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 A WOMAN OF MIND
 
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 A WOMAN OF MIND 
 
 ^ '^ovtl 
 
 BY 
 
 MRS. ADOLPHE SMITH, 
 
 AUTHOR OF "LOVE WITHOUT WINGS." 
 
 IN THREE VOLUMES. 
 VOL. I. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 SAMPSON LOW, MAESTON, SEAELE & EIVINGTON, 
 
 CROWN BUILDINGS, 188, FLEET STEEET. 
 
 1879. 
 
 (All rights reserved.')
 
 LONDON: 
 
 I'UINTED BV Wir-MAM CLOWES AND SONS, 
 
 8TAMF0ia> STUKKT AND CirARIXC. CKOSS.
 
 2^z 
 
 V. / 
 
 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 CHAPTEB I. 
 
 The breakfast-bell had rung at Clevedon 
 House, and the party had gradually 
 assembled in the spacious breakfast-room. 
 Lady Leveson and her daughter were 
 at the window, admiring, or professing 
 
 f to admire, the fine expanse of green land 
 and blue sky stretched before them ; 
 
 ^. Gilbert Jocelyn was indulging in a 
 scarcely disguised yawn by the mantel- 
 
 ^- piece ; and Admiral and Mrs. Clevedon 
 
 VOL. I. B
 
 2 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 were watching the door with evident 
 anxiety, not unmixed with displeasure. 
 
 "Where can Silvia be?" murmured 
 Mrs. Clevedon, glancing deprecatingly at 
 Lady Leveson. 
 
 *^ She is really incorrigible," said the 
 admiral, angrily; and he added, turning 
 to the servant who stood beside him 
 with the letter-bag, " Johnson, ring the 
 breakfast-bell again. Miss Clevedon can- 
 not have heard." 
 
 While the house was yet echoing to 
 the sound of the peal, Mrs. Clevedon, 
 who had glanced out of the window, ex- 
 claimed, " She is coming. She was in 
 the grounds, you see." 
 
 *'Who can that be with her?" said 
 the admhal, following his wife's eyes, 
 and seeing that his daughter was not 
 alone.
 
 A WOMAN OF MIND. O 
 
 ^^It is one of the maids, I should 
 think," hazarded Lady Leveson. 
 
 Here Mrs. Clevedon sighed deeply, 
 and said confidentially to her guest, 
 '' My daughter has picked up some such 
 very odd ideas, you know, on social 
 matters. I suppose they come from 
 books; she has read extensively and 
 indiscriminately. Her father and I are 
 quite distressed to find that she is de- 
 veloping into a politician, and positively 
 into a regular Eadical ! " Here Lady 
 Leveson drew involuntarily nearer to her 
 daughter, as if to shield her from the 
 contamination of the very word, and 
 smiled somewhat contemptuously as Mrs. 
 Clevedon continued: "The admiral was 
 always as sound and thorough a Tory 
 as his father before him, and I haven't
 
 4 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 a drop of anything but the purest Tory 
 blood in my veins ; but, in spiue of this, 
 Silvia's ideas are totally opposed to 
 ours, on every point." 
 
 Gilbert Jocelyn had advanced leisurely 
 to the group by the window, while Mrs. 
 Clevedon was speaking, and he now ex- 
 claimed, as Miss Clevedon walked slowly 
 up the broad path towards the house, 
 talking earnestly to the girl at her side, 
 ^* Eadical or not, she's deucedly hand- 
 some." 
 
 ^^Yes, yes, she's handsome enough," 
 muttered the admiral, testily; *'but I 
 wish she were more practicable." 
 
 And Lady Leveson smiled, while her 
 daughter flushed and pouted at the 
 younger man's ingenuous remark. 
 
 She was, undeniably, excessively hand-
 
 A WOMAN OF MIND. 5 
 
 some; the face and style were not cal- 
 culated to please every one, but few 
 could refuse to acknowledge that she 
 possessed great and striking beauty. And 
 even Lady Leveson and her daughter, 
 who assuredly looked with small favour 
 on Miss Clevedon's personal gifts, could 
 not but own, as they watched her, that 
 she might be to some persons' tastes. 
 It was a serious, thoughtful face that 
 was turned to the attentive maid — a face 
 full of intellect and energy and feeling ; 
 and you felt, as you marked its handsome 
 features and earnest expression, that it 
 belonged to a woman above the ordinary 
 feminine level, a woman whom to know 
 might be ^' a liberal education." 
 
 *^ She has altered greatly," observed 
 Gilbert Jocelyn to Mrs. Clevedon. *'I
 
 6 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 did not see it as much last night as I do 
 now. The dayhght shows her up better." 
 
 "Yes; she has altered in everyway," 
 Mrs. Clevedon answered, with something 
 like a sigh. '^ She grows more and more 
 strange, and whimsical, and pecuHar, day 
 by day." 
 
 " She always bid fair to be odd and 
 irregular," laughed Gilbert Jocelyn. "I 
 remember I used to think her a bit of a 
 genius in her way." 
 
 ** I am very sorry that I am late, 
 father," said Silvia, entering the room 
 at that moment, and advancing towards 
 the group of persons by the window. 
 *^Pray excuse my apparent rudeness. 
 Lady Leveson and Miss Leveson," she 
 added, as she shook hands with those 
 ladies, who had looked considerably
 
 A WOMAN OF MIND. 7 
 
 ruffled at the turn the conversation had 
 been taking before Silvia's appearance. 
 
 ^^ How was it that you kept us waiting, 
 Silvia?" asked her father, as the party- 
 took their places at the table. 
 
 ^^I did not hear the bell," rephed 
 Silvia. *^ I was interested in talking to 
 Ellen, in giving her some advice." 
 
 ^' It would have been a pity to have 
 interfered with your duties to your maid," 
 said Lady Leveson, with a playful in- 
 tonation. 
 
 '* I think it would," repHed Silvia, a 
 shade coming over her expressive face ; 
 '* the girl needed a kind word or two." 
 
 Here Gilbert Jocelyn, who had been 
 careful to secure a seat beside Miss 
 Clevedon, broke in : ^^ Why did you not 
 tell me in youi' letters that you were so
 
 8 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 much altered, Silvia? I suppose I may 
 still call you Silvia?" 
 
 The shade that had sobered her coun- 
 tenance a moment before, now gave 
 way to the brightest of smiles, as she 
 answered, *' Certainly; call me Silvia 
 still, if it be any satisfaction to you. 
 It's much more convenient than to wade 
 through the formality of Miss Clevedon 
 every time you address me. For my 
 part, I think it would be far more 
 sensible if men and women always 
 addressed each other either by their 
 Christian names or surnames — that is 
 to say, if I were to call you Jocelyn, 
 and you called me Clevedon; or if, on 
 a more familiar footing, we made it 
 Gilbert and Silvia. I remember that, 
 as children, we called each other Gil 
 and Sn."
 
 A WOMAN OF MIND. 9 
 
 ''But you are not a child now, Silvia," 
 said her mother, gravely, '' and you must 
 try to remember that also." 
 
 '' Miss Clevedon will always be a child 
 of nature, evidently," said Lady Leveson, 
 icily. 
 
 '' Thank you," said Silvia, hfting her 
 clear grey eyes to Lady Leveson's face, 
 and smihng. '' I take it as a compH- 
 ment." 
 
 Lady Leveson raised her eyebrows, 
 very plainly indicating that she had in- 
 tended nothing agreeable, and tm-ned to 
 talk with the admiral, resolving, men- 
 tally, that she would leave Clevedon 
 House as soon as was consistent with 
 the most elementary rules of good 
 breeding. 
 
 "What shall we do when breakfast 
 is over ? " said Jocelyn.
 
 10 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 ''What do you say, Miss Leveson?" 
 said Silvia, glancing across the table at 
 her. ''What would you like to do? 
 Will you stroll through the village — such 
 a picturesque village, as pretty, in its 
 way, as anything you can have seen in 
 Switzerland — or shall we ramble into the 
 forest, or have a gallop ' across country ' ? 
 Which would suit you best ? " 
 
 "Thank you, I think I would rather 
 not go out this morning," said Miss 
 Leveson, glaDcing towards her mother 
 for approval. "I have to write one or 
 two letters for mamma, and, also, I don't 
 like walking in the morning much. Of 
 course, I ride in the Eow before breakfast 
 in town; but I don't care so much for 
 being out-of-doors in the country." 
 
 " You should say as well, my dear
 
 A WOMAN OF MIND. 11 
 
 Amy," put in Lady Leveson, ''that you 
 are not strong enough for violent exercise. 
 My daughter is very delicate, Miss 
 Clevedon, and is obliged to be very 
 careful. A week or two of galloping 
 across country would stretch her on a 
 bed of sickness." 
 
 Silvia bent her head pohtely, mur- 
 muring that she was very sorry to hear 
 it, and the subject was dropped. After 
 breakfast, Lady Leveson and her daughter 
 repaired to their own rooms ; Mrs. Cleve- 
 don went to the housekeeper's depart- 
 ment, for the matutinal confabulation ; 
 the admiral took up his letters and papers, 
 saying he was going to look them over 
 in the quiet of the library ; and Silvia and 
 Jocelyn were left alone. 
 
 ^^How are you going to amuse me.
 
 12 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 Silvia?" asked Jocelyn, by no means 
 displeased at the turn of events. *' You 
 know you are bound to look after me, 
 since I am your guest." 
 
 ''I will do whatever you like," said 
 Silvia, ^' only let us get out of the house ; 
 the very air of the place stifles me." 
 
 "Let us take a stroll in the forest, 
 then," said Jocelyn, " and you shall tell 
 me why the air of the house stifles you 
 this breezy, fresh morning." 
 
 "I meant the moral air," said Silvia, 
 when, a few moments later, they were 
 walking along a narrow country lane, and 
 Jocelyn had repeated his question. "I 
 have so little sympathy with Lady Leve- 
 son and Amy Leveson that their presence 
 checks my freedom of speech, and even 
 of thought, and I find myself constrained
 
 A WOMAN OF MIND. 13 
 
 and weary and unnatural when I am 
 with them." 
 
 '* It seemed to me that you were very 
 formal and distant last night," said 
 Jocelyn, " and I thought you were going 
 to insist on obliterating our companion- 
 ship when we were children." 
 
 '^ I hardly reahzed you were the same 
 person," said Silvia, smiling. *' I have 
 always thought of you as a worrying, 
 teasing boy, given to pulhng my hair, 
 throwing snails and caterpillars and 
 beetles at me, filling my hat with in- 
 numerable forms of prickly growth, 
 letting off squibs under my window, and 
 burying me in snowballs in winter time ; 
 and when I saw you last night in all the 
 inartistic glory of evening dress, and 
 heard all your little courtesies of tone
 
 14 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 and speech, I could not realize that you 
 were my old playmate. How I wish we 
 were children still ! It's a trite saying, 
 but, I think, a true one, that there is 
 nothing like the happiness of childhood." 
 
 "But you have not run up and down 
 the scale of happiness, Silvia," said 
 Jocelyn; "you don't know what may 
 be in store for you. How can you tell 
 if your future happiness will or will not 
 outweigh that of your childhood ? " 
 
 " I don't see how it can," answered 
 Silvia, dreamily. "I can never be as 
 thoughtless and careless as I was in 
 childhood ; and directly one begins to 
 think and care seriously for the welfare 
 of others, all entu^e happiness must be 
 over." 
 
 Jocelyn did not answer. He was
 
 A WOMAN OF MIND. 15 
 
 slightly taken aback at Silvia's tone, and 
 felt out of his element. The young 
 ladies he met in society were not in the 
 habit of talking in such a strain, and he 
 began to think that these odd ideas might 
 have an unpleasant development occa- 
 sionally. 
 
 They walked along for some time 
 in perfect silence, both occupied with 
 thoughts of each other. The lane had 
 widened to a broad forest path, and the 
 ground was carpeted with well-trodden 
 green grass, and overrun with buzzing 
 flies and gnats. Ferns were growing 
 everywhere, at the foot of every massive 
 tree, in the shade of every stone and 
 mound of earth; and far away, in the 
 distance, the sunhght was seen playing 
 on their waving, feathery masses of green,
 
 16 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 through the branches of the beech and 
 ash that overshadowed them. 
 
 The companions made their way 
 staunchly amid bush and bramble, fern 
 and flower; they climbed a steep hill 
 vaHantly, and stood at last on its summit, 
 with a vast expanse of green valley at 
 their feet. Far away, on the horizon, 
 were flecks of white that were devoutly 
 believed to be the tall cliffs of the Isle 
 of Wight, and all around was the mar- 
 vellous verdure of the magnificent forest. 
 The land rose and fell : here was a steep 
 hill thickly peopled with sturdy oaks, 
 there was a broad stretch of green lawn 
 breaking presently into feathery fern- 
 land; here was a dark band of solemn 
 pines, there were clusters of the brighter 
 beech ; but green was everywhere, save
 
 A WOMAN OF MIND. 17 
 
 immediately at the foot of the hill on 
 which Silvia and Jocelyn were standing, 
 where the breaks in the branches of the 
 trees showed one or two deep-roofed, 
 thatched cottages, almost buried in 
 clambering roses. Not a human creature 
 was to be seen, and the only evidence 
 of the vicinity of humanity was the blue 
 smoke that curled from the chimneys of 
 the dark-roofed, rose-grown homesteads. 
 
 "Let us rest here a little," said 
 Jocelyn. " I want to ask you some- 
 thing." 
 
 Silvia seated herself instantly on the 
 grass, saying mth a smile, "Ask me." 
 
 Jocelyn stretched himself lazily at 
 her feet, picked two or three blades of 
 grass, at which he nibbled every now 
 and then, and said, at last, "Is it true, 
 
 VOL. I. c
 
 18 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 Silvia, that you are a Eadical ? Your 
 mother said you were, but I can hardly 
 beheve it possible." 
 
 ^^And why should I not be?" asked 
 Silvia, a light in her eyes that had not 
 been there before. 
 
 Jocelyn hesitated — he seemed unwill- 
 ing to speak frankly; and Silvia added, 
 '^ Speak out, Gilbert. If we are to keep 
 up the friendliness of our childhood, we 
 must keep up its frankness too." 
 
 *^Well, I was going to say that ifc 
 is not possible for a lady to be a Radical," 
 said Jocelyn, ^^ for " 
 
 Here Silvia interrupted him, saying, 
 '*I wish you could give me your idea 
 of a Radical?" 
 
 '*A Radical," said Jocelyn, oracularly, 
 "is a man of the people, as the term
 
 A WOMAN OF MIND. 19 
 
 is, wlio does a vast amount of ranting 
 and raving about the rights and wrongs 
 of the people, and who at the very first 
 opportunity rises above them, if he can, 
 and leaves them in the lurch. That's 
 my idea." 
 
 ^'And a just and Hberal idea it is," 
 said Silvia, with a certain tone of con- 
 tempt in her voice. ^^You are a Tory, 
 I presume, if you are anything," she 
 added. 
 
 ^'Precisely," replied Jocelyn, lazily. 
 ^' I am not enthusiastic in the matter, 
 and don't really much care about either 
 party; but still, as you say, if I am 
 anything, I am bound to be a Tory." 
 
 *^Well, I will give you my idea of a 
 Tory," said Silvia, '' and then we shall 
 know how we stand, poHtically speaking,
 
 20 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 in each otlier's opinions. A Tory is a 
 man of the upper classes, who rants and 
 raves ahout the enormous intellectual 
 and moral superiority of his own rank, 
 and never does anything that proves it." 
 
 Jocelyn burst into a hearty laugh. 
 ''I must tell that to North," he said; 
 '^he will enjoy it supremely." 
 
 *^ Perhaps North, whoever he may be," 
 said Silvia, ^' will acknowledge that my 
 definition is correct." 
 
 Jocelyn did not speak for a few mo- 
 ments, and when he did, it was to ask, 
 ** Where did you learn to be a Radical, 
 Silvia, if you are really so far gone." 
 
 ^' I fancy I must have always been 
 inclined to go so far," said Silvia, looking 
 far away to where the cliffs of the Isle 
 of Wight were shining as she spoke. *^I
 
 A WOMAN OF MIND. 21 
 
 always found myseK sympathiziug with 
 the wi'ong people at home. When my 
 mother turned away a kitchen-maid who 
 had been discovered to have stolen a 
 bottle of port for her little brother, who 
 was almost at death's door, and had 
 been ordered port, which his parents 
 could not buy him, my heart was with 
 the thief. When the groom was found 
 tipsy in the stables, and my father had 
 him sent to prison as an example, I was 
 deeply sorry for the poor man, and my 
 father's rigoui' weighed on my mind for 
 months. When I went to London, before 
 I was presented, I saw so many instances 
 of harshness and injustice, so much 
 misery side by side with the enormous 
 wealth, that the inequality of the present 
 conditions of life struck home to me, and
 
 22 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 made me profonndly sony for the suffer- 
 ings of the people, and anxious to do 
 something to help them to better times." 
 
 There was a long silence. Jocelyn 
 looked about him ; watched the birds 
 fluttering from twig to twig, from branch 
 to branch of the stately trees; followed 
 with his eyes the slow sailing of a group 
 of vaporous clouds ; and finally brought 
 his gaze down to the figure beside him, 
 to the handsome head and stately pre- 
 sence of his old playmate. Then their 
 eyes met, and Silvia said gently — 
 
 ''You don't understand my ideas, I 
 see, Gilbert. I wondered often, before 
 you came, if we should symjoathize in 
 politics, as we did in our childish games 
 — if you would help me through the 
 awkward moments my opinions bring me
 
 A WOMAN OF MIND. 23 
 
 sometimes, as you invariably helped me 
 in my difficulties as skater, rider, driver." 
 
 ^^Well, you see," said Jocelyn, apolo- 
 getically, '^ I have never troubled myself 
 much about politics, about the rights 
 or wrongs of the people or the upper 
 classes, or about anything of that kind, 
 and I have not been among people who 
 did. Of course, I never expected to find 
 you, a woman, and such a young one, 
 interested in them, and fi'om a Eadical 
 point of view. You must own that it's 
 unusual." 
 
 ^^Yes, I own that it was unreasonable 
 of me to expect you to share my enthu- 
 siasm. And now we will turn home- 
 wards, and Amy Leveson shall soothe 
 you with her ^ hghter thought.' " 
 
 So saying, Silvia started to her feet,
 
 24 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 and they retraced their steps, talking 
 and laughing gaily by the way. There 
 was an under-current of disappointment 
 in Silvia's heart, however. She had 
 expected to find a keener intellect, a 
 quicker appreciation, in Gilbert Jocelyn ; 
 and when she saw his animation and 
 interest in a warfare of banter with Miss 
 Leveson, she said to herself, " He under- 
 stands nothing of life but its social graces. 
 I can never make a Eadical of him I "
 
 A WOMAX OF MIND. 25 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 ^^ Mamma, how long are you going to stay 
 here?" asked Amy Leveson of her 
 mother, the same night, when they had 
 retired and were sitting in the pretty 
 boudoir into which their two bedrooms 
 gave. 
 
 ** Have you had enough of it akeady, 
 Amy ? " said Lady Leveson, with a laugh. 
 
 " I should think I had ! " repHed Amy, 
 tossing her head, almost angiily. ^^ It's 
 waste of time for me to stop here, you 
 know, mamma. Gilbert Jocelyn will
 
 26 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 never pay me mucli attention while that 
 girl is on the scene. If I had him alone, 
 I might bring him to the point one of 
 these days, as you so much wish ifc ; but 
 here I shall do nothing." 
 
 ^^ Nonsense, Amy!" said her mother. 
 ** Young Jocelyn has known Miss Cleve- 
 don all his life ; therefore she will not 
 stand in your way. Men never fall in 
 love with girls they have known from 
 childhood. Also, Miss Clevedon is too 
 clever, or pretends to be too clever, for 
 him. Even putting aside the fact that 
 they are old playmates, no man would 
 like a wife who makes him look a fool ; 
 and Miss Clevedon made young Jocelyn 
 look a fool once or twice at dinner to- 
 night." 
 
 '^I'm sure I don't see that she's
 
 A WOMAN OF MIND. 27 
 
 clever," said Amy, in a resentful tone. 
 ** She talked a great deal, but she was 
 only discussing the games and expedi- 
 tions she had had with Mr. Jocelyn, and 
 I did not notice anything very remark- 
 able. I wonder how it is that she has 
 been so intimate with Mr. Jocel}Ti ? " 
 
 ^^ I can tell you how that hajopens," 
 said Lady Leveson. ^'I asked Mrs. 
 Clevedon to-day how it occurred that 
 she allowed her daughter to roam about 
 the forest all the morning alone with a 
 young man, and then she told me that 
 she had always looked on young Jocelyn 
 almost as Miss Clevedon' s brother. The 
 boy's father, it appears, was the admiral's 
 dearest friend ; they went together 
 through some of those wretched adven- 
 tures the admiral is so fond of describing.
 
 28 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 (How tedious he was this evening ! I 
 thought I should have faUen asleep in 
 his face.) Young Jocelyn's mother died 
 at his hirth, and when, a year or two 
 afterwards, his father died, he left the 
 care of the child to the admu'al. The 
 boy was brought up here, as if in his own 
 home, and left to go to college, and to 
 do the tour of Europe T\ith his tutor, 
 according to his father's wish." 
 
 ^'He is rich, isn't he?" asked Amy, 
 thoughtfully. 
 
 ''Yes, he has a considerable fortune 
 now ; but I have no doubt that he will 
 squander it away," said Lady Leveson. 
 " But, whatever folly he may commit, it 
 is the most unlikely thing in the world 
 that he should fall in love with Miss 
 Clevedon. They know each other much
 
 A WOMAN OF MIND. 29 
 
 too well for that, depend iij)on it, Amy. 
 So don't be discouraged, dear ; and, above 
 all things, don't try to compete with her 
 in her own hne. Let her talk politics 
 and philosophy as much as she likes ; 
 it vdll only the better set off your un- 
 assuming, feminine quahties, which young 
 Jocelyn will appreciate, sooner or later, 
 you may be sure." 
 
 ^'If there is one thing I specially 
 hate," said Amy, angrily, ^4t is to hear 
 women, and particularly girls like Silvia 
 Clevedon, talking politics." 
 
 ** It is, of course, very bold and un- 
 feminine," said Lady Leveson, decisively; 
 "but some women do not care for that. 
 And I imagine Miss Clevedon is utterly 
 regardless of any construction that may 
 be put upon her actions or opinions.
 
 30 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 You know, her motlier said she was quite 
 a EadicaL" 
 
 ''But what is a Eadical, mamma?" 
 asked A.my. " I am sure, if any one 
 asked me, I couldn't exactly tell." 
 
 "I should be puzzled myself to define 
 the exact meaning of the term," said 
 Lady Leveson ; "but, as generally ac- 
 cepted, it means something very rough, 
 and low, and coarse-mannered, and badly 
 dressed. I never before heard of or met 
 a young lady of good blood and family 
 who dared own to being a Eadical. Dis- 
 appointed younger sons sometimes go in 
 for that sort of thing, and, of course, their 
 relations and friends drop them, and no 
 people of our set would look at them. 
 Miss Clevedon seems to have things 
 pretty much her own way here, how- 
 ever."
 
 A WOMAN OF MIND. 31 
 
 ''Just imagine tlie absurdity of her 
 walking down the garden, talking to her 
 maid, this moruing ! " said Amy. '' I 
 believe she did it on purpose, because she 
 knew we should be waiting for her and 
 should see her, and she felt that she 
 would appear to advantage." 
 
 '' Amy ! Amy ! " said her mother, '' you 
 must not be spiteful. '' Such a speech 
 as that would set Gilbert Jocelyn against 
 you instantly. Go to bed, child, and see 
 what a sound night's rest will do towards 
 reconciling you to the jDlace. I will 
 promise you not to stop here too long, if 
 that will please you." 
 
 With a kiss. Lady Leveson sent her 
 daughter to her room, and, after a few 
 moments' meditation, rang for her maid, 
 who undertook the disrobing and jDrepara- 
 tion of her ladyship for the night.
 
