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 THE LIBRARY OF THE 
 UNIVERSITY OF 
 NORTH CAROLINA 
 
 ENDOWED BY THE 
 DIALECTIC AND PHILANTHROPIC 
 SOCIETIES 
 
 .S76 
 
 1873 
 
THE 
 
 STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 OF A PHAETON. 
 
 BY 
 
 WILLIAM BLACK, 
 
 AUTHOR OF "A DAUGHTER OF HETH," ETC. ETC. 
 
 ILLUSTRATED BY S. E. WALLER. 
 
 Jtcwbou : 
 
 MAO MILL AN AND CO. 
 1873. 
 
 \ /'It ' Right of T rami a' urn and Reproduction is reserved.] 
 

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 the Internet Archive 
 
 
 
 
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 https://archive.org/details/strangeadventureOOblac_0 
 
E. W. S. 
 
 1 look back on a journey which was made pleasant by the 
 fancy that you might have been with me; I look fomvard to 
 another and longer journey rendered beautiful by the hope that 
 you may be with me ; and I find this book between. What can 
 I do with it but lay it at your feet, and ask you, as you look 
 over its pages, and smile at the distorted vision of yourself you 
 may find there, to forgive the rude and graceless outlines that 
 were meant to portray one of the most innocent, tender, and 
 beautiful souls God has ever given to the world? The blind 
 man, who has never seen the stars, dreams of them, and is 
 happy. And if he should be cured of his blindness, and get to 
 know the stars and become familiar with all the majesty and 
 tvonder of them., will he look with much contempt on those 
 imperfect pictures of them he had formed in the time of his 
 loneliness and ignorance ? I think not ; and that is the excuse 
 I have for offering to you this book, knowing that you will look 
 charitably on these gropings in the dark, for the sake of the love 
 and admiration that prompted them. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAP. PAGE 
 
 I. OUR BELL '. . 1 
 
 IT. A LUNCHEON IN HOLBORN 8 
 
 III. " PRINZ EUGEN, DER EDLE RITTER " 24 
 
 IV. ARTHUR VANISHES 35 
 
 V. QUEEN TITANIA AFLOAT 50 
 
 VI. A GIFT OF TONGUES 66 
 
 VII. ATRA CURA 88 
 
 VIII. NEAR WOODSTOCK TOWN 108 
 
 IX. A MOONLIGHT NIGHT 120 
 
 X. THE AVENGER 135 
 
 XI. SOME WORCESTER SAUCE ......... 146 
 
 XII. THE RIVALS 158 
 
 XIII. SAVED 175 
 
 XIV. A SHREWSBURr PLAT 190 
 
 XV. " LA PATRIE EN DANGER " 203 
 
 XVI. OUR UHLAN OUT-MANCEUVRED 215 
 
 XVII. IN THE FAIRY GLEN 232 
 
 XVIII. THE COLLAPSE 242 
 
 XIX. THE WHITE OWLS OF GARSTANG 256 
 
 xx. chloe's garland 276 
 
 XXI. ALL ABOUT WINDERMERE 291 
 
viii CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAP. PAG 
 
 XXII. ON CAVIARE AND OTHER MATTERS 301 
 
 XXIIT. AT NIGHT ON GRASMERE 317 
 
 xxiv. Arthur's song 328 
 
 XXV. ARMAGEDDON 339 
 
 XXVI. THE LAST OF GRASMERE 3f) 
 
 XXVII. ALONG THE GRETA 36 
 
 XXVIII. " ADE ! " 375 
 
 XXIX. OVER THE BORDER . 383 
 
 XXX. TWEED SIDE 396 
 
 xxxi. our epilogue 408 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 ix Richmond park .......... Frontispiece. 
 
 castor and pollux Vignette. 
 
 <c COME UP, dick!" she said ........... 41 
 
 THE THAMES 72 
 
 " NEAR WOODSTOCK TOWN "... 113 
 
 THE SEVERN 166 
 
 ELLESMERE 210 
 
 THE ROAD TO WREXHAM 221 
 
 " WE MUST CUT THE LIEUTENANT ADRIFT 256 
 
 WINDERMERE C • 29-9 
 
 "THE GREAT COMET OF 1811" 328 
 
 DERWENTWATER ,369 
 
 THE FUTURE LORD CHANCELLOR 396 
 
THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 OF A PHAETON. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 OUR BELL. 
 
 " Oh, the oak, and the ash, and the bonny ivy-tree, 
 They grow so green in the North Countrie ! " 
 
 It was all settled one evening in the deep winter time. 
 Outside, a sharp east wind was whistling round the 
 solitudes of Box Hill; the Mole, at the foot of our 
 garden, as it stole stealthily through the darkness, 
 crackled the flakes of ice that lay along its level 
 banks ; and away on Mickleham Downs — and on the 
 further uplands towards the sea— the cold stars were 
 shining down on a thin coating of snow. 
 
 Indoors there was another story to tell; for the 
 mistress of the house — Queen Titania, as we call her 
 — a small person, with a calm, handsome, pale face, 
 an abundance of black hair, big eyes that are occasion- 
 ally somewhat cold and critical in look, and a certain 
 magnificence of manner which makes you fancy her 
 rather a tall and stately woman — has a trick of so 
 filling her drawing-room with dexterous traceries of 
 grass and ferns, with plentiful flowers of her own 
 rearing, and with a crowded glare of light, that, amid 
 
 B 
 
2 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 the general warmth, the glow and perfume, and variety 
 of brilliant colours, you would almost forget that the 
 winter is chill and desolate and dark. 
 
 Then Bell, our guest and companion for many a year, 
 lends herself to the deception; for the wilful young 
 person, though there were a dozen inches of snow on 
 the meadows, would come down to dinner in a dress 
 of blue, with touches of white gossamer and fur about 
 the tight wrists and neck — with a white rose and a 
 bunch of forget-me-nots, as blue as her eyes, twisted 
 into the soft masses of her light-brown hair, and with 
 a certain gay and careless demeanour, meant to let us 
 know that she, having been born and bred in the 
 North Country, has a fine contempt for the mild rigours - 
 of our southern winter. 
 
 But on this particular evening, Bell — our Bell, our 
 Bonny Bell, our Lady Bell, as she is variously called 
 when she provokes people into giving her pet names — 
 had been sitting for a long time with an open book 
 on her knee ; and as this volume was all about the 
 English lakes, and gave pictures of them, and placed 
 here and there little tail-pieces of ferns and blossoms, 
 she may have been driven to contrast the visions thus 
 conjured up with the realities suggested by the fierce 
 gusts of wind that were blowing coldly through the 
 box-trees outside. All at once she placed the volume 
 gently on the white hearth-rug, and said, with a strange 
 wistfulness shining in the deeps of her blue eyes, — 
 
 " Tita, cannot you make us talk about the summer, 
 and drown the noise of that dreadful wind ? Why 
 don't we conspire to cheat the winter and make 
 believe it is summer again ? Doesn't it seem to be 
 years and years ago since we had the long light even- 
 ings ; the walks between the hedge-rows, the waiting 
 for the moon, up on the crest of the hill, and then the 
 quiet stroll downward into the valley and home again, 
 with the wild roses, and the meadow-sweet, and the 
 evening campions filling the warm night air ? Come, 
 let us sit close together, and make it summer ! See, 
 Tita ! — it is a bright forenoon — you can nearly catch 
 
OF A PHAETON, 
 
 3 
 
 a glimpse of the Downs above Brighton — and we are 
 going to shut up the house, and go away anywhere 
 for a whole month. Bound comes that dear old 
 mail-phaeton, and my pair of bonny bays are whinny- 
 ing for a bit of sugar. Papa is sulky '' 
 
 " As usual/' remarks my Lady, without lifting her 
 eyes from the carpet. 
 
 " for though the imperial has been slung on, 
 
 there is scarcely enough room for the heaps of our 
 luggage, and, like every man, he has a deadly hatred 
 of bonnet-boxes. Then you take your seat, my dear, 
 looking like a small empress in a grey travelling 
 dress ; and Papa — after pretending to have inspected 
 all the harness — takes the reins ; I pop in behind, 
 for the hood, when it is turned down, makes such a 
 pleasant cushion for your arms, and you can stick your 
 sketch-book into it, and a row of apples and anything 
 else ; and Sandy touches his forelock, and Kate bobs 
 a curtsy, and away and away we go ! How sweet 
 and fresh the air is, Tita ! and don't you smell the 
 honeysuckle in the hedge ? Why, here we are at 
 Dorking ! Papa pulls up to grumble about the last 
 beer that was sent ; and then Castor and Pollux toss 
 up their heads again, and on we drive to Guildford, 
 and to Eeading, and to Oxford. And all through Eng- 
 land we go, using sometimes the old coaching-roads, 
 and sometimes the by-roads, stopping at the curious 
 little inns, and chatting to the old country folks and 
 singing ballads of an evening as we sit upon the hill- 
 sides, and watch the partridges dusting themselves 
 below us in the road ; and then on and on again. Is 
 not that the sea, Tita ? — look at the long stretch of 
 Morecambe Bay and the yellow sands, and the steamers 
 on the horizon ! But all at once we dive into the hills 
 again, and we come to the old familiar places by Apple- 
 thwaite and Ambleside, and then some evening — some 
 evening, Tita — we come in sight of Grasmere, and 
 then — and then — ■ — " 
 
 " Why, Bell ! — what is the matter with you ? " cries 
 the other, and the next minute her arms are round the 
 
 B 2 
 
4 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 light-brown head, crushing its white rose and its blue 
 forget-me-nots. 
 
 " If you two young creatures/' it is remarked, " would 
 seriously settle where we are to go next summer, you 
 would be better employed than in rubbing your heads 
 together like a couple of baby calves." 
 
 " Settle ! " says Lady Tita, with a smile of gentle 
 impertinence on her face ; " we know who is allowed 
 to settle things in this house. If we were to settle 
 anything, some wonderful discovery would be made 
 about the horses' feet, or the wheels of that valuable 
 phaeton which was made, I should fancy, about the 
 time the owner of it was born " 
 
 a The wife who mocks at her husband's grey hairs," 
 I remark calmly, " knowing the share she has had in 
 producing them " 
 
 Here our Bonny Bell interfered, and a truce was con- 
 cluded. The armistice was devoted to consideration 
 of Bell's project, which at length it was resolved to 
 adopt. Why, after going year after year round the 
 southern counties in that big, old-fashioned phaeton 
 which had become as a house to us, should we not 
 strike fairly northward ? These circles round the south 
 would resemble the swinging of a stone in the sling 
 before it is projected; and, once we were started on 
 this straight path, who could tell how far we might 
 not go ? 
 
 " Then," said I, — for our thoughts at this time were 
 often directed to the great masses of men who were 
 inarching through the wet valleys of France, or keeping 
 guard amid cold and fog in the trenches around Paris, — 
 " suppose that by July next the war may be over, — 
 Count Von Bosen says he means to pay us a visit, and 
 have a look at England. Why should not he join our 
 party, and become a companion for Bell ? " 
 
 I had inadvertently probed a hornets' nest. The 
 women of our household were at that time bitter against 
 the Germans ; and but half an hour before Bell herself 
 had been eloquently denouncing the doings of the 
 Prussians. Had they not in secrecy been preparing 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 5 
 
 to steal back Alsace and Lorraine; had they not taken 
 advantage of the time when the good and gentle France 
 was averse from war to provoke a quarrel ; had not the 
 King openly insulted the French Ambassador in the 
 promenade at Ems ; and had not their hordes of men 
 swarmed into the quiet villages, slaying and destroying, 
 robbing the poor and aged, and winning battles by mere 
 force of numbers ? Besides, the suggestion that this 
 young lieutenant of cavalry might be a companion, for 
 Bell appeared to be an intentional injury done to a 
 certain amiable young gentleman, of no particular pro- 
 spects, living in the Temple ; and so Bell forthwith 
 declared her dislike not only of the German officers, 
 but of all officers whatsoever. 
 
 "And as for Count Von Rosen," she said, "I can 
 remember him at Bonn only as a very rude and greedy 
 boy, who showed a great row of white teeth when he 
 laughed, and made bad jokes about my mistakes in 
 German. And now I dare say he is a tall fellow, with 
 a stiff neck, a brown face, perhaps a beard, a clanking 
 sword, and the air of a Bobadil, as he stalks into an inn 
 and calls out, ' Kellnare ! eene Pulle Sect ! rmd sagen Sie 
 mal, was haben Sie fur Zeitungen — die Alljemeene V" 
 
 I ventured to point out to Bell that she might alter 
 her opinion when Yon Bosen actually came over with 
 all the glamour of a hero about him ; and that, indeed, 
 she could not do better than marry him. 
 
 Bell opened her eyes. 
 
 " Marry him, because he is a hero ! No ! I would 
 not marry a hero, after he had become a hero. It would 
 be something to marry a man who was afterwards to 
 become great, and be with him all the time of his 
 poverty and his struggles. That would be worth some- 
 thing — to comfort him when he was in despair, to be 
 kind to him when he was suffering ; and then, when 
 it was all over, and he had got his head above these 
 troubles, he would say to you, 1 Oh, Kate, or Nell,' as 
 your name might be, ' how good you were during the 
 old time when we were poor and friendless ! ' But when 
 he has become a hero, he thinks he will overawe you 
 
6 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 with the shadow of his great reputation. He thinks he 
 has only to come, and hold out the tips of his fingers, 
 and say, ' I am a great person. Everybody worships 
 me. I will allow you to share my brilliant fortune, and 
 you will dutifully kiss me.' Merci, monsieur ! but if 
 any man were to come to me like that, I would answer 
 him as Canning's knife-grinder was answered — 1 1 give 
 you kisses ? I will see you ' " 
 
 " Bell ! " cried my Lady peremptorily. 
 
 Bell stopped, and then blushed, and dropped her 
 eyes. 
 
 " What is one to do," she asked, meekly, " when a 
 quotation comes in ? " 
 
 " You used to be a good girl," said Queen Tita, in 
 her severest manner, " but you are becoming worse and 
 worse every day. I hear you sing the refrains of horrid 
 street songs. Your love of sitting up at night is 
 dreadful. The very maid-servants are shocked by your 
 wilful provincialisms. And you treat me, for whom 
 you ought to show some respect, with a levity and 
 familiarity without example. I will send a report of 
 your behaviour to " 
 
 And here the look of mischief iu Bell's eyes -—which 
 had been deepening just as you may see the pupil of a 
 cat widening before she makes a spring — suddenly gave 
 way to a glance of urgent and meek entreaty, which 
 was recognized in the proper quarter. Tita named no 
 names ; and the storm blew over. 
 
 For the present, therefore, the project of adding this 
 young Uhlan to our party was dropped ; but the idea 
 of our northward trip remained, and gradually assumed 
 definite consistency. Indeed, as it developed itself 
 during those long winter evenings, it came to be a 
 thing to dream about. But all the same I could see 
 that Tita sometimes returned to the notion of providing 
 a companion for Bell ; and, whatever may have been 
 her dislike of the Germans in general, Lieutenant von 
 Eosen was not forgotten. At odd times, when 
 
 ' ' In her hazel eyes her thoughts lay clear 
 As pebbles in a brook," 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 7 
 
 it seemed to me that she was busy with those forecasts 
 which are dear to the hearts of women. One night we 
 three were sitting as quietly as usual, talking about 
 something else, when she suddenly remarked — 
 
 " I suppose that Count von Rosen is as poor as 
 Prussian lieutenants generally are?" 
 
 " On the contrary," said I, " he enjoys a very hand- 
 some Familien-Stiftung, or family bequest, which gives 
 him a certain sum of money every six months, on con- 
 dition that during that time he has either travelled so 
 much or gone through such and such a course of study. 
 I wish the legacies left in our country had sometimes 
 those provisions attached." 
 
 "He has some money, then," said my Lady, 
 thoughtfully. 
 
 "My dear," said I, "you seem to be very anxious 
 about the future, like the man whose letter I read to 
 you yesterday. 1 Have you any further questions 
 to ask?" 
 
 " I suppose he cares for nothing but eating and 
 drinking and smoking, like other officers ? He has 
 not been troubled by any very great sentimental crisis ? " 
 
 " On the contrary," I repeated, " he wrote me a 
 despairing letter, some fortnight before the war broke 
 out, about that same Fraulein Fallersleben whom we 
 saw acting in the theatre at Hanover. She had treated 
 him very badly — she had " 
 
 " Oh, that is all nothing," said Tita hastily — and here 
 she glanced rather nervously at Bell. 
 
 Bell, for her part, was unconcernedly fitting a pink 
 collar on a white cat, and talking to that pretty but 
 unresponsive animal. 
 
 ] This is the letter : — 
 
 ' 1 To the Editor of the Hampshire A ss. 
 "Sir, — If the Kepublicans who are endeavouring to introduce a 
 Kepublic into this great country should accomplish their disgusting 
 purpose, do you think they will repudiate the National Debt, and pay 
 no more, interest on the Consols ? 
 
 "I am, Sir, 
 
 "Your obedient Servant, 
 "Bogmere, Jan. 18, 1871." "A Lover of Mankind. 
 
8 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 "He left her," I remarked again, "in paroxysms 
 of anger and mutual reproach. He accused her of 
 having " 
 
 "Well, well, that will do," says Queen Titania, in 
 her coldest manner; and then, of course, everybody 
 obeys the small woman. 
 
 That was the last that was heard of Yon Rosen for 
 many a day ; and it was not until some time after the 
 war was over that he favoured us with a communi- 
 cation. He was still in France. He hoped to get over 
 to England at the end of July; and as that was the 
 time we had fixed for our journey from London to 
 Edinburgh, along the old coach-roads, he became in- 
 sensibly mixed up with the project, until it was finally 
 resolved to ask him to join the party. 
 
 "I know you mean to marry these two," I said to 
 the person who rules over us all. 
 
 " How absurd you are," she replied, with a vast 
 assumption of dignity. "Bell is as good as engaged 
 — even if there was any fear of a handsome young 
 Englishwoman falling in love with a Prussian lieutenant 
 who is in despair about an actress." 
 
 " You had better take a wedding-ring with you." 
 
 " A wedding-ring ! " said Tita, with a little curl of 
 her lips. "You fancy that a girl thinks of nothing 
 but that. Every wedding-ring that is worn represents 
 a man's impertinence and a woman's folly." 
 
 "Ask Bell," said I. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 A LUNCHEON IN HOLBOEN. 
 
 " From the bleak coast that hears 
 The German Ocean roar, deep-blooming, strong, 
 And yellow-haired, the blue-eyed Saxon came." 
 
 l\ r o more fitting point of departure could have been 
 chosen than the Old Bell Inn in Holborn, an ancient 
 hostelry which used in bygone times to send its relays 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 9 
 
 of stage-coaches to Oxford, Cheltenham, Enfield, Abing- 
 don, and a score of other places. Now, from the quaint 
 little yard, which is surrounded by frail and dilapidated 
 galleries of wood, that tell of the grandeur of other 
 days, there starts but a solitary omnibus, which daily 
 whisks a few country people and their parcels down to 
 Uxbridge, and Chalfont, and Amersham, and Wendover. 
 The vehicle which Mr. Thoroughgood has driven for 
 many a year is no magnificent blue and scarlet drag, 
 with teams costing six hundred guineas apiece, with 
 silver harness, a post-boy blowing a silver horn, and a 
 lord handling the reins ; but a rough and serviceable 
 little coach which is worked for profit, and which is of 
 vast convenience to the folks living in quiet Buck- 
 inghamshire villages apart from railways. From this 
 old-fashioned inn, now that the summer had come round, 
 and our long-looked-for journey to the North had come 
 near, we had resolved to start ; and Bell having gravely 
 pointed out the danger of letting our young Uhlan 
 leave London hungry — lest habit should lead him to 
 seize something by the way, and so get us into trouble 
 — it was further proposed that we should celebrate our 
 setting-out with a luncheon of good roast beef and 
 ale, in the snug little parlour which abuts on the yard. 
 
 "And I hope," said Queen Titania, as we escaped 
 from the roar of Holborn into the archway of the 
 inn, "that the stupid fellow has got himself decently 
 dressed. Otherwise, we shall be mobbed." 
 
 The fact was that Count von Bosen, not being aware 
 that English officers rarely appear when off duty in 
 uniform, had come straight from St. Denis to Calais, 
 and from Calais to London, and from London to 
 Leatherhead, without ever dreaming that he ought not 
 to go about in his regimentals. He drew no distinction 
 between Herr Graf von Bosen and Seiner Majestat 
 Lieutenant im — ten Uhlanen-Begimente ; although he 
 told us that when he issued from his hotel at Charing 
 Cross to get into a cab, he was surprised to see a small 
 crowd collect around the hansom, and no less surprised 
 to observe the absence of military costume in the 
 
to THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 streets. Of course, the appearance of an Uhlan in the 
 quiet village of Leatherhead caused a profound com- 
 motion ; and had not Castor and Pollux been able 
 to distance the crowd of little boys who nocked 
 around him at the station, it is probable he would have 
 arrived at our house attended by that concourse of 
 admirers. 
 
 You should have seen the courteous and yet half- . 
 defiant way in which the women received him, as if 
 they were resolved not to be overawed by the tall, 
 browned, big-bearded man ; and how, in about twenty 
 minutes, they had insensibly got quite familiar with 
 him, apparently won over by his careless laughter, by 
 the honest stare of his light-blue eyes, and by a very 
 boyish blush that sometimes overspread his handsome 
 face when he stammered over an idiom, or was asked 
 some question about his own exploits. Bell remained 
 the most distant ; but I could see that our future com- 
 panion had produced a good impression on my Lady, for 
 she began to take the management of him, and to give 
 him counsel in a minute and practical manner, which is 
 a sure mark of her favour. She told him he must put 
 aside his uniform while in England. She described to 
 him the ordinary costume worn by English gentlemen 
 in travelling. And then she hoped he would take a 
 preparation of quinine with him, considering that we 
 should have to stay in a succession of strange inns, 
 and might be exposed to damp. 
 
 He went up to London that night, armed with a list 
 of articles which he was to buy for himself before 
 starting with us. 
 
 There was a long pause when we three found our- 
 selves together again. At length Bell said, with rather 
 an impatient air- — 
 
 " He is only a schoolboy, after all. "Why should he 
 continue to call you Madame, and me Mademoiselle, 
 just as he did when he knew us first at Bonn, and gave 
 us these names as a joke ? Then he has the same 
 irritating habit of laughing that he used to have there. 
 I hate a man who has his mouth always open — like a 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 1 1 
 
 swallow in the air, trying to catch anything that may 
 come. And he is worse, I think, when he closes his 
 lips and tries to give himself an intellectual look, 
 
 like— like " 
 
 "Like what, Bell?" 
 
 " Like a calf posing itself, and trying to look like a 
 red deer," said Bell with a sort of contemptuous warmth. 
 
 "I wish, Bell," said my Lady, coldly and severely. 
 " that you would give up those rude metaphors. You 
 talk just as you did when you came fresh from West- 
 moreland — you have learnt nothing." 
 
 Bell's only answer was to walk, with rather a proud 
 air, to the piano, and there she sat down and played a 
 few bars. She w T ould not speak ; but the well-knowm 
 old air spoke for her, for it said, as plain as words 
 could say — 
 
 " A North Country maid up to London had strayed, 
 Although with her nature it did not agree ; 
 She wept, and she sighed, and she bitterly cried, 
 ' I wish once again in the North I could be ! ' " 
 
 " I think," continued Tita, in measured tones, " that 
 he is a very agreeable and trustworthy young man — not 
 very polished, perhaps ; but then he is a German. I 
 look forward with great interest to see in what light our 
 English country life will strike him ; and I hope, Bell, 
 that he will not have to complain of the want of 
 courtesy shown him by Englishwomen." 
 
 This was getting serious ; so, being to some small and 
 undefined extent master in my owm house, I commanded 
 Bell to sing the song she was petulantly strumming. 
 That "fetched" Tita. Whenever Bell began to sing 
 one of those old English ballads, which she did for the 
 most part from morning till night, there was a strange 
 and tremulous thrill in her voice that w T ould have dis- 
 armed her bitterest enemy ; and straightway my Lady 
 would be seen to draw over to the girl, and put her arm 
 round her shoulder, and then reward her, when the last 
 chord of the accompaniment had been struck, with 
 a grateful kiss. In the present instance, the charm 
 
1 2 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 worked as usual ; but no sooner had these two young 
 people been reconciled than they turned on their mutual 
 benefactor. Indeed, an observant stranger might have 
 remarked in this household, that when anything re- 
 motely bearing on a quarrel was made up between any 
 two of its members, the third, the peacemaker, was 
 expected to propose a dinner at Greenwich. The cus- 
 tom would have been more becoming had the cost been 
 equally distributed ; but there were three losers to one 
 payer. 
 
 Well, when we got into the yard of the Old Bell 
 the Buckinghamshire omnibus was being loaded; and 
 among the first objects we saw was the stalwart figure 
 of Von Rosen, who was talking to Mr. Thoroughgood, 
 as if he had known him all his life, and examining 
 with a curious and critical eye the construction and 
 accommodation of the venerable old vehicle. We saw 
 with some satisfaction that he was now dressed in 
 a suit of grey garments, with a wide-awake hat ; and, 
 indeed, there was little to distinguish him from an 
 Englishman but the curious blending of colour — from 
 the tawny yellow of his moustache to the deep brown 
 of his cropped beard — which is seldom absent from the 
 hirsute decoration of a Prussian face. 
 
 He came forward with a grave and ceremonious 
 politeness to Queen Titania, who received him in her 
 dignified, quaint, maternal fashion ; and he shook hands 
 with Bell with an obviously unconscious air of indif- 
 ference. Then, not noticing her silence, he talked to 
 her, after we had gone inside, of the old-fashioned air 
 of homeliness and comfort noticeable in the inn, of the 
 ancient portraits, and the quaint fireplace, and the small 
 busts placed about. Bell seemed rather vexed that he 
 should address himself to her, and uttered scarcely a 
 word in reply. 
 
 But when our plain and homely meal was served, 
 this restraint gradually wore away; and in the talk 
 over our coming adventures, Bell abandoned herself to 
 all sorts of wild anticipations. She forgot the presence 
 of the German lieutenant. Her eyes were fixed oh the 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 13 
 
 "North Country, and on summer nights up amid the 
 Westmoreland hills, and on bright mornings up by the 
 side of the Scotch lochs ; and while the young soldier 
 looked gravely at her, and even seemed a trifle sur- 
 prised, she told us of all the dreams and visions she 
 had had of the journey, for weeks and months back, 
 and how the pictures of it had been with her night and 
 day until she was almost afraid the reality would not 
 bear them out. Then she described — as if she were 
 gifted with second sight — the various occupations we 
 should have to follow during the long afternoons in the 
 Korth ; and how she had brought her guitar that Queen 
 Titania might sing Spanish songs to it; and how we 
 listen to the corn-crake ; and how she would make 
 studies of all the favourite places we came to, and per- 
 haps might even construct a picture of our phaeton and 
 Castor and Pollux — with a background of half-a-dozen 
 counties — for some exhibition ; and how, some day in 
 the far future, when the memory of our long excursion 
 had grown dim, Tita would walk into a room in Pall 
 Mall, and there, with the picture before her, would 
 turn round with wonder in her eyes, as if it were a 
 revelation. 
 
 " Because," said Bell, turning seriously to the young 
 Uhlan, and addressing him as though she had talked 
 familiarly to him for years, " you mustn't suppose that 
 our Tita is anything but a hypocrite. All her coldness 
 and affectation of grandeur are only a pretence; and 
 sometimes, if you watch her eyes — and she is not 
 looking at you — you will see something come up to the 
 surface of them as if it were her real heart and soul 
 there, looking out in wonder and softness at some 
 beautiful thing — -just like a dabchick, you know, when 
 you are watching among bushes by a river, and are 
 quite still ; and then, if you make the least remark, if 
 you rustle your dress, snap ! down goes the dabchick, 
 and you see nothing, and my Lady turns to you quite 
 proudly and coldly — though there may be tears in her 
 eyes— and dares you to think that she has shown any 
 emotion." 
 
THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 " That is, when she is listening to you singing?" said 
 the Lieutenant, gravely and politely ; and at this mo- 
 ment Bell seemed to become conscious that we were all 
 amused by her vehemence, blushed prodigiously, and 
 was barely civil to our Uhlan for half an hour after. 
 
 Nevertheless, she had every reason to be in a good 
 humour ; for we had resolved to limit our travels that 
 day to Twickenham, where, in the evening, Tita was to 
 see her two boys who were at school there. And as the 
 young gentleman of the Temple, who has already been 
 briefly mentioned in this narrative, is a son of the 
 schoolmaster with whom the boys were then living, 
 and as he was to be of the farewell party assembled in 
 Twickenham at night, Bell had no unpleasant prospect 
 before her for that day at least. And of one thing she 
 was probably by that time thoroughly assured ; no fires 
 of jealousy were in danger of being kindled in any 
 sensitive breast by the manner of Count von Bosen 
 towards her. Of course he was very courteous and 
 obliging to a pretty young woman ; but he talked 
 almost exclusively to my Lady; while, to state the 
 plain truth, he seemed to pay more attention to his 
 luncheon than to both of them together. 
 
 Behold, then, our phaeton ready to start ! The pair 
 of pretty bays are pawing the hard stones and pricking 
 their ears at the unaccustomed sounds of Holborn. 
 Sandy is at their head, regarding them rather dolefully 
 as if he feared to let them slip from his care to under- 
 take so long and perilous a voyage ; Queen Titania has 
 arranged that she shall sit behind, to show the young 
 Prussian all the remarkable things on our route ; and 
 Bell, as she gets up in front, begs to have the reins 
 given her so soon as we get away from the crowded 
 thoroughfares. There are still a few loiterers on the 
 pavement who had assembled to see the Wendover 
 omnibus leave ; and these regard with a languid sort 
 of curiosity the setting-out cf the party in the big 
 dark-green phaeton. 
 
 A little tossing of heads and prancing, a little ad- 
 justment of the reins, and a final look round, and then 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 15 
 
 we glide into the wild and roaring stream of vehicles 
 — that mighty current of rolling vans, and heavy- 
 waggons, and crowded Bayswater omnibuses, of dex- 
 terous hansoms and indolent four-wheelers, of brewers' 
 drays and post-office carts and costermongers' barrows. 
 Over the great thoroughfare, with its quaint and 
 huddle 1 houses and its innumerable shops, dwell a 
 fine blue sky and wdiite clouds that seem oddly dis- 
 coloured. The sky, seen through a curious pall of mist 
 and smoke, is only grey, and the clouds are distant 
 and dusky and yellow, like those of an old landscape 
 that has lain for years in a broker's shop. Then there 
 is a faint glow 7 of sunlight shining along the houses on 
 the northern side of the street ; and here and there the 
 window of some lobster-shop or tavern glints back the 
 light. As we get farther westward, the sky overhead 
 gets clearer, and the character of the thoroughfare alters. 
 Here we are at the street leading up to the British 
 Museum — a Mudie and a Moses on each hand — and 
 it would almost seem as if the Museum had sent out 
 rays of influence to create around it a series of smaller 
 collections. In place of the humble fishmonger and 
 the familiar hosier, we have owners of large win- 
 dows filled with curious treasures of art — old-fashioned 
 jewellery, china, knick-knacks of furniture, silver spoons 
 and kettles, and stately portraits of the time of Charles 
 II., in which the women have all beaded black eyes, 
 yellow curls, and a false complexion, while the men are 
 fat, pompous, and wigged. Westward still, and we 
 approach the huge shops and warehouses of Oxford 
 Street, where the last waves of fashionable life, seeking 
 millinery, beat on the eastern barriers that shut out 
 the rest of London. Eegent Street is busy on this 
 quiet afternoon; and Bell asks in a whisper whether 
 the countryman of Bliicher, now sitting behind us, does 
 not betray in his eyes what he thinks of this vast 
 show of wealth. Listening for a moment, we hear that 
 Queen Titania, instead of talking to him about the 
 shops, is trying to tell him what London was in the 
 last century, and how Colonel Jack and his associates. 
 
16 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 before that enterprising youth started to walk from 
 London to Edinburgh to avoid the law, used to way- 
 lay travellers in the fields between Gray's Inn and St. 
 Pancras, and how, having robbed a coach between Hyde 
 Park Gate and Knightsbridge, they " went over the 
 fields to Chelsea." This display of erudition on the 
 part of my Lady has evidently been prepared before- 
 hand ; for she even goes the length of quoting dates and 
 furnishing a few statistics — a thing which no woman 
 does inadvertently. However, when we get into Pall 
 Mall, her ignorance of the names of the clubs reveals 
 the superficial nature of her acquirements ; for even 
 Bell is able to recognize the Eeform, assisted, doubtless, 
 by the polished pillars of the Carlton. The women are, 
 of course, eager to know which is the Prince of "Wales's 
 Club, and afterwards look with quite a peculiar interest 
 on the brick wall of Marlborough House. 
 
 " Now," says our Bonny Bell, as we get into the quiet 
 of St. James's Park, where the trees of the long avenue 
 and the shrubbery around the ponds look quite pleasant 
 and fresh even under the misty London sunlight ; " now 
 y T 0u must let me have the reins. I am wearying to 
 get away from the houses, and be really on the road 
 to Scotland. Indeed, I shall not feel that we have 
 actually set out until we leave Twickenham, and are 
 fairly on the old coach-road at Hounslow." 
 
 I looked at Bell. She did not blush ; but calmly 
 waited to take the reins. I had then to point out to 
 the young hypocrite that her wiles were of no avail. 
 She was not anxious to be beyond Twickenham; she 
 was chiefly anxious to get down thither. Notwith- 
 standing that she knew we had chosen a capricious 
 and roundabout road to reach this first stage on our 
 journey, merely to show Yon Kosen something of London 
 and its suburban beauties, she was looking with im- 
 patience to the long circuit by Clapham Common, 
 Wimbledon, and Eichmond Park. Therefore she was 
 not in a condition to be entrusted with the safety of 
 so valuable a freight, 
 
 " I am not impatient," said Bell, with her colour a 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 17 
 
 trifle heightened : " I do not care whether we ever get 
 to Twickenham. I would as soon go to Henley to- 
 night, and to-morrow to Oxford. But it is just like 
 a man to make a great "bother and go in prodigious 
 circles to reach a trifling distance. You go circling and 
 circling like the minute-hand of a clock ; but the small 
 hand, that takes it easy, and makes no clatter of ticking, 
 finds at twelve o'clock that it has got quite as far as 
 its big companion," 
 
 "This, Bell," I remarked, "is impertinence." 
 
 " Will you give me the reins ? " 
 
 " No." 
 
 Bell turned half round, and leaned her arm on the 
 lowered hood. 
 
 "My dear," she said to Queen Titania — who had 
 been telling the Count something about Buckingham 
 Palace — "we have forgotten one thing. What are we 
 to do when our companions are disagreeable during 
 the day ? In the evening we can read, or sing, or 
 walk about by ourselves. But during the day, Tita? 
 When we are imprisoned, how are we to escape ? " 
 
 "We shall put you in the imperial, if you are not 
 a good girl," said my Lady, with a gracious sweetness ; 
 and then she turned to the Count. 
 
 It would have been cruel to laugh, at Bell. For a 
 minute or two after meeting with this rebuff, she 
 turned rather away from us, and stared with a fine 
 assumption of proud indifference down the Vauxhall 
 Bridge Boad. But presently a lurking smile began 
 to appear about the corners of her mouth ; and at 
 last she cried out — 
 
 "Well, there is no use quarrelling with a married 
 man, for he never pets you. He is familiar with the 
 trick of it, I suppose, and looks on like an old juggler 
 watching the efforts of an amateur. See ! how lovely 
 the river is up there by Chelsea — the long reach of 
 rippling grey, the green of the trees, and the curious 
 silvery light that almost hides the heights beyond. 
 We shall see the Thames often, shall we not? and 
 then the Severn, and then the Solway, and then the 
 
 c 
 
i8 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 great Frith of the Forth? When I think of it, I feel 
 like a bird — a lark fluttering up in happiness — and 
 seeing farther and farther every minute. To see the 
 Solway, you know, you have to be up almost in the 
 blue; and then all around you there rises the wide 
 plain of England, with fields, and woods, and streams. 
 Fancy being able to see as far as a vulture, and to 
 go swooping on for leagues and leagues — now up amid 
 white peaks of snow — or down through some great 
 valley — or across the sea in the sunset. And only 
 fancy that some evening you might find the spectral 
 ship beginning to appear in pale fire in the mist 
 of the horizon — coming on towards you without a 
 sound — do you know, that is the most terrible legend 
 ever thought of!" 
 
 " What has a vulture to do with the Flying Dutch- 
 man ? " said my Lady Tita suddenly ; and Bell turned 
 with a start to find her friend's head close to her 
 own. "You are becoming incoherent, Bell, and your 
 eyes are as wild as if you were really looking at 
 the phantom ship. Why are you not driving ? " 
 
 "Because I am not allowed," said Bell. 
 
 However, when we got into the Clapham Eoad, 
 Bell had her wish. She took her place with the air 
 of a practised whip ; and did not even betray any 
 nervousness when a sudden whistle behind us warned 
 her that she was in the way of a tramway-car. More- 
 over, she managed to subdue so successfully her impa- 
 tience to get to Twickenham, that she was able to 
 take us in the gentlest manner possible up and across 
 Clapham Common, down through Wandsworth, and 
 up again towards Wimbledon. When, at length, we 
 got to the brow of the hill that overlooks the long and 
 undulating stretches of furze, the admiration of our 
 Prussian friend, which had been called forth by the 
 various parks and open spaces in and around London, 
 almost rose to the pitch of enthusiasm. 
 
 " Is it the sea down there, yes ? " he asked, looking 
 towards the distant tent-poles, which certainly re- 
 sembled a small forest of masts in the haze of the 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 '9 
 
 sunshine. "It is not the sea? I almost expect to 
 reach the shore always in England. Yet why have 
 you so beautiful places like this around London — so 
 much more beautiful than the sandy country around 
 our Berlin — and no one to come to it ? You have 
 more than three millions of people — here is a play- 
 ground — why do they not come? And Clapham 
 Common too, it is not used for people to walk in, 
 as we should use it in Germany, and have a pleasant 
 seat in a garden, and the women sewing until their 
 husbands and friends come in the evening, and music 
 to make it pleasant, afterwards. It is nothing— a 
 waste — a landscape — very beautiful — but not used. 
 You have children on donkeys, and boys playing 
 their games — that is very good — but it is not enough. 
 And here, this beautiful park, all thrown away — no 
 one here at all. Why does not your Lord Mayor see 
 the— the requirement — of drawing away large numbers 
 of people from so big a town for fresh air; and make 
 here some amusements ? " 
 
 " Consider the people who live all around," said my 
 Lady, " and what they would have to suffer." 
 
 " Suffer ! " said the young Prussian, with his eyes 
 staring ; " I do not understand you. For people to 
 walk through gardens, and smoke, and drink a glass or 
 two of beer, or sit under the trees and sew or read — 
 surely that is not offensive to any person. And here 
 the houses are miles away — you cannot see them down 
 be t yond the windmill there." 
 
 "Did you ever hear of such things as manorial 
 rights, and freeholders, and copyholders, and the Statute 
 of Merton?" he is asked. 
 
 " All that is nothing — a fiction," he retorted. " You 
 have a Government in this country representing the 
 people ; why not take all these commons and use 
 them for the people? And if the Government has 
 not courage to do that, why do not your munici- 
 palities, which are rich, buy up the land, and provide 
 amusements, and draw the peorjle into the open 
 air?" 
 
 c 2 
 
2o THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 My Lady Tita could scarce "believe her ears on 
 hearing a Prussian aristocrat talk thus coolly of con- 
 fiscation, and exhibit no more reverence for the tra- 
 ditional rights of property than if he were a Parisian 
 socialist. But then these boys of twenty-five will 
 dance over the world's edge in pursuit of a theory. 
 
 Here, too, as Bell gently urged our horses forward 
 towards the crest of the slope leading down to Baveley 
 Bridge, Yon Eosen got his first introduction to an 
 English landscape. All around him lay the brown 
 stretches of sand and the blue-green clumps of furze 
 of the common ; on either side of the wide and well- 
 made road, the tall banks were laden with a tangled 
 luxuriance of brushwood and bramble and wild-flowers ; 
 down in the hollow beneath us there were red-tiled 
 farm-buildings half hid in a green maze of elms and 
 poplars ; then the scattered and irregular fields and 
 meadows, scored with hedges and dotted with houses, 
 led up to a series of heights that were wooded with 
 every variety of forest tree ; while over all these undu- 
 lations and plains there lay that faint presence of mist 
 which only served to soften the glow of the afternoon 
 sunshine, and show us the strong colours of the picture 
 through a veil of tender ethereal grey. 
 
 We go down the hill, and roll along the valley. 
 
 " This is the Eobin Hood Gate," says Queen Tita. 
 "Have you heard of Eobin Hood, Count von Eosen ?" 
 
 " Oh yes. He was one of those picturesque men 
 that we have many of in our German stories. We 
 like huntsmen, outlaws, and such people ; and the 
 German boys, they do know of Eobin Hood as much 
 as of William Tell." 
 
 " But then, you know," says Tita, gravely, " Eobin 
 Hood was a real person." 
 
 "And was not William Tell?" 
 
 " They say not." 
 
 The Lieutenant laughed. 
 
 "Madame," he said, "I did not know you were so 
 learned. But if there was no William Tell, are you 
 sure there was any Eobin Hood?" 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 21 
 
 "Oh, yes, I am quite sure," said my Lady, 
 earnestly; which closed this chapter of profound his- 
 torical criticism. 
 
 Eichmond Park, in the stillness of a fine sunset, 
 was worth bringing a foreigner to see. The ruddy light 
 from the west was striking here and there among the 
 glades under the oaks ; across the bars of radiance 
 and shadow the handsome little bucks and long-necked 
 does were lightly passing and repassing ; while there 
 were rabbits in thousands trotting in and about the 
 brackens, with an occasional covey of young partridges 
 alternately regarding us with upstretched necks and 
 then running off a few yards further. But after we 
 had bowled along the smooth and level road, up and 
 through the avenues of stately oaks, past the small 
 lakes (one of them, beyond the shadow of a dark 
 wood, gleamed like a line of gold), and up to the 
 summit of Eichmond Hill, Queen Titania had not a 
 word to say further in pointing out the beauties of 
 the place. She had been officiating as conductor, but it 
 was with the air of a proprietress. JSTow, as we stopped 
 the phaeton on the crest of the hill, she was silent. 
 
 Tar away behind us lay the cold green of the 
 eastern sky, and under it the smoke of London lay 
 red and brown, while in the extreme distance we 
 could see dim traces of houses, and down in the 
 south a faint rosy mist. Some glittering yellow rays 
 showed us where the Crystal Palace, high over the 
 purple shadows of Sydenham, caught the sunlight; 
 and up by Notting Hill, too, there were one or two 
 less distinct glimmerings of glass. But when we 
 turned to the west, no such range of vision was per- 
 mitted to us. All over the bed of the river there 
 lay across the western sky a confused glare of pale 
 gold — not a distinct sunset, with sharp lines of orange 
 and blood-red fire, but a bewildering haze that blinded 
 the eyes and was rather ominous for the morrow. 
 Along the horizon, 
 
 " where, enthroned in adamantine state, 
 Proud of her hards, imperial Windsor sits," 
 
22 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 there was no trace of the grey towers to be made out 
 but a confused and level mass of silver streaks, and 
 lines of blue. Nearer at hand, the spacious and 
 wooded landscape seemed almost dark under the glare 
 of the sky ; and the broad windings of the Thames 
 lay white and clear between the soft green of the 
 Twickenham shores and the leafy masses of " um- 
 brageous Ham." 
 
 "Doesn't it seem as though the strange light away 
 up there in the north and out in the west lay over 
 some unknown country/' said Bell, with her eyes 
 filled with the glamour of the sunset, "and that to- 
 morrow we were to begin our journey into a great 
 prairie, and leave houses and people for ever behind 
 us? You can see no more villages, but only miles 
 and miles of woods and plains, until you come to 
 a sort of silver mist, and that might be the sea." 
 
 " And a certain young lady stands on the edge 
 of this wild and golden desert, and a melancholy 
 look comes into her eyes. For she is fond of houses 
 and her fellow-creatures, and here, just close at hand — 
 down there, in Twickenham, in fact — there is a com- 
 fortable dining-room and some pleasant friends, and 
 one attentive person in particular, who is perhaps a 
 little sorry to bid her good-bye. Yet she does not 
 falter. To-morrow morning she will hold out her 
 hand — a tender and wistful smile will only half convey 
 her sadness " 
 
 Here Bell rapidly but lightly touched Pollux with 
 the whip ; both the horses sprang forward with a 
 jerk that had nearly thrown the Lieutenant into the 
 road (for he was standing up and holding on by the 
 hood) ; and then, without another word, she rattled 
 us down into Bichmond. Getting sharply round the 
 corner, she pretty nearly had a wheel taken off by 
 the omnibus that was standing in front of the King's 
 Head, and just escaped knocking down a youth in 
 white costume and boating shoes, who jumped back 
 on the pavement with an admirable dexterity. Nor 
 would she stop to give us a look at the Thames 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 from the bridge — we only caught a glimpse of the 
 "broad bend of the water, the various boats and their 
 white-clad crews, the pleasant river-paths, and the 
 green and wooded heights all around. She swept us 
 on along the road leading into Twickenham, past the 
 abodes of the Orleanist Princes, and into the narrow 
 streets of the village itself, until, with a proud and 
 defiant air, she pulled the horses up in front of Dr. 
 Ashburton's house. 
 
 There was a young man at the window. She 
 pretended not to see him. 
 
 When the servants had partly got our luggage out, 
 the young man made his appearance, and came for- 
 ward, in rather a frightened way, as I thought, to 
 pay his respects to my Lady Tita and Bell. Then 
 he glanced at the Uhlan, who was carefully examining 
 the horses' fetlocks and hoofs. Finally, as the Doctor 
 had no stables, Master Arthur informed us that he 
 had made arrangements about putting up the horses ; 
 and while the rest of us went into the house, he 
 volunteered to take the phaeton round to the inn. 
 He and the Count went off together. 
 
 Then there was a wild commotion on the first land- 
 ing, a confused tumble and rush down stairs, and 
 presently Bell and Tita were catching up two boys 
 and hugging them, and pulling out all sorts of myste- 
 rious presents. 
 
 " Heh ! how fens tee, Jeck ? gaily ? " cried Auntie 
 Bell, whose broad Cumberlandshire vastly delighted 
 the youngsters. " Why, Twom, thou's growin^ a big 
 lad, — thou mud as weel be a sodger as at schuil. Can 
 tee dance a whornpipe yet? — what, nowther o' ye? 
 Dost think I's gaun to gie a siller watch to twa 
 feckless fallows that canna dance a whornpipe?" 
 
 But here Bell's mouth was stopped by a multitude 
 of kisses, and, having had to confess that the two 
 silver watches were really in her pocket, she was 
 drawn into the parlour by the two boys, and made 
 to stand and deliver. 
 
24 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 "PRINZ EUGEN, DER EDLE RITTER." 
 
 ' ' What can Tommy Onslow do ? 
 He can drive a phaeton and two. 
 Can Tommy Onslow do no more ? " 
 
 Meanwhile, what had become of the Lieutenant and 
 Arthur, and Castor and Pollux, to say nothing of the 
 phaeton, which had now been transferred from its 
 accustomed home in Surrey to spend a night under 
 a shed in Twickenham? The crooked by-ways and 
 narrow streets of that curious little village were 
 getting rapidly darker under the falling dusk, and 
 here and there orange lamps were beginning to shine 
 in the blue-grey of the twilight, when I set out to 
 discover the stable to which our horses had been con- 
 fided. I had got but half-way to the public-house, 
 when I met Arthur. The ordinarily mild and gentle 
 face of this young man — which would be quite femi- 
 nine in character, but for a soft, pale-yellow moustache — 
 looked rather gloomy. 
 
 " Where is the Count ? " I asked of him. 
 
 "Do you mean that German fellow?" he said. 
 
 The poor young man ! It was easy to detect the 
 cause of that half-angry contempt with which he 
 spoke of our Lieutenant. It was jealousy with its 
 green eyes and dark imaginings; and the evening, 
 I could see, promised us a pretty spectacle of 
 the farce of Bell and the Dragon. At present I 
 merely requested Master Arthur to answer my 
 question. 
 
 "Well," said he, with a fine expression of irony — 
 the unhappy wretch! as if it were not quite obvious 
 that he was more inclined to cry — "if you want to 
 keep him out of the police-office, you'd better go down 
 
 to the stables of the . He has raised a pretty 
 
 quarrel there, I can tell you — kicked the ostler half 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 25 
 
 across the yard — knocked heaps of things to smithe- 
 reens—and is ordering everybody about, and fuming 
 and swearing in a dozen different inarticulate languages. 
 I wish you joy of your companion. You will have 
 plenty of adventures by the way; but what will you 
 do with all the clocks you gather?" 
 
 "Go home, you stupid boy, and thank God you 
 have not the* gift of sarcasm. Bell is waiting for 
 you. You will talk very sensibly to her, I dare- 
 say; but don't make any jokes — not for some years 
 to come." 
 
 Arthur went his way into the twilight, as wretched a 
 young man as there was that evening in Twickenham. 
 
 Now in front of the public-house, and adjoining 
 the entrance into the yard, a small and excited crowd 
 had collected of all the idlers and loungers who hang 
 about the doors of a tavern. In the middle of them — 
 as you could see when the yellow light from the 
 window streamed through a chink in the cluster of 
 human figures — there was a small, square-set, bandy- 
 legged man, with a red waistcoat, a cropped head, 
 and a peaked cap, with the peak turned sideways. 
 He was addressing his companions alternately in an 
 odd mixture of Buckinghamshire patois and Middlesex 
 pronunciation, somewhat in this fashion : — 
 
 " I baint afeard of 'm, or any other darned furrener, 
 
 the . An' I've looked arter awsses afore he wur 
 
 born, and I'd like to see the mahn as '11 tell me what 
 I don't know about 'm. I've kept my plaace for 
 fifteen yur, and I'll bet the coot on my bahck as my 
 missus '11 say, there niver wur a better in the plaace ; 
 
 an' as fur thaht furrener in there, the law '11 
 
 teach him summut, or I'm werry much mistaken. 
 Eh, Arry? Bain't I right?" 
 
 This impassioned appeal from the excited small 
 man was followed by a general chorus of assent. 
 
 I made my way down the yard, between the shafts 
 of dog-carts, and the poles of disabled omnibuses that 
 loomed from out the darkness of a long and low shed. 
 Down at the foot of this narrow and dusky channel 
 
26 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 a stable-door was open, and the faint yellow light 
 occasionally caught the figure of a man who was 
 busy grooming a horse outside. As I picked my 
 way over the rough stones, I could hear that he was 
 occasionally interrupting the hissing noise peculiar to 
 the work with a snatch of a song, carelessly sung 
 in a deep and sufficiently powerful voice. What was 
 it he sang ? 
 
 " Prinz Eugen, der edle Bitter hisssssss wolW 
 
 dem Kaiser wiedrum kriegen wo ! my beauty — so 
 
 ho ! Stadt und Festung Belgaracl ! hold up, my 
 
 lad ! wo ho ! " 
 
 " Hillo, Oswald, what are you about ? " 
 
 "Oh, only looking after the horses," said our young 
 Uhlan, slowly raising himself up. 
 
 He was in a remarkable state of undress — his coat, 
 waistcoat, and collar having been thrown on the straw 
 inside the stable — and he held in his hand a brush. 
 
 "The fellows at this inn they are very ignorant of 
 horses, or very careless." 
 
 " I hear you have been kicking 'em all about the 
 place." 
 
 "Why not? You go in to have a glass of beer 
 and see the people. You come back to the stables. 
 The man says he has fed the horses — it is a lie. He 
 says he has groomed them — it is a lie. Jott in 
 Himmel ! can I not see ? Then I drive him away — 
 I take out corn for myself, also some beans — he 
 comes back— he is insolent — I fling him into the yard 
 — he falls over the pail— he lies and groans— that is very 
 good for him ; it will teach him to mind his business, 
 not to tell lies, and to steal the price of the corn." 
 
 I pointed out to this cool young person that if he 
 went kicking insolent ostlers all over the country, 
 he would get us into trouble. 
 
 " Is it not a shame they do not know their work ? 
 and that they will ruin good horses to steal a six- 
 pence from you, yes?" 
 
 "Besides," I said, "it is not prudent to quarrel 
 with an ostler, for you must leave your horses under 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 27 
 
 his care; and if he should be ill-natured, he may do 
 them a mischief during the night." 
 
 The Count laughed, as he untied the halter and 
 led Pollux into a loose box. 
 
 "Do not be alarmed. I never allow any man to 
 lock up my horses if I am among strangers. I do 
 that myself. I will lock up this place and take the 
 key, and to-morrow at six I will come round and see 
 them fed. No ! you must not object. It is a great 
 pleasure of mine to look after horses, and I shall 
 become friends with these two in a very few days. 
 You must let me manage them always." 
 
 " And groom them twice a day ? " 
 
 "Nee, Jott bewahre ! When there is a man who 
 can do it, I will not; but when there is no one, it 
 is a very good thing to help yourself." 
 
 Lieutenant Oswald von Eosen had clearly learned 
 how to conjugate the verb requiriren during his sojourn 
 in Bohemia and in France. He made another raid on 
 the corn and split beans, got up into the loft, and 
 crammed down plenty of hay, and then bringing a 
 heap of clean straw into the place, tossed it plentifully 
 about the loose box devoted to Pollux, and about 
 Castor's stall. Then he put on his upper vestments, 
 brought away the candle, locked the door, and put 
 the key in his pocket, humming all the time something 
 about " die dreimal hunderttausend Mann.'" 
 
 When we had got to the gate of the yard, he stalked 
 up to the small crowd of idlers, and said — 
 
 " Which of you is the man who did tumble over the 
 pail ? Is it you, you little fellow ? Well, you deserve 
 much more than you got, yes ; but here is a half-crown 
 for you to buy sticking-plaster with." 
 
 The small ostler held back, but his companions, 
 who perceived that the half-crown meant beer, 
 urged him to go forward and take it ; which he did, 
 saying — 
 
 " Well, I doan't bear no malice." 
 
 " And next time that you have gentlemen's horses 
 put into your stables, don't try to steal the price of 
 
28 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 their corn," said the Lieutenant; and with that he 
 turned and walked away. 
 
 "Who is the gentleman who came with me?" asked 
 my young friend, as we went back to the house ; " he 
 is a nice young man, but he does not know the differ- 
 ence between hay and straw, and I begged him not to 
 remain. And he would not drink the beer of this 
 public-house ; but that is the way of all you English- 
 men — you are so particular about things, and always 
 thinking of your health, and always thinking of 
 living, instead of living and thinking nothing about 
 it. Ah, you do not know how fine a thing it is 
 to live until you have been in a campaign, my dear 
 friend; and then you know how fine it is that you 
 can eat with great hunger, and how fine it is when 
 you get a tumbler of wine, and how fine it is to sleep. 
 You are very glad, then, to be able to walk firm on 
 your legs, and find yourself alive and strong. But 
 always, I think, your countrymen do not enjoy being 
 alive so much as mine ; they are always impatient for 
 something, trying to do something, hoping for some- 
 thing, instead of being satisfied of finding every day 
 a good new day, and plenty of satisfaction in it, with 
 talking to people, and seeing things, and a cigar now 
 and again. J ust now, when I wake, I laugh to myself, 
 and say, ' How very good it is to sleep in a bed, and 
 shut yourself out from noise, and get up when you 
 please!' Then you have a good breakfast, and all the 
 day begins afresh, and you have no fear of being- 
 crippled and sent off to the hospital. Oh ! it is very 
 good to have this freedom — this carelessness — this 
 seeing of new things and new people every day. And 
 that is a very pretty young lady become, your Miss 
 Bell : I do remember her only a shy little girl, who 
 spoke German with your strange English way of pro- 
 nouncing the vowels, and was very much bashful over 
 it. Oh yes, she is very good-looking indeed ; her hair 
 looks as if there were streaks of sunshine in the light 
 brown of it, and her eyes are very thoughtful, and she 
 has a beautiful outline of the chin that makes her neck 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 29 
 
 and throat very pretty. And, yon know, I rather like 
 the nose not hooked, like most of yonr English young 
 ladies ; when it is a little the other way, and fine, and 
 delicate it makes the face piquant and tender, not 
 haughty and cold, nicht vjahr ? But she is very English- 
 looking; I would take her as a — as a — a — type, do 
 you call it ? — of the pretty young Englishwoman, well- 
 formed, open-eyed, with good healthy colour in her face, 
 and very frank and gentle, and independent all at the 
 same time. Oh, she is a very good girl — a very good 
 girl, I can see that." 
 
 "Yes," I said, "I think she will marry that young 
 fellow whom you saw to-night." 
 
 " And that will be very good for him," he replied, 
 easily ; "for she will look after him and give him some 
 common sense. He is not practical; he has not seen 
 much; he is moody, and nervous, and thinks greatly 
 about trifles. But I think he will be very amiable to 
 her, and that is much. You know, all the best women 
 marry stupid men." 
 
 There was, however, no need for our going into that 
 dangerous subject; for at this moment we arrived at 
 Dr. Ashburton's house. Von Eosen rushed upstairs 
 to his room, to remove the traces of his recent employ- 
 ment ; and then, as we both entered the drawing-room, 
 we found Bell standing right under the central gaselier, 
 which was pouring its rays down on her wealth of 
 golden-brown hair. Indeed, she then deserved all that 
 Von Eosen had said about her being a type of our 
 handsomest young Englishwomen — rather tall, well- 
 formed, showing a clear complexion, and healthy rosi- 
 ness in her cheeks, while there was something at once 
 defiant and gentle in her look. Comely enough she 
 was to attract the notice of any stranger; but it was 
 only those who had spent years with her, and had 
 observed all her winning ways, her unselfishness, and 
 the rare honour and honesty that lay behind all her 
 pretty affectations of petulance, who could really tell 
 what sort of young person our Bonny Bell was. She 
 was sufficiently handsome to draw eyes towards her, 
 
30 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 " But if ye saw that which no eyes can see, 
 The inward beauty of her lovely spirit, 
 Garnished with heavenly gifts of nigh degree, 
 Much more then would ye wonder at that sight. 
 ***** 
 
 There dwell sweet Love and constant Chastity, 
 Unspotted Faith, and comely Womanhood, 
 Regard of Honour, and mild Modesty. " 
 
 And it must be said that during this evening Bell's 
 conduct was beyond all praise. Arthur Ashburton was 
 rather cold and distant towards her. and was obviously 
 in a bad temper. He even hovered on the verge 
 of rudeness towards both herself and the Lieutenant. 
 Now, nothing delighted Bell more than to vary the 
 even and pleasant tenor of her life with a series of 
 pretty quarrels which had very little element of serious- 
 ness in them ; but on this evening, when she was 
 provoked into quarrelling in earnest, nothing could 
 exceed the good sense, and gentleness, and forbearance 
 she showed. At dinner she sat between the young 
 barrister and his father, a quiet, little white-haired man 
 in spectacles, with small black eyes that twinkled 
 strangely when he made his nervous little jokes, and 
 looked over to his wife — the very matter-of-fact and 
 roseate woman who sat at the opposite end of the 
 table. The o]d Doctor was a much more pleasant 
 companion than his son ; but Bell, with wonderful 
 moderation, did her best to re-establish good relations 
 between the moody young barrister and herself. Of 
 course, no woman will prolong such overtures inde- 
 finitely ; and at last the young gentleman managed to 
 establish a more serious breach than he had dreamed 
 of. For the common talk had drifted back to the then 
 recent war, and our Lieutenant was telling us a story 
 about three Uhlanen, who had, out of mere bravado, 
 ridden down the main street of a French village, and 
 out at the other end, without having been touched by 
 the shots fired at them, when young Ashburton added 
 with a laugh — 
 
 "I suppose they were so padded with the watches 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 3» 
 
 and jewellery they had gathered on their way, that the 
 bullets glanced off." 
 
 Count von Rosen looked across the table at this 
 young man, with a sort of wonder in his eyes ; and 
 then, with admirable self-control, he turned to my 
 Lady Tita, and calmly continued the story. 
 
 But as for Bell, a blush of shame and exceeding 
 mortification overspread her features. No madness of 
 jealousy could excuse this open insult to a stranger and 
 a guest. From that moment, Bell addressed herself 
 exclusively to the old Doctor, and took no more notice 
 of his son than if he had been in the moon. She was 
 deeply hurt, but she managed to conceal her disap- 
 pointment; and indeed, when the boys came in after 
 dinner, she had so far picked up her spirits as to be 
 able to talk to them in that wild way which they 
 regarded with mingled awe and delight. For they 
 could not understand how Auntie Bell was allowed 
 to use strange words, and even talk Cumberlandshire 
 to the Doctor's own face. 
 
 Of course she plied the boys with all sorts of fruit 
 and sweetmeats, until Tita, coming suddenly back from 
 the campaign in France to the table before her, per- 
 emptorily ordered her to cease. Then Bell gathered 
 round her the decanters ; the boys had their half-glass 
 of wine ; and Bell swept them away with her into the 
 drawing-room, when the women left. 
 
 " A very bright young lady — hm ! — a very bright and 
 pleasant young lady indeed," said the Doctor, stretching 
 out his short legs with an air of freedom, and beginning 
 to examine the decanters. " I don't wonder the young 
 fellows rave about her ; eh, Arthur, eh ? " 
 
 Master Arthur rose and left the room. 
 
 "Touched, eh?" said the father, with his eyes 
 twinkling vehemently, and his small grey features 
 twisted into a smile. " Hit hard, eh ? Gad, I don't 
 wonder at it ; if I were a young fellow myself — eh, eh ? 
 Claret? Yes. But the young fellows now don't sing 
 about their laughing Lalage, or drink to Glycera, or 
 make jokes with Lydia ; it is all dreaming, and reading, 
 
32 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 and sighing, eh, eh ? That boy of mine has gone mad 
 
 — heeds nothing — is ill-tempered " 
 
 " Very much so, Doctor." 
 
 " Eh ? Ill-tempered ? Why, his mother daren't talk to 
 him, and we're glad to have him go up to his chambers 
 again. Our young friend here is of another sort ; there 
 is no care about a woman tempering the healthy brown 
 of the sun and the weather, eh ? — is there, eh ? " 
 
 " Why, my dear Doctor," cried the Lieutenant, with 
 a prodigious laugh, "don't you think Lydia's lover — 
 Lydia, die, you know — he was very glad to be away 
 from rough sports ? He had other enjoyments. I am 
 brown, not because of my wish, but that I have been 
 made to work — that is all." 
 
 The Doctor was overjoyed, and, perhaps, a trifle 
 surprised, to find that this tall Uhlan, who had just 
 been grooming two horses, understood his references to 
 Horace ; and he immediately cried out — 
 
 " No, no ; you must not lose your health, and your 
 colour, and your temper. Would you have your friends 
 say of you, who have just been through a campaign 
 in France — 
 
 ' Cur neque militaris 
 Inter sequales militat, Gallica nec lupatis 
 Temperat ora frenis ? ' 
 
 Eh, eh?" 
 
 " Temperat ora frenis — it is a good motto for our 
 driving excursion," said the Lieutenant ; " but was it 
 your Miss Bell who called your two fine horses by such 
 stupid names as Castor and Pollux ? " 
 
 " Nevertheless," said the Doctor, eagerly, " Castor was 
 said to have great skill in the management of horses, — 
 eh, eh ? " 
 
 " Certainly," said the Lieutenant. " And both together 
 they foretell good weather, which is a fine thing in 
 driving." 
 
 " And they were the gods of boundaries," cried 
 the Doctor. 
 
 " And they got people out of trouble when everything 
 seemed all over," returned the Count ; " which may also 
 happen to our phaeton." 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 33 
 
 " And — and — and " — here the Doctor's small face 
 fairly gleamed with a joke, and he broke into a thin, 
 high chuckle — " they ran away with two ladies — eh, eh, 
 eh ?— did they not, did they not ? " 
 
 Presently we went into the drawing-room, and there 
 the women were found in a wild maze of maps, eagerly 
 discussing the various routes to the North, and the 
 comparative attractions of different towns. The con- 
 tents of Mr. Stanford's shop seemed to have been 
 scattered about the room, and Bell had armed herself 
 with an opisometer, which gave her quite ^,n air of 
 importance. 
 
 The Lieutenant was out of this matter, so he flung 
 himself down into an easy chair, and presently had 
 both of the boys on his knees, telling them stories 
 and propounding arithmetical conundrums alternately. 
 When Queen Tita came to release him, the young 
 rebels refused to go ; and one of them declared that the 
 Count had promised to sing the " Wacht am Rhein." 
 
 " Oh, please, don't," said Bell, suddenly turning round, 
 with a map of Cumberland half hiding her. "You 
 don't know that all the organs here have it. But if 
 you would be so very kind as to sing us a German 
 song, I will play the accompaniment for you, if I know 
 it, and I know a great many." 
 
 Of course, the women did not imagine that a man 
 who had been accustomed to a soldier's life, and who 
 had just betrayed a faculty for grooming horses, was 
 likely to know much more of music than a handy 
 chorus ; but the Count, lightly saying he would not 
 trouble her, went over to the piano, and sat down 
 unnoticed amid the general hum of conversation. 
 
 But the next moment there was sufficient silence. 
 For with a crash like thunder — " Hei ! das klang wie 
 Ungewitter ! " — the young Lieutenant struck the first 
 chords of " Prinz Eugen," and with a sort of upward 
 toss of the head, as if he were making room for himself, 
 he began to sing Freiligrath's picturesque soldier-song 
 to the wild and warlike and yet stately music which 
 Dr. Lowe has written for it. What a rare voice he had, 
 
 D 
 
34 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 too ! — deep, strong, and resonant — that seemed to throw 
 itself into the daring spirit of the music with an 
 absolute disregard of delicate graces or sentimental 
 effect ; a powerful, masculine, soldier-like voice, that 
 had little flute-like softness, but the strength and thrill 
 that told of a deep chest, and that interpenetrated or 
 rose above the loudest chords that his ten fingers struck. 
 Queen Tita's face was overspread with surprise; Bell 
 unconsciously laid down the map, and stood as one 
 amazed. The ballad, you know, tells how, one calm 
 night on the banks of the Danube, just after the great 
 storming of Belgrade, a young trumpeter in the camp 
 determines to leave aside cards for a while, and make a 
 right good song for the army to sing ; how he sets to 
 work to tell the story of the battle in ringing verse, and 
 at last, when he has got the rhymes correct, he makes 
 the notes too, and his song is complete. " Ho, ye white 
 troops and ye red troops, come round and listen ! " he 
 cries ; and then he sings the record of the great deeds 
 of Prince Eugene ; and lo ! as he repeats the air for the 
 third time, there breaks forth, with a hoarse roar as of 
 thunder, the chorus " Prinz Eugen der edle Eitter ! " 
 until the sound of it is carried even into the Turkish 
 camp. And then the young trumpeter, not dissatisfied 
 with his performance, proudly twirls his moustache ; 
 and finally sneaks away to tell of his triumph to the 
 pretty Marketenderin. When our young Uhlan rose 
 from the piano, he laughed in an apologetic fashion ; 
 but there was still in his face some of that glow and 
 fire which had made him forget himself during the 
 singing of the ballad, and which had lent to his voice 
 that penetrating resonance that still seemed to linger 
 about the room. Bell said " Thank you " in rather a 
 timid way ; but Queen Tita did not speak at all, and 
 seemed to have forgotten us. 
 
 We had more music that evening, and Bell produced 
 her guitar, which was expected to solace us much on 
 our journey. It was found that the Lieutenant could 
 play that too in a rough fashion ; and he executed at 
 least a very pretty accompaniment when Bell sang " Der 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 35 
 
 Tyroler und sein Kind." But you should have seen 
 the face of Master Arthur when Bell volunteered to 
 sing a German song. I believe she did it to show 
 that she was not altogether frightened by the gloomy 
 and mysterious silence which he preserved, as he sat 
 in a corner and stared at everybody. 
 
 So ended our first day : and to-morrow — why, to- 
 morrow we pass away from big cities and their suburbs, 
 from multitudes of friends, late hours, and the whirl 
 of amusements and follies, into the still seclusion of 
 English country life, with its simple habits, and fresh 
 pictures, and the quaint humours of its inns. 
 
 [Note by Queen Titania. — " The foregoing pages give a more or less 
 accurate account of our setting-out, but they are all wrong about Bell. 
 Men are far worse than women in imagining love-affairs, and supposing 
 that girls think about nothing else. Bell wishes to be let alone. If 
 gentlemen care to make themselves uncomfortable about her, she 
 cannot help it ; but it is rather unfair to drag her into any such 
 complications. I am positive that, though ishe has doubtless a little 
 pity for that young man who vexes himself and his friends because he 
 is not good enough for her, she would not be sorry to see him, and 
 Count von Rosen — and some one else besides — all start off on a cruise 
 to Australia. She is quite content to be as she is. Marriage will 
 come in good time ; and when it comes, she will get plenty of it, sure 
 enough. In the meantime, I hope she will not be suspected of 
 encouraging those idle flirtations and pretences of worship with which 
 gentlemen think they ought to approach every girl whose good fortune 
 it is not to be married. — T."] 
 
 CHAPTEE IV. 
 
 ARTHUR VANISHES. 
 
 " Hampton me taught to wish her first for mine ; 
 And Windsor, alas ! doth chase me from her sight. " 
 
 " Eain ! " cried Queen Titania, as she walked up to 
 the window of the breakfast-room, and stared reproach- 
 fully out on cloudy skies, gloomy trees, and the wet 
 thoroughfares of Twickenham. 
 
 " Surely not !" said Bell, in anxious tones ; and there- 
 with she too walked up to one of the panes, while 
 
 D 2 
 
3 6 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 an expression of deep mortification settled down on 
 her face. 
 
 She stood so for a second or two, irresolute and hurt, 
 and then a revengeful look came into her eyes ; she 
 walked firmly over to my Lady, got close up to her ear, 
 and apparently uttered a single word. Tita almost 
 jumped back; and then she looked at the girl. 
 
 "Bell, how dare you?" she said, in her severest 
 manner. 
 
 Bell turned and shyly glanced at the rest of us, 
 probably to make sure none of us had heard; and 
 then, all this mysterious transaction being brought to a 
 close, she returned to the table and calmly took up 
 a newspaper. But presently she threw it aside, and 
 glanced, with some heightened colour in her face and 
 some half-frightened amusement in her eyes, towards 
 Tita ; and lo ! that majestic little woman was still 
 regarding the girl, and there was surprise as well as 
 sternness in her look. 
 
 Presently the brisk step of Lieutenant von Eosen 
 was heard outside, and in a minute or two the tall 
 young man came into the room, with a fine colour in 
 his face, and a sprinkling of rain about his big brown 
 beard. 
 
 " Ha ! Not late ? No ? That is very good ! " 
 
 " But it rains ! " said Tita to him, in an injured way, 
 as if anyone who had been out of doors was necessarily 
 responsible for the weather. 
 
 "Not much," he said. "It may go off; but about six 
 it did rain very hard, and I got a little wet then, I 
 think." 
 
 " And where were you at six ?" said Tita, with her 
 pretty brown eyes opened wide. 
 
 " At Isleworth," he said, carelessly ; and then he 
 added : " Oh, I have done much business this morning, 
 and bought something for your two boys, which will 
 make them not mind that you go away. It is hard, 
 you know, they are left behind " 
 
 "But Bell has given them silver watches!" said 
 Mamma. "Is not that enough?" 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 37 
 
 " They will break them in a day. Now when I went 
 to the stables this morning to feed the horses, the old 
 ostler was there. We had a quarrel last night ; but no 
 matter. We became very good friends — he told me 
 much about Buckinghamshire and himself — he told 
 me he did know your two boys — he told me he knew 
 of a pony — oh ! a very nice little pony — that was for 
 sale from a gentleman in Isleworth " 
 
 "And you've bought them a pony!" cried Bell, 
 clapping her hands. 
 
 " Bell," said Tita, with a severe look, " how foolish you 
 are! How could you think of anything so absurd ?" 
 
 "But she is quite right, Madame," said the Lieu- 
 tenant, " and it will be here in an hour, and you must 
 not tell them till it comes." 
 
 " And you mean to leave them with that animal ! 
 Why, they will break their necks, both of them," cried 
 my Lady. 
 
 "Oh no!" said the Lieutenant; "a tumble does not 
 hurt boys, not at all. And this is a very quiet, small 
 pony — oh, I did pull him about to try, and he will not 
 harm anybody. And very rough and strong — I think 
 the old man did call him a Scotland pony." 
 
 " A Shetland pony." 
 
 " Ah, very well," said our Uhlan ; and then he began 
 to turn wistful eyes to the breakfast table. 
 
 They sat down to breakfast, almost forgetting the 
 rain. They were very well pleased with the coming of 
 the pony. It would be a capital thing for the boys' 
 health ; it would be this and would be that ; but only 
 one person there reflected that this addition to the 
 comforts of the young rogues upstairs would certainly 
 cost him sixteen shillings a week all the year round. 
 
 Suddenly, in the midst of this talk, Bell looked up 
 and said — 
 
 " But where is Arthur ? " 
 
 " Oh," said the mother of the young man, " he went 
 up to town this morning at eight. He took it for 
 granted you would not start to-day." 
 
 " He might have waited to see," said Bell, looking 
 
33 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 down. " I suppose he is not so very m ich occupied in 
 the Temple. What if we have to go away before he 
 comes back?" 
 
 " But perhaps he won't come back," said Mrs. Ash- 
 burton, gently. 
 
 Bell looked surprised ; and then, with a little firm- 
 ness about the mouth, held her peace for some time. 
 It was clear that Master Arthur's absence had some 
 considerable significance in it, which she was slowly 
 determining in her own mind. 
 
 When Bell next spoke, she proposed that we should 
 set out, rain or no rain. 
 
 "It will not take much time to drive down to 
 Henley," she said. "And if we begin by paying too 
 much attention to slight showers, we shall never get on. 
 Besides, Count von Eosen ought to see how fine are 
 our English rain landscapes — what softened colours are 
 brought out in the trees and in the greys of the distance 
 under a dark sky. It is not nearly so dismal as a wet 
 day abroad, in a level country, with nothing but rows of 
 poplars along the horizon. Here," she said, turning to 
 the Lieutenant, who had probably heard of her recent 
 successes in water-colour, " you have light mists hanging 
 about the woods ; and there is a rough surface on the 
 rivers; and all the hedges and fields get dark and 
 intense, and a bit of scarlet — say a woman's cloak — is 
 very fine under the gloom of the sky. I know you are 
 not afraid of wet, and I know that the rest of us never 
 got into such good spirits during our Surrey drives as 
 when we were dashing through torrents and shaking 
 the rain from about our faces; and this is nothing — 
 a mere passing shower — and the country down by 
 Hounslow will look very well under dark clouds ; and 
 we cannot do better than start at once for Henley !" 
 
 " AVhat is the matter, Bell ? " said Tita, looking at the 
 girl with her clear, observant eyes. " One would think 
 you were vexed about our staying in Twickenham 
 until to-morrow, and yet nobody has proposed that yet." 
 
 " 1 don't wish to waste time," said Bell, looking down. 
 
 Here the Lieutenant laughed aloud. 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 39 
 
 "Forgive me, Mademoiselle/' he said, "but what 
 you say is very much like the English people. They 
 are always much, afraid of losing time, though it does 
 not matter to them. I think your commercial habits 
 have become national, and got amongst people who have 
 nothing to do with commerce. I find English ladies 
 who have weeks and months at their disposal travel 
 all night by train, and make themselves very wretched. 
 Why ? To save a day, they tell you. I find English 
 people, with two months' holiday before them, under- 
 take all the uncomforts of a night-passage from Dover 
 to Calais. Why ? To save a day. How does it matter 
 to you, for example, that we start to-day, or to-morrow, 
 or next week ? Only that you feel you must be doing 
 something — you must accomplish something — you must 
 save time. It is all English. It is with your amuse- 
 ments as with your making of money. You are never 
 satisfied. You are always looking forward — wishing 
 to do or have certain things — never content to stop, and 
 rest, and enjoy doing nothing." 
 
 Now what do you think our Bell did on being lec- 
 tured in this fashion ? Say something in reply, only 
 kept from being saucy by the sweet manner of her 
 saying it? Or rise and leave the room, and refuse 
 to be coaxed into a good humour for hours ? Why, 
 no. She said in the gentlest way — 
 
 " I think you are right, Count von Eosen. It really 
 does not matter to me whether we go to-day or to- 
 morrow." 
 
 " But you shall go to-day, Bell," say I, " even though 
 it should rain Duke Georges. At four of the clock 
 we start." 
 
 " My dear," says Tita, " this is absurd." 
 
 " Probably ; but none the less Castor and Pollux 
 shall start at that hour." 
 
 "You are beginning to show your authority somewhat 
 early," says my Lady, with a suspicious sweetness in 
 her tone. 
 
 " What there is left of it," I remark, looking at Bell, 
 who descries a fight in the distance, and is all attention. 
 
4Q 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 " Count von Kosen," says Tita, turning in her calm- 
 est manner to the young man, " what do you think of 
 this piece of folly ? It may clear up long before 
 that: it may be raining heavily then. Why should 
 we run the risk of incurring serious illness by deter- 
 mining to start at a particular hour ? It is monstrous. 
 It is absurd. It is it is " 
 
 " Well" said the Lieutenant, with an easy shrug 
 and a laugh, " it is not of much consequence you make 
 the rule; for you will break it if it is not agreeable. 
 For myself, I have been accustomed to start at a parti- 
 cular hour, whatever happens ; but for pleasure, what 
 is the use ? " 
 
 " Yes, what is the use?" repeats Titania, turning to the 
 rest of us with a certain ill-concealed air of triumph. 
 
 " St. Augustine," I observed to this rebellious person, 
 " remarks that the obedience of a wife to her husband 
 is no virtue, so long as she does only that which is 
 reasonable, just, and pleasing to herself." 
 
 " I don't believe St. Augustine said anything of the 
 kind," replied she ; " and if he did, he hadn't a wife, 
 and didn't know what he was talking about. I will 
 not allow Bell to catch her death of cold. We shall 
 not start at four." 
 
 "Two o'clock, luncheon. Half-past two the moon 
 enters Capricorn. Three o'clock, madness rages. Four, 
 colds attack the human race. We start at four." 
 
 By this time breakfast was over, and all the reply 
 that Tita vouchsafed was to wear a pleased smile of 
 defiance as she left the room. The Count, too, went 
 out ; and in a few minutes we saw him in the road, 
 leading the pony he had bought. The boys had been 
 kept upstairs, and were told nothing of the surprise 
 in store for them ; so that we were promised a stirring 
 scene in front of the Doctor's house. 
 
 Presently the Lieutenant arrived at the gate, and 
 summoned Bell from the window. She having gone 
 to the door, and spoken to him for a second or two, 
 went into the house, and reappeared with a bundle of 
 coarse cloths. Was the foolish young man going to 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 4! 
 
 groom the pony in front of the house, merely out of 
 bravado ? At all events, he roughly dried the shaggy 
 coat of the sturdy little animal, and then carefully 
 wiped the mud from its small legs and hoofs. Bell 
 went down and took the bridle ; the Lieutenant was 
 behind, to give a push if necessary. 
 
 " Come up, Dick ! " she said ; and after a few 
 frightened stumbles on the steps the pony stood in 
 the Doctor's hall ! 
 
 The clatter of the small hoofs on the waxcloth had 
 brought the boys out to the first landing, and they were 
 looking down with intense surprise on the appearance 
 of a live horse in the house. When Bell had called 
 them and told them that the Count had bought this 
 pony for them, that it was a real pony, and that they 
 would have to feed it every day, they came down the 
 stairs with quite a frightened air. They regarded the 
 animal from a distance, and then at last Master Jack 
 ventured to go up and touch its neck. 
 
 " Why," he said, as if suddenly struck with the 
 notion that it was really alive, " I'll get it an apple ! " 
 
 He went upstairs, three steps at a bound ; and by 
 the time he came back Master Tom had got in the 
 saddle, and was for riding his steed into the breakfast- 
 room. Then he would ride him out into the garden. 
 Jack insisted on his having the apple first. The mother 
 of both called out from above that if they went into 
 the garden in the rain she would have the whole house 
 whipped. But all the same, Master Tom, led by the 
 Lieutenant and followed by Bell — whose attentions in 
 holding him on he regarded with great dislike — rode 
 in state along the passage, and through the kitchen, 
 and out by a back door into the garden. 
 
 " Let me go, Auntie Bell ! " he said, shaking himself 
 free. " I can ride very well — I have ridden often at 
 Leatherhead." 
 
 " Off you go, then," said the Lieutenant : " lean well 
 back— don't kick him with your heels — off you go." 
 
 The pony shook his rough little mane, and started upon 
 a very sedate and patient walk along the smooth path. 
 
THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 " Fist ! Hei ! Go ahead ! " cried Master Tom, and he 
 twitched at the bridle in quite a knowing way. 
 
 Thus admonished, the pony broke into a brisk trot, 
 which at first jogged Master Tom on to its neck, but 
 he managed to wriggle back into the saddle and get 
 hold of the reins again. His riding was not a masterly 
 performance, but at all events he stuck on ; and when, 
 after having trotted thrice round the garden, he slid 
 off of his own will and brought the pony up to 
 us, his chubby round face was gleaming with pride, 
 and flushed colour, and rain. Then it was Jack's turn ; 
 but this young gentleman, having had less experience, 
 was attended by the Lieutenant, who walked round 
 the garden with him, and gave him his first lessons in 
 the art of horsemanship. This was a very pretty amuse- 
 ment for those of us who remained under the archway ; 
 but for those in the garden it was beginning to prove 
 a trifle damp. Nevertheless, Bell begged hard for the 
 boys to be let alone, seeing that they were overjoyed 
 beyond expression by their new toy ; and it is probable 
 that both they and their instructor would have got 
 soaked to the skin had not my Lady Titania appeared, 
 with her face full of an awful wrath. 
 
 What occurred then it is difficult to relate ; for in 
 the midst of the storm Bell laughed; and the boys, 
 being deprived of their senses by the gift of the pony, 
 laughed also— at their own mother. Tita fell from 
 her high estate directly. The splendours of her anger 
 faded away from her face, and she ran out into the rain 
 and cuffed the boys' ears, and kissed them, and drove 
 them into the house before her. And she was so good 
 as to thank the Count formally for his present ; and 
 with a kindly smile bade the boys be good boys and 
 attend to their lessons when they had so much amuse- 
 ment provided for them; and finally turned to Bell, 
 and said, that as we had to start at four o'clock, we 
 might as well have our things packed before luncheon, 
 
 Now such was the/reward of this wifely obedience 
 that at four o'clock the rain had actually and definitely 
 ceased; and the clouds, though they still hung low, 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 43 
 
 were gatheriDg themselves up into distinct forms. 
 When the phaeton was brought round, there was not 
 even any necessity for putting up the hood ; and Tita, 
 having seen that everything was placed in the vehicle, 
 was graciously pleased to ask the Lieutenant if he 
 would drive, that she might sit beside him and point 
 out objects of interest. 
 
 Then she kissed the boys very affectionately, and 
 bade them take care not to tumble off the pony. The 
 Doctor and his wife wished us every good fortune. 
 Bell threw a wistful glance up and down the road, and 
 then turned her face a little aside. The Count shook 
 the reins, and our phaeton rolled slowly away from 
 Twickenham. 
 
 " Why, Bell/' I said, as we were crossing the railway 
 bridge, and my companion looked round to see if there 
 were a train at the station, " you have been crying." 
 
 "Not much," said Bell, frankly, but in a very low 
 voice. 
 
 " But why?" I ask. 
 
 " You know," she said. 
 
 " I know that Arthur has been very unreasonable, 
 and that he has gone up to London in a fit of temper ; 
 and I know what I think of the whole transaction, 
 and what I consider he deserves. But I didn't think 
 you cared for him so much, Bell, or were so vexed 
 about it." 
 
 " Care for him ? " she said, with a glance at the 
 people before us, lest the low sound of her voice might 
 not be entirely drowned by the noise of the wheels in 
 the muddy road. "That may mean much or little. 
 You know I like Arthur very well ; and — and I am 
 afraid he is vexed with me ; and it is not pleasant to 
 part like that with one's friends." 
 
 " He will write to you, Bell ; or he will drop down 
 on us suddenly some evening when we are at Oxford, 
 or Worcester, or Shrewsbury " 
 
 " I hope he will not do that," said Bell, with some 
 expression of alarm. " If he does, I know something 
 dreadful will happen." 
 
44 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 " But Master Arthur, Bell, is not exactly the sort 
 of person to displace the geological strata." 
 
 " Oh, you don't know what a temper he has at 
 times," she said ; and then, suddenly recovering herself, 
 she added hastily, " but he is exceedingly good and 
 kind for all that : only he is vexed, you know, at not 
 being able to get on; and perhaps he is a little jealous 
 of people who are successful, and in good circumstances, 
 and independent ; and he is apt to think that — that — 
 that " 
 
 " His lady-love will be carried off by some wealthy 
 suitor before he has been able to amass a fortune ? " 
 
 " You mustn't talk as if I were engaged to Arthur 
 Ashburton," said Bell, rather proudly, " or even that 
 I am ever likely to be." 
 
 Our Bonny Bell soon recovered her spirits, for she 
 felt that we had at last really set out on our journey to 
 Scotland, and her keen liking for all out-of-door sights 
 and sounds was now heightened by a vague and glad 
 anticipation. If Arthur Ashburton, as I deemed highly 
 probable, should endeavour to overtake us, and effect 
 a reconciliation or final understanding with Bell, we 
 were, for the present at least, speeding rapidly away 
 from him. 
 
 As we drove through the narrow lane running down 
 by Whitton Park and Whitton Dean, the warm, moist 
 winds were blowing a dozen odours about from the far, 
 low-stretching fields and gardens ; and the prevailing 
 sweetness of the air seemed to herald our departure 
 from the last suburban traces of London. Splash ! 
 went the horses' hoofs into the yellow pools of the 
 roads, and the rattle of the wheels seemed to send an 
 echo through the stillness of the quiet country-side ; 
 while overhead the dark and level clouds became more 
 fixed and grey, and we hoped they would ultimately 
 draw together and break, so as to give us a glimpse of 
 pallid sunshine. Then we drove up through Hounslow 
 to the famous inn at the cross-roads which was known 
 to travellers in the highway-robbery days ; and here 
 our Bell complained that so many of these hostelries 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 45 
 
 should bear her name. Tita, we could hear, was telling 
 her companion of all the strange incidents connected 
 with this inn and its neighbourhood which she could 
 recall from the pages of those various old-fashioned 
 fictions which are much more interesting to some folks 
 than the most accurate histories. So we bowled along 
 the Bath road, over Cranford Bridge, past the Magpies, 
 through Colnbrook, and on to Langley Marsh, when 
 the Count suddenly exclaimed — 
 
 " But the Heath ? I have not seen Hounslow Heath, 
 where the highwaymen used to be ! " 
 
 Alas ! there was no more Heath to show him — only 
 the level and wooded beauties of a cultivated English 
 plain. And yet these, as we saw them then, under the 
 conditions that Bell had described in the morning, were 
 sufficiently pleasant to see. All around us stretched a 
 fertile landscape, with the various greens of its trees 
 and fields and hedges grown dark and strong under the 
 gloom of the sky. The winding road ran through this 
 country like the delicate grey streak of a river : and 
 there were distant farmhouses peeping from the sombre 
 foliage ; an occasional wayside inn standing deserted 
 amid its rude outhouses ; a passing tramp plodding 
 through the mire. Strange and sweet came the damp, 
 warm winds from over the fields of beans and of clover, 
 and it seemed as if the wild-roses in the tall and 
 straggling hedges had increased in multitude so as to 
 perfume the whole land. And then, as we began to 
 see in the west, with a great joy, some faint streaks of 
 sunshine descend like a shimmering comb upon the 
 gloomy landscape, lo ! in the south there arose before 
 us a great and stately building, whose tall grey towers 
 and spacious walls, seen against the dark clouds of the 
 horizon, were distant, and pale, and spectral. 
 
 " It looks like a phantom castle, does it not ? " said 
 Bell, speaking in quite a low voice. " Don't you think 
 it has sprung up in the heavens like the Fata Morgana, 
 or the spectral ship, and that it will fade away again 
 and disappear ? " 
 
 Indeed it looked like the ghost of one of the castles 
 
46 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 of King Arthur's time — that old, strange time, when 
 England lay steeped in grey mists and the fogs blown 
 about by the sea-winds, when there does not seem to 
 have been any sunshine, but only a gloom of shifting 
 vapours, half hiding the ghostly knights and the 
 shadowy queens, and all their faint and mystical 
 stories and pilgrimages and visions. The castle down 
 there looked as if it had never been touched by sharp, 
 clear, modern sunlight, that is cruel to ghosts and 
 phantoms. 
 
 But here Bell's reveries were interrupted by Lieu- 
 tenant von Eosen, who, catching sight of the castle in 
 the south and all its hazy lines of forest, said — 
 
 " Ah, what is that ? " 
 
 " That," said Bell, suddenly recovering from her 
 trance, "is a hotel for German princes." 
 
 She had no sooner uttered the words, however, than 
 she looked thoroughly alarmed ; and with a prodigious 
 shame and mortification she begged the Count's pardon, 
 who merely laughed, and said he regretted he was not 
 a prince. 
 
 " It is Windsor, is it not ? " he said. 
 
 " Yes," replied Bell humbly, while her face was still 
 pained and glowing. " I — I hope you will forgive my 
 rudeness: I think I must have heard some one say 
 that recently, and it escaped me before I thought what 
 it meant." 
 
 Of course, the Lieutenant passed the matter off 
 lightly, as a very harmless saying; but all the same 
 Bell seemed determined for some time after to make 
 him amends, and quite took away my Lady's occupa- 
 tion by pointing out to our young Uhlan, in a very 
 respectful and submissive manner, whatever she thought 
 of note on the road. Whether the Lieutenant perceived 
 this intention or not, I do not know ; but at all events 
 he took enormous pains to be interested in what she 
 said, and paid far more attention to her than to his own 
 companion. Moreover he once or twice, in looking 
 back, pretty nearly ran us into a cart, insomuch that 
 Queen Tita had laughingly to recall him to his duties. 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 47 
 
 In this wise we went down through the sweetly- 
 smelling country, with its lines of wood and hedge and 
 its breadths of field and meadow still suffering from 
 the gloom of a darkened sky. We cut through the 
 village of Slough, passed the famous Salthill, got over 
 the Two Mill Brook at Cuckfield Bridge, and were 
 rapidly nearing Maidenhead, where we proposed to rest 
 an hour or two and dine. Bell had pledged her word 
 there would be a bright evening, and had thrown out 
 vague hints about a boating excursion up to the wooded 
 heights of Cliefden. In the meantime the sun had 
 made little way in breaking through the clouds. There 
 were faint indications here and there of a luminous 
 greyish-yellow lying in the interstices of the heavy 
 sky ; but the pale and shimmering comb in the west 
 had disappeared. 
 
 " What has come over your fine weather, Bell ? " 
 said my Lady. " Do you remember how you used to 
 dream of our setting out, and what heaps of colour and 
 sunshine you lavished on your picture?" 
 
 "My dear," said Bell, "you are unacquainted with 
 the art of a stage-manager. Do you think I would 
 begin my pantomime with a blaze of light, and bright 
 music, and a great show of costume ? No ! First of 
 all comes the dungeon scene — darkness and gloom — 
 thunder and solemn music — nothing but demons ap- 
 pearing through the smoke ; and then, when you have 
 all got impressed and terrified and attentive, you will 
 hear in the distance a little sound of melody, there will 
 be a flutter of wings, just as if the fairies were pre- 
 paring a surprise, and then all at once into the darkness 
 leaps the queen herself, and a blaze of sunlight dashes 
 on to her silver wings, and you see her gauzy costume, 
 and the scarlet and gold of a thousand attendants who 
 have all swarmed into the light." 
 
 " How long have we to wait, Mademoiselle ? " said 
 the Lieutenant, seriously. 
 
 " I have not quite settled that," replied Bell, with a 
 fine air of reflection, " but I will see about it while you 
 are having dinner." 
 
4 8 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 Comforted by these promises — which ought, however, 
 to have come from Queen Titania, if the fairies were 
 supposed to be invoked — we drove underneath the 
 railway-line and past the station of Taplow, and so 
 forward to the hotel by the bridge. When, having 
 with some exercise of patience seen Castor and Pollux 
 housed and fed, I went into the parlour, I found dinner 
 on the point of being served, and the Count grown 
 almost eloquent about the comforts of English inns. 
 Indeed, there was a considerable difference, as he 
 pointed out, between the hard, bright, cheery public- 
 room of a German inn, and this loug, low-roofed 
 apartment, with its old-fashioned furniture, its carpets, 
 and general air of gravity and respectability. Then 
 the series of pictures around the walls — venerable 
 lithographs, glazed and yellow, representing all manner 
 of wild adventures in driving and hunting — amused 
 him much. 
 
 " That is very like your English humour," he said, — 
 " of the country, I mean. The joke is a man thrown 
 into a ditch, and many horses coming over on him ; 
 or it is a carriage upset in the road, and men crawling 
 from underneath, and women trying to get through 
 the window. It is rough, strong, practical fun, at 
 the expense of unfortunate people, that you like." 
 
 " At least," I point out, " it is quite as good a sort 
 of public-house furniture as pictures of bleeding saints, 
 or lithographs of smooth-headed princes." 
 
 " Oh, I do not object to it," he said, " not in the 
 least. I do like your sporting pictures very much." 
 
 "And when you talk of German lithographs," struck 
 in Bell, quite warmly, " I suppose you know that it is 
 to the German printsellers our poorer classes owe all 
 the possession of art they can afford. They would 
 never have a picture in their house but for those 
 cheap lithographs that come over from Germany ; and, 
 although they are very bad, and even carelessly bad 
 often, they are surely better than nothing for cottages 
 and country inns that would never otherwise have 
 anything to show but coarse patterns of wall-paper." 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 49 
 
 " My dear child," remarked Queen Tita, " we are 
 none of us accusing Germany of any crime whatever." 
 
 "But it is very good-natured of Mademoiselle to 
 defend my country, for all that," said the Lieutenant, 
 with a smile. " We are unpopular with you just 
 now, I believe. That I cannot help. It is a pity. 
 But it is only a family quarrel, you know, and it will 
 go away. And just now, it requires some courage 
 to say a word for Germany, yes?" 
 
 "Why, Bell has been your bitterest enemy all 
 through the war," said Tita, ashamed of the defection 
 of her ancient ally. 
 
 "I think you behaved very badly to the poor 
 French people," said Bell, looking down, and evidently 
 wishing that some good spirit or bad one would fly 
 away with this embarrassing topic. 
 
 The spirit appeared. There came to the open space 
 in front of the inn a young girl of about fifteen or 
 sixteen, with a careworn and yet healthily- coloured 
 face, and shrewd blue eyes. She wore a man's jacket, 
 and she had a shillelagh in her hand, which she 
 twirled about as she glanced at the windows of the 
 inn. Then, in a hard, cracked voice, she began to 
 sing a song. It was supposed to be rather a dashing 
 and aristocratic ballad, in which this oddly-clad girl 
 with the shillelagh recounted her experiences of the 
 opera, and told us how she loved champague, and 
 croquet, and various other fashionable diversions. 
 There was something very curious in the forced gaiety 
 with which she entered into these particulars, the 
 shillelagh meanwhile being kept as still as circum- 
 stances would permit. But presently she sang an 
 Irish song, describing herself as some free and easy 
 Irish lover and fighter ; and here the bit of wood 
 came into play. She thrust one of her hands, with 
 an audacious air, into the pocket of the jacket she 
 wore, while she twirled the shillelagh with the other ; 
 and then, so soon as she had finished, her face dropped 
 into a plaintive and matter-of-fact air, and she came 
 forward to receive pence. 
 
 E 
 
50 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 " She is scarcely our Lorelei/' said the Count, " who 
 sits over the Ehine in the evening. But she is a hard- 
 working girl, you can see that. She has not much 
 pleasure in life. If we give her a shilling, it will be 
 much comfort to her." 
 
 And with that he went out. But what was Tita's 
 surprise to see him go up to the girl and begin to talk 
 to her ! She, looking up to the big, brown-bearded 
 man with a sort of awe, answered his questions with 
 some appearance of shamefaced embarrassment: and 
 then, when he gave her a piece of money, she per- 
 formed something like a curtsey, and looked after him 
 as he returned whistling to the door of the inn. 
 
 Then we had dinner — a plain, comfortable, wholesome 
 meal enough; and it seemed somehow in this old- 
 fashioned parlour that we formed quite a family party. 
 We were cut off at last from the worjd of friends and 
 acquaintances, and thrown upon each other's society in 
 a very peculiar fashion. In what manner should we 
 sit down to our final repast, after all this journey and 
 its perils and accidents were over ? Tita, I could see, 
 was rather grave, and perhaps speculating on the. 
 future ; while Bell and the young Lieutenant had got 
 to talk of some people they recollected as living at 
 Bonn some dozen years before. Nobody said a word 
 about Arthur. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 QUEEN TITANIA AFLOAT. 
 
 "Say, Father Thames, for thou hast seen 
 
 Full many a sprightly race, 
 Disporting on thy inargent green, 
 
 The paths of pleasure trace, 
 Who foremost now delight to cleave 
 With pliant arm thy glassy wave ?" 
 
