MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 W. E. NOEEIS, 
 
 AL'THOU OP 
 MA.IOU AND JIINUK," "MY FRIEND JIM," "THE ROdUE," ETC. 
 
 IN TJIEEK VOLUMES. 
 VOL. I. 
 
 LONDON: 
 RICHARD BENTLEY AND SON, 
 
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 CONTENTS OF VOL. I. 
 
 CHAPTEK PAGB 
 
 I. Baron Lammergeier's Crush ... 1 
 
 II. Miss Shafto's Father ... 26 
 
 III. An Unsuccessful Dinner ... ... 40 
 
 IV. Friendly Critics ... ... 60 
 
 V. Mrs. Wilton's Nerves are shaken ... 83 
 
 At the Play ... ... 102 
 
 Norma has a Bad Time of it ... 122 
 
 YIII. Old Nell ... ... ... 140 
 
 IX. Lord Walter buys a Box... ... 164 
 
 X. Lammergeier as an Orator ... 183 
 
 XI. At Lord's ... ... ... 202 
 
 XXL Madge makes Amends ... ... 222 
 
 XIII. Mrs. Lacy's Ball ... ... 242 
 
 XIV. Lord Walter goes to seek his Fortune 262 
 
 ^ 
 
 VI. 
 
 
 VII. 
 
 •>. 
 
 
 r^ 
 
 p^^l XV. Lord Walter is answered ... 282 
 
 ^
 
 Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2009 with funding from 
 
 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/missshafto01norri
 
 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 BARON LAMMERGEIER's CRUSH. 
 
 On a certain evening in the month of June, 
 Baron Lammergeier, M.P. and his wife 
 gave one of those great crushes for which 
 they were renowned. Anybody, of course, 
 can give a crush ; it is not a forni of 
 entertainment which, as a general rule, 
 demands any great trouble or expenditure. 
 But Baron Lammergeier, who was excep- 
 tional in that he provided his guests with 
 a magnificent supper and spent as much 
 money upon flowers and music when he 
 gave an evening party as when he gave 
 
 VOL I. 1
 
 2 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 a ball, was still more exceptional in regard 
 to the fact that he got people to go to his 
 parties, and was even pestered for invita- 
 tions to the same. Highly distinguished 
 personages these were, too, some of them. 
 A few, being so very distinguished that 
 they could afford to tell the truth and 
 please themselves, avowed that they came 
 for the sake of seeing the rooms, eating 
 the supper and hearing the music ; others, 
 less secure of their position in the social 
 scale, felt bound to give explanations and 
 excuses. " We dined with these people 
 last week," they would whisper to one 
 another, " so we thought we ought just to 
 look in for a few minutes, you know." 
 
 At all events, and whatever may have 
 been their motives, there they were in 
 crowds. Grosvenor Place was blocked 
 with carriages ; dukes, cabinet ministers, 
 foreign ambassadors, ecclesiastical dig- 
 nitaries, jostled one another upon the 
 broad staircase, at the top of which Mrs. 
 Lammergeier stood in all the glory of her
 
 BAKON LAMMERGEIER'S CRUSH. S 
 
 diamonds. Moreover, the jeunesse doree 
 was present in great force, which was no 
 slight social triumph; and whether the 
 1874 Griesler, which was known to flow 
 without stint under the roof of the hos- 
 23itable baron, had or had not anything to 
 do with the bringing of it about is a 
 matter of comparatively trifling importance. 
 
 Mrs. Lammergeier had been on duty for 
 about an hour and half when a tall 
 young man with fair hair, which curled 
 tightly all over his head, and a closely- 
 trimmed beard, mounted the stairs and 
 bowed to her. He did not seem quite 
 certain whether to offer her his hand or 
 not, but she held out hers, saying, " How 
 do you doj Lord Walter ? " and added, 
 after a moment's pause, " Miss Shafto, let 
 me introduce Lord Walter Sinclair. And 
 will you take him away, please ? He is 
 blocking up the gangway." 
 
 Lord Walter looked up and smiled. 
 " Do we require an introduction, Miss 
 Shafto?" he asked. "I'm afraid it must
 
 4 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 be quite ten years since we last met ; but 
 we used to be rather friends once upon a 
 time. In fact, I believe we even went so 
 far as to break a sixpence together when 
 I was fourteen and you were nine." 
 
 " Dear me ! " exclaimed the young lady 
 whom he addressed, extending her hand 
 to him frankly ; " and so you are Walter 
 Sinclair ! You used to be such a par- 
 ticularly nice boy." 
 
 '' You also, if I may be permitted to say 
 so, were rather particularly nice," observed 
 Lord Walter gravely. "I hope we have 
 neither of us changed very much." 
 
 But of course they had both changed 
 a great deal in outward appearance, if in 
 nothing else. As he moved slowly towards 
 the great drawing-room (the saloon, Lam- 
 mergeier preferred to call it), where the 
 Hungarian band was playing, he stole side- 
 long glances at his companion and thought 
 to himself, with something of a sigh, how 
 inexorable Time is, and that even full life 
 and progress and development are but other
 
 BARON LAMMERGEIER'S CRUSH. 5 
 
 words for the death of past things. How- 
 well he remembered losing his heart to 
 Norma Shafto when he was a boy at Eton ! 
 That was in the happy old days when his 
 mother was alive, and when they always 
 used to spend Christmas at Warbury Park. 
 Norma was a jolly, merry little girl who 
 nsed to try to follow the hounds on her 
 Shetland pony ; or, if a hard frost came, 
 he used to skate with her upon the lake 
 at Brampton Priory. She had the most 
 beautiful golden hair that ever was seen, 
 and such eyes ! Well, the eyes, to be sure, 
 were as blue as ever, and if their lashes 
 had lengthened and deepened in colour, 
 that was doubtless an improvement ; but 
 the hair had changed to brown, though 
 there were still some golden threads in it. 
 And what a tall woman she had become ! 
 The truth is that Miss Shafto was just 
 a little bit too tarll. Certainly she carried 
 herself well, and she was undeniably 
 beautiful and striking-looking, and if one 
 had met her for the first time one would
 
 6 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 not have thought of finding fault with her 
 height or with anything else about her ; 
 but Lord Walter could not help being 
 rather annoyed with her for bearing so 
 very little resemblance to his child sweet- 
 heart. However, this hostile attitude of 
 his became greatly modified before he had 
 been talking to her for five minutes. The 
 child Norma, it was true, was dead and 
 gone ; but then, for the matter of that, so 
 was the boy Walter ; and the man Walter 
 could not but acknowledge the charm of 
 Miss Shafto's gracious and kindly presence. 
 
 " And what have you been doing with 
 yourself all these years?" she asked. 
 " Somebody — I think it must have been 
 Miss Travers — told me that you were an 
 artist. Is that true ? " 
 
 " Well, it is near enough," he answered. 
 " I am a sculptor by trade — and a poor 
 sort of trade I have found it, so far." 
 
 " But perhaps you haven't got very far 
 yet," Miss Shafto suggested. ''At any 
 rate, you must be glad to have an occupa-
 
 BARON LAMMERGEIER'S CRUSH. 7 
 
 tion, and it isn't as if you were, obliged to 
 work for your living." 
 
 " I assure you I am," answered Lord 
 Walter. "At least, I shall find myself 
 very much pinched if I don't. Our host 
 is a patron of art, I am told. Perhaps he 
 may purchase one of my works some fine 
 day, if I behave nicely to him. Not that 
 it is very easy to behave nicely to him." 
 
 " He certainly is not particularly attrac- 
 tive," remarked Miss Shafto in a meditative 
 tone. 
 
 "He is the most offensive little beast 
 that I know," said Lord Walter tranquilly. 
 
 " Then why do you come to his house ? " 
 
 " Quite so ; there is no answer to rebukes 
 of that kind. All the same, I fancy that 
 if you were to put every man in this room 
 upon his oath, you wouldn't find as large 
 a proportion as five per cent, who would 
 dare to describe their host in any other 
 way. Theoretically, one has no business 
 to eat a man's salt and then say nasty 
 things about him ; but practically he gets
 
 8 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 his quid pro quo. He doesn't ask us here 
 because he loves us, you know, and you 
 might repeat what I said just now to him 
 without preventing him from inviting me 
 to his next crush. I am of no great value ; 
 a younger son who is practically a pauper 
 doesn't count for much. But I imagine 
 that Lammergeier would cheerfully consent 
 to be kicked by a duke, and that he would 
 submit to anything short of decapitation at 
 the hands of a royal highness. As far as 
 we have gone, I think I may say that he 
 and I are about quits. I have had to 
 shake hands with him ; but, to set against 
 that, I have met you ; and there is the 
 possibility of his giving me an order when 
 my talents dawn upon him." 
 
 If Lord Walter had known a little more 
 of Miss Shafto, he would have been sur- 
 prised at her not taking up the cudgels on 
 Baron Lammergeier's behalf, for there was 
 nothing that she disliked more than to 
 hear any man spoken ill of behind his 
 back. On this occasion, however, she
 
 BARON LAMMERGEIER'S CRUSH. 9 
 
 remained silent for some seconds. She 
 and her companion had found a little recess 
 with an unoccupied sofa, and had seated 
 themselves there. Presently she resumed : 
 " I hope you don't really mean that you 
 are a pauper. I can't see why you 
 should be." 
 
 Lord Walter laughed. "Oh, that was 
 a figure of speech," he answered. " My 
 father left me something. Not as much 
 as he used to allow me during his lifetime, 
 though. So I can't afford to be an idle 
 man." 
 
 " But I always thought he was so very 
 rich. You did not quarrel with him, did 
 you ? I was half afraid when I saw you 
 here this evening that there might have 
 been something of the kind." 
 
 " Why ? Oh, I see ; you thought I 
 ought not to be going into society so soon 
 after my father's death. Well, I don't 
 know ; people don't shut themselves up 
 nowadays ; and, after all, one's personal 
 grief isn't affected one way or the other by
 
 10 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 seeing one's fellow-creatures. No, there 
 never was any quarrel between the dear 
 old man and me, only he wasn't as rich 
 as he was supposed to be. That is, he 
 hadn't a great deal of ready money, and 
 heavy claims were made upon him of late 
 years, and every stick and stone of his 
 property was entailed. He left me what 
 he could." 
 
 The subject was not pursued further. 
 It was notorious that the late Marquis of 
 Loddondale had found the present one a 
 very expensive person to maintain, and 
 that there had been little love lost between 
 the father and son. Miss Shafto may have 
 been cognizant of both circumstances, and 
 may have thought, as a great many other 
 people did, that it was a pity Lord Walter 
 had not come into existence a year or two 
 earlier. After a time she said, " I suppose 
 you are not likely to be much in our part' 
 of the world again now ? " 
 
 The young man shook his head. " I'm 
 afraid not ; though possibly I might run
 
 BARON LAMMERGEIER'S CRUSH. 11 
 
 down for a day or two sometimes, for I 
 should think Loddondale would spend a 
 part of the year at Warbury. My father, 
 you know, took a dislike to the place after 
 my mother died." 
 
 '^ I shall be glad if your brother decides 
 to inhabit Warbury again," said Miss 
 Shafto meditatively. " When properties 
 change hands, there is always a danger of 
 subscriptions to the schools and the cottage 
 hospital and so forth dropping off; but if 
 Lord Loddondale is upon the spot, he will 
 see for himself how much poverty there is 
 all round him ; and indeed we can ill afford 
 to lose our subscribers. As it is we have 
 great difficulty in keeping things going, 
 because everybody complains of having no 
 money. If I meet your brother, the first 
 thing I shall do will be to beg of him." 
 
 A sudden smile passed across Lord 
 Walter's face : the suggestion appeared to 
 tickle him. But he only answered a little 
 drily, " I doubt whether you will meet him; 
 Loddondale doesn't go out into society.
 
 12 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 But," he added presently, " I hope 1 shall 
 meet you again before long. When do 
 you go home ? " 
 
 " I wish I knew ! " the girl replied, sigh- 
 ing. " Perhaps we may never go home 
 again. My father wants to let Brampton 
 for a term of years." 
 
 "To let Brampton! You don't mean 
 that ! Why, I thought Mr. Shafto was as 
 firmly rooted to the soil as one of his own 
 oaks." 
 
 "Well, oaks are sometimes uprooted, 
 you know. When farmers can't pay their 
 rents landlords must suffer. My father 
 says — and I am sure he is quite right — 
 that it is much better to change one's style 
 of living altogether than to attempt to go 
 on in the old way after one has lost nearly 
 the half of one's income." 
 
 This was so reasonable and sensible a 
 view to take of the situation that Lord 
 Walter could find nothing to urge against 
 it. He only said, " It seems a great pity ; 
 but I suppose there's no help for it. What
 
 BARON LAMMERGEIER'S CRUSH. 13 
 
 shall you do, then ? Do you think of 
 living in London ? " 
 
 " Yes, I believe so," the girl answered. 
 ''We have taken a house in Upper 
 Belgrave Street, and if a tenant is dis- 
 covered for Brampton, we shall set about 
 removing our household gods. Fortu- 
 nately, my father is very cheerful about it, 
 and rather likes the idea of a town life." 
 
 " But what about yourself?" Lord Walter 
 inquired. " This will be a painful change 
 for you, won't it ? I have heard about 
 you from time to time through old Nell 
 Travers, though you don't appear to have 
 asked any questions about me, and old 
 Nell describes you as a sort of guardian 
 angel to the entire neighbourhood. It is 
 a law of nature that one should love those 
 whom one has benefited, so I suppose you 
 will be sorry to be parted from the poor of 
 Brampton." 
 
 Miss Shafto's face clouded over, and she 
 made no reply for some seconds. When 
 she did open her lips it was to remark,
 
 14 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 " There are plenty of poor in London 
 too." 
 
 " Oh, then it isn't the individuals whom 
 you care for ; it's the fact of their poverty 
 that interests you." 
 
 " Of course," answered the girl, after a 
 moment of reflection, " that is what makes 
 them interesting ; but I do care for the 
 individuals too." 
 
 " Then," said Lord Walter, with much 
 presence of mind, " I may for the first time 
 congratulate myself upon being a pauper." 
 
 What rejoinder Miss Shafto would have 
 made to a speech which its author upon 
 subsequent reflection felt to have been 
 somewhat silly, must remain a matter of 
 conjecture ; for at this moment the inter- 
 view was broken in upon by a little faded, 
 middle-aged woman, clad in black velvet 
 and diamonds, who said plaintively, "Oh, 
 how do you do. Norma? I have been 
 looking everywhere for some friendly face ; 
 but I could discover nobody in this horrid 
 crowd, and I have been jostled and pushed
 
 BARON LAMMERGEIER'S CRUSH. 15 
 
 until all the breath has been knocked out 
 of my body. I wish I hadn't come ! " 
 
 "How do you do, Mrs. Wilton?" re- 
 turned Norma. " Where is Madge ? " 
 
 " Madge is at home in an execrable 
 temper," answered the elder lady, who was 
 evidently smarting under a strong sense of 
 injury. *' At the last moment she declared 
 she had a headache and went off to bed. 
 Isn't that just like Madge ? Why I was 
 such an idiot as to come here without her 
 I can't think ; and I am literally fainting 
 with hunger, and I haven't the courage to 
 force my way into the supper-room all 
 alone and ask for food. Couldn't you pilot 
 me down, Norma ? You are big enough to 
 take care of us both, I'm sure." 
 
 Miss Shafto laughed. " Perhaps the 
 servants would pay more respect to a 
 gentleman," said she. " Let me introduce 
 Lord Walter Sinclair, who, I know, will 
 be delighted to get you something to eat. 
 Lord Walter and I were playfellows long 
 ago, when his father used sometimes to be
 
 16 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 at Warbury Park ; but that was before you 
 came to our neighbourhood, I think." 
 
 Lord Walter resigned himself to the 
 force of circumstances. He was not best 
 pleased ; but he put a good face upon a 
 bad business and offered his arm to Mrs. 
 Wilton, who unhesitatingly clutched it. 
 Perhaps the parting smile with which 
 Miss Shafto rewarded him may have helped 
 him to do his duty with some show of 
 alacrity. 
 
 Later in the evening, when he regained 
 his liberty, he sought that companion of 
 his childhood once more, but without suc- 
 cess. Instead of her, he encountered his 
 hostess, who said somewhat abruptly, 
 " Well ; how is Elizabeth of Hungary 
 getting on ? " 
 
 The young man raised his eyebrows, for 
 his acquaintance with Mrs. Lammergeier 
 was but a slight one, and he was a good 
 deal surprised by her question. " Thank 
 you," he replied gravely, " Elizabeth of 
 Hungary is getting on as well as can be
 
 BARON LAMMERGEIER'S CRUSH. 17 
 
 expected — which is not very well. May I 
 venture to ask how you come to know 
 anything about her ? " 
 
 Mrs. Lammergeier made a half turn, so 
 as to face him, kicked out her train and 
 laughed. " I had the honour and pleasure 
 of sitting beside you at dinner a few weeks 
 ago," she answered. " You told me that 
 you were a sculptor and that the work 
 upon which you were engaged was a 
 representation of Elizabeth of Hungary. 
 I didn't know who slie was at the time; 
 but I looked her out in the Encyclopaedia 
 when I got home, and I thought to myself 
 that you would make a mess of your sub- 
 ject. I wasn't very far wrong, it seems." 
 
 " You were quite right," answered Lord 
 Walter ; ''I am making a mess of it. I 
 don't know why you should have foreseen 
 that, though." 
 
 " It wasn't such a very difficult thing to 
 foresee. I should imagine that there would 
 be some preliminary trouble in the matter 
 of costume. The back view, for instance, 
 
 VOL. I. 2
 
 18 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 would be apt to be a trifle ridiculous. 
 Then of course you would represent her 
 holding her basket of loaves which have 
 just been miraculously converted into roses ; 
 so that your representation would require 
 an explanation, which I should think 
 would be a serious drawback. The ignorant 
 spectator would see nothing in your work 
 except a mediaeval flower-girl of saintly 
 demeanour, and the combination might 
 strike him as a shade grotesque." 
 
 " You are a very severe critic, Mrs. 
 Lammergeier," remarked Lord Walter, 
 whose smile betrayed some inward annoy- 
 ance. 
 
 "' I was only telling you why I expected 
 you to fail. After all, it doesn't greatly 
 signify whether you fail or succeed, I 
 suppose. One pities a professional who 
 has wasted his time, because in that case 
 loss of time means loss of bread and butter ; 
 but an amateur has as much bread and 
 butter as he can eat and more time than 
 he knows how to employ."
 
 BARON LAMMERGEIER'S CRUSH. 19 
 
 " Well, I am not an amateur, at any 
 rate," returned the young man. " I sup- 
 pose I mustn't venture to call myself a 
 professional yet; but I hope to become 
 one, and I shall be very much disappointed 
 if my profession doesn't bring me in a 
 little more bread and butter." 
 
 " Really ? " said Mrs. Lammergeier, with 
 a quick glance at her neighbour. " Then 
 let me strongly advise you to go in for 
 busts. I am convinced that that is the 
 most lucrative thing. Why not do a bust 
 of Hermann ? He would be sure to pay 
 handsomely, and the subject would be a 
 pleasing one." 
 
 The above colloquy had been by no 
 means continuous. Mrs. Lammergeier had 
 been repeatedly interrupted, and more than 
 once her interlocutor would have passed 
 on, leaving the field free for others, if she 
 had not laid a detaining hand upon his 
 arm. He paused now, feeling doubtful 
 whether she was laughing at him or at her 
 husband or at both of them, and he had
 
 20 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 not yet thought of a rejoinder which 
 should be at once polite and snubbing (for 
 it struck him that a gentle snub would do 
 this free-spoken woman no harm), when 
 she turned away and left him. 
 
 He knew very little of his entertainers, 
 and, as he had frankly informed Miss 
 Shafto, the little that he did know had not 
 prepossessed him in their favour. They 
 were, however, people who had of late 
 become very generally known, and at 
 whose house, as has already been said, 
 distinguished personages did not hesitate 
 to show themselves. Now, it might have 
 been thought that a little black-a-vised 
 Jew of doubtful nationality and untraceable 
 origin would have been satisfied with such 
 a company as was assembled under his roof 
 on the evening in question ; but Baron 
 Lammergeier was not satisfied, and perhaps 
 if he had been the kind of man to content 
 himself with anything short of the very 
 best that could be procured, he would not 
 have been where he was. The company
 
 BARON LAMMERGEIER'S CRUSH. 21 
 
 which he was wont to entertain, though 
 good enough for most of us, was not quite 
 the very best imaginable, for it included 
 no royalties and was likewise denied the 
 countenance of a few of those rare and 
 old-fashioned members of the British 
 aristocracy who do not care to be en- 
 tertained by persons unprovided with 
 authentic great-grandfathers. This vexed 
 Lammergeier, because he felt it to be so 
 perfectly unreasonable. What in the world 
 would they have ? he asked himself, with 
 pardonable indignation. When one is a 
 sort of minor Rothschild, when one has 
 been educated at Eton and Oxford and is 
 a naturalized Englishman and represents 
 a London constituency, besides grudging 
 neither 1874 Giesler nor strawberries in 
 January, nor anything else that the most 
 exacting hon-vivant can desire to eat or 
 drink, surely one is entitled to expect the 
 recognition of the highest in the land ! 
 However as he was nothing if not per- 
 severing, and as he possessed a fine belief
 
 22 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 in himself, he meant to have that recog- 
 nition sooner or later. And, to be sure, 
 he was still in some sense a new man. 
 That is to say that, although he had had 
 a rich father and had never lacked money, 
 it was only of late years that he had 
 amassed the colossal fortune with which he 
 was now credited. 
 
 How Baron Lammergeier's wealth had 
 been acquired and what his precise avoca- 
 tions were only a very few of his guests 
 knew. Some said that he was a banker 
 and had had extensive dealings with con- 
 tinental governments — indeed, it was 
 noticeable that the representatives of 
 foreign nations were remarkably civil to 
 him — but for the most part his friends 
 were content to describe him as '' the great 
 City man, don't you know," which defini- 
 tion was doubtless accurate enough for all 
 ordinary intents and purposes. In person 
 Baron Laramergeier could scarcely be called 
 pleasing. He was a short, stout man, with 
 a hooked nose (through which he talked),
 
 BARON LAMMERGEIER'S CRUSH. 23 
 
 a waxed moustache, a double chin, and a 
 pair of ghttering little eyes. His hair, 
 which was coal-black and very thick, he 
 wore cut close to his head. His age at 
 this time was about forty, but his rotund 
 figure and the deep horizontal lines upon 
 his forehead made him look older. There 
 were people who thought his manners 
 pleasant, and there were others who held 
 a different opinion. It is difficult to speak 
 positively upon a question which is so 
 much one of taste ; but at any rate there 
 can be little doubt but that he meant his 
 manners to be pleasant. He had been for 
 some years married to the daughter and 
 sole heiress of a deceased London banker, 
 and it was rumoured that her large fortune 
 had been already doubled by the astute 
 manipulation of her husband. 
 
 Mrs. Lammergeier's manners did not at 
 all resemble those of her lord. It is 
 probable that she also differed from him 
 in not caring particularly whether they 
 were pleasant or not. However, like many
 
 24 ' MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 other brusque people, she conveyed the 
 impression to those who were brought into 
 contact with her that she was honest. Her 
 visiting-cards bore the inscription of " Mrs. 
 Lammergeier," and she preferred to be so 
 addressed. " Hermann is really a baron, 
 I believe," she would remark ; " but where 
 he got his barony from is more than I can 
 tell you. Anyhow, it isn't an English one, 
 so I don't think I will use a coronet just at 
 present." Plain-featured and insignificant 
 looking, her hair, eyes, and complexion 
 being all of varying shades of the same 
 whitey-brown hue, she nevertheless pre- 
 sented a sufSciently imposing appearance 
 when arrayed for the evening. Perhaps 
 her dressmaker knew how to make the 
 best of her ; perhaps the size and number 
 of her diamonds would have made anybody 
 look imposing. It should be added how- 
 ever that she had that perfect ease and 
 aplomb which one occasionally encounters 
 in the most unexpected quarters, and some- 
 times misses where one would naturally
 
 BARON LAMMERGEIER'S CRUSH. 
 
 9n 
 
 look to find it. By the few who knew her 
 well she was considered to be a shrewd 
 observer, and perhaps a casual remark 
 which she made in the course of the 
 evening to one of these few intimates may 
 be taken as affording some testimony to 
 the accuracy of their estimate. 
 
 " I have seen just two persons in this 
 crowd who have interested me," said she. 
 " One is a young lady who goes in for 
 practical philanthropy, and the other is a 
 sprig of nobility who is going in for art. 
 What is singular is that the young lady is 
 an optimist and the artist is a pessimist 
 To be sure, they neither of them know 
 what they are, so one can't hold them 
 responsible for their views."
 
 26 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 MISS SHAFTO'S FATHER. 
 
 While Miss Shafto had been renewing 
 acquaintance with Lord Walter Sinclair, 
 there might have been seen, wandering 
 restlessly about the crowded rooms, a tall, 
 silver-haired old man, whose features bore 
 so strong a family likeness to hers that 
 any one who did not already know him to 
 be her father would at once have divined 
 the relationship. 
 
 He might almost have been her grand- 
 father, so much older was he than she, and 
 she was in fact by many years the youngest 
 of his children, as well as the only survivor 
 of them. The loss of his wife and of three 
 sons may have added to or deepened the 
 lines which Time had drawn upon Mr.
 
 MISS SHAFTO'S FATHEK. 27 
 
 Shafto's face ; yet it was by no means the 
 face of an unhappy man. Since it re- 
 sembled his daughter's, it was of course a 
 handsome face ; but closer examination 
 showed that it differed from hers in one 
 or two important particulars, notably in 
 the set of the mouth, which betokened 
 irresolution and irritabilit\% whereas the 
 curve of hers was as yet unspoiled. Any 
 physician who had been called in to attend 
 Mr. Shafto would have seen at a glance 
 that his patient had a highly-strung ner- 
 vous organization, and would probably 
 have prescribed bread pills with perfect 
 confidence in results. The forehead was 
 broad and lofty, the brows arched, the blue 
 eyes wide open and somewhat eager in 
 expression ; but the jaw was defective, and 
 the lower lip inclined to be tremulous at 
 times. Mr. Shafto belonged to that order 
 of beings whose perceptions are keen and 
 whose emotions are easily excited, but who 
 lack stability. He had been broken-hearted 
 when his wife died ; he had been broken-
 
 28 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 hearted wlien his two healthy schoolboys 
 were carried off, one after the other, by 
 scarlet fever ; he had been broken-hearted 
 when bis eldest son and heir was taken 
 from him in early manhood, after a far 
 from satisfactory career. But in each and 
 all of these cases the fracture had been 
 found to be reparable. 
 
 At the present time, owing to agricultural 
 depression, he was a comparatively poor 
 man, after having been a comparatively 
 rich one — a state of things so intolerable 
 to one of his generous and careless temper 
 that, instead of submitting to it, he had 
 determined to turn his back upon it. For 
 such an alternative there is always some- 
 thing to be said ; but there is very little to 
 be said in favour of the scheme which now 
 occupied Mr. Shafto's sanguine brain — 
 that, namely, of replenishing his empty 
 coffers by the buying and selling of specu- 
 lative securities. Baron Lammergeier, it 
 was reported, had realized an enormous 
 fortune by no other means ; but then
 
 MISS SHAFTOS FATHER. 29 
 
 Baron Lammergeier was not precisely an 
 every-day individual, nor were his methods 
 of operating such as could be safely emu- 
 lated by an inexperienced country gentle- 
 man. Mr. Shafto, however, had resolved 
 to emulate them in a humble way, and 
 what was more, he counted upon Lammer- 
 geier to assist him in so doing. He had, 
 or thought he had, claims upon the good- 
 will of the millionaire which the latter, for 
 his part, had never been slow to acknow- 
 ledge. Lammergeier, as has been already 
 mentioned, had been educated at Eton and 
 Oxford, and at both of these places of 
 learning he had been intimate with young 
 Tom Shafto. The true story of Tom 
 Shafto's short life had never been revealed 
 to his father. That he had, unfortunately, 
 become imbued with a taste for backing- 
 horses, and that he had, still more unfor- 
 tunately, taken to drinking and other 
 forms of dissipation — these things were 
 avowed by the culprit himself and notorious 
 to all who knew him. But the precise
 
 30 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 nature of his transactions with Lammer- 
 2:eier had not been made so clear. On 
 three several occasions his father had had 
 to pay up sums varying from two to three 
 thousand pounds for him, and on his death- 
 bed the young man declared that Lam- 
 mergeier had had all the money. More- 
 over, he stated that he still owed two 
 thousand in the same quarter, and called 
 Lammergeier an infernal thief. But, after 
 all, he was half delirious when he said these 
 things, and Lammergeier behaved very 
 well in the matter. He absolutely refused 
 to take the two thousand pounds which 
 Mr. Shafto offered to him after poor Tom 
 had been laid in his grave. He acknow- 
 ledged that he had from time to time made 
 advances to his deceased friend, but these, 
 he said, had been repaid with interest, and 
 he doubted whether anything more was 
 due to him. In any case, he would not 
 accept more. Did Mr. Shafto take him for 
 a money-lender ? he asked, with some in- 
 dignation.
 
 MISS SHAFTO'S FATHER. 31 
 
 Out of tliese somewhat unpromising cir- 
 cumstances a friendship had sprung up 
 between the country squire and the Jewish 
 financier which had not ceased when the 
 latter attained that high position in the 
 commercial and social world which he 
 occupied at the time selected for the open- 
 ing of this narrative. 
 
 It was therefore not unnatural that, in 
 taking up what might probably prove to 
 be a permanent residence in London, Mr. 
 Shafto should have been willing to accept 
 the hospitality of the wealthy denizens of 
 the house in Grosvenor Place ; and on this 
 evening he had been especially anxious to 
 do so, because he wanted very much to put 
 a few questions to his host upon matters 
 of business. 
 
 '' Have you seen Lammergeier any- 
 where ? " he kept asking of the friends and 
 acquaintances who stopped him as he 
 elbowed his way through the rooms. He 
 had a great many acquaintances, and nearly 
 all of them might have been described as
 
 32 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 his friends. Everybody liked Mr. Shafto, 
 because he liked and took an interest in 
 everybody, or at any rate seemed to do so. 
 
 At length, standing beneath the awning 
 on the balcony, he came upon the object of 
 his search, who was engaged in earnest 
 conversation with the sallow envoy of a 
 South American Eepublic. Mr. Shafto 
 paused, not wishing to interrupt a colloquy 
 of international importance ; but Lammer- 
 geier, who may have been willing to be 
 interrupted, at once made him a sign of 
 recognition, and shook off his diplomatic 
 friend, saying, '^ Yous voyez bien, mon 
 cher Ministre, qu'il me faudra reflechir 
 avant de vous donner une reponse defini- 
 tive." 
 
 Then he stepped out of the balcony into 
 the room, holding out a fat hand. " My 
 dear Mr. Shafto," said he, " you are the 
 very man whom I wanted to see." 
 
 " How are you, Lammergeier ? " returned 
 Mr. Shafto, heartily. " I wanted to see 
 you too. About those shares "
 
 MISS SHAFTO'S FATHER. 33 
 
 " To be sure, my dear friend, to be sure ! 
 What shares ? " 
 
 "The Eio Cuzco mining shares, you 
 know." 
 
 " Ah, you hold Rio Ouzcos ? ' 
 
 " Why, you advised me to buy them. 
 Don't you remember ? " 
 
 " Did I indeed ? Yery likely — very 
 likely ! Well, now I advise you to sell." 
 
 " But, my dear Lammergeier," said Mr. 
 Shafto, looking a little blue, " if I do that^ 
 I shall lose half my principal." 
 
 Lammergeier shrugged his shoulders. 
 " Better to lose the half than the whole, 
 perhaps. But make your mind easy, Mr. 
 Shafto ; I will see that you are not a loser. 
 What was the amount of your original 
 venture ? Five thousand ? — six thousand?" 
 
 " Oh dear, no ! only a thousand. Still 
 you understand " 
 
 ** Ah, bah ! I will give you a thousand 
 for your shares to-morrow. It is I who 
 am responsible ; and after all, the specula- 
 tion may yet prove a paying one. Pray 
 
 VOL. I. 8
 
 34 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 do not protest or think of thanking me; 
 there is quite a good chance that I shall have 
 the best of the bargain in the long run." 
 
 Anybody who knew Baron Lammergeier 
 would have been prepared to agree with 
 him as to that probability; but perhaps 
 Mr. Shafto did not know him very well, 
 and it certainly sounded generous to offer 
 a thousand pounds for shares which would 
 barely have fetched five hundred in the 
 open market. The old gentleman accord- 
 ingly did protest until Lammergeier, laugh- 
 ing, stuffed his fingers into his ears and 
 said, " Now, now ! I will not listen any 
 more. I want you to listen to me instead. 
 Tell me, have you yet found a tenant for 
 Brampton Priory ? " 
 
 Mr. Shafto shook his head. "Not I! 
 We haven't had so much as a nibble yet. 
 The agents declare that they can't let 
 country houses for a term of years in these 
 days. People take a place for six months, 
 they say, and then get sick of it and go off 
 somewhere else."
 
 MISS SHAFTO'S FATHER. 35 
 
 " Well," said Lammergeier, " I think I 
 know a man who would be quite inclined 
 to take Brampton for three years, with 
 option of renewal for seven." 
 
 *' The deuce you do ! Would he agree 
 to my terms, I wonder ? Who is he ? " 
 
 *' Sir Christopher Shearman — you may 
 have heard of him. His father was made 
 a baronet because he was an ironmaster. 
 At least, I have been told that that was 
 the reason ; but as his father is dead and 
 buried, it don't signify. Sir Christopher is 
 a very rich man, and he is anxious to settle 
 in Stourshire. I don't think there would 
 be any difficulty about terms if he fancied 
 the place." 
 
 *' Anxious to settle in the county, is he ? 
 But why ? — what's his reason for that ? " 
 asked Mr. Shafto inquisitively. 
 
 " That I can't tell you for certain ; but 
 between ourselves, I fancy that he has 
 thoughts of contesting the southern divi- 
 sion when a vacancy occurs. In the Con- 
 servative interest, of course ; I should
 
 36 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 never think of recommending a Eadical 
 tenant to you." 
 
 Baron Lammergeier was a staunch Tory, 
 and had high notions with regard to the 
 destiny of the Empire which could not 
 boast the honour of having produced him. 
 
 " Oh, well," said Mr. Shafto, who per- 
 haps felt that he could afford to be more 
 tolerant, " so long as the man paid his 
 rent, I shouldn't bother my head much 
 about his politics. Is he here this evening 
 by any chance?" 
 
 Baron Lammergeier believed that he 
 was, and added that he would be enchanted 
 to make two such good friends of his 
 known to one another. 
 
 A few minutes later his two good friends 
 were shaking hands. Sir Christopher 
 Shearman was a short, thickset, broad- 
 shouldered man, with a somewhat florid 
 complexion. His hair and beard were of a 
 lightish brown hue, the former having a 
 few grey threads in it and having become 
 rather thin upon the top of his head. He
 
 MISS SHAFTO'S FATHER. 37 
 
 had a hearty, jovial sort of manner, tem- 
 pered by a suspicion of shyness. He fid- 
 geted about a good deal while he talked and 
 was apparently averse to looking straight 
 at the person to whom he was talking. 
 
