■ I
 
 T I B R.AFLY 
 
 OF THE 
 JNIVER.SITY 
 )f ILLINOIS 
 
 82.3 
 
 H7tt>L 
 v.l
 
 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA
 
 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA. 
 
 A NOVEL. 
 
 W. E. NORKIS, 
 
 AUTHOR OF 
 
 MATRIMONY," "MY FRIEND JIM," "THE ROGUE, 
 "A BACHELOR'S BLUNDER," etc. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 WARD & DOWNEY 
 12, YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN, W.C. 
 
 1891.
 
 PRINTED BY 
 
 KELLY AND CO., GATE STREET. LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS, W.C , 
 AND KINGSTON-ON-THAMES.
 
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 MISS WE.NTWORTHS IDEA.
 
 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 One dark afternoon, in the depth of the dark 
 
 and dreary London winter, Miss Wentvvorth 
 
 was toasting her toes before the drawing-room 
 
 fire of her brother's house in Upper Brook 
 
 Street, which was also her house, inasmuch as 
 
 it was her home, and as she paid the half of the 
 
 rent, rates and taxes due in respect thereof. 
 
 There were plenty of people who admired Miss 
 
 Wentworth immensely ; and although her nose 
 
 was certainly too short and her mouth rather 
 
 too large, it cannot be said that their admiration 
 VOL. I. I
 
 2 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA, 
 
 was misplaced. For she had that look of 
 breeding which is more than a sufficient 
 substitute for beauty ; added to which, her large 
 grey eyes placed her above any need for sub- 
 stitutes. The possession of iron-grey eyes 
 and long dark eyelashes should be enough 
 to meet all ordinary requirements, and if 
 Miss Wentworth's requirements were not 
 ordinary that was only because, like the 
 generality of us, she did not know when she 
 was well off. 
 
 At this moment the expression of her face 
 denoted weariness and dissatisfaction. It may 
 be conceded that she was too rich and too Gfood- 
 looking to be dissatisfied ; but perhaps she had 
 some right to be weary, since she was doing 
 nothing, and of all methods of killing time that 
 is, no doubt, the most wearisome. On the 
 other hand, she might have pleaded that she 
 was doing nothing for the excellent reason that
 
 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA. 3 
 
 she had nothing to do. The dinner had been 
 ordered long ago ; she had paid some visits, she 
 had written a few letters, she had just had her 
 tea, and if there was any better way of spending 
 the next three hours than gazing at the fire and 
 wishing she was somebody else, it was her 
 misfortune to be unacquainted with it. The 
 afternoon post had brought her half-a-dozen 
 notes of a more or less uninteresting description, 
 and these lay upon the tea-table beside her, 
 with the exception of the last that she had 
 chanced to open, which she was still holding 
 between her finger and thumb. It was merely 
 a printed intimation, endorsed with the compli- 
 ments of the Vicar of the parish, to the effect 
 that the Rev. the Hon. Ernest Compton would 
 preach on the following evening, on behalf of 
 the Society of S. Francis, the good work of 
 which was necessarily restricted owing to lack 
 of funds.
 
 4 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA. 
 
 Miss Wentworth was idly wondering what 
 was meant by the Society of S. Francis, who 
 its reverend and honourable supporter might 
 be, and whether he was likely, in the course of 
 his sermon, to supply any fresh notions to a 
 young woman who was quite as urgently in 
 need of a mission in life as he could be of 
 money, when the butler announced "Lady 
 Morecambe." 
 
 " You, of all people ! " she exclaimed, starting 
 up and embracing the very smartly dressed 
 little lady who bore that title. "What in 
 the world has brought you up to London, 
 Harriet ? " 
 
 Lady Morecambe was no longer very young 
 and had never been very pretty ; yet the 
 general effect of her was a near approach to 
 prettiness. Perhaps she or her dressmaker 
 knew how to make the most of her charms ; 
 perhaps now that her hair was streaked with
 
 MISS WENT WORTH'S IDEA. 5 
 
 grey, she had reached an age at which regularity 
 of feature ceases to be a matter of importance ; 
 or, perhaps, her bright, alert little face would 
 have been pleasant to look upon at any time of 
 life. 
 
 " Oh, shopping," she said, in answer to Miss 
 Wentworth's question. " I don't know how it 
 is that whenever I find it absolutely essential to 
 buy a score of things it is sure to be on a 
 Saturday. However, I have contrived to get 
 through all my jobs this time by rising long 
 before the lark and coming up by the early 
 express ; and now, if you please, I should like a 
 cup of tea." 
 
 " Of course, you shall have your tea," 
 answered Miss Wentworth, ringing the bell ; 
 " but how about dinner? And at what hour do 
 you expect to reach home again ? " 
 
 " Good gracious me ! you don't suppose I am 
 going back to-night, do you ? I have arranged
 
 6 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA. 
 
 a little party to dine somewhere or other this 
 evening and go to the theatre afterwards, and 
 to-morrow I propose to spend a quiet Sunday 
 all by myself in Eaton Square. The one great 
 advantage of having a London house is that it 
 gives one an excuse for running up like this 
 every now and then." 
 
 " Well," remarked Miss Wentworth, laughing, 
 "you are a tolerably unceremonious kind of 
 hostess, I must say ! What about the large 
 party that you have left at Morecambe ? And 
 what about Sylvia, who is supposed to be under 
 your especial care ? " 
 
 " Sylvia will be all right," answered Lady 
 Morecambe ; " you needn't distress yourself 
 about her. There are lots of old women in 
 the house who will feel it their duty to keep 
 a stern eye upon her in my absence, and see 
 that she doesn't get into mischief. As for my 
 other guests, Morecambe is quite capable of
 
 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA. 7 
 
 looking after them. They were kind enough 
 to say with one consent that they would gladly 
 excuse me when I told them I wanted to pay a 
 flying visit to London in order to hear Ernest 
 Compton preach." 
 
 " You said you had come up to do shopping. 
 But who is this Mr. Compton, and what does 
 he mean by his Society of S. Francis? I 
 have just had a notice about him from my 
 Vicar." 
 
 "The idea of a Churchy person like you 
 never having heard of Ernest Compton ! Well, 
 my dear, he is simply the finest preacher living, 
 and so you will think when you have listened 
 to him. We'll go to church together to-morrow 
 evening, and if he doesn't make you resolve to 
 renounce the pomps and vanities of this wicked 
 world forthwith I shall be very much surprised. 
 He invariably produces that effect upon me, I 
 know."
 
 3 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA. 
 
 " Still you don't seem to have done it yet." 
 " Well, no ; because, you see, la unit porte 
 conseil, and there are rather serious difficulties 
 in the way of my retiring from the world just 
 at present. Nevertheless, I am sure he does me 
 an immense deal of good, besides emptying my 
 purse. Don't take more than you can afford to 
 lose with you, for it is quite certain that the 
 Society of S. Francis will get all you have about 
 you. I can't tell you exactly what the Society 
 of S. Francis is ; but I believe it consists of 
 enthusiastic persons who have adopted a sort of 
 system of Christian socialism or social Chris- 
 tianity. They all live together in a great 
 red-brick building near Soho Square, and 
 devote themselves to good works and the 
 gradual regeneration of mankind. One can't 
 help admiring them ; but perhaps one may be 
 allowed to think twice or three times before 
 imitating them. To resign all one's earthly
 
 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA. 9 
 
 goods is rather a strong measure. It leaves no 
 room for repentance, you see — and I am so 
 given to repenting." 
 
 " Has Mr. Compton resigned all his earthly 
 goods ? " inquired Miss Wentworth. 
 
 Lady Morecambe shrugged her shoulders. 
 " Yes, I believe so," she answered. " It sounds 
 an idiotic thing to do ; but perhaps in his case 
 it doesn't so very much matter, for he has never 
 married and never will. He is a connection of 
 ours, a son of old Lord Chepstow, who strongly 
 disapproves of his ways of going on — if that 
 signifies. But really it is impossible to judge 
 Ernest by ordinary standards ; he isn't a man, 
 he is a priest — or rather a saint — like that 
 Francis of Assisi after whom he has named his 
 society." 
 
 " I don't think I remember exactly what 
 S. Francis of Assisi did," observed Miss Went- 
 worth, musingly.
 
 10 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA. 
 
 " Nor do I, except that he preached to the 
 birds and suggested that lovely music to Lizst ; 
 but no doubt he did some rather more practical 
 things than that. I fancy that he was a species 
 of communist, and that his communism con- 
 sisted chiefly in sacrificing himself for his 
 neighbours, otherwise Ernest Compton wouldn't 
 revere his memory so much." 
 
 People who are better acquainted with the 
 history of S. Francis of Assisi than Lady More- 
 cambe or Miss Wentworth could pretend to be 
 will be aware that the communism which he 
 advocated applied only to the monastic order 
 established by him, and will surmise that no 
 sane follower of his in the nineteenth century 
 would seek to make his precepts of universal 
 application. Now, the Rev. Ernest Compton 
 was eminently sane, although his claim to 
 be so considered was not admitted by all 
 his friends. He was, no doubt, something
 
 MISS WENT WORTHS IDEA. 11 
 
 of an enthusiast, and from the first he had cast 
 in his lot with the advanced section of the High 
 Church party ; but it was rather owing to the 
 force of circumstances than to intention that he 
 had become a popular and fashionable preacher. 
 His own inclination would have led him to 
 undertake mission work amongst the heathen or 
 in the East End of London in preference to 
 rousing the somewhat sluggish and ephemeral 
 emotions of smart ladies ; but he was willing to 
 do whatever his special capabilities might seem 
 to fit him best for, and the remarkable success 
 which had attended his sermons during the 
 preceding season had convinced him that for 
 the present, at all events, it was his duty to 
 remain where he was. He had the knack of 
 touching these people and moving them to 
 intermittent acts of benevolence. 
 
 Personally, he had little liking or respect for 
 them, nor was any one more thoroughly aware
 
 12 MISS WENTWORTITS IDEA, 
 
 than he that from nine out of ten of them the 
 most he would ever get would be money ; yet, 
 since money is of supreme importance, he felt 
 bound to obtain it when and where he could, 
 and every now and then his zeal was refreshed 
 by the admission of some unexpected adherent 
 into the select band of which he was the leader. 
 Many men spoke of him as a humbug ; many 
 women described him as a saint ; in reality, he 
 was an honest, clear-headed man, struggling 
 hard to bring the principles of Christianity into 
 line with the practice of the nations which 
 profess that faith, and doing his little utmost 
 to subvert the latter when he found it hope- 
 lessly at variance with the former. After 
 that, it will surprise nobody to hear that at 
 the age of five-and-forty his hair was almost 
 white. 
 