 At length we hit upon one thing that Count von Rosen 
 could not do. When we had wandered down to the 
 side of the Thames, just by Maidenhead Bridge, and 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 5» 
 
 opposite the fine old houses, and smooth lawns, and 
 green banks that stand on the other margin of the 
 broad and shallow river, we discovered that the Lieu- 
 tenant was of no use in a boat. And so, as the young 
 folks would have us go up under the shadows of the 
 leafy hills of Cliefden, there was nothing for it but that 
 Tita and I should resort to the habits of earlier years, 
 and show a later generation how to feather an oar with 
 skill and dexterity. As Queen Titania stood by the 
 boat-house, pulling off her gloves with economic fore- 
 thought, and looking rather pensively at the landing- 
 place and the boats and the water, she suddenly said — 
 " Is not this like long ago ? " 
 
 " You talk like an old woman, Tita/' says one of the 
 party. " And yet your eyes are as pretty as they were 
 a dozen years ago, when you used to walk along the 
 beach at Eastbourne, and cry because you were afraid 
 of becoming the mistress of a house. And now the 
 house has been too much for you ; and you are full of 
 confused facts, and unintelligible figures, and petty 
 anxieties, until your responsibilities have hidden away 
 the old tenderness of your look, except at such a mo- 
 ment as this, when you forget yourself. Tita, do you 
 remember who pricked her finger to sign a document 
 when she was only a schoolgirl, and who produced it 
 years afterwards with something of a shamefaced 
 pride?" 
 
 " Stuff ! " says Tita, angrily, but blushing dreadfully 
 all the same ; and so, with a frown and an imperious 
 manner, she stepped down to the margin of the river. 
 
 Now mark this circumstance. In the old days of 
 which my Lady was then thinking, she used to be very 
 well content with pulling bow-oar when we two used to 
 go out in the evenings. JSTow, when the Lieutenant and 
 Bell had been comfortably placed in the stern, Tita 
 daintily stepped into the boat and sat down quite 
 naturally to pull stroke. She made no apology. She 
 took the place as if it were hers by right. Such are 
 the changes which a few years of married life produce. 
 
 So Bell pulled the white tiller-ropes over her shoulder, 
 E 2 
 
5? 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 and we glided out and up the glassy stream, into that 
 world of greenness and soft sounds and sweet odours 
 that lay all around. Already something of Bell's 
 prophecy was likely to come true ; for the clouds were 
 perceptibly growing thinner overhead, and a diffused 
 yellow light falling from no particular place seemed to 
 dwell over the hanging woods of Cliefden. It gave a 
 new look, too, to the smooth river, to the rounded elms 
 and tall poplars on the banks, and the long aits beyond 
 the bridge, where the swans were sailing close in by 
 the reeds. 
 
 " Look out ! " cried the Lieutenant, suddenly ; and at 
 the same moment our coxswain, without a word of 
 warning, shot us into a half-submerged forest that 
 seemed to hide from us a lake on the other side. Tita 
 had so little time to ship her oar that no protest was 
 possible ; and then Yon Eosen, catching hold of the 
 branches, pulled us through the narrow channel, and lo ! 
 we were in a still piece of water, with a smooth curve 
 of the river-bank on one side and a long island on the 
 other, and with a pretty little house looking quietly 
 down at us over this inland sea. We were still in the 
 Thames ; but this house seemed so entirely to have 
 become owner of the charming landscape around and 
 its stretch of water in front, that Bell asked in a hurry 
 how we could get away. Tita, being still a little 
 indignant, answered not, but put her oar into the out- 
 rigger again, and commenced pulling. And then our 
 coxswain, who was not so familiar with the tricks of 
 the Thames at Maidenhead as some of us, discovered a 
 north-west passage by which it was possible to return 
 into the main channel of the stream, and we continued 
 our voyage. 
 
 When, at length, we had got by the picturesque old 
 mill, and reached the sea of tumbling white water that 
 came rushing down from the weir, it seemed as though 
 the sky had entered into a compact with Bell to fulfil 
 her predictions. For as we lay and rocked in the surge 
 — watching the long level line of foam come tumbling 
 over in spouts and jets and white masses, listening lo 
 
OF A PHAETON, 
 
 53 
 
 the roar of the fall, and regarding the swirling circles of 
 white bells that swept away downward on the stream — 
 there appeared in the west, just over the line of the 
 weir, a parallel line of dark blood-red. It was but a 
 streak as yet ; but presently it widened and grew more 
 intense — a great glow of crimson colour came shining 
 forth — and it seemed as if all the western heavens, just 
 over that line of white foam, were becoming a mass 
 of fire. Bell's transformation-scene was positively 
 blinding ; and the bewilderment of the splendid 
 colours was not lessened by the roar of the tumbling 
 river, that seemed strangely wild in the stillness of 
 the evening. 
 
 But when we turned to drop quietly down the stream, 
 the scene around us was so lovely that Queen Titania 
 had no heart to pull away from it. For now the hang- 
 ing woods of beech and birch and oak had caught a 
 glow of the sunset along their masses of yellow and 
 green, and the broad stream had the purple of its 
 glassy sweeps dashed here and there with red ; and in 
 the far east a reflected tinge of pink mingled with 
 the cold green, and lay soft and pure and clear over 
 the low woods, and the river, and the bridge. As if 
 by magic the world had grown suddenly light, ethereal, 
 and full of beautiful colours ; and the clouds that still 
 remained overhead had parted into long cirrhous lines, 
 with pearly edges, and a touch of scarlet and gold along 
 their western side. 
 
 " What a drive we shall have this evening ! " cried 
 Bell. " It will be a clear night when we get to Henley, 
 and there will be stars over the river, and perhaps a 
 moon, — who knows ? " 
 
 " I thought you would have provided a moon, 
 Mademoiselle," said the Lieutenant, gravely. "You 
 have done very well for us this evening — oh ! very well 
 indeed. I have not seen any such beautiful picture for 
 many years. You did very well to keep a dark day 
 all day, and make us tired of cold colours and green 
 trees ; and then you surprise us by this picture of 
 magic— oh ! it is very well done." 
 
54 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 " All that it wants," said Bell, with a critical eye, 
 " is a little woman in a scarlet shawl nnder the trees 
 there, and over the green of the rushes — one of those 
 nice fab little women who always wear bright shawls just 
 to please landscape-painters — making a little blob of 
 strong colour, you know, just like a ladybird among 
 green moss. Do you know, I am quite grateful to a 
 pleasant little countrywoman when she dresses herself 
 ridiculously merely to make a landscape look fine ; and 
 how can you laugh at her when she comes near? I 
 sometimes think that she wears those colours, especially 
 those in her bonnet, out of mere modesty. She does 
 not know what will please you — she puts in a little 
 of everything to give you a choice. She holds up to 
 you a whole bouquet of flowers, and says, 'Please, 
 Miss, do you like blue ? for here is corn-cockle; — or red % 
 for here are poppies ; — or yellow ? for here are rock- 
 roses.' She is like Perdita, you know, going about with 
 an armful of blossoms, and giving to everyone what 
 she thinks will please them/' 
 
 • " My dear," says Tita, " you are too generous. I am 
 afraid that the woman wears those things out of vanity. 
 She does not know what colour suits her complexion 
 best, and so wears a variety, quite sure that one of them 
 must be the right one. And there are plenty of women 
 in town, as well as in the country, who do that too." 
 
 " I hope you don't mean me," said Bell, contritely, 
 as she leaned her arm over the side of the boat, and 
 dipped the tips of her fingers into the glassy stream. 
 
 But if we were to get to Henley that night, there 
 was no time for lingering longer about that bend by the 
 river, with its islands and mills and woods. That great 
 burst of colour in the west had been the expiring effort 
 of the sun ; and when we got back to the inn, there 
 was nothing left in the sky but the last golden and 
 crimson traces of his going down. The river was be- 
 coming grey, and the Cliefden woods were preparing 
 for the night by drawing over themselves a thin veil 
 of mist, which rendered them distant and shadowy, 
 as they lay under the lambent sky. 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 55 
 
 The phaeton was at the door; our bill paid; an 
 extra shawl got out of the imperial — although, in that 
 operation, the Lieutenant nearly succeeded in smashing 
 Bell's guitar. 
 
 " It will be dark before we get to Henley," says Tita. 
 " Yes," I answer obediently. 
 
 " And we are going now by cross-roads," she remarks. 
 
 " The road is a very good one," I venture to reply. 
 
 " But still it is a cross-road," she says. 
 
 "Very well, then, my dear," I say, wondering what 
 the littie woman is after. 
 
 " You must drive," she continues, " for none of us 
 know the road." 
 
 "Yes, m'm, please m'm : any more orders ?" 
 
 "Oh, Bell," says my Lady, with a gracious air (she 
 can change the expression of her face in a second), 
 " would you mind taking Count von Eosen under your 
 charge until we get to Henley? I am afraid it will 
 take both of us to find the road in the dark." 
 
 "No, I will take you under my charge, Mademoi- 
 selle," said the Lieutenant, frankly; and therewith he 
 helped Bell into the phaeton, and followed him- 
 self. 
 
 The consequence of this little arrangement was, that 
 while Tita and I were in front, the young folks were 
 behind : and no sooner had we started from the inn, 
 got across the bridge, and were going down the road 
 towards the village of Maidenhead proper, than Titania 
 says, in a very low voice — 
 
 "Do you know, my dear, our pulling together in 
 that boat quite brought back old times ; and — and — 
 and I wanted to be sitting up here beside you for a 
 while, just to recall the old, old drives we used to have 
 you know, about here, and Henley, and Eeading. How 
 long ago is it, do you think?" 
 
 That wife of mine is a wonderful creature. You 
 would have thought she was as innocent as a lamb 
 when she uttered these words, looking up with a 
 world of sincerity and pathos in the big, clear, earnest 
 brown eyes. And the courage of the small creature, 
 
56 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 too, who thought she could deceive her husband by 
 this open, transparent, audacious piece of hypocrisy ! 
 
 "Madam," I said, with some care that the young 
 folks should not overhear, " your tenderness over- 
 whelms me." 
 
 " What do you mean?" she says, suddenly becoming 
 as cold and as rigid as Lot's wife after the accident 
 happened. 
 
 " Perhaps," I ventured to suggest, "you would like 
 to have the hood up, and so leave them quite alone ? 
 Our presence must be very embarrassing." 
 
 " You are insulting Bell in saying such things," she 
 says warmly ; " or perhaps it is that you would rather 
 have her for a companion than your own wife." 
 
 "Well, to tell you the truth, I would." 
 
 " She shall not sit by the Lieutenant again." 
 
 " I hope you don't mean to strangle her. We should 
 arrive in Edinburgh in a sort of unicorn-fashion." 
 
 Tita relapsed into a dignified silence — that is always 
 the way with her when she has been found out; but 
 she was probably satisfied by hearing the Count and 
 Bell chatting very briskly together, thus testifying to 
 the success of her petty stratagem. 
 
 It was a pleasant drive, on that quiet evening, from 
 Maidenhead across the lonely country that lies within 
 the great curve of the Thames. Instead of turning 
 off at the corner of Stubbing's Heath, and so getting 
 into the road that runs by Hurley Bottom, we held 
 straight on towards Wargrave, so as to have the 
 last part of the journey lead us up by the side of 
 the river. So still it was ! The road led through 
 undulating stretches of common and past the edges 
 of silent woods, while the sky was becoming pale and 
 beautiful overhead, and the heights on the northern 
 horizon — between Cookham and Hurley — were growing 
 more and more visionary in the dusk. Sometimes, 
 but rarely, we met a solitary wanderer coming along 
 through the twilight, and a gruff "good-night" greeted 
 us ; but for the most part there seemed no life in 
 this lonely part of the country, where rabbits ran 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 57 
 
 across the road in front of us, and the last rooks that 
 flew by in the dusk seemed hastening on to the 
 neighbourhood of some distant village. It was a mild, 
 fresh evening, with the air still damp and odorous 
 after the rain; but overhead the sky still remained 
 clear, and here and there, in the partings of the thin 
 cloud, a pale star or planet had become faintly visible. 
 
 At last we got down into the village of Wargrave, 
 and then it was nearly dark. There were a few people, 
 mostly women, standing at the doors of the cottages ; 
 and here and there a ray of yellow light gleamed out 
 from a small window. As we struck into the road 
 that runs parallel with the Thames, there were men 
 coming home from their work; and their talk was 
 heard at a great distance in the stillness of the night. 
 
 "How far are we from Henley?" said Bell. 
 
 " Are you anxious to get there ? " replied Queen 
 Titania, smiling quite benignly. 
 
 "No," said Bell, "this is so pleasant that I should 
 like to go driving on until midnight, and we could 
 see the moon coming through the trees." 
 
 "You have to consider the horses," said the Lieu- 
 tenant, bluntly. " If you do tire them too much on 
 the first days, they will not go so long a journey. 
 But yet we are some way off, I suppose ; and if 
 Mademoiselle will sing something for us, I will get 
 out the guitar." 
 
 " You'd better get down and light the lamps, rather," 
 I remark to those indolent young people ; whereupon 
 the Count was instantly in the road, striking wax 
 matches, and making use of curious expressions that 
 seemed chiefly to consist of #'s and r's. 
 
 So, with the lamps flaring down the dark road, we 
 rolled along the highway that here skirts the side of 
 a series of heights looking down into the Thames. 
 Sometimes we could see a grey glimmer of the river 
 beneath us through the trees ; at other times the road 
 took us down close to the side of the water, and 
 Castor got an opportunity of making a playful little 
 shy or two ; but for the most part we drove through 
 
5S 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 dense woods, that completely shut off the starlight 
 overhead. 
 
 More than once, indeed, we came to a steep descent 
 that was buried in such total darkness that the Lieu- 
 tenant jumped down and took the horses' heads, lest 
 some unlucky step or stumble should throw us into 
 the river. So far as we could make out, however, there 
 was a sufficient wall on the side of the highway next 
 the stream — a rough old wall, covered with plants and 
 moss, that ran along the high and wooded bank. 
 
 Suddenly Bell uttered a cry of delight. We had 
 come to a cleft in the glade which showed us the river 
 running by some sixty feet beneath us, and on the 
 surface of the water the young crescent of the moon 
 was clearly mirrored. There was not enough moon- 
 light to pierce the trees, or even to drown the pale 
 light of the stars; but the sharp disc of silver, as it 
 glimmered on the water, was sufficiently beautiful, and 
 contained in itself the promise of many a lovely 
 night. 
 
 "It has begun the journey with us," said Bell. "It 
 is a young moon ; it will go with us all the month ; and 
 we shall see it on the Severn, and on Windermere, and 
 on the Solway, and on the Tweed. Didn't I promise 
 you all a moon, sooner or later ? And there it is ! " 
 
 " It does not do us much good, Bell," said the driver, 
 ruefully, the very horses seeming afraid to plunge into 
 the gulfs of darkness that were spectrally peered into 
 by the light of the lamps. 
 
 "The moon is not for use," said Bell, "it is for 
 magic; and once we have got to Henley, and put the 
 horses up, and gone out again to the river, you shall 
 all stand back and watch in a corner, and let Queen 
 Titania go forward to summon the fairies. And as you 
 listen in the dark, you will hear a little crackling and 
 rustling along the opposite shore, and you will see 
 small blue lights come out from the banks, and small 
 boats, with a glowworm at their prow, come out into 
 the stream. And then from the boats, and from all the 
 fields near — where the mist of the river lies at night — 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 59 
 
 you will see wonderful small men and women of 
 radiant blue flame come forward, and there will be a 
 strange sound like music in the trees, and the river 
 itself will begin to say, in a kind of laugh, ' Titania, 
 Titania ! you have been so long away — years and years 
 — looking after servants, and the schooling of boys, and 
 
 the temper of a fractious husband ' " 
 
 "Bell, you are impertinent." 
 
 " There are true words spoken in jest, sometimes," 
 says Tita, with a dainty malice. 
 
 " Your bearing rein in England is a cruelty to 
 the horse — you must take it away to-morrow," said 
 the Lieutenant ; and this continuation of a practical 
 subject recalled these scapegraces from their jibes. 
 
 Here the road took us down by a gradual dip to the 
 river again, and for the last mile before reaching our 
 destination we had a pleasant and rapid run along 
 the side of the stream. Then the lights of Henley 
 were seen to glimmer before us ; we crossed over the 
 bridge, and swerving 'round to the right, drove into 
 the archway of the Bell Inn. 
 
 "No, sir," remarked Dr. Johnson to Mr. Boswell, 
 " there is nothing which has yet been contrived by man, 
 by which so much happiness is produced as by a good 
 tavern or inn." He then repeated, with great emotion, 
 we are told, Shenstone's lines — 
 
 " Whoe'er has travelled life's dull round. 
 Where'er his stages may have been, 
 May sigh to think he still has found 
 The warmest welcome at an inn. " 
 
 And Mr. Boswell goes on to say : " We happened to lie 
 this night at the inn at Henley, where Shenstone wrote 
 these lines. " Now, surely, if ever belated travellers 
 had reason to expect a cordial welcome, it was we four 
 as we drove into the famous hostelry which had 
 awakened: enthusiasm in the poets and lexicographers 
 of bygone days. But as Castor and Pollux stood under 
 the archway, looking into the great dark yard before 
 them, and as we gazed round in vain for the appearance 
 of any waiter or other official, it occurred to Tita that 
 
6o 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 the Bell Inn must have changed hands since Shen- 
 stone's time. Where was our comfortable welcome ? 
 A bewildered maid-servant came to stare at our 
 phaeton with some alarm. Plaintive howls for the 
 ostler produced a lad from the darkness of the stables, 
 who told us that the ostler was away somewhere. 
 Another maid-servant came out, and also looked 
 alarmed. The present writer, fearing that Tony 
 Lumpkin, transformed into an invisible spirit, had 
 played him a trick, humbly begged this young 
 woman to say whether he had driven by mistake into 
 a private house. The young person looked afraid. 
 
 " My good girl," says Tita, with a gracious conde- 
 scension, "will you tell us if this is the Bell Inn?" 
 
 " Yes, 'm ; of course, 'm." 
 
 " And can we stay here to-night ? " 
 
 "I'll bring the waiter, ma'am, directly." 
 
 Meanwhile the Lieutenant had got down, and was 
 fuming about the yard to rout out the ostler's assist- 
 ants, or some people who could put up the horses. 
 He managed to unearth no fewer than three men, 
 whom he brought in a gang. He was evidently deter- 
 mined not to form his grooming of the horses at 
 Twickenham into a precedent. 
 
 At last there came a waiter, looking rather sleepy and 
 a trifle helpless ; whereupon my Lady and Bell departed 
 into the inn, and left the luggage to be sent after them. 
 There appeared to be no one inside the house. The 
 gases were lit in the spacious coffee-room ■ some rugs 
 and bags were brought in and placed on the table ; 
 and then Tita and her companion, not daring to remove 
 their bonnets, sat down in arm-chairs and stared at 
 each other. 
 
 " I fly from pomp, I fly from plate ; 
 I fly from falsehood's specious grin ; 
 But risk a ten times worser fate 
 In choosing lodgings at an inn : " 
 
 — this was what Bell repeated, in a gentle voice, on 
 the very spot that is sacred to the memory of Shen- 
 stone's satisfaction. 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 61 
 
 I requested the young man in the white tie to assign 
 some reason for this state of affairs; and his answer 
 was immediately forthcoming. There had been a 
 regatta a few days before. The excitement in the 
 small town, and more especially in the " Bell," had been 
 dreadful. Now a reaction had set in ; Henley and the 
 " Bell " were alike deserted ; and we were the victims of 
 a collapse. I complimented the waiter on his philo- 
 sophical acumen, and went out to see what had befallen 
 Count von Bosen and the horses. 
 
 I found him standing in a stable that was dimly 
 lighted by a solitary candle stuck against the wall, 
 superintending the somewhat amateurish operations 
 of the man who had undertaken to supply the ostler's 
 place. The Lieutenant had evidently not been hec- 
 toring his companions ; on the contrary, he was on 
 rather good terms with them, and w 7 as making inquiries 
 about the familiar English names for chopped hay and 
 other luxuries of the stable. He was examining the 
 corn, too, and pronouncing opinion on the split beans 
 which he had ordered. On the whole, he was satisfied 
 with the place ; although he expressed his surprise 
 that the ostler of so big an inn should be absent. 
 
 When, at length, we had seen each of the horses 
 supplied with an ample feed, fresh straw, and plenty of 
 hay, the men were turned out and the stable-door 
 locked. He allowed them on this occasion to keep 
 the key. As we crossed the yard, a rotund, frank, 
 cheery-looking man appeared, who was presumably 
 the ostler. He made a remark or two ; but the night- 
 air was chill. 
 
 " Now," said Yon Bosen, when we got into the big 
 parlour, " we have to make ourselves pleasant and com- 
 fortable. I do think we must all drink whisky. For 
 myself, I do not like the taste very much ; but it looks 
 very comfortable to see some people with steaming 
 glasses before them. And I have brought out Made- 
 moiselle's guitar, and she will sing us some songs, yes ? " 
 
 " But you must also," says Bell, looking down. 
 
 " Oh, a hundred ! a thousand ! as many as you like !" 
 
62 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 he said ; and then, with a sort of sigh, he took his cigar- 
 case out of his pocket and laid it pathetically on 
 the mantelpiece. There was an air of renunciation 
 in his face. Forthwith he rang the bell; and the 
 waiter was asked to bring us certain liquors which, 
 although not exclusively whisky, could be drunk in 
 those steaming tumblers which the Lieutenant loved 
 to see. 
 
 ' ' 0, come you from Newcastle ? 
 
 — this was what Bell sang, with the blue ribbon of her 
 guitar slung round her neck : 
 
 " 0, come you from Newcastle ? 
 Come you not there away ? 
 And did you meet my true love, 
 Riding on a bonny bay ? 
 
 And as she sang, with her eyes cast down, the Lieu- 
 tenant seemed to be regarding her face with a peculiar 
 interest. He forgot to lift the hot tumbler that was 
 opposite him on the table — he had even forgotten 
 Tita's gracious permission that he might have a cigar 
 — he was listening and gazing merely, in a blank 
 silence. And when she had finished, he eagerly 
 begged her to sing another of the old English songs. 
 And she sang — 
 
 " 0 mistress mine, where are you roaming? 
 0 mistress mine, where are you roaming ? 
 O stay and hear, your true love's coming, 
 That can sing both high and low." 
 
 And when she had finished, he once more eagerly 
 begged her to sing another of those old songs ; and 
 then, all of a sudden, catching sight of a smile on 
 my Lady's face, he stopped, and apologized, and blushed 
 rather, and said it was too bad — that he had forgotten, 
 and would himself try something on the guitar. 
 
 When, at length, the women had gone upstairs, he 
 fetched down his cigar from the mantelpiece, lit it, 
 stretched out his long legs, and said — 
 
 " How very English she is ! " 
 
 "She! who?" 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 63 
 
 "Why, your Miss Bell. I do like to hear her talk 
 of England as if she had a pride in it, and mention 
 the names of towns as if she loved them because they 
 were English, and speak of the fairies and stories as 
 if she was familiar with them because they belong 
 to her own country. You can see how she is fond 
 of everything that is like old times, — an old house, 
 an old milestone, an old bridge — everything that is 
 peculiar and old and English. And then she sings, 
 oh ! so very well — so very well indeed ; and these old 
 songs, about English places and English customs of 
 village-life, they seem to suit her very well, and you 
 think she herself is the heroine of them. But as for 
 that young man in Twickenham, he is a verv pitiful 
 fellow." 
 
 " How have you suddenly come to that conclusion ? " 
 I inquire of our Lieutenant, who is lazily letting the 
 cigar-smoke curl about his moustache and beard as he 
 lies back and fixes his light blue eyes contemplatively 
 on the ceiling. 
 
 " How do I know ? I do not know : I think so. 
 He ought to be very well satisfied of knowing a young 
 lady like that — and very proud of going to marry 
 her — instead of annoying her with bad tempers." 
 
 "That is true. A young man under such circum- 
 stances cannot be too grateful or too amiable. They 
 are not always so, however. You yourself, for example, 
 when you parted from Fraulein Fallersleben " 
 
 Here the Lieutenant jumped up in his chair, and 
 said with unnecessary vehemence — 
 
 " Donnerwetter ! look at the provocation I had ! It 
 was not my ill-temper; I am not more ill-tempered 
 than other men : but when you know you mean very 
 well, and that you treat a woman as perhaps not all 
 men would be inclined to do in the same case, and 
 she is a hypocrite, and she pretends much, and at the 
 same time she is writing to you, she is — pfui ! I cannot 
 speak of it ! " 
 
 "You were very fond of her." 
 
 "Worse luck." 
 
64 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 "And you had a great fight, and used hard words 
 to each other, and parted so that you would rather 
 meet Beelzebub than her." 
 
 " Why, yes, it is so : I would rather meet twenty 
 Beelzebubs than her." 
 
 "That is the way of you boys. You don't know 
 that in after years, when all these things have got 
 smooth and misty and distant, you will come to like 
 her again ; and what will you think then of your 
 hard words and your quarrels ? If you children could 
 only understand how very short youth is, how very 
 long middle age is, and how very dull old age is, — if 
 you could only understand how the chief occupation 
 of the longer half of your life is looking back on the 
 first short half of it, — you would know the value of 
 storing up only pleasant recollections of all your old 
 friends. If you find that your sweetheart is a woman 
 compelled by her nature to fall in love with the man 
 nearest her, and forget him who is out of the way, 
 why devote her to the infernal gods ? In after years, 
 you will be grateful to her for the pleasant days and 
 weeks you spent with her, when you were both happy 
 together, and you will look back on the old times 
 very tenderly ; and then, on those occasions when 
 you German folks drink to the health of your absent 
 dear ones, won't you be glad that you can include 
 her who was dear enough to you in your youth ? " 
 
 " That is very good ; it is quite true," said the 
 Lieutenant, in almost an injured tone — as if Fraulein 
 Fallersleben were responsible. 
 
 "Look for a moment," I say to my pensive pupil, 
 "at the pull a man has who has spent his youth in 
 pleasant scenery. When he gets old, and can do 
 nothing but live the old life over again by looking 
 back, he has only to shut his eyes, and his brain is 
 full of fresh and bright pictures of the old times in 
 the country ; and the commonest landscape of his 
 youth he will remember then as if it were steeped 
 in sunlight." 
 
 " That is quite true," said Von Piosen, thoughtfully ; 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 but the next moment lie uttered an angry exclamation, 
 started up from his chair, and began walking up and 
 down the room. 
 
 "It is all very well/' he said, with an impatient 
 vehemence, " to be amiable and forgiving when • you 
 are old — because you don't care about it, that is the 
 reason. When you are young, you expect fair play. 
 Do you think if I should be seventy I will care one 
 brass farthing whether Pauline — that is, Fraulein Fal- 
 lersleben — was honest or no? I will laugh at the 
 whole affair then. But now, when you are ashamed of 
 the deceit of a woman, is it not right you tell her ? 
 Is it not right she knows what honest men and women 
 think of her, yes ? What will she think of you if you 
 say to her, 'Farewell, Fraulein. You have behaved net 
 very well ; but I am amiable ; I will forgive you" " 
 
 " There, again : you parted with her in wrath, because 
 you did not like to appear weak and complaisant in 
 her eyes." 
 
 "At all events, I said what I felt," said the Lieu- 
 tenant, warmly. " I do think it is only hypocrisy 
 and selfishness to say, ' I hate this woman, but I will be 
 kind to her, because when I grow old I will look back and 
 consider myself to have been very good: " 
 
 " You have been deeply hit, my poor lad ; you are 
 quite fevered about it now. You cannot even see 
 how a man's own self-respect will make him courteous 
 to a woman whom he despises ; and is he likely to 
 be sorry for that courtesy, when he looks at it in 
 cold blood, and recognizes the stupendous fact that 
 the man who complains of the inconstancy of a 
 woman utters a reflection against Providence ? " 
 
 " But you don't know — you don't know," said the 
 Count, pitching his cigar into the grate, " what a 
 woman this one showed herself to be. After all, it 
 does not matter. But when 1 look at such a woman 
 as your Miss Bell here " 
 
 " Yes : when you look at her ? " 
 
 "Why, I see the difference," said the Lieutenant, 
 gloomily; and therewith he pulled out another cigar. 
 
66 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 I stopped this, however, and rang for candles. As 
 he lit his in rather a melancholy fashion, he said — 
 
 " It is a very good thing to see a woman like that — 
 young-hearted, frank, honest in her eyes, and full of 
 pleasantness, too, and good spirits — oh ! it is very fine 
 indeed, merely to look at her ; for you do believe that 
 she is a very good girl, and you think there are good 
 women in the world. But as for that young man at 
 Twickenham " 
 
 "Well, what of him?" 
 
 The Lieutenant looked up from the candle ; but 
 saw nothing to awaken his suspicions. 
 
 " Oh," he said carelessly, as we left the room, " I do 
 think him a most pitiful fellow." 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 A GIFT OF TONGUES. 
 
 "My lady is an archer rare, 
 And in the greenwood joyeth she ; 
 There nerer was a marksman yet who could compare 
 In skill with my ladie." 
 
 Eaely morning in Henley ! From over the wooded 
 hills in the east there comes a great flood of sun- 
 shine that lies warmly on the ruddy side of the 
 old inn, on its evergreens, and on the slopes of 
 sweet-scented mignonette, and sweetbriar, and various 
 blossoms that adorn the bank of the river. The 
 river itself, lying apparently motionless between 
 level and green meadows, has its blue surface marred 
 here and there by a white ripple of wind ; the 
 poplars that stand on its banks are rustling in the 
 breeze ; there are swallows dipping and skimming 
 about the old bridge, and ducks paddling along among 
 the rushes and weeds, and cattle browsing in the deep 
 green ; and further on, some high-lying stretches of 
 rye-grass struck into long and silvery waves by the 
 morning wind. 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 (7 
 
 All the stir and motion of the new day have come 
 upon us ; and Henley, clean, white, and red, with its 
 town-hall shining brightly down its chief street, and 
 all its high clusters of old-fashioned houses backed by 
 a fringe of dark-wooded hill, shows as -much life and 
 briskness as are usually seen in a quaint, small, old- 
 fashioned English town. But where the silence and 
 the stillness of the morning dwell is away up the reach 
 of the river. Standing on the bridge, you see the dark 
 blue stream, reflecting a thousand bright colours under- 
 neath the town, gradually become greyer in hue until 
 it gets out amid the meadows and woods ; and then, 
 with a bold white curve, that is glimmering like silver 
 in the north, it sweeps under that line of low, soft green 
 hills which have grown pearly and grey in the tender 
 morning mist. Bell is standing on the bridge, too. 
 The Lieutenant has brought out her sketch-book, and 
 she has placed it on the stone parapet before her. But 
 somehow she seems disinclined to begin work thus 
 early on our journey ; and, instead, her eyes are look- 
 ing blankly and wistfully at the rich green meadows 
 and the red cows, and the long white reach of the river 
 shining palely beneath the faint green heights in the 
 north. 
 
 " Is Henley the prettiest town in the world, I won- 
 der ? " she said. 
 
 "Yes, if you think so, Mademoiselle," replied Von 
 Eosen, gently. 
 
 She lifted her eyes towards him, as though she had 
 been unaware of his presence. Then she turned to 
 the stream. 
 
 " I suppose, if one were to live always among those 
 bright colours, one would get not to see them, and would 
 forget how line is this old bridge, with the pretty town, 
 and the meadows, and the stream. Seeing it only once, 
 I shall never forget Henley, or the brightness of this 
 morning." 
 
 With that, she closed her sketch-book, and looked 
 round for Tita. That small person was engaged in 
 making herself extremely wretched about her boys and 
 
 f 2 
 
63 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 the pony ; and was becoming vastly indignant because 
 she could get no one to sympathise with her wild ima- 
 ginings of diverse perils and dangers. 
 
 " Why, to hear you talk," she was saying at this 
 moment, " one would think you had never experienced 
 the feelings of a parent — that you did not know you 
 were the father of those two poor boys." 
 
 " That," I remark to her, " is not a matter on which 
 I am bound to express an opinion." 
 
 « Very pretty — very ! " she said with a contemptuous 
 smile. " But I will say this — that if you had had to 
 buy the pony, the boys would have had to wait long 
 enough before they were exposed to the dangers you 
 think so little about now." 
 
 " Madam," I observe, sternly, " you are the victim 
 of what theologians call invincible ignorance. I might 
 have bought that pony and all its belongings for a 20Z. 
 note ; whereas I shall have to pay 40/. a year for its 
 keep." 
 
 " Oh, I know," says my Lady, with great sweetness, 
 " how men exaggerate those things. It is convenient. 
 They complain of the cost of the horses, of the heavi- 
 ness of the taxes, and other things ; when the real 
 fact is that they are trying to hide what they spend 
 out of their income on cigars, and in their clubs when 
 they go to town. I counted up our taxes the other 
 day, and I don't believe that they have been over 81. 
 for the whole of the last six months. Now you knoiu 
 you said they were nearly 35/. a year." 
 
 " And you counted in those that are due next week, 
 I suppose ? " 
 
 " Did you leave money to pay for them ? " she asks, 
 mildly. 
 
 " And you based your calculations on some solitary 
 instalment for armorial bearings ? — which you brought 
 into the family, you know." 
 
 " Yes," she replies, with an engaging smile. " That 
 was one thing you did not require before — I am sorry 
 to have caused you so much expense. But you need 
 not avoid the subject. Mrs. Qui net told me last 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 69 
 
 week that she knows her husband pays every year 
 65£. for club-subscriptions alone, and nearly 40Z. for 
 cigars." 
 
 " Then Mrs. Quinet must have looked into your eyes, 
 my dear, and seen what a simple little thing you are ; 
 for your knowledge of housekeeping and other expenses, 
 I will say, is as slight as need be, and Mrs. Quinet 
 has been simply making a fool of you. For the Major 
 belongs to two clubs, and in the one he pays eight 
 guineas and in the other ten guineas a year. And 
 he smokes Manillas at 25s. a hundred, which is equiva- 
 lent, my dear — though you will scarcely credit it — to 
 threepence apiece." 
 
 " The money must go somehow," says Tita, defiantly. 
 
 " That is a customary saying among women ; but 
 it generally refers to their own little arrangements." 
 
 "You avoid the question very skilfully." 
 
 " I should have thought you would have preferred 
 that." 
 
 " Why ? " she says, looking up. 
 
 " Because you accused me of stinginess in not buying 
 a pony for the boys, and I showed you that I should 
 have to pay 40/. a year for the brute." 
 
 " Yes, showed me ! I suppose by that pleasing fiction 
 you will gain another 20£ a year to spend in Partagas, 
 and Murias, and trumpery stuff that the tobacconists 
 tell you came from abroad." 
 
 " My dear," I say, " your insolence is astounding." 
 
 " If you call speaking the plain truth insolence, I 
 cannot help it. Bell, breakfast must be ready." 
 
 " Yes, my Lady," says Bell, coming forward demurely. 
 "But I wasn't doing anything." 
 
 So they went off ; and the Count and I followed. 
 
 " What is the matter ? " says he. 
 
 " Do you know what a ' relish ' is at breakfast ? " 
 
 "No." 
 
 " Then don't marry, or you will find out." 
 
 The tall young man with the brown beard and the 
 light eyes, shrugged his shoulders, and only said, as we 
 walked to the inn — 
 
7o THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 " That is a very pleasant comedy, when it means 
 nothing. If it was earnest, you would not find so much 
 enjoyment in it — no, not at all — you would not amuse 
 yourselves, like two children, instead of the parents 
 of a family. But, my dear friend, it is a dangerous 
 thing ; for some day you will meet with a stupid per- 
 son, who will not understand how Madame and yourself 
 do make-believe in that way, and that person will be 
 astonishedj and will talk of it, and you will both have 
 a very bad reputation among your friends." 
 
 However, there was one amiable person at the 
 breakfast-table, and that was our pretty Bell. 
 
 " Bell," I said, " I am going to sit by you. You 
 never provoke useless quarrels about nothing; you 
 are never impertinent ; you never argue ; and you can 
 look after a breakfast-table better than people twice 
 your age." 
 
 Bell prudently pretended not to hear; indeed, she 
 was very busy helping everybody and making herself 
 very useful and pleasant all round. She seemed to 
 have forgotten her independent ways ; and was so good- 
 naturedly anxious to see that the Lieutenant's coffee 
 was all right, that he was apparently quite touched 
 by her friendliness. And then she was very cheerful 
 too ; and was bent on waking up the spirits of the 
 whole party — but in a bright, submissive, simple fashion 
 that the audacious young lady did not always affect. 
 
 " Did you hear the cocks crowing this morning ? " she 
 said, turning to Von Rosen with her frank eyes. " I 
 thought it was so pleasant to be woke up that way in- 
 stead of listening to the milkman coming along a dismal 
 London square, and calling up the maidservants with 
 his * El-cho!* \ El-cho /' But did you notice that one 
 of the cocks cried quite plainly, ' Oh, go away ! ' Oh, 
 go awa-a-ay ! —which was a stupid animal to have near 
 an inn; and another fine fellow, who always started 
 with a famous flourish, had got a cold, and at the highest 
 note he went off at a tangent into something like a 
 plaintive squeak. The intention of that crow, so far 
 as it went, was far better than the feeble ( 0h, go away!' 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 7i 
 
 of the other ; and I was quite sorry for the poor animal. 
 — Do have some more toast, Count. — He reminded me 
 of poor Major Quinet, Tita, who begins a sentence very 
 well ; but all at once it jerks up into the air — goes off 
 like a squib, you know Just below his nose ; and he looks 
 amazed and ashamed, like a boy that has let a bird 
 escape out of a bag." 
 
 "You need not amuse yourself with the personal 
 defects of your neighbours, Bell," says Tita, who did not 
 expect to have Major Quinet brought forward again. 
 " Major Quinet is a very well-informed and gentlemanly 
 man, and looks after his family and his estate with the 
 greatest care." 
 
 " I must say, Tita," retorted Bell (and I trembled for 
 the girl), " that you have an odd trick of furnishing 
 people with a sort of certificate of character, whenever 
 you hear their names mentioned. Very likely the 
 Major can manage his affairs in spite of his cracked 
 voice ; but you know you told me yourself, Tita, that he 
 had been unfortunate in money matters, and was rather 
 perplexed just now. Of course, I wouldn't say such a 
 thing of one of your friends ; but I have heard of bank- 
 rupts ; and I have heard of a poor little man being so 
 burdened with debt, that he looked like a mouse draw- 
 ing a brougham, and then, of course, he had to go into 
 the Court to ask them to unharness him. — Do have 
 some more coffee, Count; I am sure that is quite 
 cold." 
 
 " You ought to be a little careful, Bell," says my 
 Lady. '* You know absolutely nothing of Major Quinet, 
 and yet you hint that he is insolvent." 
 
 "I didn't — did I ? " says Bell, turning to her companion. 
 
 " No," replies the Count, boldly. 
 
 At this Tita looked astonished for a second ; but pre- 
 sently she deigned to smile, and say something about 
 the wickedness of young people. Indeed, my Lady 
 seemed rather pleased by Bell's audacity in appealing 
 to the Lieutenant ; and she was in a better humour 
 when, some time after, we went out to the river and got 
 a boat. 
 
72 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 Once more upon the Thames, we pulled up the river, 
 that lies here between wooded hills on the one side, and 
 level meadows on the other. The broad blue stream 
 was almost deserted ; and as we got near the green 
 islands, we could see an occasional young moorhen 
 paddle out from among the rushes, and then go quickly 
 in again, with its white tail bobbing in unison with its 
 small head and beak. We rowed into the sluice of the 
 mill that lies under Park Place, and there, having floated 
 down a bit under some willows, we fixed the boat to a 
 stump of a tree, landed, and managed to get into the 
 road along which we had driven the previous night. As 
 we ascended this pleasant path, which is cut through 
 the woods of various mansions, and looks down upon 
 the green level of Wargrave Marsh, and the shining 
 meadows beyond the other bank of the river, the ascents 
 and descents of the road seemed less precipitous than they 
 had appeared the night, before. What we had taken, 
 further, for wild masses of rock, and fearful chasms, and 
 dangerous bridges, were found to be part of the orna- 
 mentation of a park — the bridge spanning a hollow 
 having been built of sham rock-work, which, in the day- 
 light, clearly revealed its origin. Nevertheless, this road 
 leading through the river-side woods is a sufficiently 
 picturesque and pleasant one ; and in sauntering along 
 for a mile or two and back we consumed a goodly por- 
 tion of the morning. Then there was a brisk pull back 
 to Henley ; and the phaeton was summoned to appear. 
 
 When the horses were put in, and the phaeton brought 
 out, I found that Von Eosen had quietly abstracted the 
 bearing-reins from the harness, some time during the 
 morning. However, no one could grudge the animals 
 this relief, for the journey they had to make to-day, 
 though not over twenty-three miles, was considerably 
 hilly. 
 
 Now Tita had come early out, and had evidently 
 planned a nice little arrangement. She got in behind. 
 Then she bade Bell get up in front. The Lieutenant 
 had lingered for a moment in search of a cigar-case ; 
 and my Lady had clearly determined to ask him to 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 73 
 
 drive so soon as he came out. But, as she had not ex- 
 pressed any contrition for her conduct of that morning, 
 some punishment was required ; and so, just as Von 
 Eosen came out, I took the reins, stepped up beside 
 Bell, and he, of course, was left to join the furious little 
 lady behind. 
 
 " I thought the Count was going to drive," says Tita. 
 with a certain cold air. " Surely the road to Oxford is 
 easy to find." 
 
 " It is," I say to her. " Fot you know all roads lead 
 to Eome, and they say that Oxford is half-way to Borne 
 — argal " 
 
 But knowing what effect this reference to her theo- 
 logical sympathies was likely to have on Tita, I thought 
 it prudent to send the horses on ; and as they sprang 
 forward and rattled up the main street of Henley, her 
 retort, if any, was lost in the noise. There was a laugh 
 in Bell's eyes ; but she seemed rather frightened all the 
 same, and said nothing for some time. 
 
 The drive from Henley to Oxford is one of the finest 
 in England, the road leading gradually up through 
 pleasant pastures and great woods until it brings you 
 on to a common — the highest ground south of the Trent 
 — from which you see an immeasurable wooded plain 
 stretching away into the western horizon. First of all, 
 as we left Henley on that bright morning, the sweet air 
 blowing coolly among the trees, and bringing us odours 
 from wild flowers and breadths of new-mown hay, we 
 leisurely rolled along what is appropriately called the 
 Fair Mile, a broad smooth highway running between 
 Lambridge Wood and No Man's Hill, and having a 
 space of grassy common on each side of it. This 
 brought us up to Assenton, Cross, and here, the ascent 
 getting much more stiff, Bell took the reins, and the 
 Count and I walked up the hill until we reached Bix 
 Turnpike. 
 
 " What a curious name ! " said Bell, as she pulled the 
 horses up. 
 
 " Most likely," said the Lieutenant, who was looking 
 at an ancient edition of Cary's Itinerary, " it is from the 
 
74 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 old Saxon bece, the beech-tree, which is plentiful here. 
 But in this book I find it is Bixgibwen, which is not in 
 the modern books. Now what is gibwen ? " 
 
 " St. Caedwyn, of course," said Bell, merrily. 
 
 " You laugh, but perhaps it is true," replied the Lieu- 
 tenant, with the gravity befitting a student : " why not 
 St. Caedwyn's beeches ? You do call many places about 
 here by the trees. There is Assenton ; that is the place 
 of ash-trees. We shall soon be at Nettlebed ; and then 
 comes Nuffield, which is Nut-field, — how do you call 
 your wildnut-tree in England ? " 
 
 " The hazel," said Bell. " But that is commonplace ; 
 I like the discovery about St. Caedwyn's beeches 
 better : and here, sure enough, they are." 
 
 The road at this point — something less than a mile 
 past Bix turnpike — plunges into a spacious forest of 
 beeches, which stretches along the summit of the hill 
 almost on to Nettlebed. And this road is bordered by 
 a strip of common, which again leads into a tangled 
 maze of bracken and briar; and then you have the 
 innumerable stems of the beeches, showing long 
 vistas into the green heart of the wood. The sunlight 
 was shimmering down on this wilderness, lying warmly 
 on the road and its green margin, and piercing here and 
 there with golden arrows the dense canopy of leaves 
 beyond. High as we were the light breeze was shut off 
 by the beeches, and in the long broad cleft in which the 
 road lay the air was filled with resinous odours, that of 
 the tall green and yellow brackens prevailing. An 
 occasional jay fled screaming down between the smooth 
 grey branches, giviug us a glimpse of white and blue as 
 it vanished ; but otherwise there seemed to be no birds 
 about, and the wild underwood and long alleys lay still 
 and warm in the green twilight of the leaves. 
 
 " It is very like the Black Forest, I think," said the 
 Lieutenant. 
 
 " Oh, it is much lighter in colour," cried Bell. " Look 
 at all those silver greys of the stems and the lichens, 
 and clear green overhead, and the light browns and reds 
 beneath, where the sunlight shines down through a veil. 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 75 
 
 Tt is lighter, prettier, more cheerful than your miles of 
 solemn pines, with the great roads cut through them for 
 the carts, and the gloom and stillness underneath, 
 where there is no growth of underwood, but only level 
 beds of green moss, dotted with dropped cones." 
 
 "You have a very accurate eye for colours, Made- 
 moiselle; no wonder you paint so well," was all that 
 the Lieutenant said. But Tita warmly remonstrated 
 with Bell. 
 
 "You know, Bell," she said, "that all the Black 
 Forest is not like that ; there is every variety of forest- 
 scenery there. And pray, Miss Criticism, where were 
 the gloomy pines and the solemn avenues in a certain 
 picture which was sold at the Dudley last year for 
 twenty-five solid English sovereigns?" 
 
 " You needn't tell Count von Eosen what my income 
 is," said Bell. " I took two months to paint that picture." 
 
 " That is a very good income," said the Lieutenant, 
 with a smile. 
 
 " I do not like people with large incomes," said Bell, 
 dexterously avoiding that part of the subject. " I think 
 they must have qualms sometimes, or else be callous. 
 Now I would have everybody provided with a certain 
 income, say 2001. a year; but I would not like to pre- 
 vent all competition, and so I would fix an income at 
 which all people must stop. They might strive and 
 strive if they liked, just like bells of air in a champagne 
 glass, you know, but they should only be able to reach 
 a certain level in the end. I would have nobody with 
 more than 1,000/. a year ; that would be my maximum." 
 
 " A thousand a year ! " exclaimed Tita. " Isn't a 
 thousand ten hundred ? " 
 
 " Yes," said Bell, after a second's calculation. 
 
 "And suppose you have one hundred to pay for two 
 boys at school, and another hundred for rent, and 
 another hundred for the keep of two horses, and a 
 hundred and twenty for servants' wages " 
 
 "Perhaps, Tita," I suggest in the meekest possible 
 way, "you might as well tell Count von Eosen what 
 you pay for a leg of mutton, so that when he next 
 
7 6 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 comes to dine with us he may enjoy himself the 
 more." 
 
 It is well that the lightning which is said to dart 
 from women's eyes is a harmless sort of thing — a flash 
 in the pan, as it were, which is very pretty, but sends 
 no deadly lead out. However, as Queen Tita had really 
 behaved herself very well since we set out from Henley, 
 I begged Bell to stop and let us in, and then I asked 
 the Lieutenant if he would drive. 
 
 By this time we had walked the horses nearly to the 
 end of the pleasant stretch of beechwood, which is 
 about a mile and a half long, and before us was a bit 
 of breezy common and the village of Nettlebed. Yon 
 Rosen took the reins and sent the horses forward. 
 
 " Why did you not continue to drive ? " said Tita, 
 rather timidly, when I had taken my seat beside her. 
 
 " Because we shall presently have to go down steep 
 hills ; and as the Count took off the bearing-reins this 
 morning, we may as well hold him responsible for not 
 letting the horses down." 
 
 "I thought perhaps you wanted to sit beside me," 
 she said, in a low voice. 
 
 " Well, now you mention it, my dear, that was the 
 reason." 
 
 " It would have been a sufficient reason a good many 
 years ago," she said, with a fine affectation of tender- 
 ness ; " but that is all over now. You have been very 
 rude to me." 
 
 " Then don't say anything more about it : receive my 
 forgiveness, Tita." 
 
 "That was not the way you used to speak to me 
 when we were at Eastbourne," she said ; and with that 
 she looked very much as if she were going to cry. Of 
 course she was not going to cry. She has had the trick 
 of looking like that from her youth upward ; but as it is 
 really about as pretty and pathetic as the real thing, it 
 invariably answers the same purpose. It is understood 
 to be a signal of surrender, a sort of appeal for com- 
 passion ; and so the rest of this conversation, being of a 
 quite private nature, need not be made public. 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 77 
 
 The Count was taking us at a brisk pace across the bit 
 of common, and then we rattled into the little clump of 
 red-brick houses which forms the picturesque village of 
 Nettlebed. Now if he had been struck with some 
 recollection of the Black Forest on seeing Nettlebed 
 Wood, imagine his surprise on finding the little inn in 
 the village surmounted by a picture of a white deer 
 with a royal crown on its head, a fair resemblance to the 
 legendary creature that appeared to St. Hubertus, and 
 that figures in so many of the Schwarzwald stories and 
 pictures. However, we were out of ISTettlebed before 
 he could properly express his astonishment, and in the 
 vast picture that was now opening out before us there 
 was little that was German. 
 
 We stopped on the summit of Nuffield Heath, and 
 found below, as far as the eye could reach, the great 
 and fertile plain of Berkshire, with a long and irregular 
 line of hill shutting it in on the south. In this plain of 
 Fields as they are called — Wallingford Field, Didcot 
 Field, Long Whittenham Field, and so on — small 
 villages peeped out from among the green woods and 
 pastures, where a faint blue smoke rose up into the 
 sunshine. Here, as Bell began to expound, — for she 
 had been reading "The Scouring of the White Horse" 
 and various other books to which that romantic mono- 
 graph had directed her, — some great deeds had hap- 
 pened in the olden time. Along that smooth line of 
 hill in the south — now lying blue in the haze of the light 
 — the Eomans had cut a road which is still called the 
 Eidgeway or Iccleton Street ; and in the villages of the 
 plain, from Pangbourne in the south-east to Shellingford 
 in the north-west, traces of the Eoman occupation were 
 frequently found. And then, underneath that blue ridge 
 of hill and down lay Wantage, in which King Alfred 
 was born; and further on the ridge itself becomes 
 Dragon's Hill, where St. George slew the beast that 
 ravaged this fair land, and there, as all men know, is the 
 figure of the White Horse cut on the slope to com- 
 memorate the great battle of Ashdown. 
 
73 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 " And Ashdown, is that there also ? " asked the 
 Lieutenant. 
 
 " Well, no," said Bell, trying to remember what she 
 had been told ; " I think there is some doubt about it. 
 King Alfred, you know, fell back from Eeading, when 
 he was beaten, but he stopped somewhere on the hills 
 near " 
 
 " Why not the hill we have just come up ? " said the 
 Lieutenant, with a laugh. "It is near . Eeading, is it 
 not? and there you have Assenton, which is Ashenton, 
 which is Ashendown, which is Ashdown." 
 
 " Precisely," says Tita, with a gracious smile. " All 
 you have to do is to change John into Julius, and 
 Smith into Caesar, and there you are." 
 
 " But that is not fair, Tita," said Bell, turning round, 
 and pleading quite seriously. " Assenton is the same as 
 Ashendon, and that is the name of the place where the 
 battle was fought. I think Count von Eosen is quite right." 
 
 "Well, if you think so, Bell, that settles it," said my 
 Lady, looking rather pleased than otherwise. 
 
 And so we began to descend into this plain of many 
 memories by a steep road that is appropriately called 
 Gangsdown Hill. From thence a succession of undula- 
 tions carried us into the green breadths of Crowmarsh 
 Field ; until, finally, we drove into the village of Ben- 
 sington, and pulled up at the " Crown " there, where 
 we proposed to have some luncheon. 
 
 "This is a village of the dead," said Tita, looking 
 down the main thoroughfare, where not a living soul 
 was to be seen. 
 
 But at all events a human being appeared in the 
 yard — not a withered and silent ostler, but a stout, 
 hale, cheerful person, whose white shirt- sleeves and 
 gold chain proclaimed him landlord. With the aid 
 of a small boy, he undertook to put the horses up for 
 an hour or two ; and then we went into the inn. Here 
 we found that, as the man in the yard was at once 
 landlord and ostler, his wife inside was landlady, cook, 
 and waitress ; and in a short 'space of time she had 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 79 
 
 brought us some excellent chops. Not much time 
 was spent over the meal, for the parlour in which we 
 sat — albeit it was a sort of museum of wonderful 
 curiosities, and was, moreover, enlivened by the 
 presence of a crack-voiced cockatoo — was rather small 
 and dark. Accordingly, while the horses were having 
 their rest, we sauntered out to have a look at Ben- 
 sington. 
 
 It is probably not the dullest little village in 
 England, but it would be hard to find a duller. There 
 was an old shepherd with a crook in his hand and a 
 well-worn smockfrock on his back, who was leaning 
 over the wooden palings in front of a house, and play- 
 fully talking to a small boy who stood at an open door. 
 With many old country people it is considered the 
 height of raillery to alarm a boy with stories of the 
 punishment he is about to receive for something, and 
 to visit him with an intimation that all his sins have 
 been found out. This old shepherd, with his withered 
 pippin face, and his humorous grin, and his lazy arms 
 folded on the top of the palings, was evidently enjoying 
 himself vastly. 
 
 "A wur a-watchin' o' thee, a wur, and thy vather, 
 he knaws, too, and he'll gie thee thy vairin wi' a good 
 tharn stick when he comes hwom. A zah thee this 
 marnin', my lad — thou'lt think nah one wur thear, eh ? " 
 
 We left this good-natured old gentleman frightening 
 the boy, and went round to the outskirts of the village. 
 Here, at least, we found one explanation of the inordi- 
 nate silence of Bensington — the children were all at 
 their lessons. The door of the plain little building, 
 which had British School inscribed over the entrance, 
 was open, and from within there issued a low, confused 
 murmur. The Prussian, anxious to see something of 
 the interior of an English school, walked up to the 
 place ; but he had just managed to cast a glance round 
 on the rows of children when the door was politely 
 shut in his face, and he returned, saying — 
 
 " I am not an inspector; why need they fear ?" 
 
 But when, after wandering about the suburban 
 
80 THE STRANGE ADVENTURE'S 
 
 gardens and by-ways for a space, we returned to 
 Bensington, we found that important village in a 
 state of profound excitement. In the main thorough- 
 fare a concourse of five people had assembled — three 
 women and two children — and from the doors of the 
 houses on both sides of the street innumerable faces, 
 certainly not less than a dozen, were gazing forth. It 
 is true that the people did not themselves come out — 
 they seemed rather to shrink from courting publicity ; 
 but they were keenly alive to what was going on, and 
 Bensington had become excited. 
 
 For there had appeared in the main street a little, 
 dry, odd old man, who was leading a small donkey-cart, 
 and who was evidently rather the worse for liquor. He 
 was a seller of peas. He had summoned the inhabit- 
 ants to come out and buy the peas, and he was offering 
 them at what we were told were very reasonable terms. 
 But just as the old man was beginning to enjoy the 
 receipt of customs, there drove into the place a sharp, 
 brisk, middle-aged man, with a shiny face, a fine 
 presence, and a ringing voice. This man had a neat 
 cart, a handsome pony, and his name was printed in 
 large letters, so that all could read. He was also a 
 seller of peas. Now, although this rude and ostenta- 
 tious owner of the pony was selling his produce at 
 fourpence, while the humble proprietor of the donkey 
 sold his at threepence, the women recalled their 
 children and bade them go to the dearer market. 
 There was something in the appearance of the man, 
 in the neatness of his cart, and in the ringing cheer- 
 fulness of his voice, which told you he sold good peas. 
 This was the cause of the great perturbation in Ben- 
 sington; for no sooner did the half-tipsy old man 
 see that his rival was carrying the day before him 
 than he leaned his arms over his donkey's head, and 
 began to make ironical comments on his enemy and on 
 the people of Bensington. He was apparently in the 
 best of spirits. You would have thought it delighted 
 him to see the small girls come timidly forward to him, 
 and then be warned away by a cry from their mother? 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 81 
 
 that they were to go to the other cart. Nay, he went 
 the length of advertising his neighbour's wares. He 
 addressed the assembled multitudes — by this time there 
 were nearly fifteen people visible in Bensington — and 
 told them he wouldn't sell his peas if he was to get a 
 fortune for them. 
 
 "Pay your foppence," he said to them, in accents 
 which showed he was not of Bensington born, " there 
 are yer right good peas. It's all along o' my donkey 
 as you'll not take mine, though they're only thrippence. 
 I wouldn't sell. I won't sell this day. Take back yer 
 money. I won't sell my peas at a crown apiece — 
 darned if I do ! " 
 
 And with that he left his donkey and went over to 
 the proprietor of the pony. He was not in a fighting 
 mood — not he. He challenged his rival to run the 
 pony against the donke}^, and offered to bet the donkey 
 would be in London a week before the other. The man 
 in the cart took no notice of these sallies. In a brisk, 
 practical, methodical fashion, he was measuring out 
 his peas, and handing them down to the uplifted bowls 
 that surrounded him. Sometimes he grinned in a good- 
 natured way at the facetious remarks of his unfor- 
 tunate antagonist ; but all the same he stuck to his 
 business and drove a thriving trade. How there 
 came to be on that afternoon so many people in 
 Bensington who wished to buy peas must remain a 
 mystery. 
 
 "And now," said Bell, as we once more got into 
 the phaeton, "we shall be in Oxford in two hours. 
 Do you think the post-office will be open?" 
 
 " Very likely," said Tita, with some surprise ; " but 
 do you expect letters already, Bell?" 
 
 "You cannot tell," said the young lady, with just 
 a shade of embarrassment, "how soon Kate may send 
 letters after us. And she knows we are to stop a day 
 at Oxford. It will not be too dark to go hunting for 
 the post-office, will it ?" 
 
 "But you shall not go," said the Lieutenant, giving 
 a shake to the reins, as if in obedience to Bell's wish. 
 
 G 
 
S2 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 "When you have got to the hotel, I will go and get 
 your letters for you." 
 
 " Oh no, thank you," said Bell, in rather a hurried 
 and anxious way. "I should prefer much to go for 
 them myself, thank you." 
 
 That was all that was said on the subject; and Bell, 
 we noticed, was rather silent for the first few miles 
 of our afternoon drive. The Lieutenant did his best 
 to amuse her, and carried on a lively conversation 
 chiefly by himself. That mention of letters seemed to 
 have left Bell rather serious ; and she was obviously 
 not over- delighted at the prospect of reaching Oxford. 
 
 The road from Bensington thither is pleasant enough, 
 but not particularly interesting. For the most part it 
 descends by a series of undulations into the level plain 
 watered by the Isis, the Cherwell, and the Thames. But 
 the mere notion of approaching that famous city, which 
 is consecrated with memories of England's greatest men 
 — statesmen and divines, melancholy philosophers and 
 ill-starred poets — is in itself impressive, and lends to 
 the rather common-place landscape an air of romance. 
 While as yet the old town lies unseen amid the woods 
 that crowd up to the very edge of the sky, one fancies 
 the bells of the colleges are to be heard, as Pope heard 
 them when he rode, a solitary horseman, over these very 
 hills, and down into the plain, and up to Magdalen 
 Bridge. 1 We cared little to look at the villages, strung 
 like beads on the winding thread of the road — Shelling- 
 ford, Dorchester, Nuneham Courtenay, and Sandford — 
 nor did we even turn aside to go down to Iffley and the 
 Thames. It was seven when we drew near Oxford. 
 There were people sauntering out from the town to 
 have their evening walk. When, at last, we stopped 
 to pay toll in front of the old lichen-covered bridge 
 across the Cherwell, the tower of Magdalen College, 
 and the magnificent elms on the other side of the way, 
 had caught a tinge of red from the dusky sunset, and 
 
 1 " Nothing could have more of that melancholy which once used to 
 please me, than my last day's journey ; for after having passed 
 through my favourite woods in the forest, with a thousand reveries of 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 83 
 
 there was a faint reflection of crimson down on the 
 still waters that lay among the rank green meadows. 
 Then we drove on into the High Street, and here, in the 
 gathering dusk, the yellow lamps were beginning to 
 glimmer. Should we pull up at the Angel—that 
 famous hostelry of ancient times, whose name used 
 to be inscribed on so many notable coaches ? " We 
 put up at the Angel Inn," writes Mr. Boswell, "and 
 passed the evening by ourselves in easy and familiar 
 conversation." Alas ! the Angel has now been pulled 
 down. Or shall we follow the hero of the Splendid 
 Shilling, who, 
 
 " "When nightly mists arise, 
 To Juniper's Magpie or Town Hall repairs ? " 
 
 They, too, are gone. But as Castor and Pollux, during 
 these moments of doubt and useless reminiscence, are 
 still taking us over the rough stones of the "High," 
 some decision must be come to ; and so, at a sudden 
 instigation, Count von Eosen pulls up in front of the 
 Mitre, which is an appropriate sign for the High Street 
 of Oxford, and betokens age and respectability. 
 
 The stables of the Mitre are clean, well-ventilated, 
 and well-managed — indeed, no better stables could have 
 been found for putting up the horses for their next day's 
 rest. When we had seen to their comfort, we returned 
 to the inn, and found that my Lady and Bell had not 
 only had all the luggage conveyed to our respective 
 rooms, but had ordered dinner, changed their attire, and 
 
 past pleasures, I rid over hanging hills, whose tops Avere edged with 
 groves, and whose feet watered with winding rivers, listening to the 
 falls of cataracts below, and the murmuring of the winds above ; the 
 gloomy verdure of Stonor succeeded to these, and then the shades of 
 evening overtook me. The moon rose in the clearest sky I ever saw, 
 by whose solemn light I paced on slowly, without company, or any 
 interruption to the range of my thoughts. About a mile before I 
 reached Oxford, all the bells tolled in different notes ; the clocks of 
 every college answered one another and sounded forth (some in deeper, 
 some in a softer tone) that it was eleven at night. All this was no ill 
 preparation to the life I have led since among those old walls, venerable 
 galleries, stone porticoes, studious walks, and solitary scenes of the 
 University." — Pope to Mrs. Martha Blount. [Stonor Park lies about 
 two miles to the right of Bix turnpike.] 
 
 G 2 
 
84 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 were waiting for us in the square, old-fashioned, low- 
 roofed coffee-room which looks out into the High Street. 
 A tall waiter was laying the cloth for us; the lights were 
 lit all round the wall ; our only companions were two 
 elderly gentlemen who sat in a remote corner, and gave 
 themselves up to politics ; and Bell, having resolved to 
 postpone her inquiry about letters until next morning — 
 in obedience to the very urgent entreaties of the 
 Lieutenant — seemed all the more cheerful for that 
 resolution. 
 
 But if our two friends by the fire-place could not 
 overhear our talk, we could overhear theirs ; and all the 
 time we sat at dinner, we were receiving a vast amount 
 of enlightenment about the condition, of the country. 
 The chief spokesman was a short, stout person, with a 
 fresh, healthy, energetic face, keen grey eyes, bushy grey 
 whiskers, a bald head, and a black satin waistcoat ; his 
 companion a taller and thinner man, with straight 
 black hair, sallow cheeks, and melancholy dark eyes : 
 and the former, in a somewhat pompous manner, was 
 demonstrating the blindness of ordinary politicians to 
 the wrath that was to come. Lord Palmerston saw it, 
 he said. There was no statesman ever like Lord Pal- 
 merston — there would never be his like again. For was 
 not the North bound to fight the South in every 
 country ? And what should we do if the men of the 
 great manufacturing towns were to come down on us ? 
 There were two Englands in this island — and the West- 
 minster Houses knew nothing of the rival camps that 
 were being formed. And did not the North always beat 
 the South? Did not Borne beat Carthage? and the 
 Huns the Romans ? and the Northern States the South- 
 ern States? and Prussia Austria? and Germany France? 
 And when the big-limbed and determined men of 
 Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester, Preston, Newcastle, 
 and such towns, rose to sweep aside the last feudal 
 institutions of this country, of what avail would be a 
 protest on the part of the feeble and self-indulgent South ? 
 
 "This kingdom, Sir," said the gentleman with the 
 satin waistcoat and gold seals, in such lofty tones that 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 85 
 
 Count von Rosen scarcely minded his dinner, — "this 
 kingdom, Sir, is more divided at this moment than it 
 was during the Wars of the Roses. It is split into hostile 
 factions ; and which is the more patriotic ? Neither. 
 There is no patriotism left — only the selfishness of 
 class. We care no more for the country as a country. 
 We are cosmopolitan. The scepticism of the first 
 French Revolution has poisoned our big towns. We 
 tolerate a monarchy as a harmless toy. We tolerate an 
 endowed priesthood, because we think they cannot 
 make our peasantry more ignorant than they are. We 
 allow pauperism to increase and eat into the heart of 
 the State, because we think it no business of ours to 
 interfere. We see our lowest classes growing up to 
 starve or steal, in ignorance and dirt ; our middle classes 
 scrambling for wealth to get out of the state they were 
 born in; our upper classes given over to luxury 
 and debauchery — patriotism gone — continental nations 
 laughing at us— our army a mere handful of men with 
 incompetent officers — our navy made the subject of 
 destructive experiments by interested cliques — our 
 Government ready to seize on the most revolutionary 
 schemes to get together a majority and remain in power 
 — selfishness, incompetence, indifference become para- 
 mount — it is horrible, Sir, it is Orrible." 
 
 In his anxiety to be emphatic, he left out that one 
 " h ; " it was his only slip. Our Lieutenant turned to 
 Tita, and said : 
 
 * I have met many English people in Germany who 
 have spoken to me like that. They do seem to have 
 a pride in criticising themselves and their country. 
 Is it because they feel they are so strong, and so rich, 
 and so good, that they can afford to dispraise themselves? 
 Is it because they feel themselves so very safe in this 
 island that they think little of patriotism, yes ? But I 
 have observed this thing — that when it is a foreigner who 
 begins to say such things of England, your countryman 
 he instantly changes his tone. He may say himself bad 
 things of his country ; but he will not allow anyone 
 else. That is very good — very right. But I would 
 
86 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 rather have a Frenchman who is very vain of his 
 country, and says so at every moment, than an English- 
 man who is very vain and pretends to disparage it. 
 The Frenchman is more honest." 
 
 " But there are many Englishmen who think England 
 wants great improvements/' said Tita. 
 
 " Improvements ! Yes. But it is another thing you 
 hear so many Englishmen say, that their country is all 
 wrong — ' going to the dogs ' is what you say for that. 
 Well, they do not believe it true — it is impossible to be 
 true ; and they do not look well with us foreigners when 
 they say so. For myself, I like to see a man proud of 
 his country, whatever country it is ; and if my country 
 were England, do not you think I should be proud of 
 her great history, and her great men, and her powers of 
 filling the world with colonies, and — what I think most 
 of all — her courage in making the country free to every 
 man, and protecting opinions that she herself does not 
 believe, because it is right ? When my countrymen hear 
 Englishmen talk like that, they cannot understand." 
 
 You should have seen our Bell's face — the pride and 
 the gratitude that were in her eyes, while she did not 
 speak. 
 
 " You would not have us go about praising ourselves 
 for doing right ? " said Tita. 
 
 " No," he said, " but you ought not to go about pro- 
 fessing yourselves to be less satisfied with your country 
 than you are." 
 
 Before breaking up for the night, we came to a reck- 
 oning about our progress, and probable line of route. 
 Fifty-eight miles — that was the exact distance, by 
 straight road, we had got on our way to Scotland at the 
 end of the third day. 
 
 "And to-morrow," said Tita, as she finished giving 
 the Lieutenant his first lesson in bezique, " counts for 
 nothing, as we remain here. Fifty-eight miles in 
 three days looks rather small, does it not ? But I 
 suppose we shall get there in course of time." 
 
 "Yes," said Bell, gently, as she put the markers 
 straight, " in Pollux' course of time." 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 87 
 
 My Lady rose, and in her severest tones ordered the 
 girl to bed. 
 
 [Note by Queen Titania. — " If these jottings of our journey come to 
 be published, I beg to say that, so far as I appear in them, they are a 
 little unfair. I hope I am not so very terrible a person as all that 
 comes to. I have noticed in some other families that a man of obstinate 
 will and of uncertain temper likes nothing so much as to pretend to 
 his friends that he suffers dreadfully from the tyranny of his wife. It 
 is merely self-complacency. He knows no one dares thwart him ; and 
 so he thinks it rather humorous to give himself the air of being much 
 injured, and of being very good-natured. I dare say, however, most 
 people who look at these memoranda will be able to decide whether the 
 trifling misunderstandings — which have been much exaggerated and 
 made to look serious — were owing to me. But as for Bell, I do not 
 think it right to joke about her position at all. She does her best to 
 keep up her spirits — and she is a brave, good girl, who likes to be 
 cheerful if only for the sake of those around her ; but this affair of 
 Arthur Ashburton is causing her deep anxiety and a good deal of 
 vexation. Why she should have some vague impression that she has 
 treated him badly, I cannot see ; for the very reverse is the case. But 
 surely it is unfair to make this lovers' quarrel the pretext for dragging 
 Bell into a wild romance, which the writer of the foregoing pages seems 
 bent on doing. Indeed, with regard to this subject, I cannot do better 
 than repeat a conversation which, with characteristic ingenuity, he has 
 entirely omitted. He said to me, while we were wandering about 
 Bensington — and Bell had strolled on with Count von Rosen— 
 
 " 'After all, our phaeton is not a microcosm. We have not the 
 complete elements for a romance. We have no villain with us. ' 
 
 " 'You flatter yourself,' I remarked ; which did not seem to please 
 him, but he pretended not to hear. 
 
 " ' There will be no dark background to our adventures — no crime, 
 secrecy, plotting, or malicious thwarting of Bell's happiness. It will 
 be like a magic-lantern slide with all the figures painted in rose-colour.' 
 
 " ' What do you mean by Bell's happiness ?' I asked. 
 
 ' ' ' Her marriage with the Lieutenant, and there is no villain to 
 oppose it. Even if we had a villain, there is no room for him : the 
 phaeton only holds four comfortably ' 
 
 "Really this was too much. I could scarcely control my impatience 
 with such folly. I have said before that the girl does not wish to 
 marry anyone ; but if there were any thought of marriage in her 
 mind, surely her anxiety about that letter points in a different way. 
 Of course I was immediately taunted with scheming to throw Bell and 
 Count von Rosen together during our drive. I admit that I did so, 
 and mean to do so. We ought not to expect young folks to be always 
 delighted with the society of their elders. It is only natural that these 
 two young people should become companions ; but what of that ? 
 And as to the speech about a villain, who ever saw one ? Out of a 
 novel or a play, I never saw a villain, and I don't know a^^body who 
 ever did. It seems to me there is a good deal of self-satisfaction in the 
 notion that we four are all so angelic that it wants some disagreeable 
 person to throw us into relief. Are we all painted in r@se-colour ? 
 Looking back over these pages, I do not think so ; but I am not 
 
88 THE STRANGE AD VENTURES 
 
 surprised — considering who had the wielding of the brush. And yet I 
 think we have so far enjoyed ourselves very well, considering that I am 
 supposed to be very hard to please, and very quarrelsome. Perhaps 
 none of us are so amiable as we ought to be ; and yet we manage to 
 put up with one another somehow. In the meantime, I am grieved 
 to see Bell, without the intervention of any villain whatever, under- 
 going great anxiety ; and I wish the girl had sufficient courage to sit 
 down at once and write to Arthur Ashburton and absolutely forbid 
 him to do anything so foolish as seek an interview with her. If ho 
 should do so, it is impossible to say what may come of it, for our Bell 
 has a good deal of pride with all her gentleness. — T."] 
 
 CHAPTEE VII. 
 
 ATRA CUBA. 
 
 " 0 gentle wind that bloweth south, 
 To where my love repaireth, 
 Convey a kiss to his dear mouth, 
 And tell me how he fareth ! " 
 
 " My dear, you are unphilosophical. Why should you 
 rebuke Bell for occasionally using one of those quaint 
 American phrases, which have wandered into this 
 country? I can remember a young person who had 
 a great trick of quoting Italian — especially in moments 
 of tenderness — but that was a long time ago — and 
 perhaps she has forgotten " 
 
 " It is shameful of you," says Queen Titania, hastily, 
 " to encourage Bell in that way. She would never do 
 anything of the kind but for you. And you know very 
 well that quoting a foreign language is quite a different 
 thing from using those stupid Americanisms which are 
 only fit for negro-concerts." 
 
 " My dear, you are unphilosophical. When America 
 started in business on her own account; she forgot to 
 furnish herself with an independent language ; but ever 
 since she has been working hard to supply the want. 
 By and by you will find an American language — sharp, 
 concise, expressive — built on the diffuse and heavy 
 foundations of our own English. Why should not Bell 
 use those tentative phrases which convey so much in so 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 89 
 
 few syllables ? Why call it slang ? What is slang but 
 an effort at conciseness ? " 
 
 Tita looked puzzled, vexed, and desperate : and inad- 
 vertently turned to Count von Kosen, who was handing 
 the sugar-basin to Bell. He seemed to understand the 
 appeal, for he immediately said — 
 
 " Oh, but you do know, that is not the objection. I 
 do not think Mademoiselle talks in that way, or should 
 be criticised about it by anyone ; but the wrong that is 
 done by introducing the slang words is, that it destroys 
 the history of a language. It perverts the true mean- 
 ing of roots — it takes away the poetry of derivations — 
 it confuses the student." 
 
 "And who thought of students when the various 
 objects in life were named % And whence came the 
 roots ? And is not language always an experiment, 
 producing fresh results as people find it convenient, 
 and leaving students to frame laws as they like ? And 
 why are we to give up succinct words or phrases because 
 the dictionaries of the last generation consecrated them 
 to a particular use ? My dear children, the process of 
 inventing language goes on from year to year, changing, 
 modifying, supplying, and building up new islands 
 out of the common sand and the sea. What to-day 
 is slang, to-morrow is language, if one may be per- 
 mitted to parody Feuerbach. And I say that Bell, 
 having an accurate ear for fit sounds, shall use such 
 words as she likes ; and if she can invent epithets of 
 her own " 
 
 " But, please, I don't wish to do anything of the 
 kind," says Bell, looking quite shamefaced. 
 
 That is just the way of those women: interfere to 
 help them in a difficulty, and they straightway fly over 
 to the common enemy, especially if he happens to 
 represent a social majority. 
 
 I began to perceive about this stage of our journey 
 that a large number of small articles over which Bell 
 had charge were now never missing. Whenever she 
 wanted a map, or a guide-book, or any one of the things 
 which had been specially entrusted to her, it was forth- 
 
90 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 coming directly. Nay, she never had, like Tita, to look 
 for a hat, or a shawl, or a scarf, or a packet of bezique- 
 cards. I also began to notice that when she missed one 
 of those things, she somehow inadvertently turned to 
 our Lieutenant, who was quite sure to know where it 
 was, and to hand it to her on the instant. The con- 
 sequence on this morning was, that when we all came 
 down prepared to go out for an exploration of Oxford, 
 we found Bell at the window of the coffee-room, already 
 dressed, and looking placidly out into the High Street, 
 where the sunlight was shining down on the top of the 
 old-fashioned houses opposite, and on the brand-new 
 bank, which, as a compliment to the prevailing style of 
 the city, has been built in very distinguished Gothic. 
 
 It was proposed that we should first go down and 
 have a look at Christ Church. 
 
 " And that will just take us past the post-office," said 
 Bell. 
 
 "Why, how do you know that? Have you been 
 out ? " asked Titania. 
 
 " No," replied Bell, simply. " But Count von Eosen 
 told me where it was." 
 
 " Oh, I have been all over the town this morning," 
 said the Lieutenant, carelessly. " It is the finest town 
 that I have yet seen — a sort of Gothic Munich, but old, 
 very old — not new, and white like Munich, where the 
 streets are asking you to look at their fine buildings. 
 And I have been down to the river — that is very fine, 
 too — even the appearance of the old colleges and build- 
 ings from the meadows — that is wonderful." 
 
 " Have you made any other discoveries this morn- 
 ing ? " said Queen Tita, with a gracious smile. 
 
 "Yes," said the young man, lightly. "I have dis- 
 covered that the handsome young waiter who gave us 
 our breakfast — that lie has been a rider in a circus, 
 which I did suspect myself, from his manner and atti- 
 tudes — and also an actor. He is a very fine man, but 
 not much spirit. I was asking him this morning why 
 he is not a soldier. He despises that, because you pay 
 a shilling a day. That is a pity your soldiers are 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 9i 
 
 not — what shall I say ? — respectable ; that your best 
 young men do not like to go with them, and become 
 under-officers. But I do not know he is very good stuff 
 for a soldier — he smiles too much, and makes himself 
 pleasant. Perhaps that is only because he is a waiter." 
 
 " Have you made any other acquaintances this 
 morning?" says Tita, with a friendly amusement in 
 her eyes. 
 
 " No, no one — except the old gentleman who did talk 
 politics last night. He is gone away by the train to 
 Birmingham." 
 
 " Pray when do yon get up in the morning ? " 
 
 " I did not look that ; but there was no one in the 
 streets when I went out, as there would be in a German 
 town ; and even now there is a great dulness. I have 
 inquired about the students — they are all gone home — 
 it is a vacation. And a young lady in a book-shop told 
 me that there is no life in the town when the students 
 are gone — that all places close early — that even the 
 milliners' shops are closed just now at half-past seven, 
 while they are open till nine when the students are here." 
 
 " And what," says my Lady, with a look of innocent 
 wonder, " what have the students to do with milliners' 
 shops that such places should be kept open on their 
 account ? " 
 
 No one could offer a sufficient solution of this prob- 
 lem ; and so we left the coffee-room and plunged into 
 the glare of the High Street. 
 
 It would be useless to attempt here any detailed 
 account of that day's long and pleasant rambling through 
 Oxford. To anyone who knows the appearance and the 
 associations of the grand old city — who is familiar with 
 the various mass of crumbling colleges, and quiet clois- 
 ters, and grassy quadrangles — who has wandered along 
 the quaint clean streets that look strangely staid and 
 orthodox, and are as old as the splendid elms that break 
 in continually on the lines and curves of the prevailing 
 architecture — to one who has even seen the city at a 
 distance, with its many spires and turrets set amid fair 
 green meadows, and girt about with the silver windings 
 
9 2 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 of streams— any such brief recapitulation would be 
 wholly bald and useless ; while he to whom Oxford 
 is unknown can learn nothing of its beauties and im- 
 pressions without going there. Our party absolutely 
 refused to go sight-seeing, and were quite content to 
 accept the antiquarian researches of the guide-books on 
 credit. It was enough for us to ramble leisure]} 7 through 
 the old courts and squares and alleys, where the shadows 
 lay cool under the gloomy walls, or under avenues of 
 magnificent elms. 
 
 But first of all we paid a more formal visit to Christ 
 Church, and on our way thither the Lieutenant stopped 
 Bell at the post-office. She begged leave to ask for 
 letters herself; and presently reappeared with two in 
 her hand. 
 
 " These are from the boys," she said to my Lady : 
 "there is one for you, and one for Papa." 
 
 " You have had no letter ? " said Tita. 
 
 " No," answered Bell, somewhat gravely as I fancied ; 
 and for some time after she seemed rather thoughtful 
 and anxious. 
 
 As we paused underneath the archway in front of 
 the sunlit quadrangle of Christ Church, the letters 
 from the boys were read aloud. This is the first one, 
 which shows the pains a boy will take to write properly 
 to his mother, especially when he can lay his hands on 
 some convenient guide-book to correspondence : — 
 
 " Cowley House, Twickenham. 
 " My dear Mamma, — I take up my pen to let you 
 know that I am quite well, and hope that this will 
 find you in the engoyment of good health. My studdies 
 are advancing favably, and I hope I shall continue to 
 please my teacher and my dear parents, who have been 
 so kind to me, and are anxious for my wellfare. I look 
 foward with much delight to the aproarching hollidays, 
 and. I am, my dear Mamma, 
 
 " Your affectionate Son, 
 
 " Jack. 
 
 " P.S. — He does gallop so ; and he eats beans." 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 93 
 
 Master Tom, on the other hand, showed that the fear 
 of his mother was not on him when he sat down to 
 write. Both of them had evidently just been impressed 
 with the pony's galloping ; for the second letter was as 
 follows : — 
 
 "Cowley House, Twickenham. 
 " My dear Papa, — He does gallop so, you can't think 
 [this phrase, as improper, was hastily scored through] 
 and I took him down to the river and the boys were 
 very Impertinent and I rode him down to the river and 
 they had to run away from their clothes and he went 
 into the river a good bit and was not afraid but you 
 know he cannot swim yet as he is very young Harry 
 French says and Doctor Ashburton went with us yes- 
 terday my dear papa to the ferry and Dick was taken 
 over in the ferry and we all went threw the trees by 
 Ham House and up to Ham Common and back by 
 .Richmond bridge and Dick was not a bit Tired. But 
 what do you think my dear papa Doctor Ashburton 
 says all our own money won't pay for his hay and com 
 and he will starve if you do not send some please my 
 dear papa to send some at once because if he starvves 
 once he will not get right again and the Ostler says he 
 is very greedy but he his a very good pony and very 
 intelgent dear papa Doctor Ashburton has bawt us each 
 a riding-whip but I never hit him over the ears which 
 the Ostler says is dangerus and you must tell the 
 German gentleman that Jack and I are very much 
 obled [scored out] obledg [also scored out] obbliged to 
 him, and send our love to him and to dear Auntie Bell 
 and to dear Mamma and I am my dear papa your 
 affexnate son. 
 
 " Tom." 
 
 "It is really disgraceful," said the mother of the 
 scamps, "the shocking way those boys spell. Eeally 
 Doctor Ashburton must be written to. At their age, 
 and with such letters as these— it is shameful." 
 
 " I think they are very clever boys," said Bell, " and 
 
94 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 I hope you won't impose extra lessons on them just 
 as they have got a pony." 
 
 "They ought not to have had the pony until they 
 had given a better account of themselves at school," 
 said my Lady, severely; to which Bell only replied 
 hy saying, in a pensive manner, that she wished she 
 was a boy of nine years of age, just become possessed 
 of a pony, and living in the country. 
 
 We spent a long time in Christ Church, more 
 especially in the magnificent Hall, where the historical 
 portraits greatly interested Bell. She entered into 
 surmises as to the sensations which must have been 
 felt by the poets and courtiers of Queen Elizabeth's 
 time when they had to pay compliments to the thin- 
 faced, red-haired woman who is here represented in 
 her royal satins and pearls ; and wondered whether, 
 after they had celebrated her as the Queen of Beauty, 
 they afterwards reconciled these flatteries to their 
 conscience by looking on them as sarcasm. But 
 whereas Bell's criticism of the picture was quite 
 gentle and unprejudiced, there was a good deal more 
 of acerbity in the tone in which Queen Tita drew 
 near to speak of Holbein's Henry VIII. My firm 
 belief is, that the mother of those two boys at 
 Twickenham, if she only had the courage of her 
 opinions — and dared to reveal those secret sentiments 
 which now find expression in decorating our bedrooms 
 with missal-like texts, and in the use of Eitualistic 
 phrases to describe ordinary portions of the service 
 and ordinary days of the year — would really be dis- 
 covered to be but let that pass. What harm 
 
 Henry VIII. had done her, I could not make out. 
 Anyone may perceive that that monarch has not the 
 look of an ascetic ; that the contour of his face and 
 the setting of his eyes are not particularly pleasing; 
 that he could not easily be mistaken for Ignatius 
 Loyola. But why any woman of these present days, 
 who subscribes to Mudie's, watches the costumes of 
 the Princess of Wales, and thinks that Dr. Pusey 
 has been ungenerously treated, should regard a portrait 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 95 
 
 of Henry VIII. as though he had done her an injury 
 onty the week before last, it is not easy to discover. 
 Bell, on the other hand, was discoursing to the Lieu- 
 tenant about the various workmanship of the pictures, 
 and giving him a vast amount of information about 
 technical matters, in which he appeared to take a 
 deep interest. 
 
 "But did you ever paint upon panel yourself, 
 Mademoiselle?" he asked. 
 
 " Oh yes/' said Bell, " I was at one time very fond 
 of it. But I never made it so useful as a country- 
 man of mine once suggested it might be. He was 
 a Cumberland farmer who had come down to our 
 house at Ambleside; and when he saw me painting 
 on a piece of wood, he looked at it with great 
 curiosity. 
 
 "'Heh, lass,' he said, 'thou's pentin a fine pictur 
 there, and on wood, too. Is't for the yell-house?' 
 
 " >To/ I said, explaining that I was painting for 
 my own pleasure, and that it was not a public- house 
 sign. 
 
 " ' To please thysel, heh ? And when thou's dune 
 wi' the pictur, thou canst plane it off the wood, and 
 begin another — that's thy meanin', is't?' 
 
 " I was very angry with him, for I was only about 
 fifteen then, and I wanted to send my picture to a 
 London exhibition." 
 
 " Why, I did see it down at Leatherhead ! " said 
 Von Eosen. " Was not that the picture, on panel, 
 near the window of the dining-room ?" 
 
 " Come, come !" said Titania to the girl, who could 
 not quite conceal the pleasure she felt on hearing that 
 the Count had noticed this juvenile effort of hers ; 
 " come along, and let us see the library before we go 
 into the open air again." 
 
 ,In the library, too, were more portraits and pictures, 
 in which these young people were much interested. 
 We found it impossible to drag them along. They 
 would loiter in some corner or other, and then, when 
 we forsook our civil attendant and went back for 
 
9 6 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 them, we found them deeply engrossed in some obscure 
 portrait or buried in a huge parchment-bound folio 
 which the Lieutenant had taken out and opened. Bell 
 was a fairly well-informed young woman, as times 
 go, and knew quite as much of French literature as 
 was good for her ; but it certainly puzzled Tita and 
 myself to discover what possible interest she could 
 have in gazing upon the large pages of the Ency- 
 clopaedia, while the Lieutenant talked to her about 
 D'Alembert. Nor could it be possible that a young- 
 lady of her years and pursuits had imbibed so much 
 reverence for original editions as to stand entranced 
 before this or that well-known author whose earliest 
 offspring had been laid hold of by her companion. 
 They both seemed unwilling to leave this library ; 
 but Von Eosen explained the matter when he came 
 out — saying that he had never felt so keenly the 
 proverbial impulses of an Uhlan as when he found 
 himself with these valuable old books in his hand 
 and only one attendant near. I congratulated the 
 authorities of Christ Church on what they had escaped. 
 
 Of course we went down to the river some little 
 time after lunch; and had a look from Folly Bridge 
 on the various oddly-assorted crews that had invaded 
 the sacred waters of the Isis in the absence of the 
 University men. When the Lieutenant proposed that 
 we, too, should get a boat and make a voyage down 
 between the green meadows, it almost seemed as if 
 we were venturing into a man's house in the absence 
 of the owner ; but then Bell very prettily and urgently 
 added her supplications, and Tita professed herself 
 not unwilling to give the young folks an airing on 
 the stream. There were plenty of signs that it was 
 vacation-time besides the appearance of the non- 
 descript oarsmen. There was a great show of painting 
 and scraping and gilding visible among that long line 
 of mighty barges that lay under the shadow of the 
 elms, moored to tall white poles that sent a line of 
 silver down into the glassy and troubled water beneath. 
 Barges in blue, and barges in cream and gold, barges 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 97 
 
 with splendid prows and Gorgon figure-heads, barges 
 with steam-paddles and light awnings over the upper 
 deck, barges with that deck supported by pointed 
 arches, as if a bit of an old cloister had been carried 
 down to decorate a pleasure-boat— all these resounded 
 to the blows of hammers, and were being made 
 bright with many colours. The University barge itself 
 had been dragged out of the water, and was also 
 undergoing the same process ; although the cynical 
 person who had put the cushions in our boat had 
 just remarked, with something of a shrug — 
 
 " I hope that the mahn as has got the job '11 get 
 paid for it, for the 'Varsity Crew are up to their 
 necks in debt, that's what they are!" 
 
 When once we had got away from Christ Church 
 meadows, there were fewer obstructions in our course ; 
 but whether it was that the currents of the river 
 defied the skill of our coxswain, or whether it was 
 that the Lieutenant and Bell, sitting together in the 
 stern, were too much occupied in pointing out to 
 each other the beauties of the scenery, we found 
 ourselves with a fatal frequency running into the 
 bank, with the prow of the boat hissing through the 
 rushes and flags. Nevertheless, we managed to get 
 up to Tffley, and there, having moored the boat, we 
 proceeded to land and walk up to the old church on 
 the brow of the hill. 
 
 "It's what they calls eerly English," said the old 
 lady who showed us over the ancient building. She 
 was not a talkative person ; she was accustomed to 
 get over the necessary information rapidly ; and then 
 spent the interval in looking strangely at the tall 
 Lieutenant and his brown beard. She did not betray 
 any emotion when a small gratuity was given her. 
 She had not even said "Thank you" when Yon 
 Eosen, on calling for the keys of the church, had 
 found the gate of her garden unhinged, and had 
 laboured fully ten minutes in hammering a rusty 
 piece of iron into the wooden post. Perhaps she 
 thought it was Bell who had driven down the gate ; 
 
 IT 
 
9 8 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 but at all events she expressed no sense of gratitude 
 for its restoration. 
 
 Near an old yew-tree there was a small grave — 
 new-made and green with grass — on which some care- 
 ful hand had placed a cross composed exclusively of 
 red and white roses. This new grave, with these fresh 
 evidences of love and kindly remembrance on it, looked 
 strange in the rude old churchyard, where stones of 
 unknown age and obliterated names lay tumbled about 
 or stood awry among the weeds and grass. Yet this 
 very disorder and decay, as Tita said gently, seemed 
 to her so much more pleasant than the cold and sharp 
 precision of the iron crosses in French and German 
 grave-yards, with their grim, fantastic decorations and 
 wreaths of Immortelles. She stood looking at this new 
 grave and its pretty cross of roses, and at the green 
 and weather-worn stones, and at the black old yew- 
 tree, for some little time ; until Bell — who knows of 
 something that happened when Tita was but a girl, 
 and her brother scarcely more than a child — drew 
 her gently away from us, towards the gate of the 
 churchyard. 
 
 " Yes," said the Lieutenant, not noticing, but turning 
 to the only listener remaining ; " that is true. I think 
 your English churchyards in the country are very beauti- 
 ful — very picturesque — very pathetic indeed. But what 
 you have not in this country are the beautiful songs 
 about death that we have — not religious hymns, or 
 anything like that — but small, little poems that the 
 country-people know and repeat to their children. Do 
 you know that one that says — 
 
 Hier schlummert das Herz, 
 Befreit von betaubenden Sorgen ; 
 Es weckt uns kein Morgen 
 Zu grosserem Schmerz. 
 
 And it ends this way — 
 
 "Was weinest denn du ? 
 Ich trage nun nmthig mein Leiden, 
 TJnd rufe mit Freuden, 
 Im Grabe ist Ruh'? 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 99 
 
 There was one of my comrades in the war — he was 
 from my native place, but not in my regiment — he 
 was a very good fellow — and when he was in the camp 
 before Metz, his companion was killed. Well, he 
 buried him separate from the others, and went about 
 till he got somewhere a gravestone, and he began to 
 cut out, just with the end of a bayonet, these two 
 verses on the stone. It took him many weeks to do 
 that ; and I did hear from one of my friends in the 
 regiment that two days after he had put np the stone, 
 he was himself killed. Oh, it is very hard to have 
 your companion killed beside you, and he is away from 
 his friends, and when you go back home without him — 
 they look at you as if you had no right to be alive 
 and their son dead. That is very hard — I knew it 
 in Sixty-six, when I went back to Berlin, and had 
 to go to see old Madame von Hebel. I do hope never 
 to have that again." 
 
 Is there a prettier bit of quiet river-scenery in the 
 world than that around Iffley Mill ? Or was it merely 
 the glamour of the white day that rendered the place 
 so lovely, and made us linger in the open stream to 
 look at the mill and its surroundings ? As I write, 
 there lies before me a pencil sketch of our Bell's, 
 lightly dashed here and there with water-colour, and the 
 whole scene is recalled. There is the dilapidated old 
 stone building, with its red tiles, its crumbling plaster, 
 its wooden projections, and small windows, half-hidden 
 amid foliage. Further down the river there are 
 clumps of rounded elms visible; but here around 
 the mill the trees are chiefly poplars, of magnificent 
 height, that stretch up lightly and gracefully into 
 a quiet yellow sky, and throw gigantic lines of reflec- 
 tion down into the still water. Then out from the 
 mill a small island runs into the stream; the wood- 
 work of the sluice-gates bridges the interval ; there 
 is a red cow amid the green leafage of the island, 
 and here again are some splendid poplars, rising 
 singly up from the river-side. Then beyond is another 
 house, then a wooden bridge, and a low line of 
 
 H 2 
 
loo THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 tree9 ; and finally the river, in a sharp curve, 
 glimmers in the light and loses itself behind low- 
 lying meadows and a marginal growth of willow 
 and flag. 
 
 For very shame's sake, the big Lieutenant was forced 
 to offer to take Tita's oar, as we once more proceeded 
 on our voyage ; but she definitely refused to endanger 
 our lives by any such experiment. A similar offer 
 on the part of Bell met with a similar fate. Indeed, 
 when this little woman has once made up her mind 
 to do a certain thing, the reserve of physical and 
 intellectual vigour that lies within the slight frame 
 and behind a smooth and gentle face, shows itself to 
 be extraordinary. Place before her some arithmetical 
 conundrum that she must solve in order to question 
 the boys, or give her an oar and engage her to pull 
 for a certain number of miles, and the amount of 
 patient perseverance and unobtrusive energy she will 
 reveal will astonish most people. In the meantime, 
 her task was easy. We were going with the stream. 
 And so we glided on between the green banks, under 
 the railway-bridge, past the village of Kennington, 
 past Eose Isle, with its bowers, and tables, and beer- 
 glasses, and lounging young fellows in white trousers 
 and blue jackets, and so on until we got up to 
 Sandford Lock. Here, also, we fastened the boat to 
 the bank, close by the mill, and went ashore for half 
 an hour's stroll. But while Tita made direct, as she 
 generally does on entering a new village, for the 
 church, the Lieutenant went off in quest of beer ; 
 and when we came back to the boat, he had a wonder- 
 ful story to tell us. He had made friends with some 
 innkeeper or other, and had imbibed from him a 
 legend which was a curious mixture of fact and in- 
 ference and blunder. Von Eosen had doubtless mis- 
 taken much of the Oxfordshire patois ; for how could 
 any man make a reasonable narrative out of the 
 following ? — 
 
 "And he told me it was a farmer's house in the 
 village — the village of Sandford, I suppose — and while 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 101 
 
 they took it down to repair it, they were lifting up 
 the floors, and many strange things were there. And 
 he said, among the nonsense and useless rubbish they 
 were finding there, was a hat ; and the man brought 
 the hat down to him ; and he saw it was a chevalier's 
 hat " 
 
 " A cavalier's hat," suggested Bell ; and the Lieu- 
 tenant assented. 
 
 "Then the farmer went up to the house, and he 
 found some hidden letters, and one was to Ettrick — 
 to some soldier who was then on a campaign at the 
 river Ettrick in the north. And they found that it 
 was in this very house that King Charles the First 
 did cut off his beard and moustache — I suppose when 
 he was flying from the Parliamentary army ; but I am 
 forgetting all about that history now, and the inn- 
 keeper was not sure about the battle. Well, then 
 the news was sent to London ; and a gentleman came 
 down who is the only surviving descender — descendant 
 — of King Charles, and he took away the hat to 
 London, and you will find it in the British Museum. 
 It is a very curious story, and I would have come 
 after you, and showed you the house ; but I suppose, 
 it is a new house now, and nothing to look at. But 
 do you know when the king was in this neighbourhood 
 in escaping ? " 
 
 Here was a poser for the women. 
 
 " I don't remember," says Tita, looking very pro- 
 found, "to have seen anything about Oxford in Lord 
 Clarendon's narrative of the king's escape after the 
 battle of Worcester." 
 
 "Mamma!" said Bell, in accents of reproach, "that 
 was Charles the Second." 
 
 " To be sure it was," returned Tita, with a gesture 
 of impatience ; " and he couldn't have come this way, 
 for he went to Bristol. But Charles the First was 
 continually at Oxford — he summoned the Parliament 
 to meet Mm here -" 
 
 " And shaved off his beard to curry favour with 
 them," it is suggested. 
 
ID2 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 " You needn't laugh. Of course, when he was finally 
 defeated he fled from Oxford, and very probably dis- 
 guised himself." 
 
 u And when did he fly, and whither ?" 
 
 " To Scotland," said Bell triumphantly, " and after 
 the battle of Naseby." 
 
 " Good girl. And where is Naseby ?" 
 
 "Well, if he fled north-east from the Parliamentary 
 army, Naseby must be in the south-west; and so I 
 suppose it is somewhere down about Gloucester." 
 
 "Herr Professor Oswald, where is Naseby?" 
 
 " I do not know," says the Lieutenant ; " but I think 
 it is more in the north, and not far from the country 
 of your great man Hampden. But he was killed 
 before then, I think." 
 
 a And pray," says Queen Tita, taking her seat, and 
 putting her oar into the rowlock, "will you please 
 tell me what you think of those men— of Cromwell 
 and Hampden and those — and what your historians 
 say of them in Germany?" 
 
 "Why, they say all kinds of things about them," 
 said the Lieutenant, lightly — not knowing that he 
 was being questioned as a representative of the feudal 
 aristocracy of a country in which the divine right of 
 kings is supposed to flourish — "just as your historians 
 do here. But we know very well that England has 
 got much of her liberty through that fight with the 
 king, and yet you have been able to keep a balance, 
 and not let the lowest classes run riot and destroy 
 your freedom. They were ambitious? Yes. If a 
 man is in politics, does not he fight hard to make 
 his side win? If he is a soldier, does not he like to 
 be victorious? And if I could be King of England, 
 do you not think I should like that very well, and 
 try hard for it ? But if these men had their own 
 ambitions, and wanted to get fame and honour, I am 
 sure they had much of righteousness and belief, and 
 would not have fought in that way and overturned 
 the king if they believed that was an injury to their 
 country or to their religion. And besides what could 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 03 
 
 this man or that man have done except he had a 
 great enthusiasm of the nation behind him — if he did 
 not represent a principle ? But I have no right to 
 speak of such things as if I were telling you of our 
 German historians. That is only my guess, and I 
 have read not much about it. But you must not 
 suppose that because we in Germany have not the 
 same political system that you have, that we cannot 
 tell the value of yours, and the good it has done to 
 the character of your people. Our German historians 
 are many of them professors in universities, and they 
 spend their lives in finding out the truth of such 
 things; and do you think they care what may be 
 the opinion of their own government about it? Oh, 
 no. They are very independent in the universities — 
 much too independent, I think. It is very pleasant 
 when you are a very young man, to get into a 
 university, and think yourself very wise, and go to 
 extremes about politics, and say hard things of your 
 own country ; but when you come out into the world, 
 and see how you have to keep your country from 
 enemies that are not separated by the sea from you 
 (as you are here in England), you see how bad are 
 these principles among young men, who do not like 
 to be obedient, and always want to hurry on new 
 systems of government before such things are possible. 
 But you do not see much of those wild opinions 
 when a war comes, and the young men are marched 
 together to save their country. Then they forget all 
 the democratic notions of this kind — it is their heart 
 that speaks, and it is on fire— and not one is ashamed 
 to be patriotic, though he may have laughed at it a 
 week before." 
 