 32 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 In the mean time, in another part of 
 the house, a mother and daughter were 
 together, talking. Silvia had only heen 
 in her room a minute or two, and was 
 listening to the chatter of the pretty 
 maid with whom she had walked down 
 the garden that morning, when Mrs. 
 Clevedon entered, and, dismissing the 
 maid with a hasty ^' You can go, Ellen," 
 took a seat on the hroad lounge, one end 
 of which Silvia occupied. 
 
 ^' Why, mother dear, this is out of all 
 precedent ! " said Silvia, smiling brightly. 
 *'Now, don't spoil the surprise by saying 
 you have come to scold me." 
 
 ^^ Yes, I have, indeed, Silvia," said her 
 mother, seriously, ^' and you must listen 
 to me." 
 
 "I will listen," answered Silvia; ^'but
 
 A WOMAN OF MIXD. 33 
 
 what can it be about ? I thought I had 
 behaved splendidly to-day. I asked Miss 
 Leveson to go out with me this morning, 
 and she wouldn't. I sat with her and 
 her mother for full an hour on the lawn 
 this afternoon, talking about mutual 
 acquaintances, and discovering that I 
 strongly disliked all the people they 
 strongly liked ; and I encouraged Gilbert 
 to flirt with the ghi all the evening. 
 Come, mother, what more could I do ? " 
 
 ^' My dear child," said Mrs. Clevedon, 
 taking no notice of the humorous twinkle 
 in her daughter's fine eyes, ^'your father 
 is very vexed indeed at youi' expressing 
 your opinions so freely as you did to- 
 night before Lady Leveson and her 
 daughter and Gilbert Jocelyn. It's bad 
 enough for you to have the opinions, 
 
 VOL. I D
 
 34 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 he says, but it's positively wiKul of you 
 to display them." 
 
 <« Why, mother, mother ! " cried Silvia, 
 *'what are you teaching me? Surely, 
 you would not have me dissimulate my 
 opinions, whatever they may be." 
 
 ^' Of course not," said Mrs. Clevedon ; 
 "but you might just as well hold your 
 tongue." 
 
 ''But that is dissimulation, mother," 
 expostulated Silvia. '' That is leading 
 people to think I have no opinions at 
 all, which is a direct untruth." 
 
 "I know that well enough," said Mrs. 
 Clevedon, impatiently. '' But your father 
 does not think women's opinions of im- 
 portance, one way or another ; therefore 
 it would be no great fault in you to keep 
 them to yourself."
 
 A WOMAN OF MIND. 35 
 
 « 
 
 '^ On the other hand," said Silvia, 
 smiling, ^'if women's opinions are so 
 unimportant, it surely does not matter 
 of what shade they are. Either women 
 are reasonable beings, or they are dolls. 
 If they are reasonable beings, they have 
 a right to their free and independent 
 opinions ; if they are dolls, their opinions 
 are of no consequence. Father inchnes 
 to think of us as dolls, I know, and 
 therefore he ought to let me say what- 
 ever I like, express any special fancy 
 that strikes me, since I am only a 
 woman." 
 
 ^'But, my dear child," said Mrs. 
 Clevedon, ''you know, it is so very 
 singular for a young lady like yourself 
 to have political views, and such poHtical 
 views, too ! "
 
 36 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 Here Silvia laughed. "Ah! mother, 
 dear," she cried, "now you have touched 
 the kernel of father's complaint. It isn't 
 so much that he ohjects to my having 
 some interest in poHtics, as that he dis- 
 likes the particular party in politics mth 
 which I most sympathize." 
 
 "However that may he, Silvia," said 
 her mother — " and you had hetter talk 
 it over with your father than with me, 
 for I frankly confess that I know very 
 little on the subject, beyond that all my 
 family were Tories, and I was born a 
 Tory, and a Tory I intend to remain 
 to the end of my days — at all events, 
 your father told me to tell you distinctly 
 that he did not like to hear such views 
 as yours expressed, and that he hoped 
 you would keep them in the background
 
 A WOMAX OF MIND. 37 
 
 — at least, while we have guests in the 
 house." 
 
 *' What a dear illiheral old father he 
 is ! " said Silvia, with another laugh. 
 ** Tories were always tyrants, you see, 
 mother, and tyrants they will remain. 
 Father wants to gag me, just as people 
 were gagged by the Tories of the Middle 
 Ages. But he need not have minded 
 my expatiating on Kadical principles in 
 Lady Leveson's presence. I am certain 
 she does not know Eadical from Tory 
 opinions, unless the difference be pointed 
 out to her. She has perhaps a dim idea 
 that a Eadical is the worse of the two, 
 because he has generally been the 
 poorer." 
 
 ^'I don't think your father is so 
 particular about Lady Leveson as about
 
 38 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 Gilbert," said Mrs. Clevedon. ^'He 
 wants Gilbert to think well of you, 
 and was very vexed at your walking 
 about the grounds this morning with 
 your maid — with Ellen." 
 
 ^'Oh, mother," cried Silvia, her face 
 growing suddenly grave, ^^why should 
 I not walk down the garden with Ellen ? 
 If you knew, too, what I was saying to 
 her, you could not blame me. I beheve 
 that the few words I said to her have 
 kept her free from wrong — for the time, 
 at least." 
 
 ^' Neither your father nor I doubt your 
 heart or your principle, dear child," said 
 Mrs. Clevedon, leaning forward to kiss 
 her daughter's forehead. ^* But all 
 people don't know you so well as we 
 do. Gilbert may think it strange."
 
 A WOMAN OF MIND. 39 
 
 *'As for GHbert," said SiMa, ^^he 
 knows ^11 my enormities of opinion 
 already. I told him that I had a 
 leaning towards Eadical views, when 
 we were out this morning, yet he did 
 not refuse to walk home with me." 
 
 '' By-the-by," said Mrs. Clevedon, 
 gently, ^^that reminds me, also, that 
 I wished to tell you not to be too 
 familiar with Gilbert, or go out with 
 him alone again in the same way, be- 
 cause Lady Leveson made remarks." 
 
 ^^Lady Leveson may make whole 
 volumes of remarks," said Silvia, quietly, 
 *^ and I shall not give in to them. 
 Neither father nor you have ever ob- 
 jected to my friendship with Gilbert, 
 and Lady Leveson's opinion is perfectly 
 immaterial to me. I cannot think why
 
 40 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 you asked them here, mother. They 
 are unsympathetic to us all." 
 
 *'I hardly know, beyond that I had 
 found them very friendly in town," said 
 Mrs. Clevedon, ^' and they seemed most 
 anxious to be asked. I shall leave you 
 now, Silvia dear. Just think over your 
 father's wishes, and try to fall in with 
 them better." 
 
 And with an affectionate " Good 
 night," the mother and daughter sepa- 
 rated. 
 
 Silvia sat alone for some time, medi- 
 tating on her mother's remarks. The 
 suggestion that she should disguise her 
 thoughts and feelings because of Gilbert 
 Jocelyn, had been most unwelcome to 
 her. She was naturally frankness itself, 
 and it galled her to hear that she was
 
 A WOMAN OF MIND. 41 
 
 expected to maintain a false appearance 
 in his eyes, and tliat she was beheved 
 capable of it. She could not understand 
 her father's repugnance to her open ex- 
 pression of opinion, and still less could 
 she understand his abhorrence of all that 
 was most sympathetic to her. How was 
 it, she asked herself, that while he was 
 full of thought and consideration for 
 Lady Leveson, whom he did not really 
 hke, he would have died sooner than 
 have made one courteous, condescending 
 remark to a servant who had been in 
 his house more than twenty years ? 
 How was it that, while he recognized 
 the patrician prettiness of Amy Leveson, 
 he would not see the rustic comeliness of 
 Ellen, the maid ? How was it, in short, 
 that his heart was glowing with warmth
 
 42 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 for one small section of the human race, 
 and cold as marble to others ? 
 
 The reverie was broken in npon by 
 the entrance of the maid, who had been 
 sent in, she said, by Mrs. Clevedon. 
 
 '* But I don't want you, Ellen," said 
 Silvia, smihng kindly at the girl. ^^ You 
 can go to bed ; I am sure you want 
 rest. You must promise me, however, 
 not to spend another night as you did 
 the last. You must try to forget it all, 
 and take no notice of the temptations 
 thrust upon you. You are sure of your- 
 self, are you not ? " Silvia added, placing 
 her hand confidentially on the girl's 
 arm, and looking at her seriously, even 
 solemnly. 
 
 ^'I hope so," the maid replied, her 
 face flushing painfully. "I should be
 
 A WOMAN OF MIND. 43 
 
 ashamed of going wrong, if it's only 
 because of your kindness. If all poor 
 girls like me could find some one so 
 good as you, miss, to help them, we 
 shouldn't so often go wrong." 
 
 ^'That's true enough, I am sure," 
 said Silvia, reflectively. "As a rule, I 
 know that no one helps you to keep 
 right, and every one blames you when 
 you ^go wrong.' Still, this is nothing 
 more serious than a few light words. 
 You will find that your friend is merely 
 trying to pass the time that hangs 
 heavily on his hands, by a little random 
 flattery." 
 
 The girl made no answer, but with a 
 subdued " Good night," left the room. 
 
 And Silvia was free to let her thoughts 
 run wild.
 
 44 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 CHAPTEK III. 
 
 Two days later, Gilbert Jocelyn an- 
 nounced, at lunch- time, that a cricket- 
 match was going forward below the 
 Bench, at the other end of the town; 
 that a number of ladies had assembled 
 to watch the contest, and that Miss 
 Leveson and Miss Clevedon must put 
 in an appearance also. 
 
 ''My dear Gilbert, if you are going 
 to run after all the cricket-matches 
 that take place in this neighbourhood, 
 you will never have a moment's respite," 
 said Silvia. '' The whole population is
 
 A WOMAN OF MIKD. 45 
 
 cricket-mad; and even the curate takes 
 upon himseK tlie ignoble duties of scout, 
 occasionally." 
 
 ''Do you play, Mr. Jocelyn?" asked 
 Amy Leveson. 
 
 '' No. I really never could get up 
 sufficient enthusiasm on the subject," 
 said Jocelyn ; '' and I was wondering 
 just now, when I saw all the fellows 
 exei^ting themselves so unconscionably 
 for the sake of hitting a ball, what 
 could be the incentive to the sport." 
 
 '' They had better play cricket, how- 
 ever, than do nothing at all," said Sil^da; 
 *' and as they are too gentlemanly to 
 do manual labom', and too fooKsh for 
 intellectual labour, I suppose sport is 
 the only thing left for them as a means 
 of passing the time,"
 
 46 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 *' They are men of independent fortune, 
 Silvia," said the admiral, ''and are not 
 required to work. — All the families living 
 in this district," he added, turning to 
 Lady Leveson, '' are rich and well con- 
 nected, and almost all the cricketers of 
 whom Sylvia speaks, are men whose 
 positions are ready made for them." 
 
 '' Still, an active hrain cannot remain 
 idle, father," said Silvia, ''and you must 
 allow that the young men of good family 
 who pervade the neighbourhood are 
 singularly dull and uninteresting." 
 
 "By the way," said Jocelyn, "I met 
 a man on the cricket-ground whom I 
 knew rather intimately at one time, at 
 Oxford. His name is Philip Royle. I 
 asked him how he got down here, and 
 he tells me that he is staying with a
 
 A WOMAN OF MIND. 47 
 
 friend who has a pretty little property 
 in this neighbourhood." 
 
 ^^Do yon know any particular good 
 point in him?" asked Silvia, whose 
 face had flushed at the mention of 
 the name, and whose eyes were almost 
 flashing. 
 
 Jocelyn laughed. 
 
 ** Well, he was considered rather wild 
 and dissipated, and difiicult to deal with," 
 he answered. '' I don't know much 
 beyond that. He is a clever fellow, 
 and ambitious, in his way. He was 
 wonderfully amusing too, and always 
 knew everything about everybody. There 
 were a number of ladies about him 
 to-day, laughing immoderately at his 
 Hghtest word. To return to the ques- 
 tion of the match, however. You will
 
 48 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 come, won't you, just to glance at the 
 fun?" 
 
 *^ I should like it of all things in the 
 world," said Amy Leveson, to whom 
 the opportunity for fliiiation was a new 
 hope ; and her decided expression of 
 opinion necessarily led to a dehberate 
 plan, the result of which was that, early 
 in the afternoon, Mrs. Clevedon and 
 the two girls (Lady Leveson had begged 
 them to leave her in her low chair on 
 the lawn with a novel), escorted by 
 Gilbert Jocelyn, appeared on the broad 
 plain beyond the Bench. 
 
 ^'You don't want to go and join all 
 those people under the awming over 
 there, do you?" said Jocelyn, pointing 
 to groups of ladies who were seated at 
 some distance in rows, and evidently 
 going into the game con amore.
 
 A WOMAN OF MiXD. 49 
 
 Amy Leveson, in her character of 
 gentle woman, did not like to oppose 
 Jocelyn's evident preference, and Silvia 
 said with perfect truth that she, for her 
 part, would rather stay where she was. 
 Jocelyn therefore fetched a couple of 
 chairs for Mrs. Clevedon and Miss 
 Leveson, and Sihda sat down on the 
 grass, and gazed thoughtfully at the wide 
 expanse of undulating gi'ound in the 
 distance, varied by the nearer plain, on 
 which the cricketers were disporting 
 themselves — the whole scene presided 
 over by the stiff hill, on the summit of 
 which was the bench that gave its 
 name to the spot. 
 
 Silvia was roused in a few moments 
 fi'om her reverie by hearing Jocelyn 
 exclaim, '^ Eoyle has found us out, and 
 
 VOL. I. £
 
 50 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 is coming across to us. Do you see 
 Mm, Silvia?" 
 
 ^'Yes, I see him," answered Silvia. 
 
 *^ Don't you think he's very handsome, 
 Miss Clevedon ? " said Amy Leveson, 
 watching the approaching figure. 
 
 ^^ I suppose he is," said Silvia ; '^ every 
 one says so ; but, for my part, I am 
 quite blind to his beauty, because of my 
 dislike for the man's character." 
 
 At this juncture, Koyle reached the 
 party, and having been introduced to 
 Miss Leveson, opened a fire of small- 
 talk, thereby making himself vastly 
 agreeable to that yoimg lady. He 
 glanced every now and then at Sihda, 
 who had only vouchsafed him a most 
 formal bow, as if he wished her to join 
 in the conversation. But she was per-
 
 A WOMAN OF MIND. 51 
 
 fectly silent, and did not appear to hear 
 what was going on. When they had 
 tahied of a thousand and one nothings, 
 of the gayest balls of the season, the 
 most roUicking garden-parties, the most 
 amenable chaperones, the best theatres, 
 and had exhausted their remarks on the 
 rusticity of the pretty forest village hard 
 by, Eoyle turned towards Silvia, and 
 said — 
 
 '' Miss Clevedon, you have not spoken 
 at all. I have had all the talk to my- 
 self." 
 
 '^It would have been cruel in me to 
 deprive you of the privilege," said Silvia. 
 " I hope you have enjoyed it." 
 
 ^'You don't approve of Eoyle's trivial 
 gossip, do you, Silvia?" said Jocelyn, 
 good-humouredly. 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 ^^'V£RS/7Y OF ILLINOfS
 
 52 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 *'I can't say that I don't approve of 
 it," said Silvia, quite unconcernedly, 
 ^'for I have not heard one single word 
 that Mr. Eoyle has said. — However," she 
 added, turning with a smile to Eoyle, 
 "if you will begin again, I will try to 
 listen, and will tell you, when you have 
 finished, whether or no I approve." 
 
 "You are in for it, Eoyle," laughed 
 Jocelyn. " Miss Clevedon is opening 
 her batteries. In the mean time, I shall 
 take Miss Leveson to glance at the 
 cricketers' more practical sport, if she 
 will come." 
 
 Miss Leveson was only too delighted, 
 and Eoyle was left to argue with Silvia, 
 under Mrs. Clevedon's sagacious eye. 
 He was a bold man in every sense, 
 and he put his thoughts into unmis-
 
 A WOMAX OF MIND. 53 
 
 takably plain speech, utterly undaunted 
 by the presence of a third person. 
 
 ^^Miss Clevedon," he began, ^'I am 
 sure that you are angry with me for 
 some cause or another. There is some- 
 thing in your mind about me that you 
 do not like to express, perhaps ; I 
 have forfeited your good opinion, I am 
 afraid." 
 
 ^'You would appear to be a keen 
 observer," said Silvia. 
 
 The young man's face flushed, and 
 he exclaimed, ^' Then it's true that I 
 have offended you ! " 
 
 "You have not offended me person- 
 ally," said Silvia, calmly. "You have 
 simply set at nought all my ideas of 
 the honour and chivalry towards weak- 
 ness and trustfulness that should cha-
 
 hi A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 ractorizc^ a true p^ontloiiiim in (lie liigliesfc 
 sense of l\\o word — (lint is nil." 
 
 "Sil\i:i! Silvia,!'' said lior iiiotlior. 
 ^'Wliat aro you snyini^? AYliat do you 
 nu\a II ? " 
 
 "Mr. Ivoylo prossod nio to iell liim 
 wliat I IJioui^lif., motliGr," said Silvia, 
 ''and 1 liavo told liiiu tlio tnitli. TTo 
 knows what I mean, I lia\'o no doubt.'* 
 
 l\oy!(^ had rli'awn himself up stiill}^ 
 and now aslced, with some sliow of ro- 
 S(Mdment, if Miss Clovedou wished to 
 insult him. 
 
 " I had no Avisli one way or tlio 
 other/' ii^pliod Silvia; '^I merely an- 
 swimhhI yoiii- (pu^stiou. In Miat wretched 
 state of soei(^ty in whieh we all move, 
 many ]iersons wlio mcn^t; appartMitly on 
 tlu^ hest of terms, diw after da\', are not
 
 A WOMAX OF MIXD. 55 
 
 more flatteringly disposed towards eacli 
 other than I am towards you. So we 
 need not get up a quarrel, unless you 
 think it necessary to the preservation 
 of your dignity." 
 
 "But won't you tell me what I have 
 done specially to vex you ? " urged Eoyle, 
 
 Silvia, for the first time during the 
 colloquy, raised her eyes to his face, and 
 met his earnest, anxious look. "I cannot 
 tell you," she said at last, '^ but youi- own 
 conscience can." 
 
 Royle turned quickly away, and walked 
 back towards the cricketing centre with 
 sharp, impatient steps. '^ I see what 
 she means," he muttered to himself. 
 "That silly little maid of hers has told 
 her of my absm'd folly in chattering to her. 
 Still, it's preposterous that she should
 
 56 A WOMAN OF MIXD. 
 
 talk to me in that style, about cliivalry 
 and honour, as if one couldn't laugh with 
 a lady's-maid with impunity ! Perhaps 
 the empty-headed little vixen has taken 
 my nonsense to he sober truth, and has 
 confided all her woes to Miss Clevedon's 
 willing ears. Women never can hold 
 their tongues, I know. However, that 
 young person from Clevedon House has 
 seen the last of my smiles, I can assure 
 her. As for Miss Clevedon, she has 
 evidently taken a strong dishke to me ; 
 I can't find favour there. What an 
 unfortunate fellow I am ! " 
 
 It was with a certain sense of defeat 
 and dissatisfaction that he rejoined the 
 party of ladies he had left a few moments 
 before, in order to speak to the Clevedons. 
 He was assailed by a formidable spinster
 
 A WOMAN OF MIND. 57 
 
 immediately, and asked ^' what he thought 
 of Miss Clevedon." But he evaded the 
 question, and the combined curiosity of 
 all the womanhood around him did not 
 succeed in drawing forth any opinion as 
 to Miss Clevedon' s personal or mental 
 qualities. 
 
 In the mean time, Mrs. Clevedon had 
 remonstrated with Silvia on her forcible 
 mode of explaining herself. ^' You know, 
 my dear," she said, ^' every one is not 
 used to your strange frankness ; and I am 
 afraid, if you tell people what you really 
 think, as you did just now to that young 
 man, you will make yourself crowds of 
 enemies." 
 
 *'But Mr. Eoyle deserved to be 
 snubbed," said Silvia. 
 
 *^What has he done? What do you
 
 58 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 know about him?" asked Mrs. Cleve- 
 don. 
 
 ^'Why, mother," said Silvia, in a low 
 voice, "Ellen has told me that she has 
 met him several times in the lanes, when 
 she has been going backwards and for- 
 wards into the village, and he has paid 
 her comphments and talked to her, and 
 has, in fact, quite turned her head." 
 
 "You say Ellen," exclaimed Mrs. 
 Clevedon — "whom do you mean? You 
 are surely not alluding to your maid 
 EUen?" 
 
 "Yes, I am, mother," said Silvia. 
 "Why not?" 
 
 "Why, it's positively ridiculous of you 
 to talk to a man about the honour and 
 chivalry of a true gentleman, when he 
 has only been gossiping with your maid,"
 
 A ^'OMAX OF MIXD. 59 
 
 said Mrs, Clevedon, angrily. ^*I tlionght 
 you had heard of some serious wrong- 
 doing of his, or I should never have 
 allowed you to attack him in that 
 manner." 
 
 ^^But, mother, I don't see why Ellen's 
 feehngs are not to be consulted in the 
 matter," expostulated Silvia. ^' He has 
 flattered her ; he has made her discon- 
 tented with her servant's life ; he has 
 given her all sorts of ideas that she need 
 never have had, and she seems inclined 
 to fall into an idolatrous love of him, 
 because he is a gentleman, and has told 
 her that she is pretty. I think a true 
 gentleman should be most careful not 
 to endanger the peace of mind of honest 
 girls, who are earning their living by 
 something very hke drudgery. If Mr.
 
 60 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 Royle should flirt too boldly with Miss 
 Leveson, why, to begin with, she is used 
 to flirtation, and will know how to defend 
 herself, and all society will be up in arms 
 to protect her interests. If Mr. Eoyle 
 trifle with her affections, every one will 
 be ready to punish him for the enormity. 
 But he may trifle with Ellen's affections 
 as much as he please ; he may break her 
 heart, in fact, and no one thinks the 
 worse of him for it. That is what I think 
 so unjust, mother." 
 
 ^'Oh, nonsense, Silvia! I am quite 
 tired of your wild ideas," said Mrs. 
 Clevedon. '^ To begin with, I have no 
 doubt that Ellen has grossly exaggerated 
 anything that Mr. Royle has said to her. 
 There is no limit to the vanity of her 
 class of people, and she has taken literally
 
 A WOMAN OF MIND. 61 
 
 and seriously tliat which he meant as a 
 joke. At all events, it is not for yon 
 to talk to a young man about his Hirta- 
 tions ^ith a lady's-maid, and I shall take 
 care to show Mr. Eoyle that I did not 
 approve of your ridiculous, high-flown 
 language. I never heard of anything so 
 absurd. How he must be laughing at 
 you!" 
 
 *^ He didn't seem inclined to laugh," 
 answered Silvia; ''on the contrary, he 
 looked grave, almost stern." 
 
 *'Well, Silvia, you've despatched 
 Koyle, I see," broke in Jocelyn's voice 
 at this juncture, as he brought Miss 
 Leveson back to Mrs. Clevedon's side. 
 
 ''Indeed she has," said Mrs. Clevedon. 
 " She has almost told him he was not 
 a gentleman, or a man of honour or of
 
 62 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 truth, because lie has been joking and 
 laughing with one of the maids." 
 
 '* Whew ! ? muttered Jocelyn, with an 
 unmistakable expression of disapproval 
 on his face. ^'Did you go into that 
 question with him, Silvia ? " 
 
 ^'Not quite as boldly as you might 
 infer," said Silvia, in a low voice. ^^ But 
 pray let the subject di^op. I am sorry 
 I have vexed you, mother." 
 
 So saying, she turned away, and, with 
 the observation that she wanted to climb 
 the hill and see how the plain looked 
 from the Bench, began a leisurely ascent. 
 When she rejoined her party, Eoyle was 
 apparently forgotten. 
 