 Nevertheless, this circumstance came as some- 
 thing of a surprise to Miss Wentworth, who had
 
 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA. 13 
 
 been given to understand that he was still in 
 the prime of life, and who, when she saw him, 
 was disposed to think that she had been brought 
 to church under false pretences. Throughout 
 the service she and her companion had been 
 troubled with apprehensions upon that point, 
 for Mr. Compton had not taken his place among 
 the officiating clergy ; but while the concluding 
 hymn was being sung, this grey-headed little 
 man had emerged from the vestry and ascended 
 into the pulpit with quick steps, and a nod from 
 Lady Morecambe, in response to Miss Went- 
 worth's inquiring glance, signified to the latter 
 that it was all right. 
 
 The little grey-headed man took a swift 
 preliminary look round the building, which 
 enabled such of his hearers as had not seen him 
 before to note that his eyes were black and 
 piercing. In other respects his face could 
 scarcely be called remarkable. It was clean-
 
 14 MISS WE NT WORTH'S IDEA, 
 
 shaven and somewhat stern in expression ; he 
 had the slightly prominent cheekbones and the 
 thin-lipped mouth of an ascetic ; his nose was 
 insignificant, and his forehead neither broad nor 
 high — his countenance, in short, was of that 
 priestly type which is repeated again and again, 
 with trifling variations, throughout Christen- 
 dom. He crossed himself rapidly, murmured 
 a few scarcely audible words, and then, as the 
 congregation resumed their seats, gave out his 
 text in a voice which, though low in pitch, 
 was penetrating: "For what doth the Lord 
 thy God require of thee but to do justice and 
 to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy 
 God ? " 
 
 His exordium was not striking. He began, as 
 probably most people, preaching from such text, 
 would have begun, by pointing out the apparent 
 modesty of the standard set up, and that, at 
 least as regarded the first two of its precepts,
 
 MISS WENTWORTHS IDEA. 15 
 
 most of us would claim to have fulfilled them ; 
 since, ready though we are to accuse ourselves 
 of all manner of sins, very few of us are disposed 
 to plead guilty to a charge of injustice or 
 cruelty. Then, by a few telling examples, some 
 of which he read from a newspaper of the 
 previous day, he contrasted human justice with 
 Divine. Human justice, existing above and 
 before all things for the protection of the sacred 
 rights of property, punishing paltry thefts with 
 tremendous penalties and allowing some of the 
 worst of criminals to go free, does not even 
 pretend to take its stand upon Christian 
 doctrine. Its justification is its alleged 
 necessity, and if Christianity cannot be made 
 to fit in with it, so much the worse for 
 Christianity. 
 
 " It may," said the preacher, " be necessary 
 for the preservation of society that our laws 
 should remain unaltered. I do not deny this ;
 
 16 MrSS WENTWORTH'S IDEA. 
 
 I only submit that we cannot be certain of it, 
 because no trial has ever been given to a more 
 merciful system ; and it is as well to remember 
 that, whereas, not so many years ago, it was 
 deemed necessary to put men to death for 
 sheep-stealing, sheep have not been stolen 
 in greater numbers since the abolition of 
 capital punishment for that offence. But the 
 question for us, as individuals, is whether we 
 have any right at all to describe ourselves 
 as followers of Christ, so long as we either 
 refuse to obey his distinct commands or en- 
 deavour to place a strained interpretation 
 upon them." 
 
 It was from this point that he became more 
 animated, and that his eloquence began to earn* 
 his hearers along with him. 
 
 Anybody can show the miserable inadequacy 
 of our notions and practice with regard to 
 justice and mercy ; not a few can do it con-
 
 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA. 17 
 
 vincingly ; but only a true orator can overcome 
 that stolid barrier of common sense behind 
 which the Anglo-Saxon race is wont to entrench 
 itself and sway a British audience at his will. 
 It is true that no audience in the world is quite 
 so unreasoning as a British audience when once 
 that feat has been accomplished. 
 
 Miss Wentworth, to whom common sense and 
 logic and hard facts had never presented them- 
 selves in any attractive guise, was conquered 
 without the least difficulty. At last — so it 
 seemed to her — she had found one whose 
 guidance she could follow implicitly and confi- 
 dently. This fiery little man, whose gestures 
 were so spontaneous, whose voice was so 
 thrilling and sympathetic, and whose insight 
 into the workings of the human heart was so 
 keen, at least meant every word that he said — 
 there could be no doubt about that. And he 
 
 was not tender with those who listened to him ; 
 VOL. I. 2
 
 18 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA, 
 
 he did not spare their little weaknesses and 
 vanities and hypocrisies, with which he seemed 
 to be as well acquainted as any cynical man of 
 the world could be ; and when he called upon 
 them to act for the future more in accordance 
 with their nominal professions, he contrived to 
 frame that well-worn appeal in such a way as to 
 give it a certain air of novelty. What was, 
 perhaps, the cleverest part of his discourse — 
 that in which he indicated the obvious duty of 
 humility, and dwelt ironically upon the arrogant 
 assumptions of science and the fantastic ex- 
 periments of those who would fain set up a 
 religion of Christianity without Christ — scarcely 
 touched Miss Wentworth, for her faith had 
 always remained unshaken ; but she was fairly 
 carried away by what she believed to be the 
 truth of his conceptions with regard to the 
 Christian life, and he had been speaking for 
 upwards of half an hour before she remembered
 
 MISS WENT WORTH'S IDEA. 19 
 
 that, so far, he had said nothing at all about the 
 society of S. Francis. 
 
 But, indeed, he had only a few words to say 
 upon that subject, and he said them in a quiet and 
 lowered voice, after the pause which succeeded 
 his peroration. Of the rules and aims of that 
 confraternity he did not, he said, propose to 
 speak. Many members of the congregation 
 were already acquainted with these ; those who 
 were not could easily obtain information, and 
 they were not, he was aware, such as to com- 
 mand universal approval. " But whether you 
 approve or disapprove of the vows which we 
 have chosen to take upon ourselves, whether 
 you set us down as visionaries or fools, whether 
 you imagine that we are trying to revive 
 monasticism, or whether you suspect that the 
 exaggerated self-consciousness of the age is 
 our real motive for separating ourselves from 
 
 our neighbours, you cannot possibly dis- 
 
 2*
 
 20 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA, 
 
 approve of our work. And it is only on be- 
 half of our work that I am here to ask for 
 your alms." 
 
 He then gave a brief and rapid account of 
 what had been accomplished during the year 
 which was drawing to its close. They had a 
 children's hospital which was full to overflowing, 
 and required enlargement ; they had trained 
 sick nurses ; they had sent out missionaries to 
 all quarters of the globe ; they had worked 
 among the poor in many London and provincial 
 parishes, and their help had been gratefully 
 accepted by the clergy belonging to all the 
 various schools which are included in the 
 Church of England. He was not, therefore, 
 asking them to support any sect or denomina- 
 tion, but simply to give of their superfluity to 
 those whose claims had never been, because they 
 never could be, disputed. The request was not 
 an impassioned one ; but, doubtless, the speaker,
 
 MISS WENT WORTH'S IDEA. 21 
 
 who knew whom he was addressing, knew also 
 that it would be responded to. For, indeed, 
 when you have been made to feel thoroughly 
 ashamed of yourself, it is some comfort to think 
 that you can in a measure recover your self- 
 esteem by so easy a process as emptying your 
 pocket. 
 
 Miss Wentworth earned such satisfaction 
 as was to be obtained from the emptying of 
 her pocket, but did not find it sufficient for her. 
 
 " Does the society of S. Francis consist only 
 of men ? " she asked Lady Morecambe, as they 
 drove away, interrupting her companion's un- 
 stinting praises of the sermon which they had 
 just heard. 
 
 " Oh, dear, no ! " answered Lady Morecambe, 
 laughing ; " didn't he tell you that it was a part 
 of their work to train nurses ? Are you think- 
 ing of joining them, Muriel ? That would be 
 just like you."
 
 22 MISS WENT WORTH'S IDEA. 
 
 11 1 don't know whether it would be like me." 
 answered Miss Wentworth, slowly ; " but it 
 would be what I should like. Don't you ever 
 wish to be of some use in the world ? " 
 
 " I flatter myself that I am of considerable 
 use, and I should have thought that you, too, 
 were not without utility. However, you may 
 safely offer yourself and your fortune to Ernest 
 Compton ; for, unless I am greatly mistaken, he 
 won't accept either. You see, my dear, he 
 happens to be a gentleman." 
 
 " I don't understand," said Miss Wentworth. 
 
 " That only shows how stupid some clever 
 people may be. I, of course, am only a goose ; 
 yet I have intelligence enough to perceive that 
 there are certain offers which a gentleman can't 
 accept. I am glad he has made you lose your 
 head, though. He always affects me in that 
 way — only I get over it the next day, you 
 know."
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 When Miss Wentworth reached home, she went 
 straight into her brother's study ; for she felt 
 that she owed him an apology. Mr. Wentworth 
 did not object to dining occasionally at his club 
 — but he objected very strongly to dining alone ; 
 and as she had unfortunately forgotten to tell 
 him that she was going to church that evening, 
 she had been obliged to leave a note for him, 
 announcing her intention. 
 
 " I hope you have had your dinner all right, 
 James? " she said. 
 
 " As it is now nearly a quarter-past nine," 
 answered the sandy-haired, middle-aged man, 
 who was smoking his cigar in an easy chair,
 
 24 MISS WENT WORTH'S IDEA, 
 
 before the fire, " I need hardly tell you that I 
 have had my dinner. I believe it was more or 
 less all right, although I do wish that your cook 
 had the same love for new ideas as you have. 
 But, perhaps, that would be rather too much to 
 expect. Well, how do you like the Anglican 
 monk? " 
 
 " He isn't a monk," answered Miss Went- 
 worth, advancing to the fireside and drawing off 
 her gloves, " he looked just like any other 
 parson. But he didn't talk like the others. 
 Oh, James, he was magnificent ! I wish you 
 could have heard him ! " 
 
 "If he is magnificent, I wish I could ; and if 
 he will come here some day and preach to me 
 t shall be delighted to listen to anything that 
 he may have to say ; but never yet have I met 
 a parson who could draw me to such an 
 abominably uncomfortable thing as an evening 
 service."
 
 MISS WENT WORTH'S IDEA. 25 
 
 " You wouldn't have thought about that ; you 
 wouldn't have known whether you were com- 
 fortable or not. At least, he would have given 
 you such mental discomfort that you would have 
 forgotten everything else." 
 
 " Ah, I don't like mental discomfort," ob- 
 served Mr. Wentworth, tranquilly; "you, of 
 course, do. Des gouts et des couleurs ! I've 
 heard all about the man, you know. He has 
 started some kind of self-denying Order, with 
 vows of poverty and celibacy and all the rest 
 of it, and he has chucked every penny that he 
 possesses into his scheme. Admirable ; but, 
 shall we say a trifle asinine ? Because, you see, 
 that sort of thing is quite out of date, and can't 
 last." 
 
 i( I don't see it at all," Miss Wentworth 
 declared. 
 
