap">R. F. Horton</span>, M.A., D.D. Fcap. 8vo,
+parchment cover with gold lettering, 1s.</p>
+
+<p>"Deeply suggestive, and as earnest as its fancies are pleasing and quaint."&mdash;<i>Dundee Advertiser.</i></p>
+
+<p>"A very charming companionship. Many who read 'Morning, Noon, and
+Night' once will want to take it up again and again."&mdash;<i>Sussex Daily News.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>Wayside Angels, and Other Sermons.</b> By <span class="smcap">W. K. Burford</span>, Minister of the
+Wicker Congregational Church, Sheffield. Pott 8vo, cloth, 1s.</p>
+
+<p><b>Tasty Dishes.</b> A Choice Selection of Tested Recipes, showing what we can
+have for Breakfast, Dinner, Tea and Supper. It is designed for people of
+moderate means who desire to have pleasant and varied entertainment for
+themselves and their friends. It is a book of genuine and tested
+information. New Edition. Thoroughly revised and brought up to date.
+130th Thousand. Crown 8vo, 1s.</p>
+
+<p>"No home ought to be without this timely, useful, and practical family
+friend."&mdash;<i>Brighton Gazette.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>More Tasty Dishes.</b> A Book of Tasty, Economical, and Tested Recipes.
+Including a Section on Invalid Cookery. A Supplement to "Tasty Dishes."
+New Edition. Price 1s.</p>
+
+<p>"Every recipe is so clearly stated that the most inexperienced cook could
+follow them and make dainty dishes at a small cost."&mdash;<i>Pearson's Weekly.</i></p>
+
+<p>"The recipes given have been carefully tried and not been found wanting."&mdash;<i>The Star.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>Talks to Little Folks.</b> A Series of Short Addresses. By Rev. <span class="smcap">J. C.
+Carlile</span>. Crown 8vo, art vellum, 1s.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_407" id="Page_407">[23]</a></span>"No one who reads this book can reasonably doubt that Mr. Carlile is
+master of the difficult art of catching and sustaining the interest of
+young people. He is wise enough to dispense with the preacher's
+framework, texts, introductions, &amp;c., and at once he arrests attention
+by a direct question or a brief story."&mdash;<i>Literary World.</i></p>
+
+
+<p><b>Oliver Cromwell.</b> By <span class="smcap">R. F. Horton</span>, D.D., Author of "John Howe," "The
+Teaching of Jesus," &amp;c., &amp;c. Sixth Edition. Nineteenth Thousand. 1s.</p>
+
+<p>"Worthy a place in the library of every Christian student."&mdash;<i>Methodist Recorder.</i></p>
+
+<p>"It is an able and scholarly and thoughtful book."&mdash;<i>Bradford Observer.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>Rome from the Inside; or, The Priests' Revolt.</b> Translated and Compiled
+by "J. B." of <i>The Christian World</i>. Third Thousand. Fcap. 8vo, price
+1s.</p>
+
+<p>This pamphlet may be described in brief as a record of the new revolt in
+the French priesthood. Its contents are chiefly letters and addresses
+from priests and ex-priests. These, it will be recognised at once, are a
+testimony of the very first order as to what modern Rome really stands
+for in relation to spiritual life, to morality, and to intellectual
+progress.</p>
+
+<p><b>The Bible Definition of Religion.</b> By <span class="smcap">George Matheson</span>, M.A., D.D. Printed
+on deckle-edged paper, with red border lines and decorated wrapper, in
+envelope. Price 1s.</p>
+
+<p>"Each of Dr. Matheson's chapters is a prose-poem, a sonata. This is a
+book to be read and re-read. It is in every sense 'a thing of beauty'; it
+is a veritable 'necklace of pearls.'"&mdash;<span class="smcap">C. Silvester Horne.</span></p>
+
+<p><b>The Awe of the New Century.</b> By <span class="smcap">R. F. Horton</span>, M.A., D.D. Fcap. 8vo, 1s.
+Decorated parchment cover and decorated margins to each page printed in
+colours. Gilt top. Each copy in envelope. Second Edition.</p>
+
+<p>"A most impressive and delightful little book, displaying all the best
+qualities of the popular pastor of Hampstead."&mdash;<i>The Western Mercury.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>The Sceptre Without a Sword.</b> By Dr. <span class="smcap">George Matheson</span>.
+In envelope. Pott 8vo, 1s.</p>
+
+<p>"'The Sceptre Without a Sword,' by Dr. George Matheson, is worth
+reading, and that is more than one can say for the vast majority of
+booklets now turned out to order. The subject is more important than
+ever to-day when it is the fashion to ignore the root principles of
+Christianity."&mdash;<i>The Echo.</i></p>
+
+<p>"This is a very charming little book&mdash;both externally and
+internally."&mdash;<i>Ardrossan and Saltcoats Herald.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>Our Girls' Cookery.</b> By the Author of "Tasty Dishes." Crown 8vo, linen,
+1s.</p>
+
+<p>"A most artistic-looking little volume, filled with excellent recipes,
+that are given so clearly and sensibly that the veriest tyro in the
+culinary art will be able to follow them as easily as possible."&mdash;<i>The
+Lady.</i></p>
+
+<p>"The contents are varied and comprehensive.... The directions given are
+clear and reliable, each recipe having been specially tested."&mdash;<i>Dundee
+Advertiser.</i></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_408" id="Page_408">[24]</a></span><b>The Divine Satisfaction.</b> A Review of what should and what should not be
+thought about the Atonement. By <span class="smcap">J. M. Whiton</span>. Crown 8vo, paper, 1s.</p>
+
+
+<p class="center">By MARY E. MANNERS.<br /></p>
+
+<p class="center">Crown 8vo, Linen Covers, 1s. each.<br /></p>
+
+<p><b>A Tale of a Telephone, and Other Pieces.</b></p>
+
+<p>"Narrative pieces, suitable for recitation."&mdash;<i>Outlook.</i></p>
+
+<p>"Facile and effective pieces in verse of the sort that tells well on the
+recitation platform. They have a pleasant light humour and a lilt often
+like that of the Ingoldsby Legends, and should not fail to entertain any
+reader in a jocular mood."&mdash;<i>Scotsman.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>The Bishop and the Caterpillar</b> (as recited by the late Mr. Brandram),
+and Other Pieces. Dedicated by permission to Lewis Carroll. Fourth
+Edition.</p>
+
+<p>"The first two pieces are quite worthy of Ingoldsby, and that reverend
+gentleman would not have been ashamed to own them. The pieces are
+admirably suited for recitation."&mdash;<i>Dramatic Review.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>Aunt Agatha Ann</b>; and Other Ballads. Illustrations by <span class="smcap">Ernold A. Mason</span> and
+<span class="smcap">Louis Wain</span>.</p>
+
+<p>"Excellent pieces for recitation from a popular pen."&mdash;<i>Lady's Pictorial.</i></p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p><b>Sunday Afternoon Song Book, with Tunes.</b> Compiled by <span class="smcap">H. A. Kennedy</span> and <span class="smcap">R.
+D. Metcalfe</span>. 1s. net. Words only, 12s. 6d. per hundred net.</p>
+
+<p>"The airs have been selected and arranged under the editorship of Mr. R.
+D. Metcalfe, and add so much to the value of the collection that this
+edition will easily supersede all others and give the work a new
+popularity with choral societies and others interested in Church
+music."&mdash;<i>The Scotsman.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>Christianity in Common Speech</b>: Suggestions for an Everyday Belief. By <span class="smcap">J.
+Compton Rickett</span>. Demy 8vo, 1s.</p>
+
+
+<p class="center">SMALL BOOKS ON GREAT SUBJECTS.<br /></p>
+
+<p class="center">(<span class="smcap">Cheap Edition.</span>)<br /></p>
+
+<p class="center">Bound in red cloth, 1s. each.<br /></p>
+
+<p><b>*Social Worship an Everlasting Necessity.</b> By <span class="smcap">John Clifford</span>, D.D.</p>
+
+<p><b>*The Taste of Death and the Life of Grace.</b> By <span class="smcap">P. T. Forsyth</span>, M.A., D.D.</p>
+
+<p><b>The Conquered World.</b> By <span class="smcap">R. F. Horton</span>, M.A., D.D.</p>
+
+<p><b>The Christian Life</b>. By Archdeacon <span class="smcap">Sinclair</span>.</p>
+
+<p><b>The Ship of the Soul.</b> By <span class="smcap">Stopford A. Brooke</span>, M.A.</p>
+
+<p><b>Faith and Self-Surrender.</b> By <span class="smcap">James Martineau</span>, D.D., D.C.L.</p>
+
+<p><b>Martineau's Study of Religion.</b> By <span class="smcap">Richard A. Armstrong</span>.</p>
+
+<p><b>The Kingdom of the Lord Jesus.</b> By <span class="smcap">Alexander A. Mackennal</span>, D.D.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_409" id="Page_409">[25]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<p class="ft20"><b>6d.</b><br /></p>
+
+<p><b>*Thornycroft Hall.</b> By <span class="smcap">Emma Jane Worboise</span>. Demy 8vo, paper covers, 6d.</p>
+
+<p><b>A Helping Hand to Mothers.</b> By <span class="smcap">Minnie Elligott</span>, Fcap.
+8vo, paper, 6d.</p>
+
+<p>"A sensibly-written and practical little treatise on the upbringing of
+children."&mdash;<i>Newcastle Daily Leader.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>Max Hereford's Dream.</b> By <span class="smcap">Edna Lyall</span>, Author of "Donovan," "We Two,"
+"Doreen," &amp;c. New Edition. Price 6d.</p>
+
+<p>"The 'Dream' is intended to illustrate the efficacy of prayer to those
+in suffering, and Max Hereford, an orator and philanthropist, is on a
+bed of sickness at the time."&mdash;<i>Nottingham Daily Guardian.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>England's Danger.</b> By <span class="smcap">R. F. Horton</span>, M.A., D.D. Price 6d. Contents:
+<span class="smcap">Romanism and National Decay</span>; <span class="smcap">St. Peter and the Rock</span>; <span class="smcap">Truth</span>;
+<span class="smcap">Protestantism</span>; <span class="smcap">Holy Scripture</span>; <span class="smcap">Purgatory</span>.</p>
+
+<p>"Good fighting discourses. They contend that Roman Catholicism has
+ruined every country in which it prevails, and controvert the leading
+positions taken by Roman theologians."&mdash;<i>Scotsman.</i></p>
+
+
+
+<p class="ft20"><b>4d.</b> Net.<br /></p>
+
+<p><b>Holy Christian Empire.</b> By Rev. <span class="smcap">Principal Forsyth</span>, M.A., D.D., of Hackney
+College, Hampstead. Crown 8vo, paper cover, 4d. net.</p>
+
+<p>"Rich in noble thought, in high purpose, in faith and in courage. Every
+sentence tells, and the whole argument moves onward to its great
+conclusion. Dr. Forsyth has put the argument for missions in a way that
+will nerve and inspire the Church's workers at home and abroad for fresh
+sacrifice."&mdash;<i>London Quarterly Review.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>The Unique Class Chart and Register.</b> By Rev. <span class="smcap">J. H. Ridette</span>. Specially
+arranged and absolutely indispensable for keeping a complete record of
+the scholars according to the requirements of the Meggitt Scheme of
+Sunday-school Reform. Linen cover, 4d. net.</p>
+
+
+<p class="ft20"><b>3d.</b> Net.<br /></p>
+
+<p><b>School Hymns, for Schools and Missions.</b> Words only. Compiled by E. H.
+<span class="smcap">Mayo Gunn</span>. Cloth limp, 3d.; cloth boards, 6d.; music, 3s.</p>
+
+
+<p class="ft20"><b>2d.</b> Net.<br /></p>
+
+<p><b>The Sunday Afternoon Song Book.</b> Containing 137 Hymns. For use at
+"Pleasant Sunday Afternoons," and Other Gatherings. Compiled by <span class="smcap">H. A.
+Kennedy</span>, of the Men's Sunday Union, Stepney Meeting House. Twentieth
+Thousand. 2d.; music, 1s.</p>
+
+<p>"Contains 137 hymns, the catholic character of which, in the best sense
+of the term, may be gathered from the names of the authors, which
+include Tennyson, Ebenezer Elliott, Whittier, G. Herbert, C. Wesley,
+Thomas Hughes, J. H. Newman, Longfellow, Bonar, and others. While the
+purely dogmatic element is largely absent, the Christian life, in its
+forms of aspiration, struggle against sin, and love for the true and the
+good, is well illustrated."&mdash;<i>Literary World.</i></p>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_410" id="Page_410">[26]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="Index_of_Titles" id="Index_of_Titles"></a>Index of Titles.</h2>
+
+
+<p class="bquot">
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Abbey Mill, The, <a href="#Page_400">16</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Adrift on the Black Wild Tide, <a href="#Page_401">17</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">America in the East, <a href="#Page_389">5</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ancient Musical Instruments, <a href="#Page_404">20</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Angels of God, The, <a href="#Page_403">19</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Animal Fun, <a href="#Page_405">21</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Apocalyptical Writers, The Messages of the, <a href="#Page_395">11</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Apostles, The Messages of the, <a href="#Page_395">11</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Art of Living Alone, The, <a href="#Page_403">19</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Atonement in Modern Thought, The, <a href="#Page_388">4</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Aunt Agatha Ann, <a href="#Page_408">24</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Awe of the New Century, The, <a href="#Page_407">23</a></span>
+<br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Backward Glance, A, <a href="#Page_389">5</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Baptist Handbook, The, <a href="#Page_398">14</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Barbone Parliament, The, <a href="#Page_389">5</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Barrow, Henry, Separatist, <a href="#Page_386">2</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Beads of Tasmar, The, <a href="#Page_394">10</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Between Two Loves, <a href="#Page_394">10</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bible Definition of Religion, The, <a href="#Page_407">23</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bible Story, The: Retold for Young People, <a href="#Page_399">15</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bishop and the Caterpillar, The, <a href="#Page_408">24</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Black Familiars, The, <a href="#Page_388">4</a>, <a href="#Page_400">16</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Border Shepherdess, A, <a href="#Page_394">10</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bow of Orange Ribbon, The, <a href="#Page_394">10</a>, <a href="#Page_400">16</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Brudenells of Brude, The, <a href="#Page_400">16</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Burning Questions, <a href="#Page_392">8</a></span>
+<br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Canonbury Holt, <a href="#Page_400">16</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Cartoons of St. Mark, <a href="#Page_390">6</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Challenge, The, <a href="#Page_396">12</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Changing Creeds and Social Struggles, <a href="#Page_392">8</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Character through Inspiration, <a href="#Page_403">19</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Children's Pace, The, <a href="#Page_404">20</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Christ of the Children, The, <a href="#Page_396">12</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Christ of the Heart, The, <a href="#Page_390">6</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Christ that is To Be, The, <a href="#Page_393">9</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Christ Within, The, <a href="#Page_402">18</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Christ's Pathway to the Cross, <a href="#Page_401">17</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Christian Baptism, <a href="#Page_402">18</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Christian Life, The, <a href="#Page_403">19</a>, <a href="#Page_408">24</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Christian World Pulpit, The, <a href="#Page_390">6</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Christianity and Social Problems, <a href="#Page_390">6</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Christianity in Common Speech, <a href="#Page_408">24</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Chrystabel, <a href="#Page_394">10</a>, <a href="#Page_400">16</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Church and the Kingdom, The, <a href="#Page_404">20</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Church, Ministry and Sacraments in the New Testament, <a href="#Page_389">5</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Cinderella, <a href="#Page_387">3</a>, <a href="#Page_400">16</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Comforts of God, The, <a href="#Page_398">14</a></span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_411" id="Page_411">[27]</a></span>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Common Life, The, <a href="#Page_393">9</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Common-sense Christianity, <a href="#Page_401">17</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Conquered World, The, <a href="#Page_403">19</a>, <a href="#Page_408">24</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Courage of the Coward, The, <a href="#Page_392">8</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Crucible of Experience, The, <a href="#Page_401">17</a></span>
+<br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Daughter of Fife, A, <a href="#Page_394">10</a>, <a href="#Page_400">16</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Debt of the Damerals, The, <a href="#Page_400">16</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Divine Satisfaction, The, <a href="#Page_407">23</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dutch in the Medway, The, <a href="#Page_394">10</a></span>
+<br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Early Pupils of the Spirit, and What of Samuel, <a href="#Page_401">17</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Earlier Prophets, The Messages of the, <a href="#Page_395">11</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Earliest Christian Hymn, The, <a href="#Page_399">15</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Economies of Jesus, The, <a href="#Page_401">17</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Emilia's Inheritance, <a href="#Page_400">16</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">England's Danger, <a href="#Page_409">25</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Episcopacy, <a href="#Page_395">11</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Epistle to the Galatians, The, <a href="#Page_399">15</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Esther Wynne, <a href="#Page_394">10</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Eternal Religion, The, <a href="#Page_388">4</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ezekiel, The Book of, <a href="#Page_386">2</a></span>
+<br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Faith the Beginning, Self-Surrender the Fulfilment, of the Spiritual Life, <a href="#Page_402">18</a>, <a href="#Page_408">24</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Family Prayers for Morning Use, <a href="#Page_393">9</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Father Fabian, <a href="#Page_400">16</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Feet of Clay, <a href="#Page_394">10</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">First Christians, The, <a href="#Page_392">8</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Flower-o'-the-Corn, <a href="#Page_387">3</a>, <a href="#Page_400">16</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Forgotten Sheaf, The, <a href="#Page_402">18</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Fortune's Favourite, <a href="#Page_400">16</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Fortunes of Cyril Denham, The, <a href="#Page_400">16</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Friars Lantern, <a href="#Page_392">8</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Friend Olivia, <a href="#Page_388">4</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Funny Animals and Stories about Them, <a href="#Page_405">21</a></span>
+<br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Gain or Loss?, <a href="#Page_404">20</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Gamble with Life, A, <a href="#Page_392">8</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Garcia, G. H. R., <a href="#Page_392">8</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Gloria Patri: Talks about the Trinity, <a href="#Page_393">9</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Glorious Company of the Apostles, The, <a href="#Page_399">15</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">God's Greater Britain, <a href="#Page_393">9</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Golden Truths for Young Folk, <a href="#Page_405">21</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Grey and Gold, <a href="#Page_394">10</a>, <a href="#Page_400">16</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Grey House at Endlestone, <a href="#Page_400">16</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Growing Revelation, The, <a href="#Page_390">6</a></span>
+<br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Haromi: A New Zealand Story, <a href="#Page_388">4</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Harvest Gleanings, <a href="#Page_398">14</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Health and Home Nursing, <a href="#Page_406">22</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Heartsease in the Family, <a href="#Page_396">12</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Heirs of Errington, The, <a href="#Page_400">16</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Helen Bury, <a href="#Page_396">12</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Helping Hand to Mothers, <a href="#Page_409">25</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Helps to Health and Beauty, <a href="#Page_406">22</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Higher on the Hill, <a href="#Page_391">7</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">His Next of Kin, <a href="#Page_394">10</a>, <a href="#Page_400">16</a></span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_412" id="Page_412">[28]</a></span>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">His Rustic Wife, <a href="#Page_393">9</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">History of the United States, A, <a href="#Page_386">2</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Holy Christian Empire, <a href="#Page_409">25</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Household of MacNeil, The, <a href="#Page_394">10</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">House of Bondage, The, <a href="#Page_400">16</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">How Much is Left of the Old Doctrines, <a href="#Page_391">7</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">How to Become Like Christ, <a href="#Page_402">18</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">How to Read the Bible, <a href="#Page_405">21</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Husbands and Wives, <a href="#Page_400">16</a></span>
+<br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ideals for Girls, <a href="#Page_399">15</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Incarnation of the Lord, The, <a href="#Page_390">6</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Industrial Explorings in and around London, <a href="#Page_394">10</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Infoldings and Unfoldings of the Divine Genius in Nature and Man, <a href="#Page_396">12</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Inspiration in Common Life, <a href="#Page_401">17</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Inward Light, The, <a href="#Page_392">8</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Israel's Law Givers, The Messages of, <a href="#Page_395">11</a></span>
+<br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Jan Vedder's Wife, <a href="#Page_400">16</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Jealousy of God, The, <a href="#Page_403">19</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Jesus according to the Synoptists, The Messages of, <a href="#Page_395">11</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Joan Carisbroke, <a href="#Page_394">10</a>, <a href="#Page_400">16</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Job and His Comforters, <a href="#Page_398">14</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Joshua, The Book of, <a href="#Page_387">3</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Judges, The Book of, <a href="#Page_387">3</a></span>
+<br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Kid McGhie, <a href="#Page_387">3</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Kingdom of the Lord Jesus, The, <a href="#Page_403">19</a>, <a href="#Page_408">24</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Kit Kennedy: Country Boy, <a href="#Page_387">3</a>, <a href="#Page_400">16</a></span>
+<br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lady Clarissa, <a href="#Page_400">16</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Last of the MacAllisters, The, <a href="#Page_394">10</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Later Prophets, The Messages of the, <a href="#Page_395">11</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Leaves for Quiet Hours, <a href="#Page_396">12</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Letters of Christ, The, <a href="#Page_401">17</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Let us Pray, <a href="#Page_404">20</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Liberty and Religion, <a href="#Page_396">12</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Life and Letters of Alexander Mackennal, The, <a href="#Page_390">6</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Louis Wain's Animal Show, <a href="#Page_405">21</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Louis Wain's Baby's Picture Book, <a href="#Page_405">21</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Loves of Miss Anne, The, <a href="#Page_387">3</a>, <a href="#Page_400">16</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lynch, Rev. T. T.: A Memoir, <a href="#Page_389">5</a></span>
+<br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Making of an Apostle, The, <a href="#Page_403">19</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Manual for Free Church Ministers, A, <a href="#Page_405">21</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Margaret Torrington, <a href="#Page_394">10</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Martineau's Study of Religion, <a href="#Page_403">19</a>, <a href="#Page_408">24</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Maud Bolingbroke, <a href="#Page_396">12</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Max Hereford's Dream, <a href="#Page_409">25</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Messages of the Bible, The, <a href="#Page_395">11</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Method of Prayer, A, <a href="#Page_396">12</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Millicent Kendrick, <a href="#Page_394">10</a>, <a href="#Page_400">16</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Miss Devereux, Spinster, <a href="#Page_400">16</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Model Prayer, The, <a href="#Page_399">15</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">More Tasty Dishes, <a href="#Page_406">22</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Morning and Evening Cries, <a href="#Page_398">14</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Morning Mist, A, <a href="#Page_400">16</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Morning, Noon, and Night, <a href="#Page_406">22</a></span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_413" id="Page_413">[29]</a></span>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mornington Lecture, The, <a href="#Page_389">5</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mr. Montmorency's Money, <a href="#Page_394">10</a>, <a href="#Page_400">16</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">My Baptism, <a href="#Page_401">17</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">My Neighbour and God, <a href="#Page_397">13</a></span>
+<br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">New Mrs. Lascelles, The, <a href="#Page_400">16</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">New Points to Old Texts, <a href="#Page_394">10</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">New Testament in Modern Speech, The, <a href="#Page_397">13</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Nineteen Hundred?, <a href="#Page_394">10</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Nobly Born, <a href="#Page_394">10</a>, <a href="#Page_400">16</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Nonconformist Church Buildings, <a href="#Page_399">15</a></span>
+<br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Old Pictures in Modern Frames, <a href="#Page_402">18</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Oliver Cromwell, <a href="#Page_407">23</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Oliver Westwood, <a href="#Page_400">16</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ordeal of Faith, The, <a href="#Page_399">15</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Our Girls' Cookery, <a href="#Page_407">23</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Our New House, <a href="#Page_396">12</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ourselves and the Universe, <a href="#Page_393">9</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Outline Text Lessons for Junior Classes, <a href="#Page_405">21</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Overdale, <a href="#Page_394">10</a>, <a href="#Page_400">16</a></span>
+<br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Passion for Souls, The, <a href="#Page_401">17</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Paul and Christina, <a href="#Page_394">10</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Paul, The Messages of, <a href="#Page_395">11</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Paxton Hood: Poet and Preacher, <a href="#Page_403">19</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Personality of Jesus, The, <a href="#Page_395">11</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Pilot, The, <a href="#Page_397">13</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Poems. By Mme. Guyon, <a href="#Page_395">11</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Polychrome Bible, The, <a href="#Page_386">2</a>, <a href="#Page_387">3</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Popular Argument for the Unity of Isaiah, A, <a href="#Page_398">14</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Popular History of the Free Churches, A, <a href="#Page_388">4</a>, <a href="#Page_397">13</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Practical Points in Popular Proverbs, <a href="#Page_398">14</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Prayer, <a href="#Page_401">17</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Preaching to the Times, <a href="#Page_394">10</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Price of Priestcraft, The, <a href="#Page_404">20</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Pride of the Family, The, <a href="#Page_400">16</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Principles and Practices of the Baptists, <a href="#Page_398">14</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Problems of Living, <a href="#Page_393">9</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Prophetical and Priestly Historians, The Messages of, <a href="#Page_395">11</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Psalmists, The Messages of the, <a href="#Page_395">11</a></span>
+<br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Quickening of Caliban, The, <a href="#Page_394">10</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Quiet Hints to Growing Preachers, <a href="#Page_395">11</a></span>
+<br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Race and Religion, <a href="#Page_404">20</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Reasonable View of Life, A, <a href="#Page_401">17</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Reasons Why for Congregationalists, <a href="#Page_401">17</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Reasons Why for Free Churchmen, <a href="#Page_404">20</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Reconsiderations and Reinforcements, <a href="#Page_403">19</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Reform in Sunday School Teaching, <a href="#Page_402">18</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Religion and Experience, <a href="#Page_388">4</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Religion of Jesus, The, <a href="#Page_401">17</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Religion that will Wear, A, <a href="#Page_398">14</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Rights of Man, The, <a href="#Page_389">5</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Rise of Philip Barrett, The, <a href="#Page_388">4</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Robert Wreford's Daughter, <a href="#Page_394">10</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Rogers, J. Guinness, <a href="#Page_386">2</a></span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_414" id="Page_414">[30]</a></span>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Rome from the Inside, <a href="#Page_407">23</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Rosebud Annual, The, <a href="#Page_391">7</a>, <a href="#Page_396">12</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Rose of a Hundred Leaves, A, <a href="#Page_388">4</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ruling Ideas of the Present Age, <a href="#Page_391">7</a></span>
+<br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">School Hymns, <a href="#Page_396">12</a>, <a href="#Page_409">25</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">School of Life, The, <a href="#Page_396">12</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sceptre Without a Sword, The, <a href="#Page_407">23</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Scourge of God, The, <a href="#Page_400">16</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Seven Puzzling Bible Books, <a href="#Page_390">6</a>, <a href="#Page_402">18</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ship of the Soul, The, <a href="#Page_403">19</a>, <a href="#Page_408">24</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">She Loved a Sailor, <a href="#Page_394">10</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Short Devotional Services, <a href="#Page_404">20</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Simple Cookery, <a href="#Page_401">17</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Singlehurst Manor, <a href="#Page_394">10</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sissie, <a href="#Page_394">10</a>, <a href="#Page_400">16</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sister to Esau, A, <a href="#Page_394">10</a>, <a href="#Page_400">16</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Small Books on Great Subjects, <a href="#Page_402">18</a>, <a href="#Page_403">19</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Social Salvation, <a href="#Page_391">7</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Social Worship an Everlasting Necessity, <a href="#Page_403">19</a>, <a href="#Page_408">24</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Spirit Christlike, The, <a href="#Page_398">14</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Squire of Sandal Side, The, <a href="#Page_394">10</a>, <a href="#Page_400">16</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">St. Beetha's, <a href="#Page_394">10</a>, <a href="#Page_400">16</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Story of the English Baptists, The, <a href="#Page_387">3</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Story of Penelope, The, <a href="#Page_400">16</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Studies of the Soul, <a href="#Page_393">9</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sunday Afternoon Song Book, <a href="#Page_408">24</a>, <a href="#Page_409">25</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sunday Morning Talks with Boys and Girls, <a href="#Page_398">14</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sunny Memories of Australasia, <a href="#Page_402">18</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Supreme Argument for Christianity, The, <a href="#Page_403">19</a></span>
+<br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Tale of a Telephone, A, <a href="#Page_408">24</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Talks to Little Folks, <a href="#Page_406">22</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Taste of Death and the Life of Grace, The, <a href="#Page_402">18</a>, <a href="#Page_408">24</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Tasty Dishes, <a href="#Page_406">22</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ten Commandments, The, <a href="#Page_398">14</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Theology and Truth, <a href="#Page_389">5</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Theology of an Evolutionist, The, <a href="#Page_390">6</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Theophilus Trinal, Memorials of, <a href="#Page_389">5</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Thornycroft Hall, <a href="#Page_394">10</a>, <a href="#Page_400">16</a>, <a href="#Page_409">25</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Through Science to Faith, <a href="#Page_388">4</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Tommy, and Other Poems, <a href="#Page_406">22</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Tools and the Man, <a href="#Page_391">7</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Town Romance, A; or, On London Stones, <a href="#Page_400">16</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Trial and Triumph, <a href="#Page_398">14</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Types of Christian Life, <a href="#Page_402">18</a></span>
+<br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Undertones of the Nineteenth Century, <a href="#Page_397">13</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Unique Class Chart and Register, <a href="#Page_409">25</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Unknown to Herself, <a href="#Page_400">16</a></span>
+<br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Value of the Apocrypha, The, <a href="#Page_401">17</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Violet Vaughan, <a href="#Page_394">10</a>, <a href="#Page_400">16</a></span>
+<br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Wanderer, The, <a href="#Page_392">8</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Warleigh's Trust, <a href="#Page_400">16</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Way of Life, The, <a href="#Page_403">19</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Wayside Angels, <a href="#Page_406">22</a></span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_415" id="Page_415">[31]</a></span>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">What Shall this Child Be?, <a href="#Page_398">14</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Where does the Sky Begin?, <a href="#Page_391">7</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Who Wrote the Bible?, <a href="#Page_401">17</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Why We Believe, <a href="#Page_397">13</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Wideness of God's Mercy, The, <a href="#Page_401">17</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Wife as Lover and Friend, The, <a href="#Page_399">15</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">William Jeffrey, <a href="#Page_397">13</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Witnesses of the Light, <a href="#Page_391">7</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Woman's Patience, A, <a href="#Page_400">16</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Women and their Saviour, <a href="#Page_404">20</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Women and their Work, <a href="#Page_402">18</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Words by the Wayside, <a href="#Page_402">18</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Woven of Love and Glory, <a href="#Page_394">10</a></span>
+<br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Young Man's Religion, A, <a href="#Page_397">13</a></span><br />
+</p>
+
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<h2><a name="Index_of_Authors" id="Index_of_Authors"></a>Index of Authors.</h2>
+
+
+<p class="bquot">
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Abbot, C. L., <a href="#Page_392">8</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Abbott, Lyman, <a href="#Page_389">3</a>, <a href="#Page_390">6</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Adeney, W. F., <a href="#Page_405">21</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Aitchison, George, <a href="#Page_404">20</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Aked, C. F., <a href="#Page_392">8</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Andom, R., <a href="#Page_394">10</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Andrews, C. C., <a href="#Page_400">16</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Armstrong, Richard A., <a href="#Page_403">19</a>, <a href="#Page_408">24</a></span>
+<br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bainton, George, <a href="#Page_399">15</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Barr, Amelia E., <a href="#Page_388">4</a>, <a href="#Page_394">10</a>, <a href="#Page_400">16</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Barrett, G. S., <a href="#Page_399">15</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Barrows, C. H., <a href="#Page_395">11</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bennett, Rev. W. H., <a href="#Page_387">3</a>, <a href="#Page_399">15</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Benvie, Andrew, <a href="#Page_391">7</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Blake, J. M., <a href="#Page_401">17</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bloundelle-Burton, J., <a href="#Page_400">16</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bradford, Amory H., <a href="#Page_390">6</a>, <a href="#Page_392">8</a>, <a href="#Page_403">19</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Brierley, J., <a href="#Page_388">4</a>, <a href="#Page_393">9</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Brock, W., <a href="#Page_398">14</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Brooke, Stepford A., <a href="#Page_403">19</a>, <a href="#Page_408">24</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Brown, C., <a href="#Page_398">14</a>, <a href="#Page_401">17</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Burford, W. K., <a href="#Page_406">22</a></span>
+<br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Campbell, Rev. R. J., <a href="#Page_403">19</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Carlile, Rev. J. C., <a href="#Page_392">8</a>, <a href="#Page_406">22</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Clifford, Dr., <a href="#Page_403">19</a>, <a href="#Page_408">24</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Coulton, G. G., <a href="#Page_392">8</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Crockett, S. R., <a href="#Page_387">3</a>, <a href="#Page_400">16</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Cubitt, James, <a href="#Page_399">15</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Cuff, W., <a href="#Page_402">18</a></span>
+<br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Davidson, Gladys, <a href="#Page_405">21</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dode, Marous, <a href="#Page_402">18</a></span>
+<br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Elligott, Minnie, <a href="#Page_409">25</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ellis, J., <a href="#Page_405">21</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Evans, H., <a href="#Page_404">20</a></span>
+<br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Farningham, Marianne, <a href="#Page_394">10</a>, <a href="#Page_398">14</a>, <a href="#Page_402">18</a>, <a href="#Page_404">20</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Fiske, J., <a href="#Page_386">2</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Forsyth, Rev. Principal, <a href="#Page_402">18</a>, <a href="#Page_408">24</a>, <a href="#Page_409">25</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Fraser, J., <a href="#Page_395">11</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Funeke, O., <a href="#Page_396">12</a></span>
+<br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Gibbon, J. Morgan., <a href="#Page_399">15</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Giberne, Agnes, <a href="#Page_400">16</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Gladden, Washington, <a href="#Page_390">6</a>, <a href="#Page_391">7</a>, <a href="#Page_392">8</a>, <a href="#Page_401">17</a>, <a href="#Page_402">18</a>, <a href="#Page_404">20</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Glass, Henry Alexander, <a href="#Page_389">5</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Glover, R., <a href="#Page_398">14</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Greenhough, J. G., <a href="#Page_398">14</a>, <a href="#Page_402">18</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Griffith-Jones, E., <a href="#Page_401">17</a>, <a href="#Page_402">18</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Griffis, William Elliot, <a href="#Page_389">5</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Gunn, E. H. Mayo, <a href="#Page_396">12</a>, <a href="#Page_409">25</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Guyon, Madame, <a href="#Page_395">11</a>, <a href="#Page_396">12</a></span>
+<br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Haweis, H. R., <a href="#Page_399">15</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Haycraft, Mrs., <a href="#Page_393">9</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Heddle, E. F., <a href="#Page_400">16</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Henderson, J. G., <a href="#Page_392">8</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Henson, Canon Hensley, <a href="#Page_394">10</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hocking, S. K., <a href="#Page_392">8</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Horder, W. Garrett, <a href="#Page_403">19</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Horne, C. Silvester, <a href="#Page_388">4</a>, <a href="#Page_397">13</a>, <a href="#Page_399">15</a>, <a href="#Page_401">17</a>, <a href="#Page_404">20</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Horton, Dr. R. F., <a href="#Page_390">6</a>, <a href="#Page_403">19</a>, <a href="#Page_406">22</a>, <a href="#Page_407">23</a>, <a href="#Page_408">24</a>, <a href="#Page_409">25</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hunter, John, <a href="#Page_403">19</a></span>
+<br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"J. B." of <i>The Christian World</i>, <a href="#Page_407">23</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Jefferson, C. E., <a href="#Page_395">11</a></span>
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_416" id="Page_416">[32]</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">J. M. G., <a href="#Page_393">9</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Jones, J. D., <a href="#Page_399">15</a>, <a href="#Page_401">17</a>, <a href="#Page_404">20</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Jowett, J. H., <a href="#Page_401">17</a></span>
+<br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Kane, James J., <a href="#Page_401">17</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Kaye, Bannerman, <a href="#Page_388">4</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Kennedy, H. A., <a href="#Page_408">24</a>, <a href="#Page_409">25</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Kennedy, John, <a href="#Page_398">14</a></span>
+<br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lansfeldt, L., <a href="#Page_400">16</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lee, W. T., <a href="#Page_397">13</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Llewellyn, D. J., <a href="#Page_397">13</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lyall, David, <a href="#Page_388">4</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lyall, Edna, <a href="#Page_409">25</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lynch, T. T., <a href="#Page_389">5</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lynd, William, <a href="#Page_404">20</a></span>
+<br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Macfadyen, D., <a href="#Page_390">6</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Macfarland, Charles S., <a href="#Page_398">14</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Macfarlane, Charles, <a href="#Page_394">10</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mackennal, Alexander, <a href="#Page_403">19</a>, <a href="#Page_408">24</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Manners, Mary E., <a href="#Page_408">24</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Marchant, B., <a href="#Page_400">16</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Marshall, J. T., <a href="#Page_398">14</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Marshall, N. H., <a href="#Page_389">5</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Martineau, James, <a href="#Page_402">18</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mather, Lessels, <a href="#Page_406">22</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mather, Z., <a href="#Page_390">6</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Matheson, George, <a href="#Page_396">12</a>, <a href="#Page_402">18</a>, <a href="#Page_407">23</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Maver, J. S., <a href="#Page_404">20</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Meade, L. T., <a href="#Page_400">16</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Metcalfe, R. D., <a href="#Page_408">24</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Meyer, F. B., <a href="#Page_401">17</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Moore, G. F., <a href="#Page_387">3</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Morgan, Rev. G. Campbell, <a href="#Page_398">14</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mountain, J., <a href="#Page_401">17</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Munger, T. T., <a href="#Page_403">19</a></span>
+<br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Peake, A. S., <a href="#Page_402">18</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Pharmaceutical Chemist, A, <a href="#Page_406">22</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Picton, J. Allanson, <a href="#Page_401">17</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Powicke, F. J., <a href="#Page_386">2</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Pulsford, John, <a href="#Page_403">19</a></span>
+<br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Rees, F. A., <a href="#Page_398">14</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Rickett, J. Compton, <a href="#Page_393">9</a>, <a href="#Page_394">10</a>, <a href="#Page_408">24</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ridette, J. H., <a href="#Page_409">25</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ridley, A. E., <a href="#Page_389">5</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Robarts, F. H., <a href="#Page_398">14</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Roberts, J. E., <a href="#Page_402">18</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Rogers, Dr. Guinness, <a href="#Page_386">2</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Rudge, C., <a href="#Page_402">18</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Russell, F. A., <a href="#Page_401">17</a></span>
+<br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sanders, Frank Knight, <a href="#Page_395">11</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Scottish Presbyterian, A, <a href="#Page_398">14</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sinclair, Archdeacon, <a href="#Page_403">19</a>, <a href="#Page_408">24</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Smyth, Dr. Newman, <a href="#Page_388">4</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Snell, Barnard J., <a href="#Page_401">17</a>, <a href="#Page_404">20</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Stevenson, J. G., <a href="#Page_396">12</a></span>
+<br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Thomas, H. Arnold, <a href="#Page_403">19</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Trotter, Mrs. E., <a href="#Page_397">13</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Toy, Rev. C. H., <a href="#Page_386">2</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Tytler, S., <a href="#Page_400">16</a></span>
+<br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Veitch, R., <a href="#Page_392">8</a></span>
+<br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Wain, Louis, <a href="#Page_405">21</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Walford, L. B., <a href="#Page_388">4</a>, <a href="#Page_400">16</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Waters, N. McG., <a href="#Page_397">13</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Watkinson, W. L., <a href="#Page_401">17</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Watson, W., <a href="#Page_401">17</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Weymouth, R. F., <a href="#Page_397">13</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">White, William, <a href="#Page_389">5</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Whitley, W. T., <a href="#Page_389">5</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Whiton, J. M., <a href="#Page_393">9</a>, <a href="#Page_394">10</a>, <a href="#Page_401">17</a>, <a href="#Page_403">19</a>, <a href="#Page_407">23</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Williams, C., <a href="#Page_398">14</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Williams, T. R., <a href="#Page_402">18</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Wilson, Philip Whitwell, <a href="#Page_396">12</a>, <a href="#Page_397">13</a></span>
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Worboise, Emma J., <a href="#Page_394">10</a>, <a href="#Page_400">16</a>, <a href="#Page_409">25</a></span><br />
+</p>
+
+
+<p class="center"><i>W. Speaight and Sons, Printers, Fetter Lane, E.C.</i></p>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<div class="notebox"><p><b>Transcriber's Note:</b> On page 172 the word "lapels" was written as "lappels"
+and has been changed. On page 378 the name "Seaward" was written as
+"Seward" and has been changed.</p></div>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Gamble with Life, by Silas K. Hocking
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Gamble with Life, by Silas K. Hocking
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: A Gamble with Life
+
+Author: Silas K. Hocking
+
+Release Date: April 10, 2012 [EBook #39417]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A GAMBLE WITH LIFE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Chris Curnow, Sue Fleming, Lindy Walsh and the
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                              A GAMBLE WITH LIFE
+
+                               SILAS K. HOCKING
+
+
+          [Illustration: "OPEN YOUR EYES," HE CRIED, "AND SPRING."]
+
+
+                              A GAMBLE WITH LIFE
+
+                                      BY
+
+                                SILAS K. HOCKING
+
+                                   AUTHOR OF
+
+                "Pioneers," "The Flaming Sword," "God's Outcast,"
+                   "One in Charity," "The Heart of Man," etc.
+
+                                    London
+                   JAMES CLARKE & CO., 13 & 14 FLEET STREET E.C.
+                                     1906
+
+
+                             _All rights reserved_
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+  CHAPTER                          PAGE
+
+       I. A STRANGE COMPACT           7
+
+      II. DREAMS AND REALITIES       15
+
+     III. THE VALUE OF A LIFE        26
+
+      IV. PAYING THE PENALTY         35
+
+       V. A PERILOUS TASK            44
+
+      VI. FAITH AND PHILOSOPHY       54
+
+     VII. THE NICK OF TIME           63
+
+    VIII. THE SOUL'S AWAKENING       72
+
+      IX. THE CAPTAIN'S LETTER       82
+
+       X. A VISITOR                  92
+
+      XI. A TALK BY THE WAY         101
+
+     XII. FAIRYLAND                 112
+
+    XIII. THE AWAKENING             123
+
+     XIV. EVOLUTION                 134
+
+      XV. MISGIVINGS                145
+
+     XVI. GROWING SUSPICIONS        157
+
+    XVII. RETROSPECTIVE             168
+
+   XVIII. THE OLD AND THE NEW       178
+
+     XIX. AFTER THREE YEARS         189
+
+      XX. FATHER AND SON            200
+
+     XXI. GERVASE SPEAKS HIS MIND   211
+
+    XXII. A HUMAN DOCUMENT          222
+
+   XXIII. MEANS TO AN END           232
+
+    XXIV. THE JUSTICE OF THE STRONG 243
+
+     XXV. THE END OF A DREAM        254
+
+    XXVI. QUESTIONS TO BE FACED     266
+
+   XXVII. THE VALUE OF A LIFE       277
+
+  XXVIII. THE RETURN OF THE SQUIRE  288
+
+    XXIX. GETTING AT THE TRUTH      299
+
+     XXX. THE TOILS OF CIRCUMSTANCE 310
+
+    XXXI. OLD FRIENDS               320
+
+   XXXII. FACING THE INEVITABLE     331
+
+  XXXIII. WAS IT PROVIDENCE?        342
+
+   XXXIV. DISCOVERIES               352
+
+    XXXV. CONFLICTING EMOTIONS      363
+
+   XXXVI. HIS HEART'S DESIRE        373
+
+
+
+
+                          A GAMBLE WITH LIFE
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER I
+
+                          A STRANGE COMPACT
+
+
+"Well, of all the hare-brained proposals I ever listened to, this takes
+the bun"; and Felix Muller adjusted his pince-nez and lay back in his
+chair and laughed softly.
+
+"But why hare-brained?" asked his companion, seriously. "Singular, I
+admit it may be; startling if you like, but I do not see that there is
+anything in it to laugh at."
+
+"You don't?" and the lawyer's face became suddenly grave. "Do you
+realise what your proposal implies?"
+
+"I think I do," and Rufus Sterne's face flushed slightly; "but you are
+thinking of a contingency that will never arise."
+
+"Perhaps I am; but every contingency must be guarded against," and Felix
+Muller took off his glasses and wiped them meditatively. "You say you
+are confident of success, and I am bound to admit, from what I know of
+you and your scheme, I think your confidence is well founded. But you
+know as well as I do, that nothing is certain in this world but death."
+
+"Well?"
+
+"You may fail. Something may happen you cannot foresee."
+
+"I grant it, as a remote--an exceedingly remote--possibility. But in
+such an event you will be covered by my life assurance policy."
+
+"But you may live for another fifty years."
+
+Rufus Sterne shook his head and smiled gravely.
+
+"If I fail," he said, "I shall have no further use for life. You need be
+under no apprehension on that score. The money for which my life is
+insured will be paid into your hands without any unnecessary delay. I
+know the company."
+
+"But it would be a direct contravention of the law, and would entitle
+the company to refuse----"
+
+"My dear sir," Sterne interrupted, sharply, "there are many roads into
+the land of oblivion. Exits can be arranged, if the parties so desire,
+in a perfectly natural manner. You need not fear that trouble will arise
+on that score."
+
+"Nevertheless, I confess I do not like the proposal."
+
+"You seem to have grown suddenly very squeamish," Sterne said, with a
+slight curl of the lip. "I have always understood that you set no
+particular value on human life. Indeed, I have heard you argue that a
+man's life is his own to do as he likes with--to continue it or end it,
+as seems good in his own eyes."
+
+"I am still of the same opinion. No, I am no sentimentalist. The rubbish
+talked by parsons and so-called humanitarians makes me ill. All the same
+I would prefer that someone else----"
+
+"There is no one else," Rufus Sterne broke in, irritably. "You are my
+last hope. A thousand pounds now will lead me on to fame and fortune.
+You have the money. You can lend it to me if you like, and for security
+I make you my sole legatee."
+
+"But the money is not mine, and must be paid back by the 31st of
+December of next year without fail."
+
+"That gives eighteen months and more," and Sterne laughed. "My dear
+fellow, six months or a little more will see the thing through."
+
+"I like to see a man confident," Felix Muller said, a little uneasily.
+"But there is such a thing as over-confidence, as you know. I should be
+better pleased if you were a little less cocksure."
+
+"But man alive, I have been working at this thing for years. I have
+tested every link in the chain, if you will allow me to say so. I have
+faced every possible contingency. I have gone over the ground so often
+that I know every inch of the way. I have anticipated every objection,
+every weakness, every flaw, and have provided against it. All I want now
+is a thousand pounds in hard cash, and in a year's time I shall be able
+to repay it ten-fold."
+
+"You hope so."
+
+"I am sure of it; as far as a man can be sure of anything in this stupid
+world. The more or less unpleasant contingency that you persist in
+looking at will never occur."
+
+"But it may occur," Muller persisted.
+
+"Well, if it does you will not suffer; and I shall be glad to hide
+myself and be at rest."
+
+"You say that now."
+
+"Do you doubt my courage or my honour?" Sterne demanded, sharply.
+
+"No, I doubt neither," Muller said, slowly; "but the instinct of life is
+strong--especially in the young."
+
+"When a man has something to live for--some great purpose to achieve, or
+some proud ambition to realise, he naturally wants to live. But take
+away that something, and life is a squeezed orange which he is glad to
+fling away."
+
+"People still cling to life when they have nothing left to live for,"
+Muller said, reflectively.
+
+"Sentimentalists and cowards," Sterne broke in, hastily. "Men who have
+been robbed of their courage by priestly superstitions. But you and I
+have thrown off the swaddling clothes in which we were reared. Your
+German philosophers have not reflected and written for nothing."
+
+"I am an Englishman," Muller broke in, hastily.
+
+"I do not dispute it for a moment," Sterne said, with a laugh. "But let
+us not get away from the subject we have in hand. The question is will
+you accommodate me or will you not?"
+
+"If I do not you will curse me to-day," Muller said, with a drawl; "and
+if I do, you may curse me more bitterly eighteen months hence. So it
+seems to me it is a choice between two evils."
+
+"There you are mistaken," Sterne replied. "I certainly shall curse you
+if you refuse me, but if you become my friend to-day I shall never cease
+to bless you."
+
+"Not if you fail?"
+
+"Why will you persist in harping on that one string? I shall not fail.
+Failure is out of the reckoning. I am as certain of success as I am of
+my own existence."
+
+"'Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.'"
+
+"Please, Muller, don't quote the Bible to me."
+
+"It is sound philosophy wherever it is taken from. Besides, the Bible is
+good literature."
+
+"So is Dante's 'Inferno.' But if you were dosed with it morning, noon
+and night, for the space of fifteen or twenty years, you would be glad
+to have a little respite. But we are getting away again from the subject
+in hand. Let's stick to the one point till we've done with it. If you've
+made up your mind that you won't help me, say so."
+
+"My dear fellow, all that I've been anxious to do is to enable you, if
+possible, to realise all that such a contract implies."
+
+"Well, if I didn't realise it before, I do now. You've been very
+faithful."
+
+"And you still wish to enter into the arrangement?"
+
+"Of course I do. What do you take me for?"
+
+"Remember, I am no sentimentalist, and whatever may happen to you, I
+shall be compelled in the end to claim my bond."
+
+Sterne laughed a little bitterly. "You do not mean to insult me, I know.
+Nevertheless your words imply a doubt that I cannot help resenting. If
+the worst comes to the worst, you will have no need to _claim_ your
+bond. You will get your own back without effort, and with compound
+interest."
+
+"I have no desire to insult you, certainly. But equally am I desirous of
+preventing any misunderstanding later on. In a business transaction of
+this kind one cannot be too explicit. The time-limit I am compelled to
+insist upon."
+
+"It is quite ample," Sterne broke in, impatiently. "I shall know my fate
+long before the end of next year."
+
+"I hope you will succeed even beyond what you hope for."
+
+"Let me tell you for the twentieth time that I am bound to succeed. When
+shall I have the money?"
+
+"The day after to-morrow."
+
+"That will do. Now I am a happy man."
+
+"I hope you will never have cause to regret the bargain."
+
+"You shall not, in any case."
+
+The lawyer smiled, and lowered his eyebrows. "From a professional point
+of view," he said, reflectively, "it is not, of course, good business."
+
+Sterne looked up suddenly. "I see what you mean," he said, after a
+pause. "You are not covered against any failure of courage or honour on
+my part?"
+
+The lawyer nodded assent.
+
+"I appreciate your trust in me," Sterne replied, with a touch of emotion
+in his voice. "I do indeed. You are lending me the money without any
+legal security."
+
+"And the money is not mine," the lawyer added.
+
+"I understand; and when the time comes you shall be rewarded," and
+Sterne rose to his feet and picked up his bowler hat, which had been
+lying on the floor.
+
+The lawyer rose also, and held out his hand to his client. "The money
+shall be ready for you the day after to-morrow." So they parted.
+
+Rufus Sterne went out into the street feeling as though all the world
+lay at his feet. No thought of failure crossed his mind. The thing he
+had been working for for years was at last to be realised. His invention
+would not only put money into his own pocket, but it would revolutionise
+the chief industry of his native county, and find work for thousands of
+willing hands.
+
+In imagination he saw himself not only prosperous, but honoured and
+respected and hailed as a public benefactor. He had a long walk over the
+hills to the village in which he resided, but it seemed as nothing to
+him that evening. His heart was beating high with hope, his eyes
+sparkled with eager anticipation.
+
+From the crest of the second hill the wide sweep of the Atlantic came
+into view, and for several minutes he stood still, with bared head. He
+had spent all his life in sight and sound of the sea, and he never tired
+of it. Relatives, friends, acquaintances by the dozen, slept their last
+sleep far out in its cool embrace. He had a feeling sometimes that he
+would like, when his day's work was done, to pillow his head among the
+seaweed and sleep for ever, while the waves sobbed and sang above him.
+
+The sun was slowly sinking in a sea of molten gold. The window-panes of
+the scattered farmhouses were flashing back the evening fire. From the
+valley behind him came the bleating of lambs and the answering call of
+the mother sheep, and with the cooling of the day a breeze stirred
+faintly in the tree tops and through the hazel bushes.
+
+He replaced his hat, and was about to continue his tramp when he was
+arrested by the sound of carriage wheels behind him. A sharp bend in the
+road hid the vehicle from sight, but he knew it would be on him in a
+moment. So he stepped aside, as the road was narrow, and waited for it
+to pass.
+
+The horse came first into sight, and then the Squire's waggonette. Two
+people sat on the front seat, the coachman and a lady. The back of the
+vehicle was piled almost to the level of their heads with luggage. The
+horse came on slowly, which gave Rufus Sterne an opportunity of scanning
+the face of the lady.
+
+"Evidently a stranger," was his first reflection. "Greatly taken with
+the view of the sea," his second. After that his reflections were of a
+very mixed character.
+
+Two or three points, however, stood out in his mind with great
+distinctness. The first was the lady was young--"not more than twenty if
+she is a day," he reflected. The second was that she belonged to a type
+he had never seen before. "She's not Cornish, that's certain," he said
+to himself. "I question if she is English." The third was that she was
+most becomingly dressed. Whether she was richly or expensively attired
+he did not know. He had had no experience in such matters. But that her
+dress became her there could be no doubt. The hat she wore might have
+been designed by an artist for her alone. On some people's heads it
+might look a fright, but on the head of this fair creature it was a
+picture.
+
+He stood so far back in the shadow of the hedge that she did not notice
+him. Besides, her eyes were fixed on the distant sea, which flashed in
+the sunset like burnished gold.
+
+"Isn't it just too lovely for words?" Whether she addressed the
+coachman, or whether she was speaking to herself, he did not know. But
+her words fell very distinctly on his ear, and touched his heart with a
+curious sense of kinship or sympathy.
+
+"No; she's not English," he said to himself. "An Englishwoman never
+speaks with an accent just like that. But wherever she comes from she's
+the loveliest creature I ever saw. I wonder who she is?"
+
+He came out into the middle of the road, and followed in the wake of the
+vanishing vehicle. After a few minutes it disappeared completely, and he
+did not see it again.
+
+"I wonder who she is?" The question occurred to him several times as he
+tramped steadily on in the direction of St. Gaved. It even pushed into
+the background his recent interview with Felix Muller, and the strange
+compact he had made.
+
+The twilight was deepening rapidly by the time he reached the cottage in
+which he rented two tiny rooms. A frugal supper was laid ready for him
+on the table, but there was no one to give him welcome, no one to say
+good-night when he retired to rest. Yet no feeling of loneliness or
+friendlessness oppressed him. He felt that the day had been an eventful
+one, and that a future of unmeasured possibilities was opening up before
+him.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER II
+
+                         DREAMS AND REALITIES
+
+
+Rufus Sterne awoke next morning with a feeling of buoyancy and
+hopefulness such as he had never before experienced. The sun was
+streaming brightly through the little window and gilding the humble
+furniture of the room with thin lines of gold; the house-sparrows were
+chirruping noisily under the eaves; the fishermen, early in from their
+night's fishing, were calling "Mackerel" in the winding street below;
+whilst the memory of pleasant dreams was still haunting the chambers of
+his brain--dreams in which his own identity had got mixed up in some
+curious fashion with that of the fair stranger he had seen the evening
+before.
+
+Mrs. Tuke, his landlady, laid his breakfast in silence. It was very
+rarely now that she spoke to him. On her face was a look of injured
+innocence or pained resignation. She had done her best in days gone by
+to lead him to see what she called the error of his ways, but without
+success. Now she had given him over--though not without considerable
+reluctance--to the hardness of his heart. She sometimes wondered whether
+she ought to keep as a lodger a man who was claimed neither by church
+nor chapel, and whose religious opinions not a man in the entire village
+would endorse.
+
+However, as he paid his bill regularly and gave no trouble, and as
+moreover he had no bad habits, and was exceedingly gentlemanly both in
+manners and appearance, she concluded that on the whole she was
+justified in giving him shelter and taking his money.
+
+Rufus did not notice Mrs. Tuke's resigned look and pathetic eyes this
+morning. His thoughts were intent on other things. At last he was on the
+road to fame and fortune, so he honestly and sincerely believed.
+To-morrow he would walk into Redbourne and take possession of a thousand
+pounds. Then life would begin in earnest. He would give up his position
+at the Wheal Gregory Mine and devote all his energies to the completion
+of the great scheme, which would take the whole county by surprise.
+
+What a relief it would be to get away from the common-place and humdrum
+tasks that had filled his hands for the last three or four years--tasks
+that any young man with a School Board education could discharge without
+difficulty. He did not despise the work--no honest labour was to be
+despised. But the work was not of the kind that appealed to him. It was
+monotonous, mechanical, uninteresting. There was nothing in it to call
+out latent skill or originality. He might go on doing it till his brain
+stagnated and the springs of imagination ceased to flow.
+
+He was called the secretary of the mine--a high-sounding name
+enough--but the name was the only important thing about it. He was
+time-keeper, clerk, and office-boy rolled into one.
+
+The salary was just enough to keep him in a position of respectable
+poverty. The only way he could hope to save any money was by insuring
+his life until he was a certain age. But there were times when he was
+half disposed to let his policy lapse. It was such a pinch to find the
+money to pay the premiums.
+
+At last, however, he believed the struggle was over. His thoughts were
+going to take tangible shape; his nebulous dreams were to be reduced to
+concrete form. The lines he had so carefully traced on paper would be
+seen in brass and steel; the mental travail of years would end in the
+birth of a great invention.
+
+He walked away from the house humming a popular waltz, and his steps
+kept time to the music. Wheal Gregory lay over the hill more than a mile
+away. Taking a field path he skirted the park of Trewinion Hall, the
+residence of Sir Charles Tregony, the squire of the parish and the
+largest landowner in the district. It was Sir Charles's waggonette that
+passed him the previous evening when returning from Redbourne.
+
+He slackened his pace almost unconsciously, and looked over the tall
+thorn hedge in the direction of the squire's mansion. An opening in the
+belt of trees brought a portion of the terrace into view, with a strip
+of lawn and a glimpse of the rose garden. At the moment, however, Rufus
+saw neither the garden nor the lawn. It was a graceful girlish figure
+clad in white that arrested his attention. She was flitting in and out
+among the standard roses with a pair of scissors in one hand and a large
+bunch of blooms in the other. She stood still at length and looked
+towards the house, then waved her hand to someone Rufus could not see.
+Then she turned right about face and looked in his direction. Rufus
+lowered his head in a moment and peeped at her between the branches of a
+tree. It might not be the height of good manners, but he could not help
+it. She was so fair a picture, so graceful, so piquant and fresh, that
+he would be almost less than human if he did not make the most of his
+opportunity.
+
+A few minutes later she was joined by the squire's daughter, Beryl, and
+together they walked away till the thick foliage hid them from view.
+
+Rufus heaved a little sigh, and then continued his walk in the direction
+of Wheal Gregory.
+
+"I wonder if people who live in big houses, and have lovely gardens and
+lawns and all the other pleasant things of life are happier than
+ordinary folks," he said to himself. "I wonder if that girl is happy. I
+wonder if she knows how pretty she is? I wonder where she came from? I
+wonder who she is? I wonder if she has come to stay?"
+
+He laughed at length quite loudly, for no one was near to listen. It was
+strange that he should be interested in anyone who had come to stay at
+the Hall. Sir Charles was one of the proudest and most exclusive men in
+the county. There was no one in the parish of St. Gaved, excepting
+perhaps the vicar, that he considered good enough to associate with, and
+Sir Charles's visitors were generally as exclusive as himself.
+
+The rattle of the "fire stamps" down in the valley called him back at
+length to more mundane affairs. It was nothing to him who the new
+visitor at the Hall might be, and whether she stayed a week or a year
+was no concern of his. He had his own work to do, and just now that work
+would fill his thoughts night and day.
+
+He did his best to give all his attention to his ordinary duties, but it
+was no easy matter. He had lost all interest in Wheal Gregory Mine. His
+resignation as secretary would be handed in on Saturday morning: for the
+future he would live on another plane, and more important issues would
+claim his thought and attention.
+
+The day seemed interminably long, but it came to an end at length, and
+he turned his face towards St. Gaved with a light heart. Every day now
+would shorten the period of his exile and inactivity. He was eager to
+get his own great enterprise under weigh, eager to show the people among
+whom he lived the stuff of which he was made.
+
+On the following day he opened a banking account with a thousand pounds
+to his credit, and the day following that he handed his resignation in
+as secretary of Wheal Gregory Mine.
+
+He walked homeward slowly in the glow of the evening's sun, taking a
+wide sweep round by the coast. The sky was almost cloudless, but the
+warmth was tempered by a cool breeze from the West. A pathway skirted
+the edge of the cliffs which was rarely used by anyone after sunset, for
+the cliffs were treacherous and a false step might mean instant death.
+
+On one of the highest points he sat down on the spongy turf and looked
+westward. The sun was sinking in a lake of burnished gold. The sea was
+like glass mingled with fire. He could not help wondering if these
+bright days and glorious sunsets were an augury of his own future.
+
+As yet no cloud dimmed the brightness of his vision, no thought of
+failure flung a shadow across his path. He was as confident of success
+as he was that the Atlantic was rolling at his feet. It was this
+confidence that had blinded his eyes to the moral obliquity of his
+contract with Felix Muller.
+
+"If I fail," he had said, "you shall have my insurance money," and he
+had said it in the most light-hearted fashion, for he never suspected
+for a moment that he would fail.
+
+Moreover, if he did fail the defeat would be so crushing that he was
+quite sure he would not want to live. And as he had lost the faith of
+his childhood, and death meant only an endless and a dreamless sleep,
+dying gave him no concern.
+
+But there was one thing he had never considered, and that was the rights
+of the insurance company. He did not see that it was a felony he
+proposed in case of failure. The idea had never crossed his mind. He had
+laid stress on his honour in making his appeal to Muller, and he failed
+to see that in case his schemes came to nothing he was proposing an act
+of deliberate dishonesty. He would save his honour at the expense of his
+honesty.
+
+It was not of failure, however, he thought, as he looked towards the
+sunset. The future was opening out before his imagination in widening
+vistas of success.
+
+"I shall astonish everybody," he said to himself, a bright, eager smile
+spreading itself over his face. "Muller believes in me, but he has no
+idea how great my scheme is. I don't see the end of it myself, for one
+thing will lead to another. Oh! I shall have a crowded life; for one
+success will beget other successes, and so I shall go forward--never
+idle--till my day's work is done."
+
+He was roused from his pleasant reverie by a light footstep near him,
+and looking round quickly he saw the fair stranger who had interested
+him on two previous occasions. She did not hesitate for a moment in her
+walk, but came briskly forward till she was directly opposite where he
+sat.
+
+"Pardon me," she said, in a voice that was distinctly musical in spite
+of its unfamiliar accent, "but can you tell me if there is a path
+anywhere hereabouts leading down to the beach?"
+
+He was on his feet in a moment, and raising his hat he said, with a
+smile, "The nearest point is down Penwith Cove; that is at least half a
+mile further on."
+
+"And is the path easy?"
+
+"Quite easy."
+
+"Not dangerous at all?"
+
+"Not a bit," he answered, with a smile.
+
+"You will excuse me speaking, won't you?" she said, with a mirthful
+light in her eyes. "I'm not at all sure that it's a bit proper. Sir
+Charles has read me several lectures already about speaking to people I
+don't know, but if I only speak to people I know I shall never speak at
+all when I'm out of the house."
+
+"You are a stranger in St. Gaved?" he questioned, nervously.
+
+"I come from across the water," she answered, with delightful frankness.
+"I never saw your country till four days ago."
+
+"And do you like it?" he questioned.
+
+"Well, yes--up to a certain point. I shall get used to it in time, no
+doubt. But at present it seems a bit dull and slow."
+
+"You've lived in a city, perhaps?"--he was astonished at his boldness,
+but her whole manner seemed to invite conversation.
+
+"That's just it," she replied. "And after New York this place seems a
+trifle dull and quiet."
+
+"I should think so," he said, with a laugh. "Why, even natives like
+myself find it almost insufferable at times."
+
+"Then why do you stay here? Why don't you go right away where the pulse
+of life beats more quickly?"
+
+"Ah! that question is not easy to answer," he said, looking out over the
+fire-flecked sea. "Our home is here, our work lies here. Beyond is a
+great unknown. Many have gone out and have never returned."
+
+"Got lost, eh?" she questioned, with a musical laugh.
+
+"Lost to us who have remained," he answered. "Some have prospered, I
+have no doubt. Some have failed, and died in obscurity and neglect.
+Better, perhaps, endure the ills we have than fly to others we know not
+of."
+
+"Well, yes, I guess there's truth in that," she answered, raising
+frankly her soft brown eyes to his. "Yet there's always fascination in
+the unknown, don't you think so?"
+
+"No doubt of it."
+
+"That's the reason, I expect, why I'm just aching to explore these
+cliffs, and the caves of which Sir Charles says there's any number."
+
+"That won't take you very long," he answered, "though it would hardly be
+safe for you to go alone."
+
+"That's what Sir Charles says; but would you mind telling me just where
+the danger comes in?"
+
+"Well, you see, the rocks are often slippery. And if you are not
+acquainted with the tides you might get caught."
+
+"Ah! that would be interesting."
+
+"Well, scarcely. Strangers have been caught and drowned before now."
+
+"They could not swim?"
+
+"It would take a very strong swimmer to clear St. Gaved Point and get
+into the harbour."
+
+She turned her eyes in that direction and looked grave.
+
+He studied her face a little more closely and allowed his eyes to wander
+over her graceful and well-knit figure. She was very simply dressed,
+without ornament of any kind. A large picture hat shaded her pale face.
+Her eyes were large and dark, her forehead broad, her nose straight, her
+lips full and red.
+
+She caught him looking at her and he blushed a little. "I don't think I
+could swim that distance," she said, turning her eyes again in the
+direction of St. Gaved Point.
+
+"I don't think you would be wise to attempt it." Then he blushed again,
+for she turned on him a swift and searching glance, while her lips
+parted in a smile that seemed to say, "I did not ask you for advice."
+
+For a moment there was silence, then she said, "Do you know the sea has
+been calling me ever since I came."
+
+"Calling you?" he questioned.
+
+"Well, I mean it fascinates me, if you understand. I want to get close
+to it, to paddle in it. It is so beautiful. It looks so cool and
+friendly. Beryl says she cannot bear the sea; that it is not friendly a
+bit; that it is cruel and noisy, and treacherous."
+
+"Ah! she has lived near the sea most of her life."
+
+"And yet you can scarcely see it from the Hall."
+
+"But it can be heard on stormy nights, and when a westerly gale is
+raging its voice is terrible."
+
+"You have lived here all your life?" and her lips parted in the most
+innocent smile.
+
+"Here, and in a neighbouring parish," he answered, frankly.
+
+"And do you like the sea?"
+
+"Sometimes. On an evening like this, for instance, I could sit for hours
+looking at it, and listening to the low murmur of the waves. But in the
+winter I rarely come out on the cliffs."
+
+"I have never seen the sea real mad," she said, reflectively; "but I
+expect I shall if I stay here long enough."
+
+"Do you expect to stay long?" he questioned. If she asked questions he
+did not see why he might not.
+
+"Well, I guess I shall stay in England a good many months anyhow," she
+answered slowly, and with an unmistakable accent; and she turned away
+her eyes, and a faint wave of colour tinged her pale cheeks.
+
+He would have liked to have asked her a good many other questions, but
+he felt he had gone far enough.
+
+"I fear I shall have to go back now," she said at length, without
+looking at him, "or they'll all be wondering what has become of me."
+
+"You could not easily get lost in a place like this," he said, with a
+laugh.
+
+"No, nobody would kidnap me," she said, arching her eyebrows.
+
+"No, I don't think so," he answered in a tone that was half-mirthful,
+half-serious.
+
+She raised her eyes to his for a moment in a keen searching glance,
+then, with a hasty "Good evening," turned and walked away in the
+direction she had come.
+
+He stood and watched her until she had passed over the brow of the hill
+in the direction of Trewinion Hall. Then he slowly resumed his journey
+towards St. Gaved.
+
+That night he awoke from a dream with a feeling of horror tearing at his
+heart. He dreamed that his great scheme had proved a failure, and that
+Felix Muller stood over him demanding the immediate fulfilment of the
+contract.
+
+So vivid had been the dream that, for the moment, he seemed powerless to
+shake off the impression. He sat up in bed, and stared round him, while
+a cold perspiration broke out in beads upon his brow.
+
+For the first time he realised, in any clear and vivid sense, the nature
+of the compact he had entered into. The possibilities of failure had
+seemed so infinitely remote that he had never seriously tried to realise
+what failure would mean.
+
+Now that awful contingency forced itself upon his heart and imagination
+in a way that seemed almost to paralyse him. It was as though some
+invisible but powerful hand had pushed him to the edge of a dark and
+awful precipice, and compelled him to look over. His knees shook under
+him, his head seemed to reel, he struggled to get back to safer ground.
+
+The feeling of horror passed away after a few minutes, and he lay down
+again.
+
+"Of course, I shall not fail," he said to himself. "The contingency is
+so remote that I need not give the matter a second thought."
+
+And yet the impression of that dream was destined to remain with him in
+spite of all his efforts to shake it off.
+
+
+
+
+                               CHAPTER III
+
+                           THE VALUE OF A LIFE
+
+
+During the next few weeks Rufus Sterne was kept so busy that he had very
+little time for either retrospect or anticipation. His great complaint
+was that the days were all too short for the work he wanted to crowd
+into them. He had told Felix Muller that six months would see his scheme
+well on its way to completion. But he had not been at work many weeks
+before he began to fear that twelve months would be much nearer the
+limit. Contractors were so slow, workmen were so careless, and
+accidents--none of them serious--were so numerous, that delays were
+inevitable, and the days grew into weeks unconsciously.
+
+He maintained, however, a brave and hopeful spirit. Delays and
+disappointments were, no doubt, inevitable. No one ever carried out a
+great scheme without encountering a few disappointments. Later on, when
+victory was assured, they would seem as nothing, and would be quickly
+forgotten.
+
+He saw no more of the beautiful stranger who had so much interested him.
+For several days he kept a sharp look out, and wondered if by any chance
+he would cross her path. Then he heard that Sir Charles and all his
+family had gone to London till the end of the season, and he assumed
+that she had gone to London with them.
+
+He had had a second interview with Felix Muller, which had left an
+impression that was not altogether pleasant. Muller was in his most
+cynical and ungenerous mood. He had not a word of encouragement to give
+to his client. On the contrary, he appeared to take a delight in
+pricking Rufus with pointed and unpleasant suggestions.
+
+"It is well, no doubt, to hope for the best," he said to Rufus; "but it
+is equally well to be prepared for the worst."
+
+"I really think you would not trouble much if I should fail," Rufus
+said, in a tone of irritation.
+
+"Then you do me an injustice," was the suave and tantalising answer. "If
+you were to fail I might have trouble in getting my own."
+
+"You mean that I would back out of the contract at the last?"
+
+"No, I don't mean any such thing. I know you are not only a man of
+honour, but a man of courage; but if you should bungle----"
+
+"Look here, we need not go any further into details," Rufus said,
+impatiently. "My point is you are not a bit troubled about me as long as
+you get your money back."
+
+"Oh, but I am! I would rather you prospered than that you failed, any
+day. Still, if in the order of chance you should fail--well----," and he
+shrugged his shoulders, "It would be in the eternal order, that's all."
+
+"You would not fret, of course?"
+
+"My dear fellow, why should I? We must all pass out into the great
+silence sooner or later. And now, or next year, or next century for that
+matter, matters little. You and I have got beyond the region of
+sentiment in such things. Nature sets no value on human life. We take
+our place among the ants and flies, and the human is treated as
+remorselessly as the insect. The wind passeth over both, and they are
+gone."
+
+"Yes, that is true enough," Rufus answered, looking out of the window.
+
+"Besides," Muller went on, as if he read his thoughts, "in the business
+of life we are bound to take risks."
+
+"You mean money risks?"
+
+"Not only money risks. A man who drives to market, who explores a mine,
+who crosses the sea in the interests of commerce, who fights for his
+country, not only risks his property, but he risks his life."
+
+"Not always intentionally."
+
+"Well, not always, perhaps. But in the greatest and noblest enterprises,
+yes. And what is more, it is counted to a man an honour when he risks
+his life in a great cause. If you become a martyr for a great ideal I
+shall revere your memory."
+
+Rufus winced, and looked uncomfortable. "I am not risking my life in the
+public interest," he said, "but in my own."
+
+"It all amounts to the same thing," Muller said, cynically. "You are
+part of the public, and anything that benefits a part benefits, more or
+less, the whole. I am taking risks myself on the same chance of doing
+good."
+
+"Doing good to whom?"
+
+"To myself in the first place. Charity should always begin at home."
+
+"And don't you think also that it should stop there?"
+
+"Well, in the main, I do. I am no sentimentalist, as you very well know.
+Every man for himself is the first law of life."
+
+"So while Nature sets no value on human life, you think that each
+individual should set great value on his own?"
+
+"No, I don't. Everything depends on the individual, or on his
+circumstances. If a man thinks his life is worth preserving, well, let
+him preserve it by all means. But if he thinks it is worthless, why
+should he not let it slip?"
+
+"There seems no particular reason," Rufus answered, reflectively.
+
+"There's no reason at all," Muller went on, dogmatically, "while a man
+is doing something, something useful I mean, something that is of
+benefit to himself and to others, he ought to keep agoing as long as he
+can. But when he is a failure, when he becomes a burden to himself and
+his neighbours, it is cowardly to hang on, and why should anybody fret
+because he makes himself scarce?"
+
+"You mean this as a little homily to myself?" Rufus questioned.
+
+"Oh, not a bit of it! I am not afraid of you not doing the right thing!
+Besides, you are not going to fail," and he laughed, cynically.
+
+"No, I am not going to fail," Rufus answered, rising from his seat; "I
+am going to succeed."
+
+"That's right. I hope you will. But don't forget that there is nothing
+certain in this world but death," and he smilingly bowed Rufus out of
+the room.
+
+In the street Rufus purchased an evening paper, that he might get the
+latest news of the war. He did not open it until he got into the quiet
+lanes outside the town. There had been another big battle in which there
+had been an appalling loss of life. The work of extermination was going
+on rapidly. Modern civilisation was showing what it could do in
+preventing the too rapid growth of the human race.
+
+Rufus hurriedly glanced down the columns, then folded the paper and put
+it into his pocket. "Yes, Muller is right," he mused. "Nature sets no
+value on human life, neither do governments, and neither does religion.
+I wonder how many thousands of human beings have been sacrificed during
+the last few weeks, and who gives to the matter a second thought.
+Religion accepts it as inevitable and even meritorious. Governments
+approve and applaud, and make provision for slaughter on a larger scale
+in the future. Nature, not to be outdone, tries her hand at earthquakes,
+or famine, or disease. It is only the individual who thinks his own life
+is of value, and he, of course, is a conceited prig."
+
+He paused when he reached the hill-top from which the sea came into
+view. The days were beginning to shorten a little. The light of the sun
+was less brilliant, and the green of the fields had given place to
+harvest gold.
+
+"It is curious that we should cling to life so much for its own sake,"
+he said, reflectively. "Curious that the law should label a man a
+criminal who takes his own life when he has no longer any use for it.
+What hypocrites men are, especially those who make our laws. The
+weaklings and worthless they preserve, the able-bodied and useful they
+destroy. The single life, however pitiful, must be protected. The crowd
+is mowed down like grass to gratify some coward's insatiable ambition.
+The creatures who talk about the glory of dying for one's country are
+careful to keep out of the danger line themselves. The man who fails,
+after an heroic struggle, and takes his own life rather than be a burden
+to others, they brand as a coward or dub insane; while he who grows rich
+by trafficking on the weakness or vices of his fellows is made a Right
+Honourable, or given a seat in the councils of the State. It is all very
+sickening, and I refuse to be bound by such traditional falsehood and
+hypocrisy."
+
+He hurried on at a more rapid rate, as if to get away from his thoughts,
+but his brain persisted in working in the same groove. The possibility
+of failure obtruded itself with obstinate persistency.
+
+"I'm glad Muller does not doubt either my courage or my honour," he went
+on. "And really if I fail it will not matter to anyone but myself. I
+have no ties, neither father nor mother, brother nor sister, wife nor
+child. I am happy in that----"
+
+Then he moved to the side of the road for a closed landau drawn by a
+pair of horses to pass him.
+
+"Going to fetch the Hall people from the station very likely," he said
+to himself, and he turned and looked after the retreating vehicle.
+
+"I wonder if she will return?" and a far-away expression came into his
+eyes. "I should like to see her again," he went on, "she is wonderfully
+fresh and natural."
+
+For the rest of the way home he walked very slowly. Now and then he
+paused, and turned his head, and listened. But the sound of wheels,
+which he expected to hear, did not break the evening's stillness, nor
+did he see the face that he hoped to see.
+
+It was nearly a fortnight later that he went out one afternoon on the
+cliffs alone. A somewhat difficult and complicated problem had
+unexpectedly presented itself to him, and he fancied he would be better
+able to see his way through it in the open air than in his workshop or
+study. Generally speaking, he could think best on his feet, and the
+sights and sounds of nature, instead of distracting him, soothed him.
+
+It was a warm, drowsy afternoon. The wind slept, and a soft impalpable
+haze imparted a new mystery to the sea. The tide was coming in slowly
+and imperceptibly, and rippling like silver bells on the shingly beach.
+The distant landscape was an impressionist picture in which all the
+sharp outlines melted into space. The sunshine filtered through a veil
+of gauze. Half-way to Penwith Cove he sat down on a ledge of rock on
+the very edge of the cliff, and looked seaward. He saw nothing
+distinctly, heard no song of the sea. He was too intent on the problem
+that was baffling his brain.
+
+Suddenly he started and opened his eyes wide. Was it a human voice he
+heard, or was it merely fancy? He looked round him swiftly in all
+directions, but no one was in sight. "It was only the cry of a sea-gull,
+I expect," he said to himself, and he half closed his eyes again. The
+next moment he was on his feet and staring round him in all directions.
+"Surely that was a cry for help," he said, and he looked over the edge
+of the cliff and swept with his eyes the narrow stretch of sand, but
+there was no one in sight in any direction.
+
+For a moment or two he stood irresolute, listening. "There it is again,"
+he said, with blanched cheeks, and he lay flat on the ground and dragged
+himself forward slowly till his head and shoulders overhung the cliff.
+
+"Help! oh, help!" came a feeble voice from the abyss below.
+
+"Where are you? What is the matter?" he called, searching in vain for
+any sign of life.
+
+"Oh, save me!" was the quick response. "I cannot possibly hold on much
+longer."
+
+"Have you fallen over the cliff?" he called.
+
+"No, no. I tried to climb up, and I cannot get back again."
+
+"Then shut your eyes and hold tight," he called. "I'll be round in a few
+minutes."
+
+"Oh, do be quick, for I'm getting faint."
+
+"If you faint you're lost," he called. "Hold on like grim death and
+don't look down. I'll be with you directly."
+
+It was a long way round by Penwith Cove, but there was no nearer way. He
+ran like a man pursued by wild beasts. The path was narrow and uneven,
+and followed the irregularities of the cliffs. A dozen times he came
+within an ace of breaking his neck, but he managed to keep on his feet.
+The question of his own safety never once occurred to him. Someone was
+in deadly peril, and a moment later or earlier might be a matter of life
+or death.
+
+The path into the cove was by a series of zigzags; but he took a
+straight cut in most instances to the imminent risk of life and limb. A
+few cuts and bruises he did not mind. His clothes might not be fit to
+wear again. Tobogganning without a toboggan might not be elegant, but it
+was certainly exciting, and if it did nothing else it would find work
+for his tailor.
+
+He was never quite certain whether he reached the beach head foremost or
+feet foremost. He found himself stretched full length on the sand,
+bleeding from innumerable cuts and quite out of breath.
+
+There was no time, however, to make an inventory of his own hurts.
+Indeed, he was scarcely conscious that he had received any damage
+whatever. Picking himself up, he began to run with all his remaining
+strength. He limped a good deal, but he was not aware of it; neither did
+he make any attempt to pick his way. He swept eagerly the face of the
+cliff as he ran, and feared that he was too late.
