GIFT OF 
 G. I.:. Hicoardson 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE 
 
 BY 
 
 MARGARET DELAND 
 
 AUTHOR OF "JOHN WARD, PREACHER," " SIDNEY " 
 "THE STORY OF A CHILD," ETC., ETC. 
 
 " Marriage is not a result, but a process " 
 
 BOSTON AND NEW YORK 
 HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY 
 
 res?, Camfcri&ge 
 1894 
 
Copyright, 1894, 
 BY MARGARET DELAND. 
 
 All rights reserved 
 730 3<^ 
 
 The Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass., U. 8. A. 
 Electrotyped and Printed by H. O. Houghton & Co. 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 I. 
 
 The postman and the people of the place knew where each family 
 lived. As for the rest of the world, what has one to do with the 
 rest of the world, when he is safe at home ? JACKANAPES. 
 
 "Now, mother dear, you are all comfortable, 
 aren t you? Here is your Prayer-Book. And 
 see, I ve put the roses over on the chest of drawers ; 
 I don t believe you 11 notice the fragrance here." 
 
 Mrs. Drayton moved her head languidly and 
 glanced about. " Yes, as comfortable as I can be. 
 But I m used to being uncomfortable. I think per 
 haps you might move my chair just a little further 
 from the windows, Lyssie. Might n t I feel a draft 
 here?" 
 
 This was too important a question for a mere 
 " yes " or " no." Alicia Drayton knelt down beside 
 her mother, and leaned her fresh young cheek to 
 wards the closed window. " I don t feel the slightest 
 air, dear," she said anxiously. 
 
 " Ah, well, you ! I suppose you don t. What 
 color you have, Lyssie ! I don t see why I have n t 
 some of your health. I m sure, when you were 
 born, I gave you all of mine." 
 
2 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 44 If you would just go out a little bit more ? " 
 Alicia suggested hopefully. 
 
 " Oh, my dear, don t be foolish," said Mrs. Dray- 
 ton. " Go out ! How can I go out ? It tires me 
 to walk across the room. Yes, you had better move 
 my chair. I m sure there is a little air." 
 
 44 Well," Alicia said cheerfully, " there ! Can 
 you look out of the window if I put you as far away 
 from it as this ? " 
 
 44 1 don t care about looking out of the window," 
 sighed Mrs. Drayton ; " there is nothing to see ; and 
 I m going to read my chapter as soon as you have 
 gone. I 11 tell you what you may do, Lyssie. You 
 may go over and ask Susy Carr to come in some 
 time this morning. If she is out anywhere on the 
 farm, see if you can t find her, and tell her I hope 
 she 11 come. It s very foolish in me, but I don t 
 like to be alone. I think I feel my loneliness more 
 as I grow older." 
 
 44 1 wish papa were going to be at home this sum 
 mer," Lyssie said. 44 Of course it s lonely for you 
 with only me." 
 
 44 1 was n t finding fault with your father," Mrs. 
 Drayton answered quickly, 44 and I have no com 
 plaint to make when I have you ; but now Cecil and 
 Philip are coming, I suppose I shan t see anything 
 of you." 
 
 44 Of course you will ! and Cecil and Philip and 
 Molly, too." 
 
 44 Oh, don t call the child by that ridiculous 
 name ! " said Molly s grandmother, or rather, her 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 6 
 
 step-grandmother ; " though her real name is ugly 
 enough, poor child. Why Cecil should have named 
 the baby after Philip s mother, when she never knew 
 her, and couldn t have had any affection for her, I 
 never could understand." 
 
 Mrs. Drayton 1 s unspoken inference that it would 
 have been more fitting to have given her name to 
 the child did not escape Alicia ; but inferences are 
 generally best left without comment, so she only 
 said, " Well, dear, everything is in order now, so 
 I 11 run up to Cecil s. Eliza Todd is to bring a 
 woman to help her with the windows, but I m going 
 to take the covers off the pictures, and just see to 
 the finishing touches. I think everything will be 
 fixed by the time they get here ; and I 11 stop and 
 ask Miss Susan to come in and cheer you up." 
 
 " Very well," said Mrs. Drayton, with that weary 
 closing of the eyes which every one who has had the 
 care of an invalid knows too well. " I want every 
 thing to be nice for Cecil, I m sure. But it s a 
 little bitter to be so much alone." 
 
 " Oh, I 11 be back by dinner time," Alicia re 
 minded her brightly. "Do you want me to take 
 Cecil a bunch of poppies from you ? " 
 
 " Certainly, I do," said Mrs. Drayton, opening 
 her eyes. " Cecil does n t really care for me 
 no, don t interrupt me, Lyssie ! / know ; but no 
 one can say I don t do everything in the world for 
 your dear papa s daughter. No one can say she 
 is n t exactly like my own child." 
 
 " Why, of course," said Alicia soothingly. 
 
4 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 " I don t know why you say 4 of course ! " cried 
 Mrs. Draytoii. " I m sure there are a great many 
 step-mothers who might have made a difference." 
 
 " I only meant of course you loved Ceci," Lyssie 
 explained. 
 
 " I remember," Mrs. Drayton proceeded, with a 
 hint of tears in her voice, "I remember perfectly 
 well, once, when you were both little things, some 
 body asked Susy Carr 4 which was Mr. Drayton s 
 child by his first wife. I think that shows how I 
 treated Cecil." 
 
 Cecil s step-mother almost sobbed, and her daugh 
 ter had to stop to kiss and comfort her, though it 
 was getting warmer every moment, and the walk to 
 her sister s house was long and sunny. 
 
 " Oh, go, go ! " said Mrs. Drayton. " I felt you 
 look over my head at the clock. I m sure I don t 
 want to interfere with your plans about Cecil. I 
 suppose you ve told Esther about my eggnog? 
 Give my love to Philip. I must say he s never let 
 Cecil teach him to be disrespectful to me ; he is 
 always properly attentive." 
 
 Alicia Drayton was only twenty-one, but she ex 
 celled in the art, which is taught to perfection in a 
 sick-room, of knowing when to ignore complaints. 
 A certain angelic common sense gave her at once 
 discrimination and tenderness, those two qualities 
 which must be together for the full development of 
 either. 
 
 " Yes, Esther will bring the eggnog at eleven," 
 she said cheerfully. " Good-by, mother darling." 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 5 
 
 She gave an anxious thought, as she went down 
 stairs, to that possible draft ; and her face sobered 
 as she stood for a moment in the open doorway of 
 the dark, cool hall, and saw the blaze of June sun 
 shine over the garden. The thought of her mother 
 sitting all alone, in the half-light of lowered curtains 
 and bowed shutters, struck on the girl s tender heart 
 with a sort of shame at her own young vigor. She 
 knew how Mrs. Drayton s pallid face and weak eyes 
 would have shrunk away from what she always 
 spoke of as the " glare," and how the hot fragrance 
 of the roses woidd have made her poor, heavy head 
 ache. " But it does seem as though she might look 
 out of the window," Lyssie thought, sighing. Yet 
 she had been content to let her mother be comfort 
 able in her own way. From which it will be seen 
 that Miss Alicia Drayton was an unusual young 
 woman. Indeed, very early in life this girl had 
 displayed the pathetic common sense of the child 
 whose mother s foolishness forces her into a discre 
 tion beyond her years. The village had acknow 
 ledged her merit long ago, acknowledged it with 
 the slight condescension with which Old Chester 
 commented upon Youth. 
 
 " A very good girl," said the village, " but " 
 Old Chester was apt to balance its praise with a 
 " but " - * it s a pity the child has n t more accom- 
 plislunents. She s been so busy taking care of her 
 poor mother all these years that she has n t a single 
 accomplisiiment. " 
 
 Mrs, Drayton, however, would have explained that 
 
6 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE.- . 
 
 an invalid could not be expected to think of such 
 trivial things as accomplishments. " I ve brought 
 her up to be a good child," said Mrs. Drayton; 
 and certainly nobody could deny that. In fact, 
 Alicia s mother did very little beside read her Bible, 
 and meditate over certain small good books of the 
 nature of Gathered Pearls and Daily Foods. She 
 kept a stand at her elbow for her half dozen devout 
 and well-worn volumes. Thomas a Kempis was 
 there ; and her Prayer-Book, with flowers pressed 
 between the pages of especially significant saints 
 days, and small marginal ejaculations scattered 
 through the Psalter, ejaculations which Mrs. 
 Drayton not infrequently read aloud to her callers. 
 There was also upon the stand a little calendar, 
 with a text, a hymn, and a prayer for each day. 
 This was a distinct interest in the poor sick lady s 
 life, for there was the element of surprise in tear 
 ing off each slip ; she was apt to inclose an espe 
 cially beautiful page to any correspondent to 
 whom she chanced to be writing, and she would add 
 " True ! " or underline a word or phrase, to show 
 how personal were these printed outbursts of religious 
 feeling. 
 
 Her husband, compelled by ill health to live 
 abroad, was greatly favored in this way. Yet he 
 had been known to say that " Frances s goodness 
 was the worst part of her." Indeed, irreverent lips 
 whispered that Mrs. Drayton s goodness was the 
 peculiar disease which needed European treatment. 
 
 " But then, why did he marry her, if he did n t 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 1 
 
 want to live with her ? " the village reflected. 
 " Everybody knew what Fanny Dacie was. And 
 why did he marry again, anyhow? His child by 
 his first wife had a good home with the Ashurst 
 Draytons. He had n? need to marry again." 
 
 Mr. William Drayton, however, had thought 
 differently. 
 
 After the calamity of his first wife s death, he had 
 left the baby Cecil with his sister-in-law in Ashurst, 
 and, dazed and bewildered by his grief, had gone 
 away to forget. For several years he wandered aim 
 lessly about the world. And when he drifted home 
 again, and found Cecil, with her mother s eyes and 
 her mother s name, which made him wince when 
 ever he had to address her, when he found her 
 irritable and discontented among her cousins in 
 Colonel Drayton s household, why, then he married 
 again. He did not love the child, but it was hers, 
 so it must have a home. He took Cecil and went 
 back to Old Chester, and opened up the house he 
 had closed when his wife died. What the associa 
 tions were, what strange certainties came to him of 
 that dead wife s sympathy in his search for a new 
 wife, he did not confide to any one, least of all to 
 Miss Frances Dacie, while he sought to impress upon 
 her that his happiness and her welfare a more 
 truthful man might have reversed these terms 
 depended upon their marriage. Miss Dacie was 
 thirty-one ; she yielded to his entreaty without that 
 foolish hesitation which younger ladies sometimes 
 deem necessary. Having thus provided a home anc 
 
 
8 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 a mother for little Cecil, William Drayton found, 
 in a year or two, that his health demanded foreign 
 travel. 
 
 " And the unfortunate part of it is," said Mr. 
 Drayton, forty years old, gray, blase, standing with 
 his back to the fireplace in the Rev. Dr. Lavendar s 
 study, " the unfortunate part of it is, my wife 
 is such a wretched invalid (she has never been well, 
 you know, since little Lyssie was born) she is n t 
 able to go with me. She could n t stand traveling ; 
 and traveling, King says, is what I need. My only 
 consolation is that I can live so much more cheaply 
 in Europe, which of course is a good thing for Fran 
 ces and the girls." 
 
 And thus it was that Mr. William Drayton be 
 came a fugitive from matrimony. 
 
 He did give a thought sometimes to the task 
 which Miss Dacie had assumed because of her desire 
 to promote his happiness. But he consoled himself 
 by reflecting upon her welfare. " She likes liv 
 ing in the Poindexter house," he thought, his cold, 
 heavy eyes closing in a smile, " and it s a great 
 satisfaction to her to be married, even if she does 
 have to wrestle with Cecilia ; but I ve no doubt that 
 little monkey, Lyssie, will improve Cecilia." 
 
 That Cecilia needed to be improved no one could 
 deny. Her aunt, Mrs. Henry Drayton of Ashurst, 
 used to testify to that emphatically. 
 
 " I had that child seven years," she would say, 
 " and nobody can tell me anything about her. She 
 is the strangest creature ! though I m sure I tried 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 9 
 
 to make her a good child. Poor Frances ! I must 
 say I pity her." 
 
 Indeed, Mrs. Henry Drayton had continued to try 
 to make Cecil a good child even after she had 
 handed her over, " with a sigh of relief," to Mrs. 
 William. 
 
 " Cecil, my dear, you ought not to call your mam 
 ma Mrs. Drayton, " she instructed her niece. 
 
 " My mamma is dead, and I don t love Mrs. 
 Drayton," Cecil answered, with a little pause be 
 tween her slow sentences. 
 
 "That has nothing to do with it," said Mrs. 
 Henry. " She is your father s wife, and you should 
 treat her with respect even if you don t love her ; 
 and it is n t respectful to say Mrs. Drayton. 
 
 " I d just as lief say Miss Dacie, " the child 
 said. 
 
 Her aunt gasped and cried, " You are a naughty 
 little girl ! Of course you are not to say 4 Miss 
 Dacie ; she is your papa s wife, and " 
 
 " How many wives can papa have ? " Cecil inter 
 posed calmly ; " my mother is his wife." 
 
 " Your mother is a saint in heaven ! at least, 
 I hope she is," said Mrs. Henry, horrified. " If I 
 were your mamma, I d send you to bed without any 
 supper." 
 
 " I m glad papa did n t marry you ; that would 
 have been worse than Mrs. Drayton," her niece 
 announced. 
 
 And then Mrs. Henry wept with Mrs. William, 
 and said she pitied her with all her heart ; and no- 
 
10 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 body was more rejoiced than she, when, at eighteen, 
 Cecil, just home from boarding-school, became en 
 gaged to Philip Shore. 
 
 " I rejoice on your account, dear Frances," she 
 wrote to Cecil s step-mother. " What a relief it 
 must be, after your noble devotion of these eleven 
 years, at last to hand her over to a husband, 
 though I must say I pity the young man ! The 
 colonel and I are delighted to hear what an es 
 timable person he is, though I m sorry he has n t 
 expectations from his uncle. However, Cecil has 
 money enough for both. I hope, for your sake, they 
 will be married at once." 
 
 But they were not married at once. Philip spent 
 three years in one of the Paris studios, so Mrs. 
 Drayton was still obliged to endure her step-daugh 
 ter s indolence, and willful ways, and occasional black 
 tempers ; and also her cold indifference, not only to 
 herself, but, it must be admitted, to Old Chester ! 
 
 When at last she married Philip Shore, the vil 
 lage drew a breath of satisfaction. " Dear Philip," 
 it said, " such a really superior young man ! 
 Now poor Cecil will improve." 
 
 But except that Philip took her away for a year, 
 no improvement was visible. She came back when 
 Molly was born, and then everybody said they hoped 
 the baby would make a difference in Cecil. It did ; 
 it added to the strange, passionate, untrained nature 
 the passion of maternity. 
 
 " Though I don t care now what they say about 
 me," Cecil said languidly to her husband, looking 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 11 
 
 down at the small head upon her arm ; " I have 
 this ! And really, Philip, you must admit I am of 
 some value to Old Chester? I give it something to 
 gossip about. If I were suddenly to grow good, 
 people would be disappointed ! " 
 
 There was truth in this. All her life Cecil had 
 afforded to her friends that interest of shuddering 
 disapproval which is so delightful. Even her father 
 had felt it when he came home to see her married. 
 " There are possibilities in this affair," he thought, 
 watching her with amiable, impersonal interest. " If 
 this Philip would get drunk once in a while, or swear 
 at her, I think it might turn out pretty well. But 
 he won t, he won t," said Mr. Drayton, with real 
 regret ; " he 11 be too damned polite to her." He 
 was surprised at his fatherly solicitude ; for the 
 paternal tie is weakened after twelve years of ab 
 sence, broken only by occasional visits. " The young 
 man," he meditated, standing on the threshold, bid 
 ding adieu to the departing bride and groom, " the 
 young man is in love ; there s no doubt about that. 
 And as for her, I suppose he is the first man she has 
 seen, and so she s in love, too. But very likely she d 
 have married the Devil to get away from Frances." 
 He was really interested ; perhaps, could his visit 
 have been prolonged, he might have felt some anx 
 iety in spite of himself. He was absent-minded as 
 he listened to Old Chester s praise of Philip, and 
 ominous omission of Cecil s name. " The boy is an 
 ascetic," he was saying to himself, " and she " He 
 closed his lips ; at least she was Cecilia s child. He 
 
12 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 had not seen her since, for, the winter that the 
 young husband and wife were in Paris, there were 
 reasons why Mr. Drayton could not ask his daughter 
 to visit what he called his " humble roof " in Cannes ; 
 and so, to avoid embarrassing inhospitality, he had 
 found it necessary to be in Egypt for his health. 
 The next time he came to Old Chester, Philip and 
 his wife were living in town, and, as Mrs. Drayton 
 explained, " dear William was unwilling to take a 
 moment from me, though he would have been inter 
 ested to see Molly, of course." 
 
 When her step-daughter married, the consolation 
 of living in the finest house in Old Chester was 
 taken away from Mrs. Drayton. The Poiiidexter 
 house had belonged to the first Mrs. Drayton, and 
 had been settled on her child, as was also her not 
 inconsiderable fortune. But when the plans for 
 Cecil s wedding were made, Mr. Drayton arranged 
 that his wife and younger daughter should take a 
 house in the village, " where," he wrote, " as soon 
 as my miserable health permits, I shall hope to join 
 ray dear ones permanently." But thus far his health 
 had not permitted. 
 
 That moving from her sister s house had been a 
 great trial to Alicia, who had been born there, and 
 had spent a happy childhood in its gardens and 
 orchards ; but she had not been able to think very 
 much of her own feelings. All her childish courage 
 was needed to sustain her mother, who wept and 
 moaned, and said that Cecil had turned her out of 
 doors. "Papa has made this arrangement, Mrs. 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 13 
 
 Drayton," her step-daughter reminded her briefly; 
 and Mrs. Drayton s pride refused her the luxury of 
 finding fault with her husband. It was nine years 
 ago that this change was made, but Alicia s deepest 
 home feeling was still for the great brick house on 
 the hill, where she had spent those twelve happy 
 years. She could see it from her window in the 
 village, lifting, above the foliage on the hillside, its 
 square, flat roof with the white balustrade. The 
 house had white corner trimmings, and white lintels 
 and copings, and the worn brick floor of the veranda 
 was darkened by a roof lifted above the second-story 
 windows by four white columns. It was cool on 
 this porch, even on a June day like this on which 
 Cecil and her husband were coming back to Old 
 Chester to spend the summer, a day brimming 
 with hot sunshine, and with not a breath of wind to 
 carry the scents of the garden up to the open win 
 dows of the house. 
 
 Alicia Drayton had sheltered herself under a big 
 umbrella when she climbed the hill ; but she was 
 glad to sit down on the porch steps and rest, and 
 fan herself with her hat, before going indoors to her 
 pleasant task of giving the final touches of order 
 and comfort to her sister v s house. Eliza Todd, who 
 \vas scrubbing somewhere within, came clattering 
 through the hall to tell Miss Drayton that all the 
 mopboards were cleaned, " and cleaned good" said 
 Eliza ; and that consciousness made her feel enough 
 at leisure to stand leaning on her broom listening to 
 Miss Lyssie, who was incapable of seeing any reason 
 
14 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 why she should not tell her scrubbing-woman how 
 happy she was to have her sister at home again. 
 
 " And Molly ; Molly is my little niece, Eliza ; 
 she s just eight. Oh, she is the dearest little thing ! 
 Though she can t be very little now ; she was five 
 the last time I saw her, and of course she s grown 
 since then." 
 
 " And have they just the one ? " said Eliza. 
 
 " Yes ; I m sure I don t know what my sister 
 would do if there were any others, she loves Molly 
 so much! " 
 
 " Well," Eliza commented, " a mother, she s 
 always got love enough to go round, somehow. I 
 wish you could say the same of shoes." 
 
 " How is Job, Eliza ? " the girl asked kindly. 
 
 u He s been sober for three days," said Job s wife. 
 " If your sister had to count days between sprees, 
 she might say she was glad there was only one. And 
 me with six, an another coming ! Well, Miss Lys- 
 sie, the Good Man s judgment ain t just like ours, is 
 it ? Me with six, an only one in a nice house like 
 this. Well, I guess I 11 go back to that hall ; it 
 wants to be swep once more." 
 
 Alicia followed her in pitying silence, and a grave 
 look lingered in her face even when she was busy 
 with her pleasant work. Her scrubwoman s domes 
 tic infelicities were very puzzling to Lyssie. Once, 
 hesitatingly, after discouraging efforts to reconcile 
 the husband and wife, whose violent quarrels were 
 commonplace village gossip, she had suggested to 
 Miss Carr that Eliza be advised to leave Job. 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 15 
 
 " They don t like each other, Miss Susan," the girl 
 said, " and he treats her badly, and we have to sup 
 port the children." 
 
 " Why, he is her husband, Lyssie Drayton ! " 
 cried Miss Susan. " You don t know what you are 
 talking about, child ! " And her horrified disap 
 proval closed Alicia s lips. 
 
 " But I m going to ask Ceci what she thinks," 
 Lyssie said to herself, when, late in the afternoon, 
 a half hour before it was time to expect the stage, 
 she went out on the porch again to rest. And then, 
 in her own happiness, she could not help forgetting 
 poor Eliza and her troubles. A red rose leaned its 
 chin upon the balustrade and looked at her. Alicia 
 pulled it down against her cheek in a pretty caress ; 
 it made her think of her sister. It was brimmed 
 with sunshine, and hot and sweet with passionate 
 color. She remembered how Cecil liked to sit in 
 the sun, with lovely, lazy, half-shut eyes, and strong 
 white fingers clasped behind her head. Alicia 
 twisted the thorny stem, but dropped it quickly, and 
 put her finger to her lips and said, " Ouch ! " and 
 then tried again to pluck it. " I 11 put it on her 
 dressing table," she reflected, " and tell her it looks 
 like her." 
 
II. 
 
 but, friend, to me 
 
 He is all fault who hath no fault at all : 
 For who loves me must have a touch of earth. 
 
 TENNYSON. 
 
 CECIL SHOHE S house was all ready for her, when, 
 at five, the yellow coach, swinging, pitching on its 
 big springs, came rumbling up the lane with much 
 clattering of harness and cracking of the whip. 
 Philip was on the top seat with the driver, his hand 
 on the collar of a big dog, whose trepidation at his 
 swaying elevation was manifest ; his master s face 
 broke into a smile at the sight of Alicia, standing in 
 happy excitement on the steps, and before the horses 
 could come to a standstill he had swung himself 
 down and kissed her, with one hand on her shoulder, 
 and the other dragging Eric back, for the dog had 
 followed him with a flying leap. Then he turned 
 and opened the stage door, which was glowing with 
 an Italian landscape of mountains and lakes, and 
 Lombardy poplars. 
 
 Cecil, in the dark cavern of the coach, was smiling 
 at some one beside her. " Yes, that is Lyssie ; 
 that is my sister," she was explaining. " Lys dear, 
 here we are ! Have you worked your little hands off 
 for us ? " The soft, dark feathers of her wide hat 
 brushed the top of the stage doorway, as, slowly, touch- 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 17 
 
 ing her husband s arm to steady herself, she came 
 down the two hinged steps ; then she smiled up at 
 Alicia, and put two fingers under the girl s chin 
 and kissed her. " Bless your dear little heart ! " 
 she said. " I hope you are not worn out by house- 
 cleaning ? " And then she looked over her shoulder 
 at the gentleman who had followed her from the 
 coach, and upon whom Eric was bestowing a warm, 
 wet welcome. 
 
 " This is Mr. Carey, Lyssie ; my sister, Mr. Ca 
 rey. Oh, don t let Eric jump all over you ! Well, 
 Lys dear, how are you ? Oh, Lyssie, I left my book 
 in the stage ; get it, dear, will you ? " 
 
 Alicia had no eyes for any one but Cecil. She 
 ran back for the book, and stopped to hug Molly 
 once again, 4 and said no more than "Excuse me" 
 when she brushed past Mr. Carey and followed her 
 sister into the drawing-room. There she put Cecil 
 into a big chair, and then stood and looked at her, 
 her breath shaken by a happiness which brought the 
 tears to her eyes. 
 
 " Oh, my dear ! " she said ; strangely enough, 
 the older woman stirred all the mother in the girl. 
 " Oh, Ceci, to think you are here ! " She slipped 
 down to the floor, and put her arms about her sister s 
 waist and kissed her shoulder. " Are you well ? Is 
 Philip well? Molly looks as blooming as a rose. 
 Oh, Ceci, there never was anybody so dear as you ! " 
 
 " Molly is an angel," Molly s mother declared. 
 " Lyssie, here is Mr. Carey. Mr. Carey, a declara 
 tion is being made me." She bent Alicia s face 
 
18 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 back and kissed her, smiling, and then she glanced 
 about the long, pleasant room. 
 
 " Oh, how familiar it all looks ! Mr. Carey, my 
 sister has put this whole house in order for me." 
 
 Mr. Carey, standing in the doorway, was civilly 
 surprised at Miss Drayton s goodness and cleverness, 
 but he was plainly more interested in Eric, who 
 ought to have some water, he said. 
 
 " Here, you brute," he protested, " don t jump on 
 me ! Mrs. Shore, may Eric come into the parlor ? " 
 
 " You must ask Lyssie," she said, leaning back 
 in her chair. " May he come in, Lys ? How cool 
 it is in here with this white matting on the floor ! 
 Lyssie, the house looks as though it had been lived 
 in always ; and let me see it s three years since 
 we *ve been here, isn t it? Those poppies are su 
 perb. Oh, what color, what color ! Mrs. Drayton 
 sent them ? She s very good, I m sure. I hope 
 she is quite well ? Molly, come pull off mamma s 
 gloves. And how is Old Chester, Lyssie? Is 
 everybody asleep? Do you think they will waken 
 up to talk about me? Oh, do put those poppies 
 here beside me ; that scarlet is I think it is an ex 
 pression of religion. Poor Lys, how I shock you ! 
 Mr. Carey, did you know that Mr. Shore was the 
 Example of Old Chester, and I the Warning ? We 
 come like two traveling evangelists." 
 
 " Well, I will go* and assist the Example," said 
 the young man, and went out into the hall, where 
 the master of the house was giving directions about 
 trunks and boxes* 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 10 
 
 Alicia was so far used to the excited happiness 
 of the arrival that she glanced at Mr. Carey, and 
 thought that his short, rough, blond hair made him 
 rather good-looking. He also glanced at her with a 
 pair of candid, obstinate blue eyes, and said to him 
 self, " To think of those two women being sisters ! " 
 Indeed, his impression of her was deep enough to 
 make him say, while he was looking after Eric s 
 comfort, " She seems like a mighty nice girl." 
 
 Cecil, meantime, in her big, cool bedroom, was 
 explaining her guest to her sister. " I hardly know 
 him ; I Ve only seen him twice. He s a friend of 
 Philip s ; he s a lawyer, but quite an authority on 
 pig iron, too. He looks it, somehow, don t you 
 think he does ? The word suggests him, pig iron. 
 Well, you know Philip is writing a book on the 
 chemical changes in pig iron, Heaven knows why ! 
 One would tliink he had enough on his hands with 
 his scholarship fund and his political people ; but he 
 persuaded Mr. Carey to come down for a fortnight 
 and help him about something. Philip thinks him 
 charming," she ended, and smiled, with the corner of 
 her red lip drooping ; " but really, he is n t bad." 
 
 She had taken a gold pin from her hair, and two 
 braids fell heavily upon her shoulders. Lyssie, her 
 elbows on the toilet table, and her chin in her hands, 
 sat absorbed in looking at her. " Oh, Ceci, I wish 
 you would never go away again," she said. 
 
 " My dear ! I should die here," Cecil assured her 
 seriously. " A summer is all I can think of. I 
 wanted Molly to be in the country, in some quiet 
 
20 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 place, and I wanted to see you, so I thought I could 
 stand Old Chester for three months. But this room 
 is certainly very nice," she broke off, with such a 
 kind look that Alicia forgot the fatigue of her day s 
 work. She glanced at the white curtains in the four 
 deep windows, and reflected how she had hammered 
 her thumb in putting them up ; but what did that 
 matter ? Cecil liked her room ! There was matting 
 on the floor, and white covers on the furniture, and 
 a deep white valance about the bed, whose four tall 
 posts were crowned with a tester. It, too, was hung 
 with white dimity. There were two silver candle 
 sticks on the table, and an India china bowl full of 
 pale pink roses. There was also a deep red rose in 
 a glass on the toilet table. 
 
 " I thought it looked like you, Ceci," the younger 
 sister said timidly. 
 
 " No, not a rose, Lys," she corrected her slowly, 
 with a melodious break of silence between her sen 
 tences. " I m a peony. I ve no soul. Put it in 
 Philip s room. He is all soul ! Philip has almost 
 converted Mr. Carey (his name is Roger, Roger 
 Carey) to his political opinions. Not quite, though, 
 as he has an interest in a rolling-mill at Mercer, and 
 iron rust doth corrupt, so he s still a Republican. 
 But I almost wish he would get converted, I m so 
 tired of hearing the excellent Philip plead with him. 
 They talked about it in the train, all the way to Mer 
 cer. I composed a new soup in my mind to keep 
 the refrain of reform from putting me to sleep. 
 Well, what do you think of him, Lys ? " 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 21 
 
 " He looks rather nice," Alicia commented, " and 
 he was good to Eric." 
 
 " Oh, he is given up to dogs and horses and all 
 that sort of thing ; he s that sort of a man. But 
 I like to talk to him ; though he is rude. I think, 
 if he had been born in a different class, he would 
 have knocked his .wife down sometimes, or sworn at 
 her, anyhow." 
 
 " Is he married ? " Lyssie said. 
 
 " Oh dear, no ; he has n t money enough to marry. 
 What do you think of his looks ? " 
 
 " I d rather think of yours," Lyssie declared. 
 " His eyes seemed nice, and I thought he was rather 
 a rosy person ; oh, quite good-looking, I think. But, 
 Ceci, I think you oh, when you bring those two 
 braids around behind your ears and cross them on 
 top of your head, with those little tendrils of curls 
 sticking out of them, they look like a chaplet of 
 laurel ! " 
 
 " You are rather nice-looking yourself," said the 
 other, thrusting the gold pin through these same 
 splendid braids, and glancing with kind eyes at her 
 young sister, who, indeed, had no more claim to 
 beauty than is given by mere youth, with perhaps a 
 A resh color, and frank eyes, and a well-shaped head 
 set on a slender, girlish neck. " Yes, though not a 
 raving beauty, you are nice to look at. How is our 
 dear papa, Lys ? I have n t heard from him for six 
 months. He never included me among his 4 dear 
 ones. 
 
 " About the same, I think," Alicia answered so- 
 
22 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 berly. " Mother had a letter last week. I wish 
 she were able to join him, Ceci. I think, if she 
 just got through the voyage, Cannes would be good 
 for her." 
 
 " Good gracious ! " cried Cecil. " Well, Lyssie, 
 don t let Mrs. Drayton come down upon him unex 
 pectedly ; don t surprise him, dear." 
 
 " Oh, there really is n t any chance of her doing 
 it," Lyssie said ; " but why not ? I always thought 
 that it would be so pleasant, to be surprised?" 
 
 "I I don t think it would be pleasant," Mrs. 
 Shore answered briefly; and added, "for our dear 
 papa." And then she laughed, and pushed her 
 chair back from the dressing table, resting her fin 
 gers on its linen cover, and glancing into the long 
 mirror which stood behind it, between the windows. 
 
 " Well, is there anything interesting going on in 
 Old Chester ? Oh, I forgot to tell you. Mr. Carey 
 is a sort of relation of some Mrs. Pendleton (or 
 rather of her husband) who has come to Old Ches 
 ter to live. He had forgotten it, but Philip discov 
 ered it in some way. Who is she ? " 
 
 " Well, she s a widow ; she s oh, I 11 tell you 
 who she is, Ceci : she was the Miss Amanda Town- 
 send whom we used to hear about when we were 
 children, don t you remember ? She was engaged 
 to Mr. Joseph Lavendar, and they quarreled , and 
 she married some rich man right off, oh, in a 
 month, I think, or something like that. Well, he 
 was Mr. Pendleton ; he died nearly two years ago. 
 Such crape! She must have been very much at- 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 23 
 
 tached to him ; she s all covered up in crape yet. 
 And he left her a house here, and quite a lot of 
 money," said Lyssie, with some awe ; " they say five 
 thousand a year ! " 
 
 Cecil laughed, and rose. " What a fortune ! I 
 should think Mr. Joseph would try to make up." 
 
 " I think he d like to," Lyssie said ; " but they 
 say that if she marries again she has to give up the 
 money ; and then I don t think Dr. Lavendar likes 
 her, so Mr. Joseph could n t." 
 
 " Is Dr. Lavendar just as dusty and tangled look 
 ing as ever ? " Cecil inquired. " People really ought 
 not to be allowed to offend the world by their looks ! 
 I had such a time this spring with my coachman. 
 He appeared, if you please, in blue spectacles. It 
 didn t interfere with his driving, of course, but he 
 was a perfect object ! I told him I could n t have 
 it. He could take off the spectacles or leave. He 
 left : so annoying in him." 
 
 " But the poor man s eyes," protested Lyssie ; 
 " perhaps he needed blue glasses ? " 
 
 " Well, that was n t my affair," Cecil said, much 
 amused. 
 
 " But he must have felt rather discouraged," Lys 
 sie persisted, " to lose a place just because " 
 
 " Oh, those people don t mind," Cecil interrupted 
 her carelessly. " Come ! let s go to the nursery. 
 Molly is delicious. Have you seen her ? " 
 
 The visit to the nursery delayed supper, but that 
 did not trouble Mrs. Shore. She brought Molly 
 downstairs with her, and kept her at her side at the 
 
24 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 table, feeding her with lumps of sugar dipped in 
 coffee, to the child s delight, and her father s great 
 but reticent annoyance. 
 
 Mr. Carey s keen eyes noticed the annoyance in 
 spite of the reticence. " Funny match," he thought, 
 glancing at his hostess across his wineglass ; and he 
 reflected that the other sister was " more like Shore." 
 
 " The other," sitting opposite him, was defending 
 herself from a charge of neglect. 
 
 " It s very ungracious in you," Mrs. Shore had 
 said, " to leave me the moment you Ve had your 
 supper ! " 
 
 " You know I d like to stay, Ceci," the girl 
 pleaded, " but I don t want to leave mother alone 
 all the evening. I was here in the morning, you 
 know." 
 
 " You rushed home to give her her dinner," inter 
 rupted Cecil gayly ; " I am certain of that ! Molly, 
 will you be as good to mamma, when she is old and 
 fussy, as aunt Lyssie is to grandmamma ? " 
 
 Alicia s color rose a little. " Of course I went 
 home ; I wanted some dinner myself. But I was 
 here all the afternoon, and I couldn t be away in 
 the evening, too ? " she ended anxiously. 
 
 And Roger Carey, listening, said to himself again, 
 " She s a mighty nice girl." But he laughed, not 
 withstanding his appreciation of her character, when 
 Mrs. Shore declared drolly, " Oh, Lyssie, your espe 
 cial form of selfishness is unselfishness." 
 
 " At least it is an unusual form," Philip said, 
 smiling ; " but anything unusual is very bad, Lys ! " 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 25 
 
 Then the group about the table broke up, and 
 Alicia said she must go home. Cecil reproached 
 her, and her brother enticed her, and Mr. Carey said 
 that, as an unprejudiced outsider, he must say he 
 thought she was neglecting her family. But she 
 was charmingly firm ; so, through a mist of June 
 moonlight, full of the scent of dewy leaves and blos 
 soming grass, Philip and his guest escorted her to 
 her door. 
 
 Cecil, left alone upon the porch, cuddled Molly in 
 her arms, and thought how tired she was, and how 
 delightful it would be to have nothing whatever to 
 do for the next three months. 
 
 The summer night fell like a perfumed curtain 
 across the valley ; the dusk had a certain richness of 
 texture, as though one might lay one s face against 
 it and feel its softness. From the pool below the 
 terraces came the bell-like clang of frogs. Katy 
 dids answered each other in the tulip-trees, and the 
 shrill, monotonous note of the cicada rose and fell, 
 and rose again. Molly had fallen asleep, and Cecil 
 felt the little limbs relax, and the head grow heavy 
 upon her arm ; she looked down at her, and leaned 
 her face towards the child s soft, parted lips to feel 
 her breath upon her cheek ; then she lifted the 
 little limp, warm hand, and kissed it gently ; but 
 Molly stirred and fretted, and her mother was plainly 
 relieved when the. nurse came to take her to bed. 
 
 " How heavy she is getting, Rosa ! " Mrs. Shore 
 said, with that frowning pride common to mothers 
 when any pain comes to them from the child s 
 
26 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 strength ; and her eyes followed the little figure in 
 Rosa s arms with a sort of passionate tenderness, 
 before she allowed herself to sink back into her 
 chair, and yawn, and think that her arm was really 
 stiff from the child s weight. 
 
 " Yes, it will be good for her to be here," she re 
 flected ; " the duller it is, the better on her account. 
 But, good heavens ! 1 don t know how I am going 
 to stand it. Perhaps I was a fool not to have sent 
 her to Alicia, and taken Philip abroad for the 
 summer ? " 
 
 . No nicety of thought prevented Mrs. Shore from 
 regarding her husband s entire financial dependence 
 upon her with anything but a crude truthfulness ; 
 but she was apt to confound such dependence with 
 a certain silent acquiescence in her plans, and to 
 feel that she really might have " taken " him abroad, 
 or that she had " brought " him to Old Chester. 
 
 In the half-light there upon the old porch, where 
 the climbing roses and the wistaria grew so thick 
 about the pillars that they made an almost impene 
 trable lattice against the faint yellow light still lin 
 gering in the west, the singular and distinguished 
 beauty of Cecil Shore s face was less noticeable than 
 was that peculiar brutality one sees sometimes in re 
 fined and cultivated faces which have known nothing 
 but ease : faces which have never shown eagerness, 
 because all their desires are at hand ; nor pity, be 
 cause they have never suffered ; nor humility, because 
 their tributary world has made their sins those of 
 omission rather than of commission. 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 27 
 
 "But this Mr. Carey is entertaining," Cecil was 
 thinking, "if a friend of Philip s can be enter 
 taining ! " She sighed, and looked wearily about 
 her. " Yes, it must be good for Molly," she re 
 peated, as though for self-encouragement. Some 
 times the sense of a lack of interest comes over one 
 with a horrible physical sinking. " And nothing 
 ever has been interesting except that first year I 
 was married ! " she said to herself. 
 
 She was just thirty : nearly half her life, perhaps, 
 was lived ; why in the world should another thirty 
 years seem so horrible? She had so many of the 
 conditions which are supposed to mean happiness. 
 She had Molly. " But, after all, Molly is not my 
 self," she thought. In a mother this keen sense of 
 personal identity is significant ; it was even con 
 ceivable, with this sense, that Cecil Shore s little 
 daughter might some time bore her. As she lay 
 back in her chair, her face grew dull, as though for 
 very weariness of her well being ; and then a faint 
 amusement came into her eyes at the remembrance 
 of her husband s excellence, and with it a contemptu 
 ous impatience of her own good humor. For she 
 was very good humored with Philip. Even Old 
 Chester, snubbed and shocked and honestly grieved 
 at a thousand faults, even Old Chester had to 
 admit that she was very agreeable to Philip. " She 
 makes him very comfortable," Old Chester said. 
 " She is a good housekeeper, and that is most praise 
 worthy. She gives a great deal of thought to her 
 food. She is lazy, but she trains her cook herself ! " 
 
28 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 Her faults were all obvious enough : impertinence 
 to her elders and betters ; extravagance ; indolence ; 
 the failure to bring Molly up according to Old Ches 
 ter traditions, but, nevertheless, she made Philip 
 " very comfortable." 
 
 " How he hates it ! " she thought to herself, a 
 keen humor lighting her eyes. " He does n t want 
 to be made comfortable. I think he would really 
 like it better if I were not so agreeable to him. Oh, 
 he ought to have been a monk, he ought to have 
 been a monk ! " 
 
III. 
 
 A small neighborhood where we know every one, are known of 
 every one, interested in every one, and authorized to hope that every 
 one is interested in us. Miss MITFOKD. 
 
 MRS. DKAYTON had been quite right in saying 
 that Philip was always properly attentive. His first 
 call in Old Chester was upon her ; and though he 
 was careful to say that his wife had sent him, with 
 her love and apologies that the fatigue of the jour 
 ney kept her from coming herself, no credit was 
 given to Cecil. 
 
 " Sent him ! " Mrs. Drayton said afterwards to 
 Alicia, aggrieved, but shrewd. "As if I didn t 
 know what that amounted to! She doesn t even 
 know he has been to see me. Oh, when I think 
 how I took her mother s place to Cecil, it is a little 
 bitter to feel that she doesn t care for me." Her 
 eyes filled, and Lyssie knelt down and put her arms 
 about her and comforted her, with that sincere and 
 troubled tenderness love knows it well that 
 dares not stop to think of truth. 
 
 " Ceci was so tired with her journey. Of course 
 she wants to see you, dearest, but " 
 
 " Oh," cried Mrs. Drayton, " you don t under 
 stand. Only a mother can understand the pang 
 that a child s ingratitude causes. And Cecil was 
 always like my own child to me. Did I ever tell 
 
30 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 you that somebody once asked Susy Carr which of 
 you was your father s child by his first wife ? Well, 
 that shows how I loved her. And I m sure, only 
 the other day I made you carry her some poppies. 
 I m always showing her my affection, and she de 
 spises, despi And Mrs. Drayton broke down 
 and wept. 
 
 Alicia, very pitiful of what her clear eyes told her 
 was not wounded love, but wounded vanity, stayed 
 in the darkened room for an hour, though she had 
 not given Esther her orders for the day, nor picked 
 the roses, nor fed her pigeons, nor had a moment to 
 run up the hill to see Cecil. 
 
 On this particular occasion, however, in spite of 
 Mrs. Drayton s insight into Cecil s feelings, her step 
 daughter did know that Philip was being " properly 
 attentive." That morning, as he and Molly and 
 Mr. Carey had started down to the village together, 
 Cecil, standing on the porch to see them off, said 
 gayly, " Spare Mr. Carey Mrs. Drayton, Philip. He 
 has done nothing to deserve Mrs. Drayton, I m 
 sure. And make me as fatigued as possible, do! 
 I shall not be equal to a call for a week." 
 
 Molly, hanging on her father s hand, said gravely, 
 "Why doesn t mamma like grandmamma?" At 
 which Roger Carey, under his breath, said some 
 thing about little pitchers, and Philip laughed in 
 spite of himself, but looked annoyed, and called 
 Molly s attention to the fact that she had better 
 pick some daisies for her aunt Lyssie. 
 
 They left Mr. Carey at his kinswoman s door be- 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 31 
 
 fore Philip went to make his call upon Mrs. Dray- 
 ton. " Turn up at the tavern about twelve, Carey," 
 he said, " and we 11 walk back together." 
 
 " Twelve ! " thought Mr. Carey, with dismay. 
 " Must I stay with the old lady until twelve ? " 
 
 Mrs. Pendleton was plainly of the opinion that he 
 must, for she had many things to talk about. She 
 was a pretty little woman, in spite of the heavy 
 crape in which she was swathed ; her face was 
 round and rosy, and her light brown hair waved 
 down over a forehead as smooth as though she were 
 fourteen instead of forty-five. There was hardly a 
 wrinkle on her placid face. Dr. Lavendar had been 
 heard to say, in this connection, that " thought made 
 wrinkles." And the inference was obvious. Yet 
 the fact that Mrs. Pendleton was known in the 
 world of letters might seem to contradict such an 
 inference. To be sure, it was only as "Amanda 
 P.," but almost every one who had seen the thin 
 volume of verses had heard Mrs. Pendleton s modest 
 acknowledgment of its authorship. 
 
 " I suppose," she used to confess whenever she 
 gave away a copy of the book, " I suppose it was 
 unfeminine to publish, but Amanda P. is not like 
 appearing under my own name. That I never could 
 have done ; it would have been so unfeminine." In 
 deed, in Old Chester Mrs. Pendleton was as distin 
 guished by her femininity as by literature. Her 
 delicate manners were of the kind that used to be 
 called " genteel," and she always displayed the tim 
 idity and modesty that are expected of a " very 
 
32 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 feminine " female. She had fainted once when a 
 little mouse ran across the chancel in church, and 
 she had been known to say that she thought certain 
 words in the service " most indelicate." 
 
 As she talked, Mr. Carey felt again his old im 
 patience with her, which he had forgotten, as he had 
 forgotten her, and he wished he could intercept 
 Philip somewhere before the hour for meeting him 
 at the tavern was up. Mrs. Pendleton did, however, 
 give him a good deal of Old Chester gossip, for 
 which he was not ungrateful. She told him that 
 Frances Drayton, Cecil Shore s step-mother, was a 
 most lovable character, and Alicia a devoted and duti 
 ful daughter, " though not what you would call a clever 
 girl." That Susan Carr was quite philanthropic ; 
 " but, I must say, she seems rather stern, sometimes," 
 Mrs. Pendleton said, with a little qualifying laugh, 
 and then she told him how Jane Temple had mar 
 ried very much beneath her. Mrs. Pendleton had 
 lived in Old Chester only a short time, but it was 
 another of her characteristics, this of speaking of 
 persons whom she knew slightly by their first names. 
 
 The hour was nearly up when Roger went away, 
 saying that he wanted to have a look at Old Chester 
 before going home. He walked down by the church, 
 and wondered what philosophy Dr. Lavendar ex 
 ploited ; for plain religion would scarcely have war 
 ranted Mrs. Pendleton s appreciative remark that 
 old Dr. Lavendar was very learned, though though 
 a little shabby. 
 
 It was a pretty little church, the walls all rustling 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE, 33 
 
 and tremulous with ivy, and with a flutter of spar 
 rows wings about the eaves. Philip had told him 
 that Miss Drayton sung in the choir on Sundays. 
 " I Ve a great mind to go to church while I m here," 
 the young man reflected. And with this thought in 
 his mind, it was natural enough to turn and walk up 
 on the other side of the street, past a low, white 
 washed wall crowned by a dusty hawthorn hedge. It 
 was remarkable how often Mr. Roger Carey glanced 
 over that hedge at the white house behind it. " Per 
 haps she 11 happen to come out," he said to himself. 
 Possibly to keep such a chance open he stopped, and 
 seemed to examine, with frowning interest, the fringe 
 of grass which straggled out from the lawn and hung 
 over the wall; but no door opened in the silent, 
 sunny house, and no light step came down the path, 
 and he was obliged to walk on. He wondered 
 whether, when Mrs. Shore had presented him to 
 Miss Drayton, and he had bowed, and said nothing 
 but that Eric ought to have a drink, he had seemed 
 like a cub ? He really felt a little anxious. " The 
 next time I see her I 11 make myself agreeable ; I 11 
 make a pretty speech," he promised himself, his 
 pleasant eyes crinkling into a laugh ; and then his 
 whole face suddenly beamed, and he pulled off his 
 hat, for there was the lady of his thoughts before 
 him. The barn, connected with the house by a line 
 of outbuildings, faced the street ; its double doors 
 were open, and on the threshold, with the cavernous 
 dusk behind her, stood Alicia Drayton in a blue 
 print gown, her soft hair blowing about her forehead, 
 
34 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 and a crowd of f antail pigeons strutting and cooing 
 and tumbling over one another at her feet. Lyssie 
 had a basket in her hand, and now and then she 
 threw a handful of oats among them ; they walked 
 over one another s pink feet, and pressed their snowy 
 breasts so closely together that the grain fell on their 
 glistening backs and wings before it reached the floor. 
 Lyssie, as she let the oats drop through her fingers, 
 made a low coo in her throat, or stopped to admon 
 ish her jostling friends. " Don t push so, Snowball. 
 Puff, you re rude. There ! there s some all for 
 yourself." Then she looked out across the sunshine 
 in front of the barn and saw Mr. Carey. She re 
 membered quickly that her hair was rough, and she 
 brushed the stray locks back with her wrist, but she 
 smiled and said, " Good-morning. Yes, do ! " when 
 he called out to know if he might come in and ad 
 mire her flock. 
 
 " Why, are n t they tame ! " he said, as he took 
 her hand, and then watched the pigeons flutter back 
 after their moment s consternation at his footsteps. 
 He had really meant to look at Alicia, she made so 
 pretty a picture standing on the barn floor, with the 
 shadowy haymow behind her, and a dusty line of 
 sunshine from the window in the roof lying like a 
 bar between them, he had intended to look at her, 
 and perhaps even make his pretty speech ; but the 
 pigeons interested him too much ; he had a dozen 
 questions to ask about them. 
 
 " Have you any swifts ? Do you call the young 
 ones squabs or squalers ? The sheen on that one s 
 neck is like a bit of Roman glass ! " 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 35 
 
 " Is it ? That s Puff. Indeed they are tame ; 
 look here ! " She knelt down and stretched out her 
 hand. " Come, come, come," she said, with the coo 
 ing sound in her throat ; and one of the pigeons 
 hopped upon her finger, clasping it with his red, 
 hard little feet, and balancing back and forth with 
 agitated entreaty to be careful, the fleeting irides 
 cence of his rimpling breast striking out into sudden 
 color. And as she knelt there, Roger, looking down 
 at her, and seeing the pretty way her hair grew 
 about the nape of her white neck, found the pigeons 
 less absorbing. Then she said she would show him 
 something else that was pretty, and stepped back 
 into the dusky gloom of the barn and called " Fanny, 
 Fanny ! Come, Fan ! " There was a scurry of un 
 certain little hoofs back in the recesses of the stable, 
 and a bay colt, long-legged and shaggy, with small, 
 suspicious ears pointed at the intruder, came with 
 hesitating skips to her side. 
 
 " Is n t she a beauty ? " Lyssie said. She had 
 forgotten all her embarrassment at her rumpled hair, 
 and looked at him with the frankest, kindest eyes. 
 Roger, examining the colt s mouth and stroking its 
 absurd legs, said " yes," and called her attention to 
 several good points, as certain of her appreciation as 
 if she had not been a girl. Fanny s mother thrust 
 her serious head over her manger, and watched the 
 young people, and the pigeons, and the long shaft of 
 sunshine falling in a pool on the rough floor at 
 Fanny s forefeet. 
 
 " She s named for my mother," Alicia explained ; 
 
3b PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 and after that they talked as easily as if they had 
 known each other for years. Philip was making a 
 lot of visits, Mr. Carey told her. " Yes, he s been 
 here with Molly," said Alicia. " It s so sweet in 
 Cecil to send them to see mother the first thing ; 
 Cecil was too tired to come herself." 
 
 " Yes," said Mr. Carey ; "so ah she said. 
 I went down to see the church, Miss Drayton. 
 Philip says we can come and hear you sing on Sun- 
 day." 
 
 " Oh, it is Miss Susan Carr who sings," Lyssie 
 explained ; " she has a beautiful voice." 
 
 She looked at him with such placid candor that it 
 would have been absurd to make a " pretty speech." 
 As he thought it over afterwards, Roger Carey was 
 surprised to find that he had not made a single 
 pretty speech in their whole talk as they stood there 
 in the barn with Fanny and the pigeons ; perhaps it 
 would have come had the talk been longer, but 
 Alicia chanced to speak of Philip, and Mr. Carey, 
 conscience-stricken, remembered that it was after 
 twelve. 
 
 " Philip ! " he said. " What will Philip say to 
 me? I was to have met him half an hour ago." 
 Then he said good-by, and rushed away. But his 
 haste was unnecessary ; Philip had not yet reached 
 the tavern; so he had to walk home by himself, 
 thinking all the while, with regret, that he might 
 have stayed a little longer in the barn. 
 
 The fact was, his host had forgotten him. After 
 he had done his duty in calling upon his mother-in- 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 37 
 
 law, there were many old friends whom he wanted 
 to see. Then, too, he had to stop to point out famil 
 iar landmarks to his little daughter, which took 
 time. 
 
 " Look, that s where father went to school." 
 
 " Is that where you used to draw pictures on your 
 slate instead of doing sums ? " 
 
 Philip s confession would not have been approved 
 by an educator : " Yes ; it was a great deal better 
 than doing sums." 
 
 After that they stopped to buy some candy at 
 Tommy Dove s. " I used to waste lots of my al 
 lowance here when Mr. Tommy s father kept the 
 apothecary shop," Philip said ; and the purchase 
 of a red-and-white-striped candy whistle, very stale 
 and very strongly flavored with wintergreen, detained 
 them for some time ; and it took at least a quarter 
 of an hour longer for her father to show Molly how 
 to make a strange, husky noise through the whistle, 
 while between her lips it was melting into sticky 
 sweetness. 
 
 It was nearly noon before they reached the rec 
 tory, a small, rambling house, with vines growing 
 thick about its doors and windows. When they 
 crossed the threshold, the visitors took one step 
 down into a narrow hall, and then turned sharp to 
 the right to enter Dr. Lavendar s study, a small 
 room, smelling of tobacco smoke and leather bind 
 ings. There was a work table, with a lathe beside 
 it, standing in a flood of sunshine by a south win 
 dow, but vines darkened the other windows, and the 
 
38 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. , - 
 
 book-covered walls filled the room with a pleasant 
 dusk. The old clergyman looked up from his ser 
 mon when Philip and Molly broke in upon his soli 
 tude. His eyes shone with pleasure ; he took his 
 pipe from his lips, and stretched out his hand to 
 them without rising. 
 
 " Can t get up," he said, frowning, with great 
 show of annoyance ; " this abominable dog has gone 
 to sleep with his head on my foot ! Dogs are per 
 fect nuisances ! " But as a shaggy old Scotch ter 
 rier rose, yawning and stretching, from the floor 
 beside him, he did rise, and clapped Philip on the 
 shoulder, twinkling at him from under bushy white 
 eyebrows. 
 
 " Good boy ! Good boy ! " he said. " And the 
 child ? Nice child. Go and play in the garden, my 
 dear. I can t remember her name, Philip ? " 
 
 Molly, obedient, and glad to get out again into 
 the sunshine, would have stepped from the open 
 French window into the deep, tangled sweetness of 
 an old-fashioned garden, but Dr. Lavendar called 
 her back. He put his pipe down on the mantel 
 shelf, and searched slowly in all the pockets of his 
 ancient dressing-gown. " There," he said, " there s 
 a nickel ! Now go." And Molly, with a wonder 
 ing glance at her father, went. 
 
 Dr. Lavendar sat down in front of his work table. 
 " Back again, boy ? How long do you intend to 
 stay ? How s your wife ? " 
 
 " Well," Philip told him briefly ; and added that 
 they should spend the summer in Old Chester. 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 39 
 
 " You did n t see Joseph in Mercer, as you came 
 through ? Well, never mind ; he 11 be here on Sat 
 urday, never fails to come on Saturday. Hi, 
 there, Danny! Do you see that dog getting into 
 my armchair ? I won t have it ; I 11 give him away. 
 Daniel, you re a scoundrel." Then he got up and 
 poked a cushion under Danny s little old gray head. 
 
 " I have seen only two or three people beside Mrs. 
 Drayton," said Philip, "but I ve seen the new 
 inhabitant ! I stopped at her house to present my 
 friend, Roger Carey, who is staying with me. He 
 is a connection of her husband s." 
 
 " Yes, yes ; Ben Pendleton s widow has come here 
 to live," said Dr. Lavendar, the eager sweetness of 
 his old face changing suddenly. "You know who 
 she is ? She s the girl who broke off with Joey. 
 She lived in Mercer then. That was twenty years 
 ago ; but she s the same woman, the same 
 woman ! " 
 
 " Perhaps she s had a change of heart," Philip 
 suggested. 
 
 " Can the Ethiopian change his skin ? " cried Dr. 
 Lavendar tremulously. " No, no, Philip. She 
 threw Joey over for a rich man. And she has a 
 small mouth. I will never trust a woman with a 
 small mouth. Why ? When you Ve had more ex 
 perience in life, you 11 know why. Women with 
 small mouths think of nothing but themselves." 
 
 " But if your brother has forgiven her " Philip 
 began ; but Dr. Lavendar would not discuss Mrs. 
 Pendleton. 
 
40 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 " I m afraid I seem irritated," he said apolo 
 getically ; " sometimes I almost lose my patience in 
 speaking of her. Yes, Joe forgave her, and I ought 
 not to be resentful, I m sure. I m the gainer. I d 
 have lost him if she d appreciated him. She s the 
 kind of woman who comes out three or four words 
 bahind the rest of the congregation in the responses, 
 Philip. If you were a clergyman, you d know what 
 that means ! " He pulled his black silk skullcap 
 down hard over his white hair that stood up very 
 stiff and straight above his anxious, wrinkled fore 
 head and his keen dark eyes. Then he sighed, and 
 said, with a little effort, " Look here, I ve some 
 thing to show you." 
 
 He turned his swivel chair round a little, and be 
 gan to fumble at the lock of a drawer in his table. 
 " I always keep the key in the lock," he said, chuck 
 ling. " If I did n t, I should lose it twenty times a 
 day ! " He pulled the drawer open, and took out 
 some small packages of soft white tissue paper ; he 
 unfolded them with eager haste, his lips opening and 
 closing with interest. 
 
 " Look at that ! " he said, and spread on his thin 
 palm a dozen small, glittering stones. " They are 
 hyacinths. Joey got em for me. Look at this 
 one." He took a single stone up in his pinchers, 
 and held it between Philip and the light. " Some 
 time, Philip, when you are a rich man, you shall 
 give me a diamond to cut ? " 
 
 " You shall have it, sir," Philip assured him ; 
 " but I m afraid I 11 never be a rich man. How 
 does the book come 011, Dr. Lavendar ? " 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 41 
 
 The old clergyman shook his head. "Fairly, 
 Philip, fairly ; I think it will be done in about three 
 years. You see, The History of Precious Stones 
 cannot be written in a day. (That s the title, 
 The History of Precious Stones. Don t you think 
 that is a good title ?) No, it can t be written in a 
 day. It is the histo^ of the human race, when you 
 come to think of it. And that s a large subject, 
 sir, a large subject. You see, there are so many dis- 
 cursions from the main subject necessary, sub- 
 subjects, as it were. Take, for instance, the story 
 of the emerald of Artabanus ; of course that brings 
 up his wife, and she at once recalls to the thought 
 ful reader the incident of her father and his general. 
 Or say rubies : one is reminded of the dancer who 
 lost his bride because Clisthenes objected that he 
 gesticulated with his legs. You remember the 
 story of the ruby there, of course, Philip ? " 
 
 Philip was prudently silent. 
 
 " Yes, I think it will certainly be three years be 
 fore the book is finished. Then I 11 rewrite it and 
 polish it. I ve no patience with those crude writers 
 who don t polish. Books are like sapphires; they 
 must be polished polished ! or else you insult 
 your readers." 
 
 " It will be a very valuable book, I ve no doubt, 
 sir." 
 
 "Why, certainly," Dr. Lavendar agreed, rather 
 curtly (the young man s observation seemed trite) ; 
 " of course it will be valuable. It gives me pleasure 
 to feel that I am going to be able to leave Joey a 
 
42 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 snug little sum ; he 11 have a regular income from 
 The History of Precious Stones, when I m dead and 
 gone, sir." 
 
 Philip, suppressing any astonishment he might 
 have felt at the profits of literature, examined an 
 amethyst of very beautiful color, while Dr. Lavendar 
 explained that all his stones were cheap. " Joey 
 can t afford valuable stones," he said; "but for 
 beauty, what is more beautiful than those drops of 
 immortal, unchangeable light ? Look here ! " He 
 rummaged in another drawer, and found a cracked 
 china cup, half full of small, roughly cut stones. 
 " Topazes, garnets, green garnets, look ! " He 
 took up a handful of them, and, standing in the 
 stream of sunshine from the deep window, let them 
 slip by twos and threes between his fingers, a flash 
 ing drip of color. 
 
 Philip went away, smiling and sighing. 
 
 " What do you breathe such long breaths for, 
 father ? " said Molly ; and he turned his sigh into a 
 laugh, and said he was thinking it was pretty nice to 
 live in Old Chester. 
 
 " Everybody s so happy, Polly," he explained. 
 
 " But why do they all fuss so ? " Molly inquired 
 gravely ; and when he bade her remember that little 
 girls did not know enough to talk about grown per 
 sons, she looked up at him and made her small ex 
 cuse with puzzled face. " But mamma said so. 
 Mamma said that everybody here was awfully fussy, 
 and they bored her to death." 
 
 Her father was too busy pointing out a martin- 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 43 
 
 house in the fork of an oak to make any comment on 
 " mamma r s " views, and she did not look up to see 
 the irritation in his face. She went springing along 
 by his side over the short pasture turf, in search of 
 Miss Susan Carr, who was, they were told, looking 
 after some late planting on her farm. They crossed 
 a brook, that went bubbling between green banks, 
 making whirling loops of foam about the larger 
 stones in its path ; a cow, standing ankle-deep in its 
 shallow rush, sighed, as they passed her, in calm and 
 fragrant meditation. Old Chester was behind them, 
 and high up on a hillside on the left the balconied 
 roof of Cecil Shore s house gleamed whitely above 
 the treetops. 
 
 " Oh, father," said MoUy, " can t I take off my 
 shoes and stockings, and wade ? " 
 
 Philip, nothing loath to light a cigar and sit in 
 the sun, said, " Yes, by all means ! Miss Susan has 
 to cross this field to get home, so we 11 wait for her 
 here." 
 
 He stretched himself out lazily under a beech, and 
 with half -shut eyes watched, through the cigar smoke, 
 the child holding her skirts well up out of the water, 
 gripping the slippery stones with little bare white 
 feet, and balancing herself in all the delightful ex 
 citement of a possible tumble. The beech leaves 
 moved and whispered in a fresh breeze, and the 
 brook kept up a low argument broken into chattering 
 bursts ; the sun shone warm on the green slope of 
 the field, and far off, behind the hills, great shining 
 clouds were piled against the placid blue, like the 
 
44 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 white domes of some celestial city. A man could 
 forget the harshness of living, in such warm peace. 
 Philip was almost sorry when Miss Susan Carr s 
 cordial, strident voice hailed him with affection and 
 surprise. She came towards him, all unconscious of 
 her heavy, muddy boots and her hot, red face. 
 
 " My dear Philip ! My dear boy ! " she said, her 
 kind, near-sighted brown eyes dimmed with pleasure. 
 And then she kissed him heartily, and asked a dozen 
 questions about his health and his concerns, and 
 hugged Molly, and said she hoped Cecil was well. 
 She stood there in her short linsey-woolsey skirt and 
 loose, baggy jacket, one hand on her hip, looking at 
 him with those quick, anxious glances which, to be 
 sure, do not see very deeply into a man s soul, but 
 are full of that mother comfort that often speaks in 
 the faces of childless women. Philip s affection an 
 swered her in his words and eyes. He and Molly 
 went home with her ; and Molly had a cake, and 
 went to visit the kittens in company with Miss 
 Susan s old Ellen ; and Philip drank a glass of wine, 
 and Miss Susan talked and beamed. She gossiped, 
 like all the rest of Old Chester ; but by some mys 
 terious method, Susan Carr s gossip gave the listener 
 a gentler feeling towards his kind. When she spoke 
 of her neighbors faults, one knew that somehow they 
 were simply virtues gone to seed ; and what was more 
 remarkable, her praise had no sting of insinuation in 
 it, no suggestion that she could speak differently if 
 she chose. Susan Carr s heart was sound and sweet ; 
 she seemed to have brought from her fields and pas- 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 45 
 
 tures the courage of the winds and sunshine, and the 
 spirit of the steadfast earth. Her face was as fresh 
 as an autumn morning ; her nut-brown hair, with a 
 large, soft wave on either side of the parting, had not 
 a thread of gray, though she was quite forty-five ; on 
 her cheek there was the glow that a russet apple has 
 on the side nearest the sun, and her dark eyes crin 
 kled into laughter as easily as they had done at 
 twenty. She had a great deal to say to Philip, and 
 all in a loud, breezy, vibrating voice, full of eager 
 and friendly confidence in his interest. She told him 
 that Lyssie was the dearest child in the world, " and 
 devoted to Frances," she declared. " Of course she 
 has n t Cecil s looks ; but she s such a pleasant girl, 
 and such a good child, too." She had a good word 
 for Mrs. Pendleton, though there was a little effort 
 in her voice. She laughed good naturedly about the 
 Lavendars. " Yes, the dear old doctor still preaches 
 on the Walls of the New Jerusalem. He is wonder 
 fully learned, Philip, about precious stones ; and I 
 don t mind hearing about jacinth and chrysoprase 
 and all those ; it s really interesting. And it is 
 about heaven, too," she added reverently. 
 
 " I suppose you and Lyssie do a good deal of his 
 parish work for him ? " Philip said, lounging up 
 and down the room, his hands in his pockets. " How 
 familiar everything looks, Miss Susan ! How well I 
 remember the first time I came into this room with 
 uncle Donald ! " 
 
 " Do you? " she said, her face softening. " How 
 proud he was of you, Philip ! Well, yes, Lyssie 
 
 ><" 
 
46 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE, 
 
 and I help the doctor sometimes. He s getting old, 
 dear old man. But he won t spare himself. Care 
 less as he is in his dress and about small things, in 
 his work he s as exact and as punctual ! Dear me, 
 I wish the rest of us were half so methodical. You 
 can t make him remember to order Jones to clip the 
 hedge by the church, or to tell his Mary to mend his 
 surplice ; but if he has promised to see a poor soul 
 at the upper village, he s there on the minute ; or if 
 he thinks Job Todd has been drinking, he s sure to 
 call just at the time he gets home from the shop, so 
 as to keep him from abusing Eliza." 
 
 Philip, listening and smiling, said " yes " or " no " 
 as Miss Susan seemed to expect ; but he paid sudden 
 attention when, in speaking again of Alicia, she 
 referred incidentally to Eliza Todd s unhappiness. 
 Miss Susan did not speak of Eliza as a " case," and 
 the absence of that objectionable word was sweet to 
 Philip s ears. 
 
 " Yes," Miss Susan said, " Lyssie is really very 
 useful in parish work. The way she has induced 
 Eliza to stay with Job, when I was ready to give it 
 up and let her go, is quite remarkable. Of course, 
 there are matters that Lyssie can t help us in ; for 
 instance, that poor Ettie Brown and her baby. You 
 remember you sent me some money for her, Philip ? " 
 
 " Cecil sent it," he corrected her ; " I am only her 
 almoner." 
 
 " It s the same thing," said Miss Susan, with that 
 positiveness which confesses an unwillingness to 
 acknowledge what is painful; "it s just the same. 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 47 
 
 Well, it would n t have been proper to have had 
 Lyssie have anything to do with that ; but she s in 
 valuable in most things, and it s wonderful how she 
 has kept Eliza to her duty." 
 
 " Her duty ? " cried Philip sharply. " Do you 
 call it duty ? " The worn lines in his face deepened 
 suddenly as he spoke. " Why, Miss Susan, a thou 
 sand times better let Lyssie help the poor girl than 
 meddle in the unspeakable viciousness of - "he 
 seemed to try to shake off his sudden earnestness 
 " I mean have any hand in keeping two people to 
 gether who don t love each other." 
 
 " Why, but, my dear Philip ! " said Miss Susan, 
 aghast. 
 
 But Philip offered no explanation ; he looked an^- 
 noyed at himself, and said he must call Molly and 
 go home. 
 
 " I ve forgotten all about Carey ; I was to meet 
 him at the Tavern. He s one of the Mercer Careys, 
 you know ; he s staying with me. I m going to 
 bring him to call." 
 
 Miss Susan was so bewildered by Philip s extraor 
 dinary view of what was proper for Lyssie that she 
 made no protest at his departure ; but her confused 
 look changed abruptly when, with his hand upon the 
 door, he made some careless, friendly comment upon 
 Joseph Lavendar. 
 
 " He still plays at the morning service, I suppose ? 
 What a grave, splendid touch he has ! " And then 
 he went away. 
 
 " Oh my ! " said Susan Carr. " I d almost for- 
 
48 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 gotten it. Oh dear ! " She sighed, and sat down 
 as though suddenly tired. She sat as a man might, 
 leaning forward, her clasped hands between her 
 knees, and staring with an absent frown at her heavy 
 boots ; then she seemed to realize her masculine atti 
 tude, and drew herself together with an effort to 
 achieve some feminine grace. There was something 
 pathetic in the^constant endeavor of this gentle, ro 
 bust woman, whose occupation had made her clumsy, 
 to express in her body the very genuine and delicate 
 femininity of her soul. "Though I never can be 
 silly," she had long ago admitted sadly to herself. 
 
 The worried look which Philip s allusion to Mr. 
 Joseph Lavendar had brought into her face deepened, 
 as she sat there frowning and tapping her foot upon 
 the floor. After a while she rose, and tramped up 
 and down the room, with her hands behind her, ab 
 sorbed in thought. Then she stopped before a big, 
 old-fashioned writing-desk, littered with farming pa 
 pers, and with packages of vegetable seeds overflow 
 ing from crowded pigeon-holes ; accounts and mem 
 oranda and ledgers lent it a most businesslike and 
 unfeminine look. Miss Susan took a letter from 
 a little drawer, and read it, standing up, twisting 
 her lip absently between her thumb and forefinger. 
 
 MY DEAR Miss SUSAN, I have found a very 
 good Te Deum in C. I send it with this. Will 
 you be so good as to look it over, so that we can try 
 it on Saturday ? 
 
 Very truly yours, JOSEPH LAVENDAR. 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 49 
 
 P. S. May I add, although the somewhat business 
 like tenor of my letter might seem to preclude the 
 mention of tenderer sentiments, that I have long de 
 sired to address you upon the subject of my af 
 fections ? Delicacy only has restrained my pen or 
 lips, and also the doubt (proper to a gentleman) of 
 my own worthiness. But I cannot longer remain si 
 lent. I feel that the time has come when I must 
 beg your amiable and ever ready sympathy and kind 
 ness, for I believe that my future lies in your 
 hands ; with your help, I venture to hope that I may 
 become the happiest of men. I am sure that my 
 brother has a warmer regard for you than for any 
 one else whom I might mention, and your sympathy 
 with my suit will mean very much to him. May I 
 beg that you will think this over, and let me have an 
 opportunity for free discourse upon the subject ? 
 Yrs. tr. J. L. 
 
 " I never encouraged him," said Susan Carr. 
 " Oh, I am so sorry, for I like him so much ! " 
 
 She put her hands behind her, and began again to 
 pace up and down the room. Philip s coming and this 
 letter made her think of his uncle, Donald Shore. 
 She and Donald were to have been married, but 
 Philip came into his uncle s life, an orphan nephew, 
 whose support was so much of a consideration that 
 the quiet, prudent Donald felt it necessary to put the 
 wedding off a year, and then two years, and after 
 that another year. Then the postponement of eter 
 nity came between them, and Donald died. Susan 
 
50 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 Carr had felt no bitterness towards Philip. She 
 loved him, at first because he was Donald s nephew, 
 and then for his own sake. Indeed, even while he 
 postponed her marriage, he made another tie between 
 herself and her slow and sober lover, whose affection 
 for his nephew seemed to reconcile him to the delay 
 in winning the hand of his " admirable Susan," as 
 he called her. When he died, she felt as though 
 Philip belonged to her : it was she who made it pos 
 sible for him to go abroad and study when he had 
 finished college ; she who rejoiced with practical 
 good sense when he married Cecil Drayton, who had 
 plenty of money ; and she who watched the unsatis 
 fied, disappointed look deepening in his eyes, with 
 the pang that his mother would have felt, had she 
 lived. And through all these years the old love 
 for Philip s uncle lay fragrant in her heart. But 
 now came this letter from Joseph Lavendar. 
 
 " It s out of the question," said Miss Carr, read 
 ing it over again, the color deepening in her cheeks. 
 " And it s too bad, for I do like him so. Well, I 
 won t give him an opportunity ! That is the only 
 kind thing I can do." 
 
IV. 
 
 No deeply rooted tendency was ever extirpated by adverse argu 
 ment. G. H. LEWES. 
 
 DR. LAVENDAR always said that his brother 
 Joseph lived with him; but the fact was, Mr. Jo 
 seph Lavendar could spend only his Sundays at the 
 rectory. He used to come down from Mercer on 
 the Saturday morning stage, but he traveled back 
 again on Monday morning to his music-teaching. 
 " My profession takes me away from home during 
 the week," he used to explain. That one day with 
 his brother really made a home for this simple, hon 
 est gentleman, whose occupation was to drill short- 
 petticoated misses in their scales. 
 
 But although Mr. Lavendar came to Old Chester 
 only to spend Sundays, the village, quite as much 
 as his brother or himself, would have resented the 
 suggestion that his home was not at the rectory ; for 
 everybody loved Joseph Lavendar. To be sure, he 
 was something of an exquisite, which is not usually 
 endearing: his suit of brown broadcloth was im 
 maculate, his linen spotless, his shoes knew the polish 
 of his brother s precious stones ; indeed, he had more 
 than once been seen to brush a speck of dust from 
 them with his pocket handkerchief. But, though 
 finical about himself, he was tolerant of other peo 
 ple s dusty shoes, to speak generically, and such 
 
52 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 tolerance is always endearing. Besides, the eager 
 kindliness of his face was irresistible ; his mild, 
 somewhat prominent blue eyes were without a 
 shadow of suspicion of any of the human race ; his 
 bald, high forehead, with little tufts of reddish hair" 
 above each ear, was forever wrinkling with sympa 
 thy for somebody else. It was nothing more than 
 sympathy, for he never dared to offer advice ; it 
 being his instinct to believe that other people 
 knew more than he did. He accepted, joyously and 
 gratefully, the opinions of his friends, especially his 
 brother s* opinion, for Dr. Lavendar s judgment was 
 quite ultimate with Mr. Joseph, except, indeed, 
 when he disapproved of people. Then, almost al 
 ways Mr. Lavendar acquired an opinion of his own, 
 and ventured to differ. He did it in an apologetic, 
 deprecating, timid way, but he differed. It seemed 
 as though he were constitutionally obliged to take 
 the side of the under dog. 
 
 It was this amiable and unreasoning tendency 
 which brought the first note of discord into the 
 friendship of the two brothers. 
 
 Mrs. Pendleton came to live in Old Chester ; and 
 Dr. Lavendar, who had quite forgotten her in these 
 twenty tranquil years since she "threw Joey over, 
 suddenly found that he had not forgiven her. And 
 certainly, the poor lady, with the bes^ intentions in 
 the world, did not endear herself. The fervency of 
 her responses in church distracted the old cler 
 gyman from his own devotions ; her foolish bene 
 volences amazed him ; her efforts those pitiful 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 53 
 
 efforts of the outsider to seem on terms of intimacy 
 with recently acquired acquaintances, efforts which 
 are betrayed by speaking of comparative strangers by 
 their first names seemed to him only the unpar 
 donable vulgarity which indeed they are. When she 
 said " Susy " Carr behind Miss Susan s back, Dr. 
 Lavendar winced ; and when she spoke of " Jane " 
 and " Tommy," he took immediate occasion to refer 
 to Mrs. and Mr. Dove. Poor Mrs. Pendleton meant 
 well, and in truth there was nothing upon which Dr. 
 Lavendar could put his finger as his special reason 
 for disliking her. Perhaps that was rather an aggrava 
 tion in itself ; our sentiments toward " Dr. Fell " are 
 probably heightened just because we " cannot tell." 
 
 But it was in connection with Mrs. Pendleton 
 that Mr. Laveiidar s constitutional tendency began 
 to threaten the life of mutual admiration in the rec 
 tory. Mr. Joseph did no more than speak well of 
 the little widow. He, too, had almost forgotten her, 
 and he had quite forgiven her ; but, spurred on by 
 Dr. Lavendar s dislike for her, he hunted in his mem 
 ory for her good qualities, that he might defend her 
 to his brother. No doubt the reviving remembrance 
 of the pain she had made him suffer so long ago 
 added to the warmth of his defense ; which, to be 
 sure, was eloquent in intention rather than in words, 
 for he only protested, timidly, that he thought Mrs. 
 Pendleton an exceedingly pleasing person. But that 
 his discernment, his judgment, his taste, should be 
 so at fault confounded and irritated Dr. Lavendar. 
 