 " As far as I could judge from a distant 
 view, your place would suit me down to 
 the ground, Mr. Shafto," said he. "Per- 
 haps you'll authorize me to make a visit of 
 inspection, and then we'll leave the rest to 
 the agents, eh ? " 
 
 '' Quite so," agreed Mr. Shafto. " By all 
 means, inspect Brampton any day that 
 may suit you, and if you'll kindly let me 
 know when you think of running down, 
 I'll see that luncheon shall be ready for 
 you. I think you would like our neigh- 
 bourhood. You would find plenty of 
 pleasant people within easy reach, and 
 there's always something or other going 
 on. You're a married man of course ? " 
 
 " Oh no," answered Sir Christopher, 
 laughing a little, " I ain't a married man 
 yet. The fact is that I haven't an acre or
 
 38 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 a stone to call my own, except a little shoot- 
 ing-box, and a man can't very well marry 
 until he has a house to take his wife to, 
 can he ? " 
 
 The obvious inference was that Sir 
 Christopher contemplated matrimony at an 
 early date. This, however, was no busi- 
 ness of Mr. Shafto's, who changed the 
 subject, and was gratified to learn that his 
 intending tenant was a keen sportsman. 
 " If hunting and shooting are what you 
 want," he declared, " I can promise you 
 plenty of both in Stourshire. I don't say 
 that either is absolutely first rate ; but 
 when one finds the two things together, 
 one hardly expects that." 
 
 Sir Christopher gave it to be understood 
 that he would be satisfied with something 
 short of a combination of Norfolk and 
 Leicestershire, and Mr. Shafto went off in 
 high good humour to seek his daughter. 
 
 Having found her, he lost no time in 
 letting her hear his news. 
 
 " What do you think. Norma ? I really
 
 MISS SHAFTO'S FATHER. 39 
 
 believe I've got a tenant for Brampton. 
 A very good fellow he seems to be. Fond 
 of sport and as rich as Croesus, Lammergeier 
 says. Sir Christopber Shearman — did you 
 ever hear of him ? " 
 
 " Yes, I have heard of him," answered 
 Norma, after considering for a moment ; 
 " Mrs. Wilton was speaking about him the 
 other day." 
 
 *' Oh, Mrs. Wilton knows him, does she ? 
 That's all right ; then he'll have friends 
 close at hand to start with. That's capital. 
 Now, Norma, what do you say to going 
 home ? Have you had enough of this ? " 
 
 Miss Shafto had had quite enough of it, 
 and expressed her willingness to depart. 
 If in her heart she had harboured a half- 
 acknowledged hope that Brampton Priory 
 might not be let, after all, and that she 
 and her father might be compelled to 
 return thither, she was very properly 
 ashamed of her selfishness and allowed no 
 indication of disappointment to appear 
 upon her face.
 
 40 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 AN UNSUCCESSFUL DINNER. 
 
 One afternoon, a day or two after the 
 Lammergeier entertainment, Norma Shafto 
 was busily engaged in addressing and 
 stamping envelopes when Lord Walter 
 Sinclair was announced. 
 
 " I'm afraid I am interrupting you," he 
 said, as she rose from her writing-table. 
 *' Are you sending out invitations for a 
 ball ? " 
 
 " Oh no," she answered, laughing ; ''we 
 don't attempt balls, I am thankful to say. 
 We haven't sufficient space for that, and I 
 am not sure that we have a sufficiently 
 large acquaintance either. These missives 
 are directed, for the most part, to people 
 whom I have never seen."
 
 AN UNSUCCESSFUL DINNER. 41 
 
 The table was covered with lithographed 
 half-sheets of paper, one of which Lord 
 Walter took the liberty of examining. He 
 drew down the corners of his mouth and 
 raised his eyebrows a little as he perused 
 it. " Do you go in for this kind of thing ? " 
 he inquired. 
 
 " I have begun to go in for it during the 
 last few weeks. Why do you look as if 
 you disapproved ? " 
 
 " I don't disapprove," answered Lord 
 Walter ; " I have no right to disapprove. 
 It's very good and very kind of you and 
 your friends. Only it isn't of the very 
 slightest use, you know." 
 
 The paper which he held in his hand 
 conveyed an appeal to the benevolent to 
 assist, either by money contributions or by 
 personal effort, in providing innocent re- 
 creation for the inhabitants of a poor 
 district of London. 
 
 " But I don't know anything of the sort," 
 Miss Shafto declared. " To amuse these 
 people for an evening and to keep them
 
 42 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 out of the public-houses is of some use, 
 surely." 
 
 "Not much, I'm afraid. What is the 
 matter with John Smith isn't that he is in 
 want of amusement, but that he is in want 
 of work, and consequently in want of food 
 and clothing. I doubt whether your 
 recreation-rooms will make him forget his 
 troubles. And gin is cheap." 
 
 " It isn't cheap if you spend all your 
 spare money upon it. Besides you take no 
 account of John Smith's wife and children." 
 
 " What business has he with a wife and 
 childxen ? " 
 
 " I don't know, but there they are." 
 
 " Yes ; and if the worst comes to the 
 worst, the ratepayers will preserve them 
 from death by hunger. More than that 
 neither the ratepayers nor anybody else 
 can do. The evil is in the constitution of 
 society, and all the pretty modern palliatives 
 are doomed to failure. One of these days 
 we shall have a revolution, I suppose, and 
 some of us will probably be shot or hanged ;
 
 AN UNSUCCESSFUL DINNER. 43 
 
 though I have never been able to see why 
 we are to blame." 
 
 Miss Shafto looked grave, and reflected 
 for a few seconds. '' I know something 
 about the agricultural poor," she said 
 presently; "I don't know much about 
 large towns. But if there is really no cure 
 for all this misery — and I am by no means 
 convinced yet that there is none — pallia- 
 tives, as you call them, are at least better 
 than utter indifference. "We aren't so 
 ambitious as you seem to think ; but we do 
 what little we can." 
 
 Lord Walter had at one time examined 
 into the social problems arising out of 
 excess of population, over-crowding, com- 
 petition, drunkenness and the like, and had 
 read a great many Blue Books bearing 
 upon these subjects. The conclusion at 
 which he had arrived was a disheartening 
 one, and it made him impatient of the 
 futile panaceas of well-meaning persons. 
 Nevertheless, he admired Miss Shafto for 
 engaging in a kindly work — or else he
 
 44 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 admired the work because Miss Shafto was 
 engaged in it. Possibly, if she had been a 
 sour- faced old maid, with a pair of spec- 
 tacles and a dowdy gown, he would have 
 changed the subject ; but as it was, a five- 
 pound note was withdrawn from his pocket 
 and placed in the young lady's white palm. 
 
 "I'll do likewise," said he; ''I'll do 
 what little I can." 
 
 Whereupon Miss Shafto pointed out to 
 him that, although five-pound notes were 
 all very well and they were much indebted 
 to him for his generosity, that was not 
 quite all that he could do towards helping 
 his less fortunate fellow-creatures. " Why 
 shouldn't you come and talk to them ? " she 
 asked. " You could tell them all sorts of 
 things about art which would be sure to 
 interest them." 
 
 '' Now, Miss Shafto, do you really believe 
 that they would thank me for offering 
 them a stone, even though it should have 
 been chiselled by Michael Angelo, when 
 what they ask for is bread ? I can under-
 
 AN UNSUCCESSFUL DINNER. 45 
 
 stand that a comic song might be welcome 
 as a diversion ; but unfortunately I can't 
 sing comic songs." 
 
 " No," said the girl, laughing, " you 
 don't look as if you could. But I believe 
 there are others who can and do." 
 
 She was proceeding to give some details 
 as to the various methods by which it was 
 proposed to enlarge the intellectual and 
 moral range of the masses, when she was 
 interrupted by the entrance of her father, 
 who came into the room, talking hurriedly 
 and disjointedly, as was his wont, though 
 there was seldom any necessity for him to 
 be in a hurry. 
 
 " Now, Norma dear, if you can spare me 
 a cup of tea I shall be grateful. Such a 
 day ! Business of one kind or another 
 from breakfast-time until now, except for 
 just an hour about two o'clock, when Lam- 
 mergeier kindly insisted upon giving me 
 some luncheon. Hullo ! who's this ? Oh ! 
 Lord Walter Sinclair, isn't it ? Yery glad 
 to see you. Your father and I used to be
 
 46 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 great allies once upon a time. You have 
 taken up sculpture as an occupation, Norma 
 tells me. Happy man to be able to do it ! 
 Perhaps you'll let me look in at your 
 studio one of these days. Nobody is more 
 fond of art than I am, though I don't 
 pretend to know much about it." 
 
 In spite of this modest disclaimer, Mr. 
 Shafto did know something about art, and 
 he managed to say what he knew in such 
 a manner as to please and interest his 
 hearer ; which — considering that the latter 
 had been disposed to set him down as an 
 unmitigated bore — showed that he himself 
 was a somewhat artful person. " I wish," 
 he said, after a time, " you would stay and 
 dine with us. Mrs. Wilton and her daugh- 
 ter are coming, and Sir Christopher Shear- 
 man, who proposes to be my tenant at 
 Brampton. But of course you're engaged." 
 
 As a matter of fact Lord Walter was 
 engaged, and he was not one of those 
 unscrupulous persons who think nothing 
 of sending an excuse to their would-be
 
 AN UNSUCCESSFUL DINNER. 47 
 
 entertainers when it is far too late to find 
 substitutes for them. Nevertheless he 
 answered, "Thank you, Mr. Shafto. I 
 can't very well stay as I am ; but if you 
 will allow me to go home and dress, I 
 should like very much to dine with you." 
 
 Now Mr. Shafto was a very nice old 
 gentleman and had an extremely pleasant 
 manner ; but the inducement of dining in 
 his company would perhaps hardly have 
 sufficed in itself to make Lord Walter 
 throw over an older friend, as well as one 
 who would have been likely to give him a 
 much better dinner. The little that he had 
 seen of Mrs. Wilton had not greatly pre- 
 possessed him in favour of that lady, and 
 of Sir Christopher Shearman he neither 
 knew nor wanted to know anything at all. 
 It seemed pretty clear therefore that Miss 
 Shafto must be responsible for the breach 
 of courtesy which he proposed to commit ; 
 and while he was dressing he said to 
 himself, with a slight laugh, that he 
 supposed she was. The reason why he
 
 48 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 laughed was that he considered himself 
 quite the reverse of an impressionable 
 man, and it struck him as funny that he 
 should be putting himself at all out of the 
 way for the sake of any young woman in 
 the world. 
 
 Yet when he returned to Upper Belgrave 
 Street and was received by Miss Shafto, 
 who was the only occupant of the drawing- 
 room, he came to the conclusion that it 
 was not, after all, so very funny that he 
 should be interested in her ; for certainly 
 she was unlike any of the other young 
 women whom he had previously encoun- 
 tered in the world, and if he had persuaded 
 himself that her philanthropy differed from 
 the futile and short-sighted philanthropy 
 which has become a part of modern fashion- 
 able life, that was perhaps excusable on his 
 part, seeing how very handsome she was. 
 Just as he was about to resume the dis- 
 cussion which her father had cut short in 
 the afternoon, Mrs. Wilton was announced. 
 Horizontal wrinkles were visible upon Mrs.
 
 AN UNSUCCESSFUL DINNER. 49 
 
 Wilton's brow ; the corners of lier mouth 
 were drawn down distressfully, and her 
 first words intimated that she was not less 
 aggrieved than she had been on the night 
 of Baron Lammergeier's reception. Her 
 grievance, too, it appeared, was the same 
 now as it had been then. 
 
 " My dear Norma," she began, in her 
 high, querulous voice, " I am' quite ashamed 
 to show my face here without Madge ; but 
 you know what Madge is 1 Not until five 
 o'clock this afternoon did she calmly inform 
 me that she had engaged herself to dine 
 ^vith Ethel Langley and go to the theatre 
 afterwards. I asked her when she had 
 made that engagement, and she said, ' Ages 
 ago' — which, of course, was ridiculous. 
 My dear, when you have daughters of 
 your own, let me warn you and implore 
 you not to spoil them by sparing the rod 
 while they are young. I know perfectly 
 well that it is entirely owing to my foolish 
 indulgence that I am treated as a mere zero 
 by my children in my — my middle age." 
 
 VOL. I. 4
 
 60 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 ^* I won't forget your advice, Mrs. 
 "Wilton," answered Norma, laughing; ^*my 
 children, if I ever have any, shall be 
 whipped before being sent to bed every 
 night. All the same, I can forgive Madge 
 for preferring the play to a dull little 
 dinner with us." 
 
 " Well, you are very good-natured to 
 say so, and to be sure she can see you any 
 day. It isn't her rudeness to you that 
 
 annoys me; it's " Here Mrs. Wilton 
 
 came to an abrupt pause, and possibly she 
 did not complete her sentence quite as she 
 had originally intended when she added, 
 "It's so disrespectful to Mr. Shafto, you 
 know." 
 
 " What is disrespectful to Mr. Shafto ? " 
 inquired that gentleman, who now hurried 
 into the room. " It's very disrespectful of 
 Mr. Shafto, I'm afraid, to come downstairs 
 after two of his guests have arrived. And 
 what has become of my friend Madge ? 
 Not knocked up with her dissipations, I 
 hope ? "
 
 AN UNSUCCESSFUL DINNER. 51 
 
 On being informed at full length of the 
 delinquencies of the absent Madge, Mr. 
 Shafto showed himself not less lenient than 
 his daughter, in spite of which Mrs. Wilton 
 continued to look dissatisfied. 
 
 Lord Walter, who had been languidly 
 listening to her and wishing that she 
 would drop an uninteresting topic, won- 
 dered at her persistent harping upon it 
 nntil the party was completed by the 
 arrival of Sir Christopher Shearman. Then 
 he began to understand what was the 
 matter. 
 
 Sir Christopher was in many respects a 
 child of Nature. His features were wont 
 to exhibit a ready and faithful reflection of 
 his emotions, and anything more comical 
 than his look of blank disappointment, 
 after he had eagerly scanned the room in 
 search of somebody who was not there. 
 Lord Walter had seldom witnessed. Not 
 a little comical, too, was the precipitation 
 with which Mrs. Wilton explained to the 
 new-comer how vexed her daughter had 
 
 LIBRARY
 
 52 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 been that a previous engagement to a 
 " tiresome cousin " had prevented her from 
 joining their friendly little gathering. 
 Mrs. Wilton might be an excellent mother, 
 but she was obviously not the most skilful 
 of diplomatists. While she was pouring 
 forth her mendacious harangue, Lord 
 Walter chanced to catch Norma's eye, and 
 smiled, receiving an answering smile, 
 which however was at once repressed. 
 
 For his own part, he naturally did not 
 care very much whether Miss Wilton 
 pleased herself or her mother and Sir 
 Christopher ; but the results of selfishness, 
 like those of other vices, are far-reachiug, 
 and a party composed of five persons 
 frequently has reason to deplore the lack 
 of a sixth. Lord Walter did not mind 
 walking into the dining-room by himself, 
 although he was clearly entitled to take 
 precedence of a baronet ; but he did object 
 very strongly to Miss Shafto's attention 
 being monopolized by his supplanter, and 
 ihis was the more annoying because his
 
 AN UNSUCCESSFUL DINNER. 53 
 
 supplanter's conduct at the beginning of 
 dinner was not such as to merit kindness 
 or consideration. Sir Christopher was 
 both sulky and rude. He said some fellows 
 had asked him to stay the night at Ascot, 
 and he wished to goodness he had done so, 
 instead of hurrying back to London. Also 
 he made a very ugly face at the first entre>e 
 and dropped his fork ostentatiously after 
 swallowing a mouthful of it. By the time 
 that he had twice yawned in an undis- 
 guised and offensive manner and had 
 declared his intention of getting to bed 
 early for once, Lord Walter, though not of 
 a choleric temperament, was ready to kick 
 him out into the street. 
 
 But Miss Shafto submitted to all this 
 discourtesy with perfect good humour. 
 She treated her guest very much as if he 
 had been a refractory child, ignoring his 
 petulance, patiently endeavouring to amuse 
 him, and laughing with a very fair imita- 
 tion of heartiness at the feeble jokes which 
 he began to crack after his second glass of
 
 54 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 champagne. To Lord Walter it seemed 
 strange enough that she should take so 
 much trouble about an ill-conditioned fellow- 
 like that, but he supposed that she must 
 have her reasons, and it was plain that, so 
 far as immediate results were concerned, 
 she had her reward. Long before dinner 
 was at an end Sir Christopher s surliness 
 had given place to a familiar and somewhat 
 noisy jocularity which one of his hearers 
 thought scarcely an improvement upon his 
 former mood. But that hearer was pre- 
 judiced and hard to please. Miss Shafto 
 appeared to be quite satisfied with her 
 handiwork. Having achieved so signal a 
 success with one of her neighbours, she was 
 now able to bestow a little more notice 
 upon the other, and during the last half- 
 hour that he spent in the dining-room 
 Lord Walter could not fairly complain of 
 being neglected. However, anything like 
 comfortable conversation was impossible 
 while Sir Christopher persisted in striking 
 in with some foolish and irrelevant obser-
 
 AN UNSUCCESSFUL DINNER. 55 
 
 vation every other minute. There was 
 evidently nothing for it but to await the 
 departure of that obnoxious personage. 
 
 This did not take place quite as early 
 in the evening as might have been expected 
 and hoped ; but at eleven o'clock he jumped 
 up and took leave of his hostess, with whom 
 he had for some time previously been 
 engaged in an earnest colloquy whigh Lord 
 Walter had not cared to interrupt. The 
 latter dropped into the vacant place as Sir 
 Christopher disappeared through the door- 
 way. Mr. Shafto and Mrs. Wilton were 
 busy over a game of cribbage, so that he 
 could put any question he pleased to Norma 
 without fear of being overheard ; and the 
 question which it pleased him to put was, 
 " May I venture to ask why you were so 
 kind to that overgrown lout ? " 
 
 " Well," she answered, " I am sorry for 
 him." 
 
 "But why? He came 'here, I presume, 
 to meet Miss Wilton, and he didn't meet 
 lier. That, no doubt, was a bore for him,
 
 56 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 but it didn't excuse Ms behaving like a 
 savage." 
 
 "I don't tbink he could help himself, 
 poor fellow. He told me just now that 
 he was afraid he had been very rude and 
 that he was sorry for it. What more 
 could he say? I rather like people who 
 can't conceal their feelings; it shows a 
 sort of Jionesty, don't you think so ? You 
 didn't mind my asking him to take me 
 down to dinner, I hope ? " 
 
 "Not in the least," answered Lord Walter, 
 smiling. 
 
 " I was sure you wouldn't, and I was 
 sure he would be very much put out if he 
 were left to walk downstairs alone. Besides, 
 if you insist on knowing the whole truth, 
 I am very anxious to keep upon good terms 
 with Sir Christopher Shearman, because he 
 has taken Brampton, and I want him to be 
 kind to the poor people in the neighbour- 
 hood." 
 
 " He doesn't look as if he had a very 
 large supply of the milk of human kind-
 
 AN UNSUCCESSFUL DINNER. 57 
 
 ness in his composition ; but I trust you 
 may be successful. Who and what is Miss 
 Wilton ? And why did she refuse to come 
 here and meet the amiable Sir Christopher?" 
 
 Norma shrugged her shoulders slightly. 
 " Madge is Madge," she replied. " When 
 you have seen her you will be able to form 
 your own opinion as to what she is. What 
 I fear she never will be is Lady Shear- 
 man." 
 
 " Do you mean to say that you would 
 like her to be Lady Shearman ? Then of 
 course she isn't a friend of yours." 
 
 " She is a great friend of mine, and her 
 mother would like her to be Lady Shear- 
 man. I am not quite sure whether I wish 
 it or not; I think she might do worse. 
 But she will please herself, so it doesn't 
 much matter what anybody may wish. 
 Let us talk about something else. Have 
 you a studio, Lord Walter ? And is it 
 open to the inspection of humble admirers 
 of art, like my father and myself ? " 
 
 " I shall be only too proud, Miss Shafto,
 
 58 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 if you will deign to pay me a visit. I 
 have nothing of my own that is worthy 
 of your notice, but I do possess a few trifles 
 by other people which you might care to 
 look at. Perhaps you would come to tea 
 with me some afternoon. Next Thursday, 
 for instance ? " 
 
 Norma consulted an engagement-book. 
 " Yes," she answered, " so far as I know, 
 Thursday will suit us very well. I will 
 write you down for Rve o'clock.'* 
 
 Mr. Shafto, having finished his game 
 of cribbage, said he was sure he didn't 
 know. " Thursday — h'm ! I might or I 
 might not be free. I think you had better 
 not make any arrangement. Norma." 
 
 But Mrs. Wilton, who, like Sir Chris- 
 topher Shearman, may have felt that she 
 had displayed her sentiments somewhat too 
 openly in the earlier part of the evening, 
 and who may have desired to make amends 
 for her incivility, struck in with, " I shall 
 be delighted to chaperon you. Norma dear, 
 if Lord Walter will kindly extend his in-
 
 AN UNSUCCESSFUL DINNER. 59 
 
 vitation to us. There is nothing that I 
 enjoy more than visiting studios." 
 
 So Lord Walter went away in pretty 
 good spirits, notwithstanding the fact that 
 he had spent a somewhat dull evening.
 
 60 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 CHAPTEE lY. 
 
 FRIENDLY CRITICS. 
 
 Something might be said in favour of the 
 law of primogeniture ; but it would be 
 scarcely worth while to say it, since every- 
 body is agreed that the law will be abrogated 
 ere long. In favour of the principle, which, 
 may be expected to survive the law for a 
 time, a certain number of voices will doubt- 
 less also be raised ; but amongst these it 
 is improbable that the voices of younger 
 sons will be loud or vehement. 
 
 To be the younger son of a marquis, to 
 have been brought up in the enjoyment 
 of every luxury, and finally to be left to 
 fight your way through the world as best 
 you may, with a few hundreds a year for 
 your portion, is not, one must confess, an
 
 FRIENDLY CRITICS. 61 
 
 enviable lot, and one might even go so far 
 as to say that there is a certain taint of 
 injustice about it. Lord Walter Sinclair 
 had been in some respects more hardly used 
 than younger sons generally are ; inas- 
 much as he had found himself, at his 
 father's death, in possession of an income 
 smaller than that which his father had been 
 accustomed to allow him. For this un- 
 pleasant state of aJBfairs he did not blame 
 the late Lord Loddondale, who indeed had 
 been but little to blame in the matter ; but 
 he did sometimes feel a slight sense of 
 grievance against the present holder of the 
 title and estates, to whose extravagance the 
 diminution in the paternal savings was 
 wholly and solely due. 
 
 Lord "Walter, however, was not a greedy 
 man, and had acquired a certain measure 
 of philosophy at the expense of some loss 
 of faith in human nature. He had lived 
 in the world (in the sense of having lived 
 in what is called '' society ") and had seen 
 a good deal of it, and had learnt to expect
 
 62 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 remarkably little of his fellow-mortals. He 
 was pretty well educated, his inclinations 
 having led him to take advantage of such 
 opportunities as Eton and Oxford afford. 
 He knew a great deal more about art than 
 most amateurs and as much as a good many 
 professionals. Quite recently he had deter- 
 mined to adopt as a profession what he had 
 at first regarded merely as an amusement, 
 and he was by no means without hope of 
 eventually making a substantial addition 
 to his means by modelling clay. 
 
 "You'll have to work for your living, 
 Walter, I fear," old Lord Loddondale had 
 said to him on his death-bed ; to which he 
 had replied quite sincerely, that that would 
 be better than having just enough to live 
 upon without working. 
 
 He occupied a small, but very artistically 
 furnished dwelling in the neighbourhood 
 of Holland Park, and his studio was a 
 commodious and well-lighted one. 
 
 Now it came to pass that he was stand- 
 ing in this studio one afternoon, with his
 
 FRIENDLY CRITICS. 63 
 
 pipe in his mouth, gazing despondently 
 at the half-finished figure of Elizabeth of 
 Hungary, which Mrs. Lammergeier had so 
 unmercifully criticized, when an altogether 
 unexpected visitor strolled in, without 
 having gone through the preliminary form 
 of knocking at the door. This was a small, 
 natty-looking man, who seemed to be about 
 thirty years of age and whose outward 
 appearance was that of a stud-groom out 
 of place. His hair, which was of a reddish 
 tinge, was cropped close to his head; his 
 face was clean-shaven ; he wore a white 
 linen scarf with a horseshoe pin in it, and 
 had a cigar of large size in his mouth. 
 His features were insignificant, except in 
 so far as that his eyes had a keen and 
 almost cunning expression and that there 
 was a determined set about his thin lips. 
 At a glance one would have perceived him 
 to be a man of whom it would be difficult 
 to get the better ; and indeed that is a 
 descripticm of him in which he himself 
 would have cordially concurred.
 
 64 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 "Thought I'd look you up, Walter," 
 said he, seating himself astride upon the 
 nearest chair. " Hope I'm not interrupt- 
 ing you." 
 
 " How are you, Warbury ? " returned 
 Lord Walter, addressing his elder brother 
 by the title which the latter had until 
 recently borne. " No ; you're not inter- 
 rupting me at all. I've been hard at work 
 all the morning, and I think I shall have 
 to wait until to-morrow before undoing 
 what I have done." 
 
 " Is that the system, you generally go 
 upon ? " asked Lord Loddondale. " If so, 
 I should think it might save time and 
 trouble to do no work at all. Who is the 
 young woman with the basket and the 
 game leg ? " 
 
 "That settles it," said Lord Walter, 
 laughing ; " I shall have to make a fresh 
 start with her now. I knew that left leg 
 was all wrong ; but I was trying to per- 
 suade myself that the defect was hardly 
 perceptible. However, if such a good
 
 FKIENDLY CRITICS. 65 
 
 judge of anatomy as you are pronounces 
 Queen Elizabeth of Hungary lame, lame 
 she must be, and there's nothing for it but 
 to obliterate her." 
 
 "My dear chap, there can't be the 
 slightest question about her lameness ; she 
 would come down on her head if she tried 
 to run a yard. I thought, of course, you 
 meant her to be lame. I don't know," 
 continued Lord Loddondale meditatively, 
 " that I ever heard of Queen Elizabeth of 
 Hungary. I've heard of Queen Elizabeth 
 of England." 
 
 " Yes ; so have I. She was a different 
 historical character. Presumptuous as I 
 am, I should hardly dare to reproduce her 
 ruff and hoop in marble." 
 
 " You wouldn't, eh ? Marble's pretty 
 expensive, I suppose ? " 
 
 " It isn't very cheap." 
 
 " So that I dare say it would cost you a 
 hundred or two to turn out a statue of 
 that size. And then it wouldn't be quite 
 fifty to one that anybody would buy it." 
 
 VOL. I. 5
 
 66 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 *'No; the odds upon that event would 
 certainly be less." 
 
 " A good bit less, I expect. Might even 
 be a shade the other way. Well now, you 
 know, Walter, if I were you, I should drop 
 this statuary business — I should indeed. 
 Why not go in for something rather less 
 risky ? Wine, for instance, or timber. 
 Those are things which have to be sup- 
 plied to the public every day, whereas I'm 
 blessed if I believe that there can be any 
 great demand for statues, even for sound 
 ones — which yours ain't, it seems.'' 
 
 "Thank you very much for your advice," 
 answered Lord Walter gravely. 
 
 " I suppose that means, ' None of your 
 beastly cheek ! ' Well, I really don't 
 mean to be cheeky, and I wouldn't for the 
 world deny that you can sculp or sculpt, or 
 whatever the proper word is, better than 
 most fellows. Only, you see, the question 
 is, whether you can make money by it." 
 
 "That," agreed Lord Walter, "is the 
 question, no doubt."
 
 FRIENDLY CRITICS. 67 
 
 " And it don't look to me very much as 
 if you could or would ; and I know you 
 must be bardish up. Now, I'll tell you 
 wbat I came bere for to-day, Walter ; I 
 came to say to you fairly and squarely 
 that if you cboose to get yourself into 
 diflSculties, you mustn't expect me to keep 
 on pulling you out and starting you off 
 again." 
 
 Lord Walter reddened slightly. "It 
 is very kind and thoughtful of you to 
 give me that warning," said he ; " but 
 don't you think you might have waited 
 until I asked you to help me out of a 
 difficulty ? " 
 
 " Why, no ; because then it would have 
 been a little too late. One can't let one's 
 brother starve. At least, I believe it isn't 
 considered to be the right thing. I like to 
 know where I am and let other people 
 know what they have to expect, that's all. 
 And now that we understand one another 
 so far, I've got something more to say 
 which isn't quite so unpleasant. I quite
 
 68 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 admit, Walter, that you have a strongish 
 case against me. For the first two or 
 three years after I took to racing I had 
 the very worst luck that ever mortal man 
 had; and the consequence was that the 
 governor had to pay up a good lump of 
 money for me which would otherwise have 
 been in your pocket at this moment. 
 That's rough on you, and it isn't fair 
 either. Now I'll tell you what I'll do with 
 you : it isn't much ; but I can't see my 
 way to doing more. Mind you, a big 
 rent-roll doesn't always mean a big income, 
 and as far as I can make out I shall have 
 precious little pocket-money left when all 
 expenses are paid. However, I'm ready to 
 make you an allowance of a thousand a 
 year. I won't sign any paper or transfer 
 any capital to you ; but a thousand a year 
 you shall have so long as I'm not broke 
 myself; and though you may think a 
 verbal promise ain't worth much, I'm not 
 the sort of chap to go back from my word. 
 Ask anybody you like."
 
 FRIENDLY CRITICS. 69 
 
 Lord Walter was a little touched and a 
 good deal amused. " My dear fellow," said 
 he, " I know that without requiring any- 
 body else's testimony. But I would rather 
 not be put upon an allowance, thank you. 
 I can live upon what I have of my own ; 
 and even if art doesn't bring me in money, 
 I shall take good, care that it doesn't ruin 
 me. 
 
 " Well," returned Lord Loddondale, with 
 a jerk of his shoulders, *' don't say I didn't 
 make you the offer, that's all." He added, 
 after a short pause, " And I shall be quite 
 willing to renew it whenever you please. 
 Of course it isn't for me to dictate 
 especially as you choose to be so in- 
 dependent ; but really, you know" — and 
 here he shook his head very seriously — 
 " this sculpture trade isn't at all the sort of 
 thing that's likely to pay. What's the 
 good of making everything in marble ? I 
 should have thought terra-cotta would 
 have answered all the purpose." 
 
 "You are not exactly the person whom
 
 70 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 I should have expected to hear preaching 
 economy," Lord Walter remarked, with a 
 smile. 
 
 " You don't know much about me, then ; 
 that's all I can say. Nothing venture 
 nothing have, and there's such a thing as 
 being penny wise and pound foolish ; but 
 I think a fellow who chucks his money 
 away imnecessarily is an ass. Now really, 
 when you come to consider what the price 
 of marble is " 
 
 Here Lord Loddondale's harangue upon 
 the application of the principles of thrift to 
 art was interrupted by the entrance of his 
 brother's servant, who announced that Mrs. 
 and Miss Wilton and Miss Shafto were in 
 the drawing-room. Thereupon the econo- 
 mist jumped up hastily. 
 
 "Women, eh?" said he. "I'm off, 
 then ! Don't let them in till Tve had time 
 to bolt. Good-bye, Walter. See you 
 again some time or other, I dare say." 
 
 It is neither unnatural nor unpardonable 
 on the part of a bachelor marquis with
 
 FRIENDLY CRITICS. 71 
 
 large estates to be something of a woman- 
 hater, and Lord Loddondale may have had 
 good reasons for shunning the society of 
 ladies. At all events, he always did so if 
 he could. On this occasion he was not 
 pressed to do violence to his inclinations, 
 and Lord Walter, after allowing him a 
 minute to make good his escape, hastened 
 to the drawing-room to welcome his 
 visitors. 
 
 Miss Shafto was the first to shake hands 
 with him. " I am afraid," said she, " you 
 must have quite forgotten that you asked 
 us to come to tea to-day. We heard a 
 sound of flying footsteps just now which 
 was painfully suggestive of our having 
 scared some friend of yours out of the 
 house." 
 
 '* That was only my brother," answered 
 Lord Walter. " He is of a retiring dis- 
 position. The tea and muffins will be 
 brought in in a minute to convince you 
 that I hadn't at all forgotten your kind 
 promise."
 
 72 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 Then Mrs. Wilton introduced her 
 daughter, who was a very small and very 
 elegantly dressed young lady with large 
 dark eyes. She sat silently in her corner, 
 sipping the cup of tea which was presently 
 handed to her, and when her entertainer 
 exhibited the half-dozen or so of paintings 
 by well-known modern artists and the 
 small but admirable collection of china, 
 bronzes, silver and inlaid work which he 
 had been fortunate enough to put together, 
 found no more pertinent remark to make 
 about them than that they were " very 
 pretty." He concluded that she was 
 rather shy and rather bored, and wondered 
 why she had come. 
 
 Norma Shafto was much more appre- 
 ciative. She could distinguish between 
 old and comparatively modern Satsuma, 
 and knew that one does not pick up a 
 specimen of genuine Luca della Eobbia 
 every day. Also she was able to say in 
 what the special merit of this or that 
 picture consisted. Such enlightened criti-
 
 FRIENDLY CRITICS. 73 
 
 cism being entirely beyond the capacities 
 of either of the other ladies present, Lord 
 Walter and Miss Shafto had the conversa- 
 tion pretty much to themselves. 
 
 " Well," said the former at length, " I'm 
 glad you approve of my humble little show ; 
 but I suppose that, according to your views, 
 I am neglecting my duty as a good citizen 
 by spending money upon such unproduc- 
 tive objects." 
 
 " Are those my views ? " she asked. '* I 
 didn't know they were. I don't deny that 
 if all these things belonged to me, I should 
 probably sell them and devote the proceeds 
 to charitable purposes ; but that is because 
 my hobby doesn't happen to be the same 
 as yours. I dare say a great many good 
 citizens surround themselves with works of 
 art." 
 
 Mrs. Wilton observed vaguely that she 
 had read somewhere — she couldn't at the 
 moment recall where — a most interesting 
 paper which showed what nonsense all that 
 wild sort of talk was, you know, and that
 
 74 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 the poorer classes wouldn't be in the least 
 benefited, but rather the reverse, if every- 
 body's income were to be expended solely 
 upon the necessaries of life. How this 
 was proved she did not exactly recollect ; 
 but it certainly was proved, because she 
 had been quite convinced by the reasoning 
 of the writer. 
 
 " At any rate," said Norma, " I haven't 
 indulged in any such wild talk, that I know 
 of; so that we shall be able to get on quite 
 comfortably without proofs of its folly. 
 Now, Lord Walter, we want to see your 
 studio, please." 
 