+
+At length he caught a glimpse of something white perched high above the
+beach.
+
+"Good heavens; how did she get there?" he said to himself; and pausing
+for a moment he drew in a long breath, then shouted: "Hold tight, I'm
+coming!" though even as he spoke his heart failed him.
+
+How was he to get to her, and even if he succeeded in reaching her side,
+how was he to get her down? The face of the cliff was almost
+perpendicular, the footholds were few and treacherous. Empty-handed, he
+might climb up and back again without very much difficulty; but with a
+half-fainting woman in his arms the descent would be practically
+impossible.
+
+He was still running while these thoughts were passing through his mind,
+his breathing was laboured and painful, his bruised limbs were becoming
+stiff and obstinate.
+
+He came to a full stop at length, and the fear that had haunted him from
+first hearing the cry became a certainty.
+
+"Can you hold on a little longer?" he called.
+
+"I guess I'll have to try," came the cheery answer, though there was the
+sound of tears in her voice. It was evident she was making a desperate
+effort to keep up her courage.
+
+"Don't lose heart," he said, with a gasp, "and keep your eyes shut."
+
+Then he shut his teeth grimly and began the ascent. "I'll save her or
+die in the attempt," he said to himself, with a fierce and determined
+look in his eyes.
+
+Then something seemed to whisper in his ear: "Why trouble about a single
+life? One life more or less can make no difference. If people like to
+fling away their life in foolish adventures, let them do it; why should
+you worry?"
+
+But his philosophy found no response in his heart just then. His own
+life might be of little consequence, but this fair creature must be
+saved at all costs.
+
+He made his way up the face of the cliff surely and steadily. "It is
+easier than I thought," he said. Then he came to a sudden stop, while a
+groan escaped his lips.
+
+"I cannot do it," he gasped; "nobody can do it. Without ropes and
+ladders she is doomed."
+
+
+
+
+                                 CHAPTER IV
+
+                             PAYING THE PENALTY
+
+
+When Madeline Grover got used to the cliffs they did not seem nearly so
+forbidding or dangerous as at the first. Exploring the caves and
+crannies for sea shells and lichen and gulls' eggs became a favourite
+pastime of hers. To stay within the precincts of Trewinion Park she
+declared was like being in prison. To wander across the level lawns, or
+through the woods by well-kept paths, was an exercise altogether too
+tame and unexciting. She loved something that had in it a spice of
+adventure. To do something that nobody else had ever done was very much
+more to her taste.
+
+Sir Charles took her to task gently on several occasions. It was not
+quite the proper thing to go out alone and unattended. She would need to
+put a curb on her exuberant and adventurous spirit. She would have to
+remember that she was no longer in America, where, in his judgment,
+girls had far too much freedom. She must learn to fall into English ways
+and customs, with a good deal more to the same effect.
+
+Madeline always listened patiently and good-humouredly to all Sir
+Charles had to say, and even promised him that she would be all he could
+desire; but she generally forgot both the lecture and the promise five
+minutes later. She had been used all her life to go her own way. At
+home, in America, she received her own friends of both sexes without
+reference to her father or mother. A liberty of action had been allowed
+her that seemed almost shocking to Sir Charles and Lady Tregony, and now
+that she had come to live in England for an indefinite period it was all
+but impossible for her to drop into English ways at once.
+
+As a matter of fact, she did not try very much. She told Beryl Tregony
+that she had no desire to be a tame kitten, and since she was
+responsible to no one, she followed in the main the prompting of her own
+heart.
+
+It was by no means difficult to slip away unobserved, and to be absent
+for hours on the stretch without being missed. She had her own rooms at
+the big house, and often when she was supposed to be quietly reading
+somewhere, she was out on the cliffs or down on the shore searching for
+rare flowers or shells, or else talking to the fishermen.
+
+She found life terribly dull after her return from London. Yet, on
+the whole, she was not unhappy. The great sweep of the Atlantic had
+an unfailing attraction for her. The cliffs were glorious, and
+offered infinite scope for adventure. While the people of St.
+Gaved--particularly the fishermen--caught her fancy amazingly, and
+she became a prime favourite with them all.
+
+Here was a young lady of the upper circle, a distant relative of the
+squire, who was not in the least exclusive or proud; who went in and out
+among the ordinary toiling folk as though she was one of them, and who
+had always a smile and a cheery word for the humblest. It was so
+different from the Tregony tradition, that it took their honest hearts
+by storm.
+
+Rufus Sterne considered himself particularly unfortunate that when she
+came into St. Gaved he always missed her. Three or four times he heard
+of her being in the town--it was really only a big village, but the St.
+Gavedites all spoke of it as a town; but he was either in his workshop
+or away directing the operations of others; consequently, she came and
+went without giving him a chance of renewing their acquaintance.
+
+"Not that it mattered," he said to himself. She was nothing to him. She
+belonged to a circle far removed from his. Yet for some reason he was
+curious to look again into her bright, laughing eyes, and listen to her
+naive and unconventional talk. Moreover, when he heard people talking
+about her, and praising her good looks and charming freeness of manner,
+he had a feeling that he had been cheated out of something to which he
+was justly entitled.
+
+What added to the interest excited by the pretty young American was the
+fact that nobody had been able to find out the exact relationship in
+which she stood to the Tregony family. Neither had anybody been able to
+discover why she had come, or how long she intended to stay.
+
+Any number of guesses had been hazarded, but they were only guesses at
+best. Some said she had been sent to England by her parents simply to
+learn society ways and manners. Others, that her parents were dead, and
+that her mother being related to Sir Charles, the latter had taken her
+out of charity. Mrs. Tuke, who, in the one glimpse she got of her, had
+been greatly impressed by the richness of her attire, ventured the
+opinion that she was an heiress in her own right, and that Sir Charles,
+who was not noted for his generosity, had not undertaken to be her
+guardian for nothing. But all these guesses lacked the essential thing,
+and that was authority. Sir Charles was as close as an oyster about his
+own family affairs. Moreover, he would no more think of talking to
+anyone in St. Gaved about his visitors than of taking a journey to the
+moon. And if he thought they were so impertinent as to desire to know,
+that would be a double reason why he should, under no circumstances,
+allude to the matter.
+
+Madeline might have given the information desired if her new
+acquaintances had had the courage to question her. But they were
+a little shy in her presence as yet; in some instances they were
+completely over-awed. She was so bright, so quick, so confident,
+that she almost took their breath away. They felt like fools in
+her presence.
+
+This was how matters stood when Rufus discovered her on a narrow ledge
+of rock high up the cliffs, unable either to advance or retreat. She had
+slipped away from the Hall unobserved after going to her own room
+ostensibly to write letters. Consequently, she had not been missed, and
+was not likely to be until the family met for dinner.
+
+As usual the sea had been "calling her," as she expressed it; and after
+a short ramble on the beach she turned her attention to the serrated
+cliffs that loomed high above her. A sea-gull first attracted her
+attention, then a large patch of lichen, then a path that seemed to
+zig-zag to the top of the cliff.
+
+Wise people think first and act afterwards, but wisdom comes with
+experience and experience with age. Madeline was quite young, and made
+no pretension to wisdom, hence she frequently reversed the recognised
+order, and acted first and did the thinking afterwards.
+
+Seeing the path she began to climb. It was an exhilarating ascent. Had
+it been free from danger it would have been humdrum and fatiguing. And
+yet it was neither so dangerous nor so difficult as to frighten her
+away. Indeed, the higher she got, the less dangerous it seemed, and the
+more she was fascinated by the adventure. She did not think of looking
+back. Had she done so she might have been warned in time.
+
+Looking up, the rim of the cliff came perceptibly nearer, and she
+conceived the wild idea of reaching the top. Why not? Because nobody had
+ever done it that was no proof that it could not be done. If fifty feet
+could be scaled, why not a hundred? Besides, it would be an achievement
+to be proud of. If she could do what never had been done before she
+would become something of a hero in her own eyes, and perhaps in the
+eyes of other people.
+
+The path took a horizontal turn at length along the uneven face of the
+cliff. She was higher up than she knew, and the foothold was less secure
+than she suspected. It was all over in a moment. She had not time even
+to scream; before even her thoughts could take shape she was brought up
+with a jerk, and when she dared turn her head she discovered that she
+was perched on a narrow ledge of rock with the cliff shelving away
+underneath her. For a moment she felt sick and faint, and was in
+imminent danger of falling off the ledge, which would mean almost
+certain death.
+
+After a while she made an effort to regain her feet and reach the path
+from which she had slipped, but almost with the first movement her head
+swam and a mist came up before her eyes that blotted out everything.
+There was nothing for it, therefore, but to remain perfectly still until
+she had recovered her nerve.
+
+But every minute seemed an hour as she lay perched on that dangerous
+ledge, and yet every time she opened her eyes and looked into the
+yawning gulf below, her heart failed her, and she became more and more
+convinced that she would never get down alive. Instead of her nerve
+steadying she got increasingly excited and terrified.
+
+She had plenty of time for reflection now, but her reflections brought
+her no satisfaction. She discovered--what most people discover sooner or
+later--that it is easy to be wise after the event.
+
+"Oh, how foolish I have been," she said to herself. "Why did I refuse to
+take advice? Sir Charles warned me, and that handsome young man I met on
+the cliffs told me how dangerous they were. Now I am paying the penalty
+of my foolishness and obstinacy."
+
+She became so terrified at last that she screamed for help at the top of
+her voice, but the only answer that came was the weird and plaintive cry
+of the gulls startled from their perches.
+
+She began to wonder, at length, how long her strength would hold out,
+and whether, if consciousness left her, she would roll off into
+eternity. The ledge was so narrow that she dared not move in any
+direction, and she was becoming stiff and cramped from remaining so long
+in one position.
+
+For the most part she kept her eyes tightly shut, and tried to forget
+the yawning gulf beneath her. Every time she looked down her head grew
+dizzy. It scarcely seemed possible to her that she had climbed to such a
+height.
+
+She began to count her heart-beats so that she might get some conception
+of the flight of time. The Tregonys dined at half-past seven; until that
+hour the chances were she would not be missed. Then a search would be
+made through the house and grounds--that would take up the best part of
+an hour. By the time anybody reached the cliffs it would be well on to
+nine o'clock, and too dark to see a single object.
+
+"I shall never hold out till then," she said to herself; "never! I
+believe I am slipping nearer the edge all the time. I wonder if the fall
+will kill me outright?"
+
+She clutched at the rough wall of rock with desperation, and at length
+found a narrow crevice into which she thrust her hand and held on with
+the tenacity of despair. The fear of falling off the ledge was less for
+a little while, but in time her arm and hand began to ache intolerably,
+and the old terror came back with redoubled force. So appalling was the
+situation that she was severely tempted to end it at once and for ever.
+The deep below fascinated while it terrified. She shrank back with
+horror from the brink of the ledge, and yet the abyss seemed to draw her
+like a magnet. If she opened her eyes she felt certain that no power of
+will she possessed would keep her from falling over.
+
+She called at intervals for help, but her voice became as feeble as that
+of a tired child. Then suddenly the blood began to leap in her veins and
+her heart to throb with a new hope. From the heights above an answering
+voice came to her cry--a strong, resolute voice that seemed to beat back
+her fears and to assure her of deliverance. She recognised the voice in
+a moment, and the warm blood surged in a torrent to her neck and face.
+
+She could be patient now. She lay quite still and waited. How her
+deliverance was to be effected she did not know. She did not trouble to
+debate the question. She gave herself up unconsciously to a stronger
+will and a stronger personality. He had heard her call and _he_ was
+coming to save her.
+
+Who the _he_ was she did not know. She had seen him only once. She did
+not even know his name. But she felt instinctively that he was a brave
+man. He had a strong face, a stern yet tender mouth, and kind and
+sympathetic eyes.
+
+The task might be difficult, but, of course, he would succeed. He was
+strong of limb as well as resolute in purpose. Moreover, a face like
+his bespoke a resourceful mind. He was no common man. She felt that the
+moment she saw him; her instinct told her also that he was an honourable
+man, or she would never have dared to speak to him. Women know without
+being told when they are in the presence of bad men.
+
+She had thought of him scores of times since their one and only meeting.
+Had wondered who he was and what he was, and had speculated on the
+chances of meeting him again. He was the only man she had met since her
+arrival in England who had impressed her. She had enjoyed her
+conversations with the fishermen and the farmers and the small
+shopkeepers, had sampled the curate and the vicar and the few county
+people who had called at the Hall; but her second thought and her third
+thought had been given to the lonely man who sat on the cliffs, with his
+big dreamy eyes fixed on the sunset.
+
+She was glad for some reason that it was he who had found her, and not
+Sir Charles. Sir Charles would fume and scold and declare there was no
+possible way of saving her. The "lonely man" might not talk very much,
+but he would act.
+
+It seemed a long time since he had responded to her cry, but she was not
+in the least impatient. Confidence was coming steadily back into her
+heart, and the fascination of the abyss was slowly passing away. She did
+not dare open her eyes yet. She would wait till the stranger called her
+again. Her hand and arm were very cramped; she was uncomfortably near
+the lip of the ledge. Her strength--in spite of the new hope--was a
+steadily diminishing quantity, but she was quite sure she would be able
+to hold on a good many minutes yet.
+
+Then clear and distinct came the voice again--from below this time,
+instead of from above. How wildly her heart throbbed in spite of all her
+efforts to be calm, but she flung her answer back as cheerily as
+possible. She would not make herself appear a greater coward than she
+really was.
+
+"How did you get there?" The question was abrupt, and the voice sounded
+almost close to her ears.
+
+"My foot slipped and I fell," she replied.
+
+"You fell?" he questioned, in a tone of incredulity, and he swept the
+face of the cliff above her.
+
+"Oh! I see," he went on a moment later. "You took a path further to the
+south."
+
+"Cannot you reach me?" she called with an undertone of anxiety in her
+voice.
+
+For a moment he did not answer. He was anxious not to discourage her,
+and yet he could see no chance of getting her down alive.
+
+"Can you hold on much longer?" he asked at length.
+
+"Not much," she replied, frankly. "I guess I'm near the end."
+
+"No, don't say that," he said, encouragingly; "keep your heart up a
+little longer. I must try another tack."
+
+"You cannot reach me?" the question ended almost in a cry.
+
+"Not from this point," he answered, cheerfully. "But we've not got to
+the end of all things yet," and he began to retrace his steps.
+
+"Are you leaving me?" she called, feebly.
+
+"Never," he answered, and there was something in his tone that made her
+heart leap wildly.
+
+"I see the path you took," he said a moment later, but though he spoke
+cheerfully he had no real hope of saving her.
+
+
+
+
+                                 CHAPTER V
+
+                              A PERILOUS TASK
+
+
+Rufus reached a point at length from which he was able to look down on
+the prostrate figure of Madeline Grover. She was lying almost flat on
+her face, with her right hand thrust into a cleft of the rock.
+
+For several minutes no word had passed between them. She was afraid to
+ask any more questions lest she should hear from his lips that her case
+was hopeless. He was afraid to buoy her up with empty words that would
+end in nothing.
+
+She could hear distinctly the sound of his footsteps as he threaded his
+way in and out among the pinnacles of rock, she could even hear his
+breathing at times. She knew when he stood above her without being told.
+
+That there was peril in his enterprise she knew. He was risking his life
+to save hers. He, a stranger, upon whom she had not the smallest claim.
+It was a brave and generous thing to do, and she began to doubt whether
+she ought to allow him to take such risk.
+
+His life was of infinitely greater value than hers--at least, so she
+told herself. He was a man and might accomplish something great for the
+race. She was only a girl, and girls were plentiful, and a good many of
+them useless, and she was not at all sure that she did not belong to the
+latter class. At any rate, she had never done anything yet, had as a
+matter of fact, never been expected to do anything, and if she lived
+till she was a hundred she was not sure that she would ever be able to
+do anything that would be of the least benefit to the world.
+
+She was the first to break the silence. "Don't risk your life for my
+sake," she said, and she managed to keep all trace of emotion out of her
+voice.
+
+"And why not?" he asked.
+
+"I am not worth it," she replied. "I had no business to get into
+danger."
+
+"You did not know the risks you ran," he replied, kindly.
+
+"I might have known; I had been warned often enough."
+
+"We have all to learn by experience," he said, with a short laugh. "Now
+let us get to work."
+
+"What do you want me to do?" she asked.
+
+"Get on to your feet, if possible. Don't open your eyes, and keep your
+face towards the cliff. Do you understand?"
+
+"Yes, I understand, and I will try."
+
+"Take your time over it," he said, cheerfully. "I expect you feel pretty
+stiff, don't you? Slip your right hand up the crevice. I will be eyes
+for you, and tell you what to do."
+
+She obeyed him implicitly. His firm, resolute voice gave her courage.
+The nearness of his presence imparted strength and determination. If she
+felt a coward she would not let him see it. He might not feel any great
+admiration for her, that was not at all likely, since she had acted so
+foolishly, but she hoped he would not feel contempt.
+
+She stood at length upright with her face against the cliff.
+
+"Now don't open your eyes," he said, "and please do what I tell you."
+
+"I am in your hands," she replied.
+
+"You will be directly, I hope," he answered, with a laugh, "but in the
+meanwhile move slowly in this direction."
+
+"That's right," he continued, a little later. "Come on, I will tell you
+when to stop."
+
+She sidled on steadily inch by inch, while he watched her with
+fast-beating heart.
+
+"That will do," he said at length. "Now reach out your left hand as far
+as possible."
+
+She obeyed at once, and a moment later he held it in his own firm grasp.
+
+The colour came into her face when she felt his fingers close round
+hers, and her heart beat perceptibly faster.
+
+"So far, so good," he said, cheerily. "Now the next step is not with
+your hand, but with your foot. It will be a very long stride for you,
+but you've got to do it. Don't open your eyes. And in the first place
+lean as far as you dare in this direction."
+
+She obeyed him instantly. "That will do," he called. "Now just on a
+level with your chin is a hole in the rock. Get your right hand into it,
+if you can, and hold tight."
+
+"That's right," he said, brightly. "Now for the long stride."
+
+She began very slowly and carefully. Her heart was thumping as though it
+would come through her side. She knew that beneath her was empty space.
+
+"That's right," he went on, "just a little farther--another inch--a
+quarter of an inch more; there you are! Don't speak and don't open your
+eyes. When you are ready let me know. Push your foot a little farther on
+the ledge if you can--that is it. It will be a big effort for you, but I
+have you fast on this side. Bend your body forward as much as you can.
+When you are ready, say so, and give a lurch in this direction, letting
+go with your right hand at the same moment. Do you understand?"
+
+"Yes." The answer came in a whisper.
+
+It was an awful moment for both. She drew a long breath, and cried
+"now." For a second she seemed poised in mid-air.
+
+"Lean forward," he almost shrieked.
+
+She clutched eagerly at the bare rocks in front of her, but there was
+nothing she could grasp.
+
+Rufus felt his heart stop.
+
+"Open your eyes," he cried, "and spring." It was her last chance, the
+last chance for both, in fact, for if she fell she would drag him with
+her.
+
+Her confidence in him was absolute. She did in a moment what she was
+told. He pulled her towards him with a jerk that nearly dislocated her
+shoulder. Then both his arms closed round her, and he sank back into a
+deep and safe recess behind a large pinnacle of rock.
+
+For several minutes she lost consciousness. Her head drooped upon his
+shoulder, her cheeks became as pale as the dead.
+
+He would have given all he possessed at that moment to have kissed her
+lips. It was the strongest temptation that ever came to him. It was the
+first time in his experience that so beautiful a face had been so close
+to his own, and the impulse to claim toll was all but irresistible; but
+he fought the temptation, and conquered. He felt that it would be a
+cowardly thing to do.
+
+His reverence for women was one of the strongest traits in his
+character. Felix Muller had told him more than once in his cynical way
+that he reverenced women because he did not know them. Rufus admitted
+that it might be so; but his reverence remained. It was nearly all that
+was left of his early religious faith--a remnant of a complicated creed,
+but it influenced his life more profoundly than he knew.
+
+He watched the colour come slowly back into Madeline's pale face with
+infinite interest. How beautiful she was, how finely pencilled were her
+eyebrows, how perfect the contour of her dimpled chin. Her hair had
+become loose, and a long rich tress sported itself over the sleeve of
+his coat. The slanting sunlight played upon it, and turned it to bronze,
+and then to gold.
+
+Her eyelids trembled after a while, then she opened them slowly, and
+looked up into his face, with a wondering expression, then her lips
+parted in a smile. A moment later she sat up, while a wave of crimson
+mounted suddenly to her face.
+
+"I am so sorry to have given you so much trouble," she said, hurriedly.
+
+"Let us not talk about that until we get safe down from this height," he
+said, with a smile.
+
+"Oh! I was forgetting," she said, with some little confusion. "But the
+rest is comparatively easy, isn't it?"
+
+"Comparatively," he replied. "But there are several very awkward places
+to be negotiated."
+
+"It was wicked of me to put any one to so much trouble and risk. I do
+hope you will forgive me," and she looked appealingly up into his face.
+
+"I hope you will not talk any more about trouble," he answered. "To have
+served you will be abundant compensation."
+
+"It is kind of you to say nice things," she answered, looking at the
+yellow sand below; "but I feel very angry with myself all the same. You
+told me when we met on the top weeks and weeks ago that the cliffs were
+very dangerous. I don't know what possessed me to think I could climb to
+the top."
+
+"You are not the first to make the attempt," he answered. "A visitor was
+killed at this very point only last summer."
+
+"A girl?"
+
+"No, a young man."
+
+"I shall never attempt to do anything so foolish again, and I shall
+never forget that but for you I should have lost my life. It was surely
+a kind providence that sent you; don't you think so?"
+
+"Do you think so?" he questioned, with a smile.
+
+"I would like to think so, anyhow," she answered, seriously. "And yet it
+sounds conceited, doesn't it? If I were anybody of importance it would
+be different. I don't wonder you smile at the idea of providence
+interfering to save a chit of a girl after all."
+
+"I don't know that I smiled at the idea," he answered, turning away
+his head. "If there is any interference or any interposition in human
+affairs, why should not you be singled out as well as anybody else?"
+
+"Well, you see, it would presuppose, wouldn't it? that I was a person of
+some value, or of some use in the world?"
+
+"You may be of very great use in the world."
+
+"Ah! now you flatter me. What can an ordinary girl do?"
+
+"I do not know," he answered. "We none of us can tell what lies hidden
+in the chambers of destiny. You may be----"
+
+"What?"
+
+"I cannot say."
+
+"But you were going to mention something."
+
+"Second thoughts are sometimes best," and he turned his head, and smiled
+frankly in her face.
+
+"Now you are tantalising," she said, with a laugh; "but I will not find
+fault with you. I cannot forget how much you have risked for my sake."
+
+"Had we not better try and complete the journey?" he questioned. "We are
+not out of the wood yet, and the tide is coming in rapidly."
+
+She rose slowly to her feet, and steadied herself against the cliff. She
+was very stiff and cramped, and a good deal bruised.
+
+He followed her example with a hardly suppressed groan.
+
+"Are you hurt?" she asked, looking at him eagerly.
+
+"Not at all," he answered, gaily. "A few scratches, but nothing to speak
+of. Now let me walk in front, and you can lean on my shoulder."
+
+Neither spoke again for a long time. Rufus picked his way with great
+caution, and she was too frightened to run any more unnecessary risks.
+
+They were within a dozen feet or so of the beach, and he with his back
+to the sea was helping her down a slippery bit of rock, when suddenly a
+stone gave way beneath his foot, and he was precipitated to the bottom.
+Feeling himself going he let go her hand, or he would have dragged her
+with him. With a little cry of alarm she sat down to save herself, while
+he disappeared from sight.
+
+She was on her feet, however, in an instant, and scrambled quickly down
+to his side. He was lying on a broad slab of rock with his right leg
+doubled under him.
+
+"Are you hurt?" she asked, eagerly and excitedly.
+
+"A little," he answered with a pitiful smile.
+
+She came and knelt by his side, and took his hand in hers. "Cannot I
+help you to get up?" she inquired.
+
+"I am not sure," he said, pulling a very wry face. "I'm very much
+afraid I shall have to lie here until you can get assistance. You see it
+is my turn now."
+
+"But what is the matter?" she asked, eagerly.
+
+"I fear my leg is broken," he said, knitting his brows, as if in pain.
+"Something went with a snap, and I'm afraid to move."
+
+"But you cannot lie here," she said, "for the tide is coming in. Oh! let
+me help you to get up. Do try your best."
+
+"I will, for your sake," he answered, and he smiled at her in a way she
+never forgot.
+
+"Oh, I shall never forgive myself," she said, chokingly, and the tears
+filled her eyes, and rolled down her cheeks. "All this comes of my
+stupid folly!"
+
+"No, you must not blame yourself," he insisted. "You could not help the
+stone giving way. Now give me your hand. How strong you are! There, I'm
+in a perpendicular position once more," but while he spoke he became
+deathly pale, and the perspiration stood in big drops on his brow.
+
+"Lean on me," she said; "lean all your weight on me."
+
+He smiled pitifully, but he could not trust himself to speak.
+
+He put his right arm about her neck, and used her as a crutch. This was
+no time to stand on ceremony. But the pain was too intolerable to move
+more than a few steps. With a groan he fell against the sloping foot of
+the cliff. "You must leave me here," he said, with a gasp.
+
+"Leave you here?" she cried. "Why you will drown."
+
+"We shall both drown if you stay," he answered.
+
+"It doesn't matter about me a bit," she wailed, and she brushed away the
+blinding tears with her hand. "But you--you--oh! you must be saved at
+all costs."
+
+"Perhaps, if you make haste you will be able to get help before it is
+too late," he said.
+
+"But how? Oh! I will do anything for you. Tell me what I can do for the
+best."
+
+"Make your way into town as fast as you can. Tell the first man you meet
+how I am situated. Let one party come round here with a boat, and
+another party come over the cliffs with a stretcher. Everything depends
+on the time it takes."
+
+"Oh! I will fly all the distance," she said, with liquid eyes; "but who
+shall I say is hurt? I do not even know your name."
+
+"Rufus Sterne," he answered. "Everybody in St. Gaved knows me."
+
+She looked at him for a moment, pityingly, pleadingly, then rushed away
+over the level sand in the direction of Penwith Cove. She forgot her
+bruises and stiffness, and did not heed that every step was a stab of
+pain.
+
+Rufus Sterne was lying helpless--helpless because he had risked his life
+to save her from the consequences of her folly. And all the while the
+tide was coming in, and he would be watching it rising higher and
+higher, and if help did not reach him before the cold salt water swept
+over his face, he would be drowned, and she would be the cause of his
+death.
+
+How she climbed the zig-zag path out of Penwith Cove she never knew. She
+ran and ran until she felt as though she could not go a step farther
+even to save her life, and if her own life only had been at stake she
+would have lain down on the cliffs and taken her chance.
+
+But it was _his_ life that was in jeopardy, and to her excited
+imagination his life seemed of more value than the lives of a hundred
+ordinary people.
+
+She had read of heroes in her girlhood days, and thrilled over the story
+of their exploits, but no hero of fact or fiction had ever so touched
+her heart as this lonely man who was lying helpless at the foot of the
+cliffs, watching with patient and suffering eyes the inflowing of the
+tide.
+
+"Oh! he must be saved," she kept saying to herself, "for he deserves to
+live. And I must be the means of saving him."
+
+She stumbled into St. Gaved rather than ran. Her hat had disappeared,
+her glorious hair fell in billows on her shoulders and down her back,
+her eyes were wild and tearless, her lips wide apart, her breath came
+and went in painful gasps. She nearly stumbled over one or two children,
+and then she pulled up suddenly in front of a policeman.
+
+Constable Greensplat stared at her as though she had escaped from Bodmin
+lunatic asylum.
+
+"There's--not--a--moment--to--be--lost," she began, and she brought out
+the words in jerks. "Rufus Sterne is lying with a broken leg at the foot
+of the cliffs half-way between here and Penwith Cove."
+
+Then she staggered to a lamp-post and put her arm round it. A small
+group of people gathered in a moment.
+
+"How did he break his leg?" Greensplat asked, putting on an official
+air.
+
+"He slipped over a rock," she answered; "but there's no time for
+explanations. The tide is coming in, and if he's not rescued quickly
+he'll be drowned. He told me to ask that one party go round with a boat,
+and the other go over the cliffs with a--a stret----" But she did not
+finish the sentence. The light of consciousness went out like the flame
+of a candle before a sudden gust of wind. She reached out her hands
+blindly and appealingly, staggered toward the nearest house, and before
+anyone could reach her side she fell with a thud, and lay in a dead
+faint on the floor.
+
+
+
+
+                                  CHAPTER VI
+
+                             FAITH AND PHILOSOPHY
+
+
+Rufus watched the rising tide with as much composure as he could
+command. It was the first time in his life that his philosophy had been
+put to the test, and the strain brought it near to breaking-point. He
+found it easy enough to pick holes in the creed in which he had been
+reared, and had rather prided himself that he had shaken himself free
+from what he called the bondage of ecclesiastical superstition. But
+there was something that still remained and which he was scarcely
+conscious of until now--something which he could not very well shape
+into words; something for which he could find no name.
+
+His landlady, Mrs. Tuke, called him an unbeliever, and he accepted the
+description without demur; but a negative implies a positive. Unbelief
+in one direction means belief in the opposite. He certainly did not
+believe the dogmas his grandfather insisted upon with so much passion
+and vehemence. He had laughed to scorn the thunderings of the little
+Bethel to which he had been compelled to listen as a lad. He had torn
+the swaddling clothes of orthodoxy into tatters, and cast them from him
+as though they were unclean. He had wandered for three or four years in
+the realm of pure negation, scorning all creeds and denying all
+religion. Yet now, when life seemed narrowing to its final close, he
+discovered as in a sudden accession of light, that the last word on the
+subject had not been spoken.
+
+For the first time in his life he realised that religion is not a creed,
+nor an ordinance; that it is not something apprehended by the exercise
+of the mind, and that it is only remotely related to ecclesiasticism.
+Its roots went deeper. It is instinct; it is of the very substance of
+life.
+
+He had drawn himself as far up the shelving cliff as possible, though
+every movement was torture, and with steady eyes he watched the tide
+rising higher and higher. There was something fascinating in its steady
+approach. It was not an angry tide, breaking and foaming and struggling
+to reach its prey. It came on with slow and tranquil movement. There was
+scarcely a ripple on its surface. Far out in the line of the sinking sun
+it was like a great sheet of gold. Its voice was a low monotone, as it
+washed the pebbles in a slow and languid way. Here and there it raised
+itself like a sleeping monster taking in a long breath, but the swell
+never broke into sound or foam.
+
+And yet to Rufus Sterne it never seemed more relentlessly cruel. Its
+stealthy creep and crawl seemed positively vindictive. Its voice was no
+longer the tinkle of silver bells, but the cynical laughter of fiends.
+
+He made a desperate effort to pull himself still higher up the cliff,
+but that proved to be impossible. He could only lie still and wait. When
+the tide reached its flood it would be a dozen feet above where he lay.
+Would he sleep soundly or would dreams disturb his rest?
+
+He had very little hope of being rescued alive. It was a long way round
+by Penwith Cove to St. Gaved, and even if the beautiful girl he had
+rescued--he did not know her name--ran all the distance, and men with
+the stretcher ran all the way back, it seemed scarcely possible that
+they could reach him in time.
+
+He would like to live. The desire for life was never stronger than now.
+It was not so much that he was afraid of death--he was a _little_
+afraid of it, he was compelled to be honest with himself--but two things
+seemed to intensify his desire for life. The first was his great
+invention, which was now in process of being perfected; and the other
+was----
+
+Well the other was an indefinable something which he was not able to
+shape into words. Something vaguely connected with the sweet-eyed girl
+whom he had that afternoon rescued from death. He did not understand
+what subtle influence had been set in motion; did not comprehend the
+nature of the spell, but the fact remained that the world seemed a
+brighter place since she came to the Hall, and life a richer
+inheritance.
+
+It was not a matter that he could discuss even with himself. It was too
+shadowy and elusive. To attempt to reason the matter out would be to
+destroy a sweet illusion--for that it was illusion he had no doubt. And
+yet the illusion, or the impression, or the sensation, or whatever it
+might be, was so delightful that he had not the courage to touch it.
+
+Life had not possessed so many pleasures for him that he could afford to
+scorch with the white flame of logic even the faintest and most shadowy
+of them. He had had a hard and unloved childhood, a youth from which all
+sympathy had been excluded, and a manhood of badly compensated toil and
+unrealised ambition. And now when life's stern and dusty way seemed
+opening out into the green pastures of success, and there had strayed
+across his path a sweet-eyed stranger whose very smile breathed hope and
+peace, it was not at all surprising that the desire for life burned with
+an intenser flame than ever.
+
+He counted his heart beats, and watched the tide creeping higher and
+higher. The nearer it came the swifter appeared to be its approach. The
+gold on the sea was giving place to grey, the fire was dying out of the
+Western sky, a chill wind sprang up and whispered in the crevices of the
+cliffs. The gulls circled high above his head, and cried in melancholy
+tones. He shivered a little, perhaps with fear, perhaps because the
+evening was growing cold.
+
+Did he regret saving the stranger's life and losing his own in doing it?
+On the whole, he did not think he did. It was surely a noble thing to
+save a human life.
+
+"But why?" The old question pulled him up with a suddenness that almost
+startled him.
+
+"Wherein lay the nobleness?" Nature set no store on human
+life--earthquake, tempest, pestilence, famine, swept human beings into
+the jaws of death by the thousand and tens of thousands. And mankind was
+as contemptuous of human life as nature herself. It's professed regard
+was but a hollow sham.
+
+Was not the first law of life that every man should look after himself?
+What had he gained by the sacrifice? What had the world gained? Was not
+the life sacrificed of infinitely greater value than the life saved? His
+great discovery would now never see the light, the toil of years would
+be wasted, the travail of his brain would end in darkness and silence,
+and in return a foolish girl would dance her heedless way through life.
+
+But in the great crises of life logic perpetually fails, and philosophy
+proves but a broken staff. Neither logic nor philosophy comforted Rufus
+in that solemn and trying hour. He could not reason it out, but deep
+down in his soul he felt that death was far less terrible than being a
+coward. Better die in the service of others than live merely for self.
+
+The tide had reached his feet, and was beginning to creep round his
+legs. He drew up the foot that he still had the use of, for the water
+felt icy cold. All the gold had gone out of the sky by this time, and
+the sea was of a leaden hue. Moreover the monster seemed as if waking
+from his sleep. Here and there the long swell broke into a line of foam,
+and the waves began to leap over the low-lying rocks.
+
+He began to talk to himself; perhaps to keep his courage up, for it was
+very weird and lonely lying under the dark cliffs, while the cruel sea
+crept steadily higher.
+
+"I wonder if dying will be so very painful," he said. "I wonder if the
+struggle will last long, and when it is over, and I am lying here with
+the cold waves surging above me, what then? Of course, I shall know
+nothing about it, for there is nothing beyond. Science can find nothing,
+and pure reason rejects the suggestion. I shall be as the rocks and the
+seaweed."
+
+He shuddered painfully and tried to drag himself higher up the cliff,
+then with a groan he laid his head against the rock and closed his eyes.
+
+It was foolish to struggle. He had better meet his fate like a man. The
+tide was rising round him rapidly now. The cold seemed to be numbing his
+heart. The struggle could not be long at the most.
+
+"She will think of me," he said to himself, and a smile played round the
+corners of his mouth. "I have earned her gratitude and she is not likely
+to forget. Not that her gratitude can do me any good. And yet----"
+
+He opened his eyes again and looked out over the darkening sea.
+
+"If one were only sure," he said, with a gasp. "Why does my nature
+protest so violently? Why this instinctive looking beyond if there is
+nothing beyond which can respond to the look? Why this longing for
+reunion, for vision, for immortality?"
+
+His lips moved though no sound escaped them. Creeds might be false, and
+yet religion might be true. The Church might be a sham, and yet the
+Kingdom of God a reality. Prayer might be degraded or its meaning
+misunderstood, and yet it might be as natural and as necessary as
+breathing. Philosophy might be an interesting hone on which to sharpen
+one's wits, but utterly useless in the crucial moments of life.
+
+He swept the horizon with a despairing glance, then closed his eyes once
+more.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Meanwhile St. Gaved was in a state of considerable excitement. Madeline
+Grover's breathless story had set every one on the _qui vive_, and for
+several minutes everyone was wondering what all the rest would do.
+
+Several clumsy, though willing pairs of hands carried the unconscious
+girl into Mrs. Tuke's cottage, which happened to be the nearest at hand.
+The policeman hurried down to the quay, to convey the news to the
+fishermen, after which he made for the police-station and fished out
+from a lumber room an antiquated ambulance. All this took considerable
+time, and Madeline had nearly recovered consciousness again when the
+little procession started out over the cliffs in the direction of
+Penwith Cove.
+
+Madeline might have remained in a state of faint much longer than she
+did, but for Mrs. Tuke's extreme measures. Sousing the patient's face
+with cold water appeared to produce no effect. But when she placed a
+saucer of burnt or burning feathers under her nostrils the result was
+almost instantaneous.
+
+Mrs. Juliff, who assisted in the operation, declared it was enough to
+make a dead man sneeze, and there was reason for the remark. Madeline
+came to herself with violent gaspings and splutterings, and stared round
+her with a look of terror and perplexity in her eyes.
+
+"There, my dear, I hope you feel better now?" Mrs. Tuke said,
+encouragingly, giving the patient another sniff of the pungent odour.
+
+"Better," Madeline gasped. "Why you suffocate me," and she made an
+attempt to reach the door.
+
+"No, no, don't try to walk," Mrs. Tuke said, soothingly. "You can't do
+no good to nobody by being flustered."
+
+"But Mr. Sterne is drowning by slow inches," she cried, "and I
+promised----"
+
+"Yes, my dear," Mrs. Tuke interrupted, "and everything is being done as
+can be done. I'm terribly upset myself. But I always feared evil would
+befall him."
+
+"Why did you fear that?" Madeline asked, in a tone of surprise.
+
+"Well, my dear, it's a serious thing to remove the ancient landmarks, to
+deny the faith, and to put the Bible to open shame as it were."
+
+Madeline could hardly help smiling in spite of her anxiety, as Mrs. Tuke
+further enlarged on Rufus Sterne's moral and spiritual decadence.
+
+"Not that I wish to bring against him a railing accusation," Mrs. Tuke
+said, pulling herself up suddenly; "far be it from me to judge anyone."
+
+"But you appear to have judged him very freely," Madeline said, a little
+indignantly.
+
+"But not in anger, my dear, but only in love. He is a good lodger in
+many ways, pays regular and keeps good hours. But the Sabbaths! Oh, my
+dear, it cuts me to the heart, and he the grandson of a minister."
+
+"He is a very brave man, anyhow," Madeline said, warmly, "and I owe my
+life to him. Oh, I do hope he will be rescued before it's too late."
+
+"And I hope so, too. It will be terrible for him to go unprepared into
+the other world, and as a lodger he would not be easy to replace."
+
+Madeline darted a somewhat contemptuous glance at Mrs. Tuke, then made
+for the door again. "I cannot stay here doing nothing," she said, "while
+he may be drowning," and she rushed out into the rapidly-growing
+twilight.
+
+She wondered why she should feel so weak and exhausted, forgetting that
+she had tasted no food since lunch. In spite of weakness, however, she
+hurried on back over the cliffs. She could not rest until she knew the
+best or the worst. She felt acutely the burden of her responsibility.
+She was the cause of all the trouble. If she had not run in the teeth of
+everyone whose advice was worth taking this would not have happened. It
+was hard that the penalty of her foolishness should be paid by another,
+and if this young man were drowned, she believed she would never be able
+to forgive herself to the day of her death. Away in front of her the
+cliffs were dotted with people who had come out from St. Gaved on
+hearing the news. Some were standing still and looking seaward, others
+were hurrying forward in the direction of Penwith Cove. A few were
+crouched on the edge of the cliff and were peering over, to the imminent
+risk of life and limb.
+
+Several fishing boats were rounding St. Gaved's Point, and some were
+hugging the shore so closely that they could not be seen unless one
+stood on the very edge of the cliff.
+
+Madeline's lips kept moving in prayer as she walked. Her chief concern
+was lest the burden of this young man's death should be upon her soul.
+There were other considerations no doubt. She would be sorry in any case
+for a life of so much promise to be so suddenly cut off. But as she had
+seen him only twice she would soon get over a very natural regret, so
+long as no blame attached to her.
+
+The thought crossed her mind at length that her prayer was a very
+selfish one. She was concerned only for her own peace of mind. The
+welfare of Rufus Sterne apart from her own responsibility was not a
+matter that troubled her.
+
+Then a question slowly entered her brain, and the warm blood mounted in
+a torrent to her neck and face.
+
+The next moment all the people on the cliff began to run in the
+direction of Penwith Cove. She stood still and pressed her hand to her
+side to check the violent throbbing of her heart. She felt as though she
+could not walk a step further, even if her life depended upon it.
+
+"They have found him," she whispered to herself. "I wonder whether alive
+or dead."
+
+And she sank down on the turf and waited. The sea was surging among the
+rocks below with a dirge-like sound, the stars were coming out in the
+sky above, the distant landscape was disappearing in a sombre haze.
+
+A little later her attention was caught by the sound of running feet,
+and looking up she saw the people who, a few minutes before, were
+hurrying in the direction of Penwith Cove, were now retracting their
+steps with all possible haste.
+
+She rose slowly to her feet and waited. A swift-footed lad had
+out-distanced all the rest.
+
+"Have they found him?" she questioned, eagerly, as he drew near.
+
+"No, Miss," he answered. "The tide is too high; there's no getting along
+under the cliffs."
+
+"Then he's drowned," she said, with a gasp.
+
+"Well, it looks like it unless a boat has got to him in time. I want to
+get down to the quay to see," and without waiting to answer any further
+questions he hurried away at the top of his speed.
+
+
+
+
+                               CHAPTER VII
+
+                             THE NICK OF TIME
+
+
+On the return journey to St. Gaved Madeline lagged painfully behind. Her
+strength was completely spent. She was as eager as any of the others to
+know if the fishermen had rescued Rufus Sterne, but her limbs refused to
+render obedience to her will. But for her intense desire to know the
+fate of the man who had rescued her, she would have laid down on the
+spongy turf, fearless of all consequences.
+
+What her friends at the Hall might think of her absence had never once
+occurred to her. The events of the afternoon had been so painful and
+startling that all minor matters had been driven out of her mind. Hence
+when the voice of Sir Charles sounded close to her ear she looked up
+with a start of mingled inquiry, and surprise.
+
+"Madeline, Madeline," he exclaimed. "What have you been doing with
+yourself? We've been hunting all over the place for you."
+
+"Oh, I am so sorry," she answered, wearily. "I'd forgotten all about
+you. I've had such a--a--such a terrible adventure."
+
+"Such a terrible adventure," he exclaimed, with a note of alarm in his
+voice. "Has anyone dared----"
+
+"No, no," she interrupted. "No one would molest me in these parts, but I
+have come near losing my life," and she sank to the ground, feeling she
+could not go a step further.
+
+Sir Charles blew a policeman's whistle which he carried in his pocket,
+and a few minutes later several of the Hall servants came running up.
+
+"Miss Grover has met with an accident!" he explained. "One of you go and
+fetch the brougham at once, and another run into St. Gaved and fetch the
+doctor."
+
+Madeline was too exhausted to protest. She was barely conscious where
+she was or what had happened. The events of the afternoon seemed more
+like a dream to her than a reality. She heard other voices speaking near
+her, Beryl's among the rest, but she was too utterly exhausted to pay
+any attention. She found herself lifted into a carriage at length, and
+after that she remembered no more until she opened her eyes and
+discovered that she was lying snug and warm in her own bed.
+
+Meanwhile the little quay had become black with people waiting the
+return of Sam Tregarrick's boat. Sam had been the first to grasp the
+purport of Constable Greensplat's message, and without waiting to ask
+questions or consult with his neighbours, he and his son Tom had bent to
+their oars and pulled with all possible haste in the direction
+indicated.
+
+Rounding St. Gaved point they hugged the coast as closely as possible,
+keeping a sharp look out all the time for any moving figure on the dark
+line of rocks. The beach was completely under water by the time they had
+rounded the point.
+
+"It's us or nobody, father," Tom said to his father, as he gave to his
+oar a swifter stroke.
+
+"What do you mean by that, sonny?" Sam asked, staring hard at the coast
+line.
+
+"I mean that those who've gone over the downs will never be able to get
+round Penwith Cove way in time."
+
+"It looks like it, sartinly," Sam answered.
+
+"Why the tide is two foot up the cliffs already," Tom protested. "And
+Greensplat ain't the sort to wet his feet, if he knows it."
+
+"Fortunately there ain't no sea running," the elder man remarked after a
+pause. "So if he can drag hisself up the rocks a bit, he may come to
+nothing worse than a bit of a fright."
+
+"Rufus Sterne ain't the sort of chap they make cowards of," Tom replied,
+doggedly. "And if he's got to drown he'll drown, and he won't make no
+fuss 'bout it, nuther."
+
+"Nobody wants to drown, sonny, afore his time," Sam answered, mildly.
+"It's aisy enough to talk 'bout dying when you're safe and sound and out
+of danger; but when you're face to face with it--well, a man is on'y a
+man at best."
+
+"I say nothing agin that, father," Tom answered; "but heaps of folks
+squeal afore they're hurt, and send for the parson to pray with 'em
+afore the doctor's had time to feel their pulse. But Rufus Sterne don't
+belong to that class."
+
+"I fear he wouldn't send for the parson in no case," Sam answered,
+thoughtfully; "but do you see anything, sonny, just to the right of that
+big rock?"
+
+Tom slackened his oar for an instant; then he shouted at the top of his
+voice, "Ahoy there! Ahoy!"
+
+A moment later a white handkerchief was fluttered feebly for an instant,
+and then allowed to drop.
+
+"It's he sure 'nough," Tom said, excitedly; "but he's got to the far
+end. If we don't pull like blazes, father, we shall be too late."
+
+From that moment father and son wasted no more of their breath in talk.
+They felt as though they were engaged in a neck to neck race with death.
+The distance seemed no more than a stone's throw, and yet though they
+pulled with might and main it appeared to grow no less. Tom was stroke,
+and the elder man bravely kept time.
+
+The wide Atlantic swell rocked them gently. Now the grey speck on the
+face of the cliffs disappeared as they sank into a hollow, and now it
+came into full view again as they rose on the gently heaving tide.
+
+"Ahoy!" Tom called once or twice as they drew nearer, but there was no
+response, and both men began to fear that they were too late. Moreover,
+as they neared the cliffs they had to pick their way. Hidden rocks
+showed their dark pinnacles for a moment in all directions.
+
+There was no time, however, for excess of caution. If they were to
+succeed they must be daring, even to the point of recklessness.
+
+They could see Rufus now, reclining against a rock; he appeared to be
+clutching it tightly with both hands. Now and then the swell of the tide
+surged almost up to his neck.
+
+"Pull like blazes, father," Tom shouted, excitedly, and they ran the
+boat, defying all risks, close up to Rufus' side.
+
+"Hold tight, mate," Tom called, encouragingly; "father and I'll do the
+job, if you keep a steady nerve."
+
+"I'll try," was the feeble response.
+
+"Leave the getting him in to me, dad," Tom said, turning to his father.
+"You keep on this side, or we shall capsize in two jiffeys."
+
+The elder man obeyed. The boat drifted almost broadside on. Tom laid his
+oar aside and watched his opportunity. It was clear enough that Rufus
+had no strength left. Nevertheless his brain was clear still.
+
+Tom explained the _modus operandi_ which he proposed, and Rufus smiled
+approvingly. It was a ticklish operation, the boat was not large, and an
+inch too near the rocks might prove the destruction of all.
+
+At a signal from Tom, Rufus let go his hold of the rocks and reached out
+his hands to his rescuer. The next moment he felt himself floating on
+the tide. Sam, with his oar, pushed into deeper water, and then began
+the delicate operation of getting a half drowned man, handicapped by a
+broken leg, into the boat.
+
+To Rufus it was torture beyond anything he had ever felt or imagined. He
+felt so sick that he feared he would lose consciousness altogether; even
+pain at that moment was better than oblivion. Now that life was in sight
+again, the passion for existence seemed to burn with a stronger flame
+than ever.
+
+Tom dragged him over the side of the boat as tenderly as he was able. It
+was a breathless moment for the two fishermen. The little craft came
+within an ace of being capsized, and nothing but the skill of the older
+man saved her from turning turtle. Rufus was too far gone to realise the
+danger. The sickening torture was more than he could endure, and
+unconsciousness mercifully intervened.
+
+Father and son laid him in as easy a position in the bottom of the boat
+as they knew how, then they took their oars again and pulled for home.
+It was growing rapidly dark by this time, and a cool and grateful breeze
+was sweeping across the wide expanse of sea.
+
+They saw the little harbour black with people when they rounded the
+point, accompanied by a dozen other boats that had come too late upon
+the scene to be of any service.
+
+A shout went up that could be heard at the far end of the village when
+it became known that Rufus Sterne had been rescued alive, for though
+many people regarded him as "a cut above his station," as they expressed
+it, yet he was with the majority of the villagers exceedingly popular.
+
+Besides, it had got to be known by this time that the accident which had
+brought him into a position of such imminent peril had been caused by
+trying to save the life of another.
+
+In what that effort consisted was as yet by no means clear. But
+sufficient had been told by the lady visitor at the Hall to leave no
+doubt that it was through helping her he had met with his accident.
+Hence, for the moment, Rufus was regarded in the light of a hero, and
+some people went so far as to suggest that if there was such a thing as
+gratitude in the world, Sir Charles Tregony would do something handsome
+for him.
+
+It was fortunate, perhaps, for Rufus that he heard none of the
+irresponsible chatter that went on round him while he was being conveyed
+from the quay to Mrs. Tuke's cottage. Momentary glimmers of
+consciousness came back to him, but accompanied by such insufferable
+torture, that his very brain seemed to stagger under the shock.
+
+Dr. Pendarvis had just returned from a long round in the country, and
+was listening to a more or less incoherent story told him by his wife,
+when there came a violent ring at the surgery bell.
+
+"You say that Chester has gone to the Hall to see Miss Grover?" the
+Doctor questioned.
+
+"That is as I understand it," his wife replied; "though I confess the
+story is a bit complicated."
+
+"In which way?"
+
+"Well, late this afternoon Miss Grover rushed into the town considerably
+dishevelled and in a state of breathless excitement, and told the first
+man she saw, which happened to be Greensplat, that Rufus Sterne was
+lying at the foot of the cliffs near Penwith Cove with a broken leg, and
+that if he wasn't rescued quickly he would be drowned."
+
+"And has he been rescued?"
+
+"I don't know. But some considerable time after one of the Hall servants
+came hurrying here for you, saying that you were wanted at once as Miss
+Grover had met with an accident, and as you were not at home, of course,
+Mr. Chester went."
+
+"I don't see how the two things hang together," Dr. Pendarvis said, with
+knitted brows.
+
+"Neither do I," replied his wife; "but there goes the surgery bell
+again."
+
+Five minutes later Dr. Pendarvis was hurrying down the long main street
+in the direction of Mrs. Tuke's cottage. He found Rufus in a state of
+collapse, and with the broken limb so swollen that he made no attempt to
+set the bone.
+
+"We will have to get the swelling down first," he explained in his
+old-fashioned way. "Meanwhile, we must make the patient as comfortable
+as possible."
+
+What he said to himself was, "This is a case for Chester. These young
+men, with their hospital practice and their up-to-date methods, can make
+rings round the ordinary G.P."
+
+When he got back to his house he found his assistant waiting for him.
+
+"So you have been to the Hall, I understand?" he questioned. "Nothing
+serious, I hope?"
+
+"Oh, no! an attack of nerves mainly. A few cuts and bruises, but they
+are scarcely more than skin deep. She's evidently had a narrow squeak
+though."
+
+"Ah! I tried to get something out of Sterne, but he's in too much pain
+to be very communicative."
+
+"What was troubling Miss Grover most when I got there," Chester replied,
+"was the fear that he had not been rescued."
+
+"An attachment between them already?" the elder man queried, with a
+twinkle in his eye.
+
+"I don't think so," was the reply, "though naturally if a man saves a
+woman's life she becomes interested in him."
+
+"Unless he happens to be a doctor, eh?"
+
+"Oh! well, doctors do not count," Chester said, with a laugh.
+
+"Perhaps women have no faith in our ability to save life," Dr. Pendarvis
+questioned.
+
+"Oh, yes, I think they have," the younger man replied, slowly; "but then
+you see, we do it professionally. There is no touch of romance about it,
+and we are not supposed to take any risks."
+
+"We take the fees instead," the older man laughed.
+
+"When we can get them. But do you know in what relationship Miss Grover
+stands to the Tregony family?"
+
+"Not the ghost of an idea. Sir Charles is as close as an oyster on the
+subject, and as far as I can make out, the girl is not in the habit of
+talking about herself."
+
+"She's distinctly American," Chester said, thoughtfully.
+
+"And therefore piquant and interesting?"
+
+"I prefer English girls myself; that is, in so far as girls interest me
+at all."
+
+"You think you are proof against their wiles?"
+
+"I hope I am, though it is a matter on which one does not like to
+boast."
+
+"Better not," Pendarvis laughed, "better not. I've heard many men boast
+in my time, and seen them go down like ninepins before the whirlwind of
+a petticoat."
+
+"It's a bit humiliating, don't you think?"
+
+"It all depends on how you look at it. You see, we have to take human
+nature as it is, and not how we would like it to be. It is just because
+we are men that women triumph over us."
+
+"Then you admit that they are our masters?"
+
+"Not the least doubt of it. Of course, we keep up the pretence of being
+the head and all that. But a woman who knows her business can twist a
+man round her finger and thumb."
+
+"I believe you, and for that reason I do not intend to get entangled in
+the yoke of bondage."
+
+"Be careful," the older man laughed. "There are bright eyes and pretty
+frocks in an out-of-the-way place like St. Gaved. But let us get back to
+something more practical. I want you to call round and see Sterne first
+thing to-morrow morning."
+
+"He has broken his leg, I suppose?"
+
+"I fear it's a very bad fracture, and being tumbled about so much since
+the accident has not tended to mend matters. I hope by to-morrow morning
+the swelling will have subsided."
+
+"It seems very unfortunate for him, for I understand he has some big
+scheme on hand which he is labouring to complete."
+
+"So it is said. But I have no faith in these big schemes. Young men
+should keep to their legitimate work. It may be a mercy for him if his
+scheme is knocked on the head." Saying which he bade his assistant
+good-night and retired to his own room.
+
+
+
+
+                               CHAPTER VIII
+
+                           THE SOUL'S AWAKENING
+
+
+Two people did not sleep at all that night. Pain kept Rufus Sterne
+awake--an active brain banished slumber from the eyes of Madeline
+Grover. Possibly some subtle and intractable current of sympathy ran
+between the cottage and the mansion--some occult and undiscovered
+movement of the air between brain and brain or heart and heart, some
+telepathic communication that science had not scheduled yet. Be that as
+it may, neither Rufus nor Madeline could woo a wink of sleep. All
+through the long hours of the night they lay with wide-open eyes--the
+one weaving the threads of fancy into all imaginable shapes, the other
+fighting for the most part the twin demons of pain and fear.
+
+Madeline lived through that fateful afternoon a thousand times. She
+recalled every incident, however trivial it might be. Memory would let
+nothing escape. Things that she scarcely noticed at the time became
+hugely significant. Simple words and gestures seemed to glow with new
+meanings.
+
+She was not superstitious--at least she believed she was not. Neither
+was she a fatalist, and yet she had a feeling that for good or ill, her
+life was in some way or other bound up with this stranger. It was not
+his fault that he had come into her life. He had not sought her. The
+beginning of the acquaintanceship was all on her side. She had made the
+first advance, and the whirligig of chance or the workings of an
+inscrutable providence had done all the rest.
+
+In some respects it was scarcely pleasant to feel that she was so much
+in debt to a stranger. Whatever might happen in the future, or wherever
+her lot was cast, she would never be able to get away from the feeling
+that she owed her life to this Rufus Sterne. To make matters all the
+worse, he was suffering considerable pain and loss on her account. How
+much this accident might mean to him she had no means of knowing. All
+his immediate prospects might be wrecked in consequence. For a young man
+dependent on his own exertions to be incapacitated for two or three
+months might be a more serious matter than she could guess.
+
+Sometimes she wished that some homely fisherman or ignorant ploughboy
+had rescued her. She might in such a case have given material
+compensation, and it would have been accepted with gratitude, and her
+obligation would be at an end.
+
+But Rufus Sterne was a gentleman--that fact was beyond all dispute--and
+doubtless he had all the pride that generally attaches to genteel
+poverty. The obligation, therefore, would have to remain. There was, as
+far as she could see, no possible way of discharging it. To speak of
+compensation would be to insult him.
+
+Behind all this there was another feeling: What did he think of her? Did
+he resent her intrusion into the quiet sanctuary of his life? Did he
+wish that she had never crossed his path? Was his thought of her at that
+moment such as her cheeks would redden to hear? She wished she knew what
+he thought of her--what in his heart he felt. It would be humiliating if
+he regarded her with contempt, or even with mild dislike.
+
+She would not live to be regarded by him even with indifference. Her
+cheeks grew hot when she made this confession to herself. If he had been
+a fisherman or a ploughboy it would not have mattered, and she would not
+have cared. But he was one of the most noticeable men she had ever seen.
+A man who would win a second look in any crowd. A man who--given a fair
+chance--would make his mark in the world.
+
+She hoped that he was not very angry with her, that he was not writing
+her down in his mind as a foolish and headstrong girl. She would like,
+after all, to have his good opinion--like him to think that in saving
+her he had saved a life that was worth saving. It might not be true in
+fact, but she would like him to think so all the same.
+
+To what end had he saved her? As she looked at her life stretching
+forward into the future she saw nothing great or heroic in it. It had
+all been mapped out for her, and mapped out in a very excellent way. The
+exhortation "take no thought for the morrow," was not needed in her
+case. Everything was being settled to everyone's satisfaction, her own
+included. She had only to fall in with the drift and current of events
+and all would be as she would like it to be.
+
+Other women might have to plan and struggle, and labour and contrive;
+but in the scheme of her life such unpleasant things had no place. All
+contingencies had been provided against. She did not need to take any
+thought for to-morrow.
+
+"I'm not sure that my life was worth saving after all," she said to
+herself, a little bit fretfully. "It seems an aimless, selfish kind of
+thing as I look at it now. A poor woman who inspires her husband to do
+some great deed, even if she is incapable of any great deed herself,
+surely lives a nobler life than that which seems marked out for me."
+
+Her cheeks grew red again. How proud she would be if she could be the
+inspiration of some great achievement! To give hope to some great soul
+struggling amid adverse circumstances would be an end worth living for.
+To stand by the side of a man she could look up to, and help him to win
+in the hard battle of life--that would be the crown of all existence.
+
+She began to wonder, after a while, why such thoughts came to her. Why
+the future should look different from what it had always done. Why a
+thread of a different hue should show itself in the pattern that had
+been woven for her. Why a doubt should arise in her heart as to whether
+the absolutely best had been marked out for her.
+
+Until to-night she had been quite content to take things as she found
+them. Of course, she had had her troubles, like other girls. It was a
+trouble to her that she had never known the love of her mother, a
+trouble that she had never been able to get on with her step-mother, a
+trouble when her father died--though, as she had seen very little of him
+for seven years previously, the sense of loss was not so keen as it
+might have been. It was a trouble to her to say good-bye to her
+schoolfellows and friends, and cross the seas to a new home in England.
+
+Of course, the last trouble had its compensations. To an American girl
+whose forebears were English, "The Old Country," as it is affectionately
+termed, is the land of romance, the home of chivalry, the cradle of
+heroes and of history. To see the things she had read about in her
+childhood, to visit spots made sacred by the blood of the heroic dead,
+to tread on the ground where kings have stood, to pay homage at the
+shrine of poets and seers--that would be worth crossing a thousand
+oceans for.
+
+It is true she had been more than a little disappointed. Trewinion Hall
+was so far away from everywhere, and the people who visited it from time
+to time were very little to her taste. She would have liked to live in
+London always. Life and colour and movement were there. Its very streets
+were historic. Many of its public buildings were hoary with antiquity,
+and "rich with the spoils of time." The men and women of rank and name
+and power moved in and out amongst the crowd. History was being made
+from day to day in its Halls of Assembly.
+
+St. Gaved seemed to her like a little place that had got stranded in the
+dim and distant past. The rest of the world had run away from it. It
+lived on its traditions because it had no hope of a future. Like the
+granite cliffs that stretched north and south, it never changed. Its
+business, its politics, its morals, its religion, were what they had
+been from time immemorial. A man who said anything new, or advanced an
+opinion that was not strictly orthodox, was regarded with suspicion.
+
+St. Gaved had its charm, no doubt. The charm of antiquity, the charm of
+leisureliness, the charm of immobility. Moreover, it was beautiful for
+situation. The cliffs were magnificent beyond anything she had ever
+dreamed. The great ocean was a never-failing source of interest. The
+valleys that cleft their way inland, the streams that lost themselves in
+tangled brakes of undergrowth, the hillsides rich in timber, the
+hedgerows that were masses of wild flowers, the moorlands yellow with
+gorse--all these things were a set off against its dull and slow-moving
+life.
+
+Then, besides all that, life would not always be dull. Gervase was
+returning from India in the spring, and a great many things might happen
+then.
+
+Gervase was Sir Charles' only son, and heir to the title and estates. He
+was a handsome soldier of the genuine military type, tall and straight,
+and not over-burdened with flesh. His hair was pale, his complexion
+ruddy, his voice harsh, his manner that of one born to command.
+
+Madeline had met him three years before at Washington, and as he was in
+some far-off and round-about way related to her, he had escorted her to
+any number of receptions, and danced with her more times than she could
+count. She thought him then the most handsome man she had ever seen,
+especially in his uniform. She liked him, too, because he was so
+dogmatic and masterful; there was nothing timid, or feeble, or retiring
+about him. He was a man who meant to have his own way, and generally got
+it.
+
+His courage and daring also touched her heart and imagination. His talk
+had been mainly about shooting dervishes in Egypt and hunting tigers in
+India, and some of his exploits had thrilled her to the finger-tips. It
+puzzled her that he could talk so light-heartedly about the slaughter of
+human beings, even though they were Arabs and Hindoos, but then he was
+trained to be a soldier, and soldiers were trained to kill.
+
+It was one of those things she had looked forward to with the greatest
+interest in coming to England. She would see Gervase Tregony again. It
+seemed to her like a special providence that Sir Charles Tregony should
+be her trustee until she was twenty-one, and of course nothing could be
+kinder than that he should invite her to stay at the Hall as long as she
+liked--to make her permanent abode there if she chose to do so.
+
+She was glad to accept the invitation for several reasons. In the first
+place, it was impossible to live with her step-mother, who for some
+reason appeared to resent her very existence. In the second place, she
+longed, with all a school-girl's longing, for change, and to see England
+and Europe had been the very height of her ambition. And in the third
+place--and this was a secret that she safely guarded in her own
+bosom--she would the sooner see Captain Tregony; for if she were in
+England she would be among the first to give him welcome on his return
+from India, and she imagined with a little thrill at her heart how his
+face would light up and his eyes sparkle when he saw her standing behind
+the rest, waiting to give him the warmest welcome of all.
+
+This little secret added a peculiar charm and zest to life, and all the
+more so because every arrangement had been made respecting her future,
+as though Captain Tregony had no existence. She imagined sometimes that
+her father had been under the guidance of a special providence when he
+made Sir Charles Tregony her trustee, that Sir Charles was under the
+same kindly influence when he accepted the responsibility and took her
+to the shelter of his own home.
+
+Had she known the scheming and man[oe]uvering that went on at an earlier
+date, her faith in providence would have been rudely shaken. But she had
+no idea that she was only a pawn in a game that was being played by
+others. It was some solace to John Grover, even when dying, that his
+only child would mix with the English aristocracy and probably become
+"my lady" before she had finished her earthly course.
+
+To John Grover, who had started life with empty pockets, who had
+struggled through years of grinding poverty, who had "struck oil," as he
+termed it, in middle life and made a huge fortune before he was
+fifty--to such a man the thought of his daughter marrying an English
+officer who was also heir to a baronetcy was a distinction almost too
+great to be shaped into words.
+
+To have married the President of the United States would have been
+nothing comparable to it. It was a proud day for John Grover when he
+discovered that his first wife, the mother of Madeline, was remotely
+connected with the Tregonys of Trewinion Hall, Cornwall. He wrote
+claiming relationship with Sir Charles on the strength of it, much to
+the Baronet's annoyance and disgust. But several years later, when John
+Grover had become a millionaire, Sir Charles decided to hunt him up. A
+penniless man was one thing, a man with a million was another.
+
+Sir Charles himself was as poor as a church mouse, that is taking his
+position into account. His son and heir, Gervase, was a young man of
+very expensive tastes and very lax notions of economy. Hence if their
+ancestral hall could be refurnished by American dollars, and Gervase's
+debts paid off out of the savings of this John Grover, it would be a
+happy and an ingenious stroke of business.
+
+Of course, diplomacy would be needed, and diplomacy of the most delicate
+and subtle kind. Sir Charles took Gervase into his confidence, and
+Gervase confided to his father that he was prepared to marry anybody in
+reason so long as she had plenty of the needful.
+
+Sir Charles took a voyage to the United States and interviewed his
+relatives. A few months later Gervase went across and paid court to
+Madeline, and with remarkable success. Madeline was in her seventeenth
+year at the time, romantic, inexperienced and impressionable. Then came
+the death of her father, the discovery that Sir Charles Tregony was her
+trustee, and the option of spending her minority in Trewinion Hall.
+
+So far everything had happened as anticipated. There had been no hitch
+anywhere, and to all appearances the little scheme would be brought to a
+successful issue.
+
+Sir Charles kept Gervase well posted up as to the course of events.
+
+"She has not the remotest idea that we have any designs upon her," he
+said, in one of his early letters. "If she got the smallest hint I fear
+she might jib. She has grown to be a remarkably handsome girl, high
+spirited and intelligent. There is nobody here to whom she will lose her
+heart, and I am keeping her as secluded as possible till you return. I
+trust to you to put as much warmth in your letters to her as you think
+advisable. At present she thinks the world of you. I am sure of it. You
+impressed her mightily when you were in the States. She regards you as a
+sort of saint and hero rolled into one. She thinks also that you are
+immensely clever. Hence it is rather a difficult _role_ you will have to
+play. By letter you can do a great deal between now and the new year.
+Keep up the idealism. She is very puritanic in some of her notions.
+Don't shock her, for the world. If you can arrange an engagement before
+you return so much the better. A long courtship, I fear, might spoil
+everything. She has sharp eyes; and yet you have to guard against being
+too precipitate. So far, I flatter myself we have both handled the
+matter with great delicacy. A few months more, and--with care and
+judgment, you may snap your fingers at the world."
+
+Sir Charles had rightly estimated her character in one respect. If
+Madeline had had the smallest suspicion that he and his son had designs
+upon her--that a deliberate plot was being hatched--her indignation
+would have known no bounds.
+
+But her own little secret had been, perhaps, the best safeguard against
+any such suspicion. To her ingenuous mind the world was the best of all
+possible places. Her friends had so arranged her life and her lot that
+everything appeared to be working together for the best. She had not to
+worry about anything. The Captain's letters had as much warmth in them
+as she could desire. Her future, shaped for her without any contriving
+of her own--shaped by friends and by Providence, left nothing to be
+desired.
+
+It was clear what the Captain wished. It would have pleased her father
+had he been alive, it would be satisfactory to Sir Charles, it would fit
+in with her own conception of life. So she would dance along the
+primrose way without a want, without a care, without a responsibility.
+There would be gaiety, and mirth, and music, balls and crushes, and
+social functions of all sorts and kinds. She would get into social
+circles she had never known before, and be "Lady" Tregony before she
+died.
+
+It was all as straight as a rule, and as clear as a sunbeam.
+
+Why had it never seemed empty and sordid and selfish until to-night? Why
+did her inward eyes look for a sterner and more heroic way? Why did
+pleasure look so uninviting and duty wear such a noble mien? Why was all
+her future outlook changed as in a flash?
+
+These were questions she was debating with herself when a new day stole
+into the room.
+
+
+
+
+                                 CHAPTER IX
+
+                            THE CAPTAIN'S LETTER
+
+
+A few days later, Madeline received a letter from Captain Tregony, which
+contained a carefully-worded, though very definite, proposal of
+marriage. Gervase had been only too pleased to carry out his father's
+suggestion. The prospect of fingering at an early date a few of her
+surplus dollars was a very tempting one. He was not particularly in love
+with her. He had got through the sentimental age, so he believed.
+Moreover, he had seen so much of life and the world, and had had such a
+wide and varied experience of feminine kind that he was not likely to be
+carried off his feet by a pretty face or engaging manners.
+
+Nevertheless, if he was to marry at all--and since he was an only son
+and heir to a title and estates, marriage seemed a very obvious
+duty--then there was no one, all things considered, he would sooner take
+to his heart and endow with all his worldly goods than Madeline Grover.
+She was very young, very pretty, very sweet-tempered, and, best of all,
+very rich; and he knew no one else who possessed such a combination of
+excellencies.
+
+It had been a great relief to him when he went out to America to make
+the acquaintance of John Grover's daughter, to discover that she was
+such an unspoiled child of nature. He had been haunted by the fear that
+she might be ugly or ignorant or uneducated. Hence, when he found a
+charming school-girl, ingenuous, unsophisticated, impressionable, he
+heaved a big sigh of relief, and set to work at once to make a
+favourable and an abiding impression.
+
+He would have proposed then and there had he considered it politic to do
+so. His father, however, who was his chief adviser, would not hear of
+it. "You will spoil the whole game if you do," Sir Charles insisted.
+"Make a good impression now, and let time and absence deepen it. She
+will put a halo round your head after a few weeks' absence, and eagerly
+look forward to the next meeting."
+
+In this Sir Charles showed his knowledge of human nature, especially of
+feminine human nature.
+
+Gervase had hinted that, if he was not getting old, he was getting
+distinctly older, that the crows'-feet were very marked about his eyes,
+and that his hair was getting decidedly thin.
+
+"My dear boy," Sir Charles said, affectionately, "that is all in your
+favour. If she were eight or nine and twenty, she might cast longing
+eyes on the youths, but a girl of seventeen always dotes on an elderly
+man. Always! I don't know why it should be so, but I simply state a
+fact. Girls have not a particle of reverence or even respect for youths
+of twenty-one or two. They sigh for a man who bears the scars of years
+and battle."
+
+So Gervase went away to India, leaving his father to work the oracle for
+him at home. On the whole, Sir Charles's forecast had proved correct.
+Things had turned out much as he anticipated they would.
+
+Madeline read the Captain's letter with a distinct heightening of
+colour. She was still weak and a little inclined to be hysterical. Her
+adventure on the cliffs had shaken her nerves to an extent she was only
+just beginning to realise.
+
+She closed her eyes after she had put the letter back in the envelope,
+and tried to think. The Captain's proposal had not surprised her in the
+least, while the manner of it was just what she had expected. He had
+used just the right words and said neither too much nor too little.
+
+She admired him for his reticence, and for his strength in holding
+himself so well in check, and yet there was a passionate earnestness in
+his well-chosen words that revealed the depth of his affection, as well
+as his determination to win.
+
+Very adroitly and diplomatically also he had hinted of the good time
+they might have together. They would not settle down in a sleepy place
+like St. Gaved. They would have a town house, and perhaps a
+shooting-box in Scotland, and when tired of the United Kingdom they
+would travel on the Continent--Paris, Vienna, Monte Carlo, Florence,
+were delightful places to visit, and to tarry in for a few weeks or
+months. The common work-a-day world might roar and fret and toil and
+perspire, but they would live in a serener atmosphere, undisturbed by
+the jar and strife that went on around them.
+
+It was a very fair and enticing picture that his words conjured up, and
+one that she had often pictured for herself. This was the future that
+her friends, in conjunction with a kindly Providence, had shaped for
+her. There seemed nothing for her to do but say "Yes." It was all in the
+piece. Her life had been beautifully planned, and planned without effort
+or contrivance by anybody. The current had borne her along easily and
+gently to the inevitable union with Gervase Tregony.
+
+His face and form came up before her again as she last saw him. How
+handsome he looked in his uniform! How fierce his eyes were when he
+looked at other people, how gentle when he looked at her! Some people
+might think his voice harsh and raucous, but there was an undertone of
+music in it for her. It was the voice of a hero, of a man born to
+command. Its echoes seemed to be in the air even now.
+
+And yet for some reason her heart did not respond as it once did. Was it
+that her nerves had been shaken--that she had not quite got over the
+shock of the adventure? Something had happened during the last few days,
+but what it was she could not quite understand. The life of pleasure, to
+which she had looked forward, undisturbed by a single note of human
+pain, did not appeal to her, for some reason, as once it did. A new
+ingredient had been dropped into the cup, a new thought had come into
+her brain, a new impulse had shaken her heart.
+
+Had she looked at death so closely that life could never be the same to
+her again, or was it that she looked at life more truly and steadily?
+Had a change come over other people, or was the change wholly in
+herself? That something had happened she was certain, but what it was,
+was a question she could not definitely answer.
+
+Of one thing, however, she was sure. If the letter had come three or
+four days sooner, it would have found her in a wholly different frame of
+mind. Hence, whatever the change was, it was compassed by these few
+days.
+
+Her meditations were disturbed by a knock at the door, and a moment
+later Dr. Pendarvis entered. "Ah! you are better this morning," he said,
+in his bright, cheery fashion. "Now, let me feel your pulse." And he
+drew up a chair and sat down by her side.
+
+"A little inclined to be jumpy still, eh? Ah, well, you had rather a
+nasty experience. But you'll be all right again in a few days."
+
+"I think I am all right now," she said, with a smile. "Don't you think I
+might go out of doors?"
+
+"Well, now, what do you think yourself?" he questioned, stroking his
+chin and smiling.
+
+"I'm just a little shaky on my feet," she answered, "but I guess that
+would go off when I got into the fresh air."
+
+"And how about the bruises?"
+
+"Oh, they are disappearing one by one."
+
+"And how far do you think you could walk?"
+
+"I don't know, but I do know it's awfully dull being in the house."
+
+"And do you want to go anywhere in particular?" he asked innocently, and
+he glanced at her furtively out of the corner of his eye.
+
+"Oh, no!" she answered, blushing slightly; "or, at any rate, not just
+yet. Of course, when I get stronger I shall be glad to walk into St.
+Gaved again."
+
+"You ran into it last time," he said, laughing. "What a day of
+adventures you had to be sure!"
+
+"I was compelled to run," she said, averting her eyes and looking out of
+the window; "he would have drowned if I hadn't."
+
+"Exactly. And it was touch and go by all accounts. He couldn't have held
+out many minutes longer."
+
+"And is he going on all right, doctor?" She turned her eyes suddenly
+upon him, and waited with parted lips for his answer.
+
+"Well, about as well as can be expected," he answered, slowly, "taking
+all the circumstances into account."
+
+"And is he suffering much pain?"
+
+"A good deal I should say. In fact, that is inevitable."
+
+"He must wish me far enough."
+
+"It depends how far that is, I should say," and the old doctor chuckled.
+
+"You've not heard him heaping maledictions on my defenceless head?"
+
+"No, I have not," he answered, with a satirical smile; "but then you see
+he's not given to expressing his thoughts in public."
+
+"Exactly. I guess his thoughts about me would not bear repeating in any
+polite society."
+
+"That is possible," the old doctor said, pursing his lips, and looking
+thoughtful.
+
+"I suppose no one sees him yet?"
+
+"Well, Chester or I myself see him every day--sometimes twice."
+
+"I intend seeing him myself soon."
+
+"You do?"
+
+"Yes I do. There's nothing wrong in it, is there?"
+
+"Why do you ask that question?"
+
+"Because you've got such stupid notions about propriety in this country.
+In fact, few things seem to be regarded as proper except what is highly
+improper. I'm constantly stubbing my toes against the notice tablets,
+'keep off the grass,' the dangerous places are left without warning."
+
+The doctor laughed.
+
+"Isn't it true what I'm saying?" she went on. "Half the people seem to
+be straining at gnats and swallowing camels. Directly you propose to do
+some perfectly innocent thing, if it should happen to be unconventional,
+you are met with shocked looks and outstretched hands and cries of
+protest. I'm getting rather tired of that word 'proper.'"
+
+"But Society must have some code to regulate itself by," he said, with
+an air of pretended seriousness.
+
+"Aren't the Ten Commandments good enough?" she questioned.
+
+"Well, hardly," he said, in a tone of banter. "You see they are a bit
+antiquated and out of date. Society, as at present constituted, must
+have everything of the most modern type. And modernity is not able to
+tolerate such an antiquated code as the Decalogue."
+
+"What do you mean by Society?" she questioned.
+
+"Ah! now you have cornered me," he said, with a laugh. "But just at the
+moment I was thinking of the idle rich. Men and women who have more
+money than they know how to spend, and more time than they know how to
+kill. The people who have never a thought beyond themselves, who live to
+eat and dress, and pander to the lowest passions of their nature. Who
+will spend thousands on a dinner fit only for gourmands, while the
+people around them are dying of hunger. Who waste in folly and luxury
+and vice what ought to go for the uplifting of the downtrodden and
+neglected. It is a big class in England, and a growing class, recruited
+in many instances from across the water----"
+
+"You mean from my country?" she questioned.
+
+"Yes, from your country," he said, with a touch of indignation in his
+voice, "they come bringing their bad manners and their diamonds, and
+they hang round the fringe of what is called the 'Smart Set,' and they
+bribe impecunious dowagers and such like to give them introductions, and
+they worm their way into the big houses, and God alone knows what
+becomes of them afterwards. I have a brother who has a big practice in
+the West-end. You should hear him talk----"
+
+"If people are rich," Madeline retorted warmly, "they have surely the
+right to enjoy themselves in their own way so long as they do no wrong."
+
+"Enjoy themselves," he snorted. "Is enjoyment the end of life?--and such
+enjoyment! Has duty no place in the scheme of existence? Because people
+have grown rich through somebody else's toil----"
+
+"Or through their own toil," she interrupted.
+
+"Or through their own toil--if any man ever did it--are they justified
+in wasting their life in idle gluttony, and in wasteful and wanton
+extravagance?"
+
+"Extravagance is surely a question of degree," she replied. "A hundred
+dollars to one man may be more than ten thousand to another."
+
+"I admit it. But your idle profligate, whether man or woman, is an
+offence."
+
+"What do you mean by profligate?"
+
+"I mean the creature who lives to eat and drink and dress. Who shirks
+every duty and responsibility, who panders to every gluttonous and
+selfish desire. Who hears the cry of suffering and never helps, who
+wastes his or her substance in finding fresh sources of so-called
+enjoyment, or discovering new thrills of sensation."
+
+"But we surely have a right to enjoy ourselves?"
+
+"Of course we have. But not after the fashion of swine. We are not
+animals. We are men and women with intellectual vision and moral
+responsibility. The true life lies along the road of duty and help and
+goodwill."
+
+"Yes, I agree with you in that. But I do not like to hear anyone speak
+slightingly of my country people."
+
+"For your country and your people as a whole, I have the greatest
+respect. But every country has its snobs and its parasites; and it is
+humbling that our own great army of idle profligates should receive
+recruits from the great Republic of the West."
+
+When Dr. Pendarvis had gone Madeline sat for a long time staring out of
+the window, but seeing nothing of the fair landscape on which her eyes
+rested. She tried to recall what it was that led their conversation into
+such a serious channel. To say the least of it, it was not a little
+strange that he should have taken the hazy and nebulous efforts of her
+own brain, and shaped them into clear and definite speech. The life of
+ease and pleasure and self-indulgence to which she had looked forward
+with so much interest and with such childish delight, he had denounced
+with a vigour she had half resented, and which all the while she felt
+answered to the deepest emotions of her nature.
