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 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 HALCYONE
 
 By ELINOR GLYN 
 
 Halcyone 
 
 Illustrated. i2tno. $1.30 net. 
 
 The Reason Why 
 
 Illustrated. i2tno. $1.30 net. 
 
 His Hour 
 
 Illustrated. i2mo. $1.30. 
 
 D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 
 
 New York and London 
 
 175
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 BY 
 
 ELINOR GLYN 
 
 AUTHOR OF "THE REASON WHY," " HIS HOUR," 
 "THREE WEEKS," ETC. 
 
 NEW YORK 
 D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 
 
 1912
 
 Copyright, 1912, by 
 D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 
 
 Published July, nil
 
 i 
 
 TO THE MEMORY 
 
 OF 
 MY KIND FRIEND 
 
 LORD ST. HELIER 
 
 WHOSE SYMPATHY WITH MY CLASSICAL STUDIES 
 SO GREATLY ENCOURAGED THEM 
 
 
 644476
 
 APA2ANTI IIA0EIN
 
 " And now they are past the last blue headland and in 
 the open sea; and there is nothing round them but the waves 
 and the shy and the wind. But the waves are gentle and 
 the sky is clear, and the breeze is tender and low; for these 
 are the days when Halcyone and Ceyx build their nest and 
 no storms ever ruffle the pleasant summer sea. And who 
 were Halcyone and Ceyx? Halcyone was a fairy maiden, 
 the daughter of the beach and of the wind. And she loved 
 a sailor-boy and married him; and none on earth were so 
 happy as they. But at last Ceyx was wrecked; and before 
 he could swim to the shore, the billows swallowed him up. 
 And Halcyone saw him drowning and leapt into the sea to 
 him; but in vain. Then the Immortals took pity on them 
 both, and changed them into two fair sea-birds, and now 
 they build a floating nest every year and sail up and down 
 happily for ever upon the pleasant seas of Greece." 
 
 The Heroes^ Kingsley.
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 OUTSIDE one of the park gates there was a 
 little house. In the prosperous days of the La 
 Sarthe it had been the land steward's — but 
 when there was no longer any land to steward it had 
 gone with the rest, and for several years had been unin- 
 habited. 
 
 One day in early spring Halcyone saw smoke coming 
 out of the chimney. This was too interesting a fact 
 not to be investigated ; she resented it, too — because a 
 hole in the park paling had often let her into the garden 
 and there was a particularly fine apple tree there whose 
 fruit she had yearly enjoyed. 
 
 She crept nearer, a tall, slender shape, with mouse- 
 colored hair waving down her back, and a scarlet cap 
 pulled jauntily over her brow — the delightful feeling 
 of adventure tingling in her veins. Yes, the gap was 
 there, it had not been mended yet — she would penetrate 
 and see for herself who this intruder could be. 
 
 She climbed through and stole along the orchard and 
 up to the house. Signs of mending were around the 
 windows, in the shape of a new board here and there in 
 
 1
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 the shutters ; but nothing further. She peeped over the 
 low sill, and there her eyes met those of an old man seated 
 in a shabby armchair, amid piles and piles of books. 
 He had evidently been reading while he smoked a long, 
 clay pipe. 
 
 He was a fine old man with a splendid presence, his 
 gray hair was longer than is usual and a silvery beard 
 flowed over his chest. 
 
 Halcyone at once likened him to Cheiron in the 
 picture of him in her volume of Kingsley's " Heroes." 
 
 They stared at one another and the old man rose 
 and came to the window. 
 
 Halcyone did not move. 
 
 " Who are you, little girl? " he said. " And what do 
 you want ? " 
 
 " I want to know who you are, and why you have 
 come here? " she answered fearlessly. " I am Halcyone, 
 you know." 
 
 The old man smiled. 
 
 u That ought to tell me everj'thing," he said, gravely, 
 "but unfortunately it does not! Who is Halcyone?" 
 
 " I live at La Sarthe Chase with the Aunts La 
 Sarthe," she said proudly, as though La Sarthe Chase 
 had been Windsor Castle — " and I have been accus- 
 tomed to play in this garden. I don't like your being 
 here much." 
 
 " I am sorry for that, because it suits me and I have 
 bought it. But how would it be if I said you might 
 come into the garden still and play? Would you for- 
 give me then for being here ? " 
 
 o
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 " I might," said Halcyone. " What are all these 
 books for? " 
 
 " They are to read." 
 
 " I knew that — " and she frowned, beetling her del- 
 icate dark brows, " but why such a lot ? You can never 
 read them all." 
 
 The old man smiled. 
 
 " I have read most of them already," he said. " I 
 have had plenty of time, you see." 
 
 " Yes, I dare say you are old," said Halcyone — 
 " and what are they about ? I would like to know that. 
 My books so seldom interest me." 
 
 He handed her one through the window, but it was 
 written in Greek and she could not read it. She 
 frowned again as she turned over the pages. 
 
 " Perhaps there is something nice in that," she said. 
 
 " Possibly." 
 
 " Well, won't you tell me what ? " 
 
 " That would take a long time — suppose you come 
 in and have tea with me, then we could talk comfort- 
 ably." 
 
 " That sounds a good plan," she said, gravely. 
 " Shall I climb through the window — I can quite eas- 
 ily — or would you like me to go round by the door ? " 
 
 " The window will serve," said the old man. 
 
 And with one bound as light as a young kid, Halcyone 
 was in the room. 
 
 There was a second armchair beyond the pile of 
 books, and into that she nestled, crossing her knees and 
 clasping her hands round them.
 
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 " Now we can begin," she said. 
 
 " Tea or talk? " asked the old man. 
 
 " Why, talk, of course ; there is no tea — ' 
 
 " But if you rang that bell some might come. 
 
 Haley one jumped up again and looked about for the 
 bell. She was not going to ask where it was — she dis- 
 liked stupid people herself. The old man watched her 
 from under the penthouse of his eyebrows with a cu- 
 rious smile. 
 
 The bell was hidden in the carving of the mantel- 
 piece, but she found it at last and gave it a lusty pull. 
 
 It seemed answered instantaneously by a strange-look- 
 ing man, — a dark, extremely thin person with black, 
 dull eyes. 
 
 The old man spoke to him in an unknown language 
 and he retired silently. 
 
 " Who was that? " asked Haley one. 
 
 " That is my servant, — he will bring tea." 
 
 " He is not English? " 
 
 " No — does that matter? " 
 
 " Of course not — but what country does he come 
 from?" 
 
 " You must ask him someday." 
 
 " I want to see countries," and she stretched out her 
 slender arms, " I want to fly away outside the park and 
 see the world." 
 
 " You have time," said the old man. 
 
 " When I am big enough I shall run away — I get 
 very tired of only the Aunts La Sarthe. They never 
 understand a word I say." 
 
 4
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 " What do you say ? " 
 
 " I want to say all sorts of things, but if it isn't what 
 they have heard a hundred times before, they look 
 shocked and pained." 
 
 " You must come and say them to me then, perhaps I 
 might understand, and in any case I should not be 
 shocked or pained." 
 
 " They remind me of the Three Gray Sisters, although 
 there are only two of them — one eye and one tooth be- 
 tween them." 
 
 " I see — there is something we can talk about at all 
 events," said the old man. " The Three Gray Sisters 
 are friends of yours — are they ? " 
 
 " Not friends ! " Halcyone exclaimed emphatically. 
 " I can't bear them, silly old things nodding there, with 
 their ridiculous answers to Perseus, saying old things 
 were better than new — and their day better than his — 
 I should have thrown their eye into the sea if I had been 
 he. Do all old people do that? — pretend their time 
 was the best ? — do you ? I don't mean to." 
 
 " You are right. It is a bad habit." 
 
 "But are they better, the old things?" 
 
 The old man did not answer for a moment or two. 
 He looked his visitor through and through with his wise 
 gray eyes — an investigation which might have discon- 
 certed some people, but Halcyone was unabashed. 
 
 " I know what you are doing," she said. " You are 
 seeing the other side of my head — and I wish I could 
 see the other side of yours, I can the Aunts' La Sarthe 
 and Priscilla's, in a minute, but yours is different." 
 
 5
 
 II ALCYONE 
 
 <« 
 
 I am glad of that — } r ou might be disappointed, 
 though, if you did sec what was there." 
 
 u I always want to see," she said simply — " see ev- 
 erything; and sometimes I find the other side not a bit 
 what this is — even in the birds and trees and the bee- 
 tles. But you must have a huge big one." 
 
 The old man laughed. 
 
 " You and I are going to be good acquaintances," he 
 said. " Tell me some more of Perseus. What more do 
 you know of him? " 
 
 " I have only read * The Heroes,' " Halcyone ad- 
 mitted, " but I know it by heart — and I know it is all 
 true though my governess says it is fairy-tales and not 
 for girls. I want to learn Greek, but they can't teach 
 
 me." 
 
 " That is too bad." 
 
 " When things are put vaguely I always want to know 
 them — I want to know why Medusa turned into a 
 i^on? What was her sin? " 
 
 The old man smiled. 
 
 " I see," said Halcyone, " you won't tell me, but some 
 day I >liall know." 
 
 u Ves, some day you shall know," he said. 
 
 " They seem such great people, those Greeks ; they 
 knew everything — so the preface of my * Heroes ' says, 
 and I want to learn the things they knew — mathematics 
 .and geometry, rather — and especially logic and meta- 
 physics, because I want to know the meaning of words 
 and tin art of reasoning, and above everything I want 
 t<» know about my own thoughts and soul." 
 
 6
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 a 
 
 You strange little girl," said the old man. " Have 
 you a soul? " 
 
 " I don't know, I have something in there," and Hal- 
 cyone pointed to her head — " and it talks to me like 
 another voice, and when I am alone up a tree away from 
 people, and all is beautiful, it seems to make it tight 
 round here, — and go from my head into my side," and 
 she placed her lean brown paw over her heart. 
 
 " Yes — you perhaps have a soul," said the old 
 man, and then he added, half to himself — " What a 
 pity." 
 
 " Why a pity ? " demanded Halcyone. 
 
 " Because a woman with a soul suffers, and brings 
 tribulation — but since you have one we may as well 
 teach you how to keep the thing in hand." 
 
 At that moment, the dark servant brought tea, and 
 the fine oriental china pleased Halcyone whose percep- 
 tions took in the texture of every single thing she came 
 in contact with. 
 
 The old man seemed to go into a reverie, he was quite 
 silent while he poured out the tea, forgetting to enquire 
 her tastes as to cream and sugar — he drank his black 
 - — and handed Halcyone a cup of the same. 
 
 She looked at him, her inquiring eyes full of intelli- 
 gence and understanding, and she realized at once that 
 these trifles were not in his consideration for the mo- 
 ment. So she helped herself to what she wanted and 
 sat down again in her armchair. She did not even rat- 
 tle her teaspoon. Priscilla often made noises which ir- 
 ritated her when she was thinking. 
 2 7
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 The old man came back to a remembrance of her 
 presence at last. 
 
 " Little girl," he said — " would you like to come here 
 pretty often and learn Greek, and about the Greeks? " 
 
 Haley one bounded from her chair with joy. 
 
 " But of course I would ! " she said. " And I am not 
 stupid — not really stupid Mademoiselle says, when I 
 want to learn things." 
 
 " No — I dare say you are not stupid," the old man 
 said. " So it is a bargain then ; I shall teach you about 
 my friends the Greeks, and you shall teach me about the 
 green trees, and your friends the rabbits and the bee- 
 tles." 
 
 Then those instinctive good manners of Halcyone's 
 came uppermost, inherited, like her slender shape and 
 balanced head, from that long line of La Sarthe 
 ancestors, and she thanked the old man with a quaint, 
 courtly, sweetly pedantic grace. Then she got up to 
 go — 
 
 " I like being here — and may I come again to-mor- 
 row ? " she said afterwards. " I must go now or they 
 will be disagreeable and perhaps make difficulties." 
 
 The old man watched her as she curtsied to him and 
 vaulted through the window again, and on down the 
 path, and through the hole in the paling, without once 
 turning round. Then he muttered to himself: 
 
 " A woman thing who refrains from looking back ! — 
 Yes, I fear she has a soul." 
 
 Then he returned to his pipe and his Aristotle. 
 
 8
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 E* ALCYONE struck straight across the park un- 
 | til she came to the beech avenue, near the top, 
 j which ran south. The place had been nobly 
 planned by that grim old La Sarthe who raised it in the 
 days of seventh Henry. It stood very high with its 
 terraced garden in the center of four splendid avenues 
 of oak, lime, beech and Spanish chestnut running east, 
 west, north and south. And four gates in different 
 stages of dilapidation gave entrance through a broken 
 wall of stone to a circular drive which connected all the 
 avenues giving access to the house, a battered, irregular 
 erection of gray stone. 
 
 To reach the splendid front door you entered from 
 the oak avenue and crossed the pleasance, now only an 
 overgrown meadow where the one cow grazed in the 
 summer. 
 
 Then you were obliged to mount three stately flights 
 of stone steps until you reached the first terrace, which 
 was flagged near the house and bordered with stiff 
 flower-beds. Here you might turn and look back due 
 west upon a view of exquisite beauty — an undulating 
 fertile country beneath, and then in the far distance a 
 line of dim blue hills. 
 
 But if you chanced to wish to enter your carriage 
 
 9
 
 H A L C Y O N E 
 
 unwetted on a rainy day, you were obliged to deny your- 
 self the pleasure of passing through the entrance hall 
 in state, and to go out at the back by stone passages into 
 the courtyard where the circular avenue came up close 
 to a fortified door, under the arch of which you could 
 drive. 
 
 Everything spoke of past grandeur and present de- 
 cay — only the flower-beds of the highest terrace ap- 
 peared even partly cultivated; the two lower ones were 
 a wild riot of weeds and straggling rose trees unpruned 
 and untrained, and if you looked up at the windows in 
 the southern wing of the house, you saw that several 
 panes in them were missing and that the holes had been 
 stuffed with rags. 
 
 At this time of the year the beech avenue presented 
 an indescribably lovely sight of just opening leaves of 
 tender green. It was a never-failing joy to Haley one. 
 She walked the few paces which separated her from it 
 and turning, stood leaning against the broken gate now, 
 drinking in every tone of the patches the lowered sun 
 made of gold between the green. For her it was full 
 of wood nymphs and elves. It did not contain gods and 
 goddesses like the others. She told herself long stories 
 about them. 
 
 The beech avenue was her favorite for the spring, 
 the lime for the summer, the chestnut for the autumn, 
 and the oak for the winter. She knew every tree in all 
 four, as a huntsman knows his hounds. And when, in 
 the great equinoctial storm of the previous year, three 
 giant oaks lay shattered and broken, the sight had 
 
 10
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 caused her deep grief, until she wove a legend about 
 them and turned them into monsters for Perseus to sub- 
 due with Medusa's head. One, indeed, whose trunk was 
 gnarled and twisted, became the serpent of the brazen 
 scales who sleepeth not, guarding the Golden Fleece. 
 
 " As the tree falls so shall it lie," seemed to be the 
 motto of La Sarthe Chase. For none were removed. 
 
 Halcyone stretched out her arms and beckoned to her 
 fairy friends. 
 
 " Queen Mab," she called, " come and dance nearer 
 to me — I can see your wings and I want to talk to you 
 to-day ! " 
 
 And as if in answer to this invitation, the rays of 
 the lowered sun shifted to an opening almost at her 
 feet, and with a cry of joy the child began to dance in 
 the gorgeous light. 
 
 " Come follow, follow me, ye fairy elves that be," 
 she sang softly. 
 
 And the sprites laughed with gladness, and gilded her 
 mouse hair with gold, and lit up her eyes, and wove 
 scarves about her with gossamer threads, and beneath her 
 feet tall bluebells offered their heads as a carpet. 
 
 But Halcyone sprang over them, she would not have 
 crushed the meanest weed. 
 
 " Queen Mab ! " she said at last, as she sat down in 
 the middle of the sunlight, " I have found an old gentle- 
 man — and he is Cheiron, and if one could see it in the 
 right light, he may have a horse's body, and he is going 
 to teach me just what Jason learnt — and then I shall 
 tell it to you." 
 
 11
 
 H A L C Y X E 
 
 The rays shifted again to a path beyond, and Haley- 
 one bounded up and went on her way. 
 
 Old William was drawing the elder Miss La Sarthe 
 in a dilapidated basket-chair, up and down on the high- 
 est terrace. She held a minute faded pink silk parasol 
 over her head — it had an ivory handle which folded up 
 when she no longer needed the parasol as a shade. She 
 wore one-buttoned gloves, of slate-colored kid, and a 
 wrist-band of black velvet clasped with a buckle. An 
 inverted cake-tin of weather-beaten straw, trimmed with 
 rusty velvet, shadowed her old, tired eyes; an Indian 
 shawl was crossed upon her thin bosom. 
 
 " Halcyone ! " she called querulously. " Where 
 have you been, child? You must have missed your 
 tea." 
 
 And Halcyone answered: 
 
 " In the orchard." 
 
 For of what use to inform Aunt Ginevra about that 
 enchanting visit to Cheiron ! Aunt Ginevra who knew 
 not of such beings ! 
 
 " The orchard's let," grunted old William — " they 
 do say it's sold — " 
 
 " I had rather not hear of it, William," said Miss 
 La Sarthe frowning. " It does not concern one what 
 occurs beyond one's gates." 
 
 Old William growled gently, and continued his labori- 
 ous task — one of the wheels squeaked as it turned on the 
 flags. 
 
 " Aunt Ginevra, you must have that oiled," said Hal- 
 cyone, as she screwed up her face. " How can you 
 
 12
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 bear it? You can't see the lovely spring things, with 
 that noise." 
 
 " One does not see with one's ears, Halcyone," quav- 
 ered Miss La Sarthe. " Take me in now, William." 
 
 " And she can't even see them with her eyes — poor 
 Aunt Ginevra ! " Halcyone said to herself, as she walked 
 respectfully by the chair until it passed the front door 
 on its way to the side. Then she bounded up the steps 
 and through the paneled, desolate hall, taking joy in 
 climbing the dog-gates at the turn of the stairs, which 
 she could easily have opened — and she did not pause 
 until she reached her own room in the battered south 
 wing, and was soon curled up in the broad window sill, 
 her hands clasped round her knees. 
 
 For this was a wonderful thing which had come into 
 her life — She had met someone who could see the other 
 side of her head! Henceforth there would be a human 
 voice, not only a fairy's, to converse with her. Indeed, 
 the world was a very fair place ! 
 
 Here, Priscilla found her when it was growing dark, 
 still with the rapt expression of glad thought on her 
 face. And the elderly woman shook her head. " That 
 child is not canny," she muttered, while aloud she chided 
 her for idleness and untidiness in having thrown her cap 
 on the floor. 
 
 But Halcyone flung her arms round Priscilla's neck 
 and laughed in her beard. 
 
 " Oh, you dear old goosie ! I have been with the 
 Immortals on the blue peaks of Olympus and there 
 we did not wear caps ! " 
 
 13
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 " Them Immortals ! " said Priscilla. " Better far 
 you were attending to things you can see. They'll be 
 coming down and carrying you off, some of these fine 
 nights ! " 
 
 " The Immortals don't care so much about the nights, 
 Priscilla — unless Artemis is abroad — she does — but 
 the others like the sunlight and great white clouds and 
 a still blue sky. I am quite safe — " and Halcyone 
 smiled. 
 
 Priscilla began tidying up. 
 
 " Ma'm'selle's wrote to the mistresses to say she won't 
 come back, she can't put up with the place any longer." 
 
 This sounded too good to be true! Another govern- 
 ess going! Surely they would see it was no use asking 
 any more to come to La Sarthe Chase — Halcyone had 
 never had one who could appreciate its beauties. Gov- 
 ernesses to her were poor-spirited creatures afraid of 
 rats, and the dark passages — and one and all resentful 
 of the rag-stuffed panes in the long gallery. Surely 
 with the new-found Cheiron to instruct her about those 
 divine Greeks a fresh governess was unnecessary. 
 
 " I shall ask Aunt Ginevra to implore my stepfather 
 not to send any more. We don't want them, do we, 
 Priscilla?" 
 
 " That we don't, my lamb ! " agreed Priscilla. " But 
 you must learn something more useful than gods and 
 goddesses. Your poor, dear mother in heaven would 
 break her heart if she knew you were going to be brought 
 up ignorant." 
 
 Halcyone raised her head haughtily. 
 
 14
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 " I shan't be ignorant — don't be afraid. I would 
 not remain ignorant even if no other governess ever 
 came near me. I can read by myself, and the dear old 
 gentleman I saw to-day will direct me." And then 
 when she perceived the look of astonishment on Pris- 
 cilla's face : " Ah ! That is a secret \ I had not meant 
 to tell you — but I will. The orchard cottage is inhab- 
 ited and I've seen him, and he is Cheiron, and I am 
 going to learn Greek ! " 
 
 " Bless my heart ! " said Priscilla. " Well, now, it is 
 long past seven o'clock and you must dress to go down 
 to dessert." 
 
 And all the time she was putting Halcyone into her 
 too short white frock, and brushing her mane of hair, the 
 child kept up a brisk conversation. Silent for hours at 
 a time, when something suddenly interested her she could 
 be loquacious enough. 
 
 One candle had to be lit before her toilet was com- 
 pleted, and then at half past seven she stole down the 
 stairs, full of shadows, and across the hall to the great 
 dining-room, where the Misses La Sarthe dined in state 
 at seven o'clock, off some thin soup and one other dish, 
 so that at half past seven the cloth had been cleared 
 away by old William (in a black evening coat now and 
 rather a high stock), and the shining mahogany table 
 reflected the two candles in their superb old silver can- 
 dlesticks. 
 
 At this stage, as Halcyone entered the room, it was 
 customary for William to place the dish of apples on the 
 table in front of Miss La Sarthe, and the dish of almonds 
 
 15
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 and raisins in front of Miss Roberta. The dessert did 
 not vary much for months — from October to late June 
 it was the same; and only on Sundays was the almond 
 and raisin dish allowed to be partaken of, but an apple 
 was divided into four quarters, after being carefully 
 peeled by Miss La Sarthe, each evening, and Miss Ro- 
 berta was given two quarters and Halcyone one, while 
 the eldest lady nibbled at the remaining piece herself. 
 
 In her day, children had always come down to dessert, 
 and had had to be good and not greedy, or the fate of 
 Miss Augusta Noble of that estimable book, " The Fair- 
 child Family," would certainly fall upon them. Halcy- 
 one, from her earliest memory, had come down to dessert 
 every night — except at one or two pleasant moments 
 when the measles or a bad cold had kept her in bed. 
 Half past seven o'clock, summer and winter, had meant 
 for her the quarter of an apple, two or three straw- 
 berries or a plum — and almost always the same conver- 
 sation. 
 
 Miss La Sarthe sat at the head of the table, in a green 
 silk dress cut low upon the shoulders and trimmed with 
 a bertha of blonde lace. Miss Roberta — sad falling 
 off from dignity — had her thin bones covered with a 
 habit shirt of tulle, because she was altogether a poorer 
 creature than her sister, and felt the cold badly. Both 
 ladies wore ringlets at the sides of their faces and little 
 caps of ribbon and lace. 
 
 Even within Halcyone's memory, the dining-room had 
 lost some of its adornments. The Chippendale chairs 
 had gone, and had been replaced by four stout kitchen 
 
 16
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 ones. The bits of rare china were fewer — but the por- 
 trait of the famous Timothy La Sarthe, by Holbein, still 
 frowned from his place of honor above the chimney- 
 piece. All the La Sarthes had been christened Timothy 
 since that time. 
 
 The affair of the governess seemed to be troubling 
 Miss Roberta. At intervals she had found comfort in 
 these denizens of the outer world, and, free from the 
 stem eye of Sister Ginevra, had been wont to chat with 
 one and another. They never stayed long enough for 
 her to know them well, and now this lady — the fifth 
 within two years — had refused to return. Life seemed 
 very dull. 
 
 " Need I have any more governesses, Aunt Ginevra? " 
 Halcyone said. " There is an old gentleman who has 
 bought the orchard house and he says he will teach me 
 Greek — and I already know a number of other tire- 
 some things." 
 
 Halcyone had not meant to tell her aunts anything 
 about Cheiron — this new-found joy — but she reasoned 
 after she heard of Mademoiselle's non-return that the 
 knowledge that she would have some instructor might 
 have weight with those in charge of her. It was worth 
 risking at all events. 
 
 Miss La Sarthe adjusted a gold pince-nez and looked 
 at the little girl. 
 
 " How old are you, Halcyone ? " she asked. 
 
 " I was twelve on the seventh of last October, Aunt 
 Ginevra." 
 
 " Twelve — a young gentlewoman's education is not 
 
 17
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 complete at twelve years old, child — although govern- 
 esses in the house are not very pleasant, I admit " — 
 and Miss La Sarthe sighed. 
 
 " Oh, I know it isn't ! " said Halcyone, " but you 
 see, I can speak French and German quite decently, and 
 the other things surely I might learn myself in between 
 the old gentleman's teaching." 
 
 "But what do you know of this — this stranger?" 
 demanded Miss La Sarthe. " You allude to someone 
 of whom neither your Aunt Roberta nor I have ever 
 heard." 
 
 " I met him to-day. I went into the orchard as usual, 
 and found the house was inhabited, and I saw him and 
 he asked me in to tea. He is a very old gentleman with 
 a long white beard, and very, very clever. His room 
 is full of Greek books and we had a long talk, and he was 
 very kind and said he would teach me to read them." 
 
 This seemed to Halcyone to be sufficient in the way of 
 credentials for anyone. 
 
 " I have heard from Hester," Miss Roberta interposed 
 timidly, " that the orchard house has been bought by 
 an Oxford professor — it sounds most respectable, does 
 it not, sister? " 
 
 Miss La Sarthe looked stern : 
 
 " More than thirty-five years ago, Roberta, I told you 
 I disapproved of Hester's chattering. I cannot con- 
 ceive personally, how you can converse with servants as 
 you do. Hester would not have dared to gossip to me ! " 
 
 Poor Miss Roberta looked crushed. She had often 
 been chided on this point before. 
 
 18
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 Halcyone would like to have reminded her elder aunt 
 that William, who was equally a servant, had announced 
 some such news to her that afternoon ; but she remained 
 silent. She must gain her point if she could, and to 
 argue, she knew, was never a road to success. 
 
 ; ' I am sure if we could get a really nice English girl," 
 hazarded Miss Roberta, wishing to propitiate, " it might 
 be company for us all, Ginevra — but if Mrs. Anderton 
 insists upon sending another foreign person — " 
 
 " And of course she will," interrupted the elder lady ; 
 " people of Mrs. Anderton's class always think it is 
 more genteel to have a smattering of foreign languages 
 than to know their own mother tongue. We may get 
 another German — and that I could hardly bear." 
 
 " Then do write to my stepfather, please, please," 
 cried Halcyone. " Say I am going to be splendidly 
 taught — lots of interesting things — and oh — I will 
 try so hard by myself to keep up what I already know. 
 I will practice — really, really, Aunt Ginevra — and do 
 my German exercises and dear Aunt Roberta can talk 
 French to me and even teach me the Italian songs that she 
 sings so beautifully to her guitar ! " 
 
 This last won the day as far as Miss Roberta was 
 concerned. Her faded cheeks flushed pink. The trill- 
 ing Italian love-songs, learnt some fifty years ago dur- 
 ing a two years' residence in Florence, had always been 
 her pride and joy. So she warmly seconded her niece's 
 pleadings, and the momentous decision was come to that 
 James Anderton should be approached upon the sub- 
 ject. If the child learned Greek — from a professor — 
 
 19
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 and could pick up a few of Roberta's songs as an ac- 
 complishment, she might do well enough and a gov- 
 erness in the house, in spite of the money paid by Mr. 
 Anderton to keep her, was a continual gall and worry 
 to them. 
 
 Halcyone knew very little about her stepfather. She 
 was aware that he had married her mother when she was 
 a very poor and sorrowful young widow, that she had 
 had two stepsisters and a brother very close together, 
 and then that the pretty mother had died. There was 
 evidently something so sad connected with the whole 
 story that Priscilla never cared much to talk about it. 
 It was always, " your poor sainted mother in heaven," 
 or, " your blessed pretty mother " — and with that in- 
 stinctive knowledge of the feelings of other people which 
 characterized Halcyone's point of view, she had avoided 
 questioning her old nurse. Her stepfather, James Ander- 
 ton, was a very wealthy stockbroker — she knew that, and 
 also that a year or so after her mother's death he had mar- 
 ried again — " a person of his own class," Miss La Sarthe 
 had said, " far more suitable to him than poor Elaine." 
 
 Halcyone had only been six years old at her mother's 
 death, but she kept a crisp memory of the horror of it. 
 The crimson, crumpled-looking baby brother, in his long 
 clothes, whose coming somehow seemed responsible for 
 the loss of her tender angel, for a long time was viewed 
 with resentful hatred. It was a terrible, unspeakable 
 grief. She remembered perfectly the helpless sense of 
 loss and loneliness. 
 
 Her mother had loved her with passionate devotion. 
 
 20
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 She was conscious even then that Mabel and Ethel, the 
 stepsisters, were as nothing in comparison to herself in 
 her mother's regard. She had a certainty that her 
 mother had loved her own father very much — the 
 young, brilliant, spendthrift, last La Sarthe. And her 
 mother had been of the family, too — a distant cousin. 
 So she herself was La Sarthe to her finger tips — slen- 
 der and pale and distinguished-looking. She remem- 
 bered the last scene with her stepfather before her com- 
 ing to La Sarthe Chase. It was the culmination after 
 a year of misery and unassuaged grieving for her loss. 
 He had come into the nursery where the three little girls 
 were playing — Halcyone and her two stepsisters — and 
 he had made them all stand up in his rough way, and see 
 who could catch the pennies the best that he threw from 
 the door. His brother, " Uncle Ted," was with him. 
 And the two younger children, Mabel of five and Ethel 
 of four, shouted riotously with glee and snatched the 
 coins from one another and greedily quarreled over those 
 which Halcyone caught with her superior skill and 
 handed to them. 
 
 She remembered her stepfather's face — it grew 
 heavy and sullen and he walked to the window, where his 
 brother followed him — and she remembered their words 
 and had pondered over them often since. 
 
 " It's the damned breeding in the brat that fairly 
 gets me raw, Ted," Mr. Anderton had said. " Why 
 the devil couldn't Elaine have given it to my children, 
 too. I can't stand it — a home must be found for her 
 elsewhere." 
 
 21
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 And soon after that, Halcyone had come with her own 
 Priscilla to La Sarthe Chase to her great-aunts Ginevra 
 and Roberta, in their tumble-down mansion which her 
 father had not lived to inherit. Under family arrange- 
 ments, it was the two old ladies' property for their lives. 
 
 And now the problem of what James Anderton — or 
 rather the second Mrs. James Anderton — would do was 
 the question of the moment. Would there be a fresh 
 governess or would they all be left in peace without 
 one? Mrs. James Anderton, Miss Roberta had said 
 once, was a person who " did her duty," as people often 
 did " in her class " — " a most worthy woman, if not 
 quite a lady " — and she had striven to do her best by 
 James Anderton's children — even his stepchild Halcy- 
 one. 
 
 Miss La Sarthe promised to write that night before 
 she went to bed — but Halcyone knew it was a long proc- 
 ess with her and that an answer could not be expected 
 for at least a week. Therefore there was no good agi- 
 tating herself too soon about the result. It was one of 
 her principles never to worry over unnecessary things. 
 Life was full of blessed certainties to enjoy without 
 spoiling them by speculating over possible unpleasant- 
 nesses. 
 
 The old gentleman — Cheiron — and old William and 
 the timid curate who came to dine on Saturday nights 
 once a month were about the only male creatures Halcy- 
 one had ever spoken to within her recollection — their 
 rector was a confirmed invalid and lived abroad — but 
 Priscilla had a supreme contempt for them as a sex. 
 
 22
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 .. 
 
 One and all set on themselves, my lamb," she said; 
 " even your own beautiful father had to be bowed down 
 to and worshiped. We put up with it in him, of 
 course ; but I never did see one that didn't think of him- 
 self first. It is their selfishness that causes all the sor- 
 row of the world to women. We needn't have lost your 
 angel mother but for Mr. Anderton's selfishness — a 
 kind, hard, rough man — but as selfish as a gentle- 
 
 man." 
 
 It seemed a more excusable defect to Priscilla in the 
 upper class, but had no redeeming touch in the status 
 of Mr. Anderton. 
 
 Halcyone, however, had a logical mind and reasoned 
 with her nurse: 
 
 " If they are all selfish, Priscilla, it must be either 
 women's fault for letting them be, or God intended them 
 to be so. A thing can't be all unless the big force makes 
 it." 
 
 This " big force " — this " God " was a real personal- 
 ity to Halcyone. She could not bear it when in church 
 she heard the meanest acts of revenge and petty wounded 
 vanity attributed to Him. She argued it was because 
 the curate did not know. Having come from a town, 
 he could not be speaking of the same wonderful God 
 she knew in the woods and fields — the God so loving and 
 tender in the springtime to the budding flowers, so 
 gorgeous in the summer and autumn and so pure and 
 cold in the winter. With all that to attend to He could 
 not possibly stoop to punish ignorant people and har- 
 bor anger and wrath against them. He was the sun- 
 3 23
 
 HABCYONE 
 
 light and the moonlight and the starlight. He was the 
 voice which talked in the night and made her never 
 lonely. 
 
 And all the other things of nature and the universe 
 were gods, also — lesser ones obeying the supreme force 
 and somehow fused with Him in a whole, being part of a 
 scheme which He had invented to complete the felicity of 
 the world He had created — not beings to be prayed to or 
 solicited for favors, but just gentle, glorious, sym- 
 pathetic, invisible friends. She was very much inter- 
 ested in Christ ; He was certainly a part of God, too — 
 but she could not understand about His dying to save 
 the world, since the God she heard of in the church was 
 still forever punishing and torturing human beings, or 
 only extending mercy after His vanity had been flattered 
 by offerings and sacrifices. 
 
 " I expect," she said to herself, coming home one 
 Sunday after one of Mr. Miller's lengthy discourses 
 upon God's vengeance, " when I am older and able really 
 to understand what is written in the Bible I shall find it 
 isn't that a bit, and it is either Mr. Miller can't see 
 straight or he has put the stops all in the wrong places 
 and changed the sense. In any case I shall not trouble 
 now — the God who kept me from falling through the 
 hole in the loft yesterday by that ray of sunlight to show 
 the cracked board, is the one I am fond of." 
 
 It was the simple and logical view of a case which al- 
 ways appealed to her. 
 
 " Halcyone " her parents had called her well — their 
 bond of love — their tangible proof of halcyon days. 
 
 24
 
 HALCYON E 
 
 And always when Halcyone read her " Heroes " she felt 
 it was her beautiful father and mother who were the real 
 Halcyone and Ceyx, and she longed to see the blue sum- 
 mer sea and the pleasant isles of Greece that she might 
 find their floating nest and see them sail away happily for 
 ever over those gentle southern waves.
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 R. CARL YON — for such was Cheiron's real 
 name — knocked the ashes from his long pipe 
 next day at eleven o'clock in the morning, after 
 his late breakfast and began to arrange his books. His 
 mind was away in a land of classical lore ; he had almost 
 forgotten the sprite who had invaded his solitude the 
 previous afternoon, until he heard a tap at the window, 
 and saw her standing there — great, intelligent eyes 
 aflame and rosy lips apart. 
 
 "May I come in, please?" her voice said. "I am 
 afraid I am a little early, but I had something so very 
 interesting to tell you, I had to come." 
 
 He opened wide the window and let in the May sun- 
 shine. 
 
 " The first of May and a May Queen," he told her 
 presently, when they were seated in their two chairs. 
 " And now begin this interesting news." 
 
 " Aunt Ginevra has promised to write to my step- 
 father at once, and suggest that no more governesses 
 are sent to me. Won't it be perfectly splendid if he 
 agrees ! " 
 
 " I really don't know," said Cheiron. 
 
 Haleyone's face fell. 
 
 " You promised to teach me Greek," she said simply, 
 
 26
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 " and I know from my ' Heroes ' that is all that I need 
 necessarily learn from a^-one to acquire the other things 
 myself." 
 
 This seemed to Mr. Carlyon a very conclusive an- 
 swer — his bent of mind found it logical. 
 
 " Very well," he said. " When shall we begin ? " 
 
 " Perhaps to-morrow. To-day if you have time I 
 would like to take you for a walk in the park — and 
 show you some of the trees. The beeches are coming out 
 very early this year ; they have the most exquisite green 
 just showing, and the chestnuts in some places have 
 quite large leaves. It is damp under foot, though — do 
 you mind that ? " 
 
 " Not a bit," said Cheiron. 
 
 And so they went, creeping through the hole in the 
 paling like two brigands on a marauding expedition. 
 
 " There used to be deer when I first came five years 
 ago," Halcyone said. " I remember them quite well, 
 and their sweet little fawns ; but the next winter was that 
 horribly cold one, and there was no hay to be put out to 
 them — my Aunts La Sarthe are very poor — and some 
 of them died, and in the summer the Long Man came 
 and talked and talked, and Aunt Roberta had red eyes 
 all the afternoon, as she always does when he comes, and 
 Aunt Ginevra pretended hers were a cold in her head — 
 and the week after a lot of men arrived and drove all the 
 tender, beautiful creatures into corners, and took them 
 away in carts with nets over them — the does — but the 
 bucks had pieces of wood because their horns would have 
 torn the nets." 
 
 27
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 Her delicate lips quivered a moment, as though at a 
 too painful memory — then she smiled. 
 
 " But one mother doe and her fawn got away — and 
 I knew where they were hiding, but I did not tell, of 
 course — and now there are four of them, or perhaps 
 five. But they are very wild and keep in the copses, and 
 fly if they see anyone coming. They don't mind me, of 
 course, but strangers. The mother remembers that aw- 
 ful day, I expect." 
 
 " No doubt," said Cheiron ; " and who is the ' Long 
 Man ' you spoke of as having instigated this outrage ? " 
 
 " He is the man of business, he was the bailiff 
 once, but is a house agent now in Applewood. And 
 whenever he comes something has to go — we all dread 
 it. Last Michaelmas it was the Chippendale dining- 
 room chairs — " 
 
 " I know him then — I bought my cottage from him. 
 I suppose all this is necessary, because he seemed an 
 honest fellow." 
 
 " Someone long ago made it necessary — it is not 
 the Aunts' fault — " and then Halcyone stopped ab- 
 ruptly and pointed to the beech avenue which they were 
 approaching now through the bracken, brown and crisp 
 from last year, with only here and there a green shoot 
 showing. 
 
 " Queen Mab and the elves live there in May and 
 early June," she said. " They dance every afternoon as 
 the sun sets, and sometimes in the dawn, too, and the early 
 morning. You can see them if you keep quite still.' 
 
 " Naturally," said Cheiron. 
 
 £8 
 
 »
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 " Do you know, since last winter I have had a great 
 pleasure," and Halcyone's grave, intent eyes looked up 
 into the old gentleman's face. " There was a terrible 
 storm in February — but can you really keep a secret? " 
 
 — and then, as he nodded his head seriously, she went 
 on. " It blew down a narrow piece of the paneling in 
 the long gallery — it is next to my room, you know 
 
 — and I heard the noise in the night and lit a candle 
 and went to see. Some of the window panes are broken, 
 so it is very blustery there in storms. Well, there was a 
 door behind it — a secret door ! I was so excited, but 
 I could not keep the candle alight and it was very cold. 
 I saw nothing was broken — only the wind had dis- 
 lodged the spring. I was able to push it back and 
 pull a little chest against it, and wait till morning. And 
 then what do you think I found? — it led to a staircase 
 in the thickness of the wall, which went down and down 
 until it came to a door right below the cellar — it took 
 me days of dodging Mademoiselle and Priscilla to carry 
 down oil and things to help me to open it — and then 
 it came out in a hollow archway on the second terrace, 
 which has a stone bench in it, and is where old William 
 keeps his tools. It is so cleverly done you could never 
 see it ; it looks just as if it was no door, but was only there 
 for ornament. You may fancy I never told anyone! 
 It is my secret — and yours now — and it enabled me 
 to do what I have always longed to do — go out in the 
 night ! " 
 
 " You go out in the night all alone ! " exclaimed 
 Cheiron, almost aghast. 
 
 29
 
 HALC YONE 
 
 k 
 
 But of course," said Halcyone. " You cannot 
 think of the j o v when there is a moon and stars ; and 
 some of the night creatures are such friends — they 
 teach me wonderful things. Only the dreadful difficulty 
 is in avoiding Priscilla — she sleeps in the dressing-room 
 next me. I love her better than anyone else in the world, 
 but she could never understand — she would only worry 
 about the wet feet and clothes being spoilt. I always 
 think it is so fortunate though, don't you, that servants 
 — even a dear like Priscilla — sleep so soundly. Aunt 
 Ginevra says they can't help it, every class has its pe- 
 culiarity." 
 
 Mr. Carlyon was extremely interested — he wanted to 
 hear more of these adventures. 
 
 " How do you avoid Priscilla seeing your things in 
 the morning then? " he asked. 
 
 " I have got a pair of big gutta-percha boots — they 
 were my father's waders once, and I found them, and 
 have hidden them in one of the chests, and I tuck every- 
 thing into them — so there are no marks. It is en- 
 chanting." 
 
 " And do you often have these nocturnal outings, you 
 odd little girl?" Cheiron said, wonderingly. 
 
 " Not very. I have to be so careful, you see — and I 
 only choose moonlight or starlight nights, and they are 
 rare — but when the summer comes I hope to enjoy 
 many more of them." 
 
 Then Mr. Cartyon's old eyes looked away into distance 
 and seemed to see a slender shape wrapped in a spotted 
 fawn's skin, its head crowned with leaves, joining the 
 
 30
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 throng of those other early worshipers of Dionysus as 
 they beat their weird music among the dark crags of 
 Parnassus — searching for communion with the spiritual 
 beyond in the only way they knew of then to reach it, 
 through a wild ecstasy of emotion. Here was the same 
 impulse, unconscious, instinctive. The probing of na- 
 ture to discover her secrets. Here was a female thing 
 with a soul unafraid in her pure innocence, alone in the 
 night. 
 
 Halcyone did not interrupt his meditations, and 
 presently they came to the broken gate close to the 
 house. 
 
 Cheiron paused and leaned on the top bar. 
 
 " Is this the elves' home? " he asked. 
 
 " Yes," she answered gravely. " But so late in the 
 day you cannot see them. You must wait again until 
 the sun is setting; and I expect when it is warm they 
 come in the moonlight, too, but I have not been able to 
 get a fine enough night — as yet. This avenue is the 
 most beautiful of all, because a hundred years ago the La 
 Sarthes had a quarrel with the Wendovers, whose land 
 just touches at the end of it, and they closed the gate, 
 and so the turf has covered the gravel. And look at the 
 tree — you can see the fairy ring where they dance, and 
 I always fancy they sup under the one with the very low 
 branch at the side — but I don't believe I should like 
 ' marrow of mice,' should you ? " 
 
 " Not at all," said Cheiron. 
 
 Then they wandered on. Halcyone led him to each 
 of the favorite points of view, and he became acquainted 
 
 31
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 with the great serpent, and so vivid was her picturing 
 that he almost fancied he saw the Golden Fleece nailed 
 to the tree beyond, and heard Orpheus' exquisite melodies 
 charming the reptile to sleep while Jason stepped over 
 his slumbering coils. 
 
 " But I do not have Medea here," she said ; " I play 
 her part myself, and I make her different. She was too 
 cunning and had wicked thoughts in her heart, and so 
 the poor Heroes suffered. If she had been good and 
 true and had not killed Absyrtus, things might have had 
 a different ending. I never like to think of Absyrtus 
 in any case — because, do you know, I once hated my 
 baby brother, and would have been glad if anyone had 
 killed him." 
 
 Her eyes became black as night with this awful 
 recollection. " It was very long ago, you under- 
 stand — when I was quite a little girl before I knew the 
 wonderful things the wind and the flowers and the stars 
 tell me." 
 
 Cheiron did not ask the cause of this hate ; he reserved 
 the question for a future time, and encouraged her to 
 tell him of her discoveries in wonderland. 
 
 Some trees had strange personalities, she said. You 
 could never guess the other side of their heads, until you 
 knew them very well. But all had good in them, and it 
 was wisest never even to see the bad. 
 
 " I always find if you are afraid of things they be- 
 come real and hurt you, but if you are sure they are 
 kind and true they turn gentle and love you. I am 
 hardly ever afraid of anything now — only I do not like 
 
 32
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 a thunderstorm. It seems as if God were really angry 
 then, and were not considering sufficiently just whom He 
 meant to hit." 
 
 Justice to her appeared to hold chief place among the 
 virtues. 
 
 " Do you stay here all the year round ? " asked 
 Cheiron, presently, " or do you sometimes have a trip 
 to the seaside? " 
 
 " I have never been away since I first came — I would 
 love to see the sea," and her eyes became dreary. " I 
 can just remember long ago with my mother, we went 
 once — she and I alone — " then she turned to her old 
 companion and looked up in his face. 
 
 " Had you a mother ? Of course you had, but I mean 
 one that you knew? " 
 
 The late Mrs. Carlyon had not meant anything much 
 to her son in her lifetime, and was now a far-off memory 
 of forty years ago, so Cheiron answered truthfully upon 
 the subject, and Halcyone looked grave. 
 
 " When we have been friends for a long time I will tell 
 you of my beautiful mother — and I could let you share 
 my memory of her perhaps — but not to-day," she 
 said. 
 
 And then she was silent for a while as they walked on. 
 But when they were turning back towards the orchard 
 house she suddenly began to laugh, glancing at the old 
 gentleman with eyes full of merriment. 
 
 " It is funny," she said, " I don't even know your 
 name ! I would like to call you Cheiron — but you have 
 a real name, of course." 
 
 33
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 a 
 
 It is Arnold Carl von, and I come from Cornwall," 
 the old gentleman said, " but you are welcome to call me 
 Cheiron, if you like." 
 
 Halcyone thanked him prettily. 
 
 "I wish you had his body — don't you? How we 
 could gallop about, could we not? But I can imagine 
 you have, easily. I always can see things I imagine, 
 and sometimes they become realities then." 
 
 " Heaven forbid ! " exclaimed Cheiron. " What 
 would my four legs and my hoofs do in the little orchard 
 house, and how should I sit in my armchair? " 
 
 Halcyone pealed with merry laughter; her laughs 
 came so rarely and were like golden bells. The comic 
 side of the picture enchanted her. 
 
 ; ' Of course it would only do if we lived in a cave, as 
 the real Cheiron did," she admitted. " I was silly, was 
 not I?" 
 
 " Yes," said Mr. Carlyon, " but I don't think I mind 
 your being so — it is nice to laugh." 
 
 She slipped her thin little hand into his for a mo- 
 ment, and caught hold of one of his fingers. 
 
 " I am so glad you understand that," she said. 
 " How good it is to laugh ! That is what the birds sing 
 to me, it is no use ever to be sad, because it draws 
 evil and fear to yourself, and even in the winter one 
 must know there is always the beautiful spring soon 
 coming. Don't you think God is full of love for this 
 world?" 
 
 " I am sure he is." 
 
 " The Aunts' God isn't a very kind person," she went 
 
 34
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 on. " But I expect, since you know about the Greeks, 
 yours and mine are the same." 
 
 " Probably," said Cheiron. 
 
 Then, being assured on this point, Halcyone felt she 
 could almost entrust him with her greatest secret. 
 
 " Do you know," she said, in the gravest voice, " I 
 will tell you something. I have a goddess, too. I found 
 her in the secret staircase. She is broken, even her 
 nose a little, but she is supremely beautiful. It is just 
 her head I have got, and I pretend she is my mother 
 sometimes, really come back to me again. We have long 
 talks. Some day I will show her to you. I have to 
 keep her hidden, because Aunt Ginevra cannot bear rub- 
 bish about, and as she is broken she would want to have 
 her thrown away." 
 
 " I shall be delighted to make her acquaintance. 
 What do you call her? " 
 
 " That is just it," said Halcyone. " When I first 
 found her it seemed to me I must call her Pallas Athene, 
 because of that noble lady in Perseus — but as I looked 
 and looked I knew she was not that ; it seems she cannot 
 be anything else but just Love — her eyes are so tender, 
 she has many moods, and they are not often the same — 
 but no matter how she looks you feel all the time just 
 love, love, love — so I have not named her yet. You 
 remember when Orpheus took his lyre and sang after 
 Cheiron had finished his song — it was of Chaos and the 
 making of the world, and how all things had sprung from 
 Love — who could not live alone in the Abyss. So I 
 know that is she — just Love." 
 
 35
 
 H ALCYONE 
 
 " Aphrodite," said Cheiron. 
 
 " It is a pretty name. If that is what it means, I 
 would call her that." 
 
 " It will do," said Cheiron. 
 
 " Aphrodite — Aphrodite," she repeated it over and 
 over. " It must mean kind and tender, and soft and 
 sweet, and beautiful and glorious, and making you think 
 of noble things, and making you feel perfectly happy 
 and warmed and comforted and blessed. Is it all that? " 
 
 " It could be — and more," said Cheiron. 
 
 " Then I will name her so." 
 
 After this there was a long silence. Mr. Carlyon 
 would not interrupt what was evidently a serious mo- 
 ment to his little friend. He waited, and then presently 
 he turned the channel of her thoughts by asking her if 
 she thought he might call on her Aunts that afternoon. 
 
 Halcyone hesitated a second. 
 
 " We hardly ever have visitors. Aunt Ginevra has 
 alwajs said one must not receive what one cannot return, 
 and they have no carriage or horses now, so they never 
 see anyone. Aunt Roberta would, but Aunt Ginevra 
 does not let her, and she often says in the last ten years 
 they have quite dropped out of everything. I do not 
 know what that means altogether, because I do not know 
 what there was to drop out of. I have scarcely ever 
 been beyond the park, and there do not seem to be any 
 big houses for miles — do there? — except Wendover, 
 but it is shut up ; it has been for twenty years." 
 
 " Then you think the Misses La Sarthe might not 
 receive me? " 
 
 36
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 " You could try, of course. You have not a carriage. 
 If you just walked it would make it even. Shall I tell 
 them you are coming? I had better, perhaps." 
 
 " Yes, this afternoon." 
 
 And if Halcyone had known it, she was receiving an 
 unheard-of compliment ! The hermit Carlyon — the 
 old Oxford Professor of Greek, who had come to this 
 out-of-the-way corner because he had been assured by 
 the agent there would be no sort of society around him — 
 now intended to put on a tall hat and frock coat, and 
 make a formal call on two maiden ladies — all for the 
 sake of a child of twelve years, with serious gray eyes — 
 and a soul!
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 XN her heart of hearts Miss Roberta felt fluttered 
 as she walked across the empty hall to the Ital- 
 ian parlor behind her sterner sister, to receive 
 their guest. He would come in the afternoon, Halcyone 
 had said. That meant about three o'clock, and it be- 
 hooved ladies expecting a gentleman to be at ease at some 
 pretty fancy work when he should be announced. 
 
 The village was two miles beyond the lime lodge gates, 
 and for the last eight years rheumatism in the knee had 
 made the walk there out of the question for poor Miss 
 Roberta — so even the sight of a man and a stranger 
 was an unusual thing! She had not attempted conver- 
 sation with anyone but Mr. Miller, the curate, for over 
 eleven years. The isolation in which the inhabitants of 
 La Sarthe Chase lived could not be more complete. 
 
 The Italian parlor had its own slightly pathetic 
 cachet. The walls and ceiKng had been painted by 
 rather a bad artist from Florence at the beginning of 
 the nineteenth century, but the furniture was good of 
 its kind — a strange dark orange lacquer and gilt — 
 and here most of the treasures which had not yet been 
 disposed of for daily bread, were hoarded in cabinets 
 and quaint glass-topped show tables. There were a 
 number of other priceless things about the house, the 
 
 38
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 value of which the Long Man's artistic education was 
 as yet too unfinished to appreciate. And the great- 
 est treasure of all, as we have seen, was probably only 
 understood by Halcyone — but more of that in its 
 place. 
 
 At present it concerns us to know that Miss La Sarthe 
 and her sister had reached the Italian parlor, and were 
 seated in their respective chairs — Miss Roberta with 
 a piece of delicate embroidery in her hands, the stitches 
 of which her eyes — without spectacles, to receive com- 
 pany — were too weak adequately to perceive. 
 
 Miss La Sarthe did not condescend to any such sub- 
 terfuges. She sat quite still doing nothing, looking very 
 much as she had looked for the last forty years. Her 
 harp stood on one side of the fireplace, and Miss 
 Roberta's guitar hung by a faded blue ribbon from a 
 nail at the other. 
 
 Presently old William announced: 
 
 " Mr. Carlyon." 
 
 And Cheiron, in his Sunday best, walked into the room. 
 
 Halcyone was not present. If children were wanted 
 they were sent for. It was not seemly for them to be 
 idling in the drawing-rooms. 
 
 But Miss Roberta felt so pleasantly nervous, that she 
 said timidly, after they had all shaken hands : 
 
 " Ginevra, can we not tell William to ask Halcyone to 
 come down, perhaps Mr. Carlyon might like to see her 
 again." 
 
 And William, who had not got far from the door, was 
 recalled and sent on the errand. 
 4 39
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 »» 
 
 " What a very beautiful view you have from here 
 Mr. Carlyon said, by way of a beginning. " It is an 
 ideal spot." 
 
 " We are glad you like it," Miss La Sarthe replied, 
 graciously ; " as my sister and I live quite retired from 
 the world it suits us. We had much gayety here in our 
 youth, but now we like tranquillity." 
 
 " It is, however, delightful to have a neighbor," Miss 
 Roberta exclaimed — and then blushed at her temerity. 
 
 The elder lady frowned; Roberta had always been so 
 sadly effusive, she felt. Men ought not to be flattered 
 so. 
 
 Mr. Carlyon bowed, and the platitudes were continued, 
 each felt he or she must approach the subject of Hal- 
 cyone's lessons, but waited for the other to begin. 
 
 Halcyone, herself, put an end to all awkwardness after 
 she very gently entered the room. There was no bound- 
 ing or vaulting in the presence of the aunts. 
 
 " Is it not kind of Mr. Carlyon to wish to teach me 
 Greek? " she said, including both her relatives. " I ex- 
 pect he has told you about it though." 
 
 The Misses La Sarthe were properly surprised and 
 interested. Most kind they thought it and expressed 
 their appreciation in their separate ways. They both 
 hoped their great-niece would be diligent, and prove a 
 worthy pupil. It was most fortunate for Halcyone, be- 
 cause her stepfather, Mr. James Anderton, might decide 
 at their request not to send another governess, and, " No 
 doubt it will be most useful to her," Miss La Sarthe con- 
 tinued. " In these modern days so much learning seems 
 
 40
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 to be expected of people. When we were young, a little 
 French and Italian were all that was necessary." 
 
 Then Mr. Carlyon made friends of them for life, by a 
 happy inspiration. 
 
 " I see you are both musicians," he said, pointing to 
 the antiquated musical instruments. " A taste of that 
 sort is a constant pleasure." 
 
 " We used to play a good deal at one time," admitted 
 Miss La Sarthe, without a too great show of gratifica- 
 tion, " and my sister was quite celebrated for her Italian 
 songs." 
 
 " Oh ! " gasped Miss Roberta, blushing again. 
 
 " I hope I may have the pleasure of hearing you to- 
 gether some day," said the Professor, gallantly. 
 
 Both ladies smilingly acquiesced, as they depreciated 
 their powers. 
 
 And just before their visitor got up to leave, Miss 
 La Sarthe said with her grand air: 
 
 " We hope you find your cottage comfortable. It 
 used to be the land steward's, before we disposed of 
 the property we no longer required. It always used 
 to have a very pretty garden, but no doubt it has rather 
 fallen into decay." 
 
 " I shall do my best to repair it," Mr. Carlyon said, 
 " but it will take some time. I and my servant have 
 already begun to clear the weeds away, and a new gar- 
 dener is coming next week." 
 
 " Oh, may I help ? " exclaimed Halcyone. " I love 
 gardening, and can dig quite well. I often help 
 William." 
 
 41
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 " Our old butler does many useful things for us," Miss 
 Roberta explained, with a slightly conscious air. 
 
 And then the adieus were said, Halcyon's first lesson 
 having been arranged to begin on the morrow. 
 
 When the visitor had gone and the door was shut: 
 
 " A very worthy, cultivated gentleman, Roberta," 
 Miss La Sarthe announced to her sister. " We must ask 
 him to dinner the next time Mr. Miller is coming. We 
 must show him some attention for his kindness to our 
 great-niece ; he will understand and not allow it to flatter 
 him too much. You remember, Roberta, our Mamma 
 always said unmarried women — of any age — cannot 
 be too careful of les convenances, but we might ask him 
 to dinner under the circumstances — don't you think 
 so?" 
 
 " Oh, I am sure — yes, sister — but I wish you would 
 not talk so of our age," Miss Roberta said, rather fret- 
 fully for her. " You were only seventy-two last No- 
 vember, and I shall not be sixty-nine until March — and 
 if you remember, Aunt Agatha lived to ninety-one, and 
 Aunt Mildred to ninety-four! So we are not so very 
 old as yet." 
 
