Into an Unknown /'Jufhorof - ■ , junHjjit-t-:— > .« ^U "rfijnfl^,, THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES I-NTO AN UNKNOWN WOP.LI). INTO AN UNKNOWN WORLD. H novel BY JOHN STRANGE WINTEK, AUTHOR OF "BOOTLES- BJLBY," "A BLAMELESS WOMAN," " AKMY SOCIETY," "THE TRUTH-TELLEKS," '> GKIP," ETC. FIFTH EDITION, LONDON : F. V. WHITE & CO., 14, BEDFORD STREET, STRAND, W.C. 1898. PKINIEU BY KKr.I-Y'S DIKECTOKIES, LID., l82, 1S3 ASU 1S4, UIGH UOLBOKN, W.f. , AND MIDDLK MILL, KIN«STON-ON-THAMKS. CONTENTS. CHAP. I. — Home Ixfltjence . . , II. — The Awakening of a Soul III. — Longings ..... IV.— How Things Fall Got ! . V. — Dangerous Ground YI. — A Merchant Prince VII. — The Brink of the Sxream VIII.— Love, The Tempter . - . IX. — Consent ..... X. — "Waiting . . . . . . XI. — The Passing of the TIubicon XII.— Gone! XIII. — Blame XIV. — Those Whom God Hath .Toinkb Toglther ..... XY. — Imo the Unknown World! XYL — Clive House ..... XVil. — The Hack — an Instrument of Torture XYIil. — A ]Ib8toration ..... XIX. — A Mighty Effort .... XX. — Between Two "Worlds XXL — Externals or Essentials XXII. — Open Confession is Good for the Soul ...... PAOH 1 8 18 24- ol 40 45 G4 71 r-rf 8r> !■;» •J 7 IV, 't 111 125 l;;u 138 14G ±524237 i CONTENTS. CHAP. I'Ann XXIII. — Thh Last op Her Boats . ]:c> XXIV.. — Still — The Hack! 1 o t XXV.- —An Honourable Rrtkrat . u:5 XXVL- — Home, Sweet Home . 172 XXVII.- — YoTJNG Folks' "Ways . 17(! XXVIII.- —Austin's Ambition . . isy XXIX.- —To Meet the Bride . 190 XXX.- —A Social Failure . . IDG XXXI.- — The Head of the Business 20;^ XXXII. —A Piece of News . . 2UD XXXIII.- —Two Lives Bound East 215 xxxiv.. — Nearer and Nearer . 221 XXXV.- —Face to Face .... 230 XXX VI.- —A Rift ..... . 237 XXXVII.- —The Rift Widens 212 [XXVIII.- —A SUGOESTION .... . 247 XXXIX.- -Enmity 253 XL.- -Crow's Nest .... . 253 XLI.- —A New Venture 2C(; XLII.- -She Stoops to Conq^kr . . 272 XLIII.- -Given Back .... 27!) XLIV.- -Any Stick to Beat a Doa with . 2;io XLV.- -A Bold Front .... 2H2 XLVI.- -The Member for Ean-.vicii . 21J« INTO AN UNKNOWN WORLD. INTO AN UNKNOWN WORLD. CHAPTER I. HOME INFLUENCE. Some of our weaknesses are born in us ; others are the result of education : it is a question -which of the two gives us most trouble. — GOKTHE. " There is nothing in all the world so precious, so to be prized, so holy as love," said a voice, in soft Grerman accents. " I suppose not, Fraulein," came the answer through the fast-gathering twilight. " Ach, you are so cold, you English girls," said the German girl, for she was little more than a girl though she had been for six months past entrusted with almost the sole care of Marjory Dundas, who was less than six years her junior. " Meine Hebe, do you never think of the day when you will find yourself in the embrace of your beloved ? " " Oh, yes, I suppose I shall get married some day," replied Marjory a little hazily. *' Get married — some day — you suppose," echoed the German girl, with an air of fine scorn, " ach, how cold you all are. Get married — some day — ah, Marjory, there are nights when I lie awake, dreaming, thinking, hoping, wondering " " But you are betrothed — that makes a difi'erence," put in Marjory. " Betrothed — yes ! '' in a tone of rapture. " Acb, 1 2 INTO AN UNKNOWN WORLD, himmel, and it is already six months since I have seen my Fritz. It may be six months more " "Unless my mother decides that we are to go to Heidelberg instead of to some French place for the holidays," said Marjory. " You will ask her ? " interrupted the German girl eagerly. " You will do your best, liebchen, that she says Heidelberg, will you not ? " " Yes, I will ask her, but she is not e.asy to persuade and I am afraid she is set upon improving our French rather than our German," said Marjory doubtfully. " But I would not set my heart on it if I were you, Fraulein, if you do, I am afraid it will mean dis- appointment." " When I think of my Fritz, my own noble-hearted perfect Fritz," murmured Fraulein half shutting her short-sighted blue eyes and clasping her little fat hands together with a gesture half of rapture and half of despair. ** I wouldn't," put in Marjory — " no, I wouldn't, and I certainly would take particular care that my mother never suspects even the existence of a Fritz. It will be good-bye to all chance of going to Heidelberg if she does." The German girl murmured " Liebchen — Lieb- chen — " and then apparently fell straightway into a day-dream about her Fritz, who was no such hero after all, if Marjory Dundas had but known it, but only the second violin of a band of musicians who for the present made sweet music at Heidelberg and hoped for fame and fortune in the days to come. Meantime, life in the big London house went on as usual. Ever since Marjory Dundas could remember anything, that life had been practically the same. HOME INFLUENCE. S She could never remember the time when her mother had not had more engagements than she could possibly get through, she had never known her to take more than what might be described as a bird's eye view of her daughters' lives, her interest in their appearance, their looks, their attainments being an affair not of to-day but entirely for to-morrow. " Fraulein, you must take care that Marjory does not stoop," she would say — " Sewing ? Oh, no, what does my daughter need with sewing ? Embroidering ruins the eyes. See that she holds herself well — that is much more important." Not once in a month did the three young daughters of the house of Dundas see their father or mother before lunch-time, and not always then. If