Sertrude^Pamow

 
 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS
 
 CICELY
 
 THE 
 GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 A NOVEL 
 
 BY 
 
 GERTRUDE PAHLOW 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 DUFFIELD & COMPANY 
 1914
 
 COPYRIGHT, 1BU 
 By DUFFIELD & COMPANY
 
 TO E. P. W. 
 
 A book is like a friend, and a friend is like a book; 
 Each a true-heart lover for a lamp-lit ingle-nook : 
 So take from me this book, and be to me a friend 
 (O best of true-heart lovers!) till our book shall end. 
 
 2137592
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 I THE INAUGURATION OF A CAREER 1 
 
 II THE DIPLOMAT'S ENTERING WEDGE 39 
 
 III THE NEW PUPIL 62 
 
 IV MORE DIPLOMACY 82 
 
 V Ax ADVENTURE IN ARCADY 109 
 
 VI ARCADY MISLAID 130 
 
 VII ANOTHER BLOW ON THE DIPLOMATIC WEDGE . . . 156 
 
 VIII AN IDYL IN MUD AND SPLINTERS 193 
 
 IX THE END OF THE WORLD 223 
 
 X WAIF'S ASYLUM 231 
 
 XI THE UNKNOWN LAND 239 
 
 XII A CLUE FOR A BLINDFOLD ARIADNE 246 
 
 XIII LIGHT IN THE LABYRINTH 263 
 
 XIV THE SEASON OF GROWING 274 
 
 XV "JOURNEYS END" . 290
 
 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS
 
 THE 
 GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 THE INAUGURATION OF A CAREER 
 
 THE train pulled slowly, through an avenue of yellow- 
 ing autumn leaves, up the grade towards the little town; 
 and Roger Ford, leaning forward in his chair, laid his 
 hand eagerly on his bride's arm. 
 
 " We're almost there, Cicely ! " he said. " Almost 
 home ! " 
 
 "Really?" exclaimed Cicely. "Hallelujah! I 
 thought it would never happen." 
 
 " So did I," said Roger, drawing a deep breath. " I've 
 thought of it, and despaired of it, so long ! And 
 now you're here. You in Cheltenham, sweetheart ! " 
 
 "How do I fit the picture?" asked Cicely, cocking 
 her head at him. 
 
 " Perfectly, of course," said Roger. " You'd fit any 
 picture." He looked at her with shining eyes of love 
 and pride, and then, craning his neck, peered along the 
 train's path towards the place that was the other mistress 
 of his heart. For the first time a faint misgiving, that 
 
 1
 
 2 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 perhaps had been lingering beneath the surface of his 
 mind, smote him consciously. " You fit it perfectly, of 
 course," he reiterated firmly; and looked again at her 
 with dawning doubt. He had always known that his 
 wife was ineffable, unique among mortals; but now that 
 they neared the grave old academic town it suddenly 
 seemed that there might be more of a difference between 
 her and the other faculty wives than could be accounted 
 for by her celestial attributes alone. Was it all in her 
 bright beauty and perfect Parisian clothes ? A puzzled 
 wrinkle came between his brows. 
 
 " Chel-tenham ! " called a raucous voice at the end of 
 the car, as the train came to a standstill. 
 
 " Chel-tenham ! " repeated Cicely gaily. " Out with 
 you, Roger ! Boots, saddle, to horse and away ! " And 
 without waiting for him to rise, she sped to the door 
 and ran down the steps to the platform. " That's the 
 way to hurry big slow men ! " she said, as he caught up 
 with her, " run, and they'll run after you ; it's inevitable, 
 it's the Fourth Law of Motion. Where are the taxis ? " 
 
 "Oh, taxis!" said Roger, laughing. "Why, a taxi 
 that found itself in Cheltenham would explode with the 
 shock. You've come down to the bed rock of low living 
 and high thinking, dear." 
 
 " But no taxis, Roger ! " exclaimed Cicely. " Why, 
 I always thought this was the country above all others 
 for comfort. In Paris people used to say, ' Oh, the 
 Americans .'they are not mortals, they are million- 
 aires! ' I'm sure whenever we came back to New York 
 there were taxis enough." 
 
 Roger laughed again, half-heartedly. " Cheltenham's
 
 INAUGURATION OF A CAREER 3 
 
 not New York, as you'll very soon find! And college 
 people aren't millionaires, you know I've told you that 
 until you said you were tired of hearing it. You've lived 
 in such a different world from this, sweetheart, you come 
 here almost a foreigner. I hope you're not going to 
 find the naturalizing too hard." He gazed at her anx- 
 iously, his blue eyes and sober, square-chinned face full 
 of a boyish wistfulness that was oddly appealing in so 
 big a man. 
 
 " Well," said Cicely, with a little frowning shrug, 
 " wishing won't save shoe-leather. If there aren't any 
 decent cabs we must walk. Give the bags to one of 
 these moth-eaten charioteers, Roger, and take me away 
 before their eyes pop out. I had no idea America was 
 like this." 
 
 Roger consigned the luggage to one of the hover- 
 ing cabmen, and guided his wife from the platform 
 towards the main street of the village. His face was 
 clouded and distressed. In all his home-comings it had 
 never occurred to him to picture Cheltenham other than 
 what it was ; his own instincts were of an almost ascetic 
 simplicity, which the staid academic standards more than 
 satisfied, and he was constitutionally unimaginative about 
 material things. He tried, in silence, to readjust his 
 viewpoint to that of his luxuriously nurtured bride, and 
 failed entirely. Cicely too went silently, the little wrin- 
 kle of puzzled annoyance still on her forehead. The 
 rusty cabmen stared after them with candid curiosity and 
 admiration. 
 
 The village of Cheltenham strayed up from the station 
 through a fringe of little shabby shops, past a section
 
 4 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 of peaceful, pretty residence streets, to the great cen- 
 tral enclosure of the university which was its reason for 
 being. This was a golden day of late September, with 
 the air washed and clear, the leaves motionless, the grass 
 still thick and strongly green. The shops were stirring 
 from their summer sleep into a state of fussy bustle, men 
 in shirt-sleeves tugging violently at boxes, men in more 
 stately raiment agitatedly placing college-room furniture 
 in winning arrangements outside the doorways. Along 
 the sidewalks the college boys strolled noisily, shouting 
 joyful greetings from group to group. Lawns were being 
 trimmed and raked, houses set wide to the sun; all the 
 cheerful small excitement of the opening of college was 
 under way, and Cheltenham was alive. 
 
 Up through the town went Roger and Cicely, she, 
 in her pearl-grey frock with the long gloves and little 
 gaiters to match, and her scarlet hat and ruff, like a 
 bright bird-of-Paradise in a dun-coloured aviary; his 
 sober blue serge and lack of adornment more in keeping 
 than at any time since the wedding-day, and at the 
 end of the main street the campus confronted them in 
 the splendour of the faultless morning. Roger paused 
 before the great carved gate to let his first love break 
 gloriously upon the vision of his second, and Cicely, 
 peering in, gave an exclamation. The place showed in 
 a bravery and beauty even greater than common; the 
 green-piled velvet of the lawns was flooded with gold, 
 the dark brick of the old-time buildings, gleaming be- 
 tween the clusters of uprushing ivy, had a sombre 
 preciousness as of porphyry; the newer halls stood solid 
 and majestic in the warm light that yellowed their grey
 
 INAUGURATION OF A CAREER 5 
 
 stone, and deepened the shadows under their rich carv- 
 ing. About the tall tower in the centre pigeons wheeled 
 and circled with low cries, and across the grass knots of 
 boys, arms around shoulders in the joy of reunion, strayed 
 singing. It was a picture both stately and exquisite, 
 sumptuous with the splendour of intelligent costliness, 
 and charming with the charm of intimate human things. 
 
 The wrinkle vanished from Cicely's forehead. 
 " There ! " she exclaimed triumphantly. " I knew 
 America couldn't be so different ! Why, this is beauti- 
 ful; it's the most beautiful university I've ever seen. 
 It's a little like Oxford and a little like Cambridge, and 
 rather nicer than either." 
 
 " You like it ! " said Roger. He turned to her a trans- 
 figured face; like many big, untalkative men, he had be- 
 neath his outward armour of reserve a depth and intensity 
 of emotion that, once liberated, broke through with as- 
 tonishing force. " You don't know how happy that 
 makes me, sweetheart ! " 
 
 " I love it," said Cicely decidedly. " I'm always going 
 to live in Cheltenham. What's that exquisite monastery- 
 looking building, with the cloister in the middle ? " 
 
 " That's the senior dormitory," said Roger. " Bully, 
 isn't it? All the underclassmen look up to it like a sort 
 of heaven. Jove, how I loved that place! The first 
 night I got in I was too happy to sleep." 
 
 Cicely flashed at him, in a swift, sweet glance, the half- 
 jealous, half-maternal tenderness of a woman towards 
 the youth of her lover. " I wish I'd seen you, darling 
 boy," she murmured. Then, with a swift reversion to 
 her everyday tone, " Who lives in those ducky little rooms
 
 6 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 at the base of the tower ? One of the dons ? " she asked. 
 
 " No, that's an institution of Cheltenham's own, one 
 of our finest," explained Roger eagerly. " The janitor 
 of the tower lives there; it's one of the jobs reserved for 
 fellows who are working their way through, and they 
 give him those rooms so his life shan't be robbed of 
 beauty. Isn't that fine? " 
 
 " Fine? " repeated Cicely, frowning. " I think it's 
 silly. What an idea, to put a scrubby janitor in dirty 
 overalls into those charming rooms ! And who lives in 
 that sumptuous Gothic chapel, the charwomen, I sup- 
 pose?" 
 
 " You narrow-minded aristocrat ! it's about time you 
 came home ! " said Roger, laughing. " That's the de- 
 bating-hall; nothing lives there but the college spirit." 
 He hesitated a moment, looking around the dear en- 
 closure with eyes a little dulled by disappointment. 
 " Perhaps we'd better postpone the rest of college," he 
 suggested. " Don't you want to see where Mr. and Mrs. 
 Roger Endicott Ford live?" 
 
 " Oh, yes ! " cried Cicely. " I've been wild to see it 
 ever since there was such a place; and now I want to 
 more than ever, since I find Cheltenham so beautiful. 
 Come, let's hurry; marchons! " 
 
 Roger brightened again. " Yes, let's hurry ! " he 
 echoed eagerly. "This way; it isn't far. Cicely 
 think of it we're going home ! " 
 
 Cicely flashed her swift smile at him, and they fell 
 into rapid step. Roger, too elated and excited for 
 speech, hurried her faster and faster; across the main 
 thoroughfare, up a side avenue, and around a corner they
 
 INAUGURATION OF A CAREER 7 
 
 went; and then came to a sudden stop in a narrow by- 
 street. Before them was a little old house of red brick, 
 square and low, with small white-framed windows, and 
 two worn stone steps leading up to a green door. Twin 
 box-trees stood sentinel on opposite sides of the little 
 yard, and marigolds, with round cheery faces, bordered 
 the narrow brick path. It was very neat, very quaint, 
 and very humble. 
 
 " There ! " said Roger, with a gesture of triumph. 
 
 " This you don't mean this is it? " exclaimed Cicely, 
 in a tone from which astonishment had wiped all expres- 
 sion. 
 
 " This is it ! " answered Roger, glowing. " Our own 
 home ; our very own, dearest ! " 
 
 Cicely caught her breath. " Our home ! " she re- 
 peated; and stood staring. 
 
 Like most American girls of her class, Cicely had been 
 well and conscientiously trained to be a debutante. Na- 
 ture had begun the noble work by making her very, very 
 lovely; and Art had ably seconded by teaching her to 
 speak fluently about nothing in four languages, to dance 
 charmingly, and to dress with the utmost expensiveness 
 consistent with good taste. Orphaned in her early girl- 
 hood, she had been taken into the home of her uncle 
 the Ambassador to France, and there, under the able 
 supervision of the Ambassadress, had laid the glossy 
 finish of a woman of the world on the raw material of 
 a young girl's ignorance. Then, having achieved the end 
 for which she had been created and shaped by making 
 a successful debut, she had so far forgotten herself as to 
 fall headlong in love without any consideration of expedi-
 
 8 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 ency: and now she was marching blithely into surround- 
 ings different from any she had ever known, and respon- 
 sibilities which her imagination had never been trained 
 to conceive, to display in real life a real character of 
 which she was herself completely ignorant. The mental 
 processes of the parents and guardians who provide such 
 armour for the battle may possibly be understood by an 
 all-wise Providence, though the matter is open to doubt. 
 It is true that the Ambassador had had a moment of mis- 
 giving, in which he had suggested to his wife that Cicely's 
 upbringing had perhaps hardly fitted her for usefulness 
 in the sphere she was to occupy: but his wife (who was 
 busy with the launching of three plain daughters, and 
 extremely glad to have her beautiful niece out of the 
 way), had reminded him that Cicely had had every pos- 
 sible advantage, exactly the same training as their own 
 girls, and one of the handsomest trousseaux of the year; 
 and was therefore ready for anything. 
 
 So Cicely, equipped for life with every possible ad- 
 vantage, stood and gazed at the little house that was 
 her future home, and shivered. 
 
 As for Roger, he was aflame with pride and happiness. 
 To own a house at all is a deal of a feat for academic 
 men ; and his American-trained eyes were blinded by long 
 habit to the discrepancy between the lodging of our uni- 
 versities and the lodging of the men who give them life. 
 This fruit of his toil and his dreams seemed to him a 
 very fine affair. He had equipped and arranged it him- 
 self, with a little connivance from Mrs. Davidson, the 
 wife of his chief, at the cost of infinite thought, in- 
 finite pains, and much more money than he could afford.
 
 IXAUGURATION OF A CAREER 9 
 
 Xow had come the crowning moment, and he was present- 
 ing his labour of love to Cicely. 
 
 " How do you like it, sweetheart? " he asked her 
 radiantly. 
 
 " Why, it's it's " began Cicely; but she was very 
 young and very candid, and the words caught in her 
 throat and trailed off into silence. 
 
 Roger turned and looked at her, and the exultation was 
 struck out of his face as if by a blow. Was this the 
 glorious homecoming he had pictured so many times? 
 She had averted her eyes from the little humble house, 
 and stood looking at the ground; she said nothing, but 
 her lips trembled a little with dismay. A pang of heart- 
 sickness rose like a sob within him. He could not speak. 
 
 " Let's go in," said Cicely, in a constrained voice ; and 
 she went up the little steps and stood aside for Roger 
 to unlock the door. 
 
 They crossed the threshold in heavy silence, and, stand- 
 ing in the little panelled hall, looked about them. To un- 
 prejudiced eyes the place was a pleasant cottage, with 
 a touch of austere charm; the rooms were square and 
 low, softly coloured, furnished a little barely with good 
 mahogany; the modest rugs and draperies were quietly 
 harmonious, and bright brass andirons winked on the 
 empty hearths. But Cicely thought of the tapestried 
 chatelet that had been her idea of love-in-a-cottage ; and 
 Roger thought of his months of votive .work and radiant 
 dreams : and neither spoke for a long minute. 
 
 " So we are to live here," said Cicely at last. 
 
 " Yes," said Roger huskily. " I'm sorry, dearest." 
 
 " I suppose," said Cicely, " we couldn't exchange it for
 
 10 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 cuother. I suppose all those papers we signed mean that 
 we have to keep it." 
 
 " I'm afraid so," said Roger. "I I didn't know, 
 Cicely I've always seen you in such a different world 
 from this I never realized that you would bring your 
 own world with you when you came." 
 
 " Well," said Cicely, stifling a sigh, " we must make 
 the best of it." 
 
 " Yes," said Roger, smothering a great sigh in his 
 turn, "we must just make the best of it." He looked 
 around miserably on his little despised Paradise. " I 
 never understood how much I was asking of you, dear." 
 
 " I suppose you couldn't help it," said Cicely. She 
 gave him her hand kindly, and climbed dispiritedly up 
 the little twisting stair. 
 
 
 
 " Cicely ! " called Roger, in the hall, an hour later. 
 "Where are you, dearest? Kitty's here." 
 
 Cicely came to the top of the stairs, in a coral-pink 
 negligee that made her look like a rosy sea-shell. 
 "Who's Hitty?" she asked, leaning over the banister. 
 " I'm frightfully busy." 
 
 " She's the woman I told you about," said Roger, his 
 eyes lighting at the lovely sight of her, " the cook, or 
 maid, or whatever you call her." 
 
 " Oh, a servant ! " exclaimed Cicely. " Thank good- 
 ness ! Send her up, Roger." 
 
 Roger hesitated. "If you don't mind, dearest, I think 
 you'd better come down," he said. " She seems to find
 
 INAUGURATION OF A CAREER 11 
 
 a lot to do; she began to work in the kitchen almost be- 
 fore she got her hat off." 
 
 Cicely lifted her eyebrows. " But I have more to do 
 myself than I ever had in my life, Roger ! " she said. 
 " I'm unpacking all my clothes. What can she want with 
 me down there? " 
 
 " She wants to see you about meals," said Roger. " I 
 hate to bother you, dear, but I'm afraid you'll have to 
 speak to her. And will you have luncheon at one o'clock 
 sharp, please? I'm going over to the laboratory for the 
 rest of the morning, and I have a department meeting at 
 two." 
 
 " Very well," answered Cicely. She accepted, with- 
 out returning, the kiss that he ran up to give her, and 
 stood looking after him as he closed the outer door. 
 " Roger seems to take a good deal for granted ! " she 
 said to herself. " Apparently I'm to be all the upper 
 servants rolled into one, and he doesn't object in the 
 least. I had no idea that having an establishment of 
 your own meant worrying and slaving all the time. 
 Roger has very odd ideas." Frowning, she trailed her 
 rosy draperies slowly down the stairs and across the little 
 dining-room, and opened the kitchen door. 
 
 "Mis' Ford, I s'pose!" exclaimed a cheerful voice; 
 and an angular woman who was splashing energetically 
 at the sink turned a ruddy face of greeting towards her. 
 "You excuse my not shakin' hands, wun't ye? I'm 
 takin' what my cousin Ellen calls the dishwater mani- 
 cure. These new dishes looked as if they'd ben packed 
 in pig-straw. How are ye, pretty hearty? "
 
 12 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 Cicely stood in the doorway and gazed, too astonished 
 at first to speak. In truth Hitty was as odd a seneschal 
 as could well have been chosen for a bride fresh from the 
 great world; she belonged to a type of servant to be 
 found only in New England, and there, nowadays, in 
 none but the remotest parts. Roger had stumbled upon 
 her during a fishing trip to Maine, and, judging her 
 ability wholly by her kindliness, had bespoken her future 
 services without reflection. Shrewd, voluble, good-na- 
 tured; as likely herself to be a daughter of the Mayflower 
 as her mistress, and totally unaware of any social differ- 
 ence; innocent of the conventions, and fully equipped 
 only in cleanliness and sociability, certainly the am- 
 bassadorial domestic circle had held nothing like her. 
 But Cicely had, beneath her trained conventionality, a 
 vein of gay independence all her own, which cropped 
 out now and then to free her from the standards of her 
 world; moreover, she hated depression, and was thankful 
 for any aid in escaping it. An appreciative sparkle 
 lighted suddenly in her eyes, and her spirits rose. 
 
 "I'm extremely hearty, thank you!" she answered. 
 " I hope you are the same." 
 
 " Well, middlin'," said Hitty. " I'm kind o' dislocated 
 jest now, on account o' travellin' all night in one o' 
 them sleepin'-cars. I got the Professor's telegram at 
 supper-time, an' took the ten o'clock from Bangor; the 
 folks was most all abed when I got on board, an' I 
 turned right in too, an' my land, if I didn't find out 
 this mornin' that I'd ben sleepin' the hull night all soul 
 alone with sixteen men! Wa'n't that a great note for 
 a respectable woman? However, this life's a vale o'
 
 INAUGURATION OF A CAREER 13 
 
 tears anyway. Now, what was you calc'latin' to hev 
 for lunch? the Professor says ye hev dinner at sup- 
 per-time." 
 
 " Why, let me think," said Cicely. " We might have 
 puree of asparagus, and creamed sweetbreads, and 
 petits pois sautes, and and squab on toast, and en- 
 dive salad, and fruit, and coffee. There's no need for 
 fuss, with just us two." 
 
 "Good Father Abraham!" ejaculated Hitty. "Was 
 you expectin' to git all them fixin's out o' this kitchin? " 
 
 " Why, yes. Where else? " said Cicely. 
 
 " Ye couldn't do it, Mis' Ford," stated Hitty con- 
 vincingly, " if you was to set an' wait for yore lunch 
 till the Day o' Jedgment. An' ye couldn't then, un- 
 less the angel Gabr'el 'd roll up his sleeves an' help 
 out." 
 
 " Dear me ! " said Cicely, twinkling, " I'd rather not 
 wait that long. What do you think of ? " 
 
 " Why, I was thinkin'," responded Hitty, " o' fish 
 hash." 
 
 " Fish hash ! " repeated Cicely faintly. 
 
 " We could do it easy," explained Hitty reasonably. 
 " This boneless codfish soaks quick, an' I c'n set the 
 potatoes right on now. It'll be all ready, you'll, see; I 
 ain't one to raise hopes an' not carry 'em out." 
 
 " But, Hitty," protested Cicely, " I couldn't eat fish 
 hash. I simply couldn't." 
 
 " Well, I couldn't fix them pure rays o' sparrowgrass 
 you was tellin' about," returned Hitty firmly, " an' that's 
 flat." 
 
 " Then I'll try again," said Cicely. " We might have
 
 14 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 plain consomme, and chicken timbales, and arti- 
 chokes, sauce tartare, " 
 
 " Now, Mis' Ford," interrupted Hitty, with great im- 
 pressiveness, " you put me in mind o' what I said to 
 Ephr'm Hopkins' wife (her that was a Green), when 
 she set up housekeepin'. She come from Bangor, chock- 
 full o' city ways, an' she wanted mince pie an' riz dough- 
 nuts an' fried oysters an' sech every day in the week. 
 An' I says to her, ' Mis' Hopkins,' I says, ' if you want 
 to live in the Waldorf Astory, then you'd ought to 'a* 
 brought the chief o' the Waldorf Astory along; but 1 
 wa'n't born no French chief, nor even an Injun one,' I 
 says, ' an' I don't much believe I c'n change my nation- 
 ality for four dollars a week,' s' I." 
 
 Cicely burst into merry laughter. " Brava ! " she 
 said. " I'm sure your conversation is better than any- 
 body's cooking. Let's not worry about food now; come 
 upstairs and help me unpack, and entertain me." 
 
 Hitty looked both gratified and doubtful; though she 
 knew that food was her first concern, her social instincts 
 were strong. She hesitated a moment, then, observing 
 cheerfully, " Well, anythin' to oblige," she followed her 
 mistress from the room, stepping gingerly to avoid the 
 long rosy train. 
 
 The entire upper floor was littered with trunks, rang- 
 ing in size from huge many-trayed affairs that had re- 
 duced three draymen to the profane silence of exhaus- 
 tion, to small square hat-trunks that perched about upon 
 the furniture like unwieldy birds. Cicely had skimmed 
 the cream from each, and piled the results helter-skelter 
 in rainbow confusion, until the little house looked like a
 
 INAUGURATION OF A CAREER 15 
 
 costumer's opening-day. She led the way into the 
 chamber she had chosen for her own. 
 
 " Now/' she said, " I'll sort the things out, and you 
 put them away. Here's a house-gown; that will go in 
 this closet." 
 
 " My land o' liberty ! " exclaimed Hitty, holding out 
 the shimmering, exquisitely-embroidered satin in thumbs 
 and forefingers. " Ain't that han'some ? You never got 
 that in no Cheltenham store, did ye ? " 
 
 " No, I'm new to the advantages of Cheltenham," said 
 Cicely. " How does this evening gown strike you, in 
 your land of liberty, again ? " She held up a wonder of 
 silver-shot gauze, the colour of aquamarines, the sheen 
 of moonshine. 
 
 "My grief!" ejaculated Hitty, staring. "It looks 
 like a piece o' soapy water. Now when was you calc'- 
 latin' to wear that? " 
 
 " Why, next winter, to parties," said Cicely, tossing 
 it on a chair. 
 
 " Next winter! " repeated Hitty. " H'm ! Ye wun't 
 sweat none. Look a-here, Mis' Ford, what d'ye mean 
 by throwin' them beautiful dresses around like that? 
 This furnitur' ain't ben dusted in a dog's age." 
 
 "Hasn't it?" asked Cicely. "Dust it, then, Hitty, 
 will you please? " 
 
 Hitty looked dubious. " I do' know, Mis' Ford," she 
 demurred. " General housework's all I hired out for, 
 without no trimmin's." 
 
 " But who else is there to do it? " asked Cicely cheer- 
 fully. " We have to be dusted, don't we ? and I'm 
 sure there are no trimmings on this furniture ! "
 
 16 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 Hitty debated a moment; but her sturdy nature was 
 already succumbing to the compelling charm that made 
 mankind combine to spoil Cicely, rid she waived her 
 point. " That's true enough ! " she replied, setting to 
 work with her apron in default of other resources. " It's 
 good an' strong, this furnitur' is, but it ain't what ye'd 
 call dressy. I wish't you c'd see my cousin's house, down 
 to Callis ! She's got new red plush parlour suits right 
 through, an' lace-edged tidies, an' the biggest chromos 
 you ever see, Alpion scenes, twelve of 'em. An' she's 
 got her front parlour all petitioned off with parterres, 
 as she calls 'em; an' a pink shell pattern round the zinc 
 where the stove sets; an' two big fat divines, one at each 
 end." 
 
 " Divines ? " repeated Cicely. " What does she have 
 them in her parlour for, to hold prayers ? " 
 
 " Oh, no'm," said Hitty, working rapidly. " To set 
 on." 
 
 Cicely looked mystified. " It seems hardly a respect- 
 ful usage for the cloth," she suggested. 
 
 " Oh, the cloth's dreadful strong," said Hitty. " I 
 guess you don't understand. They're really jest sofies, 
 but divines is the stylish name for 'em." 
 
 " Oh, I see ! " said Cicely, with a smothered chuckle. 
 "I'm rather behind the times. Tell me more, Hitty; 
 haven't you some other relations ? " 
 
 " Land, yes," said Hitty. " I got folks, own folks 
 and law- folks, till the cows come home; but this room's 
 most dusted, an' I guess I better go down an' start the 
 lunch next thing." 
 
 " Oh, never mind the luncheon now ! " said Cicely.
 
 INAUGURATION OF A CAREER 17 
 
 " We don't know what we're going to have, yet. Take 
 some of these evening dresses and hang them in the next 
 room, Mr. Ford's room, and then tell me about the 
 rest of your family." 
 
 Hitty yielded with a certain stiff amenableness, and 
 approached the many-coloured mound. " My sakes an' 
 sorrers ! " she ejaculated. " Look at that white-of-egg- 
 an'-lemon-j elly one ! An' that spider-web trimmed 
 with lightnin'-bugs ! My grief ! My good land o' 
 Goshen ! " 
 
 Cicely laughed. " I shan't dare to show you any more, 
 for fear the next will reach your solar plexus ! " she said. 
 " You like pretty things, don't you, Hitty ? " 
 
 "I do; an' I'm used to 'em considerable han'some, 
 though not so thin as these," said Hitty, gathering up 
 an armful and turning to the adjoining room. " My 
 cousin Mirandy, that lived next door to us, hed a black 
 silk an' a red poplin an' a blue challis all to once, be- 
 sides her every-day clo'es an' calikers. My, that woman 
 hed it easy! Her husband, he hed a steady job at fifty 
 dollars a month, an' his house besides, an' he give her 
 everythin' money c'd buy, a melodeon, an' agate-iron 
 ware in the kitchin, an' runnin' water upstairs 'n' down; 
 an' all the fam'ly that was dead was buried right near 
 the house, with the han'somest tombstuns you ever see. 
 An' then she got cold comin' from a sociable, an' took 
 tuberc'lars, an' died; an' didn't it seem a shame to go 
 an' leave all that ? " 
 
 " It did indeed ! " agreed Cicely. " We never know 
 when we're well off, do we? " 
 
 " No'm; we're all poor sinners," said Hitty cheerfully.
 
 " My land alive. Mis' Ford, did you say the Professor 
 was goin' to sleep in this yeller room? It's dusty 's a 
 miller, an' the bed ain't made." 
 
 " No, and neither is mine, under the mountain of 
 clothes," said Cicely. " Make them, Hitty, please ; and 
 dust in there; but don't stop talking." 
 
 " I ain't no chambermaid," objected Hitty half- 
 heartedly. " An' I've got to go down in a minute an' 
 git that lunch started." 
 
 " Oh, bother the lunch ! " said Cicely lightly. 
 " There's lots of time. Make the beds first, Hitty, you 
 know yourself we can't sleep in unmade beds, and 
 stay where I can hear you talk. Did your cousin 
 Mirandy have any children ? " 
 
 " Yes, she did so," responded Hitty ; and, touched in 
 her weakest point, and unable to resist the temptation, 
 she began without further protest to search for bed- 
 clothes. " Yes, she hed four. Her oldest son, Jabez 
 his name was, he raised pigs down Augusty way, an 
 he took an' married a crazy man's daughter. Her father 
 he was crazy, an' his father he was crazy, an' way back 
 to the great-gran'ther, he wa'n't all there. So they all 
 s'posed Philomeny, that was her name, Philomeny 
 Crockett, 'ud go crazy on him too before she got done 
 with it. Well, sure 'nough, things went along about 
 so-so till they'd ben married two-three years, an' hed a 
 couple o' children; an' then one day, while one o' the 
 neighbour women was settin' in the kitchin with her, 
 Philomeny she got up an' begun pilin' wood on the fire, 
 an' she says, ' I'm a-goin' to chunk up the fire good an' 
 hot,' she says, ' an' broil the baby for supper,' s' she.
 
 INAUGURATION OF A CAREER 19 
 
 Well, d'ye know that woman s'picioned quick's a wink 
 that Philomeny wa'n't right, an' she run out an' hollered 
 for help; an' in twenty minutes it took three men to 
 hold her, an' she was pullin' hair out o' them in chunks. 
 Jabez, he all'us said that a little more an' she'd 'a' sot 
 the house on fire, let alone the baby, if that woman 
 hedn't 'a' ben so smart; an' he hedn't a mite of in- 
 surance neither. There, I thought I'd find some sheets 
 in the bottom o' one o' these trunks." 
 
 " You have great intuitions," said Cicely, " and so had 
 the neighbour woman. What happened to Philomeny ? " 
 
 " Why, they took her to the 'sylum at Augusty," said 
 Hitty, laying aside the sheets and beginning a hunt for 
 blankets, " an' Jabez got his sister Maude to keep house 
 for him, an' they got along fine for a spell; Maude she 
 all'us was a better cook 'n Philomeny. Then Maude she 
 got married to a Methodist minister (an' hed to jump 
 some after that, / tell ye) ; and Philomeny got better, 
 an' come home. Everybody was so anxious to encour- 
 age her they never s'much as said the word crazy to her; 
 but twa'n't no use; in a month she took as crazy's a 
 loon. Jabez was the one that s'picioned her that time; 
 an' the way he come to do it was that she got a apurn- 
 full o' rocks an' come for him, a-sayin' that she was 
 David an' he was Goliath, an' she was a-goin' to sling- 
 shot him to kingdom-come. Now where under the can- 
 opy are them blankets ? " 
 
 " In a box, somewhere," said Cicely. " She wasn't 
 very tactful, was she ? Did she get him ? " 
 
 " No'm, she was a poor shot," said Hitty depre- 
 catingly. " Seems 's if "
 
 20 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 " Hello there ! " called a voice from below. " Where's 
 everybody? " 
 
 "My sakes an' sorrers ! " ejaculated Hitty, "if there 
 ain't the Professor ! " She dropped her armful with a 
 horrified gasp, and sped to the back stairs. 
 
 " Why, Roger ! " cried Cicely, scrambling up and go- 
 ing into the hall, " what are you doing here at this time 
 of day ? " 
 
 " I know I'm late/' said Roger. " I'm sorry, dearest, 
 but there was so much to do that I couldn't get away. I 
 won't keep your luncheon waiting a minute longer." 
 
 " Oh, you needn't worry about the luncheon ! " said 
 Cicely, laughing. " There isn't any, yet! " 
 
 Roger looked blank. " No luncheon ? " he said. 
 " Why, I thought I asked for it at one." 
 
 " So you did," assented Cicely, " but I took Hitty up 
 to unpack, and she amused me so well I forgot the time. 
 I never saw such a droll person; I think I'll change her 
 function and retain her for general conversation." 
 
 " That's not very filling ! " said Roger. Hunger, fa- 
 tigue and hurry lent sharpness to his voice. " It may 
 satisfy you, Cicely, but I need food." 
 
 " Well, just be patient for a minute," said Cicely. 
 " I'll tell her to get luncheon right away." 
 
 " I can't wait," said Roger. " I have to be back at 
 college at two." 
 
 " Well then," said Cicely, with the air of a person 
 humouring an unreasonable child, " come up and help 
 me dress, and we'll go to an hotel. Will that do? " 
 
 " No," said Roger, " I can't wait for that either. I'll
 
 INAUGURATION OF A CAREER 21 
 
 have to start now, and get a bite on the way. I don't 
 want to seem critical, dear, but we must have punctual 
 meals." 
 
 " Really, Roger," said Cicely, impatiently indignant at 
 the suggestion of reproach in his tone, " I'm astonished 
 at you ! I don't understand any one's making such a fuss 
 over such a very small thing." 
 
 " It's not small," said Roger warmly; "it's work and 
 health and everything important. I've got to eat if I'm 
 going to be any good, and I've got to be punctual if I 
 want to hold my job. You won't let it happen again, 
 will you? Good-bye." He was gone as he spoke, with- 
 out the usual kiss. 
 
 Cicely bit her red underlip as she looked after him. 
 " Who would have believed that Roger had such a tem- 
 per! " she exclaimed to herself. " What a way to talk! 
 and I haven't had any luncheon either, and I've 
 worked all the morning harder than I ever did in my 
 life. And such a house and such a servant Really, 
 it's rather too much ! " She tapped sharply on the stair- 
 rail, indignant knuckles clenched. " Aunt Lucille was 
 right," she said, aloud; "you don't know a man until 
 vou've married him." 
 
 " Mis' Ford ! " screamed Hitty in piercing accents, 
 from the foot of the stairs. " Here's a caller for ye ! " 
 
 Cicely jumped np with alacrity from her tiresome 
 labour with the trunks, and hurried to the mirror; but, 
 though she was delighted with the tidings, she_ felt;
 
 22 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 obliged to take exception to the manner of their delivery. 
 " Then have the goodness, Hitty," she said severely, 
 " to come up and tell me so." 
 
 " My land, Mis' Ford," said Hitty, ingenuously as- 
 tonished, " I'm takin' them cakes out o' the oven ! " 
 
 " If you were snatching brands from the burning," 
 returned Cicely, patting her beautiful hair into order, " I 
 should expect you to respect the customs of civilization." 
 
 "That's one thing," argued Hitty; "if a soul's lost 
 a'ready, I don't s'pose it hurts it none to frizzle a little 
 longer; but lemme tell ye, things that's goin' to be et 
 are different. Ther's many a soul's salvation ben en- 
 dangered by the hash comin' on to the table scorched." 
 
 Cicely, her reflection satisfying even her critical eyes, 
 abandoned her attempt at domestic discipline, and ran 
 laughing down the stairs. " Well, after you've insured 
 our future welfare by rescuing the cakes," she said, 
 " will you be the means of our present salvation by 
 bringing in the tea-tray, as I told you? " And, all sun- 
 shine at this relief from work and depression, she flitted 
 into the room where her visitor waited. 
 
 " You may have gathered that you were announced ! " 
 she said, " but my domesticated savage didn't mention 
 your name. I am Cicely Ford." 
 
 A tall, plain, noble-looking woman, with a kind face 
 and unconsidered raiment, rose from the sofa, smiling. 
 
 " My dear Mrs. Ford," she said, " I am very happy 
 to see you at last. I've heard so much of you that I 
 feel like an old friend; I am Mrs. Davidson." 
 
 Cicely had measured her visitor with an appraising 
 glance, condemned her clothes, approved her grey, wavy
 
 INAUGURATION OF A CAREER 23 
 
 hair, and distrusted her manner of possessive friendship, 
 before they finished shaking hands. " High-minded, but 
 preachy," she said to herself. " What an awful hat ! 
 How could Roger say she was beautiful ? " 
 
 " It's very good of you to come, Mrs. Davidson," she 
 said politely, seating herself beside her new acquaint- 
 ance. " Roger has spoken of you often." 
 
 " Not so often, I'm sure, as I have thought of him, 
 and of you," said Mrs. Davidson warmly. " I have so 
 looked forward to your home-coming; to-day you have 
 never been out of my mind. What did you say when 
 you first saw your dear little house? " 
 
 The intimate friendly tone jarred upon Cicely, and 
 she answered perversely. " Why, I don't remember 
 what I said; but I thought it was a labourer's cottage, 
 it looked so neat and self-respecting, exactly as if there 
 were cabbage cooking inside it! " 
 
 " Oh ! " exclaimed Mrs. Davidson, shocked and pained. 
 " Oh, I hope you didn't tell Roger ! He worked and 
 planned and sacrificed so, his very heart was bound up 
 in this house. I never saw a nature of such rapt devo- 
 tion as his, especially since he has had you." 
 
 Cicely flushed and stiffened. What right had this in- 
 trusive stranger to instruct her about her own husband? 
 and what had any one but herself to do with her opinion 
 of her house? A twinge of conscience lent edge to her 
 resentment, and her distrust of Mrs. Davidson promptly 
 crystallised into antagonism. She changed the subject 
 brusquely. 
 
 " Has the social season of Cheltenham opened yet? " 
 she asked abruptly.
 
 24 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 Mrs. Davidson, swallowing her earnestness with an 
 effort, accepted the digression. " It opens officially on 
 the fifth of October," she replied. " That's the Presi- 
 dent's Reception. After that the real Cheltenham life 
 begins." 
 
 " Tell me about it," said Cicely. " I want to know 
 what my duties will be, and how I can be useful to 
 Roger." 
 
 "Oh, I'm so glad to hear you say that!" said Mrs. 
 Davidson, her mobile face lighting again. " You can 
 do him tremendous service; I suppose there's no life in 
 which men's wives play a greater part than this. You 
 know," she warmed to her subject, "we're all under- 
 paid, and we all like to live nicely, and we're expected 
 to travel, and to have expensive tastes; and to harmonize 
 all that and come out even calls for a deal of managing 
 on the wife's part. It's very hard to keep the home 
 gracious and beautiful, and still pay the bills. And then 
 of course there's Roger's work: informing yourself about 
 what he's doing, and following his investigations from 
 day to day " 
 
 Cicely shrugged her shoulders. " Oh, it's no use talk- 
 ing to me about that ! " she interrupted. " We've begun 
 already to live like artisans; I defy anybody to reduce 
 our expenses a penny a year. And if Roger had inter- 
 esting work, like languages, or pictures, but science 
 smells so horribly! and I know he wouldn't want me to 
 get my hands all green and blue. What I want to know 
 about is the important part, whom to cultivate, and 
 whom not to bother with, and whom to give the pas to, 
 and all that."
 
 INAUGURATION OF A CAREER 25 
 
 Mrs. Davidson looked a little dashed. " My dear 
 Mrs. Ford," she said, " I'm sure you're on the wrong 
 track. It isn't diplomacy we need in this life, it's just 
 kindness. We're all quite simple people here, and all 
 friends together. The pleasure of helping our husbands 
 in their great work, the privilege of offering a bit of 
 home atmosphere and a bit of stimulus to the boys as 
 they keep passing through, those are the things that 
 make us fortunate women ! and they have nothing to do 
 with policy." 
 
 Cicely sat up very straight. " My aunt, who knows a 
 great deal of the world," she said decisively, " told me 
 that the first thing one should do in a new place was to 
 find out the people who were worth considering, and 
 then consider them. I shall certainly respect her ad- 
 vice. This woman is a preaching idiot ! " she added 
 angrily to herself; and going to the door, she called, in 
 a low voice of controlled irritation, " Hitty ! where is 
 tea? " 
 
 " Comin' ! " returned Hitty, appearing in the hall with 
 the tray. " I ain't a nigger jinny out o' the 'Rabian 
 Nights, Mis' Ford, to come hoppin' through the floor in 
 a smudge o' smoke with a taible ready sot. Takes time 
 to git a full-sized meal, 'specially when ther's another 
 marchin' along behind it like Onward Christian Sol- 
 diers." 
 
 " You may set it here," said Cicely impatiently. 
 "Have you brought cream? Very well, this is all we 
 need now." 
 
 " That's lucky," remarked Hitty grimly. " Gittin' a 
 lot at afternoon tea means hevin' to holler for more at
 
 26 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 dinner." She set the tray on the little table with a 
 clatter, and stalked out. 
 
 " You seem to be ministered to by an original," ob- 
 served Mrs. Davidson, profiting by the diversion to re- 
 gain her patience and begin again. 
 
 " She's the most extraordinary creature, without ex- 
 ception, that ever drew breath," affirmed Cicely, pouring 
 the tea. " As a conversationalist she's worth her weight 
 in gold; but she must have gotten her household training 
 in the Fiji Islands. What slabs of sandwiches! And 
 she hasn't made rolls, either, as I told her to." 
 
 " Perhaps she hasn't found time," suggested Mrs. 
 Davidson. " There's a great deal to do, even in a little 
 house, for one pair of hands." 
 
 " But she doesn't have one single thing beside the 
 housework ! " said Cicely. " Roger brushes my clothes, 
 and I do my hair myself. She's hardly even helped with 
 the unpacking. No, she's just plain incompetent." 
 
 Mrs. Davidson sighed. She had very strongly the 
 admonitory instinct that Cicely had detected, and much 
 excellent advice burned on the tip of her tongue, but, 
 though she heartily desired to smooth the way for this 
 beautiful spoiled child, she perceived that it would be 
 wasted. After a moment's silence, she tried another 
 line. 
 
 " Airs. Ford," she said, wooing her hostess, as a 
 generous plain woman will sometimes woo a beautiful 
 exacting one, " since you're interested in officials and 
 dignitaries, I'll tell you a secret. Do you know that 
 you and your young husband are likely to have experi- 
 ence in that direction before long? "
 
 INAUGURATION OF A CAREER 27 
 
 " Why, no ! " said Cicely, brightening. " Roger's 
 only an assistant professor, isn't he? " 
 
 " Yes, but a most unusually gifted assistant profes- 
 sor," said Mrs. Davidson ; " and when we go abroad next 
 semester, his chief (that's my husband, you know), is 
 going to put him in charge of the department." 
 
 " Oh, how nice ! " exclaimed Cicely. " I'm so glad 
 you told me ! " 
 
 " Why, so am I, then ! " said the older woman, pleased 
 in Cicely's pleasure. " And I'll tell you something more, 
 though I know I'm rather premature, " she added, 
 impulsively confidential, " if my husband retires next 
 June, as he thinks of doing, the appointment may 
 perhaps prove to be permanent." 
 
 Cicely clapped her hands. " Splendid ! " she cried. 
 ' Head of the Department of Science of Cheltenham 
 University! ' Will it be on his stationery? " 
 
 Mrs. Davidson laughed. " That's going rather fast ! " 
 she said. " My husband's retirement is by no means 
 settled; and even when it is, Roger won't be installed 
 without a good deal of opposition. There are older men 
 in the department, and men of wider reputation, who will 
 think they have a prior claim." 
 
 Cicely knitted her brows, looking vigilant and eager. 
 " Who are they ? " she demanded. 
 
 " Well, let me see," reflected Mrs. Davidson. " Of 
 course most of ours are big-minded men, who admire 
 Roger and would be glad to see him succeed; but Dr. 
 Reynolds and Dr. Kaltenborn, yes, and Dr. Simms, 
 would certainly oppose him strongly." 
 
 " Reynolds Kaltenborn Simms," repeated Cicely,
 
 28 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 memorizing carefully. " Those are the ones for me to 
 look after, then. I'll manage them! I wasn't bred a 
 diplomat for nothing." 
 
 " Oh, Mrs. Ford," exclaimed Mrs. Davidson in dis- 
 may, laying her hand on Cicely's, " I hope you'll do 
 nothing of the kind! Truly, it all depends on Roger 
 himself. I did wrong to mention names; if his big ex- 
 periments turn out well, and if he gets the laboratory he 
 is hoping for, nothing can hinder him. I'm a good 
 feminist, and the last one to underestimate the wife's 
 part, but it doesn't consist in interfering. The best help 
 you can give him is to encourage him in his work, and 
 keep him free from worry at home." 
 
 " My dear Mrs. Davidson ! " said Cicely coldly, with- 
 drawing her hand, " I really think I shall have to judge 
 for myself about my husband's affairs. If I can help 
 him, I must do it along the lines that seem best to me." 
 
 Mrs. Davidson, hurt by the rebuff, rose. " Then I 
 can only hope," she said slowly, " that your plans will 
 not miscarry. Good-bye; I am very glad to have found 
 you." 
 
 " Thank you," said Cicely, without warmth. She 
 shook hands with her visitor, accompanied her punc- 
 tilious!}' to the drawing-room door, and watched her 
 departure with a frown. " Tiresome thing ! " she said 
 to herself. " If she thinks she's going to manage me, 
 she's mistaken. I will make Roger's career, and I'll 
 make it my own way: I'll show her." 
 
 
 The back door of the hall banged, and Roger, home
 
 INAUGURATION OF A CAREER 29 
 
 from college by a short-cut, entered hurrying. Cicely 
 was still in the doorway of the little drawing-room, and 
 their eyes met eagerly and shamefully. Roger spoke 
 first, holding out his arms. 
 
 " I'm sorry I was cross this noon," he said. " I 
 haven't had a minute's peace since. Will you forgive 
 me, darling? " 
 
 Cicely had meant to preserve her displeasure consider- 
 ably longer; but her lonely afternoon, the distraction of 
 her new ambition, and most of all the potent power of 
 his dear unhappy face and hungry arms, conquered her 
 resentment. She went to him, and slipped her hands 
 into his. 
 
 " Yes, I'll forgive you," she said. " But I hope you're 
 really sorry; for you were very bad, you know." 
 
 " I was a brute," said Roger, folding her tightly, " and 
 you are an angel. I'll never do so again." 
 
 " Then that's settled," said Cicely, kissing him lightly 
 in the cleft of his chin, and slipping away; her caresses 
 were always fleeting. " We have a horrible, savage tea 
 in here; come and get some." 
 
 " Can't stop now," said Roger. " I've got to mow 
 the lawn. Jove, it seems good to be at work again! I 
 wasn't cut out for a loafer." 
 
 " No, you were made to dig and delve like a sober 
 old grunting Badger," said Cicely, restored to cheerful- 
 ness. " I'll come with you, and garden: won't that be 
 fun ! We'll be like the court of Marie Antoinette, play- 
 ing at shepherds and shepherdesses." 
 
 " There won't be much play about my mowing, I can 
 tell you," said Roger, taking off his coat. " That grass
 
 30 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 hasn't been cut for a month. And just what is your 
 notion of gardening? " 
 
 " Oh, digging, and pruning, and watering, and cul- 
 tivating," said Cicely, running ahead of him into the 
 little enclosure behind the house. " See the brave red 
 roses, so late, and so lonely! I'll begin with them. 
 Oo ! " as a thorn caught her delicate chiffon frock and 
 tore a jagged rent. 
 
 " I thought so," said Roger, surveying her with ador- 
 ing amusement. " You look about as fit for gardening 
 as the Venus de Milo." He disappeared into the house, 
 and emerged with an armful of miscellaneous trappings, 
 a huge gingham apron of Kitty's, overshoes, gloves, 
 and an old cap of his own. " On with 'em ! " he said. 
 " This is the new uniform of the Cheltenham Street- 
 Cleaners' League." 
 
 Cicely, laughing gleefully, decked herself in the ill- 
 assorted garments, and pirouetted before him, light as a 
 leaf in spite of the flapping overshoes. " Subject for 
 Raphael ! " she said, wrinkling her nose at him impishly. 
 " St. Cecilia Ministering to the Majestic Forces of Na- 
 ture ! " 
 
 " St. Cecilia wouldn't own you for a forty-second 
 cousin," said Roger, enchanted. " When you look like 
 that, you little witch, you ought to be called 
 he paused, then, in a flight of fancy unusual with him, 
 finished, " Pixie ! " 
 
 " Just listen to the Badger ! " cried Cicely. " Just 
 hear the grave old grunter turning poet ! Roger the 
 staid old Codger the grunting old Bodger calls me 
 Pixie the tricksy the friksy ! " She danced up to
 
 INAUGURATION OF A CAREER 31 
 
 him, snapping her fingers in his face, and danced away 
 again. 
 
 " You adorable imp ! " exclaimed Roger, catching her 
 in his arms in the shelter of the lilac-bushes. " You 
 sweet monkey ! Sweet, sweet, sweet ! " he murmured 
 over her fresh lips. " What makes you so sweet? Why 
 did such a sweet imp marry a stupid stick-in-the-mud 
 like me? " 
 
 " To pull you out, of course ! " said Cicely ; and her 
 mind reverted at once to her clash with Mrs. Davidson. 
 " Roger! Am I a help to you, or am I not? " 
 
 " W T hy, of course," said Roger promptly, " you're the 
 greatest help in the world. Kiss me." 
 
 "Certainly I am!" said Cicely. "And I'll be a 
 greater one; you'll see. Why didn't you tell me you 
 were going to be head of your department? " 
 
 " Because I'm not," said Roger. " A good many 
 miles of water will run under the bridges before any- 
 thing like that happens. If dear old Davy resigns 
 (which heaven forfend), they'll choose a man who 
 amounts to something. I say, kiss me." 
 
 " They'll choose you," said Cicely with determination, 
 " or I'll know the reason why." 
 
 Roger laughed. " Unfortunately, you aren't the one 
 to do the choosing! I'm very much obliged for your 
 good wishes, sweet, but I'm afraid you haven't anything 
 to do with it." 
 
 Cicely drew away from him in displeasure. " I 
 don't know who has, if I haven't," she said coldly. 
 " Aren't there rivals to be gotten out of the way? Isn't 
 there a laboratory to be obtained? "
 
 32 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 " Now look here ! " said Roger, growing serious. 
 " Don't you get any political bee in your little bonnet. 
 If I'm to make good professionally, I've got to do it on 
 my own merits: if I'm a better man than the other pos- 
 sibilities, I'll get the job, and if I'm not I won't. And 
 as for the laboratory, the less said about that the better. 
 It depends on the whim of a fat nouvelle riche whose 
 husband has made a fortune in cough-drops, and who 
 wants to get into society by giving a million to educa- 
 tion; she knows the merits of the case, and how much 
 we need the laboratory, and I hope to heaven she'll 
 give it to us ! but there's nothing to be done. I won't win 
 it by truckling. So you keep your fingers out of the 
 pie, girlie." 
 
 Cicely moved away, and, kneeling by the rose-bushes, 
 began to break off twigs in offended silence. " He talks 
 exactly like that woman ! " she said to herself indig- 
 nantly. 
 
 Roger too moved away, and, going to the little shed at 
 the back of the yard, dragged forth the clanking lawn- 
 mower. Half-way across the grass he stopped to ask 
 a question. 
 
 " Who told you about this head-of-the-department no- 
 tion ? " he queried. 
 
 " Mrs. Davidson," answered Cicely, without turning 
 her head. 
 
 " Oh, has she been here? " exclaimed Roger eagerly. 
 " Isn't she a jewel? " 
 
 " I don't know her well enough to say," replied Cicely 
 coldly. 
 
 " She's one in a million," averred Roger. " And I'll
 
 INAUGURATION OF A CAREER 33 
 
 tell you what, dear, she's the person to advise you about 
 your responsibilities. What she doesn't know about 
 Cheltenham life isn't worth knowing. And I'm very 
 sure she would tell you not to ' play politics.' " 
 
 Cicely made no answer. A prick of jealousy at this 
 evident accord mingled with her resentment against Mrs. 
 Davidson, and her morning mood of dissatisfaction and 
 displeasure returned upon her. Roger, aware that some- 
 thing was wrong, looked at her anxiously; and through 
 his anxiety also returned the morning's depression and 
 disappointment. 
 
 " Come with me, dear," he said, fighting against the 
 growing feeling of estrangement. " I've got to get to 
 work." 
 
 " I'm working here, thank you," answered Cicely, 
 busily continuing her futile labour. 
 
 " But I'm going to mow the front lawn, and I don't 
 want to be all alone," coaxed Roger. " Come with 
 me." 
 
 " Why should I ? " asked Cicely, without moving. 
 
 " Why, so we can be together," said Roger. " Hus- 
 bands and wives work together, don't they? " 
 
 Cicely rose slowly, and joined him. " I want to work 
 with you, Roger," she said, " if you'll only be reason- 
 able." 
 
 " I want to be reasonable, Cicely," answered Roger 
 earnestly. " I want to make you happy, and give you 
 everything in my power. I only feel that in profes- 
 sional matters I have to stand or fall on my own feet, 
 not yours." 
 
 Cicely stiffened her slender neck, and held her chin a
 
 34 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 little higher. " Aunt Lucille said/' she remarked, " that 
 the first qualification for a wife was to be a good strate- 
 gist. And she certainly knows." 
 
 " I suppose she does, about her own line/' said Roger 
 patiently. " But college life isn't diplomacy; and I tell 
 you, sweetheart, I don't want to succeed by intriguing." 
 
 Cicely's cheeks flushed with mounting anger. " Very 
 well/' she said. " You and Mrs. Davidson seem to be 
 agreed. Have your own way." She seized the rake he 
 had leaned against the house, and, as he began in de- 
 pressed silence to drive the lawn-mower across the little 
 front lawn, she followed, raking violently. " If Roger 
 had a grain of sense, or if that woman hadn't poisoned 
 his mind," she thought, " we might really work together 
 like this; he'd be the steady draught-horse, plodding 
 along in front, and I'd come after and put in the fine 
 touches. But he's blind; and I don't care." She scat- 
 tered the grass right and left with reckless strokes. 
 
 " Some one's coming to see you, Cicely ! " said Roger 
 suddenly, stopping his work to indicate a large limousine 
 that was turning into the little street. " I suppose you'll 
 want to disappear and take off those street-cleaner 
 duds." 
 
 Perversity came at once to the front in Cicely's mood. 
 " I don't see why I should," she said. " If I have no 
 social responsibility about your career, there's no need 
 for me to care what sort of appearance I make. I shall 
 do very well as I am." 
 
 Roger's eyes showed the hurt that her tone gave him, 
 but he made no comment. " Well, I don't believe I'm 
 fit for publication," he said. " I'll withdraw and get a
 
 INAUGURATION OF A CAREER 35 
 
 coat on while there's time." He disappeared around the 
 corner of the house. 
 
 Cicely stood her ground. She had never in her life 
 made for one minute the disreputable appearance which 
 she now chose to display publicly; but she did not care 
 how she looked, or what sort of credit she reflected on 
 Roger. She watched the movements of the approaching 
 car with eyes recklessly alight. " If I'm of no use, I'll 
 have a little fun!" she thought. "I'll make myself 
 felt somehow in this extraordinary society ! " 
 
 The limousine came rapidly down the street, passed 
 the little red house, and stopped at a yellow house far- 
 ther down on the other side. A stout, ornate dame 
 alighted, dismissed the car with a wave of a fat 
 hand, climbed laboriously up the porch steps, and 
 rang the bell. Cicely, losing interest, was about to turn 
 away; but when the door was opened and the visitor had 
 propounded a question, it seemed that she had come to 
 the wrong goal; she turned and stumped laboriously 
 down again, and, as her chariot had gone to the 
 end of the street to turn around, she was forced to 
 rectify her mistake on foot. With a very bad grace she 
 started diagonally across towards the little House of 
 Ford. The facts that the road was muddy and that her 
 French-heeled shoes obviously pinched did not tend to 
 increase her satisfaction; and by the time she reached 
 the sidewalk she was very much out of breath and out 
 of temper. 
 
 Cicely watched with dancing eyes; she was in a mood 
 for malicious amusement. " Good-afternoon ! " she 
 called out sweetly.
 
 36 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 The visitor surveyed the daintily disreputable figure 
 with a glance in which superiority and irritation con- 
 tended for mastery. " Does Mrs. Roger Ford 
 reside here ? " she puffed haughtily. 
 
 " I believe she does," said Cicely. 
 
 " Then go tell her/' commanded the stout lady, " that 
 I want to see her. Tell her " she paused impres- 
 sively, and took a breath worthy of the announcement, 
 " Mrs. Martin de Mullen is here ! " 
 
 Cicely hesitated an instant, reflecting; she could not 
 decide whether it would be more amusing to declare her- 
 self, or to continue on the present footing. But the de- 
 lay was too much for the visitor's strained temper, and 
 she forced the issue. 
 
 " Come, hurry up ! " she said angrily, the careful 
 finish disappearing from her voice. " I'm not used to 
 bein' kept waitin' ! " 
 
 This decided Cicely ; her eyes danced again. " Then 
 don't wait any longer," she suggested with a charming 
 smile. 
 
 "Well, of all the impudence!" ejaculated the stout 
 lady, glaring. " I'll tell your mistress on you ! " 
 
 " Oh, are you going in anyway? " said Cicely. " I 
 wish you luck. But I'm afraid we don't want any." 
 She glanced deprecatingly at the large gold bag in her 
 visitor's fat hand. 
 
 " You you outrageous you you ! " gasped 
 the lady; and, inarticulate with rage, she flounced to the 
 curbstone and waved furiously at her approaching 
 chariot. 
 
 " I thought you were going in ! " said Cicely, sweetly
 
 IXAUGURATION OF A CAREER 37 
 
 surprised. " ' None but the brave can pay their fare,' 
 you know. Well, if you can't stop, good-bye ! I hope 
 it won't spoil." She waved her clumsy glove in a mock- 
 ing farewell as the lady clambered pantingly aboard. 
 
 "Cicely!" said Roger, returning at this juncture. 
 " What have you been doing? " 
 
 " Bearding a raging lion ! " said Cicely, sparkling with 
 glee. " I routed her, too ! " 
 
 " I see you did," said Roger. He hesitated ; he had 
 heard enough to be sorely distressed that a visitor to his 
 home should be so received, yet he did not want to scold. 
 " Do do you think you were exactly kind? " he asked 
 slowly. 
 
 " Oh, as for that, she treated me like the beasts that 
 perish!" said Cicely. "And if I'm not of any impor- 
 tance, it doesn't matter how I behave. You say I can't 
 make you head of the department anyway." 
 
 " Not at this rate," said Roger, with a touch of bitter- 
 ness. " That was the giver of the possible laboratory, 
 the person you were going to wind around your finger." 
 
 Cicely was startled, but her mood of reckless indiffer- 
 ence sustained her, and she only flushed a little more 
 brightly. " Well, you don't believe in truckling ! " she 
 taunted. 
 
 Roger flushed too. " No, but I believe in common 
 courtesy," he said. 
 
 At this Cicely's eyes blazed. " If you had had the 
 ' common courtesy,' " she retorted, " to put a little con- 
 fidence in your wife, you would be in a different situa- 
 tion at the present moment ! " 
 
 " I put so much confidence in my wife," said Roger
 
 38 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 slowly, " that I trusted her to be considerate and kind 
 whether there was anything to be gained by it or not. I 
 seem to have been mistaken." 
 