 " The more reason for us to be careful then," retorted 
 the elder lady, and Miss Roberta subsided with a sigh 
 as she took her guitar from the wall and began in her 
 gentle old quavering voice to trill out one of her many 
 love-songs. 
 
 The guitar had not been tuned for several days, and 
 had run down into a pitiful flatness; Halcyone could 
 hardly sit still, it hurt her so — but it was only when 
 
 42
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 Miss Roberta had begun a second warble that either she 
 or Miss La Sarthe noticed the jar. Then a helpless 
 look grew in the songstress's faded eyes. 
 
 " Halcyone, dear — I think you might tune the in- 
 strument for me," she said. " I almost think the top 
 string is not quite true, and you do it so quickly." 
 
 And grateful for the chance, the child soon had it 
 perfectly accorded, and the concert continued. 
 
 Meanwhile Mr. Carlyon had got back to the orchard 
 house, and had rung for some of his black tea. He was 
 musing deeply upon events. And at last he sat at his 
 writing-table and wrote a letter to his friend and former 
 pupil, John Derringham, in which he described his ar- 
 rival at his new home, and his outlook, and made a cas- 
 ual reference to the two maiden ladies in these terms : 
 
 " The park and house is still owned by two antedi- 
 luvian spinsters of the name of La Sarthe — exquisite 
 specimens of Early Victorian gentility. They are very 
 poor and proud and narrow-minded, and they have a 
 great-niece living with them, the most remarkable little 
 female intelligence I have ever come across. My old 
 habit of instruction is not to be allowed to rest, for I am 
 going to teach the creature Greek, as a diversion. She 
 seems to be about twelve years old, and has the makings 
 of a wonderful character. In the summer you had bet- 
 ter come down and pay me a visit, if you are not too 
 busy with your potent mistress, your political ambi- 
 tions." 
 
 But John Derringham did not respond to this casual 
 invitation for many a long day. He had other potent 
 
 43
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 interests beside his political ambitions — and in any 
 case, never did anything unless he felt inclined. 
 
 Mr. Carlyon did not expect him — he knew him very 
 well. 
 
 Thus the days passed and by the end of June even, 
 Halcyone had learned more than the Greek alphabet ; 
 and had listened to many charming stories of that won- 
 derful people. And the night was her friend, and nu- 
 merous hours were passed in the shadow of his dark 
 wings, as she flitted like some pale ghost about the park 
 and the deserted, dilapidated garden.
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 "Si^^^HE July of that year was very warm with pe- 
 ■ *• | culiarly still days, and Haley one and her mas- 
 ^^^^ ter, Cheiron, spent most of their time during 
 their hours of study, under the apple tree. They had 
 got to a stage of complete understanding, and seemed to 
 have fitted into each other's lives as though they had al- 
 ways been together. 
 
 Mr. Carlyon watched his little pupil from under the 
 shadow of his penthouse brows with the deep speculative 
 interest she had aroused in him from the first. He had 
 theories upon several subjects, which she seemed to be 
 going to show the result of in practice — and in his 
 kindly cynic's heart she was now enshrined in a special 
 niche. 
 
 For Halcyone he was " Cheiron," her master, who had 
 the enchanting quality of being able to see the other 
 side of her head. Every idea of her soul seemed to be 
 developing under this touch of sympathy and under- 
 standing. Her heterogeneous knowledge culled from 
 the teachings of her many changing governesses, seemed 
 to regulate itself into distinct branches with an upward 
 shoot for each, and Mr. Carlyon watched and encour- 
 aged them all. 
 
 It was on one glorious Saturday morning when the 
 
 45
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 fairies and nymphs and gods and goddesses were pre- 
 sumably asleep in the sunlight, that she drew up her 
 knees as she sat on the grass by her Professor's chair, 
 and pushing away the Greek grammar, said, with grave 
 eyes fixed upon his face: 
 
 " Cheiron, to-day something tells me I can show you 
 Aphrodite. When it is cooler, about five o'clock, will 
 you come with me to the second terrace? There I will 
 leave you and go and fetch her, and as William and 
 Priscilla will be at tea, I can open the secret door, and 
 you shall see where she lives — all in the dark ! " 
 
 Mr. Carlyon felt duly honored — for they had never 
 referred to this subject since she had first mentioned 
 it. The Professor felt it was one of deep religious sol- 
 emnity to his little friend, and had waited until she 
 herself should feel he was worthy of her complete confi- 
 dence. 
 
 " She speaks to me more than ever," Halcyone con- 
 tinued. " I took her out in the moonlight on Thursday 
 night, and she seemed to look more lovely than before. 
 It has pleased her that I call her Aphrodite — it was 
 certainly her name." 
 
 " It is settled, then," said Cheiron, " at five o'clock I 
 will be upon the terrace." 
 
 Halcyone returned to her grammar, and silence ob- 
 tained between them. Then presently Mr. Carlyon 
 spoke. 
 
 " I am going to have a visitor for a week or perhaps 
 more," he announced. 
 
 A startled pair of eyes looked up at him. 
 
 46
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 " That seems odd," Halcyone said. " I hope whoever 
 it is will not be much in our way. I do not think I am 
 glad — are you ? " 
 
 " Yes, I am glad. It is someone for whom I have a 
 great regard," and Mr. Carlyon knocked the ashes from 
 his long pipe. " It is a young man who used to be at 
 Oxford and to whom also I taught Greek." 
 
 " Then he will know a great deal more than I do, 
 being older," returned Halcyone, not at all mollified by 
 this information. 
 
 " Yes, he knows rather more than you do as yet," the 
 Professor allowed. " Perhaps you will not like him ; he 
 can be quite disagreeable when he wishes — and he may 
 not like you." 
 
 Halcyone's dark brows met. 
 
 " If he is someone for whom you have a regard he 
 must be of those who count. I shall be angry then, if 
 he dislikes me — is he coming soon ? " 
 
 " On Monday, by the four o'clock train." 
 
 " Our lesson will be over — that is something. You 
 will not want me on Tuesday, I expect ? " and a note of 
 regret grew in her voice. 
 
 " I thought you might have a holiday for a while, all 
 pupils have holidays in the summer," the Professor re- 
 turned. 
 
 " Very well," was all she said, and then was quiet 
 for a time, thinking the matter over. She wished to hear 
 more of this visitor who was going to interrupt their 
 pleasant intercourse. 
 
 " Of what sort is he? " she asked presently. " A hun- 
 
 47
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 tcr like Meleager — or cunning like Theseus — or noble 
 like Perseus, whom I love best of all? " 
 
 " He is not very Greek to look at, I am afraid, except 
 perhaps in his length of limb," and the Professor smiled. 
 " He is just a thin, lanky, rather distinguished young 
 Englishman and was considered to be the most brilliant 
 of my pupils, taking a Double First under my auspices 
 and leaving Oxford with flying colors when I retired 
 myself a year or two ago. He has been very lucky 
 since, he is full of ambitions in the political line, and he 
 has a fearless and rather caustic wit." 
 
 " I must think of him as Pericles, then, if he is 
 occupied with the state," said Halcyone. " But 
 how has he been lucky since? I would like to know 
 
 — tell me, please, and I will try not to mind his being 
 here." 
 
 « Yes — try — " said Mr. Carlyon. " After he took 
 his degree he studied law and history, you know, as well 
 as the Greek philosophy which you may come to some 
 day — he went to London to the Temple to read for the 
 bar. He never intended to be a practicing barrister, but 
 everything is a means to his career. Then his luck came 
 
 — he has lots of friends and relations in the great world 
 and at one of their country houses he met the Prime 
 Minister, who took a tremendous fancy to him, and the 
 thing going well, the great man finally asked him to be 
 his assistant private secretary, which post he accepted. 
 The chief private secretary last year being made gov- 
 ernor of a colony, John has now stepped into his shoes, 
 and presently he will go into Parliament. He is a bril- 
 
 48
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 liant fellow and cares for no man — following only his 
 own star. I shall be very glad to see him again." 
 
 Halcyone's face fell into a brown study and the Pro- 
 fessor watching her mused to himself. 
 
 " John Derringham will find her in the way. She is 
 not woman enough yet to attract his eye ; he will only 
 perceive she is a rather plain child — and she will cer- 
 tainly see the other side of his head." 
 
 As Halcyone walked back to La Sarthe Chase for her 
 early dinner, she mused also: 
 
 " I must not feel this dislike towards Cheiron's other 
 pupil. After all, Jason could not have the master alone 
 — and if I do feel it then he will be able to harm me, 
 should he dislike me, too — but if I try to like him, then 
 he will be powerless, and when he has gone he will not 
 have left any mark." 
 
 Mr. Carlyon felt a perceptible glow of interest as he 
 waited at five o'clock that day upon the dilapidated stone 
 bench in the archway where old William kept his garden 
 tools, and while the subdued light gave him very little 
 chance of studying minutely the walls, the general aspect 
 certainly presented no hint of any door. However, he 
 had not to wait or speculate long, for, with hardly 
 a creak, two stones seemed to turn upon a pivot, and 
 Halcyone came forth from the aperture bending her 
 head. 
 
 " After all, I do not think you had better come in 
 with me," she said. " It is low like this for ten yards ; 
 it will make your back ache — so I have brought her. 
 If you will hold her, I will run out and see if all is safe ; 
 
 49
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 and then we can carry her to the summer house and take 
 off her scarf." 
 
 Cheiron held out his arms to receive the precious 
 bundle; and he could feel by its weight it was a marble 
 head. It was enveloped in the voluminous folds of the 
 remains of an old blue silk curtain, a relic of other days, 
 when rich stuffs hung before the windows of La Sarthe 
 Chase. 
 
 " I took the covering from the Spanish Chest in the 
 long gallery," Halcyone announced. " I had played 
 with it for years, and the color suits her — it must be 
 the same as are her real eyes." 
 
 Then she darted out into the sunlight and returned 
 again in a few moments — with shining face. All was 
 safe and the momentous hour had come. 
 
 She took her goddess from Mr. Carlyon's arms, and 
 walking with the dignity of a priestess of the Temple, 
 she preceded her master along the tangled path. 
 
 A riot of things growing impeded each step. Roses 
 which had degenerated into little better than wild ones, 
 showed late red and pink blooms, honeysuckle and colum- 
 bines flowered, and foxgloves raised their graceful heads. 
 
 At the end there was a broken bower at the corner of 
 the terrace, with a superb view over the park and far 
 beyond to the high blue hills. 
 
 This place was cleared, for Halcyone had done the 
 necessary work herself. It was one of her outlooks upon 
 the world and she had even carefully mended the cracked 
 bench with a bit of board and a nail or two. The table, 
 which was of stone, still stood firmly and was quaint and 
 
 50
 
 HALC YONE 
 
 rather Greek in shape — for had not a later Timothy La 
 Sarthe brought it from Paris in the Empire days? 
 
 Mr. Carlyon sat down and prepared himself for the 
 solemn moment when the Goddess should be unveiled. 
 
 And when the reverent little priestess had removed the 
 folds from the face as it lay upon the table, he started 
 and held his breath, for he instantly realized that indeed 
 this was the work of some glorious old Greek sculptor; 
 none other could have created that perfect head. 
 
 And as he looked, the child slipped her hand into his 
 and whispered softly : 
 
 " Watch her eyes ; she is tender to-day and welcomes 
 us. I was not quite sure how she would receive you." 
 
 And lo ! it seemed to Mr. Carlyon as though the divine 
 orbs softened into a smile, such was the art of those old 
 Greeks, who marred not the marble with pupil or iris, 
 who stooped to no trick of simulation, but left the per- 
 fect modeling to speak for itself. 
 
 The eyes of this Aphrodite conveyed volumes of love, 
 with her nobly planned brows and temples and her softly 
 smooth cheeks. The slight break of the nose even did 
 not seem to spoil the perfect beauty of the whole. Her 
 mouth, tender and rather full, seemed to smile a welcome, 
 and the patine, unspoiled by any casts having ever been 
 taken, gleamed as the finest of skin. It was in a wonder- 
 ful state of preservation and not darkened to more than 
 a soft cream color. 
 
 So there she lay at last ! Goddess of Love still for all 
 time. The head was broken off at the base of the slen- 
 der, rounded throat. 
 
 51
 
 H A L C Y O N E 
 
 Halcyone perceived that Cheiron was appreciating her 
 treasure in a proper spirit and spoke not a word while he 
 examined it minutely, turning it in all lights. 
 
 " What consummate genius ! " he almost whispered at 
 last. " You have truly a goddess here, child, and you 
 do well to guard her as such, — Aphrodite you have 
 named her well." 
 
 '* I am glad now that I have shown her to you — at 
 first I was a little afraid — but you understand. And 
 now you can feel how I have my mother always with me. 
 She tells me to hope, and that all mean things are of no 
 importance, and that God intends us all to be as happy 
 as is her beautiful smile." 
 
 Then Mr. Carlyon asked again for the story of the 
 Goddess's discovery, and heard all the details of how 
 there was a ray of light in the dark passage, coming from 
 some cleverly contrived crack on the first terrace. Here 
 Halcvone's foot had struck against the marble upon her 
 original voyage of discovery, and by the other objects 
 she encountered she supposed someone long ago, being 
 in flight, had gradually dropped things which were heavy 
 and of least value. There was a breastplate as well, 
 and an iron-bound box which she had never been able to 
 move or open. 
 
 " You might help me and we could look into it some 
 day," she said. 
 
 Mr. Carlyon took Aphrodite into his hands and raised 
 her head, examining every point with minute care, and 
 now her expression appeared to change and grow sad in 
 the different effect of light. 
 
 52
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 a 
 
 I do not want her to be up upon a pillar like Artemis 
 and Hebe, who are still in the hall," Halcyone said. 
 " She could not talk to me then, she would be always 
 the same. I like to hold her this way and that, and then 
 I can see her moods and the blue silks keeps her nice and 
 
 warm." 
 
 " It is a great possession," said Cheiron, " and I un- 
 derstand your joy in it," and he handed the head back 
 to the child with respect. 
 
 Halcyone bent and caressed it with her soft little velvet 
 cheek. 
 
 " See," she said. " Once I was very foolish and cried 
 about something and the tears made this little mark," 
 and she pointed to two small spots which did not gleam 
 quite so much as the rest of the surface. " Tears al- 
 ways do silly things — I am never so foolish now." 
 And then her young voice became dreamy and her 
 eyes widened with a look as though she saw far be- 
 yond. 
 
 " Cheiron — all the world is made for gladness if we 
 only do not take the ugly things with us everywhere. 
 There is summer, as it is now, when we rest and play and 
 all the gods come down from Olympus and dance and 
 sing and bask in the light — and then the autumn when 
 the colors are rich and everything prepares for winter 
 and sleeps. But even in the cold and dark we must not 
 be sad, because we know it is only for a time and to 
 give us change, so that we may shout for joy when the 
 spring comes and each year discover in it some new 
 beauty." 
 
 53
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 Chciron did not speak for a while, he, too, was musing. 
 
 " You are a little Epicurean," he said at last, " and 
 presently we shall read about Epicurus' great principles 
 and his garden where he taught and lived."
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 "^— g"OHN DERRINGHAM had been at the or- 
 £} chard house for three or four days before there 
 
 ^^^r was any sign of Halcyone. She had kept away 
 on purpose and was doing her best to repress the sense 
 of resentment the thought of the presence of a stranger 
 caused. Mr. Carlyon had given her some simple books 
 upon the Renaissance which she was devouring with joy. 
 This period seemed to give some echo of the Greek ideas 
 she loved, and as was her habit she was visualizing every- 
 thing as she read, bringing the people and the places 
 up before her mental eyes, and regulating them into 
 friends or acquaintances. Cheiron did not confine him- 
 self to teaching her Greek alone, but directed all her 
 reading, taking a growing delight in her intelligent mind. 
 Thus they had many talks upon history and the natural 
 sciences and poetry and painting. But to hear of the 
 famous statues and leam from pictures to know the styles 
 of the old sculptors seemed to please her best of all. 
 
 By the fifth day, a Friday, Mr. Carlyon began to feel 
 a desire to see his little pupil again and sent her a mes- 
 sage by his dark, silent servant. Would she not take tea 
 with him that afternoon ? So Halcyone came. She was 
 very quiet and subdued and crept through her gap in the 
 hedge without any leaps or bounds. 
 5 55
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 John Derringham was stretched the whole length of 
 his long, lean limbs under the apple tree — her apple 
 tree! This did not produce a favorable note. 
 
 Cheiron watched the meeting with inward amuse- 
 ment. 
 
 " This is my little friend Halcyone La Sarthe," he 
 said. " Halcyone, yonder Tityus in these latter days is 
 known by the name of John Derringham — of Derring- 
 ham in the County of Northampton. Make your bows 
 to one another." 
 
 Halcyone inclined her head with dignity, but Mr. 
 Derringham only raised himself a little and said " Good 
 afternoon." He did not care for children, and was busy 
 with his old master discussing other things. 
 
 " You will pour out the tea, Halcyone, for us as us- 
 ual," Cheiron said. " Demetrius will bring it in a min- 
 ute." And Halcyone sat down demurely upon the 
 basket chair near the table and crossed her hands. 
 
 " I tell you I will not take their point of view," John 
 Derringham said, continuing the conversation he had 
 been carrying on before Halcyone arrived. " Every- 
 thing in England is spoilt by this pandering to the 
 mediocrity. A man may not make a speech but he must 
 choose his words so that uneducated clods can grasp his 
 meaning, he cannot advocate an idea with success unless 
 it can appeal to the lower middle classes. It is this 
 subservience to them which has brought us to where we 
 are. No ideals — no lofty ends — just a means to each 
 one's own hand. I will never pretend we are all equal, I 
 will never appeal to anything but the highest in an audi- 
 
 56
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 ence. So they can throw me out if they will ! " And he 
 stretched out his long legs and clasped his hands under 
 his head — so that to Halcyone he seemed seven foot 
 tall. 
 
 " Tityus " she thought was a very apt name for him, 
 and she wondered if he would jump if the vulture sud- 
 denly gave a gnaw at his liver ! 
 
 " You are an idealist, John," said Mr. Carlyon. " All 
 this might have been of some use as a principle of propa- 
 ganda before the franchise was so low, but now the medi- 
 ocrity is our master — so of what use? If you talked 
 so you would but preach to empty benches." 
 
 " I will not do that — I will make them listen. My 
 point is that everyone can rise if he wishes, but until he 
 has done so in fact, there is no use in his pretending in 
 words that he has. I would explain to them the reason 
 of things. I could have agreed with the greatest Athe- 
 nian democrats because their principle was one of sense. 
 They had slaves to do the lowest offices who had no voice 
 in public affairs, but here we let those who have no more 
 education or comprehension than slaves have the same 
 power as men who have spent their lives in studying the 
 matter. It is all unjust, and no one has the courage to 
 tell them to their faces they are unfitted for the task." 
 
 " It will be a grand stalking horse for your first essay 
 in your constituency," Cheiron said with his kindly 
 twinkle of sarcasm. He loved to encourage John Der- 
 ringham to talk. 
 
 But at that moment Demetrius brought the tea and 
 Halcyone gravely began her task. 
 
 57
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 " Do you take it black like Mr. Carlyon ? " she asked 
 of the reclining guest. 
 
 He came back to the remembrance of her presence and 
 glancing at her, murmured: 
 
 " Oh — ah, no — that is, yes — strong, only with 
 cream and sugar. Thanks awfully." 
 
 But Haley one did not rise to hand it to him, so he 
 was obliged to get up and take it from where she sat. 
 She perceived then that though extremely thin he was 
 lithe and well-shaped. And in spite of her unconquered 
 prejudice, she was obliged to own she liked his steely 
 gray hawk-like eyes and his fine, rather ascetic, clean- 
 shaven face. He did not look at her specially. He may 
 have taken in a small, pale visage and masses of mouse- 
 colored hair and slender legs — but nothing struck him 
 particularly except her feet. As his eyes dropped to the 
 ground he caught sight of them; they were singularly 
 perfect feet. He admired points in man or beast — and 
 when he had returned to his old place stretched out under 
 the apple tree, he still glanced at them now and then; 
 they satisfied his eye. 
 
 " What have you been doing in these days, Haley- 
 one? " Mr. Carlyon asked. " I have not seen you since 
 Monday morning. Have you been getting into any mis- 
 chief? " 
 
 Halcyone reluctantly admitted that she had not. 
 There was, she explained, very little chance of any of an 
 agreeable kind coming her way at La Sarthe Chase. She 
 had been gardening with William — they had quite tidied 
 
 58
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 the top terrace — and she had been reading French with 
 Aunt Roberta, but the book was great nonsense. 
 
 Then she added that she had brought an invitation 
 from the Aunts La Sarthe that Mr. Carlyon's guest 
 should accompany him when he dined with them on the 
 Saturday. It had become the custom for him to partake 
 of this repast on the same occasions that Mr. Miller did 
 — once a month. 
 
 John Derringham frowned under his straw hat which 
 he had pulled over his eyes. He had not come into the 
 country to be dragged out to bucolic dinner parties. 
 But upon some points he knew his old master was ob- 
 durate and from his firm acceptance of the invitation 
 this appeared to be one of them. 
 
 Then Halcyone asked politely if he would have a sec- 
 ond cup of tea, but he refused and again addressed 
 Cheiron, ignoring her. Their conversation now ran into 
 philosophical questions, some of them out of her depth, 
 but much of the subject interested her deeply and she 
 listened absorbed. 
 
 At last there was a pause and her fresh young voice 
 asked : 
 
 " What, then, is the aim of philosophy — is it only 
 words, or does it bring any good? " 
 
 And both men looked at her, staggered for a moment, 
 and John Derringham burst into a ringing laugh. 
 
 " Upon my word, I don't know," he said. " It was 
 invented so that the Master here and I should pull each 
 other's theories to pieces ; that evidently was its aim from 
 
 59
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 the beginning of time. I do not know if it has any other 
 good." 
 
 " Everything is so very simple," said Halcyone. " To 
 have to argue about it must be fatiguing." 
 
 " You find things simple, do you?" asked John Der- 
 ringham, now complacently roused to look at her. 
 " What are your rules of life then, let us hear, oh, 
 Oracle ! — we listen with respect ! " 
 
 Halcyone reddened a little and a gleam grew in her 
 wise eyes. She would have refused to reply, but look- 
 ing at her revered master, she saw that he was awaiting 
 her answer with an encouraging smile. So she thought 
 a second and then said calmly, measuring her words: 
 " Things are what we make them, they have no power 
 in themselves ; they are as inanimate as this wood — " 
 and she touched the table with her fine brown hand. 
 " It is we ourselves who give them activity. So it is our 
 own faults if they are bad — they could just as easily be 
 good. Is not that simple enough? " 
 
 " An example, please, Goddess," demanded John Der- 
 ringham with a cynical smile. 
 
 " The dark is an example," she went on quietly. 
 " People fill the dark with their own frightening images 
 and fear it because they themselves have turned it into 
 evil. The dark is as kind as the day." 
 
 John Derringham laughed. He was amused at this 
 precocious wisdom and he suddenly remembered that his 
 old master had mentioned some clever child when writ- 
 ing to him first about the place, two months before. 
 This was the creature, then, who was learning Greek. 
 
 60
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 She had picked up these ideas, of course, out of some 
 book and was showing off. Children should be snubbed 
 and kept in their places: 
 
 " Then you don't cry when your nurse leaves you at 
 night without a candle. What a good little girl ! But 
 perhaps you take a doll to bed," he added mockingly, 
 " or suck your thumb." 
 
 Halcyone did not answer, her eyes, benign as a god- 
 dess's, looked him through and through — and Cheiron 
 leaned back in his chair and puffed volumes of smoke 
 while he chuckled delightedly : 
 
 " Take care, John — you will come off second best, 
 for Halcyone can see the other side of your head." 
 
 For some unaccountable reason, John Derringham 
 felt annoyed ; but it was too contemptible to be annoyed 
 by a child, so he laughed as he answered condescend- 
 ingly : 
 
 " There, I will not tease her. I expect she hates me 
 already — " and he pushed his hat back from his eyes. 
 
 " No," said Halcyone. " One only hates a thing one 
 fears ; hate implies fear. I hated my last but one gov- 
 erness for a while — because she told lies and was mean 
 and she had the power to keep me in. But once I rea- 
 soned about it, I grew quite indifferent and she had no 
 effect upon me at all." 
 
 " You have not had time to reason about me," re- 
 turned John Derringham, " but it is something that you 
 don't hate me ; I ought to feel pleased." 
 
 " I do not know that there is occasion for that," Hal- 
 cyone remarked, " it is all a level thing which does not 
 
 61
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 matter. You are Mr. Carlyon's guest and I expect will 
 be staying some time — " 
 
 " So you will have to put up with me ! " and John 
 Derringham laughed, furious now with himself for his 
 increasing irritation. 
 
 " I must be going," Halcyone then announced and 
 got up from her chair — " and I will tell my aunts that 
 they may expect you to-morrow night," she continued, 
 addressing Mr. Carlyon. 
 
 He rose and prepared to accompany her down the 
 garden. She bowed to John Derringham with quiet dig- 
 nity as he still lay on the ground and walked on by the 
 side of her Professor without further words. 
 
 "You don't like my old pupil, Halcyone?" Mr. 
 Carlyon said when they got to the gap in the hedge. 
 " Tell me, what do you see at the other side of hi* 
 head?" 
 
 " Himself," was all she answered as she bounded 
 lightly away laughing, and was soon lost to view in the 
 copse beyond. 
 
 And Cheiron, considerably amused, returned to his 
 prostrate guest to find him with a frown upon his face. 
 
 " I hope to goodness, Master, you won't bore me with 
 that brat while I am here," he exclaimed, " chattering 
 aphorisms like a parrot. I can't stand children out of 
 their place."
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 TNCE there will be three gentlemen, Ginevra," 
 Miss Roberta said on Saturday morning when 
 they sat together in the Italian parlor after 
 breakfast, " do you not think we had better have Hal- 
 cyone down to dinner to-night? I know," she added 
 timidly, " it is not in the proper order of things, but 
 we could make an exception." 
 
 Miss La Sarthe frowned. Roberta so often was 
 ready to upset regulations. She was difficult to deal 
 with. But this suggestion of hers had some point. 
 They would be two ladies to three of the other sex — 
 and one of their guests appeared to be quite a young man 
 — perhaps it might be more prudent to relax a rule, 
 than to find themselves in an embarrassing position. 
 
 " I strongly deplore the fact of children ever being 
 brought from their seclusion except for dessert, but as 
 you say, Roberta, three gentlemen — and one a perfect 
 stranger — might be too much for us. I hardly think 
 our Mamma would have approved of our giving such an 
 unchaperoned party, so for this once Halcyone had bet- 
 ter come down. She can have Mr. Miller for her part- 
 ner, you will be conducted by the Professor — and the 
 new guest will take me in." 
 
 Miss Roberta bridled — the Professor was now a hero 
 in her eyes. 
 
 63
 
 HALCYON E 
 
 " And Sister," she said, " I think we might bring six 
 of the chairs from Sir Timothy's bed- and dressing-room 
 just for to-night, instead of those Windsor ones. It 
 would give the dining-room a better look, do you not 
 think so? " 
 
 And to this also Miss La Sarthe agreed. So Miss 
 Roberta joyfully found Haley one out upon the second 
 terrace and imparted to her the good news. They would 
 arrange flowers in the epergne, she suggested — a few 
 sweet williams and mignonette and a foxglove or two. 
 A pretty posy fixed in sand, such as she remembered 
 there always was in their gala days. Halcyone was 
 enchanted at the prospect. 
 
 " Oh ! dear Aunt Roberta, do let me do it all," she 
 said. " You sit here on the bench and I will run and 
 fetch the epergne — and we can pick what we think best. 
 Or — don't you think just a big china bowl full of sweet 
 peas would be prettier? The sand might show and, and 
 — the epergne is rather stiff." 
 
 But Miss Roberta looked aggrieved. The epergne 
 with its gold and silver fern leaves climbing up a thin 
 stalk of glass to its top dish for fruit had always come 
 out for dinner parties and she liked not innovations. It 
 was indeed as much as Halcyone could do to get all the 
 flowers of the same kind, a nasturtium and a magenta 
 stock had with care to be smuggled away, leaving the 
 sweet peas sole occupants of the sand. But the effect 
 was very festive and the two carried their work into the 
 dining-room well pleased. 
 
 The best Sevres dinner-set was had out, which that 
 
 64
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 traveler Timothy had brought from Paris among other 
 things, and the best cut glass and rat-tailed silver. Old 
 William, assisted by Hester and Priscilla, had been busy 
 polishing most of the day — while the cook and the 
 " young person from the village " were contriving won- 
 ders in the vast kitchen. And punctually at seven in 
 broad da3 r light, the three Misses La Sarthe, the two elder 
 in their finest mauve silk evening dresses, awaited their 
 guests in the Italian parlor. 
 
 Miss Roberta's heart had not fluttered like this since 
 a county ball some forty years ago when a certain whis- 
 kered captain of a dashing cavalry regiment stationed at 
 Upminster had whispered in her ear. 
 
 Priscilla had let down Halcyone's white muslin frock 
 and as the tucks were rather large, it was longer than 
 she intended, so that the child might easily have been 
 taken for a girl of fifteen, and her perfect feet were 
 encased in a pair of old-fashioned bronze slippers with 
 elastics crossed up the legs of her white silk stockings. 
 A fillet of blue silk kept back the soft cloud of her mouse- 
 colored hair. 
 
 Mr. Miller was announced first — very nervous, as 
 usual, and saying the wrong thing in his flurry. Then 
 up the terrace steps could be seen advancing Mr. Car- 
 lyon and his guest. They had walked over from the 
 cottage — and Halcyone, observing from the window, 
 was conscious that against her will she was admiring 
 John Derringham's arrogant, commanding walk. 
 
 " He could very well be as Theseus was after he grew 
 proud," she said to herself. 
 
 G5
 
 H ALCYONE 
 
 And soon they were announced. 
 
 Mr. Carlyon was now on the most friendly terms with 
 both old ladies, and as well as coming to the monthly 
 dinner, sometimes dropped in to tea on Sunday after- 
 noons, but he knew this was a real party and must be 
 treated as such. 
 
 How agreeable it felt to be once more in the world, 
 Miss Roberta thought, and her faded pale cheeks flushed 
 a delicate pink. 
 
 John Derringham had been sulky as a bear at the 
 idea of coming, but something in the quaintly pathetic 
 refinement of the poor and splendid old house pleased 
 him, and the aroma of untouched early-Victorian 
 prudish grace which the ancient ladies threw around 
 them appealed to his imagination, as any complete bit 
 of art or nature always did. He found himself seated 
 between Miss La Sarthe and Halcyone and quite enjoy- 
 ing himself. Everything was of the time from the 
 epergne to the way the bread was cut. 
 
 Halcyone conversed with Mr. Miller, who always felt 
 he must make nursery jokes with her and ask her the 
 names of her dolls. 
 
 " He can't help it," she told Cheiron one day. " If 
 he had any more intelligence God would have put him 
 to work in some busier place." 
 
 John Derringham did not address her; he devoted 
 himself to Miss La Sarthe. 
 
 He had absolutely no diffidence. He had been spoilt 
 from his cradle, and by the time he had left Eton — 
 Captain of the Oppidans — had ruled all those near him 
 
 66
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 with a rod of iron, imposing his interesting enthusiastic 
 personality upon all companies with unqualified success. 
 Miss La Sarthe fell at once. He said exactly the right 
 things to her and flattered her by his unfeigned interest 
 in all she spoke of. He was studying her as he studied 
 any rare memento of historical value. 
 
 " My great-niece reads every morning with Mr. Carl- 
 yon," she said presently. " Girls are expected to be 
 so very clever nowadays, we are told. She already 
 knows a little Greek. It would have been considered 
 quite unnecessary in our day." 
 
 " And I am sure it is in this," said John Derringham. 
 " Learned women are an awful bore. As a sex they 
 were meant to be feminine, dainty, exquisite creatures 
 as those I see to-night," and he bowed gallantly while 
 Miss La Sarthe thrilled. She thoroughly approved of 
 his appearance. 
 
 " So very much of a gentleman, Roberta," she after- 
 wards said. " None of that thick, ill-cut look we are 
 obliged to observe in so many of the younger people we 
 see when we go into Upminster each year." 
 
 "And why should he look thick or ill-cut, Sister?" 
 Miss Roberta replied. " Mr. Carlyon told me the Der- 
 ringhams have been seated at Derringham since fabu- 
 lous times." 
 
 Thus this last of that race was appreciated fully in at 
 least two antiquated female hearts. 
 
 But meanwhile the cloth was being removed, and the 
 port wine and old Madeira placed before the elder hos- 
 tess. 
 
 67
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 " Our father's cellar was famous for its port," she 
 said, " and we have a few bottles of the '47 left." 
 
 But now she felt it was only manners to turn to Mr. 
 Carlyon upon her other hand, so John Derringham was 
 left in silence, no obligation to talk to Halcyone making 
 itself felt. She turned and looked at him, he interested 
 her very much. Mr. Carlyon had quantities of books 
 of photographs of all the famous statues in Europe and 
 especially in Italy and Greece, but she could not find 
 any likeness to him in any of her recollection of them. 
 Alas ! his face was not at all Greek. His nose was high 
 and aquiline, his forehead high and broad, and there was 
 something noble and dominating in his fearless regard. 
 His hair even did not grow very prettily, though it was 
 thick and dark — and there was not an ounce of super- 
 fluous flesh upon his whole person. He never for a 
 moment suggested repose, he gave the impression of 
 vivid, nervous force and action, a young knight going 
 out to fight any impossible dragon with his good sword 
 and shield — unabashed by the smoke from its flaming 
 nostrils, undaunted by any fear of death. 
 
 Halcyone watched him, and her prejudice slept. 
 
 The silence had lasted quite five minutes when he al- 
 lowed his natural good manners, which he was quite 
 aware he had kept in abeyance in regard to her, to come 
 uppermost. 
 
 " The Professor has been telling me how wonderfully 
 you work with him," he said ; " we under him at Oxford 
 were not half so diligent it seems. I wonder what good 
 it will be to you at all." 
 
 68
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 « 
 
 If a thing gives pleasure, it is good," she answered 
 gravely. " I wanted to learn Greek because I had a 
 book when I was little which told me about those splen- 
 did heroes, and I thought I could read more about 
 them when I am grown up if I knew it — than if I did 
 not." 
 
 " There is something in that. What was the book? " 
 he asked. 
 
 Her steady eyes looked straight into his as she re- 
 plied : " It was Kingsley's ' Heroes ' and if only I 
 were a boy I would be like Perseus and go and kill the 
 Gorgon and rescue Andromeda from the sea monster. 
 Pallas Athene said some fine things to him — do you 
 remember ? — when she asked him the question of which 
 sort of man he would be." 
 
 " No, I don't remember," said John Derringham. 
 " You must tell me now." 
 
 Then Halcyone began in a soft dream voice while her 
 eyes widened and darkened with that strange look as 
 though she saw into another and vaster world. " ' I am 
 Pallas Athene and I know the thoughts of all men's 
 hearts, and discern their manhood or their baseness. 
 And from the souls of clay I turn away; and they are 
 blest, but not by me. They fatten at ease like sheep in 
 the pasture and eat what they did not sow, like oxen 
 in the stall. They grow and spread like the gourd 
 along the ground, but like the gourd they give no shade 
 to the traveler and when they are ripe death gathers 
 them, and they go down unloved into hell, and their 
 name vanishes out of the land.' " 
 
 69
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 She paused a second and John Derringham was as- 
 tonished at himself because he was conscious of experi- 
 encing a thrill of deep interest. 
 
 " Yes ? " he said — and her voice went on : 
 
 " ' But to the souls of fire I give more fire and to those 
 who are manful I give a might more than man's. These 
 are the heroes, the sons of the Immortals who are blest 
 but not like the souls of clay, for I drive them forth by 
 strange paths, Perseus, that they may fight the Titans 
 and monsters, the enemies of gods and men. Through 
 doubt and need and danger and battle I drive them, 
 and some of them are slain in the flower of youth, no 
 man knows when or where, and some of them win noble 
 names and a fair and green old age — but what will be 
 their latter end, I know not, and none, save Zeus, the fa- 
 ther of gods and men — Tell me, now, Perseus, which of 
 these two sorts of men seem to you more blest ? ' " 
 
 It was as if she asked him a personal question and 
 unconsciously he answered: 
 
 " I should reply as Perseus did. Tell me his words." 
 
 " ' Better to die in the flower of youth on the chance 
 of winning a noble name than to live at ease like the 
 sheep and die unloved and unrenowned.' " 
 
 He bent nearer to her and answered softly : " They 
 are indeed fine words," and there was no mockery what- 
 ever in his eyes as he looked at her — and took in every 
 detail of her pure childish face. " You wonderful, 
 strange little girl — soon I too am going like Perseus 
 to fight the Gorgons, and I shall remember this night 
 and what you have said." 
 
 70
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 But at that moment Mr. Miller's high, cackling laugh 
 was heard in an explosion of mirth. Mr. Carlyon had 
 made some delightfully obvious joke for his delectation 
 and amidst a smiling company Miss La Sarthe rose 
 with dignity to leave the gentlemen alone with their 
 wine.
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 QEXT morning, John Derringham sat at a 
 late breakfast with his whilom master of 
 Greek and discussed things in general over his 
 bacon and tea. 
 
 It was three years since he had left Oxford, and life 
 held out many interesting aspects for him. He was 
 standing for the southern division of his county in the 
 following spring when the present member was going 
 to retire, and he was vehement in his views and clear as 
 to the course he meant to take. He was so eloquent in 
 his discourse and so full of that divine spark of en- 
 thusiasm, that he was always listened to, no matter how 
 unpalatably Tory the basic principles of his utterances 
 were. He never posed as anything but an aristocrat, 
 and while he whimsically admitted that in the present 
 day to be one was an enormous disadvantage for a man 
 who wished to get on, he endeavored to palliate the mis- 
 fortune by lucid explanation of what the duties of such 
 a status were, and of the logical advantages which an 
 appreciation of the truths of cause and effect might 
 bring to mankind. Down in his own country he was 
 considered the coming man. He thundered at the peo- 
 ple and had facts and figures at his finger tips. His 
 sublime belief in himself never wavered and like any 
 
 72
 
 HALC YONE 
 
 inspired view, right or wrong, it had its strong effect. 
 
 Mr. Carlyon thought highly of him, for a number of 
 reasons. 
 
 " If women do not make a stumbling-block for you, 
 John, you will go far," he said as he buttered his 
 toast. 
 
 " Women ! " quoth John Derringham, and he laughed 
 incredulously. " They matter no more to me than the 
 flowers in the garden — enchanting in the summer time, 
 a mere pleasure for sight and touch, but to make or 
 mar a man's life ! — not even to be considered as factors 
 in the scheme of things." 
 
 " I am glad to hear you say so," said Mr. Carlyon 
 dryly. " And I hope that jade, Fate, won't play you 
 any tricks." 
 
 John Derringham smiled. 
 
 " I admit that a woman with money may be useful 
 to me by and by," he said, " because, as you know, I 
 am always hard up, and presently when I want to occupy 
 a larger sphere I shall require money for my ends, but 
 for the time being they serve to divert me as a relaxa- 
 tion ; that is all." 
 
 " You are contracting no ties, dear lad ? " asked the 
 Professor with one eyebrow raised, while he shook 
 back his silvery hair. " I had heard vaguely about 
 your attention to Lady Durrend, but I understand 
 she has had many preliminary canters and knows the 
 ropes." 
 
 John Derringham smiled. " Vivienne Durrend is a 
 most charming woman," he said. " She has taught me 
 
 73
 
 HALCYON E 
 
 a number of tilings in the last two years. I am grateful 
 to her. Next season she is bringing a daughter out — 
 and she has a wonderful sense of the fitness of things." 
 Then he sipped his tea and got up and strolled towards 
 the windows. 
 
 " Besides," he continued, " I do not admit there are 
 any ties to be contracted. The Greeks understood the 
 place of women; all this nonsense of vows of fidelity 
 and exaltation of sentiment in the home cramps a man's 
 ambitions. It is perfectly natural that he should take 
 a wife if his position calls for it, because the society in 
 which we move has made a figurehead of that kind neces- 
 sary. But that a woman should expect a man to be 
 faithful to her, be she wife or mistress, is contrary to 
 all nature." 
 
 " We have put nature out of the running now for a 
 couple of thousand years," Mr. Carlyon announced sen- 
 tentious^ ; " we have set up a standard of impossibilities 
 and worship hypocrisy and can no longer see any truth. 
 You have got to reckon with things as they are, not 
 with what nature meant them to be." 
 
 " Then you think women are a force now which one 
 must consider? " 
 
 " I think they are as deadly as the deep sea — " and 
 Mr. Carlyon's voice was tense. " When they have only 
 bodies they are dangerous enough, but when — as many 
 of the modern ones have — they combine a modicum of 
 mind as well, with all the cunning Satan originally en- 
 dowed them with — then happy is the man who escapes, 
 even partially whole, from their claws." 
 
 74
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 " Whew — " whistled John Derringham, " and what 
 if they have souls? Not that I personally admit that 
 such a case exists — what then ? " 
 
 " When you meet a woman with a soul you will have 
 met your match, John," the Professor said, and opening 
 his Times, which Demetrius had brought in with the 
 second post, he closed the conversation. 
 
 John Derringham strolled into the garden. The 
 place had been greatly improved since Halcyone's first 
 discovery of its new occupant. The shutters were all 
 a spruce green and the paths weeded and tidy, while the 
 borders were full of bedded-out plants and flowers. A 
 famous gardener from Upminster renowned through all 
 the West had come over and given his personal attention 
 to the matter, and next year wonderful herbaceous bor- 
 ders would spring up on all sides. Mr. Johnson's visits 
 and his council, though at first resented, had at length 
 grown a source of pure delight to Halcyone ; she reveled 
 in the blooms of the delicate begonias and salvias and 
 other blossoms which she had never seen before. Mr. 
 Carlyon, although desiring solitude, appreciated a 
 beautiful and cultivated one, and the orchard house was 
 now becoming a very comfortable bachelor's home. 
 
 The day was much cooler than it had been of late. 
 There was a fresh breeze though the sun shone. John 
 Derringham wandered down to the apple tree and thence 
 to the gap, and through it and on into the park. His 
 walk was for pleasure, and aimless as to destination, 
 and presently he sat down under a low-spreading oak 
 and looked at the house — La Sarthe Chase. A beau- 
 
 75
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 tiful view of it could be obtained from there, and it in- 
 terested him — and from that liis thoughts came to Hal- 
 cyone and her strange, quaint little personality, and he 
 stretched himself out and putting his hands under his 
 head he looked up into the dense foliage of the tree 
 above him — and there his eyes met two grave, quiet 
 ones peering down from a mass of green, and he saw 
 slender brown legs drawn up on a broad branch, and a 
 scrap of blue cotton frock. 
 
 " Good morning," Halcyone said quite composedly, 
 " don't make a noise, please, or rustle — the mother 
 doe is just coming out of the copse with her new 
 fawn." 
 
 " How on earth did you get up there? " he asked, 
 surprised. 
 
 " I swung myself from the lower branch on the other 
 side; it is quite easy — would you like to come up, too? 
 There is plenty of room — and then we could be sure the 
 doe would not see you and she might peep out again. 
 I do not wish to frighten her." 
 
 John Derringham rose leisurely and went to the fur- 
 ther side of the oak, where sure enough there was a 
 drooping branch and he was soon up beside her, dan- 
 gling his long limbs as he sat in a fork. 
 
 " What an enchanting bower you have found," he 
 said. " Away from all the world." 
 
 " No indeed, that cannot be at this time of the year," 
 she answered. " See, there is a squirrel far up in the 
 top and there are birds, and look — down there at the 
 roots there is a rabbit hole with such a family in it. It 
 
 76
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 is only in the winter you can be alone — and not even 
 then, for you know there are the moles even if you 
 cannot see them." 
 
 "Creatures are interesting to watch, aren't they?" 
 he said. " I have an old place which I loved when I 
 was a boy. It is let now because I am too poor to live 
 in it, but I used to like to prowl about in the early morn- 
 ings long ago." 
 
 " We are all very poor," said Halcyone simply, " but 
 I am sorry for you that you have to let strangers be 
 in your house — that must be dreadful." 
 
 John Derringham smiled, and his face lost the in- 
 souciante arrogance which irritated his enemies so. His 
 smile, rare enough, was singularly sweet. 
 
 " I don't think about it," he said. " It is best not to 
 when anything is disagreeable." 
 
 " Cheiron and I often tell one another things like 
 that." 
 
 " Cheiron — who is Cheiron? " he asked. 
 
 This seemed a superfluous question to Halcyone. 
 
 " The Professor, of course. He is just like the pic- 
 ture in my " Heroes,' " she answered, " and I often pre- 
 tend we are in the cave on Pelion. I thought you would 
 perhaps be like one of the others since you were his 
 pupil, too, but I cannot find which. You are not 
 Heracles — because you have none of those great mus- 
 cles — or iEneas or Peleus. Are — are you Jason him- 
 self, perhaps — " and her voice sounded glad with dis- 
 covery. " We do not know, he may not have had a 
 Greek face." 
 
 77
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 John Derringham laughed. " Jason who led the Ar- 
 gonauts to find the Golden Fleece — it is a good omen. 
 Would you help me to find the Golden Fleece if you 
 could?" 
 
 " Yes, I would, if you were good and true — but the 
 end of the story was sad because Jason was not." 
 
 " How must I be good and true then? I thought 
 Jason was a straight enough sort of a fellow and that 
 it was Medea who brought all the trouble — Medea, the 
 woman." 
 
 Halcyone's grave eyes never left his face. She saw 
 the whimsical twinkle in his but heeded it not. 
 
 " He should not have had anything to do with Medea 
 — that is where he was wrong," she said, " but having 
 given her liis word, he should have kept it." 
 
 " Even though she was a witch ? " Mr. Derringham 
 asked. 
 
 " It was still his word — don't you see ? Her being a 
 witch did not alter his word. He did not give it because 
 she was or was not a witch — but because he himself 
 wanted to at the time, I suppose ; therefore, it was bind- 
 ing." 
 
 " A man should always keep his word, even to a 
 woman, then ? " and John Derringham smiled finely. 
 
 " Wiry not to a woman as well as a man? " Halcyone 
 asked surprised. " You do not see the point at all it 
 seems. It is not to whom it is you give your word — it 
 is to you it matters that you keep it, because to break it 
 degrades yourself." 
 
 " You reason well, fair nymph," he said gallantly ; he 
 
 78
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 was frankly amused. " What may your age be ? A 
 thousand years more or less will not make any differ- 
 ence ! " 
 
 " You may laugh at me if you like," said Halcyone, 
 and she smiled ; his gayety was infectious, " but I am 
 not so very young. I shall be thirteen in October, the 
 seventh of October." 
 
 John Derringham appeared to be duly impressed with 
 this antiquity, and went on gravely: 
 
 " So you and the Master discuss these knotty points 
 of honor and expediency together, do you, as a recrea- 
 tion from the Greek syntax? I should like to hear 
 you." 
 
 " The Professor does not believe in men much," Hal- 
 cyone said. " He says they are all honorable to one an- 
 other until they are tempted — and that they are never 
 honorable to a woman when another woman comes upon 
 the scene. But I do not know at all about such things, 
 or what it means. For me there is nothing towards 
 other people; it only is towards yourself. You must 
 be honorable to yourself." 
 
 And suddenly it seemed to John Derringham as if all 
 the paltry shams of the world fell together like a pack 
 of cards, and as if he saw truth shining naked for the 
 first time at the bottom of the well of the child's pure 
 eyes. 
 
 An extraordinary wave of emotion came over him, 
 finely strung as he was, and susceptible to all grades 
 of feeling. He did not speak for a minute; it was as 
 if he had quaffed some elixir. A flame of noble fire 
 
 79
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 seemed to run in his veins, and his voice was changed 
 and full of homage when at last he addressed her. 
 
 " Little Goddess of Truth," he said, " I would like to 
 be with you always that you might never let me forget 
 this point of view. And you believe it would have won 
 for Jason in the end — if he had been true to himself? 
 Tell me — I want greatly to know." 
 
 " But how could there be any doubt of that ? " she 
 asked surprised. " Good only can bring good, and evil, 
 evil." 
 
 At this moment, out from the copse the soft head of 
 a doe appeared, and at the thrilling sight Halcyone 
 slipped her hand into her companion's, and held his tight 
 lest he should move or rustle a leaf. 
 
 " See," she whispered right in his ear. " She will 
 cross to the other side by the stream — and oh ! there is 
 the fawn! Is he not the dearest baby angel you have 
 ever seen — ! " 
 
 And the doe, feeling herself safe, trotted by, followed 
 by a minute son in pale drab velvet hardly a month old. 
 
 The pair in the tree watched them breathlessly until 
 they had entered the copse again beyond the bend, and 
 then Halcyone said: 
 
 " That makes six — and perhaps there are more. 
 Oh! how I hope the Long Man will not see them ! ' : 
 
 John Derringham did not let go her hand at once; 
 there was something soft and pleasant in the touch of 
 the cool little fingers. 
 
 " I want to hear about everything," he said. " Tell 
 me of the Long Man — and the fawns, and why there 
 
 80
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 are only six. I am having the happiest morning I have 
 had for years." 
 
 So Halcyone began. She glossed a good deal over 
 the facts she had told Mr. Carlyon upon the subject 
 because she did not feel she knew this stranger well 
 enough to let him into her aunts' private affairs — so 
 she turned the interest to the deer themselves, and they 
 chatted on about all sorts of animals and their ways, 
 and John Derringham was entranced and felt quite ag- 
 grieved when she said it was getting late and she must 
 go back to the house for her early dinner. He swung 
 himself down from the tree by the high branch with 
 ease and stood ready to catch her, but with a nimble- 
 ness he did not expect, she crept round to the lower 
 side and was landed upon the soft turf before he could 
 reach her. 
 
 Then he walked back with her to the broken gate, 
 telling her about his own old home the while, and then 
 they paused to say good-by. 
 
 Halcyone carried a twig of freshly sprouting oak 
 which she had brought from the tree, having broken it 
 off in her lightning descent. 
 
 Give me one leaf and you keep the other," he said. 
 
 And then, whenever I see it, I will try to remember 
 that I must always be good and true." 
 
 With grave earnestness she did as he asked, and then 
 opened the gate. 
 
 " I want to tell you," she said — and she looked down 
 for a second, and then up into his eyes from beyond the 
 bars. " I did not like the thought of your coming — 
 
 81 
 
 cc
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 and at first I did not like you — but now I see something 
 quite different at the other side of your head — Good- 
 by." 
 
 And before he could answer, she was off as the young 
 fawn would have been — a flitting shape among the trees. 
 And John Derringham walked slowly back to the or- 
 chard house, musing as he went. 
 
 But when he got there a telegram from his Chief had 
 arrived, recalling him instantly to London. 
 
 And he did not see Halcyone again for several years.
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 M^fc-^HE seasons came and went with peaceful regu- 
 ■ * J larity, unbroken by a jarring note from the 
 ^^^^r outside world. Mr. Anderton, being well as- 
 sured by the Misses La Sarthe that his stepdaughter 
 was receiving a splendid education, was only too glad 
 to leave her in peace, and Mrs. Anderton felt her duty 
 achieved when at the beginning of each summer and 
 winter she sent a supply of what she considered suitable 
 clothes. It took Priscilla and Hester hours to alter them 
 to Halcyone's slender shape. 
 
 Mr. Carlyon was seldom absent from his house dur- 
 ing this period, only twice a year, when he spent a 
 fortnight in London in June, and another week in No- 
 vember with his brother, a squire of some note in the 
 Cornish world. Halcyone made green his old age with 
 the exquisite quality of her opening mind. And deep 
 down in her heart there always dwelt the image of John 
 Derringham, and whatever new hero she read about, he 
 unconsciously assumed some of his features or mien. 
 She passed through enthusiasms for all periods, and for 
 quite six months was under the complete spell of the 
 " Morte d' Arthur " and the adventures of the knights 
 contained therein. She read voraciously and systematic- 
 ally, but her first love for all things Greek regained its 
 
 83
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 hold and undoubtedly colored her whole view of life. 
 
 Her education was exotic and might have ruined a 
 brain of lesser fiber. But for her it seemed to bring 
 forth all that was clear and fine and polish it with a dia- 
 mond luster. Twice a week alternately the French and 
 German master from the Applewood Grammar School 
 came to her, and she also learned to read music from the 
 organist at the church, and then played to herself with 
 no teclmique but much taste. 
 
 And of all her masters, Nature and the fearless study 
 of her night moods molded her soul the most. 
 
 For the first few months after John Derringham's 
 visit Mr. Carlyon often spoke of him and read aloud bits 
 of his letters, and Haley one listened with rapt atten- 
 tion, but she never embarked upon the subject herself 
 — and then the Professor had an accident to his knee 
 which kept him a prisoner for months. And some- 
 how the interest of this seemed to dwarf less present 
 things, and as time went on, John Derringham grew 
 to be mentioned only by fits and starts, when his rapidly 
 rising political career called forth cynical grunts of 
 admiration from his old master. There had been a 
 dissolution of Parliament and a short term of office 
 for the other side, and then at the General Election 
 John Derringham's Chief had come in again stronger 
 than ever, and he himself had been made Under-Sec- 
 retary of State for Foreign Affairs. It was a tre- 
 mendous rise for one so young. He was at that time 
 not more than twenty-nine years old — but two years be- 
 fore this happened, when Halcyone was about fifteen, he 
 
 84
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 came again to the orchard house for a short Saturday to 
 Monday visit. 
 
 From the moment that she knew he was coming a 
 strange stillness seemed to fall upon the child. She 
 had grown long-legged and was at the fledgling stage 
 when even a pretty girl sometimes looks plain, and she, 
 who had as yet no claim to beauty, was at her worst. 
 She was quite aware of it, with her intense soul-worship 
 of all beautiful things. Some unreasoned impulse made 
 her keep away from her master during the first day, 
 but on the Sunday he summoned her, and, as once be- 
 fore, she came and poured out the tea, but it was a 
 cold and windy autumn afternoon, and it was not laid 
 out of doors. John Derringham had been for a walk, 
 and came in while she sat in a shadowy corner behind 
 the table, teapot in hand. 
 
 He was greatly changed, she thought, in the three 
 years. He had grown a beard! and looked considera- 
 bly older, with his thin commanding figure and ar- 
 rogant head. He was not handsome now, but peculiarly 
 distinguished-looking. He could very well be Pericles, 
 she decided at once. As for him, he had almost for- 
 gotten her. Life had been so full of many things; 
 but, seeing a pale, slender, overgrown girl with mouse- 
 colored clouds of hair now confined in a demure pig- 
 tail, it came to his mind that this must be the Pro- 
 fessor's pupil again. Had she not been called Hebe or 
 Psyche — or Halcyone — some Greek name ? And 
 gradually his former recollection of her came back, and 
 of their morning in the tree. 
 
 85
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 " Why, how do you do," he said politely, and Hal- 
 cyone bowed without speaking. She felt much as Hans 
 Andersen's Ugly Duckling used to feel, and when John 
 Derringham had said a few ordinary things about her 
 having grown out of all likeness, he turned to the Pro- 
 fessor again, and almost forgot her presence. 
 
 His talk was most wonderful to listen to, she thought, 
 his language was so polished, and there was a courtesy 
 added to the former vehemence. They spoke of noth- 
 ing but politics, which she did not understand, and Chei- 
 ron chaffed him a good deal in his kindly cynical way. 
 He was still fighting his chimeras, it seemed, and fight- 
 ing them successfully. As he spoke, Halcyone, behind 
 the teapot, thrilled with a kind of worship. To be 
 strong and young and manful, and to combat modern 
 dragons, appeared to her to be a god-like task. 
 
 In the midst of a heated argument she rose to slip 
 away. Her comings and goings were so natural to the 
 Professor that he was unaware that she was leaving 
 the room until John Derringham broke off in the mid- 
 dle of a sentence, to rise and open the door for her. 
 
 " Good-by," she said. " Aunt Roberta is not very 
 well to-day, so I must not be late. Good night, 
 Cheiron " — and she went out and closed the door. 
 
 " But it is quite dark ! " exclaimed John Derringham. 
 " Is there a servant waiting? She can't go all alone! ' : 
 
 The Professor leaned back in his chair. 
 
 " Don't disturb yourself," he said. " Halcyone is 
 accustomed to the twilight. It is a strange night-crea- 
 ture — leave it alone." 
 
 86
 
 H ALCYONE 
 
 John Derringhara sat down again. 
 
 " She is not nearly so attractive-looking as she used 
 to be. If I remember, she was rather a weirdly pretty 
 child." 
 
 " Just a chrysalis now," grunted the professor be- 
 twen puffs of smoke. " But there is more true phi- 
 losophy and profound knowledge of truth in that little 
 head than either you or I have got in ours, John." 
 
 " You always thought the world of her, Master — 
 you, with your ineradicable contempt for women ! " 
 
 " She is not a woman — yet. She is an intelligence 
 and a brain — and a soul." 
 