 It would be as incredible as it is amusing, if 
 
54 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 only all the world did not know it to be true, that 
 a difference in taste can be absolutely disastrous to 
 friendship, and even to love. The absurd unhappi- 
 ness begins at the moment when it becomes plain 
 to each friend that the other ought to be convinced. 
 What starts as a matter of opinion deepens into a 
 question of principle. 
 
 This point had been reached by the two brothers. 
 It was a long time since the amiable routine of 
 Joseph Lavendar s thought had been so broken in 
 upon as by his brother s injustice to Mrs. Pendleton. 
 Never before had Dr. Lavendar s indulgent admira 
 tion for Joseph s unreasonable good nature been 
 shocked into a suspicious doubt of Mr. Lavendar s 
 intelligence. Each brother had been amused at 
 first, and then amazed ; and now each had become 
 almost indignant. 
 
 " But, brother James," Joseph would say, his 
 mild, prominent eyes full of reproachful anxiety, 
 u you don t seem to be fair to the lady. It isn t 
 like you not to be fair." 
 
 Even Dr. Lavendar saw the humor of that. 
 " Ho ! " he said, and grinned a little. " Well, per 
 haps I m not always fair, Joey ; but I m never 
 prejudiced ; and I have a memory, sir ! " 
 
 " Oh yes, I know what you mean ; but that was 
 twenty years ago, my dear Jim, and it was entirely 
 my fault. She is a lady of great kindness, and 
 
 But Dr. Lavendar would fling out impatiently 
 that Joey did not know what he was talking about ! 
 
 "Kind? Well, yes, she has a good word for 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 55 
 
 everybody. I think she d speak well of the devil. 
 I don t call that kindness, Joey. I call it silli 
 ness ; silliness, sir, for the devil does n t deserve a 
 good word. You speak up for her as if you were 
 going to to marry her! " Dr. Lavendar had cried 
 once, sawing the air with his pipe, and searching 
 for the most preposterous illustration he could find. 
 
 " Marry her ? I never why, I never thought 
 of such a thing," stammered the younger brother, 
 his high forehead growing faintly red. " I never 
 dreamed of such a thing." 
 
 " Well, well ; there ! I beg your pardon," said 
 Dr. Lavendar. " I may have seemed irritated, but 
 not at all, not at all. I was merely emphatic. I 
 can t help being amazed at your lack of intelli 
 gence. An unintelligent person distresses me ; and 
 you ought surely to be able to see, Joey, that she 
 
 And so they argued on ; each convinced that he 
 was right, and each sincerely troubled at the attitude 
 of the other. Again and again, Mr. Joseph, with 
 timid and anxious persistence, suggested that Dr. 
 Lavendar should show more marked kindness to 
 Mrs. Pendleton, because she was a stranger and 
 and his friend. Again and again, Dr. Lavendar 
 asserted that he would do his duty as her clergyman, 
 but nothing more, because he did not like her, and 
 he saw no reason why his private opinions should be 
 at the mercy of his official duties. " I 11 call twice 
 a year, or I 11 bury her, cheerfully, that s my 
 duty ; but I won t pretend that she s a personal 
 friend when she is n t ! " he would insist. 
 
56 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 It was in the winter that he had used the extraor 
 dinary illustration of marriage as a means of show 
 ing his brother how unreasonably far his defense of 
 the little widow had gone. Until he said it himself, 
 Dr. Lavendar had really never thought of anything 
 so bad as that ; yet, even as he used it, the illustra 
 tion became a possibility to him, and he realized in 
 a flash that defense, if persisted in, will create a cer 
 tain tenderness in the defender for the defended. 
 All through the spring his own suggestion rankled 
 in his mind. " But no," he would assure himself, 
 " Joey has too much sense. It s only his ridiculous 
 amiability." It never occurred to him that Joey, 
 too, might brood upon that sarcastic suggestion, un 
 til the acceptance of it would seem natural and even 
 chivalrous, and not sarcastic at all. By midsummer, 
 Mrs. Pendleton, or rather their disagreement about 
 her, was actually marring the brothers Sundays to 
 such a degree that each secretly found Monday, and 
 Joseph s departure, a relief. 
 
 Dr. Lavendar was the first to recognize this, and 
 it sobered him into momentary indifference to the 
 object of their dispute. " Joey and I fall out ! " he 
 said to himself, dismayed and almost frightened. 
 " Joey and I quarrel about that foolish woman ! 
 What nonsense ! We 11 just drop the subject." 
 Was there ever a disagreement in a matter of opin 
 ion which was not broken into chapters, as it were, 
 by this determination to " drop the subject"? 
 
 The next Saturday, when Mr. Joseph climbed 
 carefully down from the stage, and carried his car- 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 57 
 
 pet bag into the little hall in the rectory, Dr. Lav- 
 endar was saying to himself that he and Joey must 
 not get into any more discussions about that person ! 
 Oddly enough, Mr. Lavendar, too, had determined 
 to drop the subject, and, with this end in view, sub 
 stituted another. 
 
 " My dear Jim," he said, " I have found a very 
 admirable garnet. I saw it at Soomby s, and got it 
 for a song, a mere song. But it needs a good deal 
 of polishing." Mr. Lavendar pulled open a little 
 leather pouch, the mouth of which was gathered 011 
 a string ; he carried his notes in this, each carefully 
 rolled up like a lamplighter and folded four times ; 
 he shook out of it, carefully, a wad of tissue paper. 
 Dr. Lavendar, pleased and eager, bent his thin old 
 hand into a cup to hold the stone. 
 
 " Yes, yes ; wants a bit of cutting, a bit of polish 
 ing. Joey, you are an extravagant dog! How 
 much did this cost you, sir? I saw young Shore 
 yesterday. (Yes, they re here. Came Thursday.) 
 I told him he had got to give me a diamond when 
 he gets rich. He says he 11 never be rich. Very 
 likely not. A man with a rich wife is a pretty pov 
 erty-stricken fellow, sometimes. I heard that she 
 once sent her check for his club dues ; think of 
 that ! " 
 
 " Poor boy ! " said Mr. Lavendar, his face wrink 
 ling with pity. Mr. Lavendar s face showed his 
 emotions as a little sheet of placid water shows the 
 wind. " But I m told she s a good housekeeper ? " 
 he defended her. 
 
58 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 " Yes," Dr. Lavendar agreed ; " as far as the 
 bread which perisheth goes, the boy s well fed. But 
 that s not enough, Joe ? " 
 
 " No, that s not enough, Jim," said the other ; 
 and then they went out, as they always did on sum 
 mer Saturday afternoons, to make, arm in arm, with 
 Danny at their heels, the tour of the garden behind 
 the rectory. 
 
 " The hollyhocks are not looking as thrifty as they 
 did last year," Joseph observed, with concern. 
 
 " They ve never done so well as they did eight 
 years ago, no, nine ; it was the summer Philip 
 and Cecilia were married. Joey, how many pears do 
 you suppose there are on that little jargonelle ? I 
 counted em last night." 
 
 The two brothers went across the deep soft tangle 
 of the grass, and stood under the pear-tree. "It 
 has twenty-seven pears, Joe ! " 
 
 " I thought I saw twenty-nine," Mr. Joseph said 
 mildly, after a moment s pause to count the still 
 green fruit ; " but no doubt I was mistaken." 
 
 After that, as they went down a little brick path, 
 past the honey-locust hedge and the big laburnum 
 bush, over to the south wall where the two beehives 
 stood, Mr. Lavendar told, as usual, the little de 
 tails of his week s work. .Dr. Lavendar knew the 
 names of the pupils, though he had never seen them, 
 and he had his questions to ask and his comments to 
 make ; then he told Joseph all the Old Chester news. 
 But both were conscious of an effort; each was 
 aware that the other disapproved of him, and that 
 made a strange, intangible barrier between them. 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 59 
 
 The afternoon sunshine, piercing through the 
 trees and bushes, stretched in level lines across the 
 grass ; it lay warm upon the red bricks of the rec 
 tory, and slipped, glistening, over the mat of ivy on 
 the south wall, and it struck a sudden shine from all 
 the little panes of glass set in their deep window 
 frames. The brothers sat down under a trellis 
 where the wistaria hung its bee-haunted blossoms 
 above their heads ; syringas pressed close about this 
 little arbor, filling the air with heavy fragrance ; and 
 a thicket of lilacs, their dark, heart-shaped leaves 
 spotted with white mould, made a dense shade be 
 hind it. There was a small wooden table in the 
 arbor, and on it were a decanter and two glasses. 
 
 Dr. Lavendar, with a careful hand and an intent, 
 puckered face, mixed the proper proportions of water 
 and sugar and lemon with the contents of the de 
 canter ; then, his legs stretched out before him, the 
 front of his waistcoat sprinkled with ashes from his 
 pipe, his black skull-cap pulled down over his stiff 
 white hair, he gave himself up to comfort. Danny 
 had stretched himself luxuriously upon the grass 
 checkered with moving leaf shadows, and was open 
 ing one eye occasionally to snap at an impertinent 
 fly. Dr. Lavendar sipped, and sipped, and talked. 
 Joseph listened, and agreed, and held his glass up 
 before his eyes, narrowed to a beaming line to catch 
 the light through the liquor. It was not unnatural, 
 everything being so harmonious, that Dr. Lavendar, 
 with a view to dropping the subject, should do so 
 with some well-chosen words. 
 
60 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 " Joey, in connection with what we were speaking 
 of last week, I don t mean to discuss it, of course 
 every man has a right to his opinions, and you have 
 a right to yours ; I m the last person to dispute that, 
 for, whatever else I may be, I m tolerant ! but, 
 in that connection, I just wished to say to you that, 
 in formulating your opinion of your friend Mrs. 
 Pendleton, it seemed to me you overlooked one fact 
 which I think bespeaks character : she enjoys giving 
 away money to the poor so much that she gives it 
 where it does harm. Now, that s pure selfishness, 
 not generosity ; she 
 
 " Brother Jim, do you not overlook the fact that 
 she has a kind disposition ? " 
 
 " I was not talking about her disposition ! " de 
 clared Dr. Lavendar, frowning. " I m not in the 
 habit of discussing a lady s disposition, sir. I don t 
 know anything about her disposition. But I hope 
 I am not trespassing upon any propriety when I say 
 that her intelligence is at fault? She is not intelli 
 gent. She has gone and given some money to Job 
 Todd. He does n t have to work, and so he gets 
 drunk." 
 
 " A kind deed," Mr. Joseph began to explain, 
 44 may be an error of judgment, brother Jim, but 
 
 44 It is n t kind if it s an error of judgment, 
 brother Joe," cried the other ; 44 you have n t any 
 business to make errors in judgment in dealing with 
 people like Todd." 
 
 44 Well, but," protested Mr. Lavendar, his face 
 quite agitated, and his kind, prominent blue eyes 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 61 
 
 distressed and entreating, " everybody makes mis 
 takes sometimes." 
 
 " No, they don t. Look at Susan Carr. Never 
 made a mistake in her life ! At least you make 
 me emphatic I mean her judgment is good. Now, 
 there s a woman I admire ! " 
 
 Mr. Lavendar s face softened ; he even blushed a 
 little. " An admirable lady, yes ; I agree with you," 
 he said. " I am sure she has a kindly feeling for 
 for the lady of whom we were speaking. And you 
 respect her judgment, brother Jim ? " 
 
 "Of course I do. I don t know her views on 
 this subject, but Utile Dulce is intelligent; and 
 she " 
 
 But Joseph did not follow his brother s disserta 
 tion upon the estimable Miss Carr. " Miss Susan 
 and I are going to look over a new Te Deum," he 
 said ; " I wrote her about it, and I shall take the lib 
 erty of stepping over to her house after tea." 
 
 " Good idea," assented the old clergyman, with a 
 pleased look, Joey was not apt to give up these 
 discussions upon Mrs. Pendleton so readily ; " excel 
 lent plan. I have a great regard for Susan Carr. 
 Ah, Joey boy, there was a woman! When you 
 were both younger, I used to hope But you d 
 had your deathblow, poor boy ; yes, your deathblow. 
 It s queer that an unintelligent person can have 
 such an effect. Well, I didn t mean to discuss it. 
 Let s drop the subject. Yes, of course, go over to 
 Susan s. I think I 11 step in with you myself." 
 
 " Oh, will you ? " said Mr. Joseph, a little blankly ; 
 " that will be very agreeable." 
 
V. 
 
 What do you think of marriage ? 
 I take t (as those that deny purgatory) 
 It locally contains or Heaven or Hell ; 
 There s no third place in it. 
 
 Duchess of Malfy. 
 
 MRS. DRAYTON had just declared that it was a lit 
 tle bitter to take a mother s place to a child, and then 
 be forgotten. u For Cecil has been here three days, 
 and hasn t called," she was saying, when she dis 
 cerned her step-daughter walking indolently up the 
 village street. 
 
 " Oh, at last ! " she said, and glanced at the mir 
 ror at her side, to see if she were tidy. Mrs. Dray : 
 ton was always careful to have the cheval glass near 
 her, so that she might be sure of the delicate pre 
 cision of her invalid costume. " The light hurts my 
 eyes," she used to say patiently, with the air of one 
 who suffers for a principle, " but I must be tidy ! " 
 And so she patted her faded hair, and pulled the 
 ruffles down about her lean wrists, and looked again 
 swiftly into the glass. 
 
 There was a nervous quiver in her small, blond 
 countenance; she was afraid of Cecil. A certain 
 smile at the corner of her step-daughter s lip con 
 fused and terrified her. At heart, she much pre 
 ferred the diversion of being neglected, the interest 
 of Cecil s unkindness, to the shivering apprehension 
 which her dutifulness aroused. 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 63 
 
 " How well you look ! " Cecil said cordially ; and 
 Mrs. Drayton kissed her in an agitated way, and 
 responded, " I don t look as I feel, then. I am far 
 from well, far from well ! " 
 
 Lyssie glanced at her sister imploringly; had 
 Cecil forgotten that her mother did not like to be 
 told that she looked well ? 
 
 Cecil answered only by a surprised " Really ? 
 Well, one can t tell anything by looks. It seems to 
 me you look younger and better than when I saw 
 you last." 
 
 The frightened attention in Mrs. Drayton s face 
 relaxed. " Well, I suppose I am a little older, but 
 confinement indoors does spare the complexion, I 
 must admit that." As she spoke, she glanced at 
 the mirror again, which made Cecil say that the re 
 flection from the glass must try her eyes ; and she 
 even took the trouble to rise and throw her wrap 
 across the tall carved frame and over the gleaming 
 oblong of the mirror. She looked sidewise at her 
 step-mother as she did it, and smiled. Mrs. Dray- 
 ton gave a gasp, and had the air of one searching 
 for a repartee. She found nothing more impressive 
 to say, however, than that she thought Molly was 
 looking well when Philip brought the child to see 
 her. " Philip came three days ago," she declared 
 significantly. 
 
 Lyssie, hovering on the outskirts of the conversa 
 tion, ready to rush in as peacemaker, or to be silent 
 when either of the two v/hom she loved best in the 
 world seemed to be doing herself justice, said, hur- 
 
64 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 riedly, something about Mr. Carey. Was he going 
 to stay long ? Did he like Old Chester ? 
 
 " He is quite agreeable," Mrs. Drayton announced, 
 before Cecil made any effort to reply. " He called 
 yesterday. Your company came to see me, Cecil, 
 though you did not." 
 
 Cecil opened her eyes in frank astonishment. 
 " Why, he does admire you, Lys ! " 
 
 The invalid frowned, and drew her little pale lips 
 together. u Really, Cecil, such talk is quite indeli 
 cate. Young girls in Old Chester are not in the 
 habit of hearing that they are admired." 
 
 "No, I shouldn t think they were," Cecil said 
 dryly. " Lys is an exception. But perhaps you 
 don t mean her ever to have an admirer ? " 
 
 " Ceci, you re a goose ! " Alicia broke in. " How 
 can anybody have an admirer in Old Chester ? I am 
 going to succeed Miss Susan as a model spinster." 
 
 " When the proper time comes," Mrs. Drayton 
 said severely, " I hope Alicia will be suitably settled. 
 But I don t approve of talking flippantly about a 
 serious matter." 
 
 " It is serious," Cecil agreed, with an amused look. 
 " But it does turn out well sometimes. Look at me ! 
 And your marriage, too ; though you can hardly ex 
 pect Lys to find a widower. I ve heard you say 
 that widowers make the best husbands." 
 
 Mrs. Drayton sat up very straight, and seemed to 
 consider where she could strike a blow. " Yes, you 
 are quite right ; they do. And as for your father s 
 being a widower, as you are unkind enough to re- 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 65 
 
 mind me, Cecilia, I can t help saying that I don t 
 mind being a second wife, but I never would have 
 consented to be a second love ! " 
 
 She almost sobbed, but Cecil said soothingly, " I 
 am sure you were not a second love, Mrs. Drayton." 
 
 There seemed to be nothing objectionable in such 
 an acknowledgment. " But she means something," 
 the poor little woman thought, and repeated, with a 
 catch in her voice, that there were people who said 
 there was no husband so good as one who had 
 learned a lesson of patience with a first wife, " even 
 if it was a very youthful experience." 
 
 " Ah, well," Cecil objected seriously, " some 
 body s got to marry first, to make the widowers, I 
 suppose ? " 
 
 " Unfortunately," Alicia broke in, " we have no 
 widowers, only a widow ; and she can t get married 
 unless she gives up the money her husband left her. 
 Was n t it unkind in him to make a will like that ? " 
 
 This well-timed remark diverted the threatening 
 storm, and Mrs. Drayton began to gossip about her 
 neighbors, and to deplore their failings, which made 
 her exceedingly good natured. For a virtuous dis 
 content with other people imparts a sense of recti 
 tude and a peace of mind hardly equaled by virtue 
 itself. Cecil, looking out of the window, and watch 
 ing the blowing silver of some willows at the foot of 
 the lawn, and beyond them, now and then, the faint, 
 rocking flash of the river, listened lazily. Alicia 
 breathed freely, and doubtless all would have gone 
 well had Mrs. Drayton only refrained from going 
 
66 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE: 
 
 back to her first grievance. " Yes, everybody in Old 
 Chester is very kind to me ; all my friends come to 
 see me ; they don t forget how lonely I am." She 
 sighed, and glanced at her husband s miniature, 
 which she wore on a long, slender gold chain about 
 her neck. 
 
 Cecil was unable to resist this. " You must miss 
 papa very much ? " 
 
 " Oh, you little know ! his absence is a great 
 cross ; my one prayer is that " 
 
 " That he will return ? " 
 
 " That his health will permit him to return. I 
 could never be so selfish as to wish him to run any 
 risk for my sake ; that is not my idea of love, Cecil." 
 
 " I should be so interested to know- your idea of 
 love," Cecil answered slowly ; " but I was sure you 
 would not wish him to return." 
 
 " Mother is so nervous about people s health," 
 rushed in the tender, young, troubled voice ; and 
 then poor Lyssie said, breathlessly, she " wondered 
 when Cecil and Philip would come to tea." 
 
 " Why, you don t seem to want to talk about our 
 dear papa ? " her sister said, laughing and rising ; 
 then she bade her cowering step-mother good-by, and 
 regretted that she must remove her wrap from the 
 mirror. 
 
 " Ceci, how can you tease mother so ! " Lyssie 
 said hotly, as they went downstairs. " You know 
 how nervous she is, and you know, in spite of of 
 the things you make her say, she really loves you, 
 and " 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 07 
 
 " Which of us is Mr. Drayton s child by his first 
 wife ? " Cecil broke in drolly. 
 
 Cecil ! " 
 
 " Ah, well, I ought not to tease Mrs. Dray ton, 
 you are quite right," Cecil confessed frankly. 
 " I won t. I 11 stay at home. Lyssie, come to sup 
 per to-night and entertain your mother s admirer. 
 Why did n t he tell me he had called ? " And then 
 she went away, smiling to herself at Mrs. Drayton s 
 fright. 
 
 But Lyssie could not be spared that evening. 
 Her mother had been so much agitated by Cecil s 
 visit that she was too unwell to be left alone. 
 
 " Oh, I am a poor useless creature," said Mrs. 
 Drayton, her voice quivering. " I interfere with 
 your pleasures. I m a burden to you. Yes, you 
 need n t deny it, Lyssie ; you would rather be with 
 Cecil than stand here and comb my hair. I am 
 a miserable burden ; and if it were not wrong, I 
 should wish that my heavenly Father would take 
 me to himself ! " 
 
 While Lyssie, with great good sense tempered by 
 tenderness, was combating these opinions, Cecil, in 
 the fragrant twilight on the terrace, talked about her 
 step-mother to her husband and her guest ; or it 
 would be more exact to say, she talked to her guest, 
 for Philip, sitting smoking on the steps of the ter 
 race, took no part in the conversation. Molly, nest 
 ling down in his arms, listened to her mother s talk, 
 and frankly resisted her father s efforts to gain her 
 attention. 
 
68 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 " I d rather hear mamma talk. Mamma is so 
 funny ! " she said ; and Philip had no choice, at last, 
 but to lure the child down into the garden, to spare 
 her some little childish delusions about her grand 
 mother. 
 
 Koger Carey, listening, laughed and looked an 
 noyed, and then laughed again. " The old lady is 
 preposterous," he thought, " but she s Miss Dray- 
 ton s mother. Mrs. Shore does n t seem to consider 
 that." Nevertheless, he laughed until the tears 
 stood in his eyes, when his hostess told him, with un 
 sparing and clever truthfulness, this or that incident 
 in which poor foolish Mrs. Drayton had taken her 
 self seriously. 
 
 " And the funny part of it is, Lyssie does n t see 
 how amusing her mother is," Mrs. Shore ended ; 
 " she takes her seriously, too, dear little thing ! " 
 
 " Well, that s fortunate," Mr. Carey commented. 
 
 " Fortunate ? Why, not at all ; it simply encour 
 ages Mrs. Drayton, and 
 
 " Yes ; but don t you see," interrupted Eoger 
 Carey, " it would be fatal if she were ridiculous in 
 her daughter s eyes. Absurdity is the one thing 
 love can t stand ; it can overlook anything else, - 
 coldness, or weakness, or viciousness, but just be 
 ridiculous and that s the end of it ! " 
 
 " Ah, but not that kind of love," Cecil said. " My 
 sister s feeling for her mother is not the lover s love, 
 nor even the filial love ; it is the maternal passion. 
 One is never ridiculous to one s mother." 
 
 Love is a most interesting topic between men and 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 69 
 
 women. Mr. Carey s cigar went out while lie laid 
 down the law with all the emphasis of the theorist; 
 until, by some chance, perhaps it was in the way 
 of an illustration of married love, they came back 
 to Mrs. Drayton again, and Cecil began to tell 
 another absurd story about her. Then Eoger Carey 
 lighted his cigar, and frowned a little. 
 
 "It s awfully funny," he said, "but I feel as 
 though I ought to apologize to your sister for listen 
 ing to it." 
 
 His blunt rudeness made Cecil Shore look at him 
 with attention. But he never thought of apologiz 
 ing ; instead, he began to talk of other things, with 
 that good-humored determination to change the sub 
 ject which is so irritating to the listener. Mrs. 
 Shore felt it, and was almost relieved to see her hus 
 band appear. Philip had mounted Molly on his shoul 
 der ; she was pulling his head over sidewise upon her 
 little breast, and rumpling his hair about his eyes. 
 When they reached the steps of the terrace, he 
 slipped her gently down from her high perch, and 
 made great pretense of horror at his disheveled con 
 dition, which enchanted Molly, who shrieked her 
 desire for another ride. 
 
 " No, a merciful little girl is merciful to her beast. 
 And it s your bedtime, too. Oh, what dissipation ! 
 It s a quarter past eight. Run along, now, to bed." 
 
 " Oh no, I want her," Cecil said gayly. " Don t 
 you want to sit up with mamma a little while ? " 
 
 And Molly, nothing loath to escape her nurse and 
 her father s rule of bed at eight o clock, climbed up 
 
70 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 into her mother s lap. Cecil clasped her in her 
 arms and kissed her, rocking the child backwards, 
 and catching her with a storm of caresses. Philip 
 looked away, and then back again, and opened and 
 shut his hands nervously. His glance had in it none 
 of that deep and beautiful meaning with which a 
 man may look at the woman and the child who are 
 his, who stand to him forever as that other Mother 
 and Child who belong to our humanity and divinity. 
 Roger Carey felt the peculiar unhappiness which is 
 experienced by a guest conscious that a domestic in 
 felicity is occurring in his presence. He said impetu 
 ously, and with no regard for relevance, something 
 about some stock quotation, and bewailed his luck. 
 
 " Hang it, the day after I bought, down it went ! " 
 
 Philip, turning his back on those two on the ter 
 race above him, said calmly, why had he not done 
 thus and so ? why had he not taken advantage of 
 this and that ? and then gave him a bit of informa 
 tion which made Roger slap his thigh and cry out in 
 grateful enthusiasm, " By Jove, that s neat ! I did n t 
 know you were up to this sort of thing ? You 
 ought to be on the street ; what a business man you 
 would make ! " 
 
 " Philip is a good business man," said Cecil kindly. 
 " Since he has managed my property, my income has 
 increased fifty per cent., no, forty. How much 
 did you tell me, Philip ? Fifty per cent. ?" 
 
 Roger drew in his breath in a noiseless whistle ; 
 he did not look at his host. 
 
 " Your income has increased forty per cent.," 
 Philip answered. 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 71 
 
 " Well," said Roger, " if you have any more of 
 these ideas lying around loose, do hand them over to 
 me. I m amazed to find that you have a genius for 
 speculating." 
 
 " I have n t. It is Mrs. Shore s wish to invest her 
 money in this way ; I merely act for her. That s 
 how I happen to know about it." 
 
 " Philip s one fear is that I shall grow what he 
 calls disgustingly rich," Cecil murmured, over 
 Molly s head. (" Now, Molly, go to bed. Mamma 
 is tired. Come, don t be so slow ! I hate people 
 who dawdle. You absurd little monkey ! you don t 
 want to go to bed? Well, then, climb up in 
 mamma s lap again.) Mr. Carey, you don t know 
 all Mr. Shore s remarkable qualities : he is a single- 
 tax man, a woman s-rights man, a philanthropist, 
 a a an artist, all in one. Oh, and a finan 
 cier; though that is not genuine; he prefers pov 
 erty, don t you, Philip ? " 
 
 " I think I prefer a walk, at this moment," her 
 husband said lightly, " if you will excuse me ? Carey, 
 shall I leave you with Mrs. Shore ? " And then he 
 lounged down into the summer dusk and disap 
 peared. 
 
 Roger Carey debated with himself a moment, and 
 looked after him. He did not like Mrs. Shore, but 
 he liked to hear her talk ; so his half -uttered excuse 
 died upon his lips. " Shore s too polite to her," he 
 thought, and gave himself up to the pleasure of look 
 ing at her and listening to her. But Cecil saw the 
 moment s hesitation with an astonishment that had 
 in it both amusement and annoyance. 
 
VI. 
 
 I took you how could I otherwise ? 
 For a world to me, and more ; 
 For all, love greatens and glorifies 
 Till God s aglow, to the loving eyes, 
 In what was mere earth before. 
 
 BROWNING. 
 
 ALONE, Philip Shore drew a breath of relief ; he 
 let himself out into the grassy lane by the great iron 
 gates at the foot of the garden, and as they clanged 
 sharply behind him his face lost its look of restraint, 
 and settled into the worn lines of habitual and trou 
 bled thought. It was an interesting face, gentle, 
 intelligent, sad ; the face, as Mr. William Dray ton 
 had recognized, of an ascetic, of a man who might 
 even be a fanatic, but one in which the harassed bit 
 terness could melt into sweetness when his eye caught 
 a flower nodding against a blue sky, or when he 
 heard the murmur of water under a vague moon, or 
 when a child s hand touched his own. Even now, 
 with eyes oppressed and heavy with thought, he 
 stopped to notice some distant cypresses standing 
 like black spires against the fading yellow in the 
 west. He seemed to have no objective point in his 
 walk ; he went at first towards Miss Susan Carr s 
 house, then hesitated, and turned down the road, 
 walking slowly and aimlessly until he reached the 
 bridge which crossed the river, like a gray ribbon 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 73 
 
 stretched between green banks. Though the sky 
 was still faintly light, it was quite dark down there, 
 for the river ran close to the hills ; it was very silent, 
 too. 
 
 Philip folded his arms upon the stone coping, and 
 watched the slight heaving of the lily pads ; there 
 was a faint lap and slip of the water against the pier 
 in mid-stream. As he leaned there, looking down 
 at the black current, a sudden tremulous sparkle 
 wavered up from its depths, and he lifted his eyes to 
 see a star hanging low in the melting, translucent 
 dusk above the hill ; the star in the river shook and 
 trembled, plunging down like a golden plummet, or 
 blotted out when a lily leaf swung across its upward 
 track ; but it grew brighter, for the darkness deep 
 ened, and still he leaned and watched it. He was 
 saying over to himself words which clamored in his 
 ears in all his silent moments : " How far is a man s 
 own conception of his duty to weigh against accepted 
 standards?" 
 
 It is a serious question. Most conscientious men 
 and women must answer it one way or another in 
 their lives. Philip Shore had been trying to answer 
 it for three years. For it was just three years since 
 he had acknowledged the hopelessness of his marriage, 
 and had said to himself a hard saying : " Marriage 
 without love is as spiritually illegal as love without 
 marriage is civilly illegal." This once admitted, 
 that unanswered question inevitably presents itself : 
 May a man be base in his own eyes, because the law 
 approves? May he live a lie, because expediency 
 
74 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 and custom condone the offense ? Or shall his own 
 conception of duty weigh against accepted stan 
 dards ? 
 
 Philip Shore was thirty-three that summer ; but 
 he looked older, for he had hardly known youth in 
 the sense of joyous unconcern and divine, full-blooded 
 humanness. The years before he went to college had 
 not been young years ; his uncle had made the lad 
 his companion, and kept him reading and studying 
 with him when he should have been at boarding- 
 school, among boys of his own age. Philip s pas 
 sionate feeling for color Donald Shore admired, with 
 reverence, because he was himself quite without it. 
 The boy should be an artist, he said; and Susan 
 Carr agreed with him, and so they put their wedding 
 off a little longer, that Donald might take Philip 
 away for a year s study before he went to college. 
 "When you are through college, boy," the uncle 
 said, " we 11 go abroad ! " But before that time 
 came Donald died, and Philip had to arrange for 
 that study abroad without the encouragement and 
 stimulus of Mr. Shore s deep and quite unwarrant 
 able belief in him. 
 
 Philip had been so happy with his uncle that he 
 had not cared very much for the society of those of 
 his own age, except indeed for Cecil Drayton s soci 
 ety, and hers not at all because she was the Ever 
 lasting Feminine. " Cecil has brains," he told his 
 uncle ; " she is n t girly." So it was not until he 
 had finished college, and had come home to Old 
 Chester for a month s visit before starting for Paris, 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 75 
 
 that he fell in love with this tall, silent, mysterious 
 Cecil. At least she seemed mysterious to him. Per 
 haps love, like art, needs mystery, for it does not al 
 ways thrive in the unreserve of realism. Certainly, 
 Philip s absence for the next three years kept him 
 very ignorant and very devoted. He was very much 
 in love in those few weeks before he went away. He 
 said to her the old, beautiful words which every lover 
 has whispered, and every mistress has believed : " No 
 woman was ever loved as I love you, because there 
 never was a woman like you ! " Cecil, just home 
 from boarding-school, wondering what life meant, 
 still altogether potential, Cecil smiled, and sighed, 
 and consented ; gazing with calm, innocent eyes at 
 the extraordinary agitation in his face. She thought 
 he would kiss her, but he knelt down and kissed the 
 hem of her dress, and went away silently, leaving 
 her amused, but not displeased. Then had come the 
 three years of engagement and absence and letter- 
 writing, three things which most perfectly conceal 
 character. When they ended, these two young per 
 sons knew each other less than at their beginning. 
 
 Cecil had been impatient for the engagement to 
 end. She wanted to go abroad ; she wanted to live 
 the strange, fascinating Bohemian life of which her 
 lover wrote her ; she wanted oh, how much she 
 wanted ! to get away from Old Chester. " I m 
 rich, you know," she wrote him once, shyly; and 
 though he adored the noble frankness of her love, he 
 must, he told her, feel that he was able to support 
 her, and then then ! 
 
76 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 And so lie worked, his soul kindling with the 
 thought of the woman he loved. His love was a 
 
 O 
 
 form of art to him ; it was religion ; it was life ; it 
 was his inmost self. It created in him the purity, the 
 truth, the reverence, which it revealed in her. That 
 she should love him filled him with that fine humility 
 which exalts instead of depresses. It was the mys 
 tery of the Divine coming down to earth for us men 
 and for our salvation ; it was not to be understood ; 
 it was to be accepted. Her potentiality did not 
 trouble him ; her sweet ignorance of human passion 
 exhilarated him. 
 
 Love such as this dwells less upon the beauty of 
 the beloved, the touch of her hand, the ivory curve 
 of her soft throat, the things on which a young 
 lover writes lame verses, and of which he is as proud 
 as though he were responsible for their perfection, 
 such love thinks less, or not at all, of those things, 
 and much of the God who is revealed in them. Of 
 course, with the pathetic belief of youth that abso 
 lute confidence is possible between human souls, 
 Philip used to write to her of all this spiritual sig 
 nificance of love ; and she, with gentle and non-com 
 mittal sympathy, would answer that what he said 
 was true, or wonderful, or beautiful ; and her lover s 
 heart would glow at the "reserve," the "insight," 
 which those words indicated. 
 
 Philip Shore was a man capable of sustained ec 
 stasy ; a man who lived, not upon those occasional 
 sunlit peaks of emotion which most of us touch now 
 and then, but upon a high plateau of noble idealism, 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 77 
 
 and the three years of waiting became almost the noviti 
 ate of a holy life, so complete was his idealization of 
 marriage, of love, and of the woman he loved. Very 
 likely there was a touch of the mystic in this young 
 man ; mysticism is latent in most artistic tempera 
 ments, though it does not always show in artists, 
 perhaps because the mercantile instinct which they 
 so readily acquire chokes anything so unprofitable 
 as mysticism. And Philip, unhappily, was never to 
 be more than artistic ; his ability fell just short of 
 making him an artist. 
 
 They were married rather unexpectedly. The 
 three years study had not found Philip very far on 
 the road to fame, and the engagement might have 
 been prolonged, had not Mr. William Drayton met 
 him one day in Paris, and, in a burst of sudden 
 fatherly interest, told him the engagement had lasted 
 long enough. " She s got plenty of money, so 
 what s the use of waiting ? Take her or leave her ; 
 don t shilly-shally ! " said the unromantic father. 
 
 And Philip took her. 
 
 And so at last came the wonderful day. Now, 
 nine years after, Philip, leaning over the parapet of 
 the old bridge, staring down at the rocking lilies, 
 remembered it, the color burning suddenly in his face. 
 
 The night before he arrived in Old Chester was 
 as much a holy vigil to him as were those sacred 
 hours which young knights spent on their knees be 
 fore their armor. He was too solemn to know that 
 he was happy; his thoughts were prayers. The 
 next day, as a priest might go to the altar, nay, 
 
78 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 as a soul to its God, Philip Shore went to the wo 
 man he loved. 
 
 Thinking of that supreme moment, here in the 
 summer darkness on the bridge, he drew a breath 
 that was like a groan. He remembered what he had 
 meant to tell her ; he knew the very words in which he 
 had intended to say that in these three years of ab 
 sence the white thought of her had shown in every 
 dark place of his nature ; she should see that the 
 man s soul in him knelt before her womanhood. He 
 meant, too, to share with her, with the generosity of 
 only the highest love, a deep distress of his own, at 
 which, in his letters, he had only been able to hint, 
 the knowledge that had come to him of his own medi 
 ocrity in art, and the alternative of going on with a 
 work which he loved, in which he could never excel, 
 and the giving it up to put his shoulder to the wheel 
 of life, and be of some use in the world. That she 
 would counsel him as his own soul had counseled 
 him he had never doubted. It was in this spirit 
 that he met her. 
 
 Still in her eyes he found the same deep smile, 
 the smile into which he had read every solemn mean 
 ing of life and death and love ; still, still, that won 
 derful, sympathetic silence, which had again and 
 again by all its unuttered intelligence, revealed him to 
 himself. There was all this, but there was something 
 more. They sat together alone in the June dusk. 
 There was the scent of jessamine about them ; a star 
 shook in the tender sky ; far down in the orchard, 
 a bird cry, as clear as a drop of honey, fell into the 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 79 
 
 beating silence. Cecil, leaning back in her chair, 
 bent her arm behind her head, and the full sleeve 
 slipped up above her elbow ; the warm shadow of 
 her white chin fell across the curve of her bare 
 throat ; the dusky rose in her cheek deepened ; she 
 drew in her red lower lip, and lifted her eyes, full of 
 the glints and lights of dark wine, and brimmed 
 with meaning, and for a silent instant looked full at 
 him. Then she laughed. 
 
 It seemed to Philip that she said something, he 
 did not know what, some commonplace about the 
 wedding, perhaps ; he did not hear it. A mad, un 
 recognized, latent Self leaped up. All his love 
 burst into flame; the spiritual passion vanished. 
 His hands tightened upon each other; his eyes 
 glowed. He crushed her hand in his savagely, 
 kissing the warm palm, until she gave a little cry 
 and laugh, and said he hurt her. " Mine ! " he 
 said to himself. 
 
 Those three years, in which his thoughts of her 
 had been prayer, were forgotten ; all he meant to 
 say to her, face to face, heart to heart, man to God, 
 was forgotten ; all the solemn glory and whiteness of 
 love went out, as a star in heaven might be blotted 
 from a man s sight by the roar of some hot fire here 
 on his little earth. Oh, love ! love ! love ! This, 
 then, was love, this supremest expression of self ? 
 
 Philip, remembering, his elbow on the crumbling 
 parapet of the bridge, his chin on his clenched hand, 
 ground his teeth. Well, so it had gone. Looking 
 back upon it, he saw earnestness and ambition 
 
80 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 and responsibility flung aside ; he saw art forgotten, 
 or followed for the personal ends of amusement or 
 occupation ; he saw himself the prisoner of an igno 
 ble passion, hiding his chains behind * the cloak of 
 marriage. He knew every step of the shameful, 
 splendid, glowing way. He knew the ghastly mo 
 ment when he looked back at the heights from 
 which he had come, and recognized the dishonor he 
 had done to love and the woman he loved. The re 
 membrance of that moment, of that time of anguish 
 and of struggle, turned him sick now, eight years af 
 terwards ; for it was a year before he awoke, a lurid, 
 drunken year, in which he had no thought of any 
 thing but self. His awakening dated from their 
 first quarrel which had in it anything deeper than 
 some selfish irritation ; there had been plenty of 
 such contentions, followed by equally selfish recon 
 ciliations. This quarrel had sprung from^his reviv 
 ing determination to give up his painting. Cecil 
 had refused to listen to anything so foolish. She 
 adored the life in Paris, a life which had in it all the 
 freedom of the Latin Quarter and all the luxury of 
 the Champs-Elysees. Her resistance woke the old 
 arguments for truth, the old reverence for art. 
 There had been a violent altercation : Philip, in a 
 half-dazed way, standing out for what, blindly, as 
 though through some mist of memory, he knew to be 
 right ; Cecil saying insolently that the money was 
 hers, and she " would not allow it." 
 
 " Then you can stay by yourself ! " he had flung 
 back at her. " I ve done with this pretense." And 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 81 
 
 with a high hand he had carried out his wish, and 
 they had come back to America. 
 
 That was the beginning. The old ideals crowded 
 upon him, and he knew that he did not desire them. 
 It was a time of dreadful remorse that seemed like 
 some sickness in the very substance of the soul. 
 Then it was that he turned to his wife for forgive 
 ness, only to discover, with confusion and incredulity 
 and dismay, that Cecil was not aware that she had 
 anything to forgive. 
 
 After that came the long struggle to waken her 
 dormant soul, a struggle which amused, and then 
 bored, and at last irritated her beyond words. At 
 first she endured it with rallying tenderness and 
 temptation, and he would fall for weeks or months 
 into loathful ease and satisfaction in the comfort of 
 his life ; for, except when he teased her with visions 
 and ecstasies, Cecil made his life full of lazy and 
 beautiful comfort. With Molly s birth, which came 
 just after their return to America, the revelation of 
 fatherhood summoned him with solemn and irresisti 
 ble voice to his spiritual manhood. That summons 
 seemed to him so conclusive that he found Cecil s 
 deafness to it incredible. She loved the child with 
 a fierce unhumanness ; she caressed it in a way that 
 made him sometimes turn away his eyes. Yet, 
 through Molly, with kindling hope, again and again 
 and again he appealed to her. He called out with 
 anguish to something which was dead, or had never 
 lived. 
 
 But they came no closer together because of the 
 
82 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 child ; their constant and bitter disagreement con 
 cerning her training made her little life like a wedge 
 driven into the very heart of their marriage. 
 
 To Philip first had come the recognition of the 
 hopelessness of the situation : he had thought to marry 
 a beautiful soul, but had married instead a beautiful 
 body. The woman whom he had loved had never 
 existed. The woman who had for a time chained 
 him to his senses, stifled his soul, insulted his heav 
 enly vision, that woman he had never loved, as he 
 counted love. And that woman was his wife. 
 
 Cecil, by and by, had come to feel, with a dull 
 sense of disappointment, that love, by its very na 
 ture, was a temporary and passing experience, but 
 she was much too philosophical to be unhappy. She 
 used to look at young lovers with some amusement, 
 but no bitterness ; her life was too comfortable for 
 that. Besides, she did not dislike Philip. In those 
 first days, when she had been fond of him, and they 
 had quarreled, she had almost hated him ; but that 
 was all past, and now she was both tolerant and good 
 natured. 
 
 " How far is a man s own conception of duty to 
 weigh against accepted standards ? " said Philip 
 Shore to himself again, looking down at the swaying 
 glimmer of the star. It was very dark now on the 
 bridge ; it was very silent. But the silence was 
 clamorous with incisive questions : Is not a man s 
 own conception of duty a dangerous and an egotistic 
 guide ? Is not obedience to an unwritten law 
 merely fantastic and absurd when it interferes with 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 83 
 
 all material well being ; when it robs a man of a 
 home ; when it bids him turn his eyes away from 
 the beautiful, unloved woman who is his wife ; when 
 it even means the possible renunciation of his child ? 
 Again and again Philip Shore had said to himself 
 that such obedience was impossible. 
 
 And yet, coming back to the associations and 
 ideals of his youth, here in his old home, he recog 
 nized, almost with terror, that it was possible. 
 Those high demands spoke in all the silences of his 
 luxurious living : " Is not marriage without love as 
 spiritually illegal as love without marriage is civilly 
 illegal ? And if it is, what is your duty ? " 
 
 It needs a brave man to answer that question. 
 
VII. 
 
 Misunderstanding goes on like a fallen stitch in a stocking. 
 
 GOETHE. 
 
 Miss Susan Carr s distress at Joseph Lavendar s 
 folly was so genuine that she did not strain the 
 truth when she said she was not well, and could not 
 go to church, the first Sunday after she had received 
 his letter. "No self-respecting woman will let a 
 man have the chance to be refused," said Miss Su 
 san, and she was glad that a headache came to her 
 assistance in saving Mr. Lavendar from mortification. 
 
 Then it occurred to her, as a respite, to accept a 
 long-standing invitation from some old friends in 
 Ashurst, and so escape the next Saturday and Sun 
 day. " But after all," she sighed to herself when, on 
 Friday, she said good-by to the Misses Woodhouse, 
 and turned her face again towards Old Chester, 
 " after all, I can t be away from home every time 
 Joseph Lavendar is in town. I suppose I ve got to 
 meet him some time. But my manner shall show 
 him that I m not thinking of such things ! " She 
 was saying this to herself as she climbed into the 
 empty stagecoach at Mercer, and then sat waiting for 
 it to start, and looking at the rain streaming on the 
 window. "I will be severe," said this amiable 
 woman, frowning at the vacant seats opposite her ; 
 " it s better that Mr. Joseph should think me dis- 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 85 
 
 agreeable than misunderstand any mere friendliness. 
 I could not respect myself if I allowed Just 
 here the stiff handle of the door turned with a jerk, 
 and Mr. Joseph Lavendar stepped into the coach. 
 
 " Oh dear ! " said poor Miss Susan, shrinking 
 back into her corner. 
 
 Mr. Lavendar sat down on the middle seat of the 
 stage ; it had a swinging strap for a back, and was 
 quite narrow and far from comfortable. Mr. Laven 
 dar took it for that reason; for though the stage 
 was almost empty at present, it would doubtless fill 
 up, and as a matter of course Joseph Lavendar took 
 the least desirable seat. When he looked up and 
 saw Miss Susan sitting opposite him, he felt the 
 compensation which unselfish people are forever dis 
 covering in their sacrifices. 
 
 " Why, my dear Miss Susan ! " he cried. " Why, 
 this is very delightful, quite an unexpected pleasure. 
 I feared that your visit was to be prolonged over 
 another Sunday." 
 
 " I did think of it," said Miss Susan faintly. 
 (" If nobody else gets in, I will get out," she decided 
 desperately ; " I 11 say I forgot something, I 11 say 
 I m ill I 11 oh, how can he be going to Old 
 Chester on Friday?") 
 
 Perhaps the distress in her face asked the ques 
 tion ; at all events, he began, cheerfully, to explain 
 his presence. One of his little pupils was ill, 
 poor dear child ! a most pleasing child ; a son of 
 poor Thomas Townsend. Miss Susan recalled 
 Thomas Townsend ? He died some fifteen years 
 
86 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 ago ; he was a relative of of our friend Mrs. 
 Pendleton. " But as his illness is not serious, I can 
 be grateful for the opportunity, which I very much 
 appreciate (as you know, my dear Miss Susan), to 
 spend an extra day in Old Chester." 
 
 Miss Carr began, nervously, to gather up her um 
 brella and bags. " I think I must " she said hur 
 riedly, but paused, and fell back into her corner 
 again, for a large lady, in a tight black alpaca, was 
 climbing, laboriously and with panting breath, into 
 the coach. " He can t speak now," thought Miss 
 Susan, relieved but unhappy. 
 
 The stage sagged forward, and started with a 
 swaying jog ; the rain clattered on its ribbed top, 
 and on the rubber aprons that covered the trunks 
 piled at the back ; and its three occupants resigned 
 themselves to that peculiar jolting discomfort which 
 only the inside rider knows. 
 
 "Let me see," said Mr. Lavendar pleasantly; 
 " you have no later Old Chester news than I have 
 myself ? In fact, I have the most recent, as I only 
 left town on Monday. But you can tell me some 
 thing about our friends in Ashurst. I trust they are 
 all well?" 
 
 " Yes," Miss Susan assured him, and made haste 
 to repeat all the Ashurst gossip she could think of. 
 
 The large lady, whose chins were in terraces, was 
 swaying about in her corner, as the coach swung and 
 lurched, but she was so comfortably protected by her 
 personality that she was able to doze a little, though 
 sometimes, at a decided jolt, her eyes would spring 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 87 
 
 sharply open, and then drop shut again. Miss Su 
 san looked at her imploringly ; if Mr. Joseph should 
 see that she had fallen asleep, what might not hap 
 pen ? 
 
 " I was sorry not to see you last week," Mr. Lav- 
 endar said, when Miss Susan came to a pause in her 
 Ashurst reminiscences ; " and the week before you 
 were indisposed, Lyssie told me. I was much disap 
 pointed." 
 
 Miss Susan murmured her apologies for having 
 missed the choir practicing. She searched her mem 
 ory desperately for further Ashurst news, but no 
 thing presented itself. 
 
 Mr. Laveiidar lifted his left leg across his right 
 knee, and looked at it critically, brushing a little 
 dust from the neat brown broadcloth. 
 
 " I was very much in hopes to have had a short 
 ah conversation with you, my dear Miss 
 Susan," he said ; and then, the color mounting in 
 his face, he added, " You received my letter, of 
 course ? " 
 
 Susan Carr dared not look at him. Was he go 
 ing to here? in a stagecoach? "Letter?" she 
 said. " Oh yes, I jelieve I did. Don t you think 
 we had better open a window ? It s quite warm. 
 At least, if it will not inconvenience this other 
 lady," said Miss Susan, raising her voice, so that 
 Mr. Lavendar was quite startled, and their fellow- 
 passenger opened her eyes in a sleepy gleam. 
 
 "It is warm," Mr. Joseph agreed, and he tugged 
 at the window strap with an energy which made his 
 
88 PHILIP slND HIS WIFE. 
 
 face red, and wakened the stout lady so thoroughly 
 that she sat up for a moment and looked about with 
 frowning surprise. Then a gust of cold, wet air 
 blew in upon the swaying, pitching occupants of the 
 coach, and Susan Carr wondered if it would not keep 
 her protector awake. " How fresh and delightful 
 the air is, ma am ! " she said to the lady pleadingly. 
 
 " It s damp," returned the other, and closed her 
 eyes. 
 
 " My letter did not call for a reply," Mr. Laven- 
 dar proceeded, in a low and confidential voice, " but 
 I thought I should have seen you before this. There 
 is so much I want to say," he ended simply. 
 
 " A man who talks on such subjects in a stage 
 coach must be very much so," thought Miss Susan 
 despairingly. " But I won t let him ! " And, with 
 this determination, she burst into eager and emphatic 
 views about the weather. The rain beating against 
 the closed windows made the landscape waver and 
 glimmer ; the woods were gray with mist, and the 
 streams under the creaking wooden bridges were 
 swollen and laced with tangles of foam. 
 
 " I think this is the equinoctial," announced Miss 
 Susan. breathlessly. " Just see how it pours ! And 
 the wind is very high ! . And did you notice, as we 
 crossed the river, that the water was up to the mid 
 dle of the pier, and Here, to Miss Susan s joy, 
 the other traveler awoke, and found the subject so 
 interesting that she too expressed her opinion, while 
 Mr. Lavendar said protectingly, " It s only a pass 
 ing shower, ladies, a passing shower," and watched 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 89 
 
 patiently for a chance to go back to the subject which 
 was plainly uppermost in his mind. 
 
 As for Miss Susan, remembering her one experi 
 ence in love-making, recalling Donald s quiet, mat 
 ter of fact affection, his tranquil yielding to circum 
 stances, she felt this intensity on the part of Joseph 
 with a certain quickening of the* heart. " Oh, I 
 wish he would n t," she said to herself, " for this will 
 spoil everything, though we Ve been friends all these 
 years." She was almost ready to cry with the 
 trouble and worry bf it ; and when at last, damp and 
 tired, she reached home, and sat down in the dining- 
 room to her solitary cup of tea, the tears really did 
 stand in her kind eyes. In her thoughts she went 
 over Mr. Lavendar s looks and words in the coach, 
 and the result of her meditations was that another 
 Saturday afternoon s practice passed, and " Miss Su 
 san was a little under the weather, and couldn t 
 come." That the robust Susan Carr should be in 
 disposed began to be food for comment in Old Ches 
 ter. Alicia Drayton, as she walked down to the 
 church to go over the hymns for the next day with 
 Mr. Lavendar, wondered a little about it. " Why, 
 this is the third time she s missed the practicing ! " 
 said Lyssie to herself ; and then an absent look came 
 into her eyes, and she thought 110 more about Miss 
 Susan. 
 
 The rain of the day before had washed the July 
 dust from the roadside weeds and grasses ; the trees, 
 all in a shining rustle with the fresh wind, made 
 pretty shadows on the path, and the lines of moss 
 
90 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 between the flagstones were like strips of green vel 
 vet. The very air seemed washed and shining and 
 full of the Saturday afternoon feeling, the feeling 
 of order and cleanliness and readiness for the mor 
 row. 
 
 Alicia, with her green singing-book under her 
 arm, glanced along the river road. " Will he come 
 before we begin to practice ? " she said to herself. 
 Ah, what chance for sympathy have elderly ladies 
 with headaches when such questions come into a 
 girl s mind ? She stood a moment on the threshold 
 of the church, looking out at the sunshine, and hear 
 ing Mr. Lavendar up in the organ loft pulling out 
 the stops and running his fingers along the keys. 
 
 " Miss Susan is n t coming this afternoon, Mr. 
 Joseph," she said, as she pushed open the little baize 
 door of the loft ; " she is n t very well ; so you and 
 Mr. Tommy and I will have to practice by ourselves ; " 
 and then she nodded pleasantly at the other member 
 of the choir, who, with his spectacles on, was poring 
 over a manuscript of music. 
 
 " Dear, dear, I am sorry to hear that she is indis 
 posed," said Mr. Joseph ; " exceedingly sorry. Will 
 you be so kind as to say so to her, Lyssie, if you see 
 her this evening ; say I had meant to call, but, as 
 she is indisposed, I will not intrude ? " But he 
 sighed as he spoke, and then he pivoted round on the 
 long wooden bench to his organ ; his feet, searching 
 for the keyboard, made a muffled sound in the listen 
 ing silence of the church. Down below, the cheer 
 ful red cushions on the seats were all turned over to 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 91 
 
 preserve their color, and the chancel was ghostly with 
 white covers on the altar and the reading-desk; 
 there was the scent of Prayer Books and dust, with 
 strange, wandering hints of flowers which had lain 
 here with the dead all these years, or denied death 
 on Easter mornings. 
 
 From a little round window high in the wall be 
 hind the organ a bar of yellow sunlight shot down 
 into the dusk : it threaded its noiseless way among 
 the singing-books upon the benches ; it struck a sud 
 den sparkle from the ring on Mr. Tommy s thin, 
 veined hand as he held his music-book close to his 
 eyes ; and it shone through the soft hair about 
 Alicia Drayton s forehead, turning it into a delicate 
 aureole of light around the shadowed seriousness of 
 her face. She had been listening for a hand on the 
 outer door of the church, a step on the graveled 
 path, and she had even suggested timidly to Mr. 
 Lavendar that that perhaps the church door was 
 locked, and perhaps some one was trying to get 
 in ? Mr. Lavendar said mildly, " You came in last, 
 Lyssie ; did you lock it ? Then of course it is n t 
 fastened. Miss Susan can get in, if she changes her 
 mind and wishes to come." 
 
 " Oh yes, so she can ! " Lyssie answered. But 
 still she listened. 
 
 Yet when Roger Carey did slip in, closing the 
 door gently behind him, and starting the muffled 
 echo of the empty church, Alicia, singing, the sun 
 making that powdery halo around her head, did not 
 hear him, and he looked up and saw her, and the 
 
92 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 young fellow s clear, positive, honest eyes filled sud 
 denly with a reverence which the church itself had 
 not brought into them. 
 
 When Lyssie saw him there was a tremor in her 
 pretty voice ; which is natural enough in any nice 
 girl s voice when she finds that somebody is listening 
 to her. This, not being a conceited man, was the 
 explanation Roger Carey made to himself while he 
 waited for the practicing to end. He sat in one of 
 the square pews, which had a straight, uncomfort 
 able back covered with prickly red cloth, and a 
 door whose lifting brass catch had doubtless invited 
 many of those idle fingers for which Satan, even 
 in Old Chester, finds some mischief still. Roger 
 Carey s fingers began to lift it now, and then to let 
 it fall with a clatter, while he wished Mr. Lavendar 
 would not try " We praise, thee, O God ! " for a 
 fifth time, and while he thought, smiling to himself, 
 of this or that which Miss Alicia Drayton had said 
 to him. Her quaint truthfulness, her enchanting 
 modesty in matters of opinion, her wisdom unto that 
 which was good, her simplicity concerning evil, had 
 delighted him as he had come to know her better. 
 When he watched her or listened to her, it was with 
 the pleasure of the man who has found something- 
 new. But he said to himself that he was not in love 
 with her. Certainly, his appreciation of her sweet 
 young womanhood was of the nature of his apprecia 
 tion of a limpid morning in spring, or of a star, or 
 of the pathos of innocence and happiness in a child s 
 face, rather than that more selfish appreciation which 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 93 
 
 comes when a man is falling in love. Roger Carey 
 was profoundly stirred and happy ; he felt lifted up 
 to good things. But he was not, he said to himself, 
 " in love with her." 
 
 He was impatient for the practicing to cease ; he 
 liked to hear her pretty voice, but he liked better 
 to see her and to hear her talk. As he sat waiting 
 for her, smiling now and then at some thought of her, 
 and playing with the little brass catch on the pew 
 door, he read the inscriptions on the two or three 
 tablets on the walls, and that upon the brass plate 
 in the chancel, in memory of the first minister of the 
 church, his name, his virtues, and the exhortation 
 to " mark the perfect man," and after that those two 
 dates which bound with solemn meaning the weakest 
 or the meanest of lives, the dates of birth and death. 
 The empty church, the silent tread of the light from 
 the window in the organ loft up the aisle and across 
 the chancel, the moving shadows of the leaves out 
 side, and, through all, Alicia s voice, " O Lord, in 
 tJiee have I trusted ; let me never be confounded," 
 all these things, the scene, the waiting, the old 
 and beautiful words, fell into the young man s heart 
 with a strange touch of melancholy, and his face was 
 serious when he met Lyssie at the door and they 
 went out into the sunset. 
 
 It was pretty to see these two young people to 
 gether, and to mark the change that each produced 
 in the other. Lyssie s shy anxiety, the anxiety that 
 a girl just beginning to fall in love feels, and does 
 not understand, a desire to seem her best, to 
 
94 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 please, to win, all the little humility that, when she 
 is alone, makes her sigh and say to herself that she 
 means to try to improve, all that was gone in 
 a flash, and instead there was a soft arrogance, a 
 charming girlish imperiousness, and such joyousness ! 
 
 Roger Carey seemed to have acquired all that 
 Lyssie put aside ; his impulsive dogmatism and care 
 less good nature and frank criticism were lost, and 
 in their place was a humbleness which was new to 
 him, and an enchanting sense of delight in the 
 sweetness of this young creature ; he wanted to hear 
 her talk, to see her smile, to protect her, to care for 
 her. It was rather the feeling of the discoverer 
 than the more serious joy of being himself discovered. 
 
 They did not go home at once, but wandered 
 about in the churchyard and talked to each other. 
 Once they grew so earnest that they stopped, and 
 Lyssie sat down on an old tomb that stood like a 
 low granite table under the shadow of a tulip-tree. 
 She wore a little gray-and-white-striped gingham, 
 and she had a bunch of laburnum in her belt. She 
 took off her hat, and sat leaning her open palm on 
 the lichen-covered name, looking up at Roger Carey 
 with candid eyes of that color which lies on distant 
 hills, and is neither blue nor violet. The sunshine 
 touched her face and dress ; a leaf shadow swung 
 back and forth across her hand and over the asser 
 tion of endless love and grief on the old stone ; and 
 there they talked and listened, and looked and lived. 
 
 It was the usual talk : the girl s tentative expres 
 sions of opinion on great subjects ; the man s instant 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 95 
 
 acquiescence in them ; the mutual astonishment at 
 their unity of thought. 
 
 " You think so, too ? Why, how strange ! I ve 
 always felt that." 
 
 "You would rather see Egypt than any other 
 country in the world ? How odd that is ! Do you 
 know, I Ve always said I d rather go to Egypt than 
 any place else." 
 
 " You really feel that a lie is the only thing you 
 couldn t forgive, Mr. Carey? Well, if I couldn t 
 forgive everything, forgiveness is n t hard to me, 
 why, I think I should draw the line at a lie !" 
 
 Ah, well, well, it is the old, beautiful story. We 
 laugh at the two souls and the single thought ; the 
 conviction of the glorious and harmonious future, 
 built up in a moment, because views of Shakespeare 
 and the musical glasses coincide ; but all the same, 
 it is a divine time and a true time, and it does sur 
 vive ! 
 
VIII. 
 
 We are such friends, my little girl and I, 
 That, tho her summers scarcely number nine, 
 I need none other as I go my ways, 
 With her small fingers closely clasping mine. 
 
 A little world we two make of our own, 
 And people it with all things fair and sweet ; 
 The stars that twinkle overhead at night 
 Drop down at dawn in daisies at our feet. 
 
 BKOWN. 
 
 EVERYBODY watched little Lyssie s romance with 
 approval and interest, for Old Chester loved her. 
 It had been recognized as a romance the moment it 
 was known that Mr. Carey s two weeks visit was to 
 be prolonged to three, and then to four. 
 
 " Oh, thank you very much," he said eagerly, 
 when Mrs. Shore first proposed that he should stay 
 another week ; " I 11 be delighted to." And then 
 he added, rather ruefully, " I might just as well, 
 since you are good enough to ask me ; for the fact 
 is, I have n t anything on hand just now." That a 
 client might knock at his door in his absence did not 
 seem to trouble him, and Cecil, smiling to herself at 
 the confession of his prompt acceptance, did not re 
 mind him of it. Indeed, his visit had done so much 
 to relieve the intolerable dullness of Old Chester 
 that she was glad he was going to stay. " Even his 
 impudence is refreshing," she thought ; for she had 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIF^. 97 
 
 winced once or twice under some blunt expression of 
 his opinion. 
 
 Still, such rudeness showed itself only at the 
 beginning of any conversation they might have ; 
 towards the end, admiration would, for the time, 
 thrust out the dislike which was, oddly enough, his 
 real, sober feeling for Miss Drayton s sister. He 
 felt this dislike more keenly when he saw them to 
 gether ; indeed, he did not like to see them together. 
 Alicia seemed just a little childish, in the presence 
 of this strong, clever woman. Nevertheless, Roger 
 Carey was too glad to talk to little Miss Drayton to 
 slight any chance of seeing her, whether it was in 
 Mrs. Shore s presence or not ; and he certainly 
 would not have taken Eric out for a run on the 
 hills, one charming morning, had he known that 
 Lyssie was coming up to her sister s at that very 
 hour. He had left Mrs. Shore struggling to make 
 up her mind to pay the inevitable calls which were 
 the price of a visit to Old Chester, and he had ad 
 vised her, gayly, to find out when people were to be 
 away from home ; then, whistling to Eric, he had 
 tramped off into the sunshine, thinking with satisfac 
 tion how incapable Miss Lyssie Drayton would be 
 of any such forethought. 
 
 Mrs. Shore, however, had scarcely required his 
 instruction. 
 
 " Tell me, Lys," she said, as, with Molly clinging 
 to her hand, she walked down the path to meet her 
 sister, 4 when does the next sewing society meet ? " 
 Then she put her finger under the girl s chin and 
 
98 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 lifted her fresh young face, and kissed her. " Mr. 
 Carey has gone off to exercise Eric," she added 
 significantly. 
 
 " I m sure I hope he will do it properly," Alicia 
 returned, her head high ; but she laughed and 
 blushed. " What do you want to know about the 
 sewing society for? Do you mean to go?" She 
 slipped her arm about her sister s waist, and brushed 
 her cheek against her shoulder. Lyssie smiled 
 readily in those summer days ; it seemed such hap 
 piness to be alive ; she had recognized no other 
 cause for happiness, either in herself or in Roger 
 Carey. It is generally so with a girl ; the spoken 
 word has to fall like some subtle chemical into the 
 luminous nebula of bliss, to crystallize it into a jewel 
 that she can recognize, and claim, and wear as the 
 crown of life. Alicia s bubble of laughter at her 
 sister s interest in the sewing society was only this 
 vague happiness seeking expression. 
 
 " I go ? Lyssie ! I must make my manners to all 
 the old ladies, and I wanted to know when I could 
 call with safety." 
 
 " Oh, Ceci ! " Alicia remonstrated. " Indeed, I 
 won t tell you ; you shall find them all at home." 
 
 " But mamma does n t want to see them, aunt 
 Lyssie ; that s why she goes when they are out," 
 Molly explained, astonished at her aunt s dullness. 
 
 Cecil laughed. " Intelligent Molly ! " she said. 
 
 The two sisters and the child had come along the 
 flagged walk below the terrace to the pool, which 
 was almost hidden now by water-plants. The flags 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 99 
 
 ended in three mossy steps leading down to the 
 water s edge. Two ancient Lombardy poplars stood 
 here, with gnarled trunks, and mournful breaks of 
 dead branches through their dark foliage. They 
 made a spot of shade on the sunny, faintly undu 
 lating expanse of shimmering lily leaves. A frog 
 splashed from the bank at the sound of footsteps, 
 and made for a moment a widening, rocking circle 
 on the still surface. Molly was instantly desirous 
 of catching him, but her mother said peremptorily, 
 " No. Now don t bother me, precious, or you 11 
 have to go into the nursery. Sit down here beside 
 mamma. Lyssie, is there anything so important in 
 one s domestics as health ? The honest, temperate, 
 capable young woman amounts to nothing compared 
 to the robust one ! Molly s Rosa is ill, and I, in 
 one of those moments of rash good nature that we 
 all have at times, and on which we look back with 
 such astonishment, I said I d take Molly to walk 
 this morning. Did n t I, you nuisance ? " And 
 she drew the child s head down upon her lap and 
 mumbled her little neck with kisses. 
 
 They were sitting on an old stone seat between 
 the two poplars ; the sunshine, sifting down, touched 
 Cecil s head, and flecked Lyssie s cotton gown, and 
 shone into Molly s eyes until she said she did not like 
 it, and wished mamma would go to walk. u Any 
 where," Molly urged. " You said you would ! " 
 
 " It s too hot, Polly. Yes, Rosa has been creep 
 ing about with a white face for two days. So an 
 noying to see her." 
 
100 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 Lyssie was full of sympathy for Rosa. Had Dr. 
 King seen her ? What was the matter ? 
 
 " Oh, nothing," Cecil answered impatiently ; " a 
 little feverish, perhaps. Of course I have n t sent 
 for the doctor. One might as well start a hospital 
 at once as keep five or six women. They always 
 have something the matter with them, or they 
 think they have." And then she began to tease and 
 cuddle Molly, until the clang of the iron gate at the 
 end of the garden broke in upon the child s laugh 
 ing cries ; and Cecil, leaning backwards, glanced 
 through the shrubbery. " Good Lord, deliver 
 us ! she said, under her breath, " it s Mrs. Dale. 
 She has come to tell me her opinion of young women 
 who don t call upon their elders and betters ! But I 
 was going ; you 11 bear witness to that, Lys ? " 
 
 " Yes, when she was at the sewing society," 
 Alicia returned, with malice. 
 
 Cecil slipped Molly down on her feet. " Molly, 
 my angel, run ! Say to that lady that mamma is 
 not at home ; say I ve gone clown to the village. 
 Run ! She has n t seen us, and you can meet her at 
 the front door." 
 
 Molly went, with the matter of fact obedience that 
 found such a command no surprise. 
 
 " Why, Cecil ! " cried Alicia Drayton. 
 
 " What ? Not at home ? Oh, Lyssie, what a 
 funny little thing you are ! " 
 
 " But Molly ? " Alicia protested, her eyes widen 
 ing with dismay. 
 
 " Oh, you really are delightful," Cecil said, much 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 101 
 
 amused, looking at her with kind eyes. " How very 
 far from the madding crowd you have lived ! " 
 
 " But, Ceci, I m horrified. To tell MoUy " 
 
 Cecil put her hand suddenly, softly, over her 
 sister s lips. " Fault-finding is the wind that blows 
 to the Place-we-don t-believe-in, and it sends more 
 people there than anything else. Do be quiet. 
 Look ! there is Mr. Carey." 
 
 Philip and Roger, with Eric at their heels, were 
 crossing the meadow on the further side of the pool. 
 When the two men reached the stone seat under 
 the poplars, Lyssie s face was still so serious that 
 Roger Carey looked blank. 
 
 " I wonder if she s offended ? " he thought, frown 
 ing. " I wonder if Mrs. Shore has been saying nasty 
 things about me ? Why, she s hardly smiled ! " 
 And he himself hardly smiled, while Cecil told him 
 how Mglly had come to the rescue and dismissed 
 Mrs. Dale. 
 
 " But I wish you could have seen my sister s hor 
 ror," she ended gayly. 
 
 Roger sat down on the grass, and Eric squatted 
 behind him, leaning his chin on the young man s 
 shoulder, and blinking his honest yellow eyes at 
 Philip, who was talking to Alicia. Philip did not 
 look at his wife until she said, breaking into some 
 thing she was telling Mr. Carey, "There, Polly, 
 don t lean on mamma. Come ! run and tell Rosa 
 she really must take you out to walk." 
 
 " No, you take me ; you promised," Molly teased. 
 " Rosa s sick ; she says she feels " 
 
102 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 But Mrs. Shore was not interested in Rosa s feel 
 ings. " My little Polly, I adore you, you are an 
 angel ; but don t bore me. Run along, like a good 
 child." 
 
 " I will take you to walk, Molly," said Philip over 
 his shoulder. 
 
 Cecil leaned her head back and laughed. " Philip 
 never surprises one. Of course he 11 take Molly to 
 walk ! " 
 
 " Is Rosa really ill ? " her husband asked. " Shall 
 I send King up to see her ? " 
 
 " Oh, if you want to. I suppose we ought to 
 make sure it is nothing contagious," Mrs. Shore 
 said indolently. 
 
 Roger Carey looked as though about to whistle, 
 but checked himself, and eased his mind by pulling 
 Eric s ears until the amiable dog squealed, and then 
 licked his hand, as if apologizing for having allowed 
 his emotions to overcome him. 
 
 Philip was indifferent, apparently, to the nature 
 of his wife s consent. " Very well, I 11 tell him to 
 come up. Come along, Molly." And he whistled 
 to Eric, and started toward the village. 
 
 " Philip s goodness leaves nothing to the imagina 
 tion," murmured Cecil. 
 
 " I have known people who left it all to the im 
 agination," Mr. Carey observed. 
 
 " If you are going to be epigrammatic, I shall 
 leave you," his hostess assured him. 
 
 " Oh, are you going in ? " Roger said cheerfully, 
 rising as she rose, but instantly sitting down again 
 to talk to Miss Dray ton. 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 103 
 
 Cecil laughed, but the color came into her face as 
 she went back alone to the house. 
 
 As for Philip, he walked along with Molly, his 
 face grim with the restraint he had put upon himself 
 in the talk by the pool. 
 
 "To deliberately tell the child to lie!" he was 
 thinking ; and then he told Molly that he was going 
 .to take her into the woods. " You 11 like that, 
 won t you, old lady? " he asked absently. 
 
 " Oh, yes," cried Molly, " let s go to the woods ! 
 Mamma promised she would take me last week, but 
 she did n t. And can I pick some flowers for her ? 
 And shall we watch the ants carry their babies into 
 the sun to keep them warm? Oh, and, father, will 
 you tell me the story you told me when I had the 
 measles, about the man who rode to the moon on a 
 wooden horse ? And, father Her little, bub 
 
 bling flood of questions caressed his ear. 
 
 " Yes ; yes ; yes," Philip answered blindly, as she 
 seemed to expect. His indignation at Cecil s care 
 lessness about Molly s truth-telling deepened into a 
 bitter sense of his own helplessness to protect the 
 child. This sort of thing was always going on. So 
 far as Cecil was concerned, Molly knew nothing of 
 the sacrediiess of a promise ; the duty and grace of 
 kindliness to inferiors she had never seen ; truthful 
 ness, according to her mother, was always secondary 
 to good manners, and, in consequence, a matter of 
 expediency. Cecil caressed or punished the child 
 with the most absolute selfishness, and lived her own 
 life without a thought of the responsibility of example. 
 
104 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 Any protest from the unloving husband to the un 
 loving wife only made matters worse, by adding to 
 carelessness the deliberateness of antagonism. The 
 effect of all this upon Molly was r of course, de 
 plorable. 
 
 The child of unloving parents, illegitimate in a 
 deep and terrible sense, for love is the fulfilling of 
 the law, suffers, as whatever is in opposition to 
 law, human or divine, must always suffer. 
 
 Philip said to himself that this little human soul, 
 this little child of his, had wandered into a home 
 polluted by the presence of the dreadful dead body 
 of Love ; and if a man fears corruption and its 
 train of disease for his child physically, what must he 
 feel for a corruption which may taint her spiritually ? 
 He held Molly s hand in his in a rigid grasp. 
 
 " Oh, father, you hurt my hand ! " she cried, pull 
 ing it away from him, and dancing on in front of 
 him, across the upland meadow toward the woods ; 
 then she ran back to adorn the lapel of his coat with 
 a stalk of early goldenrod. " Tell me the wooden- 
 horse story now ! " 
 
 " Oh, not now," Philip objected. " I 11 tell you 
 what will be nice ; let s sit down here, and father 11 
 smoke, and you shall tell him a story." 
 
 " That would be nice for father," Molly said, push 
 ing out her lips, " but it would n t be very interest 
 ing for me." 
 
 " Oh, but to entertain me ? You did n t think of 
 that," he reminded her. 
 
 Such confidence in her amiability could have only 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 105 
 
 the desired effect, though she qualified her consent 
 by the condition that they should tell the story 
 together ; for collaboration was a frequent amuse 
 ment of these two friends. 
 
 Philip scratched a match on a stone, shielding the 
 spurt of flame with a curving hand ; then he lighted 
 a cigar, and stretched himself out on his back, his 
 hands under his head and his hat pulled over his 
 eyes. " All right," he said. " Go ahead." 
 
 " No ! You begin," Molly insisted anxiously. 
 And with a little sigh Philip resigned himself to 
 fiction. 
 
 It was a still July morning ; the leaves overhead 
 moved slightly back and forth across a sky that was 
 deeply blue and cloudless ; there was a flickering 
 play of shadows on the grass and moss. Down in 
 the valley lay Old Chester ; here and there a gable 
 showed through the thick foliage, or a chimney-stack 
 rose well above it ; beyond, on the opposite hillside, 
 was the house from which they had just come, 
 " Cecil s house." Philip, staring out from under his 
 hat brim at that house, and telling the story of a 
 green-haired banshee, was reflecting upon that extra 
 ordinary folly of sentiment which, when love, which 
 constitutes the home, has died, holds a husband and 
 wife together, lest the " home be broken up." " As 
 though the family idea meant the mere living to 
 gether of the father and mother ! " he said to him 
 self. 
 
 Molly, cuddled against his side, with one arm 
 thrown across his breast, watched him as he began 
 
106 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE: 
 
 his tale, her round, serious eyes full of profound in 
 terest ; the more so as her father s stories were not 
 apt to end with a moral, or to contain those indirect 
 insinuations of virtue which children find in as bad 
 taste as do their elders. 
 
 " Well, this green-haired banshee," Philip de 
 clared, after having described a banshee suitable for 
 the infant mind, " went down to the seashore, and 
 she saw a sea serpent. He had a mane all about his 
 head, and it was covered with barnacles and little 
 pink shells, and they rattled and clashed ; and his 
 sides were all wet and shining, and they were blue 
 and green and gold ; and he had diamond eyes 
 
 " Oh, draw him, father, draw him ! " 
 
 So Philip hunted in his pocket for a pencil and 
 an old envelope, and proceeded to sketch a strange 
 beast unknown to natural history ; on its back, 
 clinging with bony fingers to its mane, he put a 
 banshee, with wild hair and eyes, and a dreadful 
 mouth full of sharp and jagged teeth. 
 
 " The banshee waded out and got on the back of 
 the sea serpent, and he began to career around. 
 At first she thought it was pretty nice ; but some 
 times the sea serpent would go under the water for 
 an hour or so, and that made her wet, you know 
 
 " Why, she d get drowned, father ! " Molly broke 
 in, with some sternness. 
 
 " Oh, she was a land-and-water lady," Philip 
 explained. 
 
 But Molly frowned. " She was n t a lady ; she 
 was a creature." 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 107 
 
 Her father looked at lier admiringly. u Your dis 
 tinction is fine, Molly. I ve known 4 creatures. 
 Well, anyhow, once when the sea serpent came up to 
 the surface of the water, the banshee looked up into 
 the air, and away up in the air, about nine hundred 
 miles, she saw two rocs fighting." 
 
