"That reminds me," said the Scotchman, "that I saw a photograph of Dixblanc to-day, and was astonished to find her not at all an evil-looking person. I quite believe now that she murdered her mistress in a fit of pa.s.sion, as she says, and not at all for robbery. And there must have been awful provocation. Fancy living with a disreputable, avaricious, nagging old Frenchwoman!"
"But how worse than with an old Englishwoman of like characteristics?"
asked somebody.
"Oh, because the _Francaise_ is more _fine_, exasperating, and utterly unrestrained by terrors of Mrs. Grundy and the _decent_," replied the ex-Anglican, ex-things-in-general truth-seeker.
You will easily imagine that the talk, as it ran from one thing to another, was now and then upon topics of which I haven"t the faintest gleam of knowledge--the doctrines of Swedenborg, the philosophizings of Spinoza and Vaurenargues. (Ronayne as usual spells the hard names for me, but you, as a wise and much-reading damsel, will know who was meant and all about it.)
After the ladies had returned to the drawing-room (for even in this New Light house the stupid fashion remains of gentlemen lingering alone, or together, or however you like it--you know what I mean--over their wine) I made a little tour of inspection of the public parts of the establishment with Mrs. Malise. They"ve a common library and reading-room, and most of the a.s.sociates have their individual sitting-rooms. Dinner is a fixed meal, and all the members meet thereat, but breakfast and lunch may be taken at any time within certain hours, to suit the convenience of each member. "We are too small in number to make it possible to order our meals _a la carte_, or to economize in general living expenses as it might suit us individually to do. We can only reduce household costs in the ma.s.s, and then share these pretty equally. But this is only a beginning. By and by we shall have splendid confederate homes, under whose roofs the simplest and the costliest fashions of living may go on side by side.
But to prove so much as we have done is a gain, and in separate homes the same amount of comfort we have here would cost us at least double, and would be, for some of us who have neither time nor talent for domesticity, quite unattainable at any price. What, under my administration, a little home would be upon our income of 500 a year, I shouldn"t like to experience. And Mrs. Stainton! (The little widow.) Why, she comes of one of the oldest of the county families in Somerset; was reared like an exotic, lived chiefly upon cream and forced fruit, though now and then she trifled with something solid--an almond soup, a clear jelly, a bit of game, or an intricate _entree_! Never dreamed of going beyond their pleasure gardens on her own feet, and knew how to do no earthly thing save to read, write, talk. She read "Alton Locke," and by way of comment married a national schoolmaster, the son of a brickmaker on her father"s estate! There was a grand hubbub, and before she"d had time to be too much disgusted with her martyr role--martyrdom to break down the barriers of caste--her husband left her a penniless widow, and since then her father allows her a small income, but sentences her to banishment from that decorous household whose proprieties she outraged. She can endure nothing, knows nothing of any practical matters. What would she do with 150 a year, in a dingy parlor "let," with a flock bed, a burnt chop, a long-brewed cup of tea, and a frowsy-haired, s.m.u.tty-faced "slavey" to open the door and attend grudgingly and slatternly upon her?
"But we are not all chiefly moved by economic considerations. Some of our members have very considerable incomes, and might live where and how they pleased, but they seem not less satisfied with our experiment than are the poorer a.s.sociates. There is such relief from care, and we may see as much or as little society as we choose without offence or burden."
Something interrupted Mrs. Malise"s argument here, and I asked to see baby.
"Mill? Oh, certainly, if you like; but we shall find him asleep."
And asleep he was in one of those dreary back rooms that are sure to be sunless--a room that is both day and night nursery, I suppose, for there was a hot fire, a close smell, and the German nurse sat making lace under a gas jet flaming away unshaded.
He was very pale, poor little man! and has grown very fat--a soft, sagging flesh! I remarked upon his pallor to his mother, and she answered that he had measles about the time he was weaned, and that he had never had much color since. But he seemed well, and was he not a great stout fellow?
What treatment had he in measles? I asked. Oh, none! They didn"t believe in doctors over much, and thought nature managed best unhindered. Mill was scrubbed with carbolic soap, and that was all the special treatment he had.
Returning to the drawing-rooms, we found them rapidly filling with the evening guests, and a busy hum of conversation going on. A slender, graceful, feeble-looking young man entered just before us. "That is Dodge, the famous medium," whispered my companion; but the words were hardly uttered before the young man gave a sharp cry, flung his arms wildly out, then sank as if prostrated on a near-by lounge. "Oh, what is it? what is it, Mr. Dodge?" cried several persons, rushing to him.
"She! she!" was the answer, with difficulty, and then he languidly pointed to a group of eager talkers under the chandelier. At the moment Lady ----, one of the group, her white hair startlingly gleaming under the full blaze of light, turned, with some sense of the commotion, and as she did so called out, "Why, Dodge! Is it my old friend Dodge?" and came toward him. The young man rallied, rose, and gave her his hand. "It was so sudden," he explained. "Four years ago Lady ----"s hair had not a white thread in it; and when I first caught sight of her, crowned by that ma.s.s of snow, I quite believed it was her spirit I saw."