Mrs. Dundas was lunching at home and there were not too many guests, the young ladies shared in the ordinary dining-room meal. On other occasions they were served separately in the morning-room. " Such a mistake to have girls too much in evidence before they are out," said Mrs. Dundas one day to a friend, who asked why her daughters were not present at some entertainment. " My girls are very pretty — it would never do to have them always to the front. Besides, I wish them to make a distinct mark in Society when they are introduced." " But don't you think girls are apt to be shy ? " the other began. "Shy! No, I don't think my girls will be shy. They are always with their governess and occupied with their different lessons. They have no time to think of being shy," Mrs. Dundas said with decision. *' Fraulein knows my wishes in that respect. A good kind estimable creature with no nonsense of any kind 4 I^'TO AN UNKNOWN WORLD. about her, Fraulein. Yes, that was why I chose a German in preference to a Frenchwoman. French women are so intriguantes — one never quite knows, don't you think ? I would have preferred a French- woman so far as the language went, but with a sweet, simple, domestic, homely German, one feels so much more safe." So Mrs. Dundas's three girls continued in the safe seclusion of the school-room and remained under the influence of the sweet, simple, domestic and homely Fraulein Schwarz, while the lady herself went her way secure in the feeling that she had done her best to fit her daughters to shine one day in that society of which she was so bright an ornament and so popular a member. And Marjory, who was not yet seventeen, continued to be the confidant of all Fraulein Schwarz's rhapsodies concerning the absent and beloved Fritz, and, all insensibly though it was, to drink in deep intoxicating draughts of that poison which most of us taste at one time of our lives and which we all Icnow as the glamour of romance. It happened ;is the season drew towards a close and Mrs. Dundas was obliged to bring her attention to bear upon the annual holiday of the girls, thafe Marjory once or twice asked her mother whether she had decided on their destination. ** I should like you to go to some French place, Marjory," she replied one morning, when Marjory had diplomatically approached the subject. " Your accent is really very indifferent, though your French is fairly fluent. But I am doubtful." " Why are you doubtful, Mother?" Marjory asked. " Well — for one thing I cannot very well go with you. Your father and I are invited and indeed have HOME INFLUENCE. 6 promised to pay a visit to Prince Erenstein at his place in the Thuringian Forest. If you had been a year older, Marjory, and had been introduced, you would have gone too. As it is, for at least another year, you must be kept in the back-ground. If I let Fraulein take you girls to a French place with Marie, of course " "Oh, but Mother, she is so German, and so patriotic," Marjory put in in a tone of alarm which she was far from feeling — " don't you think she will certainly get us into trouble ? Somewhere in Germany she will be on her native heath so to speak and surely, if we speak German perfectly it will count the same as if it were French." " I doubt it," said Mrs. Dundas seriously. " Perfect French is perfect French all the world over. Still, as you say, Marjory — and, really, you are very sensible and far-seeing for your age — Fraulein is very German and the Germans are naturally not very popular in France, and it certainly would be awkward if any unlucky con- tretemps were to happen — so perhaps we had better say some place in Germany for certain. And there is another thing in favour of that idea — your father and I could travel part of the way with you and see you comfortably settled. That would do better for all. The only thing then to definitely settle is to choose a place for you." " Oh, Heidelberg, Mother, Heidelberg," cried Mar- jory clasping her hands together, " do say Heidelberg." Mrs. Dundas looker rather coldly at her daughter. " It is not necessary to get excited about it, Marjory," she said freezingly. "Excitement is very bad form. Why do you wish to go to Heidelberg ? " " So lovely, so romantic, so " Marjory began. 6 INTO AN UNKNOWN WOELD. " So cheap, " put in her mother in cool every day tones. " Yes, good air, good vrater, good hotels and pensions. A suite of rooms in some quiet hotel would be the best. Helen could go on with her violin lessons — and you could take a few extra lessons in sketching. Keally I think Heidelberg would be as good as any place we could tind. I will speak to your father about it." Marjory sought out Fraulein Schwarz with a light heart. Speaking " to your father " stood in that estab- lishment for a decision already arrived at, and Marjory was full of the news that the sojourn at Heidelberg was already a foregone conclusion. The German girl — I have said that she was but a few years older than Marjory — caught her pupil in her arms and kissed her with effusion. " It is thou, angel that thou art," she ex- claimed with trembling lips and tear-dimmed eyes, and Marjory who was also shaking with excitement, was scarcely less affected. " Nay, Fraulein," she cried, putting her slim young hands on the dumpy shoulders of the little German woman and looking down upon her from her vastly superior light, " if you upset yourself like this, I shall be sorry that I tried to persuade my mother that Heidelberg was the place for us." "Upset — how can I help being upset, when I shall see my Fritz once more, my own noble-hearted Fritz whom I have not seen for all these weary months and to whom I have been betrothed ever since I was sixteen ? My Fritz — my Fritz." " Poor little Fraulein," said Marjory Dundas with a smile that was half of sympathy and half of envy. " It is wonderful to feel for any one like that." " Wonderful," echoed the other, " it is even more nOxME INFLUENCE. 