 " Rocks? " said Molly, following him breathlessly. 
 
 " I mean birds ; don t you remember the rocs in 
 Sindbad ? They were fighting up there eight hun 
 dred miles, and " 
 
 " You said nine hundred," Molly interrupted 
 threateningly. 
 
 " Why, yes, it was nine hundred ; what am I 
 thinking of ? Their great wings were like four gray 
 clouds, and they covered the sun. And just then a 
 feather from one of their wings floated down into 
 the sea, and lay rocking up and down on the waves 
 like a boat. So the banshee climbed on to it." 
 
 " You did n t draw her with any legs, father," 
 Molly objected. 
 
 " Oh, we must give her some legs," Philip said 
 gravely, and, putting his cigar down on a flat stone, 
 he indicated, among the voluminous folds of flying 
 drapery, the very thin legs proper to a banshee. 
 
 " Well, she climbed up on this great gray feather, 
 and pulled up the big end for a sort of sail, you 
 know, and then she went sailing and sailing and sail 
 ing ; and after a while she came to a desert island." 
 
 Molly sighed deeply, and nestled close to her fa 
 ther, her chin on his breast, and her eyes watching 
 his lips. 
 
108 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 " She came bump up against this island, and the 
 great gray feather grated against the pebbles on the 
 beach ; and she got off and ran up on the shore. It 
 was a very rocky island ; there was n t a single green 
 thing anywhere on it, not a tree, nor a bush, nor 
 a blade of grass." 
 
 " Nor any goats ? " Molly asked anxiously. " Rob 
 inson had goats." 
 
 " No, no goats. But right in the middle of the 
 island was a great white roc s egg that looked like 
 the Mormons Temple. No, you never saw the Mor 
 mons Temple, but never mind. That s what it 
 looked like. And what do you suppose the banshee 
 did ? She knocked a hole at either end of the roc s 
 egg, just as if she were going to suck it, you 
 know ; and then the wind blew right straight 
 through it, and there it was, empty ! a beautiful, 
 white, shining house for the banshee, who immedi 
 ately turned into a beautiful princess ; for it seems 
 a wicked magician had enchanted her and turned 
 her into a a creature. Oh, and the inside of 
 the egg, the part we eat, I mean 
 
 " Do we eat roc s eggs ? " 
 
 " I never have, Molly," Philip admitted, " but I 
 should like to. Well, anyhow, it all ran out on a 
 rock where the sun had been beating for a thou 
 sand years, so it was very hot, and of course it cooked 
 the egg into omelets ; so you see the beautiful prin 
 cess had plenty to eat. Now finish it; it s your 
 turn." 
 
 Molly gasped. " Oh, father, not yet ? " 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 109 
 
 " Yes, it s your turn. What are you going to 
 do with the princess ? " 
 
 But he did not follow her adventures. His 
 thoughts went back to the old question : " What is 
 my duty?" He said to himself again, as he had 
 said so many times in these last few years, " Molly ! " 
 He knew, of course, that if he ended what he believed 
 to be an ignoble and a lying relation, if he and his 
 wife separated, the court would take no cognizance 
 of his subtleties, and Molly would unquestionably be 
 given to her mother ; that is, if the matter were 
 pushed to any legal decision. And if it were not 
 made a legal question, he knew equally well that 
 Cecil would never consent to give the child to him ; 
 the only possible arrangement would be a division of 
 Molly s time, that arrangement fatal to the father 
 and mother idea in a child s mind. All the embar 
 rassment and pain of such a plan to the growing 
 girl came before his mind : she would have no fixed 
 home ; she would have to make explanations ; she 
 would be surrounded by the horrible atmosphere of 
 antagonism in which each parent must live in regard 
 to the other, who, in so many months or so many 
 weeks, would steal the child away again. On the 
 other hand, suppose that he were to give up his 
 desire for integrity, his passionate belief in the honor 
 of marriage, and continue this miserable life, so that 
 Molly s little existence be kept unruffled: what 
 would be the result to her? What would be the 
 effect upon her of the incessant contradiction and 
 bickering between her father and mother, the teach- 
 
110 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 ing of each denying the teaching of the other ; and, 
 more subtle and deadly possibility, what would be 
 the effect upon her of the lie which the father and 
 mother lived ? Was not the truth safer ? Was it 
 not to be trusted ? There was surely less danger to 
 her from the sad, outspoken acknowledgment that 
 because love was the supreme thing, because they 
 honored marriage, her father and mother had parted ! 
 Again and again he had argued this with himself ; 
 again and again he had answered, " Yes, the truth is 
 best ! " And yet, how could he give her up, how 
 could he trust her to Cecil even for half the time ? 
 - Molly ! It was as though upon the fine and deli 
 cate and admirable machinery of his theories this 
 little unconscious hand was laid, and everything 
 jarred and snapped and broke. Ah, we take a great 
 deal upon us, we men and women, when, all uncertain 
 of ourselves and of each other, we dare to bring a 
 child s soul into the strife and confusion and cruelty 
 which any lack of love between us will create out of 
 marriage ! 
 
 Philip was not listening to Molly s story, it was 
 something about Indians and sponges, when sud 
 denly she broke it off with a question : 
 
 " Father, why does n t God kill the devil ? " 
 
 " Well," said Philip, knocking off the ashes of 
 his cigar with a careful finger, " candidly, I don t 
 know." 
 
 "Why, father!" cried Molly. "You ought to 
 know," she said severely. 
 
 " I don t," Philip confessed meekly. 
 
PHILIP* AND HIS WIFE. Ill 
 
 Molly sighed. " I don t know why He does n t, 
 either. He s the biggest." 
 
 " What do you know about God and the devil ? " 
 her father inquired. 
 
 "Oh, everything." 
 
 " Well ! do impart your information, Polly." 
 
 "What?" 
 
 " Tell father ; he does n t know 4 everything. 
 
 " Well, God lives in a garden. I think the stars 
 are the bushes growing in it. And He hides some 
 where in the bushes, cause we never see Him, you 
 know." 
 
 " Yes," Philip said, " it does seem sometimes as if 
 He hid Himself, Molly." 
 
 " There is a river in the garden, and a gold house 
 for Him to live in. And He keeps crowns in a box 
 under the bed, and gives em to the angels, an the 
 angels keep throwing them down in front of Him. 
 I don t see why. 
 
 " It does seem singular," her father agreed. 
 
 " Well, and the Other. He has ears like a 
 cow, and hoofs. He makes people bad. He makes 
 em say 4 damn ! " 
 
 Oh, dear ! " 
 
 " Yes, he does ; he s awfully wicked. And 
 God doesn t like him. So why doesn t He kill 
 him ? I would." She dropped her head on her 
 father s breast, so that her soft, straight hair 
 touched his lips. " I really don t understand it, 
 father ? " 
 
 " I ve known others who are confused by it, 
 
112 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 Polly. But if I were you, I would n t bother about 
 it. If God knows, why, that s enough." 
 
 "Well," returned Molly reluctantly. Then she 
 looked up and said, " Mamma laughs and laughs, 
 but 1 think it is a good deal better to say a prayer 
 to both of em. If God is n t quite big enough to 
 kill him, why, it s safer to say a prayer to him, too. 
 Then he won t be mad." 
 
 Philip s hand, holding his cigar, hid his face for a 
 moment, but when he spoke his voice was very seri 
 ous. It was better to think of what was good than 
 of what was bad, he told her. " And so," he ended, 
 " I wouldn t pray to the devil, darling." 
 
 " Well," said Molly doubtfully ; " but it seems to 
 me just as well. Mamma said my devil prayer 
 was naughty, oh, she thought it was real wicked, 
 father," she said proudly, " but it made her laugh 
 and laugh ; she made me say it to Mr. Carey. 
 Want me to say it to you ? It will make you laugh 
 like everything. 4 Dear Dev - 
 . "No!" 
 
 At the change in his voice, Molly s little face 
 puckered into excuses and defense. " Why, mamma 
 laughed ; she - 
 
 "No," Philip said again, but gently. "You must 
 not make an exhibition of your prayers, Mary." 
 
 "A what, father?" 
 
 " An exhibition. Let s see if you can under 
 stand. Your prayer is only for the One to whom 
 you speak. If it is only one word, God," it is a 
 prayer ; and if you say it to make father laugh 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 113 
 
 He stopped and set his lips ; how was he to spare 
 the mother to the child ? " Your prayers must be 
 reverent, dear," he ended lamely ; " will you re 
 member ? Whether it is a devil prayer or a God 
 prayer, you must not think of any one else. Do you 
 understand, Molly ? " 
 
 " Yes," Molly answered. " Oh, quick ! Look at 
 the ant walking around your hat ! " 
 
 Philip let her chatter on, with a word now and 
 then .to keep her happy. Once the look in his face 
 called out her rebuke : " Don t wrinkle your fore 
 head so, father. It is n t pretty. Father, you look 
 cross." 
 
 He laughed, kissed her ; but he was angry. " I 
 will see her to-night," he was thinking. " I must 
 speak to her. This sort of thing has got to stop. 
 Oh, the child ! " 
 
 
IX. 
 
 Good nature is often mistaken for Virtue. INGERSOLL. 
 
 BUT Philip had no opportunity to speak to Cecil 
 that evening. 
 
 Alicia came to dinner, and, watching the pretty 
 drama enacting under his eyes, his harsh and silent 
 thought of his wife seemed to him a sort of sacrilege. 
 No shy inflection of the girl s voice, no humid look 
 from the undeclared lover s eyes, no meaningless 
 badinage tftat hid all meanings, escaped his reverent 
 appreciation. He was like a man struggling and 
 drowning in the mire, yet seeing, far off, firm sunlit 
 uplands. He had not attained them, but he was 
 still able to believe in them. There are the lowest 
 deeps, where a man ceases to believe in what he has 
 missed ; but Philip Shore believed in love with all 
 his soul. 
 
 Cecil watched the lovers, too ; and when Lyssie 
 went home, with Philip and Mr. Carey as escorts, 
 she thought tenderly of her little sister, but with 
 half-bitter amusement of the situation. " She takes 
 it seriously ! " she thought. She was distinctly 
 interested, however, and checked Molly s persistent 
 chatter that she might follow her own thoughts un 
 disturbed ; but the child s teasing questions annoyed 
 her, and she sent her into the house for some candy. 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 115 
 
 " You can have all you want, if you 11 only keep 
 quiet ; but if you bother mamma, you must go to 
 bed." 
 
 Molly, delighted to find herself possessed of a, 
 whole box of candy, was very obedient, until Rosa, 
 looking pallid, came to say that it was her bedtime ; 
 then she cried, and Cecil kissed her, and promised 
 her a present if she would be good. 
 
 " Give her that little Japanese box on my dress 
 ing table, Rosa," she said; and added a kindly 
 word to the woman about her own health ; "you had 
 better take a glass of milk before you go to bed," 
 she suggested ; and Rosa went away, beaming. Cecil 
 Shore was adored by her servants ; perhaps, some 
 time, we shall know why it is that the IL scrupulous, 
 generous, selfish person arouses in his inferiors a 
 devotion which virtue itself, with all its justice and 
 sense of responsibility, rarely commandso 
 
 Cecil s bribe to Molly left her to the peace and 
 quiet she desired, and her thoughts went back to 
 the lovers. 
 
 She had a small silver flask in her hand, full of 
 some thick golden perfume, and she opened it 
 slowly : " To think it should be Lys ! What a pity 
 Philip is married ; he would be so much more appro 
 priate for her." The natural sequence of this state 
 ment occurred to her and she meditated upon it 
 with some interest. 
 
 Cecil Shore was a singularly clear-sighted woman, 
 and she was in the habit of observing herself as 
 truthfully and intelligently as she did other people. 
 
116 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 But truthfulness of this sort is in no sense spiritual ; 
 it is only a calm, material dealing with facts. 
 Hence she felt no shock or shrinking at the tendency 
 of her thoughts, or her serious admission that it was 
 a pity things could not be more appropriately ar 
 ranged; she only sighed a little, and began to plan 
 how she might make this sweet, unreal, fleeting time 
 sweeter for Lyssie. " I must have her here of tener," 
 she thought, but remembered Mrs. Drayton, and 
 half laughed and groaned. " I 11 have to step into 
 the breach and be agreeable to her, so that she 11 let 
 Lys off. I 11 have to go and sit with her sometimes, 
 and talk about her soul, Heaven help me ! " 
 Then she started, and said sharply, " Who s that ? " 
 for a figure moved down among the shadows at the 
 foot of the steps, and then stood still. 
 
 " Me, ma am," a frightened voice answered. 
 
 Cecil, still feeling her heart beating, sat up, and 
 said, " Well ! who are you ? Eliza Todd ? What 
 do you want, Eliza ? You should n t come creeping 
 about this way ; you frightened me to death ! " 
 
 The little gray figure came out into the faint light 
 from the house. "I I thought Miss Lyssie was 
 here, ma am. I m sure I did n t mean to frighten 
 you, Mrs. Shore. I thought Miss Lyssie was here." 
 
 " She has gone home." 
 
 " Oh, has she, ma am ? " 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "Well, it don t matter. T ain t no great odds. 
 I m sorry I disturbed you, I m sure." 
 
 Eliza was creeping back into the shadows, but 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 117 
 
 Cecil stopped her : " Why did you want to see Miss 
 Lyssie, Eliza ? Anything wrong ? " 
 
 " No, m ; oh no, m. I just thought I d I d 
 get her," said Eliza, her voice breaking ; and then 
 she lifted the skirt of her calico dress and wiped her 
 eyes, " I m all shook up, Mrs. Shore. I m sure 
 I beg your pardon for giving way before a lady like 
 you. But I thought Miss Lyssie was here." 
 
 " Oh, don t cry, whatever you do ! " Mrs. Shore 
 said cheerfully. "Tell me what troubles you. I 
 think I 11 do as well as Miss Lyssie. Is it the 
 rent ? " 
 
 Mrs. Tocld laid her worn, thin hand across her 
 mouth, as though to steady the nervous tremor of 
 her lips. u I ve been doin your windows to-day, 
 Mrs. Shore, and the girls said Miss Lyssie was here 
 to dinner, and was out setting on the porch with 
 you; and so I come round from the back of the 
 house to see if I could get her. That s all." 
 
 " But what do you want Miss Lyssie for, at this 
 hour of the night ? Oh, come, Eliza, you must n t 
 cry ! I never can do anything for people that cry." 
 Then, after a moment s pause, seeing the little, 
 crouching, crying figure at the foot of the steps, 
 Cecil added kindly, " Come up here, and let s have 
 a little talk ; tell me what s the matter." 
 
 Eliza came, slowly, catching her breath as she 
 tried to stop crying. She sat down on the steps, and 
 Cecil, stretched out in her long chair, could see all 
 the details of work and poverty in her face. 
 
 " T ain t anything, ma am, only I was afraid to 
 
118 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 go home. I thought maybe Miss Lyssie would go 
 with me. She can do anything with him." 
 
 " Miss Lyssie ! " cried Lyssie s sister, resentment 
 and amusement in her face. " Why, my sister 
 could n t go home with you at this time of night, 
 Eliza. I suppose you mean that you and Todd have 
 quarreled ; but Miss Lyssie can t do anything." 
 
 " Oh no, ma am, we ain t quarreled," Eliza ex 
 plained eagerly. " Only your Rosa said that Mr. 
 Shore s John told her he seen Todd going home, 
 full. Well, I expect my baby in six weeks, ma am, 
 and I ain t real smart ; an when he s full, he s just 
 as like as not to jaw at me. And I thought I d 
 just get Miss Lyssie to speak to him. She d get 
 him pleasant, if he was n t real drunk. If he s 
 real drunk, he sleeps, and then I don t mind. But 
 Rosa said John said that he were n t more an half 
 full. So I thought I d get Miss Lyssie." 
 
 " Is Miss Lyssie in the habit of going around at 
 night to pacify Todd? " said Cecil curiously. 
 " Ma am ? " 
 
 " Does she often come and talk to your husband ? 
 She ought not to go at night, Eliza." 
 
 " Well, yes m, she comes sometimes. There s 
 nobody can do anything with him but Miss Lyssie, 
 the nasty brute ! " 
 
 " Oh," said Cecil, surprised, " is that the way you 
 feel about him ? Well, I m sure I should think you 
 would. It would be very disagreeable to live with 
 a man who jawed at one." 
 
 44 Well, that s just what he does," Eliza said re- 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 119 
 
 sentfully. " My ! nobody knows what 1 ve put up 
 
 with in that man. An he s just a worthless brute ; 
 
 I ve told him so a hundred times. I ve told him 
 
 the Lord only knew why I demeaned myself to 
 
 marry him." 
 
 " That must have been encouraging to him," Cecil 
 
 observed. 
 
 But Mrs. Todd went on passionately : " Me, that 
 
 was well brought up ! I had my music lessons, Mrs. 
 
 Shore, when I was a girl, and I had an instrument ; 
 
 I could play 4 See the dewdrop. I suppose you 
 
 know that piece, ma am ? " 
 
 " I don t recall it," Mrs. Shore confessed. 
 " And then to think I married that that that 
 carpenter ! " ended Eliza, at a loss for an adjective. 
 " Well, you were very foolish to marry a man who 
 drank," Cecil said, yawning. 
 
 " Oh, but he signed the pledge," Eliza excused 
 herself, "he signed it as many as six times before 
 we was finally married. And now look at him ! And 
 look at me, slavin ! I never thought I d come 
 down to washing people s windows, Mrs. Shore. 
 My father was a respectable man. He was never 
 took up for anything, and he never kept company 
 with them that was took up. So I had advan 
 tages ; course, now, I feel it. We ain t got any 
 instrument. My goodness ! we ain t got anything. 
 Oh, it s no good talking ; it makes me real put 
 out. But to-night I thought I just could n t stand 
 him if he got to jawing ; so I came round to get 
 Miss Lyssie to speak to him." 
 
120 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 " Well, Eliza," Mrs. Shore assured her, " I think, 
 considering your powers of invective, there may be 
 something to be said for Job. However, never 
 mind that. I wish you d tell me one thing : why 
 in the world do you go on living with him? I should 
 think the simplest way out of it all would be to leave 
 him ? " 
 
 " My ! I Ve threatened to do that a hundred 
 times. But then, when he ain t drinking he gets 
 good wages. I suppose I m more comfortable, 
 ma am, takin it all together, than if I had n t his 
 wages coming in sometimes? And then, Mrs. Shore, 
 / ve got a tongue." 
 
 " I ve noticed that," Cecil murmured. 
 
 " An I can give it back to him ! It s only when 
 he licks me well, he s only done that three times. I 
 could have had him took up, but then there would n t 
 a been any wages, you see ; so I just content my 
 self by telling him that he s a brute. An he is ! 
 
 my baby coming, and me afraid to go home for fear 
 he 11 get me in a tremble ! I thought Miss Lyssie 
 would make him pleasant," she ended, and whim 
 pered, and wiped her eyes on her skirt again, and 
 rose. " Oh, I m that scared of him ! " She stood 
 there, her poor gaunt little face full of the fright 
 ened resentment of selfishness, but with no gleam of 
 pity for the sinfulness of the poor sinner who was 
 her husband. 
 
 " You are a very foolish woman to live with him," 
 Cecil said impatiently. " As for to-night, I can send 
 John home with you - But no, that would n t do 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 121 
 
 any good. Oh, well, you poor silly little creature, 
 come, I 11 go home with you myself." She got up 
 lazily. " Run into the hall and bring me that white 
 wrap that is on the sofa. Yes, yes ; I 11 walk home 
 with you," she insisted good naturedly in answer to 
 Eliza s tremulous protest. 
 
 They were outside the gates before Cecil remem 
 bered that she should have had John follow her, that 
 she might not have to come back alone. Still, in 
 Old Chester one does not mind being out after dark 
 by one s self. So she said one or two kind things 
 to Eliza, promised her some baby clothes, told her 
 she might come up to the barn every night and get 
 milk for the children, and then, silently, walked 
 along in the starlight down to the village, to the 
 miserable little house where the Todds lived. There, 
 Eliza slipped behind her while she knocked gayly, and 
 then instantly pushed the door open and entered. 
 
 There was a moment s pause on the threshold of 
 the squalid room. Job, who was sitting with his 
 head on his arms, at a table on which were some un 
 washed plates with scraps of meat upon them, and 
 a pitcher of tea, and a sugar bowl black with flies, 
 lifted his head, and looked at her with dull eyes ; a 
 child, wailing fretfully on a bed still unmade, stopped, 
 open-mouthed. Cecil, with a quick glance, took in 
 the scene. Job Todd s jaw dropped in blank and 
 sheepish astonishment as she came toward him. 
 
 " Oh, Mr. Todd," she said graciously, " I m so 
 glad you re at home. You re just the man I want 
 to see. Can you do a piece of work for me to-mor- 
 
122 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 row, in my stable? Ah, Eliza, that little woman 
 on the bed wants her supper ! Mr. Todd, I m 
 afraid I kept your wife very late, but she is such a 
 capital cleaner I really could n t let her go sooner." 
 
 Job had gotten on his feet, and was grinning in 
 a silly way, but at Eliza s name his heavy red face ^ 
 darkened. " I had to get my own supper," he be 
 gan threateningly. 
 
 Cecil, with a charming smile, broke in : "I have 
 heard people say that men are better cooks than 
 women ! But you ve had your supper, Mr. Todd ? 
 I m not interrupting you ? " 
 
 " Oh no, m ; not at all, I m sure," Job said, jerk 
 ing his head up and down in a bow. 
 
 " I just wanted to ask you about this piece of 
 work," Cecil went on, aware that Eliza was slipping 
 the children away to an inner room, and clearing the 
 table, and turning down the lamp which was smok 
 ing on the mantelpiece above the untidy stove. " I 
 know what a good carpenter you are ; I remember 
 hearing some one say what good work you did." 
 
 Job shook his head, with a pleased look, and 
 thrust out his weak lips. "Well, I don t know. 
 Used to be." Then the drunken anger came back 
 into his face. " She wastes all my money, an I 
 have to get my own supper ; no good in being first- 
 rate in .your trade, if - He glared at Eliza, and 
 Cecil was in despair. Well, there was nothing for 
 it but to take him away. She shivered a little, but 
 she said, courteously, that she wondered if he would 
 be so good as to walk up the hill with her ? 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 123 
 
 " I forgot to tell my man to come for me ; but if 
 you will walk home with me, Mr. Todd, that will be 
 better, because I can tell you about the work." 
 
 That Job was flattered was so evident that Cecil 
 could hardly keep the gravity of countenance which 
 was essential ; he came stumbling out into the street 
 with her, murmuring, " Yes, m, yes, m," to every 
 thing she said. And she said much, and always 
 with " Mr. Todd ? " at the end of her sentences, 
 spoken in that enchanting voice which made the 
 poor fellow straighten himself, and feel more like a 
 man than he had in many a year, far more than 
 Dr. Lavendar s invectives, and Miss Susan s sensible 
 reproaches, and Miss Lyssie s entreaties had ever 
 made him feel. Cecil did not refer to the work 
 again, and she devoutly hoped that he would not. 
 "What shall I say, if he asks what it is?" she 
 thought nervously. She spoke of the weather, and 
 was " so glad " Mr. Todd thought it was going to be 
 fine ; she asked him about his politics with all the 
 gravity in the world, and took him to task for not 
 voting. " American men ought to vote, and not 
 leave the ballot to aliens, don t you think so, Mr. 
 Todd ? " And Job, who had not paid his poll tax 
 
 ice he was twenty-one, said, " Yes, m, yes, m. 
 
 ir right, m. We had ought to vote ; yer 
 - lit, m." It seemed to Job that she had forgot 
 ten that he was a drunkard, as Dr. Lavendar and 
 the others had assured him he was, over and over. 
 A glow came about his heart. He was so elated 
 I hat he did not notice the relief in her tone, when, 
 
124 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 halfway up the hill, she interrupted herself suddenly 
 by saying, " Oh, there s Mr. Carey, there s Mr. 
 Shore and Mr. Carey, Mr. Todd. I shall not have 
 to trouble you to go on up the hill with me. 
 Philip ! " she called out sharply, and the two men 
 turned, astonished to see her and her companion. 
 When they were beside her, she laughed a little at 
 her own relief, but she said, still with that gracious 
 politeness that stirred Job as nothing but flattery 
 can stir a fool, " I had to go down to the village, 
 and Mr. Todd was so kind as to walk up the hill with 
 me. Good-night, Mr. Todd. Thank you so much." 
 
 And Job Todd made a jerky bow, promised to 
 attend to the stable job, and went off with a brisk 
 step that surprised himself. 
 
 As for Cecil, she drew her wrap about her, with 
 a shiver and a laugh. It seemed as though she still 
 felt his heavy presence, and the smell of liquor near 
 her. " OA, what a beast he is ! " she said. " How 
 glad I am I met you ! Mr. Carey, that is one of 
 my sister s proteges. Philip, find something for him 
 to do to-morrow, will you? I ve told him I had 
 some work for him. Can t you break down a stall, 
 or something ? I told him the work was in the sta 
 ble." And then she shook her head and laughed. 
 " No, no ! please don t talk about him, horrible 
 creature ! " 
 
 She was plainly nervous, and yet full of the droll 
 ery of the situation. 
 
 It was useless, Philip saw, to think of having any 
 talk with her about Molly that night. 
 
X. 
 
 I am often filled with wonder that so many marriages are passably 
 successful, and so few come to open failure. STEVENSON. 
 
 THE next morning, in accordance with her plan 
 of being agreeable to Mrs. Drayton so that Lyssie 
 might have a little more freedom, Cecil went to see 
 her step-mother; and she was agreeable, though the 
 repression she had to put upon herself in her conver 
 sation with this foolish little woman made her tired 
 and cross, so cross that when, at noon, Rosa came 
 to ask what work Mrs. Shore wished Job Todd to 
 do in the stable, Cecil replied impatiently, " I don t 
 know, I m sure ! Don t bother me about it, Rosa. 
 Just tell John to find something for him to do. 
 Anything; I don t care what. Let him build a 
 kennel for Eric." 
 
 " Eric has a very good kennel, Mrs. Shore," Rosa 
 said hesitatingly. 
 
 " Well, let him tear it down and make a bigger 
 one," Cecil commanded, relieved to have the matter 
 decided; and then she called the woman back. 
 " Oh, I suppose I must go myself," she said, crossly, 
 with that impatience which we all feel when we 
 would do evil, but find good present with us. So 
 she went out across the hot sunshine of the court 
 yard, said a dozen pretty words to Job, and came 
 
126 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 back again, touched and amused by the poor stupid 
 fellow s slavish admiration. 
 
 She had a delicious nap that afternoon, Rosa fan 
 ning her softly until she fell asleep, and when she 
 awakened, warm and flushed, bringing her a sanga- 
 ree so cold that the goblet was frosted with beads of 
 mist. Cecil was very comfortable by that time, and 
 very good natured : she had planned an unusual 
 salad for dinner (tomatoes set in aspic, with a deli 
 cious accompaniment of stuffed eggs) ; also, she had 
 arranged with Mrs. Drayton that Lyssie should have 
 a whole day off ; and two such successes could not 
 fail to make her good natured. She intended that 
 Lyssie s day should be charmingly spent with Philip 
 and Mr. Carey on the river. For her part, she 
 would go and sit with her step-mother, and then 
 have her nap as usual in the afternoon. Cecil very 
 frankly hated excursions, they involved too much 
 exertion, and the sun was generally hot ; but, pro 
 vided she could stay at home, she was willing to 
 arrange them for other people. In fact, she liked 
 the pleasure, which in some natures is almost sensu 
 ous, of giving pleasure to others. 
 
 When she announced her plan to Mr. Carey that 
 evening, his quick look of delight annoyed her. She 
 did not know why. " One would think he would be 
 a little bored by a whole day of it," she thought ; 
 and when Philip, who had been walking restlessly 
 up and down the porch, turned to go into his library, 
 she stopped him rather curtly, and told him what she 
 had arranged. 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 127 
 
 " That will be very nice," he said absently. " To 
 morrow, you say ? I m glad of that ; I must be 
 away the next day, unfortunately." Then he ex 
 plained to Mr. Carey that he had been called up to 
 town. " I ve just had a letter from Woodhouse, 
 saying that he can go over Miller s work with me on 
 Thursday." 
 
 " Miller is Philip s little artist," Cecil said. " You 
 know Philip keeps an artist as some people support 
 missionaries. He thinks he can create genius by 
 encouraging ability. Now, Philip, I hope you are 
 not going to be hard on him? " 
 
 " I hope not," Philip returned briefly. " I m sorry, 
 Carey, to clear out in this way, but I have to take 
 Woodhouse when I can get him. Miller is his mis 
 sionary as well as mine. Poor Miller sent the pic 
 tures over six weeks ago, and I suppose he is beside 
 himself with anxiety to know what his chances are. 
 We withdraw the money, you know, if the excellence 
 of the work does n t warrant it." 
 
 " What are his chances ? Has he the real stuff in 
 him ? " Roger asked. He knew all about this plan 
 of Philip Shore s for lending a young artist money 
 for three years study abroad. One man had already 
 profited by this arrangement, and now Philip was 
 watching with some anxiety the progress of the seconds 
 
 "Well," he said doubtfully, "I don t know. 
 This examination will settle it. He does not seem 
 to me to stick as he should." 
 
 " Sure you re not holding too tight a rein ? " 
 Roger suggested. " He s young, you know." 
 
128 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 " Indeed he is holding too tight a rein ! " Cecil 
 broke in. " Philip s idea of the artistic passion is 
 to die in an attic. Now, I think one can be an 
 artist, and yet not die in an attic. Here s Philip 
 himself," she ended, with a droll glance. 
 
 Her reference to the life which he had put aside 
 because he had recognized his limitations put 
 aside with agony and truth stung like a lash 
 across his face ; but he said, carelessly enough, 
 " Oh, very likely I was n t capable of dying at such 
 an altitude," and would have gone away, but Cecil 
 detained him by a gesture and a laugh. 
 
 " You didn t sell your pictures ; that was the real 
 reason. Come, now, Philip, was n t it ? " 
 
 " Of course it was. If they had been good, they 
 would have sold ; and fortunately for me, no mis 
 guided friends purchased what was n t good, to en 
 courage me in devoting myself to mediocrity." 
 
 "It s a pity your view isn t more general," 
 Roger Carey observed. " Misguided friendship and 
 weak-kneed benefaction are harder on art than 
 hunger and cold ever were. I m glad you won t 
 support your man unless he has the real stuff in 
 him. But, poor devil, I m sorry for him, if his 
 work does n t come up to the scratch." 
 
 " So am I," said Philip Shore ; and there was 
 something in his voice which told that he was 
 acquainted with that grief. 
 
 " Ah, well," Cecil said lightly, " somebody may 
 die and leave him some money, or he may marry a 
 rich wife ; that will destroy any passion for dying in 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE, 129 
 
 attics. But really, it would be very hard on him to 
 have to give up, now, without such compensation. 
 If you decide against him, I 11 send him the money 
 to go on with his work myself." 
 
 Naturally the conversation ended with this re 
 mark. Roger Carey looked at his hostess with a 
 wonder at her possibilities which was almost admira 
 tion. As for Philip, he excused himself to his guest 
 because he had some letters to write, and went into 
 his library, setting his teeth hard, and closing the 
 door behind him with a vicious bang. As he did so, 
 he heard Cecil s voice saying, " Has she talked 
 religion to you yet ? She has it in its most malig 
 nant form " and he knew that poor Mrs. Drayton 
 was serving as a stalking-horse for his wife s wit. 
 
 He did not hear Roger Carey s blunt rejoinder : 
 " Oh, now, look here, Mrs. Shore, I like Mrs. 
 Drayton ! You must n t abuse her to me." 
 
 Cecil laughed. " My dear Mr. Carey, what has 
 liking to do with it ? You don t suppose that I am 
 not deeply attached to my step-mother ? But I can t 
 help seeing that she is amusing." 
 
 u You would see something amusing at a fu 
 neral ! " 
 
 " Ah, well, you have n t experienced her religion," 
 Cecil defended herself. " She has n t told you how 
 intimate she is with her Creator, and you ve never 
 heard her purring on about infinity by the hour ! 
 I assure you, Mr. Carey, she empties her soul of its 
 emotions just as a boy pulls his pocket wrong side 
 out to show you that there s nothing in it. And to 
 
130 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 think that I am going to sit with her to-morrow 
 morning, so that my sister can have a little spree, 
 poor child ! " 
 
 Roger felt the reproach for his somewhat aggres 
 sive goodness, as she meant he should. 
 
 " You re very good, awfully good, to sit with her 
 instead of coming out on the river. But is she too 
 sick to be left alone ? " 
 
 Cecil laughed. " Sick ? She is the most robustly 
 delicate person I know." 
 
 44 Well, then, why does she object to being 
 alone ? " 
 
 44 But don t you know ? " said Cecil, surprised ; 
 44 there is never any 4 why in Mrs. Drayton s objec 
 tions ! " 
 
 Again Roger Carey frowned, and said that at any 
 rate Mrs. Drayton spared Miss Lyssie to do lots of 
 charitable work ; and for his part, he thought there 
 was nothing more attractive in a woman than just 
 that sort of thing. 
 
 44 Oh, nothing ! " Cecil agreed, smiling. 
 
 But Mr. Carey had nothing more to say of little 
 Lyssie. Indeed, he did not like to talk about her 
 to this strangely different woman ; to discuss her 
 with his hostess was like analyzing a violet upon a 
 gaming table. Instead, he took Cecil to task for 
 having told Molly to fib, the day before. 44 1 should 
 think it was awfully important to teach children to 
 tell the truth," he said. 44 4 I speak as a fool, for I 
 don t know much about em ; but judging from the 
 experiences of my own youth, I should say they took 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 131 
 
 to lying pretty easily. You instructed Molly so 
 gracefully, the young one will think fibbing is a fine 
 art." 
 
 This led to a discussion upon truth, in which Mr. 
 Carey aired very noble sentiments, and Cecil insisted 
 that truth was governed by the law of benefit. 
 " And I consider that I was a benefactor to you all 
 by saving you from the old lady," she said, with 
 some earnestness. Mr. Carey s carelessly frank as 
 tonishment at what she had done annoyed her to the 
 point of self-defense. " Besides, the child discrimi 
 nates, you know." 
 
 " Yes, against Mrs. Dale, no doubt," Roger said ; 
 but was so little interested in her explanations that 
 he hardly waited for her to finish another excuse be 
 fore he began to talk about Job Todd ; his admira 
 tion of what he called in his own mind her " sand " 
 in walking at night with an intoxicated man spoke 
 plainly in his voice. 
 
 " Do tell me how you happened to do it," he said, 
 scratching a match upon the sole of his boot, and 
 lighting his cigar. 
 
 And she told him ; commenting, when she ended, 
 upon the absurdity of the situation. " Here they 
 are, living a cat-and-dog life ; and we have to sup 
 port their miserable little children ! I told her she 
 was a great goose not to leave him." 
 
 " She was a goose to marry him, but she ought to 
 stick to her bargain. I hope your dangerous views 
 did n t strike in ? " 
 
 " Marriages are queer things, are n t they ? " 
 
132 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 Cecil returned thoughtfully. " Did you ever notice 
 how we say of all our friends, 4 Why in the world 
 did he marry her ? or, What possessed her to 
 marry him ? 
 
 " Yes, I I ve noticed it," said Roger Carey, 
 looking at the tip of his cigar. 
 
 " Ah, well, there s a mistake somewhere in this 
 idea of marriage," Cecil informed him gayly. " Talk 
 about matches being made in heaven ! If they are, 
 they light the fires of the other place very success 
 fully." 
 
 " Well, you help to light the fires with bad 
 advice," Roger insisted dogmatically, and with that 
 good-humored contempt of a woman s opinion which 
 does not condescend to argument ; but he moved his 
 chair so that he might see her face as she talked. 
 His first repulsion always faded after he had been 
 with her a little while. Perhaps it was her repose 
 which charmed him, a repose so absolute that to 
 see her eyes when she lifted her white lids he had 
 thus to move his chair, for she would not turn her 
 head when she spoke. Her voice, between her melo 
 dious silences, was deep, for a woman, and soft, and 
 it had in it the delicious clearness and color of dark 
 wine ; she spoke slowly, too, so that he could feel the 
 caress of sound without the tension to catch the 
 sense. He heard her excuse Job Todd because of 
 the fatality of his environment ; he heard her advo 
 cate the irresponsibility of temperament. She talked 
 well and cleverly, touching, with the conventional 
 unconventionality of our day, on subjects which a 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 133 
 
 generation ago were tabooed between men and wo 
 men, but which now we see fit to discuss, declaring 
 that there can be no consciousness in the common 
 place though every man and woman of us knows 
 better ! Once he contradicted her sharply, and once 
 he laughed ; but he was not listening closely. " Oh, 
 now, look here ! " he said vaguely, with the intona 
 tion with which, to a man, he would have said, 
 " Bosh ! " He was following for her sleeve was 
 of some sheer muslin the line of her arm from the 
 shoulder to the finger tip : he saw the exquisite 
 curves, unmarred by any ornament, he saw the faint 
 color of her relaxed palm, and it came into his mind, 
 with that primitive ferocity which lurks below the 
 product of civilization which is named a gentleman, 
 that a man might grasp the satin smoothness of the 
 round flesh, above and below the elbow, and kiss the 
 blue vein on that warm curve of the inner arm, 
 kiss it, and kiss it, until 
 
 Roger Carey rose hastily. " I must go in ; I have 
 some letters to write. Beg pardon for interrupting 
 you, but I must go in. I just remembered." He 
 dropped her hand carelessly when he said " Good 
 night," and then went hastily to his own room, where 
 for a long time he stood before the open window 
 frowning out into the darkness. But after a while 
 his face cleared, and he smiled and drew a deep 
 breath. " She is a dear little thing ! " he said. 
 
 Roger, capable of forgetting himself, was also 
 capable of forgetting Cecil ; but she did not readily 
 forget him. When she went upstairs there was 
 
134 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 some annoyance in her face. " How unpleasant he 
 is ! " she thought, and sat down in front of her 
 mirror, looking absently into its shadowy depths. 
 " Very unpleasant, but Then she half laughed 
 and sighed, and, leaning her elbow on the table, 
 looked long and deeply into the glass. . 
 
 The room was lighted only by the candles on the 
 dressing table, for the night was warm and still. 
 Cecil, moving about, stopped to trim the wicks, 
 and then stood, the snuffers in her hand, absorbed 
 in thought. Some one knocked, and she answered 
 absently, without turning her head, " Come in ; " 
 then, with a start, she saw her husband s face in the 
 mirror. 
 
 " What, you ? " 
 
 " Yes ; can you spare me a few moments ? " said 
 Philip; but, involuntarily, he stood still on the 
 threshold, in the quick delight of the artist at that 
 sumptuous figure, standing there in the faint dusk 
 of the candlelight. Somehow, the beauty of it, and 
 the sense of his absolute ownership, took him by the 
 throat for one bad moment that sent the blood into 
 his face. All this beauty which enchanted and 
 invited him, this length of shining hair, the white 
 column of the stately throat, was his ; for was she 
 not his wife? 
 
 But the soul of the man knew better. 
 
 " Of course I can spare you a few moments," 
 Cecil answered, smiling, and sitting down, one white 
 bare arm along the back of her chair, and the other 
 on the dressing table. 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 135 
 
 " I am afraid it is late," he said, " but I saw your 
 light, and I was anxious to speak to you. I won t 
 detain you very long." 
 
 " I don t see why you should be apologetic," she 
 interposed good naturedly. "Sit clown, won t you?" 
 
 There was a certain intent look in Philip s face 
 that did not escape Cecil. " I have attacks of 
 nerves," she had once said, " but Philip has attacks 
 of soul ! " Such attacks were not agreeable to her, 
 though she bore them with remarkable patience. 
 She thought now, watching him with amused, critical 
 eyes, that such an attack was imminent. " I sup 
 pose," she reflected, "that this sort of thing attracted 
 me at first, because it was odd. Yes, and there is 
 an intellectual value, too ; Philip is no fool." 
 
 " I hope nothing has bothered you ? " she said, 
 aloud. 
 
 " I want to speak to you about Molly." 
 
 "Molly! Why, what is the matter? Is she ill? 
 What about Molly ? " Her face changed sharply, 
 and she half rose. 
 
 " No ; nothing, nothing ; she is quite well." 
 
 Cecil sank back in her chair, with a quick breath 
 of relief. " Oh, you startled me so ! " she said, her 
 color coming again. Her hair, falling over her 
 shoulders, was pulled sideways by her change of posi 
 tion ; she caught it and twisted it in a rope, and 
 wrapped it about one bare arm ; a faint gleam touched 
 a gilt thread here and there in the soft coil, as the 
 flames of the candles behind her bent and flared in 
 a sudden light draught. " I wish you would n t come 
 
136 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 in and frighten me this way," she told him irritably,, 
 " Well, what is it? What do you want?" 
 
 " I want to ask you " - he spoke slowly, and his 
 manner was guardedly polite " I want to call 
 your attention to the danger of giving Molly an idea 
 that truth is not important. I noticed yesterday 
 morning 
 
 "Yesterday morning?" she broke in. "Oh, you 
 mean c not at home ? Oh, now, really, Philip, do 
 you think it worth while to discuss a social form ? 
 I m pretty patient with your ideas generally, but 
 really ! " 
 
 " I m not talking about a social form ; I m talk 
 ing about the spirit of truth. We debauch a child s 
 soul when we allow it to sink its directness in what 
 we call a social form. Molly can t discriminate. 
 She tells what she thinks is a lie, and finds it in 
 dorsed, in fact suggested, by us." 
 
 " Us ! " Cecil repeated, and laughed. "Philip, 
 your politeness leads you dangerously near this same 
 debauchery yourself. Pray don t consider my feel 
 ings. Tell the truth, and shame me. Oh, I 11 
 not send any more such messages by her, if it dis 
 tresses you so much. But don t, don t, at midnight, 
 begin about the spirit of truth ! Must you, 
 Philip?" 
 
 All her good nature had come back again, for she 
 was sleepy. 
 
 Philip Shore made 110 appeal for any deeper mo 
 tive in her acquiescence than this mere contemptuous 
 consideration of his wishes ; the time for such appeals 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 137 
 
 seemed to him long gone by. " Thank you," he 
 said. "And there s one other thing. Molly hap 
 pened to speak about that prayer of hers to the 
 devil, you know ?" 
 
 "Yes, well? What of it? It was very funny. 
 Did she repeat it to you ? " 
 
 " Repeat it ? Of course not. Do you suppose I d 
 let the child think her prayer could be amusing? 
 That is what I wanted to speak to you about ; it was 
 outrageous to make a jest of the child s prayer ! " 
 
 Cecil dropped her arm on her dressing table with 
 a soft crash. " OA, dear me ! " she said, and then 
 swallowed a yawn which brought the water into her 
 eyes and made her smile. " (I beg your pardon.) 
 Philip, if you had the slightest sense of humor, you 
 would be spared much. The idea of being harrowed 
 because I laughed at Molly s prayer ! And really, 
 I must protest ; I can t have my child praying to the 
 devil, if that is what you want. I mean that 
 Molly shall have some religious teaching, and know 
 that one doesn t pray to the devil." 
 
 " Certainly. Check it, by all means. But the 
 point I make is this : when you treated her prayer, 
 which according to your theology was bad, as a joke, 
 you robbed the child of reverence." 
 
 " Your ideas of reverence are interesting : Rev 
 erence, and a prayer to the devil." 
 
 " It is the prayer which I revere. The name 
 4 God or devil is nothing, the instinct of prayer 
 is everything ; and you laughed at it, and made the 
 child repeat it ; you turned it into a show. It was 
 
138 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE, 
 
 shocking ! " His anger with her grew as he put it 
 into words. " I know you have no reverence your 
 self, but, for Heaven s sake, don t rob the child of 
 it." 
 
 Cecil sighed. It was nearly a year since Philip s 
 last attack of " soul ; " she felt that she owed him 
 a hearing for so long a holiday, but she wished he 
 would hurry. " Go on," she said resignedly ; but 
 could not help adding, " It is interesting to hear you 
 advocating religious teaching, you, a skeptic. Oh, 
 Philip, there ! I did n t mean to call down a state 
 ment of your faith ! " 
 
 "Don t be alarmed," he said dryly. " I shouldn t 
 make such a statement to you." 
 
 " There s one thing that always interests me 
 about you good people," returned Cecil, yawning : 
 " not your certainty that the rest of us are swine, 
 no doubt we are, but your certainty that your 
 opinions are pearls." 
 
 " My only certainty is that there is no skepticism 
 so dreadful as that which finds no seriousness in 
 life," he answered significantly. 
 
 " If you mean that for me," she protested, " my 
 dear friend, no one finds life more serious than I ; 
 especially on such occasions." 
 
 " You don t know what it means, even," he said 
 angrily. "If you did, you would be incapable of 
 treating lightly the instinct of worship in a child s 
 soul!" 
 
 It seemed that his words had some effect, for she 
 sat without speaking, tapping one foot upon the 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 139 
 
 floor, and pulling" with a restless finger at her red 
 lip. But her flippancy was so intolerable to him 
 that he turned to leave the room. " I don t often 
 interfere," he said, pausing 011 the threshold, for her 
 continued silence restrained him like some spoken 
 word, " I don t often interfere about Molly, but 
 in a thing of such vital importance as 
 
 " Look here, Philip," she interrupted. " You 
 and I will never agree about Molly, so what is the 
 use of talking about it ? I will never allow her to 
 be taught your dreadful agnostic ideas ; I d rather 
 have her pray to the devil upon the housetops, to 
 the amusement of everybody. No, we 11 never agree 
 about her ; but oh, life would be so much more com 
 fortable if you would just make up your mind to 
 that fact. You go your way, and I 11 go mine." 
 
 " What ? " 
 
 " I mean, you teach her your ideas, and I 11 teach 
 her mine." 
 
 " Oh, I I misunderstood you ! " he exclaimed, 
 his voice suddenly harsh ; and then he was silent a 
 moment until he said, " That s perfectly absurd ; 
 it would be as though you said a thing was white, 
 and I said it was black. She would end by not be 
 lieving either of us. No, I shan t contradict your 
 religious teaching ; but you must not ignore moral 
 teaching, that I shall insist upon. I shan t say 
 that this or that doctrine seems to me ridiculous ; 
 but I do insist that while your teaching is, as I 
 think, intellectually crooked, it is not, also, morally 
 crooked." 
 
140 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE, 
 
 Cecil s face had grown slowly white. " This is 
 insufferable ! " she said, in a low voice. She turned 
 her back upon him, and, shaking her hair loose, 
 began to braid it with trembling fingers. " Philip., 
 I shall do exactly as I please. You can make up 
 your mind to that. Good-night. Please go. You 
 are perfectly impossible. Please, go." Anger vi 
 brated in her scantily civil words. She saw him, in 
 the mirror, hesitate, and then turn away. 
 
 As the door closed behind him, she said, violently, 
 under her breath, " You fool ! " 
 
XL 
 
 Women never reason, or, if they do, they either draw correct 
 inferences from wrong- premises or wrong inferences from correct 
 premises ; and they always poke the fire from the top. 
 
 WHATELY. 
 
 " I LL go and see Utile Dulci," said Dr. Laven- 
 dar to himself, with a sigh. 
 
 It was Friday afternoon, and Joseph was to be at 
 home the next day ; but in spite of that his brother 
 had received a letter from him. 
 
 Dr. Lavendar had been working at his lathe, 
 for it was five o clock, and this was his free hour. 
 As he worked he thought very much about his book, 
 and he perceived, suddenly, a chance for a new sub 
 division, The Relation of Precious Stones to the 
 Science and Practice of Medicine. The very title 
 was rich with suggestions ! He saw at a glance the 
 possibilities of psychical investigations ; delusions 
 and illusions, and their uses ; and of course a dozen 
 instances and minor histories. He sighed with hap 
 piness, and made a little mental calculation, as he 
 had done many times before, as to the probable 
 amount of money the book would earn for Joey. 
 
 The window was open beside him, for it was hot, 
 and the hum of the bees outside mingled with the 
 buzz of his diamond-wheel ; his thin, veined fingers 
 were grimy with oil, and his face was full of that 
 
142 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 satisfaction in accomplishment which has no relation 
 to the value of the thing accomplished. Oe sees it 
 on the face of a child who surveys with ecstasy his 
 mud pie, or in the eye of a woman measuring the 
 day s toil on a piece of embroidery for which the 
 world has no need. It must be a comfortable frame 
 of mind, this satisfaction with achievement without 
 relation to value ; perhaps still higher beings than we 
 who observe the mud pies and embroidery may envy 
 us our anxious and happy preoccupation in our little 
 reforms, or philanthropies, or arts, who knows ? 
 
 Dr. Lavendar, his stiff white hair standing up 
 very straight, his spectacles pushed up on his fore 
 head, his head sunk between his shoulders, was say 
 ing to himself that he had never got so fine a polish 
 on a carnelian. He sat on the edge of his chair, his 
 knees together to make a lap for a dropping tool or 
 stone, his gaitered feet wide apart to afford room for 
 Danny to lie between them. His sermon was writ 
 ten ; he had made three parochial calls, one of 
 them upon Mrs. Pendleton ; he had seen a little 
 blind horse bought because it was blind and ill 
 treated installed in his stable ; and he had put an 
 unequaled polish upon the carnelian. No wonder 
 his face beamed with satisfaction. 
 
 And then arrived Mr. Joseph s letter. 
 
 It startled him so that he must have stepped 
 upon Danny, for the little grizzled dog yelped 
 sharply, and Dr. Lavendar, frowning with anxiety 
 lest Joey should be writing to say that he was ill and 
 could not come home on Saturday, paused, the un- 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 143 
 
 opened letter in his hand, to feel the little gray legs 
 remorsefully and pull the ragged ears as an assurance 
 that his awkwardness was unintentional. 
 
 Then he read the letter. 
 
 The experience of the human race should have 
 decided by this time whether it is best to commu 
 nicate unpleasant news by word of mouth or in 
 writing ; but Mr. Joseph Lavendar, like all the rest 
 of us, had had twenty minds about it. He had some 
 thing to say which his brother would not like to hear. 
 Should he tell it or should he write it ? One or the 
 other must be done, for Mr. Lavendar was meditat 
 ing an important step, and he was incapable of such 
 disloyalty as acting, and then telling. The week 
 before, he had decided to talk it out over their pipes 
 in the arbor ; but it had rained, and they had 
 smoked indoors. Now, it is a fact that, if one sets 
 one s mind on doing a thing in one way, it is quite 
 difficult to do it in any other way. So Mr. Laven 
 dar, owing to the rain, had carried his secret back 
 with him to Mercer. But the consciousness of 
 secrecy was misery. So he wrote his letter ; carried 
 it about in his pocket for one uncertain, hesitating 
 day ; mailed it on a sudden impulse, and had regret 
 ted it ever since ; because perhaps he ought to have 
 spoken its news ? 
 
 He followed the letter in his thoughts on its jour 
 ney in the battered leather mail-bag down to Old 
 Chester. His heart burned and ached as he fancied 
 his brother opening it and reading it ; he knew the 
 old clergyman s pipe would go out, that he would turn 
 
144 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 his back upon the lathe, perhaps even upon an 
 unfinished sermon. Oh, when we receive, as we all 
 do now and then, a letter that strikes us to the heart, 
 at least let us feel that the writer, too, calculating 
 to the moment its arrival, may be turning hot and 
 cold, as do we while we read it. 
 
 " I am sure, my dear James," Mr. Lavendar had 
 written, " I am sure you will be glad to know that 
 I have placed my affections upon a lady for whom 
 I have the highest respect. Indeed, I am confident 
 that you will feel as warmly as I do toward her 
 when you truly know her, which, my dear brother, 
 judging from your opinions expressed about the es 
 timable Mrs. Pendleton, you do not at present. It 
 is my intention to beg her to accept my hand ; and 
 my deepest desire, apart from the hope that she may 
 accept it, is that I may have your sympathy in my 
 suit." 
 
 It was after supper that Dr. Lavendar, still quite 
 shaken from this distressing letter, said to himself, 
 " I 11 go and see Utile Dulci." 
 
 He sighed deeply as he took his hat and stick, and 
 called Danny, and went plodding up the road to Miss 
 Carr s house. Of course he did not mean to speak 
 to her of his dismay at Joey s plan, but he might 
 perhaps skirt the subject, if only in his thoughts ; 
 and she, being a strong, good woman, an " intelligent 
 person," would, quite unconsciously, give him some 
 sort of comfort. 
 
 There was no light in Susan Carr s parlor as Dr. 
 Lavendar went groping through the hall, for, in 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 145 
 
 friendly Old Chester fashion, the front door was 
 open, and the house seemed quite empty and de 
 serted. He could hear Miss Susan s Ellen moving 
 heavily about in the kitchen, singing in a thin voice 
 and with unmistakable camp-meeting emphasis one 
 of those fierce evangelical hymns which display such 
 a singular and interesting conception of the Deity. 
 Dr. Lavendar sat down in the twilight of the silent 
 room, and drew a long breath ; his head sunk upon 
 his breast, and his eyes fixed absently upon the floor. 
 He was thinking, as most people do at some time or 
 other in their lives, that this matter of falling in love 
 knew no rule of reason, or common sense, or obvious 
 propriety. 
 
 " There ought to be a law to prevent foolishness," 
 he said to himself despairingly. It seemed to him 
 that there was a great deal of foolishness in the 
 world ; why, even in little Old Chester, just see what 
 folly there had been : Could anything have been 
 more absurd than for William Dray ton to marry 
 that ridiculous Fanny Dacie ? Could anything be 
 sadder than for a man like Philip Shore to have 
 bound himself to a selfish, sensuous, soulless creature 
 like poor Cecil? And there was Eliza Todd, run 
 ning into the trap of marriage with a drunkard 
 whom she hoped to reform. " Foolishness ! foolish 
 ness ! " said Dr. Lavendar, nodding, and . pressing 
 his lips together, his forehead wrinkling up to his 
 short white hair. " And now to think that Joey 
 should be foolish ! " Then he heard Susan Carr s 
 step, and looked up with a vague apprehension of 
 
146 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 comfort to be found in her mere presence. She 
 struck his hand, man fashion, in a hearty welcome, 
 and said in her clear, strong voice that he had scared 
 her when she saw him sitting there alone in the 
 dark. 
 
 " I Ve just been in to say good-evening to Mrs. 
 Pendleton," she explained. " Why didn t you tell 
 Ellen to run over for me ? " 
 
 The dogmatic, gentle old man felt his heart sud 
 denly come up in his throat ; if he could only tell 
 her all about it ! She looked so wise and simple as 
 she sat there in the dusk beside him ; her face was 
 full of that clear, fresh color that tells of rain and 
 sunshine ; her whole strong, vigorous body seemed to 
 bring the scent of the friendly earth and the breath 
 of growing trees into the still room. And to think 
 that Joey should be foolish, when here was Susan 
 Carr, whom he might have had ! For of course she 
 could not no woman could resist Joey. His 
 voice actually trembled when he said he had just 
 dropped in for a moment. " No, no ; nothing special. 
 So you ve been to call on your neighbor ? " 
 
 Now, Susan Carr had that reverence for her 
 clergyman as the vehicle of grace which all good 
 women feel, a reverence often so devoid of reason 
 that it may be accompanied, where the clergyman is 
 their junior, with a recollection of having dandled 
 the vehicle of grace upon their knees, or even 
 spanked him in his tender youth. But in spite of 
 Susan Carr s reverence she could not help feeling 
 that sometimes Dr. Lavendar was hard upon her 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 147 
 
 little sleek neighbor. She felt it now in his harmless 
 question ; and though she would not for the world 
 have seemed to reprove her pastor, she made haste to 
 say a good word for Mrs. Pendleton : " She s a 
 pleasant person, I think." 
 
 " Ho ! " said Dr. Lavendar. 
 
 At which Miss Susan cheerfully changed the sub 
 ject. She asked him about his book ; and he told 
 her, listlessly, of the chapter upon The Relation of 
 Precious Stones to the Science and Practice of Medi 
 cine. He said he had not talked it over with Joey, 
 but he felt sure Joey would think it an admirable, in 
 fact a necessary discursion. " Though it will delay 
 the book a little ; but, fortunately, Joey is in 110 
 hurry for it, financially." 
 
 Then he fell into a moody silence, and Miss Carr 
 talked ; she spoke of Lyssie and Mr. Carey, and, a 
 little sadly, of Cecil. " She has never belonged to 
 us as Lyssie does," said Miss Susan ; and in a 
 troubled, hesitating way she added something about 
 Philip and his wife : " They don t seem as affection 
 ate as I could wish. I can t help feeling anxious 
 about them ? " 
 
 " I have n t seen them together since they ve been 
 here. But I was always doubtful about that mar 
 riage," Dr. Lavendar answered, nodding his head. 
 " Look at em, fire and ice. He s a good fellow, 
 fine fellow ; but she never had a chance, poor child. 
 Just think of being brought up by Fanny Dacie ! " 
 
 " Well, it was n t always easy for poor Fanny," 
 Misg Carr reminded him, good naturedly. 
 
148 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 " Oh well, nothing ever was easy for her, was it ? " 
 said Dr. Lavendar. " Dear me, how she does enjoy 
 misery ! That was a queer marriage, too, Willi.- .: 
 Drayton and Fanny Dacie. Well, well, marriage is 
 a very strange thing, Miss Susan ? " 
 
 " I should think it was," Miss Susan agreed, with 
 the modesty of one who has really 110 right to an 
 opinion. Then, to her dismay, she felt herself blush 
 ing. What would Dr. Lavendar think if he knew 
 that Joseph was meditating this " strange thing " ? 
 As for Dr. Lavendar, he sighed deeply. 
 
 " Miss Susan," he said abruptly, " do you think 
 your neighbor has any ah wish to marry 
 again?" 
 
 " Dear me ! why, I never thought of such a thing. 
 Oh no, Dr. Lavendar ; I ve heard her say that she 
 could not endure second marriages. And just see 
 what deep mourning she wears." 
 
 " Have you really heard her say that ? " he asked 
 eagerly. " Well, now, well ! I m pleased to hear 
 it. I m glad she has so proper a feeling about mar 
 riage." 
 
 " She has to give up her money if she marries 
 again : at least, so they say. I think that shows 
 how attractive her husband thought her," Miss Susan 
 observed, with mild reproof. 
 
 " It shows him to have been a dog in the man 
 ger ! " Dr. Lavendar cried joyously. " But no, I 
 had not heard that. Well, she 11 never marry, 
 unless she finds a man with money enough to cover 
 her loss. Joey and I ah differ a little in our 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 149 
 
 judgment of your neighbor. I wonder if he knows 
 this about the disposition of the money ? " 
 
 " I m sure I don t know," Miss Susan answered 
 constrainedly : even such careless reference to Mr. 
 Joseph made her conscious. 
 
 Dr. Lavendar felt suddenly cheered. Of course 
 Mrs. Pendleton would not marry Joey. Give up 
 her money for a poor music teacher? Not she! 
 Dr. Lavendar was almost gay. 
 
 " Come, Danny," he said, " we must be going 
 home. Well, Utile Dulci, I m always the better for 
 a talk with you. The fact is, I had something on 
 my mind when I came up, but I believe it will all 
 come out right." 
 
 " Has Job been troubling you again ? " Miss 
 Susan asked sympathetically. " Is there anything 
 I can do ? " 
 
 " No, it was n t Job. I was a little anxious about 
 about some matter in which I feared Joey was 
 going to be disappointed. Nothing of importance 
 at least yes, it s very important ; but I did n t 
 mean to speak of his affairs, I m sure. Well, you ve 
 done me good, as you always do, and I m sure 
 everything will come out all right." 
 
 Susan Carr s face flamed ; she stepped back from 
 his outstretched hand, the quick tears stinging in her 
 eyes. " Oh Dr. Lavendar," she stammered. 
 
 " Why," he said, peering at her in the dusk, and 
 blinking with astonishment, " why, do you has he 
 spoken to you ? " 
 
 " He wrote," faltered Miss Susan, " but that was 
 
150 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 a month ago. I hoped by this time, he had for 
 gotten it." Her agitation was apparent. 
 
 (" Why, how she feels it ! " Dr. Lavendar thought. 
 " She knows what a fool the Pendleton woman is.") 
 
 "You are a good friend," he said warmly. 
 "Joseph couldn t have done better than write to 
 you, though he did not mention to me that he had 
 done so. No, he has n t forgotten it ; and, my dear 
 Miss Susan, this is the time to prove your friendship 
 for Joey ; he never needed it more than he does now. 
 Of course I could n t have spoken to you before 
 he did, but I can t tell you what a relief it is to 
 know that he has done it himself. I depend on 
 you, Susan. I might as well tell you I have been 
 very anxious and distressed about it." He sighed 
 deeply ; " However, what you have said makes me 
 feel better." 
 
 Poor Susan Carr nearly wept. " Oh, Dr. Laven 
 dar, please don t ! I can t bear to have you speak of 
 it. It s no use and and I m so unhappy, so 
 disappointed." 
 
 Unhappy? disappointed? Dr. Lavendar stood, 
 with his mouth open, looking at her. Why was 
 Susan Carr so overcome at this prospect of Joey s 
 foolishness? He saw how tightly her hands were 
 clasped on the back of a chair in front of her ; he 
 heard her voice break and tremble. Could it be 
 that Dr. Lavendar was appalled. A terrible pos 
 sibility flashed into his mind. " My dear Miss 
 Susan my dear Miss Susan ! " he said. He forgot 
 the danger that threatened Joey, in his grief at this 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 151 
 
 other grief which he had never suspected. " I can t 
 tell you what this is to me ! I had 110 idea I 
 never supposed that you 
 
 " I can t help it," she said faintly ; " I m very 
 sorry. I m sure I d do anything I could ; but one 
 can t make affection." 
 
 Dr. Lavendar s jaw actually dropped with dismay ; 
 he saw in a flash Susan Cart s mortification when, 
 alone, she should reflect upon this extraordinary loss 
 of self-control ; he felt his very ears burn for her ; 
 he was glad the room was dark, so that he could not 
 see her face ; he wanted to get away ; and yet her 
 trembling voice went to his heart. He took j^er 
 hand very tenderly in his. " Good-night, my dear 
 friend," he said. " This this is very dreadful. 
 But I hope it will not be what we fear. I 11 do my 
 part, you may be sure of that ; there s nothing I 
 want more, I . 11 do my part. Good-night, my 
 dear Susan. God bless you." He took his hat, 
 and went stumbling into the hall, where he paused 
 for a moment, and swallowed once or twice, and 
 winked hard ; then she heard him come back. 
 " Susan," he said tremulously, " never mind having 
 spoken to me. I feel your confidence just as though 
 you were my sister, and and I wish you were ! " 
 
XII. 
 
 June takes up the sceptre of May 
 And the land, beneath his sway 
 Blooms, a dream of blossoming- closes, 
 And the very wind s at play 
 With Sir Love among- the roses. 
 
 HENLEY. 
 
 "LYSSIE I beg your pardon Miss Lyssie " 
 Roger Carey paused to be told that lie was forgiven, 
 and perhaps to hear that he might drop the title ; 
 but Miss Drayton did not even smile at the slip or 
 the apology. -Do you know that I ve got to go 
 away from Old Chester next week ? In fact, by 
 rights I ought to have been at work a week ago. " 
 
 Alicia, with great presence of mind, asked no ex- 
 planation of this neglect of duty; she only said that 
 she wondered that anybody liked to be in town in 
 such weather. 
 
 "Why, I don t like it!" cried Roger. "You 
 wouldn t think I could like it, Miss Lyssie, if you 
 knew how much I cared for Old Chester." 
 
 "Have you really liked Old Chester?" Lyssie 
 said, and blushed ; she wished she had said anvthino- 
 but that. 
 
 " It w like heaven ! " Eoger Carey declared, in a 
 low voice. 
 
 "Is it?" Alicia asked, with entire seriousness. 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 153 
 
 " I have n t traveled about very much, but it always 
 seemed to me pleasant." 
 
 Lovers, so far as they themselves are concerned, 
 have no sense of humor ; Roger never noticed 
 Lyssie s literalness. 
 
 " Yes," he said, " like heaven ! " 
 
 It was dusk, and he, instead of Philip, was walk 
 ing home with Miss Drayton. Eric was jogging 
 along behind them, leaving them for moments to 
 themselves when a rustle in the hedge or the whir of 
 a wing was too enticing for the responsibility of 
 chaperonage, but coming back again, with a side- 
 wise, deprecating glance which said, "My young 
 friends, this shall never happen again." 
 
 Eoger was enchanted to be alone with her, but 
 not because he had any special purpose in view. In 
 fact, he had quite made up his mind that a young 
 man with no special income has no right to have any 
 special purpose in regard to a nice girl. Indeed, a 
 lack of income, together with periods of uncertainty 
 as to whether she is, after all, completely and ex 
 actly the woman who can satisfy every need of a 
 man s soul, is surely an excuse for being without 
 such purpose when walking home with her. 
 
 Yet, as Eoger Carey was going away from Old 
 Chester, he was, not unnaturally, glad of this last 
 chance to see Miss Alicia Drayton. He had not 
 had the forethought he would have seen fit to 
 name it conceit to consider that, as he had no 
 special purpose, it might be well to shield her from 
 himself. He was too absorbed in watching her ; in 
 
154 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 answering her little questions, drawing out her little 
 opinions, smothering his laughter at her sweet, un 
 worldly views ; too absorbed in feeling that he should 
 like to kneel down and kiss her little feet, and tell 
 her she made him want to be a good man, to give 
 any thought to such responsibilities. 
 
 " I m not in love," he had assured himself several 
 times during the last week. The sort of woman 
 with whom Mr. Carey had long ago decided that he 
 should probably fall in love was far enough removed 
 from this good child. Still, it must be admitted 
 that he had insisted upon his loveless condition far 
 less during the last day or two, and he did not think 
 of it at all as they walked along now in the dusk, 
 talking of nothing in a voice that meant all things. 
 
 He told her that he hoped he should not forget to 
 go and say good-by to Mrs. Pendleton ; and she as 
 sured him, simply enough, that he could not forget it. 
 
 " Why, it would be unkind to forget it ! " she re 
 minded him, with a surprised look. 
 
 " Well, the fact is, she s not overfond of me, I 
 fancy," Roger defended himself. " I m one of the 
 relations to whom her money would go if she married 
 again, you know. That was an outrageous will of 
 my cousin s. Ben was a cub." 
 
 " I should n t have thought he would have wanted 
 to buy Her faithfulness," Lyssie announced, with a 
 little toss of her head. 
 
 "No, would you? Love like that is not love. 
 Love does n t need any chains." Here he sighed 
 deeply, for joy of the moonlight, and the scent of 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 155 
 
 the new hay in a field on their right, and the glori 
 ous word sweet upon his lips. " Love is immortal, 
 don t you think so ? Second marriages, anyhow, 
 seem to me sacrilege," 
 
 This he really felt, being at the moment very 
 young. But Alicia said, nervously, with a suspicion 
 of age in her manner, " Well, not always." 
 
 And Roger, much confused, remembered Mr. 
 William Drayton, and turned the subject. 
 
 " Let s go out on the river ; that little boat down 
 by the bridge belongs to you, Philip said. Won t 
 you?" 
 
 "Oh, I m afraid I oughtn t to," faltered Alicia, 
 " mother might need me ; but I d like to so 
 much ! Oh well, just for a few minutes." 
 
 So they turned, and walked down the street and 
 out toward the bridge, where, under a leaning birch, 
 Alicia s rowboat was tied to a small float, which 
 rocked and swayed as Roger jumped down on it. 
 He hauled in on the painter slippery with dripping 
 water grasses; some yellowing birch leaves had drifted 
 under a thwart, and he brushed them out, and said, 
 ruefully, that the boat seemed a little damp, but 
 
 "Oh, dampness doesn t matter," said Alicia, (the 
 idea of thinking about dampness !) and she laughed, 
 and took the hand that Roger, kneeling to hold the 
 skiff against the float, reached up to her. But there 
 was a look in his upturned face that made her heart 
 give a sudden beat. " Oh, really, I m afraid I 
 oughtn t to go," she said, breathless. "It s late, 
 and " 
 
156 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 " Get in, please," said Mr. Carey; and she got in, 
 meekly, for there was that in his voice that took the 
 matter out of her hands. She felt that she must 
 talk, rapidly, without a single pause, of anything ! 
 Eric would do : was n t he the dearest old fellow ? 
 Sometimes she thought he had some spaniel blood in 
 him, he was so fond of the water. He often went in 
 after sticks. Did Mr. Carey think he would swim 
 after them now ? 
 
 " I hope you don t think I m a stick," Eoger re 
 torted, his breath catching in a nervous laugh at his 
 own feeble joke. 
 
 Eric, however, sat down upon the float, and made 
 no effort to follow them. He thumped his tail a lit 
 tle, as though to say, " I trust you ; but I shall stay 
 right here and watch you, my children ; " and as the 
 boat pushed rustling through the lily pads and out 
 into the middle of the stream, he looked at them be 
 nignly, until his big black nose dropped between his 
 paws, and it was an effort to lift one eyelid for an 
 occasional glance into the twilight. 
 
 The river, full of shadowy quiet, was so deep that 
 there was not even the silken, slipping sound of a 
 ripple. Roger Carey had fallen silent. How sweet 
 she was, in her white dress, sitting there in the little 
 old boat, her eyes looking so shyly into his, her voice 
 speaking what was always his own best thought. 
 " Dear little soul ! " he said under his breath ; he 
 wanted to take her in his arms and kiss her. He 
 did not stop to inquire whether he was in love with 
 her ; the moment and the moonlight were too much 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 157 
 
 for such cynical speculations ; he felt his heart beat 
 ing fast as he looked at her ; the tears stood in his 
 eyes. " Dear little soul ! how sweet she is, how 
 good she is." Roger Carey was experiencing reli 
 gion. 
 
 "How black the trees look, don t they?" said 
 Alicia. 
 
 Yes." 
 
 The skiff rocked and swayed, and the water gur 
 gled softly at the prow ; the branches of a sycamore 
 on the left and a beech on the right nearly met in 
 midstream ; the green dusk began to wink with fire 
 flies, and from far above, through the domes of the 
 treetops, the faint moonlight filtered down, and broke 
 here and there upon the water in a slipping film of 
 icy shine, that sparkled and was lost, and sparkled 
 again. 
 
 " It s growing pretty dark? " Lyssie observed. 
 
 " Yes, rather." 
 
 Another silence, melodious with the rhythmic dip 
 of the oars and the low brush and rustle of lily pads. 
 "I never supposed I could be so much in love," 
 Roger thought, profoundly moved. The water ran 
 black and silent between the straight staves of the 
 arrowheads and past the sides of the boat ; he could 
 see her finger tips dragging lightly upon it ; once 
 she leaned over and caught a lily, and there was a 
 soft tug of restraint upon the skiff s smooth progress, 
 until the long stem yielded and she pulled it in, and 
 then seemed absorbed in studying its fragrant, trem 
 ulous heart. 
 
158 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 "The lilies are lovely, aren t they?" she said. 
 Her voice had a nervous thrill in it. 
 
 "Yes; oh, very." 
 
 " I think perhaps we d better go back now ? " 
 
 " Yes ! he assented, with sudden alacrity. " I 
 I can t seem to talk, somehow; you seem so far 
 off, down at that end. Let s go ashore." 
 
 " Oh, I don t mind staying out a little longer," 
 Alicia said quickly. She held tightly to the sides of 
 the boat, as though she would detain it, and post 
 pone that beautiful moment whose gracious steps she 
 heard coming nearer and nearer. 
 
 But Roger cut deep into the flowing blackness 
 of the slow current, and the skiff swung in a rocking 
 circle and pointed down stream. " It 11 take me ten 
 minutes to get back to that float ! " he said savagely, 
 and sighed and bent to his oars. His thought, if he 
 had spoken it, would have been, " Why did I get 
 into this confounded thing ? Why did n t I speak 
 on the road?" The boat shot with steady pulls 
 down the river. 
 
 " I don t like to talk at arm s length," Roger an 
 nounced. 
 
 Lyssie seemed to have nothing to say. 
 
 " If we were in the house it would be better. I 
 could I could we could talk, I mean." 
 
 Lyssie, apparently, had no opinions. He looked 
 over at her, and his lips trembled. 
 
 " Just see the fireflies ! " Alicia said faintly ; and 
 Roger Carey, struggling to hold both oars in one 
 hand, flung out the other toward her. 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 159 
 
 " Oh, Lyssie, Lyssie, I love you ! I did you 
 know I loved you ? Do you love me a little ? Lys 
 sie ! " 
 
 Oh, that wonderful shining moment of silence 
 while a girl gets her breath after hearing those 
 words ; when the tears rush to her eyes, and her 
 soft throat trembles, and her heart swells suddenly 
 with the passion and the pain of joy ! " Hove you ! 
 Did you know I loved you ? Do you love me a lit 
 tle ? " She says the words over and over, and thinks 
 she has answered him ; but she is silent. 
 
 " I m not good enough to tie your little shoes ; of 
 course I know that. (Oh, this boat !) I can t talk 
 about it, somehow, here. But if I can ever get back 
 to that float I can I can say, you know, that you 
 are as far above me as a star in heaven." 
 
 " I ? " said little Lyssie under her breath. " Oh ! " 
 
 The skiff came pushing through lily leaves, and 
 bumped softly against the crumbling wooden pier ; 
 the low voice of the river sang between them. 
 
 " Lyssie ? " 
 
 He let the oars catch and swing backwards, and 
 rose with an impetuous step. The boat rocked and 
 dipped. Lyssie caught desperately at the sides. 
 
 "Oh, don t yes!" she said, the happy tears 
 breaking in her voice. 
 
 Roger sat down. " Did you say Yes ? " 
 
 Alicia nodded ; she could not speak. 
 
 Without a word, Roger pulled the boat in against 
 the pier ; he got out very carefully, and with a silent 
 but not ungentle movement of his heel instructed the 
 
160 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 affectionate arid joyous Eric to keep out of trie way ; 
 then he knelt down to tie the skiff, and felt sharp 
 between his fingers the cold smoothness of the river 
 grasses tangled along the rope ; he saw the white 
 feather of water under the boat s prow as the current 
 struck it ; he heard the wash of the float swaying 
 under his weight ; he heard the soft break in the 
 breath of the girl who loved him. How alert, how 
 conscious, how wonderful, the supreme moment ! 
 
 " Lyssie ! say it just once more ? " 
 
 He had no difficulty in talking now; he could 
 hardly wait to hear again that enchanting word be 
 fore he burst into the telling of his love. And how 
 she listened ! Her listening was almost as beautiful 
 as any words she spoke. But she did not speak 
 many. 
 
 " Yes ; " " yes ; " " yes." She loved she knew 
 she felt Oh, symphony of assent ! 
 
 Roger said he was poor; Alicia loved poverty. 
 He said he had no " prospects " outside of his pro 
 fession ; she thought " prospects " ruinous to real 
 achievement. He confessed that his practice was 
 small ; Lyssie felt that if it were large it would be 
 a sign that he was eager to make money. 
 
 " There s so much more than that in living," the 
 young girl said, looking at him with believing eyes. 
 " I know how you feel about mere money-making ; 
 I heard you talk to Philip and Cecil about respon 
 sibility, and and I liked what you said." 
 
 " I did n t know you ever listened when I talked. 
 You always looked so remote so so above all 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 161 
 
 the rest of us. Oh, Lyssie, when did you first begin 
 to care the least bit ? " 
 
 " I think I think it was the day you looked at 
 the pigeons ; no, it was the day before that. Oh, I 
 don t mean that I " she looked the word she 
 could not speak " but I liked to hear you talk." 
 
 Perhaps it is only when a man looks back upon it 
 that he realizes the charm of a little coquetry on such 
 occasions ; at the moment, Roger felt only the noble 
 simplicity of her confession, the benediction of her 
 tender, overflowing eyes. 
 