+
+She took the Captain's letter from the envelope and read it again. It
+was a most proper letter in every respect. There was not a word or
+syllable that anyone could take the slightest exception to. The
+love-making was intense and yet restrained, the pleading eloquent and
+even tender, the prospect pictured such as any ordinary individual would
+hail with delight. What was it that it lacked?
+
+It seemed less satisfying since her talk with the doctor than before.
+
+The Captain pleaded for an answer by return of post. He wanted to have
+the assurance before he left India for home. He was tired of roughing it
+and wanted to look forward to long years of domestic peace. If the
+engagement were settled now they would be able to set up a house of
+their own soon after his return.
+
+She put away the letter after reading it through twice, and heaved a
+long sigh.
+
+"If it had come a week ago," she said to herself, "I should have
+answered 'Yes' without any misgiving. But now, everything seems
+changed. Perhaps I shall feel differently when I get out of doors
+again."
+
+On the following day she took a ramble in the rose garden, and sat for
+an hour on the lawn in the sunshine. On the second day she strayed into
+the plantation beyond the park, and on the third day she ventured on to
+the Downs, and came at length to the high point on the cliffs where she
+first met Rufus Sterne. Here she sat down and looked seaward, and
+thought of home and all that had happened since she left it.
+
+The plan of her life which had looked so clear was becoming more and
+more hazy and confused. Was Providence interposing to upset its own
+arrangements? Was she to tread a different path from what she had
+pictured.
+
+The fresh air brought the colour back to her cheeks again, and vigour to
+her limbs, but it did not clear away the mists that hung about her brain
+and heart. The Captain's letter remained day after day unanswered.
+
+"If I were engaged to the Captain," she said to herself, reflectively,
+"It might not be considered proper for me to call on Rufus Sterne. But
+while I am free, I am free. He saved my life, and it would be mean of me
+not to call. So I shall follow my heart"; and she rose to her feet and
+turned her steps towards home.
+
+
+
+
+                                  CHAPTER X
+
+                                  A VISITOR
+
+
+Mrs. Tuke came into the room on tip-toe, and closed the door softly
+behind her. There was a mysterious expression in her eyes, and she began
+at once to straighten the chairs and re-arrange the antimacassars. Her
+best parlour had been turned, for the time being, into a bedroom. To
+carry Rufus Sterne up the steep and narrow staircase was a task the
+fishermen refused to undertake, especially as Rufus had pleaded to be
+allowed to remain on the sofa. So a bed had been set up in the
+parlour--not without serious misgivings on the part of Mrs. Tuke, though
+she admitted the convenience of the arrangement later on. After Mrs.
+Tuke had arranged the furniture and antimacassars to her satisfaction,
+she advanced to the side of the bed.
+
+"A lady has called to see you," she said, in an awed whisper.
+
+"A lady?" Rufus questioned, with a slight lifting of the eyebrows.
+
+Mrs. Tuke nodded.
+
+"To see me or simply to inquire?"
+
+"To see you."
+
+"Do I know the lady?" and a faint tinge of colour came into his cheek.
+
+"I suppose so. You ought to do at any rate. It's that scare-away
+American as is staying at the Hall." And Mrs. Tuke turned and looked
+apprehensively toward the door.
+
+Rufus felt his heart give a sudden bound, but he answered quietly
+enough: "Is she waiting in the passage?"
+
+"No, I turned her into your room. Are you going to see her?"
+
+"Most certainly. I think it is awfully kind of her to call."
+
+"I suppose being a furrener explains things?"
+
+"Explains what, Mrs. Tuke?"
+
+"Well, in my day young ladies had different notions of what was the
+proper thing to do."
+
+"No doubt, Mrs. Tuke; but the world keeps advancing, you see."
+
+"Keeps advancing, do you call it. I am thankful that none of my girls
+was brought up that way." And Mrs. Tuke walked with her most stately
+gait out of the room.
+
+Rufus waited with rapidly beating heart. For days past--ever since the
+pain had become bearable, in fact--he had been longing for a glimpse of
+the sweet face that had captivated his fancy from the first. That she
+would call to see him he did not anticipate for a moment. That she had
+made inquiries concerning his condition he knew from his conversations
+with Dr. Pendarvis. More than that he could not expect, whatever he
+might desire. Hence, to be told that she was in the house, that she was
+waiting to see him, seemed to set vibrating every nerve he possessed.
+
+He heard a faint murmur of voices coming across the narrow lobby, and
+wondered what Mrs. Tuke was saying to her visitor. He hoped she would
+not feel it incumbent upon her to unburden her puritanical soul. When
+Mrs. Tuke was "drawn out," as she expressed it, she sometimes used great
+plainness of speech. At such times neither rank nor station counted. To
+clear her conscience was the supreme thing.
+
+On the present occasion, however, Madeline got the first innings. She
+guessed from the set of Mrs. Tuke's lips that she did not altogether
+approve. Moreover, she was afraid that on the occasion of her first
+visit--when Mrs. Tuke revived her with burnt feathers--she had not made
+a very good impression.
+
+Madeline came, therefore, fully armed and prepared to use all her wiles.
+She waited with a good deal of trepidation until Mrs. Tuke returned from
+her lodger's room.
+
+"What a noble, generous soul you must be, Mrs. Tuke," she said, and she
+looked straight into the cold, blue eyes and smiled her sweetest.
+
+Mrs. Tuke drew herself up and frowned.
+
+"And how lovely you keep your house," Madeline went on, "and what taste
+you have shown in arranging your furniture."
+
+Mrs. Tuke's face relaxed somewhat, and she gave the corner of the table
+cloth a little tug to straighten it.
+
+"I think people stamp their character on everything they do, don't you,
+Mrs. Tuke? If a woman is a lady the house shows it. Look at these
+flowers how beautifully arranged they are," and Madeline bent down her
+head and sniffed at them.
+
+"Some people never notice such things," Mrs. Tuke said, in an aggrieved
+tone.
+
+"Oh, Mrs. Tuke! how can they help it; I am sure you would recognise
+taste and beauty anywhere."
+
+"So many of the women hereabouts have no taste," Mrs. Tuke replied.
+"They keep their houses any fashion. I always say you can tell what a
+house is like by the window curtains. You need not put your head inside
+the door."
+
+"I quite agree with you, Mrs. Tuke. May I ask where you send your
+curtains to be got up so beautifully?"
+
+"I get 'em up myself."
+
+"No?"
+
+"I do, indeed," and Mrs. Tuke smiled upon her visitor most benignantly.
+
+"How clever you must be. Do you know I think we should become quite fast
+friends? We seem to understand each other so well. Some people never
+understand each other. Now, if you were like some narrow, uncharitable
+people you would not approve of my calling to see Mr. Sterne."
+
+Mrs. Tuke started, and took a sidelong glance out of the window.
+
+"And I have no doubt," Madeline went on, "if some of the people in St.
+Gaved got to know that I was in the habit of calling here they would say
+all sorts of uncharitable things."
+
+"I've not the least doubt of it," Mrs. Tuke said, severely.
+
+"It is so nice to think you are not one of that sort," Madeline said,
+with a winning smile. "If I came here fifty times I know you would not
+talk about it. You see you understand people, Mrs. Tuke. And in America,
+as you know, girls have so much more freedom than they have in this
+country."
+
+"So I've heard."
+
+"It's natural, perhaps; they go to the same State schools together, and
+they grow up to respect each other. The girls learn self-reliance, and
+the boys chivalry."
+
+"That sounds very nice," Mrs. Tuke remarked, with an interested look.
+
+"It ought to be so everywhere. I don't think much of a girl who is not
+able to take care of herself."
+
+"But men are not to be trusted, my dear," Mrs. Tuke said, with a pained
+expression in her eyes.
+
+"Then they should be avoided and ostracised."
+
+"Yes, I quite agree with you," Mrs. Tuke said, doubtfully; "but had you
+not better go and see Mr. Sterne now? Between ourselves, I believe he
+will be terribly impatient."
+
+"And we'll renew our interesting conversation some other time."
+
+"It's kind of you to want to talk to an old woman like me."
+
+"You must not call yourself old, Mrs. Tuke," and Madeline tripped across
+the hall, and knocked timidly at the parlour door.
+
+"Come in," called a clear, even voice, and Madeline turned the handle
+and entered. Her heart was beating considerably faster than usual, and
+directly she caught sight of Rufus a choking sensation came into her
+throat.
+
+It was painfully pathetic to see this strong, handsome man lying pale
+and helpless on his narrow bed, and all because of her. If she had not
+been foolish and headstrong it would not have happened. And yet a great
+wave of gratitude surged over her heart at the same moment. His life had
+been spared. If he had been drowned she would never have forgiven
+herself to the day of her death.
+
+He greeted her with a smile that was all brightness and sunshine. For
+the moment all the pain and disappointment and foreboding of the last
+week were forgotten. The presence of this beautiful girl was
+compensation for all he had endured.
+
+"It is good of you to come," he said, in a tone that vibrated with
+unmistakable gratitude.
+
+"No, please don't say that," she answered, a mist coming up before her
+eyes. "I was afraid you might hate the very sight of me."
+
+He smiled at her for answer, and pointed to a chair.
+
+"I've been wanting to see you for days," she went on; "wanting to ease
+my heart by telling you how grateful I am, and how terribly I regret
+causing you so much loss and suffering."
+
+He smiled again. What answer could he make to such words of
+self-revealing? He would simply have to let her talk on until she gave
+him something to reply to.
+
+"I told Dr. Pendarvis that I expected in secret you were heaping
+maledictions on my defenceless head."
+
+"Have you so poor an opinion of me as all that?" he questioned, looking
+steadily into her sweet, brown eyes.
+
+"Well, you see, I calculate I was judging you by myself somewhat."
+
+"And if you had saved me, and slightly damaged yourself in the process,
+would you have been very angry with me?"
+
+"Oh! I am only a girl, and if I were disabled for a year, nobody would
+be the loser. But with you it is different. I wish it had been the other
+way about."
+
+"I don't."
+
+"No?"
+
+"No, I am glad things are as they are."
+
+"But your invention is at a standstill."
+
+"Who told you about my invention?"
+
+"Dr. Pendarvis, I think. Oh no, it was Dr. Chester; he said you would be
+a great man some day."
+
+"Dr. Chester will have to cultivate the habit of thinking before he
+speaks," he said, with a laugh, "If I can be a useful man, I shall be
+content."
+
+"Is it better to be useful than to be great?" she questioned, naively.
+
+"Oh, well, that all depends, I expect, on the meaning you attach to
+words," he answered, with a broad smile. "If a man is truly great, he
+is, of course, useful, while a man may be very useful without being
+great."
+
+"Oh, then, I shall back Dr. Chester," she said, with a pretty shrug of
+her shoulders.
+
+"You had better not," he said, soberly. "Not that it will matter, of
+course. For whether I win or lose, you cannot be affected by the one or
+the other."
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"Oh, for fifty reasons."
+
+"Please give me one."
+
+"I would rather not."
+
+"But I insist upon it."
+
+"And if I still refuse?"
+
+"I shall stay here till you do answer."
+
+"Oh, that will be delightful," he answered, laughing. "How quickly the
+days will pass."
+
+"Oh, Mr. Sterne, I did not know you could be so provoking," she said,
+with a little pout.
+
+"Do you really want a reason?" he said, looking gravely into her eyes.
+
+"Really and truly."
+
+"Well, then, my invention will affect only the toilers--the poor people
+if you like. Its success or failure will not matter one whit to Sir
+Charles Tregony, for instance, and you belong to the same circle, do you
+not?"
+
+"But its success or failure will matter to you, won't it?"
+
+"It will matter everything to me."
+
+"What do you mean by that?"
+
+"Just what I say. Everything means everything. I've staked my all."
+
+"Oh, no, you have not," she said, brightly. "You may have staked your
+fortune, and your reputation as an inventor, and your immediate
+prospects. But life is left."
+
+He caught his breath sharply. "But what is life worth when all you have
+lived for is swept away?"
+
+"And have you nothing else to live for?" she questioned, seriously.
+
+"Nothing! I'm a lonely soul in a lonely world."
+
+"But there is still life," she persisted. "And no great soul gives up at
+one failure or at ten."
+
+He felt the hot blood rush to his face and he averted his eyes
+instinctively. He did his best to recover himself before she should
+notice, but her keen eyes were quick to see the look of pain and
+distress that swept over his face.
+
+"Now I have said something foolish--something that has hurt you----" she
+began.
+
+"My leg hurts me occasionally," he answered, with a poor attempt at a
+smile.
+
+"I have been very thoughtless," she said, rising suddenly to her feet.
+"I did not think how I must be tiring you."
+
+"But you have not tired me at all," he persisted. "You have done me
+good. You cannot think how intolerably irksome it is lying here helpless
+day after----" then he checked himself suddenly. It was his turn now to
+see a look of distress come into her eyes.
+
+"And it is all my fault," she interrupted. "Oh, if I could only atone in
+some measure."
+
+"You have atoned, if atonement were needed, by coming to see me. Will
+you not come again?"
+
+"May I? Really and truly it would do me good if I could serve you in
+some way. I might read to you if you would let me, or write your
+letters."
+
+He felt himself shaken as if with a tempest. He knew, as if by instinct,
+that he had reached the most fateful--perhaps the most perilous--crisis
+in his life. He had only to say the word and this beautiful girl would
+come and sit by his side day after day, come out of pure goodness and
+gratitude, never dreaming what her presence might mean to him.
+
+He was only too painfully conscious that he was half in love with her
+already. She had touched his heart and imagination as no one had ever
+done before. From the time he caught that first glimpse of her face as
+she was driving from the station until now, she had been almost
+constantly in his thoughts. It was as though the fates--malicious as
+usual--had conspired to throw them together, for if he learned to love
+her, only misery and heart-ache could be the result. She would think of
+him only as someone she ought to be kind to. She was out of his circle.
+Whoever, or whatever she might have been in America, here she was the
+ward of Sir Charles Tregony, one of the proudest and most exclusive men
+in the county. Besides, for all he knew, she might be engaged already.
+
+Beyond all, there was the fact that his life was at stake. If his
+project failed he was bound in honour to see that Felix Muller suffered
+no loss. The rights of the Life Assurance Company had not occurred to
+him even yet. There must be no human ties to make the struggle harder.
+If the worst came to the worst--a possibility that would persist in
+haunting him--he must go unmourned and unmourning into the darkness.
+
+The brain works quickly in times of excitement and emotion, and all
+these considerations passed through his mind as in a flash. Should he
+tell this sweet-eyed girl that she must not come to see him again, and
+let her go away believing that he disapproved of her coming at all?
+
+Better so. Better a few hours or days of sharp pain now than a life-long
+agony after.
+
+"I must be brave," he said to himself. "The first lesson in life is
+self-conquest."
+
+The form of words he decided to use shaped themselves quickly. The more
+explicit the better.
+
+He turned his head toward her with resolutions full grown in his heart,
+and their eyes met again.
+
+
+
+
+                                CHAPTER XI
+
+                            A TALK BY THE WAY
+
+
+Generally speaking, Rufus Sterne was not lacking in courage, either
+physical or moral. But no man knows his strength till he is tested. Many
+a man has passed through tempest and flood, fire and sword, unscathed
+and undaunted, and in the end has gone down helplessly and ignominiously
+before a pair of soft brown eyes.
+
+When Rufus turned his head he meant to say firmly but kindly that it
+would be better if they did not meet again. And then he would soothe the
+hurt--if hurt there should be--by telling her how grateful he was for
+her visit and how much he appreciated her kindness.
+
+He was quite sure she would understand. She was not a child and her eyes
+were more than ordinarily sharp. If she chose to take offence, of
+course, he would be sorry; but better she should be offended than that
+he should break his heart.
+
+He was bristling all over with courage when their eyes met, and then all
+his strength departed. Madeline had no thought of conquest. She only
+wanted to be kind. She felt infinitely pitiful toward this strong man
+who had been brought low through her, and her pity shone in her eyes and
+vibrated in every tone of her voice.
+
+It was her artlessness, her sweet ingenuousness that broke Rufus down.
+In addition to which she was so exquisitely beautiful, while the
+unfamiliar lilt and intonation of her voice were like music in his
+ears.
+
+"It will be just heaven if you will come and read to me sometimes," he
+heard himself saying, and then he wondered whether he was awake or
+dreaming.
+
+"Then I will come to-morrow. It will be perfectly lovely to do some
+little bit of good in the world."
+
+The room seemed to grow dark when she took her departure, as though a
+cloud drifted across the face of the sun. For a long time he lay quite
+still, looking at the door, behind which she had disappeared. His heart
+was in a strange tumult, but whether pleasure or pain predominated he
+did not know. What he did know was that the intoxication of her presence
+was the sweetest thing he had ever known, but below the sweet and
+struggling to get to the top, was a sense of something exceedingly
+bitter.
+
+He felt like a drunkard steadily gravitating toward the tap-room. His
+moral sense, his better judgment, urged him to turn aside or turn back;
+his appetite, his desire for excitement or forgetfulness lured him with
+irresistible force.
+
+"I know I am a fool," he said to himself, "and I shall have to pay
+dearly enough for my folly later on, but I can't help it."
+
+He had rather prided himself on his courage, and this confession of
+weakness, even to himself, was distinctly humiliating.
+
+It was the kind of thing for which he would have allowed no excuse in
+any other man. It was a pet theory of his that a man ought to be always
+master of himself, and that any man who allowed himself to be dominated
+and conquered by a human passion was not worthy of respect or even
+sympathy.
+
+Men who fail to live up to their theories are generally prolific in
+excuses. To own himself beaten out and out was too much for his
+self-respect. He had taken a step down, he knew, but there was a
+reason for it. Perhaps, if he searched diligently enough, he would be
+able to justify his conduct to the full.
+
+[Illustration: "IT WILL BE JUST HEAVEN IF YOU WILL COME AND READ TO ME
+SOMETIMES"]
+
+Before the day was out, he found any number of excuses. This life, he
+told himself, was all, and youth was the best part of life, in fact, the
+only part in which enjoyment could find a place, and if a cup of delight
+was placed to his lips, was it wise to dash it to the ground and spill
+all its contents, because it was possible and even probable it would
+leave a bitter taste in the mouth. But even though he was sure the
+bitter taste would follow, was he not justified in taking the sweet when
+he had the chance? Had not somebody said:
+
+    "'Tis better to have loved and lost
+    Than never to have loved at all"?
+
+Besides, he had not to consider only himself. That would be selfish.
+This sweet-eyed girl wanted an outlet for her gratitude and generosity,
+and if he rudely pushed aside the hand that was outstretched to help,
+and churlishly refused her sympathy, how hurt she would be. And a man
+would be a brute to give pain to so sweet a soul; he would rather cut
+his hand off than do it.
+
+Also it did not follow that because he saw more of her he would become
+more deeply in love with her. He would recognise, of course, all the way
+through that she was out of his circle--that was a fact he would never
+allow to pass out of his mind. And keeping that in mind, he would be
+able to keep guard over his own heart.
+
+So before the day was done, he was able to extract all the poison from
+his surrender. He might not have done the heroic thing, but it did not
+necessarily follow that he had done a foolish thing. Chance had flung
+this girl across his path, why should it be an evil chance? Why might
+there not grow out of the acquaintance something for the good of both?
+
+Having arrived at that position, he ceased calling himself a fool, and
+gave himself up to pleasant dreams and even more pleasant anticipations.
+Closing his eyes he recalled their conversation, recalled every
+expression of her sensitive face, every tone of her musical voice.
+
+He fancied her sitting again by his bedside. How dainty she was, how
+unobtrusively and yet how exquisitely attired. Things he had been aware
+of in a sub-conscious way now clearly defined themselves. He remembered
+her teeth, even and white, her ears small and coloured like a sea-shell,
+her eyebrows dark and straight, her eyelashes long, her mouth like
+Cupid's bow. He remembered, too, how her rich brown hair grew low in her
+neck, while a massive coil seemed to balance her shapely head.
+
+He smiled to himself at length. "How much I noticed," he said, "without
+seeming to notice. I wonder if other people think her so good to look
+upon."
+
+He slept better that night than he had done since his accident, and
+through all his dreams Madeline seemed to glide, a healing and an
+inspiring presence. He awoke with his nerves thrilling like harpstrings,
+and a happy smile upon his lips.
+
+He had dreamed that his invention had realised a thousand times more
+than he had ever hoped or imagined, that it had lifted him into the
+region of affluence and power, that he took his place among the
+successful men of his generation by right of what he had done, and that,
+thrilling with the knowledge of his success, he had laid his heart at
+the feet of Madeline Grover. "You have been my inspiration," he said to
+her. "But for my love for you I could not have wrought and striven as I
+have done," and for answer she laid her hands in his and lifted her face
+to be kissed; and then the twittering of the sparrows under the eaves
+awoke him.
+
+"Dreams are curious things," he said, the smile still upon his lips.
+"Now I dream I fail, and now that I succeed. Both dreams cannot be true,
+that is certain. I wonder. I wonder."
+
+He was still wondering when Mrs. Tuke brought him an early cup of tea.
+
+"Have you slept well?" she asked, and there was a sympathetic note in
+her voice that he did not remember to have heard before.
+
+"The best night I have yet had," he said, cheerfully.
+
+"Then you don't think having so much company yesterday did you any
+harm?"
+
+"It did me good, Mrs. Tuke. I was beginning to mope."
+
+"She is a beautiful creature."
+
+"You called her a scare-away American yesterday."
+
+"Did I? Oh, well, you see, I didn't know her so well then. Besides, I
+never denied that she was good-looking."
+
+"But looks are only skin deep, I have heard you say."
+
+"And that I sticks to. But Miss Grover has sense and judgment. You
+should have heard her talk yesterday. I never heard a girl of her age
+speak with so much wisdom. We've quite taken to each other."
+
+"I'm very glad to hear it."
+
+"She's not to be judged by the ordinary foot-rule either."
+
+"No?"
+
+"In America girls have more freedom. You see, they've no king there,
+only a president."
+
+Rufus laughed.
+
+"And everybody grows up equal, as it were. Girls learn to look after
+themselves and men to respect 'em."
+
+"That's as it ought to be."
+
+"But the women of St. Gaved would be envious enough to bite their thumbs
+off if they knew she made a friend of me; and would talk abominable. I
+know 'em, and what they are capable of."
+
+"Some of them can gossip a bit," he said, reflectively.
+
+"And if they know'd I allowed her to see you," Mrs. Tuke went on.
+
+"The fat would be in the fire," he interrupted.
+
+"But they're not going to know. Do you think I don't know a lady when I
+sees her, and know also what's due to her? You should hear Miss Grover
+talk."
+
+"She has a taking way with her."
+
+"No, 'tisn't that. There's no chaff with her, and as for myself, I can't
+abide flattery. But I do like common-sense," and with a self-satisfied
+smile lighting up her severe face, Mrs. Tuke bustled out of the room.
+
+Rufus closed his eyes and laughed softly. "The little scare-away
+American got in the first shot, that's evident," he chuckled, and he
+kept on smiling to himself at intervals during the day.
+
+The afternoon was beginning to wear away before Madeline put in an
+appearance. She came into the room like a breath of spring--gentle,
+fragrant, energising. She was not at all shy, neither was she obtrusive.
+There was never anything self-conscious in her movements. She was trying
+to be kind, trying to pay in some measure a big debt of gratitude she
+owed, and she was supremely happy in making the attempt.
+
+"Do you know, I feel real pleased with myself to-day," she said, in her
+quaint American way.
+
+"Do you?" he questioned.
+
+"Seems to me living up in a big house like Trewinion Hall, one has
+scarcely a chance of being kind or neighbourly, and when the chance does
+come, it seems great."
+
+"Do you think exclusiveness and selfishness mean the same thing?"
+
+"I don't know. That's a sum I haven't figured out yet. But what would
+you like me to read to you?"
+
+"Anything you like. I fear you will not consider my stock of books very
+interesting."
+
+"Have they all to do with science and mechanics, and that sort of
+thing?"
+
+"No, not all."
+
+She rose from her chair and went to a table on which several volumes
+lay, and began to read their titles. "Principles of Western
+Civilisation," "The Earth's Beginning," "Facts and Comments," "Education
+and Empire," "Philosophy and Life."
+
+"Ah! here is a story book I expect. 'The Buried Temple,' by Maurice
+Maeterlinck," and she picked up the book and began to turn over the
+pages, then with a faint sigh she laid it down again.
+
+"Would you rather I talked to you?" she questioned, turning her face
+toward him with a smile.
+
+"I think I would," he replied. "I am not much in the mood for philosophy
+to-day."
+
+"But why vex your brains with philosophy at all? What you need when you
+are ill is a real, good story. The next time I come to see you I'll
+bring a book along with me."
+
+"What will you bring?"
+
+"I don't know yet. Do you like poetry?"
+
+"When it is poetry."
+
+"Are you sure you know it when you see it?" and she laughed good
+humouredly.
+
+"Well, I would not like to dogmatise on that point," he answered.
+
+"You've read Whittier, of course?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Oh, I'm sorry for you. Whittier is great. I like him heaps better than
+your Browning."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Because I understand him better. I expect poetry is like beauty, in the
+eye of the beholder, don't you think so? Now if poetry don't touch me,
+don't thrill me, why, whatever it may be to other people it isn't poetry
+to me. Do I make myself plain?"
+
+"Quite plain."
+
+"Now Whittier just says what I feel, but what I haven't the power to
+express; just sums up in great, noble words the holiest emotions I have
+ever known."
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Then Whittier is a man of faith and vision, as all poets must be if
+they are to be great. I like Browning for that. He sees clear. He
+doesn't merely hope, he believes. He not only 'faintly trusts the larger
+hope,' he builds on the rock. A man who has no faith is like a bird with
+a broken wing. Don't you think so?"
+
+"But what do you mean by faith?" he asked, uneasily.
+
+"Ah, now you want to puzzle me," she said, with a smile.
+
+"Oh, no I don't," he replied, quickly. "I only want to get your meaning
+clearly."
+
+"But I'm not a poet," she answered. "I'm only a girl, and I can't find
+the right words. But I just mean faith. Seeing the invisible, if I may
+say so. Realising it. Being conscious of it."
+
+"The invisible?" he questioned.
+
+"Yes, God, and heaven, and immortality. Believing also in goodness and
+humanity and the sacredness of human life."
+
+"Do you believe that human life is a very sacred thing?"
+
+"Why, of course I do! What a question to ask."
+
+"Does it seem so very strange?"
+
+"Why, yes. Think of the care that is taken of everybody, even the
+worthless. Think of all the hospitals and asylums----"
+
+"Yes, that is one side of the question," he said. "What we may call the
+sentimental side. But place human life in the scale against money or
+territory or human ambition."
+
+"Well?"
+
+"We mow men down with machine guns or blow them up with dynamite--not in
+twos or threes, but in thousands and tens of thousands, and the more we
+kill the more satisfied we are."
+
+"Oh yes, I know. That is all very terrible," she said, with a puzzled
+expression in her eyes.
+
+"But why terrible?" he questioned.
+
+"I can't explain myself very well," she answered, slowly; "but, of
+course, we must defend our country."
+
+"Therefore country is more sacred than life."
+
+"Oh no, you are not going to catch me that way. To die for one's country
+must be great, heroic."
+
+"Exactly. Therefore, in comparison with what we call country--that is,
+our particular form of government, or our particular set of rulers, or
+our particular stake in it--what you call the sacredness of human life
+occupies a very subordinate position."
+
+"But you would risk your life in defence of your country?" she
+questioned, evasively.
+
+"Most certainly I would," he answered, promptly; "but then you see I am
+not hampered by any notions respecting the sacredness of human life."
+
+He was sorry a moment later that their conversation had taken the turn
+it had. He felt that he would bite his tongue out rather than give this
+sweet-eyed maiden pain; and that he had pained her was too evident by
+the look upon her face. And yet, having gone so far, he was bound to be
+honest.
+
+"If I held your views," he went on, "nothing would induce me to take a
+human life--neither patriotism nor any other ism."
+
+"Oh, but," she said, quickly, "there are some things more sacred even
+than life, honour for instance, and truth."
+
+"No doubt. But there is surely a difference between losing one's life,
+giving it up for the sake of some great principle, and taking the life
+of another."
+
+"Then you would not be afraid to die for something you valued much?"
+
+"Why should a man be afraid to die at all? Of course life is sweet while
+you have something to live for, but to rest and be at peace, should not
+that be sweet also?"
+
+"You want to live?"
+
+"Now I do. For the moment I have something to live for. Something that
+gives zest to existence and fills all my dreams."
+
+"I am so sorry to have delayed its execution. Perhaps you will come to
+it with more zest and insight after the long rest."
+
+"I think I shall," he answered, slowly, looking beyond her to where the
+day grew red in the west.
+
+"I wish I could help you," she said, as if thinking aloud; "but women
+can do so little."
+
+He withdrew his eyes from the window and looked at her again.
+
+"You will do much," he said, speaking earnestly.
+
+"How?"
+
+"By inspiring someone to be great. A clod would become a hero with
+your--your----" then he broke off suddenly and withdrew his eyes.
+
+"Won't you finish the sentence?" she questioned, looking at him shyly.
+
+"Not to-day," he answered, and a few minutes later she rose to go.
+
+
+
+
+                               CHAPTER XII
+
+                                FAIRYLAND
+
+
+Madeline did not put in an appearance the next day or the day following
+that. But on the third day she came into the room like a ray of
+sunshine.
+
+"Well, I'm here," she said, in her bright, eager fashion; "but I was
+just terribly afraid I wasn't going to get--there now, isn't that a
+sentence to be remembered?"
+
+Rufus showed his welcome in every line of his face. It was a dull, rainy
+day, with a blustering wind from the west and a sky that had not
+revealed a speck of blue since morning. He had lain mostly in one
+position, looking through the small window, watching the trees on the
+other side of the road swaying in the wind, and listening to the fitful
+patter of the rain.
+
+His thoughts had not been always of the most cheerful kind. The days and
+weeks were passing surely, if slowly, while the great scheme on which he
+had set his heart and his hopes was at a standstill. He was conscious,
+too, of a new and terrible hunger that was steadily growing upon him--a
+hunger for companionship, for sympathy, for love. The coming of Madeline
+had changed his life, changed his outlook, changed the very centre of
+gravity. Nothing seemed exactly the same as it did before. Even death
+had changed its face, and the possibility of a life beyond forced itself
+upon his brain with a new insistence.
+
+To win success had been his ambition--the one dream of his life. The
+only immortality he desired was to live in a beneficent invention he had
+wrought out. Now a new desire possessed him. There was something better
+than success, something sweeter than fame. If he could win love. If he
+could know the joy of a perfect sympathy. If--if----.
+
+His thoughts always broke off at a certain point. It seemed so hopeless,
+so foolish. Until he had won some kind of position for himself it was
+madness to think of love. At present he was working on borrowed capital,
+and there was always before him the grim possibility that he might fail,
+and failure meant the end of all things for him. Felix Muller should
+never have reason to doubt his courage or his honour.
+
+Then he would start again, dreaming of Madeline. The two preceding days
+had seemed painfully long. He had listened for her footsteps from noon
+to night. He had watched for her coming more than they who wait for the
+morning. He had pictured her smile a thousand times, and felt the warm
+pressure of her hand in his.
+
+When at length she glided into the room his heart was too full for
+speech. How bright she was, how winsome, how overflowing with life and
+vivacity! The gloom and chill of autumn went out of the room as if by
+magic, and the air was full of the perfume of spring violets and the
+warmth of summer sunshine.
+
+She pulled off her gloves and threw them on the table and seated herself
+in a chair near him.
+
+"Have you been very dull these last two or three days?" she questioned.
+
+"Rather," he answered. "You see, the fine weather has come to a sudden
+end."
+
+"But I guess it will soon clear up again, though I am told your English
+climate is not to be relied upon."
+
+"The only certain thing about it is its glorious uncertainty."
+
+"Well, there may be advantages in that; there's always a certain
+interest in not knowing. Don't you think so?"
+
+"Most things have their compensations," he said, with a smile.
+
+"Then there's a chance of your being compensated for this long spell of
+suffering and idleness."
+
+"As a matter of fact I have been compensated already."
+
+"No! in which way?"
+
+"Ah, that is not easy to explain," he said, turning away his eyes. "And
+you might not understand me if I tried."
+
+"Am I so dense?"
+
+"I don't think you are dense at all. But I am not good at saying things
+as they ought to be said. You will sympathise with me in that, I know."
+
+"Oh, that is mere equivocation. You simply don't want to tell me."
+
+"I would tell you a lot if I dared."
+
+"Dared?"
+
+"Yes. I should not like to drive you away or make you angry. Your
+friendship is very sweet to me--that is one of the compensations."
+
+"The friendship of a mere girl is worth nothing to a grown, busy man,
+who is fighting big problems and aiming at great conquests. If I could
+only help you that would be just fine. But it is of no use hankering
+after impossible things, is it? So I am going to read to you."
+
+"What are you going to read?"
+
+"A piece called 'Snow Bound.' Now listen," and for half-an-hour he did
+not speak. Her voice rose and fell in musical cadence. He closed his
+eyes so that he might catch all the melody of her voice. The lines she
+read did not interest him at first. All his interest was in the
+sweet-eyed reader.
+
+But he grew interested after awhile, and was touched unconsciously by
+the beautiful faith and tender humanity that flashed out here and there.
+
+When she reached the end he opened his eyes and looked at her, her lips
+were still apart, her eyes aglow with emotion. She was no longer the
+bright, merry irresponsible girl. She seemed to have changed suddenly
+into a strong, great-souled woman.
+
+"Would you mind reading a few stanzas over again?" he questioned, after
+a pause.
+
+"With pleasure."
+
+"Beginning, 'O time and change.'"
+
+"Yes, I know," and she opened the book again. He listened with intense
+eagerness. She dropped her voice a little when she came to the words:
+
+    Alas for him who never sees
+    The stars shine through his cypress trees!
+    Who, hopeless, lays his dead away,
+    Nor looks to see the breaking day
+    Across the mournful marbles play!
+    Who hath not learned in hours of faith
+      The truth to flesh and sense unknown,
+    That Life is ever Lord of death,
+      And Love can never lose its own!
+
+She closed the book again and waited for him to speak.
+
+"It is a beautiful thought," he said, without opening his eyes. "If one
+could only be sure it is true."
+
+"Be sure that what is true?" she asked, in a tone of surprise.
+
+"That Life is ever Lord of death. That Love can never lose its own."
+
+"Why do you think there can be any doubt about it?"
+
+He opened his eyes again and looked at her, and his heart smote him. It
+would be a cruel thing to disturb her serene and simple faith with his
+own doubts. Almost for the first time in his life he felt the utter
+futility of the agnostic's creed. It had nothing to offer but a
+catalogue of negations. To the parched and thirsty lips it placed an
+empty cup, and before tired and longing eyes it held up a blank canvas.
+
+He had grown out of his religious creed as he had grown out of his
+pinafores. His heart and his intellect alike had revolted against the
+narrow orthodoxy of his grandfather. He had been driven farther into the
+barren desert of negations by the pitiful parody of religion exhibited
+by ecclesiastical organisations, and to complete the work Felix Muller
+had inoculated him with the views of German materialists. He fancied,
+like many another man who had followed in the same track, that he had
+got to the bed-rock at last, that after much delving he had found the
+truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
+
+Yet it was truth that brought no hope, no comfort, no inspiration. He
+was not eager to proclaim it to others. Men would be just as well off if
+they never reached this _ultima Thule_--perhaps, better off. To persuade
+men that there was no God, nor heaven, nor immortality, that this life
+was all and the grave the end, was not the kind of thing to inspire men
+to great deeds or heroic achievements.
+
+His intellect might mock at the simple faith of the sweet-eyed maiden.
+He might honestly believe that she was living in a fool's paradise. But
+if it was a paradise and there was nothing beyond it, why disturb her?
+If death ended everything, let her enjoy her paradise as long as
+possible. If it was the only paradise she would ever have, it would be
+sheer cruelty to drive her out of it.
+
+If he destroyed her faith, what had he to give her to fill its place?
+There was nothing in a string of negations to satisfy the hunger of a
+human soul. Granted that her faith was folly, that her religion was pure
+superstition, there was no denying that it was a very beautiful
+superstition, that it invested life with a grandeur that nothing else
+could give to it.
+
+And, after all, was he so sure that he had found the ultimate truth? He
+had inscribed on his little banner _Ne plus ultra_, but had he any right
+to dogmatise more than others? There might be a farther "beyond" which
+faith could pierce. There might be truth which flesh and sense could
+never apprehend. There might be spirit as well as matter.
+
+"I should like you to read me more from the same book," he said, at
+length.
+
+"Oh! I will do that with pleasure," she said, eagerly. "I knew you would
+like my dear old Quaker poet."
+
+"He has the gift of expression," he answered, cautiously.
+
+Then she began to read "The Eternal Goodness," slowly and reverently.
+
+He closed his eyes again, and listened with wrapt attention. The
+beautiful faith of the poet seemed to strike a new chord in his being.
+Moreover, the religion in which he had been reared, and from which he
+had broken away, seemed a nobler and a Diviner thing than it had ever
+appeared to him before. Stripped of its human glosses and paraphrases,
+released from the rusty fetters of dogma, stated in simple language, it
+awoke a dormant emotion in his nature that had never been touched until
+now.
+
+"Would you mind leaving the book with me when you go?" he questioned,
+when she had finished.
+
+"Of course I will leave it," she answered.
+
+"I am afraid I shall not see so much when I read it for myself," he went
+on. "There is so much in the right emphasis being given."
+
+"Do you mean me to take that as a compliment?" she questioned,
+playfully.
+
+"Not as an empty compliment," he answered, gravely. "You read
+beautifully."
+
+She did not reply to that, but her eyes glowed with pleasure.
+
+During the next week or ten days he lived in a kind of fairyland. Every
+now and then he had an unpleasant feeling that he would wake up sooner
+or later with a start to discover that the gold was only tinsel, that
+the rippling streams were dry, and the green and shady meadows a hot and
+arid desert.
+
+Every day or two Madeline came to see him--came quite naturally and
+without ceremony. She did not hide from herself the fact that she liked
+to come. She frankly admitted that she liked the invalid. She told
+herself that she would be an ungrateful little wretch if she didn't. He
+had saved her life, and saved it at terrible risk to himself and
+terrible suffering, and it would be selfish, indeed, on her part if she
+did not try to cheer and brighten the long days that he was enduring,
+and enduring so patiently on her account.
+
+Moreover, Rufus Sterne was no ordinary man. He belonged to a type she
+had not met before. As yet she did not know how to describe him. He was
+more or less of a mystery to her, and that in itself kindled and
+sustained her interest. Most of the young men she had met she "saw
+through" in ten minutes, and in half-an-hour had weighed them up,
+classified and labelled them.
+
+But Rufus Sterne baffled her. He was altogether too complex for her
+simple and easy method of analysis, too massive for her six-inch rule.
+At times he seemed to her a huge bundle of contradictions. His face
+could be as stern as the granite cliffs, his smile as sweet and winning
+as spring sunshine. At times he was as silent and mysterious as the
+sphinx, at other times brimming over with mirth and merriment. His
+passion for truth and right filled her with admiration, his apparent
+indifference to all religion struck her with dismay. He was a man of the
+people in theory, in practice he lived alone, remote and friendless.
+
+It seemed to her sometimes a wonderful condescension on his part that he
+deigned to notice her at all. Like most of her sex, she did not in her
+heart think much of girls. She would defend them readily enough if they
+were attacked, and if driven into a corner would acclaim their
+superiority over men; but in reality she thought little of them. In the
+main they were small and niggling, and not particularly magnanimous.
+Neither did she place herself an inch higher than the average girl. She
+was as conscious of her own limitations as anybody.
+
+Hence, that this strong, self-reliant man, who was fighting the world
+single-handed, and toiling to complete some great invention, should make
+her his friend, tell her that her friendship was very sweet to him, was
+a compliment greater than had ever been paid to her before.
+
+She had never placed Rufus Sterne for a moment in the same category with
+Gervase Tregony. Gervase was on her own level. He was not to her a
+mysterious and unexplored country. She knew him thoroughly, knew what he
+was capable of; had sounded all his depths and tabulated all his
+qualifications.
+
+Hence, Gervase never over-awed her; never made her feel small or
+insignificant. On the whole, she thought she liked him all the better
+for that. Gervase might not be profound--that was hardly to be expected
+in a soldier; he might not be morally sensitive--that also was
+incompatible with the profession. But he was a good sort, so she
+believed. A bit rough and over-mastering, but generous at heart. Not
+vexed by social or political problems, but fond of life, and intent on
+having a good time of it if he had the opportunity.
+
+She had never doubted for a moment that she and Gervase would get on
+excellently together. Indeed, they appeared to have been designed for
+each other, and yet she had hesitated to accept his proposal, and every
+day her hesitation grew more and more pronounced.
+
+The fascination of Rufus Sterne's personality intensified as the days
+passed away. Her admiration for his character increased. There was
+nothing small or petty or niggling about him. She did not compare him
+with Gervase Tregony, and yet unconsciously she found herself
+contrasting the two men--contrasting them to Gervase's disadvantage.
+
+And yet in her heart she was very loyal to the man who had proposed to
+her--the man who had captivated her girlish imagination by his splendid
+uniform and masterful ways.
+
+Her feeling towards Rufus was of a different order. At first it was
+merely a sense of gratitude; later on gratitude became suffused with
+sympathy; but as the days passed away, other ingredients were added,
+the most marked being admiration. His strength, his patience, his
+reticence, all called forth her approval, till in time he became
+something of a hero in her eyes.
+
+And all this time Rufus yielded himself more and more to the witchery of
+her presence, and felt in some respects a better man in consequence.
+There were compensations, no doubt. Her very presence created an
+atmosphere that softened and humanised him. His hard, defiant cynicism
+melted before her smile like snow in spring sunshine. Their
+conversations touched and unlocked springs of emotion that had been
+sealed for years; the books and poems she read to him broadened his
+horizon and led him to re-open questions that he imagined were closed.
+Her smile, her voice, her look, set all his nerves to music, and made
+life a more beautiful thing than ever it had seemed before.
+
+But he knew all the time that there would come an awakening sooner or
+later. They were like two happy children sauntering through green and
+pleasant glades, screened from the storm and recking naught of the
+desert beyond.
+
+For himself he avoided looking into the future. He would enjoy the
+sunshine and the flowers as long as possible. In the long intervals
+between her visits he recalled their conversations, and re-read the
+pieces to which her voice had given so much meaning and melody.
+Moreover, he turned the pages of the books she had lent him and
+committed to memory some of the passages she had marked. They were sweet
+to him because she loved them.
+
+So all unconsciously he strayed back from the hard desert of negations
+in which he had wandered so long. Because he loved this sweet flower, he
+loved all flowers for her sake. Indeed, love became the medium through
+which he looked at all things; far distances became near, and new and
+wider horizons loomed beyond.
+
+Whatever pain might come to him later on, the memory of these days would
+remain an inspiration to him. To have loved so truly was surely in
+itself an ennobling thing. Nothing would ever take out of his life these
+golden threads that had been woven into its texture. The song might
+cease, the voice of the singer be hushed, but the echo of the song would
+remain in his heart to the very last.
+
+So he enjoyed those bright, peaceful days to the full, and tried not to
+anticipate the future. "Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof," he
+said to himself. But the day of awakening was nearer than he thought.
+
+
+
+
+                                   CHAPTER XIII
+
+                                  THE AWAKENING
+
+
+Rufus had not seen Madeline for three whole days, and had begun to
+wonder what had happened. On the fourth day, however, she came during
+the forenoon.
+
+"It was now or never," she said, by way of explanation; "the house has
+been full of people during the last three days, and this afternoon some
+others are coming. So I had to pretend!"
+
+"Pretend?" he questioned.
+
+"I'm afraid they're getting suspicious," she replied.
+
+"Suspicious of what?"
+
+"That I'm not so great a student, or so devoted to my books, as I seem
+to be. So I had to pretend I was going to write to the Captain!"
+
+"What Captain?"
+
+She laughed. "Oh! there's only one Captain, as far as the Tregonys are
+concerned, and that, of course, is Gervase. Do you know him?"
+
+"I've seen him, of course; but I have never spoken to him."
+
+"He's very handsome, isn't he?"
+
+"I really don't know," he answered, bluntly; "it had never occurred to
+me."
+
+"I suppose men don't notice such things where men are concerned," she
+said, reflectively; "but in his uniform he is just superb."
+
+"Then you think fine feathers make fine birds?"
+
+"Well, in some respects, yes," she answered, slowly, "though Gervase
+looks handsome in ordinary evening dress."
+
+Then silence fell for several seconds. The subject was one in which
+Rufus was not greatly interested, and as yet not a suspicion of the
+truth had dawned upon him. "Do you like Gervase?" she said at length,
+speaking abruptly.
+
+The question took him by surprise, and almost threw him off his guard.
+As a matter of fact, he did not like him, and was on the point of saying
+so, but checked himself in time. "Why do you ask that question?" he
+stammered, evasively.
+
+"Well, you see," she answered, quite frankly, "they want me to marry
+him."
+
+"To marry him?" he questioned, raising his eyebrows in astonishment.
+
+"You won't think it strange my talking to you about the matter, will
+you?" she said, with perfect simplicity. "You see, apart from the
+Tregonys, I haven't a friend in all England except--except you."
+
+"It is kind of you to look upon me as your friend," he said, with
+heightened colour.
+
+"No, no; it is the other way about," she answered; "all the kindness is
+on your part."
+
+Then there was another moment of silence. He felt stunned, bewildered,
+and was almost afraid to speak lest he should betray his feelings.
+
+"I ought to have written days and days ago," she went on, at length.
+"You see, he expects to be home by the New Year at latest. Sir Charles
+hopes that he will be able to eat his Christmas dinner with us.
+And--and--Sir Charles, and Gervase also, would like to have the matter
+settled before he comes home."
+
+"Yes?"
+
+"Oh, well! I hardly know why I have hesitated. I expect it is that I am
+naturally obstinate. When nobody said a word about the matter, and I
+thought nobody cared very much--why--why, I looked upon the matter as
+good as settled," and she blushed quite frankly and smiled as she did
+so.
+
+"And have they become anxious all at once?"
+
+"Oh! I don't know. Sir Charles tells me that it was a wish of my
+father's long before he died, and that nothing would please him so much,
+and all that. And really it looks as if Gervase and I were meant for
+each other."
+
+"Do you believe in fate or destiny?" he questioned, moistening his lips
+with the tip of his tongue.
+
+"No, but I believe in Providence," she answered, promptly.
+
+"But how can you be sure what Providence means?" he asked. "If
+Providence speaks how do you know you have interpreted the message
+aright?"
+
+"Yes, there is something in that," she said, reflectively. "On the other
+hand, one must be careful not to fly in the face of Providence."
+
+"Admitting your theory of a Providence," he said, slowly, "is not the
+true Providence our heart and judgment? Must we not in the last resort
+fall back on what we feel and believe to be right?"
+
+"Yes, go on," she said, eagerly.
+
+"And if one goes against his own heart--his own instincts if you
+like--if one ignores his own clear judgment, would not that be flying in
+the face of what you call Providence?"
+
+"But is our own heart to be trusted?" she questioned; "and is not our
+judgment often blind?"
+
+"Should we be wiser in trusting to somebody else's heart and judgment?"
+
+"We might be. You see, I am only a girl. I have had no experience. I
+know very little of the world or its ways. On the other hand, here is
+Sir Charles. He is getting old. He knows a good deal more than there is
+in the copy-books. Then there was my father; he did not talk to me about
+the matter, but from what I know now he talked freely to Sir Charles.
+Then there is Gervase, he's over thirty, and has seen a good deal of the
+world, and he's quite sure. And then there is myself, and I think
+Gervase is one in a thousand. So, you see, all the streams appear to be
+flowing in the same direction, and that looks a clear indication of
+Providence. Now, doesn't it?"
+
+"If you are convinced I should say nothing else matters," he answered,
+with averted eyes.
+
+"Well, there's only one thing that worries me," she said, thoughtfully;
+"and that's only worried me lately."
+
+"Yes?"
+
+"I used to think nothing else mattered so long as one could enjoy
+himself or herself. That to have a good time was the chief end of life.
+Gervase is retiring from the Army, and intends to do nothing for the
+rest of his days."
+
+"Well?"
+
+"It seems to me a much nobler thing to do something. You told me once
+that I should inspire somebody to great deeds. But that would be rather
+hard on Gervase after he has roughed it for so many years."
+
+"If you inspire him, it will not be hardship," he answered.
+
+"I am not sure that I could," she said, turning her head, and looking
+out of the window. "He is very brave and fearless, and all that. But the
+great things that work for human good--well, you see, he is not an
+inventor like you."
+
+"Do not mock me," he said, almost fiercely. "My poor scheme may never
+see the light."
+
+"Oh, yes it will. You are bound to succeed. You are not the kind of man
+to give up in despair."
+
+"Give up what in despair?"
+
+"Anything on which you have set your heart. You're like Gervase in that
+respect, and it is a quality I admire immensely in a man."
+
+"But what if two strong men set their hearts on the same thing?"
+
+"What thing?"
+
+"Oh, anything. A woman, for instance," he said, with a forced laugh.
+
+"Ah, then I expect the stronger and the worthier would win."
+
+"Do women admire strength and worth so much? Do they not rather admire
+position and name and title? Has the poor man a chance against the rich;
+the plain man any chance against gold lace and epaulets?"
+
+"No one can speak in the name of all women. But I must run away now or
+Sir Charles may go to my room in search of me."
+
+"Will you write your letter to-day?"
+
+"I don't know. Very likely I shall if I can find time."
+
+"And will you say 'Yes?' Pardon me being so inquisitive."
+
+"Oh, I expect I shall," she said, with a smile. "It seems the proper
+thing to do. Gervase and I appear to have been meant for each other."
+
+"I hope you will be happy," he said, holding out his hand to her.
+"Good-bye."
+
+Half-an-hour later Mrs. Tuke found him staring fixedly out of the window
+as though he had been turned to stone. The trees were still swaying in
+the wind, but he did not see them. Through breaks in the clouds bright
+gleams of sunshine shot into the room every now and then, but he did not
+heed. From over the cliffs came the faint roar of the sea, but he did
+not hear. The world had become suddenly dark and silent. The fairy
+garden had vanished, leaving a bleak cold desert in its place; his heart
+seemed to have stopped beating. For the moment all interest had gone out
+of life. He almost wished that he could close his eyes in sleep and
+never awake again.
+
+"Are you getting impatient to get out of doors?" Mrs. Tuke questioned.
+
+"It will be a relief to get out again," he answered, absently.
+
+"Well, I'm bound to say you've been wonderfully patient, all things
+considered. But then, as I often say, what can't be cured must be
+endured."
+
+"Yes; that's sound philosophy."
+
+"And then you've been well looked after."
+
+"Yes; you are an excellent nurse, Mrs. Tuke, and I shall always be
+grateful."
+
+"Oh, I was not thinking of myself in particular," Mrs. Tuke said, with
+humility. "The doctors have attended to you as if you were Sir Charles
+himself. And as for that sweet creature Miss Grover, she's just a
+sunbeam."
+
+"Yes; she's delightful company."
+
+"You know, it's my belief," Mrs. Tuke said, mysteriously, "that the
+folks at the Hall haven't the ghost of an idea that she's been coming
+here to see you."
+
+"What leads you to think that?"
+
+"Oh, well, from little 'ints she's dropped now and then; but of course,
+time will tell," and Mrs. Tuke began to make preparations for his midday
+meal.
+
+Time did tell, and tell much sooner than anyone anticipated. The next
+morning's post brought a letter from Madeline which scattered the last
+remnants of fairyland.
+
+     "I'm afraid I shall not be able to come and see you again," it
+     began. "Sir Charles has found out, and he's angrier than I've ever
+     seen him. He says it's most improper, and that I ought to be
+     ashamed of myself. Such a lecture he's read to me as I guess you
+     never listened to. If he hadn't been so grave and serious I should
+     have fired up and given him a piece of my mind. I suppose,
+     according to English customs, I've done something real awful.
+     Anyhow, my heart doesn't condemn me, and if I've lightened your
+     suffering with my chatter ever so little I'm real glad. As long as
+     I live I shall be in your debt, and I shall never forget it either.
+     It seems real stupid that just because I'm a girl I'm not allowed
+     to play the part of a decent neighbour. England is awfully behind
+     in some things, and your Mrs. Grundy is a terror.
+
+     "However, I've got to obey, I suppose. You see, Sir Charles is my
+     trustee till I'm twenty-one, and he's angrier than a snake at the
+     present moment, and as I'm here by his favour, why I can't quite do
+     what I would like. But I shall think of you every day, and pray for
+     you, and when you get well and your great invention has astonished
+     everybody, none of your friends will rejoice more or be prouder of
+     you than I shall. I don't know if it's a proper thing to say, but
+     I've said it, and it'll have to stand. One has to be constantly
+     looking round the corner in this old country of yours. I hope you
+     will be as well as ever soon, and that you won't think too hardly
+     of the foolish girl who caused your accident. If you would like to
+     keep my books for yourself, I shall be real glad. Whittier is
+     great, don't you think so? Good-bye till we meet again.
+     Yours very sincerely,
+
+                                         "MADELINE GROVER."
+
+Rufus read the letter with very mingled feelings. There were touches in
+it that almost brought the tears to his eyes. The assurance that she
+would think of him every day and pray for him moved him strangely. He
+would have told Mrs. Tuke, or the vicar, or anyone else that he had no
+faith in prayer; that the whole network of religious belief was an
+ingenious superstition. Yet, with curious inconsistency, the thought of
+Madeline praying for him was undoubtedly comforting. The general effect
+of the letter, however, was like that produced by a heavy blow. Coming
+after her own simple and naive confession of the previous day it seemed
+almost to paralyse him. He scarcely realised how much her visits had
+been to him till now, and the knowledge that she would not come again,
+that her face and smile would no more brighten that little room, was
+like the sudden falling of night without the promise of rest and sleep.
+
+As the day passed away and he was able to think over the matter a little
+more calmly, he tried to persuade himself that Sir Charles's
+interposition was the best thing that could have happened. That since
+any vague hope he might have cherished of winning her love was now at an
+end, it was desirable from every point of view that he should not meet
+her or even see her.
+
+"The awakening was bound to come," he said to himself, trying hard to be
+resigned. "I knew, of course, from the beginning that she was not for
+me, I would have kept myself from loving her if I could; but it was just
+beyond me. She won my heart before I knew."
+
+And yet the bitterest drop in the cup was not that she was beyond his
+reach, but that Gervase Tregony, would possess the prize. He had no wish
+to be censorious, and it might be quite true that Gervase would compare
+favourably with most young men in his own walk of life. He had not been
+brought up on puritanic lines. Moreover, as the only son of the Squire
+and heir to the title and estates it was generally conceded in an
+off-hand way that some latitude ought to be allowed. The rich claimed a
+larger liberty or a larger licence than the poor, and however much the
+poor resented it in their hearts, usually they said nothing. Protests
+did no good, and to get into the black books of the Squire was not a
+matter to be regarded with indifference.
+
+If people with grown-up families looked a little anxious when it was
+known that Gervase was to be in residence at the Hall, and raised the
+domestic fence a few inches higher than usual--there was reason in the
+past annals of St. Gaved's history.
+
+Rufus, with his innate chivalry, and his romantic reverence for women as
+a whole, recoiled with a feeling almost of loathing at the thought of
+Gervase Tregony taking so sweet and pure a soul to his heart as Madeline
+Grover. Was it true, he wondered, that women did not care what a man's
+past had been; that they accepted without demur a social order that
+condoned any and every offence so long as no public scandal was
+produced? Or, was it that young women were deliberately kept in
+ignorance of what was common knowledge?
+
+He spent several more or less wakeful nights in striving against his own
+heart, and in trying to cultivate a philosophic attitude which should
+give the impression of a supreme unconcern. Fortunately, the broken
+bone was so far knit that his doctors allowed him to hobble about on a
+pair of crutches, and though he was not able yet to do any work, he
+could contemplate some of the things he had done, and shape in his mind
+what yet remained to be accomplished.
+
+He got out of doors as much as possible, but he was still weak, while
+his crutches were such unwieldy things that he quickly got tired. His
+favourite resting-place was by the garden gate, he could see the people
+as they passed up and down the street, and often have a few minutes'
+chat with his neighbours. He scarcely dared to admit the truth to
+himself, but there was always a lingering hope in his heart that
+Madeline might come into the village for some purpose, perhaps to do a
+little shopping, and that his heart might be cheered by a sight of her
+face.
+
+Mrs. Tuke's cottage stood at a point where the "town" ended and the
+country began. Toward the Quay the houses were generally close together,
+and abutted on to the side walk, but in the other direction, there were
+more trees and fences than houses, and nearly all the cottages had
+gardens in front of them. Hence, when Rufus stood or sat at the garden
+gate, he looked down "the street" in one direction, and up "the lane" in
+the other.
+
+The lane led away in the direction of Trewinion Hall, and if Madeline
+came into the town she would more likely than not pass Mrs. Tuke's
+cottage. In any case, she would come very near to it.
+
+Rufus looked up the lane fifty times a day, and sometimes his heart
+would flutter for a moment as some girlish figure came into sight. But
+Madeline never came.
+
+Then, one evening, while chatting with Dr. Chester, the doctor mentioned
+incidentally that the Squire had left the Hall and had taken up his
+residence in London till the middle of December.
+
+Rufus heaved a little sigh, but he did not pursue the topic. It seemed
+to him like the last nail in the coffin wherein lay hidden all the wild
+dreams and unexpressed longings and hopes of his heart. Madeline was to
+be strictly guarded until the return of Gervase from India, and then,
+perhaps, before she had fully realised what she was doing, or before she
+had an opportunity of getting a true estimate of his character, she
+would be tied to him for life.
+
+"It is no business of mine," he said to himself; "she is entirely out of
+my sphere, and even if she were not, it would be foolish of me, under
+present circumstances, to think of any woman."
+
+But his heart protested all the same. For Madeline to marry Gervase
+Tregony seemed to him an offence against all that was sacred in human
+life.
+
+
+
+
+                                CHAPTER XIV
+
+                                 EVOLUTION
+
+
+It wanted a week to Christmas. Rufus sat in his easy chair with his feet
+on the fender and an open book on his knee. He had been hard at work
+till dark, after which he had taken a mile's walk into the country, and
+was now waiting for his supper to be brought in. He was not impatient,
+however. The book he had been reading was one that Madeline Grover had
+left with him. A volume of Tennyson, containing nearly all the poet's
+published work, and, as was nearly always the case, the writer had set
+him thinking on the problems of life and death and immortality.
+
+Outwardly there had been no change in his life during the last two or
+three months. Directly his doctors gave him permission he turned again
+to his invention, glad of the relief that work afforded. As far as he
+could judge, he was moving, slowly but surely, to complete success. The
+thought of failure very rarely crossed his mind.
+
+But while outwardly there was no change, inwardly there was a distinct
+evolution. He found himself unconsciously viewing life from a different
+standpoint. It was easy to laugh at the claims of priests and prelates,
+and to poke fun at musty and worn-out creeds. Easy to riddle with
+merciless logic the stupendous dogmas of the Churches, and the
+monumental follies of so-called theologians, but when all that had been
+done to his complete satisfaction, he was no nearer the solution of the
+riddle of life.
+
+Moreover, he became painfully conscious of the fact that a philosophy of
+denials was not sufficient. He wanted something definite and something
+positive. An iconoclast might be a very useful individual; but when the
+destructive process had been completed, was there nothing more to be
+done? Were there no positive blocks of truth with which to erect a
+temple? There were questions instinctive in the human soul which asked
+for an answer. Had the broad universe no answer to give? Had faith no
+place in the eternal and immeasurable scheme.
+
+If science could not prove, if philosophy halted and broke down, was
+there nothing left? Was religion a thing to be dismissed with a sneer?
+Might not faith be as truly a faculty of the human soul as reason?
+
+So all unconsciously he retraced his steps from the barren realm of
+negation to the region of inquiry. He ceased to be dogmatic. Materialism
+did not explain everything. Theology, like other sciences, might be
+empirical, and yet its groundwork and framework might still be truth.
+
+When a man begins to inquire he begins to grow, when he ceases to
+inquire the winter of decay sets in. Moreover, it is not the province of
+the human will to determine the direction of growth. It may be upward or
+outward, in this direction or in that. The mind pursues its way with an
+unerring instinct as the roots of trees follow the courses of the
+springs.
+
+Rufus had been reading "Crossing the Bar" for the fiftieth time, and now
+he sat with the open book on his knees, wondering where he was
+intellectually and religiously. He refused however, to question himself
+too closely. He preferred for the present to drift. Some day he might
+sight land, and find a safe anchorage.
+
+Yet one or two things were becoming daily more clear. One was, that in
+any perfect scheme a future life was necessary to the completion of
+this. Another was, that human life, if only because of its relationships
+and possibilities, was a more sacred thing than he at one time had been
+willing to grant. And a third was, that love was not a mere physical or
+mental affinity. It was something that went farther and struck deeper.
+It was a soul relation that remained untouched and independent of time
+and change.
+
+He had not seen Madeline Grover for considerably more than two months.
+No message or whisper had passed between them. In the chances of human
+life he knew that he might never speak to her again. Yet his love
+remained fixed and unshaken. It was not something that he had put on as
+an extra garment, and that in the wear and tear of life he might lose
+again. It was part of himself--woven into the fibre of his being.
+
+Perhaps his love for Madeline, more than anything else, made him think
+of the problem of immortality. Whittier had said:
+
+    Life is ever Lord of Death,
+    And Love can never lose its own.
+
+How well he remembered that afternoon when Madeline read "Snow-Bound" to
+him, in which these lines occurred. He had never been able to get them
+out of his mind since. They had followed him like a haunting echo of
+something long forgotten, had stirred his heart with a thousand vague
+hopes and dreams.
+
+If Love could never lose its own, Madeline might yet be his. In some
+far-away region beyond the reach of human vision, beyond the stress and
+passion of earth, beyond the darkness and the doubting, beyond the
+ravages of time and trouble, they might meet again--the soul finding its
+mate and life its eternal complement.
+
+Madeline had a habit of marking with a pencil the passages in a book she
+liked, and in one of the volumes she left behind he found these words
+marked with a double line down the margin:
+
+    I sometimes think that heaven will be
+    A green place and an orchard tree,
+    And one sweet Angel known to me.
+
+Could he have put his wildest dreams and longings into words, nothing
+could have fitted better. It expressed all the heaven he wanted--all the
+beauty, and all the companionship his soul desired.
+
+He was disturbed in his meditations by a knock on the outer door, and a
+minute or two later he heard a familiar voice in the passage inquiring
+if he were at home.
+
+He rose to his feet in a moment, and pushed Tennyson into a dark corner
+out of sight. Then the door of his sitting-room was flung open, and
+Felix Muller entered unannounced. Rufus greeted him with a look of
+inquiry in his eyes--an inquiry, however, which he did not attempt to
+shape into words.
+
+Muller made his way to the fire at once, and spread his hands over the
+grate. "It's a glorious night," he said, "but cold. The roads are as
+hard as iron, and the moon makes it almost as light as day."
+
+"Have you driven over?" Rufus inquired.
+
+"Yes, I had to see Farmer Udy at Longridge, and so I thought as I was so
+near, I would drive a little farther and see you. How have you been
+getting on this long time?"
+
+"Fairly well on the whole, I think. Of course, my accident upset all my
+calculations for a while, but at present things are moving steadily and
+in the right direction."
+
+"That's right, I'm glad to hear it. And when do you think the thing will
+be properly launched?"
+
+"Well, it is not easy to say positively, but I should give six months as
+an outside limit."
+
+"You expected at first that the whole thing would be completed in six
+months."
+
+"That is true, but I had not reckoned on the contingency of a broken
+leg."
+
+"But apart from your accident you were out of your calculations."
+
+"A little. When you are dependent to so large an extent upon other
+people, it is impossible to be absolutely sure as to dates."
+
+"Then your six months may run into nine months?"
+
+"Oh, no; six months more gives a wide margin for every contingency."
+
+Muller withdrew from the fire and dropped into an easy-chair that Rufus
+had pulled round for him.
+
+For a moment or two there was silence, then Muller, diving his hand into
+his breast-pocket, said in his most casual tone, "You don't mind my
+having a smoke, do you?"
+
+"My dear fellow, I beg your pardon," Rufus said, hurriedly, "but the
+truth is I was waiting for supper; won't you have something to eat
+first? The cold drive ought to have given you an appetite!"
+
+"Well, now that you mention it, I think I do feel a bit peckish."
+
+"You will have to be content with simple fare, but such as I have,
+etc.," and he went out of the room to hunt up Mrs. Tuke.
+
+Rufus watched his guest narrowly while he ate, and felt sure that he
+owed this visit not to the proximity of Longridge, but to some other
+cause that had not yet been revealed.
+
+Conversation flagged during the meal. Muller ate like a man whose
+thoughts were engaged somewhere else, and on something vastly more
+important than eating and drinking.
+
+Rufus began to have an uncomfortable feeling that his visit boded no
+good, and yet he had not the courage to precipitate matters by asking
+impertinent questions.
+
+As soon as the supper-tray was taken away, Rufus produced a box of
+cigars, and for a minute or two they blew smoke in silence.
+
+Muller was the first to speak. Looking at his cigar carefully, as if
+examining the brand, he said in his most casual manner, "I suppose,
+Sterne, you have never considered the possibility of being forestalled
+in your invention?"
+
+"Well, no," he said slowly, but with a startled look in his eyes. "I
+cannot say that I have ever seriously considered such a possibility."
+
+"And yet it is notorious in the realm of discovery and invention, that
+the same idea has been hit upon by different men in different parts of
+the world almost at the same time."
+
+"I do not remember that fact being brought clearly to my mind," Rufus
+said, wondering if someone had forestalled him.
+
+"It is true, nevertheless. I could give you illustrations if I had time.
+But what is important at the present moment is that a man away up in
+Westmorland has got ahead of you."
+
+"No!" Rufus said, in a tone of alarm.
+
+"Well, perhaps I ought to have said that he appears to have got his
+claim in first. I do not understand all the technicalities of the case,
+but he appears to me to have achieved, or to have achieved very
+largely, the thing you are aiming at," and he took a newspaper cutting
+out of his pocket, and passed it on to Rufus.
+
+Rufus unfolded the cutting with hands that trembled in spite of himself.
+If he had been forestalled then life with him was at an end. The greater
+part of the thousand pounds was spent or pledged already. Failure meant
+that he would have now to employ his ingenuity in devising a method of
+escaping from the world in a way that would not awaken suspicion.
+
+Muller adjusted his _pince-nez_ and watched his companion while he read.
+Rufus summoned to his aid all the resolution he possessed and preserved
+a perfectly impassive face.
+
+"Well?" Muller questioned, when Rufus had got to the bottom of the slip.
+
+"It's a little disconcerting," was the answer. "But I shall not fling up
+the sponge yet."
+
+"But he has got hold of your idea!"
+
+"Not exactly."
+
+"At any rate he has got uncomfortably near to it."
+
+"He has got nearer than I like, I admit. But the greater part of what he
+claims is mere bluff."
+
+"But his objective and yours are precisely the same?"
+
+"No, not precisely. I go much farther than he does, as Stephenson went
+farther than Watt."
+
+"That is in your application of the principle. But is not the principle
+the same?"
+
+"It is similar, though not identical. I have gone all over the ground he
+is travelling now."
+
+"And in another month he may be all over your ground."
+
+"There is danger, of course, but I think still I shall get in first."
+
+"I hope you may. But I confess when I tumbled across that article this
+morning it made me feel mightily uncomfortable."
+
+"It is a little upsetting, no doubt."
+
+"You see, he must have secured himself pretty well, or he would not have
+permitted so much of the scheme to get into print. Don't you see it
+largely discounts anyone else who comes after, though he may have
+something better."
+
+"Yes, I admit the force of all you say," Rufus answered slowly. "But my
+game is not up yet."
+
+"I hope not, indeed. I should regard it as nothing short of a calamity
+were you to fail."
+
+"If the worst comes to the worst it will have to be faced, that is all.
+In any case, you will not suffer loss."
+
+"There you are mistaken. You are my friend. And friends are not so
+plentiful that one can contemplate the disappearance of even one of them
+with equanimity."
+
+"That may be true. But mercifully, the dead are soon forgotten. You will
+soon get used to my absence."
+
+"I sincerely hope the occasion will not arise," Muller said, speaking
+slowly and gravely. "Indeed, as I said before, I should regard your
+failure as a calamity. Still, there is no getting over the fact that
+what you regarded as impossible less than six months ago has come very
+definitely within the realm of possibility."
+
+"Yes," Rufus said, with some hesitation. "I am bound to admit that the
+chance of failure seems less remote than it did."
+
+"I am sorry to have to discuss this matter with you again," Muller went
+on, after a pause. "I can assure you it is almost as painful to me as it
+must be to you. Still business is business, and I have to think of my
+own position. If I were a rich man, I would not mention the matter--upon
+my soul, I wouldn't."
+
+"I thought you had no soul," Rufus said, with a pathetic smile.
+
+"Oh, don't joke over mere figures of speech," Muller said, staring into
+the fire. "I tell you I feel terribly upset."
+
+"But my cause is not lost yet," Rufus said with forced cheerfulness.
+
+"No, it may not be. But, on the other hand, it may be. If your
+competitor has gone so far, he may during the next week or month go all
+the rest of the distance."
+
+"I must take my chance of that."
+
+"The point with me is--supposing the worst comes to the worst, have you
+anything on which you can raise a loan? I hate the thought of your
+slipping out of life in the flower of your youth."
+
+"Look here, Muller," Rufus said, summoning to his aid all his strength
+and resolution. "We discussed this matter at the beginning. I counted
+the cost and took the risk. If the worst comes to the worst I am not
+going to show the white feather."
+
+"I do not doubt your courage for a moment," Muller said. "But I want to
+point out that it will take a little time to realise your estate. I
+presume you have made your will."
+
+Rufus went to a drawer and took out a large envelope which he passed on
+to his companion.
+
+Muller opened the envelope and drew out the paper slowly. Then he
+adjusted his _pince-nez_, and began to read. "Yes," he said, after a
+long pause, "this is quite in order--quite."
+
+"And in case I am driven to take my departure," Rufus said, in a hard,
+even voice, "I will give you sufficient time to wind up my small estate
+before the end of next year."
+
+"You think there is no other way of meeting the case?" Muller
+questioned.
+
+"In case my scheme fails there is no other way," Rufus answered. "Now
+let us not discuss the matter again. I understand your anxiety. I should
+be a bit anxious if I were in your place. But you have my word of
+honour. Let that be enough."
+
+"It is enough, my boy--it is enough!" Muller said, gushingly.
+
+"Meanwhile we need not count upon failure until forced to do so. I shall
+not fail if effort and determination can avert it."
+
+When Muller had gone, Rufus sat for a long time staring into the dying
+fire. Then he picked up the newspaper cutting, and read through the
+article very carefully a second time.
+
+"No, he has not got my idea quite," he muttered, "but he has come
+uncomfortably near to it."
+
+Then he drew a long breath and shut his teeth tightly. Life had grown a
+more precious thing of late, and hope had taken new shapes and forms.
+Moreover, the possibility of a conscious existence beyond the shadow of
+death had been looming larger and larger for months past, and with that
+possibility other possibilities had come into view. What if the
+consequences of conduct followed men into the unseen? What if sin should
+separate a soul from the soul it loved? What if this life were a trust
+for which we should be held responsible? What if suicide should be as
+heinous a crime as murder? What if dying by one's own hand should stain
+the soul with deeper dishonour than any broken vow or unfulfilled
+promise? He drew away his eyes from the fire and shuddered
+slightly as these thoughts passed through his mind. In whatever
+direction he turned his thoughts he was faced with possibilities that,
+to say the least, were not a little disconcerting.
+
+"If I had only known six months ago what I know now," he reflected, "I
+should not have put my head into this noose with so light a heart. I
+should have been content to have gone on with my work as time-keeper at
+the mine. But I was impatient for success, and quite certain that death
+was the end of all things."
+
+Then across the frosty air the parish clock fixed high in the church
+tower struck the hour of eleven.
+
+Rufus counted the strokes as they vibrated solemnly through the night.
+
+"Do the dead ever hear, I wonder," he said to himself, and he shuddered
+again.
+
+Then his thoughts turned to the book that he had been reading earlier in
+the evening and he began to repeat almost unconsciously one of the
+stanzas that Madeline had marked:
+
+    Twilight and evening bell,
+        And after that the dark,
+    And may there be no sadness of farewell
+        When I embark.
+    And though from out the bounds of time and space
+        The floods may bear me far,
+    I hope----
+
+Then he stopped suddenly and rose hurriedly to his feet. "I am growing
+morbid," he said. "I wish Muller had kept the article to himself. In a
+case of this kind ignorance is bliss." And he turned out the lamp and
+climbed slowly upstairs to bed.
+
+
+
+
+                                CHAPTER XV
+
+                                MISGIVINGS
+
+
+The day after Felix Muller's visit to Rufus the squire and his family
+returned to the Hall. The news soon spread through St. Gaved that the
+big house was alive once more, and that the captain was expected home in
+time to eat his Christmas dinner with the family. Rufus heard the news
+with a curious thrill, but whether of pain or of pleasure it would be
+hard to say.
+
+His heart had been aching for a sight of Madeline's face ever since she
+went away. And yet there were times when he desired above all things
+that he might never look into her eyes again. Pain was not to be cured
+by additional pain. To see Madeline would not appease the hunger, it
+would only increase it. Hence to keep out of her way would be the wise
+thing for him; to avoid the field-path in front of the park, and the
+familiar road across the downs and round by the cliffs. If they met she
+would be sure to speak, and the very sound of her voice would awaken
+into life all the wild longings of his soul once more. It was far
+better, therefore, for him that they never met.
+
+Besides, it was more than probable that by this time she was the
+promised wife of Gervase Tregony. He was coming home to claim her and
+coming home at express speed. Was he delighted at the prospect, he
+wondered. Did he love her as she deserved to be loved?
+
+"Oh, if it had only been my lot to win so sweet a soul," he said to
+himself. "Is it true, I wonder, that we always long most passionately
+for the impossible?"
+
+For several days he kept close to business, never venturing out of doors
+till after sunset. Once he thought he passed her in the bright
+moonlight, and his heart almost stopped, but he never paused in his
+walk, never looked back; indeed he strode on with a longer and quicker
+stride, and did not breathe freely again till a sharp bend in the road
+prevented any possibility of recognition.
+
+When he yielded to the witchery of her presence before, there was some
+excuse for his doing so, but all the circumstances were different now.
+He had no excuse to-day, no right. His tenure of life hung on a thread.
+His chance of success was growing less hopeful day by day.
+
+Even if Madeline were free and within his reach he would have no right
+to speak to her of love. While this sword of Damocles was suspended over
+his head he was bound in honour to be silent. But since she was neither
+free nor within his reach, and he was walking across a volcano that at
+any moment might burst open beneath his feet, it would be the part of a
+madman to put himself in her way if there was any chance of keeping out
+of it.
+
+So he pursued his work with all the earnestness and intensity he could
+command, but he was conscious all the time that something had gone out
+of his life. The enthusiasm that springs from certainty had left him,
+the chill and lethargy of doubt had crept into his blood. Instead of
+constantly dwelling on the delights of success, he found himself
+brooding over the prospect of failure, and wondering what lay beyond the
+grim shadow of death.
+
+By a curious combination of circumstances both life and death had become
+doubly hard to contemplate. Success had once been his dream. To-day
+success of itself seemed nothing. The one thing that was of value, that
+would have turned earth into heaven was love. He would have courted
+failure--gloried in it--if failure would have given him Madeline. But
+since Madeline was denied him, neither success nor failure mattered
+much, and life and death were both robbed of the light of hope. He told
+himself one minute that he did not care to live since Madeline could
+never be his, and the next minute he dreaded the thought of death, since
+death would blot out the sight of her and the thought of her for ever
+and ever. So, in whatever direction he looked, he found neither solace
+nor inspiration.
+
+The thing that spurred him on from day to day was not so much the hope
+of victory as the humiliation of defeat. There was any number of people
+in St. Gaved who had no sympathy whatever with him in his ambitions,
+whose invincible creed was that a man ought to be content to remain in
+that state of life to which it had pleased God to call him. These people
+had expressed themselves with great freedom and candour on his folly in
+giving up a good position at the mine, and devoting all his time and
+energy to something in the clouds; and which, in all likelihood, would
+never be of any benefit to man or beast.
+
+Rufus used to smile at the criticisms of these people, and anticipate
+the day when he would stand proud and triumphant before them. Now he
+began to fear that the day might come when they would triumph over him,
+when they would expand their chests and smile wisely, and say to their
+neighbours: "There, didn't we tell you so?" It was rather with the
+object of preventing such a triumph than of winning any triumph for
+himself that he toiled on from day to day, throwing into his work more
+of the energy of despair than the inspiration of hope.
+
+Meanwhile Madeline had been suffering from what she called "an acute
+attack of the blues." For no sufficient reason, so she admitted to
+herself, she became restless and peevish, and generally discontented.
+She was not ill. Generally speaking, her appetite was as good as it had
+been, while her energy was greater than ever. But for some reason
+nothing satisfied her--things that at one time she would have gone into
+ecstacies over barely interested her. She was in the mood to be pleased
+at nothing, and to find fault with everything.
+
+That this condition of things began on the day Sir Charles took her to
+task for visiting Rufus Sterne she was well aware; but why it should
+have continued was a puzzle. She had been angry with Sir Charles at the
+moment it was true, but after a day's reflection she had been led to see
+that he was perfectly in the right. Moreover Sir Charles had behaved
+very handsomely all the way through. She was convinced that it was very
+largely on her account that they went to London for the autumn, and
+while in London she had scarcely a wish that was not gratified. She had
+gone to receptions and balls and dinners by the dozen. She had been
+taken to every place of interest she wanted to see. She had blossomed
+out into what she termed "a tame celebrity," and had had more
+compliments showered upon her than ever before in her life, yet, in
+spite of all this, she was not happy. Indeed, after a few weeks, she
+tired utterly of London and wanted to return again to Trewinion Hall.
+That however, was shown to be an impossibility. The house had been taken
+practically till the end of the year, and the servants at Trewinion
+Hall had been put on board wages till Christmas.
+
+"Are you sure you are quite well, Madeline?" Sir Charles said to her,
+when she preferred her request.
+
+"Quite sure," she replied. "In fact I was never better in my life."
+
+"Then why do you want to go back to the Hall?"
+
+"Oh! I don't know. This endless whirl and excitement has got on my
+nerves, I think."
+
+"But you complained of Cornwall getting on your nerves some time ago."
+
+"Did I? Well, it did seem rather flat and tame at first."
+
+"No, it was not at the beginning. You were delighted with it on your
+arrival----"
+
+"And I am still," she interrupted. "I think it is just too lovely for
+anything."
+
+"But have you really got tired of London life?"
+
+"I think it is too stupid for words. Oh! no, I don't mean that exactly.
+Pardon me, Sir Charles"--seeing the pained look in his eyes--"I won't
+complain any more if I can help it, I won't really."
+
+"I am very anxious that you should enjoy yourself all you possibly can.
+Beryl is dreading the time when she will have to go back again."
+
+"She knows so many people," Madeline said, reflectively.
+
+"And you have made hosts of acquaintances, have you not?"
+
+"Yes, acquaintances, but they don't mean anything. I never realised
+before, I think, how many people there are in the world, and how many
+things there are in the world I can do without."
+
+"That oughtn't to be a very startling discovery," he said, with a
+smile.
+
+"But you don't feel it in a place like St. Gaved," she said. "There
+everybody seems necessary to everybody else."
+
+"Indeed?" he questioned, dryly.
+
+"Well, I mean that in a little community where each one plays his part,
+and each one's part is known to all the rest----"
+
+"Yes?" he questioned, seeing she hesitated.
+
+"Oh! I can't explain myself very well, but you must know very well what
+I mean."
+
+"No; really you flatter me," he said, in a tone of banter, "for in
+reality your meaning is quite beyond me."