7 than wonderful — it is heaven itself. Ach, but you are cold, you English. Still, you will understand some day. You will wake up — you will be born to love. Then vou will know." Marjory looked a little wistfully at her instructor. " You see, Fraulein," she said shame-faeedly, as if it were a distinct blot upon her character that she was so ignorant on this point — " I have never had the chance of knowing about these things. Our last go- verness was very stiff and very prim. I am sure if anyone had proposed to her, she would have fainted on the spot. I remember my mother saying to her once — ' I think first and foremost, Miss Jones, of what will fit my girls to shine when they are married,' and Miss Jones positively shuddered and said some- thing about its being better to keep young girls free of such thoughts, and my mother laughed outright." •* Madame is more sympathetic," cried Liza Schwarz, who at that moment was full of gratitude towards Mrs. Dundas for having unwittingly decided in favour of Heidelberg as a suitable place wherein a governess and three young girls might spend a holiday. "I don't think," said Marjory slowly, "that my Mother is in the very least little bit sympathetic to romance in any shape or form. It was only the other day that she was speaking to Aunt Margaret about a girl who had married a man for love and nothing else. Aunt Margaret was saying that after all, there was a great deal of excuse for her, that the young man was handsome and very fascinating, attractive enough to turn any girl's head. * Pooh ! ' cried my Mother, what nonsense you talk, Margaret. It all comes of the poor girl's silly mother filling her head with such ridiculous nonsense — marrying for love on two- 8 INTO AN UNKNOWN WORLD. pence half-penny a year ! They manage these things much better in France where a girl is told to marry the man who is the most suitable for her to marry.' " ' But surely you would leave a poor girl her choice,' cried Aunt Margaret. " ' Not at all. How is a young girl without experience or anything but mere fancy to guide her, to know whether a particular man is best for her or not ? Nonsense, a girl has nothing to do with romance and such like absurdities. Her business is to make a good marriage.' " ' And yet you married George,' said Aunt Margaret, meaning of course my father. " * Yes, I married George,' said Mother shortly. ** * I wondered then and have often wondered since what Aunt Margaret could have meant," Marjory con- tinued in a puzzled tone. " Madame knows what love is," said Fraulein Schwarz with conviction. "Perhaps; for my father is very handsome," re- turned Marjory. " And yet .... it is hard to think- — I mean to realize that they were ever really in love with each other." CHAPTER II. THE AWAKENING OF A SOUL. Secst thou shadows sailing by, As the dovo, with startled eye, Sees the falcon's shadow fly ? — Longfellow. It was not the least remarkable characteristic of the life led by the Dundas family in the handsome house in Eaton Square that discussion was unknown among the members of the household. From the very begin- THE AWAKENIiNG OF A SOUL. » ning of her married life Mrs. Diindas had always re- solutely and inflexibly set her face against such a habit growing either upon her or any member of her family. None of the three young daughters of the house had ever known a decision once given to be reversed for any reason whatsoever ; they knew not what it was to be nagged at or in any way worried on the score of things that were over and done with ; a fault once reproved was never mentioned again, a commendation was uttered once and once only. Mrs. Dundas herself was thoroughly consistent and never under any circum- stances argued with her lord and master. " I think, George," she would say, " that we may as well do such and such things." To which the Honourable George was expected to give an unhesitating consent, and in- variably did so. And when, now and again, she sought a definite opinion from him and asked his advice, she never argued a point but accepted his fiat as the only possible plan of action to be taken under the circum- stances. Therefore, when Mrs. Dundas set forth to her husband her plan for giving the three girls a thorough change and at the same time a suitable holiday, he seeing no objection thereto, fell in with it and the matter was settled. The actual arrangements were simple enough. Mrs. Dundas wrote to a house-agent at Heidelberg who recommended a suite of rooms in an excellent pension, where they could be spared all trouble of housekeeping and yet be as much by themselves as if they were in a house of their own. " It will cost a little more to have meals served in their own apartments," said Mrs. Dundas to her spouse, *' than if they joined the general table. Of course 10 INTO AN UNKNOWN WOULD. they cannot join the general table ; they might get mixed up with all sorts of people ." "Oh, of course not," returned Mr. Dundas with decision, Mr. Dundas was nothing if not thoroughly insular in his prejudices. So the suite of rooms was taken and, in due course of time, the Dundas family were conveyed by means of a couple of omnibuses to the railway station and started off on their journey, which