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NEWPORT

A QUARELLE

B O S T O N

RO B ERT S B R O T H ER S

1 883 .

A NEWPORT AQUARELLE

CHAPTER I .

“1110 i s that tal l g irl Wi th Mrs . Fallow

Deer ?

You have been i n Newport twenty-fou r

hou rs and don ’ t know ? Why, that is Gladys

Carleton . You ’

ve heard of her, of course

Can ’t say I have . A New York belle , I

suppose,from her get-up ?

Yes ; her amb ition is to be taken for an

Engl ish g i rl,though , o f cou rse , you detected

the spurious im i tation of you r c ountrywo

men . A t what po in t does the Anglo veneer

fa i l to cover the American gi rl P

I shoul d n’

t say she was veneered at al l ,

but she ’

s a typical New Yorker. I can ’t tel l

you exactly whe re the diffe rence l ies , but I

09 9

6 A NE I/VPORT AQUARELLE .

cou ld pick you out a New York girl from a

crowd of specim en women from every town

i n England and America . They have a way

of holding the i r e lbows , and a certai n half

arrogant,half-fl irta tious , en ti re ly fetch ing

poise of the head , that beats al l th e other

women i n creation .

I being a New Yorker , thank you for the

com pl im en t . Do you th ink Gladys Carl eton

a beauty

Perhaps I should if y ou were not here ; I

can hardly tel l . My eyes are rather dazzled .

If M iss Carleton is your friend,won ’t you

presen t me to her ?

The lady addressed seem ed not al together

pleased at th is reques t , but she answered ,

Oh yes ; I wil l stop her when she passes

back th is way. I cannot leave my seat,or I

shal l never get another . ”

The speakers were seated i n the long cres

cent-shaped corridor of the Newport Casino .

The hands of the quaint golden clock on the

tower of th e oute r courtyard poi n ted to the

A NEWPORT AQUARELLE. 7

hour of twelve . I t was m id-day , and al l the

fashionable world of Newport was gathered

with i n the aristocrat ic enclosure j ust named .

Some of the more energet ic people were play

i ng lawn tenn is i n the fine grounds of the

i nne r courtyard , which separates the semi

circle of the open corridor from the theatre

and racket court . O the rs were lunch ing

luxuriously in the well-appointed restauran t,

and a few of the more serious-minded butter

fl ies were si tt ing in th e comfortable read ing

room,where ladies

,as wel l as gentl emen

,are

admitted to read the news,and wri te the i r

impressions of the place to the i r l ess fortu

nate friends and re latives , broi l i ng i n town or

rusticat ing in Maine . But the great c rowd

of people were assembled in the open corri

dor, l is ten ing to the music of the band , which

at that moment was pl aying th e exh i la ra t

i ng strains of th e Merry War. Seated on

ei the r s ide was a double row of people , who

laughed and chatted wi th each other , c ri tic is

ing th e less fortunate late-comers who had

8 A NEWPORT AQUARELLE.

found no seats , these last hav i ng no othe r

resource than to walk up and down between

the two rows of well -dressed men and wo

men . The most popular of th e ladies held

l i ttl e courts of th ei r own at diffe ren t points

of the corridor, and were surrounded. by

ci rcles of men , o f whom they spoke to thei r

husbands as friends , to thei r lady acquain t

auces as beaux .

The lady who had promised to stop.M iss

Carleton as sh e passed by , had succeeded i n

securing for herself a seat close to the steps

which led down from the corrido r to th e te n

nis courts , a ve ritable co igne of vantage,

from whence every el igible m an who passed

up or down the steps could be arres ted by a

smil e or a word . She had hurried her to i le t

in order to be early on the ground and make

sure of the coveted spot . I t was not to be

wondered at that she was not i n haste to

surrender i t, i n order to obl ige Mr . Cuthbert

Larkington by an introduct ion to Gladys

Carleton . She did not i n tend to surrende r

A NEWPOIET A QUARELLE. 9

e ither her seat or he r caval i e r, fo r Larkington

was c ertain ly the m ost styl ish -looking man in

the whole Casino , and was , bes ides , su re to

become the l ion of the season . He had ar

rived i n Newport only th e day before , bring

ing a le tter to Mrs . Fallow-Dee r. He had

been told that the only th ing necessary to

open al l doors i n tha t excl usive socie ty to

an Engl ishm an was the patronage o f th is

d isti nguished lady. Mrs . Fall ow—Deer hada right to the h igh posi tion she held i n

Newport society. She was by birth a Van

Schuylkil l , o f New York , and belonged to

one of the o ld Dutch famil ies , who had a l

ways s toocl wel l i n Manhattan , since th e days

when thei r ancestor , Pe ter Van Schuylki l l ,

came out am ong the earl iest settl ers . I n

her youth Miss Van Schuylkil l had a c c om

pan ied her father to England , whither he had

been sent as American M i nister, and whil e

there she had been sough t i n m arriage by

Mr . Fallow-Deer, an Engl ish gentleman , of

large fortune . After th i rty years of wedded

10. A NEWPORT A QUARELLE .

l ife in the mother country , Mrs . Fallow-Deer

had returned to the home of her youth , a

w idow,and a very rich woman . She had

soon made her house i n New York one of

the most attractive i n the c i ty . A social

leader she was born to be , always had been ,

and was l ikely to die i n harness . She had

certain eccen tric i t ies , but was essen tial ly con

ventiona l i n thought and conve rsat ion ; she

had talked so much soc ie ty talk that i t was

impossible for her to doff her worldly man

ner and her social vernacular , wh ich she

carried i nto her most i nt imate domestic

l ife . From her long residence in England,

she had come to be considered by the men

and women of her set as a sort of oracle of

[es c onven a m es .

On arriving , M r . Larkington had cal led at

Mrs . Fallow-Deer’s to depos i t h is card,h is

lette r, and a bunch of flowers , which Fadden

the florist assured h im was the fi nest bouquet

he had made up that season . The resul t of

h is attention had been an i nv i tation to cl i n

A NEWPORT A QUARELLE. 1 1

ner that ve ry even ing , which he had accepted

w i th d ign ified effusion . He had take n his

A ng lofié z’

l z’

c hostess down to dinner, and l is

tenecl w i th respect and atten tion to her six

month -stale stories o f the sayings and doings

of H . R. H . the P rince of Wales , and the

worsh ipful members of h is especial set .

Larkington had found a good deal o f amuse

ment during th e d inner i n his right-hand

neighbor. She was a pretty woman o f th e

Venus de Medic is type , which is by no means

uncommon among American women .

Mrs . Craig was not beautiful , though he

had told her before the dessert that she was ;

but she was the perfection of pretti ness .

Small,without being undersized , w i th charm

ing curves of face and figure , a well -shaped

face and head , blond hai r , deep-gray eyes,

and a m outh which , though wel l cu t , was too

narrow and bloodless to be token a generous

or passionate nature . She had received the

Engl ishman ’s attentions with cordial i ty and

friendl iness , and had promised , as he escorted

12 A A'

E IVPORT AQUARELLE.

her to her carriage , to meet h im at the Casino

the next morning at twe lve o’

clock .

Mrs . Craig had found Larkington awai t

ing her at the entrance of the Casino , and ,

after one anxious glance , had becom e reas

sured,and laughed at her own fea rs l est he

should not be “ presen table by day l ight .

I n the even ing ,

” Mrs . Craig had argued

to herself,any man can look swell ; but i t

is the morning dress wh ich really shows

h is social status and the club to wh ich he

belongs .”

Mrs . Craig had not exaggerated th e effect

which her entrance with the distingu ished

looking new arrival ” would m ake on the

c rowd of people at the Casi no,al ready t i red

of each other'

s faces,though the season was

but th ree weeks old . The women al l s topped

talking as she passed , and the m en looked

curious ly at the new Englishman Mrs .

Craig had in tow. If the lady ’s manner

had on the previous evening been cordial

to M r . Larkington,i t might now have been

A NEWPORT AQUARELLE. I 3

cal led famil iar ; for , conscious that the eyes

of all her friends and en emies were centred

upon her, she assumed that ai r o f condescend

ing possess ion wh ich women of her natu re

show to the men with whom thei r names

are more or less connected . During the

fi rst hal f-hour th ings had gone very wel l ,

and she had remained in undisturbed pos

session of the new man,who wa s—greate r

tri umph— an Engl ishman . She had in tro

duc ed h im to her husband ,who cam e clum

bering along , to use one of her coinages

o f language,to M r . Belhom m e , the Master of

the Hounds,to the respected Presiden t of

the Casino,and to the ru l ing spiri t o f the

Redwood Club .

These gen tlemen had al l received Larking

ton w i th cordial i ty and consideration , and

Mrs . Craig had the ineffable joy of s teal ing

Mrs . Fallow-Deer’s thunder , and playing pa

troness to the good-looking foreigner. But

her trium ph was short-l ived ; and when M rs .

Fa l l ow-Deer appeared upon the scene , bear

4, A NEWPOA’ T AQUARELLE.

iug down with ful l sail to a spot where chairs

were quickly placed fo r her and her com

pan ion,Gladys Carle ton , the eyes of the prize

roamed anxiously i n thei r d i rection .

Mrs . Craig was on her mettle ! th e equ ivo

cal express ion wi th which sh e looked ful l i nto

the eyes of Larkington was one which she

rarely allowed herself to use i n society ; and

the laughter which babbled from her l ips

was si lver-sweet i n tone,but when she spoke

her voice was sharpened by anxiety .

Mrs . Fallow-Deer , having seated her ample

person , and spread out her gorgeous raiment ,

soon espied the group of wh ich Mrs . Craig

was the centre , and , having attracted Larking

ton ’s attention , gave him a superb,rocking

horse bow ,full of cons ideration and sweet

ness The true state of affai rs at once

became evident to her, and ,tu rn ing to the

bearer of her fa n,a young aspi rant to fashion

,

she said , “ Won ’t you kindly ask Mrs . Craig

if she can tell me the hour of the rendezvous

for the picn ic to-morrow ?

A NEWPORT AQUARELLE. 1 5

The move was a successful one. Mrs.

Craig,turn ing to speak to the young myr

m idon ,Larkington was left un trammelled

by he r woo ing glance , and with a hurried

Excuse me for one moment ,” he crossed

the corridor and entered the enemy ’s l ines .

S o glad to see you here , Mr. Larkington ;

is i t not a pretty scene ? But of course , afte r

Cowes,i t se ems very smal l to you . Still , I

th ink i t is not quite un l ike the grounds of

the Royal Yacht Squadron ; how does i t

s trike you ?“ I th ink that the C lub garden never had

such a compl iment before , Mrs . Fallow-Deer

we have noth ing in England that compares

with Newport . I t is real ly a sort of modern

Pompei i , where al l the rich Americans come

to play at taking a rest .”

I t is ve ry good-natured o f you to say such

n ice th ings , I am su re . I want to presen t

you to Miss Carleton,who is my guest.

Gladys , let me presen t the Hon . Mr . Cuth

bert Larkington , of Oxfordsh i re .


The two young people bowed , the man

l ifting his hat and making a deep obeisance ,

the gi rl moving her graceful head perhaps a

quarte r of an inch , and looking wi th an ai r

of composed observance into the face of th e

dark , striking-looking stranger . Whether he

chose to admit i t to M rs . Craig or not , Lark

ing ton was much impressed w i th the beauty

of Gladys Carle ton . H e i nstinctively com

pared her to the A rab mare which had borne

h im many miles over the deserts of Syria,

and which he had cared fo r rather more than

for any other l iving creature .

She was tall , straight as an arrow ,and

slender,long-l imbed , w i th a sm all , round

waist,wide shoulders , and ful l , classic bust ,

careful ly displayed by the close-fitting dress

of dark-blue foulard,fastened at the throat

w i th a pair of deep sapphi re buttons . Her

head was m agn ific en tl y set on her shoulders ,

and its poise was , to quote the phrase Lark

ing ton had used ,“ half arrogant and wholly

fetch ing.

” The head itsel f was smal l,and

,


if not in te l lectual , i n tel l igen t in shape . Her

fine black hai r was brushed simply back from

her temples,—she could afford to show her

brow . Her eyes were dark and ful l of fire ;

th e th ick l ine of the eyebrows not classic , but

effective . The straigh t , sensi t ive nose , with

i ts red nostri ls,showed what her friends

cal led her “ high spiri t ; her maid vulgarly

referred to i t as a mark of her “ ugly tem

per.” Her mouth was ful l and red , curved

and dainty,—a beauty rarely found among

the women of her race. Her ti ny rose l eaf ears

had never been desecrated by the needle of

the j ewel le r, and the faul tless teeth showed

no trace of a dentist ’s care . A s ingularly

striking-looking woman,whose age 772n/61 be

anywhere from eigh teen to twenty-eigh t , and

was exactly a quarte r of a century.

When Larkington looked at the smooth

flec kl ess skin , he thought that she could not

have passed her teens. Her assured and self

rel ian t bearing contradic ted this supposition ,

and betokened much experience of th e world .


I was so sorry to miss you at dinner last “

even ing,— I was din ing at Mrs . Be lhom m e

’

s .

Mrs . Fallow-Deer told me how you amused

them all , and has promised to ask you again

very soon for my spec ial benefit. Do you

th ink you wil l l ike Newport ?“ I know I shal l ; i n fact, I do . I am a l

most at home here al ready .

You wil l fee l yourself qu ite at home this

afternoon , I fancy, for i t i s the fi rst hunt

of the season . O i course you are going ?

If you are , Miss Carleton,I am , of

course. But what sort of a hunt is it,

a butterfly hunt ? Considering the season,

I suppose the game mus t have golden

wings .”

“ Butterflies ? Oh no ! we are not cann i

bals at Newport, and do not ki ll ou r kind .

The hunt is a real hun t as fa r as the prey is

concerned . The only sham part of i t i s the

scent , which is that of a red herring dragged

across the fields by a huntsman on the

morn ing of the meet .

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

20 A NEWPORT A QUARELLE.

shal l most certainly j oi n the hunt th is afte r

noon . Do the men wear the pink ?

Yes ; most of them . I t makes the spec

tacle so much gaye r, and the pink coats se t

off the dark habi ts very pretti ly . They are

not always becoming, but then one ought to

be will i ng to sa c r ific e one ’s self to the gen

era l pic turesqueness of the landscape .

Catch ing the last part of th is sen tence ,

Mrs . Fallow-Deer, who had been occupied in

scann ing with hal f-closed eyes the groups

of people scattered about the lawn , broke

into the conversation .

Yes , i t i s a picturesque scene , is i t not ?

But I want to presen t you , M r . Larkington ,

to one of i ts most picturesque obj ects , Mrs .

Belhomme . I am going to take you to a

reception at her house th is evening. I ’l l be

back again , Gladys ; keep my seat for me .

And the great woman sailed away on the

a rm of her new protege . Poor l i ttle Mrs.

Craig grew pale as the couple swept past

her. Her only caval ie r for the moment hap

A NEWPORT AQUARELLE.

pened to be M r . Craig, her devoted and long

suffering husband ; and th is fac t added gal l

to the wormwood of her defeat . She was

somewhat soothed , however, by the approach

of Count Cl awski , a foreign diplomate wi th

a h igh offic ial posi tion . This gentleman , af

ter the formal i ties of th e morn ing greeting,

i nquired of Mrs . Craig the name and station

of the tal l Engl ishman , who was the subj ec t

of general conversat ion that morning . Mrs .

Craig assured him that she was i n no way

responsible for the gentleman , whom she had

met at d i nner the even ing before at Mrs .

Fallow-Deer’s , and whom she had a cc identa l ly

encountered at the en trance o f the Casi no .

Count Cl awski had l ived in England , and

knew of an aristocrat ic family of the name

of Larkington .

Mrs . Craig now being qui te ready to leave

the Casino , the Count escorted her to her

carriage , and made h is most respectful obe i

sance to the pretty woman , who nodded a

fl irtatious farewel l , and , saying to her footman ,


Go to the Redwood L ibrary, was ro l led

away in her l uxurious Victoria to that vener

able and stately ed ific e .

Entering the quaint old l ibrary, Mrs . Craig

asked the custod ian for a book , wh ich was

quickly brought her, and , seat ing herself at

a table,the pretty woman soon became ab

sorbed i n the perusal of that volume which

i n importance ranks wi th the book of Com

mon P rayer i n all English households . Does

not the Bri ti sh Peerage contain between i ts

covers the A lpha and Omega of eve ry true

Briton ’s soc ial c reed , which should profess a

bel ief in the Queen and Empress of al l the

important parts of the earth ; a bel i ef i n the

House of Lords , the aristoc racy and al l thei r

friends ; a faith and reverence for al l the

decrees of H . R. H . the P rince of Wales, and

h is set ?

NEWPORT AQUARELLE. 23

CHAPTER I I .

IT was a perfect Newport afternoon . The

sun,which had shone brightly al l th e morn

ing,had drawn a vei l of soft gray clouds

before h is face , and a cool west wind blew

re fresh ingly over the road , whose dus t had

been laid by a showe r during the n igh t.

The West Road , which leads from the

town of Newport out in to the quie t country ,

was dotted here and there with groups o f

riders,and with carriages of al l degrees , from

trotting-wagons to four-in-ha ncl coaches .

A l l the veh icles were wending their way

to S outhwic k’

s Grove , the spot appointed for

that afternoon ’s meet .

I t was early as ye t , on ly half-past four

o ’c lock , and the road was not crowded by

the hurrying late-comers .

24 ,A NEWPORT AQUARELLE.

There were a few among the ride rs and

drive rs who could appreciate the views which

are to be had from diffe rent points on the

road .

A t the bend which marks th e boundary

between the townsh ips of Newport and M id

dl etown ,two riders had drawn rein , and

were looking out over the stretches of warm

hued meadow-land which l ie between the

h igh-road and the waters of the bay.

The bold outl ine of the h il l o n the right ,

and the group of dark green trees on the left

of the riders , made a frame for the great l ife

pic ture of sea , sky , and meadow,at which

they looked half understandingly .

The high rocky island of Conan icut , with

the ru ined fort of the Dumpl ings on i ts

s ummit , lay before them ,outl ined against

pearly gray clouds , the sea of a deeper gray

wash ing softly about its base . A sw ift

winged boat , w i th a flock of white sea-gul ls

wheel ing about i ts bow , came skimming

across the picture , and added the charm of

motion to the scene .


A l i tt le puff of smoke floa ted low down

beneath the c louds , and as they looked the

white prow of a steamer parted the gray

waves,and swiftly c rossed the l i ne of thei r

v i s i on . A sudden sc ream of a steam whistle

fell upon the quiet air, and the spel l was

broken,the charm of the pic ture was gone.

Slowly,regretful ly , the eyes of the young

woman in the trig blue habi t t urned from

the fa r-off peaceful sc ene , broken by the pro

saic sight and sound of the steamer, and ,

fol lowing the long l ines of brown and green

meadow-land , dwel t a moment on the group

of men and boys at work near by , and then

looked into the face of her companion .

“ I s i t not beautiful , Cid ? and to think

that I have ridden past th is spo t twenty

t imes this summer, and never noticed the

view ! You are never too busy to miss one

gl impse of the beauty which you say the

world is full o f, and I have to be told that

what I see is lovely before my dulness can

understand it. A ll the lovely th ings I have

s e e n i n m


The eyes of the speaker, Gladys Carleton ,

were so soft at that momen t that the man

by her side wondered if the hard , bold look ,

which was the i r dominan t express ion , was

not one acqui red by habi t and external influ

enc es , and this wistful , half-tender expression

thei r natural one . He had often before asked

h imself th i s question , and had always a n

swered i t sadly in the negative . And yet

th e query came again to h is mind on that

fai r summer afte rnoon , and was not to be

dismissed so easi ly as i t had been .

Charles Farwell , cal led by Gladys Carleton

Cid,

” was a handsome man of th i rty,with

certain t raits which dist i nguished him from

the hundred or two young New Yorkers who

we re at that time infesting Newport .

He was of the pure Saxon type some

times found among our people , with golden

hai r and beard , fair skin , and eyes of that

i ntense blue wh ich i s on ly seen with people

of vigorous temperamen t . His features were

almost too del icate for a man,bu t h is s ix


ch ildren on opposite sides of th e then fash

ionab l e quarter of Gramercy Park , and had

played together in the dusty c ity garden

through the long days when from Sunday

to Sunday seemed half a l ife time . They

had fallen i n love of course , and when

Gladys was seventeen and Farwel l twen ty

two,the re had be en an understa nding

between them . This was one of those

understandings i n to which American girl s

are apt to ente r, sometimes with more than

one man at a t ime,in wh ich the maiden

is left quite free , and the man is bound

unconditional ly.

Gladys did not know her own mind,

how could she , not having seen anythi ng

of th e world ? She l éougfi l she loved her

cousin , and was su re sh e cared more for

h im than for any other man ,—but she could

not promise .

Well , he would wait (they always do)and afte r waiting for th ree years , during

wh ich t ime he had th e doubtful happiness


of corresponding with h is lovely cousi n , of

sending her flowers , and of seeing her dance

at ball s with other men , h is roses held

against her cheek and thei r shoulders ,

after al l th is h e sti l l held only the position

of her acknowledged admirer, among many

others .

She would drive with h im in the park ,

if she were not engaged to drive with any

one else ; when she had an off even ing , she

telegraphed for h im to take herself and her

s ister to the play.

I n the early summer he was privileged

to spend a long month with her at the old

homestead i n Rhode I sland , where an old

relative , the Rev. Abel Carle ton,l ived .

I n th is quiet spot Gladys recruited her

strength for the Newport season .

Farwel l was looked upon in th e family as

the hope less adore r of h is cousin . Neither

her worldly mother nor her sisters doubted for

a moment that Gladys would make a great

match ; but meanwh ile Cousin Charl i e was a

30 A NE I/VPOIBT AQUARELLE.

dear good fel low, generous with h is th ree

thousand a year, honorable , and so ch ival

rous that Gladys had given h im the nick

name’

of Cid in the days i n which he had read

to her the wonderful s tories of the prowess

of th e fabled hero . Cid he had always been

cal led by the Carletons , who al l real ly loved

him,when they had time to think abou t it ,

and h e stood to them somewhat i n the rela

t ion of the property man ’ i n th e company

of a theatre , the person to be cal led on at al l

times , for al l necess ities .

A t first Farwe ll had been sure of Gladys ;

afte r she had seen someth ing of society and

had had her fl ing,

” she would give i t al l up ,

m arry h im , and settl e down somewhere out

of town , where they could l ive very comfort

ably on th eir j oin t i ncome (that of Gladys

suffic ed fo r her wardrobe) , and lead the happy ,

qu ie t domestic l ife for wh ich he fancied they

were both su ited .

But as t ime wore on , and Gladys grew

colder and harder, and more thoroughly a

A NEWPORT AQUARELLE. 3 r

woman of the world , hope grew fai nt , and

fina l ly on her twentieth birthday they had

taken a long walk together, and had talked

the matter ou t. The understanding was

now altered,and Farwell real ized that Gladys

was i n earnest when she told h im that “ for

two such beggars , with nothing a year,to

speak about marriage would be shee r lunacy.

”

He had taken the disappointment very

hard , and was thankful when the Carletons

soon after decided to make a trip to Europe .

I t was easie r to forget i t al l with her fa r

away from h im .

Gladys had been “ a great success ” in

England , i n Pari s , in Rome , wherever she

wen t. She had been twice engaged , and had

just missed becoming my lady” by the in

tr iguings of a siste r of the young Earl who

had fallen in love with her . The other

lover whom she had accepted and fina l ly

discarded was a German banker o f enor

mous weal th and h igh standing. Neverthe

less , when the time appointed for the mar


r iage drew near, Gladys had been seized

with a horror of he r pl igh ted lover,and

taking her maid with her had fled from

Berl i n to London , leaving her mother to

settl e the d iffic ul ty, while she amused the

London friend to whose house she had been

welcomed on her arrival , with m 1m 1c ry of

ponderous Herr Gol dz c h ink’

s ponderous

wooings .

The story of her escapade was soon

known , and she became the bel le of the

London season , dined at Marlboro’ House ,

and afterwards rece ived more i nvi tations than

wou ld have suffic ed three American bel les .

S ix months before the opening of ou r

story,Mrs . Carleton , somewhat d iscouraged ,

be i t said , by her want of success in the

matrimon ial market , had found i t necessary

to return to America and attend to some

urgent business matters .