 An electric, pricking glow, half pleasurable, half ap- 
 palling, ran along Cicely's spine. She flashed an answer 
 white-hot from the thrill of it. " You certainly were, 
 if you thought I would be a door-mat for people you 
 don't consider me fit to manage ! You may imagine that 
 you and your women aides can use me to wipe your feet 
 on, but I have other ideas ! " 
 
 " Oh ! Cicely / " exclaimed Roger, utterly aghast. 
 He put out his hand to catch her; but she had marched, 
 carnation-cheeked, past him and into the house. 
 
 Inside the locked door of her room, she dropped on a 
 chair in the midst of the gay confusion, and stared un- 
 seeingly before her, with hands clenched. " It's an out- 
 rage ! " she cried to herself. " Roger will let that David- 
 son woman and that horrible fat bourgeoise do anything 
 they please to him, and he won't listen to a word from 
 me! They insult me, and he is delighted! He doesn't 
 mind how people treat me, so long as they please him. 
 Oh well, who cares ! " She flung out her hands in a 
 reckless gesture. "I don't! I wish I had some one to 
 dance with. I won't sit here and mope I won't I 
 won't " The hands fell, and suddenly they were 
 clasped over the delicate frock that hung on the back of 
 the chair, and Cicely's head was upon them. " Oh, what 
 a day, what a day ! " she sobbed. " Why didn't any one 
 tell me that marriage was like this ? "
 
 II 
 
 THE DIPLOMAT'S ENTERING WEDGE 
 
 ON the evening of the President's reception, the eligible 
 world of Cheltenham gathered in force. It was the 
 most important formal event of the year, when Greek 
 met Greek in best bib and tucker, newcomers were ap- 
 praised, old members of the sacred circle took each 
 other's measure anew, and the fine impalpable bonds and 
 barriers that make up social intercourse were strength- 
 ened. The scene held a certain extramundane splendour, 
 devoid of glitter, yet serenely, academically brilliant. 
 The great stately rooms, classically restrained in their 
 decoration, the imposing presences of the President and 
 Mrs. President, the combination of intellect with a 
 chastened worldliness in the appearance of the guests, 
 all combined to create an atmosphere not found in the 
 entertainments of Vanity Fair, the soothing and edi- 
 fying aura of Learning in Evening Dress. 
 
 Cicely, aware that this was her formal introduction 
 to Cheltenham society, and, since her peace-making with 
 Roger, both conscience-stricken about her previous con- 
 duct and confirmed in her diplomatic intentions for the 
 future, was sufficiently impressed to be very much on her 
 good behaviour. She wore a gown of shimmering white 
 and soft translucent green, in which she looked like a 
 
 39
 
 40 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 lily-of-the-valley, virginal and shining; and as she en- 
 tered the drawing-room by her husband's side, bright 
 head high, eyes wide and eager, the sudden silence was 
 almost audible in its tribute. She heard it, and flushed 
 a little with pleasure; and Roger heard it too with his 
 duller masculine perceptions, and burned into sudden 
 radiance with uncontrollable pride and joy. Their ad- 
 vance through the long room, beautiful youth at its 
 beautiful best, was a triumphal progress : a buzz of 
 excited talk closed in behind them. 
 
 " Mrs. Ford," said the President, stepping forward 
 from his place, and bending his august regard upon 
 Cicely in a very human manner, " we thought ourselves 
 well off when we had your husband here alone; what 
 shall we think now, when he has brought us such wealth 
 as this ? " 
 
 A saucy retort anent the doubtful position of wealth 
 in the scholarly world was on Cicely's tongue; but she 
 had come with a firm resolve to be discreet and diplo- 
 matic, and would not grant it egress. Instead, demure 
 gaze fixed on the stately Roman-nosed countenance above 
 her, she answered with silent dimples; and in this she 
 displayed more wit than if she had uttered the cleverest 
 retort in history, for the President, like many an- 
 other great man, had less appreciative ears for other 
 people's eloquence than for his own. 
 
 " Well, if we live up to the obligation that your com- 
 ing lays upon us," said he, answering himself gallantly, 
 " your life in Cheltenham will be a bed of roses. You 
 will find us appreciative debtors, I promise you." 
 
 " Mrs. Ford," said the President's wife, with suave
 
 THE ENTERING WEDGE 41 
 
 effusiveness, " it gives me -very great pleasure to open the 
 doors of our little world to you. I hoped to explain 
 some of its mysteries when I called; I was extremely 
 sorry to miss you, as I really desired to help you get 
 properly started." 
 
 Cicely's eyes narrowed slightly, appraising this semi- 
 official patronage. Mrs. Staunton, it was easily seen, 
 was by nature a little fussy woman, made for little fussy 
 concerns, who had schooled herself to that conscious 
 poise and graciousness often seen in the small wives 
 of great men, and now acted her part with a satisfac- 
 tion she could not conceal. Cicely had met her type be- 
 fore, and knew (with a mischievous longing), how easily 
 she could reduce the official dignity to its native elements. 
 But she held heroically to her resolve of discretion, and 
 answered irreproachably. 
 
 " You are most kind," she murmured. " I was deeply 
 distressed to lose your visit. Thank you so much for 
 asking me to pour to-night; I feel more honoured than I 
 can tell you." 
 
 Mrs. Staunton's intuition, quicker than her wit, per- 
 ceived a slight flaw in the spirit of this reply. " I al- 
 ways ask the brides," she said, with a sharp lifting of 
 her intricate blonde coiffure. 
 
 " Oh," said Cicely, hiding a twinkle, " how fortunate 
 for me ! " 
 
 " You are going to like us here in Cheltenham, I 
 trust, Mrs. Ford?" inquired the President, turning 
 hastily from his greeting of Roger. 
 
 Cicely raised to him those large respectful eyes, and 
 smiled.
 
 42 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 " Well, Ford, I think the university is as much to be 
 congratulated as you ! " remarked the great man, with 
 unwonted geniality. " We are a highly favoured commu- 
 nity." 
 
 " Not a doubt about that, sir ! " beamed Roger, as he 
 returned Mrs. Staunton's limp handshake with an exuber- 
 ant grip. " Cheltenham's the luckiest institution in the 
 country, and I'm its luckiest atom." His glance dwelt 
 upon Cicely, as they moved away side by side, with a 
 visible caress. 
 
 " A most delightful young lady ! " pronounced the 
 President, with emphasis. " As beautiful as she is 
 witty; a rare combination." 
 
 " She's too sure of herself ! " said his wife, vaguely 
 dissatisfied. " And I'm positive her hair has been 
 touched up ; that colour simply can't be natural." 
 
 Mrs. Davidson came forward quickly, beautiful in the 
 simple dignity of her low-cut black gown. " Good even- 
 ing, Mrs. Ford ! " she said, with the same sincere cordial- 
 ity which she had brought to their last ill-fated inter- 
 view. " Good evening, Roger. How delightful to see 
 you together ! Quantities of people want to meet the 
 new-comer; may I present some of them? I'm sup- 
 posed to be ' assisting,' so they've brought their pleas 
 to me." 
 
 " I shall be charmed," replied Cicely sedately. 
 
 " Then I'll start with the department," said Mrs. 
 Davidson, " as charity ought to begin at home. First 
 of all where is he ? oh, here this is the head. 
 I'll let him have you a minute, while I collect the 
 others."
 
 THE ENTERING WEDGE 43 
 
 She moved away with a smiling nod, and her place 
 at Cicely's side was taken by a portly, silver-haired man, 
 with eyes framed in countless merry wrinkles. Genial- 
 ity was his first note, keenness of intellect his second, 
 and then, underlying both, a deep nobility that was the 
 real fundamental of the chord, and that chimed with the 
 same quality in his wife. Cicely warmed to him whole- 
 heartedly, and upturned her face to his with an instant 
 lovely smile. 
 
 " Let me ! " said Roger quickly, " Cicely, this is Dr. 
 Davidson, my best friend and greatest creditor. Doctor, 
 didn't I tell you I had something of a wife to show you? " 
 
 " You did, my boy," said Dr. Davidson, clapping 
 Roger heartily on the shoulder with one hand, while he 
 clasped Cicely's slender fingers with the other, " and 
 it's lucky I had a little preparation ! " He laughed a big, 
 jovial laugh, that deepened the wrinkles around his eyes, 
 and gazed at Cicely appreciatively. " Well, Roger, 
 your deserts are such big ones that even this isn't too 
 much for you. As for you, my dear lady, I don't know 
 you well enough to say what you deserve, but from your 
 looks I think you are worthy of your husband; and I 
 can't go higher in the complimentary line than that." 
 
 Cicely gave him a glowing look of pleasure: freed' 
 from the subtle hostility which had made her object 
 to the same thing in his wife, she rejoiced in his evident 
 love of Roger. " No, you show yourself a flatterer," 
 she said. " I shall beware of you." 
 
 " Oh, come, doctor ! " laughed Roger, embarrassed and 
 happy. " I never thought you'd horse me like this ! " 
 
 " And as for the rest of us," pursued the doctor cheer-
 
 fully, "we're just eleemosynaries, just a plain bread- 
 line. We'll stand and wait for the crumbs. Look 
 around you and see ! " And indeed the crowding faces 
 about the room were nearly all turned towards Cicely 
 with open admiration, changing as she glanced at them 
 into the consciously absent look of people who want to 
 prove to the person they are staring at that they are 
 staring at some one else. 
 
 Cicely, who was inured to being inspected in a far 
 less reserved manner, met the concentrated gaze with- 
 out embarrassment. " Faculty parties look just like or- 
 dinary parties, don't they?" she said, "almost." 
 
 " What's the difference? " asked Roger, drawing her 
 out with ill-concealed pride. 
 
 Cicely hesitated; privately she thought this one rather 
 shabby, but of course such an indiscreet opinion must 
 be far from her tongue. " Well, there's a sort of double- 
 entente in the atmosphere! " she said gaily. " The first 
 time I saw scholars in the mass, at the opening exercises 
 here, they wore the appropriate uniform; but now they 
 look just like ordinary men, and it's confusing, because 
 of course they're not." 
 
 " Ah, Mrs. Ford ! " said Dr. Davidson, quizzically, 
 " I see the effect of the diplomatic training ! " 
 
 " Just watch me a while," said Cicely, turning to him, 
 roguishly confidential, " and you'll see more evidence of 
 it than that." 
 
 " Trust me! " said he, " I'll watch; and I'll be ready 
 to dodge for shelter when the thunderbolts begin to 
 fall!" 
 
 " Here we are ! " announced Mrs. Davidson, reappear-
 
 THE ENTERING WEDGE 45 
 
 ing with a small army of recruits. " Mrs. Ford, I want 
 you to meet your colleagues. Mrs. Simms and Dr. 
 Simms, and Dr. Elton, and Dr. and Mrs. 
 Reynolds, " she spoke the names with careful em- 
 phasis, pausing to give space for the greetings, " and 
 Mrs. Welsh and Dr. Welsh, and Mrs. Kalten- 
 born, whose husband is still abroad, and Messrs. 
 Grant, Holmes and Peters, the Three Graces." 
 
 Cicely responded punctiliously to each introduction, 
 taking curious note of all her new associates, and espe- 
 cially of those with whom she was already preoccupied. 
 Like most of the dwellers in this college world, they were 
 strongly marked personalities, incapable of being 
 docketed in pigeon-holes; purpose, not chance, had 
 brought them together, and in varying degrees their faces 
 showed it. In dress and bearing they displayed an 
 odd diversity, some carefully conventional (consciously 
 defying the world to put them in the class of shabby in- 
 tellectuals), and some serenely indifferent to unbecoming 
 garments and passe modes. But in their prompt and 
 cordial welcome to the newcomer they were strikingly 
 unanimous ; for the academic circle, with its strong clan- 
 spirit, is everywhere set apart from less united and less 
 altruistic societies by the bounteousness of its hospitality 
 to the saved souls who enter it. 
 
 However, the conversation, once the welcome had 
 been extended and accepted, was very formal. Mrs. 
 Davidson had departed on other errands, taking Roger 
 with her; it rested with Cicely, the centre of interest, 
 to pitch the key; and she, though pleased and a good 
 deal surprised by her reception, was too full of inten-
 
 tional diplomacy to allow herself to be natural. She 
 watched the people around her closely, striving to dis- 
 cern motives and emotions ; and being asked whether she 
 liked Cheltenham, responded that she did, and inquired 
 whether they liked Cheltenham, and learned that they 
 liked it greatly; then, after a short pause (during which 
 she meditated a plan of attack), the question of her ap- 
 proval of Paris was raised, and she responded in polite 
 antiphony with a counter-query as to their approval of 
 Paris, and it developed that all concerned esteemed 
 Paris highly. It was irreproachable, but not thrilling. 
 Dr. Davidson watched with an amused twinkle in his 
 shrewd eyes, and the admiring bachelors began to hover 
 uneasily. It was evident to every one that Cicely's dis- 
 creet demeanour was but a flimsy disguise; the situation 
 was in a state of suspense, waiting for somebody to give 
 it a push and show its real intentions. 
 
 " This is your first experience of academic life, I 
 believe, Mrs. Ford? " politely asked a small man at Cice- 
 ly's elbow. 
 
 Cicely's alert eyes considered him for a second before 
 she answered. He was Dr. Simms, one of the men whom 
 Mrs. Davidson had named as Roger's opponents, a 
 sandy-haired, monochrome person, with a high voice, a 
 high forehead, and an inconsiderable nose. One glance 
 showed her that little art was needed to draw the fangs 
 displayed by his inoffensive smile; the motive power of 
 the opposition was clearly elsewhere. 
 
 " How clever of you to know that ! " she answered, 
 with a sweetly ingenuous manner. " Yes, it's my very 
 first."
 
 THE ENTERING WEDGE 47 
 
 " Except your own college life, of course ! " said Mrs. 
 Simms sharply. She was a buxom woman, vigorous and 
 capable; her glance was forcefully direct, and her speech 
 of a decisive, catapult sort. Small hope of placating her 
 with soft simplicities ! She was the iron hand within 
 the innocuous male glove. 
 
 " I never went to college," said Cicely, discarding 
 a little of the sweetness, but offering a disarming humil- 
 ity. " I'm sorry to say I'm uneducated." 
 
 " That need not follow ! " said Mrs. Simms. " Some 
 very intelligent women have had no education but what 
 they have achieved by their own efforts." She looked 
 at Cicely disapprovingly, the consciousness of her own 
 M.A. bristling out of every fold of her hard gown. 
 " But I must say they are rare," she added uncompro- 
 misingly. 
 
 Cicely's eyes caught those of a dark and pretty woman 
 standing near her, and struck a spark from them; and 
 in the instant needed for the amused interchange of 
 glances, she told herself that she had found a friend. 
 This was Mrs. Reynolds, the wife of the trenchant man 
 with the Van Dyck beard, a young, very modern 
 woman, remarkably attractive in a trailing, lazy way, 
 with a face of bored impassivity and satirical eyes. She 
 had been studying Cicely's gown and hair in appreciative 
 silence, and now she swept her glance from that perfect 
 ensemble to Mrs. Simms' bulging figure and tight coiffure, 
 and back to Cicely again. 
 
 " Of course," she drawled carelessly, " ignorance has 
 its compensations. Said to be bliss, don't you know." 
 
 " Just as dirt is said by unclean people to be healthy ! "
 
 48 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 said Mrs. Simms. " I've no patiei,: e with that sort of 
 nonsense! " 
 
 " Ven I vas a girl," said Mrs. Kaltenborn, a com- 
 fortable Germanic lady of middle age, dressed with a 
 comfortable Germanic disregard for fashion, " dey used 
 to say ve got to eat a peck of dirt in our lifetimes. 
 Yes, so dey said vere I came from." 
 
 " Oh," said Cicely, looking at her with quick interest, 
 " then you're like me, half a foreigner ! Did you al- 
 ways live in Germany until you came here ? " 
 
 " Ach, no ! " said Mrs. Kaltenborn complacently. " In 
 Saint Loo-ey ! " 
 
 " Mrs. Kaltenborn is a good American citizen, yoii 
 see ! " said the man with the Van Dyck beard, in a crisp, 
 decisive voice. " She comes of the solid Teutonic stock 
 that gives new vigour to our country. And her husband, 
 though imported from Berlin, is an excellent American 
 too, a heart-and-soul American, a lesson to the rest of 
 us." He put his hands behind his back, and studied 
 Cicely with his keen eyes. 
 
 Cicely flashed his look back with interest. In ap- 
 pearance he was the most conventional of all the men ; 
 with his ultra-correct raiment and his faultless groom- 
 ing he would have passed anywhere for a fastidious type 
 of man-of-the-world. But beneath the polished ex- 
 terior, very near the surface, was a restless, greedy 
 ambition, always gnawing at the obstacles in its way, 
 always ready to pounce. The brief gaze revealed each 
 to the other, to Cicely, her husband's most unsleep- 
 ing enemy; to Reynolds, the real fighter in the opposite 
 camp. Their eyes clashed like weapons; and in Cicely
 
 THE ENTERING WEDGE 49 
 
 a quick surge of instinctive hostility overbore her in- 
 tended discretion. 
 
 "What is your standard of good citizenship?" she 
 demanded impetuously. " Do you judge by ' ability to 
 bear arms '? I am both born here and imported, I'm 
 a natural citizen and an adopted one; I ought to make 
 a warrior worth fighting ! " Her challenging eyes, 
 sparkling with sudden excitement, urged him to throw 
 aside the mask and open battle on the spot. 
 
 There was a startled movement in the little circle. 
 The push had been given, and the delicately balanced 
 situation was rolling briskly towards disaster. Mrs. 
 Reynolds smiled at Cicely with a frank admiration 
 touched with her peculiar satirical quality; Mrs. Welsh, 
 a rather spiritlessly feminine woman, looked terrified ; 
 Mrs. Simms rustled severely. Cicely, suddenly aware 
 of her rashness, stood silent, flushed and a little 
 daunted; her eyes ran swiftly from face to face, and 
 meeting the eyes of Dr. Davidson, humorous and 
 kind, yet with a look of anxious disapproval in them, 
 they fell, abashed. She heard Dr. Reynolds give a 
 sharp prefatory cough as he opened his lips to reply, 
 and all at once she saw the precipice she stood upon, 
 and resolved to withdraw before it was too late. 
 
 "Why, I sound like a jingo!" she said, summoning 
 all her charm in an infectious laugh, " What a goose I 
 am talking about battle, murder and sudden death in 
 this age of Peace Palaces ! I hope I haven't alarmed 
 you. I must go now; I see some one I have to speak to. 
 I'm very glad to have met you all, please come and 
 see me when you can." And turning forthwith, she
 
 50 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 hurried swiftly away, leaving three of her new acquain- 
 tances with mouths half-opened to reply. 
 
 She had not the slightest idea where she was going, 
 but in a moment, as she was half-way across the room, 
 her eyes lighted providentially upon Mrs. Martin de 
 Mullen. That lady, invited in a rare academic con- 
 cession to Mammon, sat enthroned in a high-backed 
 Renaissance arm-chair excellently contrived to emphasize 
 her plump plebeian quality: her brief pursuit of Culture 
 having modified her first conception of an evening 
 toilette, she was attired with chaste simplicity in a plain 
 crimson velvet gown that made her look like a well-boiled 
 lobster, with a single enormous diamond hanging like a 
 millstone about her neck. Her round, marcelled head 
 rested against the carved chair-back with conscious 
 queenliness, and she smiled benignly and vacantly on 
 this gathering of distinguished poverty. 
 
 Cicely approached her with a new access of diplomatic 
 discretion. " I think this is Mrs. de Mullen ? " she said 
 respectfully. 
 
 " The same," replied the lady regally. 
 
 " I have heard of you, and wished to meet you," 
 proffered Cicely, " and I didn't have any one to present 
 me, so I came to present myself." 
 
 " Ah ! " said Mrs. de Mullen indulgently, " and who 
 may you be? Your face is familiar, but I don't, so 
 to speak, recall your name." 
 
 " I'm quite a stranger," said Cicely hastily. " I'm 
 Mrs. Roger Ford." 
 
 A change came over Mrs. de Mullen's complacent face, 
 and she looked sharply at her new acquaintance. " Mrs.
 
 Roger Ford, eh ? " she said, with a momentary relapse 
 into naturalness. " Is that so ! " 
 
 " I have reason to fear," said Cicely quickly, seizing 
 the bull by the horns, " that an inmate of my household 
 was very rude to you the other day. I hope I've been 
 misinformed." 
 
 " No, Mrs. Ford, you have not," said Mrs. de Mullen, 
 the queenliness reappearing in full force. " Who was 
 that individual, if I may ask? " 
 
 " A young person who was working for us," said 
 Cicely promptly. " An ignorant creature, as you prob- 
 ably observed." 
 
 " And how did you come to be aware of the contry- 
 tempse? " pursued Mrs. de Mullen majestically. 
 
 " My husband happened to be near by/' explained 
 Cicely, " and overheard. She doesn't work for us 
 any more," she added, with a veracious inspiration. 
 
 Mrs. de Mullen's haughty manner relaxed. " I am 
 gratified to hear that," she said. " Her manners were 
 shocking." 
 
 " They were indeed," agreed Cicely. " My husband 
 was appalled at her." 
 
 " Well," conceded Mrs. de Mullen, " the bur Joyce are 
 apt to be vulgar. They don't know any better. There 
 are not many of them in Cheltenham, fortunately." 
 
 " Have you lived here long? " inquired Cicely, seating 
 herself with a respectful air. 
 
 " No ; we are recent acquisitions," said the great lady 
 affably. " We formerly resided in Cincinnati, where 
 Mr. de Mullen was what the French call a hommedy- 
 fairs. But between you and me, Mrs. Ford, there is no
 
 52 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 real culture there; we felt out of place in such onvi- 
 rongs." 
 
 " I hope you find Cheltenham more congenial," said 
 Cicely. 
 
 "We do; so much so," replied Mrs. de Mullen, "that 
 we are going to reside here permanently. We are build- 
 ing a residence now, a commodious residence in the 
 French style, the kind they call a shottoe." 
 
 " Indeed ! " said Cicely. " I suppose that's to ac- 
 cord with your name. I noticed at once that you were of 
 Gallic origin." 
 
 " Did you really ! " beamed Mrs. de Mullen. " Yes, 
 I'm convinced that de Mullen is a form of a well-known 
 French name, what I might call a deckadong form at 
 present. Mr. de Mullen was inclined to pronounce it 
 Mullins when we were married, but I corrected that; 
 and when our shottoe gets done, I'm going to revive it 
 completely. I intend to always have a little dash, 
 what the French call a soup-song, of French atmos- 
 phere in our home." 
 
 " A very happy thought," murmured Cicely. " Your 
 cousin Comte Rene de Gravecourt de Chesny-Desmoulins 
 will be delighted. Charming creature, your cousin, 
 isn't he? " 
 
 Mrs. de Mullen looked sharply at her, but was re- 
 assured by that limpid, respectful gaze. " Well, I have 
 so many cousins," she said, " I don't exactly call him to 
 mind at the moment. But I have no doubt he's quite de- 
 rigger." 
 
 At this moment Roger, who had been hunting for 
 Cicely, spied her lithe green-and-white figure, and came
 
 hurrying to her side. Cicely greeted him with a dancing 
 smile. 
 
 " Don't interrupt, Roger ! " she said. " Mrs. de Mul- 
 len and I are having such an interesting chat ! " 
 
 " Howdy-do, Professor ! " said Mrs. de Mullen gra- 
 ciously. " Your wife and I are extremely congenial 
 affinities. She's a very bright young person." 
 
 " I'm sorry to spoil such a pleasant interview," said 
 Roger, shaking hands, " but I have to carry her off. 
 She's got to do something in the dining-room; Mrs. 
 Davidson sent me to say so." 
 
 " Oh, yes ; I have to pour, because I'm a bride," said 
 Cicely, rising. " I suppose brides are expected to be 
 in a mood to make libations. I can't tell you how I have 
 enjoyed this conversation, Mrs. de Mullen." 
 
 "Don't mention it, Mrs. Ford, don't mention if!" 
 returned Mrs. de Mullen, now all smiles. " Always glad 
 to indulge in a pleasant vis-a-vis. Good night, Profes- 
 sor. I am coming to call on your wife just as soon as 
 my social duties will permit. Bon swore ! " 
 
 " You wonderful little witch ! " exclaimed Roger, in 
 an undertone, as they crossed the room. " How did you 
 do it ? You've got her ready to eat out of your hand ! " 
 
 " Now that's diplomacy ! " said Cicely triumphantly. 
 " You'd stalk along on one side of the road in your stuffy, 
 high-minded way. and let her waddle along the other, 
 until you both dropped, without so much as passing the 
 time of day; and then you'd wonder why you didn't get 
 your laboratory. I'm not above crossing the road and in- 
 quiring after the health of the cough-drops; and that's 
 where I score. It's all in being open-minded."
 
 54 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 " Perhaps ! " said Roger dubiously. 
 
 " Certainly ! " said Cicely with conviction. " Is this 
 the dining-room? Oh yes, and here's the slave-driver. 
 Au 'voir, Roger." 
 
 A pretty, nervous, slightly faded woman, with social 
 activity written large upon her animated face and modish 
 gown, came hurrying to Cicely's side. 
 
 " This must be Mrs. Ford," she said rapidly. " I'm 
 Mrs. Elton; I have charge of the dining-room; it's your 
 turn to pour; you're to take the coffee. Over here; this 
 chair. Ask the waiters for whatever you want. I'll in- 
 troduce as many people as I can." She hurried away, 
 worried, strained, and wholly in her element. 
 
 Cicely looked about her interestedly. The dining- 
 room of the President's House was a lofty, dark, beauti- 
 ful apartment, with a few fine pictures and an atmos- 
 phere of mellowed stateliness. At the other end of the 
 long table, behind the piled flowers, sat a flushed girl 
 in a very obvious wedding-gown, pouring chocolate; at 
 smaller tables about the room other brides, of varying 
 degrees of attractiveness, dispensed ices and cool bever- 
 ages. Negro waiters wriggled in and out among the 
 crowded guests, and the air was full of flower-fragrance 
 and the rattle of animated conversation. 
 
 Presently, in a distant corner of the room, Cicely spied 
 a knot of college boys, packed together in a tight defen- 
 sive wedge and eating busily. She remembered having 
 heard that the honour men of the senior class, prize 
 winners, presidents of societies, captains of teams, 
 were invited to this august function, and divined that a 
 fellow-feeling of shyness, strengthened by their minority
 
 THE ENTERING WEDGE 55 
 
 in so large an assembly of elders, had drawn them into a 
 lonely coalition. Her well-developed social instinct re- 
 monstrated: and, while she busied her fingers with the 
 cups and the sugar-tongs, and her tongue with polite re- 
 sponses to the many civilities pressed upon her, she kept 
 planning measures for withdrawing them from their 
 isolation. 
 
 " Mrs. Elton ! " she said, as that worried lady hastened 
 by, " can't something be done for those boys over there ? 
 They look dreadfully out of it." 
 
 " Oh, my dear," expostulated Mrs. Elton, " don't talk 
 to me about boys! Why, there are three trustees here 
 that I haven't got around to introducing yet ! And by the 
 way, they're all d} r ing to meet you; everybody's talking 
 about you; I'm going to bring them up as soon as I can; 
 try to keep a clear space for them. You're going to be 
 the success of the season." She was gone again before 
 she finished speaking. 
 
 " Well, if she won't do it," said Cicely to herself, " I 
 must find somebody who will. I can't have those poor 
 dears languishing alone like that." Seeing all their eyes 
 fastened upon her with open enthusiasm, she sent them 
 a friendly smile, and the irradiation of their faces in 
 eager response gave her an inspiration. " Why, I'll go 
 myself!" she thought. "Of course, I'm a married 
 woman now; I can do as I please." Her face bright- 
 ened with pleasure ; she slipped from her chair, and went 
 quickly to where they stood. 
 
 " Good evening ! " she said. " Won't you come and 
 let me give you some coffee? " 
 
 " Will we ? Won't we ? I should think we
 
 56 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 would ! " Their answers tumbled back eagerly, and with 
 prompt unanimity they all trooped after her to the table, 
 and clustered round her chair. 
 
 " Now, this is better! " said Cicely blithely. " Cream? 
 Sugar? Two lumps? " She looked them over from the 
 tail of her eye while she served them, noting the good 
 breeding and good clothes of them all, and the grace and 
 distinction of some. " Now why can't Roger talk to 
 me about nice boys like these/' she thought, " instead of 
 those janitors and scrubs he's always raving about? 
 He does have the most extraordinary taste ! " 
 
 "Better? Well, rather!" said the boy who had first 
 answered her, a handsome youngster, dark-eyed, 
 dark-haired and debonair. " We were stuck there like a 
 lot of turtles in a mud-bank. We're a thousand times 
 obliged to you for getting us out." 
 
 " \Vhat made you stick in the first place?" asked 
 Cicely. " You're all able-bodied ! " 
 
 " Yes, but you know there's nobody here except profs 
 and that sort," said the boy confidentially. " There 
 wasn't any one we wanted to talk to until you came." 
 
 Cicely smiled at this ingenuous tribute; secure in the 
 dignity of her matronhood, she could look with an indul- 
 gent eye on bold, charming boys. " That's flattering to 
 all the intellectual monarchs ! " she said. " You'd better 
 not let them hear you ! " 
 
 " I don't care about them ! " said the boy cheerfully. 
 " I'm talking to you. Haven't you just come to this 
 place ? " 
 
 " I came last month," said Cicely, amused at his frank 
 curiosity. " Two weeks and four days ago, to be exact."
 
 THE ENTERING WEDGE 57 
 
 " I thought so ! " said the boy. " I've been here three 
 years, and I know you couldn't have stayed around long 
 without my finding out about it." 
 
 " Why, are you the official censor of the population ? " 
 inquired Cicely, laughing at him. 
 
 " I don't know beans about the population," he an- 
 swered seriously, " but if you'd been here I'd have known 
 it." 
 
 " Here, you Spivvy ! " interrupted a tall boy, elbowing 
 the speaker indignantly. " Ring off, and give some- 
 body else a chance ! " 
 
 " You run away and play with yourself, Chug," said 
 the dark boy firmly. " This is my turn. I can do with- 
 out you." 
 
 " Maybe you can," retorted the other, " and maybe it's 
 the other way round. Come, get in motion ; step lively ! " 
 
 " You'll both have to move pretty quickly," interposed 
 Cicely, much amused; "in fact, everybody who's got 
 coffee will have to stand aside this very minute; here 
 comes Mrs. Elton with both hands full of hungry trustees 
 and deans." 
 
 At the dread name of dean, the boys all looked uneasy, 
 and became extraordinarily circumspect; and taking 
 their cups of coffee with polite murmurs, they receded 
 rapidly into their corner. Cicely watched them as they 
 ensconced themselves, and again from time to time be- 
 tween her ministrations to the thirsty dignitaries; and 
 always she found their admiring eyes upon her, and al- 
 ways flashed a bright smile of friendship back at them. 
 
 At last Mrs. Elton came hurrying to relieve her of 
 duty. " Your time's up," she said; "and I really think
 
 58 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 everybody's been fed; and anyway Mrs. Davidson sent 
 word that we mustn't keep you here another minute; so 
 go. Everybody's raving about you ! The rooms look 
 lovely, don't they? If it had been my reception, the 
 cream wouldn't have held out. I do hope you've had 
 something to eat yourself. Good night; thank you so 
 much; I'm coming to see you very soon; good-bye! " 
 
 At the dining-room door Roger claimed her; and 
 there, seeing her surrounded by intellectual lights, the 
 boys nodded her a shy good night. They had eaten all 
 they could, and, having no more hope of conversation 
 with her, were going home. The dark-haired boy, with 
 his engaging assurance, called out, " Good-bye! I'm go- 
 ing to see you again, somehow, soon ! " but the others re- 
 mained admiringly mute to the last. 
 
 " Let's say good night, dear," said Roger. " It's 
 late, and I don't want you to get too tired." 
 
 " Oh, it's just the ' shank of the evening,' " protested 
 Cicely, " and I'm fresh as a daisy ! I don't want to go 
 yet." 
 
 " I think you ought," said Roger, looking at her solici- 
 tously. "You're more used up than you think; you'll 
 feel it in the morning. And and I have to make a 
 very early start to-morrow." 
 
 " But I don't want to go! " said Cicely. " I'm having 
 such a good time, and I feel so frisky ! We really can't 
 go yet." 
 
 " I'm afraid we must," said Roger. It cost him an 
 effort to be firm, but the fact that he was thinking of 
 Cicely (who never knew when she was tired), and not
 
 THE ENTERING WEDGE 59 
 
 of himself, gave him determination. " Come, let's be- 
 gin/' he added, turning towards the drawing-room. 
 
 Cicely, too well trained to quarrel in public, turned to 
 accompany him without further remonstrance; but rebel- 
 lion began to flash up within her. " Roger is selfish ! " 
 she thought. " Just because he has to get up early in 
 the morning, he doesn't want me to enjoy myself at all! 
 Well, I'll have some fun first. I won't go without one 
 little fling." 
 
 In the long drawing-room the host and hostess still 
 stood faithful to their post, wearily smiling. Cicely led 
 the way to them, her face demure, her hand held out. 
 " My husband says we have to say good night," she said 
 sweetly. 
 
 "What, Mrs. Ford! So soon?" said the President, 
 reviving into animation. " Have you no charity? " 
 
 Cicely, summoning the conversational powers which 
 pleased him best, smiled silently. 
 
 " Well, well," he answered himself, with Jove-like 
 geniality, " we must not be grasping. We must take the 
 good the gods provide us, and be thankful. I have en- 
 joyed this meeting to the full, Mrs. Ford. May I look 
 forward to another delightful chat in the near future? 
 Ah, thank you ; I am indeed fortunate ! " 
 
 " Oh, must you go ? " inquired Mrs. Staunton, with her 
 most impressive patronage. " Too bad ! Thank you so 
 much for helping me. I will tell you a secret, my dear; 
 a little bird told me that your first appearance in Chelten- 
 ham was a distinct success ! " 
 
 The mischief and recklessness effervescing in Cicely
 
 60 
 
 seethed up beyond restraint. She stole a glance at 
 Roger ; he was safely occupied with the President. " Oh, 
 don't mention it!" she said. "Delighted, I'm sure! 
 And since you are so kind, I must tell you that another 
 little bird said something almost as nice to me about 
 your reception. Come, Roger, we must go. We really 
 can't dawdle here any longer. Good night ! " 
 
 " Mrs. Staunton looked a little odd when I said 
 good-bye to her," remarked honest Roger, as they left 
 the room. " Perhaps her feet pain her from standing 
 so long." 
 
 " More likely her self-satisfaction has gone to her 
 head," rejoined Cicely. " Good night, Dr. Davidson, 
 don't forget about those thunderbolts ! Good night, Dr. 
 Reynolds, I hope we can go on soon from where we 
 left off ! " And now, the spirit of reckless mischief 
 having taken full possession of her, she ran to where 
 Mrs. Simms stood, cloaked and determined, in the hall, 
 and fixed her with a glance brilliant with naughtiness. 
 " If you'll come soon to see me, Mrs. Simms," she said, 
 " there's still hope for me. I'm not too old yet to 
 learn ! " 
 
 " Here's your cloak, dear," coaxed Roger, turning 
 from the door where he had secured it. " Come and put 
 it on; the cab's waiting." 
 
 "In a minute!" said Cicely. "I must pay my re- 
 spects first to the aristocracy." For in a corner near 
 the outer door, planted on a small and trembling otto- 
 man, Mrs. de Mullen sat and waited for her triumphal 
 car; and Cicely, darting towards her, swept her a deep 
 court courtesy. " Adieu, Madame Martin-Desmoulins ! "
 
 THE ENTERING WEDGE 61 
 
 she said. " Commend me kindly to your kinsfolk of the 
 nobility, and let me help you when you compose your 
 coat-of-arms. Lozenges are much used ! " 
 
 " How well you know them all, sweetheart ! " said 
 Roger fondly, as he wrapped her in her velvet cloak. 
 " And how well they all know you ! " 
 
 " They're beginning to," remarked Cicely, with a 
 tardy misgiving. " Get me into that cab, quick, Roger. 
 I think it is time for me to go."
 
 Ill 
 
 THE NEW PUPIL 
 
 CICELY was now fully launched upon the delightful 
 community life of a college town. Since the reception, 
 and the stream of visits that followed it, she was a duly 
 incorporated member of that charmed circle where brains 
 and breeding are the only social coin, and money is 
 viewed solely as a prosaic necessity, like underwear, 
 to be made use of in its proper place, and not to be 
 mentioned in public. Promptly voted a valuable acquisi- 
 tion, she was welcomed on all sides with even more than 
 the usual warmth of this warm-hearted body; her prog- 
 ress from circle to inner circle, until she reached the 
 inmost centre of exclusiveness, was comet-like in its 
 brevity; and her peers in age and position, the instruc- 
 tors' and assistant professors' wives, observed her with 
 envy not untinged by awe. 
 
 Cicely herself, however, was far from appreciating her 
 good fortune. She had been fed all her life on cake, and 
 now had no perception of the superfine quality of this 
 wholesome bread and butter. In the glittering world 
 where she had fluttered away the first part of her brief 
 career, money was equally non-existent, being so omni- 
 present as to be taken for granted, and it is an un- 
 doubted fact that it is pleasanter to ignore money be- 
 
 62
 
 THE NEW PUPIL 63 
 
 cause of a surfeit than because of a dearth: while as 
 for breeding and brains, of the former there had always 
 been an embarrassment, and with the latter she had never 
 concerned herself one way or the other. This strange 
 spectacle of brave women employing abilities that might 
 have directed great establishments in such humdrum 
 cares as keeping the children clothed and the board 
 spread, and in the greater task of achieving frugality 
 without sordidness, filled her only with impatient pity; 
 and the many men who had sacrificed opportunities of 
 brilliant commercial prosperity for ideals and poverty 
 impressed her not at all. Her good breeding made her 
 accept all the tributes of hospitality that were offered 
 her sweetly and appreciatively enough, but without the 
 slightest conception of the thought, labour and sacrifice 
 that they stood for: and the day after many a faculty 
 function, when the hostess was trying not to sigh as she 
 thought, " That means another week off our summer out- 
 ing ! " Cicely herself was reflecting, " It was nice of 
 them to do it, but I don't see much fun in shabby par- 
 ties ! " 
 
 Yet Cicely was by no means bored in her new environ- 
 ment. The very youth and inexperience which blinded 
 her to its finer aspects sharpened her appetite for all 
 that was unwonted in it, and made her approach it with 
 zest. She turned to each new phase of her complex 
 surroundings with the eager amusement of a child at a 
 new game: only this life as she saw it was a very differ- 
 ent matter from the stately and beautiful life to which 
 Roger had believed he was bringing her. 
 
 " Cheltenham is a great deal more interesting than I
 
 64 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 thought it would be, Badger/' she told him cheerfully. 
 " Do you know what I like about it? " 
 
 " I can guess," said Roger, looking gratified and 
 happy. " It's the fine, inspiring atmosphere, and the 
 big opportunity to be useful to your fellow-men." 
 
 " Oh, no, that isn't it," said Cicely. " It's the freaks. 
 I never had any idea there could be so many in one 
 place; it's a real revelation." 
 
 " The freaks ! " repeated Roger. " But don't you like 
 the nice people, the brilliant ones, the lovely ones? 
 Don't you feel your life enlarged since you came ? " 
 
 " Can't say I've noticed myself ' swellin' wisibly ! ' ' 
 replied Cicely. " No, I like the de Mullens, and the 
 Simmses, and that cock-eyed man that hunts caterpillars, 
 and the bald-headed one that has aphasia. If I didn't 
 know a soul but those, and you, of course, I 
 should never have a dull moment." 
 
 " I'm glad to know what category I belong in," said 
 Roger, with a crestfallen smile. " I might take a clown 
 course in a dramatic correspondence school, and then per- 
 haps I could entertain you when your other friends 
 weren't around." 
 
 " You'd better practise to outdo them in funniness 
 while they're here," said Cicely gaily, " for when they're 
 not around, you're not either." 
 
 It was true that the two saw little of each other in 
 these days. Now that work was in full swing, Roger 
 left directly after breakfast, had classes until noon, and 
 departed after luncheon to spend the afternoon in the 
 laboratory. By the time he returned there was usually 
 a small throng about the tea-table, which lingered until
 
 THE NEW PUPIL 65 
 
 almost dinner-dressing-time; and in the evening there 
 were always engagements. The days of long walks and 
 long talks and long dreaming under the trees were gone, 
 and the thousand intricate interests of every-day usurped 
 their place. Roger, absorbed heart and soul in his work 
 though he was, missed the earlier communion passion- 
 ately; and Cicely, while she slipped easily into a busy 
 round of pursuits much like those she had left behind in 
 her girlhood, was often lonely and vaguely dissatisfied. 
 
 As she had foreseen, or willed, Mrs. Reynolds 
 was the first of all her new acquaintances to become a 
 real part of her life. Little woman-of-the-world as 
 Cicely was, she was yet at heart an inexperienced child; 
 her naughtinesses were only the effect of mischievous 
 high spirits and life-long spoiling; and she found in Mrs. 
 Reynolds' flippant cynicism an indication of enviable 
 superiority. The two fell soon into close intimacy; 
 and Cicely's bright spirit humbly sat at her friend's 
 feet, to learn of her. 
 
 " I ought not to have dragged you over here to-day, 
 Clarissa," said Cicely one afternoon, as they settled 
 themselves before a crackling fire, with the tea-table 
 cosily between them. " I know you have any quantity 
 of things to do; and as for me, I owe ten thousand calls, 
 at the most conservative estimate." 
 
 " I'd always rather be amused than do things, my 
 love," said Mrs. Reynolds, in her lazy voice; "and 
 you've no idea how glad I was to get away to-day, 
 it's my day for writing to my mother-in-law. These 
 are the best sandwiches I ever ate. I'll tell you what to 
 do about your calls, wait till woman's-club day, when
 
 66 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 they're all out, and you can kill ten in an afternoon." 
 
 " That's a splendid scheme ! " exclaimed Cicely. 
 " Only I can never wait until Friday to pay off my din- 
 ner calls. Mrs. Simms is beginning to bore me with her 
 eyes like two gimlets." 
 
 " Old Simms ! " drawled Mrs. Reynolds. " Isn't 
 she the Iron Duke? No need to put whalebone in her 
 corset! I pity poor little Amy when he gets his ears 
 boxed." 
 
 "What's his name?" asked Cicely, with interest. 
 " He looks like a Luke, like tepid water, or cold 
 soup." 
 
 " He's an Amos," said Mrs. Reynolds, nibbling an- 
 other sandwich with the languid grace under whose pro- 
 tection she consumed an astonishing amount of nourish- 
 ment. " The boys call him Amy, so it does very well. 
 Only I always thought it ought to be Aimless." 
 
 " She supplies the aim ! " said Cicely. " What's her 
 name? " 
 
 " Maria, of course ! " replied Mrs. Reynolds. " What 
 else could it be? unless it was Boadicea. Do give 
 me another cup." 
 
 " It's very curious," remarked Cicely, ministering to 
 her guest, " that a vacuum-cleaner like her should have 
 taken up with a little microbe like him. How do you 
 account for it? " 
 
 " Law of Disagreement," averred Mrs. Reynolds 
 oracularly. " The only thing that makes marriage en- 
 durable. What do you marry people for, if not to dis- 
 agree with them? "
 
 THE NEW PUPIL 67 
 
 Cicely looked nonplussed: she was ashamed to avow 
 her own milk-and-water motive for matrimony in the 
 presence of this enlightened sophistication. " I never 
 thought much about it," she evaded. 
 
 " Well, observe," directed Mrs. Reynolds. " You see 
 it all about you. Kent is a whirlwind, I'm lazy as the 
 deuce. Maria is cayenne and paprika, Amy is cream 
 cheese. If married people agreed with each other, life 
 would be a dismal bore. You're a case in point; you're 
 champagne, your husband is I don't know just what 
 oatmeal, or beefsteak, or anything solid and staid. 
 It stands to reason you'll fight, and so your marriage will 
 be justified." 
 
 Cicely winced a little; she had not expected to get as 
 near home as this ! Clarissa was, of course, wrong. 
 And yet it was an attribute of Clarissa's wisdom to be al- 
 most infallibly right: and it was true, when one came 
 to think of it, that she and Roger did not agree as she 
 had supposed they would. She felt disturbed and un- 
 easy, and, to hide her troubled face, she turned away 
 and touched the bell for Hitty. 
 
 " We shall need some more sandwiches in a minute," 
 she said, as that frank hand-maiden presented a disap- 
 proving face at the door. " Begin to make them now, 
 and then they'll be ready when we are." 
 
 " I'll make ye plain bread-'n'-butter ones, then," said 
 Hitty. " That patty-foy-grass stuff is most gone." 
 
 " Well, use what's left of it," said Cicely, " and we'll 
 get some more. That's simple." 
 
 " It costs a dollar'n' a half a jar, Mis' Ford! " stated
 
 68 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 Hitty severely. "An' we've bed three jars now sence 
 school begun to keep. It's enough to ruin John D. 
 Rockefeller." 
 
 Cicely flushed. " That will do, Hitty," she said. 
 " Please make them now, and bring them in when they 
 are ready." 
 
 " Well, suit yourself," grumbled Hitty, departing. 
 " All I c'n say is, patty-foy-grass'll make a fine pavin' 
 for the road to the poorhouse." 
 
 " Isn't she a lark ! " observed Mrs. Reynolds, munch- 
 ing another sandwich. " I'd rather have her than a 
 phonograph." 
 
 " Yes, she's good fun, but she makes me dreadfully 
 cross," said Cicely. " She will keep saying I'm extrava- 
 gant." 
 
 " Well, for that matter," remarked Mrs. Reynolds 
 tranquilly, " you are, of course." 
 
 " / extravagant ! " exclaimed Cicely indignantly. 
 " Why, Clarissa, what an idea ! You're as bad as Mrs. 
 Davidson ! " 
 
 " You flatter me ! " said Mrs. Reynolds, with her 
 satirical smile. " Sister Davidson would call you ex- 
 travagant as if it were a sin ; I mean it for a compliment. 
 Anybody who wasn't extravagant in this poverty-stricken 
 life wouldn't have the spirit of a cow." 
 
 Cicely was relieved; it was cheering to have this ex- 
 pert encouragement. "Are you extravagant, then?" 
 she asked. 
 
 ({ Am I ! " said Mrs. Reynolds, with lazy gusto. " Ask 
 Kent. He's come to the place now, when the bills come 
 in, where he can't do anything but swear. I tell him
 
 THE NEW PUPIL 69 
 
 that if he expects to live on a labouring man's wages he 
 ought to have married a chambermaid." 
 
 "That's what I tell Roger!" said Cicely; and then 
 stopped short, blushing. She had never thought of say- 
 ing such a thing to Roger ; but she wished to shine before 
 her brilliant friend, and now she was ashamed of hav- 
 ing so poor a stock of conjugal repartee to draw on. 
 
 " Never mind, my life," said Mrs. Reynolds, with a 
 smile of malicious comprehension. " You'll say it to 
 him yet. Wait till you've been married five years, and 
 you'll be astonished at the conversational powers you 
 develop." 
 
 " Hitty takes a long time ! " remarked Cicely, winc- 
 ing again. " Perhaps she's decided that bread is too 
 expensive, and gone out to pick us some grass. Oh no, 
 she's coming; I hear her creaking across the dining- 
 room." 
 
 " Ther's some folks comin' to see ye ! " said Hitty, en- 
 tering. " I seen 'em from the winder. Beats all the 
 way the folks in this town go on, traipsin' in 'n' 
 out all day long, eatin' us out o' house 'n' home." 
 
 " They don't all have such appetites as I have, 
 Hitty ! " drawled Mrs. Reynolds. 
 
 " No 'm, they don't ; that's one mercy," agreed Hitty 
 heartily. " But averagin' 'em all up, they do eat scan- 
 dalous. Makes me think o' my cousin Hiram's wife; she 
 kep' boarders, an' she said " 
 
 " I think you'd better answer the doorbell before you 
 tell us," interrupted Cicely. " And take out this tea- 
 pot, please, and bring the big one. We'll postpone the 
 anecdotes until later." She pushed back her chair from
 
 the fireside, straightened the tea-table with a few deft 
 touches, and, shaking her dainty, tumbled frock into order, 
 turned gladly towards the door to greet the diversion. 
 
 Across the threshold, propelled by Hitty, came an 
 elderly couple of curiously unworldly aspect, a 
 gaunt, bearded, abstracted-looking man, and a little flus- 
 tered woman with an antiquated bonnet set much askew. 
 Hitty, with one of those social inspirations peculiar to 
 herself, placed their cards on a window-sill in a remote 
 corner of the room, and departed, teapot still in hand. 
 The two visitors, apparently totally oblivious of any 
 need for their introducing themselves, stood waiting to be 
 acclaimed, the man serenely, the little woman in a nerv- 
 ous flutter; Cicely, taken aback by the oddness of their 
 appearance, hesitated for her cue; and Mrs. Reynolds, 
 who alone held the key to the situation, sat enjoying it 
 in malicious silence. There was a long, embarrassed 
 pause, most unusual in that animated room. Then 
 Cicely, spurring herself into the breach, went uncertainly 
 forward. 
 
 " I am Mrs. Ford," she said. " Did you come to see 
 me? " 
 
 " We did, madam," said the spectacled man. The little 
 woman started nervously, and remained silent. 
 
 " Then," said Cicely, covering her confusion with the 
 pretty vivacity which she could always command, " we 
 must tell our names, or we can't begin to play. I said 
 mine was Cicely Ford, didn't I ? What are yours ? " 
 
 " Madam," said the male visitor solemnly, " my name 
 is Erasmus Jenkinson. I have the honour to be profes- 
 sor of Greek philology in this institution, a post which I
 
 THE NEW PUPIL 71 
 
 have held for nearly forty years, and in connection with 
 which, I venture to say, my name is not unknown. This 
 lady is Mrs. Jenkinson, my wife. I fear, however, you 
 are under some misapprehension as to the purpose of our 
 visit. We have come merely to make a social call, know- 
 ing and esteeming your husband, and being informed that 
 you are a newcomer and bride; it is, I believe, an estab- 
 lished custom. But you employ the word ' play ' ; 
 whether you refer to billiards, chess, or this new pas- 
 time oddly designated 'bridge,' I do not know; but I 
 fear you will find us ill prepared for any of these di- 
 versions." 
 
 Cicely's eyes danced. " I employed the word," she 
 said, "in a metaphorical and perhaps ill-judged sense. 
 My intention was to communicate a desire for social in- 
 tercourse, not necessarily of a sportive nature. Will 
 J T OU be seated, and allow me to offer you refreshment? " 
 Though, to save her life, she could not help imitating 
 him, she did it with perfect courtesy, paying no atten- 
 tion to Mrs. Reynolds' mirth; pompous and stilted as 
 the old gentleman was, there was about him an innate 
 dignity and a faintly suggested pathos that compelled 
 her respect. She seated the pair with careful considera- 
 tion, and took her place at the tea-table. 
 
 " I have to ask you to wait until the kettle boils again," 
 she said, " for Mrs. Reynolds and I had so little fore- 
 thought as to have our tea before you came. You 
 are acquainted with Mrs. Reynolds, of course? It is 
 only I, the stranger and ignoramus, who find most faces 
 unfamiliar here." 
 
 " The first of your disadvantages will soon be reme-
 
 72 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 died by the sovereign touch of Time; and the second, I 
 am persuaded, exists only in your own undue humility," 
 said the old gentleman, with a stiff, courtly bow. " Yes, 
 I am not unacquainted with Mrs. Reynolds. How do you 
 do, madam? It is some time, I think, since I had the 
 pleasure of an encounter with you." 
 
 Cicely, leaving him in the hands of her friend, turned 
 to the little woman, who had not yet uttered an audible 
 word. 
 
 " I find the hardest part of being a stranger is this 
 matter of introductions ! " she said, with that charming 
 air of making a confidence which was, in her, a totally 
 unconscious coquetry. " At first I thought all the peo- 
 ple I met were as strange as I, and introduced everybody ; 
 and then it seemed that they all knew each other, and 
 I didn't introduce any one; and now I find that some do 
 and some don't, and I don't know how to act." 
 
 " Yes yes, " said Mrs. Jenkinson. " Yes indeed. 
 I I yes." 
 
 "What do you do?" prompted Cicely. "I suppose 
 you know by instinct who knows whom. I get very 
 much embarrassed; for I'm officious if I introduce people 
 who know each other, and rude if I don't introduce peo- 
 ple who don't." 
 
 " Yes oh no, I shouldn't put it that way, " mur- 
 mured Mrs. Jenkinson, a timid gleam lighting in her 
 pale eyes as they rested on Cicely's lovely face, " that 
 is " Her courage failed her, and her voice trailed off 
 indistinctly into silence again. 
 
 " What ails the woman ? " thought Cicely impatiently. 
 " Poor stupid little thing, she hasn't sense enough to
 
 THE NEW PUPIL 73 
 
 call her soul her own." She turned away with relief as 
 Hitty entered with the large silver teapot. " Now you 
 shan't go hungry any longer/' she said, brightening. 
 " Don't tell me you've had your tea already, or I shall 
 be disappointed." 
 
 " No, we we hardly ever take it that is I 
 mean to say " began the little woman; and then broke 
 off, flushing painfully. 
 
 "But it can't hurt you, just a cup or two a day!" 
 protested Cicely. " Professor Jenkinson ! " though 
 she had fallen at once into the habit of the inner circle, 
 of calling all these men of honourable title plain " Mr." 
 except for purposes of introduction, her quick instinct 
 perceived that this new specimen of the genus would 
 prefer the more pompous address, " you are fond of 
 tea, I trust? " 
 
 " Tea, madam," said the professor, turning with mild 
 avidity from his rather juiceless conversation with Mrs. 
 Reynolds, " is a beverage that has been esteemed by our 
 wise neighbours of the Orient throughout many of the 
 centuries by which their civilization antedates ours. I 
 follow, then, an estimable precedent when I avow a taste 
 for it." 
 
 " You enter the illustrious society of the great lexicog- 
 rapher," rejoined Cicely, reverting promptly to his man- 
 ner of speech. " I permit myself to cherish the hope that 
 my concoction may find as appreciative a reception in 
 you, as it might have in the inner fastnesses of that emi- 
 nent man." 
 
 " But not, I trust, to the same immoderate extent ! " 
 exclaimed the professor. " I must protest against being
 
 74 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 laid under the charge of lack of appreciation if I fail to 
 consume the Doctor's wonted eighteen cups ! " He 
 chuckled at his animated repartee, and blinked with as- 
 tonished satisfaction in himself and his surroundings. 
 
 At this hilarious moment Hitty again drew aside the 
 portiere to admit two visitors. These were another mar- 
 ried couple, as completely the opposites of the last com- 
 ers as if they had been products of a different civiliza- 
 tion : assurance, veiled, courteous, but unmistakable, 
 was their note; they were well-fed, well-bred, well- 
 dressed, and perfectly at ease. Although Hitty's social 
 instinct prompted her this time to carry the cards back 
 with her to the kitchen, there was no awkward pause. 
 The incoming lady advanced with a subdued rich rustle 
 to meet Cicely half way, saying at once, in a pleasant, 
 conventional voice, " Mrs. Ford ? I am Mrs. Drum- 
 mond; this is my husband. We are fortunate to find 
 you at home." 
 
 Cicely slipped easily and gratefully into this accus- 
 tomed key. " It is I who am fortunate to be found," 
 she said. " Mrs. Drummond, I am sure you know Mrs. 
 Reynolds, and Mrs. Jenkinson, and Dr. Jenkinson. Mr. 
 Drummond, I am very glad to meet you, Mrs. 
 Reynolds, Dr. and Mrs. Jenkinson, Mr. Drummond." 
 
 Mrs. Reynolds bowed with her lazy grace, Mrs. Jen- 
 kinson gave a couple of flurried little nods, and Mrs. 
 Drummond, greeting each rapidly, proceeded at once 
 to ignore them all and seat herself beside Cicely. Mr. 
 Drummond included the whole group in one of those 
 unrestricted general bows with which busy men are apt 
 to discharge their social obligations in a lump, and also
 
 THE NEW PUPIL 75 
 
 took a chair near Cicely. The two women, hostess and 
 newly-arrived visitor, had already begun the inevitable 
 veiled appraisal of each other's taste and attractiveness, 
 and had both opened their lips for the conventional com- 
 monplaces, when suddenly Professor Jenkinson, who had 
 been laboriously getting upon his feet, launched out upon 
 them with an impressive exordium in the classic style. 
 
 " Xo, madam, I must inform you that you are in error; 
 I have not previously had the privilege of this lady's and 
 gentleman's acquaintance ; I look forward to making it 
 upon this occasion. But before I do so I must state, 
 to you and to them, as well as to this other lady on my 
 left, that you have conferred upon me a distinction to 
 which I can lay no claim. I refer to the title of 
 ' Doctor,' with which you have honorifically but unjustly 
 embellished my name. I am not a doctor of philosophy. 
 In the day, now somewhat distant, when I prepared 
 for this worthy profession, the degree of master of arts 
 was esteemed sufficient equipment; and that, I may say, 
 I possess; but, though I deplore the circumstance, I fear 
 it is now too late for me to acquire the more distin- 
 guished title. Having made this correction, I am glad, 
 madam and sir, to avail myself of the opportunity af- 
 forded me by our hostess to inaugurate an acquaintance 
 with you." 
 
 The old gentleman, having finished, looked about him 
 blankly. He had risen to respond in fitting form to an 
 introduction which he considered himself about to under- 
 go, and now he found introducer and introduced calmly 
 seated and well embarked on the next phase of the 
 situation. He blinked in bewilderment behind his spec-
 
 76 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 tacles. Mr. and Mrs. Drummond, quite unaware of what 
 was expected of them, gazed at him in polite astonish- 
 ment, Mrs. Reynolds made no attempt to hide her mock- 
 ing smile, and Cicely, embarrassed and troubled, was at 
 a loss what to do. The situation hung fire for a difficult 
 moment. 
 
 Oddly enough, it was little Mrs. Jenkinson who res- 
 cued it. As her half-frightened glance fled around the 
 circle, she saw Mrs. Reynolds' satirical smile, and a dull 
 flush mounted over her small, faded face. With a sud- 
 den decisiveness which no one would have supposed pos- 
 sible to her, she also rose to her feet. 
 
 " Yes, we're very glad to have met you," she said, 
 quite clearly and firmly, " and now, you are right, 
 Erasmus, we must go. Good day, all." 
 
 " Oh, please don't hurry away ! " exclaimed Cicely, 
 starting up. " It's far too soon ! Sit down and let us 
 all have a little chat together." 
 
 "Thank you; we must go," repeated Mrs. Jenkinson 
 resolutely. " Good-bye, Mrs. Ford. Come, father." 
 She put her hand within her husband's arm, and gently 
 pushed him, still some minutes behind the situation, 
 to the door. 
 