 On the evening of that same day, how- 
 ever, when the dinner at Clevedon House 
 -was over, and the coffee, served on the
 
 A WOMAN OF MIND. 63 
 
 lawn, was being lazily partaken of by 
 the diners, Lady Leveson said suddenly, 
 ^^ Who is this Mr. Eoyle of whom my 
 daughter has spoken to me, Mrs. Cleve- 
 don?" 
 
 *'I really know nothing of him," that 
 lady answered, ^^ beyond that we have 
 met him often lately, at the houses of 
 very good people." 
 
 ^' You don't know of what family he is, 
 then ? " said Lady Leveson. 
 
 *^No. I have, moreover, never heard 
 his family mentioned," replied Mrs. Cleve- 
 don. ^^He was introduced to us at first 
 as a chum of one of the sons of the house 
 where we met, and since then he has 
 spoken to us whenever we have seen 
 him, and I have never troubled myself 
 about his connections."
 
 64 A WOMAN OF MIKD. 
 
 ^' It strikes me," said Jocelyn, good- 
 liumonredly, ^'that his connections are 
 not his strong point." 
 
 *^ Oh, indeed," said Lady Leveson, 
 fully prepared to drop all interest in the 
 young man. ^^ You knew him at Oxford, 
 did you not, Mr. Jocelyn ? " 
 
 *' Yes, I saw a great deal of liim there," 
 said Jocelyn. '^He was an odd fellow, 
 and at one time we threatened to become 
 fast friends, but gradually he took to 
 reading hard " 
 
 ^^And you took to boating hard, I 
 presume ? " said Silvia, laughing. 
 
 ^' Exactly — the very thing I was going 
 to say," replied Jocelyn, nodding to 
 Silvia, with a smile; then continuing, 
 *' and I saw less of him. The men who 
 knew him best said he was dissipated and
 
 A WOMAN OF MIND. 65 
 
 wild; but they said that, at the same 
 time, he worked steadily, and seemed 
 terribly anxious to get on. Young North, 
 a friend of mine, who knew him better 
 than I, used to vow that the fellow was 
 a thorough rotiirier, you know, who had 
 wriggled into the university by hook or 
 by crook. He was never heard to make 
 any allusion to his family, or to any 
 fiiends apart from those he had made at 
 Oxford, and North had a rooted idea that 
 Eoyle's people were in trade, and lived 
 somewhere in Camden Town, or some 
 place of the kind, because he said Eoyle 
 had so many packages and hampers and 
 letters from a London suburb of the 
 rank of Camden Town — I think he 
 mentioned that objectionable locality 
 itself." 
 
 VOL. I. F
 
 66 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 ** North is a man I sliould like to 
 know," said Silvia, with a smile. 
 
 *^ North, you see," said Jocelyn, apo- 
 logetically, ''is of a first-rate family, and 
 is very aristocratic and exclusive in his 
 ideas, and it worried him to think that 
 he might have chosen a genuine pleb. 
 for his fiiend. Finally, when he had 
 found out a score of httle things tending 
 to cast a shade on Koyle's parentage, 
 he contrived to drop him, bit by bit. 
 He really liked him, I believe, but he 
 couldn't put up with the continual ques- 
 tions and suggestions as to Eoyle's 
 family." 
 
 " A noble friend ! " remarked Silvia. 
 
 '' What a pity ! " ejaculated Lady 
 Leveson. ''And yet. Amy told me he 
 was quite handsome and agreeable, and
 
 A WOMAN OF MIND. 67 
 
 talked about society, and the London 
 season, and so on." 
 
 ^^ He can be excessively agi^eeable, 
 when he chooses," said Jocelyn, '^ and 
 he goes into very good society in town. 
 You see, he is a bachelor, and he is 
 effective personally ; then he dances well, 
 and is very clever at amateur theatricals, 
 and that kind of thing ; and as long as 
 he confines himself to cultivating the 
 friendship of the sons of a family, he 
 is very welcome. But he will find it 
 remarkably diiScult to marry in the 
 circles he fi^equents." 
 
 *^ Has he no mother or father, then ? " 
 asked Silvia. 
 
 ^' No sign of a family has been seen 
 by any of his friends," said Jocelyn. 
 ^^ You can't ask a fellow point-blank
 
 68 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 whether he has any family — it would be 
 insiilting, yon know ; and as he doesn't 
 volunteer any information, nothing is 
 known. He's a clever fellow, however, 
 and is sure to make his way, sooner or 
 later." 
 
 And here the conversation turned to 
 other subjects. 
 
 That night, when Silvia was in her 
 room, Ellen the maid knocked at the 
 door, and entering, in obedience to 
 Sil^da's injunction, stepped gently up to 
 her young mistress, who was sitting by 
 the open window. 
 
 '^What's the matter now, Ellen?" 
 asked Silvia. 
 
 '' I wished to tell you, miss," said 
 Ellen, looking down, and fingering her 
 apron nervously as she spoke, " that I
 
 A WOMAN OF MIXD. 69 
 
 met that gentleman, Mr. Eoyle, again 
 this evening, and — and " 
 
 " Is it too di-eadfiil to be told ? " sug- 
 gested Silvia, with a smile. 
 
 " Oh no," replied Ellen, looking up for a 
 moment to smile brightly in return. ^'He 
 told me that he was very sorry if he'd 
 disturbed me or vexed me in any way, 
 that he was sure I was a good girl, and 
 he hoped I'd keep so, and he said he 
 was very much ashamed of having joked 
 me or teased me. So that's all over, 
 miss." 
 
 ''I am very glad of it," answered 
 Silvia. '' You see now how little Mr. 
 Eoyle's pretty speeches and comphments 
 were worth. A man in his position has 
 to pass his life paying comphments, in 
 order to secure standing-ground. You
 
 70 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 must try to forget it all, Ellen, and make 
 yourself happy here." 
 
 ^' I shall always be happy enough as 
 long as you are here," murmured the 
 girl. 
 
 When Ellen had been sent away, Silvia 
 had a few moments' reflection on the 
 incidents of the day, and she could not 
 but congratulate herself that she had done 
 at least a little good. '^ At all events," 
 she murmured to herself, thinking of 
 Philip Eoyle, as she gazed at the broad 
 expanse of lawn, field, and forest, upon 
 which the placid moon was shining — ^' at 
 all events, he is not a coward."
 
 A WOMAN OF MIND. 71 
 
 CHAPTEE IV. 
 
 As Jocelyn was strolling through the 
 yillage a week later, and was glancing 
 towards the big bow- window of the Eagle 
 coffee-room, a tall figure advanced from 
 the terrace that ran along the front of 
 the house, and Philip Eoyle — for it was 
 he — waylaid Jocelyn, and begged him to 
 stop and talk with him. Therefore 
 Jocelyn turned aside fi'om the walk he 
 had planned, to lounge in the cool shade 
 of the creepers and roses that covered 
 the whole frontage of the Eagle Inn.
 
 72 A WOMAN OF MIXD. 
 
 The Tillage consisted of one street, 
 and tliat street was built on a steep 
 liill, so that when you stood at the 
 summit of it, with the Eagle Inn to 
 your left, and the fine Gothic chui'ch 
 to your right, you could look down to 
 where the last few straggling houses 
 stood in the valley, and presently, 
 beyond the valley, rose another hill, 
 crowned by the bench of which we 
 have already heard. The Eagle, on the 
 crest of the high ground, and the Fores- 
 ters', at the end of the village in the 
 plain, represented the social as well as 
 the actual extremes of Lyndwood. The 
 Eagle was patronised by the aristocrats 
 who came into the neighbourhood; the 
 great cricketers' banquets were held in 
 the Eagle dining-room; it was at the
 
 A WOMAN OF MIXD. 73 
 
 Eagle that the people who drove over 
 to Lyndwoocl for the day, put up ; and 
 at the Eagle only could the London 
 papers be seen. The Foresters' Inn was 
 of an entirely different character. It 
 was clean and comfortable as the great 
 Eagle itseK, but its few fi^equenters 
 were of an entirely different class to 
 those of the rival hostelry. The vehicles 
 to be seen outside the Foresters' were 
 mostly farmers' dog- carts, hired traps of 
 various ignominious forms, and rough- 
 and-ready donkey carts. None of the 
 villagers concerned themselves at all as 
 to the success of the Foresters' ; but the 
 Eagle was the apple of Lyndwood's eye. 
 When there was a fresh arrival, when 
 a new relay of trunks was deposited 
 in the familiar doorway, over which
 
 74 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 the imperial bird was ever spreading 
 its wings, the excitement in the long 
 street was considerable. The butcher 
 hard by peered curiously over his broad 
 counter, and forgot to answer his cus- 
 tomers' questions in his intense interest 
 in the Eagle's prosperity; the saddler's 
 pretty daughter ran to her father's shop 
 door in order to grant the new-comer 
 a vision of her plump and rosy beauty; 
 the two pale and faded sisters who re- 
 presented the millinery force of Lynd- 
 wood, came timidly from their sanctum 
 of cap-blocks and bonnet-shapes, to 
 peep at the ladies' head-gear; while the 
 OT\Tiers of the little cake and sweet- 
 stuff shop near the Foresters' gazed 
 longingly up the hill at the stir and 
 bustle in front of the Eagle. Presently,
 
 A WOMAN OF MIND. 75 
 
 the '^ trap " wonld be turned into the 
 stables round the corner ; the grooms 
 and ostlers would disappear, on drinking 
 thoughts intent ; the gay parties would 
 flutter from the terrace and the dooi-way 
 to the long, lofty rooms of the old inn ; ' 
 and the butcher down the street would 
 turn his dreamy eyes back to his busi- 
 ness ; the saddler's pretty daughter, with 
 a half-drawn sigh that no gallant eye 
 had lit upon her rustic comeliness, would 
 re-enter upon the routine of her daily 
 household duties ; the faded milliners 
 would resume their work with an un- 
 attainable ideal of hghtness and bright- 
 ness and grace in their mind's eye ; and 
 the hard-featured keeper of the cakes 
 and sweetmeats would cry to her bed- 
 ridden mother in the room behind the
 
 76 A WOMAN OF MIKD. 
 
 shop, as she doled out a pennyworth of 
 "brandy balls" to a chubby eight-year 
 old customer — 
 
 "There's a fresh party of gentry 
 arrived up the hill, mother. Did you 
 ever know anything like that there 
 Eagle!" 
 
 The "gentry" certainly knew how to 
 choose, for the Eagle was as picturesque 
 a place as could well have been found 
 throughout the county. The house 
 seemed buried in rich foliage and flower. 
 The roses nodded in at the windows, 
 and the creeper clung lovingly about the 
 trelHsed porch, while the terrace, rising 
 at one end considerably above the level 
 of the street, was carpeted and shaded 
 with green growth and ornamented with 
 the splendour of the roses.
 
 A WOMAX OF MIXD. 77 
 
 The young men ^vho had seated them- 
 selves in front of one of the long French 
 windows that opened on to the terrace, 
 smoked their cigars in silence for a few 
 minutes, Jocelyn's fair, smooth face and 
 quiet eyes forming a perfect contrast to 
 the southern type of Eojde's head. 
 
 '' This is hy no means a bad place," 
 said Jocelyn at length. '^ I hate the 
 country, as a rule ; but I must confess 
 that Lyndwood has a special charm of 
 its own." 
 
 '^ Has it ? " said Eoyle. ^' Why, where 
 does the special charm live ? " 
 
 Jocelyn laughed. '^As if I should 
 tell you, if I knew," he replied. 
 
 "You are stopping with the Cleve- 
 dons, are you not?" said Eoyle, some- 
 what irrelevantly.
 
 78 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 *' I hardly call it stopping with them," 
 said Jocelyn. '' Clevedon House is like 
 my home, and a very pleasant home, 
 too, I can assure you." 
 
 ''I don't douht it," replied Eoyle, 
 shortly; adding, "you have a large 
 party there, have you not?" 
 
 "No," said Jocelyn; "we are quite 
 alone. The Levesons have been on a 
 visit, but they have gone off, thoroughly 
 disgusted, I fancy, with the flavour of 
 Miss Clevedon's conversation ; and, to 
 tell you the truth, I don't think any 
 one regrets them. The girl was pretty." 
 
 "But terribly foolish, I shoiild think," 
 remarked Eoyle. 
 
 " Of course she was," assented Jocelyn ; 
 "but I don't mind foolish girls, I must 
 own. Now, Amy Leveson could in her
 
 A WOMAN OF MIND. 79 
 
 own way give you an answer, and knew 
 how to hold her ground, in that sort 
 of hght fencing that we call flirtation; 
 but, of course, if you put her to discuss 
 with Miss Clevedon, why, she would be 
 smashed to atoms in a moment. Then, 
 Miss Clevedon is a genius, and can 
 silence most of us, if she choose." 
 
 Eoyle laughed, saying, " She has cer- 
 tainly got a tongue of her own." 
 
 ^*By-the-by, you have had a specimen 
 of her attacks, have you not ? " asked 
 Jocelyn. 
 
 Eoyle bent his head gravely, and 
 answered, ''Yes; she was good enough 
 to let me know how bad an opinion she 
 had of me, and I was the more sorry 
 for it, from the fact that she compelled 
 my admiration and respect. You should
 
 80 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 have seen her, Jocelyn, while she was 
 speaking to me ; she looked superb, and 
 I really felt ashamed of the trivialities 
 of which she accused me." 
 
 Jocelyn laughed gaily. '^ I see she 
 hit you hard, Koyle." 
 
 '^ She made an impression upon my 
 mind, I confess," said Koyle, ''and I 
 have thought again and again that I 
 should like to extenuate myself somewhat 
 in her eyes." 
 
 " My dear fellow," said Jocelyn, " there 
 is no need of extenuation and all that 
 sort of thing, I am certain. She has 
 forgotten the grievance against you and 
 yourself, depend upon it, by this time. 
 She speaks energetically, but she doesn't 
 mean or wish to hurt any one's feelings. 
 I've had a lecture this morning on my
 
 A WOMAN OF MIND. 81 
 
 idleness, but I don't mind it; in fact, 
 it rather amuses me." 
 
 "I should Hke to hear her ideas on 
 idleness," said Eoyle. 
 
 ^* They are very soon told," said 
 Jocelyn, stretching himself out indo- 
 lently. *' She thinks every man ought 
 to work for his living, and that those 
 men who are born rich enough to be 
 independent of work, should work not- 
 withstanding, and devote their money 
 to the amelioration of less fortunate 
 Hves." 
 
 **I wonder what she would say to a 
 man who not only does not work, but 
 lives on the work of others whom he 
 is not honest enough to own ? " mut- 
 tered Eoyle, bitterly. 
 
 Jocelyn looked keenly at him, and 
 
 VOL. I. «
 
 82 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 then answered, lightly, ^' I only hope 
 there will be a third person on the 
 spot when she meets such a man, or 
 the result might really be homicidal." 
 
 Eoyle did not answer ; and, after a 
 few moments, Jocelyn rose leism^ely to 
 his feet, and protested that he must 
 be off. "I promised Miss Clevedon most 
 faithfully," he observed, '^ that if I did 
 not work, I would at least walk, and I 
 am afraid that she would be very hard 
 upon me if she found my walk had not 
 extended beyond the Eagle. When do 
 you go up to town, Koyle ? " 
 
 " In a few days, or a week," replied 
 Koyle. '' I've left my friends, and am 
 stopping here." 
 
 ^' Then I shall see you before you go," 
 said Jocelyn ; and he added, as he smiled
 
 A WOMAN OF MIXD. 83 
 
 and shook hands with Koyle, ^' I am in 
 a hurry to get off, as I am in some tre- 
 pidation lest Miss Clevedon should come 
 along on that spirited animal of hers, 
 and should attack me before the whole 
 town! " 
 
 Royle's discomfiture was complete. He 
 had felt certain that Jocelyn would ask 
 him to call at Clevedon House ; he had 
 even hoped that he might be invited to 
 lunch that day; but it was evident that 
 Jocelyn knew he would not be welcome. 
 Miss Clevedon had decided opinions ;= 
 she disliked him, and there was nothing 
 to be done, he said to himself, but to 
 go back to town, and not to trouble 
 himseK any more as to what she thought. 
 He hngered on at the Eagle, however, 
 day after day, with a vague sense of hope
 
 84 A WOMAN OF MIOT). 
 
 and expectancy, but at length resolved 
 to break the absurd spell growing round 
 him. 
 
 Accordingly, he paid all the visits 
 in the neighbourhood that he was bound 
 to pay before leaving, one early August 
 afternoon, and in the evening he sent 
 his luggage up to the station, some five 
 miles from the Eagle. He should leave 
 by the first train in the morning, he 
 said, and did not want any conveyance — 
 he should walk to the station. Mine 
 host of the Eagle protested that a trap 
 should be ready for him at any hour he 
 liked to mention; but Eoyle was bent 
 on a long walk in the morning au'. It 
 would do him good, he said to himself — 
 it would diive his wild ideas away. And 
 so it fell out that Eoyle started alone
 
 A WOMAN OF MIXD. 85 
 
 on his early walk through the ^^ happy 
 autumn fields " towards the station. 
 
 The way lay by hill and dale, by 
 streams and fields and wide pine plan- 
 tations, and Eoyle looked round him re- 
 gretfully at the beauty of the scene. 
 Everything was serene and quiet; not 
 a human being was to be seen on all 
 the wide expanse of ground, and the 
 only distm'bers of the stillness of the air 
 were the bii'ds, as they hopped joyously 
 from t^ig to tviig, from branch to branch, 
 of the noble trees that lined the road. 
 The morning sunshine lit the scene with 
 its brightest beams, and all looked so 
 clear and serene and sylvan, that Eoyle 
 could hardly believe that in a few short 
 hours he would have reached the dull, 
 black, smoky metropoHs — London.
 
 86 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 He turned aside from the main road 
 presently, and followed a faintly indi- 
 cated foot-track that would lead liim to 
 the station through the greenest and 
 gayest of glades, the most picturesque 
 bits of fringe of the forest. 
 
 He walked slowly enough in this deep 
 seclusion, his eyes bent on the ground, 
 his thoughts taking the strangest forms 
 and fancies. Suddenly, an instinct made 
 him raise his head, and he saw, only a 
 few yards in fi'ont of him, a lady and 
 a horse. The lady had dismounted and 
 was walking leisurely along, holding up 
 her habit with one hand, and Tvith the 
 other now and then plucking a stray 
 fern leaf, now and then stroking the 
 docile horse's neck. Eoyle looked ear- 
 nestly, and his heart gave a gi'eat throb.
 
 A WOMAN OF MIXD. 87 
 
 Surely he nould not be mistaken ? That 
 tall slender figure, those masses of bright 
 brown hair, that finely set head, could 
 only belong to one person; and even as 
 he wondered, a turn of the head showed 
 him the face he wished to see, and he 
 sprang forward eagerly and quickly, ex- 
 claiming — 
 
 ''I am so glad to meet you, Miss 
 Clevedon." 
 
 Silvia, for it was she, was evidently 
 startled at the rencontre ; and while he 
 told her that he was on his way to the 
 station, she stood still, holding her horse 
 by the bridle, thereby giving Eoyle to 
 understand that she wished him to leave 
 her to her ramble. But he was not to 
 be deterred when he had a definite idea 
 in his mind, and seeing that which she
 
 88 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 intended to convey to him, he said — • 
 *' Will you not let me walk beside you 
 a little way, Miss Clevedon ? I should 
 very much like to speak a few words to 
 you, if I may." 
 
 '^I cannot refuse to listen," said Silvia, 
 walking on slowly then, '^ but you must 
 say what you wish to say quickly." 
 
 He was silent for a few moments, as 
 they advanced side by side through the 
 tangle of fern and weed and moss ; he 
 glanced at Silvia's handsome face once 
 or twice, as if he were lingering on its 
 features and expression, and at last he 
 began — 
 
 '^ Miss Clevedon, I know how badly 
 you think of me, and I know that there 
 may be a Httle ground for your dislike, 
 but I should like to explain to you, if
 
 A TVOMAN OF MIND. 89 
 
 I may, that I was not nearly so bad as 
 I seemed." 
 
 *' I am glad to liear it," answered 
 Silvia, ^^ and I am sorry that you should 
 think yourself bound to explain. My 
 opinion is of no real consequence to you, 
 and I had no intention- of persecuting 
 you with my dishke." 
 
 *^ But I wanted you to think well of 
 me," pleaded Eoyle, earnestly. 
 
 '^What an extraordinary person you 
 are!" said Silvia, smiling. '^I cannot 
 understand why you should be so anxious 
 in the matter. Still, since you so par- 
 ticularly wish to know what I think, I 
 may tell you that I have heard how you 
 terminated the affau^ of which I dis- 
 approved. I acquit you of anything 
 worse than lightness and thoughtless-
 
 90 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 ness, aDd I only wish I were powerful 
 enough to influence you in the future. 
 And now I must turn back. You will 
 lose your train, too, I am afraid." 
 
 ^' No, I have plenty of time," he 
 answered ; then, as Silvia stood still, 
 eyidently wishing him to leave her, he 
 said, hastily, ^'I will go; don't be afi^aid. 
 You needn't grudge me another moment. 
 I should like not only to have explained 
 to you my apparent misbeha^dour, which 
 was nothing more than lightness and 
 thoughtlessness, as you say, but to have 
 asked you to tell me some of your 
 thoughts on man's work, as you told 
 them to Jocelyn." 
 
 ^^You forget that Mr. Jocelyn is like 
 a brother to me, and that you are all 
 but a stranger," said Silvia, gravely.
 
 A WOMAX OF MIND. 91 
 
 ^^I forgot — yes, it's true," muttered 
 Eoyle. " I have spoken too frankly. 
 Never mind what I have said ; try to 
 forget it aU." 
 
 Silvia had gathered up her skirts while 
 he was speaking, and in answer to his 
 low ^'Good-bye, Miss Clevedon," bowed 
 to him, and was turning away. But he 
 sprang forward, saying — 
 
 ^' Won't you shake hands with me?" 
 
 Silvia put her hand in his, frankly, 
 murmuring ''Good-bye" in astonish- 
 ment ; and he pressed it so tightly for 
 a moment that he positively hurt her. 
 
 Then, he lifted his hat and strode 
 away. He never turned to look back. 
 She saw his tall, stalwart figure disappear 
 among the trees, and before long she 
 heard the railway whistle, and knew that
 
 92 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 he must have reached the station — that 
 he must have gone. 
 
 ^' I met Mr. Eoyle this morning, Gil- 
 bert," said Silvia, at breakfast, an hour 
 later. '^ He was on his road to the 
 station." 
 
 '^ Off to London, was he ? " said Joce- 
 lyn. '^ He has seemed strangely un- 
 settled in his mind lately, and I'm glad 
 he has decided to leave." 
 
 Silvia thought also that he was 
 strangely unsettled in his mind, but she 
 said nothing.
 
 A WOMAN OF MIND. 93 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Laueel Lodge was as pretty a house as 
 could be found among the many pretty 
 houses in St. John's Wood. It stood in 
 a small garden, and in fi'ont there were 
 two fine elm trees, that shaded it from 
 the keen gaze of observers on the other 
 side of the road ; while the strip of lawn, 
 at the back of the house, was dotted 
 with sturdy laurel bushes. A luxuriant 
 jessamine twined about the balcony of 
 the back drawing-room, and the slender 
 iron steps leading from the window to
 
 94 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 the lawn were almost hid in the fragrant 
 growth. The house looked like a toy 
 building, rather than a human habitation 
 — it was so neat and white and trim, with 
 its pretty portico, its huge bow windows, 
 its graceful entourage of flower-garden, 
 la^vn, and shrub, its slanting-roofed bal- 
 conies, its covering of sweet-scented 
 jessamine ; and it was hard to beheve 
 that the prosaic conditions of life were 
 being worked out day by day within the 
 four white walls. 
 