 "It must be very hard," said Bell, looking away 
 at the river, "to leave your home and go into a 
 foreign country, and know that you may never 
 return." 
 
 Oh, no ; not much," said the Lieutenant ; " for 
 all your friends go with you. And you are not always 
 in danger — you have much entertainment at times, 
 
104 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 especially when some fight is over, and all your 
 friends meet again to have a supper in the tent, and 
 some one has got a bottle of cognac, and some one 
 else has got a letter from home, full of gossip about 
 people you know very well. And there is much fun, 
 too, in riding over the country, and trying to find 
 food and quarters for yourself and your horse. We 
 had many good parties in the deserted farmhouses, 
 and sometimes we caught a hen or a duck that the 
 people had neglected to take, and then we kindled 
 a big fire, and killed him, and fixed him on a lance 
 and roasted him well, feathers and all. Then we 
 were very lucky — to have a fire, and good meat, and 
 a roof to keep off the rain. But it was more dangerous 
 in a house — for it was difficult to keep from sleeping 
 after you had got warm and had eaten and drunk 
 perhaps a little too much wine — and there were many 
 people about ready to fire at you. But these are not 
 heroic stories of a campaign, are they, Mademoiselle ? " 
 
 Nevertheless, Mademoiselle seemed sufficiently in- 
 terested ; and as Tita and I pulled evenly back to Iffley 
 and Oxford, she continually brought the Lieutenant 
 back to this subject by a series of questions. This 
 modern maiden was as anxious to hear of the amuse- 
 ments of patrols, and the hair-breadth escapes of 
 dare-devil sub-lieutenants, as was Desdemona to listen 
 to her lover's stories of battles, sieges, fortunes, and 
 moving accidents by flood and field. 
 
 That was a pleasant pull back to Oxford, in the 
 quiet of the summer afternoon, with the yellow light 
 lying warmly over the level meadows and the woods. 
 There were more people now along the banks of the 
 river — come out for the most part in couples to 
 wander along the pathway between the stream and the 
 fields. Many of them had a good look at our Bonny 
 Bell ; and the Badley boys, as they sent their long boats 
 spinning down the river towards Sandford, were appa- 
 rently much struck. Bell, unconscious of the inno- 
 cent admiration of those poor boys, was attending 
 much more to the talk of our Uhlan than to her 
 
OF A PHAETON. 105 
 
 tiller-ropes. As for him — but what man would not 
 have looked contented under these conditions — to be 
 strong, healthy, handsome, and only twenty-five ; to 
 have comfortable means and an assured future; to 
 have come out of a long and dangerous campaign 
 with honour and sound limbs; to be off on a careless 
 holiday through the most beautiful country, take it 
 for all in all, in the world ; and to be lying lazily in 
 a boat on a summer's evening, on a pretty English 
 river, with a pretty English girl showing her friendly 
 interest and attention in every glance of her blue eyes ? 
 
 You should have seen how naturally these two fell 
 behind us, and formed a couple by themselves, when 
 we had left the boat and were returning to our inn. 
 But as we walked up to Carfax, Bell separated her- 
 self from us for a moment and went into the post- 
 office. She was a considerable time there. When 
 she came out, she was folding up a letter which she 
 had been reading. 
 
 "You have got your letter at last," said Tita. 
 
 "Yes," said Bell, gravely, but showing no particular 
 gladness or disappointment. 
 
 At dinner she was rather reserved ; and so, curiously 
 enough, was the Lieutenant. After dinner, when we 
 were allowed half an hour by ourselves for a cigar, 
 he suddenly said — 
 
 "Why do you not interfere with that stupid young 
 fellow ? " 
 
 " Who ? " I asked, in blank amazement. 
 
 "Why, that young fellow at Twickenham — it is 
 quite monstrous, his impertinence. If I were the 
 guardian of such a girl, I would kick him— I would 
 throw him into the river and cool him there." 
 
 "What in all the world do you mean?" 
 
 "Why, you must know. The letter that Miss Bell 
 did ask for more than once, it is from him ; and now 
 when it comes, it is angry, it is impertinent — she is 
 nearly crying all the time at dinner. Sackerment ! It 
 is for some one to interfere, and save her from this 
 insult — this persecution " 
 
io6 THE STRAXGE ADVENTURES 
 
 "Don't bite your cigar to pieces, but tell me, if 
 you please, how you happen to know what was in 
 the letter." 
 
 " She told me," said the Lieutenant, sullenly. 
 " When ? " 
 
 "Just before you came down to dinner. It is no 
 business of mine — no ; but when I see her vexed and 
 disturbed, I asked her to tell me why; and then she 
 said she had got this letter, which was a very cruel 
 one to send. Oh, there is no mystery — none. I suppose 
 he has a right to marry her — very well ; but he is not 
 married yet, and he must not be allowed to do this." 
 
 " Bell at least might have told me of it, or have 
 confided in Tita " 
 
 " Oh, she is telling her now, I dare say. And she 
 will tell you too, when there are not all of us present. 
 It is no secret, or she would not have told me. Indeed, 
 I think she was very sorry about that ; but she was 
 very much vexed, and I asked her so plain, that she 
 answered me. And that is much better to have confi- 
 dence between people, instead of keeping all such vexa- 
 tions to yourself. Then I ask her why he is angry ? 
 and she says only because she has gone away. Pfui ! I 
 have never heard such nonsense ! " 
 
 " My dear Oswald/' I say to him, " don't you interfere 
 between two young people who have fallen out, or you 
 will suffer. Unless, indeed " 
 
 " Unless what ? " 
 
 " Unless they happen to be angels." 
 
 " Do you know this — that he is coming to see her ? " 
 
 " Well, the phaeton can hold five at a pinch. Why 
 should not we have an addition to our party ? " 
 
 "Very good. I do not care. But if he is rude to 
 her, he will not be very long in the phaeton." 
 
 "Why, you stupid boy, you take these lovers' 
 quarrels au grand sericux. Do you think he has been 
 positively rude to her ? Nothing of the kind. He has 
 been too well brought up for that, although he has a 
 peevish temper. He might be with us all through the 
 journey " 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 107 
 
 " Jott bewahre ! " exclaimed the Count, with a kick at 
 a cork that was lying on the carpet. 
 
 " — And these two might be at daggers drawn and 
 yon would see nothing of it. Indeed, young people 
 never get extremely courteous to each other until they 
 quarrel and stand on their dignity. Now, if you had 
 seen that letter, you would have found it respectful and 
 formal in the highest degree — perhaps a trine sarcastic 
 here and there, for the lad unhappily thinks he has a 
 gift that way — btit you would find no rhetorical indig- 
 nation or invective." 
 
 The Count threw his cigar into the grate, 
 
 " They will be waiting for us," he said ; " let us go." 
 
 We found Tita with the bezique-cards spread out 
 before her. Bell looked up with rather a frightened 
 air, apparently conscious that the Lieutenant was likely 
 to have spoken about what she had confided to him at 
 the impulse of a momentary vexation. However, we 
 sat down. 
 
 The game was an open and palpable burlesque. Was 
 Ferdinand very intent on giving checkmate when he 
 played chess with Miranda in the cave ; or was he not 
 much more bent upon placing his king in extreme 
 danger and offering his queen so that she had to be 
 taken? The audacious manner in which this young 
 Lieutenant played his cards so as to suit Bell was 
 apparent to everyone, though no one dared speak of it, 
 and Bell only blushed sometimes. When she timidly 
 put forth a ten, he was sure to throw away another ten, 
 although he had any amount of aces in his hand. He 
 spoiled his best combinations rather than take tricks 
 when it was clear she wanted to lead. Nay, as he sat 
 next to her, he undertook the duty of marking her 
 various scores, and the manner in which the small brass 
 hand went circling round the card was singular, until 
 Tita suddenly exclaimed — 
 
 " Why, that is only a common marriage ! " 
 
 " And do you not count forty for a common 
 marriage ? " he said, with a fine assumption of innocent 
 wonder. 
 
108 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 Such was the ending of our first day's rest ; and then, 
 just before candles were lit, a Cabinet Council was held 
 to decide whether on the morrow we should choose as 
 our halting-place Moreton-in-the-Marsh or Bourton-on- 
 the-Hill. The more elevated site won the day. 
 
 CHAPTEE VIII. 
 
 NEAR WOODSTOCK TOWN. 
 
 " In olde dayes of the king Arthour, 
 
 Of which that Britons speake great honour, 
 All was this land full filled of faerie ; 
 The Elf-queen, with her jolly company, 
 Danced full oft in many a green mead. 
 This was the old opinion, as I read ; 
 I speak of many a hundred years ago ; 
 But now can no man see no elves mo'." 
 
 The phaeton stood in the High Street of Oxford. 
 Castor and Pollux, a trifle impatient after the indolence 
 of the day before, were pawing the hard stones, their 
 silken coats shining in the morning sunlight ; Queen 
 Titania had the reins in her hands ; the tall waiter who 
 ':iad been a circus-rider was ready to smile us an adieu ; 
 and we were all waiting for the Lieutenant, who had 
 gone off in search of a map that Bell had forgotten. 
 
 If there is one thing more than another likely to 
 ruffle the superhuman sweetness of my Lady's temper, 
 it is to be kept waiting in a public thoroughfare with 
 a pair of rather restive horses under her charge. I 
 began to fear for that young man. Tita turned once 
 or twice to the entrance of the hotel ; and at last she 
 said, with an ominous politeness in her tone — 
 
 " It does seem to me singular that Count von Eosen 
 should be expected to look after such things. He is 
 our guest. It is no compliment to give him the duty 
 of attending to our luggage." 
 
 " My dear," said Bell, leaning over and speaking in 
 very penitent tones, " it is entirely my fault. I am 
 very sorry." 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 109 
 
 " I think he is much too good-natured," says Tita, 
 coldly. 
 
 At this Bell rather recedes, and says, with almost 
 equal coldness — 
 
 " I am sorry to have given him so much trouble. In 
 future I shall try to do without his help." 
 
 But when the Count did appear — when he took his 
 seat beside Tita, and we rattled up the High Street and 
 round by the Corn Market, and past Magdalen Church, 
 and so out by St. Giles's Road, the remembrance of this 
 little preliminary skirmish speedily passed away. For 
 once more we seemed to have left towns and streets 
 behind us, and even while there were yet small villas 
 and gardens by the side of the road, the air that blew 
 about on this bright morning seemed to have a new 
 sweetness in it, and the freshness and pleasant odours 
 of innumerable woods and fields. There was quite a 
 bright light, too, in Bell's face. She had come down- 
 stairs with an obvious determination to cast aside the 
 remembrance of that letter. There was something 
 even defiant in the manner in which she said — in strict 
 confidence, be it observed — that if Arthur Ashburton 
 did intend to come and meet us in some town or 
 other, there was no use in being vexed about it in the 
 meantime. We were now getting into the open country, 
 where pursuit would be in vain. If he overtook us, 
 it would be through the mechanism of railways. His 
 only chance of obtaining an interview with Bell was 
 to lie in wait for us in one of the big towns through 
 which we must pass. 
 
 "But why," said the person to whom Bell revealed 
 these matters, " why should you be afraid to meet 
 Arthur? You have not quarrelled with him." 
 
 " No," said Bell, looking down. 
 
 " You have done nothing that he can object to." 
 
 " He has no right to object, whatever I may do," she 
 said with a gentle firmness. "But, you know, he is 
 annoyed, and you cannot reason with him ; and I am 
 sorry for him — and — and — and what is the name of 
 this little village on the left ? " 
 
I IO 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 Bell seemed to shake off this subject from her, as too 
 vexatious on such a fine and cheerful morning. 
 
 " That is Woolvercot ; and there is the road that 
 leads down to Godstow, and the ruins of Godstow 
 Nunnery, in which Eosamond Clifford lived and died." 
 
 " And I suppose she rode along this very highway," 
 said Bell, "with people wondering at her beauty and 
 her jewels, when she used to live at Woodstock. Yet 
 it is a very ordinary-looking road." 
 
 Then she touched Tita on the shoulder. 
 
 "Are we going to stop at Blenheim ? " she asked. 
 
 " I suppose so," said our driver. 
 
 "I think we ought not," said Bell; "we shall be 
 greatly disappointed, if we do. For who cares about 
 the Duke of Marlborough, or Sir John Vanbrugh's 
 architecture ? You know you will be looking about 
 the trees for the old knight with the white beard, and 
 for Alice Lee, and for pretty Phoebe Mayflower, and 
 for Wildrake and the soldiers. Wouldn't it be better 
 to go past the walls, Tita, and fancy that all these 
 old friends of ours are still walking about inside in 
 their picturesque costume ? If we go inside, we shall 
 only find an empty park and a big house, and all those 
 people gone away, just like the fairies who used to 
 be in the woods." 
 
 "But whal are the people you are speaking of?" 
 said the Count. " Is it from history, or from a 
 romance ? " 
 
 "I am not quite sure," said Bell, "how much is 
 history, and how much is romance ; but I am sure 
 we know the people very well; and very strange 
 things happened inside the park that we shall pass 
 by and by. There was a pretty young lady living 
 there, and a very sober and staid colonel was her 
 lover. The brother of this young lady was much 
 attached to the fortunes of the Stewarts, and he 
 brought the young Prince Charles in disguise to the 
 house ; and all the gratitude shown by the Prince was 
 that he began to amuse himself by making love to 
 the sister of the man who had risked his life to 
 
OF A PHAETON. in 
 
 save him. And of course the grave colonel discovered 
 it, and he even drew his sword upon Prince Charles " 
 
 " I beg your pardon, Mademoiselle," said the Lieu- 
 tenant, " but do not trouble to tell me the story ; for 
 I know it very well. I did read it in Germany years 
 ago; and I think if Colonel Esmond had thrashed 
 the Prince " 
 
 " Oh no, you are mistaken," said Bell, with some 
 wonder ; " it is Colonel Markham, not Colonel Esmond ; 
 and the brother of the young lady succeeded in getting 
 the Prince away just before Cromwell had time to 
 seize him." 
 
 " Cromwell ! " said our Lieutenant, thoughtfully. 
 
 "Ah, then, it is another story. But I agree with 
 you, Mademoiselle : if you believe in these people 
 very much, do not go into the park, or you will be 
 disappointed." 
 
 " As you please," said Tita, with a smile. — I began 
 to observe that when the two young folks agreed about 
 anything, my Lady became nothing more than an echo 
 to their wishes. 
 
 At length we came to the walls that surrounded 
 the great park. Should we leave all its mysteries 
 unexplored ? If one were to clamber up, and peep 
 over, might not strange figures be seen, in buff coats 
 and red, with bandoleers and helmets ; and an aged 
 knight with a laced cloak, slashed boots, and long 
 sword ; countrywomen in white hoods and black 
 gowns ; divines with tall Presbyterian hats and solemn 
 visage; a braggart and drunken soldier of the king, 
 and a colonel the servant of Cromwell? Or might 
 not Queen Elizabeth be descried, looking out as a 
 prisoner on the fair domains around her? Or might 
 not Chaucer be found loitering under those great 
 trees that he loved and celebrated in his verse ? Or, 
 behind that splendid wall of chestnuts and elms, was 
 it not possible that Fair Eosamond herself might be 
 walking all alone, passing like a gleam of light through 
 the green shadows of the trees, or sitting by the well 
 that still bears her name, or reading in the heart of 
 
112 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 that bower that was surrounded by cunning ways ? 
 Was it along this road that Eleanor came ? Or did 
 Eosamond, surviving all her sin and her splendour, 
 sometimes walk this way with her sister-nuns from 
 Godstow, and think of the time when she was mistress 
 of a royal palace and this spacious park ? 
 
 We drove into the town of Woodstock. The hand- 
 ful of houses thrown into the circular hollow that is 
 cut in two by the river Glym, was as silent as death. 
 In the broad street that plunged down into the valley, 
 scarcely a soul was to be seen ; and even about the 
 old town-hall there were only some children visible. 
 Had the play been played out, and the actors gone 
 for ever ? When King Henry was fighting in France 
 or in Ireland, doubtless Eosamond, left all by herself, 
 ventured out from the park, and walked down into 
 the small town, and revealed to the simple folks the 
 wonders of her face, and talked to them. ~No mortal 
 woman could have remained in a bower month after 
 month without seeing anyone but her attendants. 
 Doubtless, too, the people in this quaint little town 
 were very loyal towards her ; and would have espoused 
 her cause against a dozen Eleanors. And so it hap- 
 pened, possibly, that when the romance came to an 
 end. and Eosamond went to hide her shame and her 
 penitence in the nunnery of Godstow, all the light 
 and colour went out of Woodstock, and left it dull, 
 and grey, and silent as it is to this day. 
 
 The main street of Woodstock, that dips down to 
 the banks of the Glym, rises as abruptly on the other 
 side ; and once past the turnpike, the highway runs 
 along an elevated ridge, which on the one side is 
 bounded by a continuation of Blenheim Park, and, 
 on the other, slopes down to a broad extent of level 
 meadows. When we had got up to this higher ground, 
 and found before us an illimitable stretch of country, 
 with ourselves as the only visible inhabitants, the 
 Lieutenant managed to introduce a remote hint about 
 a song which he had heard Bell humming in the 
 morning. 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 "3 
 
 "I think it was about Woodstock," he said; "and 
 if yon will please to sing it now, as we go along, I 
 shall get out for you the guitar." 
 
 u If you will be so kind," said Bell, quite sub- 
 missively. 
 
 What had become of the girl's independence? Asked 
 to sing a song at great trouble to herself — for who 
 cares to play a guitar in the back-seat of a phaeton, 
 and with two pairs of wheels rumbling an accompani- 
 ment ? — she meekly thanks him for suggesting it ! 
 Nay, it was becoming evident that the girl was school- 
 ing herself into docility. She had almost dropped 
 entirely the wild phrases and startling metaphors that 
 so deeply shocked Tita. Sometimes they dropped out 
 inadvertently; and sometimes, too, she gave way to 
 those impulsive imaginative flights that led her un- 
 thinkingly into an excitement of talk which Tita used 
 to regard with a sort of amused wonder. But of late 
 all these things were gradually disappearing. She was 
 less abrupt, independent, wayward in her manner. 
 She waited more patiently to receive suggestions from 
 others. She was becoming a good listener ; and she 
 received meekly criticisms that would, but a short 
 time before, have driven her into a proud and defiant 
 silence, or provoked some rejoinder a good deal more 
 apt than gentle. It was very odd to mark this amiable 
 self-discipline struggling with her ordinary frank im- 
 petuosity; although sometimes, it is true, the latter 
 had the best of it. 
 
 On this occasion, when the Lieutenant had jumped 
 down and got out the guitar for her, she took it very 
 obediently ; and then Tita rested the horses for a little 
 while under the shadow of some overhanging trees. 
 Of course you know the ballad that Bell naturally 
 turned to, seeing where she was at the moment, and 
 the sort of music she was most familiar with. 
 
 ' ' Near "Woodstock town I chanced to stray, 
 "When birds did sing and fields were gay, 
 And by a glassy river's side 
 A weeping damsel 1 espied." 
 I 
 
ii4 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 This was what she sang, telling the story of the 
 forlorn maiden who was found weeping for her faithless 
 lover, who only wished that he might come and visit 
 her grave, and think of her as "one who loved, but 
 could not hate." Perhaps this old-fashioned ballad 
 is not a masterly composition ; but the music of 
 it is expressive enough; and we who were familiar 
 with Bell's ballads had got into a habit of not caring 
 much what she sang, as long as she only continued 
 singing. 
 
 "You would make your fortune by singing," said 
 Tita, as Bell finished, and the horses were sent forward. 
 
 "Perhaps," said the girl, "if all my audience were 
 like you. But I think you must have been lent out 
 as an infant to an old woman with an organ, and so, 
 by merely sitting on the vibrating wood, you have 
 become so sensitive to music that anything at all 
 pleases you." 
 
 "No, Mademoiselle," said the Lieutenant, "you do 
 yourself an injustice. I never heard a voice like yours, 
 that has the tremble of a zither in it, and is much softer 
 than a zither." 
 
 Bell blushed deeply: but to conceal her embarrass- 
 ment, she said lightly to Tita — 
 
 " And how am I to make my fortune ? Oh, T know, 
 — by coming in after public dinners, to sing grace, and 
 follow the toasts with a glee. I am in white silk, with 
 a blue ribbon round my neck, white gloves, bracelets, 
 and a sheet of music. There is an elderly lady in 
 black velvet and white pearls, who smiles in a pleasant 
 manner — she sings, and is much admired by the long 
 rows of gentlemen— they have just dined, you know, 
 and are very nice and amiable. Then there is the tenor 
 — fair and smooth, with diamond rings, a lofty expres- 
 sion, and a cool and critical eye, that shows he is quite 
 accustomed to all this. Then there is the stout, red- 
 bearded man who sings bass, and plays the piano for 
 the four of us, and is very fierce in the way he thumps 
 out his enthusiasm about the Queen, and the Navy, 
 and the Army, and the Volunteers. What a happy 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 "5 
 
 way of living that must be ! They will give us a nice 
 dinner beforehand — in a room by ourselves, perhaps ; 
 and all we have to do is to return thanks for it in an 
 emotional way, so that all the waiters shall stand round 
 in a reverential manner. But when that is over, 
 then we introduce a few songs — sprightly, coquettish 
 songs, and the gentlemen are vastly amused — and you 
 think " 
 
 "Well, what do you think?" said I, seeing that 
 Bell rather hesitated. 
 
 "I think," said Tita, with a smile, "that you are 
 very ungenerous, Bell, in remembering so much of 
 what you saw the other night from the gallery of the 
 Freemasons' Tavern. Is it fair to recall, in open day- 
 light, in the cool forenoon, the imbecile good-nature 
 and exuberant loyalty of a lot of gentlemen who have 
 just dined ? I wonder how many of the husbands 
 there told their wives what sums they signed away 
 under the influence of the wine?" 
 
 " I dare say," says one of the party, " that the wives 
 would be sorry to see so much money go in charity 
 which might otherwise have been - squandered in milli- 
 nery and extravagances." 
 
 "Don't be ill-tempered, my dear," says Queen Tita, 
 graciously. " Women are quite as charitable as men ; 
 and they don't need a guinea dinner to make them 
 think of other people. That is a sort of charity that 
 begins at home. Pray how much did you put down ?" 
 
 " Nothing." 
 
 " I thought so. Go to a charity dinner, enjoy your- 
 self, and come away without giving a farthing. You 
 would not find women doing that." 
 
 " Only because they have not the courage." 
 
 "They have plenty of courage in other directions 
 — in getting married, for example, when they know 
 what men are." 
 
 " Knowing that, is it not a pity they choose to make 
 martyrs of themselves ? Indeed, their anxiety to 
 become martyrs is astonishing. But what if I say 
 that in the next published list of subscriptions you 
 
 1 2 
 
n6 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 will find my name down for about as much as your 
 last millinery bill came to?" 
 
 "I think that a great deal more likely, for I know 
 the state of philanthropy into which men get at 
 a public dinner — fathers of families, who ought to 
 remember their own responsibilities, and who are 
 impatient enough if any extra bit of comfort or 
 kindness is wanted for their own kith and kin." 
 
 " Some such trifling matter as a fur cloak, for 
 instance, that is bought out of a Brighton shop- 
 window for sixty-five guineas, and is only worn twice 
 or thrice, because some other woman has the neigh- 
 bour of it." 
 
 " That is not true. You know the weather changed." 
 
 "The weather ! what weather ? Were you at Brighton 
 at the time?" 
 
 Titania did not reply for a considerable time. Per- 
 haps she was thinking of some crushing epigram ; but 
 at all events Bell endeavoured to draw her away from 
 the subject by pointing out another river, and asking 
 whether this or the Grlym at Woodstock was the stream 
 associated with the " Oxfordshire Tragedy " she had just 
 been singing. We discovered, however, that this small 
 stream was also the Glym, which here winds round 
 and through the marshy country that Thomas Wharton 
 described. 1 Bell came to the conclusion that the banks 
 by the river at this part were not sufficiently pictu- 
 resque for the scene of the song, where the love-lorn 
 heroine sits and weeps by a glassy stream, and 
 complains that her lover is now wooing another 
 maid. 
 
 1 "Within some whispering osier isle, 
 
 Where Glym's low banks neglected smile : 
 And each trim meadow still retains 
 The wintry torrent's oozy stains ; 
 Beneath a willow, long forsook, 
 The fisher seeks his custom'd nook ; " 
 And bursting through the crackling sedge, 
 That crowns the current's caverned edge, 
 He startles from the bordering wood 
 The bashful wild-duck's early brood." 
 
 Ode to the First of April. 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 117 
 
 Meanwhile, my Lady had given expression to the 
 rebellious thoughts passing through her mind, by ad- 
 monishing Castor and Pollux slightly ; and these 
 accordingly were going forward at a rattling pace. 
 We rushed through Enstone. We dashed along the 
 level highway that lies on the high ground between 
 the Charlford Farms and Heythrop Park. We sent 
 the dust flying behind us in clouds as we scudded 
 down to Chipping Norton; and there, with a fine 
 sweep, we cantered up the incline of the open square, 
 clattered over the stones in front of the White Hart 
 Inn, and pulled up with a noise that considerably 
 astonished the quiet village. 
 
 This large open space gives to Chipping Norton a 
 light and agreeable appearance ; and on entering the 
 big tall inn that looks down over the square, we found 
 everything very cleanly, bright, and comfortable. The 
 very maid-servant who served us with lunch was a 
 model of maid-servants, and was a very handsome 
 young woman besides, with shining light-blue eyes 
 and yellow hair. The Lieutenant at once entered into 
 a polite conversation with her, and she informed him, 
 in answer to his respectful inquiries, that she had just 
 come from Folkestone. 
 
 " From Folkestone ! that is a seaport — a busy place 
 — a large town, is it not ?" 
 
 " Yes, there was some business doing there," said the 
 maid, with an inflection of voice which rather cast 
 discredit on Chipping Norton. 
 
 "Don't you find this place dull ?" he asked. 
 " Well, I can't say the people seem to worry them- 
 selves much," she replied with a slight curl of the lip. 
 
 " That is very good for the health," said the Count 
 gravely. " Now I do think you have a very nice and 
 
 even temper, that does not irritate you " 
 
 But here my Lady and her companion came into 
 the room, and the conversation ceased ; for the Lieu- 
 tenant had at once to spring up and take charge 
 of the books, maps, and scarves that Bell had brought 
 in with her. And then, when we sat down to lunch, 
 
u8 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 he was entirely engrossed in attending to her wants, 
 insomuch that he was barely civil to the more elderly 
 lady who had from the first been his champion. As for 
 Bell, what had become of her dislike to officers, her 
 antipathy to the German race, her horror of Uhlans. 
 That very morning I had heard on good authority 
 that Bell had been asking in confidence whether Eng- 
 land did not owe a great debt to Germany for the gift 
 of Protestantism which that country had sent us. 
 "And were not the Prussians mostly Protestant?" asked 
 Bell. What answer was returned I do not know ; for 
 Queen Titania is strong on the point that the word 
 u Protestant " is not scriptural. 
 
 "But I have quite forgotten to tell you," remarked 
 the Lieutenant, "that this morning, when I was walking 
 about in Oxford, I came into the theatre. I saw some 
 bills up; I went along a strange passage; I found an 
 iron gate, and much lime and stone, and things like 
 that. A man came — I asked him if I could see the 
 theatre, and he took me into the place, which they 
 are repairing now. Oh, it is a very dingy place — 
 small, tawdry, with ridiculous scenes, and the decora- 
 tions of the galleries very amusing and dirty. Why, 
 in an old city, with plenty of rich and intelligent 
 people, you have such a pitiful little theatre ? — it is 
 only fit for a country green and wandering actors. In 
 a great university town, you should have the theatre 
 supported by the colleges and the bequests, and hire 
 good actors, and play all the best dramas of your 
 great writers. That would be a good education — that 
 would be a good compliment to pay to your great 
 dramatists. But here, in a city where you have much 
 learning, much money, much of your young men of 
 good families being educated, you have only a dingy, 
 small show, and I suppose it is farces they play, and 
 wretched dramas, for the townspeople and the farmers. 
 That is not much respect shown to your best authors by 
 your learned institutions." 
 
 " jSTo wonder students find the milliners' shops more 
 attractive," said Tita with a smile. 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 "But I think there is always much interest in an 
 empty theatre," continued the Lieutenant. "I did go 
 all over this poor little building, and saw how it imitated 
 the deceptions of fine theatres in a coarse manner. I 
 saw the rude scenes, the bad traps, the curious arrange- 
 ments, which I do not think can differ much from the 
 theatre which Shakespeare himself described, where a 
 man was made to represent a city, if I am right." 
 
 " You are familiar with the arrangements of a theatre, 
 I suppose ? " I say to the Lieutenant.- 
 
 "Pray tell me if you saw anything else in Oxford 
 this morning," says Tita, hastily. 
 
 " I suppose you could produce a pantomime yourself," 
 I observe to the young man. 
 
 " Did you visit any more of the colleges ? " said Tita, 
 at the same moment. 
 
 " Or get up a ballet ? " 
 
 " Or go down to the Tsis again ? " 
 
 Von Eosen was rather bewildered ; but at last he 
 stammered out — 
 
 "No, Madame, I did not go down to the river this 
 morning. I walked from the theatre to the hotel ; for I 
 remained much too long in the theatre. Yes, I know 
 something about the interior of theatres. I have been 
 great friends with the managers and actors, and took great 
 interest in it. I used to be much behind the stage — 
 every night at some times ; and that is very curious to a 
 young man who likes to know more than other people, 
 and thinks himself wise not to believe in delusions. I 
 think it is Goethe who has made many of our young 
 men like to know stage-managers, and help to arrange 
 pieces. But I find that they always end by being very 
 much in love with one of the young ladies, and then 
 they get not to like the theatres, for they do not wish 
 everybody to admire her and be allowed to look at her. 
 This is very good for the theatre, however ; for they 
 take many boxes, and ask their friends to accompany 
 them, and that pays better than to let out the seats by 
 the year to families. Some of the young men make 
 light of this ; others are more melancholy, but afterwards 
 
THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 they have much interest in some theatres merely for the 
 sake of the old associations." 
 
 " Oh, Bell," exclaimed Tita, turning anxiously to our 
 companion, " did you see that your guitar was properly 
 put away, or has it been left lying open in the phaeton ? " 
 
 " I did put it away, Madame," said the Lieutenant. 
 
 " Oh, thank you," said Tita. " I am sure if some of 
 those ostlers were to have their curiosity aroused, we 
 should have no more music all the journey." 
 
 And thus, having got the Lieutenant away from 
 rambling reminiscences of theatres, the little woman took 
 very good care he should not return to them ; and so we 
 finished luncheon without any catastrophe having hap- 
 pened. Bell had been sitting very quietly during these 
 revelations, scarcely lifting her eyes from the table, and 
 maintaining an appearance of studied indifference. 
 Why should she care about the mention of any actress, 
 or any dozen of actresses ? My Lady's anxiety was 
 obviously unnecessary. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 A MOONLIGHT NIGHT. 
 
 " Till the live-long daylight fail ; 
 Then to the spicy nut-brown ale, 
 With stories told, of many a feat, 
 How faery Mab the junkets eat. " 
 
 Chipping Norton is supplied with all the comforts of 
 life. Before leaving for the more inhospitable regions 
 in which we are to pass the night, we take a leisurely 
 walk through the curious little town, that is loosely 
 scattered over the side of a steep slope. Here civi- 
 lization has crowded all its results together ; and Queen 
 Tita is asked whether she could not forsake the busy 
 haunts of men, and exchange that hovering between 
 Leatherhead and London, which constitutes her exist- 
 ence, for a plain life in this small country town. 
 
 " Chemists' shops abound. There is a subscription 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 121 
 
 reading-room. There are co-operative stores. A theatre 
 invites you to amusement. You may have Lloyd's 
 News, various sorts of sewing machines, and the finest 
 sherry from the wood " 
 
 "Along with a Wesleyan chapel," she says, with a 
 supercilious glance at the respectable, if somewhat dull- 
 looking little building that fronts the main street. 
 
 There is no reply possible to this ungracious sneer ; 
 for who can reason, as one of us hints to her, with a 
 woman who would spend a fortune in incense, if only 
 she had it, and who would rejoice to run riot in tall 
 candles ? 
 
 Bell takes us away from Chipping Norton, the Lieu- 
 tenant sitting beside her to moderate the vehemence of 
 her pace in the event of her getting into a difficulty. 
 First the road dips down by a precipitous street, then it 
 crosses a hollow, in which there are some buildings of a 
 manufactory, a tiny river, and a strip of common or 
 meadow, and then it ascends to the high country beyond 
 by a steep hill. On the summit of this hill we give 
 the horses a rest for a few seconds, and turn to look at 
 the small town that lies underneath us in the valley. 
 There is a faint haze of blue smoke rising from the 
 slates and tiles. The deadened tolling of a bell marks 
 the conclusion of another day's labour : for already the 
 afternoon is wearing on apace; and so we turn westward 
 again, and set out upon the lofty highway that winds 
 onward towards the setting sun. Small hamlets fringe 
 the road at considerable intervals, while elsewhere our 
 route lies between stretches of heath and long fields. 
 And still the highway ascends, until we reach the verge 
 of a great slope ; and, behold ! there lies before us a great 
 landscape, half in gloom, half in the dusky yellow light 
 of the evening. And over there, partly shutting out 
 the dark lines of hills in the west, a great veil of rain 
 stretches from the sky to the earth, and through it the 
 sun is shining as through ground glass. But so far 
 away is this pale sheet of yellow mist, that we seem to 
 be above it, and over the level and dark landscape on 
 which it descends ; and, indeed, where this veil ends, 
 
122 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 the sunlight sends forth long shafts of radiance that 
 light up level tracts of the distant and wooded country . 
 What fate is to befall us when we get down into this 
 plain, and go forward in search of the unknown hostelry 
 at which we are to pass the night ? 
 
 " I hope the rain will not spread," says Bell, who had 
 been telling us of all the wonders we should find at 
 Bourton-on-the-Hill ; " but even if it does rain to-night, 
 we shall be as well off on a hill as in a swamp." 
 
 " But at Moreton-in-the-Marsh," says Tita, " there is 
 sure to be a comfortable inn, for it is a big place ; 
 whereas Bourton-on-the-Hill appears to be only a small 
 village, and we may find there only a public-house." 
 
 " But suppose it should clear ? " says Bell ; " the moon 
 will be larger to-night, and then we can look down on 
 all this level country from the top of the hill. We have 
 not had a night- walk for a long time, and it will be so 
 much more pleasant than being down in the mists of 
 a marsh." 
 
 " And you are prepared to sleep on a couple of chairs 
 in the smoking-room of a public-house ? " I ask of Miss 
 Bell. 
 
 " I dare say we shall get accommodation of some 
 kind," she replies, meekly. 
 
 " Oh, I am quite sure Mademoiselle is right ; there 
 is so. much more adventure in going to this small 
 place on the top of a hill," cried the Lieutenant. 
 
 Of course Mademoiselle was right. Mademoiselle 
 was always right now. And when that was under- 
 stood, Queen Titania never even attempted to offer an 
 objection, so that in all affairs pertaining to our trip 
 the rude force of numbers triumphed over the protests 
 of an oppressed and long-suffering minority. 
 
 But only change the relative positions, and then what 
 a difference there was ! When the Lieutenant hinted 
 in the remotest way that Bell might do so and so with 
 the horses, she was all attention. For the first time 
 in her career she allowed the interests of justice to 
 moderate her partiality for Pollux. That animal, 
 otherwise the best of horses, was a trifle older than his 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 23 
 
 companion, and had profited by his years so far as to 
 learn a little cunning. He had got into a trick accord- 
 ingly of allowing Castor — the latter being younger and 
 a good deal " freer " — to take more than his share of the 
 work. Pollux had acquired the art of looking as if he 
 were perpetually straining at the collar, while all the 
 time he was letting his neighbour exercise to the full 
 that willingness which was his chief merit. JSTow Bell 
 had never interfered to alter this unequal division of 
 labour. Queen Tita knew well how to make the older 
 horse do his fair share ; but Bell encouraged him in 
 his idleness, and permitted his companion to work out 
 of all reason. Now, however, when the Lieutenant 
 pointed out the different action of the horses, and said 
 she should moderate the efforts of the one, while 
 waking up the other to a sense of his duties, she was 
 quite obedient. When the whip was used at all — 
 which was seldom enough, for both horses were suffi- 
 ciently free — it was Pollux that felt the silk. The 
 Lieutenant fancied he was giving Bell lessons in driv- 
 ing, whereas he was only teaching her submissiveness. 
 
 That golden sheet of rain had disappeared in the 
 west, and the yellow light had sunk further and further 
 down behind far bands of dark cloud. A grey dusk 
 was falling over the green landscape, and the birds 
 were growing mute in the woods and the hedges. In 
 the pervading silence we heard only the patter of the 
 horses' feet and the light rolling of the phaeton, as we 
 sped onward down the long slopes and along the plain. 
 We passed Four-shire- Stone, the adjacent shires being 
 Worcester, Warwick, Gloucester, and Oxford ; and then, 
 getting on by a piece of common, we rattled into a long 
 and straggling village, with one or two large and open 
 thoroughfares. 
 
 Moreton-in-the-Marsh was asleep, and we left it asleep. 
 There were still a few men lounging about the corner 
 public-house, but the women and children had all 
 retired into their cottages from the chill night-air. In 
 some of the windows the light of a candle was visible. 
 The dark elms behind the houses were growing darker. 
 
124 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 Between Moreton and Bourton yon plunge still 
 deeper into this great and damp valley, and the way 
 lies through a rich vegetation which seems to have 
 thriven well in this low situation. The hedges along 
 the roadside are magnificent; the elms behind them 
 constitute a magnificent avenue extending for nearly 
 a couple of miles ; all around are dense woods. As we 
 drove rapidly through this country, it almost seemed 
 as though we could see the white mists around us, 
 although the presence of the vapour was only known 
 to us by the chilling touch of the air. On this July 
 night we grew cold. Tita hoped there would be a fire 
 at the hostelry on the top of the mountain, and she 
 besought Bell to muffle up her throat, so that we should 
 not be deprived of our ballads by the way. 
 
 At last we beheld the hill before us.. 
 
 " It is not very like the Messen," says Tita. 
 
 " But I have no doubt there is a very good inn at 
 the top," remarks the Lieutenant; "for after this hill 
 the people would naturally stop to rest their horses." 
 
 " And we shall get up to see the sun rise, as we did 
 on the Messen ? " asks Bell, with a fine innocence ; for 
 she knows the opinions of some of us on the subject of 
 early rising. " Do you remember the fat little woman 
 who had walked up all by herself in the morning, and 
 appealed to us all to tell her the names of the moun- 
 tains, that she might write them down ? " 
 
 " And how oddly she turned up again at nearly every 
 railway station we stopped at, with all her luggage around 
 her ! " says Tita. 
 
 " I believe," says Bell, " she is still sailing all through 
 Europe on a shoal of bandboxes and portmanteaus. I 
 wish I could draw the fat little woman balancing her- 
 self in that circle of luggage, you know, and floating 
 about comfortably and placidly like a bottle bobbing 
 about in the sea. She may have drifted up to St. 
 Petersburg by this time." 
 
 " I think we have," says the Lieutenant, who is lead- 
 ing the horses , up the steep hill, and who rubs his 
 chilled hands from time to time. 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 125 
 
 "We reach tlie centre of the straggling line of houses 
 which must be Bourton, and, behold ! there is no inn. 
 In the dusk we can descry the tower of a small church, 
 and here the cottages thicken into the position which 
 ought to be dominated by an inn, but there is no sign 
 of any such thing. Have we climbed this precipitous 
 steep, and have Castor and Pollux laboriously dragged 
 our phaeton and luggage up, all for nothing ? The 
 Count asks a startled villager, who points to a wayside 
 house standing at the higher extremity of the row. 
 Where is the familiar signboard, or the glowing bar, or 
 the entrance to the stables ? Von Eosen surrenders his 
 charge of the horses, and walks into the plain-looking 
 house. It is an inn. We begin to perceive in the dusk 
 that a small board over the doorway bears the name of 
 " Seth Dyde." We find, however, instead of a land- 
 lord, a landlady — a willing, anxious, energetic woman, 
 who forthwith sets to work to take our party into this 
 odd little place. For dinner or supper, just as we 
 choose to call it, she will give us ham and eggs, with 
 either tea or beer. She will get two bedrooms for us ; 
 and perhaps the single gentleman will accept a shake- 
 down in the parlour. In that room a fire is lit in a 
 trice ; a lamp is brought in ; and presently the cheerful 
 blaze in the huge fire-place illuminates the curious old- 
 fashioned chamber, with its carpets, and red table-cloth, 
 and gloomy furniture. A large tray appears — an orna- 
 mental teapot is produced. Sounds are heard of at- 
 tendants whipping through the place — so anxious and 
 so dexterous is this good woman. And Queen Tita, 
 who is merciless in one respect, examines the cups, 
 saucers, forks, and knives, and deigns to express her 
 sense of the creditable cleanliness and order of the 
 solitary inn. 
 
 Meanwhile, the horses. 
 
 " Oh," says the Lieutenant, coming in out of the dark, 
 " I have found a famous fellow— the first man I have 
 seen in England who does his work well with grooming 
 a horse. He is an excellent fellow — I have seen nothing 
 like it.. The horses are well off this night, I can assure 
 
1 26 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 you — you will see how good they look to-morrow 
 morning." 
 
 " It is strange so good an ostler should be found 
 here," remarks Tita. 
 
 "But he is not an ostler," replies the Lieutenant, 
 rubbing his hands at the fire ; " he is a groom to some 
 gentleman near. The ostler is away. He does his 
 work as a favour, and he does it so that I think the 
 gentleman must keep some racing horses." 
 
 "How do you manage to find out all these things 
 about the people you meet?" asked Titania, with a 
 gracious smile. 
 
 "Find out ! " replied the tall young man, with his 
 blue eyes staring. "I do not think I find out any 
 more than others. It is people talk to you. And it is 
 better to know a little of a man you give your horses 
 to— and there is some time to talk when you are seeing 
 after the horses — and so — that is perhaps why they 
 tell me." 
 
 " But you have not to see about your horses when 
 you are in a bookseller's shop at nine in the morning, 
 and the young lady there tells you about the milliners' 
 shops and the students," says my Lady. 
 
 " Oh, she was a very nice girl," remarks the Lieu- 
 tenant, as if that were sufficient explanation. 
 
 " But you talk to everyone, whether they are young 
 ladies, or innkeepers, or grooms : is it to perfect your 
 pronunciation of English ? " 
 
 " Yes, that is it," said the young man, probably glad 
 to arrive at any solution of the problem. 
 
 " Then you ought not to speak to ostlers." 
 
 " But there is no ostler who talks so very bad as 
 I do— I know it is very, very bad " 
 
 "I am sure you are mistaken," says Bell, quite 
 warmly, but looking down ; " I think you speak very 
 good English — and it is a most difficult language to 
 pronounce— and I am sure there are few Germans who 
 can speak it as freely as you can." 
 
 " All that is a very good compliment, Mademoiselle," 
 he said, with a laugh that caused Bell to look rather 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 127 
 
 embarrassed. "I am very glad if I could think that, 
 but it is impossible. And as for freedom of speaking 
 — oh, yes, you can speak freely, comfortably, if you are 
 going about the country, and meeting strangers, and 
 talking to anyone, and not caring whether you mistake 
 or not ; but it is different when you are in a room with 
 very polite English ladies who are strangers to you — 
 and you are introduced — and you do not know how 
 to say those little sentences that are proper to the 
 time. That is very difficult — very annoying. But 
 it is very surprising the number of your English 
 ladies who have learned German at school ; while the 
 French ladies, they know nothing of that, or of any- 
 thing that is outside Paris. I do think them the most 
 useless of women — very nice to look at, and very 
 charming in their ways, perhaps — but not sensible, 
 honest, frank like the English women, and not familiar 
 with the seriousness of the world, and not ready to see 
 the troubles of other people. But your Englishwoman 
 who is very frank to be amused, and can enjoy herself 
 when there is a time for that — who is generous in time 
 of trouble, and is not afraid, and can be firm and active 
 and yet very gentle, and who does not think always 
 of herself, but is ready to help other people, and can 
 look after a house, and manage affairs — that is a better 
 kind of woman, I think — more to be trusted — more of 
 a companion — oh, there is no comparison ! " 
 
 All this time the Lieutenant was busy stirring up the 
 fire, and placing huge lumps of coal on the top ; and he 
 had obviously forgotten that he was saying these things 
 to two Englishwomen. Tita seemed rather amused, 
 and kept looking at Bell ; Bell said nothing, but pre- 
 tended to be arranging the things on the table. When 
 the Lieutenant came back from the fire, he had appa- 
 rently forgotten his complimentary speech; and was 
 regarding with some curiosity the mighty dish of ham 
 and eggs that had come in for our supper. 
 
 That was a very comfortable and enjoyable repast. 
 When the chill of driving through the fogs of the plain 
 had worn off, we found that it was not so very cold up 
 
128 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 here on the hill. A very liberal and honest appetite 
 seemed to prevail; and there was a tolerable attack 
 made on the ample display of ham and eggs. As for 
 the beer that our Lieutenant drank, it is not fair to tell 
 stories. He said it was good beer, to begin with. Then 
 he thought it was excellent beer. At length he said he 
 had not tasted better since he left London. 
 
 Women get accustomed to many things during the 
 course of a rambling journey like this. You should 
 have seen how naturally Queen Tita brought forth the 
 bezique-cards directly after supper, and how unthink- 
 ingly Bell fetched some matches from the mantelpiece 
 and placed them on the table. My Lady had wholly 
 forgotten her ancient horror of cigar smoke — in any 
 case, as she pointed out, it was other people's houses we 
 were poisoning with the odour. As for Bell, she openly 
 declared that she enjoyed the scent of cigars ; and 
 that in the open air, on a summer evening, it was as 
 pleasant to her as the perfume of the wild roses or 
 the campions. 
 
 However, there was no bezique. We fell to talking. 
 It became a question as to which could find the freshest 
 phrases and the strongest adjectives to describe his or 
 her belief that this was the only enjoyable fashion of 
 travelling. The abuse that was poured upon trains, 
 stations, railway porters, and the hurry of cabs in the 
 morning, was excessive. Time-tables of all sorts were 
 spoken of with an animosity which was wonderful to 
 observe when it came along with the soft and pleasant 
 undertones of our Bonny Bell's voice. Tita said she 
 should never go abroad any more. The Lieutenant 
 vowed that England was the most delightful country in 
 the world to drive through. The present writer remarked 
 that the Count had much to see yet; whereupon the 
 foolish young man declared he could seek for no plea- 
 santer days than those he had just spent, and wished, 
 with some unnecessary emphasis, that they might go 
 on for ever. At this moment Bell rose and went to the 
 window. 
 
 Then we heard an exclamation. Looking round, we 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 129 
 
 found the shutters open, and lo ! through the window 
 we could see the white glare of moonlight falling into 
 the empty thoroughfare, and striking on the w^all on the 
 other side of the way. 
 
 " It cannot be very cold outside," Bell remarks. 
 
 " Bell ! " cries Queen Tita, " you don't mean to go out 
 at this time of night ! " 
 
 " Why not, Madame ? " says the Lieutenant. " Was it 
 not agreed before we came up the hill? And when 
 could you get a more beautiful night? I am sure it 
 will be more beautiful than the sunrise from the top of 
 the Messen." 
 
 " Oh, if you think so," says my Lady, with a gentle 
 courtesy, " by all means let us go out for a little walk." 
 
 That is the way affairs began to be ordered about to 
 suit the fancies of those young nincompoops. What 
 little vestige of authority remained with the eldest of 
 the group was exerted to secure a provision of shawls 
 and rugs. Bell was not loth. She had a very pretty 
 grey shawl. She had also a smart little grey hat, which 
 suited it; and as the hat was trimmed with blue, 
 the grey shawl could not have a prettier decora- 
 tion than the blue ribbon of the guitar. Who pro- 
 posed it I cannot say; but Bell had her guitar with 
 her when we went out into the bright wonder of 
 the moonlight. 
 
 Bourton-on-the-Hill was now a mass of glittering 
 silver, and sharp, black shadows. Below us we could 
 see the dark tower of the church, gleaming grey on the 
 one side ; then a mass of houses in deep shadow, with 
 a radiance shining from their tiles and slates ; then the 
 grey road down the hill, and on one side of it a big wall, 
 with its flints sparkling. But when we got quite to the 
 summit, and clambered on to a small piece of common 
 where were some felled trees, what words can describe 
 the extraordinary view that lay around us ? The village 
 and its small church seemed to be now half-way down 
 the hill ; whereas the great plain of the landscape 
 appeared to have risen high up on the eastern horizon, 
 where the almost invisible stars met the dark woods of 
 
 K 
 
13° 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 Oxfordshire. Over this imposing breadth of wood and 
 valley and meadow — with its dark lines of trees, its 
 glimmerings of farm-houses, and winding streams — the 
 flood of moonlight lay so softly that the world itself 
 seemed to have grown clear from underneath. There 
 were none of the wild glares of white surfaces, and the 
 ebony blackness of shadows which threw everything 
 around us into sharp outline; but a far-reaching and 
 mellow glamour that showed us the mists lying along 
 the river-tracks, and only revealed to us the softened 
 outlines and configurations of the land. If there had 
 been a ruddy light in Moreton-in-the-Marsh, we should 
 have seen it; but the distant village seemed dead; and 
 it, as well as all the great tract of wooded country 
 around it, was whitened over by this softened and silent 
 and almost sepulchral radiance that lay somehow be- 
 tween the dark blue vault overhead and the vast plain 
 beneath. It was but a young moon, but the exceeding 
 rarity of the air lent strength to its radiance. 
 
 " Does not moonlight give you the impression that 
 you can hear far ? " said Bell in a rather low voice, 
 as if the silence and the stars had overawed her. " It 
 is like frost. You fancy you could hear bells ringing 
 a hundred miles across the clear air." 
 
 "Mademoiselle, you will let us hear your singing 
 in this stillness ? " said the Lieutenant. 
 
 "Jo, I cannot sing now," she said ; and the very 
 gentleness of her voice forbade him to ask again. 
 
 We passed along the road. The night air was sweet 
 with the odour of flowers. Out in the west, where 
 the moonlight was less strong, the stars were faintly 
 twinkling. Not a breath of wind stirred ; and yet 
 it seemed to us that if a sound had been uttered any- 
 where in the world, it must have been carried to us on 
 this height. We were as gods up here in the cold sky 
 and the moonlight ; and far over the earth, sleep had 
 sealed the lips and the eyes of those poor creatures 
 who had forgotten their sorrows for a time. Should 
 we send them dreams to sweeten their lives by some 
 glimpses of a world different from their own, and cause 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 them to awaken in the morning with some reminiscence 
 of the trance in their softened memories ? Or would 
 it not be better to drown them in the fast and hard 
 sleep of fatigue, so that the dawn might bring them a 
 firmer heart and no vanity of wishes ? Gods as we were, 
 we had no care for ourselves. It was enough to be. 
 Could not the night last for ever, and keep us up here 
 near the stars, and give us content and an absolute want 
 of anxiety for the morrow ? Queen Titania wandered 
 on as if she were in an enchanted garden, followed by 
 a black shadow on the gleaming white road ; and her 
 face, with all its gentleness and delicacy, seemed to have 
 gained something of a pale and wistful tenderness as 
 the white light shone down over the dark woods and 
 crossed our path. As for Bell — but who can describe 
 the grace of the figure that walked before us — the 
 light touching the grey shawl, and the fine masses of 
 brown hair that hung all around the shapely neck and 
 shoulders ? We four were in England, sure enough ; 
 but it seemed to us then that we were very much 
 alone, and about as near to the starry world as to the 
 definite landscape lying far away on the plain. 
 
 We turned, however, when it was found that the 
 road did not lead to any view of the western country. 
 It seemed to run along a high level, cutting through 
 between sand-pits, farms, and woods ; and so we made 
 our way back to the bit of common overlooking Bour- 
 ton, and there we had a few minutes' rest before getting 
 into the small inn, whose windows were gleaming red 
 into the white moonlight. 
 
 " Now you must sing to us something, Mademoiselle," 
 said the Lieutenant ; " and here is a fine big tree cut 
 down, that we can all sit on ; and you shall appear as 
 Apollo in disguise, charming the natives of this land- 
 scape with your song." 
 
 "But I do not know anything that Apollo sang," 
 said Bell sitting down, nevertheless, and taking the 
 guitar from her companion. 
 
 " That is no matter. You must think yourself some 
 one else — why not Zerlina, in this strange place, and 
 
 k 2 
 
132 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 you see Fra Diavolo sitting alone on the rock, and you 
 sing of him, yes ? This is a very good place for highway- 
 men. I have no doubt they have sat here, and watched 
 the gentleman's carriage come up the road beneath ; 
 and then, hey ! with a rush and a flourish of pistols, 
 and a seizing of the horses, and Madame shrieks in 
 the carriage, and her husband, trembling, but talking 
 very brave, gives up his money, and drives on, with 
 much swearing, but very contented to have no hurt." 
 
 "You are very familiar with the ways of highway 
 robbers," said Bell, with a smile. 
 
 " Mademoiselle, I am an Uhlan," he replied gravely. 
 Two at least of the party startled the midnight air 
 with their laughter over this unintentional rebuke ; but 
 Bell, conscious of past backsli dings, seemed rather discom- 
 fited, and hastened to say that she would, if he pleased, 
 sing the song in which Zerlina describes the bandit. 
 
 She sang it, too, very charmingly, in that strange 
 silence. Knowing that we could not well see her face, 
 she lent herself to the character, and we could hear 
 the terror of Zerlina thrilling through her experiences 
 of the dreaded Diavolo. " Diavolo ! Diavolo ! " the 
 dark woods round us seemed to say. " Diavolo ! Dia- 
 volo ! " throbbed the bass strings of the guitar ; and 
 the girl's voice trembled in its low tones as she pro- 
 nounced the name. If any lonely stranger had been 
 passing along the highway at this hour, what would he 
 have thought of this strange thing, — a beautiful girl 
 seated overhead, amid the stars, apparently, with the 
 moonlight striking on her exquisite face and her masses 
 of hair, while she sang in a low and impassioned voice, 
 and struck chords from some strange instrument? 
 Would she not appear as some wild vision of the 
 Lorelei ? Or, considering that companions were visible, 
 and some talking and jesting occasionally heard, might 
 not this be a company of strolling play-actors, such 
 as all honest persons were aforetime conjured to dis- 
 countenance and suppress? 1 
 
 1 "All persons concerned are hereby desired to take notice of and 
 suppress all mountebanks," rope-dancers, ballad-singers, &c.,that have 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 33 
 
 You know that when Zerlina has sung the first 
 verses of her dramatic song, Diavolo, disguised as a 
 marquis, suddenly rises and sings the concluding verse 
 himself. Bell accordingly handed the guitar to Count 
 von Eosen, with a pretty smile. But would a young 
 man, on such a night, sing a ballad about a mere ban- 
 dit ? No ! The Lieutenant was not averse to act the 
 character of Diavolo, so far as his minstrelsy went, 
 but he adopted one of his gentler moods. Lightly 
 running his ringers over the strings, he began to sing 
 of Agnese la Zitella, and how had he learned to 
 soften his voice so ? The pretty Agnes was told that 
 she was as sweet as the Spring, and then she is 
 made to call forth her lover because the night is so 
 fair — so much fairer than the day — and so silent. 'Tis 
 a pleasant barcarole, and conveys a message as well 
 as another. But lest he should be thought too bold 
 probably, our -Uhlan rose abruptly when he had finished 
 the song, and said lightly, with a laugh — 
 
 " There ! was not that touching enough for Diavolo ? 
 He was a very accomplished person, to have all the 
 rough delights of a brigand, and then go about dressed 
 as a marquis, and amuse himself with adventures. 
 I think they treated him badly in the end, if I do 
 remember right." 
 
 Bell did not answer. She had got back the guitar. 
 Apparently she was looking far down over the moonlit 
 plain — her eyes grown distant and thoughtful — and as 
 her fingers wandered over the strings, we heard, almost 
 as in a dream, the various careless notes shape them- 
 selves into a melody — a wild, sad melody, that seemed 
 to breathe the tenderness and the melancholy of this 
 still night. " Silent, 0 Moyle, be the sound of thy 
 waters " — perhaps that was the air ; or perhaps it was 
 the heart-breaking " Coolin " — one coujld scarcely say ; 
 but when at last we heard no more of it, Tita rose and 
 
 not a licence from the Master of his Majesty's Revels (which for the 
 present year are all printed with Mack letters, and the king's arms 
 in red) . . . and all those that have licences with red andhlack letters, 
 are to come to the office to change them for licences as they are now 
 altered. April 17, 1684." 
 
134 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 said we must go indoors. There was something quite 
 regretful in her tone. It seemed as if she were bidding 
 good-bye to a scene not soon to be met with again. 
 
 The Lieutenant gave his hand to Bell, and assisted 
 her down the steep bank into the road j and we passed 
 on until the window of the inn was found glimmering 
 red through the moonlight. We cast a brief glance 
 around. Bourton lay beneath us, asleep. The great 
 landscape beyond remained dark and silent under the 
 luminous whiteness of the air. The silence seemed too 
 sacred to be broken. 
 
 " Good night," said Tita to the Lieutenant ; " I hope 
 you have spent at least one pleasant evening with us on 
 this journey." 
 
 "I have spent many, Madame," he said, earnestly, 
 "and many very pleasant mornings and days, and I 
 hope we shall have a great many more. I do think we 
 four ought to turn vagrants — gipsies, you call them — 
 and go away altogether, and never go back any more to 
 a large town." 
 
 "What do you say, Bell ?" asked Tita, with a kindly, 
 if half-mischievous, look. 
 
 "I suppose we get to Worcester to-morrow," said 
 Bell, with not much appearance of joy in her face ; 
 and then she bade good-night to us all, and left with 
 my Lady. 
 
 " There it is," said the Lieutenant, with an impatient 
 flinging down of his cap on the table. " That is what 
 interferes with all our pleasure. You go away on the 
 most delightful excursion in the world — you have the 
 most beautiful scenes, and pleasant companions, and 
 freedom — everything you can wish ; and then the young 
 lady who ought to be more happy than anyone — who is 
 at the time of life to have no care but to enjoy her 
 prettiness and "her good temper, and all that who is 
 the pleasant ornament of the excursion, and is a great 
 delight to all of us — then she is vexed and frightened 
 because that this — this — this contemptible fellow threat- 
 ens to meet her in one of those big towns. Sacker- 
 rrrr-ment ! I do hope he will come and have it 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 35 
 
 over — but if he is annoying — if he troubles her any 
 more " 
 
 Thus do we poor mortals fret and vex ourselves in the 
 midst of our happiest circumstances. But at last there 
 comes a time for sleep. And soon this solitary inn on 
 the hill was as quiet and peaceful as the great world 
 outside, where the moonlight seemed to have hushed 
 the very winds to rest, and where the far woods and the 
 streams and the low hills along the edge of the land lay 
 still and dark under the cold majesty of the stars. 
 
 [Note by Queen Titania, written at Worcester on the evening of the 
 following day. — "Any comment of mine on the foregoing is at the 
 moment unnecessary ; we have other matters to engage our attention. 
 Arthur has come. I can find no words to express the deep and serious 
 annoyance which this escapade is likely to cause. All our plans may 
 be upset ; for he can scarcely explain his present wild proceedings 
 without provoking some sort of final agreement with Bell. And 
 suppose she should consent to be engaged to him, how are we to 
 continue our journey ? Of course he will not allow her : if he had not 
 disliked it, he would not be here now. Certainly, I think Bell has 
 acted imprudently ; for I told her that if she did not answer his letter, 
 he would be sure to imagine all manner of things, and come and -see 
 her. The consequence is that she is, I fear, in a great dilemma : for I 
 do not see how she can avoid either refusing him altogether, or 
 consenting to everything that he asks. And as we can't continue our 
 journey till Monday, he will have a whole day to persecute her into 
 giving him an answer of some kind ; and then she is so foolishly good- 
 hearted that, if he is only pathetic enough, she will say 'yes' to 
 everything. It is most provoking. If we could only get this one day 
 over, and him back to London! "] 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE AVENGER. 
 
 " Love had ordained that it was Abra's turn 
 To mix the sweets, and minister the urn. " 
 
 Surely nine o'clock was early enough for breakfast at 
 this remote little inn on the top of the hill; and 
 indeed, when we parted the night before, after our 
 moonlight improvisation of Fra Diavolo, that was the 
 hour agreed upon. Nine o'clock ! Going down at a 
 
136 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 quarter past eight, with some notion that the Lieutenant 
 might have sat up half the night consuming his wrath 
 in the smoking of many cigars, and might now be still 
 in bed, I heard voices. Sometimes there was a laugh — 
 and no one who had once tfieard Bell's musical laugh 
 could ever mistake it. When I went into the parlour 
 which had been the Lieutenant's bedroom, I found that 
 all traces of his occupation were gone : a fire was 
 burning brightly in the grate, the breakfast tray was 
 laid, and Bell sat at the open window, talking to Von 
 Eosen himself, who was standing out on the pavement 
 in the full blaze of the morning sunshine that now 
 filled the main thoroughfare of Bourton-on-the-Hill. 
 
 Bell looks round with a startled air. 
 
 " My dear," I say to her, " travelling is doing you a 
 world of good. Early rising is an excellent thing for 
 young people." 
 
 " I did not know when you might want to start," says 
 Bell, gently, and rather averting her eyes — for which 
 there was no reason whatever. 
 
 At this moment Queen Titania came down, looking 
 brisk and cheerful, as she always does in the morning. 
 She glanced at the fire, at the clean table, at Bell sitting 
 by the window, and at the blaze of sunlight on the wall 
 on the other side of the street. Apparently, this pleasant 
 picture put her into an excellent humour, and she said 
 to the Lieutenant, with one of her brightest looks — 
 
 " Well, have you been making discoveries this morn- 
 ing ? Have you made the acquaintance of many people ? 
 Has Bourton-on-the-Hill anything peculiar about it?" 
 
 " Oh yes, Madame," said the Lieutenant seriously, 
 u something very singular, which you will not like to 
 hear. This is an English village, in the middle of the 
 country, and yet they never have any milk here — never. 
 They cannot get any. The farmers prefer to make 
 butter, and they will not sell milk on any inducement." 
 
 " Why," said Tita, " that is the reason of our having 
 no milk with our tea last evening. But is there no one 
 the landlady can beg a little milk from ?" 
 
 The Lieutenant looked at Bell, and that young lady 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 137 
 
 endeavoured to conceal a smile. They had evidently 
 been speculating on Tita's dismay before we came down. 
 
 " The great farmer in the neighbourhood/' continued 
 the Lieutenant, gravely, " is a Mrs. Phillips. I think 
 she owns all the cattle — all the milk. I did send to her 
 a polite message an hour ago, to ask if she would 
 present us with a little of it — but no; there is no 
 answer. At the moment that Mademoiselle came down, 
 I was going up to Mrs. Phillips's farm, to get the milk 
 for you, but Mademoiselle was too proud for that, and 
 would not allow me to go, and said she would not take 
 it now, since the woman had refused it." 
 
 " And how did you propose to overcome Mrs. 
 Phillips's obstinacy ? " asked Tita, who seemed pos- 
 sessed by a fear that sooner or later the predatory 
 instincts of this Uhlan would get us into trouble. 
 
 " Oh, I do not know, but I should have got it some 
 way," said the Lieutenant ; and with that he held out a 
 small book he had in his hand. " See ! I have made 
 more discoveries this morning. Here is a note-book I 
 have found, of a young lady at school, who has been 
 staying, perhaps, at this house; and it has given me 
 much amusement — oh, very much amusement, and in- 
 struction also. It is just the same as if I had been in 
 the school with her, and she has told me all about her 
 teachers, and the other girls, and all that. Shall I read 
 some to you % " 
 
 " Now, is it fair," said Bell, " to peep into a young 
 lady's secrets like that ? " 
 
 " But I have done so already," replied Von Eosen, 
 coolly. " I have read it all — and now I will tell you 
 some of it. First, there are addresses of friends — that 
 is nothing. Then there are stitches of knitting — that 
 is nothing, only the young lady seems correct and 
 methodist — no, methodical, I should say. Then there 
 are notes of lectures, and very much good information 
 in them, oh, very good indeed — I am not surprised your 
 English young ladies know very much. Let me see : 
 ' Epic poetry we like, hecause they treat of great men and 
 great actions. " Paradise Lost " admired for its noble 
 
THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 language. Milton a Puritan. England receives solidity 
 of character from the Puritans. Dry den and Byron are 
 not read, although very great. Byron hated his own race 
 - — is not a good poet to read.' This is very good instruc- 
 tion ; but she hastens now to put down something about 
 two other girls, who were perhaps at the lecture. She 
 says : ' Shocking, impertinent, ill-bred creatures ; my 
 spirit recoils from them.' Then there is a question 
 addressed to her neighbour: 'Do you see how Miss 
 Williams has got her hair done V " 
 
 Here Queen Titania protested against these revela- 
 tions, and would have held out her hand for the book ; 
 but the Lieutenant only stepped back a few inches from 
 the window, and said, seriously — 
 
 " There is much better information to come. Here 
 she puts down in order the phrases which one of the 
 masters has used to her class : polite phrases, she says, 
 to use to ladies. 1. You degrade yourselves. 2. How 
 much more kitchen-mnidism 1 3. Simply offensive. 4z. It 
 shows how you have been brought up. 5. / will put a 
 stop to this impertinence. 6. Silence, ladies ! 7. Pretty 
 conduct ! I am afraid he has had an unruly class. Then 
 the young lady has a little piece of composition which 
 I think is the beginning of a novel. She says : ' The 
 summit of Camberwell Grove, which forms part of the 
 lordly elevation known as Denmark Hill, is one of the 
 most charming and secluded retreats around the great 
 metropolis. Here, in the spring-time, groves of lindens 
 'put forth their joyous leaves, and birds of various colours 
 flit through the branches, singing hymns of praise. On 
 the one side, the dreary city dwells behind an enchanted 
 veil of trees ; on the other, you pass into emerald fields, 
 which stretch onwards to the Arabian magnificence of the 
 Crystal Palace. In this lofty and picturesque spot, Lord 
 Arthur Beauregard was accustomed to pace, musing on 
 the mystery and gloom which had enveloped him since he 
 left the cradle! There is no more of this very good 
 story, but on the next page there is a curious thing ; 
 there are three lines all surrounded by a scroll, and do 
 you know what is written? — 'A Woman can do ANY 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 139 
 
 THING with a man by not contradicting him ; ' and under- 
 neath the scroll is written, ' Don't I vrish this was true ? 
 
 Helen M .' None of the rest is written so clearly 
 
 as this -" 
 
 " Connt von Kosen, I will not listen to any more ! " 
 cried Tita. "It is most unfair of you to have been 
 reading this young lady's confessions " 
 
 " I get them in a public inn : I have the right, have 
 I not ? " remonstrated the Lieutenant. " It is not for 
 pleasure — it is for my instruction that I read. Oh, 
 there are very strange things in this book." 
 
 " Pray give it to me," said Bell, quite gently. 
 
 He had refused to surrender it to my Lady ; but the 
 moment that Bell asked for it, he came forward and 
 handed it in through the window. Then he came in 
 to breakfast. 
 
 Little time was spent at breakfast; the sun was 
 shining too brightly outside. We called for our bill, 
 which was brought in. It w 7 as entitled "Bill of Fare." 
 Our dinner of the previous evening was called tea, 
 and charged at the rate of one shilling a head. Our 
 breakfasts were one shilling each. Our bedrooms were 
 one shilling each. Any traveller, therefore, who pro- 
 poses to stay at Bourton-on-the-Hill, cannot do better 
 than put up at the inn of W. Seth Dyde, especially 
 as there is no other ; and I heartily wish that he may 
 enjoy something of the pleasant companionship, the 
 moonlight, and the morning freshness that graced our 
 sojourn on the top of this Worcestershire hill. 
 
 Then into the phaeton again, and away we go through 
 the white sunlight and the light morning breeze that is 
 blowing about these lofty woods ! There is a resinous 
 odour in the air, coming from the furze and the ferns. 
 The road glares in the sunlight. Overhead the still blue 
 is scarcely flecked by a cloud ; but all the same there is 
 a prevailing coolness that makes the driving through the 
 morning air delicious. It is a lonely country — this 
 stretch of forest and field on the high level between 
 Bourton and Broadway. We pass Bourton Clump, and 
 leave Bourton Wood on the right. We skirt Upton 
 
140 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 Wold, and get on by Furze Heath. Then, all at once, 
 the land in front of us seems to drop down ; we come in 
 sight of an immense stretch of blue plain, from which 
 the thin mists of the morning have not wholly risen. 
 We are on the top of the famous Broadway Hill. 
 
 By the side of the road there is a strange, old- 
 fashioned little building, which is apparently a wayside 
 chapel. Count von Eosen jumps down to have a look 
 at this odd relic of our former Catholicism, which has 
 remained on the summit of this hill for several centuries. 
 He can discover nothing but a sign which tells that this 
 sacred edifice now contains wines, spirits, and beer ; so he 
 comes back, and goes up to the corner of a field opposite, 
 where a middle-aged man, surrounded by some young 
 folks, is making hay. In the utter stillness of the place, 
 we can hear all the questions and answers. The small 
 building is not so very old ; it never was a church. The 
 stones there mark the boundary between Gloucester and 
 Worcester. The view from this place is considered 
 unrivalled for extent; you can see the Black Sandy 
 Mountains on a very clear day. 
 
 " Indeed ! " says the Count. " Where are they, the 
 mountains you speak of ? " 
 
 " I don' knaw, sir — I've heerd tell on 'em — I never 
 wur theear." 
 
 Going down this steep hill Tita looks anxious. A 
 bad stumble, and we should go rolling over the little 
 wall into the ravine beneath. One has a far-off reminis- 
 cence of Switzerland in watching the horses hanging 
 back from the pole in this fashion, while every bend of 
 the road seems more precipitous than its predecessor. 
 Then we get down to the plain, rattle through the level 
 and straggling village of Broadway, and drive into the 
 fields again, where the sun is lying warmer than it was 
 up over the top of the hill. 
 
 There is a small boy in a smockfrock sitting under- 
 neath the hedge, whittling a stick, while a shepherd's 
 dog lies on the grass beside him. 
 
 " Evesham ? " calls out the Count, as we pass, merely 
 because there has been a little doubt about the road. 
 
OF A rHAETON. 
 
 142 
 
 "Naw, zir," was the answer, uttered with a fine 
 sang-froid. 
 
 Of course we pull up directly. 
 
 " Isn't this the way to Evesham ? " I ask. 
 
 " Yaas, zir," said the boy, coolly looking up from his 
 stick, but sitting stilL 
 
 " This is the way to Evesham ? " 
 
 " Yaas, zir/' 
 
 " Do you know where it is ? " 
 " Naw, zir." 
 
 " He is a very cautious boy," says the Lieutenant, as 
 we drive on ; " a very cautious boy indeed." 
 
 " If he had been asked properly at first," says Bell, 
 with great gravity, "he would have given a proper 
 answer. But when you say, ' Evesham ? ' of course the 
 boy tells you this is not Evesham." 
 
 Evesham, when we did get to it, was found to be a 
 very bright, clean, and lively little town, with the river 
 Avon, slowly gliding through flat meadows, forming a 
 sort of loop around it. In the quaint streets a good 
 amount of business seemed to be going on ; and as we 
 put up at the Crown, and went off for a brief ramble 
 through the place, we found quite an air of fashion in 
 the costume of the young ladies and the young gentle- 
 men whom we met, But the latter, although they had 
 copied very accurately the Prince of Wales's dress of the 
 previous year, and had very stiff collars and prominent 
 canes, had an odd look of robust health in their cheeks, 
 which showed they were not familiar with Piccadilly 
 and the Park ; while the former, although they were 
 very pretty and very neatly attired, ought not to have 
 turned and pretended to look into the shop-windows in 
 order to have a look at Bell's pretty grey dress and hat, 
 and at Queen Titania's more severe but no less grace- 
 ful costume. But Evesham does not often entertain two 
 angels unawares ; and some little curiosity on the part 
 of its inhabitants may be forgiven. 
 
 The people of Evesham are not much given to boating 
 on the Avon ; and so — postponing our usual river ex- 
 cursion until we should reach the Severn— Bell besought 
 
142 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 us to go into a photographer's establishment, and make 
 experiments with oar appearance. The artist in ques- 
 tion lived in a wooden house on wheels ; and there were 
 specimens of his handiwork nailed up outside. Our 
 entrance apparently surprised the photographer, who 
 seemed a little nervous, and perhaps was a trifle afraid 
 that we should smile at his efforts in art. But surely 
 nothing could be more kindly than Bell's suggestions 
 to him and her conversation with him ; for she, as a 
 "professional" herself, conducted the negotiations and 
 arranged the groups. The artist, charmed to see that 
 she knew all about his occult processes, and that she 
 was withal a very courteous and kindly visitor, became 
 almost too confidential with her, and began to talk to 
 her of us three as if we were but blocks of wood and of 
 stone to be played with as these two savants chose. Of 
 the result of the various combinations into which we 
 were thus forced, little need be said. Queen Titania 
 came out very well ; her pale, dark, clear-cut face telling 
 in every picture, and even making us forget the tawdry 
 bit of brass and the purple velvet of the frame. As for 
 the rest of us, a journey is not a good time to have one's 
 portrait taken. The flush of healthy colour produced 
 by the wind, and by much burning of the sun, may look 
 very well on the natural face, but is apt to produce a 
 different effect on glass. 
 
 The Lieutenant, for example, roared with laughter 
 when he saw him self transfigured into a ferocious bandit, 
 with a great black beard, a dark face, and two white 
 holes where his eyes should have been. But the 
 moment he had laughed out, he caught sight of Bell's 
 face. The young lady looked very much vexed, and her 
 eyes were cast down. Instantly the young man said, 
 loud enough for the photographer to hear — 
 
 " I do seem to myself very ridiculous in this English 
 costume. When you are used to uniforms for a very 
 long time, and all at once get into this common dress, 
 you think yourself some other person, and you cannot 
 help laughing at the appearance yourself makes." 
 
 Bell's eyes said " Thank you " as plainly as eyes 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 H3 
 
 could speak ; and then she paid a very grave and gentle 
 compliment to the artist, whom we left beaming over 
 with pride and gratitude towards the young lady. 
 
 " To go flirting with a travelling photographer ! " says 
 Queen Tita, as we go in to luncheon : " for shame, 
 Bell!" 
 
 " No, it was only Mademoiselle's good nature to the 
 poor man," replies the Lieutenant, with an unnecessary 
 tone of earnest protest. "I do think he is the very 
 happiest person in Evesham to-day — that he has not 
 been so happy for many a day." 
 
 " I think the portraits are very good," says Bell, 
 bravely, " if you consider how he has to work." 
 
 " Now you know you can't excuse yourself, Bell," 
 says my Lady. " You paid him compliments that 
 would have turned any man's head; and as for the 
 truth of them — or rather the unblushing perversion 
 of truth in them " 
 
 But at this moment Tita happened to be passing 
 Bell's chair, and she put her hand very gently on the 
 young lady's head, and patted her cheek — a little 
 caressing action which said more than a thousand 
 protestations of affection. 
 
 Our setting out for Worcester was rather a dismal 
 business. Were we school-children who had been 
 playing truant, that we should regard with appre- 
 hension a return to town ? Or were Bell's vague fears 
 contagious ? In vain the Lieutenant sought to cheer 
 her. She knew, and we all of us knew, that if Arthur 
 Ashburton chose to come and ask to see her, nothing 
 could be easier than for him to discover our where- 
 abouts. He was aware of our route, and had been 
 told the names of the principal towns at which we 
 should stop. A party of four arriving from London in 
 a phaeton is not a customary occurrence, and a brief 
 inquiry at the chief hotels in any town would be likely 
 to give him all the information he required. 
 
 Then, as we afterwards discovered, Bell had returned 
 no answer to the letter he had sent to Oxford. She 
 had been too much hurt, and had forborne to reply in 
 
144 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 kind. Who does not know the distracting doubts and 
 fears that an unanswered letter — when one is at a 
 certain age in life — may conjure up, and the terrible 
 suspense that may prompt to the wildest action ? We 
 seemed to share in Bell's dismay. The Lieutenant, 
 however, was light-hearted enough, and, as he relin- 
 quished his attempts to break the silence, he sent the 
 horses on at a good pace, and hummed to himself 
 broken snatches of a ballad, and talked caressingly to 
 Castor and Pollux. 
 
 When we were a few miles from Evesham, without 
 having seen anywhere a glimpse of the obelisk that 
 stands on the famous Evesham plain, it occurred to 
 us that we might as well ask if we were on the proper 
 road. There seemed a curious quietness and pictu- 
 resqueness about the wooded lanes through which we 
 were driving in the calm of the twilight. At length 
 we reached a turnpike at the corner of several unfre- 
 quented paths, and here an old lady was contentedly 
 sewing, while her assistant, a pretty little girl of 
 thirteen, collected the sixpences. Well, we had only 
 come about five miles out of our route. Instead 
 of going by Pershore, we had struck away north- 
 ward, and were now in a labyrinth of country lanes, 
 by any of which we might make our way along 
 through the still landscape to Worcester. Indeed, we 
 had no cause to regret this error. The out-of-the-way 
 road that runs by Flyford Flavell and Broughton 
 Hackett proved to be one of the pleasantest we had 
 traversed. In the clear twilight we found ourselves 
 driving through a silent and picturesque district, the 
 only life visible in which was the abundant game. 
 The partridges that were dusting themselves in the 
 road before us, did not get up and disappear with a 
 strong, level, low flight towards some distant field, but 
 walked sedately into the grass by the roadside, and 
 then passed through the hedge. We saw several 
 pheasants calmly standing at the outskirts of the 
 woods. The plump little rabbits ran about like mice 
 around the fences. The sound of the phaeton wheels 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 ?4S 
 
 was the only noise heard in this peaceful solitude; 
 and as we drove on, the dusk grew apace, and 
 the movements of bird and beast were no longer 
 visible. 
 
 Then a new twilight arose — a faint, clear light 
 shining up from below the horizon, and we knew 
 that the moon would speedily be glimmering through 
 the black branches of the woods. The hamlets we 
 passed showed streaks of red within their -windows. 
 There were glowworms in the road — points of blue 
 fire in the vague darkness. Then we drove into the 
 gloom of the avenues of Spetchley Park ; and finally, 
 with still another glare appearing in the sky — this time 
 a ruddy hue like the reflection of a great fire— we got 
 nearer and nearer to the busy town, and at last heard 
 the horses' feet clattering on a stone street. 
 
 The thoroughfares of Worcester were busy on this 
 Saturday night ; but at length we managed to make our 
 way through the people and vehicles up to the Star 
 Hotel. We drove into the spacious archway, and passed 
 into the hall, while the people were bringing in our 
 luggage. The Lieutenant was, as usual, busy in giving 
 orders about everything, when the head waiter came up 
 and begged to know my name. Then he presented a 
 card. 
 
 " The gentleman is staying at the ' Crown.' Shall I 
 send him a message, sir ? " 
 
 "No," says Tita, interposing; "I will write a note, 
 and ask him to come round to dinner — or supper, which- 
 ever it ought to be called." 
 
 " Oh, has Arthur come ? " says Bell, quite calmly. 
 
 " So it appears, my dear," says Queen Titania ; and as 
 she utters the words, she finds that Von Eosen has come 
 up and has heard. 
 
 "All right," he says cheerfully. "It will be a 
 pleasure to have a visitor at dinner, Madame, will it 
 not ? It is a pity we cannot take him further with us 
 when we start on Monday ; but I suppose he has come 
 on business to Worcester ? " 
 
 The Lieutenant took the matter very coolly. He 
 
 L 
 
146 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 handed Bell and Tita upstairs to look after the disposal 
 of their effects ; and then came into the dining-room to 
 see what arrangements had been made about dinner. 
 
 " If he behaves himself, that is very well and good. 
 You must treat him civilly. But if not — if he is 
 foolish and disagreeable, why " 
 
 The Lieutenant did not say what would happen then. 
 He bethought himself of the horses, and strode away 
 down into the darkness of the yard, humming lightly 
 " Madele, ruck, ruck, ruck, an meine grime Seite ! " He 
 was evidently in no warlike mood. 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 SOME WORCESTER SA.UCE. 
 
 " Faire Emmeline scant had ridden a mile, 
 A mile forth of the towne, 
 When she was aware of her father's men 
 Come galloping over the downe : 
 
 " And foremost came the carlish knight, 
 Sir John of the north countraye ; 
 ' Nowe stop, nowe stop, thou false traitoure, 
 Nor carrye that ladye awaye ! ' " 
 
 " My dear," I say to Queen Titania, as she is fastening 
 a rose in her hair before going down to dinner, " pray 
 remember that Arthur Ashburton is ' also a vertebrate 
 animal.' He has done nothing monstrous or inhuman 
 in paying you a visit." 
 
 " Paying me a visit ? " says Tita, impatiently. " If he 
 had come to see me, I should not care. But you know 
 that he has come to pick a quarrel with Bell ; and that 
 she is likely to grant him everything he asks ; and, if 
 she does not, there will be infinite trouble and vexation. 
 I consider it most provoking — and most thoughtless and 
 inconsiderate on his part — to thrust himself upon us in 
 this way." 
 
 " And yet, after all," I say, as she fastens on a 
 bracelet which was given her nearly twenty years ago 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 U7 
 
 now, " is there anything more natural ? A young man 
 is in love with a young woman " 
 
 " It is his own fault/' she interposes. 
 
 " Perhaps. So much the worse. He ought all 
 the more to have your compassion, instead of your 
 indignant scorn. Well, she leaves his charming society 
 to go off on a wild rampage through the country. A 
 possible rival accompanies her. The young man is torn 
 asunder with doubts and fears. He writes to her. She 
 does not answer. His anxiety becomes a madness ; and 
 forthwith he sets off in pursuit of her. Is there any- 
 thing in all this to brand him as an outcast from 
 humanity ? " 
 
 "Why, look at the folly of it! If the girl had 
 proper spirit, would it not drive her into refusing him 
 altogether ? " 
 
 "Foolish, my dear, yes ! but not criminal. Now the 
 whole of you seem to look on Arthur as a monster of 
 wickedness, because he is anxious to marry the girl he 
 is fond of." 
 
 My Lady alters the disposition of the thin tracery of 
 silver cord which runs through the dark masses of her 
 hair, and as she thus manages to shelve the subject, she 
 says — 
 
 " I suppose we shall have a pleasant time at dinner. 
 Arthur will be fiercely amusing. Plenty of sarcasm 
 going about. Deadly looks of hatred. Jokes as heavy 
 as that one Bell talks of — that was carried to the 
 window by four men, and killed a policeman when it 
 tumbled over." 
 
 My Lady is gently reminded that this story was told 
 of a German, before the date of Bell's conversion ; 
 whereupon she answers coolly — 
 
 " Oh, I do not suppose that Count von Eosen is like 
 all Germans. I think he is quite an exception — a very 
 creditable exception. I know I have never met anyone 
 the least like him before." 
 
 " But heroes were not common in your county, were 
 they?" 
 
 " They were in yours/' says Tita, putting her arm 
 l 2 
 
148 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 within mine, and speaking with the most gracious sweet- 
 ness ; " and that was why they took no notice of you." 
 
 We go downstairs. At the head of the large dining- 
 room, in front of the fireplace, a young man is standing. 
 He has a time-table in his hand, which he is pretending 
 to read, and his hat is on his head. He hastily removes 
 that most important part of an Englishman's attire, 
 when my Lady enters the room, and then he comes 
 forward with a certain apprehension and embarrassed 
 look on his face. If he had been growing nervous about 
 his reception, there was nothing, at all events, to be 
 feared from Queen Titania, who would have welcomed 
 the * * * himself with an effusive courtesy, if only 
 she had regarded it as her duty. 
 
 " Oh, Arthur," she says, her whole face lighting 
 up with a gladness which amazed even me, who am 
 accustomed to watch her ways, " I am really delighted 
 to see you. How good of you to come and spend 
 the evening with us on so short a notice. I hope 
 we have not taken you away from any other engage- 
 ment?" 
 
 "No," says the young man, apparently very much 
 touched by this kindness, " and — and — it is I who ought 
 to apologize for breaking in on you like this." 
 
 " Then you will spend to-morrow with us also ? " says 
 my Lady, quite pleasantly. Indeed, there is nothing 
 like facing the inevitable with a good grace. 
 
 "Yes," says Arthur, rather humbly, "if you think 
 I'm not intruding." 
 
 " Why, your coming will be quite a relief. I should 
 never have forgiven you if you had been in our neigh- 
 bourhood without coming to see us." 
 
 You might think that this little speech was of the 
 nature of a fib. But it was not, just at that moment. 
 When people are absent, Tita is about as cool, and 
 accurate, and severe in her judgment of them as any 
 woman can be ; and she is not disinclined to state her 
 opinion. But once they come near her — and especially 
 if she has to play the part of hostess, and entertain them 
 — the natural and excessive kindness of the woman 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 149 
 
 drives her into the most curious freaks of unconscious 
 hypocrisy. Half an hour before she had been talking 
 of Arthur in a way that would have considerably 
 astonished that young man, if he had known ; and had 
 been looking forward with dismay and vexation to all 
 the embarrassments of his visit. Now, however, that 
 he was there — thrown on her mercy as it were — she 
 showed him a quite inordinate kindness, and that in the 
 most honest way in the world. A couple of minutes 
 sufficed to convince Arthur that he had at least one 
 firm friend in our household. 
 
 He began to look anxiously towards the door. 
 Presently, a voice that he knew pretty well was 
 heard outside ; and then — ominous conjunction ! — the 
 Lieutenant and Bell entered together. Von Rosen 
 had held the door open for his companion, so that 
 Bell advanced first towards our visitor. Her face was 
 quite calm and a trifle reserved ; and yet every one 
 could see that as she shook hands with the young man, 
 there was a timid, half-concealed look of pleasure and 
 welcome in her eyes. He, on his part, was gloomily 
 ceremonious. He scarcely took any notice of the 
 greeting which the Lieutenant carelessly addressed to 
 him. He accompanied us over to the table, and took 
 a seat on the right hand of Tita, with a silence that por- 
 tended evil. We were likely to have a pleasant evening. 
 
 Had he possessed a little more worldly prudence or 
 savoirfaire, he would now have made some light excuse 
 for his being present. He ought, for form's sake, to 
 have given us to understand that, as he was obliged 
 to be in Oxford, he had come on by rail to pay us a 
 visit. But as it was, no explanation was forthcoming. 
 Our Apemantus had apparently dropped from the skies. 
 He looked very uncomfortable ; and replied in mono- 
 syllables to the various and continuous remarks that 
 Tita addressed to him. He had never spoken to Bell, 
 who sat next him, and who was herself silent. Indeed, 
 the constraint and embarrassment from which she was 
 suffering began to vex the Lieutenant, who strove in 
 vain to conquer it by every means in his power. 
 
150 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 The barometer steadily fell. The atmosphere grew 
 more and more gloomy, until a storm of some sort was 
 inevitable. The anxious efforts of Queen Tita to intro- 
 duce some cheerfulness were touching to see ; and, as 
 for Bell, she joined in the talk about our journey, and 
 what we had seen, in a series of disconnected obser- 
 vations that were uttered in a low and timid tone, as 
 if she were afraid to draw down lightning from the 
 thunder-clouds. Lieutenant von Eosen had at first 
 addressed a word or two to our guest ; but finding the 
 labour not productive, he had dropped him entirely 
 out of the conversation. Meanwhile Arthur had drunk 
 a glass or two of sherry. He was evidently nettled at 
 finding the Lieutenant almost monopolizing attention ; 
 for Tita herself had given up in despair, and was 
 content to listen. Von Eosen was speaking as usual 
 of the differences between English and German ways, 
 and social aims, and what not, until at last he drifted 
 into some mention of the Eepublican phenomena that 
 had recently been manifested in this country. 
 
 Now what conceivable connection is there between 
 the irritation of an anxious lover and Eepublicanism ? 
 Master Arthur had never alarmed any of us by pro- 
 fessing wild opinions on that subject or on any other. 
 We never knew that the young man had any political 
 views, beyond a sort of nebulous faith in the Crown 
 and the Constitution. Consider, therefore, our amaze- 
 ment when, at this moment, he boldly and somewhat 
 scornfully announced himself a Democrat, and informed 
 us that the time was come for dismissing old super- 
 stitions and destroying the last monopolies of feudalism. 
 There would be a heavy account to settle with the 
 aristocracy that had for generations made laws to secure 
 its own interests, and tied up the land of the country 
 so that an idle population had to drift into the big 
 towns and become paupers. All this was over. New 
 times were at hand. England was ripe for a new 
 revolution ; and woe to them that tried to stem the tide ! 
 
 The explanation of which outburst was merely this — 
 that Arthur was so angry and impatient with the state 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 of things immediately around him, that he was possessed 
 with a wild desire to upset and destroy something. 
 And there is nothing so easy to upset and destroy, in 
 rhetoric, as the present political basis of this country. 
 
 Well, we looked at the lad. His face was still 
 aglow; and there was something of triumph as well 
 as of fierceness in it. The hero of the old Silesian song, 
 when his sweetheart has forgotten the vows she made, 
 and the ring she gave him is broken in two, would like 
 to rush away into battle, and sleep by camp-fires, 
 under the still night. But nothing half so ordinary 
 would do for our fire-eater, who, because he could not 
 very well kill a Prussian lieutenant, must needs attack 
 the British Crown. Was there any one of us four 
 inclined to resent this burst of sham heroics? Was 
 there not in it something of the desperation of wretched- 
 ness that was far more entitled to awaken compassion ? 
 Had Arthur been less in love, he would have been 
 more prudent. Had he controlled his emotions in that 
 admirable fashion with which most of our young 
 gentlemen now-a-days seem to set about the business 
 of choosing a wife, he would not have made himself 
 absurd. There was something almost pitiable in this 
 wild, incoherent, ridiculous effort of a young man to 
 do or say something striking and picturesque before 
 the eyes of a girl whose affections he feared were 
 drifting away from him. 
 
 The Lieutenant, to whom this outbreak was particu- 
 larly addressed, took the affair very good-naturedly. 
 He said, with a smile — 
 
 " Do you know who will be the most disappointed, 
 if you should have a Kepublic in England ? Why, the 
 Republicans that are very anxious for it just now. 
 Perhaps some of them are very respectable men — yes, 
 I believe that ; but if I am not wrong, the men who 
 make the great fuss about it in your nation are not 
 like that. Agitators — is not that what you call them ? 
 And, if you have England a Republic, do you think 
 the government of the country will be given to those 
 noisy persons of the present ? No — that is not possible, 
 
152 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 I think. When the Eepublic comes, if it does come at 
 all — and I do not know how much force is in this 
 demonstration — all your great men, your well-educated 
 men, your men of good position and good breeding and 
 good feeling — they will all come forward, as they do 
 now, to see that the country is properly governed. And 
 what will become of the present Eepublicans, who are 
 angry because they cannot get into Parliament, and who 
 wish for a change that they may become great persons ? 
 When you take away the Crown, they will not all be 
 kings, I think : there is too much of good sense in this 
 country, and of public spirit, that makes your best men 
 give up their own comfort to look after the govern- 
 ment — and so it will be then." 
 
 " I hope there will be no violent change in our time, 
 at least," said Queen Tita. 
 
 "Madame is anxious about the Church, I know," 
 remarked the Lieutenant, with great gravity ; but he 
 looked at Bell, and Bell could not altogether conceal 
 a smile. Arthur, watching them both, noticed that 
 little bit of private understanding ; and the gloom on 
 his face visibly deepened. 
 
 This must be said, however, that when an embar- 
 rassing evening is unavoidable, a dinner is the best 
 method of tiding it over. The various small incidents 
 of the feast supply any ominous gaps in the conver- 
 sation ; and there is, besides, a thawing influence in 
 good' meat and drink which the fiercest of tempers 
 finds it hard to withstand. After the ebullition about 
 Kepublicanism, Arthur had quieted somewhat. By the 
 time we had got down to the sweets, and perhaps with 
 the aid of a little champagne — the lad never drank 
 much at any time, I ought to say — his anger had 
 become modified into a morose and- sentimental melan- 
 choly ; and when he did manage to speak to Bell, 
 he addressed her in a wistful and pathetic manner, 
 as if she were some one on board a vessel and he 
 saw her gradually going away from him, her friends, 
 and her native land. One little revelation, neverthe- 
 less, comforted him greatly; and lovers apt to magnify 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 153 
 
 their misfortunes will note that he might have enjoyed 
 this solace long before if only he had exercised the 
 most ordinary frankness. 
 
 " You got a letter I sent you to Oxford, I suppose ? " 
 he said, with a studied carelessness. 
 
 " Yes/' said Bell, with a little conscious colour in her 
 face, as she bent down her eyes. 
 
 " I am glad I had the chance of seeing you to-night," 
 he continued, with the same effort at self-possession, 
 " because I — I fancied you might be unwell — or some 
 accident happened — since you did not send the telegram 
 I begged of you." 
 
 Here an awful moment of silence intervened. Every- 
 body trembled for Bell's reply, which might provoke the 
 catastrophe we had been seeking to postpone. 
 
 " It was only yesterday forenoon I got your letter," 
 Bell says, apparently feeling the silence uncomfortable ; 
 " and — and I meant to have answered it to-night " 
 
 " Oh, you were going to answer it ? " he says, with 
 his face suddenly getting bright. 
 
 " Yes," she says, looking up with some surprise. 
 "You did not suppose I wouldn't answer it?" 
 
 In fact, that was just what he had supposed, con- 
 sidering that she had been grievously offended by the 
 tone of his letter. 
 
 " I meant to have let you know how we all were, and 
 how far we had got," says Bell, conveying an intimation 
 that this sort of letter might be sent by anybody to 
 anybody. 
 
 Nevertheless, Arthur greatly recovered himself after 
 this assurance. She had not broken off with him, after 
 all. He explained that the letter must have been delayed 
 on the way, or she would have got it the day before. 
 He drank another glass of champagne, and said, with a 
 laugh, that he had meditated surprising us, but that 
 the design had failed, for everyone seemed to have 
 expected him. 
 
 " I only came down this afternoon ; and I suppose I 
 must go back on Monday," he remarked, ruefully. 
 
 This looked so very like a request for an invitation 
 
154 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 that I was bound to offer him a seat in the phaeton, if 
 he did not mind a little discomfort. You should have 
 seen the look of amazement and indignation which my 
 Lady darted across the table at this moment. Fortu- 
 nately, Arthur did not notice it. He said he was very 
 much obliged — he feared he would have to return — if 
 he went with us for a day or two, he would inconveni- 
 ence us sadly — but he would consider it before Monday 
 morning. 
 
 After dinner, Von Eosen got up and proposed that he 
 and I should go down to the billiard-room — which is in 
 the end of the building abutting on the stable-yard — 
 and smoke a cigar. Surely generosity could go no 
 further. Arthur looked surprised; and wore quite a 
 pleasant smile on his face when we rose and left. 
 
 But perhaps it was merely selfishness that caused 
 our Uhlan to leave the field ; for as we two went down 
 the passage, and made our way up to the spacious 
 room, he said — 
 
 " I am rather sorry for Mademoiselle. She does not 
 seem to be very glad to meet her old friend — perhaps 
 because he is not in a good temper. That is why I did 
 say we should go and play billiards — there will be a 
 chance of an explanation— and to-morrow he will be 
 all right. It is foolish of him to be disagreeable. All 
 this time of dinner, I was thinking to myself how well 
 he might make himself agreeable if he only wished — 
 with knowing all the polite phrases with ease, and 
 being able to talk without thinking. For me, that is 
 different, you know. I am bound in by stupid limits ; 
 and when I think to say something nice to anyone — 
 then I stop because I know nothing of the words — just 
 like at a wall." 
 
 He sent the red ball up and down the table in rather 
 a peevish manner ; he felt that Arthur had an advantage, 
 perhaps. 
 
 " But you talk English remarkably well." 
 
 " But I have remarked that you English always say 
 that to a foreigner, and will not tell him when he is 
 wrong. I know I am often wrong — and always about 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 your past tenses— your ' was loving' and 'did love,' and 
 ' loved ' and like that ; and I believe I am very wrong 
 with always saying ' do ' and ' did' for I studied to give 
 myself free speaking English many years ago, and the 
 book I studied with was ' Pepys' Diary/ because it is all 
 written in the first person, and by a man of good station. 
 Now I find you do not say ' I did think,' but ( I thought,' 
 only it is very hard to remember. And as for pronun- 
 ciation, I know I am very wrong." 
 
 Well, he had certainly marked forms of pronunciation, 
 which I have considered it unnecessary to reproduce in 
 recording his talk. He said 'I hef for '/ have,' and 
 ' a goot shawt 'for 'a good shot' He also made occa- 
 sional blunders in accent, through adopting the accent 
 of the Latin word from which the English word is 
 derived. But what were such trifles to the main fact 
 that he could make himself understood ? 
 
 " But this is very strange," he said ; " how much 
 more clearly Mademoiselle speaks than any English 
 lady, or any English person I have known yet. It is 
 very remarkable to me, how I have great difficulty 
 to follow people who talk like as if they had 
 several tongues rolling in their mouth — and others 
 speak very fast — and others let the ends of the 
 words slide away — but Miss Bell, she is always clear, 
 distinct, and very pleasant to hear, and then she 
 never speaks very loud, as most of your people do 
 to a foreigner." 
 