 " Why, that was the day I came ! " he said rap- 
 turdusly. 
 
 " When did you first know that you cared ? " she 
 said, divinely shy and bold at once. 
 
 "I? Why well- Oh, I think it must have 
 been the minute I saw you ; only, of course I did n t 
 recognize it myself, you know, until later." 
 
 They walked slowly along the road. It was dark, 
 and they were leaving Old Chester behind them; 
 but Lyssie was not aware of either fact ; she did not 
 remember her mother and her duty for nearly an 
 hour, and then it was with a start of dismay and 
 remorse. 
 
 So they came back to actual life, and Roger 
 Carey realized that he had fallen in love, and was 
 an engaged man. He was very much astonished, 
 but he found it very delightful. 
 
 They turned toward Old Chester, and Roger be 
 gan to be silent. Lyssie s stillness fell into his like 
 chords of music melting into some larger harmony. 
 
162 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 She would have been content never to speak again, 
 she thought. It seemed as though all were said, 
 forever. But Roger had something to say, though 
 he did not say it until they stood at Alicia s door. 
 Then, very low, very anxiously, " Lyssie, do you 
 know ? I m going to kiss you before you go in." 
 
 " Oh ! " said Lyssie, " are are you ? " 
 
 " Yes," Eoger answered, very gently. And then 
 he took her hands, and, with delicate precision, he 
 kissed her on her left cheek, just below her ear. 
 
 " Oh oh ! " said Alicia. At which he took her 
 instantly in his arms, and kissed her heartily right 
 on her lips. After that, it took nearly twenty min 
 utes of adieus to fortify themselves for absence over 
 night. 
 
 " You will come to-morrow morning ? " 
 
 " Yes ! Yes ! May I come as early as half past 
 eight?" 
 
 " Oh, I m afraid that is a little early " 
 
 " Well, eight forty-five?" 
 
 " And I will tell mother to-night ; and will you 
 teU Cecil?" 
 
 At which Mr. Carey said abruptly, " No ; you tell 
 her, Lyssie." 
 
 Tell Cecil Shore ? Speak to such a woman of 
 such an experience? He thought, tenderly, that 
 Lyssie could never understand why, at such a noble 
 moment, a man could be repelled by her sister. He 
 rejoiced in her ignorance ; perhaps because at that 
 tune he did not need the tolerance or the sympathy 
 which such ignorance of life forever precludes. 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 163 
 
 Lyssie, after yet one more impassioned " Good 
 night ! " went into the house and closed the door 
 upon her lover. She stood still in the hall, listening 
 to his retreating footsteps, with her hands over her 
 face and the sound of her own pulses in her ears. 
 
 Then she went into her mother s room, where, in 
 the lamplight, her eyes vague with happiness and 
 the summer darkness, everything seemed blurred 
 and dazzled ; perhaps that was why she did not see 
 the fretful look on Mrs. Drayton s face. She went, 
 like a child, to her mother s knee, and, slipping 
 down on the floor, hid her face in her bosom. " Oh, 
 mother, mother ! " she murmured. 
 
 "What is it? Is anything the matter?" cried 
 Mrs. Drayton, with nervous sharpness. 
 
 " Mother Roger! " 
 
 Mrs. Drayton fell back in her chair. " Oh, Alicia, 
 can you never remember how weak I am ? You 
 come bouncing into the room, and at such an hour, 
 too ! It s nine o clock. I ve been terrified about 
 you. I thought something had happened. You 
 have no consideration at all ; you know how anxiety 
 makes my head ache " She fretted on, half in 
 tears, and then suddenly seemed to remember 
 Lyssie s whispered word. " Roger ? What do you 
 mean by c Roger ? Why, do you mean has he 
 Why, Lyssie ! " 
 
 " Oh, mother darling, yes ! Just think of it. 
 Me ! " 
 
 The tears sprang to Mrs. Drayton s eyes. She 
 put her arms about the kneeling child, and they 
 
164 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 trembled with unconscious tenderness. " Oh, my 
 dear, my dear ! " Mrs. Dray ton forgot herself ; she 
 kissed and cried over the girl with honest mother 
 love. She asked a hundred sympathetic questions, 
 which Lyssie answered dreamily, with little tender 
 reserves, which would break suddenly because of the 
 bliss of putting such wonderful facts into words. 
 
 After the first reality of it, Mrs. Drayton could 
 not help glancing over Lyssie s head into the mirror. 
 It was a pretty picture : the frail mother, with her 
 delicate, pallid face ; the girl kneeling at her feet ; 
 the flood of soft lamplight shining on the open pages 
 of the Bible on the table. 
 
 "My child /" murmured Mrs. Drayton, resting 
 her cheek on Lyssie s hair. It was a charming 
 scene. 
 
 " Oh, mother," said Alicia, with a long sigh, 
 "putting aside any personal feeling,--! mean, 
 speaking impartially, as a matter of judgment, I 
 am certainly a very fortunate girl. He is not at all 
 like anybody else ; he is well, mother, just wait 
 till you know him ! " 
 
 Mrs. Drayton was not disturbed by Lyssie s halt 
 ing language ; she had plenty of words of her own. 
 She began to speak of the glory of duty, the joy of 
 self-sacrifice, in a word, of love, in a way 
 which satisfied even this young lover at her feet. 
 Indeed, so perfect was the situation that it would 
 have been still prolonged but for Lyssie s sudden 
 realization that it was long after Mrs. Drayton s 
 bedtime. With a happy sigh she rose, and made 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 165 
 
 haste to begin her loving task of maid. Mrs. 
 Drayton s hair had to be brushed steadily for a 
 quarter of an hour before it could be put up in curl 
 papers ; then a psalm must be read, and the selec 
 tion for the day in Gathered Pearls. 
 
 " Oh, mother dear, how selfish in me to have kept 
 you up ! " Lyssie said. " It will be nearly eleven 
 before you are in bed." 
 
 " Oh well, a girl can t be engaged every day," 
 said Mrs. Drayton magnanimously. " I m willing 
 to sacrifice something ; we won t read to-night. I 
 can think of my blessed Bible, and repeat a hymn 
 while I lie awake. Of course I shall lie awake after 
 this excitement. But never mind that." 
 
 Lyssie winced ; but she thought that now, since 
 Eoger loved her, she would be, for the rest of time, 
 unselfish and considerate. She would be good! 
 She was very tender to her mother, with a tender 
 ness which was half remorse because of her own joy. 
 " I have n t done all I might to make her happy," 
 Lyssie was thinking ; " and her life is so empty with 
 out papa." 
 
 The emptiness of life may have struck Mrs. 
 Drayton, for she took occasion, when Lyssie kissed 
 her good-night, to say that she had been lonely. 
 
 " You were very late in coming home," she said. 
 " It was rather sad to sit here all by myself. But 
 you were happy, so I don t complain." 
 
 Alicia opened her lips to speak, but stopped ; a 
 strange apprehension gathered in her heart. It was 
 too vague for words, but a little mist crept across 
 
166 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 her joy. Her mother lonely without her? Well, 
 but how would it be when she was She did not 
 say the word, but she adored it in her heart. How 
 would Mrs. Drayton feel when 
 
 Lyssie kissed her again silently, and crept softly 
 o her own room. 
 
XIII. 
 
 I have no name 
 
 I am but two days old. 
 
 What shall I call thee ? 
 
 I happy am, 
 Joy is my name. 
 Sweet Joy befall thee ! 
 
 BLAKE. 
 
 OLD CHESTER grew quite wide awake over Alicia 
 Dray ton s engagement. There had been no such 
 sensation since Miss Jane Temple married beneath 
 her, and found happiness and content in the home 
 of the village apothecary. Of course Lyssie s ro 
 mance could not compare in interest to Miss Tem 
 ple s ; it did not have in it anything of which Old 
 Chester could disapprove, and to be truly interest 
 ing to the world about us, we must not be too 
 good. Lyssie s engagement only gave opportunity 
 for conversation and speculation. " What will 
 Frances Drayton do when the child gets married?" 
 everybody said to everybody else, although, so far, 
 no one had said it to Mrs. Drayton, who was enjoy 
 ing very much the importance of being the mother 
 of her daughter. It was almost as good as making 
 a sensation herself ; indeed, she entered into the sit 
 uation with so much histrionic earnestness that she 
 was obliged to take to her bed, and receive Mrs. 
 Dale and all the other ladies, reclining upon her pil- 
 
168 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 lows, attended by Alicia. It was thus that Cecil 
 found her listening to Mrs. Pendle ton s congratula 
 tions, allowing Lyssie to fan her, and saying many 
 noble things about a mother s joy in a child s 
 happiness. 
 
 " I enter so into Lyssie s romance," said Mrs. 
 Drayton, " that I live my own over again." 
 
 " Except," Cecil returned, after that meditative 
 pause which gave such weight to her slow words, 
 " except that no youthful indiscretion made Mr. 
 Carey a widower, he must indeed remind you of 
 papa. But I almost think, Mrs. Drayton, that in 
 entering into Lys s romance yourself you keep her 
 out of it a little. She can t listen to lover s vows 
 and fan you at the same time." 
 
 There was an eager disclaimer from Lyssie, and 
 Mrs. Drayton said tearfully that it was a little bitter 
 to have Cecil, who was exactly like her own child, 
 (some one had once asked Susan Carr which was 
 Mr. Drayton s child by his first wife ; she did not 
 know whether she had ever mentioned that to Mrs. 
 Pendleton ?) it certainly was a little bitter to 
 have Cecil speak so to her. 
 
 As for Mrs. Pendleton, she thought to herself that 
 there was some truth in Mrs. Shore s remarks ; but 
 she only said, soothingly, that she had no doubt dear 
 Roger would rather have Miss Alicia dutiful than 
 have her society. 
 
 " I am inclined to think," Mrs. Shore observed, 
 " that Mr. Carey would feel that one included the 
 other." And then she wrung from Mrs. Drayton 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 169 
 
 an angry consent that Lyssie should dine with her 
 that night, and went away, saying to herself that she 
 hoped she had done some good. 
 
 " He leaves Old Chester in three days," she 
 thought, " and Lys, poor little thing, ought to see 
 more of him." But she was not very hopeful ; she 
 knew how probable it was that Lyssie, from a sense 
 of duty, would yield to her mother s demands upon 
 her time ; indeed, Mrs. Shore had long since recog 
 nized that Alicia s especial form of selfishness was 
 unselfishness. 
 
 This immoral unselfishness is characteristic of 
 many excellent women. They practice an abnega 
 tion of their comforts, their rights, their necessities, 
 even, which they feel endears them to their Maker, 
 and at the same time gives them real happiness. 
 Apparently they are unable to perceive that this un 
 selfishness of theirs brutalizes and enslaves to self the 
 man (for men are generally the victims of this unscru 
 pulous virtue), the man who accepts the sacrifices 
 made for him, indeed often thrust upon him in spite 
 of his gradually weakening protests ; and young 
 Alicia, painfully conscientious as she was, never once 
 realized that, if it were selfish for her mother to ac 
 cept a sacrifice, it was a sin for her to make it. 
 
 As for Cecil, she did not put it quite that way 
 to herself, but little Lyssie s foolishness struck her 
 with a sense of being pathetic. " Little goose," she 
 thought, smiling. But she was very gentle with 
 Alicia, looking at her with a half-wondering amuse 
 ment. 
 
170 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 " You are very happy, kitty, are n t you ? " she 
 said that evening, when, before dinner, the two sisters 
 were alone in the library. " You are very happy ? " 
 
 Alicia s face, so radiant and young, sobered sud 
 denly, almost to tears. " Oh, Oeci ! " she said, and 
 put her face down on Cecil s shoulder and was silent 
 for a moment. Something came into the eyes of the 
 elder woman, that mist that sometimes dims the eyes 
 of a dog, which cannot weep, but yet can suffer ; it 
 is unutterably sad, but it is not a spiritual pain. 
 
 " You poor little thing," she said, almost passion 
 ately. 
 
 Lyssie looked up, wondering. But Cecil only 
 laughed, though the tears stood in her eyes. 
 
 " Always to woo, and never to wed, 
 
 Is the happiest life that ever was led ! " 
 
 she cried gayly. " Go on being engaged, pussy ; it 
 is really very good fun." 
 
 " I never thought of anything else ! " protested 
 Alicia, even her slender neck crimsoning ; and Mrs. 
 Shore laughed until she cried at the innocence of 
 the child. But the situation seemed to her a cruel 
 one ; Lyssie was so happy ! 
 
 Cecil did not think very much about Mr. Carey ; 
 if she had, she would have discovered in herself an 
 astonishment at his conduct which was almost con 
 tempt. Her mind was dwelling upon certain miser 
 able facts which are thrust upon all of us men and 
 women when we soberly observe the marriage rela 
 tion as we see it about us, especially when we ob 
 serve it in contrast to this first beautifid dawn of 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE, 171 
 
 love in the faces of two young lovers ; two who be 
 lieve as they all do, or else they are not lovers 
 that they, out of all the world of failures about them, 
 shall make permanent that which is by its nature 
 evanescent and fleeting, the mystery and passion of 
 young love. They need ah, what deep experiences, 
 before they can know, two such sweet optimists, that 
 it is as foolish to hope that they will keep love for 
 ever young and mad and wonderful as it would be to 
 seek to hold back the dim beauty of the dawn, which 
 must change, perhaps into a leaden and dreary day, 
 perhaps into the calm glory of the sunlight ; into a 
 noon serene and perfect and secure as the light upon 
 the face of God, the noon of married love ! 
 
 Cecil Shore believed only in the dawn. " Poor 
 little thing ! " she thought again, pityingly, as she 
 watched Alicia s frank happiness. How cruel it was 
 that it could not last ! These two sometime would 
 be among that great army of husbands and wives 
 who are not unhappy, not incompatible, who " get 
 along very well with each other," as they would say, 
 the very husbands and wives who give little smiles 
 and shrugs at the ecstasies of young love as they ob 
 serve it; the men and women who, simply, have 
 missed the best. Cecil was not thinking of the mis 
 erable marriages, there were such things, no doubt ; 
 there were infidelities, cruelties, baseness ; but when 
 they happened in her class they were concealed. No, 
 it was only the grotesque disillusionment of it all 
 that struck her with grim amusement. " Poor little 
 Lys ! " she thought. 
 
172 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 But no one could have seemed to need pity less 
 than Alicia Drayton. It might better have been 
 bestowed on her lover, who felt conscious and half 
 irritated all the time they were at table. He wished 
 Philip were at home ; he was grateful to Molly for 
 talking to him ; he wished Lyssie (bless her dear 
 little heart !) would not be quite so so young ; he 
 wished Mrs. Shore, with her slightly cynical smile, 
 were drowned in the depths of the sea. Without 
 the slightest reason, he began to be angry with her ; 
 he answered one of her assertions apropos of some 
 discussion about the working classes so curtly that 
 Alicia looked apprehensively at her sister ; but Cecil, 
 strangely enough, seemed more hurt than offended. 
 She colored, and said that Mr. Carey had certainly 
 misunderstood. she had not meant quite what he 
 supposed ; and she tried by a hasty explanation to 
 bring a certain seriousness into her flippant state 
 ment that the submerged tenth was as necessary to 
 the higher civilization, to the culture of the few, as a 
 fertilizer was to a flower garden. 
 
 Roger Carey said carelessly, " Do you think your 
 culture and mine quite worth such manure ? Think 
 of the misery of the sweating system, for instance ! 
 Perhaps you are worth it, Mrs. Shore, but I in sure 
 I m not." But when he saw the pain and truth in 
 Alicia Drayton s face, as she said, " When I see 
 ready-made clothing, I always wonder, Who suf 
 fered for that ? " he felt ashamed of having para 
 ded his irritation in the dress of a fine sentiment ; so 
 he became rather more frankly rude to Mrs. Shore 
 to console himself. 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 173 
 
 Lyssie was quite discouraged, and gave him that 
 little appealing look which we see so often on the 
 faces of those dear souls who long to have us do our 
 selves justice. It said, " Oh, be nice, Roger ; don t 
 be so not-as-pleasant-as-usual." But Roger con 
 tinued to be " not-as-pleasant-as-usual " until he got 
 away from Mrs. Shore ; and then ah, well, a girl 
 knows of no adjective to describe her lover in those 
 adorable first moments when she has him to herself, 
 and he is even more pleasant than usual. 
 
 Roger was to go away on Tuesday, and he wanted 
 to be with Lyssie every moment that he could. He 
 was still vaguely astonished to find himself in love ; 
 but he liked it. And he was distinctly cross when 
 Mrs. Shore mentioned, casually enough, on Monday, 
 that he would not be able to see Lyssie that after 
 noon. 
 
 " Really you must be a little firmer," she said. 
 " She was to have gone to the upper village this 
 morning on some stupid errand for her mother ; but 
 Mrs. Drayton wished to be fanned, so she had to put 
 it off until this afternoon ; she could just as well 
 have gone this morning. You must teach her some 
 of your firmness, Mr. Carey." 
 
 " This afternoon ! " said Roger blankly. " Why, 
 I thought I could see her this afternoon." 
 
 " Oh well, later you can see her, when she 
 comes back ; about five, I think. Meantime, I 11 
 entertain you by taking you out to drive. No, you 
 can t go with Lyssie," she silenced him, smiling. 
 " She has started by this time. The people dine 
 
174 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE, 
 
 here, you know, at half past twelve, so she started 
 nearly an hour ago." 
 
 Roger resigned himself to a drive with his hostess 
 with an ill grace. u She 11 be back by five, surely ? " 
 he asked, and intimated to Mrs. Shore that he carer 
 to drive with her only until that hour. 
 
 And no one was more surprised than Roger Carey 
 to find himself at half past six, driving into Old 
 Chester on the way back to his hostess s door. 
 
 " Why," he said, " why, what time is it ? Are 
 we back again ? " He looked at his watch, and 
 turned red, and said something under his breath. 
 How could he have forgotten ? He asked himself 
 the question a dozen times, finding no satisfactory 
 answer. But it was not so very remarkable ; human 
 nature is human nature. For one thing, his com 
 panion was a beautiful woman ; but beside that she 
 could talk. To Roger Carey discussion was like the 
 breath in his nostrils, and when Mrs. Shore took 
 him to task for a statement of his, that, without the 
 great human experience of friendship, a soul was 
 still potential, he grew keen and interested, and in 
 tent upon making his point. Cecil had declared that 
 friendship was very beautiful, if there were such 
 a thing, and he had burst out in condemnation of the 
 insinuation. But her remark had been genuine 
 enough : she had never experienced friendship ; she 
 had known no schoolgirl frenzies of letters and copied 
 poems and exchanged locks of hair, all that re 
 hearsal of love with which young women so seriously 
 amuse themselves, but which so often cools into sin- 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 175 
 
 cere and lifelong regard. Roger told her, frankly, 
 that he was sorry for her, and added his conviction 
 of her potentiality. Curious that this topic of friend 
 ship is so especially alluring to a man and woman 
 between whom friendship is impossible ! 
 
 After that their discussion turned upon the ab 
 stractions of truth and duty and conduct, and Roger 
 Carey, in his perfectly straightforward earnestness, 
 fell into that courteous trap of " you and I ; " "you 
 and I think," or " feel," or " know better." 
 
 There is no more subtle flattery from an intelligent 
 man to an intelligent woman than this " you and I ; " 
 it is an intellectual caress, and the mind responds to 
 it with an abandon which betrays its ethical effect. 
 Roger was too interested to be aware of anything 
 more than an added brilliancy in his companion s 
 look, an added force in her words. But his interest 
 made him forget that Lyssie would be back from her 
 errand to the upper village at five. Now, realizing 
 his forgetfulness, he was angry at himself, with that 
 painful anger which was only a form of astonishment 
 at his own possibilities. He was plainly sulky with 
 Mrs. Shore, which was most unjust, for Cecil, 
 though she laughed at him a little, was really sorry. 
 " I never thought of Lys," she said ; " it s too bad ! 
 You were too entertaining, Mr. Carey. She will 
 never forgive 
 
 An exclamation from Roger made her turn, and 
 she saw, in the meadow on her right, Lyssie and 
 Molly, and, further off, her husband struggling with 
 a drunken man. 
 
XIV. 
 
 To-day it is our pleasure to be drunk. FIELDING. 
 
 ALICIA, it appeared, had come hurrying back from 
 her errand to the upper village, and, finding no Roger 
 awaiting her, looked half puzzled and half disturbed, 
 until Esther told her that she had seen Mr. Carey 
 drive by with "Miss Cecil." It was all right, if 
 Roger were being entertained ; but before she had 
 time to speculate as to his return Philip came strid 
 ing up the path and into the hall. 
 
 " Lys ! where are you? " he called out, so heartily 
 that she knew, as she ran downstairs, that he knew 
 the one thing in the world worth knowing ! 
 " Carey wrote me about it," he said, " and I got off 
 the stage at the gate to come in and tell you that 
 he s a good fellow, but he 11 have to do his best to 
 be good enough for you ! 
 
 " Were n t you very much surprised, though, 
 Philip ? " she said, with a blush all over her happy 
 face. 
 
 " Well, no, I can t say that I was very much sur 
 prised," Philip confessed, greatly amused. 
 
 " Oh, were n t you ? I was," Alicia answered 
 him, shy but serious. " Oh, Philip, you re laugh 
 ing !" 
 
 But his face was so tender that Lyssie forgave the 
 laugh. Then he asked where Roger was, and, learn- 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 177 
 
 ing, had a suggestion to make. " Let s go over to 
 East Hill and look at the mowers ; you can watch 
 the street from there, and see the carriage the mo 
 ment it appears." 
 
 There was something in the simple way in which 
 Philip took for granted the impatient and pretty 
 folly of a lover that made Alicia full of happy ease. 
 He had not that laugh in the eye which says, " Oh, 
 it is sweet, it is pretty ; but you d better make the 
 most of it while it lasts." 
 
 " I 11 go and get Molly, and join you there," 
 Philip said, when she had agreed to come as soon as 
 she had seen whether her mother was quite com 
 fortable. 
 
 But it takes a good while to make some people 
 comfortable. Philip had been in the field ten min 
 utes before Alicia, her face sobered, arrived. Mrs. 
 Drayton had seized the opportunity to implant an 
 arrow in the child s tender conscience, by speaking 
 of Alicia s indecorous haste to see her lover, and her 
 selfish indifference to her mother s loneliness. 
 
 " Here I sit all day long, and you never think 
 what it is to me to be shut out from society," she 
 sighed. "If it were not for the companionship of 
 my blessed Bible, and my own thoughts of how I 
 shall be recompensed some day for all I ve borne 
 here, I don t see how I could endure it ! " 
 
 " Mother, dear, of course I won t go, if you want 
 me to stay," Alicia protested. 
 
 But Mrs. Drayton shook her head. " I want you 
 to want to stay, Lyssie. I don t care for unwilling 
 
178 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 service. Go, go ! you 11 be late." Then she drew 
 in her breath in a meek sob. " Perhaps, though, 
 you will be willing to wait one moment, if it s some 
 thing for yourself ? I want to pin this rose in your 
 hair. Kneel down." 
 
 Alicia, with a little sigh, knelt, and her mother 
 put the rose against the soft coil of hair behind her 
 ear. Mrs. Drayton did not declare that she was re 
 turning good for evil ; but Lyssie felt the scorch of 
 coals of fire, as her mother intended she should. In 
 deed, as an expression of pure malice, the heaping 
 of coals of fire may be as telling as a blow; poor 
 Lyssie, feeling, as she walked over to the meadow, 
 the soft touch of the rose upon her neck, heard those 
 words about loneliness ringing in her ears, and asked 
 herself again, with dismay, " What will she do 
 when 
 
 The grass on the long slope of East Hill had been 
 cut and stacked into cocks some days before, but in 
 the level light the stubbly floor of the field, barred 
 by long shadows from the buttonwood-trees that 
 edged its western side, looked smooth and soft. 
 There was the scent of new hay in the air ; and the 
 whole stretch of the valley, clasped by the far-off 
 curve of the river, lay like a green cup, brimmed 
 with warm and silent peace. Going from one small 
 haymow to another was a cart drawn by two white 
 steers ; three men were loading it, and a woman, 
 who had climbed into it, was forking and trampling 
 the hay into place, her strong young figure standing 
 out clear against the ochre glow of the sunset. 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 179 
 
 Alicia perceived with, amusement that one of the 
 men was her brother-in-law ; and then she caught 
 sight of Molly, curled up against a little haystack, 
 plaiting three stalks of grass to make a ring. Molly 
 welcomed her eagerly. 
 
 " Aunt Lyssie, shall I have to say uncle Boger 
 to Mr. Carey ? " she inquired. 
 
 " Oh, Molly, hush, you little goose ! " said Lyssie, 
 her face full of charming color. "Look at your 
 father making hay ; and isn t that Eliza Todd, rak 
 ing, on the other side of the cart ? " 
 
 " I saw father long ago," Molly announced. " Is n t 
 it funny for father to work when he does n t have 
 to ? He did it once before, all day. Mamma said 
 he was singular. What s singular, aunt Lyssie ? " 
 
 " What you are when you are remarkably good," 
 Alicia said significantly. 
 
 Molly did not pursue the subject. She returned 
 to braiding her bits of grass, and sang a strange 
 rune to herself, something after this fashion : 
 
 " Minnows, minnows, minnows, 
 Live in water, 
 Wriggling, 
 Wriggling. 
 
 The sun shines on em in the water. 
 They wriggle, 
 Up the stream. 
 
 Where the sun shines in the water, 
 The spotted minnows wriggle." 
 
 Alicia laughed under her breath, and motioned to 
 Philip, who had joined her, to listen. They looked 
 at each other, smiling. Philip, fanning himself with 
 
180 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 his hat, waited until Molly s song sank into a whisper, 
 and then said : 
 
 " The epic is in us all, is n t it ? Have you been 
 here long, Lys ? Oh, Lyssie, this is the way to live ! 
 It is splendidly material, and a man takes to it so 
 that I begin to think the other side of us is abnor 
 mal, the soul is an excrescence. Yes, I d like to 
 make hay or dig potatoes." 
 
 "I shouldn t like to work! " Molly announced, 
 coming to clamber over her father, and then settling 
 comfortably down in his arms. " I d rather play. 
 Mamma said you were singular to work, father. 
 Mamma said 
 
 " Philip," Alicia broke in, with all the haste of 
 embarrassment, " did Mr. Miller s work satisfy the 
 judges?" 
 
 " No ; I m sorry, but it does n t warrant any 
 further encouragement." 
 
 " Cecil said, if it did n t, she was going to send 
 him some money," Lyssie said. " She s awfully 
 generous, is n t she ? " 
 
 " She enjoys giving, I think," Philip answered 
 briefly, and added, irrelevantly, that he thought the 
 haymakers had a pretty good time. " Oh, see that 
 attitude ! " he interrupted himself, sitting up straight, 
 and putting on his glasses to look at the woman in 
 the cart. She was standing, her weight on her left 
 hip, her face crimsoning with exertion, the muscles 
 of her arms, as she raised a forkful of hay and leaned 
 backwards to balance it, lifting into swelling curves. 
 The hay in its place and trodden down, she stopped 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 181 
 
 to draw a full breath, and with her bare oent arm 
 brush back the hair that had fallen across her hot 
 face. Even at this distance Alicia could see her 
 splendid vigor. There was a certain superb well- 
 being about her, as absolutely material as the warm 
 scent of the grass, or the stretch of shadows over 
 the clean field, or the faded colors in the stubble. 
 Standing there knee-deep in the hay, flecking the 
 sweat from her forehead with an impatient finger, 
 she seemed as organic and unconscious as the rocks 
 and trees. Philip, watching her, said again whim 
 sically, " Yes, yes, it s better so ; she is n t going to 
 tear her soul for any mere ideals ! " 
 
 A sense of spiritual weariness came upon him ; a 
 longing for that life which is as far ,rom sin as it is 
 from virtue, the life of some men and women, and 
 of the beasts that perish. 
 
 Molly, who had trotted off to pick a flower, came 
 running back out of the sunset with two red lilies, 
 which she presented, in solemn childish fashion, to 
 her father and aunt. " There s a man over there," 
 she said, " I guess his legs are sick ; they wabble. 
 Look, father." 
 
 " Oh, I fear his legs are sick," Philip agreed. 
 "Poor Job! Lyssie, suppose you go along with 
 Molly. I m afraid he may be conversational." 
 
 " Oh, Philip, is n t he a little " 
 
 " A little ! " said Philip, as he caught Job s 
 raised and stammering voice. " I should say so. 
 Go, dear, go ! " Then he picked himself up lazily, 
 and brushed the hay from his coat, and lounged 
 
182 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 down to the other side of the field, where he stood, 
 his hands in his pockets, observing the situation. 
 Cecil s carriage had just come in sight, but his back 
 was toward the road, and he did not see it. 
 
 Job Todd was not an attractive object; he was 
 drunk, but, unfortunately, not quite drunk enough 
 to have passed the ugly stage. His poor brute face 
 was dully purple, his small, cunning eyes swam in 
 stagnant film, and his loose lips moved in thick, 
 stumbling words. * 
 
 " Where is that damned woman o mine ? " he 
 demanded, putting his legs wide apart, to stand more 
 steadily. 
 
 " Oh, Job ! " quavered Eliza. 
 
 The girl who was forking the hay into place 
 stopped and peered over at the scene, and the two 
 men drew together, and said pacifically, " There, 
 now, Job." 
 
 " Job, don t ! Oh ! " Eliza cried out, writhing 
 away from the heavy hand he laid on her shoulder. 
 
 " You come home. You get my supper. I 11 
 break your damned head if you don t tend up to 
 your business." 
 
 " Oh, I 11 come, I 11 come," she said tremulously, 
 dropping her wooden rake, and walking along a 
 little in front of him. 
 
 Philip walked in the same direction. " Hullo, 
 Job," he said good naturedly. " Don t you think 
 you d better let Mrs. Todd go on with her work ? " 
 
 But Job, with vast contempt, refused to notice 
 Mr. Shore s remark ; he stooped to pick up Eliza s 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 183 
 
 discarded rake, and brandished it in the air, catching 
 himself with a jerk as he lurched forward. 
 
 44 The old woman," he called out to the group 
 about the cart, " is " Job s drunken fluency in 
 regard to his wife made some one laugh, and the 
 man, instantly infuriated, turned upon her and 
 struck her, and then staggered and fell, tripped up 
 neatly by Philip Shore s outstretched foot. 
 
 " Don t, sir ! " the two mowers called out. u He 
 ain t safe, Mr. Shore ; don t meddle with him, sir ! " 
 
 The shock made Job sober for an instant ; he got 
 on his legs with surprising quickness. " You want 
 to fight, do you," he said, " you " and added a 
 string of epithets which made Philip laugh in spite 
 of himself. 
 
 " What command of language you have, Todd ! 
 No, I m not anxious to fight. Come, now, behave 
 yourself. Don t be a fool." 
 
 " Whose wife is she ? " roared Job. " I m boss 
 in my house. It s more an you are in yours, and 
 for a good reason : your wife s worth two of you ! 
 But I keep my woman in order. Do you see that ? " 
 and he made a lunge at Eliza, who ducked and 
 whimpered. 
 
 "I 11 knock you down if you do that again," said 
 Philip pleasantly, walking between Job and his 
 wife. 
 
 " Ye wiU? Look a there, then ! " 
 
 A flame leaped to Philip s eyes. The men, calling 
 wildly to him to " come off," to " stop it," saw him 
 strip off his coat, and, holding up his left arm to 
 
184 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 guard his head from Job s rake, plant a blow under 
 the drunken man s ear ; and then there was an in 
 stant of really sharp struggle, until Philip s arm 
 hooked about Job s neck and his right hand caught 
 him under the chin. Todd roared and kicked for a 
 moment, until Philip flung him on the ground. 
 
 " Do you want some more ? The next time you 
 strike a woman I 11 give you some more ! " he said, 
 breathless, touching him contemptuously with his 
 foot. 
 
 Roger Carey, who had come running down the 
 field, had just reached him, disappointment in every 
 feature. 
 
 " You ve had it all to yourself ! " lie cried regret 
 fully, and then gave Job a hand and pulled him to 
 his feet. " Have you been bullyragging Mrs. Todd, 
 you brute ? " he said. " I wish I d been here in 
 time to get a hand in." 
 
 As for Cecil Shore, after her first instant of quick 
 admiration for her husband standing there in his 
 shirt sleeves, his clenched hand drawn back as 
 though his very fingers were tingling with desire to 
 leap at Job s throat, she thought of the man s morti 
 fication should he realize that she had witnessed his 
 humiliation, and gave the order to drive on. " But 
 Philip really did that well ! " she said to herself, 
 smiling. Then her face darkened, and she sighed ; 
 her vague dissatisfaction with Lyssie s engagement, 
 or rather with Roger Carey s engagement, came 
 back. She was half sullen and quite absorbed that 
 evening, as poor little Molly learned to her cost. 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 185 
 
 She came dancing into her mother s room while 
 Cecil was dressing for dinner, and was kissed and 
 cuddled to her heart s content, until Cecil pushed 
 her away gently, and said, " Don t bother me, pre 
 cious ; mamma must dress. There ! you can play 
 with mamma s rings, if you want to." 
 
 Molly, enchanted, seized the small satin-lined box, 
 and shook the rings into her lap in a shower of 
 light. How beautiful they were, piled stiff upon 
 her little fingers until she could not shut her hands ! 
 Then the charming thought occurred to her that she 
 would string them all on a stalk of grass, and hang 
 them around her mamma s lovely neck. The very 
 joyousness of the plan kept her silent, and, gather 
 ing up the front of her dress to hold all this glitter 
 and gleam, she crept out of the room. 
 
 Cecil did not notice her absence. She forgot the 
 child and the rings too, until she heard a wail from 
 the garden, down below the terrace. Of course the 
 inevitable accident had happened. A moment later 
 Rosa brought Molly to her mother, and the little 
 girl, catching her breath with fright, tried to explain 
 that the stalk of grass had broken, " and and the 
 rings spilt ! " In fact, three of them had leaped 
 as though from a sling out into the pool. It seemed 
 as if the smouldering irritation of Cecil s thoughts 
 sprang into flame. 
 
 " You naughty little thing I " she cried. " How 
 dare you take my rings out of doors ? " And while 
 her lips were still set with anger she punished the 
 child, who screamed with pain and terror, and then 
 
186 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 pushed her toward Rosa. " Just put her right 
 straight to bed, Rosa. Don t speak another word, 
 Molly, or I 11 spank you, you wicked little girl ! 
 Rosa, send John down to the pool at once. Tell 
 him he must find the rings to-night. Which are 
 they ? Oh, Molly, you horrid child ! Rosa, my sap 
 phire has gone ! The other two are not so important. 
 But John must find them to-night, somehow." 
 
XV. 
 
 And yet she was a happy woman, and a woman whom no one 
 named without good will. It was her own universal good will and 
 contented temper that worked such wonders. She loved everybody, 
 was interested in everybody s happiness, and quicksighted to every 
 body s merits. JANE AUSTEN. 
 
 OF course the tussle in the hayfield was discussed 
 in Old Chester, and it brought up the question of 
 Eliza s possible danger in remaining with Job. Her 
 possible degradation had been long ago dismissed, or 
 never thought of. The economic propriety of pla 
 cing upon the community the burden of supporting 
 Job s neglected but increasing family had been 
 pointed out only by innocent, straightforward, sen 
 sible Lyssie. The indignity done to marriage by 
 urging the continuance of a relation from which love 
 and respect and tenderness had fled, leaving in their 
 place brutality and lust, had never been considered. 
 But when it came to the chance of physical injury to 
 Eliza, then indeed Old Chester was aroused and per 
 plexed. 
 
 " Perhaps we ought to tell her to leave him ? " 
 said Miss Susan, worried and anxious. " Maybe, if 
 she left him, he would really turn over a new leaf 
 for the mere discomfort of it ; but to separate hus 
 band and wife ! " 
 
 Miss Susan Carr sat in front of her writing-desk, 
 thinking what had best be done. It would be no use 
 
188 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 to ask Dr. Lavendar ; lie would say that Eliza must 
 stick to her duty, even if Job cut her throat some 
 fine day while he was drunk. Mrs. Dale took this 
 view too ; and these two people certainly ought to 
 know. Dr. Lavendar had had so much experience, 
 and as for Mrs. Dale well, everybody knew poor 
 Eben Dale s failings. But Susan Carr s first, sim 
 ple, unecclesiastical, common-sense impulse was to say 
 that Job and Eliza had no business to live together. 
 
 o 
 
 Miss Susan, in her swivel chair, staring absently 
 at the cluttered pigeon-holes of her desk, her heels 
 stretched straight out in front of her, her hands 
 thrust down into the pockets of her short sack, 
 pushed out her lips in puzzled and troubled reflec 
 tion. But suddenly, catching sight of the corner of 
 a letter, she winced, and drew herself together, and 
 thrust back into the half-open little drawer the en 
 velope which held Mr. Joseph Lavendar s proposal. 
 
 So far, Miss Carr had succeeded in " staving him 
 off," as she expressed it. No doubt her firm words 
 to Dr. Lavendar had helped her good work, for of 
 course the disappointed older brother must have told 
 Joseph that there was no hope for him ; but her 
 own efforts had been unceasing. As this crumpled 
 corner of his letter brought him swiftly to her mind, 
 she congratulated herself upon her success in pre 
 venting the declaration which would have resulted in 
 his mortification ; but, glad as she was for his sake, 
 she could not help a little pang on her own account. 
 It is hard to lose a friend just because one has acted 
 from a sense of duty. Susan Carr had in all honesty 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 189 
 
 done the kindest thing she knew ; but in conse 
 quence Joseph Lavendar treated her with unmistak 
 able coldness and offense. In fact, it appeared that 
 he had taken the hint she had tried to give him ; 
 and now, with an unreasonableness most admirably 
 feminine, Miss Susan was conscious of feeling, as 
 Mrs. Drayton would have said, u a little bitter." 
 
 " He would have had no cause to be unfriendly 
 even if I had refused him, instead of just keeping 
 him from speaking," she reflected, with some spirit ; 
 " and I will be his friend, I don t care how angry 
 he is ! " She did not add, as she had often done 
 before, that he had been Donald s friend, and so of 
 course must be hers ; for once she forgot the sweet, 
 faded romance, which lay between her youth and 
 her middle age like a rose pressed between the 
 pages of a book. She sat there in her revolving 
 chair, looking at the confusion of her desk, and 
 wishing that at least Joseph Lavendar knew how 
 heartily she respected and liked him, notwithstanding 
 what she had done. Well, unjust as he might be, 
 it was a comfort to see with what friendliness his 
 brother treated her. Dr. Lavendar showed no re 
 sentment ; only a troubled gentleness, " as though," 
 said Miss Susan to herself, " he realized just how 
 hopeless it was." She reproached herself for not 
 making more of this comfort. " I ought not to be 
 unhappy," she thought. " I ve done my duty, and 
 I m sure that ought to be enough of a consolation." 
 But she sighed deeply. 
 
 Miss Susan was quite right about Dr. Lavendar s 
 
190 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 friendliness. He made a point of seeing her oftener 
 than before ; and although he never spoke to her of 
 Joseph, the whole melancholy situation was continu 
 ally in his thoughts. At first he had been quite 
 overwhelmed by it and altogether hopeless, and, with 
 an injustice as natural as it was deplorable, more 
 bitter than ever toward " the Peiidleton woman," as 
 he called her in his own mind. 
 
 Indeed, when Mr. Joseph, conscious and uncom 
 fortable, h^d followed his letter down to Old Ches 
 ter, his brother had been so unmistakably cold to 
 him that poor Joey felt all his courage ooze away ; 
 consequently, that week Mrs. Pendleton s affections 
 did not become engaged. But Dr. Lavendar had 
 not breathed freely until he saw the coach roll off on 
 Monday morning. " Well, he s safe for five days ! " 
 he said. Then his mind went back to the estimable 
 Miss Susan ; and by and by, in spite of himself, he 
 began to hope. " If Joey can just be made to ap 
 preciate Utile Dulci ! " he thought ; and he decided 
 to try to make Joey appreciative. Now Dr. Laven 
 dar was a wise man, and therefore he was aware 
 that the effort to induce one person to care for an 
 other person is generally as successful as the effort 
 to make water run uphill. If he had wanted any 
 proof of this axiom, there was Mr. Joseph s own en 
 deavor in behalf of himself and Mrs. Pendleton. 
 Mere insistence, Dr. Lavendar knew, was not only 
 useless ; it was almost prohibitive of the result de 
 sired. " So," said Dr. Lavendar in his own mind, 
 " I must be subtle ! " 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 191 
 
 The next Saturday, when Joseph came home, he 
 found his brother in quite a different mood from 
 that which had made his previous visit so melan 
 choly. Dr. Lavendar was eager to tell him about 
 Lyssie s engagement ; he had much to say of the 
 way in which Philip had thrashed Job Todd; he 
 was full of the new chapter in The History of Pre 
 cious Stones ; in fact, he spoke of anything and 
 everything but the old bitter subject. And through 
 all his conversation singularly irrelevant remarks 
 about Utile Dulci came in, like the chorus of a 
 Greek play. As for Mr. Joseph, while he was in 
 terested to learn of Lyssie s happiness, and was 
 sorry about Job, and listened to Miss Susan s 
 praises respectfully, he had his own business to 
 attend to. 
 
 " Brother Jim," he said, as they sat at the tea 
 table that night, and there came a moment s pause 
 in Dr. Lavendar s excited flow of conversation, 
 "brother Jim, it seems only proper to say to you 
 that I mean to to to do it to-night." 
 
 " Do what ? " 
 
 " Request the honor of 
 
 " Oh, Joey, Joey, what a fool you are ! " groaned 
 the old clergyman. He pushed his chair back a 
 little, and beat a tremulous tattoo on the table with 
 his shaking fingers. In a moment all his assumed 
 interest in other things disappeared ; it was not a 
 time for subtlety, but for action. " Joey, of course 
 I d never think of betraying the affairs of any of my 
 parishioners to any one else, even to you, but I 
 
192 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 the fact is why don t you go and see Miss 
 Susan ? " 
 
 " Miss Susan ? " said Joseph Lavendar. " Why 
 should I ? She is no more in sympathy with my 
 views than than you are, brother Jim," he ended 
 sadly. 
 
 Dr. Lavendar, pouring out another cup of tea for 
 himself, his fingers gripping the teapot handle till his 
 knuckles were white, swallowed twice, and said, 
 " Joey, you make me seem impatient ; but not at all, 
 not at all. I am merely ah infuriated by your 
 folly ! : Here he noticed his overflowing cup, and 
 put the teapot down. He was trembling. 
 
 Joseph rose silently, and wiped up the tea from the 
 table. 
 
 " If you speak to this lady, that implies, I sup 
 pose, marriage ? " said Dr. Lavendar, his voice husky 
 with fear. " But it occurs to me to ask you whether 
 you know that if she marries she must relinquish her 
 fortune ? " 
 
 Joseph was silent, but his face changed. 
 
 " It is asking a good deal of a lady to request her 
 to relinquish her fortune," Dr. Lavendar proceeded 
 breathlessly. 
 
 " 1 did not know that," Mr. Joseph said, in a low 
 voice. " At least, I may have heard it, but I had 
 forgotten it." 
 
 The two brothers looked at each other, and neither 
 spoke. Dr. Lavendar had played his highest card ; 
 he hardly dared to speak, lest he should undo any 
 good which that appeal to Joseph s chivalry might 
 
PHIUP AND HIS WIFE. 193 
 
 have accomplished. The little dining-room was not 
 very light, and the bare dark top of the table between 
 the brothers made it seem still more sombre. Dr. 
 Lavendar poured out another cup of tea, and drank 
 it defiantly. Mr. Joseph got up, and stood at the 
 window. " It looks a little like rain," he observed. 
 
 " That that will be good for Susan Carr s 
 farm ! " Dr. Lavendar exclaimed, breathing hard. 
 
 Joseph made no reply. 
 
 " Susan is a very superior woman, Joey, don t you 
 think so ? " 
 
 " Very superior," Mr. Joseph agreed listlessly. 
 There was a look of pained bewilderment in his 
 large, mild eyes. Dr. Lavendar could almost have 
 wept for his brother s lack of intelligence, and for 
 his good Susan s disappointment. 
 
 So Joseph did not " do it " that night. He lit 
 the lamp in the library, and pretended to read. He 
 must not give in to James ! It would be dishonor 
 able, and a slight to the lady, if his kindliness of word 
 and manner were not followed by a declaration ; 
 unless, indeed, this hint about the money and the 
 will should be true ? In which case Mr. Joseph 
 would rather suffer the imputation of dishonorable 
 conduct than request a lady to make a sacrifice for 
 his sake. Dr. Lavendar had judged his brother well 
 when he used that argument. Poor Mr. Joseph was 
 very miserable ; he said to himself that he hoped Jim 
 was mistaken. Who would know? He thought 
 immediately of Susan Carr. He could ask her help 
 again. 
 
194 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 u She is kind," he said to himself, " though she 
 has seemed a little unfriendly of late about this. 
 But Miss Susan has certainly a kind heart." And 
 so, on Sunday evening, after supper, which was 
 dull enough, with the constraint and pain between 
 the brothers, Mr. Joseph said he was going to 
 consult Miss Susan about a voluntary. 
 
 "Well, he s safe for to-night," Dr. Lavendar 
 thought. " But poor Susan ! poor Susan ! " He 
 walked to the gate with Joseph, struggling to find 
 some word to say about her and for her ; but nothing 
 came except his rather purposeless insistence upon 
 the fact that Utile Dulci was an intelligent person ; 
 " most intelligent, Joey. Of course I can t talk 
 about other people s affairs, but but give her 
 my love, Joey ; give Utile Dulci my love, boy, do 
 you hear ? " 
 
 Miss Susan was sitting by her round centre table, 
 her feet on a high footstool, her elbows propped on 
 the arms of her chair ; she was holding a large book 
 close to her eyes. She had, for the moment, for 
 gotten her anxieties about Joseph Lavendar in fol 
 lowing Smith s directions for ploughing under a 
 potato field to supply the soil with humic acid. Miss 
 Susan, presenting the soles of stout boots to the 
 caller, and frowning with interest, did not invite 
 any tender confidences ; still less so when, hearing 
 Mr. Lavendar s voice, she dropped her book, and, 
 with an awkward clatter, pushed away her footstool, 
 and stood up, red and embarrassed, and almost 
 angry. 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 195 
 
 Mr. Joseph steadied the tottering footstool, and 
 picked np a newspaper that had slipped rustling to 
 the floor, and made his apologies for having startled 
 his hostess. 
 
 " We men are apt to forget the timidity of the 
 gentler sex." 
 
 " I m not timid," Susan Carr said decidedly. 
 
 But Mr. Joseph would not listen to such self- 
 depreciation. " Oh, come, come, Miss Susan, there 
 is nothing more engaging in a lady." 
 
 "Well," Miss Carr retorted, her self-possession 
 returning, and struggling to defend herself and him 
 from the inevitable moment which she felt was 
 approaching, " well, you ought to admire my neigh 
 bor, then ; she, poor little soul, is afraid of a cater 
 pillar ! " 
 
 " Is she, indeed ? Is she, indeed ? Yes, I have 
 noticed it in her, very pleasing ; yes." He sat 
 down, his hands on his neat brown broadcloth knees, 
 his face a little wistful and anxious. " I suppose 
 you see a good deal of your neighbor ? Your life 
 must be quite lonely, and she doubtless enlivens it, 
 and " 
 
 " Not lonely at all," interposed Miss Susan, the 
 color mounting to her face ; " and anyhow, the poor 
 little lady is really so I don t want to be un 
 kind," cried Susan Carr, scarcely knowing what she 
 said, but willing to hide behind Mrs. Pendleton for 
 protection " she is so silly, you know. I m sure 
 I should rather be alone than talk to Mrs. Pendle 
 ton ! " There was no malice in this attack, only she 
 
196 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 must keep Mr. Lavendar silent. She wondered if 
 she might not introduce the subject of soil dressing? 
 " Yes," she said desperately, " I am not lonely. 
 Since Donald s death I have grown used to spending 
 my evenings with my books. I was just reading to 
 night " 
 
 Mr. Lavendar let her talk on ; when she had fin 
 ished her excited resume of Smith s admirable work, 
 he said, resignedly, that he did not know much about 
 farming ; he remembered that Donald had been very 
 wise in matters of that kind. He spoke absently 
 and rather sadly ; and Miss Susan felt that her des 
 perate reference to her dead lover had saved her. 
 And so, although it hurt her curiously, she spoke 
 again of Donald. It seemed to Susan Carr, as she 
 tried to shelter herself under his name, that he had 
 never been so far removed, so truly dead. Far off, 
 with dismay and pain, she saw a strange moment ap 
 proaching, a moment when she must acknowledge 
 that her grief for Donald was dead. 
 
 Joseph Lavendar did not return to her loneliness ; 
 he only asked her, in a constrained way, did she see 
 much of Mrs. Pendleton ? And by the bye, did Miss 
 Susan know whether it was true, this gossip that one 
 heard about tfee will of the late Mr. Pendleton? 
 Mr. Lavendar thought it a most unjust will for any 
 man to make ; for his part, he believed that a lady s 
 affections could be engaged a second time did not 
 Miss Susan think so ? without disloyalty to their 
 first object. 
 
 " Indeed I dorft" she said emphatically, " indeed 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 197 
 
 I don t ! The will ? Well, I m sure I don t know. 
 I ve heard so, but of course one can t tell certainly. 
 Perhaps not. But I m sure it does n t need a will 
 to keep one faithful ! " 
 
 She was so flurried that Joseph L/avendar looked 
 at her in bewilderment. " You appear to find this 
 subject displeasing," he said mildly. " I did not 
 mean 
 
 " Oh," stammered Susan Carr, " I don t want to 
 seem unkind, but don t don t ! Mr. Joseph, I 
 can t let you. Please never speak of it, never ! " 
 
 Mr. Lavendar rose ; the color came into his face, 
 even his high bald forehead was faintly mottled 
 with red ; he opened his lips twice before he said, 
 " Certainly not ; certainly not ! I beg your pardon, 
 ma am." 
 
 A moment later he bade her good-night, and, with 
 pursed-up lips, bowed himself stiffly out of the room. 
 
 As he went home, he hardly remembered to con 
 gratulate himself upon the fact that there was at 
 least some uncertainty about the testament of the 
 late Mr. Pendleton, so dumfounded and nearly angry 
 was he at Miss Susan. 
 
 " And she used to be so intelligent ! " he thought, 
 almost as Dr. Lavendar might have done. 
 
 As for Susan Carr, when he had left her, she put 
 her head down on the open pages of the book upon 
 subsoils and cried heartily. " And I like him so 
 much," she said, again and again, " and now he is 
 dreadfully offended ! " 
 
 She was more worn out by the excitement of this 
 
198 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 fencing with her old friend than she would have 
 been by a day s tramp over her farm. After a 
 while she dried her eyes, and looked about the silent 
 room. Yes, it was lonely ; Joseph was right. She 
 got up, and, with her hands clasped behind her, 
 walked up and down ; once she stopped before Don 
 ald s picture. " It has been lonely," she said, star 
 ing hard at the faded photograph; u yes, it has, 
 Donald!" 
 
 She did not sleep well that night ; the sense of 
 the solitude of her life was heavy upon her. Even 
 the next morning she stopped once in her busy work 
 about the garden, to sit down on the upper step of 
 the porch and think about her loneliness ; her cheery 
 face grew dull, and showed a hint of age about the 
 lips. 
 
 " And now, I suppose, I shall even lose the inter 
 est of the choir," she thought ; " for if Joseph Lav- 
 endar will go on being foolish, I ve got to give that 
 up ; I can t be meeting him without a third person 
 by. And Lyssie won t be very regular, now that 
 she has this new interest. Dear me, what an inter 
 est it must be ! " She sighed, and stared with un 
 seeing eyes at a scarlet pimpernel which had seized 
 a little root-hold for itself in a crevice at the foot of 
 the steps. She remembered, dully, that she must go 
 clown to the barn and see about putting up the stan 
 chions for her Jersey heifer, a pretty creature who 
 was now a mother, and so must have a stall, and put 
 her deerlike head between the stanchions, and forget 
 her careless life in meadows and upland pastures. 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 199 
 
 Miss Susan had been greatly interested in Clover s 
 pedigree, and her " coming in," and the butter qual 
 ity of the milk ; but somehow, this morning it all 
 seemed dull and flat. To look after a cow s comfort, 
 or decide on the necessity of tan bark for the straw 
 berry bed, or point out the need of a tin patch on 
 the corner of the corn-bin, all the imperative in 
 terests of her quiet life looked suddenly dreary and 
 useless. 
 
 It is a pity, for the mere human sympathy of it, 
 that the heads of households, deeply concerned with 
 joy and sorrow and themselves, do not oftener remem 
 ber this pain which comes to the unmarried woman, 
 the consciousness of unimportance. Almost every 
 unmarried woman experiences it at one time or an 
 other in her life, whether she is the necessary maiden 
 aunt, whose usefulness can scarcely be exaggerated, 
 but who feels the lack of the personal element in the 
 appreciation of her labors, or whether she is that 
 melancholy creature who solitarily eats and drinks 
 and sleeps, and prolongs a colorless existence, igno 
 rant forever of either joy or sorrow. 
 
 " Nobody cares," Susan Carr thought, with wist 
 ful but matter of fact intelligence. Yet she must 
 go on building stanchions and stopping mouseholes, 
 over, and over, and over again. Then the fresh 
 color deepened a little in her face : if it had been 
 possible for her to return his regard, Joseph Laven- 
 dar would have " cared." She sighed, and tapped 
 her heavy boot upon the step, and rested her chin in 
 her strong hand. She almost wished it had been pos- 
 
200 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 sible ! And that made her think again of her duty 
 to Joseph Lavendar. Yes, Lyssie would probably 
 miss the choir-practicing, if this young Carey meant 
 to come down often to spend Saturday and Sunday 
 in Old Chester ; then it came to her as quite an in 
 spiration that perhaps Mrs. Pendleton would come 
 and sing in the choir. " Not that she can sing," 
 Miss Susan reflected, "but she ll be there, and I ll 
 always walk home with her. Oh dear, I ought to 
 have been more neighborly, and then I shouldn t 
 feel as though I were making a convenience of her 
 in asking her to come." Susan Carr got up care 
 fully, so that her skirts should not brush the pim 
 pernel. " I 11 go in and ask her now," she said. 
 
 But while she waited in the little widow s trim 
 parlor, Miss Susan began to wish she had chosen 
 some other method of protecting Mr. Lavendar. 
 She looked about her, and became conscious of the 
 brown of her ungloved hands, and the limp lines of 
 her woolen gown, which had shrunk in many rains, 
 and faded to a yellow-gray along the edges of the 
 plaits ; she felt large and clumsy, and touched tim 
 idly a bit of delicate fancywork on the table, and 
 wondered why she did not care to do things like 
 that. 
 
 Mrs. Pendleton s parlor was a pretty, ladylike 
 room ; there were canary-bird cages hanging in the 
 windows, and there was an open piano, and an em 
 broidery frame. And when the little lady came in, 
 with her delicate, hasty step, and her sleek brown h /r 
 nearly hidden under a small square of lace, and her 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 201 
 
 neat black silk apron over a white dress made mourn 
 ful by occasional black dots, she seemed to match the 
 femininity of the room ; she had all the comforting, 
 caressing, feminine ways which were so impossible to 
 Susan Carr, but which must have made life very 
 agreeable for the late Mr. Pendleton. She ran to 
 get Miss Susan a footstool, and then pulled a shade 
 down to shield the clear, strong eyes that were used 
 to the full glare of noon sunshine in open fields. 
 
 " How kind of you to come in, dear Miss Carr ! " 
 she said. " I was feeling very lonely this morning." 
 
 " Were you? " said Miss Susan, in her loud voice, 
 which made Mrs. Pendleton wink. " Were you ? 
 Why, so was I ! I think we ought to see more of 
 each other. Here we are, two lone women 
 
 Mrs. Pendleton sighed, and glanced at her hus 
 band s picture above the fireplace. " Exactly. Of 
 course I still feel rather a stranger here, though 
 every one is so kind. Roger s engagement to dear 
 Alicia seems to bring me nearer to you all, al 
 though Frances Drayton and I were great friends 
 right off ; and Jane Dale, even if a little stern at 
 times, is always exceedingly kind to me." 
 
 Miss Carr never could suppress a quiver of sur 
 prise in her face when Mrs. Pendleton used thus 
 freely the first names of persons whom she would 
 never have dreamed of addressing so informally. 
 
 " I m sure Mrs. Dale and Mrs. Drayton have en 
 joyed your society," she said stiffly; "and 
 
 But Mrs. Pendleton fluttered up from her chair. 
 "Dear, dear! I didn t give you a f an ! " she cried, 
 
202 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 and ran to fetch a little open-work ivory affair run 
 through with a pink ribbon, and clattering very 
 much when one tried to use it. 
 
 Miss Susan looked at it as though afraid that it 
 would break in her hands, and spread it carefully 
 open upon her brown linsey-woolsey lap. 
 
 " Yes," Mrs. Pendleton declared, " I m truly 
 gratified by dear Roger s engagement. But do you 
 think dear Alicia is like her sister ? Much as I ad 
 mire and love Cecil Shore, I do hope dear Alicia is 
 not just like her?" 
 
 "Lyssie has n t Cecil s looks," said Miss Carr 
 gruffly, " but she has some of her sister s good points, 
 I am sure." 
 
 " Exactly. But I was thinking. I called on 
 Cecil yesterday, and her little Molly dear me ! 
 why, she never thought of obeying her mother. I 
 hope it sounds a little indelicate, but still, such 
 things do happen, you know I hope if Lyssie at 
 any time has I mean if if there should be a 
 family, I hope Lyssie will insist upon obedience. I 
 really felt it so much when I saw that little Molly 
 that I almost wanted to warn dear Alicia ; but of 
 course it would not have been proper." 
 
 " It would have been premature, I think," Miss 
 Carr said. (" If I don t ask her now about the prac 
 ticing, she will make me so cross I shan t do it at 
 all,") she thought ; and said, abruptly, something 
 about Lyssie s being a good deal occupied just now, 
 and wondering whether Mrs. Pendleton would not 
 come and sing in the choir. 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 203 
 
 " I ? But I don t sing very well." The color 
 came into the little birdlike creature s face, and she 
 sewed rapidly. Then, with a conscious look at Miss 
 Susan, she added, " And I m afraid it wouldn t do 
 for me to come ; I m afraid I ought to keep away ; 
 considering the circumstances." 
 
 Susan Carr grew red and hot. Not do ? Why 
 would n t it do ? Of course it would do ! Her kind 
 face was suddenly angry and alarmed. Was it pos 
 sible that Mr. Joseph had confided his hopes to Mrs. 
 Pendleton ? But even if he had, it was most im 
 proper in her to make any such reference ! 
 
 " Of course it will do for you to come," she de 
 clared loudly ; " it will be much pleasanter for us all 
 to have you, and we really need another voice." 
 
 " If I thought it wouldn t be harder for Mr. Lav- 
 endar ? " Mrs. Pendleton pondered doubtfully. 
 
 Miss Susan stared at her. " I never met such an 
 indelicate person ! " she thought. She got up, and 
 stood in a truculent attitude, her hand on her hip. 
 " I assure you, Mrs. Pendleton, your presence will 
 be a great addition ; it will be a good deal pleasanter 
 for Mr. Lavendar, and for me too." (" I don t 
 know how much she knows," thought Miss Susan, 
 " but that may enlighten her as to the real state of 
 the case.") 
 
 " Do you really think so ? " Mrs. Pendleton said 
 slowly. " Well, then I 11 come. Yes, I 11 come." 
 
XVI. 
 
 Your opinions are absolute to you because they are the opinions 
 of your time and place. You have so thoroughly, so totally accepted 
 them that you with greatest difficulty are able to believe that any 
 man is a good man and a true man who believes that which you dis 
 believe, or disbelieves that which you hold true. 
 
 PHILLIPS BROOKS. 
 
 VIGILANCE being the price of success, Miss Susan 
 Carr felt that, although she had thus far kept Mr. 
 Lavendar silent, she must not relax her care ; and 
 for that reason she named an evening when he was 
 not in town, for a little festivity in compliment to 
 Mr. Roger Carey, when he should come down to Old 
 Chester to have another glimpse of Lyssie. Mr. 
 Carey was to spend four days in town, and go away 
 on Tuesday; so Miss Susan sent out a number of 
 neat little notes, requesting the pleasure of every 
 body s company at eight o clock on Monday even 
 ing. 
 
 "It is quite marked not to have it on Saturday, 
 when Joseph is in town ; he will feel the slight, and 
 it will show him there s no hope for him," she 
 said to herself, with melancholy satisfaction. To 
 consider and protect another person is one way of 
 creating a tenderness for him. Miss Susan Carr s 
 good intentions towards her unsuccessful suitor 
 kept him constantly in her mind; and protected 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 205 
 
 her, too, from that dismayed afterthought which 
 follows an impulsive invitation, an afterthought 
 which even the most hospitable have been known to 
 feel. 
 
 Her invitation had been given on the spur of the 
 moment, when Lyssie had told her that Roger was 
 coming. 
 
 " Well, we must have a little entertainment for 
 him ! " said good Miss Susan heartily, and oblivious, 
 as such well-meaning persons are, to the bore it 
 might be to Roger Carey to spend one of his precious 
 evenings in company. " We must have a little 
 party, Lyssie, my child. Ellen shall do some jellied 
 tongues, and I 11 make the cake myself. You will 
 have to lend me some spoons, Lyssie, and I 11 bor 
 row Mrs. Dale s punch bowl." 
 
 Miss Carr beamed, and Lyssie kissed her and 
 thanked her, all the pretty gratitude of youth speak 
 ing in her eyes. 
 
 "Yes, yes, I m going," said Dr. Lavendar to 
 Philip, on the afternoon preceding the social event. 
 " I don t know why. I have my own home, and my 
 books, and my pipe ; so why I should go and chat 
 ter for a whole evening, and eat indigestible messes, 
 I can t understand. Do you think Miss Susan would 
 be offended if I went home at half past nine, 
 Philip?" 
 
 " You must stay for the supper, must n t you ? " 
 Philip suggested. " You know, next to Lyssie and 
 Carey, you are the star. Yes, I m afraid you must 
 n t leave until after ten." 
 
206 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 " Well, well," said Dr. Lavendar resignedly, " I 
 suppose she meant well, Susan means better than 
 most people. She s a fine woman, an intelligent 
 woman, but really 
 
 " She does well, too," Philip interposed. " She s 
 spent this whole day with poor little Eliza Todd. 
 The baby was born this morning, and Miss Susan 
 has been taking care of the mother and child as 
 though she were a trained nurse." 
 
 "In spite of anxieties about her ball? " said the 
 old clergyman, smiling and frowning. " So the 
 baby s come ? Is Job sober ? " 
 
 " We don t know. He beat Eliza yesterday, and 
 this followed ; he promptly disappeared when he saw 
 what he had done. That is what I came to see you 
 about, sir. I think it s time this matter was taken 
 in hand." 
 
 " Dear, dear ! Why, this is very bad, really, 
 this is very bad. How is the poor thing doing, 
 Philip ? She s in good hands if Susan Carr is look 
 ing after her. But it s too bad ! " Dr. Lavendar 
 was greatly concerned; he pushed his chair back 
 from his lathe, and drummed on the table with wor 
 ried finger tips. He had been cutting a green gar 
 net when Philip entered, and his reluctance to put 
 his work aside was evident ; but now all that was 
 forgotten. " Too bad ; dear, dear ! " 
 
 " What a poor, forlorn little thing she is," said 
 Philip ; " and I remember what a nice little body 
 she seemed when they first came to Old Chester. 
 That Todd is a perfect beast." 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 207 
 
 " I never saw a beast who wouldn t be insulted at 
 the comparison," Dr. Lavendar declared, chuckling to 
 himself. " Well, women are strange creatures. Why 
 did she ever marry him ? Brown told me Brown 
 married em in Mercer he told me he warned the 
 silly thing ; told her she was a foolish woman to 
 marry a drinking man. But she would do it ; would 
 do it. Yes, in marriage, women have no common 
 sense. Well, neither have men, for that matter," he 
 ended, and sighed deeply. 
 
 He got up and hobbled stiffly across the room to 
 a high-backed leather chair that stood by the hearth. 
 It was cooler, on this glowing August day, near the 
 dark cavern of the empty fireplace ; it looked cooler, 
 at least, for the soot on the chimney back caught 
 cold, iridescent gleams from the pale light filtering 
 down the chimney and falling on the dusty heap of 
 ashes between the andirons. Dr. Lavendar drew a 
 little leather tobacco pouch from the pocket of his 
 faded dressing gown, and began to fill his pipe. 
 " Sometimes this question of marriage seems quite 
 puzzling," he said sadly. 
 
 " I ve been struck by that myself," Philip con 
 fessed, with a curious smile, " but I must say it 
 seems simple enough in this case. She ought to 
 leave him." He had followed the old man, and 
 stood leaning his elbow on the mantelpiece. 
 
 " What ? Leave Job ? Eliza leave her husband ? 
 Come, come, sir, we don t believe in such things in 
 Old Chester." 
 
 Philip looked a little anxious ; he wanted to gain 
 
208 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 Dr. Lavenclar s consent to a step he was meditating, 
 the breaking up of the Todds wretched home, 
 and the separation of the husband and wife. He 
 knew so great was the old clergyman s influence 
 in his parish that Eliza could hardly be persuaded 
 to take such a step without his consent. 
 
 " See here, sir," said Dr. Lavendar, pulling hard 
 upon his pipe, "you ve come back to the home 
 of your youth, but don t put on airs ; don t bring 
 any of your wicked, worldly ideas here to corrupt 
 us." 
 
 " On the contrary," said Philip, with the affec 
 tionate impertinence of the young man who knows 
 he is liked, " what I m afraid of is that you 11 cor 
 rupt me. In my wicked, worldly way, I had sup 
 posed we had some responsibilities to each other ; 
 but I find Old Chester particeps criminis in an at 
 tempted murder, for you ve none of you interfered 
 to keep Todd from attacking his wife." 
 
 " Interfered ? " cried the other indignantly. 
 " Sir, I had a conversation with Todd only a week 
 ago. I said to him, Todd Young man, what 
 
 are you grinning at ? " 
 
 " Grinning ? " Philip protested. " My dear Dr. 
 Lavendar ! But look here, ought n t something to 
 be done about it ? For the woman s safety, to 
 say nothing of other reasons, for her personal 
 safety, she ought to be taken away from Todd." 
 
 " And what, sir, will become of Todd ? " Dr. 
 Lavendar demanded, twinkling up at Philip with his 
 fierce little brown eyes. " When he is n t drunk, 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 209 
 
 his wife s an influence for good. And would you 
 have her leave him, to save her precious skin ? " 
 
 " There is something beside her skin to be con 
 sidered ; the degradation " 
 
 " She took him for better or worse," Dr. Laven- 
 dar broke in. "Well, she s got the worse. Let 
 her stick to her bargain and do her duty. The only 
 thing I wish is that she could be taught to hold her 
 tongue. She ought to be more intelligent, and not 
 talk to him when he s drunk. Well, well, poor- 
 soul ! I may seem severe, but not at all ; I was 
 merely explaining. And this baby is the seventh ? 
 We must see that she has her coal this winter." 
 
 " But that s just the point," said Philip. " The 
 seventh ! and there may be seventeen. And you 
 and Miss Susan will go on supporting them. Now, 
 are n t you simply encouraging Todd in drunkenness 
 and idleness, when you two take care of his family 
 for him ? Why, as a mere matter of political econ 
 omy it s bad." 
 
 "Political economy! Upon my word, Philip, I 
 should n t have thought it of you, to bring eco 
 nomics into a question of sentiment." 
 
 " Sentiment ! " said Philip Shore, with a gesture 
 of disgust. " There s no sentiment in a relation 
 like this ; it s simply debasing to the man and the 
 woman and the community." 
 
 " There s nothing debasing about it. They are 
 married. What are you talking about ? " 
 
 Philip hesitated, and then said gravely, " It seems 
 to me, sir, as shameful for a man and woman to^ live 
 
210 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 within the law hating and despising each other, as 
 these two poor things do, as to live outside the law 
 with love. That s why I say it s debasing." 
 
 Dr. Lavendar looked at him, speechless with hor 
 ror. 
 
 " One of these days," proceeded the young man 
 thoughtfully, " perhaps we 11 be moral enough and 
 civilized enough to have the state break up such 
 marriages. The very idea of the seventeen possible 
 children is shameful, and a menace to the state. 
 For what sort of citizens are they likely to be, the 
 children of such parents ? " 
 
 " The children are the Lord s affair," began Dr. 
 Lavendar. 
 
 " The devil s, I should say. I tell you what it is, 
 the human race will have to pay a high price some 
 time for its philanthropy ; you good people who are 
 doing your level best to keep such poor little 
 wretches alive, and advocating their being born, are 
 trying to secure the survival of the unfittest ! " 
 
 " Well, upon my word ! " said Dr. Lavendar 
 again, " is it murder you want ? And you re a fool, 
 sir ; you forget your Bible : Children are from the 
 Lord ; happy is the man that hath his quiver full 
 of em ; and as for breaking up marriages, Those 
 whom God hath joined together let no man put 
 asunder. I never heard such sentiments in my life. 
 You grieve me, Philip, I tell you ; yes, you grieve 
 
 me, sir." 
 
 Under all the anger of frowning brows and nod 
 ding head, there was genuine trouble in his face ; it 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 211 
 
 was the trouble which is as old as the relationship of 
 father and son, the resentment of being outgrown. 
 We are constantly depressed, and, let us admit it, 
 irritated, by the certainty of the younger generation 
 that they have demolished our truths, truths which 
 we evolved from our fathers errors. But there is at 
 least a satisfaction in realizing that this same confi 
 dent and conceited generation will sometime experi 
 ence the emotions which we now know, of being set 
 upon the shelf ! 
 
 Philip was distressed at the effect of his theories ; 
 he would have gone back to the danger to Eliza 
 Todd of remaining with a husband who beat her, but 
 Dr. Lavendar insisted upon an explanation. Yet he 
 hardly had patience to listen while Philip tried to 
 explain his position in regard to separation, and his 
 belief that divorce was a concession necessary to the 
 present stage of spiritual evolution, but deplorable 
 as delaying the idealization of marriage. " But I 
 do believe in separation," he ended earnestly, " and 
 I think a higher morality will demand it." 
 
 " Higher fiddlesticks ! You d have people part as 
 soon as they got tired of their bargain. How much 
 sacredness would a bargain have if it could be dis 
 solved for every whim? You are advocating free 
 love, Philip ! Do you realize that ? You are advo 
 cating free love ! " 
 
 " Well," said Philip, " if there s any choice be 
 tween your ecclesiastical reason and my social reason 
 for deciding upon the moment when a bad bargain 
 should end, I must say I think the odds are with 
 
212 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 me. It s a matter of degree ; you make another 
 crime necessary before you will allow the criminality 
 of a loveless marriage to end ; I say, end it because 
 it is a crime." 
 
 " Marriage a crime ? " Dr. Lavendar repeated, 
 bewildered. 
 
 " A marriage without love is at variance with the 
 interests of society," said Philip ; " that seems to me 
 a crime." 
 
 " But that is n t the fault of marriage ; that s be 
 cause one or both of them are selfish fools. Let 
 them try to love each other ! But go on, go on," he 
 commanded resignedly. " I should like to know 
 just how lost to all moral sense you are." 
 
 But Philip was evidently anxious to change the 
 subject; he said, restrainedly, something about the 
 curious survival of Mosaic law in regard to marriage, 
 while in other relations of life parents and chil 
 dren, buyers and sellers it did not prevail. 
 " Some of those old laws have been the bulwarks of 
 crime," he added ; " think how they protected sla 
 very, and burned witches, and did all sorts of un 
 pleasant things." 
 
 But Dr. Lavendar fumed and fretted, and waved 
 his pipe at him. " Well, never mind the Mosaic 
 laws, I m sure I m glad you are so well ac 
 quainted with your Bible, though there is another 
 person of perverted views who can quote Scripture 
 for his purpose, too, but I want to ask you one 
 question: Where does duty come in? Do you 
 think we can get along without duty in this civiliza- 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 213 
 
 tion you talk so much about ? Young man, for 
 eighteen hundred years the ultimatum of marriage 
 has rested upon a divine word concerning it, and 
 men and women have done their duty, and we Ve 
 gotten along pretty well, I think. Talk about your 
 civilization and your economics ! I tell you, Philip, 
 you belong to this ungodly time of rooting up and 
 casting out the things that were sacred to your 
 fathers." He spoke in his angry way, frowning 
 heavily, and shaking his lean, grimy forefinger at 
 the young man. " And another thing I want to 
 know is, what will you do with the children when 
 you go about breaking up families ? Don t you see 
 any duties to the children and the home ? " 
 
 Philip started as though something had stabbed 
 him. " First of all, for the children s sake I d have 
 such marriages broken up. The living together of 
 a husband and wife divorced in everything but word 
 is horrible for the children. Think of the partisan 
 ship ! And when respect has ceased and love has 
 ceased, what sort of a home does that make for the 
 children ? I m not talking of gross sins now ; I 
 mean the mere living together of a father and mother 
 who don t love each other. Whether it s their mis 
 fortune or their failure, or whatever you choose to 
 call it " 
 
 " Sin," said Dr. Lavendar. 
 
 " they ought to part just because of the chil 
 dren, even if there were no desire for personal in 
 tegrity." 
 
 " I never expected to hear you say you believed in 
 
214 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 free love ! " declared the other, too irritated to answer 
 by any argument. 
 
 " I don t," Philip began. " I only said " 
 " Oh, you used a lot of fine words," interrupted 
 Dr. Lavendar, " but that s what it amounted to. 
 Philip, the older we grow, the more we learn of what 
 we call science, I tell you, the more we come back to 
 God. And you 11 find, when you get over being 
 modern, that the old words, the simple words, Those 
 whom God hath joined together, let no man put 
 asunder, words that you, in your wisdom, have 
 discarded, hold the eternal truth for us. Yes, 
 sir, this civilization you are so fond of talking about 
 rests on marriage." 
 
 " Indeed it does ! " cried Philip Shore, the per 
 sonal reality breaking suddenly through his merely 
 intellectual, argumentative statements. " My God ! 
 a man s salvation rests on it. Only, what do you 
 call marriage ?" He caught his breath, and stood 
 silent, grinding his heel down on the hearth. " Why, 
 Dr. Lavendar," he went on, in a low voice, " what 
 God hath joined man cannot put asunder ! Trouble 
 can t sunder such a husband and wife, nor sin, nor 
 misery, nor death itself, if God has joined them. 
 But when the lust of the flesh, or the lust of the eye, 
 or the pride of life joins a man and woman, is that 
 marriage ? If they are not sundered " he stopped, 
 and walked the length of the room, " if they are 
 not sundered," he said harshly, " if they have not 
 the moral courage to part, it is degradation, it is de 
 filement, it is " 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 215 
 
 "It is duty," said Dr. Lavendar. 
 
 " This question of marriage and divorce," cried 
 the young man passionately, " is the question of our 
 day. We must meet it, we must answer it, some 
 of us. But we have no appeal except to eternal 
 principles. This is n t a time to talk about Moses 
 and the prophets ; we ve got to come to each man s 
 own conscience. Yes, that is the only ultimate voice. 
 But who has courage for it ? And if a man does n t 
 have courage, look at the penalty : the continuance 
 of a lie, for expediency or decency or mere comfort, 
 shuts him out from all spiritual possibilities." 
 
 44 Shuts him out from spiritual possibilities ? 
 Shuts him out ? Man, it opens the door to him, if 
 such continuance be his duty. Philip, my boy, no 
 priest or prophet, no Bible or liturgy, no vision upon 
 Patmos, ever exceeded the inspiration which comes 
 to a man from the simple doing of Ms duty ! " 
 
 Philip, lifting his head with sudden solemnity, as 
 though he heard a summons in the words, said slowly, 
 44 1 am sure of that." 
 
xvn. 
 