 Small as the house appeared, it con- 
 tained a number of rooms, and sheltered 
 a number of human beings, as a glance 
 into the general sitting-room and dining- 
 room will show. The windows were wide 
 open, for the evening air was hot and 
 heavy, and the gentle swaying of the elm
 
 A WOMAX OF MIND. 95 
 
 branches in the mild August breeze was 
 refreshing to the cheerful party congre- 
 gated about the massive family table. 
 
 The group was a comely one — an un- 
 mistakably English home picture. The 
 head of the household lay back in a 
 capacious armchair, with the morning's 
 Times in his hands and shielding his 
 face, and the daughters, each busy at 
 some harmless occupation, chatted and 
 laughed together happily. There were 
 five sisters, and one of them, who seemed 
 older and graver than the others, evi- 
 dently filled the mother's place. It was 
 she who glanced periodically at her 
 father, to see if he were disturbed by 
 the gay voices; it was to her that the 
 servant turned for directions when she 
 was summoned; it was to her that the
 
 96 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 girls appealed in support of this or in 
 deprecation of that ; and before her stood 
 a basket piled with unmistakable house- 
 hold sewing, while her sisters were busy 
 with the various, somewhat unpracticable 
 forms of fancy work. 
 
 The sisters differed considerably in 
 person, as in character. Hester, the 
 eldest, who had taken her dead mother's 
 place in the home, was as grave and 
 dignified as Ellen, who came next, was 
 lively and brilliant, and, if truth must 
 be told, somewhat vulgar. The third, 
 Julia, was engaged to be married, and, 
 on the strength of her proud position 
 among the sisters, gave herself httle 
 matronly airs, and professed a sagacity 
 and prudence strangely at variance with 
 her twenty-three years. The fourth,
 
 A AVOMAX OF MIND. 97 
 
 Charlotte, was an enthusiastic upholder 
 of the High Chiu'ch party, as represented 
 in her district by a good-looking, pale- 
 faced curate, who wore a broad black 
 sash round his waist and buckles to his 
 shoes ; and her devotion took the form 
 of decking her person with cross and 
 crucifix, and medals and various symbols, 
 so that she rattled like a bunch of keys 
 when she walked. And the fifth and 
 youngest of the family, Effie, who was 
 between eighteen and nineteen, was so 
 gentle and loving and clinging in her 
 nature, that she seemed hardly to have 
 any decided tastes of her own, h'om her 
 large sympathies with every living crea- 
 ture, and her utter forgetfulness of self. 
 A sweet face it was that Efiie bent over 
 her embroidery — a face above the hoy- 
 
 VOL. I. H
 
 98 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 denish beauty of her three elder sisters, 
 and quite apart from the staid gravity 
 that characterized the eldest, Hester. 
 There was something spiritual in the 
 gaze of her large dark eyes. It seemed 
 as if the soul of the dying mother, who 
 had breathed her last when Efhe was 
 born, had given them their strange, 
 wistful pathos and earnestness; and 
 Effie's father, ordinary, prosaic, com- 
 mercial man as he was, often caught 
 a glance from their blue depths that 
 brought a vivid remembrance of his early 
 love to his mind. 
 
 The girls were talking with consider- 
 able animation on this particular evening. 
 They had been to a croquet gathering 
 during the afternoon at a neighbour's, and 
 were discussing the incidents with zest.
 
 A WOMAN OF :\IIXD. 99 
 
 ^'Did you ever see anything like the 
 affectation of Minnie Maldon, though, 
 Juha?" said Ellen, viyaciously. "She 
 told Mr. Wentworth at first, seeing that 
 he was a clergyman, that she never played 
 croquet, for it was so trivial and unin- 
 teresting ; but when she found that he 
 wasn't too stiff-necked to handle a mallet, 
 she allowed herself to he persuaded to try 
 how she could get on, — which is all rather 
 ridiculous, when you remember that at 
 the Churchills' last week she played 
 against young Chm*chill, who is one of 
 the best players, and beat him." 
 
 ''Well, it does not much matter, after 
 all," said Julia. ''No one is taken in by 
 her little tricks." 
 
 "Indeed, they are," remonstrated 
 Ellen. "I am sure Mr. Wentworth was
 
 100 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 tboroughly impressed with Minnie's un- 
 woiidliness, for lie took mncli trouble to 
 teach her." 
 
 ^^But Mr. Wentworth is far too clever 
 to be deceived so easily," put in Char- 
 lotte. 
 
 '' Oh, nonsense ! " cried Ellen. " A 
 curate can be hoodwinked as well as any 
 other man ; and you can make him out 
 as much of a saint as you like, Charlotte, 
 but you can't deny that your saint is a 
 man, and plays croquet, which is very 
 earthly indeed." 
 
 At this moment a click of the garden 
 gate was heard. 
 
 ''Why, who can that be?" said 
 Hester. 
 
 Ellen burst into a laugh. '' Why, look 
 at Julia, Hester. It's William, of 
 eourse."
 
 A WOMAX OF MIND. 101 
 
 Julia lowered lier eyes, and bore the 
 laughter complaceutly, somewhat proud 
 of her lover's assiduity; but Effie, v^iio 
 had started forward to glance from the 
 open window, exclaimed delightedly to her 
 father, who had roused himself from his 
 persistent study of the Times ^ ''Papa, 
 papa; it's Philip ! " 
 
 The expression of the sisters' coan- 
 tenances altered somewhat. Julia's face 
 fell considerably, while Effie looked posi- 
 tively radiant, as she ran from the room 
 to greet the new arrival at the street 
 door. She returned presently, however, 
 followed by Philip Royle, and some 
 seconds passed before the kissing and 
 hand-shaking consequent upon his appear- 
 ance were over. At last he stretched 
 himself into an armchair, with a mut- 
 tered expression of fatigue.
 
 102 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 ^^Did you come from Hampsliire this 
 morning ? " askecl his father. 
 
 *'Yes; I left there by an early train," 
 answered Philip ; and as he spoke there 
 came to his mind a vision of the serious, 
 beautiful face that had been turned to 
 him only that morning, and that formed 
 such a contrast to the smooth, fair 
 prettiness of his sisters. 
 
 ^'I suppose you have enjoyed yourself 
 immensely, and seen a sight of people ? " 
 asked his father again. 
 
 ^^Yes; I have seen a number of per- 
 sons," returned Philip. ^'I have stayed 
 at house after house, and I met several 
 fellows there whom I had known at 
 Oxford. You have heard me speak of 
 Gilbert Jocelyn, with whom I was very 
 intimate at one time, also at the uni-
 
 A WOMAN OF MIND. 103 
 
 versity? He was staying at Lyndwood 
 with, some friends, and lie was very 
 cordial and pleasant." 
 
 There was a brief silence ; and then 
 Philip Eoyle, looking across to his third 
 sister, said, with a smile, " I have not 
 seen you, Juha, since your new honours 
 have come upon you, have I? But I 
 hope you had my letter of congratulation. 
 I don't remember Dawson very well. 
 You see, I have been so little at home 
 of late ; but I know how highly I have 
 heard him eulogised by you all, and I am 
 sm-e I wish you every happiness." 
 
 ''Philip does make such wonderful 
 speeches," laughed Ellen; "they are like 
 the phrases of the gentlemen of title in 
 the London Journal stories." 
 
 "He's right enough, Ellen," said Mr.
 
 104 A WOMAN OF MIXD. 
 
 Koyle. ''■ He lias to talk like tliat wlien 
 he's among his grand friends, and he 
 ought to keep up the habit. What was 
 the use of his going to Oxford, if the 
 masters there didn't teach him how to 
 talk?" 
 
 His father's tone and words jarred 
 inexpressibly upon Philiiys quick ear. 
 
 "I spoke naturally," he said, turning 
 to Ellen, ^'and I certainly did not go 
 out of my way to be ungrammatical." 
 
 The entrance of Mr. William Dawson, 
 whose step upon the gravel walk in front 
 of the house, and whose mild ring, had 
 not been heard, put a stop to the dis- 
 cussion. The new-comer was not an 
 acquisition. He was a type of the 
 young man who is invariably described 
 by friends as a really very gentlemanly
 
 A WOMAX OF MIND. 105 
 
 person. He was well dressed, and he 
 was by no means bad looking, yet the 
 most imdiscerning critic could not fail 
 to observe that the true gold of Dawson's 
 character was largely mixed with the 
 alloy of plebeian origin and surround- 
 ings. No amount of poHsh would have 
 brightened him, no inteUigent companion- 
 ship would have brought out his refined 
 quahties of mind ; he w^as a rough 
 diamond, a very rough diamond ! Phihp 
 wondered again and again that evening, 
 as he looked at his sister and her lover, 
 how such a betrothal could have come 
 about. The pah* seemed so unequally 
 ^ted. She was pretty and '^ladylike," 
 and even somewhat refined in her tastes 
 and ideas; he was good-tempered and 
 ^ood-heai*ted, but the wildest friendly
 
 106 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 enthusiasm could not attribute refine- 
 ment to Mm in any shape or measure. 
 
 He entered the room on the evening 
 in question, like a hurricane; he gave 
 his betrothed a loud, reverberating kiss, 
 and he wrung Philip's hand, on being 
 introduced to him formally, and clapped 
 him on the shoulder, exclaiming, ^' I've 
 met you before, old boy, at one or 
 another of the tea-fights that have taken 
 place in the neighbourhood. You may 
 not remember me, but I remember you, 
 and I am glad to meet you again under 
 these pleasant circumstances. We shall 
 be great chums, I'm sure, in the future^ 
 and needn't be troubled by any questions 
 of pride or prejudice, you know. Who- 
 ever has the tin stands the drink, is 
 my motto."
 
 A WOMAN OF MIND. 107 
 
 ^'I will bear your precept in mind," 
 returned Philip, smiling ; *' and I trust 
 fate will not compel me to make too 
 many tHrsty attacks on your purse." 
 
 " Oh, we shall shuffle along famously, 
 I've no doubt," declared Mr. Dawson. 
 So saying, he seated himself near the 
 future Mrs. Dawson, who was striving 
 to appear ignorant of, and totally in- 
 different to, his vicinity. 
 
 There was a silence, presently inter- 
 rupted by Mr. Dawson, who exclaimed 
 with a laugh, ''I say, this is a Quaker's 
 meeting, and no mistake. Governor, 
 why don't you sa}^ something ? Are 
 you not pleased to have the chip of the 
 old block home again, or has he come 
 to say his allowance isn't large enough ? " 
 
 '^ That's none of your business, my
 
 108 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 boy, any way," said Mr. Eoyle, good- 
 liiimouredly. ^' Of course, I am glad to 
 see him — lie knows that well enough; 
 and even if he had outrun his allowance, 
 I'm not the man to grumble at him. 
 Young men will be young men." 
 
 "Yes, and old men will be old men, 
 that's the worst of it ! " observed Mr. 
 Dawson. "If all governors had your 
 principles, I shouldn't object to them ; 
 but they mostly have a very different 
 way of thinking. I know mine kept me 
 very close indeed until I went into the 
 business with him. Now, of course, I 
 have as much as I want ; and I have to 
 work for it too, I can tell you ! The 
 governor is down on you hke a knife, 
 if he thinks you don't keep up the steam. 
 However, I don't mind that. It's right
 
 A WOMAN OF MIND. 109 
 
 and fail' enough that a man should work 
 for his hving ; all I want is a fair day's 
 wage for a fair day's work, as our men 
 say when they come grumbling to me." 
 
 The words struck upon Philip's suscep- 
 tible organization ; he gave no outward 
 sign of the sting, however, and asked Mr. 
 Dawson, with perfect calmness, "May 
 I ask what is your special sphere ? " 
 
 " Soap," was Dawson's laconic reply. 
 
 " Not soft soap, I hope," said Philip. 
 
 *'Xot I. No," said young Dawson; 
 *' I leave that for your fine friends. We 
 go in for soap-boiling. Dawson and Son 
 is one of the biggest soap-boiling con- 
 cerns in the country, and brings in a 
 pretty sum of money too — my share of 
 which 5^our sister's going to help me 
 spend, aren't you, July? "
 
 110 A AVOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 ^'I don't know what she will do," 
 remarked Ellen, *'but she says she is 
 going to be wonderfully prudent, to 
 manage and put by, and make both 
 ends meet, and all sorts of other dreadful 
 things." 
 
 ^'I dare say I shall contrive to spend 
 quite as much as Wilham will think 
 necessary, after a year or so," said Julia. 
 
 ^^ What's the matter with Eff?" in- 
 quired young Dawson, as his roving eye 
 fell upon the face of his youngest future 
 sister-in-law. '' She looks as languishing 
 as a dying duck, doesn't she, governor? " 
 
 The ^'governor" laughed, and Char- 
 lotte said, somewhat scornfully, "• Oh, she 
 is in rapt adoration of Philip — that's all." 
 
 ^^ Something like your adoration of 
 Wentworth, eh?" retorted Dawson.
 
 A WOMAN OF MIND. Ill 
 
 Then he added, turning to Phihp, "Do 
 you know Wentworth? No, I can see 
 you do not. Well, he is a Eitualist 
 curate, and the womankind in this neigh- 
 bourhood are wild about him. The fact 
 is, he is rather good-looking, and con- 
 trives to look very pale and to have 
 dark circles round his eyes, you know — 
 I wouldn't swear that he doesn't paint. 
 Then he gets himself up in a sort of 
 military clerical style, with sashes round 
 his waist, and gold chains with crosses 
 and medals round his neck, and a crucifix 
 hanging by a long chain at his side, I 
 believe ; and he makes desj)erate love — in 
 a clerical way, of course — to every woman 
 he sees, and asks them all to work for 
 the Chm'ch; so the result is that they 
 send him in bales of embroidery for
 
 112 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 altar-cloths, and I'm told lie's going to 
 have a bazaar and dispose of the pairs 
 of slippers sent him, for the benefit of 
 the j)arish. Charlotte is working him 
 a smoking-cap, I was told." 
 
 Charlotte had left the room while he 
 was speaking, at which he was infinitely 
 amused. 
 
 ^' Do you admire the cm^ate, Effie ? "" 
 asked her brother, turning to the gentle 
 girl beside him, who had not spoken 
 since his arrival. 
 
 ^'I don't mind him," she replied, with 
 evident indifi'erence as to the subject ; 
 and added immediately, ''but you haven't 
 said how long you will be in tovvn, Philip. 
 I am afraid you will be going off again 
 somewhere, and I shall not see you for 
 months."
 
 A WOMAN OF MIND. 113 
 
 ^' Have you secured any invitations 
 for the next month or two ? " asked 
 Mr. Koyle, addressing his son. 
 
 Philip's face flushed painfully as he 
 repHed, ''Yes; one or two persons have 
 been kind enough to press me to visit 
 them. I hardly know, however, which 
 house I care to favour." 
 
 ''I should pretty soon make up my 
 mind," said young Dawson. '^ Where 
 there are the prettiest girls and the 
 best feeding is the place for me. That's 
 why I drop in here so often, isn't it, 
 governor? " 
 
 ''Philip professes not to notice the 
 ladies," said Ellen. " He never will 
 tell us anything about his grand friends 
 — how they are dressed, and how they 
 behave. Now, if WilHam went to a 
 
 VOL. I. I
 
 114 A WOMAN OF ]\LIND. 
 
 ball at the lionse of some lord or lady, 
 he would have a wonderful string of 
 things to tell." 
 
 Mr. Dawson, having protested that all 
 girls were " tarred with the same brush," 
 begged Julia to take a turn round the 
 garden mth him, and listen to a full 
 exposition of his views ; and when the 
 pair had gone to walk backwards and 
 forwards along the gravel walk beneath 
 the window, Philip inquired — 
 
 ^^ Where did Julia pick up this young 
 man?" 
 
 '^ She's met him at different houses 
 in the neighbourhood," replied Mr. 
 Koyle. ^^The elder Dawson is a very 
 rich man, I can tell you, and young 
 William is not a match to be despised. 
 He is a partner in the business, and has
 
 A WOMAN OF MIND. 115 
 
 a liaudsome income as it is; and, of 
 course, when the old gentleman dies, 
 he will be master of the whole place, 
 and will have a position not to be 
 sneezed at, if I know anything of the 
 matter." 
 
 ^' But does Julia care for him ? " said 
 Philip. 
 
 ^^ Oh, she likes him very weU. Why 
 shouldn't she?" responded her father. 
 '^ He's as kind as he can be to her, and 
 makes himself at home with us ; and, 
 then, all the gMs in the parish have tried 
 to get him, I'm told, and JuUa's proud 
 of her success. Altogether, I think she's 
 made a very fair hit, and I don't com- 
 plain." 
 
 *'You see, we have not all been used 
 to the society of aristocrats," said Ellen,
 
 116 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 with some asperity, '^ and are not above 
 the level of William Dawson." 
 
 " I am sorry to hear it," was Phili^^'s 
 sole reply. 
 
 And in a moment he rose to leave, 
 promising his sister Effie, who accom- 
 panied him to the gate, that he would 
 come again very soon.
 
 A WOMAN OF MIND. 117 
 
 CHAPTEE VI. 
 
 Philip Eoyle walked back to his cham- 
 bers in Kegent Street, in deep thought. 
 His position was by no means a pleasant 
 one, and it was not strange that it 
 annoyed him considerably. His father, 
 a wholesale tea-dealer of great repute 
 in the City, had had but one idea, one 
 di'eam, one ambition. That was — to make 
 a gentleman of his son; to send him to 
 one of the universities; to afford him an 
 ample allowance, that would enable him 
 to cultivate the society of men of birth
 
 118 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 and breeding, — in short, to elevate him, 
 to raise him from the trading class to 
 which he naturally belonged, and, by 
 force of money, make him appear that 
 which he was not. The father himself 
 had no pretensions of any kind. He was 
 a good-hearted, outspoken man of busi- 
 ness, who had risen from a post ap- 
 proaching that of an errand-boy, to be 
 the head of the house. He had married, 
 early in life, a woman of his own rank, 
 who had borne him six children, and had 
 then died ; and he had never attempted to 
 draw himself and his wife and daughters 
 from the sphere which was natm'al to 
 him. But for his son his ambition was 
 immeasurable, and he looked to him for 
 the reaUzation of brilliant dreams of 
 social supremacy — of refined and culti-
 
 A WOMAN OF MIND. 119 
 
 vated intercourse with men and women 
 of a higher world than that to which a 
 tradesman coukl aspire. While other 
 men of his class looked to their sons to 
 carry on their business when they were 
 gone, he had simply a keen desire to put 
 his son out of the pale of commerce ; and 
 nothing pleased him so much as when 
 a City friend said, casually — 
 
 *' Your son has made some grand 
 friends, and goes into fashionable society, 
 I'm told." 
 
 Of course, all the friends and acquaint- 
 ances of the Koyles were in a perpetual 
 state of indignation at the father's pre- 
 sumption and the son's want of sphit, and 
 very sharp things were said about the 
 whole family, when they were not pre- 
 sent. But at the same time, whenever
 
 120 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 Philip Royle liad made his appearance at 
 any of the festive gatherings held hy the 
 various members of his father's circle of 
 friends, the most obsequious attention 
 had been paid him ; hosts had apologized 
 to him for their entertainments, and 
 hostesses had asked him innumerable 
 questions relating to his previous expe- 
 rience among the " high and mighty " of 
 the land. 
 
 The wives and daughters and sisters 
 of Mr. Royle's many City friends were 
 better disposed towards Philip than the 
 men ; being women, they could assimi- 
 late themselves, better than could men, 
 with the superior tone and manner of 
 Philip's bearing. As is always the case, 
 the women were far more cultivated 
 than men of their own rank, and did not
 
 A WOMAN OF MIXD. 121 
 
 feel out of their element in society that 
 was intolerahly irksome to the stronger 
 sex. Then, Philip was handsome, had a 
 certain distinction of appearance that is 
 always attractive, and knew how to 
 make himself irresistibly agreeable if he 
 wished; therefore it was not sm-prising 
 that he was well received by his father's 
 friends, and also well abused by them 
 when he was not present. 
 
 The young man was undoubtedly in 
 a very unsatisfactory position. He had 
 been brought up almost like the son of 
 an aristocrat ; he had taken his degree 
 at Oxford ; he had subsequently achieved 
 a short tour on the Continent ; and 
 he had, on his return, installed him- 
 self, at his father's desne, in some 
 handsome rooms in Eegent Street. The
 
 122 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 greater number of young men would 
 liave been, of course, delighted at such 
 a condition of affairs, would have revelled 
 in the ample allowance and unbroken 
 leisure, and would have laughed at any 
 ideas of duty or dignity. But Philip 
 Eoyle had something in him beyond 
 the average comprehension, and his 
 anomalous footing in London society 
 was a constant worry to him. Since 
 he had known Silvia Clevedon, his feel- 
 ings on the point had become even 
 stronger. He had met her several times 
 at Lyndwood, and had been greatly im- 
 pressed, not only by her beauty, but by 
 her originahty of thought and simple 
 frankness of speech. He had heard her 
 explaining several broad principles in a 
 liEilf-serious, half-jocular manner, and he
 
 A WOMAN OF MIKD. 123 
 
 had felt convinced that she would be 
 very severe on him could she know his 
 story. Yet what was he to do ? He 
 could not, in return for his father's great 
 kindness, iTin counter to his dearest 
 wishes ; and, at the same time, he could 
 not make up his mind to spend his life 
 in thorough inaction. 
 
 *' My father was T\Tong," he muttered 
 to himself, as he entered his luxurious 
 rooms on the evening of his return, 
 *' to bring me up as he has done. He 
 has given me ideas ^ above m}^ sta-^ 
 tion;' whereas, if I had gro^m to man- 
 hood after the manner of young Dawson, 
 I should have been far happier. I should 
 never have seen Miss Clevedon, and 
 could not have wasted my time think- 
 ing of her, therefore." And he ht a
 
 124 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 cigar and filing himself into a chair by 
 the window, and went over once again 
 in his mind that morning's interlude 
 among the ferns of the Hampshire 
 forest. 
 
 It was some three or four days after 
 Philip Eoyle's departure from Lyndwood, 
 that as Silvia and Gilbert Jocelyn were 
 out on the shady lawn at the back of 
 Clevedon House in the afternoon, Jocelyn 
 exclaimed suddenly, after a long pause, 
 during which he had watched Silvia's 
 face — 
 
 ^^ Now then, Silvia, what's the matter ? 
 you look as solemn as an Englishman 
 out for a holiday. Why so wan and 
 pale, sweet Silvia? — if Suckling will 
 excuse my rather free version of his 
 line."
 
 A WOMAN OF MIND. 125 
 
 '^ I was thinking of Mr. Eoyle, to tell 
 the truth," said Silvia, somewhat ab- 
 sently. 
 
 ^* I should not have beHeved you 
 capable of such waste of thought," re- 
 plied Jocelyn. " Did you light upon him 
 by accident, or is it a confirmed bad 
 habit ? " 
 
 *' The thought came naturally enough," 
 said Silvia. *^ It struck me just now how 
 idle and contemptible we both were — you 
 and I, I mean — sitting here in the fresh, 
 cool air, out of the reach of the sun, with 
 nothing to do, nothing to trouble us, 
 nothing to grieve us ; while men and 
 women, and even children, are working 
 so hard in this hot weather, all over the 
 country, for miserable sums of money 
 that would hardly keep our dogs. Then
 
 126 A WOMAN OF ^[IND. 
 
 I tlioiight of the immense self-satisfaction 
 of honom^able work. That is how he 
 came to my mind." 
 
 ^^I don't see the connection, I con- 
 fess," said Jocelyn, opening his eyes 
 wide at Silvia's last remark. ^^If there 
 be one thing specially antipathetic to 
 Eoyle, I should say it is work in any 
 shape or form." 
 
 "I should have thought so too," said 
 Silvia, ^'hut for a few words he said 
 when I met him the other morning." 
 
 ^' Did you have a talk with him, 
 then ? " inquired Jocelyn, looking eagerly 
 at his companion. 
 
 ^^Yes, he walked beside me for a few 
 moments," said Silvia, quite calmly and 
 frankly ; '^ and he said, among othe:p 
 things, that he should have liked to
 
 A WOMAN OF MIXD. 127 
 
 have spoken to me on the question of 
 work." 
 