"A great deal may happen in four years," answered Lady ----. "But how are you in these days, Mr. Dodge?"
"Oh, wretchedly ill, as usual," he replied. "The Duc de ---- insisted upon it that I must come over to England and try cold water again, and the Emperor, when I left, engaged me to meet him next season at Ems on condition that I had a more respectable body for my spirit to travel about in. Here"s a little souvenir he gave me at parting," showing a magnificent diamond on his finger; and I moved on and lost the gorgeous reminiscences. There was a crowd before the evening was over, and I was introduced to a score or so of notables in the unorthodox world. But I seemed destined to funny little dramatic surprises. I had drawn near the piano to listen to Miss Hedges"s "Drink to Me Only," etc., and was sitting quietly when the song was ended, speaking to no one, not consciously looking at any one, when a voice near me said, "That is my wife!" and I woke up to find a roly-poly, little old fellow, all smiles, insinuation, and plausibility, with a fringe of venerable white hair around a head round as an apple, bald and shining, smooth, evidently addressing himself to me. "Yes, that is my wife," he went on, and I looked with some bewilderment at a young woman his gaze indicated--a very young woman in a brilliant pink evening dress, the young woman brilliantly colored herself in solid white and red, with black eyes, black hair in rebellious tight curls, and a face with about as much expression as a plate. "Looks rather young for me, don"t she? But it"s all right, for the spirits give her to me!"
"And pray, Mr. Wardle, what did the spirits do for the old wife you left in Terre Haute?" inquired Miss Hedges, wheeling about toward us. "I am Anna Hedges, and two years ago I painted a portrait of your grandchild, Benny Davis, for Mrs. Wardle in New York."
"Er--er--I was not aware--er--I remember, that is--er--I think I have seen--er, er--yes! yes! A very worthy woman, the first Mrs. Wardle--very worthy. But narrer, narrer! too undeveloped, in fact, to--er--receive the new gospel, or to--er--make any use of the freedom I gave her to find a more harmonious partner, as I have done," and the old creature having floundered into a little more self-possession, smiled amiably, and retreated in tolerable order.
"I _do_ beg your pardon," went on Miss Hedges to me impulsively; "but that sleek old villain! I really couldn"t help my outburst. His real wife is one of the nicest, gentlest of simple old women, and dying of shame, I heard the other day, for what has befallen herself and her children through the delusions and misconduct of an infatuated man who has grandchildren older than this "harmonious partner" he introduces as his wife here abroad. The "first Mrs. Wardle!" It made me think of one of our Jerseymen who begged that a certain hymn might be sung at his wife"s funeral "because the corpse was particular fond of that hymn!""
When I could speak for laughter, I inquired, "But is this then a spiritualistic headquarters? Because Mrs. Malise pointed out Dodge, the medium, to me early in the evening?"
"No, not more than of all other insanities, crudities, and unconventionalities--conventionalities too; for with perhaps one exception, all the members of the household, whatever their opinions, are to the last degree rigid as to the proprieties. But at one time or another one meets here all shades of belief and non-belief--much of the orthodox and I should say all the heterodox London. Very curious I find it, and though sometimes outraged, as to-night, I"m oftener amused with my "proper study of mankind." But you, as an Englishwoman, would hardly conceive how droll to me was my first experience of one of these receptions. You know, of course, at once, as everybody does, that I"m a Yankee? I came in rather late one evening with an English artist friend, and found, enthroned in the other room, the centre of a throng of bowing gentlemen, a woman as black as the chimney back, her neck and arms bare, white gloves, a gilt comb and white ostrich feather in her woolly hair--a genuine darkey! and Mme. V.--the artist, Mme. V.--hurried up to me. "Oh, do you know your accomplished countrywoman, Miss Symonds? No?
Then pray let me introduce you to her, we find her so charming!" And I dare say she was charming, only it was very queer at first to encounter Chloe _en reme_!"
Then we had a long talk, getting speedily away from persons and things to the old familiar subject--art. How the girl is working! And how happy and absorbed in her work she is.
"Oh, Ronayne," I said, as we settled back in the carriage for our drive home, "do I smell of turpentine and paint rags? I had such a good time!
Miss Hedges and I talked shop for a whole hour."
And then, and later, we compared notes. He was critical, but had been amused, and, trust me, I had the wit to hold my tongue about "the first Mrs. Wardle!"