 " Oh, she has a soul, then ! " and John Derringham 
 smiled. " I remember once you said when I should 
 meet a woman with a soul I should meet my match ! I 
 do not feel very alarmed." 
 
 One of the Professor's penthouse brows raised itself 
 about half an inch, but he did not speak. 
 
 " In which school have you taught her ? " John Der- 
 ringham asked — " you who are so much of a cynic, 
 Master. Does she study the ethics of Aristotle with 
 you here in this Lyceum, or do you reconstruct Plato's 
 Academy? She is no sophist, apparently, since you 
 say she can see the truth." 
 
 Mr. Carlyon looked into the fire. 
 
 " She is almost an Epicurean, John, in all but the 
 disbelief in the immortality of the soul. She has 
 evolved a theory of her own about that. It partakes 
 of Buddhism. After I have discussed metaphysical 
 propositions with her over which she will argue clearly, 
 7 87
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 she will suddenly cut the whole knot with a lightning 
 flash, and you see the naked truth, and words become 
 meaningless, and discussion a jest." 
 
 " All this, at fifteen ! " John Derringham laughed 
 antagonistically, and then he suddenly remembered her 
 words to himself upon honor in the tree that summer 
 morning three years ago, and he mused. 
 
 Perhaps some heaven-taught beings were allowed to 
 come to earth after all, now and then as the centuries 
 rolled on. 
 
 " She knows Greek pretty well? " he asked. 
 
 " Fairly, for the time she has learnt. She can read 
 me bits of Lucian. She would stumble over the trag- 
 edies. I read them to her." Then he continued, as 
 though it were a subject he loved, " She has a con- 
 crete view upon every question; her critical faculty is 
 marvelous. She never lays down the law, but if you 
 ask her, you have your answer in a nutshell, the simplest 
 truth, which it always appears to- her so strange that 
 you have not seen all the time." 
 
 " What is her parentage ? Heredity plays so large a 
 part in these things," Mr. Derringham asked. 
 
 " The result of a passionate love-match between dis- 
 tant cousins of that fine old race, I believe. Timothy 
 La Sarthe was at Oxford before your day, but not 
 under me — a brilliant, enchanting fellow, drowned 
 while yachting when my little friend^was only a few 
 months old." 
 
 "And the mother?" 
 
 " Married again to pay his'debts, to a worthy stock- 
 
 88
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 broker, almost immediately, I believe. She paid the 
 debt with herself and died after having three children 
 for him in a few years." 
 
 " So your portegee lives with those cameos of the 
 Victorian era we dined Avith, and never sees the outside 
 world?" 
 
 " Never — from one year's end to another." 
 
 " What a fate ! " and John Derringham stretched out 
 his arms. " Ye gods, what a fate ! " 
 
 And again Cheiron smiled, raising his bushy left 
 brow. 
 
 Halcyone, meanwhile, was walking with firm certain 
 steps across the park, where the dusk had fallen. The 
 turbulent Boreas blew in her face, and she stopped 
 and took off her soft cap and unplaited her hair so that 
 it flew out in a cloud as the wind rushed through it. 
 This sensation was a great pleasure to her, and when 
 she came to a rising ground, a kind of knoll where the 
 view of the country was vast and superb, she paused 
 again and took in great deep breaths. She was draw- 
 ing all the forces of the air into her being and quivered 
 presently with the joy of it. 
 
 She could see as only those who are accustomed to 
 the dark can. She was aware of all the outlines of 
 golden bracken at her feet and the head of a buck 
 peeping from the copse near. The sky was a passion- 
 ate, tempestuous mass of angry clouds scudding over the 
 deep blue, where an evening star could be seen peeping 
 out. 
 
 " Bring me your force and strength, that I may grow 
 
 89
 
 HALCYON E 
 
 noble and beautiful, dear wind," she said aloud. " I 
 want to be near him when he comes again," and then 
 she ran and j umped the uneven places, while she hummed 
 a strange song. 
 
 And Jeb Hart and Joseph Gubbs, the poachers, saw 
 her, as she passed within a yard of where they lay setting 
 their snares, and Gubbs, who was a good Catholic from 
 Upminster, crossed himself as he muttered in his friend's 
 ear: 
 
 " We'll get no swag to-night, Jeb. When she passes, 
 blest if she don't warn the beasts."
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 ^-m-^HEN Halcyone was nearly nineteen and had 
 W j grown into a rare and radiant maiden, the like 
 VA^ OI> whom it would be difficult to find, an event 
 happened which was of the greatest excitement and 
 importance to the neighborhood. Wendover, which had 
 been shut up for twenty years, was reported to have 
 been taken for a term by a very rich widow — or di- 
 vorcee — from America it was believed, and it was go- 
 ing to be sumptuously done up and would be filled with 
 guests. Mr. Miller took pains to find out every detail 
 from the Long Man at Applewood, and so was full of 
 information at his monthly repast with the old ladies. 
 Mrs. Vincent Cricklander was the new tenant's name. 
 The Long Man had himself taken her over the place 
 when she first came down to look at it, and his report 
 was that she was the most beautiful lady he had ever 
 seen, and with an eye to business that could not be 
 beaten. He held her in vast respect. 
 
 Then Mr. Miller coughed; he had now come to the 
 point of his discourse which made him nervous. 
 
 For he had learned beyond the possibility of any 
 doubt that Mrs. Cricklander was, alas! not a lonely 
 widow but had been divorced — only a year or two 
 ago. She had divorced her husband — not he her — 
 
 91
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 he hastened to add, and then coughed again and got 
 very red. 
 
 " When we were young," Miss La Sarthe remarked 
 severely, " our Mamma would never have allowed us 
 to know any divorced person — and, indeed, our good 
 Queen Victoria would never have received one at her 
 Court. We cannot possibly call, Roberta." 
 
 Poor Miss Roberta's face fell. She had been se- 
 cretly much elated by the thoughts of a neighbor, and 
 to have all her hopes thus nipped in the bud was pain- 
 ful. She had heard (from Hester again, it is to be 
 feared!) that Mrs. Cricklander's maid, who was a cousin 
 of the baker in Applewood, and who had originally insti- 
 gated her discovery of Wendover, had said that her 
 lady knew all the greatest people in England — lords 
 and duchesses by the dozen, and even an archbishop ! 
 Surely that was respectable enough. 
 
 But Miss La Sarthe, while again deploring the source 
 of her sister's information, was firm. Ideas might have 
 changed, but they had not. Since the last time they 
 had curtsied to the beloved late Queen, in about 1879, 
 she believed new rules had been made, but the La Sarthe 
 had nothing to do with such things ! 
 
 Halcyone caught Miss Roberta's piteous, subdued 
 eye, and smiled a tender, kind smile. With years her 
 understanding of her ancient aunts had grown. They 
 were no longer rather contemptible, narrow-minded elders 
 in her eyes, but rilled her with a pitiful and gentle re- 
 spect. Their courage under adversity, their firm self- 
 control, and the force which made them live up to their 
 
 92
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 idea of the fitness of things, appealed to her strongly. 
 She had John Derringham's quality of detached con- 
 sideration, and appreciated her old relatives as exquisite 
 relics of the past, as well as her own kith and kin. 
 
 " In America, divorce is not considered the heinous 
 crime it was once in England," Mr. Carlyon said. 
 " Perhaps this lady may have been greatly sinned 
 against and deserves all our pity and regard." 
 
 But Miss La Sarthe remained obdurate. The point 
 was not as to who was in the right, she explained, but 
 that certain conventions, laid down by one whose mem- 
 ory was revered, had been outraged, and she could never 
 permit her sister or Halcyone to have any intercourse 
 with the tenant of Wendover Park ! 
 
 The preparations for the new arrival went on apace 
 all the autumn and winter. Armies of workpeople were 
 reported to be in possession, and whole train-loads of 
 splendid French furniture were known to have arrived 
 at Applewood, to augment the antique and time-worn 
 pieces which were Wendover's own. 
 
 Miss Le Sarthe sent for the Long Man. Things had 
 been rather better of late, and no more precious be- 
 longings had been forced to be parted with. An in- 
 vestment which had been valueless for years now began 
 to produce some interest which w T as a great comfort, 
 for Miss La Sarthe was now seventy-nine and Miss 
 Roberta seventy-six. 
 
 The orders that the agent received were precise. The 
 gate between Wendover and La Sarthe Chase which 
 had been closed for over a hundred years was to be 
 
 93
 
 H A L C Y O N E 
 
 boarded up, and their side of the haw-haw which for 
 nearly a mile divided the two parks was to be deepened 
 and cleared out, and the spikes mended in any places 
 where the ground might have seemed to have fallen in 
 sufficiently, or the irons to have become broken enough 
 to make the passage easy. 
 
 This would be unnecessary, Mr. Martin (the Long 
 Man) told her. The haw-haw was still as perfect as 
 ever and a wonder of concealed traps for the unwary, 
 but the gate should be seen to at once. 
 
 Thus La Sarthe Chase was armed fully against Wend- 
 over, when, about Easter, Mrs. Cricklander decided she 
 would come down and bring a few friends. It was 
 with a sudden violent beating of the heart that Halcyone 
 learned casually from Mr. Carlyon that John Derring- 
 ham would be of their number. 
 
 The aunts took in the Morning Post, but until she 
 was eighteen they had rigorously forbidden Halcyone's 
 perusal of it. Newspapers, except one or two periodi- 
 cals, were not fit for young ladies' reading until they 
 were grown up, they felt. However, their niece, hav- 
 ing now come to years of discretion, sometimes had 
 the pleasure of reading John Derringham's speeches 
 and thrilled with joy over his felicitous daring and 
 caustic wit. The Government could not last much 
 longer, but he at least, as far as he could, would keep 
 it full of vigor until the end. She knew, therefore, 
 that the last sitting before the Easter recess had been 
 a storm of words sharp as sword-thrusts — it was be- 
 fore the days of the language of Billingsgate and 
 
 94
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 the behavior of roughs. There were quite a number of 
 gentlemen still in the House of Commons, who often 
 behaved as such. 
 
 Those wonderful forces which Halcyone culled from 
 all nature, and especially the night, gave her a serenity 
 over the most moving events, and when the sudden 
 beating of her heart was over, she waited calmly for 
 the moment when she should see John Derringham again. 
 
 Mr. Carlyon took in the Graphic as well as his 
 Quarterly Review and the Nineteenth Century, and it 
 was her only medium for guessing even what the out- 
 side world looked like, but from it she was quite aware 
 that a beard was a most unusual thing for a young 
 modern man of the world, and that John Derringham 
 for that reason must always be distinguished from his 
 fellows. Carpenters and hedgers and ditchers wore 
 them, and nondescript young fellows she remembered 
 seeing when she went into Upminster with her aunts ; 
 but these excursions had been discontinued now for 
 the past five years, so the villagers of Sarthe-under- 
 Crum and the denizens of the rather larger Applewood 
 were the only human beings she ever saw. 
 
 The partj r at Wendover were to arrive on the Thurs- 
 day before Good Friday — Priscilla had told her that — 
 and it was just possible that some of them might be in 
 church. 
 
 The aunts now drove a low basket shay which had 
 been their pride in the sixties, but which for countless 
 years, until the investment began to pay, they had 
 been unable to keep a pair of ponies for. Now, how- 
 
 95
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 ever, the shay was unearthed from the moldy coach- 
 house and for the past year two very old and quiet 
 specimens of Shetland had been found for them by 
 Mr. Martin and they were able to drive to church every 
 Sunday in state, William sitting up behind, holding 
 the reins between his mistresses, while Miss La Sarthe 
 flourished a small whip whose delicate handle was studded 
 with minute turquoises. From it dangled a ring which 
 she could slip on her finger over her one-buttoned slate- 
 colored glove, and so feel certain of not dropping this 
 treasure. Halcyone always walked. 
 
 On Good Friday there was not a sight of the Wend- 
 over party in church, and Halcyone went back by the 
 orchard house to look in at Cheiron, who had had a cold 
 in the last few days. 
 
 Stretched in the armchair she found John Derring- 
 ham. 
 
 The brisk walk in the fresh spring air had brought 
 some faint color to her pale cheeks, her soft hair was 
 wound about her head with becoming simplicity, and 
 she wore an ordinary suit which could not disguise her 
 beautiful slender limbs, so long and thin, a veritable 
 Artemis in her chaste perfection of balance and propor- 
 tion. 
 
 Halcyone could pass in any crowd and perhaps no 
 one would ever notice her and her mouse-like coloring, 
 but once your eye was arrested, then, like looking at 
 some rare bit of delicate enamel, you began to perceive 
 undreamed-of graces which soothed the sight until you 
 were filled with the consciousness of an exquisite beauty 
 
 96
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 as intangible as her other charm — distinction. An 
 infinite serenity was in her atmosphere, a promise of all 
 pure and tender things in her great soft eyes. The 
 mystery and freshness of the night seemed always to 
 hang about her. Her ways were noiseless — the most 
 creaking door appeared to forget its irritating habit 
 when under her touch. Thus it was that John Derring- 
 ham, smoking a cigar, never even glanced up until a 
 voice of extreme cultivation and softness said gently : 
 
 " Good morning. And how are you? " 
 
 Then he bounded from his chair, startled a little, 
 and held out his hand. 
 
 " My old friend, Miss Halcyone, the Priestess of 
 Truth ! " he exclaimed, " as I am alive ! " 
 
 She smiled serenely while they shook hands, and sat 
 down demurely by the Professor's side. 
 
 " I thought you would have been translated to Olym- 
 pus long ago," the visitor said. " Have you honored 
 this ordinary earth and our friend Cheiron's cave, ever 
 since? " 
 
 " Ever since ! " 
 
 " There can be nothing left for you to learn. Mas- 
 ter, it is you and I whom she could teach," he laughed. 
 
 " How do you know all this ? " asked Halcyone 
 quietly, while her eyes smiled at his raillery. " Do I 
 look such an old-fashioned blue-stocking, then?" 
 
 " You look perfectly sweet," and John Derringham's 
 expressive eyes confirmed what he said. 
 
 " Enough, enough, John. Halcyone is quite unac- 
 customed to gallants from the world like you," the Pro- 
 
 97
 
 H A L C Y O N E 
 
 fessor growled. " If you pay her compliments she 
 won't believe you can really make a speech." 
 
 So Mr. Derringham laughed and continued his in- 
 terrupted conversation. He seemed in good humor with 
 all the world. He was going to stay at Wendover for 
 the whole of Easter week. Mrs. Cricklander had an 
 amusing party of luminaries of both sides — she was 
 the most perfect hostess and had a remarkable talent 
 for collecting the right people. 
 
 " She is quite the best-read woman I have ever met, 
 Master," John Derringham said. " You must let me 
 bring her over here one day to see you — you would de- 
 light in her wit and beauty. She does not leave you a 
 dull moment." 
 
 " Yes, bring her," the Professor returned between 
 the puffs at his long pipe. " I have never met any 
 of these new hothouse roses grafted upon briar roots. 
 I should like to study how the system has worked." 
 
 " Quite admirably, as you will see. I do not know 
 any Englishwomen who are to compare to such Ameri- 
 cans in brilliancy and fascination." 
 
 Over Halcyone, in spite of her serenity, there crept 
 a feeling of cold. She did not then analyze why, and, 
 as was her habit when anything began to distress her, 
 she looked out of the window, whether it were night or 
 day. She always did this, and when her eyes saw Na- 
 ture in any of her moods, calm returned to her. 
 
 " She will simply revel in La Sarthe Chase when 
 she sees it," Mr. Derringham went on, now addressing 
 Halcyone. " She is a past-mistress in knowledge of 
 
 98
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 the dates of things. You are going to have the most 
 delicious neighbor, Miss Halcyone, and in learning, a 
 foeman worthy of your steel." 
 
 Cheiron was heard to chuckle wickedly, and when 
 his former Oxford pupil asked him with mild humor 
 the reason of his inappropriate mirth, he answered 
 dryly : 
 
 " She is never likely to see the inside of the park 
 even. Queen Victoria did not receive divorced per- 
 sons, and the Misses La Sarthe, in consequence, cannot 
 either. You will have to bring her here by the road, 
 John!" 
 
 Halcyone winced a little. She disliked this conver- 
 sation; it was not as fine as she liked to think were 
 the methods of both the men who were carrying it on. 
 
 John Derringham reddened up to his temples, where 
 there were a few streaks of gray in his dark hair which 
 added to the distinction of his finely cut, rather ascetic 
 face. The short, well-trimmed beard was very becom- 
 ing, Halcyone thought, and gave him a look of great 
 masculinity and strength. His hawk's eyes were shad- 
 owed, as though he sat up very late at night ; which 
 indeed he did. For John Derringham, at this period of 
 his life, burnt the candle at both ends and in the mid- 
 dle, too, if it could add to the pleasure or benefit of 
 his calculated career, mapped out for himself by him- 
 self. 
 
 A sensation almost of wrath rose in his breast at 
 his old master's words. These ignorant country peo- 
 ple, to dare to criticise his glittering golden pheasant, 
 
 99
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 whom he was very nearly making up his mind to take 
 for a wife! This aspect of the case, that even these 
 unimportant old ladies could question the position of 
 his choice, galled him. He had spent up to the last 
 penny of his diminished income in his years of man's 
 estate, and Derringham was mortgaged to its furthest 
 acre — and a gentleman must live — and with his bril- 
 liant political future expanding before him, lack of 
 means must not be allowed to stand in his way. He 
 would give this woman in gratified ambition as much or 
 more than she would give him in wealth, so it would be an 
 equal bargain and benefit them both. And, above all, he 
 was more than half in love with her, and could get quite 
 a large share of pleasure out of the affair as well. 
 He had been too busy to trouble much over women as 
 a sex since he had left the University — except in the 
 way he had once described to his old master, regarding 
 them as flowers in a garden — mere pleasures for 
 sight and touch, and experiencing ephemeral passions 
 which left no mark. But women either feared or 
 adored him ; and this woman, the desired of a host of 
 his friends, had singled him out for her especial favors. 
 It had amused .him the whole of the last season ; he had 
 defied her efforts to chain him to her chariot wheels, 
 and in the winter she had gone to Egypt, and had only 
 just returned. But the charm was growing, and he 
 felt he would allow himself to be caught in her net. 
 
 " Mrs. Cricklander would be very much amused could 
 she hear this verdict of the county," he said with a 
 certain tone in his voice which did not escape Halcyone. 
 
 100
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 " In London we do not occupy ourselves with such 
 unimportant things — but I dare say she will get over 
 it. And now I really must be going back. May I walk 
 with you through the park, Miss Halcyone, if you 
 are going, too? I am sure there must be an opening 
 somewhere, as the two places touch." 
 
 "Yes, there is just one," Halcyone said. "The 
 haw-haw runs the whole way, and it is impossible to 
 pass, except in the one spot, and I believe no one 
 knows of it but myself. There are a few bricks loose, 
 and I used to take them out and put them back when I 
 wanted to get into Wendover — long ago." 
 
 " Then it will be an adventure ; come," he said, and 
 Halcyone rose. 
 
 " Only if you will not give away my secret. Promise 
 you will not tell anyone else," she bargained. 
 
 "Oh! I promise," and John Derringham jumped up 
 — his movements were always quick and decided and 
 full of nervous force. " I will bring my hostess to see 
 you on Monday or Tuesday, Master," he announced, 
 as he said good-by. " And prepare yourself to fall at 
 her feet like all the rest of us — Merlin and Vivien, you 
 know. It will be a just punishment for your scathing 
 remarks." 
 
 When they were outside in the garden Halcyone spoke 
 not a word. The beds were a glory of spring bulbs, 
 and every bud on the trees was bursting with its promise 
 of coming leaf. Glad, chirruping bird-notes called to 
 one another, and a couple of partridges ran across the 
 lawn. 
 
 101
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 John Derringham took in the lines of Halcyone's 
 graceful person as she walked ahead. She had that 
 same dignity of movement from the hips which the 
 Nike of Samothrace seems to be advancing with as you 
 come up the steps of the Louvre. 
 
 How tall she had grown ! She must be at least five 
 feet nine or ten. But why would she not speak? 
 
 He overawed her here in the daylight, and she felt 
 silent and oppressed. 
 
 " Whereabouts is our tree that we sat in when I was 
 young and you were old? " he asked, after they had 
 got through the gap in the hedge. A little gate had 
 been put in the last years to keep out the increasing 
 herd of deer. 
 
 " It is over there by the copse," she said shyly. 
 " The lower branch fell last winter, and it makes a de- 
 lightful seat. One is not obliged to climb into the 
 tree now. See: Demetrius helped me to drag it close, 
 and we nailed on these two arms," and she pointed to a 
 giant oak not far from them, which John Derringham 
 pretended to recognize. 
 
 He tried his best to get her to talk to him, but some 
 cloud of timid aloofness on her part seemed to hang 
 between them, and very soon below the copse they came 
 to the one vulnerable part in all the haw-haw's length. 
 She showed him how to take the bricks out and where 
 to place his feet, and pointed out how secluded from 
 any eye the place was. Then, as he climbed down and 
 then up again, and looked across at her from Wend- 
 over lands, she said a sedate good-by, and turning, went 
 
 102
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 on among the thickly growing saplings of the copse 
 and, never looking back, was soon out of sight. 
 
 John Derringham watched her disappear with a 
 strange feeling of ruffled disquietude in his heart.
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 XT was so warm and charming an April day 
 that Mrs. Cricklander and some of her friends 
 were out of doors before luncheon, walking up 
 and down the broad terrace walk that flanked Wend- 
 over's southern side. 
 
 It was a Georgian house, spacious and comfortable, 
 but not especially beautiful. Mrs. Cricklander was a 
 woman of enormous ability — she had a perfect talent 
 for discovering just the right people to work for her 
 pleasure and benefit, while being without a single in- 
 spiration herself. If she engaged a professional ad- 
 viser to furnish her house, and decorate it, you could 
 be sure he was of the best and that his services had been 
 measured and balanced beforehand, and that he had 
 been generously paid whatever he had obtained by bar- 
 gaining for it, and that the agreement was signed and 
 every penny of the cost entered in a little book. It was 
 so with everything that touched her life. She had a 
 definite idea of what she wanted, although she did not 
 always want the same thing for long; but while she 
 did, she went about getting it in a sensible, practical 
 way, secured it, paid for it, — and then often threw it 
 away. 
 
 She had felt she wanted Vincent Cricklander because 
 
 104
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 he belonged to one of the old families in New York 
 and played polo well, and, being a great heiress though 
 of no pretensions to birth, she wished to have an un- 
 disputed entry into the inner circle of her own country. 
 He fulfilled her requirements for quite three years, and 
 then she felt she was " through " with America, and 
 wanted fresh fields for her efforts. Paris was too easy, 
 Berlin doubtful, Vienna and Petersburg impossible to 
 conquer, but London would hold out everything that 
 she could wish for. Only, it must be the very best of 
 London, not the part of its society that anyone can 
 struggle and push and pay to get into, but the real 
 thing. She was " quite finished " with Vincent Crick- 
 lander, too, at this period; to see him play polo no 
 longer gaye her any thrill. So one morning at their 
 lunch, on a rare occasion when they chanced to be 
 alone, she told him so, and asked him practically how 
 much he would take to let her divorce him. 
 
 But Vincent Cricklander was a gentleman, and, what 
 is more, an American gentleman, which means of a 
 chivalry towards women unknown in other countries. 
 
 " I do not want any of your money, Cis," he said. 
 " I will be quite glad to go, if it will make you happier. 
 We'll phone T. V. Ryan this afternoon and let him 
 think out a scheme so that it can be done without a 
 scandal of any sort. My mother has old-fashioned 
 ideas, and I would hate to pain the poor dear lady." 
 
 It took nearly two years, but the divorce was com- 
 pleted at last, and Cecilia Cricklander found herself 
 perfectly free and with all the keen scent of the hunter 
 
 105
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 for the chase dilating her fine nostrils as she stood 
 upon the deck of the great ocean liner bound for Liver- 
 pool. 
 
 She was a very beautiful woman and refined in every 
 point, with exquisite feet and hands, pure, brilliant, 
 fair coloring and a superb figure, and even a fairly sweet 
 voice. Her education had been a good deal neglected 
 because she was too spoilt by a doting father to profit 
 by the instruction he provided for her. She felt this 
 keenly directly she began to go out into the world, and 
 immediately commenced to remedy the defect. For her, 
 from the very beginning, life appeared in the light of a 
 game. Fate was an adversary from whom she meant 
 to win all the stakes, and it behooved a clever woman 
 not to overlook a single card that might be of use to 
 her in her play. She was quite aware of her own limita- 
 tions, and her own forces and advantages. She knew 
 she was beautiful and charming; she knew she was kind 
 and generous and extremely " cute," as her old father 
 said. She knew that literature and art did not interest 
 her one atom in themselves, that most music bored her, 
 and that she had a rather imperfect memory; but dur- 
 ing her brief visits to England, when she was making 
 up her mind that this country would be the field for 
 her next exertions, she had decided that to be beautiful 
 and charming was not just enough; there were numbers 
 of other Americans who were both, and they were all 
 one as successful and sought after as the other. She 
 must be something beyond this — a real Queen. To 
 beauty and wealth and charm she must add culture 
 
 106
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 as well. She must be able to talk to the prime minister 
 upon his pet foibles, she must be able to quote erudite 
 passages from all the cleverest books of the day to the 
 brilliant politicians and diplomats and men of polished 
 brain who made up the society over which she wished to 
 rule. And how was this to be done? She thought it all 
 out, and during her two years of living quietly to obtain 
 her divorce without a breath of scandal, she had hit 
 upon and put into practice an admirable plan. 
 
 She searched for and found a poor, very plain and 
 highly cultivated English gentlewoman, one who had 
 been governess in a foreign Royal family and was now 
 tr} T ing to support an aged mother by giving private les- 
 sons. Arabella Clinker was this treasure's name — 
 Miss Arabella Clinker, aged forty-two, and as ugly as 
 it is possible for a thoroughly nice woman to be. 
 
 Mrs. Cricklander made no mysteries about what she 
 required Miss Clinker's companionship for. She ex- 
 plained minutely that should any special dinner-party 
 or rencontre with any great person be in view, Miss 
 Clinker must do a sort of preparatory cramming for 
 her, as boys are prepared for examinations. 
 
 " You must make it your business, when I give you 
 the names of the people I am to meet, to post me up in 
 what they are likely to talk about. You must read all 
 the papers in the morning with the political speeches in 
 them, and then give me a quick resume; if it should be 
 any diplomat or great artist or one of those delightful 
 Englishmen who knows everything, then you must sug- 
 gest some suitable authors to speak of that they will 
 
 107
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 like, and I have quite enough sense myself to turn the 
 conversation off any that I should not know about. In 
 this way you will soon learn what I require of you, 
 and I shall learn a great deal and gradually can launch 
 out into much more difficult things." 
 
 Arabella Clinker had a sense of humor, and she adored 
 her mother and wished to give her a comfortable old 
 age. Mrs. Cricklander's terms for this unique posi- 
 tion were according to her accustomed liberality. 
 
 " I like to give splendid prices for things, and then 
 I expect them to be splendidly done," she said. 
 
 Miss Clinker had promised to do her best, and their 
 partnership had lasted for nearly three years with the 
 most satisfactory results to both of them. Their only 
 difficulty was Mrs. Cricklander's defective memory. 
 She could not learn anything by heart, and if she were 
 at all tired had to keep herself tremendously in hand 
 to make no mistakes. But the three years of constant 
 trying had enabled her to talk upon most subjects in a 
 shibboleth of the world which imposed upon everyone. 
 Her real talent which called for the greatest admiration 
 was the way in which she manipulated what she knew, and 
 skimmed a fresh subject. She would do so with such 
 admirable skill and wording as to give the impression 
 that she was acquainted with its profoundest depths; 
 and then when she was safely over the chasm the first 
 moment she was free she would rush to Arabella for 
 the salient points, doggedly repeat them over and over, 
 and on the next occasion come out with them to the same 
 person, convincing him more than ever of her thorough 
 
 108
 
 H ALCYONE 
 
 knowledge of the subject. But her memory was her 
 misfortune, for if Miss Clinker instructed her, for in- 
 stance, in all the diiferent peculiarities of the styles of 
 Keats and Shelley, a week after she would have for- 
 gotten which was which — because both bored her to dis- 
 traction — and she would have to be reminded again. 
 One awful moment came when, rhapsodizing upon the 
 sensibility of Keats' character, she said to Sir Tedbury 
 Delvine, the finest litterateur of his time, that there 
 must have come moments during Keats' latter years 
 when he must have felt as his own " Prometheus Un- 
 bound " ! But, seeing her mistake immediately by her 
 listener's blank face, she regained her ground with a 
 skill and a flow of words which made Sir Tedbury Del- 
 vine doubt whether his own ears had heard aright. 
 
 " Arabella," Mrs. Cricklander said when next morn- 
 ing she lay smoking in her old-rose silk bed, while she 
 went through her usual lessons for the day, " you must 
 give me just a point each about those wretched old 
 two, so that I will remember them again. I must have 
 a sort of keynote. Shelley's would do with that horri- 
 ble statue of him drowned, at Oxford, that would con- 
 nect his chain — but what for Keats ? " 
 
 So at last Miss Clinker invented a plan, almost Pytha- 
 gorean in its way, and it proved very helpful to her 
 patroness. 
 
 When she went on light, amusing excursions to Egypt 
 and such places, she allowed Arabella to remain with 
 her mother, and these were months of pure happiness 
 to Miss Clinker. 
 
 109
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 It had not taken Mrs. Cricklander long to conquer 
 London with her money, and her looks, and her tri- 
 umphant belief in herself. At the end of two years, 
 when John Derringham was first presented to her, she 
 had almost reached the summit of her ambitions. To 
 become his wife she had decided would place her there. 
 For was he not certain to climb to the top of the tree, 
 as well as being the most brilliant and most sought after 
 young man in all England. Of love — the love that 
 recks not of place or gain but just gives its being to 
 the loved one — to such emotion she was happily a 
 complete stranger. John Derringham attracted her 
 greatly, and until now had successfully evaded all her 
 snares and had remained beyond the thrall of her will. 
 To have got him to come for this whole week of Easter 
 was a triumph and exulted her accordingly. She par- 
 ticularly affected politicians, and her house in Grosvenor 
 Square was a meeting-place for both parties, provided 
 the members of each were of the most distinguished 
 type. And there were not more than two or three peo- 
 ple out of all her acquaintances, besides Arabella, who 
 smiled a little over her brilliant culture. 
 
 By all this it can be seen that Mrs. Cricklander was a 
 wonderful character — tenacious, indomitable, full of 
 nerve and deserving of the greatest respect in conse- 
 quence. 
 
 The only thing the least vulgar about her was her 
 soul — if she had one — and it is not the business of 
 society to look into such things. Scrutiny of the sort 
 is left for creatures like the Professor, Cheiron, who 
 
 110
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 have nothing else to do — but his impressions upon this 
 subject must come in their proper place. 
 
 Meanwhile, John Derringham had joined the party 
 on the terrace, and was joyously acclaimed, and then 
 minutely questioned as to the cause of his lengthy ab- 
 sence. He had not been to church — that was certain. 
 He had not been out of the park, because the lodges 
 were not in the direction from which he had been seen 
 advancing. Where had he been, then? All alone? He 
 would not give any account of himself, as was his way, 
 and presently his hostess drew him on ahead and down 
 the terrace steps. She wanted to point out to him some 
 improvements which she contemplated. The garden 
 must be the most beautiful in the country — and he 
 knew so much about gardens, he could tell her exactly 
 which style would suit the house best. 
 
 John Derringham was in a bad temper. That unac- 
 countable sense of a discordant note with himself still 
 stayed with him. He unconsciously, during his walk, 
 had dwelt upon the Professor's information as to the 
 view of the old ladies of The Chase, and then Halcyone's 
 silence and stiffness. He felt excluded from the place 
 which he recollected he had held in the child's regard. 
 His memory had jumped the brief glimpse of her during 
 her fledgling period, and had gone back with distinct 
 vividness to the summer morning in the tree, almost seven 
 years ago. 
 
 He answered with a carelessness which was not alto- 
 gether pleasing to Cecilia Cricklander. She saw in- 
 stantly that her favorite guest was ruffled by something. 
 
 Ill
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 Although never fine, she was quick at observing all the 
 moods of her pawns, and had brought the faculty of 
 watching for signs from castles, knights and kings to 
 a science. John Derringham must be humored and ca- 
 joled by a proof of her great understanding of him — he 
 must be left in silence for a minute, and then she would 
 pause and look over the balustrade, so that he might 
 see her handsome profile and take in the exquisite sim- 
 plicity of her perfect dress. She knew these things 
 pleased him. She would look a little sad, too, and far 
 away. 
 
 It had its effect. 
 
 " What are you dreaming about, fair chatelaine ? " he 
 asked after a while. " Your charming mouth has its 
 corners drooped." 
 
 " I was wondering — " and then she stopped. 
 
 " Yes ? " asked John Derringham. " You were won- 
 dering what ? " 
 
 •' I was wondering if one could ever get you to really 
 take an interest in anything but your politics, and your 
 England's advancement? How good it would be if one 
 could interest you for a moment in anything else." 
 
 He leaned upon the balustrade beside her. 
 
 " You are talking nonsense," he said. " You know 
 very well that you interest me every time I see you — 
 and it is growing upon me. That was not the only 
 thing revolving in your clever mind." 
 
 " Yes, indeed," and she looked down. 
 
 ' Well, then, I am interested in your garden. What 
 do you think of doing? Tell me." 
 
 112
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 She explained an elaborate plan, and quoted the 
 names of famous gardeners and their styles, with her 
 accustomed erudition. For had not Arabella got them 
 up for her only that morning, as she smoked her seventh 
 cigarette in bed? She inclined to French things, and 
 she thought that this particular part — a mere rough bit 
 of the park — could very well be laid out as a Petit 
 Trianon. She could procure copies of the plans of 
 Mique, and even have a Temple d' 'Amour. 
 
 " I love to create," she said. " The place would not 
 have amused me if everything had been complete, and 
 if you will help me I shall be so grateful." 
 
 " Of course I will," he said. " The Temple aV Amour 
 would look quite well up upon that rising ground, and 
 you could have a small winding lake dug to complete 
 the illusion. Nothing is impossible, and I suppose you 
 can get permission from the old Wendover who lives in 
 Rome to do what you wish? " 
 
 " I should like to have been able to take the park of 
 the next place, La Sarthe Chase, too — that impassable 
 haw-haw and the boarded-up gate irritate me. The 
 boards have been put since I came to look over every- 
 thing last autumn. I did instruct the agent, Martin, 
 in Applewood to offer a large price for it, but he assured 
 me it would be quite useless; it belongs, it appears, to 
 the most ridiculous old ladies, who are almost starving, 
 but would rather die than be sensible." 
 
 Suddenly John Derr^ngham was conscious that his 
 sympathies had shifted to the Misses La Sarthe, and he 
 could not imagine why. 
 
 113
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 " You told me, I think," she went on, " that you knew 
 this neighborhood. Do you happen to be aware of any 
 bait I could hold out to them? " 
 
 " No, I do not," he said. " That sort of pride is 
 foolish, if you like ; but there it is — part of an inher- 
 itance of the spirit which in the past has made England 
 great. They are wonderful old ladies. I dined with 
 them once long ago." 
 
 " I must really go over and see them one day. Per- 
 haps I could persuade them to my view." 
 
 The flicker of a smile came into the eyes of John Der- 
 ringham, and she noticed it at once. It angered her, 
 and deepened the pretty pink in her fresh cheeks. 
 
 "You think they would not be pleased to see me?" 
 she flashed. 
 
 " They are ridiculously old-fashioned," he said. 
 " Not your type at all." 
 
 " But I love curiosities," she returned, smiling now. 
 " I am not absolutely set upon any type. All human 
 beings are a delightful study. If you know them, you 
 must bring them to see me then some day." 
 
 But at this John Derringham laughed outright. 
 
 " If you could picture them, you would laugh, too," 
 he said. " There is someone, though, whom I do want 
 you to know, who lives close here — my old Oxford pro- 
 fessor of Greek, Arnold Carlyon. He is a study who 
 will repay you. The most whimsical cynic, as well as 
 one of the greatest scholars I have ever come across in 
 my life. I promised him to-day that I would persuade 
 you to let me take you to see him." 
 
 114
 
 HALC YONE 
 
 " How enchanting," she replied with enthusiasm. 
 " And we must make him come here. When shall we 
 go? To-morrow? " 
 
 " No, I said Monday or Tuesday — with your per- 
 mission," and he bent over her with caressing homage. 
 
 " Of course — when you will. That, then, is where 
 you were this morning. But how did you get back 
 through the park ? " she asked. " There is no opening 
 at that side whatever. It is all blocked by the wicked 
 La Sarthe Chase." 
 
 " I came round the edge," he said, and felt annoyed 
 — he hated lying — " and then turned upwards. I 
 wanted to see the boundaries." 
 
 " I hate boundaries," she laughed. " I always want 
 to overstep them." 
 
 " There is the chance of being caught in snares." 
 
 " Which adds to the excitement," and she allowed her 
 radiant eyes to seek his with a challenge. 
 
 He was not slow to take it up. 
 
 " Enchantress," he whispered softly, " it is you whose 
 charm lays snares for men. You have no fear of falling 
 into them yourself." 
 
 She rippled a low laugh of satisfaction. And, having 
 tamed her lion, she now suggested it was time to go in 
 to luncheon.
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 •RABELLA CLINKER took Sunday afternoons 
 generally to write a long letter to her mother, 
 and Good Friday seemed almost a Sunday, so 
 she went up to her room from force of habit. But first 
 she looked up some facts in the countless books of refer- 
 ence she kept always by her. Mrs. Cricklander had 
 skated over some very thin ice at luncheon upon a 
 classical subject, when talking to the distinguished Mr. 
 Derringham, and she must be warned and primed up 
 before dinner. Arabella had herself averted a catas- 
 trophe and dexterously turned the conversation in the 
 nick of time. Mrs. Cricklander had a peculiarly un- 
 classical brain, and found learning statistics about 
 ancient philosophies and the names of mythological 
 personages the most difficult of all. Fortunately in 
 these days, even among the most polished, this special 
 branch of cultivation was rather old-fashioned, Miss 
 Clinker reflected, but still, as Mr. Derringham seemed 
 determined to wander along this line (Arabella had un- 
 consciously appropriated some apt Americanisms during 
 her three years of bondage), she must be loyal and not 
 allow her employer to commit any blunders. So she 
 got her facts crystallized, or " tabloidcd," as Mrs. 
 Cricklander would mentally have characterized the proc- 
 
 116
 
 HALCYON E 
 
 ess, and then she began her letter to her parent. Mrs. 
 Clinker, an Irishwoman and the widow of a learned Dean, 
 understood a number of things, and was clear-headed 
 and humorous, for all her seventy years, and these pas- 
 sages in her daughter's letter amused her. 
 
 We are entertaining a number of distinguished 
 visitors, and among them Mr. John Derringham, 
 the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. 
 He is a most interesting personality, as perfectly 
 sure of what he wants in life as is M. E. (M. E. 
 stood for " My Employer " — names were invidi- 
 ous). They would be a perfect match, each as sel- 
 fish as the other, I should say. He is really very 
 cultivated, and believes her to be so, too. She has 
 not made a single mistake as yet, but frightened 
 me at luncheon a little. I must try and get her to 
 keep him off classical subjects. She intends to 
 marry him — and then she will not require me, I 
 suppose; or rather, I do not think he would per- 
 mit her to keep me. If it came to a measure of 
 wills, he would win, I think — at first, at least — 
 but she could wear away a stone in the end, as you 
 know. The arranging of this place is still amus- 
 ing her, so she may decide to spend a good deal of 
 time here. She closed her mouth with that firm 
 snap this morning that I have described to you 
 often, and said that it was going to be her delight 
 to make them put themselves out and come so far 
 away from London for her. " Them," for the 
 moment, are Mr. Derringham and Mr. Hanbury- 
 Green, almost a Socialist person, who is on the 
 
 117
 
 H ALCYONE 
 
 other side — very brilliantly clever but with a 
 Cockney accent in one or two words. M. E. does 
 not notice this, of course. Mr. H-G. is in love 
 with her — Mr. D. is not, but she is determined 
 that he shall be. I do not know if he intends to 
 marry her. He is making up his mind, I think, 
 therefore I must be doubly careful not to allow 
 her to commit any mistakes, because if she did it 
 would certainly estrange him, and as to keep her 
 free is so much to our advantage, I feel I must be 
 extra careful in doing my duty. 
 
 Arabella was a person of scrupulous honor. 
 She then proceeded to describe the party, and con- 
 cluded with, 
 
 There is one American girl I like very much — 
 perfectly natural and bubbling with spirits, saying 
 aloud everything she thinks, really well educated 
 and taking so much outdoor exercise that she has 
 not yet begun to have the nervous attacks that are 
 such a distressing feature of so many of her coun- 
 trywomen. I am told it is their climate. M. E. 
 says it is because the men out there have always 
 let them have their own way. I should think so 
 much smoking has something to do with it. 
 
 John Derringham meanwhile had gone with his host- 
 ess and some of the rest of the party, Mr. Hanbury- 
 Green among them, to inspect the small golf links Mrs. 
 C'ricklander was having constructed in the park. Her 
 country-house must be complete with suitable amuse- 
 
 118
 
 H ALCYONE 
 
 ments. She had taken all the Wendover shooting, too, 
 and what she could get of Lord Graceworth's beyond. 
 " You cannot drag people into the wilds and then bore 
 them to death," she said. What she most enjoyed was 
 to scintillate to a company of two or three, and fas- 
 cinate them all into a desire for a tete-a-tete, and then, 
 when with difficulty one had secured this privilege, to 
 be elusive and tantalize him to death. To passion she 
 was a complete stranger, and won all her games because 
 with her great beauty she was as cold as ice. 
 
 She was not feeling perfectly content this Good Fri- 
 day afternoon. Something had happened since the 
 evening before which had altered John Derringham's 
 point of view towards her. She felt it distinctly with 
 her senses, trained like an animal's, to scent the most 
 subtle things in connection with herself. It was impos- 
 sible to seize, she could not analyze it, but there it was ; 
 certainly there seemed to be some change. He was bril- 
 liant, and had been even empresse before lunch, but it 
 was not spontaneous, and she was not perfectly sure 
 that it was not assumed. It was his cleverness which 
 attracted her. She could not see the other side of his 
 head — not that she would have understood what that 
 meant, if she had heard the phrase. 
 
 But her habit was not to sit down under an adverse 
 circumstance, but to probe its source and eradicate it, 
 or, at least, counteract it. Thus, while she chattered 
 eloquently to Sir Tedbury Delvine, her keen brain was 
 weighing things. John Derringham had certainly had 
 a look of aroused passion in his eyes when he had pressed 
 9 119
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 her hand in a lingered good night ; he had even said some 
 words of a more advanced insinuation as to his intentions 
 towards her than he had ever done before. They were 
 never exact — always some fugitive hint to which after- 
 wards she would try to fix some meaning as she reviewed 
 their meetings. She had not seen him at breakfast be- 
 cause she never came down in the morning until eleven 
 or twelve, and he had already gone out, she heard, when 
 she did descend. 
 
 It followed then that either he had received some 
 disturbing letter by the post — only one on Good Fri- 
 day — or something had occurred during his visit to 
 his old master. It would be her business to find out 
 which of these two things it was. Could the Professor 
 be married, and might there be some woman in the fam- 
 ily? Or was it nothing to do with the Professor or 
 with a letter, or was there a more present reason? Had 
 Cora Lutworth attracted him with her youth and high 
 spirits? They were walking ahead now, and she could 
 hear his laugh and see how they were enjoying them- 
 selves. 
 
 She had been a perfect fool to ask Cora. She did not 
 fear a single Englishwoman, the powers of most of 
 whom in her heart she despised — but Cora was of her 
 own race, and well equipped to rival her in a question 
 of marriage. Cora was only twenty-one, and she her- 
 self was thirty — and there was the divorce which, 
 although she had found it no bar to her entrance into 
 the most exclusive English society, still might perhaps 
 rankle unconsciously in the mind of a man mounting the 
 
 120
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 political ladder, and determined to secure the highest 
 honors. 
 
 She felt she hated Cora, and would have destroyed 
 her with a look if she had been able. 
 
 Miss Lutworth, meanwhile, brimful of the joy of life 
 and insouciance, was amusing herself vastly. And John 
 Derringham was experiencing that sense of relaxation 
 and irresponsible pleasure he got sometimes when he 
 was overworked from going to an excruciatingly funny 
 Paris farce. Miss Lutworth did not appeal to his brain 
 at all, although she was quite capable of doing so; she 
 just made him feel gay and frolicsome with her de- 
 liciously ruse view of the world and life in general. He 
 forgot his ruffled temper of the morning, and by the time 
 they had returned for tea, was his brilliant self again, 
 and quite ready to sit in a low chair at his hostess's side, 
 while she leaned back among the cushions of her sofa, 
 in her own sitting-room, whither she had enticed him # 
 during that nondescript hour before dinner, when each 
 person could do what he pleased. 
 
 "Is not Cora sweet?" she said, smoothing the bro- 
 cade beneath her hand. Her sitting-room had been ar- 
 ranged by the artist who had done the house, as a perfect 
 bower of Italian Sixteenth Century art. Mr. Jephson, 
 the artist, had assured her that this period would make 
 a perfect background for her fresh and rather volup- 
 tuous coloring ; it had not become so banal as any of the 
 French Louis'. And so Arabella had been instructed to 
 drum into her head the names of the geniuses of that 
 time, and their works, and she could now babble sweetly 
 
 121
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 all about Giorgione, Paolo Veronese and Titian's later 
 works without making a single mistake. And while the 
 pictures bored her unspeakably, she took a deep pleasure 
 in her own cleverness about them, and delighted in trac- 
 ing the influence Paolo Veronese must have had upon 
 Boucher, a hint from Arabella which she had announced 
 as an inspiration of her own. 
 
 She had tea-gowns made to suit this period, and 
 adopted the stately movements which were evidently the 
 attribute of that time. 
 
 John Derringham thought her superb. If he had 
 been really in love with her, he might have seen through 
 her — and not cared — just as if she had not attracted 
 him at all, he would certainly have taken her measure 
 and enjoyed laying pitfalls for her. But as it was, his 
 will was always trying to augment his inclination. He 
 was too busy to analyze the real meaning of any woman, 
 and until the Professor's words about the divorce and 
 the Misses La Sarthe's view of the affair, it had never 
 even struck him that there could be one single aspect 
 of Mrs. Cricklander's case which he might have to blink 
 at. He had told himself he had better marry a rich 
 woman, since his old maternal uncle, Joseph Scroope, 
 had just taken unto himself a young wife and might 
 any day have an heir. And this was his only other pos- 
 sible source of fortune. 
 
 Mrs. Cricklander seemed the most advantageous bar- 
 gain looming upon the horizon. She was of proved 
 entertaining capabilities. She had passed her examina- 
 tion in the power of being a perfect hostess. She had 
 
 122
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 undoubted and expanding social talents. Women did 
 not dislike her ; she was very vivid, very handsome, very 
 rich. What more could a man who in his innermost 
 being had a supreme contempt for women, and a su- 
 preme belief in himself, desire? 
 
 He had even balanced the advantages of marrying a 
 rich American girl, one like Miss Lutworth, for example. 
 But such beings were unproven, and might develop nerves 
 and fads, which were of no consequence in the delight- 
 ful creatures with whom he passed occasional leisure 
 hours of recreation, but which in a wife would be a singu- 
 lar disadvantage. Since he must marry — and soon — 
 before the present Parliament broke up and his Govern- 
 ment went out, and there came some years of fighting 
 from the Opposition benches, when especially brilliant 
 entertaining might be of advantage to him — he knew 
 he had better make up his mind speedily, and take this 
 ripe and luscious peach, which appeared more than will- 
 ing to drop into his mouth. 
 
 So, this late afternoon, aided by the scents and colors 
 and propinquity, he did his very best to make gradual 
 love to her, and for some unaccountable hideously annoy- 
 ing reason felt every moment more aloof. It almost 
 seemed at last as if he were guarding something of fine 
 and free that was being assailed. His dual self was 
 fighting within his soul. 
 
 Mrs. Cricklander was experiencing all the exciting 
 emotions which presumably the knights of old enjoyed 
 when engaged in a tournament. She was not even dis- 
 turbed when the dressing-gong rang and she had not 
 
 123
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 yet won. It was only a postponement of one of the 
 most entrancing games she had ever played in her suc- 
 cessful life. And Mr. Hanbury-Green was going to sit 
 upon her left hand at dinner and would afford new flint 
 for her steel. He was a recent acquisition, and of un- 
 doubted coming value. His views were in reality nearer 
 her heart politically than those of John Derringham. 
 Deep down in her being was a strong class hatred — un- 
 dreamed of, and which would have been vigorously de- 
 nied. She remembered the burning rage and the vows 
 of vengeance which had convulsed her as a girl, because 
 the refined and gently bred women of her own New 
 York's inner circle would have none of her, and how it 
 had been her glory to trample upon as many of them 
 as she could, when Vincent Cricklander had placed her 
 as head of his fine mansion in Fifty-ninth Street, hav- 
 ing moved from the old family home in Washington 
 Square. And there, underneath, was the feeling still 
 for those of any country who, instinct told her, had in- 
 herited from evolution something which none of her 
 money, and none of her talent, and none of her in- 
 domitable will, could buy. But of course Mr. Hanbury- 
 Green was not to be considered, except as a foil for her 
 wit — a pawn in the game for the securing of John Der- 
 ringham. 
 
 Thus it was that she was able to walk in her stately 
 way with trailing velvets down the broad stairs of her 
 newly acquired home with a sense of exaltation and com- 
 placency which was unimpaired. 
 
 John Derringham, on the contrary, was rather abrupt 
 
 124
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 with his valet and spoilt two white ties, and swore at him- 
 self because his old Eton hand had lost its cunning. 
 But finally he too went down the shallow steps, and, 
 joining his hostess at the door, sailed in with her to the 
 George I saloon, his fine eyes shining and his bearing 
 more arrogant than before.
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 'FTER dinner there was a brisk passage of arms 
 between the two men of opposite party in the 
 group by the fire, and Mrs. Cricklander incited 
 them to further exertions. It had arisen because Mr. 
 Derringham had launched forth the abominable and pre- 
 posterous theory that the only thing the Radicals would 
 bring England to would be the necessity of returning to 
 barbarism and importing slaves — then their schemes 
 applied to the present inhabitants of the country might 
 all work. The denizens in the casual wards, having a 
 vote and a competence provided by the State, would have 
 time to become of the leisured classes and apply them- 
 selves to culture, and so every free citizen being equal, 
 a company of philosophers and an aristocracy of intel- 
 lect would arise and all would be well ! 
 
 Mrs. Cricklander glanced stealthily at his whimsical 
 face, to be sure whether he were joking or no — and de- 
 cided he probably was. But Mr. Hanbury-Green, so 
 irritated by the delightful hostess's evident penchant for 
 his rival, allowed his ill-humor to obscure his usually 
 keen judgment, and took the matter up in serious ear- 
 nest. 
 
 " Your side would not import, but reduce us all — we 
 who are the defenders of the people — to being slaves," 
 
 126
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 he said with some asperity. " Your class has had its 
 innings long enough, it would be the best thing in the 
 world for you to have to come down to doing your own 
 housework." 
 
 " I should make a capital cook," said John Derring- 
 ham, with smiling eyes, " but I should certainly refuse 
 to cook for anyone but myself ; and you, Mr. Green, who 
 may be an indifferent artist in that respect, would have 
 perhaps a bad dinner." 
 
 " I never understand," interrupted Mrs. Cricklander 
 — " when everything is socialistic, shall we not be able to 
 live in these nice houses ? " 
 
 " Of course not," said Mr. Hanbury-Green gravely. 
 " You will have to share with less fortunate people. 5 ' 
 And then he drew himself up ready for battle, and began. 
 
 " Why, because a man or woman is born in the gutter, 
 should not he or she be given by the State the same 
 chance as though born in a palace? We are all exactly 
 the same human beings, only until now luck and circum- 
 stance have been different for us." 
 
 " I am all for everyone having the same chance," 
 agreed John Derringham, allowing the smile to stay in 
 his eyes, " although I do not admit we are all the same 
 human beings, any more than the Derby winner is the 
 same horse as the plow horse or the cob. They can all 
 draw some kind of vehicle, but they cannot all win races 
 — they have to excel, each in his different line. Give 
 everyone a chance, by all means, and then make him come 
 up for examination, and if found fit passed on for higher 
 things, and if unfit, passed out ! It is your tendency to 
 
 127
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 pamper the unfit which I deplore. You have only one 
 idea on your Radical Socialist side of the House, to pull 
 down those who are in any inherited or agreeable au- 
 thority — not because they are doing their work badty, 
 but because you would prefer their place ! The war-cry 
 of boons for the people covers a multitude of objects, 
 and is the most attractive cry for the masses to hear 
 all over the world. The real boon for the people would 
 be to give them more practical sound education and 
 ruthlessly to clear out the unfit." Then his face lost its 
 whimsical expression and became interested. 
 
 " Let us imagine a Utopian state of republic. Let 
 every male citizen who has reached twenty-five years, 
 say, pass his examination in the right to live freely, re- 
 gardless of class, and if he cannot do so, let him go into 
 the ranks of the slaves, because, turn it how you will, we 
 must have some beings to do the lowest offices in life. 
 Who would willingly clean the drains, fill the dust-carts 
 — and, indeed, do the hundred and one things that are 
 simply disgusting, but which must be done? " 
 
 Mr. Hanbury-Green had not a sufficiently strong 
 answer ready, so remained loftily silent, while John Der- 
 ringham went on: 
 
 " We obscure every issue nowadays by a sickly senti- 
 ment and this craze for words to prove black is white 
 in order to please the mediocrity. If we could only look 
 facts in the face we should see that the idea of equality 
 of all men is perfectly ridiculous. No ancient republic 
 ever worked, even the most purely democratic, like the 
 Athenian, of the fifth and fourth centuries B. C, with- 
 
 128
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 out an unconsidered and unrepresented population of 
 slaves. You know your Aristotle, Mr. Green," he went 
 on blandly, " and you will remember his admirable re- 
 mark about some men being born masters and others 
 born to obey, and that, if only Nature had made the 
 difference in their mental capacities as apparent to the 
 eye as is the difference in their bodies, everyone would 
 rcognize this at once." 
 
 His voice grew intense: the subject interested him. 
 
 " You may say," he went on, " that Aristotle, Plato 
 and Socrates accepted the fact of slavery without pro- 
 test because it was an institution from time immemorial, 
 and so the idea did not appear to them so repugnant. 
 But do you mean to tell me that such consummate 
 geniuses, such unbiased glorious brains would have 
 glossed over any idea, or under-considered any point in 
 their schemes for the advancement of man? They ac- 
 cepted slavery because they saw that it was the only 
 possible way to make a republic work, where all citizens 
 might aspire to be equal." 
 
 "You would advocate slavery then? Oh! Mr. Der- 
 ringham, how dreadful of you ! " exclaimed Mrs. Crick- 
 lander, half playfully. 
 
 " Not in the least," he returned, still allowing some 
 feeling to stay in his voice. " I would only have it 
 recognized that there must be some class in my ideal 
 republic who will do the duties of the slaves of old. 
 I would have it so arranged that they should occupy 
 this class only when they had shown they were unfit for 
 anything higher, and I would also arrange it that the 
 
 129
 
 H ALCYONE 
 
 moment they appeared capable of rising out of it there 
 should be no bar to their doing so. It is the cry of our 
 all being equal because we have two arms and two legs 
 and a head in common, not counting any mental endow- 
 ment, which is utter trash and hypocrisy. But when 
 these agitators are shouting for the people's rights and 
 inciting poor ignorant wretches to revolt, they never 
 suggest that the lowest of them is not perfectly suited 
 to the highest position ! Those occupying any station 
 above the lowest have got there merely by superior luck 
 and favoritism, not merit — that is what they preach." 
 
 Mr. Hanbury-Green was just going to answer with a 
 biting attack when Miss Cora Lutworth's rather high 
 voice was heard interrupting from a tall old chair in 
 which she had perched herself. 
 
 " Why, Mr. Derringham, we all want to be something 
 very grand," she laughed merrily. " I hate common 
 people and love English dukes and duchesses — don't 
 you, Cis? " and she looked at Mrs. Cricklander, who was 
 standing in a position of much stately grace by the lofty 
 mantelpiece. 
 
 " You sweet girl ! " exclaimed Lord Freynault, who 
 was next to her. " I cannot get any nearer to those 
 favored folk than my uncle's being a duke, but won't 
 you let me in for some of your friendly feelings on that 
 account ? " 
 
 " I certainly will," she answered archly, " because I 
 like the way you look. I like how your hair is brushed, 
 and how your clothes are cut, and your being nice and 
 clean and outdoor — and long and thin — " and then 
 
 130
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 she whispered — " ever so much better than Mr. Han- 
 bury-Green's thick appearance. He may be as clever 
 as clever, but he is common and climbing up, and I like 
 best the people who are there ! " 
 
 John Derringham now addressed himself exclusively 
 to his hostess. 
 