 She had an easy, unembarrassed way 
 with her which he was not quite certain 
 whether he liked or not. However, he 
 was as yet scarcely conscious of desiring 
 anything more than a perfectly frank and 
 unbiased expression of Miss Shafto's 
 opinion upon Elizabeth of Hungary ; and 
 this he obtained the moment that he asked 
 for it. The leg which Lord Loddondale 
 had pronounced to be unsound did not
 
 FRIENDLY CRITICS. 75 
 
 attract her notice ; but she fastened un- 
 hesitatingly upon another and perhaps a 
 more serious defect. 
 
 " I think," she said, " that you have 
 made your saint too self-complacent. She 
 looks as though she had just performed a 
 successful conjuring-trick. Surely, if one 
 had fully intended to tell a lie and had 
 found one's lie miraculously converted into 
 the truth, one would be a little bit startled 
 and dismayed." 
 
 Lord Walter laughed, though he was 
 secretly mortified. " Evidently," said he, 
 *' this work of art is like Dr. Johnson's leg 
 of mutton ; it hasn't a single redeeming 
 point. It is bad in conception, bad in 
 execution, bad all through and all over. 
 One consolation is that I don't feel tempted 
 to try and make it better. I must give 
 Queen Elizabeth of Hungary up and 
 attempt to portray somebody else." 
 
 " That would be the best plan, I should 
 think," agreed Norma, a little unfeelingly. 
 
 But Miss Wilton exclaimed, '* Oh, what
 
 76 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 a pity ! " and added, with a sympathetic 
 sigh, " It must be so awfully difiScult to 
 hit upon a fresh idea ! " 
 
 " It isn't easy," observed Lord Walter ; 
 " but perhaps it is even less so to carry it 
 out when you have hit upon it." 
 
 " And do you really like cudgelling your 
 brains in this way ? I can't understand 
 how anybody can enjoy taking unnecessary 
 trouble." 
 
 Mrs. Wilton and Miss Shafto had moved 
 away a few paces and were examining 
 some bas-reliefs. Lord Walter looked 
 down at the pretty, childish face which 
 was turned up to his and noticed for the 
 first time how very pretty it was — the 
 exquisite clearness of the complexion, the 
 soft brown eyes, the curling lashes, and 
 the perfectly formed little mouth. It was 
 scarcely worth while to explain to such a 
 baby why unnecessary trouble is often 
 enjoyable or why the trouble which he 
 gave himself could not be described as 
 coming under that head. He responded
 
 FKIENDLY CRITICS. 77 
 
 smilingly with a counter-question. " Do 
 you like being idle ? " 
 
 " I don't like having nothing to do," 
 she answered, " but when I do anything, 
 I prefer it to be something pleasant and 
 amusing. After all, one has so few years 
 to amuse one's self in ! " 
 
 " I hope you are amusing yourself now," 
 said Lord Walter. " I don't mean at this 
 moment ; that would be too much to 
 expect. But I hope you find a London 
 season tolerably amusing. It is your first, 
 isn't it ? " 
 
 The girl nodded. "And likely to be 
 my last, I'm afraid. We are mere country 
 bumpkins, and we can't stand ourselves 
 these luxuries every year. Yes ; I find it 
 tolerably amusing — just tolerably. If one 
 could do as one liked it would be delight- 
 ful ; but then one can't." 
 
 " At least," observed Lord Walter, " you 
 seem to be able to avoid doing things that 
 you don't like. Upon two separate occasions 
 I have heard Mrs. Wilton lamentino: that
 
 78 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 she had to go to a party without you, 
 because you had declined to accompany 
 her." 
 
 Miss Wilton displayed a row of very 
 white teeth. " I don't know about the 
 first time," she said ; *• the second time, I 
 suppose, was at the Shaftos' the other 
 night. Well, I had a chance of going to 
 the theatre instead, and it wasn't likely — 
 was it now ? — that I should prefer dining 
 with the Shaftos to going to the theatre." 
 
 " I dare say not : tastes differ. You are 
 very fond of the theatre then ? " 
 
 " I simply adore it. Next to dancing 
 with the people whom I wish to dance 
 with — which I am very seldom allowed to 
 do — I enjoy going to the theatre beyond 
 everything else in the world. Unluckily, 
 it sends mamma to sleep." 
 
 To do a good-natured thing and to 
 gratify your own inclinations at one and 
 the same time is a rare and precious 
 privilege. Lord Walter thought he saw 
 his way to it. " Couldn't we make up a
 
 FRIENDLY CRITICS. 79 
 
 party to go to the play some evening ? " he 
 suggested. ''If your mother didn't care 
 about it, perhaps Mr. Shafto would chaperon 
 you. And Miss Shafto — is she fond of 
 theatres too ? " 
 
 Miss Wilton laughed and shook her head. 
 " Norma isn t really fond of anything 
 except slums and tatterdemalions," she 
 answered ; " but she is such a good old 
 thing that she will always do what she is 
 asked to do. Would you yourself like to 
 come with us ? " 
 
 This innocent question was accompanied 
 by a sudden upward glance which would 
 doubtless have caused the heart of a 
 susceptible man to flutter. Lord Walter's 
 heart may have been as proof against such 
 assaults as he believed it to be ; but he 
 certainly thought Miss Wilton a very 
 charming little person, and his assurance 
 that he should like it of all things was as 
 sincere as it was emphatic. 
 
 To prove how sincere he was, he lost no 
 time in broaching his proposition to Miss
 
 80 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 Shafto, who laughed and glanced at Madge 
 and assented. Mrs. Wilton, too, disap- 
 pointed expectation by taking it for granted 
 that she was to be of the party. 
 
 " And I dare say Sir Christopher Shear- 
 man would come," she added. "That 
 would make six, you know, which would be 
 just right." 
 
 " Yes ; that would make six," agreed 
 Norma a little doubtfully. " Anyhow," 
 she continued, disregarding a grimace from 
 Madge, ** we can ask him. The best way 
 would be for you all to come and dine with 
 us, when we have decided upon the piece 
 and the date." 
 
 Lord Walter was strongly of opinion 
 that both those points should be settled 
 then and there ; and, notwithstanding some 
 opposition from Mrs. Wilton, who thought 
 Sir Christopher ought to be consulted, he 
 carried his motion by a majority of three 
 to one. Nor did the selection of the piece 
 present any greater difficulties, three out 
 of the conclave of four being absolutely
 
 FRIENDLY CRITICS. 81 
 
 indifferent, while the remaining one frankly 
 avowed a preference for burlesque. 
 
 " It is vulgar of me, I know," Miss 
 Wilton said, with a little appealing side- 
 glance at Lord Walter. Then she turned 
 to her mother and added demurely, " I am 
 in good company, though ; for Sir Chris- 
 topher told me the other day that he had 
 been six times to the Frivolity in the last 
 month and was quite ready to go again." 
 
 When the ladies had taken their leave 
 Lord Walter sat down and smoked a pipe 
 and thought them over. He was a re- 
 flective young man ; and his reflections 
 were sometimes sensible and sometimes 
 ridiculous, like those of the rest of us. 
 *' Those two girls," he mused, " make up a 
 sort of epitome of Woman between them. 
 One has the defects of her noble qualities, 
 and the other has — well, I suppose she has 
 the fascinations that belong to her defects." 
 
 Now, whether this analysis came under 
 the head of sensible or ridiculous, the 
 sequel will show in good time ; but at all 
 
 VOL. T. 6
 
 82 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 events it seems clear that a man capable 
 of making it could hardly have been upon 
 the point of falling in love with either of 
 its subjects. Yet that was just what Lord 
 Walter felt by no means certain about.
 
 ( 83 ) 
 
 CHAPTER Y. 
 
 MRS. WILTOX'S NERVES ARE SHAKEX. 
 
 At six o'clock on the following afternoon 
 Miss Wilton went to tea with her friend 
 Norma Shafto, and in the course of con- 
 versation inquired casually — 
 
 " Do you suppose that Lord Walter 
 Sinclair works all day in that dismal studio 
 of his in order to make his living, or is it 
 only that he pines for celebrity ? " 
 
 " Most likely he works for both reasons," 
 answered Norma. " He told me that he 
 wasn't well off." 
 
 "Poor fellow, what a pity! I thought 
 he seemed so nice. Decidedly handsome, 
 too." 
 
 " He is very nice and very handsome,
 
 84 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 and he isn't nearly poor enough to be 
 pitied. In fact, if I were a man, I should 
 be inclined to envy him." 
 
 " His good looks, you mean ? There isn't 
 much to envy in his talent ; or at all 
 events you didn't seem to think so. How- 
 could you be so down upon that unlucky 
 clay figure of his ! He tried to look as if 
 he didn't mind ; but he wasn't particularly 
 successful, and I would have given any- 
 thino: to be able to breathe a word of 
 comfort to him. Unfortunately that was 
 out of the question, because I know nothing 
 about statues, and they don't interest me 
 a bit. I prefer flesh and blood." 
 
 Norma looked distressed. " Was I rude?" 
 she asked. " I am so sorry ; I only said 
 what I thought." 
 
 ■ ' But that was the worst of it." 
 
 "I am very sorry," repeated Norma. 
 ^' I suppose if one can't be flattering one 
 ought to hold one's tongue ; only I never 
 imagined that he would be hurt by hearing 
 the opinion of an ignoramus. It is hardly
 
 MRS. WILTON'S NERVES ARE SHAKEN. 85 
 
 the sort of offence that can be apologized 
 for, either." 
 
 " Never mind," said Madge, with a slight 
 smile ; ^' I dare say he will forgive you, 
 even without an apology. And in future 
 you may remember that the opinion of 
 certain ignoramuses is of immense import- 
 ance to certain artists." 
 
 She rose as she spoke, and, bending 
 down to set her empty cup upon the tea- 
 table, gazed steadily for a moment into her 
 friend's face. 
 
 " Norma, my dear," said she, " do you 
 know that you are blushing ? This is most 
 remarkable ; for I don't recollect that I 
 ever before in my life saw you blush. I 
 shall make a note of it in my diary. ' On 
 a certain day and at a certain hour Norma 
 Shafto turned as red as a turkey-cock on 
 being told that her good opinion was 
 valued by Lord Walter Sinclair.' A year 
 hence that entry may have become full of 
 interest. I'm sorry he isn't rich ; but then 
 YOU aren't poor, so it doesn't so mucli 
 sia*nirv.
 
 86 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 Kind-hearted people are not always 
 good-humoured ; but Norma Shafto was 
 both'. It was quite true that she was 
 blushing, and she was annoyed with her- 
 self for being so silly as to blush in that 
 causeless way ; yet she did not vent her 
 annoyance upon the indiscreet Madge. 
 
 " I am not guilty, whatever I may look," 
 she declared, laughing. '^ I like Lord 
 Walter very much, and I used to know 
 him years ago, when he was a boy ; but 
 we are scarcely more than acquaintances 
 now." 
 
 " Of course that's what anybody would 
 say under the circumstances." 
 
 *' It is the truth, anyhow." 
 
 '- Quite sure ? " 
 
 " Perfectly sure." 
 
 " Then," said Madge deliberately, " I 
 rather think I will take him up myself. I 
 wouldn't for the world interfere with you 
 in any way ; but if you don't put in a 
 prior claim, it might perhaps be amusing 
 to try and find out whether he is really as
 
 MRS. WILTON'S NERVES ARE SHAKEN. 87 
 
 impassive as lie looks. Would he respond 
 to one's modest advances, do you think?" 
 
 This speech seemed to displease Norma 
 a good deal more than the previous in- 
 sinuation with regard to herself had done. 
 She knitted her brows and said, " I wish 
 you wouldn't talk like that, Madge ! Any 
 stranger who heard you would think you 
 were a horrid girl, and I don't like it even 
 when we are alone." 
 
 " I knew you wouldn't like it," re- 
 turned the other, laughing, " and that was 
 partly why I said it. Dear old Norma ! 
 I believe you really do think it quite 
 wicked to flirt. But I really don't, you 
 see — I don't see the slightest harm in it. 
 And I think I may safely promise neither 
 to break Lord Walter's heart nor my own." 
 
 '* You may be able to answer for your 
 own ; I don't see how you can answer for 
 his. Besides, what about Sir Christopher ? " 
 
 '' Oh, bother Sir Christopher ! Please 
 to bear in mind that I'm not engaged to 
 Sir Christopher. And if I were, I should
 
 88 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 flirt all the more while my liberty lasted, 
 because it would be wholesome discipline 
 for him." 
 
 • Norma shook her head and sighed. " I 
 can't understand the pleasure of behaving 
 in that way," said she. " To say the least 
 of it, it is unladylike and — and undignified." 
 ■' Madge burst out laughing : she had a 
 very pretty, childish sort of laugh. " Now 
 really. Norma," she exclaimed, " you don't, 
 I hope, expect me to be dignified. But 
 I'll try to conduct myself like a lady ; and 
 I was only talking nonsense, and I shall 
 marry Sir Christopher in due season, 
 because I shall be made to marry him ; 
 and then you may be sure that there will 
 be an end of all friskiness and naughtiness 
 and amusement at once and for ever." 
 
 '' You can't be made to marry Sir Chris- 
 topher against your will," observed Norma, 
 who did not look satisfied by this reassuring 
 announcement. 
 
 " Can't I, though ! My dearest Norma, 
 you have been deprived of that inestimable
 
 MRS. WILTON'S NERVES ARE SHAKEN. 89 
 
 blessing, a fond mother ; so you don't 
 know what people may not be made to do. 
 Added to which, 1 won't swear that it 
 would be against my will. When all is 
 said in disparagement of Sir Christopher 
 that can be said — and that is a good deal, 
 Heaven knows ! — the fact remains that he 
 is immensely rich." 
 
 She began to draw on her gloves, smiling 
 at her friend's grave face. It was not easy 
 for a girl of Norma's direct and honest 
 nature to understand this capricious, in- 
 consistent little being, who sometimes talked 
 like a child and sometimes like a hardened 
 woman of the world. She could only 
 account for such speeches as the above by 
 assuming that Madge did not really mean 
 what she said. As a matter of fact, Madge 
 meant what she said quite as much and 
 quite as often as other people. What was 
 doubtless a little perplexing to the observer 
 was that her sentiments varied with her 
 inoods, which in their turn were many and 
 diverse.
 
 90 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 It was, for example, a very different 
 young person from the Madge just de- 
 scribed who demurely followed Mrs. Wilton 
 into that same drawing-room a few even- 
 ings later. Innocence, simplicity, and a 
 not unbecoming timidity were expressed 
 in her features and demeanour ; she was 
 dressed all in white, and looked, upon the 
 whole, rather more as though she contem- 
 plated attending an improving lecture for 
 the young than a burlesque. Mr. Shafto, 
 to whom the study of her character had 
 never presented any difficulties and who 
 had a paternal sort of affection for her, 
 held her by the hand while he welcomed 
 her in the style which old gentlemen are 
 apt to affect in addressing little girls in 
 their teens. 
 
 " Well, Miss Madge," said he, " I hear 
 you are in a fair way to become a con- 
 firmed playgoer. So was I once upon a 
 time ; but that's a great many years ago, 
 and I'm afraid I've lost the taste for it. 
 However, we old folks can enjoy seeing
 
 MRS. WILTON'S NERVES ARE SHAKEN. 91 
 
 the young ones enjoy themselves, can't we, 
 Mrs. Wilton?" 
 
 Mrs. Wilton, who perhaps did not quite 
 like being classed among the old folks, 
 replied rather crossly, " I should enjoy 
 going to the theatre as much as anybody 
 if it didn't always give me a headache. 
 Have you heard from Sir Christopher ? " 
 
 " Oh, yes ; he's coming, and so is young- 
 Sinclair. They'll be here in a few minutes, 
 I dare say." 
 
 The words were hardly out of his mouth 
 before the two men made their appearance, 
 having encountered one another upon the 
 stairs ; and perhaps, as they advanced, 
 there was nobody in the room who did not, 
 voluntarily or involuntarily, draw a com- 
 parison between them, which could not but 
 be to the advantage of the younger. 
 Setting aside the question of personal 
 beauty, Lord Walter always looked like a 
 gentleman, whereas poor Sir Christopher 
 was essentially and unmistakably plebeian. 
 Sir Christopher, however, was in a good
 
 92 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 humour ; and when he was in a good 
 humour he had the appearance of being a 
 hearty, jolly sort of little man. 
 
 After he had shaken hands with everybody, 
 he made straight for Miss Wilton ; and Lord 
 Walter, who was watching him with some 
 curiosity, noticed that she received him with 
 an encouraging smile. For some reason or 
 other which he did not trouble himself to 
 examine into, Lord Walter was rather 
 sorry to see this ; but, after all, it was no 
 business of his, nor had he any cause to 
 feel dissatisfied with his own lot when he 
 found himself placed at the dinner-table 
 between Miss Shafto and Mrs. Wilton. 
 The former took am early opportunity of 
 begging him to excuse the too free way in 
 which she had criticised his handiwork on 
 the occasion of their last meeting. 
 
 " You must have thought me im- 
 pertinent," she said ; " but you did ask me 
 ibr my opinion, you know ; and I gave it, 
 just as I should give my opinion of a 
 Rubens or a Holbein, if I were asked for
 
 :MKS. WILTON'S NERVES ARE SHAKEN. 93 
 
 it. One may express one's opinion without 
 meaning to imply that it is of the smallest 
 consequence to anybody." 
 
 " I was very glad to have your opinion, 
 and I shouldn't have cared to have anv 
 opinion but an honest one," answered Lord 
 Walter. " You might have been mistaken, 
 of course ; but you were not mistaken. 
 You will be relieved to hear that Elizabeth 
 of Hungary has been reduced to her 
 original elements. Perhaps Mrs. Lam- 
 mergeier is right, and I should do well to 
 turn my attention to executing busts of 
 living celebrities. Would Sir Christopher 
 Shearman give me an order, do j^ou 
 think?" 
 
 " I doubt it. Nobody can want to have 
 a bust of himself, and " 
 
 " And nobody could want to have a bust 
 of Sir Christopher.," suggested Lord Walter, 
 finisliing the sentence for her. '' Possibly 
 not just at present ; but times may change. 
 Has he decided to take Brampton Priory?" 
 
 A slight cloud passed over Norma's face.
 
 94 MISS SIIAFTO. 
 
 but slie answered cheerfully, " Yes ; he 
 has taken the place, and I am very glad of 
 it. It will make papa feel much easier, 
 and I think he is as good a tenant as we 
 could expect to find." 
 
 " He has the means of paying his rent, 
 by all accounts. And when Miss Wilton 
 becomes Lady Shearman will she look after 
 your poor people ? " 
 
 It so happened that Norma had some 
 private misgivings upon that point ; but to 
 these she refrained from giving utterance, 
 merely observing that Madge was not Lady 
 Shearman yet. 
 
 " But she will be ? " he persisted. 
 
 " I don't know. Very likely she herself 
 doesn't know." 
 
 " She will be extremely foolish if she 
 refuses him : millionaires don't grow on 
 every bush." 
 
 But Norma was evidently not much 
 inclined to discuss her friend ; and after a 
 few more leading observations which met 
 with no response, he ceased to speculate
 
 MRS. WILTON'S NERVES ARE SHAKEN. 95 
 
 about Madge and her destinies, and devoted 
 himself to a study nearer at hand, which 
 was surely a more interesting one. Pretty 
 little selfish girls can hardly be accounted 
 rare specimens of humanity : what is 
 really rare is to find a young, beautiful, 
 and attractive woman, whose notion of 
 happiness is to make others happy ; and 
 although some of Miss Shafto's methods 
 of achieving this end seemed to him un- 
 likely to meet with any success worth 
 speaking of,- he admired a faith and en- 
 thusiasm which he was not able to share. 
 
 " My daughter," said Mr. Shafto, passing 
 the claret to Sir Christopher, after the 
 ladies had left the room, " will be sure to 
 recommend lots of her proteges round about 
 Brampton to your notice ; but you mustn't 
 take what she says too literally. Norma 
 has a craze upon subjects of that kind. I 
 don't mean to say that the agricultural 
 labourer isn't badly enough off; but 
 whether you or she or anybody else can 
 make him better oif is another question."
 
 96 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 Sir Christopher observed that in nine 
 cases out of ten a man who was badly off 
 had only himself to thank for it ; but to this 
 general proposition Mr. Shafto demurred. 
 
 " Well, I don't know about that," said 
 he. " I'm badly off ; but I don't see how 
 I am to blame for the fall in the value of 
 land." 
 
 " Of course not," agreed Sir Christopher ; 
 "but then you've done the sensible thing 
 by letting your place." 
 
 " I think so," said Mr. Shafto ; " I think 
 it was the sensible thing to do." 
 
 And then he went on, in his usual com- 
 municative way, to relate how he had 
 already augmented his modest fortune by 
 following the advice of his friend Baron 
 Lammergeier, " a shrewd fellow and a 
 first-rate man of business," He was still 
 enlarging upon this topic, Sir Christopher 
 listening to him with a somewhat sceptical 
 smile, when the butler came in to announce 
 that the carriage was at the door and that 
 the ladies were waiting.
 
 MRS. WILTON'S NERVES ARE SHAKEN. 97 
 
 There was a brief discussion in the hall 
 as to how the party should divide itself; 
 but, whatever the wishes of some members 
 of it may have been, the question hardly 
 admitted of any other solution than that 
 which was adopted. Mr. Shafto's carriag;e 
 bore away that gentleman and the three 
 ladies, while the two bachelors followed in 
 a hansom, deriving such consolation as 
 they might from tobacco. Lord Walter 
 had nothing to say to his companion, who, 
 for that matter, did not feel called upon to 
 make conversation for his benefit ; so the 
 two men smoked their cigarettes and main- 
 tained an unbroken silence while they 
 were whirled along Piccadilly and Pall 
 Mall. It was not until they reached the 
 Strand that an incident occurred which 
 caused each of them to forget his determina- 
 tion to ignore the other. 
 
 The Strand was thronged, as it always 
 is at that hour of the evening ; a steady 
 stream was setting in both directions ; but 
 the majority of the carriages, having de- 
 
 VOL. I. 7
 
 98 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 posited tlieir occupants at the various 
 theatres, were returning westwards ; and 
 one of them, wheeling round somewhat too 
 suddenly, came into violent collision with 
 Mr. Shafto's landau. The wheels became 
 locked, the horses began plunging, and to 
 the two spectators in the rear it looked as 
 though the time had come to rescue the 
 ladies from a position of some possible 
 danger. 
 
 " By George, they'll be over in another 
 minute ! " exclaimed Sir Christopher, 
 throwing open the doors of the hansom 
 and jumping out. 
 
 He was followed at once by Lord Walter; 
 but if their intention was to hold up Mr. 
 Shafto's swaying equipage until the ladies 
 should have been got out of it, they were 
 a little bit too late. The carriage stood 
 upon two wheels for a second and then 
 slowly turned over on its side with a crash 
 and an unpleasant sound of breaking glass. 
 
 Of course a crowd immediately collected ; 
 two policemen appeared upon the scene.
 
 MRS. WILTON'S NERVES ARE SHAKEN. 99 
 
 and the cause of the disaster was pro- 
 visionally arrested, loudly protesting his 
 absolute innocence; but neither Lord 
 Walter nor Sir Christopher paid any heed 
 to these details. Their business was to 
 extricate their hapless friends ; and perhaps 
 no one who has not tried it would believe 
 how difficult it is to haul four people out 
 of an overturned carriage. However, the 
 task was accomplished. First Mr. Shafto, 
 then Madge, and then Norma were helped 
 to scramble through the open door ; and a 
 great relief it was to the rescuers to hear 
 that none of them were hurt. 
 
 Then from the dark interior issued forth 
 a lamentable voice, which said, " I am not 
 killed ; but I am horribly bruised, and Mr. 
 Shafto has been standing on my head for 
 five minutes.'* 
 
 " I give you my word of honour," ex- 
 claimed poor Mr. Shafto, aghast, " that I 
 did nothing of the sort. Good heavens, 
 what a thing to say ! I assure you I was 
 most careful "
 
 100 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 But nobody took any notice of his 
 asseverations, except Norma, who patted 
 him on the shoulder and consoled him, 
 and presently Mrs. Wilton was lifted out 
 on to the pavement, somewhat dishevelled 
 and much agitated, but apparently not 
 otherwise the worse for her adventure. 
 As the whole party were within a few 
 yards of the Frivolity Theatre, whither 
 they had been bound, it seemed best to 
 adjourn thither and ascertain the extent 
 of the damage sustained ; and this proved 
 to be so trifling that Madge, for one, 
 declared herself quite ready to go in and 
 witness the performance. But Mrs. Wilton, 
 for whom a chair had been brought, would 
 not hear of such a thing. Nobody but 
 Madge, she said, would have been unfeeling 
 enough to propose it. Perhaps somebody 
 would be so good as to call a cab for her. 
 
 Norma, seeing a suspicion of tears in 
 Madge's eyes, came to the rescue. " If one 
 of the gentlemen would take Mrs. Wilton 
 home," she suggested, '■ the rest of us
 
 MRS. WILTON'S NERVES ARE SHAKEN. 101 
 
 might as well see the play, since we are 
 here." 
 
 Lord Walter had a moment of apprehen- 
 sion, which however was alleviated by the 
 considerate action of Mr. Shafto. 
 
 " I'll take you home, Mrs. Wilton," said 
 the old gentleman. " I really didn't stand 
 on your head, you know ; but never mind 
 that. I'll see that you're made comfort- 
 able, and then I can come back and join 
 the young ones." 
 
 So Mr. Shafto and Mrs. Wilton drove 
 off in a four-wheeled cab together ; and 
 Norma and Madge took their places in the 
 stalls, attended by their two cavaliers and 
 unaccompanied by any vestige of a 
 chaperon. 
 
 " What fun ! " whispered the latter to 
 the former. " If anybody sees us, we shall 
 get a nice character, shan't we ? " 
 
 "I didn't think of that," answered 
 Norma a little anxiously. *' Fortunately, 
 papa will be here before very long."
 
 102 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 CHAPTER YI. 
 
 AT THE PLAY. 
 
 Sir Christopher marched into the theatre 
 first, bearing the tickets ; Madge followed 
 him ; then came Lord Walter, and then 
 Norma. It was doubtless due to the 
 latter's desire to make everybody com- 
 fortable that this order of precedence was 
 observed, and although it might have been 
 more prudent to allow Lord Walter to 
 bring up the rear, she may be excused for 
 having neglected a precaution which, under 
 all the circumstances, seemed to be super- 
 fluous. Throughout the evening Madge 
 had behaved as well as possible ; with Sir 
 Christopher she had been amiability itself ; 
 she had taken no notice at all of the hand- 
 some young sculptor, and it was surely
 
 AT THE PLAY. 103 
 
 improbable that she would begin flirting 
 with him now that her legitimate suitor 
 was seated so close to her. 
 
 Madge Wilton, however, was given to 
 the doing of improbable things. No 
 sooner had she taken her place than she 
 put up a large fan, and, under cover of 
 that shield, bent her pretty little head 
 sideways towards her right-hand neigh- 
 bour. The orchestra was in full blast, so 
 that Sir Christopher could not catch what 
 she said ; though this was not from any 
 lack of effort on his part to do so. After 
 all, her speech, if he had heard it, was not 
 one to which he could very reasonably 
 have objected. 
 
 " Have you got such a thing as a spare 
 pocket-handkerchief about you ? " she whis- 
 pered. " I didn't want to mention it while 
 mamma was there, or she would have 
 insisted upon my going home with her, 
 but I cut my arm when the carriage was 
 upset, and it won't stop bleeding." 
 
 She drew aside the wrap which she had
 
 104 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 kept over her right arm, and displayed, 
 just above the wrist, a blood-stained 
 bandage formed out of one of those absurd 
 combinations of cambric and lace upon 
 which ladies are supposed to be able to 
 blow their noses after a certain hour of the 
 evening. Whether or not it could ever 
 have been used for such a purpose, it was 
 manifestly insufficient for that to which it 
 had now been put, and the satin lining of 
 Miss Wilton's dolman had suffered. 
 
 Lord Walter was much distressed, and 
 was also filled with admiration for the 
 courage of the sufferer. " How plucky of 
 you to keep quiet ! " he exclaimed. " My 
 handkerchief is very much at your service, 
 of course ; but really I think you had 
 better go home. You can come and see 
 this stupid piece any evening, and you 
 ought to have that cut seen to. There 
 may be some broken glass in it." 
 
 " Oh no, there isn't, and if there is, I 
 can wash it out before I go to bed. 
 Please don't make a fuss, or we shall have
 
 AT THE PLAY. lOf) 
 
 Sir Christopher jumping up and asking 
 whether there is a surgeon in the audience. 
 If you can stop the bleeding I shall be all 
 right." 
 
 She delivered over her injured arm to 
 him as she spoke, and he was soon able to 
 satisfy himself that the wound was not a 
 serious one. Sir Christopher, on the other 
 side of the fan, could not see what was 
 taking place ; but Norma, of course, did, 
 and would have made some remark, had 
 she not been checked by an imploring 
 grimace from Madge. Lord Walter drew 
 a knife, containing a pair of scissors, from 
 his pocket, and with these he proceeded as 
 noiselessly as possible to cut his hand- 
 kerchief into strips, which he folded tightly 
 round the white arm abandoned to him. 
 It took him some little time to do this, 
 because bandaging is a scientific operation 
 upon which great care ought always to be 
 bestowed ; and besides, he did not quite 
 know how to finish off his handiwork until 
 Norma handed him a pin.
 
 106 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 Meanwhile the curtain had risen, and 
 the whole attention of the patient was 
 concentrated upon the stage, where a bevy 
 of scantily arrayed shepherdesses were 
 skipping about in time to a chorus sung 
 by an equal number of knock-kneed shep- 
 herds. She appeared to be quite oblivious 
 of her neighbour, and did not distract him 
 from his duties by answering when he 
 asked her whether he was hurting her. 
 And how could a sculptor and anatomist 
 help noticing the perfect outline and 
 moulding of the arm which had been 
 entrusted to him and the smoothness and 
 whiteness of the skin ? And if he lingered 
 more than he need have done over his 
 simple task, and if, when he was obliged 
 to acknowledge it finished, he was con- 
 scious of a certain disturbance of his 
 mental balance, that was nothing more 
 than might have been foreseen. 
 
 It was, at all events, understood by 
 Norma Shafto, who sighed and looked 
 away and tried to interest herself in the
 
 AT THE PLAY. 107 
 
 oaiiibols of the actors. Norma, knowins" 
 very well what it all meant, was provoked 
 and rather impatient, for once, with Madge, 
 whose raancBuvres struck her as being both 
 transparent and uncalled for. What was 
 the good of it ? she wondered. If any 
 amateur surgery was required, it would 
 have been so simple to apply to Sir 
 Christopher ! What pleasure could any 
 girl find, in laying siege to the heart of a 
 man whom she had no intention of marry- 
 ing ? Probably Madge could not have 
 answered the question ; but to the fact 
 that there 7j^as a pleasure in so doing she 
 could have testified with all the certainty 
 engendered by repeated personal experi- 
 ence. The genuine flirt, like the true poet, 
 is born, not made, and although, by dint 
 of painstaking perseverance, a good many 
 ladies contrive to acquire the art after a 
 fashion, they seldom attain to such pro- 
 ficiency in it as Madge Wilton possessed. 
 
 That unscrupulous young woman, on 
 being informed that the binding up of her
 
 108 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 wound was completed, only whispered, 
 " Thank you so much ! " — which, to be 
 sure, was not a great deal to say ; but she 
 accompanied this acknowledgment of the 
 service rendered to her by a glance which, 
 half-timid though it was, was extremely 
 expressive ; and the simple truth is that, 
 during the remainder of the first act, Lord 
 Walter's mind was chiefly busied with 
 conjectures as to what it expressed. She 
 neither spoke to him nor looked at him 
 again until the curtain fell ; to Sir Chris- 
 topher's frequent remarks she responded 
 only by a nod or a murmur ; it was scarcely 
 possible to doubt that she was enjoying 
 herself as much as a schoolboy at a 
 l^antomime, and if she was aware that 
 Lord Walter was admiringly studying her 
 profile, she did not seem to be aware of it. 
 But as soon as she was released from the 
 spell cast over her by the play and the 
 players, she allowed him to have a view of 
 her full face and showed every disposition 
 to converse.
 
 AT THE PLAY. 109 
 
 " Isn't it delightful ! " she exclaimed. 
 
 " Is it ? " he returned, laughing. " Yes ; 
 it's delightful if you think so. Everything 
 is what we think it is." 
 
 "• But don't you think so ? " she asked. 
 " I suppose you don't ; but I wish you 
 did ! One feels as if one ought to be 
 ashamed of liking things which other 
 people find a bore." 
 
 " As far as that goes, the other people 
 ought to be ashamed of being bored, 
 perhaps. Not that I am bored. I don't 
 particularly care about the piece to-night, 
 because I never care much for burlesques 
 and I have seen this one before ; but if it 
 makes you more comfortable to know that 
 your neighbours are happy, you can set 
 your mind at ease so far as one of them is 
 concerned." 
 
 " T cannot understand why you should 
 be happy, sitting in a hot theatre and 
 looking on at a play which doesn't amuse 
 you," said Madge, gravely. 
 
 " Can't you ? " he returned. " Then I'm 
 afraid I can't explain."
 
 110 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 After which their eyes met and they 
 both laughed. 
 
 All this Norma saw and heard. Also, 
 by bending forward a little, she could see 
 that Sir Christopher was beginning to look 
 ominously sulky, and it crossed her mind 
 that she had exercised a somewhat mistaken 
 benevolence in removing Madge from her 
 mother's supervision. " I wonder," she 
 thought, " whether we might not effect a 
 change of places when papa comes. I 
 wish he would come ! " 
 
 At this moment somebody who was not 
 Mr. Shafto made his way along the row of 
 stalls and seated himself in the unoccupied 
 one by Norma's elbow. The new-comer 
 was a lank and sallow young man. His 
 black hair, which was thick and curly and 
 which he wore somewhat longer than is 
 customary in these days, was brushed back 
 behind a pair of prominent ears ; he was 
 clean-shaven, and, being of so dark a com- 
 plexion, had a bluish tinge about that part 
 of his face where his beard ought to have
 
 AT THE PLAY. Ill 
 
 been. His admirers, of whom, like every- 
 body else in the world, he possessed a few, 
 said that he had fine eyes. He had, 
 besides, a nose of noble dimensions and a 
 good many square inches of forehead. His 
 mouth was hirge and his lips were full ; as 
 for his chin, it was going to be a double 
 one before long, but was as yet in an early 
 stage of development. 
 
 He said, in a deliberate, low-pitched 
 voice — a voice which anybody would have 
 sworn to in the dark as belonging to a 
 perfectly self-satisfied being — 
 
 " How do you do. Miss Shafto ? I saw 
 you from afar and came to pay my respects. 
 I didn't expect to find you patronizing 
 burlesque." 
 
 " How do you do, Mr. Morley ? " returned 
 Norma. " I might say the same thing of 
 you, might I not ? Surely your contempt 
 for this sort of thing must be more pro- 
 found than mine." 
 
 "As a dramatic representation," answered 
 Mr. Morley placidly, " it is, of course.
 