to some of them at all events was to lead into an unknown world. How utterly and entirely unknown a world it would prove, they little suspected. All were entirely trustful of that dim mysterious future which ever looms before each one of us and about which the majority of us think so little that it scarcely troubles us at all. Of the six people who that morning left the home which would never be the same again to any one of them, not one cast so much as a single backward glance at it, all were gay and smiling, full of joyous anticipation of what lay immediately behind the veil. Mr. Dundas pleasantly thinking of good sport, his wife tossing her head so to speak over new social triumphs, Fraulein dreaming ecstatically of her Fritz, and the three girls brimful of the promise of life ! Alas, alas ! There is nothing very wonderful in a journey from London to Heidelberg ! To Mr. and Mrs. Dundas, who had made it many times before, it was only a time to be got over as easily and as comfortably as might be. To the others, who were in the next carriage during the railway parts of the journey, it was unmixed fun and merry-making. And at last they arrived at the lovely town on the banks of the Necker and in a very short time were as much at home as if they had lived there for years. THE AWAKElNlJSG OF A SOUL. 11 Mr. and Mrs. Dundas stayed but for a few days, being due at their destination in the Thuringian Forest. Mrs. Dundas was pleased to be very much satisfied with the arrangements which she had made for the girls and Fraulein. "A very good place, Marjory," she said, on the morning after their arrival, " so much more private than an hotel and no more trouble. If I had let you have a flat and left you to provide your own meals, 1 feel convinced you would never have had enough to eat, but would have spent all your housekeeping money on cakes and ices. These rooms are really very nice and the cookery as good as you will get anywhere in Germany. I shall go otf to Prince Erenstein's feeling quite happy about you." " I am sure you may be that. Mother," said Marjory. " We shall be perfectly comfortable, and Fraulein's joy at finding herself in her native laud again is too extreme for description." Mrs. Dundas looked up sharply. "Marjory," she said in a quick tone of suspicion, " Fraulein is not a native of Heidelberg surely ? " " Oh, no, Mother, certainly not. But Germany is all home to her and she has suffered horribly from home-sickness " " What absurd nonsense," ejaculated Mrs. Dundas with a disgusted air. " Home-sickness indeed. H'm ! I wonder if she has ever lived in all her life as she has done since she has been with us. And eighty pounds a year into the bargain ! Home-sickness indeed." Marjory gave vent to a little sigh, but it was a meek and suppressed sigh which Mrs, Dundas did not hear. How hard her mother was, how unrecognizing of the rights of others, how unfeeling ! Did she never realize. 12 IKTO AN UNKNOWN WORLD. the girl wondered, that Fraulein and the servants were human beings, with hearts and souls, and likes and dis- likes, like higher placed and more fortunate people? Had she never grasped the fact that Fraulein was young still, at least, that she was not old or even middle-aged, that time was passing on, life slipping away and the bloom and passion of youth fading and becoming less intense with every hour? No, no, to her mother poor Fraulein was not a woman, a heart, a soul ; she was just a machine who was wound up with eighty pounds' worth of oil every year, a machine whose sole object in existence was to help to make Mrs. Dundas's daughters ready for the marriage-market ! It was the first time in all her young life that Marjory Dundas had realized the actual quality of her mother's nature ; for the first time in all her life she awoke to the truth that in time to come, no question of her likes and dislikes would be taken into account v.-hen someone should wish to marry her ; for the first time she realized that her future would not be a question of her heart or even of her soul, but solely one of horses and car- riages, of men-servants and maid-servants, of diamonds, of purple and fine linen, of ways and means, of rank and fashion, and the pleasure of Mrs. Dundas ! It was a loathly prospect and Marjory Dundas seemed all at once, under the influence of these new-born ideas, to grow from a rather childish girl into a woman, a woman young and inexperienced it is true, yet full of all the innate pride, the reserve, the stateliness and dignity of the feminine creature whose bloom is still unbrushed by the coarse contact of the world. I do not mean to convey that Marjory Dundas from that moment was so changed that her whole life, thoughts, aims, and ambitious became totally altered. THE AWAKENING OF A SOUL. 13 Oh, dear no ! Those about her perceived no change in her at all. She ate and slept just as usual, and entered into all the bright pleasant life which was going on around her as gaily and light-heartedly as she had ever done. Each morning, very very early, while the brilliant summer day was yet in its infancy, the German girl, whose heart was brimful and running over with love for Fritz, went out to spend a too-short blissful happy hour with him, and Marjory, who was young and sympathetic, aided and abetted in the arrangement. When Mrs. Dundas first discovered that Fraulein and Marjory had been out sketching before breakfast she was delicately scornful at their enterprise. " Such energy," she said. " I suppose it is to be expected that Fraulein will infect you with her homely German