 " Perhaps," I say, " there is a reason for Bell's clear- 
 ness of speech." 
 
 " Why?" 
 
 " Perhaps she takes pains to be very distinct in talk- 
 ing to you, while she manages not to show it. Perhaps 
 other people can notice that she speaks with a little 
 more deliberation to you than to anyone else." 
 
 Von Eosen was obviously much struck. 
 
 " Is that possible ? " he said, with his eyes full of 
 wonder. " I have not noticed that she did talk slow 
 to me." 
 
 " No— she conceals it admirably ; but all the same 
 
1 5 6 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 such is the fact. It is not so much slowness as a 
 sort of careful precision of pronunciation that she 
 affects— and you ought to be very grateful for such 
 consideration." 
 
 " Oh, I think it is very good of her — very good 
 indeed — and I would thank her for it " 
 
 " Don't do that, or you will have no more of it. And 
 at present my Lady is catching up a trick of talking in 
 the same way." 
 
 " It is very kind," said the Lieutenant, turning to the 
 table with rather a thoughtful manner. " You would 
 not have expected a young girl like that to be so 
 reflective of other people." 
 
 Then he broke the balls ; and by fair strength of arm 
 screwed the white into the corner pocket. Nobody was 
 more astonished than himself, except the marker. It 
 was, indeed, the first losing hazard he had ever made ; 
 he never having played before on a table with pockets. 
 His next stroke was not so successful ; and so he con- 
 soled himself with lighting a Partaga about eight inches 
 in length. 
 
 "At all events," he continued, "your language has 
 not the difference of ' Sie ' and ' du,' which is a great 
 advantage. Oh, it is a very perplexing thing some- 
 times. Suppose you do know a young lady very well, 
 and you have agreed with her in private you shall 
 always call each other ' du ; ' and then before other 
 people you call her ' Sie '—it is very hard not to call her 
 ' du' by mistake, and then everyone jumps up, and 
 stares at you, and all the secret is known. That is a 
 very terrible thing." 
 
 " And please what is the interesting ceremony with 
 which you drink bruderschaft with a young lady ? The 
 same as usual? — a large jug of beer — your arms inter- 
 twined " 
 
 " ]STo — no — no ! " he cried. " It is all a mystery. You 
 shall not know anything of that. But it is very good 
 — it is a very pleasant thing — to have bruderschaft with 
 a young lady— although you drink no beer, and have no 
 ceremonies about it." 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 '57 
 
 " And what did Friiulein Fallersleben's mamma say 
 when you called her daughter ' du 1 by mistake ? " 
 
 The large empty room resounded with the Lieu- 
 tenant's laughter. 
 
 " That is a good guess — oh ! a very good guess — but 
 not just good enough. For it was she who did call me 
 'du;' and all the people were surprised — and then 
 some did laugh — but she herself — oh ! she was very 
 angry with herself, and with me too, and for some time 
 she called me * Sie ' even when we were together, until 
 it was likely to be a quarrel. But one more quarrel," 
 added the Lieutenant, with indifference, " was not much 
 matter. It was usually one every day — and then 
 writing of sorrowful letters at the night — and next 
 
 morning some reconciliation SacJcerment ! what is 
 
 the use of talking of all that nonsense?" 
 
 And then once more the ball flew about the table ; 
 finally lodging in a pocket, and scoring three for a miss. 
 Indeed, our Uhlan was not at home with our big 
 English tables, their small balls, pointed cues, and 
 perpetual pockets. Even when he got a good chance 
 of a cannon, the smallness of the balls caused him to 
 fail entirely. But he had a very excellent cigar. It 
 was something to be away from the embarrassment 
 that had prevailed at dinner. Perhaps, too, he enjoyed 
 a certain sense of austere self-satisfaction in having left 
 to Arthur full possession of the field. On the whole 
 he enjoyed himself very well ; and then, our cigars 
 being finished, we had a final look at the horses, and 
 then returned to the coffee-room. 
 
 " I am afraid," said Von Rosen, with some alarm, 
 "we have been negligent of our duties." 
 
 Master Arthur had left some half-hour before. The 
 ladies had retired. Only one or two of the heaviest 
 topers were left in the bar-parlour ; the waiters looked 
 as if they considered their week's work fairly over. 
 
 " Tell me," said my Prussian friend, as he got his 
 candle, "is that young gentleman coming round here 
 to-morrow ? " 
 
 " Probably he is." 
 
i 5 8 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 " Do you not think, then, it would be good to hire a 
 vehicle and go away somewhere for a drive all the day 
 before he comes?" 
 
 " To-morrow is Sunday." 
 
 "Well?" 
 
 "Do you fancy you would get either Bell or my 
 Lady to go driving on Sunday ? Don't you propose 
 such a thing, if you are wise. There is a Cathedral in 
 this town ; and the best thing you can do is to study 
 its history and associations early in the morning. You 
 will have plenty of time to think over them to-morrow, 
 inside the building itself." 
 
 " Oh, I do not object to that," he remarked, coolly, 
 as he went upstairs, "and I do not care to have too 
 much driving — it is only to prevent Mademoiselle 
 being annoyed, as I think she was at dinner this even- 
 ing — that is all. I suppose we may go for a walk to- 
 morrow after the church-time? And he will come? 
 Very well, he will not harm me, I am sure ; but — but 
 it is a pity — that is all." 
 
 And with this somewhat mysterious conclusion, the 
 Lieutenant disappeared towards his own room. 
 
 CHAPTER, XII 
 
 THE EIVALS. 
 
 " When on the gentle Severn's sedgy bank, 
 In single opposition, hand to hand, 
 He did confound the best part of an hour 
 In changing hardiment with great Glendower." 
 
 " If we could only get over this one day," — that was 
 the burden of "Tita's complaining the next morning. 
 Arthur had been invited to breakfast, and had rdeclined ; 
 but he was coming round to go with us to the Cathedral. 
 Thereafter, everything to Tita's mind was chaos. She 
 dared hardly think of what the day might bring forth. 
 In vain I pointed out to her that this day was but 
 as another day ; and that if any deeds of wrath or 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 *59 
 
 vengeance were hidden away in the vagne intentions 
 of our young friend from Twickenham, there was no 
 particular safety gained in tiding over a single Sunday. 
 
 "At all events," says my Lady, firmly, " you cannot 
 do anything so imprudent as press him to accompany 
 us further on our journey." 
 
 " Cannot the phaeton hold five ? " 
 
 " You know it cannot, comfortably. But that is not 
 the question. For my own part, I don't choose to have 
 a holiday spoilt by provoking a series of painful scenes, 
 which I know will occur. We may manage to humour 
 him to-day, and get him to leave us in an amiable 
 mood ; but it would be impossible to do it two days 
 running. And I am not sure even about this one day." 
 
 " But what prevents his dropping down on us at any 
 time — say at Shrewsbury — or Chester — or Carlisle — just 
 as he has done here at Worcester ? " 
 
 "I will." 
 
 That was enough. Having some regard for the 
 young man, I hoped he would submit quietly. But 
 lovers are headstrong ; and jealousy, when it is 
 thoroughly aroused, leaves no place in the mind for 
 fear. 
 
 It was a bright morning. We could see, through 
 the wire screens of the windows, the Worcester folks 
 walking along the pavements with the sunlight shining 
 on their Sunday finery. 
 
 The Lieutenant, as we hurriedly despatched break- 
 fast — for we were rather late — gave us his usual report. 
 
 " A very fine town," he said, addressing himself 
 chiefly to Tita, who was always much interested in his 
 morning rambles, " with old religious buildings, and 
 houses with ivy, and high walls to keep back the river. 
 There is a large race-course, too, by the river ; and on 
 the other side a fine suburb, built on a high bank, 
 among trees. There are many pleasant walks by the 
 Severn, when you get further down ; but I will show 
 you all the place when we go out of the Cathedral. 
 This is a great day at the Cathedral, they say — a Chief 
 Sheriff of the county, I think they call him, is living at 
 
160 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 this hotel, and he is going ; and yon see those people ? 
 — they are loitering about to see him drive away." 
 
 Even as he spoke, two resplendent creatures, in 
 grey and gold, resembling beef-eaters toned down in 
 colour and gilded, advanced to the archway of the 
 hotel, with long trumpets in their hands. These they 
 suddenly lifted, and then down the quiet street sounded 
 a loud fanfare, which was very much like those an- 
 nouncements that tell us, in an historical play, that the 
 King approaches. Then a vehicle drove away from the 
 door; the High Sheriff had gone to the Cathedral; 
 while our breakfast .was not even yet finished. 
 
 " He does not have the trumpets bounded every time 
 he leaves the hotel?" said the Lieutenant, returning 
 from the window. " Then why when he goes to 
 church? Is it exceptional for a High Sheriff to go 
 to church, that he calls attention to it with trumpets ? " 
 
 At this moment, Arthur entered the room. He 
 glanced at us all rather nervously. There was less 
 complaisance, too, in his manner, than when we last 
 saw him ; the soothing influences of dinner had de- 
 parted. He saluted us all in a somewhat cool way, 
 and then addressed himself exclusively to my Lady. 
 For Bell he had scarcely a word. 
 
 It is hard to say how Queen Tita managed, as we 
 left the hotel, to attach Bell and herself to Master 
 Arthur; but such was the result of her dexterous 
 manoeuvres ; and in this fashion we hurriedly walked 
 along to the Cathedral. There was a great commotion 
 visible around the splendid building. A considerable 
 crowd had collected to see the High Sheriff; and 
 policemen were keeping a lane for those who wished 
 to enter. Seeing that we were late, and that the High 
 Sheriff was sure to draw many after him, we scarcely 
 expected to get inside ; but that, at least, was vouch- 
 safed us, and presently we found ourselves slipping 
 quietly over the stone flooring. All the seats in the 
 body of the building being occupied, we took up a 
 position by one of the great pillars, and there were 
 confronted by a scene sufficiently impressive to those 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 6 
 
 of us who had been accustomed to the ministrations 
 of a small parish church. 
 
 Far away before us rose the tall and graceful lines of 
 the architecture, until, in the distance, they were lost in 
 a haze of sunlight streaming in from the south — a glow 
 of golden mist that struck upon the northern pillars, 
 throwing up a vague reflection that showed us some- 
 thing of the airy region in which the lines of the great 
 arches met. We could catch a glimpse, too, of the 
 white-dressed choir, beyond the sombre mass of the 
 people that filled the nave. And when the hushed, 
 deep tones of the organ prelude had ceased to sound 
 along the lofty aisles, there rose the distant and 
 plaintive chanting of the boys — then the richer tones 
 of the bass came in — and then again burst forth that 
 clear, sweet, triumphant soprano, that seemed to be but 
 a single voice ringing softly and distantly through 
 the great building. I knew what would occur then. 
 Somehow Tita managed to slip away from us, and get 
 into the shadow of the pillar, with her head bent down, 
 and her hand clasped in Bell's ; and the girl stood so 
 that no one should see her friend's face, for there were 
 tears running fast down it. It is a sad story, that has 
 been already briefly mentioned in these memoranda. 
 Many years ago she lost a young brother, to whom she 
 was deeply attached. He used to sing in the choir of 
 the village church. Now, whenever she listens to a 
 choir singing that she cannot see, nothing will convince 
 her that she does not hear the voice of her brother in 
 the clear, distant music ; and more than once it has 
 happened that the uncontrollable emotions caused by 
 this wild superstition have thoroughly unnerved her. 
 For days after, she has been haunted by the sound of 
 that voice, as if it had brought her a message from the 
 other world — as if she had been nearly vouchsafed a 
 vision that had been somehow snatched away from 
 her, leaving behind an unexplained longing and unrest. 
 Partly on that account, and partly by reason of the 
 weariness produced by constant standing, we were not 
 sorry to slip out of the Cathedral when the first portion 
 
 M 
 
THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 of the service was over; and so we found ourselves 
 once more in the sweet air and the sunlight. 
 
 There was an awkward pause. Tita rather fell 
 behind, and endeavoured to keep herself out of sight; 
 while the other members of the party seemed uncertain 
 as to how they should attach themselves. Fortunately, 
 our first movement was to go round and inspect the 
 curious remains of the old Cathedral, which are yet 
 visible; and as these were close at hand, we started off 
 in a promiscuous manner, and got round and under 
 King Edgar's tower without any open rupture. 
 
 How still and quiet lay the neighbourhood of the 
 great church on this beautiful Sunday morning ! It 
 seemed as if all the life of the place were gathered 
 within that noble building; while out here the winds 
 from over the meadows, and the sunlight, and the fleecy 
 clouds overhead, were left to play about the strange old 
 passages, and sunken arches, and massive gateways, and 
 other relics of former centuries. The bright light that 
 lay warm on the fresh grass, and on the ivied walls about, 
 lit up the flaky red surface of the old tower, and showed 
 us the bruised effigy of King Edgar in sharp outline ; 
 while through the gloom of the archway we could see 
 beyond the shimmering green light of a mass of elms, 
 with their leaves moving in the sun. From thence we 
 passed down to the river wall, where the Lieutenant 
 read aloud the following legend inscribed near the 
 gate :— " On the 18th of November, 1770, the Flood 
 rose to the lower edge of this Brass Plate, being ten 
 inches higher than the Flood which happen'd on 
 December 23, 1672." And then we went through the 
 arch, and found ourselves on the banks of the Severn, 
 with its bridges and boats and locks, and fair green 
 meadows, all as bright and as cheerful as sunlight could 
 make them. 
 
 Tita and myself, I know, would at this moment have 
 given a good deal to get away from these young folks 
 and their affairs. What business of ours was it that 
 there should be a "third wheel to the cart," as the 
 Germans say ? Arthur was sadly out of place ; but 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 163 
 
 how could we help it ? My Lady having fallen rather 
 behind as we started on our leisurely stroll along the 
 river, Bell, the Lieutenant, and Arthur were forced to 
 precede us. The poor girl was almost silent between 
 them. Von Eosen was pointing out the various objects 
 along the stream ; Arthur, in no amiable mood, throw- 
 ing in an occasional sarcastic comment. Then more 
 silence. Arthur breaks away from them, and honours 
 us with his company. Sometimes he listens to what 
 my Lady says to him ; but more often he does not, and 
 only scowls at the two young folks in front of us. He 
 makes irrelevant replies. There is a fierceness in his 
 look. I think at this moment he would have been glad 
 to have embraced Mormonism, or avowed his belief in 
 Strauss, or done anything else desperate and wicked. 
 
 Why, it was natural to ask, should this gentle little 
 woman by my side be vexed by these evil humours and 
 perversities— her vexation taking the form of a pro- 
 found compassion, and a desire that she could secure 
 the happiness of everybody? The morning was a 
 miracle of freshness. The banks of the Severn, once 
 you leave Worcester, are singularly beautiful. Before 
 us were islands, set amid tall river weeds, and covered 
 with thick growths of bushes. A grey shimmering of 
 willows came in as a line between the bold blue of the 
 stream and the paler blue and white of the sky. Some 
 tall poplars stood sharp and black against the light 
 green of the meadows behind ; and far away these level 
 and sunlit meadows stretched over to Malvern Chase 
 and to the thin line of blue hill along the horizon. 
 Then the various boats— a group of richly- coloured 
 cattle in the fields — a few boys bathing under the 
 shadow of a great bank of yellow sand — all went to 
 make up as bright and pretty a river-picture as one 
 could wish for. And here we were almost afraid to 
 speak, lest an incautious word should summon up 
 thunder-clouds and provoke an explosion. 
 
 "Have you any idea when you will reach Scotland?" 
 says Arthur, still glaring at the Lieutenant and his 
 companion. 
 
 M 2 
 
1 64 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 " No," replies Tita ; " we are in no hurry." 
 " Won't you get tired of it ?" 
 
 " I don't think so at all. But if we do, we can stop." 
 " You will go through the Lake Country, of course?" 
 "Yes." 
 
 " It is sure to be wet there," said the young man. 
 "You don't give us much encouragement," says my 
 Lady, gently. 
 
 " Oh," he replies, " if people break away from the 
 ordinary methods of enjoying a holiday, of course they 
 must take their chance. In Scotland you are sure to 
 have bad weather. It always rains there." 
 
 Arthur was determined that we should look upon the 
 future stages of our journey with the most agreeable 
 anticipations. 
 
 "Then," he says, " suppose your horses break down?" 
 
 " They won't," says Tita, with a smile. " They know 
 they are going to the land of oats. They will be in 
 excellent spirits all the way." 
 
 Master Arthur went on to add — 
 
 " I have always found that the worst of driving about 
 with people was that it threw you so completely on the 
 society of certain persons ; and you are bound to 
 quarrel with them." 
 
 " That has not been our experience," says my Lady, 
 with that gracious manner of hers which means 
 much. 
 
 Of course she would not admit that her playful 
 skirmishes with the person whom, above all others, she 
 ought to respect, could be regarded as real quarrels. 
 But at this point the Lieutenant lingered for a moment 
 to ask my Lady a question ; and as Bell also stopped 
 and turned, Tita says to him, with an air of infinite 
 amusement — 
 
 " We have not quarrelled yet, Count von Eosen ? " 
 
 " I hope not, Madame," says our Uhlan, respectfully. 
 
 "Because," she continued, with a little laugh, 
 "Arthur thinks we are sure to disagree, merely on 
 account of our being thrown so much into each other's 
 company." 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 " I think quite the opposite will be the result of our 
 society," says the Lieutenant. 
 
 " Of course I did not refer particularly to you," said 
 Arthur, coldly. " There are some men so happily con- 
 stituted that it is of no consequence to them how they 
 are regarded by their companions. Of course they are 
 always well satisfied." 
 
 "And it is a very good thing to be well satisfied," 
 says the Lieutenant, cheerfully enough, " and much 
 better than to be ill satisfied and of much trouble to 
 your friends. I think, sir, when you are as old as I, and 
 have been over the world as much, you will think more 
 of the men who are well satisfied." 
 
 " I hope my experience of the world," says Arthur, 
 with a certain determination in his tone, " will not be 
 gained by receiving pay to be sent to invade a foreign 
 country " 
 
 " Oh, Count von Eosen," says Bell, to call his 
 attention. 
 
 " Mademoiselle ! " he says, turning instantly towards 
 her, although he had heard every word of Arthur's 
 speech. 
 
 " Can you tell me the German name of that tall 
 pink flower down by the edge of the water ? " 
 
 And so they walked on once more ; and we got 
 further away from the city — with its mass of slates 
 and spires getting faint in the haze of the sun- 
 light — and into the still greenness of the country, 
 where the path by the river-side lay through deep 
 meadows. 
 
 It was hard, after all. He had come from London to 
 get speech of his sweetheart, and he found her walking 
 through green meadows with somebody else. No mortal 
 man— and least of all a young fellow not confident 
 of his own position, and inclined to be rather nervous 
 and anxious — could suffer this with equanimity ; but 
 then it was a question how far it was his own fault. 
 
 " Why don't you go and talk to Bell ? " says my Lady 
 to him, in a low voice. 
 
 u Oh, I don't care to thrust my society on anyone," 
 
THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 he says aloud, with an assumption of indifference. 
 "There are people who do not know the difference 
 between an old friendship and a new acquaintance — I do 
 not seek to interfere with their tastes. But of course 
 there is a meaning in everything. What are those lines 
 of Pope's — 
 
 " *0 say, what stranger cause, yet unexplored, 
 Could make a gentle belle reject a lord ? ' 
 
 I should not attempt to cure a woman of her instinctive 
 liking for a title." 
 
 Tita placed her hand on his arm. After all, this 
 excited young man was an old friend of hers ; and it 
 seemed a pity to see him thus determined to ruin his 
 own cause. But the light talking we heard in front 
 seemed to say that the " gentle Belle " had not over- 
 heard that pretty speech and its interesting quotation. 
 
 At length, coming to a sudden bend in the river, 
 the Lieutenant and his companion proposed that we 
 should rest for a while ; and accordingly we chose out 
 comfortable seats on the steep green bank, covered 
 by bushes and trees, which here slopes down to the 
 stream. The picture that lay before and around us 
 was sufficient to have calmed the various moods and 
 passions of these young folks, if they had but had 
 eyes for anything but their own affairs. Bell was the 
 only one who paid attention to the world of bright 
 colours that lay around. The Lieutenant — impertur- 
 bable, easy in manner, and very attentive to her— 
 was nevertheless obviously on the watch, and certain 
 to resent any remark that might by chance miss him 
 and glance by towards her. Certainly, these were not 
 comfortable conditions for a pleasant walk. Tita after- 
 wards declared that she was calculating with satisfaction 
 that she had already got through several hours of that 
 terrible day. 
 
 The sun was shining far away on the blue Malvern 
 hills. Along the level meadows the lines of pollard 
 willows were grey and silvery in the breezy light. 
 Close at hand the rich masses of green were broken 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 167 
 
 by the red sandstone bank opposite ; while the tall trees 
 above sent straggling duplicates of themselves — coloured 
 in deep chocolate-brown — down into the lazy stream 
 that flowed beneath us. And as we sat there and 
 listened for the first ominous observation of one or 
 another of these young folks, lo ! there glided into 
 the clear white and blue channel of the river a gaily- 
 bedizened barge that gleamed and glittered in the sun- 
 light and sent quivering lines of colour down into the 
 water. The horse came slowly along the road. The 
 long rope rustled over the brushwood on the bank, and 
 splashed on the surface of the stream. The orange 
 and scarlet bands of the barge stole away up and 
 through that world of soft greenness that lay under 
 the shadow of the opposite bank ; and then the horse, 
 and rope, and driver turned the corner of a field, and 
 we saw them no more. 
 
 The appearance of the barge had provoked attention, 
 and secured silence. When it was gone the Lieutenant 
 turned carelessly to Arthur, and said — 
 
 " Do you go back to London to-morrow ? " 
 
 " I don't know," said the young man, gloomily. 
 
 " It is such a pity you can't come with us, Arthur," 
 says Bell, very gently, as if begging for a civil reply. 
 
 " I have no doubt you will enjoy yourselves very 
 well," he replies, with a certain coldness in his tone. 
 
 " We have hitherto," she says, looking down ; " the 
 weather has been so good — and — and the scenery was 
 so pleasant — and — and " 
 
 It was Arthur himself, singularly enough, who came 
 to the rescue, little knowing that he was affording her 
 such relief. 
 
 " I don't think you have chosen the right road," he 
 remarked. " The real reminiscences of the old stage- 
 coach days you will find on the York and Berwick road 
 to Scotland. I never heard of anyone going to Scotland 
 this way." 
 
 " Why," says one of the party, with a laugh that 
 seemed to startle the stillness around, " that is the very 
 reason we chose it." 
 
i68 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 " I have been thinking for some time," he says coldly, 
 " of getting a dog-cart and driving up the old route 
 to Scotland." 
 
 The heavens did not fall on him. Queen Tita looked 
 at the tips of her gloves, and said nothing ; but Bell, 
 having less of scepticism about her, immediately 
 cried out — 
 
 " Oh, Arthur, don't do that ; it will be dreadfully 
 wretched for you, going away on such an excursion by 
 yourself." 
 
 But the young man saw that his proposal — I will 
 swear it had never entered his brain before that very 
 minute — had produced an effect; and treated it as a 
 definite resolve. 
 
 " At least, if you are going, you might as well come 
 with us, or meet us further on, where the roads join/' 
 says Bell. 
 
 " No, I am not so mad as to go your way," he replied, 
 with an air of disdain. " I shall keep out of the rainy 
 districts, and I mean to go where one can find traces of 
 the old times still hanging about." 
 
 " And pray," I venture to ask him, " are all the old 
 inns confined to one part of this unfortunate country ? 
 And were there no ways of getting to Scotland but by 
 York and Berwick? Why, over the whole country 
 there is a network of routes along which stage-coaches 
 used to run. And if you should be tired of driving 
 alone, you can do no better than strike across country 
 from York by the old coach-road that comes on to 
 Penrith, and so go up with us through Carlisle and 
 Moffat on to Edinburgh." 
 
 "I am not so sure that I shall go alone," he said, 
 quite fiercely. 
 
 What did the boy mean ? Was he going to drive a 
 white elephant about the country ? 
 
 " Do you know much of the management of horses ? " 
 says the Lieutenant, meaning no harm whatever. 
 
 "Arthur is in the volunteer artillery, — the field 
 artillery, do they call it ? — and of course he has to 
 manage horses," explains my Lady. 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 69 
 
 "Oh, you are a volunteer?" said the Lieutenant 
 with quite an accession of interest. " That is a very 
 good thing. I think all the young men of this country 
 would do much good to their health and their know- 
 ledge by being volunteers and serving a time of military 
 service." 
 
 "But we don't like compulsion here," says Arthur, 
 bluntly. 
 
 " That," retorts the Lieutenant, with a laugh, " is why 
 you are at present a very ill-educated country." 
 
 " At all events," says Arthur, rather hotly, " we are 
 educated well enough to have thrown aside the old 
 superstitions of feudalism and divine right; and we 
 are too well educated to suffer a despotic government 
 and a privileged aristocracy to have it all their own 
 way." 
 
 "Oh, you do talk of Prussia, yes ? " said the Count. 
 ' Well, we are not perfect in Prussia.* We have many 
 things to learn and to do, that we might have done 
 if we had been preserved round about by the sea, 
 like you. But I think we have done very well for 
 all that : and if we have a despotic government, which 
 I do not think, it is perhaps because what is good for 
 England is not always good for every other country ; 
 and if we have an aristocracy, they work for the 
 country just like the sons of the peasants, when they 
 go into the army, and get small pay, instead of going 
 abroad like your aristocracy, and gambling away their 
 fortunes to the Jews and the horse dealers, and getting 
 into debt and making very much fools of themselves." 
 
 "When we of this country," says Arthur, proudly, 
 " see the necessity of military preparations, we join the 
 ranks of a body that accepts no pay, but is none the 
 less qualified to fight when that is wanted." 
 
 " Oh, I do say nothing against your volunteers. 
 No, on the contrary, I think it is an excellent thing 
 for the young men. And it would be better if the 
 service was continuous for one, two, or three years — 
 and they go away into barrack life — and have much 
 drill and exercise in the open air, and make the young 
 
i7o THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 men of the cities hardy and strong. That would be 
 a very good army then, I .think ; for when the men 
 are intelligent and educated, they have less chance of 
 panic — which is the worst that can happen in a battle 
 —and they will not skulk away, or lose their courage, 
 because they have so much self-respect. But I do 
 not know whether this is safer — to have the more 
 ignorant men of the peasantry and country people 
 who will take their drill like machines and go through 
 it all, and continue firing in great danger, because 
 they are like machines. Now, if you had your towns 
 fighting against the country, and if you had your 
 town volunteers and your country regiments with 
 the same amount of instruction, I think the country 
 troops would win, although each man might not have 
 as much patriotism and education and self-respect 
 as in the town soldiers. Because the country troops 
 would march long distances — and would not be hurt 
 much by rain or the sleeping out at night — and they 
 would go through their duties like machines when 
 the fight commenced. But your city volunteers — they 
 have not yet got anything like the training of your 
 regular troops that come from the country villages 
 and towns." 
 
 "I know this," says Arthur, "that if there was to 
 be an invasion of this country by Prussia, a regiment 
 of our city volunteers would not be afraid to meet 
 a regiment of your professional soldiers, however 
 countrified and mechanical they may be " 
 
 "Ah, but that is a great mistake you make," says 
 the Lieutenant, taking no notice of the challenge ; 
 "our soldiers are not of any single class — they are 
 from all classes, from all towns, and villages, and 
 cities alike — much more like your volunteers than 
 your regular soldiers, only that they have some more 
 drill and experience than your volunteers. And what 
 do you say of an invasion ? I have heard some people 
 talk of that nonsense — but only in England. Is it 
 that you are afraid of invasion that you imagine 
 these foolish things, and talk so much of it?" 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 171 
 
 " No, we are not afraid of it " says Arthur, 
 
 evidently casting about for some biting epigram. 
 
 " Yet no one in all Europe speaks or thinks of 
 such a thing but a few of your people here, who give 
 great amusement to us at home." 
 
 " There would be amusement of another sort going," 
 says Arthur, getting a little red. 
 
 And just at this instant, before he has time to finish 
 the sentence, Tita utters a little scream. A stone has 
 splashed into the stream beneath us. The author 
 of the menace is unknown — being probably one of 
 a gang of young rascals hidden behind the bushes on 
 the other side of the river — but it is certainly not 
 anger that dwells in my Lady's bosom with regard 
 to that concealed enemy. He has afforded her relief 
 at a most critical moment; and now she prevents 
 Arthur returning to the subject by proposing that we 
 should walk back to Worcester; her suggestion being 
 fully understood to be a command. 
 
 We set out. The Lieutenant wilfully separates 
 himself from Bell. He joins us elderly folks on the 
 pretence of being much interested in this question of 
 Volunteer service — and Bell and Arthur are perforce 
 thrown together. They walk on in front of us, in 
 rather an embarrassed way. Bell's looks are cast 
 down ; Arthur speaks in a loud voice, to let us know 
 that he is only talking about the most common-place 
 affairs. But at the first stile we go through, they 
 manage to fall behind ; and when, at intervals, we turn 
 to see how the river and the meadows and the groves of 
 trees look in the sunshine, we find the distance between 
 us and the young couple gradually increasing, until 
 they are but two almost undistinguishable figures 
 pacing along the banks of the broad stream. 
 
 " Well, we have got so far over the day !" said my 
 Lady, with a sigh. " But I suppose we must ask him 
 to dine with us." 
 
 "Is it necessary, Madame?" says the Lieutenant. 
 "But perhaps you might ask him to bring better 
 manners with him." 
 
172 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 " I am afraid he has oepn very rude to you," said 
 Tita, with some show of compunction. 
 
 " To me ? No. That is not of any consequence 
 whatever, but I did think that all this pleasant walk 
 has been spoiled to Mademoiselle and yourself by 
 — by what shall I say? — not rudeness, but a fear 
 of rudeness. And yet, what reason is there for it?" 
 
 " I don't know," was the reply, uttered in rather 
 a low voice. "But I hope Bell is not being annoyed 
 by him now." 
 
 You see, that was the way in which they had 
 got to regard this unfortunate youth — as a sort of 
 necessary evil, which was to be accepted with such 
 equanimity as Heaven had granted to the various 
 sufferers. It never occurred to them to look at the 
 matter from Arthur's point of view, or to reflect that 
 there was probably no more wretched creature in 
 the whole of England than he was during this memo- 
 rable Sunday. 
 
 Consider how he spent the day. It was the one 
 day on which he would have the chance of seeing 
 Bell for an unknown period. He comes round in 
 the morning to find her sitting at breakfast with his 
 rival. He accompanies them on a walk into the 
 country ; finds himself " the third wheel to the cart," 
 and falls behind to enjoy the spectacle of seeing her 
 walk by the side of this other man, talking to him 
 and sharing with him the beautiful sights and sounds 
 around. Ye who have been transfixed by the red-hot 
 skewers of jealousy, think of the torture which this 
 wretched young man suffered on this quiet Sunday 
 morning. Then as he walks home with her, he finds her, 
 as we afterwards learn, annoyed about certain remarks 
 of his. He explains in a somewhat saucy manner, and 
 makes matters worse. Then he takes to reproaches, and 
 bids her reflect on what people will say ; and here 
 again he goes from one blunder to another in talking 
 in such a fashion to a proud and high-spirited girl, 
 who cannot suffer herself to be suspected. In his 
 blindness of anger and jealousy, he endeavours to 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 173 
 
 asperse the character of the Lieutenant — he is like 
 other officers — every one knows what the Prussian 
 officers, in general, are — what is the meaning of this 
 thing, and the dark suspicion suggested by that. 
 To all of these representations Bell replies with some 
 little natural warmth. He is driven wild by her 
 defence of his rival. He declares that he knows 
 something about the Lieutenant's reputation — and then 
 she, probably with a little paleness in her face, stands 
 still, and asks him calmly to say what it is. He will 
 not. He is not going to carry tales. Only, when an 
 English lady has so little care of what people may say 
 as to accept this foreign adventurer as her companion 
 during a long journey 
 
 That was all that Bell subsequently told Tita. 
 The boy was obviously mad and reckless, but none 
 the less he had wrought such mischief as he little 
 dreamed of in uttering these wild complaints and 
 suspicions. When we got back to the hotel, he and 
 Bell had overtaken us, and they had the appearance 
 of not being on the best of terms. In fact, they 
 had maintained silence for the last quarter of an 
 hour of the walk. 
 
 My Lady asked Arthur to dine with us at seven ; 
 so that during the interval he was practically dis- 
 missed. Seven came, and Arthur appeared. He was 
 in evening dress ; conveying a rebuke to uncouth 
 people like ourselves, who were in our ordinary travel- 
 ling costume. But Bell's seat was vacant. After 
 we had waited a few minutes, Queen Tita went 
 to inquire for her, and in a few minutes returned. 
 
 "Bell is very sorry, but she has a headache, and 
 would rather not come down to dinner." 
 
 Arthur looked up with an alarmed face ; the 
 Lieutenant scowled; and Tita, taking her seat, said 
 she was afraid we had walked too far in the morning. 
 Strange. If you had seen our Bell walking lightly 
 up to the top of Box-hill and running down again — 
 just by way of amusement before lunch — you would not 
 have expected that a short walk of a mile or two along 
 
174 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 a level river-course would have had such an effect. But 
 so it was ; and we had dinner before us. 
 
 It was not an enlivening meal; and the less said 
 about it the better. Arthur talked much of his 
 driving to Scotland in a dog-cart, and magnified the 
 advantages of the York route over that we were now 
 following. It is quite certain that he had never 
 thought of such a thing before that morning ; but the 
 attention that had been drawn to it, and the manner 
 in which he had been led to boast of it, promised 
 actually to commit him to this piece of folly. The 
 mere suggestion of it had occurred at the impulse of 
 a momentary vexation; but the more he talked of 
 it, the more he pledged himself to carry out his pre- 
 posterous scheme. Tita heard and wondered, scarcely 
 believing; but I could see plainly that the young 
 man was determined to fulfil his promise if only by 
 way of triumphant bravado, to show his independence 
 of us, and perhaps inspire Bell with envy and regret. 
 
 When he left that night, something was said about 
 his coming to see us away on the following morning. 
 Tita had shown her usual consideration in not re- 
 ferring at all to our drive of the next day, which 
 she understood was to be through the most charming 
 scenery. And when, that same night, she expressed 
 a vague desire that w r e might slip away on the next 
 morning before Arthur had come, it was with no 
 thought of carrying such a plan into execution. Per- 
 haps she thought with some pity of the young man 
 who, after seeing us drive away again into the 
 country, and the sweet air, and the sunlight, would 
 return disconsolately to his dingy rooms in the Temple, 
 there to think of his absent sweetheart, or else to 
 meditate that wild journey along a parallel line which 
 was to show her that he, too, had his enjoyments. 
 
 [Note. — I find that the remarks which Queen Titania appended to 
 the foregoing pages when they were written, have since been torn off ; 
 and I can guess the reason. A few days ago I received a letter, sent 
 under cover to the publishers, which bore tho address of that portion 
 of the country familiarly called "the Dukeries." It was written in a 
 feminine hand, and signed with a family name which has some his- 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 175 
 
 torical pretensions. Now these were the observations which this silly- 
 person in high places had to communicate : — " Sir, I hope you will forgive 
 my intruding myself upon you in this way ; but I am anxious to know 
 whether you really do think living with such a woman as your wife is 
 represented to be, is really a matter for raillery and amusement. My 
 object in writing to you is to say that, if you can treat lightly the fact 
 of a wife being waspish at every turn, cuffing her boys' ears, and talking 
 of whipping, it would have been better not to have made your extra- 
 ordinary complaisance public ; for what is to prevent the most ill-tempered 
 woman pointing to these pages, and saying that that is how a reasonable 
 husband would deal with her ? Tf it is your misfortune to have an 
 ill-tempered wife, you ought not to try to persuade people that you are 
 rather proud of it. Pray forgive my writing thus frankly to you ; and 
 I am, Sir, your obedient servant, ." By a great mis- 
 chance I left this lying letter open on the breakfast-table ; and Tita, 
 coming in, and being attracted by the crest in gold and colours on the 
 paper, took it up. "With some dismay, I watched her read it. She 
 let it down— stood irresolute for a moment, with her lips getting rather 
 tremulous — then she suddenly fled into the haven she had often sought 
 before in her troubles, and looking up with the clear brown eyes showing 
 themselves frightened, and pained, like those of some dumb creature 
 struck to the heart, she said, " Is it true? Am I really ill-tempered? 
 Do T really vex you very much ? " You may be sure that elderly lady 
 up in Nottinghamshire had an evil quarter of an hour of it when we 
 proceeded to discuss the question, and when Queen Tita had been 
 pacified and reassured. "But we ought to have known," she said. 
 "Count von Rosen warned us that stupid persons would make the 
 mistake. And to say that I cuffed my boys' ears ! "Why, you know 
 that even in the Magazine it says that I cuffed the boys and kissed 
 them at the same time — of course, in fun — and I threatened to whip 
 the whole house— of course, in fun, you know, when everybody was 
 in good spirits about going away — and now that wicked old woman 
 would make me out an unnatural mother, and a bad wife, and I don't 
 know what ! I — I — I will get Bell to draw a portrait of her, and put 
 it in an exhibition — that would serve her right." And forthwith she 
 sat down and wrote to the two boys at Twickenham, promising them 
 I know not what luxuries and extravagances when they came home 
 for the Easter holidays. But she is offended with the public, all 
 through that gabbling old lady in Notts ; and will have no more 
 communication with it, at least for the present] 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 SAVED ! 
 
 " Unto the great Twin Brethren 
 We keep this solemn feast. 
 Swift, swift the great Twin Brethren 
 Came spurring from the east ! " 
 
 Castor and Pollux did us notable service that morning 
 at Worcester. Arthur was coming round to see Bell 
 
176 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 belure we started. Queen Tita was oppressed by 
 anxious fears ; and declared that now the great crisis 
 had come, and that the young man from Twickenham 
 would demand some pledge from Bell as he bade her 
 good-bye. The dread of this danger drove the kindly 
 little woman into such exaggerations of his miscon- 
 duct of yesterday that I began to wonder if this 
 Arthur were really the same lad she used to pet and 
 think so much of when he came down to Leather- 
 head and dawdled with my Lady and Bell along the 
 Surrey lanes of an evening. What had changed him 
 since then? 
 
 " You are pleased to be profound," says Tita, 
 abruptly. 
 
 Well, I was only pointing out to her that one of 
 the chief accomplishments of life is consideration 
 for the sick ; and that whereas nearly all women 
 seem to have an inherited instinct that way, men 
 only acquire the habit as the result of experience 
 and reflection. Indeed, with most women, the certain 
 passport to their interest and kindliness is to be 
 unwell and exact a great deal of patient service from 
 them. Now — I was saying to Tita, when she uttered 
 that unnecessary rebuke — why don't women show 
 the same consideration to those who are mentally 
 ailing? — to the unfortunate persons whose vexed and 
 irritated brain renders them peevish and ill-tempered? 
 Once get a patient down with fever, and all his 
 fractious complainings are soothed, and all his queru- 
 lous whims are humoured. But when the same man 
 is rendered a little insane by meeting with a disap- 
 pointment—or if he is unable to stand being crossed 
 in argument, so that the mildest statement about 
 some such contested subject as the American War, 
 Governor Eyre, or the Annexation of Alsace, sends 
 a flash of flame through his head — why should not 
 the like allowance be made for his infirmities? Why 
 should the man who is ill-tempered because of a fever 
 be humoured, caressed, and coaxed ; and the man who 
 is ill-tempered because his reason is liable to attacks of 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 177 
 
 passion, be regarded as an ill-conditioned boor, not fit 
 for the society of well-bred ladies and gentlemen ? 
 
 "I think," says Tita, with a little warmth, "you 
 do nothing now but try to invent excuses for Arthur. 
 And it is not fair. I am very sorry for him if he 
 is so vexed that he loses his temper; but that does 
 not excuse his being absolutely rude." 
 
 " But his rudeness is part of his ailment," I venture 
 to say. " Ordinarily, he is the mildest and gentlest 
 of young men, who would shrink from a charge of 
 rudeness as the worst thing you could urge against 
 him. At present he is off his head. He does not 
 know what he says — or rather, he is incapable of 
 controlling his utterances. He is really sick with 
 a fever — though it isn't one of those, apparently, 
 that secure the commiseration of even the most 
 angelic of women." 
 
 I regarded that last expression as rather effective; 
 but no. My Lady remarked that she was not ac- 
 customed to the treatment of the insane ; and that 
 another day such as that she had just passed would 
 soon make her as ill as himself. 
 
 Our Bonny Bell did not seem so disturbed as might 
 have been expected. When we went down to the 
 coffee-room we found the Lieutenant and her sitting 
 at opposite sides of a small table, deeply engaged over 
 a sheet of paper. On our entrance the document was 
 hastily folded up and smuggled away. 
 
 " It is a secret," said the Lieutenant, anticipating 
 inquiry. " You shall not know until we are away on 
 our journey again. It is a packet to be opened in a 
 quiet place — no houses near, no persons to listen ; and 
 then — and then " 
 
 " Perhaps it will remain a secret ? Bien ! Life is 
 not long enough to let one meddle with secrets ; they 
 take up so much time in explanation, and then they 
 never contain anything." 
 
 " But this is a very wonderful thing," said the Lieu- 
 tenant, " and you must hurry to get away from Wor- 
 cester that you shall hear of it." 
 
 N 
 
178 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 We were, however, to have another sealed packet that 
 morning. Master Arthur, knowing full well that he 
 would have but little chance of speaking privately with 
 Bell, had entrusted his thoughts to a piece of paper 
 and an envelope ; and just as we were in the hurry of 
 departure, the young man appeared. The truth was, 
 the Lieutenant had ordered the horses to be put in some 
 quarter of an hour before the time we had said we 
 should start ; and my Lady showed so much anxiety to 
 set forth at once that I saw she hoped to leave before 
 Arthur came. 
 
 The phaeton stood in the archway of the hotel, 
 and on the stone steps were flung the rugs and 
 books. 
 
 " My dear," says Tita, rather anxiously, to Bell, " do 
 get in ! The horses seem rather fresh, and — and " 
 
 " Won't you wait to bid good-bye to Arthur ? " says 
 Bell. 
 
 " It is impossible to say when he will come — he will 
 understand — I will leave a message for him," says 
 Queen Titania, all in a breath; and with that the 
 lieutenant assists Bell to get up in front. 
 
 I have the reins in my hand, awaiting orders. The 
 last rugs are thrown up, books stowed away, everything 
 in readiness ; Tita takes her seat behind, and the Lieu- 
 tenant is on the point of getting up. 
 
 At this moment Arthur comes round the corner, is 
 amazed for a moment to see us ready to start, and then 
 suddenly brings out a letter. 
 
 " Bell," he says. " I — I have — there is something here 
 I want you to see— only a moment, and you can give 
 me an answer now — yes or no " 
 
 The unfortunate young man was obviously greatly 
 excited ; his face quite pale, and his speech rapid and 
 broken. He handed up the letter : the crisis that Tita 
 had endeavoured to avoid had come. But in this our 
 darkest hour — as I have already hinted — Castor and 
 Pollux came to the rescue. It was the battle of the 
 Lake Begillus acted once again in the gateway of the 
 Worcester Star Hotel. Tor Pollux, casting his head 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 179 
 
 about and longing to start, managed to fix his bit on 
 the end of the pole ; and, of course, a wild scene ensued. 
 Despite the efforts of the ostler, the horse threw him- 
 self back on his haunches ; the phaeton described a 
 curve, and was driven against the wall with a loud 
 crash ; the people about fled in every direction, and the 
 Lieutenant jumped out and sprang to the horses' heads. 
 Pollux was still making violent efforts to extricate 
 himself, and Castor, having become excited, was plung- 
 ing about ; so that for a moment it seemed as though 
 the vehicle would be shattered in pieces against the 
 wall of the court. The women were quite still, except 
 that Tita uttered a little suppressed cry as she saw the 
 Lieutenant hanging on to the rearing horses. He stuck 
 manfully to their heads, and, with the assistance of the 
 ostler, at last managed to get the bit off. Then both 
 horses sprang forward. It would have been impossible 
 to have confined them longer in this narrow place. 
 The Lieutenant leaped in behind ; and the next moment 
 the phaeton was out in the main street of Worcester, 
 both horses plunging and pulling so as to turn all 
 eyes towards us. Certainly, it was a good thing the 
 thoroughfare was pretty clear. The great Twin Brethren, 
 not knowing what diabolical occurrence had marked 
 their setting out, were speeding away from the place 
 with might and main; and with scarcely a look 
 at Worcester we found ourselves out in the country 
 again, amid quiet and wooded lanes, with all the sweet 
 influences of a bright summer morning around us. 
 
 "I hope you are not hurt," said my Lady to the 
 Lieutenant, who was looking about to see whether the 
 smash had taken some of the paint off, or done other 
 damage. 
 
 " Oh, not in the least, Madame," he said, " but I find 
 that one of my boots is cut, so that I think the shoe 
 of the horse must have done it. And has he caught on 
 the pole before ? " 
 
 " Only once," she says. 
 
 " Then I would have the bit made with bars across, 
 so that it will be more difficult ; for suppose this did 
 
 N 2 
 
i8o THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 happen in the road, and there was a ditch, and he 
 hacked yon " 
 
 " I snppose we should go over," remarked Queen Tita, 
 philosophically. " But it is strange how often acci- 
 dents in driving might occur, and how seldom they do 
 occur. But we must really have the hit altered." 
 
 " Well," I say to my gentle companion, " what mes- 
 sage did you leave with Arthur ? " 
 
 " I could not leave any," said Bell, " for of course 
 when the horses went hack, he had to get out of their 
 way. But he will understand that I will write to him." 
 
 " Have you read the letter ? " 
 
 "No." 
 
 "Do, like a good girl, and have it over. That is 
 always the "best way. You must not go into this 
 "beautiful country that lies ahead with a sort of cloud 
 over you." 
 
 So Bell took out the letter, and furtively opened it. 
 She read it carefully over, without uttering a word ; 
 then she continued looking at it for a long time. 
 
 " I am very glad that accident occurred," she re- 
 marked, in a low voice. " He said I was to answer ' yes ' 
 or 'no.' I could not do that to such a letter as this ; 
 and if I had refused, he would have "been very much 
 hurt. I will write to him from whatever place we stop 
 at to-night." 
 
 This resolution seemed greatly to comfort her. If 
 any explanation were needed, it was postponed until 
 the evening ; and in the meantime we had fine weather, 
 fresh air, and all the "bright colours of an English land- 
 scape around us. Bell rapidly resumed her ordinary 
 good spirits. She "begged to have the reins ; and when 
 these had "been handed over to her, with various cau- 
 tions, the excitement of driving a pair of horses that 
 yet showed considerable signs of freshness brought a 
 new colour into her cheeks. The route which we now 
 followed was one of the prettiest we had yet met with. 
 Instead of following the old stage-coach route by Droit- 
 wich, we struck almost due north by a line of small 
 and picturesque villages lying buried in the heart of 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 181 
 
 this deeply-wooded country. The first of these was 
 Ombersley — a curious little clump of cottages, nearly 
 all of which were white, with black bars of woodwork 
 crossed and re-crossed ; and they had odd gables, and 
 lattices, and decorations, so that they looked almost like 
 toy-cottages. Wearing white and black in this promi- 
 nent way, our Uhlan immediately claimed them as 
 Prussian property ; but beyond the fact of their showing 
 the Prussian colours, there was little else foreign-looking 
 about those old-fashioned English houses lying along 
 this level lane, and half hidden amid elms. As we got 
 up into the higher ground above Ombersley we found 
 around us a very pleasant landscape ; and it seemed to 
 strike my gentle-eyed companion that the names of the 
 villages around had been chosen to accord with the 
 tender and sylvan beauties of this pretty piece of 
 country. One of the sign-posts we passed had inscribed 
 on it, " To Doverdale and Hampton Lovett." Then in 
 the neighbourhood are Elmley Lovett, Elmbridge, Cross- 
 way Green, and Gardeners' Grove ; while down between 
 these runs Doverdale Brook, skirting Westmoor Park, 
 the large house of which we could see as a faint blue 
 mound amid the general leafage. The country, which 
 is flat about Ombersley, gets more undulating about 
 Hartlebury and on towards Kidderminster. The roads 
 wind up and down gentle hills, with tall and ruddy 
 banks of sand on each side, which are hanging with 
 every variety of wild flower and wayside weed. On 
 both hands dense woods come down to these tall and 
 picturesque banks ; and you drive through an atmo- 
 sphere laden with moist and resinous scents. 
 
 It was fortunate for us, indeed, that before starting 
 we had lived for a time in town; for all the various 
 perfumes of the hedges and fields came upon us with 
 a surprise. Every now and again, on these cool and 
 breezy mornings, we would drive past a hay-field, with 
 the fresh and sweet odours blowing all around. Or per- 
 haps it was a great clump of wild-rose bushes that filled 
 the air with delicate scent. Then the lime-trees were 
 in flower ; and who does not know the delight of pass- 
 
THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 ing under the boughs laden with blossom, when the bees 
 are busy overhead % More rarely, but still frequently 
 enough in this favoured country, a whiff of honeysuckle 
 was borne to us as we passed. And if these things 
 sweetened the winds that blew about us, consider what 
 stars of colour refreshed the eye as we drove gently 
 past the tall hedgerows and borders of woods — the 
 golden rock-roses, purple patches of wild thyme, the 
 white glimmering of stitchwort and campion, the yellow 
 spires of the snapdragon, and a thousand others. And 
 then, when we ceased to speak, there was no blank oi 
 silence. Away over the hay-field the lark floated in the 
 blue, making the air quiver with his singing ; the robin, 
 perched on a fence, looked at us saucily, and piped a 
 few notes by way of remark ; the blackbird was heard, 
 flute-throated, down in the hollow recesses of the woods ; 
 and the thrush, in a holly-tree by the wayside, sang out 
 his sweet, clear song, that seemed to rise in strength as 
 the wind awoke a sudden rustling through the long- 
 woods of birch and oak. 
 
 " Well, touching that sealed packet ? " says my Lady, 
 aloud. 
 
 " Oh no, Madame," replies the Lieutenant. " This is 
 not the time for it. If I must tell you the truth, it 
 is only a drinking-song I have been trying to remember 
 of a young Englishman who was at Bonn with me; 
 and Mademoiselle was so good this morning as to alter 
 some of the words. But now ? — a drinking-song in 
 this fine, quiet country? — No. After we have got to 
 Kidderminster, and when we drive away after lunch, 
 then Mademoiselle will play for you the air I did show 
 to her, and I will sing you the song. All what is 
 needed is that you drink some Ehine wine at Kidder- 
 minster to make you like the song." 
 
 " Kidderminster Ehine wine ! " exclaims one of the 
 party, with a groan. He knows that whatever is sug- 
 gested now by the Lieutenant finds favour with a clear 
 majority of the party. 
 
 " That was a very good young fellow," continues the 
 Lieutenant, as we drive over a high slope, and come 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 183 
 
 in view of a mass of manufactories. " Very big and 
 strong lie was ; we did call him der grosse Englander 
 always; and one time, in the winter, when there was 
 much snow, we had a supper-party at his room. We 
 had many duels then, for we were only boys, but the 
 Englishman was not supposed to be challenged, for he 
 knew nothing of our swords, but he was always ready 
 to fight with his fists for all that. And this evening, 
 I am afraid we did drink too much beer, and young 
 Schweitzer of Magdeburg — he died at Koniggratz, the 
 unfortunate, in '66 — he was very angry with the 
 Englander for laughing at his sweetheart, who was 
 but a young lady in a school there. And he challenged 
 the Englishman, and went up to him, and said he would 
 not go away until there was a fight ; and do you know 
 what your countryman did? He lifted Schweitzer up 
 in his arms, like a baby, and carried him down the 
 stairs, and opened the door, and put him in the snow 
 outside, very gently. There was so much laughing over 
 that, that we all said it was very good ; and Schweitzer 
 was grown sober by the cool of the snow; and he 
 laughed too, and I think they swore bruderschaft about 
 it afterwards. Oh, he was a very clever fellow, your 
 countryman, and had more delight in our songs than any 
 German I ever knew. But do you know how that is ? " 
 
 Madame said it was no wonder anyone should be 
 in love with the German songs; but the Lieutenant 
 shook ' his head. 
 
 "That is not it at all: no. This is it — that when 
 you know only a little of a language, you do not know 
 what is commonplace in it. The simple phrase which 
 is commonplace to others that is all full of meaning to 
 you. So I find it with your English. You would laugh 
 if I told you that I find much meaning in poetry that 
 you think only good for children, and in old-fashioned 
 writing, which looks affected now. Because, Madame, 
 is it not true that all commonplace phrases meant some 
 new thing at one time ? It is only my ignorance that 
 I do not know they have grown old and worth little. 
 ]STow the evening at Twickenham I did hear you go 
 
1 84 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 over the names of old-fashioned English songs, and 
 much fun was made of the poetry. But to me, that 
 was very good — a great deal of it — because nothing in 
 English is to me commonplace as yet." 
 
 " How fortunate you must be," says one of us, with 
 a sigh. 
 
 "You laugh when you say, 1 Flow on, thou shining 
 river ! ' Why ? The river flows : and it shines. I see 
 a clear picture out of the words — like the man who 
 wrote them; I am not accustomed to them so as to 
 think them stupid. Then I saw you laugh when some 
 one said, '/ dreamt that I dwelt in marble halls.' I 
 did read that song ; and although it is stupid that the 
 man thinks he will live in marble halls, I found much 
 tenderness in it. So with this young Englishman. He 
 knew nothing of what was commonplace in our lan- 
 guage. If you gave him children's rhymes, he looked 
 at the meaning ; and judged it all by that. And when 
 we showed him stiff, artificial verses of old times, he 
 seemed to go back to the time when they were written, 
 and believe much in them, and like them. That is 
 a very good thing in ignorance, I think — when you 
 know not much of a language, and every word has 
 much meaning in it, and there is no commonplace 
 anywhere." 
 
 This lecture of the Lieutenant took us into Kidder- 
 minster. What married man is not familiar with the 
 name — held up to him as an awful threat in reply to 
 his grumblings about the price of Turkey and Brussels 
 carpets ? As we drove into the busy town, signs of the 
 prevailing manufacture were everywhere apparent in 
 the large red-brick factories. We put up at the " Lion," 
 and while Von Eosen went off to buy himself a new 
 pair of boots, we went for a stroll up to the interesting 
 old church, the fine brasses and marble monuments of 
 which have drawn many a stranger to the spot. Then 
 we climbed to the top of the tower, and from the zinc 
 roof thereof had a spacious view over the level and 
 wooded country, which was deeply streaked by bands 
 of purple, where the clouds threw their shadows. Far 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 below ns lay the red, busy, smoky town set amid green 
 fields ; while the small river ran through it like a black 
 snake, for the bed had been drained, and in the dark 
 mud a multitude of boys could be seen wading, scoop- 
 ing about for eels. When we descended, Von Rosen 
 had got his boots, and was prowling about the church- 
 yard, reading the curious inscriptions there. One of 
 them informed the world of the person laid beneath 
 that, " added to the character of a Gentleman, his 
 actions were coeval with his Integrity, Hospitality, and 
 Benevolence." But our amiable guide, who had pointed 
 out to us all the wonderful features of Kidderminster 
 and its neighbourhood, evidently looked on one par- 
 ticular grave-stone as the chief curiosity of the place ; 
 for this, he informed us, was placed over a man who 
 had prepared the vault and the inscription ten years 
 before his death. Here is the legend : — 
 
 "To the Memory of 
 John Orton, 
 A Man from Leicestershire, 
 And when he is dead he must lie under Here." 
 
 The man from Leicestershire was not " alone among 
 mortals" in anticipating his end in this fashion ; but no 
 matter. A man may well be allowed to humour him- 
 self in the way of a tombstone ; it is the last favour he 
 can ask from the world. 
 
 " Now," said the Lieutenant, as we drove away from 
 this manufacturing town into the fresh country again, 
 " shall I sing you the song which the young English- 
 man used to sing for us ; or shall we wait until the 
 evening ?" 
 
 " Now, by all means," said Bell ; " and if you will be 
 so good as to give me out the guitar, I will try to play 
 you an accompaniment." 
 
 "A guitar accompaniment to a drinking-song!" says 
 Titania. 
 
 " Oh, but this is not a drinking-song, exactly, 
 Madame - it is a very moral song ; and we shall discuss 
 each versa as it goes along, and you will make altera- 
 tions of it." 
 
186 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 So he got out the guitar. We were now far away 
 from any houses — all around us great woods, that lay 
 dark and green under a clouded afternoon sky. The 
 road was very hilly ; and sometimes, from the summit 
 of a great height, we caught a glimpse of a long western 
 stretch of country, lying blue and misty under the grey 
 sky. Behind us Kidderminster looked like a dusky 
 red splatch in a plain of green ; and all around it the 
 meadows and fields were low and intense in colour. 
 But then in the west we could see an occasional glimpse 
 of yellow in the pall of cloud ; and we hoped the sunset 
 would break through the veil. 
 
 " Ladies and gentlemen," said the Lieutenant, " the 
 song I am about to sing to you " 
 
 Here Bell began to play a light prelude ; and without 
 further introduction our Uhlan startled the silence of 
 the woods and fields by singing, in a profound and 
 melancholy voice, the first two verses of the ballad 
 composed by the young Englishman at Bonn, which 
 ran somewhat as follows : — 
 
 " Oh, Burgundy isn't a good thing to drink, 
 Young man, I beseech you, consider and think, 
 Or else in your nose, and likewise in your toes, 
 You'll discover the colour of Burgundy rose : 
 Burgundy rose, Burgundy rose, 
 A dangerous symptom is Burgundy rose. 
 
 w 'Tis a very nice wine, and as mellow as milk, 
 Tis a very nice colour, in satin or silk ; 
 But you'll change your opinion as soon as it shows 
 In a halo around the extreme of your nose : 
 Burgundy rose, Burgundy rose, 
 Is a very bad thing at the tip of your toes." 
 
 "Well, Madame, how do you like it so far as we 
 have got?" says the Lieutenant, as Bell is extemporising 
 a somewhat wild variation of the air. 
 
 " I think your young English friend gave you very 
 good advice ; and I have no doubt the students needed 
 it very much." 
 
 w But you shall hear what he says ; he was not a 
 teetotaller at all." 
 
 And therewith the Lieutenant continued : — 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 187 
 
 1 ' If tipple you must, in beer, spirits, or wine, 
 There are wholesome vintages hail from the Rhiue ; . . 
 And, take the advice of a fellow who knows, 
 Hochheimer's as gentle as any that goes — 
 Burgundy rose, Burgundy rose, 
 Doth never appear from the wine I propose. 
 
 " Oh, Burgundy isn't a good thing to drink, 
 Young man, I beseech you, consider and think, 
 Or else in your nose, and likewise in your toes, 
 You'll discover the colour of Burgundy rose : 
 Burgundy rose, Burgundy rose, 
 A fatal affliction is Burgundy rose ! " 
 
 " Oh, you two scapegraces !" cried Queen Titania. 
 " I know now why you were laying your heads together 
 this morning, arid poring over that sheet of paper ; you 
 were engaged in perverting an honest and well- 
 intentioned song into a recommendation of German 
 wines. I am sure that third verse is not in the original. 
 I am certain the young English student never wrote it. 
 It was written in Worcester this very morning; and I 
 call on you to produce the original, so that we may cut 
 out this very bad -moral that has been introduced." 
 
 "The original, Madame?" said the Lieutenant, 
 gravely. " There is no original. I have repeated it most 
 from memory — as he used to sing it at Bonn — and I 
 put it down on paper only that Mademoiselle might 
 correct me about the words. No — I have put in no 
 moral. You think your countryman did not like the 
 Ehine wines ? Pfui ! — you should have seen him drink 
 them then, if he did not like them ! And the very 
 dear ones, too, for he had plenty of money ; and we 
 poor devils of the Germans used to be astonished at his 
 extravagance, and sometimes he was called ' milord' for 
 a joke. When we did go to his room to the supper- 
 parties, we could not believe that any young man not 
 come of age should have so much money given to him 
 by his parents. But it did not spoil him one bit ; he 
 was as good, frank, careless as any man, and when he 
 did get to know the language better he worked hard, 
 and had such notes of the lectures as not anyone, I 
 think, in the whole university had." 
 
i88 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 A strange thing now occurred. We were driving 
 along level and wooded lanes, running parallel with the 
 Severn. The small hamlets we passed, merely two or 
 three houses smothered in elms, are appropriately named 
 greens — Fen Green, Dodd's Green, Bard's Green, and the 
 like ; and on either side of us were lush meadows, with 
 the cattle standing deep in the grass. Now all at once 
 that long bar of glimmering yellow across the western 
 clouds burst asunder ; and at the same moment a glare 
 of light shone along the southern sky, where there was 
 evidently abundant rain. We had no sooner turned to 
 look at this flood of golden mist, than all around us 
 there was a stir in the hedges and the tall elms by the 
 roadside — we were enveloped in sunshine ; with it came 
 a quick pattering on the leaves ; and then we found the 
 air glittering with white drops and slanting streaks. 
 In the wild glare of the sunlight the shower shone and 
 sparkled around us, and the heavier it fell — until the 
 sound of it was like the hissing of the sea on a pebbly 
 beach — the more magical grew the effects of the mingled 
 light and wet. Nor was it a passing shower merely. 
 The air was still filled with the gleaming lines of the 
 rain, the sunlight still shone mistily through it and lit 
 up the green meadows and the trees with a wonderful 
 radiance, as we wrapped cloaks round our companions 
 and drove leisurely on. It was impossible to think that 
 this luminous rain could wet us like ordinary rain. But 
 by and by it drew itself off ; and then Bell, with a 
 sudden little cry, besought the Lieutenant to pull up 
 the horses. 
 
 Had we driven under a cloud, and escaped at the 
 other edge ? Close behind us there was still mingled 
 rain and sunlight ; but beyond that again the sky was 
 heaped up with immense dark blue masses. A rainbow 
 shone in front of this black background. A puff of 
 white cloud ran across the darkness, telling of contrary 
 winds. And then when we turned from this gleaming 
 and glowing picture to continue our course, lo ! all the 
 west had cleared, and a great dim smoke of yellow lay 
 over the land, where the sky came down. 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 " It is like the sea, is it not ?" said Bell, rising up in 
 the phaeton and steadying herself to look into this 
 distant world of gold. " Don't you expect to find the 
 masts of ships and sea-birds flying about out there ?" 
 
 And then in the cool and fresh evening, with the 
 dusk coming on, we drove up the valley of the Severn, 
 by Quat and Quatford, towards our resting-place for 
 the night. As we passed by Quatford Castle, the river, 
 lying amid the dark meadows, had caught a glow of 
 crimson fire from the last reflection of the sunset. A 
 blue mist lay about the sides of the abrupt hill on 
 which the town of Bridgenorth is pitched ; but as we 
 wound round the hill to gain the easiest ascent, we 
 came again into the clear, metallic glow of the west. 
 It was a hard pull on the horses, just at the end of 
 their day's work, was this steep and circuitous ascent ; 
 but at length we got into the rough streets of the old 
 town, and in the fading twilight sought out the yellow 
 and comfortable glow of the Crown Hotel. 
 
 We had got in passing a vague glimpse of a wide 
 space around an old town-house, with a small crowd of 
 people collecting. They had come to hear the playing 
 of a Volunteer band. Therefore, as we sat down to 
 dinner, we had some very good music being played to 
 us from without ; and when at last it was gone, and 
 the quaint old town on the top of the hill left to its 
 ordinary silence, we found it was time to light our 
 cigars and open the b^zique-box. 
 
 Probably no one noticed it ; but it is a curious cir- 
 cumstance that Bell had apparently forgotten all about 
 her determination to write to Arthur. There was no 
 shadow of a cloud on her face, and she enjoyed the 
 winning of various games — assisted thereto by the 
 obvious ministrations of the Lieutenant — with as much 
 delight and careless amusement as though there was 
 not anywhere in the world a young man sitting in his 
 solitary chamber and wishing that he had never been 
 born. But it was certainly not hard-heartedness that 
 gave to Bell the enjoyment of that one evening. 
 
190 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 CHAPTEE XIV. 
 
 A SHREWSBURY PLAY. 
 
 "But (trust me, gentles !) never yet 
 Was dight a masquing half so neat, 
 
 Or half so rich before ; 
 The country lent the sweet perfumes, 
 The sea the pearl, the sky the plumes, 
 
 The town its silken store." 
 
 The Lieutenant was pensive. He and I had gone out 
 for a turn before breakfast, and wandered on to the 
 high promenade which, skirting one portion of the lofty- 
 town, looked down on the valley of the Severn, the 
 huddled houses underneath the rocky height, and the 
 bridge spanning the stream. It was a bright and cool 
 morning ; and the landscape that lay around was 
 shining in the sun. 
 
 "England," he said, leaning his arms on the stone 
 parapet of the walk, " is a very pleasant country to 
 live in, I think." 
 
 I thanked him for the compliment. 
 
 " You are very free in your actions here : you do 
 what you please. Only consider how you are at this 
 moment." 
 
 But I had to protest against our young Prussian 
 friend continually regarding this excursion as the 
 normal condition of our existence. I showed him that 
 we were not always enjoying ourselves in this fashion ; 
 that a good deal of hard work filled the long interval 
 of the winter months ; and that even Bell — whom he 
 had grown to regard as a sort of feature of English 
 scenery — a wild bird for ever on the wing through 
 sunlight and green leaves — worked as hard as any of us. 
 
 " It is pleasant to be able to play dexterously on 
 the piano, or the guitar, or what not, but that accom- 
 plishment means imprisonment with hard labour stretch- 
 ing over years. It is very nice to be able to put on 
 a sheet of paper, with a few rapid touches, the outlines 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 191 
 
 of a scene which delights you, and to find yourself able 
 to reproduce this afterwards in water or oil, and have it 
 publicly exhibited and sold ; but do you know how 
 much work it involves ? Bell is a most untiring young 
 woman, I promise you, and not likely to fall asleep in 
 counting her fingers." 
 
 " Oh, I am sure of that," he said, absently. " She has 
 too much spirit, too much life, to be indolent. But I 
 was thinking — I was thinking whether, if a man was to 
 change his country, he would choose England out of all 
 the other countries to live in. Here it is. Your people 
 in England who only enjoy themselves must be very 
 rich, must they not ? Is it a good country, I wonder, 
 for a man who would have about 800/. a year ?" 
 
 " Not without some occupation. But why do you 
 ask V 
 
 He only stared at the bushes down below us on the 
 rocks, and at the river far below them. 
 
 "What would you say," he asked, suddenly, "if I 
 were to come and live in England, and become natural- 
 ized, and never go back to my native country again ?" 
 
 " And give up your profession, with all its interest 
 and excitement?" 
 
 He was silent for a minute or two ; and then he said — 
 
 " I have done more than the service that is expected 
 from every man in Prussia; and I do not think my 
 country goes to war for many years to come. About 
 the excitement of a campaign and the going into battle 
 — well, there is much mistake about that. You are not 
 always in enthusiasm ; the long marches, the wet days, 
 the waiting for months in one place — there is nothing 
 heroic in that. And when you do come to the battle 
 itself, — come, my dear friend, I will tell you something 
 about that." 
 
 He seemed to wake up then. He rose from his 
 recumbent position and took a look round the shining 
 country that lay along the valley of the Severn. 
 
 "All the morning before the battle," said the Lieu- 
 tenant, "you have great gloom ; and it seems as if the 
 day is dark overhead. But this is strange — that you 
 
192 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 think you can see very far, and you can see all your 
 friends in Germany, and think you could almost speak 
 to them. You expect to go forward to meet the enemy ; 
 and you hate him that he is waiting for you upon some 
 of the hills or behind his entrenchments. Then the 
 hurry comes of getting on horseback ; and you are very 
 friendly to all your companions — and they are all very 
 pleasant and laughing at this time, except one or two, 
 who are thinking of their home. Your regiment is 
 ordered forward: you do not know what to think: 
 perhaps you wish the enemy would run away, or that 
 your regiment is not needed and sometimes you have 
 great wish of anger towards him; but all this is 
 shifting, gloomy, uncertain, that you do not think two 
 things one moment. Then you hear the sound of the 
 firing, and your heart beats fast for a little while, and 
 you think of all your friends in Germany; and this 
 is the time that is the worst. You are angry with 
 all the men who provoke wars in their courts and 
 parliaments ; and you think it is a shame you should 
 be there to fight for them ; and you look at the pleasant 
 things you are leaving all behind in your own home, 
 just as if you were never to see them any more. That 
 is a very wretched and miserable time, but it does not 
 last very long if you are ordered to advance ; and then, 
 my dear friend, I can assure you that you do not care 
 one farthing for your own life — that you forget your 
 home altogether, and you think no more of your 
 friends; you do not even hate the enemy in front 
 any more — it is all a stir, and life, and eagerness ; and 
 a warm, glad feeling runs all through your veins, and 
 when the great 'hurrah' comes, and you ride forward, 
 you think no more of yourself ; you say to yourself, 
 
 ' Here is for my good Fatherland V — and then " 
 
 A sort of sob stuck in the throat of the big Lieu- 
 tenant. 
 
 " Bah," said he, with a frown, as if the bright morning 
 and the fresh air had done him an injury, " what is the 
 use of waiting out here, and killing ourselves with 
 hunger ?" 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 193 
 
 Bell was writing when we went into the hotel. As 
 we entered she hastily shut up her small port- 
 folio. 
 
 « Why not finish your letter, Mademoiselle?" he said, 
 gently. "It will be a little time before breakfast 
 comes in." 
 
 "I can finish it afterwards," said the girl, looking 
 rather embarrassed. 
 
 Of course, when the Lieutenant perceived that the 
 attention thus drawn to the letter had caused her some 
 confusion, he immediately rushed into another subject, 
 and said to Queen Titania, with a fine affectation of 
 carelessness — 
 
 " You will laugh, Madame, at our having yet another 
 adventure in a stationer's shop." 
 
 " I think," said my Lady, gravely, " that I must put 
 a stop to these wanderings about in the early morn- 
 ing. I cannot quite make out why you should 
 always get up hours before anybody else ; but I find 
 that generally some story is revealed afterwards of a 
 young lady." 
 
 "But there is no young lady this time," said the 
 Lieutenant, " but a very worthy man whom we found 
 in the stationer's shop. And he has been at Sedan, 
 and he has brought back the breech of a mitrailleuse 
 and showed it all to us, and he has written a small 
 book about his being in France, and did present us 
 with a copy of it, and would not take any payment 
 for it. Oh, he is a very remarkable and intelligent 
 man to be found in a stationer's shop up in this 
 curious old town on the top of a hill; but then I 
 discovered he is a Scotchman, and do you not say 
 here that a Scotchman is a great traveller, and is to 
 be found everywhere ? And I have looked into the 
 little book, and I think it very sensible and good, 
 and a true account of what he has seen." 
 
 " Then I presume he extols your countrymen ? " says 
 my Lady, with a smile. 
 
 " Madame," replies the Lieutenant, " I may assure 
 you of this, that a man who has been , in a campaign 
 
 0 
 
194 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 and seen both the armies, does not think either army 
 an army of angels and the other an army of demons. 
 To believe one nation to have all the good, and 
 another nation to have all the bad, that can only 
 be believed by people who have seen none of them. 
 I think my friend the stationer has written so 
 mnch of what he saw, that he had no time for 
 stupid imaginations about the character of two whole 
 countries." 
 
 At this moment the introduction of breakfast broke 
 our talk in this direction. After breakfast Bell 
 finished her letter. She asked the Lieutenant to 
 get i't stamped and posted for her, and handed it 
 openly to him. But, without looking at it, he must 
 have known that it was addressed to "Arthur Ash- 
 burton, Esq., Essex Court, Temple." 
 
 "Well," said Bell, coming downstairs with her 
 hat on, "let us go out now, and see the town. It 
 must be a very pleasant old place. And the day 
 is so fine ; — don't you think we have had quite 
 exceptional weather hitherto, Count von Bosen?" 
 
 Of course he said the weather had been lovely; 
 but how was it that Bell was so sure beforehand that 
 she would be pleased with Bridgenorth? The delight 
 was already in her face, and beaming in her eyes. 
 She knew the weather must be fine. She was certain 
 we should have a delicious drive during the day, 
 and was positive the country through which we had 
 to pass would be charming. The observant reader 
 will remark that a certain letter had been posted. 
 
 Really, Bridgenorth was pleasant enough on this 
 bright morning, albeit the streets on the river-side 
 part of the town were distinctly narrow, dirty, and 
 smoky. First of all, however, we visited the crumbling 
 walls of Robert de Belesme's mighty tower. Then 
 we took the women round the high promenade over 
 the valley. Then we went down through a curious 
 and precipitous passage hewn out of the sandstone 
 hill to the lower part of the town, and visited the 
 old building in which Bishop Percy was born, the 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 195 
 
 inscription 1 on which, by the way, is a standing 
 testimony to the playful manner in which this nation 
 has from time immemorial dealt with its aspirates. 
 Then we clambered up the steep streets again until 
 we reached the great central square, with its quaint 
 town-house and old-fashioned shops. A few minutes 
 thereafter we were in the phaeton, and Castor and 
 Pollux taking us into the open country again. 
 
 " Mademoiselle ! " said the Lieutenant — the young 
 man was like a mavis, with this desire of his to sing 
 or hear singing just after his morning meal — "you 
 have not sung to us anything for a long while now." 
 
 " But I will this morning, with great pleasure," 
 said Bell. 
 
 "Then," said Von Bosen, "here is your guitar. 
 When I saw you come down to go out this morning, 
 I said to myself, ' Mademoiselle is sure to sing to- 
 day/ So I kept out the guitar-case." 
 
 The horses pricked up their ears. The cords of 
 the guitar twanged out a few notes. The fresh breeze 
 blew by from the fields ; and as we drove through the 
 stillness of one or two straggling woods, Bell sang — 
 
 "If enemies oppose us, 
 
 And England is at war 
 With any foreign nation, 
 
 We fear not wound nor scar ! 
 To humble them, come on, lads ! 
 
 Their flags we'll soon lay low ; 
 Clear the way, for the fray : 
 
 Though the stormy winds do blow ! " 
 
 " Mademoiselle," cries the Lieutenant, " it is a 
 challenge." 
 
 Bell laughed, and suddenly altered the key. 
 
 " Fair Hebe I left with a cautious design" — 
 
 1 The inscription inside the door of this old-fashioned building, 
 which is ornamented by bars of black and white, and peaked gables, is 
 as follows : — 
 
 " Except the Lord BviLD the owse 
 The Labourers thereof evail nothing 
 Erected by K For * 1580." 
 0 2 
 
196 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 this was what she sang now — 
 
 "To escape from her charms and to drown love in wine ; . 
 I tried it, but found, when I came to depart, 
 The wine in my head, but still love in my heart. " 
 
 "Well," said Tita, with an air of astonishment, 
 "that is a pretty song for a young lady to sing!" 
 Bell laid down the guitar. 
 
 "And what," I ask of Queen Titania, "are the 
 sentiments of which alone a young lady may sing ? 
 Not patriotism ? Not love ? Not despair ? Goodness 
 gracious ! Dortt you remember what old Joe Blatchers 
 said when he brought us word that some woman in 
 his neighbourhood had committed suicide ? " 
 
 " What did he say ? " asked the Lieutenant with 
 a great curiosity. 
 
 " The wretched woman had drowned herself because 
 her husband had died ; and old J oe brought us the 
 story with the serious remark, ' The ladies 'as their 
 feelins, 'asrit they, sir, arter allV Mayn't a young 
 lady sing of anything but the joy of decorating a 
 church on Christmas Eve ? " 
 
 " I have never been taught to perceive the humour 
 of profanity," says my Lady, with a serene impas- 
 siveness. 
 
 " Curious, if true. Perhaps you were never taught 
 that a white elephant isn't the same as a rainbow or 
 a pack of cards ? " 
 
 " My dear," says Tita, turning to Bell, " what is 
 that French song that you brought over with you 
 from Dieppe?" 
 
 Thus appealed to, Bell took up her guitar, and 
 sang for us a very pretty song. It was not exactly 
 French, to be sure. It began — 
 
 " 'Twas frost and thro' leet, wid a greyming o' snaw, 
 "When I went to see Biddy, the flow'r o' them aw ; 
 To meet was agreed on at Seymy' deyke nuik, 
 Where I sauntered wi' mony a seegh and lang luik. " 
 
 But good honest Cumbrian is quite as foreign to 
 most of us as French; and no exception could be taken 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 197 
 
 to the sentiment of Bell's ballad, for none of us could 
 understand six consecutive words of it. 
 
 Much-Wenlock is a quiet town. It is about as 
 quiet as the spacious and grassy enclosure in which 
 the magnificent ruins of its old monastery stand grey 
 and black in the sunshine. There are many strange 
 passages and courts in these noble ruins ; and as you 
 wander through broken arches, and over courtyards 
 half hid in the long green grass, it is but natural 
 that a preference for solitude should betray itself in 
 one or other of the members of a noisy little party. 
 We lost sight of Bell and the Lieutenant. There was a 
 peacock strutting through the grass, and making his 
 resplendent tail gleam in the sunshine ; and they 
 followed him, I think. When we came upon them 
 again, Bell was seated on a bit of tumbled pillar, 
 pulling daisies out of the sward and plaiting them ; 
 and the Lieutenant was standing by her side, talking 
 to her in a low voice. It was no business of ours to 
 interfere with this pastoral occupation. Doubtless he 
 spoke in these low tones because of the great silence 
 of the place. We left them there, and had another 
 saunter before we returned. We were almost sorry 
 to disturb them ; for they made a pretty group, these 
 two young folks, talking leisurely to each other under 
 the solemn magnificence of the great grey ruins, while 
 the sunlight that lit up the ivy on the walls, and 
 threw black shadows under the arches of the crumbling 
 windows, and lay warm on the long grass around 
 them, touched Bell's cheek too, and glimmered down 
 one side of the loose and splendid masses of her 
 hair. 
 
 Castor and Pollux were not allowed much time 
 for lunch ; for, as the young people had determined 
 to go to the theatre on reaching Shrewsbury, their 
 elders, warned by a long experience, knew that the 
 best preparation for going to a country theatre is to 
 dine before setting out. My Lady did not anticipate 
 much enjoyment ; but Bell was positive we should 
 be surprised. 
 
i 9 8 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 " We have been out in the country so much — seeing 
 so much of the sunlight and the green trees, and living 
 at those little inns — that we ought to have a country 
 theatre as well. Who knows but that we may have 
 left all our London ideas of a play in London ; and 
 find ourselves quite delighted with the simple folk 
 who are always uttering good sentiments, and quite 
 enraged with the bad man who is wishing them ill. 
 I think Count von Rosen was quite right " 
 
 Of course Count von Eosen was quite right! 
 
 « about commonplace things only having become 
 
 commonplace through our familiarity with them," con- 
 tinued Miss Bell; "perhaps we may find ourselves 
 going back a bit, and being as much impressed by a 
 country drama as any of the farmer-folk who do not 
 see half-a-dozen plays in their life. And then, you 
 know, what a big background we shall have ! — not the 
 walls of the little theatre, but all the great landscape 
 we have been coming through. Round about us we 
 shall see the Severn, and the long woods, and Broadway 
 Hill " 
 
 "And not forgetting Bourton Hill," says the Lieu- 
 tenant. " If only they do give us a good moonlight 
 scene like that, we shall be satisfied." 
 
 " Oh no ! " said Bell gravely — she was evidently 
 launching into one of her unconscious flights, for her 
 eyes took no more notice of us, but were looking 
 wistfully at the pleasant country around us — " that is 
 asking far too much. It is easier for you to make the 
 moonlight scene than for the manager. You have only 
 to imagine it is there — shut your eyes a little bit, and 
 fancy you hear the people on the stage talking in a 
 real scene, with the real country around, and the real 
 moonlight in the air. And then you grow to believe 
 in the people — and you forget that they are only actors 
 and actresses working for their salaries — and you think 
 it is a true story, like the stories they tell up in West- 
 moreland of things that have happened in the villages 
 years ago. That is one of the great pleasures of 
 driving, is it not ? — that it gives you a sense of wide 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 99 
 
 space. There is a great deal of air and sky about it ; 
 and you have a pleasant and easy way of getting 
 through it, as if you were really sailing; whereas 
 the railway whisks you through the long intervals, 
 and makes your journey a succession of dots. That 
 is an unnatural way of travelling, that staccato 
 method of " 
 
 Here Mademoiselle caught sight of Queen Tita 
 gravely smiling, and immediately paused to find out 
 what she had been saying. 
 
 " Well ? " she said, expecting to be corrected or re- 
 proved, and calmly resolved to bear the worst. 
 
 But how could Tita explain ? She had been amused 
 by the manner in which the young lady had uncon- 
 sciously caught up a trick of the Lieutenant's in the 
 construction of his sentences — the use of " that " as the 
 introductory nominative, the noun coming in afterwards. 
 For the moment the subject dropped, in the excitement 
 of our getting once more back to the Severn ; and when 
 Bell spoke next, it was to ask the Lieutenant whether 
 the Wrekin — a solitary, abrupt, and conical hill on our 
 right, which was densely wooded to the top — did not 
 in a milder form reproduce the odd masses of rock that 
 stud the great plain west of the Lake of Constance. 
 
 A pleasant drive through a fine stretch of open 
 country took us into Shrewsbury; and here, having 
 got over the bridge and up the steep thoroughfares to 
 our hotel, dinner was immediately ordered. When at 
 length we made our way round to the theatre it was 
 about half-past seven, and the performance was to 
 commence at twenty minutes to eight. 
 
 " Oh, Bell ! " says my Lady, as we enter the building. 
 She looks blankly round. From the front of the dress 
 circle we are peering into a great hollow place, dimly 
 lighted by ten lamps, each of one burner, that throw 
 a sepulchral light on long rows of wooden benches, on 
 a sad-coloured curtain and an empty orchestra. How 
 is all the force of Bell's imagination to drive off these 
 walls and this depressing array of carpentry, and 
 substitute for them a stage of greensward and walls 
 
200 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 composed of the illimitable sky ? There is an odour of 
 escaped gas, and of oranges ; but when did any people 
 ever muster up enough of gaiety to eat an orange in 
 this gloomy hall ? 
 
 7.30, by Shrewsbury clock. — An old gentleman and 
 a boy appear in the orchestra. The former is pos- 
 sessed of a bass-viol; the latter proceeds to tune up 
 a violin. 
 
 7.40— which is the time for commencing the play — 
 three ladies come into the pit. The first is a farmer's 
 wife, fat, ostentatious, happy in a black silk that 
 rustles; the two others are apparently friends of hers 
 in the town, who follow her meekly, and take their 
 seats with a frightened air. She sits down with a proud 
 gesture ; and this causes a thin crackle of laughter and 
 a rude remark far up in the semi-darkness overhead, 
 so that we gather that there are probably two persons 
 in the upper gallery. 
 
 7.45. — Two young ladies — perhaps shop-girls, but 
 their extreme blushing gives them a countrified look 
 — come into the pit, talk in excited whispers to each 
 other, and sit down with an uncomfortable air of 
 embarrassment. At this moment the orchestra startles 
 us by dashing into a waltz from " Faust." There are 
 now five men and a boy in this tuneful choir. One 
 of them starts vigorously on the cornet ; but invariably 
 fails to get beyond the first few notes, so that the flute 
 beats him hollow. Again and again the cornet strikes 
 in at the easy parts ; but directly he subsides again, 
 and the flute has it all his own way. The music ceases. 
 The curtain is drawn up. The play has begun. 
 
 The first act is introductory. There is a farmer, 
 whose chief business it is to announce that "his will 
 is law;" and he has a son addressed throughout as 
 Weelyam, whom he wishes to marry a particular girl. 
 The son, of course, has married another. The villain 
 appears, and takes us into his confidence ; giving us 
 to understand that a worse villain never trod the earth. 
 He has an interview with the farmer ; but this is 
 suddenly broken off— a whistle in some part of the 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 20 1 
 
 theatre is heard, and we are conveyed to an Italian 
 lake, all shining with yellow villas and blue skies. 
 
 "That is the problem stated," said the Lieutenant; 
 " now we shall have the solution. But do you find the 
 walls going away yet, Mademoiselle?" 
 
 " I think it is very amusing," said Bell, with a bright 
 look on her face. Indeed, if she had not brought in 
 with her sufficient influence from the country to resolve 
 the theatre into thin air, she had imbibed a vast 
 quantity of good health and spirits there, so that she 
 was prepared to enjoy anything. 
 
 The plot thickens. The woman-villain appears — a 
 lady dressed in deep black, who tells us in an awful 
 voice that she was the mistress of Weelyam in France 
 — that being the country naturally associated in the 
 mind of the dramatist with crimes of this character. 
 She is in a pretty state when she learns that Weelyam 
 is married ; and events are plainly marching on to a 
 crisis. It comes. The marriage is revealed to the 
 farmer, who delivers a telling curse, which is apparently 
 launched at the upper gallery, but which is really meant 
 to confound Weelyam; then the old man falls — there 
 is a tableau — the curtain comes down, and the band, by 
 some odd stroke of luck, plays "Home, sweet home," 
 as an air descriptive of Weelyam's banishment. 
 
 We become objects of curiosity, now that the 
 adventures of the farmer's son are removed. There 
 are twenty-one people in the pit — representing con- 
 jointly a solid guinea transferred to the treasury. 
 One or two gay young men with canes, and their 
 hats much on the side of their heads, have entered 
 the dress-circle, stared for a minute or two at the 
 stage, and retired. 
 
 They are probably familiar with rustic drama, and 
 hold it in contempt. A good ballet, now, would be 
 more in their way, performed by a troupe of young 
 ladies whose names are curiously like English names, 
 with imposing French and Italian terminations. A 
 gentleman comes into the pit along with a friend, nods 
 familiarly to the attendant, deposits his friend, utters 
 
202 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 a few facetious remarks, and leaves : can it be that 
 he is a reporter of a local newspaper, dowered with 
 the privilege of free admission for " himself and one ? " 
 There must at least be three persons in the upper 
 gallery, for a new voice is heard, calling out the 
 graceful but not unfamiliar name of "Polly." One 
 of the two rose-red maidens in front of us timidly 
 looks up, and is greeted with a shout of recognition 
 and laughter. She drops into her old position in 
 a second, and hangs down her head ; while her 
 companion protests in an indignant way in order to 
 comfort her. The curtain rises. 
 
 The amount of villany in this Shrewsbury drama is 
 really getting beyond a joke. We are gradually rising 
 in the scale of dark deeds, until the third villain, who 
 now appears, causes the other two to be regarded as 
 innocent lambs. This new performer of crime is a 
 highwayman ; and his very first act is to shoot 
 Weelyam's father ^ and rob him of his money. But 
 lo ! the French adventuress drops from the clouds : 
 the highwayman is her husband : she tells him of her 
 awful deeds, among them of her having murdered " her 
 mistress the Archduchess ; " and then, as she vows 
 she will go and murder Weelyam, a tremendous conflict 
 of everybody ensues, and a new scene being run on, 
 we are suddenly whirled up to Balmoral Castle. 
 
 "I am beginning to be very anxious about the 
 good people," remarked Tita. "I am afraid William 
 will be killed." 
 
 " Unless he has as many lives as Plutarch, he can't 
 escape," said Bell. 
 
 "As for the old farmer," observed the Lieutenant, 
 "he survives apoplectic fits and pistol-shots very well 
 — oh, very well indeed. He is a very good man in a 
 play. He is sure to last to the end." 
 
 Well, we were near the end ; and author, carpenter, 
 and scene-painter had done their dead best to render 
 the final scene impressive. It was in a cavern. Cim- 
 merian darkness prevailed. The awful lady in black 
 haunts the gloomy byways of the rocks, communing 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 203 
 
 with herself, and twisting her arms so that the greatest 
 agony is made visible. But what is this hooded and 
 trembling figure that approaches ? Once in the cavern, 
 the hood is thrown off, and the palpitating heroine 
 comes forward for a second to the low footlights, merely 
 that there shall be no mistake about her identity. 
 The gloom deepens. The young and innocent wife 
 encounters the French adventuress ; the woman who 
 did not scruple to murder her mistress the Arch- 
 duchess seizes the girl by her hands — shrieks are heard 
 — the two figures twist round one another — then a 
 mocking shout of laughter, and Weelyam's wife is 
 precipitated into the hideous waters of the lake ! But 
 lo ! the tread of innumerable feet ; from all quarters of 
 the habitable globe stray wanderers arrive : with a shout 
 Weelyam leaps into the lake, and when it is discovered 
 that he has saved his wife, behold! everybody in the 
 play is found to be around him, and with weeping 
 and with laughter all the story is told, and the 
 drama ends in the most triumphant and comfortable 
 manner, in the middle of the night, in a cavern, a 
 hundred miles from anywhere. 
 
 "No," said Queen Titania, distinctly, "I will not stay 
 to see La Champagne Ballet or the Pas de Fascination." 
 
 So there was nothing for it but to take the ungrate- 
 ful creature back to the hotel, and give her tea and a 
 novel. As for the billiard-room in that hotel, it is one of 
 the best between Holborn and the Canongate. The Lieu- 
 tenant begs to add, that he can recommend the beer. 
 
 CHAPTEE XV. 
 
 "LA PATRIE EN DANGER." 
 
 "Sometimes on lonely mountain-meres, 
 I find a magic bark ; 
 I leap on board : no helmsman steers 
 I float till all is dark." 
 
 I SIT down to write this chapter with a determination 
 to be generous, calm, and modest in the last degree, 
 
204 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 The man who would triumph over the wife of his bosom 
 merely to have the pleasure of saying " I told you so," 
 does not deserve to have his path through life sweetened 
 by any such tender companionship. Far be it from 
 me to recall the earnest protestations which my Lady 
 affixed to the first portion of this narrative. Not 
 for worlds would I inquire into her motives for being 
 so anxious to see Arthur go. The ways of a woman 
 ought to be intricate, occult, perplexing, if only to pre- 
 serve something of the mystery of life around her, and 
 to serve her, also, as a refuge from the coarse and rude 
 logic of the actual world. The foolish person who, to 
 prove himself right, would drive his wife into a corner, 
 and demonstrate to her that she was wrong — that she 
 had been guilty of small prevarications, of trifling bits of 
 hypocrisy, and of the use of various arts to conceal her 
 real belief and definite purpose — the man who would thus 
 wound the gentle spirit by his side to secure the petty 
 gratification of proving himself to have been something 
 of a twopenny-halfpenny prophet — but these remarks 
 are premature at the present moment, and I go on to 
 narrate the events which happened on the day of our 
 leaving Shrewsbury, and getting into the solitary region 
 of the meres. 
 
 " I have received a telegram from Arthur," says Bell, 
 calmly : and the pink sheet is lying on the breakfast- 
 table before her. 
 
 " How did you get it ? " says my Lady, with some 
 surprise. 
 
 "At the post-office." 
 
 " Then you have been out ? " 
 
 " Yes, we went for a short walk, after having waited 
 for you," says Bell, looking down. 
 
 " Oh, Madame," says the Lieutenant, coming forward 
 from the fireplace, " you must not go away from the 
 town without seeing it well. It is handsome, and 
 the tall poplars down by the side of the river, they are 
 worth going to see by themselves." 
 
 " It was very pretty this morning," continued Bell, 
 "when the wind was blowing about the light blue 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 205 
 
 smoke, and the sun was shining down on the slates 
 and the clumps of trees. We went to a height on 
 the other side of the river, and I have made a sketch 
 of it " 
 
 " Pray," says my Lady, regarding our ward severely, 
 " when did you go out this morning ? " 
 
 " Perhaps about an hour and a half ago," replies Bell 
 carelessly ; " I don't exactly know." 
 
 " More than that, I think," says the Lieutenant, " for 
 I did smoke two cigars before we came back. It is 
 much to our credit to get up so early, and not anything 
 to be blamed of." 
 
 " I am glad Bell is improving in that respect," retorts 
 my Lady, with a wicked smile ; and then she adds, 
 " Well ? " 
 
 " He has started," is the reply to that question. 
 
 " And is going by another route ? " , 
 
 " Yes : in a dog-cart — by himself. Don't you think 
 it is very foolish of him, Tita ? You know what acci- 
 dents occur with those dog-carts." 
 
 " Mademoiselle, do not alarm yourself," says the 
 Lieutenant, folding up his newspaper. " It is quite true 
 what Madame said yesterday, that there are so many 
 accidents in driving, and so very seldom anyone hurt. 
 You ask your friends — yes, they have all had accidents 
 in their riding and driving ; they have all been in great 
 danger, but what have they suffered ? — Nothing ! Some- 
 times a man is killed — yes, one out of several millions 
 in the year. And if he tumbles over — which is likely 
 if he does not know much of horses and driving — what 
 then? No, there is no fear; we shall see him some day 
 very well, and go on all together ! " 
 
 " Oh, shall we ? " says my Lady, evidently regarding 
 this as a new idea. 
 
 " Certainly. Do you think he goes that way always ? 
 Impossible. He will tire of it. He will study the 
 roads across to meet us. He will overtake us with his 
 light little dog-cart ; we shall have his company along 
 the road." 
 
 Tita did not at all look so well satisfied with this 
 
2o6 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 prospect of meeting an old friend as she might have 
 done. 
 
 " And when are you to hear from him next ? " I 
 inquire of Mademoiselle. 
 
 " He will either write or telegraph to each of the big 
 towns along our route, on the chance of the message 
 intercepting us somewhere; and so we shall know 
 where he is." 
 
 " And he has really started ? " 
 
 Bell placed the telegram in my hands. It was as 
 follows : — 
 
 " Have set out by Hatfield, Huntingdon, and York, for 
 Edinburgh. Shall follow the real old coach-road to 
 Scotland ; and am certain to find much entertainment." 
 
 "For man and beast," struck in the Lieutenant. 
 " And I know of a friend of mine travelling in your 
 country who went into one of these small inns, and put 
 up his horse, and when they brought him in his luncheon 
 to the parlour, he only looked at it and said, ' Very 
 good, waiter ; this is very nice ; but where is the enter- 
 tainment for the man ? ' " 
 
 I continued to read the telegram aloud — 
 
 " Shall 'probably be in Edinburgh before you ; but will 
 telegraph or write to each big town along your route, that 
 you may let me know where you are." 
 
 "It is very obliging," says the Lieutenant, with a 
 shrug of his shoulders. 
 
 "It is quite certain," observes my Lady, with de- 
 cision, "that he must not accompany us in his dog- 
 cart ; for we shall arrive at plenty of inns where they 
 could not possibly put up three horses and so many 
 people." 
 
 "It would have been so," said the Lieutenant, "at 
 the place on the top of the hill — Bourton was it 
 called, yes?" 
 
 The mere notion of Arthur coming in to spoil the 
 enjoyment of that rare evening was so distressing, that 
 we all took refuge in breakfast, after which we went for 
 a long and leisurely stroll through Shrewsbury ; and 
 then had Castor and Pollux put into the phaeton. It 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 207 
 
 seemed now to us to matter little at what town we 
 stayed. We had almost begun to forget the various 
 points of the journey. It was enough that some hospi- 
 table place — whether it were city, town, or hamlet — 
 afforded us shelter for the night, that on the next morn- 
 ing we could issue forth again into the sweet-smelling 
 country air, and have all the fair green world to our- 
 selves. We looked with a lenient eye upon the great 
 habitations of men. What if a trifle of coal-smoke 
 hung about the house-tops, and that the streets were 
 not quite so clean as they might be ? We suffered little 
 from these inconveniences. They only made us rejoice 
 the more to get out into the leafy lanes, where the air 
 was fresh with the scent of the bean-fields and the 
 half-dried hay. And when a town happened to be 
 picturesque — and it was our good fortune to find a con- 
 siderable number of handsome cities along our line of 
 route — and combined with its steep streets, its old- 
 fashioned houses, and its winding river and banks, a 
 fair proportion of elms and poplars scattered about in 
 clumps to mar the monotony of the grey fronts and the 
 blue slates, we paid such a tribute of admiration as 
 could only be obtained from people who knew they 
 would soon be emancipated from the din and clamour, the 
 odour and the squalor, of thoroughfares and pavements. 
 
 Bell, sitting very erect, and holding the whip and 
 reins in the most accurate and scientific fashion, was 
 driving us leisurely up the level and pleasant road 
 leading from Shrewsbury to Ellesmere. The country 
 was now more open and less hilly than that through 
 which we had recently come. Occasionally, as in the 
 neighbourhood of Harmer Hill, we drove by long 
 woods; but for the most part our route lay between 
 spacious meadows, fields, and farms, with the horizon 
 around lying blue and dark under the distant sky. The 
 morning had gradually become overcast, and the various 
 greens of the landscape w T ere darkened by the placid 
 grey overhead. There was little wind, but a prevailing 
 coolness that seemed to have something of premonitory 
 moistness in it. 
 
2o8 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 But how the birds sang under the silence of that cold 
 grey sky ! We seemed to hear all the sounds within a 
 great compass, and these were exclusively the innu- 
 merable notes of various warblers— in the hedges, and in 
 the road-side trees, far away in woods, or hidden up in 
 the level greyness of the clouds : Tewi, tewi, trrrr-weet ! 
 — droom, droom, phloee ! — tuck, tuck, tuck, tuck, feer ! — 
 that was the silvery chorus from thousands of throats, 
 and, under the darkness of the grey sky, the leaves of the 
 trees and the woods seemed to hang motionless in order 
 to listen. Now and then Bell picked out the call of a 
 thrush or. a blackbird from the almost indistinguishable 
 mass of melody ; but it seemed to us that all the fields 
 and hedges had but one voice, and that it was clear, and 
 sweet, and piercing, in the strange silence reigning over 
 the land. 
 