 " What an odd pair ! " exclaimed Mrs. Drummond, 
 settling herself comfortably. " Just one lump, please, 
 Mrs. Ford. As I was saying, we are peculiarly for- 
 tunate to find you, because our opportunities for seeing 
 you are to be limited." She studied Cicely's toilette 
 with critically approving eyes while she spoke: in her 
 own way she too was perfectly dressed, with a rich
 
 THE NEW PUPIL 77 
 
 severity which suited her excellent figure, rather plain 
 face, and decisive personality. 
 
 Cicely, unable to dismiss a lingering uneasiness over 
 the abrupt departure of her other visitors, listened with 
 a divided mind. " Are you thinking of travelling? " she 
 asked perfunctorily. 
 
 " Oh, we're always on the wing," said Mrs. Drum- 
 mond. " We shall be off in a week ; and though we say 
 it's only to California, I fancy we shall end by keeping 
 on around the world." 
 
 " How delightful ! " said Cicely. " I should love to 
 see the Orient." 
 
 " Yes, it's odd," said Mrs. Drummond. " It's not 
 particularly agreeable, but then one gets so tired of the 
 inevitable European routes. How do you like Chelten- 
 ham ? Charming, isn't it ? " 
 
 " Very pleasant ! " said Cicely, with an imperceptible 
 grimace at Mrs. Reynolds over the familiar question. 
 
 " It's adorable," said Mrs. Drummond decidedly. 
 " And now, Mrs. Ford, what evening can you give us 
 for dinner before we go? " 
 
 Cicely came out of her hovering abstraction with a 
 start. " But but dine with you ! " she exclaimed. 
 " Why, I thought you were going in a week ! " 
 
 "So we are; I know it's abrupt," said Mrs. Drum- 
 mond : " but you see we've really no time for ceremony." 
 
 " But," protested Cicely, " you don't know yet whether 
 you'll like us or not." 
 
 " We'll risk that ! " said Mrs. Drummond ; indeed it 
 was obvious that she had already conceived a decided
 
 78 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 approval of Cicely. " Just name a day; that's all I 
 ask." 
 
 Cicely hesitated; she rather liked Mrs. Drumrnond, 
 and Clarissa was urging her noiselessly with her lips, 
 " Oh, go! go! " but it annoyed her to be rushed off her 
 feet. Yet there was something in Mrs. Dummond's evi- 
 dent habit of success in the past, and expectation of suc- 
 cess in the future, that seemed to make yielding in- 
 evitable. Her resistance was brief. 
 
 " We've only one evening free in that time," she said 
 doubtfully. 
 
 "What is it?" pressed Mrs. Drummond. "If it 
 doesn't fit my plans, I'll make my plans fit it." 
 
 " Wednesday," said Cicely. " But I don't know 
 
 " Wednesday it is ! " said Mrs. Drummond, briskly. 
 " At half-past seven. And now, Mrs. Ford, I must leave 
 you. I have to rearrange next week a little, and then 
 there are a thousand things to see to before we go. 
 Good-bye; I'm so grateful to you. Good-day, Mrs. 
 Reynolds." She rustled rapidly out, her husband fol- 
 lowing with one of his brief comprehensive bows. 
 
 "Well," drawled Mrs. Reynolds, "there's an object- 
 lesson for you ! " 
 
 " An object-lesson of what? " demanded Cicely, some- 
 what ruffled. " What a queer invitation ! Why in the 
 world did I accept it? " 
 
 " You accepted because you simply couldn't help it," 
 stated Mrs. Reynolds. " It's an object-lesson of the 
 divine power of wealth, the power that all these high- 
 minded geese pretend to scorn, the power that keeps 'em 
 all dancing. Look at that woman; she's not young, she's
 
 THE NEW PUPIL 79 
 
 not pretty, she's not clever, and yet she's charming; 
 she charmed you so that you accepted her invitation 
 without meaning to; she charmed me so that I sat within 
 perfectly plain hearing of it, knowing that it ought to 
 have included me and didn't, and never got up the 
 ghost of a grudge. That's what money can do. That 
 poise, that potency, that heavenly assurance ! Oh, 
 give me a sandwich; I'm getting lyrical." 
 
 Cicely looked doubtful. " Aunt Lucille always said 
 it was bad form to talk about money," she said. 
 
 " Well, it may be bad form to talk about it," returned 
 Mrs. Reynolds, " but to worship it, to bend the knee 
 to it, why, that's the chief end of man." 
 
 Cicely frowned, toying with the tea-things. This wise 
 mentor of hers set her puzzling lessons. " What are 
 they doing here, anyway?" she demanded presently. 
 
 " Worshipping the high-brows, the usual millionaire 
 pose," scoffed Mrs. Reynolds. " They think, because 
 they aren't in it, that the learned life is paradise. I'd 
 like to give them a taste of it, and see what a face they'd 
 make ! But you'll observe that even they only kowtow 
 to the successful ones. They made short work of old 
 Whiskers there, I'd like you to remember." 
 
 " Oh, poor old things ! " said Cicely. " I do wonder 
 what made them hurry off so." 
 
 " I wonder ! " said Mrs. Reynolds, smiling mockingly. 
 " Well, they'd bored us long enough, anyway. And 
 there's another object-lesson. That poor old simpleton 
 really has brains, in his own line, and if he'd ever had 
 one penny to rub on another he might have been some- 
 body. And that woman, that little ridiculous feather-
 
 80 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 duster, if you'll believe ^^, mere's a legend that when 
 she came here she was young and pretty and spirited. 
 It's the old story, married on nothing, had a child 
 every five minutes, sickness, clothes, food, schooling, 
 to pay for, he with his head in the clouds, she on her 
 knees scrubbing the floor. Inspiring, isn't it? Now 
 the children are all either dead or disgraced; and those 
 two old geese are still scraping and scrimping to pay up 
 what they cost. Pah, it makes me sick. Give me an- 
 other cup, and I'll go home." 
 
 " Poor, poor old souls ! " exclaimed Cicely, aghast. 
 " What a life ! And Why, Clarissa ! they never 
 even had any tea ! " 
 
 " Serves them right ! " said Mrs. Reynolds, taking her 
 own cup coolly. " It's their own silly fault. And 
 there's a moral in that too. The Jenkinsons don't get 
 two square meals in a week, and off they go, their noses 
 in the air, with pate-de-foie-gras sandwiches just shout- 
 ing at them to be eaten. The Drummonds have a house 
 that's simply crammed to bursting with lusciousness ; and 
 do they pass by a cup of orange pekoe at five dollars a 
 pound, when they get a chance at it? Not they. Come, 
 I've really finished. Good-bye, love: don't forget to 
 write all these my laws in your heart, I beseech you ! " 
 She gathered her wraps and tapped Cicely's cheek with 
 a light gesture of farewell, smiling amusedly at her 
 troubled look. 
 
 Cicely stood frowning out of the window, while her 
 friend's elegant figure trailed leisurely down the street. 
 What a twisted tangle these surroundings of hers were ! 
 Roger and the others thought that brains were every-
 
 THE NEW PUPIL 81 
 
 thing; but the all- wise Clarissa had just made it plain 
 to her that brains were a rather despicable commodity, 
 and that money, the conspicuous absentee, was the one 
 omnipotent power. And marriage, which she had sup- 
 posed such a simple affair of living happily ever after, 
 now appeared a strange and doubtful game of offence 
 and defence, dangers and difficulties : while as for mother- 
 hood, at which so far she had only glanced with the 
 shy, shining eyes of the very young wife, that, it 
 seemed, led to unsuspected horrors of wrinkles, poverty 
 and dowdiness. How curiously complicated, how un- 
 expectedly disturbing, life was ! so many surprising de- 
 velopments and revelations, such long, perplexing vistas ! 
 " However," said Cicely aloud, sighing and shrugging, 
 and turning away from the window, " that's only life in 
 a college town. Real life, of course, is altogether dif- 
 ferent."
 
 IV 
 
 MORE DIPLOMACY 
 
 " ROGER," said Cicely, looking up from her book to peer 
 at him, where he sat at work on the other side of the big 
 reading-lamp, " I want to have a dinner." 
 
 " All right, dear," answered Roger, without looking 
 up. " Have one." 
 
 " But I want to talk about it ! " said Cicely indig- 
 nantly. " A dinner is important; you can't just settle it 
 with a h'm-h'm." 
 
 Roger patiently pushed back his papers and lifted his 
 head, and as his eyes fell upon her face his slow smile 
 dawned and shone. He had a special smile for Cicely 
 alone, compact of tenderness and adoration; it lighted 
 his face whenever she entered his presence or his 
 thoughts, as a special strain invades the music of an opera 
 when a certain character comes near. 
 
 " Well, if it must be talked about, come here and talk 
 about it properly ! " he said. 
 
 Cicely shook her head, frowning perversely. " How 
 can we waste time sitting on laps, when there's a dinner 
 to be discussed?" she demanded. "Essential things 
 first; frills afterwards." 
 
 " Now you're Pixie, when you look like that," said 
 Roger, half to himself; "but Cicely's in you somewhere 
 Cicely, Cicely the sweetest name in the world 
 Cicely ! " 
 
 82
 
 MORE DIPLOMACY 83 
 
 " Did you hear me say/' said Cicely severely, " that I 
 was going to give a dinner? It will be on the ninth of 
 November, a week from Wednesday." 
 
 " All right," acquiesced Roger. " And the first peo- 
 ple invited will be the Davidsons." 
 
 " No," said Cicely decidedly. " The first people in- 
 vited will be the de Mullens." 
 
 " But why? " asked Roger. " They're nothing to us; 
 we don't care two straws about them." 
 
 " We owe them a dinner," said Cicely. 
 
 Roger frowned. " I don't hold with this notion of 
 bartering hospitality," he said. " Our home is for our 
 friends. And anyway, if it is a matter of returning, 
 Mrs. Davidson gave a reception for us; and we went 
 there to dinner too." 
 
 " It was only a family dinner," said Cicely calmly, 
 " and Clarissa says those don't count. I'll look after 
 the reception later. This dinner is for the people it's 
 really important to entertain." 
 
 " There's no one more important than the Davidsons, 
 our dearest friends ! " protested Roger. " Have them 
 first, and the others later." 
 
 " No, I must have these immediately," affirmed Cicely, 
 " because Clarissa is going to New York to-morrow, and 
 coming back on the fifteenth." 
 
 " I don't see what that has to do with it," said Roger. 
 " Why must you have it while she's gone ? I thought 
 you and she were such friends." 
 
 " That's just the reason," explained Cicely. " I shall 
 have to fight her husband; I always do; and I'm so fond 
 of her that I hate to do it before her."
 
 84 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 Roger laughed with a hint of irritation. " That's a 
 good reason for slighting my best friends ! " he said. 
 "Why should you fight Reynolds? I'd much rather 
 you'd fight his wife; she's the noxious one." 
 
 Cicely stiffened her straight young back. " Kindly 
 leave my friends alone," she said, " as I leave yours. 
 I will tell you my list, and then I must go and write the 
 invitations. I am inviting the de Mullens, the Simms', 
 the Reynolds', and the Kaltenborns. That makes eight 
 at the table, Mr. Kaltenborn and Mrs. Reynolds being 
 away." 
 
 " Cicely, what do you want with such an assemblage 
 of misfits ? " asked Roger impatiently. " There's not 
 one in the lot that we care for, or that cares for us." 
 
 " Really, Roger ! " exclaimed Cicely, " you don't show 
 much penetration ! I am inviting them, of course, to 
 serve your interests; and I must say I don't get a great 
 deal of appreciation for it." 
 
 Roger controlled his rising irritation with an effort. 
 " Sweetheart," he said, " truly, you're making a mistake. 
 You think you're a dark, deep well, but as a matter of 
 fact you're a crystal brook. Anybody can see what 
 you're up to, those people first of all ; you can't even fool 
 yourself ten minutes running. You know very well you'll 
 tire of this diplomacy scheme before they reach the soup. 
 Give it up, dear; entertain our own friends simply and 
 sincerely, and don't bother your precious head with 
 double-dealing that's not fit for it." 
 
 Cicely rose. " Roger," she said coldly, " I am not a 
 child, and I know what I am about. Have the goodness 
 not to interfere in my plans. I intend to help you, no
 
 MORE DIPLOMACY 85 
 
 matter how hard you make it for me; and I shall do it 
 in my own way." Turning away, she walked with de- 
 cision to her desk, and Roger, sighing, settled to his 
 papers again. 
 
 Cicely wrote her notes with a rapid, decided pen, her 
 dimpled chin set firmly. How dense men were! and 
 Roger, apparently, the densest of them. It was for- 
 tunate for him that she was magnanimous enough to serve 
 him in spite of his blindness. She extracted a glow of 
 self-satisfaction from this thought, and warmed herself 
 at it as long as she could; but underneath, all the time, 
 an uneasy pain rankled. This game of marriage was a 
 strange, tormenting affair; it must indeed be governed, 
 as her counsellor had said, by the law of disagreement, 
 for she and Roger were now more often in conflict than 
 in accord. And yet it had begun in such joyful, har- 
 monious play! She told herself, biting at her pen, that 
 the fault must be Roger's, that he could not be the man 
 she had supposed him; and yet, even while she framed 
 the thought, her heart leaped up in angry refutation, 
 more and more each day, in the midst of all the petty 
 frictions, she learned the greatness of Roger's hidden 
 beauty. But the only remaining explanation was that 
 she was to blame; and that was obviously absurd and 
 untenable. She pushed the whole sore subject impa- 
 tiently away, and went to the piano. 
 
 Cicely had always sung. Her voice was her natural 
 means of expression. But though it came from her as 
 spontaneously as breathing, and though technically it 
 had been trained along conventional drawing-room lines, 
 there was a strange quality in it apparently at variance
 
 86 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 with her whole light nature. Even in her gayest moods 
 a mysterious depth and gravity pervaded it, and at times 
 it melted suddenly into a solemn sweetness so poignant 
 as to catch at the throats of the hearers. In speaking 
 and singing it was a warm contralto, vibrant with life, 
 full of lovely modulations and unexpected cadences. 
 Roger, who was as sensitive to sound as he was himself 
 inexpressive, loved it like a separate entity, passionately 
 and with wonder. It stirred his physical senses almost 
 to tears; and it had for his spirit a mystical significance; 
 he felt it to be the real Cicely, the soul of Cicely, his 
 visioned Cicely shown forth. But he could never tell 
 the bright everyday Pixie of his secret feeling. 
 
 Now, as she sang, with determined gaiety, a sparkling 
 French chanson, and her voice melted with every fall 
 into that ineffable grave tenderness, his throat tightened' 
 and his hands clenched. " I want her, I want her ! " 
 he prayed within himself. " O God, give me my 
 Cicely ! " 
 
 
 
 The invitations to the dinner were all accepted 
 promptly: though most of the guests viewed Cicely with 
 distrust, she was already so much of a social light that 
 none of them dreamed of slighting her. She imparted 
 the news to Roger with satisfaction; he congratulated 
 her courteously; and by tacit agreement (prompted on 
 her side by anxiety for the success of her entertainment, 
 and on his by the universal masculine desire for peace 
 at any price), they relegated the subject to the back- 
 ground, until the actual day of the event.
 
 MORE DIPLOMACY 87 
 
 " I suppose, Pixie," said Roger, as he was starting 
 off in the morning, " I should make myself really useful 
 if I didn't come home to luncheon. There'll be so much 
 doing in the kitchen that nobody '11 be able to think of 
 such a superfluity as a husband." 
 
 " Not a bit of it," said Cicely. " We shall go on just 
 as usual. There's nothing extra to do but get out the 
 silver and arrange the flowers, and that won't take long." 
 
 " But all that festival grub ! " said Roger. " Why, 
 Hitty will be standing on her head." 
 
 " Oh no, she won't," contradicted Cicely. " I'm much 
 too good a manager to upset my house and starve my 
 poor old Badger just because a few people are coming 
 to dinner. I put the whole thing in the hands of a 
 caterer, and there's not a thing to worry about." 
 
 " A caterer ! " repeated Roger. " Cicely ! Wasn't 
 that rather rather rash ? " 
 
 " No, really, it wasn't," said Cicely. " I got a good 
 one. I got LeFils ; he served that delicious dinner we 
 had at the Drummonds', and Mrs. Drummond told me 
 she often calls him in when she's short of servants. We 
 can have perfect confidence in him." 
 
 " I don't doubt that," said Roger, rather dryly. " My 
 only lack of confidence is in my bank account. Have 
 you thought to inquire what the thing will cost ? " 
 
 " Certainly I have," said she proudly ; " I inquired as 
 soon as I had engaged him. Two dollars and a half a 
 cover, and fifteen dollars for service. It sounds awfully 
 cheap, doesn't it? but it's really good; he submitted the 
 menu." 
 
 " Thirty-five dollars for one dinner," said Roger
 
 88 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 slowly. " Do you know how much my salary is, 
 Cicely? " 
 
 " A hundred and eighty whole dollars a month ! " re- 
 turned Cicely promptly. " Just think, I could almost 
 get six dinners out of it! And another month's salary 
 coming in only two weeks, too." 
 
 " Yes, and out of that month's salary," said Roger, 
 " food for our three selves for all this month, and coal, 
 and light, and water, and Kitty's wages, and your fancy 
 laundress, and a dozen other things to pay. It ought 
 to have carried us through next month, and instead it 
 will leave us behind-hand with this. Don't you think, 
 dear, couldn't you have thought, to consult me be- 
 fore you took such a step ? " 
 
 The ready flush rose to Cicely's cheeks. " What a 
 question, Roger ! " she exclaimed. " I took all the care 
 and responsibility of this dinner to save you, because you 
 were opposed to it; and now you reproach me with not 
 having spoken of it ! You are too unreasonable ! " 
 
 " It's wisest and best to speak about some things, 
 Cicely," said Roger, looking miserable. " This is an 
 expense we can't afford. You know very well that we 
 are poor." 
 
 " Poor ! " flashed Cicely angrily. " I've been poor all 
 my life; I never had a penny but what my uncle gave 
 me; but this haggling, this stickling at the barest neces- 
 sities I must say it's a new experience for me ! Do 
 you expect me to further your cause by feeding these 
 people on Kitty's fish hash? Do you think you'll con- 
 ciliate them by sending them away starved ? " 
 
 Roger, holding himself in hand, looked at her in
 
 MORE DIPLOMACY 89 
 
 silence for a moment, and the logical answer died on his 
 tongue. Why expect reason or helpfulness from any one 
 so lovely, so made and trained for ornament alone ? Fet- 
 tered by the distorted chivalry of American men, he fell 
 without resistance into that monstrous delusion which 
 chooses to make of the woman a scented vampire, and 
 to arrogate the whole privilege of sacrifice and service 
 to the male. 
 
 " Well, dear," he said gently, " it's done. It's too 
 late now to talk; I won't say anything more about it." 
 
 " It's about time to stop ! " said Cicely bitterly. " I 
 didn't know that being poor made people begrudge their 
 families the common necessities of life." 
 
 The natural result of this conversation was that both 
 appeared on the scene of the evening's activities at high 
 pressure, Cicely very flushed, and Roger rather pale. 
 Both had brooded much throughout the day. Roger, 
 even while he strove to put his own view-point entirely 
 aside, had suffered in the outraging of his strong in- 
 herent sense of justice, and his idealizing love; and 
 Cicely's bitter words had cut deep. As for Cicely, she 
 was full of angry revolt at the unreasonableness of 
 Roger's remonstrances, and the evident sordidness of his 
 mind. They met with constraint, and spoke briefly and 
 coldly of indifferent matters while they waited for their 
 guests to arrive. 
 
 The first to come were Dr. and Mrs. Simms ; one knew 
 to look at Mrs. Simms that she could never be late. 
 They entered the drawing-room exactly three minutes
 
 90 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 ahead of time, the lady taut and bulging and perfectly 
 equal to any occasion, her lord straggling breathlessly 
 behind her. It was an odd circumstance about this pair 
 that Mrs. Simms, who carried some fifty pounds more 
 avoirdupois than her Amos, had complete control of her 
 breathing and speaking apparatus even in moments of 
 the greatest stress, while he, for all his spidery ease of 
 locomotion, puffed and stammered on the slightest provo- 
 cation, another obvious instance of the ascendency of 
 mind over matter. 
 
 "How do you do, Mrs. Ford!" said Mrs. Simms, 
 marching up to Cicely like an invading army. " I hope 
 we're not too early. I always allow five minutes for 
 difference in clocks, and I find it an excellent system; 
 but I was thrown out of my calculations to-night by the 
 fact that our most infallible clock had run down." 
 
 " It was my fault, I fear," ventured her husband, 
 offering a limp hand, " for having forgotten to wind it." 
 
 " I did not intend to mention the fact," said Mrs. 
 Simms, magnanimously. " But it's another proof of the 
 rule, ' If you want a thing well done, do it yourself.' " 
 
 The delight that Cicely always took in Mrs. Simms' 
 conversation came to her aid, and pricked her into ani- 
 mation. 
 
 " You couldn't come too early ! " she assured them. 
 " If the clock's running down brought you any sooner, 
 I shall give the credit to Providence and not to Mr. 
 Simms. But as a matter of fact you've just allowed me 
 ' hostess's grace.' I think the others are coming in now." 
 
 " I trust so," said Mrs. Simms severely. " Unpunc- 
 tuality is a vice at the best of times; and at dinner, with
 
 MORE DIPLOMACY 91 
 
 the gravy to be considered, it is a crime. I should hate 
 to see any signs of it in the Department." 
 
 Under the pressure of her accusing glance the portieres 
 opened,, and Mrs. Kaltenborn and Dr. Reynolds appeared. 
 A more oddly mated couple could hardly have been im- 
 agined, she placid, slow, comfortably dowdy in a loose- 
 girt black satin gown of ancient vintage, he keen and 
 alert, and modish to the verge of foppery. Cicely's eyes 
 danced as she watched her arch-foe trying to match his 
 impatient stride to his companion's turtle-like plodding. 
 
 " Ve come togedder ! " announced Mrs. Kaltenborn, 
 somewhat superfluously. ", My husbant, he's avay, and 
 Mrs. Reynolts, she issn't here, so Mr. Reynolts he catch 
 me up in a carratch." 
 
 " I hope it won't make a scandal ! " said Cicely. 
 " Good-evening, Mr. Reynolds. I'm so sorry Clarissa 
 couldn't come." 
 
 " Clarissa will hate to miss it," said Dr. Reynolds 
 pointedly, meeting Cicely's look with full appreciation 
 of the situation. His eyes held a conflict of expressions, 
 admiration of her beauty and charm, hostility to her 
 hostility : on deeper knowledge he could either have loved 
 or hated her, but could never have been her friend; and 
 she, perceiving this, was always under an oddly agree- 
 able tension of excitement in his presence. 
 
 The de Mullens, of course, came last, as was to be ex- 
 pected of such new devotees of fashion. Mrs. de Mullen 
 had for this occasion discarded her lately acquired stand- 
 ards of academic simplicity, discerning in Cicely a foe- 
 man worthy of her steel, and appeared so plumply 
 blazing in sequins and jewels that she looked like a
 
 92 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 replica of the noonday sun. Mr. de Mullen followed 
 inconspicuously in the wake of his coruscating wife. He 
 was a fat, red, silent little man; he considered that he 
 sustained his share of the family magnificence by pay- 
 ing the bills, and his wife shared his opinion. 
 
 " Howdy-do, Mrs. Ford! Howdy-do, Professor! " ex- 
 claimed Mrs. de Mullen, rustling up with her most be- 
 nignly regal manner. " Chawmed to see you ! Quite a 
 delightful occasion, indeed ! Quite a distanguy gather- 
 
 ing!" 
 
 " Since you adorn it," said Cicely, " it can ask noth- 
 ing more. So glad to see you, Mr. de Mullen. Shall 
 we go in to dinner? Roger, will you take Mrs. de 
 Mullen in; and Mr. Reynolds, Mrs. Simms; and Mr. 
 Simms, Mrs. Kaltenborn; and Mr. de Mullen, will you 
 be so charitable as to take me ? Voila the procession's 
 formed, now the band can begin to play." 
 
 Roger, who had greeted all these unwelcome guests 
 with cold formality, offered his arm in silence to Mrs. 
 de Mullen. He hated the whole affair, the intriguing 
 intention of it, the inappropriate display, the discord it 
 had brought between him and Cicely: and his strong and 
 rather stubborn nature refused to pretend a cordiality it 
 did not feel. As the guests fell into line behind him, 
 the chill of his demeanour infected them vaguely, and they 
 all became silent too ; the men shared, to a certain extent, 
 his masculine dislike of this kind of thing, and the 
 women were busy noting the variety and expensiveness 
 of the flowers that filled the little house. The only con- 
 versationalists on the short journey across the hall were
 
 MORE DIPLOMACY 93 
 
 Mr. de Mullen, who inquired of his hostess the where- 
 abouts of the band of which she had spoken, and Cicely, 
 who explained that her language had been figurative. 
 
 However, the little bustle of seating the guests, and the 
 cheering atmosphere of a dinner-table expressly equipped 
 for festivity, dissipated the first slight chill before it be- 
 came oppressive. Mrs. de Mullen's renewed volubility 
 covered Roger's silence, and Cicely's gaiety animated her 
 own neighbourhood. The waiters moved with quiet- 
 footed deftness, the food was perfection ; the guests, 
 though they viewed this lavish hospitality with varying 
 emotions of astonishment, admiration and disapproval, 
 united in giving it an appreciative reception; and Cicely, 
 assuring herself that the success of the affair was now 
 certain, gave up all anxiety by the time the fish arrived, 
 and addressed her energies to the conquest of Mr. de 
 Mullen. 
 
 " I've been very much interested to hear from Mrs. de 
 Mullen of your building plans," she said, turning towards 
 him with seductively charming enthusiasm. 
 
 " Yes, ma'am," replied Mr. de Mullen, politely but 
 noncommittally. 
 
 " It must be great fun to build a house," suggested 
 Cicely. " I should like to try it." 
 
 " Yes, ma'am," said Mr. de Mullen, without emotion. 
 
 " Which did you enjoy most, making the plans or see- 
 ing them carried out? " persisted Cicely courageously. 
 
 Mr. de Mullen hesitated, but her eyes lured him irre- 
 sistibly to confidences. With a reckless impulse he cast 
 aside his carefully inculcated discretion. " Well," he
 
 94 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 confessed, " fact is, I haven't had much satisfaction out 
 o' neither one. I'm not strong on culture, like Mrs. 
 M. de M., I should say." 
 
 " You'd rather have simplicity and comfort, wouldn't 
 you? " said Cicely, gazing on him with large sympathetic 
 eyes. 
 
 " That's it exactly ! " exclaimed Mr. de Mullen, ex- 
 panding under this unusual comprehension. " I like a 
 good plain house where a man can sit around com- 
 fterble, without kickin' over gimcracks every time he 
 budges. Now Mrs. M. de M., that is when she fixes 
 up a house she does it tasty, with Venus de Midas in one 
 corner and Venus de Medicine in the other, and a china 
 dog in between. I know it's Art; but between you and 
 me I don't care shucks about it." 
 
 " I get your point of view," said Cicely, " and I be- 
 lieve I agree with you." 
 
 " You don't say ! " exclaimed Mr. de Mullen. " Why, 
 I thought all ladies liked style." He regarded her for 
 a moment with a puzzled look, obviously wondering 
 whether she could be as truly cultured as he had sup- 
 posed; then, accepting her as a kindred spirit, plunged 
 deeper into confidences. " Well, Mrs. M., she didn't 
 use to be so tasty. Time was when a nice plush rocker 
 with a lace tidy on it was fancy enough for her. But 
 when she once got started with those artchitect fellers 
 there was no holdin' her; and now it's perglers outside 
 and freskers in, till you can't scarcely find a place to sit." 
 
 "Drove you out of the kitchen, did they?" inquired 
 Cicely sympathetically.
 
 MORE DIPLOMACY 95 
 
 " Gosh, yes ! years ago," said Mr. de Mullen. " And 
 to tell the truth, I haven't known what solid comfort was 
 since. When our chatter gets done " 
 
 " Our shottoe ! " exclaimed Mrs. de Mullen sharply, 
 from the other end of the table. 
 
 Cicely turned in surprise at the interruption, and looked 
 quickly for its cause. It was not far to seek. Roger, 
 looking around the table in a conscientious effort to play 
 his part as host, had caught Mrs. Simms telegraphing to 
 Mrs. Kaltenborn her amazement at all this luxury. An- 
 noyed and disapproving as he already was, the realisa- 
 tion of the covert comment that was going on around him 
 had resolved his mood into one of shamed anger, and he 
 had frozen into rigid silence. Now his disaffection, 
 making itself felt by his neighbours, was spreading in a 
 visible blight; on his one side Mrs. de Mullen, bursting 
 with bottled conversation, sat red and indignant; on the 
 other Mrs. Kalternborn, displeased but placid, chewed in 
 cow-like silence; and the chill, creeping steadily, had 
 begun to engulf the remoter diners as well. Cicely flung 
 him an indignant glance, and hurried to the rescue. 
 
 " Mrs. de Mullen," she said, " have you told my hus- 
 band about your researches into the subject of French 
 architecture? " 
 
 " I have not, Mrs. Ford," replied Mrs. de Mullen 
 majestically. 
 
 " Do tell him now," urged Cicely. " He'd be so in- 
 terested." 
 
 " If the Professor would be interested," said Mrs. de 
 Mullen severely, " I should be pleased to decant to him
 
 96 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 on that or any other subject, in the cause of sociability." 
 
 " He'd be charmed/' asseverated Cicely. " Tell him 
 about your study of the Norman." 
 
 Mrs. de Mullen turned her head on its substantial 
 pivot, and, fixing Roger with a stern eye, opened fire. 
 " Having gone deeply into the Norman, Professor," she 
 began, " I find it is not called Norman at all by the real 
 connosures. They pronounce it Romanesky. At the 
 same time, I do not feel, personally, that the Romans had 
 anything to do with it, as they died before the Normans 
 were born. William the Conqueror, an ancestor of 
 mine, ong passong " 
 
 Cicely turned back to her neighbour, dimpling. " I 
 suppose your wife is so well informed on these matters," 
 she said, " that she could talk about them all the evening." 
 
 " Yes, ma'am, she could," said Mr. de Mullen, with a 
 sigh. 
 
 Cicely's dimples deepened. " I judge you're not pas- 
 sionately attached to French architecture yourself," she 
 suggested. 
 
 " Why, Mrs. Ford," said the little fat millionaire, with 
 sudden tragic earnestness, "I'm a quiet man, but I get 
 so sick o' those words, Rennysance, and Ompeer, and 
 Louis Cat-horse, that sometimes I'm ready to set fire 
 to the whole business, chatter and artchitects and books 
 and all ! " 
 
 " It wouldn't do you any good," said Cicely compas- 
 sionately. 
 
 " No'm, I know it," said Mr. de Mullen, lapsing into 
 despondency. " We're in for a chatter, and a chatter 
 we will have. When I see those artchitect fellers strut-
 
 MORE DIPLOMACY 97 
 
 tin' around destroyin' men's peace and women's quiet, I 
 wonder the Lord lets 'em live." 
 
 " Oh well/' said Cicely, " there are worse things than 
 building, you know." 
 
 " Yes ; it might be slummin' ; or votes/' mused Mr. de 
 Mullen ; " or microbes, one friend o' mine's wife took 
 up microbes so violent that 'twas as much as his life was 
 worth to smoke his pipe, without it'd ben boiled first. 
 And o' course there's always the heathen. But on the 
 whole, I do' know as there's anythin' much worse to live 
 with, day in and day out, than a chatter." 
 
 " Mr. de Mullen/' interrupted the voice of the cough- 
 drop queen, trembling with suppressed indignation, " you 
 will do well to refrain from talking about the shottoe, 
 until you have learned to pronounce it ! " 
 
 Cicely, with a shrug, abandoned her conversation and 
 glanced around again. Mrs. de Mullen had already come 
 to another deadlock with Roger, and, balked and out- 
 raged, was glaring furiously at her erring husband. He, 
 already depressed, repented of his unwonted volubility, 
 and subsided into silence. The other guests were speak- 
 ing hardly a word; Dr. Simms looked dejected, Dr. 
 Reynolds sardonic; with each journey of the quiet waiters 
 Mrs. Simms' disapproving eyebrows climbed higher. It 
 was evident that the diplomatic dinner was not following 
 the course laid out for it. 
 
 Cicely flashed another angry look at her husband, and 
 turned her attention to his other neighbour. Mrs. Kal- 
 tenborn, unlike Mrs. de Mullen, did not suffer in the least 
 from suppressed social activity; though she was ready 
 enough to be displeased with Roger, it was all one to
 
 98 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 her, when she was absorbing such an excellent dinner as 
 this, whether anybody talked or not. Cicely's hostess- 
 ambition had but a doubtful ally in this placidly gorging 
 lady. However, there was no choice. She reflected for 
 a moment, and then plunged boldly into the sea of silence 
 and plucked Mrs. Kaltenborn out by the hair. 
 
 " Mrs. Kaltenborn," she said, " I wish you'd tell Roger 
 how those delicious German cakes of yours are made. 
 We must have some; and / shouldn't remember two 
 minutes." 
 
 She had shrewdly struck the one responsive note. 
 Mrs. Kaltenborn reluctantly laid down her fork and 
 turned to Roger, her German-housewifely zeal kindling 
 in her eyes. " Veil, you take first a half-a-cup of butter 
 and varm it a liddle," she said, " and vork it vit de 
 hand, so ; and den you plunch your two hands in de sugar- 
 bucket, like dis, and bring up so much." She interrupted 
 herself to glance at Cicely with placid scorn. " Vill you 
 make dem yourself, Professor, or can you teach de hired 
 girl ? " she asked. 
 
 Cicely's eyes danced again at this promising beginning, 
 and, feeling the conversation safe for a few minutes 
 more, she turned her attention to the other objects of her 
 diplomacy. At once, as she glanced around the table, 
 she encountered the gaze of her chief adversary fixed on 
 her with that mingling of fascination and irritation which 
 always stirred her to a subtle fever. Their eyes struck 
 a spark as they met, and Cicely's travelled no further. 
 
 " Mr. Reynolds," she said, " I have hardly heard your 
 voice to-night. Clarissa's absence makes you silent." 
 
 " It is rather," said he, bowing to her ironically over
 
 99 
 
 his glass, " excess of joy in finding myself at your board. 
 You are giving us a most impressive entertainment." 
 
 " I trust," said Cicely, unable to keep from challenging 
 him, " it appeals as strongly to your intellect as to your 
 gastronomy ! " 
 
 " How could it fail to," he inquired, " with you pres- 
 ent? " 
 
 Cicely kindled into rashness. " Oh, my part in your 
 entertainment has been negligible so far," she said, " but 
 I intend to contribute some little item before you go." 
 
 Reynolds kindled too. " Kindly let me know," he re- 
 turned, " when you are ready to begin. Forewarned is 
 fore-armed." 
 
 " Two arms are arms enough for you ! " countered 
 Cicely, her eyes beginning to sparkle with excitement. 
 " I'm the one who needs four. We hear a lot about 
 ' arms and the man,' but nobody ever seems to think the 
 woman needs arming." 
 
 " A lady's arms," ventured Dr. Simms, entering the 
 conversation so unexpectedly that its participants jumped, 
 " are more powerful than any weapons." 
 
 " Amos ! " said Mrs. Simms severely. " Don't talk 
 nonsense ! " 
 
 " It's the truth, my dear," avowed Dr. Simms, 
 flushed, but firmly perched on his startling height of 
 gallantry. " I know it is not always a literal fact, 
 though your own arms would go far to establish that 
 claim as well, but it must be granted that the moral 
 and spiritual potency of arms like er our hostess's 
 is er inestimable." 
 
 " Amos Simms," said his lady indignantly, " it's well
 
 100 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 you're in a company where you're known as a scientist, 
 or somebody 'd be arresting you for unsound mind ! " 
 
 At this, suddenly and sharply another unexpected voice 
 spoke up from across the table. " Veil," it said, " I say 
 dis for his mind, it sounds louder dan some odder minds 
 here present ! " And lo, Mrs. Kalternborn, done with 
 her precious recipe, and waiting in vain for Roger's grati- 
 tude, frowned upon them in an indignation so profound 
 that she was forgetting to eat. 
 
 With this last interruption, suddenly Cicely's whole 
 mood flared up in angry revolt. She looked at the circle 
 of faces, every one stamped with some shade of dis- 
 satisfaction or chagrin, and at Roger, the storm-centre 
 of all that social wreck, sitting stark and stony in the 
 midst. This was the man she was trying to serve, and 
 this his manner of requiting her service! Very well, 
 then ! She had finished. Let Roger take care of his 
 own interests, and ruin himself as he pleased. 
 
 Completely abandoning all concern, she hurried the 
 meal to a conclusion, and jumped to her feet so suddenly 
 that the glowering guests all turned to her open- 
 mouthed. " I hate to break up this interchange of soul ! " 
 she said ironically, " but I see the men longing for cigars 
 and confidences, and we women must have our little 
 secrets. Let us go ! " And, recklessly indifferent to 
 results, she led her feminine cohorts rapidly from the 
 room, and left Roger silent and grim in the midst of his 
 sulky adversaries. 
 
 As she reached the drawing-room, however, and sur- 
 veyed the glum faces of her followers, a spirit of dare- 
 devil mischief took possession of Cicely. If the occa-
 
 MORE DIPLOMACY 101 
 
 sion was a failure, at least she would extract some 
 amusement from it; she did not care now what the con- 
 sequences might be. Sparkling maliciously, she drew 
 the smallest of her chairs into an intimate circle, and 
 installed her plump guests upon them, and her own slim 
 person in the middle. 
 
 " Isn't this sweet, to be so cosy! " she cooed. " Now, 
 let's talk about clothes. I hear the jupe-culotte is go- 
 ing to be tried again this winter; shall you adopt it, 
 Mrs. Simms? " 
 
 " Xo, Mrs. Ford, I shall not ! " said Mrs. Simms, sit- 
 ting very stiff and straight on her narrow chair. " Those 
 Paris fashions have no seductions for me, I am happy to 
 say ! " 
 
 " Xo really?" returned Cicely. "What a pity! 
 With your figure, it would be so striking. Thin people 
 like me have no chance at those marked effects. There's 
 Mrs. de Mullen's beautiful gown; how I wish I had a 
 gown like that ! but how should I look in it ? like a 
 ton of sequins, and nothing more ! " 
 
 Mrs. de Mullen, touched in a tender spot, emerged a 
 little from her cloud of displeasure. " I'm glad you like 
 it," she said with complacence. " I think myself it is 
 quite retchitchay. I am thinking of ordering a dozen 
 sequinated gowns in different colours, to wear with the 
 various apartments of my shottoe." 
 
 " How original ! " said Cicely admiringly. " Would 
 you spend the whole evening in one spot, or change as 
 you went from room to room? It would be so interest- 
 ing for your guests to watch you cross a threshold ! " 
 
 Mrs. de Mullen bridled. " I shall find some wav to
 
 102 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 circumscribe that difficulty/' she said haughtily. " I 
 have never appeared in public au naturel, and I never 
 intend to." She began to execute a queenly shrug, but 
 her little chair creaked ominously, and she forbore. 
 
 " Veil, I don't haf to bodder vit clo'es," said Mrs. 
 Kaltenborn comfortably; cheered by coffee, she had re- 
 gained something of her usual placidity. " I got goot 
 clo'es now. Look at dis dress; I got it tirty years yet, 
 and it come arount again in style tree times alretty." 
 
 " Fancy being able to wear the same bodice thirty 
 years ! " exclaimed Cicely. " How do you do it by 
 diet? " 
 
 " Veil, partly ; ven I had it ten years first, I dyed it," 
 said Mrs. Kaltenborn reflectively. " First time it vas 
 yellow, now I got it black. I tink anodder year maybe I 
 get it trimmed vit yellow again; it's vearing out arount 
 de bottom alretty." 
 
 " When you get through with it, I wish you'd bequeath 
 it to me," said Cicely. " I'd love to have such a tried 
 and true friend. My dresses hardly last me thirty min- 
 utes." 
 
 " I should think that was as much as could be ex- 
 pected of such dresses !" remarked Mrs. Simms, with a 
 withering glance at Cicely's shoulders gleaming through 
 white tulle. " What keeps you from a consumptive's 
 grave I can't imagine." 
 
 " Oh, I'm not very strong on consumption ! " said 
 naughty Cicely, " as you can tell by my figure. I wish 
 I could take lessons from some solider ladies." 
 
 " Humph ! " said Mrs. Simms indignantly ; and she too 
 embarked upon a scornful shrug, and was checked, as
 
 MORE DIPLOMACY 103 
 
 Mrs. de Mullen had been, by the creaking of her chair. 
 The other two, though slower of mind, comprehended 
 that some veiled disrespect had been cast at them, and 
 subsided into sulks. Cicely herself was too full of in- 
 ward laughter to speak; and so for a space a pregnant 
 silence reigned. 
 
 At this propitious moment the men stalked, Indian- 
 file, morose and glum, into the room. Cicely, all alight 
 now with mischief, hailed them gleefully. " Welcome 
 to our city ! " she cried. " How flattering of you to 
 leave your hilarity so soon! We were just going to talk 
 complexions; do join us." She jumped up as she spoke, 
 rearranging the group perversely and skilfully: Dr. 
 Reynolds was seated by Mrs. de Mullen, Roger was 
 flanked by Dr. Simms and the lozenge king, and Cicely 
 herself slipped between Mrs. Simms and Mrs. Kalten- 
 born, who still perched precariously on their little chairs. 
 What slight chance of sociability there might have been 
 was thus effectually annihilated; and she surveyed the 
 glum result with eyes in which recklessness danced visi- 
 bly. 
 
 " What, no contributions on the subject of com- 
 plexions?" she said. "Then we must try the weather. 
 Very warm for the time of year, isn't it? " 
 
 No one offered any reply. Dr. Simms opened his 
 mouth, but was quelled by the stern eye of his spouse; 
 Mr. de Mullen was too depressed for further conversa- 
 tional efforts; the women were all sulking; and Dr. 
 Reynolds, though amused in spite of himself, was furi- 
 ously angry. Oddly enough, Roger alone, courteous, 
 considerate Roger, looked at his wicked wife with ap-
 
 104 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 proval: attributing to her his own single-mindedness, lie 
 thought she was showing these people that she would 
 cajole them no more with false friendship, and he re- 
 joiced in the change. 
 
 Cicely caught Reynolds' intense gaze of warring anger 
 and admiration, and responded with a fresh upleaping of 
 rashness. " Oh, Dr. Reynolds," she said, " we haven't 
 had our little conversazione, have we? Let's begin 
 now; it's charming to talk soul to soul, surrounded by 
 sympathetic ears." 
 
 " Very well ! " said Dr. Reynolds shortly ; he knew as 
 well as she that an encounter in this surcharged atmos- 
 phere meant disaster, but was unable to resist her. 
 " What's the subject? " 
 
 " Oh, any thing is interesting between friends ! " said 
 Cicely. " Politics, or the stage, or what's nearest 
 our hearts the Department ! " 
 
 Everybody started, and Roger, with a warning cough, 
 tried to catch her eye. " Politics ! " he said hastily. 
 " That's what we are all most interested in." 
 
 " To be sure Department politics ! " said Cicely, dis- 
 regarding the warning, and rushing ahead full tilt. 
 " What do you think is the best way of running a de- 
 partment such as ours, Dr. Reynolds? I assume that 
 you feel well fitted to judge." 
 
 Reynolds sat up with a brusque movement. Even he 
 had not expected such thin ice as this; and yet he found 
 something gallant in her recklessness, and could not keep 
 his admiration out of his eyes. " I should say," he re- 
 torted, taking up her challenge, " that the first rule would
 
 MORE DIPLOMACY 105 
 
 be to get the women out of the way, and keep them where 
 they can't possibly put their spoons into the broth ! " 
 
 " Tie up the women ! " exclaimed Cicely. " But that's 
 going back to the Dark Ages ! Why, where would men 
 and politics be now without women? Where would you 
 be without Clarissa? " 
 
 " In about the same place," said he, looking at her 
 steadily, " that Ford would be in without you." 
 
 " And that is " began Cicely incautiously. 
 
 " In the Bachelor Flats on Juniper Street ! " inter- 
 rupted Roger. " A very good place to be out of, as 
 every married man knows. Cicely, won't you sing us 
 something? " For although he was loath to share the 
 treasure of her voice with these alien spirits, he felt that 
 further conversation must be prevented at all costs. 
 
 " I might sing ' I Dreamed I Dwelt in Marble Halls/ " 
 she said, looking maliciously at her adversary. 
 
 " Or you might sing ' It Was but Idle Dreaming/ " he 
 returned, his eyes snapping with responsive malice. 
 
 " Or," flashed Cicely, completely oblivious now of all 
 prudence, " of course there's ' The Last Hope ' ! And 
 I could finish with ' Farewell Forever.' " 
 
 Reynolds bounded out of his chair, anger completely 
 gaining the upper hand of amusement. " I'll save you 
 the trouble, and say farewell now ! " he exclaimed. 
 " Thank you for a most stimulating evening. Good 
 night, Ford." He strode out in a white heat of wrath, 
 entirely forgetting the plump lady in his charge. 
 
 His departure was the signal for the guests, bottling 
 various degrees of indignation, to accord with the vary-
 
 106 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 ing degrees of their perceptiveness, to rise by a com- 
 mon impulse, and utter their cold farewells. Not all 
 could have told why they were angry, yet angry they all 
 were, with the exception of Mr. de Mullen, who, being 
 little accustomed to social affairs among the aristocracy 
 of intellect, supposed that this one had followed the 
 usual order. Cicely, jumping up with alacrity, stood by 
 the drawing-room door and sped their parting with no 
 pretence of regret, pricking each one with a winged shaft 
 of malice. " Good-bye, Mrs. Simms, do come again, 
 and bring your husband ! Good-bye, Mrs. de Mullen ; let 
 me know when you get your series of lightning-change 
 costumes ready, I want to see you do it ! Good-bye, 
 Mrs. Kaltenborn; I'm going to live on those cakes of 
 yours, and see if / can't get a permanent figure ! " So the 
 mocking imp in her laughed at them and at herself, 
 heedless and wanton. Yet strangely, when she found 
 herself saying farewell to the little pudgy millionaire, 
 whom she had docketed as the least notice-worthy of the 
 lot, a tardy pang of conscience smote her. The tight grasp 
 of his hand penetrated through her armour of wilfulness, 
 and touched the living Cicely within; he looked at her 
 with eyes of genuine devotion, and before his earnest, 
 humble look, she dropped her own with a hot sense of 
 shame. 
 
 The last guest was gone. Roger, coming to her side, 
 looked at her half-disapprovingly, half-tenderly. " Well, 
 naughty child ! " he said. " You've amused yourself, 
 haven't you? " 
 
 Cicely turned away from him. The sparkle of her
 
 MORE DIPLOMACY 107 
 
 mischief was dying in her like bubbles in stale cham- 
 pagne, and she was sick of it all. " Oh, don't^ talk to 
 me ! " she said. " What a fool, what a beast, I am ! " 
 
 Roger smiled at her vehemence. " You're a wicked 
 little Pixie," he said, " and you've certainly behaved very 
 badly to-night; but you did it to please me, and I for- 
 give you willingly." 
 
 " You forgive me ! " cried Cicely. " What have you 
 to forgive me for? I plan for you, worry for you, work 
 for you, and you reward me by wrecking everything 
 I accomplish, and then, when I give up and let it stay 
 wrecked, you come talking to me of forgiveness ! " She 
 whirled round upon him again, her sense of injury, shame 
 and anger at herself, and the tension of over-strung 
 nerves, all whipping her into passion. 
 
 " Why, Cicely ! Why Cicely ! " stammered 
 Roger, appalled. " What do you mean? Didn't you give 
 up your plan because I hated it? Weren't you helping 
 me to stand on my own feet? " 
 
 "Helping you!" said Cicely hotly. "I'm done with 
 helping you! I could help you till I died, and never 
 get anything but ingratitude for it. Hereafter you may 
 help yourself! " 
 
 " Cicely ! " gasped Roger, growing very white. " Do 
 you mean me to understand " 
 
 " Understand what you will ! " flamed Cicely. " I'm 
 done with it, I tell you ! I'm done, I'm done ! " And, 
 flying away from his outstretched arms, she ran blindly 
 up the stairs, a fierce whirlwind of passion. 
 
 So ended this diplomatic episode: with the guests has-
 
 108 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 tening homeward ruffled and resentful ; Roger white, rigid 
 and aghast in the hall; and Cicely sobbing her wild heart 
 out on her pillow. It was a large result for a fledgling 
 diplomat.
 
 AN ADVENTURE IN ARCADY 
 
 THE days passed, and Cicely's disastrous diplomacy 
 passed with them into history. Roger and Cicely had 
 apologized, had kissed again and taken up their daily life 
 as before. Cicely had exercised all her witchery, and 
 soothed and smoothed her ruffled guests into some sem- 
 blance of amicability. But suspicion lurked in the 
 glances of Mrs. Simms and Mrs. de Mullen; the men 
 opposed Roger openly at every turn; and in Roger and 
 Cicely's house of life there was one more pale ghost, 
 prowling unsleeping behind a door that would not lock. 
 Towards the end of November, when the earth had 
 cowered into passive readiness for winter, there came 
 straight out of heaven a summer morning steeped in sun- 
 shine, one of those golden Indian-summer days that 
 fill the mind with a sense of things precious and fleeting, 
 and call the invitation of out-of-doors more imperatively 
 than spring itself. Cicely, rising jaded and weary in 
 spirit, heard a belated bird-song, and looked out to see 
 the stiff brown oak-leaves shining on the branches; and 
 a well of young hope and happiness gushed warmly up 
 within her. She dressed rapidly, and, hurrying down- 
 stairs with brighter eyes and cheeks than she had worn 
 for many a day, ran to Roger with hands outstretched as 
 she used to do before the ghosts came. 
 
 109
 
 110 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 " Oh, what a day, Badger ! " she cried. " We'll drop 
 everything, won't we, and go a-Novembering ! I'll tell 
 Hitty to make us up a lunch, and we'll wander in the 
 woods, and camp in a little dell, just the way we used 
 to." 
 
 Roger kissed the hands and fed his eyes on the bright 
 face, but he shook his head reluctantly. " I'd love to, 
 dearest," he said, " better than anything in the world. 
 But I can't; I'm not free." 
 
 " Why not? " demanded Cicely, drawing a little away 
 from him. " It's Saturday; you have no classes." 
 
 " I know," said Roger, " but I've promised the morn- 
 ing to some fellows I'm coaching." 
 
 " Let them go ! " said Cicely. 
 
 " I can't, Pixie," said Roger. " If it were any one 
 else I would, joyfully; but these are fellows who are 
 working, and can't get any free time but this." 
 
 Cicely withdrew her hands brusquely, and moved away 
 to look at him. The working students were an old thorn 
 in her flesh; more than once they had interfered with 
 her plans, and Roger's devotion to them pricked her to 
 jealousy. "Roger!" she said sharply. "You don't 
 mean to tell me you are giving up your few free hours, 
 and my pleasure, for those filthy janitors? " 
 
 " I don't like your phrase, Cicely," said Roger, his 
 voice changing a little. " I'm helping, in a very small 
 way, some fine courageous men who are my friends." 
 
 " And, as usual, you prefer their society to mine," said 
 Cicely bitterly. 
 
 " Oh, Cicely ! " said Roger. He was silent for a mo- 
 ment, then said simply, " I promised them."
 
 AN ADVENTURE IN ARCADY 111 
 
 Cicely flushed hotly, but turned to another issue. 
 " Who pays you for this? " she demanded. 
 
 Roger began to look stern. " Is there no reward but 
 money? " he asked. " Isn't there such a thing as doing 
 for the pleasure of the deed ? " 
 
 " Not in your work," said Cicely. " You're entirely 
 too much of a philanthropist at best. Dr. Davidson told 
 me that, with your ability, you could be making ten thou- 
 sand dollars a year in business." 
 
 "What if I could?" said Roger stubbornly. "I'm 
 working for something better than money, as every 
 teacher is. Your business man may get a fortune; I get 
 the happiness of serving science, and making citizens." 
 
 " Yes, and that's a great help in buying daily bread ! " 
 said Cicely. " We go without most of the necessities of 
 life so that you can give yourself to this institution (that's 
 just fattening on simple people like you), for next to 
 nothing, and then you mend matters by giving yourself 
 to the riffraff at the bottom of it for nothing at all." 
 
 Roger grew paler, as Cicely flushed a more and more 
 vivid rose-red. Both were very angry; and to both came 
 the sickening memory of the last quarrel, and of the 
 quarrel before the last. The unlocked door was open a 
 little, and they heard the ghosts prowling horribly in- 
 side. 
 
 " Cicely," said Roger, keeping a determined hand on 
 his self-control, " don't talk like this. It's not yourself; 
 you got it from Mrs. Reynolds. Let's drop the subject 
 until you can look at it differently." 
 
 But Cicely could not so easily recapture the leash, 
 once the wild little beast of her temper had escaped her.
 
 112 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 " Yes, until you can blind mf you did at first ! " she 
 said. " I tell you once for all, it's too late. With or 
 without Clarissa, I can see things now as they are." 
 
 " Perhaps," said Roger, grown very white, " you had 
 better have seen them before. Perhaps you wish you had 
 had your present wisdom before you found yourself in 
 your present position." 
 
 " Perhaps I do ! " flashed Cicely hotly. Then, with 
 the door swinging wide, and the ghosts showing their 
 grisly faces, she was suddenly panic-stricken. " Oh, no, 
 no ! " she cried. " Oh, I didn't mean that, Roger ! 
 You're right, we must stop we must stop quickly ! " 
 She touched the bell with frightened fingers, and took 
 refuge in the soothing matter-of-factness of breakfast and 
 Hitty's presence. 
 
 However, the ghosts were by no means laid; and as 
 the meal came to an end and Roger rose to go, the 
 earlier subject thrust itself wilfully back again. 
 
 " About the picnic," said Cicely, without meeting his 
 eyes. " Have you changed your mind? " 
 
 " I can't, dear," said Roger. " I wish I could." 
 
 " Then," said Cicely, " I suppose I must go alone. 
 Don't expect me to luncheon; I shall be gone all day." 
 
 Roger turned anxiously to face her. "I'd rather you 
 wouldn't, Cicely ! " he said. " I don't want you wan- 
 . dering in these woods alone. At this time of year, when 
 the tramps are going to the cities, they are full of all 
 sorts of rowdies." 
 
 " Then we shall be in equally good company ! " re- 
 torted Cicely. " If you prefer janitors to me, I prefer 
 tramps to you. I'm going."
 
 AN ADVENTURE IN ARC AD Y 113 
 
 Roger stiffened his shoulders. " Cicely," he said, " I 
 ask you not to ; is that enough ? " 
 
 " No, it is not! " said Cicely. " I asked you not to go 
 to your janitors." 
 
 The pallor came back to Roger's face, and his eyes 
 looked steely. " Then," he said, " I forbid you to go. 
 You drive me to it, Cicely." And without another word, 
 without a thought of the good-bye kiss, he strode out of 
 the room and out of the little house. 
 
 Cicely listened to his firm step as it tramped out of 
 hearing, and her cheeks burned like coals. " He forbids 
 me ! " she said aloud ; and, rising swiftly, she went to the 
 kitchen door. " Hitty," she commanded in a clear voice, 
 " please put me up a lunch as quickly as possible. I am 
 going on a picnic." 
 
 When Cicely hurried from the house and down the vil- 
 lage street, her eyes were still blazing, and her hands 
 clenched: an angry refrain marched round and round in 
 her heart, " He prefers those ruffians to me . . . 
 I asked him not to go, and he went . . . He forbade me ; 
 I'd go if it killed me . . ." But soon, steadily and subtly, 
 the magic of the day began to work on her mood; first 
 the refrain grew slower, then became intermittent, then 
 ceased. She breathed the soft air deeply, and looked 
 about at the radiant world. " What a waste of time, 
 to be angry now ! " she told herself. " I can be angry 
 when I go home. Now I'm out of bounds; I'll be gay; 
 I will be gay ! Time enough for the other things later." 
 And with the concentration of will which her creed of
 
 114 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 living for pleasure had taught her, she pushed her de- 
 pression determinedly away, and spurred herself into the 
 spirit of the morning. 
 
 The woods awaited her in an enchantment of golden 
 silence that set her instantly in another world. Under- 
 foot the autumn carpet rustled crisply, and gave forth a 
 pungent smell; now and then, across the sun-flooded air, 
 a yellow leaf fluttered lightly ; and in an evergreen thicket 
 a lingering gypsy of a thrush, braving future danger for 
 present joy, was singing rapturously. Cicely had never 
 wandered alone in the woods in all her well-chaperoned, 
 conventional life; the space, the silence and mystery, in- 
 toxicated her. " I'm free ! " she cried aloud. " I'm 
 free! and I'll be wild, wild!" and suddenly, coming to 
 a long open glade of pine-trees, she dropped her little 
 basket, flung out a singing cry like a Valkyr, and began 
 to run. 
 
 Now her blood was leaping, and she had no need to 
 urge herself into excitement. She ran at a speed she 
 had not known she possessed, throwing back her head and 
 letting her hair blow wild; and at the end of the long 
 avenue she flung herself on the pine-carpet, panting and 
 glowing. " I'm free! " she told herself again and again. 
 " How glorious to be free, how glorious ! " 
 
 As she lay resting, her ear was suddenly caught by 
 the clear, sharp call of another free wood-creature, 
 " Bob- White ! Bob-White ! Bob- White ! " She sat up 
 and listened; and the quail called again, "Bob-White! 
 Bob-White ! " very near, crisp and insistent. Cicely, 
 charmed, sprang up, determined to follow the pretty
 
 AN ADVENTURE IN ARCADY 115 
 
 sound. After one or two false casts, she heard it plainly 
 in a little dell, walled by thick branches, at her right. 
 She held her breath, and stole softly towards it. It re- 
 peated itself, clear and mellow; she crept closer and 
 closer, until it seemed at her very elbow; and at last, 
 parting the branches, she peered eagerly into the dell, to 
 see the dark-haired boy of the President's Reception, 
 sitting with his fingers at his mouth, whistling clearly 
 and perfectly the quail's call, and laughing at her. 
 
 For a moment they gazed at each other, Cicely star- 
 ing in blank amazement, the boy returning her look with 
 dancing brown eyes, and Bob-Whiting softly and steadily. 
 Then Cicely began to laugh; and he, enchanted with his 
 success, and bursting with mirth over his excellent joke, 
 began to laugh too, dropping his fingers and shouting 
 whole-heartedly. The more one laughed, the more the 
 other did; they laughed until the inclosure rang and 
 their eyes were wet; they were like two children, over- 
 come by each other's mirth, and by delight in their own 
 foolishness. 
 
 " Well, Great God Pan ! " gasped Cicely at last, drop- 
 ping down on the ground. " This is nice behaviour ! 
 What were you trying to do, with your wicked deceitful 
 piping?" 
 
 " I was catching wood-nymphs ! " said the boy, with a 
 last dying giggle. " I baited my trap well, didn't I ? 
 I never expected to get such a good specimen, though; I 
 believe I'll have you stuffed, and give you to the Smith- 
 sonian Institute." 
 