 " I agree with the point of view of the old Greeks — 
 they were so full of common sense. Balance and har- 
 mony in everything was their aim. A beautiful body, 
 for instance, should be the correlative of a beautiful soul. 
 Therefore in general their athletics were not pursued, 
 as are ours, for mere pleasure and sport, and because we 
 like to feel fit. They did not systematically exercise 
 just to wrest from some rival the prize in the games, 
 either. Their care of the body had a far higher and 
 nobler end: to bring it into harmony as a dwelling- 
 place for a noble soul/' 
 
 " How divine ! " said Mrs. Cricklander. 
 
 John Derringham went on: 
 
 "You remember Plato upon the subject — his reluc- 
 tance to admit that a physical defect must sometimes be 
 overlooked. But nowadays everything is distorted by 
 ridiculous humanitarian nonsense. With our wonderful 
 inventions, our increasing knowledge of sanitation and 
 science, and the possibilities and limitations of the human 
 body, what glorious people we should become if we could 
 choke this double-headed hydra of rotten sentiment and 
 exalt common sense ! " 
 
 But now Mrs. Cricklander saw that a storm was gath- 
 ering upon Mr. Hanburv-Green's brow and, admirable 
 
 131
 
 H ALCYONE 
 
 hostess that she was, she decided to smooth the troubled 
 waters, so she went across the room to the piano, and 
 began to play a seductive valse, while John Derringham 
 followed her and leaned upon the lid, and tried to feel 
 as devoted as he looked. 
 
 " Why cannot we go to-morrow and see your old mas- 
 ter? " she asked, as her white fingers, with their one or 
 two superb rings, glided over the keys. " I feel an 
 unaccountable desire to become acquainted with him. I 
 should love to see what the person was like who molded 
 you when you were a boy." 
 
 " Mr. Carlyon is a wonderful-looking old man," John 
 Derringham returned. " Someone — who knows him 
 very well — described him long ago as ' Cheiron.' You 
 will see how apt it is when you meet." 
 
 Mrs. Cricklander crashed some chords. She had 
 never heard of this Cheiron. She felt vaguely that Ara- 
 bella had told her of some classical or mythological per- 
 sonage of some such sounding name, a boatman of sorts 
 — but she dare not risk a statement, so she went on with 
 the point she wished to gain, which was to investigate at 
 once Mr. Carlyon's surroundings and discover, if possi- 
 ble, whether there was any influence there that would 
 be inimical to herself. 
 
 " I dare say we can go to-morrow," John Derringham 
 said. " You and I might walk over — and perhaps Miss 
 Lutworth and Freynault. We can't go a large party, 
 the house is so small." 
 
 " Why cannot you and I go alone, then? " she asked. 
 
 " Oh, I think he would like to see Miss Cora. She is 
 
 132
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 such a charming girl," and John Derringham looked 
 over to where she sat, still dangling a pair of blue satin 
 feet from the high chair. And inwardly Mrs. Crick- 
 lander burned. 
 
 Cora was a second cousin of her divorced husband, 
 and belonged by birth to that inner cream of New York 
 society which she hated in her heart. Never, never 
 again would she be so foolish as to chance crossing 
 swords with one of her own nation. But aloud she ac- 
 quiesced blandly and arranged that they should start 
 at eleven o'clock. 
 
 " Perhaps we could persuade him to return to lunch 
 with us ? " she hazarded. " And that would be so nice." 
 
 " You must do what you can with him," John Der- 
 ringham said. " I have prepared him to find you beau- 
 tiful — as you are." 
 
 " You say lovely things about me behind my back, 
 then? " she laughed. " Now he will be disappointed! " 
 
 " Yes, I admit it was a betise — but, being my real 
 thoughts, they slipped out when I was there to-day. 
 You will have to be extra charming to substantiate 
 them." 
 
 Before Mrs. Cricklander went to bed, she called Ara- 
 bella Clinker into her room. 
 
 " Arabella," she said, " who was Cheiron? " But she 
 pronounced the " ei " as an " a," so Miss Clinker replied 
 without any hesitation: 
 
 " He was a boatman who carried the souls of the dead 
 over the River Styx, and to whom they were obliged to 
 pay an obolus — son of Erebus and Nox. He is rep- 
 
 133
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 resented as an old man with a hideous face and long 
 white beard and piercing eyes." 
 
 " Is there anything else I ought to know about him? " 
 her employer asked, and Arabella thought for a moment. 
 
 " There is the story of Hercules not showing the 
 golden bow. Er — it is a little complicated and has to 
 do with the superstitions of the ancients — er — some- 
 thing Egyptian, I think, for the moment — I will look 
 it up to-morrow. I can't say offhand." 
 
 " Thanks, Arabella. Good night." 
 
 And it was not until after the party of four had 
 started next morning that Miss Clinker suddenly 
 thought, with a start : " She may have been alluding to 
 quite the other Cheiron — the Centaur — and in that 
 case I have given her some wrong lights ! "
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 GORA was being more than exasperating, Mrs. 
 Cricklander thought, as they went through the 
 park. Not content with Lord Freynault, who 
 was plainly devoted to her, she kept every now and then 
 looking back at John Derringham with some lively sally, 
 and although he was being particularly agreeable to 
 herself, he responded to Miss Lutworth's piquant attacks 
 with a too ready zeal. 
 
 Mrs. Cricklander grew more and more certain that 
 her hold over him had lessened in these last two days, 
 and every force in her indomitable personality stiffened 
 with determination to win him at all costs. 
 
 The Professor received them graciously. He was 
 seated in his library, which now was a most comfortable 
 room surrounded with bookcases in which lived all his 
 rare editions of loved books. Nothing could be more 
 fascinating than Mrs. Cricklander's manner to him — a 
 mixture of deference and friendly familiarity, as though 
 he would appreciate the fact of a tacit understanding 
 between them that she too had a right in John Derring- 
 ham's friends. She had been so reassured by finding 
 that Mr. Carlyon was unmarried and lived alone, that a 
 glow of real warmth towards the Professor emanated 
 from her, while the conviction grew that it was nothing 
 10 135
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 but the influence of Cora Lutworth which had even 
 momentarily cooled her whilom ardent friend. 
 
 Mr. Carlyon's imperturbable countenance gave no 
 hint of what he thought of her, although John Derring- 
 ham watched him furtively and anxiously. He listened 
 to their conversation when he could, and it jarred upon 
 him twice when the lady of his choice altogether missed 
 the point of Cheiron's subtle remarks. She whom he 
 had always considered so understanding! 
 
 Of Halcyone there was no sign and no mention, and 
 for some reason which he could not explain John Der- 
 ringham felt glad. 
 
 It seemed an eternity before Mrs. Cricklander got up 
 to go, having been unable to persuade Mr. Carlyon to 
 return with them to luncheon. He had a slight cold, he 
 said, and meant to remain in his warm library. 
 
 " Mr. Derringham says you are called Cheiron," Mrs. 
 Cricklander announced laughingly. " How ridiculous to 
 find in you any likeness to that old ferryman of the 
 piercing eye. I see no resemblance but in the beard." 
 
 " So John relegates me to the post of ferryman to the 
 dead already, does he ! " Mr. Carlyon responded. " I 
 had hoped he still allowed me my horse's hoofs and my 
 cave — I have been deceiving myself all these years, evi- 
 dently." 
 
 A blank look grew in Mrs. Cricklander's eye. What 
 had caves and horse's hoofs to do with the case? She 
 had better turn the conversation at once, or she might 
 be out of her depth, she felt; and this she did with her 
 usual skill, but not before the Professor's left eyebrow 
 
 136
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 had run up into his forehead, and his wise old eyes be- 
 neath had met and then instantly averted themselves from 
 those of John Derringham. 
 
 All the way back to the house Mrs. Cricklander had 
 the satisfaction of listening to a much more advanced 
 admiration of herself than she had hoped to obtain so 
 soon, and arrived in the best of restored humors — for 
 John Derringham had clenched his teeth as he left the 
 orchard house, and had told himself that he would not 
 be influenced or put off by any of these trifling things, 
 and that it was some vixenish turn of Fate to have al- 
 lowed these currents of disillusion about a woman who 
 was so eminently suitable to reach him through the me- 
 dium of his old friend. 
 
 A strange thing happened to Halcyone that morning. 
 She had made up her mind to keep away from her usual 
 visit to Cheiron on the Monday and Tuesday when John 
 Derringham had announced he might bring over his host- 
 ess to see the Professor. She did not wish to cause com- 
 plications with her aunts by making Mrs. Cricklander's 
 acquaintance, and underneath she had some strange re- 
 luctance herself. Her unerring instincts warned her 
 that this woman might in some way trouble her life, but 
 she thought Saturday would be perfectly safe and was 
 preparing to start, when some vague longing came over 
 her to see her goddess. She had felt less serene since 
 the day before, and John Derringham and his words 
 and looks absorbed her thoughts. The home of Aphro- 
 dite was now in a chest in the long gallery, of which she 
 kept the key, and as this old room was always empty — 
 
 137
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 none of the servants, not even Priscilla, caring about 
 visiting it — haunted, it was, they said — she had 
 plenty of time to spend what hours she liked with her 
 treasure without having to do so by stealth, as in the 
 beginning. For any place indoors she loved the long 
 gallery better than any other place. The broken win- 
 dow panes had been mended when the turn for the better 
 came for the whole house, and now she herself kept it all 
 dusted and tidy and used it as a sitting-room and work- 
 room as well; and, above all, it was the temple of the 
 goddess wherein was her shrine. 
 
 This day when Aphrodite was uncovered from her 
 blue silk wrappings, her whole expression seemed to be 
 one of appeal ; however Halcyone would hold her, in 
 high or low light, the eyes appeared to be asking her 
 something. 
 
 "What is it, sweet mother and friend?" she said. 
 " Do you not want me to leave you to-day ? If so, in- 
 deed I will not. What are you telling me with those 
 beautiful, sad eyes? That something is coming into my 
 existence that you promised me always, and that it will 
 cause me sorrow, and I must pause ? " — and she shiv- 
 ered slightly and laid her cheek against the marble cheek. 
 " I am not afraid, and I want whatever it must be, since 
 it is life." Then she put the head back, and started 
 upon her walk. But first one thing and then another 
 delayed her, until last of all she sat down under the oak 
 near the gap in the hedge and asked herself if all these 
 things could be chance. And here she took to dreaming 
 and watching the young rabbits come out of their holes, 
 
 138
 
 HALC YONE 
 
 and to wondering what Fate held in store for her in the 
 immediate future. What was going to be her life? 
 That nothing but good could happen she always knew, 
 because since the very beginning God — the same per- 
 sonal kindly force that she had always worshiped, un- 
 altered by her deep learning, unweakened by any theo- 
 logical dissertations — was there manifesting the whole 
 year round His wonderful love for the world. 
 
 And so she sat until the clock of the church at Sarthe- 
 under-Crum struck one, and she started up, realizing 
 that she was too late now to go on to Cheiron's and 
 would only just have time to return for lunch with her 
 aunts. She must go instead in the afternoon. So she 
 walked briskly to the house, with a strange feeling of 
 relief and joy, which she was quite unable to account 
 for in any explicable way. 
 
 Nothing delayed her on her second attempt to reach 
 the orchard house, and she found Cheiron placidly 
 smoking while he read a volume of Lucian. She was 
 quite aware what that meant. When the Professor was 
 in an amused and cynical humor he always read 
 Lucian, and although he knew every word by heart, it 
 still caused him complete satisfaction, plainly to be 
 discerned by the upward raising of the left penthouse 
 brow. 
 
 Halcyone sat down and smiled sympathetically while 
 she tried to detect which volume it was, that she might 
 have some clew to the cause of her Professor's mood. 
 But he carefully closed the book, so that she could not 
 see — it was the Judgment of Paris in the dialogue of 
 
 139
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 the gods — and she was unable to have her curiosity 
 gratified. 
 
 "Something has entertained you, Cheiron?" she 
 said. 
 
 " I have had the visit of two goddesses," he answered, 
 chuckling. " Our friend John Derringham brought 
 them. He wanted to show them off and get my opinion, 
 I think." 
 
 " And did you give him one ? " she asked. " I sup- 
 pose not ! " 
 
 " He went away with his teeth shut — " and Mr. Carl- 
 yon's smile deepened as he stroked his white beard. 
 
 Halcyone laughed. She seldom asked questions her- 
 self. If the Professor wished to tell her anything about 
 the ladies he would do so — she was dying to hear ! 
 Presently a set of disjointed sentences flowed from her 
 master's lips between his puffs of smoke. 
 
 " Girl — worth something — showy — honest — sure 
 of herself — clever — pretty — on her own roots — not 
 a graft." 
 
 "Girl" — who was the girl? Halcyone wondered. 
 But Cheiron continued his laconic utterances. 
 
 " Woman — beautiful — determined — thick — 
 roots of the commonest — grafting of the best — oc- 
 topean, tenacious — dangerous — my poor devil of a 
 John ! " 
 
 " And did you give the apple to either, Cheiron ? " 
 Halcyone asked with a gleam of fine humor in her wise 
 eyes. " Or, one of the trio being absent, did you feel 
 yourself excused? " 
 
 140
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 Mr. Carlyon glanced at her sharply, and then broke 
 into a smile. 
 
 " Young woman, I do not think I have ever allowed 
 you to read the Judgment of Paris," he said. " Where- 
 fore your question is ill-timed and irrelevant." 
 
 Then they laughed together. How well they knew 
 one another ! — not only over things Greek. And pres- 
 ently they began their reading. They were in the mid- 
 dle of Symonds' " Renaissance," and so forgot the outer 
 world. 
 
 But after Halcyone had gone in the dusk through 
 the park, the Professor sat in the firelight for a while, 
 and did not ring for lights. He was musing deeply, and 
 his thoughts ran something in this line: 
 
 " John must dree his weird. Nothing anyone could 
 say has ever influenced him. If he marries this woman 
 she will eat his soul; having only a sham one of her 
 own, she will devour his. She'll do very well to adorn 
 the London house and feed his friends. He'll find her 
 out in less than a year — it will kill his inspirations. 
 Well, Zeus and all the gods cannot help a man in his 
 folly. But my business is to see that he does not en- 
 snare the heart of my little girl. If he had waited he 
 could have found her — the one woman with a soul." 
 
 • ••••••• 
 
 Miss Roberta had, unfortunately, a bad attack of 
 rheumatism on Easter Sunday, augmented by a cold, 
 and Halcyone stayed at home to rub her poor knee 
 with hot oil, so she did not see the Wendover party, 
 several of whom came to church. Miss La Sarthe oc- 
 
 141
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 cupied the family pew alone, and was the source of 
 much amusement and delight to the smart inhabitants 
 of the outer world. 
 
 " Isn't she just too sweet, Cis? " whispered Miss 
 Lutworth into Mrs. Cricklander's ear. " Can't we 
 get Mr. Derringham to take us over there this after- 
 noon ? " 
 
 But when the subject was broached later at lunch- 
 eon by his hostess, John Derringham threw cold water 
 upon the idea. He had stayed behind for a few min- 
 utes to renew his acquaintance with the ancient lady, 
 and had given her his arm down the short church path, 
 and placed her with extreme deference in the Shetland 
 pony shay, to the absolute enchantment of Miss Lut- 
 worth, who, with Lord Freynault, stood upon the mound 
 of an old forgotten grave, the better to see. It was 
 in the earlier days of motor-cars, and Mrs. Cricklander's 
 fine open Charron created the greatest excitement as 
 it waited by the lych-gate. The two Shetlands cocked 
 their ears and showed various signs of nervous interest, 
 and William had all he could do to hold the minute 
 creatures. But Miss La Sarthe behaved with unim- 
 paired dignity, never once glancing in the direction of 
 the great green monster. She got in, assisted by the 
 respectful churchwarden, and allowed John Derring- 
 ham to wrap the rug round her knees, and then care- 
 fully adjusted the ring of her turquoise-studded whip 
 handle. 
 
 " Good day, Goddard," she said with benign con- 
 descension to the churchwarden. " And see that Betsy 
 
 142
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 Hodges' child with the whooping-cough gets some of 
 Hester's syrup and is not brought to church again 
 next Sunday." And she nodded a gracious dismissal. 
 Then, turning to John Derringham, she gave him two 
 fingers, while she said with some show of haughty 
 friendliness : " My sister and I will be very pleased 
 to see you if you are staying in this neighborhood, 
 Mr. Derringham, and care to take tea with us one 
 day." 
 
 " I shall be more than delighted," he replied, as he 
 bowed with homage and stood aside, because William's 
 face betrayed his anxiety over the fidgety ponies. 
 
 Miss La Sarthe turned her head with its pork-pie 
 hat and floating veil, and said with superb tranquillity, 
 " You may drive on now, William." And they rolled 
 off between a lane of respectful, curtseying rustics. 
 
 Mrs. Cricklander and Lady Maulevrier had already 
 entered the motor and Avere surveying the scene with 
 amused interest, while Miss Lutworth and Lord Frey- 
 nault, chaperoned by Arabella Clinker, were preparing 
 to walk. It was not more than a mile across the park, 
 and it was a glorious day. John Derringham joined 
 them. 
 
 ;t I think I will come with you, too," he said. " You 
 take my place, Sir Tedbury. It is only fair you should 
 dri 
 
 ive one way 
 
 « 
 
 And so it was arranged, not altogether to the satis- 
 faction of the hostess, who would have preferred to 
 have walked also. However, there was nothing to be 
 done, and so they were whizzed off, while with the tail 
 
 143
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 of her e} r e Cecilia Cricklander perceived that Lord Frey- 
 nault had been displaced from Cora's side and was now 
 stalking behind the other pair, beside Arabella Clinker. 
 
 " What an extraordinary sight that was," she said 
 to Sir Tedbury Delvine as they went along. " I thought 
 no villagers curtsied any more now in England. That 
 very funny-looking old lady might have been a roy- 
 alty ! " 
 
 " It is because she has never had a doubt but that 
 she is — or something higher — complete owner of all 
 these souls," he returned, " that they have not yet be- 
 gun to doubt it either. They and their forebears have 
 bobbed to the La Sarthe for hundreds of years, and 
 they will go on doing it if this holder of the name lives 
 to be ninety-nine. They would never do so to any new- 
 comer, though, I expect." 
 
 " But I am told they have not a penny left, and have 
 sold every acre of the land except the park. Is it not 
 wonderful, Kitty?" Mrs. Cricklander went on, turning 
 to Lady Maulevrier. " I am dying to know them. I 
 hope they will call." 
 
 But Sir Tedbury had already chanced to have talked 
 the matter over with John Derringham, because he 
 himself was most anxious to see La Sarthe Chase, which 
 was of deep historical interest, and had incidentally been 
 made aware by that gentleman of the old ladies' views, 
 so he hastily turned the conversation, rather awkwardly, 
 to other things. And a wonder grew in Mrs. Crick- 
 lander's mind. 
 
 That anyone should not be enchanted to receive her 
 
 144
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 beautiful and sought-after self could not enter her 
 brain, but there was evidently some bar between the 
 acquaintance of herself and her nearest neighbors, and 
 Arabella should be set to find out of what it consisted.
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 OO let us go around by the boundary," Miss 
 Lutworth said when they got through the 
 Wendover gates. " I long to see even the 
 park of that exquisite old lady ; it must look quite dif- 
 ferent to anj'body else's, and I feel I want an adven- 
 ture ! " 
 
 So they struck in towards the haw-haw — the four 
 walking almost abreast. 
 
 When they came to be3 T ond the copse, after it touched 
 the Professor's garden, they paused and took in the 
 view. It was unspeakably beautiful from there, rolling 
 away towards the splendid old house, which could only 
 just be distinguished through the giant trees, not yet 
 in leaf. And suddenly, hardly twenty yards from 
 them across the gulf, coming from the gap in Mr. 
 Carlyon's hedge, they saw a tall and very slender mouse- 
 colored figure, as Halcyone emerged on her homeward 
 way — she had run down to see Cheiron when her duties 
 with Miss Roberta were over, and was now going back 
 to lunch. 
 
 "Good morning!" called John Derringham, and the 
 four advanced to the very edge of their side, and Hal- 
 cyone turned and also bordered hers, while she bowed 
 serenely. 
 
 146
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 .. 
 
 u 
 
 Isn't it a day of the gods ! " he continued. " And 
 may I from across this Stygian lake (there was a little 
 water collected in the haw-haw here from the recent 
 rains) introduce Miss Lutworth to you — and Miss 
 Clinker and Lord Freynault? Miss Halcyone La Sar- 
 the." 
 
 Everyone bowed, and Halcyone smiled her sweet, 
 grave smile. 
 
 "We would love to jump over — or you come to 
 us," Cora Lutworth said with her frank, friendly charm. 
 Isn't there any way ? " 
 
 I am afraid not," responded Halcyone. " You are 
 across in another world — we live in the shades, this 
 side." 
 
 " Remember something about a fellow named Or- 
 pheus getting over to fetch his girl " — " gail " Lord 
 Freynault pronounced it — " since old John will use 
 Eton cribs in describing the horrid chasm. Can't we 
 sop old Cerberus and somehow manage to swim, if there 
 is no ferryman about ? " 
 
 " You would certainly be drowned," said Halcyone. 
 " In this place the lake is quite ten inches deep ! " 
 
 Cora Lutworth was taking in every bit of her with 
 her clever, kindly eyes. 
 
 ' What a sweet, distinguished violet-under-the- 
 mossy-bank pet of a girl ! " she was saying to herself. 
 c No wonder Mr. Derringham goes to see his Profes- 
 sor! How mad Cis would be! I shan't tell her." 
 And aloud she said: 
 
 " You cannot imagine how I am longing to get a 
 
 147
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 nearer peep of your beautiful old house. Do we get 
 a chance further on ? " 
 
 " No," said Halcyone. " I am so sorry. You 
 branch further off once you have passed the closed 
 gate. It was very stupid — the La Sarthe quarreled 
 with the Wendovers a hundred years ago, and it was all 
 closed up then, and these wicked spikes put." 
 
 " It is too tantalizing. But won't you walk with 
 us to where we have to part? " Miss Lutworth said, 
 while John Derringham had a sudden longing to turn 
 back and carefully remove certain bits of iron and 
 brick he wot of, and ask this nymph of the woods to 
 take him on to their tree, and tell him more stories 
 about Jason and Medea in that exquisitely refined voice 
 of hers, as she had done once before, long ago. But 
 even though he might not have this joy, he got rather 
 a fine pleasure out of the fact of sharing the secret 
 of the crossing with her, and he had the satisfaction 
 of meeting her soft eyes in one lightning comprehend- 
 ing glance. 
 
 They chatted on about the view and the beauties of 
 the neighborhood, and they all laughed often at some 
 sally of Cora's — no one could resist her joyous, bub- 
 bling good-fellowship. She had all the sparkle of her 
 clever nation, and the truest, kindest heart. Halcyone 
 had never spoken to another young girl in her life, 
 and felt like a yearling horse — a desire to whinny to a 
 fellow colt and race up and down with him beside the 
 dividing fence of their paddocks. A new light of 
 youth and sweetness came into her pale face. 
 
 148
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 " I do wish I might ask you to come round by the 
 road," she said, " and see it near, but, as Mr. Derring- 
 ham knows, my aunts are very old, and one is almost an 
 invalid now, so we never have any visitors at all." 
 
 " Of course, we quite understand," said Cora, quickly, 
 touched at once by this simple speech. " But we should 
 so love you to come over to us." 
 
 " Alas ! " said Halcyone, " it is indeed the Styx." 
 
 And here they arrived at the boarded-up gate, where 
 further view was impossible, and from which onwards 
 the lands ceased to join. 
 
 " Good-by ! " they called to one another, even Ara- 
 bella Clinker joining in the chorus, while Cora Lut worth 
 ran back to say: 
 
 " Some day we'll meet — outside the Styx. Let us 
 get Mr. Derringham to manage it ! " 
 
 And Halcyone cried a glad " Oh, yes 1 " 
 
 " What a darling ! What a perfect darling ! " Miss 
 Lutworth said enthusiastically, taking Arabella's arm 
 as they struck rapidly inward and up a knoll. " Did 
 you ever see anything look so like a lady in that im- 
 possible old dress? Tell us about her, Mr. Derring- 
 ham. Does she live with those prehistoric ladies all 
 alone in that haunted house? Could anything be so 
 mysterious and romantic? Please tell us all you know." 
 Yes, she does, I believe," John Derringham said. 
 My old master tells me she never sees or speaks to 
 anyone from one year's end to another. I have only met 
 her very rarely myself." 
 
 Does it not seem too awful? " returned Cora, aghast, 
 
 149 
 
 a 
 
 a
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 thinking of her own merry, enjoyable life, with every 
 whim gratified. " To be so young and attractive and 
 actually buried alive ! Don't you think she is a dream, 
 Arabella? " 
 
 " I was greatly impressed with her distinction and 
 charm," Miss Clinker said. " I wish we could do some- 
 thing for her to make things brighter." 
 
 " Let us ask Ci — " and then Miss Lutworth paused, 
 returning to her first thought — she knew her hostess 
 well. No, it could not bring any pleasure into the life 
 of this slender, lithe English lady with the wonderful 
 Greek name, to be made acquainted with Cecilia Crick- 
 lander, who would tear her to pieces without compunc- 
 tion the moment she understood in what direction John 
 Derringham's eyes would probably be cast. He saw 
 Cora's hesitation and understood, and was grateful. 
 
 " I believe this girl is trumps. I don't think she will 
 even mention our meeting," he said to himself. 
 
 Now for a few steps Miss Lutworth drew Arabella 
 Clinker on ahead. 
 
 " Arabella, you dear," she whispered, " I don't want 
 to say a word against Cis — who, of course, is all right 
 — but I have a feeling we won't tell her we've met this 
 dryad of a Halcyone La Sarthe. Have you got that 
 instinct, too? " 
 
 " Quite strongly," said Arabella, who never wasted 
 words. " I was going to mention to you the same idea 
 myself." 
 
 " Then that is understood ! " and she laughed her 
 happy laugh. " I'll see that Freynie doesn't peach ! " 
 
 150
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 Thus it was that four demure and healthful-looking 
 beings joined the party on the terrace of Wendover, 
 and described their pleasant walk, without one word 
 spoken of their rencontre with the } r oungest Miss La 
 Sarthe. And once or twice Cora Lutworth's mischie- 
 vous eyes met those of John Derringham, and they both 
 laughed. 
 
 11
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 ^ g'OHN DERRINGHAM made a point of slip- 
 
 & 1 P m g away on the Easter Tuesday afternoon; 
 A»_^' he determined to drink tea with the Misses 
 La Sarthe. He went to his room with important letters 
 to write, and then sneaked down again like a truant 
 schoolboy, and when he got safely out of sight, struck 
 obliquely across the park to the one vulnerable spot in the 
 haw-haw, and after fumbling a good deal, from his 
 side, managed to get the spikes out and to climb down, 
 and repeat the operation upon the other side. There 
 was no water here, it was on rather higher ground, and 
 he was soon striding up the beech avenue towards the 
 house. 
 
 " It would be an extremely awkward place to get over 
 in the dark," he thought, and then he was conscious that 
 Halcyone was far in the distance in front of him, al- 
 most entering the house. 
 
 So she would be in, then — that was good. 
 
 He had never permitted his mind to dwell upon her 
 for an instant, after the Sunday walk. He made him- 
 self tell himself that she was a charming child whom 
 he felt great pity for, on account of her lonely life. 
 That he himself took a special interest in her he would 
 not have admitted for a second to his innermost thought. 
 
 152
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 He had now definitely made up his mind to propose to 
 Cecilia Cricklander, and was only awaiting a suitable 
 occasion to put this intention into effect. 
 
 Numbers of moments had come — and passed — but 
 he was always able to find good and sufficient fault with 
 them. And once or twice, when Fate itself seemed to 
 arrange things for him, he had a sudden sensation as 
 of a swimmer fighting with the tide, and he had battled 
 to the shore again, and was still free! 
 
 But it must come, of course, and before he left for 
 London at the end of the week. Private news had 
 reached him that the Government must soon go out, 
 and he felt this thing must be an accomplished fact 
 before then, for the hand he meant to play. 
 
 But meanwhile it was only Tuesday, and he was near- 
 ing the battered and nail-bestudded front door of La 
 Sarthe Chase. William said the ladies were at home, and 
 he was shown into the Italian parlor forthwith. 
 
 It had not changed in the slightest degree in the 
 seven years since he had seen it first, nor had the two 
 ancient spinsters themselves. They were most gra- 
 ciously glad to receive him, and gave him tea out 
 of the thinnest china cups, and at last Miss Roberta 
 said: 
 
 " Our great-niece Halcyone will be coming down in 
 a moment, Mr. Derringham. She has grown up into 
 a very tall girl. You will hardly recognize her, I ex- 
 pect." 
 
 And at that instant Halcyone opened the door and 
 said a quiet word of welcome. And if her heart beat 
 
 153
 
 HALCYON E 
 
 rather faster than usual under her simple serge bodice, 
 nothing of any emotion showed in her tranquil face. 
 
 She took her tea and sat down in a chair rather in 
 the shadows and aloof. 
 
 Miss La Sarthe monopolized the conversation. She 
 had no intention of relinquishing the pleasure of this 
 rare guest, so while Miss Roberta got in a few sen- 
 tences, Halcyone hardly spoke a word, and if she had 
 really been a coquette, calculating her actions, she could 
 not have piqued John Derringham more. 
 
 She looked so very sylph-like as she sat there, bending 
 her graceful head. Her eyes were all in shadow and 
 seemed to gleam as things of mystery from under her 
 dark brows, while the pure lines of her temples and the 
 planting of her soft thick hair made him think of some 
 virgin goddess. 
 
 But she never spoke. 
 
 At last John Derringham began to grow exasperated, 
 and plunged into temptation, which he did not admit 
 that he ought to have avoided. 
 
 " I am so very much interested in this wonderful 
 old house," he said, addressing Miss La Sarthe. " That 
 row of bay windows is in a long gallery, I suppose? 
 Would it be a great impertinence if I asked to see 
 it?" 
 
 " We shall be pleased for you to do so," the old lady 
 returned, without much warmth. " It is very cold and 
 draughty, my sister and I have not entered it for many 
 years, but Halcyone, I believe, goes there sometimes ; 
 she will show it to you if you wish." 
 
 154
 
 HALC YONE 
 
 Hale j one rose, ready at once to obey her aunts, and 
 led the way towards the door. 
 
 " We had better go up the great staircase and along 
 through Sir Timothy's rooms. The staircase which 
 leads directly to it from the hall is not quite safe," 
 she said. " Except for me," she added, when they 
 were outside the door. " Then, I know exactly where 
 to put my feet ! " 
 
 " I would follow you blindly," said John Derringham, 
 " but we will go which way you will. Only, you are 
 such a strange, silent little old friend now — I am afraid 
 of you!" 
 
 Halcyone was rather ahead, leading the way, and 
 she turned and paused while he came up close beside her. 
 Her eyes were quite startled. 
 " You afraid of me ! " she said. 
 
 " Yes — you seem so nymph-like and elusive. I do 
 not know if I am really looking at an ordinary earth- 
 maiden, or whether you will melt away." 
 
 " I am quite real," and she smiled, " but now you 
 must notice these two rooms a little that we shall pass 
 through. They are very ghostly I think; they were 
 the Sir Timothy's who went to fetch James I from 
 Scotland. I am glad they are not mine, but the long 
 gallery I love ; it is my sitting-room — my very own — 
 and in it I keep something which matters to me more 
 than anything else in the world." Then she went on, 
 with a divine shyness which thrilled her companion: 
 " And — I do not know why — but I think I will show 
 it to you." 
 
 155
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 a 
 
 Yes, please do that," he responded eagerly, " and 
 do not let us stop to look at the ghostly apartments — 
 where you sit interests me far more." 
 
 So they went rapidly through Sir Timothy's rooms, 
 with the great state bed where had slept his royal mas- 
 ter, so the tale ran, and on down some uneven steps, 
 and through a small door, and there found themselves 
 in the long, narrow room, with its bays along the south- 
 ern side, and one splendid mullioned casement at the 
 end with coats-of-arms emblazoned upon each division. 
 And through this, which looked west, there poured 
 the lowered afternoon sun with a broad shaft of glorious 
 light. 
 
 The place was almost empty, but for a chest or two 
 and a table near this window with writing materials and 
 books. And upon a rough set of shelves close at hand 
 niany more volumes reposed. 
 
 " So it is here you live and work, you wise, lonely, 
 little Pallas Athene," he said. 
 
 " You must not call me that — I am not at all like 
 her," Halcyone answered softly. " She was very 
 clever and very noble — but a little hard, I think. Wait 
 until I have shown you my own goddess. I would 
 rather have her soul than any other of the Olympian 
 gods." 
 
 John Derringham took a step nearer to her. 
 
 " Do you remember the night at dinner here when 
 you told me Pallas Athene's words to Perseus? " he said. 
 " I have thought of them often, and they have helped 
 me sometimes, I think." 
 
 156
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 " I am so glad," said Halcyone simply, while she 
 moved towards her treasure chest. 
 
 He watched her with satisfied eyes — every action 
 of hers was full of grace, and the interest he felt in 
 her personally obscured any for the moment in what 
 she was going to show him, but at last he became aware 
 that she had unlocked a cupboard drawer, and was tak- 
 ing; from it a bundle of blue silk. 
 
 His curiosity was aroused, and he went over as near as 
 he could. 
 
 " Come ! " whispered Halcyone, and walked to the high 
 window-sill of the middle section, and then put down 
 her burden upon the old faded velvet seat. 
 
 " See, I will take off her veil gradually," she said, 
 " and you must tell me of what she makes you think." 
 
 John Derringham was growing interested by now, 
 but had no idea in the world of the marvel he was going 
 to see. He started more perceptibly than even Mr. 
 Carlyon had done seven years before, when he had re- 
 alized the superlative beauty of the Greek head. 
 
 Halcyone uncovered it reverently, and then took a 
 step back, and waited silently for him to speak. 
 
 He looked long into the marvelous face, and then he 
 said as though he were dreaming: 
 
 " Aphrodite herself ! " 
 
 " Ah ! I felt you would know and recognize her at 
 once — Yes, that is her name. Oh, I am glad ! " and 
 Halcyone clapped her hands. " She is my mother, and 
 so, you see, I am never alone here, for she speaks always 
 to me of love." 
 
 157
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 John Derringham looked at her sharply as she said 
 this, and in her eyes he saw two wells of purity, each 
 with an evening star melted into its depths. 
 
 And he suddenly was conscious of something which 
 his whole life had missed — for he knew he did not know 
 what real love meant, not even that which his mother 
 might have given him, if she had lived. 
 
 He did not speak for a moment; he gazed into Hal- 
 cyone's face. It seemed as if a curtain had lifted 
 for one instant and given him a momentary glimpse into 
 some heaven, and then dropped again, leaving a haunting 
 memory of sweetness, the more beautiful because in- 
 distinct. 
 
 " Love — " he said, still dreamily. " Surely there is 
 yet another and a deeper kind of love." 
 
 Halcyone raised her head, while a strange look grew 
 in her wide eyes, almost of fear. It was as though he 
 had put into words some unspoken, unadmitted thought. 
 
 " Yes," she said very softly, " I feel there is — but 
 that is not all peace; that must be gloriously terrible, 
 because it would mean life." 
 
 He looked at her fully now; there was not an atom 
 of coquetry or challenge; her face was pale and ex- 
 quisite in its simple intentness. He turned to the god- 
 dess again, and almost chaunted: 
 
 " Oh ! Aphrodite of the divine lips and soulful eyes, 
 what mystery do you hold for us mortals? What do 
 you promise us? What do you make us pay? Is the 
 good worth the anguish? Is the fulfillment a cup worth 
 draining — without counting the cost?" 
 
 158
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 a 
 
 What does she answer you?" whispered Halcyone. 
 " Does she say that to live and fulfill destiny as the 
 beautiful year does is the only good? It is wiser not 
 to question and weigh the worth, for even though we 
 would not drink, perhaps we cannot escape — since 
 there is Fate." 
 
 John Derringham pulled himself together with an 
 effort. He felt he was drifting into wonderland, where 
 the paths were too tenderly sweet and flowered for him 
 to dare to linger, for there he might find and quaff of 
 the poison cup. So he said in a voice which he strove 
 to bring back to earth: 
 
 " Where did you get the beautiful thing? She is of 
 untold value, of course you know? " 
 
 Halcyone took the marble into her hands lovingly. 
 
 " She came to me out of the night," she said. " Some 
 day I might tell you how — but not to-day. I must put 
 her back again. No one knows but Cheiron and me — 
 and now — you — that she is in existence, and no one 
 else must ever know." 
 
 He did not speak; he watched her while she wrapped 
 the head in its folds of silk. 
 
 " Aphrodite never had so true a priestess, nor one 
 so pure," he thought, and a strange feeling of sadness 
 came over him, and he thanked her rather abruptly for 
 showing him her treasure, and they went silently back 
 through Sir Timothy's rooms, and down the stair; 
 and in the Italian parlor he said good-by at once, and 
 left. 
 
 The wind had got up and blew freshly in his face. 
 
 159
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 There would be a gale before morning. It suited his 
 mood. He struck across the park, but instead of mak- 
 ing for the haw-haw, he turned into Cheiron's little 
 gate. He wanted understanding company, he wanted 
 to talk cynical philosophy, and he wanted the stimulus 
 of his old master's biting wit. 
 
 But when he got there, he found Cheiron very tac- 
 iturn — contributing little more than a growl now and 
 then, while he smoked his long pipe and played with 
 his beard. So at last he got up to go. 
 
 " I have made up my mind to marry Mrs. Cricklander, 
 Master," he said. 
 
 " I supposed so," the Professor replied dryly. " A 
 man always has to convince himself he is doing a fine 
 thing when he gives himself up to be hanged."
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 ^— J'OHN DERRINGHAM reached Wendover — 
 O 1 by the road and the lodge gates — in an impos- 
 \^^* sible temper. He had left the orchard house 
 coming as near to a quarrel with his old master as such 
 a thing could be. He absolutely refused to let himself 
 dwell upon the anger he had felt; and if Fate had 
 given him a distinct and pointed chance to ask the fair 
 Cecilia for her lily hand, when he knocked at her sit- 
 ting-room door before dinner, he would no doubt have 
 left the next day — summoned again to London by his 
 Chief — an engaged man. But this turn of events was 
 not in the calculations of Destiny for the moment, and 
 he found no less a person than Mr. Hanbury-Green al- 
 ready ensconced by his hostess's side. They were both 
 smoking and looked very comfortable and at ease. 
 
 " I just came in to tell you I shall be obliged to tear 
 myself away to-morrow," John Derringham said, " and 
 cannot have the pleasure of staying to the end of the 
 week in this delightful place." 
 
 Mrs. Cricklander got up from her reclining position 
 among the cushions. This was a blow. She wished 
 now she had not encouraged Mr. Hanbury-Green to 
 come and sit with her; it might be a lost opportunity 
 which it would be difficult to recapture again. But she 
 
 161
 
 H A L C Y O N E 
 
 had felt so very much annoyed at Mr. Derringham's 
 capriciousness, displayed the whole of the Monday, 
 and then at his absenting himself to-day, having gone 
 to see the Professor, of course — since he was out of the 
 house at tea-time when she had sent to his room to en- 
 quire — that she had determined to see what a little 
 jealousy would do for him. But if he were off on 
 the morrow this might not be a safe moment to try it. 
 
 Mr. Hanbury-Green, however, had not the slightest 
 intention of giving up his place, in spite of several 
 well-directed hints, and sat on like one belonging to the 
 spot. 
 
 So they all had to go off to dress without any longed- 
 for word having been spoken. And Mrs. Cricklander 
 was far too circumspect a hostess to attempt to arrange 
 a tete-a-tete after dinner under the eye of an important 
 social leader like Lady Maulevrier, whom she had only 
 just succeeded in enticing to stay in her country house. 
 So, with the usual semi-political chaff, the evening 
 passed, and good-nights and good-bys were said, and 
 early next day John Derringham left for London. 
 
 He would write — he decided — and all the way up 
 in the train he buried himself in the engrossing letters 
 and papers he had received from his Chief by the morn- 
 ing's post. 
 
 And for the next six weeks he was in such a turmoil 
 of hard work and deep and serious questions about a 
 foreign State that he very seldom had time to go into 
 society, and when at last he was a little more free, Mrs. 
 Cricklander, he found, had not returned from Paris, 
 
 162
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 whither she always went several times a year for her 
 clothes. 
 
 But they had written to one another once or twice. 
 
 He had promised in the last letter that he would go 
 down to Wendover again for Whitsuntide, and this time 
 he firmly determined nothing should keep him from his 
 obvious and delectable fate. 
 
 Mrs. Cricklander had no haunting fears now. She 
 could discover no reason for John Derringham's change 
 towards her. Arabella had been mute and had put it 
 down to the stress of his life. This tension with the 
 foreign State, it leaked out, had been known to the Min- 
 isters for a week before it had been made public — 
 that, of course, was the cause of his preoccupation, 
 and she would simply order some especially irresistible 
 garments in Paris, and bide her time. 
 
 He wrote the most charming letters, though they 
 were hardly long enough to be called anything but notes ; 
 but there was always the insinuation in them that she 
 was the one person in the world who understood 
 him, and they were expressed with his usual cultivated 
 taste. 
 
 It was sheer force of will that kept John Derringham 
 from ever thinking of Halcyone. He resolutely crushed 
 the thought of her every time it presented itself, and 
 systematically turned to his work and plunged into 
 it, if even a mental vision of her came to his mind's 
 eye. 
 
 He felt quite calm and safe when, two days before 
 he was expected at Wendover, the idea came to him to 
 
 163
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 propose himself to the Professor, so as not to have to 
 go and see him and endure his cynical reflections after 
 he should be engaged to his hostess. 
 
 Mr. Carlyon had wired back, " Come if you like," 
 and on this evening in early June John Derringham 
 arrived at the orchard house. 
 
 Cheiron made no allusion to the matter that had 
 caused them to part with some breez}- words upon his old 
 pupil's side. Mrs. Cricklander or Wendover might not 
 have existed; their talk was upon philosophy and poli- 
 tics, and contained not the shadow of a woman — even 
 Halcvone was not mentioned at all. 
 
 Whitsuntide fell late that year, at the end of the 
 first week in June, and the spring having been excep- 
 tionally mild, the foliage was all in full beauty of the 
 freshest green. 
 
 It was astonishingly hot, and every divine scent of 
 the night came to John Derringham as he went out 
 into the garden before going to bed. A young setting 
 half-moon still hung in the sky, and there were stars. 
 One of those nights when all the mystery of life seems 
 to be revealing itself in the one word — Love. The 
 nightingale throbbed out its note in the copse amidst a 
 perfect stillness, and the ground was soft without a 
 drop of dew. 
 
 John Derringham, hatless, and with his hands plunged 
 in the pockets of his dinner coat, wandered down the 
 garden towards the apple tree, picking an early red 
 rosebud as he passed a bush — its scent intoxicated him 
 a little. Then he went to the gate, and, opening it, 
 
 164.
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 he strolled into the park. Here was a vaster and more 
 perfect view. It was all clothed in the unknown of 
 the half dark, and yet he could distinguish the out- 
 line of the giant trees. He went on as if in some de- 
 licious dream, which yet had some heart-break in it, 
 and at last he came to the tree where he and Halcyone 
 had sat those seven years ago, when she had told him 
 of what consisted the true point of honor in a man. He 
 remembered it all vividly, her very words and the cloud 
 of her soft hair which had blown a little over his face. 
 He sat down upon the fallen log that had been made 
 into a rude bench; and there he gazed in front of him, 
 unconscious now of any coherent thought. 
 
 Suddenly he was startled by a laugh so near him 
 and so soft that he believed himself to be dreaming, 
 but he looked round and quickly rose to his feet, and 
 there at the other side of the tree he saw standing the 
 ethereal figure of a girl, while her filmy gray garments 
 seemed to melt into the night. 
 
 " Halcyone ! " he gasped. " And from where ? " 
 
 " Ah ! " she said as she came towards him. " You 
 have invaded my kingdom. Mortal, what right have 
 you to the things of the night ? They belong to me — 
 who know them and love them." 
 
 " Then have compassion upon me, sweet dryad ! " he 
 pleaded, " who am but a pilgrim who cannot see his 
 way. Let me shelter under your protection and be 
 guided aright." 
 
 She laughed again — a ripple of silver that he had 
 not guessed her voice possessed. Her whole bearing 
 
 165
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 was changed from the reserved, demure and rather timid 
 creature whom he knew. She was a sprite now, or a 
 nymph, or even a goddess, for her brow was imperious 
 and her mien one of assured command. 
 
 " This is my kingdom," she said, " and if you obey 
 me, I will show you things of which you have never 
 dreamed — " and then she came towards the tree and sat 
 upon the high forked branch of the broken bough 
 while she pointed with shadowy finger to the part which 
 was a bench. " Sit there, Man of Day," she ordered, 
 " for you cannot see beyond your hand. You cannot 
 know how the living things are creeping about, un- 
 afraid now of your cruel power. You cannot discern 
 the difference in the colors of the fresh young bracken 
 and the undergrowth ; you cannot perceive the birds 
 asleep in the tree." 
 
 "No, indeed, Lady of Night," he said, "I admit 
 I am but a mole, but you will let me perceive them with 
 your eyes, will you not ? " 
 
 She slipped from her perch suddenly, before he could 
 put out a protesting hand to stop her, and glided out 
 of his view into the dark of the copse, and from there 
 he heard the intoxicating silver laughter which mad- 
 dened his every sense. 
 
 "Halcyone! Witch!" he called. "Come back to 
 me — I am afraid, all alone ! " 
 
 So she came, appearing like a materializing wraith 
 from the shadow, and with an undulating movement of 
 incredible grace she was again seated upon her perch, 
 the fallen forked branch of the tree. 
 
 166
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 John Derringham was experiencing the strongest emo- 
 tion he had ever felt in his life. 
 
 A maddening desire to seize the elusive joy — to come 
 nearer — to assure himself that she was real and not a 
 spirit of night sent to torture and elude him — overcame 
 all other thought. The startling change from her de- 
 portment of the day — the very way she glided about 
 was as the movement of some other being. 
 
 And as those old worshipers of Dionysus had grown 
 intoxicated with the night and the desire of communion 
 with the beyond, so he — John Derringham — cool, cal- 
 culating English statesman — felt himself being drawn 
 into a current of emotion and enthrallment whose end 
 could only be an ecstasy of which he did not yet dare 
 to dream. 
 
 It was all so abnormal — to see her here, a shadow, 
 a tantalizing soft shadow with a new personality — it 
 was no wonder he rubbed his eyes and asked himself if 
 he were awake. 
 
 " Come with me," she whispered, bending nearer to 
 him, " and I will show you how the wild roses grow at 
 night." 
 
 " I will follow you to Hades," he said, " but I warn 
 you I cannot see a yard beyond my nose. You must 
 lead me with your hand, if so ethereal a spirit possesses 
 a hand." 
 
 Again the silver laugh, and he saw her not, but pres- 
 ently she appeared from behind the tree. She had let 
 down her misty, mouse-colored hair, and it floated around 
 her like a cloud. 
 
 12 167
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 Then she slipped a cool, soft set of fingers into his, 
 and led him onward, with sure and certain steps, while 
 he blundered, not knowing where to put his feet, and 
 all the time she turned every few seconds and looked 
 at him, and he could just distinguish the soft mystery 
 of her eyes, while now and then, as she walked, a tendril 
 of her floating hair flew out and caressed his face, as 
 once before, long ago. 
 
 " There are fairy things all about us," she said. 
 " Countless pink campions and buttercups, with an elf 
 in each. They will feel your giant feet, but they will 
 know you are a mortal and cannot help your ways, 
 because, you poor, blind bat, you cannot see ! " 
 
 "And you?" he asked. "Who gave you these 
 eyes ? " 
 
 " My mother," she answered softly, " the Goddess of 
 the Night." 
 
 And then she drew him on rapidly and stealthily, 
 and he saw at last, in the open space where the stars 
 and the sinking moon gave more light, that they were 
 approaching the broken gate, and were near the terraced 
 garden, which now was better kept. 
 
 When they got to this barrier to their path, Halcyone 
 paused and leaned upon it. 
 
 " Mortal," she said, " you are wandering in a maze. 
 You have come thus far because I have led you, but you 
 would have fallen if you had walked so fast alone. 
 Now look, and I will show you the lily-of-the-valley cups 
 — there are only a few there under the shelter of the 
 gray stone arch. Come." 
 
 168
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 And she opened the gate, letting go of his hand as she 
 glided beyond. 
 
 " I cannot and will not hazard a step if you leave me," 
 he called, and she came back and gave him again her 
 soft fingers to hold. So at last they reached the sum- 
 mer house at the end of the second terrace, where the 
 archway was where old William kept his tools. 
 
 There were very few flowers out, but a mass of wild 
 roses, and still some May tulips bloomed, while from 
 the meadow beneath them came that indescribable fresh- 
 ness which young clover gives. 
 
 John Derringham knew now that he was dreaming — 
 or drunk with some nectar which was not of earth. And 
 still she led him on, and then pointed to the old bench 
 which he could just see. 
 
 " We shall sit here," she said, " and Aphrodite shall 
 tell us your future — for see, she, too, loves the night 
 and comes here with me." 
 
 And to his intense astonishment, as he peered on to 
 the table, he saw a misty mass of folds of silk, and 
 there lay the goddess's head, that Halcyone had shown 
 to him that day in the long gallery more than a month 
 ago. 
 
 He was so petrified with surprise at the whole thing 
 that he had ceased to reason. Everything came now 
 as a matter of course, like the preposterous sequence 
 of events in a dream. The Aphrodite lay, as a woman 
 caressed, half buried in her silken folds, but Halcyone 
 lifted her up and propped her against a stone vase which 
 was near, letting the silk fall so that the broken neck 
 
 169
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 did not show, and it seemed as if a living woman's face 
 gazed down upon them. 
 
 John Derringham's eyes were growing more accus- 
 tomed to the darkness, or Halcyone really had some 
 magic power, for it seemed to him that he could see the 
 divine features quite clearly. 
 
 " She is saying," the soft voice of his companion 
 whispered in his ear, " that all the things you will grasp 
 with your hands are but dreams — and the things that 
 you now believe to be dreams are all real." 
 
 "And are you a dream, you sweet?" asked John 
 Derringham. " Or are you tangible, and must I drink 
 the poison cup, after all? " 
 
 " I would give you no noxious wine," she answered. 
 " If you were strong and wise and true, only the fire 
 which I have stolen from heaven could come to you." 
 
 " Long ago," he said, " you gave me an oak-leaf, 
 dryad, and I have kept it still. What now will you 
 grant to me? " 
 
 " Nothing, since you fear — " and she drew back. 
 
 " I do not fear," he answered wildly. " Halcyone ! 
 — sweetheart ! I want you — here — next my heart. 
 Give me — yourself ! " 
 
 Then he stretched out his arms and drew her to him, 
 all soft and loving and unresisting, and he pressed his lips 
 to her pure and tender lips. And it seemed as if the 
 heavens opened, and the Night poured down all that was 
 divine of bliss. 
 
 But before he could be sure that indeed he held her 
 safely in his arms, she started forward, releasing her- 
 
 170
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 self. Then, clasping Aphrodite and her silken folds, 
 with a bound she was far beyond him, and had disap- 
 peared in the shadow of the archway, on whose curve 
 the last rays of moonlight played, so that he saw it out- 
 lined and clear. 
 
 He strode forward to follow her, but to his amaze- 
 ment, when he reached the place, she seemed to vanish 
 absolutely in front of his eyes, and although he lit a 
 match and searched everywhere, not the slightest trace 
 of her could he find, and there was no opening or pos- 
 sible corner into which she could have disappeared. 
 
 Absolutely dumbfounded, he groped his way back 
 to the bench, and sitting down buried his head in his 
 hands. Surely it was all a dream, then, and he had been 
 drunk — with the Professor's Falernian wine — and had 
 wandered here and slept. But, God of all the nights, 
 what an exquisite dream!
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 ^I^^^HE half-moon set, and the night became much 
 ■ *• j darker before John Derringham rose from his 
 ^^^^r seat by the bench. A stupor had fallen upon 
 him. He had ceased to reason. Then he got up and 
 made his way back to the orchard house, under the 
 myriads of pale stars, which shone with diminished 
 brilliancy from the luminous summer night sky. 
 
 Here he seemed to grow material again and to realize 
 that he was indeed awake. But what had happened to 
 him? Whether he had been dreaming or no, a spell 
 had fallen upon him — he had drunk of the poison cup. 
 And Halcyone filled his mind. He thrilled and thrilled 
 again as he remembered the exquisite joy of their ten- 
 der embrace — even though it had been no real thing, 
 but a dream, it was still the divinest good his life had 
 yet known. 
 
 But what could it lead to if it were real? Noth- 
 ing but sorrow and parting and regret. For his ca- 
 reer still mattered to him, he knew, now that he was 
 in his sane senses again, more than anything else in the 
 world. And he could not burden himself with a poor, 
 uninfluential girl as a wife, even though the joy of it 
 took them both to heaven. 
 
 The emotion he was experiencing was one quite new 
 
 172
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 to him, and he almost resented it, because it was up- 
 setting some of his beliefs. 
 
 The next day, at breakfast, the Professor remarked 
 that he looked pale. 
 
 " You rather overwork, John," he said. " To lie 
 about the garden here and not have to follow the ca- 
 prices of fashionable ladies at Wendover, would do you 
 a power of good." 
 
 There was no sight of Halcyone all the day. She 
 was living in a paradise, but hers contained no doubts or 
 uncertainties. She knew that indeed she had lived and 
 breathed the night before, and found complete happiness 
 in John Derringham's arms. 
 
 That, then, was what Aphrodite had always been tell- 
 ing her. She knew now the meaning of the love in her 
 eyes. This glorious and divine thing had been given 
 to her, too — out of the night. 
 
 It was fully perceived at last, not only half glanced 
 at almost with fear. Love had come to her, and what- 
 ever might reck of sorrow, it meant her whole life and 
 soul. 
 
 And this precious gift of the pure thing from God 
 she had given in her turn to John Derringham as his lips 
 had pressed her lips. 
 
 She spent the whole day in the garden, sitting in the 
 summer house surveying the world. The blue hills in 
 the far distance were surely the peaks of Olympus and 
 she had been permitted to know what existence meant 
 there. 
 
 Not a doubt of him entered her heart, or a fear. He 
 
 173
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 certainly loved her as she loved him; they had been 
 created for each other since the beginning of time. 
 And it was only a question of arrangement when she 
 should go away with him and never part any more. 
 
 Marriage, as a ceremony in church, meant nothing to 
 her. Some such thing, of course, must take place, be- 
 cause of the stupid conventions of the world, but the 
 sacrament, the real mating, was to be together — alone. 
 
 In her innocent and noble soul John Derringham now 
 reigned as king. He had never had a rival, and never 
 would have while breath stayed in her fair body. 
 
 By the evening of that day he had reasoned himself 
 into believing that the whole thing was a dream — or, if 
 not a dream, he had better consider it as such; but at 
 the same time, as the dusk grew, a wild longing swelled 
 in his heart for its recurrence, and when the night came 
 he could not any longer control himself, and as he had 
 done before he wandered to the tree. 
 
 The moon, one day beyond its first quarter, was 
 growing brighter, and a strange and mysterious shim- 
 mer was over everything as though the heat of the day 
 were rising to give welcome and fuse itself in the night. 
 
 He was alone with the bird who throbbed from the 
 copse, and as he sat in the sublime stillness he fancied 
 he saw some does peep forth. They were there, of 
 course, with their new-born fawns. 
 
 But where was she, the nymph of the night? 
 
 His heart ached, the longing grew intense until it 
 was a mighty force. He felt he could stride across 
 the luminous park which separated them, and scale the 
 
 174
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 wall to the casement window of the long gallery, to 
 clasp her once more in his arms. And, as it is with 
 all those beings who have scorned and denied his power, 
 Love was punishing him now by a complete annihilation 
 of his will. At last he buried his face in his hands ; it 
 was almost agony that he felt. 
 
 When he uncovered his eyes again he saw, far in the 
 distance, a filmy shadow. It seemed to be now real, and 
 now a wraith, as it flitted from tree to tree, but at last 
 he knew it was real — it was she — Halcyone ! He 
 started to his feet, and there stood waiting for her. 
 
 She came with the gliding movement he now knew 
 belonged in her dual personality to the night. 
 
 Her hair was all unbound, and her garment was white. 
 All reason, all resolution left him. He held out his 
 arms. 
 
 " My love ! " he cried. " I have waited for you — 
 ah, so long ! " 
 
 And Halcyone allowed herself to be clasped next his 
 heart, and then drawn to the bench, where they sat down, 
 blissfully content. 
 
 They had such a number of things to tell one another 
 about love. He who had always scoffed at its existence 
 was now eloquent in his explanation of the mystery. 
 And Halcyone, who had never had any doubts, put her 
 beautiful thoughts into words. Love meant everything 
 — it was just he, John Derringham. She was no more 
 herself, but had come to dwell in him. 
 
 She was tender and absolutely pure in her broad loy- 
 alty, concealing nothing of her fondness, letting him see 
 
 175
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 that if she were Mistress of the Night, he was Master 
 of her Soul. 
 