 A party given by the smaller gentry of the interior is a kind of 
 solemnity. It involves so much labor and anxiety ... its spasmodic 
 splendors are so violently contrasted with the homeliness of every 
 day family life. 0. W. HOLMES. 
 
 " WHY, but Lyssie, it s our last evening ; we 
 don t want to spend it with a lot of gaping peo 
 ple." 
 
 " Oh, are n t you ashamed to say such a thing ! 
 Miss Susan is so kind to want us." 
 
 " Well, we don t want her I mean we don t 
 want to go to her old party. It would be a great 
 deal kinder to leave us out," Roger grumbled; and 
 tried to console himself by giving his little sweet 
 heart a kiss ; but she repulsed him with firmness. 
 
 " You 11 crush my dress ! keep away, yes, at 
 least a yard away. There ! there s my hand. You 
 may kiss that." 
 
 Roger kissed the hand humbly, but, with it in his 
 grasp, took base advantage of her condescension, and 
 caught her in his arms without the slightest consid 
 eration for her dress. 
 
 " Oh ! " cried Lyssie, horrified, and then ran to 
 look in the mirror with great concern ; but finding 
 herself quite unruffled, declared that it was time to 
 start. " And please, Roger, be nice," she pleaded ; 
 " try to talk to people, and don t look bored. No 
 body can be so very nice as you when you want 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 217 
 
 I 
 
 to." From which it will be seen that Miss Alicia 
 Drayton possessed a weapon used by most intelligent 
 wives in most happy households. 
 
 Not even Mrs. Drayton s gentle resignation at be 
 ing left alone had dimmed Lyssie s young joyousness. 
 As for Roger, he had not noticed her resignation ; 
 he had only said, good naturedly, " I have no doubt 
 you re glad to be rid of us, Mrs. Drayton." But 
 when she was alone, Mrs. Drayton squeezed out a 
 few tears, and sighed, and prayed a little, and en 
 joyed the sense of being deserted by her child ; when 
 suddenly a pang of reality dried her eyes, and 
 made her sit up straight, while her lip trembled in 
 earnest. The thought had come to her of the time 
 when Lyssie would marry Eoger, and go away to be 
 happy in a home of her own ; and she, Lyssie s mother, 
 who had done everything in the world for her, she 
 would be left alone alone ! 
 
 " A girl never thinks of anybody but herself," 
 she thought, with angry apprehension ; then she 
 really and truly cried, and when Esther came in to 
 make her comfortable for the night she waved her 
 away impatiently. " No ; I must begin to learn to 
 take care of myself. I must get used to being un 
 comfortable. Go away ! " she gurgled. 
 
 But Esther went calmly about her various duties 
 in the invalid s room, only saying now and then, 
 " There, now, Mrs. Drayton, I would n t." 
 
 " 1 11 never live to bear it," Mrs. Drayton sobbed. 
 " Lyssie will have that to think of, that she just 
 killed her mother. But I don t suppose it will make 
 the slightest difference to her ; she 11 be happy." 
 
218 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 " Turn your head a little, m m, so I can brush the 
 other side," said Esther. 
 
 And Mrs. Drayton turned her head, still weeping, 
 and saying, " Yes, I had far, far better die, you re 
 pulling, Esther ! and let her be happy. Ah, Es 
 ther Brown, you don t know what it is to have your 
 child prefer some one else, a stranger, to you ! " 
 
 " No, m m," Esther agreed calmly ; an assurance 
 scarcely necessary from the sedate spinster who had 
 served Mrs. Drayton since Alicia s birth. 
 
 " It s a little bitter to think that she s enjoying 
 herself," said the invalid, " while I - 
 
 Yes, Alicia was enjoying herself. For the first 
 time in her young life she was important, and of 
 course that is a great experience ; but added to that 
 was the new and exquisite joy of proprietorship. To 
 follow Koger with her happy eyes, as he talked with 
 this or that old friend ; to watch him " being nice " 
 to Miss Susan s guests ; to listen, radiant and assent 
 ing, to the pleasant things which people said to her 
 of him ; and to feel that he was Aers, that he be 
 longed to her, was engaged to her, ah, it was very 
 wonderful, very uplifting. " He s being appreci 
 ated ! " she said to herself triumphantly. 
 
 So far as guests went, Miss Susan s party was a 
 great success. The library, and the two parlors on 
 the other side of the hall, long, cheerless rooms, 
 rarely used, and smelling of linen furniture covers, 
 were comfortably filled. Mercer was represented, 
 and even Ashurst ; for Colonel and Mrs. Drayton, 
 of that sleepy town, had come, in spite of the length 
 
PHILIP AJ^D HIS WIFE. 219 
 
 of the journey, to make the occasion yet more dis 
 tinguished. Of course all Old Chester was present. 
 Mr. and Mrs. Dove were there, each uncomfortable 
 for the sake of the other, and Mr. Tommy so plainly 
 unhappy, so unconventionally unhappy, that twice 
 his wife found him standing in front of the clock in 
 the hall, gazing wistfully at the stretch between ten 
 and eleven which must be gotten through before they 
 could go home. 
 
 Dr. Lavendar had arrived full of fierce good 
 nature and unfailing kindliness. Cecil had come ; 
 very late, to be sure, which made Lyssie anxious for 
 appearance sake. Mrs. Shore was superb in a 
 gown the color of that green moss that lies deep in 
 wet woods, moss on which the sunshine, sifting 
 down through the leafy darkness of lacing boughs, 
 strikes faint glints and spangles of light. About her 
 throat was some yellow lace, caught together on her 
 breast by a great square topaz in an old-fashioned 
 setting of pale gold. She did her part nobly. She 
 talked to Mr. Tommy Dove with genuine kindness, 
 and gave the little gentleman, who responded " Yes, 
 ma am," and " No, ma am," to her remarks, the only 
 happy moment he knew that evening. She was elabo 
 rately civil to Mrs. Dale ; the more so, perhaps, as 
 that excellent woman s disappointment in discovering 
 nothing of which she could disapprove in the younger 
 woman s manner was quite obvious to Mrs. Shore. 
 She stopped and spoke to Dr. Lavendar ; a little 
 nervously, oddly enough, for the old man always 
 made her uncomfortable. He did so now, by his in- 
 
220 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 , half-pitiful look, rather than by his words, 
 which did not impress her, being merely, " Well, 
 Cecilia, I hope you are a good wife ? Your husband 
 has views about marriage which are no credit to his 
 wife." She was glad to leave him, even though it 
 was to go and sit down by her aunt Maria Drayton. 
 (" I touched my highest level then," she told Roger 
 Carey afterwards, with entire seriousness.) Colonel 
 Drayton, who never shirked the duty of letting 
 people speak to him, gave his niece his hand, and 
 then left her, while he proceeded to make a tour of 
 Miss Susan s rooms. 
 
 "You must not mind your uncle s leaving us. 
 He always tries to speak to every one ; he is so con 
 siderate," murmured Mrs. Drayton. 
 
 " He is," Cecil responded gratefully ; " so nice to 
 have him go and speak to people." 
 
 " Ah well, your uncle never hesitates at any duty," 
 said the other, with that closing of the lips and nod 
 ding of the head which means, " I wish as much 
 might be said for you! " 
 
 Cecil was humbly silent. 
 
 " I heard in Mercer that Joseph Lavendar was 
 very attentive to some Mrs. Pendleton," Mrs. Dray 
 ton digressed. " Who is she ? " 
 
 " I beg your pardon ? " 
 
 "Which is Mrs. Pendleton? Oh, that little 
 body ? Very nice looking, I m sure. I hope Mr. 
 Lavendar will be happy. She must be introduced 
 to the Colonel ; it will please her. Cecil, my dear, 
 how is your husband ? " 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 221 
 
 Cecil s pause to remember was filled by Mrs. 
 Drayton s expression of opinion about Eoger Carey, 
 which turned her niece restless, and made her say 
 that reminded her that she must go and speak to 
 Mrs. Pendleton, if her aunt Maria would excuse 
 her? 
 
 "It s the Colonel s example, you see," she said 
 indolently ; and Mrs. Dray ton told her husband, 
 afterwards, that she really believed there was good 
 somewhere in poor Cecil. " I always felt that that 
 child s privilege in living in your house would some 
 time express itself in her life, my dear," said Mrs. 
 Drayton adoringly. 
 
 Mrs. Pendleton was plainly nervous at Mrs. 
 Shore s attentions, but, with a view to being inter 
 esting, she did her best to say pleasant things ; and 
 as it was a peculiarity of this amiable woman that 
 she could never say pleasant things to one person 
 without saying unpleasant things of some other per 
 son, her conversation was generally interesting. 
 How pretty Molly was, how much prettier than 
 any of the Old Chester children ! How charming 
 Mrs. Shore s dress looked ; what a pity that dear 
 Susan Carr had not a handsome dress ! She hoped 
 Mrs. Shore would not mind if she told her how 
 beautifully she walked. " So gracefully, dear Mrs. 
 Shore. I wish our dear Lyssie had your walk. I 
 hope you are not offended at my speaking out ? I 
 never flatter, but I am very impulsive, and speak 
 right from my heart ; I shall outgrow it, no doubt." 
 Cecil s involuntary smile and instant gravity made 
 
222 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 the somewhat mature widow uncomfortable, so she 
 made haste, nervously, to speak of other things. 
 She wondered when dear Dr. Lavendar was going to 
 print his book ? He had been so long about it ! 
 For her part, she thought it was not well to be too 
 long in writing a book ; there was danger in polish 
 ing it too much ; did not Mrs. Shore think so ? 
 
 " It is apt to make it shorter," said Cecil. 
 
 " Exactly ! " Mrs. Pendleton agreed eagerly ; 
 " that s just it." And then she said, modestly, that 
 she would like to present Mrs. Shore with a copy of 
 her poems. " There s nothing in them that a child 
 may not read," said Mrs. Pendleton. "Ah, I m 
 not like the authors of to-day, Mrs. Shore. I would 
 never write anything that could not be put into the 
 hands of the youngest child." 
 
 " Adults must appreciate that," Cecil told her, so 
 cordially that Mrs. Pendleton was encouraged to 
 patter on about her " works " for the next ten min 
 utes. She confessed that she was about to print 
 another book, which she had named " so much 
 depends upon the name," she explained which she 
 had named Thoughts. 
 
 " But whose ? " said Mrs. Shore simply. 
 
 " Oh, I shall not sign my name," Mrs. Pendleton 
 answered, not catching, perhaps, the significance of 
 the question ; " I shan t even put Amanda P., 
 though that would insure the book attention from 
 all the readers of the poems. I shall just say, 
 Thoughts : by a Lady. Don t you think that is a 
 nice, ladylike tide ? " 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 223 
 
 " I never heard anything more ladylike," Cecil 
 assured her warmly ; and Mrs. Pendleton told sev 
 eral persons, afterwards, that poor dear Cecil had a 
 good heart, she was sure. 
 
 As for Cecil, she felt her endurance at an end. 
 She excused herself on the ground of wishing to 
 speak to some one, and, unfastening one of the long 
 French windows which opened upon the piazza, 
 stepped out into the August night. 
 
 " Dear me," she said, " I beg your pardon! " 
 
 Alicia and Roger, standing by the balustrade, 
 laughed: Lyssie, with pretty consciousness ; Roger, 
 with the embarrassment that is angry at being 
 embarrassed. 
 
 " Why, Lys, Lys I " Cecil remonstrated, smiling 
 and coming out into the shadows where the lovers 
 stood, " is this the way you entertain Miss Susan s 
 company ? Mr. Carey, you won t endear yourself by 
 carrying Lyssie off." 
 
 " I ought to go in," Alicia said penitently ; and 
 then, with shy authority, " Roger, you must n t I 
 mean, Ceci, don t say 4 Mr. Carey. Roger, it is n t 
 * Mrs. Shore ; it s Cecil. " 
 
 " Oh, Mrs. Shore thinks me too quarrelsome for 
 such friendliness," Roger returned, frowning. 
 
 Cecil simply ignored the suggestion ; she said 
 something about the heat and being bored to death. 
 Poor little Alicia looked blankly at them. " Why 
 won t they ? " she thought. " Why don t they like 
 each other more ? " Lyssie was stumbling very 
 early in her life of love upon that rock of offense : 
 
224 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 " Why do they not love each other, when I love 
 them and they love me ? " But in love two things 
 which are equal to a third are not necessarily equal 
 to each other, and two hands which, from opposite 
 sides, give themselves to one friend fail sometimes to 
 enter into a friendly clasp on their own account. 
 Too often, with vehement futility, the middleman 
 insists that these two hands must and shall clasp 
 each other, and his endeavor results only in pain to 
 all three. 
 
 " Roger," the young girl said, too straightforward 
 to know how to keep the disappointment from her 
 voice, and making still another exasperating effort, 
 " I must go in, but you need n t ; stay out here with 
 It s cooler here. Ceci, entertain him. won t 
 you?" 
 
 " It is Mr. Carey who entertains me," Cecil 
 answered, and Roger felt hot. He said to himself 
 that he would much rather go in with Alicia, but of 
 course he must not leave Mrs. Shore alone con 
 found it ! 
 
 " Shan t I get you a wrap ? " he said stiffly. 
 
 " No, thank you." 
 
 She sat down on the balustrade, leaning her head 
 back against one of the big wooden columns that 
 supported the porch roof. 
 
 " Did you ever know anything so stupid ? " 
 
 Roger frowned, and appeared not to understand. 
 
 Cecil laughed a little under her breath. " You 
 do it very well, Mr. Carey." 
 
 " Do what very well ? I m enjoying myself, if 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 225 
 
 that s what you mean. Miss Carr s kindness in 
 planning pleasure for Lyssie of course makes it 
 pleasant for me." 
 
 " Do you think, in contrast to my remark, that 
 your flagrant goodness is quite polite ? " she said, 
 and turned her face away and seemed to forget him. 
 
 What was the evil thing about her that made him 
 ashamed of his simple and obvious love-making ? 
 for he was tingling with the embarrassment of hav 
 ing been, as it were, discovered. He was angry with 
 her in a brutal way that made him feel that impulse 
 of the very fingers to punish her. 
 
 " You don t seem to credit anybody with simple 
 human feeling in such things," he told her, wincing 
 at his own tone. " You may not appreciate Miss 
 Carr s kindness, but I do." 
 
 Cecil turned and looked at him with interest* 
 " You speak of virtue as though it were a discovery 
 you had made," she said, in her slow voice ; " but, 
 do you know, I too, in my humble way, have thought 
 that Miss Susan meant to give pleasure ? Only that 
 does not prevent me from finding the occasion 
 stupid." 
 
 If she had not been sitting there before him, the 
 lines of her gracious figure seen faintly in the half- 
 light, and her white throat melting into the lace that 
 filled the bosom of her dress to her waist, his anger 
 might have lasted ; but he could not be angry as he 
 looked at her, and he could not take his eyes away 
 from her. His admiration began to speak in his 
 voice, in the warmer tone, the softer words ; but 
 
226 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 lie made his fault-finding raillery instead of rudeness. 
 He teased her, and contradicted her, and laughed at 
 her. When she defended herself, he answered with 
 a man s good-humored contempt of a woman s opin 
 ion, which, while it made her confused and petulant 
 and half irritated, gave her also that strange plea 
 sure, which only strong women know, of coming, as 
 it were, to heel. 
 
 In the midst of it Philip came along the porch, 
 and Cecil called to him to know what time it 
 was. 
 
 " Is n t it almost time to go home ? Oh, Philip, 
 what bomb have you been exploding at the rectory ? 
 Dr. Lavendar assailed me because of your views 
 about marriage. Eeally, it does seem hard that I 
 should be held responsible for your opinions." 
 
 " It s nearly ten. You won t go before supper, 
 of course ? " 
 
 " Ten ! I thought it was two. Oh, must we stay 
 for supper? Mr. Carey, you ll have to," she ended 
 maliciously, " for Lys won t want to leave until the 
 last moment. How you will appreciate Old Ches 
 ter s idea of a salad ! " 
 
 This time Roger Carey had no protest for the vio 
 lated hospitality. " I 11 try what influence can do. 
 Perhaps we can get away right after supper." 
 
 "It is just ready, I believe," Philip said, and 
 would have left them, but Cecil stopped him. 
 
 " What is this thing which has agitated Dr. Lav 
 endar? Do tell us. Your ideas are always so 
 amusing." 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 227 
 
 " If I amuse you, I have not lived in vain. Ca 
 rey, will you bring Mrs. Shore in? " 
 
 " No, no ! You must tell us first, Philip. Come ! 
 here is Mr. Carey ; he s in a most receptive state of 
 mind on the subject of matrimony. Are you going 
 to reform marriage or abolish it ? " 
 
 " There is room for reform," he said ; then, as 
 though impatient at his own evasion, he added, " I 
 was talking about that man Todd and his wife. I 
 told Dr. Lavendar I thought they ought to be sepa 
 rated." 
 
 Cecil looked at him in genuine astonishment. 
 " Why, really, Philip, I did n t suppose why, but 
 that s quite sensible ! " She was so much in earnest 
 that she had an instant s surprise at Roger s invol 
 untary laugh. " Why, but it is sensible," she in 
 sisted. " I should have supposed you would say just 
 the other thing, Philip. Of course Dr. Lavendar 
 was dreadfully shocked ? " 
 
 "Yes, he didn t approve of me," Philip an 
 swered, pulling a red carnation down into his button 
 hole. 
 
 " I can fancy Dr. Lavendar s dismay," Cecil said 
 lightly. " I have what might be called a respectful 
 dislike for Dr. Lavendar, but I m sorry for the poor 
 old gentleman s distress. It was too bad in you, 
 Philip." 
 
 " Upon my word, the Shore family needs a mis 
 sionary," Roger Carey declared. "Do you remem 
 ber the night you told me you thought the little 
 Todd woman ought to leave her husband, Mrs. 
 
228 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 Shore ? I did n t know that Philip shared your per 
 verted views." 
 
 Philip looked at his wife quickly. " You think 
 so, too ? " 
 
 " Why, certainly I do. I m sorry to shock you, 
 Mr. Carey, but I believe the world would be much 
 better off if divorce were easier. In fact, I think 
 it s a pity people have to wait until they actually 
 come to blows before they can separate." 
 
 " There are blows and blows," Roger said, in 
 that tone which meant, "You are charming 1 , but 
 you are not to be taken seriously." " Some 
 people s fists would be luxury compared to other 
 people s tongues." 
 
 " All well," Cecil commented, " the great thing is 
 to be able to be articulate in one s woes. We are 
 too polite, even when we use our tongues. The hus 
 bands and wives who throw dishes at each other are 
 the really happy people. They are articulate ; they 
 have all the relief of expression." 
 
 " Might n t you call it action ? " Roger suggested. 
 
 " You and Lyssie will never throw dishes at each 
 other," Cecil went on gayly, " and you 11 suffer ever 
 so much more on account of your repression. Philip 
 (I never saw anybody so anxious for his supper !), 
 don t you think it s a pity that people have to come 
 to blows before they can separate ? " 
 
 "Yes, I think it s a pity," Philip said dryly. 
 
 But a certain reality in his voice made Roger sud 
 denly interested. u Why, Shore, do you think di 
 vorce should be easier ? " 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 229 
 
 " Yes ; I think it would conduce to a higher mo 
 rality." 
 
 " Well, I suppose I m rather an extremist, but 
 I don t believe in divorce at all." 
 
 " Ah, but you ve never been married," Mrs. Shore 
 reminded him drolly. 
 
 He had turned his shoulder toward her, and did 
 not notice her remark, even to snub her ; he was 
 launched into discussion, and he cared more for dis 
 cussion than for a pretty woman. " Mind you, I 
 think separation is desirable occasionally, but never 
 divorce. I mean, of course, divorce a vincido mat- 
 rimonii, and the right to marry again." 
 
 " Oh, divorce is concession to human nature, 
 I admit," said Philip ; " deplorable, but neces 
 sary." 
 
 " Never ! " Roger declared, with the joyous dog 
 matism of the man whose argument has no personal 
 bias. " It s hard on the innocent, sometimes ; if 
 the law frees a woman from a wretch, it s a pity 
 that she can t marry some good fellow and be happy ; 
 but the individual has got to be subservient to the 
 race. Divorce seems to me like suicide, not inhe 
 rently or specifically wrong, but socially vicious ; 
 both lower just a little the moral tone of society. 
 Besides, our progress is in direct proportion to our 
 idea of the sacredness of marriage ; and even the 
 innocent must n t tamper with that ideal sacredness. 
 They ve got to suffer, that s all. It s a pity, 
 but they ve got to suffer." 
 
 Philip shook his head. " The idealism of the in- 
 
230 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 dividual is what lias made progress, and that may 
 imply a theory of marriage which necessitates di 
 vorce." 
 
 " Ah, but," cried Roger, < that s just where you 
 make your mistake : divorce can t be considered 
 from the individual s standpoint. It s a social 
 question, a race question. If no man lives to him 
 self or dies to himself, still less does he marry to 
 himself ; and besides, abstract idealism must always 
 be subjugated to the needs of living." 
 
 " But, my dear fellow, it is the individual con 
 science which forever revises and corrects standards ; 
 society is made up of Me s. " 
 
 " Me is a mighty selfish critter, when it comes 
 to this question of divorce," Roger said quickly. 
 " Lord ! how I have seen Me show the cloven foot 
 when he was talking about his wrongs. Why, 
 Shore, I believe that half the time, when the charge 
 is cruelty, or drunkenness, or or unfaithfulness, 
 it s just the expression of the resentment of per 
 sonal humiliation and mortification. It s vanity, 
 that s what it is ! Sometimes the children are made 
 the excuse ; but I tell you, it s Self, every time ; 
 you can see that when Me goes and gets married 
 again. No, sir ; legal separation would answer 
 every purpose." 
 
 " It might ; but we are not ready for it. Human 
 nature isn t ready for it." 
 
 " Human nature has had a great deal too much of 
 it, as it is ! " Roger asserted emphatically. " Even 
 separation comes too easy here." 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 231 
 
 " I don t agree with you, I don t agree with you," 
 Philip said restlessly. 
 
 " Why, but Shore," the other persisted, " just see 
 where your theory leads you. See what a poor, 
 cheap sort of thing it makes of marriage, a thing 
 dependent on mood." 
 
 " It is dependent on love," said Philip Shore. 
 
 " But is n t duty to be considered ? Is n t there 
 to be any effort to hold love ? " Roger protested. 
 
 Philip and Cecil both began to speak, and each 
 stopped for the other, both with a certain astonish 
 ment in their faces that they thought alike. 
 
 " Love has nothing to do with effort," said Philip. 
 
 " It is absurd to talk about the duty of loving," 
 Cecil declared ; and then there was the look at each 
 other, and Cecil laughed. " Love is as unmoral as 
 art ; you can t talk about the duty of loving." 
 
 "Love may have nothing to do with morality," 
 Philip broke in, " but it has everything to do with 
 spirituality. When love has ceased, marriage has 
 ceased, and separation should be permitted." 
 
 "It would certainly be more agreeable," Cecil 
 said. " But do you think a man and woman, even 
 in our class, should part if they are tired of each 
 other ? " 
 
 Roger Carey made some flippant remark about 
 "theories." He was exceedingly uncomfortable 
 without quite knowing why. 
 
 Philip s face, in the dim light on the porch, looked 
 drawn and pale. " I don t know what you mean by 
 a husband and wife being 4 tired of each other. 
 
232 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 " Excellent Philip ! I mean bored to death. 
 Were you never bored? Being bored takes the 
 place of having dishes thrown at you in that state of 
 life where it has pleased God to call us. Well, do 
 you think such people ought to part ? Heavens ! 
 society would tremble to its base; it would be a 
 sort of puss-in-the-corner, would n t it ? Everybody 
 would run in every direction. Is that what you 
 think, Philip, really ? " 
 
 " I think a man and woman have no moral right 
 to remain together when they no longer love each 
 other." 
 
 " Well, I believe I agree with you," Cecil said 
 thoughtfully, "if only for the interest which it 
 would impart to one s immediate circle." Then she 
 took Koger s arm, while he, conscious and uncom 
 fortable, declared, in a tone artificial even to his own 
 ears, that they were both wrong. 
 
 " Absolutely wrong ! Come in and have some 
 thing to eat. Come down to earth, Shore, and 
 teach your wife better sociology. By Jove, though, 
 would n t the lawyers thrive if your views became 
 general ! " 
 
XVIII. 
 
 O Conscience, into what abyss of fears and horrors hast thou 
 driven me ? MILTON. 
 
 " WHEN you get home, Cecil, I d like to speak to 
 you, if you 11 be so good. I won t detain you very 
 long." 
 
 Philip said this as he helped his wife into the 
 carriage, at the close of Miss Carr s festivity. 
 
 " Very well," she said crossly. Her tolerance of 
 his scrupulous politeness failed her for a moment. 
 In that talk upon the porch, she had had, under 
 her careless gayety of argument, a sudden pas 
 sionate realization of the dreariness of her life. How 
 tired she was of Philip, but how impossible for 
 she never dreamed of applying the theories she ad 
 vanced for Eliza Todd to herself - how impossible 
 was any escape from such dreariness ! She had a 
 bleak vision of the years before her : the years of 
 hearing him talk to Molly ; the years of seeing his 
 face every day at the opposite end of the table ; the 
 years of dull household questions, shall this horse 
 be bought ? shall that servant be discharged ? long, 
 level, horrible years ! She had a swift, angry re 
 membrance of his " ways," - those harmless, un 
 conscious habits of the body which go so far toward 
 making the individual, and which love finds half 
 touching and wholly dear. She recalled his way of 
 
234 PHILIP AND HIS WJFE. 
 
 cutting open the pages of his stupid quarterlies and 
 reviews ; of absently twisting his mustache while he 
 read ; of pressing his lips together as though to taste 
 his wine while putting down his wineglass : all the 
 little mannerisms of the Human suddenly filled her 
 with disgust. Oh, how tired she was of him ! Yes, 
 plates as missiles would be far more bearable than 
 this expanse of arid virtue, this monotonous fault- 
 lessness. His very courtesy at the carriage door 
 gave her a feeling of irritation. 
 
 " Get in ! " she said impatiently. 
 
 But he shook his head. " I m going to walk. 
 I 11 be at home almost as soon as you are. Will 
 you wait for me in the library, please ? " 
 
 Then he shut the door, and turned on his heel 
 into the darkness. An hour before, the difficulty of 
 telling a woman (for Philip, before he was an ideal 
 ist, was a gentleman) what he thought of their rela 
 tion or, to put it crudely, the difficulty of telling 
 his wife that he did not wish to live with her any 
 longer had appeared to him almost insurmount 
 able. But as he listened to her there on the porch, 
 a sudden determination came to him. Perhaps it was 
 because her carelessness and superficiality seemed 
 absolutely unendurable ; or perhaps it was because 
 she chanced to say, " I agree with you." Of course 
 he knew that her agreement with his proposition 
 went no deeper than the effect, and never touched 
 the cause. It indicated no conviction of hers, but it 
 made it easier for him to express a conviction of his 
 own. He went home through the darkness, too ab- 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 235 
 
 sorbecl to notice the soft, fine rain that had begun to 
 fall. He carried his stick behind him, gripping it 
 with both hands ; his head was bent, and his lips 
 were hardened into a stern line ; his whole body 
 stooped forward, as though his will and haste outran 
 his hurried stride. 
 
 " Will she consent to a separation ? " 
 Over and over he asked himself the question. 
 Not that he expected to put his fate to the touch 
 that night ; he only meant to test this flimsy and ob 
 viously selfish opinion of hers. Would it be strong 
 enough to break down the bars of convention, and 
 give him freedom ? He had never a moment s hope 
 that it would have in it the strength of any spiritual 
 desire for freedom for herself. He had long since 
 ceased to hope anything like that for her. No ; his 
 only thought was that he might use her unworthy 
 impulse as a means of escape for his own soul. 
 
 When Philip Shore opened the door of his library, 
 he found his wife awaiting him. Her face had 
 cleared in that drive home, it had been so com 
 fortable among the cushions of her carriage; and 
 after all, life cannot be absolutely dreary when one 
 has plenty of cushions ! She had sent upstairs for a 
 box of candy when she came in, and then she went 
 into the library, and sank down upon a lounge, half 
 reclining, half sitting, her strong white fingers clasped 
 behind her head, and her half-shut eyes full of lazy 
 good nature. Yes, things might be worse ; and be 
 sides, everybody else was in the same trap. It was 
 the old miserable but mighty consolation of unhappy 
 
236 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 souls : every one else is involved in the same calamity ; 
 so bear it, make the best of it, in fact, be as com 
 fortable as you can. 
 
 " And things are pretty comfortable," she said to 
 herself. " Oh, what a soup that was at dinner ! 
 Jane must never leave me if she can make such soups. 
 She reconciles me to my lot." Then she heard the 
 door open, and knew that Philip had entered. 
 " Well? " she said, without turning her head. 
 
 Philip pushed up a chair, and sat down ; he looked 
 a,t her in silence. Cecil opened her eyes, and took a 
 piece of candy. 
 
 " It s about John, I suppose ? Is n t it a nuisance 
 to have him leave ? Don t give him a character ; it s 
 the only way we can retaliate. Have you any one 
 else in mind? " 
 
 " I have spoken to him ; he will stay," Philip said 
 briefly, and then stopped, and looked down at the 
 floor a moment, and drew in his lips. " I want to 
 speak to you of what you said to-night." 
 
 " Of what I said ? " Cecil frowned, and tried to 
 remember. " Why, what did I say ? Oh, you mean 
 about divorce ? Oh, Philip, now don t be argumen 
 tative at this hour! " 
 
 She rubbed her foot softly against the lounge, and 
 one slipper dropped with a clatter to the floor ; then 
 she yawned, and stretched herself lazily, and un 
 fastened the square topaz upon her bosom, loosening 
 the yellow lace a little, so that she might feel the 
 cool air upon her throat. Her abandon, her comfort, 
 her look of enjoying her body, strangely disgusted 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 237 
 
 him. He wanted to say to her, " Sit up ; remember 
 you are not alone ! " He pushed his chair back, and 
 frowned, with lowered eyes. 
 
 " Your dress ? " he said, with a gesture. 
 
 " No, I never take cold," she answered. " Yes, 
 Philip, I supposed for once we agreed ; but don t, 
 for Heaven s sake, try to prove anything to me 
 now." She laughed a little, and rubbed her eyes. 
 4( I m nearly dead with sleep," she declared. 
 
 " We do agree," he returned quickly. " Only, it 
 seems to me more than a pity that a man and wo 
 man must wait until they come to blows, before they 
 can separate. It seems to me a sin." 
 
 " Oh well, that s as you look at it," said Cecil, 
 with a yawn. " When one says it s. unpleasant, 
 one says the whole thing. If that is all you wanted 
 to tell me, Philip, I m going to bed. Oh, Philip, 
 you have so much Soul ! isn t it fatiguing? " 
 
 " Have you any ? " he said, half to himself ; 
 " sometimes it seems as though your soul had never 
 been born ! " 
 
 " Perhaps not ; perhaps not. But who knows ? It 
 may be twins. Just think how superior I 11 be then 
 to you. Don t be jealous, Philip ; make a pincushion 
 for the poor little Soul, with 4 Welcome little stranger 
 on it, won t you ? Oh, dear, I wish there was any 
 thing very good to eat in this house, anything in 
 teresting, like mushrooms and aspic, perhaps. I 
 think I 11 wake Jane and tell her to find something 
 for me ; I 11 take bread and cheese, if there s 
 nothing else." 
 
238 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 She sat up, and moved her foot in its thin silk 
 stocking about upon the floor to find her slipper ; 
 then a sparkle of laughter flew into her eyes. " Put 
 it on for me, Philip," she commanded, and thrust 
 out a charming foot ; and as he, his very fingers 
 shrinking, touched the warm, lithe ankle and put 
 the slipper on, she gave him a little poke with the 
 green satin toe. " You goose ! " she said drolly ; 
 but there was contempt as well as amusement in her 
 voice. 
 
 He understood it, but he replied, quietly enough, 
 " There is something more than unpleasantness in 
 a marriage where the husband and wife don t love 
 each other ; " and then he gave her a look that 
 made the cojor sweep into her face. But she was 
 too sleepy to lose her temper. 
 
 " If you knew how perfectly ridiculous that 
 sounds ! Love ! What do you mean by love ? 
 Exchanging locks of hair and vows of eternal con 
 stancy ? " 
 
 " Hardly." 
 
 " Well," she answered slowly, " I don t believe in 
 love, except in maternal love. The other kind is 
 nothing but selfishness." 
 
 " It need not be." 
 
 " But it is while it lasts," she said, sighing ; 
 and rose, and stood silent a moment, looking down 
 at the floor ; then she said abruptly, " You wanted 
 to say something, Philip ? I don t know how we 
 got off on this subject ; it s disagreeable enough ! 
 What was it?" 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 239 
 
 " It was of this I wanted to speak," he answered, 
 rising also ; then he took a turn about the room, his 
 hands in his pockets, and came back to her. " It 
 has been in my mind a very long time." 
 
 " What has been in your mind ? Marriage or 
 love?" 
 
 " Marriage without love." 
 
 " At least that is more respectable than love with 
 out marriage," she said lazily. " Well, what about 
 it?" 
 
 " I doubt if it is more respectable." 
 
 " Good heavens, Philip," she remonstrated, with 
 good-natured amusement, " what on earth have you 
 got hold of now? Is it some plan for abolishing 
 marriage ? You love to reform things, don t you ? 
 But do undertake something a little more reputable. 
 Now I must go to bed ; I can t keep my eyes open a 
 minute longer. Do you want some money, to print 
 pamphlets about reforming marriage, or do you 
 want to start a fund for free divorce, for maries in- 
 compris, so to speak ? Take it, take it, only let 
 me go to bed ! " She turned away, her hand on 
 the door-knob. " Good-night," she said. 
 
 But he stopped her. " We ve begun to speak of 
 this, let us go on. I might as well say now I 
 ought to have said it long ago that this is a very 
 real and terrible question to me." 
 
 " Oh, Philip, must you be ecstatic ? Consider 
 the hour." 
 
 " For God s sake, drop your flippancy ! " he said, 
 with such sudden passion that she looked at him ap- 
 
240 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 prehensively. Was he going to have an attack of 
 soul on the question of marriage ? "I think the 
 time has come when we must talk this out. You 
 and I have failed as husband and wife. Of course 
 we both know that perfectly well. Where the 
 greater blame lies does n t matter now. The fact is 
 the important thing." 
 
 " Failed ? " Cecil repeated, with that surprise 
 which is uncertain whether or not to be anger, 
 " failed ? Do you mean we don t love each other ? 
 Why, Philip, you are letting truthfulness get the 
 better of politeness. Well, I don t know ; you may 
 not love me, but I I don t mind you, Philip." 
 Then it occurred to her that he wanted her love ; 
 was this what he had been leading up to ? She felt 
 the color come into her face ; she was very much 
 amused, but she was interested. His next words 
 enlightened her. 
 
 " You and I can t talk of love. Forgiveness is 
 all I can ask you for. But there s the fact, 
 we ve failed ; the question is whether our failure 
 involves any duty." 
 
 She was standing with her hands behind her, 
 leaning back against the table ; the light from the 
 lamp beside her gilded the long line of her moss- 
 green gown from her shoulder to her heel ; the topaz 
 caught it, and gleamed suddenly, like a watchful 
 eye. Her face was full of delicate color, and her 
 neck and bosom were as white as down ; about her 
 forehead, warm still from the cushions of the sofa, 
 her hair broke into shining rings. She caught a 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 241 
 
 shadowy glimpse of herself in the mirror between 
 the windows, and she thought, with whimsical con 
 tempt, that Philip would have been just as indiffer 
 ent to the beauty imaged there had it belonged to 
 some other woman instead of to his wife. 
 
 " Well," she said scornfully, " you are perfectly 
 absurd about some things, Philip. So long as you 
 seem to be saying disagreeable things, I might as 
 well tell you that you are perfectly absurd. We 
 get along as well as most people. I don t know 
 what you mean by a duty that may be involved. 
 The only duty I know anything about is to have 
 good manners, even though you bore me to death. 
 And you do, you know, Philip, I m sorry to 
 seem rude, but you have introduced truth, you 
 do bore me very much, sometimes. What do you 
 want me to do ? Try and take up love s young 
 dream? Why can t you reconcile yourself to the 
 fact that every marriage is a failure, in the sense 
 you mean ? " 
 
 " Other people s marriages are not our affair," he 
 answered harshly ; " and it is n t true, anyhow. 
 But because we are miserable we need not blas 
 pheme." 
 
 There was something in his voice that made her 
 turn and face him. For a moment there was si 
 lence ; then she said, in a very low voice, " Are you 
 are you making this question of divorce per 
 sonal ? " 
 
 There was a breathless instant before he answered 
 her. 
 
242 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 " How can it be anything but personal, when 
 you and I talk of the immorality of a marriage 
 without love ? " 
 
 Cecil made no reply. 
 
 " You said, I don t know whether you were in 
 earnest, but you said that you thought that when 
 a husband and wife did not love each other they 
 ought to part." 
 
 Cecil, her head bent upon her breast, watched him 
 closely, but did not speak. 
 
 " I, also, think they ought to part ; because a 
 marriage without love is legalized baseness ; or else 
 it is a lie." 
 
 Cecil, looking up at him, said distinctly, "Who 
 is the woman, Philip ? " 
 
 He looked at her, with a broken word of disgust, 
 and turned away. 
 
 A flame leaped in Cecil s eyes ; she stood upright, 
 and struck the table violently with her clenched 
 hand. " You come to me," she cried, her voice 
 tingling with passion, " to me, to prate about the 
 sanctity of marriage and the duty of separation ! 
 You want to be free, for reasons of your own, 
 illegal baseness, perhaps ? But no ! You ? You 
 have n t blood enough in your veins for that. I 
 know you ! Good heavens, you are not a man ! 
 But there is some reason under this fine talk, some 
 ulterior motive. What is it ? " 
 
 " You know better," he said, between his teeth. 
 
 She laughed loudly. " I know there s no woman, 
 because you have n t it in you ! But when you 
 
I trar 
 
 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 243 
 
 come here >and whimper about morality, I know 
 there s some cold-blooded reason behind it all. I m 
 not a fool, Philip Shore. You put off our marriage 
 on the ground of duty, you wanted to go to Paris 
 to study. You gave up your art because of duty, 
 you wanted to dabble, in your dilettante way, in 
 politics. Now you come and talk of the duty of 
 divorce ! What do you want ? " 
 
 It was terrible to see flash out through the refine 
 ment of tradition and training this loud vulgarity of 
 soul. 
 
 " Well, answer, answer ! Can t you ? Of course 
 we don t love each other ; how could I love you ? 
 But I don t see what you want. You are perfectly 
 free ; you can go to Paris and study again, if you 
 want to!" 
 
 Philip looked at her, and looked away for very 
 shame of what he saw ; under his breath he said, 
 with sudden passionate pity, " Oh, you poor soul ! " 
 For an instant the tears stood in his eyes. " But I 
 can t talk to her," he thought desperately. Yet 
 when she said again, furiously, something of this 
 separation which had existed in fact for three years, 
 he tried to tell her, curtly, with averted eyes, that 
 such a condition was a lie. 
 
 " We pretend to be married," he said, " but we 
 are separated ; we both know it, but no one else 
 knows it." 
 
 " And you want it known ? " she cried, " you 
 want to take the world into your confidence ? " She 
 was so amazed that she forgot her anger. 
 
244 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 " We are living a lie "he began ; but she in 
 terrupted him. 
 
 " Be explicit, be explicit," she said sternly ; 
 "don t rhapsodize. You offer me an insult. At 
 least state it plainly." 
 
 " I think we ought to separate, openly." 
 
 " Do you mean be divorced ? " 
 
 " I don t think any legal steps are necessary. I 
 mean separate. Stop profaning a sacrament." 
 
 He seemed to her so absolutely preposterous that 
 her anger broke into a laugh. 
 
 " Sit down ; there s no use standing here as 
 though we were on the stage. You use fine words, 
 Philip ; I don t, though I know the patois. I pre 
 fer the stupid truth : we re tired of each other. 
 But there is one thing you overlook : we are so un 
 fortunate as to have been born in a class where a 
 prejudice exists against publicity. We don t talk 
 of our diseases or our infelicities ; yet we have our 
 doctors, and though we don t separate, we travel, 
 like my dear papa." 
 
 It was a curious scene : these two, the woman in 
 her lace and jewels, the man with the red carnation 
 in his buttonhole, with every suggestion about them 
 of the reserves, and dignities, and conventions of 
 living, standing there face to face, speaking passion 
 ately the primitive realities of life ! Cecil sat down 
 opposite her husband at the library table ; a shaded 
 lamp burned between them ; except for its soft glow, 
 the room, with its book-covered walls, was full of 
 shadowy dusk. One window was open, a black ob- 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 245 
 
 long of rainy night, and through it the smell of wet 
 leaves wandered in from the garden, and sometimes 
 a faint, cool breath of air, although there was no 
 wind ; there was no sound, either, except for Philip s 
 voice and Cecil s playing with a paper cutter, 
 lifting it and letting it drop between her fingers, and 
 then lifting it and dropping it again. She was per 
 fectly calm ; she rested her chin in one hand, and 
 watched him closely ; only, when he came to speak 
 of Molly, her eyes blazed. He told her that the ex 
 istence of tliQ child made their duty greater in this 
 matter. And then he said that, under circumstances 
 such as theirs, neither father nor mother could claim 
 the right to the child, and therefore, if they should 
 decide to separate, the only thing to do was to divide 
 Molly s time ; they should each have her for half 
 the year. 
 
 When he said this, his wife flung her head back 
 and laughed silently. He saw it ; he sat there 
 speaking from the depths of his soul, speaking with 
 terrible restraint, speaking as a man speaks for his 
 life ; he saw the laugh, and knew what it meant. 
 The hopelessness of the situation *took him by the 
 throat. What was the use ? He had no words ; he 
 and she spoke a different language. 
 
 Cecil tapped her lip with her paper cutte 
 thoughtfully. " I can take Molly abroad to school, 
 I suppose, though she s rather young for that." 
 She did not even notice his concession; then she 
 looked over at him, and laughed angrily. " You 
 hypocrite ! you have n t told me the truth yet." 
 
246 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 He looked at her with a kind of terror. " My 
 God ! she cant understand ! " he said, almost in a 
 whisper. 
 
 " Oh, you need n t doubt my intelligence. I 
 merely want to know the object of all this. What 
 is at the root of this passion for duty ? You know, 
 Philip, I have seen it in you before. I tell you that 
 I am willing to travel, so drop that ; now tell me 
 the meaning of it all." 
 
 " Cecil," he said, with great gentleness, " you 
 know that I have never lied to you, and 
 
 "Never!" she agreed dryly; "you would have 
 been so much more attractive if you had." 
 
 " so believe me, even if you can t understand 
 me : your proposal of a secret separation has no 
 bearing on the purpose in my mind." 
 
 " It is, however, the only ground on which I will 
 consent to your suggestion," Cecil answered calmly. 
 " I am quite willing to travel. In fact, if it were 
 not impolite, I should say that I would be glad to 
 travel. Oh, and about Molly. Of course that is 
 perfectly absurd. I should n t think of giving her 
 up, I should nit think of such a thing ! " 
 
 The blood rushed into Philip s face. " What ! 
 do you think I will allow you to have her?" 
 
 The threat in his eyes made her wince, as though 
 he were going to strike her. 
 
 " I am responsible for Molly s soul ! " he said ; 
 and then into the moment of tingling silence be 
 tween them came the sudden banging of the front 
 door, and Roger Carey s step in the hall. 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 247 
 
 " Hello, Eric, old man ! Don t knock me down," 
 they heard him say. " Shore ! Philip ! what are 
 you burning the midnight oil for ? " He whistled, 
 and shoved the library door open, and came in and 
 saw them, the husband and wife : Philip, ghastly 
 pale ; Cecil, crimson and panting, her lips parted 
 for some furious word. But in a flash the vision 
 was gone. He heard, in his embarrassed dismay, 
 his hostess murmuring something about Lyssie and 
 the rain, and the voice of his host declaring that 
 Eric ought to have been locked up in the barn. 
 For his own part, he was able to observe, sleepily, 
 that it was funny how late twelve seemed in the 
 country ; and then he said good-night with careful 
 unconcern, and went out and left them, saying under 
 his breath, " Good Lord ! " 
 
 They heard his door close ; they heard the clock 
 in the hall begin to strike twelve. Cecil suddenly 
 drew the lace together across her throat ; her breath 
 caught in a sob ; she leaned both hands upon the 
 table and bent over toward her husband ; the light 
 shone up upon her trembling lip, upon the fierce 
 tears in her eyes, upon the anger and terror in her 
 face. 
 
 " Yes," she said in a whisper, " we 11 separate. I 
 agree, I agree ! " 
 
XIX. 
 
 Ah, love, but a day, 
 
 And the world has changed ! i 
 
 The sun s away, 
 
 And the bird s estranged ; 
 
 The wind has dropped, 
 And the sky s deranged : 
 
 Summer has stopped. 
 
 BROWNING. 
 
 ROGER was to go away the next day, but he did 
 not have to start until late in the afternoon, so he 
 and Lyssie had planned to take a long walk in the 
 morning. They were to go over to the hills on the 
 other side of the river. There was a road there 
 that Lyssie knew, a road where the grass grew 
 tall between the wheel ruts, and the wayside bushes 
 pressed close upon the passer-by, and the trees 
 dropped pleasant shadows all along the grassy track ; 
 a road where two might walk very close together, 
 and know that no eye more curious than a squirrel s 
 would be apt to pry upon them ; the very road for a 
 long talk, the very place for endless variations upon 
 three noble words, " I love you ! " 
 
 The thought of having Lyssie all to himself for 
 a whole, still, sunshiny morning enchanted Roger 
 Carey, and he was, not unnaturally, annoyed to have 
 her come downstairs and say that her mother was so 
 fatigued by the party that she had a bad headache. 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 249 
 
 " And of course," Alicia ended, " I must sit with 
 her ; so I can t go out to walk. I m so sorry." 
 
 44 Why, but Lyssie ! " said Roger blankly. " Why, 
 this is our last chance for a month. Your mother 
 fatigued by the party? How can she be fatigued 
 by the party ? She didn t go ; it s just a headache, 
 and " 
 
 44 Yes, that s all ; my going excited her, you 
 know." 
 
 44 Can t Esther take care of her? You seem to 
 forget that I m going away this afternoon ! " 
 
 44 Esther ? Esther can t take my place. Or per 
 haps you think anybody can take my place, sir ! " 
 
 To contradict this gave Roger some pleasure ; and 
 when Lyssie, with glowing face, slipped out of his 
 arms, he supposed he had gained his point. But she 
 shook her head, and sighed. 44 Oh, Roger, don t 
 encourage me to be selfish. I d like to go ; that 
 shows you how selfish I am. Selfishness is my be 
 setting sin," she informed him sadly ; 44 you ought to 
 help me to be good." 
 
 44 You selfish?" Roger cried. 44 You are an an- 
 gel!" 
 
 44 1? I am not good at all if you only knew! 
 Why, Roger, I can t imagine what you ever saw in 
 me to love." 
 
 44 Bless your little heart ! It was your goodness 
 that made me love you. For me, I m like a crow 
 beside you." 
 
 Thus and thus the regal humility of love ! What 
 a pity it is that so often, when marriage has given 
 
250 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 two perfect beings to each other, admiration should 
 be exchanged for criticism. 
 
 " You know, Lyssie " (confession is delightful 
 when one s sweetheart is the priest, and her absolv 
 ing, unbelieving, happy eyes look up and smile de 
 nial of the fault confessed), " I don t pretend to any 
 great goodness, and I have a nasty temper ; but 
 there is one good thing about me : I am reason 
 able. I don t insist on having my own way, unless, 
 as a pure matter of reason, I know I m right." 
 
 " Of course," Alicia agreed eagerly. u But then 
 you always are right, Roger." 
 
 Roger whistled. " Lys, the king can do no 
 wrong. But is it prudent to let him know you 
 think so ? " 
 
 " Yes ! " said the girl proudly. " I m not afraid 
 to tell you all I think of you. I think nothing but 
 what is true. And I see all your faults. No one is 
 more critical of you than I." 
 
 " Well, you shall tell me all about them," Roger 
 assured her. "We ll talk of my faults all the 
 morning ; it will take all the morning. Now go and 
 get your hat ; it will be too hot soon to climb the 
 hill." 
 
 " But Roger mother ? " Alicia s smile vanished. 
 
 Roger looked annoyed. " Well, I m sure she 
 wouldn t want you to stay at home on her account?" 
 
 " I know she would n t ; but it s my duty, don t 
 you see ? " 
 
 " No. I think you have some duty to me : though 
 that doesn t seem to strike you." 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 251 
 
 " Oil, Roger ! " said poor little Lyssie, her eyes 
 full of reproach. "Mother is ill, and you know 
 that is very different from just a mere walk." 
 
 " Well, of course, just a mere walk with me," he 
 began crossly. " You don t care about it as I do, 
 that s plain enough." 
 
 "Roger!" 
 
 "Then come. Don t be foolish, Lyssie." He 
 was beginning to lose his interest ; insistence, after 
 a certain point, does lose its interest. 
 
 " Please don t urge me ! " 
 
 He drew back stiffly. " Oh, certainly not. I sup 
 pose I may come in after dinner and say good-by?" 
 
 She looked at him, and her lip shook. 
 
 " Oh, please ! " she said despairingly. 
 
 But Roger turned on his heel, with a concise 
 though unuttered epithet in his own mind, coupled 
 with the name of Mrs. Drayton. 
 
 " All right ; I ve nothing more to say. I think 
 you are wrong ; but never mind. I 11 come in this 
 afternoon and say good-by before the stage starts. 
 I suppose you can leave your mother long enough 
 for that ? There ! I m a brute, Lyssie, I m 
 ashamed of myself ; but you are all wrong, darling." 
 
 Then, still irritated in spite of being ashamed of 
 himself, he left her, and Lyssie, after she had swal 
 lowed some tears, went up and spent the morning in 
 the darkened bedroom, where the air was heavy with 
 the sickly scent of cologne, and where she listened 
 to feeble sobbings of reproach that she had stayed 
 downstairs so long. In the afternoon it all came 
 
252 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 right, of course. Roger was repentant and Lyssie 
 forgiving, but somehow the parting was less perfect 
 than it should have been. A bewildered dismay 
 still lingered in Alicia s eyes, and Roger was dully 
 unhappy, with a self-reproach which took no definite 
 form ; he only knew it had nothing to do with his 
 unreasonable temper in the morning. 
 
 Now, the stings of conscience are bad enough, as 
 everybody knows, when they are definite ; but when 
 the still, small voice only mutters, when the stings 
 are wandering pains which refuse to localize them 
 selves and be treated, remorse is a little more unbear 
 able by the addition of bewilderment. 
 
 Roger s self-reproach was connected with his man 
 ner of spending the morning after he left Alicia. 
 Yet he could not say why he was dissatisfied with 
 himself. When he tried to analyze his conduct, he 
 found nothing definite ; only a vague uneasiness, an 
 intangible disapproval. Smarting at Lyssie s slight, 
 for so he chose to consider it, he had gone back 
 to the Shores , meaning to make his host entertain 
 him. Philip had not appeared at breakfast, which 
 Roger had taken early, so that he might be at 
 Alicia s door by nine ; and now he was shut up in 
 his library, " very much engaged," John said. 
 
 Roger wondered, moodily, if he had not better 
 have taken the morning stage. 
 
 "I ve stayed one day too long in this place," 
 he reflected. He wished Mrs. Shore would come 
 downstairs ; he wanted to talk to her of Lyssie s 
 foolish self-sacrifice ; not that he meant to complain 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 253 
 
 of Alicia, but it would be a relief to say how, 
 for Mrs. Dray ton s own sake, he wished Lyssie 
 were wiser in her devotion to her mother. It is 
 strange how rarely we recognize in ourselves the 
 meaning of this impulse to find fault with those 
 we love to a third person. We call it sincerity, 
 sometimes, sometimes, duty : we are mightily 
 serious in our task of justifying to ourselves our 
 disloyalty. 
 
 Mrs. Shore did not appear, however. The day 
 seemed to Roger to stretch interminably before him. 
 lie had really nothing to do but think how badly he 
 had been treated ; he even said savagely, " Very 
 likely I ve been a fool to think she cares for me at 
 all. I don t know why she should, of course." This 
 with that angry humility which is so amusing to the 
 persons who do not feel it. 
 
 A little later, for want of something better to do, 
 he went out into the garden, and walked down to 
 the stone seat by the pool. It was very still here. 
 There was a sleepy blur of sunshine on the meadow 
 opposite, where the grass was scorched into fading 
 yellow and bronze by the August droughts; here 
 and there, a patch of intense, vivid, almost wet green 
 held its own under the shadow of an apple-tree or 
 along the edge of the water. There was the drone 
 of bees in a little border of sweet alyssum, whose 
 faint, clean perfume came to him in hot, wandering 
 breaths ; the shimmering haze on the water was 
 laced by the noiseless zigzag of dragonflies ; some 
 times a yellow leaf floated slowly down through the 
 
254 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 still air, to make a silent anchorage on the silent 
 water. The warmth and the play of shadows from 
 the faintly moving leaves above him soothed him, so 
 that, in spite of his injured feelings, Roger would no 
 doubt have taken a nap, if Eric, with Molly pulling 
 at his collar, had not walked majestically down the 
 path, and, catching sight of his friend, poked a cold 
 nose under his relaxed hand ; at which Roger was 
 instantly awake and good natured. " You rascal," 
 he said affectionately, taking the great, anxious, 
 friendly face in his two hands, " you scoundrel, how 
 dare you wake me up ? " 
 
 " He would do it," Molly explained. " I was 
 coming to fish for crayfish, an he came. He lets 
 me hang em on his ears by their pincers. He 
 doesn t mind." 
 
 " Do you suppose the crayfish mind ? " Roger 
 asked. But that did not interest Molly. Instead 
 of discussing the feelings of the crayfish, she climbed 
 up on the seat beside him. 
 
 " Tell me a story." 
 
 " Don t know any," said Roger, beginning to get 
 sleepy again. 
 
 " Everybody s so unobliging," Molly assured 
 him : " mamma s awfully cross, and father won t let 
 me talk at all. It is n t very pleasant for me," she 
 ended sadly. 
 
 " Well, perhaps you d better go and make it 
 pleasant for the crayfish," Roger suggested, yawn 
 ing. Then he looked at his watch, and discovered 
 that it was only ten minutes past eleven. " Con- 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 255 
 
 found it ! " he said. " Molly, where is your father? 
 In the library still?" 
 
 " I don t know. Maybe he is. Father was out 
 of doors all last night, walking and walking around 
 in the rain. Rosa told me so. John told her. And 
 I told mamma, and she said " 
 
 " Never mind ! " Roger broke in hastily. 
 
 And Molly, with great cheerfulness, changed the 
 subject. " I 11 show you something, Mr. Carey, 
 something I ve got in a box in my pocket. Want 
 to see it ? " 
 
 " Oh, very much," said poor Roger ; but did n t 
 Molly think she d like to catch some crayfish ? And 
 then, with an eye to the interrupted nap, he made 
 several suggestions for her diversion : Rosa ? The 
 nursery and her paper dolls ? " That would be de 
 lightful," he said, with insidious enthusiasm. " Just 
 think ! playing with those nice dolls in the nursery. 
 Dear me ! how pleasant that would be." 
 
 u It s pleasaiiter with you," Molly informed him, 
 hugging him with much affection ; and Roger sighed, 
 and said, " Well," and submitted to many caresses, 
 and showed his watch and Lyssie s picture, and 
 yawned a good deal. 
 
 " What s in the mysterious box ? " he asked. 
 
 And Molly, her little face very serious and eager, 
 took a small ring-box from her pocket and shook it 
 close against his ear. " Guess ! " 
 
 " A rocking-chair ? " said Roger. 
 
 " Why, there could n t be a rocking-chair in this 
 little box, Mr. Carey. Guess again." 
 
256 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 " Can t imagine. Show us." 
 
 Molly, twinkling with excitement and the pleasure 
 of giving pleasure, opened the box a very little 
 way. " Look ! it s my tooth. Eosa pulled it yes 
 terday." 
 
 " Great Cesar s ghost ! " 
 
 " I thought I d keep it for the Resurrection," 
 Molly explained shyly. 
 
 " Oh, you 11 have nice false teeth by that time, 
 Molly," Roger told her gravely. 
 
 " Well, but God will know where this is, if I keep 
 it in my pocket," the child said simply, and grew red 
 and resentful when Roger laughed long and loud. 
 He was so wide awake now that he suggested they 
 should hunt somebody up. 
 
 " Come and see if your mother is downstairs yet. 
 Have you told her about the Resurrection? " 
 
 Molly replied coldly, " No ; father knows." But 
 her little anger burned out in a moment, and she 
 was eager and confidential again. " Let s go up to 
 the porch. I guess mamma s on the porch by this 
 time. Mamma said maybe she d take me to Europe 
 in a ship ; but father is n t coming. Father is go 
 ing to stay at home." 
 
 " By Jove ! " Roger thought, with real concern, 
 " has their squabble gone as far as that ? " He 
 found himself thinking what Cecil must be in a pas 
 sion ; and his eyes brightened a little and his jaw 
 set. 
 
 When he and Molly reached the house, and found 
 Mrs. Shore on the porch, he was full of interest in 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 257 
 
 her. It is very subtle, but it is very real, that in 
 terest which a man feels in a woman who is quarrel 
 ing with her husband. Perhaps it is because, when 
 a woman marries, she shuts the door of her possibil 
 ities ; but when she quarrels with her husband, she 
 opens it a little, and archly peers out again into 
 men s faces, if only for a moment. 
 
 Cecil hardly looked at Koger when he came up 
 the steps, Molly dragging at his hand, and Eric close 
 to his heels. She was sitting in a big reclining- 
 chair which was full of yellow cushions ; the old 
 bamboo, smooth as golden lacquer, yielded to every 
 movement, and was as absolutely comfortable as 
 even Cecil could desire. Generally, when she sat 
 thus on the porch, with, very likely, some deeply 
 fragrant flowers at her elbow, she had an air of ab 
 solute, delicious comfort, the luxurious satisfaction 
 one sees in an animal basking in the sunshine. But 
 to-day she was unconscious of her comfort, appar 
 ently ; a dull anger was smouldering in her eyes, 
 and there was a heavy look about them as of fierce, 
 unshed tears. Now, in a weak woman a man finds 
 the hint of tears repulsive ; but in a strong woman 
 they rouse only a consciousness of his own strength, 
 or a leaping impulse of tenderness. Her sullenness 
 bites into his thought like some teasing, stimulating, 
 exquisite pain. He would like at once to comfort 
 and to hurt her. 
 
 Eoger, sitting down beside her, had no longer any 
 inclination to resent Alicia s slight. In Cecil s 
 
 o 
 
 presence it seemed too small, too silly. He half 
 
258 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 smiled at himself for having felt it. Alicia, with 
 her droll little obstinacy, was only a child, after all, 
 so ignorant, so foolish, and so sweet ! He felt that 
 he loved her very much, and might therefore say to 
 Mrs. Shore this and that of her sister s fantastic 
 idea of duty. 
 
 Yes, yes, it was a great pity that Mrs. Drayton 
 should have had a headache that morning ! 
 
 Cecil made but little response. Roger, disap 
 pointed, but desiring sympathy, found himself invit 
 ing it by a hint of his conviction that " votre belle 
 mere " - this with a hesitating look at Molly was 
 very he supposed it was the result of illness, but 
 she was not what one might call unselfish ? 
 
 " Scarcely," said Mrs. Shore. 
 
 Roger felt, resentfully, that he had been encour 
 aged to express an unworthy sentiment, and now his 
 instigator stepped from under, as it were, and de 
 clined responsibility. " At least, you have given me 
 that impression," he added. 
 
 " The woman tempted you ? " Cecil commented. 
 
 " It s a way she has had from the beginning," 
 Roger declared more good naturedly, and added 
 frankly, " It was shabby in me to say that ; the fact 
 is, I suppose, I am out of temper because I lost my 
 walk." 
 
 Cecil showed no interest in his penitence. She 
 looked sullenly straight in front of her ; she an 
 swered shortly, " yes " or " no," when he went on 
 talking ; she seemed to shrink a little as though 
 she were half afraid of him when he brought his 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 259 
 
 chair to her side. But after a while, quite suddenly, 
 and with a curious fierceness, she turned, and began 
 to talk with a recklessness which Roger had never 
 before seen in her ; it was as though she had slipped 
 some leash which had been holding her back. She 
 said she was sorry he was going away ; that Lyssie 
 had been very foolish not to walk with him ; that 
 Mrs. Drayton was really " impossible." In fact, she 
 condoled with him so warmly upon his prospective 
 mother-in-law that he grew uncomfortable. 
 
 " Mrs. Drayton has a talent for tears," she said, 
 " and Lyssie believes in them. Is n t it funny ? " 
 
 " Well, weakness is a great bully without know 
 ing it," Roger defended Alicia s mother, " and she s 
 in wretched health, you know." 
 
 Molly, lounging on Roger s knee, announced that 
 mamma said that grandmamma was as well oh, as 
 anybody, if she just would n t pretend to be sick. 
 At which Cecil laughed, but Roger said abruptly, 
 " You ought n t to let that child know how you feel ! " 
 and Cecil, sobering, winced at his tone. 
 
 " I suppose I ought n t," she acknowledged. 
 " Molly, never say anything about grandmamma that 
 mamma has said. Will you remember ? 1 m very 
 fond of her." 
 
 " You re making fun." 
 
 " You naughty little girl ! " cried Cecil, much 
 amused. " Of course I love grandmamma, and so 
 must you; remember you ve only one grandmother, 
 so you must make the most of her, and love her 
 very much." 
 
 T:\BRA7T? 
 
 OF THK 
 TTTvTTTTT- - 
 
260 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 " Oh, she s only a step," said Molly, with con 
 tempt. " Step-grandmothers don t count." 
 
 " What shall I do with her ? " said Cecil, in 
 despair. 
 
 " Your sin has found you out ! " Roger commented 
 significantly. 
 
 But his reproof annoyed her, and she dropped the 
 subject of Mrs. Dray ton. 
 
 " Is n t it funny how they understand the things 
 we don t say ? " she said. " Really, we ought to con 
 verse in another language after children are five 
 years old." 
 
 " Would n t it be just as well to let the Young 
 Person have a reforming effect upon our conversa 
 tion?" 
 
 " It would be a little dull." 
 
 " Perhaps so," he admitted ; and added that then, 
 probably, slander and impropriety would become 
 extinct. 
 
 " That would be dull ! " Cecil said. 
 
 Roger looked at her thoughtfully. " Why do you 
 say things like that ? You don t mean them. 
 And" 
 
 "Well?" 
 
 " Well, I think they are rather silly," he ex 
 plained cheerfully. " Would you mind if I lighted 
 a cigar, Mrs. Shore ? " 
 
 Again, as a dozen times during these last six 
 weeks, his indifference touched her like some fine 
 and stinging lash. She colored, and defended her 
 self gayly, but with an undertone of eagerness. She 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 261 
 
 was full of that spirited docility which is so flattering 
 to a man ; she wanted to know his opinion on a 
 dozen topics, and yet she had her own opinions, and 
 held them with a charming and feminine insistence, 
 which, however, being always based upon intelligence, 
 put her companion on his mettle. He grew keen and 
 interested. He overlooked his grievances. He did 
 not have to forgive Lyssie : he forgot her. Perhaps 
 the spiritual as well as the material world has its 
 spring and autumn, its summer and winter, its sea 
 sons of alert life, its time when virtue hibernates. 
 It would seem so when one watches the hardening- of 
 
 O 
 
 a sensitive honor, the wavering lassitude of a hith 
 erto robust conscience. 
 
 But to the vigorous soul the approach of such 
 torpidity is attended with more or less discomfort. 
 Roger, thinking this talk over afterwards, was 
 vaguely uncomfortable ; he could not put his finger 
 on any one thing that he wished he had not done, 
 unless indeed it were his first impatient speech about 
 Mrs. Drayton. But he had apologized for that, and 
 defended her ; he had overcome, yes, even forgotten, 
 his resentment at Alicia. To be sure, he had seen 
 with a fierce appreciation the whiteness of Cecil 
 Shore s throat, the color of her lip : he would have 
 been a fool, or blind, not to have seen them ; and they 
 certainly had not prevented him from giving her a 
 piece of his mind, once or twice, in good, hard words. 
 She had looked tired and unhappy, and he had been 
 sorry ; it would have been brutal not to be sorry. 
 Lyssie would have been the first to wish him to be 
 
262 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 sympathetic. . No, he had not a thing with which to 
 reproach himself ; yet he felt dull and irritable ; he 
 was inclined to blame everybody about him, which is 
 a state of mind characteristic of an uneasy conscience. 
 He looked back, in his thoughts, to the disappoint 
 ment of the morning, and wished that Alicia had 
 just a little less of that feminine obstinacy in the mat 
 ter of duty which is so aggravating to the masculine 
 mind, unless indeed the feminine idea of duty and 
 the masculine idea of comfort chance to be synony 
 mous. He said to himself that he hoped she was 
 not going to be like her mother. Now this is a 
 most significant wish in an engaged man, and one 
 which, if he is wise, will turn him to examining the 
 quality of his love. 
 
 When he went, later in the day, to say good-by to 
 Lyssie, Roger was very penitent for his crossness of 
 the morning, and confessed it humbly enough ; for 
 even the reasonableness of his position did not excuse 
 crossness, he said. 
 
 But his penitence did not lighten his conscience 
 of an uncommitted fault. 
 
XX. 
 
 Nothing in life is more remarkable than the unnecessary anxiety 
 which we endure, and generally occasion ourselves. 
 
 BEACONSFIELD. 
 
 OLD CHESTER liked Roger Carey and approved of 
 him ; although, indeed, one involved the other, for 
 Old Chester never did anything so ill judged as to 
 like where it could not approve. But even though 
 Roger had won regard, his departure had not been 
 entirely a regret. A love affair is a pretty thing to 
 watch, but there are other matters in the world ; 
 Miss Susan Carr said she should be glad when 
 Lyssie could put her mind on her choir-practicing 
 again ; Dr. Lavendar felt that one or two f amilies in 
 the upper village needed visiting ; and as for Mrs. 
 Drayton but Mrs. Drayton s opinion can easily be 
 taken for granted. She did, however, confide to her 
 step-daughter that she had been very much upset by 
 the engagement. 
 
 " I have been shaken by it ; much shaken," she 
 said. "Of course, I have not had, have not ex 
 pected, my usual comforts ; but then I Ve been glad 
 to contribute my discomfort to Lyssie s happiness. 
 It is a little bitter to think that a poor, miserable, 
 useless invalid like me has nothing to give except 
 discomfort." 
 
 fl| 
 
 " At least, your contribution has been unstinted," 
 
264 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 Cecil said sweetly ; but her face was dull, and she 
 turned away from her step-mother, feeling for once 
 no desire to torment her. 
 
 It was the morning after Roger had gone. Cecil 
 was very restless ; she came down to see Lyssie for 
 the mere occupation of moving about. 
 
 " Oh, how glad I am to get rid of him ! " she 
 thought once or twice. To have company at such a 
 crisis as had come into her life might well seem in 
 tolerable. It was no wonder that she drew a deep 
 breath and said, " Thank Heaven, he s gone ! " and 
 braced herself for the struggle which was at hand. 
 Yet she was restless. " One is always restless when 
 one s company goes," she explained to herself. 
 Perhaps it was because with the departure of her 
 guest departed also those commonplaces which pad 
 the sharpnesses of life to us all. The necessary 
 smile, the formal gayety, the mere requisites of eat 
 ing and drinking, cover decently many things, among 
 the rest that naked and primal passion which under 
 lies existence ; a passion which, smouldering long, 
 had sprung into flame in that talk between the hus 
 band and wife, the passion of self-preservation, 
 with its terror and bitterness and horrible intensity. 
 Cecil may have missed the comfort of the common 
 place, or she may have missed the man, with his daily 
 revolt of impetuous indifference, followed by the 
 flattery of his daily subjugation. But she did not 
 stop to analyze her state of mind ; in fact, in those 
 next few terrible days days of discussion, of in- 
 crimination, of violent disagreement about Molly on 
 
 t t 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 265 
 
 the part of the husband and wife she forgot every 
 thing except the lust of strife. Yet she had felt the 
 vague and restless discomfort of missing a man 
 whom she had known but a little while ; a man who 
 was her sister s lover. 
 
 There was, however, nothing apparent in the rela 
 tions of Mr. and Mrs. Shore which could start a 
 ripple of excitement in Old Chester. They met once 
 a day at the dinner table, with Molly sitting chatter 
 ing between them ; themselves quite silent to each 
 other. This gave no particular ground for com 
 ment ; the maids only said, " She s got the sulks 
 again," and Philip s man remarked that he was " a 
 fool not to settle her." 
 
 Of course, alone, they did talk, these two. Neither 
 spared any truth to the other. It is only when they 
 are husband and wife that two human souls can 
 achieve absolute cruelty. 
 
 But until they were able to agree upon something, 
 it was obviously best to keep up appearances ; and 
 so they saw each other at dinner every night, and 
 listened to Molly, and talked to her, and despised 
 each other. For, oddly enough, now that Philip had 
 put his desire into words, his feeling for his wife 
 dropped to a lower plane. He recognized this, but 
 said to himself that it was because of what she re 
 vealed of herself in these terrible interviews ; the 
 subtlety of his meeting her upon the lower ground of 
 self-interest escaped him. 
 
 Each was fighting for the possession of the child. 
 Philip stood by his first opinion, that Molly should 
 
266 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 spend half of the year with each of them ; Cecil vio 
 lently refused to listen to such a proposition : and 
 there the matter stood, while the long, still August 
 days faded into the yellow haze of September. 
 
 Meantime, the excitement about Lyssie having 
 subsided, life in Old Chester slipped back into its 
 ordinary channels of sleepy self-satisfaction. Even 
 at the rectory the tension had relaxed a little. Mr. 
 Joseph was still uncertain about Mr. Pendleton s 
 will ; to be sure, he might have found out, but the 
 idea of going to the probate court to make the ne 
 cessary examination offended him. Dr. Lavendar, 
 aware that at least the momentous question had not 
 been asked, was very conciliatory, and full of con 
 versation about Miss Susan Carr. Mr. Joseph ac 
 cepted the friendliness, and, when he came home on 
 Saturdays, walked in the garden at sunset and looked 
 at the hollyhocks, just as usual ; but his kind heart 
 knew its own bitterness. Yet with the bitterness 
 was a strange, new happiness, for with opposition 
 his mild regard for Mrs. Pendleton had begun to 
 glow and deepen ; and faintly, like the thrill of 
 spring in November sunshine, the ardors of youth 
 and love began to stir in his blood. He thought of 
 his weekly visit to Old Chester with a perceptible 
 heart-beat ; and when he walked home with her from 
 the choir-practicing, there was a haze before his eyes 
 that hid the wrinkles about Mrs. Pendleton s temples, 
 the sharp lines around her tight little mouth, the 
 shrewdness of her light eyes; he saw again the 
 plump girl, silly and silent, who, twenty years before, 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 267 
 
 blushing and giggling, slid into an engagement and 
 out of it without a quicker heart-beat or falling tear. 
 
 u Old Chester," said Mr. Joseph, upon one of 
 these occasions, as they paced along together in the 
 pleasant September dusk, " is very fortunate to have 
 such an addition to its social circle this winter as 
 you will be, ma am. We are somewhat narrow, I 
 fear, and need widening." 
 
 "Exactly ! " Mrs. Pendleton agreed. 
 
 " I assure you, I feel it a privilege to return to 
 Old Chester from the less agreeable, if more worldly 
 life of Mercer," Mr. Lavendar continued. 
 
 " But I suppose the stage journey tries you a 
 good deal as you grow older ? " Mrs. Pendleton said 
 sympathetically. 
 
 Mr. Joseph looked dashed, though only for a 
 moment. " I am older," he said, " in one way, but 
 not, my dear Mrs. Pendleton in every way. 
 My heart, as the poet says, is ever young, ever 
 young ; and I think he adds, fresh. Of that, how 
 ever, I am not certain." 
 
 But Mrs. Pendleton preferred to talk about 
 Mercer rather than about Mr. Lavendar s heart. 
 " I suppose (not that I am inquisitive ; I have no 
 curiosity, but I m so impulsive that I speak just 
 what comes into my mind), I suppose your income 
 must be quite large, for you to live in Mercer? " 
 
 Her interest in him touched him very much. 
 " No, ma am, no ; not large, but sufficient ; and we 
 expect it to be greatly augmented when my brother s 
 book is published." 
 
268 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 Mr. Lavendar s heart was beating tumultuously ; 
 a declaration trembled upon his lips, but the curb of 
 honor held it back. He must know about that will 
 first. With admirable self-restraint he tried to talk 
 of less personal things, the choir, the weather, 
 the difference of the seasons now and in his youth ; 
 and that led Mrs. Pendleton to remark that she and 
 Susy Carr were soon coming to Mercer to do some 
 autumn shopping. " Wednesday a week we are 
 coming," she said ; and Mr. Joseph asked eagerly if 
 he might have the honor of waiting upon them in 
 town, and escorting them to the shops. Mrs. Pen- 
 dleton consented, with a neat smile, and he left her, 
 determined to learn at once whether he were "free" 
 to address her. " For I may have a chance in Mer 
 cer," he thought, palpitating. 
 
 This visit to Mercer had been arranged nearly a 
 month before, when Susan Garr, in one of those mo 
 ments of rash good nature common to us all, had 
 promised to " shop " with Mrs. Pendleton. When 
 the day of fulfillment came, Miss Susan was as mis 
 erable as we all are when our amiable weaknesses 
 come home to roost. The night before the fatal 
 Wednesday she looked hopefully at a threatening 
 sky ; but the morning was full of placid sunshine, 
 and she sighed, and said to herself, " Well, Susan 
 Carr, it s your own fault ! " which comforted her 
 as much as such statements usually do. She thought 
 of all the things to be done upon the farm ; all the 
 things she might do about the house ; nay, even the 
 books she would read, the letters she would write, if 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 269 
 
 only she could stay at home. For there is perhaps 
 no moment when we so much appreciate our homes 
 as the moment of departure from them upon some 
 rashly accepted invitation. 
 
 Miss Susan put on a short, stout skirt, for she 
 could not endure the thought of any clothing of hers 
 touching those nasty streets ; and her oldest bonnet, 
 because the stage ride was dusty ; and her water 
 proof cloak, for fear it might rain. Then she took 
 down from the top shelf in the spare-room wardrobe 
 a large bag with " Susy " worked 011 one side in 
 brown and yellow worsteds : this was to be filled with 
 the commissions with which she had taken kindly 
 pains to burden herself. " Can I do any shopping 
 for you in Mercer ? " she had asked everybody ; and 
 the result was that when she climbed into the coach 
 with Mrs. Pendleton, she was naming over on her 
 fingers a dozen errands for other people. 
 
 " Lilac ribbons for Fanny Dray ton s wrapper ; 
 patterns of red flannel for the Sewing Society ; six 
 silk handkerchiefs for Jane Temple s Mr. Dove I 
 think I must write the others down," said Miss 
 Susan, " or else I 11 forget em." 
 
 " Exactly," Mrs. Pendleton agreed. 
 