 "I believe you won't!" retorted Cicely. "If there's
 
 116 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 any stuffing done, I'll be the one to do it. Pans are rarer 
 than nymphs any day. Besides, you haven't caught me 
 yet." 
 
 " Haven't I, though ! " said the boy. " I've lured you 
 inside my magic circle, and now you're powerless to es- 
 cape. Try it and see." 
 
 " Very well, then, I will ! " cried Cicely. " Good- 
 bye! " and jumping up on the instant, she dodged nimbly 
 through a crevice between the trees. 
 
 The boy was on his feet as soon as she, and, slipping 
 through another cranny, headed her off and drove her 
 back again into the dell. Laughing, she ran from one 
 opening to another, but he was always before her on the 
 other side, beating her back with a feathery pine-needle 
 switch; and at last, fairly vanquished, she gave in and 
 dropped again on the ground, laughing breathlessly. 
 
 " There, you see ! " said the boy, returning trium- 
 phant. " You might as well try to disobey the law of 
 gravitation. You're my subject, do you hear me? and 
 I'm boss in this place." 
 
 " I'm not your subject! " retorted Cicely. " I'm a re- 
 publican nymph, with no ruler but myself ! " 
 
 " Treason ! treason ! " cried the boy. " You can't fool 
 me with that kind of talk. I know you: your name is 
 Sylvia; you live in a birch-tree; and you have a red 
 squirrel for your chaperon and housemaid. You see I've 
 got your number." 
 
 "Oh, very well!" said Cicely. "Then I'll give you 
 your statistics. Your name is Pan, you live in an ash- 
 pan, you eat out of a dish-pan, and you spend your 
 time in raising pandemonium."
 
 AN ADVENTURE IN ARC AD Y 117 
 
 The boy covered his ears with a face of horror. 
 " Who'd have believed it ! " he cried. " Such thoughts 
 behind such features ! I see I diagnosed you wrong after 
 all; you're not Sylvia, you're nothing but your own 
 squirrel ; you're a punster and a criminal ; and your name 
 is Xuts." 
 
 Cicely gathered herself into a begging posture and 
 wrinkled her nose at him; and indeed she looked not 
 unlike a mischievous squirrel, with her fur toque and 
 coat, and her merry eyes. " Proud, I'm sure ! " said 
 she. " And I got you wrong, too ; you're no relation to 
 the great god Pan; you're just his hanger-on and hench- 
 man, named named, sir Pancakes ! " 
 
 With that they burst out laughing again, borne away 
 on another delicious gale of youth and silliness. Ex- 
 traordinary how easy it was to laugh, in this clear air and 
 this free wilderness ! Cicely felt like a bird, lifted out of 
 every-day trammels and frets, swimming gloriously 
 among the gay breezes. 
 
 When this new paroxysm was over, and they sat in 
 that luxurious passivity which follows abundant laughter, 
 the boy leaned forward and addressed Cicely confiden- 
 tially. " Some time ago, when you first appeared on this 
 scene, Nuts," he said, " I think you let fall an observation 
 about your intention of stuffing me." 
 
 " You were the one who introduced the subject," said 
 Cicely. " I only followed your lead, as any polite 
 squirrel would, you appearing to think yourself my 
 superior." 
 
 "Yes, but I spoke figuratively," said he; "and I 
 thought I saw a literal sort of glint in your eye. That,
 
 118 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 coupled with your reference to pancakes, made me hope 
 that you knew where they kept the refreshments. My 
 inner Pan begins to think it's lunch-time." 
 
 " Greedy thing ! " said Cicely. " At this hour of the 
 day ! That shows how much of a god you are. Get to 
 work and dig some roots, then; that's what they live on 
 in the woods, roots and herbs." 
 
 " Those may do for swineherds, but not for near-gods 
 like me, or squirrels like you," said the boy. " No; I 
 was thinking, Nuts, that if I could be sure you wouldn't 
 frisk into your hollow tree, I'd hie me to the purlieus 
 of yon town and seek the wandering peanut-vender. I 
 didn't have much breakfast, and I'd like to begin on that 
 stuffing process, no time like the present. But all the 
 same, if there's any danger of your taking to the tall 
 timber I'll starve before I stir from this spot." 
 
 " Well, now that you put it so reasonably," said Cicely 
 reflectively, " I didn't have much breakfast myself, and 
 I do seem to remember that I've got a winter store of 
 nuts somewhere around these woods. Now where did I 
 Oh yes, I know ! at the other end of the long pine 
 path." 
 
 " I'll beat you to it," stated the boy succinctly; and he 
 sprang to his feet and held back the branches for her to 
 pass. 
 
 As they stood side by side in the glade the long vista 
 tempted them, as it had tempted Cicely before, and on a 
 common impulse they began to run. They looked at 
 each other with dancing eyes of challenge; the breeze 
 whistled blithely past their ears, and they sped faster 
 and faster, racing. The delicious intoxication of speed
 
 AN ADVENTURE IN ARCADY 119 
 
 was upon them in a flash. Cicely's hat blew off; the boy 
 lost his cap; they strewed the way with a miscellaneous 
 trail of hairpins, handkerchiefs and pencils; but noth- 
 ing mattered. When Cicely's breath began to fail and 
 her feet to stumble, the boy caught her hand and pulled 
 her along; and at last they reached the end of the path 
 side by side as they had begun, and drew up, panting and 
 laughing. 
 
 " Neck and neck ! " cried the boy. " I'll tell you what, 
 Nuts, you can set the pace for the other squirrels ! But 
 that was going some, even for you, wasn't it? " 
 
 "Oh, Pancakes, don't talk to me!" panted Cicely, 
 leaning against a tree. " Oh, where is my breath? " 
 
 " I think you left it about half-way back, along with 
 the other plunder," said he. " Don't frisk away while I 
 go for it." He started off at a trot, looking back ad- 
 miringly at her flushed face, tumbling hair, and parted 
 breathless lips. 
 
 " I shan't move from this spot for fifty-five years," 
 gasped Cicely, sitting down. " You'll find me all 
 right when you come back." 
 
 "Yes, I'll find you, all right! " said the boy, beneath 
 his breath. " I won't lose you again." He ran off, 
 waving his hand and gazing at her over his shoulder. 
 
 When he returned, Cicely had patted herself into some 
 sort of order, and was settled snugly against the tree, 
 deliciously tired. She received the spoils that the boy 
 brought her with gratitude, and in return pointed out to 
 him the wicker lunch-basket, still reposing unmolested in 
 a thicket. His face of exuberant pleasure fell at the 
 sight.
 
 120 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 " Oh, I say ! " he exclaimed. " I can't eat up your 
 rations ! I thought you really meant you had seen nut- 
 trees. You eat this, and I'll go and forage." 
 
 " What a goose you are, Pancakes ! " said Cicely. 
 " There's enough food there for ten strong men. Don't 
 make me argue, when I haven't got my breath ! " 
 
 " Yes, but you need this, Nuts," protested the 
 boy. " I'm not going to snatch food from the mouths 
 of helpless squirrels." 
 
 "Stop talking, and open that basket!" commanded 
 Cicely. " Do you want me to kill myself trying to eat 
 all that lunch alone? I'll get the 'other republican 
 squirrels together and impeach you, if you behave like a 
 tyrant." 
 
 Thus threatened, the boy relinquished his scruples, got 
 the lunch-basket, and sat down cross-legged to open it. 
 At sight of what was revealed he gave a whoop of ecstasy. 
 " Oh, my pipes ! " he cried. " Oh, look at this ! Lettuce 
 sandwiches ! Cheese sandwiches ! Nut sandwiches ! 
 Cold chicken! Pate-de-what-d'ye-call-it ! O Pan, old 
 tooter, this is a happy day for you ! " 
 
 Cicely was hardly less elated. She sat up straight 
 and clapped her hands, her breath suddenly restored. 
 " Oh, how hungry I am ! " she exclaimed. " Light the 
 little lamp, quick, and heat the chocolate. Aren't there 
 any olives ? Isn't there any chocolate cake ? Let me un- 
 pack it, Pancakes, you're so slow ! Oh, I could eat the 
 hinges! " 
 
 Greedy and gay, they settled down to their meal in 
 wild spirits. Cicely ate with the fork, the boy with the 
 knife; she drank from the cup, and he from the little
 
 sauce-pan; they took turns stirring with the one spoon. 
 They laughed so much that the real squirrels in the 
 trees eyed them askance, and scolded querulously; and 
 then they laughed again, and imitated the squirrels' cross 
 " chitching " ; and so on until they reached the bottom of 
 the basket and the end of the crumbs. There never was 
 such a rollicking picnic in all the history of hampers. 
 
 " Oh, what a bully time ! " said the boy, as they fin- 
 ished. " Race you down to the brook, Nuts ! " 
 
 But Cicely, with the retirement of the basket from 
 the stage, fell all at once into the grip of one of those 
 abrupt changes of mood which so quickly altered the face 
 of the world for her. It was afternoon now; she was 
 tired; she was sick of laughter and folly; and suddenly 
 she wanted nothing but home and Roger. 
 
 " I'm going home! " she said. " I don't want to stay 
 here any longer." 
 
 " Oh, Nuts ! " he cried. " When we're having such a 
 lark! Why, you can't go; it's absurd. Come, let's play 
 hide-and-seek; I'll be It." 
 
 " No, no," said Cicely impatiently. " I'm going." 
 
 He began to coax her charmingly; he was quite as 
 charming as she, and almost as accustomed to having his 
 own way. " Please, please ! Just a little while ! Oh, 
 Nuts, you can't go yet. I've got millions of things in 
 this wood to show you. There's a waterfall in the brook ; 
 and I know where there's a coon's nest, I do, truly ; and 
 there's a hollow tree over by the dell where I found four 
 baby squirrels last spring. Oh, don't go, Nuts! This 
 is the best day I ever had in my life." 
 
 At all his pleading Cicely shook an impatient head.
 
 122 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 She had no thought now for anything but Roger, and his 
 strong arms, and his big comfortable shoulder; she would 
 run to him, and they would forget the quarrels, and all 
 would be happiness again. She started up and began 
 to gather her belongings. 
 
 " Well, if we must go, we must," said the boy, yielding 
 reluctantly at sight of her determination ; " but we can't 
 go till we pack the basket, and we can't pack till we 
 wash up. Come on, let's take the things to the brook." 
 He coaxed her again, trying to gain what time he could 
 to prolong the happy hour. 
 
 But Cicely was not to be seduced. " You take them," 
 she said; " I'm too tired." And as soon as, with uncon- 
 cealed reluctance, he had obeyed, she began to slip 
 stealthily away, looking over her shoulder to make sure 
 he did not see her. She had finished with the boy now, 
 she was tired of him; she wanted only Roger. 
 
 She had nearly reached the road, and, safely out of 
 sight, was hurrying at a pace that was almost a run, 
 when suddenly her foot caught on some obstruction in 
 the path, and she stumbled forward. With a sharp 
 exclamation she caught at a tree to save herself; and as 
 she did so the obstruction, which she had supposed to be 
 a root, moved, and displayed itself as a pair of legs in- 
 cased in very dirty trousers. At the same instant an un- 
 kempt head, with a red, bristled face and sleepy eyes, 
 peered round the tree, muttering, " What'n helFs this ? 
 Whadyer mean, hey?" 
 
 Cicely's heart jumped uncomfortably. "It's one of 
 those tramps ! " she thought. " What a horrible crea- 
 ture! Why didn't I listen to Roger? " But, putting on
 
 AN ADVENTURE IN ARCADY 123 
 
 a bold front, she faced the man squarely. " I beg par- 
 don for disturbing you/' she said. " Let me pass, 
 please." 
 
 At sound of her voice the man looked up, and his scowl 
 gave way to a silly leer. He scrambled unsteadily to his 
 feet. The marks of liquor were plain upon him, in his 
 lurching movements and fetid breath. 
 
 " Granted, granted," he said affably, reaching towards 
 her with a dirty hand. " Always willin' t' grant pardon 
 t' a pretty pippin like you. Gimme a kiss, 'n' we'll say 
 no more about it." 
 
 Cicely drew herself up. " Let me pass, please," she 
 repeated. " You're in my path." 
 
 " Thass right," agreed the man, planting himself 
 firmly in front of her. " I'm in your path, 'n' I'm goin' 
 stay there. You're a peach. Gimme a kiss." He 
 lunged at her with arms outstretched, and now his eyes 
 were inflamed and lustful. 
 
 Fear clutched at Cicely's throat. Lurching-drunk as 
 the man was, he was big and burly; her strength would 
 be nothing against him. She stood her ground for an in- 
 stant more, but, as he lunged again, her courage gave 
 way, and she turned with a little cry and ran back into 
 the wood. 
 
 The man, cursing her furiously, rushed after her. She 
 was swift and frightened, but he was angry, and the 
 motion through the clear air steadied him. In a moment 
 he was close behind her, catching at her arm. Instinct 
 made her wise, and she dodged behind a tree; but though 
 for the instant he was at a loss, as soon as she began to 
 run again he was after her. This time he clutched her
 
 124 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 shoulders, swearing half in rage and half in triumph: 
 she shrugged swiftly out of her coat, and, leaving it in 
 his hands, darted away. But now her heart was labour- 
 ing as if it would burst, her lungs too were bursting, and 
 her feet faltered under her. She was at the end of her 
 strength. " O Roger, Roger ! " she cried despairingly. 
 
 " What's that ? " called a cheery voice. " Where are 
 you hiding, Nuts ? " 
 
 " Here ! Oh, come, Boy, come ! " screamed Cicely. 
 " Help me ! " 
 
 With a startled exclamation and a crashing of bushes 
 the boy came running. "I'm coming!" he shouted. 
 " Hold on, Nuts! I'm with you! " and almost upon the 
 words he was there, bursting through the underbrush like 
 a moose. At sight of his fiery young face, the tramp 
 wavered, stopped, and then, true to the code of the 
 bully tribe, turned tail with a yell and made off through 
 the woods: and Cicely, with a little piteous cry, crumpled 
 to the ground in a heap. 
 
 The boy dropped on his knees beside her, his heart 
 swelling fiercely with rage and pity. " I'd like to kill 
 the brute ! " he said, breathing hard. " Poor, poor little 
 girl!" 
 
 " I'm not going to faint," Cicely murmured deter- 
 minedly: and then suddenly, "O Boy, help me not to 
 faint ! " she cried, and flung out her hands to him. 
 
 He caught the cold little hands, and the touch of 
 them took him suddenly out of himself. He kissed the 
 hands first, and then, as she swayed towards him, he 
 caught her in his arms and kissed her hair and her smooth 
 cheek. The touch of his lips stung her back to con-
 
 AN ADVENTURE IN ARCADY 125 
 
 sciousness ; she drew away from him, and struggled to her 
 feet. He rose too, catching his breath. They stood 
 gazing at each other, startled and shamefaced. 
 
 " I must go home," said Cicely brokenly. " Why did 
 I ever come ? Oh Boy 
 
 "I'm a blackguard!" said the boy. "I don't know 
 what made me do it. Please, please forgive me! I'll 
 never do it again until you give me permission." 
 
 Cicely heard him dimly, as if from a distance or 
 through the sound of water. The pretty play had ended, 
 and it was time now to pay the piper and face the facts. 
 But she had no eyes for the false situation, or for the 
 boy standing there and falling in love with her as fast as 
 hot-foot youth could fall. She was too weary in mind 
 and body to do anything but long for Roger. " I must 
 go home," she kept saying in a whisper. 
 
 The boy looked at her, adoring and ashamed. " Yes, 
 you must go home," he agreed. " But I think I think 
 you can't go that way. Your your dress is torn. 
 Where is your coat? " 
 
 " The tramp took it," said Cicely dully. She looked 
 down, and there on her breast was a jagged rent in the 
 sheer fabric of her blouse, where the rose-white flesh 
 showed smoothly swelling. At sight of it the tears welled 
 into her eyes, and she began to cry softly and wearily, 
 like a child who has been hurt too much to bear anything 
 more. " I must go home," she wailed softly, " and I 
 can't go I can't go this way. What shall I do ? Oh 
 me ! " 
 
 " I'll fix it," said the boy quietly. He took from un- 
 der his coat a little pin, oddly shaped and enamelled with
 
 126 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 a cryptic emblem. " May I pin it with this ? " he asked ; 
 and, Cicely nodding mutely with the tears running down, 
 he caught the torn edges together and made them fast. 
 His fingers trembled when they touched the warm flesh, 
 but he did the work without bungling. Then, breathing 
 rather fast, he wiped her cheeks with his handkerchief, 
 and turned her gently so that she faced the road. 
 " There, little girl," he said, " now you can go home." 
 
 Silently they went through the path to the street, 
 Cicely walking unsteadily before. Now and then she 
 gave a stifled sob, and at that the boy bit his lip, but 
 neither one stopped or spoke. At the edge of the town 
 he secured a carriage and put her into it, saying good- 
 bye to her soberly; she, still dumb, gave him her cold 
 hand. So they parted, the boy tramping down the street 
 in a delicious turmoil of joy and pain, thrilled to the 
 finger-tips, gloriously stirred; and Cicely cowering in 
 the slow-moving carriage, spent and miserable. As for 
 the little wicker lunch-basket, it was abandoned in the 
 woods, with the rest of that day's gaiety. 
 
 Roger had waited and watched for Cicely since he 
 came home at noon, growing more alarmed with each 
 passing minute. He could not work, but tramped back 
 and forth through the little house in torment of sus- 
 pense, picturing her in all sorts of straits, lost; terri- 
 fied; hurt and unhelped; kidnapped. At last he could 
 stand it no longer, and had seized his cap and stick to
 
 AN ADVENTURE IN ARCADY 127 
 
 go and hunt for her, when her carriage rattled down 
 the little street and stopped at the door. 
 
 At sight of her, coming up the path alive and well, the 
 inevitable reaction set sharply in. Cicely's conventional 
 training had come to her aid when she began to meet the 
 curious looks of the townsfolk, and had spurred her into 
 self-command; she had dried her eyes and straightened 
 her hat, and recaptured something of her usual air of 
 trig daintiness. Seen from the window, she was her 
 own debonair self; and all the flood of anxiety pent up 
 within Roger turned to indignation against its careless 
 cause, who had been gaily enjoying herself without a 
 thought of how she tortured him. He went to open the 
 door for her, but his face was stern and cold, and he did 
 not smile as he greeted her. 
 
 As for Cicely, at the moment of meeting she too suf- 
 fered a harsh reaction. She had thought so much and 
 so longingly of Roger's welcoming arms that this re- 
 ception struck her like a blow in the face. Her heart 
 contracted sharply. But pride lashed her into coldness; 
 she stiffened her trembling lips, and looked at him with 
 eyes as bright as ice. 
 
 " Well, I went to the picnic ! " she said. 
 
 " So I see," said Roger. " You appear to have en- 
 joyed it." 
 
 " Of course ! " said Cicely defiantly. 
 
 " I suppose, then," said Roger, bitter and miserable, 
 " since my wishes have no weight with you, and you 
 amuse yourself so well away from me, you will take 
 your pleasures in the future regardless of me." 
 
 " Yes, I probably shall," said Cicely, " since you ar-
 
 128 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 range yours in the same way. And now, if you will 
 kindly excuse me, I will go to my room and refresh my- 
 self." 
 
 " I hardly see why you should need refreshment, after 
 such an agreeable day," said Roger, and his eyes 
 travelled coldly over her tired beauty and tumbled rai- 
 ment. Suddenly they focussed on the little pin on her 
 breast. " Where did you get that pin ? " he asked 
 sharply. 
 
 Cicely's little inner devil jumped as at the flick of a 
 whip. She had forgotten both the pin and the boy in 
 this far greater concern of Roger's anger and her own 
 wretchedness, but the fierce note of authority in his voice 
 made her white-hot in an instant. " Is that any affair 
 of yours? " she flashed. 
 
 Roger flushed dark red, and the veins in his temples 
 swelled and stood out. " It's this affair," he said 
 thickly, " that the man who has a pin like that is 
 pledged not to give it to any but the woman he loves; 
 and you happen to be my wife." 
 
 Cicely's heart gave a convulsive leap, as if it had 
 turned over and lain down again. She hardly knew 
 whether this could be her quiet husband, this man with 
 the face of fierce, primeval passion and the savage eyes. 
 She felt terrified; and yet mingled with the terror was a 
 strange, secret delight that she could move him so. 
 
 " He didn't give it to me," she said hurriedly. " A 
 tramp ran after me and tore my blouse, and this boy (I 
 don't know his name), fastened it with his pin so that 
 I could come home. That's all." 
 
 Roger looked at her for a minute, with narrowed eye-
 
 AN ADVENTURE IN ARCADY 129 
 
 lids and a spark glinting between them. " A tramp 
 tore your dress, and a boy whose name you don't know 
 fastened it with his fraternity pin," he said at last, 
 hoarsely. " So that's all ! It's enough, Cicely." He 
 swallowed hard, and his big hands clenched and un- 
 clenched; then, turning sharply, he walked into his study 
 and flung the door shut. 
 
 Cicely stood gasping where he had left her. Once she 
 made a movement towards the door, and then drew vio- 
 lently back again. At last, lifting her head high, she 
 marched up the stairs to her room, went to the door that 
 connected it with Roger's, locked it, and flung the key 
 from the window out into the garden shrubbery. 
 
 They did not meet again that day. It grew dark, and 
 Hitty prepared an unregarded dinner, and cleared it 
 away again; and Roger tramped .up and down behind the 
 shut door of the study; and Cicely sat staring out of her 
 window and thinking that the end of the world had 
 come. And night fell.
 
 VI 
 
 ARCADY MISLAID 
 
 THE end of the world had not come, however. It seldom 
 does. Even though the seismic rumblings under the little 
 House of Ford ought to have shaken the whole firma- 
 ment, days and nights continued to follow each other on 
 scheduled time, clothes had to be put on and off, meals 
 eaten, and words of some sort spoken. Roger and 
 Cicely, face to face with the inexorableness of every-day, 
 were cowed into submission. They made peace with 
 brief speeches of formal regret; and life went on. 
 
 Such a dreary life ! No more stolen kisses behind the 
 door in the hall, with guests waiting just inside the draw- 
 ing-room; no more bursts of high spirits when Cicely 
 gave imitations of Professor Roger on the lecture plat- 
 form, and Roger disciplined her by putting her into the 
 waste-basket; no more precious secrets whispered close 
 and still, arms entwined, hearts beating together. 
 " Badger " and " Pixie " were gone, and all the little 
 army of pet-names, dear and intimate. They sat rigid in 
 each other's presence, talking constrainedly of imper- 
 sonal things, and thinking, each in his own heart, of the 
 unforgettable wounds the other had dealt. 
 
 The game in these days was a defensive one. Each 
 was well aware of imminent danger, and each played 
 cautiously to safeguard what he still possessed, not dar- 
 
 130
 
 ARCADY MISLAID 131 
 
 ing the risk of a bold move to recapture the greater 
 lost happiness. They were afraid of each other now, 
 these two. How long an age it seemed from the day 
 when they marched blithely hand in hand into their 
 rosy playground, expecting Paradise to bloom uninter- 
 ruptedly about them forevermore, to this time of lurking 
 dangers, bruises, and furtive, mistrustful glances ! And 
 there is nobody to teach the rules, and before a heavy- 
 hearted player finds them out for himself, the game 
 may be lost for good and all. 
 
 " Roger," said Cicely, one morning as he was leaving 
 for college, " we haven't any engagement for to-night. 
 You might invite some boys to dinner." 
 
 Roger understood, though she spoke carelessly. An 
 evening alone was a dangerous thing, to be avoided at all 
 hazards. " All right," he said, " any particular kind? " 
 
 " Any nice kind," said Cicely. " Any six in the whole 
 university, provided they know an oyster-fork from a 
 pitchfork." 
 
 Roger flushed a little, but let it lie; he was always the 
 more cautious one in avoiding the danger-points. " I'll 
 produce them," he said. " Seven o'clock, I suppose. 
 Can Hitty get the dinner ? not that it matters ! " he 
 added hastily, it was astonishing how many subjects 
 had to be dodged in these days. " Trust me to deliver 
 the goods. Good-bye, Cicely." 
 
 Cicely, with the mingled pang of relief and desola- 
 tion which his departure always gave her nowadays, 
 turned listlessly to the kitchen and Hitty. She had
 
 132 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 learned to encourage her handmaiden's robust conversa- 
 tional powers, finding them one means of fending off 
 the solitude she dreaded; and between the two had 
 grown up a curious friendship, based on a substratum of 
 attraction, and flavoured by the amused astonishment 
 with which (each privately thinking the other a little in- 
 sane), they regarded one another. Hitty, turning from 
 her dish-washing, gave her mistress a cheerful wel- 
 come, and instantly loosed the dogs of conversation upon 
 her. 
 
 " I ben havin' a little crack with the milkman," she 
 said. " I ast him if he ben givin' his cows sea-water 
 to drink, to make the milk s' blue; an' he said my tongue 
 was enough to turn the cream to cheese, an' make it s' 
 strong it c'd walk off by itself; an' I told him I guessed 
 if it c'd stand goin' round half the mornin' on the same 
 wagon with his face it c'd stand most anythin' it'd meet 
 in this house. I do' know what's got into that coot, to 
 make him s' tonguy." 
 
 " I hope you didn't alienate him completely," said 
 Cicely, " because we're going to have six people to din- 
 ner to-night." 
 
 " Ye don't say ! " exclaimed Hitty, looking alarmed. 
 " I hope to my dyin' breath, Mis' Ford, ye ain't goin' to 
 hev that craterer here again ! I ain't got done yet 
 burnin' up all them crates he brought his victuals in, 
 an' I don't want him clutterin' round under foot, anyway." 
 
 " Don't worry," said Cicely dryly, " I'm not likely 
 to have him again. I thought perhaps you and the 
 laundress could manage together, there aren't going to 
 be any ladies, just young men from the college."
 
 ARCADY MISLAID 133 
 
 " Manage ! I sh'd think we could ! " said Hitty, re- 
 lieved. " I ain't much on ' lobster tumbles ' an' ' chicken 
 canopies/ but what I do' know about feedin' boys ain't 
 wuth knowin'. You leave 'em to me; I'll stuff 'em like 
 pigs for markit." 
 
 " Good," said Cicely. " You're used to feeding boys, 
 are you, Hitty? " 
 
 " Land, yes ! " said Hitty. " Down home on the farm 
 we used to hev eight of 'em reg'lar, fam'ly an' hands, 
 an' durin' hayiii' time an' Thanksgivin' it'd 'a' taken 
 a professor o' 'rithmetic to count 'em. We hed collige 
 boys, too; my cousin Al, he went down to Orono to the 
 State collige, an' he used to bring his friends home 
 somethin' awful. I jest wish't you c'd 'a' seen the 
 style them fellers put on ! Dressy ain't no word for 
 it." 
 
 " Tell me about them," encouraged Cicely. " Dressy, 
 were they ? " 
 
 " My good grief, yes ! " responded Hitty, launching 
 out impressively. " I seen the collige boys here, an' I 
 want to tell ye they ain't in the class with Ally's friends 
 for style. Why, they'd wear purple satin neckties, or 
 red satin ones, every day; an' one of 'em hed a green 
 one with blue spots as big as yeller-eye beans (han'somest 
 thing you ever seen), that he'd flummox round in as 
 common as dirt. An' these stylish collars, cut low-neck 
 in front, with points stickin' out sideways, this feller 
 hed 'em so low an' so big-pointed he looked jest like a 
 boat sailin' wing-an'-wing, with his Adam's apple gobblin' 
 up an' down in the middle. An' clo'es ! Land, they'd 
 wear fancy fifteen-dollar suits, with great big tasty
 
 134 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 checks and turnin'-back cuffs an' buttons all over, jest 
 as if they was nothin' at all." 
 
 " They must have been the latest Hint from Paris," 
 remarked Cicely. " Was your cousin as fashionable as 
 the rest? " 
 
 " Not right off, he wa'n't," admitted Hitty ; " but 
 when he'd ben there two months, he could give points 
 to any of 'em. I'll never forgit when he bust out in a 
 dress-suit. He was goin' to a dancin' party, an' he 
 wanted to go in style, so he took nineteen dollars o' his 
 hayin'-money an' bought him the han'somest dress-suit 
 money c'd buy, fancy-cut, an' lined all through the 
 coat with cotton-back satin you c'd see yore face in. He 
 come home an' tried it on t' show the family, an' then 
 he was so tickled with himself that nothin' 'd do but he 
 must go over t' his Uncle Hiram's house (uncle on his 
 father's side), an' show his gran'mother. ' Look a-here, 
 Grammy ! ' he says. ' What d'ye think o' this ? ' ' My 
 soul an' body ! ' s' she. ' What happened t' yore coat, 
 Ally? Did the south-paster bull gore ye? The front's 
 all tore off ! ' she says. ' Shucks, Grammy ! ' says Ally, 
 ' that's the style. It's evenin' dress,' s' he. ' Evenin' 
 dress, hey! ' says Grammy, disgusted. ' Well, I'd ruther 
 a good old-fashioned nightshirt any day ! ' she says. That 
 was all the praise he got out o' her; an' then goin' home 
 he walked by the road so's to show off, an' Turner's 
 little boys throwed mud at him, an' old Mis' Rutherford 
 took him for an arnachist an' set the dog on him. An' 
 then at the party, the black all run out o' the linin' s' 
 bad he hed to scour himself with sand-soap. But he 
 said 'twas wuth standin' a few adversities for; an' after
 
 ARCADY MISLAID 135 
 
 all, I don't s'pose Solomon himself felt real comfterble 
 when he was fixed up in his tastiest duds. What kind 
 o' soup'll we hev, Mis' Ford? " 
 
 At this leisurely pace the discussion of the dinner 
 consumed an hour; and when that was done, there were 
 tradesmen to be telephoned to, flowers to be ordered and 
 arranged, and silver to be laid out. Roger returned to 
 find a busy, animated wife, moving briskly about the 
 house and talking quite gaily of her plans. His own 
 spirits leaped up in instant response. It was something 
 like the old days, before the Reign of Terror. At 
 luncheon, having a subject that was not fraught with 
 danger, they talked freely; Roger told of his good for- 
 tune in meeting and securing the six leading seniors as 
 they were coming from the meeting of the Student Coun- 
 cil, and Cicely recounted her menu and some of Kitty's 
 locutions. They parted cheerfully, and Roger consumed 
 a deal of precious time hunting through the local florists' 
 shops for a spray of trailing arbutus (the flower which 
 always seemed to him to embody Cicely's quality of way- 
 ward sweetness), for her to wear that night in her 
 hair. 
 
 Therefore, in spite of its untoward antecedents, this 
 entertainment began more favourably than any they had 
 yet projected. Cicely was glad to be doing something, 
 Roger was glad in her pleasure; they were mutually de- 
 sirous of success, and drawn together once more by a 
 common interest. Roger, soberly handsome in his even- 
 ing clothes, looked on Cicely, as she came down the stairs 
 (like a rosebud, delicate pink-and-white from the trail- 
 ing spray in her hair to the bows on her satin slippers),
 
 136 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 with love and longing; and she, reading his eyes, told 
 herself with a suddenly leaping heart that as soon as 
 the sun rose she would creep out into the garden, and 
 find the lost key. 
 
 There was no time, however, for the word and the kiss 
 that might have made all things right again. Hitty was 
 hovering uneasily, waiting for certain nice distinctions 
 between forks to be elucidated once more; and then the 
 bell rang, and Roger, after his hearty hospitable habit 
 (which Cicely disapproved of, and Hitty tacitly encour- 
 aged), went himself to open the door; and while he was 
 still in the hall with the first guest, another came, and 
 another; so that hearts must disappear decorously, and 
 only good manners be visible. Roger piloted the guests 
 to the drawing-room a little reluctantly, secretly long- 
 ing to keep his wife to himself; yet happy, too, in min- 
 istering to her enjoyment. 
 
 " Cicely, this is Mr. Saunders, our prize debater," he 
 said, " and Mr. Hutchins, leader of the glee club, 
 and Mr. Fulton, editor-in-chief of the ' News.' Fellows, 
 I have the honour of presenting you to my wife." 
 
 Cicely came forward, hand outstretched, face alight. 
 " Why, how nice! " she said. " I've met you all before, 
 at the President's Reception, do you remember?" 
 
 The boys, all clean-cut, fine-looking youngsters, 
 hurried in a body to receive her greeting. 
 
 "Do we remember?" exclaimed young Hutchins. 
 " Why, we've been talking about it ever since. We've 
 been standing on our heads trying to find out who you 
 were. But we went at it wrong; we thought you were
 
 ARCADY MISLAID 137 
 
 that is, we supposed you weren't well, you see, we 
 didn't have any idea " 
 
 " I get you, my boy ! " said Roger, laughing and clap- 
 ping him on the shoulder. " You didn't know she was 
 shackled in matrimony, eh? Well, that's where I had 
 the advantage of you, I've known it for six months." 
 He went off, chuckling merrily, to open the door to an- 
 other arrival. 
 
 " Why," said Cicely, so artlessly that they all laughed, 
 " I should think anybody could see I was married ! " 
 
 " Well, you see," said young Hutchins, " you don't 
 look exactly exactly " 
 
 " Downtrodden ! " said the debater. 
 
 " Or or middle-aged ! " ventured the editor-in-chief. 
 
 " Well, but," said Cicely, wrinkling her brows, " don't 
 I look matronly? " 
 
 At this they all shouted with laughter; indeed at that 
 moment, in her rosebud daintiness, she looked hardly 
 more than a child. But Cicely remained serious and 
 puzzled. She herself had been so intensely aware of her 
 matronhood that she had supposed it stamped upon her in 
 raised letters for all to read; it had never occurred to 
 her that any one could miss it. 
 
 While the boys were still laughing, Roger reappeared 
 with the captain of the crew, a magnificent young giant, 
 and a j oily little roly-poly who was president of the 
 dramatic club. They too proved to be known to Cicely, 
 and their greetings of her were fervent. Roger, noting 
 with keen pleasure the guests' common attitude of wor- 
 shipful admiration, beamed on them.
 
 138 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 " What a galaxy of campus lights ! " he said. " It 
 would make any freshman's eyes pop out. But where's 
 Maddox ? " 
 
 " He was comin' with me," said the jolly little plump 
 boy, Bowles, " but I got tired waitin' for him. Spivvy's 
 always late; he'd make a good messenger-boy." 
 
 " If he knew who he was going to see he'd be early 
 enough ! " said Hutchins to Cicely. " He's the one that's 
 tried hardest of all to find out who you were." 
 
 "Hasn't he just!" joined in the editor. "Why, he 
 wanted me to send reporters round to find out what 
 families had girls visiting them; and he even held up 
 the President and asked him if there was any new prof, 
 in college with a grown-up daughter." 
 
 " Next thing," remarked little Bowles, " he'd have 
 been puttin' an ad in the get-together column, ' Hand- 
 some young man of good family wants to connect with 
 beautiful girl who juggled the Java at Prexy's feed ' 
 oh, excuse me, Mrs. Ford ! I mean poured the coffee at 
 the President's Reception. I get so used to consortin' 
 with hoboes that I don't know how to talk in good 
 society." 
 
 " Well, perhaps " began Roger, but at that moment 
 the bell rang again, and he hurried away to answer it. 
 
 " There he is ! " said Cicely. " I'm quite curious to 
 see him." 
 
 "He's worth seeing!" said the big crew captain, 
 warmly. " Finest fellow that ever grew, isn't he, 
 fellows ? " 
 
 " Cicely ! " said Roger from the doorway. " Here's
 
 ARCADY MISLAID 139 
 
 the chief luminary of the senior class, the president, 
 Mr." 
 
 " Why, Nuts! " cried the dark boy; and darted from 
 behind Roger to seize Cicely's hand. 
 
 There was a moment's startled pause. Cicely flushed 
 hotly, Roger turned as violently pale ; the boys exchanged 
 amazed glances. The new arrival feasted his eyes on 
 Cicely's face, oblivious of the stir he was creating. 
 
 " Well, well," said Roger, collecting himself, and 
 speaking in a hoarse voice that he meant to make cheery, 
 " here's another meeting of old friends, it seems ! " 
 
 This loosed the boys' tongues, and they began to as- 
 sail their classmate unanimously. 
 
 " Nuts yourself ! " said the crew captain indignantly. 
 " You're the nutty one. This is Mrs. Ford." 
 
 " Yes, you old goat," said Hutchins. " What's the 
 matter with you ? Nice way to behave in company ! " 
 
 " You go put yourself in hock, Spivvy, till you can 
 learn manners," admonished Bowles severely. " Mrs. 
 Ford'll take you for a fried egg." 
 
 The dark boy looked from one to another, and then 
 back to Cicely. His eyes besought her to say that these 
 people were all wrong, and he and she the only ones who 
 understood. But Cicely, alert to the danger in the 
 air, had other concerns than allaying his anxiety; she 
 was glancing rapidly about the room, gathering herself 
 and the situation into hand for immediate action. 
 
 " Don't scold Mr. Maddox ! " she said lightly. " He 
 did me a service at a time when he had no chance to 
 learn my name, and so he had to invent one for himself.
 
 140 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 Now let's go in to dinner, shall we ? j ust helter-skelter, 
 like this." She led the way as she spoke, and the guests 
 were forced to follow without time for any more wonder- 
 ment. 
 
 The pretty dining-room, all soft light and fragrance, 
 promptly diverted their thoughts to other channels. 
 Cicely juggled them cleverly, putting the most animated 
 next to Roger, the less talkative by herself, and the boy 
 who was the crux of the situation in the neutral zone at 
 the middle. A burst of cheerful chatter was the imme- 
 diate result; and by the time the soup had been served, 
 the awkward moment was forgotten, and the entertain- 
 ment well on its feet. 
 
 Cicely looked around her with a half-bewildered sense 
 of a crisis averted. Even now the memory of her deal- 
 ings with this boy was vague and misty; she had used 
 him for her pleasure, as she used everything, and then 
 had promptly forgotten him in the flood of unhappiness 
 which followed. If he had entered her mind at all, it 
 was only to be greeted resentfully as the cause of the 
 last bitterness between her and Roger. Now she was 
 hotly indignant at his reappearance; just when things had 
 begun to be a little better, he must come and spoil it 
 all with his silly antics! She had no intention of 
 humouring him; he had made trouble enough. She kept 
 her eyes determinedly away from him, and concentrated 
 her will on making the evening a success. 
 
 No hostess could have had better support. These de- 
 lightful boys all had the ease of excellent breeding; they 
 were all personalities, the chosen leaders of the campus 
 life ; and, all but one, they were in exuberant spirits. As
 
 ARCADY MISLAID 141 
 
 Cicely's challenging, sparkling smile went the rounds of 
 the table, it was met by a unanimous response of smiles 
 and eager talk. 
 
 " My, we're glad we're here, Mrs. Ford," said the 
 fluent Hutchins. " You don't know how good it seems, 
 after eating day in and day out in Commons, with all the 
 Great Unwashed, to come to a table with flowers and 
 candles and a lady ! " 
 
 Cicely gave him a gay little bow. " Piacere il mio! " 
 she said. " Now, let's get acquainted. There are thou- 
 sands of things I want to ask you ; I don't know anything 
 about American college life, and I want to know every- 
 thing." 
 
 " Ask me, Mrs. Ford," entreated Hutchins. " I'm the 
 only reliable stude here; the rest are buccaneers and 
 brigands." 
 
 " Oh, yes ! " jeered little Bowles. " That sounds well 
 from a hardened rusticator like you ! Take it from me, 
 Mrs. Ford, that guy's an expert in more lines o' crime 
 than anybody in the Rogues' Gallery. Now, if you want 
 an honest man " 
 
 " Ask me ! " urged Wallace, the captain. " I've got 
 all the statistics of this institution cold, from Prexy's age 
 down to how much Felton grafts out of the " News " 
 in a year. As a repository of useful facts, I've got the 1 
 Farmers' Almanac beaten." 
 
 " Xo, no, Mrs. Ford, don't trust any of 'em! " said the 
 debater, Saunders. " I'm the Only Original . Fount of 
 Truth. You couldn't match me from the rugged confines 
 of the Atlantic to the sun-kissed slopes of the Pacific, 
 from the glittering pinnacles of the frozen North "
 
 142 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 " Oh, Lizzie! " groaned the plump boy, rolling up his 
 eyes. He had the true comedian's quality ; everything he 
 said and did was touched with drollery, and even when 
 he did nothing at all, his round solemn face and little 
 turned-up nose were exquisitely funny. 
 
 " Well, I learned it out of Prexy's speech last week," 
 said the orator defensively. 
 
 " I believe you," said Bowles, severely. " If there is 
 a worse speaker in college than you, it's Prexy. Ought 
 to know better than to crib from such a model, oughtn't 
 he, Mr. Ford? " 
 
 Roger smiled, sympathetically but discreetly. Cicely's 
 carefully fostered atmosphere of frank comradeship had 
 already allayed the sharp pang that the dark boy's arrival 
 had cost him; seeing her gay and oblivious, and the boy 
 silent and unregarded, he was fast regaining his serenity. 
 
 " I never talk before newspaper men," he said cheer- 
 fully, nodding towards Felton. " First law of self- 
 preservation." 
 
 " That's right, too," approved Saunders. " The risk's 
 too great. Many a reputation has been torn to shreds 
 by that sad-eyed vulture feeding peacefully yonder." 
 
 Felton smiled good-naturedly as little Bowles poked 
 him in the ribs. He was the only one of the group with 
 no sign of the mental twinkle that almost universally dis- 
 tinguishes Young America, an earnest, high-minded 
 boy with eye-glasses and radical views, who beheld the 
 fooling of his mates with tolerant indifference, and kept 
 steadily along his own serious path. 
 
 " You ask about American college life, Mrs. Ford," 
 he said. " I'll put it for you in a nutshell; I've thought
 
 ARCADY MISLAID 143 
 
 a great deal about it. American colleges are excellent 
 pieces of machinery for grinding out graduates, like 
 sausages, all nicely moulded and polished on the outside. 
 But they have no ideals. We go into the machine as 
 raw material, we get minced into a little different sem- 
 blance, and we come out just the same stuff that went 
 in, just sausages. Where is the spiritual inspiration that 
 ought to have made us over ? Are these institutions doing 
 their duty to the country, when they fail to provide the 
 vital spark? " 
 
 " Hear, hear! " cried Hutchins. " Old Ink-pots is on 
 the war-path ! " 
 
 " Can you beat that, Sadie! " ejaculated Bowles, lift- 
 ing his plump hands in a gesture of dismay. " Sausages ! 
 Handsome little things like us ! " 
 
 " I've been watching this thing steadily, during the 
 three and a half years I've been in college," continued 
 the earnest Felton; " I've watched the men in my class, 
 and the men that have gone out in my time. I see us 
 marching through by the hundred, as good stuff, and as 
 fit for accomplishment, as you could find anywhere in the 
 world. And do you know how we turn out? Nine per 
 cent, of us go into work that's for the good of our fellow- 
 men, and the other ninety-one divide into two pursuits, 
 money-making and trifling. What result do you call that 
 for the time and money and brains that go into our edu- 
 cation? " 
 
 " Oh, peanuts ! " sighed little Bowles. " I shall never 
 smile again. It's crool of you, Ink-pots." 
 
 " There's a great deal in what you say, Felton," said 
 Roger soberly. "I think you go too fast; you can't
 
 144 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 measure the results of a man's education by his first 
 year out of college, or his fifth ; but there's no doubt that 
 with the majority the right kind of results never show. 
 I think a great deal about it too. Ideals are the most 
 important equipment a college can give, and we all 
 want to give them, else we ought never to have come into 
 this work. But we don't. There's no denying it, we 
 don't." 
 
 " You do, Mr. Ford ! " said Felton, quickly. " It was 
 seeing you, and the sort of inspiration you give to the 
 fellows under you, that first put this idea into my head. 
 You taught me in my freshman year, and I got more 
 public spirit out of your science than I ever did out of 
 anybody's civics or ethics. What I want to know is, 
 why there aren't more profs like you." 
 
 Roger turned red with embarrassment and pleasure. 
 " You're horsing me, Felton ! " he said. " There isn't a 
 man in this faculty who doesn't give more than I do. I'd 
 like to give something, God knows ! but formulae and 
 experiments don't show me how. You got it out of your- 
 self." 
 
 At this a chorus of protests arose from the other guests. 
 They were not, they remarked, going to allow old Ink- 
 pots, who never evolved anything from his inner con- 
 sciousness but groans, to get the credit for the " spiritual 
 hunches " he had received from Roger. They all 
 launched at once into encomiums on the quality of Roger's 
 influence, young Htitchins avowing himself " bats on him 
 from the kick-off," and little Bowles raising his hand 
 to swear solemnly that he had become " a changed man " 
 the moment he entered Roger's classroom. Through all
 
 ARCADY MISLAID 145 
 
 their humorous extravagance their warmly affectionate 
 admiration showed clearly. 
 
 Cicely's eyes sparkled with pleasure at their tribute 
 to her husband; but when she saw the earnest Felton 
 about to return to his discourse, she changed the subject 
 promptly. If these ideals they were talking about in- 
 volved the treating of janitors as blood-brothers, she 
 did not mean to countenance them; and if they were just 
 vague abstractions about the welfare of the race, they 
 were not worth bothering with. She was too young, too 
 completely absorbed in her own problems, to pro- 
 ject her sympathies beyond her immediate horizon. 
 It is an accomplishment that comes slowly to women 
 trained in selfishness. 
 
 " I want to know about the college play," she said 
 briskly. " Who acts it, who writes it, and when does 
 it happen ? " 
 
 " Ah, you've come to the right place for that ! " Hut- 
 chins told her. " Look at this majestic form beside me, in 
 which Booth, Salvini and the Tragic Muse live again; 
 he's the chap to tell you all about the mission of the 
 stage. Speak up, Bolster." 
 
 The president of the dramatic association placed his 
 hand on his heart, and bowed with grandeur. " You un- 
 derrate me," he said to his neighbour, " but I'll pass that 
 by. I had thought, Mrs. Ford, of givin' to the public a 
 flippant trifle by a strugglin' quill-driver called Shake- 
 speare, in which I was goin' to represent a melancholy 
 Dane who's the livin' image of me; but the high-brows 
 overruled me. Instead, we are goin' to produce the 
 tragedy of ' Cheltenham Chops,' which was written by
 
 146 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 our learned friend Professor Maddox, and in which he'll 
 play the handsome hero, or I'll know the reason why. 
 You can elucidate your ' draymer,' Spivvy ; you're the 
 one that gets real heartfelt satisfaction talkin' about it." 
 
 Cicely looked inevitably, for the first time, at the boy 
 of her adventure, and as she did so she gave an imper- 
 ceptible start. All this time, in her selfish preoccupa- 
 tion, she had never once thought of what the affair might 
 have brought to him; and now his white, drawn face 
 and eyes of bewildered suffering smote her with an al- 
 most physical pang. The resentment went out of her, 
 and a rush of half-maternal sympathy took its place. 
 He was, like herself, a spoiled child, hurt, and angrily as- 
 tonished that pain should dare to come to him; she un- 
 derstood him instinctively, and knew what heat of indig- 
 nant misery was burning in him. In a flash she had 
 constituted herself his champion and protector. 
 
 " Mr. Maddox is too modest to tell his own glory," she 
 said, turning back to Bowles, " and I'm too awe-struck to 
 accost him. Playwright, hero, what else is he? Man- 
 ager? Heroine? " 
 
 " Not much ! " said the other dramatic light, indig- 
 nantly. " Spivvy is a great man, but I'm not goin' to 
 see him hog the whole show. Tink Lambert is the man- 
 ager, and the heroine now couldn't you tell it at a 
 glance? Tis I!" 
 
 "To think of that!" exclaimed Cicely. "President, 
 playwright, hero and heroine at one and the same mo- 
 ment, all at my humble board! What is there left for 
 me? " 
 
 ' Nothin', Mrs. Ford," said the heroine impressively.
 
 ARCADY MISLAID 14T 
 
 " You've reached the tipmost top. It is written, ' See 
 Maddox and Bowles, and then die/ only don't die be- 
 fore February sixth, or you'll miss the crownin' thrill. 
 Tickets one dollar for adults, and fifty cents for infants, 
 imbeciles and studes. Lovely ladies free, by invitation 
 of the management." He bowed profoundly, and the 
 others all thumped on the table in applause of his gal- 
 lantry. 
 
 Roger, watching Cicely as she made her pretty gesture 
 of acknowledgment, was happier than he had been for 
 many a day. Cicely had seemed, in all this cloud of es- 
 trangement and pain, to be slipping away from him; but 
 now the atmosphere of gaiety and good cheer brought her 
 near again, and he felt as full of ecstatic hope as he 
 had at the very beginning of their life together. His 
 eyes were fastened on her face, and his heart was in 
 them. So sweet a Cicely, so full of precious promise ! 
 Surely, surely, now he would find and keep her. 
 
 She saw the look in his eyes, and, suddenly yearning 
 to him almost as he did to her, pushed back her chair and 
 rose. " Come, lordings ! " she said. " I want to show 
 my gratitude for your good company. This room is too 
 little for spirits as great as ours." And, impetuous and 
 light-footed, she hurried them off to the drawing-room 
 again. 
 
 " No, no coffee ! " she said, shaking her head as the 
 neat-handed laundress approached her with the tray. 
 " Somebody else pour it. I want to sing." She slipped 
 into her place at the piano. It was true that the little 
 dining-room had suddenly seemed too small for her; 
 she was impelled to make music, to pour herself out to
 
 148 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 Roger in the form of expression that was instinctive with 
 her. For a moment her fingers strayed over the keys, 
 seeking a melody that suited her mood; and then, softly, 
 she began to sing. " Still wie die Nacht, tief wie das 
 Meer ! " And as she sang, her voice, over the melt- 
 ing, flowing accompaniment, took on its strangely poig- 
 nant quality of a tenderness almost tragic, a passion- 
 ate sweet sincerity; she was singing with her heart, sing- 
 ing to Roger. 
 
 Her music laid a spell upon the room. The boys' ef- 
 fervescence passed, and an enthralled earnestness took 
 its place; little by little the small sounds of restlessness 
 ceased, and above a deep hush her lovely voice soared 
 throbbing. As for Roger, he gave up at once his clumsy 
 fumblings with the coffee-cups, .and, with a great sigh 
 of happiness, turned his head so that he could not see 
 the others, and yielded himself to dreams. Apart from 
 the wistful ecstasy which her singing always stirred in 
 him, this song came freighted with messages. It was 
 the song she had sung on the night after she had promised 
 herself to him, when she could not let her eyes speak to 
 him before all the curious eyes in her uncle's great rooms, 
 but had spoken, even as now, in music: and afterwards, 
 during that wonderful honeymoon in the gray castle by 
 the French sea, she had sung it at his beseeching one 
 night in the garden, with the old trees whispering above 
 them, and the ocean crooning the obbligato that her 
 hands, held fast in his, could not play. With his 
 eyes closed he lived it over again, that first evening, 
 when among all the glitter and gaiety he and she alone
 
 ARCADY MISLAID 149 
 
 seemed real, she singing her heart out to him, he afire 
 with wonder and delight : and that later night in the 
 old castle garden, the moonshine, the flower-fragrance, 
 the faint salty breath of the sea, and Cicely's sweet body 
 quivering within his arm with the stress of her singing. 
 Precious, ineffable days! Now they were coming back 
 again ; they had only been lost for a little while. 
 
 The music ceased, and, at a sound of movement, Roger 
 turned back again to reality. He was half-blind with 
 dreams ; he almost expected to see Cicely alone, as in the 
 garden, faintly haloed with moonlight and starlight; or 
 surrounded only by those thronging phantoms of Paris 
 who had seemed less real than shadows. But instead, he 
 found himself back in the little room that had been so 
 dreary of late, shut away from Cicely by the boys who 
 made up his daily life. And as his eyes sought eagerly 
 to meet his wife's, they were suddenly cut off from their 
 goal by the dark boy, Maddox, who darted across the 
 room as if he had been hypnotised, and bent over Cicely 
 to claim the smile that should have been his. 
 
 Roger turned his eyes away with a pang so fierce and 
 sudden that it robbed him of his breath. For a moment 
 he saw a red mist. His civilised over-mind talked to him 
 sanely, saying that jealousy was savagery, that he was 
 a Turk, a barbarian; that perfect love casteth out fear: 
 but it was no use ; something rudely, primitively masculine 
 in him shouted denial. He clenched the arms of his 
 chair until his fingers were white, fighting for self- 
 mastery; and when, with difficulty, he had attained it, he 
 went brusquely to the corner farthest away from the
 
 150 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 piano, and flung himself into a rapid and disjointed con- 
 versation with the boys nearest him to keep from seeing 
 Cicely. 
 
 Cicely, meantime, had set herself deliberately to the 
 comforting of her friend. His pain-white face and tragic 
 eyes oppressed her; and, now that she had made all 
 things right between herself and Roger, she wished to see 
 him happy too. Moreover, besides his own charm, which 
 had reasserted itself swiftly and potently as soon as she 
 gave it a chance, he had for her that nameless appeal 
 (compact of pity, tenderness, and remorse), of a man for 
 the woman who has made him love her. Unconsciously, 
 but inevitably, for she was all woman, she wooed 
 him to make him smile again. 
 
 " Oh, how you sing ! " said the boy, spellbound. " How 
 wonderful you are ! " 
 
 " You like it? " asked Cicely, dimpling at him. 
 
 "Like it!" said the boy, with a long-drawn breath. 
 " It's as beautiful as beautiful as you! " 
 
 "All that! " said Cicely, laughing. " Then I'll do it 
 again. What will you have? " 
 
 The boy named off-hand the songs of his choice, old 
 and dear songs, " Drink to me only with thine eyes," 
 " Loch Lomond," " Bonny Boon," and stood by her, 
 falling more deeply and recklessly in love with every 
 moment, and every note of her sorrowful rich voice. She, 
 coaxing him back to contentment, made him the centre of 
 the group; if another asked for a song, she would not 
 give it without the boy's consent; and when he smiled, 
 she looked triumphant, and nodded gaily towards Roger. 
 She sang again and again, untiring as a bird.
 
 ARCADY MISLAID 151 
 
 " Oh, I am happy ! " she thought. " My Badger and 
 I love each other; and the Boy is smiling. Oh, what a 
 lovely world ! Soon, soon when they go I will slip 
 into the garden and find the key: for we are lovers again." 
 
 At last, reluctant, but obedient to their training, 
 the boys rose to depart. Cicely sped them gladly, with 
 gay speeches in answer to their fervent gratitude. The 
 room was alive again with merry chatter: "Good-bye, 
 Mrs. Ford; I've had the bulliest time" "Not a bit 
 bullier than I have, Mr. Wallace ! " " Good-bye, Mrs. 
 Ford; won't you please ask me again? " " Yes, if you'll 
 promise to come soon!" "Good-bye, Mrs. Ford; now 
 don't go forgettin' the play and the lovely leadin' lady, 
 will you?" "Indeed I never shall! I'll be there be- 
 fore the footlights are on, sitting in what do you call 
 it ? the baldhead row ! " 
 
 The dark boy was the last to say farewell. His eyes, 
 though still sombre, had absorbed a little of her smile, and 
 he looked more like himself. He took her hand in 
 silence, and something in his look of rapt devotion as he 
 bent over her recalled mistily to Cicely the moment of 
 their other farewell. She looked after him in some per- 
 plexity. There was something he had given her then, 
 something she ought to return to him Oh yes, the pin ! 
 the wicked little pin that had turned Roger into a 
 brute. In her soreness and anger, she had thrust it out 
 of her sight in a dark corner of an unused jewel-box, 
 and had not allowed herself to think of it. Now she ran 
 swiftly up the stairs, to get it and return it and have done 
 with skeletons forever. 
 
 The boy had gone when she came down, and Roger
 
 152 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 was in the drawing-room fastening the windows. Cicely 
 crept to the outer door; perhaps she could still catch her 
 friend; and then, her errand done, she would recapture 
 the key and steal back again without Roger's being any 
 the wiser. She meant to have no scene of reconciliation, 
 that would involve too many damaging admissions: she 
 would unlock the closed door; she would slip her hand 
 into Roger's; and all would be right again. 
 
 Surely enough, the boy was lingering outside, loath 
 to leave the spot, looking in vain for Cicely's window. 
 Cicely ran to him, holding out the pin. 
 
 " Boy ! " she said softly. " Boy ! Take this ! " 
 
 He turned to her with a low exclamation and a trans- 
 figured face. " Oh, Nuts ! " he said. " You're giving me 
 something? " 
 
 " It's your pin," said Cicely. " Take it, please." 
 
 The colour rushed over his face so violently that 
 Cicely could see it in the moonlight. " Oh, don't, don't ! " 
 he cried. " Oh, Nuts, please don't give it back ! I can't 
 bear it." 
 
 " You must take it, quickly," urged Cicely. " It's 
 yours." 
 
 " I can't," said the boy brokenly, putting his hands be- 
 hind him. " Nuts, you don't know what this is to me, 
 to-night, and and finding you here, and and who you 
 are. You you don't know what else I've been dream- 
 ing of giving you, all these days. But the pin any- 
 way, I've given that to you! nothing can undo that! If 
 you won't keep it, throw it on the ground and let it lie; 
 but I'll never take it again. O Nuts, don't make me! 
 You'll break my heart if you do."
 
 ARCADY MISLAID 153 
 
 Cicely looked uncertainly at the pin, as it lay in her 
 outstretched hand. It seemed a little thing to yield, and 
 a churlish one to refuse ; and the boy's beseeching eyes 
 were hard to resist. 
 
 He saw his advantage, and pressed it. " Please do this 
 one thing for me ! " he pleaded. " I'll never ask you to 
 do another. It won't hurt you if you keep it, but it will 
 kill me if you don't. Oh, please, please, please ! " 
 
 " Well " said Cicely slowly. 
 
 " Oh, thank you, Nuts ! " cried the boy fervently. He 
 seized her hand and crushed it until the pin bit the flesh ; 
 then, turning swiftly, he plunged away into the night. 
 
 Cicely looked after him with a sigh. He was very 
 charming, and very pathetic. However, she had no time 
 for sentiment with this more important errand await- 
 ing her; and, shivering a little with cold and excitement, 
 she soon withdrew her gaze from the boy's vanishing 
 figure, and crept softly around the house to the little 
 moonlit garden. 
 
 It was not a very difficult matter to find the key. If 
 the truth were to be told, Cicely had slipped out more 
 than once in these past miserable days to make sure that 
 it still lay safely on the hard ground beneath the leaf- 
 less rose-bushes, and each time she had pushed it a little 
 farther out of its hiding-place. Perhaps, even while her 
 own stubborn will refused to yield, she had secretly hoped 
 that Roger, more generous, would perceive and an- 
 swer its mute appeal. Now she saw it plainly, gleaming 
 in the moonlight; and, catching it up gladly, ran with it 
 to the little house. 
 
 Roger had missed her for some minutes, and had been
 
 154 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 calling her anxiously. Now, telling himself that she was 
 upstairs, and perhaps did not hear him, and perhaps 
 did not want to, he was locking the door. She ran up 
 the steps and pounded on it with her fists, crying gaily, 
 " Let me into your cave, old Badger ! Let me in ! " 
 
 Roger started at the summons, and his face darkened. 
 He was still gnawed by a jealousy he could not subdue; 
 as he locked the front windows he had seen the boy linger- 
 ing behind the rest, and while his pride and chivalry 
 would not permit him to look out again, a hateful mis- 
 giving lurked in his mind. Now, when Cicely ran in cold 
 and sparkling out of the night, with her hands tightly 
 shut and her eyes shining, the savage instinct rose in him 
 so powerfully that it mastered his determined self-repres- 
 sion. 
 