 112 MISS SIIAFTO. 
 
 beneath contempt ; but the wliole scene is 
 in a manner instructive, and the mere fact 
 of the theatre being crowded is typical of 
 modern life under one of its aspects. I 
 feel bound to study all the aspects of 
 modern life." 
 
 " Do you ? " said Norma. " Why ? " 
 
 Now this was rather an unkind speech 
 to make, and it was not at all like Norma 
 Shafto to make it. All that can be pleaded 
 on her behalf is that asses are more 
 irritating at some moments than at others. 
 
 Mr. Morley looked surprised and a trifle 
 pained. " I thought you knew," said he, 
 '"• that I dabble a little in literature. As a 
 contributor to certain reviews, and as a 
 humble student of the world and of men, 
 I am often compelled to look on at what 
 to me personally is distasteful." 
 
 ^' To which of the reviews do you con- 
 tribute ? " 
 
 " I must ask you," returned Mr. Morley, 
 with a smile, " to excuse me from answer- 
 ing that question. Hitherto I have pre-
 
 AT THE PLAY. 113 
 
 ferred to preserve my incognito, and 
 perhaps for the present I had better con- 
 tinue to do so." 
 
 An unfriendly critic might have sur- 
 mised that if Mr. Morley had been on the 
 staff of any review of the first class, he 
 would have displayed less modesty ; but 
 Norma was not unfriendly ; she was only 
 disinclined to be bothered with this country 
 neighbour, whom she had not anticipated 
 meeting in London. 
 
 " Are you up in town for any time ? " 
 she asked presently. " I hope you left 
 your mother quite well ? " 
 
 " Quite well, thank you. I am up for 
 the season, like other people : one is more 
 or less obliged to do as other people do. 
 Isn't that Miss Wilton ? " 
 
 He bent forward and bowed to Madge, 
 who acknowledged his salutation by a 
 very slight bend of the head and went on 
 talking to Lord Walter. Perhaps it may 
 have been this insufficient recognition that 
 caused Mr. Morley to remark — 
 
 VOL. I. 8
 
 114 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 " I hear that poor little girl is to be 
 married to your new tenant, Sir Christopher 
 Shearman, who, I see, is sitting beyond 
 her. It seems a melancholy fate ; but I 
 suppose we most of us get the fate that we 
 deserve." 
 
 " You must have been misinformed," 
 said Norma ; " Madge is not engaged to 
 Sir Christopher. When she is, it will be 
 time enough for you to begin pitying 
 her — though I don't know why you 
 should." 
 
 The young man with the curly black 
 hair was not easily snubbed. He said, 
 " My dear Miss Shafto, whenever I think 
 of you I think of Wordsworth's 
 
 ' Perfect woman, nobly plann'd, 
 To warn, to comfort and command ; 
 And yet a spirit still, and bright 
 With something of an angel-light.' 
 
 Being what you are, you naturally and 
 inevitably see what is good in others and 
 are slow to detect what is evil ; but I 
 should think that even you would be
 
 AT THE PLAY. 115 
 
 puzzled to point out much good in Sir 
 Christopher Shearman." 
 
 '' Why do you say that ? " 
 
 " Because it is the truth. He shoots, he 
 hunts, he eats and drinks — is there any- 
 thing more to be said about him ? I can't 
 tell you how grieved I was when I heard 
 that he was to replace you at Brampton." 
 
 " At any rate, he is a man," returned 
 Norma, who was unusually exasperated. 
 
 But she might as well have attempted to 
 kill an alligator with a pea-shooter as to 
 disconcert her companion. Mr. Morley 
 rejoined placidly, " I believe he is a good 
 shot, if that is what you mean ; but we do 
 not belong to a community of savages. 
 In our day and in our country a man must 
 possess higher qualifications than those of 
 a North American Indian before he can be 
 called truly manly." 
 
 In our day and in our country there are 
 a good many men who cannot possibly be 
 so described, if tried by any conceivable 
 test, and Mr. Basil Morley was one of
 
 116 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 these. Nevertheless, Norma had a sneak- 
 ing kindness for the poor creature. She 
 knew that he was good to his old mother, 
 with whom he lived ; he had helped her, 
 too, in providing material comforts for her 
 sick people, and had generously refrained 
 from disturbing their faith in the creed of 
 Christianity, which he himself had out- 
 grown. Moreover, almost everybody de- 
 tested him ; and that in itself constituted 
 a sort of claim upon her indulgence. So, 
 as Mr. Shafto had not appeared when the 
 curtain rose again, she endured his com- 
 pany throughout the second act and sub- 
 mitted with a good grace to the trite 
 reflections with which it pleased him to 
 favour her from time to time. 
 
 What may have helped her to be tolerant 
 was that her attention was really engaged 
 elsewhere. Lord Walter and Madge 
 Wilton continued to whisper together, 
 notwithstanding the highly entertaining 
 spectacle which was provided for them upon 
 the stage ; nor could there be any question
 
 AT THE PLAY. 117 
 
 as to the effect produced by their conduct 
 upon the gentleman of whom Mr. Morley 
 had spoken so disparagingly. Immediately 
 upon the conclusion of the second act Sir 
 Christopher charged out, muttering some- 
 thing, as he passed, about smoking a 
 cigarette outside and having had enough 
 of this rot; and hardly had he vanished 
 when Mr. Shafto entered. 
 
 Mr. Shafto, as his habit was, affected to 
 have arrived in breathless haste. " Sorry 
 to have been so long," he said ; " but I 
 had to take Mrs. Wilton home and see 
 that she had a glass of wine, and then I 
 thought I might as well find out whether 
 the horses or John had been damaged. 
 John tumbled off the box and declares he 
 is badly shaken ; but he doesn't look much 
 the worse. Hullo, Morley ! Attracted up 
 to the metropolis, like the rest of the 
 unemployed, eh ? " 
 
 " I am seldom at a loss for employment," 
 replied Mr. Morley, with a superior sort of 
 smile ; " but a change of scene is some-
 
 118 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 times desirable, I think. I am afraid I am 
 occupying your place." 
 
 " Not at all, my dear fellow ; I don't 
 want to sit beside my own daughter, thank 
 you ; I can do that at home. Stay where 
 you are, and I'll go and talk to my friend 
 Miss Madge." 
 
 Thus it came to pass that when, at the 
 expiration of a few minutes. Sir Christopher 
 returned, Mr. Morley had to retire. Before 
 saying good night, however, he took 
 Norma's address and was so kind as to 
 say that he would look in upon her some 
 day soon. 
 
 Sir Christopher, who was in a very 
 naughty temper, plumped down into the 
 vacated stall, and said gruffly, " Who's 
 tliat puppy ? " 
 
 " You will find out before you have 
 been at Brampton long," answered Norma. 
 " In our part of the world Mr. Morley 
 represents Intellect. The rest of us 
 haven't very much to boast of in that way ; 
 so that we are naturally proud of him,
 
 AT THE PLAY. 119 
 
 ilthougli we think he gives himself undue 
 
 airs." 
 
 " The airs are evident enough," growled 
 Sir Christopher. " Does one have to be 
 acquainted with him long to discover the 
 intellect ? " 
 
 ** Oh, not very long, as a rule. If he 
 himself doesn't tell you what services he 
 has rendered to contemporary literature, 
 his mother will. I shall be curious to 
 hear what you think of your neighbours. 
 You will like most of them, I hope ; but 
 there are some oddities among them." 
 
 If Miss Shafto thought that she was 
 going to steer clear of dangerous topics in 
 this way she did not know her man. Out 
 of the fulness of Sir Christopher's heart 
 his mouth always spoke, and his heart just 
 now was full of indignation against Madge 
 Wilton. " What a flirt that girl is ? " he 
 exclaimed abruptly. " I hate flirts." 
 
 " I don't think you hate Madge, do 
 you ? " asked Norma gently. " If you do, 
 you must be rather unjust and rather un-
 
 120 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 reasonable. She talked to you all through 
 dinner : if she had talked to nobody 
 else for the rest of the evening, perhaps 
 Lord Walter might have called her a 
 flirt." 
 
 " She didn't flirt with me, and she is 
 flirting with him," declared Sir Christopher 
 doggedly. " Pray don't suppose that I am 
 making any complaint ; she is at liberty to 
 please herself. All I say is that I hate 
 a flirt, and I presume I've a right to my 
 own taste." 
 
 There was no disputing that ; and 
 Norma quite understood the implied threat. 
 The only question was whether it was 
 worth while to stroke this bear down. 
 Upon the whole, she believed that it was ; 
 so, while the play was being brought to 
 an end, she exerted herself with that inten- 
 tion, and w^as moderately successful. Sir 
 Christopher, when he said good night to 
 the ladies at the door of the theatre, was 
 not without hope that Madge's behaviour 
 might be explained by an hypothesis rather
 
 AT THE PLAY. 121 
 
 flattering than otherwise to his self-esteem. 
 He had not declared himself yet, and of 
 course it was conceivable that she might 
 wish to make him declare himself; and 
 some colour was lent to this pleasing 
 surmise by the manner in which she took 
 leave of him. 
 
 *' Still cross ? " she whispered, as she 
 gave him her hand, and then, without 
 waiting for an answer, withdrew into the 
 recesses of the cab which Mr. Shafto had 
 called. 
 
 But Lord Walter, as Madge may have 
 been aware, did not hear these last words, 
 being occupied at the moment in telling 
 Norma how much he had enjoyed his 
 evening.
 
 122 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 CHAPTER YII. 
 
 NORMA HAS A BAD TIME OF IT. 
 
 It was discovered a very long time ago 
 that misfortunes never come singly ; and 
 when Norma Shafto found out, on the 
 morning after her visit to the theatre, that 
 she had lost a valuable old fan to which 
 she was much attached, she felt pretty sure 
 that she had an unlucky day before her. 
 It is true that she had got out of bed in 
 low spirits, which was an unusual thing 
 with her ; but whether this circumstance 
 was or was not in any degree accountable 
 for her gloomy anticipations, the latter 
 were speedily verified. No sooner had she 
 entered the breakfast-room than Mr. Shafto 
 bustled in from his study, looking worried
 
 NORMA HAS A BAD TIME OF IT. 123 
 
 and perturbed, and began to grumble at 
 the food set before him. 
 
 "Upon my word, Norma, I think you 
 might see that that woman provides us 
 with something fit to eat ! I'm not over- 
 particular, as you know ; but I do draw 
 the line at stale fish." 
 
 Norma, after apologizing for the fish, 
 which was not stale, rang the bell and 
 ordered something else, though she knew 
 that her father would not eat it when it 
 came. Merely by way of making con- 
 versation, she mentioned her loss ; where- 
 upon Mr. Shafto declared that it served 
 her right for being so careless of her 
 property. 
 
 " I'm not careless of mine, goodness 
 knows ! " he observed, scratching his head 
 ruefully ; " but I lose it, all the same. 
 From what I hear this morning, I think 
 I may say good-bye to three thousand 
 pounds. This is what comes of trusting 
 to lying prospectuses, you see." 
 
 It might have been imagined from his
 
 124 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 tone that Norma had been guilty of that 
 foolish credulity ; although, as a matter of 
 fact, no one could have had a more holy 
 horror of speculation than she. This was 
 neither the first nor the second time that 
 her father had lost money through trying 
 to gain it, and she knew enough of him 
 to be aware that he was incorri2:ible. 
 Therefore she wisely abstained from remon- 
 strances which would only have annoyed 
 him ; and presently, like the grey-headed 
 child that he was, he remembered having 
 spoken crossly to her and begged her 
 pardon. 
 
 " I'm sorry I said the fish was bad ; I've 
 no doubt it's all right. But when one has 
 just dropped three thousand pounds, one 
 would swear that a salmon was tainted if 
 one had landed it with one's own rod an 
 hour ago. Well, well ! there's no good in 
 crying over spilt milk. I think I'll look 
 up Lammergeier this morning ; if anybody 
 can advise me about what steps to take, 
 he is the man. Don't wait luncheon for
 
 NORMA HAS A BAD TIME OF IT. 125 
 
 me ; I'll get something to eat in the 
 City." 
 
 So Mr. Shafto left the house in a 
 tolerably cheerful frame of mind, notwith- 
 standing the good reasons that he had 
 for considering himself unfortunate. But 
 Norma was not able to shake off her de- 
 pression so easily. Having pacified the 
 cook, who was naturally indignant at the 
 affront which had been put upon her, she 
 thought she would go and see a few of 
 those excellent people with whom she had 
 lately become associated in works of charity. 
 Possibly she was not in a fit mood for 
 appreciating the excellences and pardoning 
 the deficiencies of her fellow-workers ; but 
 it certainly did seem to her that these 
 good folks were more priggish, more un- 
 practical, and more self-satisfied than usual. 
 
 For first of all she had an interview 
 with a certain parson ; and a very worthy 
 and hard-working little parson he was, 
 with a round face and a pair of spectacles, 
 and a scrap of blue ribbon at his button-
 
 126 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 hole. Only lie was quite sure about every- 
 thing, as so many of them are, which made 
 him a little irritating at times. Just now 
 he was quite sure that drink is the origin 
 of all evil ; and that, after all, is a theory 
 which cannot be made to hold water by 
 the mere fact that its votaries have resolved 
 to swallow nothing stronger. He thought 
 it a sad pity that Norma was still given 
 to the use of intoxicating liquors ; he was 
 convinced that she would be a great deal 
 better and happier if she would renounce 
 them and induce those about her to do 
 likewise; and apparently his reason for 
 thinking so was that Tim O'Flaherty had 
 been beating his wife again and was even 
 now answering for his excesses before a 
 police-magistrate. 
 
 The little parson was not altogether in 
 the wrong ; but he was dictatorial and 
 provoking, and it was easy to foresee that 
 when poor Mrs. O'Flaherty returned from 
 the police-court she would meet with a 
 Job's comforter. Norma asked whether,
 
 Is^OEMA HAS A BAD TIME OF IT. 127 
 
 under all the circumstances, it would be 
 permissible to leave a small sum of money 
 for the benefit of that injured woman and 
 her children and was somewhat sharply 
 told that she ought to know better than to 
 propose such a thing. Then she received 
 instructions as to the performance of certain 
 tasks which she had undertaken, and went 
 her way. 
 
 Her next visit was to a building in the 
 same district which had recently been 
 hired as a Hall of Recreation for the behoof 
 of the inhabitants ; and here she found 
 Lady Adelaide Tomkinson, the leader and 
 president of the little society which had 
 taken it in hand. Lady Adelaide, a tall, 
 fair-haired and rather pretty woman, whose 
 style of attire recalled the aesthetic craze 
 of a few years ago, was totting up accounts 
 with the manager of the establishment, and 
 frankly admitted that she had got them 
 into a hopeless tangle. 
 
 " One thing, however," said she, push- 
 ing her books away with a sigh, " is quite
 
 128 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 clear, and that is that we are not paying 
 our way. We have ceased to be a novelty, 
 and we don't seem to be a success. You 
 were not at the concert here last night, 
 were you. Miss Shafto ? " 
 
 " No," answered Norma ; " I was at the 
 theatre." 
 
 " I don't think one should take up a 
 work of this kind," said Lady Adelaide 
 rather severely, " unless one is prepared to 
 make some sacrifices in order to support it. 
 Naturally the people won't come to enter- 
 tainments which we don't think good 
 enough to patronize ourselves." 
 
 *'Were you here last night?" Norma 
 ventured to inquire. 
 
 "It was quite impossible for me to be 
 here. Mr. Tomkinson had asked some 
 political people to dinner and I was 
 obliged to entertain them. A married 
 woman, of course, has home duties which 
 she can't neglect, and which are by no 
 means always pleasures, I can assure you. 
 Please don't think that I mean to scold
 
 NORMA HAS A BAD TIME OF IT. 129 
 
 you, Miss Shafto ; only it seems that none 
 of us were here last night except the per- 
 formers, and you can understand how dis- 
 couraging that must be to the audience." 
 
 Lady Adelaide added, as she rose — 
 " Since you have come, Miss Shafto, it 
 would be very kind of you if you would 
 go through these accounts. I never had 
 any head for figures, and I must be at home 
 before luncheon-time." 
 
 So Norma spent half an hour in auditing 
 and correcting Lady Adelaide's sums in 
 addition, and, as the result of her labours, 
 was able to declare a considerable deficit. 
 The manager, a decent, middle-aged man, 
 with an occasional twinkle in the corner 
 of his eye, had not much comfort to offer 
 her. 
 
 " You see, m'm," said he, " it takes 
 something powerful in the way of an 
 attraction to compete with beer. Then 
 there's another thing you've got to contend 
 against, and that is that a many of these 
 people is downright 'ungry. Now, there's 
 
 VOL. I. 9
 
 130 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 a good deal as you and me might enjoy 
 whicli we couldn't seem to relish upon an 
 empty stomach, do you see, m'm ? " 
 
 Apparently this observer, who was not 
 without experience, was very much of 
 Lord Walter's opinion. Norma went 
 away with a rather heavy heart. What is 
 to be done with the thousands who are for 
 ever hovering upon the verge of famine ? 
 Mansion House Funds, we are told, do 
 them little or no good ; to sanction a 
 fictitious demand for labour by means of 
 public works would be to insert the thin 
 end of a very formidable wedge ; to raise 
 the moral standard of the masses would be 
 a capital thing ; but then nobody seems to 
 know how to set about doing it. 
 
 Perhaps the very best plan that a far- 
 sighted philanthropist could suggest would 
 be to put three-fourths of them to death. 
 If that impossible thing could be done, and 
 if equally impossible restrictions could be 
 imposed upon the increase of population, 
 posterity might have some chance. Mean-
 
 NORMA HAS A BAD TIME OF IT. 131 
 
 while individual effort appears to produce 
 no appreciable fruit, unless indeed it be to 
 the individuals themselves, who, let us 
 hope, reap a reward of some description or 
 other from the seed of their kind intentions. 
 Norma Shafto was far too sensible to be 
 discouraged by the comparative failure of 
 efforts from which she had never antici- 
 pated any triumphant results. If upon 
 this occasion she was disposed to take an 
 unusually pessimistic view of things in 
 general, that was only because, as has been 
 related, things in general were unusually 
 vexatious. She thought them all over 
 after she had gone home and was eating 
 her solitary luncheon ; but, oddly enough, 
 she omitted to count among them one thing 
 which in reality annoyed her more than 
 the whole of the others together. She 
 foresaw that trouble would come of Madge's 
 unfortunate determination to flirt with 
 Lord Walter Sinclair ; only she said to 
 herself that, after all, it was no business of 
 hers, and that people who have made up
 
 132 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 their minds to do foolish things are seldom 
 deterred from their folly by the interven- 
 tion of outsiders. She had gone upstairs 
 to the drawing-room, and was debating 
 whether she should or should not go and 
 inquire how Mrs. Wilton was after the 
 shock of the previous evening, when a 
 visitor was announced. 
 
 Mr. Morley followed his name into the 
 room very languidly. He had a way of 
 entering a room which of itself would have 
 sufficed to prejudice any unprejudiced 
 person against him ; but it must be assumed 
 that he was not aware of this. When he 
 had seated himself in the most comfortable 
 chair that he could find, he said, with a 
 slow, exasperating smile, " Miss Shafto, I 
 must plead guilty to an act of petty 
 larceny." He drew Norma's missing fan 
 from his pocket, and held it up. " Last 
 night," he continued, " I could not resist 
 the temptation to appropriate some trifle of 
 yours, which I might take home with me 
 and which would breathe to me of you ;
 
 NORMA HAS A BAD TIME OF IT. 133 
 
 but when I examined this fan by daylight 
 and perceived its intrinsic value — perhaps 
 you don't know how really valuable it is ? 
 — I felt that I must restore it to its owner ; 
 and so here I am. Will you forgive me ? " 
 
 '' Since you have brought it back, I will 
 forgive you, Mr. Morley," answered Norma, 
 half amused, half indignant ; " but I hope 
 you will not behave in such an idiotic way 
 again. That fan belonged to my grand- 
 mother, and I know its value as well as 
 you do. I have already sent to the theatre 
 to inquire about it, and I have put an 
 advertisement in the papers ; so you see 
 you have caused a great deal of trouble 
 which might have been avoided. Another 
 time, if you want to have anything that 
 will breathe of me to you, perhaps you 
 will kindly mention it, and I will try to 
 oblige you. You might have had the loan 
 of my fan last night for the asking, instead 
 of making a pickpocket of yourself." 
 
 She was accustomed to Basil Morley 's 
 flowery speeches and thought him a harm-
 
 134 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 less sort of fool. That, however, was by- 
 no means the view that Mr. Morley took 
 of himself. He was quite certain that he 
 was not a fool, and he would not at all 
 have liked to be stigmatized as harmless. 
 
 " Ah," he sighed, " if I had only known 
 that ! But I didn't know it, and so I 
 yielded to my wicked inclinations. Well, 
 at any rate my offence has served its 
 purpose ; for it has been the means of 
 inspiring me." 
 
 *' Inspiring you? With what?" in- 
 quired Norma, rather imprudently. 
 
 '' Oh, with a poor enough thing. Some- 
 times when I am in the mood for it, I 
 knock off a sonnet ; but as often as not I 
 burn what I have written. Latterly I have 
 been thinking that I may perhaps bring 
 out a volume of the few which I have kept 
 and which seem to me to have some merit. 
 This one is scarcely worthy of your notice ; 
 still, if you really wish to hear it " 
 
 Norma was as innocent of having ex- 
 pressed any such wish as she was of having
 
 NORMA HAS A BAD TIME OF IT. 135 
 
 experienced it ; but she had not the requisite 
 hardness of heart to silence her visitor, who 
 at once produced a sheet of paper, remark- 
 ing, " I have called it ' To My Lady's 
 Fan.' " Then he cleared his voice and 
 started — 
 
 " Oh, call it not a theft that made thee mine t 
 For thou and I are hers, and she is ours, 
 And in that fellow-slavery divine 
 
 We are each other's. Through the sleepless 
 hours 
 Of this sweet summer night I'll sing to thee. 
 And thou " 
 
 Here the poet was suddenly interrupted 
 by a peal of irrepressible laughter. 
 
 " I beg your pardon," said Norma, 
 speaking indistinctly from behind the 
 pocket-handkerchief with which she was 
 trying in vain to stifle her merriment ; 
 "but I really couldn't help it. When I 
 hear things described I always picture them 
 to myself, and the idea of your sitting up 
 all night, with an open fan before you, and 
 singing to it was rather comical, wasn't 
 it ? I didn't mean to laugh at the sonnet,
 
 136 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 which I am sure is very pretty. Please 
 go on." 
 
 But Mr. Morley was not to be appeased. 
 He folded up the paper and put it away, 
 observing coldly, " You will hardly expect 
 me to make myself ridiculous by reading 
 any farther. Whatever the sonnet may 
 have been worth, you have quite destroyed 
 its value in my eyes, and I shall tear it up 
 as soon as I get home. At the same time, 
 I may perhaps be permitted to point out 
 that I made use of the verb to sing in a 
 poetical, not in a musical sense. If it is 
 so very laughable to indite a sonnet to an 
 inanimate object, I have at least the con- 
 solation of knowing that greater poets than 
 I have done the same thing and that I am 
 derided in tolerably good company." 
 
 To this dignified rebuke Norma returned 
 no immediate reply. When she did speak, 
 it was to say, "1 think, if I could write 
 poetry, I wouldn't waste my time in 
 addressing verses to anybody's fan. There 
 are so many other subjects which a man of
 
 NORMA HAS A BAD TIME OF IT. 137 
 
 genius might take up, and some of them 
 haven't been touched yet." 
 
 " Are there ? " asked Mr. Morley, some- 
 what mollified by being called a man of 
 genius. " I should be very glad to hear of 
 them. My own belief is that every con- 
 ceivable poetical idea has been worn thread- 
 bare long ago." 
 
 '• I was thinking of the poverty and 
 misery of London. A poem which de- 
 scribed that might do some good and 
 couldn't very well help being pathetic. 
 But as yet no poet seems to have thought 
 it worth more than a passing allusion." 
 
 " Well, we have had ' The Song of the 
 Shirt,' you know. Of course that is not 
 poetry of a high class ; still, in its own 
 way, it has a certain value. You, I know, 
 are greatly interested in the unhappy lot 
 of the masses, and whatever interests you 
 interests me. But I must confess that I 
 should have difficulty in writing a poem 
 upon such a theme. All that is squalid 
 and mean and ugly distresses and disgusts
 
 138 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 me. I suppose that is the inevitable failing 
 of the poetic temperament." 
 
 He looked so blandly self-complacent, he 
 was so perfectly unconscious of his own 
 absurdity, that Norma could not be angry 
 with him. She only remarked, " You 
 might put your distress and disgust into 
 rhyme, might you not ? The more strongly 
 you felt them the greater your success 
 would be, I should think." 
 
 Mr. Morley smiled. "Ah, but I don't 
 covet success," he rejoined. " When one 
 sees who the successful people are, one 
 really doesn't feel very anxious to be 
 included among them. My ambition is 
 simply to be appreciated by a few — a 
 select few." 
 
 Norma was wondering whether it would 
 be very unkind to disappoint him by 
 omitting to ask who the select few might 
 be, when, to her relief, a second visitor was 
 shown into the room. 
 
 At the name of "Miss Travers" Mr. 
 Morley made a grimace and heaved an
 
 NORMA HAS A BAD TIME OF IT. 139 
 
 impatient sigh ; but Norma jumped up and 
 stepped forward with outstretched hands 
 to welcome a lady who was perhaps the 
 most staunch friend that she had in the 
 world.
 
 140 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 CHAPTER YIII. 
 
 OLD NELL. 
 
 Throughout Stourshire, and it might 
 almost be said throughout England, so far 
 as a certain section of society is concerned, 
 Miss Travers was well known and de- 
 servedly popular. She rode straight to 
 hounds ; she was an admitted authority on 
 the training and treatment of horses and 
 dogs ; she had a kindly, honest disposition ; 
 she was in the habit of saying what she 
 thought, and she feared neither man nor 
 woman in the world. These attributes, 
 taken in conjunction with the circumstances 
 that she was comfortably off and was a 
 gentlewoman by birth, had earned for her 
 a large circle of friends. " Old Nell," as
 
 OLD NELL. 141 
 
 she was generally called, was a frequent 
 and welcome guest at country houses ; her 
 towering form and her good-humoured, 
 ugly face were to be seen everywhere 
 where smart people are to be seen in 
 London during the early part of the 
 summer, and to frequenters of Newmarket 
 her features were as familiar as those of 
 the stewards of the Jockey Club themselves. 
 The prefix of ' ' old " has, as everybody 
 knows, become more or less a term of 
 endearment. In a literal sense Miss 
 Travers could not be called old, though she 
 was certainly no longer young, being at 
 this time rather over forty years of age. 
 Plain she had always been ; and perhaps 
 it was because she was so perfectly well 
 aware of that fact that she did not think it 
 worth while to bestow as much attention 
 upon her personal appearance as women 
 usually do. " I take care to have good 
 boots," she was wont to say, " and I believe 
 my riding-habits fit me pretty well ; but as 
 for frocks, I can't bring myself to take
 
 142 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 an interest in them. I leave that sort of 
 thing to my maid." 
 
 The result of this misplaced confidence 
 was that Miss Travers was often arrayed 
 in a combination of colours which grieved 
 sensitive souls like that of Basil Morley, 
 and that, when in the country, she wore 
 costumes designed rather with a view to 
 comfort and durability than in conformity 
 with the laws of prevailing fashion. For 
 these latter it may be surmised that she 
 herself, not her maid, was responsible. 
 She was in the country, off and on, for 
 three-fourths of the year. She had a small 
 property, inherited from her father, which 
 she managed with dexterity, and even, it 
 was said, with profit, farming a consider- 
 able portion of it herself. Her house, 
 which was of moderate size, was large 
 enough to accommodate as many guests as 
 she cared to invite. The extensive stabling 
 which she had added to it had been built 
 under her personal supervision, and was 
 pronounced by competent judges to be in
 
 OLD NELL. 143 
 
 all respects admirable. Amongst the poor 
 she was considered to be both just and 
 generous, while her richer neighbours had 
 that respect for her which it is natural to 
 feel for those who know exactly what you 
 are worth and treat you accordingly. Miss 
 Travers was strongly of opinion (and 
 she never disguised her opinions) that 
 Norma Shafto was worth all the other 
 inhabitants of Stourshire put together. In 
 Norma she recognized, if not precisely a 
 kindred spirit, yet one whose quaHties were 
 such as to command her sympathy and 
 admiration ; and it was therefore not 
 surprising that she had heard with con- 
 sternation that Brampton Priory was about 
 to pass into other hands. Her first words 
 bore reference to this melancholy news. 
 
 " My dear creature," she exclaimed, " if 
 you want to see a dejected and disconsolate 
 woman, here you are ! I suppose it's no 
 fault of yours; but as for Mr. Shafto, I 
 can't forgive him, and he had better keep 
 out of my reach for some time to come.
 
 144 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 As if people had any business to go letting 
 their houses to the first ironmonger that 
 turns up ! Not that the case would have 
 been much improved if he had let his house 
 to the Prince of Wales. Brampton ought 
 never to have been let at all, and that's all 
 about it." 
 
 " But necessity has no law," observed 
 Norma. " When one can't afford to live 
 at home one must go away, and I think 
 poor papa deserves some credit for putting 
 a good face upon it." 
 
 " Anyhow, you don't deserve any for 
 taking his part, because you would do that, 
 whether he was right or wrong. Don't 
 tell me he can't afford to live at home ; he 
 could afford it well enough if he chose. I 
 look upon him as a selfish and foolish old 
 man, and I shall tell him so the very first 
 time that I see him." 
 
 " I am quite sure you will," said Norma, 
 laughing ; " but unfortunately no rude 
 speeches can cancel the lease of Brampton." 
 
 " If they could," observed Mr. Morley,
 
 OLD NELL. 145 
 
 " I should not shrink from uttering a few 
 myself. The end would justify the means." 
 
 "Oh, that's you, is it?" said Miss 
 Travers. "I thought I noticed a dis- 
 agreeable smell of patchouli. How do you 
 do ? What has brought you to London ? " 
 
 " Is not London large enough to hold us 
 both, Miss Travers?" inquired the poet, 
 with an unfriendly sort of smile. " As for 
 patchouli, I may truly say that I have 
 never used such a brutal scent in my life, 
 and that I would die rather than use it." 
 
 " Well, I won't swear to its being 
 patchouli ; but it's something unpleasant. 
 Pomatum, I dare say. Now that you are 
 in London why don't you take the oppor- 
 tunity to have your hair cut ? You have 
 no idea how much more like a respectable 
 being you would look if you were to have 
 that wiry black mat removed from the back 
 of your head." 
 
 "Don't you think. Miss Travers," sug- 
 gested Mr. Morley sweetly, " that we had 
 better steer clear of personal criticism ? It 
 
 VOL. I. 10
 
 146 MISS SHAPTO. 
 
 is a game at which two can play, and 
 perhaps, if I were rude enough to do it, I 
 might offer some advice to you which 
 would not he altogether devoid of excuse." 
 
 " My good man, you know as well as I 
 do that you would never have the pluck. 
 You are dying to say something rude at 
 the present moment ; but you can't get 
 beyond insinuations, you see, and I suspect 
 that your poor little heart is fluttering like 
 a bird's at your audacity in having gone 
 even so far." 
 
 ' ' Nell 1 " remonstrated Norma in a 
 whisper, as Mr. Morley slowly rose and 
 took up his hat. 
 
 But Miss Travers only burst out laugh- 
 ing. " Are you going, Mr. Morley ? " she 
 asked. " Well, good-bye then, and don't 
 bear malice. I'll take your word for it 
 that you never use patchouli." 
 
 Mr. Morley vouchsafed no reply. He 
 bent over Norma's hand with a grace 
 which was all his own, saying, " I hope I 
 may be allowed to come and see you
 
 OLD NELL. 147 
 
 again, Miss Shafto," and so made for the 
 door. 
 
 " Poor fellow ! " exclaimed Norma, as 
 soon as he was gone ; " I don't think you 
 ought to have insulted him as you did, 
 Nell, and now I am afraid he is really 
 offended." 
 
 '' Oh, he'll be all right," answered Miss 
 Travers easily. "I was obliged to be insult- 
 ing, or he would never have moved ; but I 
 dare say he'll forgive me. At all events, 
 we have got rid of him for the present. 
 How you can tolerate such a degraded 
 wretch I can't conceive." 
 
 "I don't dislike him so much as you 
 do," answered Norma. "He is conceited, 
 of course, but one must take into considera- 
 tion that he is an only child and that his 
 mother has spoilt him." 
 
 " My dear Norma, he has been at a 
 public school and at college. I don't see 
 how you can hold poor old Mother Morley 
 responsible for anything except having 
 brought him into the world. However, he
 
 148 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 isn't worth talking about ; I'd rather talk 
 about you. Are you going to live in 
 London ? What does your father mean to 
 do?" 
 
 " He hasn't said much about it as yet," 
 answered Norma ; " but most likely we 
 shall establish ourselves here. We can 
 have a lease of this house, I believe, and 
 papa always seems to be able to find 
 occupation in London. He is a good deal 
 at his club; and then there is the City, 
 where he goes to meet his friend Baron 
 Lammergeier, and makes money — or loses 
 it." 
 
 Miss Travers shook her head. " He's a 
 great deal more likely to lose money than 
 make it if he trusts to that rascally little 
 Jew," said she. " I heard that he was 
 mixed up with Lammergeier, and I was 
 very sorry to hear it. The turf is bad 
 enough, goodness knows ; but, depend 
 Upon it, an honest man has a much better 
 chance upon the turf than he has in the 
 City."
 
 OLD NELL. 149 
 
 " How do you know ? " asked Norma, 
 smiling. 
 
 " Because I've had a shy at both, my 
 dear ; that's how I know. Lammergeier 
 has enriched himself by robbing widows 
 and orphans." 
 
 "Isn't that what they say about all 
 these great financiers ? " 
 
 " Yes : and it's generally true too. I 
 would make so bold as to s^ive vour father 
 a word of warning, only it isn't over and 
 above likely that he would listen to me. 
 You haven't told me yet how London life 
 suits you. I needn't ask whether you 
 have begun slumming, because that's a 
 matter of course ; but I hope you are 
 going about a little and seeing people. 
 After all, one's own class has some slight 
 claim upon one's notice, though it isn't 
 clad in rags." 
 
 Norma mentioned a few of the houses to 
 which she had been invited. " But of 
 course we haven't a very large acquaint- 
 ance," she said. " At least, I haven't ;
 
 150 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 papa seems to know everybody. I suppose 
 that you have heard that the Wiltons are 
 in town ? " 
 
 Miss Travers nodded. " The old woman 
 has taken the war-path," she remarked, 
 " and I am told that she is upon the point 
 of scoring another big success. Your 
 tenant the ironmonger is a prize worth 
 securing." 
 
 " But is he ? " asked Norma. " Do you 
 think he would make a good husband ? " 
 
 " As good as most and better than some. 
 He isn't a gentleman, which is so far 
 against him ; but then there are plenty of 
 gentlemen who don't shine in a matrimonial 
 capacity. If Madge Wilton were my 
 daughter, I should consider him good 
 enough for her." 
 