 So we rolled along the unfrequented road, occasion- 
 ally passing a wayside tavern, a farmhouse, or a cluster 
 of cottages, until about noon we caught a glimpse of a 
 stretch of grey water. On this lonely mere no boat was 
 to be seen, nor any house on its banks, merely a bit of 
 leaden-coloured water placed amid the soft and low- 
 lying woods. Then we caught the glimmer of another 
 sheet of cold grey, and by-and-by, driving under and 
 through an avenue of trees, we came full in sight of 
 Ellesjnere. 
 
 The small lake looked rather dismal just then. There 
 was a slight stirring of wind on its surface, which 
 destroyed the reflection of the woods along its shores, 
 so that the water was pretty much the counterpart of 
 the gloomy sky above. At this moment, too, the 
 moisture in the air began to touch our faces, and every- 
 thing portended a shower. Bell drove us past the mere 
 and on to the small village, where Castor and Pollux 
 were safely lodged in the stables of the " Bridgewater 
 Arms." 
 
 We had got into shelter just in time. Down came 
 the rain with a will ; but we were unconcernedly having 
 luncheon in a long apartment which the landlord had 
 recently added on to his premises. Then we darted 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 209 
 
 across the yard to the billiard-room, where Bell and my 
 Lady having taken up lofty positions in order to over- 
 look the tournament, we proceeded to knock the balls 
 about until the shower should cease. 
 
 The rain, however, showed no symptoms of leaving 
 off, so we resolved to remain at Ellesmere that night, 
 and the rest of the afternoon was spent in getting up 
 arrears of correspondence and similar work. It was not 
 until after dinner that it was found the rain-clouds had 
 finally gathered themselves together, and then, when we 
 went out for a stroll, in obedience to Bell's earnest 
 prayer, the evening had drawn on apace. 
 
 The darkening waters of the lake were now sur- 
 rounded by low clouds of white mist, that hung about 
 the still and wet woods. From the surface of the mere, 
 too, a faint vapour seemed to rise, so that the shores on 
 the other side had grown dim and vague. The trees 
 were still dropping large drops into the plashing road ; 
 runnels of water showed how heavy the rain had been : 
 and it seemed as if the grey and ghostly plain of the 
 lake were still stirred by the commotion of the showers. 
 The reflection of a small yacht out from the shore was 
 blurred and indistinct ; and underneath the wooded 
 island beyond there only reigned a deeper gloom on 
 the mere. 
 
 Of course, no reasonable person could have thought 
 of going out in a boat on this damp evening ; but Bell 
 having expressed some wish of the kind, the Lieutenant 
 forthwith declared we should soon have a boat, how- 
 ever late the hour. He dragged us through a wet 
 garden to a house set amid trees by the side of the lake. 
 He summoned a worthy woman, and overcame her 
 wonder and objections and remonstrances in about a 
 couple of minutes. In a very short space of time we 
 found ourselves in a massive and unwieldy punt, out in 
 the middle of this grey sheet of water, with the chill 
 darkness of night rapidly descending. 
 
 "We shall all have neuralgia, and rheumatism, and 
 colds to-morrow," said my Lady, contentedly. "And 
 all because of this mad girl, who thinks she can see 
 
 p 
 
2io THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 ghosts wherever there is a little mist. Bell, do you 
 
 remember " 
 
 Tita stopped suddenly, and grasped my arm. A 
 white something had suddenly borne down upon us, 
 and not for a second or two did we recognize the fact 
 that it was merely a swan, bent on a mission of 
 curiosity. Far away beyond the solitary animal there 
 now became visible a faint line of white, and we knew 
 that there the members of his tribe were awaiting his 
 report. 
 
 The two long oars plashed in the silence, we glided 
 onwards through the cold mists, and the woods of the 
 opposite shore were now coming near. How long we 
 floated thus, through the gloomy vapours of the lake, I 
 cannot tell. We were bent on no particular mission ; 
 and somehow the extreme silence was grateful to us. 
 But what was this new light that was seen to be steal- 
 ing up behind the trees, a faint glow that began to tell 
 upon the sky, and reveal to us the conformation of the 
 clouds ? The mists of the lake deepened, but the sky 
 lightened, and we could see breaks in it, long stripes 
 of a soft and pale yellow. The faint suffusion of 
 yellow light seemed to lend a little warmth to the 
 damp and chill atmosphere. Bell had not uttered a 
 word. She had been watching this growing light with 
 patient eyes, only turning at times to see how the island 
 was becoming more distinct in the darkness. And 
 then more and more rapidly the radiance spread up and 
 over the south-east, the clouds got thinner and thinner, 
 until all at once we saw the white glimmer of the disc 
 of the moon leap into a long crevice in the dark sky. 
 And lo! all the scene around us was changed; the 
 mists were gradually dispersed and driven to the snores; 
 the trees on the island became sharp, black bars against 
 a flood of light ; and on the dark bosom of the water 
 lay a long lane of silver, intertwisting itself with 
 millions of gleaming lines, and flashing on the ripples 
 that went quivering back from the hull of our boat. 
 We were floating on an enchanted lake, set far away 
 amid these solitary woods. 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 211 
 
 " Every day, I think," said Bell, " we come to some- 
 thing more beautiful in this journey." 
 
 " Mademoiselle," said the Lieutenant, suddenly, "your 
 country it has been too much for me ; I have resolved 
 to come to live here always, and in five years, if I 
 choose it, I shall be able to be naturalized, and consider 
 England as my own country." 
 
 The moonlight was touching softly at this moment 
 the outlines of Bell's face, but the rest of the face was 
 in shadow, and we could not see what evidence of 
 surprise was written there. 
 
 " You are not serious ? " she said. 
 
 "I am." 
 
 " And you mean to give up your country because 
 you like the scenery of another country?" 
 
 That, plainly put, was what the proposal of the 
 Count amounted to, as he had expressed it ; but even 
 he seemed somewhat taken aback by its apparent 
 absurdity. 
 
 " No," he said, " you must not put it all down to 
 one reason ; there are many reasons, some of them im- 
 portant; but at all events it is sure that if 1 come to 
 live in England, I shall not be disappointed of having 
 much pleasure in travelling." 
 
 "With you it may be different," said Bell, almost 
 repeating what I had said the day before to the young 
 man. " I wish we could always be travelling and meet- 
 ing with such pleasant scenes as this. But this holiday 
 is a very exceptional thing." 
 
 " So much the worse," said the Lieutenant, with the 
 air of a man who thinks he is being hardly used by 
 destiny. 
 
 " But tell me," broke in my Lady, as the boat lay in 
 the path of the moonlight, almost motionless, "have 
 you calculated the consequences of your becoming an 
 exile?" 
 
 " An exile ! There are many thousands of my country- 
 men in England ; they do not seem to suffer much of 
 regret because they are exiles." 
 
 " Suppose we were to go to war with Germany ? " 
 P 2 
 
212 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 "Madame," observed the Lieutenant, seriously, "if 
 you regard one possibility, why not another ? Should I 
 not hesitate of living in England for fear of a comet 
 striking your country rather than Germany ? No : I do 
 not think there is any chance of either ; but if there is 
 a war, then I consider whether I am more bound to Ger- 
 many or to England. And that is a question of the ties 
 you may form, which may be more strong than merely 
 that you chance to have been born in a particular place." 
 
 " These are not patriotic sentiments," remarks my 
 Lady, in a voice which shows she is pleased as well as 
 amused by the announcement of them. 
 
 "Patriotism ! " he said, "that is very good — but you 
 need not make it a fetish. Perhaps I have more right 
 to be patriotic in a country that I choose for my own, 
 than in a country where I am born without any choice 
 of my own. But I do not find my countrymen w T hen 
 they come to England much troubled by such things : 
 and I do not think your countrymen, when they go to 
 America, consult the philosophers, and say what they 
 would do in a war. If you will allow me to differ from 
 you, Madame, 1 do not think that is a great objection to 
 my living in England." 
 
 An objection — coming from her ! The honest Lieu- 
 tenant meant no sarcasm ; but if a blush remained in 
 my Lady's system — which is pretty well trained, I 
 admit, to repress such symptoms of consciousness — 
 surely it ought to have been visible on this clear moon- 
 light night. 
 
 At length we had to make for the shore. It seemed 
 as though we were leaving out there on the water all 
 the white wonder of the moon ; but when we had run 
 the boat into the boat-house and got up among the trees, 
 there too was the strong white light, gleaming on black 
 branches, and throwing bars of shadow across the pale 
 brown road. We started on our way back to the village, 
 by the margin of the mere. The mists seemed colder 
 here than out on the water ; and now we could see the 
 moonlight struggling with a faint white haze that lay 
 over all the surface of the lake. My Lady and Bell 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 213 
 
 walked on in front; the Lieutenant was apparently 
 desirous to linger a little behind. 
 
 "You know," he said, in a low voice, and with a 
 little embarrassment, " why I have resolved to live in 
 England." 
 
 " I can guess." 
 
 " I mean to ask Mademoiselle to-morrow — if I have 
 the cbance — if she will become my wife." 
 
 " You will be a fool for your pains." 
 
 " What is that phrase ? I do not comprehend it," 
 he said. 
 
 " You will make a mistake if you do. She will refuse 
 you." 
 
 " And well ? " he said. " Does not every man run 
 the chance of that ? I will not blame her — no ; but it 
 is better I should ask her, and be assured of this one 
 way or the other." 
 
 "You do not understand. Apart from all other 
 considerations, Bell would almost certainly object 
 to entertaining such a proposal after a few days' 
 acquaintanceship " 
 
 " A few days ! " he exclaimed. " Du Himmel ! I 
 have known her years and years ago — very well we 
 were acquainted " 
 
 " But the acquaintanceship of a boy is nothing. You 
 are almost a stranger to her now." 
 
 " See here," he urged. " We do know more of each 
 other in this week or two than if I had seen her for 
 many seasons of your London society. We have seen 
 each other at all times — under all ways — not mere 
 talking in a dance, or so forth." 
 
 " But you know she has not definitely broken off 
 with Arthur yet." 
 
 " Then the sooner the better," said the Lieutenant, 
 bluntly. " How is it you do all fear him, and the 
 annoyance of his coming ? Is a young lady likely to 
 have much sympathy for him, when he is very dis- 
 agreeable, and rude, and an pry ? Now, this is what I 
 think about him. T am afraid Mademoiselle is very 
 sorry to tell him to go away. They are old friends. 
 
214 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 But she would like him to go away, for he is very 
 jealous, and angry, and rude ; and so I go to her, and 
 say — no, I will not tell you what my argument is, but 
 I hope I will show Mademoiselle it will be better if 
 she will promise to be my wife, and then this pitiful 
 fellow he will be told not to distress her any more. 
 If she says no — it is a misfortune for me, but none to 
 her. If she says yes, then I will look out that she is 
 not any more annoyed — that is quite certain." 
 
 " I hope you don't wish to marry merely to rescue a 
 distressed damsel." 
 
 " Bah," he said, " you know it is not that. But you 
 English people, you always make your jokes about 
 these things — not very good jokes either — and do not 
 talk frankly about it. When Madame comes to hear 
 of this — and if Mademoiselle is good enough not to 
 cast me away— it will be a hard time for us, I know, 
 from morning until night. But have I not told you 
 what I have considered this young lady — so very 
 generous in her nature, and not thinking of herself — 
 so very frank and good-natured to all people around 
 her — and of a good, light heart, that shows she can 
 enjoy the world, and is of a happy disposition, and will 
 be a very noble companion for the man who marries 
 her ? I would tell you much more, but I cannot in 
 your language." 
 
 At all events, he had picked up a good many flatter- 
 ing adjectives. Mademoiselle's dowry in that respect 
 was likely to be considerable. 
 
 Here we got back to the inn. Glasses were brought 
 in, and we had a final game of b^zique before retiring 
 for the night ; but the Lieutenant's manner towards 
 Bell was singularly constrained and almost distant, 
 and he regarded her occasionally in a somewhat timid 
 and anxious way. 
 
 \Note by Queen Titania. — "It is perhaps unnecessary for me to 
 explain that I am not responsible for the strange notions that may 
 enter the heads of two light-hearted young people when they are 
 away for a holiday. But I must protest against the insinuation — 
 conveyed in a manner which I will not describe — that I was throngh- 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 215 
 
 out scheming against Arthur's suit with our Bell. That poor hoy is 
 the son of two of my oldest friends ; and for himself we have always 
 had the greatest esteem and liking. If he caused us a little annoyance 
 at this time, he had perhaps a sort of excuse for it — which is more 
 than some people can say, when they have long ago got over the 
 jealousies of courtship, and yet do not cease to persecute their wives 
 with far from good-natured jests — and it is, I think, a little unfair to 
 represent me as heiug blind to his peculiar situation, or unmerciful 
 towards himself. On the contrary, I am sure I did everything I could 
 to smooth over the unpleasant incidents of his visit ; hut I did not find 
 it incumbent on me to become a partisan, and spend hours in getting 
 up philosophical— philosophical ! — excuses for a rudeness which was 
 really unpardonable. "What I chiefly wish for, I know, is to see all 
 those young folks happy and enjoying themselves ; but it would 
 puzzle wiser heads than mine to find a means of reconciling them. 
 As for Count von Rosen, if he made up his mind to ask Bell to be his 
 wife, because Ellesmere looked pretty when the moon came out, 
 I cannot help it. It is some years since I gave up the idea of attempt- 
 ing to account for the odd freaks and impulses that get into the heads 
 of what I suppose we must call the superior sex."] 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 OUR UHLAN OUT-MANffiUVRED. 
 
 "Come down, come down, my bonnie bird, 
 And eat "bread aff my hand ; 
 Your cage shall be of wiry goud, 
 Whar now it's but the wand." 
 
 "You are the most provoking husband I ever met 
 with," says Queen Titania. 
 
 We are climbing up the steep ascent which leads 
 from the village of Ellesmere to the site of an ancient 
 castle. The morning is full of a breezy sunshine, and 
 the cool north-wester stirs here and there a grey ripple 
 on the blue waters of the lake below. 
 
 " I hope you have not had much experience in that 
 direction," I observe. 
 
 "Very pretty. That is very nice indeed. We are 
 improving, are we not?" she says, turning to Bell. 
 
 Bell, who has a fine colour in her face from the light 
 breeze and the brisk walking, puts her hand affection- 
 ately within her friend's arm, and says, in gentle 
 accents — ■ 
 
2l6 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 " It is a shame to tease you so, you poor innocent 
 little thing. But we will have our revenge. We will 
 ask somebody else to protect you, my pet lamb ! " 
 
 " Lamb — hm ! Not much of the lamb visible, but 
 a good deal of the vinegar sauce," says one of us, mind- 
 ful of past favours. 
 
 It was a deadly quarrel. I think it had arisen out 
 of Tita's inability to discover which way the wind 
 was blowing; but the origin of our sham-fights had 
 seldom much to do with their subsequent rise and 
 progress. 
 
 " I wish I had married you, Count von Eosen," says 
 my Lady, turning proudly and graciously to her com- 
 panion on the right. 
 
 " Don't alarm the poor man," I say : and indeed the 
 Lieutenant looked quite aghast. 
 
 "Madame," he replied gravely, when he had re- 
 covered himself, "it is very kind of you to say so ; 
 and if you had made me the offer sooner, I should 
 have accepted it with great pleasure. But would there 
 have been any difference ? No, I think not — perhaps 
 it would be the worse. It is merely that you are 
 married ; and you make believe to chafe against the 
 bonds. Now, I think you two would be very agree- 
 able to each other if you were not married." 
 
 " Ah, well," said Tita, with an excellently constructed 
 sigh ; " I suppose we must look on marriage as a trial, 
 and bear it with .meekness and patience. We shall 
 have our reward elsewhere." 
 
 Bell laughed, in a demure manner. That calm as- 
 sumption of the virtues of meekness and patience was 
 a little too much ; but what was the use of further 
 fighting on a morning like this ? We got the key of a 
 small gate. We climbed up a winding path through 
 trees that were rustling in the sunlight. We emerged 
 upon a beautiful green lawn — a bowling-green, in fact, 
 girt in by a low hedge, and overlooked by a fancy little 
 building. But the great charm of this elevated site 
 was the panorama around and beyond. Windy clouds 
 of white and grey kept rolling up out of the west, throw- 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 217 
 
 ing splashes of purple gloom on the bright landscape. 
 The trees waved and rustled in the cool breeze — the 
 sunlight kept chasing the shadows across the far 
 meadows. And then down below us lay the waters 
 of Ellesmere lake — here and there a deep, dark blue, 
 under the warm green of the woods, and here and 
 there being stirred into a shimmer of white by the 
 wind that was sweeping across the sky. 
 
 " And to-day we shall be in Chester, and to-morrow 
 in Wales ! " cried Bell, looking away up to the north, 
 where the sky was pretty well heaped up with the 
 flying masses of cloud. She looked so bright and 
 joyous then, that one could almost have expected her 
 to take flight herself, and disappear like a wild bird 
 amid the shifting lights and glooms of the windy day. 
 The Lieutenant, indeed, seemed continually regarding 
 her in rather an anxious and embarrassed fashion. Was 
 he afraid she might escape ? Or was he merely long- 
 ing to get an opportunity of plunging into that serious 
 business he had spoken of the night before ? Bell 
 was all unconscious. She put her hand within Tita's 
 arm, and walked away over the green lawn, which was 
 warm in the sunshine. We heard them talking of a 
 picnic on this lofty and lonely spot — sketching out 
 tents, archery-grounds, and what not, and assigning a 
 place to the band. Then there were rumours of the 
 " Haymakers," of " Eoger de Coverley," of the " Gua« 
 racha," and I know not what other nonsense, coming 
 towards us as the north-wester blew back to us frag- 
 ments of their talk, until even the Lieutenant remarked 
 that an old-fashioned country-dance would look very 
 pretty up here, on such a fine piece of green, and with 
 all the blue and breezy extent of a great English land- 
 scape forming the circular walls of this magnificent 
 ball-room. 
 
 A proposal is an uncomfortable thing to carry about 
 with one. Its weight is unconscionable, and on the 
 merriest of days it will make a man down-hearted. 
 To ask a woman to marry is about the most serious 
 duty which a man has to perform in life, even as some 
 
218 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 would say that it is the most unnecessary : and those 
 who settled the relations of the sexes, before or after 
 the Flood, should receive the gratitude of all woman- 
 kind for the ingenuity with which they shifted on to 
 male shoulders this heavy and grievous burden. 
 
 The Lieutenant walked down with us from the hill 
 and through the little village to the inn as one dis- 
 traught. He scarcely even spoke — and never to Bell. 
 He regarded the getting out of the phaeton with a 
 listless air. Castor and Pollux — whose affections he 
 had stolen away from us through a whole series of 
 sneaking kindnesses — whinnied to him in vain. When 
 my Lady, who now assumed the responsibility of ap- 
 portioning to us our seats, asked him to drive on, he 
 obeyed mechanically. 
 
 Now our Bonny Bell, as I have said, was unconscious 
 of the awful possibilities that hung over our adventures 
 of that day ; and was in as merry a mood as you 
 could desire to see. She sat beside the Lieutenant ; and 
 scarcely had we gone gently along the narrow village 
 street and out into the broader country road that leads 
 northward, than she began to tell her companion of 
 the manner in which Tita tyrannizes over our parish. 
 
 " You would not think it, would you ? " she asked. 
 
 " No," said the Lieutenant, " I should not think she 
 was a very ferocious lady." 
 
 "Then you don't know her," says a voice from 
 behind; and Tita says, "Don't begin again," in an 
 injured way, as if we were doing some sort of harm 
 to the fine morning. 
 
 " I can assure you," said Bell, seriously, " that she 
 rules the parish with a rod of iron. She knows every 
 farthing that every labourer makes in the week, and 
 he catches it if he does not bring home a fair pro- 
 portion to his wife. ' Well, Jackson,' she says, * 1 hear 
 your master is going to give you fourteen shillings a 
 week now.' ' Thank ye, ma'am,' he says, for he knows 
 quite well who secured him the additional shilling to 
 his wages. ' But 1 want you to give me threepence 
 out of it for the savings bank ; and your wife will 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 219 
 
 gather up sixpence a week until she gets enough 
 for another pair of blankets for you, now the winter 
 is coming on, you know.' Well, the poor man dares 
 not object. He gives up three-fourths of the shilling 
 he had been secretly expecting to spend on beer, and 
 does not say a word. The husbands in our parish have 
 
 a bad time of it " 
 
 " One of them has, at least," says that voice from 
 behind. 
 
 " And you should see how our Tita will confront a 
 huge fellow who is half bemused with beer, and order 
 him to be silent in her presence. ' How dare you speak 
 to your wife like that before me !' — and he is as quiet 
 as a lamb. And sometimes the wives have a turn of it, 
 too — not reproof, you know, but a look of surprise if 
 they have not finished the sewing of the children's 
 frocks which Tita and I have cut out for them — or 
 if they have gone into the alehouse with their husbands 
 late on the Saturday night — or if they have missed being 
 at church next morning. Then you should see the 
 farmers' boys playing pitch-and-toss in the road on the 
 Sunday forenoons — how they scurry away like rabbits 
 when they see her coming up from church — they fly 
 behind stacks, or plunge through hedges — anything to 
 get out of her way." 
 
 " And I am not assisted, Count von Eosen, in any 
 of these things," says my Lady, " by a young lady who 
 was once known to catch a small boy and shake him by 
 the shoulders because he threw a stone at the clergy- 
 man as he passed." 
 
 "Then you do assist, Mademoiselle," inquires the 
 Lieutenant, " in this overseeing of the parish ? " 
 
 " Oh, I merely keep the books," replied Bell. " I am 
 the treasurer of the savings bank, and I call a fortnightly 
 meeting to announce the purchase of the various kinds 
 of cotton and woollen stuffs, at wholesale prices, and to 
 hear from the subscribers what they most need. Then 
 we have the materials cut into patterns, we pay so much 
 to the women for sewing, and then we sell the things 
 when they are made, so that the people pay for every- 
 
220 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 thing they get, and yet get it far cheaper than they 
 would at a shop, while we are not out of pocket by it." 
 
 Here a deep groan is heard from the hind seat of 
 the phaeton. That beautiful fiction about the ways 
 and means of our local charities has existed in our 
 household for many a day. The scheme is admirable. 
 There is no pauperization of the peasantry around. 
 The theory is that Queen Tita and Bell merely come 
 in to save the cost of distribution ; and that nothing 
 is given away gratis except their charitable labour. It 
 is a pretty theory. The folks round about us find it 
 answers admirably. But somehow or other — whether 
 from an error in Bell's book-keeping, or whether from a 
 sudden rise in the price of flannel, or some other recon- 
 dite and esoteric cause — all I know is that the system 
 demands an annual subvention from the head of the 
 house. Of course my Lady can explain all that away. 
 There is some temporary defect in the working out of 
 the scheme ; the self-supporting character of it remains 
 easy of demonstration. It may be so. But a good deal 
 of bread — in the shape of cheques — has been thrown 
 upon the waters in a certain district in England ; while 
 the true author of the charity — the real dispenser of 
 these good things — is not considered in the matter, and 
 is privately regarded as a sort of grudging person, who 
 does not understand the larger claims of humanity. 
 
 At length we have our first glimpse of Wales. From 
 Ellesmere to Overton the road gradually ascends, until, 
 just before you come to Overton, it skirts the edge of 
 a high plateau, and all at once you are confronted by 
 the sight of a great valley, through which a stream, 
 brown as a Welsh rivulet ought to be, is slowly stealing. 
 That narrow thread that twists through spacious woods 
 and green meadows is the river Dee ; far away beyond 
 the valley that it waters, rise the blue masses of Cyrn- 
 y-Brain and Cefn-y-Fedn, while to the south of the 
 latter range lies the gap by which you enter the magic 
 vale of Llangollen. On this breezy morning there 
 were white clouds blowing over the dusky peaks of the 
 mountains, while ever and anon, from a blue rift over- 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 221 
 
 head, a shimmering line of silver would strike down, 
 and cause the side of some distant hill to shine in 
 pale brown, and grey, and gold. 
 
 " That is a very strange sight to me," said the Lieu- 
 tenant, as the horses stood in the road ; " all these 
 great mountains, with, I think, no houses on them. 
 That is the wild country into which the first inha- 
 bitants of this country fled when the German tribes 
 swarmed over here — all that we have been taught at 
 school : but only think of the difficulty the Berlin boy 
 — living with nothing but miles of flat sand around him 
 — has to imagine a wild region like this, which gave 
 shelter because no one could follow into its forest and 
 rocks. And how are we to go ? We cannot drive 
 into these mountains." 
 
 " Oh, but there are very fine roads in Wales," said 
 Bell ; " broad, smooth, well-made roads ; and you can 
 drive through the most beautiful scenery, if you wish." 
 
 However, it was arranged we should not attempt 
 anything of the kind, which would take us too far out 
 of our route to Scotland. It was resolved to let the 
 horses have a rest in Chester the next day, while we 
 should take a run down by rail to Llanrwst and 
 Bettws-y-Coed, merely to give our Uhlan a notion of 
 the difficulties he would have to encounter in subduing 
 this country, when the time came for that little ex- 
 pedition. 
 
 So we bowled through the little village of Overton, 
 and down the winding road which plunges into the 
 beautiful valley we had been regarding from the height. 
 We had not yet struck the Dee; but it seemed as 
 though the ordinary road down in this plain was a 
 private path through a magnificent estate. As far as 
 we could see, a splendid avenue of elms stretched on 
 in front of us ; and while we drove through the cool 
 shade, on either side lay a spacious extent of park, 
 studded with grand old oaks. At length we came upon 
 the stream, flowing brown and clear, down through 
 picturesque and wooded banks ; and then we got into 
 open country again, and ran pleasantly up to Wrexham. 
 
222 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 Perhaps the Lieutenant would have liked to bait the 
 horses in some tiny village near to this beautiful 
 stream. We should all have gone out for a saunter 
 along the banks ; and, in the pulling of wild flowers, 
 or the taking of sketches, or some such idyllic employ- 
 ment, the party would in all likelihood have got divided. 
 It would have been a pleasant opportunity for him to 
 ask this gentle English girl to be his wife — with the 
 sweet influences of the holiday-time disposing her to 
 consent, and with the quiet of this wooded valley ready 
 to catch her smallest admission. Besides, who could 
 tell what might happen after Bell had reached Chester ? 
 That was the next of the large towns which Arthur 
 had agreed to make points of communication. I think 
 the Lieutenant began at this time to look upon large 
 towns as an abomination, to curse telegraphs, and hate 
 the penny post with a deadly hatred. 
 
 But in place of any such quiet resting-place, we had 
 to put up Castor and Pollux in the brisk little town 
 of Wrexham, which was even more than usually busy 
 with its market-day. The Wynnstay Arms was full of 
 farmers, seed-agents, implement makers, and what not, 
 all roaring and talking to the last limit of their lungs 
 — bustling about the place and calling for glasses of ale, 
 or attacking huge joints of cold roast beef with an appe- 
 tite which had evidently not been educated on nothing. 
 The streets were filled with the vendors of various 
 wares ; the wives and daughters of the farmers, having 
 come in from the country in the dog-cart or waggonette, 
 were promenading along the pavement in the most gor- 
 geous hues known to silken and muslin fabrics ; cattle 
 were' being driven through narrow thoroughfares ; and 
 the sellers of fruit and of fish in the market-place alarm- 
 ing the air with their invitations. The only quiet corner, 
 indeed, was the churchyard and the church, through 
 which we wandered for a little while ; but young folks 
 are not so foolish as to tell secrets in a building that 
 has an echo. 
 
 Was there no chance for our unfortunate Uhlan ? 
 
 " Hurry — hurry on to Chester ! " cried Bell, as we 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 223 
 
 drove away from Wrexham along the level northern 
 road. 
 
 A gloomy silence had overtaken the Lieutenant. He 
 was now sitting behind with my Lady, and she was 
 doing her best to entertain him — (there never was a 
 woman who could make herself more agreeable to 
 persons not of her own household) — while he sat almost 
 mute, listening respectfully, and half suffering himself 
 to be interested. 
 
 Our pretty Bell, on the other hand, was all delight 
 at the prospect of reaching the quaint old city that 
 evening, and was busy with wild visions of our plunge 
 into Wales on the morrow, while ever and anon she 
 hummed snatches of the Lieutenant's Burgundy song. 1 
 
 " Please may I make a confession ? " she asked, at 
 length, in a low voice. 
 
 " Why, yes." 
 
 I hoped, however, she was not going to follow the 
 example of the Lieutenant, and confide to me that she 
 meditated making a proposal. Although men dislike 
 
 1 Count von Rosen, fearing that his English is not first-rate, begs me 
 to say that his very excellent friend Mr. Charles Oberthiir, with whose 
 name the public is pretty well familiar, has been good enough to set 
 this song to music. He thinks Mr. Oberthiir's music better than that 
 which the young Englishman used to sing at Bonn, and Bell thinks so 
 too : but then her opinion always coincides. However, I am per- 
 mitted, by the joint kindness of Mr. Oberthiir and the Lieutenant, to 
 give the music here : — 
 
 " BURGUNDY ROSE." 
 Allegro moderato. Music by Charles Oberthub 
 
 lini 
 
 
 
 
 :=l =s 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 - — c ' — - — 0 ■ 
 
 
 m / Oh, Bur - gun - dy is - n't a good thing to 
 
 s 3 1 ■» 
 
224 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 this duty, they have a prejudice against seeing it under- 
 taken by women. 
 
 " All our journey has wanted but one thing," said 
 Bell. " We have had everything that could be wished 
 — bright weather, a comfortable way of travelling, much 
 amusement, plenty of fights — indeed, there was nothing 
 wanting but one thing, and that was the sea. Now did 
 
 drink, Young man, I be 
 
 yon, con 
 
 3: 
 
 m 
 
 -J- 
 
 m 
 
 si - der and think, 
 
 a- 
 
 EE 
 
 31 
 
 Mysterioso 
 
 t=F=* 
 
 p Or els 
 
 in your nose, and like 
 
 r ±=Ei 
 
 -F- 
 
 
 
 • -J 1 
 
 -t\ : — F — 
 
 1 1 
 
 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 225 
 
 you ever try to look for it ? Were you never anxious 
 to see only a long thread of grey near the sky, and be 
 quite sure that out there the woods stopped on the edge 
 of a line of sand ? I dared not tell Tita — for she would 
 have thought me very ungrateful, but I may tell you, 
 for you don't seem to care about anybody's opinions — 
 
 i 
 
 fOCO 
 
 wise in your toes, You'll dis - cov - er the 
 
 i 
 
 poco 
 
 poco. 
 
 ■ f 
 
 i 
 
 lour of Bur - gun - dy rose, You'll dis- 
 
 m 
 
 poco. 
 
 molto ritard. 
 
 cov • er the co - lour of Bur - gun - dy rose. 
 
 i 
 
 ■f r 
 
 colla parte. | 
 
 r 
 
226 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 but I used to get a little vexed with the constant 
 meadows, rivers, farms, hills, woods, and all that over 
 and over again, and the sea not coming any nearer. Of 
 course one had no right to complain, as I suppose it's 
 put down in the map, and can't be altered ; but we seem 
 to have been a long time coming across the country to 
 reach the sea." 
 
 "Why, you wild sea-gull, do you think that was 
 our only object ? A long time reaching the sea ! — 
 Don't imagine your anxiety was concealed. I saw 
 you perpetually scanning the horizon, as if one level 
 
 Tbnori. 
 
 Bassi. 
 
 I 
 
 Chorus. A tempo. 
 
 A tempo. 
 
 J- 
 
 Bur - gun - c 
 J * 
 
 y 
 
 I 
 
 ose, 
 1 
 
 Bur - gui 
 
 J • . 
 
 i - dy 
 s i 
 
 
 * -P 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 '-4 
 
 
 rose, A 
 
 dan 
 
 ge - rous symp - torn is 
 
 4-- 
 
 -»-J J . i J> 
 
 
 
 « i "1 H 
 
 — — • ^ 
 
 
 
 
 j— J — • ef— 
 
 r : J In 
 
OF A PHAETON. 227 
 
 line were better than any other level line at such 
 a distance. You began it on Richmond Hill, and 
 would have us believe the waves of the Irish Chan- 
 nel were breaking somewhere about Windsor." 
 
 "No — no!" pleaded Bell; "don't think me ungrate- 
 ful. I think we have been most fortunate in coming 
 as we did; and Count von Rosen must have seen 
 every sort of English landscape — first the river- 
 pictures about Richmond, then the wooded hills about 
 Oxfordshire, then the plains of Berkshire, then the 
 mere-country about Ellesmere — and now he is going 
 into the mountains of Wales. But all the same we 
 shall reach the sea to-morrow." 
 
 " What are you two fighting about ? " says Queen 
 Titania, interposing. 
 
 "We are not fighting," says Bell, in the meekest 
 possible way ; " we are not husband and wife." 
 
 "I wish you were," says the other, coolly. 
 
 "Madame," I observe at this point, "that is rather 
 a dangerous jest to play with. It is now the second 
 time you have made use of it this morning." 
 
 "And if I do repeat old jokes," says Tita, with a 
 certain calm audacity, " it must be through the force 
 of a continual example." 
 
 — * 
 
 molto ritard. 
 
 
 
 Verses 1, 2, 3.* Verbs 4. 
 
 EE^= r ?Ffe=EEfl 
 
 
 r-f • "FT 
 
 Bur - gun - dj 
 
 r 
 
 L=p U 
 
 rose. rose. 
 
 1 n SoLa T 
 
 
 ■ f i 
 
 1 
 
 1* — 
 
 
 1 1 tr ' — <~ Al 1 — ■ — u 
 
 rrs 2, 'Tis a ^ 
 
 , i- . r 1 
 
 ^ F } . 4 ■• 
 
 t 
 
 colla parte 
 
 -J 
 
 ■ ir 
 
 
 -<J- 
 
 — s 
 
 
 
 * For the last tliree verses see pp. 186, 187. 
 
228 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 " And such jests sometimes fix themselves in 
 
 the mind until they develop and grow into a serious 
 purpose." 
 
 "Does that mean that you would like to marry 
 Bell? If it can be done legally and properly, I 
 should not be sorry, I know. Can it be done, Count 
 von Eosen ? Shall we four go back to London with 
 different partners? An exchange of husbands " 
 
 Merciful Powers ! what was the woman saying ? 
 She suddenly stopped, and an awful consternation 
 fell on the whole four of us. That poor little mite 
 of a creature had been taking no thought of her 
 words, in her pursuit of this harmless jest; and 
 somehow it had wandered into her brain that Bell 
 and the Lieutenant were on the same footing as 
 herself and I. A more embarrassing slip of the 
 tongue could not be conceived ; and for several 
 dreadful seconds no one had the courage to speak, 
 until Bell, wildly and incoherently — with her face 
 and forehead glowing like a rose — asked whether 
 there was a theatre in Chester. 
 
 " No," cries my Lady, eagerly ; " don't ask us to 
 go to the theatre to-night, Bell; let us go for a 
 walk rather." 
 
 She positively did not know what she was saying. 
 It was a wonder she did not propose we should go 
 to the gardens of Cremorne, or up in a balloon. Her 
 heart was filled with anguish and dismay over the 
 horrible blunder she had made ; and she began talking 
 about Chester, in a series of disconnected sentences, 
 in which the heartrending effort to appear calm and 
 unconstrained was painfully obvious. Much as I 
 have had to bear at the hands of that gentle little 
 woman, I felt sorry for her then. I wondered what 
 she and Bell would say to each other when they 
 went off for a private confabulation at night. 
 
 By the time that we drew near Chester, however, 
 this unfortunate incident was pretty well forgotten; 
 and we were sufficiently tranquil to regard with 
 interest the old city, which was now marked out in 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 229 
 
 the twilight by the yellow twinkling of the gas- 
 lamps. People had come forth for their evening stroll 
 round the great wall which encircles the town. 
 Down in the level meadows by the side of the Dee, 
 lads were still playing cricket. The twilight, indeed, 
 was singularly clear ; and when we had driven into 
 the town, and put up the phaeton at an enormous 
 Gothic hotel which seemed to overawe the small 
 old-fashioned houses in its neighbourhood, we too 
 set out for a leisurely walk round the ancient 
 ramparts. 
 
 But here again the Lieutenant was disappointed. 
 How could he talk privately to Bell on this public 
 promenade ? Lovers there were there, but all in 
 solitary pairs. If Tita had only known that she 
 and I were interfering with the happiness of our 
 young folks, she would have thrown herself headlong 
 into the moat rather than continue this unwilling 
 persecution. As it was, she went peacefully along 
 watching the purple light of the evening fall over 
 the great landscape around the city. The ruddy glow 
 in the windows became more and more pronounced. 
 There were voices of boys still heard down in the 
 racecourse, but there was no more cricketing possible. 
 In the still evening, a hush seemed to fall over the 
 town; and when we got round to the weir on the 
 river, the vague white masses of water that we could 
 scarcely see, sent the sound of their roaring and 
 tumbling, as it were, into a hollow chamber. Then 
 we plunged once more into the streets. The shops 
 were lit. The quaint galleries along the first floor 
 of the houses, which are the special architectural 
 glory of Chester, were duskily visible in the light 
 of the lamps. And then we escaped into the yellow 
 glare of the great dining-room of the Gothic hotel, 
 and sat ourselves down for a comfortable evening. 
 
 "Well," I say to the Lieutenant, as we go into 
 the smoking-room, when the women have retired for 
 the night, "have you asked Bell yet?" 
 
 " No," he answers, morosely. 
 
230 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 "Then you have escaped another day?" 
 
 " It was not my intention. I will ask her — when- 
 ever I get the chance — that I am resolved upon ; and 
 if she says ' No/ why, it is my misfortune, that is all." 
 
 "I have told you she is certain to say 'No.'" 
 
 "Very well." 
 
 " But I have a proposal to make." 
 "So have I," says the Lieutenant, with a gloomy 
 smile. 
 
 "To-morrow you are going down to see a bit of 
 Wales. Why spoil the day prematurely? Put it off 
 until the evening, and then take your refusal like a 
 man. Don't do Wales an injustice." 
 
 " Why," says the Lieutenant, peevishly, " you think 
 nothing is important but looking at a fine country 
 and enjoying yourself out of doors. I do not care 
 what happens to a lot of mountains and rivers when 
 this thing is for me far more important. When 
 I can speak to Mademoiselle, I will do so; and 
 I do not care if all Wales is put under water to- 
 morrow — — " 
 
 "After your refusal, the deluge. Well, it is a 
 good thing to be prepared. But you need not talk * 
 in an injured tone, which reminds one oddly of 
 Arthur." 
 
 You should have seen the stare on Von Kosens face. 
 
 "It is true. All you boys are alike when you 
 fall in love — all unreasonable, discontented, perverse, 
 and generally objectionable. It was all very well 
 for you to call attention to that unhappy young 
 man's conduct when you were in your proper senses ; 
 but now, if you go on as you are going, it will be 
 the old story over again." 
 
 "Then you think I will persecute Mademoiselle 
 and be insolent to her and her friends?" 
 
 "All in good time. Bell refuses you to-morrow. 
 You are gloomy for a day. You ask yourself why 
 she has done so. Then you come to us and beg 
 for our interference. We tell you it is none of our 
 business. You say we are prejudiced against you, 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 231 
 
 and accuse us of forwarding Arthur's suit. Then 
 you begin to look on him as your successful rival. 
 You grow so furiously jealous " 
 
 Here the Uhlan broke into a tremendous laugh. 
 
 " My good friend, I have discovered a great secret," 
 he cried. " Do you know who is jealous ? It is you. 
 You will oppose anyone who tries to take Mademoiselle 
 away from you. And I — I will try — and I will do it" 
 
 From the greatest despondency he had leaped tc 
 a sort of wild and crazy hope of success. He smiled 
 to himself, walked about the room, and talked in 
 the most buoyant and friendly manner about the 
 prospects of the morrow. He blew clouds of cigar- 
 smoke about as if he were Neptune getting to the 
 surface of the sea, and blowing back the sea-foam 
 from about his face. And then, all at once, he sat 
 down — we were the only occupants of the room — 
 and said, in a hesitating way — 
 
 "Look here — do you think Madame could speak 
 a word to her — if she does say 'No'?" 
 
 " I thought it would come to that." 
 
 "You are — what do you call it? — very unsym- 
 pathetic." 
 
 -" Unsympathetic ! No ; I have a great interest in 
 both of you. But the whole story is so old, one has 
 got familiar with its manifestations." 
 
 "It is a very old and common thing to be born, 
 but it is a very important thing, and it only happens 
 to you once." 
 
 "And falling in love only happens to you once, 
 I suppose ? " 
 
 " Oh no, many times. I have very often been in 
 love with this girl or the other girl, but never until 
 this time serious. I never before asked anyone 
 to marry me; and surely this is serious — that I 
 offer for her sake to give up my country, and my 
 friends, and my profession— everything. Surely that 
 is serious enough." 
 
 And so it was. And I knew that if ever he got 
 Bell to listen favourably to him, he would have 
 
232 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 little difficulty in convincing her that he had never 
 cared for anyone before, while she would easily 
 assure him that she had always regarded Arthur 
 only as a friend. For there are no lies so massive, 
 audacious, and unblushing as those told by two young 
 folks when they recount to each other the history 
 of their previous love affairs. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 IN THE FAIRY GLEN. 
 
 " 0 Queen, thou knowest I pray not for this : 
 Oh set us down together in some place 
 "Where not a voice can break our heaven of bliss, 
 Where nought but rocks and I can see her face 
 Softening beneath the marvel of thy grace, 
 "Where not a foot our vanished steps can track, 
 The golden age, the golden age come back ! " 
 
 Little did our Bonny Bell reck of the plot that 
 had been laid against her peace of mind. She was 
 as joyous as a wild sea-bird when we drew near the 
 sea. All the morning she had hurried us on; and 
 we were at the station some twenty minutes before 
 the train started. Then she must needs sit on the 
 northern side of the carriage, close in by the window ; 
 and all at once, when there flashed before us a long 
 and level stretch of grey-green, she uttered a quick 
 low cry of gladness, as though the last wish of her 
 life had been realized. 
 
 Yet there was not much in this glimpse of the 
 sea that we got as we ran slowly along the coast- 
 line towards Conway. It was a quiet grey day, with 
 here and there a patch of blue overhead. The sea 
 was stirred only by a ripple. Here and there it 
 darkened into a breezy green, but for the most part 
 it reflected the cold grey sky overhead. The shores 
 were flat. The tide was up, and not a rock to be 
 seen. One or two small boats were visible ; but no 
 
OF A PHAETON, 
 
 233 
 
 great full-rigged ship, with all her white sails swelling 
 before the wind, swept onwards to the low horizon. 
 But it was the sea — that was enough for this mad 
 girl of ours. She had the window put down, and a 
 cold odour of sea-weed flew through the carriage. 
 If there was not much blue outside, there was plenty 
 in the deep and lambent colour of her eyes, where 
 pure joy and delight fought strangely with the half- 
 saddening influences produced by this first unexpected 
 meeting with the sea. 
 
 Turning abruptly away from the coast-line — with 
 the grey walls of Conway Castle overlooking the 
 long sweep of the estuary — we plunged down into 
 the mountains. The dark masses of firs up among 
 the rocks were deepening in gloom. There was an 
 unearthly calm on the surface of the river, as if the 
 reflection of the boulders, and the birch-bushes, and 
 the occasional cottages, lay waiting for the first stirring 
 of the rain. Then, far away up the cleft of the 
 valley, a grey mist came floating over the hills ; it 
 melted whole mountains into a soft dull grey, it 
 blotted out dark green forests and mighty masses 
 of rock, until a pattering against the carriage windows 
 told us that the rain had begun. 
 
 "It is always so in Wales," said my Lady, with 
 a sigh. 
 
 But when we got out at Bettws-y-Coed, you would 
 not have fancied our spirits were grievously oppressed. 
 Indeed, I often remarked that we never enjoyed our- 
 selves so much, whether in the phaeton or out of it, as 
 when there was abundant rain about, the desperation 
 of the circumstances driving us into being recklessly 
 merry. So we would not take the omnibus that was 
 carrying up to the Swallow Falls some half-dozen 
 of those horrid creatures, the tourists. The deadly 
 dislike we bore to these unoffending people was re- 
 markable. What right had they to be invading this 
 wonderful valley? What right had they to leave 
 Bayswater and occupy seats at the tables d'hote of 
 hotels ? We saw them drive away with a secret 
 
THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 pleasure. We hoped they would get wet, and swear 
 never to return to Wales. We called them tourists, in 
 short, which has become a term of opprobrium among 
 Englishmen ; but we would have perished rather than 
 admit for a moment that we too were tourists. 
 
 It did not rain very much. There was a strong 
 resinous odour in the air, from the spruce, the larch, 
 the pines, and the breckans, as we got through the 
 wood, and ventured down the slippery paths which 
 brought us in front of the Swallow Falls. There 
 had been plenty of rain — and the foaming jets of 
 water were darting among the rocks very much like 
 the white glimmer of the marten as he cuts about 
 the eaves of a house in the twilight. The roar of 
 the river filled the air, and joined in chorus the 
 rustling of the trees in the wind. We could scarcely 
 hear ourselves speak. It was not a time for con- 
 fidences. We returned to Bettws. 
 
 But the Lieutenant, driven wild by the impossibility 
 of placing all his sorrows before Bell, eagerly assented 
 to the proposal that we should go and see the Fairy 
 Glen — a much more retired spot — after luncheon. The 
 dexterity he displayed in hurrying over that meal was 
 remarkable. It was rather a scramble — for a number 
 of visitors were in the place ; and the long table was 
 pretty well filled up. But with a fine audacity our 
 Uhlan constituted himself waiter for our party, and 
 simply harried the hotel. If my Lady's eyes only 
 happened to wander towards a particular dish, it was 
 before her in a twinkling. The Lieutenant alarmed 
 many a young lady there by first begging her pardon 
 and then reaching over her shoulder to carry off some 
 huge plate ; although he presently atoned for these 
 misdemeanours by carving a couple of fowls for the 
 use of the whole company. He also made the ac- 
 quaintance of a governess who was in charge of two 
 tender little women of twelve and fourteen. He sat 
 down by the governess ; discovered that she had been 
 at Bettws for some weeks : got from her some appal- 
 ling statistics of the rain that had fallen ; then — for 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 235 
 
 the maids were rather remiss — went and got her a 
 bottle of ale, which he drew for her, and poured out 
 and graciously handed to her. Bell was covertly laugh- 
 ing all the time : my Lady was amazed. 
 
 " Now," he said, turning in quite a matter-of-fact way 
 to us, " when do we start for this Fairy Glen ? " 
 
 " Pray don't let us take you away from such charm- 
 ing companionship," observed my Lady, with a smile. 
 
 " Oh, she is a very intelligent person," says the 
 Lieutenant ; " really a very intelligent person. But 
 she makes a great mistake in preferring Schiller's plays 
 to Lessing's for her pupils. I tried to convince her of 
 that. She is going to the Ehine with those young 
 ladies, later on in the year — to Konigswinter. Would 
 it not be a very nice thing for us all, when we leave 
 the phaeton at your home, to go for a few weeks to 
 Konigswinter ? " 
 
 " We cannot all flirt with a pretty governess," says 
 Tita. 
 
 " Now that is too bad of you English ladies," retorts 
 the Lieutenant. "You must always think, when a 
 man talks to a girl, he wants to be in love with her. 
 No — it is absurd. She is intelligent — a good talker — 
 she knows very many things — and she is a stranger 
 like myself in an hotel. Why should I not talk to her ? " 
 
 " You are quite right, Count von Eosen," says Bell. 
 
 Of course he was quite right. He was always quite 
 right ! But wait a bit. 
 
 We set off for the Fairy Glen. The rain had ceased ; 
 but the broad and smooth roads were yellow with 
 water ; large drops still fell from the trees, and the air 
 was humid and warm. The Lieutenant lit a cigar 
 about as big as a wooden leg ; and Bell insisted on 
 us two falling rather behind, because that she liked 
 the scent of a cigar in the open air. 
 
 We crossed the well-known Waterloo Bridge — built 
 in the same year as that which chronicled the great 
 battle — and we heard the Lieutenant relating to Tita 
 how several of his relatives had been in the army which 
 came up to help us on that day. 
 
236 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 " You know we had won before you came up," said 
 my Lady, stoutly. 
 
 The Lieutenant laughed. 
 
 " I am not sure about that," he said ; " but you did 
 what we could not have done — you held the whole 
 French army by yourselves, and crippled it so that our 
 mere appearance on the battle-field was enough." 
 
 " I think it was very mean of both of you," said Bell, 
 " to win a battle by mere force of numbers. If you had 
 given Napoleon a chance " 
 
 "Mademoiselle," said Von Kosen, "the object of a 
 campaign is to win battles — anyhow. You throw away 
 the heroic elements of the old single combatants 
 when it is with armies that you fight ; and you take 
 all advantages you can get. But who was the braver 
 then — your small English army, or the big French one 
 that lost the whole day without overwhelming their 
 enemy, and waited until we came down to drive them 
 back ? That is a very good word — a very strong 
 word — our zuruchgeworfen. It is a very good thing 
 to see that word at the end of a sentence that talks 
 of your enemies." 
 
 At length we got to the neighbourhood of the Fairy 
 Glen, and found ourselves in among the wet trees, with 
 the roar of the stream reverberating through the woods. 
 There were a great many paths in this pretty ravine. 
 You can go close down to the water, and find still pools 
 reflecting the silver-lichened rocks ; or you can clamber 
 along the high banks through the birch and hazel and 
 elm, and look down on the white waterfalls beneath you 
 that wet the ferns and bushes about with their spray. 
 Four people need not stay together. Perhaps it was 
 because of an extraordinary change in the aspect of the 
 day that Tita and I lost sight of the young folks. 
 Indeed, we had sat down upon a great smooth boulder ' 
 and were pensively enjoying the sweet scents around, 
 and the plashing of the stream, when this strange thing 
 occurred, so that we never remembered that our com- 
 panions had gone. Suddenly into the gloomy grey day 
 there leaped a wild glow of yellow fire ; and far up the 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 237 
 
 narrowing vista of the glen — where the rocks grew 
 closer together — the sunlight smote down on the gleam- 
 ing green of the nnderwood, nntil it shone and sparkled 
 over the smooth pools. The light came nearer. There 
 was still a sort of mist of dampness in the atmosphere — 
 hanging about the woods, and dulling the rich colours 
 of the glen ; but as the sunlight came straggling down 
 the rocky ravine, a dash of blue gleamed out, overhead, 
 and a rush of wind through the dripping green branches 
 seemed to say that the wet was being swept off the 
 mountains and towards the sea. The Fairy Glen was 
 now a blaze of transparent green and fine gold, with 
 white diamonds of raindrops glittering on the ferns and 
 moss and bushes. It grew warm, too, down in the 
 hollow ; and the sweet odours of the forest above— 
 woodruff, and campion, and w T ild mint, and some de- 
 cayed leaves of the great St. J ohn's wort — all stole out 
 into the moist air. 
 
 " Where have they gone ? " says Tita, almost sharply. 
 
 " My dear," I say to her, " you were young yourself 
 once. It's a good time ago — but still " 
 
 " Bell never asked for letters this morning," remarked 
 my Lady, showing the direction her thoughts were taking. 
 
 " No matter, Arthur will be meeting us directly. He 
 is sure to come over to our route i-n his dog-cart." 
 
 " We must find them, and get back to Bettws-y- 
 Coed," is the only reply which is vouchsafed me. 
 
 They were not far to seek. When we had clambered 
 up the steep bank to the path overhead, Bell and the 
 Lieutenant were standing in the road, silent. As soon 
 as they saw us, they came slowly walking down. 
 Neither spoke a word. Somehow, Bell managed to 
 attach herself to Tita ; and these two went on ahead. 
 
 "You were right," said the Lieutenant, in a low 
 voice, very different from his ordinary light and care- 
 less fashion. 
 
 " You have asked her, then ? " 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 " And she refused ? " 
 " Yes." 
 
238 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 " I thought she would." 
 
 " Now," he said, " I suppose I ought to go back 
 to London." 
 " Why ? " 
 
 " It will not be pleasant for her — my being here. 
 It will be very embarrassing to both of us," 
 
 " Nonsense. She will regard it as a joke." 
 
 I am afraid our Uhlan looked rather savage at this 
 moment. 
 
 " Don't you see," I observed to him seriously, " that 
 if you go away in this manner you will give the affair 
 a tremendous importance, and make all sorts of expla- 
 nations necessary ? Why not school yourself to meeting 
 her on ordinary terms ; and take it that your question 
 was a sort of preliminary sounding, as it were, without 
 prejudice to either ? " 
 
 " Then you think I should ask her again, at some 
 future time ? " he said eagerly. 
 
 " I don't think anything of the kind." 
 
 " Then why should I remain here ? " 
 
 " I hope you did not come with us merely for the 
 purpose of proposing to Bell." 
 
 " No ; that is true enough — but our relations are now 
 all altered. I do not know what to do." 
 
 " Don't do anything : meet her as if nothing of the 
 kind had occurred. A sensible girl like her will think 
 more highly of you in doing that than in doing some 
 wild and mad thing, which will only have the effect 
 of annoying her and yourself. Did she give you any 
 reason ? " 
 
 " I do not know," said Von Eosen, disconsolately. 
 " I am not sure what I said. Perhaps I did not explain 
 enough. Perhaps she thought me blunt, rude, coarse, 
 in asking her so suddenly. It was all a sort of fire 
 for a minute or two —and then the cold water came — 
 and that lasts." 
 
 The two women were now far ahead — surely they 
 were walking fast that Bell might have an opportunit) 7 
 of confiding all her perplexities to her friend. 
 
 " I suppose," said Von Rosen, " that I suffer for my 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 239 
 
 own folly. I might have known. But for this day or 
 two back, it has seemed so great a chance to me — of 
 getting her to promise at least to think of it — and the 
 prospect of having such a wife as that — it was all too 
 much. Perhaps I have done the worst for myself by 
 the hurry ; but was it not excusable in a man to be in a 
 hurry to ask such a girl to be his wife ? And there is 
 no harm in knowing soon that all that was impossible." 
 
 Doubtless it was comforting to him to go on talking. 
 I wondered what Bell was saying at this moment ; and 
 whether a comparison of their respective views would 
 throw some light on the subject. As for the Lieutenant, 
 he seemed to regard Bell's decision as final. If he had 
 been a little older, he might not ; but having just been 
 plunged from the pinnacle of hope into an abyss of 
 despair, he was too stunned to think of clambering up 
 again by degrees. 
 
 But even at this time all his thoughts were directed 
 to the best means of making his presence as little of an 
 embarrassment to Bell as possible. 
 
 "This evening will pass away very well," he said, 
 " for everybody will be talking at dinner, and we need 
 not to address each other ; but to-morrow — if you think 
 this better that I remain with you — then you will drive 
 the phaeton, and you will give Mademoiselle the front 
 seat — for the whole day ? Is it agreed, yes ? " 
 
 "Certainly. You must not think of leaving us at 
 present. You see, if you went away we should have 
 to send for Arthur." 
 
 A sort of flame blazed up into the face of the 
 Lieutenant; and he said, in a rapid and vehement 
 way — 
 
 " This thing I will say to you — if Mademoiselle will 
 not marry me — good. It is the right of every girl to 
 have her choice. But if you allow her to marry that 
 pitiful fellow, it will be a shame — and you will not 
 forgive yourself, either Madame or you, in the years 
 afterwards — that I am quite sure of!" 
 
 " But what have we to do with Bell's choice of a 
 husband ? " 
 
240 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 " You talked just now of sending for him to join 
 your party." 
 
 " Why, Bell isn't bound to marry everyone who 
 comes for a drive with us. Your own case is one 
 in point." 
 
 "But this is quite different. This wretched fellow 
 thinks he has an old right to her, as being an old friend, 
 and all that stupid nonsense ; and I know that she has 
 a strange idea that she owes to him " 
 
 The Lieutenant suddenly stopped. 
 
 " No," he said, " I will not tell you what she did tell 
 to me this afternoon. But I think you know it all ; 
 and it will be very bad of you to make a sacrifice of 
 her by bringing him here- " 
 
 " If you remain in the phaeton, we can't." 
 
 " Then I will remain." 
 
 " Thank you. As Tita and I have to consider our- 
 selves just a little bit — amid all this whirl of love- 
 making and reckless generosity — I must say we prefer 
 your society to that of Master Arthur." 
 
 " That is a very good compliment ! " says Von Eosen, 
 with an ungracious sneer — for who ever heard of a 
 young man of twenty-six being just to a young man 
 of twenty-two when both wanted to marry the same 
 young lady ? 
 
 We overtook our companions. Bell and I walked on 
 together to the hotel, and subsequently down to the 
 station. An air of gloom seemed to hang over the 
 heavy forests far up amid the grey rocks. The river 
 had a mournful sound as it came rushing down between 
 the mighty boulders. Bell scarcely uttered a word as 
 we got into the carriage and slowly steamed away from 
 the platform. 
 
 Whither had gone the joy of her face? She was 
 once more approaching the sea. Under ordinary cir- 
 cumstances you would have seen an anticipatory light 
 in her blue eyes, as if she already heard the long plash 
 of the waves, and smelt the sea-weed. Now she sat in 
 a corner of the carriage ; and when at last we came in 
 view of the most beautiful sight that we had yet met 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 241 
 
 on our journey, she sat and gazed at it with the eyes 
 of one distraught. 
 
 That was a rare and wild picture we saw when we 
 got back to the sea. The heavy rain-clouds had sunk 
 down until they formed a low dense wall of purple all 
 along the line of the western horizon, between the sea 
 and the sky. That heavy bar of cloud was almost 
 black ; but just above it there was a calm fair stretch 
 of lambent green, with here and there a torn shred of 
 crimson cloud and one or two lines of sharp gold, lying 
 parallel with the horizon. But away over in the east 
 again were some windy masses of cloud that had caught 
 a blush of red; and these had sent a pale reflection 
 down on the sea — a sort of salmon-colour that seemed 
 the complement of the still gold-green overhead. 
 
 The sunset touched faintly the low mountains about 
 the mouth of the Dee. A rose-red glimmer struck the 
 glass of the window at which Bell sat ; and then, as the 
 train made a slight curve in the line running by the 
 shore, the warm light entered and lit up her face with 
 a rich and beautiful glow. The Lieutenant, hidden in 
 the dusk of the opposite corner, was regarding her with 
 wistful eyes. Perhaps he thought that now, more than 
 ever, she looked like some celestial being far out of his 
 reach, whom he had dared to hope would forsake her 
 strange altitudes and share his life with him. Tita, 
 saying nothing, was also gazing out of the window, and 
 probably pondering on the unhappy climax that seemed 
 to put an end to her friendly hopes. 
 
 Darkness fell over the sea and the land. The great 
 plain of water seemed to fade away into the gloom of 
 the horizon ; but here, close at hand, the pools on the 
 shore occasionally caught the last reflection of the sky, 
 and flashed out a gleam of yellow fire. The wild in- 
 tensity of the colours was almost painful to the eyes — 
 the dark blue-green of the shore-plants and the sea- 
 grass ; the gathering purple of the sea ; the black rocks 
 on the sand ; and then that sudden bewildering flash of 
 gold where a pool had been left among the sea-weed. 
 The mountains in the south had now disappeared ; and 
 
 R 
 
242 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 were doubtless — away in that mysterious darkness — 
 wreathing themselves in the cold night-mists that were 
 slowly rising from the woods and the valleys of the 
 streams. — Such was our one and only glimpse of Wales ; 
 and the day that Bell had looked forward to with such 
 eager delight had closed in silence and despair. 
 
 When we got back to the hotel, a letter from Arthur 
 was lying on the table. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 THE COLLAPSE. 
 
 " Thy crowded ports, 
 Where rising masts an endless prospect yield, 
 With labour burn, and echo to the shouts 
 Of hurried sailor, as he hearty waves 
 His last adieu, and, loosening every sheet, 
 Resigns the spreading vessel to the wind. " 
 
 The following correspondence has been handed to us 
 for publication : — 
 
 "Cowley House, Twickenham, 
 July — , 1871. 
 
 " Mon cher Mamma, — Doctor Ashburton dire me que 
 je ecris a vous dans Fransais je sais Fransais un pettit 
 et ici est un letter a vous dans Fransais mon cher 
 Mamma le Pony est trai bien et je sui mon cher 
 Mamma. 
 
 " Voter aime fils, 
 
 " Tom." 
 
 "Cowley House, Twickenham, 
 July — , 1871. 
 
 " My dear Papa, — Tom as written Mamma a letter in 
 French and Doctor Ashburton says I must Begin to 
 learn French too but Tom says it is very dificult and it 
 takes a long time to write a Letter with the dixonary 
 and he says my dear Papa that we must learn German 
 Too but please may I learn German first and you will 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 243 
 
 give my love to the German gentleman who gave us the 
 poney he is very well my dear Papa and very fat and 
 round and hard in the sides Harry French says if he 
 goes on eeting like that he will burst but me and Tom 
 only laughed at him and we rode him down to Stanes 
 and back which is a long way and I only tumbbled off 
 twice but once into the ditch for he wanted to eat the 
 Grass and I Pooled at him and slipt over is head but I 
 was not much Wet and I went to bed until Jane dryed 
 all my close and no one new of it but her Pleese my 
 dear papa how is Auntie Bell, and we send our love 
 to her, and to my dear mamma and I am your 
 affexnate son, 
 
 " Jack. 
 
 " P.S. All the monney you sent as gone away for oats 
 and beans and hay. Pleese my dear Papa to send a 
 good lot more." 
 
 " Inn, Oakham, Friday Afternoon. 
 
 " .... You will see I have slightly departed from 
 the route I described in a telegram to Bell. Indeed, I 
 find myself so untrammelled in driving this light dog- 
 cart, with a powerful little animal that never seems 
 fatigued, that I can go anywhere without fearing there 
 will not be accommodation for a pair of horses and a 
 large party. I am sure you must often have been put 
 to straits in securing rooms for so many at a small 
 country inn. Probably you know the horse I have 
 got — it is the cob that Major Quinet bought from 
 Heathcote. I saw him by the merest accident when 1 
 returned from Worcester to London — told him what I 
 meant to do — he offered me the cob with the greatest 
 good-nature — and as I knew I should be safer with it 
 than anything I could hire, I accepted. You will see I 
 have come a good pace. I started on the Tuesday 
 morning after I saw you at Worcester, and here I am at 
 Oakham, rather over ninety miles. To-morrow I hope 
 to be in Nottingham, about other thirty. Perhaps, if 
 you will allow me, I may strike across country, by 
 Huddersfield and Skipton, and pay you a visit at Kendal. 
 
244 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 I hope Bell is well, and that you are not having much 
 rain. I have had the most delightful weather. 
 
 " Yours sincerely, 
 
 "Arthur Ashbtjrton." 
 
 " It is a race," said the Lieutenant, " who shall be at 
 Carlisle first." 
 
 "Arthur will beat," remarked Bell, looking to my 
 Lady; and although nothing could have been more 
 innocent than that observation, it seemed rather to 
 take Von Bosen down a bit. He turned to the window 
 and looked out. 
 
 " I think it was very foolish of Major Quinet to lend 
 him that beautiful little bay cob to go on such an 
 expedition as that," said Tita. " He will ruin it entirely. 
 Fancy going thirty miles a day without giving the poor 
 animal a day's rest ! Why should he be so anxious to 
 overtake us ? If we had particularly wanted him to 
 accompany us, we should have asked him to do so." 
 
 "He does not propose to accompany you," I say. 
 "He is only coming to pay you a visit." 
 
 " I know what that means," says my Lady, with a 
 tiny shrug ; " something like the arrival of a mother-in- 
 law, with a carriageful of luggage." 
 
 " My dear," I say to her, " why should you speak 
 scornfully of the amiable and excellent lady who is 
 responsible for your bringing up ? " 
 
 " I was not speaking of my mamma," says Tita, " but 
 of the abstract mother-in-law." 
 
 " A man never objects to an abstract mother-in-law. 
 Now, your mamma — although she is not to be con- 
 sidered as a mother-in-law " 
 
 "My mamma never visits me but at my own re- 
 quest," says my Lady, with something of loftiness in 
 her manner; "and I am sorry she makes her visits 
 so short, for when she is in the house, I am treated with 
 some show of attention and respect." 
 
 " Well," I say to her, " if a mother-in-law can do no 
 
 better than encourage hypocrisy But I bear no 
 
 malice. I will take some sugar, if you please." 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 245 
 
 " And as for Arthur/' continues Tita, turning to Bell, 
 " what must I say to him ?" 
 
 " Only that we shall be pleased to see him, I sup- 
 pose," is the reply. 
 
 The Lieutenant stares out into the streets of Chester, 
 as though he did not hear. 
 
 " We cannot ask him to go with us — it would look 
 too absurd— a dog-cart trotting after us all the way." 
 
 " He might be in front," says Bell, " if the cob is so 
 good a little animal as he says." 
 
 "I wonder how Major Quinet could have been so 
 stupid," says Tita, with a sort of suppressed vexation. 
 
 The reader may remember that a few days ago 
 Major Quinet was a white-souled angel of a man, to 
 whom my Lady had given one of those formal specifica- 
 tions of character which she has always at hand when 
 anyone is attacked. Well, one of the party humbly 
 recalls that circumstance. He asks in what way Major 
 Quinet has changed within the past' two days. Tita 
 looks up, with that sort of quick, triumphant glance 
 which tells beforehand that she has a reply ready, and 
 says — 
 
 " If Major Quinet has committed a fault, it is one of 
 generosity. That is an error not common among men — 
 especially men who have horses, and who would rather 
 see their own wives walk through the mud to the 
 station than let their horses get wet." 
 
 " Bell, what is good for you, when you're sat upon ?" 
 
 " Patience," says Bell : and then we go out into the 
 old and grey streets of Chester. 
 
 It was curious to notice now the demeanour of our 
 hapless Lieutenant towards Bell. He had had a whole 
 night to think over his position ; and in the morning he 
 seemed to have for the first time fully realized the hope- 
 lessness of his case. He spoke of it — before the women 
 came down — in a grave, matter-of-fact way, not making 
 any protestation of suffering, but calmly accepting it 
 as a matter for regret. One could easily see, however, 
 that a good deal of genuine feeling lay behind these 
 brief words. 
 
246 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 Then, when Bell came down he showed her a vast 
 amount of studied respect , hut spoke to her of one or 
 two ordinary matters in a careless tone; as if to assure 
 everybody that nothing particular had happened. The 
 girl herself was not equal to any such effort of amiable 
 hypocrisy. She was very timid. She agreed with him 
 in a hurried way whenever he made the most insig- 
 nificant statement, and showed herself obtrusively 
 anxious to take his side when my Lady, for example, 
 doubted the efficacy of carbolic soap. The Lieutenant 
 had no great interest in carbolic soap — had never seen 
 it, indeed, until that morning ; but Bell was so anxious 
 to be kind to him, that she defended the compound as 
 if she had been the inventor and patentee of it. 
 
 "It is very awkward for me," said the Lieutenant, 
 as we were strolling through the quaint thoroughfares 
 — Bell and my Lady leading the way along the piazzas 
 formed on the first floor of the houses ; " it is very- 
 awkward for me to be always meeting her, and more 
 especially in a room. And she seems to think that 
 she has done me some wrong. That is not so. That 
 is quite a mistake. It is a misfortune — that is all ; and 
 the fault is mine that I did not understand sooner. Yet 
 I wish we were again in the phaeton. Then there is 
 great life — motion — something to do and think about, 
 I cannot bear this doing of nothing." 
 
 Well, if the Lieutenant's restlessness was to be 
 appeased by hard work, he was likely to have enough 
 of it that day; for we were shortly to take the horses 
 and phaeton across the estuary of the Mersey, by 
 one of the Birkenhead ferries ; and anyone who has 
 engaged in that pleasing operation knows the excite- 
 ment of it. Von Bosen chafed against the placid 
 monotony of the Chester streets. The passages under 
 the porticoes are found to be rather narrow of a fore- 
 noon, when a crowd of women and girls have come 
 out to look at the shops, and when the only alternative 
 to waiting one's turn and getting along is to descend 
 ignominiously into the thoroughfare below. Now, no 
 stranger who comes to Chester would think of walking 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 247 
 
 along an ordinary pavement, so long as he can pace 
 through those quaint old galleries that are built on 
 the roofs of the ground-row of shops and cellars. 
 The Lieutenant hung aimlessly about — just as you 
 may see a husband lounging and staring in Regent- 
 street while his wife is examining with a deadly interest 
 the milliners' and jewellers' windows. Bell bought 
 presents for the boys. My Lady purchased photographs. 
 In fact, we conducted ourselves like the honest Briton 
 abroad, who buys a lot of useless articles in every 
 town he comes to, chiefly because he has nothing else 
 to do, and may as well seize that opportunity of talking 
 to the natives. 
 
 Then our bonny bays were put into the phaeton, 
 and, with a great sense of freedom shining on the 
 face of our Uhlan, we started once more for the north. 
 Bell was sitting beside me. That had been part of 
 the arrangement. But why was she so pensive ? Why 
 this profession of tenderness and an extreme interest 
 and kindness ? I had done her no injury. 
 
 " Bell," I say to her, " have you left all your wildness 
 behind you — buried down at the foot of Box Hill, or 
 calmly interred under a block of stone up on Mickle- 
 ham Downs ? Where be your gibes now ? your gambols ? 
 your songs ? your flashes of merriment, that were wont 
 to set my Lady frowning at you as if you were an 
 incorrigible Tom-boy? Come, now, touching that 
 ballad of the Bailiff's Daughter — .the guitar has not 
 
 been out for a long time " 
 
 A small gloved hand was gently and furtively laid 
 on my arm. There was to be no singing. 
 
 " I think," said Bell, aloud, " that this is a very 
 pretty piece of country to lie between two such big 
 towns as Chester and Liverpool." 
 
 The remark was not very profound, but it was 
 accurate, and it served its purpose of pushing away 
 finally that suggestion about the guitar. We were 
 now driving up the long neck of land lying between 
 the parallel estuaries of the Dee and the Mersey. 
 About Backford, and on by Great Sutton and Childer 
 
248 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 Thornton to Eastham, the drive was pleasant enough 
 — the windy day and passing clouds giving motion 
 and variety to the undulating pasture-land and the 
 level fields of the farms. But as we drove carelessly 
 through the green landscape, all of a sudden we saw 
 before us a great forest of masts — grey streaks in 
 the midst of the horizon — and behind them a cloud 
 of smoke arising from an immense stretch of houses. 
 We discovered, too, the line of the Mersey; and by 
 and by we could see its banks widening, until the 
 boats in the bed of the stream could be vaguely made 
 out in the distance. 
 
 "Shall we remain in Liverpool this evening?" asks 
 Bell. 
 
 "As you please." 
 
 Bell had been more eager than any of us to hurry 
 on our passage to the north, that we should have 
 abundant leisure in the Lake country. But a young 
 lady who finds herself in an embarrassing position may 
 imagine that the best refuge she can have in the 
 evening is the theatre. 
 
 " Pray don't," says Tita. " We shall be at Liverpool 
 presently, and it would be a great pity to throw away 
 a day, when we shall want all the spare time we can 
 get when we reach Kendal." 
 
 Kendal ! It was the town at which Arthur was 
 to meet us. But of course my Lady had her way. 
 Since Von Rosen chose to sit mute, the decision 
 rested with her ; and so the driver, being of an equable 
 disposition, and valuing the peace of mind of the 
 party far above the respect that ought to have been 
 shown to Liverpool, meekly took his opders, and sent 
 the horses on. 
 
 But it was a long way to Liverpool, despite Tita's 
 assurances. The appearances of the landscape were 
 deceitful. The smoke on the other side of the river 
 seemed to indicate that the city was close at hand; 
 but we continued to roll along the level road without 
 apparently coming ore whit nearer Birkenhead. We 
 crossed Bromborough Pool. We went by Primrose 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 249 
 
 Hill. We drove past the grounds apparently sur- 
 rounding some mansion, only to find the level road 
 still stretching on before us. Then there were a few 
 cottages. Houses of an unmistakably civic look began 
 to appear. Suburban villas with gardens walled in 
 with brick studded the roadside. Factories glimmered 
 grey in the distance. An odour of coal-smoke was 
 perceptible in the air; and finally, with a doleful 
 satisfaction, we had the wheels of the phaeton rattling 
 over a grimy street, and we knew we were in Birken- 
 head. 
 
 There was some excuse for the Lieutenant losing 
 his temper — even if he had not been in rather a gloomy 
 mood, to begin w T ith. The arrangements for the trans- 
 ference of carriage horses across the Mersey are of 
 a nebulous description. When we drove down the 
 narrow passage to Tranmere Ferry, the only official 
 we could secure was a hulking lout of a fellow of 
 decidedly hang-dog aspect. Von Eosen asked him, 
 civilly enough, if there was anyone about who could 
 take the horses out, and superintend the placing of 
 them and the phaeton in the ferry. There was no 
 such person. Our friend in moleskin hinted in a 
 surly fashion that the Lieutenant might do it for 
 himself. But he would help, he said ; and therewith 
 he growled something about being paid for his trouble. 
 I began to fear for the safety of that man. The river 
 is deep just close by. 
 
 Bell and Tita had to be got out, and tickets taken 
 for the party and for the horses and phaeton. When 
 I returned, the Lieutenant, with rather a firm-set 
 mouth, was himself taking the horses out, while the 
 loafer in moleskin stood at some little distance, scowl- 
 ing and muttering scornful observations at the same 
 time. 
 
 "Ha! have you got the tickets?" said our Uhlan. 
 " That is very good. We shall do by ourselves. Can 
 you get out the nosebags, that we shall pacify them 
 on going across ? I have told this fellow — if he comes 
 near to the horses — if he speaks one more word to 
 
250 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 me — lie will be in the river the next moment; and 
 that is quite sure as I am alive." 
 
 But there was no one who could keep the horses 
 quiet like Bell. When they were taken down the 
 little pier, she walked by their heads, and spoke to 
 them, and stroked their noses; and then she swiftly 
 got on board the steamer to receive them. The Lieu- 
 tenant took hold of Pollux. The animal had been 
 quiet enough, even with the steamer blowing and 
 puffing in front of him, but when he found his hoofs 
 striking on the board between the pier and the 
 steamer, he threw up his head, and strove to back. 
 The Lieutenant held on by both hands. The horse 
 went back another step. It was a perilous moment, 
 for there is no railing to the board which forms the 
 gangway to those ferry-steamers, and if the animal 
 had gone to one side or the other, he and Von Eosen 
 would have been in the water together. But with a 
 " Hi ! hoop !" and a little touch of the whip from 
 behind, the horse sprang forward, and was in the boat 
 before he knew. And there was Bell at his head, 
 talking in an endearing fashion to him as the Lieu- 
 tenant pulled the strap of the nosebag up ; and one 
 horse was safe. 
 
 There was less to do with Castor ; that prudent 
 animal, with his eyes staring wildly around, feeling 
 his way gingerly on the sounding board, but not 
 pausing all the same. Then he too had his nosebag 
 to comfort him ; and when the steamer uttered a yell 
 of a whistle through its steam-pipe, the two horses 
 only started and knocked their hoofs about on the 
 deck — for they were very well employed, and Bell 
 was standing in front of their heads, talking to them 
 and pacifying them. 
 
 Then we steamed slowly out into the broad estuary. 
 A strong wind was blowing up channel, and the yellow- 
 brown waves were splashing about with here and 
 there a bold dash of blue on them from, the gusty 
 sky overhead. Far away down the Mersey the 
 shipping seemed to be like a cloud along the two 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 251 
 
 shores ; and out on the wide surface of the river 
 were large vessels being tugged about, and mighty 
 steamers coming up to the Liverpool piers. When 
 one of these bore down upon us so closely that she 
 seemed to overlook our little boat, the two horses 
 forgot their corn and flung their heads about a bit ; 
 but the Lieutenant had a firm grip of them, and 
 they were eventually quieted. 
 
 He had by this time recovered from his fit of 
 wrath. Indeed, he laughed heartily over the matter, 
 and said — 
 
 " I am afraid I did give that lounging fellow a great 
 fright. He does not understand German, I suppose ; 
 but the sound of what I said to him had great effect 
 upon him — I can assure you of that. He retreated 
 from me hastily. It was some time before he could 
 make out what had happened to him ; and then he 
 did not return to the phaeton." 
 
 The horses bore the landing on the other side very 
 well; and, with but an occasional tremulous start, 
 permitted themselves to be put-to on the quay, amid 
 the roar and confusion of arriving and departing 
 steamers. We were greatly helped in this matter by 
 an amiable policeman, who will some day, I hope, 
 become Colonel and Superintendent of the Metro- 
 politan Force. 
 
 Werther, amid all this turmoil, was beginning to 
 forget his sorrows. We had a busy time of it. He 
 and Bell had been so occupied with the horses in 
 getting them over that they had talked almost frankly 
 to each other; and now there occurred some con- 
 tinuation of the excitement in the difficulties that 
 beset us. For, after we had driven into the crowded 
 streets, we found that the large hotels in Liverpool 
 have no mews attached to them ; and in our endeavours 
 to secure in one place entertainment for both man 
 and beast, some considerable portion of our time was 
 consumed. At length we found stabling in Hatton 
 Garden ; and then we were thrown on the wide world 
 of Liverpool to look after our own sustenance. 
 
252 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 " Mademoiselle," said the Lieutenant — rather avoiding 
 the direct look of her eyes, however — "if you would 
 prefer to wait, and go to a theatre to-night " 
 
 " Oh no, thank you," said Bell, quite hurriedly — as 
 if she were anxious not to have her own wishes con- 
 sulted ; " I would much rather go on as far as we 
 can to-day." 
 
 The Lieutenant said nothing — how could he ? He 
 was but six-and-twenty, or thereabouts, and had not 
 yet discovered a key to the Bosamond's maze of a 
 woman's wishes. 
 
 So we went to a restaurant fronting a dull square, 
 and dined. We were the only guests. Perhaps it was 
 luncheon; perhaps it was dinner — we had pretty well 
 forgotten the difference by this time, and were satisfied 
 if we could get something to eat, anywhere, thrice a day. 
 
 But it was only too apparent that the pleasant 
 relations with which we had started had been seriously 
 altered. There was a distressing politeness prevailing 
 throughout this repast, and Bell had so far forgotten 
 her ancient ways as to become quite timid and ner- 
 vously formal in her talk. As for my Lady, she forgot 
 to say sharp things. Indeed, she never does care for 
 a good brisk quarrel, unless there are people present 
 ready to enjoy the spectacle. Fighting for the mere 
 sake of fighting is a blunder; but fighting in the 
 presence of a circle of noble dames and knights 
 becomes a courtly tournament. All our old amuse- 
 ments were departing — we were like four people met 
 in a London drawing-room; and, of course, we had 
 not bargained for this sort of thing on setting out. 
 It had all arisen from Bell's excessive tenderness of 
 heart. She had possessed herself with some wild 
 idea that she had cruelly wronged our Lieutenant. 
 She strove to make up for this imaginary injury by a 
 show of courtesy and kindness that was embarrassing 
 to the whole of us. The fact is, the girl had never 
 been trained in the accomplishments of city life. She 
 regarded a proposal of marriage as something of con- 
 sequence. There was a defect, too, about her pulsation : 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 253 
 
 her heart — that ought to have gone regularly through 
 the multiplication table in the course of its beating, 
 and never changed from twice one to twelve times 
 twelve — made frantic plunges here and there, and 
 slurred over whole columns of figures in order to send 
 an anxious and tender flush up to her forehead and face. 
 A girl who was so little mistress of herself, that — on a 
 winter's evening, when we happened to talk of the 
 summer-time and of half- forgotten walks near Amble- 
 side and Coniston — tears might suddenly be seen to 
 well up in her blue eyes, was scarcely fit to take her 
 place in a modern drawing-room. At this present 
 moment her anxiety, and a sort of odd self-accusation, 
 were really spoiling our holiday : but we did not bear 
 our Bell much malice. 
 
 It was on this evening that we were destined to make 
 our first acquaintance with the alarming method of 
 making roads which prevails between Liverpool and 
 Preston. It is hard to say by what process of fiendish 
 ingenuity these petrified sweetbreads have been placed 
 so as to occasion the greatest possible trouble to horses' 
 hoofs, wheels, and human ears ; and it is just as hard 
 to say why such roads — -although they may wear long 
 in the neighbourhood of a city inviting constant traffic 
 — should be continued out into country districts where 
 a cart is met with about once in every five miles. These 
 roads do not conduce to talking. One thinks of the 
 unfortunate horses, and of the effect on springs and 
 wheels. Especially in the quiet of a summer's evening, 
 the frightful rumbling over the wedged-in stones seems 
 strangely discordant. And yet, when one gets clear 
 of the suburban slums and the smoke of Liverpool, a 
 very respectable appearance of real country-life becomes 
 visible. When you get out to Walton Nurseries and on 
 towards Aintree Station and Maghull, the landscape 
 looks fairly green, and the grass is of a nature to sup- 
 port animal life. There is nothing very striking in the 
 scenery, it is true. Even the consciousness that away 
 beyond the flats on the left the sea is washing over the 
 great sandbanks on to the level shores, does not help 
 
THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 much ; for who can pretend to hear the whispering of 
 the far-off tide amid the monotonous rattling over these 
 abominable Lancashire stones ? We kept our teeth well 
 shut, and went on. We crossed the small river of Alt. 
 We whisked through Maghull village. The twilight was 
 gathering fast as we got on to Aughton, and in the dusk 
 — lit up by the yellow stars of the street lamps — we 
 drove into Ormskirk. The sun had gone down red in 
 the west : we were again assured as to the morrow. 
 
 But what would be the good of another bright 
 morning to this melancholy Uhlan ? Misfortune seemed 
 to have marked us for its own. We drove into the 
 yard of what was apparently the biggest inn in the 
 place ; and while the women were sent into the inn, 
 the Lieutenant and I happened to remain a little while 
 to look after the horses. Imagine our astonishment, 
 therefore (after the animals had been taken out and 
 our luggage uncarted), to find there was no accommo- 
 dation for us inside the building. 
 
 " Confounded house ! " growled the Lieutenant, in 
 German ; " thou hast betrayed me ! " 
 
 So there was nothing for it but to leave the phaeton 
 where it was, and issue forth in quest of a house in 
 which to hide our heads. It was an odd place when 
 we found it. A group of women regarded us with a 
 frightened stare. In vain we invited them to speak. 
 At length another woman — little less alarmed than the 
 others, apparently — made her appearance, and signified 
 that we might, if we chose, go into a small parlour 
 smelling consumedly of gin and coarse tobacco. After 
 all, we found the place was not so bad as it looked. 
 Another chamber was prepared for us. Our luggage 
 was brought round. Ham and beer were provided for 
 our final meal, with some tea in a shaky teapot. There 
 was nothing romantic in this dingy hostelry, or in this 
 dingy little town; but were we not about to reach a 
 more favoured country — the beautiful and enchanted 
 land of which Bell had been dreaming so long ? — 
 
 M Kennst du es wohl ? Dahin, daliin, 
 Mocht' ich mit dir, 0 mein Geliebter, ziehn ! " 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 255 
 
 [Note by Queen Titania. — "I confess that I cannot understand these 
 young people. On our way from the Fairy Glen back to Bettws-y- 
 Coed, Bell told me something of what had occurred ; but I really could 
 not get from her any proper reason for her having acted so. She was 
 much distressed, of course. I forbore to press her, lest we should have 
 a scene, and I would not hurt the girl's feelings for the world, for she 
 is as dear to me as one of my own children. But she could give no 
 explanation. If she had said that Count von Eosen had been too 
 precipitate, I could have understood it. She said she had known him 
 a very short time ; and that she could not judge of a proposition 
 coming so unexpectedly ; and that she could not consent to his leaving 
 his country and his profession for her sake. These are only such 
 objections as every girl uses when she really means that she does not 
 wish to marry. I asked her why. She had no objections to urge 
 against Lieutenant von Eosen personally — as how could she ? — for he is 
 a most gentlemanly young man, with abilities and accomplishments 
 considerably above the average. Perhaps, living down in the country 
 for the greater part of the year, I am not competent to judge ; but I 
 think at least he compares very favourably with the gentlemen whom 
 I am in the habit of seeing. I asked her if she meant to marry 
 Arthur. She would not answer. She said something about his being 
 an old friend — as if that had anything in the world to do with it. 
 At first I thought that she had merely said No for the pleasure of 
 accepting afterwards ; and I knew that in that case the Lieutenant, 
 who is a shrewd young man, and has plenty of courage, would soon 
 make another trial. But I was amazed to find so much of seriousness 
 in her decision ; and yet she will not say that she means to marry 
 Arthur. Perhaps she is waiting to have an explanation with him first. 
 In that case, I fear Count von Eosen's chances are but very small 
 indeed ; for I know how Arthur has wantonly traded on Bell's great 
 generosity before. Perhaps I may be mistaken ; but she would not 
 admit that her decision could be altered. I must say it is most un- 
 fortunate. Just as we were getting on so nicely and enjoying ourselves 
 so much — and just as we were getting near to the Lake country that 
 Bell so much delights in — everything is spoiled by this unhappy event, 
 for which Bell can give no adequate reason whatever. It is a great 
 pity that one who shall be nameless — but who looks pretty fairly after 
 his own comfort — did not absolutely forbid Arthur to come vexing us in 
 this way by driving over to our route. If Dr. Ashburton had had 
 any proper control over the boy, he would have kept him to his 
 studies in the Temple, instead of allowing him to risk the breaking of 
 his neck by driving wildly about the country in a dog-cart."] 
 
256 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 THE WHITE OWLS OF GARSTANG. 
 
 " As she fled fast through sun and shade, 
 The happy winds upon her played, 
 Blowing the ringlet from the braid : 
 She looked so lovely, as she swayed 
 
 The rein with dainty finger-tips, 
 A man had given all other bliss, 
 And all his worldly wealth for this, 
 To waste his whole heart in one kiss 
 
 Upon her perfect lips. " 
 
 This state of affairs could not last. 
 
 "Look here," I say to Queen Titania, "we must 
 cut the Lieutenant adrift." 
 
 " As you please," she remarks, with a sudden cold- 
 ness coming over her manner. 
 
 " Why should we be embarrassed by the freaks of 
 these two young creatures ? All the sunshine has 
 gone out of the party since Bell has begun to 
 sit mute and constrained — her only wish apparently 
 being to show a superhuman courtesy to this per- 
 plexing young Prussian." 
 
 " You very quickly throw over anyone who 
 interferes with your own comfort," says my Lady, 
 calmly. 
 
 " I miss my morning ballad. When one reaches 
 a certain age, one expects to be studied and tended 
 — except by one's wife." 
 
 "Well," says Tita, driven to desperation by this 
 picture of Von Rosen's departure, "I warned you at 
 our setting-out that these two would fall in love with 
 each other and cause us a great deal of trouble." 
 
 Who can say that this little woman is wanting in 
 courage ? The audacity with which she made this 
 statement was marvellous. She never flinched ; and 
 the brown, clear, true eyes looked as bravely uncon- 
 scious as if she had been announcing her faith in 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 257 
 
 the multiplication table. There was 110 use in arguing 
 the point. How could you seek to thwart or influence 
 the firm belief that shone clearly and steadily under 
 the soft eyelashes ? 
 
 " Come," I say to her, " is Von Eosen to go ; or 
 is he to hang on in hope of altering Bell's decision? 
 I fancy the young man would himself prefer to leave 
 us — I don't think he is in a comfortable position." 
 
 My Lady appeared a trifle embarrassed — was there 
 some dark secret between these two women ? 
 
 "A young man," she says, with a little hesitation, 
 " is the best judge of his own chances. I have asked 
 Bell; and I really can't quite make her out. Still 
 — you know — a girl sometimes is in a manner fright- 
 ened into saying 'No/ the first time she is asked — 
 and there might be " 
 
 She stopped. 
 
 "You think the Lieutenant should ask her again?" 
 
 " No, i" don't," says Tita, hastily ; " but it is im- 
 possible to say — she had nothing to urge against 
 Count von Eosen — only that Arthur would consider 
 himself unjustly treated " 
 
 "So — ho! Is that the reason?" 
 
 " No, no, no ! " cries the small woman, in an agony 
 of fright. " Don't you go and put any wrong notions 
 into the young man's head " 
 
 " Madam," I say to her, " recollect yourself. So 
 far from wishing to interfere in the affairs of these two 
 young people, I should like to bundle them both 
 back to London, that we might continue our journey 
 in peace. As for the Lieutenant's again proposing 
 to marry Bell, I consider that a man who twice asks 
 a woman to become his wife, forgets the dignity of 
 his sex." 
 
 Tita looks up — with the most beautifully innocent 
 smile in her eyes — and says sweetly, — 
 "You did yourself." 
 "That was different." 
 "Yes, I daresay." 
 
 " I knew your heart would have broken if T hadn't." 
 
 s 
 
258 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 " Oh ! " she says, with her eyes grown appalled. 
 
 " In fact, it was my native generosity that prompted 
 me to ask you a second time ; for I perceived that 
 yon were about to ask me." 
 
 " How many more ? " she asks ; "but I cannot 
 make out what mysterious things she is secretly 
 counting up. 
 
 " But no matter. There is little use in recalling 
 these bygone mistakes. Justice is satisfied when a 
 fool repents him of his folly." 
 
 At this moment Bell enters the room. She goes 
 up to Tita, and takes both her hands. 
 
 "You are laughing, in a perplexed way. You 
 must have been quarrelling. What shall we do to 
 him?" 
 
 "The falling out of faithful friends is generally 
 made up with a kiss, Bell," it is remarked. 
 
 "But I am not in the quarrel," says Miss Bell, 
 retreating to the window ; and here there is a rumble 
 of wheels outside, and the phaeton stands at the door. 
 
 "You two must get up in front," says Tita, as 
 we go out into the white glare of Ormskirk. "I 
 can watch you better there." 
 
 By this dexterous manoeuvre Bell and the Lieute- 
 nant were again separated. The young lady was never 
 loth to sit in front — under whatever surveillance 
 it placed her; for she liked driving. On this cool 
 morning — that promised a warmer day, after the wind 
 had carried away the white fleece of cloud that stretched 
 over the sky — she pulled on her gloves with great 
 alacrity, and, having got into her seat, assumed the 
 management of the reins as a matter of course. 
 
 " Gently ! " I say to her, as Castor and Pollux 
 make a plunge forward into the narrow thoroughfare. 
 A handbarrow is jutting out from the pavement. She 
 gives a jerk to the left rein, but it is too late; one 
 of our wheels just touches the end of the barrow, and 
 over it goes — not with any great crash, however. 
 
 "Go on," says the Lieutenant, from behind, with 
 admirable coolness. "There is no harm done — and 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 259 
 
 there is no one in charge of that tiling. When he 
 comes, he will pick it up." 
 
 "Very pretty conduct," remarks my Lady, as we 
 get out among the green fields and meadows again, 
 "injuring some poor man's property, and quietly 
 driving away without even offering compensation." 
 
 "It was Bell who did it," I say. 
 
 "As usual. The old story repeated from the days 
 of Eden downward. The woman thou gavest me — 
 of course, it is she who must bear the blame." 
 
 " Madam," I reply, " your knowledge of Scripture is 
 astounding. Who was the first Attorney- General in 
 the Bible?" 
 
 "Find out," says Tita; and the Lieutenant bursts into 
 a roar of laughter, as if that were a pretty repartee. 
 
 "And where do we stop to-night?" says our 
 North-country Maid, looking away along the green 
 valley which is watered by the pretty Eller Brook. 
 
 "Garstang, on the river of Wyre." 
 
 "And to-morrow we shall really be in Westmore- 
 land?" 
 
 " To-morrow we shall really be in Westmoreland. 
 Wo -ho ! my beauties ! Why, Bell, if you try to 
 leap across Lancashire at a bound like that, you'll 
 have us in a canal, or transfixed on a telegraph-post." 
 
 "I did not intend it," says Bell, "but they are 
 as anxious as I am to get north, and they break into 
 a gallop on no provocation whatever." 
 
 Indeed, the whole nature of this mad girl seemed 
 to have a sort of resemblance to a magnetic needle — 
 it was continuously turning to the North Pole, and 
 that in a tremulous, undecided fashion, as if, with 
 all her longing, she did not quite like to let people 
 know. But at this moment she forgot that we were 
 listening. It was really herself she was delighting 
 with her talk about deep valleys, and brown streams, 
 and the scent of peat-smoke in the air of an evening. 
 All the time she was looking away up to the horizon, 
 to see whether she could not make out some lines 
 of blue mountains, until Tita suddenly said — 
 
 s 2 
 
2 6o THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 " My dear ! " 
 
 " Meaning me, ma'am ? " 
 
 " No, I mean Bell. Pray keep a firmer hand on the 
 horses — if a train were to come sharply by at present — 
 and you see the road runs parallel with the railway-line 
 for an immense distance." 
 
 " And so should we," says Bell lightly. " There is no 
 danger. The poor animals wouldn't do anything wicked 
 at such a time, just when they are getting near to a 
 long rest." 
 
 Under Bell's guidance we do not lose much time by 
 the way. The road leaves the neighbourhood of the 
 railway. We drive past the great park of Bufford Hall. 
 The wind blows across to us from the Irish Sea ; and at 
 the small village of Much Hoole, where the Lieutenant 
 insists on giving the horses a little meal and water as a 
 sort of soothing draught, we come in sight of the long 
 red line of the Bibble, widening out into a sandy channel 
 as it nears the ocean. Bell catches a glimpse of the 
 smoke of a steamer ; and the vague knowledge that the 
 plain of salt water is not far away seems to refresh us 
 all, as we plunge once more into the green and wooded 
 country, by Longton, Hutton, and Ho wick. 
 
 " What is the greatest wish of your life, Bell ? " I ask, 
 knowing that she is dreaming of living somewhere along 
 the coast of these islands. 
 
 " To see Mamma pleased," says Bell, quite prettily, 
 just as if she were before a schoolmistress. 
 
 " You ask for the impossible. Tita's dream of earthly 
 bliss is to have the cross in our little church turned to 
 a crucifix ; and it will never be realized. I think she 
 would rather have that than be made a Duchess." 
 
 " I do miss that dear little church," says Tita, taking 
 no heed of the charge preferred against her. " There is 
 no feeling of homeliness about the churches we go into 
 up here. You know that you are a stranger, and all 
 the people are strangers, and you are not accustomed 
 to the clergyman's voice." 
 
 " The fact is," I tell her, " you lose the sense of pro- 
 prietorship which pleases you down at home. There, 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 26 r 
 
 the church is your own. You set out on a quiet Sunday 
 morning — you know all the people coming through the 
 fields and along the roads — and you have an eye on 
 them, to mark the absentees. There is a family gather- 
 ing in the churchyard, and a universal shaking of hands 
 — you are pleased that all the people are coming to 
 your church. You go in — the evergreens everywhere 
 about you pat there yourself. The tall white lilies on 
 the altar you presented to the Yicar ; though I paid for 
 them. Bell sits down to the organ — probably thinking 
 that her new boots may slip on one of the pedals and 
 produce a discord in the bass— and you know that your 
 family is providing the music too. The Yicar and his 
 wife dined with you the night before — you are in secret 
 league with them. You know all the people — Lord 
 
 's butler, who is the most venerable person in the 
 
 place— that squint-eyed publican, who thrashes his wife 
 on the Saturday so that she can't come on the Sunday — 
 all the other various pensioners you have, who you 
 vainly think are being taught to be independent and 
 economical — and a lot of small boys in knickerbockers 
 and shiny heads of hair, and pretty young ladies with 
 sailors' hats, blue ribbons, white jackets, and big wistful 
 eyes. You are the presiding genius of the place ; and 
 when Bell begins the music — and the sunlight comes 
 through the small and yellow windows in the southern 
 aisle — and when you see the light shining on the mural 
 tablets, with the coloured coats-of-arms above — you ask 
 yourself what other place could produce this feeling 
 of homely satisfaction, and what fashionable London 
 church, with all its money, could manufacture these 
 ancient blocks of marble — until you think you could 
 spend all your own money, and all your husband's too, 
 in making the small building a sort of ecclesiastical 
 museum." 
 
 " I hope," says Tita, with great severity, " I do not go 
 into church with any such thoughts. It is an auctioneer's 
 view of a morning service." 
 
 "It is the business of an auctioneer, my dear creature, 
 to estimate the actual value of articles. But I forgot 
 
262 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 one thing. After you have contemplated the church 
 with profound satisfaction — just as if those old knights 
 and baronets had died in order to adorn the walls for 
 you — your eye wanders up to the altar. It is a pretty 
 altar-cloth — goodness knows how much time you and 
 Bell spent over it. The flowers on the altar are also 
 beautiful — or ought to be, considering the price that 
 Benson charges for them. But that plain gilt cross, 
 with the three jewels in it — that is rather a blot, is 
 it not?" 
 
 " Why don't you go to the zinc chapel ? " says Tita, 
 with some contempt. 
 " I would if I dared." 
 
 " Who prevents you ? I am sure it is not I. I would 
 much rather you went there, than come to church, 
 merely to calculate the cost of every bit of fern or yew 
 that is placed on the walls, and to complain of the 
 introduction into the sermon of doctrines which you 
 can't understand." 
 
 " May I go to chapel, please ? " 
 
 "Certainly. But you are a good deal fonder of 
 going up to Mickleham Downs than to either church 
 or chapel." 
 
 "Will you come to chapel, Bell?" 
 
 " I am not going to interfere," says Bell, with philo- 
 sophical indifference, and paying much more attention 
 to her horses. 
 
 " I should be sorry to go," I observe, calmly, w for I 
 had half resolved to ask Mr. Lestrange to let me put 
 in yellow glass in those two windows that are at 
 present white." 
 
 " Oh, will you really ? " cries Queen Tita, in a 
 piteously eager tone, and quite forgetting all her war 
 of words. 
 
 Well, I promise, somewhat sadly. It is not the cost 
 of it that is the matter. But on those Sunday mornings 
 when the sunlight is flooding the church with a solemn 
 glow of yellow, it is something to turn to the two white 
 windows, and there, through the diamond panes, you 
 can see the sunlight shimmering on the breezy branches 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 263 
 
 of an ash-tree. This little glimpse of the bright and 
 glowing world outside — when our Vicar, who, it must be 
 confessed, is not always in a happy mood, happens to be 
 rather drowsy and even depressing in the monotony 
 of his commonplaceness — but perhaps it will be better 
 to say nothing more on this point. 
 