 " Where have you been, Cicely ? " he asked, in that 
 hoarse, passionate voice that was so new to him. 
 
 " Out-doors, to be sure ' " said Cicely, hardly catching 
 the note in this first instant of light and warmth. " Did 
 you think this was a new way of coming up from the 
 cellar?" 
 
 " What did you go out for? " asked Roger, grimly dis- 
 regarding her flippancy. 
 
 This time Cicely was fully aware of his tone, and 
 flamed in answer to it. " What right have you to ask 
 me that? " she demanded. 
 
 "What right have you to force me to it?" retorted 
 Roger. " And what is that in your hand? " 
 
 Cicely hesitated the fraction of a second. It would 
 have been so easy, even now, to open the hand that held 
 the key, and open Roger's hungry arms as well: but
 
 ARCADY MISLAID 155 
 
 Cicely, hot-hearted, flaming, uncontrolled, could no 
 more have done it than have made the sun stop blazing. 
 She flung out the other hand, opening it; and there on 
 the palm lay the little gleaming pin. 
 
 " The gift of a friend," she said calmly. 
 
 " Ah! " said Roger hoarsely; and, not trusting himself 
 to words, he tramped away from her up the stairs. 
 
 Cicely hesitated a minute, her eyes burning and her two 
 hands clenched again. Then, reopening the door, she 
 went to the brink of the back-porch steps, and, with a 
 violent effort, threw the key as far as her strength could 
 send it. This time she closed her eyes and turned 
 away her head, to have no memory of where it fell.
 
 VII 
 
 ANOTHER BLOW ON THE DIPLOMATIC WEDGE 
 
 THE winter had now closed in, and the chastened but con- 
 tinuous gaiety of the college world was in full swing. 
 Cicely was besieged by invitations ; her fame had grown 
 steadily, and she was already so much of a personage 
 as to be greatly in demand in a semi-official capacity, 
 assisting at receptions, chaperoning, after our quaint 
 fashion, dancing-parties of young people anywhere from 
 one to ten years her seniors, and being put on the list 
 of " patronesses " for charity enterprises. She flitted 
 feverishly from house to house, bored beyond measure by 
 the constant activity, yet panic-stricken at the thought of 
 a break in it. How should she, who had never had even 
 a bowing acquaintance with her own soul, find courage to 
 face and probe it now, in this first great crisis ? She was 
 afraid to sit still, afraid to think; life was confronting 
 her with strange and grim problems, and she tried to 
 evade them by burying her head, ostrich-like, in one 
 trivial preoccupation after another. 
 
 Roger watched her with an aching heart and a stony 
 face. He saw well enough that marriage had not 
 brought her happiness, and as for himself, he too, 
 courageous of spirit though he was, was afraid to> 
 plumb the depths of disappointment and misgiving within 
 
 156
 
 THE DIPLOMATIC WEDGE 157 
 
 him. As she plunged more and more violently into her 
 social activities, he immersed himself deeper and deeper 
 in work, and withdrew increasingly into the fastnesses 
 of his natural reserve, separating his interests entirely 
 from hers in a vain hope that freedom might bring her 
 joy. They met only at meals, and talked like polite 
 strangers. 
 
 Roger's withdrawal was the more easily effected, be- 
 cause claims of which Cicely knew nothing were pressing 
 him hard. The debts, accumulating steadily, had 
 mounted into a pyramid of appalling proportions; buy- 
 ing and furnishing the little house, and financing that 
 care-free honeymoon by the French sea, had exhausted 
 Roger's capital, and in his cheerful counting on his future 
 salary he had reckoned without his wife's tastes and 
 habits. Now, shackled by false chivalry, he could not 
 teach her the plain truth and give her the chance to de- 
 velop into a woman by sharing his problems: instead, he 
 let her go headlong from one folly to another, while he 
 wrestled with the results alone. His own small special 
 pleasures (subscriptions to foreign periodicals, member- 
 ships in one or two clubs and three or four scientific 
 societies, occasional indulgences in book-buying), had 
 long since gone by the board ; and now he relinquished his 
 daily exercise, and the research work that was his in- 
 tellectual delight and surety of professional success, and 
 devoted every possible minute to the hated but lucrative 
 drudgery of tutoring. What with worry and overwork 
 and heartache, he was jaded almost to exhaustion; and 
 his physical weariness intensified the cold impassivity of 
 his bearing.
 
 158 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 Cicely, incapable herself of passive endurance, saw 
 him going farther and farther from her with anguished 
 rebellion. In her, emotion was a fierce flame, which must 
 either blaze or die; she was terrified by this barrier of 
 reserve and silentness that gave no hint of what it hid. 
 Though far too wilfully stubborn herself to yield an inch 
 of her own ground, she began inevitably to fight to make 
 him come forth from his ; there must be some change, and 
 Roger, clearly, must be the one to make it. Yet she 
 dared not, at this strained moment, risk a direct attack; 
 to lure him forth by strategy to some neutral ground 
 would be, she thought, the only safe course. 
 
 " Come with me to the Miltons' reception, Roger ! " 
 she said one afternoon, entering the study in festal garb. 
 " It's going to be a beautiful one." 
 
 " I can't," said Roger. " I have tutoring engagements 
 till seven o'clock." 
 
 " This appetite of yours for work is getting over- 
 grown," commented she. " Give it up for a while." 
 
 " I can't," repeated Roger briefly. 
 
 " I really think you might," insisted Cicely. " You've 
 hardly taken time to-day to eat your meals." 
 
 "It's impossible, Cicely!" said Roger; and his over- 
 driven feeling of fatigue, hurry and anxiety made him 
 add sharply, " Please don't ask me again." 
 
 " Well, then," said Cicely, retreating in some alarm 
 to another position^but determined not to give up hef 
 purpose, " I'll have to invite some people here. You're 
 getting to be a perfect hermit. You ought to meet your 
 fellow-men." 
 
 Roger groaned inwardly, but would not oppose her
 
 THE DIPLOMATIC WEDGE 159 
 
 more than he could avoid. " Very well," he said. " Do 
 as you please; only I have to work now." 
 
 " Oh, good for you, Roger ! " cried Cicely, clapping her 
 hands. Her impetuous spirits rose with a leap; once 
 they had a common interest again she was sure she 
 could somehow contrive to draw him back to her. 
 "I'll give an 'at home,' then, let me see, on the 
 twenty-ninth of January; and I'll ask some of the De- 
 partment wives to pour, and Clarissa to receive with 
 me." 
 
 Roger lifted his head from his papers. " I wish you'd 
 ask Mrs. Davidson instead," he said. 
 
 Cicely's mood veered suddenly. " I don't see why," 
 she returned coldly. 
 
 " I've told you more than once," said Roger, looking 
 at her. 
 
 " Clarissa's much more interesting," declared Cicely, 
 with emphasis. ' 
 
 " Mrs. Davidson is a much better friend," said Roger 
 firmly. 
 
 " What have you against Clarissa? " demanded Cicely, 
 the ready flush rising to her cheeks. 
 
 Roger read the danger-signals, and tried to answer 
 lightly. " Oh, well, she calls you Cissy," he said. 
 " That's more than any husband could stand." 
 
 " You needn't worry about that," said Cicely. " I get 
 back at her; I call her Risky, ^hich is worse, and 
 suits her into the bargain. So that's all right,- and I'll 
 ask her." 
 
 But on this point Roger was invincibly stubborn. 
 " Ask Mrs. Davidson too, then," he said.
 
 160 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 " It's impossible/' said Cicely decidedly. " Those 
 two hate each other." 
 
 " Then ask Mrs. Davidson alone/' persisted Roger. 
 
 " I don't see why I should," said Cicely defiantly. 
 
 " Because she has done more for you than any one in 
 Cheltenham, and you have never offered any return for 
 her hospitality," said Roger decidedly, " and because I 
 won't have her slighted again. I must insist, Cicely." 
 
 Cicely perceived that his tone was not to be gainsaid. 
 " Oh, very well," she said coldly. " I'll tell her it's your 
 wish." And so, her new burst of spirits already deadened, 
 she left him without a farewell, and went away to her 
 engagement. 
 
 
 
 The reception to which she was bound was held at one 
 of the few " great houses " of Cheltenham. The hosts 
 were pleasant, conventional people, with the cultivation 
 produced by much travel and much social experience, and 
 without an ounce of originality between them. Cicely 
 had known so many of their sort all her life that she 
 had warmed to them at once; their beautiful house, their 
 quietly sumptuous raiment, the perfection of ordered lux- 
 ury that surrounded them, brought her at once into an 
 accustomed atmosphere, and obviated the need of any 
 deeper congeniality. She had entered into a degree of 
 intimacy with them, and gave them the sort of affection 
 that a kitten gives to a very comfortable lap. 
 
 As soon as Cicely had entered the beautifully decorated 
 rooms and greeted the bland hostesses, Mrs. Reynolds 
 came strolling towards her, very striking in a big black 
 hat that suited her lazy beauty.
 
 THE DIPLOMATIC WEDGE 161 
 
 " I've been Sister- Anning by the window, watching for 
 you, Cissy/' she remarked. " I can't go into that din- 
 ing-room without a kindred spirit. I hear the eats are 
 simply divine." 
 
 " The whole thing is very nice," said Cicely, looking 
 around her critically. " That's beautiful, that banking 
 of orchids and maidenhair, and the library, with the 
 American Beauties and smilax, yes, it's really charm- 
 ing. Risky, I'm going to have an ' at-home ' myself." 
 
 " You are ! When ? " said Mrs. Reynolds. 
 
 " The twenty-ninth of January," said Cicely. " Will 
 you come? " 
 
 " Depends on which kind of an at-home it is," returned 
 Mrs. Reynolds non-committally. 
 
 " Which kind? " repeated Cicely. " Why, there's only 
 one kind, isn't there, the talking-and-eating kind? " 
 
 " Xo, there are two," stated her oracle; "the decent, 
 civilised kind, like this, and the academic, genteel-pauper, 
 home-made-food-and-clothes kind. I won't come if it's 
 the usual academic stunt." 
 
 Cicely was silent a moment, thinking. Mrs. Reynolds 
 had a very strong influence upon her ; she could never be 
 five minutes in her friend's presence without imbibing her 
 friend's opinions ; and now, in the midst of this delightful 
 luxury, there really seemed but one possible point of 
 view. She had a rapid vision of the kind of function 
 Roger would prefer, with Mrs. Davidson presiding in an 
 ancient gown, and Hitty thrusting food at the guests in 
 her point-of-the-bayonet manner; and instantly, forget- 
 ting her purpose in embarking on the undertaking, she 
 made her decision.
 
 162 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 " It's going to be this kind; " said she, " and I want 
 you to receive with me. Will you ? " 
 
 " Will I not! " said Mrs. Reynolds with alacrity. " I'll 
 have a new gown for it. A proper spirit like yours 
 deserves encouraging." 
 
 " I'll find out from Mrs. Milton who her florist is/' said 
 Cicely, reflecting aloud, " and engage him right away. 
 And I'll get her caterer, too; Le Fils is well enough for a 
 dinner, but I ought to have some one from the city for 
 a big affair. And, let me see she had her cards 
 from Tiffany's; I will too." 
 
 " That's the way to talk ! " applauded Mrs. Reynolds. 
 " Since you're such a sport, I'll go to Beatrice for my 
 gown; I'd hate to lower the tone of the affair." 
 
 " There's that about it, too," said Cicely thoughtfully. 
 " I have to consider the general effect. I believe I won't 
 have the Department wives assist at all." 
 
 " Good business," said Mrs. Reynolds approvingly. 
 " Since I'm included, you won't make any mistake to drop 
 the rest. Look at Sister Davidson, there in the librarj' ! 
 She must have borrowed that hat from Noah's wife. If 
 you had her on view, people would think you were hold- 
 ing a bazaar for the Old Ladies' Home." 
 
 " So they would ! " agreed Cicely. " No, I'll ask Mrs. 
 Milton for the tea, and Mrs. Gregory for the chocolate, 
 and Mrs. Evans for the coffee, and Mrs. Sheridan yes, 
 I must have Mrs. Sheridan, she has such adorable clothes ; 
 I'll have champagne frappe for her to serve." 
 
 " Now you're getting into your pace ! " observed Mrs. 
 Reynolds, beginning to twinkle with amusement. " Can't 
 you think of something else? "
 
 THE DIPLOMATIC WEDGE 163 
 
 " I might have a little orchestra/' said Cicely medita- 
 tively. 
 
 " So you might ! " approved Mrs. Reynolds. " These 
 Hungarian triplets are playing like a dream; and they're 
 thin, they'd just fit into the cubby-hole under your 
 stairs. Why don't you get them? " 
 
 " I will, right away," said Cicely promptly. " And 
 let me see I might get a gown." 
 
 " I'm sure you need one ! " said Mrs. Reynolds satiri- 
 cally. 
 
 " I do, frightfully," agreed Cicely. " I haven't had a 
 stitch for weeks and weeks." 
 
 " Come with me to Beatrice, then," suggested Mrs. 
 Reynolds, " and get a regular sizzler." 
 
 " All right," said Cicely. " I'll go with you to-mor- 
 row; and I'll telegraph for the other things on the way 
 home to-day. What a help you are, Risky, in making 
 plans ! " 
 
 " Oh, the pleasure is mine ! " said Mrs. Reynolds, with 
 her mocking smile. " I like to water a fruitful sprout 
 like you." 
 
 
 
 " Well, the die is cast, Roger ! " remarked Cicely at 
 dinner. " I've made all the preliminary arrangements. 
 Be sure not to have any engagement for January twenty- 
 ninth." 
 
 "You want the men, do you?" asked Roger, trying 
 not to look depressed. 
 
 " Oh, yes! " said Cicely; and suddenly the memory of 
 her first intention, eclipsed by the later glittering details,
 
 164 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 came back to her uncomfortably. " I want the men espe- 
 cially," she said. " I'm going to ask all your colleagues." 
 
 "Did you did you see Mrs. Davidson?" asked 
 Roger, with constraint. He hated to reopen the subject, 
 but a vague misgiving urged him to it. 
 
 " Oh, yes," said Cicely ; and hurried on nervously, 
 " and I saw Mrs. Elton, and the Bennetts, and the Kings- 
 leys, and simply everybody. The President was there, 
 giving me his hand to kiss. Mrs. Kaltenborn was eating 
 herself purple in the face." 
 
 " Cicely," said Roger, " did you ask Mrs. Davidson ? " 
 
 " Did I ask her what? " returned Cicely flippantly. 
 " If she was well, or if she wanted the vote? " 
 
 Roger rose from his unfinished dinner, and stood look- 
 ing down at her. His face was stern. " I'm not going to 
 urge you to tell me, Cicely," he said slowly, " because, 
 as things are, I don't dare to risk the wrong answer. I 
 only remind you of what I've said, and tell you that if 
 you can't see your way to granting me this, I shall never 
 ask you anything again. I'm going over to the labora- 
 tory now to coach some fellows. When I come back I 
 hope we shall be able to talk about this thing." 
 
 Cicely sat on the edge of her chair, thinking rapidly. 
 Her whole being resented coercion, especially on the 
 subject of Mrs. Davidson; but she knew as well as Roger 
 the critical nature of the situation, and dared not re- 
 fuse. Leaving her dinner to grow cold in company with 
 his, she rose and went to the telephone. 
 
 " Mrs. Davidson? " she said, when that lady had an- 
 swered her call. " This is Cicely Ford. I'm afraid 
 I've interrupted your dinner."
 
 " I can eat dinner every day, and I don't often have 
 a chance to chat with you," said Mrs. Davidson's pleas- 
 ant voice; however trying Cicely might be, her gener- 
 osity and her affection for Roger kept her patient. " I 
 haven't seen you for weeks, until this afternoon, 
 and then I only had a comet-glimpse as you flashed 
 by." 
 
 "I had to hurry; and we've been extremely busy 
 lately," said Cicely in a cool voice. " Mrs. Davidson, 
 we're having a reception on the twenty-ninth, and I want 
 to ask you to receive with me." 
 
 " You're having a reception ! " repeated Mrs. David- 
 son. "Why, what ambitious young hosts you are! Is 
 it to be a large one? " 
 
 " Very large ! " said Cicely emphatically. " Every- 
 body in the whole place ! " 
 
 " My dear ! " exclaimed Mrs. Davidson. " Isn't that 
 a trifle rash? " 
 
 " Not at all," said Cicely coldly. " It's all settled. 
 Will you receive? " 
 
 There was a perceptible pause; then Mrs. Davidson 
 said slowly, " Are you quite sure you want me? " 
 
 "I'm asking you!" said Cicely. 
 
 "I know," said Mrs. Davidson, "but I can't help 
 realising that you had an opportunity to ask me face 
 to face this afternoon, and didn't care to. I'd rather 
 not do it, Mrs. Ford, unless I feel that you really wish 
 it." 
 
 " I don't know what more I can say," said Cicely 
 stubbornly. " I've asked you, and I ask you again. 
 Will you?"
 
 166 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 " No, my dear," said Mrs. Davidson quietly, " I think 
 I won't." 
 
 Cicely was dismayed. Roger's face came before her 
 with its look of uncompromising sternness, and she pre- 
 visioned the consequences of such news as this. 
 
 " Oh, please, Mrs. Davidson ! " she cried in a panic. 
 " Roger wants it so much ! Please ! " 
 
 " Oh, Roger wants it ! " said Mrs. Davidson, with 
 an odd inflection. 
 
 " Very, very much ! " urged Cicely artlessly. " Please 
 do it!" 
 
 " Very well," said Mrs. Davidson, " I'll do it for 
 Roger." 
 
 " Oh, thank you ! " cried Cicely in a burst of relief. 
 " It's very good of you ! Shall I " but the other 
 receiver had snapped into its hook, and she spoke into 
 vacancy. 
 
 " Well ! " she exclaimed, sitting back in her chair, 
 " that's cool ! She might be royalty." The panic and 
 the relief both died in her, and anger took their place. 
 " This is what comes of letting Roger dictate to me ! " 
 she told herself. " I ruin my party, and get snubbed 
 for my pains. A pretty state of things ! Am I to be a 
 slave, knocked about by everybody, simply because I'm 
 married ? Is that his idea ? " 
 
 So Roger, returning an hour later, got no look or 
 word of greeting from the very erect Cicely who sat 
 making lists at her desk. He stood behind her for a 
 moment, watching her longingly. 
 
 " Well, Cicely," he ventured, in a tone that he strove 
 to make nonchalant, "is everything settled?"
 
 THE DIPLOMATIC WEDGE 167 
 
 " Yes/' said Cicely. 
 
 " Good ! " exclaimed Roger, with a long breath of re- 
 lief. "Shall we talk it over, then?" 
 
 " No/' said Cicely. 
 
 Roger stood irresolute. His heart and his arms cried 
 out for her; the sight of the soft hair, fair at its roots 
 like a baby's, waving upwards from her slim white neck, 
 brought a sob into his throat. But he did not dare go 
 nearer. With a great sigh, he turned silently away. 
 
 
 
 The day of the reception came in sleet and snow, 
 and changed to drizzle and chilly thaw in time for the 
 festivity. Cicely stood by the window and stared out 
 into the dreary street. The pavement was a mass of 
 slush, and the few pedestrians splashed forlornly, cower- 
 ing within their turned-up collars under the icy rain. 
 The florists' men were departing, their wagon littered 
 with empty boxes and broken bits of green; they were 
 drenched and chilled, and their profanity mingled dis- 
 cordantly with the shrill scolding of Hitty as she wiped 
 up their muddy tracks. Inside the house, the haughty 
 caterers were grumbling at the inadequacy of the space 
 and equipment, the long-haired, unsavoury Hungarians 
 were quarrelling loudly, and the imported cloak-room 
 maids giggled scornfully with the waiters. 
 
 " Oh, what a diabolical business ! " thought Cicely. 
 " It's like all my life since I came into this house, 
 everything going wrong, everybody disappointing me. 
 What a horrible world this is ! " 
 
 Very soon the two assistant hostesses arrived, Mrs.
 
 168 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 Reynolds lazily, maliciously charming in pale yellow em- 
 broidered Oriental-wise with green and gold, Mrs. David- 
 son calm and self-unconscious in a plain black gown 
 that showed several seasons' wear. They had come in 
 the same carriage (owing to the highly practical policy 
 of the Cheltenham livery company, which made it a 
 rule to kill two birds with one stone whenever possible), 
 and Cicely thought she detected signs already of the 
 inevitable clash between them. She spurred herself into 
 animation, and went forward to greet them with as much 
 cordiality as she could assume. 
 
 " You valiant creatures ! " she said. " I'm your debtor 
 for life. You both deserve the Legion of Honour for this." 
 
 " I should say we did ! " scolded Mrs. Reynolds. 
 " Who ever heard of having such a day for a reception ? 
 It might do for mermaids, mermaids and Polar bears, 
 but for Christians it's simply an outrage ! " 
 
 " But after all," said Mrs. Davidson, who had evi- 
 dently come armoured in a firm resolve to be tactful 
 and long-suffering and make the best of things, " it 
 might be worse. There are so many annoying things 
 that might have happened through some one's negligence; 
 but nobody is to blame for the weather." 
 
 " Oh, I know ; God makes it," said Mrs. Reynolds, 
 with a grimace at Cicely. " Cissy, how heavenly your 
 gown is! Beatrice has outdone herself. If only 
 weather-makers were as reliable as dress-makers 
 Never mind, Mrs. Davidson, I'm not going to say any- 
 thing! I'm only remarking that Beatrice is a pippin." 
 
 Mrs. Davidson's figure had stiffened so ominously 
 that Cicely hastened into the breach. " Well, I hope
 
 THE DIPLOMATIC WEDGE 169 
 
 somebody will come ! " said she. " This house is so full 
 of food that it may explode any minute, unless a few 
 vigorous appetites happen along." 
 
 " Mrs. Kaltenborn will help you out," remarked Mrs. 
 Reynolds, " and so will Mr. Sure-Cure-for-Frog-in-the- 
 Throat. And so will the Human Glassworks, is she 
 coming? " 
 
 "Mrs. de Mullen?" said Cicely. "I don't know; 
 I'm rather in her black books." 
 
 " I hope she shows up, then," said Mrs. Reynolds. 
 " She's luscious when she's in a bad temper. We'll bait 
 her, Cissy. You be the picador, and I'll be the torea- 
 dor." 
 
 Mrs. Davidson looked very disapproving. " You 
 mustn't forget," she said, " that Mrs. de Mullen has 
 feelings as well as the rest of us. She may not have 
 had many advantages, but she is full of kindness if one 
 approaches her in the right way." 
 
 " Oh, I've no doubt she has nice hair and is good to 
 her mother," said Mrs. Reynolds flippantly. " Cissy, 
 what did hubby say to the Hungarians? Did he gnash 
 his teeth?" 
 
 " Oh, no," answered Cicely, a little disconcerted, " he 
 didn't say anything. It's time for them to start; I 
 must tell them." 
 
 " What, have you an orchestra? " exclaimed Mrs. 
 Davidson, in a tone which said plainer than words, 
 "Roger certainly has self-command!" 
 
 Cicely was nettled. " We have the customary appur- 
 tenances of civilisation ! " she said, and added to her- 
 self as she walked away, " That woman will be the
 
 170 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 death of me! I shall throw something at her before 
 I'm through." 
 
 When she returned from interviewing the musicians, 
 Roger had appeared, and was greeting her coadjutors. 
 He had just begun to realise the magnificence of the 
 preparations, and looked harassed and grave. Cicely 
 could see the two women studying his face, one with 
 anxious sympathy, the other with amusement. Her dis- 
 satisfaction received a new fillip. What right had Roger 
 to look so solemn, and make her dismal reception a shade 
 more forlorn? \Vhat right had Mrs. Davidson to yearn 
 over him as if she possessed him? As for Mrs. Rey- 
 nolds, Cicely was always ill at ease and fearful when 
 her husband and her cherished friend were together. 
 She made haste to rejoin the group and break off the 
 conversation. 
 
 " Roger, excuse me, but the telephone is ringing," she 
 said. "Will you go, please? I'm sorry to interrupt, 
 Mrs. Davidson, but I can't go myself; people may come 
 at any minute." 
 
 " It's very early," said Mrs. Davidson, rather coldly. 
 
 " Oh, the kind of people who come on a day like this 
 are always the early birds ! " said Mrs. Reynolds, rally- 
 ing promptly to her friend's support. " They come for 
 the worms. Nobody 'd come for anything else in such 
 weather. I predict there won't be a soul here to-day but 
 the hungry freaks, Cissy, and, of course, your beaux ; 
 earthquakes wouldn't keep them away." 
 
 Mrs. Davidson looked disapproving again, and, per- 
 ceiving it, Mrs. Reynolds chattered on with gusto. 
 
 " You know Cissy has every bachelor in this place
 
 THE DIPLOMATIC WEDGE 171 
 
 soldered to her apronstrings ! " she said. " That nice 
 little Andrews in the classical department is simply off 
 his head about her. So is Beau Brummel Beecher. And 
 poor Mr. Philosophy-and-Ethics Lyman, she's taken 
 away all his philosophy, and all his ethics too." 
 
 " Oh, Risky, what nonsense you talk ! " said Cicely, 
 laughing. " They only like me to tell their love affairs 
 to." 
 
 " Rubbish ! " said Mrs. Reynolds. " You know as 
 well as I do that you're a natural-born heart-breaker. 
 I wish I had your knack." 
 
 At this Mrs. Davidson's disapproval boiled up so 
 vigorously that an explosion seemed imminent; but while 
 Cicely was nervously hunting for means to avert it, 
 and Mrs. Reynolds was awaiting it with amused inter- 
 est, Roger came back from the telephone with news. 
 
 " It was Mrs. Gregory," he announced. " She says 
 it's such a disagreeable day she thinks she won't venture 
 out, and asks you to excuse her." 
 
 Mrs. Reynolds smiled maliciously. " What did I tell 
 you?" she said. "There's one lily-of-the-field gone. 
 You mark me, Cissy, nobody '11 be here to-day but the 
 sad ones. I wouldn't have come myself for anybody 
 but you." 
 
 Cicely bit her lip in vexation. " How could she ? " 
 she exclaimed. " She promised me faithfully, and 
 with all those automobiles, too! But I'll just move Mrs. 
 Sheridan to the chocolate, and have a waiter serve the 
 frappe. Mrs. Milton will like that better, anyway; 
 she and Mrs. Sheridan are great friends. Here she 
 comes now."
 
 172 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 " That's the idea ! " approved Mrs. Reynolds. " Show 
 them they can't cripple you; I'll back you to do it. 
 I like to see a really good sport, don't you? " she added 
 to Mrs. Davidson. 
 
 But in a moment, when Cicely returned with a clouded 
 brow from welcoming Mrs. Milton, and admitted that 
 that lady had come charged with Mrs. Sheridan's re- 
 grets, Mrs. Reynolds burst into gleeful laughter. 
 
 "They're like autumn leaves, Cissy!" she jeered. 
 " They're falling fast. What shall you do now put 
 another waiter behind the chocolate? Be sure to get 
 one that matches it, so Mrs. Drummond will have a 
 pleasant picture to face." 
 
 " It's too vexatious ! " said Cicely, indignantly. " I 
 only asked four; I never thought of anybody's treating 
 me like this. Well, there's only one thing to do, I 
 shall have to ask you to take the chocolate, Mrs. David- 
 son, please." 
 
 " I think Mrs. Reynolds had better," interposed 
 Roger quickly, with true masculine tact. 
 
 "Why do you?" inquired Mrs. Reynolds, smiling 
 mockingly. 
 
 " Because because you know the dining-room so 
 well," blundered Roger. " You can find your way 
 around." 
 
 " Oh, thank you ! " said Mrs. Reynolds. " You flatter 
 me." 
 
 " Mrs. Davidson has normal intelligence, too ! " said 
 Cicely, with a little irritated laugh. " If you'll come this 
 way, please, Mrs. Davidson "
 
 THE DIPLOMATIC WEDGE 173 
 
 " I want Mrs. Davidson to help you receive your 
 guests," said Roger resolutely. 
 
 " I really think, Roger," said Mrs. Davidson rather 
 nervously, " that I'd better go." 
 
 " Please do not," said Roger. His chin was set, and 
 he looked stubbornly determined. 
 
 " Roger, let her, if she wishes to ! " exclaimed Cicely 
 in uncontrollable exasperation. 
 
 " Oh, don't come to blows ! " drawled Mrs. Reynolds. 
 "I'm going going gone." She looked back over 
 her green-and-golden shoulder with an impish gleam. 
 " Let the soul-feast go on just as if I were present!" 
 she added. 
 
 Cicely gave a short, hard laugh. Roger, triumphant, 
 but a good deal embarrassed, shuffled uncomfortably for 
 a moment, and then moved away. Nobody spoke. 
 Cicely, glancing at Mrs. Davidson, saw her gathering 
 those forces of patience and forgiveness in which she had 
 come arrayed, and was stirred to new anger: " If she 
 makes herself look one single bit more saintly," she 
 thought savagely, " I shall swear ! " 
 
 Into this strained moment entered, as if shot out of a 
 providential cannon, the ever-prompt Mrs. Simms, with 
 her husband trailing behind her. In deference to the 
 weather the lady wore a short-skirted tweed costume, a 
 little round hat, and stout boots; but her lord had hon- 
 oured the occasion by a long frock coat that enveloped 
 him from the collar to the calves, out of which his mild 
 face and timid little nose rose modestly; and, as usual, 
 Mrs. Simms so dominated her accessories that it took a
 
 174 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 penetrating eye to observe her toilette at all, while her 
 husband straggled across the room in the guise of a large 
 coat with a very small man tucked into it by an after- 
 thought. 
 
 " How do you do, Mrs. Ford! How do you do, Mrs. 
 Davidson ! " said Mrs. Simms briskly. " The weather 
 is unfavourable, but I resolved not to let it make any 
 difference in my plans. As I said to my husband, a duty 
 is a duty, especially on a rainy day. Amos ! Oh, there 
 you are. Come here." 
 
 " I'm very glad to see you, Mrs. Simms ! " said Cicely, 
 with an unwonted degree of sincerity. " You are cer- 
 tainly a public benefactor. And you, Mr. Simms, how 
 good of you to come ! " 
 
 Dr. Simms smiled with mild complaisance. " Well, 
 Mrs. Simms was anxious to have me," he explained in- 
 genuously, " and of course her will is my law." 
 
 " I'm sure of that," said Cicely, her mischievous in- 
 stincts reviving. " And you're a man who has great 
 respect for the law, aren't you ? " 
 
 " Why, I hope I am no loose misdemeanant," returned 
 Dr. Simms, swelling with conscious virtue under her 
 deferential gaze. " My worst foe, I trust, could not 
 point to any felonious actions in my past." 
 
 " How grateful you must be to Mrs. Simms," sug- 
 gested Cicely, " for shielding you from temptation, and 
 keeping your life pure and beautiful! There's nothing 
 like a good prop, is there ? " 
 
 " Nothing, indeed," agreed Dr. Simms politely. 
 " Your husband, my esteemed colleague, must also ap- 
 preciate your aid and support."
 
 THE DIPLOMATIC WEDGE 175 
 
 " Ah, as to support," said Cicely, " I fear I don't sup- 
 port him in the style to which he's accustomed. I'm not 
 at all like your supreme, all-subduing wife." 
 
 " On the contrary, Mrs. Ford," exclaimed the learned 
 man with conviction (for Cicely's charms always had a 
 powerfully stimulating effect on him), " I should 
 say you were, if not her prototype, at least her facsim- 
 ile!" 
 
 Mrs. Simms, scenting gallantry in the air, turned 
 sharply around. " Amos ! " she said. " Why don't you 
 speak to Mrs. Davidson? I'm surprised at you!" 
 
 " My dear," said Dr. Simms with unexpected spirit, 
 " all in good time. I am having a delightful conversation 
 with Mrs. Ford." 
 
 " That's no reason," returned Mrs. Simms, in a reso- 
 nant undertone, " why you should ignore or neglect your 
 other social duties. Speak to Mrs. Davidson." 
 
 Her manner admitted of no appeal, and the well- 
 trained Amos reluctantly left his hostess' side. Mrs. 
 Simms took his place. Her jaw had already begun to 
 acquire the look of iron rigour which intercourse with 
 Cicely was apt to give it. 
 
 " Mr. Simms," she remarked severely, " is naturally 
 social and conversational, and, like most of his sex, he 
 has no sense of fitness. I was obliged to hurry him." 
 
 " Greatly to my loss," said Cicely. " I find him such 
 a cavalier ! " 
 
 Mrs. Simms' lips tightened. " He mustn't dawdle," 
 she said. " He's very much inclined to waste his time." 
 
 " I'm sure he wastes very little time with you! " said 
 Cicely sweetly.
 
 176 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 "H'm!" returned Mrs. Simnr , with a boring glance 
 of her sharp eyes. 
 
 " I mean," explained Cicely. " that you don't allow 
 the time spent with you to be wasted. You keep im- 
 proving him every minute." 
 
 " I have his interests at heart, certainly," said Mrs. 
 Simms, " if that's what you mean." 
 
 " At heart and in hand," said Cicely admiringly. 
 " And himself in hand too. How do you make him so 
 plastic? I wish I had a husband like that!" 
 
 " I expect," said Mrs. Simms somewhat grimly, " you'll 
 have to manage with the husband you have. Amos ! " 
 
 " To make married life one grand sweet song," mused 
 Cicely, " I suppose it is better for one to sing a good 
 deal louder than the other." 
 
 " I am sure," exclaimed the gallant Dr. Simms, catch- 
 ing this remark, " that any man would be delighted to 
 sing second to Mrs. Ford ! " 
 
 " Amos, what nonsense you talk ! " said Mrs. Simms 
 severely. " If Mrs. Ford's husband has any sense, he'll 
 sing as loud as he can. Come ! " With a brief bow to 
 the hostesses, she led him sternly away. 
 
 " Aren't they a lark ! " said Cicely, her spirits some- 
 what restored by the encounter. " I nearly had her stab- 
 bing me, and Amy rushing to my defence. I wish 
 Clarissa had been here." 
 
 Mrs. Davidson, however, was by no means so easily 
 cheered. She disapproved of all the atmosphere of this 
 festivity, she disapproved of Cicely's method of enter- 
 taining her guests, and she disapproved on principle of 
 Mrs. Reynolds: moreover, though magnanimous, she was
 
 THE DIPLOMATIC WEDGE 177 
 
 human, and had not enjoyed her forced retention in her 
 position as hostess, nor Dr. Simms' forced attentions to 
 her. She had always a good deal of advice that longed 
 to expend itself on Cicely, and this time it could not all 
 be restrained. 
 
 " Perhaps it is just as well that Mrs. Reynolds is not 
 here," she said. " I must say frankly that I don't admire 
 her; and I'm afraid, my dear, she doesn't always have 
 the best effect on you." 
 
 " Oh, mon dieu ! " remarked Cicely to herself, " here it 
 comes ! " Her mouth set mutinously. " You're quite 
 mistaken," she said aloud. " Risky has an excellent 
 effect on me. She brightens me up." 
 
 " Do you think," returned Mrs. Davidson, " that it's 
 a desirable brightening, when it leads you to ridicule well- 
 meaning people, and be untrue to your best self? Mrs. 
 Reynolds may be very clever, but forgive me she is 
 not womanly or kind." 
 
 " She's my best friend," said Cicely, lifting her chin 
 sharply. 
 
 " Then, dear child," said Mrs. Davidson, " you should 
 choose a different best friend. You know that every one 
 who touches our lives closely influences us, for good or 
 bad ; if the influence " 
 
 " Oh, help me," besought Cicely of her inmost self, 
 " not to make a face at her, and not to swear ! " 
 
 " If the influence is bad, it ought to be removed from 
 our lives before it takes root. Roger, I know, would 
 agree with me. If some one gains an ascendency 
 over us to our hurt, we should sever the bond at any 
 cost."
 
 178 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 "Sacre!" ejaculated Cicely vehemently; and then 
 looked aghast at her own depravity. 
 
 " I didn't catch what you said, my dear/' said Mrs. 
 Davidson, with mild reproach. 
 
 "It's just as well," murmured Cicely; and to herself 
 she added, " I must shut her off, quick, before I get 
 driven to do it in English ! " 
 
 Fortunately, at this juncture a little group of people 
 appeared at the door, science-department people, who 
 lived in the same neighbourhood, and, venturing forth out 
 of clan-loyalty, had drifted into a coalition on the way. 
 They were the shy young Hoods, the profoundly scien- 
 tific Dr. Sherman and his no less scientific wife, the 
 serene and well-dressed Welshes, and comfortable Mrs. 
 Kaltenborn. In that empty little drawing-room they 
 appeared quite a throng; Cicely greeted them with en- 
 thusiasm, and Mrs. Davidson with some relief. The 
 scene attained a specious aspect of festivity, due to the 
 frequent repetition of the phrase, " So glad to see you ! " 
 and to the fact that several people were speaking at once. 
 
 " Veil, it's rainy vedder ! " said Mrs. Kaltenborn 
 cheerfully. 
 
 " So it is," agreed Cicely. " I hope you didn't get 
 wet." 
 
 " Oh, no," said Mrs. Kaltenborn. " I lift up my skirt 
 high, ferry high. I got a goot flannel petticoat ; it 
 don't shpot." 
 
 " You're fortunate," said Cicely. " Was it part of 
 your trousseau? " 
 
 " No, dat von vore out alretty," said Mrs. Kaltenborn 
 thoughtfully. " Dis von I got ten years ago in New
 
 THE DIPLOMATIC WEDGE 179 
 
 York, or it's maybe elefen. Are you getting goot flannel 
 in Paris ? " 
 
 " I don't know; I never got any there," said Cicely. 
 
 " Xeffer got any ! " repeated Mrs. Kaltenborn, with 
 an amazed look. " Of vat are you making your petti- 
 coats, den? " 
 
 " I never made any," admitted Cicely. " I don't know 
 how." 
 
 " My, my ! " said Mrs. Kaltenborn, raising her hands. 
 " Veil, I'll teach you. I got a goot pattern. It vould 
 keep you fine and varm; I t'ink it go arount you twice 
 alretty. I'll gif it to you." 
 
 " Oh, Mrs. Kaltenborn ! " exclaimed Cicely, realising 
 the magnitude of the favour, " this is too much ! " 
 
 " Oh, not ven you get used to it," replied that literal 
 lady. " It makes you valk a liddle slow, dat's all. Veil, 
 I tink I go get someting to eat." She nodded amiably, 
 and ambled at a slightly accelerated pace towards the 
 dining-room. 
 
 "Mrs. Kaltenborn is more fun than a picnic!" said 
 Cicely, turning back to Mrs. Davidson with dancing eyes, 
 as the others strayed away. " If her husband is as funny 
 as she is, they ought to go on the vaudeville stage. ' The 
 Kute Kaltenborns, in their Refined Domestic Skit, 
 " Hearts Enchained by Wienerwurst Links," ' wouldn't 
 they make a success ? " 
 
 Mrs. Davidson tried to smile politely, but only suc- 
 ceeded in looking pained. She clearly wanted to ex- 
 plain that Dr. Kaltenborn was a very eminent scientist, 
 and Mrs. Kaltenborn an excellent housekeeper and wife; 
 and Cicely, seeing the remark on its way, hastened to
 
 180 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 forestall it, for fear it would tempt her beyond her 
 strength. 
 
 " Mrs. Welsh had a very pretty gown on," she ob- 
 served. " What a nice combination, that garnet and rose- 
 colour! She dresses charmingly." 
 
 " Her husband has independent means," said Mrs. 
 Davidson significantly. 
 
 " All husbands should have," remarked Cicely. " It's 
 an accomplishment that graces any man." 
 
 Mrs. Davidson shook her head. " Oh, it matters so 
 little ! " she said. " Haven't you ever noticed how few 
 of the great men of the world have had wealth ? Martin 
 Luther Columbus Napoleon Abraham Lincoln 
 those, and countless other glorious names, belonged to 
 men with no other fortune." 
 
 " Well, a name, even a pretty one, isn't of much use 
 with nothing behind it," returned Cicely. " A name like 
 Rothschild looks a lot more appealing on a cheque than 
 a name like Saint Francis." 
 
 Mrs. Davidson looked shocked. " I'm afraid you 
 haven't escaped the modern taint of commercialism," she 
 said. " Try to do it, my dear. That's one of the first 
 things we learn from our lovely life in Cheltenham; 
 here, if anywhere, money is worthless." 
 
 " Yes, so I've noticed," remarked Cicely. " It's like 
 heaven in that, there isn't any. Oh, here comes an- 
 other visitor ; how wonderful ! " 
 
 There was a bustle in the hallway, and, regally brush- 
 ing aside the straggling group around the drawing-room 
 door, Mrs. de Mullen sailed in. She was too fashionable 
 to come early, but not fashionable enough to stay away;
 
 THE DIPLOMATIC WEDGE 181 
 
 in spite of her distrust of Cicely, an invitation to the 
 little red house was still a thing to be considered. She 
 came in full war-paint, feathers nodding, chains jingling, 
 jewels twinkling; but as her husband could not be viewed 
 in the aspect of an ornament, and as there would be no 
 occasion for him to honour drafts, she had left him at 
 home. 
 
 " Howdy-do, Mrs. Ford ! Howdy-do, Mrs. David- 
 son ! " she said graciously, shaking hands with her plump 
 elbow raised high, in a manner of supreme elegance. 
 " What unpropitious weather, is it not? Quite preposter- 
 ous ! " 
 
 " Fabulous ! " returned Cicely, her eyes beginning to 
 dance again. 
 
 " But I would brave more elements than these," added 
 Mrs. de Mullen benignly, " to encourage Mrs. Ford 
 in her hospitality. What a charming function you 
 are having, Mrs. Ford! Very chick, as the French 
 say." 
 
 " Oh, I must call Mrs. Reynolds ! " exclaimed Cicely. 
 " She wouldn't miss you for anything. Excuse me a 
 minute." 
 
 " Mrs. Reynolds will see Mrs. de Mullen in the dining- 
 room ! " interposed Mrs. Davidson quickly. 
 
 " She can't wait that long," answered Cicely, flying 
 away: and in a moment she was flying back again with 
 her chosen mate. " She's so grateful to me for bringing 
 her ! " she added breathlessly. " She says she would 
 never have forgiven me if I hadn't." 
 
 " I appreciate your conversation so keenly, Mrs. de 
 Mullen," drawled Mrs. Reynolds, " that I forsook the
 
 182 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 howling, hungry mob at the peril of my life, to enjoy it." 
 
 " You surprise me," said Mrs. de Mullen, accepting 
 the tribute with an affable gesture. " I did not sup- 
 pose there would be such a melee of people, the weather 
 being, as I said to Mrs. Ford, so unpropitious." 
 
 " Oh, is it? " asked Mrs. Reynolds, wide-eyed. 
 
 " Yes, it's raining," said Cicely sweetly. " Several 
 people have told me so. You ought to be canonized, Mrs. 
 de Mullen, for coming out." 
 
 " Canonized ! " repeated Mrs. de Mullen, stiffening. 
 " A bombardment would be a strange return, Mrs. Ford, 
 for a Good Samaritan deed ! " 
 
 " Mrs. Ford means a salute with cannon," suggested 
 Mrs. Reynolds, " such as they give to royalty. A salvo, 
 you know." 
 
 " Yes, that's it," said Cicely. " What the French call 
 a quid pro quo." 
 
 " Mrs. de Mullen," interrupted Mrs. Davidson, in a 
 voice trenchant with suppressed indignation, " how is 
 your house getting on ? " 
 
 The two conspirators exchanged a delighted glance; 
 the topic could not have been more congenial. 
 
 " My shottoe, I thank you, Mrs. Davidson/' said Mrs. 
 de Mullen majestically, " is progressing favourably." 
 
 " Have you got the architraves in yet? " inquired Mrs. 
 Reynolds. 
 
 "I ah I haven't observed," returned Mrs. de 
 Mullen stiffly. 
 
 "Or the spandrels?" asked Cicely, with earnest in- 
 terest.
 
 THE DIPLOMATIC WEDGE 183 
 
 " Perhaps Mrs. de Mullen isn't going to keep kennels, 
 Cissy ! " admonished Mrs. Reynolds. 
 
 " I shall have whatever is on reggle in the best shot- 
 toes, Mrs. Reynolds ! " said Mrs. de Mullen haughtily. 
 
 " Mrs. de Mullen," interrupted Mrs. Davidson again, 
 in a voice eloquent with outraged feeling, " I'm sure you 
 would like some sort of refreshment." 
 
 " I thank you, Mrs. Davidson," retorted Mrs. de Mul- 
 len severely, aware of something wrong in the deference 
 surrounding her, and hastening to include this innocent 
 lady in her distrust, " I am not such a gormet as you 
 suppose! I frequently go hours and hours without 
 food." 
 
 " Then you certainly must have something to eat 
 now ! " said Mrs. Reynolds, seizing her by the arm. 
 " Come with me, and I'll fill you right up to the chin 
 with Cissy's lovely party stuff. It's awfully expensive; 
 it'll make you feel at home." 
 
 " Yes, do ! " exclaimed Cicely, seizing the other arm. 
 " I'll come and help fill you. Forward, march ! " 
 
 " Mrs. Ford," said Mrs. Davidson authoritatively, 
 " stay here." 
 
 " Why? " demanded Cicely, like a naughty child. " I 
 want to give Mrs. de Mullen a square meal; Risky will 
 starve her." 
 
 "I will not!" said Mrs. Reynolds. "I'll feed her 
 better than you would, Cissy; I don't have to pay the 
 bills." 
 
 Mrs. de Mullen indignantly withdrew both her sleeves 
 from their grasp. " I shall not invade the dining-room
 
 184 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 at all," she said icily. " I have an ample supply of re- 
 freshments at my own residence." She rustled furiously 
 away, without a backward glance. 
 
 " Oh, waffles and griddle-cakes, wasn't that fun ! " 
 cried Mrs. Reynolds, convulsed. " There goes your in- 
 vitation to the shottoe, Cissy, on the tip of that proudly 
 elevated nose." 
 
 " Repousse as the French say," laughed Cicely. 
 "Oh, no, you're wrong, Risky; I can coax her round 
 again." 
 
 " I should advise you to leave her alone," said Mrs. 
 Davidson indignantly. " And you, Mrs. Reynolds, I 
 think you had better go back to your post. You have 
 been away from it long enough." 
 
 " I'm going; don't worry," said Mrs. Reynolds. " I 
 couldn't stay long in this rarefied atmosphere. But that 
 interview was worth a sacrifice or two. Call me if 
 there's any more excitement, Cissy." 
 
 " I wonder at you, Mrs. Ford," said Mrs. Davidson 
 severely, as Mrs. Reynolds trailed away. " Roger would 
 not approve of this, I can assure you." 
 
 Cicely knew well enough that she had behaved abom- 
 inably, but Mrs. Davidson's righteous superiority only 
 made her more recalcitrant. " Roger has more sense 
 than to meddle in my affairs ! " she retorted. " When 
 Mrs. de Mullen acquires civilization (if she ever does), 
 he will be delighted to think that I had a hand in it. 
 Thank goodness, here come some more people, another 
 addition to the Noble Army of Martyrs ! " 
 
 Now indeed a steady small trickle of visitors began 
 to stray in, linger damply for a while, and stray out
 
 THE DIPLOMATIC WEDGE 185 
 
 into the rain again. They served the purpose of pre- 
 serving the illusion that this was a reception, and of 
 preventing complete disaster in the receiving party, where 
 Cicely's recklessness was mounting beyond bounds, and 
 Mrs. Davidson's self-control was wearing thin. But 
 they added little to the gaiety of the occasion; they 
 were nearly all the " sad ones " whose coming Mrs. 
 Reynolds had foretold, and though now and then a motor- 
 car dropped a pretty gown or a smart silk hat at the door, 
 these were few and far between, and, having come simply 
 because they were too bored to stay at home, contributed 
 small glitter. Cards arrived in quantities, by post or by 
 messenger; the telephone kept ringing with profuse re- 
 grets from special friends who had promised to be on 
 hand ; the flowers and Hungarians and hostesses struggled 
 more and more vainly with their dismal surroundings ; 
 and at the end of an hour the occasion stood baldly 
 forth, a self-confessed failure. 
 
 " Oh, what's the use ! " cried Cicely to Mrs. David- 
 son, with suddenly acute impatience. " Why do we pre- 
 tend this is a party? Why do we keep up this grisly 
 mockery of ' receiving ' the empty air ? We look like 
 a pair of stuffed alligators. Let's stop." 
 
 Mrs. Davidson, not unnaturally, failed to greet this 
 tribute with enthusiasm. " I don't agree with you," she 
 said stiffly. " Why shouldn't we receive, if that is what 
 we are here for ? W T hat else should we do ? " 
 
 " Well, you may do what you wish," replied Cicely, 
 "but I'm going to stop making a joke of myself!" 
 and forthwith, deserting her post, she flew across the room 
 and peeped out into the hall in search of excitement.
 
 186 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 Excitement was a thing Cicely seldom had to seek 
 in vain. She was one of those people who draw events 
 like a magnet; and if none came to her of its own ac- 
 cord, she could always create one. This time she found 
 material ready to her hand: it was the hour of the day 
 when the younger men stopped work and went a-plea- 
 suring, and, as they were not afraid of weather, and all 
 devoted to Cicely, they were beginning to arrive in force. 
 She greeted them with delight, and, shaking hands un- 
 ceremoniously with them two at a time, drew them into 
 the room, and settled them cosily around her in a corner. 
 Now that there was something going on, she was in- 
 stantly in gay spirits; mirth and laughter began to rise 
 about her like an aura, and intoxicate her. Lowering 
 her voice, she plunged into an animated description of 
 the afternoon's programme, mimicking the visitors one 
 after another with irresistible drollery. Shouts of appre- 
 ciation drowned the Hungarian wails, and her encircling 
 admirers crowded closer and closer: each new arrival, 
 drawn by the visible merriment, came post-haste to 
 join the group; and presently the whole bachelor con- 
 tingent was welded into a tight mass in one corner of 
 the drawing-room, exploding with glee. 
 
 Mrs. Davidson, still standing at her post at the other 
 end of the room, high-principled and alone, stiffened 
 minute by minute into more and more intense disapproval. 
 She could follow Cicely's pranks plainly enough, as Mrs. 
 Kaltenborn's slow turtle-gestures succeeded Mrs. Simms' 
 iron-firm jaw; and the fact that she could not hear the 
 conversation did not tend to make her indorse it the 
 more warmly. At last she could stand it no longer.
 
 THE DIPLOMATIC WEDGE 187 
 
 Abandoning her post, she crossed the room with a deter- 
 mined step, and joined the group. 
 
 " Gentlemen, I shall have to interrupt you," she said 
 firmly. " I must speak to Mrs. Ford. I think you will 
 find Mr. Ford in the dining-room." 
 
 The men, who had been too absorbed to observe her 
 approach, jumped up in some confusion, and received 
 their dismissal with barely concealed chagrin. Cicely 
 rose too, flushing violently. She understood her mentor's 
 action clearly enough, and was furiously angry; and as 
 soon as the hall door had swallowed her admirers, she 
 turned with flashing eyes and stood at defiance. 
 
 " Why did you do that? " she demanded hotly. 
 
 " For your own good," said Mrs. Davidson severely. 
 " You are neglecting your duty, and receiving too much 
 attention from too many men." 
 
 " Am I indeed ! " said Cicely. " Who told you that, 
 please? " 
 
 " My own eyes told me," said Mrs. Davidson, flushing 
 also. " Not only now, but many other times. It will 
 not be long, let me assure you, before other people's 
 tongues tell me too." 
 
 Cicely was growing steadily more angry, but also 
 more self-possessed. It was only Roger who could make 
 her forget past, present and future in blind passion, be- 
 cause the pain of quarrelling with him set her beside 
 herself. Now that she saw Mrs. Davidson losing a little 
 of her own well-controlled temper, she laughed lightly. 
 
 " How interesting! " she said. " Whom will they wag 
 about? The President? Dr. Simms? Promise to tell 
 me what they say ! "
 
 188 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 Mrs. Davidson compressed her lips. " They will 
 choose a subject much more dangerous to your reputa- 
 tion/' she said. " You force me, Mrs. Ford, to give you 
 a warning that I would rather withhold. Your conduct 
 with unmarried men is not at all what that of a married 
 woman, a university professor's wife, should be." 
 
 " No, it is appalling," agreed Cicely solemnly. 
 " Pouring them a cup of tea in the afternoon ! sitting 
 in a corner alone with ten of them ! what an example 
 for the young ! " 
 
 Mrs. Davidson grew a deep, exasperated red. " You 
 know very well what I mean ! " she said. " It is all bad 
 enough, but your behaviour with young Maddox is out- 
 rageous. At the last cotillion you danced with him eleven 
 times." 
 
 " Did I really! " exclaimed Cicely. " What a shame! 
 I truly meant to make it a dozen. I'll give him thir- 
 teen at the next one, to make up. Thank you for keep- 
 ing count." 
 
 " It is high time you began to keep count for your- 
 self ! " said Mrs. Davidson, too angry for discretion. 
 " You will soon be a scandal. Your youth does not ex- 
 cuse you; if you are old enough to be married, you are 
 old enough to be responsible for your actions." 
 
 " I agree with you ! " retorted Cicely. " And that be- 
 ing the case, I will go now to my telephone and ask my 
 friend Mr. Maddox to come to my house and have tea 
 with me." And, head high, eyes flashing, she hurried 
 past the older woman and out of the room. 
 
 " He will be here in five minutes ! " she said, returning. 
 " Meanwhile, have you anything more to say? "
 
 THE DIPLOMATIC WEDGE 189 
 
 Mrs. Davidson steadied herself with an effort. " I 
 have," she said, " but I think I will say it to Roger. It 
 will fall on more fruitful ground." 
 
 " It will be flung back in your face ! " flashed Cicely. 
 "If you think you can make my husband listen to slan- 
 ders against me, you are mistaken. He has not your sort 
 of mind." 
 
 " Mrs. Ford, be careful ! " besought Mrs. David- 
 son, alarmed. " You are saying too much. Please 
 don't speak to me again until you can speak differ- 
 ently." 
 
 "That will be never!" cried, Cicely. "Go and 
 whisper scandal to Roger, if you wish; I shall watch for 
 my friend." With that she swept away to the window, 
 brushing past Mrs. Davidson as if she were of too little 
 account to be perceived. 
 
 Very soon the boy appeared, bright-eyed with excite- 
 ment and flushed with running. Cicely met him at the 
 door with eyes as bright as his, and, leading him to the 
 farthest corner of the drawing-room, sat down with him 
 on a divan and plunged into low-voiced conversation. 
 They talked about nothing, the favours at the last 
 dance, the rehearsals for the play, but their heads 
 were intimately close, and Cicely, alert, had the satisfac- 
 tion of seeing Mrs. Davidson observing them from the 
 doorway. She intensified the note of intimacy, speak- 
 ing more softly and laughing a great deal. The boy, 
 mystified but delighted, met her rather better than half- 
 way, with feverish zest. They were like conspirators 
 plotting, or lovers whispering, together. The few re- 
 maining guests, coming to say farewell, saw their hostess
 
 190 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 so absorbed, and withdrew in silence. Mrs. Davidson 
 disappeared from the doorway with a shocked face. 
 
 It was growing late, and Cicely was very tired. What 
 little amusement there had been in the thing staled sud- 
 denly; the boy, now that he had served his purpose, 
 bored her; she wanted only Roger, and, failing him, 
 peace and rest. She rose with one of her impetuous 
 movements, bringing the boy unexpectedly to his feet. 
 
 " Go home now, Pancakes," she said. 
 
 " But I want to stay ! " he urged. " I've got lots of 
 interesting things to tell you." 
 
 " Some other time," said Cicely ruthlessly. " I don't 
 want you now." 
 
 " Oh, please " began the boy, " please, Nuts 
 
 " Cicely ! " said Roger, coming into the room. " May 
 I speak to you a minute, please? " 
 
 Cicely stiffened. " I am engaged with Mr. Maddox," 
 she said. 
 
 " So I see," answered Roger in a constrained voice, 
 " but Dr. Davidson has come, to see you and to take 
 Mrs. Davidson home, and I wish you would ask them 
 both to stay to dinner." 
 
 " That's impossible, Roger," said Cicely. " We aren't 
 going to have any dinner." 
 
 " Cicely ! " protested Roger. " There's food enough 
 in that dining-room for a regiment. What are we going 
 to eat ourselves ? " 
 
 " It's one thing," said Cicely decisively, " for us to 
 snatch a sandwich and a cup of tea, and another to offer 
 a dinner of that kind to guests. I simply can't impose
 
 THE DIPLOMATIC WEDGE 191 
 
 on Hitty to the extent of inviting people now, Roger. 
 It's out of the question." 
 
 " I'm afraid you'll have to," said Roger stubbornly, 
 " because I've already told them you would." 
 
 Cicely, with a low exclamation of anger, moved rapidly 
 into the hall, the boy following uncomfortably. Dr. and 
 Mrs. Davidson stood at the farther end, evidently try- 
 ing to keep up a detached and impersonal conversation. 
 They turned at the sound of her skirts, Dr. Davidson 
 pleased and jovial, his wife pale with constraint. 
 
 " Well, well, Mrs. Ford ! " said the genial doctor, com- 
 ing forward to take Cicely's hand in his warm grasp. 
 "What a time you've kept me waiting! I'll have you 
 dismissed from the Department if you're going to treat 
 me like this: it's lese-majeste." 
 
 Cicely met his look with eyes full of affection, but 
 turned at once to confront his wife. " Mrs. Davidson," 
 she said, in a cold, clear voice, " Mr. Maddox is going 
 to stay to dinner, and Roger would like you to stay too. 
 Will you ? " 
 
 " Thank you, Mrs. Ford," said Mrs. Davidson, her 
 look of indecision vanishing at Cicely's tone, " I think 
 I cannot. Come, Henry." 
 
 " Mrs. Davidson ! " cried Roger, hurrying forward. 
 " Won't you stay, please? " 
 
 " Yes, yes, let's stay ! " said the kind-eyed doctor, 
 looking in distressed bewilderment from one overstrung 
 woman to the other. " Why not, Sarah? " 
 
 " Roger wishes it, Mrs. Davidson," said Cicely, with 
 the hint of a taunt in her voice.
 
 192 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 " I think," said Mrs. Davidson, " I have already done 
 as much to-day for Roger as I can. We will go, 
 Henry." She gathered her wrap about her, and went 
 out with quiet dignity. 
 
 Roger turned to Cicely, his steady eyes ablaze with 
 anger and pain. " Since my friends are not going to 
 dine, I will not either," he said. " Good night to you 
 both," He faced about sharply, and strode away to his 
 study, shutting the door. 
 
 The boy, left alone with Cicely, looked at her with 
 embarrassed constraint. " I suppose I'd better go too," 
 he said, half-heartedly. 
 