 " No, you wouldn't. Well, so long as it 
 amuses you and the other ladies, and so long as
 
 26 MISS WENT WORTH'S IDEA, 
 
 you don't go to the length of parting with all 
 your worldly goods for an idea, your monk 
 serves his purpose, no doubt. I can well 
 imagine how edified Lady Morecambe must be 
 by him." 
 
 Mr. Wentworth laughed softly to himself as 
 he watched the smoke from his cigar rising 
 towards the ceiling. It was his habit to laugh 
 at most people and things, and he had always 
 found that this mental attitude of his kept him 
 in tolerably good health and spirits. He was 
 only Muriel Wentworth's half-brother, and was 
 more than twenty years older than she. He 
 was also, although a well-to-do man, consider- 
 ably poorer ; for his stepmother, who had had a 
 large fortune, had bequeathed the whole of it 
 to her only child. As this lady had died about 
 the same time that he himself had been left a 
 widower, it had seemed natural that Muriel 
 should make her home with him, and he had
 
 MISS WENT WORTH'S IDEA. 27 
 
 very cordially agreed to that arrangement. 
 For one thing, it was lucrative, because she 
 could very well afford to defray half the ex- 
 penses of the household and the cost of a car- 
 riage ; and for another, it ensured him the 
 services of a tolerably experienced housekeeper, 
 which his daughter Sylvia, who was only just 
 out of the schoolroom, could have no pretension 
 to be. The only trouble was the probability, 
 which might almost be regarded as a certainty, 
 that Muriel would ere long marry somebody or 
 other. 
 
 Muriel, however, notwithstanding certain 
 advantageous offers, had not as yet seen fit to 
 marry anybody ; and if she appeared to be as 
 satisfied with the existing state of things as Mr. 
 Wentworth was, that was only because she was 
 of a somewhat reticent temperament. In reality 
 she was thoroughly dissatisfied. She had not 
 that intense craving for the pleasures of this
 
 28 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA, 
 
 life which is common among young people, and 
 she was perhaps rather abnormally alive to its 
 duties and responsibilities. It was a duty, of 
 course, to look after her brother's servants for 
 him, and to study cookery-books on his behalf ; 
 it was also a duty to act in some sort of way as a 
 mother to Sylvia, who was disposed to be wilful 
 and imprudent in her dealings with young men ; 
 but these things did not quite suffice to fulfil 
 the requirements of a modest ambition. There 
 was no lack of good-natured matrons, such as 
 Lady Morecambe, at whose country house the 
 girl was now staying, to chaperon Sylvia ; while 
 as for James, nothing was more likely than that 
 he would some day take to himself a second wife. 
 Muriel Wentworth wanted to be of some service 
 to humanity at large ; she could not believe that 
 she had been created for the sole purpose of 
 ordering the dinner and the carriage, and she 
 was unable, upon mature reflection, to see why
 
 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA. 29 
 
 the fact of Mr. Compton's being a gentleman 
 should preclude him from accepting at least a 
 part of the money which she did not know how 
 to spend, and providing her, in return, with 
 the occupation of which she stood so sorely in 
 need. 
 
 On the following morning, therefore, she 
 summoned up courage to write a long letter to 
 the preacher whose eloquence had so profoundly 
 impressed her. She laid her case before him, 
 she explained what her wishes were, and she 
 begged him to take her word for it that she was 
 not acting upon the mere impulse of the mo- 
 ment. She was not, she admitted, free from 
 all doubt as to the manner in which she ought 
 to dispose of her money, but she thought 
 that the obstacles which seemed to stand in 
 the way of her devoting it to charitable pur- 
 poses were not insuperable. In any case, she 
 had no one whose advice she could ask upon
 
 30 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA, 
 
 such a subject, and she ventured to hope that 
 he would not refuse her his. Could he find 
 time to come and see her any afternoon after 
 five o'clock ? 
 
 It was not without trepidation that she posted 
 this appeal to a total stranger ; yet when she 
 remembered the kindly and sympathetic inflec- 
 tions which his voice had taken during certain 
 passages of his discourse, she felt sure that he 
 would understand what she had not expressed 
 so well as she could have wished, and that he 
 would give her an opportunity of stating her 
 views with more precision by word of mouth. 
 Had she been better acquainted with Mr. 
 Compton she would have known that it was a 
 very common thing with him to receive letters 
 from ladies who had been moved to repentance 
 by his sermons, and that such experiences were 
 not greatly to his taste. Not being aware of 
 this, she felt a good deal snubbed when the
 
 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA. 31 
 
 following rather curt and formal reply reached 
 her by return of post : — 
 
 "Madam, — I am much occupied just now, 
 but I will endeavour to call upon you on Thurs- 
 day next, as you request, at the hour which 
 you mention. — Faithfully yours, Ernest Comp- 
 
 TON." 
 
 Well, of course, these few cold words made 
 her wish that she had been less precipitate and 
 less confidential ; perhaps also — for human 
 nature is weak — they may have made her wish 
 for a chance of retaliating upon her reverend 
 and honourable correspondent. But in any 
 case it was evident that she could not now 
 draw back ; nor, in truth, after calm considera- 
 tion, did she desire to do so. After all, he 
 was entitled to doubt her sincerity ; it was 
 for her to convince him that she was both
 
 32 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA, 
 
 serious and resolute. This she quite hoped 
 that she would be able to do ; so she care- 
 fully rehearsed in advance the conversation 
 which she intended to hold with him, and 
 received him in a cold and self-possessed 
 manner when he duly made his appearance 
 at the appointed hour. 
 
 He, on his side, was perfectly at his ease. He 
 shook hands, accepted her offer of a cup of tea, 
 and began to talk commonplaces just like any 
 ordinary visitor. Once or twice, to be sure, she 
 found those searching black eyes of his fixed 
 upon her ; but apparently they did not discover 
 anything interesting, for he continued to speak 
 about Lady Morecambe and the county ball 
 which she was about to patronise, as though 
 such topics were the ones most likely to suit his 
 companion. It was not without difficulty, and 
 not until he had been sitting beside her for a 
 quarter of an hour, that Muriel contrived to
 
 MISS WENTWOKTH'S IDEA. 33 
 
 drag S. Francis of Assisi in by the head and 
 
 shoulders. 
 
 " Oh, well," said Mr. Compton, laughing half- 
 
 apologetically, " a society must have some name, 
 
 you know, and it so happens that of all the 
 
 saints, S. Francis of Assisi is the one for whom 
 
 I have the greatest personal veneration. I 
 
 think, too, that we may describe ourselves as to 
 
 some extent following in his footsteps. We see, 
 
 at any rate, what nobody can help seeing, that 
 
 after nineteen centuries Christianity has failed 
 
 to establish itself as the religion of the world, and 
 
 we hold, rightly or wrongly, that this is because 
 
 the world has never really practised Christianity. 
 
 We neither pretend nor expect to revolutionise 
 
 society ; only we think it incumbent upon us to 
 
 make our own microscopic efforts in what we 
 
 believe to be the right direction. For the rest, 
 
 our charitable work is such as you or any other 
 
 outsider may safely subscribe to. It is not 
 VOL. I. 3
 
 34 MISS WEXTWORTH'S IDEA, 
 
 necessary to be a Christian in order to recognise 
 the duty of clothing the naked, feeding the 
 hungry, and visiting the sick." 
 
 " But I don't want to be an outsider ; I want 
 to join you," Muriel declared boldly. " I fully 
 agree with you that Christianity has never had 
 a fair trial ; I don't believe that criminals ought 
 to be punished, or that war ought to exist, or 
 that a few of us ought to be rich while the 
 enormous majority are poor ; and I wish, if you 
 will allow me, to give myself and such money 
 as I have in aid of what you call your micro- 
 scopic efforts." 
 
 " Oh, but I'm afraid I can't allow you," 
 answered Mr. Compton, shaking his head and 
 laughing again, "we don't accept recruits like 
 that from one moment to another. You have 
 read Tolstoi*, perhaps ? " 
 
 " Well, yes," Muriel confessed, a little re- 
 luctantly ; "why do you ask ?"
 
 MISS WENT WORTH'S IDEA. 35 
 
 " I thought it not improbable that you had. 
 
 Tolstoi' may fairly claim to be respected ; but as 
 
 for imitating him, that is another affair. One 
 
 must make sure, in the first place, that one has 
 
 the courage of one's opinions ; and, in the second, 
 
 that one is quite free to act upon them. I 
 
 gathered from your letter that you did not 
 
 consider yourself wholly free from family 
 
 obligations." 
 
 " The question is whether the obligations are 
 
 real or not, and that is just what I wished to 
 
 consult you about. My half-brother, as I told 
 
 you, is a widower who may marry again ; in 
 
 anticipation of that, I should like to make some 
 
 provision for my niece, and I suppose I could 
 
 do so, could I not ? Even then I should not 
 
 come to you by any means empty-handed." 
 
 " Oh, we should be satisfied with the residue 
 
 of your fortune, Miss Wcntworth. But don't 
 
 you think it possible that you have duties ready 
 
 3*
 
 36 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA, 
 
 to your hand which may very well content you 
 for some years to come ? And don't you — 
 pardon me — think that you may look at the 
 world from an altogether different point of view 
 a few years hence ? " 
 
 " I think," answered Muriel, that I am old 
 enough to know my own mind ; but of course I 
 understand your feeling conscientiously bound 
 to throw cold water over me. I must try to 
 persuade you that that is not necessary, and 
 that I am not exactly the hysterical young 
 woman whom you evidently take me for. 1 ' 
 
 She tried accordingly, and if she was not 
 absolutely convincing, she was at least earnest 
 and honest. For so much Mr. Compton 
 probably gave her credit, for it was in a graver 
 and kindlier tone than he had hitherto adopted 
 that he delivered the judgment for which she 
 paused. 
 
 " My dear young lady," said he, " I doubt
 
 MISS WENTWORTITS IDEA. 37 
 
 neither your zeal nor your convictions ; but I 
 am sure your own good sense will tell you how 
 impossible it would be for me to take your 
 money at present, except in the form of some 
 comparatively trifling annual subscription. To 
 put it upon no higher grounds, I really cannot 
 afford to rob you. What would the newspapers 
 say about me and my unhappy Society if it 
 transpired that we had induced a very young 
 lady with very large means to join us ? " 
 
 " And yet you talk of having the courage of 
 your opinions ! Is one to be deterred from 
 doing what is right by fear of ignorant gossip or 
 slander ? " 
 
 " Oh, I hope not ; but you see, Miss Went- 
 worth, it hasn't exactly been proved to demon- 
 stration that you would be right in giving us all 
 your possessions, or that we should be right in 
 taking them. And since it is our aim to 
 influence public opinion as far as our abilities
 
 33 MISS WESTWOETHS IDEA, 
 
 will allow us to do so, we must needs show a 
 little respect for it. However, as I said before, 
 we won't refuse a small subscription." 
 