+
+"Then I must be stupider than I thought," she answered, with a pout, and
+relapsed into silence.
+
+Sir Charles was not only perplexed, he was more or less troubled. If he
+dared he would have been angry, but he knew that anger would defeat the
+particular end he had in view. Whatever Madeline might or might not be
+she was not the kind of person to be coerced. She might be led in many
+directions, but no one could drive her. At the least suggestion of the
+lash, she would jib and back, and nothing short of physical force would
+move her a step forward.
+
+Hence Sir Charles had felt from the first that his task was one of
+extreme difficulty and delicacy. Moreover, every day as it passed
+increased the difficulty. Madeline was swiftly growing out of girlhood
+into womanhood, and the things that fascinated her as a girl quickly
+palled upon her as a woman, and Sir Charles was growing desperately
+afraid lest when she saw Gervase again she might be disillusioned, as
+she evidently had been in other matters.
+
+He was more troubled also than he liked to confess over her intimacy
+with Rufus Sterne. He could not forget the romantic circumstances under
+which they had met, the signal service he had rendered her, and the long
+weeks of suffering and idleness that followed as a consequence, and on a
+romantic and generous nature like Madeline's, these things would make an
+abiding impression. For that reason he had got her away from St. Gaved
+as quickly as possible after he had made the discovery that she was in
+the habit of visiting him, and for the same reason he intended to keep
+her away until within a few days of his son's return.
+
+Sir Charles had counted so long on annexing the American heiress for his
+son, that any thought of failure now was too humiliating to be
+entertained. It was his last hope of rehabilitating Trewinion Hall, and
+the historic name of Tregony. Gervase's record was of such a character
+that no English heiress would look at him unless, indeed, he consented
+to marry the daughter of a tradesman, and even in such case as that his
+chances would be very doubtful.
+
+The beautiful thing about an American heiress was that nobody inquired
+into her antecedents. So long as she had the requisite number of dollars
+nothing else mattered. Her father might be a pork-butcher, or a
+pawnbroker, or an oilman; that was no barrier to his daughter becoming a
+countess or even a duchess.
+
+Poor as Sir Charles was, he would have fainted at the idea of Gervase
+marrying the daughter of a Redbourne tradesman, however rich or
+beautiful or accomplished she might be. The very suggestion of "trade"
+was an offence to his aristocratic nostrils. But Madeline came from a
+country where the only aristocracy was that of cash, hence by virtue of
+her uncounted millions she was eligible for the highest positions on
+this side the water. The logic might not be very sound, but it was
+satisfying. If the Earl of this and the Duke of that had regilded their
+coronets with American dollars, why might not he refurbish the Tregony
+coat of arms with the same precious metal? The reasoning appeared to him
+to be without a flaw.
+
+Moreover, there was the additional argument of necessity. In consequence
+of the low price of corn along with nearly all other articles of food,
+agriculture was in a terribly depressed condition. In other words, the
+farmer could pay only about half the amount in rent that he would be
+able to do if wheat and barley, and bacon and butter, stood at twice
+their present prices.
+
+Sir Charles always grew white with anger when he thought of the foolish
+men who, in a previous generation, abolished the corn-laws and gave
+cheap food to the people.
+
+"Look at me," he would say; "my rent roll is only about one-half of what
+it was in my father's day, and there are hundreds and thousands of the
+best families up and down the country who have been reduced in
+circumstances by the same means. What the Government ought to do is to
+put a high duty on all imported corn and foodstuffs, that would send up
+the price of English wheat, and English beef, and everything else that
+is English, and so give the English nobility a chance of getting out of
+their estates all that they are capable of producing."
+
+The logic of this, if not quite sound, was also satisfying from his
+point of view. There seemed, however, no prospect just then that the
+food of the people would be taxed for the benefit of the noble and
+indispensable class to which he belonged. The working classes for some
+selfish reason, appeared to object to it. They were possessed by the
+stupid idea that the higher their wages and the cheaper their food, the
+better off they would be; and against such unreasoning prejudice as
+that, logic spent its strength in vain.
+
+Failing, therefore, any Government help in the shape of protection, he
+would have to guard his interests in some other way, and Madeline
+appeared to be an excellent way out of the difficulty. In fact, she
+almost reconciled him to the idea of free imports. If England had
+suffered loss through the importation of American wheat, it was only
+fair that England should be compensated by having the pick of America's
+richest and fairest women. Since there was no duty on corn, it was only
+just and right that heiresses should be free.
+
+But as the time drew near when Sir Charles hoped to see the full
+fruition of his little scheme, he grew increasingly nervous. Until the
+last few weeks everything had gone as smoothly as heart could desire.
+Madeline seemed like a ripe apple that would drop directly the tree was
+touched. Without any undue influence, with scarcely a suggestion from
+anyone, she was inclining in the very direction most desired.
+
+Then suddenly she had become captious and uncertain. The moment she
+reached the point when she was desired to make up her mind definitely
+she drew back. The increasing warmth of the Captain's letters she had
+appeared to reciprocate to the full. She had talked about him with a
+simple ingenuousness that had delighted the baronet's heart. The
+proposal seemed to have arrived in the very nick of time. She had
+gathered from Sir Charles, in detached fragments, the full story of her
+father's wish in the matter. She had been given one glimpse of London,
+with its life and gaiety, she had been supplied with every newspaper
+cutting that spoke of Captain Tregony's prowess as a hunter of big game,
+and she had tacitly accepted the situation, as though Providence had
+shaped her lot, and shaped it to her entire satisfaction. And then she
+hesitated, and became silent, and demanded time for further
+consideration.
+
+Sir Charles had broached the subject in the most delicate manner
+possible when they happened to be alone. Gervase's letter to the family
+had been left on the drawing-room table. The Baronet picked it up and
+read it again.
+
+"Gervase seems terribly impatient to get home this time," he remarked,
+casually.
+
+Madeline glanced up from her book, but did not reply.
+
+"I really do not wonder," Sir Charles went on. "Poor old boy, it is
+nearly three years since he saw you, and he must be pining for a sight
+of your face."
+
+"He seems a little home-sick," Madeline said, indifferently.
+
+"I don't think it is that altogether. Now that he has definitely
+proposed to you, it brings all the longing to a head, if I may say so. I
+hope you have written to him and put an end to his suspense?"
+
+"No, I have not replied yet. I thought of writing this afternoon."
+
+"I wish you would; I am sorry you have not written before."
+
+"I have been too busy with other things, Sir Charles."
+
+"Oh, well, I am not complaining, my dear. Take your own time, of course.
+But, naturally, I feel for my son, and I know how anxious he will be. It
+will be nice for him to meet you here in his ancestral home as his
+affianced wife."
+
+"I suppose it would simplify matters, wouldn't it?"
+
+"It would simplify matters a very great deal," Sir Charles said, in a
+tone of relief. "There is no reason why you should not go away on the
+Continent in the early spring for your honeymoon, and so escape our
+bitter east winds."
+
+"That would be lovely, wouldn't it?"
+
+"Lovely! Ah! well, I almost envy you young people. If one could only be
+young a second time how much he would appreciate it! But I will not
+detain you now if you are going to write letters," and he thrust
+Gervase's epistle into his pocket, and walked slowly out of the room.
+
+Later in the day he discovered that instead of writing letters she had
+been visiting Rufus Sterne at St. Gaved, and his anger almost got the
+better of him. By a tremendous effort, however, he kept himself well in
+hand, and talked to her with a seriousness that did full justice to the
+occasion.
+
+Two days later he learned that she had not yet replied to Gervase's
+letter; he made no remark, however, but on the following day he made a
+proposition that they should spent the late autumn in London.
+
+The experiment, however, had not been altogether satisfactory. Madeline
+had not been at all like her old self. She was moody and absent-minded,
+and by no means easy to please. That she had written to Gervase he knew,
+and written more than once, but she gave no hint to anyone of the nature
+of her communications.
+
+Sir Charles hoped for the best, but he was troubled all the time by
+serious misgivings. Her very uncommunicativeness was a disturbing
+factor. Several times he was strongly tempted to put a point-blank
+question to her; but when it came to the point his courage failed him.
+Moreover, his reason told him that the more anxious he appeared to be
+the more stubborn and intractable she would become. The only thing he
+could do was to wait patiently until Gervase's return, and trust to
+luck or Providence for what would follow.
+
+Madeline welcomed the morning of their departure from London more
+eagerly than any of the others. She was tired of the big city, with its
+murk and gloom, its dreary streets and muddy crossings, and its
+never-ceasing roar and turmoil. She longed for the "clean country," as
+she expressed it, with its quietness and peace and far distances. In
+truth, she hardly knew what she longed for. Some day her desire would
+take definite shape, then she would understand.
+
+
+
+
+                                CHAPTER XVI
+
+                             GROWING SUSPICIONS
+
+
+In the big house there were many things to be done in preparation for
+Christmas. Mottoes had to be selected and cut out of coloured paper, and
+surrounded with evergreens and hung in the hall, and naturally this task
+fell to the lot of Madeline and Beryl. Then, it was decided to have a
+house-party the day but one after Christmas Day, and invitations had to
+be sent out to all the gentry of the neighbourhood. Lady Tregony
+undertook this pleasant duty, but soon found the work of filling in
+cards and addressing envelopes altogether too exhausting; so Madeline,
+who was swift with her pen, was pressed into the service. In addition to
+all this, various tokens of affection and regard had to be sent to the
+extremely poor of the parish--nothing of very much value, it is
+true--still, the simplest parcel took time to make up and address.
+
+The result of all this was that the house was kept in a state of bustle
+from morning till night, and Madeline had no time to pay a single visit
+to any of her acquaintances in the village.
+
+She did steal out of the house one evening after dinner, and tramped in
+the bright moonlight nearly to St. Gaved and back again, but the walk
+did not yield her much satisfaction. She had an uncomfortable feeling
+that she passed Rufus Sterne on the way, and that he took pains not to
+be recognised. She turned and looked after the retreating figure, and
+felt certain she was not mistaken, but he did not halt for a moment or
+look back.
+
+It was a simple and trifling thing in itself, but it set her thinking.
+Of course, he might not have recognised her, as she for the moment had
+not recognised him. On the other hand, her face was toward the
+moonlight, his was in shadow. She scarcely saw his face at all, her face
+would be plainly visible. Moreover he hurried past, with his hat pulled
+low, as if he had no wish to be recognised. What did it mean?
+
+The more she thought about the matter, the more she was convinced that
+the man she met was Rufus Sterne, and that he deliberately avoided the
+chance of recognition. Was he offended with her, then? Was he sorry that
+they had ever become acquainted, and wished the acquaintanceship to end?
+Did he regard her as a sort of stormy petrel, heralding bad weather and
+bad fortune? Did he think that safety and success could be secured only
+by keeping out of her way?
+
+That he would have good reason for cherishing such sentiments there was
+no denying. She had been his evil genius in the most critical period of
+his life. She had thrust him back into idleness and helplessness when
+every day was of the utmost value to him.
+
+"I really don't wonder that he shuns me," she said to herself,
+regretfully. "I really don't, and if his invention should fail, he will
+hate me more than ever."
+
+Under ordinary circumstances her pride would have asserted itself, and
+she would have resolved--since he had ignored her--never to speak to him
+again. But the circumstances were not ordinary. The ties of gratitude,
+if nothing else, bound her to him for all time; the loss that he had
+suffered on her account made it impossible for her to treat him as she
+might have treated an ordinary acquaintance. He had good reasons, no
+doubt, for ignoring her, but that only made the pain the harder to bear.
+
+Two days before Christmas it became evident to her that there was a
+little conspiracy on foot to prevent her going into St. Gaved. She had
+not noticed at first any significance in the fact that there was always
+someone at hand to run errands for her and Beryl. But when, for the
+sixth or seventh time in succession, her suggestion that she should run
+into St. Gaved was met by the reply, "Oh, don't trouble, dear," or "You
+are too tired, dear," or "Peter will see to that, dear," or, "We shall
+not require it to-day, dear," she began to think that solicitude on her
+account had become a trifle overstrained.
+
+When once her suspicions were aroused, she began to put the matter to
+the test. During the morning of Christmas Eve she discovered on four
+separate occasions that she was short of something that she particularly
+needed, and each time, when she suggested that she should run into St.
+Gaved and get it, a servant was dispatched with most unusual haste to
+make the purchase.
+
+Madeline smiled to herself, but said nothing. But it set her thinking on
+fresh lines. She began to recall all that had happened since her last
+visit to Rufus Sterne, then her thoughts travelled farther back still,
+and after a very little while she saw, or fancied she saw, a tolerably
+consistent purpose, not to say conspiracy. When once she had got a clue,
+or what she fancied was a clue, it was easy to read meanings into a
+thousand little circumstances that otherwise would have had no
+significance whatever.
+
+She had been under the pleasing delusion that she had gone her own way,
+that practically she had followed her own wishes in everything--that her
+own wishes happened to exactly coincide with the wishes of her friends
+was simply a matter for congratulation. No attempt had been made to
+bring pressure to bear on her at any point. When Sir Charles had talked
+seriously to her, it was nearly always on questions of English etiquette
+and customs--subjects she was profoundly ignorant of. If she decided to
+go into St. Gaved now, she felt sure no direct attempt would be made to
+stop her.
+
+To test the matter, she went to her room, put on her hat and jacket, and
+announced to Sir Charles, whom she met in the Hall, that she was going
+into the town for her own amusement.
+
+"All right, Madeline," he said, with a smile; "this is Liberty Hall, you
+know."
+
+She was a little bit taken aback by his answer; it was so frank and
+spontaneous that it almost disarmed her.
+
+She walked very slowly toward the village, her thoughts being intent on
+the new problem. Ever since her meeting with Gervase Tregony nearly
+three years ago, her life had moved steadily in the same direction, and
+toward the same seemingly inevitable end. This she had regarded in the
+past as providential, and had accepted the omen with thankfulness.
+
+But she fancied now she saw a human motive running through all. Since
+her meeting with Gervase, she had practically never a chance of becoming
+acquainted with another man. As a matter of fact, the only man she had
+become intimate with was Rufus Sterne, and directly that intimacy was
+discovered, she was whisked off to London and kept out of his way. She
+was being guarded and protected until Gervase's return.
+
+Gervase was expected home that very day. He had landed at Marseilles the
+previous day, and was coming straight through without a break. For a man
+like Gervase such rush and hurry was most unusual.
+
+That a man like Gervase wanted to marry her was, no doubt, very
+flattering. He was a great soldier, a man of immense courage, and a
+distinguished-looking man to boot. On the other hand, she was a nobody,
+her father had been an ordinary working man--that he had "got on" late
+in life she knew. But what his financial position was she would not know
+till she was twenty-one. So that looking at the matter merely from a
+social point of view, it was a great condescension on the part of
+Gervase.
+
+But not only did Gervase want to marry her, but it had become extremely
+clear of late that Sir Charles was as eager as his son. In fact, events
+were being rushed. It was understood when she arrived in England that
+Gervase would not be home till the New Year. Now he was risking his neck
+in an eager rush to be here by Christmas. Why all this haste? Why was
+everybody so anxious she should marry the heir to a baronetcy, or, to
+put it the other way about, why were all the Tregonys so eager to marry
+the heir to an unknown American girl?
+
+That American girls by the shoal had married titled Englishmen she knew,
+and titled foreigners of all sorts and conditions. But it was clear and
+obvious to outsiders generally that the attractions had been dollars on
+the one side and titles on the other--a fair exchange, no doubt. There
+had been a _quid pro quo_ in each case.
+
+But in her case----!
+
+Then she pulled herself up suddenly, and a hot blush mantled her cheeks.
+Was she any better than the rest? Had not her girlish imagination
+been carried away by pictures of a baronial hall, ivy-grown and
+weather-beaten? and had not the thought of being "My Lady Tregony"
+dominated nearly everything else?
+
+"No," she said, at length, "I admired Gervase for his own sake. He is
+brave and distinguished-looking and--and--oh! I like a man who is strong
+and masterful."
+
+But the other question still remained unanswered. Why did Gervase want
+to marry her? He belonged to one of the oldest families in the county.
+Why did he not seek a wife in his own circle? Lord this and the Duke of
+that who went to America for their wives, married dollars. But----She
+stopped again, and looked round her, but no one was in sight. A keen
+north wind was blowing, and the pale wintry sun had not yet melted the
+hoar-frost from the grass, and yet she felt as hot as though she had
+been thrust suddenly into a Turkish bath.
+
+Was it possible that dollars lay at the bottom of all this haste and
+anxiety? For some reason she had been kept in ignorance of her father's
+financial position. He had never talked to her about the matter. She was
+at school when he died, and remained at school long after he was laid in
+his grave. Why she had been kept at school so long was always something
+of a puzzle to her.
+
+That she would have enough money to live upon comfortably she knew. She
+was allowed a thousand dollars a year now as pin-money--a sum much too
+large for her needs in St. Gaved, though in London she could easily
+spend it all. But that she was rich, or in any sense of the word an
+heiress, was an idea that had never occurred to her. It did not seem at
+all likely that she could be, or her allowance would be very much
+larger. On the other hand there might be method in the modest pittance
+that was meted out to her. To keep her in ignorance of the extent of her
+possessions might be part of the game. If she were rich and knew it she
+might be too ready to discover a reason why Gervase wanted to marry her.
+
+"I wonder if suspicion always comes with knowledge and experience," she
+said to herself. "Is it one of the penalties of being grown up? When I
+was a girl I wasn't suspicious of anything or anybody. Now I'm certain
+of nothing, not even of myself."
+
+She walked on more rapidly after awhile, but she took no notice of
+anything on the way. She was too absorbed with her own thoughts.
+
+"I am glad, at any rate, I did not give Gervase a definite promise," she
+said to herself. "I hardly know why I didn't, for I meant to at first.
+But it is best I should see him again before deciding. Best that I
+should find out everything I can. I think he wants me for my own sake.
+I'm almost sure he does, but it's well to be quite sure."
+
+"Well, anyhow, I shall see him again this evening," she said to herself,
+after a long pause. "I wonder if he has changed? I wonder if I have
+changed?"
+
+She reached the outskirts of the village, then turned back, and in a
+moment or two came face to face with Sir Charles. The meeting was
+unexpected, and the Baronet looked a little confused.
+
+"What, turning back so soon?" he questioned, nonchalantly.
+
+"I only came out for a little exercise and fresh air," she answered.
+
+"And you find the air too keen, eh?"
+
+"Oh! not at all; I am enjoying it immensely."
+
+So they passed each other. But a little way on, Madeline paused and
+looked back, but Sir Charles was out of sight.
+
+"Now, I wonder if he followed me on purpose?" she said to herself. "Has
+he begun to suspect me? Did he imagine I had gone to call on Mr. Sterne
+in defiance of his wishes? I wish I hadn't grown suspicious; it spoils
+everything."
+
+She was so busy with her thoughts that she scarcely noticed the turn in
+the road leading back to the Hall. Also there was no particular reason
+why she should return at once. So she tramped on into the country. The
+roads were dry and frosty. The keen wind hummed in the bare hazel bushes
+that crowned the tall hedges, the too brief glimmer of sunshine was
+fading on the hillside.
+
+Her thoughts alternated between the Squire, Gervase and Rufus Sterne. It
+seemed to her as though a big stone had been dropped into the still and
+placid pool of her life and that the troubled waters refused to settle
+again. It seemed but yesterday that the plan of her life lay before her
+like an open book. Everything was just as it ought to be and there was
+no hitch anywhere. Now the book was shut, the map was destroyed, and her
+future lay before her a treeless, trackless, mist-shrouded desert. What
+was the reason of it? Was Sir Charles to blame, or Gervase, or Rufus
+Sterne? Or should she take all the blame to herself?
+
+She was disturbed in her meditations by the sound of a quick and firm
+step behind her. Her first impulse was to turn her head, but she
+resisted it. The steps drew nearer; the hard road echoed distinctly. She
+drew slowly to the side of the road, so that the pedestrian, whoever he
+might be, might pass her. It was time she turned round and retraced her
+steps to the Hall, but she would wait a few minutes longer, until the
+man had passed her. Now he was almost by her side. She turned her head
+slightly and their eyes met. In a moment her face brightened, and her
+lips parted in an eager smile. He dropped a small bag he was carrying,
+so that he might grasp her outstretched hand. It was fate or destiny,
+and there was no use fighting against it.
+
+"I have been wondering if I was ever to see you again," she said, in her
+bright, unconventional way. "You are quite well again, I see. Oh, I am
+so thankful! I would have called round, only--well, you see the
+conventions of this old country have to be observed even by an
+American."
+
+"And you find them rather irksome?" he questioned, an eager light
+brightening his eyes.
+
+"Well, on the whole I fear I do. But we have to take things as we find
+them, I suppose. Discipline, they say, is good for us."
+
+"I believe that is a generally accepted doctrine," he said, with a
+laugh.
+
+"But you doubt it?" she asked, looking coyly up into his face.
+
+"I did not say so," he answered, jocularly. "Do you think I am such a
+doubter that I doubt everything?"
+
+"Well, no," she answered, slowly. "I will not go quite so far as that. I
+guess there are still a few things you stick to."
+
+"We all believe what we cannot help believing," he answered,
+enigmatically.
+
+"Oh, what a profound utterance!" she said, laughing brightly in his
+face.
+
+"It is rather profound, isn't it? But how have you enjoyed yourself in
+London?"
+
+"Oh! moderately well. For the first two weeks or so we had rather a gay
+time, then things got flat, or I got flat. And then the weather, you
+know, was atrocious. Those London fogs are a treat!"
+
+"So I've heard. I've had no experience of them."
+
+"Well, you needn't be envious. But how about your invention? I've been
+looking for your name in the papers. When are you going to astonish us
+all?"
+
+His face clouded in a moment and his eyes caught a far-away look. "It is
+never safe to prophesy," he said, after a pause.
+
+"But you are still quite sure of success?" she questioned, a little
+anxiously.
+
+He smiled a little bit sadly, and answered, "A friend of mine sometimes
+encourages me by telling me that there is nothing certain in this world
+but death."
+
+"Your friend must be a pessimist," she said, "and I don't like
+pessimists. But tell me candidly, has your success been imperilled in
+any way by--by--your accident?"
+
+"No, I do not think so," he answered, quickly. "My work has been delayed
+a little, that is all. If I fail, it will not be on that account."
+
+"But you are not going to fail, of course you are not."
+
+"I hope I shall not," he answered, seriously. "But in the chances of
+life there must be a great many failures. Think of the millions of
+toiling people in England to-day and how few of them have reached their
+hearts' desire."
+
+"Yes, I suppose that is so," she answered, thoughtfully, "or perhaps the
+bulk of them have never had any large desires. But don't you think that
+most of the great men who have striven long enough have won in the end?"
+
+"I was not thinking of the great men," he answered. "It is given only to
+a few men to be great, and of the rest, if they fail once, their chance
+is gone."
+
+"And do you mean to tell me that if you don't succeed this time you
+won't try again?"
+
+"If circumstances would let me, I would never cease trying," he
+answered. "But we are all of us more or less the slaves of
+circumstances, some more than others."
+
+"You told me once that you had staked your all on the success of this
+enterprise."
+
+"That is true."
+
+"And if you fail, you will lose everything?"
+
+"Everything!"
+
+"You mean, of course, your time and your money, and your labour!"
+
+"Yes, I mean that," he said, smiling wistfully.
+
+"Oh, well! that is not everything, after all," she answered, brightly.
+"You are young enough to begin again. And, after all, what we call
+failures may be stepping-stones to success, and you will win in the end,
+I know you will. God will not let you fail."
+
+"I wish I believed in God as you do," he said, with downcast eyes.
+
+"So long as God believes in you it won't matter so much," she answered,
+cheerfully. "But I must be going back now. You are going further, I
+presume?"
+
+"I am going to spend Christmas with my grandfather, at Tregannon."
+
+"Is that far?"
+
+"About six or seven miles."
+
+"And are you going to walk all the distance?"
+
+"I expect so, unless someone overtakes me who can give me a lift by the
+way."
+
+"I hope you will have a very happy Christmas."
+
+"Thank you. Let me wish the same wish for you."
+
+"We shall be gay at any rate," she said, with a little sigh. "The
+Captain returns this evening."
+
+"Ah! then you are sure to be happy. Good-bye!"
+
+He took her outstretched hand and held it for a long moment, looking
+earnestly the while into her sweet, fearless eyes. Then without another
+word he picked up his bag and hurried away.
+
+
+
+
+                                CHAPTER XVII
+
+                                RETROSPECTIVE
+
+
+Rufus tramped the seven long miles to Tregannon like one in a dream. Up
+hill and down dale he swung his way, heedless of the milestones and
+untroubled by distance. The short winter's day faded into darkness
+before he had covered half the journey. A little later the moon sailed
+slowly up in the eastern sky and flung weird shadows across the road,
+but he paid no heed. Through sleepy villages and hamlets he tramped, by
+lonely cottages and splashing water-wheels, but his thoughts were back
+in the quiet lane outside St. Gaved, and the warm hand of Madeline
+Grover still trembled in his.
+
+He had tried to forget her, tried to keep out of her way; but what was
+the use? She had come into his life for good or ill, and she had come to
+stay. Until he ceased to draw breath she would dominate his heart, and
+it was only waste of strength and energy to fight against his fate.
+
+He hardly knew whether he was sorry or glad. If he had to leave the
+world, loving her would make it all the harder, he knew. If his
+enterprise succeeded and his life stretched out to its natural span, the
+burden of an unrequited love would always press heavy upon him. And yet
+to love at all was worth living for. The thrill of her touch, the glance
+of her sweet, honest eyes, made heaven for the moment. Let the future
+go. Sufficient unto the day was the evil thereof. Twelve months hence
+he might be sleeping in the dust, and she might be the wife of Gervase
+Tregony. It was foolish, therefore, to anticipate the future. To-day
+alone was his, and he would make the most of it, and let his heart go
+out in free, unfettered affection, giving all and asking for nothing in
+return. It was in the inspiration and exaltation of this feeling that he
+swung along the quiet country lanes. No one could hinder him from
+loving, and love was its own reward. The joy was not so much in
+receiving as in giving. When love became selfish it ceased to be love.
+Madeline might never be his in the conventional sense. She might never
+know how much she had been to him, might never guess how much he loved
+her. That might not be all loss; it might, indeed, be gain. He felt
+already that he was a better man for this great passion that had come
+into his life--less selfish, less self-centred, less bitter and
+infinitely more pitiful.
+
+He found his grandfather, Rev. Reuben Sterne, still active and alert, in
+spite of the eighty-four winters that had passed over his head. He was
+no less sure of his election now than he was sixty years ago, when he
+was first called to the ministry, and he was as anxious to remain a
+little longer on the earth as he was in the flowery days of his youth.
+
+He extended to his grandson a grave and unemotional welcome, and then
+led the way into the little sitting-room, where his wife sat deep in an
+easy chair, a little, shrunken thing, who looked as if all the sap had
+dried out of her veins. Her welcome, however, was much warmer than her
+husband's, and the tears came into her faded eyes when he bent down to
+kiss her.
+
+While supper was being got ready Rufus stretched himself in an easy
+chair before the fire and listened while the old people talked.
+
+"Ah me, Rufus," Mrs. Sterne said, in her thin, quavering voice. "It is
+just sixteen years ago yesterday since news came that your father was
+dead. How time flies, to be sure, and your poor mother survived the
+shock just six months and a day."
+
+Rufus had heard the story recalled nearly every Christmas Eve since.
+Whoever might forget, the little grandmother remembered, Joshua
+Sterne--Rufus's father--was her firstborn and only child, and the wound
+caused by his death never seemed to heal.
+
+Rufus listened with no poignant sense of grief. His father had crossed
+the Atlantic to seek his fortune when he, Rufus, was little more than
+out-of-arms, and he had never returned. Rufus fancied that he remembered
+him. But he was never quite sure. The recollection--if such it was--was
+so vague and indistinct that it seemed little more than the shadow of a
+dream.
+
+He remembered well enough the day when the news came of his father's
+death. Remembered the grief and anguish of his mother, which, boy-like,
+he did his best to soothe, but which he could not understand.
+
+Six months later the broken-hearted mother slipped unexpectedly away
+into the land of shadows, and Rufus, bewildered and rebellious, was
+taken away from the silent house to live with his grandparents. That
+seemed like the beginning of all his griefs. He had often wondered since
+what his life would have been like if his mother had lived. How he would
+have rejoiced to toil for her and fight her battles. But it was not to
+be. In the cold and gloomy shadow of his grandfather's home it seemed to
+him that the better side of his nature had never a chance of developing.
+The sunshine was absent. The real joy of existence was unknown.
+
+Reuben Sterne was a disciplinarian of the severest type. A minister of
+the Gospel who had no real Gospel to preach. A theologian who had no
+true vision of God. A man severe and stern by nature, and made doubly so
+by an austere and loveless creed. "God was a jealous God." That lay at
+the foundation of all his beliefs and coloured all his actions. The
+burden of the Divine decrees lay heavy upon his heart in the brightest
+days, and touched every song to sadness. Of his own election he did not
+doubt. Of his call to preach to the elect he was equally sure. But his
+only son, Joshua, the child of many prayers, gave no evidence of saving
+grace, and died uncalled to the favours of the heavenly fold, while his
+grandson, Rufus, appeared, even from boyhood, to be as pagan as his
+name. This was a great grief to the old man, though he would not have
+made any sign of it for the world. It was his place to bow, not only in
+submission, but in thankfulness to the heavenly will. To kiss the hand
+that smote, and adore the unrelenting power that consigned to eternal
+burning those who were dear to him as his own life.
+
+At bottom his heart was better than his creed, but he was afraid of
+showing tenderness or affection lest he should be running counter to the
+Divine Will, or giving encouragement to the enemies of the cross to
+blaspheme.
+
+Twice every Sunday Rufus was led to the Baptist chapel to hear his
+grandfather preach, and early indicated the fate to which he was
+predestined by falling asleep under the old man's most terrible sermons.
+Among the memories that stood out most clearly in his brain was that of
+his grandfather in the pulpit. A tall, straight man, with clean-shaved,
+severe face, and eyes that never smiled. He always wore a frock-coat,
+tightly buttoned, a tall, stiff collar, and a large white bow, the ends
+of which touched the lapels of his coat. His grey hair was brushed
+smoothly from his forehead, his mouth was set in severe lines, his
+shoulders squared as if for battle. And indeed, every sermon was a
+battle. He was appointed of God to fight "spiritual wickedness in high
+places." He asked no quarter and gave none. His voice rang with the
+thunders of the law. Sinai was nearer to his heart than Calvary.
+
+Rufus gave evidence of intellectual revolt before he had reached his
+teens.
+
+"What is the use of preaching, grandfather?" he asked the old man, one
+Sunday morning, over the dinner table.
+
+"The use of preaching?" the Rev. Reuben questioned, aghast at the
+audacity of the young speaker; while Mrs. Sterne laid down her knife and
+fork, and stared.
+
+"Well, suppose you didn't preach, what would happen?" the boy went on,
+unconscious of the storm he was raising.
+
+"Happen? Happen? Be silent, boy; you know not of what you are speaking."
+
+"But if you didn't preach, would the elect be lost?" the boy persisted.
+
+"Of course not. How could they be lost? 'Whom He did foreknow, He also
+did predestinate.'"
+
+"And will you save any of those who are not elected by preaching to
+them?" the boy went on.
+
+"It is not in man's power to save at all," the old man said, severely.
+"Salvation belongeth unto the Lord."
+
+"Well, then, I don't see a bit of use in preaching or in going to
+chapel."
+
+The old man raised his eyes and stared. "You ungrateful, unregenerate
+youth," he said. "How dare you speak in such a way, and at my table?"
+
+"But, grandfather," said the boy, with astonishment in his eyes, "why am
+I ungrateful because I ask questions?"
+
+"Why? Because your questions savour of an unregenerate and unbelieving
+heart; because they make light of the Word of truth; because the Spirit
+of God is not in you."
+
+"But how can I help that, grandfather? Do you think it is that I am not
+called?"
+
+"I fear you are not," he said, with a groan. "I fear you are not."
+
+"But you are not sure, grandfather?"
+
+"No, I am not sure; but there is no evidence of saving grace in you."
+
+"But if I am elected I shall be all right in the end, sha'n't I?"
+
+"Yes, yes; the gracious Spirit always finds those who have the mark of
+the seal."
+
+"Then, I don't think I shall go to chapel to-night."
+
+"Not go to chapel!" and the old man's eyes flashed fire. "Not go to
+chapel? Did my ears deceive me? Is it for this I have cared for you
+since the death of your mother? Boy, boy, be careful how you disobey
+me!"
+
+"But, but----"
+
+"Not another word," the old man said, raising his right hand in a
+threatening attitude. "Not another word, or I will punish you as you
+were never punished before. How dare you blaspheme, and at my very
+board?"
+
+That was the beginning of open strife and rebellion. The boy went to
+chapel that night, and for many years after, but never in the same
+spirit again. Scarcely a Sunday passed that both his heart and
+intellect did not revolt against his grandfather's teachings, and there
+was no one to show him the other side of the shield. Had some whisper
+come to him in those days that truth was many-sided, that the Kingdom of
+God was broader than Church or Creed, and that the heart of the Eternal
+was not to be measured by an ecclesiastical tape-line, he might have
+been saved many long years of darkness and doubt. But in the village of
+Tregannon, teachers and seers were few, and books that would have helped
+him were out of his reach.
+
+So he grew first into the belief that he belonged to the non-elect, and
+later into the belief that the whole fabric of the Christian religion
+was a delusion and a snare.
+
+Yet no cloud of unbelief dimmed for a moment the purity of his soul. He
+loved goodness none the less because he hated human creeds. Right was
+right, whatever preachers preached or failed to preach; and wrong was
+wrong though stamped with the Church's approval.
+
+It was a great grief to the Rev. Reuben and to his wife when Rufus
+demonstrated by open and unabashed revolt that he belonged to the
+non-elect. They had suspected it early in his career; they had prepared
+themselves for the blow when it should fall. The tender-hearted little
+grandmother had hoped and prayed till the last, and even continued to
+pray when she believed that praying was vain and feared that it might be
+an offence to the Lord.
+
+The Rev. Reuben was made of sterner stuff. "Ephraim," he said, "is
+joined to his idols, let him alone."
+
+So the quiet, uneventful years passed away, and the boy grew into a man.
+A man of fine presence, of considerable intellectual attainments--for
+Reuben Sterne gave the lad the best education he could afford--and of
+unblemished character.
+
+Rufus wanted to be an engineer, but that was beyond his grandfather's
+means. His grandmother wanted to apprentice him to a draper, but the boy
+protested so vehemently that that laudable desire was never carried out.
+In the end, he found his way into a Redbourne Bank, where he became
+acquainted with Felix Muller, who was a solicitor's clerk in the town,
+and who later on succeeded to his master's business. From Redbourne,
+Rufus removed to St. Gaved as Secretary to the Wheal Gregory Tin Mining
+Company, Limited, and it was while there that he conceived a scheme for
+the bettering of his own fortunes and those of the county as a whole.
+
+Rufus could not help recalling the past as he stretched his legs before
+the fire and listened in dreamy fashion to the talk of the old people.
+All the years that had fled and gone seemed to live again. All the
+people that he knew in his boyhood's days gathered round him once more.
+Voices long since hushed in the great silence spoke to him as they used
+to do; and eyes that long since had fallen into dust smiled with all
+their old sweetness.
+
+He always felt a boy again when he came home to Tregannon. The old
+people were unchanged. They did not look a day older than ten years
+previously. The house and its ways had been stereotyped for a
+generation. The same coarse rug was before the fire, on which he had
+sprawled as a lad. The same kettle sang on the hob, the same poker and
+tongs shone in the firelight.
+
+The old people still talked on, recalling the events of other years, the
+one supplying what the other had forgotten. Rufus interposed a
+monosyllable now and then, but his thoughts in the main were far away
+from theirs. Suddenly his interest was aroused by an allusion his
+grandfather made to some wasteful and abortive lawsuit that followed his
+father's death.
+
+"The ways of the law may be crooked in this country," he said, with
+energy; "and English lawyers may be blood-suckers in the main, but in
+America things are fifty times worse."
+
+"Why do you think that?" he questioned, raising his eyes with interest.
+
+"Why, because I've proved it. Your father's title was clear enough,
+there's no doubt about that. He made his money honestly too. If he'd
+lived a month or two longer he'd have returned home a rich man."
+
+"Well?"
+
+"Well, just because some swindler disputed his right, and a blackmailer
+presented a bogus account, and somebody else claimed on the estate, on
+the ground of a letter which was clearly a forgery, the lawyers went to
+work with glee, and the State judge or attorney, or whoever he may be,
+aided and abetted the plunder. A grosser piece of corruption there never
+was in this world."
+
+"And they ate it all up between them?"
+
+"Every dollar. At least, I presume so. It was postponed--I mean the
+settlement--and postponed month after month, and year after year; and
+taken to this court and that, the lawyers licking their lips all the
+time--What cared they for the widow and the fatherless? And when there
+was nothing left of the estate, why the litigation ceased."
+
+"That's usually the case, isn't it?"
+
+"But in our English courts there is a chance of an honest man coming by
+his rights."
+
+"Not much if he should happen to be a poor man."
+
+"Then you believe we are as bad as the Americans?"
+
+"Every whit. Lawyers and law courts, all the world over mean the same
+thing."
+
+"But isn't one of your best friends a lawyer?"
+
+"You refer to Felix Muller? Well, yes. Muller has been a very good
+friend to me. But when it comes to business, like the rest of them, he
+will have his pound of flesh."
+
+"Ah, well!" the old man answered, with a sigh. "It's a sad world. Though
+many may be called, few are chosen, and Satan must work his will till
+the appointed time."
+
+"He seems to have had a pretty long innings," Rufus said, with a laugh.
+
+"And yet, beyond his chain he cannot go," the old man answered. And then
+supper was brought on to the table.
+
+
+
+
+                                CHAPTER XVIII
+
+                             THE OLD AND THE NEW
+
+
+Rufus awoke next morning to the sound of Christmas bells ringing wildly
+down the valley and out across the hills. It was a pleasant sound, and
+awoke many tender memories in his heart. Instinctively his thoughts
+turned back to the Gospel story, and to the Christ who had changed the
+history of the world. Whatever might be said of the doctrines and dogmas
+that his grandfather had preached for fifty years with so much vehemence
+and energy, there could be no doubt as to the ethical value of Christ's
+life and sayings.
+
+He had not looked into the New Testament for a good many years now, but
+it suddenly occurred to him that it was scarcely fair to hold Christ
+responsible for all the foolish things done and taught in His name. He
+recalled without effort whole paragraphs of the Sermon on the Mount, for
+he had been compelled, as a boy, to get off whole chapters both of the
+Old and New Testament by heart, and he felt that nothing nobler had been
+taught in all the history of the world. Besides all that, there was
+something infinitely beautiful and touching in the tragedy of Christ's
+life and death. He was a martyr for scorned ideals. He gave up his life
+rather than compromise with evil, or be a party to the hypocrisies of
+His time. He was, undoubtedly, the friend of the poor, and outcast, and
+oppressed, and was the only religious man of His time who had the
+courage to speak a kind word to publicans and harlots.
+
+Rufus began to have an uncomfortable feeling that he had scarcely
+treated this sacred figure with ordinary chivalry or fair play. The very
+ideals he stood for and advocated were among those the Man of Nazareth
+lived for and died for. From what, then, had he revolted? Against what
+had he protested?
+
+He closed his eyes while the bells rang on, and tried to think. He could
+recall no word of Christ to which he could take exception, no single act
+that was not in itself a message of goodwill to men. Here was a life
+absolutely unselfish, and sacrificed in the pursuit of the noblest
+ideal. Here was teaching that struck at the greed and hypocrisy and lust
+of a corrupt age. Here was an influence, if taken by itself, which must
+always be for the common good.
+
+Why, then, had he revolted? He had called Christianity a delusion and a
+snare. A benumbing superstition, an invention of priests for the
+enslavement of men and women. In his defence of the position he had
+taken up he had pointed out that Christianity had stood for slavery, for
+war, for oppression, for persecution, for greed, and for the rule of the
+strong over the rights and consciences of the weak. Had he been wrong in
+this contention? And if not, where was the discrepancy?
+
+Could it be true that Christ stood for one thing, and Christianity for
+another? In other words, was the thing that bore the name of
+Christianity, Christianity at all? Did it bear anything but the most
+distant resemblance to that sweet and ennobling influence that Jesus
+breathed into the life of the world?
+
+He became interested in the problem. The bells ceased their wild revel,
+and a little company of carol singers broke out in the front garden:
+
+    Hark! the glad sound, the Saviour comes,
+      The Saviour promised long,
+    Let every heart prepare a throne,
+      And every voice a song.
+
+They sang well and tunefully, sustaining all the parts, and throwing
+heart and enthusiasm into the exercise. He listened with interest and
+pleasure. A new chord seemed to have been struck in his nature. A fresh
+window had been opened in his mind. A year ago the carol might have
+irritated him, and he would probably have laid the flattering unction to
+his soul, that he had outgrown a mouldy and moth-eaten superstition.
+
+He wondered if loving Madeline Grover had made his heart sensitive to
+new influences, or if it was the possibility of a speedy escape from
+life that had turned his heart anew to these questions.
+
+The carol-singers had come to honour his grandfather. He was no longer
+their pastor. He had preached till he was eighty--preached till his once
+crowded congregation had dwindled down to a mere handful, and the glory
+of "Zion," as the chapel was called, had become but a memory. Yet his
+name was revered still. For fifty years and more he had lived in
+Tregannon, and had lived a life of strict and severe integrity, and,
+though the younger generation had drifted away from his ministry, and
+"Zion" was no longer enthusiastic about the terms of its title-deeds,
+yet there was no one who had not a good word to speak of the
+white-haired supernumerary.
+
+He heard the door open at length. The old servant had gone down to let
+the singers in, and he knew there would be cocoa and saffron cake, and a
+word of welcome and exhortation from his grandfather. It was pleasant,
+after all, to be remembered with so much affection after a life of
+eighty-four years.
+
+Rufus wondered if his name would ever be held in any degree of esteem by
+his fellows, or if he would live unhonoured, and die unlamented. Why was
+it his grandfather's name was so much revered? Was it the manner of his
+life or the character of his preaching that had touched the heart and
+imagination of Tregannon?
+
+He had not much difficulty in answering that question. Nobody cared
+about his sermons now. The few that were remembered, were remembered
+only to be discussed and discarded. His criticisms of Luther, his fierce
+attacks on Arminianism, his deadly assaults on Darwin and Huxley, who
+were beginning to be talked about, his righteous scorn at infant
+baptism, his ponderous defence of verbal inspiration, his laboured
+expositions of the prophecies of Daniel, his flounderings in the deep
+waters of the Apocalypse, his weighty disquisitions on foreknowledge and
+predestination, and his nicely-balanced definitions of such terms as
+atonement, justification, regeneration and the like--what did they all
+amount to now? Who recalled them or were made the better by them? The
+thing that mattered was goodness. In so far as he had set an example of
+uprightness of character, of simplicity of aim, of unselfishness in his
+dealings with his fellows, he had lived to purpose. The sermon that all
+Tregannon remembered was his upright life. Austere he had always been,
+carrying himself with a certain reserve that no one could break down,
+but beneath a cold and placid surface there had beaten a genuinely human
+heart. To the poor and suffering and heartbroken he had proved himself
+through two generations a genuine friend. Hence it was that though he
+had lived in retirement for the last four years his name was held in
+reverence still.
+
+Rufus found himself debating the question from a fresh standpoint. Was
+Christianity what his grandfather preached, or what he lived? He had
+heard him declare from the pulpit, with passionate vehemence, that good
+works were filthy rags, and that morality might be a millstone around
+the neck to sink the soul in deeper perdition. Yet who cared for his
+grandfather's theology in Tregannon? The thing that made his name
+revered was that very morality which he had so often warned his hearers
+against.
+
+"There's a screw loose somewhere," Rufus said to himself, with a smile.
+"Perhaps I had better read the New Testament again and try to find out
+what Christianity is. What passes in its name I like as little as ever I
+did. Its priestly assumptions, its grotesque dogmas, its truculent
+grovelling at the feet of wealth, its pitiful squabblings about forms
+and orders, its defence of oppression and war, and most other
+abominations, its silence and helplessness in face of public corruption.
+Great Scott! what does it all mean? Think of Christianity in Russia
+siding with the brutes who rule that unhappy land; think of it in
+France, where the people in disgust are trying to kick it out; think of
+it in England, allied to the State, intriguing for power and resorting
+to every kind of sharp practice to gain its own ends, and think of Jesus
+dying for a great ideal. I'll give up the problem, it's beyond me." And
+he got out of bed and began to dress. After breakfast he rather
+astonished the old people by announcing that he would go to chapel.
+
+"I hope you will go, Rufus, in a proper spirit," the old man said,
+severely.
+
+"I hope so," was the answer; "though I am bound to confess I am prompted
+mainly by a desire to hear your new minister."
+
+The Rev. Reuben looked grave. "It is possible he may say something you
+may approve of. I grieve to say that even the pulpit is touched by what
+is called the modern spirit."
+
+"But I hear that 'Zion' is regaining some of its former glory."
+
+"The congregations are large, I admit; but I fear in these days the
+people have itching ears."
+
+"That has been true, I am told, of every generation."
+
+"It may be so. Yet thirty years ago--aye, twenty years ago--the people
+endured sound doctrine even when it was galling to the flesh."
+
+"And to-day, grandfather?"
+
+The old man shook his head and smiled sadly. "I fear me they have no
+stomach for strong meat," he said, pathetically.
+
+"Well, it is not a bit of use trying to swallow what we cannot digest,"
+Rufus said, with a laugh. "However, I will hear this Rev. Marshall Brook
+for myself."
+
+He felt painfully conspicuous as he walked into the chapel behind the
+stooping form of his grandfather--the little grandmother was too feeble
+to attend. He thought that everybody was eyeing him with an unnecessary
+amount of curiosity. He slipped into the far corner of the pew, the
+place where he had spent many a weary and painful hour in the years gone
+by, and for awhile he kept his eyes fixed upon the floor. A quiet,
+slow-moving voluntary was being played on the organ, around him was a
+faint rustle of silks and the shuffling of feet. From the vestibule came
+a subdued hum of voices as acquaintances met and exchanged Christmas
+greetings.
+
+Rufus was carried back again to the days of his boyhood and youth. The
+present was forgotten. He had never been away from Tregannon. He was
+still a lad. He had a jack-knife in his pocket and a white alley and a
+piece of cobbler's wax and several yards of string. That was Billy
+Beswarick's suppressed cough coming from a neighbouring pew, and he was
+sure Dick Daddo was behind him waiting to pull his hair.
+
+He raised his eyes at length, and the illusion partially vanished; but
+not altogether. There was the same organ--how often he had counted its
+gilt dummy pipes; new brass book-rests had been placed in the gallery
+front for the convenience of the choir--that was an innovation, and
+brought him down to more modern days. The iron pillars that supported
+the galleries were festooned with evergreens, and over the arch of the
+organ loft was a text of Scripture, conspicuous in white against a
+scarlet background:--"On earth peace and good will toward men."
+
+The text set Rufus thinking again. He rather wondered that anyone had
+the courage to put it up. Perhaps the young people had done it,
+unthinkingly, for no sentiment could be more incongruous or out of
+place. The air was full of the clash of arms, the newspapers contained
+little else than records of battle and slaughter. Ministers all over the
+country were preaching sermons on patriotism and Imperialism. Churches
+and Sunday-schools were organising boys' brigades, and children were
+being taught how to shoot. Here and there a solitary voice protested
+against all war as unchristian, but the voice in the main was unheeded.
+How could war be unchristian? How could killing on a large scale be
+anything but an ennobling occupation? How could defending homes that
+were not attacked and destroying homes that were not defended, be
+anything less than heroic? How could stealing your neighbour's
+birthright and possessing his inheritance be anything but righteous?
+
+"There's evidently a screw loose somewhere," he said to himself, with a
+smile. "If that text sets forth the objective of Christ's mission, then
+a good deal that passes muster as Christianity to-day is loathsome
+hypocrisy."
+
+Then his attention was arrested by the entrance of the minister into the
+pulpit. A young man with a frank, boyish face, large, square forehead, a
+wide mouth, strong chin and jaw--all this he took in at a glance. A
+moment later he noticed that his dress was unclerical, his hands small
+and brown, his eyes deep-set and dark.
+
+Rufus felt interested in the man. Accustomed as he had been during all
+the years of his boyhood and youth to seeing the tall, stiff, clerical
+figure of his grandfather in the pulpit, there seemed something
+delightfully free and unconventional about this young man. The pulpit
+"tone" was absent from his voice, the pulpit manner he had evidently not
+yet learnt, the pulpit expression had to be acquired.
+
+Rufus got far back in his childhood days again during the singing and
+prayers. But directly the text was announced and the minister began to
+preach he felt wide awake and interested. To begin with, all his early
+notions about preaching were rudely upset. Taking his grandfather as a
+model this young man did not preach at all. He just talked and talked in
+a most delightfully easy and quickening way.
+
+The farther he advanced the more interested Rufus became. There were no
+attempts at oratory, no flights of rhetoric, no simulated passion, no
+declamation, but just earnest, lucid talk. He forgot that he was in a
+chapel and this man in a pulpit. They might be anywhere--in a workshop
+or by the fireside--and the man was talking to them on a subject of deep
+and perennial interest. He did not dogmatise; he did not ignore
+objections and difficulties. He faced every problem fairly and
+fearlessly, and gave his reason for the faith that was in him.
+
+"The desire of all nations shall come," was the text. What was the
+desire of all nations? What was the deep, passionate longing of all
+thoughtful, serious people of all ages and of all countries? And how was
+that longing met in Jesus of Nazareth?
+
+On the first point he touched Rufus to the quick. He described every
+mental emotion through which he had passed, and showed how every merely
+human philosophy had failed to satisfy the need of the human heart.
+Every word of this part of the discourse was absolutely true to Rufus's
+own experience.
+
+But when the preacher came to deal with the second part of his subject,
+Rufus felt all his old scepticism returning with a rush; and yet so
+reasonably did the preacher talk that he was compelled to listen. He did
+not speak like an advocate with a bad case. There were no evasions, no
+special pleadings, no attempts to browbeat witnesses, or to sail off on
+side issues. He spoke as one who had fought his way through every phase
+of doubt, and had reached the serene heights of absolute conviction.
+
+Christ had met his needs, and had answered his questions, had solved the
+riddle of life.
+
+Rufus shook his head more than once unconsciously. The argument from
+experience might be satisfactory enough to those who had the experience,
+but he wanted proof. The experience of another man was of very little
+value to him.
+
+If he could be sure that Christ spoke with absolute authority on these
+questions that vexed the human mind, then would he find rest also, but
+how was he to get that assurance.
+
+He walked home from chapel by his grandfather's side in silence. The old
+man was as little disposed to talk as Rufus, but for a different reason.
+
+After dinner Rufus went for a long walk alone. He wanted to shake off
+the effects of the sermon. Some of the conclusions of the preacher had
+made him feel distinctly uncomfortable. The possibility of life being a
+sacred trust for the use, or abuse, of which he would be held
+responsible by a Supreme Being was distinctly disquieting, especially in
+view of the unpleasant possibility that was hanging over his head.
+
+If life were not his own to do as he liked with--to spend or end how or
+when seemed good in his own eyes--then his attempt to gamble with it was
+more immoral than for a trustee or a lawyer to gamble with his client's
+property. Rufus had always prided himself on his honour. It was his
+sheet-anchor in all the mental storms through which he had passed; but
+if in throwing his life into pawn he had pawned his honour at the same
+time what was there left to him that was worth possessing? And if the
+worst should come to the worst, if, as he sometimes feared, his
+invention had been forestalled--not only a part of it, but the whole of
+it--if the demands of what he called honour should necessitate the
+giving up of his life, in what sort of moral dilemma would he find
+himself?
+
+His compact with Muller began to appear in a more unpleasantly lurid
+light than it had ever done before. Could a man steal money to pay his
+debts with, and then boast of his honesty in paying? Could he discharge
+a debt of honour by an act that in itself was criminal?
+
+It was dark when he got back to his grandfather's house, but the
+influence of the sermon was still upon him. He had passed cottages by
+the dozen from which had come sounds of mirth and festivity. Tregannon
+appeared to be enjoying itself to the full. The young people, untroubled
+about the future, were making merry in the hope and gladness of to-day;
+while he, having lost the faith of his childhood, had drifted into
+regions not only of hopelessness, but of peril.
+
+"It seems but a poor exchange," he said, sadly, "but I shall have to
+make the best of it."
+
+When he opened the door he was surprised to hear the voices of his
+grandfather and the Rev. Marshall Brook, in what seemed to him a very
+animated and even heated discussion.
+
+
+
+
+                                CHAPTER XIX
+
+                             AFTER THREE YEARS
+
+
+After her meeting with Rufus Sterne, Madeline walked slowly back to the
+Hall with a very thoughtful look upon her face. She knew that this
+Christmas Eve was to be a fateful time for her, her whole future seemed
+to be hanging in the balance. On what happened during the next few
+days--perhaps, during the next few hours--would depend in all
+probability the happiness, or the misery, of all the years that would
+follow.
+
+The point to which her life had been steadily drifting would be reached
+to-night. The man who had been waiting for her would ask her to come
+into his arms, the consummation of her girlish dreams was about to be
+realised. Why did she shrink from the fateful moment? Why did she
+contemplate the meeting with Gervase with something like alarm? Before
+she reached the Hall she put a question boldly to herself that she had
+never dared ask before. Had Rufus Sterne anything to do with this
+half-defined fear that haunted her. Suppose he had never crossed her
+path--had never awakened her gratitude by his courage and chivalry, had
+never touched her sympathy by his vicarious suffering--would she at this
+moment be almost dreading the appearance of Gervase Tregony on the
+scene?
+
+Till she met Rufus Sterne, Gervase had been her ideal. His bigness, his
+masterfulness, his fearlessness, his daring had awakened in her a sense
+of awe. He was her ideal still in many respects. She never expected to
+see a more soldierly man, never expected to hear a voice that was more
+clearly meant to command, never anticipated a stronger arm to lean upon.
+
+And yet there was no denying the fact that the brightness of the image
+had been somewhat dimmed of late. In point of bigness, in point of
+masterfulness, and, above all, in point of social position, Rufus Sterne
+was not to be mentioned in the same day with Gervase Tregony, and yet
+Rufus Sterne, poor and friendless as he was, had touched her heart and
+her imagination in a way that Gervase had never done.
+
+Her fingers were tingling still under the pressure of his hand. The
+tones of his voice were still vibrating through the chambers of her
+brain, the colour mounted to her cheeks whenever she thought of him.
+
+"Perhaps, when I see Gervase," she said to herself, "all my forebodings
+will vanish. It will be a comfort to know that I have been worrying
+myself for nothing. If he loves me for my own sake--and I shall soon
+find out if he doesn't--and if I--I--like him as I have always done, why
+there is no reason at all why we should not be two of the happiest
+people in the world. Nevertheless, I wish Sir Charles was not in such a
+hurry to arrange things."
+
+She found Lady Tregony and Beryl pretending concern at her long absence,
+but very little was said, and Madeline did not explain why she had been
+so long.
+
+"We have ordered dinner, my dear, for half-past seven," Lady Tregony
+said, in her blandest tones. "We have had another telegram from dear
+Gervase while you have been out. It was handed in at Bristol. He seems
+terribly impatient to be at home. I suppose you would not care to drive
+into Redbourne with Sir Charles to meet him?"
+
+"No, indeed. I would prefer to meet him here, thank you."
+
+"I am sure it would be quite proper, my dear, if you would care to go,
+and really Gervase seems dying to see you."
+
+"I don't think it would be proper at all," Madeline answered, quite
+frankly.
+
+"Oh, yes, my dear. Everybody now looks upon the engagement as a settled
+thing."
+
+"Indeed. I did not know people took so much interest in our affairs, or
+indeed, knew anything about the matter."
+
+"Oh, yes, my dear; it is impossible that such things can be kept a
+secret. I expect you will get tons and tons of congratulations on
+Friday."
+
+"Why on Friday, Lady Tregony?"
+
+"Why, because we shall have the house full of people on Friday, to be
+sure. I wouldn't that there should be a hitch for the world."
+
+Madeline walked upstairs to her room, feeling very perturbed, and not a
+little annoyed. It seemed now as if everybody was beginning to show his
+or her hand. Now that the game was practically won there was not quite
+so much need for caution or finesse. Indeed, to take the engagement for
+granted might be a good way of settling the matter once and for all.
+
+"But it is not settled yet," she said to herself, a little bit
+indignantly; "and what is more I will not have my affairs settled for me
+by anybody."
+
+It had been her intention to dress herself with the greatest care that
+evening, to don the smartest and most becoming frock she possessed. But
+she concluded now she would do nothing of the kind.
+
+"I am not going to lay myself out to make a conquest as though I were a
+husband hunter," she said to herself, with heightened colour; "and what
+is more I am not going to let anybody take things for granted," and she
+dropped into a basket chair before the fire.
+
+It was the first time Lady Tregony had so openly shown her hand, and it
+made Madeline think more furiously than ever.
+
+Her maid came a little later and lighted the lamp and drew the blinds,
+then quietly withdrew. Madeline sat staring into the fire, watching the
+faces come and go, and conjuring up all kinds of visions. She heard the
+brougham drive away; heard the Baronet's voice for a moment or two, then
+all grew still again. In another hour he would be back again,
+accompanied by his son. She wanted to get up and walk about the room,
+but she held herself in check with a firm hand, and sat resolutely
+still. She did not attempt to hide from herself the fact that she was
+painfully excited. Her heart was beating at twice its normal rate. She
+was longing to see Gervase, and yet she dreaded the moment when she
+would again look into his eyes.
+
+She did her best to put Rufus Sterne out of her mind. She had a vague
+kind of feeling that she was disloyal to her girlish ideals. The hour,
+to which all the other hours of her life had steadily and consistently
+moved, was on the point of striking. She ought to be supremely happy.
+One face only should fill all her dreams. She had grown to believe that
+Gervase Tregony had been ordained for her and she for him--until the
+last few months not a doubt had crossed her mind on this point, and
+now----
+
+She got up and began to walk about the room. She could sit still no
+longer. The very air had become oppressive. She felt as though a
+thunderstorm was brooding over the place.
+
+Her maid came in at length, much to her relief, and began to help her
+dress for dinner. While her hair was being brushed and combed she
+listened intently for the sound of carriage wheels. The roads were hard,
+and sounds travelled far on the still frosty air.
+
+She caught the sounds she had been listening for at length, and her
+heart seemed to come into her mouth. The beat of the horses' hoofs
+became as regular as the ticking of a clock. Nearer and nearer drew the
+sounds, till the maid stopped her brushing, and listened.
+
+"They are coming," she said, with a little catch in her breath. "I did
+not think they would be here so soon," and she dropped the brushes, and
+began to twist Madeline's glorious hair into a large coil low on her
+neck.
+
+"You need not hurry," Madeline said, quietly; "I shall not go downstairs
+till just before dinner."
+
+"Her ladyship is dressed already," the maid answered.
+
+"Naturally," she answered, significantly, and relapsed into silence.
+
+A few minutes later they heard the gritting of the carriage wheels on
+the drive. It curved round under Madeline's window, and pulled up at the
+front door.
+
+She listened for the sound of voices, but Sir Charles and his son
+alighted in silence. Then a little shrill cry of delight was wafted up
+from the hall as Lady Tregony fell into her son's arms. The next moment
+the harsh, raucous voice of the captain echoed distinctly through all
+the rooms.
+
+Madeline felt her heart give a sudden bound. How often she had heard
+that voice in her dreams, and thrilled at the sound--not a musical
+voice, by any means, not a voice to lure and soothe, but a voice to
+command; a voice to inspire confidence and awaken fear at the same
+time.
+
+Then a knock came to the door, and Beryl rushed in. "Gervase has come,
+dear," she said, excitedly.
+
+"Yes, I heard his voice."
+
+"But are you not coming down at once?"
+
+"I cannot very well," she answered, with a smile.
+
+"But he will be terribly disappointed. His first inquiry was for you."
+
+"We shall meet in the drawing-room before dinner is announced."
+
+"But what must I tell him?"
+
+"Anything you like, dear."
+
+Beryl departed with a pout, and a look of disappointment in her eyes. A
+little later there was a sound of heavy footsteps on the stairs.
+
+Madeline disappointed her maid by insisting on wearing her least
+becoming evening gown, and the only ornament she wore was a bunch of
+holly berries in her hair.
+
+She went downstairs alone, and was surprised to find the drawing-room
+empty. Where Lady Tregony and Beryl had taken themselves to she could
+not imagine. A big fire of logs was blazing in the grate, and in all the
+sconces candles were alight. She expected every moment that either Beryl
+or Lady Tregony would come to her; they were both dressed, and there was
+no reason whatever that they should remain in their rooms.
+
+After several minutes had gone by she began to suspect the truth. They
+were keeping away so that she might meet Gervase alone. It was very
+thoughtful of them certainly, but it was taking rather too much for
+granted. She disliked so many evidences of management and contrivance.
+If Providence was arranging all these matters she could not see why
+Providence might not be allowed a free hand. So much human assistance
+did not seem at all necessary.
+
+She was beginning to feel a little bit resentful when the door was
+thrown suddenly open, and Gervase entered. For a moment she started back
+with unfeigned surprise. She had expected seeing him in all the glory
+and splendour of his uniform, and here he was in ordinary evening dress,
+looking as common-place as any average country squire. The only splendid
+thing about him was his moustache, which was waxed out to its fullest
+dimensions.
+
+"Madeline," he said, huskily, coming hurriedly forward, with
+outstretched hands. "This is the supreme moment of my life."
+
+She placed both her hands in his, and looked him steadily in the eyes.
+She was quite calm again now. Her heart had ceased its wild gallop.
+
+"It seemed as if I should never get here," he said, in the same husky
+tones. "Oh! how impatient I have been to look into your dear eyes."
+
+"If you had missed this train you would not have got here for your
+Christmas dinner," she said, artlessly, "and that would have been
+horribly disappointing."
+
+"Would you have been very much disappointed?" he questioned, trying to
+throw a note of tenderness into his voice.
+
+"Of course, I should have been disappointed," she answered, frankly;
+"I've been quite consumed with curiosity to see what you look like."
+
+"Not with curiosity only, I hope, Madeline."
+
+"Why, isn't curiosity bad enough without having any other feeling to
+torment you?"
+
+"Did you think I should have changed toward you?" he said, in hurt
+tones. "Did you regard me as one of the fickle mob, who hold love so
+lightly?"
+
+"Nay, I have always regarded you as a brave, strong man who would place
+duty above everything."
+
+"In that, I trust, I shall never disappoint you," he said, humbly.
+"Henceforth my duty and my joy shall be to serve you."
+
+"I am only one," she said, quickly. "Is not your first duty to your
+country and your King?"
+
+"My first duty is to my queen," he answered gallantly, "and that is
+you."
+
+She drew her hands from his suddenly, and stepped back a pace. "Had we
+not better understand each other better before we talk so confidently?"
+she said, in hard decided tones.
+
+"What, after three long years?" he questioned, in an aggrieved voice.
+"Is it possible that there is anything left unexplained? Have I not
+opened all my heart to you in my letters? Do I need still to prove my
+devotion?"
+
+"No, no. You have been very candid and very loyal," she said, quickly.
+"But a matter of so much importance should not be decided in an hour."
+
+"But we have known each other for years, and did we not understand each
+other from the very beginning?"
+
+"Perhaps we did," she answered, with downcast eyes.
+
+"And everyone else understood," he went on. "It is true little or
+nothing was said at the beginning, for you--you--were--were--very young.
+But I was of full age, and when the proper time came I wrote plainly to
+you."
+
+"Yes, I know."
+
+"And you were not surprised? You expected I should write in that way,
+did you not?"
+
+"Yes, I think I did."
+
+"And yet now you talk of our understanding each other better. Oh,
+Madeline! Let me assure you that no other woman has crossed my path,
+that no other face has caught my fancy, that my heart has been true to
+you from the first, and I am prepared now to devote the rest of my life
+to you."
+
+"But is there not another side to the question?" she asked, seriously.
+"You said when first we met I was very young. But I have grown to be a
+woman now."
+
+"That is true, by Jove!" he answered, with a harsh laugh, "and a very
+lovely woman, too. But that only adds force and weight to what I have
+already said. If you had grown to be ill-favoured or plain, you might
+hesitate, thinking my heart would change. But no, Madeline, I am not of
+the fickle sort. If you were not half so handsome as you are I should
+still come to you eager, devoted, and determined."
+
+"You fail to understand my point," she said, quickly.
+
+"Not I, indeed," he interposed, with a laugh. "It is natural, I suppose,
+for a woman to have some doubts about a soldier. I know among the pious
+folk we have rather a bad reputation, and that we are supposed to have
+as many wives as Brigham Young. But that's a gross libel. I don't
+pretend that soldiers are saints, and some of them, I grant, change the
+objects of their affections frequently. But, Madeline, believe me, I
+have been true to you. True to that last smile and look you gave me in
+Washington. I come back offering you a complete and whole-hearted
+devotion. Now, come and let me kiss you, and settle the matter before
+dinner."
+
+She drew back a step further. "I think we understand each other less now
+than when we began our talk," she said, in hard, unnatural tones.
+
+"Well, by Jove, Madeline, you do astonish me," he said, in a tone of
+well-feigned surprise. "You surely don't think I'm insincere--that I'm
+putting it on, as it were; that I'm pretending what I don't feel? Let
+me assure you I'm absolutely certain of my regard for you. Even if I
+were in doubt before I got here--though, to tell you the candid truth, I
+never have been in any doubt. But even if I were, the sight of your
+face, the loveliness of your ripened womanhood, if you will allow me to
+say so, has drawn out my heart to you more strongly than ever."
+
+"I don't think we shall gain anything by pursuing this subject any
+further just now," she said, quietly. "And we shall have many
+opportunities for quiet talks later on."
+
+"And you are not going to let me kiss you?"
+
+"Most certainly not," she said, the colour rising in a crimson tide to
+her cheeks and forehead.
+
+"Then all I can say, it is a cold welcome," he said, using an adjective
+that need not be written down.
+
+"You do not understand me, Gervase," she said, a pained look coming into
+her eyes.
+
+"By Jove! I don't," he said, "and what is worse still, you persist in
+misunderstanding me."
+
+"I am sorry you put it in that way," she answered; "but there goes the
+dinner-gong," and the next moment the door was pushed open, and Lady
+Tregony bustled into the room.
+
+"So you have met!" she said, with a little giggle, "and no one to
+disturb your _tete-a-tete_. Well, that is delightful."
+
+Gervase frowned, but did not reply, and Madeline took the opportunity of
+escaping out of the room.
+
+In the dining-room she frustrated Lady Tregony's little design, and
+instead of seating herself next to Gervase she sat opposite him. She had
+not seen him for so long a time, that she wanted an opportunity of
+studying his face. Her first feeling of disappointment was confirmed as
+she looked at him more closely. In his uniform he looked magnificent--at
+least, that was the impression left on her mind; but in ordinary
+swallow-tail coat and patent leather slippers he looked common-place.
+There was no other word for it. Moreover, three years under the trying
+skies of India had aged him considerably. His straw-coloured hair no
+longer completely covered his scalp. The crow's feet about his eyes had
+grown deeper and more numerous. The skin of his face looked parched and
+drawn, his cheek bones appeared to be higher, his nose more hooked, and
+his teeth more prominent.
+
+Moreover, under an ordinary starched shirt-front the well-rounded chest
+had entirely disappeared. Perkins, the butler, could give him points in
+that respect.
+
+Madeline felt the process of disillusionment was proceeding all too
+rapidly. She wished he had come downstairs arrayed in scarlet and gold.
+As a study in black and white he was not altogether a success, and it
+was not pleasant to have her dreams blown away like spring blossoms in a
+gale.
+
+
+
+
+                               CHAPTER XX
+
+                             FATHER AND SON
+
+
+It was a great disappointment to the Tregonys that they were unable to
+announce on the night of their "At Home" that Gervase and Madeline were
+engaged. Madeline, however, was obdurate. She saw no reason for haste,
+and she saw many reasons for delay. The very anxiety of the Tregonys to
+get the matter settled at once made her only the more determined not to
+be rushed. The very masterfulness of Gervase--which she admired so
+much--for once defeated its own end.
+
+In her heart she had no real intention of upsetting what seemed to be
+the scheme and purpose of her life. It had seemed so long in the nature
+of things that she should marry Gervase Tregony--(why it should have
+seemed in the nature of things she hardly knew)--that to refuse to do so
+now would seem like flying in the face of Providence, and that required
+more courage than she possessed. Still, as far as she could see, it was
+no part of the providential plan that she should become engaged to
+Gervase that very year, and marry him early in the next. Dates did not
+appear to be included in the general arrangement, and she "guessed that
+in that matter she might be allowed considerable latitude."
+
+Gervase showed much less diplomacy than his father. Sir Charles had more
+correctly gauged Madeline's disposition than any other member of the
+family. He knew very well that she would never be driven, that any
+attempt at coercion would defeat its own end. On this assumption he had
+acted all the way through, and but for a single incident everything
+might have gone well.
+
+As the days passed away Gervase grew terribly impatient. He was hard up.
+"Horribly, disgustingly hard up," as he told his father, and here were
+Madeline's thousands or millions steadily accumulating, and nobody the
+better for it. If he could once get the knot tied he would be safe. She
+had so much that she could let him have all he wanted without feeling
+it, and there seemed no reason in the world why he should not begin to
+enjoy himself without delay.
+
+Madeline listened in the main with much patience to his appeals and
+protestations, but for some reason she could not understand, they failed
+to move her. He never touched the heroic side of her nature. His appeal
+was always to her vanity and selfishness. His pictures of happiness were
+merely pictures of self-indulgence. The aim and end of life as he
+shadowed it forth was "to take thy ease, eat, drink, and be merry." A
+town house, a shooting-box in Scotland. Two or three motor-cars, a steam
+yacht, and an endless round between times of balls and calls and grand
+operas.
+
+She frankly owned to herself that her idol had been taken off its
+pedestal, and there was no longer any halo about his head. To live in
+the same house with Gervase day after day was distinctly disquieting.
+His civilian attire made him look painfully common-place, his
+conversation was as common-place as his appearance.
+
+She asked him one day why he did not wear his captain's uniform.
+
+"Because I have resigned my commission," he answered.
+
+"Resigned your commission?" she questioned, slowly.
+
+"Why not?" he replied. "I have done my share of roughing it, surely."
+
+"But--but--oh! I don't know. I had an idea once an officer, always an
+officer."
+
+"Oh, nothing of the sort," he laughed, "I've given up soldiering to
+devote myself to you. Isn't that a much nobler occupation?"
+
+"I don't think so," she answered, slowly. "Besides, I did not want you
+to give up your commission to devote yourself to me."
+
+"At any rate, I've done it. I thought it would please you. It will show
+you, at any rate, how devoted I am. There is nothing I would not give up
+for your sake, and I never thought you would hesitate to speak the one
+word that would make me the happiest man in the world."
+
+"But you could not be happy unless I was happy also?" she interrogated.
+
+"But you would be happy. I should just lay myself out to make you as
+happy as a bird. By my soul, you would have a ripping time!"
+
+"I don't think that is just what I want," she said, abstractedly. "Don't
+you think there is something greater in life than either of us have yet
+seen?"
+
+He looked at her with as much astonishment in his eyes as if she had
+proposed suicide. "Greater," he said, in a tone of incredulity. "Well,
+I'm--I'm--. The truth is, Madeline, you're beyond me," he added,
+twisting suddenly round, and back again. "As if there could be anything
+greater. We might have a turn at Monte Carlo if you liked, or Homburg in
+the season, or--but the fact is, we might go anywhere. Think of it! You
+can't conceive of anything greater!"
+
+"Oh, yes! I can," she answered quietly, but firmly. "There's nothing
+noble or heroic in living merely for self and pleasure."
+
+"Noble! heroic!" he repeated, slowly, as if not quite comprehending.
+"Well, now, I wonder what preaching fool has been putting these silly
+notions into your head. Have you turned Methodist?"
+
+"I don't know why you call such notions silly," she said, ignoring his
+last question. "Did not Christ say that a man's life consisteth not in
+the abundance of the things he possesseth?"
+
+"Oh! well, I'm not going to say anything against that as an abstract
+thing," he said. "But the Bible must not be taken too literally, you
+know."
+
+"What do you mean by that?"
+
+"Why, I mean what I say, and what every man, if he's got any sense,
+means. Religion is a very respectable thing, and all that. And I think
+everybody ought to go to church now and then and take communion, and be
+confirmed when he's young, and all that. And if people are very poor
+there must be a lot of comfort in believing in Providence, don't you
+see, and in living in hope that they'll have a jolly good time later on,
+and all that, don't you see. But as for making oneself miserable for
+other people, and denying oneself that somebody else may have a better
+time, and turning the other cheek, and all that, don't you see--well,
+that's just rot, and can't be done."
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"Why not? Well, it's just too silly for words. Fancy a man or a woman
+not having a good time if he has the chance."
+
+"But it may be more blessed to give than to receive."
+
+"Don't you believe it, Madeline. I believe in taking a common-sense view
+of life. We've only one life to live, and it's our duty to squeeze all
+the juice out of it that we can."
+
+"But may not the pursuit of self end in missing self? Is there not more
+joy in pursuing duty than in chasing pleasure?"
+
+"Look here, Madeline," he said, after a long pause, staring hard at her,
+"tell me candidly who's been putting these silly notions into your
+pretty little head."
+
+"I wish you would not talk to me as though I had the head of a baby,"
+she said, a little indignantly. "You should remember that I am no longer
+a child," and she turned and walked slowly out of the room.
+
+Gervase went off to the library at once to interview his father. The
+days were passing away, and he was getting no nearer the realisation of
+his desire. All his interviews with her ended where they began. Whenever
+he approached the subject nearest his heart and his interests, she
+always managed to shunt him off to some side issue.
+
+Sir Charles was busy writing letters, but he looked up at once when
+Gervase entered.
+
+"Can you spare time for a little talk?" the son asked, abruptly.
+
+"Why, of course I can," was the reply. "Is there something particular
+you wish to talk about?"
+
+"Well, the truth is," he said, in a tone of irritation, "I am not
+getting on with Madeline a bit."
+
+"Perhaps you are too eager and impatient. You must remember that
+Madeline is not the girl to be driven."
+
+"Yes, I've heard that before," he said, angrily. "You have always harped
+on that string. But you've been in the wrong, I'm sure you have. If
+you'd only let me have my way I would have proposed to her three years
+ago."
+
+"And spoiled everything."
+
+"No, I should have won everything. She was only a girl then, and was
+immensely gone on me. A soldier in her eyes was a hero, and an officer's
+uniform the most splendid thing she could imagine. If I'd struck then,
+when the iron was hot, she'd have fallen into my arms, and once engaged
+there'd have been no backing out."
+
+"My dear boy, you don't know Madeline Grover," Sir Charles said,
+seriously. "No girlish promise would have bound her if she wanted to get
+out of it."
+
+"Oh, yes, it would. She has tremendously high notions about honour and
+duty."
+
+"Exactly. That's just where you fail to appreciate the difficulties of
+the situation. Very likely you tell her that some of her notions are
+silly, because you don't understand them."
+
+"That's just what I have been telling her this very morning."
+
+"And you think that's the way, perhaps, to win her promise."
+
+"But what's a fellow to do? One cannot sit mum while she talks rot
+about--about----"
+
+"About what?"
+
+"Oh! I don't know; but you know when a girl gets on to heroics she
+generally makes a fool of herself."
+
+"Madeline is very sane as a general thing."
+
+"Then why in the name of common-sense doesn't she jump?"
+
+"She wants to make sure of her ground, perhaps."
+
+"But she knows who I am and who you are, and, surely, it's something to
+ask a nameless girl to marry into a family like ours."
+
+"I confess I expected she would be more impressed than she is."
+
+"Does she know she's got the tin?"
+
+"I don't think so. She thinks we have the wealth and the position, and
+everything else."
+
+"And yet she doesn't jump. I'd no idea she'd hold out as she is doing."
+
+"You'll have to humour her, Gervase. I've told you from the first she's
+not to be driven. Sympathise with her in what you call her heroics.
+Encourage her in her mental flight after great ideals."
+
+Gervase shook his head, and looked blank. "It's no use, father," he
+said, despondingly, "I should only make a fool of myself if I tried.
+Nature never gave me any wings of that sort."
+
+"At any rate, don't contradict her, and call her a goose, and assume the
+airs of a superior person."
+
+"But surely I know a mighty lot more than she does. Think of my age and
+experience, and remember I haven't travelled over half the world with my
+eyes shut."
+
+"It is not experience of the world, but knowledge of the ways of women
+you want. It isn't strength, but diplomacy that you need."
+
+"You think she will come round in time, don't you?"
+
+"Oh, yes! I think so, provided you play your cards with skill. She has
+never said 'no' has she?"
+
+"That isn't the trouble exactly. She has never said 'yes,' and until she
+says it I'm not safe. You know she comes of age in May."
+
+"Well?"
+
+"You take it very coolly, father," Gervase said, in a tone of
+irritation. "I don't think it is at all well. Madeline is my only hope.
+Unless I marry a rich woman I'm stranded--absolutely stranded."
+
+"You've not been getting into deeper debt, I hope?"
+
+"I've not been getting into shallower water, you may bet your bottom
+dollar on that."
+
+"Am I to understand that you have been anticipating events?"
+
+"I have a little. I thought I was perfectly safe in doing so. Your
+letters indicated that the way was quite clear, that Madeline looked
+upon the thing as settled, that she knew it was her father's wish, that
+you were quite agreeable, that everything was as straight as straight
+could be."
+
+"But I never saw her letters to you."
+
+"They were almost entirely satisfactory, I can assure you. She did not
+accept my proposal, it is true. But--well--she couldn't have written in
+a more friendly way. She thought we should meet again first, that was
+all. No hint of any delay after I came back."
+
+"I hope you haven't been disappointing her in some way."
+
+"I believe she is a bit disappointed at my retiring from the army. Like
+most girls, she dotes on a soldier. She loves the uniform and the gold
+braid and all that. But I told her I gave up the army that I might
+devote myself to her."
+
+"And did that satisfy her?"
+
+"I don't know. I can't make out exactly where she is. She seems to have
+changed in some way. If she hadn't lived under your eye ever since she
+has been in England I should be half disposed to think some other fellow
+had been making love to her."
+
+Sir Charles gave a little start, then turned his head, and contemplated
+his writing pad.
+
+"I suppose she didn't flirt with anybody while you were in London?"
+Gervase questioned, after a pause.
+
+"Not that I am aware of. Oh, no! I'm certain she didn't," Sir Charles
+replied, looking up again.
+
+"And, of course, in St. Gaved there's nobody she would look at for a
+moment," Gervase went on.
+
+Sir Charles nibbled for a moment at the end of his penholder. He hardly
+knew whether to tell Gervase or no. It was but a vague fear at most. For
+months--so he believed--she had never seen Rufus Sterne, and his name
+was never mentioned under any circumstances. Gervase was a violent
+fellow, and if he were made jealous there was no knowing what he might
+do or say. On the other hand, it was almost certain that he would hear
+the story of Madeline's adventure on the cliffs sooner or later, and
+then he would be excessively angry at not having been told by his own
+people.
+
+On the whole, Sir Charles concluded that he had better let Gervase know
+all there was to be known. The simple truth might gain in importance in
+his eyes the longer it was kept from him.
+
+"I don't think, Gervase, you need have the least fear that you have a
+rival," he said, at length, looking up with what he intended to be a
+reassuring smile. "There was a little circumstance some months ago that
+caused me a moment's uneasiness; but only a moment's. I soon saw that it
+meant nothing, that it never could mean anything, in fact."
+
+"What was the circumstance?" Gervase asked, with a quick light of
+interest in his eyes.
+
+"Well, it came about in this way," and Sir Charles told in an off-hand
+and apparently indifferent manner the story of Madeline's escapade.