Gladys had become i n these six months

qui te at home again in the country which

she had not seen in as many years , and after

A NEWPORT A QUARELLE. 33

a win ter in New York had passed a month

at the old homestead as i n other days . Hav

ing accepted Mrs . Fallow-Deer ’s i nvitat ion

to pass the month of August with her at

Newport , she was enjoying for the fi rst t ime

i n several years the bril l ian t entertainments of

our summer city . She found that th ings had

changed much during her absence , and fel t, as

she had never done before , the great diffic u l tywhich people with moderate means find i n

mai ntai n ing thei r place in a socie ty which

has become vulgarized by the vast quanti ties

of wealth brought i n to i t by uncu lt ivated

people.

The tone of the society seemed also to

have become in a certain sense European

iz ed ,and she did not find the great contrast

she had expected ; Newport manners and

customs,unl ike those of th e ‘Medes and

Pers ians,having changed considerably.

’

“ I find people here much broader than I

remember them to have been ,” Gladys had

said to her cousin .


Yes,Cid had rather grimly repl ied ;

you will find people here j us t as broad

as you wil l allow them to be ,”

fo r which

rem ark he had been promptly and prop

erly snubbed .

As the two young people gave th ei r horses

the rein,a carriage roll ed by them , i n wh ich

were seated Mrs . Craig and Mrs . Fallow

Deer ; the latter cal led out to Gladys ,

You are late , dear' You must trot along

very fast , or they will be off without you .

”

An excell en t horsewoman was Gladys

Carleton,and she never appeared to more

advantage than when in the saddle . A t

Mrs . Fallow-Deer ’s warn ing , sh e touched

her tal l sorrel l ightly with her crop , and

the two young people rode off at a sharp

pace . A rrivi ng at the rendezvous , th ey

found a large g roup b f riders , twenty or

th i rty men , and half as many women , al l

wel l mounted and well got up .

Some o f th e gentlemen wore pink coats,

others were in plai n riding-dress . The

36 A NEWPOIE’T AQUARELLE.

She neve r was qu ite grac ious to any one .

An i n troduction to Farwel l followed , and as

the two gentlemen bowed , the horn s of the

h untsmen warned them that the run was

about to begin .

Off went the hounds across the road ,

sc rambl ing over the loose stone-wal l which

divided i t from the field .

They ran sn iffing and crying at the her

ring scen t,as if they knew al l about the im

posture pract ised on them , and resented it.

A fter them fol lowed the ride rs , men and

women . The wal l was not a very h igh one ,

and the horses leaped l ightly over it, no one

coming to grief.

The carriages by th is t ime were al l tearing

down the high - road , which was also l ined

with a number of riders,who followed the

hun t from this safe vantage -ground,endan

gering noth ing but thei r eyesight,which the

cloud of dust threatened,and enjoying the

hunt qui te as much as its fol lowers ,—so

they a ffirm ed.

A NEWPOIBT A QUARELLE. 37.

Gladys was among the foremost riders,

and Farwell and Larkington pressed thei r

horses to keep at her side .

Away they gal loped across stubble-fields

and open meadows , taking a five-barred gate

he re , and a°

water jump there , as th ey came .

No side roads or opened gates for Gladys ;

sh e loved the exci tement of the run as much

as did her sorrel , Nimbus .

H e was a splendid beast , strong , power

fully bu ilt , and in fine cond ition .

Before they had ridden th ree m i les i t

became apparen t to both of the caval i ers

that Gladys had the best moun t , and i t was

w i th d iffic ul ty that the two men kept at

h er s ide .

She Spoke to Larkington occasionally ,

but oftene r to her horse , wh ich she enc our

aged by call i ng h is name constantly . A t

las t,afte r a run of about seven miles , during

wh ich seve ral ugly croppers were taken by

some of th e riders and horses , a l ittl e puppy

fox was seen to i ssue from the leathern bag


i n which he had been c onfined , a field ahead

of the hun ting party.

The hounds leaped forward at a quicker

pace,crying at the s ight of thei r prey , and

the men and women spurred thei r horses

on fo r the las t field .

Exci ted exclam at ions escaped from the

men as they lashed thei r t i red steeds , and

a cry o f Go on , Nimbus ! fel l on Farwel l ’s

ear. I t had come from the l ips of Gladys ;

and as he looked at her,he wondered where

the tender expression could have vanished

which had sti rred h is heart an hour ago .

She was flushed , and her eyes sparkled

with exc itement . She struck he r horse and

urged h im over the las t wal l as a j ockey

m ight have done , and with the cry which

he had heard , and which had no sound of

her natural voice in i t , she swept across

the fie ld even with the huntsmen,and lead

ing the whole cavalcade.

And the fox ? well , he was on ly a stupid

l i tt l e c reature after al l,and

,quite dazed bv


the sudden l ight , by the cries of the hounds ,

and the approach of all these men , women ,

and horses,he did nothing but j ump up

on the stone wal l and look wonderingly at

the superior anim als who had com e so fa r

to find h im .

When the pack were close upon him he

real ized what i t all meant , that i t was to

take h is miserable l i ttle l ife that al l these

great creatures— brave men and del icate

women , hounds and horses had come out

on th is bright summer afternoon .

He real ized it, but too late even to t ry

for an escape . He looked about h im over

a strange open country w i th fields on either

side,and

,seeing how hopeless i t was , stood

qu ite still,looking at the an imals , guided by

thei r king,man

,who were now close upon

him .

One great cry he gave as he fel t the

teeth of the foremost hound fasten on his

th roat , and then al l was over,and in a

Space o f tim e som eth ing less than sixty

40. A NEWPORT AQUARELLE.

seconds,the Master of the Hunt approached

Miss Carleton wi th the brush of th e fox,

wh ich she hung at the pomme l of her

saddle .

As they al l rode home together th rough

the quiet country'

lanes , l i ttl e ch ildren ran

to the doors of the farm-houses and looked

admiri ngly at the cavalcade .

The feathered creatures , j ust preparing to

go to rest in the arms of the great trees,

flapped thei r wings angri ly at the dust and

disturbance c reated on the h ighway , which

a fte r s ix o ’clock was deserted save on the

days of the hunt .

An apple orchard on the righ t side of

th e road lay between th e riders and the

sett i ng sun .

The l igh t fall ing i n low, slanting rays

between the shadows of the wonderful old

gnarled trees,gray and twisted , gave a color

to th e grass which is found nowhere i n

the world save i n the island of . Rhode

Island ,—a color as of a mil l ion emeralds


softened and deepened by the yellow ligh t

of the sett ing sun .

If I were obl iged to say what was the

most beautiful th ing i n al l Newport, I

should say the turf of this orchard , i n th e

a fte rnoon .

Gladys was the speaker.“ And you say that you never see any

thing that i s beauti ful ,” Farwel l remarked .

“ I should n’

t have seen i t if I had not

been w i th you , Cid .

”

As they rode down Bellevue Avenue to

Mrs . Fallow-Deer ’s house , which was s ituated

on the cl iffs , Larkington made h im sel f very

agreeable to Farwel l , who rece ived the ad

vances of the Engl ishman cord ially.

The two gentlemen then took leave of

Miss Carleton , Farwel l l ifting her from her

horse in a matter-oi-course manner.

A t the moment i n which her palm lay

upon h is shoulder, and h is hands spanned

her slender waist , she gave a l i ttl e tired sigh ,

almost l ike a chi ld ’s . She smiled with her

42 . A JVEWPORT AQUARELLE.

eyes as wel l as her l ips i n that brief i nstan t

when her face was so near, to his , and though

she gave her hand to Larkington at parti ng ,

and only nodded Aim a good-night , Cid rode

away with h is heart beati ng fast , h is whol e

being quickened bv the i n fl uence of that

t i red sigh,that deep smile.

Farwel l fel t so much at peace with the

world in general , and in especial with th e

man who had not l ifted Gladys from he r

horse , that i n a moment of expansiveness

he asked Larkington to dine wi th h im at

the restau ran t of th e Casino .

The invi tation was accepted,and th e two

men passed the even ing together, playing

a game of bil l iards afte r d inner.

Farwel l was r ightly counted by the men

of his club as an excel len t playe r, but he

found that i n Larkington he had met more

than his match . Though Larkington had

taken tw ice as much wine as he had at

dinne r , his strokes seemed as steady as

those of a profess ional bil l iard-player.

44' A NEWPORT AQUARELLE.

when the charm of her presence was re

moved .

If she was , as she had been that day,

almost tender to h im , the old convic tion,

always laten t i n h is mind , that she really

loved him,would assert itse lf, and the feel

ing that if he chose to exert h is wi ll , he could

i nduce her to marry him , would grow in to a

certain ty.

But with this certain ty came also the re

m em bra nc e of the great , i nsuperable objec

tion to such a step , that of his l imited

income , which to her mean t poverty.

He knew that to her luxurious nature

any en forced economy would be i rksome,

perhaps in tolerable , and feared lest i t might

imbitte r her character, whose selfish impulses

he knew so wel l .

H e wou ld not now, with his knowledge o f

the world and its men and women,beg her

to renounce i t all,for l ove and for h im .

That he h imsel f was generous to a faul t,

giving away h is money whenever he had any

A NEWPO/er AQUARELLE. 45

to give,and working year i n and year out in

a broker’s offic e i n Wal l S treet i n order that

h is s isters might have his share of the in

come from h is father ’s estate , made him

none the le ss aware of th e selfish s ide of

G ladys’

s nature .

H e could make her marry h im ,- of that

he was sure now, but could he make her

happy ? A s if to answer the se lf-asked ques

t ion he drew from his pocke t a crumpled bi t

of paper , and read for the th i rd time a de

spa tc h which he had that afternoon received ,

and wh ich ran as fol lows !

LEADVILLE,Aug. 19, 1882 .

To CHARLES FARWELL,

Redwood Reading Room ,

Newport, R. I .

New lead d isc overed assay

of s i lver. Com e at onc e.

CARTWRIGHT.

46 NEWPORT AQUARELLE.

CHAPTER I I I .

ON the morning foll owing the fox-hun t,

M r . Larkington , i nqu i ring at the post-offic e

for letters , was somewhat surprised at the

large bundle of notes wh ich the clerk put in to

h is hand .

H e glanced hurriedly over the addresses

there wa s one foreign let te r,with an Engl ish

postmark , directed i n a pointed femin in e

hand .

This lette r he impatien tly tore open, un

folding i t w i thout glancing at the wri ting,

and looked between the closely wri t ten pages

of the sheet .

Here he found a narrow sl ip of paper,

wh ich the lady clerk observed afte rwards to

the postmaster was a check , as any one

coul d see .

”


Whether th is lady was righ t i n he r hy

pothesis or not , the perusal of the narrow

bi t of paper seemed to have an agreeable

effect upon M r. Larkington . His face , which

unti l then had been rather moody, cleared ,

and, folding the paper, he placed i t carefully

i n h is pocket-book,thrust the unread l etter

which had been so careful ly wri tten , i n to

his pocket , and proceeded to open leisurely

the other notes .

A l l of these bore the local postmark .

The fi rs t one was marked by an elaborate

crest , i n blue and gold , and read as follows !

Mrs . Craig requests the pleasure of Mr .

La rking ton’

s company at dinner on Monday

even ing next , at half-past seven .

”

Anothe r inform ed h im that M rs . Fal low

Deer hopes that M r. Larkington w i l l drive

with her on Saturday afternoon .

”

A th ird read ! “ M r. Belhomme wil l be

very glad to lend M r . Larkington his coach

and horses on Friday and Saturday of this

week , during his absence i n New York .


There were half a dozen other i nvi tations

to bal ls and routs of various kinds , and , most

important of all to the mind of the Engl ish

man,i nvitations fo r a month to the Redwood

and Casino Clubs . To the first of these ,

i ncorrectly cal led the “ Reading Room ,

”

Larkington im mediately repai red .

Here he was warmly greeted by the men

whose acquaintance he had made on th e pre

vious day and even ing . These gentlemen

in troduced h im to othe rs .

Cuthbert Larkington had come to New

port , forty-eight hours before , a stranger , with

no further claim on society than that impl ied

by a singl e lette r of i n troduction .

This lette r,which was addressed to Mrs .

Fallow-Deer, had been given h im by a

steamer acquaintance , to whom he had lent

twen ty-five pounds . He now felt that he

had gained a footi ng from which he could

cl imb to the heights of success and popu

l a rity .

A s he was leaving the C lub , Larkington

A NEWPORT AQUARELLE . 9

met Count Cl awsk i , and the two walked down

Bellevue Avenue together.

A carriage , drawn by a pai r of m agn ific en t

bay horses , rattled past them , the harnesses

j ingl ing with enough chains to secure al l the

prisoners i n Newport j ail .

Two ladies bowed from the back seat of

the carriage , and Larkington , recogn iz ing the

face of the girl whose acquain tance he had

made the day before , made a deep obeisance ;

Count C l awski , who seemed on good te rms

with the ladies , waved his hat with ai ry grace .

You have the good fortune to know Miss

Carleton,th e he i ress ? asked the Coun t .

Yes ; I met her yesterday. I s she one of

th e very rich people here“ Oh yes ; her fortune is counted in mi l

l ions,hal f a dozen , I bel ieve , and i t is al l

i n her own righ t . An i nte rest ing woman ,

very. Her cous in i s very pretty , i s she

not ?

I did not notice the cousin,

” answered

Larkington , absently .

“ Is she an o rphan ,

50’

A NEWPORT AQUARELLE .

—Miss Carleton , that she is so ric h P

From whom did she get al l her money ?

Oh,old Mr . Carleton was an enormously

rich man,and sh e is h is only ch ild . She i s

an excellen t woman of business , and man

ages h er own affai rs enti rely. She has a

mother ; but Mrs . Carleton is not he re this ‘

summer. She is an old lady , and finds New

port too excit ing for her tas te .

”

This is what was said on the s idewalk.

The lady i n the carriage who was the sub

jec t of th is conversation said to her com

pan ion ,

Do you know who that man with Count

C l awski i s , Gladys ?“ Oh yes , Cousin Amelia ; I can tel l you

all about him . His name is . Larkington,

the Hon . Cuthbert Larkington . H e i s an

Engl ishman , of high family. Mrs . Craig was

tel l i ng us all about h im th is morn ing . She

had been looking him up i n the Pee rage .

He i s th e son of Lord Lucre,and is i n the

A rmy . I met him yesterday,and found him

A NEWPORT AQUARELLE .

There was , of course , some old romance ,

her friends al l said , but who the hero of i t

was,even rumor whispered not.

I t i s qu ite possible that neithe r hero nor

rom ance had eve r entered her l ife .

She belonged to that type of women , not

uncommon i n New England , who do not feel

the necessi ty o f domest ic relat ions for the i r

happiness , and to whom men are rather an

tagon istic than attract ive .

These women are often among the hardest

workers i n the social c ommunity , and are un

remitt ing i n their chari table labors . They

are dubbed strong-m i nded ,” a titl e wh ich

they resent alm os t un iversal ly , and yet i t i s

one they fully deserve .

I t seem s as though a w ise provision o f

P rov idence had created a certai n proportio n

of the women of th e Eastern States with

this independence of natu re , to fit th em for

the l ife of moral and physical self-support

imposed upon them by the disproportion

ately small number of men in these regions .


On reach ing h is hotel , Larkington walked

slowly up the long stairs wh ich led to the

thi rd floor , upon which his room was sit

ua ted.

He seemed deeply absorbed i n thought ,

and stood before the window , looking wi th

unsee ing eyes into the blue sky. Yet th e

tenor of his thoughts was of a natu re more

terrestrial than celestial , as the anxious ex

press io n of the eyes and l ips betokened .

Shal l I , or shal l I not , go i n fo r the

heiress was th e question he asked himself,

as he paced slowly up and down the narrow

c ofli n-l ike apartment , with its i ron bedstead ,

chair,table

,and wash -stand , fo r the use of

wh ich he would be obliged to pay fi ve dol

lars a day, when he should settle h is bi l l .

When he should settle h is bil l ! The though t

reminded h im o f his unread letter, and seat

ing h imself at the table he soon became ab

sorbed i n the perusal of the fine ly crossed

epistl e.

After reading i t th rough,he sat s ilen t

54 A NEWPORT AQUARELLE .

for another space , staring out in to the bright

sun l ight of the summer morn ing, and then

qui te suddenly drew toward h im the pen

and ink and paper, and rapid ly indi ted the

fol lowing note

DEAREST MUZ,—Thank you so m uc h for the

en c losure of one hundred pounds , a nd your k ind

letter, both th is m orn ing rec e ived . I t i s the la st

penny I ’

l l ever a sk you to send m e, I swea r tha t

to you. I wa s pretty we l l c leaned out when it

c am e, and never w a s gladder in m y l ife to see

your writ ing. Tel l S issy tha t I am go ing to m ake

a dash for a fortune here . There ’

s a pretty girl

a tta c hed to i t, to whom I c an ea s i ly bec om e a t

ta c h ed . Fa il ing th is , I sha l l sta rt for Mexi c o , and

s trike out for m yse lf. I suppose Dad does n ’

t sus

peot where I am ; don’t l et h im know . Does n

’

t

he wonder who your fem in ine c orrespondent is P

Love to S issy and your dear ol d self.

From your ever a ffec tionate

CUTHBERT.

The le tte r was written i n a smal l but bold

hand . He di rected the envelope i n a large


pointed lady-l ike ch i rography. I t bore

superscription

To MRS . MARTIN LAR! INGTON,Care LAR! INGTON Co .

,

No . 7 Washleather S t . ,

S trand,London.

Now, if Mrs . Craig or Mrs . Fallow-Deer

had happened to see th is lette r wh ich thei r

new acquai ntance had j ust written to h is

mother, they would have been somewhat sur

prised at the busi ness address wh ich i t bore .

They would have looked fo r th e following

aristocratic superscription !

LADY LAR ! INGTON LUCRE,Lark ington House,

Larkington, Oxfordshi re.

Having pe rformed th is fi l ia l duty, Lark

ing ton proceeded to look over the notes

which he had so hurriedly read at the Post

Offic e . One there was wh ich he had passed

over, and on opening i t he gave an exclama

tion of pleasure . The note was from Charles

56 0 A NEWPORT AQUARELLE.

Farwe l l , who offered M r . Larkington th e use

of his two polo ponies during his absence ,

which would las t for about two weeks , and

tel l i ng h im that a match was to take place

that very afte rnoon , i n wh ich Fa rwe l l had ar

ranged for Larkington to take his place .

If there was one pu rsui t which the E ng

l ishman cared for , more than any other

i n the world , i t was certainly the game of

polo .

Larkington was a tal l ath let ic fel low, l ight

of body and si newy of l imb . His arms and

legs were long, and he had that grace of

movement which comes only from a con

dit ion of perfect physical health and m usc u

lar development . Nimrod was h is hero and

his god . From hunting and ath letic pur

sui ts and sports he derived the greates t en

joym en t of his l ife .

H e was withal not lacking i n other attain

ments which made h im an agreeabl e man

i n a drawing-room,as well as a prominen t

one i n the fie ld . He had a gift for music

A NEWPOIBT AQUARELLE. 57

which , although uncu l t ivated , was all the

more remarkable . H e could play any ai r

that he had ever heard , with an a éa na’on

and spi rit wh ich to unmusical people were

more captivating than the careful perform

ance of a fin ished music ian . He could talk

of Engl ish pol i tics wi th a certai n knowledge

of facts , but with an indifference to princ i

ples which proved that he was not guided

by them .

He was fairly wel l educated , had been at

a good publ ic school , bu t had not passed

through a univers ity .

He knew quite as much of Paris,Vienna

,

and Rome , as of London , and seemed even

rather more at home i n the society of these

European capi tals than i n that of London ,

j udging from his conversation concern ing

them . He spoke aston ish ing fac t fo r

an Engl ishm a n l— excel len t French , good

German , and could make h imself understood

in the other languages of Europe . His ideas

about art were absolutely without value .

5 8 A NEWPORT A QUARELLE.

I ndeed , i t shou ld rather be said that h e

had none , being en ti rely wanting in artisti c

sense .

W i th al l that belonged to nature h e was

i n perfect sympathy , and h is advice about

the care of horses or cattle , and h is com

ments on vegetables and frui t and the best

manner of rai sing them , were well worth

hearing.

Children l iked h im and came to him , as

did dogs and al l other uncivi l ized beings,but

with women he was , strangely enough , not

popular . He got on much bette r with men ,

and had had l ittle to do wi th women . Of

love in i ts h igher form he knew noth i ng.

Five o ’c lock was the time appointed fo r

polo,and at ten minutes past the hour,

Larkington entered the grounds of the West

cheste r Polo Club , and rode down to the

smal l pavil ion ten t, from th e top of which

floa ted a wh i te flag. His fai th fu l servant

S ti rrups,who was by turns h is vale t , groom ,

and compan ion,s tood waiting h im with

60 ° A NEWPORT AQUARELLE .

of which a dozen were assemb led , covered

with maids and matrons , i n rainbow-hued

gowns and smart coach ing-hats .

Equestrians were there , too , and a group of

people stand i ng and s itti ng i n the corner ,

where stood a covered p latform fi l led with

chai rs .

The hor ses and thei r trappings were mag

n ific en t, and the sloping beams of l igh t th rown

by the afternoon sun revealed a spectacl e of

gli t teri ng wealth and display which is not

su rpassed i n any city of the world .

S o though t Larkington , and so said Lark

ing ton , wi th that Bri t ish frankness wh ich , if

i t brusquely sneers at t imes at American man

ners and solec isms,qui te as freely and mag

nan im ously praises , on occasion .

There comes the coach wi th the P res i

dent ,” said one of th e bachelors from the

ten t ; the game wil l be cal led i n five min

utes . A re you ready , Larkington ?” The

Engl ishman fo r answer th rew off his cove r

coat,and , s tanding revealed i n his whi te j er


sey , boots , and breeches , proceeded to tie

about h is head a white si lk éufi a , adj usting

i t with a twisted cord , and fasten i ng the ends

at the back of h is head , afte r the fash ion of

the Bedouin s of Syria . The match on th i s

part icular afternoon was between the bach

e l ors and married men of th e club ; and as

Charles Farwel l was to have played in it ,

he had arranged for Larkington to take h is

place .

Mrs . Fallow-Deer had begged h im to do

someth ing for the Engl ishman , and thi s had

been the eas ies t thing to do .

A prize cup had been offered by the ladies

of Newport , and the match was undoub tedly

th e most importan t one of the season .

J ust l ike my luck to be in for th is

game Larkington had said to S ti rrups that

m orn1ng .

The signal to ride in to the fie ld was now

given and the six bachelors,chastely and ap

prOpr1a tely att i red in wh ite , rode into place at

the ir end of the ground . Ranged side by side ,

62 A NEWPORT A QUARELLE .

with raised mal lets,they sat waiti ng , the i r

eyes fixed upon the red flag i n the umpi re ’s

hand .

Their adversaries , six married men , at the

opposi te end of the fiel d , were well ab le to

cope with them ,if one might j udge from thei r

appearance and that of the i r pon ies . The

figures of these m en were fine and ath letic ;

thei r costume was of dark blue and yellow

stripes .

A re you ready ? One , two , th ree , go l

said the umpire ; the red flag was dropped

and the bal l th rown in to the middle of th e

ground .

Flash ! crash ! went the twelve ponies and

thei r twelve riders , dash ing toward each other

at l ightn ing speed , each and every one deter

min ed to have the first blow at the l it tl e whi te

wooden bal l , which lay peaceful ly on the

grass .

I t was a grand stroke , the first one , dealt by

the mal le t of a wh ite player,who to most of

the spectators was a stranger.

A NEWPORT AQUA [BELLE 63

The bal l was d riven straight and c lear to

ward the goal,and the blues had hard work

i n getting i t back again . I t was a hard

fough t game , however, and both s ides played

wel l and pluckily ; but the married men and

thei r backers,who had been hopeful of suc

cess s ince i t had been learned that Farwell ,

by long odds the best p layer of th e club ,

was not i n the fie ld , began to be rather de

spondent

Finally , afte r ten minutes’ sharp contest, a

splend id stroke from Larkington put the bal l

out between the two upright wands wh ich

marked the adversaries ’ goal , and the fi rst

game was scored by the bachelors .

Five games were played , three being won

by the wh ite players , and th e Benedicts being

defeated by one game .

