"I only know that Father Frontford said that we were to put ourselves under her orders," was the reply. "Of course it is something about the election."
Maurice looked at him keenly.
"Old fellow," he said, "you look pale. What"s the matter with you?"
"I didn"t sleep well," Ashe answered with a flush. "I went to Mrs.
Fenton"s to dine, and the indulgence wasn"t good for me. It"s really nothing."
Maurice did not reply, but sank into an easy-chair and looked about him. The room was a charming fancy of the decorator, who claimed to have taken his inspiration from the American mullein. The ceiling was of a pale, almost transparent blue, a tint just strong enough to suggest a sky and yet leave it half doubtful if such a meaning were intended; the walls were hung with a rough paper matching in hue the velvety leaves of the plant, here and there touched with conventionalized figures of the yellow blossoms. This contrast of green and yellow was softened and united by a clever use of the clear red of the mullein stamens sparingly used in the figures on the walls, in the cords of the draperies, and in the tr.i.m.m.i.n.gs of the velvet furniture.
The decorator had used the same simple tone for walls, furniture, and curtains; and the effect was delightfully soothing and distinguished.
Wynne felt somehow out of place in this room which bore the stamp of wealth and taste so markedly. He smiled to himself a little bitterly, recalling how alien he was to these things. Descended from a family for generations established in a New England town, he had in his veins too good blood to feel abashed at the sight of splendors; but he had in his life seen little of the world outside of lecture-rooms or the Clergy House. Born with the appreciation of sensuous delight, with the instinctive desire for the beautiful and refined, he felt awake within him at contact with the richness and luxury of the life which he was now leading tastes which he had before hardly been aware of possessing.
He was being influenced by the joy of worldly life, so subtly presented that he did not even appreciate the need of guarding against the danger.
His reflections were cut short by the entrance of a servant who conducted the young men to a private sitting-room up-stairs. The halls through which they pa.s.sed were hung with superb old tapestry, interspersed with magnificent pictures. On the broad landing it was almost as if the visitors came into the presence of a beautiful woman, lying naked amid bright cushions in an oriental interior. As he dropped his eyes from the alluring vision, Maurice saw in the corner the name of the artist.
"Fenton," he said aloud. "Did he paint that?"
His companion started, regarding the picture with widening eyes. The English footman, whom Wynne addressed, turned back to say over his shoulder:--
"Yes, sir; they say it"s his best picture, and some says he painted his best friend"s wife that way, with nothing on, sir."
"It is a wicked picture!" Ashe said with what seemed to Maurice unnecessary emphasis.
The footman regarded the speaker over his shoulder with a smile.
"Oh, that"s owin" to your bein" of the cloth, sir," was his comment.
"They don"t generally feel to own to likin" it; but they mostly notices it."
A superb screen of carved and gilded wood stood before an open door above. When this was reached, the footman slipped noiselessly behind it, and they heard their names announced.
"Show them in," Mrs. Wilson"s voice said.
The lady met them in a wonderful morning gown which seemed to be chiefly cascades of lace, with bows of carmine ribbon here and there which brought out the color of the dark eyes and hair of the wearer.
Maurice could hardly have told why he flushed, yet he was conscious of the feeling that there was something intimate in the costume. To be met by this beautiful woman, her hand outstretched in greeting, her eyes shining, her white neck rising out of the foam of laces; to breathe the air, soft and perfumed, of this room; to be surrounded by this luxury, these tokens of a life which stinted nothing in the pursuit of enjoyment; more than all to appreciate by some subtle inner sense the appealing charm of femininity, the suggestions of domestic intimacies; all this was to the young deacon to be exposed to influences far more formidable to the ascetic life than those grosser temptations with which a stupid fiend a.s.sailed St. Anthony. Wynne drew a deep breath, wondering why he felt so strangely moved and confused; yet unconsciously steeling himself against owning to his conscience what was the truth.
"It is so good of you to come early," Mrs. Wilson said brightly. "I hope you don"t mind coming upstairs. I wanted to talk to you confidentially, and we might be interrupted. Besides, you see, I am not dressed to go down."
The young men murmured something to the effect that they did not in the least mind coming up.
"Didn"t mind coming up!" she echoed. "Is that the way you answer a lady who gives you the privilege of her private sitting-room? Come, you must do better than that. If you can"t compliment me on my frock, you might at least say that you are proud to be here."
The two deacons stood awkwardly in the middle of the room, abashed at her raillery. Maurice saw the lips of Ashe harden, and he hastened to speak lest his companion should say something stern.
"You should remember, Mrs. Wilson," he said a little timidly, yet not without a gleam of humor, "that our curriculum at the Clergy House does not include a course in compliment."
"It should then," she responded gayly. "How in the world is a clergyman to get on with the women of his congregation if he can"t compliment?
Why, the salvation or the d.a.m.nation of most women is determined by compliments."
The visitors stood speechless. Mrs. Wilson broke into a gleeful laugh.
"Come," cried she; "now I have shocked you! Pardon me; I should have remembered--_virginibus puerisque!_ Sit down, and we will come to business."
Both the young men flushed at her half-contemptuous, half-jesting phrase, but they sat down as directed. Mrs. Wilson took her seat directly in front of them, and proceeded to inspect them with cool deliberation.