 "By-fche-by, he said something to me 
 on the subject, the last time I met him 
 at the Eagle," remarked Jocelyn. 
 
 ^^ Evidently there is some thought in 
 his mind," began Silvia." 
 
 ^^My dear Silvia," said Jocelyn, im- 
 patiently, " the man's struck by your fine 
 eyes, and he thinks that he can win you 
 by appealing to you for guidance and 
 help. Women are always amenable to 
 that sort of flattery." 
 
 Silvia took up a book that lay on the 
 chair beside her, and said quietly, ^'If 
 you are bent on that conventional style 
 of jocularity, I would rather read than 
 listen to you. You know, nothing vexes 
 me more than the absurd habit of pre-
 
 128 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 supposing that a young man cannot look 
 at a giii without falling in love." 
 
 Jocelyn laughed, saying, ''Put your 
 book down, Silvia; I will be perfectly 
 sensible. And do tell me what Eoyle 
 said when you met him out in the forest 
 in the early morning." 
 
 '^ He said nothing very remarkable," 
 Silvia proceeded. ''As I told you, he 
 wanted to talk about work, and I did 
 not encourage him, for I did not care 
 to enter into any discussion on any sub- 
 ject with him. You know, he did not 
 impress me pleasantly from the first. 
 Still, he seemed excited and disturbed the 
 other morning." 
 
 '' Perhaps he had been drinking hard 
 overnight," suggested Jocelyn. 
 
 Silvia continued, without heeding the
 
 A WOMAN OF MIND. 129 
 
 interruption, ^^And I have thouglit of it 
 several times since, and have been sorry 
 that I did not allow him to talk. There 
 may have been a germ of good in the 
 man's natm-e, which I have utterly 
 trodden down." 
 
 *^As to that," said Jocelyn, lazily, ^^I 
 always thought there was something in 
 the fellow worth attention, in spite of his 
 wildness. But you women always con- 
 trive to stifle the good in a man, some- 
 how; and you see even such a superior 
 and thoroughly well-intentioned bit of 
 womanhood as yourseK is not free from 
 the failing. You have an opportunity of 
 impressing and improving Eoyle, and, by 
 Jove ! the only use you make of your 
 chance is to snub him." 
 
 Silvia listened the with utmost gravity, 
 
 VOL. I. E
 
 130 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 and there was a pained expression on lier 
 face wlien Jocelyn ceased speaking. 
 
 '' Perhaps you are right," she mur- 
 mured; ^'perhaps I did lose an oppor- 
 tunity of doing some good. I am very 
 sorry for it." 
 
 ^' Well, I don't think it much matters 
 in the long run," said Jocelyn. ^^You 
 are not likely to have kept him from 
 going to the bad. It would want a power- 
 ful influence to have that effect on Eoyle; 
 and therefore, since he must go there, it's 
 of little importance how soon he goes." 
 
 " Why will you talk in that absurd 
 style ? " said Silvia, tm-ning quickly upon 
 Jocelyn. ^' One would think, to hear you, 
 that you behoved what you said. To 
 begin with, you are altogether wrong. It 
 matters greatly to me whether or not
 
 A WOMAN OF MIXD. 131 
 
 any one ' goes to the bad,' as yon put it ; 
 and yon said a moment ago, yonrself, 
 that I had an opportunity of impressing 
 Mr. Koyle ; and, finally, I entii'ely dispute 
 your theory that it's of little importance 
 how soon he goes." 
 
 ^^At all events, we won't discuss the 
 matter, because we shall inevitably quar- 
 rel, and I don't like quarrelling with 
 ladies," said Jocelyn. 
 
 ''And they might get the better of 
 you," remarked Silvia. ''At any rate, 
 when you see Mr. Koyle, you might tell 
 him, GHbert " 
 
 "Oh, come No," said Jocelyn, 
 
 his face reddening and his brow clouding ; 
 "I am not going to act as a go-between. 
 What you have to say to Koyle, you can 
 say to him; he will greatly prefer that, 
 and so shall I."
 
 132 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 For all answer, Silvia took up her book 
 with a smile of evident amusement on 
 her face, and went on reading for some 
 moments, while Jocelyn was faming at his 
 own absurdity. Presently he said — 
 
 ^^ Never mind my exclamation just now, 
 Silvia ; tell me what you wish me to say 
 to Mr. Eoyle." 
 
 Silvia laughed as she caught Jocelyn's 
 eye, and merely rephed, ^^ Never mind 
 the message, Gilbert. Since you are so 
 squeamish, I will find some less inflam- 
 mable means of letting Mr. Eoyle know 
 that I sympathize with his desire to work. 
 And now you had better leave me to my 
 book, and go to the Eagle and flii't. The 
 pretty Miss Eamsdens are there, I'm told, 
 so you will be in your element." 
 
 With these words, Silvia called to her
 
 A WOMAN OF MIND. 133 
 
 dog, and, book in hand, walked leisurely 
 along the smooth lawn towards the con- 
 servatory, her soft white drapery forming 
 a line of light behind her. 
 
 The result of this conversation was 
 that when Jocelyn went up to London 
 for a day a fortnight later, and met 
 Eoyle in Bond Street, he fairly astounded 
 him by exclaiming — 
 
 '^I say, Eoyle, I have a message for 
 you from Miss Clevedon." 
 
 ^' For me ? " cried Eoyle. 
 
 ^* Well, that is to say," proceeded 
 Jocelyn, ^* I ought to have a message, 
 but I haven't, because a little discussion 
 arose just as she was about to give it, 
 so that it was never dehvered to me. 
 The fact remains, however, that she had 
 a message for you."
 
 134 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 ^'Biit don't yon know what it was 
 abont ? " said Koyle, eagerly. 
 
 '^ Something ahont work and inde- 
 pendence, and those unpleasant kind of 
 subjects that Miss Clevedon particularly 
 favours, I'm certain," said Jocelyn; ^^for 
 she was talking about them at the time 
 with her usual enthusiasm. She said I 
 ought to be ashamed of myself for 
 sitting on the lawn enjoying a smoke 
 in the shade, while hundreds of men 
 and women and children were working 
 hard. Really, I am very sorry if they are 
 working harder than is good for them, 
 but I don't see that I can do anything 
 to help them. However, Miss Clevedon 
 would have an answer ready, I have no 
 doubt." 
 
 *^ When is the family coming to town? " 
 asked Eoyle.
 
 A WOMAN OF MIND. 135 
 
 *^ Very soon — in a few weeks," said 
 Jocelyn; '^ so you will be able to discuss 
 these terrible affairs at length ; and I 
 should think you had better grind your- 
 self to the level of the extraordinarily 
 democratic theories you will be treated 
 to. Good-bye; I shall see you soon. I'll 
 look you up when we come to town." 
 
 And, with a nod and a smile, Jocelyn 
 passed on. 
 
 '^I've made it all right, Silvia," said 
 Jocelyn, a few hours later, as he sat at 
 the Clevedons' dinner-table, some eighty 
 or ninety miles from the great metropolis. 
 ^^ I met Eoyle by accident in London 
 to-day, and I told him that the divine 
 light of genius was about to shine on 
 him, in the shape of admonitions from 
 you on man's sphere of work."
 
 136 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 *' What nonsense of Silvia's is that?" 
 asked the admii^al, glancing keenly down 
 the table. 
 
 " It is merely a question of conversion, 
 sir," rephed Jocelyn. ^^ Silvia thinks 
 every one should work — that every man 
 should use his brains." 
 
 *^No, I do not," replied Silvia; "for 
 I know that some men have none." 
 
 The admiral interposed here — "Leave 
 the matter in peace, for the present ; I 
 will not have any discussions over the 
 dinner-table." 
 
 And the admiral was obeyed.
 
 A WOMAN OF MIND. 137 
 
 CHAPTEE VII. 
 
 Silvia Cleveland only deepened tlie 
 impression she had made npon Philip 
 Eoyle, when, late in the autumn, she was 
 back in London with her father and 
 mother, and settled for the winter in 
 the town house. They met frequently, 
 and met in a more informal manner than 
 if the season had been in full swing, with 
 its never-ending dissipations, its cease- 
 less conventionalities, its formahties and 
 restrictions. There were pleasant gather- 
 ings of intimate friends; there were
 
 138 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 unceremonious small dinners; there were 
 afternoon teas in the firelight; there 
 were expeditions to theatres, concerts, 
 and picture-galleries ; — there were in- 
 numerable opportunities, in short, for 
 developing an acquaintance, and dis- 
 covering excellencies and failings of 
 character, that could not be discerned 
 at first sight. Silvia and Eoyle had 
 many long conversations amid the 
 laughter and gossip around them. They 
 talked on serious subjects, and on subjects 
 light as air[; they discussed politics, art, 
 music, literature ; they fought several 
 severe battles over abstruse theories, 
 and metaphorically dealt each other 
 some hard blows. Silvia was greatly 
 amused and interested by Eoyle, and 
 keenly enjoyed a controversy with him;
 
 A WOMAN OF MIND. 139 
 
 and Eoyle himself was in a curious state 
 of mind, which, he did not stop to 
 examine. Silvia had given a sudden 
 turn to all his thoughts and ideas. He 
 found himself meditating on subjects to 
 which he had not given a moment's 
 reflection before he knew her; he found 
 himself to be strongly interested in 
 questions on which, only a year ago, 
 he would have yawned unceasingly. He 
 was astonished sometimes to discover 
 how completely he was changing ; how 
 he no longer liked the same books, the 
 same scenes, the same amusements ; how 
 involuntarily, as it seemed to Eoyle, 
 the books Silvia praised crept into his 
 book-case ; how he Hngered longest by 
 the pictures he had heard her admire; 
 how he gradually deserted Bond Street,
 
 140 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 and Eegent Street, and Piccadilly, his 
 old parade ground, and found himself 
 walking and thinking in very unfashion- 
 able by-ways, at times. He caught 
 himself wandering now and then amid 
 the terrible squalor and misery of St. 
 Giles's, noting the haggard faces, the 
 bruised and cut features, the unkempt 
 hair of the poor people crowding about 
 the courts and alleys; noting, with an eye 
 grown keener of late, the narrow, dark 
 doorways, the reeking cellars, the inde- 
 scribably squalid aspect of the hideous 
 tumble-down houses that form the homes 
 of the poor; noting the careworn ex- 
 pression of the young children, the hope- 
 less dreariness of the pale women sitting 
 on the doorsteps nursing the hapless 
 babies. And in the midst of such scenes
 
 A WOMAN OF MIND. 141 
 
 he could not help asking himseK some- 
 times what he had done to deserve his 
 happier fate. 
 
 Yes; Eoyle was certainly growing 
 more serious, and at the same time he 
 was growing less discontented. At one 
 moment he had been inclined to beheve, 
 as many young men do, that fate was 
 against him; that the whole creation 
 had entered upon a deliberate plan to 
 keep him in the background; that the 
 ruling powers of the earth, the heavens, 
 and all space combined to concoct a 
 device for his displacement at a supper- 
 table ! Now, however, the perception 
 was coming upon him that he was 
 undeservedly fortunate ; and this new 
 humihty softened and improved him. 
 Men are, for the most part, unobservant,
 
 142 .^ A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 especially of each other, and Eoyle's 
 companions did] not appear to notice his 
 alteration ; but his sisters were quick 
 to see a difference in him, and a few 
 brisk controversies were held on the 
 subject at Laurel Lodge. Eoyle's 
 youngest sister, Effie, ventured once to 
 make some gentle remark to him 
 respecting the change she saw in him ; 
 but he only answered, lightly — 
 
 '' Changed, am I, Effie ? Well, I hope 
 it's for the better." 
 
 And when Effie whispered her thoughts 
 about Philip to her father, as she sat in 
 her customary place by his armchair at 
 night, Mr. Eoyle only laughed and 
 pinched his daughter's ear, saying — 
 
 ^' He's in love, Eff, take my word 
 for it."
 
 A WOMAN OF MIND. 143 
 
 But Effie answered, thouglitfally, ''No, 
 papa ; I don't tliink it is that." 
 
 Mr. Eoyle was not, to tell the truth, 
 quite satisfied with his son lately. He 
 had shown symptoms of a growing dis- 
 taste to his anomalous position in society ; 
 he did not enter at all readily into his 
 father's schemes for his advancement ; 
 and he had even said, in so many words, 
 that he was tii'ed of his idle life, and 
 wanted to work. Now, to Mr. Eoyle, 
 idleness was the distinctive mark of 
 the gentleman ; directly a man worked 
 he became a trader and a vulgarian. He 
 was consequently very ii'ate at these faint 
 indications of a latent spuit in his son, 
 and, had it not been for a lingering hope 
 that the ideas were but transient, would 
 have had an angry explanation of the
 
 144 A WOMAN OF MiND. 
 
 first mild show of independence. He 
 had told his daughter that Philip was 
 surely in love, but he did not really 
 believe it — ^^for," he said to himself, 
 '^ love doesn't make you anxious to work, 
 or fond of your books, that ever I heard 
 of. It simply makes most youngsters 
 lose all chances of success, and throw 
 prudence and prosperity to the dogs, for 
 the sake of a nod and a wink from a 
 pretty doll, who's only waiting till your 
 back is turned to give a nod and a wink 
 to another fellow. That's my idea of 
 love, and that's not what is the matter 
 with Phihp." 
 
 Perhaps, if Mr. Eoyle could have seen 
 his son at the various entertainments 
 honoured by Miss Clevedon's presence, 
 he might have imagined that love, like 
 disease, does not attack all alike.
 
 A WOMAN OF MIND. 145 
 
 The macliinery that was to completely 
 overthrow Mr. Eoyle's elaborate fabric 
 was set in motion, finally, one December 
 night. Philip Koyle had been asked to 
 join a few friends at an unceremonious 
 gathering in the pretty rooms of a Ken- 
 sington mansion, and the moment he 
 entered the principal room to pay his 
 respects to the hostess, that lady pounced 
 upon him, and said eagerly — 
 
 "I am so glad to see you, Mr. Eoyle, 
 and I want to ask you a pai-ticular 
 favour." 
 
 ''Anything that is within human 
 power I will do my utmost to effect for 
 you," said Eoyle. 
 
 ''Oh, it's nothing very dreadful," re- 
 tm-ned Mrs. Ormond, hurriedly; then, 
 lowering her voice, and looking round 
 
 VOL. I, L
 
 146 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 the room as if in search, of some one, 
 she continued, '^The fact is, there's a 
 yonng lady here to-night who is said 
 to be very clever, and very peculiar, too, 
 and I really don't know what to do with 
 her. Nobody has spoken to her, I'm 
 afraid, and I am sure I don't know what 
 to say to her, or I would do it. But 
 people seem in awe of her, and although 
 she is so beautiful, the young men have 
 kept carefully away. Now, you would 
 oblige me so very much if you would 
 just devote yourself to her for a few 
 moments." 
 
 Eoyle smiled. ''I am ready for the 
 sacrifice," he answered. ^^Who is the 
 lady?" 
 
 ^* Miss Clevedon, the daughter of 
 Admii'al Clevedon, and "
 
 A WOMAN OF MIND. 147 
 
 Mrs. Ormond was entering into a de- 
 tailed account of the Clevedon family, 
 from whicli Eoyle diverted her by ex- 
 claiming — 
 
 *^ I know Miss Clevedon very well, and 
 am glad to find she is here. I will go 
 and devote myself to her according to 
 directions." 
 
 And, with a bow to his reHeved 
 hostess, Eoyle went off in search of 
 Silvia, stopping once or twice to 
 award the usual civilities to people he 
 knew. At last he reached her, and he 
 had the satisfaction of seeing her face 
 brighten at his approach. She was 
 sitting on a sofa in an isolated part 
 of the room, in the shade of two sturdy 
 indiarubber plants, that stood in huge 
 pots in the recess of the window, and when
 
 148 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 Eoyle's eye first fell upon her, she was 
 looking somewhat downcast. As, how- 
 ever, he stepped across the room to take 
 the place beside her, her face was Ut 
 np by a welcoming smile, and she ex- 
 claimed — 
 
 *^I was thinking just now what an 
 opportunity this would be for one of our 
 violent discussions, and you have appeared 
 in answer to my thought. I had no idea, 
 however, that you knew Mrs. Ormond." 
 
 ^^I have kno^m her for a long time," 
 he answered, simply. 
 
 Then they were both silent for a 
 time, Silvia looking indolently at the 
 people flitting about her, Eoyle watching 
 her ; and suddenly an idea came to him, 
 an idea which swiftly became a firm 
 resolution, and before reason could in-
 
 A WOMAN OF MIND. 149 
 
 terfere to prevent him, he murmured — 
 '^ Miss Clevedon, will you listen to me 
 for a few moments ? " 
 
 '' Certainly/' said Silvia, tm-ning round 
 to him with her brightest smile. ^^I only 
 claim the privilege of stopping you when 
 I have heard enough. What are you 
 going to say ? You look very serious." 
 
 ^^ And yet I hardly know why I should 
 ask you to listen," said Eoyle, in a low 
 voice. ^^ It is some impulse that seems 
 forcing me to speak." 
 
 "I am glad of that," said Silvia; "I 
 like people to speak from impulse." 
 
 Encouraged by that sentence, Eoyle 
 began, speaking still in a low voice, and 
 fixing his eyes earnestly on Silvia's face. 
 ^'You wiU think, I am sure," he said, 
 ^'that I am the most selfish feUow alive,
 
 150 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 to want to confide my troubles to you ; 
 but the truth is, that you have abeady 
 been so kind to me in Hstening to my 
 opinions, and in expressing to me your 
 own, that I feel it impossible to be on 
 a false footing with you, whom I respect 
 and admne before all the world. I want 
 you, at least, to know me truly as I am." 
 
 ^^But I very much object to that idea 
 of yours of telling the truth to one person 
 only," said Silvia. "Every one should 
 know you truly as you are." 
 
 "I know, I know," rejoined Eoyle ; 
 " and, beHeve me, I was not the originator 
 of my own false position. Miss Clevedon, 
 you must have heard numberless remarks 
 and criticisms and suspicions respecting 
 me in the society to which you were born. 
 I have heard them indirectly myself."
 
 A WOMAN OF MIND. 151 
 
 " It was in your power to put aside all 
 that was said, if you were prepared to tell 
 the truth," said Silvia. 
 
 ''The thing is,'' rephed Eoyle, "that 
 until lately I had no particular aspira- 
 tions. I did not care much, I think, 
 whether or no my position were a false 
 one. I felt discontented with myself 
 generally, but on no praiseworthy 
 grounds. Now, if I have got one or two 
 better ideas, they are due to you. You 
 have taught me to feel that the world 
 is something more than a mere play- 
 ground; you have made me feel that 
 independence of action and intellect are 
 within reach, and that no man has a right 
 to waste his life." 
 
 '' If it is true that I have brought you 
 to this," said Silvia, ''I have achieved
 
 152 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 something worth achieving. It is diffi- 
 cult, as a rule, to make a man realize his 
 own shortcomings." 
 
 ''And now," continued Eoyle, ear- 
 nestly, '^I want a few words of en- 
 couragement from you before I determine 
 on action. I have never been heard to 
 make any reference to my family, it is 
 said; but I am going to make a full 
 confession to you. My family is not an 
 aristocratic one, and I have no place, 
 by right, in the society I frequent, so 
 that the world's suppositions are, in some 
 cases, truths. My father is a wholesale 
 
 tea-merchant Don't laugh. Miss 
 
 Clevedon," he exclaimed, as she bent her 
 head over the flowers she held. 
 
 But, as his appeal fell upon her ear, 
 she raised her eyes gravely to his face.
 
 A WOMAX OF MIND. 153 
 
 and protested, ''Iliad no idea of laugh- 
 ing, Mr. Koyle. I only wish there were 
 nothing worse than tea-deahng among 
 OUT aristocratic famihes." 
 
 ^'I know I am pulling my position to 
 pieces," said Eoyle, limTiedly, "but it's 
 true, yij father is a tea-merchant, and 
 would only be tolerated, for instance, in 
 these rooms to-night because of his 
 money. I have five sisters and no 
 brothers ; and I being the only son, my 
 father resolved, before I was old enough 
 to have any will in the matter, that I 
 should not be suUied by trade — that 
 I should be made a thorough gentleman, 
 with a gentleman's education, a gentle- 
 man's tastes, and a gentleman's friends. 
 He did everything he could for me ; he 
 sent me to college, he supphed me libe-
 
 154 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 rally with money, and when I had taken 
 my degree and left the place, he took 
 chambers for me in Eegent Street, and 
 encom-aged me to spend as much money 
 as he thought necessary to a gentleman's 
 position. That style of life amused me 
 at first. I got on well. My college 
 friends were very kind to me, and asked 
 me to theh homes, and I was introduced 
 to their sisters and cousins, and my poor 
 father was proud and delighted. But I 
 soon grew tired of it all, and soon reahzed 
 that men wondered why I never asked 
 them to my home — why they never met 
 my sisters and cousins. When I met 
 you at Lyndwood, you made me feel that 
 there is one thing that money cannot 
 buy — that is, intellect. I admired your 
 independence of mind and your original
 
 A WOMAN OF MIND. 155 
 
 opinions from the first, and I assure you 
 that you began my regeneration. Lately 
 my present position has become hateful 
 to me. I want to make myself a name, 
 if I can. I want to work ; I want to win 
 an honom-able place in pubKc opinion by 
 my talents, rather than by money. I am 
 tired of false pretences; I want to tell 
 the world my real position. In short, 
 I am anxious to let the truth come 
 uppermost. Surely you will sympathize 
 with me, and encourage me, ^^ill you 
 not?" 
 
 *^I sympathize with you fully," said 
 SHvia, ''but I think you have planned 
 a most difficult com'se for yourself. If 
 you intend to tell society at large that 
 which you have just told me, I am 
 ah'aid it will be a severe test for many
 
 156 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 persons whom you believe to be your 
 friends." 
 
 ''You think people will throw me 
 over?" asked Koyle. 
 
 '' I am afraid so," Silvia repHed. Then 
 she added, '' You know, the average men 
 and women we meet haven't many ideas 
 or scruples respecting duty, and honour, 
 and dignity. They keep right involun- 
 taiily. They do not steal or murder, 
 because it's not the habit in thek social 
 circle, and because they are rarely, if 
 ever, strongly tempted. But they do 
 not understand the refinement of feeling 
 that makes a man scruple to waste the 
 money he has not earned, and they 
 would be utterly unable to comprehend 
 the high ground you take. These people 
 will, one and all, when they find you
 
 A WOMAN OF MIND. 157 
 
 determined not to spend in idleness the 
 money for which your father has worked 
 hard, beheye you to be an Utopist and 
 an enthusiast, and will systematically 
 avoid you. You haven't told me what 
 work you have thought of trying." 
 
 "I have made no plans," said Eoyle. 
 ^^ I am fit for nothing, Miss Clevedon. 
 In spite of my college training, I find 
 myself utterly bewildered when there is 
 a question of earning my own living. 
 You see, all my Hfe long I have been 
 told, first and foremost, to learn to be 
 a gentleman." 
 
 *' Some men never learn the lesson 
 to the end of their days ! " remarked 
 Silvia. " That is a question of natui'e, 
 not of learning, and I don't think any 
 amount of observant study of other
 
 158 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 people's habits and manners will correct 
 an ungentlemanly nature." 
 
 ^'You are right, doubtless," muttered 
 Eoyle, '^ and I don't stop to draw any 
 personal conclusion from your words, 
 because I dread the result. You have 
 already told me how I fall short of your 
 ideal gentleman, on the occasion of a 
 cricket-match below the Bench at Lynd- 
 wood, and I do not wish to call down 
 any further blame from you. For days 
 past, I have been thinking of confiding 
 my doubts and perplexities to you, and 
 have put off the confession day by day, 
 always half afraid of the result. I did 
 not think you would henceforth * cut ' 
 me because of my father's position, but 
 because of my own aimless, ignoble sort 
 of life. I never intended, however, to
 
 A WOIVIAN OF MIND. 159 
 
 venture on the question to-night, and 
 you must forgive me for choosing such 
 an inappropriate occasion." 
 