For over and above my interest in that poor baby, several things draw me toward this a.s.sociate household, and I should not like to pursue an acquaintance there if Ronayne manifested any decided contempt or hostility. He bursts out about the food-reforming trio, and the young lady-lecturer"s manners are not to his fancy--too free and easy. She boasts of her superiority to hampered Englishwomen. _She_ lives here by herself in lodgings, and has gentlemen visiting and dining with her alone, or goes alone, in full dress, to dine, at 7 or 8 o"clock, with a gentleman friend stopping at the Langham Hotel. These are American fashions--innocent permitted freedoms of our republican sisters, she says. She is a pretty little boaster, with ready wit and a sharp tongue; but there are Americans and Americans, and I hardly think it would occur to an English gentleman to stand flicking a heavy curtain-ta.s.sel playfully into Miss Hedges"s face while chatting with her at a public reception, even if he were an _epris_ Liberal, M.P.--as Ronayne says Mr. Vane did in the little orator"s the other night.
But there! there! With love from each to all, not another word this time of my little New Light baby or his expansive household, from
Your own Lil.
(To be continued.)
THE CLIMBING ROSE.
Climb, oh! climb the golden ladder, Song of mine: Climb till thou dost reach her heart For whom I pine.
Cease not, lest thou lose the bliss For which I sigh: Climb till thou dost touch her heart-- Ah! why not I?
D. N. R.
MISS MISANTHROPE.
By JUSTIN MCCARTHY.
CHAPTER X.
"THE POET IN A GOLDEN AGE WAS BORN."
Victor Heron did not leave Mrs. Money"s quite as soon as he had intended. He had made a sort of engagement to meet some men in the smoking-room of his club; men with whom he was to have had some talk about the St. Xavier"s Settlements. But he remained talking with Minola for some time; and he talked with Lucy and with other women, young and old, and asked many questions, and made himself very agreeable, and, as was his wont, thought every one delightful, and enjoyed himself very much. Then Mr. Money chanced to look in, and seeing Heron, bore him away for a while to his study, to talk with him about something very, very particular. Mr. Money saw Herbert Blanchet, and only performed with him the ceremony which Hajja Baba describes as "the shake-elbows and the fine weather," and then made no further account of him. Mr. Blanchet, seeing Heron invited to the study, and knowing from his acquaintance with the household what that meant, conceived himself slighted, and was angry. Mr. Money always looked upon Blanchet as a sort of young man whom only women were ever supposed to care about, and who would be as much out of place in the private study of a politician and man of business as a trimmed petticoat.
There was, however, some consolation for the poet in the fact that he had Minola Grey nearly all to himself. He secured this advantage by a dexterous stroke of policy, for he attached himself to his sister and did his best to show and describe to her all the celebrities; and Minola, only too glad, came and sat by Mary, and they made a very happy trio. Herbert was inclined to look down upon his sister as a harmless, old-fashioned little spinster, who would be much better if she did not try to write poetry. He felt convinced for a while that Minola must have the same opinion of her in her secret heart, and would not think the less of him for showing it just a little. But when he found that Miss Grey took the poetess quite seriously, and had a genuine affection for her, his sister"s value rose immensely in his eyes; he paid her great attention, and, as has been said, he had his reward.
It grew late; the rooms were rapidly thinning. Minola and Miss Blanchet were to remain at Mrs. Money"s for the night. Blanchet could not stay much longer, and had risen to go away, when Victor Heron entered. He came up to speak to Minola, and Minola introduced him to her particular friend and _camarade_, Miss Blanchet; and he sat beside Miss Blanchet and talked to her for a few moments, while Blanchet took advantage of the opportunity to talk again with Minola. Then Mr. Heron rose, and Herbert rose, and Mary Blanchet, growing courageous, told Heron that that was her brother and a great poet, and in a very formal, old-fashioned way, begged permission to make them acquainted. Mr. Heron was a pa.s.sionate admirer of poetry, and occasionally, perhaps, tried the patience of his friends by too lengthened citations from Shakespeare and Milton; but in modern poetry he had not got much later than "The Arab physician Karshish," which he could recite from end to end; and "In Memoriam," of which he knew the greater part. He was, however, modestly conscious that his administrative engagements in the colonies had kept him a little behind the rest of the world in the matter of poetry, and it did not surprise him in the least that a very great poet, whose name had never before reached his ears, should be there beside him in Mrs. Money"s drawing-room. He felt delighted and proud at meeting a poet and a poet"s sister.
It so happened that after saying his friendly good night to his hostess--a ceremony which, even had the rooms been crowded, Mr. Heron would have thought it highly rude and unbecoming to omit--our fallen ruler of men found himself in Victoria street with Mr. Blanchet.
"Are you going my way?" Heron asked him with irrepressible sociability.
"I am going up Pall Mall and into Piccadilly, and I shall be glad if you are coming the same way. Are you going to walk? I always walk when I can. May I offer you a cigar? I think you will find these good."
Herbert took a cigar, and agreed to walk Heron"s way; which was, indeed, so far as it went, his own. Heron was very proud to walk with a poet.