habits. It is a good thing that your sisters prefer to stay in bed, for I am sure they are neither of them strong enough to go in for freaks of that kind." " It does me no harm, Mother," said Marjory. "Oh, no, my dear, none at all," Mrs. Dundas re- joined drily. " I have no objection to your getting up in the middle of the night, if it pleases you to do so ; only I do hope it won't last. You would find such a habit so inconvenient after you are introduced." " I don't think it will become a habit," said Marjory, feeling very guilty all at once, and conscious that she was growing of a fine crimson hue. Nor did it prove so. When Mr. and Mrs. Dundas had gone on to Schloss Erenstein, and there was no longer any cover needed for Fraulein's comings and goings, Marjory stayed in bed of a morning like her sisters. If Fraulein chose to sally forth for the pur- pose of sitting in some arbour with her Fritz, that was 14 INTO AN UNKNOWN WORLD. no concern of Marjory's, and she did not trouble her- self about the matter. If the truth be told, it was a very great relief to the girl that she need no longer be present at the meetings between Fraulein Schwarz and her Fritz. She had during those few mornings, when the presence of Mrs. Dundas in Heidelberg had made such meetings almost impossible, passed a most miserable and uncomfortable time. She was not old enough nor yet sufficiently well versed in the ways of the world to be able to judiciously efface herself, and German lovers are not shy, so that she usually sat on a camp stool, with her eyes glued to her painting- block wishing heartily that she had been born devoid of hearing. This martyrdom on the altar of friend- ship and true sympathy for love did not, mercifully, last very long ; and Mrs. Dundas would have been considerably astonished had she known how very soon Marjory abandoned her new habit after her mother's departure for Schloss Erenstein. Of a truth, Fraulein's Fritz had been somewhat of a revelation to Marjory. It would be hard to say precisely what she had expected to find him, but certainly she had looked for some one wholly different to what he proved to be. She would not have been very much surprised had he turned out to be a shaggy unkempt person with a gold band round his cap ; but certain it is that she was genuinely sur- prised when she found that he was tall and comely, gentlemanlike both in manners and appearance, with a neatly cropped head of fair hair and a pair of good blue eyes such as were handsome enough to win the heart of any girl. And he was so pathetically in love with little Fraulein ! Marjory smiled to see how evidently he invested her with every virtue and every THE AWAKENING OF A SOUL. 15 beauty. In the eyes of the young girl, trained by the association of her whole life to an appreciation of the outward signs of class, there was something wholly unattractive in the little dumpy German woman, with her hay-coloured hair and her two rosy cheeks. It was indeed wonderful that Herr Fritz, an artist, an ex-soldier and a personable young man, could find so much to admire in her. Oddly enough, it was Herr Fritz whom Mrs. Dundas selected for the violin-lessons which the second girl Helen was to take during their stay at Heidelberg, and her instructions concerning them almost let the cat out of the bag. " I have arranged for Helen to have a violin lesson every morning, Fraulein," she said, the evening before her departure for Schloss Erenstein. " One of the violinists in the band has been very highly recom- mended to me, as he both plays and teaches well. His name is Schmidt. You will take care never to leave the room while the lesson is going on, Fraulein ! I have reason to " " You need have no fear, Madame," broke in the little Grerman woman indignantly. Mrs. Dundas, recognizing the anger in the gov- erness's voice, stared hard at her for a moment, as if to ask her how she dared show any passion to her employer ? Then, with the habitual calm of a person who never allowed herself to show or indeed to feel anger, she put aside the momentary sensation of surprise and annoyance and went on speaking as quietly as usual. " No, no, of course I know that you will do every- thing that is right, Fraulein. I did not for a moment wish to hint that you would neglect your charges. I 16 INTO AN UNKNOWN VfORLD. am sure that you are much too conscientious for that. Only with young and impressionable girls, one cannot be too careful. You understand what I mean." The little governess pulled herself together by an immense effort and smiled her understanding of Mrs. Dundas's meaning, and so the dangerous moment passed over without any revelations being made. Mrs. Dundas herself thought the matter over for fully ten minutes, when she once more found herself alone. ** So strange," she mused, *' that a young woman should feel offence about a trivial remark like that. Professional amour proprCy I suppose. Dear me, it is difficult to understand." So Helen Dundas began her violin lessons with her new master under the care of a duenna who was supposed to be blessed with a superabundance of pro- fessional zeal, and her mother, quite happy in the security of feeling that she had so surrounded her with ramifications of caution, bade adieu to her chil- dren and set off to enjoy the greater glories of the Schloss Erenstein. From this place her very first letter to Marjory served to arouse into fresh vitality all the thoughts of doubt and distrust which had first been awakened in the girl's mind by her mother's careless remarks about Fraulein Schwarz. " Almost the first