 Cicely started with a little shiver, and brought her 
 eyes back from the study door to his face. " Oh, yes, go, 
 go, Boy ! " she said. " There won't be any dinner 
 here to-night." She gave him her cold hand, and watched 
 him absently while he fumbled at the catch of the outer 
 door, and clicked it shut again behind him. Then she 
 brought her eyes slowly back to the closed door of the 
 study. 
 
 " I meant it for a new beginning," she said to herself, 
 shivering. " And where where is it going to end ? "
 
 VIII 
 
 AN IDYL IN MUD AND SPLINTERS 
 
 IT was Cicely's first intention to breakfast in her room, 
 and remain invisible until Roger had left the house; and 
 indeed she felt spiritually sick with unhappiness, anger, 
 and unadmitted guilt. But she knew that she had dealt 
 him a blow too deep to be passed over, and the knowl- 
 edge that there must be a battle made her eager for it 
 even while it terrified her. The end was that impatience 
 prevailed over dread, and a little after the usual time 
 she presented herself at the table, high-strung and fever- 
 ish. 
 
 Roger, who was already breakfasting, rose, seated her, 
 and returned to his own seat, in silence. He had put a 
 strong guard upon himself, and did not mean to speak 
 if he could avoid it. Cicely, frightened by his white, 
 stern face, got a new realisation of impending danger, 
 and tried for a little to follow his example; but silence, 
 at all times difficult for her, was impossible in a moment 
 of tension like this, and soon she flung all caution aside 
 in a burst of nervous speech. 
 
 " Oh, Roger ! how can you sit there like a stone 
 statue?" she cried. "Say it, say it, for heaven's sake, 
 and get it over ! " 
 
 193
 
 194 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 Roger answered slowly, in a hard voice. " I'm afraid 
 to. I may say too much." 
 
 " I'll say it for you, then ! " said Cicely defiantly. 
 " I've quarrelled with your Mrs. Davidson, and I'm glad! 
 It's the best thing that has happened to me since I came. 
 Now she can hate me as much as she pleases, and I'm 
 free to hate her back again." 
 
 " She doesn't hate you, Cicely ! " said Roger, stung. 
 " She loved you once." 
 
 " She didn't ! " flamed Cicely. " She loves you, 
 adores yon, and so she tolerated me for a little, and 
 patronised me, and preached to me with her nose in the 
 air. But I've had all I can stand of it, and I told her 
 so. Let your worshipping women keep their interference 
 for you. I am my own mistress, and I won't endure it; 
 I tell you and her, I won't ! " She ceased all pretence of 
 eating, and the creamy lace on her breast rose and fell 
 with the stress of her stormy breathing. 
 
 Roger, too, ceased trying to eat, and focussed his 
 eyes upon her face in a look that was both cold and burn- 
 ing. " I sometimes wonder," he said slowly, " if I 
 knew you, Cicely, when I married you." 
 
 " No, you did not! " said Cicely. " You thought you 
 were marrying a puppet who would dance to all your 
 tunes, and you were mistaken. There are a good many 
 surprises in this business of matrimony." 
 
 " So it seems," said Roger bitterly. " The loss of 
 one's friends, for instance. And the loss of one's 
 ideal." 
 
 " Oh, you haven't lost her," retorted Cicely with equal 
 bitterness, wilfully misunderstanding. " She adores you
 
 IX MUD AXD SPLINTERS 195 
 
 more than ever, now that she sees you're a martyr. Run 
 to her house, and cheer yourself by telling her all you've 
 suffered ! " 
 
 Roger rose from the table; he had kept his balance, 
 and saw the pitiable folly of this sort of talk. As she 
 too rose, he stood for a moment looking down at her. 
 Behind all the anger and pain, he loved her so ! and she, 
 how tender and pure and sweet she shone even through 
 this ugly mist of wrath and recrimination ! They stood 
 a yard apart, they who had been so ineffably one in 
 flesh and spirit, and were sundered one from the other 
 by a thousand miles of misery. And yet, even now, one 
 little word one little kiss 
 
 But the perverse, malignant genius who rules these 
 crises had the situation well in hand. In her hurried 
 dressing, Cicely, afire with angry revolt, had chanced 
 upon the boy's little pin, and had snapped it on in in- 
 stant defiance of Mrs. Davidson. Now, as she stood 
 gathering herself for another outburst, her fingers played 
 with it unconsciously, twisting it among the laces it 
 held: and Roger's eyes inevitably fastened upon it. His 
 hands clenched, and his jaw set again; the moment of 
 rainbow possibilities was past. 
 
 " One thing I must say, Cicely, " he began, and 
 stopped. 
 
 " Well, say it ! " taunted Cicely. " Don't mind me ! 
 Mrs. Davidson is an angel, and I am a devil is that 
 it?" 
 
 Roger grew a shade whiter; she tried him sorely. 
 Nevertheless, having determined to speak, he drove him- 
 self on. " It's about Maddox," he said. " I wish you
 
 196 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 would not see him. He's getting a bad reputation; he 
 has been very wild since since these last few weeks. 
 He's not a fit companion for you." He spoke harshly. 
 The subject was hateful to him; constantly aware of his 
 jealousy of the boy, he had more than once choked back 
 the name when it was upon his lips, and now that he 
 had forced himself to mention it, it was with a violence 
 that startled him. 
 
 Cicely started as if she had been struck. " Roger ! " 
 she cried in a sharp voice. " What are you saying ? 
 What do you mean? " 
 
 Her excitement stabbed him into a new torture of 
 jealousy, and he answered fiercely. "What I say!" 
 he exclaimed. " I want you to keep away from him, 
 do you understand ? I want your friendship broken 
 off, to-day this minute." 
 
 Cicely grew white to the lips. " Mrs. Davidson told 
 you to say that," she said, in a strangled voice. 
 
 " What if she did ? " retorted Roger. " She is my 
 friend, my only one, I begin to think." 
 
 " And you listen to what another woman says of 
 your wife, " said Cicely, choking. " And come here 
 and repeat it to me " 
 
 " I do; I repeat it," said Roger, his excitement mount- 
 ing in step with hers. " I want your friendship with him 
 to end ; I will not have you dragged through scandal ! " 
 
 " You you say this to me ! " gasped Cicely, staring 
 at him with dilated eyes ; and suddenly she flung out her 
 arms in a wild gesture. " Oh, it's intolerable ! " she 
 cried. " Oh, it's horrible, horrible ! Roger Roger 
 
 For a moment they stared at each other in a ghastly
 
 IN MUD AND SPLINTERS 197 
 
 silence, a thousand devils of anger, jealousy, passionate 
 love and hate struggling almost palpably between them. 
 Then Roger, gritting his teeth together, turned away. 
 " I must go, quickly ! " he muttered ; and with the words 
 the door closed hard behind him. 
 
 
 
 Cicely, hastily dressed for the street, hurried through 
 the campus at a pace that was almost a run. She was 
 blind with emotion, rage, resentment, and a pain so 
 keen that it was like pleasure. Nothing had ever 
 stirred the depths of her as this last scene with Roger 
 had done. The excitement under which they had both 
 laboured, his vehemence that was born of reluctance and 
 looked like fury, combined to make her think his pro- 
 hibition an act of distrust and tyranny, instead of the 
 simple warning he had meant it to be; and, as in all 
 pure and proud women, her instinct demanded fiercely 
 that her dealings with men be inviolate, sans peur et 
 sans reproche. The intrusion of another woman be- 
 tween them in such a matter made the blow one which few 
 men could comprehend, and no woman endure. " Oh, 
 how could he, how could he ! " she cried over and over, 
 beneath her breath. " Oh, it's unthinkable ! It's not 
 to be borne ! " 
 
 Inevitably, as she raged, she passed from blind pas- 
 sion to blind defiance; and the first impulse of her de- 
 fiance was towards the boy. Her intention to seek him 
 must have been born before she was consciously aware 
 of it, for when she collected her thoughts she found her- 
 self hurrying steadily towards the grey old chapel, the
 
 198 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 place to which, at this hour, he must of necessity be 
 bound. The bell stopped ringing as she came within 
 sight of it, and the last dark cluster of boys drifted in- 
 side the Gothic door; but she still hastened on, unshaken 
 in her determination: and just at the corner of the 
 chapel she met him face to face. 
 
 Late as he was, he was strolling along, hands in 
 pockets, as if haste were a thing he had never heard 
 of. His battered campus hat was pushed back on his 
 dark head, and his handsome, charming face looked reck- 
 less and sullen. He was singing, noisily, grim words 
 to a rollicking tune that smote oddly against the Doxol- 
 ogy just rising in the chapel, 
 
 " Then drink till you're blind, boys, 
 The devil walks behind, boys, 
 
 With a drag-net for your souls ! "- 
 
 but as he saw Cicely he broke off his song, caught his 
 hat from his head, and swept her a deep bow. 
 
 " Hail, Lady of the Woodland Ways ! " he called. 
 " How's the weather in Arcady? " 
 
 Cicely, even while she waved her hand in a gay, wild 
 gesture of greeting, recognised in him the same defiant 
 excitement with which she was filled. She ran to meet 
 him. " I've moved out of Arcady for good, thank you ! " 
 she cried. 
 
 " Same here," said the boy. " What's your address 
 now, Nuts ? " 
 
 " Oh, now I'm living in the mud and slush of the 
 every-day world ! " answered Cicely. 
 
 " How d'you like it? " inquired the boy.
 
 IN MUD AND SPLINTERS 199 
 
 " Oh, I love it," said she. " Come, let's go where it's 
 thicker; this place stifles me." 
 
 "I'm with you," rejoined the boy. "Mud's my ele- 
 ment at present, much more than chapel." And, turn- 
 ing away from the beckoning door, he hurried with her 
 down the wide mall and out to the gate at the farthest 
 edge of the campus. " Here you are ! " he exclaimed. 
 " Slush enough to drown in ; mud enough to be buried in. 
 What shall we do ? " He looked around with restless 
 eyes, eager for excitement. 
 
 Cicely too looked eagerly around. Now that she had 
 publicly asserted her defiance by joining the boy, she was 
 full of a wild elation; she felt irresponsible as a bubble, 
 reckless as a flame; she had cast aside all prudence and 
 discretion. "Oh, anything! anything we shouldn't!" 
 she cried. " Come, let's hunt for mischief ! " And she 
 ran out of the gate and down the country road, the boy 
 at her heels. 
 
 On this side the campus outran the town and abutted 
 on the open country; and across the road, at a little 
 distance, was the place Mrs. de Mullen had chosen for 
 her building enterprise. It had been a lovely and idyllic 
 spot, a sloping meadow set with boulders, a grove of 
 pines, a little girdling brook. Now masons, carpenters 
 and artisans of all kinds had turned it into a jumble of 
 miscellaneous debris ; trees had been felled, rocks up- 
 rooted, half-finished walls set starkly up; and to com- 
 plete the havoc and insure the flashing of the finished re- 
 sult with sufficient glitter upon the public eye, the whole 
 had been surrounded by a high board fence of almost in- 
 credible ugliness.
 
 200 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 Cicely's eyes fell on this barricade, and lighted at once. 
 " Let's go over to the shottoe," she cried, " and drop a 
 card on the Duchesse Desmoulins ! I'm sure we should 
 find something there for little helping hands to do." 
 
 " To be sure ! " said the boy. " Let's fresco the fence. 
 It's an opportunity no true artist would miss." 
 
 " What a delicious idea ! " exclaimed Cicely. " It 
 would make Mrs. Davidson's hair stand on end. I'll 
 race you to it, Pancakes." 
 
 They ran forthwith along the muddy road, splashing 
 right and left, until they reached the aperture in the 
 fence where the workmen went in and out. Here they 
 paused, reconnoitred, and slipped cautiously inside; and 
 in a moment emerged triumphant, bearing a bucket of 
 black paint and two brushes. Both were flushed and 
 bright-eyed now with the spirit of dare-devil adventure. 
 
 " Let's do her a coat-of-arms ! " said Cicely. " I of- 
 fered once to help her compose one. Let's have a 
 lozenge-shaped shield, with a diamond rampant " 
 
 " And a cough-drop couchant " said the boy. 
 
 " And a crow-bar potent, to indicate the origin " said 
 she. 
 
 " And a coronet, to show the present elevation 
 added he. 
 
 " And a motto oh, give me a piece of paper and a 
 pencil, Pancakes ! " cried Cicely. " This is going to be a 
 masterpiece." She sketched hastily on the back of a 
 letter produced from the boy's pocket. " On a ground or 
 (that's the fence), a lozenge sable (too bad we couldn't 
 find any paint but black), quartered with coronets, cough- 
 drops, diamonds, and see those turned-down crescents ?
 
 IN MUD AND SPLINTERS 201 
 
 those are haughty sneers. Now for the legend, what 
 shall we make it? " 
 
 " Something aspiring," said the boy. ' ' Ad astra per 
 aspera.' " 
 
 " No, that's too impersonal," objected Cicely. " It ought 
 to be more definite. Ex Hibernia in Galliam how's, 
 that?" 
 
 ' ' Out' of Ireland into France ' that's bully ! " said 
 the boy. " Only she won't know what you mean by it." 
 
 " No, so she won't," agreed Cicely. " We must use a 
 soup-song of French, as the French say." She re- 
 flected in silence for a minute, pinching her lip; then, 
 with a triumphant cry, exclaimed, " Pas a pas, de 
 pastilles a pate! " 
 
 " Oh, my eye, Nuts ! " cried the boy. " It's a master- 
 stroke ! Rough on the diamonds, but a pippin of an 
 epigram. I wish I could blazon it in rainbow tints across 
 the arch of heaven; but since I haven't time for that, 
 here goes with the paint! After all, that was good 
 enough for Michelangelo." He set to work vigorously 
 on one side of the gate, and Cicely, plunging whole- 
 heartedly into the enterprise, followed his lead and re- 
 produced the design on the other. 
 
 When it was done, they both stood back and surveyed 
 their work with admiration. The embellishments were 
 rather vague in outline, and the paint, applied over- 
 generously, had run down in many black streaks and 
 rivulets, but the sentiment stood forth large and legible 
 for all who ran to read. The boy seized Cicely's hand 
 and wrung it in congratulation. 
 
 " That's a triumph, Nuts ! " he exclaimed. " They
 
 202 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 stand up like the Roman Aqueduct. Nobody can go 
 within half a mile and not see them." 
 
 " Glorious ! " agreed Cicely. " This is a proud day 
 for the noble House of de Mullen, and we're public 
 benefactors to give it so much free advertising. What 
 shall we do next? " 
 
 The boy looked up and down the street, and back at 
 Cicely. " What should you say to a joy ride? " he sug- 
 gested. 
 
 " I'd say, lead me to it! " said Cicely promptly. 
 
 " Come on, then ! " said the boy ; and, catching her 
 hand, he ran with her to the farther corner of the fence, 
 and indicated with a sweeping gesture a restless horse 
 tethered to a tree, and a wagon containing plumbers' 
 supplies. 
 
 " Finger of Providence," he said. " We don't know 
 what to do, and neither does this horse ; and the wicked 
 plumber, who ought to be minding his wagon, is off 
 plumbing and plundering an honest man. Hop in, 
 Nuts." 
 
 " You're inspired, Pancakes ! " declared Cicely. " I 
 never should have thought of anything half so thrill- 
 ing as kidnapping a plumber's wagon." 
 
 " You haven't got my cause for inspiration," said the 
 boy, pulling off the horse's blanket and rolling it into a 
 ball. " When you're in a fix like mine, perhaps you'll 
 rise to equal heights. You may have heard how I've dis- 
 tinguished myself lately, yes? thought likely; well, 
 at the present moment I'm due in the Dean's office to 
 show just cause why I shouldn't be fired. Hence my
 
 IN MUD AXD SPLINTERS 203 
 
 adaptability. It's in these exigencies, Nuts, that we show 
 what we are really made of." 
 
 " Oh, well, my experience may not be as limited as you 
 think," said Cicely, in a voice that reflected the bitterness 
 of his. " How do you know you're the only crisis- 
 jumper? Just wait till the next time we need an in- 
 spiration, and see if I don't show some knack." 
 
 " Oh, is it that way ? " said the boy, looking at her 
 curiously. " Come on, then ! Go it while you're 
 young! " And, stuffing the blanket under the seat, he 
 pulled Cicely up into the wagon, gathered the reins, and 
 laid the whip across the horse's back with a wild yodelling 
 whoop. 
 
 " Gracious, this is exciting! " exclaimed Cicely, clutch- 
 ing the seat with both hands as they crashed along the 
 street. " Coaching through the Alps is nothing to it. 
 Look out for that tree, Pancakes ! " 
 
 " Oh, we haven't begun to hit the pace yet! " rejoined 
 the boy, slewing round a corner on two wheels. " Wait 
 till we get warmed up, and transmit some inspiration to 
 this blooded charger. We'll show 'em eh, Buceph- 
 alus ? " He flicked the horse again, and that respon- 
 sive animal, frisky with standing in the cold, jumped for- 
 ward so impetuously that the adventurers' feet flew up 
 in front of them. 
 
 They were now well away from the village, on the 
 long road known as " the old turn-pike," which linked 
 town to town straight across the state. No vehicles were 
 in sight; it was out of season for automobiles, and the 
 milkmen had long since made their morning journey.
 
 204 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 Cicely looked at the long clear stretch ahead of them, 
 took the whip from the boy's hand, and plied it expertly. 
 
 " Here's your chance, Bucephalus ! " she said. " Just 
 look ahead of you, and show what you're made of ! " 
 
 " Right you are, Nuts ! " cried the boy. " A two- 
 mile speedway, and not a soul in sight. Hit her up, old 
 Hide-rack! Put some pep in it! " 
 
 The horse, fired by this encouragement, dashed ahead 
 with streaming mane and tail, the wagon rocked and 
 swayed, and the mud splashed generously. The boy 
 stood up, and, seizing the whip again, waved it over his 
 head and shouted, " Yoicks, tally-ho ! Watch us blaze 
 a way to glory ! Hop to it, old Willow-plumes ! " 
 
 " Sit down, Pancakes ! " exclaimed Cicely, clutching 
 his coat. " You'll lose your balance and fall out, and 
 then where will you be ? " 
 
 " In the gutter, where I belong ! " said the boy. " I 
 couldn't be in any worse hole, so why not try 'em all? 
 Shows my versatility how many kinds of a fool I 
 can be. Go it, Pegasus ! " 
 
 The defiant bitterness of his tone made Cicely glance 
 quickly at his face. " You are foolish," she said soberly. 
 " Think of your cutting chapel, and losing your chance 
 with the Dean, for a piece of folly like this ! " 
 
 " Well, how much better off are you ? " retorted the 
 boy. " You're rooted to the path of prudence and duty, 
 I suppose? Come off, Nuts! It's a case of pot and 
 kettle." 
 
 " Why, so it is ! " cried Cicely, relapsing into reckless- 
 ness. "All right then, I'm with you. This is stupid;
 
 IN MUD AND SPLINTERS 205 
 
 come, let's get off the road, and have a little excitement ! " 
 She stood up too, swaying perilously, and waved her 
 hand towards the rolling country around them. 
 
 " That's the idea ! " approved the boy. " We'll try a 
 turn at steeple-chasing." Veering sharply, he drove the 
 astonished horse across the shallow ditch by the road- 
 side and straight into the open field beyond. " Here's 
 your chance, Pegasus, to get back to Nature ! " he urged. 
 
 The frozen ground was furrowed from last year's 
 cultivation, and the boy and Cicely both staggered as the 
 wagon lurched over the bumps ; but by some miracle they 
 kept their footing, and drove safely across the first 
 field, and through a gap in the low stone wall that 
 bounded it. In the second field, however, the ground 
 rose abruptly to a knoll in the middle, and then fell away 
 as sharply towards the boundary on the other side; and 
 here the horse, unaccustomed to such vicissitudes in his 
 usual peaceful life of plumber's assistant, began to show 
 symptoms of balking. The boy, his eyes bright with 
 devil-may-care excitement, plied the whip and urged him 
 on. " Up with you ! " he cried. " Charge, Chester, 
 charge! What, you wouldn't be daunted by a mole-hill 
 like this? Look at Nuts and me, how gallantly we take 
 our ups and downs ! " 
 
 " They'll be more downs than ups before long ! " said 
 Cicely, swaying, as they crossed the brow of the little 
 hill and began to plunge forward. " Look out, Pan- 
 cakes, there's a stone wall just in front of us oh, look 
 out ! " 
 
 " Let the stone wall look out for us ! " shouted the
 
 206 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 boy. " Come, we'll try hurdling. Spread your wings, 
 Pegasus! One, two, three, and at 'em! Watch the 
 birdmen ! " 
 
 Cracking his whip, he lifted the horse to the jump. 
 The noble steed rose with a lunge, dashed the wagon 
 against the wall with a splintering shock, and hung 
 kicking in the shafts for a moment. Then, wrenching 
 himself free of the wrecked harness, he turned away 
 without even a sign of farewell, and trotted briskly back 
 towards Cheltenham. 
 
 Cicely and the boy, who had both described sudden 
 semicircles out of the wagon, sat up in the muddy field 
 and gazed at one another. By the interposition of that 
 Providence which succours the intoxicated and the in- 
 sane, they had both escaped injury, barring a bruise or 
 two; and, mud-plastered and dazed into speechlessness, 
 they stared from each other to the wrecked wagon and 
 the departing horse, and back to each other again. Then, 
 the situation fully realized, with one accord they burst 
 into laughter. 
 
 " Oh, Nuts ! " cried the boy. " How are the mighty 
 fallen ! You soared down from your perch like a shoot- 
 ing star. Have you all your bones ? " 
 
 " All, and a few more that are strangers to me," 
 gasped Cicely, convulsed. " I can feel four hundred and 
 twelve of them standing up on end. Well, that was 
 sudden, Pancakes ! Even the sun never set so quickly." 
 
 " You you gave a little sputter," exploded the boy, 
 " and then you went up like a rocket, and came down 
 like the stick. And old Pegasus remembered an engage- 
 ment with the Cheltenham Muses, and the plumber-
 
 wagon repented of its sins, and turned into a respectable 
 pile of junk, and your hat, and my hat, and the tools, 
 and the pieces of lead pipe, O where are they?" 
 
 " Ask of the winds, that far and wide with fragments 
 strewed the sea ! " cried Cicely. " It was a noble 
 cataclysm. A little more, and we'd have spilled out our 
 immortal souls." 
 
 " Mine was gone already," said the boy, rather grimly. 
 " Well, Nuts, what now ? It's your turn to get an in- 
 spiration." 
 
 " So it is," said Cicely. " Well, the first one that 
 comes to me is that we might as well leave this flowery 
 bed of ease before we dissolve in the mud, if we can." 
 She stretched her limbs gingerly, and scrambled slowly 
 to her feet, while the boy, on his side of the wagon, did 
 the same. " So far, so good," said she. " Now then, 
 let's consider. Lost in the desert; noon coming on; five 
 miles from luncheon, and a wagon to drag. Have you 
 any money ? " 
 
 " A nice fat cheque-book," grinned the boy. 
 
 " Exactly," said Cicely. " And I've got a nickel in 
 my coat-pocket. Our faces are our fortunes. What do 
 you say to begging from door to door? " 
 
 " Me for the pike ! " replied the boy promptly. " That's 
 a bully idea. You're a credit to your crisis, Nuts." 
 
 "And you're a coadjutor worth having," said Cicely. 
 " Here goes, then. We don't need much make-up; our 
 whole morning has been one steady preparation for this 
 solemn moment." She surveyed herself and her compan- 
 ion in detail, nodding her approval: indeed they were a 
 striking contrast to the aristocratic young couple who had
 
 left the campus at chapel-time - hatless, dishevelled, 
 spattered with black paint and coated with mud from 
 top to toe. " We might add a finishing touch or two, 
 just to make us feel festive/' she decided. " Let's change 
 coats, and put them on inside out; and I want your over- 
 shoes, please ; and you put on the horse-blanket, it's 
 still under the seat. Let me take your knife. Now rub 
 your hands over your face, on your nose, so. Oh, 
 you're perfect! Oh, I wish I could look half as dis- 
 reputable as you ! " 
 
 " You'll do very well, Nuts ! " cried the boy, laughing 
 hilariously. " My eye ! the squirrels would run you out 
 of town. I wish I had your picture ! You look like an 
 insane lady thug, refined, but desperate ! " 
 
 Laughing at each other, they began to plod across the 
 rough field towards the nearest farmhouse. Cicely had 
 tied on the boy's overshoes with string, cut off the finger- 
 tips of her neat gloves, and pinned up her trig skirt here 
 and there so that it hung in disreputable scallops; with 
 his coat turned wrong-side-out and the collar pinned to- 
 gether under her chin, she made a fantastic figure of 
 destitution. The boy, draped in his plaid blanket, with 
 his smudged face peering from under his tousled hair, 
 and his amethyst necktie tied in a bow on the top of his 
 head, looked like the aboriginal ancestor of all ragamuf- 
 fins. They were wildly gay; though each felt that his 
 own laughter rang hollow, each laughed the louder in the 
 hope of deceiving the other and himself. 
 
 " Now," directed Cicely, " I'm going to do the talking, 
 and all you have to do is to look hungry and piteous. 
 Answer ' Yes, kind sir/ or ' God bless you, lady,' if any
 
 IN MUD AND SPLINTERS 209 
 
 one speaks to you; and smack your lips anxiously at 
 regular intervals." 
 
 " You're a great general, Nuts! " said the boy. " I'll 
 back you to provide a Ritz-Carlton spread in two min- 
 utes, or to get the dogs set on us in one. This is the 
 best lark yet ; come, let's hop to it ! " 
 
 At the first house they tried, no one was at home; at 
 the second, a nervous woman, peering out between half- 
 closed shutters, threatened to shoot them for sneak- 
 thieves ; at the third they were informed that there was 
 nothing to eat, and that if there had been it would not 
 be for jail-birds and tramps. They greeted each re- 
 buff with a fresh access of giggles : but a feeling of 
 panic was stealing up on Cicely; the bubble-like ela- 
 tion was wearing away, and she was conscious of the real 
 world crowding close, ready to clutch her. Suddenly she 
 began to run, as if by speed she could escape from 
 fear; and the boy, subtly catching her mood, ran with 
 her. 
 
 The next house was a forlorn affair, set close to the 
 roadside and visibly lacking in shingles and window- 
 panes. They rushed into its straggling path, and, fol- 
 lowing faint sounds of movement, came soon to a little 
 yard at the back. Here a rosy Irishwoman, sleeves 
 rolled up from chapped, brick-red arms, was hanging 
 out an enormous basket of steaming clothes. As the two 
 beggars came to a sudden stop in front of her, she lifted 
 a wide face and greeted them cheerily. 
 
 " Good-day to yez ! " she said. " 'Tis fine weather it 
 is, fer the time o' year ! " 
 
 " Yes, indeed," returned Cicely, surprised back into
 
 210 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 her normal manner by the cheery friendliness of the 
 greeting. " I hope you are enjoying it." 
 
 " Oh, I've no cause to complain," said the woman, 
 flapping a table-cloth into place. " Summer's betther fer 
 dhryin', but winther's the time fer hangin' over the 
 tubs." 
 
 " Do you always wash? " asked Cicely. " The whole 
 year round? " 
 
 " When I've me health," said the woman cheerfully. 
 " There's whiles the rheumatiz gits me, an' I have to set 
 an' take me batin'; but mostly I do four of 'em a wake, 
 reg'lar. Glory be, there's always washin' a-plenty." 
 
 "Do you like it?" inquired Cicely, interested in this 
 new method of keeping boredom at bay. 
 
 " I like to see me childhren ate," said the woman 
 laconically. Then, with a shake of her broad shoulders, 
 " An' what am I doin'," she demanded, " talkin' of atin' 
 to hungry wans like yez, an' niver offerin' yez a bite? 
 Poor lambs ! 'Tis manny a mile ye've thramped since 
 food passed yer lips, I'm thinkin'. An' by the grace o' 
 God we've bread an' pitaties to-day enough fer all that 
 should come, if they wasn't too manny." She wiped 
 her hands on her apron, and turned to go into the house. 
 
 " Oh, no ! " protested Cicely ; and the boy broke in, 
 " Please don't bother ! we don't want anything, 
 truly " 
 
 " Whisht ! " said the woman, with kindly peremptori- 
 ness. "Don't I know what it is to go hungry? Hold 
 yer nonsense, an' shtand there till I come," She bustled 
 into the house, nodding and smiling. 
 
 Cicely and the boy avoided each other's eyes. They
 
 IN MUD AND SPLINTERS 211 
 
 wanted desperately to keep up the pretence of gay ad- 
 venture, and how was it possible in the face of such 
 simple reality as this ? They could not even laugh, but 
 stood tongue-tied and uncomfortable, each acutely aware 
 of the other's distress. 
 
 In a moment the woman reappeared, bearing two great 
 slabs of bread and two cold boiled potatoes. Her broad 
 face beamed with pleasure. " There ! " she said. 
 " Take it an' welcome ! Thank God the time's past when 
 I can't give food to the hungry. No, I say take it! It 
 only manes a thrifle less of pitaties at dinner, an' we've 
 that much bread it's shouldherin' us out o' the house. 
 It'll nourish me jest to think o' yez wid somethin' inside 
 ye. What good would me food do me if I niver shared 
 it?" 
 
 The fine sincerity of her giving silenced their pro- 
 testations, and made them accept her bounty humbly. 
 Cicely, on first impulse, had unfastened a jewelled brooch 
 to offer in return, but a finer instinct prompted her not 
 to affront this gracious hospitality, and she gave only 
 thanks. They took their food, and slipped away in 
 shamed silence. 
 
 Now the bubble of false mirth was broken for good 
 and all. Neither of them could talk, and as for the 
 springs of laughter, they were dried. Presently the boy 
 stopped in the middle of the road, took off the ridiculous 
 blanket, and flung it into the bushes. 
 
 "What's the use!" he said. "The jig's up. It's 
 time to pay the piper." 
 
 Cicely, with a smothered sob, knelt by the wayside and 
 crumbled the food where she hoped the birds might
 
 212 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 garner it. In silence, and without a gleam of mirth, 
 they undid the silly preparations for their prank, and 
 resumed as nearly as possible their daily semblance. 
 Then, speechlessly and drearily, they trudged side by 
 side the long miles back to the town. 
 
 When Cicely returned, weary in mind and body, to the 
 little red house, she found Roger just upon the point of 
 leaving it. He stared in astonishment at her pallor 
 and disarray; he had supposed her at some luncheon 
 party in festal raiment. 
 
 " Where have you been ? " he asked. 
 
 " In the country," said Cicely ; adding defiantly, as a 
 flash of her morning's spirit shot up again, " with Mr. 
 Maddox." 
 
 Roger's face darkened, but he spoke as quietly as usual. 
 " Has Maddox returned ? " he asked. 
 
 " Certainly ; with me," said Cicely. 
 
 " That's fortunate," said Roger, and moved towards 
 the door. 
 
 "Why?" asked Cicely sharply. 
 
 " Because he's wanted at a meeting of the Discipline 
 Committee," said Roger. " You've seen your last of 
 Maddox, I fancy, in Cheltenham." He went out, clos- 
 ing the door quickly. 
 
 Cicely, struck by his tone, forced herself to reflect. 
 The Discipline Committee met only when there was a 
 question of expulsion to be considered; the boy was then 
 in a situation even more dangerous than he had told her. 
 If the news of these last pranks reached the committee
 
 IN MUD AND SPLINTERS 213 
 
 before its meeting was over, his doom would be sealed 
 beyond redemption: if not, he might pull through on the 
 strength of his former good record. She saw clearly 
 enough now what she had been too wilfully blind to see in 
 the morning, that but for her he would have never strayed 
 from the path of duty, either now or in those earlier 
 lapses at which Roger had hinted; and with a shock 
 of remorse it came to her that if he were ruined, his 
 ruin would be at her door. 
 
 The thought was a spur to her tired faculties. She 
 glanced at the clock. It was quarter before three; 
 Roger had just gone, the meeting then was at three 
 o'clock; she had fifteen minutes in which to repair to- 
 day's damages. In feverish haste she ran out to the 
 main street, found a cab, and set forth at all the speed 
 her urging could inject into the sleepy horse and 
 lethargic driver. 
 
 However, it is one thing to create a liberal amount of 
 disaster in a brief time, and another thing to repair it 
 in a briefer. She found the plumber well informed of 
 the cause of his misfortune, and brick-red with ill-sup- 
 pressed profanity; the boy had already endeavoured, over 
 the telephone, to placate him with liberal offers of dam- 
 ages, and had only succeeded in infuriating him to the 
 point of going to the Dean in person with his complaint; 
 and now Cicely's further overtures fanned his rage 
 until he threatened to get a policeman and send both 
 her and the boy to jail. She soon gave him up in despair, 
 and, wringing her hands with impatience, drove to Mrs. 
 de Mullen's ; but here too the news had preceded her, and 
 her card elicited from the English butler the uncomprom-
 
 214 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 ising statement that his mistress was " hout," not even 
 " not at 'ome," a fine distinction in definiteness which 
 Cicely perceived through all her agitation. And the 
 time was passing: the boy's fate was even now being 
 settled; she had led him into trouble, and all avenues of 
 reparation were closed to her. She wrung her hands 
 again. 
 
 Then an idea flashed upon her with the suddenness of 
 an inspiration. She would go to his accusers, and plead 
 his cause in person: she would save him yet! She 
 stopped long enough in front of Mrs. de Mullen's tem- 
 porary abode to pencil a hurried word of confession, and 
 entrusted it to the haughty butler; then, urging her 
 driver to his utmost exertions, she set her face eagerly 
 towards the campus and the scene of the tribunal. 
 
 The Discipline Committee met in the Dean's office, at 
 the end of the old red Executive Building. Cicely 
 knocked on the door with a hand that trembled with ex- 
 citement. Inside, she could hear Roger's voice, speaking 
 steadily in its usual quiet tone: and, with the thought 
 that she had come here to oppose and defy him openly, 
 the elated, unreal feeling of the morning returned upon 
 her. Her fatigue was gone, burned up in a flame of 
 impatient eagerness. She knocked again, unable to bear 
 a moment's delay. 
 
 The Dean himself came to open the door, a tall, spare 
 man, keen-eyed, grey-haired, and severe. He looked at 
 her in astonishment. 
 
 "What can I do for you, Mrs. Ford?" he asked. 
 " Have you lost your way? "
 
 IN MUD AND SPLINTERS 215 
 
 " No, I intended to come here," answered Cicely. 
 " May I come in, please? I have something to say." 
 
 While the Dean stood trying to find polite words for 
 the hesitation that appeared in his face, she slipped 
 quickly past him, and entered the office. It was a large 
 room, panelled in oak, lined with books and files of rec- 
 ords, and lighted by high, unshaded windows; the centre 
 of the floor was filled by a great desk, whose chair the 
 Dean had just vacated, and around which sat seven pre- 
 occupied men. They all turned and stared at Cicely, 
 too much amazed at her intrusion to rise, all except 
 Roger, who started to his feet with a white face, exclaim- 
 ing, " Cicely! What is it? Is anything wrong? " 
 
 Cicely looked them all over with cool and steady eyes, 
 gleaming with defiance. Here were seven strong men 
 met to crush hope and happiness out of one slip of a 
 boy ; and she, no more than a girl herself, the only 
 one to defend him ! Her breast swelled, and she faced 
 them, all soiled and tumbled as she was, like a young 
 Amazon queen. 
 
 " Keep your seats, by all means, gentlemen ! " she 
 said scornfully. " Yes, a great deal is wrong. You are 
 here in your might to judge a boy for a number of little 
 silly deeds charged to him: and I am here to tell you 
 that he did not do them. I did." 
 
 A suppressed exclamation went through the room. 
 Cicely's bright eyes travelled over the faces, and saw 
 Dr. Davidson's grave and troubled, the Dean's startled 
 but sceptical, Dr. Reynolds' ironically alert, the others 
 aghast. She was filled with triumphant satisfaction;
 
 216 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 what a stir she even she, slender and alone, could 
 cause among these learned men ! It was stimulating 
 and delightful. She felt as if she were made of some 
 volatile vapour that could ride on the wings of the wind, 
 could blow in the eyes of these stupid people and blind 
 them, or mock them by sailing away through the win- 
 dow. 
 
 Roger, very white, stood gripping the back of his 
 chair. " You don't mean what you say, Cicely ! " he ex- 
 claimed. " It's a mistake, surely it's a mistake ! " 
 
 "Oh, not at all!" said Cicely. "I'll prove it, if 
 you wish. The plumber's wagon, for instance, you'll 
 find it, in pieces, in a field at the right-hand side of the 
 road, about five miles from town, at the foot of a little 
 hill. And the de Mullens' fence, you've heard about 
 that? Well, here is the design, just as I sketched it." 
 She fished in the pockets of her coat and brought out the 
 envelope the boy had given her, with her drawing on its 
 back. " Any one who wishes can identify the criminal's 
 thumbprints," she added lightly. 
 
 The committee-men moved uncomfortably, intensely ill 
 at ease. Roger's fingers opened and closed on the chair- 
 back, pressing it until their tips were white. Cicely's 
 gleaming eyes challenged the tribunal; and Dr. Reynolds, 
 stirred, as always, into hostile admiration, responded 
 to their challenge. 
 
 " Allow me to examine the evidence, if you please ! " 
 he said, smiling satirically. " This conflict of testimony 
 is interesting." He held out his hand for the letter, and 
 Cicely surrendered it with a fleeting look of surprise. 
 
 " I hardly follow you, Mrs. Ford," said the Dean, in
 
 IN MUD AND SPLINTERS 217 
 
 his dry, deliberate voice. " You say that you are re- 
 sponsible for the transgressions against personal prop- 
 erty committed this morning; but Mr. Maddox has just 
 stated, before us all, that he was the perpetrator." 
 
 " That's a mistake," said Cicely quickly. " I painted 
 on Mrs. de Mullen's fence, and I stole the plumber's 
 wagon. I want that clearly understood." 
 
 " It is extremely difficult to understand," returned the 
 Dean, " in view of the exactly contrary statement that 
 has just been made." 
 
 " Nevertheless it is true," insisted Cicely. " I did it." 
 
 " Then how," inquired Dr. Reynolds, holding up the 
 envelope with a caustic smile, " do you account for the 
 fact that this is addressed ' Grant Maddox, Esquire ' ? " 
 
 Cicely flushed a shade deeper with anger. " It is Mr. 
 Maddox' property, to be sure," she answered, " but I 
 happened to have it in my possession." 
 
 " Ah ! " said he. " Is it your habit to keep custody 
 of Mr. Maddox' belongings ? " and his sharp glance 
 travelled with daring malice to the little pin which she 
 still wore on the front of her frock. 
 
 The Dean rose brusquely, and opened a door at the 
 back of the room. " Mr. Maddox ! " he said. " Kindly 
 step in here. Mr. Reynolds, with your permission, we 
 will confine ourselves to the matter in hand; it is all that 
 concerns us." 
 
 The boy came quickly through the door of the ante- 
 room. His eyes were bloodshot, and his face sullenly 
 defiant. At sight of Cicely he started and flushed hotly, 
 but said nothing. Dr. Reynolds, very angry at the re- 
 buke he had received, looked on with a sneer. Roger
 
 218 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 glanced from Cicely to the boy with eyes that gleamed 
 startlingly in the haggard whiteness of his face. 
 
 " Mr. Maddox," said the Dean, " I believe you told 
 us that you, and you alone, were responsible for the 
 offences of this morning that have been reported to us? " 
 
 " I did, sir," said the boy quickly. 
 
 " It's not true ! " cried Cicely. 
 
 " One moment, Mrs. Ford," said the Dean, with a 
 slight gesture. " Mr. Maddox, I understood you to say 
 that you were alone when these offences were committed." 
 
 " So I was, sir ! " said the boy steadily. " I stand by 
 what I said." 
 
 " O Boy, how can you ? " exclaimed Cicely. " Why, I 
 was with him Dean Graves Roger Dr. Davidson 
 I was with him from the minute he left the chapel 
 door ! I made him break his appointment I made him 
 paint the fence I I oh, I'm the only one to 
 blame ! Believe me, please believe me ! " 
 
 " Don't, Nuts ! " begged the boy. " I've told them 
 everything that matters; they know it's all my fault. 
 Don't you bother about it; I don't want you to be 
 bothered ! Please don't ! " He moved nearer to her in 
 his earnestness, his brown eyes alight with a devotion 
 which he had no thought of hiding; and now his sullen- 
 ness was all gone, and his face was boyish and sweet. 
 
 The men looked at each other, and looked away in the 
 extreme of embarrassment. 
 
 " This is a peculiar situation," remarked the Dean, 
 red with discomfort, but striving for a facetious manner; 
 he was an intensely conventional man. " This office has 
 often held two people who were trying to evade a fault;
 
 IN MUD AND SPLINTERS 219 
 
 but to see two endeavouring to claim the same one is new 
 to my experience." 
 
 "A very touching moment!" gibed Dr. Reynolds. 
 " Fit material for a poet ! " 
 
 Dr. Davidson leaned forward in his chair, and cleared 
 his throat sharply. " I don't see anything so unusual 
 about this ! " he said, in a voice of excessive cheerfulness. 
 " Two good friends are loyally trying to get each other 
 out of a scrape, that's all. It's very easy to change the 
 complexion of matters a trifle under such circumstances ; 
 often been in the same boat myself. Why need we 
 detain Mrs. Ford any longer? I move we thank her for 
 her trouble, and depute Mr. Ford to take her home; we 
 have a quorum without him." 
 
 " Well said, Mr. Davidson ! " said the Dean, with 
 obvious relief. "If all are in favour, let us act on this 
 suggestion. No objections? Mrs. Ford, we thank you; 
 Mr. Ford, we release you from further attendance. 
 After all, gentlemen, to-day's happenings hardly matter; 
 we have enough material of an earlier date to proceed 
 upon." 
 
 Roger, his forehead beaded with perspiration, sprang 
 forward with an eagerness which showed the intensity of 
 his suffering. " Thank you, Dean Graves ! Thank you, 
 Dr. Davidson ! " he said. " Let's go, Cicely." 
 
 But Cicely was looking around her with fiercely shining 
 eyes. She knew well enough that she was being packed 
 off to save a difficult situation, and was hot with anger; 
 Roger's eagerness added fuel to the flame, and Dr. 
 Reynolds' malicious smile maddened her. On top of all 
 came the Dean's sinister allusion to the boy's probable
 
 220 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 fate, and the hungry eyes of the boy himself fixed on 
 her face, wakening the mbther-instinct of defence within 
 her. 
 
 " I will not go/' she cried vehemently, " and leave this 
 boy to shoulder blame that belongs to me! I will speak 
 the truth, however you make eyes at each other! I am 
 to blame, I alone. I was at the bottom of all that he did 
 this morning; and whatever he did before, I don't know 
 what it was, he would have done none of it but for me. 
 I am the only one responsible. Did he ever get into 
 trouble before these last two months ? No, you have 
 to say it, never until he met me. I tell you I am to 
 blame for it all. I have been his bad spirit his how 
 do you say it evil genius ? I " 
 
 " Nuts ! " interrupted the boy, seizing her hand. 
 " Stop it ! I won't have it ! You, to talk like this ! 
 Why, it's absurd, it's preposterous ! You why, you're 
 an angel! You're all that is beautiful." 
 
 " This is very interesting," said the Dean, twisting his 
 long dry body in misery at the obvious imminence of a 
 scandal, " but really, Mrs. Ford, really, I think it is 
 beside our issue. We have to deal with Mr. Maddox 
 on grounds in which you could not possibly be concerned, 
 grounds quite unfit for a lady's consideration. I must 
 ask you, I think I really must ask you " 
 
 " Cicely ! " said Roger, in a voice that made them all 
 start, " are you coming with me? " 
 
 Cicely stared slowly around the tribunal. The faces of 
 the kindly older men, all gentlemen, all scholars, all 
 good friends, were turned away from her in constrained 
 distress. Dr. Reynolds alone looked at her, with an open
 
 IN MUD AND SPLINTERS 221 
 
 sneer on his handsome features. The boy had gone to 
 the window, and stood staring out in blank despair. 
 Roger, his face like marble, compelled her with his blaz- 
 ing eyes. 
 
 " Oh, what a waste of breath ! " she cried desperately. 
 " You're all deaf when I speak. Very well, I'll be dumb. 
 Good-bye, Boy; they're all against us. Good-bye; I'll 
 
 The campus was full of people. Cicely seared Roger 
 with the flame of her look, but could not speak to him; 
 and he kept his eyes straight in front of him, afraid to 
 trust them to meet hers. So, silent except when the 
 passing of some friend forced a greeting from them, they 
 marched starkly side by side, armed enemies, back to the 
 little house where so lately they had been laughing 
 lovers. 
 
 Once inside the door, Cicely turned upon him in a 
 blaze of passion which scorched her from head to foot. 
 " Do you call yourself my husband? " she flashed at him. 
 
 Roger faced her, trembling with an excitement no less 
 violent than hers. " I thought I did," he answered be- 
 tween his teeth, " but the manner of your wifehood makes 
 me doubt it." 
 
 " And you promised promised at the altar to 
 cherish and protect me ! " she cried. " Have you a dic- 
 tionary of your own ? did you mean ' bully ' and ' insult ' 
 when you said it? " 
 
 " And you," answered Roger, white-hot, " when I 
 wished you not to say ' obey,' you told me that, marry-
 
 ing me, it would be your joy to say it. I have had a 
 superb demonstration of your joyful obedience, when 
 you set aside my warnings and my wishes, and flout my 
 friends, and drag my name in the gutter that is your 
 method of ' obeying,' I suppose ! " 
 
 " And this is your method of enforcing obedience ! " 
 blazed Cicely; and seizing a light stick from the stand 
 beside her, she thrust it into Roger's hands. " Beat 
 me ! beat me ! " she cried wildly. " Break me, if you can ! 
 Then our marriage will be complete, you can ' love and 
 cherish ' in your own fashion, and I will be forced to 
 ' obey ' ! " 
 
 There was a snapping, crackling sound, and the stick 
 fell in two pieces to the floor. Roger, turning violently, 
 began to grope blindly for the door-handle. " Keep 
 away from me, Cicely," he said in a hoarse voice. " If I 
 touch you now, I shall kill you." He fumbled for a 
 minute with the latch, wrenched it open, and banged the 
 door shut behind him. 
 
 Cicely, hands clenched and eyes distended, stood star- 
 ing at the splintered pieces of the stick at her feet; 
 and suddenly they looked, to her dazed vision, as if they 
 bled, like two pieces of a life that had once been whole. 
 
 " And this is love," she said aloud, slowly.
 
 IX 
 
 THE END OF THE WORLD 
 
 AFTER what seemed an eternity, Cicely lifted herself 
 from the couch in the drawing-room and gazed about her. 
 The terrible storm of emotion that had torn her spirit 
 to shreds since she parted from Roger in the hall, the 
 tortured rage, the wild revolt, the passion of weeping, 
 had passed; now, exhausted, and reduced to the state 
 where all emotion seemed one dull, illimitable ache, she 
 tried to face reality. She felt as if she were awakening 
 from a dream of unimaginable horrors, to a world turned 
 upside-down and emptied of all that she had known it 
 by. " I must think, I must think," she kept saying to 
 herself; and yet, in the great surrounding void of de- 
 spair, there seemed nothing to think about. 
 
 All around her in the quiet room, still fragrant with 
 the ghosts of dead kisses, were the ruins of her life. 
 She looked from one accustomed object to another. 
 There, in the corner, was the high-backed chair which 
 Roger had twined with roses for her birthday; she re- 
 membered how he had made her sit in it, and had filled 
 her hands with roses, and said she was the rose of the 
 world. And there was the piano he had given her so 
 proudly, to whose accompaniment she had so often sung 
 
 223
 
 224 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 him almost to tears ; once, leaning over it, he had told her 
 that all the morning stars singing together could not 
 make such music as hers. Even the little humble foot- 
 stool had its memory; when he had first got it, at her 
 request, he had brought it to her himself, and had set 
 her foot upon it and kissed the little satin shoe, saying 
 that he wished he could be the footstool for such precious 
 feet. Such dear words, so trivial and sweet, so unre- 
 garded ! And now the lips that had seemed made only 
 for kisses had learned to open for insults: marriage had 
 been desecrated, holy love profaned. " Oh, Roger, 
 Roger ! " she cried out suddenly. " Oh, we loved each 
 other so and now now ! O Roger love, sweet 
 love your love dead, dead, dead ! " 
 
 Well, now that her eyes were opened to the truth, 
 there was but one thing to do. Love was dead between 
 them? Then their life together was done. She had all 
 the fierce instinctive purity of women, antedating man- 
 made laws of marriage and divorce, which revolts from 
 nearness of the body when nearness of the soul is gone. 
 Since Roger loved her no longer, she could no longer be 
 his wife. She must leave him, she must go away. 
 
 When she had reached her decision, she rose, took one 
 long look about her, and turned away from the little 
 room. Up the twisted stair she climbed blindly (" The 
 last time! the last time! "), and stood in the bedroom to 
 which she had come a bright bride, making ready to 
 leave her husband's home. 
 
 
 No more anger now, no more bitterness; only heart-
 
 END OF THE WORLD 225 
 
 break. " O Roger, Roger ! Oh, I love you so, 
 Roger ! . . . O Roger dearest, dearest how can I 
 go from you? . . ." She took the boy's pin from her 
 gown, and laid it with a little shudder in an empty 
 drawer, where it should touch nothing of hers that Roger 
 had loved. Then, with a feeling of deathly sickness at 
 her heart, she pulled off her wedding ring; if she could 
 possess Roger's love and his home no longer, she could 
 not keep the symbol of wifehood: but as she went to put 
 it away, her courage failed her, and she slipped it on a 
 chain and hung it around her neck ; the gold, touching her 
 warm flesh coldly, made her shiver. She crept into 
 Roger's room, and, kneeling by his bed, kissed his pillow, 
 sobbing softly; how many times had one pillow been 
 enough for both of them, the birds singing in the early, 
 early morning, her head upon his heart ! . . . She 
 hurried downstairs, afraid that if she did not go quickly 
 she could not go at all. The door of Roger's study stood 
 open, and his smoking-coat, the coat he wore when he 
 was working, lay upon his chair. She had not meant to 
 stop again, but the coat, the dear old workaday coat 
 was Roger himself! She slipped into the room and 
 pressed her face against it, and the tears were wet and 
 salt between her lips and the rough cloth. " Good-bye, 
 Badger, my Badger ! " she sobbed. 
 
 In the hall Hitty met her. " Ther's a young man 
 here " she began; then stopped, shocked by Cicely's 
 pale, wet face. Her eyes travelled slowly over the long 
 dark coat and the hand-bag, and back to the wan, weep- 
 ing face again. " You you goin' away ? " she stam- 
 mered.
 
 226 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 " Yes, Hitty/' said Cicely in a breaking voice. " I'm 
 going away." 
 
 " For long? " asked Hitty, growing pale herself with 
 some nameless anxiety. 
 
 " For very long! " said Cicely with a sob. " O Hitty 
 for always ! " 
 
 " Good land ! " said Hitty ; and stood speechless, her 
 fingers working convulsively at her apron, her face very 
 white. 
 
 " Good-bye," said Cicely, starting towards the door. 
 She was cold now from head to foot, and moved numbly. 
 " I must go quickly, Hitty." 
 
 Hitty put out a hard hand and touched her sleeve. 
 " Don't ye go, Mis' Ford ! " she said huskily. " Stay a 
 spell. Don't ye go." 
 
 " I must," repeated Cicely. " Good-bye. O Hitty 
 good-bye good-bye " 
 
 Hitty leaned forward with a dry, choking sob, and 
 kissed Cicely's wet cheek. " Good-bye, then," she said. 
 " The Lord keep ye." 
 
 Cicely nodded at her with a white and twisted smile, 
 looked once more with tear-blind eyes at the silent rooms 
 of the little house, and closed the outer door behind 
 her. 
 
 Outside, the fog that comes from melting snow hung 
 thick and wet upon the twilight air. The two sentinel 
 trees were cloaked with it, and the dead stalks where the 
 flowers had been were beaded close. In the midst of 
 the little lawn stood a dark figure, which Cicely, all
 
 END OF THE WORLD 227 
 
 blinded as she was, would have passed unseeing; but at 
 the noise of the closing door it turned, and disclosed the 
 haggard face of the boy. 
 
 " Xuts ! " he said, hurrying to her. " I wouldn't come 
 in, because I thought your your husband might not like 
 to have me. It's fine of you to see me here. Why, 
 Xuts! You look " He broke off abruptly, staring at 
 her altered face. 
 
 Cicely wiped the tears from her eyes, and met his gaze. 
 He too was strangely changed from his old debonair self; 
 his eyes were hollow, his face drawn and weary. In 
 him, as in her, you might have searched endlessly with- 
 out finding a trace of the morning's madcap gaiety. The 
 game was played out, and the wild fire had died. 
 
 " I'm going away, Pancakes," said Cicely. 
 
 " For a long time, Nuts ? " asked the boy, as Hitty 
 had done, but without surprise. 
 
 Cicely nodded dumbly. A voice within her kept say- 
 ing, like the dull ticking of a clock, " Forever, forever, 
 forever." She looked about her, and everything was 
 strange to her eyes, the thick, shrouding fog, the dim 
 light, the haggard boy, Hitty's white face gazing from 
 the window, all strange and dreadful, like the feeling 
 of eternal farewell in her heart. 
 
 " Where are you going? " he asked. 
 
 " I don't know," said Cicely. " Anywhere. My life 
 here is over." 
 
 " So is mine," said the boy. " I came to tell you." 
 
 "They've expelled you, then?" she asked listlessly. 
 "It's all finished?" 
 
 " All finished," answered he. " All in vain, Nuts,
 
 228 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 what you did; and I can't thank you; I can never thank 
 you. I'm to go to-morrow, when the Faculty gets through 
 with me. But I won't wait," he added suddenly. 
 " I'll go now, when you go." He took the bag from her 
 hand, and started down the little garden-path. 
 
 Cicely walked beside him, numb and speechless. The 
 little house, with Kitty's face at the window and Roger's 
 dear old coat inside, tugged at her heartstrings, but she 
 would not look back. It was to be done, and she must 
 do it. With death in her heart, she trudged away. 
 
 " I suppose you know about the laboratory money," 
 said the boy, breaking a long silence. 
 
 " Has it gone? " asked Cicely dully. 
 
 " Gone to Yale," said he. " It was announced to-day." 
 
 "I supposed so," said Cicely; adding drearily, half 
 to herself, " That's what my life in Cheltenham has 
 meant, ruin to Roger, ruin to you, ruin to me. 
 Why did I ever come ? " 
 
 " Oh, Nuts ! " said the boy. " What should we have 
 done without you ? " 
 
 " And what have you done with me? " returned Cicely 
 despairingly. " Everything seems to be against me, Boy. 
 Something ruins all that I touch." 
 
 " Don't say that, Nuts ! " protested the boy. " It isn't 
 true." 
 
 " It's true ; it's true," said Cicely. " It all began so 
 well ! and now it's all so wrecked and shattered ! 
 Everything's against me: everything." 
 
 They fell silent again, and trudged on until they came 
 to the end of the little street and the edge of the town. 
 Here, along a pine-bordered highway, ran the long tracks
 
 END OF THE WORLD 229 
 
 of the electric road that gathered all the distant ham- 
 lets of the state together in a shining net. Cicely's eyes 
 followed the black, gleaming rails until they vanished in 
 fog and darkness. " That looks like a long, long road/' 
 she said. " I think I'll let it take me away." 
 
 " Oh, Nuts, must you go? " said the boy. 
 
 " Yes, yes," answered Cicely wearily. " I must. 
 Don't keep me back." 
 
 He set down the bag in the snow and came close to 
 her; and his tired, white face was as young and sweet 
 as a child's; on him, at least, the discipline of these new 
 experiences had not been wasted. His love for her was 
 in his eyes, but now, purged of all his recklessness, it 
 was a boy's love, humble, chivalrous, ethereal. He had 
 no thought of opposing her will, or of regarding this mo- 
 ment in any light but that of an inevitable farewell. For 
 a long while they gazed in silence at each other, with 
 great eyes made tragic by the terrible eternalness of the 
 sorrow of youth. 
 
 Then, in the distance, the car whistled, curving around 
 the town on its way to where they stood. Cicely stirred, 
 and gave the boy her hands. 
 
 " It's coming to take me away, Pancakes," she said. 
 
 The boy lifted the hands to his lips, kissing the rough 
 little gloves. 
 
 " Good-bye, Nuts," he said in a smothered voice. 
 " Good-bye." 
 
 Something in their position, and in their isolation 
 there beneath the trees, brought again to Cicely a 
 memory of the day when they had first met in the 
 woods, and she gave him a sad little smile. " You said
 
 230 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 you'd never kiss me again until I gave you permission, 
 Pancakes/' she said. " I give it now." She raised her 
 lips to him, pure and sisterly cold. 
 
 His lips met them as purely and coldly. " O Nuts, 
 you know I love you," he said brokenly. 
 
 " I know," said Cicely. " Good-bye." 
 
 Around the curve of the road the car, whistling, bore 
 down upon them; their hands pressed again and sepa- 
 rated. In silence he helped her aboard; and stood back, 
 watching, with blurred eyes, the slow movement of the 
 wheels that were to take her from him. 
 
 Cicely pressed her cheek against the window. The 
 spires of Cheltenham were shrouded thick in mist; the 
 boy's face stood white and tragic against the dark pines ; 
 the little red house, with Roger's coat inside it, was hid- 
 den from her sight. A stab of agony pierced through and 
 through her weary spirit. " Have I finished with life, 
 so soon?" she asked herself; and the wheels, beginning 
 to revolve, took up the pitiless answer, " Forever . . . 
 forever . . . forever." 
 
 And now the end of the world had come indeed.
 
 WAIF S ASYLUM 
 
 IN the early winter morning, Cicely, huddled on a boulder 
 in a sloping meadow, gazed at the checkered fields and 
 sleepy farm-house spread out before her. Fresh snow 
 had fallen during the night, and lay thick and soft on 
 the ground and on the black branches of the trees; the 
 house was frosted like a cake, the world was white and 
 sparkling. It Avas different, amazingly different from 
 the soiled and shrouded world she had left behind: there 
 all was turbid, feverish misery; here, all cold, white 
 peace. She thought apathetically of the march of emo- 
 tions that had passed over her since yesterday, of the 
 dreary, heart-sick journey, with the car plunging through 
 dark, deserted roads, and the wheels grinding their re- 
 frain into her soul; of the strangely desolate moment 
 when she had been told that she could go no farther, and 
 had clambered out alone, she, so cherished, so lapped 
 in warmth and tenderness ! into the empty midnight 
 streets ; of her shame and helpless anger when, with un- 
 disguised insolence, they had refused her admittance at 
 the chief inn of the town ; of the shuddering, despairing 
 night she had finally passed at a dingier and less scrupu- 
 lous hostelry. Already these experiences seemed long 
 past and far away: and the passions and tears and 
 
 231
 
 232 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 despairs of the Cheltenham days had retreated into a 
 distance too dim for fathoming. As she huddled there 
 in the midst of the clean, white coldness, her heart seemed 
 frozen into an insensibility as bleak and chill as the 
 snow. 
 