 Why the people of the nourishing town of Preston do 
 not bridge the Eibble in a line running parallel with 
 their chief thoroughfare and the road leading up from 
 Harwich, is inexplicable. A pleasure party need not 
 mind, for the drive is pleasant enough ; but business 
 folks might be tempted to use bad language over such 
 an unnecessary injury. The road makes a long double 
 along the two banks of the river, the most westerly 
 bridge forming the end of the loop. First you drive 
 down the left bank of the stream, over fine green 
 meadows, then you cross the bridge, and drive back 
 along the right bank, between avenues of young trees. 
 Perhaps the notion is to give you as much as possible 
 of the green and pleasant surroundings of Preston, 
 before letting you plunge into the streets of the town. 
 
 Now, I do not know how it was that from the moment 
 of our entering Preston a vague feeling of satisfaction 
 and hope seemed to get possession of our small party. 
 We had started in the morning under somewhat embar- 
 rassing and awkward conditions, .not likely to provoke 
 high spirits ; but now we seemed to have a nebulous 
 impression that the end of our troubles had come. Was 
 it because we had reached the last of the large manu- 
 facturing towns on our journey, and that we should 
 meet with no more of them ? Or was it because of that 
 promise to Queen Titania ? — for that kindly little woman, 
 when she is pleased, has a wonderful power of conveying 
 her gladness to others, and has been known to sweeten 
 a heavy dinner-party as a bunch of woodruff will 
 sweeten a lumber-room. Or was it that we knew, in 
 approaching Kendal, we should probably come to a 
 final settlement of all our difficulties, and have there- 
 after peace ? 
 
 As we were walking, after luncheon, through the 
 
264 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 spacious public gardens that overlook the Kibble, the 
 Lieutenant drew me aside, and said — 
 
 " My good friend, here is a favour I will ask of you. 
 We come to-night to Garstang, yes ? " 
 
 " Yes, we shall reach Garstang to-night." 
 
 " A town or a village ? " 
 
 " I don't know. Probably a village." 
 
 " I did hope it was not a town. Well, this is what I 
 ask. You will endeavour to take away Madame for a 
 few moments — if we are out walking, you know — and you 
 will let me say a few words to Mademoiselle by herself." 
 
 " I thought all your anxiety was to avoid her." 
 
 " There is something I must say to her." 
 
 " All right ; I will do what you ask, on condition you 
 do not persecute her. When she wishes to rejoin us, 
 you must not prevent her." 
 
 " Persecute her ? Then you do think I will quarrel 
 with her — and make her very miserable — merely because 
 she will not marry me ? You think it will be as it was 
 at Worcester — when that stupid boy from Twickenham 
 did go along the river ? Well, all I ask you is to look 
 at these two days. Has there been any quarrel between 
 us ? No, it is quite the opposite." 
 
 " Then let it remain that way, my dear fellow. One 
 Arthur is bad enough for a girl to manage ; but two 
 would probably send her into a convent for life." 
 
 And the truth was as the Lieutenant had described it. 
 They had been during these two days more than polite 
 to each other. Somehow, Bell was never done in paying 
 him furtive little attentions, although she spoke to him 
 rarely. That morning she had somewhere got a few 
 wild-flowers ; and three tiny bouquets were placed on 
 the breakfast-table. The Lieutenant dared not think 
 that one of them was for him. He apologized to Made- 
 moiselle for taking her seat. Bell said he had not — the 
 bouquet was for him if he cared to have it, she added 
 with a little diffidence. The Lieutenant positively 
 blushed — said nothing — and altogether neglected his 
 own breakfast in offering her things she did not want. 
 The bouquets given to Tita and her husband were 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 265 
 
 pinned into prominent positions; but no human eye 
 saw anything more of the wild blossoms that Bell had 
 given to Von Eosen. Betting on a certainty is con- 
 sidered dishonourable ; and so I will not say what odds 
 I would give that these precious flowers were transferred 
 to a book, and that at this moment they could be pro- 
 duced if a certain young man were only willing to 
 reveal their whereabouts. 
 
 Everything seemed to favour us on this fine afternoon 
 as we drove away northward again. The road grew 
 excellent, and we knew that we had finally left behind 
 us that deafening causeway that had dinned our ears 
 for days past. Then the cool breeze of the forenoon 
 and mid-day had died down, and a still, warm sunset 
 began to break over the western country, between us 
 and the sea. We could not, of course, get any glimpse 
 of the great plain of water beyond the land ; but we knew 
 that this great fire of crimson and yellow was shining 
 down on it too, and on the long curves of the shore. 
 
 The western sands could not be much more level than 
 the road that runs up by Broughton and Brock-bridge, 
 but it takes one through a sufficiently pleasant country, 
 which is watered by a multitude of brooks and small 
 rivers. It is a rich and well-cultivated country, too ; 
 and the far-stretching meadows and copses and fields 
 seemed to grow darker in their green under that smoke 
 of dusky crimson that had filled the sky. It is true, 
 we were still in Lancashire, and there was still present 
 to us a double line of communi cation with the manu- 
 facturing towns we had now left behind. At certain 
 places the road would run by the side of a railway-line, 
 and then again we would find a canal winding itself 
 like a snake through the grassy meadows. But a sunset 
 is a wonderful smoother-down of these artificial features 
 in a landscape ; and when the earth-banks of the railway- 
 line burned crimson under the darkening sky, or when 
 an arm of the canal caught a flush of flame on its 
 glassy surface, the picture was rather helped than other- 
 wise, and we bore the engineers -of this favoured land no 
 deadly grudge. < 
 
266 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 A sunset, by the way, was always favourable to Bell's 
 appearance. It lent to those fine and wavy masses of 
 hair a sort of glory ; and the splendid aureole was about 
 all of his sweetheart that the Lieutenant could see, as 
 he sat in the hind seat of the phaeton. Bell wears her 
 hair rather loose when she is out in the country, and 
 greatly likes, indeed, to toss it about as if she were a 
 young lion ; so that you may fancy how the warm light 
 of the sunset glowed here and there on those light and 
 silken heaps of golden-brown as we drove along in 
 the quiet evening. Sometimes, indeed, he may have 
 caught the outline of her face as she turned to look over 
 the far landscape ; and then, I know, the delicate oval 
 was tinted by the generous colour of the western skies, 
 so that not alone in the miracle of her hair did she look 
 like some transfigured saint. 
 
 Her talk on this evening, however, was far from 
 saintly. It was as worldly as it well could be ; for she 
 was confessing to the agony she used to suffer after 
 going home from dinner-parties, balls, and other godless 
 diversions of a like nature. 
 
 " I used to dread going up to my room," she said, 
 " for I could get no rest until I had sat down and gone 
 over everything that I had said during the evening. 
 And then all the consequences of my imprudence came 
 rushing down on me until I felt I was scarcely fit to live. 
 What you had been led into saying as a mere piece of 
 merriment now looked terribly like impertinence. Many 
 a time I wrote down on a piece of paper certain things 
 that I resolved to go the next day and make an apology 
 for to the old ladies whom I am sure I had offended. 
 But the next morning, things began to look a little 
 better. A little reassurance came with the briskness of 
 the day ; and I used to convince myself that nobody 
 would remember the heedless sayings that had been 
 provoked by the general light talk and merriment. I 
 absolved myself for that day; and promised, and vowed, 
 and made the most desperate resolutions never, never 
 to be thoughtless in the future, but always to watch 
 every word I had to say." 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 267 
 
 - " And in the evening," continued my Lady, " you 
 went out to another dance, and enjoyed yourself the 
 same, and said as many wild things as usual, and went 
 home again to do penance. It is quite natural, Bell. 
 Most girls go through that terrible half-hour of reaction, 
 until they grow to be women " 
 
 " And then," it is remarked, " they have never any- 
 thing to be sorry about ; for they are always circumspect, 
 self-possessed, and sure about what they mean to say. 
 They never have to spend a dreadful half-hour in trying 
 to recollect mistakes and follies." 
 
 " As for gentlemen," remarked Titania sweetly, " I 
 have heard that their evil half-hour is during the process 
 of dressing, when they endeavour to recall the speech 
 they made at the public dinner of the night before, and 
 wonder how they could have been so stupid as to order 
 a lot of champagne to oblige a friend just gone into that 
 business, and are not very sure how many people they 
 invited to dinner on the following Friday. Count von 
 Eosen " 
 
 " Yes, Madame." 
 
 " When you observe a husband whistling while his 
 wife is talking, what do you think ? " 
 
 " That she is saying something he would rather not 
 hear," replies the Lieutenant, gravely. 
 
 "And is not that a confession that what she says 
 is true?" 
 
 " Yes, Madame," says the Lieutenant, boldly. 
 
 " My dear," I say to her, " your brain has been turned 
 by the last sporting novel you have read. You are a 
 victim of cerebral inflammation. When you pride 
 yourself on your researches into the ways and habits of 
 the sex which you affect to despise, don't take that sort 
 of farthing- candle to guide you. As for myself, our 
 young friend from Prussia would scarcely credit the 
 time I spend in helping you to nail up brackens and 
 larch and ivy in that wretched little church ; and if he 
 knew the trouble I have to keep Bell's accounts straight 
 — when she is reckoning up what the process of pro- 
 ducing paupers in our neighbourhood costs us — why, 
 
268 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 he would look upon you as an unprincipled calum- 
 niator." 
 
 "Mamma herself is scarcely so big as those two 
 words put together," says Bell ; but Mamma is laughing 
 all this time, quite pleased to see that she has raised a 
 storm in a tea-cup by her ungracious and unwarranted 
 assault. 
 
 In the last red rays of the sun we have got on to a 
 small elevation. Before us, the road dips down and 
 crosses the canal; then it makes a twist again and 
 crosses the Wyre ; and up in that corner are the scat- 
 tered gables of Garstang. As we pass over the river 
 it is running cold and dark between its green banks ; 
 and the sunset is finally drawing down to the west as 
 we drive into the silent village, and up to the doorstep 
 of the Koyal Oak. 
 
 Tis a quaint and ancient hostelry. For aught we 
 know, the Earl of Derby's soldiers may have walked 
 over hither for a draught of beer when they were gar- 
 risoning Greenhalgh Castle over there; and when the 
 brave Countess, away down at Latham, was herself 
 fixing up the royal standard on the tower of the castle 
 as Mr. Leslie's picture shows us — and bidding defiance 
 to the Parliamentary troops. When you tell that story 
 to Queen Titania, you can see her gentle face grow pale 
 with pride and admiration; for did not the gallant 
 Countess send out word to Fairfax that she would 
 defend the place until she lost her honour or her life, 
 for that she had not forgotten what she owed to the 
 Church of England, to her prince, and to her lord? 
 My Lady looks as if she, too, could have sent that 
 message; only that she would have stopped at the 
 Church of England and gone no further. 
 
 When we come out again, the sunset has gone, and a 
 wonderful pale green twilight lies over the land. We 
 go forth from the old-fashioned streets, and find our- 
 selves by the banks of the clear running river. A pale 
 metallic light shines along its surface; and as we walk 
 along between the meadows and the picturesque banks 
 — where there is an abundance of the mighty burdock- 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 269 
 
 leaves that are beloved of painters — an occasional 
 splash is heard, whether of a rat or a trout no one 
 can say. Somehow the Lieutenant has drawn Bell 
 away from us. In the clear twilight we can see their 
 figures sharp and black on the dark green slope beside 
 the stream. Queen Tita looks rather wistfully at them ; 
 and is, perhaps, thinking of days long gone by when 
 she, too, knew the value of silence on a beautiful 
 evening, by the side of a river. 
 
 "I hope it is not wrong," says my Lady, in a low 
 voice, " but I confess I should like to see the Lieutenant 
 marry our Bell." 
 
 a Wrong? No. It is only the absent who are in 
 the wrong — Arthur, for example, who is perhaps at 
 Kendal, at this moment, waiting for us." 
 
 "We cannot all be satisfied in this world," remarks 
 Tita, profoundly ; " and as one of these two alone can 
 marry Bell, I do hope it may be the Lieutenant, in 
 spite of what she says. I think it would be very 
 pleasant for all of us. What nice neighbours they 
 would be for us ; for I know Bell would prefer to 
 live down near us in Surrey, and the Lieutenant 
 can have no particular preference for any place in 
 England." 
 
 "A nice holiday-time we should have of it, with 
 these two idle creatures living close by and making 
 continual proposals to go away somewhere." 
 
 "Bell would not be idle." 
 
 " She must give up her painting if she marries." 
 
 "She won't give it up altogether, I hope; and then 
 there is her music, even if she had no household 
 duties to occupy her time : and I know she will make 
 an active and thrifty housewife. Indeed, the only 
 idler will be the Lieutenant, and he can become a 
 Captain of Volunteers." 
 
 And yet she says she never lays plans ! — that she 
 has no wish to interfere between Arthur and Von 
 Eosen ! — that she would rather see Bell relieved from 
 the persecutions of both of them ! She had already 
 mapped out the whole afTair; and her content was 
 
THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 so great that a beautiful gladness and softness lay in 
 her eyes, and she began to prattle about the two boys 
 at school, and all she meant to take home to them; 
 and, indeed, if she had been at home, she would have 
 gone to the piano and sung to herself some low and 
 gentle melody, as soft and as musical as the crooning 
 of a wood-pigeon hid away among trees. 
 
 Then she said, "How odd that Bell should have 
 begun to talk about these unfortunate slips of the 
 tongue that haunt you afterwards. All these two 
 days I haven't been able to get rid of the remem- 
 brance of that terrible mistake I made in speaking 
 of Count von Eosen and Bell as already married. 
 But who knows ? there may be a Providence in such 
 things." 
 
 "The Providence that lies in blunders of speech 
 must be rather erratic ; but it is no wonder you spoke 
 by mischance of Bell's marrying the Lieutenant, for 
 you think of nothing else." 
 
 " But don't you think it w T ould be a very good thing ? " 
 
 "What I think of it is a different matter. "What 
 will Arthur think of it?" 
 
 "The whole world can't be expected to move round 
 merely to please Arthur," says my Lady, with some 
 asperity. " The fact is, those young men are so foolish 
 that they never reflect that a girl can't marry two of 
 them. They are always falling in love with a girl 
 who has a suitor already, and then she is put to the 
 annoyance of refusing one of them, and that one 
 considers her a monster." 
 
 "Well, if anyone is open to that charge in the 
 present case, it certainly is not Arthur." 
 
 My Lady did not answer. She was regarding with 
 a tender glance those two young folks strolling through 
 the meadows before us. What were they saying to 
 each other? Would Bell relent? The time was pro- 
 pitious — in the quiet of this pale, clear evening, with 
 a star or two beginning to twinkle, and the moon 
 about to creep up from behind the eastern woods. It 
 was a time for lovers to make confessions, and give 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 271 
 
 tender pledges. None of us seemed to think of that 
 wretched youth who was blindly driving through 
 England in a dog-cart, and torturing himself in the 
 horrible solitude of inns. Unhappy Arthur ! 
 
 For mere courtesy's sake, these two drew near to 
 us again. We looked at them. Bell turned her face 
 away, and stooped to pick up the white blossom of 
 a campion that lay like a great glow-worm among 
 the dark herbage. The Lieutenant seemed a little 
 more confident, and he was anxious to be very 
 courteous and friendly towards Tita. That lady was 
 quite demure, and suggested that we might return to 
 the village. 
 
 We clambered up a steep place that led from the 
 hollow of the river to a higher plain, and here we 
 found ourselves by the side of the canal. It looked 
 like another river. There were grassy borders to it 
 and by the side of the path a deep wood descending 
 to the fields beyond. The moon had now arisen, 
 and, on the clear, still water, there were some ripples 
 of gold. Far away, on the other side, the barns and 
 haystacks of a farm-house were visible in the pale 
 glow of the sky. 
 
 " What is that ? " said Tita, hurriedly, as a large 
 white object sailed silently through the faint moon- 
 light and swept into the wood. 
 
 Only an owl. But the sound of her voice had 
 disturbed several of the great birds in the trees, and 
 across the space between the wood and the distant 
 farm-house they fled noiselessly, with a brief reflec- 
 tion of their broad wings falling on the still waters 
 as they passed. We remained there an unconscionable 
 time- — leaning on the stone parapet of the bridge, and 
 watching the pale line of the canal, the ripples of 
 the moonlight, the dark wood, and the great and dusky 
 birds that floated about like ghosts in the perfect still- 
 ness. When we returned to Garstang, the broad square 
 in the centre of the place was glimmering grey in the 
 moonlight, and black shadows had fallen along one 
 side of the street. 
 
272 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 "My dear friend," said Von Rosen, in an excited 
 and urgent way, as soon as our two companions had 
 gone upstairs to prepare for supper, " I have great news 
 to tell you." 
 
 " Bell has accepted you, I suppose," said I — the boy 
 talking as if that were a remarkable phenomenon in 
 the world's history. 
 
 " Oh no, nothing so good as that — nothing not near 
 so good as that — but something very good indeed. It 
 is not all finally disposed of— there is at least a little 
 chance — one must wait — but is not this a very great 
 hope ? " 
 
 "And is that all you obtained by your hour's 
 persuasion ? " 
 
 " Pfui ! You do talk as if it did not matter to a 
 young girl whether she marries one man or marries 
 another." 
 
 "I don't think it much matters really." 
 
 "Then this is what I tell you " 
 
 But here some light footsteps were heard on the 
 stairs, and the Lieutenant suddenly ceased, and rushed 
 to open the door. 
 
 Bell was as rosy as a rose set amid green leaves 
 when she entered, followed by Tita. 
 
 "We are very late," said the girl, as if she were 
 rather afraid to hazard that startling and profound 
 observation. 
 
 " Madame," said the Lieutenant, " I give you my 
 word this is the best ale we have drunk since we 
 started ; it is clear, bright, very bitter, brisk ; it is 
 worth a long journey to drink such ale, and I hope 
 your husband, when he writes of our journey, will 
 give our landlady great credit for this very good beer." 
 
 I do so willingly ; but lest any ingenuous traveller 
 should find the ale of the Boyal Oak not quite fulfil 
 the expectations raised by this panegyric, I must re- 
 mind him that it was pronounced after the Lieutenant 
 had been walking for an hour along the banks of the 
 Wyre, on a beautiful evening, in the company of a 
 very pretty young lady. 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 273 
 
 We had abolished b^zique by this time. It had 
 become too much of a farce. Playing four-handed 
 bezique with partners is a clumsy contrivance; and 
 when we had endeavoured to play it independently, 
 the audacity of the Lieutenant in sacrificing the game 
 to Bell's interests had got beyond a joke. So we had 
 fallen back on whist ; and as we made those two 
 ardent young noodles partners, they did their best. It 
 wasn't very good, to tell the truth. The Lieutenant 
 was as bad a whist-player as ever perplexed a partner ; 
 but Bell could play a weak suit as well as another. 
 My Lady was rather pleased to find that the Lieu- 
 tenant was not a skilful card-player. She was 
 deeply interested in the qualities of the young man 
 whom she regarded in a premature fashion as Bell's 
 future husband. In fact, if she had only known how, 
 she would have examined the young fellows who came 
 about the house — Bell has had a pretty fair show 
 of suitors in her time — as to the condition of the 
 inner side of the thumb. It is a bad sign when that 
 portion of the hand gets rather horny. A man might 
 as well go about with a piece of chalk, marked 
 " Thurston and Co.," in his waistcoat-pocket. But the 
 Lieutenant scarcely knew the difference between a 
 cue and a pump-handle. 
 
 We played late. The people of the inn, yielding 
 to our entreaties, had long ago gone to bed. When, 
 at length, my Lady and Bell also retired, the Lieu- 
 tenant rose from the table, stretched himself up his 
 full length, and said — 
 
 "My good friend, I have much of a favour to ask 
 from you. I will repay you for it many times again 
 — I will sit up with you and smoke all night as often 
 as you please, which I think is your great notion of 
 enjoyment. But now, I have a great many things to 
 tell you — and the room is close- — let us go away for 
 a walk." 
 
 It was only the strong nervous excitement of the 
 young man that was longing for this outburst into the 
 freedom of the cool air. He would have liked, then, 
 
274 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 to have started off at a rate of five miles an hour, and 
 walked himself dead with fatigue. He was so anxious 
 about it that at last we took a candle to the front 
 door, got the bolts undone, and then, leaving the candle 
 and the matches where we knew we should find them, 
 we went out into the night. 
 
 By this time the moon had got well down into the 
 south-west ; but there was still sufficient light to show 
 us the cottages, the roads, and the trees. The night 
 air was fresh and cool. As we started off on our vague 
 ramble, a cock crew, and the sound seemed to startle 
 the deep sleep of the landscape. We crossed over 
 the canal-bridge, and plunged boldly out into the still 
 country, whither we knew not. 
 
 Then he told me all the story ; beginning with the 
 half-forgotten legend of Fraulein Fallersleben. I had 
 had no idea that this practical and hard-headed young 
 Uhlan had been so deeply struck on either occasion ; 
 but now at times there seemed to be a wild cry of 
 ignorance in his confessions, as if he knew not what 
 had happened to him, and what great mystery of life 
 he was battling with. He described it as resembling 
 somehow the unutterable sadness caused by the sudden 
 coming of the Spring — when, amid all the glory and 
 wonder and delight of this new thing, a vague unrest 
 and longing takes possession of the heart and will 
 not be satisfied. All his life had been changed since 
 his coming to England — turned in another direction, 
 and made to depend for any value that might be left 
 in it on a single chance. When he spoke of Bell 
 perhaps marrying him, all the wild and beautiful 
 possibilities of the future seemed to stretch out before 
 him, until he was fairly at a loss for words. When 
 he spoke of her finally going away from him, it was 
 as of something he could not quite understand. It 
 would alter all his life — how, he did not know ; and 
 the new and wonderful consciousness that by such a 
 circumstance the world would grow all different to him 
 seemed to him a mystery beyond explication. He 
 only knew that this strange thing had occurred ; that 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 275 
 
 it had brought home to him once more the old 
 puzzles about life that had made him wonder as a 
 boy ; that he was drifting on to an irrevocable fate, 
 now that the final decision was near. 
 
 He talked rapidly, earnestly, heeding little the 
 blunders and repetitions into which he constantly 
 fell: and not all the vesuvians in the world could 
 have kept his cigar alight. He did not walk very 
 fast ; but he cut at the weeds and at the hedges with 
 his stick, and doubtless startled with his blows many 
 a sparrow and wren sleeping peacefully among the 
 leaves. I cannot tell you a tithe of what he said. 
 The story seemed as inexhaustible as the nebulous 
 mystery that he was obviously trying to resolve as it 
 hung around him in impalpable folds. When he came 
 to the actual question whether Bell had given him to 
 understand that she might reconsider her decision, he 
 was more reticent. He would not reveal what she 
 had said. But there was no pride or self-looking in 
 the anxiety about the result which he frankly ex- 
 pressed ; and it is probable that if Bell had heard him 
 then, she would have learned more of his nature and 
 sentiments than during any hour's stroll under the 
 supervision of her guardians. 
 
 When at length we turned, a shock of wonder 
 struck upon our eyes. The day had begun to break 
 in the east, and a cold wind was stirring. As yet, 
 there was only a faint light in the dark sky ; but by 
 and by a strange, clear whiteness rose up from behind 
 the still landscape, and then a wild, cold, yellow ra- 
 diance, against which the tall poplars looked intensely 
 black, overspread the far regions of the east. Wan 
 and unearthly seemed that metallic glare, even when 
 a pale glimmer of red ran up and through it ; and, as 
 yet, it looked like the sunrise of some other world, 
 for neither man nor beast was awake to greet it ; and 
 all the woods were as silent as the grave. When we 
 got back to Garstang, the wind came chill along the 
 2rey stones, the birds were singing, and the glow of 
 the sunrise was creeping over the chimneys and slates 
 
 T 2 
 
276 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 of the sleeping houses. We left this wonderful light 
 outside ; plunged into the warm and gloomy passage of 
 the inn ; and presently tumbled, tired and shivering, 
 into bed. 
 
 GHAPTEE XX. 
 chloe's garland. 
 
 " The pride of every grove I chose* 
 The violet sweet and lily fair, 
 The dappled pink and blushing rose, 
 To deck my charming Chloe's hair. 
 
 "At morn the nymph vouchsafed to place 
 Upon her brow the various wreath; 
 The flowers less blooming than her face, 
 The scent less fragrant than her breath. 
 
 " The flowers she wore along the day, 
 And every nymph and shepherd said, 
 That in her hair they looked more gay 
 Than glowing in their native bed.*' 
 
 Is there any blue half so pure, and deep, and tender, 
 as that of the large crane's-bill, the Geranium pratense 
 of the botanists ? When Bell saw the beautiful, rich- 
 coloured blossoms in the tall hedge-rows, she declared 
 we were already in the North Country, and must needs 
 descend from the phaeton to gather some of the wild- 
 flowers ; and lo ! all around there was such a profusion 
 that she stood bewildered before them. Everywhere 
 about were the white stars of the stitchwort glimmer- 
 ing among the green of the goose-grass. The clear 
 red blossoms of the campion shone here and there ; 
 and the viscid petals of the Kagged Eobin glimmered 
 a bright crimson as they straggled through the thorny 
 branches of the hawthorn. Here, too, was the beauti- 
 ful hare-bell — the real " blue -bell of Scotland " — with 
 its slender stem and its pellucid colour; and here 
 was its bigger and coarser relative, the great hedge 
 campanula, with its massive bells of azure, and its 
 succulent stalk. There were yellow masses of snap- 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 277 
 
 dragon ; and an abundance of white and pink roses 
 sweetening the air ; and all the thousand wonders of 
 a luxuriant vegetation. The Lieutenant immediately 
 jumped down. He harried the hedges as if they had 
 been a province of the enemy's country, and he in 
 quest of forage and food. The delight of Bell in these 
 wild-flowers was extravagant, and when he had gathered 
 for her every variety of hue that he could see, she 
 chose a few of the blossoms and twisted them, with 
 a laugh of light pleasure, into the breezy masses 
 of her hair. Could a greater compliment have been 
 paid him? 
 
 If it was not really the North-country which Bell 
 so longed to enter, it was on the confines of it, and 
 already many premonitory signs were visible. These 
 tall hedge-rows, with their profusion of wild-flowers, 
 were a wonder. We crossed dark-brown streams, the 
 picturesque banks of which were smothered in every 
 sort of bush and herb and plant. At last, a breath 
 of the morning air brings us a strange, new scent, 
 that is far more grateful than that of any wreath of 
 flowers, and at the same moment both Bell and Tita 
 call out — 
 
 "Oh, there is the peat-smoke at last!" 
 
 Peat -smoke it is, and presently we come upon the 
 cottages which are sending abroad this fragrance into 
 the air. They are hidden down in a dell by the side 
 of a small river, and they are surrounded by low and 
 thick elder-trees. Bell is driving. She will not even 
 stop to look at this picturesque little nook : it is but 
 an outpost, and the promised land is nigh. 
 
 The day, meanwhile, is grey and showery ; but some- 
 times a sudden burst of sunshine springs down on the 
 far, flat landscape, and causes it to shine in the dis- 
 tance. We pass by many a stately Hall and noble 
 Park— Bell, with the wild-flowers in her hair, still 
 driving until we reach the top of a certain height, 
 and find a great prospect lying before us. The windy 
 day has cleared away the light clouds in the west ; 
 and there, under a belt of blue sky, lies a glimmer of 
 
278 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 the sea. The plain of the landscape leading down to 
 it is divided by the estuary of the Lune ; and as you 
 trace the course of the river, up through the country 
 that lies grey under the grey portion of the heavens, 
 some tall buildings are seen in the distance, and a 
 fortress upon a height resembling some smaller Edin- 
 burgh Castle. We drive on through the gusty day — 
 the tail of a shower sometimes overtaking us from the 
 south and causing a hurried clamour for waterproofs, 
 which have immediately to be set aside as the sun 
 bursts forth again, and then we dive into a clean, 
 bright, picturesque town, and find ourselves in front 
 of the King's Arms at Lancaster. 
 
 Bell has taken the flowers from her hair, in nearing 
 the abodes of men ; but she has placed them tenderly 
 by the side of the bouquet that the Lieutenant gathered 
 for her, and now she gently asks a waiter for a tumbler 
 of water, into which the blossoms are put. The Lieu- 
 tenant watches her every movement as anxiously as 
 ever a Eoman watched the skimmings and dippings of 
 the bird whose flight was to predict ruin or fortune to 
 him. He had no opportunities to lose. Time was 
 pressing on. That night we were to reach Kendal; 
 and there the enemy was lying in wait. 
 
 Bell, at least, did not seem much to fear that meeting 
 with Arthur. When she spoke of him to Tita, she was 
 grave and thoughtful; but when she spoke of West- 
 moreland, there was no qualification of her unbounded 
 hope and delight. She would scarce look at Lancaster ; 
 although, when we went up to the castle, and had a 
 walk round to admire the magnificent view from the 
 walls, an unwonted stir in front of the great gate told 
 us that something unusual had happened. The Lieu- 
 tenant went down and mixed with the crowd. We 
 saw him — a head and shoulders taller than the assem- 
 blage of men and women — speaking now to one and 
 now to another ; and then at length he came back. 
 
 " Madame," he says, " there is something wonderful 
 to be seen in the castle. All these people are pressing 
 to get in." , 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 279 
 
 " Is it some soup plate of Henry the Eighth that has 
 been disinterred?" she asks, with a slight show of scorn. 
 Indeed, she seldom loses an opportunity of sticking 
 another needle into her mental image of that poor 
 monarch. 
 
 " Oh no, it is something much more interesting. It 
 is a murderer." 
 " A murderer ! " 
 
 " Yes, Madame, but you need not feel alarmed. He 
 is caged — he will not bite. All these good people are 
 going in to look at him." 
 
 "I would not look at the horrid creature for 
 worlds." 
 
 " He is not a monster of iniquity," I tell her. " On 
 the contrary, he is a harmless creature, and deserves 
 your pity. All he did was to kill his wife." 
 
 "And I suppose they will punish him with three 
 months' imprisonment," says Queen Tita; "whereas 
 they would give him seven years if he had stolen a 
 purse with half-a-crown in it." 
 
 " Naturally. I consider three months a great deal too 
 much, however. Doubtless she contradicted him." 
 
 " But it is not true, Tita," says Bell ; " none of us 
 knew that the murderer was in the castle until this 
 moment. How can you believe that he killed his 
 wife?" 
 
 "There may be a secret sympathy between these 
 two," says my Lady, with a demure laugh in her eyes, 
 "which establishes a communication between them 
 which we don't understand. You know the theory of 
 brain-waves. But it is hard that the one should be 
 within the prison and the other without." 
 
 " Yes, it's very hard for the one without. The one 
 inside the prison has got rid of his torment and 
 escaped into comparative quiet." 
 
 She is a dutiful wife. She never retorts — when she 
 hasn't a retort ready. She takes my arm just as if 
 nothing had happened, and we go down from the 
 castle square into the town. And behold ! as we enter 
 the grey thoroughfare, a wonderful sight comes into 
 
28o THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 view. Down the far white street, where occasional 
 glimpses of sunlight are blown across by the wind, a 
 gorgeous procession is seen to advance — glittering in 
 silver, and coloured plumes, and all the pomp and 
 circumstance of a tournament. There is a cry of amaze- 
 ment throughout Lancaster ; and from all points of 
 the compass people hurry up. It is just two ; and 
 men from the factories, flocking out for their dinner, 
 stand amazed on the pavement. The procession comes 
 along through the shadow and the sunlight like some 
 gleaming and gigantic serpent with scales of silver 
 and gold. There are noble knights, dressed in com- 
 plete armour, and seated on splendid chargers. They 
 bring with them spears, and banners, and other ac- 
 cessories of war ; and their horses are shining with 
 the magnificence of their trappings. There are ladies 
 wearing the historical costumes which are familiar to 
 us in picture galleries, and they are seated on cream- 
 white palfreys, with flowing manes, and tails that sweep 
 the ground. Then a resplendent palanquin appears 
 in view, drawn by six yellow horses, and waving and 
 trembling with plumes of pink and white. Inside 
 this great and gilded carriage, the Queen of Beauty 
 sits enthroned, attended by ladies whose trains of silk 
 and satin shine like the neck of a dove. And the 
 while our eyes are still dazzled with the glory of this 
 slowly passing pageant, the end of it appears in the 
 shape of a smart and natty little trap, driven by the 
 proprietor of the circus in plain clothes. The anti- 
 climax is too much. The crowd regard this wretched 
 fellow with disdain. When a historical play is pro- 
 duced, and we are introduced to the majesty of war, 
 and even shown the king's tent on the battle-field, the 
 common sutler is hidden out of sight. This wretched 
 man's obtrusion of himself was properly resented ; for 
 the spectacle of the brilliant procession coming along 
 the grey and white thoroughfares, with a breezy sky 
 overshadowing or lighting it up, was sufficiently im- 
 posing, and ought not to have been destroyed by the 
 vanity of a person in plain clothes who wanted to let 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 281 
 
 us know that he was the owner of all this splendour, 
 and who thought he ought to come last, as Noah did 
 on going into the Ark. 
 
 " Gallop apace, you fiery-footed steeds ! " — that was 
 the wish I knew lay deep down in Bell's heart as 
 we went away from Lancaster. If Castor and Pollux 
 did their work gallantly, we should sleep to-night in 
 Kendal, and thereafter there would be abundant rest. 
 This last day's journey consisted of thirty-three miles — 
 considerably above our average day's distance — and 
 we had accordingly cut it up into three portions. 
 From Garstang to Lancaster is eleven miles ; from 
 Lancaster to Burton is eleven miles; from Burton 
 to Kendal is eleven miles. Now Burton is in 
 Westmoreland; and, once within her own county, 
 Bell knew she was at home. 
 
 'Twas a perilous sort of day in which to approach 
 the region of the Northern Lakes. In the best of 
 weather, the great mass of mountains that stand on 
 the margin of the sea ready to condense any moist 
 vapours that may float in from the west and south, 
 play sudden tricks sometimes and drown the holiday- 
 makers whom the sun has drawn out of the cottages, 
 houses, and hotels up in the deep .valleys. But here 
 there were abundant clouds racing and chasing each 
 other like the folks who sped over Cannobie Lea 
 to overtake the bride of young Lochinvar; and now 
 and again the wind would drive down on us the flying 
 fringes of one of these masses of vapour, producing 
 a temporary fear. Bell cared least for these pre- 
 monitions. She would not even cover herself with 
 a cloak. Many a time we could see raindrops glimmer- 
 ing in her brown hair and dripping from the flowers 
 that she had again twisted in the folds ; but she sat 
 erect and glad, with a flne colour in her face that the 
 wet breeze only heightened. When we got up to 
 Slyne and Bolton-le-Sands, and came in sight of the 
 long sweep of Morecambe Bay, she paid no attention 
 to the fact that all along the far margin of the sea 
 the clouds had melted into a white belt of rain. It 
 
282 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 was enough for her that the sun was out there too; 
 sometimes striking with a pale silvery light on the 
 plain of the sea, sometimes throwing a stronger colour 
 on the long curve of level sand. A wetter or windier 
 sight never met the view of an apprehensive traveller 
 than that great stretch of sea and sky. The glimmer 
 of the sun only made the moisture in the air more 
 apparent as the grey clouds were sent flying up from 
 the south-west. We could not tell whether the sea 
 was breaking white or not; but the fierce blowing of 
 the wind was apparent in the hurrying trails of cloud 
 and the rapidly shifting shafts of sunlight that now 
 and again shot down on the sands. 
 
 "Bell," said Tit a, with a little anxiety, "you used 
 to pride yourself on being able to forecast the weather, 
 when you lived up among the hills. Don't you think 
 we shall have a wet afternoon? — and we have nearly 
 twenty miles to go yet." 
 
 The girl laughed. 
 
 "Mademoiselle acknowledges we shall have a little 
 rain," said the Lieutenant, with a grim smile. If Bell 
 was good at studying the appearances of the sky, 
 he had acquired some skill in reading the language 
 of her eloquent face. 
 
 "Why," says one of the party, "a deaf man down 
 in a coal-pit could tell what sort of afternoon we 
 shall have. The wind is driving the clouds up. The 
 hills are stopping them on the way. When we enter 
 Westmoreland we shall find the whole forces of the 
 rain-fiends drawn out in array against us. But that 
 is nothing to Bell, so long as we enter Westmoreland." 
 
 " Ah, you shall see," remarks Bell ; " we may have 
 a little rain this evening." 
 
 " Yes, that is very likely," said the Lieutenant, who 
 seemed greatly tickled by this frank admission. 
 
 "But to-morrow, if this strong wind keeps up all 
 night, would you be astonished to find Kendal with 
 its stone houses all shining white in the sun ? " 
 
 " Yes, I should be astonished." 
 
 "You must not provoke the prophetess," says my 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 283 
 
 Lady, who is rather nervous about rainy weather, " or 
 she will turn round on you, and predict all sorts of 
 evil." 
 
 We could not exactly tell when we crossed the 
 border line of Westmoreland, or doubtless Bell would 
 have jumped down from the phaeton to kneel and 
 kiss her native soil ; but at all events when we reached 
 the curious little village of Burton we knew we 
 were then in Westmoreland, and Bell ushered us 
 into the ancient hostelry of the Koyal Oak as if she 
 had been the proprietress of that and all the sur- 
 rounding country. In former days Burton was doubt- 
 less a place of importance, when the stage-coaches 
 stopped here before plunging into the wild mountain- 
 country ; and in the inn, which remains pretty much 
 what it was in the last generation, were abundant 
 relics of the past. When the Lieutenant and I returned 
 from the stables to the old-fashioned little parlour 
 and museum of the place, we found Bell endeavouring 
 to get some quivering, trembling, jangling notes out 
 of the piano, that was doubtless a fine piece of furniture 
 at one time. A piece of yellow ivory informed the 
 beholder that this venerable instrument had been made 
 by "Thomas Tomkison, Dean Street, Soho, Manu- 
 facturer to his Eoyal Highness the Prince Begent." 
 And what was this that Bell was hammering out ? 
 
 " The standard on the braes o' Mar 
 
 Is up and streaming rarely ! 
 The gathering pipe on Lochnagar 
 
 Is sounding lang and clearly ! 
 The Highlandmen, from hill and glen, 
 In martial hue, wi' bonnets blue, 
 Wi' belted plaids and burnished blades, 
 
 Are coming late and early. " 
 
 How the faded old instrument groaned and quivered as 
 if it were struggling to get up some martial senti- 
 ment of its half-forgotten youth! It did its best 
 to pant after that rapid and stirring air, and laboured 
 and jangled in a pathetic fashion through the chords, 
 it seemed like some poor old pensioner, decrepit 
 
284 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 and feeble-eyed, who sees a regiment passing with their 
 band playing, and who tries to straighten himself up 
 as he hears the tread of the men, and would fain 
 step out to the sound of the music, but that his thin 
 legs tremble beneath him. The wretched old piano 
 struggled hard to keep up with the Gathering of the 
 Clans as they hastened on to the braes o' Mar : — 
 
 ' Wha wouldna join our noble chief, 
 The Drummond and Glengarry ; 
 Macgregor, Murray, Hollo, Keith, 
 Panmure and gallant Harry ! 
 
 Macdonald's men, 
 
 Clan Ranald's men, 
 
 M'Kenzie's men, 
 
 MacGilvray's men, 
 
 Strathallan's men, 
 
 The Lowland men 
 Of Callander and Airlie ! " 
 
 until my Lady put her hand gently on Bell's shoulder, 
 and said — 
 
 "My dear, this is worse than eating green apples." 
 Bell shut down the lid. 
 
 " It is time for this old thing to be quiet/' she 
 said. " The people who sang with it when it was in 
 its prime, they cannot sing any more now, and it has 
 earned its rest." 
 
 Bell uttered these melancholy words as she turned 
 to ]ook out of the window. It was rather a gloomy 
 afternoon. There was less wind visible in the motion 
 of the clouds, but in place of the flying and hurrying 
 masses of vapour, an ominous pall of grey was visible, 
 and the main thoroughfare of Burton-in-Kendal was 
 gradually growing moister under a slow rain. Suddenly 
 the girl said — 
 
 " Is it possible for Arthur to have reached Kendal ? " 
 
 The Lieutenant looked up, with something of a frown 
 on his face. 
 
 " Yes," I say to her, " if he keeps up the pace with 
 which he started. Thirty miles a day in & light dog- 
 cart will not seriously damage the Major's cob, if only 
 he gets a day's rest now and again." 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 285 
 
 "Then perhaps Arthur may be coming along this 
 road just now ? " 
 
 " He may ; but it is hardly likely. He would come 
 over by Kirkby Lonsdale." 
 
 " I think we should be none the worse for his com- 
 pany, if he were to arrive," said Tita, with a little appre- 
 hension, "for it will be dark long before we get to 
 Kendal — and on such a night, too, as we are likely 
 to have." 
 
 " Then let us start at once, Madame," said the Lieu- 
 tenant. "The horses will be ready to be put in harness 
 now, I think; and they must have as much time for 
 the rest of the journey as we can give them. Then 
 the waterproofs — I will have them all taken out, and 
 the rugs. We shall want much more than we have, 
 I can assure you of that. And the lamps — we shall 
 want them too." 
 
 The Lieutenant walked off to the stables with these 
 weighty affairs of state possessing his mind. He was 
 as anxious to preserve these two women from suffering 
 a shower of rain as if he thought they were made of 
 bride's-cake. Out in the yard we found him planning 
 the disposal of the rugs with the eye of a practised 
 campaigner, and taking every boy and man in the 
 place into his confidence. Whatever embarrassment 
 his imperfect English might cause him in a drawing- 
 room, there was no need to guard his speech in a stable- 
 yard. But sometimes our Uhlan was puzzled. What 
 could he make, for example, of the following sentence, 
 addressed to him by a worthy ostler at Garstang : "Yaas, 
 an ah gied'n a aff hooket 0' chilled waiter after ah'd 
 weshen 'nf" Of the relations of the Lieutenant with 
 the people whom he thus casually encountered, it may 
 be said generally that he was "hail, fellow, well met," 
 with any man who seemed of a frank and communicable 
 disposition. With a good-natured landlord or groom, 
 he would stand for any length of time talking about 
 horses, their food, their ways, and the best methods 
 of doctoring them. But when he encountered a sulky- 
 ostler, the unfortunate man had an evil time of it. 
 
>86 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 His temper was not likely to be improved by the pre- 
 sence of this lounging young soldier, who stood whist- 
 ling at the door of the stable and watching that every 
 bit of the grooming was performed to a nicety, who 
 examined the quality of the oats, and was not content 
 with the hay, and who calmly stood by with his cigar 
 in his mouth until he had seen the animals eat every 
 grain of corn that had been put in the manger. The 
 bad temper, by the way, was not always on the side 
 of the ostler. 
 
 A vague proposition that we should remain at Burton 
 for that night was unanimously rejected. Come what 
 might, we should start in Kendal with a clear day 
 before us ; and what mattered this running through 
 our final stage in rain? A more feasible proposition, 
 that both the women should sit in front so as to get 
 the benefit of the hood, was rejected because neither 
 of them would assume the responsibility of driving 
 in the dark. But here a new and strange difficulty 
 occurred. Of late, Bell and the Lieutenant had never 
 sat together in the phaeton. Now, the Lieutenant 
 declared it was much more safe that the horses should 
 be driven by their lawful owner, who was accustomed 
 to them. Accordingly, my post was in front. There- 
 upon, Bell, with many protestations of endearment, 
 insisted on Queen Tita having the shelter of the hood. 
 Bell, in fact, would not get up until she had seen my 
 Lady safely ensconced there and swathed up like a 
 mummy; it followed, accordingly, that Bell and her 
 companion were hidden from us by the hood ; and the 
 last of our setting-out arrangements was simply this — 
 that the Lieutenant absolutely and firmly refused to 
 wear his waterproof, because, as he said, it would only 
 have the effect of making the rain run in streams 
 on to Bell's tartan plaid. The girl put forward all 
 manner of entreaties in vain. The foolish young man — 
 he was on the headstrong side of thirty — would not 
 hear of it. 
 
 So we turned the horses' heads to the north. Alas ! 
 over the mountainous country before us there lay an 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 287 
 
 ominous darkness of sky. As we skirted Curwen Woods 
 and drove by within sight of Clawthorpe Fell, the road 
 became more hilly and more lonely, and it seemed as 
 if we were to plunge into an unknown region inhabited 
 only by mountains and hanging clouds. Nevertheless 
 we could hear Bell laughing and chatting to the Lieu- 
 tenant, and talking about what we should have to 
 endure before we got to Kendal. As the wind rose 
 slightly and blew the light waves of her laughter 
 about, Tita called through to her, and asked her to 
 sing again that Gathering of the Clans on the breezy 
 braes 0' Mar. But what would the wild mountain- 
 spirits have done to us had they heard the twanging 
 of a guitar up in this dismal region, to say nothing 
 of the rain that would have destroyed the precious 
 instrument for ever? For it was now pattering 
 considerably on the top of the hood, and the wind 
 had once more begun to blow. The darkness grew 
 apace. The winding grey thread of the road took us 
 up hill and down dale, twisting through a variegated 
 country, of which we could see little but the tall 
 hedges on each side of us. The rain increased. The 
 wind blew it about, and moaned through the trees, 
 and made a sound in the telegraph-wires overhead. 
 These tall grey poles were destined to be an excellent 
 guide to us. As the gloom gathered over us, we grew 
 accustomed to the monotonous rising and falling of 
 the pale road, while here and there we encountered 
 a great pool of water, which made the younger cf 
 the horses swerve from time to time. By and by we 
 knew it would be impossible to make out any finger- 
 post ; so that the murmuring of the telegraph-wires 
 in the wind promised to tell us if we were still keep- 
 ing the correct route to Kendal. 
 
 So we plunged on in the deepening twilight, splash- 
 ing into the shallow pools, and listening to the whistling 
 of the wind and the hissing of the rain. Bell had 
 made no attempt to call out the clans on this wild 
 night, and both of the young folks had for the most 
 part relapsed into silence, unless when they called 
 
288 
 
 THE STRANGE AD VENTURES 
 
 to us some consolatory message or assurance that on 
 the whole they rather enjoyed getting wet. But at 
 last the Lieutenant proposed that he should get 
 down and light the lamps ; and, indeed, it was 
 high time. 
 
 He got down. He came round to the front. Why 
 the strange delay of his movements ? He went round 
 again to his seat, kept searching about for what seemed 
 an unconscionable time, and then, coming back, said 
 rather indifferently — 
 
 " Do you happen to have a match with you ? " 
 
 " No," said I ; and at the same moment Tita broke 
 into a bright laugh. 
 
 She knew the shame and mortification that were now 
 on the face of the Lieutenant, if only there had been 
 more light to see him as he stood there. To have an 
 old campaigner tricked in this way ! He remained 
 irresolute for a second or two; and then he said in 
 accents of profound vexation — 
 
 "It is such stupidity as I never saw. I did leave 
 my case in the inn. Madame, you must pardon me 
 this ridiculous thing ; and we must drive on until we 
 come to a house." 
 
 A house ! The darkness had now come on so rapidly 
 that twenty houses would scarcely have been visible, 
 unless with yellow lights burning in their windows. 
 There was nothing for it but to urge on our wild career 
 as best we might ; while we watched the telegraph- 
 posts to tell us how the road went, and Castor and 
 Pollux, with the wet streaming down them, whirled the 
 four wheels through the water and mud. 
 
 Tita had been making merry over our mishap, but 
 this jocularity died away in view of the fact that at 
 every moment there was a chance of our driving into 
 a ditch. She forgot to laugh in her efforts to make out 
 the road before us ; and at last, when we drove into an 
 avenue of trees under which there was pitch blackness, 
 and as we felt that the horses were going down a hill, 
 she called out to stop, so that one of us should descend 
 and explore the way. 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 289 
 
 A blacker night has not occurred since the separating 
 of light and darkness at the Creation ; and when the 
 Lieutenant had got to the horses' heads, it was with the 
 greatest difficulty he could induce them to go forward 
 and down the hill. He had himself to feel his way in 
 a very cautious fashion ; and, indeed, his managing to 
 keep the phaeton somewhere about the middle of the 
 road until we had got from under this black avenue 
 must be regarded as a feat. He had scarcely got back 
 into his seat, when the rain, which had been coming 
 down pretty heavily, now fell in torrents. We 
 could hear it hissing in the pools of the road, and all 
 around us on the trees and hedges, while the phaeton 
 seemed to be struggling through a waterfall. JSTo 
 plaids, rugs, mackintoshes, or other device of man, could 
 keep this deluge out; and Tita, with an air of calm 
 resignation, made the remark that one of her shoes had 
 come off and floated away. To crown all, we suddenly 
 discovered that the telegraph-posts had abandoned us, 
 and gone off along another road. 
 
 I stopped the horses. To miss one's way in the wilds 
 of Westmoreland on such a night was no joke. 
 
 "Now, Bell, what has become of your knowledge 
 of this district? Must we go back, and follow the 
 telegraph-wires ? Or shall we push on on chance ? " 
 
 " I can neither see nor speak for the rain," cries Bell 
 out of the darkness. "But I think we ought to follow 
 the telegraph-wires. They are sure to lead to Kendal." 
 
 "With your permission, Mademoiselle," said the 
 Lieutenant, who was once more down in the road, " I 
 think it would be a pity to go back. If we drive on, 
 we must come ? to a village somewhere." 
 
 " They don't happen so often in Westmoreland as you 
 might expect," says Bell, despondently. 
 
 " If you will wait here, then, I will go forward, and 
 see if I can find a house," says the Lieutenant, at which 
 Queen Tita laughs again, and says we should all be 
 washed away before he returned 
 
 The Lieutenant struggles into his seat We push 
 on blindly. The rain is still thundering down on us ; 
 
 u 
 
290 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 and we wonder whether we are fated to find ourselves 
 in the early dawn somewhere about Wast Water or 
 Coniston. 
 
 About two hours before midnight, Columbus, standing 
 on the forecastle, observed a light at a distance, and 
 privately pointed it out to Queen Titania. 
 
 "Tis a turnpike, as I am a living navigator!" ex- 
 claimed the adventurous man. 
 
 A gun would have been fired from the deck of the 
 Pinta to announce these joyful tidings, only that the 
 rain had washed away our powder. But now that we 
 were cheered with the sight of land, we pushed ahead 
 gallantly; the light grew in size and intensity; there 
 could be no doubt this wild region was inhabited by 
 human beings; and at last a native appeared, who 
 addressed us in a tongue which we managed with some 
 difficulty to understand, and, having exacted from us a 
 small gift, he allowed us to proceed. 
 
 Once more we plunge into darkness and wet, but we 
 know that Kendal is near. Just as we are approaching 
 the foot of the hill, however, on which the town stands, 
 a wild shriek from Titania startles the air. The black 
 shadow of a dog-cart is seen to swerve across in front 
 of the horses' heads, and just skims by our wheels. 
 The wrath that dwelt in my Lady's heart with regard 
 to the two men in this phantom vehicle need not be 
 expressed ; for what with the darkness of the trees, and 
 the roaring of the wind and rain, and the fact of these 
 two travellers coming at a fine pace along the wrong 
 side of the road, we just escaped a catastrophe. 
 
 But we survived that danger, too, as we survived the 
 strife of the elements. We drove up into the town. 
 We wheeled round by the archway of still another 
 King's Arms; and presently a half-drowned party of 
 people — with their eyes, grown accustomed to the 
 darkness, wholly bewildered with the light — were 
 standing in the warm and yellow glare of the hotel. 
 There was a fluttering of dripping waterproofs, a pulling 
 asunder of soaked plaids, and a drying of wet and 
 gleaming cheeks that were red with the rain. The 
 
OF A PHAETON. 291 
 
 commotion raised by our entrance was alarming. You 
 would have thought we had taken possession of this 
 big, warm, comfortable, old-fashioned inn. A thousand 
 servants seemed to be scampering about the house to 
 assist us ; and by and by, when all those moist garments 
 had been taken away, and other and warmer clothing 
 put on, and a steaming and fragrant banquet placed 
 on the table, you should have seen the satisfaction that 
 dwelt on every face. Arthur had not come — at least, 
 no one had been making inquiries for us. There was 
 nothing for us but to attack the savoury feast, and 
 relate with laughter and with gladness all the adven- 
 tures of the day, until you would have thought that 
 the grave mother of those two boys at Twickenham 
 had grown merry with the champagne, whereas she 
 had not yet tasted the wine that was frothing and 
 creaming in her glass. 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 ALL ABOUT WINDERMERE. 
 
 " 0 meekest dove 
 Of Heaven ! 0 Cynthia, ten-times bright and fair ! 
 From thy blue throne, now filling all the air, 
 Glance but one little beam of tempered light 
 Into my bosom, that the dreadful might 
 And tyranny of love be somewhat scared. " 
 
 It is a pleasant thing, especially in holiday-time, when 
 one happens to have gone to bed with the depressing 
 consciousness that outside the house the night is wild 
 and stormy — rain pouring ceaselessly down and the 
 fine weather sped away to the south — to catch a sudden 
 glimmer, just as one opens one's eyes in the morning, 
 of glowing green, where the sunlight is quivering on 
 the waving branches of the trees. The new day is a 
 miracle of freshness. The rain has washed the leaves, 
 and the wind is shaking and rustling them in the warm 
 light. You throw open the window, and the breeze 
 
 T7 2 
 
THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 that comes blowing in is sweet with the smell of wet 
 roses. It is a new, bright, joyous day; and the rain 
 and the black night have fled together. 
 
 Bell's audacity in daring to hope we might have 
 a fine morning after that wild evening, had almost 
 destroyed our belief in her weather foresight ; but sure 
 enough, when we got up on the following day, the 
 stone houses of Kendal were shining in the sun, and a 
 bright light colouring up the faces of the country people 
 who had come into the town on early business. And what 
 was this we heard? — a simple and familiar air that carried 
 Tita back to that small church in Surrey over which she 
 presides — sung carelessly and lightly by a young lady 
 who certainly did not know that she could be overheard — 
 
 1 1 Hark, hark, my soul, angelic songs are swelling 
 O'er earth's green fields and ocean's wave-beat shore." 
 
 — Bell was at her orisons ; but as the hymn only came 
 to us in fitful and uncertain snatches, we concluded that 
 the intervals were filled up by that light-hearted young 
 woman twisting up the splendid folds of her hair. There 
 was no great religious fervour in her singing, to be sure. 
 Sometimes the careless songstress forgot to add the words, 
 and let us have fragments of the pretty air, of which she 
 was particularly fond. But there was no reason at all 
 why this pious hymn should be suddenly forsaken for 
 the " rataplan, rataplan, rataplan — rataplan, plan, plan 
 plan, plan," of the " Daughter of the Eegiment." 
 
 When we went down stairs, Bell was gravely 
 perusing the morning papers. At this time the Govern- 
 ment were hurrying their Ballot Bill through the House, 
 and the daily journals were full of clauses, amendments, 
 and divisions. Bell wore rather a puzzled look ; but she 
 was so deeply interested — whether with the Parliamen- 
 tary Summary or the Fashionable Intelligence, can only 
 be guessed — that she did not observe our entering the 
 room. My Lady went gently forward to her, and said — 
 
 " Hark, hark, my soul, angelic songs are swelling 
 O'er earth's green fields " 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 293 
 
 The girl looked up with a start, and with a little look 
 of alarm. 
 
 "Young ladies," observed Tita, "who have a habit 
 of humming airs during their toilet, ought to be sure 
 that their room is not separated by a very thin partition 
 from any other room." 
 
 " If it was only you, I don't care." 
 
 "It mightn't have been only me." 
 
 " There is no great harm in a hymn," says Bell 
 
 " But when one mixes up a hymn with that wicked 
 song which Maria and the Sergeant sing together? 
 Bell, we will forgive you everything this morning. 
 You are quite a witch with the weather, and you shall 
 have a kiss for bringing us such a beautiful day." 
 
 The morning salutation was performed. 
 
 "Isn't there enough of that to go round?" says the 
 third person of the group. " Bell used to kiss me 
 dutifully every morning. But a Trench writer has de- 
 scribed a young lady as a creature that ceases to kiss 
 gentlemen at twelve and begins again at twenty." 
 
 " A French writer ! " says Tita. " No French writer 
 ever said anything so impertinent and so stupid. The 
 French are a cultivated nation, and their wit never 
 takes the form of rudeness." 
 
 A nation or a man — it is ail the same : attack either, 
 and my Lady is ready with a sort of formal warranty 
 of character. 
 
 "But why, Tita," says Bell, with just a trifle of 
 protest in her voice, "why do you always praise the 
 French nation ? Other nations are as good as they are." 
 
 The laughter that shook the coffee-room of the 
 King's Arms in Kendal, when this startling announce- 
 ment was made to us cannot be conveyed in words. 
 There was something so boldly ingenuous in Bell's 
 protest that even Tita laughed till the tears stood in 
 her eyes, and then she kissed Bell, and asked her 
 pardon, and remarked that she was ready to acknow- 
 ledge at any moment that the German nation was as 
 good as the French nation. 
 
 "I did not mean anything of the kind," says Bell. 
 
294 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 looking rather shamefaced. " What does it matter to 
 me what anyone thinks of the German nation?" 
 
 That was a true observation, at least. It did not 
 matter to her, nor to anybody. The anthropomorphic 
 abstractions which we call nations are very good pegs 
 to hang prejudices on; but they do not suffer or 
 gain much by any opinion we may form of their 
 " characteristics." 
 
 " Where is Count von Eosen ?" says Tita. 
 
 "I do not know," answered Bell, with an excellent 
 assumption of indifference. "I have not seen him 
 this morning. Probably he will come in and tell 
 us that he has been to Windermere." 
 
 " No, Mademoiselle," said the Lieutenant, entering 
 the room at the same moment, "I have not been to 
 Windermere, but I am very anxious to go, for the 
 morning is very fresh and good, and is it possible to 
 say that it will remain fine all the day? We may 
 start directly after breakfast. I have looked at the 
 horses — they are all very well, and have suffered 
 nothing from the rain — they are looking contented 
 and comfortable after the bran-mash of last night, and 
 to-morrow they will start again very well." 
 
 "And you have heard nothing of Arthur?" says 
 my Lady. 
 
 "No." 
 
 Was the Lieutenant likely to have been scouring the 
 country in search of that young man? 
 
 " It is very strange. If he found himself unable 
 to get here by the time he expected to meet us, it 
 is a wonder he did not send on a message. I hope 
 he has met with no accident." 
 
 " No, there is no fear, Madame," said the Lieutenant ; 
 " he will overtake us soon. He may arrive to-night, 
 or to-morrow before we go — he cannot make a mistake 
 about finding us. But you do not propose to wait 
 anywhere for him ?" 
 
 "No," I say, decisively, "we don't. Or if we do 
 wait for him, it will not be in Kendal." 
 
 The Lieutenant seemed to think that Arthur would 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 295 
 
 overtake us soon enough ; and need not further concern 
 us. But my Lady appeared to be a little anxious 
 about the safety of the young man until it was shown 
 us that, after all, Arthur might have been moved to 
 give the Major's cob a day's rest somewhere, in which 
 case he could not possibly have reached Kendal by 
 this time. 
 
 "We go out into the sunlit and breezy street. We 
 can almost believe Bell that there is a peculiar 
 sweetness in the Westmoreland air. We lounge about 
 the quaint old town, which, perched on the steep slope 
 of a hill, has sometimes those curious juxtapositions 
 of door-step and chimney-pot which are familiar to 
 the successive terraces of Dartmouth. We go down 
 to the green banks of the river ; and the Lieutenant 
 is bidden to observe how rapid and clear the brown 
 stream is, even after coming through the dyeing and 
 bleaching works. He is walking on in front with Bell. 
 He does not strive to avoid her now — on the contrary, 
 they are inseparable companions — but my Lady puzzles 
 herself in vain to discover what are their actual relations 
 towards each other at this time. They do not seem 
 anxious or dissatisfied. They appear to have drifted 
 back into those ordinary friendly terms of intercourse 
 which had marked their setting out ; but how is this 
 possible after what occurred in Wales ? As neither 
 has said anything to us about these things, nothing 
 is known ; these confidences have been invariably 
 voluntary, and my Lady is quite well pleased that 
 Bell should manage her own affairs. 
 
 Certainly, if Bell was at this time being pressed 
 to decide between Von Eosen and Arthur, that unfortu- 
 nate youth from Twickenham was suffering grievously 
 from an evil fortune. Consider what advantages the 
 Lieutenant had in accompanying the girl into this 
 dreamland of her youth, when her heart was opening 
 out to all sorts of tender recollections, and when, to 
 confer a great gratification upon her, you had only to 
 say that you were pleased with Westmoreland, and its 
 sunlight, and its people and scenery. What adjectives 
 
296 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 that perfervid Uhlan may have been using — and he 
 was rather a good hand at expressing his satisfaction 
 with anything — we did not try to hear ; but Bell wore 
 her brightest and happiest looks. Doubtless the Lieu- 
 tenant was telling her that there was no water in the 
 world could turn out such brilliant colours as those 
 we saw bleaching on the meadows — that no river in the 
 world ran half as fast as the Kent — and that no light 
 could compare with the light of a Westmoreland sky 
 in beautifying and clarifying the varied hues of the 
 landscape that lay around. He was greatly surprised 
 with the old-fashioned streets when we had clambered 
 up to the town again. He paid particular attention 
 to the railway station. When a porter caught a boy 
 back from the edge of the platform and angrily said to 
 him, " Wut's thee doin' theear, an' the traain a coomin , 
 oop?" he made as though he understood the man. 
 This was Bell's country; and everything in it was 
 profoundly interesting. 
 
 However, when the train had once got away from the 
 station, and we found ourselves being carried through 
 the fresh and pleasant landscape — with a cool wind 
 blowing in at the window, and all the trees outside 
 bending and rustling in the breeze — it was not merely 
 out of compliment to Bell that he praised the brightness 
 of the day and the beauty of the country around. 
 
 "And it is so comforting to think of the horses en- 
 joying a day's thorough rest," said Tita ; " for when we 
 start again to-morrow, they will have to attack some 
 hard work." 
 
 " Only at first," said Bell, who was always ready to 
 show that she knew the road ; "the first mile or so is 
 hilly ; but after that the road goes down to Windermere 
 and runs along by the lake to Ambleside. It is a 
 beautiful drive through the trees ; and if we get a day 
 like this " 
 
 No wonder she turned to look out with pride and 
 delight on the glowing picture that lay around us — the 
 background of which had glimpses of blue moun- 
 tains lying pale and misty under light masses of cloud. 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 297 
 
 The small stations we passed were smothered in green 
 foliage. Here and there we caught sight of a brown 
 rivulet, or a long avenue of trees arching over a white 
 road. And then, in an incredibly short space of time, 
 we found ourselves outside the Windermere station, 
 standing in the open glare of the day. 
 
 For an instant, a look of bewilderment, and even of 
 disappointment, appeared on the girl's face. Evidently, 
 she did not know the way. The houses that had sprung 
 up of late years were strangers to her — strangers that 
 seemed to have no business there. But whereas the 
 new buildings, and the cutting of terraces and alterations 
 of ' gardens, were novel and perplexing phenomena, the 
 general features of the neighbourhood remained the 
 same; and after a momentary hesitation she hit upon 
 the right path up to Elleray, and thereafter was quite 
 at home. 
 
 Now there rests in Bell's mind a strange superstition 
 that she can remember, as a child, having sat upon 
 Christopher North's knee. The story is wholly impos- 
 sible and absurd ; for Wilson died in the year in which 
 Bell was born ; but she nevertheless preserves the fixed 
 impression of having seen the kingly old man, and won- 
 dered at his long hair and great collar, and listened to 
 his talking to her. Out of what circumstance in her 
 childhood this curious belief may have arisen is a 
 psychological conundrum which Tita and I have long 
 ago given up ; and Bell herself cannot even suggest any 
 other celebrated person of the neighbourhood who may, 
 in her infancy, have produced a profound impression on 
 her imagination and caused her to construct a confused 
 picture into which the noble figure of the old Professor 
 had somehow and subsequently been introduced; but 
 none the less she asks us how it is that she can remem- 
 ber exactly the expression of his face and eyes as he 
 looked down on her, and how even to this day she can 
 recall the sense of awe with which she regarded him, 
 even as he was trying to amuse her. 
 
 The Lieutenant knew all about this story ; and it was 
 with a great interest that he went up to Elleray Cottage, 
 
298 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 and saw the famous chestnut which Christopher North 
 has talked of to the world. It was as if some relative 
 of Bell's had lived in this place — some foster-father or 
 grand-uncle who had watched her youth ; and who does 
 not know the strange curiosity with which a lover 
 listens to stories of the childhood of his sweetheart, or 
 meets anyone who knew her in those old and half- 
 forgotten years ? It seems a wonderful thing to him 
 that he should not have known her then — that all the 
 world at that time, so far as he knew, was unconscious 
 of her magical presence ; and he seeks to make himself 
 familiar with her earliest years, to nurse the delusion 
 that he has known her always, and that ever since her 
 entrance into the world she has belonged to him. In 
 like manner, let two lovers, who have known each other 
 for a number of years, begin to reveal to each other 
 when the first notion of love entered their mind ; they 
 will insensibly shift the date further and further back, 
 as if they would blot out the pallid and colourless time 
 in which they were stupid enough not to have found 
 out their great affection for each other. The Lieutenant 
 was quite vexed that he knew little of Professor Wilson's 
 works. He said he would get them all the moment 
 that he went back to London ; and when Bell, as we 
 lingered about the grounds of Elleray, told him how that 
 there was a great deal of Scotch in the books, and how 
 the old man whom she vaguely recollected had written 
 about Scotland, and how that she had about as great a 
 longing — when she was buried away down south in the 
 commonplaceness of London and Surrey — to smell the 
 heather and see the lovely glens and the far-reaching 
 sea-lakes of the Highlands, as to reach her own and 
 native Westmoreland, the Lieutenant began to nurture 
 a secret affection for Scotland, and wondered when we 
 should get there. 
 
 I cannot describe in minute detail our day's ramble 
 about Windermere. It was all a dream to us. Many 
 years had come and gone since those of us who were 
 familiar with the place had been there ; and somehow, 
 half unconsciously to ourselves, we kept trying to get 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 299 
 
 away from the sight of new people and new houses, and 
 to discover the old familiar features of the neighbour- 
 hood that we had loved. Once or twice there was in 
 Tita's eyes a moisture she could scarce conceal ; and the 
 light of gladness on Bell's bright face was preserved 
 there chiefly through her efforts to instruct the Lieu- 
 tenant, which made her forget old memories. She was 
 happy, too, in hitting on the old paths. When we went 
 down from Elleray through the private grounds that lie 
 along the side of the hill, she found no difficulty what- 
 ever in showing us how we were to get to the lake. She 
 took us down through a close and sweet-smelling wood, 
 vhere the sunlight only struggled at intervals through 
 the innumerable stems and leaves, and lit up the 
 brackens, and other ferns and underwood. There was a 
 stream running close by, that plashed and gurgled along 
 its stony channel. As we got further down the slope, 
 the darkness of the avenue increased ; and then all at 
 once, at the end of the trees, we came in sight of a 
 blinding glare of white — the level waters of the lake. 
 
 And then, when we left the wood and stood on the 
 shore, all the fair plain of Windermere lay before us — 
 wind-swept and troubled, with great dashes of blue 
 along its surface, and a breezy sky moving overhead. 
 Near at hand, there were soft green hills, shining in the 
 sunlight; and, further off, long and narrow promon- 
 tories, piercing out into the water, with their dark line 
 of trees growing almost black against the silver glory of 
 the lake. But then again the hurrying wind would blow 
 away the shadow of the cloud ; a beam of sunlight would 
 run along the line of trees, making them glow green 
 above the blue of the water ; and from this moving and 
 shifting and shining picture we turned to the far and 
 ethereal masses of the Langdale Pikes and the moun- 
 tains above Ambleside, which changed as the changing 
 clouds were blown over from the west. 
 
 We got a boat and went out into the wilderness of 
 water and wind and sky. Now we saw the reedy shores 
 b.ehind us, and the clear and shallow water at the brink 
 of which we had been standing, receiving the troubled 
 
3oo THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 reflection of the woods. Out here the beautiful islands 
 of Lady Holm, Thompson's Holm, and Belle Isle were 
 shimmering in green. Far up there in the north the 
 slopes and gullies of the great mountains were showing 
 a thousand hues of soft velvet-like greys and blues, 
 and even warming up into a pale yellowish green, where 
 a ray of the sunlight struck the lower slopes. Over 
 by Furness Fells the clouds lay in heavier masses, and 
 moved slowly ; but elsewhere there was a brisk motion 
 over the lake, that changed its beauties even as one 
 looked at them. 
 
 " Mademoiselle," observed the Lieutenant, as if a 
 new revelation had broken upon him, " all that you 
 have said about your native county is true ; and now I 
 understand why that you did weary in London, and 
 think very much of your own home." 
 
 Perhaps he thought, too, that there was but one 
 county in England, or in the world, that could have 
 produced this handsome, courageous, generous, and 
 true-hearted English girl — for such are the exaggera- 
 tions that lovers cherish. 
 
 We put into Bowness, and went up to the Crown 
 Hotel there. In an instant — as rapidly as Alloway 
 Kirk became dark when Tarn o' Shanter called out — the 
 whole romance of the day went clean out and was extin- 
 guished. How any of God's creatures could have come 
 to dress themselves in such fashion, amid such scenery, 
 our young Uhlan professed himself unable to tell ; but 
 here were men — apparently in their proper senses — 
 wearing such comicalities of jackets and resplendent 
 knickerbockers as would have made a harlequin blush, 
 with young ladies tarred and feathered, as it were, with 
 staring stripes and alarming petticoats, and sailors' hats 
 of straw. Why should the borders of a lake be provo- 
 cative of these mad eccentricities? Who that has 
 wandered about the neighbourhoods of Zurich, Luzern, 
 and Thun, does not know the wild freaks which Eng- 
 lishmen (far more than Englishwomen) will permit to 
 themselves in dress ? We should have fancied those gentle- 
 men with the variegated knickerbockers had just come 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 301 
 
 down from the Kighi (by rail) if they had had Alpen- 
 stocks and snow-spectacles with them; and, indeed, 
 it w T as a matter for surprise that these familiar appur- 
 tenances were absent from the shores of Windermere. 
 
 My Lady looked at the strange people rather askance. 
 
 " My dear," says Bell, in an undertone, " they are 
 quite harmless." 
 
 We had luncheon in a corner of the great room. 
 Dinner was already laid; and our plain meal seemed 
 to borrow a certain richness from that long array of 
 coloured wine-glasses. Bell considered it rather pretty ; 
 but my Lady began to wonder how much crystal the 
 servants would have broken by the time we got back 
 to Surrey. Then we went down to the lake again, 
 stepped into a small steamer, and stood out to sea. 
 
 It was now well on in the afternoon ; and the masses 
 of cloud that came rolling over from the west and 
 south-west, when they clung to the summits of the 
 mountains, threw a deeper shadow on the landscape 
 beneath. Here and there, too, as the evening wore on 
 and we had steamed up within sight of the small island 
 that is called Seamew Crag, we occasionally saw one of 
 the great heaps of cloud get melted down into a grey 
 mist that for a few minutes blotted out the side of a 
 mountain. Meanwhile the sun had also got well up to 
 the north-west ; and as the clouds came over and swept 
 about the peaks of Langdale, a succession of the wildest 
 atmospheric effects became visible. Sometimes a great 
 gloom would overspread the whole landscape, and we 
 began to anticipate a night of rain; then a curious 
 saffron glow would appear behind the clouds ; then a 
 great smoke of grey would be seen to creep down the 
 hill, .and finally the sunlight would break through, shining 
 on the retreating vapour and on the wet sides of the 
 hills. Once or twice a light trail of cloud passed across 
 the lake and threw a slight shower of rain upon us ; but 
 when we got to Ambleside, the clouds had been for 
 the most part driven by, and the clear heavens — 
 irradiated by a beautiful twilight — tempted us to walk 
 back to Windermere village by the road. 
 
3Q2 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 You may suppose that that was a pleasant walk for 
 those two young folks. Everything had conspired to 
 please Bell during the day, and she was in a dangerously 
 amiable mood. As the dusk fell, and the white water 
 gleamed through the trees by the margin of the lake, 
 we walked along the winding road without meeting a 
 solitary creature ; and Queen Titania gently let our 
 young friends get on ahead, so that we could only see 
 the two dark figures pass underneath the dark avenues 
 of trees. 
 
 "Did you ever see a girl more happy?" she says. 
 " Yes, once — at Eastbourne." 
 
 Tita laughs, in a low, pleased way ; for she is never 
 averse to recalling these old days. 
 
 " I was very stupid then," she says. 
 
 That is a matter upon which she, of course, ought 
 to be able to speak. It would be unbecoming to inter- 
 fere with the right of private judgment. 
 
 " Besides," she remarks, audaciously, " I did not mean 
 half I said. Don't you imagine I meant half what I 
 said. It was all making fun, you know, wasn't it?" 
 
 " It has been deadly earnest since." 
 
 " Poor thing ! " she says, in the most sympathetic way ; 
 and there is no saying what fatal thunderbolt she might 
 have launched, had not her attention been called away 
 just then. 
 
 For as we went along in the twilight it seemed to us 
 that the old moss-covered wall was beginning to throw 
 a slight shadow, and that the pale road was growing 
 warmer in hue. Moved by the same impulse, we turned 
 suddenly to the lake, and lo ! out there beyond the trees 
 a great yellow glory was lying on the bosom of Winder- 
 mere, and somewhere — hidden by the dark branches — 
 the low moon had come into the clear violet sky. We 
 walked on until we came to a clearance in the trees, and 
 there, just over the opposite shore, the golden crescent 
 lay in the heavens, the purple of which was suffused by 
 the soft glow. It was a wonderful twilight. The ripples 
 that broke in among the reeds down at the shore 
 quivered in lines of gold ; and a little bit further out a 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 303 
 
 small boat lay black as night in the path of the moon- 
 light. The shadow cast by the wall grew stronger ; and 
 now the trees, too, threw black bars across the yellow 
 road. The two lovers paid no heed to these things for a 
 long time — they wandered on, engrossed in talk. But 
 at length we saw them stop and turn towards the lake ; 
 while Bell looked back towards us, with her face getting 
 a faint touch of the glory coming over from the south. 
 
 All the jesting had gone out of Bell's face. She 
 was as grave, and gentle, and thoughtful — when we 
 reached the two of them — as Undine was on 
 the day after her marriage ; and insensibly she drew ' 
 near to Tita, and took her away from us, and left 
 the lieutenant and myself to follow. That young 
 gentleman was as solemn as though he had swallowed 
 the Longer Catechism and the Westminster Con- 
 fession of Faith. He admitted that it was a beautiful 
 evening. He made a remark about the scenery of 
 the district which would have served admirably as a 
 motto for one of those views that stationers put at the 
 head of their note-paper. And then, with some abrupt- 
 ness, he asked what we should do if Arthur did not 
 arrive in Kendal that night or next day. 
 
 " If Arthur does not come to-night, we shall probably 
 have some dinner at the King's Arms. If he does not 
 come in the morning, we may be permitted to take some 
 breakfast. And then, if his staying away does not alter 
 the position of Windermere, we shall most likely drive 
 along this very road to-morrow forenoon. But why this 
 solemn importance conferred on Arthur all of a sudden V 
 
 " Oh, I cannot tell you." 
 
 "Nobody asked you." 
 
 " But I will give you a very good cigar, my dear friend." 
 
 " That is a great deal better — but let it be old and dry." 
 
 And so we got back to Windermere station and took 
 train to Kendal. By the time we were walking up 
 through the streets of the old town the moon had swum 
 further up into the heavens, and its light, now a pale 
 silver, was shining along the fronts of the houses. 
 
 We went into the inn. ISTo message from Arthur. 
 
304 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 A little flutter of dismay disturbs the women, until the 
 folly of imagining all manner of accidents — merely 
 because an erratic young man takes a day longer to 
 drive to Kendal than they anticipated — is pointed out 
 to them. Then dinner, and Bell appears in her prettiest 
 dress, so that even Tita, when she comes into the room, 
 kisses her, as if the girl had performed a specially 
 virtuous action in merely choosing out of a milliner's 
 shop a suitable colour. 
 
 [Note by Queen Titania. — " I hope I am revealing no secrets ; but it 
 would be a great pity if anyone thought that Bell was heartless, or 
 indifferent, a mistake that might occur when she is written about by 
 one who makes a jest about the most serious moments in one's life. Now 
 it was quite pitiable to see how the poor girl was troubled as we 
 walked home that night by the side of Windermere. She as good as 
 confessed to me — not in words, you know, for between women the 
 least hint is quite sufficient, and saves a great deal of embarrassment — 
 that she very much liked the Lieutenant, and admired his character, 
 and that she was extremely vexed and sorry that she had been com- 
 pelled to refuse him when he made her an offer. She told me, too, 
 that he had pressed her not to make that decision final ; and that she 
 had admitted to him that it was really against her own wish that she 
 had done so. But then she put it to me, as she had put it to him, 
 what she would think of herself if she wont and betrayed Arthur iu 
 this way. Really, I could not see any betrayal in the matter ; and I 
 asked her whether it would be fair to Arthur to marry him while she 
 secretly would have preferred to marry another. She said she would 
 try all in her power not to marry Arthur, if only he would be reconciled 
 to her breaking with him ; but then she immediately added, with an 
 earnestness that I thought very pathetic, that if she treated Arthur 
 badly, any other man might fairly expect her to treat him badly too ; 
 and if she could not satisfy herself that she had acted rightly through- 
 out, she would not marry at all. It is a great pity I cannot show the 
 readers of these few lines our pretty Bell's photograph, or they would see 
 the downright absurdity of such a resolve as that. To think of a girl 
 like her not marrying is simply out of the question ; but the danger at 
 this moment was that, in one of these foolish fits of determination, she 
 would send the Lieutenant away altogether. Then I think there might 
 be a chance of her not marrying at all ; for I am greatly mistaken if 
 she does not care a good deal more for him than she will acknowledge. 
 I advised her to tell Arthur frankly how matters stand ; but she seems 
 afraid. Under any circumstances, he will be sure to discover the 
 truth ; and then it will be far worse for him than if she made a. full 
 confession just now, and got rid of all these perplexities and entangle- 
 ments, which ought not to be throwing a cloud over a young face."] 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 305 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 ON CAVIARE AND OTHER MATTERS. 
 
 "At the inn where we stopped he was exceedingly dissatisfied with 
 some roast mutton which he had for dinner. The ladies, I saw, 
 wondered to see the great philosopher, whose wisdom and wit they 
 had been admiring all the way, get into ill-humour from such a 
 cause." 
 
 "There is no Paradise without its Serpent," said my 
 Lady, with a sigh, as we were about to leave the white 
 streets of Kendal for the green heart of the Lake 
 district. 
 
 A more cruel speech was never made. Arthur, for 
 aught we knew, might be lying smashed up in a York- 
 shire ditch. He had not overtaken us even on the 
 morning after our arrival in Kendal. No message had 
 come from him. Was this a time to liken him to the 
 Father of Lies, when perhaps the Major's cob had taken 
 him down a railway cutting or thrown him into a dis- 
 used coalpit ? What, for example, if his corpse had 
 been brought into the King's Arms in which the above 
 words were uttered ? Would the Lieutenant have 
 spoken of him contemptuously as "a pitiful fellow — oh, 
 a very pitiful fellow ! " Would Bell have borne his 
 presence with a meek and embarrassed resignation ; or 
 would Queen Tita have regarded the young man — who 
 used to be a great friend of hers — as one intending to 
 do her a deadly injury? 
 
 "Poor Arthur!" I say. ''Whither have all thy 
 friends departed ? " 
 
 "At least, he does not want for an apologist," says 
 Tita, with a little unnecessary fierceness. 
 
 "Perhaps thou art lying under two wheels in a 
 peaceful glade. Perhaps thou art floating out to the 
 ocean on the bosom of a friendly stream — with all the 
 companions of thy youth unheeding " 
 
 "Stuff!" says Queen Titan ia ; and when I observe 
 that I will address no further appeal to her — for that a 
 
 x 
 
306 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 lady who lends herself to match-making abandons all 
 natural instincts and is insensible to a cry for pity — she 
 turns impatiently and asks what I have done with her 
 eau-de-cologne, as if the fate of Arthur were of less 
 importance to her than that trumpery flask. 
 
 Wherever the young man was, we could gain no 
 tidings of him ; and so we went forth once more on our 
 journey. But as the certainty was that he had not 
 passed us, how was it that Queen Tita feared the 
 presence of this evil thing in the beautiful land 
 before us ? 
 
 " For," said the Lieutenant, pretending he was quite 
 anxious about the safety of the young man, and, on the 
 whole, desirous of seeing him, "he may have gone to 
 Carlisle, as he at first proposed, to meet us there." 
 
 " Oh, do you think so ?" said Bell, eagerly. Was she 
 glad, then, to think that during our wanderings in her 
 native county we should not be accompanied by that 
 unhappy youth? 
 
 But the emotions which perplexed my Lady's heart 
 at this time were of the most curious sort. It was only 
 by bits and snatches that the odd contradictions and 
 intricacies of them were revealed. To begin with, she 
 had a sneaking fondness for Arthur, begotten of old 
 associations. She was vexed with him because he was 
 likely to ruin her plan for the marriage of Bell and the 
 Lieutenant ; and when Tita thought of this delightful 
 prospect being destroyed by the interference of Arthur, 
 she grew angry, and regarded him as an unreasonable 
 and officious young man, who ought to be sent about 
 his business. Then again, when she recalled our old 
 evenings in Surrey, and the pleasant time the boy had 
 in sweethearting with our Bonny Bell during the long 
 and lazy afternoon walks, she was visited with remorse, 
 and wished she could do something for him. But a 
 claimant of this sort who represents an injury is 
 certain, sooner or later, to be regarded with dislike. 
 He is continually reminding us that we have injured 
 him, and disturbing our peace of mind. Sometimes Tita 
 resented this claim, (which was entirely of her own 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 307 
 
 imagining) so strongly as to look upon Arthur as a 
 perverse and wicked intermeddler with the happiness of 
 two young lovers. So the world wags. The person 
 who is inconvenient to us does us a wrong. At the 
 very basis of our theatrical drama lies the principle that 
 non-success in a love affair is criminal. Two young 
 men shall woo a young woman ; the one shall be taken, 
 and the other made a villain because he paid the girl 
 the compliment of wanting to marry her, and justice 
 shall not be satisfied until everybody has hounded and 
 hunted the poor villain through all the phases of the 
 play, until all the good people meet to witness his 
 discomfiture, and he is bidden to go away and be a 
 rejected suitor no more. 
 
 It was only in one of these varying moods that Tita 
 had shown a partial indifference to Arthur's fate. She 
 was really concerned about his absence. When she 
 took her seat in the phaeton, she looked back and down 
 the main thoroughfare of Kendal, half expecting to see 
 the Major's cob and a small dog-cart come driving along. 
 The suggestion that he might have gone on to Penrith 
 or Carlisle comforted her greatly. The only inexpli- 
 cable circumstance was that Arthur had not written 
 or telegraphed to Kendal, at which town he knew we 
 were to stop. 
 
 About five minutes after our leaving Kendal, Arthur 
 was as completely forgotten as though no such hapless 
 creature was in existence. We were all on foot except 
 Tita, who remained in the phaeton to hold the reins in 
 a formal fashion. For about a mile and a half the road 
 gradually rises, giving a long spell of collar-work to 
 horses with weight to drag behind them. Tita, who 
 weighs about a feather and a half, was commissioned to 
 the charge of the phaeton while the rest of us dawdled 
 along the road, giving Castor and Pollux plenty of time. 
 It was a pleasant walk. The Lieutenant — with an 
 amount of hypocrisy of which I had not suspected him 
 guilty— seemed to prefer to go by the side of the 
 phaeton, and talk to the small lady sitting enthroned 
 there ; but Bell, once on foot and in her native air, 
 
 x 2 
 
3o8 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 could not so moderate her pace. We set off up the 
 hill. There was a scent of peat-reek in the air. A 
 cool west wind was blowing through the tall hedges 
 and the trees ; and sudden shafts and gleams of sunlight 
 fell from the uncertain sky and lit up the wild masses 
 of weeds and flowers by the roadside. Bell pulled a 
 white dog-rose, and kissed it as though a Westmoreland 
 rose was an old friend she had come to see. She saw 
 good jests in the idlest talk, and laughed ; and all her 
 face was aglow with delight as she looked at the 
 beautiful country, and the breezy sky, and the blue 
 peaks of the mountains that seemed to grow higher 
 and higher the further we ascended the hill. 
 
 " You silly girl," I say to her, when she is eager to 
 point out cottages built of stone, and stone-walls sepa- 
 rating small orchards from the undulating meadows, 
 '■'do you think there are no stone cottages anywhere 
 but in Westmoreland?" 
 
 " I didn't say there wasn't," she answers, regardless 
 of grammar. 
 
 Yes, we were certainly in Westmoreland. She had 
 scarcely uttered the words when a rapid pattering was 
 heard among the trees, and presently a brisk shower 
 was raining down upon us. Would she return to the 
 phaeton for a shawl? No. She knew the ways of 
 Westmoreland showers on such a day as this — indeed, 
 she had predicted that some of the heavy clouds being 
 blown over from the other side of Windermere would 
 visit us in passing. In a few minutes the shower 
 lightened, the wind that shook the heavy drops from 
 the trees seemed to bring dryness with it, and presently 
 a warm glow of sunshine sprang down upon the road, 
 and the air grew sweet with resinous and fragrant 
 smells. 
 
 " It was merely to lay the dust," said Bell, as though 
 she had ordered the shower. 
 
 After you pass Bather Heath, you go down into the 
 valley of the Gowan. The road is more of a lane than 
 a highway ; and the bright and showery day added to 
 the picturesqueness of the tall hedges and the wooded 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 309 
 
 country on both sides by sending across alternate 
 splatches of gloom and bursts of sunlight. More than 
 once, too, the tail-end of a shower caught us ; but we 
 cared little for rain that had wind and sunlight on the 
 other side of it ; and Bell, indeed, rather rejoiced in the 
 pictorial effects produced by changing clouds, when 
 the sunshine caused the heavier masses to grow black 
 and ominous, or shone mistily through the frail sheet 
 produced by the thinner masses melting into rain. 
 
 Tita is a pretty safe driver in Surrey, where she 
 knows every inch of the roads and lanes, and has 
 nothing to distract her attention ; but now, among 
 these hilly and stony Westmoreland roads, her enjoy- 
 ment of the bright panorama around her considerably 
 drew her attention away from the horses' feet. Then 
 she was sorely troubled by news that had reached us 
 that morning from home. An evil-doer, whom she had 
 hitherto kept in order by alternate bribes and threats, 
 had broken out again, and given his wife a desperate 
 thrashing. Now this occurrence seldom happened except 
 when both husband and wife were intoxicated ; and for 
 some time back my Lady had succeeded in stopping 
 their periodical bouts. With these evil tidings came 
 the report that a horrible old creature of sixty — as 
 arrant a rogue as ever went on crutches, although my 
 Lady would have taken the life of anyone who dared 
 to say so of one of her pets— had deliberately gone to 
 Guildford and pawned certain pieces of flannel which 
 had been given her to sew. In short, as Bell proceeded 
 to point out, the whole neighbourhood was in revolt. 
 The chief administrator of justice and Queen's Almoner 
 of the district was up here skylarking in a phaeton, 
 while her subjects down in the south had broken out 
 into flagrant rebellion. History tells of a Scotch parish 
 that suddenly rose and hanged the minister, drowned 
 the precentor, and raffled the church bell ; who was 
 now to answer for the safety of our most cherished 
 parochial institutions when the guardian of law and 
 order had withdrawn herself into the regions of the 
 mountains ? 
 
THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 " That revolt," it is observed, " is the natural conse- 
 quence of tyraony. For years you have crushed down 
 and domineered over that unhappy parish ; and the 
 unenfranchised millions, who had no more liberty than 
 is vouchsafed to a stabled horse or a chained dog, have 
 risen at last. Mort aux tyrans ! Will they chase us, 
 do you think, Bell ? " 
 
 " I am quite convinced," remarked my Lady, deli- 
 berately and calmly, " that the poor old woman has 
 done nothing of the kind. She could not do it. "Why 
 should she seek to gain a few shillings at the expense 
 of forfeiting all the assistance she had to expect 
 from me?" 
 
 "An independent peasantry is not to be bought 
 over by pitiful bribes. 'Tis a free country ; and the 
 three balls ought to be placed among the insignia of 
 Eoyalty, instead of that meaningless sphere. Can any 
 student of history now present explain the original 
 purpose of that instrument ? " 
 
 " I suppose," says Bell, " that Queen Elizabeth, who 
 always has it in her hand, used to chastise her maid- 
 servants with it." 
 
 " Wrong. With that weapon Henry the Eighth was 
 wont to strike down and murder the good priests that 
 interfered with his unholy wishes." 
 
 " Henry the Eighth " says my Lady ; but just at 
 
 this moment Castor caught a stone slightly with his 
 foot, and the brief stumble caused my Lady to mind her 
 driving ; so that Henry the Eighth, wherever he is, may 
 be congratulated on the fact that she did not finish 
 her sentence. 
 
 Then we ran pleasantly along the valley until we 
 came in sight, once more, of Windermere. We drove 
 round the foot of the green slopes of Elleray. We 
 plunged into the wood, and there was all around us a 
 moist odour of toadstools and fern. We went by St. 
 Catherine's, and over Troutbeck Bridge, and so down to 
 the lake-side by Eccleri gg House and Lowood. It was 
 along this road that Bell and her companion had walked 
 the night before, when the yellow moon rose up in the 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 south and threw a strange light over Windermere. The 
 Lieutenant had said not a word about the results of that 
 long interview ; but they had clearly not been unfavour- 
 able to him, for he had been in excellent good spirits 
 during the rest of the evening, and now he was chatting 
 to Bell as if nothing had occurred to break the even 
 tenor of their acquaintanceship. They had quite 
 resumed their old relations, which was a blessing to 
 the two remaining members of the party. Indeed, 
 there was no bar now placed upon BelTs singing except 
 her own talking ; and when a young lady undertakes to 
 instruct her elders in the history, traditions, manners, 
 customs, and peculiarities of Westmoreland, she has not 
 much time for strumming on the guitar. Bell acted the 
 part of valet de place to perfection, and preached at us 
 just as if we were all as great strangers as the Lieutenant 
 was. It is true our guide was not infallible. Sometimes 
 we could see that she was in deep distress over the 
 names of the peaks up in the neighbourhood of the 
 Langdale Pikes; but what did it matter to us which 
 was Scawfell and which was Bowfell, or which was 
 Great Gable and which Great End ? We had come to 
 enjoy ourselves, not to correct the Ordnance Survey Maps. 
 
 " I am afraid," said my Lady, when some proposal to 
 stop at Ambleside and climb Wansfell Pike had been 
 unanimously rejected, "that we have been throughout 
 this journey disgracefully remiss. We have gone to see 
 nothing that we ought to have seen. We have never 
 paid any attention to ancient ruins, or galleries of pic- 
 tures, or celebrated monuments. We have not climbed 
 a single mountain. We went past Woodstock without 
 looking in at the gates— we did not even go to see 
 the obelisk on Evesham Plain " 
 
 " That was because some of you drove the horses the 
 wrong way," it is remarked. 
 
 " Indeed, we have done nothing that we ought to 
 have done." 
 
 " Perhaps, Madame," said the Lieutenant, " that is 
 why the voyage has been so pleasant to us. One 
 cannot always be instructing oneself, like a tourist." 
 
312 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 If you wish to vex my Lady, call her a tourist. 
 This subtle compliment of the Lieutenant pleased her 
 immensely : but I confess myself unable to see in what 
 respects we were not tourists, except that we were a 
 little more ignorant, and indifferent to our ignorance, 
 than holiday travellers generally are. What tourist, for 
 example, would have done such a barbaric thing as go 
 through Ambleside without stopping a day there ? 
 
 That was all along of Bell, however, who insisted on 
 our spending the treasure of our leisure time upon 
 Grasmere ; and who was strengthened in her demands 
 by my Lady, when she came in view of a considerable 
 number of tourists lounging about the former town. 
 The poor men were for the most part dressed as moun- 
 taineers — otherwise they were quite harmless. They 
 were loitering about the main thoroughfare of Ambleside, 
 with their hands in the pockets of their knickerbockers, 
 gazing in at a stationer's window, or regarding a brace 
 of setters that a keeper standing in front of an hotel had 
 in leash. They did not even look narrowly at the knees 
 of our horses — an ordinary piece of polite impertinence. 
 They were well-meaning and well-conducted persons ; 
 and the worst that could be said of them, that they 
 were tourists, has been said about many good and 
 respectable people. A man may have climbed Lough- 
 rigg Fell, and yet be an attentive husband and an 
 affectionate father ; while knickerbockers in themselves 
 are not an indictable offence. My Lady made no answer 
 to these humble representations ; but asked for how 
 long the horses would have to be put up before we 
 started again. 
 
 Bell's enthusiasm of the morning had given way to 
 something of disappointment, which she tried hard to 
 conceal. Ambleside, one of the places she had been 
 dreaming about for years, looked painfully modern now. 
 In thinking about it, down in our southern home, she 
 had shut out of the picture, hotels, shops, and fashion- 
 ably-dressed people, and had dwelt only on the wild 
 and picturesque features of a neighbourhood that had 
 at one time been as familiar to her as her mother's face. 
 
OF A PHAETON. 313 
 
 But now, Ambleside seemed to have grown big, and 
 new, and strange ; and she lost the sense of proprietor- 
 ship which she had been exhibiting in our drive through 
 the scenery of the morning. Then Loughrigg Fell did 
 us an evil turn — gathering up all the clouds that the 
 wind had driven over, and sending them gently and 
 persistently down into the valley of the Rothay, so that 
 a steady rain had set in. The Lieutenant did not care 
 much how the sky might be clouded over, so long as 
 Bell's face remained bright and happy; but it was quite 
 evident she was disappointed, and he in vain attempted 
 to reassure her by declaring that these two days had 
 convinced him that the Lake country was the most 
 beautiful in the world. She could not foresee then that 
 this very gloom, that seemed to mean nothing but con- 
 stant rain, would procure for us that evening by far the 
 most impressive sight that we encountered during the 
 whole of our long summer ramble. 
 
 Our discontent with Loughrigg Fell took an odd turn 
 when it discharged itself upon the Duke of Wellington. 
 We had grown accustomed to that foolish picture of 
 the Waterloo Heroes, in which the Duke, in a pair of 
 white pantaloons, stands in the attitude of a dancing- 
 master, with an idiotic simper on his face. All along the 
 road, in public-houses, inns, and hotels, we had met this 
 desperate piece of decoration on the walls, and had only 
 smiled a melancholy smile when we came upon another 
 copy. But this particular print seemed to be quite 
 offensively ridiculous. If Henry the Eighth had been 
 inside these long white pantaloons and that tight coat, ray 
 Lady could not have regarded the figure with a severer 
 contempt. We picked out enemies among the attendant 
 generals, just as one goes over an album of photographs 
 and has a curious pleasure in recording mental likes 
 and dislikes produced by unknown faces. Somehow, all 
 the Waterloo Heroes on this evening looked stupid and 
 commonplace. It seemed a mercy that Napoleon was 
 beaten ; but how he had been beaten by such a series 
 of gabies and nincompoops none of us could make out. 
 
 Then the Lieutenant must needs grumble at the 
 
3H THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 luncheon served up to us. It was a good enough 
 luncheon, as hotels go ; and even my Lady was moved 
 to express her surprise that a young man who professed 
 himself able to enjoy anything in the way of food, 
 and who had told us amusing stories of his foraging 
 adventures in campaigning time, should care whether 
 there were or were not lemon and bread-crumbs with 
 a mutton cutlet. 
 
 " Madame," said the Lieutenant, " that is very well 
 in a campaign, and you are glad of anything ; but 
 there is no merit in eating badly-cooked food — none 
 at all." 
 
 " A soldier should not mind such trifles," she said ; 
 but she smiled as though to say that she agreed with 
 him all the same. 
 
 " Well, I think," said the young man, doggedly, 
 " that is no shame that anyone should know what is 
 good to eat, and that it is properly prepared. It is 
 not any more contemptible than dressing yourself in 
 good taste, which is a duty you owe to other people. 
 You should see our old generals — who are very glad 
 of some coarse bread, arid a piece of sausage, and a 
 tumbler of sour wine, when they are riding across a 
 country in the war — how they study delicate things, 
 and scientific cookery, and all that, in Berlin." 
 
 "And do you follow their example when you are 
 at home?" 
 
 "Not always; I have not enough time. But when 
 you come to my house in Berlin, Madame, you will see 
 what luncheon you shall have." 
 
 " Can't you tell us about it now ?" says Tita. 
 
 "Pray do," echoes Bell, after casting another re- 
 proachful glance at the rain out of doors, 
 
 The Lieutenant laughed ; but seeing that the women 
 were quite serious, he proceeded in a grave and so- 
 lemn manner to instruct them in the art of preparing 
 luncheon. 
 
 " First," said he, " you must have Eussian black bread 
 and French white bread cut into thin slices — but you 
 do not use the black bread yet awhile ; and you must 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 315 
 
 have some good Ehine wine, a little warmed if it is in 
 the winter ; some Bordeaux, a bottle of green Chartreuse, 
 and some champagne, if there are ladies. Now, for the 
 first, you take a slice of white bread, you put a little 
 butter on it, very thin, and then you open a pot of 
 Eussian caviare, and you put that on the slice of 
 bread three-quarters of an inch thick, not less than 
 that. You must not taste it by little and little, as all 
 English ladies do, but eat it boldly, and you will be 
 grateful. Then half a glass of soft Ehine wine — if it 
 is a good Marcobrunner, that is excellent. Then you 
 eat one slice of the black bread, with butter on it, more 
 thick than on the white bread. Then you have two, 
 perhaps three, Norwegian anchovies " 
 
 " Would you mind my writing these things down ?" 
 says my Lady. 
 
 The Lieutenant of course assents ; she produces a 
 small bunch of ivory tablets ; and I know the horrible 
 purpose that fills her mind as she proceeds to jot down 
 this programme. 
 