news I heard on arriving here — " she wrote — " was as great a surprise to me as I am sure it will be to you. Mary Fanshawe is engaged to Lord Sievers. I could scarcely believe it at first — it seemed so incredible to think of that little plain red- haired thing being Marchioness of Sievers. It only shows what can be done — and, of course, Mary Fan- shawe has been admirably brought up. I am writing to Mrs. Fanshawe by this post to congratulate her THE AWAKENING OF A SOUL. 17 on the great event. I only hope that my girls will do as well." For some time after reading this letter, Marjory Dundas sat still thinking deeply. Mary Fanshawe was going to be married, she was going to be Marchioness of Sievers, she was going to have diamonds, and great houses, and troops of servants, and enormous wealth, and — and — and I/ord Sievers ! A sickening shudder ran through the girl's slight frame as she reached this point in her meditations. Mary Fanshawe might be plain and red-haired, she might have been so admii-ably brought up that she would unhesitatingly choose worldly advantage before any other consideration, but Mary Fanshawe was human, Mary Fanshawe was young, Lord Sievers was old and fat and bloated with gout or drink or both, Lord Sievers was bald and rubicund and he wheezed when he went up stairs. He wore a white waistcoat at all times, a white waistcoat that was offensively characteristic, and Marjory's very soul turned sick within her at the mere thought of the marriage about which her mother was so full of admiration and almost of envy. Then another thought came to her mind, and she turned eagerly to Fraulein. " Tell me, Fraulein," she said, *' and don't you think that I'm asking you for vanity or conceit or anything of that kind — But — but do you think I am at all pretty ? " " No, not pretty," returned Fraulein, without a moment's hesitation — " but beautiful, lovely. It was only yesterday that I heard a great tali Englishman say to another as you passed — * What a lovely girl.' " Marjory gave a great sigh and turned away with a 2 18 INTO AN UNKNOWN WORLD. gesture of dismay. " I wish that I were ugly," she said mournfully. " But why ? Surely, it is well to be beautiful," the German girl cried in accents of profound astonishment. " No — no - it is oiot good," said Marjory emphati- cally. " I wish that I were ugly — ugly. I do, Fraulein, really." She made a despairing gesture with her hands and walked a few steps towards the window. Then she raised her eyes to a large pier-glass near at hand and looked at herself long and earnestly. " Young and beautiful," her thoughts ran. " I never knew that I was beautiful until to-day. Add up the list of my charms — fine silky hair — deep grey eyes — black lashes that lie on a white skin — straight little nose with a tilt at the end of it — a dimple at one side of my mouth — and the end of it all a Marquis of Sievers .... or worse ! " CHAITEK III. LONGINGS. Siie tluit has light within her own dear heart 31ay sit i' the centre and enjoy bright day. — Milton. <( . . . And Helen has her violin lesson every morning," wrote Marjory Dundas to her mother. *' She says she has learned more from Herr Schmidt already than she learned from Signor Scarpi in two years." It was quite true. Herr Fritz — as the girls always called him — was an enthusiast in his art, and a born teacher. He could not help imparting to others what he knew himself, and if there were LONGINGS. 19 tender glances between him and the rosy-cheeked little Fraulein, and a sly meeting of the fingers now and again, the lesson certainly did not suffer thereby. Moreover, Helen was three years younger than Marjory and extremely childish for her age, or if not exactly childish she was at least so devoted to her violin that she took neither interest in nor gave heed to the signs of the times which presented them- selves around her. So eager a pupil was she, and so enthusiastic a teacher was Herr Fritz, that the hour of the lesson frequently resolved itself into two or more, and often he would bring his own violin and practise so that Helen might have th-e benefit of listening thereto. " She is a genius," he said more than once to the governess. " She has greatness in her. Is she going to play with her gift, or is she going to give her life to it?" " Ach, I cannot say. I must introduce you to Mrs. Dundas when she returns," Fraulein replied. "But I don't think she will be allowed to devote her life to her gift, no matter how great it is. In their class of life, they regard artists as — as — well, as very inferior persons, who have no more cause for living than to minister to the pleasure of people in good society. Mrs. Dundas wishes Helen to play well because it will be a stylish thing to do, it will give her what in England they call a chic." " It is iniquitous," said Herr Fritz, '' to think that there could be any hesitation in dealing with a gift of God so great." " I do not think/' replied the little Fraulein, " that Mrs. Dundas is a lady who has any feeling about a gift being of God. She thinks a great deal more 2* 20 INTO AN UNIiNOWN WOKLD. about the necessities of Society. I feel certain that she will never allow Helen to study the violin pro- fessionally — I feel as certain as that I am standing here this moment. However, as I said, I will introduce you to her when she returns and you will hear for yourself what her ideas are on the subject." " And meantime," said Herr Fritz, " even if it is to be hidden under the cloak of the amateur, it will give me the greatest pleasure to foster Fraulein Helen's genius. Her