 " Perhaps you wouldn't, if she were your 
 daughter. And I am not at all sure that 
 she considers him so." 
 
 " She won't be consulted, I take it ; but 
 if she were, it wouldn't make much differ- 
 ence. That little girl is every bit as
 
 OLD NELL. 151 
 
 worldly as her mother. She'll be a willing 
 victim, you'll see." 
 
 Norma said she was not €onvinced of 
 that. " Madge chooses to talk as if she 
 was worldly ; but a good deal of that is 
 pretence, I think. She has had no ex- 
 perience ; Sir Christopher is really the 
 only serious admirer she has ever had, and 
 1 don't see why she shouldn't fall in love 
 like other girls. If she were to meet 
 anybody whom she could really care 
 for " 
 
 " She would cry and throw him over, 
 unless he had plenty of money," interrupted 
 Miss Travers. " She wouldn't cry very 
 long or very much. She has one of those 
 hearts which concentrate the whole wealth 
 of their affection upon a single person, and 
 in her case the person has already been 
 found. That person's name is Madge 
 Wilton." 
 
 Norma did not smile at this witticism ; 
 but after a minute or so of silence she 
 observed : *' Madge is only a child. Oir-
 
 152 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 cumstances may turn her into a woman any 
 day, and neither you nor I can tell for 
 certain how she will behave then." 
 
 " I can form a guess ; the child is mother 
 to the woman. Who is he ? " 
 
 " What do you mean ? '* 
 
 " I mean, who is the man with whom 
 you think she has fallen in love ? " 
 
 Norma laughed a little. " Oh, I don't 
 know that she has fallen in love with any- 
 body ; it is far more probable that he has 
 fallen in love with her, and as I introduced 
 them to each other, I have a sort of feeling 
 of responsibility. He is Lord Walter Sin- 
 clair, whom I met a short time ago at 
 Mrs. Lammergeier's, after an interval of 
 I forget how many years. He was a 
 schoolboy once upon a time and now he is 
 a sculptor." 
 
 '*0h, Walter Sinclair, is it? Then 
 there's no great harm done. Walter is a 
 good fellow in his way, but as cold as ice 
 and as prudent as an old woman. I defy 
 Madge to break his heart, and I know he
 
 OLD NELL. 153 
 
 can't break hers, because she hasn't got one 
 to be broken." 
 
 " Well, that's a way of talking ; I don't 
 believe in anybody's being heartless at her 
 age. And I think you are wrong about 
 Lord Walter. He isn't impetuous or 
 enthusiastic, perhaps ; but still waters run 
 deep." 
 
 *' I've known him all his life," said Miss 
 Travers, " if that has anything to do with 
 it. 
 
 There was a short pause, after which 
 Norma asked, " Is he well enough off to 
 marry, do you think ? " 
 
 " No ; his father left him £15,000, and 
 his brother is a queer fish. He won't get 
 much from his brother, I suspect. Now, 
 Norma, if in the kindness of your heart 
 you contemplate encouraging a match 
 between those two, be advised by me and 
 drop it. You'll only get yourself into 
 trouble, and most assuredly no one will 
 thank you. Let them flirt if they want to 
 flirt ; Mrs. Wilton will very soon put a
 
 154 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 stop to that. When and where do they 
 meet ? " 
 
 " They are not in the habit of meeting 
 anywhere," answered Norma ; " but last 
 night he came to the theatre with us, and 
 he was certainly very attentive to Madge, 
 and Sir Christopher didn't like it." 
 
 " Bless your innocence ! " exclaimed Miss 
 Travers ; " doesn't it occur to you that 
 Madge forced poor Walter to be attentive 
 to her precisely in order that Sir Chris- 
 topher mightn't like it ? " 
 
 '^ Of course that may have been the 
 case ; but I don't think it was. It seemed 
 to me that they were both in earnest ; and 
 so 
 
 " And so you are bent upon eggm 
 
 fc) 
 
 them on to commit an act of suicidal folly. 
 It's some comfort to know that you haven't 
 the remotest chance of succeeding." 
 
 But, as a result of further inquiry, it 
 transpired that Norma did not really 
 harbour the design attributed to her. She 
 said that, so far as she was able to form an
 
 OLD NELL. 165 
 
 opinion, Lord Walter and Madge had not 
 very mucli in common, and the latter, she 
 was persuaded, would never be happy as a 
 poor man's wife. She confessed, however, 
 that she knew next to nothing about Lord 
 Walter, and, judging by the number ot 
 questions that she asked about his history, 
 his tastes, his friends and so forth, she was 
 very anxious to learn more. 
 
 Miss Travers replied to the best of her 
 ability, and was careful not to exhibit a 
 certain disquietude which gradually took 
 possession of her while she was being cate- 
 chised. But as she slowly descended the 
 staircase, after taking her leave, she 
 muttered under her breath, " Bother that 
 little minx ! Norma is too good for any 
 man ; still he is a gentleman and an honest 
 fellow, and it would be a great thing to 
 get her safely married and a comfortable 
 sum settled upon her before her father ruins 
 himself." 
 
 And when she stepped into the hansom 
 which was waiting for her at the door she
 
 156 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 did not at once answer the man's question 
 of " Where to, mum ? " It was not until 
 the query had been twice repeated that she 
 responded by giving the address of a rising 
 young sculptor who dwelt in the vicinity 
 of Holland Park. 
 
 Now, at six o'clock in the evening, even 
 though the season be the height of summer, 
 sculptors have generally knocked off work 
 for the day ; but Lord Walter had the 
 habits of an amateur, and believed more or 
 less in the theory of inspiration. Thus it 
 not unfrequently happened to him to be 
 idle for a whole week, after which, 
 having been struck by a sudden idea, he 
 would labour for six or seven consecutive 
 hours to put it into execution ; and so it 
 was that he was putting the finishing 
 touches to a very charming little female 
 head when the head of Miss Travers, 
 which could not truthfully be called either 
 little or charming, was poked through the 
 doorway of his studio. 
 
 " May I come in ? " asked the intruder.
 
 OLD NELL. 157 
 
 Lord Walter started and turned round. 
 Then, with a smile of welcome upon his 
 lips and in his blue eyes, " My dear Nell," 
 he exclaimed, *' of course you may ! I had 
 no idea you were in London. Will you 
 sit down here, or will you come into the 
 drawing-room and have a cup of tea ? I 
 possess a drawing-room." 
 
 " Thanks, the studio is good enough for 
 me, and I've had my tea," answered Miss 
 Travers, taking a chair. " I trust that this 
 visit will not compromise you in the eyes 
 of your servants." 
 
 " I don't think it will," answered Lord 
 Walter, laughing. 
 
 " Nor do I ; though you might have had 
 the civility to say that you feared it would. 
 One is middle-aged and hard-featured ; but 
 one has one's feelings, all the same. You 
 don't seem to have a large collection of 
 wares on hand. What is that thing that 
 you're at work upon ? " 
 
 She rose and scrutinized the clay which 
 Lord Walter had been manipulating.
 
 158 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 " I haven't hit upon a name for it yet," 
 he answered. " It's a girl's head." 
 
 "^That much I am able to discern by the 
 light of my own unassisted intelligence. 
 And I may add that it's an uncommonly 
 poor likeness. Deprive Madge Wilton of 
 her eyes, and you won't find much left in 
 her worth looking at. Anyhow, you cer- 
 tainly won't find a mouth or a nose like 
 tbose." 
 
 Lord Walter did not seem embarrassed. 
 " And yet you recognize it at a glance," he 
 observed. " That looks as if it couldn't be 
 so very bad. Besides, who told you that 
 it was meant for a likeness ? Miss Wilton 
 gave me an idea, and I endeavoured to im- 
 prove upon it, that's all." 
 
 Miss Travers grunted. " Well," said 
 she, " there's no denying that you have 
 improved upon the original. Why you 
 should have selected such an original, when 
 you might have taken Norma Shafto 
 instead, I don't understand." 
 
 "You would if you were an artist, Nell.
 
 OLD NELL. 159 
 
 For one thing, Miss Shafto couldn't be 
 improved upon. Then the habitual expres- 
 sion of her face would be extremely difficult 
 to catch. It is constantly changing; 
 although the general effect that she pro- 
 duces is that of a calm, self-reliant person. 
 Now Miss Wilton's habitual expression 
 isn't in the least difficult to catch — and I 
 think you must admit that I have caught 
 it." 
 
 " Oh, you've caught it right enough ; the 
 question is whether it was worth catching. 
 However, I don't want to dictate to you 
 what models you should choose. After all, 
 if I had found you attempting to model a 
 likeness of Norma, I should have thought 
 it pretty cool of you." 
 
 " Exactly so ; that's just what I should 
 have thought of myself. But there's 
 nothing divine about Miss Wilton, you see ; 
 one may take any liberties with her 
 features and expression and feel no com- 
 punction at all when one has been found 
 out."
 
 160 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 *^ Oh, that's it, is it ? And now let iis 
 proceed to business. Have you, by any 
 cbance, seen Loddondale lately ? " 
 
 " Oddly enough, I have," answered Lord 
 Walter. " He honoured me with a call a 
 short time ago, and I can't recollect that 
 he has ever in the whole course of his 
 existence done such a thing before." 
 
 " Then, my dear, good friend," exclaimed 
 Miss Travers earnestly, " for Heaven's 
 sake tell me whether Nugget is going to 
 win the Stockbridge Cup ! " 
 
 *' I don't know what vou'll think of me 
 when I confess that I never asked. I was 
 not personally interested, because I don't 
 bet, and I couldn't foresee that I should be 
 consulted by you. But if I had asked, I 
 shouldn't have been answered." 
 
 " Probably not ; but I thought some- 
 thing might have leaked out in the course 
 of conversation. Wasn't he brotherly 
 enough to give you a single tip ? " 
 
 " He was not. I doubt whether he 
 would consider it any part of his duty as
 
 OLD NELL. 16 L 
 
 a brother to give me information about his 
 horses. As a matter of fact, we never 
 mentioned racing at all." 
 
 ^' Never mentioned racing ! " ejaculated 
 Miss Travers incredulously. '' Then v^hat 
 in the name of goodness did you talk 
 about ? I don't see how anybody could be 
 five minutes in Loddondale's company 
 without mentioning racing." 
 
 " Well, we had family affairs to discuss ; 
 we hadn't met since my poor old father 
 died. And then Loddondale gave me his 
 notions about the sculptor's art." 
 
 ** They must have been worth listening 
 to, I should think. No allusion to the 
 Newmarket July, or San down, or Grood- 
 wood ? " 
 
 " Not the faintest, I am sorry to say." 
 
 Miss Travers glanced at her watch and 
 rose. " Under those circumstances," she 
 remarked, '' I may as well take myself off. 
 I'm sorry you don't think it worth while 
 to profit by your relationship to a man who 
 owns some of the best horses in England." 
 
 TOL. I. 11
 
 1'62 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 " I'm sorrj you think it worth your 
 while to back two-j^ear-olds about whom 
 nothing is known," returned Lord Walter, 
 laughing. "Nugget may turn out a 
 marvellous performer; as far as I am 
 aware, he has scarcely been tried yet. But 
 I do recollect the fact that his sire was a 
 roarer." 
 
 " Now, my dear Walter," said Miss 
 Travers, "you mind your own business 
 and leave me to mind mine. If you never 
 make a greater fool of yourself than I have 
 done hitherto, you'll get on pretty well." 
 
 She moved towards the door, but paused 
 before she reached it and added, as an 
 afterthought, " Well, if I were you, I 
 should destroy that head. Sir Christopher 
 Shearman is one of those ill-bred people 
 who are apt to kick up a row if their 
 wives' features are delivered over to the 
 public in an unauthorized edition, and of 
 course you know that they are going io 
 marry him to Madge." 
 
 " Is that quite settled ? "
 
 OLD NELL. 163 
 
 " It isn't announced, but I believe it's 
 settled. He is willing ; so is Mrs. Wilton ; 
 and Madge conceals under a thin veil of 
 unreasonableness one of the most reason- 
 able dispositions that any mother could 
 wish to have to deal with. You aren't 
 smitten with her, are you? I should be 
 sorry for you if you were. I shouldn't be 
 so sorry for you if you were smitten with 
 Norma Shafto ; though of course Norma 
 would never look at you." 
 
 " I should have thought that in that case 
 you might have found some pity for the 
 victim of a hopeless attachment." 
 
 " No ; because it is good for everybody 
 to have a high ideal, however unattainable 
 it may be. If you see Loddondale again, 
 try to find out something about Nugget, 
 will you ? I'm a busy woman, and I've 
 wasted my time upon a fruitless errand 
 this afternoon. Good-bye."
 
 164 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 LORD WALTER BUYS A BOX. 
 
 Lord Walter was not ungrateful to his 
 old friend Nell Travers for having come 
 out all the way to Holland Park to see 
 him. She meant kindly, no doubt, and 
 her counsel, so far as it went, was ex- 
 cellent ; only it really wasn't needed. He 
 said to himself, as he stood gazing at the 
 little head which had so unmistakable a 
 look of Madge Wilton, that he was quite 
 sure it w^asn't needed. One has fancies ; 
 everybody has fancies from time to time. 
 They serve to brighten the monotony of 
 existence, and they are absolutely harmless, 
 so long as those who harbour them are 
 careful not to lose their heads. Now if 
 there was one thing about which Lord
 
 LORD WALTER BUYS A BOX. 165 
 
 Walter was more positive than another, it 
 was that he was never in any danger of 
 losing his head. He was just as little 
 likely to lose his heart. If he had known 
 that he had been described a short time 
 previously as being as cold as ice, he would 
 have been rather pleased than otherwise. 
 He knew that in reality he was not so ; 
 but it would have been quite satisfactory 
 to him that others should think him so, 
 because that would be evidence that he 
 was able to keep his emotions under con- 
 trol. 
 
 That his emotions could hurry him into 
 anything so ridiculous as a passion for 
 Madge Wilton he had no fear at all. He 
 flattered himself that he knew a little 
 about feminine character, and hers was a 
 very easy one to read. She was honestly, 
 childishly selfish ; her chief anxiety was to 
 get as much amusement as she could out 
 of a sad world ; probably her powers of 
 resistance were slight, and she would yield 
 to maternal or other pressure rather than
 
 166 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 have a fuss about anything. She would 
 doubtless end by marrying Sir Christopher ; 
 and then — well, what would happen then 
 was rather difficult to predict ; but the 
 chances were in favour of her accommo- 
 dating herself to circumstances. She was 
 not the sort of person to worry over 
 sentimental troubles, so long as plenty of 
 creature comforts were provided for her. 
 All this did not of course prevent her from 
 being extremely pretty and extremely 
 charming, and Lord Walter would not 
 perhaps have dissected her in so cold- 
 blooded a manner if he had not been 
 desirous of assuring himself of the coolness 
 of his blood. 
 
 Having achieved that end, he felt at 
 liberty to be a little sorry for her. Madge 
 Wilton, if only the crooked could be made 
 straight, ought to have been provided 
 with a young, handsome, and devoted 
 lover, whose income should be equivalent 
 to Sir Christopher Shearman's. It was a 
 great pity that no such person was forth-
 
 LORD WALTER BUYS A BOX. 167 
 
 coming, and Lord Walter spent some 
 minutes in imagining himself such a per- 
 son, although he took care to guard against 
 the aberrations of a too exuberant fancy 
 by bearing in mind that a life spent with 
 Madge Wilton would by no means realize 
 his own aspirations. Norma Shafto was, 
 as old Nell had very truly said, a fitter 
 ideal to worship, and he did not quite see 
 why he should have been told in so off- 
 hand a way that Norma would never look 
 at him. However, for some reason or 
 other, that line of thought was distasteful 
 to him, and he soon abandoned it. 
 
 It was barely twenty- four hours later 
 that this man of well-balanced mind set 
 forth to call upon Mrs. and Miss Wilton, 
 whose address had been obligingly fur- 
 nished to him by the latter. In fact, to be 
 strictly accurate, it was only about twenty 
 hours later, and consequently a little too 
 early in the day to call upon anybody. 
 Lord Walter, for the benefit of his health, 
 walked the whole way, and having crossed
 
 168 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park, found 
 himself in Bond Street at a time when 
 most people are doing their shopping. 
 The contagion of example may have led 
 him to pay more attention than usual to 
 the shop-windows, and it was natural 
 enough that, on reaching the premises of 
 a certain dealer in antiquities, he should 
 have stood for a few seconds staring at 
 an enamel snuff-box which was exhibited 
 amongst other curiosities to attract the 
 passers-by, and of which Miss Wilton had 
 chanced to speak to him at the theatre. 
 '' The dearest little old box you ever saw 
 in your life ! " she had said. " Don't you 
 love little boxes ? When I see things of 
 that kind I long more than ever to be 
 rich." 
 
 The box, as Lord Walter's scrutiny 
 satisfied him, was by no means a bad 
 specimen of its kind, and it would, he felt, 
 be matter for regret if it should be acquired 
 by some rich person who in all probability 
 would not appreciate it. He thought he
 
 LOED WALTER BUYS A BOX. 169 
 
 would just step into the shop and inquire 
 the price. This, when stated to him by 
 the obsequious dealer, proved to be some- 
 what startling ; but then, as the dealer 
 very reasonably pointed out, a fancy article 
 must needs command a fancy price. Work 
 such as that was daily becoming more and 
 more rare, and he believed that if he were 
 to consult his own interest he should keep 
 it locked up for another year or two. 
 Besides, the box in question possessed 
 associations which enhanced its value, 
 having once been the property of the 
 Empress Maria Theresa. 
 
 Lord Walter contended that that was 
 absolutely impossible and gave reasons for 
 his contention. Thereupon the dealer 
 consulted a m.emorandum-book, and with- 
 out moving a muscle said he found he 
 had made a little mistake : he should 
 have said Marie Antoinette. After this 
 there was a somewhat prolonged haggle, 
 which ended, as both parties to it had 
 known all along that it would end, in the
 
 170 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 snuff-box passing into tlie possession and 
 pocket of Lord Walter, who walked off 
 with it to his club in St. James's Street. 
 
 As he was passing through the hall of 
 that building he was accosted by a fussy, 
 bustling little middle-aged person with a 
 snub nose and an eyeglass. This was the 
 Honourable Algernon Winstanley-Pettie, 
 M.P., a Junior Lord of the Treasury and 
 a frequenter of society in so far as his 
 arduous Parliamentary labours would allow. 
 He said, " How do you do, Sinclair ? Saw 
 you at the theatre the other night. Who 
 was that uncommonly handsome woman 
 whom you were with ? The tall one I 
 mean." 
 
 " A Miss Shafto," answered Lord Walter. 
 '* Her father has a place down in Stour- 
 shire, near Warbury." 
 
 "Oh, a Miss Shafto ; I thought she 
 looked like a married woman. Anyhow, she 
 is remarkably handsome. I haven't seen 
 such a handsome face for a long time." 
 
 Mr. Pettie paid this tribute to Norma's
 
 LORD WALTER BUYS A BOX. 171 
 
 personal attractions in the tone of one who 
 knows that his praise is valuable, yet will 
 not grudge it to those who deserve praise. 
 " The other," he went on presently, " was 
 pretty too, though in quite an inferior 
 style. A younger sister ? " 
 
 *'No; a Miss Wilton," replied Lord 
 Walter, wondering whether he would now 
 be asked how it had come to pass that two 
 unmarried ladies had shown themselves at 
 a tlieatre without a chaperon. 
 
 But apparently that point had escaped 
 the notice of Mr. Pettie, who said, *' Oh, 
 Miss Wilton, was it ? I thought perhaps it 
 might be when I saw Shearman sitting 
 beside her. It struck me that poor Shear- 
 man wasn't enjoying himself much. The 
 young lady seemed to talk a good deal 
 more to you than to him, I thought. Is 
 she a friend of yours ? " 
 
 " Only a slight acquaintance," Lord 
 Walter answered, and added, he hardly 
 knew why, *'Do you know anything about 
 her ? "
 
 172 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 " Oh yes, I know all about her. Sister 
 to Mrs. Lacy and Lady Huddersfield. Has 
 a managing old mamma who has done 
 pretty well with her daughters hitherto, 
 and means to do well again, it seems. 
 Shearman, as of course you know, has any 
 amount of coin. Not that I should par- 
 ticularly care to marry him myself, if I 
 wei'e a young woman," concluded Mr. 
 Pettie with a laugh. 
 
 " Why not ? " Lord Walter inquired. 
 *' Is there anything against him ? " 
 
 " Well, he's a lout, you know, and they 
 say he's rather too good a judge of whisky. 
 Shoots well, though, and will vote on the 
 right side when he gets into the House, as 
 I hear he is anxious to do. Fancy a man 
 being anxious to get into Parliament in 
 these days ! I wish I could see my way to 
 get out of it, I know ! " 
 
 '' But of course you can't be spared." 
 
 " Oh, I don't know ; nobody is indis- 
 pensable," said Mr. Pettie, who really 
 thought that if anybody was he was. " I
 
 LORD WALTER BUYS A BOX. 173 
 
 suppose I must hold on till tlie next general 
 election ; but it's a great bore. One has 
 no time to go about and see one's friends ; 
 Fm afraid I shan't even find time to be 
 introduced to Miss Shafto, much as 1 
 should like it. In point of fact, I ought 
 to be off to Westminster now." 
 
 Mr. Pettie bustled away, and Lord 
 Walter, betaking himself to the reading- 
 room, sat down behind a newspaper which 
 he did not peruse. It was odd that the 
 above careless remarks should have annoyed 
 him ; he himself thought it odd ; but there 
 was no doubt as to the fact. He even 
 went so far as to utter certain objurgations 
 against a social system which he had 
 hitherto regarded with philosophic calm. 
 Really, when you came to think of it, it was 
 monstrous that a mere child like Madge 
 Wilton should be delivered over for life to 
 one who was certainly what Mr. Pettie had 
 called him, a lout, and who was more likely 
 than not to develop into a drunkard. How 
 can mothers do such things !
 
 174 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 They do such things cheerfully and 
 thankfully every day, as Lord Walter 
 knew ; but perhaps he had never before 
 felt so shocked at them and disgusted with 
 them. 
 
 When he had made an end of moralizing, 
 and judged that the hour for paying visits 
 had arrived, he strolled slowly to the small 
 private hotel in Dover Street where Mrs. 
 Wilton had taken up her quarters for the 
 season. As luck would have it, he was 
 still waiting for somebody to appear in 
 answer to his ring, when a hired brougham 
 stopped at the door and Madge herself 
 stepped lightly out on to the pavement. 
 
 " Are you here for the purpose of calling 
 upon us ? " she asked, favouring him with 
 a particularly bright smile. " How nice of 
 you ! Do come in. I don't know whether 
 mamma is at home ; but if she isn't, she 
 will be soon." 
 
 So he followed her, nothing loth, as she 
 ran upstairs and flung open the door of a 
 rather dingy little sitting-room ; and per-
 
 LORD WALTER BUYS A BOX. 175 
 
 haps be was not very much disappointed 
 when, in answer to Madge's inquiry, the 
 waiter announced that Mrs. Wilton had 
 not yet come in. 
 
 " Then bring up tea," said Madge — " and 
 muffins. Do you like muffins ? " she asked, 
 turning to Lord Walter, " or shall we have 
 some cake ? " 
 
 " Muffins, please," answered Lord Walter, 
 who was not particularly fond of that 
 leathery form of nourishment, but was 
 anxious to consult the tastes of his enter- 
 tainer. 
 
 '' Well," said Madge, after seriously con- 
 sidering the j)oint for a moment, " perhaps 
 we had better have both. Then we can 
 choose. Now sit down and make yourself 
 comfortable." 
 
 It may be remembered that Lord 
 Walter's first impression of Miss Wilton 
 had been that she was very shy ; but first 
 impressions are not always to be relied 
 upon, and he perceived that in this instance 
 he had been misled. There are people
 
 176 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 who appear shy to the general public, but 
 who are as easy and expansive as possible 
 towards a favoured few, and such persons 
 are naturally liked by the favoured few, 
 who recognize in them the gift of just 
 appreciation. Lord Walter thought it very 
 pretty of Madge to open the heap of parcels 
 which had been carried upstairs for her 
 and to ask his opinion upon their contents. 
 
 '• I have been doing an afternoon's 
 shopping," she explained, " and I am com. 
 pletely ruined. Still one must be clad, 
 mustn't one ? Now tell me whether these 
 two shades really blend. I suppose, being 
 an artist, you know something about colour, 
 though you don't belong to the painting 
 division." 
 
 He was able to reply that the shades 
 submitted to him could be harmoniously 
 combined, and he was also able to compli- 
 ment her upon the taste displayed in the 
 selection of her other purchases. 
 
 " I have been shopping too," he re- 
 marked, after these had been fully dis-
 
 LORD WALTER BUYS A BOX. 177 
 
 cussed. ** At least, I have been to one 
 shop and done one successful deal." There- 
 upon he produced his prize, taking it out 
 of the silver paper in which it was 
 wrapped. 
 
 " Oh, my beloved little box ! " exclaimed 
 Madge, clasping her hands. '^ And to 
 think it was I who put you on the track 
 of it ! Well, I am glad it is to be yours, 
 since it never can be mine." 
 
 " But it is yours, if you will have it," 
 said Lord Walter, smiling. '' I bought it 
 for you." 
 
 In spite of the matter-of-course tone in 
 which he made this announcement, he was 
 conscious of a certain feeling of uneasiness, 
 of some doubt as to whether she would 
 accept so valuable a present from him, 
 possibly even of a slight misgiving as to 
 the propriety of his offering it to her. But 
 her manner of responding convinced him 
 that, as regarded one of these points at 
 any rate, he need not have disturbed him- 
 self. She took the proffered gift from his 
 
 VOL. I. 12
 
 178 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 hand with a little cry of delight, examined 
 it closely, and then, raising a soft pair of 
 eyes, beaming with gratitude, to his, ex- 
 claimed, " Oh, you are nice ! " 
 
 After a pause, she resumed, " What 
 made you think of getting it for me ? " 
 
 " Well," he answered, laughing, '' I 
 thought you seemed to want it." 
 
 " Of course I wanted it ; I would have 
 given my ears for it ! But never in my 
 wildest dreams did I imagine that it would 
 come into my possession. I shall always 
 keep it," she added, stroking it affectionately, 
 " and it will always remind me of you." 
 
 Now ^such a speech as that, when seen 
 in uncompromising print, appears, it must 
 be confessed, a trifle warm, not to say un- 
 becoming, and indeed Mrs. Wilton, if she 
 had heard it, might not have approved of 
 it. But then all depends upon the way in 
 which things are said, and Lord Walter, 
 for his part, was quite sure that this dear 
 little girl meant no more by her thanks 
 than she would have meant in the not far
 
 LORD WALTER BUYS A BOX. 179 
 
 distant days when she had been still in the 
 nursery. However, he could not help 
 thinking her a dear little girl, and he 
 hoped that her mother would not turn up 
 just yet to interrupt a conversation which 
 had been so pleasantly initiated. 
 
 His hopes were realized. Mrs. Wilton 
 did not appear, and Madge and he partook 
 of their muffins together in contentment 
 and privacy. How, after touching upon a 
 variety of other topics, they came to talk 
 about Sir Christopher Shearman, he could 
 not afterwards clearly remember. It would 
 have been more prudent, no doubt, to avoid 
 mentioning Sir Christopher ; but since his 
 name was introduced, it was perhaps un- 
 avoidable that he should be spoken of dis- 
 paragingly. Lord Walter really behaved 
 very well. All that he said — and that 
 was said only in obedience to urgent per- 
 suasion — was, that in his opinion Sir 
 Christopher was not exactly a gentleman. 
 
 But Madge was a good deal less discreet. 
 She said, " I think he is a perfectly horrid
 
 180 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 man ! So cross and ill-tempered ! And I 
 do hate tbat way he has of sitting close to 
 one and talking into one's face." 
 
 Lord Walter observed tbat be bad not 
 personally suffered from this habit of Sir 
 Christopher's, but tbat be could well 
 believe it to be disagreeable. 
 
 " And then," continued Madge dolefully, 
 " he is always bothering me to dance with 
 him. There is no pleasure in going to a 
 ball when one knows tbat Sir Christopher 
 will be lying in ambush at the foot of the 
 stairs, ready to book half a dozen dances 
 the moment tbat one appears." 
 
 '*But surely it isn't necessary to give 
 him all that he asks for ? " 
 
 Madge shook her head and sighed. " A 
 great many things are necessary," said she 
 oracularly, ''which may not appear so to 
 those who don't know. Besides, one can t 
 very well say that one is engaged when 
 one is intercepted before reaching the ball- 
 room. It is a mean advantage to take. 
 But he takes it."
 
 LORD WALTER BUYS A BOX. 181 
 
 Lord Walter laughed. ^^ The only 
 remedy I can suggest," said he, " is that 
 I should procure invitations to all the balls 
 that you are going to. Then, upon your 
 arrival, you will find me waiting for you 
 under the portico beside the linkman, and 
 I will at once request you to give me 
 every dance upon the programme, except 
 two squares, which may be thrown as a 
 sop to Sir Christopher. I need hardly add 
 that you will be at liberty to discard me 
 afterwards. I should only claim a small 
 commission — say^ ten per cent." 
 
 " Perhaps I might be willing to give 
 you more than that, if you cared to have 
 more," Madge returned. " I am sure you 
 dance well. One can always tell by look- 
 ing at people whether they will be good 
 partners or not, don't you think so ? " 
 
 This kind of talk went on for another 
 quarter of an hour, at the expiration of 
 which time Mrs. Wilton came in and put a 
 atop to it. Mrs. Wilton was civil, but not 
 very cordial. She evidently wondered
 
 182 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 why Lord Walter had been admitted in 
 her absence, and did not seem quite satisfied 
 with his explanation that he had met Miss 
 Wilton at the door and had been induced 
 to come in and wait a few minutes. Con- 
 versation was kept up with difficulty, and 
 met with no support from Madge, who 
 immediately upon her mother's entrance 
 became once more the demure young lady 
 whom Lord Walter had received in his 
 studio. He stayed a little longer for 
 form's sake, but took his leave as soon as 
 he could decently do so. 
 
 One thing he noticed, and that was the 
 abrupt disappearance of the enamel snuff- 
 box. He was glad that it should have 
 vanished, because, under all the circum- 
 stances, he did not particularly wish Mrs. 
 Wilton to see it ; but at the same time its 
 concealment struck him as suggestive. 
 Furthermore, it struck him that if he did 
 not mind what he was about he might get 
 himself as well as somebody else into 
 trouble.
 
 ( 183 ) 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 LAMMERGEIER AS AN ORATOR. 
 
 It is the prerogative of the wealthy and 
 distinguished to follow the bent of their 
 caprice or fancy in selecting friends for 
 themselves. The rest of us cannot do this, 
 because there is no certainty that our 
 advances will be received with gratitude ; 
 so we have to wait until people show some 
 signs of a disposition to like us before we 
 venture to proclaim our liking for them. 
 Mrs. Lammergeier, if not distinguished, 
 was extremely wealthy, and Mrs. Lam- 
 mergeier had taken a fancy to Norma 
 Shafto. This being so, previous experience 
 would have justified her in assuming that 
 she had only to make her sentiments known 
 in order to obtain an assurance that they
 
 184 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 were reciprocated ; but she was a woman 
 who possessed some insight into character, 
 and probably one of her reasons for being 
 attracted by Norma was that she sus- 
 pected her of differing from the ordinary 
 run of human beings in certain respects. 
 Instead therefore of inviting Miss Shafto 
 to drive in the Park with her and taking 
 her back to dinner afterwards, she pre- 
 sented herself in Upper Belgrave Street 
 one morning and announced that she had 
 a favour to ask. 
 
 Now anybody who requested a favour of 
 this singular young woman might count 
 upon its being granted, if that were in any 
 way possible, and might count also u]Don 
 giving her pleasure by the mere fact of 
 making the request. Some people are 
 constituted after that odd fashion. More- 
 over the particular favour which Mrs. 
 Lammergeier had decided to solicit was 
 one which no right-minded and tender- 
 hearted person could have wished to 
 refuse.
 
 LAMMERGEIER AS AN ORATOR. 185 
 
 *' I want you to take me in hand, Miss 
 Shafto," she began, in her abrupt way. 
 " I serve no useful purpose whatsoever in 
 the world, except to entertain my husband's 
 friends, and whether even that is a useful 
 function seems open to question. I hear 
 you are engaged in a number of schemes 
 for improving the condition of the working 
 classes. Don't you think you might turn 
 me to account in a subordinate capacity ? " 
 
 "I'm only a subordinate myself," answered 
 Norma ; " but no doubt I could easily find 
 work for you to do if you are quite sure 
 that you won't find it distasteful. Most 
 people, you know, do find it distasteful — 
 and discouraging too." 
 
 " I am not likely to be discouraged," 
 Mrs. Lammergeier declared ; " I have no 
 extravagant expectations. And I defy 
 you to provide me with any occupation or 
 duties more distasteful to me than my 
 present ones. When I am not standing at 
 the head of my own staircase I am climb- 
 ing up the staircases of other people. It is
 
 186 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 the same story night after night and week 
 after week, and words can't express how 
 sick I am of it. This eternal getting up 
 stairs is like being put upon the treadmill 
 in more ways than one. Hermann and I 
 plod doggedly on ; but we don't get any 
 higher, and, between you and me, I doubt 
 whether we ever shall. Suppose, however 
 — for everything is conceivable — that we 
 do eventually reach the top landing and 
 stay there : what then ? Some fine day 
 we shall die ; and it doesn't seem to me 
 that having been asked to Buckingham 
 Palace or Marlborough House will be any 
 great comfort to me upon my death-bed. 
 "Whereas it might be a comfort to think 
 that I had tried to make a few of my 
 fellow- creatures a little less miserable. 
 One understands the ambition of a nouveau 
 riche who has a family ; but I have no 
 children." 
 
 The last words were spoken with a 
 touch of genuine sadness which at once 
 enlisted Norma's sympathies. That same
 
 LAMMERGEIER AS AN ORATOR. 187 
 
 evening Mrs. Lammergeler (disregarding 
 several previous engagements for the pur- 
 pose) was conducted to a part of London 
 which had hitherto been as unknown to 
 her as Central Africa, and was brought 
 into contact with persons of whose existence 
 she had only been aware in the same way 
 as one is aware of the existence of certain 
 savage tribes. Work, too, was found for 
 her which she cheerfully undertook and 
 conscientiously performed ; although she 
 perceived from the outset that Norma and 
 her associates were endeavouring to grapple 
 with a problem far too big for them. 
 However, she attained what, after all, had 
 been her original object in that she secured 
 a friend for herself. 
 
 " I believe she is a good woman, and I 
 don't think she is a very happy one," 
 Norma said to Mr. Shafto, who had noticed 
 with pleasure the intimacy which had 
 sprung up between the rich financier's wife 
 and his daughter, and who replied with a 
 laugh —
 
 188 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 ''My dear child, if she isn't happy she 
 must be rather hard to please. But I 
 suppose no woman likes to admit that she 
 has got all she wants." 
 