 Muriel bit her lips. ' ; It seems to me," said 
 she, "that, considering what your professions 
 are, you are singularly selfish. Of course I 
 will gladly give you a subscription ; but you 
 know very well that permission to become a 
 subscriber was not what I asked for. I subscribe 
 to plenty of charities already, and I could easily 
 subscribe to plenty more. What I want is 
 personal employment in the service of my 
 fellow-creatures, and that you won't give' me, 
 because you are afraid lest people should 
 accuse you of greed orundue influence, or some- 
 thing of that kind." 
 
 " I daresay I can find employment for you if 
 you wish it," answered Mr. Compton, " although 
 I should think you ought to have no difficulty in 
 finding it for yourself. As regards the charge of
 
 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA. 39 
 
 selfishness, surely — supposing that I were rude 
 enough to do such a thing — I might retort tit 
 quoque I Why are you so eager to throw your- 
 self and your fortune at the heads of your 
 fellow-creatures ? Is it altogether out of a dis- 
 interested love for them ? " 
 
 Muriel was angry and offended ; but she 
 flattered herself that self-control enabled her to 
 conceal these emotions. " You don't believe in 
 me yet," she observed quietly; "perhaps you 
 will believe in me some day. I am sorry that 
 you should be so sceptical ; but I daresay ex- 
 perience has made you so." She could not help 
 adding, " I wish you were a little bit more like 
 your sermons ! " 
 
 He smiled, and said that that was a species of 
 criticism to which all preachers were inured ; it 
 was necessary to use one kind of language to a 
 mixed assembly and another to individuals. He 
 could only assure her that it would give him
 
 40 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA. 
 
 great pleasure if he were able to assist or advise 
 her in any practical way. 
 
 Miss Wentworth was afraid that practical 
 counsels would be of very little comfort to her. 
 Not being an absolute idiot, she was aware 
 that she could follow the precepts of the Church 
 Catechism, live respected, and die more or less 
 lamented ; but, unhappily, that scheme of life 
 did not happen to realise her ideal. Still, she 
 was grateful to Mr. Compton for having sacri- 
 ficed so much of his valuable time to her, and 
 she hoped that their acquaintance would not 
 cease then and there. 
 
 If she thought that little display of dignified 
 ill-temper would take her mentor down a peg or 
 two, she was disappointed. Mr. Compton said 
 what was polite and conventional, and, after 
 thanking her for the bank-notes which she 
 handed to him, withdrew, leaving her with tears 
 of anger as well as of vexation in her eyes. She
 
 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA. 41 
 
 was very sorry that she had been so silly as to 
 send for him ; she was still more sorry that he 
 should have shown so evident an appreciation of 
 her silliness ; yet, though silenced, she was not 
 discouraged, and she registered an inward vow 
 that Mr. Compton should understand her a little 
 better before he had done with her. 
 
 Meanwhile, it was time for her to go and 
 dress for a dinner-party to which she and her 
 brother had been bidden. 
 
 If there was one form of entertainment which 
 Mr. Wentworth liked, and Muriel disliked, more 
 than another, it was a dinner-party. Their re- 
 quirements, probably, were not the same, and, 
 doubtless, his were more easily fulfilled than 
 hers. It was, therefore, with the confident ex- 
 pectation of spending three hours of unrelieved 
 weariness that Miss Wentworth seated herself in 
 the brougham beside her brother, who remarked, 
 cheerfully :
 
 42 MISS WENrwORTH'S IDEA. 
 
 " We shall have some fun this evening." 
 
 " Fun ! " she ejaculated ; " why should you 
 anticipate that of all things in the world ? " 
 
 " Because we are going to meet Mrs. Hill. 
 Doesn't Mrs. Hill amuse you ? " 
 
 " Well, not very much," Muriel confessed. 
 
 " Ah, poor ycu ! I suppose not. . What a lot 
 of innocent amusement you are deprived of by 
 your morose temperament. You really should 
 try to acquire the knack of being diverted by 
 people who don't mean to be diverting. Believe 
 me, you will find it a solace with advancing 
 years." 
 
 " After all, poor Mrs. Hill is a thoroughly 
 kind-hearted woman," Muriel remarked, some- 
 what inconsequently. 
 
 1 Who denies the kindness of her heart ? 
 Nevertheless, she amuses me without intending 
 it, and so — with the highest possible respect for 
 you — do you, my dear. But then I am a simple
 
 MISS WENTWOETH'S IDEA. 43 
 
 creature ; it doesn't take a great deal to make 
 me laugh. I would have given a good deal to 
 be present at your interview with your monastic 
 friend this afternoon." 
 
 " How did you know that I had an inter- 
 view with him ? " inquired Muriel, glad that 
 the darkness concealed her heightened 
 colour, for in truth she was rather more 
 sensitive to ridicule than enthusiastic persons 
 ought to be. 
 
 " I made so bold as to ask Hopkins 
 whether anybody had called, and he told 
 me the Reverend Compton had been having 
 tea with you. Did he come up to your ex- 
 pectations ? " 
 
 " Oh, yes, thank you ; and if you had been 
 there I don't think you would have found much 
 to laugh at in him. He takes a very sensible, 
 commonplace view of life." 
 
 " How funny of him ! I suppose he must
 
 44 MISS WENIWORTH'S IDEA, 
 
 have thought that you stood in need of a cor- 
 rective. Well, I trust you may be led in to dinner 
 to-night by somebody equally interesting." 
 
 " There is not the faintest hope of that," 
 answered Muriel, with a sigh.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 One advantage which a London dinner party 
 possesses over a provincial one is that at the 
 former you never can tell whom you may meet, 
 whereas at the latter there is seldom room for 
 any uncertainty upon the subject. And so a 
 little surprise was in store for Miss Wentworth, 
 who certainly had not expected, on entering the 
 drawing-room, to recognise Mr. Compton among 
 the dozen or so of guests assembled there. But 
 there was no mistaking the grey-headed cleric, 
 and he at once greeted her with a smile and an 
 outstretched hand. 
 
 " How very odd that we should meet twice in 
 one day, although we have never met before ! "
 
 46 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA, 
 
 she exclaimed. " I should have thought you 
 would have disdained such frivolous entertain- 
 ments as this." 
 
 " Why ? " he asked. 
 
 She could not think of any adequate reply, 
 and was conscious of having said a stupid and, 
 perhaps, a rather impertineni thing, through 
 sheer lack of sufficient presence of mind to hold 
 her tongue, but he did not seem to notice her 
 embarrassment. 
 
 " I know no reason why one shouldn't dine 
 with one's friends if one has the time," he 
 remarked, after a short pause. " I don't often 
 dine out, because I haven't the time ; but I am 
 here this evening in discharge of what may 
 almost be counted as coming into the cate- 
 gory of professional duties. Our hostess 
 gives me a good deal of money, and she 
 expects me, in return, to show myself at her 
 house every now and then. That is a kind
 
 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA. 47 
 
 of sacrifice which can be made cheerfully 
 enough." 
 
 " Yes," agreed Muriel, hesitatingly ; " but isn't 
 it a little undignified ? " 
 
 " Oh, I am quite prepared to sacrifice my 
 dignity, such as it is," he answered, laughing. 
 " Perhaps I did that when I laid myself out to 
 be a popular preacher ; but, as you may 
 imagine, I acted from motives which appeared 
 to me to be sufficient. Like a certain famous 
 author, je prends mon bien oh je le -trouve ; I 
 knew from the first that I should not be able to 
 pick and choose." 
 
 His tone jarred upon her a little ; he seemed 
 determined to exhibit himself to her as less of a 
 hero than her fancy had painted him, and she 
 could not understand why he should be so per- 
 verse. Surely it was beneath him to show him- 
 self at dinner-parties as a lion, and — as he had 
 half hinted was the case — to resort to oratorical
 
 48 MISS WEST WORTH'S IDEA, 
 
 persuasion which was not spontaneous in order 
 to obtain money. But she was unable, though 
 not unwilling, to say this to him ; for other lady 
 admirers of his were present who claimed his 
 attention, and she was disappointed of her hope 
 that he might be assigned to her as a neighbour 
 at the dinner table. In his stead she was 
 awarded to a certain Colonel Medhurst, who 
 was introduced to her at the last moment, and 
 whom she mentally classified, after a brief 
 scrutiny, as a middle-aged military man of the 
 stereotyped, dull pattern. 
 
 Colonel Medhurst was certainly middle-aged, 
 inasmuch as he had passed that fortieth year 
 from which the down -hill road of life may be 
 said to begin ; but he was tall, broad-shouldered 
 and straight-backed ; his blue eyes were as 
 clear as a boy's, and his closely cut brown hair 
 had as yet no threads of grey in it. Every pro- 
 fession leaves its recognisable stamp upon those
 
 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA. 40 
 
 who have followed it for twenty years, so that 
 the outward appearance of the man was, no 
 doubt, of the stereotyped cavalry pattern ; yet 
 his conversation could not fairly be called dull, 
 as even the fastidious Miss Wentworth had to 
 admit after five minutes. He had just returned 
 from India, he told her, and, owing to various 
 causes, had been away from England for quite 
 an eternity. 
 
 " So that I feel as if I were in a strange land," 
 he said, " and everything strikes me as being 
 queer and strange. People's houses aren't in 
 the least like what they used to be ; nor are 
 their dinners ; nor are they themselves, for the 
 matter of that." 
 
 " Improved or deteriorated ? " inquired 
 Muriel. 
 
 " The furniture has improved, and so have 
 
 the dinners ; I don't think I am quite so sure 
 
 about the people. They aren't shy, which I 
 vol. I. 4
 
 50 MISS WENTWOETH'S IDEA, 
 
 suppose must be counted as an advance, and 
 they are certainly better informed than their 
 predecessors ; only I fancy they are a good deal 
 less domestic than they were in the days of my 
 youth, and that seems to me to be a pity. Of 
 course, I am speaking of the women." 
 
 " Oh, yes, that is a matter of course ; one 
 knows that when a man sets to work to criticise 
 the world, it is always the other sex that he falls 
 foul of. You have a comfortable theory that 
 society is what women choose to make it." 
 
 " Well, but isn't that a correct theory ? " asked 
 Colonel Med hurst. 
 
 " No, I don't think so. Women, as a rule, 
 wish to please you, so they suit themselves to 
 what they imagine to be your tastes. You will 
 hardly go so far as to assert that you ever think 
 of suiting yourselves to ours." 
 
 The Colonel, after pondering for a moment, 
 replied that he really couldn't say ; he should
 
 MISS WENTWORTtt'S IDEA, 51 
 
 think that some men did. " But, you see, it 
 isn't such an easy matter to discover what 
 your tastes are. It is evident enough that 
 you like excitement ; but whether you like 
 all the other things that you appear to like 
 seems doubtful. By the way, I saw you in 
 church last Sunday evening, listening to my 
 friend Compton." 
 