"I am looking you over," she observed calmly. "I must decide what work you are fitted for before I can a.s.sign anything to you."
Two young men do not live together so intimately, and care for each other so tenderly as did the two deacons without coming to know each other well; and Maurice was so fully aware of the extreme sensitiveness of Ashe that he involuntarily glanced at his friend to see how he bore this inspection. He resented the impertinence of the scrutiny far more on Philip"s account than his own. Ashe"s pale face had on it the faintest possible flush, and his always grave manner had become really solemn; but otherwise he made no sign. Wynne had a certain sense of humor which helped him through the ordeal, and there was a faint gleam of a smile in his eye as he confronted the brilliant woman before him; but he was ill-pleased that his friend should be made uncomfortable.
"Do you judge by outward appearances," he asked, "or have you power to read the heart?"
"Men so seldom have hearts," she retorted, "that it is not worth while to bother with that branch." Then she added, as if thinking aloud, and looking Ashe in the face: "You are an enthusiast, and take things with frightful seriousness. You must see Mrs. Frostwinch. You"ll just suit her."
Maurice could see his companion shrink under this cool directness, and he hastened to interpose.
"But Mrs. Frostwinch," he said, "is absorbed in Christian Science or something, isn"t she?"
"Oh, dear, yes," Mrs. Wilson answered, toying with the broad crimson ribbon which served her as a girdle. "There is a horrid woman named Trapps, or Grapps, or c.r.a.pps, or something, that has fastened herself upon cousin Anna, and is mind-curing her, or Christian-sciencing her, or fooling her in some way; but Mrs. Frostwinch is too well-bred really to have any sympathy with anything so vulgar. She takes to it in desperation; but she really detests the whole thing."
"But," Ashe began hesitatingly, "does her conscience"--
Mrs. Wilson laughed, making a gesture as if sweeping all that sort of thing aside.
"I dare say her conscience p.r.i.c.ks her, if that"s what you mean; but it"s so much easier to endure the sting of conscience than of cancer that I"m not surprised at her choice."
"Besides," Maurice put in, "this is all done nowadays under the name of religion. It isn"t as if it were called by the old names of mesmerism or Indian doctoring."
"That"s true enough," a.s.sented she. "At any rate Anna is mixed up with this woman, who gets a lot of money out of her, and earns it by making her think that she"s better. However, Cousin Anna must be made to see that it"s her duty in this case to use her influence to prevent the election of a man who would subvert the church if he could."
"But if you are her cousin," Ashe began, "would it not"--
"Be better if I went to see her myself? Not in the least. She entirely disapproves of my having anything to do with the election. Besides, n.o.body can successfully talk religion to a woman but a man."
Maurice smiled in spite of himself at the air with which this was said, but he none the less felt that Mrs. Wilson was flippant.
"What influence has Mrs. Frostwinch?" he asked.
"Well," Mrs. Wilson answered, leaning back to consider, "I don"t know whether to say that she controls three votes in the upper house of the Convention, or four."
The two young men regarded her in puzzled silence.
"There are at least three clergymen in the diocese that are dependent upon her," Mrs. Wilson explained. "There is Mr. Bobbins: he married her cousin,--not a near cousin, but near enough so that Anna has half supported the family, and the family is always increasing. I tell Anna that they have babies just to work on her compa.s.sion. I think it"s wrong to encourage it, myself. Then there is Mr. Maloon; he depends on Mrs. Frostwinch to support his mission. Then there"s Brother Pewtap,--did you ever know such a lovely name for a country parson?--he just lives on her with a family bigger than Mr. Robbins"s. He"s really a Strathmore man, but he wouldn"t dare to vote against her wishes. She might manage all those votes. Besides, there"s a Mr. Jewett somewhere near Lenox that she"s helped a good deal; but I haven"t found out about him yet."
She rose as she spoke, and went to a writing-table fitted out with all the inventions known to man for the decoration of the desk and the enc.u.mbrance of the writer.
"I have here a list of all the clergy of the diocese," she said, taking up a book bound in red morocco and silver. "I"ve marked them down as far as I"ve found out about them. It"s necessary to be systematic. I"ve done just as they do in canva.s.sing a city ward."
Maurice regarded Mrs. Wilson with ever-increasing amazement, but, too, not without increasing amus.e.m.e.nt. He was somewhat shocked by the business way in which she treated the subject, but his heart was set on the election of Father Frontford; he was honest in feeling that the church would be injured by the election of Mr. Strathmore, and he was too completely a man not to be half-unconsciously willing that for the accomplishment of an end he desired a woman should do many things which he would not do himself. The three went over the list together, the young men giving such information as they possessed, Maurice all the time strangely divided in his mind between disapprobation of Mrs.
Wilson and admiration. Her breath was on his cheek as she bent over the book, the perfume of her laces filled faintly the air, now and then her hand touched his. He was not conscious of the potency of this feminine atmosphere which enveloped him; he did not so much think personally of Mrs. Wilson, beautiful and near though she was, as he felt her presence as a sort of impersonation of woman. He thought of Miss Morison, and warmed with a nameless thrill, of longing. Then he recalled the remark of Mrs. Staggchase that he was undergoing his temptation, and his heart sank.