 That, perhaps, is an admission which 
 would not be very willingly made by man 
 or woman, and could not truthfully be 
 made by any appreciable portion of the 
 inhabitants of the world. The people on 
 whose behalf Norma and Mrs. Lammergeier 
 were exerting themselves wanted a great 
 many things, and to all appearance were 
 exceedingly unlikely to get them : yet they 
 were not much given to repining. 
 
 " It seems impossible that they can 
 enjoy life," Mrs. Lammergeier exclaimed 
 one day, with a shade of impatience ; " but, 
 upon my word and honour, I believe they 
 do ! " 
 
 " It is a very good thing that they do," 
 said Norma. 
 
 " Well, that's as may be. If I were one 
 of them I think I should wish for a rather 
 more widespread feeling of discontent.
 
 LAMMERGEIER AS AN ORATOR. 189 
 
 Did you ever hear a debate in the House 
 of Commons ? " 
 
 Norma shook her head. 
 
 '^ Come with me to-morrow evening, and 
 you will have the advantage of listening to 
 a philanthropic oration from Hermann. 
 Hermann is always an effective speaker ; 
 but when he gets on to the subject of 
 benevolence he is nothing- short of sublime. 
 To-morrow some wiseacre or other is going 
 to bring forward a motion to the effect 
 that the condition of the working classes 
 demands inquiry, and Hermann, I believe, 
 means to back him up. We needn't stay 
 long if you find it dull ; but I assure you 
 that there are times when a debate in the 
 House is as amusing as any play." 
 
 The House of Commons, we are often 
 told, is not an imposing assembly, and no 
 one is fonder of saying this than its own 
 members, but after all any assembly is 
 imposing or otherwise in accordance with 
 the impression produced upon the mind of 
 the spectator, which impression depends
 
 190 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 more upon tlie mind of the spectator than 
 upon the assembly. Norma, when she 
 looked down upon the line of Conservative 
 statesmen who were at that time in office, 
 and upon the opposing phalanx, headed by 
 Mr. Gladstone and supplemented by the 
 forces of Mr. Parnell, was a good deal 
 impressed, feeling that she was in the 
 presence of men who ruled the destinies of 
 a vast empire. Their manner of doing 
 so may not be altogether dignified, their 
 attitudes may not convey the idea that 
 they realize the fulness of their responsi- 
 bility, their methods of expressing approval 
 and displeasure can scarcely be called 
 refined, but the fact remains that they can 
 give effect to their wishes — at least, a few 
 of them can — and this, in Nor ma's opinion, 
 made them interesting to watch. 
 
 Mrs. Lammergeier's view was perhaps 
 more superficial. " A lot of naughty little 
 schoolboys who wanted to get a rise out of 
 their masters would behave just like that, 
 if they hadn't the fear of the birch before
 
 LAMMERGEIER AS AN ORATOR. 191 
 
 their eyes," she whispered. " There is an 
 individual called Black Rod who sometimes 
 makes his appearance here, but his functions 
 are not what you might suppose from his 
 name, more's the pity ! " 
 
 But this was during question time, while 
 unhappy Ministers were being badgered 
 and baited by their adversaries. That 
 form of sport having at length become 
 exhausted, somebody moved the adjourn- 
 ment of the House for the consideration of 
 a matter of urgent public importance ; and 
 so the question of what was to be done 
 with the unemployed came on. 
 
 At that season of the year the un- 
 employed were neither numerous nor 
 menacing ; but they had been both in the 
 course of the preceding winter, and their 
 claims to attention would have been brought 
 before the House earlier if the debate 
 upon the Address and certain bills which 
 demanded an immense amount of discussion 
 had not blocked the way. The British 
 public, in point of fact, had arrived, as it
 
 192 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 SO frequently does in the presence of 
 difficulties, at a vague conclusion that 
 *' something ought to be done ; " in other 
 words, that a Royal Commission ought to 
 be appointed with a view to shelving the 
 question for a time. This being a proposi- 
 tion which commanded general assent, a 
 plain man might have thought that there 
 was no great need for talking about it. 
 However several well-informed persons 
 were fully determined to talk about it ; and 
 amongst these was Baron Lammergeier. 
 
 When Norma saw the swarthy little man 
 rise, adjust his pince-nez and tuck his 
 hands under his coat-tails, she glanced for 
 an instant at her neighbour, upon whose 
 rather thin lips a cynical smile was per- 
 ceptible. Norma had never heard Baron 
 Lammergeier speak before ; but from what 
 she had seen of him in private life, she did 
 not imagine that his oratory would be of a 
 very attractive description. Nevertheless, 
 before he had been ten minutes on his legs, 
 she was listening to him with interest and
 
 LAMMERGEIER AS AN ORATOR. 193 
 
 curiosity. He had a decidedly Hebraic 
 method of enunciation ; the letter S was a 
 stumbling-block to him, and he seemed to 
 be suffering from a slight cold in the head ; 
 yet he spoke clearly and in short telling 
 sentences. His speech was temperate and 
 not very sanguine in tone ; though it 
 appeared that, while deprecating the prin- 
 ciple of State interference, he was in favour 
 of the Royal Commission. It did not, when 
 summed up, amount to very much more 
 than an expression of opinion that the duty 
 of the State is to be economical and the 
 duty of the individual is to be generous ; 
 but its commonplaces were well put and — 
 perhaps because they were commonplaces — 
 were well received. 
 
 Norma was both pleased and surprised. 
 " I agree with every word that he said," 
 she declared, turning to the orator's wife, 
 who smiled and remarked — 
 
 " I told you that Hermann was an 
 effective speaker." 
 
 The fact is that Norma, in common, it 
 
 VOL. I. . 13
 
 194 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 may be, with a good many others who had 
 been listening to Baron Lammergeier, had 
 gathered that that gentleman was himself 
 generous, as well as cool-headed and far- 
 sighted. 
 
 " Hermann," observed Mrs. Lammergeier 
 presently, " knows how to suit himself to 
 his audience ; and that, no doubt, is half 
 the battle. He has several styles. You 
 have heard him here ; perhaps you would 
 like to hear him on the stump next. All 
 things considered, I am not sure that I 
 don't prefer him on the stump." 
 
 Thus it was that, not many days after 
 this. Norma, in company with a number of 
 other ladies and gentlemen, took her place 
 upon the platform of a large public hall 
 wherein Baron Lammergeier proposed to 
 deliver an address to his constituents. 
 These inhabited one of the western districts 
 of London and were for the most part 
 Conservatives, as beseems those who have 
 something to lose. They had however 
 a very fair sprinkling of disinterested
 
 LAMMERGEIER AS AN ORATOR. 195 
 
 Radicals among them, and as Lammergeier 
 never attempted to exclude political op- 
 ponents from his meetings, there was every 
 prospect of his being a good deal interrupted 
 before he brought his discourse to a close. 
 
 ''That is what he likes," Mrs. Lam- 
 mergeier explained to Norma. " Hermann 
 is the happy possessor of an imperturbable 
 temper and a sound pair of lungs. He is 
 under the impression that he never holds a 
 meeting without making converts ; but 
 whether that is a correct theory or not I 
 don't pretend to say." 
 
 It was at any rate quite a plausible one. 
 By the time that the orator had got into 
 full swing he had evidently put his audience 
 in a good h amour ; which, as most public 
 speakers are aware, is no such simple feat 
 to accomplish. He did not in the least 
 mind being shouted at or hissed ; he waited 
 smilingly till the hubbub had subsided and 
 then went on. Some of his rejoinders 
 were extremely happy, and he had a deft 
 fashion of insinuating that he was in the
 
 196 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 counsels of the Ministry wliich was not 
 without effect. The Lammergeier of the 
 House of Commons was a shrewd, practical 
 man of business ; the Lammergeier of the 
 platform was a jovial, humorous politician 
 who seemed determined to justify the 
 character attributed to him by his sup- 
 porters when they welcomed him with a 
 chorus of " For he's a jolly good fellow." 
 
 Some of them had reasons, perhaps, for 
 thinking him a jolly good fellow. Bribery 
 and corruption have been put an end to by 
 the Legislature ; but what Act of Parlia- 
 ment can suppress the promptings of a 
 generous heart when no election is im- 
 minent ? It may even be that many of 
 those who yelled at Baron Lammergeier 
 were not really anxious to get rid of so 
 open-handed a representative. 
 
 As for Norma, circumstances prevented 
 her from drawing any comparison between 
 the present harangue and that to which 
 she had been privileged to listen at West- 
 minster ; for the speaker had hardly
 
 LAMMERGEIER AS AN ORATOR. 197 
 
 finished bis exordium when somebody 
 slipped into a chair behind her, and Lord 
 Walter's voice whispered in her ear, " Do 
 you find this sort of thing as entertaining 
 as a burlesque ? " 
 
 " I haven't had time to judge yet," she 
 answered. " Do you ? " 
 
 " Not quite, I think. Lammergeier is 
 sometimes amusing ; but I can't say that I 
 came here with any anticipation of being 
 amused." 
 
 " Why did you come, then ? Are you 
 going to make a speech ? " 
 
 *' Heaven forbid ] But I am a humble 
 constituent of the Baron's, and I have 
 eaten his salt more than once, and as he 
 did me the honour to request my presence 
 this evening, the path of duty seemed plain. 
 I have been rewarded by meeting you. 
 After all, burlesque and political speeches 
 depend more for their attractiveness upon 
 the company in which one listens to them 
 than upon their intrinsic merits." 
 
 " Is that why you don't find this per-
 
 198 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 formance quite as entertaining as the 
 performance of the other night ? " 
 
 The question was put with a smile, and 
 to those who do not chance to be in love it 
 may seem rather odd that Lord Walter, so 
 far from protesting, was perceptibly pleased 
 by Miss Shafto's innuendo. Love is 
 proverbially blind ; lovers are doubtless 
 apt to be fools, and the wisest of them, 
 while suffering from this malady, are no 
 whit less foolish than their neighbours. 
 King Solomon himself, who appears to have 
 been a lover upon an unusually extensive 
 scale, got himself into serious trouble, as 
 we know, through his susceptibility. So 
 Lord Walter, who had by this time reached 
 the point of admitting to himself that he 
 was in love with Madge Wilton, began to 
 talk about her at once, feeling instinctively 
 that he had got hold of a sympathetic 
 auditor. 
 
 It is too bad of people who have been 
 provided with places upon a platform for 
 the express purpose of having their minds
 
 LAMMERGEIER AS AN ORATOR. 199 
 
 improved by one of the prominent poli- 
 ticians of the day to keep up a subdued 
 murmur of conversation throughout his 
 most brilliant periods ; but such things 
 will occur and do occur, and as Baron 
 Lammergeier's back was turned towards 
 this couple it may be hoped that his feel- 
 ings were not hurt by their scandalous 
 inattention. Mrs. Laramergeier, who 
 watched them out of the corner of her eye, 
 freely forgave them, and was not ill- 
 pleased to see them upon such intimate 
 terms. She thought them an extremely 
 handsome couple, as indeed they were — he 
 bending forward and talking eagerly, and 
 she with her head slightly tilted back to 
 listen to him. They looked a great deal 
 more like lovers than friends ; and how 
 was Mrs. Lammergeier to guess that 
 between them they were hatching a plot 
 which could only be expected to end in 
 disappointment and disaster ? 
 
 This plot, it is true, was not expressly 
 formulated. Lord Walter did not say in
 
 200 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 SO many words that lie was determined to 
 marry Madge Wilton if slie would have 
 him, nor did Norma promise to give him 
 all the help in her power ; but they under- 
 stood one another, and perhaps Lord 
 Walter had some reason for whispering 
 gratefully, when the meeting broke up, 
 " You are more than kind to me. Miss 
 Shafto ; I don't know what right I have to 
 inflict my antiquated notions upon you." 
 
 Norma lauglied. " But my notions are 
 antiquated too, you see," she remarked. 
 
 What had she said to him ? No more 
 than what she conscientiously thought. 
 She had agreed with him that manages de 
 convenance are detestable ; she had admitted 
 that Sir Christopher Shearman without his 
 money would not be worthy of Madge ; 
 she had confessed that she would a thou- 
 sand times rather see Madge married to a 
 man who loved her and whom she loved 
 than to a millionaire, and she had hinted 
 that, should such a personage be forth- 
 coming, he might count upon her favour
 
 LAMMERGEIER AS AN ORATOR. 201 
 
 and support. In all this there was nothing 
 to retract or regret ; yet, as she drove 
 home with Mrs. Lammergeier, she seemed 
 tired and out of spirits, and it was a relief 
 to her to escape from the questionings of 
 that too inquisitive friend.
 
 202 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 AT lord's. 
 
 As a matter of theory, everybody admits 
 that it is an absurd and foolish thing to 
 fall in love with a pretty face ; yet — so 
 far, at least, as the male sex is concerned — 
 it is not very Tisual to fall in love with 
 anything else ; and perhaps this reflection 
 may have consoled Lord Walter when he 
 found that he was beyond all question in 
 love with Madge Wilton. He stood in 
 need of some consolation, because he knew 
 perfectly well that the course of true love 
 could not by any possibility be made to 
 run smooth in this case. Strictly speak- 
 ing, he could not afford to marry. Pros- 
 pects of a kind he had ; but they were of 
 a very indefinite kind, and he had to con-
 
 AT LORD'S. 203 
 
 tend against a rival with a formidable 
 purse, not to speak of a lady who might be 
 more resolute than she looked, and who 
 quite certainly would not be desirous of 
 becoming his mother-in-law. Moreover, 
 he knew nothing in the world about Madge, 
 except that she was pretty and charming 
 and that he loved her. 
 
 Being thus in much perplexity of mind, 
 and the opportunity presenting itself, he 
 sought counsel of Norma Shafto, with the 
 result which has been mentioned. The 
 unspoken contract into which they had 
 entered did not, however, bear any im- 
 mediate fruit, and was thus a source of 
 disappointment to one of them, who had 
 thought that special facilities would 
 perhaps be granted to him for holding 
 private converse with the object of his 
 adoration. Norma was not disposed to 
 befriend him to that extent — at any rate, 
 she was not disposed to do so as yet ; for 
 it remained to be seen whether Madge 
 was as serious as he was. So he had to
 
 204 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 make the best of chance meetings, and 
 these were few and unsatisfactory. On 
 such occasions as he did encounter Miss 
 Wilton she was closely attended by the 
 inevitable Shearman, and although she 
 seemed pleased to see him, she was evi- 
 dently not quite at her ease and would not 
 consent to give him anything like the 
 number of dances that he asked for. 
 
 " I suspect that you really prefer your 
 dancing bear to any other partner," he was 
 provoked into exclaiming once. " I am 
 here on purpose to deliver you from him ; 
 but I don't believe you want to be 
 delivered." 
 
 " You wouldn't say that if you had ever 
 had to hobble through a waltz with him," 
 she returned, sighing deeply. 
 
 " Then why do you hobble through 
 such a number of waltzes with him ? " 
 
 " Because — because — well, because I 
 should be scolded if I didn't. Some people 
 can bear being scolded ; I can't. There is 
 mamma making signals to me ; please take
 
 AT LORD'S. 205 
 
 me back to her." She added in a hurried 
 undertone, ^^ My sister Mrs. Lacy is going 
 to give a fancy ball at the end of next 
 month. She says she doesn't know you ; 
 but she will send you an invitation, and 
 I have implored her to leave out Sir 
 Christopher." 
 
 This was all very well ; but the end of 
 next month was a long time off, and there 
 was no saying what might not happen in 
 the interim. The next time that Lord 
 Walter met Norma Shafto he used less 
 ambiguous language than he had done on 
 Baron Lammergeier's platform, and asked 
 plainly that he might be given some oppor- 
 tunity of talking to Miss Wilton when 
 neither her mother nor Sir Christopher 
 should be present to mar the harmony of 
 the proceedings. 
 
 Norma hesitated for a few seconds before 
 making any response to this request. At 
 length she said, " I don't think I ought to 
 ask you to come here some afternoon and 
 meet her. Of course I could do it easily
 
 206 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 enough ; but it seems a little underhand 
 somehow, and I should not like Mrs. Wilton 
 to say that I had played her false. Perhaps 
 I might help you a little with Madge, that 
 is all. As for meeting her and talking to 
 her, I am afraid you must fight that part 
 of the battle for yourself." 
 
 Lord Walter said, " Thank you ; it is 
 very kind of you ; " but looked despondent, 
 nevertheless. He may have thought that 
 a really useful ally would have taken the 
 part which was assigned to him, and would 
 have left him that which seemed to belong 
 more properly to a suitor. However, he 
 refrained from giving utterance to his 
 thoughts (and indeed had no occasion to 
 do so, since they were obvious enough), 
 and presently, by way of comforting him, 
 Norma remarked — 
 
 " We are going to take Madge to the 
 University cricket-match on Saturday. 
 You will be there, perhaps ? " 
 
 " Of course I shall," he replied, brighten- 
 ing up.
 
 AT LORD'S. 207 
 
 " Mrs. Wilton will not, because she has 
 an appointment with the dentist. I can't 
 answer for Sir Christopher." 
 
 " I wish he had an appointment with 
 the dentist for to-day, and I wish I were 
 the dentist ! " exclaimed Lord Walter. 
 
 " But if you drew every tooth in his 
 head, I am afraid you would not make him 
 a bit less eligible. And you need not 
 thirst for his blood. I dare say you will 
 hurt him more than any dentist could 
 before you have done with him." 
 
 There could be no doubt at all but that 
 Lord Walter would do so if he could, and 
 it would have been preposterous to expect 
 him to feel any pity for a competitor who 
 was so much more favourably handicapped 
 than he was. But when, on the ensuing 
 Saturday, he joined the throng at Lord's 
 and made his way up to the carriage in 
 which Norma and Madge and Mr, Shafto 
 were seated, he was rejoiced to find that 
 the foe was absent. One may be resolved 
 to treat any man's jealousy with indiffer-
 
 208 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 ence ; but it is for the comfort of all con- 
 cerned to avoid making him jealous, if that 
 can be managed. 
 
 Madge was in one of the moods which 
 he had discovered to be intermittent and 
 which he had begun to fear were rare. 
 She held out her hand at once to him, 
 saying, " Oh, I'm so glad you have come ! 
 I was wondering whether by any chance 
 you would be here." Then she bent over 
 the side of the carriage and whispered, 
 "The cat is away and the mice may play 
 for once." 
 
 '* Who is the cat ? " he inquired, also in 
 a whisper. " Sir Christopher Shearman ? " 
 
 She made a grimace. "Oh no ; he's 
 never far away, and he may turn up at any 
 moment. I meant mamma." 
 
 It is not at all right of a girl to describe 
 her mother as a cat. Her mother may be 
 a cat and everybody may know it ; but she 
 is hardly the proper person to say so, and 
 young ladies are hereby warned that if 
 they do such things, they will very likely
 
 AT LORD'S. 209 
 
 lose the esteem of any man whose esteem 
 is worth having. The young ladies may 
 retort, to be sure, that at certain times and 
 to certain persons they may with impunity 
 say just exactly what they please ; and in 
 the presence of that indisputable truth 
 censor morum can but bow his head and 
 hold his tongue. Lord Walter was not as 
 a rule very lenient to offences against good 
 taste; yet he did not seem to object at all 
 to Madge's undutiful explanation, but only 
 laughed and asked what game the mice 
 were to play at. 
 
 " Wouldn't you like to take a turn round 
 the ground ? " he suggested imploringly. 
 *' You can't see anything of the cricket 
 from where you are." 
 
 Madge glanced at Norma, who was 
 looking the other way, and at Mr. Shafto, 
 who was busily engaged in conversation 
 with a friend on the opposite side of the 
 carriage. Then she nodded. " Open the 
 door," said she ; " I'll come." 
 
 Lord Walter was helping her to alight 
 
 YOL. I. 14
 
 '210 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 when he received a sudden slap on the 
 back, and, turning round, was not altogether 
 overwhelmed with delight at finding him- 
 self face to face with his brother. Lord 
 Loddondale was independent enough, or 
 aristocratic enough, to consult his own 
 inclinations in the matter of costume, and 
 did not always think it necessary, when in 
 London, to adopt the style of attire which 
 is held to be more or less compulsory by 
 humbler folk. On the present occasion he 
 wore a pot hat and a light-coloured coat, 
 while his nether man was clad in cords 
 and Newmarket boots. It was his opinion 
 that a man who rides in trousers is a very 
 uncomfortable man, and as he had ridden 
 to Lord's and meant to ride away again, he 
 had naturally arrayed himself with a view 
 to comfort. 
 
 " Want to back the old shop, Walter ? " 
 he asked. " I should be glad to see our 
 side win ; but business is business, and I'm 
 ready to lay a shade of odds on Cam- 
 bridge."
 
 AT LORD'S. 211 
 
 Lord Walter did not want to bet and 
 did not at all want to be detained at that 
 particular moment ; but what are you to do 
 when a man hooks you by the arm and 
 begins discussing bowling and fielding as 
 though nobody else had any claim upon 
 your attention ? What Lord Walter did 
 may not have been justifiable, but was at 
 least effectual. Seeing that Norma had 
 turned her head and was looking at him, 
 he promptly took a step towards the 
 carriage and said, '' Miss Shafto, may I 
 introduce my brother Loddondale ? I think 
 you used to know one another in old days." 
 
 Then, while Lord Loddondale was com- 
 bining a bow to the lady with a ferocious 
 side-glance at the introducer, he walked 
 away with Madge Wilton as fast as he 
 could. 
 
 Lord Loddondale passed for a woman- 
 hater. He was, at all events, a hater of 
 the society of ladies, never knowing what 
 to say to them unless they chanced to have 
 sporting tastes, and being possessed with a
 
 212 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 not wholly erroneous idea tliat, if unmarried, 
 they would at once begin doing all they 
 possibly could to make him marry them. 
 But in a surprisingly short space of time he 
 discovered that Norma was not as other 
 girls are and that he had nothing at all to 
 fear from her. 
 
 She made some allusion to the far-away 
 time ** when we were all children," and 
 then, with that happy instinct which she 
 had of hitting upon the right topic of 
 conversation, remarked, " I think you have 
 both turned out exactly as one might have 
 expected ; you have taken up racing and 
 your brother has taken up art. You breed 
 your own horses, don't you ? " 
 
 *' I am beginning to do so," said Lord 
 Loddondale. " Until lately I haven't had 
 money enough to attempt it ; but of course 
 that's what every racing man would prefer 
 to do if he could." 
 
 *'So I should think; and if I were a 
 racing man I should certainly never 
 bet."
 
 AT LORD'S. 213 
 
 At this Lord Loddondale pursed up his 
 lips and shook his head. *' You'd have to 
 be a Eothschild then," he declared. " There 
 are owners who don't bet ; but they're 
 men who can afiford to face two or three 
 bad years in succession. I'm not one of 
 those lucky beggars, so I have to make a 
 business of it, don't you see." 
 
 *' But then it ceases to be a sport, doesn't 
 it?" 
 
 " I don't see why. There's a lot of 
 humbug talked about betting. Miss Shafto. 
 Some people say it's wrong, and then 
 there are others, like you, who say sport 
 oughtn't to be a trade. Now that's what 
 I call humbug, you know. Look at Walter 
 and his graven images. He sells 'em — at 
 least, he would if he could — but you call 
 him an artist, all the same. And authors 
 sell their books, and bishops are handsomely 
 paid for — for doing whatever it is that 
 bishops have to do. Why isn't the poor 
 racing man to be allowed to turn an honest 
 penny ? If his accounts come out square
 
 214 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 at the end of the year it's about all they 
 do, I can tell you ! " 
 
 Well, the subject was not one upon 
 which Norma could speak with any great 
 authority, and perhaps she did not argue 
 her case very forcibly or make all the 
 points that she might have made. But 
 at the end of a quarter of an hour she had 
 succeeded in earning the esteem and 
 admiration of her interlocutor, and she had 
 also succeeded in getting him to talk about 
 his brother, of whom he spoke very kindly 
 and with perfect frankness. 
 
 " Walter's badly off," he said, " and it's 
 my fault that he is. I've offered to make 
 him an allowance ; but he's proud and 
 won't have it. I shall say no more about 
 it just at present. He's sure to marry 
 some day, and then I dare say he'll listen 
 to reason and let me do what I can for 
 him. Walter is just the sort of fellow 
 who's bound to marry before long, don't 
 you think so ? Good-looking and what 
 women call interesting, you know, and all
 
 AT LORD'S. 215 
 
 that. Romantic too ; though he wouldn't 
 like to be called so." 
 
 There seemed to be some good in this 
 ratlier unpolished inheritor of an ancient 
 title. People called him disreputable ; but 
 perhaps that was only because he looked 
 like a groom and didn't go out into society. 
 Norma made no reply to his question ; but 
 she was glad to hear that, in the event of 
 Lord Walter's marrying a dowerless damsel, 
 the head of the family would be prepared 
 to do what is just and customary on such 
 occasions. 
 
 Meanwhile, the subject of her solicitude 
 was not getting on quite as well as might 
 have been anticipated with his dowerless 
 damsel. He had not, indeed, walked a 
 hundred yards by Miss Wilton's side 
 when Sir Christopher Shearman appeared ; 
 and Sir Christopher, as soon as he descried 
 the couple, looked as black as thunder. 
 This did not disturb Lord Walter in the 
 least, and he had not imagined that it 
 would disturb his neighbour ; yet — so
 
 216 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 impossible is it to account for the whims 
 of women or to calculate upon their con- 
 sistency — she seemed a good deal put out 
 when Sir Christopher said, *' Well, I shall 
 be off. Two's company, three's none, and 
 I don't particularly care about watching 
 second-rate cricket." 
 
 She lowered her parasol a little, and 
 under cover of that shield whispered to 
 Sir Christopher (for Lord Walter heard 
 her distinctly), *' How stupid you are ! " 
 
 Then the parasol was raised again, and 
 lo and behold ! the countenance of Sir 
 Christopher was shining like the sun when 
 he emerges from behind a cloud ; and so 
 the trio sauntered on together, Madge 
 walking in the middle, with an admirer on 
 either side of her. 
 
 Two are company and three are none. 
 That discovery was made long before the 
 birth of Sir Christopher Shearman ; but 
 when three people are together it may 
 sometimes be doubtful which of them, if 
 he has any sense of self-respect, ought to
 
 AT LORD'S. 217 
 
 retire. Lord Walter was soon relieved 
 from any uncertainty as regarded himself. 
 Madge did not seem to hear him when he 
 spoke to her ; she laughed inordinately at 
 some feeble witticism in which Sir Chris- 
 topher was pleased to indulge at the ex- 
 pense of the batsmen ; she even went the 
 length of wondering whether it would not 
 be possible to gets seats in the Pavilion. 
 Now Sir Christopher was a member of the 
 Marylebone Club and Lord Walter was 
 not. The latter therefore caught sight of 
 a fi-iend, bowed, and withdrew. 
 
 A smile was upon his lips, but wrath 
 was in his heart, and if he had been a 
 sensible man he would then and there have 
 bidden a final adieu to Miss Madge Wilton. 
 Unluckily, he was not a sensible man, 
 because he was in love, and he was not the 
 less in love with this capricious girl by 
 reason of his being so justly indignant 
 against her. He wandered away, and, 
 after a time, encountered his brother and 
 Miss Shafto, to whom he mentioned that
 
 218 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 he was going home. The look of wonder 
 and pity which he detected in Norma's 
 eyes did not perhaps put him in any better 
 humour. 
 
 " What's the matter with Walter ? " 
 Lord Loddondale inquired innocently of 
 his companion. " Looks as if he wanted 
 to knock somebody down, doesn't he ? He 
 can't have been losing his money either, 
 because the match is going to end in a 
 draw, as anybody can see." 
 
 The match did, in truth, terminate 
 shortly afterwards as Lord Loddondale 
 had predicted that it would, and perhaps 
 it was not the only game which had been 
 played that day with an undecisive result. 
 But Norma, as she drove homewards with 
 Madge (Mr. Shafto having departed for 
 his club), resolved that she would at least 
 find out what object certain players had in 
 view. So she said, without any circum- 
 locution — 
 
 " I wish I could feel sure of you, Madge ! 
 Sometimes it seems to me as if you really
 
 AT LORD'S. 219 
 
 wished to marry Sir Christoplier, though 
 you say you don't." 
 
 " You may feel perfectly sure," answered 
 Madge, who by this time was looking tired 
 and depressed, '' that that is quite the last 
 thing in the world that I should wish 
 to do." 
 
 " Why do you encourage him then ? 
 And why do you encourage — others ? I 
 don't think it is quite fair, if you mean 
 nothing by it." 
 
 At this Madge began to laugh and 
 showed signs of recovering her lost spirits. 
 '' Have others been complaining ? " she 
 asked. " Others mustn't be so exacting ; 
 others mustn't imagine that they are going 
 to have everything all their own way. 
 An occasional mild rebuff would do others 
 no sort of harm, I suspect." 
 
 " I don't agree with you," said Norma. 
 *' I don't see the use of behaving in that 
 way, and — and if I were a man, I should 
 be disgusted by it." 
 
 ** But, my dear old Norma, you are not
 
 220 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 a man, tbough you are rather like one in 
 some ways. I can tell you what disgusts 
 a man more than anything else ; it is get- 
 ting what he wants without the slightest 
 difficulty." 
 
 " Well — but is Lord Walter to get what 
 he wants ? " 
 
 "Oh, Norma, how you jump to con- 
 clusions ! What does Lord Walter want ? 
 I'm sure /don't know ; and it is not at all 
 certain that he himself does." 
 
 After this there was a pause. Then 
 Norma said, " I suppose you mean that you 
 are only flirting with him. I am glad you 
 have told me, because now I can warn him 
 of what he has to expect. And I will." 
 
 To this menace no immediate rejoinder 
 was vouchsafed ; but presently there arose 
 a little sniffing noise, and Madge's hand- 
 kerchief was hastily pulled out of her 
 pocket. " Not very kind," were the only 
 intelligible words which reached Norma's 
 ears out of a confused and choking mur- 
 mur. Norma Shafto would have possessed
 
 AT LOKD'S. 221 
 
 a remarkably clear head if she had not also 
 been gifted, or afflicted, with a remarkably 
 soft heart. She could not bear to see poor 
 little Madge crying ; so, instead of taking 
 no notice, as she ought to have done, she 
 began to apologize and accuse herself of 
 cruelty. 
 
 Cruel Madge agreed that she most cer- 
 tainly was. ''It is all very well for you ; 
 you are your own mistress and can do as 
 you please. You don't know what I have 
 to submit to at home and how I should 
 have been scolded if Sir Christopher had 
 gone off in a huff'. And I am not a flirt, 
 whatever you may say. The only thing is 
 that I daren't always do what I should 
 like to do." 
 
 Thus Dover Street was reached without 
 any definite announcement having been 
 made as to Lord Walter's chance of success, 
 although before then Norma had been 
 induced to withdraw her threat of caution- 
 ing him against one who would not 
 willingly cause unhappiness to anybody.
 
 222 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 MADGE MAKES AMENDS. 
 
 The next day being Sunday, Lord Walter 
 ought to have gone to church in the morn- 
 ing, and this he would have done (for it 
 was his custom to go to church once a 
 week) if he had not felt his mental con- 
 dition to be such that he could not hope 
 for any real benefit either from prayers or 
 sermon. " Unless you can manage to 
 keep your thoughts from wandering," he 
 had been told authoritatively from the 
 pulpit not long before, " you had far better 
 remain at home." Therefore he remained 
 at home and smoked a pipe and allowed 
 his thoughts to wander. His thoughts 
 were not of a very exhilarating nature ; 
 but such as they were, he would have
 
 MADGE MAKES AMENDS. 223 
 
 preferred being left alone with them to 
 being interrupted by a visit from his 
 brother. 
 
 "I didn't know what the deuce to do 
 with myself," Lord Loddondale announced ; 
 " so I strayed out here upon the chance of 
 finding you in. How I hate Sunday ! " 
 
 " I should have tliought it was much 
 the same as other days to you," remarked 
 Lord Walter. 
 
 "You would, would you? Well, it 
 ain't. There's no racing on Sunday and 
 no whist and no billiards. Gay young 
 dogs like you swagger about in the Park 
 and then go and call upon their friends 
 and then dine out ; but I'm not exactly 
 w^hat you could call a lady-killer ; so that 
 by the time I've read the Observer and the 
 Field and the Sporting Times I'm about 
 ready to go and hang myself." 
 
 " You should cultivate the society of 
 ladies," said Lord Walter ; " it would be a 
 change and a relaxation for you to mix 
 with them once a week, and you seem to
 
 224 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 hit it off witli some of them tolerably well 
 when you are driven to it. I noticed that 
 you and Miss Shafto got on capitally 
 yesterday afternoon." 
 
 Lord Loddondale had not removed his 
 hat, which was cocked slightly over one 
 eye. He had seated himself in his favourite 
 attitude, astride upon a chair, with his 
 arms folded upon the back of it. In reply 
 to his brother's observation he nodded 
 emphatically. " We did indeed," said he. 
 *' Miss Shafto is a girl in a thousand. No 
 humbug about her, no infernal airs, no 
 nasty little dodges of getting you to say 
 more than you mean, don't you know ? 
 Upon my word, if I were a marrying 
 
 man — However, I'm not a marrying 
 
 man." 
 
 ** Non-marrying men usually end by 
 marrying," observed Lord Walter, who for 
 some reason or other was not best pleased 
 by his brother's eulogy of a lady the 
 refinement of whose character he must 
 naturally be quite unable to appreciate.
 
 MADGE MAKES AMENDS. 225 
 
 ** YoTi will marry as a matter of course. 
 Indeed, it's your duty to do so, I suppose." 
 
 " Duty or no duty, I don't mean to do 
 it," answered Lord Loddondale shortly. 
 " If it suits me to remain a bachelor, I 
 don't know who has a right to complain. 
 You least of anybody." 
 
 " My dear fellow, I'm not complaining ; 
 I only venture to predict that you won't 
 remain a bachelor very long." 
 
 " I shouldn't advise you to back your 
 opinion. All the same. Miss Shafto is a 
 nice girl and a good girl — and you're a 
 thundering ass, Walter." 
 
 " Thank you ; but why ? " 
 
 " Because, instead of making up to her 
 as you might, you're running after a con- 
 founded little flirt who can't compare with 
 her even in looks, and who'll see you jolly 
 well hanged before she'll consent to share 
 your humble lot. I'm not acquainted with 
 the young woman and don't^ want to be ; 
 but other fellows are, and I asked a few 
 questions about her last night at the club. 
 
 VOL. I. 15
 
 226 MISS SHAFTO. ■ 
 
 She's going to marry that rich beggar 
 Shearman, who has taken Brampton Priory, 
 and she sent you about your business 
 yesterday because he has a beast of a 
 temper and she's afraid of losing him if she 
 puts his back up. Now don't you make 
 any mistake about it : she'll flirt with you 
 as much as you please when it isn't too 
 risky, but if ever she marries you I'll eat 
 my hat. I tell you this, Walter, because 
 you're a good boy, though you set up to be 
 a man of the world, and I don't believe 
 you'd care to console yourself by flirting 
 with Lady Shearman." 
 