+
+Gervase listened in gloomy silence, tugging vigorously at his moustache
+all the time.
+
+"And you say she visited him in his diggings?" he questioned, sullenly,
+when Sir Charles had finished.
+
+"I understand she called twice. From her point of view it seemed right
+enough. He had broken his leg in rescuing her, and with her American
+notions of freedom and independence, she saw no harm in calling to see
+him when he was getting better."
+
+"But you say she went twice?"
+
+"She went a second time to take him some books she had promised to lend
+him."
+
+"Are you sure she went only twice?"
+
+"I think I may say yes to that question. Madeline is very truthful and
+very frank, and when I pointed out that it was scarcely in harmony with
+our English notions of propriety she fell in with the suggestion at
+once."
+
+"And she made no attempt to see him after?"
+
+"Not the smallest. She had expressed her gratitude and the episode had
+closed."
+
+Gervase looked thoughtful, and not quite satisfied.
+
+"Madeline can be as close as an oyster when she likes," he said, after a
+pause; "how do you know she has not been thinking about the fellow ever
+since?"
+
+"Why should she?"
+
+"Well, why shouldn't she? He saved her life, that is no small matter,
+especially to a romantic temperament like hers. He broke his leg, and
+nearly lost his life in doing it; that would add greatly to the interest
+of the situation. Then, if I remember rightly, he's a singularly
+handsome rascal, with an easy flow of speech, and a voice peculiarly
+rich and flexible."
+
+"My dear boy, you can make a mountain out of a molehill, if you like,"
+Sir Charles said, with a laugh. "That's your look-out. I thought it
+right to tell you everything--this incident among the rest; but I can
+assure you you need not worry yourself five seconds over the matter."
+
+"Perhaps I needn't; or it may be there is more at the back of Madeline's
+mind than you think. One thing is clear to me, something has changed
+her, and I'm going to find out what it is; and by Jove! if--if----" and
+he clenched his fists savagely, and walked out of the room.
+
+
+
+
+                                 CHAPTER XXI
+
+                           GERVASE SPEAKS HIS MIND
+
+
+On New Year's Day Gervase felt determined, if possible, to bring matters
+to a head, and with this laudable purpose pulsing through every fibre of
+his body he made his way to the drawing-room where, he understood from
+his mother, Madeline was sitting alone. He found her, as he expected,
+intent on a book. She looked up with a bored expression when he entered,
+smiled rather wearily, but very sweetly, and then went on with her
+reading.
+
+Gervase felt nettled and frowned darkly, but he had made up his mind not
+to be driven from his purpose by any indifference--pretended or
+genuine--on Madeline's part. For a whole week he had been beating the
+air and getting no nearer the goal of his desire; the time had now come
+when he would have an explicit answer. His worldly circumstances were
+desperate, and if Madeline failed him, he would have to exercise his
+wits in some other direction.
+
+Moreover, the story of Madeline's adventure on the cliffs grew in
+importance and significance the longer he contemplated it. The fact that
+she and Rufus Sterne never met was nothing to the point. She might be
+eating her heart out in silence for all he knew. Girls did such foolish
+things. For good or ill he would have to find out how the land lay in
+that direction.
+
+"Is your book very interesting, Madeline?" he asked, throwing himself
+into an easy chair near the fire.
+
+"Rather so," she answered, without looking up.
+
+"You seem very fond of reading," he said, after a brief pause.
+
+"I am very fond of it."
+
+Another pause.
+
+"Don't you think it is very hurtful to the eyes to read so much?" he
+said, edging his chair a little nearer to the couch on which she sat.
+
+"Really, I have never thought of it."
+
+"But you ought to think of it, Madeline. The eyesight is most
+important."
+
+"I suppose it is."
+
+Another pause, during which Gervase threw a lump of wood on the grate.
+Madeline went on reading, apparently oblivious of his presence.
+
+"I can't understand how people can become so lost in a book," Gervase
+said, a little petulantly.
+
+"No?"
+
+"No, I can't. It's beyond me."
+
+"Do you never read?"
+
+"Sometimes, but not often. I've too much else to do. Besides, doesn't
+the Bible say that much reading is a weariness to the flesh?"
+
+"Does it?"
+
+"I don't know; but I've heard it somewhere, and it's true."
+
+"You've proved it?"
+
+"Over and over again."
+
+"What sort of books do you find so wearisome?"
+
+"Oh, all sorts. There's not much to choose between them."
+
+"Do you really think that?"
+
+"Of course I do, or I shouldn't say it. I'm not the sort of man to say
+what I don't mean. I thought you had found that out long ago."
+
+"I don't think I have thought much about it."
+
+"I thought as much. It appears that I am of no account with you,
+Madeline. And yet I had hoped to be your husband. But devotion is lost,
+affection is thrown away, the burning hope of years is trampled upon."
+
+"I thought we were to let that matter drop, Gervase, until we had had
+more time to think it over?"
+
+"But I don't want more time, Madeline. My mind is quite made up. If I
+wait a year--ten years--it will be all the same. For me there is only
+one woman in the world, and her name is Madeline Grover."
+
+"It is very kind of you to say so, Gervase, and I really feel very much
+honoured. But, you see, I have only known you about a week."
+
+"Oh, Madeline, how can you say that? We have known each other for
+years."
+
+"In a sense, Gervase, but not in reality. In fact, I find that all the
+past has to be wiped out, and I have to start again."
+
+"Why so?"
+
+"I cannot explain it very well, but I expect we have both changed.
+Madeline Grover, the school-girl, is not the Madeline Grover of to-day."
+
+"By Jove, I fear that's only too true," he said, almost angrily.
+
+"And the Captain Tregony I met in Washington--excuse me for saying
+it--is not the Gervase Tregony of Trewinion Hall."
+
+"Have I deteriorated so much?" he questioned, with an angry flash in his
+eyes.
+
+"I do not say that you have deteriorated at all," she said, with a
+smile. "Perhaps we have both of us vastly improved. Let us hope so at
+any rate. But what I am pointing out is, we meet--almost entirely
+different people."
+
+"That you are different, I don't deny," he answered, sullenly. "In
+Washington you made heaps of me, now you are as cold as an iceberg. But
+I deny that I have changed. I loved you then, I have loved you ever
+since, I love you now."
+
+"Well, have it that I only have changed," she said, with a touch of
+weariness in her voice. "I don't want to make you angry, Gervase, but
+you must recognise the fact that I was only a school-girl when we first
+met. I am a woman now. Hence, you must give me time to adjust myself if
+you will allow the expression. You see, I have to begin over again."
+
+"That's very cold comfort for me," he said, angrily. "How do I know that
+some other fellow will not come along? How do I know that some
+adventurer has not come between us already?"
+
+She glanced at him for a moment with an indignant light in her eyes,
+then picked up her book again.
+
+"Pardon me, Madeline," he said, hurriedly, "I would not offend you for
+the world, but love such as mine makes a fellow jealous and suspicious."
+
+"Suspicious of what?" she demanded.
+
+"Well, you see," he said, slowly and awkwardly, turning away from her,
+and staring into the fire, "it's better to be honest about it, isn't
+it?"
+
+"Honest about what?"
+
+"I don't think I'm naturally jealous," he explained, "but father has
+told me all about your--your--well, your escapade with that scoundrel,
+Sterne."
+
+"Is he a scoundrel?"
+
+"You know nothing about him, of course, but he is just the kind of
+fellow that would take advantage of any service he had rendered."
+
+"I was not aware----"
+
+"Of course not," he interrupted, "but those--well, what I call low-born
+people have no sense of propriety; and in these days--I am sorry to have
+to say it--very little reverence for their betters."
+
+"Well, what is all this leading to?"
+
+"Oh, nothing in particular. Only father told me how he took some risks
+on your account, and I know that you are nothing if not grateful, and
+honestly I was half afraid lest the rascal had been in some way imposing
+on your good nature."
+
+"You are quite sure that you know this Mr. Sterne?"
+
+"I know of him, Madeline, which is quite enough for me. Of course, I
+have seen him dozens of times, but he is not the kind of man I should
+ever think of speaking to--except of course, as I would speak to a
+tradesman or a fisherman."
+
+"Yes?"
+
+"You see, those people who are too proud to work, and too ignorant and
+too poor to be gentlemen, and yet who try to ape the manners of their
+betters are really the most detestable people of all."
+
+"Is that so?"
+
+"It is so, I can assure you. As an American you have not got to know
+quite the composition of our English society. But you will see things
+differently later on. A good, honest working man, who wears fustian, and
+is not ashamed of it, is to be admired, but your working class upstart,
+with vulgarity bred in his bones, is really too terrible for words."
+
+"And is there no vulgarity in what you call the upper classes?"
+
+"Well, you see, the upper classes can afford to be anything they like,
+if you understand."
+
+"You mean that they are a law unto themselves?"
+
+"Well, yes, that is about the size of it. No one would think of
+criticising a duke, for instance, on a question of manners or taste."
+
+"Well, now, that is real interesting," she said, with a cynical little
+laugh. "It explains a lot of things that I had not seen before."
+
+"Then, too," he went on, warming to his theme, "it is largely a question
+of feeling. You can't explain some things; you can't say why they are
+wrong or right, only you feel they are so."
+
+"That is quite true, Gervase," she answered, with a smile.
+
+"For instance, I wear a monocle sometimes. Now that is quite right for a
+man in my position, and quite becoming."
+
+"Most becoming, Gervase."
+
+"But for Peter Day, the draper, for instance, to stand in his shop-door
+with a glass in his right eye would look simply ridiculous."
+
+"You would conclude he was cross-eyed, wouldn't you?"
+
+"You would conclude he was an idiot, and, between ourselves, that's just
+the trouble now-a-days. The common people seem to think that they have a
+perfect right to do what their betters do."
+
+"But to copy their virtues----"
+
+"That isn't the point exactly," he interrupted. "I don't pretend that we
+have any more virtues of the homely sort, than the cottage folk, but
+certain things belong to us by right."
+
+"Do you mean vices?" she queried, innocently.
+
+"Well, no, not in our case; but they might be vices if copied by the
+lower classes. I'm afraid I can't explain myself very clearly. But
+things that would be quite proper for the best people to do, would be
+simply grotesque, or worse, if the common orders attempted them."
+
+"Really, this is most interesting," she said, half-banteringly,
+half-seriously. "Now, out in our country we have no varying standards of
+right and wrong."
+
+"Ah! well, that is because you have no aristocracy," he said, loftily.
+
+"And if I were to marry you, Gervase, and become a lady of quality I
+should be judged, as it were, by a different set of laws."
+
+"You would become Lady Tregony when I succeeded to the title."
+
+She laughed. "That, I fear, is scarcely an answer to my question."
+
+"Not a full answer, but you see there are so many things that cannot be
+explained."
+
+"Evidently. In the meanwhile I belong to the common herd----"
+
+"No, no! Madeline," he interrupted, quickly.
+
+"My father was only a working man," she went on, "and across the water
+we have no blue bloods; we have blue noses, but that's another matter,
+but we're all on the same footing there."
+
+"Not socially, and dollars in America count for what name and titles
+count for here."
+
+"But I haven't even the dollars," she said, with a laugh.
+
+"But you have," he protested, quickly. "That is--I mean--you have not to
+work for your living. You are not a type-writer girl, or anything of
+that sort."
+
+"And should I be any the worse if I were?"
+
+"Well, of course, Madeline, you would be a lady anywhere, or under any
+circumstances," he said, grandiloquently.
+
+"Thank you, Gervase, but suppose we get back again now to the point we
+started from."
+
+"I'll be delighted," he said, eagerly. "I do want to start the new year
+with everything settled; that's the reason I pushed myself on to you, as
+it were, this afternoon. I hate beating about the bush, and all our
+friends are wondering why the engagement is not announced."
+
+"Oh, dear! you have gone back miles further than I intended," she
+laughed. "I understood you wanted to warn me against somebody."
+
+"I do, Madeline. I'm your best friend, if you'll only believe it. And I
+do beseech you, if you've been in the least friendly with that fellow
+Sterne, you'll drop him."
+
+"You think he isn't a good man."
+
+"Oh, blow his goodness. The point is, he's common, vulgar--bad form in
+every way, if you understand. Anyone in your position should never be
+seen speaking to him."
+
+"But is there anything against his moral character?"
+
+"Oh, confound his moral character," he said, with an oath, for which he
+apologised at once. "It isn't that I'm squeamish about. The point is,
+Madeline, he's no gentleman."
+
+"He seemed to me to be quite a gentleman."
+
+"I'm sorry to hear you say that," he said, mournfully, getting up and
+throwing another log on the fire. "It shows how you may be deceived by
+such scoundrels."
+
+"But is that a nice word to use of any man against whose moral character
+you have no complaint to make?"
+
+"No, it isn't a nice word, but he isn't a nice person. I don't care to
+mention such things, but you may not be aware that he is an infidel?"
+
+"What is that, Gervase?"
+
+"Oh! I don't know, but it's something bad, you bet. I heard the vicar
+talking about it last time I was at home, and he was pretty sick, I can
+assure you. If Sterne were to die to-morrow I question if the vicar
+would allow him to be buried in consecrated ground."
+
+"And what would happen then?" she asked, wonderingly.
+
+"Oh! don't ask me. I am not up in those things, but I just mention the
+matter to show you he's a pretty bad sort, and not the sort of person
+for any one like you to be on speaking terms with."
+
+"But what I want to know is, has he ever done anyone any wrong. Ever
+cheated people, or told lies about them, or stolen their property. Or
+has he ever been known to get drunk, or to behave in any way unworthy of
+a gentleman?"
+
+"My dear Madeline, I hate saying anything unpleasant about anyone. But a
+man who never goes to church, who doesn't believe in the Church, who has
+no respect for the clergy or the bishops, who has been heard to denounce
+some of our most sacred institutions, such as the land laws, who has
+even said that patriotism was a curse, and war an iniquity--what can you
+expect of such a man? He may not have actually stolen his neighbour's
+property, but he would very much like to."
+
+"I don't think that necessarily follows," she said, seriously. "I think
+it is possible for a man to have very small respect for the clergy, and
+for what is called the Church, and yet for him to have a profound sense
+of honour, and an unquenchable love for righteousness."
+
+"Then you don't think staying away from church is as bad as getting
+drunk?"
+
+"I should think not, indeed," she answered, quickly. "A man who gets
+drunk, I mean an educated man, a gentleman--sinks beneath contempt."
+
+"Sterne may get drunk for all I know," he said, uneasily. "You see, I
+have been out of England for a long time."
+
+She closed her book with a sudden movement, and rose to her feet.
+
+"No, you must not go yet," he said, in alarm. "We have not settled the
+matter which I wish particularly to have settled to-day."
+
+"We have talked quite long enough for one afternoon," she answered,
+coolly.
+
+"But, Madeline, have you no pity?" he said, pleadingly.
+
+"It would be folly to rush into such a matter hastily," she answered, in
+the same tone.
+
+"But--but, Madeline, answer me one question," he entreated. "Have
+you--have you seen this man Sterne since I came back?"
+
+"You have no right to ask that question," she said, drawing herself up
+to her full height. "Nevertheless, I will answer it. I have not," and
+without another word she swept out of the room.
+
+Her heart was in a tumult of conflicting emotions. She was less
+satisfied with Gervase than she had ever been before, and less satisfied
+with herself. And yet she saw no way out of the position in which she
+found herself. It was next to impossible, situated as she was, to upset
+what had been taken for granted so long, particularly as she had
+acquiesced from the first in the unspoken arrangement. She felt as if in
+coming to England she had been lured into a trap, and yet it was a trap
+she had been eager to fall into. She had hoped when she saw Gervase,
+that all her old reverence and admiration and hero worship would flame
+into life again, instead of which his coming had been as cold water on
+the faggots. Whether he had lost some of the qualities she had so much
+admired or whether all the change was in herself, she did not know, but
+the glamour had all passed away, and her eyes ached with looking at the
+common-place.
+
+She wondered if it were always so; if maturity always destroyed the
+illusions of youth, if the poetry of eighteen became feeble prose at
+twenty-one.
+
+She went to her own room, and donned her hat and jacket, and then stole
+unobserved out of the house. "I must get a little fresh air," she said
+to herself, "and, perhaps, a long walk will put an end to this
+restlessness."
+
+She turned her back upon St. Gaved, and made for the "downs" that
+skirted the cliffs. The wind was keen and searching, and the wintry sun
+was already disappearing behind the sea. "I suppose I shall have to say
+yes sooner or later," she went on, as she walked briskly forward. "I
+don't see how I can get out of it very well. All his people seem to be
+expecting it, and he is evidently very much in love with me. I am afraid
+there won't be very much romance on my side, but, after all, we may be
+very happy together."
+
+Then she looked up with a start as a step sounded directly in front of
+her, and she found herself face to face with Rufus Sterne.
+
+
+
+
+                               CHAPTER XXII
+
+                             A HUMAN DOCUMENT
+
+
+Rufus returned from Tregannon in a condition of mental unrest, such as
+he had not known before. It was Madeline Grover in the first instance
+who set him thinking along certain lines, and once started it was
+impossible to turn back. During all the time he remained a prisoner in
+the house, his brain had been unusually active. Unconsciously his fierce
+antagonisms subsided, his revolt against accepted creeds took new
+shapes, his belief in German philosophy began to waver.
+
+The process of mental evolution went on so quietly and silently, that he
+was almost startled when he discovered that his philosophic watchwords
+no longer represented his real beliefs. He felt as though while he slept
+all his beliefs had been thrown into the melting-pot to be cast afresh,
+and were now being poured out into new moulds. What the result would be
+when the process was complete it was impossible to say, but already one
+thing was certain, the blank negatives in which he once found refuge,
+would never again satisfy him. He might never evolve into an orthodox
+believer. The religiosity of the Churches appealed to him as little as
+ever it did. He despised the smug hypocrisy that on all hands usurped
+the place of Christianity, and defiled its name. He loathed the
+pretensions of priests and clerics of all sects. But out of the fog and
+darkness and uncertainty, certain great truths and principles loomed
+faintly and fitfully.
+
+The fog was no longer an empty void. The silence was now and then broken
+by a sound of words, though the language was strange to his ears. There
+appeared to be a moral order which answered to his own need, and a moral
+order implied the existence of what he had so long denied.
+
+His visit to his grandparents quickened his thoughts in the direction
+they had been travelling. Everything tended to serious reflection. The
+awful mystery and solemnity of life were forced upon him at all points.
+The old people walked and talked "as seeing Him who is invisible."
+
+He was quietly amused when he returned from his long walk on Christmas
+day to find his grandfather and the young minister engaged in a heated
+argument on the barren and thorny subject of verbal inspiration. He
+would have stopped the discussion if he could, for he discovered that
+his grandfather was getting much the worst of the argument, and was
+losing his temper in consequence. But the old man refused to be
+silenced. Getting his chance of reply he poured out a torrent of words
+that swept everything before it, and to which there seemed to be no end.
+
+Fortunately, tea was announced just as the young minister was about to
+reply, and over the tea-table conversation drifted into an entirely
+different channel. After tea the Rev. Reuben retired to his study
+accompanied by his wife, and Rufus and Mr. Brook were left in possession
+of the sitting-room.
+
+As there was no evening service on Christmas Day the young minister felt
+free to relax himself. Conversation tripped lightly from point to point,
+from general to particular, from gay to grave, from serious to solemn.
+
+They talked till supper time, and after supper Rufus walked with the
+young minister to his lodgings, and remained with him till long after
+midnight. The conversation was a revelation to Rufus in many ways.
+Marshall Brook was a scholar as well as a thinker. He was as familiar
+with the German writers as with the English. He was alive to all modern
+questions, conversant with all the work of the higher critics, alive to
+all that was fundamental in the creeds of the Churches, contemptuous of
+the narrowness and bigotry that brought religion into contempt, tolerant
+of all fresh light, patient and even sympathetic with every form of
+human doubt, and large-hearted and clear-eyed enough to see that there
+was good in everything.
+
+Marshall Brook had often heard of his predecessor's sceptical grandson,
+and was glad of the opportunity of meeting him, and was charmed with him
+when they did meet. It was easy to discover where the shoe pinched, easy
+to see how and when the revolt began, easy to trace the successive steps
+from doubt to denial, from unbelief to blank negation.
+
+Rufus talked freely and well. He knew that the young minister regarded
+him as an infidel, and he thought he might as well live up to the
+description. Marshall Brook led him on by easy and almost imperceptible
+steps. His first business was to diagnose the case, and if possible to
+find out the cause. For the first hour he allowed all Rufus's arguments
+to go by default.
+
+But when they got to close grips Rufus felt helpless. This young scholar
+could state his case better than he could state it himself. He had
+traversed all the barren and thorny waste, and much more carefully than
+Rufus had ever done. He knew the whole case by heart; knew every
+argument and every objection. He tore the flimsy fabric of Rufus's
+philosophy to shreds and left him with scarcely a rag to cover himself
+with.
+
+Rufus remained three days at Tregannon and spent the major portion of
+the time with Marshall Brook. Apart from the interest raised by the
+questions discussed, it was a delight to be brought into contact with a
+mind so fresh and well disciplined. They hammered out the _pros_ and
+_cons_ of materialistic philosophy with infinite zest. They wrestled
+with the joy of striplings at a village fair. They fought for supremacy
+with all their might, but in every encounter Rufus went under.
+
+When he returned to St. Gaved he was in a condition of mental chaos.
+Nearly every prop on which he supported himself had been knocked away.
+He was certain of nothing, not even of his own existence.
+
+It was not an uncommon experience; most thinking men have passed through
+it at one time or another. Destruction has often to precede
+construction. The old has to be demolished even to the foundations
+before the new building can arise.
+
+Yet none save those who have passed through it can conceive the utter
+desolation and darkness of soul, during what may be called the
+interregnum. The old has been destroyed, the new has not yet taken
+shape. The ark has been sunk and the mountain peaks have not yet begun
+to appear above the flood. The frightened soul flits hither and thither
+across the waste of waters, seeking some place on which to rest its
+feet, and finding none; and unlike Noah's dove there is no ark to which
+it can return. It must remain poised on wing till the floods have
+assuaged and the foundations of things have been discovered.
+
+In the last resort every man writes his own creed. No man, even
+mentally, can remain in a state of suspended animation for very long. A
+philosophy of negations is as abhorrent to the sensitive soul as a
+vacuum is to Nature. After destruction there is bound to be
+construction. Like beavers we are ever building, and when one dam has
+been swept away by the flood, we straightway set to work to build
+another.
+
+Rufus was trying to evolve some kind of cosmos out of chaos when he met
+Madeline on the downs. She came upon him suddenly and unexpectedly and
+his heart leaped like a startled hare. How beautiful she was. How lissom
+and graceful and strong.
+
+"This is an unexpected pleasure," she said, in her bright, frank,
+ingenuous way. "I am glad we have met."
+
+"Yes?" he replied, not knowing what else to say.
+
+"I have heard something about you recently and I would like to know if
+it is true."
+
+"What have you heard?" he questioned, with a puzzled look on his face.
+
+"That you are an infidel."
+
+"Who told you that?"
+
+"That is a matter of no consequence since it is common gossip."
+
+For a moment he was silent, and turned his eyes seaward as if to watch
+the sun go down. "Are you pressed for time?" he asked without turning
+his eyes.
+
+"No, I am quite free for the next hour," she answered, with a smile,
+though she wondered what the Tregonys would think if they knew.
+
+"I owe a good deal to you," he began, slowly and thoughtfully.
+
+"No, not to me, surely. I am the debtor," she interrupted.
+
+"Yes, to you," he went on in the same slow, even way. "And if you care
+to know--that is, if you are interested--why then it will be a pleasure
+to talk to you--as it always has been----"
+
+Then he paused and again turned his eyes toward the sea. She glanced at
+him shyly but did not reply.
+
+"It is easy to call people names," he said, at length, without looking
+at her. "I do not complain, however. I have believed the things I could
+not help believing. Can we any of us do more than that?"
+
+"I do not quite understand?" she answered, looking at him with a puzzled
+expression.
+
+"I mean that the things we believe, or do not believe, are matters over
+which we have no absolute control. You believe what you believe because
+you cannot help it. You have not been coerced into believing it. The
+evidence is all-sufficient for you though it might not be for me. On the
+same ground I believe what I believe--because--because I cannot help
+myself. Do you follow me? Faith after all is belief upon evidence, and
+if the evidence is insufficient----"
+
+"But what if people reject the evidence without weighing it, stubbornly
+turn their backs upon the light?" she interrupted.
+
+"Then they are not honest," he said, quickly; "but I hope you do not
+accuse me of dishonesty?"
+
+"I accuse you of nothing," she answered. "I have only told you what
+people are saying."
+
+"And you are sorry?" and he turned, and looked her frankly in the face.
+
+"I am very sorry," she replied, with a faint suspicion of colour on her
+cheeks.
+
+"It is generous of you to be interested in me at all," he said, after a
+pause. "And if I were to tell you how much I value that interest you
+might not believe me."
+
+She darted a startled glance at him, but she did not catch his eyes for
+he was looking seaward again, and for a moment or two there was silence.
+
+"I should like to tell you everything about myself," he went on, at
+length, "my early troubles and battles, my boyish revolt against cruel
+and illogical creeds, my almost unaided pursuit of knowledge, my steady
+drift into blank negation; but I should bore you----"
+
+"No, no!" she said, quickly. "I should like to hear all the story. I
+should, indeed. Really and truly."
+
+They walked away northward, while the light went down in the West. The
+twilight deepened rapidly, and the frosty stars began to glimmer in the
+sky. But neither seemed to heed the gathering darkness nor the rapid
+flight of time.
+
+Rufus talked without reserve; it is easy to talk when those who listen
+are sympathetic. He told the story of his father's death abroad, of his
+mother's grief, of his own bitter sense of loss. He sketched his
+grandfather--upright and severe--preaching a creed that was more
+fearsome than any nightmare. He spoke of their slender means and their
+fruitless efforts to get any of the property his father left. Of his
+granny's wish that he should be a draper, of his own ambition to be an
+engineer, and the compromise which landed him in Redbourne as a bank
+clerk. And through all the story there ran the deeper current of his
+mental struggles till at last he fancied he found the _ultima Thule_ in
+pure materialism.
+
+Madeline listened quite absorbed. It was the most interesting human
+document that had ever been unfolded to her, and all the more
+interesting because it was told with such artlessness and sincerity. Yet
+it was not a very heroic story as he told it. Rufus was no hero in his
+own eyes, and he was too honest to pretend to be what he was not.
+Perhaps, in his hatred of pretence he made himself out a less admirable
+character than he was in reality.
+
+Madeline sighed faintly more than once. There were manifest weaknesses
+where there should have been strength. He had drifted here and there
+where he should have resisted, and taken for granted what he should
+have tried and tested.
+
+"And you still remain on the barren rocks of your _ultima Thule_?" she
+questioned, at length.
+
+He did not answer for several moments. Then he said quietly, "You will
+think me sadly lacking in mental balance, no doubt; but at present, I
+fear, I must say I am at sea again."
+
+"Yes?"
+
+"You compelled me to face the old problems once more, to re-examine the
+evidence."
+
+"I compelled you?"
+
+"Unwittingly, no doubt. You remember our talks when I was _hors de
+combat_. The fragments of poetry you read to me, the books you lent?"
+
+"Well?"
+
+"I found myself fighting the old battles over again. Before I was aware,
+I was in the thick of the strife."
+
+"And you are fighting still?"
+
+"Yes, I am fighting still."
+
+"With your face toward your _ultima Thule_?"
+
+"I cannot say that."
+
+"What is your desire, then?"
+
+"To find the truth. Perhaps I shall never succeed, but I shall try."
+
+"You should come to church, which is the repository of truth, our vicar
+says."
+
+He smiled a little wistfully, and shook his head. "At present I am
+making a fresh study of what Jesus said--or what He is reported to have
+said."
+
+"Then that is all the greater reason why you should come to church."
+
+He smiled again, and shook his head once more. "I do not think so," he
+answered.
+
+"You do not?"
+
+"No, the contrast is too sharp and startling."
+
+"What do you mean by that?"
+
+"I hardly like to discuss the matter at present," he said, diffidently;
+"I do not know sufficiently well where I am. Only I am conscious of
+this, that while Jesus wins my assent, the Church does the opposite."
+
+"That is because of your upbringing."
+
+"I do not think so. I have stood apart from all creeds and from all
+sects. At present I am a humble searcher after truth. I want some great
+principle to guide me. Some philosophy of life that shall appeal to the
+best that is in me."
+
+"Well?"
+
+"I turn to the Church, and I find a great bishop addressing such
+questions as these to his clergy: 'What ecclesiastical dress do you wear
+when celebrating the Holy Communion? Do you ever use any ceremony such
+as the Lavabo, or swinging of the incense immediately before or after
+the service? Do you have cards on the holy table? If so what do they
+contain? Do you ever read the first of the three longer exhortations? Do
+you ever have celebrations without communicants?' with a dozen other
+questions--to me--equally trivial and unimportant."
+
+"To the bishop such questions would not be trivial at all, but vastly
+important."
+
+He smiled a little sadly. "Isn't that the pity of it," he said, "that
+trifles are treated as though they were matters of life and death? I
+notice that a neighbouring vicar has even closed the church because
+women go into it with their heads uncovered."
+
+"I admit that that seems straining at a gnat."
+
+"But he does not think so. He is evidently righteously indignant,
+complains of the house of God being desecrated, because people go into
+it without some piece of millinery on their heads. One wonders
+whether it is a woman's hair or her head that is the offence."
+
+[Illustration: "THEN SUDDENLY FROM OUT THE SHADOW GERVASE APPEARED AND
+STOOD BEFORE THEM."]
+
+"I think it is rather insulting to women, of course," she answered, with
+a laugh. "But he is only one, and nobody need mind very much."
+
+"But how do these things help me? Think of the men who are wrestling
+with the great problems of life, who are fighting temptation and bad
+habits, who are groping in the darkness, and crying for the light, and
+the Church meets them with petty discussions about Lavabos and stoles
+and chasubles and incense, and hats off or on in church?"
+
+"But are they not parts of religion?"
+
+"I do not know. If they are, it is not to be surprised at that religion
+gets water-logged."
+
+"But such things may be helpful to some people."
+
+"In which way?"
+
+"Oh, I don't know! But some day you will see things differently,
+perhaps."
+
+"Perhaps so. I see some things differently already."
+
+"Then you are not an infidel?"
+
+"You can call me by any name you like. I do not mind so long as you
+understand me, and I have your sympathy."
+
+"My sympathy, I fear, can be of no help to you."
+
+"It will help me more than you can understand."
+
+"I am so glad we have had this long talk together," she said, brightly.
+"I shall know what to think now when I hear people calling you names.
+But here we are close to the lodge gates."
+
+She held out her hand to him, and the light from the lodge window fell
+full upon them. He took her hand in his, and held it for a moment.
+
+Then suddenly from out the shadow of the lodge Gervase appeared, and
+stood stock still before them.
+
+
+
+
+                                  CHAPTER XXIII
+
+                                 MEANS TO AN END
+
+
+"Where have you been, Madeline?" Gervase said, quietly. "We have all
+grown so concerned about you." His voice was quite steady, though there
+was an unpleasant light in his eyes.
+
+"I have been for a walk, that is all," she answered, in a tone of
+unconcern.
+
+"I wish you had let some one know," he said, in the same quiet tone. "It
+is hardly safe for you to be out after dark."
+
+"Why not?" she answered. "I know my way about, and there is no one in
+St. Gaved who would molest me."
+
+"You think so, perhaps," and he shot an angry glance at Rufus, who stood
+quite still, speaking no word.
+
+"Of course I think so. Besides, I have not been alone."
+
+"So I perceive. But had we not better return to the house and put an end
+to my mother's anxiety?"
+
+"I am sure Lady Tregony is not the least bit anxious," she said, with a
+pout.
+
+"I can assure you she is very much concerned. That is the reason I came
+to look for you."
+
+"Oh, indeed!" and with a hurried good-night to Rufus she walked away
+toward the Hall.
+
+Gervase was by her side in a moment. Rufus watched them till they had
+disappeared in the darkness, then turned, and made his way slowly
+in the direction of St. Gaved.
+
+He could not help feeling amused at the encounter he had witnessed,
+though he was almost sorry that Gervase had seen them together. It was
+clear enough that the Captain was terribly angry, though he did his best
+not to show it. Possibly he was more than angry. Natures like his were
+apt to be jealous on the slightest provocation.
+
+Rufus smiled broadly at the thought. The idea of a baronet's son being
+jealous of him was too comic for words. Yet such things had happened.
+Jealousy was often unreasonable. And if the Captain were really jealous
+it boded ill for Madeline's future happiness.
+
+"I should be sorry to cause unpleasantness," he said, knitting his
+brows. "If they have to live together, I should like her to be happy. I
+wonder if she has promised to be his wife?"
+
+Meanwhile, Gervase and Madeline were walking up the long drive in
+silence. Madeline was in no humour for speech. Gervase was bubbling
+over, and yet was afraid to trust himself to open a conversation. The
+case seemed to him almost desperate, and yet he knew it was to be met
+not by scolding, but by diplomacy.
+
+The thing that he feared more than anything had happened before his very
+eyes. And yet he was not disposed to blame Madeline very much, the blame
+belonged to Rufus Sterne--a handsome, intriguing rascal, who had used
+the girl's sense of gratitude for all it was worth.
+
+"I should like to twist the scoundrel's neck," he said to himself, with
+an ugly look upon his face. "I wonder what he expects to gain? Of
+course, he will never dare to make love to her. It might be a good
+thing if he did----"
+
+Then his thoughts took another turn. Madeline was an American, and under
+the Stars and Stripes social considerations counted for very little.
+Possibly she thought that Rufus Sterne was just as good as he, and if
+she did, heaven only knew what would happen.
+
+"I was a fool not to make love to her at the first," he thought, with a
+scowl. "She thought no end of me then, and I could have married her
+right off. I'm sure I could, but father insisted that waiting was the
+game. Father was a fool, and I was a fool to listen to him."
+
+The lights from the Hall windows began to glimmer through the trees, and
+he had spoken no word to her since they passed through the lodge gates.
+He had looked at her once or twice, but she kept her eyes straight in
+front of her. Did she expect he would scold her, he wondered? Had she
+begun to realise that her conduct was deserving of censure, or was she
+only annoyed that she had been seen?
+
+The silence was becoming embarrassing. He wished she would speak, and
+give him the opportunity of reply. To walk side by side like mutes at a
+funeral promised ill for the future.
+
+"Are you tired, Madeline?" He was bound to say something, and one
+question would serve as well as another.
+
+"Not in the least," and she quickened her steps to give point to her
+statement.
+
+"Oh! please don't walk so fast," he said, in a tone of entreaty. "One
+can't talk when walking so fast."
+
+"I don't want to talk."
+
+"Why not, Madeline? You are not angry with me, surely?"
+
+"Of course not. Why should I be?"
+
+"I might be angry with you, but I'm not. I never could be angry with
+you, Madeline. You have no idea how much I think of you, and how much I
+appreciate you."
+
+"Why might you be angry with me?" she asked, sharply, without turning
+her head.
+
+The question almost staggered him for a moment. Yet as he had brought it
+upon himself he was bound to answer it.
+
+"Well, you see," he said, desperately, "no man cares to see the woman he
+loves, and whom he expects to marry, walking out with another man,
+especially after dark."
+
+"Oh, indeed!"
+
+"But don't think I am angry with you, Madeline," he interposed, quickly.
+"I could trust you anywhere."
+
+"Then why did you come spying on me?" and she turned her eyes suddenly
+upon him.
+
+"No, not spying on you, Madeline," he said, humbly; "that is not the
+right word to use. But I knew that fellow might be loitering about. He
+is always hanging about somewhere."
+
+"Everybody hangs about somewhere--to quote your elegant phrase," she
+said, sharply.
+
+"Yes, yes. But anybody can see what that fellow is after. He did you a
+service, there is no denying it, and now he is presuming on your good
+nature."
+
+"In which way?"
+
+"Well, in getting you to notice him and speak to him."
+
+"Surely I can speak to anyone I choose?"
+
+"Of course you can. But he is not the kind of man you would choose to
+speak to, but for the unfortunate accident."
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"Well, Madeline, there should be some sense of fitness in everything.
+Here is a man without religion, who never goes to church or chapel, who
+has no sense of accountability or responsibility, who doesn't believe
+even in the Ten Commandments----"
+
+"Yes, go on," she interjected, suddenly.
+
+"Who at the present time," he continued, slowly, "is actually living by
+imposing on the credulity and good nature of other people."
+
+"How so?"
+
+"How so? He is spending money right and left, I am told, on some
+pretended invention, or discovery of his, which is to revolutionise one
+of the staple industries of the county. Of course, the whole thing is a
+fake. You may be quite sure of that. But whose money is he spending? He
+has none of his own. With his glib tongue I have no doubt he has imposed
+on a lot of people to lend him their savings. Honourable conduct, isn't
+it? Perhaps he is trying to interest you in his invention?"
+
+"No, he is not."
+
+"Not got sufficiently far yet. Oh, well, it will do you no harm to be
+warned in time."
+
+"You take a charitable view of your neighbours, Gervase."
+
+"My dear Madeline, charity is all right in its place. But in this world
+we must be guided by common-sense."
+
+They had reached the house, and were standing facing each other to
+continue the conversation.
+
+"Well?" she interrogated.
+
+"You may lay it down as a general principle that a man who is an infidel
+is not to be trusted."
+
+"For what reason?"
+
+"Because he has no moral standard to hold him in check. You believe in
+the Bible and in the Commandments and in the teachings of the Church,
+and you live in obedience to what you believe. But he believes none of
+these things. He is bound by no commandment except as a matter of
+policy."
+
+"May not a man have a moral instinct which he follows? Are all the
+unbelievers, all the doubters, all the sceptics, all the infidels--or
+whatever name you like to call them--are they all bad men?"
+
+"I do not say that, Madeline. Besides, policy often holds them in
+check."
+
+"And what holds you in check, Gervase? Is it your passionate attachment
+to the right, or the fear of being found out?"
+
+"I don't think that is quite a fair question," he said, uneasily. "I
+don't pretend to be a saint, though I do try to live like a Christian
+gentleman."
+
+"And you think Mr. Sterne does not?"
+
+"I have no wish to say all I think, or even to hint at what I know. A
+word to the wise is sufficient. I am sure you will be on your guard in
+the future."
+
+"But you do hint at a great deal, Gervase, whether you know or not."
+
+"It is because I love you, Madeline, and would shield you from every
+harm."
+
+She looked at him for a moment, as if about to reply, then turned and
+walked up the steps into the house.
+
+Gervase stood still for a moment or two, then turned slowly on his heel,
+and began to retrace his steps the way he had come.
+
+He chuckled audibly when he had got a few paces away. He felt that he
+had done a good stroke of business. He had sown tares enough to spoil
+any crop. If he had not proved to Madeline that Rufus Sterne was a man
+without moral scruples, he had succeeded in filling her mind with doubts
+on the subject.
+
+If that failed to answer the end he had in view he would have to go a
+step further. He had no wish to resort to extreme measures, for the
+simple reason that he did not like to run risks, but if Madeline was
+still unconvinced that Rufus Sterne was a man not to be trusted, some
+direct evidence would have to be manufactured and produced.
+
+It was clear to him that this man who had saved her life was the one
+stumbling-stone in his path. But for him she would have raised no
+objection to their engagement. Everything had gone in his favour until
+that adventure on the cliffs; everything would go right now if he were
+out of the way.
+
+The best way to get him out of the way would be to blacken his
+character. Madeline was a girl with high moral ideals. An immoral man
+she would turn away from with loathing. Gervase shrugged his shoulders
+significantly. He had already by implication thrown considerable doubt
+on his character; if that failed, further and more extreme measures
+would have to be considered.
+
+When he reached the lodge gates he turned back again. He walked with a
+quicker and more buoyant step. He felt satisfied with himself. He had
+more skill in argument than he knew. He believed he had spiked Rufus
+Sterne's guns once and for all.
+
+Madeline was very silent over the dinner-table, and during the rest of
+the evening. Evidently the poison was working. Gervase left her in
+peace. It would be bad policy to pay her too much attention just now.
+The poison should be left to do its utmost.
+
+Nearly a week passed, and nothing happened. Madeline remained silent,
+and more or less apathetic. She manifested no inclination to go for
+long walks alone, and kept herself for the most part in her own room.
+
+This from one point of view was so much to the good. It seemed to
+indicate that she had no desire to meet Rufus Sterne. On the other hand,
+it was not without an element of discouragement. She was no more cordial
+with Gervase. Indeed, she kept him at arm's length more persistently
+than ever. Gervase became almost desperate. His financial position was
+causing him increased anxiety, while his father began to upbraid him for
+not making better use of his opportunities. To crown his anxiety Beryl
+told him one day that Madeline was not at all pleased with him for
+trying to insinuate that Rufus Sterne was a man of bad character.
+
+Gervase swore a big oath and stalked out of the house. He was angrier
+than he had been since his return from India. He was ready to quarrel
+with his best friend. As for Rufus Sterne, he was itching to be at his
+throat. It would be a relief to him to strangle him.
+
+As fate would have it he had not got five hundred yards beyond the lodge
+gates before he came face to face with the man whom he believed was the
+cause of all his trouble and disappointment.
+
+Rufus was returning from Redbourne, tired and despondent. Things were
+not going well with his invention, and the dread possibility which at
+first he refused to entertain was looming ever more largely on the
+horizon.
+
+The sun had set nearly an hour previously, but the white carpet of snow
+and the myriads of glittering stars made every object distinctly
+visible.
+
+The two men recognised each other in a moment. Rufus would have passed
+on without a word. He wanted to be alone with his own thoughts. But
+Gervase was in a very different humour. Moreover, the sight of Rufus
+Sterne was like fuel to the fire, it seemed to throw him into a rage of
+uncontrollable passion.
+
+"Hello, scoundrel," he said, "loitering round Trewinion as usual," and
+he squared his shoulders and looked Rufus straight in the eyes.
+
+Rufus stopped short, and stared at the Captain in angry surprise. "What
+do you mean?" he said, scornfully and defiantly.
+
+"I mean that you are a contemptible cad," was the answer.
+
+Rufus laughed, mockingly.
+
+"Don't laugh at me," Gervase roared. "I won't have it. Because you
+rendered Miss Grover a service you think you have a right to hang about
+this place at all hours of the day, so that you may intercept her when
+she goes out for a walk, and poison her mind against her best friends."
+
+"It is a lie," Rufus said, fiercely. "I have neither intercepted her nor
+poisoned her mind."
+
+"Will you call me a liar?" Gervase almost shrieked.
+
+"Of course I will call you a liar when you make statements that are
+false."
+
+"Then take----"
+
+But the blow failed to reach its mark. Rufus sprang aside, his face
+white with anger, and almost before he knew what he had done, his heavy
+fist had loosened one of the Captain's teeth and considerably altered
+the shape of his nose.
+
+With a wild yell of rage the Captain struck out again, but he was so
+blind with rage that he could hardly see what he did. Moreover, this was
+a kind of combat he was not used to. With sword or rapier he could have
+made a very good show, but with his bare fists, in the light of the
+stars, he was at very considerable disadvantage. His second blow was as
+wild as the first, and when a blow between his eyes laid him prone on
+the ground, he began to yell for help at the top of his voice.
+
+Micah Martin, the gardener, who lived at the lodge, was on the scene in
+a very few moments.
+
+"Take the drunken brute away," Gervase screamed, "or he'll murder me."
+
+Rufus looked at his antagonist for a moment in silence, then staggered
+away, feeling limp and nerveless. The encounter had been so sudden and
+so sharp that he hardly realised yet what had happened. Reaching a
+neighbouring gate, he leaned on it and breathed hard.
+
+A few yards away he heard Gervase muttering and swearing, while Martin
+tried to encourage him with sympathetic words. He saw them walk through
+the lodge gates a little later and disappear in the darkness.
+
+Then Rufus pulled himself together and tried to realise what had taken
+place. His right knuckles were still smarting from their contact with
+the Captain's bony face, otherwise he had suffered no harm. The
+aggressor had clearly got the worst of it.
+
+Yet he felt no sense of elation. At best it was but a vulgar brawl,
+which any right-minded man ought to be ashamed of. It was true the
+Captain had struck the first blow, but he had returned it with more than
+compound interest. He wondered what the people of St. Gaved would say
+when they got to know. He wondered what Madeline Grover would say.
+
+He felt so excited, that, tired as he was, he took a long walk across
+the downs before returning to his lodgings. Mrs. Tuke, as usual, had
+laid his supper on the table, but she did not show her face.
+
+He was too much distressed in mind to eat. The events of the day,
+followed by the encounter with Gervase Tregony had taken away all his
+appetite.
+
+For a long time he sat in his easy chair staring into the fire.
+
+"I don't know why I should distress myself," he said to himself once or
+twice. "What if everything fails? There is an easy way out of all
+trouble. And I am not sure that Felix Muller, with all his pretence of
+friendship, will be sorry."
+
+He went to bed at length, but he did not sleep for several hours. The
+events of the day kept recurring like the refrain of a familiar song.
+
+He went about his work next day like a man who had almost abandoned
+hope. The buoyancy which he experienced at the beginning had nearly all
+gone. The promise of success was growing very faint and dim.
+
+As the day wore on he troubled himself less and less about Gervase
+Tregony. He thought it likely that for his own credit's sake he would
+say nothing about the encounter. Hence his surprise was great when
+toward evening a policeman called on him with a summons for assault.
+
+
+
+
+                               CHAPTER XXIV
+
+                         THE JUSTICE OF THE STRONG
+
+
+Rufus was brought before the magistrates, and remanded for a week.
+Gervase in the meanwhile made the most of his opportunity. Fate, or
+Providence, it seemed to him, had delivered his enemy into his hand, and
+he conceived it to be his duty now to assist Providence, to the best of
+his ability.
+
+Rufus treated the matter very lightly. He was out on bail, and he had
+little doubt that when he was allowed to tell his story before the
+magistrates he would be acquitted at once. Indeed, no other result
+seemed possible. He had only defended himself, and that a man should be
+punished for protecting his own head was almost unthinkable.
+
+He did not consider, however, that nearly all the magistrates belonged
+to the class of which Gervase was a member. That almost unconsciously
+they would be predisposed in his favour. That they regarded it almost as
+a religious duty to uphold the rights and privileges of their class, and
+that any insult offered to one of their own order meant a distinct
+weakening of that iron hand which had ruled the country for centuries,
+unless such insult was promptly met and punished.
+
+The magistrates were all of them honourable men. They belonged to the
+best county families. They had feasted at Sir Charles's table more than
+once, and ridden to hounds with his son. They had unbounded faith in the
+wisdom of the ruling classes, and an inborn contempt for what is
+vaguely termed the rights of the people. Political unrest was a
+dangerous symptom, and insubordination a crime.
+
+The toast they drank with the greatest gusto at their public functions
+was "His Majesty's Forces" and "The Navy." The Church they did not
+recognise as a defensive power, and though they repeated nearly every
+Sunday, "Because there is none other that fighteth for us, but only
+Thou, O God," they did not, in reality, believe it. The Gospel was all
+right for the social and domestic side of life, but when it came to
+larger affairs an army or a warship was much more to the purpose.
+
+Rufus was not beloved by any of these dispensers of the law. He was
+reputed to hold Socialistic views; he was not over-burdened with
+reverence for the "upper classes," and, worse still, was not content
+with the lowly condition in which he was born.
+
+On the day of the trial Rufus discovered that he had made a mistake in
+treating the matter so lightly. The prosecution had succeeded in working
+up a case. He was amazed when he discovered that he was charged, not
+only with assault but with drunkenness, and that the charge of
+drunkenness was sworn to by at least two witnesses. The terms of the
+indictment, by some oversight, had been furnished him too late for him
+to supply rebutting evidence. He had only his simple word of denial, and
+that stood him in no stead.
+
+Gervase swore that the accused struck him without warning and without
+provocation; that, in fact, he was given no time to defend himself, that
+almost before he knew what had happened he was lying on the ground
+bruised and bleeding. The accused, who was clearly mad with drink,
+sprang upon him out of the darkness, and felled him with a single blow,
+and but for the interposition of his gardener, Micah Martin, he had
+little doubt would have killed him.
+
+Micah corroborated his young master's evidence. He heard a cry for help,
+and running out saw the Captain on his back with the prisoner's knee on
+his chest. He was not absolutely certain as to the latter point, but
+that was his impression. Seeing him the prisoner staggered away, and
+leaned against a gate. He seemed to be just mad drunk, and in his
+judgment did not quite know what he was doing.
+
+The next witness was Timothy Polgarrow, barman at the "Three Anchors."
+He swore that he supplied the prisoner with two whiskies on the evening
+in question; that he appeared to be excited when he came into the
+public-house bar, but quite sober. After the second whisky, however, he
+showed signs of intoxication so that a third whisky which he demanded
+was refused. It was quite early in the evening when he called, not much
+after dark. He was able to walk fairly straight when he left the "Three
+Anchors," but appeared to be terribly angry that he was refused any more
+drink.
+
+Timothy gave his evidence glibly, and with great precision, and stuck to
+what he called his facts with limpet-like tenacity.
+
+Rufus startled the court, and horrified the magistrates by asking Tim
+how much the Captain had paid him for committing perjury.
+
+Rufus denied that he had ever crossed the threshold of the "Three
+Anchors." He had passed it on the evening in question on his way home
+from Redbourne, but he did not even slacken his pace, much less call.
+
+Tim, however, stuck to his story, and was quite certain that he was not
+mistaken in his man.
+
+As to the assault there could be no doubt. The Captain's face bore
+evidence of the severity of the attack. Rufus did not deny striking him
+and knocking him down, but persisted that Gervase was the aggressor.
+
+"But why should he attack you?" the chairman asked.
+
+"He accused me of something which I very much resented."
+
+"What did he accuse you of?"
+
+"I decline to say."
+
+"Why do you decline?"
+
+"Because it would introduce a name that I would not on any account have
+mixed up in this sordid affair."
+
+"Oh! indeed." And the Bench smiled in an ultra superior way.
+
+"Well, when he accused you of something you very much resented what did
+you do?"
+
+"I called him a liar."
+
+"Yes?"
+
+"This angered him, and he struck at me."
+
+"And what then?"
+
+"I dodged the blow, and struck back."
+
+"He didn't dodge the blow, I suppose?"
+
+"It appears not by his appearance."
+
+There was laughter in court at this reply, which was instantly
+suppressed.
+
+"And what followed then?"
+
+"What usually follows in such a case. Each tried to get at the other. I
+suppose my arm was the stronger or the longer. At any rate, when he
+found himself on his back he began to bellow for help."
+
+"So that you wish us to believe that in a stand-up fight between a
+soldier and a civilian the soldier got the worst of it?"
+
+"It looks as if he got the worst of it, at any rate."
+
+"Does it not occur to you that your story does not hang well together?
+Is it likely that a soldier--or an ex-soldier, a man trained to the use
+of arms--would allow himself to be felled to the ground unless he were
+taken unawares?"
+
+"Whether it is likely or not I have only stated the simple facts. Why
+should I attack him unawares, or attack him at all? His existence is a
+matter of supreme indifference to me. I should not have noticed him had
+he not charged me with conduct which I repudiate."
+
+"But you refuse to say what it is he charged you with?"
+
+"I do, and for the reasons I have already stated."
+
+At this point the Captain's solicitor took up the running, and insisted
+that the case had been proved up to the very hilt. Timothy Polgarrow, a
+man of unimpeachable character, had sworn upon oath that he had served
+the accused with whiskies on the evening in question. Generally
+speaking, it was, no doubt, true, that the accused was a very temperate
+man. Hence, when he took drink at all, he the more quickly got out of
+bounds. An inveterate toper would have taken half-a-dozen whiskies, and
+carried a perfectly steady head. The accused was excited when he entered
+the "Three Anchors." Perhaps he had business worries. It was hinted that
+his schemes were hanging fire. Perhaps he had imbibed freely before he
+left Redbourne. People drank sometimes to drown their care. But the one
+clear fact was that he left the "Three Anchors" considerably the worse
+for liquor. Liquor makes some people hilarious, others it makes
+quarrelsome. The accused evidently belongs to the latter class. He was
+ready to fight anybody. As it happened, Captain Tregony, as he would
+still call him, though he had resigned his commission, was the first man
+he met. The Captain was taking a constitutional before dinner. It was a
+clear, frosty evening with plenty of starlight. The Captain was walking
+slowly with no thought of evil, when suddenly, out of the night, loomed
+the accused. The sequel you know. He fell upon the Captain unawares and
+struck him to the ground, and the chances are, in his drunken fury,
+would have murdered him, but for the timely assistance of Micah Martin.
+
+The case was as simple and straightforward as any bench of magistrates
+could desire. The facts were borne out by independent testimony. There
+could be no shadow of doubt as to the drunkenness or the assault. The
+only matter to be considered was the measure of punishment to be meted
+out. They all agreed that drunkenness was no excuse for violence, while
+the offence was aggravated by a man in Rufus Sterne's position attacking
+a man of the rank of Captain Tregony.
+
+One or two of the magistrates were for committing him to gaol without
+the option of a fine. It was a serious matter for a civilian to attack
+even an ex-soldier. It was a species of _lese majeste_ that ought not to
+be tolerated for a moment.
+
+Unfortunately for these extremists a similar case had been tried a
+fortnight previously, and the accused--a man of considerable means--had
+got off with a fine of ten shillings and costs.
+
+"And," argued the chairman, "we cannot with this case fresh in people's
+minds give colour to the fiction that there is one law for the rich and
+another for the poor."
+
+So in order to prove their absolute impartiality, and to mark at the
+same time their sense of what was due to an ex-officer of His Majesty's
+forces they inflicted a fine of five pounds and costs, or a month's
+imprisonment.
+
+Rufus was disposed at first not to pay the money. He was so angry that
+he almost felt that the seclusion of a prison cell would be a relief.
+But better thoughts prevailed. He was absolutely helpless. It was no
+use kicking or protesting. He could only grin, and abide, and hope that
+the day would come when justice would find her own.
+
+It was a humiliating day for him. He left the court branded as a
+drunkard and a brawler. The case for the prosecution had been so clear
+and circumstantial that even his best friends were confounded. That he
+should deny the accusation was natural enough; but there was an unspoken
+fear in their hearts that worry had driven him to drink, and that
+alcohol acting upon a highly-strung temperament had thrown him
+momentarily off his mental and moral balance.
+
+Madeline Grover was almost dumbfounded. Unconsciously she had been
+idealising Rufus for months past, while their last conversation had
+further exalted him in her estimation. Here was a man, honest in his
+doubts, sincere in his beliefs, and faithful to all his ideals. A man
+who "would not make his judgment blind," and who refused to play the
+hypocrite whatever the world might say in disparagement of him.
+
+Among all her acquaintances there was no man who had struck her fancy so
+much. He stood apart from the common ruck. His very antagonism to the
+religious conventions of his time had something of nobleness in it. If
+he derided the Church it was because he believed it had departed from
+the spirit and teachings of its founder. His reverence for what was good
+and helpful had won her admiration.
+
+And now suddenly it had been discovered to her that her idol had not
+only feet of clay, but was clay altogether, that he was a worse
+hypocrite than the hypocrites he derided. That behind all his
+pretence----
+
+She stopped short at that. He had made no pretence. If he had talked
+about himself it was in disparagement rather than praise. He
+claimed no virtues beyond what his fellows possessed. He had always been
+singularly modest in his estimate of his own abilities.
+
+Yet here were the facts in black and white. The unshaken testimony of
+unimpeachable witnesses, while poor Gervase's face bore unmistakable
+evidence of the fierceness of the onslaught.
+
+Four days after the trial the local paper came out with a verbatim
+report. Madeline took a copy to her own room, and spent the whole
+afternoon in studying its _pros_ and _cons_.
+
+The points that fastened themselves upon her memory most tenaciously
+were first, Rufus's refusal to give the name of someone about whom they
+quarrelled, and second, his suggestion that Timothy Polgarrow had been
+bribed by Gervase to give false evidence.
+
+Here was a phase of the question that seemed to grow larger and larger
+the more she looked at it. She would have to keep her eyes and ears
+open. Perhaps the last word on the subject had not been said. If Gervase
+was as honourable as she had always believed, then it was wicked of
+Rufus Sterne to throw out such a base and shameful insinuation. If, on
+the other hand, Rufus was as black as he had been painted, why this act
+of chivalry in the defence of the name of some unknown person?
+
+The subject was full of knots and tangles. She would have to wait until
+some fresh light was thrown upon it.
+
+As the days passed away she was pleased to note that Gervase showed no
+sign of triumph over the downfall of Rufus Sterne. He pointed no moral
+as he might reasonably have done. He did not come to her and say,
+"There, I told you so." His restraint and reserve were admirable, and
+she liked him all the better for his silence.
+
+When, at length, she herself alluded to the matter, he spoke with
+genuine feeling and sympathy.
+
+"I am really sorry for the fellow," he said. "Of course, he brought it
+upon himself. I could not possibly pass over the assault in silence. But
+all the same it is a pity that a man of parts should destroy his own
+reputation."
+
+"It seemed a momentary and unaccountable outburst," she said,
+reflectively.
+
+He smiled knowingly, and shook his head, but would not venture any
+further remark on the subject.
+
+Madeline was greatly puzzled. She supposed she had been mistaken. It
+seemed for once her instincts had led her wrong, her intuitions were at
+fault. It was a painful discovery to make, and yet there was no other
+conclusion she could come to. It was impossible to believe that Gervase
+had deliberately plotted to ruin him, for Gervase, at any rate, was a
+gentleman.
+
+Yet, somehow, she was never wholly satisfied. In spite of everything her
+sympathies were still with the accused man. She made no attempt,
+however, to see him again. She avoided every walk that would lead her
+across his path. She did her best to put him out of her thoughts and out
+of her life.
+
+Gervase, meanwhile, played his part with great skill. He no longer
+pestered her with his attentions, no longer blustered. He felt he was
+safe now from any rival, and that time was on his side. It was very
+galling to have to wait so long, his fingers itched to touch her
+dollars, but he was wise enough to see that he would gain nothing by
+precipitancy. Madeline was not to be hurried or driven.
+
+As the winter wore slowly away Madeline became more friendly and
+confidential. She sometimes asked him to take her a walk across the
+downs. She allowed him also to give her lessons in riding, she sought
+his advice in numberless little matters, in which she feared to trust
+her own judgment, and all unconsciously led him to think that the game
+was entirely in his own hands.
+
+Between the Hall and the village there was little or no intercourse.
+Lady Tregony did most of her shopping in Redbourne. It was only the
+common and inexpensive things of household use that St. Gaved was deemed
+worthy to supply. Hence it happened that sometimes for a week on the
+stretch no local news found its way into the Hall.
+
+Occasionally Madeline wondered whether Rufus Sterne after his sad fall,
+would give up in despair, and go to the bad altogether, or whether he
+would pull himself together and fight his battle afresh. She wondered,
+too, whether the scheme or invention in which he had risked his all
+would prove to be a success or a failure. She sometimes scanned the
+columns of the local paper, but his name was never mentioned, and
+somehow she had not the courage to ask anyone who knew him.
+
+The weather continued so cold and cheerless, and so trying to the
+Captain after his Indian experiences, that it was suggested by Sir
+Charles that they should spend a month or two in the South of France.
+
+Madeline caught at the idea with great eagerness, and that settled the
+matter. Both Sir Charles and Gervase were anxious to get her away from
+St. Gaved, but were not quite certain how it was to be accomplished.
+Madeline had grown so sick of London, and so eager to get back again to
+Trewinion Hall, that they were afraid she would object to going away
+again so soon.
+
+Gervase glanced at his father knowingly, and his eyes brightened.
+
+That evening father and son discussed affairs in the library.
+
+"I think the way is clear at last," Sir Charles said, with a smile.
+
+"Yes, I think so," Gervase answered, pulling at his briar.
+
+"We'll get away as soon as we can, the sooner the better. Under the
+sunny skies of the Riviera her thoughts will turn to love and
+matrimony," and Sir Charles laughed.
+
+"She's grown almost affectionate of late."
+
+"That is good. If she ever cherished any romantic attachment for that
+scoundrel Sterne it is at an end."
+
+"She never mentions his name."
+
+"And by the time we have been away a week she will have forgotten his
+existence."
+
+"I hope she will not be caught by some other handsome face."
+
+"Not likely, my boy, if you play your cards well."
+
+"I think, under the circumstances, I have played them remarkably well.
+Much better than you did when they were in your hands."
+
+"No, no. Everything is going on as well as well can be. I don't think
+either of us has anything to blame himself with."
+
+"I am not sure I did right in giving up my commission so soon. She was
+immensely taken, if you remember, with my uniform. She likes smart
+clothes."
+
+"Oh, she's got over that. She's a woman now, and a wide-awake woman to
+boot."
+
+"There's no doubt about her being wide-awake. But when shall we start?"
+
+"Why not next Monday?"
+
+"Aye, that will do. The sooner the better," and Gervase went off to his
+room to dream of matrimony and unlimited cash.
+
+
+
+
+                                  CHAPTER XXV
+
+                               THE END OF A DREAM
+
+
+It was not until March that Rufus realised that his dream was at an end.
+He had hoped against hope for weeks; had toiled on with steady
+persistency and tried to banish from his brain the thought of failure.
+The knowledge came suddenly, though he took a long journey to the North
+of England to seek it. When he turned his face toward home he knew that
+all his labour had been in vain.
+
+Not that the invention on which he had bestowed so much toil and thought
+was worthless. On the contrary, he saw greater possibilities in it than
+ever before. But he had been forestalled. Another brain, as inventive as
+his own, and with far greater facilities for reducing theories to
+practice, had conceived the same idea and carried it into effect, while
+he was still painfully toiling in the same direction. When he looked at
+the work brought out by his competitor in the North, he felt as though
+there was no further place for him on earth.
+
+"It is better than mine," he said to himself, sadly. "The main idea is
+the same, but he has shown more skill in developing it."
+
+It was the advantage of the trained engineer over the untrained, of
+experience over inexperience. He had no feeling of bitterness in his
+heart against the man who had succeeded; he was of too generous a nature
+to be envious. The man who had won deserved to win.
+
+He journeyed home like a man in a dream. The way seemed neither long nor
+short. The first faint odour of spring was in the air, but he did not
+heed it. His fellow passengers seemed more like shadows than real
+people. The world for him was at an end. He had no more to do. One
+question only was left to trouble him. How to put out life's brief
+candle without awakening any suspicion of foul play. He was more heavily
+stunned than he knew. Outwardly he was quite calm and collected, but it
+was the calmness of insensibility. For the moment he was past feeling;
+it was as though some powerful narcotic had been injected into his
+veins. He had an idea that nothing could ruffle him any more.
+
+He had fretted a good deal at first over the loss of his good name. It
+seemed a monstrous thing that any man should have the power to rob him
+of what he valued more than all else on earth. That Gervase Tregony had
+deliberately bribed Tim Polgarrow and his own gardener to say he was
+drunk he had not the least shadow of a doubt, but he had no proof; and
+to accuse a man of inciting to perjury--especially a man in the position
+of Gervase Tregony--was a very dangerous thing. So he had to keep his
+mouth shut, and bear in silence one of the cruellest wrongs ever
+inflicted upon a man.
+
+He was not at all sorry that he had disfigured the not too handsome face
+of Gervase Tregony for a few days. Indeed, he was human enough to feel
+that he would not mind paying another five pounds to be allowed to
+repeat the process. It was not "the assault" part of the affair that
+troubled him, nobody thought much the worse of him for that side of the
+episode. Gervase was not so popular in St. Gaved that he had many
+sympathisers.
+
+But to be accused of drunkenness, and to have the accusation sworn to,
+and set down as proved, was as the bitterness of death to him. If there
+was any vice in the world he loathed it was drunkenness. It seemed to
+him the parent of so many other vices as well as the Hades of human
+degradation. It is true he was not a pledged abstainer. He never cared
+to pledge himself to anything, but in practice he was above reproach.
+
+He knew, of course, why the charge of drunkenness had been tacked on to
+that of assault, without the former the latter would not hold water. It
+would be too humiliating to Gervase to admit that a sober man had beaten
+him in fair fight; hence the fiction that he was pounced upon suddenly
+and unawares by a man who was mad drunk. But the chief reason lay deeper
+still. He was not so blind that he could not see that Gervase was
+jealous of him, and sometimes he half wondered, half hoped, that he had
+reason to be jealous. It made his nerves tingle when he thought, that in
+the big house and before the Tregony family, Madeline Grover might have
+unwittingly let fall some word that could be construed into a partiality
+for him. It was a thought that would not bear to be looked at or
+analysed he knew. Nevertheless, it would flash across his brain, and
+that pretty frequently.
+
+Hence, from Gervase's point of view the charge of drunkenness was what
+the man in the street would call "good business." He often pictured
+Gervase gloating over his triumph. If ever Madeline thought
+affectionately of him she would do so no longer. She would try to forget
+that he ever crossed her path, and, perhaps be sorry to the end of her
+days that she had shown him so much favour.
+
+This was the bitterest part of the whole experience. That Madeline
+should think ill of him--the one woman that all unwittingly he had
+learned to love--was more painful than all the rest put together. It was
+bad enough to be held up as an awful example in Church and Sunday-school
+and Temperance meeting, as he heard was the case. But all that he did
+not mind so much. He might live it down in time. But if Madeline was
+once within his reach, and this cruel slander drove her into the arms of
+Gervase Tregony, that would be a tragedy that could never be lived down,
+that would darken his life to the end of the chapter.
+
+For several weeks he kept hoping that he would meet Madeline again. He
+wanted to have one more conversation with her. He hoped that her
+generous nature would allow him to put his side of the case; or, if that
+was denied him that he might be allowed to say with all the emphasis he
+could command, that the accusation was false. But she gave him no such
+opportunity. He watched for her in the streets of St. Gaved. He took
+long walks across the downs, he loitered in the road that led past the
+lodge gates, but never once did she show her face. She evidently meant
+to let him see that their acquaintanceship was at an end.
+
+Then came the news that the whole family had gone abroad, and that no
+one knew when they would return to Trewinion Hall again. He heard the
+news with a dull sense of pain at his heart. The brightest--the most
+beautiful thing--that had ever come into his life had gone out again,
+and he was left like a man stricken blind in a land of sunshine.
+
+Yet, strangely enough, his sense of grief and shame and loss increased
+his desire for life. He did not want to hide himself--to pass out into
+silence and forgetfulness. He wanted to live so that he might redeem his
+life from the shadow that had fallen upon it, and prove to Madeline
+Grover, however late in the day, how cruelly he had been wronged.
+
+On his return from the North, however, this and every other feeling was
+swallowed up in a strange insensibility to pain, both mental and
+physical. The one thought that dominated him was that he must keep his
+pledge to Felix Muller. As an honourable man he was bound to do that,
+and perhaps the sooner he did it the better.
+
+He had spent three-fourths of the money he had borrowed. He had a few
+assets in the shape of tools, the rest would have to be scrapped, and
+would only be worth the value of old iron. In case there were no mishaps
+over the insurance money, Felix Muller would be well repaid for the
+risks he had taken and the world would go on just as if nothing had
+happened.
+
+After a good deal of cogitation he came to the conclusion that the
+easiest way out of life would be by drowning. He was not a very good
+swimmer. He soon got exhausted and so was careful never to venture out
+of his depth. It would be quite easy, therefore, for him to swim out
+into deep water or take a header from a rock when the tide was up and
+then quietly drown.
+
+That would mean that he would have to wait until summer. Nobody in St.
+Gaved bathed in the sea in March. To avoid any suspicion of foul play he
+would have to follow his normal habits and preserve as far as possible a
+cheerful temper.
+
+It was soon whispered through the town that Rufus's great invention had
+proved a failure. Some sympathised with him. Some secretly rejoiced.
+For, curiously enough, no man can live in this world and do his duty
+without making enemies. There are narrow, ungenerous souls in every
+community who regard the success of their neighbours as a personal
+affront, who can see no merit in anyone, and who are never able to shape
+their lips to a word of praise or congratulation.
+
+These people always complained that Rufus was a cut above his station.
+They said it would do him good "to be taken down a peg." But they were
+dreadfully sorry for the people whom he had induced to invest money in
+his wild-cat enterprise.
+
+There were talks of his being made a bankrupt, and hints were thrown out
+that he might soon have to appear in a court of law on a worse charge
+than that of being drunk and disorderly. Moralists were able to see in
+his case striking illustrations of the truth that "the way of
+transgressors is hard." It was against the eternal order that a man
+should permanently prosper who had turned his back upon the faith of his
+fathers. His failure was heaven's punishment on him for neglecting
+church and chapel, and his fall into the sin of drunkenness was to be
+traced to precisely the same source.
+
+Some of these things were repeated to Rufus by not too judicious
+friends, but they little guessed how deeply they hurt him. It was not
+his habit to betray his feelings. When he was most deeply stung he said
+the least.
+
+A few days after his return Felix Muller drove over to see him. He came
+as usual after dark, and his excuse was that he had been to see clients
+in the neighbourhood.
+
+Felix was full of sympathy and generous in his language of
+commiseration.
+
+"We must still hope for the best," he said, after a long pause, looking
+into the fire with a grave and abstracted air. "You have several months
+yet to turn round in."
+
+"It will be impossible for me to find the money except in the way we
+agreed upon," Rufus answered, without emotion.
+
+"It may look so now," Muller answered, with pretended cheerfulness; "but
+in this topsy-turvy world there is no knowing what will turn up. I wish
+it were possible for me to allow you an extension of time."
+
+"I fear it would not help me, if you could," Rufus said, absently.
+
+"Well, perhaps it wouldn't, but all the same I should like to give you
+an extra chance or two if that were possible."
+
+"I am not asking for any favours," Rufus said, indifferently. "I am
+getting things straight for you with as little delay as possible."
+
+"And I shall loathe myself for being compelled to receive the money when
+you are gone."
+
+Rufus looked at him for a moment with a doubtful light in his eyes.
+
+"Why, what can it matter to you?" he questioned. "I thought you were a
+man without sentiment."
+
+"I am in the main. I am just a man of business, and nothing else. Yet
+there's no denying I am fond of you. You are a man of my own way of
+thinking. May I not say you are a disciple of mine?"
+
+"You may say what you like," Sterne replied, with a hollow laugh. "I
+believe you helped to destroy some of the illusions of my youth."
+
+"And therefore you are grateful to me, and I am interested in you."
+
+"I am not sure that I am particularly grateful," Rufus said, wearily,
+"What is there to be grateful for?"
+
+"What is there to be grateful for?" Muller questioned, raising his
+eyebrows. "Surely it is something to have got out of the fogs of
+superstition into the clear light of reason. To have escaped from the
+bondage of creeds into the freedom of humanity. To have discovered the
+true value and proportion of things, to have been delivered from all
+fear of the future----"
+
+"Are we not playing with words and phrases?" Rufus questioned, suddenly.
+
+"My dear friend, what do you mean?" Muller asked in surprise.
+
+"Suppose by reason and logic we can destroy everything until nothing is
+left? Is there any satisfaction in that? Is there any comfort in a
+philosophy of negations?"
+
+"Explain yourself."
+
+"Well, we will say for the sake of argument that we have proved there is
+no God and no future state. That all religions are myths and dreams.
+That matter explains everything, that thought is only sensation, that
+morality simply registers a stage in evolution, that death breaks up the
+elements which compose the individual, and they return to their native
+state. What then? Have we got any further? Are we not merely playing
+with words and phrases as children play with pebbles on the shore?"
+
+"My dear fellow, whom have you been talking with lately?"
+
+"That is nothing to the point," Rufus answered, with a touch of defiance
+in his voice. "What I want to know is, how or in what way we are better
+off than say the vicar and his curate?"
+
+"My dear fellow, surely you can see that they are the puppets of an
+exploded superstition."
+
+"Well, suppose they are. What are we the puppets of?"
+
+"We are not puppets at all. We are free men."
+
+"Words again," Rufus answered, with a pathetic smile. "We are as
+completely hemmed in by the forces that surround us as they are. As
+completely baffled by the riddle of existence. In what does our freedom
+consist? We have cast off one dogma to pin our faith to another."
+
+"No, no; we are not dogmatists at all."
+
+"Words again, Muller. You have your set of beliefs as clearly defined as
+the vicar has his. You have formulated your creed. That it is largely a
+denial of all he believes is nothing to the point. A negative implies a
+positive."
+
+"Ah, but he believes in what affects the freedom of the human mind and
+the human will. He believes in a personal God, in human accountability
+to that Being; in a Day of Judgment; in a future state of rewards and
+punishments."
+
+"And you believe in extinction?"
+
+"Of course I do, and so do you."
+
+"But is there any such thing as extinction? Can you destroy anything? If
+a thing ceases to exist in one form, does it not exist in another?"
+
+"Of course, that is the eternal process, the undeviating order. At death
+you disintegrate and turn to dust. In other words you are resolved into
+your native elements, those elements are used up again in other forms,
+they feed a rose, give colour to the grass, pass into the plumage of a
+bird, or into the structure of an animal."
+
+"But I am more than dust, Muller, and so are you. Your philosophy still
+leaves the riddle unsolved. I am coming round to the conviction that
+personality is not to be explained away by any such rough-and-ready
+method."
+
+"I am sorry to hear you say so."
+
+"Why should you be sorry?"
+
+"Because when a man is in the grip of superstition there is no knowing
+what he will do or leave undone. So-called religion is made an excuse
+for so many things."
+
+"For not committing suicide, for instance?"
+
+"Exactly. If a man gets the stupid notion into his head that he is
+accountable to somebody for his life, or that he will have to give an
+account at some hypothetical judgment day, that man becomes a slave at
+once. He is no longer his own master. No longer free to do what he
+likes."
+
+"My dear Muller," Rufus questioned, with a smile. "Are you free to do as
+you like? Is not the life of every one of us bounded by laws and
+conditions that we cannot escape?"
+
+"Up to a point, no doubt. Freedom is not chaos. Liberty moves within
+legitimate bounds. Our philosophy is at any rate rational."
+
+"Then you believe in a moral order as well as a physical?"
+
+"The moral order man has evolved for himself. It is a concomitant of
+civilisation."
+
+"Why not say he has evolved the physical order for himself? Would it not
+be just as reasonable? He may have evolved considerable portions of his
+creeds and any number of dogmas. But the moral order is no more a part
+of ecclesiasticism than earthquakes are. It is part of the universal
+cosmos before which we stand helpless and bewildered."
+
+"My dear Sterne, you talk like a parson. Who has been coaching you?"
+
+"No, no, Muller; the subject is too big and complex to be dismissed with
+a sneer."
+
+"I expect I shall hear of you next playing the martyr for moral ideals,"
+Muller said, with a slight curl of the lip.
+
+"That seems to be the next item on the programme," Rufus answered,
+quietly; "for, after all, what is honesty--the just payment of
+debts--but a moral ideal."
+
+"It belongs to that code of honour certainly that civilised peoples have
+shaped for themselves."
+
+"Then you think I am bound to my pledge by nothing more weighty than
+that?"
+
+"What could be more weighty? You could not escape from it
+without--without--but why discuss the impossible? You are a man of
+honour, that is enough."
+
+"And when is the latest you would like the money, Muller?"
+
+"It will need a month or two to clear up things," he said, evasively.
+
+"And if I am too precipitate I might be suspected?"
+
+"Exactly. You cannot be too wary. Companies have grown suspicious. There
+have been so many attempts of late to cheat them, and, of course, in the
+eye of the law robbing a company stands in precisely the same category
+as robbing an individual."
+
+Rufus gave a start, and all the blood left his cheeks, and for several
+moments he stared at the fire in silence.
+
+Muller rose from his chair, and began to brush his bowler hat with his
+hand.
+
+"I'm frightfully sorry it's happened," he said, consolingly, "but, after
+all, it will soon be over."
+
+"Ye--s."
+
+"I advised you against it. I did not like the risk from the first."
+
+"But you'll profit by the transaction?"
+
+"My dear fellow, we're bound to make a little profit now and then or we
+should starve."
+
+"Profit?" Rufus mused, as if to himself, "what shall it profit a
+man----"
+
+"Perhaps you will advise me nearer the time?" Muller said, uneasily, and
+he moved towards the door.
+
+"No. The papers will advise you."
+
+"Well, good-night. I will not say good-bye; perhaps something may turn
+up yet." And he pulled open the door and passed out into the hall.
+
+"Good-night," Rufus answered, and he turned back to his easy-chair and
+sat down.
+
+
+
+
+                                CHAPTER XXVI
+
+                            QUESTIONS TO BE FACED
+
+
+Rufus sat staring into the fire for the best part of an hour, with eyes
+full of pain and questioning. Unwittingly Felix Muller had startled him
+out of the condition of semi-insensibility into which he had fallen. The
+dull apathy, mental and moral, passed from him like a cloud. He was
+keenly alive once more, keenly sensitive to every question that touched
+his personal honour. He was amazed that he should have failed to see the
+moral issue raised by Muller. Amazed that he had never considered the
+rights of the company in which he had insured his life.
+
+Was it true, he wondered, that departure from the Christian faith, the
+relinquishing of the idea of accountability to a Supreme Being, lowered
+a man's moral standard? Would he have lost sight of the moral view if he
+had not drifted into the cold and barren regions of materialistic
+philosophy? He had prided himself on his personal honour, and yet had he
+not been sliding downwards, steadily and unconsciously, ever since he
+cast religion definitely aside? The Churches might concern themselves
+mainly with questions that were of little account. But, after all, they
+did keep alive the sense of God, the idea of accountability, the
+importance of right living.
+
+If he had held on, for instance, to the faith of his childhood, would he
+have lost sight for a moment of the fact that to cheat a public company
+was just as dishonest as to cheat a private individual? Could he under
+any circumstances have entered into the compact he had? Would he not
+have sighted the moral issue in a moment?
+
+He felt humiliated and ashamed. How could he patch the garment of his
+personal honour with stolen material. The conduct of Micawber in paying
+Traddles with his I.O.U. was nobility itself in comparison with his
+proposal to pay Muller by cheating an insurance company. The only
+question that had worried him until now was whether a man had any right
+to take his own life. And his materialistic philosophy had led him to
+the conclusion that in such a matter he was responsible to himself
+alone, that his life was his own to do what he liked with, to end it or
+use it, just as seemed good in his own eyes.
+
+That might be true still for all he knew, though he was beginning to
+doubt. But on a question of common honesty there was no room for two
+opinions. Society was built up and held together by the recognition of
+certain fundamental principles. There was practically universal
+agreement on certain things. No argument was necessary. No one was asked
+to prove that fire was hot or that ice was cold, for instance. So with
+honesty and dishonesty. A man who tried to defend cheating would be
+ostracised.
+
+But why had he failed to see this clear moral issue? That was the
+question that troubled him. He had struck a blow at his own integrity
+and was not conscious of it. Just as the worst kind of hell is to be in
+hell and not know it, so the most terrible state of depravity is to be
+depraved and to be unconscious of the fact.
+
+Rufus felt such a sense of personal loathing as he had never known
+before. He saw himself as in a mirror--not darkly, but clearly. He
+realised that in casting away the husks he had cast away the grain also,
+that in losing the sense of accountability he had obscured his vision of
+righteousness.
+
+There were certain excuses to be made for himself he knew. He had been
+so certain of the success of his scheme that he had never given himself
+time to consider the alternative issue. It was only recently that the
+idea of failure had seriously crossed his mind. At the beginning he had
+refused to consider it even as a remote contingency. That the company
+would ever be called upon to pay the money was too absurd to be thought
+of.
+
+In addition to that, there had been a vague idea somewhere at the back
+of his mind that a company and an individual were not in the same
+category, that they belonged to a different order of things.
+
+A company was something impersonal--something that had neither morals
+nor conscience, that had neither a body to be kicked nor a soul to be
+saved. Hence the idea of cheating a company was on a par with trying to
+cheat a steamship or a railway engine.
+
+He had never said this to himself. He had never really looked at the
+matter, but he was vaguely conscious that there had been some such
+feeling or idea in his mind. Why such an idea should have possessed his
+sub-consciousness he did not know. Now that he had become wide-awake to
+the real issue he was amazed.
+
+Then there was another question that went hand in hand with the others.