 Life had been stirring for some time in the drowsy 
 farm-house, a curl of smoke at the chimney, a hand at 
 the window letting in the light, and now, of a sudden, 
 it burst into the full activity of day. Figures came forth, 
 and moved about the barnyard; there were voices of ani- 
 mals clamouring eager greetings, and the sound of happy 
 whistling. Cicely stirred and shivered. Down there 
 they were all alive, cheery, full of blithe companionship: 
 and she was so alone, so cold! Unconsciously, with- 
 out being aware of any intention, she rose and moved 
 down the snowy slope, to be a little nearer that human 
 life and warmth. 
 
 At the edge of the barnyard she stopped, jerked sud- 
 denly back to self-consciousness. She did not want to 
 meet strange men and women, she, whose spirit was so 
 bruised that it could not bear its own glance ! For a 
 moment she thought of running away; and yet she had 
 not the courage to go back to her snowy solitude. She 
 hung undecided on the outskirts of the cheerful activity, 
 watching the greedy chickens pecking at their morn- 
 ing meal, listening to the mooing of cows and the stamp 
 of horses' feet from the neighbouring barns ; and while 
 she lingered, the back door of the farm-house opened, and 
 a woman stood upon the threshold, smiling out at the 
 clean white morning. 
 
 She was a large, spare woman, with a middle-aged face
 
 WAIF'S ASYLUM 233 
 
 moulded in lines of tolerance and tenderness, and with 
 capable, work-hardened hands. Singing cheerfully to 
 herself, she shook out a gay red table-cloth; and as she 
 sang and shook her eyes travelled brightly from point 
 to point of the scene before her as if in affectionate greet- 
 ing of a well-loved friend. In a moment they fell upon 
 Cicely (standing half-hidden behind a wood-pile, uncer- 
 tain whether to run or stay), and she dropped her hands 
 with an exclamation of surprise. 
 
 " My soul an' body ! " she said. " Who're you, dear? " 
 
 Cicely stopped in the act of turning for flight, stayed 
 by the motherly kindness of the face and voice. "I 
 I don't want to trespass," she faltered. " I just stopped 
 to to rest a minute I was tired " 
 
 " Poor child ! " said the woman, crossing the yard with 
 the table-cloth gathered up on her arm. " Tired ! an' 
 hungry too, I'll bet a cookie. Ain't ye hungry, dear? " 
 
 " I don't know, I haven't thought, " said Cicely un- 
 certainly, " it doesn't matter, anyway. I'm just go- 
 ing." 
 
 " Goin' ! No, that you ain't ! " said the woman, with 
 kindly peremptoriness. " Yo're comin' in to set a spell, 
 that's what. Ye look as white's a sody-cracker. Come 
 right along with me, right this way." She took Cicely's 
 arm, and led her back across the dooryard and into the 
 house. 
 
 Cicely, to her own surprise, went submissively. A mo- 
 ment ago every fibre of her shrank from the thought of 
 contact with her fellow-men, but this woman's motherly 
 kindness drew her with a power she could not disobey. 
 From the depths of the big rocking-chair where she found
 
 234 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 h)erself installed she looked vaguely about the cosy 
 kitchen, and up into the friendly face. " Thank you/' 
 she said faintly. " It's nice to be here." 
 
 The woman patted her shoulder with a smile. " You 
 jest set still," she said, " an' we'll see if we can't make 
 ye feel a little nicer yet." She bustled capably about 
 the big stove, and very soon the odours of steaming coffee, 
 fresh toast and crisp bacon began to float seductively 
 through the room. The woman smiled to herself as she 
 worked, glancing at Cicely from time to time. In a few 
 moments, with a beaming face of hospitality, she spread 
 a napkin on the corner of the table, laid the fragrant 
 viands upon it, and invited her guest to " Drore up." 
 
 Cicely had paid no attention to the preparations, be- 
 yond reflecting apathetically that a kitchen was a pleas- 
 anter place than she had supposed; but now, face to face 
 with the food and the invitation, she started, and sniffed 
 daintily. " Why," she exclaimed, " I do believe I want 
 something to eat ! " 
 
 The woman laughed delightedly, and, seating her at 
 the table, plied her with the good food. Cicely ate with 
 growing appetite; it was many hours since she had 
 thought of nourishment, and she was sorely in need of 
 it. The woman watched her closely, and, seeing the faint 
 colour steal back to the white cheeks and lips, glowed with 
 pleasure. "Eat, dear, eat!" she kept urging. "Good 
 victuals never harmed anybody, saint nor sinner. Come, 
 one more drop o' coffee ! " 
 
 " No, no, nothing more ! " said Cicely at last, pushing 
 back her chair. " Why, I haven't eaten so much since 
 since I grew up, I believe."
 
 WAIF'S ASYLUM 235 
 
 " That ain't so very long ago, neither ! " said the 
 woman, smiling at her as she gathered up the dishes. 
 " Now, what'd ye say to a mite o' rest? There's a sofy 
 in the settin'-room where ye can cuddle down snug's a 
 mouse. Wun't ye try it? " 
 
 " Oh, no ! " exclaimed Cicely. " I must be going ! 
 I've stayed too long now." She started up, looking about 
 her uneasily. 
 
 " Now, jest wait a minute," said the woman, laying a 
 detaining hand on her arm. " There ain't any cars out 
 o' town till the even hour. Which way ye goin' ? " 
 
 " To to " stammered Cicely, wholly at a loss, 
 for she had not the least idea where she was, having 
 neither asked a question nor made a plan in her head- 
 long flight, " why, to New York." 
 
 " N'York ! " said the woman. " N'York by the way 
 o' t his neighbourhood ! Why, where'd ye come from ? " 
 
 " From Cheltenham," faltered Cicely. 
 
 " Good land alive ! " exclaimed the woman. " Why, 
 yo're half as far again from N'York as you was in 
 Cheltenham ! Did ye take the wrong car, dear ? " 
 
 "I I suppose so," said Cicely. " I didn't exactly 
 know where I was going." 
 
 The woman looked at her keenly. " Folks expectin' 
 ye ? " she asked. 
 
 " No that is, yes I I mean I haven't quite de- 
 cided who I'm going to see," said Cicely, floundering 
 more and more. 
 
 " An' what about the fam'ly ? " pursued the other, 
 gently inexorable. " Wun't mother be lookin' for ye ? 
 Wun't they be anxious to home? "
 
 236 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 Cicely's feeble defences broke down. These moments 
 of comfort and kindness had melted away the numb chill 
 from her heart, and, with a sudden great rush of mis- 
 ery, she realised her desolation. " Oh ! " she cried, a sob 
 swelling in her throat, " oh, nobody cares ! I haven't any 
 mother, nor nor any home. Nobody expects me, no- 
 body wants to see me. I'm all, all alone! " 
 
 The woman nodded. " There, there, dear ! " she said, 
 patting Cicely's hand. " I knowed ye'd run away the 
 minute I see ye, young an' pretty as you be, wanderin' 
 round in the snow in them clo'es. How was it, dearie 
 stepmother? " 
 
 " No," said Cicely, her breath catching. " Worse than 
 that. Much, much worse. I I can't tell about it." 
 
 "Ye couldn't think o' goin' back?" suggested the 
 woman gently. 
 
 " Oh, no, no! " cried Cicely, starting up with dilated 
 eyes. " I must go away I can never go back. Good- 
 bye and thank you and let me go, please ! " She 
 was on her feet, trying to loosen the kind hand, and 
 straining towards the door. 
 
 The woman, rising too, took her firmly by both shoul- 
 ders, and pushed her back into the chair. " You set 
 there," she said. " Now, take off yore hat an' coat, an' 
 give 'em to me. Will ye lay down in the settin'-room, 
 or would ye ruther go up to yer own room an' rest? " 
 
 "But but " faltered Cicely, "I'm going I'm 
 going away " 
 
 " Yo're goin' to stay right here, that's what yo're 
 goin' to do," said the woman, with decision. " D'ye 
 think I'll let ye go ramblin' off over the face o' the earth
 
 WAIF'S ASYLUM 237 
 
 alone, a child like you? You stay with me a spell, dear, 
 an' keep me comp'ny. I hed a daughter somethin' like 
 you once," she added softly, " but I couldn't keep her." 
 
 The loving-kindness of the tone brought the tears 
 crowding to Cicely's eyes. She laid her head against the 
 high back of the chair, and cried softly and heart-brok- 
 enly. " Oh, what shall I do ! " she sobbed. " I've no- 
 where to go nobody to turn to " 
 
 " There, there, dearie," said the woman, smoothing 
 her hair tenderly, " ye've got me. I'll take care o' ye." 
 
 " If I could stay just a little, little while " sobbed 
 Cicely, " just until I get brave and and don't need 
 to be loved " 
 
 The woman's eyes filled. " You stay with me, dear," 
 she said, " an' I'll I'll love ye." 
 
 Cicely caught her hand, with a great quivering sigh. 
 " I'll stay, " she said, " oh, if you'll love me ! " And, 
 holding the kind hand tight, she sobbed herself away 
 into exhausted sleep. 
 
 The woman stood by her, untiring and patient, strok- 
 ing the soft hair. " Poor lamb ! " she said under her 
 breath. " Poor little lost lamb ! " 
 
 So it came about that Cicely, the unthoughtful and im- 
 provident, was thought for and provided for as always. 
 That she should find a home so soon was in the nature of 
 a fortunate and peculiarly apposite miracle, for she had 
 come away with no store but the little money that 
 chanced to be in her purse and the few garments in 
 her hand-bag, and, being totally unfit for self-help of
 
 238 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 any kind, must either have greatly suffered or promptly 
 starved. However, she gave, as usual, little thought to 
 her good fortune. These bare necessities of food, shelter 
 and kindness had been hers too continually, too inevitably, 
 to be matters for wonder or thankfulness; she accepted 
 them without question, and repaid them only by the habit- 
 ual careless sweetness of her manner. 
 
 For the rest, her trouble absorbed her entirely. She 
 was too bruised by pain to be aware of anything but her 
 own sick, suffering spirit. 
 
 Her sudden advent in this place, like a meteor dropped 
 from the sky, was accepted with surprisingly little stir. 
 Probably the farmer's wife, seeing her visitor's terrified 
 shrinking from questions, had warned her little world that 
 the visit must be taken as a matter of course ; at all events, 
 no one exclaimed over Cicely, and every one seemed 
 ready to give her the peace and immunity she craved. 
 The woman herself, though her glances hung with tender 
 yearning on the bright head and pale face, had adopted 
 a cheerful matter-of-fact demeanour that calmed Cicely 
 immeasurably, even while she hardly perceived it; the 
 farmer treated her with good-natured, half-quizzical re- 
 spect; and the farm-hands, who slept away from the 
 house and only appeared briefly at meals, were cowed 
 by her presence into dumb voracity. She had given the 
 name of her girlhood, Cicely Cameron; the, farmer's wife 
 promptly adopted a motherly " Cicely," the farmer called 
 her " Miss," and the men called her nothing at all, ex- 
 cept an occasional mumbled " Pass the butter, please." 
 So Mrs. Roger Ford slipped quietly out of sight, and 
 Cicely was born again into life in its simplest form.
 
 XI 
 
 THE UNKNOWN LAND 
 
 IF Cicely had been minded for it, there was matter of 
 absorbing interest in her new surroundings. The refuge 
 upon which she had stumbled was a dairy-farm on the 
 outskirts of the village of Stowe; a smoothly rolling coun- 
 try, green and luxuriant in summer, and now, at the end 
 of winter, already black with the promise of coming 
 fertility. Her hosts, John and Martha Gibson, were the 
 finest fruit of that vintage that grows sanely and whole- 
 somely near the soil, under the open sky, he, shrewd, 
 humorous and big-hearted; she all capability and all 
 kindness. Their neighbours were, in differing degrees, 
 like themselves: some were harsher, some less vigorously 
 full of character, many sharper of tongue and duller of 
 feeling; but all were sturdy and genuine, and all full- 
 flavoured with the rich sincerity that is born of Mother 
 Earth. 
 
 Life at the farm was a constant bustle of activity, end- 
 ing only with the ending of the day, and resumed again 
 promptly at sunrise. As soon as clothes were on and 
 fires glowing, John Gibson and the " hands " went to the 
 barns to feed the clamouring stock, and Martha made 
 ready the substantial dinner that was served three times 
 a day under different names. Presently the men returned 
 
 239
 
 240 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 from the long cow-barn with the warm and frothing pail- 
 f uls of milk : then they all gathered in the dairy, where, on 
 a zinc-covered table with a trench of running water down 
 its middle, the bottles stood winking in the light; the men 
 poured the swashing milk into a metal trough suspended 
 above the trench, and it ran in a foaming white stream into 
 the bottles that John pushed in quick succession under the 
 outlet ; and Martha took her stand at the end of the table, 
 and fitted in the pasteboard stoppers with a dexterity 
 born of long practice. Then came the dinner-breakfast, 
 set upon the table while the men performed rapid ablu- 
 tions in the little anteroom known as " the summer 
 kitchin " : and when that was finished, one of the men 
 drove off to town with the load of full white bottles, 
 John and the other man departed on various concerns of 
 flock and field, and Martha busied herself with the mound 
 of breakfast dishes. Then, while the men worked out-of- 
 doors, there was the kitchen to scrub, the bedrooms to set 
 in order, and baking, sweeping or washing to do; and 
 then there was food to prepare again before the hungry 
 men returned, and another mound of dishes to wash. 
 Even when, late in the day, the men rested a while and 
 communed with comfortable pipes, Martha sat by a pile 
 of mending and stitched patiently and steadily. And 
 presently came the evening milking and feeding and 
 bottle-washing, and supper to get, and more dishes. 
 
 In the midst of all this industry Cicely sat inert and 
 inactive, looking on with apathetic eyes. She had no 
 imagination left, and the butterfly curiosity which had 
 made her hover in eager interest over the strange new 
 life of Cheltenham had been broken on the wheel of
 
 THE UNKNOWN LAND 241 
 
 immanent suffering. While she rocked in her deep chair 
 by the window, and listlessly watched the brisk, unceas- 
 ing movements of Mrs. Gibson, her mind never stirred 
 out of its own self-bounded limits. She answered when 
 she was directly addressed, and ate when she was suffi- 
 ciently coaxed; and all the rest of the time she sat with- 
 drawn into a wilderness of desolation and despair, be- 
 yond the reach of human comfort. The end of the world 
 had come, her life was ended ; what care had she for 
 busy farmers and busy wives and the interminable fussy 
 emptiness of other people's interests? 
 
 Yet, with all her self-absorption, the loving companion- 
 ship of the farmer's wife entered little by little into her 
 consciousness, and soothed her unawares. She grew ac- 
 customed to the cheerful presence, and drew healing from 
 the unfailing tenderness, of her protector; and in the 
 long hours of speechless companionship (for the older 
 woman had the gift, rare in her sex, of rich and sym- 
 pathetic silence), her bruised spirit stirred and stretched 
 itself. She turned to Mrs. Gibson as a child turns to 
 an over-unselfish mother who never refuses its demands; 
 and the unquestioning selfishness that marked her still 
 for a child reawakened in her. 
 
 " Don't go upstairs, Mrs. Gibson," she said one day, 
 as that busy woman, broom in hand, turned from the 
 newly-scrubbed kitchen to the stairway. 
 
 " I've got to, dear," said Mrs. Gibson. " This is the 
 day for sweepin' the bedrooms." 
 
 " But I don't want you to ! " said Cicely. " I want 
 you to stay here with me." 
 
 Mrs. Gibson hesitated, trying to be judiciously firm;
 
 242 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 but Cicely's face was white and piteous, and the tempta- 
 tion to spoil her was too strong. " Well," she said, " I 
 s'pose I could mend now, an' sweep while yo're layin' 
 down this afternoon." She struggled a moment with her 
 housewifely sense of fitness, and then laid aside her 
 broom and got her work-basket. 
 
 Cicely watched listlessly, her white hands folded in 
 her lap. " You work all the time, Mrs. Gibson," she 
 remarked. 
 
 " Why, o' course ! " said Mrs. Gibson, threading her 
 needle. " How'd the work get done, if I didn't? " 
 
 " But don't you get tired? ' asked Cicely, vaguely in- 
 terested. 
 
 " Why, yes, I get tired," said the woman, " but land, 
 I'd get a sight tireder if I didn't work. What'd I do 
 with myself then? " 
 
 " Oh, make calls, play cards, " said Cicely, " all 
 the things that people do who don't work." 
 
 " My soul, I sh'd die in my tracks ! " said Mrs. Gibson 
 emphatically. " Workin's half my life, half the happi- 
 ness of it, I mean." 
 
 "What is the other half? " asked Cicely, a dim curi- 
 osity awakening in her. 
 
 " Lovin'," answered the woman, her matter-of-fact 
 voice softening. " Workin' an' lovin'. The way I look 
 at it, that's happiness. Work with the folks ye love, if 
 ye can; love the folks ye work for, if it falls out that 
 way ; but love somebody, an' work at somethin', that's 
 the best rule I know to reg'late life by. You think about 
 it a little while, dear, an' see if it ain't sense." 
 
 "Working and loving!" repeated Cicely. "What a
 
 THE UNKNOWN LAND 243 
 
 queer combination ! " She tried to comprehend it for a 
 moment, turning it over dully in her aching mind. But 
 the idea of work was so foreign to her horizon that she 
 could find no place for it; and upon love, now tjhat she 
 was bereft of the only love she wanted, she could not 
 bear to think. She shivered, and, turning away from 
 the subject, stared drearily out of the window into the 
 bleak winter-bound world. 
 
 The farmer's wife glanced at her with keen and loving 
 eyes, and saw the darkness of self-centred brooding fall 
 again over the momentarily lighted face. She sighed 
 quietly. " She wun't try to think about it," she remarked 
 to herself. " Well, it's no use talkin' about plantin' in a 
 field that ain't ben ploughed. But who's goin' to do 
 the ploughin'? " 
 
 " Mother," said the farmer one morning, coming into 
 the kitchen with a basket of apples, " ther's jest these 
 few Baldwins left, an' they look to me as if they wa'n't 
 long for this world. What'd ye say to convertin' 'em 
 into pies ? " 
 
 "I'd say they couldn't come to a better end!" said 
 Mrs. Gibson cheerfully. " You sh'll hev some for din- 
 ner this ,very day." 
 
 " Now if that ain't the kind of a wife to hev, I'd like 
 to know what is ! " said the farmer admiringly. " You 
 pattern after her, Miss, an' you wun't make any mis- 
 take." 
 
 Cicely looked after him, as he tramped off to the barn, 
 with a faint stirring of amusement. What an idea, that
 
 244 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 she could ever be the same kind of wife as this hard- 
 labouring farmer-woman, with the work-worn hands ! 
 The man had no sense of fitness. She glanced from her 
 own dainty, useless person to the capable figure of the 
 farmer's wife, in unconscious comparison: and suddenly, 
 observing the bright content on the older woman's face, 
 she felt a pang of envy. It must be pleasant to be so 
 cheerful. 
 
 " Well," said Mrs. Gibson, straightening her back from 
 the dishpan to bend it again over the basket of apples, 
 " here's one more chore. Land, this is goin' to be a 
 busy day ! " 
 
 " How can you go to work and make those pies, Mrs. 
 Gibson, when you have so much else to do? " asked 
 Cicely, moved by a vaguely jealous discontent. 
 
 " Oh, I c'n manage somehow," said the other cheerily. 
 " O' course I may hev to hustle a little, but it's wuth it. 
 John does like pies so ! " 
 
 Cicely turned her face away sharply. What right had 
 these commonplace farmer-people to love, when there was 
 no love in her own infinitely more precious life? " You'll 
 get tired out," she said. 
 
 " Oh well, ther's some kinds o' tiredness ye'd ruther 
 hev than lack," said Mrs. Gibson, half to herself. 
 
 Cicely was silent, brooding miserably. It seemed there 
 was happiness in the world for everybody but herself: 
 what colossal iniquity ! 
 
 " An' it ain't only that," said the farmer's wife sud- 
 denly, thinking aloud; " when I'm doin' things for John, 
 I get a kind of a feelin' that ye might call mutualness, an' 
 it's a sight o' satisfaction. I'm a-workin' for him in the
 
 THE UNKNOWN LAND 245 
 
 house, an' he's a-workin' for me out-doors, an' we're 
 both a-workin' together for the children an' the farm; 
 an' whatever it is, we both enjoy it, becuz we're doin' it 
 for each other. It's a kind of a partnership, ye see. 
 Yes, that's what marriage is, workin' together in part- 
 nership." 
 
 Cicely stared at her blankly for a minute. " You do 
 have the strangest ideas, Mrs. Gibson ! " she said.
 
 XII 
 
 A CLUE FOR A BLINDFOLD ARIADNE 
 
 " LOOK-YE here, dear," said Mrs. Gibson, " see if I ain't 
 got somethin' pretty to show ye ! " 
 
 Cicely, sitting in her usual place by the window, turned 
 listlessly. "What is it?" she asked. 
 
 " Somethin' for you," said Mrs. Gibson, her face beam- 
 ing with pleasure over the big bundle in her arms. 
 " Guess what." 
 
 " I can't guess," said Cicely apathetically. " Tell 
 me." 
 
 " It's clo'es ! " announced Mrs. Gibson. " You need 
 some every-day ones dreadful bad, wearin' them two 
 beautiful dresses day in an' day out! an' I'm a-goin' 
 to make ye some. I've planned my work so's I c'n sew 
 all mornin'. An' I've got the prettiest stuff to sew on ! 
 jest look at this." She flung back the paper from her 
 package, and delightedly displayed its contents of checked 
 gingham and striped percale. 
 
 " Imagine me," thought Cicely, " dressed in that rat- 
 tling stuff, like a peasant or a servant ! " But her pretty 
 manner was too instinctive to forsake her, and she 
 thanked Mrs. Gibson graciously. That kind soul, glow- 
 ing with satisfaction, busily cleared the table and laid 
 out pattern and scissors and pins; and Cicely turned 
 and stared out of the window again. 
 
 246
 
 A CLUE 247 
 
 Cicely in these days was like a person emerging from 
 anaesthesia. At first she had been too stunned and suffo- 
 cated for conscious sensation; then through the dull 
 horror of pervading misery there had pierced sharp 
 stabs of pain; and then, with complete re-awakening, 
 suddenly she was plunged in such an agony that her spirit 
 seemed to scream aloud within her. How she loved 
 Roger, how she needed him, she had never realised 
 until now that she was cut off from him; it was as if 
 some one had hewed the heart out of her breast, and 
 left the bleeding cavity open. Yet with full conscious- 
 ness came pride: he did not love her; then she did not 
 love him: he had wrecked her life; should she spend 
 herself in suffering for him? For long hours at a time 
 she seared her soul with bitter memories; and when her 
 need of him surged over her in a great whelming flood, 
 she flung up hard defences of rancour and implacability. 
 She was a tortured battle-ground, where emotions warred 
 and struggled all day long. 
 
 " Which'll I begin on, dear, the pink or the blue?" 
 asked Mrs. Gibson. 
 
 " I don't care," answered Cicely. " Yon choose." To 
 herself she was saying, " I don't want Roger ! I don't 
 want him ! I won't think of him; I hate him ! " 
 
 " Well, blue's the prettiest," said Mrs. Gibson reflec- 
 tively, " an' I want ye sh'd hev the prettiest there is." 
 She spread out the stiff fabric, with its prim checker- 
 board of blue and white, and laid the rustling pattern on. 
 " How d'ye like yer ginghams made, shirtwaist V skirt, 
 or all one piece 'n' buttoned down the back ? " she asked. 
 
 " I don't know," said Cicely; " I never had any. (Oh,
 
 248 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 I do hate him! I do! That's the only reason I think 
 of him)." 
 
 " Never hed any! " ejaculated Mrs. Gibson. " Never 
 hed any ginghams ! My land alive ! But there, I 
 said when I found ye'd never seen a Dover egg-beater 
 that I wouldn't be surprised at anythin'. An' I wun't. 
 Only never hed any ginghams! " She paused to 
 regain control of her outraged intelligence, and then 
 asked helplessly, " What in the world did ye wear, 
 mornin's ? " 
 
 " Oh, just clothes, " said Cicely listlessly, " ordinary 
 clothes, like this." She touched her frock of rough- 
 woven crimson silk; and suddenly there came to her with 
 a pang the memory of the day when, wearing it, she had 
 frolicked herself into a crimson glow in some childish 
 romp with Roger, and he had said that she looked like a 
 Jacqueminot rose in a gale. " Why do I think of such 
 things ? " she asked herself angrily. " Why should I 
 care what Roger said? " 
 
 " Good land ! " said Mrs. Gibson. She looked at Cicely 
 in a very despair of bewilderment. " You must 'a' lived 
 a queer life," she said. 
 
 " I did," said Cicely; " but I've done with it." 
 
 The bitterness of her tone made the older woman 
 straighten up and look at her more closely. Sitting there 
 against the window, in the unconscious pathos of her 
 youth, her beauty, and her unhappiness, Cicely was a 
 poignantly appealing picture; and Mrs. Gibson's heart 
 yearned over her foundling. With the practical instinct 
 of a busy woman to manifest emotion in deeds, she looked 
 about for some means of comfort; and, turning naturally
 
 A CLUE 249 
 
 to her own panacea of work, took up some of the material 
 on the table to offer it to Cicely; but just then Cicely, 
 turning away in her chair with a little shivering sigh, 
 folded her hands and laid her cheek upon them with one 
 of those irresistible gestures of helplessness that joined 
 all her world in a conspiracy to keep her helpless. " No, 
 she's nothin' but a baby," decided Mrs. Gibson. " Let 
 her rest." And she bent over her work again. 
 
 Presently the door opened, without warning, after 
 the friendly fashion of the community, and one of the 
 neighbour women walked in. Her name was Susan 
 Briggs, and she lived alone in self-sufficing spinsterhood 
 in a little white house on the road to Stowe. In person 
 she was meagre and brisk, with decided features, and 
 sharp black eyes that were uncomfortably penetrating, 
 though not devoid of a certain severe kindness: in char- 
 acter she was decisive, intolerant, and yet beneficent in 
 her own peremptory way, like some stringent medicine. 
 Cicely had been more aware of her than of any of the 
 people who dimly came and went before her indifferent 
 eyes, not because she cared more for Miss Briggs than 
 for the others, but because that energetic lady's person- 
 ality was too insistent to be ignored even by blindness. 
 
 " Good mornin', folks ! " said Miss Briggs, shutting the 
 door behind her with a firm impact. " I jest run in to 
 borrow a half a cup o' vinegar, if ye can spare it. What 
 you up to, Marthy, on upstairs-sweepin'-day ? My stars ! 
 Baby blue gingham, at yore time o' life ! " 
 
 " This ain't for me ! " said Mrs. Gibson, laughing. 
 " Set down, Susan. I'm a-cuttin' out some dresses for 
 Cicely."
 
 250 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 " Cuttin' out dresses for Cicely ! " repeated Miss 
 Briggs, seating herself by the table. " For the land's 
 sake! Why don't Cicely cut 'em out for herself? " 
 
 Cicely came reluctantly out of her abstraction ; no con- 
 siderations but actual ones could exist in that positive 
 presence. " I can't," she explained. " I don't know 
 how." 
 
 " Goody Gorham! " exclaimed Susan Briggs. " Don't 
 know how to cut out a dress ! Why, any fool can f oiler 
 a paper pattern. Don't tell me ye ain't got sense enough 
 for that! " 
 
 " Why should she know how ? " asked Mrs. Gibson, 
 coming quickly to the defence of her darling. " She's 
 never hed occasion." 
 
 " Time she learnt, then," said the inexorable Susan. 
 " Here, Cicely, you turn round this way, an' take these 
 breadths an' baste 'em together. An' Marthy, don't you 
 cut any more. Cicely c'n cut the next dress when she 
 gits this one done." She thrust the stiff folds into Cice- 
 ly's hands, and followed them with a thimble and a 
 needle threaded at lightning speed. 
 
 Cicely gazed at these implements helplessly. " What 
 am I to do ? " she asked. " I don't know how to sew." 
 
 " Ye don't! " ejaculated Susan, staring at her. 
 " Well, if you ain't the beatin'est! Don't know how to 
 sew ! Good lack ! Where was you brought up ? " 
 
 " Now, now," interposed Mrs. Gibson soothingly, 
 " don't you worry her, Susan. It don't matter a mite if 
 she don't know how to sew; she's got time enough to 
 learn. I didn't calc'late she sh'd do anythin' on these 
 dresses, anyway. I've planned to hev the time." She
 
 A CLUE 251 
 
 took the sewing materials from Cicely's lax hands, giving 
 her a reassuring little pat on the shoulder. 
 
 Cicely thanked her with a faint, charming smile. 
 " You see, Miss Briggs," she said, with her pretty air of 
 making a confidence, " it's really no use for me to try 
 this sort of thing. I've never been taught. I'm a dread- 
 fully useless creature." 
 
 " Yes, so I see," remarked Miss Briggs grimly. 
 " Here, you give me them breadths, Marthy. I can't 
 stay a minute; but / ain't one to set an' fold my hands 
 with other folks slavin' right before my eyes." 
 
 Cicely flushed. For one startling moment it came into 
 her mind that perhaps there might be some other purpose 
 in life, even for her, than that of being an ornament; and 
 a sharp misgiving smote her. But with the next breath 
 she remembered how Roger had said that hands like hers 
 were flowers, not meant to be roughened by toil, and the 
 misgiving passed in an impulse of relief. With delicate 
 tact she withdrew her eyes from Miss Briggs' face, that 
 that severe spinster might not be distressed by the dis- 
 pleasure in them; and, looking at the pretty idle hands, 
 fell again into miserable brooding. 
 
 Miss Briggs whisked her needle, rustled her goods, 
 and bit her thread in indignant silence, for some mo- 
 ments; but presently her energy could no longer be re- 
 strained from more vigorous expression, and she turned 
 upon her hostess a rapid volley of conversation which 
 pointedly excluded Cicely. 
 
 " Well, Marthy, I ain't seen ye for a week ! " she 
 said. " Where was ye sewin'-circle day? an' why didn't 
 ye come to the club, the day it met to Mis' Dix's ? "
 
 252 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 " I stayed home," said Mrs. Gibson. " I was busy." 
 
 " Land knows, yo're always busy," said Susan, " but 
 ye can usually manage to drop things an' git away now an' 
 then, like a sensible Christian woman. What kep' ye? " 
 
 " I didn't get to go," said Mrs. Gibson mildly. " Was 
 ther' many to Mis' Dix's ? " 
 
 " Yo're keepin' somethin' back," said Susan, with sud- 
 den suspicion. " I never knowed ye to miss a club- 
 meetin' in years. Now tell me; was ye sick? " 
 
 " No, I jest didn't get to go," repeated Mrs. Gibson. 
 " What did they read about ? " 
 
 " Marthy Gibson ! " exclaimed the visitor sharply, 
 " hev you ben stayin' home on account o' this " 
 
 " 'Sh ! " said Mrs. Gibson quickly. " I stayed becuz I 
 wanted to. What did they " 
 
 "My land o' Goshen!" ejaculated Miss Briggs. 
 " You, Marthy Gibson ! do you mean to tell me you ain't 
 got any more sense than to give up yore pleasure-after- 
 noons, an' yore sweepin'-mornin's, an' all yore spare 
 strength, to this lazy simple good-f or-nothin' 
 
 " Now, Susan," said Mrs. Gibson firmly, " don't you 
 say another word. I'm askin' you about that club-meetin', 
 an' if yo're my friend that's what you'll talk to me 
 about." 
 
 Susan looked rebellious, but Mrs. Gibson's tone was de- 
 cisive ; and she yielded with a sniff. " Well, it was a 
 good meetin'," she said. " Everybody asked about you, 
 an' said they hedn't scarcely seen ye these last six weeks ; 
 they wondered what under the sun kep' ye home so 
 tight. No, I ain't a-goin' to say anythin', ye needn't 
 worry. Ellen Richards read a paper on ' Modern Edu-
 
 A CLUE 253 
 
 cation ' ; 'twas real good, not so wishy-washy as most 
 o' her stuff." 
 
 " I wish't I'd 'a' heard it," said Martha Gibson wist- 
 fully. " I love to hear 'bout schools an' colleges an' 
 sech." 
 
 " No reason why ye shouldn't 'a' heard it, but yer own 
 foolishness!" said Susan pointedly. "How's Johnny? 
 Hed a letter lately ? " 
 
 " Yes ; one last week, an' one fine long one yestiddy," 
 said Martha, her face brightening beautifully. " Mebbe 
 I wasn't glad to get 'em ! " 
 
 " Read 'em to me," commanded Susan. " You ain't 
 read me one in a dog's age." 
 
 Mrs. Gibson shook her head, glancing at Cicely. 
 " Xot now," she said. " Some other time." 
 
 The visitor put down her work, and confronted her 
 hostess with a piercing glance. " Now, Marthy Gib- 
 son ! " she said. " I sh'd like to know why them letters 
 can't be read now jest as well's any other time! What 
 ails ye? " 
 
 " Well, fact is," said Mrs. Gibson, in a lowered voice, 
 " I don't speak much 'bout Cheltenham these days. I 
 never say the name before her." 
 
 "Before who? Cicely?" demanded Susan. "Why 
 not? She don't think she's got the exclusive rights to 
 the name o' Cheltenham, does she? " 
 
 Cicely started at the sound of her name, and came 
 back again to the actual world. They were talking about 
 her ! and now an uneasy instinct warned her that they 
 had been doing so before she became aware of it. She 
 sat up straight, instantly on the defensive.
 
 254 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 " No, no," murmured Mrs. Gibson hastily. " But she 
 don't like to hear 'bout it; it makes her feel bad. I don't 
 even mention Johnny, an' I don't let John neither." 
 
 "My goody gracious!" ejaculated Susan. "Who is 
 this girl, anyway, the queen o' Sheby ? that she sh'd 
 come upsettin' yore house an' yore daily life, an' takin' 
 all the pleasure out o' yore conversation? For the land's 
 sake ! if you an' John ain't a pair o' softies ! I s'pose 
 next thing you'll be fillin' up the house with rose-leaves, 
 for fear she sh'd hev to step on the floor like other folks ! 
 Lemme tell ye this, it'd do that girl a world o' good to 
 meet up with somebody with a little sense; looks to me 
 as if she'd ben livin' with loonies too long a'ready ! " 
 
 Cicely rose, deeply flushed. " If you will kindly wait, 
 Miss Briggs, until I can get out of the room," she said 
 indignantly, " you can discuss me with even more free- 
 dom." 
 
 "Now, Cicely! now, Susan!" protested Mrs. Gibson, 
 deeply distressed. " Don't talk like that, Susan, an' 
 don't you mind it, Cicely, it's jest her way " 
 
 " I don't feel called upon," said Cicely loftily, " to 
 stand that kind of conversation in Miss Briggs' way or 
 any one's way. Good morning." 
 
 " Oh, ye needn't bother to go ! " said Susan grimly, ris- 
 ing too. " I only come in for a minute, an' I've heard so 
 much foolishness sence I ben here that I've got to go 
 home an' scrub somethin' to git it out o' my systim. Can 
 I hev my vinegar, Marthy? Thank yo. Good-bye." 
 The door closed sharply behind her. 
 
 " Don't you pay any 'tention to her, dear," said Mrs.
 
 A CLUE 255 
 
 Gibson soothingly. "Susan always talks like that; she 
 don't mean anythin'." 
 
 " She doesn't understand me/' said Cicely, choking 
 down an injured sob; and instinctively she added within 
 herself, " Roger would never let me be abused so ! " 
 
 
 
 Xow the spring was beginning to come, groping deli- 
 cately through the loosened earth, moving softly in the 
 swelling buds. The fields were still black, and the trees 
 bare, but the new life was stirring impalpably, exquisitely, 
 and the grim earth was strangely transfigured. The 
 farm-activities took on new vigour ; John Gibson and his 
 men were always at work, ploughing fields, mending 
 fences, getting ready for the season of sowing and grow- 
 ing. Martha too was in a bustle of happy energy, run- 
 ning into the yard half-a-dozen times a day to feel the 
 earth of her garden-beds, to look at the buds on the 
 lilac-twigs, and to " smell the spring." Even the farm- 
 hands, stirred into a kind of stolid hilarity, began to 
 crack dim jokes and slap each other's backs explosively. 
 
 Cicely, sensitive harp that she was, had felt the in- 
 visible fingers of the spring sooner than any of them; 
 but instead of answering their touch with sweet harmo- 
 nies, she was only moved to a wild turbulence of discords. 
 Her hunger for Roger, deepening every day, was now (in 
 this season of universal Sehnsucht}, almost intolerable; 
 thwarted and repulsed, it turned back upon her in emo- 
 tional storms that frightened herself by their violence: 
 and, now that she was recovering from the fatigue and
 
 256 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 shock of her great cataclysm, re-awakening physical 
 strength stirred in her and drove her to a restlessness that 
 was maddening. She vented her energy in long, solitary 
 walks, and in secret wild weeping; and horrible thoughts 
 of suicide and despair haunted her in the darkness. 
 
 One morning she stood in the doorway, looking rest- 
 lessly from the ever-active Martha to the men and horses 
 working in the field. " Everybody's busy but me ! " she 
 said bitterly. " How do they all find so much to do ? " 
 
 Martha glanced up from the three-times-daily pile of 
 dishes. " Would ye like to do somethin', dear ? " she 
 asked sympathetically. 
 
 " How could I ? " returned Cicely with sweet impa- 
 tience. " There isn't anything I know how to do. I 
 suppose I'll have to take a walk." 
 
 Martha glanced again at the dishpan, and again at 
 Cicely ; but it needed a sterner nature than hers to suggest 
 a conjunction between objects so dissimilar. She was 
 not without an uneasy inkling that she was spoiling her 
 darling, but her instinct, like that of many unselfish 
 women, was all for spoiling; and Cicely's youth and 
 pathos, and unquestioning expectation of being spoiled, 
 made the process fatally easy. She hesitated to speak, 
 and while she stood irresolute, Cicely had taken her coat 
 from its peg and gone. 
 
 At the foot of the lane that led down from the farm- 
 house, the highroad ran right and left, bordered with 
 low-growing evergreens. No one was in sight, and the 
 road, twisting romantically, and dark with the rich brown 
 that promises spring, would have been full of allure to
 
 A CLUE 257 
 
 any one with a free mind and an adventurous eye. But 
 to Cicely, hag-ridden by loneliness and despair, in either 
 direction it was horrible, to the left, because it led to 
 dwellings and curious eyes, to the right because it led 
 to solitude. After a brief hesitation she chose the lonely 
 way as the lesser evil, and hurried along as fast as she 
 could to get away from the possible pursuit of observa- 
 tion. But when she had passed the turn of the road that 
 hid her from the farm-house, and was beyond sign 
 of any human companionship, suddenly panic seized her. 
 She remembered the dark pine-wood a little way ahead 
 of her, where one day she had fallen into such a stark 
 horror of desperation that she thought to have gone mad ; 
 remembered, too, the swift stream that raced under the 
 bridge beyond the next turn, beside which she had more 
 than once been hypnotised into thoughts of cold black 
 depths, and silence, and oblivion: and the warm life 
 surged up in her with a shuddering cry. She was afraid 
 to live, but oh, she did not want death, death of the 
 body or the brain ! She faced about quickly, and, run- 
 ning, fled from the fear of fear back towards the village 
 and her fellow-men. 
 
 Presently she came upon a small white house, set back 
 from the road and gleaming among sparse shrubbery. 
 She knew it for the abode of Susan Briggs, and, check- 
 ing her speed, hovered doubtfully in front of it; she had 
 no love for the sharp spinster, but she needed human 
 companionship, and was afraid of Martha's fond eyes. 
 While she stood hesitating, the sound of shrill singing 
 from within reached her ears; there was cheerfulness in-
 
 258 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 side the house, at least, and despair outside it. So she 
 made her decision, and, following the sound, went up the 
 side path to the back door. 
 
 " From Green-land's i-cy mown-tins," came the 
 voice, in a strongly accented rhythm, " From 7n.-jy's 
 cor-al st ra-and Who's there ? Oh, it's you, Cicely. 
 Walk in, an' take a seat if ye can find a place to set on." 
 
 Cicely, pushing open the unlatched door, found her- 
 self in a small kitchen, spotless, warm, and full of the 
 basic sort of comfort that grows up around an active 
 body and a contented mind. Susan was, as usual, hard 
 at work, scrubbing an already immaculate floor to an 
 unimagined perfection of spotlessness, with brisk sweeps 
 of the arm that had acted as a metronome to her singing. 
 Cicely, perceiving no unreclaimed island in the ocean 
 of cleanliness, sat on the doorstep and looked wistfully 
 in. 
 
 " Mornin' ! " said Susan cheerfully, quite unembar- 
 rassed by the memory of their parting, indeed her 
 plainness of speech was so much of a habit that such part- 
 ings were frequent in her experience. " This ain't much 
 of a place to hev comp'ny in ; but then it's no time o' day 
 for comp'ny anyhow. What you doin' round so early, 
 Marthy send ye on an errand? " 
 
 " No, I'm just taking a walk," said Cicely. " I hadn't 
 anything to do at the house." 
 
 Susan stopped the steady march of her scrubbing- 
 brush, and looked up with blank astonishment. " Nothin' 
 to do!" she said. " Nothin' to do at this time o' day! 
 Goody Gorham, Cicely, are ye crazy ? " 
 
 Cicely looked astonished in her turn. " But what
 
 A CLUE 259 
 
 should I do ? " she asked. " What is there for me to do 
 here, at this or any other time of the day ? " 
 
 " Well, I never ! " said Susan. " Don't ye eat, to yore 
 house? Don't ye sleep? Don't ye make a clutter, 
 same's other humans? My land! Ye needn't tell me 
 ther's a Christian house in this neighbourhood without 
 dish-washin' an' bed-makin' an' sweepin' to do in the 
 mornin', becuz I wun't believe it." 
 
 " But Mrs. Gibson does all those things," explained 
 Cicely. " I should only be in the way if I hung around 
 her. In fact, sometimes I've thought I'm a little in the 
 way anyhow." 
 
 Susan Briggs abandoned her scrubbing entirely, wip- 
 ing her hands and sitting back on her heels to give her 
 whole attention to a situation so amazing. " Cicely 
 Cameron ! " she exclaimed. " Are you settin' there in 
 broad daylight an' tellin' me that Marthy does every 
 stroke o' work in that house, yore work an' all, an* 
 you never lift a finger to help her? " 
 
 " But how can I ? " asked Cicely, as blank as she. " I 
 don't know how to do anything ! " 
 
 " For the Lord's sake ! " ejaculated Susan. 
 " There ! I don't often swear, but you'd drive John the 
 Baptist to it." She was silent a moment, overwhelmed; 
 then, with a vehemence that made her visitor start, she burst 
 forth, " Good land o' Goshen, Cicely! Git up an' learn! " 
 
 Cicely opened her lovely eyes wide. " I, learn ! " she 
 repeated faintly. 
 
 " Yes, you, learn ! " said Susan emphatically. " Roll 
 up yore sleeves an' git up an' do somethin' ! Show that 
 the Lord hed some reason for makin' ye! O' course it's
 
 260 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 ridic'lous to start in, like a child o' five, at yore time o' 
 life/' she added mercilessly, " but sence ye can't begin 
 sooner, for gracious sakes begin now ! " 
 
 " But people like me don't do those things ! " protested 
 Cicely. " They weren't meant to." 
 
 " Wa'n't they? " demanded Susan, in a repressed and 
 very penetrating voice. " Why wa'n't they? " 
 
 " Why, because because I don't know why," fal- 
 tered Cicely. 
 
 " I guess ye don't," returned Susan grimly. " Ye 
 don't think yo're better'n Marthy Gibson, I hope ? " 
 
 " Oh, no," said Cicely politely. 
 
 " Ye do! " exclaimed Susan, staring at her. " Well, 
 I swan ! A little, simple, turnip-headed snip like you, 
 that don't know s' much as how to string a bean you 
 think yo're better'n a woman that's brought up a husband 
 an' four children, an' buried one, an' done all the female 
 work of a farm, an' took care of a nuisance like you be- 
 sides ! My land, if I was the Lord I sh'd take a shingle 
 to ye." She sat searing Cicely with her scornful eyes 
 for a moment of silence. " What in the world hev ye 
 done all yer life ? " she inquired presently. " What ex- 
 cuse hev ye hed for livin' ? " 
 
 " Why why " stammered Cicely, completely taken 
 aback, " I've had lessons, and gone to parties, 
 and and entertained, and " 
 
 " My goody ! " interrupted Susan with contemptuous 
 pity. " It must be awful to lounge round an' clutter up 
 the earth like that. I'd ruther be a dishcloth. Twenty- 
 two years old if yo're a day, an' don't even know enough 
 to know ther's sech a thing as work ! Livin' in the same
 
 A CLUE 261 
 
 house as Marthy, watchin' her cook for five, an' wash 
 up for five, an' clean, an' scrub, an' sew, an' do dairy 
 work, an' make beds, an' wash an' iron, an' then comin' 
 round here at eight o'clock in the mornin' an' talkin' about 
 nothin' to do! Good lack, Cicely! why, a wart's more 
 use'n what you be ! " 
 
 Cicely flushed hotly. "If she'd asked me to help 
 her " she began. 
 
 " If you'd hed a grain o' sense you'd 'a' seen how 
 much she needed help," said Susan sharply. " But I 
 s'pose ' people like you ' don't notice sech low things. I 
 don't s'pose ye noticed how she made that dress ye've 
 got on, doin' her sweepin' at five in the mornin' to git the 
 time, an' you settin' by like a flat-iron an' never s' 
 much as overcastin' a seam. An' I don't s'pose ye notice 
 how often them little lemon tarts ye like so much come on 
 the table, nor how long they take to make, an' how 
 short to eat. An' who d'ye s'pose pays for all this? 
 Them ginghams, that ain't scarcely good enough for ye, 
 did ye know Marthy bought 'em with her egg-money, 
 that she was savin' to git herself a spring dress with? 
 an' did ye know's she's ben killin' her chickens, 'stid o* 
 sellin' 'em, becuz that's the only kind o' meat you c'n 
 eat ? her dress is on yore outside, an' her hat on yore 
 inside, now. She'll wear her old clo'es again this spring, 
 I s'pose. But then that wun't matter; she never goes 
 anywhere now, becuz you say yo're afraid o' bein' lone- 
 some if she goes out. Huh ! " 
 
 " Oh, Miss Briggs Miss Briggs " gasped Cicely, 
 wide-eyed and hot-cheeked, " why, I never thought I 
 never dreamt "
 
 262 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 " No, I know ye didn't/' said Susan caustically. 
 " Dreamin' ain't much in the line o' ' people like you/ 
 excep' day-dreamin' an' gawpin' out o' the winder while 
 other folks are slavin' for ye. My goody gracious, 
 Cicely! If I was in yore place I'd go an' swap off that 
 shiny head for one that's got a little o' the illumination 
 inside! " 
 
 " Thank you, Miss Briggs ! " said Cicely, rather breath- 
 lessly. " That's not a bad suggestion. Thank you very 
 much." She rose to her feet, blinking with the shock of 
 her surprise. 
 
 " Entirely welcome," said Susan drily. She took a 
 long breath after her flight of eloquence, and looked at 
 her visitor with half -defiant misgiving. " Ain't mad, 
 are ye? " she inquired. 
 
 " No," answered Cicely. " I'm much obliged. I've 
 I've learned a good deal this morning." Her eyes, 
 though half dazed by the rush of new ideas, grew sud- 
 denly bright as she looked at her adviser. " Good-bye ! " 
 she said. " I can't stop any longer; I must hurry; there's 
 so much to do ! " 
 
 " Well, good-bye," said Susan. She watched with 
 dawning approval as Cicely shook out her skirt and sped 
 down the steps; and when the slender figure reached the 
 road and broke into a run, her face softened in a grim 
 little smile. " After all, you ain't sech a fool as ye 
 look ! " she called. 
 
 Cicely nodded smilingly over^ her shoulder; she was 
 running too fast to speak. " I must get home before 
 those dishes are done ! " she said to herself.
 
 XIII 
 
 LIGHT IN THE LABYRINTH 
 
 WITH the digesting of Susan Brigg's sharp medicine, a 
 new life began for Cicely. No inkling had ever entered 
 her mind that she could have a place in the busy world 
 of doers ; the idea came like a thunderbolt, and, weighted 
 with shame at the realisation of the sorry part she had 
 been playing, it sank deep into a mind which was now 
 empty of all distractions. She plunged into the task of 
 making amends to the farmer's wife with passionate zest, 
 following her from room to room, and sharing all her 
 labours with an eagerness which puzzled and delighted 
 that kind soul. And, while she struggled and learned, the 
 blessed anodyne of work took hold upon her mind, and 
 drugged it to peace; her hands were busy all day long, 
 and at night, tired out, she slept dreamlessly. 
 
 " My, she's a different girl from what she was a month 
 ago ! " exclaimed the outspoken Susan, coming in one 
 morning as Cicely, with deft fingers, was preparing 
 vegetables for dinner. " When she first come here she 
 was the helplessest jelly-fish I ever see; an' look at her 
 now ! She handles them potatoes jest as if she reco'nized 
 a potato when she see one." 
 
 " Yes, she certainly lies changed," said Mrs. Gibson, 
 gazing on her fondly. " Look at her cheeks ! They used 
 
 263
 
 264 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 to be white's a sheet, an' now they're colour o' peach- 
 blossoms. An' she's gettin' so she can make bread as 
 good's you or me. We hed some this week that I never 
 laid a finger to, bakin' nor anythin', an' I wish't 
 you'd 'a' seed John; he was that proud, a little more an' 
 he'd 'a' sent it to the County Fair." 
 
 Cicely looked up from her work with a gleam of re- 
 viving sauciness. " The Girl Wonder of Stowe ! " she 
 said. " Intelligence almost human ! " 
 
 "Makes jokes, too!" remarked Susan, in her imper- 
 sonal fashion. " Well, Marthy, I guess she's a sight 
 more agreeable comp'ny 'n she used to be, floppin' round 
 like a weepin' wilier. What d'ye hear from Johnny? " 
 
 Martha looked at her with a glance of warning. " He's 
 well, thank ye," she said. " When are ye goin' to the 
 city ? " 
 
 " Same time's ever, fifth of April," said Susan. 
 "What's Johnny got to say 'bout Cheltenham?" 
 
 " Nothin' much," said Martha, frowning significantly. 
 " I 'spose ye'll hev a fine time to Cousin Jane's." 
 
 " Now, Marthy Gibson ! " exclaimed Susan severely. 
 " You don't mean to tell me yo're still afraid to say a 
 word 'bout Cheltenham before that girl! Well, a little 
 more, an' you'll make me believe yo're soft-headeder'n 
 she is. Why, Cicely ain't made o' burnt paper, that 
 sayin' the name o' Cheltenham'll knock her over ! Are 
 ye, Cicely? " 
 
 Cicely, putting a strong compulsion on herself, forced 
 her eyes to look up and meet Susan's steadily. It was 
 true, as the loving instinct of Mrs. Gibson had long 
 since discovered, that the name of the place where she
 
 NEW LIGHT 265 
 
 had been so happy and so wretched was torture to her; 
 and of late, since she had found this new palliative of 
 work, she had almost succeeded in pushing it out of her 
 mind. But she had a wholesome fear of the visitor's 
 sharp eyes and tongue, and shrank from betraying her 
 real feeling. " Certainly not," she said bravely. " What 
 about Cheltenham? " 
 
 " Why, Mis' Gibson's got a son there that she thinks 
 the world an' all of," said Susan, " an' she's got some 
 punkin-headed notion that she ought not to talk to you 
 'bout him. I guess you c'n stand hearin' him mentioned 
 without hollerin' for the doctor, can't ye ? " 
 
 " Of course," s^id Cicely. " Tell me about him, Mrs. 
 Gibson. I never knew you had any son but the two in 
 the city." 
 
 " Yes, I got Johnny," said Mrs. Gibson. Her voice 
 altered and softened exquisitely, filling with love and 
 pride. 
 
 " An' what kind of a boy is he ? " demanded Susan. 
 " Is he a nice boy, or ain't he? Is he a smart boy, or a 
 noodle ? " 
 
 The farmer's wife glanced doubtfully at Cicely, but, 
 finding her calm and apparently interested, could not 
 resist the beloved subject. " Oh, Johnny's the smartest 
 boy," she said, " an' the best boy ! Jest think, workin' 
 as hard as he does for his schoolin', for two years he's 
 ben head of his class in one study, an' second in another. 
 An' he's earned every cent o' what it cost, an' give pres- 
 ents to his father an' me, Christmases, besides. I don't 
 s'pose ther' ever was a better boy 'n my Johnny, 
 bless his heart! "
 
 266 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 " Now, you look at her ! " exclaimed Susan, pointing 
 to her friend's transfigured face with the manner of a 
 proud showman. " Ain't it a shame for her to keep all 
 that bottled up in her insides? Yo're enjoyin' this, ain't 
 ye, Cicely ? " 
 
 " Oh, yes," said Cicely. " Tell me some more. Has 
 he lots of friends ? " 
 
 " Land, I sh'd say so ! " said Mrs. Gibson happily. 
 " Why, I s'pose ther' ain't one o' the waiters in Jefferson 
 Hall, where he works, that ain't like a brother to him; 
 an' Mr. Randolph, he that runs the Bureau o' Student 
 Self-help, he said ther' wa'n't a student in Cheltenham 
 hed more chances at good jobs than Johnny. An' my, 
 the good times he hes! Nights, when they've got the'r 
 dinin'-room work done, they set in each other's rooms an' 
 study; an' Sunday afternoons ther's free concerts, an' 
 afterwards they take walks together; an' he belongs to a 
 debatin' s'ciety; an' once every year he gets invited to 
 the President's house." 
 
 "Why, he's one of the janitors!" thought Cicely. 
 " Perhaps Roger knows him. I mustn't think about 
 Roger; I mustn't." 
 
 " Tell about the professors," prompted Susan. " You 
 seem to think they're cherubims an' seraphims, the whole 
 lot of 'em. Tell about them angelic critters." 
 
 " Well, I must say, " said Martha, with a glowing 
 face and unusual volubility, " you c'n laugh, Susan, but 
 I must say I don't s'pose ther's sech another lot o' men 
 anywhere in this state. Jest think o' what they do! 
 With all the education an' all the brains they got, givin' 
 up their lives, an' their chance o' makin' money, an' all
 
 NEW LIGHT 267 
 
 that, j est to train up those boys into men, do you s'pose 
 ther's anythin' finer than that? An' unselfish my 
 land ! Why, ther's one man there that's sot up nights a 
 hundred times with Johnny, helpin' him with work that 
 come hard to him; Johnny says he never could 'a' got 
 through his soph'more year without him. My, if I get 
 started on that man ! Johnny says the encourage- 
 ment, an' the friendship, he's hed from him " 
 
 " Now we're gittin' there ! " chuckled Susan, with acrid 
 affection. " I knowed 'twouldn't be long before we 
 reached the mornin' star an' fount of every blessin'! 
 You want to listen, Cicely: this is the feller that makes 
 Jonathan Edwards look like a pickpocket." 
 
 A hand seemed to clutch Cicely's heart, throttling its 
 beating. Some instinct made her certain that they were 
 talking of Roger; and she knew that if she listened all 
 the passion of longing and despair that she had been 
 keeping at bay would rush back to overwhelm her. 
 She rose quickly, averting her face. " I haven't time 
 now I must put my potatoes on," she said unstead- 
 ily. 
 
 Mrs. Gibson cast a quick glance at her, and checked 
 her flow of speech. "Well, jest hear me!" she said. 
 " Gabblin' on as if I hedn't a thing in the world to do 
 but gabble, an' here it's butter-packin' day, an' boiled 
 dinner to get int' the bargain! Land sakes, Cicely, I 
 guess if you ain't got time, I ain't neither. You excuse 
 me, Susan ; I got to be steppin'." 
 
 " So've I," said Susan, rising. " I jest run in to pass 
 the time o' day. I'm glad I got that much out o' yore 
 systim, Marthy, anyway! You give her a shakin' up
 
 268 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 'bout once in so often, Cicely, so's all that Cheltenham 
 talk wun't settle in her." 
 
 " Oh, Cicely needn't bother ! " said Mrs. Gibson, laugh- 
 ing. " I've talked s' much now I c'n afford to hold my 
 tongue awhile." 
 
 " Well, if Cicely lets it get stuck like 'twas before, I'll 
 come over an' take the monkey-wrench to it," remarked 
 Miss Briggs, departing. 
 
 " There, I've escaped this time ! " thought Cicely, 
 " and I'll know better than to run such a risk again. I 
 mustn't think about him ; and I won't, I won't ! " 
 
 Yet all day the tantalizing nearness of the subject she 
 was trying to avoid gave her no peace, and finally, at 
 supper-time, she could not keep her tongue from it. 
 " I'll just find out if it is Roger," she thought, " and 
 then, when I know for certain, I can forget all about it." 
 So she turned to the farmer, beside whom she sat, and 
 said, not without a frightened shortening of the breath, 
 " I've just heard that you have a son at college, Mr. 
 Gibson. Why didn't you ever tell me about him? " 
 
 The farmer confronted her with an astonished face, 
 ruddy with exercise and cold ablutions. " Why, Marthy 
 said ye didn't want " he began ; then, checking himself 
 hastily in response to a sub-mensal conj ugal prod, " Why, 
 I well, ye see, well, I jest didn't seem to happen 
 to!" 
 
 " I wish you would," said Cicely simply. " I used to 
 live in Cheltenham, and I I was very fond of it." She 
 heard herself making this statement without surprise; it
 
 NEW LIGHT 269 
 
 seemed now, looking back, that it had always been true. 
 " Your son likes it, doesn't he? " 
 
 "He does so!" said the farmer; and under his dry 
 matter-of-fact surface came the same quickening of pride 
 and love that his wife had shown. " He jest swallers 
 it whole, same's I would've if I'd hed a chance. O' 
 course, I do' know's Johnny's getting the real advantages 
 o' college, " he added, with a twinkle in his shrewd 
 eyes, " runnin' high jumps, an' broken ribs, an' You-Be- 
 The-Goat s'cieties, but as fur's plain knowledge is con- 
 cerned, he's certainly doin' well." 
 
 " And he likes the the faculty ? " pursued Cicely, 
 beginning to tremble a little. 
 
 " His teachers ? I sh'd say he did ! " said John Gib- 
 son. " I'd thrash him if he didn't. You know 'em, 
 Miss Cicely; now ain't they an A No. 1 lot? " 
 
 " Oh, yes," said Cicely. She hesitated for a moment, 
 trembling more and more ; but now, though she was afraid 
 to go on, she was unable to turn back. " I think there's 
 one one he likes more than all," she stammered. 
 " Do you do you know who that is? " 
 
 The farmer turned in his elbow-chair, melted into com- 
 plete unreserve. " Yes, ma'am, I do," he said em- 
 phatically; "I certainly do; I've hed the privilege o' 
 shakin' hands with that man ; an' what's more, well, I 
 ain't sentimental, you know that, but I b'lieve I'd walk 
 ten miles barefoot to do somethin' to oblige him. Pro- 
 fessor Roger Ford, that's his name: an' I guess the 
 Recordin' Angel'll write it down in pretty big letters. 
 What that man's done for our Johnny well, I'd need 
 to know the dictionary by heart to tell it all out. Lord,
 
 270 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 Miss Cicely ! " exclaimed John Gibson, with a burst of 
 rare emotion, " what happiness you've bed, livin' right 
 side by side with men like that ! " 
 
 At the sound of Roger's name, Cicely's heart, that had 
 been so chilled and steeped in resentment, gave a great 
 joyous leap of pride. "My Roger!" she thought. 
 " It's my own Roger that they love so ! " and for a 
 moment she was ready to shout her glorious secret aloud, 
 that these people who knew how to value him might re- 
 joice with her. But on the heels of her gladness came 
 the thought, " No, not my Roger any longer. Never, 
 never again." And when the farmer's last words reached 
 her, her heart plunged downwards into a bottomless 
 abyss of despair, sickening and suffocating her. 
 