 Mrs. Pendleton looked very pretty : her bonnet 
 had fine hemstitched lawn strings like a clergyman s 
 bands ; her hair came down in sleek waves upon her 
 pink cheeks ; her round, fresh face was rounder and 
 fresher for the spreading black veil that seemed to 
 take up a great deal of room ; a stiff fold even 
 touched Miss Susan s cheek now and then, or fell 
 
270 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 forward in a wiry shade across the little window of 
 the coach. Mrs. Pendleton took very good care of 
 her crape ; she had been heard to say that she had 
 never let a tear fall on that veil, for fear of spotting 
 it; she said that spotted crape was pure carelessness, 
 and a disrespect to the dead. She plaited the hem 
 gently between her fingers as she answered Miss 
 Susan : 
 
 " Yes, it s a very good plan to write things down; 
 I always do, and especially to-day. I ve so many 
 things to think of." She sighed as she spoke; 
 " I m going to lighten." 
 
 "Lighten?" 
 
 " Exactly ; my grief. And there is so much 
 to see to, for everything must be consistent. You 
 must n t have a black-bordered handkerchief when 
 you take off your veil ; and it *s the same with 
 gloves, they must be stitched with white. I think, 
 in such a matter, one should always be consistent." 
 
 Miss Susan said she supposed so. 
 
 " Oh, dear me, yes ; and I Ve had so much expe 
 rience in it ! I was in lilacs for my dear mother 
 when my dear father died, and of course I went at 
 once into crape ; and I d hardly gotten into half 
 again when aunt Betty went, and that set me back 
 with jets, no crape. I was married when I d 
 just begun to wear black and white, and had put my 
 note paper into a narrow edge, just for an aunt, 
 you know, and then my dear, dear husband ! " 
 
 Miss Carr looked sympathetic. 
 
 " Of course," Mrs. Pendleton ended, drying her 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 271 
 
 eyes on a handkerchief still in grief, " then I was in 
 black all through ; I did n t wear a white collar 
 for three months ; even my petticoats were black 
 lawn, I do assure you." 
 
 Miss Susan murmured something appropriate, and 
 sighed. Susan Carr had lived too long not to know 
 that grief, that most precious possession, subsides ; 
 not to know that there is a pathetic instant when 
 the mourner recognizes that life still holds some in 
 terest for him; that the world is still beautiful, 
 though but a year ago nay, a month ago he 
 had thought it but the blackness of darkness ! It is 
 an instant of terror, of remorse, and of fearful joy. 
 Susan Carr knew this ; and she looked at the 
 widow with that pity for the little creature s little 
 ness which only large and tender souls can feel, 
 for this strange moment had come very soon to 
 Mrs. Pendleton. 
 
 It was a pleasant September day : there was a 
 scent of wood smoke in the still air ; in the fields 
 along the turnpike road the corn had been cut, and 
 stood upon the yellowing stubble in great tufted 
 shocks which rustled if a rabbit went springing past, 
 or a faint wind stirred the dry, sword-like leaves ; 
 the brook, which kept in friendly fashion close to 
 the road, had dwindled in its shallow bed, and left 
 bare the flat, worn stones which a month before had 
 been covered with the dash and foam of hurrying 
 water ; the woods were yellowing a little, and a soft 
 haze hung all across the smiling valley. 
 
 The stage jogged along in a cloud of dust, or 
 
272 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 rumbled under covered bridges, where, from between 
 the dry, creaking planks, lines of dust sifted down 
 upon the sunny water below, and from the openings 
 in the roofs streaks of powdery sunshine fell like 
 bars across the gloom, making the horses swerve a 
 little to avoid them. As they pulled up the hills, 
 Jonas pounded with the butt end of his whip on the 
 wide tire, to keep time to a monotonous, jolting 
 song : - 
 
 " So there, now, Sally, 
 
 I kiss ye once again ; 
 So there, now, Sally, 
 
 Don t kiss no other men ! " 
 
 Mrs. Pendleton chattered steadily, and Miss Susan 
 thought of her last ride in the coach with her impa 
 tient and ardent lover. At least, she thought of it 
 until she fell asleep. Occasionally her head nod 
 ded forward ; but Mrs. Pendleton s remarks rarely 
 needed more elaborate answers. 
 
 Did Miss Susan know if Dr. Lavendar were de 
 pendent upon his salary, or did he have an indepen 
 dent income ? How old was he ? How much did 
 she suppose Joseph Lavendar was worth ? 
 
 " I m sure I don t know ! " said Miss Susan 
 sleepily. 
 
 After that Mrs. Pendleton was silent, and sighed 
 once or twice ; then, with an effort to change the 
 subject, she began to talk about her works. 
 
 " I mean to give a copy of the Thoughts to Philip 
 Shore s little girl." 
 
 Miss Susan opened her eyes at the sound of 
 Philip s name. 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 273 
 
 " Oh, is it a child s book ? " 
 
 " No ; oh, dear me, no ; it is for grown persons ; 
 but there are lessons in it for all. Though it is very 
 delicate, nothing which a child might not read ; " 
 and to show the character of Thoughts Mrs. Pendle- 
 ton took the trouble to recite a poem about a little 
 girl who went to the spring with 
 
 " A long-lipped pitcher of lovely shape." 
 
 The moral, she told Miss Susan, was detached, to 
 impress it upon the mind, thus : 
 
 MORAL. 
 
 " So if you chance to make a sad mistake 
 On any lovely summer morn, 
 And pretty dish or long-lipped pitcher break, 
 Be sure, my dear, and tell mamma t is done." 
 
 " You see, a book like that will be good for that 
 poor little Shore child," Mrs. Pendleton ended, wav 
 ing her veil back. " She is sadly neglected." 
 
 44 Neglected ? Molly ? " said Miss Susan hotly. 
 " She has the best father in the world, and and 
 her mother is very fond of her ; and " 
 
 44 Exactly," Mrs. Pendleton broke in, nodding her 
 head ; 44 but it s hard on a child to be brought up 
 by a father and mother who are not united." 
 
 44 Oh, indeed, I think you must allow that I know 
 them best," Susan Carr said stiffly. 4 Mr. and Mrs. 
 Shore are both very reserved people, but but they 
 are devoted to Molly," she ended lamely. She felt 
 as though she wanted to shake Mrs. Pendleton. 44 It 
 serves me right for promising to go to Mercer with 
 her ! " she thought, and looked at the floor so forbid- 
 
274 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 dingly that conversation flagged. She would not 
 look up until they entered Mercer; and when she 
 did, as the stage stopped, it was to see Joseph Lav- 
 endar, his face beaming with a friendly smile that 
 turned the corners of his blue eyes into a network of 
 wrinkles. 
 
 " My dear Miss Susan, pray take my hand ! " he 
 begged, pulling open the stage door, and letting the 
 hinged steps drop with a clatter. His happiness was 
 apparent in his very voice. 
 
 Susan Carr had not a word to say. She got out, 
 and watched him offer Mrs. Pendleton the same 
 courtesy ; she felt rigid, and when she tried to smile 
 she had that consciousness of the stiffness of the 
 muscles about her lips that most of us know in those 
 moments when we try to assume enjoyment when we 
 have it not. She flashed a stern and suspicious 
 glance at the little widow cowering by her side, who 
 whispered, " Oh, I hope it was all right ? I knew 
 it would give the poor man pleasure ; though no 
 thing can come of it, I m afraid." 
 
 u Of course nothing can come of it," Miss Susan 
 replied, so loudly that Mrs. Pendleton shrank, and 
 said, " Sh-h-h ! " " But it makes 110 difference to 
 me. I m going to make a call. You can go to the 
 shops with Mr. Lavendar." 
 
 " Oh, won t that be too marked ? " remonstrated 
 Mrs. Pendleton, under her breath. " And consider 
 my errand, too ! Oh, that is quite marked." 
 
 " I wished it to be marked," said Susan Carr 
 dryly. " I 11 leave Mrs. Pendleton to you, Joseph," 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 275 
 
 she said with deliberate malice, turning to the ner 
 vous and happy escort. " Take her to White s and 
 Eaton s ; they are the best shops. We can meet at 
 the hotel for dinner. We d better have dinner at 
 half past two, I think." 
 
 And then she tramped off, with the heavy, swing 
 ing step that comes only from having walked between 
 the furrows of new-ploughed fields. 
 
 " Of course she told him I was coming ! " she said 
 to herself, angry at Mrs. Pendleton s meddling and 
 Joseph s persistence ; but with her anger was a cer 
 tain pride in being so ardently sought. 
 
 When she had made her call, she tried to fincf 
 some interest and pleasure in her shopping ; but her 
 heart was hot at the memory of Mrs. Pendleton s 
 perfidy, and heavy with the thought of Joseph Lav- 
 endar s disappointment. Nor did she feel more 
 cheerful when, across the street, she caught sight of 
 the two culprits talking so earnestly that they did 
 not see her. Indeed, she even experienced that un 
 reasonable resentment which comes to the best of 
 women when they see a rejected lover consoling him 
 self. 
 
 Yet that did not prevent her, when they met at 
 dinner at the hotel, from putting Mrs. Pendleton 
 between herself and Joseph ; and when, later, grudg 
 ingly enough, she went with them to make some 
 further purchases, from using Mrs. Pendleton as a 
 protector, and placing her in the middle as they 
 walked down the street. 
 
 But her conscience reproached her for her severity 
 
276 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 to them both, and when the stage started she tried to 
 apologize to Mrs. Pendleton for her neglect. " I m 
 afraid I seemed a little ungracious, but I really had 
 to go and see some people ; and I knew Mr. Laven- 
 dar would be as good a guide as I." 
 
 Mrs. Pendleton shook her head hopelessly. " Oh, 
 I never supposed you were not going to be with me, 
 or I shouldn t have let him meet me," she said. 
 
 But Miss Carr would not pursue the subject ; she 
 did not want to talk about Mr. Joseph. She said 
 she must put down her accounts. Yet even while 
 she was adding up her columns of figures, and count- 
 *ing out everybody s change, she was wretched at the 
 thought of her unkindness to her too devoted lover. 
 Indeed, when she got home, and sat down to her 
 solitary supper table, and heard Ellen scolding her 
 for looking tired, she was almost ready to cry, to 
 think how she had hurt his feelings. 
 
 She did not follow Ellen s report of the day s hap 
 penings very closely : Miss Lyssie Drayton had gone 
 to the upper village on an errand ; Ellen believed 
 that the child would work herself to death over those 
 shiftless people in the upper village. Mrs. Dove 
 had had a whole hind quarter of lamb cooked for 
 Mr. Tommy s dinner; Ellen didn t see how ever 
 cold meat was used up in that house, they had so 
 many joints. " We don t cook no whole hind 
 quarters," Ellen said ; " but we believe willful waste 
 is woeful want." Mr. Philip went away on the 
 afternoon stage ; did Miss Susan know he was going? 
 And then Ellen coughed a little, and said there was 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 277 
 
 a tablecloth in last week s wash that needed darning. 
 " He ain t looking real good, Miss Susan ? " 
 
 Miss Carr came out of her remorse with a start. 
 " Oh, I think he s pretty well," she said. 
 
 " Well, Mr. Philip was never what you d call 
 pious," Ellen commented, shaking her head, " so I m 
 sure I d like to see him comfortable in this world ; 
 but Mrs. Shore s Rosa was in to-day, and well, I 
 don t know ! she says they had words last night. 
 Poor Mr. Philip ! Well, he s gone ; and Rosa says 
 that he won t be in no hurry to come back. Dear 
 me, I don t know how it will end." 
 
 Miss Susan s heart was in her throat, yet she 
 waited for Ellen to finish before telling her, sharply, 
 that she did not know what she was talking about, 
 and that Mr. Philip was very well ; and why should 
 n t he go away on business ? Miss Carr had thought 
 that Ellen had more sense ; she thought she was 
 crazy ! and she might go and get some hot tea. 
 " This is cold as a stone," said Miss Susan ; " and 
 you are very foolish, Ellen." 
 
 44 So people are beginning to see it ! " she said to 
 herself, with a groan, as Ellen disappeared with the 
 teapot. But Miss Carr did not realize that this was 
 not the "beginning" of the seeing which she de 
 plored. If she had only known it, Ellen had " seen 
 it" long before she had; and so had Esther and 
 Betsey, and half a dozen other Esthers and Betseys. 
 It was only the little thrill of excitement caused by 
 Mr. Shore s abrupt departure which made their 
 knowledge come to the surface. 
 
278 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 We rarely realize how astoundingly complete is 
 our servants knowledge of us and our friends. Our 
 weaknesses belong to them, our errors and our mis 
 fortunes ; we are to them what the theatre and the 
 latest novel, nay, what other people s scandals, are 
 to us. 
 
 And though poor Susan Carr shrank from be 
 lieving it, it was just about this time that all Old 
 Chester, through the lowly medium of the Shores 
 servants, began to know how bad, how very bad 
 things were up in the big house on the hill. 
 
XXI. 
 
 Shall I seek Heaven that I may find a place, 
 
 Where with my soul t is well ? 
 If I seek thus, tho I may strive for Heaven, 
 
 My face is set towards Hell. 
 
 KlMBALL. 
 
 THEKE had, indeed, as Miss Susan s Ellen hinted, 
 been " words " between Mr. and Mrs. Shore ; and 
 the result had been that Philip had taken the stage 
 the next afternoon and gone to town. 
 
 "When are you going away?" Cecil had said to 
 her husband, suddenly, at dinner, after John had 
 left the room. " Or shall we leave you here ? I 
 am going abroad next month with Molly, and I want 
 to close the house." 
 
 " Mamma, is Eric going ? " Molly clamored. 
 
 " Polly, run upstairs and bring me a box of cigars 
 that is on the table in my room," Philip said, his 
 face pale, his fingers tightening upon the stem of 
 his wineglass. When she had gone, he said between 
 his teeth, without looking at his wife, " I will answer 
 you when we are alone." 
 
 Cecil cut a peach, smiling. " I m not sure that 
 it is proper for us to be alone. Do you think Mrs. 
 Drayton would chaperon me, if I asked her ? Oh ; 
 arrange, of course, about the money you will want ; 
 you must n t deprive your art student of his income." 
 
 " This is not decent, before the child ! " he said 
 passionately. 
 
280 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 " Father," MoUy called from the first landing, 
 running her hand back and forth across the balus 
 ters to make believe that she was playing on a harp, 
 " there is n t any box of cigars here. Father, may I 
 take some cologne out of your green bottle ? " 
 
 " Yes. Look in my dressing-room for the cigars," 
 Philip called back. 
 
 Cecil put her peach down ; she leaned forward, 
 her eyes narrowing like a tiger s. " Very well, then, 
 you understand : / take Molly with me. Listen ! 
 If you try to c divide her time, I 11 carry it through 
 every court in the land, and I 11 tell everything ! 
 I don t care ! I m going to leave America, so I 
 don t mind the scandal. Besides, people will think 
 you are mad ; not a fit guardian, you know." 
 
 " Father," Molly said cheerfully, coming down 
 stairs one foot at a time, with the box of cigars in 
 her arms, " I put some cologne on your cigars to 
 make them smell sweet." 
 
 It was like a keen edge laid against some tense 
 chord. Philip s face, set with anger, suddenly quiv 
 ered with a laugh ; then his eyes blurred. But 
 Cecil rose, with a passionate exclamation. 
 
 Molly, leaning against her father, was pulling out 
 the cologne-soaked cigars with all the pride of the 
 benefactor. 
 
 " Just smell em ! Oh, father, may Eric go on 
 the ship?" 
 
 " Do you want Eric to go, darling ? " Cecil asked. 
 " Then come here to mamma, and she 11 tell you all 
 about it" 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 281 
 
 And Molly joyously deserted her father, and ran 
 to hang on her mother s hand and chatter about her 
 dog. 
 
 Later, when the child had gone to bed, Philip 
 came into the parlor, where his wife was reading. 
 " I am going to town to-morrow " he began. 
 
 " To see your lawyer ? " Cecil interrupted sardon 
 ically. 
 
 " Yes. I want you to give me your word of 
 honor not to go away in my absence." 
 
 Cecil laughed. " Oh, Philip, how melodramatic ! " 
 
 " Give me your word." 
 
 "I hadn t thought of abducting her," she assured 
 him ; " that sort of thing is n t my style. I much 
 prefer you to find out from your lawyer how absurd 
 you are to suppose that you have any claim." And 
 then she took up "Monsieur, Madame, et Bebe," 
 and he went away. 
 
 " How silly in him to make all this fuss ! " she 
 thought, looking absently over the top of the book ; 
 " but I suppose I must consult somebody." 
 
 And later in the evening, half reluctantly, half 
 eagerly, she wrote to Mr. Roger Carey, saying that 
 she wished to see him on a matter of business. As 
 she sealed the letter, she remembered, with some an 
 noyance, that she did not know his address. She 
 could find out from Lyssie ; and yet, oddly enough, 
 she did not want to ask Lyssie. So the letter stood 
 on her writing-desk for a day or two ; stood there, 
 in fact, after Philip had consulted his lawyer, and 
 had learned that, as he had supposed, if the question 
 
282 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 of the disposition of Molly were pressed to a legal 
 decision, she would undoubtedly be given to her 
 mother. 
 
 "The court does not recognize your subtilties, 
 Shore," his lawyer told him, and looked as though 
 he would like to add his own opinion on the subject. 
 But his client s face did not encourage him. 
 
 Philip Shore did not go back at once to Old Ches 
 ter. He must, he told himself, be alone to meet the 
 question of giving up Molly to her mother or giving 
 up his convictions. Nor did he communicate with 
 his wife ; and, her letter to Roger still unsent, Cecil 
 was ignorant of the legal probabilities. She was 
 not exactly anxious about them, but she was irritated 
 at the delay. If there were going to be any compli 
 cation, she wanted to know it. Roger Carey could 
 tell her ; and yet some strange instinct made her 
 still delay to ask Lyssie for his address ; perhaps an 
 unconscious application of the Mosaic command that 
 at least one shall not seethe a kid in its mother s 
 milk. 
 
 She explained this reluctance to herself by saying 
 that Lyssie would wonder why she was writing to 
 him. " And there s no use in telling her until the 
 last moment," she thought, softening. " Poor Lys ! 
 she 11 be so distressed." The grief of it all to Lys 
 sie was in her mind, as, in the small jewel of a room 
 which she used as a morning-room, she sat, after 
 dinner, idly looking at a pile of unanswered letters 
 on her writing-desk. A little fire was burning on 
 the hearth, repeating itself in faint gleams on the 
 
.- PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 283 
 
 dark furniture, in the sconces high up between the 
 windows, and in the long mirror that, divided by 
 gilded pilasters, hung lengthwise above the mantel. 
 
 To Lyssie, pushing the door open, and coming 
 smiling into the room, it had never looked more 
 peaceful : the flickering fire ; Eric on the white rug 
 before the hearth, his great nose between his paws ; 
 Molly asleep on a sofa in a dusky corner ; and Cecil 
 sitting at her desk, writing, perhaps to Philip. 
 Lyssie, poor child, hoped it was to Philip ; she had 
 been greatly troubled of late by Cecil s manner to 
 her husband. 
 
 " Am I interrupting you, Ceci ? " she said gayly. 
 "Mother seemed so bright this evening that I 
 thought I d run up for a little while. Esther es 
 corted me." 
 
 " No, kitty ; it s very nice to have you," Cecil 
 said, in a preoccupied way, getting up from her desk, 
 and letting Lyssie kiss her before sinking down into 
 a chair before the fire. " Oh, shut the door, will 
 you, dear ? There is a draught on Molly." 
 
 " I thought Molly went to bed at eight ? " Lyssie 
 commented, as she closed the door. 
 
 " She did n t want to, to-night." 
 
 " But she d be so much more comfortable in bed 
 than lying here with her clothes on," Alicia urged ; 
 for Molly s face was flushed and troubled, and she 
 moved uneasily in her sleep. 
 
 " I like her near me," Cecil said calmly. 
 
 Lyssie opened her lips to protest, but apparently 
 thought better of it, and began to talk of other 
 
284 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 things. She told Cecil that Eliza Todd s baby had 
 died that afternoon. " I never saw death before," 
 she said, her voice a little awed, " but it was n t 
 dreadful. The poor little thing was so sick and so 
 tired, and it just stopped breathing, that was all. 
 I was holding it on my lap, and I did n t know until 
 poor Eliza said, Oh, she s gone ! " 
 
 " It s really the best thing that could have hap 
 pened, though," Cecil answered. " Poor little 
 Eliza ! I suppose she cries just as much as though 
 she had not six other empty stomachs to think about. 
 When is it to be buried ? Do you think she would 
 be pleased if I sent her some flowers ? " 
 
 Alicia looked at her lovingly. " How sweet in 
 you to think of it ! Yes, indeed she would. The 
 funeral is to be to-morrow." And then they were 
 silent a little while, until Lyssie asked her sister if 
 she had been out. " It s been a perfect clay. You 
 lazy thing, I believe you ve just poked over the fire 
 all day ! " 
 
 " I ve read a very bad French novel," Cecil as 
 sured her ; " that is exercise enough. I feel it my 
 duty to keep up my French when I m in the 
 country." 
 
 " I suppose a bad book is better exercise than a 
 good one? " Lyssie retorted. " I don t see any use 
 in reading bad books, Ceci." 
 
 " That s because you ve never done it, my dear." 
 
 " Well," Alicia returned, hesitating, " Roger said 
 once that he thought 
 
 "Now, Lyssie, for Heaven s sake, don t be the 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 285 
 
 kind of woman who is forever quoting what 4 he 
 says ! Your own opinions are good enough." 
 
 "They are not so good as Eoger s, and I don t 
 know anybody else s that are, either ! " 
 
 " Oh well," Cecil declared, " you must n t talk so 
 much about him ! If you are forever talking of his 
 superhuman virtues, you ll make people hate him. 
 I hate him now, a little." 
 
 " Then you are a very narrow-minded person," 
 L/yssie said placidly, sitting down on the rug in front 
 of the fire, and dragging Eric s head over into her 
 lap. u Wake up, old fellow ! " she commanded, 
 squeezing his black nose with her two pretty hands. 
 Eric flopped his tail heavily, and opened one eye, 
 and then dozed again. " To prevent your hating 
 Eoger, I 11 change the subject. When does Philip 
 come home ? " 
 
 " I don t know," Cecil answered ; and then added, 
 yawning, " and I m sure I don t care." 
 
 Lyssie s face sobered. She was so happy herself 
 for she had Roger that the pity of it all made 
 the tears spring to her eyes. She came and knelt 
 down at Cecil s side, putting her arms around her 
 sister s waist and kissing her shoulder softly. 
 
 " Ceci darling, you know you ought n t to say 
 those things. Even if they were true, they ought 
 not to be said." 
 
 Cecil, clasping her hands behind her head, and 
 smiling with a dubious droop of the corner of her 
 mouth, looked down at the sensitive, quivering face 
 before her. 
 
286 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 " Lys dear, Philip and I are going to separate. 
 So, naturally, I don t concern myself as to his move 
 ments." 
 
 " Separate ? " Lyssie repeated vaguely ; " sepa 
 rate ? Why why, what do you mean ? " 
 
 " To separate means to live apart, ordinarily." 
 
 " Live apart I don t understand," Alicia said 
 faintly. " Cecil, what do you mean ? - Cecil, you 
 don t mean ? " She grew white to her lips. 
 
 " Why, Lys, you surely have n t thought us such 
 a united pair ? " Cecil said, surprised. Alicia s 
 speechless pallor troubled her ; she put her arm 
 about the girl s waist. " Come, now, you must n t 
 be so upset. I did n t mean to tell you just yet, 
 but there is really no reason why you shouldn t 
 know ; only you must n t be so upset about it. And 
 don t speak of it, please." She paused, and patted 
 Alicia s head. " Why, you poor little thing ! " 
 
 " Oh, Cecil, it is n t true ? You are not telling 
 me the truth ? " 
 
 " My dear," Cecil answered impatiently, " of 
 course it s true ; it is n t a subject on which I would 
 romance. Now, please don t cry, Lys ; it always 
 makes me cross to have people cry." 
 
 Alicia lifted her face, and caught at Cecil s wrists 
 with trembling hands, leaning heavily against her. 
 " You can t be in earnest ? It s wicked ! Leave 
 Philip ? It s wicked. Cecil ! " 
 
 Cecil frowned. " If you are going to be so silly, 
 I m sorry I told you. But I thought perhaps you 
 could help me about Molly. Philip has an idea that 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 287 
 
 lie wants her part of the time, a sort of King Solo 
 mon arrangement, you know, and just about as 
 healthy for Molly. Of course I shan t allow it. 
 But he will probably make a dreadful fuss. I 
 thought you might advise him to have more sense ; 
 but you just sit there and cry ! I tell you, I 11 be 
 much happier when it s all settled. I m going to 
 take Molly abroad, and I 11 be very happy." 
 
 " Cecil," said Alicia faintly, " do you mean that 
 you and Philip are going to be ? " 
 
 " Divorced ? " Cecil ended dryly. " No, that s 
 horrid and public. Besides, we neither of us want 
 to marry anybody el 
 
 " Don t ! " Alicia put her hands over her ears. 
 " You must n t speak, you must n t think such 
 things ! Oh, I She stopped ; she had no pro 
 tests, no arguments, nothing but horror. 
 
 " We don t want to marry again," Cecil went on 
 calmly, " at least, I m sure I don t ; I ve had 
 enough of it ! But I simply cannot endure Philip 
 any longer. And I suppose that is exactly the way he 
 feels about me. Which really, Lys, I don t want 
 to be egotistical, but really, that is very odd in 
 Philip. So we are going to separate. I shall go 
 abroad with Molly. Oh, don t sit there and weep, 
 Lyssie ! " 
 
 Cecil got up angrily, pushing past Alicia s crouch 
 ing figure, and going over to Molly, who, cramped by 
 her clothing and the straight lines of the sofa, was 
 looking very uncomfortable. 
 
 Cecil Shore knelt down beside the child, the 
 
288 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 anger in her eyes melting into the passion, not of 
 motherhood, but of the mother, the clam. Her 
 voice trembled with caresses : " Sweet ! Sweet ! 
 Sweet ! Open your little eyes, my own, open your 
 eyes ! " She pushed her arm under the pillow and 
 drew Molly toward her, gathering her two small hot 
 hands in one of hers, pressing them against her lips, 
 her throat, her bosom, in a fierce caress. " Molly, 
 kiss mamma ! kiss mamma ! " Molly stirred, and 
 sighed, and burrowed her head in her mother s 
 breast. Cecil, panting, and with passionate, inar 
 ticulate murmurs, devoured the little neck with 
 kisses; she strained the soft body against her, so 
 that Molly struggled and gasped, and then said, with 
 the heavy tongue of slumber, " Don t ! " and pushed 
 out her arms, fretting to be asleep again. 
 
 " I m so discomfortable," she said. 
 
 Alicia looked at her sister, then turned away her 
 eyes ; why, she could not have said. It was not be 
 cause this outburst of maternal love was sacred ; on 
 the contrary, it was not even human ; it frightened 
 her, it almost shocked her. 
 
 " Mamma, you squeeze me so tight," Molly com 
 plained. 
 
 " Cecil ! " Alicia burst out sharply, " don t ! " 
 
 Cecil, rocking back and forth, looked over her 
 shoulder and smiled, with a tightening of her lips. 
 " Well, do you think I would give her up ? " Then, 
 as if fatigued, with a smiling sigh, her arms relaxed ; 
 and Molly, with a catch at her mother s dress to 
 save herself, slipped to the floor, and stood on her 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 289 
 
 unsteady little legs, blinking with bewildered, sleepy 
 eyes at her mother and aunt. Then she turned as 
 though to climb on the sofa again, but Cecil re 
 strained her gently. u No, darling ; you must go to 
 bed now, kitty. I 11 call Rosa." 
 
 Molly whimpered, and broke into a fretful wail. 
 
 " Don t, precious ; mamma does n t like little girls 
 who cry ! " and, half impatiently, she pushed the 
 child toward the door. " Take her, Rosa ! Molly, 
 if you don t stop, I ll punish you." 
 
 She put her fingers in her ears, and came back 
 to her chair before the fire. " Does n t a shriek 
 like that go through you ? Now, Lys, I want to say 
 just one thing about what we were speaking of. 
 There is no use making yourself miserable over it. 
 I shall be much more comfortable. I have our be 
 loved father s example, you know, and " 
 
 "You mustn t say those things to me!" Alicia 
 interrupted, with indignant grief. " It reflects upon 
 my mother as well as papa, and I won t hear it." 
 
 " Well, then I have n t his example, if that pleases 
 you better. It is original sin. But what I wanted 
 to say is, don t say anything about it, please, until 
 I ve made my final arrangements. It may be a 
 week or two yet," she ended, frowning. 
 
 Lyssie did not answer ; she was too heartsick for 
 any more words. Cecil began to walk restlessly 
 about the room; once she stopped as though about 
 to speak, but checked herself, and went over to her 
 desk, and seemed to arrange some letters ; then, sud 
 denly, as though the words had broken free from 
 
290 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 her will, she said, standing with her back to Alicia, 
 " Oh where is your Mr. Carey, Lys ? What is 
 his address ? I ve got to write to him on business." 
 
 For once Roger s name woke no happy conscious 
 ness in Alicia Drayton s face ; she gave the address, 
 and then, with quivering lip, kissed her sister, stam 
 mering, brokenly, something of duty, of Molly, of 
 Philip s goodness. " Oh, Cecil, say you won t leave 
 him!" 
 
 But Cecil drew back impatiently. "Ach! your 
 face is all wet," she said, rubbing her cheek. 
 
 " Good-night, Cecil," Lyssie said, in a low voice, 
 and went away. 
 
XXII. 
 
 I know how far a daughter owes obedience, 
 But duty has a bound, like other empires. 
 
 DBYDEN. 
 
 As she walked home through the darkness, the 
 sense of her own helplessness in this dreadful matter 
 fell upon Alicia Drayton like some tangible despair. 
 Her most agonized efforts beat against her sister s 
 flippancy like wind against some crystal barrier. 
 
 " Oh, if Cecil would only listen to me ! " she said 
 to herself. " But she won t ; she never has." 
 Alicia did not cry ; she was too terrified for tears. 
 
 When she reached home, she was so absorbed 
 that she did not notice the traces of tears upon her 
 mother s cheek, although Mrs. Drayton s elaborate 
 concealment of them might well have called her at 
 tention to them. She went silently about her task 
 of arranging things for the night : she rolled Mrs. 
 Drayton s thin hair into a thicket of curl-papers, 
 and put the shade before the night-lamp, and said, 
 gently, " yes " or " no " to this or that sighing ques 
 tion; then she kissed her mother good-night, and 
 turned to go away. But a smothered sound arrested 
 her, and she came back. 
 
 " What is it, dear ? Did you call me ? " 
 
 " Oh no, no ; it does n t matter ; it s nothing. Go 
 to bed. Don t mind me," and Mrs. Drayton sobbed 
 faintly. 
 
292 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 But Alicia s grave patience did not relax into any 
 girlish burst of tenderness. 
 
 " What s the matter, mother darling ? Your head 
 does n t ache, does it ? " 
 
 " You are so absorbed now, Lyssie, in your own 
 happiness, of course I don t expect you to think 
 about me. I ve been crying here alone all the even 
 ing, while you ve been enjoying yourself at Cecil s. 
 Not that it matters ; I m glad to have you enjoy 
 yourself." 
 
 " I know you are, dear," Lyssie said simply. 
 44 But I m so sorry anything troubles you. Won t 
 you tell me what it is? " She knelt down by the 
 bedside, and, lifting Mrs. Dray ton s hand to her lips, 
 kissed the finger tips once or twice gently. " What 
 troubles you, mother dear? Were you lonely?" 
 
 It was the first time in her life that Alicia had 
 felt that sense of effort in showing affection which is 
 such pain to a tender heart. 
 
 " I m always lonely," Mrs. Drayton reminded her 
 severely. 
 
 " I know," Alicia said sympathetically. " But 
 maybe papa will be home soon. I really think, from 
 his last letter, that he is stronger, and perhaps he 
 will soon be able to come back." 
 
 Mrs. Drayton caught her breath, and sat up in 
 bed excitedly. " I don t know why you say so ! I 
 don t think so at all ! " she cried shrilly. " What 
 makes you say such things ? " 
 
 " Why, I only thought perhaps he might," Lyssie 
 began to explain, wearily ; " that was all." 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 293 
 
 " Then why do you startle me so ? " demanded 
 Mrs. Drayton, sinking back on her pillows, and 
 panting, the tears of anger and relief glittering sud 
 denly in her eyes. " You speak of his coming home, 
 and then you you just disappoint me ! As if I 
 did n t suffer enough from his absence, without hav 
 ing my nerves shattered in this way ! " 
 
 " I m sorry, dear ; I did n t mean to." 
 
 " And I m sure I m unhappy enough without 
 your making me more so. I m very unhappy ; I m 
 a great sinner." 
 
 At this Alicia at once resigned herself to an 
 hour s battle with hysteria ; she knew too well the 
 various phases through which her mother must pass 
 in struggling with a sense of sin, before finding com 
 fort " in the bosom of her Heavenly Father." 
 
 She was never impatient with or suspicious of 
 these struggles ; she was only tender, with a tender 
 ness which kept her reverent even of those peculiar 
 phrases with which Mrs. Drayton was apt to clothe 
 her religious emotions. We sometimes grow impa 
 tient of such phrases unless we have love like little 
 Lyssie s ; yet, after all, there is not one of them but 
 once w r as body to a living thought. A human heart 
 must have beat its way through a terrible or uplift 
 ing experience in those words, a soul found them 
 the portal to eternal things. Long since the life has 
 gone out of the phrase, though its dead body still 
 goes about among the churches, and thrusts itself 
 into formal prayers, and comes at last to be what 
 one might call spiritual slang upon the lips of per- 
 
294 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 sons like Mrs. Drayton. Yet for its beginnings of 
 truth, let us be reverent of it, as Lyssie was. 
 
 " I ve lost my sense of intimacy with God," said 
 Mrs. Drayton. 
 
 " Do you feel sick, mother ? " Alicia asked anx 
 iously. 
 
 " Sick ! " said Mrs. Drayton, with a reproachful 
 look. " Do you think a sense of sin is a matter of 
 digestion ? No ; I m not any more sick than I 
 always am. I ve done wrong ; and my Heavenly 
 Father is showing me that He is offended with me." 
 
 " I don t believe you have done anything very bad, 
 dear," Alicia comforted her; "but you know, 
 mother, if you are sorry, why it s all right." 
 
 Lyssie had never been able to speak her mother s 
 religious language ; she could not talk of God s for 
 giveness ; she could only say it would be " all right." 
 
 " Not at all ! " Mrs. Drayton retorted. " You 
 don t understand, Lyssie, what a high ideal I have. 
 When one has walked with God daily, and then does 
 something which makes Him hide the light of his 
 countenance, why, it s it s trying," said Mrs. 
 Drayton, weeping. " And I have sinned ; I acknow 
 ledge that. And now I suffer from the withdrawal 
 of his favor." 
 
 Alicia murmured some appropriate word ; she 
 wondered how soon she might, without offense, sug 
 gest a sleeping-powder. The knowledge of Cecil s 
 intention hung over her as such an appalling reality 
 that it was an effort to speak or think of anything 
 else. Mrs. Drayton still wept. She said she must 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 295 
 
 get up, and kneel and pray again. "He will be 
 displeased with me unless I kneel down," she sighed. 
 
 Alicia combated this gently. " You d take cold, 
 dear; please don t. And God understands." 
 
 " Well, I shall just tell Him you wouldn t let me! 
 I tell Him everything, you know. Oh, what it is to 
 be intimate with God ! and I am, generally. I saw 
 a hymn somewhere, and the last line of each verse 
 was, My God and !; --! can t remember the rest. 
 But that s just the way it is with me, usually. He 
 knows all my thoughts, and I ask Him for everything 
 I want ; I wish you d do that, Lyssie. I just say, 
 4 Now, Lord, I leave it in your hands ; I want it, and 
 you really must attend to it. And He always does. 
 I said that when I wanted the parlor sofa covered, 
 and you remember how you found the covering in 
 the garret ? Yet, kind as He is, I Ve I ve dis 
 pleased Him ! " 
 
 Alicia consoled and comforted ; but all the while 
 she was searching, passionately, for some help for 
 Cecil and Philip. She did not hear the meaning in 
 Mrs. Drayton s moans and sighs of repentance, until, 
 suddenly, the sin which kept the poor lady from an 
 intimacy with God was put in half a dozen clear 
 words. It was not that she had been impatient with 
 Esther last Tuesday ; it was not that she had left 
 Lyssie s dear papa s letter unanswered for three days 
 (and there was not a single word in it to lead any 
 body to think he was coming home, Lyssie would 
 please remember that) ; it was not even that she had 
 seemed to criticise Dr. Lavendar to Susy Carr. 
 
296 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 Alicia knew all these sins well. It was something 
 which, as the whimpering woman told it, made a 
 look come into Lyssie s face that turned her mother 
 sober, and brought a note of reality into her voice. 
 
 " You said you would n t get married while I was 
 very ill, Lyssie. You promised, do you remem 
 ber?" 
 
 " Yes, I remember," Lyssie answered patiently. 
 " But Roger would n t want me to. You need n t 
 have asked me to promise, mother." 
 
 But Mrs. Drayton could not hear so delicate a 
 reproach. "Well," she faltered, her heart beating 
 hard with excitement and interest, " well, I oh, of 
 course I know it was a dreadful sin, but I was so 
 unhappy. I had made up my mind, before I asked 
 you, that if you would n t promise, I should com 
 mit suicide." 
 
 Alicia was silent. 
 
 " Take my own life," Mrs. Drayton explained 
 tremulously. " I had Esther get me a little bottle 
 of laudanum from Mr. Tommy s. I said it was for 
 a toothache. Well, so it was. You remember I 
 had a toothache ? But I did n t use it all, and so I 
 meant, if you would n t promise, to Oh, I sup 
 pose it was a great sin ? " 
 
 Alicia put her hand across her eyes. " Oh, mo 
 ther ! " she said faintly. 
 
 It was really too bad that poor little Lyssie did 
 not know how meaningless is this vain and silly 
 threat from the lips of an hysterical woman. Yet 
 perhaps, if she had known, she could have found no 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 297 
 
 wise answer. To receive such statements with the 
 laugh they justly provoke is seldom beneficial ; to 
 take them seriously is an outrage upon truth ; to 
 point out their selfishness and silliness results, gen 
 erally, in an outcry against the hardness of the lis 
 tener. Alicia Drayton, covering her face with her 
 hands, only said, half whispering, " Oh, mother, 
 mother ! if you loved me, you could n t think such 
 thoughts." 
 
 " Why, it s just because I love you ! " cried Mrs. 
 Drayton, growing shrill and frightened. " I don t 
 see how I can live when you get married and go 
 away. I thought I d much better die ; and so, if 
 the Lord did n t think it wise to remove me, I thought 
 I d just do it myself. I thought 
 
 And thus and thus she babbled on ; Alicia listen 
 ing silently. It was a long time before things were 
 peaceful enough for the tired girl to creep away 
 to her room. She forgot to light her candle ; she 
 sat down in the dark, her hands folded listlessly 
 in her lap ; once her breath caught in a long sigh. 
 After a while she took Roger s last letter out of her 
 pocket and held it tightly, as though it were the 
 strong clasp of his hand, full of comfort and assur 
 ance. She could not understand all this misery, 
 and pain, and puzzle ; but Roger loved her ! She 
 held on to that, while she felt the shock and surge 
 of human passion all about her sweet young life ; 
 while she saw Hate hidden by a shallow wash of 
 flippancy, like a scum of foam and froth over treach 
 erous sands; and Selfishness lying like a dreadful 
 
298 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 rock below the currents of daily living, ready to 
 make shipwreck of the hopes and happiness of young 
 souls like hers. It was as though the bad world 
 suddenly lifted the veil from its face and laughed. 
 
 Alicia Drayton hid her eyes, and kissed her lover s 
 letter, and had no prayer but his name repeated 
 over and over. 
 
 At last, when the night was far gone, she got up 
 and lit her candle, and wrote to him. It was only 
 a cry that something dreadful had happened, some 
 thing dreadful for Cecil. She would not tell him 
 what, but would he not come ? Now ! He could 
 help things, she thought, if there were any help. 
 " But oh, come, come and help Cecil. She will 
 tell you all about it, and I know you will help her ! " 
 
XXIII. 
 
 Are we not brothers ? SHAKESPEARE. 
 
 THE post that brought to Roger Carey Lyssie s 
 terrified and confused appeal brought also a brief 
 communication from Mrs. Shore. She was anxious 
 to consult Mr. Carey on business; could he run 
 down to Old Chester for a day or two ? She would 
 be greatly indebted to him if he could spare the 
 time to come. 
 
 As it happened, Roger really could not spare the 
 time very well, and a stern sense of duty might have 
 made him write to Lyssie, with anxious regret, that 
 he could not possibly leave his office at what chanced 
 to be an important moment ; but he was able to si 
 lence his conscience for stealing a day off with Alicia 
 by the business terms in which Mrs. Shore s sum 
 mons was couched. " I ve got to go," he assured 
 himself. " Business is business ; but I 11 stay 
 over Sunday, and maybe Lyssie will be willing not 
 to go to church this once ; and then she 11 tell 
 me what troubles her," he thought, a little amused, 
 but tender. Roger had forgotten his vague self- 
 reproach for something he had not done on the day 
 that he had last seen Lyssie and her sister, and 
 he was aware now of nothing but eagerness to 
 see his sweetheart again. " I 11 take the Friday 
 
300 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 afternoon stage," he told himself, with great satis 
 faction. 
 
 It happened that Mr. Joseph Laveiidar took the 
 same stage, and he, with instant hospitality, insisted 
 that Mr. Carey, instead of putting np at the village 
 tavern, should come to the rectory. "My brother 
 will be delighted to see you," he said, " delighted ! " 
 Roger, alarmed at the prospect of the rectory, and 
 morning and evening worship, and no food to speak 
 of, protested that the tavern was very comfortable ; 
 that he was in town on business, and would be much 
 occupied ; that he could not think of bothering Dr. 
 Laveiidar : in fact, he offered all those excuses with 
 which we try to evade undesired hospitality, and 
 which never save us. 
 
 Mr. Lavendar pooh-poohed them all. " My 
 brother 11 be delighted," he insisted, beaming. 
 
 And Roger, with a sigh for the freedom of the 
 tavern, declared that, in that case, he should be 
 delighted, too ; and so it was settled. 
 
 Mr. Lavendar was honestly glad to see the young 
 man, because he was a young man, and in love, and 
 on his way to Old Chester/ three things calculated 
 to arouse a kindly sentiment in the mind of Joseph 
 Lavendar ; but he suddenly remembered that Mr. 
 Carey was also a cousin of Mrs. Pendleton s, and he 
 was at once conscious of a distinctly warmer feeling 
 for him. As they sat side by side on the box-seat, 
 he scanned Roger furtively over the rims of his 
 spectacles, and seemed to find the inspection satis 
 factory. He liked the young man s gray clothes ; he 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 301 
 
 liked his straw hat ; he liked his clean-shaven face, his 
 strong mouth, his keen eye. " He has a look of 
 Amanda," Mr. Joseph thought sentimentally, indif 
 ferent to the claims of blood on the part of the late 
 Mr. Pendleton. 
 
 They did not talk very much. Eoger, until the 
 long, slow jog in the sunshine made him sleepy, was 
 wondering what on earth Mrs. Shore could want of 
 him ; and the other had his own affairs to think of. 
 
 Mr. Joseph sighed once or twice, and looked at 
 his companion as though about to speak. Yet they 
 were more than half way to Old Chester before, in 
 the most casual way in the world, though with a 
 flurried note in his voice which Roger might have 
 noticed had he been less sleepy, Mr. Lavendar began 
 to say something of his young friend s interesting 
 relative Mrs. Pendleton. He spoke of her writings, 
 her gardan, her pleasing and most feminine manners, 
 and then he ventured the criticism that she must be 
 somewhat lonely, being (comparatively) a stranger 
 in Old Chester. 
 
 Roger yawned, and said, Well, yes, he supposed 
 so. 
 
 Then there was a little silence, after which the 
 older man observed, hurriedly, that the afternoon 
 was charming, and he wondered that so agreeable 
 a lady had not married again. 
 
 " Yes," said Roger, glancing off across the russet 
 fields. 
 
 " It surprises me a little," Mr. Lavendar remarked, 
 and paused to cough gently behind his hand, " that 
 
302 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 she lias not made another choice ; though perhaps it 
 is a little soon to think of it, and I am certain that 
 your relative would observe every propriety. How 
 ever, I have no doubt that she will make another 
 choice at some future time ? " 
 
 " Very likely," Roger agreed absently. He had 
 waked up enough to say to himself again, " But 
 why does she send for me ? Where s Woodhouse ? 
 He looks after their affairs. I wonder if Shore ad 
 vised it ? " He did not notice how instantly the 
 furtive anxiety had cleared from Mr. Lavendar s 
 face, nor how he drew a full breath, and smiled, and 
 began to talk to the stage-driver with a certain ex 
 cited gayety. 
 
 When Mr. Carey climbed down at Alicia s door, 
 and said he should not come to the rectory until late, 
 for he thought Mrs. Drayton would give him some 
 supper, Mr. Lavendar hardly protested. His mind 
 was too full of the conclusion he had drawn from 
 the young man s assent to his statement that Mrs. 
 Pendleton would no doubt make another choice. 
 
 " That settles the question of the will," he thought, 
 his heart beating hard. For the rest of the evening 
 he thought of nothing else, even while the preface 
 to the chapters which were to be written upon The 
 Relation of Precious Stones to the Science and 
 Practice of Medicine was being read aloud to him, 
 and while he told his brother all the Mercer news. 
 
 After supper, as usual, the brothers played domi 
 noes, with Danny snuggled into Dr. Lavendar s 
 chair ; the old clergyman was constantly addressing 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 303 
 
 the little grizzled dog with fierce epithets, and threat 
 ening that he would give him away to the first per 
 son who w r ould take him. " You are* a scoundrel, 
 sir ! " his master assured him, edging forward in his 
 chair to make more room for him. 
 
 " Go on, Joey, it s your draw. You re slow, 
 boy!" 
 
 Mr. Joseph drew. " Ah, brother Jim," he said, 
 continuing to draw, " I spoke I should say, young 
 Carey spoke, of my friend Mrs. Pendleton. You 
 recall your fear that she was hampered, as you might 
 say, by the will of the late Mr. Pendleton ? " 
 
 Dr. Lavendar, about to mark his gains with a 
 broken match upon an old cribbage-board, looked 
 up, his jaw dropping. 
 
 " Young Carey said," Mr. Joseph went on (still 
 
 drawing), " he said that but I won t trouble you 
 
 with what he said ; only, brother Jim, I wished you 
 
 to know that there are strong probabilities that the 
 
 impediment which you mentioned does not exist." 
 
 " But nine hundred and ninety-nine other impedi 
 ments do ! " cried Dr. Lavendar, choking. 
 
 " I am not aware of them," said Mr. Joseph, with 
 dignity; but he breathed hard, and drew three 
 more dominoes very rapidly. 
 
 " Have you asked her yet ? " the elder brother 
 demanded. (" Hold on ! How many are you going 
 to draw?") 
 
 Mr. Lavendar checked himself and apologized ; 
 beginning, with a shaking hand, to arrange a fence 
 of dominoes like a Druid circle about the altar of 
 
304 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 a double-six. " I have n t asked her yet ; but now 
 I mean to. I don t think we need pursue this sub 
 ject ; it is painful for us both." 
 
 " The result will be painful for you, sir ! " Dr. 
 Lavendar answered loudly. " But if Ephraim is 
 joined to his idols, I suppose one must let him alone ; 
 only I should like to say one thing, and then we 11 
 drop the subject : Are you prepared to live on your 
 wife, sir ? " 
 
 " I have my profession," returned poor Mr. 
 Joseph, matching a five, and turning off the snaky 
 line to the left ; but he quivered under the thrust. 
 
 " Well," said Dr. Lavendar, throwing himself 
 back in his chair so suddenly that Danny squeaked, 
 and scrambled out from under his arm, "in my 
 young days, a young man wouldn t have had the 
 face to go to a rich woman and say, I can earn my 
 coach-fare, ma am, and a dollar or two beside, but 
 I 11 be obliged to you if you will marry me. But 
 never mind, never mind. Things have changed 
 since then." 
 
 " James ! " 
 
 " Well, he would n t" Dr. Lavendar said tremu 
 lously. Then he opened and shut his lips several 
 times before he succeeded in adding, " I did n t 
 mean that, Joey. You make me seem irritable 
 sometimes ; but not at all ; I am merely impatient. 
 Of course you earn more than your coach-fare. But 
 I don t like her, Joey ; that s the fact. She threw 
 you over once; she d do it again." 
 
 " You ve no right to say that, brother Jim," Mr. 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 305 
 
 Joseph said ; then, the gibe about his money still 
 rankling, he went on with some spirit : " And beside, 
 it is n t as though I were a fortune-hunter ; not at 
 all. I have something beside my profession. 
 There s the income we shall have from the book." 
 
 Dr. Lavendar was silent. He got up, and went 
 over to the mantelshelf and filled his pipe, forgetting 
 to light it ; then he came shuffling back. " It s your 
 draw," he said, and stroked Danny s ears violently. 
 "I I, of course, expect a good income from my 
 book. But you ve no right to reckon on that. It 
 belongs to me." 
 
 Mr. Joseph did not speak. Dr. Lavendar played 
 excitedly ; the tears stood in his eyes. " Don t you 
 want a light, Jim?" his brother said, and got up 
 and brought a live coal in the tongs ; and then they 
 played in silence. 
 
 Joseph Lavendar could hardly see. If he did not 
 match his dominoes, his brother let it pass. " You ve 
 no right to reckon on that : " Mr. Joseph said it 
 over and over. He forgot Mrs. Pendleton. Such 
 a threat had no bearing upon his purpose, but it 
 broke his heart. Jim s book Jim s income he 
 had " no right to reckon " on them ! He played on 
 blindly ; he felt as though he hated Mrs. Pendleton ; 
 but he matched a doublet and turned and twisted 
 the long line across the slippery top of the table, 
 and made no protest. 
 
 It was a dreadful evening to these two brothers : 
 they wished Roger Carey would come in ; they could 
 not meet each other s eyes as they sat there alone, 
 
306 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 and it would be something to have the young man 
 to talk to and to look at. But he did not come ; 
 and by and by, at half past nine to the minute, they 
 went out together to look, as usual, at the ther 
 mometer, and to mark the temperature upon a shel 
 tered clapboard at one end of the porch, where a line 
 of such marks showed the age of the habit. Then 
 they had prayers ; after which, still as usual, they 
 together conducted Danny to his bed in the barn, 
 and blew out the lights. They put a candle and a 
 match upon the hall-table for Mr. Carey, and left 
 the door on the latch. Then they said good-night, 
 and each shut himself up in his room. 
 
 Both of them were awake when, the night half 
 over, Roger Carey entered, and, with careful stealth, 
 climbed the stairs to his bedroom. 
 
XXIV. 
 
 " T is very possible," replied I, " when a man is thinking more of 
 a woman than of good advice." Sentimental Journey. 
 
 WHEN Alicia s first delight at seeing her lover had 
 worn off, her face settled into anxious lines. But 
 she was incapable of putting into words, even to him, 
 the " dreadful thing," the " shameful thing," as she 
 thought it, which had happened to her sister; all 
 that she told him, the color coming up into her face, 
 and even her slender neck flushing, was that some 
 thing troubled Cecil and Philip. " I m sure you 
 can help them," she said. 
 
 Roger did not press her for any explanation. 
 
 " Very well, dear, I 11 do my best," he told her 
 gently, and saw the painful color ebb, and her clear 
 eyes meet his again. He was very gentle with her, 
 as one is with a child whose modesty is a beautiful 
 ignorance ; but it removed him very far away from 
 her. In his own mind he smiled a little. " They ve 
 quarreled, I suppose," he thought, " and Lyssie, bless 
 her little heart ! wants me to reconcile them. But I 
 can t do anything. The fellow who tries to mediate 
 between husband and wife is a fool. But why in the 
 world did she send for me ? It can t be this 
 squabble ? " 
 
 And when, directly after supper, he left Lyssie, 
 with the promise of an early return, and went up to 
 
308 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 Mrs. Shore s, he was still in the dark as to why he 
 had been summoned to Old Chester. 
 
 No, Mr. Shore was not at home, he was told. 
 Mrs. Shore was in, yes ; the servant would find out 
 whether she would see Mr. Carey. Roger, waiting, 
 received a leaping welcome from Eric, and responded 
 as warmly. " You old scamp ! " he said, lovingly, as 
 the dog showed that beautiful and joyous affection 
 which the human creature is as unworthy to receive 
 as he is incapable of experiencing in himself. But 
 all the while he was listening intently for a step upon 
 the stairs, and he was aware that he was breathing 
 quickly. Then the maid came to say, Would Mr. 
 Carey please go up to Mrs. Shore s sitting-room ? 
 
 She did not rise to meet him, but she smiled, and 
 held out her hand without speaking. That reception 
 of smiling silence is strangely flattering. Roger felt 
 it so now. 
 
 " You see I come at once," he said. 
 
 " You are very good," she answered cordially ; 
 and then said something of the bore of a stage ride, 
 and asked him if he had had dinner, and would he 
 not have a glass of wine ? 
 
 " No, thank you," Roger said. The situation itself 
 was suddenly like wine to him. Behind her, high on 
 the wall, a cluster of candles burned in an old sconce, 
 and a shower of soft light fell on her bronze hair 
 wrapped in two noble braids about her head. At 
 her suggestion, he threw a fresh log upon the fire, 
 and, with a leaping rush of sparks, the small flames 
 curled about it as tremulously as the fingers of a 
 
V 
 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 309 
 
 player about the neck of his mandolin ; the light 
 shone on her face, and glimmered in a square topaz 
 that caught the lace together at her throat, and 
 spread itself in a sheen upon her lap. Roger Carey 
 could not hold his eyes away from her ! 
 
 Cecil talked, in her slow voice, a voice that had 
 color in it, of this or that : told him Molly was in 
 despair to have to go to bed without seeing him ; 
 laughed a little at the invitation from the rectory ; 
 said Eric had pined for him. Eric, outside, heard 
 his name, and rapped on the door with his tail. 
 Roger answered recklessly and gayly. He had no 
 longer any curiosity to know why she had sent for 
 him ; he was here, and he could look at her, and 
 that was enough. He said to himself that he had 
 never seen a more splendid creature. She was not 
 Mrs. Philip Shore to him ; still less was she Lyssie s 
 sister : she was a " splendid creature." 
 
 " Yes," Cecil continued, " it is very good in you 
 to come so promptly." She was drumming her fin 
 gers carelessly on the arms of her chair, and looking 
 into the fire ; "I have some business matters I want 
 to put into your hands, Mr. Carey. Mr. Shore and 
 I are going to separate." 
 
 The blood flew to Roger Carey s face. " What ? " 
 
 " Yes. Oh, I don t mean that I am going to need 
 your professional services. Did you have a vision 
 of the divorce court ? No ; we are most amicable, 
 Mr. Shore and I. We are a perfect Darby and 
 Joan in the way in which we agree about this. We 
 are going to live apart ; that s all. What I wanted 
 
310 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 to ask you was only a question about Molly. And 
 I want you to take care of my money, too, if you 
 will?" 
 
 Her words were like a dash of water in his face ; 
 he dropped abruptly from that haze of impersonal 
 appreciation of the " splendid creature " to keen in 
 terest and very honest dismay. His friend s wife 
 was going to leave him ! 
 
 " Oh, Mrs. Shore," he cried, " this is very dread 
 ful ! It is why, it is incredible ! Surely you 
 don t mean it s only a passing impulse ; you can t 
 mean 
 
 " Yes," Cecil answered quietly, " I do mean it, 
 Mr. Carey. I need not bother you with my rea 
 sons, but I do mean it." 
 
 " But I don t understand ! You Ve had some 
 difference, I suppose; and now you think Oh, 
 Mrs. Shore, it s impossible ! You must let me see 
 Philip and tell him you think better of it. You 
 must let me do something." 
 
 "You are very kind," Cecil said, with an an 
 noyed look, "but it s all settled; thank you very 
 much. I merely wished to ask you one or two ques 
 tions." 
 
 " I 11 answer any questions I can, but first please 
 let me say how distressed and shocked I am at what 
 you tell me. Of course, if if Philip has offended 
 you in any way 
 
 " Oh, not at all. We have nothing against one 
 another, except each the existence of the other. 
 Oh yes ; the daily aggravation of Philip s good ex- 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 311 
 
 ample has been very trying. My dear Mr. Carey, 
 we are bored ; that is all." 
 
 Roger was too dumfounded at the folly of it for 
 words ; his face grew rigid with consternation. 
 
 " I thought you believed in separation ? " Cecil 
 said. " Did n t you, say the Todds ought to sepa- . 
 rate ? Or, no ; it was Mr. Shore who said that ; I 
 had forgotten. But you certainly told me you be 
 lieved in separation ? " 
 
 " Under some circumstances I do. The Todds 
 ought n t to live together, perhaps ; but such a sepa 
 ration ought to be made by the State, for the State ; 
 not by themselves for any selfish reasons. But 
 how ridiculous to speak of such a thing ! You and 
 Philip are educated and responsible people, who pro 
 pose to do this this terrible thing, for apparently 
 no reason or motive whatever ! " 
 
 " Oh, we have very exalted reasons," Cecil an 
 swered with a slight smile. " Mr. Shore knows 
 that I no longer adore him ; Love s young dream 
 is over, so to speak ; so on high moral grounds we 
 think it right to part." Her color deepened as she 
 spoke, and there was an instant s . silence between 
 them. 
 
 Then Roger said, constrainedly, something about 
 false ideas of morality. " It s all very well to hide 
 the fact under fine sentiments ; but I tell you what 
 it is, it is a case of the Emperor in Hans Andersen s 
 story, who said he was so finely dressed : do you 
 remember what the child cried out? I don t care 
 how exalted your reasons and Philip s are, the real 
 
312 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 naked fact is selfishness ! But I refuse to think it 
 possible that you will do such a thing. It s only 
 an impulse, as I said. "Will you not authorize me to 
 go to see Philip and tell him that you think better 
 of it?" 
 
 " You would like to arrange a reconciliation, 
 would n t you ? " she said drolly. " Do you want 
 Molly to fall ill, and then join our hands over 
 her cradle? Or shall one of us die, and uncom 
 fortably remorseful love ensue ? No, Mr. Carey ; 
 the dramatic does n t happen. Molly is very robust, 
 thank Heaven, and neither Mr. Shore nor I mean 
 to commit suicide to give freedom to the other " 
 
 Eoger interrupted her, frowning. " This is too 
 grave a matter for flippancy. Let me discuss it 
 with you seriously." 
 
 But even while he discussed it the old excitement 
 crept over him, this time with a shadowy terror in 
 it ; his earnestness held a singular note of fright. 
 He did not want Cecil Shore to be free ! Every 
 argument of conventionality, of duty to Molly, of 
 ecclesiastical force, was hot upon his lips. She could 
 not, he declared, find a word of complaint against 
 Philip ; Philip was the best fellow in the world. He 
 sternly bade her realize her husband s worth. He 
 was convinced, he said, that the fault was hers, if 
 Philip, for this preposterous reason which she had 
 given, wished to leave her. " You are a selfish 
 woman," he said, he was bending forward, one 
 hand behind him, gripping the arm of his chair, the 
 other outstretched, almost touching hers in his ex- 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 313 
 
 citement, yet never unconscious enough to really 
 touch hers, " you are a selfish woman, and you 
 are flippant, which is worse. Even now you are 
 flippant. Here is a matter of awful seriousness, and 
 you regard it or you pretend to regard it lightly, 
 and from a simply selfish point of view." 
 
 Roger was battling for his friend with all his 
 heart, but he looked all the while he could not 
 take his eyes away from her at this beautiful 
 woman, who, despite the matter of which they were 
 speaking, was again only a beautiful woman to him. 
 
 But defense of her husband was an insult to Cecil. 
 She flung out at him that she only wished to consult 
 him about Molly, unless, of course, being Mr. 
 Shore s friend, he did not wish to advise her ? In 
 which case she would consult some one else. 
 
 " I am here to advise you, whether you want it or 
 not," he returned ; " now just listen to me, please." 
 He stood up in front of her, one hand in his pocket, 
 the other emphasizing his curt words. " There shall 
 be no question about Molly; you and Shore will 
 both do your duty, and keep a home for her." 
 
 His indignation, his apparent feeling that her 
 views and reasons were beneath argument, his evi 
 dent and rude belief that if she would only behave 
 herself like an intelligent woman Philip would " be 
 willing " to give up this mad and wicked plan, made 
 Cecil furious. She was not for a moment impressed 
 by the value of anything he said. It is not impossi 
 ble that this was because of its insincerity. He was 
 arguing as he believed, but not because he believed 
 
314 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 it. He was arguing from absolute, dismayed selfish 
 ness. 
 
 " As for Molly, he said, " I can t help telling you 
 frankly that I consider you the last person in the 
 world to take charge of her ; you spoil her, you 
 amuse yourself with her, you neglect her, just as it 
 happens to suit you." 
 
 " Mr. Carey, you force me to remind you that 
 I have not asked your opinion about my conduct. 
 j " 
 
 " Well, I m sorry to appear to thrust my opinion 
 upon you, but it s certainly just as well you should 
 know what people will think and say if you carry 
 out this preposterous idea. Upon my word, Mrs. 
 Shore, it is amazing to me that a man of Philip s 
 integrity, and a woman of well, of as much horse 
 sense, in the long run, as you have, can seriously 
 consider such a thing ! I shall tell Philip that he 11 
 sacrifice Molly if he carries out an abstract idealism 
 (of course that s what it is in him), because she will 
 be left without his influence. It s the only influence 
 for good the child has," he ended, looking at her 
 sternly. 
 
 She defended herself as well as she could, but his 
 words beat her like whips. In spite of her anger 
 and her pride, she cowered ; tears, even, rose in her 
 eyes. " You are very unjust you are very un 
 just," she murmured. 
 
 " On the contrary, I am only just ; I tell you the 
 truth. As for your having Molly, yes, I suppose 
 she would be given to you, if you did anything so 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 315 
 
 wicked as to push this matter to a question of law. 
 Unfortunately, the court would not take cognizance 
 of the fact that you are an unfit woman to be in 
 trusted with her. But there mustn t be such a 
 question ; you must go back to your husband, 
 and you must remember you re his wife. This mat 
 ter of flinging off an obligation because it is n t 
 agreeable is vicious and pernicious, I don t care what 
 the ideals are ! Ideality can be responsible for 
 damnable crimes." He spoke with that brutal in 
 difference as to his choice of words that a man re 
 serves for men, and for the woman who loves him. 
 It did not strike either of them at the time, but he 
 did not excuse his indignant excitement on the 
 ground of his approaching connection with the 
 family. 
 
 He stood looking down at her, his chin set, his 
 eyes narrowing in a certain aggressive masculinity 
 that made all the woman in her shrink. " You 
 ought to be ashamed of yourself ! " he said. 
 
 She rose ; his words and the jarring anger of his 
 voice were as tangible as a grip upon her wrists, 
 pulling her to her feet before him. " Don t say 
 such things ; don t talk to me that way. It s done. 
 I can t help it. It s done. I wish you would help 
 me instead of talking that way." 
 
 He said, breathlessly, that he was helping her 
 when he told her she must not leave her husband ; 
 for Molly s sake, for for - " My God ! Philip 
 Shore s a fool ! " he burst out. But instantly, as 
 though a quick rein tightened upon him, he again 
 
316 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 stammered something of duty. " Promise me to do 
 your duty ! " 
 
 " I 11 think over what you ve said," she answered 
 faintly. She felt as though he had compelled the 
 words ; she was afraid of him. Her breath came in 
 a sob, and she swayed a little as though about to 
 fall. 
 
 " You are faint ! " he said quickly. Her arms 
 fell along his own stretched out to support her ; he 
 felt her warm, swaying weight upon his breast ; 
 their eyes met in one full, pulsating look, met 
 with a clash of exultant shame ; and dropped, cow 
 ering. 
 
 Cecil drew back violently, flinging her hands be 
 hind her as though she had touched fire. Neither 
 spoke. Roger Carey trembled to his soul. 
 
 "I I beg your pardon ; I thought you were 
 faint " 
 
 A spark from the fire leaped suddenly out across 
 the hearth and fell on the white rug at their feet. 
 
 " How that wood does snap ! " he said, breathless. 
 
 " Yes yes ; it s a nuisance to have it snap so. 
 Oh, are you must you go ? " 
 
 "I think so. Yes. I will see you to-morrow. 
 Good-night." 
 
 " Good-night." 
 
XXV. 
 
 O, how this spring of love resembleth 
 The uncertain glory of an April day ; 
 Which now shows all the beauty of the sun 
 And by and by a cloud takes all away. 
 
 SHAKESPEARE. 
 
 "No, it was so late when I left Mrs. Shore s, I 
 thought I d better not come in." 
 
 " Oh, Roger, could you make things straight ? 
 Oh, is n t it dreadful that she should have thought 
 of such a thing ? I felt sure you d show her how 
 wrong it was." 
 
 " Well, I said everything I could think of. Yes, 
 I produced some effect. I had a note from her this 
 morning, and 
 
 " Oh," interrupted Lyssie, " won t you please be 
 gin at the beginning? Tell me everything! I m 
 so worried. What did you say to her ? How did 
 you begin ? Tell me every word." 
 
 But there was singularly little to tell. 
 
 " She promises to reconsider it," he said. 
 "There s her letter; she sent it down this morn 
 ing ; read it, if you want to. She just says she will 
 reconsider it. Lys, after I left Mrs. Shore s, I 
 took a walk. That s another thing that made me 
 late. The fact was, I wanted to think." 
 
 " About this, I suppose ? " 
 
 " About you." 
 
318 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 The color came into Lyssie s face, and she smiled, 
 in spite of the grief of the world. " You might 
 have found a better subject ! " 
 
 They were in the parlor ; Lyssie near the window, 
 for the room was dark with a steady sweep of rain 
 against the glass, and she was busy with a bit of 
 sewing. Outside there was a glimpse of a frosted 
 garden standing forlornly in the mist ; there was a 
 yellow litter of fallen leaves under the chestnuts, 
 and in the sodden border a single blot of scarlet, 
 where a late geranium burned bravely in spite of 
 its pallid, hanging leaves. Once or twice a drop 
 splashed down the chimney and sputtered on the 
 hearth; but the fire flamed cheerily, with a low 
 murmur of sap, and Eric lay comfortably in front 
 of it, steaming a little, and twinkling up at Eoger 
 from under anxious, deprecatory brows. 
 
 " He met me in the village, and he would come," 
 Roger explained, and touched the dog s big nose 
 with his foot. " Come, wake up, old man ! " 
 
 Eric lifted one eyebrow, and flopped his tail, but 
 he had no intention of moving. 
 
 " What a beastly day it is ! " said Roger ; he was* 
 wondering whether he looked as stupid as he felt. 
 
 "Yes," Lyssie assented, glancing up from her 
 sewing. "Just see this yellow leaf the rain has 
 beaten against the window ! It s too bad about our 
 walk, but perhaps it will clear by this afternoon." 
 
 "I don t believe it will," Roger said gloomily; 
 and then he came and sat down by Lyssie s little 
 work-table, and took her scissors and began to snip 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 319 
 
 off bits of thread; when reproved for such untidy 
 ways, he built the spools into pyramids, and then 
 drummed on the table to make them totter and fall. 
 He had nothing to say of Cecil and Philip, except 
 that " it was all perfectly absurd," and just a pass 
 ing impulse. " It will come out all right," he told 
 her impatiently. 
 
 " Oh, Roger, are you sure ? " Lyssie entreated, 
 ready to cry with the relief of it. She wished he 
 would be a little more explicit, but she would not 
 tease him with questions ; perhaps he felt that such 
 a matter ought not to be spoken of. 
 
 Roger knocked all the spools down at a blow, and 
 rose, and stirred Eric up, rolling him over with his 
 foot, and worrying him with grumbling affection. 
 
 It s beastly, this rain," he announced again; 
 which made Alicia put down her work and say 
 with decision, " We will go out to walk. You don t 
 mind the rain, do you? I don t. And it will be 
 pleasanter than staying in the house." 
 
 Roger brightened up at once, but protested 
 faintly : " You might get damp ; your mother will 
 think I am insane. Of course you must n t go out 
 in the rain. We can talk here just as well. I 
 want to tell you what it was that I thought about 
 you last night." 
 
 If this suggestion of a confidence by the fireside 
 was any temptation to Alicia, she did not betray it. 
 44 Damp ? What does that matter ! I d love a 
 walk in the rain ; " and she silenced him by running 
 away to get her cloak. 
 
320 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 Left alone, Roger stood looking moodily out of 
 the window ; the fact was, he had decided, after a 
 night s sleep, that when he had left Mrs. Shore, the 
 night before, he had taken himself too seriously. 
 
 There was certainly 110 doubt about it, he had 
 taken himself seriously. He had gone down through 
 Cecil Shore s silent house, out into the amber dusk 
 of the moonlit autumnal night, half drunk with ex 
 citement. All the man, for one glowing moment, 
 had spoken in his eyes ; all the woman had answered 
 in hers ; then had come the speechless outcry of fear 
 and triumph, the ringing silence those words of 
 the habit of conventionality neither of them had 
 heard. When he had shut the door behind him, he 
 stood for a moment on the porch, staring into the 
 night and breathing heavily. The stone steps were 
 wet with mist ; there was a scent of dead leaves 
 and damp earth. Some one closed a window in 
 the house, and he caught his breath with a start, 
 as though he were awakening. Mechanically he 
 walked across the terrace, and down along the 
 flagged path to the pool. There was a light gauze 
 of mist over the water, and the fallen leaves under 
 the two old poplars were heavy with moisture. At 
 the sound of his step along the path, the frogs 
 stopped suddenly their bell-like clangor, and there 
 was a splash somewhere under the mist, and then 
 silence. Roger sat down on the stone bench, and 
 passed his hand over his eyes. 
 
 " Good Lord ! suppose I had kissed her ? " 
 
 His danger made him shiver. A breath of colder 
 
r PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 321 
 
 air came straying across the pool, and touched his 
 hands, clasped listlessly between his knees. Yes : 
 she had leaned against his breast ; he had felt the 
 satin warmth of her arm along his wrist. Again the 
 blood leaped in his temples, he felt hot pulses in his 
 fingers ; he drew in his lips, and his eyelids drooped 
 into a smile that drove the soul out of his face. Ah, 
 that swaying weight in his arms ! 
 
 He exulted, even while he cowered at the danger 
 he had been in; but he lifted his wrist to his lips 
 and kissed it savagely, and cursed himself, with a 
 laugh, for a fool. 
 
 " Well, I did n t. But damn Philip Shore ! " 
 
 Then the shame of it grew upon him, and that 
 inescapable fright which comes with the recognition 
 of a possibility. His self-knowledge struck him in 
 solently in the face. " But I" did n t do it ! " he 
 insisted sullenly. He almost forgot Cecil, as he 
 thus came to himself and saw his possibilities before 
 him ; his friend s wife had only opened the door to 
 facts. He could forget the doorkeeper, face to face 
 with the drunken crew whom she had admitted. In 
 his dismay, he had no concern for any dismay that 
 she might feel. A little later, to protect her in his 
 thoughts, he decided that she was unaware of that 
 hot impulse of his, and that he had read no consent 
 in her eyes ; but just at that moment, in the mist 
 under the poplars, he did not think of her at all. 
 
 But how keenly aware Cecil had been of it all ! 
 When Eoger Carey closed the door, and the flames 
 of the candles swerved and bent, and then burned in 
 
322 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 a pointed gleam, she had stood quite still for a mo 
 ment. She looked down at the charred bit of wood 
 on the rug, and even pushed it away with her foot, 
 and stooped, as if to see whether the white fur were 
 burned. Then she walked the length of the room 
 with violent haste, and stood, panting. 
 
 " Suppose he had kissed me ? What could I have 
 done ? Why did n t he ? He s not a fool." 
 
 She came back to the fire, and leaned her arms 
 along the mantelpiece, resting her forehead on them. 
 She felt herself smile and blush ; and she shut her 
 eyes and closed her teeth upon her lip. She stood 
 there a long time, longer than Roger Carey sat on 
 the bench under the poplars. And when at last a 
 log smouldered through, and fell apart with a soft 
 crash of sparks, the light shone upon a face that 
 was full of a strange terror. 
 
 She went over to her writing-desk, and hunted 
 among the litter of notes and papers, and found 
 some telegraph blanks. She addressed one to her 
 husband, but she sat at her desk a long time, making 
 idle marks upon her blotting paper, before she wrote : 
 " Pray come back to Old Chester at once. Impor 
 tant." 
 
 Cecil, too, had had a glimpse of her possibilities ; 
 all her instincts and traditions revolted in alarm. 
 She fled to cover ; she summoned her husband. 
 u Lyssie Lyssie Lyssie ! " she said to herself, 
 her face hot with shame. " Oh, he is good! she 
 thought. She had decided swiftly that Philip 
 should give up his foolery, and she her freedom, be- 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 323 
 
 cause Roger Carey was " good." She did not rea 
 son about it, but she wanted to meet him 011 his own 
 level. 
 
 It was curious that, as he fell, he lifted Tier. Yet, 
 absorbed in the selfishness of remorse, and no 
 thing may be more selfish than remorse, Roger, 
 sitting there on the stone bench, had not a thought 
 for Cecil Shore except perhaps of dull dislike. 
 
 But all that amazement and shame had been last 
 night. By daylight things looked different ; so dif 
 ferent that, standing there at the window, in Lyssie s 
 parlor, grumbling at the rain, he assured himself 
 that he had not been guilty of the slightest impro 
 priety ; all the world might know that, seeing Mrs. 
 Shore about to faint, he had supported her and 
 that he had come within an ace of kissing her ! So 
 long as he did n t do it, what an ass he had been to 
 feel himself dishonorable. Good Lord, if a man is 
 to agonize because he has had the impulse to kiss a 
 pretty woman, he had best go into a monastery at 
 once ! He was morosely amused at himself. He 
 had been too intense ; and the reaction was an irri 
 tated conviction that he was a fool. It was this ir 
 ritation which made it an effort to speak on a cer 
 tain subject to Lyssie : he had made up his mind to 
 ask her to be married at once ; and then, as he put 
 it to himself, " clear out, and let the Shores settle 
 their own messes." He had not, in this connection, 
 the slightest impulse to confess to Alicia his experi 
 ence of the night before. Confession would be as 
 
324 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 absurd as his remorse had been ; he never thought 
 of it; if he had, it would have been to say that 
 " Lyssie would not understand," in which he 
 would probably have been correct. No, he was not 
 going to confess ; he was only going to catch at her 
 tender hand to save himself from his possibilities. 
 He did mean, however, to say that he was not good 
 enough to tie her little shoes ; and having told so 
 much truth as that, he would feel, like the rest of 
 his sex, that he was square with his conscience. 
 That such statements only enhance his virtue in his 
 beloved s eyes never troubles a man. 
 
 Roger Carey, to protect himself, was going to beg 
 Lyssie to name the day. Now, when a man wants 
 to urge a speedy marriage on the girl he loves, he 
 may well hold her hand in his, and perhaps kiss the 
 ringer tips, softly, and slip an arm around her waist 
 to bring her shy face close to his, that he may hear 
 her whisper, " Yes yes ; if you wish it ! " 
 
 But any action seemed an effort to Roger ; he 
 was dull, he acknowledged listlessly ; it would be 
 easier to tramp along in the rain and hold an um 
 brella over Lyssie s head, and be perhaps just a little 
 matter of fact. He was glad to start out ; the 
 fresh air would brighten him up, he thought. 
 