 " You must have the caviare and the anchovies of real 
 quality, or everything is spoiled. With the anchovies 
 you may eat the black bread, or the white, but I think 
 without butter. Then half a glass of Rhine wine " 
 
 "Those half-glasses of Ehine wine are coming in 
 rather often," remarks Bell. 
 
 "No, Mademoiselle, that is the last of the Ehine 
 wine. Next is a thin slice of white bread, very thin 
 butter, and a very thin slice of Bologna sausage. This 
 is optional " 
 
 "My dear," I say to Tita, "be sure you put down 
 ' This is optional ! ' " 
 
 " With it you have a glass of good and soft Bordeaux 
 wine. Then, Madame, we come to the reindeer's 
 tongue. This is the piece de resistance, and your guests 
 must eat of it just as they have their hour for dinner 
 in the evening. Also, if they are ladies, they may 
 prefer a sparkling wine to the Bordeaux, though the 
 Bordeaux is much better. And this is the reason: — 
 After the reindeer's tongue is taken away, and you may 
 
* 
 
 316 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 eat an olive or two, then a pate de foie gras — real from 
 
 Strasburg " 
 
 Stop ! " cries one of the party. " If I have any 
 authority left, I forbid the addition to that disastrous 
 catalogue of another single item ! I will not suffer 
 their introduction into the house ! Away with them ! " 
 
 " But, my dear friend," says the Lieutenant, " it is a 
 good thing to accustom yourself to eat the meats of all 
 countries — you know not where you may find yourself." 
 
 " Yes," says Bell gently, " one ought to learn to like 
 caviare, lest one should be thrown on a desert island." 
 
 "And why not?" says the persistent young man. 
 "You are thrown on a desert island — you catch a 
 sturgeon — you take the roe, and you know how to 
 make very good caviare " 
 
 " But how about the half-glass of Ehine wine ? " says 
 my Lady. 
 
 " You cannot have everything in a desert island ; 
 but in a town, where you have time to study such 
 things " 
 
 " And where you can order coffins for half-past ten," 
 it is suggested. 
 
 " A good luncheon is a good thing." 
 
 "Ladies and gentlemen," said Bell,, "the rain has 
 ceased." 
 
 And so it had. While we had been contemplating 
 that imaginary feast, and paying no attention to the 
 changes out of doors, the clouds had gradually with- 
 drawn themselves up the mountains, and the humid 
 air showed no more slanting lines of rain. But still 
 overhead there hung a heavy gloom ; and along the 
 wet woods, and on the troubled bosom of the lake, 
 and up the slopes of the hills, there seemed to lie 
 an ominous darkness. Should we reach Grasmere in 
 safety? The Lieutenant had the horses put to with 
 all speed ; and presently Bell was taking us at a rapid 
 pace into the wooded gorge that lies between Nab 
 Scar and Loughrigg Fell, where the gathering twilight 
 seemed to deepen with premonitions of a storm. 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 317 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 AT NIGHT ON GRASMERE. 
 
 " Ye who have yearned 
 "With too much passion, will here stay and pity, 
 For the mere sake of truth ; as 'tis a ditty 
 Not of these days, but long ago 'twas told 
 By a cavern wind unto a forest old ; 
 And then the forest told it in a dream 
 To a sleeping lake." 
 
 We drove into the solitude of this deep valley without 
 uttering a word. How could we tell what the strange 
 gloom and silence might portend? Far away up the 
 misty and rounded slopes of Loughrigg the clouds lay 
 heavy and thick, and over the masses of Rydal Fell, 
 on the other side of the gorge, an ominous darkness 
 brooded. Down here in the chasm the trees hung cold 
 and limp in the humid air, crushed by the long rain. 
 There was no sign of life abroad, only that we heard 
 the rushing of the river Rothay in among the under- 
 wood in the channel of the stream. There was not 
 even any motion in that wild and gloomy sky, that 
 looked all the stranger that the storm-clouds did not 
 move. 
 
 But as we drove on, it seemed to become less likely 
 that the rain would set in again. The clouds had got 
 banked up in great billows of vapour ; and underneath 
 them we could see, even in the twilight, the forms of 
 the mountains with a strange distinctness. The green 
 of the distant slopes up there grew more and more 
 intense, strengthened as it was by long splashes of a 
 deep purple where the slate was visible ; then the 
 heavy grey of the sky, weighing upon the summits of 
 the hills. 
 
 But all this was as nothing to the wild and gloomy 
 scene that met our view when we came in sight of 
 Rydal Water. We scarcely knew the lake we had 
 loved of old, in bright days, and in sunshine, and 
 
318 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 blowing rain. Here, hidden away among reeds, lay a 
 long stretch of dark slate-blue, with no streak of white 
 along the shores, no ripple off the crags, to show that 
 it was water. So perfect was the mirror-like surface, 
 that it was impossible to say in the gathering gloom 
 where the lake ended and the land began. The islands, 
 the trees, the fields, and the green spaces of the hills, 
 were as distinct below as above ; and where the dark 
 blue of the lake ran in among the reeds, no one could 
 make out the line of the shore. It was a strange and 
 impressive scene, this silent lake lying at the foot of 
 the hills, and so calm and death-like that the motionless 
 clouds of the sky lay without a tremor on the sheet of 
 glass. This was not the Rydal Water we had been 
 hoping to see, but a solitary and enchanted lake, struck 
 silent and still by the awful calmness of the twilight 
 and the presence of the lowering clouds. 
 
 We got down from the phaeton. The horses were 
 allowed to walk quietly on, with Tita in charge, while 
 we sauntered along the winding road, by the side of 
 this sombre sheet of water. There was no more fear 
 of rain. There was a firmness about the outlines of 
 the clouds that became more marked as the dusk fell. 
 But although the darkness was coming on apace, we 
 did not hasten our steps much. When should we ever 
 again see such a picture as this, the like of which Bell, 
 familiar with the sights and sounds of the district from 
 her childhood, had never seen before ? 
 
 What I have written above conveys nothing of the 
 impressive solemnity and majesty of this strange sight 
 as we saw it ; and indeed I had resolved, before entering 
 the Lake district, to leave out of the jottings of a mere 
 holiday traveller any mention of scenes which have 
 become familiar to the world through the imperishable 
 and unapproachable descriptions of the great masters 
 who lived and wrote in these regions. But such jottings 
 must be taken for what they are worth — the hasty record 
 of hasty impressions; and how could our little party 
 have such a vision vouchsafed to them without at 
 least noting it down as an incident of their journey ? 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 319 
 
 We walked on in the darkness. The slopes of Nab 
 Scar had become invisible. Here and there a white 
 cottage glimmered out from the roadside ; and Bell 
 knew the name of every one of them, and of the 
 people who used to occupy them. 
 
 " How surprised some of our friends would be," she 
 said to Tita, " if we were to call on them to-night, and 
 walk in without saying a word." 
 
 " They would take you for a banshee," said my Lady, 
 " on such an evening as this. Get up, Bell, and let us 
 drive on. I am beginning to shiver — whether with 
 fright or with cold, I don't know." 
 
 So we got into the phaeton again, and sent the 
 horses forward. We drove along the broad road 
 which skirts the reedy and shallow end of Eydal Water, 
 and entered the valley of the stream which comes 
 flowing through the trees from Grasmere. It was 
 now almost dark ; and the only sound we could hear 
 was that of the stream plashing along its rocky bed. 
 By and by, a glimmer of yellow light was observed in 
 front ; and Bell having announced that this was the 
 Prince of Wales Hotel, we were soon within its com- 
 fortable precincts. In passing we had got a glimpse of 
 a dark steel-grey lake lying amid grey mists and under 
 sombre hills — that was all we knew as yet of Grasmere. 
 
 But about an hour afterwards, when we had dined, 
 the Lieutenant came back from the window at which 
 we had been standing for a minute or two, and said — 
 
 " Mademoiselle, I have a communication for you." 
 
 Mademoiselle looked up. 
 
 " If you will go to the window " 
 
 Bell rose and went directly. 
 
 " I know," said my Lady, with a well-affected sigh, 
 " The night has cleared up — there is starlight or moon- 
 light, or something, and I suppose we shall have to 
 go out in a boat to please these foolish young people. 
 But I think you will be disappointed this time, 
 Count von Rosen." 
 
 "Why, Madame?" 
 
 "This is a respectable hotel. Do you think they 
 
32o THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 would give you a boat ? Now, if there was some old 
 lady to be cajoled, T daresay you would succeed " 
 
 " Oh, you do think we cannot get a boat, yes ? I do 
 not suppose there is any trouble about that, if only 
 Mademoiselle cares about going on the lake. Perhaps 
 she does not — but you must see how beautiful this lake 
 is at present." 
 
 The idea of Bell not wishing to go out on Grasmere 
 — at any hour of the night — so long as there was a 
 yellow moon rising over the dusky heights of Silver 
 Home ! The girl was all in a nutter of delight when she 
 returned from the window — anxious that we should 
 all see Grasmere under these fine conditions, just as if 
 Grasmere belonged to her. And the Lieutenant, having 
 gone outside for a few minutes, returned with the in- 
 formation that a boat was waiting for us. There was 
 no triumph in his face — no exultation ; and it never 
 occurred to anyone to ask whether this young Uhlan 
 had secured the boat by throwing the owner of it into 
 the lake. The women were quite satisfied to accept all 
 the pleasant things he brought them, and never stopped 
 to inquire by what tyrannical or disgraceful means the 
 young Prussian had succeeded in his fell endeavours. 
 But at all events he managed to keep out of the 
 police-office. 
 
 As a matter of fact, the boat was not only waiting 
 when Tita and Bell, having dressed for the purpose, 
 came downstairs, but was supplied with all manner of 
 nice cushions, plaids, rugs, and a guitar-case. The 
 women showed a good deal of trepidation in stepping 
 into the frail craft, which lay under the shadow of a 
 small jetty; but once out in the open lake, we found 
 sufficient light around us, and Bell, pulling her grey 
 and woollen shawl more tightly around her, turned to 
 look at the wonders of Grasmere, which she had not 
 seen for many years. 
 
 It was a pleasant night. All the hills and woods on 
 the other side of the lake seemed for the most part in 
 a black shadow ; but out here the moonlight dwelt 
 calmly on the water, and lit up the wooded island 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 321 
 
 further down, and shone along the level shores. As 
 we went out into the silent plain, the windows of the 
 hotel grew smaller and smaller, until in the distance 
 we could see them but as minute points of orange fire 
 that glittered down on the black surface below. Then, 
 in the perfect stillness of the night — as the measured 
 sound of the rowlocks told of our progress, and the 
 moonlight shone on the gleaming blades of the oars — 
 we were all at once startled by a loud and hissing noise, 
 that caused Tita to utter a slight cry of alarm. 
 
 We had run into a great bed of water-weeds, that 
 was all — a tangled mass of water-lily leaves, with mil- 
 lions of straight horsetails rising from the shallow lake. 
 We pushed on. The horsetails went down before the 
 prow of the boat; but all around us the miniature 
 forest remained erect. The moonlight sparkled on the 
 ripples that we sent circling out through those perpen- 
 dicular lines. And then the Lieutenant called out a 
 note of warning, and Bell plunged her oars in the 
 water just in time, for we had nearly run down two 
 swans that were fast asleep in among the tall weeds. 
 
 We forsook this shallower end of the lake, and, with 
 some more hissing of horsetails, pushed out and into 
 the world of moonlight and still water; and then, as 
 Tita took the oars, and just dipped them now and again 
 to give us a sense of motion, Bell rested her guitar 
 on her knee, and began to sing to us. What should 
 she sing under the solitude of the hills, when all 
 our laughter of dinner-time was over, and we were as 
 silent as the lake itself ? There was not even a breath 
 of wind stirring ; and it was in a very low voice, with 
 something of a tremor in it, that Bell began to accom- 
 pany the faint touching of the guitar. 
 
 " I've heard the lilting at our ewe-milking," 
 — she sang, and her voice was so low and tremulous 
 that Tita forgot to dip the oars into the water that she 
 might listen to the girl — 
 
 " Lasses a lilting "before the "break o' day, 
 But now they are moaning on ilka green loaning — 
 The Flowers o' the Forest are a' wede away." 
 Y 
 
322 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 Had Grasmere ever listened to a more pathetic ballad, 
 or to a tenderer voice ? It was as well, perhaps, that 
 the Lieutenant could not see Bell's face ; for as she 
 sang the last verse — 
 
 ' ' "We hear nae mair lilting at our ewe-milking ; 
 "Women and bairns are heartless and wae ; 
 Sighing and moaning on ilka green loaning — 
 The Flowers o' the Forest are a' wede away," 
 
 — there was a sort of indistinctness in her voice ; and 
 when the Lieutenant said that it was the finest English 
 song that he had yet heard, and that the air was so 
 very different from most of the old English tunes, she 
 could not answer him for a minute or two. 
 
 But when she did answer him, fancy our astonish- 
 ment ! 
 
 " It isn't English," she said, with just a trace of con- 
 tempt in her tone. " When did you find the English 
 able to write a song or an air like that?" 
 
 " Grant me patience ! " cries my Lady, with a fine 
 theatrical appeal to the moonlight overhead. "This 
 girl, because she was born in Westmoreland, claims the 
 possession of everything north of the Trent." 
 
 "Are not you also English, Mademoiselle?" says the 
 Lieutenant. 
 
 " I belong to the North Country," says Bell proudly ; 
 " and we are all the same race up here." 
 
 Now you should have seen how this cue was 
 seized by the Lieutenant. The boy had about as 
 much knowledge of the colonization of this country 
 as most youths pick up at schools; but the manner 
 in which he twisted it about to suit the wild 
 and audacious statement that Bell had uttered was 
 truly alarming. Before we knew where we were, we 
 were plunged into the history of Strathclyde, and 
 invited to consider the consistency of character that 
 must have prevailed in the great Welsh kingdom that 
 stretched from Dumbarton to Chester. We had also 
 some pleasant little excursions into Bernicia and 
 Deira, with abundance of proof that the Lowland 
 Scotch speak the best English now going — a piece 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 323 
 
 of information which we accepted with meekness. 
 We were treated to a recapitulation of the settle- 
 ments of the Angles, together with a learned dis- 
 quisition on the aims of Ida. This was all very 
 well. It passed the time. Bell thought she was 
 firmly established in her position. Her traditional 
 reverence for the "North Country" and all its belong- 
 ings had, it turned out, some definite historical justi- 
 fication. She had a right to claim the songs of the 
 Lowland Scotch ; was she not herself of that favoured 
 race ? At length, Queen Tita burst into a merry fit 
 of laughter ! 
 
 "I don't know what you mean to prove, Count 
 von Kosen," she said; "you prove so much. At one 
 time you insist that Bell is Scotch ; at another time 
 you show us that she must be Welsh, if all the 
 people in Strathclyde were Welsh. But look at her, 
 and what becomes of all the theories ? There is no 
 more English girl in all England than our Bell." 
 
 "That is no harm said of her," replied the Lieu- 
 tenant, abandoning all his arguments at once. 
 
 " I suppose I am English," said Bell, obstinately, 
 "but I am North-country English." 
 
 Nobody could dispute that ; and doubtless the 
 Lieutenant considered that Bell's division of this 
 realm into districts mapped out in her imagination 
 was of much more importance than the idle inquiries 
 of historians into the German occupation of England. 
 Then we pulled away over to the island, and round 
 underneath the shadows of its firs, and back through 
 the clear moonlight to the small jetty of the hotel. 
 We entered the warm and comfortable building. The 
 folks who had been dining had all gone into the 
 drawing-room ; but neither my Lady nor Bell seemed 
 inclined to venture in among the strangers ; and so 
 we procured a private sitting-room, in which, by good 
 luck, there was a piano. 
 
 The Lieutenant sat down. 
 
 " Madame," he said, " what shall I play to you ? 
 It is not since that I was at Twickenham I have 
 
 Y 2 
 
324 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 touched a piano — oh, that is very bad English, I 
 know, but I cannot help it," 
 
 "Sing the rataplan song that Bell was humming 
 the other day," said Tita. "You two shall sing it 
 — you shall be the old sergeant, and Bell the 
 daughter of the regiment." 
 
 "Yes, I can sing it," he said; "but to play it — 
 that I cannot do. It is too fine for my thick fingers." 
 
 And so he gave way to Bell, who played the 
 accompaniment dexterously enough, and sang with 
 a will. You would have fancied that the camp was 
 really her birthplace, and that she was determined 
 to march with the foremost, as the good song saj's. 
 The Lieutenant had not half the martial ardour of 
 this girl, who was singing of fire and slaughter, of 
 battle and sudden death, as though she had been 
 the eldest daughter of one of the kings of her native 
 Strathclyde. And then, when she had finished that 
 performance, it needed only the least suggestion of 
 the Lieutenant to get her to sing Maria's next song, 
 " Giascun lo dice" so that you would have thought 
 she had the spirit of the whole regiment within her. 
 It is not a proper song. The brave Eleventh was 
 doubtless a very gallant regiment ; but why should 
 they have taught their daughter to glorify their fright- 
 ening of landlords, their flirtations, their fierce flying 
 hither and thither, like the famous Jager that followed 
 Hoik? This is the regiment, Maria tells you, that 
 fears nothing, but whom all men fear. This is the 
 regiment beloved of women; for is not each soldier 
 sure to become a Field-Marshal? The Lieutenant 
 - laughed at the warlike glow of her singing, but he 
 was mightily pleased, for all that. She was fit to be 
 a soldier's wife — this girl with the mantling colour 
 in her cheek, and the brave voice and gallant mien. 
 With colours in her cap, and a drum slung round 
 her neck — with all the fathers of the regiment petting 
 her, and proud of her, and ready to drive the soul 
 out of the man who spoke a rude word to her — with 
 her arch ways, and her frank bearing, and her loyal 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 325 
 
 and loving regard for the brave Eleventh — why, Bell, 
 for the moment, was really Maria, and as bright and 
 as fearless as any Maria that ever sang " rataplan ! " 
 Queen Tita was pleased too, but she was bound to 
 play the part of the stately Marchioness. With an 
 affectionate pat on the shoulder, she told Bell she 
 mustn't sing any more of these soldier-songs ; they 
 were not improving songs. With which — just as if 
 she had been ordered by the Marchioness to leave the 
 brave Eleventh — Bell began to sing the plaintive and 
 touching " Convien partir" Perhaps we may have 
 heard it better sung at Drury Lane. ' The song is 
 known in Covent Garden. But if you had heard 
 Bell sing it this night — with her lover sitting quite 
 silent and embarrassed with a shamefaced pleasure, 
 and with a glimmer of moonlight on Grasmere visible 
 through the open window — you might have forgiven 
 the girl for her mistakes. 
 
 A notion may have crossed my Lady's mind that 
 it was very hard on Arthur that Bell should in his 
 absence have been singing these soldier-songs with so 
 much obvious enjoyment. Was it fair that this young 
 Uhlan should flutter his martial scarlet and blue and 
 gold before the girl's eyes, and dazzle her with 
 romantic pictures of a soldier's life? What chance 
 had the poor law-student, coming out from his dingy 
 chambers in the Temple, with bewildered eyes, and 
 pale face, and the funereal costume of the ordinary 
 English youth? We know how girls are attracted 
 by show, how their hearts are stirred by the passing 
 of a regiment with music playing and colours flying. 
 The padded uniform may enclose a nutshell sort of 
 heart, and the gleaming helmet or the imposing busby 
 may surmount the feeblest sort of brain that could 
 with decency have been put within a human skull ; 
 but what of that? Each featherbed warrior who 
 rides from Knightsbridge to Whitehall, and from 
 Whitehall to Knightsbridge, is gifted with the glorious 
 traditions of great armies and innumerable campaigns ; 
 and in a ball-room the ass in scarlet is a far more 
 
326 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 attractive spectacle than the wise man in black. 
 Perhaps Arthur was not the most striking example 
 that might have been got to add point to the con- 
 trast ; bnt if any such thoughts were running through 
 Queen Tita's mind, you may be sure that her sym- 
 pathies were awakened for a young man whose 
 chances of marrying Bell were becoming more and 
 more nebulous. 
 
 And then my Lady sat down to the piano, and con- 
 descended to play for us a few pieces, with a precision 
 and a delicacy of fingering which were far removed 
 from Bell's performances in that way. I suppose you 
 young fellows who read this would have regarded 
 with indifference the dark-eyed little matron who 
 sat there and unravelled the intricacies of the most 
 difficult music. You would have kept all your attention 
 for the girl who stood beside her ; and you would have 
 preferred the wilder and less finished playing of Bell, 
 simply because she had fine eyes, pretty hair, a whole- 
 some English pleasantness and frankness, and a proud 
 and gracious demeanour. But a few years hence you 
 may come to know better. You may get to understand 
 the value of the quiet and unobtrusive ways of a 
 woman who can look after a household, and busy 
 herself with manifold charities, and bring up her 
 children well and scrupulously, and yet have a tender 
 smile for the vagaries of young folks like yourselves. 
 And then, if it is your excellent fortune to have with 
 you so gentle and fearless and honest a companion — if 
 your own life seems to be but the half of the broader 
 and fuller existence that abides beneath your roof — 
 you may do worse than go down on your knees and 
 thank God who has blessed your house with the 
 presence of a good wife and a good mother. 
 
 Tales shall not be told out of school. We may have 
 sat a little late that night. We were harming no one 
 by so doing, except ourselves ; and if our health suf- 
 fered by such late hours, we were prepared to let it 
 suffer. For the fact was, we drifted into talk about our 
 Surrey home ; and now that seemed so far away — ^and 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 327 
 
 it seemed so long since we had been there — that the 
 most ordinary details of our bygone life in the south 
 had grown picturesque. And from that Tita began to 
 recall the names of the people she had known in the 
 Lake district, in the old time, when Bell was but a girl, 
 running about the valleys and hill-sides like a young 
 goat. That, too, carried us back a long way, until it 
 seemed as if we had drifted into a new generation of 
 things that knew nothing of the good old times that 
 were. There was a trifle of regret imported into this 
 conversation — why, no one could tell ; but when we 
 broke up for the night, Tita's face was rather saddened, 
 and she did not follow Bell when the girl called to her 
 to look at the beautiful night outside, where the rapidly- 
 sinking moon had given place to a host of stars that 
 twinkled over the black gulf of Grasmere. 
 
 It is no wonder that lovers love the starlight, and the 
 infinite variety and beauty and silence of the strange 
 darkness. But folks who have got beyond that period 
 do not care so much to meet the mystery and the 
 solemnity of the night. They may have experiences 
 they would rather not recall. Who can tell what bitter- 
 ness and grievous heart-wringing are associated with 
 the wonderful peace and majesty of the throbbing mid- 
 night sky ? The strong man, with all his strength fled 
 from him, has gone out in his utter misery, and cried, 
 " Oh, God, save my wife to me ! " And the young 
 mother, with her heart breaking, has looked up into 
 the great abyss, and cried, " Oh, God, give me back 
 my baby ! " and all the answer they have had was 
 the silence of the winds and the faint and distant 
 glimmer of the stars. They do not care any more 
 to meet the gaze of those sad, and calm, and im- 
 penetrable eyes. 
 
3 28 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 CHAPTEK XXIV. 
 
 ARTHUR'S SONG. 
 
 "Along the grass sweet airs are blown 
 Our way this day in Spring. 
 Of all the songs that we have known, 
 Now which one shall we sing ? 
 Not that, my love, ah no ! — 
 Not this, my love ? why, so ! — 
 Yet both were ours, but hours will come and go. 
 
 " The branches cross above our eyes, 
 The skies are in a net : 
 And what's the thing beneath the skies 
 We two would most forget ? 
 
 Not birth, my love, no no — 
 Not death, my love, no no. 
 The love once ours, but ours long hours ago." 
 
 We stood at the open window, my Lady, Bell, and I, 
 with the calm lake lying before us as darkly blue as the 
 heart of a bell-flower, and with the hills on the other 
 side grown grey, and green, and hazy in the morning 
 sunlight. Bell had brought us thither. The Lieutenant 
 was outside, and we could hear him talking to some 
 one, although he had no idea of our presence. Was it 
 fair to steal a march on the young fellow, and seek to 
 learn something of the method by which he became 
 familiarly acquainted with every man, woman, and 
 child we met on our journey? In such matters I look 
 to Tita for guidance. If she says a certain thing is 
 proper, it is proper. And at this moment she was 
 standing just inside the curtains, listening, with a 
 great amusement on her face, to the sounds which 
 reached us from below. 
 
 " Ay, ah wur born in eighteen hunderd — that's a long 
 time ago — a long time ago," said a quavering old voice, 
 that was sometimes interrupted by a fit of asthmatic 
 coughing ; " and you don't remember the great comet — 
 the comet of eighteen hunderd an' eleven ! No ! See 
 that now ! And ah wur a boy at that time ; but I can 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 329 
 
 remember the great comet of eighteen hunderd an' 
 eleven— I remember it well now — and ah wur born in 
 eighteen hunderd. How long ago is that now ? " 
 
 "Why, that's easily counted," said the Lieutenant; 
 " that's seventy-one years ago. But you look as hale 
 and as fresh as a man of forty." 
 
 " Seventy-one — ay, that it is — and you don't re- 
 member the comet of eighteen hunderd an' eleven?" 
 
 " No, I don't. But how have you kept your health 
 and your colour all this time ? That is the air of the 
 mountains gives you this good health, I suppose." 
 
 "Lor bless ye, ah don't belong to these parts. No. 
 Ah wur born in the New Forest, in eighteen hunderd — 
 Eingwood, that's the place — that's in the New Forest, 
 a long way from eear. Do you know Eingwood ? " 
 
 " No." 
 
 " Nor Poole ? " 
 " No." 
 
 " Lor bless ye ! Never been to Poole ! Do ye know 
 Southampton ? " 
 "No." 
 
 " Bless my soul ! Never been to Poole ? There now ! 
 And you don't know Southampton, where all the ships 
 are ? — ay, a famous sight o' ships, I can tell ye. And 
 you've never been to Southampton — Lor bless ye, you 
 ain't much of a traveller ! But there now, ain't you a 
 Frenchman ? " 
 
 " No." 
 
 " Go along with you ! Not a Frenchman ? An' you 
 don't know Poole? It's a big place, Poole, and ah 
 reckon it's grown bigger now, for it's many a year ago 
 since ah wur there. When ah wur a boy— that's many 
 a year ago — for ah remember well the great comet, in 
 eighteen hunderd an' eleven — you don't remember that ? 
 No ! God bless my soul, you're only a boy yet — and 
 ah wur born seventy year ago — and when ah went up 
 to Lunnon, ah wur such a simple chap ! " 
 
 We could hear the old man laughing and chuckling, 
 until a fit of coughing seized him, and then he pro- 
 ceeded : — 
 
33Q THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 " Ah wur taking a bridle down to my mahster, and 
 what's the bridge you go over ? Dear me, dear me ! 
 my memory isn't as good as it once was " 
 
 And at this point the old man stopped, and puzzled, 
 and hesitated about the name of the bridge, until the 
 Lieutenant besought him never to mind that, but to 
 go on with his story. But no. He would find out 
 the name of the bridge ; and after having repeated 
 twenty times that he was born in 1800, and could 
 remember the comet of 1811, he hit upon the name of 
 Blackfriars. 
 
 " An' there wur a chap standin' there, as come up to 
 me and asked me if I would buy a silk handkerchief 
 from him. He had two of 'em — Lor bless ye, you don't 
 know what rare good handkerchiefs we had then — 
 white, you know, wi' blue spots on 'em — they're all 
 gone out now, for it's many a year ago. And that chap 
 he thought ah'd bin sellin* a oss ; and he made up to 
 me, and he took me into a small public-'ouse, close by, 
 and says he, ' Ah'll be sworn a smart young fellow like 
 you '11 'ave a tidy bit o' money in your pocket.' An' ah 
 wur a smart young fellow then, as he said, but, God 
 bless you, that's many a year ago ; an' now, would you 
 believe it, that chap got five shillins out o' me for two 
 of his handkerchiefs — he did indeed, as sure as I'm 
 alive. Wasn't it a shame to take in a poor country 
 chap as wur up doing a job for his mahster ? " 
 
 " Five shillings for two silk handkerchiefs with blue 
 spots ? " said the Lieutenant. " Why, it was you who 
 did swindle that poor man. It is you that should be 
 ashamed. And you took away the bridle safe ? " 
 
 " Ay, ah wur goin' down to Winchester. Do ye know 
 Winchester?" 
 
 " No." 
 
 " Ha, ha, ha ! Ah thought not ! No, nor Poole ? 
 Have you ever been to Bristol — there now ! " 
 
 " My dear friend, there are few men so great travellers 
 as you have been. You should not boast of it." 
 
 " But, Lor bless ye, don't ye know the ships at 
 Poole ? And Winchester — that's a fine town, too, is 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 33i 
 
 Winchester. Ah'd a month at Winchester when ah 
 
 wur a young man." 
 
 " A month ! What do you mean by that % " 
 
 " Yes, that ah did. Lor, they were far stricter then 
 
 than they are now." 
 
 " But what was this month you are speaking 
 
 about?" 
 
 " Don't ye know what a month in jail is for ketchin 
 a rabbit?" 
 
 " Oh, it was a rabbit, was it ? " 
 
 The wicked old man laughed and chuckled again. 
 
 ' Ay," said he, " ah got one month for ketchin one 
 rabbit, but if they'd 'ave gi'en me a month for every 
 rabbit and hare as ahVe ketched, Lor bless ye ! — you 
 young fellows now-a-days know nothin' ! You're simple 
 chaps, that's what it is ! Have you ever heard of the 
 great comet of eighteen hunderd an' eleven ? There 
 now ! And the crowds as come out to see it — stretch- 
 in' out — long — jest as it might be the long gown as 
 mothers put on young things when they're carried 
 about — and that wur in eighteen 'underd an' eleven. 
 But I'm gettin' old now, and stiff — and them rheu- 
 matics they do trouble one so when they come on 
 bad in the night-time. I'm not what I was at your 
 age — you'll be thirty now, or forty mayhap ? " 
 
 " Nearer thirty." 
 
 "Ah never 'ad so much hair as you — it wur never 
 the fashion to wear hair on the face at that time." 
 
 "And you followed the fashion, of course, when 
 you were a young fellow, and went courting the girls. 
 Yes?" 
 
 This hint seemed to wake up the old man into 
 a high state of glee ; and as he began to tell of his 
 exploits in this direction, he introduced so many 
 unnecessary ejaculations into his talk that my Lady 
 somewhat hastily withdrew, dragging Bell with her. 
 The old rogue outside might have been with our army 
 in Flanders, to judge by the force of his conversation ; 
 and the stories that he told of his wild adventures 
 in such distant regions as Poole and Southampton 
 
332 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 showed that his memory treasured other recollections 
 than that of the 1811 comet. How the conversation 
 ended I do not know ; but by and by Von Eosen 
 came in to breakfast. 
 
 It is a shame for two women to have a secret under- 
 standing between them, and look as if they could 
 scarcely keep from smiling, and puzzle a bashful young 
 man by enigmatical questions. 
 
 " Madame," said the Lieutenant, at last, " I am 
 very stupid. I cannot make out what you mean." 
 
 "And neither can she," observes one who hates to 
 see a worthy young man bothered by two artful women. 
 "Her joke is like the conundrum that was so good 
 that the man who made it, after trying for two 3 T ears 
 and a half to find out what it meant, gave it up and 
 cut his throat. Don't you heed them. Cut the salad, 
 like a good fellow, and let Bell put in the oil, and 
 the vinegar, and what not. Now, if that girl would 
 only take out a patent for her salad-dressing, we 
 should all be rolling in wealth directly." 
 
 " I should call it the Nebuchadnezzar," said Bell. 
 
 My Lady pretended not to hear that remark, but she 
 was very angry ; and all desire of teasing the Lieutenant 
 had departed from her face, which was serious and 
 reserved. Young people must not play pranks with 
 Scripture names, in however innocent a fashion. 
 
 " It is a very good thing to have salad at breakfast," 
 said the Lieutenant ; " although it is not customary in 
 your country. It is very fresh, very pleasant, very 
 wholesome in the morning. Now, if one were to eat 
 plenty of salad, and live in this good mountain air, 
 one might live a long time " 
 
 " One might live to remember the comet of eighteen 
 'underd an' eleven," observed Bell, with her eyes cast 
 down. 
 
 The Lieutenant stared for a moment ; and then he 
 burst into a roar of laughter. 
 
 "I have discovered the joke," he cried. " It is that 
 you did listen to that old man talking to me. Oh, he 
 was a very wicked old person " 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 333 
 
 And here, all at once, Von Rosen stopped. A great 
 flush of red sprung to the young fellow's face — he was 
 evidently contemplating with dismay the possibility 
 of my Lady having overheard all the dragoon-language 
 of the old man. 
 
 " We heard only up to a certain point," says Madame, 
 sedately. " When he began to be excited, Bell and I 
 withdrew." 
 
 The Lieutenant was greatly relieved. The septua- 
 genarian was not a nice person for ladies to listen to. 
 Indeed, in one direction he was amply qualified to have 
 written a " Dialogue, between a Man and a Cat : being 
 a discussion as to which vjould like to use the most 
 bad language when the tail of the latter is trodden 
 upon." Such an essay would be instructive in results, 
 but objectionable in tone. 
 
 All this while we had heard nothing of Arthur. 
 That morning when Tita sent down to inquire if there 
 were any letters for us at the post-office and found 
 there were none, she must needs send an urgent telegram 
 to Twickenham, to see if the young man's parents 
 knew anything of his whereabouts. Of course they 
 could not possibly know. Doubtless he was on his 
 way to Carlisle. Perhaps we should have the pleasure 
 of meeting him in Edinburgh. 
 
 But this indefinite postponement of the coming of 
 Arthur was a grievous irritation to the Lieutenant. 
 It was no relief to him that his rival was disposed to 
 remain absent. The very odd position in which he 
 was now placed made him long for any result that 
 would put an end to his suspense ; and I think he 
 was as anxious about seeing Arthur as any of us, — 
 that is to say, presuming Arthur to be certain to come 
 sooner or later. If it should happen that the dog-cart 
 had been upset — but there is no use in speculating on 
 the horrible selfishness that enters into the hearts of 
 young men who are in love and jealous. 
 
 All these things and many more the young Prussian 
 revealed to the sympathetic silence of Grasmere and 
 the fair green mountains around, as he and I set out 
 
334 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 for a long walk. The women had gone to pay visits 
 in the village and its neighbourhood. It seemed a pity 
 to waste so beautiful a day in going into a series of 
 houses ; but my Lady was inexorable whenever she 
 established to her own satisfaction that she owed a 
 certain duty. 
 
 The Lieutenant bade Bell good-bye with a certain 
 sadness in his tone. He watched them go down the 
 white road, in the glare of the sunshine, and then he 
 turned with a listless air to set out on his pilgrimage 
 into the hills. Of what avail was it that the lake out 
 there shone a deep and calm blue under the clear sky, 
 that the reflection of the wooded island was perfect as 
 the perfect mirror, -and that the far hills had drawn 
 around them a thin tremulous veil of silver gauze 
 under the strong heat of the sun ? The freshness of 
 the morning — when a light breeze blew over from the 
 west, and stirred the reeds of the lake, and awoke a 
 white ripple in by the shore — had no effect in brighten- 
 ing up his face. He was so busy talking of Bell, and 
 of Arthur, and of my Lady, that it was with a serene 
 unconsciousness he allowed himself to be led away 
 from the lake into the lonely regions of the hills. 
 
 Even a hardy young Uhlan finds his breath precious 
 when he is climbing a steep green slope, scrambling up 
 shelves of loose earth and slate, and clinging on to 
 bushes to help him in his ascent. There were inter- 
 ruptions in this flow of lovers' complainings. After 
 nearly an hour's climbing, Von Eosen had walked and 
 talked Bell out of his head; and as he threw himself 
 on a slope of Eydal Fell, and pulled out a flask of 
 sherry and his cigar-case, he laughed aloud, and 
 said — 
 
 " JSTo, I had no notion we were so high. Hee ! that 
 is a view — one does not see that often in my country — 
 all houses and men swept away — you are alone in the 
 world — and all around is nothing but mountains and 
 lakes." 
 
 Indeed, there was away towards the south a network 
 of hill and water that no one but Bell would have 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 335 
 
 picked to pieces for us — thin threads of silver lying in 
 long valleys, and mounds upon mounds rising up into 
 the clear blue sky that sloped down to the white line 
 of the sea. Coniston we could make out, and Winder- 
 mere we knew. Esthwaite we guessed at ; but of what 
 avail was guessing, when we came to that wild and 
 beautiful panorama beyond and around? 
 
 The Lieutenant's "eyes went back to Grasmere. 
 
 " How long is it you think Madame will pay her 
 visits?" 
 
 "Till the afternoon, probably. They will lunch 
 with some of their friends." 
 
 " And we — do we climb any more mountains ? " 
 
 "This is not a mountain — it is a hill. We shall 
 climb or go down again, just as you please." 
 
 "There is nothing else to do but to wait if we 
 go down ? " 
 
 " I suppose you mean waiting for the ladies to 
 return — no ; our going down won't bring them back 
 a minute the sooner." 
 
 "Then — let us go on, anywhere." 
 
 We had a long, aimless, and devious wandering 
 that day among the grassy slopes and peaks of Eydal 
 Fell, until we at length came down by the gorge 
 through which Eydal Beck plunges, foaming into the 
 valley below. Wherever we went, the Lieutenant 
 seemed chiefly to be concerned in making out the 
 chief places of beauty which we should bring the 
 women to see on the morrow — as if Bell did not 
 know Eydal Beck and all its falls as well as she 
 knew Walton Heath. And then we got down the 
 winding road by Eydal Mount, and walked leisurely 
 back by Eydal Water to Grasmere, 
 
 What was this that confronted us as we went into 
 the hotel, and went forward to the large windows? 
 The sun was lying brightly on the hills, and the lake, 
 and the garden in front of us ; and on the lawn — 
 which was a blaze of bright colour — three figures stood, 
 throwing jet-black shadows on the green. Von Eosen 
 stared, as well he might stare. For there were Bell 
 
336 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 and Tita, engaged in earnest and interesting talk with 
 a young man ; and the young man was Arthur. 
 
 For a second or two the Lieutenant did not utter 
 a word ; but presently he remarked, with a fine affecta- 
 tion of carelessness — 
 
 " Have they had lunch, do you think ? " 
 
 " Let us go and see/' I say ; and so our Uhlan stalks 
 gloomily out into the garden. 
 
 Our appearance seemed to cause great embarrass- 
 ment to the party on the lawn. Arthur, with a flush 
 on his face, greeted us stiffly ; and then he suddenly 
 turned to Queen Tita, and continued his talk with 
 her in an ostentatiously impressive manner, as though 
 he would give us to understand that he would take 
 no more notice of us. Bell, apparently, had been 
 rather left out in the cold. Perhaps she was a little 
 vexed — for even the most amiable of girls have their 
 notions of pride — and so what must she do but im- 
 mediately turn to the Lieutenant and ask him with 
 much friendliness all about his forenoon's ramble. 
 
 If thankfulness, and kindliness, and all the modest 
 and grateful respect of love were ever written on a 
 young man's face, they dwelt in the eyes of our 
 Uhlan as he was almost struck dumb by this signal 
 mark of Bell's condescension. He took no great 
 advantage of the permission accorded to him. He 
 did not seek to draw her away. In fact, after telling 
 Mademoiselle, with his eyes cast down, that he hoped 
 she would come next day to see all that we had 
 seen, he placed the burden of explanation on me, 
 who would rather have sat in the back benches and 
 looked from a distance at this strange comedy. 
 
 But the effect upon Arthur of this harmless conduct 
 of Bell's was what might have been expected. When 
 we turned to go into the hotel for luncheon, he was 
 talking in rather a loud way, with a tine assumption 
 of cynicism. He had not much to tell of his 
 adventures, for the reason of his coming up so late 
 was merely that the cob had gone a little lame, and 
 had been brought with some care to Kendal, where 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 337 
 
 it was to have a couple of days' rest — but his con- 
 versation took far wider sweeps than that. The 
 climax of it came when we were sitting at table. All 
 this time the lad had not addressed a word to Bell; 
 but now he suddenly observed — 
 
 "You remember that song of Lover's you used 
 to sing, about the white sails flowing ? " 
 
 " Yes," said Bell — she had often sung it to him at 
 his own request. 
 
 " It is a pretty song," said he, with rather a ghastly 
 smile ; " but I heard a version of it the other night 
 that I thought was a good deal truer. Shall I try 
 to repeat the verses ? " 
 
 " Yes, do," says Queen Titania, with no great 
 cordiality in her tone. She half anticipated what 
 was coming. 
 
 " This is the first verse," said the young man, 
 glancing rather nervously at Bell, and then instantly 
 withdrawing his eyes : — 
 
 " What will you do, love, when I am going, 
 With white sails flowing, the seas beyond ? 
 "What will you do, love, when waves divide us, 
 And friends may chide us, for being fond ? " 
 
 " "When waves divide us, and friends are chiding, 
 Afar abiding, I'll think anew ; 
 And I'll take another devoted lover, 
 And I'll kiss him as I kissed you." 
 
 A frightful silence prevailed. We all of us knew 
 that the reckless young man was rushing on self- 
 destruction. Could he have devised a more ingenious 
 method of insulting Bell? He proceeded: — 
 
 " What will you do, love, if distant tidings 
 Thy fond confidings should undermine ? 
 And I abiding 'neath sultry skies 
 
 Should think other eyes were as bright as thine ? " 
 
 " Ah, joyful chance ! If guilt or shame 
 Were round thy name, could I be true ? 
 For I'd take the occasion, without much persuasion, 
 To have another flirtation — that's what I'd do." 
 
 If there are angels who watch over the fortunes 
 of unhappy lovers, surely they must have wept at 
 
338 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 this moment. These foolish verses — and another one 
 which fear of my Lady prevents my publishing here 
 — were the actual outcome of all the rebellious 
 thoughts that had been rankling in his mind like 
 poison during these last few days. Along the lonely 
 highway, this was the devil's dirge he had been 
 crooning to himself. He had fed on its unholy bitter- 
 ness as he sat in remote inns, and pictured to him- 
 self, with a tierce satisfaction, the scene in which he 
 would recite the lines to Bell, before the whole of us. 
 
 And now the deed was done. He sat silent for 
 a moment ; and we were all of us silent. A waiter 
 said, " Sherry, sir ? " behind his ear, and he started. 
 And then Queen Tita turned to Von Eosen, and asked 
 him if he had seen Eydal Mount. 
 
 It was a pitiable thing. In public life a man may 
 force himself into the Chancellorship of the Exchequer, 
 or some such office, by departing into a Cave of 
 Adullam and marshalling the discontented around 
 him ; but in love affairs, how is a man to profit by 
 • an exhibition of angry passion and recklessness ? Force 
 is of no avail, threatening is as idle as the wind. And 
 there was something even more cruel than threatening 
 in this recitation of the young man's, as only those 
 who were familiar with our life in Surrey could under- 
 stand. What might come of it no one could tell. 
 
 [Note by Queen Titania. — " I am no judge of what ought to be placed 
 before the public — I leave that to those whose sense of good taste and 
 proper feeling is probably better than mine. But if these most 
 impertinent verses are to be published, I have to say that the im- 
 plication contained in the first verse is cruelly false. To hint that 
 Bell could have thought of kissing either Arthur or the Lieutenant — 
 or would have done so if they were Princes of the Blood — is most 
 unjust and insulting to a girl whose pride and self-respect no one 
 has ever dared to impeach. It is all very well for a stupid young man 
 to say such things in a fit of ungovernable rage ; but what I know is 
 that Bell cried very much about' it, when she spoke to me about it 
 afterwards. And both my husbaud and Count von Rosen sat still, and 
 never said a word. If I had been a man, I think I should have told 
 Arthur very plainly what I thought of his very pretty conduct. But I 
 suppose they considered it a jest ; for I have frequently found that the 
 notions of gentlemen about what is humorous are a little peculiar."] 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 339 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 ARMAGEDDON. 
 
 " Let us go hence, my songs ; she will not hear. 
 Let us go hence together without fear ; 
 Keep silence now, for singing-time is over, 
 And over all old things and all things dear. 
 She loves not you nor me as all we love her. 
 Yea, though we sang as angels in her ear, 
 She would not hear." 
 
 Blow, wind, and shriek, tempests ! Let all the gases be 
 lowered, and thunder roll through the gloom ! Tremble, 
 ye forests of canvas, where twisted oaks and shattered 
 elms bear witness to the agony of the scene ; and let the 
 low music of the violoncello and the throbbing of muf- 
 fled drums announce that dreadful deeds are brewing 
 Alas ! we had no such thrilling accompaniments to the 
 tragedy being enacted before our eyes on the fair shores 
 of Grasmere. The lake lay as blue and as calm as 
 though no perplexed and suffering human souls were by 
 its side ; and instead of the appropriate darkness of a 
 theatre, we had the far hills trembling under the white 
 haze of the mid-day heat. Yet my Lady saw none of 
 these things. Her heart was rent asunder by the 
 troubles of the young folks under her charge : until I 
 seemed to see in her speechless eyes a sort of despairing 
 wish that she had never been born. 
 
 " And yet," I say to her, " you don't see the worst 
 of it. If Arthur is driven away by Bell, a far more 
 terrible thing will befall him." 
 
 H What ? " says Queen Titania, with the clear, brown 
 eyes grown solemn. 
 
 " He will marry somebody else." 
 
 " Bah ! " she says peevishly ; " is this the time to be 
 thinking of jests ? " 
 
 " Indeed, I know one who never discovered the joke 
 of it. But don't you think that he will ? " 
 
 " I wish he would." 
 
 z 2 
 
34o THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 " There's little Katty Tatham, now, would give her 
 ears to marry him." 
 
 " You always fancy girls are very anxious to marry." 
 
 "I never asked but one, and I found her ready 
 enough." 
 
 " I refused you." 
 
 " You made a pretence of doing so." 
 
 " I wish I had kept to my first resolution." 
 
 " I wish you had, since you say so. But that's of no 
 consequence. I saved you from committing suicide, as 
 I have frequently told you." 
 
 The small creature looks up, and with an excellent 
 calmness and self-composure, says — 
 
 "I suppose you never heard of a young man — I 
 thought him very silly at the time, myself — who walked 
 about all night, one night at Eastbourne ; and in the 
 morning — long before my mamma was up — aroused the 
 servants, and sent in a letter — a sort of ultimatum it 
 was — with all sorts of vows of vengeance and despair. 
 That young man wasn't Arthur Ashburton; but when 
 you complain of Arthur's mad follies " 
 
 " Madam," I say to her, " your sex protects you. Go 
 and live. But when you say that / complain of Arthur, 
 and in the next breath accuse me of always bringing 
 forward excuses for him " 
 
 But what was the use of continuing the argument ? 
 My Lady smiles with a fine air of triumph; confident 
 that her ingenious logic had carried the day, as, in fact, 
 it generally does. The man who endeavours to follow, 
 seize, and confront the airy statements made by a lady 
 in a difficulty, resembles nothing so much as a railway- 
 train trying to catch a butterfly; and who would not 
 back the butterfly? 
 
 We were now placed in an uncommonly awkward fix. 
 The arrival of Arthur at Grasmere had produced a 
 complication such as we had not dreamt of; for now it 
 appeared as if the situation were to be permanent. 
 We had somehow fancied that, as soon as he overtook 
 us, some definite arrangement would be come to, settling 
 at once and for ever those rival pretensions which were 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 34i 
 
 interfering with our holiday in a serious manner. At 
 last, my Lady had considered, the great problem was 
 to be finally solved; and, of course, the solution 
 lay in Bell's hands. But, now Arthur had come, who 
 was to move in the matter ? It was not for Bell, at 
 all events, to come forward and say to one of the 
 young men "Go!" and to the other "Stay!" Neither 
 of them, on the other hand, seemed disposed to do 
 anything bold and heroic in order to rid us of this 
 grievous embarrassment; and so the first afternoon 
 passed away — with some more walking, visiting, and 
 boating — in a stolidly and hopelessly reserved and 
 dreary fashion. 
 
 But every one of us knew that a mine lay close by, 
 and that at any moment a match might be flung into it. 
 Every word that was uttered was weighed beforehand. 
 As for Tita, the poor little woman was growing quite 
 pale and fatigued with her constant and nervous 
 anxiety ; until one of the party privately told her that 
 if no one else asked Bell to marry, he would himself, 
 and so end our troubles. 
 
 " I don't know what to do," she said, sitting down and 
 folding her hands on her knees, while there was quite a 
 pitiable expression on her face. " I am afraid to leave 
 them for a moment. Perhaps now they may be fight- 
 ing — but that does not much matter, for Bell can't have 
 gone downstairs to dinner yet. Don't you think you 
 could get Arthur to go away ? " 
 
 " Of what use would that be ? He went away before ; 
 and then we had our steps dogged, and letters 
 and telegrams in every town. No ; let us have it 
 out here." 
 
 " I wish you and he would have it out between you. 
 That poor girl is being frightened to death." 
 
 " Say but one brief word, my dear, and Arthur will be 
 feeding the fishes among the reeds of Grasmere before 
 the morning. But would you really like Bell to send 
 Arthur off? Is he really to be told that she won't 
 marry him ? They used to be pets of yours. I have seen 
 you regard them, as they walked before us along the 
 
342 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 lanes, with an amiable and maternal smile. Is it all 
 over ? Would you like him to go away and never see 
 us any more ? " 
 
 " Oh, I don't know ; " cries Tita, with the anxiety and 
 pity and tenderness in her eyes almost grown into tears. 
 
 That was a nice little project of hers with which we 
 had started from the old tavern in Holborn. It had 
 been tolerably successful. If Bell were not in love with 
 the Lieutenant, there could be no doubt, at least, that 
 the Lieutenant was hopelessly and over head and ears 
 in love with Bell. It was a pretty comedy for a time ; 
 and my Lady had derived an infinite pleasure and 
 amusement from watching the small and scarcely per- 
 ceptible degrees by which the young folks got drawn 
 towards each other. What would have been the beauti- 
 ful pictures of English scenery we had driven through, 
 without two young lovers in the foreground, trying 
 to read their fate in each other's eyes, and affording 
 us elderly folks all manner of kindly and comic 
 reminiscences ? 
 
 It had all turned out very well; until, suddenly, 
 came the revelation that the greatest happiness of the 
 greatest number had demanded a human victim ; and 
 here he was before us, with gory locks and piteous 
 eyes, demanding justice. Never before had my Lady 
 fully realized what was meant in the final sending 
 away of Arthur; and now that she saw before her 
 all the consequences of her schemes, she was struck 
 to the heart, and dared scarcely ask for some re- 
 assurance as to what she had done. 
 
 " Oh," she says, " I hope I have done right." 
 
 " You ! Why should you assume any responsibility ? 
 Let the young folks arrange their own affairs as they 
 like best. Do you think, if Bell had been willing to 
 break with Arthur, that your packing off the lieu- 
 tenant to Germany would prevent her making the 
 acquaintance of some other man? And she has not 
 broken off with Arthur. If she does so, she does 
 so, and there's an end of it ; but why should you 
 vex yourself about it?" 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 343 
 
 She was not to be comforted. She shook her head, 
 and continued to sit there with her eyes full of anxious 
 cares. When at length she went off to dress hastily for 
 dinner, it was with a determination that from that mo- 
 ment she would endeavour to help Arthur in every 
 way she could. That was the form her repentance took. 
 
 If the young man had only known that he had 
 secured such a valuable ally ! But just at this time 
 — amid all our perplexity as to who should first pre- 
 cipitate matters what should the reckless fellow do 
 but startle us all with a declaration which wholly 
 altered the aspect of affairs ! 
 
 We were seated at dinner. It was in the private 
 room we had engaged ; and the evening light, re- 
 flected from the lake outside, was shining upon Tita's 
 gentle face as she sat at the head of the table. Bell 
 was partly in shadow. The two young men, by some 
 fatal mischance, sat next each other : probably because 
 neither wished to take the unfair advantage offered 
 by the empty seat next to Bell. 
 
 Well, something had occurred to stir up the smould- 
 ering fires of Arthur's wrath. He had been treated 
 with great and even elaborate courtesy by everybody 
 — but more particularly by Bell — during our afternoon 
 rambles ; but something had evidently gone wrong. 
 There was a scowl on the fair and handsome face 
 that was naturally pleasant, boyish, and agreeable in 
 appearance. He maintained a strict silence for some 
 little time after dinner was served ; although my Lady 
 strove to entice him into the general talk. But pre- 
 sently he looked up, and, addressing her, said in a 
 forcedly merry way — 
 
 "Should you like to be startled?" 
 
 " Yes, please," Tita would probably have said— so 
 anxious is she to humour everybody ; but just then 
 he added, in the same reckless and defiant tone — 
 
 " What if I tell you I am going to get married V 
 
 An awful consternation fell upon us. 
 
 "Oh," says my Lady, in a hurried fashion, "you 
 are joking, Arthur." 
 
344 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 " No, I am not. And when I present the young 
 lady to you, you will recognize an old friend of yours, 
 whom you haven't seen for years." 
 
 To put these words down on paper can give no 
 idea whatever of the ghastly appearance of jocularity 
 which accompanied them, nor of the perfectly stunning 
 effect they produced. The women were appalled into 
 silence. Von Eosen stared, and indifferently played 
 with the stem of his wine-glass. For mere charity's 
 sake, I was driven into filling up this horrible vacuum 
 of silence ; and so I asked — with what show of 
 appropriateness married people may judge — whether 
 he had formed any plans for the buying of furniture. 
 
 Furniture ! 'Tis an excellent topic. Everybody can 
 say something about it. My Lady, with a flash of 
 gratitude in her inmost soul, seized upon the cue, 
 and said — 
 
 " Oh, Arthur, have you seen our sideboard ? " 
 
 Now, when a young man tells you he is about to 
 get married, it is rather an odd thing to answer " Oh, 
 Arthur— on Tom, or Dick, or Harry, as the case may 
 be — have you seen our sideboard f " But all that my 
 Lady wanted was to speak ; for Arthur, having ac- 
 complished his intention of startling us, had relapsed 
 into silence. 
 
 " Of course he has seen the sideboard," I say for 
 him. " He was familiar with the whole of that fatal 
 transaction." 
 
 " Why fatal % " says the Lieutenant. 
 
 You see, we were getting on. 
 
 " Bell will tell you the history. No ? Then I 
 will — for the benefit of all folks who may have to 
 furnish a house ; and I hope Arthur— after the very 
 gratifying announcement he has just made — will take 
 heed." 
 
 " Oh, yes," says Arthur, gaily, " let us have all 
 your experience about house matters. It is never too 
 soon to learn." 
 
 "Very well. There was once a sideboard which 
 lived in Dorking " 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 345 
 
 Here the Lieutenant begged to know what piece 
 of furniture a sideboard was ; and when that was ex- 
 plained to him, the legend was continued: — 
 
 "It was a very grand old sideboard of carved oak, 
 which had regarded the dinner-parties of several gene- 
 rations from its recess. At last it had to be sold 
 at public auction. A certain agreeable and amiable 
 lady, who lives on the banks of the river Mole, saw 
 this sideboard, and was told she might have it for 
 a trifle of ninety-five guineas. She is an impressionable 
 person. The sideboard occupied her thoughts day 
 and night; until at last her husband — who is the 
 most obliging person in the world, and has no other 
 desire in life than to obey her wishes " 
 
 Here there were some interruptions at the further 
 end of the table. Silence having been restored, the 
 speaker went on to say that the sideboard was bought. 
 
 " It was the beginning of the troubles of that 
 wretched man. When you have an old oak side- 
 board that farmers' wives will drive twenty miles 
 to look at, you must have old oak chairs. When you 
 have old oak chairs, a microcephalous idiot would 
 know that you must have an old oak table. By slow 
 degrees the home of this unhappy man underwent 
 transformation. Eooms that had been familiar to him, 
 and homely, became gloomy halls from which ghosts 
 of a cheerful temperament would have fled in de- 
 spair. People came to dinner, and sat in the high- 
 backed chairs with an expression of resigned melan- 
 choly on their faces ; and now and again an unlucky 
 lady of weight and dimensions would, on trying to 
 rise from the table, tilt up the chair and save herself 
 from falling by clinging to the arm of the man next 
 her. For of course you can't have castors on old 
 oak chairs, and when the stumps of wood have got 
 well settled into the thick Turkey carpet, how is the 
 chair to be sent back?" 
 
 " That is quite absurd," says a voice. " Everyone 
 says our dining-room chairs are exceedingly comfort- 
 able." 
 
346 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 "Yours are; but this is another matter. Now the 
 lady of the house did not stop at oak furniture and 
 solemn carpets and severe curtains. She began to 
 dress herself and her children to match her furni- 
 ture. She cut the hair of her own babes to suit that 
 sideboard. There was nothing heard of but broad 
 lace collars, and black velvet garments, and what not ; 
 so that the boys might correspond with the curtains 
 and not be wholly out of keeping with the chairs. 
 She made a dress for her own mother, which that 
 estimable lady contemplated with profound indigna- 
 tion, and asked how she could be expected to appear 
 in decent society in a costume only fit for a fancy 
 ball." 
 
 " It was a most beautiful dress, wasn't it, Bell V. 
 says a voice. 
 
 " But far worse was to come. She began to acquire 
 a taste for everything that was old and marvellous. 
 She kept her husband for hours stifling in the clammy 
 atmosphere of Soho, while she ransacked dirty shops 
 for scraps of crockery that were dear in proportion 
 to their ugliness. During these hours of waiting he 
 thought of many things — suicide among the number. 
 But what he chiefly ruminated on was the pleasing 
 and ingenious theory that in decoration everything 
 that is old is genuine, and everything that is new 
 is meretricious. He was not a person of profound 
 accomplishments " 
 
 " Hear, hear ! " says a voice. 
 
 " and so he could not understand why he should 
 
 respect the intentions of artists who, a couple of cen- 
 turies ago, painted fans, and painted them badly, and 
 why he should treat with scorn the intentions of artists 
 who at this moment paint fans and paint them well. 
 He could not acquire any contempt for a French vase 
 in gold and white and rose-colour, even when it was 
 put beside a vase some three hundred years of age 
 which was chiefly conspicuous by its defective curves 
 and bad colour. As for Italian mirrors and blue and 
 white china, he received without emotion the state- 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 347 
 
 ment that all the world of London was wildly running 
 after these things. He bore meekly the contemptuous 
 pity bestowed on him when he expressed the belief 
 that modern Venetian glass was, on the whole, a 
 good deal more beautiful than any he had seen of the 
 old, and when he proposed to buy some of it as being 
 more within the means of an ordinary person. But 
 when at last — after having waited a mortal hour in 
 a dingy hole in a dingy thoroughfare near Leicester 
 Square — he was goaded into rebellion, and declared 
 that he did not care a brass farthing, nor even the 
 half of that sum, when an object of art was made, 
 how it was made, where it was made, or by whom it 
 was made, so long as it fulfilled its first duty of being 
 good in design and workmanship and agreeable to the 
 eye — it seemed to him that the end of his conjugal 
 happiness was reached. Nothing short of a legal 
 separation could satisfy the injured feelings of his 
 wife. That she should have to live with this Goth 
 and outer barbarian seemed to her monstrous. But at 
 this time it occurred to her that she might find some 
 use for even such a creature, considering that he was 
 
 still possessed of a little money " 
 
 "You seldom omit to bring that forward," says 
 the voice. 
 
 " and that there was a drawing-room to be trans- 
 formed. Then he beheld strange things. Phantom 
 curtains of black and gold began to steal into the house. 
 Hidden mysteries dwelt in the black, yellow, and red 
 of the carpet ; and visitors paused upon the threshold 
 for a moment to collect their wits, after the first stun 
 of looking in. Then all the oil of Greenland was unable 
 to light up this gloomy chamber in the evening ; and 
 so there came down from London mighty sheets 
 of mirrors to be let into the walls. 'Now,' said this 
 reckless woman to her husband, ' we must have a whole 
 series of dinner-parties to ask everybody to come 
 and see what the house looks like.' " 
 
 " Oh, what a story ! " cries that voice again. " Bell, 
 did you ever hear the like of that ? I wonder he 
 
348 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 does not say we put the prices on the furniture and 
 invited the people to look at the cost. You don't 
 believe it, do you, Count von Kosen?" 
 
 " JSTo, Madame," said the Lieutenant ; " I do not 
 believe any lady exists such as that one which he 
 describes." 
 
 "But he means me," says Tita. 
 
 " Then what shall I say ? " continues the young man. 
 " May I say that I have neveT seen — not in England, 
 not in Germany — any rooms so beautifully arranged 
 in the colours as yours ? And it was all your own 
 design ? Ha ! — I know he is calling attention to 
 that for the purpose of complimenting you — that 
 is it." 
 
 Of course, that mean-spirited young man took 
 every opportunity of flattering and cajoling Bell's 
 chief adviser; but what if he had known at this 
 moment that she had gone over to the enemy, and 
 mentally vowed to help Arthur by every means in 
 her power ? 
 
 She could not do much for him that evening After 
 dinner we had a little music, but there was not 
 much life or soul in it. Arthur could sing an ordinary 
 drawing-room song as well as another, and we half 
 expected him to reveal his sorrows in that way, but he 
 coldly refused. The Lieutenant, at my Lady's urgent 
 request, sat down to the piano and sang the song that 
 tells of the maiden who lived " im Winkel am Thore ; " 
 but there was an absence of that spontaneity which 
 generally characterized his rough and ready efforts in 
 music, and after missing two of the verses, he got over 
 his task with an air of relief. It was very hard that 
 the duty of dispelling the gloom should have been 
 thrown on Bell ; but when once she sat down and 
 struck one or two of those minor chords which presaged 
 one of the old ballads, we found a great refuge from our 
 embarrassment. We were in another world then — with 
 Chloe plaiting flowers in her hair, and Eobin hunting in 
 the greenwood with his fair lady, who was such a 
 skilful archer, and all the lasses and lads kissing each 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 349 
 
 other round the Maypole. With what a fine innocence 
 Bell sang of these merry goings-on ! I daresay a good 
 many well-conducted young persons would have 
 stopped with the stopping of the dancing, and never 
 told what happened after the fiddler had played " Pack- 
 ington's Pound " and " Sellinger's Round." But our Bell, 
 with no thought of harm, went merrily on — 
 
 " Then after an hour 
 
 They went to a bower, 
 And played for ale and cakes, 
 
 And kisses too — 
 
 Until they were due 
 The lasses held the stakes. 
 The girls did then begin 
 
 To quarrel with the men, 
 And bid them take their kisses back 
 
 And give them their own again ! " 
 
 In fact, there was a very bright smile of amusement on 
 her face, and you could have fancied that her singing 
 was on the point of breaking into laughter ; for how 
 could the girl know that my Lady was looking rather 
 reserved at the mention of that peculiar sort of betting ? 
 But then the concluding verse comes back to the realms 
 of propriety ; and Bell sang it quite gently and tenderly, 
 as though she, too, were bidding good-bye to her com- 
 panions in a frolic: — 
 
 ' ' ' Good night/ says Harry ; 
 ' Good night, ' says Mary ; 
 ' Good night,' says Dolly to John ; 
 
 'Good night,' says Sue 
 
 To her sweetheart Hugh ; 
 ' Good night, ' says every one. 
 Some walked, and some did run, 
 
 Some loitered on the way, 
 And bound themselves by kisses twelve 
 
 To meet next holiday — 
 And bound themselves by kisses twelve 
 
 To meet next holiday ! " 
 
 " Mademoiselle," said Von Rosen, coming forward to 
 her with quite a paternal air, " you must not sing any 
 more to-night. You are always too ready to sing for us 
 — and you do not reflect of the fatigue." And as Bell 
 
THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 stood rather embarrassed by this exhibition of thought- 
 fulness, and as Arthur glowered gloomily out from his 
 corner, the Lieutenant made some excuse for himself 
 and me, and presently we found ourselves out by the 
 shores of the lake, smoking a contemplative cigar under 
 the clear starlight. 
 
 " Now, my good friend," he said, suddenly, " tell me 
 — is it a lie, yes ? " 
 
 " Is what a lie ? " 
 
 "That foolish story that he will be married." 
 
 " Oh, you mean Arthur. I had almost forgotten what 
 he said at dinner. Well, perhaps it is a lie — young 
 men in love are always telling lies about something 
 or other." 
 
 " Heh ! " says the Lieutenant, peevishly ; " you do 
 know it is not true. How can it be true ? " 
 
 " Of course you want me to say that I think it true — 
 you boys are so unreasonable. I don't know anything 
 about it. I don't care. If he wants to marry some 
 girl or other, I hope he may. The wish is perhaps not 
 very friendly " 
 
 " Now look at this ! " says the Lieutenant, quite 
 fiercely, and in a voice so loud that I was afraid it 
 might reach the windows of the hotel that were now 
 sending a yellow light over the lawn : " if he means to 
 marry some other young lady, why is he here ? He has 
 no business here. Why does he come here to annoy 
 everyone and make himself miserable? He ought to go 
 away ; and it is you that should send him away." 
 
 " Bless me ! Surely a man may come and stop at an 
 hotel at Grasmere without asking my permission. I 
 have no right to forbid Arthur remaining in West- 
 moreland or any other county. He does not ask me to 
 pay his bills." 
 
 " This that Madame says it is quite true, then," says 
 the Lieutenant, angrily, " that you care only for your 
 own comfort !" 
 
 " When Madame says such things, my good friend, she 
 retains the copyright. Don't let her hear you repeating 
 them, if you are wise, or you'll get into trouble. As for 
 
OF A PHAETON, 
 
 351 
 
 myself, this cigar is excellent, and you may let your 
 vexation take any shape that is handy. I foresaw 
 that we should soon have two Arthurs in the field." 
 
 The tall young soldier walked up and down for a 
 minute or two, evidently in great distress, and at last 
 he stopped, and said, in a very humble voice — 
 
 " My dear friend, I beg your pardon. I do not know 
 what I say when I see this pitiful fellow causing so 
 much pain to your wife and to Mademoiselle. Now, 
 when you look at them — not at me at all — will not 
 you endeavour to do something ?" 
 
 He was no great hand at diplomacy, this perplexed 
 and stammering Uhlan, who seemed bent on inflicting 
 his anger on his cigar. To introduce the spectacle of 
 two suffering women so as to secure the banishment 
 of his rival was a very transparent device, and 
 might have provoked laughter, but that Grasmere 
 is deep, and a young man in love exceedingly 
 irritable. 
 
 " He says he is going to marry some other girl : what 
 more would you like ? You don't want to carry off all 
 his sweethearts from the unfortunate youth?" 
 
 " But it is not true." 
 
 "Very well." 
 
 " And you talk of carrying off his sweetheart. Made- 
 moiselle was never his sweetheart, I can assure you of 
 that; and besides I have not carried her off, nor am 
 likely to do that, so long as this wretched fellow hangs 
 about, and troubles her much with his complainings. 
 Now, if she will only say to me that I may send him 
 away, I will give you my word he is not in this part 
 of the country, no, not one day longer." 
 
 "Take care. You can't commit murder in this 
 country with impunity, except in one direction. You 
 may dispose of your wife as you please ; but if you 
 murder any reasonable being, you will suffer." 
 
 Indeed, the Lieutenant, pacing up and down the 
 narrow path hy the lake, looked really as if he would 
 have liked to catch Arthur up and dash him against 
 Mercator's Projection, or some other natural pheno- 
 
352 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 menon ; and the more he contemplated his own helpless- 
 ness in the matter, the more he chafed and fumed. The 
 moon rose slowly from behind the hills, and ran along 
 the smooth surface of the lake, and found him nursing 
 this volcano of wrath in his breast. But suddenly, as 
 he looked up, he saw the blind of one of the hotel- 
 windows thrust aside, and he knew that Bell was there, 
 contemplating the wonderful beauties of the sky. He 
 ceased his growlings. A more human expression came 
 over his face ; and then he proposed that we should go 
 in, lest the ladies should want to say good-night. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 THE LAST OF GRASMERE. 
 
 "Muss aus dem Thai jetzt scheiden, 
 
 Wo alles Lust und Klang ; 
 Das ist mein herbstes Leiden, 
 
 Mein letzter Gang ! 
 
 Dich, mein stilles Thai, 
 
 Grass' ich tausend Mai ! 
 Das ist mein herbstes Leiden, 
 
 Mein letzter Gang ! " 
 
 A still greater surprise was in store for us next morn- 
 ing. My Lady had taken leave to discredit altogether 
 the story of Arthur's approaching marriage. She re- 
 garded it as merely the wild and reckless utterance of 
 vexation. For the young man's sake, she hoped that no 
 one would make any allusion to this topic, and that he 
 himself would allow it to fall into the rapidly running 
 waters of oblivion. 
 
 Now, he had on the previous day despatched a 
 message to Kendal to the effect that the dog-cart should 
 be at once sent to him, if the cob had quite recovered. 
 He proposed to accompany us as far as Penrith or 
 Carlisle ; further than that he said he did not care 
 to go. But as the trap was likely to arrive that fore- 
 noon, and as he had to see the man who would bring it, 
 he begged us to start for our forenoon's walk by our- 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 353 
 
 selves — a proposal which was accepted with equanimity 
 by the whole of our party. The young man was quite 
 complaisant. My Lady was very attentive to him ; and 
 we thought we should start for our ramble with the 
 consciousness that we had left behind us no wretched 
 creature eating away his heart with thoughts of revenge. 
 
 Somehow this mood passed rapidly away from him. 
 The spectacle of Bell and the Lieutenant planning with 
 a great joy the outline of our morning excursion seemed 
 to bring back all the bitterness of his spirit. He was 
 silent for a long time — until, indeed, we were ready to 
 leave the hotel ; and then, as he accompanied us to the 
 door, he produced a letter, and said, with an affectation 
 of carelessness — 
 
 " By the way, I have a message for you. It was lucky 
 I thought of going round to the post-office this morning, 
 or I should have probably missed this. Katty Tatham 
 desires to be remembered to you all, and hopes you will 
 bring her back a piece of Scotch heather to show that 
 you went all the way. Ta-ta ! " 
 
 He waved his hand to us, and went in. My Lady 
 looked at me solemnly, and said nothing for a moment, 
 until Bell had passed along the road a little bit, with 
 the Lieutenant. 
 
 " Is that another story, do you think ? Do you 
 believe that Katty Tatham is actually in correspondence 
 with him?" 
 
 "He did not say so." 
 
 " He meant that we should infer it, at all events ; 
 and that, after what he said last night " 
 
 Tita was dreadfully puzzled. She could understand 
 how vexation of spirit might drive a foolish young man 
 into making a statement not wholly in accordance with 
 fact ; but that he should repeat this legend in another 
 
 way, and bring the name of a lady into it no, Tita 
 
 could scarcely believe that all this was untrue. 
 
 She hurried up to Bell, and placed her hand within 
 the young lady's arm. 
 
 " Is it not strange that Katty Tatham should be 
 writing to Arthur, if that was what he meant." 
 
 A A 
 
354 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 " Oh no, not at all. They are very old friends ; and, 
 besides, she does all the letter-writing for her papa, 
 who is almost blind, poor old man. And what a nice 
 girl she is, isn't she, Tita?" 
 
 Of course we were all anxious to persuade each other 
 that Katty Tatham was the very nicest girl in all 
 England, although none of us except Bell had seen her 
 for two or three years ; and it was wonderful how this 
 sort of talk brightened up the spirits of our party. 
 The Lieutenant grew quite interested in Katty Tatham. 
 He was nearly praising her himself, although he had 
 never heard her name until that moment. In short, 
 the four of us were ready to swear that this poor little 
 Katty was just as pleasant and honest and pretty and 
 charming a girl as was to be found anywhere in the 
 world, or out of it, and that it was most singular that 
 she had never married. Tita declared that she knew 
 that Katty had had ever so many offers ; and that it 
 was not alone the frailties of her father that kept her 
 from marrying. 
 
 " She must have been waiting for some one/'' said the 
 small woman, rather slyly. 
 
 What a morning it was ! As we walked along the 
 white road, in the stillness of the heat, the blue waters 
 of Grasmere glimmered through the trees. ."Never had 
 we seen the colours of Bell's Fairyland so intense. 
 The hills in the distance had a silvery haze thrown 
 over their pale purples, but here around us the sharp 
 clear colours blazed in the sunshine — the deep blue of 
 Grasmere, the yellow-white of the road, and the various 
 rich greens and browns of the trees and the shore. 
 And theu, by and by, we came in sight of Eydal 
 Water. How different it was to the weird and gloomy 
 lake we had found two evenings before lying buried 
 between the hills. Now it seemed shallow and fair 
 and light, with a grey shimmer of wind across its 
 surface, breaking here and there the perfect mirror of 
 the mountain-slopes and woods. In the absolute silence 
 around us we could hear the water-hens calling to each 
 other; and out there among the reeds we could see 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 355 
 
 them paddling about, dipping their heads into the lake, 
 and fluttering their wings. We walked on to Rydal 
 bridge, and had a look at the clear brown rivulet 
 rushing down its narrow channel between the thick 
 underwood and the trees. We took the Lieutenant up 
 to Eydal Mount — the small house with its tree-fuchsias 
 standing bright and warm in the sunshine — and from 
 the plateau in front beheld the great fair landscape 
 around the silver- white lake of Windermere. We went 
 up to the falls of Eydal Beck, and, in short, went the 
 round of the ordinary tourist— all for the sake of our 
 Prussian friend, we persuaded ourselves. Bell was his 
 guide, and he looked as though he would have liked 
 to be led for ever. Perhaps he took away with him 
 but a confused recollection of all the interesting things 
 she told him; but surely, if the young man has a 
 memory, he cannot even now have forgotten that 
 bright, clear, warm day that was spent about Rydal, 
 with a certain figure in the foreground that would 
 have lent a strange and gracious charm to a far less 
 beautiful picture. 
 
 " Is it not an odd thing," I say to Queen Titania, who 
 has been pulling and plaiting wild-flowers in order to 
 let the young folks get ahead of us, " how you associate 
 certain groups of unheeding trees and streams and 
 hills with various events in your life, and can never 
 get over the impression that they wear such and such 
 a look?" 
 
 " I daresay it's quite true, but I don't understand,' 
 she says, with the calm impertinence that distinguishes 
 her. 
 
 " If you will cease for a moment to destroy your 
 gloves by pulling these weeds, I will tell you a story 
 which will convey my meaning to your small intellect." 
 
 "Oh, a story," she says, with a beautiful sigh of 
 resignation. 
 
 " There was a young lady once upon a time who was 
 about to leave England and go with her mamma to live 
 in the south-west of France. They did not expect to 
 come back for a good number of vears, if ever they came 
 A A 2 
 
356 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 back. And so a young man of their acquaintance got 
 up a farewell banquet at Kichmond, and several friends 
 came down to the hotel. They sat in a room overlook- 
 ing the windings of the river, and the soft masses of 
 foliage, and the far landscape stretching on to Windsor. 
 The young man had, a little time before, asked the 
 young lady to marry him, and she refused ; but he bore 
 
 her no malice " 
 
 " He has taken care to have his revenge since," 
 says Tita. 
 
 " You interrupt the story. They sat down to dinner 
 on this summer evening. Everyone was delighted with 
 the view ; but to this wretched youth it seemed as 
 though the landscape were drowned in sadness, and the 
 river a river of unutterable grief. All the trees seemed 
 to be saying good-bye, and when the sun went down, 
 it was as though it would never light up any other day 
 with the light of bygone days. The mist came over 
 the trees. The evening fell, slow, and sad, and grey. 
 Down by the stream a single window was lit up, and 
 that made the melancholy of the picture even more 
 painful, until the young man, who had eaten nothing 
 and drank nothing, and talked to people as though he 
 were in a dream, felt as if all the world had grown 
 desolate, and was no more worth having " 
 
 " If I had only known," says Tita, in a voice so low 
 and gentle that you could scarcely have heard it. 
 
 " And then, you know, the carriages came round ; 
 and he saw her, with the others, come downstairs pre- 
 pared to leave. He bade good-night to the mamma, 
 who got into the carriage. He bade good-night to her ; 
 and she was about to get in too, when she suddenly 
 remembered that she had left some flowers in the 
 dining-room, and ran back to fetch them. Before he 
 could overtake her she had got the flowers and was 
 coming back through the passage into the hall. 'It 
 isn't good-night, it is good-bye, we must say ' — I think 
 he said something like that — and she held out her 
 hand — and somehow there was a very strange look in 
 her eyes, just as if she were going to cry . But, 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 357 
 
 you know, there's no use in your crying just now 
 about it." 
 
 Tita is pretending to smile, but a certain tremor of 
 the lips is visible ; and so the narrator hurries on : — 
 
 " Now look here. For the next three months — for 
 the soft-hearted creature had hurriedly whispered that 
 she might return to England then — that young man 
 haunted Eichmond. He pretty nearly ruined his pro- 
 spects in life, and his digestion as well, by continual 
 and solitary dining at the Star and Garter. He could 
 have kissed the stone steps of that hotel, and never 
 entered its vestibule without blessing the white pillars 
 and blank walls. He spent hours in writing letters 
 there " 
 
 "So that the Biarritz boatmen wondered why so 
 many envelopes should have the Eichmond postmark," 
 says Tita — though, how she could have learnt anything 
 about it goodness only knows. 
 
 "and haled out every complaisant friend he 
 
 could lay hands on to moon about the neighbourhood. 
 But the strange thing is this — that while he was in 
 love with the vestibule of the hotel, he never saw the 
 twilight fall over the Eichmond woods without feeling 
 a cold hand laid on his heart ; and when he thinks of 
 the place now — with the mists coming over the trees 
 and the river getting dark— he thinks that the view from 
 Eichmond-hill is the most melancholy in all the world." 
 
 " And what does he think of Eastbourne ? " 
 
 " That is a very different thing. He and she got into 
 the quarrelling stage there " 
 
 " In which they have successfully remained to the 
 present time." 
 
 " But when she was young and innocent, she would 
 always admit that she had begun the quarrel." 
 
 " On the contrary, she told stories in order to please 
 him." 
 
 "That motive does not much control her actions now- 
 a-days, at all events." 
 
 Here Tita would probably have delivered a crushing 
 reply, but that Bell came up and said — 
 
358 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 " What ! you two children fighting again ! What is 
 it all about ? Let me be umpire/' 
 
 " He says that there is more red in the Scotch daisies 
 than in the English daisies," says Tita, calmly. It was 
 well done. Yet you should hear her lecture her two 
 boys on the enormity of telling a fib. 
 
 How sad Bell was to leave the beautiful valley in 
 which we had spent this happy time ! Arthur had got 
 his dog-cart ; and when the phaeton was brought round, 
 the Major's cob was also put-to, and both vehicles stood 
 at the door. We took a last look at Grasmere. " Dich, 
 mein stilles Thai ! " said Bell, with a smile ; and the 
 Lieutenant looked quite shamefaced with pleasure to 
 hear her quote his favourite song. Arthur did not so 
 well like the introduction of those few words. He said, 
 with a certain air of indifference — 
 
 "Can I give anybody a seat in the dog-cart? It 
 would be a change." 
 
 " Oh, thank you : I should like so much to go with 
 you, Arthur," says Tita. 
 
 Did you ever see the like of it ! The woman has no 
 more notion of considering her own comfort than if she 
 had the hide of an alligator, instead of being, as she is, 
 about the most sensitive creature in the world. How- 
 ever, it is well for her — if she will permit me to say so 
 — that she has people around her who are not quite 
 so impulsively generous ; and on this occasion it was 
 obviously necessary to save her from being tortured by 
 the fractious complainings of this young man, whom 
 she would have sympathized with and consoled if the 
 effort had cost her her life. 
 
 " No," I say. " That won't do. We have got some 
 stiff hills to climb presently, and some one must remain 
 in the phaeton while the others walk. Now, who looks 
 best in the front of the phaeton ? " 
 
 " Mamma, of course," says Bell, as if she had dis- 
 covered a conundrum ; and so the matter was settled 
 in a twinkling. 
 
 I think it would have been more courteous for Arthur 
 to have given the phaeton precedence, considering who 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 359 
 
 was driving it; but he was so anxious to show off the 
 paces of Major Quinet's cob, that on starting he gave 
 the animal a touch of the whip that made the light and 
 high vehicle spring forward in a surprising manner. 
 
 " Young man, reflect that you are driving the father 
 of a family," I say to him. 
 
 Nevertheless, he went through the village of Gras- 
 mere at a considerable rate of speed ; and when we got 
 well up into the road which goes by the side of the 
 Eothay into the region of the hills, we found that 
 we had left Tita and her company far behind. Then 
 he began to walk the cob. 
 
 " Look here ! " he said, quite fiercely ; " is Bell going 
 to marry that German fellow ? " 
 
 " How do I know ? " I answer, astonished by the 
 young man's impudence. 
 
 " You ought to know. You are her guardian. You 
 are responsible for her -" 
 
 "To you?" 
 
 " No, not to me ; but to your own conscience ; and 
 I think the way in which you have entrapped her into 
 making the acquaintance of this man, of whom she 
 knows nothing, doesn't look very well. I may as well 
 say it when I think it. You ought to have known 
 that a girl at her age is ready to be pleased with any 
 novelty ; and to draw her away from her old friends — 
 I suppose you can explain it all to your own satisfac- 
 tion — but I confess that to me " 
 
 I let the young man rave. He went on in this 
 fashion for some little time, getting momentarily more 
 reckless and vehement and absurd in his statements. 
 If Tita had only known what she had escaped ! 
 
 " But alter all," I say to him, when the waters of 
 this deluge of rhetoric had abated, " what does it 
 matter to you ? We have allowed Bell to do just as 
 she pleased ; and perhaps, for all we know, she may 
 regard Count von Rosen with favour, although she 
 has never intimated such a thing. But what does 
 it matter to you? You say you are going to get 
 married." 
 
560 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 " So I shall ! " he said, with an unnecessary amount 
 of emphasis. 
 
 "Katty Tatham is a very nice girl." 
 
 " I should think so ! There's no coquetry about 
 her, or that sort of vanity that is anxious to receive 
 flattery from every sort of stranger that is seen in 
 the street " 
 
 " You don't mean to say that that is the impression 
 you have formed of Bell ? " 
 
 And here all his violence and determination broke 
 down. In a tone of absolute despair he confessed that 
 he was beside himself, and did not know what to do. 
 What should he do? Ought he to implore Bell to 
 promise to marry him ? Or should he leave her to 
 her own ways, and go and seek a solution of his 
 difficulties in marrying this pretty little girl down in 
 Sussex, who would make him a good wife and teach 
 him to forget all the sufferings he had gone through ? 
 The wretched young fellow was really in a bad way ; 
 and there were actually tears in his eyes when he said 
 that several times of late he had wished he had the 
 courage to drowm himself. 
 
 To tell a young man in this state that there is no 
 woman in the world worth making such a fuss about, 
 is useless. He rejects with scorn the cruel counsels 
 offered by middle age ; and sees in them only taunts 
 and insults. Moreover, he accuses middle age of not 
 believing in its own maxims of worldly prudence ; and 
 sometimes that is the case. 
 
 " At all events," I say to him, " you are unjust to 
 Bell in going on in this wild way. She is not a 
 coquette, nor vain, nor heartless ; and if you have 
 anything to complain of, or anything to ask from her, 
 why not go direct to herself, instead of indulging in 
 frantic suspicions and accusations ? " 
 
 " But — but I cannot," he said. " It drives me mad 
 to see her talking to that man. If I were to begin 
 to speak to her of all this, I am afraid matters would 
 be made worse." 
 
 " Well, take your own course. Neither my wife 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 nor myself have anything to do with it. Arrange it 
 among yourselves ; only, for goodness' sake, leave the 
 women a little peace." 
 
 " Do you think / mean to trouble them ? " he says, 
 firing up. " You will see." 
 
 What deep significance lay in these words was not 
 inquired into, for we had now to descend from the 
 dog-cart. Far behind us we saw that Bell and Count 
 von Eosen were already walking by the side of the 
 phaeton, and Tita talking to them from her lofty seat. 
 "We waited for them until they came up, and then 
 we proceeded to climb the steep road that leads up 
 and along the slopes of the mighty Helvellyn. 
 
 " Mademoiselle," said the Lieutenant, " who is it will 
 say that there is much rain in your native country? 
 Or did you alarm us so as to make this surprise all 
 the better, yes ? " 
 
 Indeed, there was scarcely a flake of white in all the 
 blue overhead ; and, on the other side of the great 
 valley, the masses of the Wythburn and Borrodaile 
 Fells showed their various hues and tints so that you 
 could almost have fancied them transparent clouds. 
 Then the road descended, and we got down to the 
 solitary shores of Thirlmere, the most Scotch-looking, 
 perhaps, of the English lakes. Here the slopes of the 
 hills are more abrupt, houses are few and far between, 
 there is an aspect of remoteness and a perfect silence 
 reigning over the still water, and the peaks of moun- 
 tains that you see beyond are more jagged and blue 
 than the rounded hills about Windermere. From the 
 shores of Thirlmere the road again rises, until, when 
 you come to the crest of the height, you find the leaden- 
 coloured lake lying sheer below you, and only a little 
 stone wall guarding the edge of the precipitous slope. 
 We rested the horses here. Bell began to pull them 
 handluls of Dutch clover and grass. The Lieutenant 
 talked to my Lady about the wonders of mountainous 
 countries as they appeared to people who had been 
 bred in the plains. Arthur looked over the stone wall 
 down into the great valley; and was he thinking, I 
 
362 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 wonder, whether the safest refuge from all his troubles 
 might not be that low- lying and silent gulf of water 
 that seemed to be miles beneath him ? 
 
 When we were about to start again, the Lieutenant 
 says to Arthur — 
 
 " If you are tired of driving the dog-cart, you might 
 come into the phaeton, and I will drive your horse on 
 to Keswick." 
 
 Who prompted him to make such an offer ? Not 
 himself, surely. I had formed a tolerable opinion of 
 his good-nature ; but the impatient and fretful manner 
 in which he had of late been talking about Arthur 
 rendered it highly improbable that this suggestion was 
 his own. What did Bell's downcast look mean? 
 
 " Thank you, I prefer the dog-cart," said Arthur coldly. 
 
 " Oh, Arthur," says Bell, " you've no idea how steep 
 the hill is, going down to Keswick, and in a dog-cart 
 too " 
 
 " I suppose," says the young man, " that I can drive a 
 dog-cart down a hill as well as anybody else." 
 
 " At all events," says the Lieutenant, with something 
 of a frown, "you need not address Mademoiselle as 
 if that she did you harm in trying to prevent your 
 breaking your neck." 
 
 This was getting serious ; so that there was nothing 
 for it but to bundle the boy into his dog-cart and order 
 the Lieutenant to change places with my Lady. As for 
 the writer of these pages — the emotions he experienced 
 while a mad young fellow was driving him in a light 
 and high dog-cart down the unconscionable hill that lies 
 above Keswick, he will not attempt to describe. There 
 are occurrences in life which it is better to forget ; but 
 if ever he was tempted to evoke maledictions on the 
 hotheadedness, and bad temper, and general insanity of 
 
 boys in love Enough ! We got down to Keswick 
 
 in safety. 
 
 Now we had got among the tourists, and no mistake. 
 The hotel was all alive with elderly ladies, who betrayed 
 an astonishing acquaintance with the names of the 
 mountains, and apportioned them off for successive days 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 363 
 
 as if they were dishes for luncheon and dinner. The 
 landlord undertook to get us beds somewhere, if only 
 we would come into his coffee-room, which was also a 
 drawing-room, and had a piano in it. He was a portly 
 and communicative person, with a certain magnificence 
 of manner which was impressive. He betrayed quite a 
 paternal interest in Tita, and calmly and loftily soothed 
 her anxious fears. Indeed, his assurances pleased us 
 much, and we began rather to like him ; although the 
 Lieutenant privately remarked that Clicquot is a French 
 word, and ought not, under any circumstances whatever, 
 to be pronounced " Clickot." 
 
 Then we went down to Derwentwater. It was a 
 warm and clear twilight. Between the dark green lines 
 of the hedges we met maidens in white with scarlet 
 opera-cloaks, coming home through the narrow lane. 
 Then we got into the open, and found the shores of the 
 silver lake, and got into a boat and sailed out upon the 
 still waters, so that we could face the wonders of a 
 brilliant sunset. 
 
 But all that glow of red and yellow in the north- 
 west was as nothing to the strange gradations of colour 
 that appeared along the splendid range of mountain- 
 peaks beyond the lake. From the remote north round 
 to the south-east they stretched like a mighty wall; 
 and whereas near the gold and crimson of the sunset 
 they were of a warm, roseate, and half-transparent 
 purple, as they came along into the darker regions of 
 the twilight they grew more and more co]d in hue and 
 harsh in outline. Up there in the north they had 
 caught the magic colours so that they themselves 
 seemed but light clouds of beautiful vapour ; but as 
 the eye followed the line of twisted and mighty shapes, 
 the rose-colour deepened into purple, the purple grew 
 darker and more dark, and greens and blues began to 
 appear over the wooded islands and shores of Derwent- 
 water. Finally, away down there in the south there 
 was a lowering sky, into which rose wild masses 
 of slate-coloured mountains, and in the threatening 
 and yet clear darkness that reigned among these soli- 
 
364 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 tudes we could see but one small tuft of white 
 cloud that clung coldly to the gloomy summit of 
 Glaramara. 
 
 That strauge darkness in the south boded rain ; and, 
 as if in anticipation of the wet, the fires of the sunset 
 went down, and a grey twilight fell over the land. As 
 we walked home between the tall hedges there was a 
 chill dampness in the air ; and we seemed to know 
 that we had at last bade good-bye to the beautiful 
 weather that had lit up for us the blue water and green 
 shores of Grasmere. 
 
 [Note by Queen Titania. — "I begin to think the old lady in 
 Nottinghamshire had some excuse for what she said, although she 
 need not have expressed herself so rudely. Of course it is im- 
 possible to put down all that we spoke about on those happy days 
 of our journey ; but when all the ordinary talk is- carefully excluded, 
 and everything spiteful retained, I cannot wonder that a stranger 
 should think that my husband and myself do not lead a very 
 pleasant life. It looks very serious when it is put in type ; whereas we 
 have been driven into all this nonsense of quarrelling merely to temper 
 the excessive sentimentality of those young folks, which is quite 
 amusing in its way. Indeed, I am afraid that Bell, although she has 
 never said a word to that effect to me, is far more deeply pledged 
 than one who thinks he has a great insight into such affairs has any 
 notion of. I am sure it was none of my doing. If Bell had told 
 me she was engaged to Arthur, nothing could have given me greater 
 pleasure. In the meantime, I hope no one will read too literally the 
 foregoing pages, and think that in our house we are continually 
 treading on lucifer matches and frightening everybody by small 
 explosions. I suppose it is literary art that compels such a perversion 
 of the truth ! And as for Chapter Twenty-six — which has a great 
 deal of nonsense in it about Richmond — I should think that a very 
 good motto for it would be two lines I once saw quoted somewhere. 
 I don't know who is the author ; but they said — 
 
 " 4 The legend is as true, I undertake, 
 
 As Tristram is, or Lancelot of the Lake.' "] 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 ALONG THE GRETA. 
 
 u You stood before me like a thought, 
 
 A dream remembered in a dream. 
 
 But when those meek eyes first did seem 
 . To tell me, Love within you wrought — 
 
 0 Greta, dear domestic stream ! 
 Has not. since then, Love's prompture deep, 
 
 Has not Love's whisper evermore, 
 
 Been ceaseless as thy gentle roar ? 
 Sole voice, when other voices sleep, 
 
 Dear under-song in Clamor's hour." 
 
 ' Now, Bell," says Tita, "I am going to ask you a 
 serious question." 
 
 " Yes, Mamma," says the girl, dutifully. 
 
 " Where is the North Country ? " 
 
 Good gracious ! This was a pretty topic to start as 
 we sat idly by the shores of Derwentwater, and watched 
 the great white clouds move lazily over the mountain 
 peaks beyond. For, did it not involve some haphazard 
 remark of Bell's, which would instantly plunge the 
 Lieutenant into the history of Strathclyde, so as to 
 prove, in defiance of the first principles of logic and 
 the Ten Commandments, that the girl was altogether 
 right? Bell solved the difficulty in a novel fashion. 
 She merely repeated, in a low and careless voice, 
 some lines from the chief favourite of all her 
 songs — 
 
 " While sadly I roam, I regret my dear home, 
 
 Where lads and young lasses are making the hay, 
 The merry bells ring, and the birds sweetly sing, 
 
 And maidens and meadows are pleasant and gay : 
 Oh ! the oak and the ash, and the bonny ivy-tree, 
 They grow so green in the North Countree ! " 
 
 " But where is it ? " says Tita. " You are always 
 looking to the North and never getting there. Down 
 in Oxford, you were all anxiety to get up to Wales. 
 Once in Wales, you hurried us on to Westmore- 
 land. Now you are in Westmoreland, you are still 
 
366 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 hankering after the North, and I want to know where 
 you mean to stop. At Carlisle ? Or Edinburgh ? Or 
 John o' Groat's?" 
 
 The little woman was becoming quite eloquent in 
 her quiet and playful fashion, as she sat there with 
 Bell's hand in hers. The girl looked rather embarrassed 
 and so, of course, the Lieutenant, always on the look- 
 out for such a chance, must needs whip up his heavy 
 artillery and open fire on Bell's opponent. 
 
 " No, Madame," he says ; " why should you fix 
 down that beautiful country to any place? Is it 
 not better to have the dream always before you ? You 
 are too practical " 
 
 Too practical ! — This from an impertinent young 
 Uhlan to a gentle lady whose eyes are full of wistful 
 visions and fancies from the morning: to the night ! 
 
 " It is better that you have it like the El Dorado 
 
 that the old travellers went to seek — always in front 
 of them, but never just in sight. Mademoiselle is 
 quite right not to put down her beautiful country in 
 the map." 
 
 " Count von Bosen," says my Lady, with some show 
 of petulance, " you are always proving Bell to be in 
 the right. You never help me ; and you know I never 
 get any assistance from the quarter whence it ought 
 to come. Now, if I were to say that I belonged to 
 the North Country, you would never think of bringing 
 all sorts of historical arguments to prove that I did." 
 
 " Madame," says the young man, with great modesty, 
 " the reason is that you never need any such arguments, 
 for you are always in the right at the first." 
 
 Here Bell laughs in a very malicious manner ; for 
 was not the retort provoked ? My Lady asks the girl 
 to watch the creeping of a shadow over the summit of 
 Glaramara, as if that had anything to do with the 
 history of Deira. 
 
 Well, the women owed us some explanation ; for 
 between them they had resolved upon our setting out 
 for Penrith that afternoon. All the excursions we had 
 planned in this beautiful neighbourhood had to be 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 367 
 
 abandoned, and for no ostensible reason whatever. That 
 there must be some occult reason, however, for this 
 odd resolve was quite certain ; and the Lieutenant and 
 myself were left to fit such keys to the mystery as we 
 might think proper. 
 
 Was it really, then, this odd longing of BelPs to go 
 northward, or was it not rather a secret consciousness 
 that Arthur would cease to accompany us at Carlisle ? 
 The young man had remained behind at the hotel that 
 morning. He had important letters to write, he said. 
 A telegram had arrived for him while we were at 
 breakfast; and he had remarked, in a careless way, 
 that it was from Mr. Tatham, Katty's father. Perhaps 
 it was. There is no saying what a reckless young 
 fellow may not goad an elderly gentleman into doing ; 
 but if this message, as we were given to understand, 
 had really something to do with Arthur's relations 
 towards Katty, it was certainly an odd matter to arrange 
 by telegraph. 
 
 As for the Lieutenant, he appeared to treat the 
 whole affair with a cool indifference which was pro- 
 bably assumed. In private conversation he informed 
 me that what Arthur might do in the way of marrying 
 Miss Tatham, er anybody else, was of no consequence 
 whatever to him. 
 
 " Mademoiselle will tell me my fate — that is enough," 
 he said. "You think that I am careless, — yes? It 
 is not so, except I am convinced your friend from 
 Twickenham has nothing to do with it. No, he will 
 not marry Mademoiselle— that is so clear that anyone 
 may see it — but he may induce her, frighten her, com- 
 plain of her, so that she will not marry me. Good. 
 If it is so, I will know who has served me that way." 
 
 "You needn't look as if you meant to eat up the 
 whole family," I say to him. 
 
 " And more," he continued, with even greater fierce- 
 ness, "it has come to be too much, this. He shall 
 not go beyond Carlisle with us. I will not allow 
 Mademoiselle to be persecuted. You will say I have 
 no right — that it is no business of mine " 
 
368 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 " That is precisely what I do say. Leave the girl 
 to manage her own affairs. If she wishes Arthur to go, 
 she can do it with a word. Do you think there is 
 no method of giving a young man his cong4 than hy 
 breaking his neck?" 
 
 "Oh, you think, then, that Mademoiselle wishes 
 him to remain near her ? " 
 
 A sudden and cold reserve had fallen over the young 
 fellow's manner. He stood there for a moment as if 
 he calmly expected to hear the worst, and was ready 
 to pack up his traps and betake himself to the south. 
 
 " I tell you again," I say, " that I think nothing 
 about it, and know nothing about it. But as for the 
 decree of Providence which ordained that young 
 people in love should become the pest and torture 
 of their friends, of all the inscrutable, unjust, per- 
 plexing, and monstrous facts of life, this is about the 
 worst. I will take a cigar from you, if you please." 
 
 "That is all you care for — yes — a cigar," says the 
 young man, peevishly. ' If the phaeton were to be 
 smashed to pieces this afternoon — a cigar. If 
 Mademoiselle were to go and marry this wretched 
 fellow — again, a cigar. I do not think that you care 
 more for anything around you than the seal which 
 comes up and shakes hands with his keeper in the 
 Zoological Gardens." 
 
 " Got a light ? " 
 
 "And yet I think it is possible you will get a 
 surprise very soon. Yes ! and will not be so in- 
 different. After Carlisle " 
 
 "After Carlisle you come to Gretna Green. But 
 if you propose to run away with Bell, don't take 
 my horses — they are not used to hard work." 
 
 " Bun away ! You do talk as if Mademoiselle were 
 willing to run away with anybody. No, it is quite 
 another thing." 
 