+Why did his moral sense become acutely awake at this particular
+juncture? He had been getting back again to the old landmarks. He had
+been recovering his lost faith on many points. His visit to Tregannon
+and his many conversations with Marshall Brook had helped him to
+discern what was vital in religion. He had been separating,
+unconsciously, ecclesiasticism from Christianity. He disliked the former
+as much as ever, but the philosophy of Jesus seemed the noblest thing
+ever given to the world. If he had been asked if he believed in Jesus
+Christ and His teachings he would have said yes. Had he been asked if he
+believed in the Church and its teachings, his answer would have still
+been a negative, or, if an affirmative it would have been conditioned by
+so many reservations that he would not have been deemed suitable for
+church membership in any communion. Yet he was not far from the kingdom
+of God. The kernel of Christianity he accepted. He knew it and felt it.
+His quarrel was no longer with Christ, but with those who pretended to
+represent Him, with an organisation that in the main had lost His
+Spirit.
+
+Was, then, the quickening of his moral sense the outcome of his
+recovered faith? If he had never known Madeline Grover, never read the
+books she lent him, never listened to the teachings of Marshall Brook,
+would he have troubled about the rights of an insurance company?
+
+These were questions he could not answer. He had not found his bearings
+yet. He would need more time. Moreover, the question of all others that
+hammered at his brain and conscience was, should he pay back the money
+he owed Muller by fraud? Should he be dishonest in one direction that he
+might be honest in another? Should he pay a debt of honour by an act of
+flagrant dishonour? He knew that Muller would answer yes in a moment;
+that with him honesty and honour did not belong to the same category. He
+would have said that men might be perfectly honourable without being
+honest; that honesty, after all, was merely a matter of policy; that
+perfectly honourable men cheated every day.
+
+But with his awakened moral sense Rufus could not see things in that
+light. What, therefore, was he to do?
+
+He stole off to bed at length, but not to sleep. Hour after hour he lay
+wide awake, thinking, thinking. But he could see no way out of the
+difficulty. The more he puzzled his brain the more perplexed he became.
+He was on the horns of a dilemma from which there seemed no escape.
+
+As a man of honour he was bound to hand back the money to Muller by the
+time appointed, and yet to do so he must take his own life and commit at
+the same time an act of roguery that would cover his name with infamy if
+men got to know. As far as his own life was concerned he was not in the
+mood to set much value upon it, and as the days passed away that mood
+deepened and intensified. He asked himself the question constantly, What
+had he to live for? The things that made life valuable had been taken
+from him. What was life without hope and without love? He was so
+absolutely stranded that even if he lived it would only be a miserable
+dragging out of existence.
+
+Sometimes he gave way to absolute despair, and the very thought of death
+was a relief to him. Peace and quietness and rest were to be found only
+in the grave. Why not end the struggle at once? Why wait until summer
+came? He could gain nothing by waiting, and a few days more or less
+could make no difference. The sooner the fatal slip was taken the sooner
+would come relief.
+
+And yet in the darkest days of despair his moral sense revolted. The
+idea of committing a fraud as the final act of his life seemed to jar
+every fibre of his being. It was not dying he shrank from, though death
+itself seemed a far more solemn thing than it had done for many years
+past. But he was no coward. He did not recoil even from suffering; but
+to die a cheat was what he could not bring himself to look upon with
+equanimity.
+
+Again and again he would say to himself, "What does it matter? I have
+been a cheat in intention if not in act. The proposal was my own. I
+entered into the compact with my eyes wide open."
+
+But such reasoning did not satisfy him. Even when he told himself that
+he had no character to lose, that even if the fraud were discovered it
+would only throw a little darker shadow upon his memory. It did not
+lessen his repugnance of the contemplated act.
+
+So one day of misery succeeded another, and he fancied sometimes he
+would lose his reason altogether.
+
+Fortunately for him his old place at the mine became vacant, and the
+manager, who had never lost faith in him, was only too glad to reinstate
+him.
+
+"Don't be downhearted, Sterne," he said. "Our greatest successes are won
+through failure. You will win yet if you have only patience to wait and
+strength to persevere."
+
+They were the first really friendly words that had been spoken to him,
+and the tears came into his eyes in spite of himself.
+
+Captain Tom Hendy turned away his head. He did not like to see tears in
+a strong man's eyes, and he guessed that Rufus must have suffered
+terribly for a few friendly words to affect him so much.
+
+"It is kind of you, Capt'n Tom, to say so much," Rufus said, at length,
+"but I am too hopelessly stranded ever to do very much."
+
+"Oh, that is all my eye," Captain Tom answered, with a brusque laugh.
+"You know the old saying, 'Rome was not built in a day.'"
+
+"Yes, I know the old saying, but I fear it won't help me very much.
+Still, I shall be glad to forget my disappointment for a while in my old
+tasks."
+
+"Disappointment is the seed-ground out of which grow the fairest
+flowers," was the cheery answer.
+
+Captain Tom was a Methodist local preacher, and was somewhat given to
+coining phrases that had a pleasant sound. Moreover, he had a big,
+kindly heart, a fact which was often unsuspected by those who did not
+know him.
+
+"Can I begin work soon?" Rufus questioned, after a pause.
+
+"On Monday morning. Jackson finishes on Saturday, so you can just take
+up the old threads as though there had been no break."
+
+"You are really awfully kind," Rufus said, impulsively. "You see, I come
+back with a damaged reputation."
+
+"Not much, sonny; not much. But, of course, your religious views
+predisposed people to believe the worst."
+
+"Yes, I suppose so. It is a curious world."
+
+"Well, it is in some respects; but in the long run people generally get
+what they deserve."
+
+"You think so?"
+
+"I am sure of it. There is a moral order that never varies. Don't you
+make any mistake, my boy. God is at the head of affairs, though you may
+think the world is run without a head."
+
+"I don't know that I have ever said that."
+
+"Well, not in so many words, perhaps. But you've drifted a long way.
+I've been awfully sorry. I'm sorry still. But you'll get back. I've
+never lost faith in you. You've always been better than your philosophy.
+But I'm not going to blame you."
+
+"You need not be afraid that I shall be offended."
+
+"No, 'tisn't that. I know what it is to doubt, myself. I fancy sometimes
+it's only the people who never think who never doubt. The way into the
+Kingdom is through tribulation. So long as a man is honest in his
+doubts, I don't mind. It is the blatant scepticism of ignorance that one
+resents. I am sure you have been anxious to find the truth."
+
+"I am still."
+
+"Light will come in good time, my boy. Only be patient and humble," and
+Captain Tom turned away.
+
+"One word more before you go," Rufus said, eagerly.
+
+"Yes, sonny, a dozen if you like."
+
+"I referred just now to my damaged reputation."
+
+"You did. But you'll be able to live that down."
+
+"That is not the point exactly. I was cruelly slandered in that matter.
+I was never drunk in my life, never, in the smallest degree, the worse
+for drink; and it would be a comfort to me if you could accept my word
+of honour on that point."
+
+"Then it was not a momentary weakness--a sudden lapse as it were?"
+
+"It was not. I have never tasted a drop of intoxicants since my leg was
+broken, and then it was given to me as a medicine by the doctor."
+
+"But why should three men swear you were drunk?"
+
+"One to damage my character. The other two were bribed."
+
+"Have you proof of that?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Then you had better keep a still tongue."
+
+"I have done so; but you have shown yourself so friendly that I could
+not help speaking. Besides, it is hard to keep silent under so great a
+wrong."
+
+"But why should any man--especially a man in the young Squire's
+position--bribe others to swear your character away?"
+
+"Because he feared I was coming between him and the girl he wanted to
+marry."
+
+Captain Tom started and looked incredulous.
+
+"Please don't think me egotistical," Rufus continued, with a painful
+blush. "I can assure you I have never aspired so high. But----"
+
+"You saved her life."
+
+"I had that good fortune, and she was grateful, and she showed her
+gratitude in many ways. One afternoon back in the winter I met her on
+the Downs, and we had a ramble together, and unfortunately the Captain
+saw us."
+
+"And you think he was jealous?"
+
+"I do. What led to the quarrel was, he charged me with loitering round
+Trewinion so that I might waylay her, and influence her against him."
+
+"But why did you not mention that in court?"
+
+"What would have been the good of it? He would have denied it on oath.
+Besides, I'd rather be accused of drunkenness than drag Miss Grover's
+name into such a sordid squabble."
+
+"Oh, indeed!" and the Captain's eyebrows went up perceptibly.
+
+"You'll excuse me talking so freely, Capt'n Tom," Rufus went on, "but it
+really does me good to open my heart to someone, and I know you'll
+respect my confidence."
+
+"I wish you had come to me sooner my boy, though I never thought very
+seriously of the matter. I concluded it was a sudden lapse, and in all
+probability would never happen again."
+
+"But it was nothing of the sort," Rufus said, with a touch of vehemence
+in his tone. "I am as innocent of the charge as you are."
+
+"Then the men who witnessed against you are guilty of perjury?"
+
+"Timothy Polgarrow is, without a doubt. Poor old Micah Martin may have
+fancied I was not sober. Besides, he would conceive it to be his bounden
+duty to accept his young master's word."
+
+For several seconds Captain Tom remained silent, with his eyes fixed
+upon the ground.
+
+"Such villainy ought to be exposed," he said, at length, raising his
+eyes suddenly.
+
+"But how is it to be done?"
+
+"I don't know, my boy," he answered, reflectively, "I don't know."
+
+"You said just now that in the long run people got their deserts."
+
+"I did, sonny, and I believe it."
+
+"But where shall I come in? Suppose they do get their deserts, that
+won't compensate me."
+
+The Captain's grave face relaxed into a broad smile. "Perhaps young
+Tregony's deserts will be in not getting the girl," he said, and he gave
+a loud guffaw.
+
+"Well?"
+
+"That may be where you come in. My stars, but if I were in your shoes,
+I'd make him jealous for something. By all accounts he hasn't got her
+yet."
+
+"I don't know; I've heard nothing."
+
+"Neither have I, for that matter. But if he had got her, it would have
+been in all the papers. You may be quite sure of that."
+
+"Whether he has won her or failed can make no difference to me. I have
+no dreams in that direction."
+
+Captain Tom lowered his eyebrows and puckered his lips. "Sonny," he
+said, "I've no wish to be inquisitive. But I've been a young man myself.
+Ah me! I'd like to be young again. Nothing is impossible to youth when
+there is a stout heart, a clear brain, and a clean conscience."
+
+"Which only a few possess."
+
+"Look here, sonny," Captain Tom said, after a pause, "you are too young
+to let the weeds of pessimism overrun the garden. Look up, that's my
+advice. You've had a big disappointment, I admit, and you've been
+shamefully slandered; but my belief is God has some big thing in store
+for you, if you will only wait patiently and trust in Him."
+
+Rufus dropped his head, but did not reply. However despondent he might
+feel, or however tired of life, it would be a fatal policy to show it.
+
+"We'll talk this matter over again some time," Captain Tom said at
+length. "Meanwhile, you keep your eyes open. My stars! but she's a girl
+worth winning!"
+
+Rufus looked up with a start.
+
+"I mean it," Captain Tom went on, with a laugh. "Besides, you got the
+first innings. If I were a sporting man, I know which horse I would
+back. My stars! but it would be no end of a joke!" and with another
+laugh, he walked away.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XXVII
+
+                          THE VALUE OF A LIFE
+
+
+Rufus settled himself down to his work with as much outward cheerfulness
+as he could command. It was a great comfort to him to know that Captain
+Tom believed in him, and that the past would never be flung into his
+teeth by his employer. The work was not exacting and the pay was
+proportionate. There was no scope for enterprise or ambition, which
+exactly suited his mood. He had no ambition left. He was only marking
+time at best. Before the autumn leaves had carpeted the ground he would
+be at rest.
+
+He faced the issue, most days, grimly and determinedly. There was no
+other alternative open to him. It seemed a greater wrong to defraud a
+friend than to take a few hundreds out of the coffers of a great and
+wealthy company. The company would not be perceptibly the poorer if it
+lost ten times the amount. It had accumulated funds for all
+contingencies. It lived by and for the purpose of taking risks. But to
+defraud Muller might be to ruin him. The money was not his own. The loss
+to him might mean bankruptcy and worse. Hence, as he was bound to commit
+a fraud whether he lived or died, it seemed the better part to commit
+the fraud that would give least pain and trouble, and dying, escape all
+consequences. It was a terrible alternative, and it filled him with
+self-loathing and contempt. He felt that he was a living falsehood,
+practising a daily hypocrisy. And yet what could he do?
+
+The dry east winds of March had given place to April's genial showers.
+Spring was greening the landscape in all directions. The throstles sang
+in the elm-trees as though glad to be alive, and in the uplands the
+young lambs sported in the sunshine. Every morning, as Rufus walked over
+the hills to the mine, he felt the joy of life throbbing in his veins.
+It was good to live when the world was becoming so fair; good to smell
+the pungent odours of the earth, and feel the warmth of the ascending
+sun. There were moments when he forgot the sword that was hanging over
+his head, and he would revel in the yellow of the gorse and in the
+changing colours of the sea. Then he would come to himself with a gasp,
+and a look of horror would creep into his eyes.
+
+In spite of himself the strain began to tell upon his health. The burden
+was becoming heavier than he could bear. In the company of others he
+simulated a cheerfulness that he never felt. If he spoke of the future,
+it was with a tone of well-feigned hopefulness in his voice. He
+pretended to have plans reaching into the next year and the year after
+that. He loathed himself for being so consummate a hypocrite. But for
+Muller's sake he would have to avoid waking the smallest suspicion.
+
+It is not surprising, perhaps, that the further he got away from the
+first shock of disappointment, and the nearer he got to the redemption
+of his pledge, the stronger his passion for life became. It might be the
+beauty of the springtime that made him so eager to live. It might be the
+growing sense of the sacredness of life. It might be the increasing
+moral revulsion from the act itself. It might be the slow lifting of the
+veil from his spiritual vision, or it might be all these things
+combined. Certain it is that as the spring advanced and the earth
+became more and more beautiful, the thought of dying became more and
+more repugnant.
+
+"There is no wealth but life," a great writer has said, and Rufus began
+to feel more and more the truth of that statement. He was an asset of
+his age and generation. He belonged to his own time. The treasure of a
+country was not its dollars but its life. To the individual himself life
+is his one real possession. Wealth and fame and distinction are nothing
+to the dead. Moreover, life without wealth, without recognition, without
+honour, is still worth possessing. It is a gladness merely to live and
+see the beauty of the earth and feel the warmth of the sun.
+
+Rufus began to count the days till the end of August, which he reckoned
+would mark the limit of his pilgrimage. The time passed all too quickly.
+He gave himself as little sleep as possible, for sleep seemed to rob him
+of what little of life was left, and he was anxious to make the most of
+it.
+
+Never a spring seemed so beautiful as that one. Never did the gorse
+flame so yellow on the moors, never did he see such sapphire in the
+deep. As the evenings grew longer he sat on the cliffs and watched the
+sunsets and ticked them off in his calendar as the day faded into night.
+
+His eyes grew large and pathetic and his voice took a softer tone.
+Sometimes he found his thoughts shaping themselves into supplication.
+The universal instinct asserted itself unconsciously. He wanted guidance
+and he wanted forgiveness for what he proposed to do.
+
+Marshall Brook came across to see him once or twice, and they had long
+walks and talks together, but he got no help out of their conversation
+and discussions. On the contrary, every talk seemed to make his task
+more and more difficult.
+
+By slow and almost imperceptible steps he was coming back to the faith
+he had cast aside. He read the gospels with new interest, and saw in the
+books Madeline Grover lent him, and which he still kept, new and deeper
+meanings. But all this only put fresh thorns in his path. He wished
+sometimes that his philosophy of negations had never been disturbed,
+that he could still believe what he believed honestly enough when he
+entered into this fatal compact.
+
+It seemed as though everything conspired to put difficulties in his
+path. He might be the victim of a malicious fate. He had told Muller
+that if he failed he should not want to live--that there would be
+nothing left worth living for. How little he knew! How little he guessed
+that that very day he would see a face that would change the world for
+him; that from that day a train of circumstances would be set in motion
+that would alter his entire outlook!
+
+He was a different man to-day from what he was nine months ago. He
+looked at life and the world through different eyes. He had loved, and
+love had greatened him in spite of the fact that he had loved in vain.
+He had reasoned about temperance, and righteousness, and a judgment to
+come, and out of the chaos of his own thinking had appeared the faint
+glimmerings of an eternal order. He had suffered, and suffering had
+developed in him the grace of patience, and toughened the fibres of his
+moral nature. He had come under influences which had quickened his
+drooping moral sense and made him look with steadier eyes at the meaning
+and mystery of life.
+
+He never more ardently desired to do the right thing, was never so
+absolutely compelled to do the wrong. He wished sometimes that he could
+take some one into his confidence, Captain Tom Hendy, for instance. With
+his clear vision and strong common sense he might see a way out of the
+difficulty. But to take anyone into his confidence would be to give the
+whole case away. For Muller's sake he would have to preserve an
+inviolable silence, and yet the very silence was becoming more and more
+intolerable.
+
+Toward the end of April he paid what he deemed would be his last visit
+to Muller. It would be a relief to put some of his thoughts into speech.
+That, however, was not the main purpose of his visit. He had succeeded
+in putting all his affairs in order, in turning into cash everything
+that was saleable, and in discharging all outstanding obligations, and
+he was pleased to discover that he had still three hundred pounds left.
+
+"I suppose this belongs to me," he said to himself, "to do what I like
+with," and he smiled sadly. Some men, under the circumstances, might
+have spent it in having what they would call a good time, but he was in
+no mood for feasting or mirth.
+
+"I will take it back to Muller," he went on, "and lessen my obligation
+by that amount." So one Saturday afternoon, when they left off early at
+the mine, he donned his holiday suit, and trudged off into Redbourne to
+see his friend.
+
+He found Muller in his office as he expected. Muller had no domestic
+ties, and he preferred his office, as a rule, to any other place in the
+world.
+
+Muller looked up with a little start of surprise when Rufus entered. In
+the first place, he was not expecting him, and in the second place, he
+was shocked at his appearance.
+
+"Hello, Sterne," he said, "what brings you into Redbourne to-day? Not to
+see a doctor, I hope," and a curious smile played round the corners of
+his mouth.
+
+"I came to see you," Rufus answered, with a smile. "Doctors are of no
+use to me."
+
+"Well, no," Muller replied, reflectively. "I presume you are right in
+that. But you look ill all the same--painfully ill."
+
+"Do I? I was not aware. I feel about as usual."
+
+"Not over cheerful, I presume. Well, I don't wonder. It's beastly hard
+luck. I think if I were in your place I should get the business over as
+quickly as possible."
+
+"I have to consider your interests as well as my own feelings," Rufus
+answered, going to the window and looking down into the street.
+
+"Well, yes, of course. If people suspected anything there might be old
+Harry to pay."
+
+"Exactly. Then, you know, I have had a good many things to square up,
+and, on the whole, I have come out fairly well."
+
+"What do you mean by that?"
+
+"I mean that out of the thousand pounds I borrowed of you, I have three
+hundred left."
+
+"So much?"
+
+"Three pounds, seventeen and ninepence over, to be exact. But what I
+propose to do is to hand over the three hundred pounds to you, and so
+lessen my obligation by that amount."
+
+Muller started, and a puzzled expression came into his eyes.
+
+"The burden will seem a little lighter," Rufus went on, looking down
+into the street again.
+
+"I confess I do not quite understand," Muller said, adjusting his
+pince-nez. "You don't mean t--t----" Then he stopped, and waited for
+Rufus further to explain himself.
+
+"I mean," Rufus answered, walking across the room, and dropping into a
+chair, "that if there is any profit arising out of the transaction you
+shall have the full benefit of it."
+
+"Oh, thanks, old man; that is good of you," and Muller's face brightened
+instantly.
+
+"There are always expenses, of course?"
+
+"A great many expenses, I am sorry to say. But you have been very
+thoughtful. Extremely considerate, if I may say so, without flattery."
+
+"Oh, you can flatter as much as you like," Rufus answered, with a
+mirthless laugh. "It would be much more to the purpose, however, if you
+could see some other way out of the difficulty."
+
+Muller's countenance changed again in a moment.
+
+"You like not the prospect?" he said, cynically.
+
+"To be honest, I don't. As a matter of fact, I despise myself for not
+seeing at the beginning all the issues involved."
+
+"What issues do you refer to?"
+
+"Moral issues in the main. The repayment of this loan is with us both a
+question of honour."
+
+"That is so. As an honourable man you cannot escape it."
+
+"I see that clearly enough. What I failed to see at the first--either
+because I refused to entertain the idea of failure, or else because my
+moral sense had become dull--was that I was proposing to pay a debt by
+fraud."
+
+Muller laughed uneasily. "I think I pointed that out to you quite
+clearly on the day we settled the matter."
+
+"I have no recollection of it."
+
+"I did so most distinctly. I said if the company scented suicide they
+would dispute the claim, or words to that effect."
+
+"And seeing this clearly you were willing to become a party to the
+fraud?"
+
+Muller's eyes blazed in a moment. "Look here, Sterne," he said, angrily,
+"this is above a joke. You know very well that the proposal was not
+mine. You badgered and bullied and persuaded and gave me no peace. I
+yielded at length, much against my will, to oblige you. I made you angry
+when I pointed out in the frankest and most explicit way the
+consequences of failure, and now, confound it, when you have failed you
+come and blame me."
+
+"No, no; you misunderstand me," Rufus said, mildly. "I have no wish to
+blame you. The proposal was my own, I frankly admit, and you yielded
+very reluctantly. But the thing that puzzles me is that while we talked
+about honour we neither of us seemed to realise that the proposal
+involved a glaring act of dishonour."
+
+"Do you refer to the insurance company?"
+
+"I do."
+
+"My dear fellow, would you consider it a dishonourable act to
+appropriate a pin from your neighbour's dressing-table?"
+
+"Well, no. There is no value in a pin."
+
+"Yes, there is. All values are relative. To the company concerned the
+amount involved is scarcely more than the value of a pin to your
+landlady."
+
+"If I took a penny from her dressing-table it would be theft."
+
+"You think that because the disc of copper represents a fixed amount of
+money. Call it theft if you like. So then taking a pin would be theft."
+
+"Perhaps so."
+
+"But a theft so small that in any moral or legal reckoning it would not
+count. It would not count because your landlady would not feel it. So
+the paltry amount under discussion would not be felt by the company."
+
+"You call it a paltry amount, and yet it represents the value of a
+life."
+
+"My dear fellow, human life is not of much account in this world.
+Governments--especially Christian Governments--sacrifice men by
+thousands for bits of barren territory that are not worth sixpence."
+
+"The Creator, perhaps, sets more value on them."
+
+"Use the word Nature and you talk sense. Only your suggestion is
+absolutely beside the mark. Nature puts no value on human life at all,
+no more than you do on the creeping things you trample to death at every
+step you take."
+
+"Nature does not destroy. She only changes the form. Nothing is lost."
+
+"Except life. That vanishes like the flame of a candle in a gust of
+wind."
+
+"Vanishes! But do you know what the word means?"
+
+"I think I do. But what is all this talk leading to? What have you got
+at the back of your brain? If you are going to funk the business, say
+so, and let me know the worst."
+
+"I don't think I have suggested anything of the kind," Rufus replied,
+uneasily. "I frankly admit that I do not like the alternative, and wish
+that some other way of escape could be found."
+
+"But if there is no other way?"
+
+"Then I must meet my doom, and go into darkness disgraced and
+dishonoured."
+
+"In a hundred years from now nothing will matter."
+
+"You are not even sure of that. But, candidly, I am as ready to face
+death as most other men. I am not aware that I have ever proved myself
+a coward, but I do abhor the thought of shrinking meanly out of life by
+a back door in order to cheat an insurance company."
+
+"You should have thought of all this earlier."
+
+"I know I should. I am simply amazed at myself. But I was so certain of
+success that I refused to look at failure, or the possible consequences
+of failure."
+
+"Exactly. But that is not my fault. I am sorry for you. More sorry than
+I can express. But I am powerless to help you."
+
+"And you are not concerned at my cheating the insurance company?"
+
+"Not in the least. I am only concerned that you do not cheat me."
+
+"But suppose I paid you interest on the seven hundred pounds for a year
+or two?"
+
+"It is not the interest I want, but the principal, which I must have by
+the first of January next, or I'm up a tree."
+
+"But could you not borrow the amount from some other client for awhile?"
+
+"Where am I to get security? Why don't you ask me to make you a free
+gift of the amount in question?"
+
+"I don't want any free gift. At the same time, I don't want to sacrifice
+my life if there is any chance of saving it."
+
+"You seem to set great store by it."
+
+"It is all I have. And of late I have not been able to shake off the
+conviction that I am responsible to God for it."
+
+"I thought as much," Muller said, with a sneer.
+
+Rufus raised his eyes questioningly.
+
+"Turning Christian again with Christian results," he went on. "I caught
+an echo of the jargon the last time I called on you, and feared you
+would turn coward, as all these religious people do."
+
+"Don't let us quarrel, Muller," Rufus said, mildly. "I confess I had not
+much hope that you would be able to help me, so I shall return not
+greatly disappointed."
+
+"I would help you a thousand times if I could," Muller replied, with a
+great burst of simulated friendliness, "but, alas! I cannot do
+impossibilities."
+
+"Very good, I will not trouble you again."
+
+"And you will not burst the thing up by awaking suspicion?"
+
+"Not if I can help it."
+
+"And take a word of advice. Get rid of those silly notions about
+accountability and all that rubbish. They don't become a man of your
+intellectual calibre."
+
+"Thank you: we must follow the light that is in us. Good afternoon and
+good-bye."
+
+"Good-bye," Muller said, lugubriously, grasping his outstretched hand.
+"I'm sorry, but I'm helpless."
+
+Rufus did not reply nor did he look back, and a moment later Muller
+heard his footsteps slowly descending the stairs.
+
+
+
+
+                                CHAPTER XXVIII
+
+                           THE RETURN OF THE SQUIRE
+
+
+Rufus was conscious as he descended the stairs that his feelings towards
+Felix Muller had undergone considerable change. Felix was not the close
+and attached friend that he had imagined him to be. Of late he had
+revealed himself in a new light. It was no doubt true that he had taken
+considerable risks on his account, but he began to fear that these risks
+had not been taken on the score of friendship merely. It seemed to Rufus
+that the passion for speculation and the desire for gain had been the
+chief factors in the case.
+
+"I think he might have helped me," Rufus said to himself, regretfully.
+"If he had really cared for my friendship he would have set my life
+before most things. I don't think my death will trouble him in the
+least."
+
+At the street door he paused for a few moments, and contemplated the
+busy street stretching right and left. It was market-day, and the youth
+of the entire country side had poured itself into the town. Up and down
+they sauntered--lads and maidens--aimless, vacant, but entirely happy.
+Hands in pockets, arms round waists, straws between teeth, caps tilted
+to the back of heads. The world for them was the best of all possible
+places, and Fore Street, Redbourne, on a market-day the most wonderful
+place in the world.
+
+Suddenly the crowd divided that a pair of horses drawing an open
+carriage might pass up the street. The carriage was empty. The coachman
+and footman sat stiff and erect in blue livery, and surveyed the scene
+with a look of pitying condescension on their faces.
+
+Rufus watched the carriage pass with more than ordinary interest. It was
+Sir Charles Tregony's carriage and was evidently on its way to the
+station. Very likely the family were returning to-day, though to put
+five people into an ordinary landau would be a tight squeeze.
+
+Rufus found his heart beating a little more rapidly than usual; the
+thought of seeing Madeline Grover again quickened his pulse
+unconsciously. In a moment the busy street faded, the noise died down
+into silence, and he was back in a quiet country lane, watching a
+carriage pass, with a strange lady sitting by the side of the driver. He
+would never forget that first vision of Madeline's face. He had never
+seen a face before that had so caught his fancy. He had never seen
+anything comparable to it since.
+
+That was one of the red-letter days of his life. He fancied then that
+all the world lay at his feet. No dream of failure dimmed the sunshine
+for a moment. He was on the heights of Pisgah, with all the fair land of
+promise stretched out before him. Now he was in the valley of the
+shadow, having relinquished his last hope. It was a curious coincidence
+that Madeline should return that day of all days. Return, possibly, as
+the wife of Gervase Tregony. To see her sitting by his side would be the
+last drop in the cup of humiliation, the deepest note in the solemn
+dirge of his despair.
+
+He looked at his watch. The down express from London was due in fifteen
+minutes, and it was generally well up to time.
+
+"I think I will loiter round in town until they have gone," he said to
+himself. "I need not suffer the humiliation of seeing her the happy
+bride of that----fellow," and he plunged at once into the throng that
+jostled each other in the street.
+
+But the desire to have another look at Madeline's face proved too strong
+for him.
+
+"It cannot do me any harm," he said to himself, moodily. "Nothing can do
+me any harm now. The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune have done
+their worst."
+
+Ten minutes later he was on the station platform waiting for the down
+express. Very few people were about. He lighted a cigarette, and
+strolled with apparent unconcern up and down the platform. He gave a
+little start when the signal dropped just in front of him. A couple of
+porters hurried across the line from the other platform, a newspaper boy
+appeared from somewhere round a corner, the people who had been walking
+up and down came to a sudden stop. The long train glided slowly round a
+curve, and came to a standstill.
+
+Rufus drew to the off side of the platform, and watched the scene. Fifty
+heads were thrust out of nearly as many windows, but only half a dozen
+people alighted. Sir Charles and party had a compartment to themselves
+near the middle of the train. The Baronet alighted first--slowly and
+stiffly as though cramped with the long journey. Beryl jumped out after
+him with light springy step, then came Lady Tregony, ponderous, but
+jaunty still.
+
+Rufus found his heart beating uncomfortably fast as he waited for
+Madeline to appear. The porter entered the compartment, and began
+handing out the wraps and umbrellas, then the footman hurried away to
+the luggage van. Rufus heaved a long sigh, partly of disappointment,
+partly of relief. Madeline had not returned with the others, neither had
+the Captain. That meant--what?
+
+He could think of only one possible explanation. They were man and wife,
+and were travelling on their own account. Perhaps they had been married
+recently, and were now on their honeymoon. That seemed the most probable
+supposition. It was hardly likely they would be married on the
+Continent. They would wait till they got back to London, and after the
+ceremony the others would return, of course, to St. Gaved, and the
+Captain and his bride would wander where they listed.
+
+He turned away from the station, and made his way slowly over the hill
+in the direction of St. Gaved. The Tregony carriage passed him before he
+had got very far, but no one noticed him. He kept his head bent low, and
+did not raise his eyes till the carriage had got a considerable
+distance.
+
+It was dark long before he reached St. Gaved, and he was so tired that
+it was a pain to lift his feet from the ground. It was the first time he
+fully realised how weak he was. He did not feel ill, though people were
+constantly telling him how ill he looked; but he was conscious that the
+spring had gone out of him, that the fires of life were burning low.
+
+When he went to bed that night there was an unspoken prayer in his heart
+that some illness would overtake him from which he would die. That would
+be a splendid solution of the whole difficulty. A severe illness would
+quench the passion for life, would dull all the sensibilities, would
+take the sting out of all earth's disappointments, and ring down the
+curtain so gently that he would not know when all the lights were turned
+out.
+
+Perhaps, after all, he would be saved the sin and the shame of taking
+his own life, and with this thought in his mind he fell asleep.
+
+The next day, however, brought back all the old pain in its acutest
+form. Once or twice he felt strongly tempted to let Felix Muller bear
+the brunt of his failure, and trust to the future and the chapter of
+accidents to enable him to discharge all his liabilities.
+
+Muller was not considering him in any way. Indeed, he had shown himself
+exceedingly callous. The one thing that concerned him was getting his
+money back with compound interest. Well, he had got three hundred pounds
+of it back already. Suppose he kept him waiting for the rest?
+
+But after a moment's reflection he would shake his head. "I should never
+be able to pay him back," he would say to himself. "Seven hundred pounds
+to a working man is an impossible sum. I should not be able to pay him
+interest at four per cent out of my earnings. Besides, what would he
+think? and it might mean bankruptcy and disgrace to him."
+
+But the thought of what he would think was the principal crux. How
+contemptuous he would be. With what scorn he would regard him. How
+bitter and venomous would be his taunts, with what biting sarcasm he
+would refer to his courage and chivalry, with what lofty disdain he
+would speak of his honour and his regard for the truth.
+
+Rufus would feel himself growing hot all over with shame. Shame that he
+let such a temptation have foothold for a single moment. Had he not
+pledged his word of honour, and was not that enough? Did it not outweigh
+every other consideration? If he departed from his word of honour he
+would never be able to hold up his head again, however long he might
+live, and were a few shadowed years worth purchasing at so great a
+price?
+
+So he debated the question now from one side and now from another, and
+still the days passed on, and he saw no escape from the doom he had
+prepared for himself.
+
+Sometimes he woke in the night with a start, and with the cry upon his
+lips, "How can I do this great evil, and sin against God?" and for
+awhile the thought of his responsibility to a supreme Being would
+outweigh every other consideration. His pledged word, the thin veneer of
+honour which took no account of honesty, the anger and contempt of
+Muller, the irrevocable loss of reputation--would all seem as of no
+account in comparison with the anger of an offended God.
+
+That he should grow pale, and thin, and hollow-eyed was inevitable. The
+constant nervous strain was exhausting the springs of life. The
+unresting activity of his brain was consuming his physical energies as
+with a fire. He was as free from disease as any child in St. Gaved, but
+he was unwittingly making himself an easy prey to any malady that might
+be prowling about.
+
+Meanwhile St. Gaved was considerably exercised in its mind over the
+non-appearance of the Captain--as people still called him--and Miss
+Grover. Mrs. Tuke, who claimed to be on terms of great intimacy with
+Madeline, and who was prepared to champion her under any and every
+circumstance, was almost indignant that no reliable information could be
+extracted from any source.
+
+The servants from the Hall came into the village as usual, and certain
+young men from St. Gaved, it was said, found their way occasionally into
+the Hall kitchen--though that was a point on which authentic
+information was difficult to obtain. But neither from the servants, nor
+from the young men in question, nor from the police, could anything be
+gathered as to the doings or the whereabouts of Gervase Tregony and
+Madeline Grover.
+
+Gossip, of course, ran riot, and rumour changed its headlines every day,
+but the true state of affairs remained as much a mystery as ever. Rufus
+found himself as much interested in the floating gossip as Mrs. Tuke
+herself, and as eager to listen to the latest canard.
+
+"It is said they ain't married at all," Mrs. Tuke remarked one evening,
+as she laid his supper on the table.
+
+"But nobody knows," Rufus said, wearily, looking up from his book.
+
+"Well, not for certain. But if they was married, don't you think as how
+it would have leaked out somehow?"
+
+"They may have been married quietly without a dozen people knowing."
+
+"But why should they be married on the sly? Sir Charles seemed mighty
+proud that the Captain was going to marry her before he turned up."
+
+"Yes, I believe that is so."
+
+"And the young man was that gone on her, that if she'd consented to
+marry him, he'd never have been able to keep it to himself."
+
+"It might be her wish, and I think he would do almost anything to oblige
+her."
+
+"No, he couldn't have done it, however much he'd tried. He'd just burst,
+that he would."
+
+"Then what is your theory, Mrs. Tuke?"
+
+"Well, I don't know that I has any theory. You see, if they ain't
+married, where are they?"
+
+"Exactly," Rufus said, with a smile; "that is a very pertinent
+question."
+
+"And if they ain't married, I say they can't be together."
+
+"That sounds probable, certainly."
+
+"And if they ain't together, where's he?"
+
+"Exactly; and where's she?"
+
+"That's the very question I was going to ax myself, but you took the
+words out of my mouth as it were."
+
+"I'm sorry I forestalled you, Mrs. Tuke, but----"
+
+"Oh, you needn't apologise, Mr. Sterne, not a bit. This is a free
+country, and anybody is allowed to ax as many questions as he likes. But
+to come back to the point we was talking about, the question is, where's
+she, and where's the both of 'em?"
+
+"Sir Charles is still silent on the subject, I presume?"
+
+"As silent as a boiled periwinkle by all accounts. The servants say they
+haven't heard him mention the Captain's name since he came back."
+
+"Perhaps they have quarrelled."
+
+"Well, my belief is that if the Captain failed to carry off the girl as
+his bride, Sir Charles would be terrible angry."
+
+"Then you have a theory after all, Mrs. Tuke?"
+
+"Well, no, I don't know that I has. I only puts two and two together, as
+it were."
+
+"But why should Sir Charles be so anxious that his son should marry this
+particular young lady? There would seem to be any number of eligible
+spinsters in the country."
+
+"But millionairesses ain't to be picked up every day, and I reckon the
+Captain ain't anything of his own to live upon, except what his father
+allows him; and Sir Charles, they say, is as poor as a church mouse;
+but that's all nonsense. I should like to have a quarter of what he's
+got to live on."
+
+"But you haven't his expenses, Mrs. Tuke."
+
+"And he needn't have 'em unless he liked. Think of their wintering
+abroad; it must have cost 'em a heap of money."
+
+"No doubt. But what about the 'millionairess'?"
+
+"Oh, well, it's this way. Squire Vivian's butler told long
+Joseph--that's Sir Charles's butler, you know--and he told the
+housekeeper, and she told Sarah Jelks--who is housemaid at the Hall--and
+she told Siah Small--who pretends to be courting her--and he told Dick
+Beswarick, and he told his wife Susan, and she told me, that he heard
+the family talking about it one day at dinner----."
+
+"Who heard the family----?"
+
+"Squire Vivian's butler, of course."
+
+"Yes, go on."
+
+"Well, he heard them saying that it would be the best day's work the
+Captain ever did if he got married, as the girl had no end of dollars."
+
+"How did they know?"
+
+"Very likely Sir Charles told them. Those big folks may be as close as
+oysters to the poor, but they talk to each other."
+
+"Well, Mrs. Tuke, and what is the inference you draw from all this?"
+
+"I don't draw no inference at all. I don't pretend to be anything but a
+plain woman, and I only put two and two together, though Miss Grover did
+say my curtains was a treat."
+
+"She took rather a fancy to you, didn't she?"
+
+"It's not for me to say that exactly, though it's quite true she never
+thought any of the other women up to much, and she came here frequent,
+as you know."
+
+"Yes, I remember. But when you have put two and two together, what
+then?"
+
+"Well, between ourselves, I shouldn't be a bit surprised if, after
+living in the same house with the Captain for a month or two, she found
+out he weren't her sort and told him so."
+
+"You think that is likely?"
+
+"Well, I can tell you, Mr. Sterne, he wouldn't be my sort, and Miss
+Grover ain't the kind of young woman to be hustled into anything against
+her will."
+
+"Well, and what next?"
+
+"Well, suppose she told him definite, that the more she'd seen of him
+the less she liked him, and that she wasn't for taking him on at any
+price, what would happen then?"
+
+"Well, Mrs. Tuke, what do you suppose would happen?"
+
+"It seems to me, Mr. Sterne," Mrs. Tuke said, impressively, "that
+there'd be a kettle o' fish, as it were; a kind of general upset, don't
+you think so?"
+
+"There might be."
+
+"She couldn't come back to Trewinion Hall again, could she?"
+
+"Why not? I understood from her that Sir Charles was her guardian, or
+trustee, or something of that kind."
+
+"But if they was all bent on her marrying the Captain and she wouldn't?"
+
+"The situation would be a little strained, no doubt; but she would not
+shun the house because she was in no humour to marry the son."
+
+"Well, my belief is she's cut the lot of them, as it were; that the
+Captain's sick, and Sir Charles sulky, and the others too cross to talk
+about it."
+
+"Meanwhile, what has become of Miss Grover?"
+
+Mrs. Tuke straightened herself, and looked perplexed. "That is what is
+atroubling me," she said, sympathetically. "Between you and me I got
+terrible fond of her. She weren't none of the starchy sort, and the way
+she would just sit down and talk to me was a treat. I might be her
+mother, she was that affable; and now to think she may be wandering
+round this lone world without a friend, as it were, fairly worries me at
+times."
+
+"I don't think you need worry, Mrs. Tuke. She is well able to take care
+of herself. But I am not convinced yet that she and the Captain are not
+married."
+
+"Well, I be," and Mrs. Tuke sidled out of the room.
+
+
+
+
+                               CHAPTER XXIX
+
+                           GETTING AT THE TRUTH
+
+
+Perhaps the only two people in St. Gaved--outside the Tregony
+family--who could have thrown any ray of light on the situation were
+Micah Martin and Timothy Polgarrow, and they, as far as the general
+public was concerned, were both of them discreet enough to keep their
+own counsel.
+
+Micah's chief characteristic was loyalty to the Tregony family. He had
+been on the estate as man and boy over fifty years. He had no ambition
+to be anything other than a servant, and a word of praise from his
+master now and then would atone for any amount of abuse. Comparative
+serfdom, continued through several generations, had eliminated from his
+blood every single corpuscle of independence. He possessed the genuine
+serf spirit and temper. If his master told him to lie on the floor that
+he might wipe his boots on him, he would have obeyed with a smile and
+asked no questions. He had no will of his own, no views or opinions or
+convictions. His master's politics were his. His master's wish his law.
+The serf spirit made a machine of him. Even questions of right and wrong
+were tested by loyalty to the family. If a thing was in the interests of
+the Tregonys, it was right, if not it was wrong.
+
+Yet Micah was not without a measure of shrewdness. He saw more than most
+people gave him credit for. In his own slow way he put two and two
+together. But he had the saving virtue of reticence--a most admirable
+quality in a servant.
+
+Micah knew very well that the Captain lied over the Sterne affair; but
+that was his business. He had a reason for lying, and it was not his
+place to contradict him. He knew well enough that Rufus was not drunk,
+but it would be disloyal to his master to say so. If there was one
+individual about the place who could break down Micah's reticence and
+get him to talk it was Madeline. She had not been a month at the Hall
+before she had made herself a general favourite with all the retainers.
+Micah idolised her and would have given his scalp almost to please her.
+
+Madeline discussed horticulture with him and floriculture--the mysteries
+of grafting and budding, the best aspect for peaches and the best soil
+for potatoes. Miss Grover was a wonder in Micah's eyes. She knew so much
+and yet was so teachable--was so beautiful and yet so humble withal.
+
+They talked about the Sterne affair one afternoon. Madeline approached
+the subject with great caution, and carefully felt her way at every
+step. When Micah became diffident she flattered him a little, and when
+he obtruded his loyalty to the family she encouraged him.
+
+She made him feel also that she was one of the family, and that he would
+be perfectly justified and perfectly safe in confiding anything to her.
+She talked to him about her early life, about the scenery and customs of
+America, and so hypnotised him with her confidence and her sweet
+graciousness that the old man talked more freely than he knew.
+
+"Of course you will not repeat what I have told you, Micah?" she said,
+with her most winning smile.
+
+"Of course not, Miss," Micah said, stoutly. "I wouldn't repeat it for
+the world."
+
+"It's nice to have confidence in people, don't you think so?" she
+questioned, demurely.
+
+"It is, Miss; it's a terrible comfort."
+
+"Some people repeat everything they hear. But you and I can trust each
+other, eh, Micah?"
+
+"I could trust you with uncounted gold, Miss," and Micah stuck his fork
+into the ground, with an energy that was meant to give emphasis to his
+assertion.
+
+For awhile they talked about St. Gaved folks in general, but gradually
+Madeline led the conversation round to Rufus Sterne and the quarrel
+outside the Lodge gates.
+
+"Mr. Sterne was not drunk, of course!" Madeline suggested, innocently.
+
+"Well, no, I shouldn't say as how he was, though he might have been."
+
+"Exactly. Now, between ourselves, Micah, how did the quarrel begin?"
+
+"Well, Miss, just between you and me, it was this way," and Micah raised
+his head and looked cautiously around him.
+
+"There's no one to hear what you are saying," Madeline said,
+encouragingly.
+
+"One can never be too careful, Miss; but as I was saying, I went out to
+close the gate after the Captin, and he hadn't gone many yards, before I
+heard 'im shout out to somebody."
+
+"Yes? What did he say?"
+
+"Well. I don't remember his words exact. But there's no doubt he meant
+you, Miss."
+
+"Me, Micah?"
+
+Micah nodded and smiled. "I should have felt just the same, Miss."
+
+"I'm sure you would, Micah."
+
+"'You scoundrel,'" he said, "or words like 'em. 'You're loiterin' round
+here again to waylay her an' poison her mind.'"
+
+"And what did the other say?"
+
+"Oh! he up and says it was a lie right out to 'is face."
+
+"Did he, really?"
+
+"It's gospel truth, Miss; and of course the Captin, bein' insulted like
+that, let fly at 'im."
+
+"Do you wonder, Micah?"
+
+"I don't, Miss. But lor', that young Sterne is a terrible strong and
+'andsome young fellow, and he gived the Captin beans in two seconds."
+
+"What a shame!"
+
+"Of course, Miss, it's natural that you and me should side with the
+Captin; but after all, it's human natur' to hit back again, ain't it?"
+
+"Yes, I suppose it is. But what happened after that?"
+
+"Oh! the Captin cried out, 'Martin, come and take away this drunken
+brute, or he'll murder me.'"
+
+"Of course, the Captain was bound to believe he was drunk?"
+
+"Well, he was bound to say so, Miss," Micah answered, with a twinkle in
+his eyes. "It 'ud never do to own he was beaten by a man as was sober in
+a stand up fight--and he a sodger."
+
+"Of course not, though you must admit, Micah, that the Captain was at a
+disadvantage if the other was sober."
+
+"That's what I've said to myself, Miss, fact is, Sterne was much too
+sober. He was just as cool as a cucumber, and then he's a younger man
+than the Captin."
+
+"But the Captain got the best of it in the end," she said, with a tone
+of triumph in her voice.
+
+"That he did, Miss. He got his revenge sharp, sudden an' complete."
+
+"The right nearly always wins in the end, Micah. But mind you don't
+repeat a word of our conversation this afternoon."
+
+"Me, Miss? You should see me gibbeted first."
+
+Madeline walked out of the kitchen garden in a very sober mood. The
+suspicion that had been haunting her mind for weeks was crystallising
+rapidly into a certainty. The admissions of Micah threw a new and
+sinister light on the entire situation. The underlying motive had been
+laid bare as in a flash, and Gervase stood revealed in his true colours.
+
+They were starting for the South of France in a week or so. She thought
+she saw now the reason of that particular move. She would not act
+precipitately, however. She would keep her eyes and ears open and her
+mouth shut. It might be possible, with a little diplomacy, to get the
+truth out of Tim Polgarrow as she had got it out of Micah Martin; but
+there was no time to be wasted if she was to accomplish her purpose.
+
+She was more than usually gracious with Gervase that evening, and in the
+highest spirits. She rattled off waltzes on the piano, and sang any
+number of cheery and sentimental songs. Gervase found the songs for her,
+and stood behind and turned the leaves.
+
+He felt that he was making headway rapidly. Now that Rufus Sterne was
+disgraced and out of the way, he had no rival; there was no one to
+distract her thoughts from him, and he flattered himself that something
+of the old feeling of hero-worship was coming back to her.
+
+He had given up pressing her to marry him, given up playing the part of
+injured and broken-hearted lover, and entertained her instead with
+stories of his exploits in India. And, generally speaking, he told his
+stories well, making light of his own courage and powers of endurance,
+and treating heroism as though it were an ordinary, common-place quality
+of every soldier.
+
+He had very little doubt that when he got her out of England she would
+consent to an engagement, and Sir Charles, who had watched carefully the
+progress of affairs, was of the same opinion.
+
+On the day following her conversation with Micah, Madeline tried to get
+an interview with Tim Polgarrow. She had seen Tim two or three times,
+and had made up her mind as to the kind of man he was and the kind of
+tactics she would have to adopt.
+
+Had she been a man she would have gone into the public-house and
+demanded an interview with him, but being a girl such a course was
+impossible. So she had to wait on the chapter of accidents, and fortune
+did not appear to favour her. She rode past the "Three Anchors" on
+several occasions, but Tim kept persistently out of sight. She began at
+last to fear that the opportunity would never come, and that the
+particular information she wanted would be denied her.
+
+In her heart she had little doubt of the truth of the accusation Rufus
+had flung out on the day of the trial--that Tim had been bribed to swear
+a falsehood. But she wanted direct evidence. She was anxious to be just
+to Gervase, whatever happened.
+
+On the day before leaving home she resolved on more direct measures.
+Getting her horse saddled, she rode straight away to the "Three Anchors"
+and knocked loudly on the front door with the handle of her
+riding-crop.
+
+[Illustration: "HAD MADELINE FIRED A REVOLVER HE COULD NOT HAVE BEEN
+MORE STARTLED."]
+
+A young man with a thick crop of reddish-brown hair, and a blue apron
+tied round his waist, appeared at length from the recesses of the
+tavern.
+
+"Can I have a drink of barley-water for my horse?" she inquired.
+
+"Yes, miss; I'll fetch it in a minute."
+
+She backed her horse a few paces and waited. No one appeared to be
+about. The inn stood at the junction of five roads, commonly known as
+Five Lane Ends, and there was not another house within half a mile.
+
+In a few minutes the shock-headed young man appeared with a pail, which
+he held under the horse's nose.
+
+Madeline felt her heart beating rapidly. She had resolved on a bold
+stroke. Nothing less than a frontal attack. No flank movement would do
+in the present case. She would have to stagger him with the first blow.
+
+"You are Timothy Polgarrow?" she questioned, looking down from her
+exalted position.
+
+"Yes, miss, that's my name, at your service," he answered, glibly and
+flippantly.
+
+"I'm glad I've met you," she said, quietly.
+
+"Yes?" And he looked up with a light of surprise in his eyes.
+
+"I want to ask you a question."
+
+"A dozen, if you like, miss. I'm always ready to oblige a lady."
+
+"Then you will tell me how much money Captain Tregony paid you to swear
+that Rufus Sterne was drunk?"
+
+Had Madeline fired a revolver at him he could not have been more
+startled. He dropped the bucket, which fell with a rattle on the
+cobbles, and his freckled face grew ashen.
+
+Madeline quickly followed the first blow with a second.
+
+"Now, be careful what you say," she went on. "If you lie, it will be the
+worse for you. You know that you committed perjury, and that you are
+liable to a long period of imprisonment; but if you tell the truth, I
+will be very merciful."
+
+"Has he been blabbing?" he gasped, trembling in every limb.
+
+"Don't trouble to ask questions," she said. "Your business is to answer
+them."
+
+Then he began to pluck up courage. "Nobody can prove nothing," he said,
+insolently.
+
+"There you are making a mistake," she answered. "It may be difficult to
+prove that you received money, but there will be no difficulty in
+proving that you committed perjury."
+
+"You mean that I'll get all the blame and he'll go scot free."
+
+"Exactly. The case against you is as clear as daylight."
+
+"Who said so?"
+
+"I say so."
+
+"What have you found out?"
+
+"That you swore falsely, and I cannot imagine that you would do it for
+nothing."
+
+"Look here," he said, still trembling, "you don't know nothing at all.
+You're trying to gammon me, but I don't take on. Do you understand? I
+know how to keep my mouth shut as well as other people."
+
+"Very good. I came to you as a friend. If you like to risk the
+consequences of a trial for perjury, that's your look-out."
+
+"If I do, I don't go into the dock alone, mind you that."
+
+"No, I guess when you get into the dock, you'll have to make a clean
+breast of it. Why not do it now and avoid going into the dock?"
+
+"You mean, if I tell the truth about--about--somebody, you won't
+proceed?"
+
+"I mean, I want to get hold of a certain fact. The fact of your
+committing perjury is already settled. What I want to know is, how much
+did the gentleman I have named pay you for doing it?"
+
+"Look here," he said, "if I tell you all I know about that blooming
+trial, will you promise not to split on me?"
+
+"Only on one condition."
+
+"And what is that?"
+
+"That you will tell the whole truth, and that you put it in writing and
+sign it."
+
+"Look here, miss," he said, insolently, "do you take me for a blooming
+fool?"
+
+"If you had been wise," she answered, "you would not have put yourself
+within reach of the law. However, you can take your own course." And she
+reined up her horse, as though the interview was at an end.
+
+"Don't go yet," he said, seizing the bridle-rein. "You don't give a
+fellow time to think. How do I know that you're not pretending?"
+
+"If I didn't know, how could I tell you?" she answered, severely. "What
+I don't know I have confessed to."
+
+"And if I tell you that, you won't blab about the rest?"
+
+"If you put it in writing and sign it, it shall be kept absolutely
+secret for a year."
+
+He laughed scornfully. "I can assure you, miss," he said, "I'm not so
+green as I look."
+
+"Very good," she answered, with a laugh. "You ought to know best," and
+she again pulled at the rein. But Tim was evidently afraid to let her
+go.
+
+"I'll put nothing in writing," he said; "not a blooming word. But if
+you'll promise me on your word of honour as a lady that you'll not blab,
+and that you'll not put the police on me, I'll tell you all I know. Mind
+you, I've confessed nothing yet. Not a word."
+
+"I don't want any confession as to your part. That's proved enough
+already. What I want to know is how much you were paid for swearing
+falsely?"
+
+"Will you promise me never to say a word? Mind you, I'll go to gaol
+sooner than put anything in writing."
+
+"I don't want to be too hard on you," she said, after a pause.
+
+"And the secret will be between our two selves?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"And if I don't tell you, you'll set the police on me?"
+
+"This very day."
+
+"And if I do tell, fair and square, you'll deal fair and square with
+me?"
+
+"Well, yes. You deserve to be sent to prison for robbing an honest man
+of his character, but for the information I want I will pay the price of
+silence."
+
+"You take your oath on it?"
+
+Madeline hesitated for a moment. She would like to clear Rufus Sterne's
+character if possible. But he had just as much proof of perjury as she
+had unless this man confessed, and he refused to confess unless she
+promised secrecy.
+
+"I take my oath on it," she answered.
+
+"Then he paid me twenty pounds."
+
+"Only twenty pounds?"
+
+"He offered me five at first, then ten, then fifteen; but when he rose
+to twenty it was too much to resist. He said 'twouldn't harm Sterne.
+That every gentleman got drunk now and then, and that as he was drunk it
+might be as well to prove he got drunk here as anywhere else."
+
+"And you didn't serve him with any drink?"
+
+"I never served him with a drink in my life. He passed the "Three
+Anchors" that night, but he didn't call."
+
+"Thank you; that is all I wish to know."
+
+"And you'll not set the police on me?"
+
+"No."
+
+She rode home by another way, and rode slowly. She was not an expert
+horsewoman yet, though she was rapidly becoming one.
+
+She entered the house without anyone seeing her, and went at once to her
+own room. She wanted time to think, to shape her plans for the future.
+Her life's programme had been torn into shreds. She would have to begin
+over again. But how, or when, or where?
+
+After lunch she took a stroll on the Downs and along the cliffs. "I
+shall never come back here again," she said to herself. "This must be my
+farewell."
+
+She walked slowly, and with many pauses. She half hoped she would see
+Rufus Sterne. She wanted to say good-bye to him, and in saying it tell
+him that she believed in him.
+
+But Rufus was busy elsewhere that afternoon, and they did not meet. She
+looked in all directions as she strolled back across the Downs to the
+Hall, and with a little sigh she passed through the lodge gates.
+
+Another chapter had been completed in the story of her life. To-morrow a
+fresh page would be turned.
+
+
+
+
+                                CHAPTER XXX
+
+                         THE TOILS OF CIRCUMSTANCE
+
+
+Madeline never felt so helpless or friendless as when she left with the
+Tregonys for the South of France. She had no one to advise her, no one
+to whom she could turn for a word of counsel. She wished a thousand
+times that her father had never made Sir Charles her trustee and
+guardian. He did so with the best intentions, no doubt. He was proud of
+the distant relationship, flattered by the Baronet's attention, and
+enamoured of the prospect for his only child; but for her it had meant
+disillusion and disappointment.
+
+She had not courage enough to tell Sir Charles and Gervase what she had
+discovered. The Baronet almost over-awed her at times, while the Captain
+was possessed of a dogged tenacity and determination that were anything
+but easy to deal with. She felt almost like a bird in a cage--a cage
+into which she had deliberately walked, or had been cleverly lured. To
+all appearances she was free, and yet in a very real sense she was a
+prisoner. The meshes of the net had been so deftly and so silently woven
+round her, that she was not conscious of the fact until the last
+loophole was closed.
+
+What could she do now? To whom could she go? There was the old solicitor
+in New York City, but there was no time to write to him and get an
+answer back. Her step-mother was travelling from place to place, and
+might be on the Pacific slope for all she knew, or in the South Seas, or
+Japan. She had a good many friends--rich and influential people in the
+States--but they were often on the wing, and they might be "doing
+Europe" or enjoying themselves in London or Paris.
+
+Besides, how could she explain the peculiarities of the position in
+which she found herself, and if she tried to explain she questioned if
+she would get any sympathy? She would have to bide her time till she was
+of age, and trust in Providence for the rest.
+
+She took away with her nearly everything she possessed that was of any
+value, for she had made up her mind never to return to Trewinion Hall,
+if there was any possibility of avoiding it, and that something would
+turn up she had the greatest confidence. Youth is ever optimistic, and
+Madeline could never look the dark side of things for very long
+together.
+
+She had only one regret in leaving Cornwall, and that was that in all
+probability she would never see Rufus Sterne again. Since her interview
+with Micah Martin, and the confession she had wrung from Tim Polgarrow,
+her thoughts, of necessity, had turned in his direction, and her
+strongest sympathies had gone out to him afresh. She knew now that he
+was a much wronged man. Moreover, she could never forget what he had
+done for her, and the memory of what he had suffered on her account
+would remain with her to the last.
+
+Still, life was made up of meetings and partings. We pass each other
+like ships in the night, or walk side by side for a mile or two, and
+then drift in different directions. Rufus Sterne would forget her as she
+in time might forget him. He would win his way in spite of opposition
+and misrepresentation, for he was strong and clever, and such men nearly
+always came into their own in the long run.
+
+She looked out for him on the morning they drove away from the Hall. She
+would have given almost anything for even a smile of recognition, but
+it was not to be. With a little sigh she resigned herself to the
+inevitable, and resolved that she would extract as much pleasure out of
+the tour as possible.
+
+They spent only one night in London, and stayed at the Charing Cross
+Hotel for the sake of convenience. In Paris they remained three or four
+days. Madeline would gladly have remained longer, but Gervase was
+anxious to push forward to a sunnier clime. The cold, he declared, got
+into his bones, and he would have no pleasure of life until he found
+himself in a more genial climate.
+
+At Nice they found letters waiting them which had been forwarded, and a
+copy of the local paper which Sir Charles had ordered to be sent every
+week direct from the office. For a couple of days they rested from the
+fatigues of the journey, and then began to make the usual excursions.
+Gervase, as might have been expected, was early bitten by the
+fascinations of Monte Carlo, and took to running over by train most days
+to see the play.
+
+Madeline was extremely grateful to be rid of his company. Not that he
+was obtrusive in his attentions, for on the whole he was playing his
+part with great tact and circumspection. But she had learned to mistrust
+him and despise him. Hence, the less she saw of him the happier she
+felt.
+
+Time slipped away very pleasantly on the whole. Sir Charles did
+everything possible to make her visit to the Riviera an enjoyable one.
+Indeed, he played the part of prospective father-in-law with great
+skill, and now and then threw out a sly hint about her cruelty in not
+putting poor Gervase out of his misery. But Madeline was in no humour to
+take hints, and Sir Charles often turned away with a look of
+disappointment on his face.
+
+Beryl talked to Madeline one evening with tears in her eyes.
+
+"I'm sure Gervase spends more time in the Casino than he ought to do,"
+she said, reproachfully; "and if he does, whose fault is it, Madeline?"
+
+"His own fault, I should say," she answered, sharply. "He's surely old
+enough to know what is good for himself?"
+
+"But people who are labouring under some great disappointment, or are
+tortured by some secret grief, sometimes gamble merely to forget their
+trouble."
+
+"Then they are very foolish."
+
+"You do not know, Madeline. You have never had any bitter
+disappointment. You have the world at your feet. You are an heiress, and
+will have millions when you come of age."
+
+"Is that so?" she asked, innocently.
+
+"Of course it is so!" she answered. "Why do you question me in that way?
+One might think you did not know how rich you are. But I do not think,
+for all that, your money gives you any right to treat Gervase badly."
+
+"Beryl!" Madeline said, indignantly. "Do you know what you are saying?"
+
+"I hope I am not rude, Madeline," was the quiet answer. "But Gervase is
+my brother, and I am very proud of him, and it cuts me to the heart to
+see him suffer."
+
+"I do not think he is suffering at all," Madeline replied. "Indeed, he
+seems in very good spirits."
+
+"That is all put on, Madeline, as you ought to know. Gervase is deeply,
+passionately attached to you. He came home from India hoping and
+expecting to marry you. He thought everything was settled. Cannot you
+imagine how hurt and humiliated he must feel?"
+
+"I do not see why. We were not engaged."
+
+"Not formally, perhaps, but it was your father's wish. We were all
+agreeable, because Gervase seemed devoted to you. You seemed wonderfully
+pleased with the idea when you first came to Trewinion; and, after all,
+it is no small thing to marry a man with Gervase's prospects."
+
+"Marriage is a serious thing, Beryl," Madeline said, gently. "When I met
+Gervase first I was only a school girl. I did not know my own mind. I
+own he attracted me greatly, and all the time he was away I cherished,
+and almost worshipped, an ideal----"
+
+"But surely Gervase has realised your ideal?" Beryl questioned. "He may
+not be as handsome as some men, but think how brave he is, how
+self-sacrificing, how devoted! He would almost lay down his life for
+you!"
+
+"I don't want any man to do that," Madeline said, quietly.
+
+"But surely such devotion as his is deserving of some recompense? He has
+waited patiently for you week after week, and month after month, and I
+am sure your coldness is driving him to the gaming-tables."
+
+"Would you have me marry him, Beryl, if I do not love him?"
+
+"Oh, you can love him well enough if you try, unless--unless----"
+
+"Unless what, Beryl?"
+
+"Oh, unless you have given way to some romantic nonsense about another
+man!"
+
+"What do you mean by that?" Madeline asked, raising her eyebrows
+slightly.
+
+"You know well enough what I mean, Madeline; so you need not pretend."
+
+"I am not pretending. Besides, it is not fair to fling out mere hints
+that may mean a great deal, or may mean nothing at all."
+
+"Oh, I am not blaming you very much. It was only natural, perhaps, that
+he should take your fancy for a moment."
+
+"That who should take my fancy?"
+
+"Why, the young man who saved your life, of course. You knew nothing
+about him, and there is no denying that he is very good-looking. But you
+have discovered his true character since."
+
+"I have, Beryl."
+
+"He pretended, too, to have made a discovery and induced, it is said, a
+number of people to lend him their savings, so that he might develop it,
+and now that is gone to smash. I pity the people he has swindled."
+
+"Who said it had gone to smash?" Madeline questioned eagerly.
+
+"It's in the St. Gaved _Express_ that came by post last evening."
+
+"Are you sure?"
+
+"Quite sure. There is quite a long paragraph about it. Besides, I heard
+father talking to mother about it last evening."
+
+"I wish I could see the paper. Where can I find it?"
+
+"I will run and fetch it for you if you like? But it is quite true, what
+I have told you."
+
+Beryl watched Madeline's face with great interest while she read, but it
+revealed nothing to her. Madeline was conscious that Beryl's eyes were
+upon her, and so held herself resolutely in check. Not for the world
+would she betray what she felt.
+
+The St. Gaved _Express_ was printed and published mainly in the
+interests of the landed and moneyed classes. Its politics were those of
+the people who held the shares. Its comments on local matters were
+coloured by its political views. Its snobbery was beyond dispute.
+
+Rufus Sterne received scant courtesy at its hands. He had been heard to
+say that he believed in the government of the people by the people, for
+the people. That was quite sufficient for the _Express_. Politically he
+was a dangerous character--a little Englander and a pro-foreigner.
+
+When it became known that Rufus had failed, that he had been forestalled
+with his invention, the _Express_ openly rejoiced. Such unpatriotic
+characters did not deserve to succeed. It hinted that there was a rough
+and ready justice in the world that dealt out to men the measure of
+their deserts--which, being interpreted, meant, that to those who had
+was given, and from those who had not was taken away even what they had.
+
+It further hinted its hope that the dupes of what was little less than a
+public fraud would do their duty to the public, to themselves, and to
+the ingenious young gentleman whose exposure was now pretty well
+complete.
+
+Madeline folded the paper without a word and handed it back to Beryl.
+
+"I should think you feel sorry now that you ever spoke to him," Beryl
+said, after a long pause.
+
+"There are many things we feel sorry for when it is too late," she
+answered, quietly, then turned and walked slowly out of the room.
+
+She had not thought much of Rufus for several weeks. She never expected
+to see him again. He had come into her life for a few months and passed
+out again, and the sooner she forgot him the better.
+
+But this story of his failure with the cutting comments and insinuations
+of the _Express_ called out her sympathies afresh, and in larger measure
+than ever. She did not think the less of him because he had not
+succeeded. He had not laboured at an invention that was useless. His
+failure was not due to the worthlessness of his idea, but simply to the
+fact that another man had got in before him.
+
+"Oh! I am sorry," she said to herself, when she got to her own room.
+"How terribly disappointed he will feel. It will seem as though
+everything is against him, and he had staked his all on the enterprise."
+
+Once or twice she was strongly tempted to sit down and write him a
+friendly letter of sympathy. But she could not summon up quite
+sufficient courage. If she had cared less for him she would have been
+less sensitive. Beryl had just told her that she had been carried away
+by a foolish and romantic attachment, or words to that effect, and it
+would never do to give colour and substance to the insinuation. She must
+keep her self-respect whatever happened.
+
+For several days Rufus was more frequently in her thoughts than was good
+for her peace of mind. She pictured his disappointment, his
+helplessness, his despair. She saw him in imagination wandering out on
+the cliffs alone, with knitted brows and troubled face. She wondered
+what he would do. She knew he had staked his all--though how much that
+"all" meant she never guessed--would it be possible for him to rise
+above this last calamity that had overtaken him, or would he go down in
+the general crash and ruin, and never be heard of again?
+
+He had ability, she knew, and energy and determination; but so had many
+another man who had absolutely failed. No man could do the impossible.
+Bricks could not be made without clay. Circumstances were sometimes
+stronger than the strongest.
+
+Rufus Sterne was not only penniless, but in debt. The money he had
+borrowed had gone with his own, and how was it possible in a sleepy
+little place like St. Gaved to retrieve his position? She wished she
+could help him. The beginning of his misfortunes seemed to be associated
+with her. His broken leg was entirely due to her adventurousness, while
+the loss of his reputation was the outcome of her friendliness to him.
+Try as she would she could never wholly dissociate herself from him. She
+was irretrievably mixed up with his success or failure.
+
+She did her best to appear cheerful and unconcerned before the Tregonys.
+Beryl informed her father that Madeline had seen the account in the
+paper of Sterne's failure, and had manifested not the slightest interest
+in the matter.
+
+"Did she say nothing at all?" Sir Charles questioned.
+
+"Scarcely a word."
+
+"And did you say nothing?"
+
+"I did suggest that I thought she would feel sorry now she had ever
+spoken to him."
+
+"And what did she reply?"
+
+"Oh, she just said, 'There are many things we feel sorry for when it is
+too late,' and walked out of the room."
+
+"She never saw him after the police court affair, I think."
+
+"I am sure she never did, father."
+
+"So that this will pretty well complete the disillusionment."
+
+"If she ever had any illusions."
+
+"I am afraid she had, Beryl, I'm afraid she had. That was a most
+unfortunate adventure on the cliffs--most unfortunate," and Sir Charles
+turned again to the paper he had been reading.
+
+Had the Tregonys been close observers they might have detected a forced
+and an unnatural note in Madeline's gaiety. She was mirthful at times
+when there appeared to be no sufficient reason for her mirth, and
+cheerful when the conditions were most depressing.
+
+When alone in her own room she generally paid the penalty. Frequently
+her spirits sank to zero. The desire to help Rufus Sterne was natural
+enough; but her helplessness drove her almost to despair. She could not
+even help herself. In a sense she was as much in the toils of
+circumstance as he was. She not only wondered what would become of him,
+but what would become of herself.
+
+The weeks were slipping away rapidly, and the Tregonys were beginning to
+talk about their return to England. The days were often almost
+insufferably warm, and the birds of passage that crowded the hotels were
+beginning to take flight to more Northern latitudes. Day after day she
+had hoped she might discover some way of effecting her deliverance, but
+no way revealed itself. She was without a friend outside the Tregony
+family, and yet to return with them to Trewinion Hall would be to put
+herself in a position as intolerable as it would be compromising.
+
+"What helpless things girls are," she would sometimes say to herself.
+"If I were only a man I could snap my fingers at everybody. But because
+I'm a girl I can just do nothing."
+
+She felt so miserable one morning that she refused everyone's company,
+and went out for a walk alone.
+
+Sir Charles was very cross when he knew, and he was still more cross
+when lunch time came and she did not return. As the afternoon wore away
+and she did not put in an appearance, his anger gave place to anxiety,
+and ultimately to very serious alarm.
+
+
+
+
+                               CHAPTER XXXI
+
+                                OLD FRIENDS
+
+
+"Well, I never! If this ain't the greatest surprise of the trip!"
+
+Madeline looked up with a start. She recognised the American accent,
+before she had any idea she was being spoken to.
+
+"Well, now, who _would_ have thought it? I regard this as a real streak
+of luck."
+
+"What, Kitty Harvey?" Madeline exclaimed, in a tone of eager surprise.
+"Oh, I am so glad!" And a moment later the two girls were embracing each
+other with a warmth and an effusiveness that would have done justice to
+an Oriental greeting.
+
+"I spied you from the other side of the way," Kitty Harvey said at
+length, tears of genuine pleasure shining in her eyes, "and I said to
+mamma, 'If that ain't Madeline Grover, then I'm the blindest coon that
+ever walked in shoe leather.'"
+
+"Is your mother here?" Madeline queried, eagerly.
+
+"We're all here, my dear, a regular family party, with sundry relations
+to keep things lively. But here comes the little mother, two hundred
+pounds of her, and as cheerful as ever."
+
+"But when did you come?"
+
+"Cast anchor this morning, my dear. That's our yacht out yonder, flying
+the stars and stripes."
+
+"What, that? I thought she was a transatlantic liner."
+
+"Well, I guess she is, or something nearly related to it. But you should
+talk to Dick; he knows her from stem to stern, and from the keel to the
+captain's bridge."
+
+"Then you are here on a yachting cruise?"
+
+"That's what we are here on just. In fact we've been two-thirds round
+this globe already."
+
+"And have you enjoyed it?"
+
+"Off and on. There are drawbacks to everything, but in the main it's
+been just great."
+
+Then Mrs. Harvey waddled up, panting, breathless, eager and happy. She
+almost smothered Madeline with kisses and talked incessantly between
+whiles.
+
+"Kitty said it was you, and I said it wasn't. But you have improved. You
+see my sight is not quite as good as it used to be."
+
+"Another of mother's compliments!" Kitty laughed.
+
+"It's nothing of the sort," Mrs. Harvey protested. "I meant what I said,
+but I really must get my glasses strengthened."
+
+"You must, mother. You really won't be able to recognise father at the
+rate you are going on."
+
+"And you are still Madeline Grover? I don't want to be inquisitive my
+dear, but we understood, you know, you were coming across to marry a
+title; was it a duke or a knight? I really get mixed up as to the order
+they stand in."
+
+"I'm not going to marry either," Madeline said, impulsively. "I'm going
+to remain as I am."
+
+"No-o?" from both mother and daughter.
+
+"It's the honest truth."
+
+"Well, with all your money you are independent of a title, my dear,"
+Mrs. Harvey said, absently.
+
+"But I haven't any money," Madeline said, "except what my trustee allows
+me. But really, do you know for certain if I shall be well off when I
+come of age?"
+
+"Don't you know yourself?"
+
+"I really know nothing. Father never talked to me about money matters,
+and Sir Charles copies his example in that respect."
+
+"Then you had better come and talk to my husband. If there's anything
+about money he doesn't know, I should like to discover it."
+
+"I should like to see Mr. Harvey very much."
+
+"Then come back and have lunch with us on the _Skylark_. There's plenty
+of room, and you'll be as welcome as the President of the United
+States."
+
+"Oh, it would be just delightful," Madeline said, eagerly, "there's
+nothing I should enjoy so much."
+
+Madeline was almost bewildered at the size and magnificence of the
+_Skylark_. Mr. Harvey, having struck a copper lode a few years
+previously, found himself with more money than he knew profitably how to
+spend, and with more time on his hands than he knew wisely how to use.
+He built for himself a marble mansion in New York, and purchased one of
+the largest steam yachts that ever ploughed the seas, and was now doing
+his best to earn a night's repose by sight-seeing.
+
+Peter J. Harvey welcomed Madeline on board the _Skylark_ with many
+expressions of delight. He was a typical American, tall,
+square-shouldered, and not over-burdened with flesh. He had straight
+hair, which he wore rather long, a clean-shaven face, a wide mouth, a
+strong, square chin, and a most refreshing American accent.
+
+He was not exactly a vain man. At any rate, he did his best to keep his
+vanity under proper control, and if he boasted occasionally he believed
+he had something to boast of. He was still in the prime of life, being
+the right side of fifty by two or three years. Kitty was the eldest of
+six--three boys and three girls, the youngest, Bryant, having
+celebrated his seventh birthday two days before. Besides the family,
+there were numerous cousins and uncles and aunts, with others whose
+relationship to the Harveys was difficult to trace.
+
+The lunch was set out in the grand saloon, and was served in the best
+style. The stewards wore bottle-green coats trimmed with gold braid.
+
+Madeline, having got among old friends, talked with a freedom and an
+abandon that she had not known since she left her native land. The grace
+of reticence was a virtue the Harveys had never cultivated. It was their
+boast that they had nothing to hide. Hence they discussed their domestic
+and business affairs with a freedom that would have staggered an
+Englishman of the old school.
+
+Confidence begets confidence; and so in the seclusion of the yacht's
+library, with only Mr. and Mrs. Harvey and Kitty present, Madeline
+explained as far as she dared the peculiarities of her present
+situation.
+
+Peter J. rose to the situation at once.
+
+"My dear child," he said, "I guess there ain't no difficulty at all. I
+don't see none. It's just as easy as falling off a stool. There ain't no
+occasion for you to go back to their moth-eaten ancestral abode for five
+minutes. You just come along with us----"
+
+"You mean----"
+
+"I mean what I say," continued Peter J. "There's room for you in this
+small frigate and to spare, and there's a welcome as long as from here
+to the United States and back again."
+
+"It would be just delightful," Madeline said, with dilating eyes.
+"But----"
+
+"Then let it be delightful," Mr. Harvey interrupted. "I guess we'd be as
+delighted as you would be. What say you, Kitty?"
+
+"It would be just too fine for words," Kitty replied.
+
+"It would be like a Providence," Mrs. Harvey chimed in, "so we'll
+consider it settled."
+
+"But Sir Charles might object," Madeline said, with a half-frightened
+look in her eyes.
+
+"You leave his lordship to me, my dear," Peter J. interposed. "I guess I
+know my way about, and if he cuts up nasty, I'll treat him to a chapter
+out of the gospel of Peter J. Harvey."
+
+"But what excuse should I make?"
+
+"You needn't make any excuse at all. I'll go across and see the General
+myself and explain things."
+
+"But what would you say?"
+
+"That we had fallen across you accidentally; that we were old friends;
+that I knew your father; that you and Kitty were chums at school; that
+we are cruising round this here little arm of the ocean for a week or
+two longer; and that we are taking you along with us just to give you a
+taste of sea-faring life."
+
+"But he might not believe you."
+
+"Then I would bring him across here and let him see for himself and hear
+your own wishes out of your own mouth."
+
+"But he would not consent for me to be out of his sight for more than a
+day or two at the outside."
+
+"Then to avoid trouble and hard words we will mention a day or two--wind
+and weather permitting."
+
+"Oh! Mr. Harvey, if you could get me clean away from them without any
+unpleasantness, I should be more thankful than words can tell."
+
+"I'll do it, my dear. And when Peter J. Harvey says he'll do a thing,
+why, that thing is done. Now give me the location of this Lord Tregony."
+
+"Oh! he isn't a lord," Madeline laughed, "he's only a baronet."
+
+"Well, it's all the same to me. He wouldn't alarm me if he were your
+Attorney-General."
+
+"Don't you think I had better go back with you. I'm afraid they'll be
+getting alarmed at my long absence."
+
+"I thought you tumbled across a page-boy belonging to the hotel and sent
+word by him that you would not be back till evening."
+
+"I did send word that I would not be in to lunch. But those boys are so
+stupid that it's ten to one if he conveyed my message."
+
+"Don't you alarm yourself on that point," Peter J. said, cheerfully.
+"But if you think you can explain things better yourself, why we'll go
+along together. But mind you, we return together, even at the risk of an
+earthquake."
+
+"Let Kitty come as well," Madeline said, her eyes sparkling with
+excitement.
+
+"All right, my dear. The more the merrier. I'll take the skipper and the
+crew if you think it might impress his lordship and make the way
+easier."
+
+"No, I think the three of us will be sufficient," Madeline said, with a
+laugh. "But no hint must be given that I'm to be absent more than two or
+three days. Sir Charles had made all arrangements to leave for Paris on
+Monday."
+
+"You leave that to P. J. H., my dear. If I'm not quite a full-blown
+diplomat it's only for want of opportunity. Now let us be off. If Lord
+Charles What's-his-other-name don't yield without a murmur, I shall be
+surprised."
+
+Half-an-hour later they were walking up the steps of the hotel. Sir
+Charles was in the lounge, with a cigar in his mouth and his eyes
+towards the door. He was feeling much more anxious than he cared to
+admit. Gervase had gone by an early train to Monte Carlo and had not
+returned. Lady Tregony and Beryl were in their bedrooms.
+
+Sir Charles sprang to his feet and heaved a big sigh of relief when the
+swing door was pushed open, and Madeline entered, radiant and smiling,
+followed by Kitty Harvey and her father.
+
+"My dear Madeline," he said, reproachfully, "you have given us a fright.
+We have been looking for you everywhere."
+
+"Oh! I am sorry," she answered. "But I told one of the page-boys I met
+outside to tell you I was going to lunch with some friends."
+
+"No such message was brought to me," he answered, severely. "It would
+have been better if you had left word at the office."
+
+"I am sorry if I have caused you any anxiety," she answered, quietly.
+"But I met some American friends on the promenade, and have been with
+them on their yacht to lunch."
+
+At the word yacht Sir Charles pricked up his ears, and a somewhat
+mollified expression stole over his face.
+
+"Allow me to introduce my friend Miss Kitty Harvey," Madeline said, in
+her most engaging manner, "and this is her father, Mr. P. J. Harvey, of
+New York City, and a friend of my father's."
+
+Sir Charles bowed very pompously, and muttered something under his
+breath about being delighted to meet them.
+
+Peter J. had said nothing up to this point, but stood in the
+background--as a modest man should--chewing the end of a cigar.
+
+"I can assure you, Colonel, the pleasure is reciprocated," he said, in
+his slowest manner, and with a twinkle in the corner of his eye. "The
+truth is my daughter and I have come along as a sort of deputation."
+
+"Indeed! Will you not be seated?"
+
+"Well, thank you. As it's as cheap to sit as to stand, and talking comes
+easier as a rule when you are sitting down, I guess I'll fall in with
+the suggestion."
+
+Sir Charles waited for Mr. Harvey to proceed. Madeline and Kitty sat on
+a lounge side by side, the former feeling very uncomfortable. She saw in
+a moment that Sir Charles did not like the American's free and easy
+ways, and Mr. Harvey was dimly conscious of the same truth.
+
+"Not to waste words over the business," Peter J. went on, "we want to
+take Miss Grover just for a little run on our steamer, and we came
+across to ask your consent. These formalities are considered proper I
+believe, and we fall in with them. Though as a citizen of the United
+States I presume the lady can just do as she likes."