 ^^It is all very painful," said Silvia, 
 slowly and thoughtfully, her eyes still 
 bent upon her flowers, and her restless 
 fingers busy among the dehcate buds and 
 leaves. 
 
 ^^ What is it that is painful ? " asked 
 Koyle. 
 
 ^* The whole of your story," said Silvia. 
 <^For your Ufe so far will have been 
 wasted." 
 
 ^^ Hardly that," answered Koyle, with 
 a smile. *'If I may count upon your 
 genuine fiiendship, the gain far out- 
 balances the loss." 
 
 ^^ I wish I could hope that you would 
 keep all your present fiiends through
 
 160 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 this crisis in your life," said Silvia ; ^^ but 
 you seem to have made few real friends, 
 Mr. Koyle, and only deep and sincere 
 friendship can stand such a test. Of 
 course, it is far more honourable to you 
 that you should make your own name 
 and fame unaided. It is far more credit- 
 able that you should refuse to fritter 
 away your father's earnings on idle foUies, 
 than that you should Hnger on in dis- 
 content, and falsehood, and dependence. 
 I naturally admu'e a man who has made 
 his own way, who has carved his own 
 path to fame from a modest starting- 
 point, far more than the man who wins 
 a high place backed by influence, money, 
 friends, and natural position. A man 
 who rises from the ranks is doubly a 
 hero : he is a hero because of his genius.
 
 A WOMAN OF MIND. 161 
 
 and lie is a hero because of his steadfast 
 perseverance and defiance of temptations. 
 That is my opinion, at least ; and you 
 will find that few people agree with 
 me, I am afraid." 
 
 "If many women thought as you do. 
 Miss Clevedon," said Eoyle, "men might 
 be better than they are. But, as yet, 
 women generally prevent men improving 
 themselves in any way except in that 
 which brings in money. When I am 
 imbued with some honourable ambition, 
 when I have finally settled upon the 
 career that will lead me to fame, may 
 I confide my hopes and asph^ations to 
 you. Miss Clevedon?" 
 
 " Certainly, if the confidence can do 
 you any good," repHed Silvia. 
 
 "And you will try to sympathize with 
 
 VOL. I. M
 
 162 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 me?" pleaded Koyle, his voice growing 
 more and more earnest, and even im- 
 passioned. ^'You will remember that 
 you are responsible for the change that 
 has come over me ; and when I have 
 dropped out of your world by reason of 
 my poverty and my determination to be 
 independent, you will think of me some- 
 times, and wish me every success, will 
 you not ? ' ' 
 
 ^^ Most heartily," said Silvia, gently. 
 ^' And you may be sure, Mr. Royle, that 
 if you become an honourable worker in 
 a good cause, success will follow, and 
 who knows but that you wiU reach the 
 ' gilded pinnacle of Fame ' ? " 
 
 '^ If such a day should ever come," 
 said Pioyle, in a low voice, ^*will you 
 let me lay my laurels at your feet ? "
 
 A WOMAN OF MIND. 163 
 
 Silvia looked up quickly at him, an- 
 swering lightly, ^' It is rather premature 
 to talk about the disposal of your laurels, 
 before you have sown the seeds ; and by 
 the time your wreaths are green, you 
 will have plenty of persons most willing 
 to accept them as a tribute from you." 
 
 "Thank you, I understand the hint," 
 said Koyle, drawing himseK up stiffly, 
 and his whole aspect changing. 
 
 "Then you understand more than I 
 mean," said Silvia, gravely. "I was 
 giving no hint ; in fact, I do not see 
 that any hint was necessary or even 
 possible." 
 
 Eoyle did not answer, and did not 
 relax his sudden stiffness of attitude 
 and coldness of expression. Silvia had 
 wounded him deeply, and he showed it.
 
 164 A WOMAN OF MIXD. 
 
 He fancied that she meant to check any 
 advances he was inchned to make, he 
 construed her hght words into a decided 
 repudiation, and his pride was sorely 
 ruflfled. He sat still and silent beside 
 her, watching moodily the laughing and 
 flii'ting of Mrs. Ormond's guests, and 
 Silvia herseK was lost in wonder at his 
 strange manner. 
 
 At this stage of affairs, Mrs. Ormond's 
 youngest daughter, a gushing young 
 person of not more than seventeen, 
 came up to Silvia, and taking her hand 
 with evi2)ressement, said enthusiastically, 
 *' Now, dearest Miss Clevedon, we do so 
 want you to dance just this once." 
 
 ^' Not a pas seul, I hope," said Silvia, 
 smihng. 
 
 **How can you say such things?"
 
 A WOMAN OF MIND. 165 
 
 responded Miss Ormond, with a light 
 laugh. ^^No; we are going to have a 
 waltz to please all the young people, and 
 we do so want you to join it. I think 
 one waltz, you know, in the middle of an 
 evening that's not devoted to dancing, 
 is so very exquisite, you know, just to 
 remind one of gaiety, and enjoyment, 
 and all that sort of thing. All the girls 
 are going to join in, and you must not 
 refuse. Mr. Eoyle, do try and persuade 
 her. There, mamma is playing that 
 divine waltz of Strauss' s, ^ Nachtf alter,* 
 and I shall set off dancing all by myself, 
 if I don't go back to my partner." 
 
 And, with a nod and a smile, and a 
 final pressure of Silvia's hand. Miss 
 Ormond hurried away. 
 
 ^' Will you dance this waltz with me,
 
 166 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 then?" said Koyle, turning coldly to- 
 wards Silvia. 
 
 ^' Certainly not," replied Silvia, '* if 
 you do not wish it." 
 
 He laughed an odd, bitter laugh, 
 saying, *' If I do not wish it ? You 
 know the world better than that. Miss 
 Clevedon. It is rather a question of 
 condescension on your part." 
 
 ^' There is no such thing as conde- 
 scension between friends," said Silvia. 
 
 Koyle's whole face brightened. 
 
 *' Thanks for that thought," he said 
 heartily ; and, starting to his feet, he held 
 out his hand towards Silvia, saying, ^^ You 
 must take at least a few turns with me." 
 
 As they stood side by side, watching 
 for a moment or two before they began, 
 Eoyle remarked, '' I have never yet 
 danced with you."
 
 A WOMAN OF MIND. 167 
 
 *^No," said Silvia, as if she did not 
 remember the fact; '^perhaps not. I 
 very seldom dance ; it is so tiring, and 
 I do not enjoy it at all, as a rule. I 
 agree with the Shah of Persia, who pre- 
 ferred to have it all done for him, and 
 I am quite contented to lie on my 
 cushions and smoke my hookah — meta- 
 phorically, of course — and watch the 
 dancers." 
 
 They took a few turns only, and then 
 Silvia protested that it tired her, and 
 sank back into a chair. She looked 
 constrained and even disturbed, and did 
 not glance at Eoyle, as he stood beside 
 her in wonder at her discomposure — she 
 who was generally so calm and collected, 
 and thoroughly at ease. 
 
 '' I am really very tired," she said at
 
 168 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 last ; ^^ I wish you would take me through 
 these rooms to my mother. I dare say 
 she is ready to go.'' 
 
 When they had found Mrs. Clevedon, 
 that lady declared in an undertone that 
 she was dying to go, and Koyle accom- 
 panied them to the carriage door. As 
 he leant in at the window to say good 
 night to them, Silvia said — 
 
 ^' Don't forget our conversation, Mr. 
 Eoyle, and remember that plain, honest 
 truth is better than the best gilded 
 lie!" 
 
 *^ I shall not forget, you may be sure," 
 he replied. 
 
 Nor did he.
 
 A WOMAN OF MIND, 169 
 
 CHAPTEE VIII. 
 
 It was on the Saturday after his con- 
 versation with Silvia at the Ormonds', 
 that PhiHp Eoyle went up to Laurel 
 Lodge early in the afternoon, in order 
 to have an explanation with his father. 
 The City house being closed at one 
 o'clock on that day, he knew that Mr. 
 Eoyle would be at home, according to 
 his custom, and that he could get 
 through the dreaded interview before 
 dinner-time came and precluded a pri- 
 vate conversation.
 
 170 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 It was with a curious mixture of 
 feelings that he made his way through 
 the leafless desert of Eegent's Park. He 
 was at a loss to understand his own 
 action, and caught himself wondering 
 every now and then why he should not 
 be as idle as his father wished him to 
 be, and lead as tranquil and unambitious 
 a life as that his father indicated. But 
 something within him had changed. He 
 felt that he could not now settle down' 
 to the indolent enjoyment of previous 
 years; he wanted some firm standpoint, 
 some resolute aim, some ennobling hope. 
 He was no longer content to saunter 
 through life ; he wanted to stride boldly 
 forward, and leave his '^footprints on the 
 sands of time." '' What is it that has 
 changed me?" he asked himself again
 
 A WOMAN OF MIND. 171 
 
 and again. ^' Miss Clevedon has lectured 
 me, and taught me to look at things in 
 a different light, it is true; but surely 
 that cannot have done it all." 
 
 So lost was he in his reflections on 
 this particular day, that he reached his 
 father's house mechanically, never having 
 noticed the chilly, gloomy roads by 
 which he had come ; and the first thing 
 that really roused him was the servant's 
 volunteered information, when she had 
 opened the door to him, that Mr. Eoyle 
 was in the Hbrary. 
 
 Eoyle turned instantly to the small 
 back-room dignified by the term ^^ library," 
 and which was, in fact, merely an un- 
 official counting-house, where Mr. Eoyle 
 cogitated on those terrible laws of supply 
 and demand, and kept complicated
 
 172 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 accounts. His father was stretclied on 
 a sofa by the fireside, and Effie was 
 close beside, reading the daily paper to 
 him. As Eoyle entered the room, she 
 dropped the paper, and almost screamed 
 with delight, as she ran to put her arms 
 round his neck. 
 
 " Oh, Philip, you are good to have 
 come so early," she said. 
 
 *' Am I, dear?" he answered. '^I came 
 up now in order to have a talk with my 
 father before dinner." 
 
 «' Very well, very well; tell me what's 
 up," said Mr. Eoyle, good-humouredly. 
 "Do you want more money ? " 
 
 "No, sir; on the contrary, I want no 
 more at all, at any time," said Eoyle. 
 "Don't run away, Effie," he murmured, 
 catching his sister's hand as she was 
 about to leave the room.
 
 A WOMAN OF MIND. 173 
 
 She came back to her place then, and 
 listened to her brother with a strange 
 glow of pride and satisfaction at her 
 heart. 
 
 " Now, tell me straight out what you 
 mean," said Mr. Koyle, hastily. *^ I'm 
 not one of your fine folks, and don't 
 want the sense of a thing smothered in 
 grand talk. Say what you've got to say 
 as plainly as you can — the plainer the 
 better." 
 
 And Mr. Eoyle settled himself more 
 comfoi1;ably among the sofa cushions, as 
 if preparing for a long story. He glanced 
 inquisitively at his son at the same time, 
 wondering what was coming. 
 
 ^' I have not much to say," said Phihp, 
 looking frankly and fully into his father's 
 face. *' I am afraid, however, that it
 
 174 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 will be very displeasing to you. Still, 
 the truth must out, displeasing or not ; 
 and, in this case, the truth is simply that 
 I cannot live on in idleness and ease any 
 longer. I feel more and more ashamed ol 
 it all day by day. It is dishonourable for 
 me, as a young, strong man, to spend 
 your money, the money for which you 
 work, in mere amusement. I know that 
 you do not complain; that you have 
 given me as much money as I thought 
 I wanted, without a word of reproach; 
 but you have been too kind to me, and 
 it is I who must complain at last. I 
 don't feel easy or happy as things are at 
 present, and I want to be independent, 
 to try and make my own fortune." 
 
 *' Well, you've taken your time to 
 get up all these high-flown notions,"
 
 A WOMAN OF MIND. 175 
 
 said Mr. Koyle, curtly. ^'In fact, the 
 spurt is so sudden that I might have 
 thought you had fallen in love, except 
 for the fact that no woman has taught 
 you all those ideas. They Hke a fortune 
 ready-made to their hand far better than 
 any questions of making one's own 
 fortune, or of independence or honour; 
 so I know there's no love business mixed 
 up with your new-fangled notions. What 
 else have you got to say ? " 
 
 ^*I was going to say," proceeded Koyle, 
 **that it would have been better for us 
 both if you had put me into your business 
 when I was a boy, and had let me work 
 steadily side by side with you at the 
 office. I should have been straight- 
 forward and honest then, at all events. 
 You see, sir, a man wants something
 
 176 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 more than money, to push him on in 
 good society. He wants family, and 
 connections, and influence. If he keep 
 his relations in the dark, as you have 
 always told me to do, people soon find 
 out that there is something that it is 
 desired to conceal, and are all the more 
 anxious to unearth the mystery. Most 
 of the men I know suspect something — 
 I can tell hy their manner and their 
 hints; and sooner or later they will all 
 turn me a cold shoulder. Then I shall 
 be perfectly helpless and powerless. 
 Perhaps you don't reahze how unsatis- 
 factory my position often is. You don't 
 know how awkwardly I am placed when 
 a man talks to me about his home and 
 his family — when he introduces me to 
 his father and mother, and brothers and
 
 A WOMAN OF MIND. 177 
 
 sisters, and I do not mention mine ; I 
 introduce liim to no one ; I give him no 
 invitation. All these points are diffi- 
 culties that money cannot smooth. But, 
 apart from this view, I myseK feel an 
 ii'resistible desire to do something for 
 myseK — to work hard in some line or 
 another, and make money for myself. 
 You must confess, sii', that it is not very 
 ambitious or dignified for a son to waste 
 his father's substance without doing his 
 father the justice of owning him, and, 
 however angry you may be with me, 
 you will surely acknowledge that there 
 is truth in what I say. I want to work 
 my own way, I want to be of some use 
 in the world, so that when I die it may 
 not be said that my life has been utterly 
 wasted. Fame is, I know, a wild and 
 
 VOL. I. N
 
 178 A WOMAN OF mND. 
 
 visionary ambition; but I can always 
 hope for it, and I am sure that I should 
 be much happier in that hope than in 
 my present fatal certainty." 
 
 ^'WeU, I'm blessed!" broke in Mr. 
 Eoyle, in evident amazement and indig- 
 nation. ^'If I had been told beforehand 
 you were going to talk such nonsense, 
 I should never have believed it. You 
 may go on to me for weeks about in- 
 dependent work, but you won't make 
 me acknowledge any of your wild schemes 
 
 and plans. As for fame Pshaw ! 
 
 it makes me positively ill when I hear 
 men raving about fame, and I never 
 thought my own son would come to it. 
 And what does it amount to, after all? 
 For my part, I've found that the men 
 who are hoping for fame, and inde-
 
 A WOMAN OF MIND. 179 
 
 pendent name, and all that style of thing, 
 generally are the men to thi'ow away 
 their luckiest cards for want of a little 
 plain sense, and then come and borrow 
 money. Fame means bankruptcy, as a 
 rule. I've spent large sums of money 
 over you, trying to make you a gentle- 
 man; and, after all this time, you come 
 and talk to me about fame, as if you 
 were a boy of fifteen ! Pray, what are 
 you going to work at that is fco bring 
 fame ? " 
 
 ''That is what I hardly know," said 
 Eoyle. '' That is one of the points upon 
 which I wished to consult you. But, ol 
 course, if you will not acknowledge any 
 good in my resolution, you will not feel 
 inclined to discuss any plans or ideas 
 I may have had, with me. I am deter-
 
 180 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 mined, however, on the main point. I 
 am a man, and I will work like a man. 
 I don't think I should have liked to 
 live qnite idle, even if I had had an 
 inherited fortmie, as so many men I 
 know have, and the situation is graver 
 since you positively earn the money that 
 I squander. Don't you understand some- 
 thing of what I mean, sir ? " 
 
 *^ Pshaw! Phihp," exclaimed Mr. Eoyle, 
 impatiently, " you're younger than I 
 thought you — that's all that's the matter. 
 Young people have always got a batch 
 of wonderful ideas about equahty, and 
 honour, and fame, and other most un- 
 business-like sort of things. Look at 
 Bffie there; she sympathizes with all 
 your grand notions, any one can see. 
 But, as I've told you again and again,
 
 A WOMAN OF MIND. 181 
 
 I wanted to make yon a gentleman; to 
 give you the advantages of a good educa- 
 tion, and good companions, and plenty 
 of money; so that you might marry a 
 real born lady, and take your place 
 among gentlemen's families. Now, I 
 was brought up as a tradesman, and 
 nothing but a tradesman. My father 
 did not trouble himself about my educa- 
 tion much, and I was in the counting- 
 house when I was fifteen. I've always 
 had plenty of money, and have always 
 been able to get most things I wanted, 
 by money; and when you were a Httle 
 chap, it struck me that I might raise 
 the family a trifle, and trot you out a 
 gentleman, also by the force of money. 
 But if you prefer to starve in a garret 
 looking out for fame, I suppose I can't
 
 182 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 prevent you. It's a pity, though, that 
 you didn't get all these fine ideas sooner, 
 so that a trifle of the money spent on 
 you might have been saved.'' 
 
 The conversation continued for some 
 time in this strain, Mr. Eoyle expressing 
 his displeasm^e in unmistakably plain 
 terms, his son exonerating himself and 
 endeavouring to form some definite plans. 
 But Mr. Eoyle was too exasperated to 
 be able to join in any scheme for the 
 future, and finally, just before dinner 
 was announced, he bade his son retm^n 
 to talk over his affaks some other day. 
 
 *'I am too much put out by all this 
 jargon of yours about work, and honom', 
 and so on, to attend to your suggestions 
 now," he said, standing, as he was about 
 to leave the room, with his hand on the
 
 A WOMAN OF MIND. 183 
 
 handle of the door, ^^ so you must put 
 up with your misery for a few days 
 more." 
 
 When his father had left the room, 
 slamming the door after him, PhiHp 
 turned curiously towards his sister. 
 "Well, httle Effie," he asked, "what 
 do you think of it all ? " 
 
 " I think you are right, of course," 
 she answered. " You are always right, 
 PhiHp." 
 
 Eoyle laughed at her ; and it was with 
 smiling faces that presently the brother 
 and sister entered the dining-room to- 
 gether. 
 
 The dinner passed off in some con- 
 straint. Mr. Eoyle was not in his usual 
 spirits, and hardly spoke at all, and his 
 daughters could not help noticing the
 
 184 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 resentful glances lie cast at his son every 
 now and then. They asked no questions, 
 however, and it was not until the appear- 
 ance of Mr. WiUiam Dawson that any 
 allusion was made to the evidently dis- 
 turbed state of family feehng. 
 
 JuHa Eoyle's lover came regularly every 
 evening, about half an hour after dinner 
 was over, and on Sundays he came to 
 dinner. Such was the established rule 
 with regard to the conduct of engaged 
 young men among the Eoyles' friends, 
 and he would have been a bold man who 
 had ventured to transgress it. 
 
 Mr. Dawson had not been five minutes 
 in the midst of his promised wife's family 
 before he perceived that there was some- 
 thing wrong. He glanced keenly from 
 the daughters to the father, and from
 
 A WOMAN OF MIND. 185 
 
 the father to the son, and then he 
 exclaimed — 
 
 '' I say, governor, what's up ? Has the 
 public found out the ii'on fihngs in your 
 best two-and-sixpenny, or isn't the supply 
 equal to the demand ? There's something 
 wi'ong, I'm sure. Have you embarked 
 in a rotten speculation ? " 
 
 ^^Yes; that's just about the truth of 
 the matter," said Mr. Eoyle, angrily. 
 *^ I've spent pounds and pounds of money 
 upon my son, and given him as much 
 as he wanted, and now he teUs me he 
 wants to work for himself, to earn his 
 own living." 
 
 *^Does he, though?" cried Dawson, 
 his face Hghting with something Hke 
 enthusiasm. ** Then, I'm excessively glad 
 to hear it," he exclaimed, leaning across
 
 186 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 to Eoyle, and giving him an appreciative 
 slap on tlie shoulder that made him 
 wince. ^* I wish yon every success, and 
 you may rely on me to stand by you 
 through thick and thin." 
 
 ''William, do be quiet," said JuHa, 
 noting her father's irate expression of 
 countenance. 
 
 But William was not to be kept quiet, 
 and he explained — '^ My dear July, I 
 hke to hear a man express his determi- 
 nation to work, and when I am pleased I 
 can't help showing it. I'm sorry if I've 
 vexed the governor, but the truth's the 
 truth, and I must say I think your 
 brother's a brick." 
 
 Eoyle smiled, and thanked him for his 
 sympathy; and Mr. Dawson inquii'ed 
 what form this new-born energy would 
 take.
 
 A WOMAN OF MIXD. 187 
 
 '' Aie you thinking of business ? going 
 to set up a rival tea-shop ? " he asked. 
 
 Eoyle shook his head, saving, *^ I 
 don't think I should make a good man 
 of business. I want to try something 
 else, but have not yet talked it over with 
 my father." 
 
 *^ Go into business, my dear fellow," 
 urged Dawson; "go into business. De- 
 pend upon it, there's nothing like it. If 
 you once succeed, you make money by 
 sackfuls. You have a regular, steady 
 work ready to yom- hand. It's not ne- 
 cessarily a question of brain — it's more a 
 question of machinery. You chm^n on at 
 it for years and years — the quahty of the 
 labour doesn't matter so much as the 
 quantity ; you must keep straight at it, 
 whether or no jour arm aches, and you
 
 188 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 must keep your eyes open, too, to see 
 that none of youi* business friends come 
 and take your cream ; and then, one day, 
 at last the butter comes. If you go into 
 a regular profession, it's one long struggle 
 from beginning to end. You may or may 
 not succeed, according to chance. It's no 
 question of a fair, stipulated amount of 
 work getting a fair, stipulated amount of 
 pay. Then, look at the study you must 
 get through first. No ; if I were you I 
 should fix my mind on business." 
 
 ^' I should say," remarked Hester, the 
 eldest daughter of the house, " that 
 Philip ought to discover in what direc- 
 tion his tastes He. That is the most 
 important thing, isn't it, papa ? " she 
 added, appeahng to her father. 
 
 *^I am not going to have anything to
 
 A WOMAN OF MIND. 189 
 
 say in the matter," said Mr. Eoyle. '^ I 
 shall talk it over with Philip when the 
 time comes, and that will be quite 
 enough of it all for me." 
 
 " It would be a pity for you to take up 
 any kind of occupation you didn't like," 
 continued Hester, gravely, addi-essing 
 herself to her brother. '' It makes such 
 a great difference in the success of your 
 work, if you do it with all your heart. 
 Haven't you any particular wish ? " 
 
 "I don't see the use of discussing 
 Phihp's vocation," said Ellen, authorita- 
 tively. ^^ If any man were ever designed 
 for one special thing, I'm sure Phihp is 
 cut out for the stage. He dehghts in 
 elaborate, sensational sort of speeches, 
 and he seems to have been acting to 
 perfection of late, in his fashionable
 
 190 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 circles of society, and in his home, since 
 he has hoodwinked everybody." 
 
 *^0h, Philip, yes," murmured Effie, in 
 a tone of delight. ^^ I would give any- 
 thing to hear you play Komeo." 
 
 A general laugh, in which even Mr. 
 Koyle joined, followed this ; and Royle 
 himself said, good-humouredly — 
 
 " Poor little Effie, you would be terri- 
 bly disappointed if you did, I should 
 think." Then he added, turning to his 
 sisters, and addressing them in a body, 
 " You need not trouble yourselves to 
 discuss the matter to-night, however. I 
 am sure you must have some local sub- 
 jects of conversation far more interesting 
 to you, and as my father won't discuss 
 the matter yet, I can say nothing de- 
 finite."
 
 A WOMAN OF MIND. 191 
 
 '' Are you going ali'eady, Philip ? " 
 asked Effie, as her brother rose from his 
 chah", and looked at his watch. 
 ' He nodded assent, and stepped across 
 to his father, saying, ^^ Good night, sir; I 
 am sorry that yon are so displeased, but 
 I hope that you will alter yom^ mind a 
 little, sooner or later. I shall come up 
 again in a day or two, for I am anxious 
 to have some definite plan." 
 