mother should be very proud of her." " My dear Fritz — heart of mine — " cried Fraulein, " you don't understand these people. If the Princess of "Wales were to ask Helen to play to her that would give her mother more satisfaction than if she won the approval of the whole world. Money is nothing to rich English people and fame, as you regard it, is a something which for themselves they would rather not have." Helen herself was troubled with no feeling one way or another as to the ultimate use of her gift. She worked duly and truly at her violin, so much so that Fraulein at last was obliged to insist upon her putting the instrument away in its case and devoting more time to her legitimate holiday. " You know, liebchen," she said to her, " if you work so hard you will be ill, and then your mother will be extremely angry with both of us. There is reason in everything and a time for all things. You have come to Heidelberg first of all to have a holiday for your health, for your relaxation, and to be playing so many hours a day is good neither for your mind nor your body." Then, very reluctantly, Helen would allow herself to drawn into some v.alk or excursion, or into going on the LONGINGS. 21 river with the safe old boatman whom Mr. Dundas had specially charged to take care of his daughters when they wished for that particular recreation. " It would be nice," said Fraulein to Marjory one day when they were sitting together in the garden of the Pension, "if we could make a little picnic by water.'* " Any time you like, Fraulein," repKed Marjory, who was as ready to go in for boating as for walking or any other form of amusement. " Fritz has a whole day off on Friday," said Fraulein, half hesitatingly. " You mean him to go with us ? " " That would be rather nice, wouldn't it ? " " I think it would be rather nice — yes." " It would be heaven ! " said little Fraulein, clasping her hands enthusiastically. So they set off with the old boatman to a pleasant village some miles away from Heidelberg, starting in the pleasantest time of the morning, and after the frugal Grerman fashion taking their luncheon with them. It was a delightful day, not wildly exciting to anybody excepting Fraulein, but the scenery was lovely, the day exquisite, the place new and interest- ing, and the girls were contented and happy. So the first week went by. Marjory heard twice from her mother, and in the first of those letters she told her that they had promised to extend their visit, and also that they had arranged a visit to another friend in Austria, and that they intended to pass a few days in Vienna as they were so near. " .... I enclose you a cheque book," Mrs. Dundas wrote, " the cheques are signed and you must 213 INTO AN UNKNOWN WORLD. see that you pay everything each week. Do not stint yourselves for excursions and pleasures of that kind, and be sure that you do not eat too many ices, they are very bad for the complexion and not half as whole- some as fruit. These foreign country houses are very amusing. I am in great hopes that we shall have similar invitations for next year, as I am sure you would enjoy this life extremely. Of course there is always the probability of your being engaged during your first season, which would effectually upset any such invitations being accepted. I hope that Fraulein takes great care over Helen's violin lessons. She is tall for her age, and these absurd Grermans of that class are very sentimental ; it would be dreadful to have any such ideas put into the child's head." Marjory laughed outright at her mother's letter. It struck very wide of the mark. " Why are you laughing, Marjory ? " said Fraulein . across the breakfast table. " Oh, nothing ; only something very amusing in my mother's letter." " What are we going to do to-day ? " •' Helen has her violin lesson this morning, then we are free to do as we like. This is not your day for sketching, is it ? " " Oh, no," said Marjory. She was not much interested in her sketching, and the drawing master whom her mother had chosen was the most uninteresting person she had ever seen in her life — a grumpy, elderly man, who was not the least interested in his pupil because she gave no signs of possessing any talent above the average. "No, no, Fraulein," she said, "my sketching is LONGINGS. 23 to-morrow. I wish," she added, with a sigh, " that it were always to-morrow. I do call it such waste of time to spend two whole hours with that tiresome old man, who thinks my fingers are all thumbs and very stupid at that. It is not like Helen, who really loves her lessons." " But it pleases your mother," said Fraulein indulgently. " Oh, yes, yes, of course I have got to do it, I know that, but it is tiresome. I always feel when the time for the lesson comes that I want to be doing something else. Fraulein," she said, looking up eagerly and fixing the dumpy little German with her brilliant grey eyes, '' do you know that I have an ambition !" Fraulein looked up. " An ambition — do 3'ou moan it ? " " Yes, a great ambition. I would like, Fraulein — you don't know how much I would like — to go on a tricycle!" '* My dear child ! " exclaimed the governess in horror. " Pray never let your mother know that such an idea entered your mind. She would be horrified, I believe it would be her death." " I do not think so," said Marjory calmly. " English women are taking to the tricycle — not many, it is true, but some of the Princesses do. At all events I should like to try, Fraulein, and Mother said that we were not to pinch ourselves for amusements and excursions and things of that kind, and I don't see why she should mind my going on a tricycle." " It is so dangerous," said the little governess. " Oh, not a bit — not half as dangerous as skating or riding, indeed, there is nothing particularly dangerous in it. I would like to try — you don't know how much. Oh, I say, Fraulein, what a good-looking young man !" 