+
+"Well, no!" Sir Charles replied, pompously. "Miss Grover is my ward till
+she comes of age. At any rate, it amounts to that----"
+
+"Of course I am, Sir Charles," Madeline interposed. "But we are not
+going to talk law or gospel, are we? Mr. Harvey has asked me to go for a
+little run on his yacht, and I really want to go ever so much!"
+
+"But we leave here for Paris on Monday, Madeline. I fear there is no
+time."
+
+Peter J. puckered his face into a knowing smile. "According to my
+calculations," he said, "Monday is five days off. We could almost
+circumnavigate this little arm of the ocean in that time. But we are
+talking of a run of a couple of days more or less."
+
+"It seems hardly worth the trouble, does it, Madeline?" Sir Charles
+questioned, in a bored tone.
+
+"Oh! quite worth it, Sir Charles. Think how lovely the sea is, and how
+beautifully calm, and then you know Mr. Harvey's yacht is as big as an
+ocean steamer. In a couple of days we could go to Naples and back, and
+wouldn't it be lovely to see Naples!"
+
+"Naples is an interesting place, no doubt. But the weather is getting
+warm--hot, I may say."
+
+"But we need not land unless we like," Mr. Harvey interposed.
+
+"Of course----" Sir Charles began, hesitatingly.
+
+"Then that is settled, my dears," Peter J. interrupted. "I knew his
+lordship would not deprive you of a pleasure if you desired it very
+much. Now, you girls, run away and put a few things in a bonnet-box,
+sufficient for a forty-eight hours' trip. Perhaps, when we return, your
+excellency will so far honour us as to come on board and dine with us."
+
+"Thank you, it is very kind of you."
+
+"Not at all. I believe in showing hospitality when it is in my power to
+do so. Would you mind trying one of my cigars? I think you will find the
+flavour excellent."
+
+Sir Charles hesitated for a moment, then took the proffered weed and
+proceeded to cut the end off with a penknife.
+
+Meanwhile Madeline and Kitty had rushed off to Madeline's room and began
+packing boxes with all possible speed.
+
+"Rather large bonnet boxes, eh, Madeline?" Kitty questioned, with a
+laugh.
+
+"Do you know, I feel like a burglar," Madeline answered.
+
+"I never was a burglar," was the reply, "so I don't know what it feels
+like to be one."
+
+"Everything will be terribly crushed," Madeline went on, "but I can't
+help it. Will you ring for the porter, Kitty?"
+
+"All right, my dear, and I will drive off with the baggage while you and
+father are paying your adieux to the Baronet. If he were to see you
+going off with all these boxes he might scent mischief."
+
+"How clever you are, Kitty," Madeline said, with a laugh. "That idea is
+just lovely. But will you lock these boxes, my hands are shaking so I
+can hardly hold the keys."
+
+"Why, we might be escaping from a robbers' castle. What is the use of
+getting so excited?"
+
+"I can't help it, Kitty. I've been looking round for weeks and weeks for
+some way of getting out of a most uncomfortable position, and you cannot
+imagine how helpless I have felt. And now I feel--oh, I can't tell you
+what I feel--but here's the porter."
+
+Madeline went down to the office and explained matters, and saw Kitty
+drive away with her luggage. Then she returned to the lounge, where Sir
+Charles, looking very bored, was listening to a long account of how
+Peter J. Harvey made his pile in copper.
+
+On catching sight of Madeline, Peter J. brought his story to an abrupt
+conclusion and rose slowly to his feet.
+
+"Need I disturb Lady Tregony and Beryl, do you think?" Madeline
+inquired, innocently, looking Sir Charles straight in the eyes.
+
+"As you think best, Madeline," Sir Charles replied, blandly. "I sent up
+word to them that you had returned safe and sound."
+
+"Then very likely they will be taking their afternoon nap now?"
+
+"That is very probable."
+
+"Should I awake them, do you think?"
+
+"If you were going away for a week I should say yes, certainly. But if
+you like I will explain your absence till Friday."
+
+"That will be best, I think." Then, turning to Mr. Harvey, she said:
+"Now I am ready. Kitty has gone on ahead, and has taken my few things
+along with her."
+
+"I guess Kitty has some shopping to do on the way. That child is never
+happy unless she is spending money," and Mr. Harvey smiled, innocently.
+
+"You will explain to Gervase, won't you, Sir Charles?" Madeline said,
+with one of her sweetest smiles. "It is unfortunate he did not come home
+to lunch. I am sure he would have liked to have seen over Mr. Harvey's
+yacht."
+
+"We shall probably accept Mr. Harvey's invitation to dinner on your
+return," Sir Charles said, pompously.
+
+"Of course you will, Colonel, of course you will," Peter J. said, with a
+drawl. "I never take a refusal from my friends without a very good
+reason."
+
+"It is good of you to let me go, Sir Charles," Madeline said, reaching
+out her hand to say good-bye. "But I am sure I shall enjoy myself
+immensely. You see, I have known Mr. and Mrs. Harvey and Kitty nearly
+ever since I can remember, and then, I'm tremendously fond of the sea."
+
+Sir Charles came with them to the door of the hotel and saw them into a
+carriage, then returned to the lounge and to his cigar.
+
+Madeline could almost have screamed with delight when she found herself
+once more on the _Skylark_.
+
+"At last I am free," she said to herself, "and when Sir Charles sees me
+again I shall be my own mistress."
+
+Half-an-hour later the _Skylark_ weighed anchor and put out to sea.
+
+
+
+
+                               CHAPTER XXXII
+
+                           FACING THE INEVITABLE
+
+
+When Saturday morning arrived and the _Skylark_ had not been sighted,
+Sir Charles began to grow suspicious. An hour or two later his worst
+fears were confirmed. A letter was handed to him in Madeline's
+handwriting. The postmark, he noticed, was Genoa. He could hardly keep
+his hand steady while he tore open the envelope, and when he began to
+read his face grew ashen.
+
+The letter was brief and quite explicit. She had no intention, she said,
+of returning again to Nice or to Cornwall. She was going back to America
+with the Harveys. For many things she was sorry she ever left it. She
+had been unhappy for months past--ever since the return of Gervase, in
+fact. To become his wife was simply impossible. She expressed her regret
+for any pain or annoyance she had caused, and her thanks for all
+kindnesses she had received. She regarded the appearance of the Harveys
+on the scene as an interposition of Providence, and her escape from an
+intolerable position as a direct answer to prayer.
+
+Sir Charles had not got over the anger and disgust produced by this
+frank epistle when Gervase came hurriedly into the room, with blanched
+cheeks and a wild light in his eyes.
+
+"Do you know that Madeline has given us the slip?" he said, in a hoarse
+whisper.
+
+"Have you heard from her also?"
+
+"Then you know?" he questioned, with a gasp. "What has she said to you?
+Let me see her letter."
+
+Sir Charles handed him Madeline's letter without a word. Gervase read it
+carefully, and then handed it back with a little sigh of relief. She had
+not told his father what she had told him, and for that mercy he was
+supremely grateful.
+
+For several moments the two men looked at each other in silence. Neither
+had the courage to blame the other, and yet neither was disposed to take
+the blame himself. Gervase was convinced that his father played the game
+badly at the beginning, but he had played it worse at the end. Hence it
+was bad policy to fling stones while he lived in a glass-house himself.
+A similar train of thought wound its way slowly through Sir Charles's
+brain. From his point of view Gervase had played the fool again and
+again, though he saw now that the waiting policy he had advocated was a
+huge mistake. So while he was inclined to throw the principal share of
+blame on to Gervase's shoulders, he was bound to take a share himself.
+
+"I suppose we may conclude," Gervase said, at length, in a lugubrious
+tone, "that the game is up."
+
+"I'm afraid it is," Sir Charles answered, with suppressed emotion.
+
+"It's a beastly shame, for I've been counting on her fortune for years
+past."
+
+"It's an awful miss. Her fortune would have set the Tregonys on their
+feet."
+
+"It's no use trying to get her back, I suppose?"
+
+"Do you think you could yet persuade her to marry you?"
+
+Gervase blushed, and walked to the window and looked out into the
+courtyard.
+
+"Girls are such curious things," he muttered, evasively. "You never know
+when you have them."
+
+"I can't help thinking you played your cards badly, Gervase. She seemed
+to idolise you when she came to Trewinion, and looked forward so eagerly
+to your return."
+
+"The mistake was in not marrying her right off when we met at
+Washington. She would have said 'yes' like a shot, for she was awfully
+gone on me. She adored soldiers at that time, and regarded me as a
+hero."
+
+Sir Charles heaved a sigh and remained silent for several moments.
+
+"Would you mind letting me see her letter to you?" he questioned, at
+length.
+
+"Sorry, father, but--but--I've destroyed it," he blurted out, awkwardly.
+This was not the truth, but he wouldn't for the world that his father
+should read what she said to him.
+
+"Destroyed it? What did you do that for?" Sir Charles asked,
+suspiciously.
+
+"I was just mad and hardly knew what I was doing. It seemed the only way
+I could give vent to my anger. I tore it into millions of bits."
+
+"What reasons did she give for her outrageous conduct?"
+
+"Well, in some respects it was an awfully nice letter she wrote. She
+said she admired me as a friend immensely. But she didn't love me as she
+felt she ought to do, which made her unhappy, and so she thought it best
+to go away without any fuss, and all that, don't you know."
+
+"And do you believe she still admires you?"
+
+"Why, of course I do. She said so, in fact. I wish I hadn't destroyed
+her letter. There were some awfully nice sentiments in it, I can assure
+you."
+
+"Then why were you so angry?"
+
+"Why, because I saw I was up a tree. When a girl you want to marry talks
+about being a sister to you, and all that, don't you know, it makes one
+angrier than anything."
+
+"Well, yes, I suppose it does. I'm terribly disappointed, Madeline was a
+chance in a lifetime."
+
+"But rather smacked of trade, don't you think? You know very well if
+she'd been an English girl, you wouldn't have considered her for a
+moment."
+
+"That may be. But since even dukes marry tradesmen's
+daughters--provided, of course, they hail from across the water--there
+was no reason why we should turn up our noses."
+
+"I'm too poverty-stricken to turn up my nose at anything. I'd marry a
+barmaid if she only had sufficient of the needful."
+
+"Don't talk nonsense, Gervase, I thought you were really fond of
+Madeline, apart from her money."
+
+"So I am. She's awfully pretty, there's no denying that. But I'm too old
+to break my heart over any woman. It's the tin--or the lack of it--that
+is troubling me."
+
+"You'll have to curtail your expenses, Gervase; there's nothing else for
+it. I cannot possibly increase your allowance. The fact is, we shall
+have to economise all round."
+
+"I'm always economising," was the angry retort. "It's been pinch and
+grind ever since I was born."
+
+"That's not my fault, my boy. I'm getting the biggest rents I can
+possibly squeeze out of the tenants as it is, and there's no chance of
+things mending unless we can get Protection."
+
+"And that we may whistle for."
+
+"Why so?"
+
+"Because the people have got educated. An awful mistake, I say, to
+educate the working classes. An ignorant proletariat you may hoodwink
+and bamboozle to your heart's content; but no enlightened community is
+going to consent to have its bread taxed for the benefit of the
+landowners."
+
+"The people will have to be shown it's for their benefit. That's the
+game to play."
+
+"No doubt. But it will take a mighty clever man to prove even to a
+public-house loafer that the dearer things are made, the better off he
+will be."
+
+"But you must not forget that there are some very clever men at work."
+
+"They are not clever enough for that."
+
+"You don't know. They have undertaken more difficult tasks and
+succeeded. Think of South Africa!"
+
+"I'd rather not. It won't bear thinking about."
+
+"Nevertheless, it shows what can be done. The masses of the people are
+more easily persuaded than you think. Education, you must remember, is
+not sense. Hit upon a popular cry, and the rest is easy."
+
+"But no country can be gulled twice in so short a period. No, dad, our
+fortunes are not to be mended along those lines."
+
+"I am not so sure. A good stirring appeal to patriotism will work
+wonders still. 'England for the English----'"
+
+"England for the English landlords, you mean, for that's what it comes
+to in the end."
+
+"No doubt it does. But while a few people own the land it is well that
+the masses should think that England belongs to them."
+
+"But do they think that England belongs to them?"
+
+"Of course they do. There isn't a man-jack among them that will not talk
+big about defending his country and dying for his country, when he
+doesn't possess a foot of it, and hasn't money enough to buy a grave to
+be buried in."
+
+"Well, dad, I sincerely trust that your hopes will be realised, and that
+England will consent to be gulled again for the benefit of a few. Good
+heavens! if I'd only been an army contractor instead of a soldier, I
+should have made my fortune."
+
+"Your only hope of a fortune, Gervase, is by marrying one," and Sir
+Charles put Madeline's letter into his pocket and walked out of the
+room.
+
+For the rest of the day Gervase loitered about alone. He was much more
+troubled than he let his father see. Madeline had accused him of
+treachery to Rufus Sterne, and had hinted in words too plain to be
+misunderstood that she had proof that he bribed Tim Polgarrow to commit
+perjury. If Madeline, therefore, had discovered this, how did he know
+that other people had not made the same discovery? He felt that he could
+not return to St. Gaved again until he knew. If Tim had let the secret
+out, his best course would be to keep out of sight until the storm had
+blown over, and people had forgotten the incident.
+
+So it came about that Sir Charles and the others returned without him.
+Gervase promised to follow in a week or two at the outside. But a run of
+luck at Monte Carlo kept him a slave at the Casino. This was followed by
+a run of bad luck during which he lost all he had won. Then he remained
+on, trying to recover his lost position, and in the end he had to cable
+to his father for a remittance to bring him home.
+
+Gervase had not been at Trewinion many days before the truth about
+Madeline began to leak out. Sir Charles had been too chagrined to give
+the smallest hint as to her whereabouts, or even to mention her name if
+it could be avoided, and Beryl and Lady Tregony took their cue from him.
+But Gervase, discovering that he was still in good odour among the
+people, and that the secret Madeline had discovered appeared to be known
+to no one else, concluded that nothing was to be gained by a policy of
+silence. He need not tell all the truth; in fact, he could put his own
+gloss on the facts as they stood, and so it began to be whispered about
+that Miss Grover had decided on visiting her friends in America before
+finally settling in England.
+
+Rufus Sterne heard the story from Mrs. Tuke with apparent unconcern. He
+argued quite naturally that it was a matter of supreme indifference to
+him whether she went to America or remained in England. His life--by
+fair means or by foul--was drawing to its inevitable close. There was
+some sense of satisfaction in the thought that she was not Gervase
+Tregony's wife. She deserved a better fate than that. He hoped she had
+discovered his true character and that among her own people in her own
+country she would find all the happiness she deserved; and with these
+reflections he tried to put her out of his mind.
+
+His thoughts in the main were intent upon the tragedy that was daily
+drawing nearer. His daily hope and prayer was that God would release him
+from the burden of life, and so save him from the guilt and shame of
+dying by his own hand.
+
+Failing this, he had no doubt as to how the final act would be brought
+about. Much as he shrank from the disgrace of dying in the manner
+contemplated, he shrank more from the disgrace of living, should his
+courage fail him. To face his ruined friend, his broken pledge, his
+tarnished honour, would be death repeated every day, and every hour of
+the day.
+
+He was not a little surprised to find, as the days and weeks passed
+swiftly away, how without effort and without volition his mind fastened
+itself upon the dominant truths of Christianity. He gave up reading. He
+still absented himself from church and chapel. But bit by bit the rags
+of his materialistic philosophy dropped from him, while the simple
+truths of the gospel possessed him and obsessed him, until he felt that
+only here was life in any true sense to be found.
+
+The philosophisings and hair-splittings of theologians did not concern
+him. The elaborate edifices built up by the creed-makers possessed for
+him no interest at all. But the warm sympathy of the Son of Man, the
+tender influence of the universal Spirit, the growing consciousness of a
+supreme Ruler, the clearing vision of a life beyond--these things seemed
+as parts of his being, the stuff out of which his life was woven.
+
+He wondered now that his youthful revolt from the narrow creed of his
+grandfather should have carried him so far; wondered that he had not
+earlier seen that human creeds must of necessity be ever too narrow to
+represent the Divine idea; wondered that he had not seen the obvious
+truth that ecclesiasticism may bear but a faint resemblance to
+Christianity, and that "the Church," so called, may form but a very
+small portion of the Kingdom of God.
+
+But it was all clear enough to him now. He had cast away what he fancied
+was only husk, not knowing that the kernel of truth was within. He had
+tried to wrap his naked spirit in something thinner than a shadow, had
+sought to choke the soul's deepest instinct in the quagmire of a Godless
+philosophy, and had prated about happiness, while steeping his senses in
+the fumes of a deadly narcotic.
+
+What lay beyond he did not know. But he had a fancy that the great
+universal Heart of Love would give him a chance under better conditions,
+and that at worst it would be better than the awful torture of the last
+few months. He was not afraid, and he was becoming again so terribly
+weary that the thought of rest was infinitely sweet. There was very
+little he had to give up. No home ties bound him to earth, no arms of
+wife or children hung about his neck. His ambitions had been nipped by
+the frosts of disappointment, and were now dead. His love for Madeline
+Grover--which had been the strongest and purest passion of his life--was
+hopeless from the first.
+
+It was only existence amid familiar surroundings that he had to part
+with--only existence! And yet how much that meant to him, even in the
+darkest hours, no words could tell. The passion for life nothing could
+kill, and that seemed to him one of the strong arguments in proof of
+immortality.
+
+One afternoon, in his little office, he fell down in a dead faint, and
+remained unconscious for several hours. The long summer day was fading
+into twilight when he opened his eyes, and saw the familiar face of Dr.
+Pendarvis bending over him.
+
+"Have I been ill?" he asked, looking round the room with wondering eyes.
+
+"You've had a slight heat stroke, I think, but you needn't be alarmed."
+
+"I'm not in the least alarmed," he said, with a pathetic smile; "but I
+hate giving Mrs. Tuke so much trouble."
+
+"You've been overworking yourself rather. I've seen it for months past.
+When you are a little recovered, I'll give you a complete overhauling,"
+and he smiled cheerfully.
+
+"Then you think I shall recover?"
+
+"Of course you will recover. But, meanwhile, keep quite still, and don't
+worry."
+
+Rufus hoped for a day or two that his illness would take a fatal turn.
+He wanted so much to die quietly at home in bed; it would be such a
+perfect solution of the whole difficulty. But it was not to be.
+
+In a few days he was up and about again. "You want toning up," the
+doctor said to him. "There is really nothing the matter with you except
+that you are run down. Take more exercise, get a sea bath two or three
+times a week, and be careful what you eat."
+
+Rufus told Mrs. Tuke and Captain Tom Hendy what the doctor had
+prescribed, and proceeded at once to carry out his orders. But no one
+knew the thought that was in his mind. Some day he would not return from
+his short swim in the sea, and then he would be at rest. It would be
+very easy, and almost as natural as dying at home in bed.
+
+The weather was brilliantly fine. The yellow corn was falling before the
+sickle in all directions, the sea danced and shimmered in the sunshine,
+the flowers drooped in the windless heat. To all appearances Rufus was
+recovering his health and spirits. He told Mrs. Tuke that he enjoyed his
+morning bath. His appetite seemed better than it had been for weeks
+past, and once or twice she heard him humming a hymn tune after he had
+gone upstairs to bed.
+
+"I'm glad I stood by him," Mrs. Tuke reflected, with a smile of
+self-satisfaction, "for I believe he is coming back to the fold again."
+
+One evening Rufus sat up very late. He had gone through his papers again
+to see that everything was in order, and now he sat staring at the clock
+on the mantelpiece, and listening to its solemn and regular tick.
+
+"To-morrow will be just as good as next week," he said to himself. "As
+it must come, better it should come quickly. I could have done it this
+morning easily enough, and I don't think it will be at all painful. So
+let it be then," he added, rising to his feet. "The next time I go into
+the sea I do not return," and he put the lights out, and climbed slowly
+and silently to his bedroom.
+
+Before undressing he knelt down and prayed. He asked for strength and
+pardon, and a just and merciful judgment.
+
+He felt like a child when he rose from his knees, and a few minutes
+after he laid his head on the pillow he was fast asleep.
+
+
+
+
+                               CHAPTER XXXIII
+
+                             WAS IT PROVIDENCE?
+
+
+When Rufus awoke next morning, the wind was blowing half a gale, and the
+rain was coming down in torrents.
+
+"This puts an end to my morning bath," he said to himself, with a faint
+sigh. "I can have no excuse for going into the sea on a day like this,"
+and he sighed again.
+
+He was not quite sure that he welcomed the respite.
+
+"Since it must be," he kept saying to himself, "the sooner the better."
+
+Mrs. Tuke greeted him with a sorrowful face. "What a pity the weather's
+broke before all the harvest is got in," she said.
+
+"It does seem a pity," he answered, quietly.
+
+"The ways of Providence is past finding out," she replied; "though no
+doubt it's for some good end."
+
+"Do you really think that Providence regulates the weather, Mrs. Tuke?"
+he questioned, with a smile.
+
+"Why, of course I do," she answered, in a tone of reproach. "Providence
+over-rules everything, and not a sparrow falls to the ground without the
+notice of His eye," and she walked out of the room without waiting for
+him to answer.
+
+Mrs. Tuke's theology was a puzzle to him still, but all the time he sat
+at breakfast the word "Providence" kept echoing through the chambers of
+his brain. What was Providence? How far did God interfere with the
+operation of His own laws? Did He sometimes reach out a controlling
+hand? Did He cause events to work together for a special end?
+
+That day at the mine seemed one of the longest he had known. The wind
+moaned through every crevice of door and window, the rain came down
+unceasingly.
+
+Evening came, but there was no chance of a swim in the sea. He would
+have to wait until the morrow or the day following. Whatever he did, he
+would have to avoid awaking suspicion.
+
+Several times during the night he awoke and listened. The wind was still
+swishing through the trees, and the patter of rain could be distinctly
+heard against the window.
+
+"If Mrs. Tuke knew," he said to himself, "she would say Providence was
+interposing to prevent me putting an end to my useless life."
+
+He lay in bed an hour longer than he would have done had the weather
+been fine. "It is of no use getting up till breakfast-time," he
+reflected.
+
+He heard the postman's rat-tat-tat while he was dressing, and wondered
+if there were any letters for him.
+
+He came slowly and listlessly down the stairs. Another day of weariness
+and mental distress stretched out before him. "I am only prolonging the
+agony," he said to himself, as he took his lonely seat at the head of
+the table.
+
+Then his eye rested on a large envelope by the side of his place, with a
+blue stamp in the corner.
+
+He was alert in a moment. "An American letter," he said, half aloud, and
+his thoughts flew off to Madeline Grover unconsciously. The address,
+however, was in a man's handwriting--there could be no doubt about
+that.
+
+He tore open the envelope quickly and mechanically, and turned to the
+signature at the end of the letter. "Seaward and Graythorne," he read,
+and a look of perplexity came into his eyes.
+
+He opened out the letter, and an enclosure fluttered on to his plate. He
+picked it up and stared.
+
+"There must be some mistake," he said with a gasp, and he drew his hand
+across his eyes as though to remove some dimness that had gathered. Yet,
+there was his own name clear and distinct enough. "Pay to the order of
+Mr. Rufus Sterne the sum of five thousand dollars."
+
+"Five thousand dollars," he muttered. "Why, that is a thousand pounds--a
+thousand pounds. I must be dreaming surely."
+
+He turned to the letter at length, and began to read. Slowly, as he
+waded his way through the legal jargon, the truth began to dawn upon
+him. It had to do with the property his father had accumulated. Some
+Judge Cowley, of the Supreme Court of somewhere, had authorised a
+distribution, and the enclosed was the sum paid on account.
+
+That was about all he could make out. But why a firm of solicitors in
+New York should be acting in a case of disputed property somewhere out
+in Pennsylvania, was a problem he could not understand.
+
+He was in no mood, however, to worry himself over legal subtleties. The
+great outstanding fact--the fact that dominated all others--was that he
+was in possession of a thousand pounds.
+
+The revulsion of feeling was so great that for a moment or two it seemed
+to unman him. The cords that had been strung up so long to the very
+highest point of tension were suddenly relaxed. The hard stoicism with
+which he had fortified himself, melted like wax in the flame of a
+candle. The dull numbness of despair, which was rendering him
+indifferent to life, vanished like mist before the summer sun. The joy
+of hope, the dream of love, the fire of ambition, were all kindled
+afresh as by an electric spark. The wailing wind, instead of sobbing
+began to sing. The moaning ocean commenced to laugh and rejoice. The
+rain-drops were tears of joy that Nature shed. Light and love, and
+beauty and delight were everywhere. His breakfast remained untouched. He
+was quite unconscious of the fact until Mrs. Tuke came into the room.
+
+"Why, you haven't tasted your breakfast," she said, lifting her eyes and
+hands in astonishment.
+
+"Haven't I?" he said, with a smile.
+
+"And your bacon is quite cold."
+
+"I forgot all about it, Mrs. Tuke."
+
+"And your tea is like ditch-water."
+
+"I'm very sorry."
+
+"It's like throwing money away."
+
+"Oh, never mind."
+
+"But I do mind, I hate wastefulness, especially in young people."
+
+"Well, forgive me this time. I've had a surprise."
+
+"Oh, indeed! A pleasant surprise, I hope. You've had enough of the other
+sort."
+
+"A very pleasant surprise. Now, brew me a fresh pot of tea and warm up
+the bacon. I really feel as if I had got an appetite."
+
+"Well, it's time you had. You've been wasting to a shadow the last six
+months," and Mrs. Tuke hurried out of the room.
+
+Rufus laughed aloud when she was gone. He felt he would either have to
+laugh or cry. "If only granny were here I should hug her," he said to
+himself. "I feel so buoyant that I could almost hug Mrs. Tuke."
+
+The wind was still blowing strong from the west as he made his way over
+the hill to the mine, but its voice was like a song in his ears. The
+rain had ceased, though the sky was still dark with clouds; but all the
+landscape seemed flooded with golden sunshine. His nerves were tingling
+with a new joy, his eyes sparkling with an unwonted fire. He was glad to
+be alive again, glad to feel the wind of heaven upon his face.
+
+How wearily he had dragged his steps over the hill morning by morning;
+how dull and continuous had been the pain at his heart! Now all sense of
+weariness was gone; he seemed to tread on air; his heart was light and
+buoyant, and all the pain had passed away.
+
+He paused a moment where he paused a year before to look at a patch of
+green lawn that sloped away from Trewinion Hall. A vision of Madeline
+Grover came back to him for a second and vanished.
+
+"If it be God's will," he said to himself, reverently, and with a smile
+upon his face he continued his way.
+
+During the dinner hour he lodged the precious draft in the bank, and
+then hurried back to the mine again. In a day or two he got word that
+the draft was quite in order, and had been duly honoured. With that
+message vanished his last fear, for he had dreamed the previous night
+that the whole thing was a hoax and the draft not worth the paper on
+which it was printed.
+
+His first act was to pay back Felix Muller what he owed him with
+interest. This he did by cheque.
+
+"I cannot see him," he said to himself. "He would pour ridicule on my
+beliefs, and laugh my new-found faith to scorn. Moreover, I am not sure
+that he will be grateful, and I would not like my faith in him to be
+totally destroyed."
+
+Saturday, being half-holiday, he made his way to Tregannon, to see his
+grandparents and tell them the news. The old folks were greatly
+excited, and the Rev. Reuben hunted up all the papers and correspondence
+dealing with his son's property. The names of Seaward and Graythorne did
+not appear, however, in any of the documents; nor was the name of Judge
+Cowley ever mentioned.
+
+"I do not understand it at all," the old man said in his most solemn
+tones. "But then what can you expect in a new country like America?
+Everything appears to be haphazard and go-as-you-like."
+
+"Haphazard or no," Rufus replied, "the property has not been all eaten
+up by the lawyers."
+
+"Well, yes," the old gentleman said, reflectively, "there would appear
+after all, to be some sense of honesty and justice in the country. But
+why don't you take a journey across and look after things for yourself?"
+
+Rufus gave a little start, and looked at his grandfather with a
+questioning light in his eyes.
+
+"I mean it," the old man said, quietly. "If I were a few years younger
+nothing would please me better."
+
+"It had never occurred to me," Rufus replied, slowly and thoughtfully.
+
+"Then think about it. You can travel cheaply in these days; besides, you
+may be able to pick up ideas."
+
+"Yes, that is true," he answered, reflectively. "At any rate it is worth
+considering."
+
+For the rest of the evening Rufus thought of little else. Conversation
+ranged over a dozen topics, but he heard scarcely half of what was said.
+Constantly his thoughts harked back to his grandfather's suggestion, and
+his eyes caught a far-away expression.
+
+"I think you are tired," his granny said to him at length, and she
+looked at him with a quizzical smile on her wrinkled face.
+
+"I am a little."
+
+"Will you remain while we have prayers?" she questioned, hesitatingly.
+
+"Yes granny. I would like to hear grandfather pray again."
+
+They both started, and looked at him and then at each other, but neither
+made any remark.
+
+The chapter the old man read was a long one, and the prayer was longer
+still, but Rufus showed no sign of weariness. In fact, the little
+granny's quick ears fancied they heard a whispered "Amen" when the
+prayer ended.
+
+Rufus rose slowly from his knees with a serene look upon his handsome
+face.
+
+"My dear boy, we have never ceased praying for you," his granny said,
+placing her thin hands upon his strong shoulders and looking up into his
+face.
+
+"I hope you will continue to pray for me," he answered, quietly. "I
+shall need all your prayers."
+
+"Rufus?" the old man said, in a questioning tone, and he turned suddenly
+and looked into his grandson's eyes.
+
+Rufus felt that, having said so much, he was bound to say more.
+
+"No, grandfather," he answered, quietly; "you must not claim me as a
+returning prodigal. Your creed is as far beyond me as ever. But--I
+think--I think I have found the Christ."
+
+Instantly the old man's arms were about his neck, and, raising his face,
+he laughed aloud.
+
+"It is enough," he said, exultantly. "It is enough! To God be all the
+praise."
+
+The ice being broken, conversation flowed in a deeper channel, and when
+the Rev. Reuben laid his head upon his pillow that night, it was with a
+kindlier feeling in his heart for those who doubted, and with a larger
+charity for those who preached a broader creed.
+
+"It is very strange," he mused, "that my preaching should have driven
+the lad to doubt, while the preaching of my successor should have helped
+him back to faith."
+
+On the following morning Rufus went with the old people to chapel. The
+place seemed very cool and restful after the glare of the sunshine
+outside, and while the familiar hymns were being sung he felt like a boy
+again.
+
+Marshall Brook took for his text: "Are ye not better than many
+sparrows?" It was a quiet, thoughtful, searching sermon, without
+dogmatism and with no trace of declamation. The care of the Great Father
+for His children, the doctrine of a Divine Providence, was unfolded
+carefully, lucidly, reasonably. There was no attempt to ignore
+difficulties or to give scientific objections the go-by. Providence was
+not in conflict with the operations of nature. Providence worked on
+parallel lines. The universal Spirit was ever moving upon the hearts of
+men, suggesting, inspiring, renewing.
+
+"I am hungry and in need," said the preacher, "and someone is moved to
+bring me help. Why did he think of me at all? Who put the impulse into
+his heart? Ordinarily, it may be, he is not a generous man; yet he
+trampled down his selfishness, and came to my succour when I needed it
+most.
+
+"Was it a miracle? Not in the ordinary sense, and yet in truth it was a
+miracle. To me it was the interposition of God's Providence. God saw my
+need and sent His help."
+
+Rufus did not hear the end of the sermon. He was thinking of his own
+case. Help came to him when he needed it most. He had prayed for death,
+prayed that he might be saved from an act which was unworthy of any
+true man. And in the very nick of time salvation came. Was it a mere
+accident, a stroke of luck, a fortunate turn in the wheel of chance? Or
+was it Providence, an impulse or an inspiration from the all-pervading
+Spirit?
+
+His faith was but a tender plant as yet, and it would need much
+watchfulness and care if it was to grow.
+
+He was brought back from his reflections by the announcement of Cowper's
+well-known hymn:
+
+    God moves in a mysterious way
+      His wonders to perform;
+    He plants His footsteps in the sea
+      And rides upon the storm.
+
+Rufus stood up with the rest and tried to sing, but a lump rose in his
+throat constantly and threatened to choke him. It seemed as if every
+line met his case and expressed some experience of his own:
+
+    Blind unbelief is sure to err,
+      And scan His work in vain:
+    God is His own interpreter,
+      And He will make it plain.
+
+The congregation sang on with deep feeling and emotion. Most of them had
+known trouble. Many had experienced the joy of deliverance. And the tune
+was one that seemed exactly to suit the words:
+
+    His purposes will ripen fast,
+      Unfolding every hour.
+    The bud may have a bitter taste,
+      But sweet will be the flower.
+
+How wonderfully true and apposite it all was! More than once he swept
+his hand across his eyes to remove the mist that had gathered. Surely
+God had led him to that little chapel that morning. He knelt with the
+rest when the benediction was pronounced, and breathed an audible "Amen"
+at the close.
+
+Marshall Brook walked home with him and remained to dinner and to
+afternoon tea. But they did not spend the time in discussing knotty
+theological problems; their talk ran on the strange happenings and
+experiences of life.
+
+After the evening's service Rufus walked all the way back to St. Gaved,
+so that he might be in time for his work on the following morning. The
+way did not seem a bit long. He had so much to think about, so much to
+dream about, so much to be grateful for and to rejoice in, that the old
+church tower loomed into sight before he knew he had covered half the
+distance.
+
+He astonished Captain Tom next morning by throwing up his post.
+
+"You really don't mean it?" was the incredulous reply.
+
+"I do. I am going to America, and the sooner you can let me off the
+better I shall be pleased." And he told Captain Tom some of the things
+that had happened.
+
+"You are in the right of it, sonny," was the reply. "Yes, you are in the
+right," and he laughed, good-humouredly. "And, mark my words, we shall
+see some time what we shall see."
+
+"No doubt about that," Rufus answered, with a smile.
+
+"I'm glad you think so. Yes, some time we shall see what we shall see,"
+and he laughed again. "But,"--and he took off his hat and scratched his
+head, "my stars! but won't it be just----Well, well, we'll wait and see.
+You have my best wishes, sonny, and my blessing."
+
+On the following Saturday but one, Rufus sailed for New York.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER XXXIV
+
+                               DISCOVERIES
+
+
+On reaching New York Rufus made his way at once to the office of Messrs.
+Seaward and Graythorne. He discovered that Mr. Seaward had been dead a
+dozen years and that Mr. Graythorne was a man well advanced in life.
+
+Mr. Graythorne received him without enthusiasm, and with some slight
+evidence of embarrassment, and during the time they talked he appeared
+to be preoccupied and more or less distraught.
+
+Rufus wondered if this was some new type of American that he had not
+heard of, or whether it was merely professional dignity. He had to drag
+everything out of him, and what he did say appeared to be capable of
+divers interpretations.
+
+Rufus wanted facts about his father's property--why the litigation had
+continued so long, what was the nature of the claims that had to be
+considered, in what court or courts the litigants were heard, and on
+what principle the distribution of funds had been made.
+
+But to none of these questions could he get an intelligible answer. Mr.
+Graythorne talked vaguely and ponderously. He enlarged on American law
+in general, pointed out how different methods obtained in different
+States, showed how the interests of clients were safeguarded by the
+judges of the supreme courts, and how the wastefulness of English
+Chancery cases was avoided by the simpler American methods.
+
+But all this failed to touch the real point at issue. Rufus became
+pertinacious, and Mr. Graythorne somewhat restive.
+
+In the end the lawyer had to admit that he knew little about the matter.
+It was a very old case, and his partner, Mr. Seaward, had been dead a
+dozen years. A hint was given that Mr. Seaward had the case in hand at
+the beginning, but at present the case was entirely in the hands of the
+judge. The claims were disposed of as they rose; in time they would all
+be disposed of. He (Mr. Graythorne) had been commissioned to forward
+five thousand dollars, which he had done. If he received any similar
+commission he would execute it with the greatest pleasure.
+
+Rufus left the lawyer's office feeling not a little perplexed, and ten
+minutes later Mr. Graythorne descended to the street with a look of
+annoyance on his face.
+
+Getting on to the elevated railway, he was soon speeding in the
+direction of Central Park. Alighting at length, he made his way slowly
+along a quiet street for some considerable distance, paused for a moment
+in front of a house that had no distinguishing features, then ran
+lightly up the steps and rang the door bell.
+
+He was ushered by a maid-servant into a comfortably but modestly
+furnished room, where he flung himself into an easy chair and waited.
+
+In a few seconds a light step sounded outside; the door was pushed
+quickly open, and Madeline Grover came smiling and radiant into the
+room. The old lawyer rose slowly, and his face relaxed.
+
+"This is an unexpected pleasure," she said, brightly. "Have you been
+hearing again from Sir Charles?"
+
+"Not a word. It's the other man we have to deal with now."
+
+"What other man?"
+
+"Why the man I sent the money to, of course."
+
+"Well, what of him?"
+
+"He's in New York, and has nearly worried the life out of me this
+morning!"
+
+"In New York!" and the hot blood rushed suddenly to her neck and face.
+
+"In New York! And if he don't clear out soon there'll be complications!"
+
+"Why has he come?"
+
+"To look after his property, of course. Are you surprised?"
+
+"I am a little. It never occurred to me that he might come to America."
+
+"Well, he has come, and the question is whether you are going to
+make--well, a clean breast of it, or allow him to ferret it out
+himself?"
+
+"Oh! he must not know for the world!" she said, in a tone of alarm.
+
+"He's bound to get to know sooner or later that somebody has made him a
+present of five thousand dollars----"
+
+"No, it is only a loan," she interrupted, quickly.
+
+Mr. Graythorne laughed. "A loan that was never to be paid, eh? A loan by
+an anonymous lender? Well, what's in a name? Call it a loan if the word
+pleases you better."
+
+"But you know what I mean. Some day, of course,--years and years hence,
+when nothing matters"--and she blushed uncomfortably; "but just now
+nothing need be said or even hinted----"
+
+"I understand," he said, with a twitching of the lips.
+
+"You know very well that he has property out West somewhere, which he is
+bound to come into possession of soon, and it seemed a pity that he
+should starve and perhaps die while waiting for it."
+
+"Well, yes; the motive does you credit."
+
+"You ascertained beforehand, as you know, that he would have plenty to
+pay me back with later on, and, after all, the sum was only a small
+one."
+
+"To you, perhaps."
+
+"But to him it would mean everything, and I owe him more than gold can
+ever pay. As I told you before, he saved my life and nearly lost his own
+in doing it."
+
+"Quite a pretty little romance, I own; worked up into a story it would
+read very well. But how about the present situation?"
+
+"He must not know, of course."
+
+"And you expect me, a lawyer, to equivocate--to say one thing and mean
+another--to talk, as it were, with my tongue in my cheek? Oh, Miss
+Grover, what would become of the profession--I mean morally--if all
+clients were like you?"
+
+"It would be much nearer the kingdom," she said, with a laugh. "I don't
+ask you to tell lies; I only ask you to hold your tongue."
+
+"But it is much easier said than done. You know this young man, and he
+ain't no fool either; and he has a pretty little way of asking
+point-blank questions. And if I ain't mistaken he can draw an inference
+as slick as most folks."
+
+"But lawyers never reveal secrets," she said, smiling at him with her
+eyes.
+
+"Nothing more quickly awakens suspicion than silence," he said. "And if
+he once gets on the trail----"
+
+"He cannot possibly find me among eighty millions of people scattered
+over this continent."
+
+"But suppose he were to drop on you by accident?" and the old lawyer
+pretended to be looking at a picture on the other side of the room.
+
+She tried her best to keep back the tell-tale blush, but it would come.
+"Oh, we should shake hands," she said, in a tone of indifference, "and
+pretend to be surprised, of course, and then we should talk about what
+had happened in St. Gaved since I left."
+
+"He is a very handsome young man," the lawyer said absently.
+
+"Yes, he is rather good-looking, isn't he?" and the colour grew deeper
+on her usually pale face.
+
+"I think you told me once you admired his spirit?"
+
+"I admire him very much."
+
+"And if he calls to-morrow I must say no more than I have said to-day?"
+
+"Say what you like so long as you keep my name out of it."
+
+"And you don't want to see him? And you wouldn't for the world that he
+should know you are alive in New York City?"
+
+"For the present at any rate."
+
+"I think I understand," he said, gravely, but a smile twinkled in the
+corner of his eye.
+
+Meanwhile Rufus was busy reading through once more the papers he had
+obtained from his grandfather. He folded them up at length and replaced
+them in his portmanteau.
+
+"It's not a bit of use waiting here," he said to himself. "That old
+lawyer knows no more about it than I do. I'll go westward to-night."
+
+The next morning found him in the busy town of Pittsburg, where he spent
+a couple of days making inquiries; then he pressed forward again until
+he reached Reboth, on the borders of Ohio.
+
+Settling himself in the most comfortable hotel he could find he
+commenced his investigations. It was here his father had lived for
+several years. It was here he died. Reboth was only a village then. Its
+mineral wealth was unknown; its blast furnaces had not been lighted, its
+coal seams undiscovered. Joshua Sterne foresaw some of its
+possibilities, and invested all his savings, lived long enough to see
+the prospect of great wealth, and then almost suddenly passed out of
+life.
+
+After that followed years of litigation, Joshua Sterne had left no one
+who could fight his battles. The widow quickly yielded up the ghost, and
+the Rev. Reuben was too far away, too other-worldly, too lacking in
+business tact, and too suspicious of American lawyers and American ways
+to follow up any advantage that came to him.
+
+The litigants appeared to be numberless. Disputes arose over boundaries.
+Part of the property appeared to be in Pennsylvania and part in Ohio.
+Different States had different laws. The findings of one court were
+rejected by another. So the fight went on in a fitful and desultory way
+year after year. Some of the claimants died and their heirs dropped the
+struggle. Others had their claims allowed. Others who never had any real
+case gave up the contention. But there were a few who held on like grim
+death. They had no real claim, but they hoped for a good deal, and in
+the end they succeeded in the case being hung up indefinitely.
+
+In time it was practically forgotten. New judges were appointed.
+Important questions came before them which demanded immediate attention.
+The papers relating to the Sterne property grew yellow in their
+pigeon-holes. The rents accumulated, but the mineral wealth remained
+undeveloped.
+
+One of the first discoveries Rufus made was that there had been no
+distribution of profits.
+
+"There must be some mistake," he declared.
+
+But the court was positive. There had been some inquiries lately through
+a New York solicitor, but beyond that there was no record of any kind
+for several years, but certainly no money had been paid.
+
+Rufus felt bewildered. Why should Mr. Graythorne send him five thousand
+dollars on such a pretence? Why should anybody be so generous? Who was
+there in the whole of America who knew him or cared two straws whether
+he lived or died? As a matter of fact, he did not know a single soul on
+all that broad continent. But stop----
+
+All the colour left his face in a moment. He did know one person.
+Madeline Grover was in America. Had she done this?
+
+He felt himself trembling from head to foot; the very suggestion meant
+so much.
+
+That night he lay awake for hours thinking. He recalled the night after
+his return from Tregannon--the long walk he had with Madeline Grover
+across the downs, the frank confession he made to her of his toils and
+struggles, the generous sympathy she had extended to him. It was their
+last walk and talk. He remembered now he had told her how his father's
+savings had been lost at Reboth, and how they had long given up hope of
+recovering a penny of it.
+
+"I must get to know somehow," he said to himself. "Bless her! If she has
+done this she is the noblest woman on earth."
+
+Rufus was not long in getting his father's case reopened. There were
+only two men left to be dealt with. The claims of the others had gone by
+default. The court was anxious that the case should be disposed of once
+for all.
+
+Rufus employed the cleverest lawyer he could find, and together they
+struggled through the whole case from the beginning.
+
+"Look here," said the lawyer; "if these fellows are ugly it may last
+years longer."
+
+"Well, Mr. Mason, what do you advise?" Rufus questioned.
+
+"Come to terms with them."
+
+"They may not be reasonable."
+
+"Or they may be. They don't appear to have the ghost of a claim, but
+they may keep the thing hanging on for ever and ever."
+
+"There can be no harm in making the attempt," Rufus said.
+
+"Then I will see their solicitors at once."
+
+Rufus hung about Reboth two months longer, hoping, expecting, sometimes
+despairing. But in the end all the parties agreed that a bird in the
+hand was worth two in the bush. So terms were accepted and ratified by
+the court.
+
+"Now," said Mr. Mason, "you can begin to develop your property."
+
+"You think it is valuable?"
+
+"No doubt about that. If it had been worthless the whole thing would
+have been settled a generation ago."
+
+"But how should I begin?"
+
+"Form a syndicate. Let me take the matter in hand for you."
+
+Rufus was eager to go in search of Madeline. But he found himself,
+suddenly, one of the busiest men, so he believed, in the United States.
+Moreover, he refused to be rushed. A good many American methods he did
+not like, and would not have. There was any number of capitalists ready
+to stake large sums in the new venture. Any number of Stock Exchange
+men who flickered around like flies. Any number of sharpers who tried
+the confidence trick, but tried it in vain.
+
+In a great many instances Yankee cuteness was pitted against British
+caution and common-sense, and in the end the caution and common-sense
+won the day.
+
+Moreover, Rufus's sense of accountability was particularly keen. He had
+only just come out of the furnace, in which he had been tried as few men
+have been tried. The consciousness of God had not been blurred by long
+years of professionalism. There was no latent or acquired taint of
+Pharisaism in his nature. His faith was as pure and simple as that of a
+child.
+
+He might have made his pile in a week in an exciting gamble. On the mere
+chance of mineral being found he might have become a rich man; but he
+refused to proceed on those lines. He wanted occupation for himself. He
+wanted moral authority for all he did.
+
+The breathless haste to be rich which he saw all around him almost made
+him angry. The majority of men seemed to be too eager to be honest, they
+were tumbling over each other in their passion to be first in the field.
+
+The Rebothites began to understand the young Englishman after a while,
+and to respect him. His sterling honesty, his refusal to take a mean
+advantage, won their admiration. It might not be business. Judged by
+local standards, his conduct was Quixotic. They could not understand a
+man who was not eager and impatient to scoop up the dollars when he had
+the chance. But they had to take him as they found him, and in their
+hearts they admired him while they blamed him.
+
+Rufus came slowly to the consciousness that he was a man of considerable
+importance. Slowly, too, he realised that in time he would be a rich
+man, not through any merit of his own, but through the judgment and
+foresight of his father.
+
+For months he only thought of Madeline Grover at odd moments. He was too
+busy with the tasks that had been thrown suddenly upon him. Fresh duties
+appeared nearly every day, and better still, from his point of view,
+fresh opportunities were given for the exercise of his inventive talent.
+
+He was no longer cribbed, and cabined, and confined. There was a sense
+of freedom he had never known in other days. He had room to work in,
+scope for all his energies, and release from the bars and bands imposed
+by a landed aristocracy. There were many things American he cordially
+disliked, but the air of freedom that was over everything was most
+exhilarating. He felt as though his brain worked with only half the
+effort, and with no slightest sense of weariness.
+
+Besides all that, he was free to adopt new methods. Nobody was bound by
+precedent. He could exercise his inventive faculty without hostility and
+without criticism. Hence, life became to him a daily unfolding of fresh
+interests.
+
+The days grew rapidly into weeks, and the weeks into months. Autumn gave
+place to winter, and winter to spring, and spring to summer, and summer
+began to fade into autumn once more. He had expected to be in Reboth a
+month, and he had been there a year. And what a year it had been! The
+most crowded year of his life, and the most formative. He had found his
+feet at last, had taken the measure of his strength, and realised some
+of the things of which he was capable.
+
+He heard from his grandfather every week, and now and then he got a
+letter from Captain Tom Hendy; but the old life was becoming more and
+more distant, while the last six months he spent in St. Gaved seemed
+like a hideous dream.
+
+And yet there were times when it seemed an integral and necessary part
+of the great scheme of his life. A cog in the wheel that couldn't be
+dispensed with. How strangely he had been led, step by step, through
+darkness to light, through pain to peace.
+
+It was not until nearly the end of September that he was able to leave
+Reboth for a little excursion to New York. He felt sure that Madeline
+was in that city, and his heart was aching for another sight of her
+face.
+
+That he might have great difficulty in finding her he saw clearly
+enough, but after all he had passed through, nothing seemed impossible.
+He might fail in his first effort, and in his second, but he resolved to
+let nothing daunt him or lead him to give up the quest. Life could never
+be complete for him until he had found her. He must have answers to the
+questions that were baffling him to-day--must know the best or the
+worst.
+
+So he made preparations for a stay of months, if necessary. But in his
+heart there was a secret hope that Providence was guiding him still.
+
+
+
+
+                                 CHAPTER XXXV
+
+                             CONFLICTING EMOTIONS
+
+
+Madeline was at the Harvey Mansion, having afternoon tea with her
+friend, Kitty. Since their accidental meeting on the promenade at Nice,
+not many days passed that they did not see each other.
+
+"You will have to go with us," Kitty was saying to her friend. "If you
+don't I guess I shall mope myself to death."
+
+"Oh, no, you won't," Madeline answered. "You will have lots of company,
+and any amount of excitement."
+
+"Oh, I don't know. Father is beginning to think more about the climate
+than anything else. He fancies that New York winters try his health, and
+what I fear is he'll steer the _Skylark_ away down into the South Seas
+somewhere, and stick there."
+
+"Well, wouldn't that be very jolly?"
+
+"I don't know. It might be jolly miserable. It all depends on one's
+company. If you'll promise to go with us, I won't raise any more
+objections."
+
+"Have you been raising objections?"
+
+"Tons. I much prefer wintering in New York City."
+
+"I should like to visit the South Seas very much," Madeline said,
+meditatively, "only----," then she hesitated.
+
+"Only what?"
+
+"Well, the truth is, I am going to be a home-bird," Madeline answered,
+with a slight tinge of colour in her cheeks.
+
+"Oh, that's all fiddlesticks. You haven't a single tie on all this
+continent. You are your own mistress; you can do precisely what you like
+without any one calling you to account, and----"
+
+"I admit all you say," Madeline answered, with a smile. "Nevertheless,
+it is quite true that what appeals to me most is a quiet life in my own
+little home."
+
+"I wonder you don't get married."
+
+"Well, you see," Madeline answered, blushing slightly, "the man I
+expected to marry did not come up to my expectations."
+
+"But surely one hailstone doesn't make a winter."
+
+"That is quite true. But perhaps one gets suspicious as one gets older."
+
+"You have had offers enough, I am sure."
+
+"Have I? How knowing you are, Kitty."
+
+"Oh, one needn't be a philosopher to put two and two together. By the
+bye, do you ever hear anything of your rejected suitor?"
+
+"Occasionally. He's recently had another big disappointment."
+
+"In the matrimonial line?"
+
+"It seems so."
+
+"Oh, do tell me all about it."
+
+"Well, you know I get all my news through dear old Mr. Graythorne. The
+Tregonys have dropped me altogether, as you know."
+
+"Yes, you've told me that before."
+
+"Well, it would seem that Captain Tregony, soon after his return from
+Nice last year, fell in love with a widow lady, and they were to have
+been married some time this fall."
+
+"Yes."
+
+"And now the lady has refused to marry him."
+
+"For what reason?"
+
+"Oh, well, it's a curious story rather, and I'm not sure that I know all
+the ins and outs of it. But there was a young fellow in St. Gaved--a
+very clever young fellow, but poor--whom the Captain for some reason
+hated. One night they met and quarrelled, and this young fellow punished
+the Captain terribly. Well, don't you see that for a soldier to be
+thrashed by a civilian is terribly humiliating. So what did he do in
+order to cover himself but invent a story that the young fellow was mad
+drunk, that he sprang upon him unawares, and would have murdered him if
+the gardener had not come upon the scene, and in order to place his
+story beyond dispute he bribed the barman of a public-house to swear
+that on the evening in question the young fellow was so drunk that he
+(the barman) refused to serve him with any more whisky."
+
+"What a shame!"
+
+"Well, recently, this barman, who was prosecuted for poaching on Sir
+Charles Tregony's estates, and who was angry because the Captain did not
+shield him, just blurted out all the truth. Of course, I know nothing of
+the details, but from all Mr. Graystone has been able to gather there
+was immense excitement in St. Gaved. Mrs. Nancarrow, the lady to whom he
+had become engaged, refused to see him again, while the people were so
+incensed against him that he was glad to leave Trewinion Hall under
+cover of darkness, and, at present, no one, outside the members of his
+own family, appears to know where he is."
+
+"What a horrid man!"
+
+"And yet, when I met him first, he was most fascinating."
+
+"It's a mercy for you the fascination wore off. But tell me: did you
+know the young man the Captain tried to disgrace?"
+
+"A little. But you see the Tregonys had practically no intercourse with
+what they termed the common people."
+
+"He will be greatly relieved that his name has been cleared."
+
+"If he knows--which, no doubt, he does by this time."
+
+"Why by this time?"
+
+"Because he left the country a year ago."
+
+"Why did he leave the country?"
+
+"To better his fortune, I expect. But would you mind giving me another
+cup of tea? The year I spent on the other side the water made me an
+inveterate tea-drinker."
+
+"I'll not only give you another cup of tea, I'll give you the entire
+tea-service if you'll promise to go with us on the _Skylark_."
+
+"How generous you are!"
+
+"Generosity is my besetting sin as a matter of fact. But say you'll
+promise."
+
+"Oh, you must give me time to think the matter over. I can't decide in a
+moment."
+
+"Why not? You've no one to consult but yourself."
+
+"But if self should happen to be divided against self?"
+
+"Oh, you are just too tantalising for words. I believe there is someone
+in New York you want to capture."
+
+"No, Kitty, dear, you are quite mistaken. The young men of New York
+don't appeal to me in the least."
+
+"Then I'll go on badgering you until you promise. In fact, I'll set
+poppa on to you."
+
+"Please don't," and Madeline rose from her chair and began to pull on
+her gloves.
+
+That evening, in the privacy of her own room, Madeline debated seriously
+with herself whether or not she should accept the Harveys' invitation.
+For many things, she would like to winter in a more genial clime. New
+York was by no means an ideal city when the thermometer was at zero, and
+the streets were blocked with snow. In fact, it was not an ideal city
+under any circumstances, and but that most of her friends were there,
+she would gladly pitch her tent somewhere else.
+
+There was the further fact to be considered, that the departure of the
+Harveys meant the departure of the people whom she liked best of all,
+and New York would be terribly dull when their mansion was no longer
+open to her to run in and out as she liked.
+
+"I think I'll accept their invitation," she said to herself. "It will be
+a change, and it's awfully good of them to ask me." Then she hesitated
+and looked abstractedly out of the window.
+
+"It will mean an absence of six months at least," she went on, after a
+long pause, and she gave a little sigh and withdrew her eyes from the
+window.
+
+"It is curious that my thoughts will so constantly turn in the same
+direction," she thought, with another little sigh. "I surely don't owe
+him any more now. I have paid my debt as far as any human being can pay
+it. Why cannot I put the whole episode out of my life?"
+
+A ring came to the door-bell after awhile, and her old solicitor was
+shown in.
+
+"I am so glad you have come," she said, with a smile. "I want you to
+help me decide a question that I'm unable to decide for myself."
+
+"I'm always at your service," he said, genially; "but what's troubling
+your little head now?"
+
+"The Harveys want me to go with them on a yachting cruise."
+
+"Well?"
+
+"I can't make up my mind whether to go or not."
+
+"What is there to keep you here?"
+
+"Nothing."
+
+"Then why hesitate?"
+
+"I don't know. I'm growing to like my little home very much."
+
+"You mustn't become a hermit. My advice is go."
+
+"You really mean that?"
+
+"I do. Mind you, I shall miss you very much, but all the same, such a
+chance may not come to you again."
+
+"Then I'll take your advice."
+
+"By the bye, I heard news this morning of your Cornish friend."
+
+"Sir Charles Tregony?"
+
+"No; the other one."
+
+"You mean----"
+
+"The same! He's evidently done well out of the money you lent him."
+
+"Yes?"
+
+"I've been following him up as well as I could ever since that day he
+called on me."
+
+"So you've told me before."
+
+"But a man was in my office this morning who knows him, who lives in
+Reboth, in fact, and who has watched him closely."
+
+"Well?"
+
+"He says if he keeps on he'll be one of the most remarkable men in the
+State of Pennsylvania."
+
+"Indeed?"
+
+"That's what he says. At the beginning, the financiers swarmed round him
+like bees. But he wasn't to be had. He just went his own way. Slow
+according to American notions, but that's the man. Level-headed as they
+make 'em, and honest to a fault."
+
+"A man can't be too honest, surely?"
+
+"Well, business is so rushed in these days that a man has no time to
+look up the commandments before he decides. If he don't seize his chance
+on the dot it's gone."
+
+"Better the chance should go than that he should lose his honour."
+
+"Well, that is a very fine sentiment, no doubt--a very fine sentiment.
+And your friend, it seems, acts up to it."
+
+"And what has he lost in consequence?"
+
+"Heaps they say. Not permanently, perhaps; for as it happens, the iron
+is of better quality than was expected. But he might have made his pile
+right off without trouble or risk."
+
+"And without giving any honest _quid pro quo_?"
+
+"Those who speculate must take their chance, my child. If people are
+willing to take risks, why let 'em. Suppose there had been no iron at
+all?"
+
+"Well, what then?"
+
+"Why, he would have been the poorer by hundreds of thousands of
+dollars."
+
+"That might not be to his disadvantage. 'A man's life consisteth not in
+the abundance of the things he possesseth.'"
+
+"Most people think it does, at any rate."
+
+"But you know majorities are nearly always wrong."
+
+"Excuse me, I claim no such knowledge. I know that majorities rule."
+
+"And rule oppressively frequently."
+
+"That may be so. Human nature is essentially tyrannical. Give a man
+power, and, without great grace, he becomes a tyrant right off."
+
+"I don't think Rufus Sterne would ever become a tyrant."
+
+"He might, my child, under some circumstances. Never trust a man too
+far. I hear he is coming east."
+
+"Indeed!"
+
+"Has some new scheme on hand, I expect," and Mr. Graythorne picked up
+his hat and smiled knowingly.
+
+Left alone again, the look of perplexity in Madeline's eyes deepened.
+She had told Mr. Graythorne that she would take his advice and accept
+the Harveys' invitation. But she was disposed to change her mind again.
+She did not want to leave New York at present. She might hide the truth
+from other people, but she could not hide it from herself, that if Rufus
+Sterne came to New York she wanted to see him.
+
+She would not own to herself that she was in love, or anything
+approaching it. But she was undeniably interested. She had been from the
+first. Rufus Sterne appealed to her as no other man had done. His
+loneliness, his self-reliance, his courage, his independence made him an
+object of curiosity, to use no stronger term.
+
+Moreover, there was a certain aloofness about him--a curious air of
+detachment, that quickened her curiosity into something she had no name
+for. In their last conversation he had been wonderfully frank--had
+opened his heart to her in a way that touched her sympathies to the
+quick, yet she knew she had not fathomed him yet. She had a feeling all
+the time that he was greater than he appeared, that his reticence was
+much more marked than its opposite.
+
+He had suffered wrong without a murmur, and suffered wrong for her sake.
+He had kept her name out of what he had called a sordid quarrel, and
+gone on his way in silence, asking no sympathy and seeking no revenge.
+
+How was it possible, therefore, that she could fail to be interested in
+him? He was so different from most of the men she knew. So strong, so
+self-contained, so doggedly determined.
+
+Some day he would find her out; she was sure of that. He was not the
+kind of man to remain in anyone's debt. She did not doubt for a moment
+that he guessed long ago who had sent him the money, but with the true
+instinct of chivalry he had not thrust himself upon her. He had allowed
+the months to go by, and had made no effort to find her; and during
+those months he had proved the stuff of which he was made. In an age of
+rush and greed and money-grabbing he had shown a fidelity to principle
+that even his detractors admired.
+
+He might have "made his pile," in the slang phrase of the time, but he
+had shown no eagerness to do so. He had gambled once with life itself
+(though she did not know that); he would not gamble now with the things
+of life, with what men called "the world."
+
+He had learnt his lesson and he would never forget it. To wrong a
+community was just as wicked as to wrong an individual. He refused to
+treat his employees as "hands"; they were men, not serfs to be
+exploited, but human beings to be protected and helped. He introduced a
+new industrial code and made himself one with his fellows.
+
+Mr. Graythorne, who had followed his movements with great interest and
+curiosity, gave hints to Madeline every now and then, though he was
+never quite able to take the measure of Madeline's interest in him.
+
+In truth, however, her interest had been a growing quantity. Silence and
+separation but quickened her imagination. The hints and fragments of
+news that reached her concerning him all helped in the same direction.
+His apparent indifference to her made her all the more curious to see
+him again.
+
+"No, I cannot leave New York," she said to herself, at length. "If he
+comes I want to be here. He may think I have tried to discharge my debt
+with dollars and do not want to see him again. To convey such an
+impression would be to wrong myself, and--and--him, for there was a
+time----"
+
+She did not finish the sentence, however, but the warm colour stole
+swiftly to her neck and face and a bright light came into her eyes.
+
+On the following day she told the Harveys--much to Kitty's grief and
+disappointment--that she could not accept their invitation.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER XXXVI
+
+                            HIS HEART'S DESIRE
+
+
+Rufus made his way to New York with the fixed intention of finding
+Madeline Grover if that were possible. He had come to very definite
+conclusions as to the part she had played; but there was a good deal
+still that wanted explaining, and he was eager to get the riddle solved
+and his fate determined once for all.
+
+Of his own feelings he had no doubt. She was the one woman in the world
+he loved or ever could love. He owed to her not only his life, but all
+that made life worth living--his faith, his vision of God, his hope of
+immortality. It was she who had come to him in the darkest mental and
+moral night that had ever fallen upon him, and had touched his eyes with
+a new vision, and had opened up to him the promise of a larger day.
+
+But what her feelings were in regard to him he did not know. That she
+was grateful he had had proof enough, but gratitude might exist where
+there was little or no love. It might exist even with positive dislike.
+Her attempts to discharge her debt of gratitude might not be any proof
+of affection. They might rather be evidence of a desire to get rid of an
+unpleasant responsibility.
+
+He had hope, however, that Providence was in this as in other things.
+That God had moved her heart to send him help when he needed it most he
+could no longer doubt. And since she had been the inspiration of what
+was best in his life, it might be the purpose of that Higher Will that
+she should stand by his side during the rest of his life.
+
+At any rate, he would prove the matter for himself, as far as it could
+be proved. New York--or even America--was not so big but he might find
+her with patience and determination.
+
+On reaching New York he made his way to Mr. Graythorne's office.
+Presuming that it was she who had commissioned him to send the money, he
+would know where she lived. If it was not she, a new riddle would
+confront him, which he would have to try to solve sooner or later.
+
+Mr. Graythorne received him, as before, without enthusiasm, and with no
+manifestation of surprise. Indeed, he quite expected that sooner or
+later he would call.
+
+Rufus plunged into the object of his visit without any waste of words.
+Indeed, his first question was so sudden and direct that it threw Mr.
+Graythorne completely off his guard.
+
+"I have called to ask you for the address of Miss Madeline Grover," he
+said.
+
+Mr. Graythorne gave a start, and turned half round in his chair.
+
+"Eh--eh? What's that?" he asked, abruptly.
+
+"Miss Grover is a client of yours, I believe----"
+
+"Who said she was a client of mine?"
+
+Rufus smiled. "Of course, if you object to give me her address," he
+said, "I will not press the matter."
+
+"I did not say I refuse, but such a request is somewhat unusual. Miss
+Grover may not care to have people calling on her. Her business affairs
+she leaves in my hands."
+
+"And she is no doubt well advised in so doing. But I don't think Miss
+Grover will object to my calling."
+
+"You know her?"
+
+"A little. We met a few times when she was staying with the Tregonys."
+
+"Oh, indeed." Mr. Graythorne expected he would say something about the
+five thousand dollars, but that was no part of his programme just then.
+
+The lawyer felt in a quandary. He did not know what to do for the best.
+He could not very well refuse her address, and yet he was not sure she
+would like being pounced upon by this young man without a moment's
+warning. Unfortunately, he could not ring her up, for she had no
+telephone in her house. What was he to do? Rufus stood looking at him
+with a smile on his face.
+
+"If you are acquaintances," he said at length, "that of course settles
+the matter," and he wrote the address on a sheet of paper and handed it
+to his visitor.
+
+Rufus thanked him and turned to go at once.
+
+"Your property has turned out all right, I hear?" the lawyer said,
+insinuatingly.
+
+"Oh, yes, excellently."
+
+"And you finished the litigation?"
+
+"Easily. A little give and take, and the thing was done."
+
+"More give than take, I am told."
+
+"Perhaps so, but better that than fighting, and bad blood, and ruinous
+lawyers' fees."
+
+Mr. Graythorne winced and grew red in the face, and before he could
+recover himself Rufus had slipped out of the room.
+
+It did not take him long to reach the street in which Madeline lived. He
+looked down its long length and gave a little sigh of relief. It was
+not a street of mansions. It was unpretentious and comparatively
+obscure.
+
+His heart was beating very fast when he walked slowly up the steps and
+rang the door-bell. He felt as though the supreme moment of his life had
+come.
+
+He was shown into a room that harmonised with the street, quiet, cosy,
+comfortable, but quite unpretentious. He had not to wait many moments.
+Almost before he had time to turn round, the door was pushed open, and
+Madeline stood before him, bright, winning, smiling, and radiantly
+beautiful.
+
+There was no trace of stiffness or embarrassment in her manner. Indeed,
+her greeting was more cordial than he had dared hope for. The
+embarrassment was on his side; he felt he had undertaken a task that
+would tax all his nerve.
+
+"It is like old times to see you again," she said, in her old frank,
+ingenuous way. "Do you remember our last long walk over the downs?"
+
+"Then you have not forgotten?" he replied, with a little sigh of relief.
+
+"Why should I forget? I was so sorry not to see you again."
+
+"I looked out for you once or twice; then I heard you had gone away."
+
+"Did you look out for me? And I wanted so particularly to see you."
+
+"Yes?" he questioned, eagerly.
+
+"I wanted to let you know that I had discovered Gervase Tregony's
+perfidy."
+
+"Before you went away?"
+
+"Yes; but I was unable to make it known. However, all the truth has come
+out since."
+
+"You have heard?"
+
+"Oh, yes. I get Cornish news regularly."
+
+"Then you knew I had left?"
+
+"Oh, yes," she answered, with a blush and a smile, "I knew that also."
+
+"I came to look after that disputed property of my father's I once told
+you about," he said, after a pause.
+
+"Yes, I remember. You said you had given up all hope of ever getting a
+penny."
+
+"You see, my grandfather and I were too far away to look after it, and
+too poor to fight it. So it was just hung up. You have heard, perhaps,
+that it has turned out well?"
+
+She blushed again, and hesitated for a moment. She felt that his eyes
+were upon her. She knew she would gain nothing by fencing. The truth
+would have to come out sooner or later. This man had eyes so clear that
+he could see through all sham and pretence. So she answered quite
+frankly. "My solicitor knows a good deal about Reboth, and he has told
+me."
+
+"You mean Mr. Graythorne?"
+
+His eyes were still upon her and there was no escape.
+
+"Yes," she answered, almost in a whisper.
+
+For a moment or two there was an almost painful silence. She felt what
+was coming, and shrank from meeting it. He knew what he wanted to say,
+and yet had scarcely the courage to say it.
+
+"There is something I want to find out very much," he said, at length;
+"perhaps you can help me."
+
+She looked up with an inquiring light in her eyes, but did not reply.
+
+"You heard that my invention failed, or rather that it had been
+forestalled?"
+
+She nodded assent.
+
+"What the failure meant to me only God knew. I had borrowed the money to
+develop and perfect my idea, and when failure came it was overwhelming.
+I was stripped of everything. I look back now as upon a long and hideous
+nightmare. I wonder how I endured?"
+
+He paused for a moment, but she made no reply, but her eyes were full of
+eager interest.
+
+"Well, when the night was darkest, and I was praying for death as the
+only escape for me, a letter came from Messrs. Seaward and Graythorne,
+enclosing a draft for five thousand dollars. The letter was long, and
+more or less incoherent, but it vaguely hinted that the money was a
+first instalment of the property left by my father.
+
+"During that day, and I think for several days after, I was almost
+beside myself with joy. Then I went to see my grandfather, and he and I
+puzzled over the letter, but we could make very little out of it. In the
+end he suggested that I should come to America and look after the
+property myself.
+
+"So I came, and at once called on Messrs. Seaward and Graythorne. Mr.
+Graythorne I found, but I left his office more perplexed than ever. He
+talked in generalities, but he appeared to know little or nothing about
+the matter, though he admitted, of course, sending me the money.
+
+"That night I left New York and made my way to Reboth, where I
+discovered that no distribution of the property left by my father had
+been made. That the whole of it was still in Chancery, as we should say
+in England.
+
+"You can imagine how perplexed I felt, and naturally I began to wonder
+what kind friend had commissioned Mr. Graythorne to send me so much
+money. I said to myself: 'There is not a soul on the American continent
+that I know.' Then I remembered that you were here. You will forgive me
+if I wrong you, but I could think, and can think, of no one else. The
+money was my salvation. It not only saved me from despair, but from all
+that follows despair, and now that God has prospered me I want to pay it
+back. May I give it to you?"
+
+Her eyes were full almost to overflowing by this time, but she
+resolutely beat back her emotion.
+
+"Yes, I will take it back," she answered, slowly. "I am glad it served
+you in the hour of need."
+
+"You meant it as a loan, I know," he said, with a smile.
+
+"That was as God should will," she answered, with her eyes upon the
+floor. "I heard in Nice of your misfortune. I knew from what you told me
+that you had risked your all, and I wondered if I could help you without
+wounding you. As soon as I reached home I commissioned Mr. Graythorne to
+make inquiries about your late father's property in Reboth. It seemed
+certain that you would be well off some day, and so I advanced five
+thousand dollars on account; it was but a small return for all you had
+done for me."
+
+"But I might not have won the suit, might not have discovered who had
+befriended me."
+
+"I should still have been in your debt," she replied, with a smile. "You
+saved my life, you know," and she rose and touched the bell.
+
+He rose also, and moved towards the door.
+
+"No, no," she said, "you must not go, I have rung for tea. I know the
+English habit, and you must be thirsty after so much talking," and she
+laughed merrily.
+
+"Thank you," he said. "I shall be glad of a cup of tea," and he sat down
+again.
+
+Over the teacups conversation became more general, and flowed more
+freely in consequence. They talked about St. Gaved, about the Tregonys,
+and Captain Tom Hendy, and Dr. Pendarvis, and Mrs. Tuke. She related
+some of her experiences at Trewinion Hall, and in London and Nice, and
+how and why she escaped from the guardianship of Sir Charles. The
+afternoon sped like a dream, and when he rose to go, he felt as though a
+new vision of life had been vouchsafed to him.
+
+"You will call again?" she said, when he was leaving.
+
+"May I?" he asked eagerly.
+
+She laughed brightly in his face. "Does our American freedom or our lack
+of British formality shock you?" she questioned.
+
+"No, no. I was not thinking of that at all," he answered, hurriedly.
+"May I call again to-morrow?"
+
+"At the same hour?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"I will wait in for you."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Rufus remained in New York as many weeks as he had expected to remain
+days. He fixed the date of his return to Reboth time after time, but
+when the day arrived he found some excuse for remaining a day or two
+longer. He did not call to see Madeline every day. Indeed, sometimes for
+days on the stretch he did not go near her house, but he discovered that
+New York furnished endless opportunities for meeting. He got to know
+when she went shopping, and when she rode or drove in the park, and so
+he way-laid her at all sorts of unexpected times, and discovered that
+his interest in her movements was the all-absorbing concern of his
+life.
+
+Their conversation that winter evening on the Downs was picked up at the
+point at which it broke off, and Madeline got a yet clearer insight into
+the human document that had fascinated her from the first.
+
+Rufus opened his heart to Madeline as he never did to any other. Her
+sympathy touched the deepest chords of his emotion, her generosity won
+his confidence.
+
+Bit by bit the truth was revealed to her that she, under God, had been
+his salvation. Her quick imagination saw the path along which he had
+travelled. His loss of faith, his gropings in the desert of a barren
+philosophy.
+
+She saw, too--not that he told her in so many words--that the loss of
+all sense of accountability was destroying the moral basis of conduct.
+That his honour was saved to him because he won back his faith.
+
+It was no small satisfaction to her that she, in the supreme crisis of
+his life, had been his helper and his inspiration. If he had saved her,
+she, in a yet deeper sense, had saved him.
+
+That the same thought should grow almost unconsciously in the minds and
+hearts of both was natural--perhaps inevitable. In due course it would
+blossom into speech.
+
+He returned to Reboth in December--business demanded his presence--but
+he was back in New York again in January. Madeline looked up with a
+start of surprise when he was shown into the room in which she was
+reading.
+
+"I hope I do not intrude?" he said, hesitatingly.
+
+"No, no," she replied, with almost childish delight. "I am so glad to
+see you again. But I was not aware you were in New York."
+
+"I arrived this morning," he answered, "and so took an early opportunity
+of looking you up."
+
+"You are just in time for afternoon tea, and you must be almost frozen,"
+and she rang the bell at once.
+
+Rufus watched her moving about the room with almost hungry eyes. She was
+so dainty, so lissom, so strong. He wanted to take her in his arms and
+tell her that he loved her more than all else on earth, but he had not
+the courage yet.
+
+He remained not only to tea, but to dinner; and during the evening
+conversation strayed over many subjects.
+
+He was naturally reticent, and greatly disliked talking about himself.
+But when he was with Madeline all reticence disappeared. She was the
+warm sun that thawed the ice. He would have deemed it impossible once
+that he could have told anyone of his spiritual struggles, of the mental
+strain and agony through which he passed before his feet touched the
+rock. But Madeline was like a second self; there was nothing he wanted
+to hide from her.
+
+Before the evening was out he found himself discussing the moral effects
+of materialism.
+
+"It takes away the moral basis of conduct," he said, in reply to one of
+her questions. "I found myself losing the true sense of right and
+wrong--_as_ right and wrong. Things might be wise or foolish, profitable
+or unprofitable, politic or impolitic; but right and wrong were becoming
+meaningless words in any moral sense. If there is no God there is no
+moral law, and the highest authority is the State."
+
+"But materialists are sometimes very good people?" she questioned.
+
+"Yes, that is true; but not because of their philosophy, but in spite of
+it. And yet is not their goodness mainly negative? Do they build
+hospitals, or endow charities, or sacrifice themselves in fighting the
+battles of Temperance and peace and purity? I speak from experience; it
+dulls the moral sensibilities. For a man to lose his sense of God is to
+lose his best. The noblest work of the world is done by the men who
+believe, who endure as seeing Him who is invisible."
+
+"Then you think if you had remained a materialist----"
+
+"I should have perished," he interrupted, gravely, "and I use that word
+in no thoughtless sense. But God sent me you----" then he paused, and
+for awhile silence fell.
+
+When they began to talk again it was about some entirely different
+matter.
+
+A few days later he called to say good-bye. He was going back to Reboth
+again the following day. For a full hour they chatted in the freest
+manner about matters of no importance. Then he rose suddenly and began
+to button his coat. He shook hands with her in silence and reached the
+door. For a moment he paused with his hand on the knob, then turned
+hurriedly round and faced her. His face was very pale, his lips were
+trembling.
+
+"Madeline," he said, "I cannot go away without telling you that I love
+you. I belong to you. To you I owe more than life. I owe all that makes
+life worth living. You befriended me in my hour of greatest need. You
+led me out of darkness into the light. Will you be my inspiration still,
+my companion, the light of my eyes?"
+
+He paused, almost breathless with the earnestness of his speech.
+
+She stood looking at him, all the colour gone out of her face.
+
+"Forgive me if I am presumptuous," he went on, in lower tones. "But I
+have loved you so long, so hopelessly, so passionately, that I could not
+keep the truth back any longer. Yet if you say there is no hope for me I
+will not trouble you again."
+
+She came toward him slowly, a great light shining in her eyes, and
+placed her hands in his.
+
+"You are sure you are not mistaken?" she said, and her eyes grew full of
+tears.
+
+"Mistaken? Oh! Madeline, if I were only so sure of heaven! I have loved
+you since the day you read 'Snow Bound' to me--loved you with an
+ever-growing passion. I have never loved but you--I shall never love
+another!"
+
+"Do not all men say that?" she questioned, with a pathetic smile.
+
+"I know not what other men say," he replied, earnestly. "I only know
+that without you life will be dark. Oh! Madeline, have you no word of
+hope for me?"
+
+"Do you need words?" she asked, smiling through her tears into his face.
+"Have I not shown my heart all too plainly?"
+
+"Do you mean that----"
+
+But the sentence was never finished. Swiftly he gathered her in his arms
+till she could feel the beating of his heart against her own. Silently
+their lips met in a passionate seal of love. Then he led her to a couch
+and sat down by her side, and for an hour they talked and the hour
+seemed but as the flying of a shuttle.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+                               CATALOGUE
+                                   OF
+                         THEOLOGICAL,
+                             ILLUSTRATED
+                                   AND
+                                 GENERAL BOOKS
+
+                    Classified according to Prices.
+                Index of Titles and Authors at the end.
+        _New Books and New Editions marked with an asterisk._
+
+                              PUBLISHED BY
+               JAMES CLARKE & CO., 13 & 14, FLEET ST., LONDON, E.C.
+
+
+                                 10/6 Net.
+
+                          =THE POLYCHROME BIBLE.=
+
+ A New English Translation of the Books of the Bible. Printed in
+    various colours, showing at a glance the composite nature and the
+    different sources of the Books. With many Notes and Illustrations
+    from Ancient Monuments, &c. Each volume is the work of an eminent
+    Biblical scholar of Europe or America, and the whole work is under
+    the general editorship of PAUL HAUPT, of Johns Hopkins University,
+    Baltimore, assisted by HORACE HOWARD FURNESS.
+
+    "Really one of the greatest and most serious undertakings of our
+    time. It has been planned on the grandest scale. It is being
+    produced in magnificent style.... The various books are entrusted to
+    the ablest scholars that are alive."--_Expository Times._
+
+ =The Book of Ezekiel.= Translated by the Rev. C. H. TOY, D.D., LL.D.,
+    Professor of Hebrew and other Oriental Languages, and Lecturer on
+    Biblical Literature in Harvard University, 208 pp. (89 pp.
+    translation and 119 pp. notes). With nine full-page illustrations
+    including a Map of Western Asia and 102 illustrations in the Notes.
+    Cloth, gilt top. 10s. 6d. net.
+
+    "They [Joshua and Ezekiel] will be of great use to the careful
+    student.... The books include the best results of the higher
+    criticism."--_Birmingham Daily Post._
+
+             _For other Volumes in this Series see page 3._
+
+
+                                 7/6
+
+ =J. Guinness Rogers, D.D.: An Autobiography.= Demy 8 vo, photogravure
+    portrait and illustrations, 7s. 6d.
+
+    "The reminiscences of Dr. Guinness Rogers go back ever nearly eighty
+    years. It is hard to open the book anywhere without coming on
+    something of interest."--_Manchester Guardian._
+
+ =A History of the United States.= By JOHN FISKE, Litt.D., LL.D. For
+    Schools. With Topical Analysis, Suggestive Questions and Directions
+    for Teachers, by FRANK ALPINE HILL, Litt.D., formerly Headmaster of
+    the English High School in Cambridge, and later of the Mechanic Arts
+    High School in Boston. With 180 illustrations and 39 Maps. Crown 8
+    vo, half leather, gilt top, 7s. 6d.
+
+ =Henry Barrow, Separatist; and the Exiled Church of Amsterdam.=
+    By F. J. POWICKE, Ph.D., Author of "John Norris" and "Essentials
+    of Congregationalism." Medium 8 vo. 7s. 6d. net.
+
+
+                                 6/- Net.
+
+                        =THE POLYCHROME BIBLE.=
+
+
+ =The Book of Joshua.= Translated by the Rev. W. H. BENNETT, M.A.,
+    Litt.D., Professor of Old Testament Languages and Literature at
+    Hackney and New Colleges, London, formerly Fellow of St. John's
+    College, Cambridge. 94 pp., printed in nine colours (43 pp.