At the close o f th e match Larkington was

congratulated on h is playing by h is al l ies and

adversaries al ike , and he fel t that the polo

match had raised h im another step i n the

seemingly easy ladder of American society.


Larkingto n cal led that even ing at M rs .

Fal l ow-Deer’s , and found th e ladies at

home .

Count Cl awski , who had been din ing m

f am z

’

Z/e with Mrs . Fal low-Deer , obl igingly de

voted himself to h er, and Larkington was

left free to talk to Miss Carleton .

He was i n h igh spiri ts . The spl endid

exerc ise of the afte rnoon had se t h is blood

aglow,and a convivial dinner with th e bach

e l ors , which had followed at the house of

thei r captain , had not decreased his pleas

urabl e condition of mind and body . Miss

Carle ton was as charming a person to talk

to , to l isten to , to look a t , as Larkington had

ever met .

She was si tting the attitude would be

better described as recl in ing— in a low arm

chai r ; her strong and svel l‘e young figure

took a natural and thorough ly graceful pose ,

and the fo lds of her whi te dress fel l about i ts

outl ines , reveal i ng them,but not too dis

tinc tl y for maiden l iness .


Her dress , which was of some thick and

soft material , was close at the neck and

wrists . She had the shou lders and arms of

a goddess,but she never showed them . I t

was one of th e few bits of sentiment wh ich

her m other had never laughed her ou t of.

I n the old days , when she and Cid had

had the one-sided understanding, he had

begged he r to keep those beauties from the

eyes o f th e world .

I t is enough that they can see your face ,

he said j ealously ; he would almost have

l iked her to wear a y a sém a cé , and keep that

face for his eyes alone.

She had promised h im in a weak momen t

never to wear the undress of bal l dress , and

she had kept her word .

Larkington was real ly pleased with the

beauty and grace of the girl,and

,as he had

wri tten to his mother,he thought it would

be an easy as wel l as pleasant th ing to

become attached to her.

He was not much used to making love to


lad ies , and was not very su re of h imself,but

he d id h is best , and found that his pretty

speeches were grac iously , if cynical ly , l is

tened to .

She puzzled h im , th is beauty , whose eyes

did not droop , nor color change , under the

arden t look of admirat ion wh ich he fixed

upon her.

She was thoroughly mistress of the si tua

tion , and when , afte r a too flag ran t compl i

ment, she turned upon h im and with good

natured satire analyzed and caricatured al l

h is Speeches,cutti ng them to pieces , he was

forced to laugh at her wit , though i t had

been at his own expense.

She liked his flattery , as he pla in ly saw,

though i t d id no t dece ive her .

And when he asked if he might come to

morrow and coach her a l i ttle i n her serving

at tenn is , wh ich had seemed to h im faultythat day at the Casino , she consented , and

appointed the hour of twe lve for the lesson .

You wil l stay and lunch with us after the


equal ly natural to her , and which was as

sco rnful and aristocratic as if she had been

born a princess.

Do you not find the American gi rl s very

differen t from any others , Cl awski he asked ,

as the two men left the house together.

M on Dim ,yes

,repl i ed the d iplomate .

I do not pretend to unde rstand them , and

have never anyth ing to say to them . They

are to me charming , but i ncomprehensibl e .

W i th the married women I am at home , but

w i th the young ladies who rule so much i n

American soc iety, I am quite at a loss to

understand , or make myse lf unders tood.

”

NEWPORT AQUA ! ELLE. 69

CHAPTER IV.

GLADYS CARLETON was not one of th e

women who are born possessed of a demon

of coquetry. The mere suffering wh ich a

man undergoes at the hands of a coquette is

not i n its first effects so greatly tb be depre

c a ted . I t i s i n the consequences that l ies

the deepes t wrong wh ich the insincere woman

does to the man who loves her. For the

distrust of her whole sex wh ich grows upon

h im,and the convict ion that nei the r she nor

her kind are worthy of th e best that i s

i n h is nature , she is responsibl e . The disdai n

which he may fee l toward her cannot greatly

i nj ure h im .

But the spiri t i n wh ich he regards that

tendency in his nature wh ich looks to woman

for the truest support of h is l ife, and the


systematic h ardening of those qual i t ies i n

him which reach out ins ti nc tively to the

femin ine side of humanity , are sou l hurts ,

which are not healed when the pain of the

dece ived love has passed .

His j udgment of the whole sex cannot

fail to be biassed by h is experience of th e

woman who has most deeply in terested him .

Thus i t i s that the coquette,by lowering th e

whole s tandard of womanhood in the eyes of

m an , i nj u res her own sex as wel l as the other.

The forms of coquetry are infin ite ly va

ried , and some of them are much more rep

rehens ible than others . The woman who

undertakes conquests s imply for th e glo ry of

displaying at the wheels of her chariot th e

capt ive she holds by the rosy bonds of love ,

i s the commonest type .

As her coquetry i s of th e most paten t ki nd ,

i ts wounds are rarely severe or lasting, and ye t

there is a certain vulgari ty about th is spiri t of

conquest , which makes th is type of women

dangerous to both men and women .


A more subtle and disastrous influenc e i s

wielded by the woman who is bent on the

sc ien tific analysis of the vari ous effects pro

duc ed by the tender passion on men of differ

ent character and nature .

She has l i ttle pigeon -holes marked with

different characteristic names , and into these

she c l assifies every new specimen . She is

apt soon to discove r that the pigeon-holes

may be very few ,and that nearly al l the men

she meets w i l l fi t exactly in to one or another

of them .

When she has arrived a t th is conclusion

she i s sa tisfied ; two or three good specim ens

of every sort having been coo l ly analyzed

and properly pigeon-holed .

I t is variety, and not quant i ty , she desi res

and , having al ready become qu ite famil iar

with the manner i n which a certain spec ies

of the g en us fiom o i s affected by the greates t

of passions , sh e al lows many possible victims

to pass by without an effort or desire to add

them to her co l lection ; but if a specimen


h itherto un c l assified c rosses her path , she is

ready with her l i ttl e dissecti ng-knife to peer

into the labyrinths of a new phase of human

nature .

A nother class,perhaps th e most dan

gerons one , i n to which we are dividing c o

quettes , includes those women who fancy

themselves i n love with each fresh love r.

These are emotional and sympathetic wo

men,who

,being incapable of strong feel ings

themselves , are borne along by th e force o f

a passion which fasc inates them , and which

they wou ld gladly rec iprocate . I n thei r often

renewed disappoin tment at finding that the

n ew lover cannot make them forget them

se lves , they fee l a sense of i nj ust ice , and

never dream that they are not the i nj ured

ones.

To none of these classes of coquettes did

Gladys belong. She had broken he r share

of hearts i n her day , but i t was more for

wan t of an occupation than for any other

reason . She had no very particular talen t


for anything , no t even for society, i n which

she was a prominent bu t no t a popular

figure .

A great bel le she undoubted ly was,wh ich

did not make the women particularly fond of

her. Men al l admired her, and elbowed and

fought for a place at her s ide i n the bal l

room . A good many of them were i n love

with her,and yet few l iked her . She was

admirabl e , she was lovable , but she was d is

tinc tly unl ikable .

A certain fondness for the t ruth made her

speak i t at al l t im es , even when it carried

something of a sting with it.

Her intel lec t was of a high order enough

to show her the insipid ity o f th e men and

women among whom her lo t was cast . I t

was not s trong enough to force her to leave

the ci rcle i n which she was born , and strive

for a footing in the world of thought , act ion ,

art , or l i terature .

She laughed at the Phil ist ines,and ye t

avowed herself to be one o f them .


The clever men , those who wrote books

a nd pain ted pictures , if they found them

selves in her company , were i nvariably drawn

toward her . She numbered a poet, two jour

na l ists , and a mari ne painte r among her win

ter’s conquests .

Tenn is was one of her favori te amuse

men ts,and when her English acquaintance

appeared , i n accordance with her permiss ion ,

at twe lve o ’clock on the morning afte r the

po lo match , he found h er dressed for the

game . A long practice fol lowed , at the end

of which Miss Carleton acknowledged her

i ndebtedness to Mr . Larkington for several

points .

What can I teach you i n return for your

excel lent coach ing , M r . Larkington ? ” asked

Gladys , as they sat on the veranda after

lunch . The young man was s i len t,and ab

sen tly rolled h imself a cigarette , using one

hand in the operation, 52 fEspag nol .

You are s i lent. Does that mean that

I cannot teach you anyth ing ? Well , per


otic i n the matte r of promises ; yes , real ly

I am ,and neve r break one . M r . Bel hom

me has promised to take me j ust where I

wan t to go . Wou ld you l ike to go with

us ?

I shou ld of cou rse be del igh ted ; but

would i t be conven ien t , do you th ink ?

Oh,perfectly ; I make up my own party ,

and invi te al l the people . Mrs . Fallow-Deer

is going as chaperon . I don ’ t know how

you will l ike th e company, I fancy you wil l

not know any of them ; i t i s the Boston gang

princ ipal ly .

”

I ndeed,I never met a Boston ian to know

h im— o r her. They are said to be m ore

l ike Engl ish people than New Yorkers are ;is that true ?

“ Yes , I suppose i t i s . Those who come

to Newport are a queer lot We have a

great many trad it ions about the cl everness

of the Boston women , the fascination s of the

men , but I confess to be greatly at a loss to

account fo r the i r reputation , wh ich I don’ t


thi nk is deserved . The women are not any

prettie r,and certainly the specim ens we see

here are no bette r i nformed , than the average

New Yorker. They have a curious e l ephan

t ine way of carrying on fl irta tions , which is

quite pecul iar to them . The men are al l

married and very much married ; they seem

to have entirely severed the ir relations with

al l womankind , save their wives . The few

bachelors I have met are so petted and

spoiled that there i s no enduring them .

”

You dispose of them in a few words .

”

You shal l j udge if my remarks are with

o r without a foundation .

”

Before many hours passed , M r . Larkington

had an excel len t opportun i ty of notic ing the

manners and custom s of the Boston gang ,

”

as Gladys had disrespectfully spoken of her

guests of the afternoon .

The distance from the wharf to the great

steam yacht was safely accompl ished in a

pretty rowboat . A s soon as th e party were

al l on board , th e good yacht Dolph in steamed


out of the harbor, and headed for quie t wate r,

pass ing along the coast of the island , toward

P rov idenc e.

Gladys,who was a capital sai lor rathe r

vic iously suggested going outside in to the

rough wate rs of the open sea , but she was

silenced by a sharp rebuke from Mrs . Fallow

Deer,who grew pale at the ve ry thought .

The ladies of the Boston gang seemed no

bette r pleased at the idea , and the Dolph in ,

abandon ing all hopes of a tumble with the

waves , cut the qu iet waters evenly wi th her

sharp prow.

Miss Carle ton expatiated upon the j oys of

riding over the big waves .

M r . Larkington was presen ted fi rst to on e

and then to another of the lad ies,with al l of

whom he found h imself qui te at home in a

short time .

Thei r names he was somewhat puzzled by ;

many of them he had never before met with

i n any part of the world .

One pretty married woman with an im pos


sible three-syllabled patronymic advised h im

to come to Boston for the winter, if he

should remain so long in America .

She explai ned that for a man the A thens

of America was real ly th e most del ightful

place in the world . Nowhere else were they

so wel l t reated , i n spite of al l the talk about

the rights of women .

“ Things are rather reversed with us , and

i t i s the men who have al l the privi leges.

We women are so much in the maj ori ty

that we practical ly have the same rights that

men do . I ndeed , th e male sex are , i n our

communi ty,the privi leged class . They are

exempt from every soc ial duty , and included

i n every social pleasu re . The chari ties and

the reforms are carried on by ladies , who

minis ter to the sick and uphold the priv

i leges of the criminals . We visi t th e hos

pita ls and the prisons , pay the taxes , give

the parties , oversee the schools , and keep

up the churches . I t i s a fai r d ivi s ion , i s i t

not ? ”


The lady laughed as she asked the ques

t ion,and Larkington , not knowing What to

answer, laughed too .

H e was not qui te su re whether she was i n

earnest or i n j est . There was a certain want

of softness about the voice of the lady with

the three-syl labled name , a certai n indepen

dence of manner, wh ich did not please h im ,

though he thought he r pre tty and bright.

The pil low beh ind her sl ipped to the ground

as she sat looking at the group of people

at the othe r end of th e boat. Larkington

started to pick i t up for her, but she had

i nvol untarily stooped and regained it.

Then she laughed and said,

If Miss Carle ton had dropped that pi llow,

i t would never have occurred to her that she

migh t pick i t up . You see that I quite nat

u ra l ly l eaned forward to ge t it, though you

were so near me . That i s the difference be

tween the New York and Boston woman .

We expect noth ing from mankind ; they re

gard the male sex as simply created for thei r

A NEWPORT A QUARELLE.8 1

se rvice . Let us j o i n the others ; I th ink

there will be some singing . S omebody has

brought M iss Carleton ’s banj o .

The Engl ishman was not d ispleased at

the opportuni ty thus offered o f re turn ing to

that part of th e deck where Gladys Carleton

had thrown herself on a pi le of ropes . The

mast b eh ind her served for a support. She

sat i n Turk fash ion , a thing few women can

do with comfort o r w i th grace . A t the mo

ment when Larkington approached , Gladys

was indulging in the infanti le amusement of

playing bal l with M r . Sil sbee Saltonstal l, of

Boston . A red apple provided by the s tew

ard served for the playth ing .

M r . Sal tonstal l was a good-looking young

fel low of eigh t and twenty,tal l

,rathe r grace

fully modelled , with a decidedly handsome

head . His was an ea rnest face, w i th deep

blue near-sighted eyes , blond beard , a wide

forehead , and pecul iarly sparkl ing white

teeth .

Gladys threw the apple i n the most pro

82’

A NEWPORT As ARELLE .

voking man ner , trying eve ry time to toss i t

out of his reach , bu t Saltonstal l had not

played i n the Harvard Base Bal l Nine for

noth ing, and he caught i t eve ry t ime , making

im possibl e reaches i n al l di rections .

A fte r a few minutes , Gladys wearied of th e

game , and tossed the apple overboard fo r

th e fishes ,” she said .

Then Salton stal l , i n obedienc e to a half

gestu re from the girl , took h is place beside

her on an adjacen t pile of ropes .

G ladys did not look at Larkington,who

stood near by , but began talking seriously

and i n a rather low voice to the Bostonian .

Your s iste r tel l s me you are wri ting a

book, Mr . Saltonstal l , on the h igher eth ics of

soc iology . I was much in terested in talking

to her about it . I fancy you do not agree

with Herbert Spencer in al l his premises ,

from what I know of your characte r.”

You are qui te right,M iss Carleton . I

find that , i n working out to a'

l ogical conclu

sion the princ ip les which Spencer adva nces ,


I see I am boring you al ready, and I have

driven your Engl ish friend away from you r

s ide i n terror and amaze .

”

And why should you assume th at you are

bori ng me , Mr . Saltonstall ? Do you th ink

me incapable of following your conversa

tion

Not fo r an instant , Miss Carleton ; i t i s

not that you could not think , and th ink inte l

l igen tly , upon th is subj ec t , or any other that I

cou ld talk to you about only—I do not

th ink to speak frankly , that i t i n te rests

you .

Then why shou ld I have begun by speak

ing of i t P

Your natural goodness of heart prompted

you to try to put me at my ease .

”

You have known me long enough to

know that I have n ’

t any natural goodness

of heart .”

Pol i te ness , then . You wil l acknowledge

that you have that qual i ty to an u ncommon

degree

A NEW’PORT AQUARELLE. 85

Prevarication . Pure prevarication th is ,

M r . Saltonstal l . I t is qu i te useless to pu r

sue i t wi th me . Remember that I have

known you a very long t ime , and though our

acquai ntance has been a superfic ia l one , st i l l

i t has give n me some chances to j udge o f

your character . Dissimulat ion is not a nat

u ral weakness of yours . You have , no

doubt,quite enough sins wi thout c ul tiva t

i ng that one . Take my advice and remain

the l iv ing curiosity that you are , the one

man who is not a l iar. Now tell me why a

cloud came into your eyes suddenly , and you

sh rouded th e thoughts i n which I was be

coming so deeply interested . Frankly now

— tel l me .

If you w i l l have the truth , Miss Carleton ,

I have a particular and possibly unreason

able objection to submitting myself to the

process known among ladies as ‘ drawing a

man out. ’ I distinctly disl ike to be made to

ride my hobby around a lady ’s drawing-room ,

or even around her yacht .”


And why do you th i nk I wa s draw i ng

you out ? ”

Because you are aware that a man is

neve r so agreeably employed as when ex

pounding h is own particular th eory to an

indulgent l iste ner.”

I n other words , you imagine that I was

martyrizi ng myse lf by l i sten ing to your talk ,

i n order that I might in spi re you with the

pleasant impressio n that you had succeeded

in in terest i ng me P

Yes

From what source have you‘

drawn these

conclusions P

From my former experience of the fai r

s ex. A man may be flattered even when he

is not dece ived , Miss Carleton . I t is a source

o f sati sfaction to know that one has aroused

a des i re to please .

You flatte r yourself too much in this

case , i n fancying that I would take the

trouble to coun terfei t an in terest I do not

feel,to act a part , fo r your benefi t .


I t is hardly an effort to follow the dic

tates o f one’s nature , Miss Carl eton .

And you imply exactly what ?

That the love of conques t i s fixed i n the

feminine character. I t is the old fable of the

kn ight and the witch .

‘ The love of power ’

i s the answer to the femin ine riddle .

”

I really ought to be angry at your imper

t inenc e , I suppose . But a soft answer turneth

away wrath . I wil l rather try to convince

you of the error of your ways . Women are

by nature sympathetic . That natural sympa

thy of temperament is touched not only on

the emotional s ide , but also on the in tellec t

ual . They have th inking-mach ines which

are fo r the most part kept quite idle , —with

out feed ,

’ to use a mechan ical simi le . The

new thoughts which a man may bring them

quickly set the th inking-machine i n motion,

and i t eagerly draws the ‘ feed ’ i n to i ts in te

rior . Your hobby is to another man who

has a stable ful l of his own , a bore and a

nuisance ; to a woman who is hobbyless , i t is


sometimes the greatest pleasure to go for a

gal lop m c r oufie behind a gallant rider whobestrides a wel l -groomed hobby. Now I was

i n mid gallop over a new road , familiar to you ,

i n te resti ng to me , when the hobby,being

wel l bred , does not stumble , but the man

does,and down we al l come together, dissa t

isfied and ba lked of our ride . The stone in

the road wh ich upset us being noth ing i n the

world but the suspic ion vani ty how shal l

I cal l that qual ity in the Boston man wh ich

is so i nd ividual , so in tangibl e , so utterly

exaspe rat ing

You cannot expect me to help you to find

that word which is to condemn myself.

I have i t caution .

”

Miss Carleton,if a man would keep h is

peace of m i nd ,he must hold fast to cau tion

i n your soc iety .

Why ? ”

Because your fa sc m a tions are so devas

tati ng to future secu ri ty and peace .

”

Then you would rather no t be fascinated ?


Strange creature ! A European would look

on you as a l unatic . And ye t i t i s the char

a c ter istic of your race . One would almost

fancy you to be l ike the youth in the song

of Heine , who , when the beautiful m aiden

asks h im the source of h is grief, repl ies !‘ I belong to that race of Asra s who must

die when they love .

’ But , to convi nce you

that I have no design i n ‘ draw i ng you out ,’

to prove that I am not plotting against your

peace of mind , I shall j o i n the Ph il i st i nes ,

who have been clam oring for a song ; wi l l

you help me i n the chorus P

Saltonstall could not s i ng,un fortunate ly

,

and he rather unreasonably resen ted th e

breaking up of a féfe-ci -téz‘e so agreeable,so

dangerous . Gladys tuned her banj o,and

,a

m andol i n being found i n the depths of M r .

Be lhom m e’

s stateroom, Larkington a c c om

pan ied th e music o f the t inkl ing instrumen t

w i th the softe r picking of the m andol in

stri ngs . He had learned to play the instru

ment i n Naples long ago,he said . The girl


had a strong , sweet soprano voice ; the m an ,

a baritone of velvety qual i ty.

They fi rst sang the popular music of th e

t ime,th e strains o f Iolan the and the Sor

cere r. Then , as the day waned and the sea

and sky grew rosy and golden with the

sunse t colors , they sang tender I tal ian folk

songs .

Sal tonstall stood leaning against th e mast,

looking at Gladys as she stood facing h im,

her figure i n a pose of perfec t grace,her

head thrown back a l i tt le , her white hands

touch ing the strings of he r i nstrumen t . Her

face was l i t up wi th the warm hues of th e

sunset c louds ; behind her was a background

of dark land and gray sky.

A s the boat gl ided smooth ly along the

shores of th e island,the mighty trees of

Redwood loomed up ,looking twi ce the i r s ize

i n the uncertain l igh t . Over th e tops of the

proud trees crept th e big yel low moon slowly ,

flooding th e heavens with he r l igh t , shaming

the garish fi res of th e western sky.

92 A NEWPORT AQUAA’ELLE.

strange gi rl with the deep eyes and lovely

voice . I t was not in accordance w i th h is

plan of l ife to fal l i n love for the next ten

years .

He followed Miss Carleton ’s advice i n

avoid ing Moun t Desert,and chose instead

a month ’s camping out in Northern Maine .

The sonnet h e wrote to her that n igh t after

the sai l Gladys never saw ti l l years after,

when she stum bled upon i t i n a book of his

VGI‘

SGS .


CHAPTER V .

ON Monday evening al l the ém u m ona’e of

Newport assemble and meet together in the

hall,or theatre , of the Casino .

I t is a pretty building, with w ide-roofed

piazzas running around i t on two sides .

There are del ic ious corners and angles i n

these p iazzas , where c onfiden c es may be

whispered , and protestations might be made ,

if anybody had time to make protestations

at Newport during the season .

The hal l i s a large apartmen t,with a stage

at one end . The walls are of a pretty l igh t

t i n t , and the gal lery with its rounded arches

is of a graceful design . The pol ished hard

wood floor is cleared on Monday evening for

dancing.

On the evening i n question,the hal l was

fi l led with an unusual ly large company of


gayly dressed people . Every avai lable seat

was occupied , and the crowd of black coats

i n the doorways was as dense as i t i s at a

Boston Papau t i party . The corresponding

number of pretty , fresh , unattended young

girls on the benches was not,however , to be

found .

The hum of th e voices was very loud,

almost deafen ing to a si len t person whe n the

sound was not drowned by the music .

“

A t

the right-hand upper co rne r of the room the

talk seemed to be the loudest . Here sat a

group of people convers ing busily and - ear

nestly . This l i t tle knot of eigh teen or twenty

persons included those whom Gladys had

yclept the Boston gang .

” The central fig

ure was that of a tal l handsome lady , with a

loud voice and brusque manner.

I cal l i t very shabby of Mrs . Fallow-Deer

to leave me out of the hunt d inner ; but i t’

s

a comfort to know that non e of th e rest of

you are said the handsome brusque

lady.


I t was j us t l ike he r, but I suppose Gladys

Carleton was at the bottom of it. Were the

invi tations given out in Mrs . Fallow-Deer’

s

nam e P

The speaker was the lady w i th the three

syllabled name whom Larkington had met

on board the Dolph in on th e occasion of the

yachting party.

“ No,said the handsome brusque lady ;

bu t everybody knows that she and Gray

Grosvenor made out the l ist. A s to Gladys

Carleton,I can ’t say I blame her for not

l iki n ’ Boston people .

”

WhyP asked several vo ices .

Because , when she came on there to

make a vis i t last win te r, she had a perfectly

horrid time . She stayed w i th some people

l ivi n ’ on Newbury Street, whom she had met

in Europe . They were from Philadelph ia ,

and nobody knew them in Boston,though

they had l ived the re five years . I got her an

inv i tation to the assembly,but she would no t

go because her friends were no t asked . They


were very n ice people , but somehow they did

not ‘ ge t on ’ i n Boston .

Don ’t you th ink that the Hub i s a pretty

hard place for any stranger to ‘ get on ’

in ?

M r . Curtis Sears was the speaker. H e

was a young Boston ian , with a cold thought

ful face , who looked as if he had been fed on

ice-water du ring his i nfancy, i nstead of th e

less ch i lly fluid prov ided by natu re for the

human young. His quest ion was answered

by the handsome brusque lady.