 And the complete subservience of herself, the sublime 
 transparency without subterfuge of her surrender, ap- 
 pealed to everything of chivalry which his nature held. 
 
 " Since the beginning," she whispered, in that soft, 
 sweet voice of hers which seemed to him to be of the 
 angels, " ever since the beginning, John, when I was a 
 little ignorant girl, it has always been you. You were 
 Jason and Theseus and Perseus. You were Sir Bors 
 and Sir Percival and Sir Lancelot. And I knew it was 
 just waiting — Fate." 
 
 " My sweet, my sweet," he murmured, kissing her 
 hair. 
 
 " And the time you came, when I was so ugly," she 
 went on, " and so overgrown — I was sad then, because 
 I knew you would not like me. But the winds and the 
 night were good to me. I have grown, you see, so 
 that I am now more as you would wish, but everything 
 has been for you from that first day in the tree — our 
 tree." 
 
 That between two lovers the thing could be a game 
 never entered her brain. The thought that it might be 
 wiser to watch moods and play on this one or that, and 
 conceal her feelings and draw him on with mystery, could 
 meet with no faintest understanding in her fond heart. 
 
 She just loved him, and belonged to him, and that was 
 the whole meaning of heaven and earth. Any trick of 
 calculation would have been a thousand miles beneath her 
 feet. And while he was there with her, clasping her 
 
 176
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 slender willowy form to his heart, John Derringham felt 
 exalted. The importance of his career dwindled, the 
 imperative necessity of possessing Halcyone for his very 
 own augmented, until at last he whispered in her ear 
 as her little head lay there upon his breast : 
 
 " Darling child, you must marry me at once — imme- 
 diately — next week. We will go through whatever is 
 necessary at the registry-office, and then you must come 
 away with me and be my very own." 
 
 " Of course," was all she said. 
 
 " It is absolutely impossible that we could let anyone 
 know about it at present — even Cheiron — " he went 
 on, a little hurriedly. " The circumstances are such that 
 I cannot publicly own you as my wife, although it would 
 be my glory so to do. I should have to give up my 
 whole career, because I have no money to keep a splendid 
 home, which would be your due. But I dare say these 
 things do not matter to you any more than they do to 
 me. Is it so, sweet, darling child? " 
 
 " How could they matter? " Halcyone whispered from 
 the shelter of his clasped arms. " Of what good would 
 they be to me? I want to be with you when you have 
 time : I want to caress you when you are tired, and com- 
 fort you, and inspire you, and love you, and bring you 
 peace. How could the world — which I do not know 
 — matter to me ? Are you not foolish to ask me such 
 questions, John ! " 
 
 " Very foolish, my divine one," he said, and forgot 
 what more he would have spoken in the delirium of a 
 worshiping kiss. 
 
 177
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 But presently he brought himself back to facts again. 
 
 " Darling," he said, " I will find out exactly how every- 
 thing can be managed, and then you will meet me here, 
 under tins tree, and we will go away together and be mar- 
 ried, and for a week at least I will make the time to stay 
 with you, as your lover, and you shall be absolutely and 
 truty my sweetest wife." 
 
 " Yes," said Halcj'one, perfectly content. 
 
 ;i And after that," he went on, " I will arrange that 
 you stay somewhere near me, so that every moment that 
 I am free I can come back to the loving glory of your 
 arms." 
 
 " I cannot think of any other heaven," the tender 
 creature murmured. And then she nestled closer, and 
 her voice became dreamy. 
 
 " This is what God means in everything," she whis- 
 pered. " In the Springtime, which is waiting for the 
 Summer — in all the flowers and all the trees. This is 
 the secret the night has taught me from the very begin- 
 ning, when I first was able to spend the hours in her 
 
 arms." 
 
 Then this mystery of her knowledge of the night he 
 had to probe; and she told him, in old-world, romantic 
 language, how she had discovered the stairs and Aphro- 
 dite, and even of the iron-bound box which she had never 
 been able to move. 
 
 " It contains some papers of that Sir Timothy, I ex- 
 pect," she said. " We know by the date of the breast- 
 plate that it was when Cromwell sent his Ironsides to 
 
 178
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 search La Sarthe that he must have escaped through the 
 door and got to the coast; but he was drowned crossing 
 to France, so no one guessed or ever knew how he had 
 got away — and I expect the secret of the passage died 
 with him, and I was the first one to find it." 
 
 " Then what do you make of the goddess's head? " 
 asked John Derringham. " Was that his, too? " 
 
 ' Yes, I suppose so," she answered. " He was a 
 great, grand seigneur — we know of that — and had 
 traveled much in Italy when a young man, and stayed 
 at Florence especially. He married a relative of the 
 Medici belonging to some female branch, and he is even 
 said to have been to Greece; but in the court of the 
 Grand Duke of Tuscany he would certainly have learned 
 to appreciate the divine beauty of Aphrodite. He must 
 have brought her from there as well as the Hebe and 
 Artemis, which are not nearly so good. They stand in 
 the hall — but they say nothing to me." 
 
 ' It would be interesting to know what the papers are 
 about," John Derringham went on. " We must look at 
 them together some day when you are my wife." 
 
 : Yes," said Halcyone, and thrilled at the thought. 
 
 ' So it was through the solid masonry you disappeared 
 last night? No wonder, sprite, that I believed I was 
 dreaming! Why did you fly from me? Why? " 
 
 ' It was too great, too glorious to take all at once," she 
 said, and with a sudden shyness she buried her face in his 
 coat. 
 
 '* My darling sweet one," he murmured, drawing her 
 
 179
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 to him, passion flaming once more. " I could have cried 
 madly " — and he quoted in Greek : 
 
 " Wilt thou fly me and deny me? 
 By thine own joy I vow, 
 By the grape upon the bough, 
 Thou shalt seek me in the midnight, thou shalt love me 
 even now." 
 
 Mr. Carlyon had not restricted Halc}'one's reading: 
 she knew it was from the " Baccliae " of Euripides, and 
 answered : 
 
 " Ah, yes, and, you see, I have sought you in the mid- 
 night, and I am here, and I love you — even now ! " 
 
 After that, for a while they both seemed to fall into a 
 dream of bliss. They spoke not, they just sat close to- 
 gether, his arms encircling her, her head upon his breast; 
 and thus they watched the first precursors of dawn 
 streak the sky and, looking up, found the stars had 
 faded. 
 
 Halcyone started to her feet. 
 
 " Ab ! I must go, dear lover," she said, " though it 
 will only be for some few hours." 
 
 But John Derringham held her two hands, detaining 
 her. 
 
 " I will make all the arrangements in these next few 
 days," he said. " I am going to Wendover for Whitsun- 
 tide. I will get away from there, though, and come 
 across the park and meet you, darling, here at our 
 tree, and we will settle exactly what to do and when to 
 go." 
 
 180
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 Then, after a last fond, sweet embrace, he let her leave 
 him, and watched her as she glided away among the giant 
 trees, until she was out of sight, a wild glory in his 
 heart. 
 
 For love, when he wins after stress, leaves no room but 
 for gladness in his worshiper's soul.
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 
 XT was John Derringham who was taciturn next 
 morning, not the Professor! 
 The light of day has a most sobering effect, 
 and while still exalted in a measure by all the strong 
 forces of love, he was enabled to review worldly events 
 with a clearer eye, and could realize very well that he 
 was going to take a step which would not have a for- 
 warding impetus upon his career, even if it proved to be 
 not one of retrogression. 
 
 He must give up the thought of using a rich wife as 
 an advancement; but then, on the other hand, he would 
 gain a companion whose divine sweetness would be an 
 ennobling inspiration. 
 
 How he could ever have deceived himself in regard to 
 his feelings he wondered now, for he saw quite plainly 
 that he had been drifting into loving her from the first 
 moment he had seen her that Good Friday morning, the 
 foundations having been laid years before, on the day 
 in the tree. 
 
 He felt rather uncomfortable about his old master, 
 who he knew would not approve of any secret union with 
 Halcyone. Not that Cheiron would reck much of con- 
 ventionalities, or care in the least if it were a marriage 
 
 182
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 at a registry-office or not, but he would certainly resent 
 any aspect of the case which would seem to put a slight 
 upon his much-loved protegee or place her in a false po- 
 sition. 
 
 He would tell him nothing about it until it was an ac- 
 complished fact and Halcyone was his wife — then they 
 would let him into the secret. 
 
 All the details of what she would have to say to her 
 aunts in her letter of farewell on leaving them would 
 have to be thought out, too, so that no pursuit or in- 
 opportune prying into the truth would be the conse- 
 quence. 
 
 Of any possibility of her stepfather's ultimate inter- 
 ference he did not think, not knowing that she had even 
 any further connection with him. To satisfy in some 
 way the ancient aunts was all that appeared a necessity. 
 And that was difficult enough. He had certainly under- 
 taken no easy task, but he did not regret his decision. 
 The first and only strong passion he had ever known was 
 mastering him. 
 
 But there was yet one more unpleasant aspect to face 
 — that was the situation regarding Mrs. Cricklander. 
 He had assuredly not committed himself or even acted 
 very unfairly to her. She had been playing a game as 
 he had been. He did not flatter himself that she really 
 loved him — now that he knew what love meant — and 
 her ambition could be gratified elsewhere; but there re- 
 mained the fact that he was engaged to stay with her 
 for Whitsuntide, and whether to do so, and plainly show 
 her that he had meant nothing and only intended to be 
 13 183
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 a friend, or whether to throw the visit over, and go to 
 London, returning just to fetch Halcyone about Wednes- 
 day, he could not quite decide. 
 
 Which would be the best thing to do ? It worried him 
 — but not for long, because indecision was not, as a rule, 
 one of his characteristics, and he soon made up his mind 
 to the former course. 
 
 He would go to Wendover on Saturday, as was ar- 
 ranged, take pains to disabuse his hostess's mind of any 
 illusion upon the subject of his intentions, and, having 
 run over to Bristol this afternoon to give notice to the 
 registrar and procure the license, he would leave with 
 the other guests on the Tuesday, after lunch, having 
 sent his servant up to London in the morning to be out 
 of the way. 
 
 Then he would sleep that night in Upminster, getting 
 his servant to leave what luggage he required there — it 
 was the junction for the main line to London, and so that 
 would be easy. A motor could be hired, and in it, on 
 the Wednesday, he would come to the oak avenue gate, 
 as that was far at the other side of the park upon the 
 western road; there he would arrange that Halcyone 
 should be waiting for him with some small box, and they 
 would go over to Bristol, be married, and then go on to 
 a romantic spot he knew of in Wales, and there spend a 
 week of bliss ! 
 
 By the time he got thus far in his meditations he felt 
 intoxicated again, and Mr. Carlyon, who was watching 
 him as he sat there in his chair reading the Times oppo- 
 site him, wondered what made him suddenly clasp his 
 
 184
 
 HALCYOXE 
 
 hands and draw in his breath and smile in that idiotic 
 way while he gazed into space ! 
 
 Then there would be the afterwards. Of course, that 
 would be blissful, too. Oh! if he could only claim her 
 before all the world how glorious it would be — but for 
 the present that was hopeless, and at all events her life 
 with him would not be more retired than the one of mo- 
 notony which she led at La Sarthe Chase, and would have 
 his tenderest love to brighten it. He would take a tiny 
 house for her somewhere — one of those very old-fash- 
 ioned ones shut in with a garden still left in Chelsea, near 
 the Embankment — and there he would spend every mo- 
 ment of his spare time, and try to make up to her for 
 her isolation. Well arranged, the world need not know 
 of this — Halcyone would never be exigeante — or if it 
 did develop a suspicion, ministers before his day had 
 been known to have had — clieres amies. 
 
 But as this thought came he jumped from his chair. 
 It was, when faced in a concrete fashion, hideously un- 
 palatable as touching his pure, fair star. 
 
 " You are rather restless to-day, John," the Professor 
 said, as his old pupil went hastily towards the open win- 
 dow and looked out. 
 
 " Yes," said John Derringham. " It is going to rain, 
 and I must go to Bristol this afternoon. I have to see 
 a man on business." 
 
 Cheiron's left penthouse went up into his forehead. 
 
 " Matters complicating? " was all he said. 
 
 " Yes, the very devil," responded John Derringham. 
 
 " Beginning to feel the noose already, poor lad? " 
 
 185
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 " Er — no, not exactly," and he turned round. " But 
 I don't quite know what I ought to do about her — Mrs. 
 Cricklander." 
 
 " A question of honor? " 
 
 " I suppose so." 
 
 The Professor grunted, and then chuckled. 
 
 " A man's honor towards a woman lasts as long as 
 his love. When that goes, it goes with it — to the other 
 woman." 
 
 M You cynic ! " said John Derringham. 
 
 " It is the truth, my son. A man's point of view of 
 such things shifts with his inclinations, and if other peo- 
 ple are not likely to know, he does not experience any 
 qualms in thinking of the woman's feelings — it is only 
 of what the world will think of him if it finds him out. 
 Complete cowards, all of us ! " 
 
 John Derringham frowned. He hated to know this 
 was true. 
 
 " Well, I am not going to marry Mrs. Cricklander, 
 Master," he announced after a while. 
 
 " I am very glad to hear it," Cheiron said heartily. 
 " I never like to see a fine ship going upon the rocks. 
 All your vitality would have been drawn out of you by 
 those octopus arms." 
 
 " I do not agree with you in the least about any of 
 those points," John Derringham said stiffly. " I have 
 the highest respect for Mrs. Cricklander — but I can't 
 do it." 
 
 " Well, you can thank whichever of your stars has 
 brought you to this conclusion," growled the Professor. 
 
 186
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 " I suppose I'll pull through somehow financially," the 
 restless visitor went on, pacing the floor — " anyway, for 
 a few years ; there may be something more to be squeezed 
 out of Derringham. I must see." 
 
 " Well, if you are not marrying that need not distress 
 you," Cheiron consoled him with. " Those things only 
 matter if a man has a son." 
 
 John Derringham stopped abruptly in his walk and 
 looked at his old master. 
 
 His words gave him a strange twinge, but he crushed 
 it down, and went on again : 
 
 " It is a curse, this want of money," he said. " It 
 makes a man do base things that his soul revolts 
 against." And then, in his restless moving, he absently 
 picked up a volume of Aristotle, and his eye caught this 
 sentence : " The courageous man therefore faces dan- 
 ger and performs acts of courage for the sake of what 
 is noble." 
 
 And what did an honorable man do? But this ques- 
 tion he would not go further into. 
 
 " You were out very late last night, John," Mr. Carl- 
 yon said presently. " I left this window open for you 
 on purpose. The garden does one good sometimes. 
 You were not lonely, I hope? " 
 
 " No," said John Derringham ; but he would not look 
 at his old master, for he knew very well he should see a 
 whimsical sparkle in his eyes. 
 
 Mr. Carlyon, of course, must be aware of Halcyone's 
 night wandering proclivities. And if there had been 
 nothing to conceal John Derringham would have liked 
 
 187
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 to have sat down now and rhapsodized all about his 
 darling to his old friend, who adored her, too, and knew 
 and appreciated all her points. He felt bitterly that 
 Fate had not been as kind to him as she might have been. 
 However, there was nothing for it, so he turned the 
 conversation and tried to make himself grow as inter- 
 ested in a question of foreign policy as he would have 
 been able to be, say, a year ago. And then he went out 
 for a walk. 
 
 And Cheiron sat musing in his chair, as was his habit. 
 
 " The magnet of her soul is drawing his," he said to 
 himself. " Well, now that this has begun to work, we 
 must leave things to Fate." 
 
 But he did not guess how passion on the one side and 
 complete love and trust upon the other were precipi- 
 tously forcing Fate's hand. 
 
 The possibility of John Derringham's sending a mes- 
 sage to Halcyone was very slender. The post was out 
 of the question — she probably never got any letters, 
 and the arrival of one in a man's handwriting would no 
 doubt be the cause of endless comment in the household. 
 The foolishness had been not to make a definite appoint- 
 ment with her when they had parted before dawn. But 
 they had been too overcome with love to think of any- 
 thing practical in those last moments, and now the only 
 thing would be for him to go again to-night to the tree, 
 and hope that she would meet him there. But the sky 
 was clouding over, and rain looked quite ready to fall. 
 As a last resource he could send Demetrius — his own 
 valet he would not have trusted a yard. 
 
 188
 
 HAECYONE 
 
 The rain kept off for his journey to Bristol, and his 
 business was got through with rapidity. And if the 
 registrar did connect the name of John Derringham, 
 barrister-at-law, of the Temple, London, with John Der- 
 ringham, the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Af- 
 fairs, he was a man of discretion and said nothing 
 about it. 
 
 It was quite late when Mr. Carlyon's guest returned 
 to his roof — cross-country trains were so tiresome — 
 and it had just begun to pour with rain, so there was 
 no use expecting that Haley one would be there by the 
 tree. And bed, with a rather feverish sensation of 
 disappointment, seemed John Derringham's portion. 
 
 Halcyone had passed a day of happy tranquillity. 
 She was of that godlike calm which frets not, believing 
 always that only good could come to her, and that, as 
 she heard nothing from her lover, it was because — 
 which was indeed the truth — he was arranging for 
 their future. If it had been fine she had meant to go 
 to the tree, but as it rained she went quietly to her room, 
 and let her Priscilla brush her hair for an hour, while 
 she stared in the old dark glass, seeing not her own 
 pale and exquisite face, but all sorts of pictures of fu- 
 ture happiness. That she must not tell her old nurse, 
 for the moment, of her good fortune was her one crum- 
 pled rose-leaf, but she had arranged that when she went 
 she would post a letter at once to her, and Priscilla 
 would, of course, join her in London, or wherever it was 
 John Derringham would decide that she should live. 
 The thought of leaving her aunts did not so much 
 
 189
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 trouble her. The ancient ladies had never made her 
 their companion or encouraged her to have a single in- 
 terest in common with them. She was even doubtful if 
 they would really miss her, so little had they ever taken 
 her into their lives. For them she was still the child to 
 be kept in her place, however much she had tried to 
 grow a little nearer. Then her thoughts turned back to 
 ways and means. 
 
 She so often spent the whole day with Cheiron that 
 her absence would not be remarked upon until bedtime. 
 But then she suddenly remembered, with a feeling of 
 consternation, that the Professor intended to leave on 
 the Tuesday in Whitsun week for his annual fortnight 
 in London. If the household knew of this, it might 
 complicate matters, and was a pity. However, there 
 was no use speculating about any of these things, since 
 she did not yet know on which day she was to start — 
 to start for Paradise — as the wife of her Beloved ! 
 
 Next morning it was fine again, and she decided she 
 would go towards their tree, and if John were not there, 
 she would even go on to the orchard house, because she 
 realized fully the difficulty he would find in sending her 
 a message. 
 
 But he was there waiting for her, in the bright sun- 
 light, and she thought him the perfection of what a man 
 should look in his well-cut gray flannels. 
 
 John Derringham knew how to dress himself, and 
 had even in his oldest clothes that nameless, indescribable 
 distinction which seems often to be the birthright of 
 Englishmen of his class. 
 
 190
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 The daylight made her timid again ; she was no more 
 the imperious goddess of the night. It was a shy and 
 tender little maiden who nestled into the protecting 
 strong arms of her lover. 
 
 He told her all his plans : how he had given notice for 
 the license, and that it would be forthcoming. And he 
 explained that he had chosen Bristol rather than Up- 
 minster because in this latter place everyone would know 
 the name of La Sarthe — even the registrar's clerk and 
 whoever else they would secure as a witness — but in 
 Bristol it might pass unnoticed. 
 
 They discussed what should be done about Cheiron 
 and the old ladies, and decided that when to apprise 
 the former of their marriage must be left to John's 
 discretion; and as Haley one would not be missed until 
 the evening, they would simply send two telegrams from 
 Bristol in the late afternoon, one to Miss La Sarthe and 
 one to Priscilla, the former briefly to announce that 
 Halcyone was quite safe and was writing, and the lat- 
 ter asking her old nurse not to let the old ladies feel 
 worried, and promising a letter to her, also. 
 
 " Then," John Derringham said, " you will be my 
 wife by that time, sweetheart, and you will tell your 
 aunts the truth, ask them to keep our secret, and say 
 that you will return to them often, so that they shall 
 not be lonely. We will write it between us, darling, and 
 I do not think they will give us away." 
 
 " Never," returned Halcyone, while she looked rather 
 wistfully towards the house. " They are too proud." 
 
 He dropped her hand for an instant ; the unconscious 
 
 191
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 inference of this speech made him wince. She under- 
 stood, then, that she was going to do something which 
 her old kinswomen would think was a hurt to their pride, 
 and so would be silent over it in consequence. And yet 
 she did not hesitate. She must indeed love him very 
 much. 
 
 A tremendous wave of emotion surged through him, 
 and he looked at her with reverence and worship. And 
 for one second his own part of utter selfishness flashed 
 into his understanding, so that he asked, with almost an 
 anxious note in his deep, assured voice : 
 
 " You are not afraid, sweetheart, to come away — 
 for all the rest of vour life — alone with me? " 
 
 And often in the after days of anguish there would 
 come back to him the memory of her eyes, to tear his 
 heart with agony in the night-watches — her pure, true 
 eyes, with all her fresh, untarnished soul looking out 
 of them into his as they glistened with love and faith. 
 
 "Afraid?" she said. "How should I be afraid — 
 since you are my lord and I am your love? Do we not 
 belong to one another? " 
 
 " Oh, my dear," he said, as he folded her to his heart 
 in wild, worshiping passion, " God keep you always safe, 
 here in my arms." 
 
 And if she had known it, for the first time in his life 
 there were tears in John Derringham's proud eyes. 
 For he knew now he had found her — the one woman 
 with a soul. 
 
 Then they parted, when every smallest detail was set- 
 tled, for she had promised to help Miss Roberta with a 
 
 192
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 new design for her embroidery, and he had promised to 
 join Mrs. Cricklander's party for an early lunch. They 
 intended to make an excursion to see the ruins of Grase- 
 worth Tower in the afternoon. 
 
 " And indeed we can bear the separation now, my 
 darling," he said, " because we shall both know that we 
 must go through only four more days before we are to- 
 gether — for always ! " 
 
 But even so it seemed as if they could not tear them- 
 selves apart, and when he did let her go he strode after 
 her again and pleaded for one more kiss. 
 
 " There ! " she whispered, smiling while her eyes half 
 filled with mist. " This tree is forever sacred to us. 
 John, it is listening now when I tell you once more that 
 I love you." 
 
 And then she fled.
 
 CHAPTER XX 
 
 Vy^^EN once John Derringham had definitely made 
 W p up his mind to any course in life, he continued 
 V^x in it with decision and skill, and carried off the 
 situation with a high-handed assurance. Thus he felt 
 no qualms of awkwardness in meeting Mrs. Cricklander 
 and treating her with an enchanting ease and friendli- 
 ness which was completely disconcerting. She had no 
 casus belli; she could not find fault with his manner or 
 his words, and yet she was left with the blank conviction 
 that her hopes in regard to him were over. She despised 
 men in her heart because, as a rule, she was able to 
 calculate with certainty ever} 7 move in her games with 
 them. Feeling no slightest passion, her very mediocre 
 intellect proved often more than a match for the clever- 
 est. But her supreme belief in herself now received a 
 heavy blow. She was never so near to loving John Der- 
 ringham as during this Whitsuntide when she felt she 
 had lost him. Cora Lutworth once said of her: 
 
 " Cis is one of the happiest women in the world, be- 
 cause when she looks in the glass in the morning she 
 never sees anything but herself, and is perfectly con- 
 tent. Most of us find shadows peeping over our shoul- 
 ders of what we would like to be." 
 
 Arabella found her employer extremely trying during 
 
 194
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 the Saturday and Sunday, and was almost in tears when 
 she wrote to her mother. 
 
 Mr. Derringham has plainly determined not to 
 be ensnared yet. If this did not render M. E. 
 so difficult to please, the situation would be very 
 instructive to watch. And I am not even now cer- 
 tain whether he will escape eventually, because her 
 whole pride in herself is roused and she will stick 
 at nothing. I have a shrewd suspicion as to what 
 has caused the change in his feelings and intentions 
 towards M. E., but I have not imparted my ideas 
 to her, since doing so might do no good, and would 
 in some way certainly injure an innocent person. 
 As yet I believe she is unaware of this person's ex- 
 istence. We have done everything we can for Mr. 
 Derringham witli the most erudite conversation. I 
 have been up half of the night ascertaining facts 
 upon all sorts of classical subjects, as that seems 
 to be more than ever the bent of his mind in these 
 last two visits. (I am given to understand from 
 other sources that the person of whom I made 
 mention above is a highly-trained Greek scholar 
 and of exceptional refinement and cultivation, so 
 that may be the reason.) The strain of preparing 
 M. E. for these talks and then my anxiety when, 
 at meals or after them, I hear her upon the brink 
 of some fatal mistake, has caused me to have most 
 unpleasant headaches, and really, if it were not so 
 modern and silly a phrase, I should say the thing 
 was getting on my nerves. However, all the inter- 
 esting guests are leaving on Tuesday afternoon. 
 Mr. Derringham, I understand from what he said 
 
 195
 
 H A L C Y O N E 
 
 to me, intends to go over to his old master, Pro- 
 fessor Carlyon's, and catch a later train from there, 
 but M. E. does not know this, and I have not felt it 
 my duty to inform her of it, because it might in- 
 volve some awkwardness connected with the person 
 about whom I have already given you a hint. I 
 must close now, as I have some facts to look up 
 concerning the worship of Dionysus which M. E. 
 is going to bring in to-night. It was only yester- 
 day I told her who he was, and I had the greatest 
 difficulty to get her to understand he was Bacchus 
 as well, as she had learned of him when younger 
 under that name as the God of Drunkards, and did 
 not consider him a very nice person to mention. 
 But Mr. Derringham held forth upon the rude 
 Thracian Dionysus last night and the fundamental 
 spirituality of his original cult, and so she felt it 
 might seem rather bourgeois to be shocked, and has 
 committed to memory as well as she can some facts 
 to-day. 
 
 It will be seen from Miss Clinker's frank letter to her 
 parent that Mrs. Cricklander was leaving no stone un- 
 turned to gain her object, and such praiseworthy toil 
 deserves the highest commendation. 
 
 John Derringham, meanwhile, having successfully 
 smoothed matters to his own satisfaction, felt at liberty 
 to dream in his spare moments of his love. He already 
 began to wonder how he had ever felt any emotion 
 towards the fair Cecilia — she was perfectly charming, 
 but left him as cold as ice! 
 
 And so at last the good-bys were said, and he got into 
 
 196
 
 HALCYON E 
 
 the motor with some of the other guests, ostensibly for 
 the station, but in reality to get out at the Lodge gates 
 upon the pretense of going to see the Professor. He 
 intended, instead of this, to cross the haw-haw and 
 reconnoiter upon the hope of meeting his beloved, be- 
 cause there was no necessity for him to spend a dull 
 afternoon in Upminster when perhaps some more agree- 
 able hours could be snatched under the tree. He had 
 attended to every point, he believed, even having written 
 a letter to Cheiron winch he had taken the precaution 
 to give to his servant to post from London on the fol- 
 lowing morning, so that there would be no Bristol mark 
 as a clew to their whereabouts. In this he merely stated 
 that when his old master would receive it Halcyone 
 would be his wife, and that for a time they had decided 
 to keep the marriage secret, and he hoped his old mas- 
 ter would understand and sympathize. 
 
 The only qualm of any sort he experienced during 
 these three days was when he was composing this letter, 
 so he finished it quickly and did not even read it over. 
 And now, as he strode across the Wendover park, it 
 was safe in his servant's pocket and would be despatched 
 duly next day. He was unaware of the fact that Mr. 
 Carlyon had left for London by a morning train. 
 
 As he came within view of the haw-haw, he saw in the 
 far distance Halcyone just flitting towards the beech 
 avenue gate, and in his intense haste to catch her up 
 before she should get too near the house, he removed 
 the bricks very carelessly, not even remarking that one, 
 and the most important, was disposed of in such a man- 
 
 197
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 ner that the spike left beneath would not bear his 
 weight. 
 
 He had got thus far, his eyes fixed upon the slender 
 white figure rapidly disappearing from his view, when 
 with a tremendous crash his foothold gave way and he 
 fell with fearful force into the ditch beneath, his head 
 striking one of the fallen bricks. And after that, all 
 things were blank and his soul wandered into shadow- 
 land and tasted of the pains of death. 
 
 • ••••*•• 
 
 From the first break of day on that Tuesday when 
 Halcyone awoke she was conscious that some sorrow 
 was near her. Every sense of hers, every instinct, so 
 highly trained by her years of communion with Nature 
 seemed always to warn her of coming events. 
 
 She was restless — a state of being quite at variance 
 with her usual calm. The air was sultry and, though 
 no rain fell, ominous clouds gathered and faint thunder 
 pealed afar off. 
 
 " What is it? What is it, God? " she asked of the 
 sky. But no answer came, and at last she went out into 
 the park and towards the tree. She had made all her 
 simple preparations — everything that she must take 
 had been put into a small bag and was safely waiting 
 in the secret passage, ready for her to fetch on the 
 morrow. 
 
 Cheiron, she knew, had gone to London. Had they 
 not said good-by on the evening before? And his last 
 words had made her smile happily at the time. 
 
 " Things are changing, Halcyone," he had said, with 
 
 198
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 the whimsical raising of his left penthouse brow. " Per- 
 haps you will not want to learn Greek much longer with 
 your crabbed old Cheiron in his cave." 
 
 And she had flung her arms round his neck and buried 
 her face in his silver beard, and assured him she would 
 always want to learn — all her life. But now she felt a 
 twinge of sadness — she would indeed miss him, her dear 
 old master, and he, too, would be lonely without her. 
 Then she fought with herself. Feelings of depression 
 were never permitted to stay for a moment, and she 
 looked away into the trees for comfort — but only a 
 deathly stillness and a sullen roll of distant thunder an- 
 swered, and left her uncomforted. 
 
 And then some force stronger than her will seemed 
 to drive her back to the house, and to the long gallery, 
 and just at the very moment when she had passed beyond 
 her lover's sight it was as if something chased her, so 
 that she ran the last few yards, and paused not until 
 she stood in front of Aphrodite's shrine. 
 
 It would be difficult to carry the marble head with 
 the other few things she proposed to take, but none the 
 less was the necessity imperative. She could not be 
 married without the presence of her beloved mother to 
 bless her. 
 
 As she lifted her goddess out, with her silken wrap- 
 pings, the first flash of the nearing storm lit up the dark 
 room with lurid flame. 
 
 Halcyone shivered. It was the one aspect of Nature 
 with which she was out of harmony. When thunder 
 rolled and lightning quivered, her vitality seemed to de- 
 14 199
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 sert her and she experienced what in her came nearest 
 to fear. 
 
 " All ! someone has angered God greatly," she whis- 
 pered aloud ; and then she carried the head to the secret 
 door, knowing full well she would be unwatched in her 
 entry there — on such a day, with thunder pealing, not 
 a servant would have ventured into the long gallery. 
 
 Another and louder rumble reached her with muffled 
 sound, as she made her way in the dark underground, 
 and as she came to the place where there was the con- 
 trived gleam of light and outer air, the lightning turned 
 the narrow space into a green dusk. 
 
 Halcyone was trembling all over, and when she had 
 put her precious bundle safely into the bag with the 
 rest of her simple preparations, she laid it on the iron- 
 bound box which had never been stirred, all ready for 
 her to lift up and take with her in the morning. Then 
 she ran back, cold and pale, and hastily sought Priscilla 
 in her own room, and talked long to her of old days, glad 
 indeed to hear a human voice, until presently the rain 
 began to pour in torrents and the storm cried itself 
 out. 
 
 But with each crash before this came her heart gave 
 a bound, as if in pain. And a wild longing grew in her 
 for the morrow and safety in her lover's arms. 
 
 And he — alas ! that hapless lover ! — was lying there 
 in the haw-haw, with broken ankle and damaged head, 
 half recovering consciousness in the pouring rain, but 
 unable to stir or climb from his low bed, or even to 
 cry aloud enough to make anyone hear him. And so 
 
 200
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 at last the night came, and the pure moonlight, and when 
 her usual evening duties were over with her aunts, Hal- 
 cyone was free to go to bed. 
 
 She opened her window wide, but she did not seek 
 to wander in the wet park. John would not be there, 
 and she must rest, so as to be fair for him when to- 
 morrow they should start on life's sweet journey — to- 
 gether. 
 
 But her heart was not quiet. All her prayers and 
 
 pure thoughts seemed to bring no peace, and even when, 
 
 after a while, she fell into a sleep, it was still troubled. 
 
 And thus the day dawned that was to have seen her 
 
 wedding! 
 
 She told herself that the dull, sullen oppression she 
 awoke with was the result of the storm in the night, 
 and with firm determination she banished all she could 
 of heaviness, and got through her usual avocations until 
 the moment came for her to start for the oak avenue 
 gate. She timed her arrival to be exactly at ten o'clock 
 so that she need not wait, as this of the three outlets 
 was the one where there might be a less remote chance 
 of a passer-by. They had had to choose it because it 
 was on the road to Bristol. 
 
 The sun was shining gorgeously again when she 
 emerged from the secret door, carrying her heavy bun- 
 dle, and except in the renewed freshness of all the green 
 there seemed no trace of the storm. Yes ■ — as she got 
 near the gate she saw that one huge tree beyond that 
 old friend who had played the part of the holder of 
 the Golden Fleece was stricken and cleft through by 
 
 201
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 the lightning. It had fallen in helpless fashion, black- 
 ened and yawning, its proud head in the dust. 
 
 This grieved her deeply, and she paused to pass a 
 tender hand over the gaping wound. Then she went 
 on to the gate, and there waited — waited first in 
 calm belief, then in expectancy, and at last in a numb 
 agony. 
 
 The sun seemed to scorch her, the light hurt her 
 eyes, every sound made her tremble and start forward, 
 and at last she cried aloud: 
 
 " O God, why do I feel so troubled? I who have al- 
 ways had peace in my heart ! " 
 
 But no bird even answered her. There was a warm 
 stillness, and just there, under these trees, there were no 
 rabbits which could have comforted her with their living 
 forms scuttling to and fro. 
 
 She tried to reason calmly. Motors were uncertain 
 things — this one might have broken down, and that had 
 delayed her lover. She must not stir, in case he should 
 come and think his lateness had frightened her and that 
 she had gone back to the house. Whatever befell, she 
 must be brave and true. 
 
 But at last, when the afternoon shadows were length- 
 ening, the agony became intense. Only the baker had 
 passed with his cart, and a farm wagon or two, during 
 the whole day. Gradually the conviction grew that it 
 could not only be an accident to the motor — if so, John 
 would have procured some other vehicle, or, indeed, he 
 could have come to her on foot by now. Something 
 had befallen him. There must have occurred some ac- 
 
 202
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 cident to himself ; and in spite of all her calm fortitude, 
 anguish clutched her soul. 
 
 She knew not what to do or which way to go. At 
 last, as the sun began to sink, faint and weary, she 
 decided the orchard house would be the best place. 
 There, if there was any news of an accident, Sarah 
 Porrit, the Professor's one female servant, would have 
 heard it. 
 
 She started straight across the park, carrying her 
 heavy bag, and crossed the beech avenue, and so on 
 to the trysting tree. A cold feeling like some extra 
 disquietude seemed to overcome her as she neared the 
 haw-haw and the copse. It was as if she feared and 
 yet longed to get there. But she resisted the tempta- 
 tion, and went straight on to the little gate and so up 
 the garden to the house. 
 
 Mrs. Porrit received her with her usual kindly greet- 
 ing. All was calm and peaceful, and while Halcyone 
 controlled herself to talk in an ordinary voice, the post- 
 man's knock was heard. He passed the Professor's door 
 on the road to Applewood and left the evening mail, 
 when there chanced to be any. 
 
 Mrs. Porrit received the letters — three of them — 
 and then she adjusted her spectacles, but took them 
 off again. 
 
 " After all, since you are here, miss, perhaps as you 
 write better than I you will be so good as to redirect 
 them on to the master. You know his address, as 
 usual." And she named an old-fashioned hotel in 
 Jermyn Street. 
 
 203
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 Halcyone took them in her cold, trembling fingers, 
 and then nearly dropped them on the floor, for the top 
 envelope was addressed in the handwriting of her be- 
 loved ! She knew it well. Had she not, during the past 
 years, often seen such missives, from which the Pro- 
 fessor had read her scraps of news? 
 
 She carried it to the light and scrutinized the post- 
 mark. It was " London," and posted that very morning 
 early ! 
 
 For a moment all was a blank, and she found herself 
 grasping the back of Cheiron's big chair to prevent her- 
 self from falling. 
 
 John had been in London at the moment when she was 
 waiting by the tree! What mystery was here? 
 
 At first the feeling was one of passionate relief. 
 There had been no accident, then; he had been obliged 
 to go — there would be some explanation forthcoming. 
 Perhaps he had even written to her, too — and she gave 
 a bound forward, as though to run back to La Sarthe 
 Chase. But then she recollected the evening postman 
 did not come to the house, and they got no letters as 
 Cheiron did, who was on the road. Hers could not be 
 there until the morning — she must wait patiently and 
 see. 
 
 With consummate self-control she made her voice 
 sound natural as she said, " Oh, I am so late, Mrs. 
 Porrit. I must go," and, bidding the woman a gra- 
 cious good evening, walked rapidly to the house. A 
 telegram might have come for her, and she had been 
 out all day. What if her aunts had opened it ! 
 
 204
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 This thought made her quicken her pace so that at 
 last she arrived at the terrace breathless with running; 
 and having deposited her bag in safety, she came out 
 again from the secret passage and got hastily to the 
 house. 
 
 But there was no sign of a telegram in the hall, and 
 she mounted to find Priscilla in her room, which she dis- 
 covered to be in great disorder, her few clothes lying 
 about on every available space. 
 
 " Oh, my lamb, where have you been ? " the elderly 
 woman exclaimed. " At four o'clock who should come 
 in a fly from the Applewood station but your step- 
 father's wife ! She was staying at Upminster, and says 
 she thought she would come over and see you ■ — and 
 now it's settled that we go back with her to London to- 
 morrow. Think of it, my lamb! You and me to see 
 the world ! " Then she cried in fear : " My precious, 
 what is it ? " 
 
 For Halcyone, overwrought and overcome, had stag- 
 gered to a chair and, falling into it, had buried her face 
 in her hands.
 
 CHAPTER XXI 
 
 'RS. JAMES ANDERTON was seated in the 
 Italian parlor with the two ancient hostesses 
 when Halcyone at last came into their midst. 
 They had evidently exhausted all possible topics of 
 conversation and were extremely glad of an interrup- 
 tion. 
 
 Miss La Sarthe had been growing more and more 
 annoyed at her great-niece's lengthy absence, while Miss 
 Roberta felt so nervous she would like to have sniffed 
 at her vinaigrette, but, alas ! the stern eye of her sister 
 was upon her and she dared not. 
 
 Mrs. James Anderton — good, worthy woman — had 
 not passed an agreeable afternoon either. She felt her- 
 self hopelessly out of tune with the two old ladies, whose 
 exquisitely reserved polished manners disconcerted her. 
 
 She had been made to feel — most delicately, it is 
 true, but still unmistakably — that she had committed 
 a breach of taste in thus descending upon La Sarthe 
 Chase unannounced. And instead of the sensation of 
 complacent importance which she usually enjoyed when 
 among her own friends and acquaintances, she was ex- 
 periencing a depressed sense of being a very small per- 
 sonage indeed. 
 
 Her highly colored comely face was very hot and 
 
 206
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 flushed and she rather restlessly played with her para- 
 sol handle. Miss La Sarthe's voice grew a little acid as 
 she said: 
 
 " This is our great-niece, Halcyone La Sarthe, Mrs. 
 Anderton " — and then — " It is unfortunate that you 
 should have been so long absent, child." 
 
 " I am very sorry," Halcyone returned gently, and 
 she shook hands. She made no excuse or explanation. 
 
 Mrs. Anderton plunged into important matters at 
 once. 
 
 " Your father, Mr. Anderton " — how that word 
 " father " jarred upon Haley one's sensitive ears ! — 
 " wished me to come and see you, dear, and hopes you 
 will return with me to-morrow to London, for a little visit 
 to us, that you may make the acquaintance of your 
 brother and sisters." 
 
 Halcyone had already made up her mind what to 
 do, before she had left her room. She would agree to 
 anything they suggested in order to have no obstacles 
 put in her way — not admitting for a moment that these 
 people had any authority over her. Then, if in the 
 morning she received a letter from her Beloved, she 
 would follow its instructions implicitly. Always having 
 at hand her certain mode of disappearance, she could 
 slip away, and if it seemed necessary, just leave them 
 to think what they pleased. Priscilla would be warned 
 to allay at once the anxiety of her aunts, and for the 
 Andertons she was far too desperate to care what they 
 might feel. 
 
 " Thank you ; it is very good of you," she said as 
 
 207
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 graciously as she could. " My old nurse has told me 
 of your kind invitation, and is already beginning the 
 preparations. I trust you left Mr. Anderton and my 
 stepbrother and sisters well? " 
 
 " Ho^-toity ! " thought Louisa Anderton. " Of the 
 same sort as the old spinsters. This won't please 
 James, I fear ! " But aloud she answered that the fam- 
 ily were all well, and that James Albert, who was thir- 
 teen now, would soon be going to Eton. 
 
 Over Halcyone, in spite of her numbness and the ten- 
 sion she was feeling, though controlled by her firm will, 
 there came the memory of the red, crying baby, for 
 whose life her own sweet mother had paid so dear a price. 
 And Mabel and Ethel — noisy, merry little girls ! — 
 she had thought of them so seldom in these latter years 
 — they seemed as far-off shadows now. But James An- 
 derton and her mother stood out sharp and clear. 
 
 The strain and anguish of the day had left her very 
 pale. Mrs. Anderton thought her plain and most un- 
 comfortably aloof; she really regretted that she had 
 put into her husband's head the idea of giving this invi- 
 tation. He would gladly have left Halcyone alone, but 
 for her kindly thought. Mabel was just seventeen, and 
 such a handful that her father had decided she should 
 stay in the schoolroom with her sister for another year, 
 and Mrs. Anderton had felt it would be a good oppor- 
 tunity for Halcyone to rejoin the family circle at a 
 time when her presence, if she proved good-looking, 
 could not in any way interfere with her stepsister's 
 debut. 
 
 208
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 And here, instead of being overcome with gratitude 
 and excitement, this cold, quiet girl was taking it all 
 as quite an ordinary circumstance. No wonder she, 
 Louisa Anderton, felt aggrieved. 
 
 They had hardly time for any more words, for Mrs. 
 Anderton had already put off her departure by the 
 seven-twenty train from Applewood to Upminster on 
 purpose to wait for Haley one, and now proposed to 
 catch the one at nine o'clock — her fly still waited 
 in the courtyard — and they made rapid arrange- 
 ments. Halcyone, accompanied by Priscilla, was 
 to meet her the next day at the Upminster junction 
 at eleven o'clock, and they would journey to London 
 together. 
 
 And all the while Halcyone was agreeing to this she 
 was thinking, if in the improbable circumstance that 
 she should get no letter in the morning, it would be 
 wiser to go to London. There was her Cheiron, who 
 would help her to get news. But of course she would 
 hear, and all would be well. 
 
 Thus she was enabled to unfreeze a little to her step- 
 father's wife, who, as they said good-by at the creaking 
 fly's door, felt some of her soft charm. 
 
 " Perhaps she is shy," she said to herself as she 
 rolled towards the station. " Anyway, it is restful, 
 after Mabel's laying down the law." 
 
 That night Halcyone took her goddess to the little 
 summer house upon the second terrace. 
 
 " If I start with John to-morrow, my sweet," she 
 said, " you will come with me as I have promised you. 
 
 209
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 But if I must go to that great, restless city, to find him, 
 then you will wait for me here — safe in your secret 
 home." And then she looked out over the misty clover- 
 grown pleasance to the country beyond bathed in bril- 
 liant moonlight. And something in the beauty of it 
 stilled the wild ache in her heart. She would not admit 
 into her thoughts the least fear, but some unexplained, 
 unconquerable apprehension stayed in her innermost 
 soul. She knew, only she refused to face the fact, that 
 all was not well. 
 
 Of doubt as to John Derringham's intentions towards 
 her, or his love, she had none, but there were forces she 
 knew which were strong and could injure people, and 
 with all her fearlessness of them, they might have been 
 capable of causing some trouble to her lover — her lover 
 who was ignorant of such things. 
 
 She stayed some time looking at the beautiful moonlit 
 country, and saying her prayers to that God Who was 
 her eternal friend, and then she got up to steal noise- 
 lessly to bed. 
 
 But as she was opening the secret door, to have one 
 more look at the sky, after she had replaced Aphrodite 
 in the bag, it seemed as though her lover's voice called 
 her in anguish through the night : " Halcyone ! " and 
 again, " Halcyone ! My love ! " 
 
 She stopped, petrified with emotion, and then rushed 
 back onto the terrace. But all was silence; and, wild 
 with some mad fear, she set off hurriedly, never stopping 
 until she came to their trysting tree. But here there was 
 silence also, only the nightingale throbbed from the 
 
 210
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 copse, while the faint rustle of soft zephyrs disturbed 
 the leaves. 
 
 And Jeb Hart and his comrade saw the tall white 
 figure from their hiding-place in the low overgrown 
 brushwood, and Gubbs crossed himself again, for 
 whether she were living or some wraith they were never 
 really sure. 
 
 At the moment when Halcyone opened the secret door, 
 John Derringham was just recovering consciousness in 
 a luxurious bed at Wendover Park, whither he had been 
 carried when accidentally found by the keepers in their 
 rounds about eight o'clock. It was several days since 
 they had visited this part of the park, and they had 
 lit upon him by a fortunate chance. He had lain there 
 in the haw-haw, unconscious all that day, while his poor 
 little lady-love waited for him at the oak gate, and was 
 now in a sorry plight indeed, as Arabella Clinker bent 
 over him, awaiting anxiously the verdict of the doctors 
 who had been fetched by motor from Upminster. Would 
 he live or die ? 
 
 Her employer had had a bad attack of nerves upon 
 hearing of the accident, and was now reclining upon 
 her boudoir sofa, quite prostrated and in a high state 
 of agitation until she should know the worst — or best. 
 
 Arabella listened intently. Surely the patient was 
 whispering something? Yes, she caught the words. 
 
 " Halcyone ! " he murmured, and again, " Halcyone 
 — my love ! " and then he closed his eyes once more. 
 
 He would live, the physicians said after some hours 
 of doubt — with very careful nursing. But the long 
 
 211
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 exposure in the wet, twenty-four hours at least, with 
 that wound in the head and the broken ankle, was a very 
 serious matter, and absolute quiet and the most highly 
 skilled attention would be necessary. 
 
 It was Arabella who made all the sensible, kind ar- 
 rangements that night, and herself sat up with the poor 
 suffering patient until the nurses could come. But 
 it was Mrs. Cricklander who, dignified and composed, 
 received the doctors after the consultation with Sir 
 Benjamin Grant next day, before the celebrated surgeon 
 left for London, and she made her usual good impression 
 upon the great man. 
 
 That the local lights thought far more highly of Ara- 
 bella did not matter. Mrs. Cricklander was wise enough 
 to know, it is upon the exalted that a good effect must 
 be produced. 
 
 " And, you are sure, Sir Benjamin, that he will get 
 quite well ? " she said tenderly, allowing her handsome 
 eyes to melt upon the surgeon's face. " It matters enor- 
 mously to me, you know." Then she looked down. 
 
 Thus appealed to, Sir Benjamin felt he must give her 
 all the assurance he could. 
 
 " Perfectly, dear lady," he said, pressing her soft 
 hand in sympathy. " He is young and strong, and for- 
 tunately it has not touched his brain. But it will take 
 time and gentlest nursing, which you will see, of course, 
 that he gets." 
 
 " Indeed, yes," the fair Cecilia said. And when they 
 were all gone, she summoned Arabella. 
 
 " You will let me know, Arabella, every minute change 
 
 212
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 in him," she commanded, " especially when he seems con- 
 scious. And you will tell him how I am watching over 
 him and doing everything for him. I can't bear sick 
 people — they upset my nerves, and I just can't stand 
 them. But the moment he is all right enough to see 
 me so that it won't bore me, I'll come. You under- 
 stand? Now I must really have a trional and get some 
 rest." 
 
 And when she was alone she went deliberately to the 
 glass and smiled radiantly to herself as she whispered 
 aloud : 
 
 " So he isn't going to die or be an idiot. In a few 
 years he can still be Prime Minister. And I have got 
 him now, as sure as fate ! " 
 
 Then she closed her mouth with that firm snap Arabella 
 knew so well, and, swallowing her sleeping draught, she 
 composed herself for a peaceful siesta.
 
 CHAPTER XXII 
 
 XT required all Halcyone's fortitude to act the 
 part of unconcern which was necessary after 
 the post had come in and no letter for her- 
 self had arrived. The only possibility of getting 
 through the time until she should reach London, and 
 be able to communicate with Cheiron would be resolutely 
 to forbid her thoughts from turning in any speculative 
 direction. She knew nothing but good could come to 
 her — was she not protected from all harm by every 
 strong force of the night winds, the beautiful stars and 
 the God Who owned them all? Therefore it followed 
 that this seeming disaster to her happiness must be only 
 a temporary thing, and if she bore it calmly it would 
 soon pass. Or, even if it delayed, there was the analogy 
 of the winter which for more than four months of the 
 year numbed the earth, often with weeping rain and 
 frost, but, however severe it should be, there was always 
 the tender springtime following, and glorious summer, 
 and then the fulfillment of autumn and its fruits. So 
 she must not be cast down — she must have faith and not 
 tremble. 
 
 She made herself converse gently with her step- 
 father's wife, and won her liking before they reached 
 Paddington station. If she had not been so highly 
 
 214
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 strung and preoccupied, she would have been thrilled 
 in all her fine senses at the idea of leaving Upminster, 
 further than which she had never been for the twelve 
 long years of her residence at La Sarthe Chase; but 
 now, except that all appeared a wild rush and a be- 
 wildering noise, the journey to London made no im- 
 pression upon her. It was swallowed up in the one 
 longing to get there — to be able somehow to communi- 
 cate with Cheiron, and have her anxiety laid to rest. 
 
 The newsboys were selling the evening papers when 
 they arrived, but her eyes, so unaccustomed to all these 
 new sights, did not warn her to scan the headlines, 
 though as they were reaching Grosvenor Gardens where 
 Mr. Anderton's town-house was situated, she did see the 
 words : " Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs." 
 The sheet had fallen forward and only this line was 
 visible. 
 
 They did not strike her very forcibly. She was quite 
 unacquainted with the custom of advertising sensational 
 news in London. It might be the usual political an- 
 nouncements — it surely was, since she saw another sheet 
 as they got to the door with " Crisis in the Cabinet " 
 upon it. And it comforted her greatly. John, of 
 course, was concerned with this, and had been summoned 
 back suddenly, having had no possible time to let her 
 know. He who was so true an Englishman must think 
 of his country first. It seemed like an answer to her 
 prayers, and enabled her to go in and greet her step- 
 father with calm and quiet. 
 
 James Anderton had come from the city in the best 
 15 215
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 of tempers. The day had been a good one. He had 
 received his wife's telegram announcing that Halcyone 
 would accompany her on her return, and awaited her 
 arrival with a certain amount of uneasy curiosity and 
 interest. Would the girl be still so terribly like Elaine 
 and the rest of the La Sarthe — especially Timothy, 
 that scapegrace, handsome Timothy, her father, on 
 whose memory and his own bargain with Timothy's 
 widow he never cared much to dwell? 
 
 Yes, she was, d — d like — after a while he decided ; 
 with just the same set of head and careless grace, and 
 that hateful stamp of breeding that had so lamentably 
 escaped his own children, half La Sarthe, too. It was 
 just Timothy of the gray eyes come back again — not 
 Elaine so much now, not at all, in fact, except in the line 
 of the throat. 
 
 His solid, coarse voice was a little husky, and those 
 who knew him well would have been aware that James 
 Anderton was greatly moved as he bid his stepdaughter 
 welcome. 
 
 And when she had gone off to her room, accompanied 
 by the boisterous Mabel and Ethel, he said to his wife: 
 
 " Lu, you must get the girl some decent clothes. She 
 looks confoundedly a lady, but that rubbish isn't fair to 
 her. Rig her out as good as the rest — no expense 
 spared. See to it to-morrow, my dear." 
 
 And Mrs. Anderton promised. She adored shopping, 
 and this would be a labor of love. So she went off to 
 dress for dinner, full of visions of bright pinks and 
 
 216
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 blues and laces and ribbons that would have made Hal- 
 cyone shrink if she had known. 
 
 Mabel was magnificently patronizing and talked a 
 jargon of fashionable slang which Haley one hardly un- 
 derstood. Some transient gleam of her beloved mother 
 kept suggesting itself to her when Mabel smiled. The 
 memory was not distinct enough for her to know what 
 it was, but it hurt her. The big, bouncing, overdevel- 
 oped girl had so little of the personality which she had 
 treasured all these years as of her mother — treasured 
 even more than remembered. 
 
 Ethel had no faintest look of La Sarthe, and was a 
 nice, jolly, ordinary young person — dear to her fa- 
 ther's heart. 
 
 At last they left Halcyone alone with Priscilla, and 
 presently the two threw themselves into each other's 
 arms — for the old nurse was crying bitterly now, rock- 
 ing herself to and fro. 
 
 " Ah ! how it all comes back to me, my lamb," she 
 sobbed. " He's just the same, only older. Hard and 
 kind and generous and never understanding a thing that 
 mattered to your poor, beautiful mother. Oh ! she was 
 glad to go at the end, but for leaving you. Dear lady ! — 
 all borne to pay your father's debts, which Mr. Ander- 
 ton had took up. I can't never forgive him quite — I 
 can't never." 
 
 And Halcyone, overcome with her long strain of emo- 
 tion, cried, too, for a few minutes before she could re- 
 sume her stern self-control. 
 
 217
 
 HALCYON E 
 
 But at dinner she was calm again, and pale only for 
 the shadows under her wide eyes. 
 
 She had written her letter to Cheiron — she knew not 
 of such things as messenger-boys or cabs, and had got 
 Priscilla to post it for her, and now with enforced quiet 
 awaited his answer which she thought she could receive 
 on the morrow. 
 
 " There has been a crisis in the Cabinet, has there 
 not ? " she said to her stepfather, hoping to hear some- 
 thing, and James Anderton replied that there had been 
 some split — but for his part, the sooner this rotten lot 
 of sleepers had gone out the better he would be pleased ; 
 a good sound Radical he was, like his friend Mr. Han- 
 bury-Green. 
 
 Halcyone abruptly turned the conversation. She 
 could not, she felt, discuss her beloved and his opinions, 
 even casually, with this man of another class. 
 
 Oh ! her poor mother — her poor, sweet mother ! How 
 terrible it must have been to her to be married to such 
 a person ! — though her common sense prompted her 
 to add he was probably, under her influence, not nearly 
 so coarse and bluff in those days as now he appeared 
 to be. 
 
 Her little stepbrother, James Albert, had not re- 
 turned from his private school for the summer holi- 
 days, so she perhaps would not see him during her 
 visit. 
 
 As the dinner went on everything struck her as glar- 
 ing, from the footmen's liveries to the bunches of red 
 carnations ; and the blazing electric lights confused her 
 
 218
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 brain. She, the little country mouse, accustomed only 
 to old William's gentle shufflings, and the two tall silver 
 candlesticks with their one wax taper in each ! 
 
 She could not eat the rich food, and if she had known 
 it, she looked like a being from some shadowy world 
 among the hearty crew. 
 
 Next morning Mr. Carlyon received her letter as he 
 began his early breakfast; and he tugged at his silver 
 beard, while his penthouse brows met. 
 
 The matter required the most careful consideration. 
 He enormously disliked to have to play the role of ar- 
 biter of fate, but he loved Halcyone more than anything 
 else in the world, and felt bound to use what force he 
 possessed to secure her happiness — or, if that looked 
 too difficult, which he admitted it did, he must try and 
 save her from further unnecessary pain. 
 
 He had the day before received John Derringham's 
 letter written from Wendover and which Mrs. Porrit 
 had redirected, containing the news of the intended wed- 
 ding, and it had angered him greatly. 
 
 He blazed with indignation! His peerless one to be 
 made to take a mistress's place when any man should 
 be proud to make her his honored wife ! " The brutal 
 selfishness of men," he said to himself, not blaming John 
 Derringham in particular. " He ought to have gone off 
 and left her alone when he felt he was beginning to care, 
 if he had not pluck enough to stand the racket. But we 
 are all the same — we must have what we want, and the 
 women must pay — confound us ! " 
 
 He had never doubted but that, when he read the 
 
 219
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 letter, Halcyone was already his old pupil's wife — if 
 indeed such a ceremony were legal, she being under age. 
 And this thought added to his wrath, and he intended 
 to look the matter up and see. But, before he could do 
 so, he got an evening paper and read a brief notice 
 that John Derringham had met with a severe accident — 
 of what exact nature the press association had not yet 
 learned — and was lying in a critical condition at Wend- 
 over Park, the country seat of the " beautiful American 
 societ}' leader, Mrs. Vincent Cricklander, " with whose 
 name rumor had already connected the Under-Secretary 
 of State for Foreign Affairs in the most interesting man- 
 ner, the paragraph added. 
 