 " Is Mr. Compton a friend of yours ? " asked 
 Muriel, with quickened interest/ _j 
 
 " In a certain sense he is, because we were 
 great friends at school ; but we have scarcely 
 seen each other since those far-away days ; and, 
 although he tells me I am just what I always 
 was, I can't return the compliment. I daresay 
 you will hardly believe it, but Compton was a 
 rather naughty boy." 
 
 " I can quite believe it ; I don t like good 
 
 boys," Muriel declared. 
 
 " Perhaps you like good men, though, dan if 
 
 ' 4*
 
 52 MISS WENT WORTH'S IDEA. 
 
 Compton isn't a good man, I never met one. I 
 won't take upon myself to say that he is wise. 
 Do you know that he was very well off, and that 
 he has given up every penny to this precious 
 Society of his ? " 
 
 "If that is a foolish thing to do, you will 
 admit at least that it is consistent." 
 
 "Certainly it is, and he is worth a thousand of 
 the rest of us. But is this eccentric Society 
 worth the sacrifice of his life and his fortune 
 and his prospects ? ' Sell all that thou hast and 
 give to the poor ' is what the Roman Catholics 
 call a counsel of perfection ; if we all followed it, 
 the business of the world would come to a stand- 
 still." 
 
 " There is no danger of our all following it ; 
 and he doesn't suggest that we should." 
 
 " Oh ! I thought he did." 
 
 " No ; he seems to think that the privilege of 
 being a Christian in reality as well as in name is
 
 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA. 53 
 
 reserved for the few. And I only wish I were 
 one of the few," added Muriel, sighing. 
 
 Colonel Medhurst turned his head so as to 
 study his neighbour's features, and apparently 
 he found the study an agreeable one, for he 
 fairly stared her out of countenance. 
 
 " Aren't you one of them ? " he inquired at 
 length. 
 
 " I am not," she answered, " and I doubt 
 whether I shall ever be allowed to be. Mr. 
 Compton thinks, as I am sure you would if you 
 knew me a little better, that I am only a discon- 
 tented sort of woman who doesn't know what 
 she wants, and he would no more dream of ad- 
 mitting me into the Society of S. Francis than 
 he would dream of admitting you." 
 
 " I don't think he will be requested to admit 
 me, and I hope he will never be requested to 
 admit you, Miss Wentworth. Dear me, you 
 can surely find something better to do with
 
 54 MISS WENT WORTH'S IDEA. 
 
 yourself than to become a nun or a Sister of 
 
 Charity!" 
 
 " Most people would say so, of course. The 
 popular notion is that Sisters of Charity should 
 be old maids and poor and ugly ; and we don't 
 believe enough in our religion to give up any- 
 thing to it, except what we don't want or can't 
 have. But that isn't Mr. Compton's notion, 
 and it isn't mine — if he would only give me 
 credit for having notions worthy of considera- 
 tion." 
 
 " Oh, you have consulted him, then ? " 
 Colonel Medhurst began ; but at this moment 
 Muriel had to respond to some remark made 
 by the gentleman who sat on the other side of 
 her, and it was not until dinner was nearly over 
 that he was able to speak to her again. 
 
 He re-opened the conversation by asking 
 whether the man opposite with the fair hair and 
 the short, greyish beard wasn't her father.
 
 MISS WENT WORTH'S IDEA. 55 
 
 " I am glad you didn't put that question to 
 him," answered Muriel, " because he wouldn't 
 have liked it. James is my half-brother, and 
 we live together, and I have a niece who is not 
 very many years younger than I am." 
 "So that he might be your father, after all." 
 " It would be just possible ; but the suggestion 
 isn't exactly a compliment to him." 
 
 " Well, I apologise. And what is the name of 
 the fat lady with the diamonds who is making 
 him laugh so much ? " 
 
 " She is a Mrs. Hill, and I wish he wouldn't 
 laugh at her quite so unrestrainedly. James 
 has an unfortunate conviction that the people 
 whom he laughs at never by any chance detect 
 him. Sometimes he says things to them that 
 make my blood run cold." 
 
 Colonel Medhurst observed gravely that irony 
 was a dangerous weapon. Indeed, he thought 
 so, and had never been able to draw any distinc-
 
 56 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA, 
 
 tion between satire and ill-nature. Himself a 
 very simple and straightforward person, he 
 valued simplicity and straightforwardness in 
 others. Therefore he did not think he should 
 like Mr. Wentworth and was quite sure he 
 liked that gentleman's sister, though her 
 opinions probably did not altogether coincide 
 with his own. He would have tried to elicit a 
 few more of her opinions from her, if the ladies 
 had not risen before he had time to begin, and 
 he thought a great deal about her after their 
 departure. 
 
 She, for her part, was not equally flattering 
 to him. Colonel Medhurst seemed to be a 
 pleasant, masculine kind of man ; but he ob- 
 viously belonged to a class of persons with whom 
 she felt little sympathy, and she dismissed him 
 from her mind the moment that she turned her 
 back upon him. 
 
 The fat lady with the diamonds made for her,
 
 MISS WENTWORTHS IDEA. 57 
 
 as she entered the drawing-room, and led her 
 away into a corner, holding her by the hand, 
 and saying : 
 
 "My dear Muriel, I want to tell you my 
 news, which I have just been telling to your 
 brother. What do you think? Johnny has 
 been asked to stay with Lord and Lady More- 
 cambe, and he has gone down there this after- 
 noon." 
 
 " Yes ? " answered Muriel abstractedly ; for 
 the confidences of Mrs. Hill seldom interested 
 her. 
 
 "Yes, indeed, and I am so glad about it. 
 Isn't it odd that they should have invited him 
 at the same time as dear Sylvia ? " 
 
 Muriel, after bringing her mind to bear upon 
 the subject, thought it rather odd that they 
 should have invited Johnny Hill at all ; but of 
 course she did not give utterance to that 
 reflection.
 
 58 MISS WENT WORTH'S IDEA. 
 
 " I am glad poor Johnny will have somebody 
 he knows to talk to there," she remarked, which 
 comment was only a shade less offensive than 
 her unspoken one. 
 
 Mrs. Hill tossed her head. It was a little 
 round head, adorned with little round features, 
 so that it did not bear tossing particularly well. 
 To be effective that kind of gesture requires a 
 hook nose. She said in an affronted tone : 
 
 " I can assure you that wherever Johnny goes 
 he meets plenty of people who are willing 
 enough to talk to him. You have known him 
 since his boyhood, and perhaps that is why you 
 don't quite realise that he is now a man. Sylvia 
 realises it, though." 
 
 Muriel gazed at her companion in undisguised 
 amazement. " What do you mean ? " she 
 asked. 
 
 " If you don't know, my dear, you had better 
 ask your brother. He was not in the least
 
 MISS WENT WORTH'S IDEA. 59 
 
 surprised when I told him that I had noticed the 
 young people's liking for one another. He said 
 he had noticed it himself ; and so, I feel pretty 
 sure, must Lady Morecambe have done. Con- 
 sidering how kind she has been to Johnny, 
 do you think I might call upon Lady More- 
 cambe, when she comes up to London ? I was 
 introduced to her once at your house, you 
 know." 
 
 " Perhaps it might be better to let her make 
 the first advance," answered Muried, successfully 
 suppressing an inclination to laugh. 
 
 " Well, if you think so — although I feel as if 
 I ought to thank her for having been such a 
 good friend to Johnny. He is rather needlessly 
 diffident, poor boy ; but I think dear Sylvia will 
 forgive him for that, don't you ? Nowadays 
 young men are so very seldom given to under- 
 valuing themselves." 
 
 Muriel willingly expressed her disapproval of
 
 60 MISS WENTWOETHS IDEA, 
 
 the modern young man. She could not 
 possibly say that she considered Johnny Hill's 
 diffidence misplaced, and she inwardly resolved 
 to scold her niece for having given any en- 
 couragement to a ridiculous hobbledehoy. 
 Sylvia often deserved a scolding, and sometimes 
 took it in good part ; as for James, he was in- 
 corrigible. Of course he had found it amusing 
 to flatter this silly and vulgar woman with 
 hopes of a match which he could never sanction, 
 and of course he would not be in the least 
 ashamed of himself if it were pointed out to 
 him that he had no business to do any such 
 thing. 
 
 But what was not a little surprising was that 
 Mr. Wentworth, when taken to task upon the 
 subject, declined to admit that he had been 
 diverting himself at Mrs. Hill's expense. He 
 took Muriel away almost immediately after he 
 and the other men had come upstairs from the
 
 MISS WENT WORTH'S IDEA. 61 
 
 dining-room, so that she had no opportunity 
 of saying anything, except good-bye, to 
 Mr. Compton, and as soon as they were once 
 more in the brougham he checked her remon- 
 stances by declaring that, in his opinion, 
 Johnny Hill was quite as desirable a son-in-law 
 as another. 
 
 " Indeed he is a good deal more desirable 
 than most of them, if you come to that. I sup- 
 pose he must have at least £5,000 a year of his 
 own, and most likely he will have as much again 
 when his mother dies." 
 
 " You only talk like that because you know 
 that it disgusts me, James. You can't suppose 
 for one moment that Sylvia would marry such a 
 booby." 
 
 " In the course of a tolerably long and unin- 
 terruptedly virtuous life," answered Mr. Went- 
 worth, composedly, " I have known many in- 
 stances of charming women having married
 
 62 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA, 
 
 absolute boobies, and I am bound to say that 
 none of them appeared to regret what they had 
 done. If there is one character more than 
 another in which a booby is especially qualified 
 to shine, I suppose it is that of a husband. He 
 is easily pleased, easily pacified, and easily 
 deceived: what more would you have? If, in 
 addition to his other advantages, the booby 
 possesses a large income, he is about as near 
 perfection as anything that one can hope to 
 secure in this wicked world." 
 
 " Fortunately, Sylvia won't dream of taking 
 him," observed Muriel, disdaining to make any 
 reply to these cynical sentiments. 
 
 " Oh, well, if she won't, she won't ; only don't 
 accuse me of having trifled with Mrs. Hill's 
 maternal solicitude. I can lay my hand upon 
 the front of my shirt and say that nothing would 
 give me greater pleasure than to hear that Sylvia 
 had done so well for herself."
 
 MISS WENT WORTH'S IDEA. 63 
 
 " Then you don't deserve to have a daughter 
 and you have no sort of natural affection." 
 
 " Thank you, my dear ; the same to you. 
 You are rich, while Sylvia and I are, com- 
 paratively speaking, poor ; and charity, as I have 
 always been taught, begins at home. I don't 
 expect you to hand over your fortune to us ; but 
 when you contemplate casting the whole of it 
 into the lap of the successor of S. Francis I do 
 feel that natural affection is not precisely your 
 strongest point." 
 