 The worst of it was that these counsels 
 really seemed to be based upon a foundation 
 of common sense. It was a little absurd 
 and a little irritating that they should come 
 from such a quarter ; still doubtless they 
 were kindly meant, and although a man of 
 the world may not altogether relish being 
 called a good boy, he is not so foolish as to 
 repudiate such a description of his character. 
 Lord Walter, therefore, gravely thanked
 
 MADGE MAKES AMENDS. 227 
 
 his mentor, mentioned that he was quite 
 aware of the circumstance that Miss 
 Wilton's relations intended to bestow her 
 upon Sir Christopher Shearman, and 
 changed the subject to one upon which 
 Lord Loddondale was perhaps better 
 qualified to speak. 
 
 " Old Nell Travers was here a short time 
 ago," he said. '' She came to ask for some 
 tips about your horses ; but I was obliged 
 to send her empty away. Are you in- 
 clined to be generous and give her a 
 hint ? " 
 
 Then it was curious to see how Lord 
 Loddondale's countenance changed. Ordi- 
 narily he had the appearance of a very 
 wide-awake, not to say cunning, young 
 man ; but now the corners of his mouth 
 drooped, his lips parted, his brows were 
 raised, and his eyes opened very wide with 
 an expression of bewilderment and concern. 
 He looked like some guileless youth to 
 whom a hard question has been put, which 
 he would fain answer, but cannot, by
 
 228 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 reason of his ignorance. " A hint ? " he 
 repeated vaguely. " About what ? " 
 
 *' At the time she seemed to be chiefly- 
 anxious to know whether Nugget would 
 win at Stockbridge ; but that's over, 
 and Nugget, I believe, didn't secure a 
 place.'' 
 
 *' Oh no; he wasn't placed. I'm sorry 
 if she put her money upon him. I could 
 have told her that he hadn't a chance ; 
 and, as it happens, that is the only thing 
 that T could have told her for certain about 
 any horse of mine." 
 
 " Perhaps she didn't put her money upon 
 him. I dare say she would be glad to 
 hear a few words of wisdom about the 
 Goodwood Stakes and Cup." 
 
 " Oh, she fancies the Conjuror and 
 H-engist, I suppose. Well, they may win 
 their races, and I hope they will ; but one 
 can't be too careful in giving advice to a 
 friend." 
 
 " I'll tell her to leave Goodwood alone, 
 then," said Lord Walter, much amused.
 
 MADGE MAKES AMENDS. 229 
 
 *' That will be the safest plan, no doubt. 
 The Conjuror is a very uncertain horse, 
 and although I should have said that 
 Hengist had a pretty good chance of 
 pulling off the Cup, the public evidently 
 thinks otherwise." 
 
 Lord Loddondale was proceeding to 
 point out that the public, after all, is about 
 as good a judge of any horse's merits as 
 the owner of the animal is likely to be, 
 when a note was brought in to his brother^ 
 who, after glancing at it, slipped it into 
 his pocket unopened. How did Lord 
 Walter know that the dashing, straggling 
 hand in which this missive was addressed 
 was that of Madge Wilton ? He could not 
 have answered the question ; but he felt 
 no doubt as to the fact, and the consequence 
 was that the remainder of Lord Loddoii- 
 dale's harangue was spoken to deaf ears. 
 Perhaps that astute personage took his 
 leave a little more hastily than he might 
 have done if the Goodwood meeting had 
 not been mentioned ; yet he paused for a
 
 230 MTSS SHAFTO. 
 
 moment on the threshold and then wheeled 
 round. 
 
 " I'm a fool," said he, " and I don't know 
 what business old Nell Travers has to ask 
 impertinent questions ; but never mind. 
 Tell her to back Hengist for all she's 
 worth, and you'll do the same yourself if 
 you've any sense. It's the very best 
 certainty I've ever known. Look sharp 
 about it, though, or you won't get a 
 decent price. There ! I've done it now, 
 and in about forty-eight hours what I've 
 told you will be known all over the 
 place. I don't expect to be thanked ; but 
 if you feel that you owe me a turn, you 
 can pay me off by letting me know the 
 next time that Miss Shafto comes to 
 examine your clay figures. I should like 
 to meet that girl again." 
 
 " There's no doubt about it then ! " 
 ejaculated Lord Walter. " Miss Shafto 
 may be Lady Loddondale as soon as she 
 chooses. Whether she will choose " 
 
 " Don't be an idiot ! " interrupted Lord
 
 MADGE MAKES AMENDS. 231 
 
 Loddondale rather angrily. " I tell you 
 I'm not going to marry anybody. I should 
 like you to marry Miss Shafto if you 
 would ; but I suppose you won't. As far 
 as that goes, you ain't half good enough 
 for her, iu my opinion ; I don't mind telling 
 you that much." 
 
 His existence was forgotten the moment 
 that he was out of sight. Under ordinary 
 circumstances Lord Walter would doubtless 
 have been much interested in speculating 
 upon the causes of his brother's unpre- 
 cedented behaviour ; but, as it was, the 
 world contained but one person who in- 
 terested him in the least. Perhaps she 
 was a flirt ; perhaps he had been perfectly 
 right in resolving — as he had done a score 
 of times during the previous night and the 
 present morning — that he would not be 
 made a fool of by her. But — he loved 
 her ; and when once you have made such 
 an admission as that, to declare that you 
 will not be made a fool of is only an 
 unmeaning phrase. Lord Walter perused
 
 232 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 the note which had been left for him, and 
 as he did so, his countenance became 
 illumined with smiles. 
 
 " Dear Lord Walter " (Miss Wilton 
 wrote) — 
 
 " I don't know whether you ever 
 go to church on Sunday afternoon ; but if 
 you don't, you might break through your 
 rule for once and come to St. Andrew's, 
 Wells Street, this afternoon at four o'clock. 
 You will hear some good music, and there's 
 no sermon. My reason for asking this 
 favour of you is that I want most par- 
 ticularly to consult you about my costume 
 for that ball which I told you that my 
 sister Constance is going to give. I am 
 sure you could give me an idea if you 
 would. Anyhow, I shall be at St. 
 Andrew's with my cousin Mrs. Langley, 
 and I shall look out for you after the 
 service. 
 
 " Sincerely yours, 
 
 " Madge Wilton.
 
 MADGE MAKES AMENDS. 233 
 
 " Why did you go away in such a hurry 
 yesterday ? I couldn't think what had 
 become of you." 
 
 It is needless to state that Lord Walter 
 was in the appointed place at the appointed 
 hour ; and when the congregation had 
 dispersed, he was rewarded by a squeeze 
 of the hand and a grateful glance from 
 Madge's soft eyes. 
 
 '' This is really good of you ! " she ex- 
 claimed. ** I know I'm a horrid nuisance ; 
 but when one is in despair one doesn't care 
 how great a nuisance one may be." 
 
 Then she introduced him to Mrs. Langley, 
 a rather pretty little woman, with a com- 
 plexion about which unkind people said 
 unkind things ; and Mrs. Laugley, smiling 
 amiably, hoped he would come and have a 
 cup of tea in Portland Place. 
 
 " Poor Madge," she explained, " cau't 
 think of any dress that will be at once 
 suitable and original, and she scorns all 
 my humble suggestions. Perhaps she will
 
 234 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 be more willing to trust your taste than 
 mine." 
 
 So Lord Walter, nothing loth, was con- 
 ducted to the commodious mansion in 
 which this lady dwelt, and after a quarter 
 of an hour of tea and gossip, Mrs. Langley, 
 discovering that she had some letters to 
 write, withdrew to the other end of the 
 drawing-room, which was a large one. 
 
 "Now," said Madge, drawing her chair 
 closer to that of her adviser, " let us pro- 
 ceed to business. Have you thought of 
 anything yet, or shall I go through a list 
 of the dresses that nothing would induce 
 me to wear ? " 
 
 " I have thought of something," answered 
 Lord Walter. " I was thinking about it in 
 church, and I have made up my mind that 
 you must wear an Albanian costume." 
 
 Madge drew down the corners of her 
 mouth. " Couldn't you hit upon anything 
 less hackneyed than that ? " she asked. 
 
 " I don't mean a peasant costume. You 
 are to be an Albanian princess ; and your
 
 MADGE MAKES AMENDS. 235 
 
 costume cannot possibly be hackneyed, 
 because I propose to invent it. There are 
 not, and to the best of my belief there 
 never were, any princesses in Albania, and 
 when one is dealing with imaginary persons 
 one is entitled to say how they shall be 
 attired. Perhaps the best plan will be 
 for me to make a rough sketch of my 
 notion." 
 
 He took pencil and paper, and in a few 
 minutes handed Madge a hastily executed 
 drawing, which she surveyed critically. 
 
 " Yes," she said, *' it doesn't look bad. 
 But what about the materials ? " 
 
 " Well, the skirt and bodice must be of 
 silver brocade. The bodice, as you see, is 
 cut square, and those open, hanging sleeves, 
 as well as the train, ought, I think, to be 
 of white velvet, though I will admit silk if 
 you insist upon it. The embroidery, of 
 course, must be silver. The veil should be 
 gauze. It falls from a diamond tiara over 
 the back of the head, is brought loosely 
 round under the chin and flung over the
 
 236 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 right shoulder, where it might be secured 
 by a diamond brooch. White and silver 
 would be trying to a good many people, 
 but not to you, if I may be permitted to 
 say so. The train, I admit, is an objection ; 
 but you might have it made with a loop, 
 through which you could pass your arm 
 when you were dancing." 
 
 " Yes ; that might be done,' answered 
 Madge. She added quietly, " There is just 
 one more trifling objection. I haven't got 
 any diamonds, and this costume would cost 
 at least five or six times as much as I could 
 possibly afford to spend upon it." 
 
 " No, indeed ; that is the very thing 
 that I was thinking about when I designed 
 it, and you will see that it can be made up 
 quite cheaply. I happen to possess the 
 brocade and embroidery among my artistic 
 properties, and if you will make use of 
 them for the evening, I shall be greatly 
 honoured ; so that all you will have to buy 
 will be the material for the train and 
 sleeves and the gauze for the veil. That,
 
 MADGE MAKES AMENDS. 237 
 
 I should think, ought not to come more 
 expensive than any other complete dress 
 that you could wear. As for the diamonds, 
 I should think you might borrow them 
 from somebody. From Lady Huddersfield, 
 for instance." 
 
 Madge stroked her chin reflectively, for 
 the matter was one which required to be 
 looked at from several points of view. " I 
 don't know what mamma will say to my 
 wearing your brocade and embroidery," 
 was the comment which she finally made 
 upon Lord Walter's proposition. 
 
 " I don't see why Mrs. Wilton should 
 object ; they won't have a ticket with my 
 name upon it attached to them," he re- 
 turned, with a readiness which did credit 
 to his insight into character. 
 
 Madge smiled, but still hesitated. She 
 knew that neither the dress nor the jewels 
 were altogether suitable to a girl of her 
 age ; but, on the other hand, she had that 
 overwhelming desire to wear diamonds 
 from which so few of her sex are exempt,
 
 238 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 and she thought it very likely that Lady 
 Huddersfield could be prevailed upon to 
 lend her the tiara. She ended by saying, 
 ^^ It's very kind of you ; " which Lord 
 Walter rightly interpreted as signifying 
 assent. 
 
 Presently she asked, " And what are 
 you yourself going to wear ? " 
 
 ''Shall I be there?" 
 
 " Of course you will. Didn't you promise 
 me that you would ? The invitations will 
 be out in a day or two." 
 
 Now, although it may be true that, as 
 Lord Walter had somewhat hastily declared, 
 there have never been any princesses in 
 Albania, it is well known that the country 
 has always been prolific in chieftains ; and 
 the costume worn by these, which has now 
 become the national costume of Grreece, is 
 also well known and is extremely becoming. 
 He took up his pencil again and drew a 
 figure of a warrior, clad in velvet jacket, 
 hanging sleeves, fustanella, tasselled fez, 
 and waist-belt containing the usual armoury
 
 MADGE MAKES AMENDS. 239 
 
 of pistols, daggers, and yataghans. " How 
 would that do ? " he asked. 
 
 Madge, after examining the sketch, re- 
 marked demurely, " I don't quite know 
 what mamma would say to that either." 
 
 " But need I consult her ? I have the 
 highest possible respect for Mrs. Wilton ; 
 still she is not my mamma, you know." 
 
 Madge made no rejoinder. She placed 
 the two sketches side by side, contemplating 
 them pensively, and, as he thought, a little 
 sadly. 
 
 '' Would you object ? " he ventured to 
 inquire at length. 
 
 Then she raised her eyes to his. " Oh 
 no," she answered softly ; " I shouldn't 
 object." 
 
 At this juncture Mrs. Langley, having 
 presumably finished her letters, joined the 
 conspirators and asked whether they were 
 getting any nearer to a decision. On the 
 outline of Madge's proposed costume being 
 submitted and explained to her, she pro- 
 tested loudly.
 
 240 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 " Much too old and much too mag- 
 nificent," she declared. "Everybody in 
 the room will want to know where you got 
 your materials from." 
 
 " But everybody needn't be told," re- 
 turned Madge and Lord Walter in the 
 same breath. 
 
 This simultaneous rejoinder seemed to 
 tickle Mrs. Langley, who agreed drily that 
 that was very true. " The individual in 
 the petticoat," she added, " is, I presume. 
 Lord Walter. Well, I beg you both to 
 understand distinctly that I wash my 
 hands of this business. I foresee that it 
 will be disapproved of in more quarters 
 than one, and if you will be advised by 
 me, you will think better of it. But the 
 chances are that you won't be advised 
 by me." 
 
 It cannot be said that this advice was 
 tendered in such a fashion as to render its 
 aeceptance probable ; and the truth is that 
 Mrs. Langley took a mischievous delight 
 in provoking her aunt, from whom she had
 
 MADGE MAKES AMENDS. 24l 
 
 had to submit to a good deal of provocation 
 in days gone by. Also she knew, or 
 thought she knew, perfectly well that the 
 mere fact of having attended a fancy ball 
 as pendant to an Albanian chieftain would 
 never prevent Madge Wilton from marry- 
 ing an English ironmaster. 
 
 But Lord Walter was of a different 
 opinion. He went home in jubilant spirits, 
 attaching a significance to Madge's consent 
 to wear his property which he would have 
 been the first to deride had his case been 
 that of another man, and had he been 
 looking on at it. To bo acquainted with 
 the peculiarities and frailties of human 
 nature is all very well, and some of us 
 may, by observation, have attained to a 
 certain proficiency in that science ; but 
 when we talk about human nature, we 
 don't generally mean either our own nature 
 or that of the persons whom we love. 
 
 VOL. I. 16
 
 242 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 MRS. LACy's ball. 
 
 Why Mrs. Wilton permitted her daughter 
 to make use of Lord Walter Sinclair's 
 silver brocade it would be difficult to say. 
 It was a compromising sort of thing to 
 allow one's daughter to do, and a vigilant 
 mother might have been expected to put 
 a prompt veto upon any such proceeding. 
 Yet Mrs. Wilton, who had had great ex- 
 perience and had discharged her maternal 
 functions with singular success, rnust be 
 assumed to have known what she was 
 about. Perhaps she may have reasoned, 
 as others had done, that the ownership 
 of the brocade need not necessarily be 
 divulged ; perhaps she may have been 
 influenced by the good-natured Lady Hud-
 
 MRS. LACY'S BALL. 243 
 
 dersfield, who had been coaxed into lending 
 the requisite jewels, or by a not unnatural 
 desire to spare her own pocket ; it is even 
 possible that she may have wished to rouse 
 the jealousy of Sir Christopher, who con- 
 tinued to be attentive, but who had not 
 yet committed himself, though the season 
 was drawing towards a close. In any 
 case, she did assent in her customary 
 querulous fashion, declaring that the dress 
 was an absurd one, and that it was dis- 
 agreeable to lay one's self under such obliga- 
 tions to a comparative stranger, but that 
 of course Madge would take her own way. 
 " Lord Walter Sinclair is making himself 
 quite ridiculous about Madge," she com- 
 plained to Norma. *'He calls every day 
 upon the pretext of altering something in 
 the costume that he has designed for her. 
 Of course no result can possibly come of 
 this, and I don't think Madge cares a 
 farthing for him ; still it is rather un- 
 pleasant while it lasts. I wish you had 
 not introduced him to us, Norma ! "
 
 244 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 " But supposing she did care for him ? " 
 Norma made bold to suggest. " There is 
 nothing against him, except that he isn't 
 rich, is there ? And he is clever and 
 handsome and " 
 
 " But, my dear, she doesn't," interrupted 
 Mrs. Wilton, cutting short the list of Lord 
 Walter's charms. " I can't tell what would 
 happen if she did, and I don't see the use 
 of talking about it. Surely we all have 
 real troubles enough, without discussing 
 imaginary ones ! " 
 
 Norma did not insist further. It was 
 not Mrs. Wilton's opposition — which might 
 be looked upon as certain — that she had 
 dreaded on Lord Walter's account since he 
 had taken her into his confidence, and the 
 time had not yet come when her interven- 
 tion could be of any service to him or 
 Madge. That before they were much older 
 they would both stand in need of any 
 support that they could get, she no longer 
 doubted. She thought she saw plainly 
 enough what Mrs. Wilton could not or
 
 MRS. LACY'S BALL. 245 
 
 would not see — that Madge had been over- 
 taken by the Nemesis which is said to He 
 in wait for all flirts, and that, having 
 digged a pit for another, she had fallen into 
 the midst of it herself. This was perhaps 
 a good thing ; but it would have been a 
 better thing. Norma thought, if her friend 
 had had the courage and the honesty to 
 disabuse Sir Christopher of all illusions. 
 This Madge certainly had not done ; and 
 although, as Mrs. Wiltou said, Lord Walter 
 found excuses for daily visits to Dover 
 Street, matters were so arranged, or so fell 
 out, that the rivals very seldom met. 
 Therefore it was evident that there was 
 stormy weather ahead. 
 
 Meanwhile, Walter Sinclair lived happily 
 in a fool's paradise. He had received no 
 verbal encouragement ; on the contrary, 
 many dark hints had been conveyed to 
 him, that the girl whom he loved was not 
 free to follow the dictates of her own heart; 
 but these warnings did not disturb him, 
 because he simply did not believe in them.
 
 246 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 Moreover, the signs which Norma had 
 observed had not been lost upon him. 
 Like all lovers, he saw but one great 
 difficulty to be surmounted, and, having 
 now good hope of being victorious in that 
 all-important particular, it was not won- 
 derful that he should have been inclined 
 to make light of subsidiary obstacles. 
 Surely, if Madge cared for him, he would 
 have strength enough and determination 
 enough to rescue her from a thousand Mrs. 
 Wiltons or Sir Christopher Shearmans ! It 
 is a natural delusion and one to which we 
 are all prone. 
 
 Chancing upon Miss Travers at a dinner- 
 party one evening, he duly delivered to 
 her his brother's message, of which she 
 took note. 
 
 " I am glad," she observed, " to find that 
 you are able to remember the needs of 
 your friends in your present semi-imbecile 
 condition." 
 
 And on being asked what she meant by 
 that, she replied, " My dear Walter, I
 
 MRS. LACY'S BALL. 247 
 
 wasn't born yesterday. When I saw that 
 very badly executed head in your studio, 
 I perceived that you were upon the verge 
 of making a fool of yourself, and I have 
 since heard that you have gone beyond the 
 verge. One consolation is that, if matri- 
 mony is what you are contemplating, you 
 will soon be shaken back into your senses 
 again ; and very soon after that you will 
 be thanking your stars for what I suppose 
 you will consider a misfortune at first." 
 
 Lord Walter laughed, not caring to 
 admit or deny anything. That, of course, 
 was just the sort of view which we take 
 of our neighbours' affairs and which our 
 neighbours take of ours. What a fallacy 
 to imagine that lookers-on see most of the 
 game ! Very generally, what they see is 
 not the game at all, but only something 
 which superficially resembles it. 
 
 Hitherto the attention of lookers-on had 
 been but little attracted to the game which 
 was being played by Lord Walter Sinclair 
 and Miss Wilton, because they had very
 
 248 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 seldom been seen in public together ; but 
 what were lookers-on to think when the 
 former made his appearance at Mrs. Lacy's 
 ball in a magnificent costume corresponding 
 in every particular to that which rendered 
 the latter so conspicuous ? This was a little 
 Gowp de theatre for which Mrs. Wilton had 
 not been prepared. She had been told, 
 indeed, that Lord Walter was to represent 
 a G-reek chieftain ; but, having only a faint 
 idea of the whereabouts of Albania, she 
 had not mentally connected it with Greece. 
 Now, however, that she saw the white and 
 silver, the open, hanging sleeves and the 
 embroidery worn by that unscrupulous 
 young man, she realized the full extent of 
 the liberty which he had permitted himself, 
 and bit her lip in vexation. To borrow his 
 brocade was one thing, but to countenance 
 his assumption of the character of Jack to 
 her daughter's Jill was quite another. 
 
 Little enough did he reck of an outraged 
 mother's feelings. He did not even notice 
 the marked coldness with which she greeted
 
 MRS. LACY'S BALL. 249 
 
 him, but passed ou in search of Madge, 
 whom he presently found, and to whom he 
 said, " You see I have turned up in time 
 for our first dance." 
 
 She smiled and nodded, relinquishing 
 the arm of the Spanish muleteer with 
 whom she had been dancing, and taking 
 Lord Walter's. So this striking couple 
 moved down the ball-room together ; and 
 then, no doubt, it was that remarks began 
 to be interchanged amongst the bystanders 
 — remarks more or less ironical, as indeed 
 they could hardly fail to be under the cir- 
 cumstances. Those who knew Miss Wilton 
 also knew her mother and sisters and had 
 difficulty in believing that the impoverished 
 younger brother of a marquis could be the 
 match selected for her by such far-sighted 
 persons. Those who knew Lord Walter 
 considered him cool-headed and worldly- 
 wise, and were naturally amused to see 
 him thus parading himself with a girl 
 who, as they were credibly informed, had 
 no fortune at all.
 
 260 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 Madge, perhaps, was aware that she was 
 being talked about, for she seemed a little 
 uneasy, and said at length, " Would you 
 very much mind sitting out this dance ? 
 My dress is lovely, and it is a great success, 
 thanks to you ; but it is a little bit heavy 
 for dancing in." 
 
 Lord Walter was quite ready to do any- 
 thing that she pleased ; so long as he had 
 her beside him he was satisfied. He took 
 her out on to the broad balcony, which had 
 been covered in with striped canvas, and 
 was partially lighted by hanging Chinese 
 lanterns. There they found an unoccupied 
 divan, and, possessing themselves of it, fell 
 into a kind of talk which had latterly 
 become usual with them. It was, to tell 
 the truth, a kind of talk which would not 
 bear reporting, being, as regards the words 
 actually spoken, trivial and uninteresting 
 to the last degree ; but under cover of it 
 were exchanged hints, innuendoes and allu- 
 sions which were doubtless interesting 
 enough to the persons concerned. If either
 
 MRS. LACY'S BALL. 251 
 
 of them found it too indirect to be quite 
 satisfactory, that one was not Madge, who 
 by means of it had discovered all that she 
 could possibly wish to know or that he 
 could desire to tell her. Nevertheless there 
 are certain things which must be stated 
 plainly before any man will consent to 
 understand them, and it now seemed ex- 
 pedient to her to discard ambiguity with 
 reference to one of these. 
 
 " Would you," she asked after a time, 
 " be very angry if I begged you, as a 
 great favour, to give up the rest of the 
 dances that I promised you for this 
 evening ? " 
 
 " I shouldn't be angry," he replied rather 
 blankly ; " but I should be grievously dis- 
 appointed. What have I done ? " 
 
 " Oh, nothing ; only — don't you think it 
 would be better if we were not too much 
 seen together to-night ? I warned you, 
 you know, that mamma wouldn't be pleased 
 at your wearing a dress like mine, and as 
 we passed her just now, I saw that slie
 
 252 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 wasn't. In fact, I am sure that she is very 
 much displeased." 
 
 ''I am sorry for that ; but might we not 
 have the audacity to brave her displeasure, 
 for once ? " 
 
 " We might ; but it wouldn't be very 
 wise, would it? At least, it wouldn't be 
 very wise of me, I mean. To you, I dare 
 say, it wouldn't matter much. In future 
 we shouldn't be at home when you called, 
 that would be all." 
 
 Lord Walter remained silent for a 
 moment or two. It would certainly be 
 unwise to defy Mrs. Wilton, and if she 
 chose to shut her door in his face, there 
 was nothing in the world to prevent her 
 from doing so. Yet he would have to 
 fight her or win her over some day. His 
 musings were interrupted by a little sigh 
 from his neighbour. 
 
 " You see," she said, " it is just what I 
 am always telling you, and I don't know 
 why you laugh when I say it ; I can't do 
 what I like. I have been looking forward
 
 MRS. LACY'S BALL. 253 
 
 to this ball for weeks, and now I shan't 
 enjoy it at all. But there's no help for it. 
 We mustn't even sit here much longer, and 
 perhaps I shan't see you again before we 
 leave London. We are to go home in a 
 day or two." 
 
 " You don't mean that ! " ejaculated Lord 
 Walter in dismay. Then, after a pause, 
 ** In that case, we may as well dance and 
 enjoy ourselves while we can. If you are 
 going to leave London, my calling in Dover 
 Street would be equally useless whether 
 Mrs. Wilton was pleased with me or not." 
 
 " Oh, I didn't mean that quite literally. 
 What I meant was that if you offend 
 mamma, she won't let me speak to you 
 again, and — and we have been such friends 
 — I should be sorry " 
 
 There was a break in the speaker's voice 
 which betrayed genuine emotion and which 
 had the effect of dismissing all Lord Walter's 
 prudence to the winds. " Madge!" he ex- 
 claimed suddenly. 
 
 " Hush ! " she whispered ; " you must
 
 254 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 not say that. I think we will go back to 
 the ballroom now, please." 
 
 Nevertheless, she did not move. 
 
 As for Lord Walter, he had gone too far 
 to draw back. '' I love you, Madge," he 
 said. " That is no news to you ; you have 
 known it for some time past. I think, too, 
 yon may have known why I have not 
 ventured to say so before. I am a poor 
 man ; but perhaps I shall not always be 
 poor. At any rate, if you could give me 
 just a little bit of hope, I should be en- 
 couraged to throw my whole heart into my 
 calling — which is really a lucrative calling 
 for those who succeed at it." 
 
 A little bit of hope is no great boon to 
 ask for, and Madge might have conceded 
 that much without committing herself in 
 any definite fashion. As she particularly 
 dreaded committing herself, concession 
 would doubtless have been her wisest 
 policy ; but she was taken by surprise and 
 was agitated, as well as rather frightened. 
 So she answered hurriedly —
 
 MRS. LACY'S BALL. 255 
 
 " Please don t say any more ; I can't pos- 
 sibly answer you now. But next month 
 we shall be going to Scotland to stay with 
 the Lacys, and T beheve their moor is close 
 to Lord Loddondale's, and what I was 
 thinking was that if your brother were to 
 ask you to stay with him " 
 
 " I will take care that he does," said 
 Lord Walter joyfully, as she paused. 
 " Loddondale is a good-natured fellow in 
 his way, and luckily I'm a pretty fair shot. 
 There will be no difficulty as to that. But 
 what about dates ? " 
 
 " Well, I believe we shall go north about 
 the twelfth, and we are sure to stay at 
 least a month with the Lacys. Now take 
 me back to the ball-room." 
 
 He prepared to obey her ; he had ob- 
 tained all that he had hoped for and was 
 more than satisfied. But, as ill luck would 
 have it, at this moment there appeared 
 upon the scene a burly little red-bearded 
 man, habited as Henry YHL, who ejacu- 
 lated, '' Oho ! "
 
 256 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 Madge had extracted a half-promise from 
 her sister that Sir Christopher Shearman 
 should not be invited to this ball ; yet here 
 Sir Christopher was, and a glance at his 
 flushed face would have sufficed to convince 
 anybody that he was in a very naughty 
 temper. After the above ejaculation, he 
 contorted his features into what he probably 
 intended for a sardonic smile and said, " I 
 suppose, Miss Wilton, I may congratulate 
 
 you." 
 
 " Upon what ? " asked Madge, laughing 
 rather tremulously. '' Upon my cos- 
 tume ? " 
 
 " No, I don't admire your costume. My 
 bad taste, I dare say ; but I don't. What 
 I'm told that I ought to congratulate you 
 upon is your engagement to Lord Walter 
 Sinclair. Half a dozen people have been 
 good enough to inform me of it since I 
 arrived. On my own account, I beg to 
 add my congratulations upon the success 
 with which you have kept it dark up to 
 now."
 
 MRS. LACY'S BALL. 257 
 
 Even in that dim light Lord Walter 
 could see that Madge's colour faded. She 
 turned her affrighted eyes first upon Sir 
 Christopher, who was looking very fierce, 
 and then upon him. " It isn't true ! Please 
 tell him it isn't true ! " she gasped. 
 
 Now Lord Walter was not very much 
 inclined to comply with this request. Sir 
 Christopher had taken a most unwarrant- 
 able liberty and deserved no answer. He 
 thought, too, that Sir Christopher had been 
 drinking, which may or may not have been 
 the case. Still, since he had been appealed 
 to, he could scarcely remain silent, so he 
 said very coldly — 
 
 " There seems to be some mistake. Per- 
 haps the resemblance between my dress and 
 Miss Wilton's may be accountable for it." 
 
 '* And quite enough to account for it 
 too ! " cried Sir Christopher, still angry, 
 though evidently relieved. " How any 
 man can deliberately compromise a lady in 
 that way, unless he wants mistakes to be 
 made, passes my understanding." 
 
 VOL. I. 17
 
 258 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 " Your understanding," observed Lord 
 Walter sweetly, " is perhaps not a very 
 capacious one." 
 
 After that, it seemed high time to avert 
 a hand-to-hand conflict. Madge, rising to 
 the level of the occasion, burst out laughing. 
 
 " How ridiculous ! " she exclaimed. " I 
 am sure there must be plenty of other men 
 in Greek costumes in the room, and people 
 can't imagine that I am engaged to them 
 all. However, I will carefully shun them 
 for the rest of the evening. Sir Christopher 
 will have to be upon his guard too, or he 
 may find himself dancing with one of 
 Henry YIII.'s six wives. Meanwhile, I 
 certainly mustn't show myself any more 
 with you, Lord Walter." 
 
 She held out her hand to him, saying, 
 " Good night and good-bye, if we don't 
 meet again." Then she took Sir Chris- 
 topher's arm and was led away. 
 
 Lord Walter, though he had no very 
 high opinion of human nature^ was neither 
 jealous nor suspicious by temperament.
 
 MRS. LACY'S BALL. 259 
 
 He saw that Madge was anxious to gain 
 time ; but he did not complain of that. 
 She could not marry him without incurring 
 some sacrifice of material comfort, and it 
 was only fair that she should have leisure 
 to consider whether that sacrifice was 
 worth making. That she should wish to 
 keep upon good terms with Sir Christopher 
 was also quite intelligible ; for if she fell 
 out with him she would fall out with her 
 mother, which would, of course, be uncom- 
 fortable, and was as yet unnecessary. No 
 doubt he would have been less philosophic 
 if he had been less confident ; but how 
 could he help being confident? Not to 
 have been refused was virtually equivalent 
 to having been accepted ; and as he lingered 
 a while in the ball-room, watching Madge 
 while she danced with the appeased Sir 
 Christopher, he freely forgave the im- 
 pertinence of that defeated rival. 
 
 Presently he was accosted by a Roman 
 senator with an eyeglass, in whom he 
 recognized Mr. Winstanley-Pettie ; and
 
 260 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 Mr. Pettie said, " Your little friend Miss 
 Wilton is a gorgeous spectacle to-night, 
 isn't she ? I wonder where the deuce she 
 got her diamonds from ! Do you suppose 
 Lady Huddersfield lent them to her ? Well, 
 she'll have diamonds of her own before 
 long ; I hear that fat little chap Shear- 
 man is crazy about her. Sorry for you ; 
 you'll have to drop her acquaintance, I'm 
 afraid." 
 
 " Shall I ? " said Lord Walter. 
 
 '' I should rather think you would ! — a 
 man of your personal attractions ! Besides, 
 I've heard it whispered that your appear- 
 ing here as a couple of Albanians wasn't 
 altogether an accident, and Shearman has 
 heard it too. Never mind, my dear fellow ; 
 between ourselves, I don't much envy Miss 
 Wilton's future husband." 
 
 '' That is a very fortunate thing for Miss 
 AVilton's future husband." 
 
 " Eh ? Well, it's a fortunate thing for 
 me. To fall in love with a flirt," added 
 Mr. Pettie impressively, " is just about the
 
 MRS. LACY'S BALL. 261 
 
 most disastrous calamity that can happen 
 to a man." 
 
 But Lord Walter went home to dream of 
 Madge without any presentiment of ap- 
 proaching disaster.
 
 262 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 CHAPTER XIY. 
 
 LORD WALTER GOES TO SEEK HIS FORTUNE. 
 
 Mrs. Lacy's ball was the last entertainment 
 of the kind which was favoured by Walter 
 Sinclair's presence that season, nor was 
 any further opportunity of bidding Madge 
 farewell granted to him. His brocade and 
 embroidery were returned on the following 
 day with a very pretty little note of thanks, 
 in which Madge said — 
 
 " I hope so much I may see you in 
 Scotland. I am rather in despair at having 
 to leave London — at least, I should be if I 
 had time to think about it ; but we are so 
 busy packing up and making preparations 
 for a move that I can't indulge my sorrow. 
 I shall have plenty of leisure for regrets
 
 LOED WALTER SEEKS HIS FORTUNE. 263 
 
 during the long, dull weeks that are 
 coming." 
 
 Lord Walter took the hint and made no 
 reply, either verbally or by letter. The 
 long weeks that were coming must neces- 
 sarily be weeks of suspense for him ; but 
 he did not think that they would be dull, 
 because he meant to devote them to a steady 
 prosecution of art. He had no longer, 
 indeed, any great temptation to be idle. 
 Everybody was going away ; the season 
 was expiring ; such luckless legislators as 
 had been unable to find pairs were in no 
 humour for entertaining their acquaint- 
 ances ; and although Miss Travers was 
 kind enough to say that there would be a 
 spare room in the house which she and 
 some friends of hers had taken at Bognor 
 for the Groodwood week, that was an 
 invitation which could be declined without 
 any poignant sense of sacrifice. 
 
 However, he thought he ought to go and 
 say good-bye to the Shaftos, who, he pre- 
 sumed, would shortly be flitting like the
 
 264 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 rest of the world. He called in Upper 
 Belgrave Street rather late one afternoon, 
 and was glad to learn that Miss Shafto was 
 at home. Possibly he may have desired 
 to say something more than good-bye to 
 Miss Shafto, whose alliance had hitherto 
 been of little service to him, and from 
 whom he might ere long have to claim 
 more active support. It was therefore 
 annoying to find that she was not alone. 
 Seated upon a sofa beside her, in a loung- 
 ing attitude which struck the new-comer 
 as neither respectful nor becoming, was 
 the long-haired young man whom he re- 
 membered to have seen at the theatre 
 and who had the impudence to screw up 
 his eyes at him as though he had been an 
 intruder. 
 