Yes , M r. Sears , I qui te agree with you .

A st ranger who comes to Boston for a few

weeks , if he brings proper le tte rs , is su re to

receive a great deal of attent ion . We l ike a

l ion immensely. But with people who come

to l ive amongst us , i t i s a very differen t mat

ter. Then i t i s no t a question o f an acquaint

an c esh ip of a few weeks , bu t a permanent

one . That makes such a difference .

”

One of my old c lassmates a t college

m arried last year, and brough t h is wife , who

was a New York bel le , to Boston . She hap

s


pened to have ne i ther re latives nor friends i n

our city , and as he was l i ttle given to society ,

he had few personal re lations wi th it. He

belonged to one of the best famil i es,but that

served the l itt le bride i n no wise . People

s imply let he r alone . A few of the best

mannered of the neighbors cal led upon her,

and the husband ’s relat ives asked her to dine

once at the i r several houses , and t here i t

s topped . She now rail s against Boston,and

l ives but i n the hope of i nducing her hus

band to remove to New York .

”

The truth of th e matte r i s,said the

pretty lady Wi th the three-syllabled name,

that we don ’t want al l the nice men to

marry out of Boston . We al l have cous ins

and siste rs,even if our daughters are too

young to th ink abou t from a matrimon ial

s tandpoint,and i t i s ve ry aggravating to

have these New York women j ust pick and

choose al l ou r bes t matches , whi le we are

groan ing under the overwhelming surplus of

our female population .

!

98 A NEWPOA’T A QUARELLE.

This remark was rece ived by the ladies of

the “ gang ” with a not iceable warmth and

sym pathy.

At th is moment a group o f people entered

the ball room , attracti ng the at tention of all

i ts occupants .

These are the people from the hunt di n

ner,said the handsome lady .

The gentlemen of the party of new ar

rival s—th ere were perhaps fifteen of them

—were dressed in red evening coats and

wh i te breeches . The costumes of the ladies

were al l pretty , and bore enough resemblance

to each othe r to make the whole company

appear to be i n u niform . Mrs . Fal low-Deer,

lean ing on the arm of M r. Be lhomme , headed

the train . I n her hand she carried a long

polo mall et of flowers . Mrs . Craig bore on

her arm a saddle of pansies . Gladys Carle

ton , who entered the room last with M r .

Larkington , had been awarded , as a fl oral

token from the dinner , a hunting-horn of

scarl et flowers , which she wore over her

v


Larkington . No , nothi ng has happened,

and you have nothi ng to do with my in

digo fit .

”

S ometh ing has

G ladys again i n terrupted her interlocutor

No , noth ing has ! I am s imply ti red of

myself. There i s the diffic ul ty . You know

someth ing of th e ways of peopl e ; have you

ever before known a person i n my pos ition,

with plen ty to eat and drink , good clothes to

wear,kind friends , and perfect health , who

was perfectly weary of herself P I t i s not

l ife that I am bored with , but myself. I am

so t i red of my own face that I cannot bear

to look in the glass ; as to my inne r self,

i t is th e most ti resome , utterly un interest ing

th i ng to me in the wide world .

“ I cannot understand your state of mind ,

Miss Gladys , I beg pardon , I forgot ,

Miss Carleton . I s i t not Newport that you

are bored with P Why not t ry some o the r

place for a c hangeP

Why ? I cannot leave myself behind , no


matter how fast I might travel , seeking new

scenes,from Mt . Desert to Saratoga.”

The Englishman looked mildly bewi ldered

and answered nothing ; gaz ing, meanwhile ,

straight into the deep eyes wh ich knew no

shadow of turn ing . He was certain ly fal l

ing in love— perhaps he had already fal len

in love—with this original , many-s ided crea

ture,as fasc inating to h im as she was in c om

prehensible . Larkington had steadily per

s is ted i n his attentions to Miss Carleton , and

was not ashamed to have i t known that he

was her devoted admire r. H e avoided mak

ing th e acquain tance o f other lad ies as much

as possible ; and when he could not be at her

s ide in society , he would stand alone , watch

ing her every movement. The sort of cow

a rd ic e which Gladys had found in some o f

her compatriot lovers , who endeavored to

screen their admirat ion of her from the

world , had no place in the actions of the

Engl ishman . He wai ted for her every morn

ing when she drove out for shopping or visi t


i ng in her cousin Amel ia ’s pretty cart with

the Carleton crest on harness and trappings .

He fol lowed on horseback , meeting her at

every turn . I n the afternoon he was always

in attendance,even if there were other men

about,and in society sh e was the only woman

under fi fty with whom he ever exchanged a

remark .

This absolu te devotion was rath er a ttra c

tive to Gladys . She was amused by the big,

handsome man who was so entirely of the

world worldly, i n most respects,and yet

seemed so perfect ly unaccustomed to the

ways of women .

He had a fund of i n te rest ing experiences

to relate and , being gifted with a powerfu l

imaginat i on and a vivid faculty of desc rip

t ion , he was never at a loss for an anecdote

of t ravel o r adven tu re .

H is stories of l ife i n Australia were th ri l l

i ng and ful l of crisp humor. He knew

Russia and the other northern countries of

Europe , as wel l as the more frequented


known in a sort of misty garmen t of he r own

imagin ings , which blurred the i r rea l outl ines .

If you wil l not dance , Miss Carleton , wil l

you not come out on the piazza during the

wal tz,i t i s so very warm here P

By al l means ; le t us go .

”

The two young people , whose names were

already l inked together by the busybodies of

Newport,left th e hot bal lroom and passed

ou t in to th e coo l even ing air. I t i s neve r

hot at n igh t in Newport. The sea-breeze

sweeps across the is land , refresh ing those

who have suffered the te rrible heats of the

c i ty summer , and have come to the fresh

health-givi ng c l imate for rest .

O n the wide p iazza groups of men were

sitti ng togethe r, talking and smoking,or

s ilently enj oying the beau ty of the perfect

summer n igh t .

I n on e of the shadowy corners stood two

chai rs late ly vacated by Mrs . Craig and

Coun t Cl awski . G ladys placed herself i n

one of th ese , her companion seating himself


Now tel l me things , said the gi rl , impera

tive ly .

What shal l i t be about to-n ightP

Oh ! anyth ing you l ike . You might fin

i sh tel l ing me about the Bedouin ch ief who

fel l i n love w i th the English lady.

”

No,that is rather too long a sto ry . May

I not tel l you something abou t Newport and

what has happened to me since I first met

you here i n th is ve ry Casino ?

Decidedly not. That would be qui te too

commonplace and everyd ay an expe rience .

”

Larkington was si lent and medi tat ively

stroked his moustache , from which action he

seemed to derive a certain comfort.

As they sat qui te si len t,a l ight flashed

close to th e face of Gladys,

a t iny golden

spark , and was quickly lost again i n the

darkness .

What a pret ty firefly , and how bright !

You should take the firefly as your dev ice ,

Miss Carle ton , fo r i t resembles you more

than anything else that I have seen .

”


If i t i s a compl imen t , thank you kindly .

You know I l ike pretty speeches as wel l as

Mrs . Craig l ikes bonéons . But exac tly wéy

am I l ike a fi refly ? I have no w ings .

I n the song about Z ule ika ’s eyes wh ich

you l iked,they are compared to the light o f

the fi refly . When they are turned upon her

lover all i s brigh t and beautiful , but when

the l ids drop before the i r l igh t,l ike the

wings of the fi refly, the world is dark .

”

Did you ever know any one cal led

Z u leika P“ Yes .

Where did she l ive ?

In a l i t tle ten t near the banks of the river

J ordan .

”

Was she prettyP

Hardly pretty ; the te rm is too Engl ish

to describe the black-browed Zuleika .

Who was she P

The daughter of th e sheik Abdu l , with

whom I l ived some time .

”

But how was i t possible that you should


sued by a hostile band , had come to take

refuge with i n his gates , i n the ci ty of Damas

cus . For a week th e whole band claimed

the hospital i ty of their brother, and made

thei r camp in the house and grounds of

Lady Margare t. Her attention was attracted

to Abdul , then young and handsome (he has

often assured me) as the morning star, tall as

the palm-tree , and strong as the whirlwind .

Abdu l was at that t ime in great t rouble ; h is

favori te wife had d ied , leaving h im the one

daughter of h is house , Zu leika , then a ch ild

of five. I nstead of i n trus ting her to the care

of the women , Abdu l was always with the

l i tt le girl , who was as dear to him as the

spring of water i n the dese rt . Lady Mar

garet was struck by the devotion of thi s

young father to h is ch i ld , and became deeply

interested i n the pai r. When the welcome

time came fo r the departure of her s trange

guests , Lady Margaret asked of Abdul h is

daughte r, h is Zu le ika , the breath of his body,

the sun of his sky. I t was al l she asked of


h im,and he , the sheik of the tribe , could

refuse no request made by the woman who

had shel tered his people .

‘ I gave m y Z u

l e ika to the wife of my brothe r to th e

woman with great learn ing— without a tear

without a sigh .

’

I remember the way in

wh ich Abdul told me this , as if i t were but

yeste rday . We were s it t ing on the sand

outs ide the tent, a great fi re blaz ing before

us . S ome of the men of th e tribe were

danc ing one of the i r wi ld barbaric war dances

on the other side of the fire . The l ight

gleamed on thei r naked swords , thei r dark

fierc e faces , and the white drapery of thei r

burnooses . I t was a scene n eve r to be for

gotten . Zuleika remained with Lady Margaret

and learned many th ings which were of use to

her in after l ife . First of al l , Lady Margaret

taugh t her th e Engl ish language. Zu le ika’

s

new friend showed much common-sense i n

her education of the girl . She knew that i t

would be impossible to make an Engl i sh

woman of her, and so , beyond the habi ts of


c leanl i ness , and the arts oi. sew i ng and cook

ing , she made no attempt to angl ic ize the

l i ttl e maiden . Zule ika was taught to em

broider the beautiful patterns you value so

much in th is country . I have a scarf she

worked for me , which I will show you some

t ime . For seven years the daughte r of Ab

dul remained th e constan t com panion of

Lady Margaret , but at the end of that t ime

the restlessness w h ich had ever been upon

her grew too great to bear. She was a

woman now,according to the reckon ing of

her people , and the l ife of rest rict ion had

neve r been pleasant to her She fled away

i n the night to the desert , where ‘ she heard

the stars call i ng her,’ and with the help of

one of her people found her father. Abdu l

rej oiced at the return of the daughter he had

mourned as one dead , and kept her always

near h im . Her condit ion was a pi tiable

one. Her father had not the heart to force

her to marry among his people , fo r the

girl was natural ly intel l igen t , and with the


t ions of his tribe , and s ing th e songs of h is

nation . Zu leika , as you will imagine , added

much to the interes t of these conversat ions,

tel l i ng me of her strange l ife with Lady Mar

garet,and the terribl e gulf which i t had made

between he rse lf and her people . What a

long story ! and how ti red you must be l

Have you heard enough about Zule ika ? ”

La rkm g ton asked .

No,not half enough ! But there is Mrs .

Fal low-Deer,looking for me . I suppose I

must go . You may come to-morrow evening

and tell me the rest of your romance of

A rabia. Good-night .

A NEWPORT AQUARELLE.1 13

CHAPTER VI .

MUCH that i s best worth se eing i n New

port is never seen by a majori ty of the

people who V is i t th e town during th e sea

son . I n the eighteen miles length and n ine

miles breadth of th e island are many nooks

and grottos unknown to those individual s

who limit thei r expedit ion to the ocean drive ,

and the path across the beaches . A rtists

know these spots and l inger i n them . Lovers

fi nd th em out somehow instinc tively. But

Newport has now become the resort of th e

rich , and even the dwel le rs i n the quie t

country farm-houses demand exorbitant price s

for thei r s imple accommodations . 8 0 artists

are rarely met with , and , as i t has been

h inted , there are few people who take time at

th is most bri l l ian t of watering-places to fal l8


i n love . Love-Lane , Fairy Dell , Glen Anna ,

Vaucluse,and Lawton ’s Valley have few

visitors .

I t is a pi ty that the world l ings have found

out th is region o f del igh t. Any other place

would have se rved as wel l for the display of

th e ir horses and carriages , diamonds , clothes ,

beauty,a nd beaux . Why should they have

chosen to e rect thei r palat ial cottages on our

quiet island,to pass their id le summer in the

quai nt old town ?

The love o f nature is not always a natura l

gift. W i th the dwel lers i n c i t ies , the taste is

usual ly one which has been acqu ired through

the influen c e of some coun try-bred or poetic

mind . How many beaut ies of sky and wood

land , flower and tree,has not Wordsworth

taugh t us to see P ! eats has led thousands

of ears to note the m u5 1c 1n the wild bi rd ’s

carol , wh ich else had hardly heeded it. Who

does not see a new deligh t i n the s imple

fiel d flower after reading Burns’

s descript ion

of the daisy ?

1 16 A NE I/VPORT AQUARELLE.

seemed to be gradual ly coming to her of i ts

sec ret s and charms. I t was not without a

certai n pain that th is new feel ing crept about

her,

i t seemed to be a part of the gri eved

lonel i ness wh ich she had lately experienced .

“ People can be noth ing to us ; there i s

noth ing wh ic li can stand by us but our work ,

and when we have not any work , we are

a lone .

”

The speech was not a ve ry coheren t one,

and th e person to whom it was addressed

rece ived i t i n si lence .

“ Books are a help , but i t is so one-sided

a friendsh ip one has wi th one ’s book friends .

We cannot answer , and only rece ive , never

giving anything i n return for what we get

from them .

”

Gladys Carleton was the speaker,and the

l istener , Larkington , her faithfu l caval ie r .

You l ive too much with you r books,Miss

Carle ton , and too littl e with your ki nd . I t

makes you melancholy. You shou ld learn

to care more for people and less for ideas .”


What nonsense you are talking, Mr.

Larkington ' Excuse me for plain speaking,

but you are,real ly. I do not think you

under stand at al l what I mean .

”

I fear that I do not .

There was a pause , afte r which Gladys

said abruptly

How fa r IS i t to the sea ?

About hal f a mil e , I fancy.

P lease go down to the shore and bring

me a piece of red seaweed .

”

I cannot leave you here alone .

Why not , if I order you to go ? Do you

not know how to be obedient P

You are teaching me , Miss Carleton . I

never knew before that i t was pleasanter to

obey than to be obeyed .

”

Of course it is . There is no such luxury

in the world as self—abnegation i t i s the

th ing we al l long for .

”

“ I do not fancy that you would enj oy it ;

you are too imperious by nature . You were

born to command . I never heard you make


I n other words , you th ink me a bu l ly ?

Now go th is instant ! I won ’t have you stay

he re and abuse me . Go, I say , and bring

me the bunch of red seaweed .

”

You are cruel , but I yield . You are not

afraid to be left a l one P

No ; I am with in cal l ing distance from

the house .

When she was alone,the tal l beauty rose

from he r seat on the t runk of a fal len tree ,

and walked rapid ly i n the opposi te d i rec tion .

The path over which she passed was fragrant

with pine need les and wild flowers. Over

head hung the ! boughs of the larch-t rees

which l i ned the walks,and over the trees was

the soft bl ue of the sum mer sky. Carrying

her riding crop in one hand,and holding her

habit with the other,sh e ran down th e path ,

which sloped suddenly toward the great

pond at its foot .

Gladys had ridden out to visi t a coun try

friend , who l ived in a quie t val e m any miles

d istant from the gay town . Finding her


toi

be frothed into a white mass of foam at

the bottom o f the fall . A s trong young

wil low-t ree behind the rock se rved her as a

support,and

,tw in ing one arm about i ts sl eu

der s tem , she sat overhanging the waterf al l ,

l ooking down into the deep pool .

The bare hand which embraced th e trunk

touched a rough surface , and her fingers

t raced the outl ine of some letters , c ut into

the bark . She could not see the letters,

they were on th e other side of the tree,

but she had not forgotten the day when

they . were carved , al l those years ago , G . C .

and C . F with a true lover’

s knot between

the in it ials . She laid he r cheek against

the wil low and sat qu ite s i lent , looking

down , always down , i n to the black pool at

her feet . The downcast eyel ids quivered

and let fal l a tear , which dropped unnoted on

her knee. Another and another drop of

nature ’s balm coursed down the pale cheek ,

and the ches t . trembled with emotion of a

s ilen t weeping. There was no violence ,


noth ing of that teari ng grief with which the

women who have l ived , loved , and suffered

weep out the agony wh ich seems l ike to rend

body and soul apart. The burden of her

l ife seemed too great for her to bear,and she

wept fo r the em ptiness of her lot , of her

heart . A verse from a poem wh ich had

always seemed appropriate to herself ran

through her mind

El le est morte , e t n ’

a po in t véc u ;El le faisai t semblan t de v ivre .

De ses mains es t tombé l e l ivreDans leque l e l le n

’a r ien ln .

”

When she was dead , what so appropriate as

th is poem ,Sur une Morte ,

”

of De Musset ’s ,

could be read over he r cold c l ayP Why

should she not die now ? How easy would

i t be to sl ip down from the great rock ,

and lose herself i n th e obl ivion of the b lack

pool , with the white foam danc ing above

her ? Who would care much P” she

asked herself,and answered her own ques

tion with more tears . No one would real ly


miss her. Her mother would gri eve a l i ttle

wh ile,but th e othe r daughters would soon

receive the share o f affection wh ich the shal

l ow paren t had given her I t was a love of

offspri ng only , and had no tie of sympathy

to deepen it.

How easy i t would be to move a few s teps

to the edge of the great stone , to lean fa r

over the abyss , holding on by the tree , « a nd

at last to let go her grasp and fal l th rough

the soft ai r to the coo l black water, then one

great pain and afterwards , rest ! There

was the terrible though t if i t should not

be rest wh ich she shou ld find beneath the

dancing foam bubbles .

Was i t that thought on ly which kept he r

from doing the th ing which she had pic tured

to herself P Was i t th e doubt wh ich held her

back ? Yes ,” she reasoned , only that .

We re we but sure of what awaits us on the

other side , how many of us would remain

upon the h i the r bank of the dark rive r which

men cal l death , and wh ich saints bel i eve( Y

’ ,


0

great power. Death , whom she had thought

about so l ightly, had now come to claim her

grim ly . She looked up i nto the bl ue sky,

which was so fair, and out over the beauty of

th e lonely gorge . She fel t , as she had never

done before , the beauty about her on every

s ide . She saw the possib i l i ties of happiness

and usefulness which she had so u tte rly neg

l ec ted. She knew that l ife was a blessing,

and in the c ry which startled the st i l l ai r

there was remorse for her thanklessness as

wel l as agony fo r her danger.

The rock th ri lled once more beneath her,

and as i t trembled ’twixt the ledge and the

prec ipice , Gladys lifted a prayer for her l ife

to the God whose existence she had some

t ime den ied .

A s trong hand c lasped her finge rs , she fel t

h er waist fi rm ly seized , and in an instan t she

knew that she was safe , though the great

rock had fal le n from i ts bed with a m ighty

crash , and the wh ite foam was dashed upon

her cheek and brow. She was carried a few


s teps i n a pai r o f strong arms wh ich pressed

her close to a fast-beating heart. She was

placed gently on a mossy bank by some one

who spoke no word . Her eyes were c losed ,

though she had not fainted , and she knew

whose arm had saved her in the hour o f

danger. She was gratefu l and looked up to

speak .

The face into which she glanced was deadly

white , and the eyes were dim . She rose to

her feet , for he looked so strangely. A s she

stood up strong , though trembl ing sl igh t ly,

the man at her s ide reeled , as if he had been

struck , and fel l fainting to the ground at he r

feet .

The girl knew quite wel l what to do,and

,

be ing one o f those persons who are never

overcome by an emergency,she quickly

brought the swooning man to his senses . A

copious sprinkl ing with cold water and the

appl icat ion of Miss Carleton ’s vi naigret te to

h is nostri ls caused Mr. Cuthbert Larkington

to open h is eyes in a few moments . When


he was qui te restored , Gladys , tu rning her

face from him ,said ,

You have saved my life—and I am very

grateful to you ! May I ask you a great

favor ? ”

Need you doubt it ?

I t is th is,that you wil l never mention

what has happened to day to any one . P rom

ise me . Do not even speak of i t to me. I

cannot bear to th ink of it. I t was too

te rrible .

Yes , I will promise on one condi tion .

And that i s P

That you wi l l swear to me neve r to

risk your prec ious l ife again so wilful ly, so

w ickedly

I t should be a precious l ife ?

I t is deare r to me than my own .

Wel l , I promise. Now pledge me your

word .

”

She held out to h im her del icate hand ,

white as snow, pink as apple blossoms . The

man touched i t with his own strong fingers.


Yes . I t was awful ly soft of me to faint i n

that way ; I am thorough ly ashamed of m y

self. Do you despise me for it ? ”

No . Afte r you had saved me you had a

right to be terrified . Had you bee n frigh t

ened before , I shou ld not have bee n here

now. A re you glad you saved me ? ”

HDo you not know

Oh yes , of course I know , said the girl

hast i ly,i n t errupting his vehemence ; and I

am glad , too .

”

She tu rned and looked at th e place where

she had so late ly stood in mortal danger.

Everyth ing was peaceful and quiet now.

The cool plash o f th e water came to he r

ea rs,and th e tender song of a wild bird fel l

l ike a tri umphan t hymn of praise upon the

st i l lness of th e day.

I t i s good to l ive , said the song of the

I t is enough to be a l i t tle part of such

a world ,” sighed the girl . Why cannot we

forget ourse lves and our petty ambitions ,


our loves and our hates , i n the peace of al l

th is beauty ?

She spoke half to herse lf and hal f to th e

bi rd . Larkington knew that h e was not ad

dressed . H e fel t a te rrible sense of l one l i

ness . H e was with the woman he loved ,

close at her side . H e had carried he r in h is

arms but now , and yet she was farther from

h im at that moment than she had eve r

seemed before .

W i th the feel ing of th is d istance there

came to him a great pain unknown before .

What it meant he could not know . If one

had told h im , he could not have understood

the words . He suffe red dumbly , ignorantly ,

with a new sense of his capac i ty for suffe r

i ng.

Poor wretch ! Miserable sham , impostor,

and liar, false to al l men and women,false

to h imsel f ; i n that keen suffering awoke

with i n him the sou l which had ti l l now

slept .


CHAPTER VI I .

THE morn ing of the great Newport picn ic

dawned bright and clear,and the hearts of

al l the happy people who were privi leged to

j o in the exclusive and aristocratic affai r were

much l ighte r than th ey had been on the pre

vious even ing , when the weather looked very

dubious . No heart so l igh t,though , as that

of M r. Gray Grosvenor , the prime mover in

the picnic,

the man i n whose brai n the

idea had at first originated , broadened , and

fina l ly emerged i n the complete and perfec t

plan .

M r. Gray Grosvenor was a verv prominen t

m a n i n Newport soc iety , more prominent

than Mr . Belhomme , though he was not

nearly so rich . He was m ore cou rted even

than M rs . Fal low-Deer, though he “ did


holds , beside th is , another pos i t ion , that

o f a sort of gentleman caterer. I t is a unique

ofl‘i c e , I th ink . He gets up al l the assembl ies

,

and arranges the m enu of the supper,as wel l

as the l i s t of subsc ribers . H e is wi ll ing to

do th is sort of work for soc ie ty, and on the

whole society is grateful to h im,as no one

else would give the time , pains , and trouble

to it. Though he is i n a sense the servant

o f society , i nasmuch as he serves it , he is also

i ts ru le r, and he is courted from fear, if from

nothing else,l ike the French king with the

l ittl e leaden images i n h is hat . Gray Gros

venor’

s images are of gold , and not of lead .

”

One sees that you do not l ike the gentle

man , Mrs . Craig P” said Larkington .

L ike h im P Why should 1 ? Because I

come from Baltimore , and he does n’

t happen

to know anyth ing about me , he leaves me

out o f his picn ic . I not only d isl ike h im ,

but I have been praying solemnly for the

las t week that i t migh t rain on the clay fixed

fo r h is fe te , and spoil i t al l .”


0

Count Cl awski , who was i n these days the

devoted slave of th e pretty M rs . Craig,

j o i ned the two , who were s i tt ing where we

fi rst saw them , i n th e long balcony of the

Casin o .