 This thrust had the effect of silencing Muriel, 
 who could not but acknowledge it to be merited. 
 She did not deem it incumbent upon her to 
 explain that she by no means ignored the claims 
 of her family and that, if she ever joined the 
 Society of S. Francis, it would only be after the 
 fashion of a modern Sapphira. 
 
 Meanwhile, Mr. Compton and Colonel 
 Medhurst were walking away together, and the
 
 64 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA. 
 
 latter was delivering himself of some trenchant 
 criticisms upon the sermon by which certain 
 other persons had been so profoundly impressed. 
 
 " It's all very fine, Compton," he was saying, 
 " but there's an unreality about this gospel of 
 yours which rather puts me off. You preach 
 what you don't and can't practise." 
 
 " Do I ? " asked the other. 
 
 " Well, perhaps I have no right to say that ; 
 of course I can't know for certain. But this 
 literal forgiving of one's enemies, for instance — 
 how could you reduce such a theory to practice ? 
 You'll allow, I take it, that a soldier is bound to 
 fight for his country ? " 
 
 " Yes, as matters stand at present ; but we 
 think that matters stand very badly at present. 
 We should like to see soldiers and all need for 
 soldiers done away with. We might as well say 
 that we should like to see sin and pain and 
 sorrow done away with, you may answer.
 
 MISS WE N'T WORTH'S IDEA. 65 
 
 Quite so ; but our feebleness doesn't excuse 
 us from working towards an end which we can't 
 hope to achieve in full, and at any rate it is 
 well within our power to forgive our personal 
 enemies." 
 
 " I don't believe it is within my power to for- 
 give mine," said Medhurst, rather grimly. " At 
 least, there is one man whom it would be non- 
 sense for me to talk about forgiving. I suppose 
 you can guess his name ? " 
 
 " No," answered Compton wonderingly ; " how 
 should I know ? " 
 
 " Well, I thought everybody knew ; but I dare 
 
 say everybody forgets very quickly, and perhaps 
 
 you can employ your time better than in reading 
 
 the newspapers. The man whom I mean is my 
 
 sister's husband, or rather he was her husband 
 
 until she was compelled to divorce him. Most 
 
 likely you, with your High Church notions, 
 
 refuse to recognise such a thing as divorce ; yet 
 vol. I. 5
 
 66 MISS WENTWORTH'3 IDEA. 
 
 you would have to acknowledge that, if ever 
 divorce is justifiable, it was so in her case. She 
 bore with him as long as it was possible to bear 
 with him ; she only appealed to the law after he 
 had actually struck her more than once. She 
 never told me a word about it until it was too 
 late for me to interfere ; I was away in India at 
 the time, and I suppose, as she says, my coming 
 home and hammering the brute wouldn't have 
 done much good. Now that I have come home, 
 I find her a miserable, lonely woman, leading a 
 miserable, lonely life through no fault of her 
 own, and still — that's the "horrible part of it — 
 secretly worshipping the blackguard to whom it 
 was no punishment at all to be set free from 
 her. You may tell me, if you like, that I am 
 bound to forgive that blackguard ; all I can say 
 in reply is that if you are a mortal man,jp<?// 
 wouldn't forgive him." 
 
 " I can't tell," answered the other, after a few
 
 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA. 67 
 
 moments of silence ; " nobody can tell what his 
 capacities are until he has been put to the test. 
 But this much I can say for certain : unless I 
 could forgive such a man from my heart, it 
 wouldn't be possible for me to say my prayers 
 to-night. One reservation, you see, is fatal to 
 the whole scheme of the religion that we profess. 
 It is easy to forgive some people, and immensely 
 difficult to forgive others ; we must take the 
 rough with the smooth, or else acknowledge 
 ourselves beaten." 
 
 " If that is so, I acknowledge myself beaten," 
 said Medhurst curtly. 
 
 Mr. Compton did not insist ; perhaps he was 
 too experienced a student of his fellow-men to 
 do that. 
 
 They marched on, side by side, for some little 
 distance without exchanging another word, and 
 then Medhurst resumed in an altered tone : 
 
 " I liked that Miss Wentworth whom I took 
 
 5*
 
 68 MISS WENT WORTH'S IDEA, 
 
 in to dinner. She is a very pretty girl, and, I 
 should think, as good as she is pretty. A great 
 admirer of yours too, by-the-way." 
 
 " I hope you are not smitten with her," said 
 his friend. 
 
 " At my age ? — hardly ! All the same, I have 
 no doubt I should be if I were twenty years 
 younger. She gave me to understand that 
 you had rather sat upon her ; and although, for 
 her sake, I wasn't very sorry to hear that, 
 I don't know how you can have reconciled it 
 with your conscience to drive away such a 
 promising aspirant. What is your objection to 
 her ? " 
 
 " I am scarcely acquainted with her. I met 
 her for the first time this afternoon ; but I saw 
 enough of her then to see that — in short, that 
 she is of no use." 
 
 " Well, that is just what she complained of; 
 isn't it ? "
 
 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA. 
 
 "Yes, I believe so. She suffers from a con 
 stitutional ailment which is not only very 
 common, but almost incurable. The people 
 who really want to be of use can always find 
 out ways of being useful without making a fuss 
 about it ; Miss Wentworth and the rest of her 
 species prefer to make a fuss. She means well, 
 and I dare say she will turn out an excellent 
 wife in some respects, but the chances are that 
 she will always be discontented, so I don't 
 exactly envy her future husband." 
 
 " How like a parson ! " exclaimed Colonel 
 Medhurst. " You get into the habit of classify- 
 ing people, and you are as confident in your 
 ovvn judgments as if you were so many swell 
 physicians." 
 
 " What else can you expect of us ? We 
 haven't the time to go minutely into individual 
 cases ; only we learn to recognise certain symp- 
 toms, just as the swell physicians do. They and
 
 70 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA. 
 
 we are sometimes wrong ; but we are much 
 
 more often right." 
 
 " Nevertheless, I shall take the liberty of con- 
 tinuing to think that Miss Wentworth is only 
 discontented because she hasn't yet discovered 
 her mission in life." 
 
 " Who contradicts you ? The question is 
 whether she will ever discover it. But, as you 
 don't propose to marry her, and as I don't pro- 
 pose ito accept her services, the question isn't a 
 particularly important one for either of us."
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Perhaps, it may be said, without offence to 
 hospitable landowners, that the pleasures of 
 staying in a large country house are somewhat 
 dubious. Setting aside the uneasiness which 
 most of us experience when deprived of our 
 usual occupations and our accustomed play- 
 things, and the misery of coming down to 
 breakfast in the morning, cross and sleepy, to 
 encounter a large assemblage of painfully wide- 
 awake and smartly attired persons, one is 
 seldom free from apprehensions as to the pro- 
 gramme of the day's proceedings ; and, indeed, 
 it only too often happens that one is either left 
 to one's own devices — in which case one does 
 not know what to do with oneself — or else ex-
 
 72 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA. 
 
 pected to take part in some form of amusement 
 
 for which one is peculiarly ill-fitted. 
 
 Possibly, however, these are only the un- 
 gracious murmurings of middle age. As there 
 never seems to be any difficulty in filling big 
 houses, it must be assumed that a great many 
 people enjoy the kind of existence led there, 
 and certainly Miss Sylvia Wentworth was en- 
 joying herself to the full at Morecambe Priory. 
 Although she passed for being something of a 
 spoilt child, she did not, as a rule, enjoy herself 
 very much at home. Her father did not put 
 himself out of the way to provide diversions for 
 her ; her tastes did not accord with Muriel's, and 
 she saw a good deal less of life and the world 
 than she could have wished. Consequently, it 
 was no small treat to her to be taken under the 
 wing of good-natured Lady Morecambe and to 
 be allowed a glimpse of that section of society 
 which, in some respects, resembles the lilies of
 
 MISS WENT WORTH'S IDEA. 73 
 
 the field and Solomon in all his glory. This 
 little golden-haired, blue-eyed girl, whose pretti- 
 ness was of that fragile order which cannot be 
 expected to outlast many seasons, may have 
 felt instinctively that it behoved her to make 
 the most of her time. She fretted impatiently 
 over the many wasted days which she was com- 
 pelled to spend in London, deeming every day 
 wasted that did not bring her entertainment in 
 some shape or form, and resenting the selfish- 
 ness of those who thus defrauded her of her 
 youth. But at Morecambe Priory it was quite 
 another affair ; at Morecambe Priory there was 
 a constant change of visitors, there were great 
 ladies who amused themselves by petting her 
 and men of all ages who delighted in paying 
 her small attentions ; so that it was really only 
 an insignificant annoyance that Johnny Hill 
 should have been invited to join the ranks of 
 the latter.
 
 74 MISS WEXTWORTH S IDEA. 
 
 She had dressed rather early for dinner one 
 evening, and was sitting in the library, awaiting 
 the appearance of the other guests, when 
 Johnny Hill shambled into the room and joined 
 her. He was a tall, loosely-built youth, with a 
 round, foolish face, not unlike his mother's ; his 
 hands were large and red, and as he advanced, 
 she was struck by his underbred air. That 
 defect was not quite so conspicuous in London, 
 and indeed he was a good-natured creature with 
 whom she was willing enough to flirt in the 
 absence of higher game ; but the fact was that 
 he was absurdly out of place amid his present 
 surroundings. Sylvia, it must be confessed, was 
 not wholly free from an outsider's ignoble 
 jealousy of other outsiders. 
 
 It was in a tone of mingled irritation and 
 patronage that she said : 
 
 " Well, Johnny, how do you like yourself 
 here?"
 
 MISS WENT WORTH'S IDEA. 75 
 
 After a moment of reflection, Mr. Hill replied 
 in a deep, bass voice : 
 
 " I like being anywhere where you are." 
 " Thank you so very much ; I never met any- 
 body who could pay a compliment with quite 
 your grace and delicacy. But as we see each 
 other so constantly in town, perhaps it would be 
 only fair to other people if we were to avoid one 
 another now that we are away for a change. 
 You will be out shooting all day to-morrow, of 
 course." 
 
 " Well, I don't know about all day," answered 
 the young man, propping himself up against 
 the mantelpiece and stuffing his hands into 
 his pockets ; " I suppose we shall go out in 
 the morning. Why do you say that we meet 
 constantly in town ? It seems to me that 
 you're always engaged when I try to see 
 you." 
 
 " Then I can only suppose that you don't try
 
 76 MISS WENT WORTH'S IDEA. 
 
 very hard or very frequently, for heaven knows 
 
 that my engagements are not numerous ! " 
 
 "I assure you," Mr. Hill declared with energy, 
 " that of late I have been trying every blessed 
 day." 
 