 So Fate had stepped in and saved his pure night 
 flower, after all! But at what sort of price? And 
 Cheiron stared into space with troubled eyes. 
 
 He passed hours of anxious thought. He never did 
 anything in a hurry, and felt that now he must especially 
 consider what would be his wisest course. 
 
 And then, this next morning, Halcyone's letter had 
 come. 
 
 It was very simple. It told of Mrs. Anderton's ar- 
 rival at La Sarthe Chase and of her own return to Lon- 
 don with her — and then the real pith of it had crept 
 out. Had he heard any news of Mr. Derringham? 
 Because she had seen his writing upon a letter Mrs. Por- 
 rit was readdressing at the orchard house and, observing 
 it was from London, she presumed he was there, and she 
 hoped she should see him. 
 
 The Professor stopped abruptly here. 
 
 220
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 " What a woman it is, after all ! " he exclaimed. He 
 himself had never noticed the postmark on John Der- 
 ringham's envelope ! Then he folded Halcyone's pitiful 
 little communication absently, and thought deeply. 
 
 Two things were evident. Firstly, John Derringham 
 had been disabled before the hour when he should have 
 met his bride; and secondly, she was, when she wrote, 
 unaware that he had had any accident at all. She must 
 thus be very unhappy and full of horrible anxiety — 
 his dear little girl ! 
 
 But what courage and fortitude she showed, he mused 
 on, not to give the situation away and lament even to 
 him, her old friend. She plainly intended to stand by 
 the man she loved and never admit she had been going 
 to marry him until he himself gave her leave. 
 
 " The one woman with a soul," Cheiron muttered, and 
 rubbed the mist away which had gathered in his eyes. 
 
 He revolved the situation over and over. Halcyone 
 must be made aware of the accident, if she had not al- 
 ready read of it in the morning papers; but she must 
 not be allowed to do anything rash — and as he got thus 
 far in his meditations, a waiter knocked at the old- 
 fashioned sitting-room door, and Halcyone herself 
 brushed past him into the room. 
 
 She was deadly pale, and for a moment did not speak. 
 
 Mrs. Anderton, it appeared, thinking she would be 
 
 tired from her unaccustomed journey, had suggested she 
 
 should breakfast in bed, which Halcyone, thankful to 
 
 be alone, had gratefully agreed to; and when on her 
 
 breakfast tray which came up at eight o'clock she saw 
 
 ooi 
 
 .- .- J.
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 a daily paper, she had eagerly opened it, and after 
 searching the unfamiliar sheets for the political news, 
 her eye had caught the paragraph about John Derring- 
 ham's accident. In this particular journal the notice 
 was merely the brief one of the evening before, but it 
 was enough to wring Halcyone's heart. 
 
 She bounded from bed and got Priscilla to dress her 
 in the shortest possible time, and the faithful nurse, see- 
 ing that her beloved lamb was in some deep distress, for- 
 bore to question her. 
 
 Nothing would have stopped Halcj-one from going 
 out, but she hoped to do so unperceived. 
 
 " Look if the way is clear to the door," she implored 
 Priscilla, " while I put on my hat. I must go to the 
 Professor at once — something dreadful has happened." 
 
 So Priscilla went and contrived so that she got Hal- 
 cyone out of the front door while the servants were 
 busy in the dining-room about the breakfast. She hailed 
 a passing hansom, and in this, to the poor child, novel 
 conveyance, she was whirled safely to Cheiron's little 
 hotel in Jermyn Street, and Priscilla returned to her 
 room, to make believe that her nursling was still sleep- 
 ing. 
 
 " Halcyone ! My child ! " the Professor exclaimed, to 
 gain time, and then he decided to help her out, so he 
 went on : "I am glad to see you, but am very dis- 
 tressed at the news in the paper this morning about John 
 Derringham — you may have seen it — and I am sure 
 will sympathize with me." 
 
 Halcyone's piteous eyes thanked him. 
 
 222
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 "Yes, indeed," she said. "What does it mean? 
 Ought not — we — you to go to him ? " 
 
 Mr. Carlyon avoided looking at her. 
 
 " I cannot very well do that in Mrs. Cricklander's 
 house," he said, tugging at his beard, to hide the emo- 
 tion he felt. " But I will telegraph this minute and ask 
 for news, if you will give me the forms — they are over 
 there," and he pointed to his writing-table. 
 
 She handed them immediately, and as he adjusted his 
 spectacles she rang the bell; no time must be lost, and 
 the waiter could be there before the words were com- 
 pleted. 
 
 " When can you get the answer?" she asked a little 
 breathlessly. 
 
 " In two hours, I should think, or perhaps three," the 
 Professor returned. " But there is a telephone down- 
 stairs ■ — it has just been put in. We might telephone 
 to his rooms, or to the Foreign Office, and find out if they 
 have heard any further news there. That would relieve 
 my mind a little." 
 
 " Yes — do," responded Halcyone eagerly. 
 
 The tone of repressed anguish in her soft voice stabbed 
 Cheiron's heart, but they understood each other too well 
 for any unnecessary words to pass between them. The 
 kindest thing he could do for her was to show her he did 
 not mean to perceive her trouble. 
 
 The result of the telephoning — a much longer process 
 then than it is now — was slightly more satisfactory. 
 Sir Benjamin Grant's report, the Foreign Office official 
 informed them, was that Mr. Derringham's condition 
 
 223
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 was much more hopeful, but that the most complete 
 quiet for some time would be absolutely necessary. 
 
 " John is so strong," Mr. Carlyon said, as he put 
 down the receiver which he had with difficulty manipu- 
 lated — to Halcyone's trembling impatience. " He will 
 pull through. And all I can do is to wait. He will 
 probably be up at the end of my fortnight, when I get 
 back home." And he looked relieved. 
 
 " They would not give him a letter from you, of course, 
 I suppose? " said Haley one. " If his head has been 
 hurt it will be a long time before he is allowed to read." 
 
 Cheiron nodded. 
 
 " I am interested," she went on, looking down. " You 
 will let me know, at Grosvenor Gardens, directly you 
 hear anything, will you not, Master? — I — " and then 
 her voice broke a little. 
 
 And Cheiron stirred in his chair. It was all paining 
 him horribly, but until he could be sure what would be 
 best for her he must not show his sympathy. 
 
 " I will send Demetrius with the answer when it comes, 
 and I will telegraph to Wendover morning and night, 
 dear child," he said. " I knew you would feel for me." 
 And with this, the sad little comedy between them ended, 
 for Halcyone got up to leave. 
 
 " Thank you, Cheiron," was all she said. 
 
 Mr. Carlyon took her down to the door and put her 
 in the waiting hansom which she had forgotten to dis- 
 miss, and he paid the man and reluctantly let her go 
 back alone. 
 
 She was too stunned and wretched to take in anything. 
 
 224
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 The streets seemed a howling pandemonium upon this 
 June morning at the season's full height, and all the 
 gayly dressed people just beginning to be on their way 
 to the park for their morning stroll appeared a mockery 
 as she passed down Piccadilly. 
 
 Whether she had been missed or no, she cared not, and 
 getting out, rang the bell with numbed unconcern, never 
 even noticing the surprised face of the footman as she 
 passed him and ran up the long flights of stairs to her 
 room, fortunately meeting no one on the way. Here 
 Priscilla awaited her, having successfully hidden her 
 absence. It was half past ten o'clock. 
 
 Halcyone went to the window and looked out upon 
 the trees in the triangular piece of green. They were 
 not her trees, but they were still Nature, of a stunted 
 kind, and they would understand and comfort her or, at 
 all events, enable her to regain some calm. 
 
 She took in deep breaths, and gradually a peace fell 
 upon her. Her friend God would never desert her, she 
 felt. 
 
 And Priscilla said to herself: 
 
 " She's prayin' to them Immortals, I expect. Well, 
 whoever she prays to, she is a precious saint."
 
 CHAPTER XXIII 
 
 'EANWHILE, John Derringham lay betwixt 
 life and death and was watched over by the kind 
 eye of Arabella Clinker. She had gathered 
 quite a number of facts in the night, while she had 
 listened to his feverish ravings — he was light-headed 
 for several hours before the nurses came — then the 
 fever had decreased and though extremely weak he was 
 silent. 
 
 Arabella knew now that he loved Halcyone — that 
 wood nymph they had seen during their Easter Sunday 
 walk — and that he had been going to meet her when the 
 accident had happened. The rest was a jumble of inco- 
 herent phrases all giving the impression of intense desire 
 and anxiety for some special event. It was : 
 
 " Then we shall be happy, my sweet," or " Halcyone, 
 3'ou will not think me a brute, then, will you, my darling,'* 
 and there were more just detached words about an oak 
 tree, and a goddess and such like vaporings. 
 
 But Arabella felt that, no doubt the moment he would 
 be fully conscious, he would wish to send some message 
 — for during the two following days whenever she went 
 in to see him there was a hungering demand in his hag- 
 gard eyes. 
 
 So Miss Clinker took it upon herself to stop at the 
 
 226
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 Professor's house on one of her walks, meaning to beard 
 Cheiron in his den, and find out how — should it be nec- 
 essary — she could communicate with Halcyone. And 
 then she was informed by Mrs. Porrit that her master 
 would be away for a fortnight, and that Miss Halcyone 
 La Sarthe had been taken off by her stepmother — she 
 did not know where — and that the two old ladies had 
 actually gone that day, with Hester and old William, to 
 some place on the Welsh coast they had known when 
 they were children, for a change to the sea ! La Sarthe 
 Chase was shut up. Arabella Clinker was not suffi- 
 ciently acquainted with the habits of its inmates to ap- 
 preciate the unparalleled upheaval this dislodgment 
 meant, but she saw that her informant was highly sur- 
 prised and impressed. 
 
 " I expect the poor old gentry felt too lonely to stop, 
 once that dear Miss Halcyone was gone," Mrs. Porrit 
 said, " but there, when I heard it you could have knocked 
 me down with a feather ! — them to go to the sea ! " 
 
 All this looked hopeless as far as communicating with 
 Halcoyne went — unless through a letter to the Pro- 
 fessor. Arabella returned to Wendover rather cast 
 down. 
 
 She had been reasoning with herself severely over a 
 point, and when her letter went to her mother on the 
 next Sunday, she was still undecided as to what was her 
 course of duty, and craved her parent's advice. 
 
 The case is this [she wrote]. Being quite aware 
 of M. E's. intentions, am I being disloyal to her, 
 
 227
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 in helping to frustrate them by aiding Mr. Der- 
 ringham to establish communications with the per- 
 son whom I have already vaguely hinted to you I 
 believe he is interested in ? I do not feel it is alto- 
 gether honorable to take my salary from M. E. 
 and to go against what I know to be the strong de- 
 sire of her life at the present time. On the other 
 hand, my feelings of humanity are appealed to by 
 Mr. Derringham's weakness, and by the very poor 
 chance he will have of escaping M. E. when she 
 begins her attack during his convalescence. I have 
 felt more easy in conscience hitherto because I 
 have merely stood aside, not aided the adversary, 
 but now there is a parting of the ways and I am 
 greatly disturbed. I like Mr. Derringham very 
 much, he has always treated me with courteous con- 
 sideration not invariably shown to me by M. E.'s 
 guests; and I cannot help being sorry for him, if 
 — which I fear is almost a certainty — she will 
 secure him in the end. 
 
 Then the letter ended. 
 
 Arabella was much worried. However, she felt she 
 might remain neutral so far as this, that, when Mrs. 
 Cricklander indulged in endless speculations as to why 
 John Derringham should have been trying to cross that 
 difficult and dangerous haw-haw, she gave no hint that 
 his destination could have been other than the Professor's 
 little house. She did swerve sufficiently to the other 
 side to remark that to cross the haw-haw would save 
 at least a mile by the road if one were in a hurry. And 
 then her loyalty caused her to repeat, with extra care, 
 
 228
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 to John Derringham in a whisper the fib which Mrs. 
 Cricklander wished — namely, that she, the fair Cecilia, 
 was there ready to come to him and sit up with him, 
 and do anything in the world for him, and was only 
 prevented by the doctor's strict orders, fearing the slight- 
 est excitement for the patient — and that these orders 
 caused her great grief. 
 
 John Derringham's eyes looked grateful, but he did 
 not speak. 
 
 His head ached so terribly and his body was wracked 
 with pain, while his ankle, not having been set for 
 twenty-four hours, had swollen so that it rendered its 
 proper setting a very difficult matter, and caused him 
 unspeakable suffering. Sir Benjamin Grant had to 
 come down to Wendover twice again before things looked 
 in more hopeful state. 
 
 And what agonizing thoughts coursed through his 
 poor feverish brain — until through sheer weakness 
 there would be hours when he was numb. 
 
 What could Halcyone have thought waiting for him 
 all that day ! and now she, of course, must have heard of 
 his accident and there was no sign or word. 
 
 Or was there — and were those cruel doctors not giv- 
 ing him the message? The day came — the Wednesday 
 after Arabella had sent her letter to her mother — when 
 he was strong enough to speak. He waited for the mo- 
 ment when Miss Clinker always arrived with Mrs. Crick- 
 lander's bunch of flowers and morning greeting — and 
 then, while the nurse went from the room for a second, he 
 whispered with dry lips: 
 
 229
 
 H A L C Y O N E 
 
 "Will 3*ou do me a kindness?" And Arabella's 
 brown eyes gleamed softly behind her glasses. " Let 
 Miss Halcyone La Sarthe know how I am — she would 
 come and meet you any day at Mr. Carlyon's — " then 
 he stopped, disturbed by the blank look in Miss Clinker's 
 face. 
 
 " What is it? " he gasped, and Arabella saw that pale 
 as he had been, with his poor head all bandaged, he 
 grew still more pale — and she realized how terribly 
 weak he must be, and how carefully she must calculate 
 what she could reply. 
 
 " I understand that Mr. Carlyon is in London upon 
 a visit, and that the Misses La Sarthe have gone to the 
 sea — " and then, as his eyes touched her with their piti- 
 ful questioning surprise, she blurted out the truth. 
 
 " Miss Halcyone La Sarthe was fetched away on last 
 Thursday by her stepmother — I did not hear the name 
 — and no one knows where she has gone. La Sarthe 
 Chase is shut up." 
 
 John Derringham closed his eyes — his powers of rea- 
 soning were not strong enough yet to grasp the actual 
 meaning of this — it seemed to him as though Halcyone 
 were dead, taken away from him by some fate and that 
 all things were at an end. 
 
 Arabella grew very frightened. 
 
 " Mr. Carlyon telegraphs from London every day," 
 she ventured to announce. 
 
 But this appeared to bring no comfort, and the nurse 
 returning, signed to her to leave the room, for John Der- 
 ringham lay still as one dead. 
 
 230
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 And, when Arabella arrived at her own sanctum, she 
 burst into tears. What a fool she had been to tell him 
 that, she felt. 
 
 All these days, Halcyone passed in a repressed agony 
 in spite of her prayers and unshaken beliefs. She knew 
 it was her winter time and she must bear it until the 
 spring should come, though it was none the less hard 
 to support. But she got through the hours with perfect 
 surface calm — and her stepsisters thought her stupid 
 and dull, while Mrs. Anderton decided there was some- 
 thing unnatural about a girl who took not the slightest 
 interest in shopping, and was perfectly indifferent 
 about all the attractive garments which were put 
 upon her back. She always expressed her thanks 
 so gently, and was ever sweet and willing to be 
 of use, but the look of pain remained deep in those 
 star-like, mysterious eyes, and caused sensations 
 of discomfort to grow in Mrs. Anderton's kindly 
 breast. 
 
 Cheiron's laconic messages were delivered to Hal- 
 cyone every day by Demetrius. 
 
 John Derringham was no worse. 
 
 He was having every care. 
 
 Sir Benjamin Grant had gone down again. 
 
 His ankle was satisfactorilv set. 
 
 But never a word that he had asked for her, and yet 
 she read in the morning papers each day, as well as 
 knew from her Professor's information, that her lover 
 was going on splendidly, and would soon be embarked 
 upon a convalescence. The paper appeared to regard 
 16 231
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 the accident as safely over, and the patient as returning 
 to health. 
 
 For Mrs. Cricklander, well-skilled in the manipulating 
 of reporters in her own country, knew exactly what im- 
 pression she wished to give to the press. And she had 
 no intention of the idea getting abroad that her in- 
 jured visitor was in a very exhausted condition, because 
 there were those she knew who would suggest that she 
 had bagged him while he was at her mercy — when, later 
 on, they heard the news of her engagement, which she 
 felt was each day growing more certain of becoming a 
 fact. And in Halcyone's brave heart not a doubt ever 
 entered — she waited and believed and endured, in silent 
 pain. 
 
 After Arabella's unfortunate announcement, for two 
 or three days John Derringham was too ill to know or 
 care what occurred, and then other and further torment- 
 ing thoughts began to trouble his weary brain. 
 
 If Halcyone had a stepmother who had come and 
 taken her away, there were then more persons than her 
 ancient aunts to reckon with. She could not now slip 
 off into a secret marriage with himself with small 
 chance of awkward questionings. That phase of the 
 dream was over, he felt. 
 
 No letters of any sort were given him by the doctor's 
 strict orders, and his private secretary had come down, 
 an amiable and intelligent youth, and was dealing with 
 the necessary official correspondence — as best he could 
 — growing each day more infatuated with his fair hos- 
 tess who felt that no pawn on the chessboard which con- 
 
 232
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 tained John Derringham as king was worth neglecting. 
 The Professor was not enjoying his fortnight in Lon- 
 don, and almost tugged his silver beard out while he 
 smoked innumerable pipes. He had come to some con- 
 clusions. 
 
 John Derringham having been unable to keep the 
 tryst with Halcyone was plainly the working of the 
 hand of Fate, which did not intend that his sweet girl 
 should occupy the invidious and humiliating position of 
 secret wife and apparent mistress to the ambitious 
 young man. Therefore he — Arnold Carlyon — had no 
 right to assist her again into John Derringham's arms. 
 They must both suffer and work out their destinies how- 
 ever cruel that might seem. 
 
 " If John really feels she is a necessity, he will brave 
 everything and marry her openly as soon as he is well. 
 If he does not — then I will not assist her into a life of 
 misery and disillusion." 
 
 He remembered a talk they had had long ago, when 
 his old pupil had given his views about women and 
 their place in the scheme of things. Not one must ex- 
 pect a man to be faithful to her, were she wife or 
 mistress, he had said. So starting heavily handicapped 
 in the role of his secret and unacknowledged wife, Hal- 
 cyone would stand a very poor chance of happiness. 
 Cheiron pictured things — John Derringham flattered 
 and courted by the world and surrounded by adoring 
 woman, while Halcyone sat at home in some quiet cor- 
 ner and received the scraps of his attentions that were 
 left. 
 
 233
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 No ! decidedly he would have no hand in aiding the 
 sorry affair. 
 
 So he used his influence and even a little cunning in 
 preventing Halcyone from writing to her lover. He 
 was too ill yet to be troubled, and she must wait until 
 he should send some message to her. 
 
 " You do not want Mrs. Cricklander to read your let- 
 ter, child," he said, when she timidly suggested one day 
 that it would seem kinder if she wrote to say she was 
 concerned at the accident to her old friend. — The sad 
 comedy was still kept up between them. — And Halcyone 
 had stiffened. No, indeed! not that! She was woman 
 enough in spite of the ennobling and broadening effects 
 of her knowledge of nature, to feel the stab of jealous 
 pain, though she had resolutely crushed from her 
 thoughts the insinuation she had read of in the first no- 
 tice of the disaster — about Mrs. Cricklander's interest 
 in her lover. Her pride took fire. Certainly until he 
 could receive letters and read them himself, she must 
 wait. Cheiron would, of course, inform her when that 
 time came. A doubt of John Derringham's loyalty to 
 her never even cast its shadow upon her soul, nor a sus- 
 picion that he could doubt her either. 
 
 All these things were the frosts and rains of their 
 winter, but the springtime would come and the glorious 
 sun and flowers. 
 
 She was growing accustomed to London and the life 
 of continual bustle, and was almost grateful for it all 
 as it kept her from thinking. 
 
 Her stepfather and his wife mixed in a rising half- 
 
 234
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 set of society where many people who were not fools 
 came, and a number who were, but to Halcyone they 
 all seemed a weariness. No one appeared to see any- 
 thing straightly, and they seemed to be taken up with 
 pursuits that could not divert or interest a cat. She 
 saw quite a number of young men at dinners and was 
 taken to the theater and suppers at the fashionable res- 
 taurants, and these entertainments she loathed. She was 
 too desperately unhappy underneath to get even youth's 
 exhilaration out of them, and when she had been in Lon- 
 don for nearly three weeks and Cheiron was preparing 
 to return to his cottage, having delayed his departure 
 much beyond his ordinary time, she felt she could endure 
 the martyrdom no more. 
 
 She had stilled every voice which had whispered to 
 her that it was indeed time that she heard some word 
 from her lover. Because there were now only occasional 
 notices in the papers about his health, he was supposed 
 to be getting well. 
 
 " I will implore Cheiron to let me go back with him," 
 she decided firmly, as she went downstairs to breakfast. 
 " I will ask if I may not go out and see him this morn- 
 ing," and, comforted with this thought, she entered the 
 dining-room with a brisker step than usual. No one 
 but her stepfather was down. 
 
 He had grown accustomed, if not quite attached, to 
 the quiet, gentle girl, and he liked her noiseless, punctual 
 way — they had often breakfasted alone. 
 
 He was reading his Chronicle propped up in front of 
 him, and handed her the Morning Post from the pile by 
 
 235
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 his side. He silently went on with his cutlet which an 
 obsequious butler had placed for his consumption. Hal- 
 cyone turned rapidly to the column where she was accus- 
 tomed to look daily for news of her lover. And there 
 she read that Mrs. Cricklander had been entertaining a 
 Saturday to Monday party, and that Mr. John Der- 
 ringham's recovery was now well advanced, even his 
 broken ankle was mending rapidly and he hoped soon 
 to be well. 
 
 A tight feeling grew round her heart, and her eyes 
 dropped absently down the columns of the engagement 
 announcements in which she took no interest, and then 
 it seemed that her very soul was struck with agony as 
 she read: 
 
 " A marriage has been arranged and will shortly take 
 place between the Right Honorable John Derringham of 
 Derringham in the County of Northampton, Under-Sec- 
 retary of State for Foreign Affairs, and Mrs. Vincent 
 Cricklander of New York, daughter of Orlando B. 
 Muggs of Pittsburgh, U. S. A." 
 
 And it was here that the La Sarthe breeding stood 
 Halcyone in good stead, for she neither fainted nor 
 dropped the paper — but, after a few seconds of acute 
 anguish, she rose and, making some little remark about 
 having forgotten something, quietly left the room.
 
 CHAPTER XXIV 
 
 XT is possible that, if his revolver had been lying 
 quite near, the morning John Derringham 
 awoke to the remembrance that he was more or 
 less an engaged man, he would have shot himself, so 
 utterly wretched and debased did he feel. But no such 
 weapon was there, and he lay in his splendid gilt bed 
 and groaned aloud as he covered his eyes with his hand. 
 
 The light hurt him — he was giddy, and his head 
 swam. Surely, among other things in the half -indistinct 
 nightmare of the preceding evening, he must have had 
 too much champagne. 
 
 From the moment, now over a week ago, that he had 
 been allowed to sit up in bed, and more or less distinct 
 thought had come back to him, he had been a prey to 
 hideous anxiety and grief. Halcyone was gone from him 
 — had been snatched away by Fate, who, with relent- 
 less vindictiveness, had filled his cup. For the first let- 
 ters that he opened, marked from his lawyers so urgently 
 that they had been given to him before the bandages 
 were off his head, contained the gravest news of his 
 financial position. The chief mortgagee intended to 
 foreclose in the course of the next three months, unless 
 an arrangement could be come to at once, which appeared 
 impossible. 
 
 237
 
 HALCYON E 
 
 He was actually at bay. Thus, although in his first 
 moments of consciousness, he had intended to go directly 
 he was well and demand his love openly and chance the 
 rest, this news made that course now quite out of the 
 question. He could not condemn her to wretched pov- 
 erty and tie a millstone round both their necks. The 
 doctors had absolutely forbidden him to read or even 
 know of any more letters — the official ones the secretary 
 could deal with — but he became so restless with anxiety 
 that Arabella Clinker was persuaded to bring them up 
 and at least let him glance at the addresses. 
 
 There was one from Cheiron, which he insisted upon 
 opening — a brief dry line of commiseration for his acci- 
 dent, with no mention of Halcyone in it. The complete 
 ignoring of his letter to announce their marriage cut him 
 deeply. He realized Mr. Carlyon guessed that the acci- 
 dent had happened before that event could take place, 
 and his silence about it showed what he thought. John 
 Derringham quivered with discomfort, he hated to feel 
 the whip of his old master's contempt. And he could 
 not explain matters or justify himself — there was noth- 
 ing to be said. The Professor, of course, knew of Hal- 
 cyone's whereabouts — but, after his broad hint of his 
 want of sympathy about their relations, John Derring- 
 ham felt he could not open the subject with him again. 
 This channel for the assuagement of his anxieties was 
 closed. The immense pile of the rest of his correspond- 
 ence was at last sorted. He knew most of the writ- 
 ings, and the few he was doubtful about he opened — 
 but none were from his love. So he gave them all 
 
 238
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 back to Arabella, and turned his face from the 
 light physically exhausted and with a storm of pain 
 in his heart. 
 
 Mrs. Cricklander had carefully gone through each post 
 as it came, and longed to destroy one or two suspicious- 
 looking communications she saw in the same female hand- 
 writing — from his old friend Lady Durend, if she had 
 known ! — but she dared not, and indeed was not really 
 much disturbed. She had laid her own plans with too 
 great a nicety and felt perfectly sure of the ultimate 
 result of their action. Arabella was each day sent up 
 with the subtlest messages to the poor invalid, which her 
 honor made her unwillingly repeat truthfully. 
 
 Cecilia Cricklander was an angel of sweet, watchful 
 care, it seemed, and John Derringham really felt deeply 
 grateful to her. 
 
 Then the moment came when she decided she would 
 see him. 
 
 " I will go this afternoon at tea-time, Arabella, if you 
 can assure me there won't be anv horrid smell of carbolic 
 or nasty drugs about — I know there always are when 
 people have cuts to be dressed, and I really could not 
 stand it. It would give me one of my bad attacks of 
 nerves." 
 
 And Miss Clinker was reluctantly obliged to assure her 
 employer that those days were passed, and that Mr. 
 Derringham now only looked a pale, but very interesting 
 invalid, as he lay there with a black silk handkerchief 
 tied round his head. 
 
 " Then I'll go," said Mrs. Cricklander — and, instead 
 
 239
 
 H A L C Y O N E 
 
 of sending the message with her daily flowers, she wrote a 
 tiny note. 
 
 I can't bear it any longer — I must come ! 
 
 Cecilia. 
 
 Arabella Clinker watched his face as he read this, and 
 saw a flush grow in his ivory-pale skin. 
 
 " Oh ! Poor Mr. Derringham ! " she thought, " it 
 isn't fair ! How can he hold out against her when he is 
 so weak — what ought I to do ? If I only knew what 
 is my loyal course ! " 
 
 Arabella was perfectly aware how the reports of his 
 rapid recovery had been circulated — and guessed the 
 reason — and all her kind woman's heart was touched 
 as she watched him lying there in splints, as pitiful and 
 helpless as a baby. To pretend that he was making a 
 quick return to health was so very far from the truth. 
 She, herself, saw little change for the better from day 
 to day ; indeed, his large, proud eyes seemed to grow 
 more anxious and haggard as the time went on. 
 
 Mrs. Cricklander donned her most suitably ravishing 
 tea-gown, one of subdued simplicity — and, like a beau- 
 tiful summer flower, she swept into the invalid's room 
 when the lowered sun blinds made the light restful and 
 the June roses filled the air with scent. It was the end 
 of the month and glorious weather was over the land. 
 
 Nothing could have been more exquisite than Cecilia's 
 sympathy. Indeed, she did feel a good deal moved, and 
 was a superb actress at all times. 
 
 244)
 
 HALCYON E 
 
 She only stayed a very short while, not to tire him, 
 and John Derringhara, left alone, was conscious that he 
 had been soothed and pleased, and she departed leaving 
 the impression that her love for him was only kept 
 within bounds by fear for his health ! 
 
 She had suffered so during all the days ! she told him, 
 she could hardly eat or sleep. And then to be debarred 
 from nursing him ! — the cruelty of it ! Why the doc- 
 tors should have thought her presence would be more 
 disturbing than Arabella's, she could not think! And 
 here she looked down, and her white hand, with its per- 
 fectly kept nails, lying upon the coverlet so near him, 
 John Derringham lifted it in his feeble grasp and touched 
 it with his lips. He was so grateful for her kindness 
 — and affected by her beauty ; he could not do less, he 
 felt. 
 
 And after that, with a deliciously girlish and confused 
 gasp, Mrs. Cricklander had hastily quitted the room. 
 
 It was not until the second day that she came again — 
 and he had begun to wish for her. 
 
 This time she was bright and amusing, and assumed 
 airs of authority over him, and was careful never to sit 
 so that her hand might be in reach, while she used every 
 one of her many arts of tantalization and enjoyed her- 
 self as only she knew how to do. 
 
 It was perfectly divine to have him there to play upon 
 like a violin and to know it was only a question of time 
 before she would secure him for her own ! 
 
 After this, she had visitors in the house and did not 
 come for three days, and John Derringham felt a little 
 
 241
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 peevish and aggrieved. It rained, too, and his head 
 ached still with the slightest exertion. 
 
 He now began to put all thoughts of Halcyone away 
 from him, as far as he was able. It was too late to do 
 anything — she must think him base, as she had never 
 sent him one word. This caused him restless anguish. 
 What was the meaning of it all ? Could she have learned 
 in the light of the world that it was not a very great 
 position he had offered her, and so despised him in con- 
 sequence? What aspect of it might they not have put 
 into her head — these people she was with — this step- 
 mother of whom he had never heard? In all cases Fate 
 had parted them, and he must cut the pain of it from his 
 life or it would destroy him. It never occurred to him 
 to reflect upon the possible agony she might be suffer- 
 ing, his poor little wood-nymph, all alone. The fact of 
 his own unhappiness filled his mind to the exclusion of 
 any other thought for the time. In his dire physical 
 weakness Cecilia Cricklander's gracious beauty seemed 
 to augment, and Haley one's sylph-like charm to grow 
 of less potent force. For Love had not done all that he 
 would yet do with John Derringham's soul. 
 
 That underneath, if he could have chosen between 
 the two women, he would have hesitated for a second was 
 not the case; only physical weakness, and circumstance 
 and propinquity were working for the one and against 
 the other — and so it would appear was Fate. 
 
 Thus, the day the visitors left, Mr. Hanbury-Green 
 among them, the invalid was experiencing a sense of 
 exasperating neglect. He felt extremely miserable. 
 
 242
 
 HALC YONE 
 
 Life, and all he held good in it, seemed to be over for 
 him, and his financial position was absolutely desperate 
 — quite beyond any question of marriage it threatened 
 to swamp his actual career. He felt impotent and 
 beaten, lying there like a log unable to move. 
 
 Mrs. Cricklander sent him another little note in the 
 afternoon. Arabella had reported that the patient was 
 restless, and this might mean one of two things — either 
 that he was becoming impatient to see her, or that he \v;is 
 growing restive and bored with bed. In either case it 
 was the moment to strike — and to strike quickly. 
 
 " The doctors have said you may have a taste of 
 champagne to-night," she wrote, which was quite un- 
 true, but a small fib like this could not count when such 
 large issues were at stake. " And so I propose, if you 
 will let me and will have me for your guest, to come and 
 dine with you to celebrate the event. Say if I may. 
 Cecilia." 
 
 And he had eagerly scribbled in pencil, " Yes." 
 
 So she came, and was all in white with just a red rose 
 in her dress, and she was solicitous about his comfort — 
 had he enough pillows ? — and she spoke so graciously 
 to the nurse who arranged things before she went to 
 her supper. 
 
 She, Cecilia, would be his nurse, she whispered — just 
 for to-night ! and then her own personal footman brought 
 in an exquisite little dinner upon a table which he set 
 near the bed, all noiselessly — it had been arranged out- 
 side — and she would select just the tenderest morsels 
 for John Derringham, or some turtle soup ? — He was 
 
 243
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 not hungry ! — Well, never mind, she would feed him ! — 
 and he must be good and let her pet him as she felt in- 
 clined. 
 
 She was looking quite extraordinarily beautiful, with 
 all the light of triumph in her sparkling eyes, and she 
 sat down upon the bed and actually pretended that if 
 he were disobedient she would put pieces into his 
 mouth ! 
 
 John Derringham was a man — and, although he felt 
 very ill and feeble, after she had made him drink some 
 champagne, the seduction of her began to go to his 
 head. Stimulant of any kind was the last thing he 
 should have had, and would have caused the nurse a 
 shock of horror if she had known. How it all came 
 about he could not tell, what she said or he said he could 
 never remember, only the one thing which stood out was 
 that as the time for the nurse's return arrived, he knew 
 that Cecilia Cricklander was kissing him with apparent 
 passion, which he felt in some measure he was returning, 
 and that she was murmuring : " And we shall be mar- 
 ried, darling John, as soon as you are well." 
 
 He must have said something definite, he supposed. 
 
 But, at that moment, the nurse was heard in the next 
 room and his fiancee — yes, his fiancee — got up and, 
 when the woman came in in her stiff nurse's dress, slightly 
 apologetic that she had been so long, she was greeted by 
 this speech from the lady of the house : 
 
 " Ah, Nurse Brome, you have been so good to Mr. 
 Derringham, you must be the first to wish us happiness 
 and share our news. We are going to be married as 
 
 244
 
 HALCYON E 
 
 soon as ever you get him well — so you must hasten that, 
 like the clever woman you are ! " 
 
 And she had laughed, a soft laugh of triumph, which 
 even in his light-headed state had seemed to John Der- 
 ringham as the mocking of some fiend. 
 
 Then she had left him quickty, while the footman car- 
 ried the table from the room — and after that he re- 
 membered nothing more, he had fallen into a feverish 
 sleep. But the next morning, when he awoke, he knew 
 captivit} r had indeed tumbled upon him, and that he was 
 chained hand and foot. 
 
 And all the day his temperature went up again, and 
 he was not allowed to see even Arabella of the kind 
 heart, who would have come and condoled with him, and 
 even wept over him if she had dared, so moved did the 
 good creature feel at his fate. 
 
 It was only upon the third day, when telegrams of 
 congratulation began to pour in upon him by the dozen, 
 that he knew anything about the announcement that had 
 appeared in the Morning Post. 
 
 Yes, he was caught and chained at last, and for the 
 next week had moods of gnashing his teeth, and feeling 
 the most degraded of men, alternating with hours of 
 trying to persuade himself that it was the best thing 
 which could have happened to him. 
 
 Mrs. Cricklander, now that she had gained her end, 
 wisely left him for a day or two in peace to the care of 
 Arabella and the nurses, drawing the net closer each 
 hour by her public parade of her position as his fiancee. 
 She wrote the most exquisite and womanly letter to thank 
 
 245
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 her many friends for their kind congratulations — and 
 lamented, now that the truth being known would not 
 matter, that John had had a slight relapse, and was not 
 quite so well. 
 
 But, of course, she was taking every care of him, and 
 so he soon would be his old exuberant self ! 
 
 Thus the period of John Derringham's purgatory be- 
 gan.
 
 Gf 
 
 CHAPTER XXV 
 
 'RIEVING is such a satisfactory and dramatic 
 thing when you can fling yourself down upon 
 the ground and cry aloud and tear your hair. 
 But if some great blow must be borne without a sign, 
 then indeed it wrings the heart and saps the forces of 
 life. 
 
 When Halcyone got to her room, the housemaids were 
 there beginning to make her bed — so it was no refuge 
 for her — and she was obliged to go down again. The 
 big drawing-rooms would be untenanted at this moment, 
 so she turned the handle of the door and crept in there. 
 The modern brightly gilt Louis XVI furniture glared 
 at her, but she sank into a big chair thankful to find any 
 support. 
 
 What was this which had fallen upon her? — The win- 
 ter, indeed — or, more than that, not only the winter but 
 the end of life, like the flash of lightning which had 
 struck the tree in the park the night before that day 
 which was to have seen her wedding? 
 
 And as she sat there in dumb, silent, hideous agony 
 which crushed for the moment belief and hope, a canary 
 from the aviary beyond set up a trilling song. She lis- 
 tened for a second; it seemed to hurt her more. The 
 poor bird was in captivity, as was her soul. And then, 
 17 247
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 while the little songster went on, undismayed by its 
 cage, a reaction set in. If the soft-feathered creature 
 could sing there beyond the bars, what right had she 
 to doubt God for one second? No — there should never 
 be any disbelief. It was only the winter, after all. 
 She was too young to die like the tree which had been 
 there for some hundreds of years. She would be as 
 brave as the bird, and those forces of nature which she 
 had loved and trusted so long, would comfort her. 
 
 She sat there for a quarter of an hour saying her pray- 
 ers and stilling the pain in her heart — and then she got 
 up and deliberately went back to the dining-room, where 
 the family were all assembled now. 
 
 They chaffed about everything, and were boisterous 
 and jovial as usual, and when she asked if she might 
 go and see her old master, should Mrs. Anderton not 
 wish especially for her company that morning, her step- 
 father offered to drive her there in his phaeton on his way 
 to the city. 
 
 " She grows upon one, Lu," he said to his wife, when 
 Halc3 r one had gone up to put on her hat. " She is 
 like some quiet, soothing book ; she is a kind of comfort 
 — but she looks confoundedly pale to-day. Take her 
 to the play to-night, or ask some young fellows in to din- 
 ner, to cheer her up." 
 
 The drive did Halcyone good, and, to the astonish- 
 ment of Cheiron who had also read the news, she walked 
 into his sitting-room with perfect calm. He himself was 
 raging with indignation and disgust. 
 
 But, when he looked into her deep eyes, his astonish- 
 
 248
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 ment turned to pain, for the expression in them as they 
 burned from her lifeless face was so pure, so pitiful 
 and so tragic, that it left him without words for the mo- 
 ment. 
 
 At last he said — when she had greeted him : 
 
 " I have been thinking, Halcyone, that I have not had 
 a trip abroad for a long time, but I am too old now to 
 care about going alone. Do you think that your aunts 
 and these step-relations of yours would spare you to 
 accompany me, my dear ? " 
 
 And Halcyone had to turn awa}^ to the window to hide 
 the tears which suddenly welled up; he was so kind and 
 understanding always — her dear old master! 
 
 " Yes, I am sure they would," she said in a very low 
 voice. " How good of you. And if we could start at 
 once — that would be nice, would it not? I suppose 
 they would not let me go without Priscilla, though," she 
 added; " would that matter? " 
 
 " Not at all," said the Professor. 
 
 They neither of them mentioned John Derringham's 
 engagement. They talked long about the possibilities 
 of their foreign journey, and Cheiron felt himself repaid 
 when he began to observe a look of returning life creep 
 into her white face. 
 
 " I will call and see your stepfather in the city di- 
 rectly after lunch," he said. " If you will write to your 
 Aunts La Sarthe, I do not think there can be any objec- 
 tion." 
 
 " We could take Aphrodite, could we not? " Halcyone 
 asked. " She is very heavy, I know, but I would carry 
 
 249
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 her, and I do not think I would like to leave her there 
 in the dark away from me for all that time." 
 
 " We would certainly take her," said Cheiron. 
 
 Halcyone knew enough about London now to know 
 where Kensington Gardens were. Whenever she went 
 to see Mr. Carlyon, it was an understood thing he would 
 bring her safely back, so no one would be sent to fetch 
 her. Might they not go to Kensington Gardens this 
 morning, she asked. She remembered to have noticed, 
 when she had driven past with Mr. Anderton, that there 
 seemed to be big trees there. She wanted to get into 
 some open space, London was stifling her. 
 
 Mr. Carlyon put on his hat, and prepared to accom- 
 pany her. They drove to the first gate and got out, 
 neither having spoken a word, as was their habit when 
 both were thinking. 
 
 They wandered in among the trees and found two 
 chairs and sat down. 
 
 These were real trees, Halcyone felt. And, although 
 she would have preferred to be alone to-day without even 
 Cheiron, the great trunks and vast leafy canopy above 
 them comforted her. 
 
 She would not permit herself to think, the beauty of 
 the summer day must just saturate her, and soothe the 
 cold, sick ache in her heart. And, presently, when she 
 was strengthened, she would face it all and see what it 
 could mean, and what would be best to do to bear the 
 blow as a La Sarthe should, and show nothing of the 
 anguish. 
 
 And, as she mused, her eyes absently wandered to a 
 
 250
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 couple under a tree some twenty yards beyond them. 
 There was something familiar in the girl's graceful back, 
 and, as she turned her fresh face to look at her com- 
 panion, Halcyone saw that it was Cora Lutworth. 
 
 Some magnetic spark seemed to connect them, for 
 the pretty American girl turned completely round in her 
 chair, and catching sight of the two jumped up and 
 came towards them — with glad, laughing eyes and out- 
 stretched hands. 
 
 " To see you ! " she exclaimed. " That is so good ! 
 There is no Styx here, and we must have some fun to- 
 gether ! " 
 
 She sat down upon a chair which Lord Freynault 
 dragged up for her, and he himself took another beyond 
 the Professor — so the two girls could talk together. 
 
 " I am going to be married — you know ! " Cora an- 
 nounced gayly. " Frej-nie and I settled it at a ball last 
 night, but we haven't told anyone yet! Isn't it lovely? 
 We just slipped out here for a little quiet talk." 
 
 " I am so glad. I hope you will be very happy," Hal- 
 cyone said, and tried not to let the contrast of Cora's joy- 
 ous prospect make her wince. 
 
 " I am always happy," Cora returned, " and it's dear 
 of you to wish me nice things." 
 
 Halcyone attracted her immensely, her quite remarka- 
 ble personal distinction was full of charm, and, now in 
 fresh and pretty modern clothes, to Cora's eyes she looked 
 almost beautiful; but why so very pale and quiet, she 
 wondered; and then, with a flash, she remembered the 
 news she too had read in the paper that morning. Per- 
 
 251
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 haps Halcyone minded very much. She decided rapidly 
 what to do. If she did not mention it at all, she rea- 
 soned, this finely strung girl would know that she guessed 
 it would be painful to her — and that might hurt her 
 pride. It was kinder to plunge in and get it over. 
 
 " Isn't it wonderful about Mr. Derringham and Ce- 
 cilia Cricklander? " she said, pretending to be busy un- 
 tangling her parasol tassel. " She always intended to 
 marry him — and she is so rich I expect he felt that 
 would be a good thing. Freynie says he is very much 
 harder up then anyone knows." 
 
 Her kind, common sense told her that a man's doing 
 even a low thing for expediency would hurt a woman 
 who loved him, less than that the motive for his action 
 should have been one of inclination. 
 
 Halcyone came up to the scratch, although a fierce 
 pain tightened her heart afresh. 
 
 " Yes," she said, " I suppose no one was surprised to 
 read of the engagement in the papers to-day. I can 
 imagine that a man requires a great deal of money to 
 support the position in the government which Mr. Der- 
 ringham has, and no doubt Mrs. Cricklander is glad to 
 give it to him — he is so clever and great." And not a 
 muscle of her face quivered as she spoke. 
 
 " If it does hurt — my goodness ! she is game ! " Cora 
 thought, and aloud she went on, " Cecilia isn't a bad 
 sort — a shocking snob, as all of us are who are not the 
 real thing and want to be — like your own common push- 
 ers over here. We used to laugh at her awfully when 
 she first came from Pittsburgh and tried to cut in before 
 
 252
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 she married my cousin. Poor old Vin ! He was crazy 
 about her." Then she went on reflectively, as Halcyone 
 did not answer. " We often think you English people 
 are so odd — the way you can't distinguish between us ! 
 You receive, with open arms, the most impossible people 
 if they are rich, that we at home would not touch with 
 a barge pole, and you say: i Oh, they are just Ameri- 
 can,' as if we were all the same! And then we are so 
 awfully clever as a nation that in a year or two these 
 dreadful vulgarians, as we would call them in New York, 
 have picked up all your outside polish, and pass as our 
 best ! It makes lots of the really nice old gentle-folk 
 at home perfectly mad — but I can't help admiring the 
 spirit. That is why I have stuck to Cis, though the rest 
 of the family have given her the cold shoulder. It is 
 such magnificent audacity — don't you think so ? " 
 
 " Yes, indeed," agreed Halc3 r one. " All people have a 
 right to obtain what they aspire to if they fit themselves 
 for it." 
 
 " That is one of Mr. Derringham's pet theories," Cora 
 laughed. " He held forth one night, when I was staying 
 at Wendover at Easter, about it — and it was such fun. 
 Cis did not really understand a single thing of the clas- 
 sical allusions he was making — but she got through. I 
 watch her with delight. Men are sweetly simple bats, 
 though, aren't they? Any woman can take them in — " 
 and Cora laughed again joyously. " I have sat some- 
 times in fits to hear Cis keeping a whole group of your 
 best politicians enthralled, and not one seeing she is just 
 repeating parrot sentences. You have only to be rich 
 
 253
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 and beautiful and look into a man's eyes and flatter him, 
 and you can make him believe you are what you please. 
 Now Freynie thinks I am absolutely perfect when I am 
 really being a horrid little capricious minx — don't you, 
 Freynie, dear ! " and she leaned over and looked at her 
 betrothed with sweet and tender eyes — and Lord Frey- 
 nault got up and moved his chair round, so that the four 
 were in a circle. 
 
 "What preposterous thing is Cora telling you?" he 
 laughed, with an adoring glance at her sparkling face. 
 " But I am getting j ealous, and shall take her away be- 
 cause I want to talk to her all to myself ! " 
 
 And, when they had settled that the two girls should 
 meet at tea the following day in Cora's sitting-room 
 at Claridge's, where she was staying with a friend, the 
 newly engaged pair went off together beaming with joy 
 and affection. 
 
 And Halcyone gazed after them with a wistful look 
 in her sad eyes, which stabbed the old Professor's heart. 
 
 She was remembering the morning under their tree, 
 when she and her lover had sat and made their plans, and 
 he had asked her if she had any fear at the thought of 
 giving him her future. 
 
 It was only three weeks ago. Surely everything was 
 a dream. How much he had seemed to love her. And 
 then unconsciously she started to her feet, and strode 
 Away among the trees, forgetful of her companion — and 
 Cheiron sat and watched her, knowing she would come 
 back and it was better to let her overcome alone the agony 
 which was convulsing her. 
 
 254-
 
 HALCYON E 
 
 Yes, John Derringliam had seemed to love her — not 
 seemed — no — it was real — he had loved her. And 
 she would never believe but that he loved her still. 
 This was only a wicked turn of those bad forces which 
 she knew were abroad in the world. Had she not seen 
 evil once in a man's face crouching in the bracken, 
 as he set a trap for some poor hare one dark and starry 
 night? And she had passed on, and then, when she 
 thought he would be gone, she had returned and loosened 
 the spring before it could do any harm. That poacher 
 had evil forces round him. They were there always for 
 the unwary, and had fastened upon John. She would 
 never doubt his love, and she herself could never change, 
 and she would pour upon him all her tender thoughts, 
 and call to the night winds to help her to do her duty. 
 
 So presently she remembered Cheiron, and turned 
 round to see him far away still, sitting quietly beneath 
 a giant elm stroking his long, silver beard. 
 
 " My dear, kind master ! " she exclaimed to herself, 
 and went rapidly back to him. 
 
 " That is a charming girl — your young friend," he 
 said to her, as he got up to stroll to the gate ; " full 
 of life and common sense. There is something won- 
 derful in the vitality of her nation. They jar dread- 
 fully upon us old tired peoples in their worst aspects — 
 but in their best we must recognize a new spring of 
 life and youth for the world. Yonder young woman 
 is not troubling about a soul, if she has one; she is 
 a fountain of living water. She has not taken on the 
 shadows of our crowded past. Halcyone, my dear, you 
 
 255
 
 H ALCYONE 
 
 and I are the inheritance of too much culture. When 
 I see her I want to cry with Epicurus : ' Above all, 
 steer clear of Culture ! ' " And then he branched from 
 this subject and plunged into a learned dissertation 
 upon the worship of Dionysus, and how it had cropped 
 up again and again with wild fervor among the ancient 
 worlds whose senses and brains were wearied with the 
 state religions, and he concluded by analogy that this 
 wild longing to return to youth's follies and mad 
 ecstasies, to get free from restraints, to seek communion 
 with the spiritual beyond in some exaltation of the emo- 
 tions — in short, to get back to nature — was an instinct 
 in all human beings and all nations, when their zeniths 
 of art and cultivation had come. 
 
 And Halcyone, who had heard it all before and knew 
 the subject to her finger tips, wandered dreamily into 
 a shadowland where she felt she was of these people — 
 those far back worshipers — and this was her winter 
 when Dionysus was dead, but would live again when the 
 spring came and the flowers.
 
 CHAPTER XXVI 
 
 'RS. CRICKLANDER felt it would be discreet 
 and in perfect taste if she announced her in- 
 tention of going off to Carlsbad the week after 
 her engagement was settled — she was always most 
 careful of decorum. And, if the world of her friends 
 thought John Derringham was well enough to be mak- 
 ing love to her in the seclusion of her own house, it 
 would be much wiser for her to show that she should 
 always remain beyond the breath of any gossip. 
 
 In her heart she was bored to tears. For nearly the 
 whole of June she had been cooped up at Wendover — 
 for more than half the time without even parties of 
 visitors to keep her company — and she loathed being 
 alone. She had no personal resources and invariably 
 at such times smoked too much and got agitated nerves 
 in consequence. 
 
 John Derringham — strong and handsome, with his 
 prestige and his brilliant faculties — was a conquest 
 worth parading chained to her chariot wheels. But 
 John Derringham, feeble, unable to walk, his ankle in 
 splints and plaster of Paris, and still suffering from 
 headaches whenever the light was strong, was simply a 
 weariness to her — nothing more nor less. 
 
 So that, until he should be restored to his usual 
 
 257
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 captivating vigor, it was much better for her pleasure 
 to leave him to his complete recovery alone, now that 
 she had got him securely in her keeping. 
 
 Arabella could ask her mother down and keep house 
 and see that he had everything in the world that he 
 wanted — and there were the devoted nurses. And, in 
 short, her doctor had said she must have her usual cure, 
 and that was the end of the matter! 
 
 She had only made him the most fleeting visits dur- 
 ing the week. He had really been ill after the fever 
 caused by the champagne. And she had been exquis- 
 itely gentle and not too demonstrative. She had cal- 
 culated the possibility of his backing out under the 
 plea of his health, so she determined not to give him 
 a chance to have the slightest excuse by overtiring him. 
 
 No one could have better played the part of de- 
 voted, understanding friend who by excess of love had 
 been betrayed into one lapse of passionate outburst, and 
 now wished only to soothe and comfort. 
 
 " She is a good sort," John Derringham thought, 
 after her first visit. " She will let me down easy in 
 any case," and the ceasing of his anxiety about his 
 financial position comforted him greatly. 
 
 The next time she came and sat by his bed, a vision 
 of fresh summer laces and chiffons, he determined to 
 make the position clear to her. 
 
 She always bent and kissed him with airy grace, then 
 sat down at a discreet distance. She felt he was not 
 overanxious to caress her, and preferred that the ren- 
 dering of this impossible should come from her side. 
 
 258
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 Indeed, unless kisses were necessary to gain an end, 
 she did not care for them herself — stupid, contempti- 
 ble things, she thought them! 
 
 John Derringham would have touched the hearts of 
 most women as he la}' there, but Cecilia Cricklander 
 had not this tiresome appendage, only the business 
 brain and unemotional sensibilities of her grandfather 
 the pork butcher. She did realize that her -fiance, even 
 there with the black silk handkerchief wound round 
 his head and his face and hands deadly pale and fragile- 
 looking, was still a most arrogant and distinguished- 
 looking creature, and that his eyes, with their pathetic 
 shadows dimming the proud glance in them, were won- 
 derfully attractive. But she was not touched especially 
 by his weakness. She disliked suffering and never 
 wanted to be made aware of it. 
 
 John Derringham went straight into the subject 
 which was uppermost in his thoughts. He asked her 
 to listen to him patiently, and stated his exact financial 
 situation. She must then judge if she found it worth 
 while to marry him ; he would not deceive her about one 
 fraction of it. 
 
 She laughed lightly when he had ended — and there 
 was something which galled him in her mirth. 
 
 " It is all a ridiculous nothing," she said. " Why, 
 I can pay off the whole thing with only the surplus I 
 invest every year from my income! Your property is 
 quite good security — if I want any. We shall prob- 
 ably have to do it in a business-like way ; your house 
 will be mine, of course, but I will make you very com- 
 
 259
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 f ortable as my guest ! " and she smiled with suitable 
 playfulness. " Let the lawyers talk over these things, 
 not you and me — you may be sure mine will look after 
 me!" 
 
 John Derringham felt the blood tingling in his ears. 
 There was nothing to take exception to in what she 
 had said, but it hurt him awfully. 
 
 " Very well," he answered wearily, and closed his 
 eyes for a moment. " If you are satisfied, that is all 
 that need be said. As things go on, and I reach where 
 I mean to get, I dare say to spend money to do the 
 thing beautifully will please you as much as it will 
 gratify me. I will give you what I can of the honors 
 and glories — so shall we consider our bargain equal ? " 
 
 This was not lover-like, and Mrs. Cricklander knew it, 
 but it was better to have got it all over. She was well 
 aware that the " honors and glories " would compensate 
 her for the outlay of her dollars, but her red mouth shut 
 with a snap as she registered a thought. 
 
 " When I come back it may amuse me to make him 
 really in love with me." Then, watching carefully, 
 she saw that some cloud of jar and disillusion had 
 settled upon her fiance's face. So with her masterly 
 skill she tried to banish it, talking intelligently upon 
 the political situation and his prospects. It looked cer- 
 tain that the Government would not last beyond the ses- 
 sion — and then what would happen? 
 
 Mr. Hanbury-Green had given her a very clear fore- 
 cast of what the other side meant to do, but this she 
 did not impart to John Derringham. 
 
 260
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 She made one really stupid mistake as she got up to 
 leave the room. 
 
 " If you want a few thousands now, John," she said, 
 as she bent to lightly salute his cheek, " do let me 
 know and I will send them to your bank. They may be 
 useful for the wedding." 
 
 A dull flush mounted to the roots of liis hair, and then 
 left him very pale. 
 
 He took her hand and kissed it with icy homage. 
 
 " Thank you, no — " he said. " You are far too 
 good. I will not take anything from you until the bar- 
 gain is completed." 
 
 Then their eyes met and in his there was a flash of 
 steel. 
 
 And when she had gone from the room he lay and 
 quivered, a sense of hideous humiliation flooding his be- 
 ing. 
 
 The following day she came in the morning. She 
 looked girlish in her short tennis frock and was rippling 
 with smiles. She sat on the bed and kissed him — and 
 then slipped her hand into his. 
 
 " John, darling," she said sweetly. " People will be- 
 gin to talk if I stay here at Wendover now that you 
 are getting better — and you would hate that as much 
 as I — so I have settled to go to Carlsbad with Lady 
 Maulevrier — just for three weeks. By that time my 
 splendid John will be himself again and we can settle 
 about our wedding — " then she bent and kissed him 
 once more before he could speak. " Arabella is going 
 to get her mother to come down," she went on, " and 
 
 261
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 you will be safe here with these devoted old ladies and 
 your Brome who is plainly in love with you, poor 
 thing ! " and she laughed gayly. " Say you think it is 
 best, too, John, dearest ? " 
 
 " Whatever you wish," he answered with some sudden 
 quick sense of relief. " I know I am an awful bore 
 lying here, and I shall not be able to crawl to a sofa 
 even for another week, these doctors say." 
 
 " You are not a bore — you are a darling," she mur- 
 mured, patting his hand. " And if only I were allowed 
 to stay with you — night and day — and nurse you like 
 Brome, I should be perfectly happy. But these 
 snatched scraps — John, darling, I can't bear it!" 
 
 He wondered if she were lying. He half thought 
 so, but she looked so beautiful, it enabled him to return 
 her caresses with some tepid warmth. 
 
 " It is too sweet of you, Cecilia," he said, as he 
 kissed her. He had not yet used one word of intimate 
 endearment — she had never been his darling, his sweet 
 and his own, like Halcyone. 
 
 After she had gone again, all details having been 
 settled for her departure upon the Monday, he almost 
 felt that he hated her. For, when she was in this ap- 
 parently loving mood, it seemed as if her bonds tight- 
 ened round his throat and strangled him to death. 
 " Octopus arms " he remembered Cheiron had called 
 them. 
 
 When Mrs. Cricklander got back to her own favorite 
 long seat out on the terrace, she sat down, and settling
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 the pillows under her head, she let her thoughts ticket 
 her advantages gained, in her usual concrete fashion. 
 