You are speaking of the p ic n ic , madam ,

said the d ip lomate , whose calm and punc

til ious manner was for th e n once upset. He

looked angry and exc i ted .

“ Pa r é/eu , I wi ll

not go ,if i t rain s o r sh ines .

I heard you had orde red a wonde rfu l

a u-vw l at Hartman ’s for your contribution ,

said Mrs . Craig.

He asks me , th i s m an , conti nued the

Coun t , notwi th standing Mrs . Craig ’s re

m arks , to subsc ribe fo r h is picnic ,‘

to bri ng

a d i sh , and a bottle of wine ; and when I say

to h im ,

‘ Now , I wi l l a lady with m e bring ,’

he says , Excuse me , I must ask you to send

h e r n ame i n for th e approva l of the com

m ittee 1’ C ommittee indeed ! I never heard

of any but that of Mr. Gray Grosvenor h im

sel f ; i t i s to m e an insu l t . Should I bring

1 36 A NEW’

PORT AQUARELLE.

Over across the rose-beds where the flowers

nodded a gay good-morning to her, stretched

the green lawn , which ran sloping down to

the cl iffs , at whose foot the waves murmured

with a kindly melody.

No other sound was in the land,and i n

the sea no motion save for the white arms of

a youth who was swimming by leisurely , and

who slackened h is strokes and looked up at

th e balcony, which showed h im a woman

who was young and graceful , th e distance

not al low ing h im to guess more .

Gladys looked at the swimmer,and thought

how grace fu l were his motions,and how

much the boyish head of gold hair and the

white,supple

,strong l imbs , sh in ing through

the gree n waters,added to the scene . I t

brought human l ife into what had been be

fore but an empty background ; i t made her

fee l that of al l the grand th ings in the world ,

m an may be the grandest . Why did the

face of Charles Farwel l seem to look at her

from the green wavesP If i t had been


Farwel l she could no t have seen h im , and

she knew h im to be a thousand miles away .

And yet,when the youth out there , lying i n

the cool wate r , raised one arm and waved a

greet ing to her,she answered it i nvoluntari ly ,

and then,remembering fo r the fi rst momen t

herself,stand ing ou t i n the broad dayl igh t in

her wrapper,he r hai r streaming about he r

shoulders , her l i tt l e rosy feet bare , she gave

a startled cry and sprang back i nto her room ,

blush ing hotly though no one was there to

see .

Her maid came to he r i n half an hou r,

bringing the morning mail . She was sur

prised to see that one of the letters bore the

handwriting of her cousin , Amelia Carle ton ,

who was sti l l at Lenox . The first part of

the lette r she glanced through carelessly,but

the last paragraph fixed her atten tion ; she

read i t slowly , and afterwards sat looking at

i t abstractedly.

I hear tha t your la st c onquest is the goodlook ing Engl ishm a n we m e t driving tha t day . I


0

have a sked Lady Ca rew ,who is s tay ing here, a l l

about h im . H e is the son of Lord Luc re,sh e tel ls

m e she knows h is fam i ly wel l . I t is,a s you know ,

a n exc el len t one in po int of pos it ion ; ‘

and th is

young m an is better off than m ost younger son s,

for he ha s h is m other’s whole fortune , wh ic h issom e th ing very handsom e . The e lder bro ther ha sepi lepsy , w i l l never m arry, and your friend is suresooner or later to suc c eed to the t i tle a nd esta tes .

Lady Carew says it w i l l probably be sooner, for

h is brother is not expec ted to l ive long . Now ,if

th ings have gone a s fa r a s I suppose they have, m yso lem n advic e to you, Gladys, i s to m arry M r .

La rk ington . H e is the sort of m an best c a l c u

la ted to m ake you happy, a s he br ings a l l the

th ings you n eed m ost, m oney , an a ssured pos it ion , and in t im e a t i tle . My dear , take the advi c e

of a lone ly wom an ,an old m a id , and do not hes i

ta te . You have grown , a s I d id before you, toodéfi c z

’

l e. I t is the c urse of Am eric a n g irls w i th

beauty or m oney,that they have so m a ny c ha n c es

to m a rry . They d isc a rd th is one fo r one fault,tha t one be c ause he la c ks som e c erta in v irtue ; infine, they end by expec ting to find a paragon ,

wh ic h sha l l un ite a l l th e virtues and be w i thouta ny of the faul ts of m anhood . Of c ourse theydon ’t find h im , a nd they rem a in unm arried and


forehead with two strait d i n ts , had come only

with her cousi n ’s l etter. She took her si lve r

comb (she would have l iked a golden one)and parted the th ick soft hai r on her left

temple . Yes , there they were , those fi rst

terribl e finge r-marks of t ime Wh ite hai rs

a few ,half a dozen , perhaps j us t i n th is

spot flec ked the dusky mass of hair . No one

knew of thei r ex is tence but Gladys and he r

maid . The Abigail assured her that th ey

were the resul t o f some knock she must have

given her head , fo r only i n th i s spot was

there one to be found ; but Gladys refused

to console herself with th is hypothesis , and

accepted the warn ing which they gave her of

th e instabil i ty of beauty and the fl igh t of

t ime .

For a quarter of an hour she sat motion

less , her eyes fixed upon her own shadow ,

and i n that space she reviewed al l he r past ,

looked her presen t in the face,and weighed

th e poss ibil i ties o f the future , quietly , cool ly ,

and methodical ly. She put aside the rose

A NEPVPORT AQUARELLE. 14 1

colored il lus ions in which women wrap thei r

thoughts of themselves to the i r very selves ,

and looked,for once in her l ife , at the hard

plain facts of her existence .

She had passed her fi rst youth , girlhood

wa s behind her , and at twen ty-five she wa s a

woman . Her beauty was stil l at i ts heigh t,

but i t must wane , and the waning must

begin before long. She had not so many

chances open to he r of changing he r name

as she had had last year,and every twelve

months the chances would grow l ess and

less . She had that very week walked as a

bridesmaid before a bride whose bridegroom,

a year previous , had declared him sel f desolate

and broken-hearted at her refusal o f h is su i t .

He had consoled h imsel f i n so short a time

w ith a pretty ch i t of eighteen , with pale ,

pleading bl ue eyes,and no figure at al l !

The constancy of man But the re was Cid .

Did he sti l l love her ? She doubted i t. He

had neve r told her so since her re tu rn from

Europe , though he had had many chances


tb do so . Then h is abrupt departu re from

Newport without one word of farewe l l, be

yond the A u r evoz

'

r written on the card

wh ich came with a bunch of red roses.Did

not that im ply that he did not wish to see

anyth ing more of her ? Pe rhaps he had

seen how th ings would go betwee n herself

and Larkington , and wished to prove that he

d id not consider himself as a p rélm a’am for

he r hand , so left th e ground clear for th e

new sui to r. I t seemed more than likely.

I t was rather unkind of Cid,though ; but

did she dese rve anyth ing bette r from h im P

She grew qu ite red as she asked herself the

quest ion . And on seeing the flush mount

to her forehead in the m i rror, she sprang to

her feet , angry and defia n t , at war w i th

herse lf,and with a bitte r cry against th e

cruel ty o f fate , i n her heart .

She dressed herself not the less with great

care,and chose the dark blue gown i n wh ich

Larkington had fi rst seen her at the Casino ,

and which he preferred to any other of her

144 A NE I/VPORT A QUARELLE.

soul who sat opposite her had been a beauty,

too , i n her day , but what t race was left

of her lost graces ! She S ighed again,at

which unusual sound M rs . Fal low-Deer pu t

down her teacup and , looking search ingly

at Gladys , said slowly and solemn ly ,

My clear, i t i s my private opin ion that

you are in love .

”

Gladys laughed .

“ I wish I were,she

cried half bitterly, half i n j es t . L ike Pa

t ien c e , I am quite ignorant of the sensation

of the tender passion . I have never been

i n love .

”

That is nonsense , my dear ; however, i t

i s a nonsense that al l girls talk , and I sup

pose I can’

t expect you to be wiser than

your kind . But seriously,my child , are you

not th inking a good deal about somebody P

Yes , but that somebody is myself.”

Of course i t i s always so with a girl

who has no busi ness to be a gi rl any longer .

I have had something of your experience ,

Gladys,and my advice ought not to be value


less to you . I did not marry unti l I was a

year or two older than you , and was heartily

sick of mysel f, and of th i nking about myself,

and of al l th e shadowy joys and triumphs

I was supposed to enj oy . Now, you have a

heart,and were meant to love (as was I)

someth ing and somebody bes ides yoursel f.

Suppose the man whom you marry is not

your young ideal ; what of that ? A l l men

are troublesome comforts , but i t’

s a grea t

th ing to have a companion of your own

time, whose interests are one with your own ,

and who wil l go with you th rough l ife. My

clear, i t is very dreary to si t over the embers

alone . Husbands are at best a good deal

of a trial , but then the compensation comes

i n one ’s ch ildren . I am a woman who has,

as you know, experienced a great deal and

enjoyed many th ings,but the comfort and

pleasure I have had i n my boys outweighs

al l the rest of the goods of my l ife beyond

comparison . But I suppose you can ’t under

stand that.”


Gladys had not sat patien tly during th is

homi ly , but had moved uneasi ly about the

room , looking first out of the window and

then in to the cream j ug on the table,as if

to find some help there . Everybody seemed

to be agains t he r and i n league with Lark

ington ,for she knew perfectly well to what

al l Mrs . Fallow-Deer had said pointed . Even

Charl ie , h is absence from Newport was i n

i tself a sanction to her encouragement of

Larkington .

A servant entered , bringing a great bunch

of deep gold ye l low roses for Miss Carleton ,

and a note i n an al ready fami l iar hand . I t

was from Larkington , asking her if she

would drive wi th h im to the picn ic . She

stood sti l l and si lent for one awful moment ,

during which it se emed to he r that the whol e

of her l ife hung in the balance . Should she

go , or not ? She sat down at the writing

desk , took up a quil l , examined i ts poin t

carefully , took out a sheet of paper, dated it,

wrote,Dear M r . Larkington , and had no t

148 NEWp ozer AQUARELLE.

breast was one smal l old ring . I t was of

very lit tle value , and had cost Charles Far

wel l the fi rs t score of dol lars he had earned,

all those years ago . She sm iled a l i ttle sadly

as sh e looked at the ring, and then kissed it

and sl ipped i t off from her finger .


CHAPTER V I I I .

MR. LAR! INGTON stood looking anxiously

from his window,on the morn ing of the al l

important day of M r. Gray Grosvenor’s pic

n ic . That gentleman h imself, pass ing by

and catch ing a gl impse of La rkington’

s rather

gloom y face , nodded reassuri ngly to h im ,as

if to say that the l i ttl e cloud which had j ust

floa ted before the face of th e sun did not

mean anyth i ng. The weather would not

th ink of doing so i l l-j udged a thing as to

i nte rfere with one of Mr . Gray Grosvenor ’s

fe tes . S o on passed the great man,wrapped

i n a mysterious vision of th e new mode of

cooking macaron i wi th madei ra sauce,and

th e effect i t would have upon the experienced

palates of M r. Belhomme and Mrs.Fallow

Deer.

1 50 A NEWPORT AQUARELLE .

La rking ton’

s anxiety had no reference to

the weather, or to the prospects of the picn ic ,

but was centred i n the smal l and dainty bi lle t

wh ich h is quick eye already detected in the

hand of Sti rrups , who appeared on the hori

zon,bearing down fo r the hotel .

St i rrups , a h ideous l i t tle gnome of a groom ,

was dressed in a neat and prec ise l ivery,and

walked gravely and composedly up to the side

en trance of the hotel , giving a glance at the

sm al l window i n the th i rd story where he had

rightly expected to see La rkington’

s face .

H e passed through the hall and up the

fi rst flight of stai rs with the slow and conde

scending step wh ich these gentl emen of th e

rum bl e affect when they are obl iged to touch

the vulgar earth with their feet,being used to

be carried by the swiftest steeds and driven

by the fai rest of l adies . I n the upper corri

dor he saw no one,nor on th e stai rs above

or below,and at once

,losing the grand ai r

and his s low step,he ran up the next two

fl igh ts , taking th ree steps at a time , and

1 52 A NEWPORT A QUARELLE .

Hear it not , Dunc an for i t is a knel l

That summons thee to heaven or to

Not a very pretty place to talk about , she

cried,as she rose slowly from her seat in

Mrs . Fal low-Deer’s morning-room .

What an odd gi rl you are , Gladys ! Wel l ,

good-by. I shal l be out , te l l Gray Grosvenor ,

by half-past one . Make h im wa i t lunch eon

t i l l I come . Don ’t forget your dish of cro

quettes , nor the champagne ; th ey are a l l

packed in a basket in the hall . A re y ou

warm ly enough dressed , c hi ldP How pale

you look ! Give your cheeks a l i t tle rub , so l

That ’

s bette r. Now trot along , and remem

ber what I said to you at breakfast .”

Gladys did look pale , and l istless too , as

she s tepped into the dogcart , steadied by Mr .

La rking ton’

s hand ; bu t he though t she never

before had looked so lovely. There was a

shadow in the eyes , wh ich were usual ly so

open and c lear, without d issimulation or

consciousness .

Larkington was not quite h imself ei the r,

A NEWPORT AQUARELLE. 1 5 3

and the two people , who usually chatted l ike

magpies on the hundred l ight topics which

are the straws on which socie ty conversations

are kept afloa t , hardly spoke during the drive

to the picn ic ground .

Stirrups,s i t ting behind with folded a rms

and stony face , seemed to feel the constrain t

of his betters , which he himself shared

A t the entrance of the Glen , the spot

chosen for the picnic , they encountered Mr .

Gray Grosvenor, who welcomed them c o r

dia l ly but hurriedly. He was one of those

hosts who cannot give themselves t ime to

welcome quietly the guests who have arrived,

but whose eyes and thoughts are forever wan

dering to the next comers , who may be of

more importance than the ones whom he is at

that moment greeting.

“ Ah , how de doo , Miss Gladys ? Ah,

um , um , Larkington , del ighted to see you .

Basket ? oh yes , um ,yes

,thanks

,yes ; give

i t to the waiter . Good of you , I’

m sure.

Yes , yes , you’

l l find my siste r i n the Glen .


Wait for Mrs . Fallow—DeerPoh , um , yes , yes ,

of course , of course . And he turned to

speak to som e later arrivals .

Larkington drove down the picturesque

road which h angs over a m iniature preC1p1c e ,

w i th a min iature st ream at the bot tom,and

a l arge mill and mil l-wheel , as romantic in

i ts appearance as the on e used in S onnam

bula at Her Maj esty ’s ,” so Larkington said .

The road leads in to a w ide,open space

,

with enough shade trees to insure cooln ess ,

but without a trace of dampness . Long

tables were spread beneath the tal l oaks , and

dain ties of every kind loaded the boards .

The l ittl e b rook ran babbl ing merrily by

on one side , but i ts melody was quickly

d rowned in the loud s trains o f an orchestra ,

hidden by a group of th ick palm-trees ,

brought ou t from town for the occasion . A

danc ing pavil ion with a smooth floor had

been bu il t up during the previous day and

night,and was gayly decorated with flags ,

J apanese lanterns , fans , and um brel las .


distance which i ntervened between the two

great trees,so that even that vi ew was spoi led

to the few among the company who knew

and loved the G len i n i ts wild and natural

beauty.

Am ong those few person s who were not

so loud in praises of the “ beautifu l decora

tions ” as the rest o f the company were M rs .

Craig and Count Cl awski ! How they came

there,what power had been brought to bear

on Gray Grosvenor to i nduce him at the

e leventh hour to revoke h is dec is ion to leave

out th e pretty l i ttle Balt imorean , Gladys was

not ab le to discover. But there she was , al l

smi les and roses and dimples,as pretty a

c reature i n her rainbow draperies as was to

be see n on that brigh t summer morning.

The Count , who was someth ing of an art

is t , was real ly a good deal d isturbed by the

sunflowers and Japanese decorative kn ick

knacks , which he affirm ed would spoi l his

appeti te .

Mrs . Craig, who in heart had loved the

A NEWPO/BT AQUARELLE. 1 57

whole 7 517 51232M a éz'

l le appearance of th e place,

quickly took the cue from him , and said,

sol to wore, to Gladys ,

Shocking bad taste ; don’t you th ink so ,

dear ? ”

I had not thought about it,” said Gladys

,

frankly. There is perhaps a l i ttle too much

of it, but you know I am rather barbaric i n

my taste and l ike al l sorts of gay-colored

things .

”

The majority of the guests were of G ladys’

s

Opinion , and on the arrival of Mrs . Fallow

Deer the whole company—some sixty souls

— sat down to meat i n h igh spiri ts and with

excel len t appetites . Meat , d id I say ? Ay ,

and to fish of every sort, and game , al l that

there was i n o r out of season , shel l fish ,

too, from the bea tific l i ttle neck clam to the

rubicund lobster,pates and game pies , galan

t ines and roast fowls , Mayonnaises , Lyon

na ises , mushrooms,j el l ies , ices ,

blanc-manges, fru its , cakes , wines , cordial s ,

and fina l ly , by way of a saving grace , coffee .

1 58 A NEWPORT AQUARELLE .

I notice that the Americans have the

largest appeti tes and th e worst digest ions of

any people in the world ,” said Coun t Cl awski

to h is left-hand neighbo r , Gladys Carle ton .

The Count’s appeti te was miss i ng on th is

fest ive occasion , and it was owing to th is fact

that he spoke so bitte rly , and thought so bi t

ter ly too , of the din ne r las t n igh t at Mrs.

Craig ’s,where he had overeaten h imself.

However,h is i l l temper was too small a

drop of gal l i n th e cup o f j ol l i ty of th e com

pany to have any not iceabl e effect , and the

luncheon wen t off as gayly as possible .

M r . Belhomme and M r . Gray Grosvenor

toasted each other, and were more fri endly

than they had been since thei r memorabl e

dispute over th e best method of se rving

ch icken l ive rs , which had i nterrupted for

two years a frie ndship of a l ifetime . Socie ty

agreed that i t was bette r that they did make

the matter up ,for i t would be diffic ul t to de

cide which of th e two g ourm ets was the bette r

authori ty o n ch icken l ivers , as they both had


m ea l

i

were bought with the gratu i ti es which

S ti rrups had rece ived from various of h i s

master’

s friends , i n compensation for some

s l igh t se rvices . The cigar which Larkington

had smoked on th e morning of the p icn ic

had been given to S tirrups by Mr. Belhomme ,

a week before , when he had taken a stone

from the hoof of th at gen tleman ’s horse .

The groom ,foresee ing th e not unpreceden ted

s tate of affairs wh ich was approach ing,had

put by th e fragran t Havana,and o n th e

morn ing of the memorabl e p icn ic had laid

i t beside La rkington’

s plate at h is frugal

breakfast.

If th e maste r did no t make a good lunch

eon ,th e man

,with gl isten ing eyes , su rveyed

th e luxuriously spread tables , and chose th e

various dishes wh ich he wou ld attack vigor

ously, when th e time shou ld come for h im

and his fel lows to gath er up the fragmen ts

of the feast .

A t last—it seemed to th e hungry S ti r

rups a very long luncheon M r . Gray Gros


venor rose from h is chai r , and the worsh ipful

company of th e el ect had fin ished the ir mid

day repast,whose ch ief and greate st charm

had been that i t had been eaten beneath the

canopy of God’s blue sky , between the wal l s

of l iving green , and in the pure ai r, sweet

with the stacks of new-mown grass and clove r

i n the fie l d hard by .

The sunflowers i n st iff flor ist’

s garlands ,

the colored paper gewgaws , were , to an over

sensi tive mind , a discord ; but few among

the guests detected the i nharmon iousness

of t rimming , with art i ntended to be decora

t ive , one of th e most beautifu l bits of nature

in the idyl l ic is land . And there was not one

among them who was not m ade th e bet te r,

the more kindly, by that day passed among

the ferns and sweet-bri ers of G le n Anna .

The dance in the pavi l ion was rathe r a

fai l u re . Somehow , the incongru ity of the

l i t tl e stiff town bouquets and th e fl im sy

favors seemed to st rike most of the com

pany , and the coti llon on ly inc luded the army

162 A NEWPORT AQUAA’ELLE.

0

of veteran wal tzers , grown old in the pract i ce

of their favori te step,of whom Gray G rosve

nor was the maj or-general .

The young people wandered off i n groups,

some o f them cl imbing the h i l l to get a

wider view . O thers explored the damp and

mildewed granaries of the old mill , while

al l to whom the seaboard was nat ive were

drawn to the beach,where th e wavelets gently

lapped the stony shore .

A t th e back of th e narrow beach rises a

bank on which some chari table person has

placed a bench beneath the shadow of a

group of heavy shade trees . On th is bench

Gladys and Larkington seated themselves ,

and the gi rl,collecting a heap of flat pebbles

at her feet , tried to skip them across the

wate r.

Larkington watched her as sh e rose and

stood , i n ten t on maki ng her pebbles skip

th ree t imes ; she was so w i l lowy and grace

ful , standing j ust beside h im ,touching him

with her dress,qui te with i n h is reach , that

164 A NEWPORT AQI/ARELLE.

0

The ch i l l of the reminiscence , the cool look

i n the eyes of Gladys Carle ton as she stooped

to pick up another pebble , arrested h is

arms stretched impuls ively toward her. H e

al tered h is att i tude rather c lumsi ly,and

sprang to h is feet as if the gesture which sh e

had seen had been on ly an effort to steady

h imself i n ri sing.

But Gladys had both seen and unders tood

it , and afte r making a last and most s uccess

ful toss o f her biggest stone , she said ,

I th i nk we had better go back now ; don’t

you P

A s they rej oined the party, the band was

striki ng up the music for a Virgin ia reel .

The long l ines were formed upon the green

sward , and were headed by Mrs . Fallow-Deer

and M r . Gray Grosvenor

S tand at the foot , Miss Gladys and Lark

ing ton !” c ried the l ight-footed and l ighter

witted host . Now then , off we go l

And off they did go at a great pace , Mrs .

Fallow—Deer danc m g to Larkington , and Mr .


Gray Grosvenor bowing to Gladys . Down

the long row of dancers that i ntervened be

tween the head and the foot , tripped th e

young-hearted matron and bobbed a courtesy ,

back again,and down once more to turn ,

giving the right hand , then to favor Larking

ton with the left. Then both pudgy hands

were offered to the long-l imbed Engl ishman ,

who could shake a foot i n the reel wi th the

bes t of th em . Her rotund back contrasted

with h is s inewy outline i n the dos-ci -a’os , and

then began the turning of the gentlemen .

Fi rst came the breath less dowager to Coun t

Cl awski , who with a grave court bow tu rned

her slowly and sedately about , and re turned

her to Gray Grosvenor, waiti ng fo r his partne r

afte r hav i ng squeezed the pre tty hand of Mrs .

Craig unti l her ring cut her finger. M r .

Belhomme next h opped briskly about her

portly form , doing al l th e turn ing h imsel f,

and again she returned to the charge o f

Gray Grosvenor, who , afte r another turn ,

rel inquished her to her son , a graceless


youth , who clasped h is mother’s waist and

whirl ed her off her feet . At las t afte r many

adventures she reached the foot,exhausted

but cheerful , and the next coupl e had their

t urn .

I t was a grand dance , everybody said when

i t was over , and Mrs . Fal low-Deer rece ived

many congratulations on her brisk dancing.

La rkington’

s sp i ri ts had been raised to a

very high point by the dance , and a parting

bottle of champagne cracked wi th Coun t

Cl awski fai led to lowe r them. When the

time came for h im to l ift Gladys into the

dogcart , he fel t equal to any feat o f prowess ,

even that of asking th is tall proud gi rl if she

would be h is wife , and accept the endow

men t of all h is worldly goods , which at that

moment might easily have been packed in

hi s large portmanteau,i n exchange for the

mill ions which he supposed to be her dower.

G ladys,too , seemed less l ike a statue than

she had been half an hour before by the sea

shore . Her pale checks were a l it tle flushed

168 A NE I/VPORT AQUARELLE.

I suppose you mean that for a compl i

ment,M r. Larkington , bu t , upon my word ,

I do not consider i t such . I have never

before bee n told that ‘ managing ’ was one

of my characterist ics .