 The street was quite deserted. Dr. Lavendar s 
 old hooded gig, sagging on its C springs, went slowly 
 past them, leaving wheel-ruts full of running yellow 
 water ; the shaggy fetlocks of the little old blind 
 horse came up from each step with a pull, and went 
 squashing down again into the rnud. 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 325 
 
 "Well, well," said Dr. Lavendar over the rubber 
 apron, " are n t you young folks allowed to stay 
 indoors to-day? Mr. Carey, you re welcome to my 
 study, if Lyssie won t give you her parlor. What 
 weather ! What weather ! " 
 
 " Is n t it funny," said Alicia, as the gig bobbed 
 along ahead of them, " that old people don t seem to 
 see the pleasure of walking in the rain? " 
 
 " It depends on whether they are walking with 
 their girls," Roger explained. 
 
 " No, it s pleasant anyhow ! " Roger s girl de 
 clared. Her young face was wet with mist, and 
 glowing with the color of a peach blossom ; her eyes 
 were shining under the dark brim of her hat. 
 
 " Lyssie, do you know what I was thinking about, 
 - 1 mean when I took that walk, last night ? I 
 told you I was going to tell you what I was thinking 
 about." 
 
 Lyssie s face sobered. " Cecil ? " 
 
 " No ! Why should I think of of Mrs. Shore ? 
 Oh, you mean oh, about that ? That 11 come 
 out all right," he said, frowning. " I was thinking 
 of you, Lyssie. Look here : this thing of seeing 
 you for a day, and then going off for a month, is 
 preposterous. I can t stand it. Let s put a stop 
 to it. What do you say? This is the 28th 
 of October ; can t it be on the 1st of December ? 
 That s Wednesday. I looked it up 011 the cal 
 endar." 
 
 " Can t what be ? " cried Lyssie. " Why, you 
 don t mean Roger, you are crazy ! " 
 
326 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 " I never was more sane. Lyssie, listen ! Don t 
 laugh. And please say 4 yes. 
 
 " What are you talking about?" she said. "I 
 never heard of anything so absurd ; you might as 
 well ask me to fly ! " And then she sobered a little. 
 " It s simply impossible, you know. In a month ? 
 If you had said a year, I should have laughed." 
 
 " I should have laughed if I had said a year. Be 
 serious, Lys. Lots of people are married when they 
 have n t been engaged as long as we have. There s 
 no reason to wait. It s just waste of time. Let s 
 begin to be happy. I know of a house, and I can 
 have it all in order by the 1st of December." 
 
 " In the first place, you couldn t. It takes ever 
 so much longer to put a house in order Oh 
 dear ! " she interrupted herself, " would n t it be 
 lovely?" All the domesticity of the sweet woman 
 stirred in her, just as some women s eyes lighten 
 when they look at the picture of a baby. " Yes, it 
 takes a long time to put a house in order ; but that 
 isn t the question. I couldn t, possibly, Roger." 
 
 "Couldn t what? " 
 
 " Be married," she said, looking up at him with 
 clear, sweet eyes, but with the pretty color deepen 
 ing suddenly in her face. " Oh, I could n t for ever 
 so long." 
 
 Roger looked at her blankly, standing still, and 
 holding the umbrella over his own head. 
 
 " What do you mean ? Can t be married for a 
 long time ? Dear, consider ! " 
 ^He was very gentle. Her shyness seemed so ex- 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 327 
 
 quisite. He had no idea of her reason. It was not 
 until they began to climb the hill on the further side 
 of Old Chester that he realized that she was unwill 
 ing to leave her mother. 
 
 " I m young," she said ; " I can wait." 
 
 " Well, but what about me ? " he asked, in the 
 simplicity of his astonishment. 
 
 Then Alicia looked at him with pathetic anxiety 
 in her eyes that her ideal should not fail her. 
 " Would n t it be just thinking of ourselves, if we 
 got married now ? " 
 
 " I m sure I don t know who else ought to be 
 thought of ! And look here : you may have a right 
 to sacrifice your own life, but do you think you 
 have a right to sacrifice mine ? And that s what you 
 will do, you little saint ! Lyssie darling, if the 1st 
 of December is too soon, really and seriously, why of 
 course I 11 not urge. I 11 put it off a month, or 
 even two months." 
 
 Alicia was silent with dismay. They had stopped 
 on the top of the hill, and turned to look down into 
 the valley, lying in a gray mist. The low sumacs 
 that fringed the road were still burning their small 
 red torches, but they had dropped a carpet of crim 
 son leaves upon the path. Eric, very muddy, and 
 panting, flung himself down to rest ; no doubt he 
 thought of the fire and the rug, and decided that his 
 two young friends were fools. 
 
 All Roger s listlessness had gone ; Alicia s resist 
 ance made her more charming than he had ever seen 
 her. As they walked back, he began again, so con- 
 
328 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 fidently that her little sad interruption, " It s im 
 possible, Roger," was like the steel to his flint. But 
 it brought love as well as anger into his voice. 
 
 " I believe you d like to put it off a year ! " he 
 * declared. 
 
 " A year ? " returned Alicia, sighing. " There s 
 no use thinking of a year; perhaps in two, in 
 three " 
 
 " In three years ! " 
 
 " Oh, Roger, don t ! Somebody will hear. Roger, 
 listen. Why is n t it happiness enough to go on a 
 little while as we are ? You know I love you." 
 " I hope you do," he answered meanly. 
 " You know it. And I don t see why that is n t 
 enough, just to know I love you." 
 
 " Well, it is n t," Roger said, half mollified by 
 her voice and words ; and he proclaimed a dozen 
 reasons to the contrary ; in his earnestness, he 
 almost touched the true reason: "I need you, Lys- 
 sie." 
 
 " But mother needs me, and 
 " She 11 need you forever, if you re going to let 
 that come into it," he interrupted angrily, again for 
 getting to hold the umbrella over her head, and 
 gesticulating with it to emphasize his words. " Be 
 sides, I need you as no mere mother can." 
 Alicia was silent. 
 
 Roger talked on until they reached home ; then 
 he paused long enough to take off her rubbers and 
 scold her for being damp. 
 
 " Eric s feet must be wiped before he can come 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 329 
 
 into the house," said Lyssie absently, and went to 
 get a cloth. 
 
 Roger, looking cross and worried, wiped the great 
 paws ; and Lyssie, watching him, laughed nervously 
 at the dog s serious expression, and his sudden affec 
 tion in trying to lick his friend s cheek ; but Roger 
 never smiled. Then they went into the parlor, and 
 Roger put a log on the fire, and Alicia took up the 
 bellows and sent a puff of flame and smoke crackling 
 up the chimney, and the discussion went on as though 
 there had been no interruption. 
 
 " You say your mother needs you. Dear, I need 
 you. Your husband needs you, Lyssie." 
 
 The sudden color throbbed in her face, but she 
 did not answer. Roger could not see how she was 
 trembling, for she held the bellows hard to keep her 
 fingers steady. 
 
 " And see the effect of your unreasonableness," 
 he went on : " you make me well, annoyed at 
 your mother. Of course it is n t fair to be annoyed 
 at her because of your your obstinacy (that s 
 the only word) ! but I can t help it." 
 
 Alicia looked at him hopelessly. " I don t seem 
 able to put it right, or else you would n t feel so. 
 Oh, I think it would kill her if I got married 
 now." 
 
 " Kill her ! " said Roger, and paused, for it would 
 scarcely do to express his belief that there was no 
 such luck to be expected. " Kill her ! Why, in the 
 first place, she has all the wonderful vitality of the 
 invalid ; it would n t kill her at all. She d be aw- 
 
330 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 fully interested ; and it s the best thing in the world 
 for hypochon I mean for people sick as she is, to 
 be interested. It makes them forget themselves. 
 And then she d enjoy coming to visit us sometimes, 
 and " 
 
 " Visit us ? " Lyssie broke in blankly. 
 
 " Why," said Eoger, as blankly, " you did n t 
 think she d live with us ? " And then they looked 
 at each other. 
 
 " If you wish it, of course," Roger hastened to 
 say ; but in his own mind he added, " Good Lord ! " 
 
 " I had thought so when the time came," Lys 
 sie faltered. 
 
 " Dear, with all due regard for your mother, 
 and you know I m very fond of her, but as a 
 matter of common sense, I do think it is a mistake 
 for people to have their mothers-in-law live with 
 them. I mean any mother-in-law, even a nice one 
 - 1 m not making this personal to Mrs. Drayton. 
 Lyssie, please don t think I mean to be unkind ! " 
 he ended, in a burst. " I m very fond of her, you 
 know." 
 
 Lyssie drew in her breath, and looked away from 
 him. 
 
 " I M say it of my own mother, if she were alive," 
 he protested, "and she was an angel. But she 
 never would have wanted to live with us ; she had 
 too much sense," he floundered on. 
 
 " I don t want to thrust my mother on any one," 
 said Alicia. " I had thought she would have a home 
 with us ; but never mind." 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 331 
 
 Roger was silent for a moment ; then he told her, 
 as courteously as though he were not engaged to 
 her, "Your wish settles it, my darling. And of 
 course your mother is always welcome in my house. 
 But if she is to come to us, you must see that 
 there s no reason why we should n t be married at 
 once." 
 
 " There s every reason, Roger. For one thing, 
 she 11 have to get used to the idea of leaving her 
 own home. It would be dreadful for her. I 
 have n t even dared to propose it to her yet. But I 
 will. I promise you I will. And perhaps in two 
 years, or a little more 
 
 Roger tramped back and forth across the room. 
 Eric sprang up joyfully arid capered to the door; 
 but nobody noticed him, and he subsided under the 
 piano. 
 
 " Lyssie," the young man demanded, standing 
 before her, with his hands in his pockets, "have you 
 made any promise to your mother about this thing? " 
 
 " I said something once. But that has nothing 
 to do with it. It is n t because of my promise. It s 
 because I must n t." 
 
 " Well, may I ask how long you are going to pre 
 fer your mother to me?" 
 
 " Oh, Roger ! " 
 
 " You need n t say 4 Oh, Roger ! That s what 
 it amounts to ; but Lyssie, don t, don t push me off 
 this way ! There s so much uncertainty ; and I 
 do need you. Don t push me off ! " His voice 
 trembled. 
 
332 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 Lyssie, her fingers quite cold, her voice breaking, 
 came up to him, and put her hands on his shoulders. 
 
 " I 11 have to tell you. I did n t mean to, but 
 I 11 have to tell you. Then you 11 understand." 
 And with her face naming with shame and pain, she 
 told him of Mrs. Drayton s threat of suicide. 
 
 Roger Carey listened, grimly, at first ; then he 
 swore under his breath ; then he laughed, with the 
 exuberance of gleeful relief and contempt. 
 
 " You poor blessed child ! don t you know what 
 that s worth ? Just that ! " and he snapped his 
 fingers. " Kill herself ? She 11 outlive us both ; 
 they always do ! " He would have kissed her, though 
 he was still irritated : but she was rigid, and drew 
 away from him stiffly. 
 
 " You must n t say such things. You have no 
 right to say such things. You are cruel ! " 
 
 Her anger lasted only long enough to kindle his ; 
 he was already out of patience. He said something 
 bitter about "selfishness," and "that sort of love," 
 and " having been mistaken, no doubt, in her feeling 
 for him." He did not mean what he said, but, un 
 fortunately, the effect of such statements is not in 
 proportion to their sincerity. 
 
 Alicia s face whitened and whitened. These two 
 young persons, with the little work-table between 
 them, and Eric s head poking itself under Alicia s 
 nervous hand and upsetting Roger s tottering 
 columns of spools, looked into each other s eyes, and 
 used words like swords, while each declared the 
 other wrong. 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 333 
 
 " Then I am to understand that you dismiss me ? " 
 said Roger Carey. 
 
 " You shall not put it upon me ! " Lyssie cried 
 piteously. "It is n t my fault. You are perfectly 
 selfish about it. I am doing what is right. Of 
 course our engagement is broken, but it isn t my 
 fault ! " 
 
 " Of course not ; there s no fault about it. You 
 simply choose between your mother and me. I don t 
 blame you ; I d be the last person in the world 
 to blame you. I always told you I was n t worthy 
 of you, and I suppose now you ve discovered it for 
 yourself." 
 
 Lyssie was silent. 
 
 " Well, good-by. I oh well, there s no use 
 talking ! Good-by." 
 
 Roger swung himself out of the door and out of 
 the house without another look. He had never been 
 so much in love with her before. 
 
 Eric jumped up with a great bound ; the work- 
 table rocked, and all the spools went rolling about 
 on the floor ; then he whined, and scratched, and 
 looked at Alicia, and whined again. 
 
 She, with poor trembling hands, and wih the 
 breath catching in her young throat, opened the 
 front door, and the dog, impatient for his friend, 
 rushed past her, and went bounding with splendid 
 leaps out into the rain. 
 
XXVI. 
 
 When I was thine and them wast mine, 
 And all these things were thus, 
 But all our world in us ? 
 
 Could we he so now ? 
 Not if all heneath Heaven s pall 
 Lay dead but I and thou, 
 Could we be so now ! 
 
 ROSSETTI. 
 
 LITTLE Lyssie could not, just at first, tell even 
 her mother of her broken engagement. There had 
 to be hours of staggering on alone, dumbly, under 
 her grief. She went about her daily duties on Sun 
 day and Monday, dry-eyed and calm. She had 
 taken off her ring, looking at it silently a long time 
 before she put it away. She was too unconscious of 
 self, and unfamiliar with the conventions of life, to 
 think of sending it back to Roger. Her mother did 
 not notice its absence from the slim, girlish hand ; 
 Mrs. Drayton had too many cares of her own to 
 notice such things ; she " was failing rapidly," she 
 told every one who came to see her. " But perhaps 
 it is just as well, for now Lyssie is happy, I am no 
 longer needed," she sighed ; and added that Alicia s 
 present selfish absorption in her own happiness was 
 doubtless the Lord s way of driving her, Mrs. 
 Drayton, closer to Him for companionship ; which, 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 335 
 
 to the curious mind, opened up interesting questions 
 as to the propriety of the Lord s methods. 
 
 But if Mrs. Drayton was no longer needed, she 
 had still some needs. When Alicia began to creep 
 out of her daze of pain, and feel tears starting in 
 her eyes and a sob swelling in her throat, and recog 
 nize that she must have the relief of speaking, Mrs. 
 Drayton " needed " her so much that it was not easy 
 to fly to Cecil to tell her troubles, as it was her im 
 pulse to do. 
 
 "I think I 11 go and see Cecil, mother dear," she 
 said, "and Esther will bring your dinner up. I 
 may not be at home for dinner." 
 
 " Esther ? " returned Mrs. Drayton, opening her 
 eyes. " Oh, Lyssie, you know how I dislike to have 
 Esther come into the room when my nerves are so 
 racked ! " 
 
 But Alicia, for once, thought of herself. She felt 
 that she must be with Cecil; she must put her 
 head on her sister s breast, and cry, and cry, and 
 cry. She could not come back so early as dinner 
 time. 
 
 " Oh, mother darling," she entreated, " if you 
 would n t mind just this once ! Oh, I must see 
 Cecil," she said, in a sort of wail, and then steadied 
 herself, her breath catching. " I 11 fix your tray, 
 dear, all nicely, and then you won t mind letting 
 Esther bring it in ? " 
 
 Mrs. Drayton closed her eyes. " Oh, go, of 
 course. Don t mind me. But I don t want Esther 
 to bring in the tray. I 11 wait, and have my dinner 
 
336 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 when you come home. I suppose you 11 be home by 
 tea-time ? Oh, Lyssie, when I am gone, I hope you 
 won t remember things like this ! Remorse is very 
 painful. But I have such a sensitive conscience ; 
 perhaps you won t suffer as I should." 
 
 " I don t mean to be neglectful, mother, but 
 
 " Oh well, I shan t allow you to stay at home 
 now. I only spoke of your selfishness from the 
 highest motives, because it was my duty, not be 
 cause I wanted to keep you at home. My motives 
 are always the highest and the best. For myself, I 
 don t mind waiting for my dinner until it s con 
 venient for you. I have little enough appetite, any 
 how." 
 
 Of course Lyssie brought up the tray. 
 
 In the afternoon, as she went up the hill, she 
 thought, almost for the first time in these two days, 
 of Cecil s own troubles; and yet Cecil s troubles 
 only made her think of Roger s promptitude in help 
 ing them. Compared to a broken engagement, how 
 foolish and unreal seemed the senseless quarrels be 
 tween husband and wife ! Beside, it was all right 
 now; Roger had said so Boger ! and the long- 
 withheld tears rose burning to her eyes. She felt 
 as though she could hardly wait to reach Cecil, and 
 as she went swiftly into the house, and upstairs, she 
 had only a word for Molly who was playing with 
 her dolls in the hall. 
 
 She found Cecil s room empty of everything but 
 confusion. Two great trunks, half packed, took up 
 much space ; the small pictures and photographs, 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 337 
 
 the pleasant litter of books and little dainty furnish 
 ings, stood forlornly about on tables or chairs, wait 
 ing to be packed; the curtains had been taken 
 down, and a streak of pale sunshine fell across the 
 carpet and into the fireplace, laying a moving finger 
 on the busy fire, whitening the flame, and glittering 
 on the brass andirons. 
 
 " Oh, she s going away ! " thought Lyssie hope 
 lessly. Then she went into the hall, and called her 
 sister in a listless voice. Cecil answered from the 
 floor above, and a moment later came downstairs. 
 She kissed Lyssie, and shut the door, and threw her 
 self down on the lounge. 
 
 " I m tired to death ! " she said crossly. " I had 
 a headache last night, and endured the torments of 
 the very bad, and could n t sleep ; and now to-day 
 I ve had to see about closing the house. Should n t 
 you think, with four able-bodied women, this house 
 could be closed without supervision ? Where have 
 you been, Lys? I haven t been able to hunt you 
 up, I ve had so much to do." 
 
 " You are going away?" 
 
 " Yes. I telegraphed Philip to come back. I ve 
 thought it over, and I ve decided that I won t 
 leave him. But we must get back to town." 
 
 " I m so glad everything is smooth," Lyssie said 
 absently. " Cecil, I want to tell you something." 
 She sat down on the floor beside Cecil s couch, 
 twisting her fingers in the soft white rug, and see 
 ing the pallid flames in the sunny fireplace flicker 
 in two great tears that trembled behind her eye- 
 
338 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 lids. " Koger and I have broken our engagement, 
 Ceci." 
 
 Cecil sat upright, and opened her lips for a reply ; 
 but she was speechless. There was alarm, but 
 amusement too, in her face. Was it possible that 
 Roger Carey had been so absurd as to tell But 
 there was nothing to tell ! 
 
 " Ly8 ! Why, what do you mean ? What did 
 he say to you ? Now, Lyssie, don t be absurd ! 
 Break your engagement? He hasn t done any 
 thing that " 
 
 " Of course he has n t done anything ; it is n t his 
 fault. He wanted to be married right off, next 
 month. And I couldn t. You know I couldn t, 
 Cecil. How could I leave mother ? And he did n t 
 want to wait; and so and so " And at last 
 came the relief of a fit of crying, with her face on 
 Cecil s knees, her arms about her waist. 
 
 " Did he did he want to be married right 
 away ? " Cecil said slowly above Lyssie s bowed 
 head. Was it possible that it had been so much to 
 him as that ? Oh, it was well she had sent for her 
 husband! She was frightened, exulting, renoun 
 cing, all at once. But mechanically she stroked 
 Lyssie s head, and murmured vaguely, " It will all 
 come right. I shall make it come right." Oh, she 
 was glad she had sent for Philip ! 
 
 " If I could only just die ! " Lyssie said. 
 
 Cecil listened with angry remorse ; she put her 
 arms about Alicia impetuously, and her voice broke 
 with tenderness. " There, darling, don t cry. Lyssie, 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 339 
 
 it breaks my heart to have you cry." It came to 
 her with a great impulse of affection that she would 
 bring Roger Carey back to his duty. " Now, dear, 
 stop crying," she said heartily. " No man is worth 
 so many tears. I 11 see him in town, and I can 
 patch it up ; with no injury to your pride, of 
 course." 
 
 " Pride ? Oh, Ceci, I have n t any pride ! Why, 
 I d go and kneel down before him if I had been 
 wrong, or if I could make him feel differently ; only, 
 it s the principle, don t you see ? We could never 
 be happy, if he couldn t feel as I do about mother." 
 
 "Lyssie, that is absurd; of course he couldn t 
 feel as you do about Mrs. Dray ton." 
 
 " But he said oh, I can t tell you how he spoke 
 of her. He does n t love her ; I know he does n t." 
 
 " But good gracious, child, why should he ? He 
 does n t know Mrs. Dra;y con. Do you expect him to 
 divine all her admirable qualities ? " 
 
 " Oh, but Ceci, he could n t ever have loved me, 
 if he feels that way about her." 
 
 Cecil s impatience at this did Lyssie good. Not 
 that she thought her lover would come back to her, 
 but it made her feel that she, too, had been to blame, 
 a little ; that it was not all his fault. 
 
 She sat there, leaning against Cecil, talking out 
 her aching heart, while the room darkened, and the 
 fire glowed and brightened. She was less miserable, 
 she thought, now that she had told her sister, yet 
 she realized, heavily, that though she might be com 
 forted, she had nothing to hope for. She Jy 
 
 ^ \ BRA 
 
 OF TH1 
 
340 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 poor child, that beneath all these superficial explana 
 tions which she was making, the real difficulty of the 
 situation lay in the fact that she and Roger could 
 part ; not that they had parted. Cecil said very 
 little. Her color deepened once, suddenly, and she 
 smiled ; then she set her teeth hard upon her lip, and 
 drew in her breath, and looked down upon Lyssie s 
 bowed head. 
 
 " Lys dear, I m sure he will come back ; and you 
 must forgive him." 
 
 " You don t understand. You don t see how bad 
 it is. His coming back would n t make any differ 
 ence in the question of mother." 
 
 " The 4 question of mother will settle itself," 
 Cecil declared, and paused, listening. " That is the 
 stage ! " she said, in a low voice. She put her hands 
 up to her eyes a moment. " Philip has come, Lys." 
 
 " Oh, I 11 go ! " Alicia said quickly. 
 
 Cecil made no effort to detain her. She was im 
 patient to be through with what she had to say to her 
 husband. 
 
 Philip, however, was in no haste to see his wife ; 
 he was hungry and thirsty for his child. 
 
 Molly was in the nursery, and when he opened 
 the door she flew toward him with a shriek of delight. 
 
 " Oh, Molly, let me fasten your dress," Rosa ex 
 postulated. 
 
 Philip took the child in his arms passionately, 
 " I 11 finish dressing her. Say to Mrs. Shore that I 
 have come. I 11 bring Molly down to dinner." 
 
 He sat down, and Molly, standing between his 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 341 
 
 knees, demanded eagerly, " Father, what did you 
 bring me for a present ? " 
 
 " Why, you don t say you wanted a present ! " 
 Philip remonstrated with great show of dismay. At 
 which Molly joyously flung herself upon him and 
 hunted for his pockets. 
 
 " I wish you d have your pockets hung on the 
 outside," she informed him, rumaging through his 
 coat. 
 
 " You can t have presents until you are dressed," 
 her father said, trying to button her frock down her 
 little back. But his hands were trembling. " How 
 does this thing go, Polly ? " 
 
 "You put the holes over the buttons," Molly 
 instructed him. " Hurry, father ! I want my pres 
 ent. Oh, father, that feels queer ; it pulls. I don t 
 think Rosa fastens it that way." 
 
 " It looks queer," Philip admitted anxiously. 
 " Have n t you got anything easier to put on than 
 this ? " And between them they took off the some 
 what elaborate frock, and Molly frisked about before 
 the fire, in her petticoat. Philip got her on his 
 knee, and cuddled her inside his coat to keep her 
 warm, and told her a marvelous tale of gnomes and 
 fairies. He rested his cheek upon her soft, straight 
 hair, and felt her little warm body against his heart, 
 and gathered her swinging foot into his hand. Once 
 his voice shook so that Molly noticed it. 
 
 " Father, why did you laugh? " she said reproach 
 fully, for it chanced to be at an affecting point in 
 the tale. 
 
342 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 " I did n t laugh," Philip told her, truthfully 
 enough. " Now let s find an easy dress to put on, 
 and then look for presents ! " 
 
 The toilet accomplished, the presents were dis 
 covered to have been left on a chair outside the 
 nursery-door. Molly, quivering with excitement 
 and happiness, tore off the wrappers, and uttered a 
 succession of shrieks as each new joy revealed itself, 
 a tin steamboat, a picture-book, a little bow and 
 arrow. At last, fairly tired out with pleasure, she 
 gathered her treasures in the skirt of her dress, with 
 a long, happy sigh. 
 
 " I m going to put em in my trunk. Do you 
 think I can shoot my bow and arrow on the ship ? " 
 
 Philip s exclamation made her look up ; but he 
 said nothing of the ship. He told her that he had 
 an idea there was a small box in his waistcoat pocket ; 
 did she care to look ? Her eager eyes showed how 
 much she cared. The box found and opened, a little 
 ring revealed itself, a tiny thread of gold clasping 
 a small dark garnet shaped like a heart. Philip s 
 hand was unsteady as he slipped it on her finger, 
 but his words were gay enough, and he gave her a 
 kiss, and perched her on his shoulder in the way in 
 which he always ended their frolics. 
 
 But his face was ghastly when they reached the 
 dining-room. 
 
 Cecil met her husband with an affectation of care 
 lessness. He was very good to have come so promptly, 
 she said. She found a good deal of fault with the 
 dinner ; she spoke sharply to Molly once or twice : 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 343 
 
 she told John, in a low voice, that his silver was dis 
 gracefully dull, and the man blushed to his ears ; she 
 looked at her husband across the table, sometimes, 
 with a cold dislike in her eyes, very different from 
 the old good-natured contempt. 
 
 " I wish you d come into the library, Philip, when 
 you Ve finished your cigar," she said, when dinner 
 was over. 
 
 He rose at once. " No, Polly ; run upstairs to 
 Rosa, darling," he told Molly, who demurred, but 
 obeyed. 
 
 Philip could scarcely wait to close the library- 
 door before he burst out : " I shall not consent to 
 Molly s going to Europe ! Neither you nor I have 
 the right to take her where the other can t see her." 
 
 "Will you please wait until Europe has been 
 mentioned ? " Cecil said. She was standing by the 
 fire, her hand resting on the mantelpiece, and one 
 foot upon the brass fender. " I don t mean to take 
 Molly abroad. I don t mean to go myself." 
 
 - I beg your pardon," Philip stammered. 
 
 " No," she went on, without turning her head, " no ; 
 I am not going anywhere except to town, as soon 
 as I can possibly get there. These idiots of ours 
 apparently want weeks to pack up in ! But I think 
 I can get off on Friday." 
 
 " Why didn t you send for me sooner? I could 
 have hurried things. I suppose you ve sent word 
 to town, and the house will be in order for you ? " 
 
 " Oh yes ; I telegraphed when when I decided. 
 You did n t share your legal information with me, 
 
344 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 Philip," she said, over her shoulder, and laughed ; 
 then she turned round and faced him, her eyes full 
 of hate. " I suppose you were afraid I would take 
 advantage of you ? You see I have had some legal 
 information. I know that Molly belongs to me." 
 
 " So far as any legal question goes," he answered 
 coldly, " we both knew the probabilities when I went 
 away. There seemed to be no reason why I should 
 communicate with you until you had decided what 
 you wished to do at present. As for Molly" he 
 paused ; " you know my wishes. Her time must be 
 divided between us." 
 
 " If I agree ! " she reminded him, with strident 
 malice in her tone. " I may not agree, you know. 
 But grant, for the sake of argument, that I do : do 
 you think, devoted father, that my influence over her 
 is good ? Oh, pray don t hesitate, on any grounds of 
 politeness, from expressing your opinion, I know 
 what it is ; I ask, only because I want to understand 
 why you are willing to resign her to the tender mer 
 cies of the wicked for six months in every year." 
 
 " I have no choice," said Philip Shore grimly. 
 
 " Oh yes, you had a choice," she assured him. 
 " You could have given up being so good, could n t 
 you, and stayed with her ? But I did n t mean to 
 discuss it. I only asked out of curiosity. It does n t 
 really matter. The fact is, this is all nonsense, 
 Philip. I sent for you just to tell you that it is 
 nonsense." 
 
 " What is nonsense ? " 
 
 " Oh, this plan of ours. Come, now, you ought 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 345 
 
 to be flattered ! I can t tear myself away from you. 
 I Ve decided not to leave you." 
 
 It seemed to Philip Shore as though the ground 
 moved suddenly under his feet. He grew white, and 
 did not speak. 
 
 Cecil looked at him. " See here, Philip," she said 
 kindly. " I quite understand that this takes you by 
 surprise ; but things need n t be changed, really. 
 You can go abroad, if you want to, for a while. 
 Only, I ve decided not to do anything public." She 
 sat down wearily, and reached over for the paper 
 cutter, playing with it restlessly, as she had done on 
 that other night when she had consented to Philip s 
 proposition. She bent the broad tortoise-shell blade 
 back and forth against the palm of her hand, and 
 then held it up between her eyes and the lamp, and 
 yawned slightly. " This winter I shall go out a 
 great deal. You can put Molly to bed every night, 
 if you want to, in intervals of learning to be an 
 artist, as Mrs. Drayton says." 
 
 She was so perfectly matter of course that Philip s 
 astounded questions died upon his lips. He said 
 quietly, " What are your reasons for changing your 
 mind ? " 
 
 " Reasons ? Oh, as Molly says about step-grand 
 mothers, they don t count. I don t want to talk 
 about reasons. It is convenient ; that s enough. 
 I m willing to go back. I m willing to let things be 
 as they were. That s all. But don t, for Heaven s 
 sake, talk about it ! " 
 
 She was feverishly anxious to get through and be 
 
346 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 alone, and have the chance to think. She had not 
 dared to face the fact that Roger Carey was free un 
 til she had made herself a prisoner again. But now, 
 having taken up her chains, she wanted to think the 
 whole thing out ; to realize what his desire for a 
 speedy marriage meant ; to give free rein to that 
 fierce satisfaction of conquest, which in such a wo 
 man has an almost masculine intensity, but which, 
 it must be admitted, is not confined to such women. 
 The Very Good can experience it if the opportu 
 nity is afforded them. 
 
 fc We ve got to talk about it. You seem to forget 
 that the principle underlying this idea of separa 
 tion transcends any mere personal convenience." 
 
 " Ah, but Philip, you forget ; I have no princi 
 ples ! I tell you I can t tear myself away from you. 
 Isn t that enough?" 
 
 " What are your reasons ? " 
 
 " They are my own, at least," she said contemptu 
 ously, and rose. " I don t think we need talk any 
 more. I simply am not willing to carry out an ar 
 rangement which would have been (there is no use 
 choosing words) a very great relief to me " 
 She stopped, and then turned upon him with a sud 
 den furious look. " See here ! Did it ever occur to 
 you that I that I am human ? that I am flesh and 
 blood ? Did it ever occur to you that all these years 
 may have made me hate you ? that that perhaps 
 if - Oh, my God ! why did I marry you ! " She 
 stood facing him, panting, her teeth set in a passion 
 that turned her white. 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 347 
 
 Philip s eyes narrowed. " We never were mar 
 ried," he said, with deliberate and deadly meaning. 
 
 "Oh, don t be such a fool! You don t know 
 what I was talking about. I feel like saying, Get 
 thee to a nunnery, whenever I look at you ! " 
 
 " And still you propose to remain with me? " 
 
 " I propose not to make a fool of myself. The 
 amount of it is, Philip, that you and I have been 
 acting as though we were the only people in the 
 world to be considered ; well, I ve come to my 
 senses, that s all. I haven t any reasons to pro 
 claim or to discuss. I merely tell you I m willing 
 to let things be as they were." 
 
 " But I am not." 
 
 She flung up her head as though he had struck her. 
 "You!" 
 
 "It isn t as though there were any possibility of 
 your loving me, of 
 
 Cecil broke in with furious candor. " Love you ? 
 If " 
 
 Then Philip Shore spoke his mind. He told her 
 first, very clearly, their position in the eye of the 
 law in regard to Molly ; then he went over the argu 
 ments which were burned into his conscience for the 
 ending of a false relation, a relation only less 
 base, he said, than those other loveless marriages 
 where the wife is her husband s mistress. "For 
 that s what it amounts to," he ended, beside him 
 self with his sincere and brutal panic for personal 
 safety. The protest which he and she would make 
 by separating was for the honor of marriage. He 
 
348 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 was convinced, he declared, that this preservation of 
 their individual integrity would in the end, by its ef 
 fect upon her character, more than compensate Molly 
 for any pain and embarrassment which would come 
 to her. 
 
 Cecil did not speak. 
 
 " You do not tell me your reasons, but these are 
 mine. I give them to you because I cannot do other 
 wise in view of what you have said. Nevertheless, 
 if, after hearing them, you insist that we must go on 
 living as we have been living, I must submit." 
 
 "Live with you?" she said, in a low, vibrating 
 voice. " I would not live in the same world with 
 you if I could help it ! " 
 
 They stood facing one another in this dreadful 
 duel of souls ; stabbing each other with naked words ; 
 and one of them, at least,(struggling spiritually with 
 the same ferocious selfishness with which, ages ago, 
 his ancestors of caves and forests struggled physi 
 cally. Then it was as though he suddenly threw 
 down his sword. 
 
 " Oh, can t we put self out of it ? " Philip said 
 hoarsely. " Can t it be because it is right ? " 
 A wave of agitation moved in his face. "Oh, 
 Cecil, this is the end. If you will - 
 
 But she threw herself forward, flinging out her 
 arm, and striking him full on the mouth with the 
 back of her hand. 
 
 " It is the beginning ! " 
 
 Alas for the smoking flax, the bruised reed ! 
 
XXVII. 
 
 The circle smiled, then whispered, and then sneered : 
 
 The Misses bridled, and the matrons frowned : 
 Some hoped things might not turn out as they feared, 
 Some would not deem such women could be found ! 
 Some looked perplexed, and others looked profound ; 
 And several pitied with sincere regret. 
 
 BYRON. 
 
 IT was not until nearly a fortnight later that Old 
 Chester woke to its privileges in the way of gossip : 
 two great and exciting events to discuss, a broken 
 engagement and a divorce. A week before, the 
 village had found food for conversation in Eliza 
 Todd s affairs ; for Job had " burst out " again, as 
 Miss Susan expressed it. The infelicities of the poor 
 Todds were very interesting to Old Chester, but 
 of course these other two affairs were much more in 
 teresting. There are people, no doubt, who do not 
 consider the breaking of a girl s engagement a very 
 important matter ; but that only goes to show that 
 they never lived in Old Chester ; and there may be 
 some to whom marital quarrels are commonplace ; but 
 such a point of view merely reflects upon their own 
 characters. 
 
 Alicia s disappointment stirred the whole village ; 
 in fact, only such a matter as Philip and Cecil s 
 separation could take precedence of it. As a topic 
 of conversation, the Todds were almost forgotten. 
 
350 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 Each of the great sensations had been character 
 istically announced. 
 
 Mrs. Shore had mentioned to Mrs. Drayton, in 
 answer to some trivial question as to Philip s plans, 
 that she did not know anything about Philip s 
 plans. " We have separated, Mrs. Drayton ; so, 
 naturally, I don t trouble myself with Philip s af 
 fairs. I have enough to do to attend to my own," 
 she said. 
 
 An hour later, through the medium of Mrs. Pen- 
 dleton, Cecil s shocked and distressed step-mother had 
 informed Old Chester of what she called her " afflic 
 tion." " Of course you won t speak of it ; I only 
 tell you, to unburden my mind," she declared, with 
 tears. " I assure you I ve always loved Cecil as 
 though she were my own child. Why, my dear, 
 when she was little, people did not even know which 
 was my own child, Cecil or Lyssie ! I think that 
 shows how I have treated her," said Mrs. Drayton, 
 much affected ; " and it is a little bitter to have her 
 behave so now, in spite of the way I brought her 
 up." 
 
 The news of Alicia s broken engagement was 
 given to the world with all decent accessories of feel 
 ing and reserve, but still characteristically ; for Mrs. 
 Drayton confided it to four persons, with the caution 
 to each that it was not to be spoken of. 
 
 " There s no use talking about such a sad thing," 
 she told Susan Carr," shaking her head. 
 
 Miss Susan, however, had no wish to speak of it ; 
 sorry as she was for Lyssie, the greater matter was 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 351 
 
 heavy upon her heart. Philip, after the dreadful 
 scene with his wife, had come to her, ghastly white, 
 with a smear of blood where Cecil s rings had cut 
 his lip, and had asked her to take him in for the 
 night. 
 
 " Cecil and I are going to live apart," he told her 
 briefly. 
 
 Susan Carr loved him so truly that she asked not 
 a single question. " Come up to your room, my 
 darling," she said ; and brought him a glass of 
 wine, and kissed him, and left him. The next day 
 she heard it all. Philip was very quiet and direct 
 as he talked to her ; but once, as he spoke of Molly, 
 he got up and paced the floor, and she could see 
 that his hands were clenched upon each other until 
 the knuckles were white. He told her of the long 
 estrangement in thought and motive and principle. 
 He said that gradual irritation had culminated in 
 absolute dislike, with its inevitable differences and 
 quarreling, a state of things revolting to both 
 Cecil and himself, and horrible for Molly. And 
 then he explained, gently, that under such circum 
 stances he believed marriage to be morally annulled. 
 
 " Are you going to be divorced, Philip ? " Miss 
 Susan asked, in a frightened voice. 
 
 " Keal divorce takes place without a decree," he 
 answered. 
 
 There was something in his face that terrified and 
 silenced her ; yet his arguments did not convince 
 her. For a moment it seemed to Susan Carr that 
 his own righteousness was more to him than his 
 
352 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 child s welfare, and infinitely more than Cecil s wel 
 fare. J But she would not allow herself to think that. 
 
 What that talk was to Philip, agonized to a 
 point where physical endurance wavered, she, dear 
 soul, could never know. He went away from her 
 with the courage which comes to a man who, in the 
 midst of stress and storm, has laid his head upon 
 his mother s breast. That Miss Susan did not un 
 derstand him, that she did not approve of him, was 
 nothing : she loved him. 
 
 In spite of Mrs. Drayton s cautious confidences, 
 by the Thursday that the Sewing Society met, every 
 body looked pitifully or critically at Lyssie, as 
 chanced to be their disposition ; and sighed or shook 
 their heads, and said, "Isn t it dreadful about 
 Cecil ? Oh, it s a great grief to us all ! " 
 
 But Old Chester went to the Sewing Society with 
 an eagerness which the preparation of the wardrobe 
 of a missionary s wife had never aroused. It was 
 Mrs. Drayton s turn to receive the society, and there 
 was a little anxiety among the ladies to know if 
 Alicia would be present ; they hoped not, and they 
 explained their hope by saying that it would be 
 awkward for the child to see them. " Though of 
 course nobody will speak of Mr. Carey," said one 
 lady to another as they walked up the street to 
 gether, " but I do want to ask Frances about poor 
 Cecil, and it would be scarcely proper to speak on 
 such afsubject before Alicia." 
 
 " Poor Cecil ?" repeated old Mrs. Dale. 
 " Wicked Cecil, I say ! " 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 353 
 
 She glared at her gentler companion, but had no 
 time to say anything more, for they had reached 
 Mrs. Dray ton s door, and Lyssie, a little pale, a 
 little older, stood smiling in the hall, ready to help 
 them take off their wraps before they went into the 
 parlor, where Mrs. Drayton, in her wheeled chair, 
 was waiting to receive them. 
 
 Mrs. Drayton was full of subdued excitement, 
 but her manner had a marked hesitation. One 
 moment she showed grief and dismay for Cecil, and 
 a " proper pride " that Lyssie had broken her en 
 gagement ; the next, rabid curiosity concerning her 
 step-daughter, and heartbroken acceptance of Alicia s 
 disappointment. The fact was, it was all so new, so 
 hurried, that she had not yet chosen her role, and 
 skipped from one state of mind to the other, in a 
 way bewildering even to herself. 
 
 Mrs. Drayton s chair was close to the hearth, and 
 she wore a white shoulder-shawl, for the day was 
 chilly. She looked very pretty and frail. She had 
 on a plum-colored silk with some gray fur around 
 the throat and wrists, and she wore a cap with blond 
 tabs resting on her shoulders ; a miniature of Mr. 
 Drayton hung by a slender gold chain around her 
 neck, and she was apt to lift it and look at it as 
 she conversed, which sometimes made her manner 
 a little absent ; but she always came back with a 
 start, and apologized with a faint sigh. She sighed 
 a good deal that afternoon, and looked at the-picture 
 very often. 
 
 "Oh, this is all very sad!" she said to Mrs. 
 
354 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 Dove ; "it makes me feel my loneliness doubly. If 
 it were not selfish, I should long to have my dear 
 husband come back to help me bear it all ; and he 
 would know what to do about Cecil. She came and 
 confided in me at once, and I did all I could, all 
 any mother could. But Mr. Drayton would know 
 what to say to Philip." 
 
 " But what does Philip say ? " cried Mrs. Wright, 
 a plump, anxious-looking matron. " If it is not an 
 improper question, Fanny, what does Philip say?" 
 
 The fact was that, so far, Philip had said nothing to 
 his mother-in-law, so Mrs. Drayton was only truth 
 ful when she replied, a little stiffly, " Ah, I think 
 I cannot tell you that. He does not want to say 
 anything severe about Cecil, but poor, dear Cecil ! " 
 
 Mrs. Drayton might perhaps have been more ex 
 plicit, but at that moment Alicia came in to ask 
 some question about tea, and said, under her breath, 
 " Oh, mother, don t talk about Cecil ! " 
 
 Mrs. Drayton frowned, and motioned her away. 
 "Lyssie is a most sensitive child," she told Mrs. 
 Pendleton, " so different from poor Cecil, who is 
 just like her own mother ; she can t bear to have me 
 talk about this sad affair. But it is very foolish in 
 her, for, in my position, I can understand and de 
 fend Cecil better than anybody else. It has been a 
 great blow to me, in my weak state ; still, I do de 
 fend her, for of course she did not stop to think how 
 it would upset me." 
 
 " How unselfish you are ! " murmured Mrs. Pen 
 dleton. 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 355 
 
 " Ah no, no ; I fall short of my ideal ! I had 
 a high ideal of a step-mother s duties, and I never 
 quite reached it. I think one ought to have one s 
 ideal just out of reach, don t you ? Still, some one 
 once said to Susy Carr, you remember, don t you, 
 Susy ? some one said, Which But Mrs. 
 Drayton was talking to empty air, for Mrs. Pendle- 
 tori was listening to Mrs. Dove s gentle assurance in 
 her other ear that Cecil had fine qualities, " very 
 fine ; and so has Philip. I sometimes think it is 
 only because they can t understand each other." 
 
 " Well," Mrs. Pendleton answered, hesitating, 
 and looking down at her sewing, " perhaps there s 
 more in this than appears ? Perhaps Mr. Shore has 
 some motive that that it would not be quite deli 
 cate to speak of. There may be some other woman ? " 
 
 But Mrs. Dove s horrified look and little gesture 
 of drawing away made Mrs. Pendleton hasten to re 
 trace her steps ; for Mrs. Pendleton always kept 
 pace with her companion s thoughts. 
 
 " Not that I think so. Of course I know that 
 there is nothing like that in this case. But that is 
 what people will say, I am afraid," she said, with 
 such regretful simplicity, that Mrs. Dove felt 
 vaguely ashamed, as though the insinuation had 
 sprung from her own mind. 
 
 Mrs. Pendleton looked very meek and mild and 
 sympathetic as she sat there in the Sewing Society 
 that afternoon ; always ready to listen to the two 
 sides of every story, and showing such sympathy 
 with each that she endeared herself to both. 
 
356 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 And there were distinctly two sides to this story 
 of Philip and Cecil. Everybody said that Philip 
 was an exemplary young man ; everybody knew that 
 Cecil had been Old Chester s black sheep: so, on 
 the one hand, it was no wonder poor Philip wanted 
 to leave her ; but, on the other hand, marriage was 
 marriage, and Philip had made his bed, and ought 
 to lie in it. 
 
 Lyssie, coming in sometimes, and finding the buzz 
 of conversation drop at her innocent footsteps, and 
 hearing it rise eagerly as she left the room, knew, 
 with heartbroken helplessness, that all the dear old 
 ladies were " talking about Cecil." " Why do they 
 want to talk about it ? " the child thought, being a 
 child, and not knowing the vulture delight of scandal 
 latent, one often thinks, in the kindest soul. 
 
 " Frances, you had better tell us all about it," 
 commanded Mrs. Dale, looking at her hostess over 
 her glasses. "Alicia is out of the room, and of 
 course we are interested to hear ; though I must say 
 I am mortified that such a thing should happen in 
 Old Chester." 
 
 There was a murmur of assent, and a sighing com 
 ment or two. " It s all so sad." "It is n t just 
 curiosity that makes us ask about it, we are so 
 attached to poor Philip." 
 
 " Curiosity ? Of course it s curiosity ! " said 
 Mrs. Dale. " I am curious to know how these two 
 misguided people defend themselves. Has James 
 Lavendar reasoned with them, do you know, 
 Frances?" 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 357 
 
 " He went to see Cecil at once," Mrs. Drayton 
 began ; " but she sent word she was 4 not at home, 
 and she was sitting upstairs reading a novel the 
 whole time ! " 
 
 " I don t think she meant to be untruthful," Jane 
 Dove protested, in her timid voice ; " it is quite cus 
 tomary 
 
 " Not in Old Chester ! " interrupted Mrs. Dale ; 
 " Go on, Frances." 
 
 Mrs. Drayton looked at the miniature of Mr. 
 Drayton and pressed it to her lips ; then, with a 
 start, seemed to remember that she was not alone. 
 "I am so saddened, you know, by all this, I quite 
 forget where I am, sometimes. I can only think of 
 my dear husband, and pray that it may come right 
 in the end. Well, as I understand it, they ve been 
 very unhappy ever since Molly was born. Maybe 
 Philip wanted a boy. I can t think of anything else, 
 though Cecil s temper may be the real reason ! " 
 Mrs. Drayton s voice trembled and her face flushed, 
 as she said that. " I never knew any one so ill- 
 tempered as Cecil, though I m sure I tried to bring 
 her up well." 
 
 " Yes, but she did n t come to you until she was 
 seven," Mrs. Pendleton murmured, " and the early 
 years are the impressionable ones, I am told." 
 
 Mrs. Drayton protested politely, but with a sim 
 per. " Maria Drayton did her best, I ve no doubt, 
 but I fear Cecil was born with a bad disposition. 
 She has quarreled constantly with Philip. Oh dear, 
 the idea of a husband and wife quarreling is so 
 
358 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 shocking to me ! I m sure she never saw it in her 
 own home." 
 
 Only Susan Carr smiled at that, thinking of 
 William Drayton s intelligent absences. 
 
 " I am sure," continued Mrs. Drayton, growing 
 shrill and wiping her eyes, " if Cecil has talked to 
 Philip as she has to me, I can excuse him. But I 
 believe that what has made the present trouble is 
 that she wants to live abroad, and Philip does n t 
 want to ; which I think is so strange in Philip, for 
 he could learn to be an artist again. But they had 
 a dreadful quarrel about it, and then they decided to 
 part. That s the whole story. And I never knew 
 anything so distressing ! I suppose Cecil gets her 
 terrible temper from her own mother ; I m sure it 
 does n t come from me." 
 
 " I don t know how it could, unless by example," 
 Susan Carr thought ; but was discreetly silent. 
 
 " Well, it is perfectly incomprehensible," said 
 Mrs. Dale solemnly. " A. girl brought up in Old 
 Chester ! If Philip had any bad habits, I could un 
 derstand that she might have the impulse to leave 
 him." 
 
 " I don t know that he has any bad habits " Mrs. 
 Drayton began. 
 
 " You know he has n t ! " said Susan Carr, indig 
 nantly. 
 
 but Cecil said to me, once, that he had 
 4 didactic hysteria, and you know she never liked 
 sick people. I had always thought he had very 
 good health, but perhaps this has come on lately. 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 359 
 
 She has no patience with it, I suppose which is 
 something I can t understand in her ! I should 
 think any wife would be grateful for the chance to 
 wait on a sick husband. My poor dear William ! 
 how happy I should be to attend his sick-bed." 
 
 The ladies of the Sewing Society looked at each 
 other, but only Susan Carr smiled broadly. Then Mrs. 
 Wright said with some haste, as though to hide em 
 barrassment, " But what s going to become of 
 MoUy ? Which one of them will have Molly ? " 
 
 " Oh, Cecil, I suppose. Poor MoUy ! " Mrs. 
 Drayton answered mournfully. 
 
 " Well, I don t see how Philip can make up his 
 mind to part with her," said Mrs. Wright. " I al 
 ways thought he was so fond of her." 
 
 Then Susan Carr broke through the silence which 
 she had set upon her lips that whole afternoon : 
 "Philip wants to divide Molly s time between him 
 self and Cecil. She won t consent to that, and she s 
 going to keep the child ; but Philip is to see her as 
 often as he wants to." 
 
 " Well," said Mrs. Pendleton mildly, " Mrs. Dove 
 and I were just saying, we wondered whether it 
 would not be best that the real reason for this most 
 regrettable affair should be known ? One fancies 
 anything! Why, I have no doubt that there are 
 people who would say I quite hesitate to repeat 
 such a tiling," and she glanced at Mrs. Dove 
 " who would say, Who is the woman in the case ? " 
 
 " Why, Jane Temple ! " cried Miss Carr angrily. 
 " I would n t have believed that of you ! " 
 
360 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 " But I did n t mean I did n t say " protested 
 poor Mrs. Dove. But the conversation swept past 
 her before she could explain or deny. 
 
 Miss Susan, her face flushed and agitated, declared 
 that, rather than have such things said, she would 
 say what she knew of the matter : Philip and Cecil 
 did not love each other any longer. That was the 
 whole story. They had long ago parted in every 
 thing but word. " It s nothing worse than just not 
 loving each other." 
 
 " Not love each other ? " 
 
 " You mean they quarrel ? " 
 
 " I never heard anything so absurd ! " 
 
 " So wicked, I say ! " old Mrs. Dale proclaimed. 
 
 " Let them try to love each other," Mrs. Wright 
 said emphatically ; " and, dear me, what have they 
 got to complain of ? Philip is n t a religious man, 
 I m afraid, but he s always very polite. And Cecil 
 is the best housekeeper I know. Do you remember 
 how she taught her cook to broil grouse, and then 
 put that jelly and stuff all around it ? Cecil makes 
 him very comfortable. Gracious ! I could keep my 
 husband good natured from one year s end to 
 another, if I could have a table like Cecil s." 
 
 " I fear Cecil is one of those persons to whom St. 
 Paul refers in the third chapter of Philippians, who 
 make a god of their belly," said Mrs. Dale, in a 
 deep voice, fixing her eyes upon Mrs. Wright, whose 
 face immediately grew very red. 
 
 Susan Carr, listening, felt helplessly that all those 
 things which Philip had said to her of honor and 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 361 
 
 purity could not be repeated here. They would not 
 be understood. " When people don t love each 
 other," she began, " it does seem not nice for them 
 to go on living together " But severe voices inter 
 rupted her. 
 
 " Susan Carr, when you ve lived as long as I 
 have, you 11 know that duty is a form of love," Mrs. 
 Dale rebuked her. 
 
 " Well, I think that a nice, feminine, ladylike 
 person always does love her husband," Mrs. Pendle- 
 ton observed, with great gentility ; and added to Mrs. 
 Drayton, in a low voice, that sometimes dear Susan 
 Carr was almost indelicate. 
 
 Miss Susan sighed, and accepted the various 
 reproofs meekly enough. No doubt the ladies were 
 right, she said ; only sometimes, just for a moment, 
 it did seem wrong to insist that two people who 
 quarreled like like cats and dogs should go on 
 living together. But still, of course, the ladies were 
 right. And certainly Philip and Cecil were wrong. 
 She had told Philip so. 
 
 " Well, what is Philip going to live on ? that s 
 what I d like to know," some one said ; and then 
 the Sewing Society looked at Miss Susan. 
 
 " I don t know what he 11 do. But he 11 find 
 something. I m not afraid for Philip," she an 
 swered proudly. 
 
 " Well, I suppose Cecil will give him something 
 for managing her money for her ? " some one sug 
 gested. But Miss Susan shook her head. 
 
 " Cecil is going to ask" she dropped her voice, 
 
362 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 and glanced toward the door " to ask Mr. Carey 
 to do that. Oh dear, I do hope and pray the young 
 man will try to reconcile them." 
 
 "Oh, then very likely he ll come down to Old 
 Chester to see Cecil about it ! " said the Sewing 
 Society ; and the possibility of a reconciliation be 
 tween Alicia and her lover instantly struck these 
 kindly women, and for a little while the greater and 
 more interesting subject dropped. But Lyssie, com 
 ing along the hall with some plates and napkins, 
 stopped, trembling, at that mention of Roger s 
 return. 
 
 " Though it s nothing to me," she thought, very 
 pallid and breathless. 
 
 Tea, and Alicia, put an end to all interesting con 
 versation. The ladies rolled up their work neatly, 
 and chattered about the missionary s wife, and 
 looked with quick, sidelong glances at Lyssie, as she 
 stepped, smiling, about, handing the cake, or the 
 little tray that held the decanter and glasses. 
 
 " She looks pale," they said aside to one another, 
 and dipped up their chocolate custard from tall 
 glasses, and broke off crumbling bits from their 
 slices of cake. Only Mrs. Dove showed the pity in 
 her heart : she took Lyssie s hand, as the girl passed 
 her, and patted it without speaking. But tears 
 came to the child s eyes. 
 
 Susan Carr, as she went home, hoped nervously 
 that she had not been indiscreet in what she had 
 told the Sewing Society. " I could not have those 
 things said about Philip," she thought. Her mind 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 363 
 
 was full of Philip ; and yet, that night, as she sat 
 by the round centre-table in her parlor, sometimes 
 reading, but oftener thinking of this dreadful affair, 
 her newspaper slipped once into her lap, and she 
 looked absently over the top of her glasses, and smiled 
 a little, and sighed. 
 
 " I wonder if Joseph will try again ? " Her face 
 grew as conscious as a girl s. " Of course I must n t 
 let him; but if he does " 
 
XXVIII. 
 
 There are occasions when a man dares not look into his own 
 eyes for fear of what he may see there. 
 
 IN spite of Alicia s assurance, Eoger Carey s 
 return to Old Chester could not but be something 
 to her. It meant the instant thought on waking, 
 " Will he be here to-day ? " and the last ache of 
 pain at night fading into a dream that he had come. 
 It meant staying indoors lest he might have arrived, 
 and she should have the pain of meeting him in the 
 street ; it meant long, aimless walks for the chance 
 of seeing him, and the start at every tall figure in 
 the distance. To be sure, she might have ended the 
 uncertainty by asking Cecil when he was coming. 
 But she could not ask any one. She could not speak 
 his name. 
 
 Over and over, in her mind, she enacted possible 
 meetings ; especially that scene so dear to youth, of 
 her own deathbed, and a beautiful and satisfying 
 reconciliation. If she should be going to die, and 
 it seemed to Lyssie that she should not live long, 
 why then she would tell them to send for Roger. 
 And he would come, oh yes, she was sure he would 
 come when he should hear that she was going to die ; 
 and he would be so unhappy, her eyes always 
 filled and her lip quivered at the thought of his re 
 pentance and grief ; but she would comfort him ; 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 365 
 
 she would tell him it was n t his fault, it was just 
 fate! 
 
 Sometimes she thought that instead of summoning 
 him to her deathbed she would leave a letter for 
 him, " explaining " everything ; and she even went 
 so far as to write, " Dear Roger, I want you to 
 know that I don t blame you But she stopped 
 there, for the date of her letter must not be too far 
 in advance of her demise, and no mortal disease had 
 as yet declared itself. 
 
 She knew no better, poor child, than to read over 
 and over the letters she had received from Roger 
 Carey during their short engagement, and she suf 
 fered accordingly. For very exquisite pain, there is 
 nothing which may be more highly commended than 
 the reading of old love-letters after love has died. 
 It is like touching something dead ; the pain is 
 mixed with a curious disgust, as though the scent of 
 corruption entered into the very soul. Alicia read, 
 and remembered, and suffered. She went through 
 those weary alternations of excusing and condemn 
 ing herself ; those wearier moments of realizing 
 that the whole difficulty lay in something far deeper 
 than circumstances which might be either excused 
 or condemned, the radical and hopeless diffi 
 culty of a conscientious difference in the point of 
 view. 
 
 Those were dark days for Lyssie Drayton ; but 
 she made no public moan of sickness or of neglected 
 work. In her simple way, she was glad of the silent 
 friendship of pity which she knew was all about her ; 
 
866 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 and she cried a little sometimes at the disapproval 
 which went hand in hand with pity, for the disap 
 proval of her elders was grief to Lyssie. She knew 
 that Mrs. Pendleton thought her a jilt, and Dr. 
 Lavendar was disappointed in her, and even kind 
 Miss Susan was surprised and sorry. But she made 
 no explanation or excuse for the broken engagement. 
 Why give any one cause to blame her mother ? 
 Why give her mother the pain which comes to one 
 who accepts the sacrifice, even the necessary sacrifice, 
 of another s life ? 
 
 Mrs. Drayton, after the first delight of hearing 
 that she was to have her child " forever," had grown 
 a little impatient with Lyssie s quiet ; later a half- 
 sullen indifference fell upon her, until the flat and 
 tasteless moment when she recognized that Alicia 
 had robbed her of a grievance ; then she was frankly 
 cross. 
 
 Alicia for once did not try to understand her mo 
 ther s moods. It was hard for her to try to under 
 stand or to be interested in anything. Even her 
 dismay and grief for her sister came with a sense of 
 effort. 
 
 Cecil gave her no information beyond the fact 
 that she and Philip, on thinking it over, had decided 
 that it was best to part. 
 
 Cecil was cruel to her little sister in those autumn 
 days : she seemed uneasy in Alicia s presence ; she 
 snubbed her violently ; she said things about Mrs. 
 Drayton that brought the angry color into the girl s 
 cheek. Perhaps that was why Lyssie never asked 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 367 
 
 her when Roger was coming to Old Chester. And 
 Cecil did not volunteer the information. 
 
 But she had referred Philip s lawyer to Roger 
 Carey, who would, she said, take charge of her af 
 fairs. "Why not?" she asked herself angrily. 
 " He is free, and I am free or I shall be ; and 
 there s no reason why he should n t look after things 
 for me." Yet it was some days after this decision 
 that she wrote to him ; and meantime Roger Carey s 
 first intimation of the temptation before him had 
 come in legal form : 
 
 DEAK SIR, I have been consulted by Mr. 
 Philip Shore in relation to certain family matters, 
 and I am advised by Mrs. Shore, whom I have seen 
 in this same connection, that you will represent her 
 interests. Kindly let me know when it will be con 
 venient for you to meet me. 
 
 Very truly yours, 
 
 GlFFORD WOODHOUSE. 
 
 Roger was sitting gloomily before a cluttered 
 desk ; his feet were supported by the yielding edge 
 of his waste-basket, a pipe warmed the hollow of his 
 left hand, while with his right he was making aim 
 less marks and dashes on his blotting-paper. He 
 had been thinking of Lyssie. He had thought 
 much of Lyssie in these weeks that had passed since 
 the engagement had been broken. He went over 
 and over in his mind her unreasonableness, her fool 
 ishness, her unkindness. He did not think much of 
 
368 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 his own. He sucked away at his pipe, and looked 
 at the red glow brightening and fading in the brier- 
 wood bowl, and assured himself that it was far bet 
 ter that the engagement was broken. " Confound 
 an unreasonable woman ! " said Koger Carey ; he 
 could stand anything but unreasonableness, he told 
 himself angrily. 
 
 He had never been so much in love with Lyssie 
 before ; but he did not know it. All he knew was, 
 that he recognized, in a half-sneaking way, that he 
 had not been very much in love with her when he 
 had proposed to her. 
 
 He nestled the hot bowl of his pipe down into the 
 palm of his hand, and set his teeth, and said that 
 unreasonableness was the only thing he had no pa 
 tience with. And then he thought how much he 
 should like to talk the matter over with Mrs. Shore. 
 She was a reasonable woman. She would see how 
 preposterous Lyssie s conduct had been, and how 
 fair was his demand. "I offered to wait six 
 months," he justified himself. Mrs. Shore would 
 appreciate all that ; though she would not see the 
 fear which had lurked behind his entreaties to 
 Alicia. In that fear, he admitted, he had been un 
 reasonable. 
 
 " Yes, I d like to talk it over with her," he 
 thought, an absent look softening his eyes. 
 
 Now, Roger Carey was not that objectionable 
 sort of man who, when he is in any difficulty, must 
 needs run crying to some woman s knee for sympa 
 thy ; so, when he felt the impulse to tell Cecil his 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 369 
 
 woes, he might well have mistrusted it. But Roger 
 was not given to analyzing his impulses. 
 
 Sitting here in his office, in the darkening Novem 
 ber afternoon, with love for Lyssie tugging at his 
 heart, with his pulse quickening at the remembered 
 look and touch of another woman, he put his hand 
 out listlessly for a letter a messenger brought into 
 his office. 
 
 When he had read it, he got up breathlessly and 
 walked the length of the room ; and came back, and 
 stood by his desk, and read it again. " Shore s a 
 fool ! " he said, and struck the letter across his hand 
 sharply ; his face was alert and vivid. 
 
 He stood there a moment, and then flung his of 
 fice-door open. " Here, you ! Johnny ! come and 
 light the gas ; why don t you attend to your busi 
 ness?" 
 
 Yet when his boy came in, stumbling with haste, 
 Roger Carey did no more than pull down the cover 
 of his desk with a bang, and fling himself out of the 
 door. He would go and take a walk, he said to him 
 self. 
 
 In his mind two thoughts were struggling for con 
 trol: an intellectual appreciation of Philip Shore s 
 purpose ; and, beating the appreciation down, a rude 
 and brutal wonder, a fierce joy, an exulting con 
 tempt. " He s a damned fool ! " he said again. 
 
 In aimless, irritated haste, he walked on, under 
 a low and melancholy sky, far out into the country. 
 His mind was in a tumult, but the situation, so far 
 as the Shores were concerned, seemed perfectly pa- 
 
370 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 tent to him. He had, of course, 110 idea of that last 
 quarrel. He took it for granted that Cecil s promise 
 to him to " reconsider " had not amounted to any 
 thing, and that she was going to carry out the plan 
 of separation ; probably she had refused to give up 
 any part of Molly s time, and the result was that 
 Philip was going to bring the matter to a legal issue. 
 " But he hasn t any case ; he hasn t a leg to stand 
 on ! What s Woodhouse thinking of to let him 
 push it ? " he thought, frowning. He was not sur 
 prised that Mrs. Shore wished him to represent her ; 
 and he said to himself, with entire sincerity, that he 
 had no doubt Philip wished it, also. u It s better 
 that it should be a friend of Shore s as well as 
 hers," he declared, and struck out with his stick at 
 a dead mullein-stalk standing by the roadside. His 
 mind leaped ahead to all sorts of possibilities. 
 When it was settled, where would she go ? What 
 would she do ! Live abroad, probably, after the 
 fashion of the declassee American woman. " She 
 has a gorgeous sort of nature," he reflected. How 
 curious it would be to lose sight of her ! In these 
 few months she had impressed her individuality pro 
 foundly upon him, " in a perfectly impersonal 
 way," he reminded himself. 
 
 " This whole row is as unreal as the theatre, but 
 it s mighty interesting to the observer," he thought. 
 He overlooked the fact that one who observes the 
 play from the wings, awaiting his own cue to rush 
 upon the stage, feels a different interest from one 
 who sits before the footlights. 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 371 
 
 He tramped home in the mud and darkness, still 
 too absorbed to know that he was a great fool to 
 have walked six miles in a rainy fog. Now, a man 
 who does not, upon viewing his boots after such an 
 excursion, call himself a fool is decidedly not in the 
 "impersonal" stage. 
 
 The next day came Cecil Shore s letter ; a brief 
 and somewhat ill-tempered summons that he should 
 come and advise her about the necessary steps in 
 the divorce suit which she proposed to bring. 
 
 " Divorce ! " said Roger Carey contemptuously. 
 " She does n t know what she s talking about ; 
 she can t get a divorce in any decent way ; and I 
 would n t let her, if she could." 
 
 But so it came that he went down to Old Chester. 
 
 He went to receive instructions from his client ; 
 he went to advise her to the best of his ability ; he 
 went because the devil, masquerading as professional 
 duty, beckoned him from the white page of the 
 lawyer s letter. And before he went he looked up 
 the Dakota divorce laws. 
 
 And here was a strange thing : under all his 
 anger which refused to recognize it, he loved Alicia 
 Drayton. But this phase of his experience was as 
 remote from that love as is the hunger with which 
 an artist falls upon his bread and cheese remote 
 from his passion before his canvas. One does not 
 contradict the other. 
 
 That journey to Old Chester was a crisis in 
 Roger s life. He went as far as Mercer in company 
 with a friend, and had no time to think about him- 
 
372 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 self, in their talk of the political situation and the 
 recent election. Not that Roger cared the snap of 
 his finger about the election. " They might have 
 elected the devil, if they d wanted to ; I should n t 
 have cared!" he swore softly under his breath, 
 driven to the verge of madness by his companion s 
 earnestness. But conversation upon the high theme 
 of the moral purpose in government served to shut 
 out connected thought on other purposes not moral. 
 And when, at last, he climbed up on the box-seat of 
 the coach at Mercer, it was with the profound relief 
 of a man who can get his mental breath, who can 
 think and reason and decide. 
 
 Yet, in spite of such an opportunity, Roger 
 seemed to find nothing particular to think about : 
 the off leader had an ugly way of throwing his head ; 
 the whiffletree was obviously cracked ; how strange 
 it would seem to be in Old Chester merely on busi 
 ness. Then the driver got on the box and gathered 
 up his reins, and there was the tug and pull, the 
 sagging pitch forward, and a rush of memories to 
 Roger Carey s mind that hurt him like lashes. He 
 wanted, with the mere impatience of pain, to forget 
 them, to forget that first journey across these 
 rolling Pennsylvania hills, brown now, and swept by 
 a bitter wind. He could not endure the remem 
 brance of his arrival, six months ago, in Old Ches 
 ter : the stately house, with its garden and orchards 
 up on the hillside ; Philip opening the stage-door ; a 
 young girl, with serious, pleasant eyes, standing, 
 smiling, on the steps, leaf shadows from the great 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 373 
 
 locust-trees moving across her. face and hair. The 
 difference between that journey and this was intol 
 erable. 
 
 He made spasmodic efforts at conversation with 
 the driver. He observed that Jonas ought to cure 
 the leader of throwing his head back that way. 
 " I d put a martingale on him," he said ; and added 
 that he thought the off mare was spavined. 
 
 " She cast her shoe first, and went lame," Jonas 
 jolted out. 
 
 " And she s been lame ever since, I suppose ? " 
 Roger said absently, bending forward to watch the 
 twist and give of the mare s leg. He was reflecting 
 upon the truth, which is inspiring or depressing as 
 one looks at it, that, after passing through a great ex 
 perience, a man cannot remain what he was ; he must 
 either be better or worse. " Yes," he was saying to 
 himself doggedly, " better or worse. Well, I m 
 worse ; and," he added meanly, after the oldest 
 fashion of his sex, " it s Lyssie s fault ! " 
 
 It seemed as though always his thoughts came 
 back to Lyssie. He was angry at her because it gave 
 him such pain to think of her. Nor would he allow 
 himself to think of Mrs. Shore save as the common 
 place, business reason for his taking this journey. 
 He never once looked behind the professional need 
 there was for him to come ; he never uncovered the 
 shame lurking under his well-turned phrases : " I m 
 glad to be of any assistance, but it s beastly to have 
 to come to Old Chester." " I wish she had sent for 
 somebody else. Still, it would have been unfriendly 
 
374 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 to Philip as well as to her to have refused to 
 come." 
 
 Then he began to speculate upon the divorce laws 
 of Dakota ; but started, to see beneath the veil he 
 stretched between his inner and outer self a glimpse 
 of the real and shameful meaning of his thoughts. 
 After that, for some time he talked resolutely to 
 Jonas. 
 
 Yet as the stage turned from the road, and went 
 down to ford the creek so that the horses might 
 drink, Roger found this suggestion of divorce again 
 leering up at him from under the flimsy pretense of 
 being an impersonal comment : " She could bring 
 suit for desertion." He looked over the wheel at the 
 shallow, racing little stream, and heard the pebbles 
 grate against the tire. The horses, steaming a little, 
 drank, and shook their necks in their heavy collars. 
 There was the clash and rattle of buckles and trace- 
 chains. Roger listlessly followed with his eyes the 
 course of the brook which, from far up across the 
 fields, came chattering down to the ford, whirling 
 itself into foam around a big stone that broke its 
 path before it slipped under the bridge and was off 
 into the woods. 
 
 " Yes, she can go out to Dakota ; it can easily be 
 arranged." 
 
 It came dully to his mind, the instinct, perhaps, 
 of the gentleman, an instinct which at such moments 
 seems artificial, or at least acquired, it came to his 
 mind that such a proceeding was not for Cecil s 
 honor. But a fierce selfishness leaped up and choked 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 375 
 
 this refinement of civilization, and left her in his 
 thought merely the woman ; himself merely the man. 
 
 Then again, angrily, he insisted that he was con 
 sidering only the legal possibilities ; that it was 
 nothing to him one way or the other. 
 
 When at last, in the early November dusk, the 
 stage drew up at the tavern, he was fatigued in body 
 and soul by this wrestling with a vague, elusive, nay, 
 a denied temptation. / If he had been willing to face 
 it for what it was, if he had summoned the devil out 
 from behind his phrases, he could have fought him 
 like a man, and found a certain vigor in the conflict. 
 But he waited, as, strangely enough, most of us wait, 
 allowing the temptation to gain its full strength be 
 fore meeting it with deliberate and desperate re 
 sistance. 
 
 Even as he walked up the hill to Cecil s house, 
 that night, he kept on lying to himself. He was 
 only " doing his duty " in coming. Suppose he had 
 had that moment of emotion in Mrs. Shore s pres 
 ence? He must come when she summoned him. 
 He " had n t any choice." Indeed, so low had he 
 fallen, in the swift descent of this one day, that 
 he could say, "I ve lost Lyssie, but the least I 
 can do is to be helpful to her sister in this unfor 
 tunate affair." 
 
 There he touched his lowest level. No actual sin 
 could compare with such degradation of the mind. 
 
XXIX. 
 
 Fal. Of what quality was your love then ? 
 
 Ford. Like a fair house built on another man s ground. 
 
 SHAKESPEARE. 
 
 AFTERWAKDS, alone in his room in the tavern, 
 while midnight whitened into dawn, the supreme 
 words scorched themselves into Roger Carey s mind ; 
 it was as though a flaming finger wrote them upon 
 his bare soul. They crashed and clamored in his 
 ears ; he could hear nothing else because of them. 
 He found himself repeating them over and over as 
 he walked back and forth, back and forth, across the 
 bare and meagre bedroom of the tavern. 
 
 Years afterwards, Roger could see every detail of 
 that room, yet at the time he did not know that he 
 was aware of anything in it. He was absorbed in 
 seeing again Cecil Shore s face, in feeling her hair 
 against his lips, in listening in horror to those words 
 his own lips spoke ; but all the while he was following 
 the pattern on the thin red and black carpet, study 
 ing the landscape upon the green paper window-shades, 
 counting his footsteps from the door to the fireplace, 
 the last step ending on a sunken brick in the hearth. 
 He looked at a bunch of pallid wax flowers under a 
 glass shade on the mantelpiece ; he saw the blue wool 
 mat under the lamp on the corner of the bureau ; he 
 examined two faded and yellowing photographs in 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 377 
 
 black walnut frames hanging near the ceiling. He 
 stood before one of these for a long time, staring up 
 at the dull face and the big hands hanging limply 
 between the knees, staring at them, but seeing only 
 a room half lighted by the glow of a fire and by the 
 gleam of candles high on the walls ; seeing a bowl of 
 violets that spread a delicate perfume through the 
 warm air ; seeing the glitter of a silver dagger be 
 tween the uncut pages of a book ; and seeing him 
 self, leaning forward, holding her hand between his 
 own, pressing it to his lips, once, twice, fiercely; 
 then, still holding it in a grip that, but for its own 
 returning strenuous clasp, would have made the 
 rings cut into the white flesh, leaning nearer, 
 nearer ; kneeling 
 
 He began to pace the floor once more. Each 
 time that he stepped upon a certain board the bu 
 reau shook, and then the lamp flared. Eight steps 
 from the sunken brick to the door, sagging a little in 
 its old frame ; eight steps back again. Had anybody 
 ever lifted that brick ? he wondered. He stopped 
 once and thrust a bit of wood under the castorless 
 corner of the bureau, adjusting the clumsy piece of 
 furniture with careful precision, and looking to see 
 that it was straight. 
 
 "But I love you ! Good God, I love 
 
 you 
 
 Do you hear me ? I love you ! " 
 
 y e s." 
 
 "Z)o you care, you cruel woman, is it any 
 thing to you ? " 
 
378 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 Then silence ; the small flicker of the fire on the 
 hearth, the little puffing burst of flame ; but silence 
 silence. 
 
 "May I kiss your face ? May I kiss your 
 
 "Kiss me." 
 
 Then what? He could not seem to remember. 
 Had he pushed her aside? Had he run for his 
 soul? 
 
 Here he was, pacing up and down, up and down : 
 eight steps from the door to the sunken brick ; eight 
 steps back again. The latch of the door was brass, 
 with the thumb-piece worn thin, and with little black 
 specks in it ; it clattered faintly under the jar of his 
 steps ; a screw-eye and a hook answered for a bolt : 
 not much protection should the landlord of fiction 
 wish to break in and murder the sleeping traveler, 
 and then bury his plunder under the sunken brick. 
 The fire on the hearth brightened suddenly, as a 
 stick, smouldering under a film of white ashes, broke 
 in two, and a shower of sparks flew up into the thick 
 soot. 
 
 Yes ; he had pushed her away from him, brutally, 
 breathlessly. 
 
 " When you are free. When you are free. Not 
 till then" 
 
 That he should have said that, that he could have 
 said it, that he had been able to repulse her, yield 
 ing, soft-breathed, glowing, filled him with astonish 
 ment that had in it something of awe. What had 
 thrust his arm out, turned his head away, defended 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 379 
 
 him from himself? It was not his own will, not his 
 own desire. No ; the habit of integrity had driven 
 him into mechanical virtue ; had pushed him, raging 
 against it, from her presence; had dragged him 
 here, at midnight, and set him pacing back and 
 forth, up and down ; all his body summoning him to 
 her side, all his decent past holding him in this room. 
 Roger Carey, caught by the fetter of the habit of 
 honor, was saying to himself that he had been a fool 
 to leave her. What difference would it have made 
 to have caught her in his arms for a mad instant, 
 and kissed her face, her throat, her mouth, before 
 the carrying out of the plan bound up in that single 
 utterance, "When you are free," a plan founded 
 upon the convenient, soul-destroying variance of the 
 divorce laws in the different States ? What differ 
 ence would it have made ? Truly none, in the soul 
 and spirit of things. Nevertheless, the letter which 
 killeth had for the moment saved him. He beat 
 against it ; he set his teeth in shame at his schoolboy 
 scruples ; but he still paced back and forth, up and 
 down. He wondered how early the next morning he 
 could go back to her, and put into tender words, 
 words that might fit an honest love, the outrageous 
 proposition that, when the sham righteousness of 
 obeying the law should have invested her with a 
 sham respectability, he and she should marry. 
 
 A mouse nibbled in the wall, but stopped at the 
 creak of the loose board under his foot. 
 
 " But I love you ! Good God, I love you ! 
 Do you hear me ? I love you ! " 
 
380 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 "Do you care, you cruel woman^ is it any 
 thing to you ? " 
 
 "JTes." 
 
 She had leaned her head against his arm ; the 
 warm, white hollow of her throat was under his eyes, 
 under his lips 
 
 Yet here he was, counting his steps, studying the 
 landscape on the green window-shades ! 
 