 " He is absolutely mine, body and soul. He does 
 not love me — we shall have the jolliest time seeing 
 who will win presently — but I have got the dollars, 
 so there is no doubt of the result — and what fun it will 
 be! It does not matter what I do now, he cannot 
 break away from me. He has let me see plainly that 
 my money has influenced him — and, although English- 
 men are fools, in his class they are ridiculously honor- 
 able. I've got him ! " and she laughed aloud. " It is 
 all safe, he will not break the bargain ! " 
 
 So she wrote an interesting note to Mr. Hanbury- 
 Green with a pencil on one of the blocks which she kept 
 lying about for any sudden use — and then strolled into 
 the house for an envelope. 
 
 And, as John Derringham lay in the darkened room 
 upstairs, he presently heard her joyous voice as she 
 played tennis with his secretary, and the reflection he 
 made was : 
 
 " Good Lord, how thankful I should be that at least 
 I do not love her ! " 
 
 Then he clenched his hands, and his aching thoughts 
 escaped the iron control under which since his engage- 
 ment he had tried always to keep them, and they went 
 back to Halcyone. He saw again with agonizing clear- 
 ness her little tender face, when her soft, true eyes had 
 melted into his as she whispered of love. 
 
 " This is what God means in everything." Well, 
 18 263
 
 H A L C Y O X E 
 
 God had very little to do with himself and Cecilia 
 Cricklander ! 
 
 And then he suddenly seemed to see the brutishness 
 of men. Here was he — a refined, honorable gentleman 
 — in a £ew weeks going to play false to his every instinct, 
 and take this woman whom he was growing to despise — 
 and perhaps dislike — into his arms and into his life, 
 in that most intimate relationship which, he realized 
 now, should only be undertaken when passionate calls 
 of tenderest love imperatively forced it. She would 
 have the right to be with him day — and night. She 
 might be the mother of his children — and he would 
 have to watch her instincts, which he surely would have 
 daily grown to loathe, coming out in them. And all 
 because money had failed him in his own resources and 
 was necessary to his ambitions, and this necessity, 
 working with an appeal to his senses when fired with 
 wine, had brought about the situation. 
 
 God Almighty ! How low he felt ! 
 
 And he groaned aloud. 
 
 Then from a small dispatch box, which he had got his 
 servant to put by his bed, he drew forth a little gold 
 case, in which for all these years he had kept an oak 
 leaf. He had had it made in the enthusiasm of his 
 youth when he had returned to London after Halcyone, 
 the wise-eyed child, had given it to him, and it had gone 
 about everywhere with him since as a sort of fetish. 
 
 It burnt his sight when he looked at it now. For 
 had he been " good and true " ? Alas ! Xo — nothing 
 but a sensual, ambitious weakling. 
 
 264,
 
 CHAPTER XXVII 
 
 ^J^^-^HE Professor and his protegee spent the whole 
 ■ *■ j of that July wandering in Brittany — going 
 ^^^^r from one old-world spot to another. There 
 had not been much opposition raised by Mr. and Mrs. 
 Anderton to Halcyone's accompanying her old master. 
 They themselves were going to Scotland, and there 
 Mabel had decided she would no longer be kept in the 
 schoolroom, and intended to come forward as a grown- 
 up girl assisting in the hospitalities of her father's 
 shooting lodge. And Mrs. Anderton, knowing her tem- 
 per, thought a rival of any sort might make difficulties. 
 So, as far as they were concerned, Halcyone might 
 start at once. They always left for the north in the 
 middle of the month, and if the Professor wanted to get 
 away sooner, they did not wish to interfere with his 
 arrangements. Halcyone must come and pay them an- 
 other visit later on. 
 
 As for the Aunts La Sarthe — their heads appeared 
 to be completely turned by their sojourn at the sea- 
 side! They proposed to remain there all the summer, 
 and put forward no objection to their niece's excursion 
 with Mr. Carlyon. The once quiet spot of their youth 
 had developed into a fashionable Welsh watering place, 
 and Miss Roberta was taking on a new lease of health 
 
 265
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 and activity from the pleasure of seeing the crowded 
 parade, while the Aunt Ginevra allowed that the exhil- 
 arating breezes and cerulean waters were certainly most 
 refreshing! 
 
 Before the Professor could leave for a lengthy trip 
 abroad, it was necessary that he should return to the 
 orchard house for a day, and Halcyone accompanied 
 him, leaving Priscilla in London. Her mission was 
 to secure the goddess's head — but, as there was no one 
 at La Sarthe Chase, she decided just to go there and 
 get her treasure and sleep the night at Cheiron's. 
 
 It would be an excursion of much pain to her, to be 
 so near to her still loved lover and to feel the cruel 
 gulf between them, but she must face it if she desired 
 Aphrodite to accompany them. The Professor sug- 
 gested she might take him through the secret passage 
 and try with his help to open the heavy box. No such 
 opportunity had ever occurred before or was likely 
 to occur again, her aunts being absent and even old 
 William nowhere about. It made the chance one in a 
 thousand. So she agreed, and determined to force her- 
 self to endure the pain which going back would cause 
 her. 
 
 She was perfectly silent all the way from London 
 to Upminster — and Mr. Carlyon watched her furtively. 
 He knew very well what was passing in her mind, and 
 admired the will which suppressed the expression of it. 
 She grew very pale indeed in the station-fly when they 
 passed the gates of Wendover. It was about half past 
 three in the afternoon — and the Professor had promised 
 
 2ffi
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 to come to the archway opening of the secret passage 
 at five. 
 
 So Halcyone left him and took her way down the 
 garden and through the little gate into the park. It 
 seemed like revisiting some scene in a former life, so 
 deep was the chasm which separated the last time she 
 walked that way from this day. She passed the oak 
 tree without stopping. She would not give way to any 
 weakness or the grief which threatened to overwhelm 
 her. She kept her mind steadily fixed upon the object 
 she had in view, with a power of concentration which 
 only those who live in solitude can ever attain to. 
 
 Aphrodite was there still in the bag lying on top 
 of the heavy iron-bound box in the secret passage, and 
 she carried her out into the sunlight and once more 
 took the wrappings from the perfect face. 
 
 " You are coming with us, sweet friend," she whis- 
 pered, and gazed long into the goddess's eyes. What 
 she saw there gave her comfort. 
 
 " Yes, I know," she went on gently. " I did say that, 
 whatever came, I would understand that it was life — 
 And I do — and I know this evil pain is only for the time 
 — and so I will not admit its power. I will wait and 
 some day joy will return to me, like the swallow from 
 the south. Mother, I will grieve not." 
 
 And all the softest summer zephyrs seemed to caress 
 her in answer, and there she sat silent and absorbed, 
 looking out to the blue hills for more than an hour. 
 
 Then she- saw Cheiron advancing up the beech ave- 
 nue, and covering up Aphrodite she went to meet him. 
 
 267
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 They came back to the second terrace and started 
 upon their quest. 
 
 Mr. Carlyon had the greatest difficulty in keeping 
 his old head bent to get through the very low part of 
 the dark arched place, and he held Haley one's hand. 
 But at last they emerged into the one light spot and 
 there saw the breastplate and the box. But at first 
 it seemed as if they could not lift it ; it had fallen with 
 the lock downward. Cheiron, although a most robust 
 old man, had passed his seventieth year, and the 
 thing was of extreme heaviness. But at last they 
 pushed and pulled and got it upright, and finally, 
 with tremendous exertions with a chisel Mr. Carl- 
 yon had brought, managed to break open the ancient 
 lock. 
 
 It gave with a sudden snap, and in breathless excite- 
 ment they raised the lid. 
 
 Inside was another case of wood. This also was 
 locked, but at its side lay an old key. The Professor, 
 as well as his chisel, had prudently brought a small 
 bottle of oil, and eventually was able to make the key 
 turn in the lock, and they found that the box was in two 
 compartments, one entirely filled with gold pieces, and the 
 other containing some smaller heavy object enwound 
 with silk. 
 
 They lifted it out and carried it to the light, and 
 then with great excitement they unrolled the coverings. 
 It proved to be a gold-and-jeweled crucifix and beneath 
 it lay a parchment with a seal. 
 
 Leaving the pieces of gold in the box, they carried 
 
 268
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 the crucifix and the parchment out on to the terrace, 
 and then the Professor adjusted his strongest spectacles 
 and prepared to read what he could, while Halcyone ex- 
 amined the beautiful thing. 
 
 The writing was still fairly dark and the words were 
 in Latin. It stated, so the Professor read, that the 
 money and the crucifix were the property of Timothy 
 La Sarthe, Gentleman to Queen Henrietta Maria, and 
 that, should aught befall him in his flight to France 
 upon secret business for Her Majesty, the gold and 
 the crucifix belonged to whichever of his descendants 
 should find it — or it should be handed to ; that all oth- 
 ers were cursed who should touch it, and that it would 
 bring the owner fortune, as it was the work of one 
 Benvenuto Cellini, an artist of great renown in Flor- 
 ence before his day, and therefore of great value. 
 The quaintly phrased deed added that if it were taken 
 to one Reuben Zana, a Jew in the Jewry at the sign 
 of the Golden Horn, he would dispose of it for a large 
 sum to the French king. The crucifix had been 
 brought from Florence in the doAver of his wife Donna 
 Vittoria Tornabuoni, now dead. If his son Timothy 
 should secure it, he was advised not to keep it, as its 
 possession brought trouble to the family. 
 
 " Then it is legally ours and not treasure-trove," 
 said Halcyone. " Oh, how good ! It will make the 
 Aunts La Sarthe quite rich perhaps, and look how beau- 
 tiful it is, the jeweled thing." 
 
 They examined it minutely. It was a masterpiece 
 of that great craftsman and artist and of untold value. 
 
 269
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 Cheiron silently thrilled with the delight of it — but 
 Haleyone spoke. 
 
 " I am glad Ancestor Timothy suggested selling it," 
 she said. " I would never keep a crucifix, the emblem 
 of sorrow and pain. For me, Christ is always glorified 
 and happy in heaven. Now what must we do, Master? 
 Must we at once tell the aunts? But I will not con- 
 sent to anyone knowing of this staircase. That would 
 destroy something which I could never recover. We 
 must pretend we have found it in the long gallery; 
 there is a recess in the paneling which no one knows of 
 but I, and there we can put it and find it again. It 
 will be quite safe. Shall we leave it there, Cheiron, 
 until we come back from abroad? How much do you 
 think it is worth? " 
 
 " Anything up to fifty thousand pounds perhaps to 
 a collector," the Professor said, " since it is an original 
 and unique. Look at the splendid rubies and emeralds 
 and these two big diamonds at the top, and there is 
 so little of Benvenuto's work left that is authentic." 
 
 " That is an unusual sum of money, is it not ? " Hal- 
 eyone asked. " That would surely give them anything 
 they want for their lives ; perhaps we ought not to keep 
 them waiting." 
 
 And so after much talk it was arranged that Hal- 
 eyone should make several journeys, taking the gold 
 to the long gallery and then the crucifix; and then the 
 box could be lifted and repacked again there. And, 
 when she had it all stowed away carefully in the re- 
 cess of the paneling, she and Cheiron should go openly 
 
 270
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 to the back door and let the caretaker know they had 
 arrived, and go into the house — and there ostensibly 
 find the treasure. Then they would write to the Misses 
 La Sarthe about their discovery, and take the box to 
 Applewood and deposit it in the bank until their re- 
 turn. 
 
 All this took a long time but was duly carried out, 
 and about eight o'clock Halcyone and the Professor 
 were able to go back, carrying the crucifix with them, 
 to keep it safe for the night and then to put it back 
 with the gold and the parchment, before they took the 
 box to the bank on the morrow. 
 
 " It may be worth more still and there is a good 
 deal of gold," the Professor said, " and their coins would 
 be worth more now. You will be quite a little heiress 
 some day, dear child." 
 
 " I do not care the least about money, Cheiron," she 
 said, " but I shall be so glad for the aunts." 
 
 And when eventually the old ladies received the news 
 of their fortune there was much rejoicing, and by fol- 
 lowing Cheiron's advice they were not defrauded and 
 might look forward to a most comfortable end to their 
 lives. Miss Roberta even dreamed of a villa at the sea- 
 side and a visit to London Town! 
 
 But meanwhile the Professor and Kalcyone went back 
 to London and on the Saturday left for Dieppe. 
 
 London, perhaps from her numbed state of misery, 
 had said nothing to Halcyone. It remained in her mem- 
 ory as a nightmare, the scene of the confirmation of 
 her winter of the soul. Its inhabitants were ghosts, 
 
 271
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 the young men — jolly, hearty, young fellows from 
 the Stock Exchange, and rising Radical politicians 
 whom she had met — went from her record of things 
 as so many shadows. 
 
 The vast buildings seemed as prisons, the rush and 
 flurry as worrying storms, and even the parks as only 
 feeble reminders of her dear La Sarthe Chase. 
 
 Nothing had made the least real impression upon her 
 except Kensington Gardens, and they to the end of her 
 life would probably be only a reminder of pain. 
 
 But her first view of the sea ! 
 
 That was something revivifying ! 
 
 Her memory of the one occasion when she had gone 
 to Lowestoft with her mother was too dim to be any- 
 thing of a reality, and, when they got to Newhaven, 
 the Professor and Priscilla and she, with a brisk sum- 
 mer wind blowing the green-blue water into crested wave- 
 lets, the first cry of life and joy escaped her and glad- 
 dened Cheiron's heart. 
 
 How wonderful the voyage was ! She took in every 
 smallest change in the tones of the sky — she watched 
 the waves from the forepart of the bridge, and some new 
 essence of life and the certainty that her night forces 
 would never desert her made themselves felt and cheered 
 her. 
 
 Of John Derringham she thought constantly. He was 
 not buried in that outer circle of oblivion from which 
 the thoughts unconsciously shy — as we bury our 
 dead, their going so shrouded in pain that we long 
 to blot out the memory of them. John Derringham 
 
 272
 
 HALC YONE 
 
 was always with her. She prayed for his welfare with 
 the fervor and purity of her sweet soul. He was her 
 spirit lover still. He could never really belong to any 
 other woman, she knew. And as the days went by a 
 fresh beauty grew in her pale face. The night sky 
 itself seemed to be melted in her true eyes with the es- 
 sence of all its stars. 
 
 Cheiron often wondered at her. There was never a 
 word or allusion to the past. She was extremely quiet, 
 and sometimes the droop of her graceful head and the 
 sad curves of her tender lips would make the kind old 
 cynic's heart ache. But she was always cheerful, tak- 
 ing unfeigned interest in the country and the people, 
 delighting in the simple faith of the peasants and the 
 glory of some of the old cathedrals. 
 
 And Aphrodite traveled everywhere with them. A 
 special case had been made for her — and Halcyone 
 often took her out to keep them company in the late 
 evenings or when a rare rain storm kept them indoors. 
 
 Mr. Carlyon had not written to John Derringham 
 since his engagement had been announced. He wished 
 all connection with his former pupil to be broken off. 
 He had no mercy for his action, he could not even use 
 his customary lenient common sense towards the failings 
 of mankind. 
 
 John Derringham had made his peerless one suffer 
 — and his name was anathema. As far as Cheiron was 
 concerned he was wiped off the list of beings who 
 count. 
 
 Halcyone's delicate sense of obligation had been put 
 
 273
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 at ease by her stepfather. He had made over to her 
 a few hundreds a year which he said had belonged to 
 her mother — the simple creature was too ignorant of all 
 business to be aware whether this was or was not the 
 case. She had grown to have a certain liking for James 
 Anderton. There was a hard, level-headed, shrewd hon- 
 esty about him, keen to drive a bargain — even the 
 one about her mother to which Priscilla had alluded 
 and to which they had never made any further refer- 
 ence — but, when once he had gained his point, he was 
 generous and kind-hearted. 
 
 He could not help it that he was not a gentleman, Hal- 
 cyone thought, and he did his best for everybody accord- 
 ing to his lights. 
 
 Her few hundreds a year seemed untold wealth to her 
 who had never had even a few sixpences for pocket 
 money ! But there was always some instinctive dislike 
 for the thing itself. It remained to her a rather un- 
 pleasant medium for securing the necessities of life, 
 though she was glad she now possessed enough not to be 
 a burden upon her aunts, and could hand what was nec- 
 essary for her trip over to the Professor. 
 
 They wanted to get into Italy as soon as it should 
 be cool enough. August saw them in an out-of-the- 
 way village in Switzerland. 
 
 And the mountains caused Halcyone a yet deeper 
 emotion than the sea had done. Nature here talked to 
 her in a voice of supreme grandeur, and bade her never 
 to be cast down but to go on bearing her winter with 
 heroic calm. 
 
 274
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 She often stayed out the entire night and watched 
 the stars fade and the dawn come — Phoebus with his 
 sun chariot! Somehow Switzerland, although it was 
 not at all the actual background, seemed to bring to 
 her the atmosphere of her " Heroes." The lower hill 
 near their village could certainly be Pelion, and one day 
 she felt she had discovered Cheiron's cave. This was 
 a joy — and that night, when it rained and she and the 
 Professor sat before their wood fire in the little inn par- 
 lor, with Aphrodite tying near them in her silken folds, 
 she coaxed her old master into telling her those moving 
 tales of old. 
 
 " You are indeed Cheiron, Master," she said — and 
 then her eyes widened and she looked into the glowing 
 ashes. " And you have one pupil, who, like Heracles in 
 his fight with the Centaurs, has accidental!}' wounded 
 you. But I want you not to let the poison of the arrow 
 grow in your blood ; the wound is not incurable as his 
 was. Master, why do you never speak to me now of Mr. 
 Dcrringham? " 
 
 Cheiron frowned. One of his eyebrows had grown 
 in later years at least an inch long and seemed to bristle 
 ready for battle when he was angry. 
 
 " I think he has behaved as no gentleman should," 
 he growled, " and I would rather not mention him." 
 
 " You know of things perhaps with which I am not 
 acquainted," said Halcyone, " but from my point of 
 view, there is nothing to judge him for. Whatever he 
 may have done in becoming engaged to marry this lady 
 — because she is rich — we do not know the forces that 
 
 275
 
 H A L C Y O N E 
 
 were compelling him. It hurts me, Cheiron, that you 
 take so stern a view — it hurts me, Master." 
 
 Mr. Carlvon put out his hand and stroked her 
 soft hair as she sat there on a low stool looking up at 
 him. 
 
 " Oh, my dear," he said, and could articulate no 
 more because a lump grew in his throat. 
 
 '* Everything is so simple when we know of it," she 
 went on, " but everj-one has not had the fortune to learn 
 nature and the forces which we must encourage or guard 
 against. And Mr. Derringham, who had to mix with 
 the world, ran many dangers which could not come to 
 you and me at La Sarthe Chase. Ah, Cheiron ! Even 
 you do not know of the ugly things which creep away 
 out of sight in the night — my night that I love ! And 
 they could sting one if one did not know where to put 
 one's feet. And so it must be with him — he did not 
 always see where just to put his feet, so we must not 
 judge him, must we?" she pleaded. 
 
 " Not if you do not wish," Mr. Carlyon blurted out. 
 And then he began to puff wreaths of smoke from his 
 long old pipe. 
 
 " Indeed, I do not wish, Cheiron," she said. " Per- 
 haps he is very unhappy now — we do not know — so 
 we should only send him good thoughts to cheer him. 
 I dream of him often," she went on in a far-off voice, 
 as though she had almost forgotten the Professor's pres- 
 ence, " and he cries to me in pain.' And I could not 
 bear it that you should be thinking badly of him, and 
 so I had to speak because thoughts can help or injure 
 
 276
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 people — and now he wants all the gentle currents we 
 can send him to take him through this time." 
 
 The Professor coughed violently ; his spectacles had 
 grown dim. 
 
 Then Halcyone rubbed her soft cheek against his old 
 withered hand. 
 
 " You knew it, of course, Master," she said very 
 softly. " I loved him always and I love him still — and, 
 if I have forgiven any hurt which he brought me, surely 
 it need not stand against him with you. To-night — 
 oh, he is suffering so! I cannot bear that there should 
 be one shadow going to him that I can take away. 
 Cheiron, promise me you won't think hardly ever any 
 more — promise me, Cheiron, dear 1 " 
 
 The Professor's voice was almost the growl of a bear 
 — but Halcyone knew he meant to acquiesce. 
 
 " Cheiron," she whispered, while she caressed his stiff 
 fingers, " the winter of our souls is almost past. I feel 
 and know the spring is near at hand." 
 
 " I hope to God it is," Mr. Carlyon said, very low. 
 
 Next day they moved on into Italy, crossing the 
 frontier and stopping the night at Turin where they 
 proposed to hire a motor. From thence they intended 
 to get down to Genoa to continue their pilgrimage. It 
 was not such an easy matter, in those few years ago, as 
 it is now to hire a motor, but one was promised to them 
 at last — and off they started. Halcyone took the 
 greatest interest in everything in that quaint and grand 
 old town. Her keen judgment and that faculty she pos- 
 sessed of always seeing everything from the simplest 
 
 277
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 standpoint of truth made her an ideal companion to 
 wander with on this journey of cultured ease. 
 
 " How strong a place this seems, Cheiron," she said, 
 after two days of their sight-seeing. " All the spirits 
 at the zenith of Genoa's greatness were strong — noth- 
 ing weak or ascetic. They must have been filled with 
 gratitude to God for giving them this beautiful life, 
 those old patrons of decoration. There is nothing 
 cheap or hurried; it is all an appreciation of the mag- 
 nificence due to their noble station and their pride of 
 race. For the Guelphist of them seems to have been 
 an aristocrat and an autocrat in his personal menage. 
 Is it not so, Master? " 
 
 " I dare say," agreed Cheiron. He was watching 
 with deep interest for her verdict upon things. 
 
 " It gives me the impression of solid riches," she went 
 on, " the encouragement of looms of costly stuffs, the 
 encouragement for workers in marble, in bronze, in 
 frescoes, all the material gorgeous, tangible pleasures 
 of sight and touch. It is not poetic ; it inspires admira- 
 tion for great deeds, victorious navies, triumphs — ban- 
 quets — I have no sense of music here except the music 
 of feasting. I have no sense of poetry except of odes 
 to famous admirals or party leaders, and yet it is a great 
 joy in its way and a noble monument to the proud man- 
 hood of the past." And she looked down from the bal- 
 cony of the Palazzo Reale, where they were standing, 
 into the town below. 
 
 Her thoughts had gone as ever to the man she loved. 
 He had this haughty spirit — he could have lived in 
 
 278
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 those days — and she saw him a Doria, a Brignole-Salc 
 or a Pallavicini, gorgeous, masterful and magnificent. 
 England in the present day was surely a supplice for 
 such an arrogant spirit as that of John Derringham. 
 
 The prosperous mercantile part of Genoa said noth- 
 ing to her — she wanted always to wander where she 
 could weave romances into the things round. She had 
 never seen any fine pictures before. The Anderton 
 family were not lovers of art and, while in London, Hal- 
 cyone had been too unhappy to care or even ask to be 
 taken to galleries — and Cheiron had not suggested do- 
 ing so ; he was a good deal occupied himself. But now 
 it was a great pleasure to him to watch and see what 
 impression they would make upon a perfectly fresh eye. 
 The immense cultivation of her mind would guide her 
 taste probably — but it would be an interesting experi- 
 ment. 
 
 She stopped instantly in front of a Van Dyck, but 
 she did not speak. In fact she made no observations at 
 all about the pictures until they were back in their hotel. 
 It was still very hot, although September had come, and 
 they had their dinner upon an open terrace. 
 
 And then her thoughts came out. 
 
 " I like the Guido ltenis, Cheiron," she said ; " hi9 
 Magdalen in the Reale Palazzo is exquisite — she is pure 
 and good. But I do not like the saints and martyrs in 
 the throes of their agony, they say nothing to me, I 
 have no sympathy for them. I adore the Madonna and 
 the Child ; they touch me — here," and she laid her hand 
 upon her heart. " The Sassoferarto Virgin in the 
 19 279
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 Reale Palazzo is like Miss Lutworth, she is full of kind- 
 ness and youth. The early masters' works, which are 
 badly drawn and beautifully colored, I have to take 
 apart — and it is unsatisfying. Because, while I am 
 trying not to see the wrong shape, I have only half my 
 faculties to appreciate the exquisite colors, and so a 
 third influence has to come in — the meaning of the ar- 
 tist who painted them and perhaps put into them his soul. 
 But that is altruistic — I could as well admire some- 
 thing of very bad art for the same reason. For me a 
 picture should satisfy each of these points of view to 
 be perfect and lift me into heights. That is why per- 
 haps I shall prefer sculpture on the whole, when I shall 
 have seen it, to painting." 
 
 And Mr. Carlyon felt that, learned in art and old as 
 he was, Halcyone might give him a new point of view. 
 
 Next day they left for Pisa.
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII 
 
 Vw^HEN Arabella Clinker and her mother were set- 
 W J tied together at Wendover, a strange peace 
 \M*r seemed to fall upon the place. John Derring- 
 ham was conscious of it upstairs as he lay in his Louis 
 XV bed. By the time he was allowed to be carried to a 
 sofa in the sitting-room which had been arranged for 
 him, July had well set in. 
 
 He had parted from his Cecilia with suitable things 
 said upon either side. Even in his misery and abase- 
 ment, John Derringham was too assured a spirit and 
 too much a man of the world to have any hesitation or 
 awkwardness. Mrs. Cricklander had been all that was 
 sympathetic. She looked superbly full of vigor and 
 the joy of life as she came to say farewell. 
 
 " John, darling," she purred, " you will do everything 
 you are told to by the doctors while I am away, won't 
 you ? " and she caressed his forehead with her soft hand. 
 " So that I may not have to worry as dreadfully as I 
 have been doing, when I come back. It has made me 
 quite ill — that is why I must go to Carlsbad. You will 
 be good now ; so that I may find you as strong and hand- 
 some as ever on my return." Then she bent and kissed 
 him. 
 
 He promised faithfully, and she never saw the whim- 
 
 281
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 steal gleam in his eyes, because for the moment having 
 gained her end her faculties had resumed their normal 
 condition, which was not one of superlative sensitive- 
 ness. Like everything else in her utilitarian equipment, 
 fine perceptions were only assumed when the magnitude 
 of the goal in view demanded their presence. And even 
 then they merely went as far as sentinels to warn or 
 encourage her in the progress of her aims, never wast- 
 ing themselves upon irrelevant objects. 
 
 When her scented presence had left the room, John 
 Derringham clasped his hands behind his head, and, be- 
 fore he was aware of it, his lips had murmured " Thank 
 God!" 
 
 And then Nemesis fell upon him — his schoolboy sen- 
 sation of recreation-time at hand left him, and a blank 
 sense of failure and hopeless bondage took its place. 
 
 Surely he had bartered his soul for a very inadequate 
 mess of pottage. 
 
 And where would he sink to under this scorpion whip ? 
 Where would go all his fine aspirations which, even in 
 spite of all the juggling of political life, still lived in 
 his aims. Halcyone would have understood. 
 
 " Oh ! my love ! " he cried. " My tender love ! " 
 
 Then that part of him which was strong reasserted it- 
 self. He would not give way to this repining, the thing 
 was done and he must make the best of it. He asked 
 for some volumes from the library. He would read, 
 and he sent the faithful and adoring Brome to request 
 Miss Clinker to send him up the third and fourth vol- 
 ume of " The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire." 
 
 282
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 He often turned to Gibbon when he was at war with 
 things. The perfect balance of the English soothed 
 him — and he felt he would read of Julian, for whom in 
 his heart he felt a sympathy. 
 
 Arabella brought the volumes herself, and placed 
 them on his table, and then went to settle some roses in 
 a vase before she left the room. 
 
 A thin slip of paper fell out of one of the books as 
 he opened it, and he read it absently while he turned 
 the pages. 
 
 On the top was a date in pencil, and in a methodical 
 fashion there was written in red ink : 
 
 " Notes for the instruction of M. E.," and then un- 
 derneath, " Subjects to be talked of at dinner to-night 
 — Was there cause for Julian's apostasy? What ap- 
 pealed most to Julian in the old religions — etc., etc." 
 
 For a second the words conveyed no meaning to his 
 brain, and for something to say, he said aloud to Ara- 
 bella : " This is your writing, I think, Miss Clinker. I 
 see you have a taste for our friend Gibbon, too," and 
 then, observing the troubled confusion of Arabella's 
 honest face, a sudden flash came over him of memory. 
 He recollected distinctly that upon the Sunday before 
 his accident, they had talked at lunch of Julian the 
 Apostate, and Mrs. Cricklander had turned the conver- 
 sation, and then had referred to the subject again at 
 dinner with an astonishing array of facts, surprising him 
 by her erudition. 
 
 He looked down at the slip again — yes, the date was 
 right, and the red-ink heading was evidently a stereo- 
 
 283
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 typed one; probably Arabella kept a supply of these 
 papers ready, being a methodical creature. And the 
 questions! — were they for her own education? But 
 no — Arabella was a cultivated person and would not 
 require such things, and, on that particular Sunday, had 
 never opened the door of her lips at either meal. 
 
 " She prompts Cecilia," in a flash he thought, with 
 a wild sense of bitter mirth. " No wonder she can reel 
 off statistics as she does. ' Subjects to be talked of at 
 dinner ' — forsooth ! " 
 
 And Arabella stood there, her kind plain face crim- 
 son, and her brown eyes blinking pitifully behind her 
 glasses. 
 
 She was too fine to say anything, it would make the 
 situation impossibly difficult if she invented an explana- 
 tion. So she just blinked — and finally, after placing 
 the fresh flowers by Mr. Derringham's bed, she left the 
 room by the door beyond. 
 
 When she had gone it was as if a curtain were raised 
 upon John Derringham's understanding. Countless cir- 
 cumstances came back to him when his fiancee's appar- 
 ent learning had aroused his admiration, and with a 
 twinge he remembered Cheiron's maliciously amused 
 eyes which had met his during her visit to the orchard 
 house, when she had become a little at sea in some of 
 her conversation. The whole thing then was a colossal 
 bluff — Arabella was the brain ! Arabella was the 
 erudite, cultured person and his admirable Cecilia played 
 the role of extremely clever parrot! He laughed 
 with bitter cynical merriment until he shook in his bed. 
 
 284
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 And he, poor fool, had been taken in by it all — he 
 and a number of others. He was in company at all 
 events! Then he saw another aspect, and almost ad- 
 mired the woman for her audacity. What nerve to play 
 such a game, and so successfully! The determination 
 
 — the application it required — and the force of char- 
 acter ! 
 
 But the gall of it when she should be his wife ! He 
 saw pictures of himself trembling with apprehension at 
 some important function in case mistakes should occur. 
 He would have to play the part of Arabella, and write 
 out the notes for the subjects to be " talked of at din- 
 ner ! " 
 
 He lay there, and groaned with rage and disgust. 
 
 He could not — he would not go through with 
 it! 
 
 But next day the irony of fate fell upon him with 
 heavy hand. He received the news that Joseph Scroope, 
 his maternal uncle, was dead, not having produced an 
 heir, so he knew that he would inherit a comfortable 
 fortune from him. 
 
 The noose had, indeed, tightened round his neck, — 
 he could not now release himself from his engagement 
 to Cecilia Cricklander. Some instincts of a gentleman 
 still remained with him in full measure. The hideous, 
 hideous mockery of it all. If he had waited, he would 
 now have been free to seek his darling, his pure star, 
 Halcyone, in all honor. He could have taken her dear, 
 tender hand, and led her proudly to the seat by his side 
 
 — and crowned her with whatever laurels her sweet spirit 
 
 285
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 would have inspired him to gain. And it was all too 
 late ! too late ! 
 
 He reviewed the whole chain of events, and perceived 
 how it had been his own doing — what had happened in 
 each step — and tins knowledge added to the bitterness 
 of his pain. It was from now onward that his nights 
 were often agony. Every movement, every word of 
 Hulcyone came back to him, from the old days of long 
 ago when she had given him the oak leaf, to the moment 
 of her looking into his eyes, with all her soul in hers, 
 as she had answered his passionate question. " Afraid? 
 How should I be afraid — since you are my lord and 
 I am your love? Do not we belong to one another? " 
 
 And in spite of the peace Mrs. Cricklander's absence 
 caused in the atmosphere, John Derringham grew more 
 unutterably wretched as time went on. 
 
 His cup seemed to be rilling from all sides. The 
 Government was going out in disaster, and, instead of 
 being able to stand by his colleagues and fight, and per- 
 haps avert catastrophe by his brilliant speeches and 
 biting wit, he was chained like a log to a sofa and was 
 completely impotent. 
 
 It was no wonder his convalescence was slow, and that 
 Arabella grew anxious about him. She felt that some 
 of Mrs. Cricklander's wrath and disgust because of this 
 state of things would fall upon her head. 
 
 His ankle was a great deal better now, it was five 
 weeks since the accident, and in a day or two he hoped 
 to leave for London. Mrs. Cricklander would be obliged 
 to take an after-cure at the highly situated castle of an 
 
 286
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 Austrian Prince, an old friend of hers — where the air 
 was most bracing, she wrote. For her strict instruc- 
 tions to Arabella before she left, after telling her she 
 might have her mother to keep her company, and so 
 earning the good creature's deep gratitude, had been: 
 
 " You must keep me informed of every slightest turn 
 in Mr. Derringham — because, until he is perfectly well 
 and amusing again, I simply can't come back to Eng- 
 land. His tragic face bores me to death. Really, men 
 are too tiresome when there is the slightest thing the 
 matter with them." 
 
 And Arabella had faithfully carried out her instruc- 
 tions. 
 
 In common honesty she could not inform her employer 
 that John Derringham was perfectly well or amusing ! 
 
 Poor Miss Clinker's happy summer with her mother 
 was being a good deal dimmed by her unassuaged sym- 
 pathy and commiseration. 
 
 " Of course, he is grieving for that sweet and dis- 
 tinguished girl, Miss Halcyone La Sarthe," she told her- 
 self — and with the old maid's hungering for romance, 
 which even the highest education cannot quite crush 
 from the female breast, she longed to know what had 
 parted them. 
 
 Mr. Carlyon had gone abroad, she had ascertained 
 that, and La Sarthe Chase was still closed. 
 
 The night before John Derringham left for London, 
 he hobbled down to dinner on crutches. He was not to 
 try and use his foot for some Aveeks still, but the cut on 
 his head was mended now. It was a glorious July even- 
 
 287
 
 HALCYON E 
 
 ing, the roses were not over on the terrace, and every 
 aspect of nature was gorgeously beautiful and peaceful. 
 
 They did not delay long over their repast, and there 
 was still twilight when Mrs. and Miss Clinker left their 
 invalid alone with his wine. A letter was in his pocket, 
 arrived by the evening post from Mrs. Cricklander, 
 which he had not yet opened. It would contain her 
 reflections upon his changed conditions of fortune, of 
 which he had, when he learned of its full magnitude, 
 duly informed her. 
 
 He was alternately raging with misery now, or per- 
 fectly numb and, as he sat there a shattered wreck of 
 his former insouciant self, gaunt and haggard and piti- 
 fully thin, some of his friends would hardly have recog- 
 nized him. 
 
 He felt it was his duty to read the missive presently, 
 but he told himself the lights were too dim, and taking 
 a cigar he hobbled out upon the terrace. His return to 
 public life would now be too late to help to avert disaster, 
 he must just stand aside in these last weeks of the ses- 
 sion and see the shipwreck. An unspeakable bitterness 
 invaded his spirit. The moon was rising when he got 
 outside, one day beyond its full. It seemed like a 
 golden ball in the twilight of opal tints, before it should 
 rise in its silver majesty to supreme command of the 
 night. Nature was in one of her most sensuously divine 
 moods. The summer and fulfillment had come. 
 
 John Derringham sat down in a comfortable chair 
 and gazed in front of him. 
 
 There had been moonlight, too, when he had spent 
 
 288
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 those exquisite hours with his love, now six weeks ago 
 
 — a young half moon. Could it be only six weeks ? A 
 lifetime of anguish appeared to have rolled between. 
 And where was she? Then, for the first time, the crust 
 of his self -absorption seemed to crumble, and he thought 
 with new stabs of pain how she, too, must have suffered. 
 He began to picture her waiting by the gate — she 
 would be brave and quiet. And then, as the day passed 
 
 — what had she done? He could not imagine, but she 
 must have suffered intolerably. When could she have 
 heard of the accident, since the next day she had been 
 taken away? Why had she gone? That was unlike 
 her, to have given in to any force which could separate 
 them. And if he had known this step also was uncon- 
 sciously caused by his own action in having his letter 
 to Cheiron posted from London, it would have tortured 
 him the more. Another thought came, and he started 
 forward in his chair. Was it possible that she had 
 written to him, and that the letter had got mislaid, among 
 the prodigious quantity which accumulated in those first 
 days of his unconsciousness? 
 
 Then he sank back again. Even if this were so, it 
 was too late now. Everything was too late — from that 
 awful night when he had become engaged to Cecilia 
 Cricklander. 
 
 She had put the announcement into the paper not 
 quite three weeks after the accident. What could Hal- 
 cyone have thought of him and his unspeakable base- 
 ness? Now she could have nothing but loathing and 
 contempt in her heart, wherever she was — and what 
 
 289
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 right had he to have broken the beliefs and shattered 
 the happiness of that pure, young soul? 
 
 He remembered his old master's words about a man's 
 honor towards women. It was true then that it was 
 regulated, not by the woman's feelings or anguish, but 
 by the man's inclination and whether or no the world 
 should hold him responsible. And he realized that this 
 latter reason was the force which now prevented his 
 breaking his engagement with Mrs. Cricklander. He 
 had behaved with supreme selfishness in the beginning, 
 and afterwards with a weakness which would always 
 make him writhe when he thought of it. 
 
 His self-respect was receiving a crushing blow. He 
 clasped his thin hands and his head sank forward upon 
 his breast in utter dejection; he closed his eyes as if to 
 shut out too painful pictures. And when he opened 
 them again it was darker, and the moon made misty 
 shadows through the trees, and out of them he seemed 
 to see Halcyone's face quite close to him. It was tender 
 and pitiful and full of love. The hallucination was so 
 startlingly vivid that he almost fancied her lips moved, 
 and she whispered : " Courage, beloved." Then he 
 knew that he was dreaming, and that he was gazing into 
 space — alone.
 
 CHAPTER XXIX 
 
 >RS. CRICKLANDER, at Carlsbad, was not al- 
 together pleased to receive the news of her 
 fiance's accession to fortune. She realized 
 that John Derringham was not the sort of man to give 
 up his will to any woman unless the woman had entirely 
 the whip hand, as she would have had if he had been 
 dependent upon her for the financial aid wherewith to 
 obtain his ambitions. She would have practically no 
 hold over him now, and, when he was well, he was so at- 
 tractive that she might even grow to care too deeply for 
 him for her own welfare. To allow herself to become in 
 love with a husband who was answerable to her for his 
 very food and lodging, and whom she could punish 
 and keep in bondage when she pleased, was quite a 
 different matter to experiencing that emotion towards 
 an imperious, independent creature going his own 
 way, and even, perhaps, compelling her to conform to 
 his. 
 
 " How stupid of the old man, Mr. Scroope, to have 
 married so late ! " she said to herself, as usual finding 
 everyone wrong who in any way interfered with her 
 wishes. 
 
 John Derringham's letters — only two a week she re- 
 
 291
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 ceived from him — were his usual masterpieces of style, 
 and in them he employed his skill to say everything — 
 and nothing. 
 
 She felt pleased as she read, and then resentful when 
 she thought over them. He had never once used a word 
 of personal endearment, although the letters were beau- 
 tifully expressed. He seemed most happy and com- 
 fortable with Arabella. After all, perhaps she would 
 not go and stay with Prince Brunemetz at Brudenstein. 
 She might make John come out and join her and go on 
 to St. Moritz — that would do him good. She could 
 wire for Arabella. The convenances were so dear to 
 her. The wedding should take place in October, she 
 decided. 
 
 And two days after John Derringham had arrived in 
 London at his old rooms in Duke Street, she wrote and 
 suggested this plan to him — and then the first pre- 
 liminary crossing of swords between them happened. 
 He answered that he would come and join her later, but 
 until the session was over he could not leave town, and 
 he begged her to go and stay with Prince Brunemetz, 
 or do anything else which would amuse her. He was 
 still upon crutches, he said, and not fitted to be a cav- 
 alier to any lady. 
 
 She shut her mouth with a snap, and, sitting down, 
 wrote a long letter to Mr. Hanbury-Green, with whom 
 she kept up a brisk correspondence. Very well, then ! 
 she would go to Brudenstein; she would not martyrize 
 herself by being with a man on crutches ! So half of 
 her August passed in a most agreeable manner, and to- 
 
 292
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 wards the end of the month she summoned her fiance to 
 Florence. He could walk with a stick now — and to 
 meet her there and go on to Venice and out to the Lido 
 would be quite delightful, and could not hurt him. She 
 deserved some attention after this long time ! 
 
 The end of the session had come, and still the Govern- 
 ment hung on, but it was obvious that they had been 
 so much discredited that the end could not be long post- 
 poned, and that, as soon as Parliament met again, a 
 hostile vote would be carried against them. But for 
 the time there was nothing to keep John Derringham in 
 England, and with intense reluctance he started for 
 Italy, the ever-nearing date for his wedding looming in 
 front of him like some heavy cloud. He had plunged 
 headlong into work when he had returned from Wend- 
 over, for which he was still quite unfit. His whole 
 system had received a terrible shock, and it would be 
 months before he could hope to be his old robust self 
 again; and an unutterable depression was upon him. 
 The total silence of Halcyone, her disappearance from 
 the face of the earth as far as he was concerned, seemed 
 like something incredible. 
 
 There were no traces of her. Mrs. Porrit was out, 
 and the orchard house shut up, so he obtained no in- 
 formation. He had stopped there to enquire on his way 
 to the station when he had left Wendover. La Sarthe 
 Chase was entirely closed, except for a woman and her 
 husband from the village who slept there. But what 
 right had he to be interested now, in any case? He 
 had better shut the whole matter out of his mind, and 
 
 293
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 keep his thoughts upon his coming marriage with 
 Cecilia Cricklander. 
 
 And it was this frame of mind which caused him to 
 plunge recklessly into work as soon as he reached Lon- 
 don, though he found that nothing really assuaged his 
 misery. 
 
 It was a glorious day towards the end of August 
 when he got onto the boat at Dover, and there ran 
 across Miss Cora Lutworth, bent upon trousseau busi- 
 ness in Paris. She was with her friend, the lady who 
 chaperoned her, and greeted him with her usual breezy 
 charm. 
 
 They sat down together in a comfortable corner on 
 deck, while the lady went to have a sleep. They talked 
 of many things and mutual friends. He was doing 
 what was a comparatively rare thing in those days, 
 taking over a motor to tour down to Venice in, and 
 Cora was duly interested. Freynie adored motoring, 
 too, she said, and that was how they intended to spend 
 their honeymoon. She was going to be married in a 
 few weeks, and was radiantly happy. 
 
 This was the first time she had seen John Derring- 
 ham since his engagement and his accident, and the 
 great change in him gave her an unpleasant shock. 
 There were quite a number of silver threads in his 
 dark hair above the temples, and he looked haggard and 
 gaunt and lifeless. Cora's kind heart was touched. 
 
 "I am sure he does not care. a rush for Cis," she 
 thought to herself, " and I am sure he did for that 
 sweet Halcyone. He and Cis are not married yet ; there 
 
 294
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 can be no harm in my mentioning her." So aloud she 
 said: 
 
 " You remember our meeting that charming Miss 
 Halcyone La Sarthe across the haw-haw on Easter Sun- 
 Jay? Well, fancy, I came across her in London at 
 V.he end of June — in Kensington Gardens, sitting with 
 Hie long-haired old Professor. I was surprised; some- 
 how one could not picture her out of her own park." 
 She watched John Derringham's face carefully, and 
 saw that this information moved him. 
 
 "Did you?" he said, with an intense tone in his 
 deep voice. " What was she doing there, I wonder? " 
 
 " She looked too sweet," Cora went on. " She was 
 wearing becoming modern clothes, and seemed to me to 
 have grown so pretty. But she was very pale and 
 quiet. She came to tea with me the next day — I 
 cannot say how she fascinates me. I just love her — 
 and then, on the Saturday she was to go abroad with 
 the Professor." 
 
 " Really ? " said John Derringham, while he could 
 feel his heart begin to beat very fast. " Where were 
 they going, do you know? I would like to run across 
 my old master." 
 
 " I think to Brittany for July, and then Switzer- 
 land; but they intended to get into Italy as soon as it 
 was cool enough. They seemed to be going to have a 
 lovely trip and take a long time about it." 
 
 " I had no idea Miss La Sarthe had any relations 
 in London," he said. " Who was she staying with 
 there? Did she tell you?" 
 20 295
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 " Her stepfather, I think," Cora said. " Her mother 
 married twice, it appears, and then died, and the man 
 married again. This second wife, her sort of step- 
 mother, came and fetched her from La Sarthe Chase 
 quite suddenly one day." 
 
 " I cannot think of her in London," said John Der- 
 ringham. "Did she like it, do you think? And was 
 she changed? " 
 
 " Yes, very changed," Cora answered, and made her 
 voice casual. " She looked as if the joy of life had 
 fled forever, and as if she were just getting through the 
 time. Perhaps she hated being with her step-family — 
 people often do." 
 
 Then she glanced at him stealthily as he stared out 
 at the sea, while she thought : " I am sure some awful 
 tragedy is here underneath; it is not only his broken 
 ankle and his illness that has made him such a wreck. 
 I wish I could help them. I would not care a snap 
 for Cis, who is a rattlesnake if she wants something." 
 
 " When was it, exactly, you saw her? " John Der- 
 ringham asked. " But perhaps you don't remember the 
 date?" 
 
 " Yes, I do," Cora responded quickly. " It was the 
 day your engagement was announced in the papers, be- 
 cause we spoke about it." 
 
 " Did you? " he said, and drew in his breath a little. 
 " And what did you say ? " 
 
 " Just the usual things — how fortunate you were. 
 And Halcyone said you were clever and great." 
 
 John Derringham did not answer for a moment. 
 
 296
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 This stunned him. Then he replied, very low, " That 
 was good of her," and Cora noticed that even with 
 the fresh wind blowing in his face he had grown very 
 pale. 
 
 " Cis writes you are going to be married at the be- 
 ginning of October," she said, to change the conver- 
 sation. " I do hope you will be awfully happy. It is 
 so exquisite to be in love, isn't it? I adore being en- 
 gaged ! " 
 
 But John Derringham could not bear this — the two 
 things were so widely severed in his case. He did not 
 answer, and Cora saw, although his face remained un- 
 moved, that pain grew deep in his eyes. 
 
 " Mr. Derringham," she said, " I am going to say 
 something indiscreet and perhaps in frightful taste 
 — but I am so happy I can't bear to think that possi- 
 bly others are not quite. I know Cis awfully well — 
 her character, I mean. Is there anything I can do for 
 you? " 
 
 John Derringham turned with a chillingly haughty 
 glance intended to wither, but when he saw her sweet 
 face full of frank sympathy and kindness, it touched 
 him and his manner changed. 
 
 " We have each of us to fulfill our fates," he said. 
 " I suppose we each deserve what we receive, and I am 
 so glad yours seems to be such a very happy one." 
 
 Then he made some excuse to get up and leave her — 
 he could bear no more. 
 
 And Cora, left alone, smiled sadly to herself while 
 she reflected what a foolish thing pride was, and all 
 
 297
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 the other shams which robbed life of the only thing 
 really worth having. 
 
 " Well, I should not let any of that nonsense ever 
 stand between Freynie and me, thank goodness ! " she 
 concluded. 
 
 But John Derringham limped off to the bows of the 
 ship, quivering with pain. So Halcyone had spoken 
 of his engagement and said he was " clever and great." 
 What could it all mean? Did he no longer interest her 
 then — even at that period ? This stung him deeply. 
 There was no light anywhere. When once he had 
 grasped the full significance of his own conduct he was 
 much too fine an intelligence to deceive himself, or per- 
 suade himself to see any other aspect but the hopeless 
 one, that the entire chain of events was the result of 
 his own action. But surely there must be some way 
 out? If he wrote straight to Cecilia and told her the 
 truth? And then he almost laughed bitterly as he 
 realized the futility of this plan. What would the truth 
 matter to Mrs. Cricklander? She could very well re- 
 tort that he had known all this truth from the be- 
 ginning, and had been willing to marry her while his 
 financial position made it an advantage to himself, but 
 was now recalcitrant only because fortune had other- 
 wise poured gold into his lap. 
 
 No, there was no hope. He must go through with 
 it. 
 
 So he crushed down his emotions and forced himself to 
 return to Miss Lutworth and talk brightly to her until 
 they landed. 
 
 298
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 And when they parted at the Gare du Nord, Cora was 
 left with the impression that, whatever might be the 
 undercurrent, John Derringham was strong enough to 
 face his fate, and not give anyone the satisfaction of 
 knowing whether in it he found pleasure or pain. 
 
 When he arrived about ten days later at the hotel 
 in Florence, where Mrs. Cricklander was staying, wait- 
 ing for him to accompany her on to Venice, he found 
 her in a very bad temper. She felt that she had not 
 been treated with that deference and respect which was 
 her due, to say nothing of the ardor that a lover ought 
 to have shown by hastening to her side. Why had 
 he motored, spending ten days on a journey that he 
 could have accomplished in two? And he made no ex- 
 cuses, and seemed quite unimpressed by her mood one 
 way or another. He was so changed, too ! Gaunt and 
 haggard — he had certainly lost every one of his good 
 looks, except his distinction — that seemed more marked 
 than ever. His arrogant air that she had once ad- 
 mired so much now only caused her to feel a great 
 irritation. He had made the excuse of the waiter not 
 having quite closed the door, apparently, for only kiss- 
 ing her hand by way of greeting, and then he said 
 just the right thing about her beauty and his pleasure 
 in seeing her, and sat down by her side upon the 
 sofa in far too collected a manner for a lover to have 
 shown after these weeks of separation. Mrs. Crick- 
 lander grew very angry indeed. Cold and capricious 
 behavior should only be shown upon a woman's side, 
 she felt! 
 
 299
 
 HALC YONE 
 
 " Your Government made a colossal mess of things 
 before the session was over, did they not?" she said 
 by way of something to start upon. " Mr. Hanbury- 
 Green tells me you will have to face a hostile vote 
 when you reassemble, and that the whole thing is a 
 played-out game. How long would the Radicals last 
 if they do come in? — and it looks like a certainty that 
 they will." 
 
 " Seven years, most likely," said John Derringham a 
 little bitterly. " Or perhaps to the end of time. Your 
 friend Mr. Green could tell you more accurately than 
 I. Does the fact interest you very deeply? " 
 
 " Yes," she said, and narrowed her eyes. " I am 
 wildly interested in everything that concerns you, of 
 course — that is obvious." 
 
 " You will help me to fight, then, for the Opposition. 
 Your social talents are so great, dear Cecilia, you will 
 make a most brilliant Tory hostess," and he took her 
 hand — he felt he must do something. 
 
 " I have always been on the winning side," she said, 
 not more than half playfully. " I do not know how 
 I should like seven years of fighting an uncertain fight. 
 I might get extremely bored by it. I had no idea it 
 would last so long." And she laughed a little uncom- 
 fortably. " However, we are perfectly modern, aren't 
 we, John, and need not spend the entire year fighting 
 together — fortunately? " 
 
 " No," he said. " I am sure we shall be an admi- 
 rable pair of citizens of the world. And now I suppose 
 I must let you go and dress for dinner. How is our 
 
 300
 
 H A L C Y O N E 
 
 estimable friend, Miss Clinker? She is with you, I 
 suppose? — or have you friends staying in the hotel? 
 You did not tell me in your letters." 
 
 " I never waste sweetness upon the desert air," she 
 said, smiling, with a glitter in her eyes. " You did 
 not appear over anxious to hear of my doings. Our 
 correspondence made me laugh sometimes. You never 
 wrote as though you had received any of my letters — 
 yours were just masterpieces of how little to say — 
 and of how to say it beautifully ! " 
 
 John Derringham shrugged his shoulders slightly; he 
 did not defend himself, and her anger rose. So that 
 she was leaving the room with her head in the air and 
 two bright spots of pink in her cheeks. 
 
 Then he felt constrained to vindicate his position, 
 so he put his arm round her and drew her to him, in- 
 tending to kiss her. But she looked up into his face 
 with an expression in her eyes which left him com- 
 pletely repulsed. It was mocking and bitter and cun- 
 ning, and she put out her hand and pushed him from 
 her. 
 
 " I do not want any of your caresses to-night," she 
 said. " When I do, I'll pay for them." And she swept 
 from the room, leaving him quivering with debasementc
 
 CHAPTER XXX 
 
 ^^fcte^HERE was fortunately a company assembled 
 I J for dinner when John Derringham descended 
 
 ^^^r to the restaurant and again joined Ins 
 fiancee — who never dined alone if she could help it, 
 and reveled in gay parties for every meal, with plenty 
 of brilliant lights and the chatter of other groups near 
 at hand. Wherever she went, from Carlsbad to Cairo, 
 in the best restaurant you could always find her amidst 
 her many friends, feasting every night. And now the 
 party consisted of some of her compatriots, a Russian 
 Prince, and an Italian Marchese. She looked superbly 
 beautiful; anger had lent a sparkle to her eyes and a 
 flush to her cheeks; no rouge was needed to-night, and 
 she could scintillate to her heart's content. She flashed 
 words occasionally at John Derringham, and he knew, 
 and was horribly conscious all the time, that once he 
 would have found her most brilliant, but that now it 
 was exactly as when he had looked at the X-ray 
 photograph of his own broken ankle, where the sole 
 thing winch made a reality was the skeleton substruc- 
 ture. He could only seem to see Cecilia Cricklander's 
 vulgar soul — the pink and white perfection of her 
 body had melted into nothingness. 
 
 He found himself listening for some of her parrot- 
 
 302
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 utterances, as a detached spectator, and taking a sort 
 of ugly pleasure in recognizing which were the phrases 
 of Arabella. The man upon her left hand was in- 
 telligent, and was gazing at her with the rapt attention 
 beauty always commands, and she was uttering her 
 finest platitudes. 
 
 And once John Derringham leant back in his chair, 
 when no one was observing him, and laughed aloud. 
 The supreme mocker}' of it all! And in five weeks 
 from this night this woman would be his wife! 
 
 His xmfe! Ye gods ! 
 
 They had no tete-a-tete words before the party 
 broke up, and had hardly exchanged a sentence when, 
 as the last guest was saying farewell, Arabella, too, 
 retired from the sitting-room. 
 
 So they were alone. 
 
 " Cecilia," he said, coining up quite close to her, 
 " we started rather badly to-night — at least let us 
 be friends." And he held out his hand. " Believe me, 
 I wish to do all that I can to please you, but I am 
 afraid I make a very indifferent sort of lover. Forgive 
 me." 
 
 " Oh, you are well enough, I suppose," she said. 
 " No man values what he has won — it is only the 
 winning of it that is any fun. I understand the feeling 
 myself. Don't let us talk heroics." 
 
 John Derringham smiled. 
 
 " Certainly not," he said. 
 
 And then she put up her face and let him kiss her, 
 which he did with some sickening revolt in his heart. 
 
 303
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 Even her physical beauty had no more any effect upon 
 him — he would as soon have kissed Arabella. 
 
 So she sailed from the room again, with her mouth 
 shut like a vice, and her handsome eyes glancing at him 
 over her shoulder. 
 
 Next day, after having kept him waiting for an hour 
 to take her out, she decided they should spend what 
 remained of the morning at the Bargello. And, when 
 they got there, she did her best to be a charming com- 
 panion, and pressed him to lean upon her instead of his 
 stick. But to his awakened understanding what was 
 even probably true in her talk and comprehension of the 
 gems of art, seemed false and affected, and he was only 
 conscious of one continual jar as she spoke. 
 
 A thousand little trifles, never remarked before, now 
 appeared to loom large in his vision. At last they 
 came to the galleries above, to the collection of the Delia 
 Robbias, and Mrs. Cricklander rhapsodized over them, 
 mixing them up with delightful unconcern. They were 
 all just bits of cheap-looking crockery to her eye, and 
 it was impossibly difficult to distinguish which was 
 Luca's, Andrea's, or Giovanni's ; and, security having 
 made her careless, she committed several blunders. 
 
 John Derringham laid no pitfalls for her — indeed, 
 he helped her out when he could. To-day each new 
 discovery no longer made him smile with bitter cynicism, 
 he was only filled with a sense of discomfort and re- 
 gret. 
 
 He stopped in front of Andrea's masterpiece, the 
 tender young Madonna. Something in the expression 
 
 304
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 of the face made him think of Halcyone, although the 
 types of the two were entirely different ; and Cecilia 
 Cricklander, watching, saw a look of deep pain grow 
 in his eyes. 
 
 " I wish to goodness he would get well and be human 
 and masterful and brilliant, as he used to be," she 
 thought. " I am thoroughly tired out, trying to cope 
 with him. He is no more use now than a bump on a 
 log. I am sorry I made him come here ! " 
 
 " It is about time for lunch," said John Derringham, 
 who could no longer bear her prattle ; and they re- 
 turned to the hotel. 
 