24 INTO AN UNKNOWN WORLD. The garden of the Pension over-looked the high road, and at that moment a young man on a very high bicycle came with a swifb silence that was almost ghostly along the dusty way. He was a very ordinary type of a young travelling Briton, he sat his machine well and was irreproachably garbed. His appearance, even in the brief space which passed before he shot out of sight, stamped itself upon the two girls as being quite out of the ordinary. " Now, how lovely that looks," said Marjory, jumping up and running to the wall of the terrace overlooking the road. " See, he sits like a boat upon a wave. No effort, no noise, no ugly movements. What a pleasure it must be to spin through the air like that. Why, I wonder, don't they make bicycles that women can ride on ? " " My dear ! " cried Fraulein. " Yes, I mean it," cried Marjory, turning her radiant eyes upon her governess, "I mean it. Why should men have everything and women nothing in this world ? Oh, the exhilaration of going through the air like that — of cleaving the air ! I do not believe, Fraulein, that a balloon can be named in the same day with it ! " CHAPTER IV. now THINGS FALL OUT ! Lii'c is a business, not good cheer. — George Hkrbert. The following day the youngest of the three girls, Winifred, woke with a headache. " Oh, Helen," she said to her sister, " my head does ache so this morning." HOW THINGS FALL OUT! 25 " Then you had better stay in bed," suggested Helen. " Shall I tell Fraulein ? " '* Yes, I wish you would." Helen, therefore, went into the adjoining room, which was shared by Fraulein and Marjory, and told the governess of Winifred's indisposition. " Indeed, then," cried Fraulein, who was extremely anxious at being left in sole charge of the girls, " you had best remain in bed, and if you are not better by mid-day, I will call in a doctor. How dost thou feel, liebchen ? " she inquired, relapsing into the.tender pro- noun in the extremity of her anxiety. " Oh, my head aches, and my throat feels dry and hot, and my bones ache," said Winifred listlessly. " I don't think it is anything much, Fraulein ; I have been like this before. If I may have a cup of tea and lie still here I daresay I shall be all right presently. Don't call in a nasty, stuffy old doctor, will you ? " " Mein liebchen, if thou art ill," cried Fraulein pitifully, " it will be absolutely necessary to call in a doctor, but I will choose one who is nice. I have heard that the English doctor here is kind and charming." " Oh, well, if he is English I don't mind," said Winifred, rolling her head fretfully on her pillows, "but don't send for him' just yet. I daresay I shall be better by and by." But Winifred did not grow better. On the contrary she became distinctly worse as the day wore on, and after an hour or two of anxious watching, Fraulein sent for the English doctor. He proved to be, as Fraulein had said, both kind and charming. He told the little patient that she was not very well, that she would have to stay in bed for a day or two, and that he would send her some medicine not too nastv. But when 26 INTO AN UNKNOWN WORLD. he drew the governess out of the room, he told her that he had great suspicions that the child was in for an attack of measles. "Has she had the measles ? " he enquired. " Ach, that I do not know. But Marjory — that is Miss Dundas — would be sure to know. Come this way, Doctor." She led the way through her own bedroom into the large sitting-room, where Marjory was reading near the window. " Marjory, has Winifred ever had the measles ? " she enquired. ** No, never. Grood morning, Doctor. Neither of my sisters have ever had the measles. You don't mean that Winifred has got them ? " " I am very much afraid your sister is in for an attack of measles," said the doctor. "' But you need not alarm yourself; it is a simple illness and it is not, at this time of year with ordinary care, dangerous. The question is, can she remain here ? " •' I don't think we could allow Winifred to be taken away to any hospital or to any place by herself. Doctor," said Marjory, suddenly assuming the authority of the situation. *' You see we are here with only Fraulein, while our parents are away staying at Schloss Erenstein, and I am quite sure if she is taken away, she will be frightened to death. If they insist upon her leaving this house, we had better go into a villa. At all events it is im- possible for Winifred to be entirely separated from us." " I don't think," said the doctor, " that there will be the slightest necessity for a measure so stringent. I will speak to the lady of the house. It may be neces- sary to isolate her, indeed I should advise its being done. I should alno advise you to have a nurse." HOW THINGS FALL OUT! 27 " You don't mean that she is ill enough to require a nurse ?" said Marjory. ,„ » ... " No, my dear young lady, your sister is not very ill, but you spoke of another sister." *•' Yes, she is the one between us." " Well, she might have the measles, you might have them, Fraulein might have them, and it is better the little patient should have a proper nurse who under- stands illness even if she is not ill enough to require such attention." " Oh, of course, anything that is necessary she mur