+    translation and 51 pp. notes, including an illustrated Excursus
+    on the Tel-el-Amarna Tablets and a List of Geographical Names).
+    Eleven full-page illustrations (one in colours) and 25
+    illustrations in the Notes. Cloth, gilt top, 6s. net.
+
+ =The Book of Judges.= Translated, with Notes, by G. F. MOORE, D.D.,
+    Professor of Hebrew in Andover Theological Seminary. 98 pp., printed
+    in seven colours (42 pp. translation, 56 pp. notes). Seven full-page
+    illustrations including a map in colours and 20 illustrations in the
+    Notes. Cloth, gilt top, price 6s. net.
+
+              _For other Volumes in this Series see page 2_
+
+
+                                 6/-
+
+                       =_By S. R. CROCKETT._=
+
+ =*Kid McGhie.= Large crown 8 vo, cloth boards, gilt top, 6s.
+
+    "As smart and as pat as ever."--_The Times_.
+
+    "Admirers of Mr. Crockett will not be disappointed in 'Kid
+    McGhie.'"--_The Daily Chronicle._
+
+ =The Loves of Miss Anne.= Large crown 8 vo, 416 pp., cloth, gilt top,
+    6s.
+
+    "A fine rousing story, comedy and tragedy being admirably
+    co-mingled, and there are some excellent studies of character. A
+    bright, breezy, well-written book, with clever descriptions of
+    country life."--_Birmingham Post._
+
+ =Flower-o'-the-Corn.= Large crown 8 vo, 464 pp., cloth, gilt top, 6s.
+
+    "Mr. Crockett once more shows his skill in weaving an ingenious
+    plot."--_The Times._
+
+    "The narrative moves briskly, and secures the banishment of
+    dullnesss with the frequency of adventure."--_Newcastle Daily
+    Leader._
+
+    "Fertile of incident."--_Daily Mail._
+
+ =Cinderella.= Illustrated. Crown 8 vo, cloth, 6s.
+
+    "A decidedly pleasing tale."--_St. James's Gazette._
+
+    "Most animated from beginning to end."--_Dundee Advertiser._
+
+    "Will assuredly not lack a kindly welcome on its merits."--_Bristol
+    Mercury._
+
+ =Kit Kennedy: Country Boy.= With Six Illustrations. Crown 8 vo, cloth,
+    gilt top, 6s.
+
+    "Mr. Crockett has never given better evidence of originality and
+    dramatic power.... There is no doubt that 'Kit Kennedy' will add
+    to his reputation and popularity."--_Manchester Guardian._
+
+                         =_By J. BRIERLEY, B.A._=
+
+ =*Religion and Experience.= By J. BRIERLEY, B.A., Author of "The
+    Eternal Religion," &c. Large crown 8 vo, cloth boards, gilt top, 6s.
+
+ =The Eternal Religion.= By J. BRIERLEY. B.A., Author of "Ourselves and
+    the Universe," &c. Crown 8 vo, bevelled boards, gilt top, 6s.
+
+    "Well written and helpful."--_The Times._
+
+    "Suggestive of a wide knowledge and scholarship."--_The Scotsman._
+
+               =_For other books by "J. B." see page 9._=
+
+ =The Rise of Philip Barrett.= By DAVID LYALL, Author of "The Land
+    o' the Leal," &c. Crown 8 vo, bevelled boards, gilt top, 6s.
+
+    "The book is remarkable for the arresting interest of all, or nearly
+    all the characters. Altogether, Mr. Lyall is to be congratulated on
+    an interesting story."--_Aberdeen Free Press._
+
+ =A Popular History of the Free Churches.= By C. SILVESTER
+    HORNE, M.A. Crown 8 vo, 464 pp. and 39 full-page illustrations on
+    art paper. Art vellum, gilt top, 6s.
+
+    "A vigorous and interesting book by an enthusiastic believer in the
+    Puritan spirit and the need of religious equality."--_The Times._
+
+ =The Black Familiars.= By L. B. WALFORD, Author of "Stay-at-Homes," &c.
+    Large crown 8 vo, cloth boards, 6s.
+
+    "... 'Black Familiars' is among the most able and attractive books
+    of a very productive season."--_St. James's Gazette._
+
+ =The Atonement in Modern Thought.= By Professor AUGUSTE SABATIER,
+    Professor HARNACK, Professor GODET, DEAN FARRAR, Dr. P. T. FORSYTH,
+    Dr. MARCUS DODS, Dr. LYMAN ABBOTT, Dr. JOHN HUNTER, Dr. WASHINGTON
+    GLADDEN, DEAN FREMANTLE, Dr. CAVE, Dr. R. F. HORTON, Rev. R. J.
+    CAMPBELL, Professor ADENEY, Rev. C. SILVESTER HORNE, Rev. BERNARD J.
+    SNELL, and Dr. T. T. MUNGER. Crown 8 vo, 6s. _New Edition._
+
+    "This interesting work.... Among the writers are men of great
+    distinction.... Deserves careful attention."--_The Spectator._
+
+ =Friend Olivia.= By AMELIA E. BARR. Crown 8 vo, cloth boards, 6s.
+
+ =A Rose of a Hundred Leaves.= By AMELIA E. BARR. Crown 8vo, cloth
+    boards, 6s.
+
+ =Haromi=: A New Zealand Story. By BANNERMAN KAYE. Crown 8 vo, cloth,
+    6s.
+
+    "In every sense it is admirably written, the charming description
+    of localities, none the less than the character-drawing and the
+    construction of the romance, being most engaging."--_Western Daily
+    Mercury._
+
+ =Through Science to Faith.= By Dr. NEWMAN SMYTH, Author of "The Place
+    of Death in Evolution," "Old Faiths in New Lights," "The Reality
+    of Faith," &c. Large crown 8 vo, cloth, gilt top, 6s.
+
+    "We commend Dr. Smyth's work to the attention of all thoughtful
+    readers."--_Liverpool Mercury._
+
+ =The Rights of Man.= A Study in Twentieth Century Problems.
+    By LYMAN ABBOTT, D.D. Crown 8 vo, cloth, 6s.
+
+    "This is one of his best books. It is good throughout."--_Expository
+    Times._
+
+ =America in the East.= By WILLIAM ELLIOT GRIFFIS, formerly of the
+    Imperial University of Japan. Author of "The Mikado's Empire,"
+    "Corea, the Hermit Nation," &c. Crown 8 vo, cloth, gilt top, with
+    19 illustrations, 6s.
+
+    "We need hardly say that there is much that is interesting in the
+    book."--_Spectator._
+
+ =Rev. T. T. Lynch=: A Memoir. Edited by WILLIAM WHITE.
+    With Portrait. Crown 8 vo, cloth, 6s.
+
+ =The Barbone Parliament= (=First Parliament of the Commonwealth of
+    England=) and the Religious Movements of the Seventeenth Century
+    culminating in the Protectorate System of Church Government. By
+    HENRY ALEXANDER GLASS, Author of "The Story of the Psalters: A
+    History of the Metrical Versions of Great Britain and America."
+    Demy 8 vo, cloth, 6s.
+
+    "A careful and very instructive account of the period, frankly
+    Puritan in sympathy."--_The Echo._
+
+ =Memorials of Theophilus Trinal.= By T. T. LYNCH. Crown
+    8 vo, cloth, 6s.
+
+ =The Mornington Lecture.= By T. T. LYNCH. Thursday
+    Evening Addresses. Second Edition. Crown 8 vo, cloth, 6s.
+
+
+                                 5/-
+
+ =Theology and Truth.= By NEWTON H. MARSHALL, M.A., Ph.D.
+    Large crown 8 vo, cloth boards, gilt top, 5s.
+
+    "The book is masterly both in constructive power and in
+    exposition.... It is a book which ought to be widely
+    read."--_Aberdeen Free Press._
+
+    PROFESSOR GARVIE says: "... Cordial congratulations to the author
+    for his valuable contribution to the solution of one of the most
+    important and urgent problems of the day."
+
+    "The author treats his difficult subject with skill and philosophic
+    ability."--_The Notts Guardian._
+
+ =A Backward Glance.= The Story of John Ridley, A Pioneer. By ANNIE E.
+    RIDLEY, Author of "Frances Mary Buss and her Work for Education,"
+    &c. Crown 8 vo, photogravure portraits and illustrations, 5s.
+
+ =Church, Ministry and Sacraments in the New Testament.= By W. T.
+    WHITLEY, M.A., LL.D. Demy 8 vo, cloth boards, 5s.
+
+ =Cartoons of St. Mark.= By R. F. HORTON, M.A., D.D. Third
+    Edition. Crown 8 vo cloth, 5s.
+
+    "Certainly reproduce to a degree attained by few preachers the vivid
+    picturesqueness of the Gospel."--_The Manchester Guardian._
+    "This is, we think, the best book Dr. Horton has written."--_The
+    British Weekly._
+
+ =The Christ of the Heart, and Other Sermons.= By Z. MATHER.
+    Crown 8 vo, cloth, 5s.
+
+    "One of the most readable collections of sermons that we have seen
+    for a long time. The style is lucid, limpid, and attractive."--_The
+    Independent._
+
+ =Seven Puzzling Bible Books.= A Supplement to "Who Wrote the Bible?" By
+    WASHINGTON GLADDEN. Crown 8 vo, cloth, 5s.
+
+ =The Incarnation of the Lord.= A Series of Discourses tracing the
+    unfolding of the Doctrine of the Incarnation in the New Testament.
+    By CHARLES AUGUSTUS BRIGGS, D.D., D.Litt. Large crown 8 vo, cloth
+    extra, gilt top, 5s.
+
+    "A scientific and stimulating examination of the New Testament
+    _data_ on the Incarnation. It will fully sustain Dr. Briggs's
+    reputation with those English readers who know his previous
+    works."--_The Christian World._
+
+ =The Theology of an Evolutionist.= By LYMAN ABBOTT, D.D.
+    Crown 8 vo, cloth, 5s.
+
+ =The Growing Revelation.= By AMORY H. BRADFORD, D.D.
+    Crown 8 vo, cloth, 5s.
+
+ =Christianity and Social Problems.= By LYMAN ABBOTT, D.D.
+    Crown 8 vo, cloth, 5s.
+
+    "They are very carefully worked out and supported by a mass of
+    argument which entitles them to the most respectful
+    attention."--_Bristol Mercury._
+
+
+                                 4/6 Net.
+
+ =The Life and Letters of Alexander Mackennal, B.A., D.D.=
+    By D. MACFADYEN. Large crown 8 vo, Photogravure Portrait, and
+    Illustrations on Art Paper. Bound in Art Vellum. 4s. 6d. net.
+
+    "Mr. Macfadyen is to be congratulated on the skill with which he
+    has enabled his hero to stand out in these pages in his native
+    character, as a reverent and yet original thinker, an administrator
+    of singular wisdom and insight, and, above all, as a courageous and
+    attractive man."--_Manchester Guardian_.
+
+
+                                 4/6
+
+ =The Christian World Pulpit.= Half-Yearly Volumes, cloth boards,
+    4s. 6d.
+
+    "A notable collection of the utterances of Protestant preachers on a
+    wide variety of subjects which many people will rejoice to ponder at
+    leisure."--_The Glasgow Herald._
+
+
+                                 4/- Net.
+
+ =Where Does the Sky Begin?= By WASHINGTON GLADDEN, D.D., Author of "Who
+    Wrote the Bible?" &c. Crown 8 vo, cloth boards, gilt top, 4s. net.
+
+    "Washington Gladden has a great name amongst us. This book is riper
+    and richer than anything he has yet published."--_Expository Times._
+
+ =Witnesses of the Light.= By WASHINGTON GLADDEN, D.D., Author of "Who
+    Wrote the Bible?" &c. Crown 8 vo, cloth boards, with portraits, 4s.
+    net.
+
+    "A sketch of such lives treated in this entirely free, human manner,
+    with adequate knowledge and a fine gift for interpretation, makes
+    this volume most welcome."--_Yorkshire Observer._
+
+
+                                 4/-
+
+ =How Much is Left of the Old Doctrines.= A Book for the People. By
+    WASHINGTON GLADDEN, D.D. Crown 8 vo, cloth, 4s.
+
+    "Very able, fresh and vigorous.... There is much to commend in Dr.
+    Gladden's book. Its teaching is manly and direct, and the writer
+    draws his illustrations from a wide field of literature. The
+    chapters on 'Conversion,' 'The Hope of Immortality,' and 'Heaven'
+    could only be written by a man of warm heart and true spiritual
+    insight. The general impression left by the book is invigorating and
+    reassuring."--_The Pilot._
+
+ =Social Salvation.= By WASHINGTON GLADDEN. Crown 8 vo, cloth, 4s.
+
+    "Dr. Gladden's book is eminently sane; his subjects are not treated
+    in any academic spirit, but are viewed in the light of a long and
+    close experience with the problems dealt with."--_The Literary
+    World._
+
+    "The book is very broad in its outlook, and its author is very frank
+    in dealing with questions that are discussed everywhere. It will
+    command attention in many quarters."--_The Weekly Leader._
+
+ =Tools and the Man.= Property and Industry under the Christian Law. By
+    WASHINGTON GLADDEN. Crown 8 vo, cloth, 4s.
+
+    "A calmly written, closely reasoned, and trenchant indictment of the
+    still prevalent dogmas and assumptions of political economy."--_The
+    Speaker._
+
+ =Ruling Ideas of the Present Age.= By WASHINGTON GLADDEN.
+    Crown 8 vo, cloth, 4s.
+
+ =*The Rosebud Annual for 1907.= The Ideal Book for the Nursery. Four
+    coloured plates and one-half of the pages in colour. Handsome cloth
+    boards, 4s. Coloured paper boards, varnished, 3s.
+
+    "An old favourite, and anyone looking through its pages will see at
+    once why it is a favourite. Not a page opens without disclosing
+    pictures. The stories are fresh and piquant, and printed in good
+    large type. A rich fund of enjoyment for the nursery."--_Aberdeen
+    Free Press._
+
+    "A veritable treasury of the best of good things."--_Liverpool
+    Mercury._
+
+ =Higher on the Hill.= A Series of Sacred Studies. By ANDREW BENVIE,
+    D.D., Minister of St. Aidan's, Edinburgh. Crown 8 vo, cloth, 4s.
+
+    "A brilliant piece of writing."--_Dundee Advertiser._
+
+
+                                 3/6 Net.
+
+ =*Friars Lantern.= By G. G. COULTON, Author of "From St. Francis to
+    Dante," "Mediaeval Studies," &c. Crown 8 vo, cloth boards, 3s. 6d.
+    net.
+
+ =The Inward Light.= By AMORY H. BRADFORD, D.D., Author of "The Growth
+    of the Soul," &c. Large crown 8 vo, cloth boards, 3s. 6d. net.
+
+    "A refreshing, stimulating, and enlightening book."--_Aberdeen Free
+    Press._
+
+    "A work of real spiritual and intellectual power."--_Dundee
+    Advertiser._
+
+ =The Story of the English Baptists.= By J. C. CARLILE. Large crown
+    8 vo, 320 pages, 8 Illustrations on art paper, 3s. 6d. net.
+
+    "Possesses a freshness and vivacity not always present in
+    ecclesiastical histories."--_Scotsman._
+
+ =The Courage of the Coward.= By C. F. AKED, D.D., Author of "Changing
+    Creeds and Social Problems." Crown 8 vo, cloth boards, with
+    photogravure portrait, 3s. 6d. net.
+
+    "The sermons are the work of a thoughtful and earnest Nonconformist,
+    whose pointed language and frequent illustrations from general
+    literature leave a distinct impression."--_The Scotsman._
+
+ =G. H. R. Garcia. Memoir, Sermons and Addresses.= By Rev. J. G.
+    HENDERSON. Crown 8 vo, cloth boards, with photogravure portrait,
+    3s. 6d. net.
+
+    "We are grateful to Mr. Henderson for having prepared this memorial
+    of so daring and original a ministry."--_Methodist Times._
+
+ =The First Christians; or, Christian Life in New Testament Times.= By
+    ROBERT VEITCH, M.A. Crown 8 vo, cloth boards, gilt top, 3s. 6d. net.
+
+    DR. FAIRBAIRN expresses himself as "charmed" with the author's
+    "knowledge of the world into which Christianity came; and his
+    appreciation of the Christianity that came into the world."
+
+
+                                 3/6
+
+ =*A Gamble with Life.= By SILAS K. HOCKING, Author of "To Pay the
+    Price." Large crown 8 vo, bevelled boards, 3s. 6d.
+
+    One of the best stories written by this popular author.
+
+ =The Wanderer; or, Leaves from the Life Story of a Physician.=
+    By MRS. C. L. ABBOT, of Berlin. Crown 8 vo, cloth boards, 3s. 6d.
+
+ =Burning Questions.= By WASHINGTON GLADDEN. Fourth Edition. Crown 8 vo,
+    cloth, 3s. 6d.
+
+    "Is one of the ablest, most opportune, and most readable books it
+    has been our good fortune to enjoy for many a day. The writer is
+    master of his subject. He modestly remarks at the close 'that it has
+    not always been easy, handling realities so vast, to make the truth,
+    in the condensed expression which must here be given to it, so
+    luminous as could have been wished.' But luminous is precisely the
+    word which describes these admirable essays. They shine with
+    light."--_Dundee Advertiser._
+
+ =Changing Creeds and Social Struggles.= By C. F. AKED.
+    Crown 8 vo, cloth, 3s. 6d.
+
+    "A brave book."--_The Liverpool Mercury._
+
+                         _By J. BRIERLEY, B.A._
+
+ =*The Common Life.= By J. BRIERLEY, B.A. ("J. B."), Author of
+    "Problems of Living," &c. Crown 8 vo, cloth boards, 3s. 6d.
+
+    "Fluent, but thoughtful, essays on many aspects of life, written
+    from a Christian standpoint--'Life's Positives,' 'Summits,' 'Rest
+    and Unrest,' &c."--_The Times._
+
+ =Problems of Living.= By J. BRIERLEY, B.A. ("J. B."), Author of
+    "Ourselves and the Universe." Crown 8 vo, cloth boards, 3s. 6d.
+
+    "It is inspiring to come upon such a fresh and suggestive
+    re-statement of the old faiths as we find in 'Problems of
+    Living.'"--_Echo._
+
+ =Ourselves and the Universe: Studies in Life and Religion.= By J.
+    BRIERLEY, B.A. Tenth Thousand. Crown 8 vo, cloth, 3s. 6d.
+
+    "We have not for a long time read a brighter, cheerier, or wiser
+    book."--_Daily News._
+
+    "Fresh and thoughtful."--_The Times._
+
+ =Studies of the Soul.= By J. BRIERLEY, B.A. Seventh Edition.
+    Crown 8 vo, cloth, 3s. 6d.
+
+    MRS. HUMPHRY WARD says:--"There is a delicate truth and fragrance, a
+    note of real experience in the essays that make them delightful
+    reading."
+
+    DR. HORTON says:--"I prefer this book to the best-written books I
+    have lighted on for a year past."
+
+    "The supreme charm of the book is not the wealth of fine sayings,
+    gathered together from so many sources, ... it is the contribution
+    of 'J. B.' himself, his insight, his humour, his acute criticisms,
+    and, above all, perhaps, his perfectly tolerant and catholic
+    spirit.... A better book for 'the modern man' does not exist."--REV.
+    C. SILVESTER HORNE in _The Examiner_.
+
+    _For other books by J. Brierley see page 4._
+
+ =Gloria Patri; or, Our Talks About the Trinity.= By J. M. WHITON.
+    Cloth, 3s. 6d.
+
+ =God's Greater Britain.= With Two Portrait Groups, one showing Dr.
+    Clifford and party "in miner's attire." Crown 8 vo, cloth, 3s. 6d.
+
+    "It should be in the hands of all thinking men."--_East Anglian
+    Daily Times._
+
+ =The Christ that is To Be: A Latter-Day Romance.= By J. COMPTON
+    RICKETT, M.P. New Edition. Demy 8 vo, cloth, 3s. 6d.
+
+ =His Rustic Wife.= By MRS. HAYCRAFT, Author of "A Lady's Nay," &c.
+    Cloth boards, 3s. 6d.
+
+    "A fresh and very capable story."--_Newcastle Daily Leader._
+
+ =Paxton Hood: Poet and Preacher.= With Photographic Portrait.
+    Crown 8 vo, cloth, 3s. 6d.
+
+ =Family Prayers for Morning Use, and Prayers for Special Occasions.=
+    Compiled and Edited by J. M. G. Cloth, pott quarto, 3s. 6d.
+
+    "We cordially recommend the volume to all who share our sense of the
+    value of family religion."--_Willesden Presbyterian Monthly._
+
+ =Industrial Explorings in and around London.= By R. ANDOM. Author of
+    "We Three and Troddles." With nearly 100 Illustrations by T. M. R.
+    WHITWELL. Crown 8 vo, cloth, 3s. 6d.
+
+ =Preaching to the Times.= By CANON HENSLEY HENSON.
+    Crown 8 vo, cloth extra, 3s. 6d.
+
+    "Sound sense and scholarly solidity."--_Dundee Courier._
+
+    "Earnest and eloquent discourses."--_The Scotsman._
+
+ =The Dutch in the Medway.= By CHARLES MACFARLANE, Author of "The Camp
+    of Refuge," &c. With a Foreword by S. R. CROCKETT. Crown 8 vo,
+    cloth, 3s. 6d.
+
+ =The Quickening of Caliban.= A Modern Story of Evolution. By J. COMPTON
+    RICKETT, Author of "Christianity in Common Speech," &c. Large crown
+    8 vo, cloth, 3s. 6d.
+
+ =New Points to Old Texts.= By J. M. WHITON. Crown 8 vo, cloth, 3s. 6d.
+
+    "A volume of sermons to startle sleepy hearers."--_Western Morning
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+
+ =Nineteen Hundred? A Forecast and a Story.= By MARIANNE FARNINGHAM,
+    Author of "The Clarence Family," &c. Crown 8 vo, cloth boards,
+    3s. 6d.
+
+    "A pleasant and entertaining story and picture of life."--_Methodist
+    Recorder._
+
+                        _EMMA JANE WORBOISE'S NOVELS._
+                Crown 8 vo, uniformly bound in cloth, 3s. 6d. each.
+
+  =Thornycroft Hall.=
+  =St. Beetha's.=
+  =Violet Vaughan.=
+  =Margaret Torrington.=
+  =Singlehurst Manor.=
+  =Overdale.=
+  =Grey and Gold.=
+  =Mr. Montmorency's Money.=
+  =Nobly Born.=
+  =Chrystabel.=
+  =Millicent Kendrick.=
+  =Robert Wreford's Daughter.=
+  =Joan Carisbroke.=
+  =Sissie.=
+  =Esther Wynne.=
+  =His Next of Kin.=
+
+                           _AMELIA E. BARR'S NOVELS._
+                      Crown 8 vo, cloth extra, 3s. 6d. each.
+
+  =The Beads of Tasmar.=
+  =A Sister to Esau.=
+  =She Loved a Sailor.=
+  =The Last of the MacAllisters.=
+  =Woven of Love and Glory.=
+  =Feet of Clay.=
+  =The Household of McNeil.=
+  =A Border Shepherdess.=
+  =Paul and Christina.=
+  =The Squire of Sandal Side.=
+  =The Bow of Orange Ribbon.=
+  =Between Two Loves.=
+  =A Daughter of Fife.=
+             _For other books by this Author see pages 4 and 16._
+
+                           THE MESSAGES OF THE BIBLE.
+
+    Edited by FRANK KNIGHT SANDERS, Ph.D., Woolsey Professor of Biblical
+    Literature in Yale University, and CHARLES FOSTER KENT, Ph.D.,
+    Professor of Biblical Literature and History in Brown University.
+    Super royal 16mo, cloth, red top, 3s. 6d. a vol. (To be completed in
+    12 Volumes.)
+
+        I. THE MESSAGES OF THE EARLIER PROPHETS.
+       II. THE MESSAGES OF THE LATER PROPHETS.
+      III. THE MESSAGES OF ISRAEL'S LAW GIVERS.
+       IV. THE MESSAGES OF THE PROPHETICAL AND PRIESTLY HISTORIANS.
+        V. THE MESSAGES OF THE PSALMISTS.
+    *VIII. THE MESSAGES OF THE APOCALYPTICAL WRITERS.
+       IX. THE MESSAGES OF JESUS ACCORDING TO THE SYNOPTISTS.
+       XI. THE MESSAGES OF PAUL.
+      XII. THE MESSAGES OF THE APOSTLES.
+
+             Volumes 6, 7 and 10 will appear at intervals.
+
+    "A new series which promises to be of the greatest value to ordinary
+    readers of the Bible."--_Primitive Methodist Quarterly._
+
+    "Such a work is of the utmost service to every student of the
+    Scriptures."--_The Dundee Advertiser._
+
+    "The volumes in this series are singularly adapted for use in
+    Bible-classes and for the guidance of intelligent readers of the
+    Scriptures who have not been able to make themselves familiar with
+    modern 'Criticism.'"--_The Examiner._
+
+
+                                 3/- Net.
+
+ =*The Personality of Jesus.= By CHARLES H. BARROWS. Large
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+
+ =Poems.= By MADAME GUYON. Translated from the French by the late
+    WILLIAM COWPER, with a Prefatory Essay by D. MACFADYEN, M.A.
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+
+    The Rev. F. B. MEYER writes: "This singularly beautiful book, with
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+    crown 8 vo, cloth, 3s. net.
+
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+
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+
+
+                                 3/-
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+
+    "An old favourite, and anyone looking through its pages will see at
+    once why it is a favourite. Not a page opens without disclosing
+    pictures. A rich fund of enjoyment for the nursery."--_Aberdeen Free
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+
+ =A Method of Prayer.= By MADAME GUYON. A Revised Translation with
+    Notes. Edited by DUGALD MACFADYEN, M.A. Crown 8 vo, cloth
+    boards, 3s.
+
+    "The pages will have a message for all prayerful readers; and as
+    often as they are perused they will yield help to such as apply
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+    the life of God."--_The Christian._
+
+ =School Hymns, for Schools and Missions.= With Music. Compiled by E. H.
+    MAYO GUNN. Harmonies Revised by ELLIOT BUTTON. Large Imp. 16mo, 3s.
+
+ =The School of Life: Life Pictures from the Book of Jonah.= By OTTO
+    FUNCKE. Cloth, 3s.
+
+                    _EMMA JANE WORBOISE'S NOVELS._
+                    Crown 8 vo, cloth extra, 3s. each.
+
+  =Our New House; or, Keeping up Appearances.=
+  =Heartsease in the Family=
+  =Maud Belingbroke=
+  =Helen Bury=
+
+           _For other books by this Author see pages 12 and 16._
+
+
+                                 2/6 Net.
+
+ =*The Challenge, and Other Stories for Boys and Girls.= By Rev. J. G.
+    STEVENSON, Author of "The Christ of the Children." 4to, cloth
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+
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+
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+
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+
+    "Dr. Matheson is one of the finest writers of the time in the domain
+    of religious meditation."--_Aberdeen Free Press._
+
+ =The Christ of the Children.= A Life of Jesus for Little People.
+    By Rev. J. G. STEVENSON. 4to, cloth boards. Twelve Illustrations.
+    2s. 6d. net.
+
+    The Rev. F. B. MEYER writes: "Mr. Stevenson has a rare gift.
+    Everywhere there is the trace of high culture and deep devotion....
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+
+    "It is the very loveliest life of Jesus for children ever written by
+    a long way."--Rev. KINGSCOTE GREENLAND in _The Methodist Recorder_.
+
+ =The Pilot.= A Book of Daily Guidance from Master Minds. Contains
+    nearly 2,000 of the choicest extracts systematically arranged for
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+
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+    has little leisure for reflection and much ground for care."--Rev.
+    GEORGE MATHESON, D.D.
+
+    "There is an air of distinction about the quotations which is
+    unusual.... The dainty volume is full of thoughtful
+    counsel."--_Dundee Courier._
+
+   _Her Majesty the Queen has graciously accepted a copy of this book._
+
+ =Why We Believe.= Papers on Religion and Brotherhood. By
+    PHILIP WHITWELL WILSON. Crown 8 vo, cloth boards, 2s. 6d. net.
+
+    CANON SCOTT HOLLAND says, in _The Commonwealth_: "Here is a kindly,
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+    writer who is so confident of your goodwill: and so open, and
+    sympathetic, and confidential, and hopeful. He is frankly intimate:
+    he confides to you his personal secret; he is not the least ashamed
+    of confessing his faith. And he looks to you to do the same by him."
+
+ =My Neighbour and God.= A Reply to Robert Blatchford's "God and My
+    Neighbour." By W. T. LEE. Crown 8 vo, cloth boards, 2s. 6d. net.
+
+    "A more overwhelming exposure of Mr. Blatchford's untrustworthiness
+    as a critic of the Bible it would be difficult to imagine."--_The
+    Wellingborough News._
+
+ =Undertones of the Nineteenth Century.= A Prelude and a Prophecy. A
+    comparison of the Relations between certain Spiritual Movements of
+    the last Century, with Sketches of the lives of some of the Leaders.
+    By Mrs. EDWARD TROTTER. Cloth boards, 2s. 6d. net.
+
+ =A Popular History of the Free Churches.= By C. SILVESTER
+    HORNE, M.A. Cheap Edition. Crown 8 vo, 464 pp. and 8 full-page
+    illustrations on art paper. Cloth boards, 2s. 6d. net.
+
+    "A vigorous and interesting book by an enthusiastic believer in the
+    Puritan spirit and the need of religious equality."--_The Times._
+
+ =The New Testament in Modern Speech.= An idiomatic translation into
+    everyday English from the text of "The Resultant Greek Testament."
+    By the late RICHARD FRANCIS WEYMOUTH, M.A., D.Lit., Fellow of
+    University College, London, and formerly Head Master of Mill Hill
+    School, Editor of "The Resultant Greek Testament." Edited and partly
+    revised by ERNEST HAMPDEN-COOK, M.A., formerly Exhibitioner and
+    Prizeman of St. John's College, Cambridge. Cloth boards, 2s. 6d.
+    net. Leather, 4s. net. Also on Oxford India paper, 3s. 6d. net.
+    Leather, 5s. net.
+
+    "Every intelligent reader of the New Testament should profit by this
+    careful and correct translation. Indeed, none can afford to ignore
+    it unless he is able to read with ease the original Greek. It is
+    probably the best modern translation."--_Examiner._
+
+ =A Young Man's Religion and his Father's Faith.= By N. MCGHEE WATERS.
+    Small crown 8 vo, cloth boards, gilt top, 2s. 6d. net.
+
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+
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+
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+    "Girlhood," &c. Crown 8 vo, cloth boards, 2s. 6d. net.
+
+    "A delightful sheaf of little poems. They are messages of love, of
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+
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+
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+
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+
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+
+
+                                 2/6
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+
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+
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+    2s. 6d.
+
+    "A more readable, practical, and searching exposition of the
+    Decalogue it would be difficult to find."--_Leeds Mercury._
+
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+    to Agnostics by a SCOTTISH PRESBYTERIAN. Crown 8 vo, cloth boards,
+    2s. 6d.
+
+    "It is remarkable for its breadth of thought and catholicity of
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+
+ =A Popular Argument for the Unity of Isaiah.= By JOHN KENNEDY, D.D.
+    With an Examination of the Opinions of Canons Cheyne and Driver,
+    Dr. Delitzsch, the Rev. G. A. Smith, and others. Crown 8 vo, 2s. 6d.
+
+    "A book that will be eagerly welcomed by thoughtful students of the
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+
+ =The Epistle to the Galatians.= By J. MORGAN GIBBON. The Ancient
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+    gilt top, 2s. 6d.
+
+    "A clear, popular, and most effective analysis and application of
+    this great epistle, this magna charta of the free Christian
+    Church."--C. SILVESTER HORNE.
+
+ =The Bible Story: Retold for Young People.= The Old Testament Story,
+    by W. H. BENNETT, M.A. (sometime Fellow of St. John's College,
+    Cambridge), Professor of Hebrew and Old Testament Exegesis at
+    Hackney and New Colleges, London. The New Testament Story, by
+    W. F. ADENEY, M.A., Principal of Lancashire College, Manchester.
+    With Illustrations and 4 Maps. Cloth, 2s. 6d.
+
+    "We have nothing but good to say of a book, which will certainly
+    appeal strongly to the children themselves, and will teach them more
+    truly to appreciate the Bible itself."--_Huddersfield Examiner._
+
+ =The Ordeal of Faith.= By C. SILVESTER HORNE, M.A. Meditations on the
+    Book of Job, designed as a "ministry of consolation to some who are
+    pierced with many sorrows." Fcap. 8 vo, cloth, gilt top, 2s. 6d.
+
+    "We have read many productions on this wonderful Old Testament book,
+    but have met with nothing we would so gladly put into the hands of
+    the sorrowful and suffering as this little publication."--_Methodist
+    Times._
+
+ =The Wife as Lover and Friend.= By GEORGE BAINTON. Fcap.
+    8 vo, cloth, 2s. 6d.
+
+    On the Threshold of the Marriage State; The Sorrow of an Unwise
+    Choice; Facing Life's Responsibilities; Wifely Excellences; A Wife's
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+    Affection; The Better Part.
+
+    "One of the most beautiful and at the same time one of the truest
+    sketches of the ideal wife we have ever seen. A valuable little
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+
+ =Nonconformist Church Buildings.= By JAMES CUBITT. Cloth
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+
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+
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+    Pott 8 vo, cloth, gilt top, 2s. 6d.
+
+
+                                 2/- Net.
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+
+    A book that every parent should place in the hands of their
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+
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+
+    "Many think that a readable sermon is a contradiction in terms. Let
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+    2s. net.
+
+
+                                 2/-
+
+                    CLARKE'S COPYRIGHT LIBRARY.
+   _A New Series of Books by Leading Authors at a Popular Price._
+        Crown 8 vo, tastefully bound in cloth boards, =2s.=
+
+  =*The Loves of Miss Anne.= By S. R. CROCKETT.
+  =Kit Kennedy.= By S. R. CROCKETT.
+  =Cinderella.= By S. R. CROCKETT.
+  =Flower-o'-the-Corn.= By S. R. CROCKETT.
+  =The Black Familiars.= By L. B. WALFORD.
+
+                         _POPULAR EDITION OF
+                      EMMA JANE WORBOISE'S NOVELS._
+        Crown 8 vo, cloth boards, =2s.=; bevelled boards, =2s. 6d.=
+
+  =*Husbands and Wives.=
+  =*Oliver Westwood.=
+  =Warleigh's Trust.=
+  =Emilia's Inheritance.=
+  =The Brudenells of Brude.=
+  =A Woman's Patience.=
+  =The Grey House at Endlestone.=
+  =The Abbey Mill.=
+  =The Story of Penelope.=
+  =Fortune's Favourite.=
+  =Nobly Born.=
+  =The Heirs of Errington.=
+  =Lady Clarissa.=
+  =Father Fabian.=
+  =House of Bondage.=
+  =Canonbury Holt.=
+  =Millicent Kendrick.=
+  =Violet Vaughan.=
+  =Joan Carisbroke.=
+  =Sissie.=
+  =His Next of Kin.=
+  =Thornycroft Hall.=
+  =The Fortunes of Cyril Denham.=
+  =Overdale.=
+  =Grey and Gold.=
+  =Mr. Montmorency's Money.=
+  =Chrystabel.=
+  =St. Beetha's.=
+          _For other books by this Author see pages 12 and 13_.
+
+                     _NEW SERIES OF COPYRIGHT BOOKS._
+                       Crown 8 vo, cloth gilt, =2s.=
+
+  =*A Morning Mist.= By SARAH TYTLER.
+  =A Sister to Esau.= By AMELIA E. BARR.
+  =The Debt of the Damerals.= By BESSIE MARCHANT.
+  =A Town Romance; or, On London Stones.= By C. C. ANDREWS.
+  =A Daughter of Fife.= By AMELIA E. BARR.
+  =The Pride of the Family.= By ETHEL F. HEDDLE.
+  =Unknown to Herself.= By LAURIE LANSFELDT.
+  =The Squire of Sandal Side.= By AMELIA E. BARR.
+  =The Bow of Orange Ribbon.= By AMELIA E. BARR.
+  =The Scourge of God.= By J. BLOUNDELLE-BURTON.
+  =The New Mrs. Lascelles.= By L. T. MEADE.
+  =Miss Devereux, Spinster.= By AGNES GIBERNE.
+  =Jan Vedder's Wife.= By AMELIA E. BARR.
+
+ =*Simple Cookery.= Comprising "Tasty Dishes" and "More Tasty Dishes."
+    Over 500 Tested Receipts. Crown 8 vo, cloth boards, 2s.
+
+    A book that should be in every household.
+
+ =My Baptism, and What Led to it.= By Rev. JAMES MOUNTAIN.
+    Crown 8 vo, cloth boards, 2s.
+
+ =Adrift on the Black Wild Tide.= A Weird and Strange Experience in
+    Dreamland, and a Nautical Version of "The Pilgrim's Progress." By
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+
+    "One of the most remarkable books of the day."--_Western Daily
+    Mercury._
+
+ =Early Pupils of the Spirit, and What of Samuel?= By J. M.
+    WHITON, Ph.D. New Edition, Crown 8 vo, cloth, 2s.
+
+ =The Religion of Jesus.= By J. ALLANSON PICTON, M.A., J.P.
+    Crown 8 vo, 2s.
+
+    "Many of the more thoughtful of religious people will find here the
+    clues which will enable them to understand how to be abreast of the
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+
+
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+
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+
+An entirely New Series of Small Fcap. 8 vo Books, 128 pp., handsomely
+bound in Green Leather, with chaste design in gold. Price =1s. 6d.= net.
+
+  =*The Wideness of God's Mercy.= By F. B. MEYER, B.A.
+  =The Letters of Christ.= By Rev. CHARLES BROWN.
+  =Christ's Pathway to the Cross.= By J. D. JONES, M.A., B.D.
+  =The Crucible of Experience.= By F. A. RUSSELL.
+  =The Passion for Souls.= By J. H. JOWETT, M.A.
+  =The Value of the Apocrypha.= By J. BERNARD SNELL, M.A.
+  =The Economics of Jesus.= By E. GRIFFITH-JONES, B.A.
+  =Inspiration in Common Life.= By W. L. WATKINSON, M.A.
+  =Prayer.= By WILLIAM WATSON, M.A.
+  =A Reasonable View of Life.= By J. M. BLAKE, M.A.
+  =Common-sense Christianity.= By C. SILVESTER HORNE, M.A.
+
+"There are precious things in every volume, and the Series deserves
+success."--_Dundee Advertiser._
+
+ =Who Wrote the Bible?= By WASHINGTON GLADDEN, D.D.
+    Author of "The Growing Revelation," &c. New and cheap Edition, 256
+    pages, cloth boards, 1s. 6d. net.
+
+    "Well named 'A book for the people.' It fulfils its promise; it is
+    simple, untechnical, careful without being erudite. It is a reverent
+    book, too; a man who believes the Bible to be inspired and the Word
+    of God here explains how it has been handled by modern criticism,
+    and with what results. For the intelligent reader interested in
+    these questions, and wanting a survey of the whole field, it would
+    be hard to find a more suitable book."--_The Speaker._
+
+ =Reasons Why for Congregationalists.= By Rev. J. D. JONES,
+    M.A., B.D. Crown 8 vo, cloth boards, 1s. 6d. net.
+
+ =*Women and their Work.= By MARIANNE FARNINGHAM, Author of "Harvest
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+
+ =Sunny Memories of Australasia.= By Rev. W. CUFF. Crown 8 vo, cloth
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+
+ =Christian Baptism: Its Significance and its Subjects.= By J. E.
+    ROBERTS, M.A., B.D. Crown 8 vo, cloth boards, 1s. 6d. net.
+
+ =William Jeffery, the Puritan Apostle of Kent.= A Message and an Appeal
+    to Young Nonconformists. By CHAS. RUDGE, with an Introduction by
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+
+ =Reform in Sunday School Teaching.= By Professor A. S. PEAKE.
+    Crown 8 vo, cloth boards, 1s. 6d. net.
+
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+
+    "Should be studied by all who have any connection, official or
+    otherwise, with Sunday-schools."--_The Sheffield Independent._
+
+ =The Forgotten Sheaf.= A Series of Addresses to Children. By
+    Rev. D. J. LLEWELLYN. Crown 8 vo, cloth boards, 1s. 6d. net.
+
+ =Seven Puzzling Bible Books.= By WASHINGTON GLADDEN, D.D.
+    Cheap Edition. Cloth boards, 1s. 6d. net.
+
+
+                                 1/6
+
+                     SMALL BOOKS ON GREAT SUBJECTS.
+
+            Pott 8 vo, bound in buckram cloth, 1s. 6d. each.
+
+ =The Christ Within.= By Rev. T. RHONDDA WILLIAMS.
+
+    "Thoughtful and well written, and can be read with interest and
+    profit."--_Glasgow Herald._
+
+ =Old Pictures in Modern Frames.= By J. G. GREENHOUGH, M.A.
+
+    "Bright and unconventional."--_Glasgow Herald._
+
+ =The Taste of Death and the Life of Grace.= By P. T. FORSYTH,
+    M.A., D.D.
+
+    "The value of this little book is out of all proportion to its size.
+    It is a bit of modern religious thinking with a quality entirely its
+    own. The writer is not an echo, but a voice."--_The Christian
+    World._
+
+ =Types of Christian Life.= By E. GRIFFITH-JONES, B.A.
+
+    "A thoughtful little book."--_The Guardian._
+
+ =Faith the Beginning, Self-Surrender the Fulfilment, of the Spiritual
+    Life.= By JAMES MARTINEAU, D.D., D.C.L. Second Edition. Sixth
+    Thousand.
+
+    "Full of lovely and exalted ethical teaching."--_The Methodist
+    Times._
+
+ =Words by the Wayside.= By GEORGE MATHESON, D.D. Third Edition. Fifth
+    Thousand.
+
+    "One of the best gifts of recent literature."--_The Speaker._
+
+ =How to Become Like Christ.= By MARCUS DODS, D.D. Second
+    Edition.
+
+    "Characteristic of the author and worthy of his reputation."--_The
+    North British Daily Mail._
+
+ =The Kingdom of the Lord Jesus.= By ALEXANDER MACKENNAL, D.D.
+
+    "Marked by spiritual insight, intellectual force, and literary
+    feeling."--_The Examiner._
+
+ =The Way of Life.= By H. ARNOLD THOMAS, M.A.
+
+    "Puts with sweet reasonableness the case for undivided allegiance to
+    lofty ideals."--_The Speaker._
+
+ =The Ship of the Soul.= By STOPFORD A. BROOKE, M.A.
+
+    "A tract for the times. In clear, nervous English Mr. Brooke says
+    many things which need saying."--_The Star._
+
+ =The Christian Life.= By W. M. SINCLAIR, D.D., Archdeacon of
+    London.
+
+    "Marked by Dr. Sinclair's characteristic simplicity, earnestness and
+    force."--_The Scotsman._
+
+ =Character Through Inspiration.= By T. T. MUNGER, D.D.
+
+    "Admirable for a quiet Sunday at home."--_Newcastle Daily Leader._
+
+ =Infoldings and Unfoldings of the Divine Genius, in Nature and Man.= By
+    JOHN PULSFORD, D.D. New Edition.
+
+    "The book will help to give the reader many suggestive ideas of the
+    relationship between God and man."--_East Anglian Daily Times._
+
+ =The Jealousy of God.= By JOHN PULSFORD, D.D.
+
+    "Worth its weight in gold."--_The Sunday School Chronicle._
+
+ =Martineau's Study of Religion.= By RICHARD A. ARMSTRONG.
+
+    "An analysis and appreciation of Dr. James Martineau's great book.
+    It is excellently well done, clear and intelligible."--_The
+    Spectator._
+
+ =The Art of Living Alone.= By AMORY H. BRADFORD.
+
+    "Very attractive, ... full of sweet wisdom--allusive, stimulating,
+    encouraging."--_The Dundee Advertiser._
+
+ =The Supreme Argument for Christianity.= By W. GARRETT HORDER.
+
+    "Very readable and suggestive."--_The Glasgow Herald._
+
+ =Reconsiderations and Reinforcements.= By J. M. WHITOP.
+    Ph.D., Author of "Beyond the Shadow," &c.
+
+    "A book of much beauty and force."--_The Bradford Observer._
+
+ =The Conquered World.= By R. F. HORTON, M.A., D.D.
+
+    "Has all Dr. Horton's charm of manner, his unexpectedness, and his
+    glorious optimism."--_The Methodist Times._
+
+ =The Making of an Apostle.= By R. J. CAMPBELL, M.A.
+
+    "Profitable and instructive reading, not only to our ordained
+    ministers, but to our lay preachers and others as well."--_Christian
+    Life._
+
+ =The Angels of God.= By JOHN HUNTER, D.D.
+
+    "Many charming volumes in the series.... None better than these
+    papers by Dr. Hunter."--_The Liverpool Mercury._
+
+ =Social Worship an Everlasting Necessity.= By JOHN CLIFFORD,
+    D.D.
+
+    "Most cheerful, inspiring, and illuminative."--_The Church Times._
+
+ =Ancient Musical Instruments.= A popular Account of their Development,
+    as illustrated by Typical Examples in the Galpin Collection at
+    Hatfield, Broad Oak, Essex. By WILLIAM LYND. Linen cover, 1s, 6d.;
+    cloth, 2s.
+
+    "The book is unique, and lovers of orchestral music cannot fail to
+    be profited and interested by the material offered for
+    study."--_Ardrossan Herald._
+
+ =The Church and the Kingdom.= By WASHINGTON GLADDEN. Crown 8 vo, cloth,
+    1s. 6d.
+
+ =Let us Pray.= A Handbook of Selected Collects and forms of Prayer for
+    the Use of the Free Churches. By C. SILVESTER HORNE and F. HERBERT
+    DARLOW, M.A. Crown 8 vo, cloth, 1s. 6d. net.
+
+ =Race and Religion.= Hellenistic Theology, its Place in Christian
+    Thought. By THOMAS ALLIN, D.D. Fcap. 8 vo, 1s. 6d.
+
+    "The book is crammed with facts and ideas. It would be difficult to
+    find anywhere in the same compass a richer collection of living and
+    suggestive thought."--"J. B.," in _The Christian World_.
+
+ =Short Devotional Services.= By GEORGE AITCHISON. Limp
+    cloth, 1s. 6d.
+
+    Thirteen services, compiled chiefly from the Bible and the Book of
+    Common Prayer. Intended not to supersede but to supplement the usual
+    extempore prayer.
+
+    =The Children's Pace; and Other Addresses to Children.= By Rev. J.
+    S. MAVER, M.A., of Paisley. Fcap. 8 vo, cloth, 1s. 6d.
+
+    "Mr. Maver has produced one of the best books of the kind published
+    for some time."--_Banffshire Journal._
+
+
+                                 1/- Net.
+
+ =Women and their Saviour.= Thoughts of a Minute for a Month. By
+    MARIANNE FARNINGHAM, Author of "Harvest Gleanings," &c. Cloth,
+    1s. net.
+
+    "These 'thoughts of a minute for a month of mornings' are the
+    out-pourings of an entirely unaffected piety."--_Glasgow Herald._
+
+    "A very touching little book of devotional reflections."--_Christian
+    Life._
+
+ =Reasons Why for Free Churchmen.= By Rev. J. D. JONES, M.A., B.D. Small
+    8 vo, cloth boards, 1s. net.
+
+ =The Price of Priestcraft.= By HOWARD EVANS. Crown 8 vo, paper covers,
+    1s. net; cloth, 1s. 6d. net.
+
+    "We wish for it a very large circulation. No one has served the
+    cause of religious freedom better than Mr. Howard Evans by his
+    labours in the press and elsewhere."--_British Weekly._
+
+ =Gain or Loss?= An Appreciation of the Results of Recent Biblical
+    Criticism. Five Lectures delivered at Brixton Independent Church,
+    London. By BERNARD J. SNELL, M.A., B.Sc. Cheap Edition. Fcap. 8 vo,
+    cloth, 1s. net.
+
+    "Many students who are unable to follow all the lines and results of
+    Biblical criticism have desired precisely such a book.... The
+    treatment of the whole subject is most satisfactory, and appeals
+    throughout both to reason and religious sentiment."--_Dundee
+    Advertiser._
+
+
+                                 1/-
+
+ =*Animal Fun.= Humorous Pictures of Animals drawn by LOUIS WAIN, HARRY
+    B. NEILSON, J. A. SHEPHERD, and others. 4to, Coloured Paper Boards,
+    varnished, 1s.
+
+    A delightful book for the young.
+
+ =Louis Wain's Animal Show.= Full of Pictures specially drawn for the
+    book, with Stories in Prose and Verse. Coloured paper boards,
+    varnished, 1s.
+
+    "'Louis Wain's Animal Show' will cause endless amusement in the
+    nursery, and the difficulty will be to get the fortunate little ones
+    who receive the volume to put it down. There will be tears to get
+    it, and tears of happiness when it is obtained. The contents, like
+    the matter and illustrations, will fascinate all children, and they
+    blend the humorous and the instructive with undoubted
+    success."--_Sunday School Chronicle._
+
+    "Will keep the youngsters in merry mood for hours."--_Lloyd's Weekly
+    News._
+
+ =Funny Animals and Stories About Them.= Comical Pictures of Animals,
+    drawn by LOUIS WAIN, J. A. SHEPHERD, and other Artists. 4to,
+    coloured paper boards, varnished, 1s.
+
+    A book that will be eagerly welcomed by children of all ages.
+
+ =Louis Wain's Baby's Picture Book.= Coloured paper boards, varnished,
+    1s.
+
+    "When we say that Louis Wain has drawn all the pictures it is enough
+    recommendation; for nobody else can sketch animals, birds, fishes,
+    and young folks as he can. He is a grand shilling's-worth for the
+    nursery."--_The Methodist Times._
+
+ =Outline Text Lessons for Junior Classes.= By GLADYS DAVIDSON, Author
+    of "Kindergarten Bible Stories," &c. Fcap. 8 vo, cloth boards, 1s.
+
+    "The book is simple and practical, and will be found suggestive and
+    helpful by teachers."--_Sunday School Chronicle._
+
+
+ =Golden Truths for Young Folk.= By J. ELLIS, Author of "The Seed
+    Basket," "Tool Basket," "By Way of Illustration," &c. Crown 8 vo,
+    cloth boards, 1s.
+
+    "Useful, direct and easily understood set of talks to
+    children."--_British Weekly._
+
+    "Mr. Ellis, who has already given many workers his help, continues
+    his assistance, and is fresh and suggestive as ever."--_The
+    Yorkshire Daily Observer._
+
+    "Talks and chats with young folk. They are to the point. Calculated
+    to win the attention."--_Sheffield Independent._
+
+ =How to Read the Bible.= Hints for Sunday-school Teachers and Other
+    Bible Students. By W. F. ADENEY, M.A., Principal of Lancashire
+    College, Manchester, Author of "The Bible Story Retold," &c. New
+    and Revised Edition. Nineteenth Thousand. Cloth boards, 1s.
+
+    "A most admirable little work. We know of no book which deals with
+    this subject so dearly and adequately within so small a compass. It
+    speaks of itself modestly as 'Hints for Sunday-School Teachers and
+    other Bible Students,' but it is one of the very few manuals which
+    are well worth the study of the clergy."--_The Guardian._
+
+ =A Manual for Free Church Ministers.= Cloth, 1s. net; leather, 2s. 6d.
+
+ =Health and Home Nursing.= By Mrs. LESSELS MATHER, Health Lecturer to
+    the Northumberland County Council. Fcap. 8 vo, cloth, 1s.
+
+    A book that should be in every household. Contains chapters on The
+    Care of the Invalid, Homely Local Applications, Feeding the Invalid,
+    Infection and Disinfection, Care of the Teeth, The Value of Foods,
+    Influenza, its Causes and Prevention, Consumption, its Causes and
+    Prevention, Digestion and Indigestion, Headaches, Home Nursing of
+    Sick Children, What to do till the Doctor Comes, Habits in Relation
+    to Health, The Health of the Town Dweller.
+
+ =Helps To Health And Beauty.= Two Hundred Practical Prescriptions
+    by a Pharmaceutical Chemist.
+
+    "This little book contains two hundred practical prescriptions or
+    formulae for preparations for the hair, hands, nails, feet, skin,
+    teeth, and bath, in addition to perfumes, insecticides, and
+    medicaments for various ailments. As far as possible technical
+    language is avoided, and the directions are clear and
+    concise."--_Pharmaceutical Journal._
+
+ =Morning, Noon and Night.= By R. F. HORTON, M.A., D.D. Fcap. 8 vo,
+    parchment cover with gold lettering, 1s.
+
+    "Deeply suggestive, and as earnest as its fancies are pleasing and
+    quaint."--_Dundee Advertiser._
+
+    "A very charming companionship. Many who read 'Morning, Noon, and
+    Night' once will want to take it up again and again."--_Sussex Daily
+    News._
+
+ =Wayside Angels, and Other Sermons.= By W. K. BURFORD, Minister of the
+    Wicker Congregational Church, Sheffield. Pott 8 vo, cloth, 1s.
+
+ =Tasty Dishes.= A Choice Selection of Tested Recipes, showing what we
+    can have for Breakfast, Dinner, Tea and Supper. It is designed for
+    people of moderate means who desire to have pleasant and varied
+    entertainment for themselves and their friends. It is a book of
+    genuine and tested information. New Edition. Thoroughly revised and
+    brought up to date. 130th Thousand. Crown 8 vo, 1s.
+
+    "No home ought to be without this timely, useful, and practical
+    family friend."--_Brighton Gazette._
+
+ =More Tasty Dishes.= A Book of Tasty, Economical, and Tested Recipes.
+    Including a Section on Invalid Cookery. A Supplement to "Tasty
+    Dishes." New Edition. Price 1s.
+
+    "Every recipe is so clearly stated that the most inexperienced cook
+    could follow them and make dainty dishes at a small
+    cost."--_Pearson's Weekly._
+
+    "The recipes given have been carefully tried and not been found
+    wanting."--_The Star._
+
+ =Talks to Little Folks.= A Series of Short Addresses. By Rev. J. C.
+    CARLILE. Crown 8 vo, art vellum, 1s.
+
+    "No one who reads this book can reasonably doubt that Mr. Carlile is
+    master of the difficult art of catching and sustaining the interest
+    of young people. He is wise enough to dispense with the preacher's
+    framework, texts, introductions, &c., and at once he arrests
+    attention by a direct question or a brief story."--_Literary World._
+
+ =Oliver Cromwell.= By R. F. HORTON, D.D., Author of "John Howe," "The
+    Teaching of Jesus," &c., &c. Sixth Edition. Nineteenth Thousand. 1s.
+
+    "Worthy a place in the library of every Christian
+    student."--_Methodist Recorder._
+
+    "It is an able and scholarly and thoughtful book."--_Bradford
+    Observer._
+
+ =Rome from the Inside; or, The Priests' Revolt.= Translated and
+    Compiled by "J. B." of _The Christian World_. Third Thousand.
+    Fcap. 8 vo, price 1s.
+
+    This pamphlet may be described in brief as a record of the new
+    revolt in the French priesthood. Its contents are chiefly letters
+    and addresses from priests and ex-priests. These, it will be
+    recognised at once, are a testimony of the very first order as to
+    what modern Rome really stands for in relation to spiritual life,
+    to morality, and to intellectual progress.
+
+ =The Bible Definition of Religion.= By GEORGE MATHESON, M.A., D.D.
+    Printed on deckle-edged paper, with red border lines and decorated
+    wrapper, in envelope. Price 1s.
+
+    "Each of Dr. Matheson's chapters is a prose-poem, a sonata. This is
+    a book to be read and re-read. It is in every sense 'a thing of
+    beauty'; it is a veritable 'necklace of pearls.'"--C. SILVESTER
+    HORNE.
+
+ =The Awe of the New Century.= By R. F. HORTON, M.A., D.D. Fcap. 8 vo,
+    1s. Decorated parchment cover and decorated margins to each page
+    printed in colours. Gilt top. Each copy in envelope. Second Edition.
+
+    "A most impressive and delightful little book, displaying all the
+    best qualities of the popular pastor of Hampstead."--_The Western
+    Mercury._
+
+ =The Sceptre Without a Sword.= By Dr. GEORGE MATHESON.
+    In envelope. Pott 8 vo, 1s.
+
+    "'The Sceptre Without a Sword,' by Dr. George Matheson, is worth
+    reading, and that is more than one can say for the vast majority of
+    booklets now turned out to order. The subject is more important than
+    ever to-day when it is the fashion to ignore the root principles of
+    Christianity."--_The Echo._
+
+    "This is a very charming little book--both externally and
+    internally."--_Ardrossan and Saltcoats Herald._
+
+ =Our Girls' Cookery.= By the Author of "Tasty Dishes." Crown 8 vo,
+    linen, 1s.
+
+    "A most artistic-looking little volume, filled with excellent
+    recipes, that are given so clearly and sensibly that the veriest
+    tyro in the culinary art will be able to follow them as easily as
+    possible."--_The Lady._
+
+    "The contents are varied and comprehensive.... The directions given
+    are clear and reliable, each recipe having been specially
+    tested."--_Dundee Advertiser._
+
+ =The Divine Satisfaction.= A Review of what should and what should not
+    be thought about the Atonement. By J. M. WHITON. Crown 8 vo, paper,
+    1s.
+
+                        By MARY E. MANNERS.
+                Crown 8 vo, Linen Covers, 1s. each.
+
+ =A Tale of a Telephone, and Other Pieces.=
+
+    "Narrative pieces, suitable for recitation."--_Outlook._
+
+    "Facile and effective pieces in verse of the sort that tells well on
+    the recitation platform. They have a pleasant light humour and a
+    lilt often like that of the Ingoldsby Legends, and should not fail
+    to entertain any reader in a jocular mood."--_Scotsman._
+
+ =The Bishop and the Caterpillar= (as recited by the late Mr. Brandram),
+    and Other Pieces. Dedicated by permission to Lewis Carroll. Fourth
+    Edition.
+
+    "The first two pieces are quite worthy of Ingoldsby, and that
+    reverend gentleman would not have been ashamed to own them. The
+    pieces are admirably suited for recitation."--_Dramatic Review._
+
+ =Aunt Agatha Ann=; and Other Ballads. Illustrations by ERNOLD A. MASON
+    and LOUIS WAIN.
+
+    "Excellent pieces for recitation from a popular pen."--_Lady's
+    Pictorial._
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+ =Sunday Afternoon Song Book, with Tunes.= Compiled by H. A. KENNEDY and
+    R. D. METCALFE. 1s. net. Words only, 12s. 6d. per hundred net.
+
+    "The airs have been selected and arranged under the editorship of
+    Mr. R. D. Metcalfe, and add so much to the value of the collection
+    that this edition will easily supersede all others and give the work
+    a new popularity with choral societies and others interested in
+    Church music."--_The Scotsman._
+
+ =Christianity in Common Speech=: Suggestions for an Everyday Belief.
+    By J. COMPTON RICKETT. Demy 8 vo, 1s.
+
+                       SMALL BOOKS ON GREAT SUBJECTS.
+                              (CHEAP EDITION.)
+                        Bound in red cloth, 1s. each.
+
+  =*Social Worship an Everlasting Necessity.= By JOHN CLIFFORD, D.D.
+  =*The Taste of Death and the Life of Grace.= By P. T. FORSYTH, M.A.,
+        D.D.
+  =The Conquered World.= By R. F. HORTON, M.A., D.D.
+  =The Christian Life=. By Archdeacon SINCLAIR.
+  =The Ship of the Soul.= By STOPFORD A. BROOKE, M.A.
+  =Faith and Self-Surrender.= By JAMES MARTINEAU, D.D., D.C.L.
+  =Martineau's Study of Religion.= By RICHARD A. ARMSTRONG.
+  =The Kingdom of the Lord Jesus.= By ALEXANDER A. MACKENNAL, D.D.
+
+
+                                 6d.
+
+ =*Thornycroft Hall.= By EMMA JANE WORBOISE. Demy 8 vo, paper covers,
+    6d.
+
+ =A Helping Hand to Mothers.= By MINNIE ELLIGOTT, Fcap.
+    8 vo, paper, 6d.
+
+    "A sensibly-written and practical little treatise on the upbringing
+    of children."--_Newcastle Daily Leader._
+
+ =Max Hereford's Dream.= By EDNA LYALL, Author of "Donovan," "We Two,"
+    "Doreen," &c. New Edition. Price 6d.
+
+    "The 'Dream' is intended to illustrate the efficacy of prayer to
+    those in suffering, and Max Hereford, an orator and philanthropist,
+    is on a bed of sickness at the time."--_Nottingham Daily Guardian._
+
+ =England's Danger.= By R. F. HORTON, M.A., D.D. Price 6d. Contents:
+    ROMANISM AND NATIONAL DECAY; ST. PETER AND THE ROCK; TRUTH;
+    PROTESTANTISM; HOLY SCRIPTURE; PURGATORY.
+
+    "Good fighting discourses. They contend that Roman Catholicism has
+    ruined every country in which it prevails, and controvert the
+    leading positions taken by Roman theologians."--_Scotsman._
+
+
+                                 4d. Net.
+
+ =Holy Christian Empire.= By Rev. PRINCIPAL FORSYTH, M.A., D.D., of
+    Hackney College, Hampstead. Crown 8 vo, paper cover, 4d. net.
+
+    "Rich in noble thought, in high purpose, in faith and in courage.
+    Every sentence tells, and the whole argument moves onward to its
+    great conclusion. Dr. Forsyth has put the argument for missions in a
+    way that will nerve and inspire the Church's workers at home and
+    abroad for fresh sacrifice."--_London Quarterly Review._
+
+ =The Unique Class Chart and Register.= By Rev. J. H. RIDETTE. Specially
+    arranged and absolutely indispensable for keeping a complete record
+    of the scholars according to the requirements of the Meggitt Scheme
+    of Sunday-school Reform. Linen cover, 4d. net.
+
+
+                                 3d. Net.
+
+ =School Hymns, for Schools and Missions.= Words only. Compiled by E. H.
+    MAYO GUNN. Cloth limp, 3d.; cloth boards, 6d.; music, 3s.
+
+
+                                 2d. Net.
+
+ =The Sunday Afternoon Song Book.= Containing 137 Hymns. For use at
+    "Pleasant Sunday Afternoons," and Other Gatherings. Compiled by H.
+    A. KENNEDY, of the Men's Sunday Union, Stepney Meeting House.
+    Twentieth Thousand. 2d.; music, 1s.
+
+    "Contains 137 hymns, the catholic character of which, in the best
+    sense of the term, may be gathered from the names of the authors,
+    which include Tennyson, Ebenezer Elliott, Whittier, G. Herbert, C.
+    Wesley, Thomas Hughes, J. H. Newman, Longfellow, Bonar, and others.
+    While the purely dogmatic element is largely absent, the Christian
+    life, in its forms of aspiration, struggle against sin, and love for
+    the true and the good, is well illustrated."--_Literary World._
+
+
+
+
+Index of Titles.
+
+
+  Abbey Mill, The, 16
+  Adrift on the Black Wild Tide, 17
+  America in the East, 5
+  Ancient Musical Instruments, 20
+  Angels of God, The, 19
+  Animal Fun, 21
+  Apocalyptical Writers, The Messages of the, 11
+  Apostles, The Messages of the, 11
+  Art of Living Alone, The, 19
+  Atonement in Modern Thought, The, 4
+  Aunt Agatha Ann, 24
+  Awe of the New Century, The, 23
+
+  Backward Glance, A, 5
+  Baptist Handbook, The, 14
+  Barbone Parliament, The, 5
+  Barrow, Henry, Separatist, 2
+  Beads of Tasmar, The, 10
+  Between Two Loves, 10
+  Bible Definition of Religion, The, 23
+  Bible Story, The: Retold for Young People, 15
+  Bishop and the Caterpillar, The, 24
+  Black Familiars, The, 4, 16
+  Border Shepherdess, A, 10
+  Bow of Orange Ribbon, The, 10, 16
+  Brudenells of Brude, The, 16
+  Burning Questions, 8
+
+  Canonbury Holt, 16
+  Cartoons of St. Mark, 6
+  Challenge, The, 12
+  Changing Creeds and Social Struggles, 8
+  Character through Inspiration, 19
+  Children's Pace, The, 20
+  Christ of the Children, The, 12
+  Christ of the Heart, The, 6
+  Christ that is To Be, The, 9
+  Christ Within, The, 18
+  Christ's Pathway to the Cross, 17
+  Christian Baptism, 18
+  Christian Life, The, 19, 24
+  Christian World Pulpit, The, 6
+  Christianity and Social Problems, 6
+  Christianity in Common Speech, 24
+  Chrystabel, 10, 16
+  Church and the Kingdom, The, 20
+  Church, Ministry and Sacraments in the New Testament, 5
+  Cinderella, 3, 16
+  Comforts of God, The, 14
+  Common Life, The, 9
+  Common-sense Christianity, 17
+  Conquered World, The, 19, 24
+  Courage of the Coward, The, 8
+  Crucible of Experience, The, 17
+
+  Daughter of Fife, A, 10, 16
+  Debt of the Damerals, The, 16
+  Divine Satisfaction, The, 23
+  Dutch in the Medway, The, 10
+
+  Early Pupils of the Spirit, and What of Samuel, 17
+  Earlier Prophets, The Messages of the, 11
+  Earliest Christian Hymn, The, 15
+  Economies of Jesus, The, 17
+  Emilia's Inheritance, 16
+  England's Danger, 25
+  Episcopacy, 11
+  Epistle to the Galatians, The, 15
+  Esther Wynne, 10
+  Eternal Religion, The, 4
+  Ezekiel, The Book of, 2
+
+  Faith the Beginning, Self-Surrender the Fulfilment, of the Spiritual
+        Life, 18, 24
+  Family Prayers for Morning Use, 9
+  Father Fabian, 16
+  Feet of Clay, 10
+  First Christians, The, 8
+  Flower-o'-the-Corn, 3, 16
+  Forgotten Sheaf, The, 18
+  Fortune's Favourite, 16
+  Fortunes of Cyril Denham, The, 16
+  Friars Lantern, 8
+  Friend Olivia, 4
+  Funny Animals and Stories about Them, 21
+
+  Gain or Loss?, 20
+  Gamble with Life, A, 8
+  Garcia, G. H. R., 8
+  Gloria Patri: Talks about the Trinity, 9
+  Glorious Company of the Apostles, The, 15
+  God's Greater Britain, 9
+  Golden Truths for Young Folk, 21
+  Grey and Gold, 10, 16
+  Grey House at Endlestone, 16
+  Growing Revelation, The, 6
+
+  Haromi: A New Zealand Story, 4
+  Harvest Gleanings, 14
+  Health and Home Nursing, 22
+  Heartsease in the Family, 12
+  Heirs of Errington, The, 16
+  Helen Bury, 12
+  Helping Hand to Mothers, 25
+  Helps to Health and Beauty, 22
+  Higher on the Hill, 7
+  His Next of Kin, 10, 16
+  His Rustic Wife, 9
+  History of the United States, A, 2
+  Holy Christian Empire, 25
+  Household of MacNeil, The, 10
+  House of Bondage, The, 16
+  How Much is Left of the Old Doctrines, 7
+  How to Become Like Christ, 18
+  How to Read the Bible, 21
+  Husbands and Wives, 16
+
+  Ideals for Girls, 15
+  Incarnation of the Lord, The, 6
+  Industrial Explorings in and around London, 10
+  Infoldings and Unfoldings of the Divine Genius in Nature and Man, 12
+  Inspiration in Common Life, 17
+  Inward Light, The, 8
+  Israel's Law Givers, The Messages of, 11
+
+  Jan Vedder's Wife, 16
+  Jealousy of God, The, 19
+  Jesus according to the Synoptists, The Messages of, 11
+  Joan Carisbroke, 10, 16
+  Job and His Comforters, 14
+  Joshua, The Book of, 3
+  Judges, The Book of, 3
+
+  Kid McGhie, 3
+  Kingdom of the Lord Jesus, The, 19, 24
+  Kit Kennedy: Country Boy, 3, 16
+
+  Lady Clarissa, 16
+  Last of the MacAllisters, The, 10
+  Later Prophets, The Messages of the, 11
+  Leaves for Quiet Hours, 12
+  Letters of Christ, The, 17
+  Let us Pray, 20
+  Liberty and Religion, 12
+  Life and Letters of Alexander Mackennal, The, 6
+  Louis Wain's Animal Show, 21
+  Louis Wain's Baby's Picture Book, 21
+  Loves of Miss Anne, The, 3, 16
+  Lynch, Rev. T. T.: A Memoir, 5
+
+  Making of an Apostle, The, 19
+  Manual for Free Church Ministers, A, 21
+  Margaret Torrington, 10
+  Martineau's Study of Religion, 19, 24
+  Maud Bolingbroke, 12
+  Max Hereford's Dream, 25
+  Messages of the Bible, The, 11
+  Method of Prayer, A, 12
+  Millicent Kendrick, 10, 16
+  Miss Devereux, Spinster, 16
+  Model Prayer, The, 15
+  More Tasty Dishes, 22
+  Morning and Evening Cries, 14
+  Morning Mist, A, 16
+  Morning, Noon, and Night, 22
+  Mornington Lecture, The, 5
+  Mr. Montmorency's Money, 10, 16
+  My Baptism, 17
+  My Neighbour and God, 13
+
+  New Mrs. Lascelles, The, 16
+  New Points to Old Texts, 10
+  New Testament in Modern Speech, The, 13
+  Nineteen Hundred?, 10
+  Nobly Born, 10, 16
+  Nonconformist Church Buildings, 15
+
+  Old Pictures in Modern Frames, 18
+  Oliver Cromwell, 23
+  Oliver Westwood, 16
+  Ordeal of Faith, The, 15
+  Our Girls' Cookery, 23
+  Our New House, 12
+  Ourselves and the Universe, 9
+  Outline Text Lessons for Junior Classes, 21
+  Overdale, 10, 16
+
+  Passion for Souls, The, 17
+  Paul and Christina, 10
+  Paul, The Messages of, 11
+  Paxton Hood: Poet and Preacher, 19
+  Personality of Jesus, The, 11
+  Pilot, The, 13
+  Poems. By Mme. Guyon, 11
+  Polychrome Bible, The, 2, 3
+  Popular Argument for the Unity of Isaiah, A, 14
+  Popular History of the Free Churches, A, 4, 13
+  Practical Points in Popular Proverbs, 14
+  Prayer, 17
+  Preaching to the Times, 10
+  Price of Priestcraft, The, 20
+  Pride of the Family, The, 16
+  Principles and Practices of the Baptists, 14
+  Problems of Living, 9
+  Prophetical and Priestly Historians, The Messages of, 11
+  Psalmists, The Messages of the, 11
+
+  Quickening of Caliban, The, 10
+  Quiet Hints to Growing Preachers, 11
+
+  Race and Religion, 20
+  Reasonable View of Life, A, 17
+  Reasons Why for Congregationalists, 17
+  Reasons Why for Free Churchmen, 20
+  Reconsiderations and Reinforcements, 19
+  Reform in Sunday School Teaching, 18
+  Religion and Experience, 4
+  Religion of Jesus, The, 17
+  Religion that will Wear, A, 14
+  Rights of Man, The, 5
+  Rise of Philip Barrett, The, 4
+  Robert Wreford's Daughter, 10
+  Rogers, J. Guinness, 2
+  Rome from the Inside, 23
+  Rosebud Annual, The, 7, 12
+  Rose of a Hundred Leaves, A, 4
+  Ruling Ideas of the Present Age, 7
+
+  School Hymns, 12, 25
+  School of Life, The, 12
+  Sceptre Without a Sword, The, 23
+  Scourge of God, The, 16
+  Seven Puzzling Bible Books, 6, 18
+  Ship of the Soul, The, 19, 24
+  She Loved a Sailor, 10
+  Short Devotional Services, 20
+  Simple Cookery, 17
+  Singlehurst Manor, 10
+  Sissie, 10, 16
+  Sister to Esau, A, 10, 16
+  Small Books on Great Subjects, 18, 19
+  Social Salvation, 7
+  Social Worship an Everlasting Necessity, 19, 24
+  Spirit Christlike, The, 14
+  Squire of Sandal Side, The, 10, 16
+  St. Beetha's, 10, 16
+  Story of the English Baptists, The, 3
+  Story of Penelope, The, 16
+  Studies of the Soul, 9
+  Sunday Afternoon Song Book, 24, 25
+  Sunday Morning Talks with Boys and Girls, 14
+  Sunny Memories of Australasia, 18
+  Supreme Argument for Christianity, The, 19
+
+  Tale of a Telephone, A, 24
+  Talks to Little Folks, 22
+  Taste of Death and the Life of Grace, The, 18, 24
+  Tasty Dishes, 22
+  Ten Commandments, The, 14
+  Theology and Truth, 5
+  Theology of an Evolutionist, The, 6
+  Theophilus Trinal, Memorials of, 5
+  Thornycroft Hall, 10, 16, 25
+  Through Science to Faith, 4
+  Tommy, and Other Poems, 22
+  Tools and the Man, 7
+  Town Romance, A; or, On London Stones, 16
+  Trial and Triumph, 14
+  Types of Christian Life, 18
+
+  Undertones of the Nineteenth Century, 13
+  Unique Class Chart and Register, 25
+  Unknown to Herself, 16
+
+  Value of the Apocrypha, The, 17
+  Violet Vaughan, 10, 16
+
+  Wanderer, The, 8
+  Warleigh's Trust, 16
+  Way of Life, The, 19
+  Wayside Angels, 22
+  What Shall this Child Be?, 14
+  Where does the Sky Begin?, 7
+  Who Wrote the Bible?, 17
+  Why We Believe, 13
+  Wideness of God's Mercy, The, 17
+  Wife as Lover and Friend, The, 15
+  William Jeffrey, 13
+  Witnesses of the Light, 7
+  Woman's Patience, A, 16
+  Women and their Saviour, 20
+  Women and their Work, 18
+  Words by the Wayside, 18
+  Woven of Love and Glory, 10
+
+  Young Man's Religion, A, 13
+
+
+
+
+Index of Authors.
+
+
+  Abbot, C. L., 8
+  Abbott, Lyman, 5, 6
+  Adeney, W. F., 21
+  Aitchison, George, 20
+  Aked, C. F., 8
+  Andom, R., 10
+  Andrews, C. C., 16
+  Armstrong, Richard A., 19, 24
+
+  Bainton, George, 15
+  Barr, Amelia E., 4, 10, 16
+  Barrett, G. S., 15
+  Barrows, C. H., 11
+  Bennett, Rev. W. H., 3, 15
+  Benvie, Andrew, 7
+  Blake, J. M., 17
+  Bloundelle-Burton, J., 16
+  Bradford, Amory H., 6, 8, 19
+  Brierley, J., 4, 9
+  Brock, W., 14
+  Brooke, Stepford A., 19, 24
+  Brown, C., 14, 17
+  Burford, W. K., 22
+
+  Campbell, Rev. R. J., 19
+  Carlile, Rev. J. C., 8, 22
+  Clifford, Dr., 19, 24
+  Coulton, G. G., 8
+  Crockett, S. R., 3, 16
+  Cubitt, James, 15
+  Cuff, W., 18
+
+  Davidson, Gladys, 21
+  Dode, Marous, 18
+
+  Elligott, Minnie, 25
+  Ellis, J., 21
+  Evans, H., 20
+
+  Farningham, Marianne, 10, 14, 18, 20
+  Fiske, J., 2
+  Forsyth, Rev. Principal, 18, 24, 25
+  Fraser, J., 11
+  Funeke, O., 12
+
+  Gibbon, J. Morgan., 15
+  Giberne, Agnes, 16
+  Gladden, Washington, 6, 7, 8, 17, 18, 20
+  Glass, Henry Alexander, 5
+  Glover, R., 14
+  Greenhough, J. G., 14, 18
+  Griffith-Jones, E., 17, 18
+  Griffis, William Elliot, 5
+  Gunn, E. H. Mayo, 12, 25
+  Guyon, Madame, 11, 12
+
+  Haweis, H. R., 15
+  Haycraft, Mrs., 9
+  Heddle, E. F., 16
+  Henderson, J. G., 8
+  Henson, Canon Hensley, 10
+  Hocking, S. K., 8
+  Horder, W. Garrett, 19
+  Horne, C. Silvester, 4, 13, 15, 17, 20
+  Horton, Dr. R. F., 6, 19, 22, 23, 24, 25
+  Hunter, John, 19
+
+  "J. B." of _The Christian World_, 23
+  Jefferson, C. E., 11
+  J. M. G., 9
+  Jones, J. D., 15, 17, 20
+  Jowett, J. H., 17
+
+  Kane, James J., 17
+  Kaye, Bannerman, 4
+  Kennedy, H. A., 24, 25
+  Kennedy, John, 14
+
+  Lansfeldt, L., 16
+  Lee, W. T., 13
+  Llewellyn, D. J., 13
+  Lyall, David, 4
+  Lyall, Edna, 25
+  Lynch, T. T., 5
+  Lynd, William, 20
+
+  Macfadyen, D., 6
+  Macfarland, Charles S., 14
+  Macfarlane, Charles, 10
+  Mackennal, Alexander, 19, 24
+  Manners, Mary E., 24
+  Marchant, B., 16
+  Marshall, J. T., 14
+  Marshall, N. H., 5
+  Martineau, James, 18
+  Mather, Lessels, 22
+  Mather, Z., 6
+  Matheson, George, 12, 18, 23
+  Maver, J. S., 20
+  Meade, L. T., 16
+  Metcalfe, R. D., 24
+  Meyer, F. B., 17
+  Moore, G. F., 3
+  Morgan, Rev. G. Campbell, 14
+  Mountain, J., 17
+  Munger, T. T., 19
+
+  Peake, A. S., 18
+  Pharmaceutical Chemist, A, 22
+  Picton, J. Allanson, 17
+  Powicke, F. J., 2
+  Pulsford, John, 19
+
+  Rees, F. A., 14
+  Rickett, J. Compton, 9, 10, 24
+  Ridette, J. H., 25
+  Ridley, A. E., 5
+  Robarts, F. H., 14
+  Roberts, J. E., 18
+  Rogers, Dr. Guinness, 2
+  Rudge, C., 18
+  Russell, F. A., 17
+
+  Sanders, Frank Knight, 11
+  Scottish Presbyterian, A, 14
+  Sinclair, Archdeacon, 19, 24
+  Smyth, Dr. Newman, 4
+  Snell, Barnard J., 17, 20
+  Stevenson, J. G., 12
+
+  Thomas, H. Arnold, 19
+  Trotter, Mrs. E., 13
+  Toy, Rev. C. H., 2
+  Tytler, S., 16
+
+  Veitch, R., 8
+
+  Wain, Louis, 21
+  Walford, L. B., 4, 16
+  Waters, N. McG., 13
+  Watkinson, W. L., 17
+  Watson, W., 17
+  Weymouth, R. F., 13
+  White, William, 5
+  Whitley, W. T., 5
+  Whiton, J. M., 9, 10, 17, 19, 23
+  Williams, C., 14
+  Williams, T. R., 18
+  Wilson, Philip Whitwell, 12, 13
+  Worboise, Emma J., 10, 16, 25
+
+_W. Speaight and Sons, Printers, Fetter Lane, E.C._
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Transcriber's Note:
+
+On page 172 the word "lapels" was written as "lappels" and has been
+changed.
+
+On page 378 the name "Seaward" was written as "Seward" and has been
+changed.
+
+The oe ligature is represented by [oe].
+
+Words marked in bold are surrounded by =.
+
+Words marked in italics are surrounded by _.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Gamble with Life, by Silas K. Hocking
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author	Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org>	2025-10-14 20:12:42 -0700
committer	Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org>	2025-10-14 20:12:42 -0700
commit	977130abbb57815c6a992de704b5500666ff5c76 (patch)
tree	bae2d3edb1d5e21b6cafd04aaeb488742bfa92ce