“ I d id no t mean that ; you are perverse ,

but i t does not matter. You look j ust as

lovely when you play at bei ng cross as when

you are smili ng. I w i sh you would always

wear that wreath of oak leaves on you r hat ;

i t makes you look so much more l ike the girls

at home , and so much less of a great lady .

”

Gladys did not quite understand”

thi s

speech . How could she fancy that Lark

ington , moved by a real fee l ing, had half

forgotten h imself, and told her frankly what

was in h is mind ? A t the nu tting parti es i n

the V i l lage whe re he had grown up , th e gi rls

used all to wear these pretty Chaple ts on

thei r uncovered heads , when they came home

together, thei r t in pails fi l led with fru i t , thei r

hands stained with the j u ices of the nuts .

A look of su rprise i n the gi rl ’s face showed

A NELVPORT A QUARELLE. 169

h im what he had said , and , remembering th e

business h e had i n hand , he determined to

plunge in m edia s r es , and so , gathering al l

h is forces togethe r, he said with a voice that

was not qu i te natural ,

Oi course you must have seen how much

I am i n love with you , Gladys , and I cannot

stand the uncertainty any longer ; will you

marry me ? ”

Gladys thought , of al l th e proposals sh e

had ever l istened to , they had been i n

number exactly twen ty-five , an average of

one a year for her whole l ife , th is one ce r

ta in l y was the most abrupt . But sh e had

been prepared for it , and wi th a sense of

thankfulness for the form in wh ich the fatal

question had been asked , she said quietly ,

her eyes fixed on the rumble of Mrs . Fallow

Deer ’s carriage in fron t of them ,

Yes , I will .”

For he had not asked he r if she loved

him,and she had been spared the l ie , which

h er proud lips could hardly have spoken .


CHAPTER IX .

IT was exactly half-past five o ’clock on

Saturday afternoon when Gladys Carleton

pronounced those th ree words wh ich made

Larkington for th e moment cons ider h imsel f

the most triumphant man in the wide world .

A t exactly hal f-past five o ’clock on the

same Saturday a fte rnoon , Charles Farwe l l

said to M r . J ohn Cartwright , his on ly com

pan ion ,

Jack I must start for home to-n igh t.

You re not i n earnest , Charl ie P

Yes,old man , i n dead earnest.

”

What has made you change your mind

so suddenly ?

Charles Fa rwe l l was silent , and Cartwrigh t

stood leaning against the damp wal l of the

m ine . The only l ight that showed the two


O

h im of the new vein which he had found in

the m ine wh ich was the i r j o int property,

and had remained ever s i nce,working w i th

him , and making plans for th e best runn ing

of the mine , which Cartwright was sure

would make thei r fortunes .

They had been col lege chums,and the

friendsh ip begun so early i n l ife was a very

strong one . Cartwright had led a roll ing

stone existence during the ten years that had

e lapsed s ince he had left col lege , and had cer

ta in ly gathered no moss.

Farwell,on the contrary , had led a quiet ,

i ndustrious l ife,working hard in a broker ’s

ofli c e in Wall S treet , and making a comfort

able income for h imself, with which he man

aged to do j ust twi ce as many chari table acts

as d id h is employer, a man whose fortune

was est imated by m i l l ions .

J ust about a year before the date of the

despatch wh ich had cal led Farwell to Lead

vil l e so sudden ly,J ack Cartwright had come

to him absolutely without means of subs ist


ence,but ful l of visions of a great fortune he

could real ize if Farwel l would supply h im

with th e capital to buy a certai n Leadvil l e

claim which Cartwright was persuaded would

prove to be a mine of riches , The man who

owned the claim was not o f the same san

guine mind,and so Cartwrigh t got i t for a

mere song,Farwel l paying the piper. W i th

varyi ng smal l successes Cartwrigh t had

worked the claim unti l th e d iscovery of

the rich vein of ore . Farwel l had,s ince h is

arrival , summoned the aid of several min ing

experts , and had fina l ly sa tisfied himself of

th e real val ue of the property, which he had

always considered worth less,as d id every

one else except the hopefu l Cartwright . Once

sure of th e sol id value of th e mine , the next

requisi te step was the forming of a com pany

to work i t, and i t had been decided that

Cartwrigh t should go to New York,and

make al l the necessary arrangements for th e

starting of such a company,while Farwel l

remained in charge of the “ c laim .

”


The two friends had been making a tour

of inspection th rough the deserted gal le rie s

of the mine , which were so soon to be fi l led

with a c rowd of to il i ng mine rs , when Fa rwel l

suddenly announced his inte ntion of return

ing to th e East .

Rece iv i ng no answer to his las t question,

Cartwright asked again somewhat more em

phat ical ly ,

What the deuce has put such an idea in to

your head , Charl ie ?

You did not hear any sound , I suppose , a

minute ago P” said Farwell .

No . What was i t l ike ?

I t was the sound of a woman ’s vo ice , and

i t call ed my name . No , Cartwrigh t , I did not

suppose that you had heard the voice but I

did . I t was the voice of the woman I love ;

she call ed to me in dist ress . I must go to

her.

He rose as he spoke , looked into the dark

ness dreamily , and then walked with a quick ,

determined pace down the galle ry , Cartwright


they were al ready repaired and in good con

di tion .

I n th e l i ttle othee , th e on e room wh ich

boasted a whole roof, were col l ected al l Cart

wright ’s worldly possessions , and i nto th is

apartmen t he led the way . Farwell stood

leaning against the door-post , his eyes fixed

on the wonderful scene spread before h im .

Across the wide plain , two miles distant , lay

th e c i ty of Leadvil l e , a straggl ing town , a t

th is d istance picturesque , outl i ned against the

h igh mountains which l i e beyond it, rough ,

i naccess ibl e,and grand . The clearness of

the atmosphere i n th is country is most dec ept ive

,and the sun-tipped range of h i l l s seemed

with i n easy walking distance . The summits,

which earl ie r i n the day had been dazzl ing

wh ite , were now touched i nto a soft rosy

color by the warm reflec tion of the sunset

t i nts , and th e sky had softened to a dim and

tender bl ue , more restful to the eyes than the

inten se and vivid color of mid-day.

“ Wel l , Charl i e , we must be off if you are


i n earnest about s tarting to-n ight , sa id Cart

wrigh t , as he unhitched the bridle of h is mus

tang. Fa rwe l l nodded an assen t, and mount

ing thei r horses the two friends rode off across

the arid plain , whose soil p roduces noth ing

but a few scraggy fir-trees , and the short

grayish grass so common in min ing distric ts .

As Farwel l rode through Ches tnut S tree t,

he said with a half—sigh ,

Jack , I am sorry to go , for some reasons .

I have not been here long enough to feel the

monotony which must come , I suppose , and

I st i l l am bound by the novel ty and freshness

of the exi stence here There is a vigor and

youth about the country which we in the

East have lost already ; before we have grown

to ou r prime , we are old .

”

“ Yes ,” said J ack ;

“ remember th i s is the

boss mining camp of the world that you are

turn ing your back upon,because of an echo

i n the mine that you fancy is the voice of

some wom an . I t ’

s no t l ike you , Charl i e , to

be so deuced fanciful .”


I s n ’

t i t ? Wel l , I don’t know . I may

come back , J ack , and become a pioneer of

the new S tate , a leading man i n Colorado ;

but I doubt it. If the voice did not cal l me,

if she tel ls me she did no t want to see me,

then I shall be back as soon as the business

can be settl ed . But if i t was the voice of

G ladys Carle ton , you wi l l have to manage the

mine by yourself, and I wil l take care of the

ci ty i nte rests . I suppose you and I will be

cal led rich men i n a month ’s t ime,J ack ?

Yes , I suppose we will , if you don’t ge t

muddled by hearing any more of these ech

oes ,” said Cartwright , peevish ly. I don ’ t fee l

al together sa tisfied to have the matter i n your

hands ; are you sure your head’

s all right P

Farwel l laughed , and answered more briskly

than he had done s i nce he had heard the

echo i n the mine . Seeing that h is friend

was real ly concerned about h is wits , he pro

c eeded to discuss the prospects and the busi

ness arrangements they had decided upon in

h is usual clear manner.


CHA PTER X .

THE j ourney from Leadvi l le to Cheyenne

i s not withou t i n terest , nor did it so prove to

Charles Farwell . To al l in tel l igen t travel

lers there is much to be learned i n the course

o f a long j ourney, both from observation of

the country through wh ich they pass,and i n

conversation wi th the ir fellow-travellers .

At Cheyenne , the poi nt where the great

t ranscont inental rail road crosses the local l ine

of t ravel , Farwel l arrived early one Septem

ber morning . Awaiting the adven t of the

Eastward-bound train forty or fi fty men were

assembled at the small wooden stat ion-house .

Every variety of costume was worn,from the

conven tional su i t of American morn ing dress

to th e pic turesque garb of the Mongol ian .

Long-hai red , red-sh i rted herders conversed

A NEWPORT AQUAA’ELLE. 18 1

famil iarly wi th gentlemen whose clothes

might have been forwarded them to this

remote spot by Poole . A Mexican m m fier o

with a wide som ér er o and h igh boots paced

up and down the narrow plank platform ,talk

ing earnestly with a smart-l ooking man of

the Teuton ic race .

From th e scraps of the i r conversation,

Fa rwel l gathered that the Mexican was con

su l ting the German profess ionally,on the

subj ec t of his w ife ’s heal th . Fa rwel l l earned

from a loquacious J ew,a commercial travel

le r who entered i nto conversat ion with him ,

that the Mexican l ived fifty miles distan t ,

and had ridden over to procure medic ine for

his ail i ng wife from the medical pract itione r

of Cheyenne . The same obl igi ng personage

gave Farwel l brief sketches of th e most

prominent of the ind ividuals who stood

about the platform ,lean ing against the sta

tion or s itting on the steps .

That l i ttl e fellow there with the red beard

is an Engl ishman ; call s h imself at home Lord


Arch ie A l veswor th , at Cheyenne he drops

th e title . He owns a great catt le ranch , ten

miles from here , which he manages h imself.

He has lots of friends vis iting him , and they

have a pretty gay time o f i t at h is shanty .

”

Who is the old man with the long white

h ai r ? ” asked Farwel l , pointing to a tal l

figure wrapped in a long loose gray cloak .

“ That is th e Frenchman . H e is rather

l ight in the uppe r s tory. That young girl

upon whose arm he is l ean ing is h is daugh

ter. I can ’t tel l you the i r real names ; th ey

have on ly been here a few months,and they

are a quee r , s i lent lot . The old fellow fa n

c ies he has found a diamond mine,and he

and th e daughte r, with an old servan t they

brought with them , are always search ing and

digg ing'

for the wonderfu l mine that wil l

make thei r fortune .

”

The face of the Frenchm an was that of an

enthusiast. The white hair and furrowed

brow were al l the s igns of age wh ich he

showed . The brigh t eyes , alert step ,and


partaken , the agreeable sensation of the cool

l iquid trembl ing down the parched throat.

I t was terribly hot. Even the dogs seemed

to suffer, fo r they crouched with i n the shadow

of the long bui lding . The m en bore the

extreme heat wi th res ignation ; they spoke

on every subj ec t of conversat ion save the

weather, as if by common consen t this

topic was avoided .

A sm art covered wagon drawn by a pai r

of s trong mules rattled up to the station .

From the vehicle a m an descended,carrying

a ch ild of two years of age in his arm s . He

p laced the l i ttle creature on the platform,

and t urned to assist i ts mothe r from the

wagon . She was a heal thy, strapping young

woman,dressed in a n eat s i lk gown , and

wearing a bonnet which must have come

from New York The husband made fast

h is mules,and the coupl e entered the express

offic e , where they were hospitably received

by the agent.

Tha t man is Dick Parsons , the stage

A IVEWPORT AQUARELLE. 185

drive r. His wife is going to Maine to st0p

with her folks . He came down to put he r

on board the‘ train .

”

Farwel l ’s i nformant , as they passed the

door of the bar-room , made a sl ight pause ,

as if m ore from habit than from a ny though t

of entering the room . Farwell , who had

been too much absorbed i n watching the

motley crowd of people , and l isten ing to

th e brief but comprehensive accounts of

them given by h is new friend , to remember

the etiquette of the country , took the gentle

hin t , and inv i ted h is new acquaintance to

take something. The invitat ion was a c

c epted , and the two men entered the bar

room .

The commerc ial traveller and the bar

tender exchanged a wink as the s tranger

ordered for himself a plain lemonade . The

Ganymede of Cheyenne stat ion was rather

a sin ister-looking fellow,with one eye . His

righ t hand boasted a thumb and two fingers

only , but the ai ry skil l wi th which he tossed


the icy fluid from the tin tumbler to the glass

one showed that th i s physical defect d id not

unfi t h im for h is profession .

As the commerc ial t ravel ler drained the

last drop of his whiskey cocktai l,a faint

rumbl ing was heard along the rail s,and a

few moments after the Eastward train came

i n s ight . Every car window had an ear

nest face beh ind i t, and the platforms were

c rowded with the passengers , who hardly

wai ted the stopping of the train , to dash

1nto the restaurant,where the preparations

for d inner were now completed . Farwel l

entered the room with the crowd , and

watched the al ready famil iar sigh t of the

hungry beings vainly endeavoring to satisfy

themselves w i th the indifferent food provided

for them .

There is bad management somewhere .

Whose faul t is it ? The prices charged by

the rai l roads are so h igh , that the t ravel le r

has a righ t to demand comfortable meals at

a j ust cost. The patience of the American


cramped l imbs . The Engl ish lord was talking

to the engineer of the tra in , an inte ll igen t

Scot ; and the stage-driver was i ntroduc ing

h is pretty w ife to the Pul lman -car conductor,

a n important personage in the society of th e

Pa c ific Rail road .

This half-hour ’s chat wi th the offic ia ls on

the trai n,and those among the passengers

who are des i rous of deriving in formation or

wil l ing to impart the lates t news from either

coast , i s one of the most important events i n

the day to many of the dwellers by the i ron

roadway. This l ink betwixt them and the

c ivil ization i n wh ich there was no room for .

them lessens immeasurably thei r sense of

i solat ion .

But now the whistle of the engine warned

the travel lers that the time had come when

they must again take up the thread of th ei r

j ourney .

Farwel l bade farewel l to the commercial

gen tleman , thanking him for his information .

He stepped upon the back platform of the

A NEWPORT AQUARELLE.189

rear car,and looked his last upon the li tt le

desolate station and i ts c rowd of fia éz’

tués .

The old French gent leman was al ready

cl imbing in to a rickety veh icle , while h is

daughter unfastened the h i tch ing-rei n . The

stage—driver was waving a last adieu to h iswife and his l i ttle ch i ld , wail ing at the grie f

of a first part ing . I nside the restaurant i ts

proprie tor was seen locking a cash-box wh ich

had been fil l ed at the cost of the pockets and

digest ion of the travel lers . The one-eyed

bar-tender was the on ly member of th e group

of people who was sti l l busy , and his ski l led

finge rs tossed a red l iquid from the tin to

the crystal tumbler accurately. His task was

never done , day or nigh t.

On sped the train , and i n a brief space

Cheyenne stat ion was lost to view.

As the day waned,the in tense heat moder

ated , and the passengers on the Eastward

train rev ived a littl e from the w il ted condi

tion they had experienced . They could look

out now over the wide “plains of sunburn t


prairie,whose l i nes were broken at rare in

terva ls by th e farm of some courageous set

tler. Near one of these green oases the train

stopped for some trifl ing repair. Farwell,

s tanding upon the p latform , looked wi th in

te rest at the wel l-buil t adobe house and out

buildings,the green trees , and the well-plan ted

garden . The group of cattl e , th e dogs , and

feathered creatures of the barnyard were the

on ly friends whose company th e family of

th is settl er could c laim . The grounds were

enc losed by a curious fence of woven twigs ;

wood and stone are materials l i ttl e used on

these frontier farms , owing to the great

d iffi c u l ty and expense of t ransporting them .

What hero ism is shown by these men and

women,who taking each other by the hand

turnf

from th e l uxu ries of the East ern c ivil i

z a tion and go out to conquer the savage

luxuriance of the West ! Courage , pat ience ,

self-rel iance,must h e possess who would

succeed i n th is struggle for weal th i n the

Western wi lderness .


verely from the want of fuel . Young , on his

return to the East , provided h im self with

enorm ous quantit ies of the seeds of the sun

flower,which th e second band of em igrants

sowed by the way, for the benefit of the

next party of deluded fanatics who should

be en ticed from the ir homes by the wily

prophet . The path over which the Morm ons

passed i s m arked by a golden l i ne,and the

camp-fi res of th e emigran ts to-day are l ighted

by the fibrous s talks of the sun fl owers which

the Mormon sai nts sowed forty years ago .

When they reached the stat ion where

supper was awaiting the travel l ers , Farwel l

dec ided not to venture a second time that

day in to a railway restaurant . From his

capacious lunch-basket he drew rations of

c rackers and cheese , with a bot tle o f claret.

I—Iis n ever-fail i ng comfort,th e c igarette

,was

the on ly ligh t save that of the stars,as he sat

i n his favorite place on the rear platform .

A s the trai n sped on once more through

the n ight , Farwel l sat th inking of Newport ,


and al l that might have happened there since

h is departure . He wondered if Gladys had

missed him , and then he smiled at the

thought. He knew that she must have

grieved over h is departure . He knew that

she loved him now ; he had never doubted

i t since that n ight when they rode home

together th rough the sweet country lanes of

Newport , th e very even ing before h is depart

ure . Then he thought again , and with a

sudden pain , of her voice as he had heard i t

cal l ing him , heavy with distress , full of pas

siona te entreaty. What could i t have meant ?

If any il l had befal len her, he certai nly wou ld

have learned i t by telegraph . He was com

ing to her now with al l the speed of steam

and iron,yet the j ourney seemed so long !

The dark prairie was al l about h im ,—be

fore , beh ind , on eithe r s ide ,—and the trai n

sped on rapidly. Suddenly,fa r off, a spark

of l ight broke the blackness of the n igh t . I t

grew brighter and clearer,as the train ap

proac hed it, a nd he now saw that i t cameI


0

from a fire . Not a chance flame l i t by

a wayward Spark , but a neatly bui lt camp

fire , cheerful and comfortable . The flames

c rackled about a gypsy kettl e , and shone on

a great white wagon standing tenantless by

the ways ide . The tired oxen were lying

near by , thei r noses h idden by thei r bags of

fodder. A group of people sat at a short

distance from the blaze , j us t where the i r

figures were l ighted by the flame . A woman

seated on the ground , an infan t i n her arms ,

looking up into the face of the man who

stood behind her,erec t , and in the uncertain

l ight seeming to be of a heroic bu ild . These

three,al l alone i n the midst of the vast prai

ri e , with hope for thei r guide , and love for

the ir companion . This was a home,though

the next even ing wou ld see the trio fa r on

thei r j ou rney , and th e kettle would swing

over a fire some twenty miles nearer its fina l

destination .

For one moment was th e l ife picture before

Farwel l , warm , happy, ful l of a deep sign ifi


were churned into a hundred streaks of white

foam by the furrowing padd le-whee ls of the

fe rry-boats'

which ply to and fro between the

great centre and i ts outlying dependencies.

The boats themse lves were laden with such

dense crowds of human beings that i t seem ed

impossibl e to fancy that th ere were any men

and women left i n the ci ty .

On reach ing the landing , Farwel l , giving

h is checks to the min ion of the express ,

mounted the stairs of the E l evated Rai l road .

H e entered the train , and in a breath less

haste was whirled up town by that wonder

fu l l in e of t rave l which hangs , l ike the c offin

of Mahomet,

’twixt earth and heaven . I t

had never struck him before that the E levated

Rail road was a part ic ularly noticeable featu re

of New York . After h is soj ourn i n Colo

rado,every detail wh ich goes to make the

vast conven ience of the c ity of Manhattan

impressed h im .

We are too c iv i l ized , sighed our traveller,

as he stepped from th e trai n at the Twenty


th i rd S treet S tation . As he walked down

the long fl ight of s tai rs , he smiled at the

though t which passed through his mi nd . H e

had invented a plan for transporting the pas

sengers of the E l evated Rail road up and

down th e long stairs which lead to the sta

t ions by means of a sl ide , i n the very moment

when he had protested against th e u ltra con

ven ienc e of the E levated Road .

A t Delmonico ’s the great d in ing—room was

c rowded with the same set of people he had

left d in ing there on the night when he

had started fo r Leadvil le . After Farwel l had

ordered his dinner with a certai n care , — it

was many weeks si nce he had dz’

nezzfi he

leaned back in h is chai r and looked about

the bril l iantly l ighted apartments .

At the table on his righ t sat Hewson,the

coolest speculator i n Wal l S treet. His

shadow, Hangou , a man triple h is s ize , had

j ust given his di rect ions to the servant for

dinner. The speculator looked careworn , h is

th i n face was flushed,and his hand shook as


he raised his glass to h is l ips . The client

H angon addressed some remark to the great

man , who answered h im shortly and rudely .

The face of the migh ty parasite flushed at

the rebuff , but h is vexation w as cooled and‘

soothed i n the beaker of wine which he

drained at the expense of hi s patron .

P resently Hewson spoke , rapidly and

earnestly. Farwel l could not hear the con

versat ion , but he doubted not i ts import . A

heavy fal l i n stocks had shaken! the market

that morn ing , and the even ing paper h inted

that H ewson , the great stock—gambler, had ,i n the phrase of the street , gone up.

” The

next day wou ld prove how the fal l i n the

stock market had affected h im .

Had the predict ion of failure been with or

without foundat ion ? Farwel l wondered , and

watched the operator closely. He was a

keen observer of character, and he had a

reason for wishing to ascertain whether

Hewson had lost or gained in the day’

s

gambling.


O

dish of pilaf to Mr . Hewson , with his com

pl im ents.

I t was a happy move for the bored,worn

expression of M r. Hewson’

s face changed to

one of pleasure , and the pilaf was fully appre

c ia ted by him . He ate i t with evident en

joym en t, and with noth ing of th e mechanical

manner which often characterized him while

at table .

Farwel l now knew what he wanted to .

The speculator was sti ll a “ finan c ier ,” and

had not made a false throw. Wh ile success

attends the great Ope rators they are give n

the high-sounding ti tle of “ fin an c ier . An

unsuccessful attempt at a corner,

” or a“ rush ” i n stocks which beggars them

,wins

them the titl e of “ gamble r,long ago de

served , but only granted when the game is

up .

From Far wel l ’s knowledge of the charac

ter and manner of Hewson , the appeti te with

which he ate the pilaf and trutfles convinced

him that whoever e lse had suffered from

A NEWPORT AQUARELLE .201

that day ’s Operations , Hewson had escaped

unscathed . Once convinced of th is fac t,

Fa rwel l’

s hext action was to leave the dining

room quiet ly and hurriedly. His movement

did not escape the keen eyes o f his n eighbor ,

and while he was l ighting his c igaret te i n the

outer hal l , Hangon the parasite followed h im

and asked h im to join M r . Hewson over a

bottle of famous old Burgundy.

Farwel l re turned to the din ing-room and

j oined the two men over thei r wine . They

asked h im about h is j ou rney wi th a certai n

curiosity as to i ts end . Farwel l gave them a

humorous account of h is trip , with a graph ic

pictu re of the l ife and manners i n the town

he had late ly vis i ted . H e was an excellen t

talke r at al l times , and this evening he seemed

at his best ; both men l istened to h im with

attenti on and interes t .

Hewson , worn and wearied with the terri

ble ferment and worry of h is l ife in the ex

citing atmosphere of Wal l S treet, wa s glad to

be taken out of himself and h is own thoughts


by th is bright and magnetic young man,

whose sl ightly bronzed face and hands Spoke

of a long absence from the c ity. H angon ,

ti red with the long and close attendance

upon the peevish patron , was thankful at so

pleasant an addit ion to the Zéz‘e-ci -z‘éte which

had lasted for severa l days .

When Farwel l fina l ly rose to go , th e two

men followed his example , and the trio left

the restaurant in company . M r . Hewson’

s

t rap s tood at the door awaiting h im .

Which way are you going , Fa rwel l P Can

I not give you a l ift ?

The offer was made in a manner which

showed that i t was meant seriously , and not

out of compl iment .

Thank you . I am bound on rather a

wild-goose chase . I want to find Grabal l ,

and I have no idea whether he is a t h is

house i n Fifth Avenue or at Long Branch .