 " As often as that ? Well, there's nothing like 
 perseverance, and if you go on trying after I re- 
 turn home you are pretty safe to succeed in the 
 long run. Just at present I'm not at home ; I'm 
 out for a holiday. Do you understand ? " 
 
 The poor fellow's powers of comprehension 
 were strictly limited, but he was scarcely dense 
 enough to misunderstand that, although he 
 could think of no appropriate rejoinder. He 
 rubbed the back of his head feebly and re- 
 mained silent until the entrance of Lady More- 
 cambe, who was closely followed by several of 
 her guests, relieved him of any further necessity 
 for making himself agreeable. He dropped at 
 once into the background, which seemed to be
 
 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA. 77 
 
 his natural place, and Sylvia would no doubt 
 have forgotten his existence, had she not been 
 unpleasantly reminded of it about ten minutes 
 later, when he came forward to offer her his 
 arm. 
 
 Happily, one always has two neighbours at 
 dinner; but, unhappily, one is not always ac- 
 quainted with both of them, and Sylvia, on 
 taking her place, deeply regretted that Lady 
 Morecambe had omitted to introduce to her the 
 gentleman who sat upon her right. She re- 
 gretted it all the more because this newly- 
 arrived guest looked a rather interesting sort of 
 oerson. Although probably he was not a young 
 man, his age was somewhat difficult to deter- 
 mine. His black hair and eyes and his well 
 proportioned figure gave him a title to be called 
 handsome, and he had the easy and slightly 
 authoritative manner of one whose position is 
 well established in society. She heard him
 
 78 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA, 
 
 addressed several times as " Sir Harry," and ob- 
 served that his remarks were listened to with a 
 deference for which their intrinsic worth seemed 
 scarcely sufficient to account. Apparently he 
 had been staying with various well - known 
 people, who had not had the good fortune to 
 succeed in amusing him ; for he had little to say 
 in praise of any of them, and complained that 
 everybody now-a-days was going in for political 
 meetings, which he stigmatised as the dullest 
 method of killing time that had ever been 
 invented. 
 
 Nothing is so likely to secure respect as a 
 heartfelt sense of superiority to those about 
 you, and this supercilious gentleman un- 
 doubtedly won his way to a higher place in 
 Sylvia Wentworth's esteem than he could have 
 done had he not been so obviously indifferent to 
 the fact that he had a pretty girl at his elbow. 
 After some considerable time, however, he
 
 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA. 79 
 
 deigned to become aware of her presence, and, 
 undeterred by the circumstance that he had not 
 been formally presented to her, interrupted the 
 conversation which poor Johnny Hill was 
 labouring hard to keep alive. 
 
 " How do you contrive to amuse yourself 
 here ? " he inquired. " Do you hunt, or do you 
 go out and watch the men shooting, or are you 
 yourself a crack shot ? I met a young lady the 
 other day who could hit anything, including a 
 beater. I saw her bag the beater, but she had 
 presence of mind enough to swear that she was 
 innocent, and I didn't tell upon her." 
 
 Sylvia replied that she, at any rate, could 
 swear that she was innocent of any man's blood, 
 never having fired off a gun in her life. She 
 added that she thought it was easy enough for 
 women to find amusements without attempting 
 to take part in those which are usually supposed 
 to be reserved for the other sex.
 
 80 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA. 
 
 "Oh, I've no doubt you find it so," he re- 
 turned, laughing ; " and if you don't bring 
 us down in one way you probably do in 
 another. The only compensation that I have 
 ever been able to discover for my advanced 
 age is that I can now snap my fingers at 
 you all." 
 
 " You call your age advanced because you 
 want to be contradicted," Sylvia made so bold 
 as to remark. 
 
 " Thanks for the compliment, but I scorn 
 to deceive you. Besides, I am quite sure that 
 if I tried to do so, you would look me up in 
 the red book and put me to confusion. I shall 
 be five-and-forty next birthday. Why I am 
 neither grey nor bald I can't tell you, for I 
 am sure I have had as much trouble as most 
 people. I suppose it must be the immaculate 
 purity of my conscience that has preserved me 
 so well."
 
 MISS WENT WORTH'S IDEA. 8\ 
 
 This was said in a voice loud enough to reach 
 
 the ears of half-a-dozen persons, who did not 
 
 laugh, but looked down at their plates with an 
 
 air of grave abstraction. Thus Sylvia gathered 
 
 that her interlocutor's conscience was not wholly 
 
 void of offence, and thus, it must be owned, her 
 
 interest in him was increased. In any case, he 
 
 was better worth talking to than Johnny Hill, 
 
 and the pains that she took to please him did 
 
 not seem to be thrown away, inasmuch as he 
 
 honoured her with his undivided attention until 
 
 the time came for her to retire. He asked her a 
 
 great many questions about herself and her 
 
 belongings and pursuits, taking up a paternal 
 
 sort of tone and deriving evident entertainment 
 
 from some of her answers ; but he was not very 
 
 communicative in return, and it was only after 
 
 she had left the dining-room that she had the 
 
 privilege of hearing a concise description of him 
 
 from one of the dowagers. 
 
 VOL. I. 6
 
 82 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA. 
 
 " Oh, haven't you ever heard of Sir Harry 
 Brewster ? " the old lady said, in response to 
 her queries. " He is a rather prominent per- 
 sonage upon the turf and — and elsewhere. 
 Well, the less you see or hear of him the 
 better, my dear, for he is not nice — not nice in 
 any way." 
 
 Naturally that authoritative verdict did not 
 prevent Sylvia Wentworth from thinking him 
 nice, nor did it lessen her curiosity with regard 
 to him. Later in the evening somebody 
 proposed dancing in the saloon, which was a 
 long room with a polished floor, easily cleared of 
 superfluous furniture, and then it was that she 
 found an opportunity of accosting her late 
 neighbour, who had stationed himself in the 
 doorway in the attitude of a spectator. 
 
 " Aren't you going to dance ? " she asked. 
 
 "Oh no," he answered, shaking his head; "I 
 leave that sort of thing to the young people."
 
 MISS WENTWORTfl'S IDEA. 83 
 
 " I am one of the young people," Miss Sylvia 
 
 remarked demurely, "and I don't see much 
 
 prospect of my getting a single respectable 
 
 partner." 
 
 " In that case," he returned, laughing, " I 
 will make so bold as to ask you for a 
 dance. Heaven forbid that you should be 
 deprived of respectability while I am here to 
 represent it ! " 
 
 Well, he was something more than respectable 
 as a waltzer, whatever he might be in other 
 ways ; if he was wicked, he was not the less 
 attractive on that account. A man whom old 
 ladies speak of as " not nice " is usually under- 
 stood by young ladies to be one who has made 
 many conquests, and it is a part of feminine 
 nature to adore conquerors of all kinds. Sir 
 Harry Brewster did not give himself the airs of 
 a conqueror, nor did he cease to treat Sylvia 
 Wentvvorth as a child ; but he confessed that he
 
 81 MISS WENT WORTH'S IDEA, 
 
 was flattered by her praise of his dancing, which 
 emboldened him to monopolize her for the 
 remainder of the evening. She enjoyed his 
 company and conversation all the more because 
 she caught Lady Morecambe glancing anxiously 
 at her several times, and even because she saw 
 Johnny Hill doing his best to look ferocious. 
 To arouse the jealousy of Johnny Hill was 
 a small triumph ; but she did not despise 
 small triumphs. As for her partner, she felt 
 that it would be a great triumph to convert 
 his somewhat condescending patronage of 
 her into a warmer sentiment, and she un- 
 scrupulously made use of all the gifts which 
 she had received from nature for the attain- 
 ment of that end. However, she could not 
 flatter herself that she had advanced far on 
 the road towards success when she took leave 
 of him. 
 
 " Good-night, Miss Wentworth," said he,
 
 MISS WENTWOBTH'S IDEA. So 
 
 laughingly, " and thank you for having taken 
 pity upon an old fogey. I suppose you know- 
 that I have been making myself ridiculous in 
 the eyes of the youngsters all this time ; but 
 never mind ! I forgive you, and I daresay you 
 won't do it again."
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 LADY MORECAMBE was one of those well- 
 intentioned, common-place persons to whom a 
 wide experience of life is not of the slightest 
 service and who never arrive at any clear com- 
 prehension of their fellow-mortals, because their 
 memories are so short and because they never 
 take the trouble to arrive at a clear comprehen- 
 sion of themselves. In her youth she had done 
 many foolish things ; at middle age she was not 
 wise, but she had learnt just as much as nobody 
 can help learning, and she thought it incumbent 
 upon her to speak a few cautionary words to 
 the girl who had been placed for a time under 
 her care. After breakfast, therefore, on the day
 
 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA. 87 
 
 following that of which some account has been 
 given in the last chapter, she led Sylvia Wcnt- 
 worth away into the conservatory with her, and, 
 while snipping off azaleas and dropping them 
 into the basket which she carried, remarked 
 casually : 
 
 " I was sorry to see that they had put you 
 next to Sir Harry Brewster at dinner last night 
 and that you danced with him in the even- 
 ing. I purposely avoided introducing him to 
 you." 
 
 " I thought him very pleasant, 5 ' answered 
 Sylvia, " What has he done that he can't be 
 introduced to strangers ? " 
 
 " He has done all sorts of things which Tarn 
 not going to tell you about. He is very bad 
 indeed — shockingly bad. Indeed, I should 
 never think of asking him here if Morecambe 
 didn't insist upon it. You see, he happens to^be 
 one of the best shots in England, and when: a
 
 88 MISS AVENTWORTH'S IDEA. 
 
 man enjoys that distinction he can't very well 
 
 be left out, whatever his moral character may 
 
 be. Only I can't be responsible for introducing 
 
 him to children like you, and I think it was very 
 
 bad form of him to speak to you without being 
 
 introduced." 
 
 " I was very glad that he did," Sylvia 
 
 ^declared. " He didn't contaminate me ; he 
 talked to me like a father, and I was grateful to 
 him for delivering me from Johnny Hill. Please, 
 Lady Morecambe, don't send me in to dinner 
 
 -with Johnny Hill again." 
 
 * I will try to find somebody else for you this 
 evening," her good-natured hostess answered ; 
 " but I can promise you that it will not be Sir 
 Harry Brewster. You are much too young to 
 be told his history — you must take my word for 
 it that he is a dangerous acquaintance. All the 
 more so because he can be extremely fascinating 
 when he likes."
 
 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA. 89 
 
 It would scarcely have been possible to be . 
 more injudicious. Sylvia made no rejoinder, 
 but, of course, the warning only strengthened 
 her determination to cultivate the acquaintance 
 of the mysterious personage who neither looked 
 nor talked like a reprobate. To doubt the 
 sincerity of their own sex is a lesson which 
 women learn at a very early age, and Sylvia was 
 both unkind enough and precocious enough to 
 suspect that Lady Morecambe's charms had 
 failed to find favour in the sight of Sir Harry 
 Brewster. 
 