 Mr. Koyle grimted an answer, in which 
 the words "high-flown nonsense," and, 
 ''the later the better," were heard; and 
 Koyle was obliged to be satisfied with his 
 father's abrupt manner and speech. He 
 kissed the bevy of sisters, and turned to 
 William Dawson with a cordial smile and 
 a hearty ''Good night." After all, this 
 vulgar soap-boiler had been quick to
 
 192 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 appreciate his newly-found independence 
 of spirit, and Koyle could not but be 
 grateful to bim for bis sympatby. 
 
 '^ Good nigbt," responded Dawson ; 
 adding, witb a smile, ^'I congratulate 
 you, in spite of tbe governor, and bope 
 you will get on. If ever I can do any- 
 thing for you, you know wbere to find 
 me, and I sball always be ready to do 
 tbe needful for you, to tbe tune of a 
 fiver, until you are fairly set up. But, I 
 say, remember wbat I said just now, and 
 stick to business ! 
 
 *' By Jove ! " continued Dawson, wben 
 Eoyle bad gone, and tbe family bad 
 resumed tbeir usual evening aspect, 
 "there's something in the young man, 
 after aU ! '* 
 
 " There's a fine amount too much in
 
 A WOMAN OF MIXD. 193 
 
 him," said IMr. Eoyle, severely. ^^And 
 the result of the whole concern will be 
 that he will many some drab of a girl, 
 and get into an aT\'fiil pickle, and I shall 
 have to keep him just as thoroughly as 
 I do now, without any pleasure in it." 
 
 '^ Oh, 3^ou governors are terribly put 
 upon, there's no doubt about it," laughed 
 Dawson. '^ There's one comfort — you 
 have victimized your governors in your 
 time, and it's only fair that your turn 
 should come." 
 
 '^ I hope you will always be as reason- 
 able, that's all I've got to say," remarked 
 Mr. Eoyle. '' And now I must tell you 
 that I am perfectly disgusted with Philip 
 and all his affairs, and I wish you would 
 talk about something else, and di'op the 
 subject. Drop it — drop it." 
 
 VOL. I. O
 
 19i A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 *^A11 right, governor, mum's tlm 
 word ! " cried Dawson, with his ever- 
 ready langli. 
 
 He turned the tone of the conversation 
 b}' a vigorous onslaught at his future 
 sister-in-law Charlotte, respecting the- 
 charms and caprices of the Eev. Augustus 
 AVentworth; and Philip Eoyle was not 
 mentioned in his father's house for some 
 days.
 
 A WOMAN OF MIXD. 195 
 
 CHAPTEE IX. 
 
 The weeks rolled slowly on, to Koyle's 
 miud, after the interview with his father. 
 Most of his friends had gone down to 
 theh country-houses for Christmas, and 
 amons^st them the Clevedons and Joce- 
 lyn ; so Eoyle saw very few people indeed 
 during the closing weeks of the old year 
 and the opening weeks of the new year. 
 
 Nor was he inclined for much society. 
 He was thinking over the perplexing 
 questions of daily work and daily bread, 
 and did not care to pause in his reilec-
 
 196 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 tions. He crossed tlie Park to his 
 father's house several times, with the 
 view of discussing his prospects with his 
 father. But Mr. Eoyle invariably con- 
 trived to say as little as could possibly be 
 said, each time professing to postpone 
 any serious conversation until his son's 
 next visit ; and Eoyle was thoroughly 
 dissatisfied with the existing state of 
 affairs. 
 
 He sat in his handsome rooms in 
 Kegent Street, evening after evening, 
 revolving his own scheme in his mind, 
 and asking himself how far it could 
 succeed. He knew that the world in 
 which he had lived for so long would 
 * drop ' him for a time ; but he also Imew 
 that he might win hunself a solid place 
 in society, if he succeeded. He knew
 
 A WOMAN OF MIND. 197 
 
 that society pardons anything in a suc- 
 cessful man, and was convinced that the 
 tea-dealing and soap-boiling would be 
 overlooked in a rich and glorious future. 
 But had he the courage, the genius, 
 necessary to the following out of his 
 idea ? he asked himself again and again. 
 Could the passing taste be developed into 
 a commanding talent, that would compel 
 the attention of the whole of society ? 
 Mere mediocrity would never satisfy him 
 — he must attain pre-eminence; and, 
 though he hardly realized what he wished 
 to do when his honoiu's were full upon 
 him, he was conscious that no small in- 
 stalment of fame would suffice. Then, at 
 times, it seemed to him absurd quixot- 
 ism to throw up his present comfortable 
 and easy life, and enter upon a course of
 
 198 A WOMAN OF MIXD. 
 
 arduous exertion. His father did not 
 murmur at his inactivity — his father 
 asked nothing more of him than that he 
 should spend as much money as he 
 wished, and eventually marry a rich wife. 
 Many men, he knew, would he delighted 
 at such a prospect. Why should not he 
 throw over his schemes and theories, and 
 enjoy himself placidly and indolently on 
 the fruits of his father's labour ? 
 
 He found himself continually pondering 
 and wavering over the question ; and at 
 last, one evening, in utter bewilderment 
 at his own contradictory thoughts, he 
 seated himself hurriedly at his writing- 
 table, and wrote a full account of his 
 troubles and ceaseless self-communings 
 to Silvia Clevedon. He hardly knew 
 why he wrote to her. She had never
 
 A WOMAN OF MIXD. 199 
 
 given liim permission to address lier by 
 letter, and he felt that she would be con- 
 siderably surprised to hear from him ; 
 still an impulse prompted him, and he 
 wrote. When the letter was posted, 
 he regretted his temerity. He tried to 
 remember the literal wording of certain 
 phrases, and he dared not call to mind 
 the number of sheets of letter-paper he 
 had covered. He told himself repeatedly 
 that she would never answer, that she 
 would be irrevocably disgusted with his 
 want of resolution and courage, that she 
 would never wisli to know him again ; 
 and, as the days flew by, he blamed 
 himself more and more energetically for 
 his folly in ^Titing. Several days passed 
 and left his mind unrelieved. 
 
 He watched for his letters at first with
 
 200 A ^VO^tAX OF MIND. 
 
 quick, eager eyes and ears ; but gradually, 
 as liis hopes for a reply faded, he gi'ew 
 graver and more indifferent to the 
 j)eriodical postman's knock, and when 
 lie came home in the evening, turned 
 carelessly and indolently to the letters 
 that happened to be lying on his table. 
 
 Only those who have waited for a letter 
 at some important moment in their lives 
 can realize the harassing effect of such 
 prolonged expectation — the constant 
 activity and self-delusion of the mind 
 in finding excuses for the ^^Titer, in 
 making allowances for the difficulties of 
 transit, in foreseeing every conceivable 
 disaster in the post-office. Eoyle was 
 singularly anxious to have if only a 
 reassuring word from Silvia Clevedon, 
 and he was inexpressibly worried by the
 
 A WOMAN OF INIIND. 201 
 
 thouglit, growing gradually more intense, 
 that she was angry at his weakness of 
 resolution, and was also angry at his 
 presuming to write her a long letter.. 
 He was astonished to find himself so 
 keen and eager in the matter. It really 
 did not much concern him, he argued,, 
 whether or not she were disj)leased. 
 The loss of her regard would make one 
 pleasant friendship the less — that was 
 all ; it was not a question for serious 
 consideration. She had, most probably,, 
 forgotten him entii'ely by this time, and 
 was wondering where she could have met 
 a man bold enough to write to her unin- 
 vited. And yet she had been kind and 
 sympathetic to him. He had talked to 
 her of his hopes and prospects in life, 
 as he could hare talked to no other gui
 
 ^202 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 that he knew; for most young ladies 
 would have gaped in his face at the first 
 sentence. He had found her full of 
 interest and encouragement as to his 
 nascent independence of spirit ; in fact, 
 she had been so friendly, so frank, so 
 generous in her sentiments and ideas, 
 that she seemed to him like an ideal 
 woman, unhampered by the petty ill 
 nature and gossip which are the most 
 conspicuous jewels in the crowns of a fair 
 portion of feminine society, and far above 
 all considerations of coquetry. It had 
 never entered Eoyle's head that many 
 persons might have called his devotion 
 to Miss Clevedon a genuine flirtation, 
 and he had no scruples in absorbing her, 
 in claiming her whole attention when he 
 met her, just as he had had no scruple
 
 A WOMAN OF MIND. 203 
 
 in writing to her a frank and fair con- 
 fession of his wavering thoughts and 
 fancies. However, as the days went hj, 
 he ceased to hope for an answer to his 
 appeal, and he did his utmost to forget 
 the incident, and to resume his self- 
 <jommunings. 
 
 But his reward was coming, and one 
 evening, when he had been dinmg at his 
 father's and reached his rooms at about 
 ten o'clock, Eoyle found upon his table 
 n letter, the envelope of which was 
 directed in an unknown handwriting. 
 His face flushed as he caught it up. ^' It 
 cannot be from her," he muttered, as he 
 looked intently at it. Yet the writing 
 hardly seemed that of a woman. It was 
 close and compact, without any of the 
 usual feminine sprawls and floiuishes.
 
 204 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 **Then she is not like most women," he 
 said to himself, and he tore open the 
 envelope with a strange glow of satisfac- 
 tion, and read the letter by the fireside. 
 
 '' My deae Me. Koyle " (it ran)— 
 
 *'I have been long in answering 
 your letter, but the truth is that it has 
 puzzled me somewhat. You tell me half 
 your story, and expect me to ad^dse you,, 
 to pronounce an opinion as to the whole. 
 I am sorry that, since your confidence 
 prompted you to write to me, it did not 
 induce you to tell me all your ' vain hopes 
 and worries.' You know, Tennyson says^ 
 *A lie that is half a truth is ever the- 
 blackest of lies ; ' and I feel inclined to 
 make a poor and miserable foot note,, 
 to the effect that a truth that is only
 
 A WOMAN OF MIND. 205 
 
 half a truth is a worthless truth, after 
 all. You tell me your weaknesses and 
 failings of spirit, your irresolution, your 
 lack of courage to face the world alone ; 
 you speak of some career in which you 
 think you might possibly excel ; you talk 
 of dreams of fame, of visions of success 
 and happiness ; you ask for my sympathy 
 and help ; but you say nothing as to the 
 bent of the profession you think of adopt- 
 ing. Therefore, how can I give you 
 advice ? We shall be in London shortly, 
 and when I see you we can talk these 
 matters over. I am sorry that your 
 father discourages you in your indepen- 
 dence of feehng. I can understand that 
 he should be disappointed, certainly. He 
 has had his ideal, and it is hard that his 
 own son should destroy it. Still, I fancy
 
 206 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 that, sooner or later, lie will recognize 
 the justice of your views. There is also 
 one further remark that I must make to 
 you. If you do not really feel the inde- 
 pendence of spirit which leads a man 
 to j)refer to earn his own hread, you had 
 much better leave your lot in your father's 
 hands. When you speak of ' hesitating ' 
 and 'wavering,' you make me doubtful 
 of you, for such an effort as yours requu'es 
 thorough conviction and perfect strength 
 of purpose. 
 
 *'You ask me what I should do were 
 I in your place. There would be no 
 question in ni}' mind, I assure you» 
 Even as I am, it has often occurred to 
 me that I should be happier and better 
 if I were required to exert myself, in some 
 one way or another, for the benefit of
 
 A WOMAN OF MIND. 207^ 
 
 some object or person. My iDnrclen of 
 easy idleness is quite as irksome to me 
 as is the bmxien of labom' to many of 
 my fellow-creatm'es. There is so much 
 to be done in the world, that it seems 
 cruel and unjust that I should be living- 
 in luxury, doing nothing, while others 
 are struggling in misery and working 
 hard. Does it never strike you that life 
 is unfair from beginning to end? Do 
 3'ou never feel a kind of compunction for 
 your well-being ? 
 
 "I know that I should be much happier- 
 if I were in your place, free and inde- 
 pendent, and working bravely for my own 
 living, and I believe that you, if you 
 take tliis decisive step, will be hajDpier 
 too. But I am afraid to persuade you — 
 the responsibility is too gi'eat. I most
 
 ^08 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 heartily wish you every success, however, 
 whatever may he the path you choose, 
 and you will lose no real Mends, be 
 assured. When I see you in London, 
 we will, if you like, discuss the career 
 upon which your thoughts are bent. 
 "Beheve me. 
 
 Yours faithfully, 
 
 ^^ Silvia Clevedon." 
 
 As Koyle read this characteristic letter, 
 he seemed to hear, as if in a dream, 
 the ceaseless, trivial chatter of his sisters, 
 and the fastness and occasional vulgarity 
 of their conversation came to his mind 
 in vivid contrast to Silvia Clevedon's 
 •serious, thoughtful sentences. He put 
 down the long-expected and anxiously 
 awaited letter with a sigh of relief at
 
 A WOMAN OF ^IIXD. 209 
 
 last. She was neither angry nor dis- 
 gusted, evidently; she had no idea of 
 dropping him ; she was not offended ; 
 and a weight was lifted from his spirit 
 as he became convinced of these facts. 
 His gratitude to her for her friendliness 
 was so great, that his first impulse was 
 to write a second and still more confi- 
 dential letter ; hut a little consideration 
 showed him that it would he wiser to 
 leave his gratitude unwritten, trusting 
 to an early opportunity of expressing it 
 to her, by word of mouth. 
 
 *^ She is right," he muttered to him- 
 self, as he paced up and down the room. 
 " I ought to have a thorough conviction 
 and strength of purpose to help me 
 through. I ought to feel a feu sacre ; 
 I ought to be certain of myself. But 
 
 VOL. I, p
 
 210 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 I want an aim, an object. If I had 
 but some one for whom to work 1 " 
 
 And, with a feehng of vague discontent, 
 Eoyle read Miss Clevedon's letter once 
 again, before he put it in his pocket ; 
 and went out to join a friend's supper- 
 party in Maddox Street, with singular 
 disinclination towards festivities of every 
 kind. He was not a convivial guest on 
 this particular occasion, as his com- 
 panions, with the uncompromising frank- 
 ness of men towards each other, speedily 
 informed him, and he soon left them 
 and returned to his own rooms, deter- 
 mined to forget his pre-occupations, for 
 a time, in sleep.
 
 A WOMA:Nr OF MIXD. 211 
 
 CHAPTEE X. 
 
 One grey morning, at the end of Feb- 
 ruary, as Silvia Clevedon and Gilbert 
 Jocelyn were sauntering along the broad 
 paths of the Clevedon House grounds, 
 towards the lodge-keeper's little domain, 
 they heard sounds of human voices at 
 a high pitch, voices that unmistakably 
 belonged to an angry man and a crying 
 woman. Silvia stopped immediately. 
 
 *' There is something T\Tong at the 
 lodge," she said. 
 
 "Oh, it's only the man and his wife 
 quarrelling," said Jocelyn, impatiently.
 
 212 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 ^^Biit it's odd if they are quarrelling," 
 said Silvia; ^^for Johnson is such a good 
 hnsband, and they are such a happy 
 couple, that, although they have been 
 with us years, I have never heard of 
 them exchanging an angry word. I 
 wonder what is the matter ? " 
 
 ^'You will only get yourself insulted 
 if you go and ask," said Jocelyn. ^' Why 
 can't you leave them to fight it out ? 
 What has it all got to do v/ith us ? Why 
 shouldn't we have our stroll undis- 
 turbed ? " 
 
 Without heeding Jocelyn's observa- 
 tions, Silvia walked towards the lodge, 
 and was saved the necessity of knocking 
 at the door ; for one of the lodge-keeper's 
 children, who had seen her coming, 
 rushed out to catch her hand, and to
 
 A WOMAN OF MIXD. 213 
 
 tell her, between Mghtened sobs and 
 gasps, tliat ^'father was so angry, and 
 mother was crying." 
 
 Thereupon Silvia went with the child 
 to the threshold of the modest home, 
 followed by Jocelyn, whose reluctance 
 was overcome by his sense of the duty 
 of protecting Silvia. Silvia looked aghast 
 at the little parlour she had always seen 
 so exquisitely neat and clean. It was 
 littered now with clothes, and sticks, and 
 whips ; a bed had evidently been made 
 up on the sofa that had been the pride 
 of Mrs. Johnson's heart ; some heavy- 
 soled boots were planted on one of her 
 antimacassared chairs ; and the baby was 
 rolling about on the many-hued piece of 
 carpet, and plucking at the fiinge on the 
 gaudy tablecloth, with the view of drag-
 
 214 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 ging it off the table — an object which 
 was ultimately accomplished, be it noted. 
 When Silvia appeared at the door, a 
 third child, who had been huddled up in 
 terror in a corner of the room, ran into 
 the kitchen, crying, *^ Mother, mother, 
 here's Miss Clevedon ; " whereupon a 
 gentle-looking little woman, her face all 
 swollen and red with crying, and with 
 the tears still running down her face, 
 came upon the scene, dropping a mild 
 
 curtsy as she advanced. 
 
 <«Why, what can be the matter, Mrs. 
 
 Johnson?" said Silvia, kindly. "Is it 
 
 anything in which I can help you ? " 
 *' No, miss ; I don't think so," said the 
 
 woman, her tears bursting forth anew. 
 
 "The master is so very hard, I'm afraid 
 
 it can't be helped."
 
 A WOMAN OF MIND. 215 
 
 "The master? Which master ? " said 
 Silvia. ^'You don't mean your hus- 
 band ? " 
 
 *' Johnson? He hard? Lord love ye, 
 miss," explained Mrs. Johnson, wiping 
 her eyes periodically with the corner of 
 her apron, ^' Johnson's as soft as butter 
 to deal mth, and that's why he's got 
 into this scrape. You see, miss, his 
 brother is gone away to America to-day, 
 and he met my husband last night, and 
 he says, ^ Come and have a glass with 
 me at the Foresters', just for the sake 
 of old times, and to wish me luck.' And 
 Johnson couldn't say no, and small 
 blame to him there, at any rate ; and he 
 goes and he has a glass all fair and com- 
 fortable enough, and then they get talk- 
 ing, and one thing and another, and they
 
 216 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 persuaded Johnson to stay longer than 
 he meant to, and to take a glass or two 
 extra, just for the sake of his brother's 
 company, and they certainly was a little 
 gone. And they met a party of gentlemen 
 from the Eagle, and they called out — one 
 of the gents did — that there was the 
 admiral's lodge-keeper roaring drunk, and 
 they told the master pretty soon, some- 
 how or other ; for he come down here 
 the first thing this morning, and he says 
 to Johnson that he won't hear a word of 
 explanation, but that Johnson must go 
 directly, and that he shall tell any one 
 who comes for Johnson's character about 
 last night. I know, of course, miss, that 
 Johnson didn't ought to have taken so 
 many glasses ; but he's as soft as butter 
 to manage, as I said, and considering his
 
 A WOMAN OF MIXD. 217 
 
 brother was going away and all, and per- 
 suaded him, I don't think he was so bad. 
 And he wasn't roaring drunk, miss, I do 
 assure you ; he was only lively and 
 stupid-Hke in his talk. But the master 
 wouldn't listen to what I said, and 
 wouldn't hear any explanation. So we 
 have got to go, and what we shall do I 
 don't know, for if the master tells folks 
 Johnson was di'unk, he will never get 
 another place." 
 
 ^'Wouldn't my father let you tell him 
 what you have just told me?" asked 
 Silvia, gravely. 
 
 **No, miss; he wouldn't hear a word," 
 sobbed Mrs. Johnson. "He kept saying 
 that the fact that Johnson was drunk 
 was enough for him. Perhaps if you was 
 to tell him how it happened about John-
 
 218 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 son's brother going to America, and that 
 Johnson wasn't really so bad as the gen- 
 tlemen said, he might alter his mind a 
 bit, miss." 
 
 Here a broad-shouldered, stalwart man 
 came forward, with his head thrown back, 
 and a look of pride and indignation on 
 his snnburnt face. ** No, missus," said he 
 to his wife, *^ don't you go asking any one 
 to beg for anything from the master. 
 I've served him well all these years, and 
 if he turns me off just for being wrong 
 once, well, let him. I won't ask him to 
 keep me;" and he glanced half sullenly 
 towards Silvia as he concluded. 
 
 '' But I think my father ought to know 
 how it happened," said Silvia, her beauti- 
 ful face glowing with genuine sympathy, 
 ' ' and if you do not tell him yourself, 
 Johnson, I will.'*
 
 A WOMAN OF MIND. 219 
 
 ''Thank yon, miss," said the man 
 tnrning ronnd towards Silvia, mollified 
 by the kindness of her tone and the con- 
 cern that her words imphed. '' I'd own 
 in a minute that I was wrong. I know 
 I ought to keep sober, above all things, 
 and I'm very sorry indeed about last 
 night, and I don't attempt to say that 
 I wasn't just a bit lively. But if the 
 master treats you like a dog, and won't 
 hear a word you've got to say for your- 
 seK, well, I'm not the man to go on my 
 knees to him. No offence to you, miss. 
 I know you ain't hard on us, and that 
 you've got feeling for us work-folk ; and if 
 I don't have the opportunity of speaking 
 to you again, I should like to say that 
 I don't forget all yom' kindness to the 
 little uns and the missus, and many's
 
 220 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 the time we have given a good cheer for 
 you, and drank your health in a glass of 
 cider, before we went to bed. I was a bit 
 surly just now, perhaps, but I meant no 
 offence to you, miss, and I only wish we 
 working people always had such good 
 friends." 
 
 *^Well, I shall do my best to make it 
 all right for you," said Silvia, with a 
 smile. "Do you know who were the 
 gentlemen you met coming from the 
 Eagle?" 
 
 Johnson flushed, and shifted uneasily 
 from one foot to the other ; and his wife 
 exclaimed eagerly — 
 
 " The master mentioned Squire Mor- 
 cambe this morning, miss." 
 
 *^ Oh, ver}^ well," said Silvia. "Now, 
 don't cry any more, Mrs. Johnson, there's
 
 A WOMAN OF MIXD. 221 
 
 a good creature ; at all events, wait and 
 see if yon really have anything to cry 
 for. I dare say my father will make it 
 aU right." 
 
 And with that she turned hack towards 
 the house. 
 
 '* Why, where are you going, Silvia ? " 
 asked Jocelyn, following her. 
 
 *' I am going to have the horse saddled, 
 while I put on my hahit," said Silvia, 
 smihng. "You can ride with me, if you 
 like." 
 
 Of course, he did hke ; and when they 
 were both mounted and off, he asked 
 where Silvia was going, and was told — 
 
 '' To Squire Morcambe's." 
 
 It was not till after dinner that even- 
 ing that the storm burst. Mrs. Clevedon 
 , was lying on the sofa, somewhat unwell —
 
 222 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 she had been suffering severely of late 
 from the heart-disease that afflicted her — 
 Jocelyn was smoking, and Silvia was 
 gazing absently into the fire, when the 
 admiral, after contemplating his daughter 
 for a few moments, suddenly exclaimed — 
 
 **I hear, Silvia, that you went to Mor- 
 cambe's house this morning." 
 
 Sihda raised her frank eyes to her 
 father's face, and answered immediately, 
 without an instant's evasion, ^^ Yes, father, 
 I did." 
 
 '^May I ask what motive induced you 
 to go there ? You know what a bad 
 reputation the man has — that no lady 
 worthy of the name would be seen within 
 his doors ; and yet you boldly go there 
 alone, to interfere in some paltry details 
 about a lodge-keeper."
 
 A WOMAN OF MIND. 223 
 
 '^I did not go alone, father," said 
 Silvia; ^'Gilbert was with me. I know 
 Mr. Morcambe's reputation, and was all 
 the more surprised that you took his word 
 as a ground for dismissing poor Johnson." 
 