 " Yes, I've had happiness," she said faintly. 
 "Will you excuse me, please? I'm not hungry." 
 She pushed her chair away from the table, and struggled 
 to her feet. 
 
 " Why, Cicely ! " said the farmer, his kind face cloud- 
 ing with affectionate anxiety. " What's the matter? 
 Ain't ye well? " 
 
 Mrs. Gibson, jumping up, hurried to her side. " You 
 come upstairs with me, dear," she said. " Yo're all tired 
 out. An' you, John, you ain't got any more sense than 
 a than a man ; that's what's the matter with you." 
 She put a warmly protecting arm around Cicely, and led 
 her from the room. 
 
 In her little chamber under the eaves, Cicely flung 
 herself on the bed and burst into passionate sobbing. 
 Her barriers of self-protection were gone, and despair 
 surged over her in a flood. " Oh, I can't bear it ! " she
 
 NEW LIGHT 271 
 
 cried within herself. " They mustn't speak of him 
 they have no right! Roger, Roger, Roger! Oh, I hate 
 you, Roger I won't think of you I won't oh, 
 Badger, they talk of you they love you and I've lost 
 you Badger " 
 
 " Dearie ! " said Martha Gibson, sitting by the bed 
 and folding the slender body in her arms. " What's 
 the trouble ? Tell me ; tell mother, dear ! " 
 
 Cicely caught at her sobbing breath, trying to still it. 
 " I can't I can't," she said. " Don't ask me I can 
 never tell it." 
 
 " Yes, ye can, dear," said the older woman gently. 
 " The longer ye keep it shet up, the worse it hurts. 
 Let it out, dear; tell me all about it. Mebbe I can help." 
 
 " No, no," sobbed Cicely, struggling for self-posses- 
 sion, " nobody can help. Something went cruelly wrong 
 in my life, but it's too late now to make it right 
 again. It's all all over." 
 
 " Nothin's ever all over," said Mrs. Gibson, holding 
 her close. " The longer ye live, the more ye know that. 
 It's always there, waitin' to be took up again whenever 
 we're willin', love, or hate, or whatever we cry about, 
 nothin' can stop it but death, an' even that can't stop 
 it forever. An' death ain't hed any hand in yore trouble, 
 dear." 
 
 Cicely shivered. " My trouble is worse than death," 
 she said. " Nothing can he*lp it nothing. Everything 
 is ended hope life " 
 
 Mrs. Gibson smiled, a wise, tear-misted smile. " It's 
 queer what a sight o' things that's ended forever manages 
 somehow to begin again," she said. " I've seen a many
 
 272 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 people cry 'emselves blind, little daughter, but never a 
 one that couldn't see again after the tears was wiped 
 away." 
 
 " She can't understand ; she could never understand/' 
 said Cicely to herself, with dreary finality. Conquering 
 her weeping with a great effort, she slipped out of the 
 loving arms, and stood up. She felt all alone in a vast, 
 hostile world, naked and very cold. " Then you haven't 
 seen trouble like mine," she said aloud, steadying her 
 voice with a note of hardness. " There is no cure for 
 that." 
 
 The farmer's wife rose too. " Cicely," she said 
 gravely, " for every person in the world that thinks he's 
 ben wronged, ther's another that thinks he's ben wronged 
 too; an' the chances are that the other's jest as right as 
 the first one. Trouble's most always got more'n one 
 side." 
 
 Cicely shook her head. " Not my trouble," she an- 
 swered stubbornly. 
 
 Mrs. Gibson, feeling herself repulsed, gave a little 
 sigh. " Well, that's as it may be," she said quietly. 
 " Now I'm goin' to put ye to bed, dear. Yo're all wore 
 out." Without more words she began to take off the 
 pretty garments and unbind the shining hair, looking 
 meanwhile with mute yearning at the white, set face. 
 
 Cicely, centred in misery, suffered all these ministra- 
 tions in unheeding silence. But when everything was 
 done, and the older woman was tucking her into her 
 narrow bed, a new instinct, born of these last weeks 
 of helpfulness, made her look up with suddenly ob- 
 servant eyes. " Why, you're tired, Mrs. Gibson ! " she
 
 NEW LIGHT 273 
 
 said. " And why, you've been crying ! What is it 
 makes you so good to me ? " 
 
 " I love ye, dear/' answered the farmer's wife, simply. 
 
 " Oh, and I love you ! " cried Cicely, with a warm rush 
 of gratitude. " You're the best woman I've ever known. 
 Kiss me." 
 
 " Good night, little daughter," said the woman, kissing 
 her fondly. 
 
 " Good night mother," said Cicely. She had never 
 said the word within her own memory; it sounded 
 strangely in her ears. 
 
 After the door had closed behind the farmer's wife, 
 Cicely lay thinking, a little tranquillized by the last in- 
 cident. " I called her Mother," she said to herself, 
 dreamily. " I wish she were my mother. I love her. 
 And the farmer, too, I love him, I think ; he looked 
 at me so kindly when I came away. They're the kindest 
 people in the whole world." Then, suddenly, with a 
 shock of surprise, the thought jumped into her mind, 
 " Why, these are the people that Roger's ' janitors ' come 
 from ! and they're better people, a hundred times bet- 
 ter, than I ! What if what if I made a mistake about 
 that? " For a long time she lay bewildered by wonder, 
 while, through this first rift, light came pouring into 
 her carefully darkened mind. 
 
 At last she sat up in bed, in the newly illumined dark, 
 and made her confession bravely. " Roger was right, 
 and I was wrong. Roger knew best; I wish I could beg 
 his pardon. . . . And now it's too late, too late! I'm 
 just learning what he is, and I've lost him forever! 
 O Roger, Roger forever! Oh, why was I so blind? "
 
 THE spring marched on, radiant, triumphant; and with 
 it marched the mind of Cicely, rediscovering life. The 
 little leaves peeped out to greet the shining sun; the 
 birches were a shimmer of misty green over a gleam of 
 virgin white, and the oak-leaves, in little rosy clusters, 
 made those five-toed " squirrel-paws " which used to mark 
 for the Indians the time for sowing corn. The farmer 
 was hard at work in the fields, ploughing, planting, nur- 
 turing; and Cicely, whenever she was at a pause in her 
 work about the house, followed him, learning for the first 
 time the wonderful lore of creation. 
 
 " Why do you tear up the earth, that looks so smooth 
 and peaceful, and leave it all j agged and raw ? " she 
 asked him. 
 
 " So's it can blossom in its time," said the farmer. 
 ' 'Twun't fret much 'bout the troubles o' ploughin'-time 
 when it's dressed for spring." 
 
 " That's a hard way to grow beautiful," said Cicely, 
 with a sigh. 
 
 " I expect it's 'bout the surest way, though," observed 
 John Gibson. 
 
 " And the poor little seeds," added Cicely, shivering, 
 " it's hard on them, too, to be buried in the black, cold 
 ground ! " 
 
 274
 
 SEASON OF GROWING 275 
 
 " That's the way they get the'r chance to live again," 
 said the farmer. 
 
 In the house as well, as she moved from task to task, 
 Cicely kept steadily learning. She had mastered all the 
 simpler domestic arts, and, now that the work was grow- 
 ing too accustomed to be a distraction, her mind was con- 
 stantly alert. She could no longer drug herself with 
 fatigue until she ceased to think; she was tormented day 
 and night by loneliness, and often by bitter rebellion; 
 and yet she felt with a kind of pleasure the steadily in- 
 creasing prick of the mental growing-pains. 
 
 " Mrs. Gibson," she said suddenly, one day as they 
 stood cutting out cookies at the mixing-board, " you like 
 to work, don't you? " 
 
 " Why, yes, dear," said Mrs. Gibson, " I s'pose I do. 
 I always hev worked; I never thought much about it. 
 Yes, I do like to work, first-rate." 
 
 " Do you like to work for the sake of working," asked 
 Cicely, " or because you are working for a particular 
 person ? " For life, which used to touch her so lightly, 
 had begun to make her analytical of late. 
 
 " Lemme see," said Mrs. Gibson thoughtfully. " I 
 like to work, yes; an' come to think of it, I s'pose it's 
 becuz I'm workin' for John." 
 
 " That's it," said Cicely, half to herself, " that's the 
 whole thing, working for John." She glanced with a 
 sigh at her floury, useful hands, which began to look use- 
 less to her once more. 
 
 " It ain't jest makin' things for him to eat," reflected
 
 276 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 Mrs. Gibson, thinking aloud. " It's more becuz I know 
 he's workin', an' I like to be doin' my share. O' course 
 ye couldn't hev a real marriage, with one workin' an' one 
 settin' idle; that's bound to be a failure, becuz tain't a 
 partnership." 
 
 Cicely looked up quickly, fastening her eyes on the 
 older woman's face with a look of startled inquiry. 
 " You think that? " she said. 
 
 " Why, I know it ! " said Mrs. Gibson. " I ain't much 
 on book-learnin', but that stands to reason. Could ye 
 hev a business comp'ny, or a pair o' brothers 'n' sisters, 
 
 or even a friendship, where one o' the parties took 
 everythin' an' give nothin' ? 'Tain't possible. An' how 
 could anybody expect to get along that way in marriage, 
 that's the mutualest thing of all ? " 
 
 Cicely's hands stopped moving, and she stared at them 
 intently without seeing them. " But supposing," she 
 protested, " one of the partners didn't know how to work, 
 
 or there was nothing for her to do ? " 
 
 " Nothin' to do! " said Mrs. Gibson. " Cicely, child, 
 how you talk ! Why, ther' ain't anybody in this world 
 that's got nothin' to do. They don't all work with the'r 
 hands, some ain't got the strength to, an' some hev 
 money an' can hire it done, an' some hev so much educa- 
 tion they're only fit for thinkin' jobs, but you show 
 me the human bein' that don't owe some kind of a duty 
 to somebody, an' I'll show you a corpse. Land, Cicely, 
 the world's jest crowdin' with things to do! " 
 
 Cicely's mind ran back over the days of her married 
 life, and a score of half-forgotten passages started up in 
 her memory, Mrs. Davidson's counsels about her share
 
 SEASON OF GROWING 277 
 
 of Roger's work, times when Roger had turned to her 
 for help which she refused to give, and the eloquent testi- 
 mony of so many of the homes about them, where husband 
 and wife worked and sacrificed happily side by side. She 
 gave a great sigh that was half a sob. How could she 
 have been so blind? All that time she had sat in idle- 
 ness, greedy hands lying open in her lap, taking, taking, 
 taking; she had watched Roger toil and worry, while she 
 played the part of the horse-leech's daughter; and she 
 had called that love married love ! 
 
 " Oh, you're right, you're right ! " she exclaimed. 
 " Oh, why, why, why didn't I know, before it was too 
 late?" 
 
 The farmer's wife looked at her with a wise, loving 
 smile. " You ain't too old to learn, dear, even yet," she 
 observed. 
 
 
 
 So, in the passing of winter and the blooming of the 
 sun-warmed earth, all the frosts of resentment and bitter- 
 ness melted gradually out of Cicely's soul. She knew 
 well enough now that all the blame came back to her, to 
 her selfishness, her ignorance, her folly; knew, too, with 
 that cruel wisdom of the retrospect, that disaster might 
 have been averted easily, so easily ! if only she had 
 had eyes to see. Many a night, not tired enough to 
 sleep, she lay and pictured the foolish, trivial steps that 
 had led from one catastrophe to another, until she could 
 have beaten her brains out for the sickening needlessness 
 of it all. Roger had been hers, they had loved, they had 
 held heaven within their hands; and she had flung it all
 
 278 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 away for an idle caprice, a silly fancied grievance ! In 
 those times only the coming of morning and work kept 
 her whole and sane. 
 
 And through it all her need of Roger grew. Never, 
 not even in those first wonder-days of their life together, 
 had she loved him so. She thought a thousand times a 
 day of acts of quiet nobility which she had hardly noted 
 at the time of their performance, of his consideration 
 for old people, poor people, infirm people; of his beauti- 
 ful brotherly kindness to his proteges ; of the courteous 
 thought fulness in little things that never failed him even 
 under his greatest pressure of fatigue and worry. She 
 thought, too, with anguish, of the passion of devotion, the 
 infinite selfless love that had been hers. And sometimes, 
 at the sudden memory of his shabby old working-coat, or 
 the slow Cicely-smile that had belonged to her alone, her 
 heart seemed to break within her. 
 
 She never questioned the irrevocableness of her loss. 
 Now that the shimmering froth of the surface Cicely had 
 effervesced away, underneath there showed a still pool 
 (growing wider and deeper day by day), of reason and 
 justice: she had spoiled her life by her own act; she 
 must pay the penalty. When week followed week, and 
 it became increasingly clear that Roger was making no 
 effort to find her, she did not wonder nor rebel. She had 
 made her lonely bed with her own hands, and would lie 
 in it without wailing. 
 
 Nowadays the chief pleasure of Cicely's life was in 
 hearing Roger spoken of by these people who loved him;
 
 SEASON OF GROWING 279 
 
 and the farmer, who had seen him face to face, became 
 her special comforter. He had long since developed a 
 fatherly affection for her, and she, since her discovery 
 of the bond that united them, had begun to cherish him 
 peculiarly ; looking on him with her newly-developed sym- 
 pathy, she discovered under his dry exterior a wistful 
 idealism and a capacity for devotion which astonished 
 her. Like so many men of his calling in New England, 
 he had a devout reverence for education; towards it he 
 had thirsted and aspired in his youth, and had been balked 
 by poverty; and now that his aspirations had found a 
 vent in his youngest son, he had conceived for his son's 
 benefactor an admiration which amounted to a quiet 
 middle-aged hero-worship. Roger the man of knowledge, 
 the " professor," and Roger the warm-hearted friend, 
 mingled in his mind into something far above the common 
 run of men. Cicely found him as ready for the subject 
 as herself; she had but to mention something remotely 
 allied to college interests to lead inevitably to Chelten- 
 ham, Johnny and Roger; and their daily conversa- 
 tions nearly always managed to arrive at the beloved 
 goal. 
 
 " Once, when I was a little girl," she said to him one 
 day at the table, " my uncle took me to Ghent, just after 
 a Belgian crew had defeated Oxford and Cambridge on 
 the Thames; and we got there the day they returned, in 
 the midst of the rejoicing. It was so funny! Do you 
 know, those athletic oarsmen had long, nicely combed 
 beards; and their admirers met them at the station with 
 big set-pieces of roses and violets, and they bowed and 
 smiled and clutched their flowers just like debutantes.
 
 280 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 And then somebody shouted ' 'Eep ! 'eep ! ' and the others 
 answered ' 'Urray ! ' and then they all began eep-eeping 
 together, each at his own time." 
 
 " What did they do that for ? " inquired the farmer, 
 looking puzzled. " Tryin' to sing like birds? " 
 
 " Oh, no," said Cicely, " trying to cheer like English- 
 men." 
 
 One of the farm-hands, a solemn Swede, exploded in 
 an unexpected guffaw that made Cicely jump. So far 
 from being annoyed, however, as she would once have 
 been, she felt distinctly pleased at having elicited so 
 definite a response; she gave him a comradely smile, and 
 he grinned sheepishly back at her. 
 
 " Furrin ways must be queer," remarked the farmer. 
 
 " Well, they're different from ours," said Cicely. 
 
 " Yes, that's what I say," returned John Gibson. 
 " Our ways are good enough for me. Now that time 
 I was to Cheltenham, an' Johnny took me to the football 
 game, I seen a lot o' foolishness, fellers wavin' their 
 arms an' cock-a-doodle-dooin' all together, but ther' 
 wa'n't no birdy talk nor girly doin's, like you tell about. 
 Those fellers that played was men, I tell ye, all the way 
 through. An' the fellers that cheered for 'em was men 
 too, on our side an' t'other, got up an cheered for each 
 other after it was over, they did, licked ones an' lickers 
 alike." 
 
 " I wish I had seen that game," said Cicely. " Our 
 team won, didn't it? " 
 
 " Yes, ma'am, six to nothin'," said the farmer. " I 
 wish't ye lied seen it, it was wuth seein'. Everythin' 
 in Cheltenham is, I guess."
 
 SEASON OF GROWING 281 
 
 " Let me see, you took a walk around the town 
 afterwards, didn't you?" prompted Cicely. 
 
 " Well, I sh'd say so ! " exclaimed John Gibson. 
 " Why, that was when I met Professor Ford ! Johnny 
 introduced us after the game, an' he walked all over the 
 place with us, an' took us into all the buildin's." 
 
 Cicely's heart began to quicken its beating, as it always 
 did at this stage of the oft-told tale. " That must have 
 been very interesting," she said eagerly. 
 
 " Inter-estin ain't the word for it," said the farmer, 
 with conviction. " It was a reg'lar spree for me, that's 
 what it was. Walkin' through them buildin's chock- 
 full o' learnin', with one o' the learnedest professors 
 beside me, an' him my son's friend, I tell ye I hed to 
 pinch myself to make sure I was awake. That was jest 
 about the biggest treat o' my life." 
 
 " And Pro Professor Ford, " said Cicely, " he 
 loves Cheltenham; I know he enjoyed showing it." 
 
 " He did so," said the farmer. " I couldn't help but 
 notice how it brightened him up. He was lookin' pretty 
 sober when I fust see him, an' I says to myself, ' That's 
 a man with somethin' on his mind ' ; but soon as he begun 
 to go round with us, why, he hed a different face alto- 
 gether. An' yet 'twan't so much his pleasure in show- 
 in' off his college that heartened him up," he added 
 thoughtfully; "'twas his pleasure in seein' how much 
 pleasure he was givin' me." 
 
 " Oh yes, of course," said Cicely politely. Then, feel- 
 ing, with the new truthfulness of perception that was a 
 part of her re-birth, the insincerity of her reply, she cast 
 it aside with sudden impatience. " What makes you
 
 282 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 think that?" she demanded. "Why should he take 
 more pleasure in pleasing you than in pleasing himself? 
 That's not natural." 
 
 The farmer smiled, quizzically, but very kindly. 
 " Young lady," he said, " nat'ral or not, when you've 
 lived in the world as long's I hev, you'll still be sur- 
 prised to see the proportion o' folks's happiness that's 
 made out of other folks's happiness. 'Bout nine-tenths, 
 I sh'd say, at a rough guess." 
 
 Cicely gazed at him with startled eyes of surprise. 
 " You really believe that? " she exclaimed. "I won- 
 der ! " And she fell silent, thinking. 
 
 " Mrs. Gibson," she said a little later, as the two wom- 
 en were washing the dishes together, " you heard what 
 your husband said, didn't you, about getting happiness 
 out of other people's happiness ? " 
 
 " Why, yes, I heard it," said Mrs. Gibson. " I like 
 to listen when John's talkin'," she added, reflectively; 
 " it's so so kind o' sensible." 
 
 " And do you believe it? " asked Cicely. " That about 
 happiness, I mean ? " 
 
 " B'lieve it? Why, o' course I do! " said Mrs. Gibson. 
 " Why, ther's no question about it. Ther' ain't a woman 
 in this world, I s'pose, that don't get the biggest part o' 
 her happiness that way." 
 
 " I don't," said Cicely obstinately. " I've been think- 
 ing about it; and I know I want my own happiness, and 
 not anybody else's." 
 
 Mrs. Gibson smiled fondly at her. " You ain't a 
 woman, dear," she said. " Yo're a child."
 
 SEASON OF GROWING 283 
 
 " O Mrs. Gibson/' said Cicely, with a sigh, " I feel as 
 old as the world ! " 
 
 " That may be, dear," said Mrs. Gibson wisely, " an' 
 you still not be much older'n a robin. Though I will 
 say," she added, " yo're growin' up fast." 
 
 " I'm learning," said Cicely humbly. " I've learned a 
 great deal since I've been with you. But I won't believe 
 that about other people's happiness ; I want my 
 own ! " 
 
 "Well, ther's no hurry," said Mrs. Gibson tolerantly; 
 " growin' takes time, same's any other thing that's wuth 
 doin'." 
 
 " Afternoon, folks ! " interrupted Susan Briggs, pop- 
 ping in at the door in her brisk Jack-in-the-box fashion. 
 " Still sloppin' with dishes ? What a pair o* slow- 
 coaches ! " 
 
 " We bed dinner late," said Mrs. Gibson, " an' we're 
 jest done anyhow. Why, Susan, yo're all dressed up! 
 Sure enough, this is the fifth of April. What train ye 
 goin' to take from the village? " 
 
 " I ain't goin' from the village, thank ye ! " said Susan. 
 " That's what I come about. I'm goin' to start out in 
 style; Richardson's folks are goin' over to Easton in 
 their automobile, an' they're goin' to take me along that 
 far; an' ther's room for one more, an' I want you sh'd 
 come, Marthy. So go git ready." 
 
 " Oh, I couldn't think o' sech a thing ! " answered Mrs. 
 Gibson. "You take Cicely; she was brought up in an 
 automobile, an' she ain't so much as sot her foot in one 
 sence she come here." 
 
 " No more've you," said the uncompromising Susan.
 
 284 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 " She's hed her share o' gallivanting an' you ain't. 
 Come, stir round. I'm a-waitin'." 
 
 " Oh, do go, Mrs. Gibson ! " said Cicely eagerly. 
 " Isn't it in Easton that they have that new library, 
 the one you want so much to see? " 
 
 " Yes, I do want to see that libr'y," admitted Mrs. 
 Gibson, " but I've got all this week's mendin' to do, an' 
 it's two days behind already, an' to-morrow's bakin'- 
 day, an' 'twun't get done at all." 
 
 " I'll do the mending," said Cicely. " I like to mend. 
 Do please go, Mrs. Gibson ! and do hurry ! " 
 
 " Yes, for the land's sake, hurry ! " commanded Miss 
 Briggs. " Yo're slower'n Lot's wife. Let Cicely do the 
 mendin', she's got brains enough now ; she's gittin' to 
 be jest like folks, an' put yore duds on." 
 
 " Well," began Mrs. Gibson, in a half-yielding tone, 
 " maybe 'twun't take so -eery long " and at that 
 Cicely blew her briskly out of the kitchen, and began 
 to load her with out-door attire in the bedroom beyond. 
 
 When the hasty good-byes had been said, and the tri- 
 umphant Susan had borne her captive away, Cicely sat 
 down by the work-table in the " settin'-room " with the 
 mending-basket. " I told her a fib," she thought. " I 
 hate to mend; but then I did want dreadfully to have 
 her go. Bless her heart, she works so hard, and gets 
 so little change! It will do her a world of good. Now 
 for these hateful old stockings." She fitted on her 
 thimble and threaded her needle with a capable twist 
 of the fingers. " If only one were ' working for 
 John ' ! " she thought wistfully. " I think even darning 
 would be happiness then. Well, I've thrown happiness
 
 SEASON OF GROWING 285 
 
 away; I mustn't expect it again." She set bravely to 
 work, knitting her brows over the painstaking stitches. 
 
 " Well, well ! " said the farmer, coming in presently 
 with the mail. "What's all this? Where's Marthy?" 
 
 " She's gone motoring with the Richardsons," said 
 Cicely. " Miss Briggs came for her, and between us we 
 managed to persuade her. So I'm doing the mending; 
 I can mend splendidly now." 
 
 " I bet ye can ! " said the farmer proudly. " You can 
 do 'bout anythin' ye want to, I guess. Well, what d'ye 
 think the news is ? " 
 
 " About ? " Cicely looked up quickly, her thoughts 
 flying instantly to their inevitable goal. 
 
 The farmer nodded with a humorous twinkle. 
 "That's right, 'bout Cheltenham," he said shrewdly; 
 he was well aware that Cicely's education had not pro- 
 gressed far enough to make her eyes brighten over the 
 name of the next Presidential candidate. " Johnny jest 
 sent me a paper. They're goin' to hev a new laboratory 
 there; an' as near's I can make out, the folks that are 
 givin' it are doin' it all on account o' Professor Ford." 
 
 " The de Mullens ! " exclaimed Cicely. " They're 
 giving a laboratory to Ro to Cheltenham ? " 
 
 " That's them," said the farmer. " Cough-drop 
 folks." 
 
 " But I thought they had given it to Yale ! " she said. 
 " I thought when I that is, I heard it was settled." 
 
 " Well, seems's if they changed the'r mind," said 
 John Gibson. " Says here they give it on condition he 
 gets made head o' the Department o' Science ; ' an' this 
 appointment/ it says, ' hes ben spoken of as a possi-
 
 286 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 bility for some months, and is now supposed to be a 
 definite fact.' My, wun't Johnny be tickled? But I do' 
 know's he'll be any tickleder'n I am. That man's pretty 
 young to get a reward like this, ain't he? P'raps you'd 
 like to look at the paper; I'll leave it here." He laid 
 the open sheet on the table, and tramped off to one of 
 his many tasks. 
 
 Cicely sat staring at the words without seeing them. 
 Roger the head of his department! Roger soon to have 
 his laboratory ! the things that she had so much wanted 
 for him, and had seemed to lose by her folly, all coming 
 to him now that she had gone out of his life ! A black 
 despair settled upon her. Now indeed her case was 
 hopeless. He would never need her again: his work, 
 which he loved, had rewarded his devotion ; and she, after 
 wrecking his life as nearly as possible, had lost her 
 place in it forever. She laid her head upon the paper, 
 and closed her eyes. 
 
 She knew now for the first time that she had still 
 harboured hope. What undreamed-of horror of desola- 
 tion was this ! Nothing remained in life, nothing. She 
 hated Roger's success, hated the people who had helped 
 him to it, hated his zeal which had made it possible. The 
 books, the apparatus of his work, and the old coat he 
 worked in, all that took him out of her life, and lifted 
 him into the serene impersonal world in which he was 
 happy, seemed endowed with malevolent personality to 
 mock at her. " I wish I had my hands on them ! " she 
 said aloud, fiercely. " I'd tear them! " 
 
 And then, suddenly, came into her mind the picture
 
 SEASON OF GROWING 287 
 
 of Roger in the old coat, bending over his work, absorbed, 
 content; and with it came a rush of tender tears. " My 
 precious Badger ! " she thought. " How he loves it ! 
 How happy he'll be, with everything that he wants at 
 his hand ! He'll work from morning till night, and never 
 know he's tired. O darling Badger, take it, take it! 
 I'm so glad there's something left for you that I haven't 
 spoiled! And I'm glad I'm gone, yes, I'm glad, I'd 
 rather never see you again than ruin your life. O Bad- 
 ger dearest, I do want you to be happy ! " So she wept 
 for a little while, and was somehow comforted. 
 
 The big clock in the corner struck three, and Cicely sat 
 up, recalled to her surroundings. " I must hurry," she 
 said to herself, " or I won't be done when Mrs. Gibson 
 gets back, and then she'll never go away again." She 
 set to work at the stockings, frowning and pursing her 
 mouth over the difficulty of the task. " I wonder who 
 did the stockings at our house ? " she thought. " Hitty, 
 I suppose. Poor Hitty, think of the holes there must 
 have been in all those silk ones of mine! . . . What a 
 good soul Hitty was ; and I never appreciated her, never, 
 except her conversation, I will say I always did 
 justice to that. . . . Miss Briggs is something like her; 
 and she's a good soul too. . . . How many nice people 
 there are, if you stop to notice. But none as nice as dear 
 Mrs. Gibson, bless her dear heart ! I do hope she's 
 having a good time." So, with busy mind and fingers, 
 she passed the long afternoon; and when Mrs. Gibson 
 returned at half-past five o'clock the pile of mending was 
 done.
 
 288 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 " Well, dear ! " said Mrs. Gibson, hurrying in out of 
 the fresh breeze with rosy cheeks. " How did ye get 
 along? " 
 
 " Splendidly ! " said Cicely, kissing her. " The mend- 
 ing's all finished. And did you have a good time ? " 
 
 " Oh, I hed the best time ! " exclaimed Mrs. Gibson, 
 her eyes shining like a girl's. " My, I do' know when 
 I've hed sech a time. That libr'y, well, I don't s'pose 
 heaven itself could be much beautifuller ! marble pil- 
 lars, an' vestibules all full of picters, an' books, rows 
 an' rows of 'em, right up to the ceilin', I never see 
 anythin' to equal it. An' how we did go! Comin' 
 home, we beat half the automobiles we see, an' there ! 
 I s'pose it's wicked, but I couldn't help wantin' to beat 
 'em all. The only drawback was that you wasn't there. 
 I kep' thinkin', ' Oh dear, if only Cicely was in this auto- 
 mobile, an' I was home darnin' them stockin's ! ' ' 
 
 "Why, dear Mrs. Gibson," said Cicely, "I was just 
 enjoying the stockings, because I knew you were having 
 a good time! I had twice as much pleasure in having 
 you go as I would have had in going myself." 
 
 " Cicely ! " said the farmer's wife, stopping in her 
 movement across the room. " Do you know what you 
 jest said? " 
 
 " Why, that I was glad you had a nice afternoon ! " 
 repeated Cicely, surprised. 
 
 " No, that you was happy in somebody else's hap- 
 piness ! " said Mrs. Gibson triumphantly. " Jest what 
 you said this noon-time you didn't b'lieve. Now look at 
 me and tell me true, don't you b'lieve ther's better
 
 SEASON OF GROWING 289 
 
 ways o' bein' happy besides Levin' jest what ye want for 
 yerself ? " 
 
 Cicely stood still and considered, and remembered how 
 glad she was that Roger should have his wish, and how 
 it had warmed her heart to hear of her friend's pleasure: 
 and a new and lovely light was born in her eyes, and lay 
 trembling along the line of her mouth. " Oh yes, yes ! " 
 she said. "Much, much better!" 
 
 Mrs. Gibson smiled at her, through fond tears. 
 " Cicely, dear heart," she said, " now yo're a woman."
 
 XV 
 
 " JOURNEYS END " 
 
 " WELL ! " said Susan Briggs, invading the quiet kitchen 
 like a shot from a cannon, " here I am, gone off, stayed 
 off, an" got back again, all in one week ! My stars, I ben 
 doin' so much I expected to find ye all ten years older, 
 an' ye ain't changed a mite." 
 
 " Welcome home, Susan ! " said Martha Gibson heart- 
 ily. " Set right down, an' tell us all about it ! Did ye 
 hev a fine time ? " 
 
 " Yes, do tell us ! " echoed Cicely. " How bright and 
 jolly you look! It does one good to have a peep at 
 you." Now that she had received her new vision, she 
 was wonderfully wide-eyed for vicarious pleasure. 
 
 " Well, sirs ! " began the traveller, with great gusto, 
 " I jest wish't you'd 'a' ben along to see the sights o' 
 the city! I ain't ben there for ten years, an' I tell ye 
 I wouldn't 'a' b'lieved all I see if I hedn't 'a' hed my 
 own eyes with me. My land, them buildin's are so tall 
 now they made me feel's if my legs wa'n't no longer'n 
 a caterpillar's; why, ther's some of 'em 'd made the new 
 Methodist steeple look like a pancake, they would that. 
 An' the hats ! I thought that one you come here in was 
 bad enough, Cicely ; but my soul, it's civilized beside some 
 I see there ! I see one woman that looked as if she 
 
 290
 
 "JOURNEYS END" 291 
 
 was carryin' round a ten-acre truck-farm, all loaded down 
 with greens an' garden-sass ; an' then the next one I see 
 looked as if she'd got her head jammed in a coal-buckit, 
 an' couldn't git it out without a boot-jack. Land, I must 
 say, the more I see o' city women, the gladder I am 't I 
 live in the country, where folks 'a' got some sense! " 
 
 " Go on, tell us more ! " urged Cicely, her eyes dancing. 
 " Are the spring coats long or short? And what are the 
 new sleeves like? " 
 
 " An' did ye get to any lectures ? " asked Mrs. Gib- 
 son hungrily. " An' did ye see the new Art Museum? " 
 
 " Yes, I went to two lectures, an' I see the museum on 
 purpose to tell you 'bout it," said Miss Briggs. " An' I 
 heard some news, too, 'bout Cheltenham, that I ben 
 savin' for ye." 
 
 "Oh, what is it?" said Cicely quickly. "About the 
 physical laboratory ? " 
 
 " No, 'bout Marthy's Professor Ford, that she's so 
 cracked on," replied Susan. " Sh'll I tell it now, or go 
 on 'bout the sleeves an' the museum? " 
 
 " Oh, tell it, tell it ! " said Cicely, uncontrollably im- 
 patient. " Is he well ? " 
 
 " Why, so far's I know," said Susan, swelling with the 
 importance of a newsbearer, " but what d'ye s'pose ? His 
 wife's up 'n' left him ! Yes, sir, went off last January 
 with another feller, sure's yo're born ! " 
 
 This information, instead of creating an uproar, was 
 received in absolute silence. Cicely clenched her hands, 
 and breathed as if she had been running, but kept her 
 lips closed; and Mrs. Gibson, averting her eyes, looked 
 out of the window with a sad and troubled face.
 
 292 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 " Well, ye don't seem much stirred up ! " said Miss 
 Briggs, aggrieved. " I thought ye'd set up a holler, 
 Marthy. What's the matter? Ain't heard it before, 
 hev ye? " 
 
 " Why, yes, I hev," said Mrs. Gibson slowly. 
 " Johnny wrote it to me quite a spell ago. I She 
 made as if to say more, then changed her mind and 
 closed her lips again. 
 
 "Well, I never!" said Susan indignantly. "Of all 
 the stingy-mouthed folks! What ails ye, to be so tight 
 with yer news ? " 
 
 " Well, first place," said Mrs. Gibson, " I wa'n't sure 
 but it might be a mistake, an' I didn't want to be the 
 one to spread it. An' then, when I knowed it was so, 
 why well, I think so much o' Professor Ford, I 
 couldn't bring myself to talk to folks 'bout it. It seemed 
 like like paintin' the town fences with I do' know 
 his heart's blood." She flushed with the difficulty of 
 expressing so sensitive a feeling before so matter-of-fact 
 an auditor. Cicely looked at her with eyes of dumb 
 gratitude. 
 
 " My senses ! " exclaimed Susan. " Yo're softer 'n 
 mush, Marthy ! Other folks ain't sech 'fraid-cats, I can 
 tell ye. It's ben town talk for months in Cheltenham, 
 an' even in the city ther's lots knows all about it. I 
 s'pose she went to Reno, don't you? They say she was 
 brought up s'ciety, an' I hear that's what all them 
 s'ciety folks do." 
 
 " How'd you hear 'bout it? " asked Mrs. Gibson, with 
 some hesitation. 
 
 " Why, Jim Milliard's folks told me," said Susan, ex-
 
 "JOURNEYS END" 293 
 
 pounding the tale with enthusiasm. " Their cousin 
 Jonas's cousin Hitty Sparks was workin' to the Fords'; 
 an' 'twas her see Mis' Ford an' this young feller elopin' 
 away, with her own eyes. Ellen Hilliard, she says Hitty 
 'most cried herself sick over it; an' she ain't one to cry 
 neither, Ellen says; but it seems she was dreadful took 
 up with them Fords. Well, she stayed on quite a spell, 
 keepin' house for Professor Ford: but presently she see 
 what a scandal it'd be likely to make, her livin' alone 
 like that with a single man, as ye might say; an' so she 
 put it to the professor that she'd give him a month to 
 git married again, or if not she'd hev to go. So the 
 professor, he says, s'he, that if 'twas that way he guessed 
 they'd hev to part, becuz he hedn't no notion o' marryin' 
 again ; an' so Hitty left come the end o' Feb'uary. She 
 was dreadful sorry to go, but o' course a respectable 
 single woman hes to consider the looks o' things." 
 
 " An' how does he manage now ? " asked Mrs. Gibson. 
 " Did he get him another girl? " 
 
 " Well no, it seems not," continued Susan fluently. 
 " Seems they're dreadful hard to come by in Chelten- 
 ham ; an' besides, he was bound 'n' determined to sell his 
 house, an' didn't want to make no permanent arrange- 
 ments, seems queer, don't it, when he bought it less'n a 
 year ago? he must be kind o' wambly. So Hitty, she 
 got him a day-woman that was to come in once in so 
 often an' clean an' wash up, an' then he was to git his 
 own breakfast an' take his other meals out; an' Hitty, 
 she got her another place, with a steady, respectable 
 married couple. But Goody Gorham! she says the way 
 that poor man lives is somethin' awful. Some days the
 
 294 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 woman comes, an' some days she don't; an' if she does, 
 ten chances to one she leaves things dirtier'n she finds 
 'em; an' if she don't, land knows what happens. An' 
 she says he looks so thin, an' so forlorn 
 
 All this time Cicely had sat still and rigid, turned to 
 stone by the violent conflict for self-mastery going on 
 within her, nothing but her great eyes alive in her white 
 face. But now she could bear no more. Gasping, she 
 rose to her feet and began to stumble across the room. 
 "I I must go upstairs," she said. " Please excuse 
 me I I have something to do." With unsteady steps 
 she hurried through the door and up the narrow stairway 
 to her little chamber. 
 
 " I can't help it, I can't help it, I must go ! " she 
 told herself. " I must go if he hates me more than ever 
 for it. So thin so forlorn / " She began to weep 
 softly, setting about her hurried preparations. " Oh, my 
 poor boy! my poor, precious Badger! I must go and 
 take care of you, I must ! I know you don't want me, 
 dear, and I don't wonder, but oh, I can't bear this ! 
 ' So thin so forlorn ' " The tears fell fast upon the 
 things she was putting into her travelling-bag, and she 
 fumbled for the fastenings blindly. 
 
 " Can I come in, dear? " asked Mrs. Gibson's voice 
 at the door. "I've sent Susan away; I couldn't wait 
 any longer." 
 
 " Yes, come in," said Cicely, with a quivering voice. 
 "Mrs. Gibson, I'm going going on a journey." 
 She took her hat from its shelf, and, with a quaint, un- 
 conscious obedience to habit, put it on in front of the 
 mirror she could not see.
 
 "JOURNEYS END" 295 
 
 " Yo're goin' ! " said Mrs. Gibson, without surprise. 
 " Then God speed ye, dear." 
 
 " Thank you," answered Cicely, sobbing. " Mrs. Gib- 
 son, you've been so very, very good to me, I ought 
 not to keep it from you any longer I ought to tell 
 you " 
 
 " Don't trouble, Cicely," said the farmer's wife quietly. 
 " I expect I know." 
 
 "You know?" exclaimed Cicely, her eyes widening 
 behind their veil of tears. "You know about me? 
 But how ? " 
 
 " I've hed my s'picions for a good while, dear, hearin' 
 you talk 'bout Cheltenham," answered Mrs. Gibson. 
 " An' then to-day I see yore face when she said 
 he was lonesome." 
 
 Cicely flew to the embrace of the waiting arms, lay- 
 ing her wet cheek against the cheek of her friend. " Oh, 
 you do know!" she cried. "Oh, I'm so glad! Dear, 
 dear Mrs. Gibson, you love him too, you understand. 
 And my poor Roger my poor precious husband, he's 
 so miserable, Mrs. Gibson ! I have to go and help him." 
 
 " Yes, dearie," said Mrs. Gibson, fondling her with a 
 sigh, " it's right ye should go. But oh, little daughter, 
 how I'll miss ye! " 
 
 "But I'll be back soon, very soon!" said Cicely, 
 stifling a sigh in her turn. " I'm only going to see how 
 he is." 
 
 " An' do you s'pose for one minute," inquired Mrs. 
 Gibson, smiling sadly, " that when ye've once seen him 
 ye'll ever think again 'bout us ? " 
 
 "Oh, I'm not going to see him!" exclaimed Cicely.
 
 296 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 " Not face to face, I mean. I'll just slip in and look at 
 the house, and get some one to take proper care of 
 him, and then stay overnight in some place where I can 
 just catch a glimpse of him as he goes by. And 
 then I'll come back. I ought to tell you," she added, 
 flushing, but speaking out bravely, " that I nearly spoiled 
 my husband's life before, and there's no place in it 
 for me now." 
 
 " No, I s'pose not," said Mrs. Gibson, with gentle 
 irony. " An' you run away from him with another man, 
 I s'pose, same's Susan said." 
 
 " Oh, no ! " said Cicely, half-laughing through her 
 tears. " That was Kitty's imagination. But Roger 
 doesn't love me any longer, you see, and and so I 
 can't stay with him." 
 
 " I see," said the farmer's wife, scoffing tenderly. 
 " An' you don't love him neither, o' course." 
 
 " Oh, I love him, I love him ! " cried Cicely vehemently. 
 "I must hurry and go to him!" She slipped swiftly 
 from the other's embrace, and, wiping the drops from 
 her lashes, hurried into her coat and caught up her 
 bag. 
 
 " Yes, go, dear," said the farmer's wife. " An' God 
 bless ye. God bless my little daughter." They clung 
 together again, kissing; and this time, as inevitably in 
 a parting between the generation that looks ahead and 
 the generation that looks back, it was the older woman's 
 cheeks that were wet. 
 
 " I'll be back soon, very soon," said Cicely, sigh- 
 ing. 
 
 " Mebbe," said the farmer's wife, trying to smile.
 
 "JOURNEYS END" 297 
 
 " Good-bye, little daughter. I'll love ye always. Good- 
 bye." 
 
 So Cicely parted from the home that had seen her new 
 birth, without a pang save in the thought that she must 
 soon come back to it again. But this time it was not 
 selfishness that blinded her spirit's eyes, only the glory 
 of the greater love that, for a while, hid the lesser. 
 
 The car that carried Cicely away from her husband 
 and her home had seemed to go at a merciless speed that 
 nothing could retard, widening the distance as swiftly 
 and inexorably as if it had been the grim chariot of 
 Death itself. Now the car that bore her back again 
 over the same road had leagued itself with all the demons 
 of delay, and either crawled like a torpid snail, or 
 stopped altogether for interminable periods on the flim- 
 siest possible excuses. But it was a radiant spring 
 morning, and all the world was smiling: the trees were 
 powdered with lightly-sprinkled green, the dark fields 
 looked rich and fecund; and high in the branches the 
 birds were busy at their dainty errands, chattering, choos- 
 ing, planning. Cicely thought of that day of dreary 
 winter when she had set forth through the muddy snow 
 with winter in her heart, and at the thought became 
 suddenly aware of the springtime she now carried within 
 her. What a glorious day ! What a dear, dear errand ! 
 What slow wheels, and what a hot- foot heart! What 
 a beautiful, wonderful world ! 
 
 And now all the road seemed alive with lovers. Boys 
 and girls stood trysting under trees ; in the village streets
 
 298 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 men and maidens stopped each other and chatted with 
 smiling, lighting glances; once the car slowed down in 
 front of an isolated house while the motorman waved his 
 cap at a window, and Cicely, peeping, saw a hand flut- 
 tering a secret kiss in response; and once an old couple, 
 sitting near her in the car, man and wife, clearly, 
 for many years, clasped hands and smiled mistily at 
 each other, as they passed a little brook with willows and 
 a mossy seat beside it. A world of lovers ! Cicely felt 
 a lump of poignant sympathy rise in her throat, and the 
 warm tears gather to her eyes. Even if love was over 
 for her, it was good that love still lived in the world. 
 
 So the long day drew on. As she had left Chelten- 
 ham in the winter twilight and come to her stopping- 
 place at midnight of that other day, so now, when she 
 had set forth in mid-morning, she came to her goal when 
 the April shadows were growing long. She left the car 
 at that pine-pillared spot on the lonely road where she 
 had boarded it before, and, wing-footed with eagerness, 
 sped at a breathless pace up the narrow street, and home. 
 
 At the sight of the little red house, however, a sharp 
 pang of misgiving smote her. It looked bleaker and 
 more wintry than when she had left it ; last autumn's dead 
 leaves lay thick upon the lawn; the brick walk, the 
 flowerless windows, were dirty and neglected; and when 
 she tried the door, it was locked fast. Her home had no 
 welcome for her; she was shut out of Roger's house as 
 out of his life. Dared she break her way in again, even
 
 "JOURNEYS END" 299 
 
 for a moment? Her heart failed within her, and all 
 at once she was ready to turn and fly away as fast as 
 she had come. 
 
 Yet she gathered her courage and determination with 
 a steady hand. She had come to take care of Roger, 
 and she would be a more pitiable helpmeet than ever if 
 she ran like a coward before she had begun. She 
 slipped around the house in the shelter of the shrubbery, 
 trying the windows one after another; and presently, at 
 the back, she came upon one that yielded to her touch, 
 and raised it cautiously. Screened on one side by the 
 thick, new-leafed lilac-bushes, and on the other by the 
 projecting porch of the back door, she scrambled over 
 the sill without much fear of observation, and found her- 
 self safe inside. It came into her mind, as she drew the 
 sash down stealthily, that she was entering her husband's 
 home like a thief, and she grew hot with shame, and then 
 again cold with a new desolation. 
 
 But as she looked around her, all other thoughts were 
 swallowed up in the shock of dismay to her new house- 
 wifely perceptions. Dirt and desolation reigned every- 
 where. The little morning-room, which she had left so 
 crisp and dainty, was like a soiled memory of a past 
 pleasure ; the curtains hung in dingy wisps, the furniture 
 was filmed thick with dust, and on the floor the grey 
 rolls of dust that Hitty called " slut's-feathers " rolled 
 hither and thither. In the drawing-room, once the 
 prettiest setting for a pretty trousseau that heart could 
 wish, the sight of the cobwebbed lights, decaying 
 flowers, and piano still bedaubed with the candle-grease
 
 300 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 of the forgotten reception, made her wring her hands. 
 " Oh, oh ! " she cried. " How can they let him live like 
 this ? How can they ? " 
 
 In the hall the stairs tempted her, and, though she 
 feared to loiter, she stole up them on tiptoe. The un- 
 occupied rooms, like the ones below, were thick with 
 dust. Roger's room was so untidy that she could not 
 trust herself to go into it, lest all her resolves of haste 
 be overborne in spite of her. As she passed the door of 
 her own chamber, an impulse seized her to see if that, too 
 (which had been like a flower for fresh sweetness), had 
 succumbed to the prevailing desolation: she put out her 
 hand to the knob, and tried to turn it; and it stood fast 
 in her hold, locked now from the outside, as once she 
 had locked it from within. 
 
 This discovery plunged a knife into her heart. " He 
 wants to shut even the memory of me out of his life ! " 
 she cried to herself. " He can't bear to see even the 
 place where I used to be. Oh, I must go, I must hurry, 
 what would he do if he should see me? Roger, Roger, 
 I love you so, and you hate the very thought of me ! Oh, 
 I'll go quickly, dear, and not make you suffer any more." 
 
 Yet she lingered, straying from room to room like an 
 uneasy ghost, unable to drag herself away. In Roger's 
 study, on the desk, a handkerchief grimy with dust and 
 a clean area among the papers showed a pathetic mascu- 
 line attempt at house-cleaning; and putting the handker- 
 chief, grime and all, into her pocket, she cried softly 
 over the uncared-for homelessness of her man. Behind 
 the door a further search revealed the old working-coat, 
 shabbier than ever now, with all the buttons off, pipe-
 
 "JOURNEYS END" 801 
 
 ash burns down the front, and a frayed hole through the 
 elbow ; and over this her tears flowed faster still. " My 
 poor, poor boy ! " she sobbed. " Oh, how forlorn you 
 are ! I must go, I must go but how can I, and 
 leave him like this ? " And still kept weeping from room 
 to room, and wringing her hands, and saying that she 
 would go, and miserably staying. 
 
 At sight of the kitchen, however, the floor littered 
 with coal and cinders, the stove messy with burned food, 
 the table full of soiled dishes, her resolution gave out 
 utterly. "It's no use!" she cried. "I can't, I just 
 can't! I must take the risk. O Roger, my poor boy, to 
 think of a kitchen like this! Oh, I've just got to put 
 it right, I just can't go till I do." 
 
 She had dashed the tears from her eyes and flung her 
 hat and coat on a chair even while she made her decision, 
 and stood, in the pink gingham dress she had never 
 thought of changing before she left the farm, tucking up 
 her sleeves over her white arms. " I'll hurry so fast he 
 won't have time to get back ! " she thought. " It's early 
 yet; he won't come for a long time; and when he does, 
 he'll think a Brownie has been here. He won't know 
 it was a Pixie ! " She looked around the kitchen with 
 eyes that had begun to shine; pouncing by instinct on 
 the broom in its corner closet, she swept the floor 
 deftly; rubbed the stove with a wet cloth that sizzled 
 on its hot, dirty surface; and then, piling the dishes 
 neatly, washed the white table that Hitty used to keep 
 so spotless, and filled the dishpan at the sink. As she 
 did this, she noticed to her astonishment that she was 
 singing.
 
 302 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 " Why, I haven't sung in all these months ! " she 
 thought. "I wonder what makes me so happy?" 
 Then, as she lifted the cups and plates her husband had 
 used into the pan of shining water, a light broke upon 
 her. " It's ' working for John ! ' ' she told herself. 
 " Mrs. Gibson said that was the best thing in life, and 
 so it is. I never knew anything so sweet. I won't 
 think about going; I'll make believe I'm going to stay 
 here always, helping my man." 
 
 So she worked, singing. For the first time in her life 
 she knew the full happiness of loving service, and it 
 seemed she could not glory enough in it. The twilight 
 began to fall, and the shadows to gather in the corners, 
 but she was too absorbed to remember time. And in 
 the same way caution left her; just as earnestly as she 
 had meant to hurry, so earnestly had she meant to keep 
 as still as a mouse; but somehow her happy voice got 
 away from her, and mounted into realms of sheer de- 
 light where she could not control it; and her hands, just 
 as happy, rattled recklessly with the dishes in the pan. 
 And so, when the tired step came slowly up the walk, 
 stopped short in the hall, and then hurried quickly across 
 the dining-room, she did not hear it, or perhaps heard 
 it without ever knowing, and took it for the sound of 
 her own heart-beats. 
 
 " The King of Love my shepherd is, 
 I'm working for my Roger, 
 
 she was singing joyfully, in a hymn of her own arrange- 
 ment, when the door opened, and Roger himself stood
 
 "JOURNEYS END" 303 
 
 upon the threshold, staring at her through the gather- 
 ing gloom. 
 
 
 
 At sight of the real flesh-and-blood body of the subj ect 
 of her dreams, Cicely fell with a crash from her rosy 
 clouds, and stood gasping in the chill air of reality. 
 Here was Roger, Roger whom she did not mean to 
 see, Roger who hated the thought of her! and here was 
 she, who had wrecked his life, and promised in spirit 
 to stay out of it forever henceforth, face to face with 
 him! In the first revulsion from the shock of surprise, 
 all the blood in her body surged up in an unreasoning 
 flood of joy, crying out to him: but on the next heart- 
 beat, seeing him stand there so stark and motionless, it 
 ebbed away again into cold despair. So they stood for 
 a long moment, gazing at each other, frozen into si- 
 lence. 
 
 Then Cicely, summoning her resolution, spoke in a 
 low voice. "I I didn't mean you to see me, Roger," 
 she said. 
 
 " It is you, Cicely ! " exclaimed Roger hoarsely. 
 " What are you doing here ? " 
 
 " I'm just going," said Cicely hurriedly. " I never 
 meant to stay until you came. You'll believe that, won't 
 you ? " 
 
 " Yes, I'll believe that," said Roger bitterly. " I don't 
 understand why you came at all." 
 
 " I'll tell you why," said Cicely, with sudden courage. 
 Between her and Roger evasions were wicked ; there 
 should be nothing but truth. " I came because I couldn't
 
 304 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 bear it any longer without seeing how you were. And 
 when I got here there was so much to do for you, Roger, 
 I just couldn't I just couldn't make myself go." 
 
 Roger gave an astounded, inarticulate exclamation. 
 " You you couldn't go because there was so much 
 to do for me! " he muttered. " I'm dreaming. Let me 
 see you, Cicely." He reached his arm out sidewise, 
 groping for the electric button on the wall beside him, 
 while he kept his eyes fixed on the place where Cicely 
 stood. 
 
 " Oh, don't, Roger ! " cried Cicely, afraid to trust her- 
 self with a better sight of him: but even as she spoke, 
 the button clicked, and the room leaped into full 
 light. 
 
 For an instant, taken by surprise, they both stood off 
 guard, Cicely, in all the homely beauty of her service, 
 the sleeves of her little gingham frock tucked up to her 
 elbows, the dish-towel in her hands, and her face, made 
 sweeter and graver by these months of pain, instinct 
 with longing; and Roger, white, haggard and worn, with 
 a desperate hunger behind the amazement in his eyes. 
 Sheer force of emotion held them both spellbound while 
 they gazed. Then Cicely's hand, all unconsciously, 
 caught at her labouring heart, and at the movement 
 Roger turned his face away sharply, with a low exclama- 
 tion that was like a groan. 
 
 "Cicely!" he said. "If you're going, go quickly. 
 I'm only a man I can't promise " He shut his 
 teeth on the sentence, and she saw his strong hands 
 clench. 
 
 " But but Roger ! " cried Cicely, stammering.
 
 "JOURNEYS END" 305 
 
 " You you don't mean you can't mean you you 
 want me, Roger? " 
 
 " Want you ! " cried Roger in a husky whisper. 
 " Want you ! " 
 
 Cicely clutched the table-edge for steadiness. " But 
 it can't be ! " she said. " All these months all these 
 long, long months you never tried to find me 
 never made a sign " 
 
 " How could I ? " cried Roger, wheeling Violently 
 around. " God in heaven, Cicely, you were with him ! 
 I wanted you to be happy: and if I couldn't make you 
 happy here, then the least I could do was to leave you in 
 peace. But to hunt for you to see you with another 
 man no, that's too much I tell you I'm human " 
 
 " With another man ! " interrupted Cicely, staring. 
 " Do you mean oh, but you couldn't mean O 
 Roger, you did mean with the boy ! Roger, Roger 
 you could think that you could believe it why, were 
 you raving? And I all these months oh, it's a joke, 
 a hideous, horrible joke " Self-control crumpled 
 down within her, and she sank into a chair and began 
 to laugh hysterically. 
 
 Roger stared in his turn, all the colour wiped from his 
 face even to the white lips. " Cicely ! " he panted. 
 " You weren't with him ? you never went with him ? 
 Then why why have we been apart all this time ? " 
 
 " Because," said Cicely bitterly, steadying herself, 
 " you knew the woman the woman who used to be your 
 wife the one you called your soul so well, that you 
 believed the first silly falsehood you heard about her 
 and never asked anything more. And that that was
 
 306 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 possible in marriage, the one relation that ought to be all 
 truth ! We who were husband and wife ! Oh, what 
 a mockery what a mockery ! " 
 
 " Cicely," said Roger hoarsely, " I never had your 
 truth. I never knew your real self, except for a few 
 glimpses in those first days, and the sound of it some- 
 times in your voice. You went away from here, just 
 as you came, a beautiful stranger." 
 
 Cicely raised her head to look at him fairly; and at 
 the sight of the white, suffering face and big clenched 
 hands the rising bitterness in her was swept away. How 
 much indeed had she given him of her truth, she who had 
 only lately begun to know her true self? and how much 
 had she known of the truth of him, when she had believed 
 all this time that he did not love her, and had sub- 
 mitted to learn of him from strangers? The humility 
 which she had learned so newly rushed over her in a 
 flood: and yet in the midst of it she felt a sudden, great 
 pride ; so much of truth was open to her now ; and this 
 man, this man of the plain, beautiful, tortured face 
 and strong desirable arms, was hers out of all the 
 world ! 
 
 " Roger ! " she said. " Did I hear you say you 
 wanted me ? " 
 
 " Oh Cicely ! " groaned Roger. 
 
 " Then," she said, with a little sobbing laugh, " why 
 why don't you take me, Badger ? " 
 
 There was a sudden cry, a sudden leap across the little 
 
 kitchen, a sudden reaching out of hungry arms. Then, 
 
 weeping, laughing, clinging, heart on heart and cheek 
 
 against wet cheek, these two who had strayed so wide
 
 "JOURNEYS END" 307 
 
 and blundered so pitiably were born again; out of folly 
 into understanding; out of earth into (it may be), heaven. 
 
 They spoke but little, and brokenly. 
 
 " It's a dream," said Roger, his big arms crushing 
 her. 
 
 " Is this a dream? " asked Cicely, lifting warm lips to 
 his. 
 
 " O Pixie, Pixie, I've dreamed it so many times 
 and always waked " 
 
 " Badger, my Badger, my own beloved, you'll never 
 wake again, except to find that it's all, all true ! " 
 
 " Tell it to me again, then, sweetheart, sweet, sweet 
 wife. . . ." 
 
 And later 
 
 " Badger, precious heart, if you loved me all the time, 
 why did you lock the door ? " 
 
 " Oh, Pixie, your little sweet-smelling things your 
 empty room ! Do you want me to be made of stone ? " 
 
 " No, no, dear love, not for me, not for me ! " 
 
 The dishes shifted, clinking, in the pan: and all at 
 once Roger and Cicely were back again in the actual 
 world, the good, homely, beautiful, laughing, crying, 
 workaday world. They both started, and Cicely slid 
 from Roger's embrace. 
 
 " My dishes ! " she exclaimed in consternation. 
 
 " Dishes ! " said Roger. " Who's been teaching you
 
 308 THE GILDED CHRYSALIS 
 
 to put your precious hands in dishwater? Leave them 
 alone ! " 
 
 " Not I," said Cicely. " That's gone on long enough. 
 I'm going to wash them." 
 
 Roger caught her hands. " Look here/' he said de- 
 terminedly, " if you think I'm going to stand by and 
 watch my wife work, you're mistaken. You're not to 
 touch them: if somebody must, I will." 
 
 " Roger," said Cicely, looking at him wistfully, " do 
 you want to turn me back again into a wax doll, when 
 I'm just learning the happiness of being a woman? " 
 
 Roger looked startled. " I never thought of that ! " 
 he said, gazing at the new grave sweetness of her face. 
 "Perhaps you're right. Only dishes!" 
 
 " The dishes are just an emblem," said Cicely, re- 
 leasing her hands, and turning on the hot water. " You 
 see, I thought that life was an unlimited monarchy, with 
 me on the throne and you on the footstool. But now I 
 find it's a partnership, with me in one chair and you 
 in the other. And that's enough to glorify even the 
 dishes ! " 
 
 " Cicely," declared Roger, with conviction, " you're an 
 Angel. A Heavenly Angel." 
 
 Cicely looked up at him sidewise with her wise, merry 
 smile. 
 
 " Thank heaven you're mistaken ! " she said. " Come, 
 Roger, here's your towel." 
 
 THE END 
 
 ... 
 
 
 
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