 And here the Lieutenant, getting into the morose 
 state — which always follows the fierceness of a lover 
 — begins to pull about the shawls and pack them up. 
 
 Nevertheless, the eighteen miles between Keswick 
 
OF A PH ALTON. 
 
 369 
 
 and Penrith proved one of the pleasantest portions of 
 our journey. There was not much driving, it is true. 
 We started at mid-day, and, having something like 
 five or six hours in which to get over this stretch of 
 mountain and moorland road, we spent most of the 
 time in walking, even Tita descending from her usual 
 post to wander along the hedgerows and look down 
 into the valley of the Greta. As the white road 
 rose gradually from the plains of the lakes, taking 
 us along the slopes of the mighty Saddleback, the 
 view of the beautiful country behind us grew more 
 extended and lovely. The clear silver day showed 
 us the vast array of mountains in the palest of hues ; 
 and as white clouds floated over the hills and the 
 gleaming surface of Derwentwater, even the shadows 
 seemed pale and luminous. There was no mist, but 
 a bewildering glare of light, that seemed at once to 
 transpose and blend the clouds, the sky, the hills, 
 and the lake. There was plenty of motion in the 
 picture, too, for there was a south wind blowing light 
 shadows of grey across the silver whiteness ; but 
 there was no louring mass of vapour lying up at the 
 horizon, and all our evil anticipations of the previous 
 day remained unfulfilled. 
 
 What a picturesque glen is that over which the 
 great mass of Saddleback towers ! We could hear 
 the Greta rushing down the chasm through a world 
 of light-green foliage; and sometimes we got a 
 glimpse of the stream itself — a rich brown, with 
 dashes of white foam. Then you cross the river 
 where it is joined by St. John's Beck; and as you 
 slowly climb the sides of Saddleback, the Greta 
 becomes the Glenderamackin, and by and by you 
 lose it altogether as it strikes off to the north. But 
 there are plenty of streams about. Each gorge and 
 valley has its beck; and you can hear the splashing 
 of the water where there is nothing visible but 
 masses of young trees lying warm and green in 
 the sunshine. 
 
 And as for the wild-flowers that grow here in a 
 
 B B 
 
370 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 wonderful luxuriance of form and colour, who can 
 describe them? The Lieutenant was growing quite 
 learned in English wild blossoms. He could tell the 
 difference between Herb Eobert and Eagged Eobin, 
 was not to be deceived into believing the rock-rose 
 a buttercup, and had become profound in the study 
 of the various speedwells. But he was a late scholar. 
 Arthur had been under Bell's tuition years before. 
 He knew all the flowers she liked best ; he could pick 
 them out at a distance without going through the 
 trouble of laboriously comparing them, as our poor 
 Lieutenant had to do. You should have seen these 
 two young men — with black rage in their hearts — 
 engaged in the idyllic pastime of culling pretty 
 blossoms for a fair maiden. Bell treated them both 
 with a simple indifference that was begotten chiefly 
 by the very definite interest she had in their pursuit. 
 She was really thinking a good deal more of her 
 tangled and picturesque bouquet than of the inten- 
 tions of the young men in bringing the' flowers to 
 her. She was speedily to be recalled from her 
 dream. 
 
 At a certain portion of the way we came upon a lot 
 of forget-me-nots, that were growing amid the roadside 
 grass, meaning no harm. The pale turquoise blue of 
 the flowers was looking up to the silver- white fleece of 
 the sky, just as if there was some communion between 
 the two that rude human hands had no right to 
 break. Arthur made a plunge at them. He pulled up 
 at once some half-dozen stalks and came back with 
 them to Bell. 
 
 " Here," he said, with a strange sort of smile, " are 
 some forget-me-nots for you. They are supposed to be 
 typical of woman's constancy, are they not ? — for they 
 keep fresh about half-a-dozen hours." 
 
 Bell received the flowers without a trace of surprise 
 or vexation in her manner ; and then, with the most 
 admirable self-possession, she turned to the Lieutenant, 
 separated one of the flowers from the lot, and said, with 
 a great gentleness and calmness — 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 37 1 
 
 * Count von Rosen, do you care to have one of these ? 
 You have very pretty songs about the forget-me-not, in 
 Germany." 
 
 I believe that young fellow did not know whether he 
 was dead or alive at the moment when the girl addressed 
 him thus. For a single second a flash of surprise and 
 bewilderment appeared in his face, and then he took 
 the flower from her and said, looking down as if he did 
 not wish any of us to see his face — 
 
 " Mademoiselle, thank you." 
 
 But almost directly afterwards he had recovered him- 
 self. With an air as if nothing had happened, he pulled 
 out his pocket-book, most carefully and tenderly put 
 the flower in it, and closed it again. Arthur, with his 
 face as hot as fire, had begun to talk to Tita about 
 Threlkeld Hall. 
 
 It was a pretty little scene to be enacted on this 
 bright morning, on a grassy wayside in Cumberland, 
 with all the lakes and mountains of Westmoreland for 
 a blue and silvery background. But after all, of what 
 importance was it ? A girl may hand her companion 
 of the moment a flower without any deadly intent ? 
 How was anyone to tell, indeed, that she had so turned 
 to the Lieutenant as a retort to Arthur's not very cour- 
 teous remark % There was no appearance of vexation in 
 her manner. On the contrary, she turned and gave 
 Von Rosen this paltry little forget-me-not, and made a 
 remark a,bout German songs, just as she might have 
 done at home in Surrey to any of the young fellows 
 who come dawdling about the house, wondering why 
 such a pretty girl should not betray a preference for 
 somebody. Even as a punishment for Arthur's piece of 
 impudence, it might not have any but the most tran- 
 sitory significance. Bell is quick to feel any remark of 
 the kind; and it is just possible that at the moment 
 she may have been stung into executing this pretty 
 and pastoral deed of vengeance. 
 
 But the Lieutenant, at all events, was persuaded that 
 something of mighty import had just occurred on the 
 picturesque banks of this Cumberland stream. He hung 
 b b 2 
 
372 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 about Bell for some time, but seemed afraid to address 
 her, and had ceased to offer her flowers. He was per- 
 mitted to bring her a sunshade, however, and that 
 pleased him greatly. And thereafter he went up to the 
 horses, and walked by their heads, and addressed them 
 in very kindly and soothing language, just as if they 
 had done him some great service. 
 Arthur came back to us. 
 
 " It looks rather ridiculous," he said, abruptly, " to see 
 the procession of this horse and dog-cart following your 
 phaeton. Hadn't I better drive on to Penrith ? 
 
 " The look of it does not matter here, surely/' says 
 Bell. " We have only met two persons since we 
 started, and we shan't find many people up in this 
 moorland we are coming to." 
 
 " Oh, as you please," said the young man, a trifle 
 mollified. "If you don't mind, of course I don't." 
 
 Presently he said, with something of an effort — 
 
 "How long is your journey to last altogether?" 
 
 " I don't know," I say to him. " We shall be in 
 Edinburgh in two or three days, and our project of 
 driving thither accomplished. But we may spend a 
 week or two in Scotland after that." 
 
 " Count von Eosen is very anxious to see something 
 of Scotland," says Bell, with the air of a person con- 
 veying information. 
 
 I knew why Count von Bosen was so anxious to 
 see something of Scotland — he would have welcomed 
 a journey to the North Pole if only he was sure that 
 Bell was going there too. But Arthur said, some- 
 what sharply — 
 
 "I am glad I shall escape the duty of dancing 
 attendance on a stranger. I suppose you mean to take 
 him to the Tower and to Madame Tussaud's when 
 you return to London?" 
 
 "But won't you come on with us to Edinburgh, 
 Arthur?" says Bell, quite amiably. 
 
 " No, thank you," he says ; and then, turning to 
 me, "How much does it cost to send a horse and 
 trap from Carlisle to London?" 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 373 
 
 "From Edinburgh it costs 10/. 55., so you may- 
 calculate." 
 
 "I suppose I can get a late train to-morrow night 
 for myself ? " 
 
 " There is one after midnight." 
 
 He spoke in a gloomy way, that had nevertheless 
 some affectation of carelessness in it. Bell again ex- 
 pressed her regret that he could not accompany us 
 to Edinburgh ; but he did not answer. 
 
 We were now about to get into our respective 
 vehicles, for before us lay a long stretch of high moor- 
 land road, and we had been merely idling the time 
 away during the last mile or two. 
 
 " Won't you get into the dog-cart for a bit, Bell ? " 
 says Arthur. 
 
 "Oh yes, if you like," says Bell, good-naturedly. 
 
 The Lieutenant, knowing nothing of this proposal, 
 was rather astonished when, after having called to 
 him to stop the horses, we came up and Bell was 
 assisted into the dog-cart, Arthur following and taking 
 the reins. The rest of us got into the phaeton; but, 
 of course, Arthur had got the start of us, and went 
 on in front. 
 
 " How far on is Gretna Green ? " asks my Lady in 
 a low voice. 
 
 The Lieutenant scowled, and regarded the two 
 figures in front of us in anything but an amiable mood. 
 
 " You do not care much for her safety to entrust 
 her to that stupid boy," he remarks. 
 
 " Do you think he will really run away with her ? " 
 says Tita. 
 
 " Run away ! " repeats the Lieutenant, with some 
 scorn; "if he were to try that, or any other foolish 
 thing, do you know what you would see ? You would 
 see Mademoiselle take the reins from him, and go 
 where she pleased in spite of him. Do you think 
 that she is controlled by that pitiful fellow?" 
 
 Whatever control Bell possessed, there was no doubt 
 at all that Arthur was taking her away from us at 
 a considerable pace. After that stretch of moorland 
 
374 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 the road got very hilly ; and no man who is driving 
 his own horses likes to run them up steep ascents 
 for the mere pleasure of catching a runaway boy 
 and his sweetheart. In the ups and downs of this 
 route we sometimes lost sight of Bell and Arthur 
 altogether. The Lieutenant was so wroth that he 
 dared not speak. Tita grew a trifle anxious, and at 
 last she said — 
 
 "Won't you drive on and overtake these young 
 people? I am sure Arthur is forgetting how hilly 
 the road is." 
 
 "I don't. Arthur is driving somebody else's horse, 
 but I can't afford to ill-treat my own in order to 
 stop him." 
 
 " I am sure your horses have not been overworked," 
 says the Lieutenant; and at this moment, as we 
 get to the crest of a hill, we find that the two 
 fugitives are on the top of the next incline. 
 
 "Hillo! Hie I Heh /" 
 
 Two faces turn round. A series of pantomimic 
 gestures now conveys my Lady's wishes, and we see 
 Arthur jump down to the ground, assist Bell to alight, 
 and then she begins to pull some grass for the horse. 
 
 When we, also, get to the top of this hill, lo ! the 
 wonderful sight that spreads out before us ! Along 
 the northern horizon stands a pale line of mountains, 
 and as we look down into the great plain that lies 
 between, the yellow light of the sunset touches a 
 strange sort of mist, so that you would think there 
 lay a broad estuary or a great arm of the sea. We 
 ourselves are in shadow, but all the wide landscape 
 before us is bathed in golden fire and smoke; and 
 up there, ranged along the sky, are the pale hills that 
 stand like phantoms rising out of another world. 
 
 Bell comes into the phaeton. We set out again 
 along the hilly road, getting comforted presently by 
 the landlord of a wayside inn, who says, "Ay, the 
 road goes pretty mooch doon bank a' t' waay to 
 Penrith, after ye get a mile forrit." Bell cannot tell 
 us whether this is pure Cumbrian, or Cumbrian mixed 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 375 
 
 with Scotch, but the Lieutenant insists that it does 
 not much matter, for "forrit" is very good Frisian. 
 The chances are that we should have suffered another 
 sermon on the German origin of our language, but that 
 signs of a town became visible. We drove in from the 
 country highways in the gathering twilight. There 
 were lights in the streets of Penrith, but the place 
 itself seemed to have shut up and gone to bed. It was 
 but half-past eight; yet nearly every shop was shut, 
 and the inn into which we drove had clearly got over 
 its day's labour. If we had asked for dinner at this 
 hour, the simple folks would probably have laughed at 
 us ; so we called it supper, and a very excellent supper 
 it was. 
 
 CHAPTEE XXVIII. 
 
 "ade!" 
 
 " Edwin, if right I read my song, 
 With slighted passion paced along, 
 
 All in the moony light ; 
 'Twas near an old enchanted court, 
 "Where sportive fairies made resort 
 
 To revel out the night." 
 
 " I AM so sorry you can't come further with us than 
 Carlisle," says Queen Titania to Arthur, with a great 
 kindliness for the lad shining in her brown eyes. 
 
 "Duty calls me back — and pleasure, too," he says, 
 with rather a melancholy smile. " You will receive a 
 message from .me, I expect, shortly after I return. 
 Where will letters find you in Scotland?" 
 
 This was rather a difficult question to answer ; but 
 it took us away from the dangerous subject of Arthur's 
 intentions, about which the less said at that moment 
 the better. The Lieutenant professed a great desire to 
 spend two or three weeks in Scotland ; and Bell began 
 to sketch out phantom tours, whisking about from 
 Loch Lubriaig to Loch Long, cutting round the Mull of 
 
376 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 Cantire, and coming back from Oban to the Crinan in a 
 surprising manner. 
 
 " And, Mademoiselle," says he, " perhaps to-morrow, 
 when you get into Scotland, you will begin to tell me 
 something of the Scotch songs, if it does not trouble 
 you. I liave read some — yes — of Burns's songs, mostly 
 through Freiligrath's translations, but I have not heard 
 any sung, and I know that you know them all. Oh 
 yes, I liked them very much — they are good, hearty 
 songs, not at all melancholy; and an excellent fellow of 
 that country I met in the war — he was a correspondent 
 for some newspaper, and he was at Metz, but he was as 
 much of a soldier as any man of us — he told me there 
 is not any such music as the music of the Scotch songs. 
 That is a very bold thing to say, you know, Mademoiselle; 
 but if you will sing some of them, I will give you my 
 frank opinion." 
 
 "Very well," says Mademoiselle, with a gracious 
 smile, " but I think I ought to begin to-day, for there 
 is a great deal of ground to be got over." 
 
 "So much the better," says he. 
 
 r< But if you young people," says Queen Tita, " who 
 are all bent on your own pleasure, would let me make 
 a suggestion, I think I can put your musical abilities 
 to a better use. I am going to give a concert as soon 
 as I get home, for the benefit of our Clothing Club ; 
 and I want you to undertake, Count von Eosen, to 
 sing for us two or three German songs — Korner's 
 war-songs, for example." 
 
 " Oh, with great pleasure, Madame, if you will 
 not all laugh at my singing." 
 
 Unhappy wretch — another victim ! But it was 
 a mercy she asked him only for a few songs, instead 
 of hinting something about a contribution. That 
 was probably to come. 
 
 " Bell," says my Lady, " do you think we ought 
 to charge twopence this time?" 
 
 On this tremendous financial question Bell de- 
 clined to express an opinion, beyond suggesting that 
 the people, if they could only be induced to come, 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 377 
 
 would value the concert all the more. A much more 
 practical proposal, however, is placed before this 
 committee now assembled in Penrith. At each of 
 these charity-concerts in our schoolroom, a chamber 
 is set apart for the display of various viands and 
 an uncommon quantity of champagne, devoted to 
 the use of the performers, their friends, and a few 
 special guests. It is suggested that the expense of 
 this entertainment should not always fall upon one 
 person ; there being several householders in the neigh- 
 bourhood who were much more able to afford such 
 promiscuous banquets. 
 
 " I am sure," says my Lady, with some emphasis, 
 "that I know several gentlemen who would only be 
 too eager to come forward and send those refresh- 
 ments, if they only knew you were making such a 
 fuss about it." 
 
 " My dear," I say, humbly, " I wish you would 
 speak to them on this subject." 
 
 " I wouldn't demean myself so far," says Tita, " as 
 to ask for wine and biscuits from my neighbours." 
 
 "I wish these neighbours wouldn't drink so much 
 of my champagne." 
 
 " But it is a charity ; why should you grumble ?" 
 says the Lieutenant. 
 
 " Why ? These abandoned ruffians and their wives 
 give five shillings to the charity, and come and eat 
 and drink ten shillings' worth of my food and wine. 
 That is why." 
 
 "Never mind," says Bell, with her gentle voice; 
 " when Count von Eosen comes to sing we shall 
 have a great audience, and there will be a lot ol 
 money taken at the door, and we shall be able 
 to clear all expenses and pay you, too, for the 
 champagne." 
 
 "At sevenpence-halfpenny a bottle, I suppose?" 
 
 "I did not think you got it so cheap," says Tita, 
 with a pleasing look of innocence ; and therewith the 
 young folks began to laugh, as they generally do when 
 she says anything specially impertinent. 
 
378 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 Just before starting for Carlisle, we happened to 
 be in the old churchyard of Penrith, looking at the 
 pillars which are supposed to mark the grave of a 
 • giant of old, and trying to persuade ourselves that 
 we saw something like "Runic carvings on the stones. 
 There came forward to us a strange-looking person, 
 who said suddenly — 
 
 " God bless you !" 
 
 There was no harm in that, at all events, but 
 presently he began to attach himself to Arthur, and 
 insisted on talking to him ; while, whenever the young 
 man seemed inclined to resent this intrusion, the 
 mysterious stranger put in another " God bless you ! w 
 so as to disarm criticism. We speedily discovered 
 that this person was a sort of whiskified Old Mortality, 
 who claimed to have cut all manner of tombstones 
 standing around ; and to Arthur, whom he specially 
 affected, he continually appealed with "Will that do, 
 eh? I did that — will that do, eh ?" The young man 
 was not in a communicative mood, to begin with ; 
 but the persecution he now suffered was like to have 
 driven him wild. In vain he moved away: the other 
 followed him. In vain he pretended not to listen : the 
 other did not care. He would probably have expressed 
 his feelings warmly, but for the pious ejaculation 
 which continually came in ; and when a man says 
 "God bless you," you can't with decency wish him 
 the reverse. At length, out of pure compassion, the 
 Lieutenant went over to the man, and said — 
 
 "Well, you are a very wicked old gentleman, to 
 have been drinking at this time in the morning." 
 
 " God bless you ! " 
 
 "Thank you. You have given to us your blessing 
 all round : now will you kindly go away ? " 
 
 "Wouldn't you like to see a bit of my cutting, 
 now, eh ? " 
 
 " No, I wouldn't ; I would like to see you go home 
 and get a sleep, and get up sober." 
 " God bless you ! " 
 
 " The same to you. Good-bye " — and behold ! 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 379 
 
 Arthur was delivered, and returned, blushing like 
 a girl, to the women, who had been rather afraid of 
 this half- tipsy or half-silly person, and remained at 
 a distance. 
 
 You may be sure that when we were about to 
 start from Penrith, the Lieutenant did not forget to 
 leave out Bell's guitar-case. And so soon as we 
 were well away from the town, and bowling along 
 the level road that leads up to Carlisle, the girl put 
 the blue ribbon round her shoulder and began to 
 cast about for a song. Arthur was driving close 
 behind us — occasionally sending on the cob so as 
 to exchange a remark or two with my Lady. The 
 wheels made no great noise, however ; and in the 
 silence lying over the shining landscape around us, 
 we heard the clear, full, sweet tones of Bell's voice 
 as well as if she had been singing in a room, 
 
 " Behind yon hills where Lugar flows — " 
 
 That was the first song that she sung ; and it was 
 well the Lieutenant was not a Scotchman, and had 
 never heard the air as it is daily played on the Clyde 
 steamers by wandering fiddlers. 
 
 "I don't mean to sing all the songs," says Bell, 
 presently; "I shall only give you a verse or so of 
 each of those I know, so that you may judge of them. 
 Now this is a fighting song;" and with that she 
 sung with fine courage — 
 
 "Here's Kenmure's health in wine, Willie ! 
 Here's Kenmure's health in wine ! 
 There ne'er was a coward o' Kenmure's blood, 
 
 Nor yet o' Gordon's line ! 
 Oh, Kenmure's lads are men, Willie ! 
 
 Oh, Kenmure's lads are men ! 
 Their hearts and swords are metal true, 
 And that their foes shall ken ! " 
 
 How was it that she always sang these wild, rebel- 
 lious, Jacobite songs with so great an accession of 
 spirit? Never in our southern home had she seemed 
 to care anything about them. There, the only Scotch 
 songs she used to sing for us were the plaintive 
 
380 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 laments of unhappy lovers, and such-like things; 
 whereas now she was all for blood and slaughter, for 
 the gathering of the clans, and the general destruction 
 of law and order. I don't believe she knew who 
 Kenmure was. As for the Braes o' Mar, and Cal- 
 lander and Airlie, she had never seen one of these 
 places. And what was this "kane" of which she 
 sang so proudly ? — 
 
 "Hark the horn ! 
 
 Up i' the morn ; 
 Bonnie lad, come to the march to-morrow ! 
 
 Down the Glen, 
 
 Grant and his men, 
 They shall pay kane to the King the morn ! 
 
 Down by Knockhaspie, 
 
 Down by Gillespie, 
 Many a red runt nods the horn ; 
 
 "Waken not Callum, 
 
 Eouky, nor Allan — 
 They shall pay kane to the King the morn ! " 
 
 "Why, what a warlike creature you have become, 
 Bell ! " says Queen Titania. " Ever since you sang 
 those songs of Maria, with Count von Eosen as the 
 old sergeant, you seem to have forgotten all the 
 pleasant old ballads of melancholy and regret, and 
 taken to nothing but fire and sword. Now, if you 
 were to sing about Logan Braes, or Lucy's Flitting, 
 or Annie's Tryst " 
 
 "I am coming to them," says Bell, meekly. 
 
 " No, Mademoiselle," interposes the Lieutenant, " please 
 do not sing any more just now. You will sing again, 
 in the afternoon, yes ? But at present you will harm 
 your voice to sing too much." 
 
 Now she had only sung snatches of three songs. 
 What business had he to interfere, and become her 
 guardian? Yet you should have seen how quietly 
 and naturally she laid aside the guitar as soon as 
 he had spoken, and how .she handed it to him to 
 put in the case : my Lady looked hard at her gloves, 
 which she always does when she is inwardly laughing 
 and determined that no smile shall appear on her 
 face. 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 381 
 
 It was rather hard upon Arthur that he should 
 be banished into that solitary trap; but he rejoined 
 us when we stopped at High Hesket to bait the 
 horses, and have a snack of something for lunch. 
 What a picture of desolation is the White Ox of this 
 village ! Once upon a time this broad road formed 
 part of the great highway leading towards the north ; 
 and here the coaches stopped for the last time before 
 driving into Carlisle. It is a large hostelry; but it 
 had such an appearance of loneliness and desertion 
 about it, that we stopped at the front door (which 
 was shut) to ask whether they could put the horses 
 up. An old lady, dressed in black, and with a worn 
 and sad face, appeared. We could put the horses 
 up, yes. As for luncheon, we could have ham and 
 eggs. The butcher only came to the place twice a 
 week; and as no traveller stopped here now, no 
 butcher's meat was kept on the premises. We went 
 into the great stables ; and found an ostler who 
 looked at us with a wonderful astonishment shining 
 in his light-blue eyes. Looking at the empty stalls, 
 he said he could remember when forty horses were 
 put up there every day. It was the railway that 
 had done it. 
 
 We had our ham and eggs in a large and melancholy 
 parlour, filled with old-fashioned pictures and orna- 
 ments. The elderly servant- woman who waited on 
 us told us that a gentleman had stopped at the inn 
 on the Monday night before; but it turned out that 
 he was walking to Carlisle, and that he had got afraid 
 • of two navvies on the road, and that he therefore had 
 taken a bed there. Before him, no one had stopped 
 at the inn since Whitsuntide. It was all because of 
 them railways. 
 
 We hastened away from this doleful and deserted 
 inn, so soon as the horses were rested. They had easy 
 work of it for the remainder of the day's journey. 
 The old coach-road is here remarkably broad, level, 
 and well-made, and we bowled along the solitary high- 
 way as many a vehicle had done in bygone years. 
 
382 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 As we drove into " merry Carlisle," the lamps were 
 lit in the twilight, and numbers of people in the 
 streets. For the convenience of Arthur, we put up 
 at an hotel abutting on the railway station, and then 
 went off to stable the horses elsewhere. 
 
 It was rather a melancholy dinner we had in a 
 corner of the great room. The gloom that overspread 
 Arthur's face was too obvious. In vain the Lieutenant 
 talked profoundly to us of the apple legend of Tell 
 in its various appearances (he had just been cribbing 
 his knowledge from Professor Buchheim's excellent 
 essay), and said he would go with my Lady next 
 morning to see the market-place where William of 
 Cloudeslee, who afterwards shot the apple from off 
 his son's head, was rescued from justice by two of 
 his fellow outlaws. Tita was far more concerned to 
 see Arthur of somewhat better spirits on this the 
 last night of his being with us. On our sitting 
 down to dinner, she had said to him, with a pretty 
 smile — 
 
 " King Arthur lives in merry Carlisle, 
 And seemly is to see ; 
 And there with him Queen Guenever, 
 That bride so bright of blee." 
 
 But was it not an unfortunate quotation, however 
 kindly meant? Queen Guenever sat there — as frank, 
 and gracious, and beautiful as a queen or a bride 
 might be — but not with him. That affair of the 
 little blue flower on the banks of the Greta was still 
 rankling in his mind. 
 
 He bore himself bravely, however. He would not 
 have the women remain up to see him away by the 
 12.45 train. He bade good-bye to both of them 
 without wincing, and looked after Bell for a moment 
 as she left; and then he went away into a large 
 and gloomy smoking-room, and sat down there 
 in silence. The Lieutenant and I went with him. 
 He was not inclined to speak; and at length Von 
 Rosen, apparently to break the horrible spell of the 
 place, said — 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 383 
 
 " Will they give the horse any corn or water on the 
 journey ? " 
 
 " I don't think so," said the lad, absently, " but I 
 have telegraphed for a man to be at the station and 
 take the cob into the nearest stables." 
 
 And with that he forced himself to talk of some of 
 his adventures by the way, while as yet he was driving 
 by himself; though we could see he was thinking of 
 something very different. At last the train from the 
 North came in. He shook hands with us with a fine 
 indifference ; and we saw him bundle himself up in a 
 corner of the carriage, with a cigar in his mouth. 
 There was nothing tragic in his going away ; and yet 
 there was not in all England a more wretched creature 
 than the young man who thus started on his lonely 
 night-journey; and I afterwards heard that, up in the 
 railway-hotel at this moment, one tender heart was 
 still beating a little more quickly at the thought of his 
 going, and two wakeful eyes were full of unconscious 
 tears. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 OVER THE BORDER. 
 
 " And here awhile the Muse, 
 High hovering o'er the broad cerulean scene, 
 Sees Caledonia in romantic view : 
 Her airy mountains, from the waving main, 
 Invested with a keen, diffusive sky, 
 Breathing the soul acute ; her forests huge 
 Incult, robust, and tall, by Nature's hand 
 Planted of old ; her azure lakes between 
 Poured out expansive, and of watery wealth 
 Full ; winding, deep, and green, her fertile vales 
 With many a cool translucent brimming flood 
 "Washed lovely from the Tweed (^>nve parent stream 
 Whose pastoral banks first heard my Doric reed, 
 With sylvan Gled, thy tributary brook)." 
 
 That next morning in Carlisle — as we walked about 
 the red old city that is set amid beautiful green meadows 
 interlaced with streams — there was something about 
 
384 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 Queen Titania's manner that I could not understand. 
 She arrogated to herself a certain importance. She 
 treated ordinary topics of talk with disdain. She had 
 evidently become possessed of a great secret. Now, 
 everyone knows that the best way to discover a secret 
 is to let the owner of it alone ; if it is of great import- 
 ance, she is sure to tell it you, and if it is of no 
 importance, your ignorance of it won't hurt you. 
 
 We were up in that fine old castle, leaning on the 
 parapets of red sandstone and gazing away up to the 
 north, where a line of Scotch hills lay on the horizon. 
 That is a pretty landscape that lies around Carlisle 
 Castle — the bright and grassy meadows through which 
 the Eden winds, the woods and heights of the country 
 beyond, the far stretches of sand at the mouth of the 
 Solway, and the blue line of hills telling of the wilder 
 regions of Scotland. 
 
 In the courtyard below us we can see the Lieutenant 
 instructing Bell in the art of fortification. My Lady 
 looks at them for a moment, and says — 
 
 " Bell is near her North Country at last." 
 
 There is at all events nothing very startling in that 
 disclosure. She pauses for a moment or two, and is 
 apparently regarding with wistful eyes the brilliant 
 landscape around, across which dashes of shadow are 
 slowly moving from the west. Then she adds — 
 
 "I suppose you are rather puzzled to account for 
 Arthur's coming up to see us this last time." 
 
 "I never try to account for the insane actions of 
 young people in love." 
 
 " That is your own experience, I suppose ? " she says, 
 daintily. 
 
 " Precisely so — of you. But what is this about 
 Arthur?" 
 
 " Don't you really think it looks absurd — his having 
 come to join us a second time for no apparent purpose 
 whatever ? " 
 
 "Proceed." 
 
 " Oh," she says, with some little hauteur, " I am not 
 anxious to tell you anything." 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 385 
 
 "But I am dying to hear. Have you not marked 
 my impatience ever since we set out this morning ? " 
 
 " No, I haven't. But I will tell you all the same, 
 if you promise to say not a word of it to the Count." 
 
 "I? Say anything to the Lieutenant ? The man 
 who would betray the confidences of his wife — except 
 when it suited his own purpose — But what have 
 you got to say about Arthur ? " 
 
 " Only this— that his coming to see us was not 
 so aimless as it x might appear. Yesterday he asked 
 Bell definitely if she would marry him." 
 
 She smiles — with an air of pride. She knows she 
 has produced a sensation. 
 
 " Would you like to know where ? In an old inn 
 at High Hesket — where they seem to have been left 
 alone for a minute or two. And Bell told him frankly 
 that she could not marry him." 
 
 Think of it ! In that deserted old inn, with its 
 forsaken chambers and empty stalls, and occasional 
 visits from a wandering butcher, a tragedy had been 
 enacted so quietly that none of us had known. If 
 folks were always to transact the most important 
 business of their lives in this quiet, undramatic, 
 unobserved way, whence would come all the material 
 for our pictures, and plays, and books ? These young 
 people, so far as we knew, had never struck an 
 attitude, nor uttered an exclamation; for, now that 
 one had time to remember, on our entering into the 
 parlour where Bell and Arthur had been left, she 
 was quietly looking out of the window, and he came 
 forward to ask how many miles it was to Carlisle. 
 They got into the vehicles outside as if nothing had 
 happened. They chatted as usual on the road into 
 Carlisle. Nay, at dinner, how did those young hypo- 
 crites manage to make believe that they were on 
 their old footing, so as to deceive us all ? 
 
 " My dear," I say to her, " we have been robbed 
 of a scene." 
 
 "I am glad there was no scene. There is more 
 likely to be a scene when Arthur goes back and tells 
 
 cc 
 
3 86 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 Dr. Ashburton that be means to many Katty Tatham. 
 He is % sure to do that ; and you know the Doctor 
 was very much in favour of Arthur's marrying Bell.'' 
 
 " Well, now, I suppose, all that is wanted for the 
 completion of your diabolical project is that Bell 
 should marry that young Prussian down there — who 
 will be arrested in a minute or two if he does not 
 drop his inquiries." 
 
 Tita looked up with a stare of well-affected 
 surprise. 
 
 " That is quite another matter, I assure you. You 
 may be quite certain that Bell did not refuse Count 
 von Eosen before without some very good reason ; 
 and the mere fact of Arthur's going away does not 
 pledge her a bit. No — quite the contrary. He would 
 be very foolish if he asked her at this moment to 
 become his wife. She is very sorry about Arthur, 
 and so am I ; but I confess that when I learned his 
 case was hopeless, and that I could do nothing to 
 help him, I was greatly relieved. But don't breathe 
 a word of what I have told you to Count Von Bosen. 
 Bell would never forgive me if it were to reach 
 his ears. But oh ! " says Queen Tita, almost clasping 
 her hands, while a bright light beams over her face, 
 ' I should like to see those two married. I am sure 
 they are so fond of each other. Can you doubt it, if 
 you look at them for a moment or two " 
 
 But they had disappeared from the courtyard below. 
 Almost at the same moment that she uttered these 
 words, she instinctively turned, and lo ! there were 
 Bell and her companion advancing to join us. The 
 poor little woman blushed dreadfully in spite of all 
 her assumption of gracious self-possession ; but it was 
 apparent that the young folks had not overheard, and 
 no harm was done. 
 
 At length we started for Gretna. There might have 
 been some obvious jokes going upon this subject, had 
 not some recollection of Arthur interfered. Was it 
 because of his departure, also, that the Lieutenant for- 
 bore to press Bell for the Scotch songs that she had 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 387 
 
 promised him ? Or was it not rather that the bright- 
 ness and freshness of this rare forenoon were in them- 
 selves sufficient exhilaration ? We drove down by the 
 green meadows, and over the Eden bridge. We clam- 
 bered up the hill opposite, and drove past the suburban 
 villas there. We had got so much accustomed to sweet 
 perfumes floating to us from the hedgerows and the 
 fields, that we at first did not perceive that certain 
 specially pleasant odours were the product of some 
 large nurseries close by. Then we got out to that 
 " shedding " of the roads, which marks the junction of the 
 highways coming down from Glasgow and Edinburgh ; 
 and here we chose the former, which would take us 
 through Gretna and Moffat, leaving us to strike east- 
 ward towards Edinburgh afterwards. 
 
 The old mail-coach road to the North is quite deserted 
 now, but it is a pleasant road for all that, well-made 
 and smooth, with tracts of grass along each side, and 
 tall and profuse hedges that only partially hide from 
 view the dusky northern landscape with its blue line 
 of hills beyond. Mile after mile, however, we did not 
 meet a single creature on this deserted highway ; and 
 when at length we reached a solitary turnpike, the 
 woman in charge thereof regarded us with a look of 
 surprise, as if we were a party of runaways who had 
 blundered into the notion that Gretna-green marriages 
 were still possible. 
 
 The Lieutenant, who was driving, got talking with 
 the woman about these marriages, and the incidents 
 that must have occurred at this very turnpike, and of the 
 stories in the neighbourhood about that picturesque 
 and gay old time. She — with her eyes still looking 
 towards our Bell, as if she suspected that the young 
 man had quite an exceptional interest in talking of 
 marriages — told us some of her own reminiscences with 
 a great deal of good humour ; but it is sad to think that 
 these anecdotes were chiefly of quarrels and separations 
 — some of them occurring before the happy pair had 
 crossed the first bridge on their homeward route. 
 Whether these stories were not edifying, or whether a 
 
 c c 2 
 
388 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 great bank of clouds, coming up from the north against 
 the wind, looked very ominous, Bell besought her com- 
 panion to drive on ; and so on he went. 
 
 It was a lonely place in which to be caught by a 
 thunderstorm. We came to the river Esk, and found 
 its shallow waters flowing down a broad and shingly 
 channel, leaving long islands of sand between. There 
 was not a house in sight — only the marshy meadows, 
 the river-beds, and the low flats of sand stretching out 
 to the Solway Frith. Scotland was evidently bent on 
 giving us a wet welcome. From the hills in the north 
 those black masses of vapour came crowding up, and a 
 strange silence fell over the land. Then a faint glimmer 
 of red appeared somewhere ; and a low noise was heard. 
 Presently a long narrow streak of forked lightning went 
 darting across the black background, there was a smart 
 roll of thunder, and then all around us the first cluster- 
 ing of heavy rain was heard among the leaves. We 
 had the hood put up hastily. Bell and Tita were 
 speedily swathed in shawls and waterproofs: and the 
 Lieutenant sent the horses on at a good pace, hoping 
 to reach Gretna Green before we should be washed 
 into the Solway. Then began the wild play of the 
 elements. On all sides of us the bewildering glare of 
 steel-blue seemed to flash about, and the horses, terrified 
 by the terrific peals of thunder, went plunging on 
 through the torrents of rain. 
 
 " Mademoiselle," cried the Lieutenant, with the water 
 streaming over his face and down his great beard, 
 " your Westmoreland rain, — it was nothing to this." 
 
 Bell sat mute and patient, with her face down to 
 escape the blinding torrents. Perhaps had we crossed 
 the Border in beautiful weather, she would have got 
 down from the phaeton, and pulled some pretty flower 
 to take away with her as a memento ; but now we could 
 see nothing, hear nothing, think of nothing, but the 
 crashes of the thunder, the persistent waterfall, and 
 those sudden glares that from time to time robbed us 
 of our eyesight for several seconds. Some little time 
 before reaching the river Sark, which is here the boun- 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 389 
 
 dary-line between the two countries, we passed a small 
 wayside inn ; but we did not think of stopping there, 
 when Gretna promised to afford us more certain shelter. 
 We drove on and over the Sark. We pulled up for a 
 moment at the famous toll-house. 
 
 " We are over the Border ! " cried Bell, as we drove 
 on again ; but what of Scotland could she see in this 
 wild storm of rain ? 
 
 Surely no runaway lover was ever more glad to see ' 
 that small church perched up on a hillock among trees 
 than we were when we came in sight of Gretna. But 
 where was the inn ? There were a few cottages by the 
 wayside, and there was one woman who kindly came 
 out to look at us. 
 
 No sooner had the Lieutenant heard that there was 
 no inn in the place, than, without a word — but with 
 an awful look of determination on his face — he turned 
 the horses clean round and set them off at a gallop down 
 the road to the Sark. 
 
 " Perhaps they can't take us in at that small place," 
 said my Lady. 
 
 " They must take us in," said he, between his teeth ; 
 and with that we found ourselves in England again. 
 
 He drove us up to the front of the square building. 
 With his whip-hand he dashed away the rain from his 
 eyes and moustache, and called aloud. Lo ! what strange 
 vision was that which appeared to us, in this lonely 
 place, in the middle of a storm ? Through the mist of 
 the rain we beheld the doorway of the inn suddenly 
 becoming the frame of a beautiful picture; and the 
 picture was that of a fair-haired and graceful young 
 creature of eighteen, in a costume of pearly grey touched 
 here and there with lines of blue, who regarded us with 
 a winning expression of wonder and pity in her large 
 and innocent eyes. Her appearance there seemed like 
 a glimmer of sunlight shining through the rain ; and a 
 second or two elapsed before the Lieutenant could 
 collect himself so far as to ask whether this angel of 
 deliverance could not shelter us from the rude violence 
 of the storm. 
 
390 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 "We have no ostler," says the young lady, in a 
 timid way. 
 
 " Have you any stables ? " says the young man. 
 
 " Yes, we have stables — shall I show them to you ? " 
 
 " No — no ! " he cries, quite vehemently. " Don't you 
 come out into the rain — not at all ! I will find them 
 out very well myself ; but you must take in the ladies 
 here, and get them dry." 
 
 And when we had consigned Bell and Tita to the 
 care of the young ]ady, who received them with a look 
 of much friendliness and concern in her pretty face, we 
 went off and sought out the stables. 
 
 " Now, look here, my good friend," says Von Eosen ; 
 " we are both wet. The horses have to be groomed — 
 that is very good work to dry one person ; and so you 
 go into the house, and change your clothes, and I will 
 see after the horses, yes?" 
 
 " My young friend, it is no use your being very com- 
 plaisant to me," I observe to him. "I don't mean to 
 intercede with Bell for you." 
 
 "Would you intercede with that beautiful young 
 lady of the inn for me ? Well, now, that is a devil of a 
 language, yours. How am I to address a girl who is a 
 stranger to me, and to whom I wish to be respectful ? 
 I cannot call her Mademoiselle, which is only an old 
 nickname that Mademoiselle used to have in Bonn, as 
 you know. You tell me I cannot address a young lady 
 as " Miss," without mentioning her other name, and I 
 do not know it. Yet I cannot address her with nothing, 
 as if she were a servant. Tell me now — what does an 
 English gentleman say to a young lady whom he may 
 assist at a railway station abroad, and does not know her 
 name? And what, if he does not catch her name when 
 he is introduced in a house ? He cannot say Mademoi- 
 selle. He cannot say .Fraulein. He cannot say Miss." 
 "He says nothing at all." 
 
 " But that is rudeness — it is awkward to you not to 
 be able to address her." 
 
 " Why are you so anxious to know how to talk to 
 this young lady ?" 
 
OF A PHAETON. 391 
 
 " Because I mean to ask her if it is impossible that 
 she can get a little corn for the horses." 
 
 It was tiresome work — that getting the horses out 
 of the wet harness, and grooming them without the 
 implements of grooming. Moreover, we could find 
 nothing but a handful of hay; and it was fortunate 
 that the nosebags we had with us still contained a 
 small allowance of oats and beans. 
 
 What a comfortable little family-party, however, we 
 made up in the large warm kitchen ! Tita had struck 
 up a great friendship with the gentle and pretty 
 daughter of the house; the old lady, her mother, was 
 busy in having our wraps and rugs hung up to dry 
 before the capacious fireplace; and the servant-maid 
 had begun to cook some chops for us. Bell, too — who 
 might have figured as the elder sister of this flaxen- 
 haired and frank-eyed creature, who had appeared to 
 us in the storm — was greatly interested in her; and 
 was much pleased to hear her distinctly and proudly 
 claim to be Scotch, although it was her misfortune to 
 live a short distance on the wrong side of the Border. 
 And with that the two girls fell to talking about 
 Scotch and Cumbrian words ; but here Bell had a 
 tremendous advantage, and pushed it to such an ex- 
 treme, that her opponent, with a pretty blush and a 
 laugh, said that she did not know the English young 
 ladies knew so much of Scotch. And when Bell pro- 
 tested that she would not be called English, the girl 
 only stared. You see, she had never had the benefit 
 of hearing the Lieutenant discourse on the history 
 of Strathclyde. 
 
 Well, we had our chops and what not in the parlour 
 of the inn ; but it was remarkable how soon the Lieu- 
 tenant proposed that we should return to the kitchen. 
 He pretended that he was anxious to learn Scotch ; 
 and affected a profound surprise that the young lady 
 of the inn should not know the meaning of the word 
 " spurtle." When we went into the kitchen, how- 
 ever, it was to the mamma that he addressed himself 
 chiefly ; and behold ! she speedily revealed to the 
 
392 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 young soldier that she was the widow of one of the 
 Gretna priests. More than that I don't mean to say. 
 Some of you young fellows who may read this might 
 perhaps like to know the name and the precise where- 
 abouts of the fair wild-flower that we found blooming 
 up in these remote solitudes ; but neither shall be 
 revealed. If there was any of us who fell in love 
 with the sweet and gentle face, it was Queen Tita ; 
 and I know not what compacts about photographs 
 may not have been made between the two women. 
 
 Meanwhile the Lieutenant had established himself 
 as a great favourite with the elderly lady, and by and 
 by she left the kitchen, and came back with a sheet of 
 paper in her hand, which she presented to him. It 
 turned out to be one of the forms of the marriage- 
 certificates used by her husband in former days ; and 
 for curiosity's sake I append it below, suppressing the 
 name of the priest for obvious reasons. 
 
 KINGDOM OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 COUNTY OF DUMFRIES. 
 
 Ijarisjj of <$rdtra. 
 
 Cljese are to Ccttt'fg to all whom these presents shall come, that 
 * * * from the parish of * * * in the County of * * * 
 and * * * from the parish of * * * in the County of * * * 
 being now here present, and having declared themselves single persons, 
 were this day Married after the manner of the Laws of the Church of 
 England, and agreeable to the Laws of Scotland ; as Witness our hands, 
 Allison's Bank Toll-house, this * * * day of * * * 18 . 
 
 Before * * * 
 
 WLitTtt&szs, 
 
 " That is a dangerous paper to carry about wi' ye," 
 said the old woman, with a smile. 
 
OF A PHAETON, 
 
 393 
 
 " Why so ? " inquired the Lieutenant. 
 
 " Because ye might be tempted to ask a young leddy 
 to sign her name there ; " and what should prevent 
 that innocent-eyed girl turning just at this moment to 
 look with a pleased smile at our Bell ? The Lieutenant 
 laughed, in an embarrassed way, and said the rugs 
 might as well be taken from before the fire, as they 
 were quite dry now. 
 
 I think none of us would have been sorry to have 
 stayed the night in this homely and comfortable little 
 inn, but we wished to get on to Lockerbie, so as to 
 reach Edinburgh in other two days. Moreover, the 
 clouds had broken, and there was a pale glimmer of 
 sunshine appearing over the dark green woods and 
 meadows. We had the horses put into the phaeton 
 again, and with many a friendly word of thanks to 
 the good people who had been so kind to us, we started 
 once more to cross the Border. 
 
 " And what do you think of the first Scotch family 
 you have seen?" says Queen Tita to the Lieutenant, 
 as we cross the bridge again. 
 
 "Madame," he says, quite earnestly, "I did dream 
 for a moment I was in Germany again — everything 
 so friendly and homely, and the young lady not too 
 proud to wait on you, and help the servant in 
 the cooking ; and then, when that is over, to talk to 
 you with good education, and intelligence, and great 
 simpleness and frankness. Oh, that is very good — 
 whether it is Scotch, or German, or any other country 
 — the simple ways, and the friendliness, and the 
 absence of all the fashions and the hypocrisy." 
 
 "That young lady was very fashionably dressed, 
 Count von Eosen," says Tita with a smile. 
 
 "That is nothing, Madame. Did she not bring in 
 to us our dinner, just as the daughter of the house in 
 a German country inn would do, as a compliment to 
 you, and not to let the servant come in ? Is it debase- 
 ment, do you think ? No. You do respect her for it ; 
 and you yourself, Madame, you did speak to her as if 
 she were an old friend of yours — and why not, when 
 
THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 you find people like that, honest and good-willing 
 towards you ? " 
 
 What demon of mischief was it that prompted Bell 
 to sing that song as we drove through the darkening 
 woods in this damp twilight? The Lieutenant had 
 just got out her guitar for her when he was led into 
 these fierce statements quoted above. And Bell with 
 a great gravity, sang — 
 
 " Farewell to Glenshalloch, a farewell for ever, 
 Farewell to my wee cot that stands by the river ; 
 The fall is loud-sounding in voices that vary, 
 And the echoes surrounding lament with my Mary." 
 
 This much may be said, that the name of the young 
 lady of whom they had been speaking was also Mary ; 
 and the Lieutenant, divining some profound sarcasm 
 in the song, began to laugh and protest that it was 
 not because the girl was pretty and gentle that he 
 had discovered so much excellence in the customs of 
 Scotch households. Then Bell sang once more — as 
 the sun went down behind the woods, and we heard 
 the streams murmuring in deep valleys by the side 
 of the road — 
 
 "Hame, hame, hame, 0 hame fain would I be, 
 Hame, hame, hame, to my ain countree ; 
 There's an eye that ever weeps, and a fair face will be fain, 
 As I pass through Annan water, wi' my bonny bands again ! " 
 
 We drive into the long village of Ecclefechan, and 
 pause for a moment or two in front of the Bush Inn 
 to let the horses have a draught of water and oatmeal. 
 The Lieutenant, who has descended to look after this 
 prescription, now comes out from the inn bearing a 
 small tray with some tumblers on it. 
 
 " Madame," said he, " here is Scotch whisky — you 
 must all drink it, for the good of the country." 
 
 "And of ourselves," says one of us, calling attention 
 to the chill dampness of the night-air. 
 
 My Lady pleaded for a bit of sugar, but that was 
 not allowed ; and when she had been induced to take 
 about a third of the Lieutenant's preparation, she put 
 down the glass with an air of having done her duty. 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 395 
 
 As for Bell, she drank pretty nearly half the quantity ; 
 and the chances are that if the Lieutenant had handed 
 her prussic acid, she would have felt herself bound, as 
 a compliment, to accept it. 
 
 Darker and darker grew the landscape as we drove 
 through the thick woods. And when, at last, we got 
 into Lockerbie there was scarcely enough light of any 
 sort to show us that the town, like most Scotch country 
 towns and villages, was whitewashed. In the inn at 
 which , we stopped, appropriately named the Blue Bell, 
 the Lieutenant once more remarked on the exceeding 
 homeliness and friendliness of the Scotch. The land- 
 lord simply adopted us, and gave us advice in a grave, 
 paternal fashion, about what we should have for supper. 
 The waiter who attended us took quite a friendly 
 interest in our trip ; and said he would himself go and 
 see that the horses which had accomplished such a 
 feat were being properly looked after. Bell was im- 
 mensely proud that she could understand one or two 
 phrases that were rather obscure to the rest of the 
 party ; and the Lieutenant still further delighted her 
 by declaring that he wished we could travel for months 
 through this friendly land, which reminded him of his 
 own country. Perhaps the inquisitive reader, having 
 learned that we drank Scotch whisky at the Bush Inn 
 of Ecclefechan, would like to know what we drank at 
 the Blue Bell of Lockerbie. He may address a letter 
 to Queen Titania on that subject, and he will doubtless 
 receive a perfectly frank answer. 
 
 [Note by Queen Titania. — " I do not see why our pretty Bell should 
 be made the chief subject of all the foregoing revelations. I will say 
 this, that she and myself were convinced that we never saw two men 
 more jealous of each other than those two were in that inn near the 
 Border. The old lady was quite amused by it ; but I do not think 
 the girl herself noticed it, for she is a very innocent and gentle young 
 thing, and has probably had no experience of such absurdities. But I 
 would like to ask who first mentioned that subject of photographs ; 
 and who proposed to send her a whole series of engravings ; and who 
 offered to send her a volume of German songs. If Arthur had 
 been there, we should have had the laugh all on our side ; but now 
 I suppose they will deny that anything of the kind took place — with 
 the ordinary candour of gentlemen who are found out."] 
 
396 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 CHAPTEE XXX. 
 
 TWEED SIDE. 
 
 " Ah, happy Lycius ! — for she was a maid 
 More "beautiful than ever twisted Lraid, 
 Or sighed, or blushed, or on spring-flowered lea 
 Spread a green kirtJe to the minstrelsy ; 
 A virgin purest-lipped, yet in the lore 
 Of love deep learned to the red heart's core." 
 
 The very first object that we saw, on this the first 
 morning of our waking in Scotland, was a small 
 boy of seven or eight, brown-faced, yellow-haired, 
 bare-footed, who was marching along in the sunlight 
 with a bag of school-books on his back about as big 
 as himself. 
 
 " Oh, the brave little fellow ! " cries Tita, regarding 
 him from the door of the inn with a great softness 
 in her brown eyes. " Don't you think he will be Lord 
 Chancellor some day?" 
 
 The future Lord Chancellor went steadily on, his 
 small brown feet taking no heed of the stones in 
 the white road. 
 
 " I think," says Tita, suddenly plunging her hand 
 into her pocket, " I think I should like to give him 
 a shilling." 
 
 " No, Madame," says one of us to her, sternly ; 
 " you shall not bring into this free land the corrupting 
 influences of the south. It is enough that you have 
 debased the district around your own home. If you 
 offered that young patriot a shilling, he would turn 
 again and rend you. But if you offered him a half- 
 penny, now, to buy bools " 
 
 At this moment, somehow or other, Bell and our 
 Lieutenant appear together ; and before we know 
 where we are, the girl has darted across the street 
 in pursuit of the boy. 
 
 " What are bools ? " asked the Lieutenant gravely. 
 
 " Objects of interest to the youthful student." 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 397 
 
 Then we see, in the white glare of the sun, a wistful, 
 small, fair and sunburned face turned towards that 
 young lady with the voluminous light brown hair. 
 She is apparently talking to him, but in a different 
 tongue from his own, and he looks frightened. Then 
 the sunlight glitters on two white coins, and Bell pats 
 him kindly on the shoulder; and doubtless the little 
 fellow proceeds on his way to school in a sort of 
 wild and wonderful dream, having an awful sense 
 that he has been spoken to by a fair and gracious 
 princess. 
 
 "As I live," says my Lady, with a great surprise, 
 "she has given him two half-crowns!" 
 
 Queen Titania looks at me. There is a meaning 
 in her look — partly interrogation, partly conviction, 
 and wholly kind and pleasant. It has dawned upon 
 her that girls who are not blessed with abundant 
 pocket-money do not give away five shillings to a 
 passing schoolboy without some profound emotional 
 cause. Bell comes across the way, looking vastly 
 pleased and proud, but somehow avoiding our eyes. 
 She would have gone into the inn, but that my 
 Lady's majestic presence (you could have fanned her 
 out of the way with a butterfly's wing!) barred the 
 entrance. 
 
 "Have you been for a walk this morning, Bell?" 
 she says, with a fine air of indifference. 
 
 "Yes, Madame," replies our Uhlan — as if he had 
 any business to answer for our Bell. 
 
 "Where did you go?" 
 
 " Oh," says the girl with some confusion, " we went — 
 we went away from the town a little way — I don't 
 exactly know " 
 
 And with that she escaped into the inn. 
 
 " Madame," says the Lieutenant, with a great apparent 
 effort, while he keeps his eyes looking towards the pave- 
 ment, and there is a brief touch of extra colour in 
 his brown face, "Madame — I — I am asked — indeed, 
 Mademoiselle she was good enough — she is to be my 
 wife—and she did ask me if I would tell you " 
 
398 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 And somehow he put out his hand — just as a German 
 boy shakes hands with you, in a timid fashion, after 
 you have tipped him at school — and took Tita's hand 
 in his, as if to thank her for a great gift. And the 
 little woman was so touched, and so mightily pleased, 
 that I thought she would have kissed him before my 
 very face, in the open streets of Lockerbie. All this 
 scene, you must remember, took place on the doorstep 
 of an odd little inn in a small Scotch country-town. 
 There were few spectators. The sun was shining down 
 on the white fronts of the cottages, and blinking on the 
 windows. A cart of hay stood opposite to us, with the 
 horse slowly munching inside his nosebag. We our- 
 selves were engaged in peacefully waiting for breakfast 
 when the astounding news burst upon us. 
 
 " Oh, I am very glad, indeed, Count von Eosen," says 
 Tita ; and, sure enough, there was gladness written all 
 over her face and in her eyes. And then in a minute 
 she had sneaked away from us, and I knew she had 
 gone away to seek Bell, and stroke her hair and put her 
 arms round her neck, and say, " Oh, my dear," with a 
 little sob of delight. 
 
 Well, I turn to the Lieutenant. Young men, when 
 they have been accepted, wear a most annoying air of 
 self-satisfaction. 
 
 " Touching those settlements," I say to him ; " have 
 you any remark to make ? " 
 
 The young man begins to laugh. 
 
 "It is no laughing matter. I am Bell's guardian. 
 You have not got my consent yet." 
 
 " We can do without it — it is not an opera," he says, 
 with some more of that insolent coolness. " But you 
 would be pleased to prevent the marriage, yes ? For 
 I have seen it often — that you are more jealous of 
 Mademoiselle than of anyone — and it is a wonder to 
 me that you did not interfere before. But as for 
 Madame, now — yes, she is my very good friend, and 
 has helped me very much." 
 
 Such is the gratitude of those conceited young 
 fellows, and their penetration, too ! If he had but 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 399 
 
 known that only a few days before Tita had taken 
 a solemn vow to help Arthur by every means in 
 her power, so as to atone for any injustice she might 
 have done him ! But all at once he says, with quite 
 a burst of eloquence (for him) — 
 
 "My dear friend, how am I to thank you for all 
 this ? I did not know when I proposed to come to 
 England that this holiday tour would bring me so 
 much happiness. It does appear to me I am grown 
 very rich — -so rich I should like to give something 
 to everybody this morning — and make everyone happy 
 as myself- " 
 
 "Just as Bell gave the boy five shillings. All 
 right. When you get to Edinburgh you can buy 
 Tita a Scotch collie — she is determined to have a 
 collie, because Mrs. Quinet got a prize for one at the 
 Crystal Palace. Come in to breakfast." 
 
 Bell was sitting there with her face in shadow, 
 and Tita, laughing in a very affectionate way, standing 
 beside her with her hands on the girl's shoulder. 
 Bell did not look up ; nothing was said. A very 
 friendly waiter put breakfast on the table. The land- 
 lord dropped in to bid us good morning, and see 
 that we were comfortable. Even the ostler, the Lieu- 
 tenant told us afterwards, of this Scotch inn had 
 conversed with him in a shrewd, homely, and sensible 
 fashion, treating him as a young man who would 
 naturally like to have the advice of his elders. 
 
 The young people were vastly delighted with the 
 homely ways of this Scotch inn ; and began to indulge 
 in vague theories about parochial education, indepen- 
 dence of character, and the hardihood of northern races 
 — all tending to the honour and glory of Scotland. 
 You would have thought, to hear them go on in this 
 fashion, that all the good of the world, and all its beauty 
 and kindliness, were concentrated in the Scotch town of 
 Lockerbie, and that in Lockerbie no place was so much 
 the pet of fortune as the Blue Bell Inn. 
 
 "And to think," says Bell, with a gentle regret, 
 "that to-morrow is the last day of our driving." 
 
4<x> 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 " But not the last of our holiday, Mademoiselle," 
 says the Lieutenant. " Is it necessary that any of us 
 goes back to England for a week or two, or a month, or 
 two months?" 
 
 Of course the pair of them would have liked 
 very well to start off on another month's excursion, 
 just as this one was finished. But parents and 
 guardians have their duties. Very soon they would 
 be in a position to control their own actions ; and 
 then they would be welcome to start for Kam- 
 schatka. 
 
 All that could be said in praise of Scotland had been 
 said in the inn ; and now, as Castor and Pollux took 
 us away from Lockerbie into the hillier regions of 
 Dumfries-shire, our young people were wholly at a loss 
 for words to describe their delight. It was a glorious 
 day, to begin with: a light breeze tempering the hot 
 sunlight, and blowing about the perfume of sweet-briar 
 from the fronts of the stone cottages, and bringing us 
 warm and resinous odours from the woods of larch and 
 spruce. We crossed deep glens, along the bottom of 
 which ran clear brown streams over beds of pebbles. 
 The warm light fell on the sides of those rocky clefts 
 and lit up the masses of young rowan-trees and the 
 luxuriant ferns along the moist banks. There was a 
 richly cultivated and undulating country lying all 
 around ; but few houses, and those chiefly farmhouses. 
 Far beyond, the rounded hills of Moffat rose soft and 
 blue into the white sky. Then, in the stillness of the 
 bright day, we came upon a wayside school ; and as it 
 happened to be dinner-time we stopped to see the 
 stream of little ones come out. It was a pretty sight, 
 under the shadow of the trees, to see that troop of 
 children come into the country road — most of them 
 being girls, in extremely white pinafores, and nearly all 
 of them, boys and girls, being yellow-haired, clear-eyed, 
 healthy children, who kept very silent and stared shyly 
 at the horses and the phaeton. All the younger ones 
 had bare feet, stained with the sun, and their yellow 
 hair — which looked almost white by the side of their 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 401 
 
 berry-brown cheeks — was free from cap or bonnet. 
 They did not say, " Chuck us a 'apenny." They did not 
 raise a cheer as we drove off. They stood by the side 
 of the road, close by the hawthorn hedge, looking 
 timidly after us ; and the last that we saw of them was 
 that they had got into the middle of the path and were 
 slowly going off home — a small, bright, and various- 
 coloured group under the soft green twilight of an 
 avenue of trees. 
 
 As we drove on through the clear, warm day, care- 
 less and content, the two women had all the talking 
 to themselves ; and a strange use they made of their 
 opportunities. If the guardian angels of those two 
 creatures happen to have any sense of humour, they 
 must have laughed as they looked down and over- 
 heard. You may remember that when it was first 
 proposed to take this Prussian Lieutenant with us 
 on our summer tour, both Bell and my Lady professed 
 the most deadly hatred of the German nation, and 
 were nearly weeping tears over the desolate condition 
 of France. That was about six months before. Now, 
 thirty millions of people, either in the south or north 
 of Europe, don't change their collective character — 
 if such a thing exists — within the space of six 
 months ; but on this bright morning you would have 
 fancied that the women were vying with each other 
 to prove that all the domestic virtues, and all the 
 science and learning of civilization, and all the arts 
 that beautify life, were the exclusive property of 
 the TeutoDS. My Lady was a later convert — had 
 she not made merry only the other day over Bell's 
 naive confession that she thought the German nation 
 as good as the French nation? — but now that she 
 had gone over to the enemy, she altogether distanced 
 Bell in the production of theories, facts, quotations, 
 and downright personal opinion. She had lived a 
 little longer, you "See, and knew more; and perhaps 
 she had a trifle more audacity in suppressing 
 awkward facts. At all events the Lieutenant was 
 partly abashed and partly amused by her warm 
 
4Q2 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 advocacy of German character, literature, music, and 
 a thousand other things ; and by her endeavours to 
 prove — out of the historical lessons she had taught 
 her two boys — that there had always prevailed in 
 this country a strong antipathy to the French and 
 all their ways. 
 
 "Their language too," I remark, to keep the ball 
 rolling. " Observe the difference between the polished, 
 fluent, and delicate German, and the barbaric dis- 
 sonance and jumble of the French! How elegant 
 the one, how harsh the other ! If you were to take 
 Bossuet, now " 
 
 "It is not fair," says Bell. "We were talking 
 quite seriously, and you come in to make a jest 
 of it." 
 
 "I don't. Are you aware that, at a lecture Coleridge 
 gave in the Eoyal Institution in 1808, he solemnly 
 thanked his Maker that he did not know a word of 
 that frightful jargon, the French language?" 
 
 The women were much impressed. They would not 
 have dared, themselves, to say a word against the 
 French language ; nevertheless, Coleridge was a person 
 of authority. Bell looked as if she would like to have 
 some further opinions of this sort; but Mr. Freeman 
 had not at that time uttered his epigram about the 
 general resemblance of a Norman farmer to " a man of 
 Yorkshire or Lincolnshire who has somehow picked up 
 a bad habit of talking French," nor that other about 
 a Dane who, "in his sojourn in Gaul, had put on a 
 slight French varnish, and who came into England to 
 be washed clean again." 
 
 " Now," I say to Bell, " if you had only civilly asked 
 me to join in the argument, I could have given you all 
 sorts of testimony to the worth of the Germans and 
 the despicable nature of the French." 
 
 " Yes, to make the whole thing absurd," says Bell, 
 somewhat hurt. " I don't think you believe anything 
 seriously." 
 
 " Not in national characteristics even ? If not in 
 them, what are we to believe ? But I will help you 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 403 
 
 all the same, Bell. Now, did you ever hear of a sonnet 
 in which Wordsworth, after recalling some of the great 
 names of the Commonwealth time, goes on to say — 
 
 " ' France, 'tis strange, 
 Hath brought forth no such souls as we had then. 
 Perpetual emptiness ! unceasing change ! 
 No single volume paramount, no code, 
 No master spirit, no determined road ; 
 But equally a want of books and men ! 
 
 Does that please you ? " 
 
 "Yes," says Bell, contentedly. 
 
 " Well, did you ever read a poem called " Hands 
 all Round?" 
 " No." 
 
 " You never heard of a writer in the Examiner called 
 * Merlin/ whom people to this day maintain was the 
 Poet Laureate of England ? " 
 
 "No." 
 
 "Well, listen :— 
 
 " ' What health to France, -if France be she 
 "Whom martial progress only charms ? 
 Yet tell her — better to be free 
 
 Than vanquish all the world in arms. 
 Her frantic city's flashing heats 
 
 But fire, to blast, the hopes of men. 
 Why change the titles of your streets ? 
 You fools, you'll want them all again. 
 
 Hands all round ! 
 God the tyrant's cause confound ! 
 To France, the wiser France, we drink, my friends, 
 And the great name of England, round and round ! ' 
 
 At that time, Miss Bell, thousands of people in this 
 country were disquieted about the possible projects of 
 the new French Government ; and as it was considered 
 that the Second Nap'oleon would seek to establish his 
 power by the fame of foreign conquest " 
 
 " This is quite a historical lecture," says Queen Tita, 
 in an undertone. 
 
 " and as the Napoleonic legend included the 
 
 humiliation of England, many thoughtful men began 
 to cast about for a possible ally with whom we could 
 D D 2 
 
404 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 take the field. To which country did they turn, do 
 you think ? " 
 
 " To Germany, of course/' says Bell, in the most 
 natural way in the world. 
 rt Listen again : — 
 
 " Gigantic daughter of the West, 
 
 We drink to thee across the flood. 
 We know thee, and we love thee best, 
 For art thou not of British blood ? 
 Should war's mad blast again be blown, 
 
 Permit not thou the tyrant powers 
 To fight thy mother here alone, 
 But let thy broadsides roar with ours. 
 
 Hands all round ! 
 God the tyrant's cause confound ! 
 To our dear kinsmen of the West, my friends, 
 And the great name of England, round and round ! " 
 
 Bell seemed a little disappointed that America and 
 not Germany had been singled out by the poet ; but 
 of course nations don't choose allies merely to please 
 
 a Prussian officer. 
 
 " ISTow," I say to her, " you see what aid I might 
 have given you, if you only had asked me prettily. 
 But suppose we give Germany a turn now — suppose 
 
 we search about for all the unpleasant things " 
 
 " Oh no, please don't,' says Bell, submissively. 
 This piece of unfairness was so obvious and extreme 
 that Von Bosen himself was at last goaded into taking 
 up the cause of France, and even went the length 
 of suggesting that peradventure ten righteous men 
 might be found within the city of Paris. 'Twas a 
 notable concession. I had begun to despair of Prance. 
 But no sooner had the Lieutenant turned the tide in 
 her favour than my Lady and Bell seemed graciously 
 disposed to be generous. Chateaubriand was not 
 Goethe, but he was a pleasing writer. Alfred de 
 Musset was not Heine, but he had the merit of re- 
 sembling him. If Auber did not exactly reach the 
 position of a Beethoven or a Mozart, one had listened 
 to worse operas than the " Crown Diamonds." The 
 women did not know much about philosophy; but 
 
 a girl who happens 
 
 marry 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 405 
 
 while they were sure that all the learning and wisdom 
 of the world had come from Germany, they allowed 
 that France had produced a few epigrams. In this 
 amiable frame of mind we drove along the white 
 road on this summer day ; and after having passed 
 the great gap in the Moffat Hills which leads through 
 to St. Mary's Loch and all the wonders of the Ettrick 
 and the Yarrow, we drove into Moffat itself, and found 
 ourselves in a large hotel fronting a great sunlit and 
 empty square. 
 
 Our young people had really conducted themselves 
 very discreetly. All that forenoon you would scarcely 
 have imagined that they had just made a solemn 
 promise to marry each other; but then they had been 
 pretty much occupied with ancient and modern history. 
 Now, as we entered a room in the hotels the Lieutenant 
 espied a number of flowers in a big glass vase ; and with- 
 out any pretence of concealment whatever, he walked up 
 to it, selected a white rose, and brought it back to Bell. 
 
 "Mademoiselle," he said, in a low voice — but who 
 could help hearing him? — "you did give to me, the 
 other day, a forget-me-not ; will you take this rose % " 
 
 Mademoiselle looked rather shy for a moment; but 
 she took the rose, and — with an affectation of uncon- 
 cern which did not conceal an extra touch of colour in 
 her pretty face — she said, " Oh, thank you very much," 
 and proceeded to put it into the bosom of her dress. 
 
 "Madame," said the Lieutenant, just as if nothing 
 had occurred, "I suppose Moffat is a sort of Scotch 
 Baden-Baden?" 
 
 Madame, in turn, smiled sedately, and looked out 
 of the window, and said that she thought it was. 
 
 When we went out for a lounge after luncheon, we 
 discovered that if Moffat is to be likened to Baden- 
 Baden, it forms an exceedingly Scotch and respectable 
 Baden-Baden. The building in which the mineral 
 waters are drunk 1 looks somewhat like an educational 
 
 1 " Bien entendu, d'ailleurs, que le but du voyage 
 Est de prendre les eaux ; c'est un compte regie. 
 D'eaux, je n'en ai point vu Jorsque j'y suis alle [Mais 
 
4o6 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 institution, painted white, and with prim white iron 
 railings. Inside, instead of that splendid saloon of 
 the Conversationshaus in which, amid a glare of gas, 
 various characters, doubtful and otherwise, walk up 
 and down and chat while their friends are losing 
 five-franc pieces and napoleons in the adjoining 
 chambers, we found a long and sober-looking reading- 
 room Moffat itself is a white, clean, wide-streeted 
 place, and the hills around it are smooth and green ; 
 but it is very far removed from Baden-Baden. It 
 is a good deal more proper, and a great deal more 
 dulL Perhaps we did not visit it in the height of 
 the season, if it has got a season ; but we were at 
 all events not very sorry to get away from it again, 
 and out into the hilly country beyond. 
 
 That was a pretty drive up through Annandale. As 
 you leave Moffat the road gradually ascends into the 
 region of the hills; and down below you lies a great 
 valley, with the river Annan running through it, and 
 the town of Moffat itself getting smaller in the 
 distance. You catch a glimmer of the blue peaks of 
 Westmoreland lying far away in the south, half hid 
 amid silver haze. The hills around you increase in 
 size, and yet you would not recognize the bulk of the 
 great round slopes but for those minute dots that you 
 can make out to be sheep, and for an occasional wasp- 
 like creature that you suppose to be a horse. The 
 evening draws on. The yellow light on the slopes of 
 green becomes warmer. You arrive at a great circular 
 chasm which is called by the country-folks the Devil's 
 Beef-tub — a mighty hollow, the western sides of which 
 are steeped in a soft purple shadow, while the eastern 
 slopes burn yellow in the sunlight. Far away down in 
 that misty purple you can see tints of grey, and these 
 are masses of slate uncovered by grass. The descent 
 seems too abrupt for cattle, and yet there are faint 
 
 'Mais qu'on ou puisse voir, je n'en mets rien en gage ; 
 Je crois meme, en honneur, que l'eau de voisinage 
 A., quand on l'examine, un petit gout sale." 
 
 A. DE MUSSET. 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 407 
 
 specks which may be sheep. There is no house, not 
 even a farmhouse, near ; and all traces of Moffat and 
 its neighbourhood have long been left out of sight. 
 
 But what is the solitude of this place to that of the 
 wild and lofty region you enter when you reach the 
 summits of the hills ? Far away on every side of you 
 stretch miles of lonely moorland, with the shoulders 
 of more distant hills reaching down in endless succes- 
 sion into the western sky. There is no sign of life in 
 this wild place. The stony road over which you drive 
 was once a mail-coach road : now it is overgrown with 
 grass. A few old stakes, rotten and tumbling, show 
 where it was necessary at one time to place a protection 
 against the sudden descents on the side of the road; 
 but now the road itself seems lapsing back into moor- 
 land. It is up in this wilderness of heather and wet 
 moss that the Tweed takes its rise ; but we could hear 
 no trickling of any stream to break the profound and 
 melancholy stillness. There was not even a shepherd's 
 hut visible; and we drove on in silence, scarcely 
 daring to break the charm of the utter loneliness of 
 the place. 
 
 The road twists round to the right. Before us a long 
 valley is seen, and we guess that it receives the waters 
 of the Tweed. Almost immediately afterwards we come 
 upon a tiny rivulet some two feet in width — either the 
 young Tweed itself or one of its various sources ; and 
 as we drive on in the gathering twilight towards the 
 valley it seems as though we were accompanied by in- 
 numerable streamlets trickling down to the river. The 
 fire of the sunset goes out in the west, but over there in 
 the clear green-white of the east a range of hills still 
 glows with a strange roseate purple. We hear the low 
 murmuring of the Tweed in the silence of the valley. 
 We get down among the lower-lying hills, and the 
 neighbourhood of the river seems to have drawn to it 
 thousands of wild creatures. There are plover calling 
 and whirling over the marshy levels. There are black 
 cock and grey hen dusting themselves in the road before 
 us, and waiting until we are quite near to them before 
 
4o8 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 they wing their straight flight up to the heaths above. 
 Far over us, in the clear green of the sky, a brace of 
 wild duck go swiftly past. A weasel glides out and 
 over the grey stones by the roadside ; and further along 
 the bank there are young rabbits watching, and trotting 
 and watching again, as the phaeton gets nearer to them. 
 And then, as the deep rose purple of the eastern hills 
 fades away, and all the dark green valley of the Tweed 
 lies under the cold silver-grey of the twilight, we reach 
 a small and solitary inn, and are almost surprised to 
 hear once more the sound of a human voice. 
 
 CHAPTEK XXXI. 
 
 OUR EPILOGUE. 
 
 " Nor much it grieves 
 To die, when summer dies on the cold sward. 
 "Why, I have been a butterfly, a lord 
 Of flowers, garlands, love-knots, silly posies, 
 Groves, meadows, melodies, and arbour-roses : 
 My kingdom's at its death. " 
 
 When you have dined on ham and eggs and whisky 
 the evening before, to breakfast on ham and eggs and 
 tea is a great relief the morning after. We gathered 
 round the table in this remote little inn with much 
 thankfulness of heart. We were to have a glorious day 
 for the close of our journey. All round the Crook Inn 
 there was a glare of sunshine on the rowan-trees. The 
 soft greys and greens of the hills on the other side of 
 the river rose into a pale-blue sky where there was not 
 a single cloud. And then, to complete the picture of 
 the moorland hostelry, appeared a keeper who had just 
 set free from their kennel a lot of handsome setters, and 
 the dogs were flying hither and thither along the white 
 road and over the grass and weeds by the tall hedges. 
 
 " Do you know," said Bell, " that this used to be 
 a posting-house that had thirty horses in its own 
 stables ; and now it is only used by a few sportsmen 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 409 
 
 who come here for the fishing and later on for the 
 shooting V 
 
 So she, too, had taken to getting up in the morning 
 and acquiring information. 
 
 "Yes," she said, "but it has been taken by a new 
 landlord, who hopes to have gentlemen come and lodge 
 here by the month in the autumn." 
 
 She was beginning to show a great interest in the 
 affairs of strangers : hitherto she had cared for none of 
 these things, except where one of our Surrey pensioners 
 was concerned. 
 
 " And the ostler is such an intelligent and indepen- 
 dent old man, who lets you know that he understands 
 horses a great deal better than you." 
 
 I could see that my Lady was mentally tracking 
 out Bell's wanderings of the morniog. Under whose 
 tuition had she discovered all that about the land- 
 lord? Under whose guidance had she found herself 
 talking to an ostler in the neighbourhood of the 
 stables % But she had not devoted the whole morning 
 to such inquiries. We remarked that the Lieutenant 
 wore in his button-hole a small bouquet of tiny 
 wild-flowers, the faint colours of which were most 
 skilfully combined and shown up by a bit of fern 
 placed behind thejn. You may be sure that it was 
 not the clumsy fingers of the young Uhlan that had 
 achieved that work of art. 
 
 "And now, my dear children," I observe, from the 
 head of the table, " we have arrived at the last stage 
 of our travels. We have done nothing that we ought 
 to have done; we have done everything that we 
 ought not to have done. As one of you has already 
 pointed out, we have never visited a museum, or 
 explored a ruin, or sought out a historical scene 
 Our very course has been inconsistent, abnormal, 
 unreasonable — indeed, if one were to imagine a sheet 
 of lightning getting tipsy and wandering over the 
 country in a helpless fashion for several days, that 
 might describe our route. We have had no adven- 
 tures that could be called adventures, no experiences 
 
410 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 to turn our hair grey in a dozen hours ; only a general 
 sense of light, and fresh air, and motion, and laughter. 
 We have seen green fields, and blue skies, and 
 silver lakes ; we have seen bright mornings and 
 breezy days, and spent comfortable evenings in com- 
 fortable inns. Shall we not look back upon this 
 month in our lives, and call it the month of sunshine 
 and green leaves ? " 
 
 Here a tapping all round the table greeted the orator, 
 and somewhat disconcerted him; but presently he 
 proceeded : — 
 
 " If, at times, one member of our party, in the reck- 
 less exercise of a gift of repartee which heaven, for 
 some inscrutable reason, has granted her, has put a 
 needle or two into our couch of eider-down 
 
 "I pronounce this meeting dissolved," says Bell 
 quickly, and with a resolute air. 
 
 " Yes, Mademoiselle," put in the Lieutenant. " It is 
 dissolved. But as it breaks up— it is a solemn occasion 
 — might we not drink one glass of champagne " 
 
 Here a shout of laughter overwhelmed the young 
 man. Champagne up in these wild moorlands of Peebles, 
 where the youthful Tweed and its tributaries wander 
 through an absolute solitude ! The motion was nega- 
 tived without a division ; and then we went out to look 
 after Castor and Pollux. 
 
 All that forenoon we were chased by a cloud as we 
 drove down the valley of the Tweed. Around us there 
 was abundant sunlight — falling on the grey bed of 
 the river, the brown water, the green banks and hills 
 beyond ; but down in the southwest was a great mass 
 of cloud which came slowly advancing with its gloom. 
 Here we were still in the brightness of the yellow glare, 
 with a cool breeze stirring the rowan-trees and the tall 
 weeds by the side of the river. Then, as we got further 
 down the valley, the bed of the stream grew broader. 
 There were great banks of grey pebbles visible, and the 
 brown water running in shallow channels between, 
 where the stones fretted its surface, and caused a 
 murmur that seemed to fill the silence of the smooth 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 411 
 
 hills around. Here and there a solitary fisherman was 
 visible, standing in the river and persistently whipping 
 the stream with his supple fly-rod. A few cottages 
 began to appear, at considerable intervals. But we 
 came to no village; and as for an inn, we never ex- 
 pected to see one. We drove leisurely along the now 
 level road, through a country rich with waving fields of 
 grain, and dotted here and there with comfortable- 
 looking farmhouses. 
 
 Then Bell sang to us : — 
 
 " Upon a time I chanced 
 
 To walk along the green, 
 Where pretty lasses danced 
 
 In strife, to choose a queen j 
 Some homely dressed, some handsome, 
 
 Some pretty and some gay, 
 But who excelled in dancing 
 
 Must be the Queen of May. " 
 
 But when she had sung the last verse — 
 
 " Then all the rest in sorrow, 
 
 And she in sweet content, 
 Gave over till the morrow, 
 
 And homewards straight they went. 
 But she, of all the rest, 
 
 Was hindered by the way, 
 For every youth that met her 
 
 Must kiss the Queen of May," — 1 
 
 my Lady said it was very pretty, only why did Bell 
 sing an English song after she had been trying to 
 persuade us that she held the English and their music 
 in contempt ? 
 
 "Now, did I ever say anything like that ?" said Bell, 
 turning in an injured way to the Lieutenant. 
 
 " No," says he, boldly. If she had asked him to 
 swear that two and two were seven, he would have said 
 that the man was a paralyzed imbecile who did not 
 know it already. 
 
 " But I will sing you a Scotch song, if you please," 
 says Bell, shrewdly suspecting that that was the object 
 of Tita's protest. 
 
 " Will ye gang to the Hielands, Leezie Lindsay ? " 
 
 — this was what Bell sang now — 
 
412 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 *' Will ye gang to the Hielands wi' me ? 
 Will ye gang to the Hielands, Leezie Lindsay, 
 My pride and my darling to be ? " 
 
 ' 1 To gang to the Hielands wi' yon, sir, 
 I dinna ken how that may be ; 
 For I ken nae the land that you live in, 
 Nor ken I the lad I'm gaun wi'." 
 
 And so forth to the end, where the young lady " kilts 
 up her coats o' green satin," and is off with Lord 
 Konald Macdonald. Probably the Lieutenant meant 
 only to show that he knew the meaning of the word 
 "Hielands;" but when he said — 
 
 "And we do go to the Highlands, yes?" the girl 
 was greatly taken aback. It seemed as though he 
 were coolly placing himself and her in the position 
 of the hero and heroine of the song ; and my Lady 
 smiled, and Bell got confused, and the Lieutenant, 
 not knowing what was the matter, stared, and then 
 turned to me to repeat the question. By this 
 time Bell had recovered herself, and she answered 
 hastily — 
 
 " Oh yes, we shall go to the Highlands, shall we 
 not? — to the Trossachs, and Ben Nevis, and Auchen- 
 asheen " 
 
 " And Orkney too, Bell ? Do you know the wild 
 proposal you are making in laying out plans for 
 another month's holiday ? " 
 
 "And why not?" says the Lieutenant. "It is only 
 a pretence, this talk of much work. You shall send 
 the horses and phaeton back by the rail from Edin- 
 burgh ; then you are free to go away anywhere for 
 another month. Is it not so, Madame?" 
 
 Madame is silent. She knows that she has only to 
 say " yes " to have the thing settled ; but thoughts of 
 home and the cares of that pauperized parish crowd 
 in upon her mind. 
 
 " I suppose we shall get letters from the boys to- 
 night, when we reach Edinburgh. There will be letters 
 from home, too, saying whether everything is right 
 down there. There may be no reason for going back 
 at once." 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 413 
 
 She was evidently yielding. Was it that she wanted 
 to give those young people the chance of a summer 
 ramble which they would remember for the rest of their 
 life? The prospect lent a kindly look to her face ; and, 
 indeed, the whole of them looked so exceedingly happy, 
 and so dangerously forgetful of the graver aspects of 
 life, that it was thought desirable to ask them whether 
 there might not be a message from Arthur among the 
 batch of letters awaiting us in Edinburgh. 
 
 'Twas a random stroke, but it struck home. The 
 conscience of these careless people was touched. They 
 knew in their inmost hearts that they had wholly for- 
 gotten that unhappy young man whom they had sent 
 back to Twickenham with all his faith in human nature 
 destroyed for ever. But was it pity for him that now 
 filled their faces, or a vague dread that Arthur might, 
 in the last extremity of his madness, have gone up to 
 Edinburgh by rail to' meet us there ? 
 
 " He promised us an important communication/' says 
 my Lady. 
 
 She would not say that it was understood to refer to 
 his marriage ; but that was the impression he had left. 
 Very probably, too, she was haunted by speculations as 
 to how such a marriage, if it took place, would turn 
 out ; and whether little Katty Tatham would be able 
 to reconcile Arthur to his lot, and convince him that 
 he was very fortunate in not having married that faith- 
 less Bell. 
 
 "Madame," said the Lieutenant, suddenly — he did 
 not care to have that pitiful fellow Arthur receive so 
 much consideration — " this is a very sober country. 
 Shall we never come to an inn ? The champagne I 
 spoke of, that has gone away as a dream ; but on this 
 warm day a little lemonade and a little whisky — that 
 would do to drink the health of our last drive, yes ! 
 But there is no inn — nothing but those fields of corn, 
 and farmhouses/' 
 
 At last, however, we came to a village. The Lieu- 
 tenant proposed to pull up and give Castor and Pollux 
 a mouthful of water and oatmeal — it was always 
 
414 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 Castor and Pollux that were supposed to be thirsty. 
 But what was his amazement to find that in the village 
 there was no inn of any kind ! 
 
 " I wish there were some villages of this sort down 
 in our part of the country," says Queen Tita, with a 
 sigh. " With us, they build the public-house fisst, and 
 that draws other houses." 
 
 And with that Bell began to relate to the Lieute- 
 nant how my Lady was once vexed beyond measure 
 to find — just as she was coming out of an obscure 
 public-house on a Sunday morning, after having com- 
 pelled the tipsy and quarrelling landlord thereof to 
 beg forgiveness of his wife — a whole group of visitors 
 at the Squire's house coming along the road from 
 church, and staring at her as if she had gone into 
 the public for refreshment. It was a vastly interesting 
 story, perhaps ; but the sulky young man paid little 
 heed to it. He wore an injured look. He kept looking 
 far ahead along the road; and, although it was a very 
 pretty road, he did not seem satisfied. At length he 
 pulled the horses up, and hailed a farmer who, in his 
 white shirt-sleeves, was working in a field close by, 
 along with a domestic group of fellow-labourers. 
 
 " I say," called out the Lieutenant, " isn't there 
 an inn on this road ? " 
 
 "Ay, that there is," said the man, with a grim 
 smile, as he rose up and drew his sleeve across his 
 forehead. 
 
 "How far yet?" 
 
 " Twa miles. It's a temperance hoose ! " 
 
 " A temperance hoose," said the Lieutenant to Bell ; 
 " what is a temperance hoose ? " 
 
 " They don't sell any spirits there, or beer, or wine." 
 
 " And is that what is called temperance ? " said the 
 Lieutenant, in a peevish way; and then he called 
 out again, "Look here, my good friend, when do we 
 come to a proper kind of inn ? " 
 
 " There is an inn at Ledburn — that's eight miles on." 
 
 "Eight miles ! And where was the last one we 
 passed ? " 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 " Well, that maun be about seven miles back." 
 
 " Thank you. It is healthy for you, perhaps, but 
 how you can live in a place where there is no public- 
 house not for fifteen miles — well, it is a wonder. 
 Good day to you ! " 
 
 " Gude day, sir!" said the farmer, with a broad, 
 good-humoured laugh on his face ; the Lieutenant was 
 obviously not the first thirsty soul who had com- 
 plained of the scarcity of inns in these parts. 
 
 " These poor horses," growled the Lieutenant as we 
 drove on. " It is the hottest day we have had. The 
 clouds have gone away, and we have beaten in the 
 race. And other eight miles in this heat " 
 
 He would probably have gone on compassionating 
 the horses, but that he caught a glimpse of Bell 
 demurely smiling, and then he said — 
 
 " Ha, you think - I speak for myself, Mademoi- 
 selle ? That also, for when you give your horses 
 water, you should drink yourself always, for the good 
 of the inn. But now that we can get nothing, Madame, 
 shall we imagine it, yes ? What we shall drink at the 
 Ledburn inn? Have you tried, on a hot day, this — 
 one glass of sparkling hock poured into a tumbler, then 
 a bottle of seltzer water, then three drops of Angostura 
 bitters, and a lump of ice ? That is very good; and this 
 too — you put a glass of pale sherry in the tumbler, 
 then a little lemon juice " 
 
 " Please, Count von Eosen, may I put it down in my 
 note-book?" says Tita, hurriedly. "You know I have 
 your recipe for a luncheon. Wouldn't these do for it ?" 
 
 " Yes, and for you ! " says a third voice. " What 
 madness has seized you, to talk of ice and hock in 
 connection with Ledburn? If you get decent Scotch 
 whisky and ham and eggs for luncheon, you may con- 
 sider yourselves well off." 
 
 " I am a little tired of that sort of banquet," says my 
 Lady, with a gentle look of resignation. " Couldn't we 
 drive on to Edinburgh?" 
 
 But for the sake of the horses, we should all have 
 been glad to do that; for the appearance of this 
 
416 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 Ledburn inn, when we got to it, impressed us with awe 
 and terror. 'Tis a cutthroat-looking place. The dingy 
 dilapidated building stands at the parting of two roads ; 
 the doors were shut as we drove up to it, there was no 
 one about of whom we could ask a question. It looked 
 the sort of place for travellers to reach at dead of night, 
 and become the subject of one or other of the sombre 
 adventures which are associated with remote and 
 gloomy inns in the annals of romance. "When we did 
 get hold of the landlord, his appearance was not pre- 
 possessing. He was a taciturn and surly person. 
 There was apparently no ostler, and he helped Von 
 Eosen to take the horses out of the phaeton, but he did 
 so in a fashion which awoke the ire of the Lieutenant 
 to a serious degree, and some sharp words were being 
 bandied about when I drove the women into the inn. 
 
 " That is a dreadful person," said my Lady. 
 
 " Why ? He has become morose in this solitary inn, 
 that is all. If you were shut up here for a few years, 
 what would you become ?" 
 
 We had ham and eggs and whisky in a dingy little 
 chamber upstairs. The women would touch nothing 
 — notwithstanding that the Lieutenant came in to an- 
 nounce that the shoe of one of the horses had got 
 loose, and that a smith would have to be sent for from 
 some distance off. Moreover, when the smith did 
 come, it was found that our ingenious landlord had not 
 informed him what was required of him, and con- 
 sequently he had brought no tools. Should we send 
 the horse back with him, or would he despatch a boy 
 for his tools? 
 
 "How many miles is it to Edinburgh?" says my 
 Lady. 
 
 " About a dozen, I should think." 
 
 " We couldn't walk that, do you think ? " she says to 
 Bell, with a doubtful air. 
 
 Bell could walk it very well, I know; but she 
 regards her companion for a moment, and says — 
 
 "We must not try." 
 
 Looking at this fix, and at the annoyance the women 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 417 
 
 experienced in being detained in this inhospitable 
 hostelry, that yonng Prussian got dreadfully enraged. 
 He was all the more wroth that there was no one 
 on whom he could reasonably vent his anger ; and, in 
 fact, it was a most fortunate thing for our host that he 
 had at last condescended to be a little more civil. The 
 Lieutenant came up into the room, and proposed that 
 we should play at bezique. Impossible. Or would 
 Mademoiselle care to have the guitar taken out? 
 Mademoiselle would prefer to have it remain where it 
 was. And at length we went outside and sat in the 
 yard, or prowled along the uninteresting road, until the 
 smith arrived, and then we had the horses put in and 
 set out upon the last stage of our journey. 
 
 We drove on in the deepening sunset. The ranges 
 of the Pentland Hills on our left were growing darker, 
 and the wild moorland country around was getting to 
 be of a deeper and deeper purple. Sometimes, from 
 the higher portions of the road, we caught a glimpse 
 of Arthur's Seat, and in the whiter sky of the north- 
 east it lay there like a pale-blue cloud. We passed 
 through Pennycuick, picturesquely placed along the 
 wooded banks of the North Esk. But we were driving 
 leisurely enough along the level road, for the horses 
 had done a good day's work, and there still remained 
 a few miles before they had earned their rest. 
 
 Was it because we were driving near a great city 
 that Von Eosen somewhat abruptly asked my Lady 
 what was the best part of London to live in ? The 
 question was an odd one for a young man. Bell 
 pretended not to hear — she was busy with the reins. 
 Whereupon Tita began to converse with her companion 
 on the troubles of taking a house, and how your friends 
 would inevitably wonder how you could have chosen 
 such a neighbourhood instead of their neighbourhood, 
 and assure you, with much compassion, that you had 
 paid far too much for it. 
 
 " And as for Pimlico," I say to him, " you can't live 
 there ; the sight of its stucco would kill you in a 
 month. And as for Brompton, you can't live there; 
 
 E B 
 
c 4i.8 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 it lies a hundred feet below the level of the Thames. 
 And as for South Kensington, you can't live there ; 
 it is a huddled mass of mews. And as for Belgravia 
 or Mayfair, you can't live there ; for you could not 
 pay the rent of a good house, and the bad houses are in 
 slums. Paddington ? — a thousand miles from a theatre. 
 Hampstead ?— good-bye to your friends. Bloomsbury ? 
 — the dulness of it will send you to an early grave. 
 Islington ? — you will acquire a Scotch accent in a 
 fortnight. Clapham ? — you will become a Dissenter. 
 Denmark Hill? — they will exclude you from all the 
 fashionable directories. Brixton? — the 'endless meal 
 of brick ' will drive you mad. But then it is true that 
 Pimlico is the best-drained part of London. And 
 Brompton has the most beautiful old gardens. And 
 South Kensington brings you close to all sorts of 
 artistic treasures. And Hampstead has a healthy situa- 
 tion. And Mayfair is close to the Park. And Clap- 
 ham is close to several commons, and offers you 
 excellent drives. And Denmark Hill is buried in 
 trees, and you descend from it into meadows and 
 country lanes. And Islington is celebrated for pos- 
 sessing the prettiest girls in the world. And Brixton 
 has a gravelly soil — so that you see, looking at all these 
 considerations, you will have no difficulty whatever in 
 deciding where you ought to live." 
 
 " I think," said the young man, gravely, " the easiest 
 way of choosing a house in London is to take one in 
 the country." 
 
 " Oh, do live in the country ! " exclaims Tita, with 
 much anxiety. "You can go so easily up to London 
 and take rooms about Bond Street or in Half-moon 
 Street, if you wish to see pictures or theatres. And 
 what part of the country near London could you get 
 prettier than down by Leatherhead ? " 
 
 Bell is not appealed to. She will not hear. She 
 pretends to be desperately concerned about the horses. 
 And so the discussion is -postponed, sine, die, until the 
 evening ; and in the gathering darkness we approach 
 Edinburgh. 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 419 
 
 How long the way seemed on this the last night of 
 our driving ! The clear twilight faded away ; and the 
 skies overhead began to show faint throbbings of the 
 stars. A pale yellow glow on the horizon told us where 
 the lights of Edinburgh were afire. The road grew 
 almost indistinguishable ; but overhead the great worlds 
 became more visible in the deep vault of blue. In a 
 perfect silence we drove along the still highway, between 
 the dark hedges ; and clearer and more clear became the 
 white constellations, trembling in the dark. What was 
 my Lady thinking of — of Arthur, or her boys at Twick- 
 enham, or of long-forgotten days at Eastbourne — as she 
 looked up at all the wonders of the night ? There lay 
 King Charles's Wain as we had often regarded it from 
 a boat at sea, as we lay idly on the lapping waves. The 
 jewels on Cassiopeia's chair glimmered faint and pale; 
 and all the brilliant stars of the Dragon's hide trembled 
 in the dark. The one bright star of the Swan recalled 
 many an evening in the olden times ; and here, nearer 
 at hand, Capella shone, and there Cepheus looked over 
 to the pole-star as from the distance of another universe. 
 Somehow it seemed to us that under the great and 
 throbbing vault the sea ought to be lying clear and 
 dark; but these were other masses we saw before us, 
 where the crags of Arthur's Seat rose sharp and black 
 into the sky. We ran in almost under the shadow of 
 that silent mass of hill. We drew nearer to the town ; 
 and then we saw before us long and waving lines of red 
 fire — the gas-lamps of a mighty street. We left the 
 majesty of the night outside, and were soon in the heart 
 of the great city. Our journey was at an end, 
 
 But when the horses had been consigned to their 
 stables, and all arrangements made for their transference 
 next day to London, we sat down at the window of a 
 Princes Street Hotel. The tables behind were inviting 
 enough. Our evening meal had been ordered, and at 
 length the Lieutenant had the wish of his heart in 
 procuring the Schaumwein with which to drink to the 
 good health of our good horses that had brought us 
 so far. But what in all the journey was there to equal 
 
420 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 the magic sight that lay before us as we turned to 
 these big panes ? Beyond a gulf of blackness, the old 
 town of Edinburgh rose with a thousand points of fire 
 into the clear sky of a summer night. The tall houses, 
 with their eight or nine stories, had their innumerable 
 windows ablaze ; and the points of orange light shone 
 in the still blue shadow until they seemed to form part 
 of some splendid and enchanted palace built on the 
 slopes of a lofty hill. And then beyond that we could 
 see the great crags of the Castle looming dark in the 
 starlight, and we knew, rather than saw, that there 
 were walls and turrets up there, cold and distant, 
 looking down on the yellow glare of the city beneath. 
 What was Cologne with the coloured lamps of its 
 steamers — as you see them cross the yellow waters of 
 the Ehine when a full moon shines over the houses 
 of Deutz — or what was Prague with its countless spires 
 piercing the starlight and its great bridge crossing over 
 to the wooded heights of the Hradschin — compared to 
 this magnificent spectacle in the noblest city of the 
 world \ The lights of the distant houses went out one 
 by one. The streets became silent. Even the stars 
 grew paler ; but why was that ? A faint light, golden 
 and soft, began to steal along the Castle-hill ; and the 
 slow, mild radiance touched the sharp slopes, the trees, 
 and the great grey walls above, which were under 
 the stars. 
 
 " Oh, my dear," says Tita, quite gently, to Bell, " we 
 have seen nothing like that, not even in your own 
 country of the Lakes!" 
 
 [Note by Queen Titania. — "It seems they have .put upon me the 
 responsibility of saying the last word, which is not quite fair. In the 
 old comedies it was always the heroine of the piece who came forward 
 to the footlights, and in her prettiest way spoke the epilogue ; and of 
 course the heroine was always young and nice-looking. If Bell would 
 only do that, now, I am sure yon would he pleased ; but she is afraid 
 to appear in public. As for myself, I don't know what to say. Count 
 von Rosen suggests that I should copy some of the ancient authors and 
 merely say * Farewell, and clap your hands ; ' but very likely that is 
 a joke — for who can tell when gentlemen intend to be amusing f — and 
 perhaps they never said anything so foolish. But, as you are not to 
 be addressed by the heroine of the piece, perhaps, considering my age 
 
OF A PHAETON. 
 
 421 
 
 — which I am seldom allowed to forget — perhaps a word of advice may- 
 be permitted. And that is to the ladies and gentlemen who always go 
 abroad and spend a great deal of time and money in hiring carriages to 
 drive them in foreign parts. Of course everyone ought to go abroad ; 
 but why every year ! I am sure I am not prejudiced, and I never 
 enjoyed any tour abroad so much as this one through England. I do 
 consider England (and of course you must include Scotland and Ireland) 
 the most beautiful country in the world. I have never been to America ; 
 but that does not matter. It cannot be more beautiful than England. 
 If it is, so much the better, but I for one am quite satisfied with 
 England ; and as for the old-fashioned and quaint places you meet on 
 a driving tour such as this, I am sure the American ladies and gentle- 
 men whom I have met have always admitted to me that they were 
 delightful. Well, that is all. I shall say nothing about our young 
 friends, for I think sufficient revelations have been made in the fore- 
 going pages. Arthur has only been to see us once since our return, 
 and of course We could not ask him the reason of his getting married 
 so unexpectedly, for Katty was with him, and very pleased and happy 
 she looked. Arthur was very civil to our Bell ; which shows that his 
 marriage has improved him in one respect ; but he was a little cold and 
 distant at the same time. The poor girl was dreadfully frightened ; 
 but she made herself very friendly to him, and kissed little Katty in 
 the most affectionate manner when they were going away. Luckily, 
 perhaps, Lieutenant von Rosen was up in London ; but when he came 
 down next day, Bell had a great deal to tell him in private ; and the 
 result of the conversation — of which we elderly folks, of course, are 
 not permitted to know anything — seemed to be very pleasing to them 
 both. Then there was a talk between my husband and him iu the 
 evening about a loose-box in certain stables. Bell came and put her 
 arm round my waist, and besought me very prettily to tell her what 
 were the nicest colours for a drawing-room. It seems there is some 
 house, about a couple of miles from here, which they have visited ; 
 but I am not going to tell you any more. As our Bell is too shy to 
 come forward, I suppose I must say good-bye for her, and thank you 
 very much indeed for coming with us so far on such a long and round- 
 about journey. — T."] 
 
 THE END. 
 
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