 ^^I am excessively angry at your visit 
 to him," continued the admiral. *^ He 
 will go all over Hampshire, relating how 
 Admiral Clevedon's daughter came to see 
 him at his house. He won't enter into 
 the absurd reasons of your visit ; he will 
 tell just as much of the truth as he thinks 
 fit, and no more." 
 
 *^ But, father dear, since you have so 
 bad an opinion of him," said Silvia, 
 *^why did you beheve his story about 
 Johnson being ' roaring drunk ' last night ? 
 Who is to know that Mr. Morcambe him- 
 self was not ' roaring drunk ' ? I am sure
 
 224 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 that Mr. Morcambe is far, far less sober 
 than Johnson. In fact, Johnson has only 
 been caught this once ^ rather lively,' as 
 his poor little wife says, and it seems to 
 me there was ample excuse for the fault, 
 as far as there ever can be excuse for 
 such a loathsome form of misbehaviour. 
 Was Mr. Morcambe sure of what he said, 
 father ? " 
 
 ^^ He came here this afternoon, of 
 course," said the admiral, *^to say that 
 he must have made a mistake ; that the 
 men were not staggering home ; that 
 doubtless his eyes were dazed b}^ coming 
 from the glare of Hght in the Eagle 
 coffee-room into the street, and so on. 
 You had been talking to him, and your 
 personal appearance made an effect on 
 him, and he was ready to take any oath
 
 A WOMAN OF MIND. 225 
 
 in order to please you. But I saw through 
 him in this case, and am not to be hood- 
 winked and wheedled by my daughter's 
 machinations. Johnson shall go. He 
 was seen perfectly tipsy in the High Street 
 by a number of gentlemen, and he shall 
 go." 
 
 ^^ And how about the gentlemen, 
 father ? " said Silvia. ^' How many times 
 have they been seen perfectly tipsy, I 
 wonder? And yet they are not punished. 
 The men at the Eagle drink as much 
 as the men at the Foresters'; the only 
 difference is that at the one place they 
 are rich, and at the other they are poor. 
 I am sm-e you can hardly remember how 
 many times you have heard stories about 
 Mr. Morcambe's dissipation. He has no 
 excuse. He is rich ; he can afford to 
 
 VOL. I. Q
 
 226 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 cultivate any taste lie may have ; lie can 
 afford to have friends to see him — to buy 
 books, and pictures, and horses ; he can 
 afford to travel if he choose ; in fact, he 
 can afford to amuse himself as best he 
 likes, so he spends the greater part of 
 his time in dissipation. Now, even if 
 poor Johnson got tipsy every week, he 
 would have more excuse, for he has 
 nothing better to do with his spare time. 
 He has no tastes for art, for reading, for 
 science, because ever since he was a 
 child he has been hard at work, and has 
 had no time to cultivate anything but 
 muscular strength, and that involuntarily. 
 He has no horse to ride, no trap to drive ; 
 he cannot go shooting in the preserves ; 
 he cannot even pick an apple in the 
 orchard; he has no possible means of
 
 A WOMAN OF MIND. 227 
 
 enjoying himself but by drinking and 
 smoking.'' 
 
 ^^Yoii are talking nonsense, Silvia," 
 said the admiral angrily. ^^ I was not 
 saying anything about Johnson's enjoying 
 himself. I have nothing to do with that. 
 Let him enjoy himself the best way he 
 can; only let him keep himself sober 
 when he is out in the village, so that 
 people are not forced to notice the con- 
 dition in which my servants are allowed 
 to be." 
 
 '* But, father," pleaded Silvia, " this 
 is the first time you have found Johnson 
 at fault. Surely you might excuse him 
 for once ? Why, he has been with us 
 nine or ten years, and yet you turn 
 him away on so slight a provocation. 
 I suppose Mr. Morcambe told you, as
 
 228 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 I told him, how it happened. I assure 
 joUj even Mr. Morcambe seemed im- 
 pressed." 
 
 *^What folly!" cried the admiral. 
 ''Why, Silvia, Morcambe told me the 
 whole ridiculous story, and the only 
 remark he made was that you had the 
 brightest eyes he had ever seen." 
 
 "If he thought so, why shouldn't he 
 say so ? " said Silvia, imperturbably. 
 "It's not my fault, father, if I have, 
 or if I have not, bright eyes. I don't 
 see that that has anything to do with 
 the question. However, if you have 
 really made up your mind that Johnson 
 is to go, there is nothing to be said — 
 only the injustice of the thing makes 
 me quite hot with indignation. You 
 let Mr. Morcambe come here and see
 
 A WOMAN OF MIND. 229 
 
 you continually, and you take his word 
 against an honest man whom you have 
 known for years, and who has now been 
 caught in the wrong for the first time; 
 yet you know that Mr. Morcambe is 
 not to be trusted — that he drinks far 
 more than Johnson could afford to do. 
 It makes me miserable that people who 
 are flesh and blood like ourselves, and 
 who work hard all their lives to earn 
 the money we throw away, should be 
 treated in this manner." 
 
 ^'If you carry your absm^d ideas into 
 execution," said the admiral, grimly, 
 "you'll make nice havoc of the money 
 when it comes to you." 
 
 '' I hope it never will come to me, 
 father," said Silvia, "if you wish me to 
 do such hard things with it." And she
 
 230 A WOMAN OF ]\IIND. 
 
 glanced towards Gilbert Jocelyn as she 
 spoke, wondering why he did not inter- 
 fere in the discussion, and little dreaming 
 how that glance would influence her 
 future. 
 
 ^^ You had better let the matter drop, 
 Silvia," said her father, authoritatively, 
 and rising, as he spoke, to leave the 
 room. *' I will have no tampering with 
 my word. I said Johnson should go, 
 and go he shall, and neither Morcambe's 
 interference nor yours will prevent it. 
 Do you hear me? " 
 
 *^ Yes, father, I hear 3^ou," said Silvia, 
 bending her head; and as the admhal 
 strode indignantly from the room, Silvia 
 turned upon Jocelyn, saying, '-^ Well, 
 Gilbert, you have proved yourself a 
 valuable defender of the oppressed.
 
 A WOMAN OF MIND. 231 
 
 Have you been asleep, or were you un- 
 interested? *' 
 
 Jocelyn started and looked somewhat 
 foolish, and muttered at last that he had 
 not liked to interfere. 
 
 ^' But you heard all that the poor man 
 and woman said this morning," rejoined 
 Silvia, her eyes flashing angrily; *^ you 
 heard what Mr. Morcambe said to me ; 
 and you have, finally, heard everything 
 my father said, and have not an observa- 
 tion to offer, not a simple sentence of 
 regret at the whole thing to make ! You 
 must surely know how highly my father 
 thinks of you. If you had said only a few 
 kind words just now for the poor people, 
 he would have given in. But you do 
 not say a syllable. My father knows you 
 were with me through it all, and naturally
 
 232 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 thinks you are not on my side of the 
 question. You were calculating, I sup- 
 pose, how long it would be before you 
 had another dance or another game of 
 billiards, and did not pay much attention 
 to these vulgar details of home Hfe." 
 
 '^Eeally, Silvia," explained Jocelyn, 
 wounded at her contemptuous manner, 
 ^'I did not think much about it all; and 
 if I had interfered, you would have been 
 certain to be displeased, so I thought 
 if I held my tongue you could not blame 
 me very severely." 
 
 ^^ I blame you 1 " exclaimed Silvia. 
 ** But what I say does not matter. Did 
 you not feel indignant yourself at the 
 injustice ? I didn't want you to interfere 
 for the mere sake of pleasing me. If you 
 felt no inclination to help the people,
 
 A. WOMAN OF MIND. 233 
 
 why, you were right to say nothing ; but 
 I don't see how yon can be so cold- 
 blooded." 
 
 *• You see, I am not so rabid on these 
 subjects as you are," said Jocelyn. ^' The 
 man will find another place soon enough, 
 I've no doubt ; at the same time, the 
 admiral was perhaps rather hard." 
 
 " Supposing the admu'al were to turn 
 all the gentlemen out of his house who 
 take a little too much wine, not once in 
 ten years, but something more hke once 
 in ten days," said Silvia, "how many 
 lords of the creation do you think we 
 should have on our visiting list ? " 
 
 " Well, you certainly would not have 
 your fiiend Koyle, for one," retorted 
 Jocelyn, with a light laugh. 
 
 SiMa turned round upon Jocelyn with 
 her haughtiest glance.
 
 234 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 " I don't know wliy you should mention 
 Mr. Eoyle to me in that special manner, 
 Gilbert," she said. '^ He is a man of 
 spirit and a man of courage, and I like 
 him for those reasons. But you forget 
 yourself when yon insinuate anything 
 more, even by your voice." 
 
 *^ Children, children ! " interposed Mrs. 
 Clevedon, quietly, from the sofa; ''don't 
 talk to each other, since you are both 
 so angry. Wait until you are cool and 
 calm before you discuss the point on 
 which you disagree." 
 
 ''It is all over now, mother," said 
 Silvia, whose anger was calmed in a 
 moment by her mother's voice ; and she 
 went to sit beside the sofa on which Mrs. 
 Clevedon lay, leaving Jocelyn to read the 
 Spectator in uneasy silence.
 
 A WOMAN OF MIXD. 235 
 
 In a week, before the month required 
 as a warning had expired, Johnson the 
 lodge-keeper, and his wife and children, 
 were turned adrift, in sullen, bitter anger 
 with ^'the master," and fall of regret at 
 leaving the young lady of the house. 
 Johnson's dismissal was a sore point with 
 the admiral ever after; and his daughter's 
 interference, and the high ground she 
 took, never ceased to rankle in his mind.
 
 236 A WOMAN OF MIXD. 
 
 CHAPTEE XI. 
 
 Eakly in March, the Clevedons came up 
 to town, to enter upon the duties of the 
 season, and with them came Jocelyn, 
 who hardly seemed to have the strength 
 of will to break away from the thraldom 
 of Silvia's society. He followed her 
 from place to place without knowing 
 exactly why he did so. When she went 
 to Lyndwood, he went down to Lynd- 
 wood ; when she returned to London, 
 he returned to London ; and while the 
 admiral looked on delightedly at what
 
 A WOMAN OF MIND. 237 
 
 seemed to liim the natural development 
 of his pet scheme, Silvia herself did not 
 pay any attention to Jocelyn's devotion, 
 and allowed him to accompany her in 
 her walks and drives, for all the world 
 as if he had he en her brother. Indeed, 
 she always thought of him in a sisterly 
 manner, and it never occurred to her 
 that he was more than fraternal in his 
 sentiments. 
 
 To Silvia, the opening of the season 
 seemed somewhat dreary. She was sorry 
 to leave Lyndwood, for she had a positive 
 affection for the primitive quiet of the 
 old-fashioned country place. Then, she 
 was afraid that her mother might be 
 considerably wearied and fatigued by the 
 excitements of town ; and her father, she 
 knew, was less likely than ever to be
 
 238 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 lenient to her in all little social matters, for 
 he had grown far more stern and rigorous 
 since the episode of Johnson's dismissal. 
 
 ^' Where are you going, Silvia? " asked 
 the admiral, as they sat down to dinner, 
 a few nights after their arrival in London, 
 in full evening dress. '^ To a couple of 
 baUs?" 
 
 ^'No, father dear — to the first night 
 of the season at the opera," said Silvia. 
 ^' Mrs. Grey has a ball to-night, and 
 begged us to go after the opera; but it 
 would only be fatiguing for mother, and 
 I'm sm'e I do not want to go." 
 
 " Why, you promised me the first 
 waltz there," exclaimed Jocelyn, in a 
 disappointed tone. 
 
 '^Did I?" said Silvia, carelessly. 
 ^' You will have to find another partner
 
 A WOMAX OF MIND. 239 
 
 then, for I am not going to drag mother 
 there. I know she doesn't want to go 
 any more than I do." 
 
 ^'Yoii are pohte to Gilbert," said the 
 admiral. 
 
 Silvia looked at her father in astonish- 
 ment, and smiled as she answered, 
 '' Gilbert knows what I mean. He 
 doesn't expect me to go to Mrs. Grey's 
 for the sole pm-pose of waltzing with 
 him — do you, Gilbert? Also, I do not 
 care for dancing at all, as a rule." 
 
 ^* Of course, you would not condescend 
 to care for anything that amuses other 
 young people of your age," said the 
 admiral, testily. 
 
 ^^I tell you what it is, though," said 
 Jocelyn, briskly; "it's very pleasant to 
 ^get back to town, and to see all the men
 
 240 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 you know, and hear all the news. I 
 couldn't help thinking to-day, as we had 
 our billiards and our bitters, that you 
 might say what you liked about the 
 aspect of nature and all that, but there 
 is nothing lilie the civihzation of town, 
 after all." 
 
 ^' In short, you prefer the green of the 
 billiard-table to the green of nature," 
 said Silvia. 
 
 ^^ Well, upon my word, Silvia," said 
 Jocelyn, apologetically, '' one is more 
 humanizing than the other. You meet 
 a number of men about the green cloth, 
 and you get sociable and make friends, 
 and you can have your brandy-and-soda 
 or your bitter comfortably, and your 
 amusement is found all ready for you. 
 But I find the green trees very poor
 
 A WOMAN OF MIND. 241 
 
 company, I must frankly own. Their 
 leaves and branches are pretty enough, 
 I grant, and it's very convenient to get 
 into their shade when the sun is too 
 hot, or when there is a shower of rain. 
 But when you have said that, you 
 have said all. As to their influence — 
 well, it seems to me that their waving 
 and whispering, and all the other 
 wonderful things the poets say they do, 
 is deucedly gloomy." 
 
 "Poor Gilbei-t ! " said Silvia, laughing 
 heai'tily, " you are evidently Amy Leve- 
 son's affinity. She believes that Provi- 
 dence has arranged all the garden land of 
 England with a special eye to croquet 
 and lawn tennis." 
 
 " The Levesons called here to-day," 
 said Mrs. Clevedon; "they said they 
 
 VOL. I. R
 
 242 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 should see lis to-night at the opera. 
 Lady Leveson asked after you, Gilbert, 
 and Miss Leveson asked pai*ticiilarly 
 after Mr. Eoyle. His appearance seems 
 to have made an impression upon her." 
 
 ''What a foolish girl she is!" ex- 
 claimed Silvia. '' I cannot see what 
 there is to admire ecstatically in Mr. 
 . Eoyle." 
 
 '' By-the-by," said Jocelyn, glancing 
 furtively at Silvia as he spoke, ''it seems 
 that Eoyle has disappeared from the face 
 of society. All the fellows at the cliih 
 are wondering what has become of him. 
 His old haunts know him no more, and 
 every one thinks that he must have been 
 doing something shady." 
 
 " And yet you men talk about the 
 spitefulness of women ! " remarked Silvia.
 
 A WOMAN OF MIND. 243 
 
 '' But yoii must own that it's odd," said 
 Jocelyn. '^ Not only has he not turned up 
 at the chib, but he has been absent from 
 the balls and parties that have hitherto 
 taken place. Some one suggested that 
 the mysterious source from which his 
 money is derived had deserted him, and 
 that he dared not show his face sans le 
 sou; but I think myself he must have 
 got into some scrape — had a bout of 
 drinking, or lost heavily at cards, or 
 fallen in love under unfortunate cncum- 
 stances. He was always a wild fellow." 
 
 If Jocelyn's remarks were intended to 
 mortify Silvia, they missed their mark, 
 for she did not appear to hear what was 
 being said, and made no answer whatever 
 to his observations. She was wondering 
 what Eoyle had done — how far he had
 
 244 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 carried out his resolutions — if her letter 
 had decided him in one way or the other. 
 He had evidently made some change in 
 his mode of living, since he had given up 
 his club, and had missed the first balls 
 of the season. 
 
 ^^ Hang the fellow ! " muttered Jocelyn 
 to himself, seeing Silvia's abstraction. 
 ^' She's positively quite interested in 
 him." 
 
 In due time the carriage was an- 
 nounced, and Mrs. Clevedon, Silvia, and 
 Jocelyn were whirled away to the brilliant 
 opera-house, where they held a miniature 
 levee between the acts. Silvia noticed, 
 however, that Eoyle did not make his 
 appearance; she did not see him in the 
 house, and he did not come, as he had 
 been in the habit of doing, to their box.
 
 A WO^IAN OF MIND. 245 
 
 At last, when it was all over, and Silvia 
 and Mrs. Clevedon were standing on the 
 last step of the grand staii'case, waiting 
 for the carriage to be called, Silvia 
 caught sight of Eoyle at the entrance 
 to the stalls, talking to one or two 
 gentlemen. 
 
 In a moment the men passed on, 
 and Eoyle, tm.'ning round, perceived 
 Silvia's tall, white-robed figure and 
 noble head, her whole form seeming to 
 him to stand out in bold rehef among 
 the vapid prettinesses that surrounded 
 her. He sprang forward instantly to 
 greet her, and felt something strange 
 Stirling at his heart, as he touched her 
 hand and met her bright smile. Lady 
 Leveson and her daughter stood close 
 by, and as Koyle bowed to them, he
 
 246 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 devoutly wished them out of his way, 
 for he guessed that he should he unahle 
 to say a word to Silvia. Jocelyn was 
 there, too, with several men he knew, and 
 Eoyle felt it was hopeless to expect a 
 possibility of even thanking Miss Clevedon 
 for her letter. 
 
 '^ Oh, Mr. Eoyle," cried Amy Leveson, 
 with her pretty air of simpHcity, ^^ I was 
 told by Mr. Noel that you had abjured 
 society — that you were going to do some- 
 thing as di'eadful as being a monk ! " 
 
 ^* Am I ? " said Eoyle, glancing towards 
 the informant, who was now gossiping 
 with Jocelyn. ^'Perhaps Noel can tell 
 me what form my villainy will take." 
 
 ^^ Everybody has been complaining of 
 you, you know," said Amy Leveson, 
 coquettislily. ^'We are all very angry,
 
 A WOMAN OF MIND. 247 
 
 for you have not been to see us, and 
 you did not even come and pay your 
 respects to us tliis evening, as you ought 
 to do." 
 
 *^I am sorry if I have appeared rude," 
 said Eoyle, ^'but the truth is that I 
 have been very much occupied, and have 
 been compelled to neglect many social 
 duties." Here he tm-ned towards Silvia, 
 determined to speak to her, if only to 
 make the usual society remarks, and 
 said, ^' My occupations have prevented 
 me callmg on Mrs. Clevedon also ; but 
 I trust she mil excuse me." 
 
 Mrs. Clevedon smiled ; and Silvia said, 
 encoui'agingiy, '^ Occupation is a good 
 plea, Mr. Eoyle." 
 
 Just at that moment, there was a 
 sudden sway in the great crowd, and a
 
 248 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 feminine voice was heard to exclaim in 
 tones of unmistakable delight, " Phihp ! 
 PhiHp!'' 
 
 Eoyle turned hastily round, and at the 
 head of the throng of people coming from 
 the pit, he saw his sister Effie, accom- 
 panied by his sister JuHa and his future 
 brother-in-law, William Dawson. Effie 
 was in bright blue silk, and Julia was 
 in black silk, and both sisters wore the 
 inevitable red opera-cloak ; while William 
 Dawson in evening dress looked, it 
 seemed to Eoyle, ten times more vulgar 
 than he did in his ordinary daily costume. 
 A man looks either exceptionally well or 
 exceptionally ill in evening dress, and 
 Mr. Dawson was undoubtedly among the 
 least-favoured gentlemen. Altogether, 
 the party of three advancing upon Eoyle
 
 A WOMAN OF MIND. 249 
 
 from the pit, looked as far removed from 
 the distinguished beauty of Silvia Cleve- 
 don, the graceful elegance of Amy Leve- 
 son, and the thorough-bred bearing of 
 Jocelyn, Noel, and others, and of Eoyle 
 himself, as members of the one vast 
 human family could possibly look. 
 
 Eoyle remembered for a very long 
 time his sensations on the first perception 
 of the contretemps, which rapidly went 
 the round of his circle of friends, and 
 was related with chuckles for years after- 
 wards, whenever Eoyle 's name was men- 
 tioned. He saw as if in a dream the 
 brilliant crowd, the handsome staircase 
 thronged with the wives and daughters 
 of noble houses, the special group of 
 so-called friends around him. He saw 
 Lady Leveson's contemptuous expres-
 
 250 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 sion ; lie saw Amy Leveson hide her face 
 behind her fan ; he saw the men look 
 towards each other with a laugh and 
 something like a wink; he saw his 
 youngest sister's pretty face beaming 
 with pleasure at meeting him; he saw 
 Dawson's broad smile and JuHa's simper ; 
 — but he did not dare glance towards 
 Silvia. 
 
 The Httle group that had been bub- 
 bling with laughter a moment before, 
 was suddenly quite silent, while Eoyle 
 stood perfectly calm and pale at Silvia's 
 side, looking Mr. Dawson fall in the face 
 and making no sign. 
 
 The position was critical, and the per- 
 sons not immediately concerned watched 
 its development with evident amusement. 
 At last Mr. Dawson seemed impressed
 
 A WOI^IAN OF MIKD. 251 
 
 with the idea that his recognition was 
 inopportune, and he tiimed sharply on 
 his heel, saying, in his usual loud voice, 
 and with his customary bluntness of 
 speech — 
 
 *^ Come along, Eff. You see youi* 
 brother doesn't want you — he's with his 
 fine Mends." 
 
 Silvia heard what he said; she saw 
 the change of expression in the younger 
 ghi's large blue eyes ; and with a re- 
 proachful look at Eoyle, she said, "Will 
 you not introduce your sisters to us, Mr. 
 Eoyle?" 
 
 Eoyle muttered something totally un- 
 intelligible in reply, stepped after Dawson 
 and his sisters, and in a moment had 
 presented them to Mrs. Clevedon and 
 to Silvia, and had heard Silvia say to 
 Effie—
 
 "252 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 '^ I have known your brother for some 
 months, and I am sorry I have not hap- 
 pened to meet you before." 
 
 For a few seconds, Silvia spoke to 
 Koyle's sisters ; and Koyle could not but 
 notice that Dawson seemed completely 
 a,wed by her appearance and manner, 
 and did not hazard any vulgar allusion 
 or comic saying, confining himself to a 
 declaration that the heat in the pit was 
 ■enough to send a fellow into the middle 
 of next week. 
 
 At last the cry, ''■ Mrs. Clevedon's 
 carriage stops the way," broke up the 
 group. Jocelyn hurried forward to offer 
 his arm to Mrs. Clevedon, and Silvia, 
 after shaking hands cordially with Effie 
 and Julia, and bestowing a smile and a 
 bow on Dawson, took Eoyle's arm of 
 her own accord.
 
 A WOMAN OF MIND. 253 
 
 "Excuse me/' cried Koyle to his 
 sisters, and, in a bewildered whirl of 
 mind, he led Silvia to the carriage. 
 
 During the moment's pause required 
 for Mrs. Clevedon to be installed in its 
 luxuiious depths, Silvia said, gently, 
 "Mr. Royle, I was almost ashamed 
 of you just now." 
 
 " One of these days I will make you 
 proud of me ! " he answered, raising his 
 head with the dignity of a man who feels 
 he has something great in him. 
 
 Silvia had no time for another word; 
 she sprang into the carriage, and it rolled 
 away, and the two men returned to their 
 respective parties. 
 
 With the shghtest of bows to the 
 Levesons, and Jocelyn, and the group 
 of persons generally, Eoyle took his sister
 
 254 A WOMAN OF MIND. 
 
 Effie's hand, and drew it tkrongh his 
 arm. He accompanied Dawson and his 
 sisters to their cab-door, and as he was 
 bidding them ^'good night," Dawson 
 interrupted him by saying — 
 
 ^'I tell yoii what it is — that tall girl 
 in white is A 1, and no mistake ! " 
 
 As Koyle paced up and down his room 
 that night, recalling every incident of 
 the evening, he muttered to himself 
 again and again, *^I will keep my word. 
 She shall be proud of me one day ! " 
 
 END OF VOL. I. 
 
 LOMDON: printed BT WILLIAM CLOWES AND SOKS, STAMFORD STREET 
 AND CHARING CROSS.
 
 44