 Arabella and an American man made the partie car- 
 ree, and Miss Clinker did her best to help to get through 
 the repast, and afterwards wrote in a letter to her 
 mother : 
 
 Mr. Derringham has arrived. He still looks 
 dreadfully ill and careworn, and I can see is feel- 
 ing his position acutely. Since that dreadful day 
 when he found my notes in Gibbon, I have never 
 dared to look at him when in the company of M. E. 
 I feel that distressing sensation of hot and cold 
 during the whole time. M. E., now that no further 
 great efforts are needed, chatters on with most dis- 
 quieting inconsequence. I can see she is very 
 much upset at Mr. Derringham's attitude. The 
 impression that the Conservative Goverment can- 
 not last has had also a great effect upon her, and 
 she has set me to find out exactly the position and 
 amount of prestige the wife of a rising member of 
 
 305
 
 H ALCYONE 
 
 the Opposition would have. This morning she 
 sent for me, when she was dressing, to know if it 
 were true, as Mr. Derringham had told her, that, 
 if the Radicals got in, they might last seven years 
 — because, if so, she would then be almost thirty- 
 eight, and the best days of her youth would be 
 over. I do not dare to think what these remarks 
 may mean, but in connection with the fact that she 
 receives daily letters from Mr. Hanbury-Green — 
 that unpleasant Socialistic person who is coming 
 so much to the front — I almost fear, and yet 
 hope, that there is some chance for Mr. Derring- 
 ham's escape. He is bearing his trouble as only 
 an English gentleman could do, and at lunch paid 
 her every attention. 
 
 And old Mrs. Clinker smiled when she got this letter. 
 
 But by the end of the afternoon John Derringham's 
 face wore no smiles ; a blank despair had settled upon 
 him. 
 
 They drove along the Amo and into the Gardens. 
 
 It was warm and beautiful, but, so forceful is a 
 hostile atmosphere created between two people, they 
 both found it impossible to make conversation. 
 
 Mrs. Cricklander was burning with rage and a sense 
 of impotency. She felt her words and all her arts of 
 pleasing were being nullified, and that she was up 
 against an odious situation in which her strongest 
 weapons were powerless. It made her nervous and very 
 cross. She particularly resented not being able to as- 
 certain the cause of the change in him, and felt per- 
 
 306
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 sonally aggrieved at his still being a wretched wreck 
 hobbling with a stick. He ought to have got quite well 
 by now — it was perfectly ridiculous. What if, after 
 all, he would not be worth while? But the indomitable 
 part of her character made her tenacious. She felt 
 it was a different matter, throwing away what she had 
 won, to having to relinquish something that she knew 
 she had never really gained. She would make one more 
 determined effort, and then, if he would not give her 
 love, he should be made to feel his bondage, she would 
 extort from him to the last ounce, her pound of flesh. 
 
 " John, darling," she said, slipping her hand into 
 his, under the rug as they drove, " this beautiful place 
 makes me feel so romantic. I wish you would make 
 love to me. You sit there looking like Dante with a 
 beard, as cold as ice." 
 
 " I am very sorry," he answered, startled from a 
 reverie. " I know I am a failure in such sort of ways. 
 What do you want me to say? " 
 
 This was not promising, and her annoyance increased. 
 
 " I want you to tell me you love me — over and over 
 again," she whispered, controlling her voice. 
 
 " Women always ask these questions," he said to 
 gain time. " They never take anything for granted as 
 men do." 
 
 " No ! " she flashed. " Not when a man's actions 
 point to the possibility of several other interpretations 
 of his sentiments — then they want words to console 
 them. But you give me neither." 
 
 " I am not a demonstrative person," he responded. " I 
 
 307
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 will do all I can to make you happy, but do not ask me 
 for impossibilities. You will have to put up with me 
 as I am." 
 
 " I shall decide that ! " And she snatched away her 
 hand angrily, and then controlled herself — the moment 
 had not yet come. He should not have freedom, which 
 now she felt he craved ; he should remain tied until he 
 had at all events paid the last price of humiliation. 
 So for the rest of that day and those that followed 
 she behaved with maddening capriciousness, keeping him 
 waiting for every meal and every appointment — chang- 
 ing her mind as to what she would do — lavishing ca- 
 resses upon him which made him wince, and then treat- 
 ing him with mocking coldness; but all with such ex- 
 treme cleverness that she never once gave him the 
 chance to bring things to an open rupture. She was 
 beginning really to enjoy herself in this njew game — 
 it required even more skill to torture and hold than to 
 attract and keep at arm's length. But at last John 
 Derringham could bear no more. 
 
 They had continuous lunches and dinners with the 
 gay party of Americans who had been of the company 
 on the first evening, and there was never a moment's 
 peace. A life in public was as the breath of Cecilia 
 Cricklander's nostrils, and she did not consider the wishes 
 of her betrothed. In fact, but for spoken sympathy 
 over his shattered condition and inability to walk much, 
 she did not consider him at all, and exacted his at- 
 tendance on all occasions, whether too fatiguing for 
 him or not. 
 
 308
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 The very last shred of glamour about her had long 
 fallen from John Derringham's eyes, and indeed things 
 seemed to him more bald than they really were. His 
 proud spirit chafed from morning to night — chafed 
 hopelessly against the knowledge that his own action 
 had bound him as no ordinary bond of an engagement 
 could. His whole personality appeared to be chang- 
 ing; he was taciturn or cynically caustic, casting jibes 
 at all manner of things he had once held sacred. But 
 after a week of abject misery, he refused to bear 
 any more, and when Mrs. Cricklander grew tired of 
 Florence, and decided to move on to Venice, he an- 
 nounced his intention of taking a few days' tour by 
 himself. He wished to see the country round, he said, 
 and especially make an excursion to San Gimignano — 
 that gem of all Italy for its atmosphere of the past. 
 
 " Oh ! I am thoroughly tired of these moldy places," 
 Mrs. Cricklander announced. " The Maulevriers are 
 in Venice, and we can have a delightful time at the 
 Lido ; the new hotel is quite good — you had much 
 better come on with me now. Moping alone cannot 
 benefit anyone. You really ought to cheer up and get 
 quite well, John." 
 
 But. he was firm, and after some bickerings she was 
 obliged to decide to go to Venice alone with Arabella, 
 and let her fiance depart in his motor early the next 
 morning. 
 
 Their parting was characteristic. 
 
 " Good night, Cecilia," John Derringham said. No 
 matter how capricious she could be, he always treated 
 
 309
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 her with ceremonious politeness. " I am leaving so 
 very early to-morrow, we had better say good-by now. 
 I hope my going does not really inconvenience you at all. 
 I want a little rest from your friends, and, when I join 
 you at Venice again, I hope you will let me see more of 
 yourself." 
 
 She put up her face, and kissed him with all the girl- 
 ish rippling smiles she had used for his seduction in 
 the beginning. 
 
 " Why, certainly," she said. " We will be regular 
 old Darbys-and- Joans ; so don't you forget while you 
 are away that you belong to me, and I am not going to 
 give you up to anything or anybody — so long as I 
 want you myself ! " 
 
 And John Derringham had gone to his room feeling 
 more chained than ever, and more bitterly resentful 
 against fate. 
 
 As soon as he left her, she sat down at her writing- 
 table and wrote out a telegram to be sent off the first 
 thing the next day. It contained only three words, and 
 was not signed. 
 
 But the recipient of it, Mr. Hanbury-Green, read it 
 with wild emotion when he received it in his rooms in 
 London — and immediately made arrangements to set 
 off to Florence at once. 
 
 " I'll beat him yet ! " he said to himself, and he ro- 
 mantically kissed the pink paper. For, " You may 
 come " was what he had read.
 
 CHAPTER XXXI 
 
 'N hour or so before sunset the next day John 
 Derringham in his motor was climbing the steep 
 roads which lead to San Gimignano, the city 
 of beautiful towers, which still stands, a record of 
 things mediaeval, untouched by the modernizing hand of 
 men. 
 
 A helpless sense of bitterness mastered him, and 
 destroyed the loveliness and peace of the view. Every- 
 thing fine and great in his thoughts and aims seemed 
 tarnished. To what stage of degradation would his 
 utter disillusion finally bring him ! Of course, when 
 Cecilia Cricklander should once be his wife, he would 
 not permit her to lead this life of continuous racket 
 — or, if she insisted upon it, she should indulge in it 
 only when she went abroad alone. He would not en- 
 dure it in his home. And what sort of home would 
 it be? He was even doubtful about that now. Since 
 she had so often carelessly thrown off her mask, he 
 no longer felt sure that she would even come up to 
 the mark of what had hitherto seemed her chief charm, 
 her power of being a clever and accomplished hostess. 
 He could picture the scenes which would take place be- 
 tween them when their wishes clashed ! The contempla- 
 tion of the future was perfectly ghastly. He remem- 
 21 311
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 bered, with a cynical laugh, how in the beginning, before 
 that fateful Good Friday when the Professor first planted 
 ruffling thoughts in his mind, and before the spell of 
 Halcyone had fallen upon him, he had thought that 
 one of the compensations for having to take a rich 
 wife he had found in Cecilia. She would be his in- 
 tellectual companion during the rather rare moments 
 he would be able to spare for her from his work. He 
 would be able to live with a woman cultured in all 
 branches which interested him, capable of discussing 
 with him any book or any thought, polished in brain 
 and in methods. He had imagined them, when alone 
 together, spending their time in a delightful and in- 
 tellectual communion of ideas, which would make the 
 tie of marriage seem as almost a pleasure. And what 
 was the reality ? — An absolute emptiness, and the 
 knowledge that, unless Arabella Clinker continued her 
 ministrations, he himself would have to play her part ! 
 He actually regretted his accession to fortune. But 
 for it he could have broken off the engagement with de- 
 cency, but now his hands were tied. Only Cecilia could 
 release him, and she did not seem to have the slightest in- 
 tention of doing so. 
 
 He savagely clenched his white teeth when he remem- 
 bered the ridiculous waiting lackey he had been made to 
 turn into in the last week. Then he looked up and tried 
 to take interest in the quaint gateway through which 
 he was passing and on up to the unique town and 
 the square where is the ancient Podesta's palace, now the 
 hotel. But he was in a mood of rasping cynicism — 
 
 312
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 even the exquisite evening sunlight seemed to mock at 
 him. 
 
 His highly trained eye took in the wonderful old- 
 world beauty around him with some sense of unconscious 
 satisfaction, but the saintly calm of the place made 
 no impression upon him. Santa Fina and her flowers 
 could not soften or bring peace to his galled soul. 
 The knowledge that the whole situation was the result 
 of his own doings kept his bitterness always at white 
 heat. The expression of his thin, haggard face was 
 sardonic, and the groups of simple children, accustomed 
 to ask any stranger for stamps for their collections — 
 a queer habit of the place — turned away from him 
 when once they had looked into his eyes. 
 
 He left his motor at the hotel and wandered into the 
 square where the remains of the palazzos of the two 
 great Guelph and Ghibelline families, the Ardinghelli 
 and the Salvucci, frown at one another not fifty yards 
 apart — shorn of their splendors, but the Salvucci still 
 with two towers from which to hurl destruction at their 
 enemies. 
 
 John Derringham looked up at the balcony whence 
 Dante had spoken, and round to the Cathedral and the 
 picturesque square. The few people who passed 
 seemed not in tune with his thoughts, so calm and saintly 
 was the type of their faces — all in keeping with a 
 place where a house of the sixteenth century is con- 
 sidered so aggressively modern as not to be of any in- 
 terest. It was too late for him now to go into the Ca- 
 thedral; nothing but the fortress battlements were pos- 
 
 313
 
 HALCYON E 
 
 sible, and he hobbled there, desiring to see the sunset 
 from its superb elevation. 
 
 The gate-keeper, homely and simple, opened to him 
 courteously, and he went in to the first little court- 
 yard, with its fig tree in the middle and old grass- 
 grown well surrounded by olives and lilac bushes ; and 
 then he climbed the open stairs to the bastion, from 
 whose battlements there is to be obtained the most per- 
 fect view imaginable of the country, the like of which 
 Benozzo Gozzoli loved to paint. 
 
 It has not changed in the least since those days, ex- 
 cept that the tiles of the roofs, which are now dark 
 gray with age, were then red and brilliant. But the 
 cypress trees still surround the monasteries, and the 
 high hills are still crowned with castellos, while the fields 
 make a patchwork of different crops of olives and 
 vines and grain. 
 
 John Derringham mounted the stairs with his head 
 down, musing bitterly, so that, until he reached the 
 top, he was not aware that a slender girl's figure was 
 seated upon the old stone bench which runs round the 
 wall. Her hat lay upon the seat beside her, while she 
 gazed out over the beautiful world. He paused with a 
 wildly beating heart in which joy and agony fought for 
 mastery, but, as she turned to see who this stranger 
 could be, thus breaking in upon her solitude, his voice, 
 hoarse with emotion, said aloud her name : 
 
 " Halcyone ! " 
 
 She started to her feet, and then sank back upon 
 the bench again unsteadily, and he came forward to her 
 
 314
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 side. They both realized that they were alone here in 
 the sunset — alone upon this summit of the world. 
 
 He sat down beside her and then he buried his face 
 in his hands, letting his cap fall; and all the pent-up 
 misery and anguish of the past weeks seemed to vibrate 
 in his voice as he murmured: 
 
 "Ah, God! — my love!" 
 
 Her soft eyes melted upon him in deepest tenderness 
 and sorrow. To see him so pale and shattered, so 
 changed from the splendid lover she had known ! 
 
 But he was there — beside her — and what mattered 
 anything else? She longed to comfort him and tend 
 him with fond care. Had he been the veriest outcast he 
 would ever have found boundless welcome and solace 
 waiting for him in her loving heart. 
 
 " John ! " she whispered, and put out gentle fingers 
 and caressed his hair. 
 
 He shivered and let his hands fall from his haggard 
 face. 
 
 " Darling," he said, " I am not worthy to touch the 
 hem of your garment. Why do you not turn from such 
 a weakling and brute? " 
 
 " Hush ! Hush," she exclaimed, aghast. " You 
 must not speak so of yourself. I love you always, as 
 you know, and I cannot hear him whom I love abused." 
 
 And now he looked into her eyes while he took her 
 slender hand, and there he saw the same wells of purity 
 and devotion brimming with divine faith and tender- 
 ness that he had last seen glistening with happy love. 
 
 He folded her to his heart ; the passionate emotion 
 
 315
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 each was feeling was too deep, too sacred for words ; 
 and then their eyes streamed with scorching tears. 
 
 The}- sat thus close for some seconds. The thirst 
 and hunger of all these da} T s of rack and anguish must 
 be assuaged before either could talk. But at last she 
 drew a little back and looked up into his face. 
 
 " John," she said softly, " I read in an English 
 paper a week ago that your wedding was fixed for the 
 seventh of October — my birthday. Is it the truth?" 
 
 He clasped his hands in agony. 
 
 " It can never now be so," he said. " I cannot, I 
 will not go through with it. Oh, Halcyone, my darling 
 one, you would pity me, although you would despise 
 me, if you knew — " 
 
 " I could never despise you," she answered, nestling 
 once more in his arms. " John, for me nothing you 
 could do would make any difference — you would still 
 be my love; and if you were weak I would make you 
 strong, and if cold and hungry, I would feed and com- 
 fort you, and if wicked, I would only see you good." 
 
 " Oh, my dear, my dear," he said, " you were always 
 as an angel of sweetness. Listen to the whole de- 
 grading story, and tell me then of that which I must 
 do." 
 
 She took one of his hands and held it in both of 
 hers ; and it was as if some stream of comfort flowed to 
 him through their soft warm touch and enabled him to 
 begin his ugly task. 
 
 He told her the whole thing from the beginning. 
 Of his ambitions, and how they held chief place in his 
 
 316
 
 HALCYON E 
 
 life, and how he had meant to marry Cecilia Crick- 
 lander as an aid to their advancement. He glossed over 
 nothing of his own baseness, but went on to show how, 
 from the moment he had seen her upon that Good 
 Friday at the orchard house, his determination about 
 Cecilia Cricklander had begun to waver, until the night 
 under the tree when passion overcame every barrier 
 and he knew he must possess her — Halcyone — for 
 his wife. 
 
 He made no excuse for himself; he continued the 
 plain tale of how, Ins ambitions still holding him, 
 he had selfishly tried to keep both joy and them, by 
 asking her — she who was so infinitely above him — 
 to descend to the invidious position of a secret wife. 
 
 She knew the rest until it came to the cause of his 
 accident, and, when she heard it occurred because of 
 his haste to get to her before she should reach the house, 
 she gave a little moan of anguish and leaned her head 
 against his breast. 
 
 So the story went on — of his agonized thoughts and 
 fever and fears — of his comprehension that she had 
 been taken from him, and of the utter hopelessness of 
 his financial position, and the whole outlook, until he 
 came to the night of his engagement; and here he 
 paused. 
 
 " Do not try to tell me any of this part, John, my 
 dear lover," she said. " I know the standard of honor 
 in a man is that he must never give away the absent 
 woman, and I understand — you need not put anything 
 into words. I knew you were unhappy and coerced. 
 
 317
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 I never for a moment have doubted your love. You 
 were surrounded with strong and cruel forces, and all 
 my tenderness could not reach you quite, to protect 
 you as it should have done, because I was so full of 
 foolish anguish myself. Dearest, now only tell me the 
 end and the facts that I must know.'* 
 
 He held her close to him in thankfulness, and then 
 went on to speak of the shame and degradation he had 
 suffered for his weakness ; the drawn-out da} r s of aching 
 wonder at her silence, and finally the news of his Uncle 
 Joseph Scroope's death and the fortune that would 
 come to him, and how this fact had tied and bound his 
 hands. 
 
 " But it has grown to such a pass," he said, " that 
 I had come to breaking-point, and now I can never go 
 back to her again. I have found you, my one dear 
 love, and I will never leave you more." 
 
 Halcyone shook her head sadly, and asked him to 
 listen to her side. And when he knew that her leaving 
 La Sarthe Chase had been brought about because of 
 his letter to Cheiron having been posted from London, 
 so that she hoped to find him there, it added to his pain 
 to feel that, even in this small turn of events, his action 
 had been the motive force. 
 
 But, as she went on, her pure and exquisite love and 
 perfect faith shining through it all seemed to draw 
 his soul out of the mire in which it had lain. And at 
 last they knew each other's stories and were face to 
 face with the fateful moment of to-day, and he ex- 
 claimed gladly : 
 
 318
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 " My darling, now nothing else matters — we will 
 never, never part again." 
 
 Then, as he looked into her eyes, he saw that not 
 gladness but a solemn depth of shadow grew there, and 
 he clasped both her hands. A cold agony chilled his 
 whole being. What, O God, was she going to say? 
 
 " John," she whispered, all the tenderness of the 
 angels in her gentle voice as she leaned and kissed the sil- 
 ver threads in his dark hair. " John, do you remem- 
 ber, long ago when we spoke of Jason and Medea, and 
 you asked me the question then, Must he keep his word 
 to her even if she were a witch? — and I told you that 
 was not the point at all: it was not because she was 
 or was not a witch, but because it was his word? " — 
 Here her voice broke, and he could hear the tears in 
 it, and he wildly kissed her hands. Then she went on: 
 
 " Oh, my dear lover, it is the same question now. 
 You cannot break your word. Nothing but misfor- 
 tune could follow. It is a hard law, but I know it is 
 true, and it is fate. We put in action the force which 
 brings all that we receive, and we who have courage 
 pay the price without flinching, and, above and beyond 
 all momentary pleasure or pain, we must be true to our- 
 selves." 
 
 " I cannot, I cannot ! " he groaned in agony. " How 
 can you condemn me to such a fate ? — tied" to this 
 woman whose every influence is degrading to me ; parted 
 from you whom I adore — I would rather be dead. It 
 is not fair — not just, if you onl} r knew!" 
 
 Then he continued wildly. " Ah, God — and it is all 
 
 319
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 because I forgot the meaning of your dear and sacred 
 pledge with me that I must always be good and true ! 
 If I could suffer alone — my darling, my soul ! — then I 
 would go without a word back to hell, if you sent me. 
 But you, too — think, Halcyone ! Can you bear your 
 life? You who are so young, separated for ever- 
 more from love and me. Oh ! my own, my own — " 
 
 Here he stopped his mad rush of words — her face 
 was so white and grave — and he let her draw her- 
 self from him, and put her hands upon his shoulders, 
 while her eyes, with tender stars of purity melting in 
 their depths, gazed into his. 
 
 " John,'* she said, " do not try to weaken me. All 
 Nature, who is my friend, and the night-winds and 
 their voices, and that dear God Who never deserts me, 
 tell me that for no present good must we lower our- 
 selves now. Nothing can ever hurt me. Go back and 
 do that which being a gentleman entails upon you to 
 do — and leave the rest to God. This is the winter of 
 our souls, but it will not last forever. The spring is 
 at hand, if you will only trust, and believe with me that 
 first we on our side must be ready to pay the price." 
 
 Then she bent forward and kissed him as an angel 
 might have done, and, without speaking more, rose and 
 prepared to walk towards the stairway which descended 
 to the lower court. 
 
 He followed her, and she turned before she began to 
 descend the steps, while she pointed to the beautiful 
 country. 
 
 " Look at the vines, all heavy with grapes," she said, 
 
 320
 
 H A L C Y O X E 
 
 " and the fields shorn of their corn, and the olives 
 shimmering in the sunset ; and then, dear lover, you 
 will know that all things have their sequence, and our 
 time of joy will come. All! sweetheart, it is not fare- 
 well for ever; it is only that we must wait for our 
 spring." 
 
 " Halcyone," he said, while his proud eyes again 
 filled with tears, " you have the absolute worship of 
 my being. You have taught me, as ever, the truth. 
 Go, ni} r darling, and I will do as you wish, and will try 
 to make myself more worthy of 3-our noble soul. God 
 keep you until we meet again." 
 
 She did not speak; she only looked at him with a 
 divine look of love and faith, and he watched her as 
 she went down, it seemed, out of the very heart of the 
 setting sun and into the shadows beneath, and so dis- 
 appeared from his adoring eyes in a peaceful purple 
 twilight. 
 
 Then he returned to the old stone seat and leaning 
 forward gazed out over the exquisite scene. 
 
 A great hush had fallen upon his torn heart. And 
 thus he stayed motionless until the night fell.
 
 m 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII 
 
 ^RS. CRICKLANDER awaited Mr. Hanbury- 
 
 Green's coming quite impatiently. She felt she 
 wanted a little warmth and humanity after the 
 chilling week she had passed with her betrothed. What 
 she meant to do with this latter she had not yet made 
 up her mind — the justice of an affair never bothered 
 her, and her complete unconsciousness of having com- 
 mitted any wrong often averted her action's immediate 
 consequence. That Mr. Hanbury-Green should suffer, 
 or that John Derringham should suffer, mattered to her 
 not one jot. She was really and truly under the im- 
 pression that only her personal comfort, pleasure and 
 feelings were of any importance in the world. Her 
 brain always guarded these things, and, when they 
 were not in any jeopardy or fear of being inconven- 
 ienced, then she was capable of numbers of kind and 
 generous actions. And, if she had ever been reproached 
 about her colossal selfishness, she would have looked 
 up astonished, and replied: 
 
 " Well, who is nearer to oneself than oneself? " 
 Common sense like this is not to be controverted. 
 It would only be when she was growing old that she 
 would feel the loneliness of knowing that, apart from 
 
 322
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 the passion which she had inspired because of her sex 
 and her beauty, not a single human being had ever 
 loved her. For the present she was Venus Victrix, a 
 glorious creature, the desired of men — and that was 
 enough. 
 
 Mr. Hanbury-Green was a forceful person, un- 
 hampered by any of the instincts of a gentleman, and 
 therefore armed with a number of weapons for winning 
 his battles. He had determined to rise to the top upon 
 the wave of class hatred which he had been clever 
 enough to create, and he neither knew nor cared to 
 what state of devastation he might bring the country. 
 He was a fitting mate in every way for Cecilia Crick- 
 lander, and completely equipped to play with her at her 
 own game. 
 
 So, when they met in her sitting-room in the Flor- 
 entine hotel, each experienced a pleasurable emotion. 
 
 His was tempered — or augmented — by a blunt and 
 sufficiently brutal passion, which only the ideal of cir- 
 cumspect outward conduct which dominates the non- 
 conformist lower middle classes, from which he had 
 sprung, kept him from demonstrating, by seizing his 
 desired prize in his arms. 
 
 He was frankly in love, and meant to leave no stone 
 unturned to oust John Derringham from his position 
 as fiance of the lady — John Derringham, whom he 
 hated from the innermost core of his heart ! 
 
 Mrs. Cricklander fenced with him admirably. She 
 did not need Arabella's coachings in her dealings with 
 him ; he was quite uncultured, and infinitely more appre- 
 
 323
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 ciatcd what her old father had been used to call her 
 " horse sense " than he would have done her finest 
 rhapsody upon Nietzsche. Mrs. Cricklander had in- 
 deed with him that delightful sense of rest and ceasing 
 from toil that being herself gave. She felt she could 
 launch forth into as free a naturalness as if she had 
 been selling little pigs' feet in her grandfather's original 
 shop. And all to a man who was rising — rising in 
 that great country of England, where some day he 
 might play a role no less than Tallien's, and she could 
 be " Notre dame de Thermidor." 
 
 Arabella had once told her of this lady's story, and 
 she felt that the time in Bordeaux when the beautiful 
 Therese wore the red cap of Liberty and hung upon 
 the arm of one who had swum in the blood of the aris- 
 tocrats, must have been an experience worth having 
 in life. Her study of Madame Tallien went no further ; 
 it was the lurid revolutionary part in her career that 
 she liked. 
 
 Mr. Hanbury-Green was very careful at first. He 
 was quite aware that he was only received with em- 
 pressement because he was successful ; he knew and ap- 
 preciated the fact that Cecilia Cricklander only cared 
 for members of a winning side. He felt like that about 
 people himself, and he respected her for the way she 
 fought to secure a footing among the hated upper 
 classes, and then trampled upon their necks. There 
 were no shades of her character which would have dis- 
 gusted or dismayed him; even the knowledge that her 
 erudition was merely parrot-talk, would only have ap- 
 
 324
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 pealed to his admiration as a further proof of her 
 sagacity. 
 
 They went on to Venice the day after he arrived, 
 with Arabella to make a chaperoning third, and for 
 the first two days afterwards Cecilia kept him at arm's 
 length, but not waiting for his dinner! Some instinct 
 told her that in his home circle he would probably have 
 been accustomed to worthy, punctual women, and, while 
 she enjoyed tantalizing him, she knew that he had 
 a nasty temper and could not be provoked too far. 
 No bonds of honor or chivalry would control his actions 
 as they would those of John Derringham. She was 
 dealing with as lawless a being as herself, and it was 
 very refreshing. Mr. Hanbury-Green knew her one 
 weak point — she was intensely sensitive of the world's 
 opinion, as are all people who inwardly know they are 
 shams. She would have hated to be the center of a 
 scandal, from the point of view that it would irrepara- 
 bly close doors to her; and her resentment of barriers 
 and barrier-makers was always present. 
 
 This he would remember as his strong card — the 
 last to be played. — If she continued being capricious 
 until the moment of her -fiance's expected return, he 
 would use all his cunning — and it was no inconsider- 
 able quantity — and compromise her irrevocably, and 
 so get her to surrender upon his terms. For he had 
 made up his mind, as he sped to Florence, that Cecilia 
 Cricklander should return to England as his wife. 
 
 They had four days of the usual gay parties for 
 every meal — there happened to be a number of people 
 
 325
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 passing through and staying at Venice — and the early 
 September weather was glorious and very hot. 
 
 Mrs. Cricklander delighted in a gondola. There was 
 something about it which set off her stately beauty, she 
 felt, and she reveled in the admiration she provoked; 
 and so did Mr. Hanbury-Green — he prized that which 
 the crowd applauded. But time was passing, and noth- 
 ing the least definite was settled yet, although he knew 
 he had obtained a certain mastery over her. 
 
 On the Friday evening a telegram was received from 
 John Derringham saying he would return on the Satur- 
 day night, and Mr. Hanbury-Green felt this was the 
 moment to act. He had no intention of having any 
 quarrel with his rival, or of putting himself in the po- 
 sition of being called upon to give an account of him- 
 self. The news of his dismissal must be conveyed to 
 John Derringham by the lady as that lady's free and 
 determined choice. 
 
 So Mr. Green was very cautious all the Friday even- 
 ing, and made himself as irresistible as he could, using 
 all his clever wits to flatter and cajole Cecilia, and 
 leaving not a trifle unconsidered which could interfere 
 with his plans. 
 
 They were simple enough. 
 
 He claimed to have discovered a quite new and quite 
 charming spot on the Lido, which he was most anxious 
 to take Mrs. Cricklander to see alone — he put a stress 
 upon the word alone, and looked into her eyes. They 
 would go quite early and be back before tea, as John 
 Derringham had timed himself to arrive upon the main- 
 
 S26
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 land about seven o'clock, and would be at the Daniellis, 
 where they were all staying, for dinner. 
 
 Mrs. Cricklander felt she must have one more de- 
 lightful afternoon, and, as this excursion might con- 
 tain a spice of adventure* it thrilled her blood. She 
 had been exquisitely discreet — in public — forcing 
 Arabella always to talk to Mr. Hanbury-Green, and 
 devoting herself to Lady Maulevrier, or any other lady 
 or old gentleman who happened to be present. And 
 then she felt free to spend long hours alone with Mr. 
 Hanbury-Green in her sitting-room, whose balcony hung 
 over the beautiful canal. No one could say a word — 
 Arabella's discretion could always be counted upon ; and 
 pleasure was secured. 
 
 She looked, perhaps, more beautiful than she had 
 ever done in her life as they started. Mr. Hanbury- 
 Green had hired a special gondola, not the one they 
 were accustomed to float about in, — and off they went. 
 Where was the harm, in broad daylight! and with Ara- 
 bella to accompany them — as far as the last steps, and 
 then to be dropped? Cecilia felt like a school-girl on 
 a forbidden treat. 
 
 When they were well out of sight of all observation, 
 Mr. Hanbury-Green began. He told her that he loved 
 her, in all the most impressive language he was master 
 of; he felt that with her he might with safety and 
 success use the same flamboyant metaphors and ex- 
 aggerations with which he was accustomed to move 
 his constituents. No restraint or attention to accuracy 
 was necessary here. And if his voice in his honest 
 22 327
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 excitement would have sounded a little cockney in Ara- 
 bella's cultured ears, Cecilia Cricklander did not notice 
 it. On the contrary, she thought the whole thing was 
 the finest-sounding harangue she had ever heard in her 
 life. 
 
 He went on to say that he could not live without 
 her, and implored her to throw over John Derringham 
 and promise to be his wife. 
 
 " He thinks you are madly in love with him, darling," 
 he said, knowing this would sting, " and will stand any 
 of his airs. Let him see you are not. Give him the 
 snub he deserves for deserting you, and fling his dis- 
 missal in his face." 
 
 Cecilia Cricklander reddened and thrilled, too. Here, 
 at all events, was warmth. But she was not won yet. 
 So she looked down, as if too full of emotion to speak. 
 She must gain time to consider what this would mean, 
 and, if worth while, how to lay her plans. 
 
 Should the scheme contain certain elevation for her- 
 self and certain humiliation for John Derringham, then 
 there was something worthy of consideration in it, for 
 undoubtedly Percy Hanbury-Green suited her the better 
 of the two, as far as just the men themselves were 
 concerned. She knew she would get desperately tired 
 of having to live up to John Derringham's standard, and 
 a divorce in England would not be so easily obtained, 
 or so free from scandal, as her original one in America 
 had been. But she must think well, and weigh the 
 matter before plunging in. 
 
 Mr. Hanbury-Green saw her hesitation and instantly 
 
 328
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 applied another forceful note. He dwelt upon the po- 
 litical situation and grew eloquent and magnetic, as 
 when he was on the platform — for was he not playing 
 for stakes which, for the moment, he valued even more 
 than some thousands of votes? 
 
 It was no wonder Cecilia Cricklander's imagination 
 grew inflamed. He let her see that as his wife she 
 would, for seven years or more, ride on the crest of the 
 wave of an ever-rising tide to undreamed-of heights of 
 excitement and intrigue. " With you at my side, dar- 
 ling," Mr. Green said passionately, " I could be stimu- 
 lated into being Dictator myself. The days of kings 
 and constitutions are over. The people want a strong 
 despotic leader who has first brought about their down- 
 fall. And they will get him — in ME ! " 
 
 This clinched the matter, and Cecilia, seeing visions 
 of herself as Madame Tallien, allowed herself to be 
 drawn into his arms ! 
 
 • • ••«••• 
 
 " Do you know, my beauty," the triumphant lover 
 said as they floated back to pick up Arabella upon the 
 last steps, rather late in the afternoon, " I had meant 
 to get you somehow to-day. If you had refused to 
 listen, I intended to take you to the Lido and keep 
 you there all night — the gondolier and the people there 
 are bribed — then you would have had no choice but to 
 marry me. Oh, you cannot balk me ! " 
 
 And all Cecilia Cricklander replied was, with a girlish 
 giggle of pleasure: 
 
 " Oh, Percy, dear ! " 
 
 329
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 In the innermost recesses of their hearts there are a 
 number of cold women who adore a bold buccaneer 1 
 
 She had made one stipulation with him before they 
 landed, and this was one which in the future — little 
 as she knew it then — would rob her of all her triumph 
 over John Derringham, and plant an everlasting and 
 bitter sting in her breast. 
 
 She insisted that, as she did not wish to create a 
 nine days' wonder, no mention of his engagement to 
 herself should be made public by Mr. Hanbury-Green 
 for at least a month after people were aware that she 
 had closed hers with John Derringham. All should 
 be done with decency and in order, so as not to militate 
 in any way against her future position as queen of the 
 winning side. 
 
 And, knowing that he had already telegraphed the 
 announcement that the marriage arranged between the 
 Right Honorable John Derringham and Mrs. Vincent 
 Cricklander would not take place, so that it should ap- 
 pear in the Monday morning papers — Mr. Hanbury- 
 Green felt he could safely comply with her caprice 
 and bide his time. He had not the slightest intention 
 of ever permitting a whim of hers to interfere with his 
 real wishes in any way, and having a full command 
 of her own weapons and methods, he looked forward 
 to a time of uninterrupted bliss when once she should 
 be his wife. To dissemble for a month or so would 
 not hurt him, and might even amuse him as a new 
 game. 
 
 So they entered Daniellis in subdued triumph, and 
 
 330
 
 H ALCYONE 
 
 said good night before Arabella, with prim decorum, 
 and then Cecilia mounted to make herself look beautiful 
 for the flinging of his conge in John Derringham's 
 face.
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII 
 
 Vw^HEN Halcyone left the Fortezza she was con- 
 W j scious of no feeling of depression or grief. 
 Vs^X Rather a gladness and security filled her heart. 
 She had seen him with her mortal eyes — her dear 
 lover — and he was in truth greatly in need of all her 
 care and tender thoughts. Her beliefs were so in- 
 tense in those forces of protection with which that 
 God Whom she worshiped so truly surrounded her, that 
 she never for a moment doubted but these invisible cur- 
 rents would be directed to the disentangling of des- 
 tiny's threads. 
 
 She made no speculations as to how this would be — 
 God would find the way. Her attitude was never one 
 of pious resignation to a divine chastisement. She did 
 not believe God ever meant to chastise anyone. For 
 good or ill each circumstance was brought about by 
 the individual's own action in setting the sequence of 
 events in motion, as the planting of seed in the early 
 spring produced fair flowers in the summer — or the 
 bruising of a limb produced pain. And the motion 
 must go on until the price had been paid or the pleasure 
 obtained. And, when long ago she had heard Cheiron 
 and John Derringham having abstruse arguments upon 
 Chance, she used silently to wonder how they could 
 
 332
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 be so dull as not to understand there was no such 
 thing really as Chance — if people were only enabled to 
 see clearly enough. If they could only trace events in 
 their lives to their sources, they would find that they 
 themselves had long ago — even perhaps in some former 
 existence — put in motion the currents to draw the events 
 to themselves. What could be called " chance " in the 
 matter was only another name for ignorance. 
 
 And, if people knew about these wonderful forces of 
 nature, they could connect themselves witli only the 
 good ones, and protect themselves from the bad. Mis- 
 fortune came through — figuratively — not knowing 
 just where to put the feet, and through not looking 
 ahead to see what would be the result of actions. 
 
 Only, above and beyond all these forces of nature 
 and these currents of cause and effect, there was still 
 the great, eternal Source of all things, who was able 
 to dispel ignorance and to endow one individual with 
 the power to help another by his prayers and thoughts. 
 This God could hasten and bring Happiness, if only He 
 were believed in with absolute faith. But that He 
 would ever stoop to punish was an unheard-of blas- 
 phemy. He was only and entirely concerned with 
 good. Punishments came as the results of actions. It 
 followed then that John Derringham, having paid the 
 price of much sorrow for all his mistakes, would now 
 come into peace — and her prayers, and exceptional 
 advantages in having been allowed for years to learn 
 the forces of nature, would be permitted to help him. 
 That he would be obliged to marry Mrs. Cricklander 
 
 333
 
 HALCYON E 
 
 would seem to be an overexaction, and not just. But 
 they were not the judges, and must in all cases fulfill 
 their part of honesty and truth, no matter what might 
 betide. 
 
 These were her convictions, and so they caused her 
 to feel only a God-like calm — as she went away into 
 the purple shadows of the old streets. 
 
 Cheiron and she had been at San Gimignano for half 
 a week, and almost every child in the place knew and 
 loved her. She had always a gracious word or a merry 
 smile when they clustered round her, as is their friendly 
 way with all travelers, when she came from the Cathe- 
 dral or the strange old solitary chapel of St. Jacopo. 
 
 The Professor was waiting for her on the hotel steps, 
 and he saw by seme extra radiance in her face that 
 something unusual had happened. 
 
 " What is it, my child? " he asked, as they went in 
 and up to their dinner in the big salle a manger upon 
 the first floor, which was then nearly always empty of 
 guests. 
 
 " John Derringham is here, Master," she said — 
 ;< and we have talked, and now all shadows are gone — 
 and we must only wait." 
 
 " I am glad to hear it," replied Cheiron, and bristled 
 his brows. 
 
 This is all that was said between them on the sub- 
 ject, and, immediately the meal was over, they re- 
 tired to their rooms. But when alone in hers, Hal- 
 cyone took from the silken wrappings the Goddess 
 Aphrodite, and in the divine eyes read a glad blessing, 
 
 334
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 and, as soon as her head touched her pillow, she fell 
 into a soft sweet sleep, while the warm night winds 
 flew in at the wide-opened windows and caressed her 
 hair. 
 
 And John Derringham, when the dark had fallen, came 
 down from his high watch tower, and walked slowly 
 back to the hotel, leaning upon his stick. He was 
 still filled with the hush of his loved one's serene calm. 
 Surely, after all, there must be some truth in her be- 
 liefs, and he would trust to them, too, and wait and 
 hope — and above all keep his word, as she had said, 
 with that honor which is entailed upon a gentleman. 
 
 He ordered his motor for dawn the next morning, 
 so as to be away before the chance of disturbing the 
 two should occur. 
 
 The rare and wonderful sight of a motor in those 
 days caused a crowd to collect whenever one should 
 arrive or depart. It was an unheard-of thing that two 
 should visit the city at the same time — there had only 
 been three in the whole year — so Halcyone, when she 
 heard the whizz next morning, bounded from her bed 
 and rushed to peep between the green shutters. Some 
 instinct told her that the noise indicated it was he — her 
 dear lover — about to start, and she had the happiness 
 of gazing down upon his upturned face unperceived, as 
 his eyes searched the windows, perhaps in some vague 
 hope of being able to discern which was hers. 
 
 And she showered upon him blessings of love and 
 tenderness, and called all the currents of good from the 
 sky and the air, to comfort and protect him and give him 
 23 335
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 strength to go back and keep his word. And, just as 
 he was starting, a white pigeon flew down and circled 
 round John Derringham's head — and he was conscious 
 that at the same moment the sun must have risen above 
 the horizon, for it suddenly gilded the highest towers. 
 And he passed out of the dark gate into its glory, and 
 took the Siena road, a mighty purpose of strength in 
 his heart. 
 
 After a few days of wandering, during which he 
 strove not to let grief or depression master him again, 
 he sent a telegram to Venice to Cecilia Cricklander. 
 And on that Saturday evening, he walked into her sit- 
 ting-room with a pale and composed face. 
 
 She was seated upon the sofa and arranged with every 
 care, and was looking triumphantly beautiful as she 
 smoked a cigarette. Her fine eyes had in them all the 
 mocking of the fiend as she greeted him lazily. 
 
 "How are } T ou, John?" she said casually — and 
 puffed rings of smoke, curling up her red lips to do so 
 in a manner that, John Derringham was unpleasantly 
 aware, he would once have found attractive, but that 
 now only filled him with disgust. 
 
 " I am well," he said, " thank you, — better for the 
 change and the sight of some most interesting things." 
 
 " And I, also," she responded with provoking glances 
 from under her lids, " am better — for the change ! I 
 have seen — a man, since which I seem to be able the 
 better to value your love ! " 
 
 And she leaned back and laughed with rasping mock- 
 
 336
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 ery, which galled his ears — although for sonic strange 
 reason she could no longer gall his soul. He felt calm 
 and blandly indifferent to her, like someone acting in a 
 dream. 
 
 " I am glad you were, and are, amused," he said. He 
 had not made the slightest attempt to kiss her in greet- 
 ing — and she had not even held out her hand. 
 
 " You are quite rich now, John, aren't you ? " after a 
 short silence she presently asked nonchalantly — " that 
 is, as you English count riches — ten or twelve thousand 
 a year. I suppose it will keep you in comfort." 
 
 He leaned back and smiled one of his old cynical 
 smiles. 
 
 " Yes," he said, " it is extremely rich for me ; my per- 
 sonal wants are not great." 
 
 " That is splendid, then," she went on, " because I 
 shall not feel I am really depriving you of anything by 
 doing what I intend to do in throwing you over — 
 otherwise I should have been glad to settle something 
 upon you for life ! " 
 
 As he listened, John Derringham's eyes flashed forth 
 steel, but the pith of her speech had in it such divine 
 portent, as it fell upon his ears, that the insult of its 
 wording left him less roused than she hoped he would 
 have been. 
 
 She saw that it was joy, not rage, which lay deep in 
 his eyes, and the fury of her whole nature blazed up, 
 so that she forgot the years of polish that she had ac- 
 quired — forgot her elaborately prepared plan that for 
 
 337
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 an hour she would torture and play with him, as a cat 
 plays with a mouse, and, crimsoning with wrath, she 
 hurled forth her displeasure, cutting things short. 
 
 " You are only a paltry fortune-hunter, John Der- 
 ringham, for all your fine talk," she said loudly, raising 
 her voice, and allowing it to regain its original broad 
 accent, " and I have kept you on just to punish you. 
 But, if you thought I was ever going to marry you now 
 that you are no better than a cripple, and don't amount 
 to thirty cents in the opinion of the world — you or 
 your Government either ! — you made a great mistake. 
 I have something much more delightful on hand — so 
 you can take back your ring and your freedom — and 
 go and find some meeker woman who will put up with 
 your airs." 
 
 And she picked up from a table beside her his dia- 
 mond gage, which she had taken from her hand be- 
 fore his entrance, and threw it over to him — and then 
 leaned back as if exhausted with anger among the cush- 
 ions. 
 
 John Derringham had grown very pale as the insult- 
 ing words fell from her lips - — and now he rose to his 
 feet, and standing there looked at her with pitying con- 
 tempt. 
 
 " Then I will say good-by, Cecilia," he said. " The 
 manner of your release of me cancels the pain it might 
 otherwise have caused me. I can only wish you all suc- 
 cess with any new venture you may make — and assure 
 you always of my deep respect." 
 
 And, calmly putting the ring in his pocket, he turned 
 
 338
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 round and slowly left the room — when, meeting Ara- 
 bella upon the stairs, she was startled to see him shaking 
 with sardonic laughter. 
 
 " Good-night, and good-by, dear Miss Clinker," he 
 said ; " I am glad to have had this opportunity of thank- 
 ing you again and again for your sweet goodness to me 
 when I was ill; it was something which I shall never 
 forget." 
 
 " Oh, Mr. Derringham ! " said Arabella, " you haven't 
 parted from Mrs. Cricklander, have you ? " But she 
 saw from his laughing eyes that he had, and, before she 
 was aware of it, good, honest soul, she had blurted out: 
 " Oh, I'm so glad ! " 
 
 Then they shook hands heartily, to hide her dreadful 
 confusion, and John Derringham went on to his rooms 
 at the Britannia, where he was staying, with nothing but 
 a mad, wild joy in his heart. 
 
 What did Cecilia Cricklander' s insults matter? What 
 did anything on earth matter? He was free to go and 
 seek his beloved one — and have every sorrow healed as 
 he held her to his heart. The only necessary thing now 
 was to find her immediately, which would require some 
 thinking out. It was too late to get an answer to any 
 telegrams to England — he must wait until the morn- 
 ing. Mrs. Porrit would know where Cheiron's next ad- 
 dress would be. Yes, he could hope to come up with 
 the wanderers perhaps not later than the day after to- 
 morrow. 
 
 But when Arabella entered her employer's sitting-room 
 after wishing him good-by, she found Mrs. Cricklander 
 
 339
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 in violent hysterics, and she had to have the doctor and 
 a sleeping draught before she could be calmed. 
 
 The hatefulness, the impossible arrogance and inso- 
 lence of the man, she had thought ! and the humiliation 
 to herself of knowing full well that, instead of making 
 this dismissal a scene of subtle superlative cleverness, 
 so that through all his torture he would be obliged to 
 admire and respect her skill — she had let her temper 
 get the better of her, and had shown him a side of her- 
 self that, she was well aware, was most unrefined, so 
 that he had been able to leave her, not as a humbled, 
 beaten cur, as she had intended, but feeling what she 
 knew to be unfeigned contempt. 
 
 No wonder she had hysterics ! It was galling beyond 
 compare, and not all Mr. Hanbury-Green's devotion or 
 flattery next day could heal the bitter hurt. 
 
 " Oh, how I will help you, Percy ! " she said, " to pull 
 them all down from their pedestals, and drag them to the 
 guillotine ! " 
 
 And Mr. Hanbury-Green had laughed, and said it 
 gratified him greatly to feel her sympathy and coopera- 
 tion would be with him, but he feared they would never 
 have the humorous pleasure of getting as far as that ! 
 
 And, it being a Sunday, Arabella Clinker wrote to her 
 mother to apprise her of these events. 
 
 The engagement is over [Mrs. Clinker was 
 told] — the advent of Mr. Hanbury-Green (a 
 very unpleasant personality, afraid of being polite 
 to me in case I should fancy myself his equal) 
 seemed to clinch matters in M. E.'s mind. I sup- 
 
 340
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 pose he was able to give her some definite assur- 
 ance of the future of the Government. In any 
 case, I could see, when they returned from their 
 excursion in the gondola yesterday, that things 
 were upon a very familiar footing between them. 
 Mr. H. G. has none of Mr. Derringham's re- 
 straint or refinement, and, after M. E. had seen 
 Mr. Derringham and, I presume, returned him his 
 freedom, she had a terrible fit of hysterics, only 
 calmed when Mr. Hanbury-Green entered the 
 room and suggested emptying the water jug over 
 her. It appears he has a sister who is subject to 
 these attacks, and this is the onlv method which 
 has any effect upon her. I suppose in his circle 
 they would have a number of crude remedies 
 which we are unaccustomed to, but it seemed to be 
 the right one for M. E., who pulled herself to- 
 gether at once. 
 
 They told me privately that they are engaged, 
 but do not intend to announce it yet, and I be- 
 lieve they are really suited to each other. I had 
 thought at one time that Mr. Derringham might 
 be equally a mate for her, because of his selfish- 
 ness, but, after I grew to know him when he was 
 ill, I saw that he was infinitely above her, and not 
 really more selfish than other men — and, as you 
 know, I have extended to him my pity and com- 
 miseration ever since. Your liking of him con- 
 firmed my good opinion. I am to stay on with 
 M. E. as long as I will, because Mr. Hanbury- 
 Green, she says, is not cultivated either, and I may 
 be of use to them both, she thinks, in the future, 
 although she has not imparted this to him. I do 
 
 34*1
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 not believe I shall like having to render his 
 speeches erudite, because my political convictions 
 are all upon the other side. But something else 
 may turn up, and it is a comfort to know things 
 are settled for the present. Mr. Derringham 
 looked so joyous as he came from her sitting- 
 room, after his dismissal, that I am sure he will 
 go off at once to that person I have often given 
 you a hint about, — and his restoration to health 
 may consequently be looked upon as a certainty. 
 I fear the influences we shall have to live under 
 now will not encourage that high tone which en- 
 deavoring to keep up with Mr. Derringham and 
 his party entailed, and it may grow more than I 
 can bear. The inference to be drawn from M. 
 E.'s defection to the other side is not felicitous, 
 and gives me cause for the most gloomy forebod- 
 ing as to the future of the country, because she 
 would never have done it if she had not received 
 from Mr. Hanbury-Green absolute guarantees 
 that with him she will occupy the highest position. 
 Everything Conservative is vieux jeu now, she 
 says, and she must go with the tide. 
 
 And from this the letter wandered on to personal mat- 
 ters. 
 
 Meanwhile John Derringham had received Mrs. Por- 
 rit's answer and had ascertained the Professor's prob- 
 able address, and was joyously speeding his way on to 
 Rome.
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV 
 
 ^fl^^HE Palace of the Caesars was lying in blazing 
 ■ * J heat when Halcyone and the Professor decided 
 ^^*&S to spend the afternoon there. People had 
 warned them not to get to Rome until October, but they 
 were both lovers of the sun, and paid no heed. It would 
 be particularly delightful to have the eternal city to 
 themselves, and they had come straight down from San 
 Gimignano, meaning to pick up their motor again at 
 Perugia on their way back, as the roads to the south 
 were so bad. 
 
 They had only arrived the evening before, and felt the 
 Palatine hill should be their first pilgrimage. It was 
 completely deserted in the heat and they wandered in 
 peace. They had gone all through the dark rooms 
 which overlook the Forum, and had reached the garden 
 upon the top, with its cypress and cool shade. Here 
 Halcyone sat down on a bench, looking over the won- 
 derful scene. She wanted to re-read a letter from her 
 Aunt Roberta which had arrived as they were starting 
 out. 
 
 The old ladies were delighted with their accession to 
 a modest fortune, the matter was turning out well, and 
 the}' hoped to have their ancient brougham repainted 
 and a quiet horse to draw it, before very long, so that, 
 
 343
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 even when it rained, they could have the pleasure of 
 going to church. 
 
 William, the Aunt Roberta added, was really growing 
 a little old for so many duties, and would, under the 
 new and more prosperous regime, confine himself to be- 
 ing only butler. Halcyone would find several changes 
 on her return ; among them the four gates had been 
 mended ! 
 
 As she read this part of the letter, Halcyone almost 
 sighed ! The gates, especially the one of the beech 
 avenue, had always been such friends of hers, she knew 
 and loved each crack. And then her thoughts wan- 
 dered, as ever, to her lover. Where was he and how 
 had it fared with him? Her serene calm was not dis- 
 turbed — she felt certainty in every breath of the soft 
 warm air — the certainty that the springtime of their 
 souls had come. 
 
 Now, that same morning, John Derringham had ar- 
 rived at the Grand Hotel, and, after breakfasting, had 
 made his way to the hotel to which Mrs. Porrit had in- 
 formed him the Professor's letters were to be addressed. 
 And Demetrius, whom he asked for, hearing Mr. Carl- 
 yon was out, was able to give him information as to 
 where his master had gone ; so that he set off at once. 
 
 The Palace of the Caesars was rather a labyrinth to 
 expect to find anybody in, but he would do his best. 
 And so it happened, after about an hour's search, that 
 he came upon Cheiron alone, just as he reached Livia's 
 house. 
 
 Mr. Carlyon held out his hand. 
 
 344
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 " Well, John," he said, " and so we meet again." 
 
 His old pupil shook it heartily, and Cheiron, seeing 
 that joyous light in his eyes, raised his left penthouse 
 with a whimsical smile. 
 
 " Got clear of the Octopus, I should imagine," he said 
 laconically. " Well, better late than never — Halcyone 
 is over on the bench under the cypress, gazing upon the 
 Tarpeian rock ; perhaps you may like to go to her — " 
 and he pointed in that direction. 
 
 " It is what I have come at post-haste from Venice to 
 do, Master," John Derringham said. " Mrs. Cricklander 
 was kind enough to release me on Saturday evening — 
 she has other views, it seems ! " — and he laughed with 
 his old boyish gayety. 
 
 Well, I won't keep you," Cheiron answered. 
 Bring my little girl back to the hotel when these gates 
 shut. No doubt you will have enough to talk about till 
 then," and he smiled benignly. 
 
 " You will give us your blessing, Master? " John Der- 
 ringham asked. But the Professor growled as he turned 
 to go on. 
 
 " She has my blessing always," he said, " and you will 
 have it, too, if you make her happy, but you don't de- 
 serve her, you know, John." 
 
 John Derringham drew himself up and looked straight 
 out in front of him — his face was moved. 
 
 " I know I do not," he said, " but I hope you believe 
 me, Cheiron, when I tell you that I mean to devote the 
 rest of my life to attain that object — and at least no 
 man could worship her more." 
 
 345 
 
 it 
 
 a
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 " Get on with your courting then, lad ! " said the 
 Professor, pointing with his stick in Halcyone's direc- 
 tion, while his wise eyes smiled. " I suppose she will 
 think you perfect in any case — it is her incredible con- 
 viction ! " And with this he shook his old pupil's hand 
 again, and the two men went their separate ways ; John 
 Derringham forgetful of even his lame ankle as he rap- 
 idly approached his beloved. 
 
 She saw him coming — she had been thinking of him 
 deeply in an exquisite day-dream, and this seemed just 
 the sequence of it, and quite natural and yet divine. 
 
 She rose and held out both hands to him, the radiance 
 of heaven in her tender eyes. For she knew that all 
 was well and joy had come. 
 
 And they spoke not a word as he folded her in his 
 arms. 
 
 A week later they were married very quietly at the 
 Embassy, and went south to spend their honeymoon, 
 leaving Mr. Carlyon to go back to England alone. He 
 was tired of wandering, he said, and sighed for the com- 
 forts of the orchard house and his pipe and his Aris- 
 totle. 
 
 And Aphrodite went with the bridal pair, no doubt 
 content. 
 
 The manner of Mrs. Cricklander's dismissal of John 
 Derringham had left him unhampered by any consid- 
 eration for her feelings. 
 
 And when she read the announcement in the New 
 
 346
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 York Herald the day after the wedding, she burned with 
 furious rage. 
 
 So this was the meaning of everything all along! 
 It had not been Cora Lutworth or his political preoccu- 
 pations, or anything but simply the odious fact that he 
 had been in love with somebody else ! This wretched 
 English girl had taken him from her — a creature of 
 whose existence she had never even heard! 
 
 And the world would know of his marriage before her 
 own news had been made public ! The gall of the whole 
 thing was hardly to be borne! 
 
 She felt that, had she been aware that John Derring- 
 ham's affections were really given elsewhere, nothing 
 would have induced her to break off the engagement ! 
 Mr. Hanbury-Green was all very well, and was being a 
 most exceptional lover, only this hateful humiliation 
 and blow to her self-love mattered more than any mere 
 man! 
 
 But of such things the married two recked not at all. 
 Their springtime of bliss had come. 
 
 And, as they sat absolutely alone upon the inner steps 
 of the Temple of Poseidon at Paestum, looking out upon 
 the sapphire sea and azure sky, the noble columns in 
 front of them all bathed in golden light, and a solemn 
 crow perched above as priest to bless them, Halcyone 
 drew the wrappings from the goddess's head. 
 
 " See, John," she said, " Aphrodite is perfectly 
 happy ; she is smiling as never before. She knows that 
 we have found all her message." And she laid her head 
 against his shoulder as he encircled her with his arm. 
 
 347
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 .. 
 
 Dear," she went on, with that misty look in her 
 serene eyes as though they could see into the beyond, 
 " for me, however much beautiful things exalt me and 
 take me to God, I can never go there alone. It always 
 seems as if I must put out my hand and take your 
 hand." 
 
 " Sweetheart," he answered, holding her close, " and 
 long ago I called love a draught of the poison cup — 
 what a poor blind fool was I ! " 
 
 " Yes," she said tenderly. " John, we are much wiser 
 now — and, when we return to the world out of this di- 
 vine dream-country, you will teach me of that life which 
 you must live in the fierce arena where you will fight 
 for a principle against such odds ; and I shall be always 
 there to comfort you and give you of my sympathy and 
 tenderness. And, as you instruct me in the day and 
 its strenuous toils, I will teach you of the soothing, 
 peaceful currents of the night. And we shall know 
 only joy, because we have seen how it always comes if 
 we go straight on and leave the tangled threads to 
 God." 
 
 John Derringham bent and kissed her lips and he 
 murmured : 
 
 " My darling — my one woman with a soul." 
 
 THE END 
 
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