 " I don't know whether you know Mr. 
 Morley," Norma said. '' Lord Walter 
 Sinclair — Mr. Morley." 
 
 Lord Walter bowed, and Mr. Morley, 
 rising very slowly from his recumbent 
 position, bent his head and heaved a sigh.
 
 LORD WALTER SEEKS HIS FORTUNE. 265 
 
 He was certainly a very ill-bred youth, and 
 one cannot wonder that Lord Walter should 
 have longed to kick him, though, to be 
 sure, he had as good a right as anybody 
 else to be where he was. It was Basil 
 Morley's misfortune that he had never been 
 adequately kicked. In his earlier years 
 his companions had done their best for him 
 in that direction ; but it must be assumed 
 that their boots were not thick enough, or 
 that his skin was too thick. He sank back 
 upon the sofa without the faintest idea of 
 having rufSed anybody's susceptibilities. 
 In fact, his belief was that he himself had 
 a grievance. 
 
 " Then, Miss Shafto," said he, in low 
 and tender accents, " this is to be our last 
 meeting in London, I fear." 
 
 " As you are going home to-morrow 
 morning, I am afraid it is," answered 
 Norma. " Please don't forget to give my 
 love to your mother." 
 
 " And when shall we meet again ? Will 
 you not make an effort to show yourself in
 
 266 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 a neighbourhood where you are — I may 
 say it without exaggeration — adored by 
 rich and poor alike ? " 
 
 " I can't say for certain what we shall 
 do as yet. Of course I should like very 
 much to pay a flying visit to Brampton, 
 and the Wiltons have asked us to stay with 
 them in the autumn, but everything must 
 depend upon my father's plans." 
 
 " Mr. Shafto's plans must surely be 
 capable of being moulded in accordance 
 with your wishes. I can't conceive that 
 any one could live with you and not feel 
 constrained by an overpowering necessity 
 to do what you desired." 
 
 Having paid this handsome tribute to 
 Norma's powers of fascination, Mr. Morley 
 glanced at Lord Walter, sighed again, and 
 got up. " About that little volume of 
 poems," he began. 
 
 " Yes ? " said Norma. 
 
 " I was thinking But no matter. 
 
 Perhaps it would be better that you should 
 not see them until they are in print. Then
 
 LORD WALTER SEEKS HIS FORTUNE. 267 
 
 I shall make so bold as to crave your 
 acceptance of a copy." 
 
 He held Norma's hand for a minute, 
 gazed eloquently into her eyes, inclined 
 his head once more to the stranger, and 
 so retired, steering his way through the 
 furniture with graceful, deliberate steps. 
 
 " Well," exclaimed Lord Walter, " I must 
 say " 
 
 " Oh no, I don't think you must," in- 
 terrupted Norma, laughing. " If I don't 
 know all that there is to be said against 
 poor Mr. Morley it isn't the fault of my 
 friends. He is silly and affected, if you 
 like ; but many of those who abuse him 
 are quite as silly as he, though they may 
 not be quite as aifected." 
 
 " Meaning me ? " 
 
 " No, I don't mean you. No one would 
 be likely to call you silly." 
 
 " Thank you, but I. dare say I am silly, 
 all the same. Who knows ? One generally 
 has to await results before one can say 
 whether any man's behaviour is silly or
 
 268 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 wise. What seems clear is that one's 
 behaviour isn't in all respects under one's 
 own control. Do you think Miss Wilton's 
 is, for example ? " 
 
 *' In what way do you mean ? " 
 
 " I mean, do you think she is really 
 frightened of her mother ? " 
 
 That was exactly what Norma did not 
 know. She could sympathize with every- 
 body, but she could not understand every- 
 body ; and having plenty of courage herself, 
 she had difficulty in believing that any girl 
 could be coerced by a peevish old woman 
 into doing what she not only disliked but 
 knew to be wrong. No doubt she under- 
 estimated the power of peevish old women, 
 which is in reality enormous. At length 
 she said — 
 
 " If you ask me, I think everything 
 depends upon yourself Girls generally 
 doubt whether a man is in earnest until he 
 has spoken out." 
 
 " Well, I have done that," answered 
 Lord Walter, who then related what had
 
 LORD WALTER SEEKS HIS FORTUNE. 269 
 
 taken place at Mrs. Lacy's ball, and begged 
 Miss Sbafto to give bim ber bonest opinion 
 of bis cbances. He was in trutb very 
 sanguine, and wanted ratber to obtain some 
 promise of assistance as against Mrs. 
 Wilton tban to be told wbat be already 
 knew, tbat, since be bad not been refused, 
 be bad been in a measure accepted. It 
 was tberefore sometbing of a surprise 
 and disappointment to bim wben Norma 
 said — 
 
 " I can't tell you ; Madge bas ratber 
 avoided me of late. But it is a pity tbat 
 you did not make ber give you a distinct 
 answer. If sbe bad once confessed tbat 
 sbe cared for you, it would be different. 
 Mrs. Wilton is not a wicked woman. Sbe 
 bas done ber best to find ricb busbands for 
 ber daugbters, and one can't blame ber for 
 tbat ; but I don't tbink sbe would urge 
 any daugbter of bers to marry a ricb man, 
 knowing quite well tbat sbe loved a poor 
 
 one." 
 
 " It seems to me," observed Lord Walter,
 
 270 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 " that the question is not whether she has 
 said that she cares for me, but whether she 
 does care for me." 
 
 Perhaps that was the question ; of course 
 it ought by rights to be the question ; but 
 Norma was riot certain about it. However, 
 on being further consulted, she readily 
 promised to give her confidant such aid as 
 it might be in her power to give, and she 
 strongly advised him to be in Scotland 
 as soon after the twelfth as possible. 
 " Because," she added, " I should not at all 
 wonder if Mr. Lacy were to ask Sir 
 Christopher Shearman down for the grouse- 
 shooting." 
 
 "I suppose you won't be in Scotland this 
 summer ? " Lord Walter said. 
 
 '* Oh no ; papa has taken a house at 
 Folkestone for three months, and I don't 
 know what we shall do after that. If we 
 can find a tenant for this house, we shall 
 go abroad most likely." 
 
 Upon the whole, Lord Walter went away 
 not ill satisfied with the upshot of this
 
 LORD WALTER SEEKS HIS FORTUNE. 271 
 
 conference and sincerely grateful for the 
 friendly spirit in which he had been met. 
 Rightly or wrongly, he was persuaded that 
 Miss Shafto had great influence over her 
 friends, and that this influence would be 
 exerted on his behalf he had been assured. 
 Also she had begged him to write to her 
 as soon as he should have any news to 
 communicate. 
 
 The following day brought him a little 
 piece of good fortune in the shape of an 
 invitation to join his brother's shooting 
 party in Aberdeenshire on the eighteenth. 
 Thus he was spared the disagreeable neces- 
 sity of asking to be asked ; and during 
 the period of quiet and solitude which 
 intervened between the day of his visit to 
 Norma and that of his departure for the 
 north he worked hard and steadily. It was 
 then, indeed, that he conceived and partially 
 executed the exquisite female figure which, 
 under the name of '' Suspense," has since 
 become celebrated. 
 
 Suspense is not always painful; that is
 
 272 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 to say that it is not painful to all tempera- 
 ments. Lord Walter, when the time came 
 for him to journey northwards, set forth 
 with feeliugs of pleasurable excitement 
 rather than of trepidation. He slept at 
 Edinburgh, not caring to submit to the 
 misery of an all-night journey ; and on the 
 succeeding evening reached Lord Loddon- 
 dale's shooting-lodge, where he found four 
 other guests besides himself assembled. 
 During dinner the talk was of sport and 
 of nothing else ; but afterwards, when three 
 of the party had fallen asleep and had 
 dropped their cigars, the survivor said 
 casually to his host — 
 
 " Do you know anything about your 
 neighbour Lacy, Loddondale ? " 
 
 " Dick Lacy ? " answered Lord Loddon- 
 dale. " Oh yes ; I know him a little. 
 Not a bad sort of fellow. Friend of yours, 
 by the way, Walter — or at least his sister- 
 in-law is. More by token, she is staying 
 there now, with her old mother. A man 
 who asks his mother-in-law to stay with
 
 LORD WALTER SEEKS HIS FORTUNE. 278 
 
 him for three or four weeks at a stretch 
 must be a good sort of fellow, eh ? " 
 
 " And a man who asks that little cad 
 Shearman to stay with him must be next 
 door to an angel," remarked the first 
 speaker, laughing. 
 
 " Is Sir Christopher Shearman there ? " 
 inquired Lord Walter. 
 
 " Rather ! That's why Mrs. Wilton and 
 her daughter are there, I take it. The 
 beggar can shoot, I'll say that for him ; 
 but I shouldn't care to have him in the 
 house, and I certainly shouldn't care to 
 lend a hand in marry iug my wife's sister to 
 him — if I had a wife and she had a sister. 
 One understands women doing that sort of 
 thing ; but a man ought to know better. 
 I was thinking of that when I asked Loddon- 
 dale whether he knew anything of Lacy." 
 
 Lord Loddondale screwed up his little 
 red eyes and grinned. '' Bless your in- 
 nocence ! " said he ; " you don't suppose 
 a married man is master in his own house, 
 do you ? " 
 
 VOL. I. 18
 
 274 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 The subject was not pursued much 
 further, and everybody retired to bed at 
 an early hour. As for Lord Walter, he 
 was a little, but not very much, disquieted 
 by what he had heard. That Sir Christopher 
 should be staying with the Lacys was, after 
 all, no surprise to him, though of course it 
 might prove to be something of an incon- 
 venience. 
 
 The next day he was out on the moor 
 from early morning to late evening, and 
 the object of this unremitting attention to 
 business was achieved in the shape of a 
 very heavy bag, to which Lord Walter 
 contributed his fair share. It was hard 
 work ; but none of the me a seemed to 
 mind it. They were enthusiastic sportsmen 
 and excellent shots, and if they had not 
 been both, would hardly have been invited 
 to occupy their present quarters. Lord 
 Walter, who was in anything but first-rate 
 condition after so many months of London, 
 was thoroughly tired out before nightfall, 
 and was not sorry for it, as this gave him
 
 LORD WALTER SEEKS HIS FORTUNE. 275 
 
 a plausible excuse for announcing that be 
 meant to take a rest on the morrow. His 
 fellow-guests remonstrated with him ; but 
 Lord Loddondale, who was not as a rule 
 lenient to shirkers, only laughed. 
 
 *' I suppose you're going over to Lacy's 
 place to-morrow, Walter," he remarked, 
 halting for a moment at his brother s door 
 on his way up to bed. 
 
 " Well, yes, I think very likely I shall," 
 answered Lord Walter ; " I ought to call 
 there. Is it far off ? " 
 
 "Take the dog-cart, if you like; but 
 you'll have a bad road and a roundabout 
 one. You could walk it in less than an 
 hour. Somebody will show you the way. 
 If I were you, I shouldn't go at all ; but 
 then I'm not you, thank goodness ! Well, 
 I dare say you won't want to go a second 
 time. Good night." 
 
 Lord Loddondale walked away, laughing. 
 Little as he went into society, he heard 
 something of its gossip, and both Lady 
 Huddersfield and Mrs. Lacy were well-
 
 276 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 known people. From what he had been 
 told of them, as well as of Mrs. Wilton, he 
 did not imagine tViat a very cordial reception 
 was in store for his younger brother. 
 
 But no such apprehensions disturbed the 
 rest of Lord Walter, who slept like a top 
 and did not wake until long after the 
 sportsmen had resumed their daily labours. 
 He spent a long, pleasant morning all by 
 himself, lying full length upon the heathery 
 ground which surrounded the shooting- 
 lodge, reading the newspapers and dream- 
 ing. It was a hot, still day ; the rounded 
 outlines of the middle distance and the far- 
 away blue hills were softened by a haze 
 which spread itself over the whole sky 
 towards noon ; there was a slumberous 
 murmur of insects in the air, and from the 
 earth arose the faint, slightly pungent 
 odour which belongs to the moors. Under 
 such conditions the least imaginative men 
 are tempted to indulge in day-dreams ; and 
 indeed they might be worse employed. 
 We all have in us the elements of per-
 
 LORD WALTER SEEKS HIS FORTUNE. 277 
 
 fectibility : it is not difficult to conceive 
 of a society from which greed, selfishness, 
 and all the meaner vices which disfigure 
 ourselves and our neighbours should be 
 eliminated ; it is not difficult to ascribe to 
 a given fellow-creature those attributes 
 which all ought to possess ; and it is as 
 easy as anything can be to picture a 
 married life made up of graceful harmonies. 
 Of course the realities of existence are for 
 the most part hard and ugly. Births, 
 illnesses, deaths, with their attendant cir- 
 cumstances ; weekly bills, the adverse 
 criticisms of an ill-informed press, the 
 dreadful tedium of social intercourse — 
 these are not very pretty things to contem- 
 plate ; but then there is no reason at all 
 why one should contemplate them on a 
 summer's day. They form a part — and a 
 tolerably large part too — of our earthly 
 lot ; but they do not form the whole of it, 
 and if Walter Sinclair was able for a brief 
 space to realize mentally ideals which v^ere 
 not actually realizable, he was by so much
 
 278 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 the better off. Madge Wilton did not 
 happen to be his ideal of feminine excellence, 
 so that he had a little trouble in the con- 
 struction of his airy castles ; but he 
 managed to construct them, in spite of all 
 obstacles, and went indoors at length to 
 eat his luncheon with a light heart and a 
 fine appetite. 
 
 Towards three o'clock he made inquiries 
 as to the way to Inverstrachan, which was 
 the name of Mr. Lacy's house, and was 
 offered the services of a lad to conduct him 
 thither ; but verbal instructions, together 
 with a cursory study of the Ordnance map, 
 seemed to be sufficient, and presently he 
 set forth to learn his fate. For he felt 
 very sure that his fate would be decided, 
 one way or the other, within the next few 
 hours. 
 
 The weather by this time had begun to 
 show signs of an approaching change ; the 
 atmosphere had become stifling, and heavy 
 cirro-cumulus clouds were drifting slowly 
 up against the feeble westerly breeze. " We
 
 LORD WALTEIl SEEKS HIS FORTUNE. 279 
 
 shall have a thunderstorm before sunset," 
 thought Lord Walter. ''Well, I don't 
 much care, so long as I get to the end of 
 my walk without a wetting." 
 
 And it occurred to him that to be 
 detained at Inverstrachan by stress of 
 weather might not, perhaps, be such a 
 very disagreeable experience. He laughed 
 a little as he imagined the scene — Madge 
 standing beside him at the window, look- 
 ing out to see whether it wasn't going to 
 clear ; Sir Christopher angry and sus- 
 picious ; Mrs. Wilton fretful and uneasy ; 
 Mrs. Lacy — he had seen Mrs. Lacy at her 
 own ball, in the guise of Semiramis — a 
 faded, tired-looking woman, who bore a 
 strong family likeness to her mother, and 
 who would doubtless be prepared to act as 
 her mother's chief of the staff in the 
 impending campaign. Well, supposing he 
 were to take all these bulls by the horns ? 
 Would not that be the most straightforward 
 and the wisest course to adopt ? He really 
 was not very much afraid of them ; and
 
 280 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 why should poor little Madge have to bear 
 the whole brunt of their attacks ? 
 
 "Mrs. Wilton," Norma had said, "is not 
 a wicked woman," and in truth it did not 
 seem at all likely that she was. A little 
 good-humoured determination would suffice, 
 he thought, to vanquish her. One could 
 not expect that she would be pleased ; but 
 one might venture to look forward to the 
 probability of her becoming resigned. 
 However, there was one preliminary 
 obstacle in his path. By means of some 
 stratagem or other, he must contrive to get 
 private speech of Madge, and the con- 
 sideration of how this was to be accom- 
 jDlished gave ample scope to his ingenuity 
 as he tramped briskly over the rocks and 
 heather. 
 
 But it appeared that the stars in their 
 courses were fighting in his favour ; for 
 hardly had he made out Inverstrachan, a 
 solid gray mansion, standing beneath a 
 sheltering shoulder of the hills, when he 
 also distinguished a solitary female figure
 
 LORD WALTER SEEKS HIS FORTUNE. 281 
 
 approaching liiin. There was no mistaking 
 the identity of that small person, though 
 she wore a shooting-skirt and a deerstalker, 
 which altered her aspect a little from that 
 which he had been accustomed to associate 
 with her. It was evident, too, that she 
 had seen him, and was making straight for 
 him. She was walking up hill, and he 
 down ; so he quickened his pace to a run, 
 and in a very few minutes he was holding 
 her by both hands. 
 
 A light of welcome was in her eyes and 
 a smile upon her lips ; she did not seem to 
 resent the impetuosity of his unspoken 
 greeting, nor did she withdraw her hands. 
 All was well, then ! Mrs. Wilton and Mrs. 
 Lacy and Sir Christopher might gnash 
 their teeth or tear their hair or submit to 
 the inevitable with a good grace, as might 
 seem best to them ; for they were beaten 
 before the fight had begun.
 
 282 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 CHAPTER XY. 
 
 LORD WALTER IS ANSWERED. 
 
 Madge gently freed herself at length from 
 the grip of her jubilant suitor, who, for his 
 part, was willing to release her, pending 
 explanations which might be superfluous, 
 but which were not likely to be protracted. 
 
 " I am so glad I met you ! " she said. 
 a Were you on your way to Inverstrachan ? 
 I had a sort of idea that you might look us 
 up to-day." 
 
 " Of course I was on my way to Inver- 
 strachan. I only arrived forty-eight hours 
 ago, and I was obliged to shoot all yester- 
 day ; but to-day I made my escape on tbe 
 plea of being tired out. How did you 
 know that I was in these parts ? " 
 
 She laughed. " Oh, 1 heard that you
 
 LORD WALTER IS ANSWERED. 283 
 
 were expected ; one hears a great many 
 things when one has a maid who is upon 
 terms of intimacy with somebody else's 
 valet." 
 
 " And you came out on purpose to meet 
 me ? How good of you ! " 
 
 " Indeed, I did nothing of the sort ! 
 The men are shooting, and my mother and 
 sister have gone for a drive, and I am 
 taking a constitutional, that is all." 
 
 That was, at any rate, all that she could 
 be expected to say, and Lord Walter felt it 
 to be quite enough. " And are you glad 
 to see me ? " he asked, for the pleasure of 
 hearing her repeat that she was. 
 
 She coloured a little, and laughed again. 
 " I am not sure that I ought to be," she 
 replied ; " but it is pleasant to meet one's 
 friends ; and all the mothers and sisters in 
 the world can't make it unpleasant, can 
 they ? " 
 
 " I hope not." 
 
 " Although," added Madge, with a sigh, 
 '* they can make most things unpleasant.
 
 284 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 You haven't any mother or any sisters, 
 have vou ? " 
 
 Lord Walter regretted that he had not. 
 
 " T wouldn't be too regretful over it, if 
 I were you. There are deprivations which 
 are blessings in disguise." 
 
 In the overflowing gladness and charity 
 of his heart. Lord Walter was very nearly 
 taking up the cudgels on behalf of mothers 
 and sisters whose intentions were doubtless 
 good in the main ; for who cares to trample 
 upon a fallen foe ? But for the moment 
 he had matters of greater importance than 
 that to talk about. 
 
 " You see," he said, " I have obeyed 
 your orders by coming to Scotland, and I 
 have lost as little time as possible about it 
 too. Loddondale only asked me for the 
 eighteenth, or I should have come sooner." 
 
 "My orders?" she repeated, with a 
 wondering look. "Oh, you mean that 
 night at the ball. Yes ; I believe I did 
 say that I hoped we might come across one 
 another in the Highlands ; but of course I
 
 LORD WALTER IS ANSWERED. 285 
 
 never meant that you were to make a 
 point of it. In fact, if you won't mind my 
 speaking pkiinly, I couldn't promise you 
 a very warm welcome at Inverstrachan. 
 Constance Lacy says Lord Loddondale asks 
 such very odd people to stay with him, 
 and there never has been any visiting 
 between the two houses, and — and — don't 
 you tliink it would perhaps be better if 
 you didn't call ? " 
 
 This speech was not altogether agree- 
 able to Lord Walter. He had no fancy for 
 clandestine meetings, and had, besides, 
 sense enough to know that he would put 
 himself entirely in the wrong by consent- 
 ing to anything of the kind. Yet this was 
 obviously what Madge was hinting at. 
 He did not think the worse of her for the 
 suggestion. No doubt the poor girl had 
 been bullied and worried at home, and it 
 was natural enough that she should be 
 tempted to deceive those whose method of 
 treating her had been of that kind 
 which inevitably engenders deception.
 
 286 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 Nevertheless, he must make her understand 
 that honesty was best, and indeed the 
 only policy for her to pursue. 
 
 He was casting about him for words 
 which should convey his meaning without 
 making him appear too priggish, when the 
 first drop of the approaching storm created 
 a diversion by falling with a splash upon 
 his nose. The thunder had been already 
 for some time grumbling among the distant 
 hills ; and that these two persons must 
 have been very much interested in one 
 another is proved by the circumstance 
 that neither of them had as yet bestowed a 
 word or a thought upon atmospheric con- 
 ditions. Now, however, it was no longer 
 possible to ignore the imminence of a 
 thorough drenching. 
 
 " What shall we do ! " exclaimed Madge. 
 " It is going to deluge ; and there isn't a 
 roof to cover us anywhere between this and 
 Inverstrachan. " 
 
 It was, at all events, evident that 
 Inverstrachan could not possibly be reached
 
 LORD WALTER IS ANSWERF]D. 287 
 
 before the storm broke. Lord Walter 
 pointed this out ; and even as he spoke, a 
 furious gust of wind, accompanied by 
 driving rain, swept over the moor. There 
 was nothing for it but to seek such shelter 
 as could be found under the lee of an 
 overhanging boulder ; and for a few minutes 
 it seemed as if that would suffice for all 
 intents and purposes. Lord Walter made 
 Madge crouch down beneath it, and, 
 despite her remonstrances, insisted upon 
 taking off his coat and wrapping it round 
 her shoulders. As a matter of fact, it was 
 only the fringe of the thunderstorm that 
 reached them, the distant hills having 
 drawn it away ; still the lightning was 
 vivid enough and the thunder loud enough 
 to alarm a nervous person, and Madge 
 declared that she was frightened out of 
 her wits. 
 
 " I am a dreadful coward," she said, 
 looking up deprecatingly at her neighbour. 
 " Did you know that before ? At any rate, 
 you know it now."
 
 288 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 A dispassionate looker-on might have 
 thought that Miss Wilton was hardly fair 
 to herself, for she had not turned pale nor 
 was she trembling ; and in truth physical 
 cowardice was not one of her defects. But 
 perhaps no lover expects or particularly 
 Avishes the woman whom he loves to be 
 physically brave. Lord Walter comforted 
 and encouraged her, at first by words, and 
 then — for of course they were very close 
 to one another — by action. Under all 
 the circumstances, it was neither a very 
 audacious nor a very unnatural thing to 
 pass his arm round her waist ; but the 
 moment that he did so she started away 
 from him, exclaiming with an agitation 
 which was not feigned this time, " No — 
 no ! You mustn't ! " 
 
 But he did not mind that ; because it 
 was quite necessary that there should be 
 a clear understanding between them, and 
 this seemed to be as good an occasion as 
 another for initiating it. Taking her by 
 the hand, he drew her gently back under
 
 LORD WALTER IS ANSWERED. 289 
 
 the rock, from the protection of whicli she 
 had sprung, and said — 
 
 " Madge, I have either taken a great 
 liberty, or I have done nothing that ought 
 to offend you. Which is it ? You know 
 I love you, and you know I am only here 
 to ask you whether you will be my wife or 
 not. It's a great deal to ask ; and yet, if 
 you love me, I suppose you won't think 
 it a great deal. It just comes to this, 
 that I am a poor man, and that I have no 
 certain prospect of ever being anything 
 else." 
 
 Madge shook her head sorrowfully. 
 *' All the nice people are poor," she sighed. 
 And then, laughing a little, "Do you 
 think that is the way in which Providence 
 tries to keep things pretty comfortable all 
 round ? It isn't a very successful way. I 
 should make all the horrid men, like Sir 
 Christopher Shearman and Baron L^mmer- 
 geier, paupers, and hand their wealth over 
 to the others. Then at least somebody 
 would be happy ; and as for the Lammer- 
 
 VOL. I. 19
 
 290 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 geiers and Shearmans, I dare say it would 
 improve their manners immensely to break 
 stones on the road. Just fancy if you 
 were only moderately rich — ten thousand 
 a year, or something like that. What fun 
 we might have ! A house in Mayfair and 
 a moor in Scotland, if you cared for that, 
 and perhaps a modest little yacht. Then 
 in the winter we would go up the Nile or 
 travel about in sunny places. I sometimes 
 dream of it." 
 
 It was a seductive picture, no doubt ; 
 and it was pleasant to hear that anything 
 of the kind had been the subject of her 
 dreams. No one will be unreasonable 
 enough to expect of a man so deeply in 
 love as Walter Sinclair that he should cavil 
 at the selfishness of such visions. " I am 
 afraid," he answered, " that I shall never 
 have ten thousand a year ; about a fifth of 
 that will be more like it. Even with what 
 I have we could get on ; though I don't 
 deny that it might be prudent to wait a 
 little."
 
 LORD WALTER IS ANSWERED. 291 
 
 " Prudent or imprudent," said Madge 
 sadly, " it isn't to be thought of. Indeed, 
 I ought not to stay and listen to you ; 
 only " — and here she began to laugh again, 
 though in a somewhat lachrymose way — • 
 *' I can't very well go away until it stops 
 raining." 
 
 At that moment the rain was coming 
 down in torrents, and, the wind having 
 dropped, our friends were scarcely drier in 
 their place of refuge than they would have 
 been upon the open moor. But to one of 
 them at least that was a matter of small 
 consequence. 
 
 " Madge," he said earnestly, " let us look 
 things in the face. We shall have a bad 
 quarter of an hour — perhaps a bad week or 
 two ; but I suppose we can survive that 
 much, and " 
 
 " You don't know/' interrupted Madge, 
 " what mamma is." 
 
 " Well, I know, of course, that she 
 wants you to marry Sir Christopher Shear- 
 man."
 
 292 :miss shafto. 
 
 Madge jumped up. '' I had better tell 
 you the truth," she exclairoed desperately ; 
 ** I am going to marry him." 
 
 Lord Walter ought not to have been 
 very much astonished ; but he was as- 
 tonished, and what was more, he was 
 disgusted. " Going to marry him ! " he 
 repeated. " You can't mean that you have 
 accepted the man ! " 
 
 " I couldn't help accepting him ; didn't 
 I tell you just now that I am a coward ? 
 I can't bear to be scolded from morning to 
 night. I would marry anybody rather 
 than be scolded, and I knew all along that 
 I should have to marry Sir Christopher in 
 the end. So did mamma, or she would 
 never have allowed you to come and see us 
 as often as you did in London." 
 
 There was a pause ; after which Lord 
 Walter said, in a slightly altered tone, 
 "One thing at least I have a right to ask : 
 do you love me or not ? " 
 
 *' But surely," remonstrated Madge, " that 
 is just what you have no right to ask.
 
 LORD WALTER IS ANSWERED. 293 
 
 Even if I did, I couldn't confess it, now 
 that I am engaged to somebody else. 
 Could I?" 
 
 It is not very easy to look dignified or 
 imposing when you are in your shirt-sleeves 
 and are dripping from head to foot into the 
 bargain ; but Lord Walter was tall and 
 handsome, and the set of his features when 
 he was angered was very stern. It may 
 have been this, or it may have been a 
 guilty conscience, that caused Madge to 
 cower before him, and drop her eyes, while 
 he stood gazing at her in silence. 
 
 " I don't know why we should quarrel 
 about it," she murmured ; "it isn't my 
 fault that we are both poor. I thought 
 you would be sorry for me ; but instead of 
 that, you seem to think that it is you who 
 are ill-used." 
 
 Well, if he did think so he might, no 
 doubt, have given reasons for holding that 
 opinion ; but his inclination, after the first 
 moment, was not to upbraid her. What 
 he was resolved to do, if it could possibly
 
 294 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 be done, was to persuade her to break off 
 this unnatural engagement ; and very 
 much surprised he was to find that, not- 
 withstanding all the eloquence that he had 
 at command, it could not be done. Madge 
 let him talk, and made no attempt to defend 
 herself, and shed a few tears ; but for any 
 effect that his words produced upon her 
 beyond that, he might as well have pleaded 
 with the rock against which she was lean- 
 ing. Meanwhile a brisk breeze had sprung 
 up, clearing away the clouds, and the sun 
 was shining once more. Madge took the 
 coat off her shoulders, and handed it back 
 to its owner. 
 
 " I must go," she said. " And you had 
 better go home too as quickly as you can, 
 or you will be catching cold or rheumatic 
 fever or something." 
 
 " Are we to part like this, then ? " he 
 asked. " Did you bring me to Scotland 
 only to tell me that you are engaged to Sir 
 Christopher Shearman ? " 
 
 " I didn't bring you to Scotland. I don't
 
 LORD WALTER IS ANSWERED. 295 
 
 know what you mean," she returned. *^ I 
 thought you were so nice ; but I see you 
 are just like mamma and all the others. 
 You only think of yourself, and the moment 
 that you don't get what you want you 
 begin to scold. Nobody is really nice, 
 except Norma Shafto." 
 
 There was a spice of truth in this 
 childish reproach which almost made Lord 
 Walter laugh, little as he was disposed to 
 merriment. Presently he said — 
 
 "I will try to be less selfish, then. I 
 will put myself out of the question — as 
 indeed I must, for you have shown me 
 plainly enough that you don't care for me 
 as I hoped you might — and I will only 
 entreat you for your own sake to dismiss 
 this man, whom you make no pretence of 
 loving. I don't think you can realize what 
 you are doing." 
 
 " He will be kind to me," said Madge 
 meditatively. 
 
 " And you will have plenty of money, 
 which is always a great consolation." ;
 
 296 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 It was the first bitter speech that he had 
 made to her, and he was ashamed of it as 
 soon as it had passed his lips ; but he had 
 no need to repent, for she took it quite 
 literally. 
 
 " Yes," she agreed, " there is that. And 
 money is a great consolation, as every one 
 knows." 
 
 What more could be said ? Lord Walter 
 simply took off his hat and turned away. 
 But such was her innate kindness of heart 
 that she did not wish him to depart in 
 anger. 
 
 '' How disagreeable you are ! " she ex- 
 claimed. " Why should we not be friends 
 still?" 
 
 " To be candid," he replied, " I don't 
 think it would be very easy for us to 
 remain friends. We can be acquaintances, 
 if you please ; though perhaps even that 
 would be scarcely desirable. Speaking for 
 myself, I would rather remember you as 
 you were a few weeks ago than know you 
 as Lady Shearman."
 
 LORD WALTER IS ANSWERED. 297 
 
 " Yery well," said Madge, drawing 
 herself up ; " if you choose to blame me 
 for my misfortunes, I can't help it. Sir 
 Christopher has a horrid temper ; but I 
 don't think it is as bad as yours, and I 
 don't think he is as unjust as you either. 
 Good-bye." 
 
 He did not attempt to detain her ; 
 though he saw that she was not unwilling 
 to be detained. He could not tell her 
 that he was sorry for her, nor could he 
 quite forgive her. Yery likely a certain 
 amount of pressure had been brought 
 to bear upon her ; but that she had 
 made any serious endeavour to resist 
 that pressure it was impossible to sup- 
 pose ; and she had as good as admitted 
 that Sir Christopher's money would com- 
 pensate her for the life-long companion- 
 ship of Sir Christopher. He watched 
 her for a few seconds, while she slowly 
 made her way down the hill-side, then 
 turned on his heel and strode off in the 
 opposite direction.
 
 298 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 There are certain matters of fact, so well 
 known and universally admitted as to be 
 mere commonplaces, which nevertheless 
 seldom fail to startle those to whom they 
 are brought home by personal experience. 
 "We all know that women constantly marry 
 for money or position ; yet we are always 
 a little surprised when any woman we 
 have liked acts in this way. Walter 
 Sinclair, who had not only liked Madge, 
 but had fallen in love with her, was a 
 great deal more horrified by her cynicism 
 than he had appeared to be. It was un- 
 natural, he thought ; though if the circum- 
 stances had been narrated to him by 
 anybody else, he would have pronounced 
 them to be perfectly natural and just 
 what might have been anticipated. Either 
 way, there was an end of his hopes. 
 He had had his answer, which had been 
 as final as could be wished, and the sooner 
 he took himself out of the country the 
 better. 
 
 During dinner he was asked no questions
 
 LORD WALTER IS ANSWERED. 299 
 
 as to how he had spent the afternoon, and 
 he flattered himself that his countenance 
 told no tales ; nevertheless, Lord Loddon- 
 dale, whose little red eyes were sharp ones, 
 found an opportunity later in the evening 
 of saying to him, not unkindly — 
 
 " You've had a facer, haven't you, old 
 man ? I knew you would ; but there wasn't 
 much use in telling you so." 
 
 " Well, then — yes, I have," answered 
 Walter, who knew that he would be 
 obliged to admit the truth presently, and 
 thought he might as well do so without 
 further waste of words. " I don't want it 
 talked about ; but that is just what has 
 happened to me ; so, if you don't mind, I'll 
 be off south again to-morrow morning. 
 I can't stay on here, under the circum- 
 stances." 
 
 " Do as you like, of course," said his 
 brother ; " but I don't myself see why you 
 should run away. You're deuced well out 
 of it, let me tell you, though you mayn't 
 think so now, and there's nothing like
 
 300 MISS SHAFTO. 
 
 sport to make one forget these little 
 disappointments. As for your meeting the 
 girl again, you're no more likely to do that 
 here than if you were in London." 
 
 "Perhaps not; but I shall go rather 
 further away than London, I think ; and I 
 don't mind acknowledging that the dis- 
 appointment isn't a little one." 
 
 '* Oh, you'll get over it ; you'll be all 
 right," said Lord Loddondale encourag- 
 ingly. " Take my word for it, there's only 
 one way in which a woman can give you 
 a great disappointment, and that is by 
 marrying you. However, you're sure to 
 marry ; and, as I told you before, if I were 
 in your shoes, 1 should try to marry Miss 
 Shafto. She's exceptional ; I don't believe 
 she would disappoint anybody." 
 
 " Then why don't you try to marry her 
 yourself ? " 
 
 " For several good reasons, which I 
 ain't going to tell you. Good night, 
 Walter ; turn it over in your mind, and if 
 to-morrow morning you feel inclined to
 
 LORD WALTER IS ANSWERED. 301 
 
 stay where yon are, we shall all be very 
 glad. If you don't, I'll keep your secret. 
 It isn't over and above likely that Miss 
 Wilton will, though ; they never do." 
 
 END OF VOL. 1, 
 
 PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITKD, 
 
 LONDON AND BECCLES. G., C. Cr» C(.
 
 J-