 "Fool! fool! fool!" he said to himself. He 
 thought he knew how this scruple looked to her ; 
 the idea of her contemptuous amusement made him 
 loathe himself ; how she must have laughed when, 
 after his theatrical protest, he had gone ! It made 
 him hate her, a hate which stamped his love for 
 what it was. But Roger Carey did not stop to think 
 of that. 
 
 All of a sudden, the room, with its tawdry fur 
 nishings, its faint light, seemed insupportable to him. 
 He must get out of doors ; he must move about ; he 
 must walk. He lifted the little clattering latch, 
 and went stealthily down the narrow staircase. He 
 felt the oppression of sleep all about him, and the 
 brush against his face of the lifeless air, with its 
 wandering scents of the closed house. In the office 
 there was still a faint glow from the open door of 
 the stove, and he could see upon the walls flaring no 
 tices of horse-fairs and mowing-machines; a cat 
 moved in the seat of one of the chairs that were 
 standing about the square of zinc under the stove ; 
 she yawned, and sharpened her claws on the brittle 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 381 
 
 splints, and watched him suspiciously as he opened 
 the door and stepped out into the darkness. It was 
 good to draw a full, cold breath, and let the silence 
 of the strong world dull for a moment the clamor of 
 those terrible words. 
 
 He walked aimlessly out into the road, and turned 
 to go up the street, but stopped sharply. No, not 
 that way, not that way ; not past Lyssie s house. 
 He would go down the river-road to the bridge. He 
 heard his steps ringing on the frosty ground ; and 
 then he felt a cool touch upon his cheek, and looked 
 up to see that there were small, wandering flakes of 
 snow in the air. 
 
 " The winter is pretty tough in Dakota," he 
 thought; "she must get in the ninety days residence 
 early in the autumn." It was lucky that he was a 
 lawyer ; he knew how to arrange things. No one 
 need be consulted ; they could manage their own 
 business ; he knew just how to plan the easy iniquity 
 of compliance with law. He smiled to himself at 
 the bad humor of the situation, and he observed, 
 with curious, impersonal interest, how, since he had 
 spoken those words to his friend s wife, his mind 
 refused any longer to be hoodwinked by words ; he 
 was seeing straight and thinking clear ; being a 
 lawyer, he knew just how to cover Lust with the 
 decent cloak of Law. 
 
 " She s got to prove a year s desertion. Well, 
 that s easy enough. Fortunately, those three 
 months in Dakota are included in the year. Still, 
 at best it will be next November before " 
 
382 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 It was very dark down on the bridge, but far up 
 behind the hills there was the faint lightening of 
 dawn. 
 
 Yes; she should be divorced, and they would 
 marry. He remembered that he had said that he 
 did not believe in divorce ; what a fool he had been ! 
 Why, without it crime must inevitably exist ; for 
 human nature was human nature. He even used, 
 for the sake of illustration, that old, fallacious, piti 
 ful argument that divorce must be permitted to pre 
 vent sin, even to put an end to sin if it has begun, 
 as though the legalization of an immoral relation 
 made it moral ! This young man, who had felt the 
 stern passion for his profession that a priest may 
 feel for his, was ready to urge that Law, majestic 
 and relentless, the expression of the human creature s 
 best, should degrade herself by pandering to vice, 
 by abetting crime, by making lust legal. The time 
 had been when all this had been clear enough to his 
 eyes ; but how different it looked now ! He said to 
 himself tha* divorce was necessary to the moral life 
 of the community. His old argument that the one 
 must suffer for the many was forgotten because 
 he was the one. 
 
 He had not come to this opinion without a strug 
 gle ; he had held to his belief as a man holds to 
 some last chance of life, only dropping it at the lick 
 of flame across his hands. The fire of selfishness 
 seared Eoger Carey s very soul; he flung over his 
 belief, and fell. Yet he remembered that before 
 those dreadful words were said he had told her 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 383 
 
 what he thought of divorce ; had pleaded with her as 
 a man may plead for his own life, for he knew 
 what her freedom would mean to him. Later, when 
 this was of no avail, he had told her that, if she in 
 sisted upon carrying out this deplorable plan, at 
 least Molly should be spared. 
 
 " You are no fit woman to bring up a child ; she 
 ought to be with her father," he said. Then, as it 
 were, he made her prove the truth of his assertion 
 by those answers to his mad words. 
 
 But instead of thinking again of those words he 
 listened to the river, and suddenly, cringing at the 
 memory, he heard others, spoken one summer night, 
 with the splash of oars and the brush of lily-pads 
 against a little rocking skiff. 
 
 The river and the bridge grew intolerable. He 
 went back into the village and up the street, his 
 breath catching in an oath that was almost a sob. 
 He could not bear such memories. He drove his 
 mind back to that firelit, perfumed room ; he felt 
 once more her panting breath upon his cheek ; he 
 saw the mad surrender in her eyes ! 
 
 " But I love you ! Good God " 
 
 "Why, I must I must see her again," he said 
 vehemently, as though answering some silent For- 
 bidder in his soul. How many hours must pass 
 before he could go back to her ! He wished he could 
 blot out the day and find it night ; the thought of 
 taking up that midnight scene, with the stern, cold 
 daylight staring in her face and his, gave him a 
 shock that turned him sick. Such a scene needed 
 
384 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 darkness rather than light. " But I ivill see her ! " 
 he said, with the panic of the man who finds him 
 self helpless in the grasp of an unsought repent 
 ance. 
 
 It was very still ; the frozen furrows of the road 
 were beginning to fill with feathery white ; the cold, 
 pale dawn spread itself behind the hills ; there was 
 hoar frost on the leafless twigs of the hedge that lay, 
 in the darkness, like a band of furry black along the 
 edge of Mrs. Drayton s whitening lawn. Far off, 
 from some distant farm, came a weak crow ; and 
 then a dog barked. 
 
 In that hour Satan desired to have him. And he 
 desired Satan. 
 
 He did not know why he should have come to 
 stand thus under Alicia Drayton s window. How 
 dark and cold the house looked! She must be 
 asleep now. Oh, if he could speak to her, if he 
 could see her ! It was not the desire of the lover ; 
 it was the human need of help. 
 
 " Lyssie ! " he called out sharply, and started, and 
 stepped back into the shadows. " What am I think 
 ing of ! " he said, and held his breath lest she might 
 have heard him. There was no sound except the 
 faint rustle of the flakes in the dead leaves of the 
 oak above his head. 
 
 Scorched and blackened as he was by the fires of 
 these last hours, he knew she would not shrink from 
 him; she would not shrink from any soul in trouble. 
 She might not understand, that made no differ 
 ence : she would take care of him. 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 385 
 
 He stood there a long time. 
 
 When he went away, he did not know whether he 
 loved Alicia or not ; he did not think of that. He 
 only knew that he would not see that other woman 
 again. 
 
XXX. 
 
 There is the nice and critical moment of declaration to be got 
 over. STEVENSON. 
 
 WHEN Koger Carey awoke the next morning, he 
 did not, for a moment, understand the void of dis 
 may in his mind. 
 
 Then it all cleared, and his intolerable self-know 
 ledge surged back upon him. Like some insulting 
 hand, his shame struck him again and again in the 
 face, while, with set teeth biting through a cigar 
 which he had forgotten to light, he moved about the 
 room, getting his things together for his departure. 
 
 For of course he was going away. There was no 
 thing else for him to do, nothing except to write 
 the letter which must be sent up the hill. The bru 
 tality of such a course made him shiver ; but what 
 else could he do ? 
 
 He looked at his watch to see how much time he 
 had before the stage went, and discovered with dismay 
 that it had gone. Under his breath he cursed his 
 luck. To lose the stage meant that he could not 
 leave Old Chester until afternoon, unless, by good 
 fortune, he could hire a vehicle, and a driver willing 
 to face the heavy rain which had begun to fall since 
 dawn. 
 
 Here he was, in this primitive little tavern, pulled 
 every moment by soft, invisible cords, in the midst 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 387 
 
 of surroundings which stabbed him at every glance, 
 with the steady rain shutting out the river and the 
 hills, but revealing the dreary street, the drearier 
 barnyard ; how could he endure it until four o clock ? 
 Suppose he should see Lyssie ? She did not mind 
 the rain, he remembered. 
 
 " I 11 walk before I stay here till four ! " he said 
 to himself ; and then he drew a small, painted pine 
 table up to the window, and sat down, a sheet of the 
 tavern note-paper and a bottle of watery ink before 
 him. 
 
 He must write that letter even before he sought 
 for means to escape from Old Chester. 
 
 He thrust his hands down into his pockets, and 
 stretched his feet out under the table, and stared at 
 a blue wool mat on the bureau. Then he lifted his 
 pen, looked at it critically, and put it down with a 
 fling. 
 
 u My God! " he said. 
 
 It was hideously ludicrous ; the incongruousness of 
 the words she had heard him speak the night before, 
 with those which he was about to write on this thin 
 bluish sheet ruled in pink lines, with a picture in 
 the upper left-hand corner of a bird sitting on a 
 fence-rail. 
 
 He put his hands in his pockets again, and looked out 
 at two dripping hens which had sought shelter under 
 an empty cart. The rain fell with an increasing pour. 
 The spout from the eaves above his window gurgled 
 and chuckled, and there was a gush of water into 
 the pebbly gutter below. " And of course I have n t 
 
 OF THE 
 TT TO- TT-r II r- .- 
 
388 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 an umbrella," he thought absently. " Curse this 
 rain ! " He took up the pen and stabbed it into the 
 ink-bottle ; then he looked out of the window again. 
 He felt a sullen envy of a hostler, who, his hands 
 in his pockets, stood chewing a straw at the stable- 
 door ; suddenly the man buttoned up his jacket, bent 
 his head against the rain, and went running across 
 the yard to the house, to sit for the rest of the idle 
 morning, with steaming clothes, by the kitchen-fire. 
 If that red-faced, good-humored fellow caught one 
 of the plump maid-servants about the waist and 
 gave her a smacking kiss, once in a while, it was as 
 natural as eating and just as unmoral. " What 
 a row we make about nothing ! " Eoger thought, 
 looking with savage resentment at the blank sheet of 
 paper. 
 
 A dog, with a dripping coat, trotted across the 
 overflowing wheel ruts of the road. A sulky came 
 jogging down the street, and drew up before the 
 tavern-door. 
 
 The recollection of the last rainy day when he had 
 seen Dr. Lavendar s sulky pierced Roger Carey s 
 heart ; he got up impetuously, nearly overturning the 
 table, and flung himself away from the window. So 
 it happened that he did not see the old clergyman 
 emerge from under the streaming rubber apron, or 
 hear him say, " What, upstairs ? I 11 just come in, 
 then, for a minute." 
 
 But that stab of memory, that vision of the fresh 
 and wholesome past, the rainy day, the old clergy 
 man and his little blind horse, and and Lyssie, 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 389 
 
 made the sheet of thin paper, and the words of 
 renunciation which he was arranging in his mind, 
 seem melodramatic and disgusting. After all, he 
 had been a fool ; that was the amount of it. " There s 
 no use palavering ! " he told himself. He pulled 
 out one of his cards, and wrote on it, with that fierce 
 haste which fears to be overtaken by a change of 
 mind, " I must not see you again. Forgive me if 
 you can. But I will never see you again." 
 
 He loathed himself; he said between his teeth 
 that he was a brute and a coward ; but he slipped 
 the card into an envelope and sealed it, pounding it 
 with his fist until the little table shook. He did not 
 hear Dr. Lavendar s step upon the stairs, and leaped 
 back, as though detected in some shameful deed, 
 when, under a thundering rap, the door flew open 
 with such suddenness that the old clergyman pitched 
 forward into the room. 
 
 " Dear me ! " said Dr. Lavendar, " I thought 
 that door was shut ! "Well, sir, this is first rate." 
 His face beamed with pleasure. " Van Horn told 
 me you were up here, and I thought he d lost his 
 wits. But I never heard better news. Come, now ! 
 the boy s writing a sonnet to her eyebrow. Well, 
 that s right, that s right. Young things will have 
 their quarrels, being young. But they make up, 
 when they re good for anything. They kiss and 
 are friends, as the children say. Well, sir, have 
 you kissed? " 
 
 " It s very good in you to hunt me up," Eoger 
 stammered. " I m just packing, just leaving. I " 
 
390 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 " What ! " interrupted Dr. Lavendar, sobering. 
 " You don t mean that little Lyssie would n t ? " 
 He unbuttoned his great-coat, on which the mist 
 stood in fine drops, and sat down on one of the lean, 
 unsteady chairs. " She s a most superior young 
 woman, sir ! " 
 
 Koger murmured an assent. He looked desper 
 ately about the room for means of escape. 
 
 " Most superior ; and therefore, if she would n t 
 kiss, it s because you did n t go about it in the 
 right way. Now, I tell you, young man, it don t do 
 to be proud. Tell her you were a fool ! Of course 
 you were ? " 
 
 " Oh yes ; yes." 
 
 " And ask her to forgive you, like a man, sir ! " 
 
 " You re very good, I m sure," Koger said hur 
 riedly, " but I came down here on business. I have 
 not seen Miss Drayton. Mrs. Philip Shore wished 
 some advice ; legal advice." His voice shrank, and 
 fell ; but Dr Lavendar did not notice it. * 
 
 " Oh, is that all? Not but what I m glad for you 
 to try and bring those two mad people to their 
 senses ; but I hoped I would n t have spoken if I 
 had n t supposed you had come down on another 
 matter." 
 
 " Do you think I can hire anybody to drive me 
 over to Mercer in this storm, Dr. Lavendar ? " 
 Koger said, shutting his portmanteau with a snap, 
 his back to his guest. 
 
 " Oh, don t hurry," commanded the other. " Now 
 you re here, stay over till the afternoon. Perhaps 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 391 
 
 you can make it worth your while ! " he insisted 
 with vast significance, his eyes twinkling very much, 
 and feeling himself to be exceedingly subtle. 
 
 " I m obliged to be back in town to-morrow, 
 thank you," Roger answered stiffly. 
 
 Dr. Lavendar sighed. " Well ; tell me about 
 Philip, then. Could you persuade Cecil to go back 
 to him ? " 
 
 " I hope she will," answered Roger Carey ; behind 
 his shut teeth he was swearing softly. " I m afraid 
 I 11 have to leave you now, sir. I ve got to go 
 down and see Van Horn, and get Jiim to hunt up 
 some sort of conveyance for me." 
 
 Dr. Lavendar was silent. He got up from his 
 chair and tramped over to the window, and stood 
 staring out at the steady downpour ; then he turned 
 around. " Look here, my boy. Don t" 
 
 " Don t what ? " 
 
 " Go away without seeing her." 
 
 " My dear Dr. Lavendar, it s perfectly impossible. 
 You don t understand. It was all my fault." 
 
 " Why, then go and tell her it was your fault ! " 
 The old sentimentalist came and put his hand on the 
 young man s shoulder. " My dear boy, you are 
 young. I m an old fellow, but I was young once, 
 too. And I was a fool just like you. We fell 
 out, and I could n t make up my mind to eat humble 
 pie. Well, she married somebody else. And every 
 tear that girl shed and she shed enough of cm ! 
 was my fault. Don t you see ? It was just 
 because my wicked pride kept me from telling her 
 
392 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 I d been a fool. Now don t you do that, Carey ; 
 don t you do it, boy ! " 
 
 " Good Lord ! " Roger burst out, and then begged 
 pardon. " You are very kind, sir, but I must not 
 intrude upon Miss Drayton." 
 
 " Well," said the old man, and sighed. " I sup 
 pose you know your own business. I won t say any 
 thing more. I hope I have n t offended you ? But 
 you re wrong, you re wrong." 
 
 " Yes, I m wrong." 
 
 Dr. Lavendar looked as though he would like to 
 make one morei plea ; but he closed his lips, and 
 silently followed Roger downstairs. He heard him 
 arrange for a carriage, and watched him give a note 
 to the landlord, with instructions t6 have it sent at 
 once to Mrs. Shore. " These lawyers have no f eel- 
 ings, " he thought indignantly, for Roger stood star 
 ing at the note, even after it was in Van Horn s 
 hands, as though he could think of nothing else. 
 " Absorbed in his everlasting legal quibbles, and 
 that poor child crying her eyes out ! "Well, I don t 
 know ; I believe she s well rid of him ! " 
 
 He said good-by to Roger rather coldly. " Joey is 
 not showing intelligence in his choice," he thought, 
 as he climbed into his gig, " but I d rather have him 
 have some heart than be as intelligent as this young 
 man." 
 
 Dr. Lavendar was distinctly gentler to his bro 
 ther, when, in all the rain, Mr. Joseph arrived by 
 the morning stage. At dinner he told him of his 
 talk with that cold-blooded young jackanapes, Carey, 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 393 
 
 and he declared that Lyssie Drayton was well rid of 
 him. 
 
 " Most superior girl ; really intelligent," he said. 
 
 Mr. Joseph nodded, and agreed ; but there was a 
 look of absent melancholy in his mild face. Joseph 
 Lavendar had had a blow : he had learned, beyond 
 any shadow of doubt, the particulars of the late Mr. 
 Pendle ton s will. 
 
 The information had come to him casually, but it 
 was not the less deadly. Coming down from Mer 
 cer, a passenger on the coach announced himself as 
 the man of business of a lady who resided in the 
 charming village of Old Chester, a Mrs. Pendle- 
 ton. Did his fellow-traveler chance to know her? 
 He had to get her signature to some papers, he said, 
 and he had come to Old Chester for that purpose. 
 Then, with a generosity ill befitting a man of busi 
 ness, he gossiped most entertainingly about his em 
 ployer. Mr. Lavendar, thirsting for one particular 
 bit of information, tried, faintly, to stop him, but 
 held his breath at the reference to " Pendleton " and 
 his will. " If she marries, she loses every cent. 
 But I guess she won t marry. That kind of thing 
 works both ways : it keeps the widow from marry 
 ing a poor man, and it keeps a rich man from 
 marrying the widow ; " and the man of business 
 laughed very much. 
 
 Mr. Joseph felt sore and bewildered. He thought 
 that it would be generous to tell James this melan 
 choly news ; James would be so relieved to hear it. 
 But he could not, just yet. He must think it over a 
 
394 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 little longer. He thought about it all that afternoon. 
 It was in his mind when he climbed listlessly into 
 the organ-loft for the choir-practicing. 
 
 He felt that blank which comes to a man deprived 
 of an interest, a blank which may easily be mis 
 taken for grief, so it was a relief to him that Mrs. Peii- 
 dletoii was not present. " She s afraid of the rain, 
 I suppose," said Susan Carr, with a curl of her lip. 
 It seemed to Mr. Lavendar that Susan Carr s voice, 
 of late so unsympathetic, was kinder ; so he could 
 not help being kinder himself, and resolving to 
 overlook that officiousness which had so annoyed 
 him. He told her, while they picked out the 
 voluntary, several bits of news, and he asked her 
 advice about a new chant with all his old simple 
 friendliness. 
 
 Miss Susan answered politely, but somewhat at 
 random ; in fact, they were both preoccupied. " I 11 
 have to tell Jim ; and he will be glad ; glad of my 
 unhappiness," Mr. Lavendar was saying to himself, 
 sadly ; and Susan Carr, her cheeks hot, was think 
 ing that Mr. Joseph would walk home with her, as 
 Mrs. Pendleton was not there. " I ought to have ar 
 ranged something so that he should n t have such an 
 opportunity," Susan Carr said to herself, severely, 
 her eyes shining with content. 
 
 The practicing had never seemed so long. When 
 it was over, Lyssie hurried out into the rain, and Mr. 
 Tommy ran after her, to beg to hold his umbrella 
 over her head ; but Miss Susan found several things 
 to detain her. 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE, 395 
 
 She picked up two Prayer-Books from the floor, 
 and said that it was a bad day. 
 
 She wished that she knew how to say to Joseph 
 that she was sorry she had been disagreeable ; then, 
 if he should press it again At that a sudden fear 
 touched her like a cold finger : suppose he should not 
 press it ? Suppose her systematic snubbing had dis 
 couraged him so that he was not able to recognize 
 her contrition ? Susan Carr drew in her breath and 
 set her white teeth on her lip, and said to herself 
 that she was not a silly girl, but a middle-aged 
 woman ; she and Joseph had known each other all 
 their lives, and if he did not understand, if he 
 should be afraid to speak, why, then, she must just 
 say something friendly ! 
 
 " I wish it was n t raining so hard," she announced 
 in a fluttered voice, listening to the persistent sweep 
 of the rain on the roof. 
 
 Mr. Joseph agreed absently. The trouble in his 
 face brought a remorseful mist into Susan Carr s 
 eyes. Oh, how unhappy she had made him ! Well, 
 it should stop now ; yes, if she had to say plump 
 out, " Joseph, I was a fool. I did n t know my own 
 mind. But I do now. And and 
 
 She beat the two Prayer-Books together, and 
 said, tremulously, that they were shamefully dusty. 
 "I think your touch grows finer every year, Mr. 
 Joseph," she continued, with much agitation for so 
 simple a remark. 
 
 " You re very good to say so, ma am," he an 
 swered, with a melancholy air, shaking some loose 
 
396 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 sheets of music evenly together on his brown broad 
 cloth knees. 
 
 " I don t know what St. John s would do without 
 you. I ve often been afraid you would have an 
 offer from some great city church." She bent down 
 to put on her overshoes, and her voice was muffled 
 and breathless. 
 
 Mr. Lavendar shook his head. " You re very 
 good. I don t know ; sometimes I ve thought it 
 might be well to stay away for a while." 
 
 " Oh no ! " she burst out, stamping down into her 
 rubbers, her face scarlet ; " no, indeed, Mr. Joseph." 
 
 Mr. Joseph did not insist ; he sighed, and peered 
 over the rail of the loft down into the church. 
 
 " How early it gets dark now ! It seems to me 
 that when I was a boy it did n t get dark so early in 
 the afternoon in November." Then he opened the 
 loft-door politely, and Miss Susan started down the 
 narrow circular flight of stairs. Her breath came 
 fast ; she stopped abruptly by the narrow window, 
 where, through the mat of ivy stems, the gray light 
 struggled in. 
 
 " We d better shut this," she said, pulling at the 
 cord of the little swinging sash. It was quite dark 
 here on the stairs, and Joseph was behind her. 
 
 " Mr. Joseph, I Ve been wanting to say to you 
 I ve been wanting to tell you that I ve thought 
 over what you tried to tell me. Oh you 
 know?" she ended faintly, tying down the window- 
 cord in a series of bewildering knots. 
 
 She could say no more. The tears were in her 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 397 
 
 eyes from the effort of her words. Joseph Lavendar 
 was quick to feel the frankness of her repentance for 
 her hardness. 
 
 " You are most kind, Miss Susan," he said, look 
 ing down at the top of her bonnet from his height of 
 three stairs above her, "most kind; but I hadn t 
 any right to trouble you in the first place." 
 
 " Oh yes, yes, you had ! and I did appreciate it. 
 I felt it was a great honor; only, I had never 
 thought of such a thing, and and it did n t seem 
 right." 
 
 " I quite understand, ma am," he said, the wrin 
 kles deepening on his high forehead. He felt no 
 bitterness, even though Susan Carr put into words 
 his own scruple. Her sincere friendliness was too 
 apparent for offense. "No, it wasn t right; and 
 you were kind to try to hold me back. And I re 
 alize myself that I m a poor man. I ve only my 
 small earnings. I had no right to ask " 
 
 She turned around quickly and looked up at him ; 
 even in the dusk he could see that her straightfor 
 ward eyes were full of tears, and there was a deeper 
 color on her cheeks. She made a quick gesture. 
 
 J. O 
 
 " Oh, how could you think such a thing ? I never 
 thought about money ! It was Donald. And I 
 didn t know my own mind. But I do now." 
 Then, with great energy, she tied another knot in 
 the window-cord, and went on down the little dark 
 winding stairs. 
 
 Joseph Lavendar, with his mouth open, looked 
 after her. He grew pale, and then red. He said 
 
398 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 something under his breath, violently, and turned, 
 with two skipping steps, as though to flee for shelter 
 back to the organ-loft. Then he stood, palpitating. 
 
 " Miss Susan ! " he called faintly, and went stum 
 bling after her. " Miss Susan, I m afraid you 
 I m afraid there s some misunderstanding ; you are 
 so kind I m afraid 
 
 " No," she said boldly, smiling, but with her eyes 
 full of tears, " no ; it s only that I know my own 
 mind now. I didn t let you speak because I 
 thought I could n t return it. But now I know my 
 own mind. And so I ve told you. It is n t as 
 if we were young things. We are such matter of 
 fact, middle-aged people, not two young things I 
 thought I could tell you ? " 
 
 Joseph Lavendar gasped; he rubbed his hands 
 together, and opened and closed his lips. 
 
 All Susan Carr s strength and force had melted 
 into shyness. " I hope you did n t think I was for 
 ward," she murmured. 
 
 Mr. Lavendar swallowed once ; then his face grew 
 very gentle and noble. " Take my arm, my dear 
 Susan," he said. " I hope I may be worthy of the 
 honor you have done me." 
 
XXXI. 
 
 Lest she should fail and perish utterly, 
 
 God, before whom ever lie bare 
 The abysmal deeps of Personality, 
 
 Plagued her with sore despair. 
 
 TENNYSON. 
 
 ALL that day the rain fell steadily. Eoger Carey, 
 his face bent against the wind, driving in an open 
 wagon across the hills, was following in his mind, 
 with deadly humiliation, his letter to his friend s 
 wife. In imagination, he saw John receiving it at 
 the door ; carrying it upstairs on his tray ; fingering 
 it, perhaps, with the supercilious curiosity of his 
 kind, but handing it to his mistress with his usual 
 immobility. Probably she wotdd be in that very 
 room where Roger s hands tightened upon the 
 reins, and his teeth set. 
 
 Well, she would take it ; open it, perhaps with that 
 silver dagger on her desk; read it! He reached 
 forward for the whip, and struck the horse viciously. 
 " This confounded beast never goes out of a walk," 
 he told the boy on the seat beside him. 
 
 Yes ; she would read it ; he tried to remember 
 what he had said : 
 
 " / must not see you again. Forgive me if you 
 can. But I will never " Was it " will never " 
 or " must never," in that last sentence ? Why had 
 he not made some excuse ? " Unexpectedly sum- 
 
400 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 moned to town will write Anything, rather 
 than that confession of fright, and shame, and remorse. 
 For the moment, all his self-loathing was concen 
 trated on his gaucherie : 
 
 " I must not see you again. Forgive " 
 " Good Lord ! " groaned the young man ; and the 
 boy beside him said, " Sur ? " 
 
 " I could walk faster than this brute ! " his fare 
 told him, angrily. 
 
 But the note did not reach its destination quite as 
 early as it should have done. Van Horn said it was a 
 shame to send a " human critter " out in such a rain just 
 for a letter ; he would wait till he saw some one 
 driving up that way. He waited until nearly noon ; 
 then John came down to the post office for the 
 morning mail, and stopped at the tavern for a chat, 
 and there was Van Horn s opportunity. Mr. Carey s 
 dollar for immediate delivery went toward paying 
 for the extra oil which that young man had burned. 
 " Fer I give you my word," said Van Horn in confi 
 dence to John, " that young feller burned the lamp 
 all night ; it was burning there this morning when 
 my wife went in to red up after him." 
 
 So it happened that when Cecil Shore read Roger s 
 card twelve hours had passed since, with that terror- 
 stricken look, he had left her ; twelve hours of real 
 ity. When she heard the door bang behind him, it 
 was like some frightful awakening ; she stood, gasp 
 ing, staring about the empty room ; then sank down, 
 cowering, and hiding her face. She shut her eyes, 
 quivering and crouching, as though she still felt the 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 401 
 
 storm of liis presence. He loved her ! And he had 
 gone at such a moment ! Her heart rose in pas 
 sionate exultation at his strength. But he loved her. 
 " When I am free ! When I am free ! " she repeated 
 in a whisper. 
 
 She got up, and walked hurriedly up and down, 
 her breath broken, the tears wet upon her face. 
 
 " I love him ! " she said to herself, and covered 
 her face with her hands. Then, standing still, sway 
 ing back and forth, she burst suddenly into dreadful 
 crying. 
 
 " Hove him," she said again. 
 
 As she spoke, her eyes fell on some little scraps 
 of paper which he had torn with nervous fingers as 
 he talked to her ; and she stooped over and brushed 
 them into her hand and kissed them, once, twice. 
 Then she stood still, trembling for a moment, before, 
 with violent haste, she went to the window and flung 
 it open. As she leaned out, the cold air struck on 
 her neck and face, and the spasm in her throat 
 stopped ; it had seemed as if she could not breathe. 
 Touched, for the first time in her life, by the great 
 Human Experience, her whole body answered to the 
 summons of the soul. 
 
 But she had no consciousness of morality, she 
 had no thought of self ; she had forgotten that she 
 was Philip s wife ; or that Roger had been Alicia s 
 lover. 
 
 A great experience transcends morality, because it 
 bursts the shell of personality ; and in the empty 
 moment which follows it identity seems lost, swept 
 
402 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 out on the surge of those eternal currents we call 
 Life. At such a moment a soul knows all things 
 
 o 
 
 but itself ; it apprehends the knowledge of beasts, it 
 feels the thrill of the stars shining ; it understands 
 the color of crimson in the sun ; it is acquainted 
 with grief ; maternity belongs to it, and death. It 
 is a moment of terror and magnificence ; it is the 
 moment of Moses on Sinai ; but whether it be for 
 good or evil, only that discarded personality can say. 
 
 When Cecil drew back and shut the window, her 
 face had curiously changed. Living was stamped 
 upon it. Eagerness, fear, desire, all those emotions 
 from which her satisfied life had shut her out, began to 
 dawn and deepen in it. She paced up and down, her 
 lips tightening upon each other ; but her eyes soften 
 ing, and glowing, and dimming. She had decided 
 swiftly not to see him in the morning ; she, too, 
 would be strong. No ; they must both wait ; " and 
 he must have nothing to do with the case," she 
 thought ; "we must not speak, we must not look, 
 until I am free. He said, fc when you are free. 
 Oh, how few men could have turned back when he 
 did ! " An adoring tenderness shone in her eyes ; 
 she smiled, her lip quivering, as she stood looking 
 over at the spot where he had repulsed her. 
 
 She watched the dawn come cold over the hills ; 
 the candles in the sconces sputtered and guttered, 
 and went out, and the lamps burned with a sickly 
 light. She walked softly about her room : " Pie 
 stood there. He looked at that picture. He touched 
 this book." But over and over and over she came 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 403 
 
 back, exulting, to that moment of renunciation when 
 he had left her, when it seemed as though he 
 dragged her heart out of her body. 
 
 And so the morning broke, gray with sweeping 
 rain ; the wind rumbled sometimes in the chimney, 
 and a chill crept into the room, for the fire had 
 burned out. 
 
 " He will be here soon," she thought, a deep color 
 burning in her face, and her breath quickening. 
 She would hear his voice asking for her ; hear him 
 being sent away. Well, thank Heaven, he would 
 understand ; he would even care more for her because 
 she would not see him ; because she would meet him 
 on his own level ! For, with this first appreciation 
 of anything but herself, such mere decency of life 
 seemed high to this poor soul. 
 
 She had had her coffee, and put on a charming 
 gown of some soft silk ; her face was full of deli 
 cate color. Though she did not mean to see him, 
 she felt the impulse to be beautiful just because he 
 would come and stand in the doorway downstairs, 
 even though it was only to be told that he must go 
 away. 
 
 And so she waited. 
 
 The day darkened as the morning passed; the 
 rain shut her in upon the passionate centre of her 
 self. 
 
 But it was curious that he did not come. 
 
 Somehow or other, the morning wore on. Molly 
 clamored at the door, and came in to play with her 
 paper dolls on the rug before the fire. The cook 
 
404 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 wanted instructions for dinner; Cecil gave them 
 carefully, speculating a little as to whether a certain 
 white soup could be made with this sort of stock or 
 that ; she stopped once, abruptly, as she was speak 
 ing, and listened. Then she said dully, " Yes, try 
 it, Jane ; but don t put in too much wine ; " and lis 
 tened again. 
 
 By noon she had begun to pace up and down, 
 up and down. She sent Molly away, telling her 
 sharply that she was a perfect nuisance with her 
 dolls. She stood with her hands behind her at the 
 window, her mouth rigid, her eyes troubled and 
 wandering. 
 
 Very likely he had gone back to town at once. 
 How like him ! how superb in him ! But he ought 
 to have sent a line. For, though he might have 
 known she would not see him, it would only have 
 been civil to come under the circumstances. 
 
 At noon his note came. She grew white as she 
 read it, and sat down, trembling. Then she dashed 
 it from her, and flew to the door, bolting it and 
 clinging to the door-knob, her teeth grinding down 
 upon her lip, her eyes furious. 
 
 " So : it was an insult." 
 
 The color surged into her face, and left it white 
 again. She raged back and forth across her room, 
 breathing hard. 
 
 " How dared he ! " Her hands gripped and 
 twisted upon each other as though they would tear 
 the life from the throat of the man who had kissed 
 them, and kissed them. 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 405 
 
 He had dared and then gone ! 
 
 " The insult, the insult, the insult ! " 
 
 She was suffocated by hate. Standing with 
 clenched hands, she ground her heel into the floor. 
 " I wish it were his face I " she whispered, quivering 
 all over. The card was lying where she had thrown 
 it on the rug before the fire. " I despise him ! " she 
 said, and stooped to pick it up, crumpling it furiously 
 in her hand. 
 
 Then, suddenly, she carried it to her lips, and 
 burst into tears. 
 
 " Oh, why do I love him, when I hate him so ? " 
 
 It was late in the afternoon that, very curiously, 
 she went and looked in the glass. She sat before 
 her dressing-table for a long time, leaning forward, 
 staring into the mirror with miserable, hopeless eyes. 
 It was as though her soul looked out of the windows 
 of its prison. Yet it was only now that she had 
 recognized that it was a prison, this ruthless body of 
 hers that dragged her into all its dreadful delights ; 
 this body, with its love of sloth, its sensual droop of 
 the lip, its cruel indifference to anything but itself. 
 
 " No ; I shall never be good," she said aloud. 
 " I 11 get over this in a week, and I shall see how 
 amusing it is." 
 
 The consciousness of this ultimateness of the en 
 vironment of the body is very horrible. /Some time 
 in our lives every man and woman of us, putting out 
 our hands toward the stars, touch on either side 
 our prison walls the immutable limitations of tern- 
 
406 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 perament. ] "I can never be good," she said hope 
 lessly, watching her heavy, tear-stained face in the 
 mirror ; " and perhaps I should n t like it if I were. 
 No, I 11 get over this, and then I 11 want to kill 
 him. I know." 
 
 But she was wrong : Cecil Shore s was not one of 
 those fluid souls which slip, quicksilver-like, between 
 the fingers of circumstances, returning always to the 
 unimpressionable sphere of self. This experience 
 was moulding her as molten steel is moulded. She 
 would never think of it with amusement ; she would 
 always be a better woman, no matter how bad 
 she might become, because of this one shuddering 
 glimpse of righteousness. 
 
 She held the crumpled card in her hand, and 
 looked at it now and then. "/ must not see you 
 again. Forgive me if you can. I will never see 
 you again" 
 
 " He does n t care," she said to herself ; " it was n t 
 love. What must he think of me ? " Her face 
 scorched under the slow tears ; she could not bear 
 the shame of it ; and yet and yet "I love 
 him ! " 
 
 " I m not good enough for him," she thought 
 piteously. " I was wicked. He belonged to Lyssie. 
 I was wicked ! " She groaned as she spoke. The 
 soul is not born without agony ; this beginning of 
 the moral consciousness knew the throes of birth. 
 
 He had told her that she was not good enough to 
 take care of her own child. Well, he was right. 
 She saw herself in Europe, living the lazy, easy r 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 407 
 
 suffocating life that she loved. He was right ; such 
 a life would be dreadful for Molly ; it meant mean 
 ness, selfishness, unrestrained impulses, sloth ; it 
 meant all that intellectual enjoyment of materialism 
 which is a sensuality of the mind. But it could not 
 be helped, unless unless she gave Molly up ? 
 
 " If I have her, she will be as bad as I am," she 
 thought dully. She wished passionately that she 
 were dead, so that Molly would be safe. 
 
 " Oh, she ought not to be with me," she said, 
 with a wail. " I m no woman to be trusted with a 
 child ; he said so. He was right. He knows what 
 my life is." 
 
 Molly ought not to know such a life ; Molly ought 
 to be good. 
 
 " Not like me ! Not like me ! " she said, dropping 
 her head down on her arms crossed upon the dress 
 ing-table. 
 
 It was nearly a week later that she wrote to 
 him : 
 
 I am going abroad for such an indefinitely long 
 time that it will perhaps be better to put my affairs 
 in the hands of some lawyer on the other side, in 
 stead of troubling you with them. You were right 
 about Molly. I think it wiser to leave her with her 
 father, though I should like her to be under my 
 sister s influence to some extent ; may I ask you to 
 try to arrange this for me ? It would be rather a 
 bore to have her in Europe, and she will do very 
 
408 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 well with her father. I hope he will give an occa 
 sional thought to her soul, in intervals of saving his 
 own. Will you tell him so from me ? I will never 
 see him again. Nor you. I shall be in Rome for 
 the season, and later in London. You must look 
 me up, if you come over. 
 
 Sincerely, C. S. 
 
XXXII. 
 
 Some rise by sin, and some by virtue fall. SHAKESPEARE. 
 
 " SHORE, are you at liberty ? I want to see 
 you." 
 
 Philip put down his pen, and stretched out his 
 hand. " Why, hello, Carey ! Look out, don t 
 tumble over that waste-basket. It s so dark in here, 
 I did n t know you for a minute." 
 
 The afternoon dusk was rising like a tide in the 
 small office, and the pale sunshine was climbing the 
 wall to escape it ; climbing the wall, creeping across 
 the papers on Philip Shore s desk, breaking into 
 rippling shadows on the ceiling, as a flag on an 
 opposite building blew taut and strong, or swerved 
 and clung to its mast, and then whipped out again in 
 the high wind. 
 
 " You are just the man I wanted to see," Philip 
 said. " I did n t know you were in town." 
 
 " I m not. At least, I only came this moment. 
 I was in Old Chester last week ; and I ve come 
 now to see you." 
 
 "Ah," said Philip. "Well?" His caller, it 
 appeared, was his wife s legal adviser, rather than 
 his old friend or Lyssie s lover, he had not heard 
 of the broken engagement ; so with some formality 
 he offered Roger a chair, and braced himself for a 
 
410 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 conflict of words about the situation. He had ex 
 pected a fierce and friendly remonstrance, such as 
 this which he thought he saw in Roger s eyes, before 
 Carey should assume his professional character, and 
 betake himself to the attorney in whose hands Philip 
 had placed his affairs ; or rather, to whom he had 
 stated his position and his wishes about Molly. For 
 Philip, having given up the management of his wife s 
 money, had in fact no " affairs " of his own. In 
 deed, when Roger entered, he had been engaged in 
 adding up columns of figures, and subtracting the 
 smallest possible living expenses from the sum total 
 of his probable assets, and he was aware of that 
 curious mixture of poignant anxiety and absurd 
 humor which can be felt only by the man who, never 
 having known the necessity of work, finds suddenly 
 that if he does not work, neither may he eat. 
 
 " I can t even be a bricklayer. I ve had no 
 experience," he thought, morosely amused. He had 
 meant to consult Roger Carey, for the fact that 
 Cecil had put her business matters in his hands had 
 no bearing, in Philip s mind, upon their friendship. 
 But in the younger man s set face, as he stood be 
 side his desk, Philip instantly read the impossibility 
 of this. 
 
 " Well ? " he said, curtly, again. 
 
 " I ve come to see you on Mrs. Shore s behalf." 
 
 " So I supposed. I knew that she had asked you 
 to look after her affairs. I m very glad of it, 
 Carey." 
 
 Roger sat down, bending his stick across his 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 411 
 
 knees in a fierce, unconscious grip ; his face was 
 pale, and had in it a suggestion of struggle, a 
 struggle which had burned something out of it, and 
 left it strangely refined, but almost haggard. 
 
 Philip said, impulsively, " Are you under the 
 weather, old man ? " 
 
 Roger did not even notice the question ; his hands 
 tightened upon his stick until the knuckles whitened. 
 
 " I m not here in any professional way " 
 
 " My dear fellow, that is the reason that I ap 
 preciate the professional part of it," Philip began 
 warmly. "I know what your friendship is, and " 
 
 " Yes. Well, never mind that ; I ve come to ask 
 you to go back to her." 
 
 " What ! " 
 
 " I want you to go back to your wife." 
 
 " Did she send you here with that message ? " 
 said Philip. 
 
 " She send me ! Don t you know her better than 
 that ? No, I m here on my own account. This 
 plan of yours is so incredible to me that I can t be 
 lieve it ! You cannot be aware of what you are 
 doing." 
 
 Philip sighed, and seemed to draw himself to 
 gether. u We don t agree on this subject of divorce 
 and separation, so what is the use of discussing it ? 
 Although I appreciate your motive in wishing to dis 
 cuss it." 
 
 " You do, do you ? " 
 
 A thread of anger in his voice made Philip look 
 at him, but Roger went on calmly : 
 
412 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 " No ; of course there is no use in discussing your 
 theories. I don t believe in divorce. I think I told 
 you that some time ago. I I still don t believe 
 in it." 
 
 " So far as I am concerned, there should be no 
 question of divorce in this matter," Philip said. 
 
 " I know ; you want to separate. And I believe 
 you put it on the ground of morality ! " 
 
 " Absolutely," the other answered, with a sur 
 prised look. " Why, Carey, look here ; put the per 
 sonal equation out of this for a moment. What 
 makes marriage ? A priest s gibberish, or a legal 
 decree, or the tyranny of public opinion, which holds 
 a man and woman together who are separated in 
 every thought and impulse and belief? They are 
 husband and wife by a Law that transcends all 
 these things ; or else they are not husband and 
 wife ! " 
 
 " If you don t mind, I d rather not go into that 
 kind of thing," Eoger said. " The duties of a citi 
 zen I can understand ; but when you come to higher 
 laws, I m all off. Common law s good enough for 
 me. But what I m here for is not to discuss the 
 abstract ; it is to ask you to go back to your wife." 
 
 " Apparently you are not speaking for Mrs. Shore," 
 Philip answered, frowning ; " and as we don t agree 
 as to the principle, what s the use of talking about 
 it?" 
 
 Roger was silent for a moment ; then he said 
 quietly, " I have a message for you, Philip, from 
 your wife. She is going abroad (unless I can per- 
 
fOTn 
 
 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 413 
 
 stiade you to prevent it), and she has decided to 
 leave Molly with you." 
 
 Philip Shore half rose. " Leave Molly ? " he re 
 peated, in a dazed way. 
 "Yes." 
 
 " I don t understand. She told Woodhouse I 
 thought she meant to bring suit, and get possession 
 of the child ? Carey, what do you mean ? " 
 
 " What I say. If this theory of yours is carried 
 out, and she goes away, she proposes to leave Molly 
 with you. She told me to say " his eyes narrowed 
 with angry satisfaction as he spoke, " she told me to 
 say she hoped you would give an occasional thought 
 to Molly s soul in intervals of saving your own. She 
 has also made certain arrangements as to money 
 matters in relation to Molly. But I don t want to go 
 into that now. I hope it may never be necessary to 
 go into it. I hope you will go back to her." 
 
 Philip s face was sunk in his hands ; he was si 
 lent for several moments. Then, in a low voice, 
 u What are Mrs. Shore s reasons for this deci 
 sion ? " 
 
 " Do you think," answered the other, " that you 
 have any right to ask Mrs. Shore s reasons ? " 
 
 Philip got up and went over to the fireplace ; he 
 leaned his forehead upon his arm along the mantel 
 piece, and looked down at a little fire that was 
 shrinking and creeping back into the narrow grate. 
 Roger watched him silently. 
 
 " No ; I ve no right to ask her reasons." 
 
 " I suppose," said the younger man, in a hard 
 
414 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 voice, " that you are perfectly willing to let your 
 wife make this sacrifice ? " 
 
 Philip turned upon him savagely. " Is this a 
 time to say whether it is agreeable to me to accept 
 a sacrifice ? I ve got to think of Molly ! You know 
 she ought not to be with her mother." 
 
 " So you 11 accept the sacrifice ? " Roger in 
 sisted, with contempt that was like a blow. 
 
 " I accept my child ! " said Philip Shore hoarsely. 
 " You can t understand this thing, Carey, 
 
 " You re right. I can t." 
 
 but the humiliation to me of letting Cecil 
 give up is not to be considered. Good God, do you 
 suppose, if it were just myself, that I would let her 
 do it ? " 
 
 " I can t say, I m sure. You re letting her do a 
 good deal." 
 
 " I don t know what you mean." 
 
 " You are letting her take advantage of a theory 
 which you consider essential to your personal integ 
 rity, whether it is for her welfare or not." 
 
 "It is for her welfare." 
 
 " Is that why you are doing it ? I wonder if it 
 has ever occurred to you that salvation can cost too 
 dear ! " 
 
 " I don t understand you," Philip answered impa 
 tiently. 
 
 I mean that the pursuit df righteousness for per 
 sonal ends is $ust a yielding to a spiritual appetite ; 
 and it may be as demoralizing and debauching as 
 as the yielding to a physical appetite ! " 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 415 
 
 Eoger Carey s stick broke suddenly across his 
 knee ; his hands trembled. 
 
 " Race regeneration begins with the individual," 
 Philip began. 
 
 But Roger broke in with a sort of groan : " Who 
 is going to be regenerated, in this case, beside 
 yourself ? That part of the race included in your 
 immediate family ? Your your wife, for in 
 stance ? " 
 
 Again in the darkening room a note in his voice 
 made Philip stare at him. 
 
 " Let s look at the value of this sort of regenera 
 tion : suppose every man who got tired of his bar 
 gain - 
 
 4t Carey, you go too far ! " 
 
 " every man who thought the preservation of 
 his own precious integrity depended on it, should 
 throw over his wife 
 
 fct What the devil is the matter with you ? " 
 
 " I want to make an illustration," Roger said be 
 tween his teeth. " Suppose he left his wife, feeling 
 that the honor of marriage and the salvation of his 
 own soul depended on it, you see, I am granting 
 absolute integrity of purpose." 
 
 The blood came up into Philip Shore s face as if 
 at the touch of a whip-lash. 
 
 " Of course," Roger went on, " it is conceivable 
 that, the woman being left, some other man might be 
 attracted ; and but 1 need n t go into all that. 
 You see what possibilities it opens up ? " 
 
 " Yes," Philip agreed ; " and why not ? " 
 
416 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 " Why not ? " Roger stammered, recoiling. 
 " Why, because public morals are to be consid 
 ered ! " 
 
 " Public morals will not suffer by private virtue," 
 Philip said contemptuously. " I maintain that a 
 loveless marriage is n t a marriage. The question 
 of absolute divorce is n t a question of re-marriage, 
 but of marrying at all. The first relationship is n t 
 marriage, it is legalized prostitution ; but we are not 
 ready, yet, to make the results of such a mistake 
 permanent, so the right to marry righteously and 
 decently is necessary. It s a concession to human 
 nature, I grant, but it s perfectly reasonable and 
 proper, even though one may repudiate it for one s 
 self." 
 
 Roger said something under his breath, looking 
 at Cecil Shore s husband with a sort of terror. 
 
 * Of course," Philip went on, " I realize the pos 
 sible abuses of freer divorce, but I do not believe 
 such abuses are inherent in divorce. And beside, 
 other people s weakness or wickedness does not af 
 fect individual duty." 
 
 " There s no duty that makes other people either 
 weak or wicked," Roger burst out. " 4 If meat 
 cause my brother to offend, then will I eat no 
 meat. 
 
 " My brother s offending is his own business. 
 Beside, meat-eating is not a necessity. Purity, 
 honor, decency, even, are necessities." 
 
 " Shore," the other answered, his voice trembling, 
 " hell might be a necessity, if you went there to 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 417 
 
 keep somebody else out ; it s the old idea, to lose 
 one s life for somebody else s sake is to find it. If 
 it was expedient for one man to die for the people, 
 it is conceivable that it may be expedient to be 
 damned for the people. I can t talk religion, but 
 that s the way it seems to me. You ve got to con 
 sider society, not your own soul, in this matter of 
 divorce." 
 
 He was profoundly agitated. He got up and 
 walked over to the window, and stood looking 
 through the glass grimed with the smoke from in 
 numerable chimneys below ; far off, beyond the 
 crowding, huddling roofs covered with streaked 
 and dirty snow, he could see a yellow line of sunset ; 
 his anger and his shame fighting for words left 
 him silent. He came back and sat down again by 
 Philip s desk. 
 
 " Shore, I 11 take your motives for granted. I 
 will believe that you believe in them ; but go back, 
 go back ! " 
 
 Philip was silent for a moment; he watched 
 Roger closely ; then he said quietly, " There s no 
 use prolonging this. You don t understand the 
 situation. Mrs. Shore wishes to leave me." 
 
 Then the rein broke. "You know the proposi 
 tion was yours. For God s sake, don t be a Jesuit ; 
 it s bad enough to be a saint ! And you are 
 willing to accept your freedom at any cost to 
 her? You d go over dead bodies or dead souls 
 to save yourself ! Damn you, you re not worth 
 saving! " 
 
418 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 " You re mad, or else you re drunk. There s 
 the door." 
 
 " You 11 listen to what I have to say first. The 
 Lord knows I m not anxious to talk to you, but 
 you ve got to listen, and I ve got to speak ! 
 What about your wife, if you leave her ? and what 
 about the fellow you dig a pit for when you send 
 her out into the world?" 
 
 " Your words are an offense. You will speak 
 with respect of Mrs. Shore in my presence or I 11 
 put you out of it ! " 
 
 The two men were standing. Philip was trem 
 bling with rage. Roger s hand was clenched on the 
 edge of the desk ; there was a solemn frown in his 
 face which made it almost beautiful, and strangely 
 devoid of self. The sunset, loitering and lifting on 
 the wall, had been swallowed by the rising tide of 
 gray, and the room was quite dark. 
 
 " You ve got to hear, Philip," Roger said. Then, 
 lifted far above self-consciousness, using, as it were, 
 his own sin as an instrument of salvation, he leaned 
 forward and touched him on the shoulder. 
 
 " I love her" 
 
 There was no answer. 
 
 " Well, what s the matter ? Why not ? as you 
 said yourself. I love her. How do you like that ? 
 I held her in my arms. I held your wife in my arms. 
 I , Keep back, keep back ! You ve no right to 
 resent one word I ve said! You throw her over, 
 I take her " 
 
 Philip s hands leaped at his throat. There was 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 419 
 
 no resistance. Flung neck and crop like a dog out 
 into the narrow entry, Roger Carey leaned, breathless 
 and ghastly, against the whitewashed wall. His face 
 was full of exultation ; it was as though some 
 mighty hand of justice and insolence and insult had 
 wiped shame out of it. 
 
XXXIII. 
 
 There is a passion in the place, 
 Power in the air for evil as for good, 
 Promptings from heaven and hell, as if the stars 
 Fought in their courses for a fate to be. 
 
 BROWNING. 
 
 THE grimy sunshine, lifting and lifting in Philip 
 Shore s office in the city, resting on crowded roofs, 
 gilding with sudden pallid glory the edge of a chim 
 ney, or striking a red shine on smoky windows, was 
 lying in an ebbing tide of placid light on the white 
 hills around Old Chester. It crept across Cecil 
 Shore s leafless garden, and up the west front of the 
 house, touching the closed shutters, and peering for 
 a fading instant into the open doorway of the hall, 
 where everything was confusion and haste. 
 
 "The stage and baggage-wagon will be here at 
 five," said Mrs. Shore, fastening her long glove as 
 she came slowly downstairs. " Just see that every 
 thing is put on, John ; then tell Jonas to drive down 
 to the rectory for me. Come, Polly, come along 
 with mamma." 
 
 " Will Eric come with John ? Can t he come to 
 say good-by to Dr. Lavendar, too? Shall we say 
 good-by to aunt Lyssie and grandmamma over 
 again ? " Molly chattered, as they went down the 
 steps. 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 421 
 
 " Come, hurry," Cecil said crossly. " What did 
 you bring that dog for ? He 11 fight Danny." She 
 looked down at the child running to keep up with 
 her, and drew in her breath in a sob. Molly was 
 full of questions : Where was father ? What made 
 the moon so thin ? Had the sun bitten a piece out 
 of it ? Should they see father to-morrow in town ? 
 
 "Do you want to see your father?" Cecil asked, 
 her voice strained and harsh. 
 
 " I don t mind," Molly answered cheerfully. " I d 
 like to see Mr. Carey. He loves Eric." 
 
 " Is that why you like Mr. Carey ? " 
 
 Molly shook her head, and took two little skipping 
 steps. " I don t like him very much. He laughed at 
 my tooth. I like father better. Don t you like 
 father better ? Mamma, when shall we go on the 
 ship?" 
 
 They had come to the iron gates at the bottom 
 of the garden, and Cecil lifted the great rusted latch ; 
 but when they closed behind her with a clang, she 
 stopped, shivering, and looked back at the garden, 
 leaning her forehead against the bars. 
 
 " I d better say good-by to her here, " she said ; 
 and called the child, who had run on a little distance 
 ahead. Yet when, with laggard obedience, Molly 
 came, her mother only said, with a curious breathless- 
 ness, "Take mamma s hand. Don t run ahead that 
 way. (No, I can t yet ; I can t yet ! ") she told 
 herself. 
 
 As they walked down the lane in the gray twi 
 light, she kept putting off those last words ; she 
 
422 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 talked constantly, but so entirely at random that 
 once Molly said, in a puzzled way, " But, mamma, 
 you told me 4 yes, and now you tell me 4 no. I don t 
 know ivJiat to do ! " 
 
 " Molly, you will be a good girl ? " Cecil said 
 feverishly, as though insisting upon something to her 
 self. " You must be good. That s the main thing. 
 Promise mamma you 11 be good ? " 
 
 Her voice frightened the child, whose face puck 
 ered into a sort of whimper. " I m not a naughty 
 girl!" 
 
 " Oh, I know, darling, I know ! But promise 
 mamma you ll try and be good. (I ll wait until 
 I get to the rectory,") she thought, gripping the 
 child s hand until Molly cried out, and pulled it 
 away from her. 
 
 They came along the narrow path to the sunken 
 door of the rectory. The shades were not down, 
 and they had a glimpse of Dr. Lavendar sitting in 
 his shabby dressing-gown by the hearth. The little 
 dusky room was full of lurching firelight, brighten 
 ing and fading, and brightening again. This was 
 his free hour, and he was sitting by himself, his 
 pipe between his lips, thinking of many things. 
 With one hand he rubbed Danny s gray head, and 
 the other was fumbling in the pocket of his dress 
 ing-gown with some uncut topazes. Once he pulled 
 out a handful of them, and held them close to his 
 eyes, gloating over them with the greatest satisfac 
 tion ; then he thrust them deep down into his pocket 
 again. He was trying to decide a matter of taste : 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 423 
 
 was it better to preach on the New Jerusalem de 
 scending out of heaven like a bride adorned for her 
 husband, her walls of chalcedony, jacinth, amethyst, 
 and jasper, the Sunday before Joey and Susan were 
 married, or the Sunday after ? 
 
 "That match," he was saying to himself, "was 
 about as good a thing as I ever accomplished in my 
 life!" 
 
 As they drew near the house, Cecil stopped and 
 looked in at the tranquil scene. " I 11 wait till I 
 have spoken to Dr. Lavendar," she thought, shiver 
 ing. " Molly," she said hoarsely, " give me a kiss 
 before we go in." The street was deserted and 
 nearly dark ; no one saw her crush the child against 
 her breast, kissing her until Molly, out of breath, 
 laughed and struggled, and tried to wriggle out of 
 her arms. 
 
 (" I 11 say it the last thing ; the last thing.) 
 Oh, Molly, you will be good? That is all I want. 
 Promise me you will be good ! Come, we must go in." 
 
 Then she pushed the door open and went down 
 the little narrow hall to the library. 
 
 She came in, wrapped in her great crimson cloak, 
 and smiling, in the firelit dusk ; yet for an instant, 
 until she spoke, the old clergyman felt the grip of 
 actual terror upon his heart. 
 
 " I came to say good-by, Dr. Lavendar " She 
 stopped and caught her breath. " The stage is to 
 come here for me. I felt that I must have the 
 blessing of the Church before I left the home of my 
 childhood for good." 
 
424 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 " Left for good ? " he stammered, but she inter 
 rupted him. 
 
 " It may be for bad. But it s leaving, anyhow. 
 May I sit down? Polly, don t drag at mamma s 
 cloak. Dr. Lavendar, I want you to do something 
 for me." 
 
 " Sit down, Cecilia, sit down," he said, waving his 
 pipe at her. " I am glad to see you : I ve some 
 thing to say to you. I Ve been four times to your 
 door, Cecilia, but was not admitted." 
 
 " Oh, not really ? " she said absently, her eyes 
 fastened upon Molly. 
 
 " The person who opened the door," proceeded 
 the old man, " said you were not at home. But 
 I heard your voice, Cecilia ! " 
 
 "Really?" Cecil answered, vaguely; and then 
 suddenly laughed, as if at first she had not heard 
 him. 
 
 " I fear he is an untruthful person ; but that was 
 not why I wished to speak to you, though I do feel 
 that you are responsible for the morals of your ser 
 vants 
 
 " My dear Dr. Lavendar, my own morals are 
 more than I can attend to properly," she said, smil 
 ing, " and I have only five minutes ; the stage will 
 be here, and I must speak to you." 
 
 " Send the child away, for I must speak to you," 
 he began, sternly ; but Cecil shook her head. 
 
 " Oh no, please don t. In fact, you can t, before 
 Molly," she reminded him maliciously. " Beside, 
 it s no use ; everything is settled. But I Ve come 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 425 
 
 (I m so glad you are at home) to ask you to give 
 Philip a message from me." 
 
 " Mamma, are we going to see father to-mor 
 row ? " Molly asked fretfully. 
 
 " You will, kitty, in a day or two. There ! 
 don t you want to go and play with Danny? Dr. 
 Lavendar, I am going away. I am going to sail for 
 Europe on Saturday." . 
 
 His bushy eyebrows twitched with angry anxiety ; 
 " I can t believe that you will do any such wicked 
 thing. I went to implore you not to, those four 
 times that I called. My child, you can t do such a 
 thing ! I have written to Philip I think you 
 are both beside yourselves," he ended incoherently. 
 
 Cecil sighed impatiently. " Dr. Lavendar 
 But he interrupted her. 
 
 " Lyssie, poor child, is heart-broken about it ; she 
 sat here yesterday and cried until she could n t 
 see ! " 
 
 Cecil started, frowning. " If I ve given Lyssie 
 any grief, the sooner I get away the better. Yes, 
 she 11 be happier when I m gone. That s one rea 
 son I m going. Oh, please don t talk to me ; 
 there s no use. Listen to what I want to say : 
 I m going away, and I m going to enjoy life. I 
 want that distinctly understood. I m going to en 
 joy life. Only, I ve thought it all over, and I 
 won t take Molly. She would be she would be 
 in the way. But I want you to tell Philip Shore 
 one thing : say, Cecil says, You saved yourself, so 
 you could not save any one else. Possibly he will 
 
426 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 understand. Yes, I think he will understand. i You 
 saved yourself, so you could not save any one else. 
 Will you remember ? You might add that, having 
 saved his life, he may lose it ; but no ; he 11 find 
 that out for himself, perhaps." She rose and pulled 
 the crimson cloak about her, shivering a little. 
 
 "I know what you mean," he said tremulously, 
 u but Cecilia, my dear child, just let me make one 
 plea ; not for yourself, not even for the child. Lis 
 ten to me, my dear. There is nothing in the world 
 so awful as the knowledge that you have injured a 
 soul. If you go away, Philip will understand that. 
 Yes, you will grow harder to reach, Cecilia, and it 
 will be his fault. He will have injured your soul ; 
 there is no anguish so dreadful as such a realiza 
 tion ! Cant you spare him ? Are n t you gener 
 ous enough to spare him?" 
 
 It was a high appeal. 
 
 She turned and looked at him, and laughed, 
 drawing in her breath between her shut teeth. 
 
 " I hope the thought of it may take him down to 
 hell. I should be willing to go there, if it would 
 make him suffer ! " 
 
 As she spoke there was a trampling at the gate, 
 and the rattle of harness-chains, and the scraping of 
 a wheel against the gatepost. " Here s the stage," 
 she said lightly, her face white to the lips. " I ve 
 arranged that Molly is to go to Lyssie, until her fa 
 ther comes for her. Come, Polly, you are to stay 
 all night with aunt Xyssie ; shall you like that? " 
 
 "And Eric, too? " clamored Molly. 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 427 
 
 " I told Lyssie I would send her over by Rosa at 
 half past five ; I did n t want to make my adieus 
 under Mrs. Drayton s windows. Good-by, Dr. 
 Lavendar." She held out her hand carelessly, as 
 she went into the hall ; the front door was open, 
 and the stage loomed up in the dusk, with its lamps 
 glimmering through the evening fog. 
 
 " Molly ! Come here ! " Cecil said sharply. 
 
 Dr. Lavendar had followed them into the hall; 
 Rosa was standing in the doorway ; the stage-driver 
 was leaning down from his seat, tapping the wheel 
 with his whip; John had come up the path to ask 
 some question. Cecil looked about her like a 
 hunted creature. 
 
 " Jonas is in a hurry, ma am," John ventured. 
 
 " I m coming, I m coming," Cecil said breath 
 lessly. " Have you got everything, John ? Is Rosa 
 here? Rosa, take Molly right over to Miss Lys- 
 sie s " 
 
 " Mamma ! " Molly began, half frightened. 
 
 Cecil looked at her, and then suddenly knelt down 
 in front of her. " Kiss me ! E/iss me ! " she whis 
 pered, and hid her face in the child s bosom ; then 
 she rose, brushing past the little girl as though she 
 did not see her. 
 
 " I 11 miss the train at Mercer if I don t hurry. 
 Dr. Lavendar, congratulate Mr. Joseph for me. At 
 least his choice has not been impulsive ; they have 
 known each other all their lives, have n t they ? " 
 
 Then, smiling out of the coach, she kissed her 
 hand to Molly. " There, kitty, don t cry ; you are 
 
428 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 going over to grandmamma s to stay all night." She 
 pulled the stage-door in with a bang. " Tell them 
 to start," she said hoarsely. " Why don t they start ? 
 Oh, hurry, hurry ! Good heavens, are they never 
 going to start ? " 
 
XXXIV. 
 
 When April-time was melting- into May. Earthly Paradise. 
 
 IN April, in southern Pennsylvania, there comes 
 one day when the brown fields dim suddenly with 
 green, as though a warm breath passed over them. 
 The full, white clouds hang low, but part now and 
 then, and bursts of sunshine move swiftly over the 
 meadows and up the hillsides ; the little runs brim 
 and bubble in their narrow beds, and the larger 
 streams whirl against the big stones in their paths, 
 and hurry on, streaked with foam and chattering 
 loudly. In the orchards threads of water gush out 
 from under tussocks of winter-bleached grass, or 
 spurt up under a footstep, and when those sunbursts 
 travel swiftly over the countryside, all the fields are 
 agleam with these innumerable springs. The air has 
 been warmed through and through by the sunshine 
 behind the clouds, yet it has a cool edge that comes 
 from its touch upon patches of melting snow up in 
 the northern hollows of the hills. The buds have 
 hardly begun to open, but it seems as if there were 
 a, faint green smoke in the woods ; and the stems of 
 the willows are reddening as though some mysterious 
 wine were rising in them. 
 
 Such a day is full of peace and promise ; one feels 
 a springing joy that reason does not explain. No 
 doubt the grief of the world is just the same ; the 
 
430 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 grave is still new in the churchyard, perhaps ; faiths 
 have been broken ; the soul has earned its own 
 inviolable soltitude ; nay, the sordid anxieties of life 
 and living are all unchanged ; yet on such an 
 April day of sunshine moving over brown fields, of 
 brimming brooks, of greening hillsides, the heart 
 rises, the feet dance, and a song comes bubbling to 
 the lips. 
 
 Alicia Drayton felt this unreasoning joy as she 
 walked slowly up the long hill on her way back from 
 the upper village. Far down the road, behind her, 
 the stage came tugging along. She had meant to 
 hail it at the cross-roads, and spare herself a half 
 hour s walk; but she had not waited for it, and had 
 walked on absently, yet with this April joyousness 
 nestling warmly at her heart. Once she stopped to 
 look back at the stage crawling up the long slope, 
 and saw a great stretch of sunshine flood all the 
 valley, and move swiftly up the hill. The fields 
 looked greener for its touch, Lyssie thought. She 
 drew a long breath and trudged on, saying to herself 
 that it was pleasant to be alive. 
 
 This was a new feeling to little Lyssie. It had 
 been a hard winter for her. 
 
 First there had been the bewildering grief about 
 Philip and Cecil ; then the interest and beauty of 
 life had seemed to go out on the day that Roger 
 Carey slammed the door behind him and went off 
 into the rain ; and, while that pain was still new, the 
 filial instinct had been killed in her : Alicia Drayton 
 had learned to know her mother. 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 431 
 
 With such knowing had come the tenderest love 
 and pity ; but the reverence of the child for the par 
 ent, that noble reverence which makes life deep and 
 beautiful, was dead. 
 
 This grief had come to the girl in mid-winter. A 
 letter had arrived from Mr. Dray ton announcing 
 his immediate and final return to Old Chester ; and 
 there was a dreadful scene when his wife, in the 
 miserable fright of a selfish woman, had had no 
 decent reserves before Lyssie. The dignity and 
 sacredness of marriage were insulted before the 
 child s eyes : her mother had cried and screamed 
 with disappointment and passion ; she had revealed 
 her hatred of her husband, and her fear of his inter 
 ference with her comfort. Afterwards, there was 
 the simpering smile to her little public ; her upraised 
 eyes ; her " heartfelt gratitude for her heavenly 
 Father s goodness in thus blessing her by her dear 
 William s restoration to health." It turned Alicia 
 sick. The instinct of the child for the mother ago 
 nized and died ; and with it went the divine and beau 
 tiful believing of youth. But she went on loving. 
 Other knowledge had come to Lyssie in connection 
 with this same experience : Mr. William Drayton 
 had come back looking very broken ; his health was 
 just the same, he said curtly ; he had returned be 
 cause he had lost a a friend by death, so he did 
 not care to live abroad any longer. 
 
 " At least it must be a comfort to feel that he is 
 at rest in heaven," Mrs. Drayton said. " Who was 
 he, dear William ? " 
 
432 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 " You would n t be any wiser if I mentioned the 
 name," he said slowly; "and. I don t care to talk 
 about it, please." 
 
 Perhaps the look in his face suddenly instructed 
 Alicia Drayton as to what that friendship was. She 
 grew deadly pale, shamed to her very soul. The 
 somewhat conventional affection with which she had 
 welcomed him went out in swift indignation. For 
 a long time it was an effort to speak to him ; she 
 shrank from his touch, and his commonplace ques 
 tions and comments were answered almost curtly. 
 But that did not last : she knew her mother. So in 
 spite of shame, pity began to take the place of anger. 
 At first she was sorry for him, then, after a while, 
 came a sort of friendliness. That she could make 
 excuses for him was a sad commentary on the child s 
 loss of youth. She thought about him now, as she 
 walked up the hill in the scudding sunshine, and 
 noticed, with a pang of joy, a bluebird balancing on 
 a rail, and the sharp greenness of the grass in the 
 sheltered triangle of the zigzag fence. " If only he 
 had come sooner," she said to herself, " I need n t 
 have said three years ; and it would all be different 
 now, perhaps." 
 
 Mr. Drayton had been told of the broken engage 
 ment, and had called Lyssie to him one day, and 
 said quietly, " Tell me why it was, child." She had 
 told him, simply enough. He had listened, and 
 nodded, and looked at the end of his cigar, and told 
 her to bring him another light. That was all ; but 
 he had pulled her ears at tea-time, and called her 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 433 
 
 his little monkey ; and it was after that that this 
 silent friendship grew up. There were no explana 
 tions; they were sorry for each other, and under 
 stood ; and one forgave. 
 
 "But if he had been here, it would have been 
 different," she thought, and stopped to look back at 
 the stage ; she did not reproach her father, even in 
 her mind. 
 
 Alicia had had a swift hope that his return would 
 mean some way out of the distress and grief and 
 shame that had come to Philip and Cecil. But such 
 hope had quickly died. Mr. Drayton showed no 
 inclination to interfere. He listened to the story, 
 drowsing through Mrs. Drayton s excited and pious 
 embellishments of it, and then he took his cigar 
 from between his lips and knocked off the ashes. 
 
 "They know their own business," he said, in his 
 slow, dull voice. " I m glad there was no scandal. 
 I m glad everything was done decently and in or 
 der ; " there was a flicker of humor in his half -shut 
 eyes at Mrs. Drayton s disappointment at his indiffer 
 ence. " And on the whole, I think they were very 
 sensible; it s better to be open and aboveboard." 
 
 " I do not know what you mean, dear William," 
 said Mrs. Drayton. 
 
 Her husband smoked on stolidly. " No, I don t 
 suppose you do." 
 
 " But," sighed Lyssie to herself, beginning to go 
 down the hill into the village, " it was too late, any 
 how ; nothing could have been done ; Cecil would 
 never have .gone back to Philip." . .. , ..,. -.j.ji 
 
434 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 She was quite right. The tragedy of human sel 
 fishness destroys the fabric of life beyond repair. 
 Yet Lyssie had tried to repair it. When Philip, 
 with passionate haste, came down to Old Chester, 
 only to be confronted by the dark silence of the 
 empty house, Alicia had done her best. 
 
 44 Oh, Philip, did you mean to come back ? 
 Philip, Philip, hurry ! go after her ; you may catch 
 her before she sails ! Oh, perhaps she will forgive 
 you!" 
 
 He was very gentle with her, but he silenced her. 
 
 He had come to accept Molly from her mother s 
 hands ; to let gratitude overcome his humiliation ; 
 to defer to Cecil in every possible way, but that 
 was all. The citadel of his spirituality, where Self 
 had intrenched herself, was absolutely fast. 
 
 44 If Philip and Cecil would not listen to Roger, 
 there was no use for me to talk," she thought, as 
 she stopped a moment on the bridge, and looked 
 down into the water. And then the stage drew up 
 behind her, and some one got down, and came and 
 stood beside her. 
 
 44 Lyssie, will you please speak to me ? " 
 
 And she turned and saw him ; older, graver, his 
 face quivering, his eyes imploring her. 
 
 There was not much explanation. To talk over a 
 quarrel, with its inevitable accompaniment of self- 
 justification, is too much like handling cobwebs to 
 be very successful. Roger said u Forgive me " and 
 Lyssie said 44 Forgive me," and that was about all 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 435 
 
 there was to it. Of course Roger had to shake 
 hands with Mr. Drayton, and be forgiven by Mrs. 
 Drayton, and dine with the family, and feel exceed 
 ingly like a whipped puppy; which, after all, was 
 perfectly right and just. 
 
 Late in the afternoon, they went out to walk ; 
 and somehow Roger fell silent, and Lyssie did all 
 the talking. She said, softly, " Cecil will be glad. 
 I will write and tell her." 
 
 Roger stared down the road. 
 
 " Do you hear from Mrs. Shore often ? " 
 
 " Not as often as I should like to," she answered 
 sadly ; " she is so busy ; she is very gay. But oh, 
 Roger, she is n t happy ; though she does n t seem to 
 miss Molly much, she hardly speaks of her. Only, 
 I know she is n t really contented ; and I am so 
 happy ! it does n t seem fair. Did you see her 
 before she went away ? " 
 
 Roger shook his head. 
 
 " Well, then, you don t know how dreadful things 
 were. I heard afterwards that you came down, just 
 before the end of it all, to try to reconcile them. It 
 must have seemed strange to be here, and not see 
 me. Did you think of me, Roger ? " 
 
 He pulled a budded maple-twig, and twisted it 
 between his fingers. 
 
 " Yes. I thought of you." 
 
 " What did you think ? " 
 
 " I 11 tell you another time." 
 
 " Philip came down for Molly," Lyssie went on, 
 telling her little story, " and I said everything I 
 
436 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 could. But it was n t any use. He was dear and 
 sweet, as he always is, but he would n t discuss it. 
 He said Cecil wanted Molly to be with me some 
 times, and he wanted to arrange about that. But 
 he would n t talk about Cecil. Molly is to be here 
 this summer, and Philip will come when he can. 
 I suppose he has told you all about it ? " 
 
 " No." 
 
 Alicia looked troubled. " Have you felt as if he 
 was n t friendly, because because our engagement 
 was broken ? I know it never made any difference 
 in his feeling for you. Let me tell you what he 
 said that day he came for Molly. Just as he was 
 going away, he came back and took my hands, and 
 he said oh, Roger, he said, Lyssie, if he comes 
 back, forgive him. He is a good man. He meant 
 you, Roger. (Of course, Philip did n t understand, 
 or he would n t have said 4 forgive. " ) 
 
 The twig snapped between the young man s fin 
 gers, and he looked away from her. 
 
 44 What did you say? " she asked him softly. 
 
 " Nothing ; nothing. Do you forgive me, Lys- 
 sie?" 
 
 Her look told him. 
 
 " Oh, I don t deserve it," he said brokenly. It 
 was growing cold as the twilight fell upon the river- 
 road ; they stood quite silently, with a little sadness 
 in their joy which they had never known when they 
 had loved each other less. 
 
 " You ought n t to be standing here," he told her 
 suddenly, " but I ve got to say something ; I ve 
 
PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 437 
 
 got something to confess, Lyssie." They were 
 standing under a little dogwood-tree, its shelving 
 branches white with blossoms ; it was very still in 
 the soft spring dusk. Roger looked up and down 
 the deserted road ; then he said, " Will you kiss me 
 just once, first? Perhaps you won t forgive me 
 when I ve told you." 
 
 There was something in his voice that sent the 
 color out of her face. " There is nothing you could 
 tell me that is not forgiven already ; so don t tell 
 me." 
 
 "Yes, I must tell you," he said; but turned 
 away from her, and stood staring into the dusk for 
 a little while. " Lyssie, I do love you. I ve loved 
 you more every minute since we " 
 
 " Yes, I understand," she murmured, " since 
 we _ But neither of them spoke the cruel word. 
 
 " I ve loved you all the time. But once you 
 will never understand ! but I ve got to tell you ; 
 once I thought I loved your sister." 
 
 She started and shivered, her hands tightening 
 on each other ; but she did not speak. 
 
 " It was that Friday night I came down. I - 
 
 But she stopped him, tenderly, though truly with 
 no understanding of what he meant ; with only love 
 _ love love. She took both his hands and pressed 
 them against her bosom in ineffable tenderness. 
 
 " Oh, Lyssie, do you forgive me ? " 
 
 " There is no talk of forgiveness between us." 
 
 And then he said passionately, " / love you ! n 
 and dared not kiss her, even. 
 
438 PHILIP AND HIS WIFE. 
 
 Afterwards they talked of other things, and 
 Roger, square with his conscience, was able to forget 
 that he had had cause to be forgiven, but Alicia was 
 a little absent ; until she said, suddenly, tremulously, 
 " I just want to ask you one thing, and then we 11 
 not think of it again : I want to know if if she 
 cared ? " 
 
 There was no pause between her question and 
 Roger s instant and generous lie ; but her lover was 
 quiet for a while afterwards. It was a pity that she 
 had asked him ; but a woman in love rarely knows 
 the value of ignorance. 
 
 After a while, as they walked home, Roger be 
 gan, timidly, to say that he would wait as long - 
 as long as she wished. But she interrupted him. 
 
 " There is n t any need to wait very long." 
 
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