Do you happen to know P“ No . But get in and I will drive you

up to h is house ; i t is on my way. You wi l l


Not s ince I had the typhoid fever,th ree

years ago .

”

I n al l that t ime you have not missed a

single business day i n the streetP

Not one .

”

For a few moments Farwe l l was s i len t.

He was registeri ng a vow that he wou ld

never al low himself to become so utterly

demoral ized , body and soul , by the demon of

play , as was th is poor nervous human being

at h is s ide . Hewson’

s mill ion s at that mo

men t numbered a score or more ; his name

was i n the mouths of the whole army of

gamblers , by whom he was envied , admired ,

and feared . I t seemed to Charles Farwel l

that of al l the unhappy human beings with

whom he had been thrown in contact, Hew

son , the great stock operator , was the most

to be pitied .

M r . Grabal l was not at home , the flunkey

who answered the summons of the bel l in

formed them . He had gone down to Long

Branch , and wou ld not be back that n igh t .


Farwe l l was disappointed , or he appeared to

be so.

“ W i l l you take a tu rn on the Park ?

asked M r. Hewson .

Yes , thanks. A re you not afraid of

malaria ? I am so much braced up by my

long vacation that I should enjoy it, but i s i t

wise for you to run the risk ?“ Yes ; I am used to i t. Do you think of

return ing to Colorado P

Yes , i t is possibl e . I have an i nterest i n

a c laim there . I t was apropos of that bus i

ness that I wanted to see Grabal l .

I s he interested i n the sc hem eP

No ; but I need th e backing of Graball ,

or some such man , i n the affai r.”

Silver ?

Yes .”

Who owns the claim ?

A man named Cartwrigh t , and myself.

You want a company formed P

I n which I shal l retain the controll ing

shares .”


Come round to my house and talk i t

over. If i t i s a good th ing, perhaps I wi l l

take an in terest i n it.”

This was what Farwel l had hoped for.

Of all the men he knew who cou ld help h im

in th e affai rs of the L i ttle Quic kga in Mine ,

Hewson was the best to deal with , notwith

standing his c rusty manner. Fa rwel l ’s was a

cautious , not over-sangu ine nature , and he

was sure of the value of the min e , and was

moreover certai n that he could convince

Hewson of i ts value , once having roused his

i n terest.

Come to my rooms , if you wi l l , Hewson .

I have the papers and c ertific a tes of ore ;

you can look them over there .

”

H e knew the advantage of being on his

own ground , and preferred , i n deal i ng with

th is man , to be the host rather than the

guest .


Whose ba l l P I tell you , man , I’

m j ust

from the backwoods. I have not heard or

though t of a bal l for many a day.

”

Oh , said Gray Grosvenor, and was sil en t.

S trange chance that he , who was s imply a

c lub acquain tance , shou ld be th e first person

to tel l Charles Farwel l of the bal l given

that even ing by M rs . Fal low—Deer on th eannouncement of the engagement of Miss

G ladys Carleton to M r . Cuthbe rt Larkington .

“ Where did you say the bal l wa sP” said

Farwel l , l igh ting a cigarette as h e spoke .

Gray Grosvenor hes i tated for an i nstant.

Shou ld he te ll Fa rwel l , who everybody knew

had always been in love wi th hi s cousin , the

news which he had eviden tly not heard ?

He had , somewhere about h is s tout person ,

the vestige of an organ which i n h is youth

he had called a heart , and for an instan t th e

promptings of that organ h indered him from

speaking ; but the thought of being ab le to

tel l peop le that he was the first one to break

the news to Farwe l l came to h im , and , as


gossip was h is profess ion , th e chance of

adding so choice a morse l to h i s store was

too tempting to be lost , so he said slowly ,

h is eyes fixed on Farwel l ’s face ,“ Why , of course you have heard of th e

new engagement , your cousin , Miss Carle

ton , to Larkington , that Engl ish fellow ?

Wel l,everybody knew it a week ago , on the

day of the picn ic , ah , what a pi ty you

missed the pic n ic l—but to day i t was otfi

c ia l ly announced .

”

H e paused and looked at Farwel l as if

expecti ng a remark , and Farwel l , having

nothing else to say , only answered ,“ Oh ,

i ndeed !

Gray Grosvenor was disappointed ; he had

a righ t to expec t something more than the

ejaculat ion of Oh , i ndeed ! I t would not

sound very th ri ll i ng in the tel l ing. But then

Farwell’

s face was a th ing to describe ; i t

had grown quite white and se t . “ And so ,

he continued , Mrs . Fallow-Deer is giving a

bal l to ce lebrate the j oyfu l occasion . You ’

l l

14


go , of c ourseP Everybody wil l b e t here ,

qu ite the biggest affai r of the season .

“ No . I’

m not i nvi ted , I fancy. I came

back quite unexpectedly.

”

“ But of course such an !mim e at th e

house as you are would not hesi tate to go

for th e want of a card . Come along !

Thank you , Grosvenor, I have some le t

ters to wri te .

”

And , throwing away his

unsmoked cigarette , Farwel l walked in to

the quiet l ib rary at the back of the C lub .

I t was empty,and , turning the gas low,

Farwel l th rew himself i n to a chair, h is

back toward the door, and sat quite st i l l

for a space . His face was deadly whi te , un

der al l the bronze he had acquired on the

j ourn ey , and h is forehead was l ined with

three deep furrows as he sat , h is head lean

i ng on h is hand , deep in thought . When

he moved at last , after a space of a quarte r

of an hou r, h is fi rst action was a very strange

one , and wou ld have been considered by any

of the men of the C lub as extremely repre


back of th e house , where he stood looking

through an open casemen t at the bri ll ian t

i nterior.

The house was an exce l len t one for en ter

tain ing,though a tr ifle large and formal

to be qui te comfortable for everyd ay use .

The spacious ball room into which Farwel l

l ooked was oblong in shape , the walls were

panel led in ebony half—way to the ce il ing, andthe furn iture was of massive carved wood .

“ Veri tab le Antique the old cabinet and

75723-13282; were , but sad ly out of place in th is

modern bal l room . The high th rone-l ike

chai rs had i n thei r day been used by cardi

n a ls and bishops , for they were from an old

Episcopal Palace at Avignon , and the great

clock had t icked away hours devoted to

prayer i n an I tal ian monastery. The som

breness of the dark wood was redeemed by

the deep red co lor of the wal ls and the du ll

gold ceil ing, the crystal chandel ie rs from

Ven ice , the garlands of splendid roses , and

the l iving flowers, t ricked out i n al l that was


most bec oming and bri l l ian t i n to i lettes and

j ewels.

At one end of th e room stood M rs . Fal

low-Deer, resp lendent i n red sati n and dia

monds , her sturdy arms almost bowed down

by the weigh t of the flowers with which she

was burdened ; at her side stood G ladys

Carleton , dressed qu ite s imply in a gown

which Mrs . Craig rather spiteful ly charac

teri z ed as “ a white sat i n rid ing-habi t.”

I t su i ted Gladys , who followed a fash ion

of her own in dress , and paid l ittle attention

to the prevailing mode . She was as whi te

as her dress , that n igh t , and her eyes and

hair seemed darker than ever, by the contrast

of her pal lor. On a stand at her s ide were

heaped her bouquets , which , had she as

many arms as the H indoo ido l , she could not

have carried .

She was rece iving with Mrs . Fal low-Deer,

and many were the good wishe s and gallan t

speeches made to her by the men and women

of the world , who were on the whole very


glad of the piece of good luck wh ich had

fal len to the beautiful Miss Carl eton .

G ladys had al l her l ife been petted and

spoiled by her rich fri ends , and had never

wanted for a good time , a fresh bal l-dress , a

seat at the opera, or a saddle-horse . She

belonged to that class of young gi rls whose

posi t ion i n soc iety is much better than their

finan c ia l resources , and who for thei r beauty

or the i r charm are the éflf am‘s g éz

‘ées of New

York society . I nstead of the spoi l ing which

a rich father and mother can give , they

enj oy th e indulgence of a dozen foster

mothe rs and fathers,who from the kindness

of thei r hearts , o r because they have no

daughters of th eir own and know the attrae

t io n of a handsome gi rl i n the drawing—room ,

socially adopt them,and stand sponsor to

th em from thei r first season ’ For a very

young girl i t is a charming thing , but for

a woman of Gladys Carleton’s age and char

acte r i t was a posit ion not without i ts

d rawbacks,and her friends were al l sincerely


0

was the first unconscious movemen t she had

made s ince he had been watch ing her,

that l i ttle s tart,and quick turn of the head .

She seemed to have grown restless , for i n a

moment she laid her hand on Gray Grosve

nor ’s arm ,and disappeared with him out in to

the square hall , where the crowd of butte r

fl i es was th ickest , and there he lost s ight of

her .

I t was a bri l l iant spectacl e at which Charl es

Farwel l stood looking , with the copy oi. th e

Even ing Te legram ” i n h is pocket , but when

Gladys left the room , i ts ch ief attract ion

had departed . I t was rather chil ly i n the

nigh t ai r, and , drawing a cigar from his

pocket , he was about to strikea match , when

he perce ived that he was not the on ly out

side spectator of th e scene ; a man of low

stature approached h im and stood looki ng

i n at the window next the one where he had

taken h is stand . Fa rwel l did not care to be

seen , so he quietly put back his c igar in the

case , and the match i n h is pocket , and drew


back into th e shadow cast by the angle of

the bay window.

He could stil l see the interior of the bal l

room , and , as he looked , he saw a servant

approach Larkington and whisper someth ing

to him . The Englishman looked a l i t tl e

puzzled , bowed an assen t, and after a mo

ment or two , excused himself to the lady he

was talking with , and left the room . The

man at the window seemed inte rested i n the

movements of Larkington , and , as he left

the ballroom , sl ipped quietly out of s igh t,

disappearing around the corner.

A moment afte r he retu rned , and th is time

he was not alone . The tal l figure of Lark

ing ton made that of his companion appear

even smal l e r and more puny than before .

They approached the spot where Farwel l

was standing, h idden by the dark shadow .

Here,

” said the smal l man who , Farwel l

now saw, wore the l ive ry of a groom , stand

here ; on the othe r s ide of the house there’

s

a c rowd of peop le looking i n at the doors


Wel l , St irrups, answered his companion ,

sharply , why did you send for me in this way P

Could n ’

t you wait til l after the ba l l P”

“ No . I’

m j ust back . Jacob wou ld n’

t

let me have the money.

”

D J ew ! Why not ?

Because , Cuthbert , you’

ve made a mis

take somehow or other. I t ’

s th e wrong girl ;

th is one ,” nodding toward the ball room

,i s

the cousin of the he iress , and has n’

t a penny

to bless herse lf with

I t ’

s a l i e , cried Larkington , catch

i ng at the arm of h is servan t for support.

The J ew deceived you .

”

I t ’

s certai n truth , Cuthbert, as I took

pains to find out. I t ’

s h er cousi n , an o ld

maid , wot’

s got the money , and no mistake

about it. I made dead sure .

”

La rkington’

s only answer was a groan,and

S tirrups con t inued ,

We must be off'

on the early boat for

Fal l R iver ; i t passes at two o’c lock. I have

packed the traps at the hotel , and wi ll get


the re ’

s on ly ten dollars left , that I saved ;

j ust enough to take us out of th is place to

New York. Once there , I’

11 ge t a si tuation

easy enough , and float us both ti ll someth ing

turns up .

”

“ I wi l l borrow something from one of

these fine friends of Miss Carleton . I have

not borrowed a penny si nce I have been

here . I won ’t run , Sti rrups ; that I swear.

I ’

l l marry Gladys Carleton if I blow my

brains ou t the week afte r.”

The two men had spoken in undertones ,

standing close together i n the moonl ight , but

th e i r vo ices had reached the ears of Charles

Farwell , who dis l iked the role of eavesdropper

and now stepped forward and j oi ned th e

pair.

If the excel lent advice of your friend does

not decide you to leave Newport , Mr .

I real ly am at loss for your name , I th i nk I

have an argument which wil l prove more per

suas ive to you than any he has brought for

ward . Have the goodness to look over the


te legrams from Egypt. And , drawing forth

the copy of the New York even ing paper, he

put i t i nto La rking ton’

s hand .

At the sigh t of Farwell , at his first word ,

al l La rkington’

s él ag ue and assurance re

turned .

“ I do not understand you , s i r,” he

answered cool ly,and

,stepping nearer the win

dow so that the l ight from the ballroom migh t

fal l upon the pape r , he read the paragraph to

which Farwel l pointed . I t ran as follows

ALEXANDRIA, Sept. 1882 . In the engage

m en t a t Tel -Rl -! eb ir to-day, there were twenty

m en k il led , and an offi c er in the 6oth Rifleswounded .

LATER. The offi c er who was serious ly wounded

to-cl ay is Capta in Cuthbert Lark ington , son of Lord

Luc re , of Oxfordsh ire, of the 6o th Rifles. H is

rec overy is doubtful .”


CHAPTER X I I.

GLADYS CARLETON woke early on the morn

ing afte r the ball , which had been , everybody

said , the great success of th e season . She

could not s leep , as she usual ly did after a

party, and after tossing for half an hour rest

lessly on her bed , she rang the bel l for her

maid , and stood looking out from the balcony

of her pretty room , as she had done that

morn ing on wh ich she had promised to be

the wife of Cuthbert Larkington . I t was

j ust such a morning as that had been , fresh ,

clear, and ful l of sunsh ine . But i t was of

another man than her fi a n cé that she was

th i nking,—the man who had sudden ly re

t u rned to Newport from Colorado , and whose

face sh e had not s een since she had become

engaged to the Engl ishman . Then she


roses was broken , and the blossoms were

trampled into the ground . She stooped to

pick up one of the faded flowe rs , and saw a

crumpled newspaper lying close at hand .

How care less people are l she ejaculated,

and was j us t stooping down to pick up the

paper when she heard wheels o n the grave l

driveway,and looking round saw Charles

Farwel l ’s trap coming up at a quick pace .

H e drew up the horses at the sight of her,

and,giving h is re ins to the servan t who had

come out at the sound of the whee ls , j o i ned

Gladys on the lawn .

What brings you out and up at th is hour,

G ladys ? i t is not eight o’clock yet , were h is

first words , whi le he looked anxiously into

her face .

“ Why, I might ask th e same question of

you , Cid . How are you ? I am so glad to

see you .

”

“ I forgot that I had not spoken to you

before . Have you seen Mrs Fal low-Deer thi s

morn ing or anybody e lse P


You forge t how early i t i s ; no , I have

not seen anybody. If you cam e to se e Mrs .

Fallow-Deer,you wil l have to wai t ; sh e may

com e down at ten ” She was piqued at h is

queer,cool manner.

No,I d id not come to see Mrs . Fallow

Dee r,or anybody but yourself. Come and

take a drive wi th me .

”

Wha tP Before breakfast P

Yes ; are you so hungry ? We wil l drive

to Finley ’s and get some grapes . I t i s a per

fec t day , and besides I want to see you ,

Gladys , for a few minutes . Come .”

“ I should l ike to— only I don ’ t suppose

I ought I suppose you know, Cid

Oh yes , I know al l about what has hap

pened in my absence . Run and get your hat,

chi ld , and take a drive with me .

”

“ Well , I will , Cid .

” She plucked a rose

bud from a bush which h is careless fee t had

crushed the n ight before,and held i t out to

h im , and then picked up the crumpled news

paper.


What is that paper, Gladys ? Have you

been reading i t P

No . I cannot imagine who could be

careless enough to throw i t on the lawn.

Put i t i n the baske t i n the l ibrary,wh ile I

get my cloak .

Farwel l gave a s igh of rel ief. He pu t th e

copy of th e Even ing Telegram,wh ich h e

had dropped the n igh t before,i n h is pocket

.

She did not know yet, and he would be the

fi rst one to tell her the mortifying truth .

They drove down Bel levue Avenue,and

out over ! ay Stree t, s topping on the road to

buy some rol l s at a bakery,and some great

bunches of black Hamburg grapes at a hot

house . Gladys laughed at her cousin,and

said that she real ly could wai t ti l l b reakfas t

time but Cid broke off for her tempting li ttl e

bunches of the fine grapes , and coaxed her to

eat a rol l . He had a great idea of fortifying

th e body before g ivm g a shock to the mind .

How pretty she looked that morning , all

dewy and fresh as the wi ld flowers by the


0

down the great b il l at the two-mi le corner.

The country was splend id with the glory of

th e goldenrod , which l ined the dusty road

s ide and spread l ike a great yel low cloak

over the fields , cu t into squares l ike a chess

board by the c rossi ng l i nes of the gray stone

wall s . S ome of th e squares were deep green ,

starred Wi th purpl e asters ; others were of

the rich brown color of new-ploughed earth ;

many of the d istan t ones were yellow with

the harvested grai n , and pi les of deep red

gold pumpkins s tood at the corners of the

fiel ds . The air was sweet with the smel l of

th e wild grapes wh ich c lung to the porches of

the bare unpainted farm-houses . The beauty

of the comple te and perfect year crowned

th e fair earth , and the peace of the fru itful

harvest was over the land . The air was

fresh , and , though ful l of l igh t and warmth ,

had a cool tinge i n it, that set th e blood run

n ing l ike new wine through the veins of the

man and woman who were so unreasonably

and unreasoningly happy,si tti ng , side by s ide ,


O u they wen t , past the quaint o ld gray

windm i l l on the left , whose four great wh i te

arms slowly revolved in the l igh t breeze . I n

a l ittl e window high up i n the qu iet m il l,

wh ich Gladys said looked l ike a giantess ’s

th imble , they saw the mil l er’s wife standing ,

a rosy child on he r strong shoulder. The

l i ttle c reatu re waved i ts hand to the two i n

the carriage ; he l iked to see the horses and

their shin ing harness .“ Why did you call me

,Gladys , that day ?

A week ago yesterday afternoon , you called

me , and I heard you i n th e depths of the

earth , fa r , very fa r off ; and now I have com e

to ask you why you called me , on the very

day, they tel l m e , i t was when you—when

you had no right to think of any oth er man

than the man you had chosen .

”

“ I d id not cal l your name ; did you hear

my voice ?

I do not know if I heard anyth ing with

my ears , but you r spiri t cal led to mine and

mine heard it ; do you not know this to be

true P

230 A NEW’

POIBT AQUARELLE.

Yes,Cid .

Wel l P”

She was si len t , and looked away from his

tender eyes,over the fai r landscape , and then

sh ivered at an ugly though t that came into

her m ind .

Shal l I te l l you why you cal led me ? ” he

asked . She did not speak , but bowed her

head i n assent . “ Because you love me ,

Gladys,with a love which i s not of th is

earth only ; because your lower self t ries

to ignore th is love , and would do i t an

outrage . Ah,ch i ld , you were i n sore need

oi. me when that spi ri t , so long subordi

nate to your worldly self, sighed to mine for

help . I have come , and offer you that help .

”

He paused , and then continued ! Why was

i t that at the last momen t you threw over

that ‘ splendid match ’ and gave such pain

and m ortific a tion to that man in Germ a nyP”

I could not marry h im , Cid .

”

And why ? Because you cou ld not put

a barrie r between our two souls , which have


O

though t of i n some of the st range pic tures

painted from a landscape seen only i n a

dream .

Gladys looked up into the eyes of the man

at her s ide , which were turned half from her.

There was no emotion in his face ; he was

qui te sti l l a nd si len t , nei ther pale nor red , but

with a fa r-away look of peace i n h is eyes,

which sh ed a calm on her fevered,world

weary spirit. The qu ie t , st i l l feel ing which

she saw on h is face was nestl ing at her heart,

and with the long , low sigh wh ich shook her

breast,al l i ts weigh t of care and trouble

,al l

the bitter l i ttlenesses of her life , seemed to sl ip

away from her, and i n that moment of peace ,

full of a strange awe , the shadow of a love which

should last for etern i ty swept over her soul .

A bird ’s note,cal l i ng to i ts m ate , fel l upon

the quie t of the morning , and with the sound

came the awakening . Farwel l ’s eyes , which

had been looking into the stil l blue of th e

skies,turned to seek those of the woman that

he loved,who was so near h im .

A NEWPORT AQUARELLE.233

Well,Gladys

,shal l i t not be to day ?

She knew quite wel l what he mean t , but ,

womanl ike,evaded .

“ Why , what do you

mean , CidP

You know wel l enough , dear. Shal l i t

no t be to day that al l the demons of pride

and worldl i ness which have kept us so long

apart shal l be utterly routed P Come , give

me your hand l ike a brave gi rl , and tel l me

that you wil l be my wife before sundown .

Cid , are you crazy P

A l ittl e,perhaps ; but how sweet a mad

ness,is i t notP Better than the san i ty which

I have so long known Come , give me your

hand ; that means yes ?“ 0 Cid , how um you ? I t ’

s wicked .

Think of them all , think of that man .

”

“ That is j ust what I won ’t th i nk of.

Gladys , I am i n very deep earnest,much

more so than you can guess . I ask you,

clear, what may seem strange to you ; but

have you not al l c onfiden c e i n me ? I ask

you to com e now to Fall R ive r,—why , we


are half-way there already ,—and go to Cousi n

Abel ’s house and ask the old fel low to marry

us . You know how gladly he wou ld do it.

He made me promise , years ago , that he

should perform the ceremony wh ich is to

make me the happiest man in th e world . I

know all about the law The l icense I can

ge t with h is assistance i n half an hour , and

l ittle cousi n Mary will stand as bridesmaid

to you in the parlor of the old house where

you first promised .

”

But to th is hai r-brained scheme the happy

gi rl would not l i s ten , half because she loved to

hear h im'

beseec h her so earnest ly, and partly

because , with her formal ideas,the who le

proceeding seemed wel l -n igh scandalous .“ What ! no wedding dress or cake

,

” she

cried , no reception , white sl ippers , or rice

th rown afte r us ,—no one to give me away ?

I t wou ld look as if I were afraid of my own

determination , and feared , if I did not marry

you righ t away , I should change m y mind .

”

And the sorrels , brave creatures , st i l l bore


0

i n her heart could not speak in words ; but as

the farm-houses were seen closer and closer

together,and the straggl ing outposts of the

town grew near, she became quite quiet , and ,

s l ipping her hand in to her lover’

s arm , looked

at h im with eyes dark with a shadow half of

love,half of fear, the sweetes t look that

woman ’s eyes can wear, the eyes of a bride .

I t was very strange that Gladys did not

come home to luncheon , Mrs . Fallow-Deer

said to Mrs . Craig , who had come round in

a state of w i ld excitemen t to te ll the news

which th e Egyptian telegram con tained .

“ S o he was an imposto r , afte r all , said

Mrs . Craig , after the two ladies had discussed

the matte r for at l east two hours,with th e

assistance of Gray Grosvenor and Coun t

Cl awski , who came to‘

bring the latest news

about the strange affai r, which was the talk

of th e town .

Mrs . Fallow - Deer had been genuinely

shocked , and had wept real tears for Gl adys’

s


disappointmen t and m ortific ation , fo r which

she fel t herself i n a measure respons ibl e .

She had brought down the lette r of i n tro

duction which the sozl a’z'

sa n t Larkington had

brought her,and i t was read by each and

every one of the friends who had come to

talk it over. Now that she looked at i t i n

this new l igh t , the l etter was a very guarded

one,and the wri ter, an Engl ishman of more

i ll ustrious name than character, asked leave

to presen t to Mrs . Fallow-Deer M r . Cuthbert

Larkington,whose acquaintance he had had

the great pleasure of making on board the

Servia .

Count Cl awski , who had befriended th e

Engl ishman because he l iked h im , had

brought the last news of h im . Going down

to the steamer to send off some importan t

despatches , he had encountered Larkington

on the gang-plank . The man had been too

much overcome to speak,and had grasped

the Count by the hand,and then staggered

into the boat , accompanied by his se rvant

238 A A’EWPORTLAQUARELLE.

Sti rrups , who had said , by way of expl a

nation ,

My m aster has had some bad news,s i r

,

which takes him away unexpectedly .

”

I t was al l very st range , — s tranger that

Gladys did not come home ; perhaps sh e

had see n the news in the morn ing paper,

and had gone to her cousin Amel ia ’s house

to pass the day , and avoid meeting Mrs.

Fallow-Deer.

Poor gi rl , c ried that good lady at last ,

when the hual words had been said a hun

d red t imes on the exci ting top ic,and a hun

d red surm i ses made by M r . Gray Grosvenor,

I m ust real ly drive down to Amel ia ’s and

find hen

I t was th ree o ’clock , th e l uncheon had

protracted i tself until a very late hou r, and

Mrs . Fallow-Deer, excusing herself from he r

guests,rang for her carriage , and was j us t

preparing to start i n quest of the poor

deceived darl i ng, when Charles Farwe l l ’s

card was brough t up to her.


sobbed forth a broken greeting to the two

gentlemen .

My dear madam , said th e Rev. Abel ,

gallantly , “ pray do not cry . I t i s my duty

to break to you a piece of news .

No , no , M r. Carleton , I have already

heard of it,” wailed Mrs . Fal low-Deer , and

what um I say ? No one can suffer more

than I , at th is sad affai r ; you certa inly m ust

know how enti rely I was deceived by the

young m an .

I ndeed , ma’am , I was not aware that you

had heard the news ; but real ly , these tears ,

th is d istress I cannot th ink , madam , that

they are indicat ive of your real sentiments .

Mrs . Fallow-Dee r brid led and dried her

tears . M r . Carleton , she said i n her most

a cc en tuated and dramatic manner,“ I real ly

do 720i understand you , si r ; you seem in

c l ined to make l igh t of th is terrible—this

morti fying affai r.

Well , wel l , my dear madam ,that is taking

an extreme view of the case . I t was without

A A’EWPOIPT AQUARELLE. 24 1

doubt sudden and perhaps rash ; bu t , Mrs .

Fallow-Deer, young folks are not so slow as

we old ones i n thei r thoughts o r i n thei r ways,

and I thought si ncerely that I was act ing fo r

the best in helping the young man

What do you mean , M r. Carleton P

Farwel l , I don’t understand it , said

'

Mr s .

Fal low-Deer , fai ntly

The fact is , dear Mrs . Fallow-Deer,I

t rust you won ’t be angry, but Gladys

stammered Farwell .

Wel l , what about Gladys ? Do you know

where she is ? I have not seen her to-day .

”

There was a l itt le rustl e , and from beh ind

a curtain Gladys appeared , blush ing , c on

fused , radiant . She looked neither a t Charles

Farwell nor th e Rev. Abel , but gl ided up to

Mrs . Fallow-Deer, and , throwing her arms

about that good lady ’s n eck,buried her head

on her tight-laced but motherly bosom , and

whispered ,

Dear, forgive us , but I—am Charl ie’

s


L’

ENVOI .

I n th e early October days Newport is stil l

fai r w i th a beau ty t inged with sadness ; the

prime of the year i s past . I n the long

crescen t corridor o f the Casino there is noth

ing oi'

that gay th rong of people we first saw

the re . Where hundreds were wont to si t and

stare,walk and chat, only a dozen or two per

sons are to be seen scattered about . Am ong

these few “ late ” peopl e we recognize some

faces on th is October morning, whose a c

quaintance we first made in the merry month

of August .

Mrs . Fal low-Deer, i n the la tes t of Dono

van ’s imported costumes , and Mrs . Craig ,

fresh as a rosebud , are s i tt ing together, oc c u

pied for the mom en t in watch i ng two people

who are walking across the green that leads

to th e racket court . We can on ly see the i r

backs , but that carriage of the head could be

long to no one but G ladys Carleton—we

beg her pardon Farwell , and the l ight


I Iwow that she did not know about i t,”

rej oi ned Mrs . Fal low—Deer.Do you real ly bel i eve that

,dear Mrs .

Fallow—DeerP Wel l , i t i s refresh ing to find

some one who is not scept ical i n th is day and

gene ration . I suppose you bel ieve also that

Gladys did not know about Farwel l ’s having

made that pi l e of money in the L i t tle Q uick

gain Mine P

My dear,I know she d id not , for when

we talked i t al l ove r together that afternoon ,

after she came back , and surprised me into

hysterics,she spoke quite seriously about he r

having married a poor man . She had always

loved Charl ie Farwell in a way ,

‘

but she was a

queer gi rl,and the knowledge of her love for

h im only came to her in i ts full force on that

day when they went off for the fatal drive .

She had loved h im,bu t he had somehow

failed to say the righ t th ing to her ; he had

given h er up too easi ly, before her heart was

real ly awake .

But,

” i n te rrupted Mrs . Craig , i f sh e had


not heard al l about that horrid Engl ishman,

sh e neve r would have done so queer,so

utterly unheard -of a th ing as to ge t up i n

the m iddle o f the n igh t and steal away to

Fal l R iver, to be married by dear knows

who , to a m ail that she might have m arried

six years ago . I t was because she had no t

the face to stand the m ortific a tion alone , that

she took up wi th Charl ie Farwel l , who real ly

deserves bette r treatment.“ Now, Minnie Craig , once and for al l I

won ’ t hear any more such spi te about Gladys .

I t was because Charl ie would not be taken

as a p z'

s (2115 7 , that he married her that morn

ing . H e told her afterwards that if she had

not married h im Mm , before she knew of

La rk ing ton’

s being a humbug, and while sh e

thought Farwel l to be a man of moderate

means , she neve r would have had anoth er

chance . She never even knew there was

such a mine as the L ittl e Qu ic kga in , which

Charl i e real ly only bought to help that queer

Bohemian friend of his , Cartwright, never


dreaming that h is b read would come back to

h im toasted and buttered . Gladys married

a poor New York broker , wh ile she though t

herself engaged to an Engl ish peer, j us t as

surely as if the real Cuthbert Larkington

had neve r been shot , and the false one di s

covered , and the L i ttl e Quic kga in did not

stand at 2 75 . To her the credi t of s uch un

worldl i ness belongs , and only envy can deny

i t to her. I t i s not so often that we have a

love match in our set ; we had bette r make

th e most of i t, I th i nk .

”

The good Mrs . Fal low—Deer , at heart warmand kindly

,spoke ind ignant ly to the l it tle

pretty fribble of a worldl i ng at her s ide , and

Count Cl awski noticed , as he j oi ned the two

ladies , that some rather high words must have

passed betwee n them,but h e was too ful l of

his subj ect to keep it to h imself, he had a bi t

of news Wh ich he knew would be eagerly lis

tened to by them both .

“ I have j us t heard the real tru th about

our Engl ishman,he said , i n a letter from


while Clawski gave th is ske tch of the bogus

Hon . Cuthbert , and after l i s ten ing intently

to all the fa t diplom ate h ad to say , he heaved

a great sigh of rel i ef. No , Cl awski had not

heard the l a st th ing connected with the

strange affai r,and his thunder was not stolen .

Rapturous thought ! As Gray Grosvenor

stood s i l en t , a smile of superior knowledge

on his face , a warm complacency i n h is ex

pressm n ,awaiting the recovery of h is breath ,

l ost i n th e qu ick pace at which he had walked

from the racket court to the corridor, h is eyes

fel l upon a picture framed i n the oriel of

black wood i n the balcony of the racket

court . There , looking down at the group ,

stood Gladys and her lover husband , smil i ng ,

brigh t,and beautiful . What a contrast they

were , the Saxon-hai red man,strong and

ruddy with heal th , and the graceful s lender

woman with her wh ite face and great dark

eyes ! For on e moment they stood looking

down at thei r friends in the ful l sunl ight,and

then G ladys waved a whi te hand,Farwell


l ifted h is hat , and they disappeared under

the shadow of the balcony.

A s they were lost to view , Gray Grosvenor

gained h is los t breath , and said , Well , what

do you th ink the las t extraord inary act of

that extraordinary young man is P O i

course they could not guess and begged to

be told .

Why,the Farwel ls , passing through New

York on thei r return from thei r queer bridal

trip to Colorado , met Larkington in th e

street,looking seedy

,sick , and general ly

broken up. Sti rrups was with him , devoted

sti ll,but the two of them were in a bad

pl ight . What does Farwel l do , but pay the

passage of these two rascal s to Leadvil le , and

give Cartwrigh t d irections to find them

work in the mine , and le t them have one

more chance at support ing themselves hon

es tlyP What do you think of tha tP

Mrs . Craig sniffed and said , I t i s not

surpri sing that the Farwel ls wanted the man

out of the way ; he might talk and say some


0

things which they would rath er not have

heard .

”

Mrs . Fallow-Deer said nothing , but pressed

her handkerch ief to her eyes , in which were

real tears ; sh e was rather hysterical that

morning, and was eas i ly touched .

“ Ah ! noélesse obl ige.

” Coun t C l awsk i

was the speaker. For once the accom pl ished

diplomate forgot h is careful Engl ish and

spoke fee l i ngly i n h is native tongue. s i

m ent, c’

esf ag z'

r en g r a nd 5 2491122 7

THE END.

Un ivers i t y Press ! Joh n Wi l son 81 Son , Camb ridge.

M essr s. Roéer/s B rotéer s’

Puél z’

m tz’

ons.

FAMOUS WOMEN SERIES.

EM I LY BRO NTE.

BY A. MARY F. ROBINSON.

One vol . 16m o. Cl oth . Pri ce,

Miss Rob i n son h as w ri t t en a fasci n at i ng b i ography. Emi l y Bron t e i si n terest ing

,not because she wrote Wutherm g H e igh ts , ’ bu t becau se o f h erb rave

, ba ffled , human l ife , so lon e ly, so fu l l o f pa in , bu t w i t h a grea t h ope sh in ingbeyond a l l th e darkn ess, and a pass i on ate defian c e i n bearing more th an th ebutdens th a t we re l a id upon her Th e s tory o f th e th ree S is t ers i s infin i te ly sad ,bu t i t 15 t h e enn ob l ing sadness th a t be longs to large n atu res cramped and str i v i ngfo r freedom t o heroic , a lmost despera te , work , w 1th l i t t le or n o resu l t . Th e au th orof th i s i n tense l y i n terest i ng, sympathe t ic, and e loquen t biograph y, i s a young ladyand a poe t

,to whom a p lace 13 g i ven in a recen t an tho logy o f hvm g Engl i sh poe ts,wh ich i s su l i posed t o con ta in on ly t he be s t poems o f t h e best wr i ters .” —B oston

0 4 zZy A dver t z’

ser .

“ Miss Robi n son had many exce l len t qua l ific a tions for th e task sh e h as performed i n th i s l i t t l e vo l ume , among wh i ch may be named , an en th u si ast i c i n teres ti n h er subjec t and a rea l sympath y w i th Em i l y Bron te ’ s sad and hero ic l i fe . Torepresen t her as sh e wa s , ’ says M l SS Robm son , wou ld be h er n ob l es t and mostfi tti ng mon umen t . ’ Em i l y Bron te h ere becomes we l l known to us and , i n onesen se , th i s should be pra ise enough for a n y b iography New Yor k s es .

“ Th e b iograph er who finds such mate ria l be fore h im as th e hves and charactersof th e Bron té fam i ly need have no anx ie ty a s to th e in teres t of h i s work . Chara c ters no t on l y stron gr bu t so u n ique l y strong , gen i us so supreme , m isfortunes sooverwhe lm ing

,se t in i ts scenery so for lorn ly pic tu resque , cou ld not fa i l t o a t t ract

a l l readers , i f told even in th e most prosai c l anguage . When we add to th i s, t h a tM iss Robi nson has told t he i r s tory n ot i n prosa ic l anguage , bu t Wi t h a h terastyle exh ib i ti ng a l l t h e qua l i t i e s essen t ia l t o good biograph y

,ou r readers Wi l

u nderstan d th a t th i s l i fe o f Emi ly Bron te 15 n ot on ly as m terestm g as a n ove l , bu ta grea t dea l more i n terest ing t h an mos t n ove l s . A s i t presen ts most v iw d ly agenera l pict ure o f th e fam i ly, th ere seems h ard ly a reason for g i v i ng i t Em i l y ’s nam e

alone,excep t perhaps for th e masterl y chapters on Wu th eri ng H e igh ts , ’ whi ch

the reade r w i l l find a grate fu l conden sa t ion o f th e best i n t ha t power fu l bu t somewha t forb idd ing story . We know of n o poi n t i n th e Bron te h istory t hei r gen ius,thei r su rrou nd in g s , th ei r faul ts, th e i r h app in e ss, th e i r m ise ry, the 1r l ove and fri end !

sh ips , th ei r pecu l ia ri t i e s , th ei r power, th e i r gen t leness, th e i r pa tien c e , the1r pr 1de ,—Wl'l l Cl l Miss Robi nson h as not t ouc hed upon w i th c onscie n t iousn ess and sympath y .” Th e Cn t z c .

Emi l y Bron te i s th e secon d of th e Famou s Women Series , ’ wh ich Robert sB roth ers

,Boston , propose to pub l i sh , and o f “ t h George E l i o t wa s th e in i t ia l

vo l ume . Not th e least remarkab l e of a very remarkab le fami ly, the personagewhose l ife i s h e re w r i t ten , possesses a pecul i ar i nt erest to a l l wh o are a t a l l fam i l ia rWi t h th e sad and singu l ar h i story of he rse l f and h er si ste r Charlot te . Tha t t h eau t hor

,M I SS A . Mary F . Robi n son , has done h er wo rk w i t h m in u t e fide l i ty to

facts a s we l l as aff ect iona te devoti on to th e subj ec t of h er ske tch , i s p la in ly to besee n a l l t h rough the book .

” Wa s/zm g ton Past .

Sold by all Booksel lers , or mai led, post-paid , on rec e ipt ofpr ic e

,by the Pub l ishers ,

ROBERTS BROTHERS , BOSTON.

MESSRS. ROBERTS BROTHERS’ PUBLICATIONS.

f amous w omen 5 21185 .

GEO RGE EL I O TBY MATH ILDE BL IND.

One vo l . 16m o . C loth .

Messrs . Robert s B roth e rs begi n a seri es o f Biograph ies o f Famou sWomen W i th a l i fe of George E l iot , by Math i lde B l ind . The i dea of th eseri es i s a n exc e l len t on e , and the repu ta t ion of i ts pub l ishe rs i s a guaranteefor i t s adequate execu t i on . Th i s book con ta in s abou t th ree hundred pages i nOpen type, and no t on ly col lects and conden se s th e ma in facts tha t are knowni n regard t o t he hi story o f George E l iot , bu t supp l i es othe r materia l fromperson al research . I t i s agreeab l y wri t ten , an d Wi th a good idea o f proport ion i n a memo i r of i t s si ze . The grtt ic a l s tudy o f i ts subjec t ’ s works , whichis made i n the order of th ei r appe arance , i s part icularly we l l don e . I n fac t ,good tas te and good judgmen t pervade t he m emo i r t h roughou t .” S a turdayEw m

’

rzg Ga z ette.

Miss B l i n d ’ s l i t t l e book i s wri t t en w i t h adm i rab l e good t aste and judgmen t, and W i th n otable se l f-res t ra i n t . I t doc not weary the reader Wl l hc ri t i ca l d i sc ursweness, nor w i t h at tempt s to search ou t h t -fiown mean in sand rec on f l tte orac les i n t he pla i n ‘ yea ’ and nay of 1183 . I t IS a g race uiand unpre ten t ious l i t t l e biograph y

,and te l ls a l l th a t n eed be to ld concern i ng

one o f the grea tes t wri t ers of t he t ime . I t i s a deep ly in te rest in g i f n o tfasci na t ing woman whom M iss B l i n d presen ts, ” says the New YorkTr ibune .

“ Miss B l i nd’ s l i t t le b i ograph ica l s tudy of George E l i o t i s wr i t ten w i thm pa thy and good taste , and i s very we lcome . I t g iv es us a graph ic i f n ote abora te sketch of t h e persona l i ty and deve lopmen t o f th e grea t n ove l is t , i spart icu larly fu l l and au t hen t i c concern ing he r earl i e r years , te l ls enough ofth e lead ing mot ives i n her work to g i ve th e general reader a l l l C ld idea of th etrue dri ft and pu rpose of her art , and ana l yzes care fu l l y her vari ous wri t ings,w i t h n o at tempt a t profound cri t ic i sm or fine w r i t i ng , bu t wi th apprec iat i on ,i n s igh t , and a c lear grasp of those underlying psycho log ica l pri nciple s wh ichare so c lose ly i n terwoven i n every produc uo n t ha t c ame from her pe n .”Tr a vel le r .

The l ives o f few grea t wri ters h ave a t t racted more curiosi ty an d speCttl at i on t han tha t o f Geor e El i o t . H ad she on ly l ived ea r l ter tn t h e cen tu rysh e m igh t eas i ly have ec ome th e cen t re of a mythos. A s i t i s , many of t h eanecdotes common ly repeated abou t h er are made u p l arge l y of tab le . I t 18 ,th ere fc re , we l l , be fore i t i s too l a te , t o reduce th e t rue story o f h er career tothe lowes t t erms

,and th i s serv ic e has been we l l done by the au thor of t h e

pre se n t vo l ume .” Pl ula d e lp/z ia Pr ess .

So ld by al l booksel lers , or mai led, post-paid , on rec e ipt of

pr ic e , by the publ ishers ,ROBERTS BROTHERS , BOSTON .

NO NAM E (TH IRD) S ERI E S .

A DAUGHTEROF THEPHILISTINES.

Th ere i s n oth i ng l ike a we l l-wri t ten n ove l t o gi ve th e reader a tru e i n sigh t of hum an l i fe i n a l l i t s ph ases

,i t s socie ty , a ims , and asp ira t ion s , and of t h e scenes and sc en

e ry i n wh ich i t moves . The ‘ No Name ’ nove l s do th i s . They are a l l b l l g l l t an dt ru th ful , a nd o f a refined order ; th ey are so good i t i s sm q ul ar th a t th e pub l ishers ,R obert s B roth e rs, of Boston , are abl e to se l l t h em a t th e ch eap price o f one dol lar avol ume. The b ind ing i s tasteful , an d th e books are conven ien t t o h andl e , just th erigh t S i ze t o tuck away i n a sa tch e l , for reading duri ng a j ou rn ey ,

or fo r th e summerh ol iday s . Wln l e on e i s e n terta in ed by th ese charm i ng l i t t le s ton es , t h ere i s a lso asa t i s factory fee l in g th a t t ime i s n ot wasted i n th e i r perusa l

,bu t m uch p rofi t gai n ed .

Th ey keep on e abreast w i t h t h e t im es i n many soc ia l d i rect ions , and , in a p l easu rab l eway , t h ey are adapted to g i ve lad ies a grea t dea l o f th e genera l in format ion o f t h e day ,i n w ln c h many a t e sad l y lack ing . The No Name Ser ies 15 bet ter and bet te r th e o lde ri t grows . The Th i rd S e t ies i ncl udes some o f th e best . Bam ng ton

’s Fa te is fol lowed

by A Daugh ter of th e Ph th s tm es ,’ and i t i s good from begm n tng to end . The

book i s bri mm i ng w i th l i t t l e b i ts o f w i sdom , and gen u i n e World l y knowledgeA Daugh te r o f t h e Pln l ts tines ’ does n ot cla im to be a soc i e ty nove l , bu t i t gives

m ore c omprehen s i ve i n format i on of New York soc i e ty t h an th e books tha t m ake tha tsub jec t a speci al t y I t a l so depict s fai th fu l l y th e schemi ng stock Operat i on s ofWa l lst ree t ; b u t th e ug l i est facts of socwt y and of

' s tock gamb l ing are presen ted w i th a refined t ast e a nd a de l i c ate h umor th a t would p lease th e most fast id ious reader. ”H a rgf or a

' Tz'

m es .

We commend th e story as a p ic tu re of th e demora l i z in g eff ect ofWal l S t ree t specul a tion on domest i c l i fe , for i t s graph i c portra i tu re of fash ion ab l e l i fe on M urray H I”,and for th e l esson i t i ncu lca tes of th e m i s fortun e and d isaster tha t fol low m th e t rai nof th ose who give themse l ve s up to t h e worsh i p o f Mammon .” Pr ow den c e 7our m z l .

f‘ A Daugh ter of th e Ph i l i st i n es i s on e of th e l atest of th e No

.

Nam e Series an d11 15 th e mos t i n te t est tng of th e col l ect ion . I t s l itera rv super iori ty and o r tgm ah tyst r ike one upon i t s fi rs t page , an d t hey are con t in ued . There 15 not a du l l page i n th ebook .” —H nm e ? ou r fl a l

I f we were to h azard a gu ess, i t would be th a t th i s book i s by th e au thor of TheH ou se o f a Merchan t Prm c e ,

’ M r . B i shop, o f New York . We a re , h oweve r. i t

seem s , never to know who an y o f th ese No Name wri t ers a re , an d so even guessi ng i s unprofi tabl e The s tory i s of New York l i fe , and i ts i n ciden ts h e c h i eflv amongth e r ich and fash i onabl e . Th e Ph i l i st i nes ’ in qu est ion a re wh a t are ca l led thefzou z rea ux r i c/zes Th e i r ch aracter

,career

,and end are ske tched in a wa y to sh ow

where and how i n ten se world l in ess i s apt t o bring up . The ‘ Daugh ter, ’ h oweve r ,h as e l emen ts o f ch aracter of a be t te r order, and fa l l i ng i n love w i th a superi or man , i sby h im saved from t he fate wh ich a t fi rst th rea ten s h er . Th e “ h ol e i s managed w i t hth e sk i l l o f a pract ised wr i te r, Wi t h th e i n s igh t of t ru e gen i us , and w i t h an mm wh ichth e jud ic iou s reader fu l l y i n dorses. ” S ta nda r d , Ch ic ag o.

On e Vo l um e . 1 6m o . B r ow n C l o th . G i l t a n d B l a c k . Pr i c e ,

Our pub l i c a t i on s a re t o b e h a d o f a l l b o ok s e l l e rs , or w i l l b e m a i l e d ,post-pa i d , on r e c e i pt o f p r i c e , by t h e pub l i sh e rs ,

ROBERTS BROTHERS , BOSTON .

SUMMER READING .

Dorothy . A Country S tory in Eleg iac Verse . 16mo . C loth . 5A Par is i an Ye ar . By H enry Bac on . With i l lustrations by

the a uthor . 16m o . C l o th 1 . 50

H opes an d F ears fo r A rt . ByWi l l ianiM orr is . 16m o . C loth 1 .25C loth 1 . 50

Po ems by O s c ar Wi l de . 16mo . C lothL et ters H om e from Co lor ado , U t ah , a nd Cal i fo rn i a . ByCaro l ine H . Dal l . I amo . C loth

Coun try P le asure s . The Chron ic le of a Year ; c hie fly i na Ga rden . By George M i lner . 16mo . C lo th

Random Ramb les . In the beaten track of Engl ish a nd

Con t inen tal trave l , br istl ing w i th in tel l igenc e , good sense ,

and humor .

” By Lou ise Chandler M ou l ton . 16moB it s o f Trave l . By H . H . Square 16mo . C lothB i t s o f Trave l a t H om e . By H . H . Square 16mo. C lothGon e to Texas ; or , The VVonderfui Adventures of a Pul l

m an . By E. E. H ale . 16mo . C lothTh e M oun tain s . A Col lec tion of Poems . S quare 16mo 1 00

S e a a nd S hore . A Poet ic al Se lec t ion . S quare 16m o . 1 00

Wi ld L ife in a S ou thern Coun ty . 16m o . C lothTh e G amekeeper a t H ome . 1 2mo . C lothTh e Amat eu r Poac her . 1 2mo . C lothRoun d Abou t a G reat Estat e . 1 2mo . C loth 1 .50

Our Au tumn H o l id ay on F ren c h R ivers . By J. L. M o l

l oy. 16mo . C lothS arah d e B ereng er . A Nove l . By Jean I ngeIow . 16m o .

C lothS is te r Dora. A Biography. By M argaret Lonsda l e . 16m o .

C lo th . With portrait

New Novels by No Name Auf/zors.

Th e H ead o f M edus a . By th e author of “ ! ismet,” “ M1

rage .

”I 6m o

B y th e T iber .

H

By the author of S ign or Mona l din i’

sNiec e16mo

Ble ss ed S ain t C e rt ain ty . By the author of H is Maj esty,Myse l f.” 16mo

Sold by a l l booksel l ers, or m a i l ed,posf to a ny a dd ress on r eceipt of

j r zc e , [zy t/ze publ i slzer s,ROBERTS BROTHERS, Boston .

ne wport aquarelle - forgotten books · a newport aquarelle chapter i. “1110 is that tall girl...

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