 However, no immediate opportunity of bring- 
 ing her personal charms to bear upon him was 
 granted to her ; for all the men went out shoot- 
 ing in the morning, and, rather to her dis- 
 appointment, no suggestion was made that the 
 ladies should join them at the luncheon hour. 
 It was not until late in the afternoon, when 
 Lady Morecambe had gone off for a drive with
 
 90 MISS WENTWOETH'S IDEA, 
 
 two venerable dowagers, that she was enabled 
 to join a party of the younger matrons who 
 proposed to walk towards the coverts and hear 
 the result of the day's sport. This, it appeared, 
 had been quite magnificent. She and her 
 companions had not tramped very far across 
 the wet grass when they encountered the 
 returning sportsmen, headed by Lord More- 
 cambe, whose rosy countenance was radiant 
 with satisfaction. 
 
 " I can't think how the deuce he does it," 
 Sylvia heard him saying, above the babble of 
 talk which immediately broke forth; "he simply 
 doesn't know how to miss ! And he has been 
 just the same for the last fifteen or twenty years, 
 mind you. In all my born days I never saw 
 such a fellow ! " 
 
 " He alludes to me," remarked somebody 
 who, as Sylvia very well knew, was standing 
 close behind her. " Flattering, isn't it ? One
 
 MISS WENTWOIITH'S IDEA. 91 
 
 could have done without that allusion to the 
 last twenty years, though. Ancient as I am, 
 and well as I shoot, I will say for myself that I 
 wasn't quite up to my present form before I 
 attained my majority." 
 
 " Why do you always try to make yourself 
 out so antiquated ? " asked the girl, turning 
 round and surveying Sir Harry's spare, erect 
 figure. " A man is never old until he chooses 
 to call himself so, and as for you, you couldn't 
 be made to look anything but young." 
 
 Sir Harry laughed and bowed. " Thank 
 you," he answered. " It is true that I look a 
 year or two younger than I am, and that, I 
 suppose, is what you mean ; but there is no 
 getting over the painful fact that I am old 
 enough to be your father." 
 
 There are certain facts which have only such 
 significance as we feel disposed to ascribe to 
 them. Sylvia thought of her father, with his
 
 92 MISS WENIWORTH'S IDEA, 
 
 scanty hair, his grey beard and his sedentary- 
 habits, and laughed aloud. " You are a wonder- 
 ful shot and a splendid dancer," said she, " per- 
 haps you would neither be the one nor the other 
 if you were still a boy." 
 
 " If I could be a boy again, I would cheer- 
 fully consent to be unable to hit a haystack and 
 to dance like — who shall we say ? — like your 
 young friend who took you in to dinner last 
 night. But as such bargains can't be made, the 
 only sensible plan is to make the most of the 
 privileges which belong to one's time of life. 
 While you are pounding round and round the 
 room at the county ball to-night I shall be 
 smoking a peaceful cigar before the fire, and 
 while you are poisoning yourselves with bad 
 champagne I shall be sleeping soundly, free 
 from all the troubles which I shall remember as 
 soon as I wake." 
 
 " One forgets one's troubles when one is
 
 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA. 93 
 
 waltzing with a good partner," said Sylvia ; " I 
 know that because I can speak from experience. 
 Won't you come to the ball and try my pre- 
 scription ? Even if it doesn't succeed in your 
 case, you will have the comfort of thinking that 
 you have done what you could to make it suc- 
 cessful in mine." 
 
 " Am I to understand that you ask this as a 
 personal favour?" inquired Sir Harry, with a 
 side glance which was half tender, half mock- 
 ing. 
 
 Sylvia nodded. 
 
 " Well, then I must make an effort. Oh, yes ; 
 I will certainly make an effort. Only if I fail 
 at the last moment to come up to the scratch 
 you will understand that exhausted nature or 
 my natural diffidence or something of that sort 
 has been too much for me." 
 
 Their colloquy was interrupted at this point, 
 and they were allowed no subsequent chance of
 
 91 MISS WENT WORTHS IDEA, 
 
 resuming it. At dinnertime, Lady Morecambe, 
 faithful to her undertaking, ordered a young 
 man who was not Johnny Hill to escort Sylvia, 
 and placed the whole length of the table 
 between her and Sir Harry Brewster. Imme- 
 diately afterwards it was found necessary for 
 the ladies to go upstairs and put on their 
 ball dresses, and before Miss Sylvia Went- 
 worth had studied the general effect of her 
 costume in the mirror half as long as she 
 could have desired, she received an impatient 
 message to the effect that everybody was wait- 
 ing for her. 
 
 Everybody included Johnny Hill, and did not 
 include Sir Harry Brewster. She made that 
 unwelcome discovery after she had seated her- 
 self in the omnibus which was to convey her 
 and her fellow-revellers to the neighbouring 
 county town, Lady Morecambe, accompanied 
 by two of the more distinguished guests,
 
 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA. 95 
 
 having already departed. It appeared, how- 
 ever, that a relay of men was expected to 
 follow later on, so that there was still room 
 for hope. 
 
 Nevertheless, Miss Sylvia entered the ball- 
 room in an irritable mood. Sir Harry Brewster 
 was nothing at all to her ; still she had made 
 up her mind to dance with him, and she had 
 gone the length of begging him to be present at 
 this ball against his will, and she was neither 
 accustomed to being snubbed nor fond of the 
 sensation. 
 
 And so it was that, with some vague idea of 
 punishing the absentee, she filled up her card in 
 less than ten minutes. That, of course, is what 
 a pretty, charmingly-dressed and well vouched- 
 for girl can accomplish without any difficulty if 
 she be not over particular, and Sylvia on this 
 occasion was not the least inclined to be par- 
 ticular. Lady Morecambe, meaning to be kind,
 
 96 MISS WENT WORTHS IDEA, 
 
 led up to her a host of strangers, whose names 
 she booked with the impartiality of total in- 
 difference ; also she made Johnny Hill happy 
 by granting him four dances all for himself. 
 Having thus cut off her nose to spite her face, 
 she began dancing, and kept an anxious eye 
 fixed upon the doorway. 
 
 Now, as she was quite convinced that Sir 
 Harry Brewster did not mean to keep his 
 promise, it should have been no surprise to her 
 to find him conspicuous by his absence from 
 the knot of laggards who ultimately put in an 
 appearance ; but disappointments are seldom 
 appreciated, and when a young lady who has 
 not learnt the lesson of self-control is disap- 
 pointed, somebody usually has to bear the brunt 
 of her ill-humour. The luckless Johnny Hill took 
 his punishment meekly. He did not resent 
 being told, after a turn or two, that his step 
 was simply impossible and that there was
 
 MISS WENT WORTH'S IDEA. 97 
 
 nothing for it but to sit out the remainder of 
 the dance ; he submitted without a murmur to 
 his partner's contemptuous disregard of the 
 efforts that he made to entertain her, and he 
 judged it best to agree with her when she 
 declared that everything connected with this ball 
 was detestable — the floor, the decorations, the 
 music, the people, everything. 
 
 " I wish to goodness I had had the sense to 
 stay at home ! " she exclaimed. 
 
 " I can't quite wish that," said this well-mean- 
 ing young man. " Unless," he added, as a 
 happy afterthought, " I had stayed at home 
 with you." 
 
 " If I had stayed at home you wouldn't have 
 
 been with me," returned Sylvia viciously. " If 
 
 I had stayed at home I should have read a book 
 
 and I should have been spared the labour of 
 
 providing ideas for people who have none of 
 
 their own." 
 
 VOL. I. 7
 
 89 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA. 
 
 This was rather unjust, considering that she 
 had not as yet originated a single topic of con- 
 versation ; but the provoking thing about 
 Johnny was that injustice only bewildered him ; 
 it did not make him angry. 
 
 " I'm afraid,''" he said diffidently, after a pause, 
 " that something has put you out." 
 
 Sylvia shot a wrathful, questioning glance at 
 him ; but perceiving that his countenance ex- 
 pressed only puzzled concern, she answered 
 quickly : 
 
 " Nothing whatever has put me out, except 
 the things that I have been telling you about, 
 which ought to be sufficient, one would think. 
 I wish they were sufficient to put me out in a 
 literal sense ; but I suppose it wouldn't be easy 
 to get oneself ejected from a refined gathering 
 like this. Nothing short of intoxication would 
 do it, eh ? " 
 
 This being apparently a joke, Johnny felt
 
 MISS WENT WORTH'S IDEA. 99 
 
 bound to laugh, although he felt some doubt 
 as to the good taste of the remark. But indeed 
 it was no longer of any consequence whether he 
 laughed or wept ; for his partner had suddenly 
 become totally oblivious of him. Whence Sir 
 Harry Brewster had sprung at that advanced 
 hour of the evening she was at a loss to 
 imagine ; but there he was, crossing the room 
 towards her with a smile upon his face, and it 
 was in the most matter-of-course tone in the 
 world he said : 
 
 " Well, Miss Wentworth, I have turned up to 
 claim my dance, you see." 
 
 Sylvia could not for the life of her help look- 
 ing pleased ; but she contrived to reply with 
 befitting coldness and dignity, " Oh, you are 
 much too late ; my card was filled up ages ago." 
 
 And then, as he merely fell back, shrugging 
 his shoulders slightly and making a gesture of 
 resignation, she was fain to add, " You didn't 
 
 /
 
 100 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA, 
 
 expect me to keep anything open upon the off 
 chance of your appearing in the small hours of 
 the morning, did you ? " 
 
 " At the risk of appearing outrageously pre- 
 sumptuous," he replied, " I will confess that I 
 did. You see, I shouldn't have been here at all 
 if you hadn't ordered me to come. Of course I 
 had no business to fall asleep after dinner ; but 
 the moment that I woke I did all that mortal 
 man could do to atone for my sin. What 
 Morecambe will say when he hears that I drove 
 one of his hunters over here in a dog-cart I 
 can't think ; but I am assured that I risked my 
 life by attempting such a thing ; so I hope you 
 will admit that I have earned a dance even if I 
 am not to be allowed one." 
 
 " Under the circumstances," said Sylvia, who 
 felt that this explanation gave the offender 
 a claim to be leniently dealt with, " I might 
 throw somebody over." And without the
 
 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA. 101 
 
 slightest compunction she turned to Johnny 
 Hill and told him that, after all, he couldn't 
 have number sixteen. " I promised it to Sir 
 Harry Brewster, only I thought he had for- 
 gotten," 
 
 Johnny, who was neither a well-bred nor a 
 reasonable being, had the audacity to protest. 
 He said that was really rather rough upon him. 
 He didn't see why he should give way to a man 
 who hadn't taken the trouble to be in the room 
 at the proper time, and he thought Sir Harry 
 Brewster might very well be content with an 
 extra. There were sure to be some extras. 
 But Sylvia did not so much as pay him the 
 compliment of listening to his remonstrance. 
 Sir Harry offered her his arm and led her away, 
 while Johnny was left to reflect upon the extra- 
 ordinary deficiency of all sense of honourable 
 obligation which seems to be characteristic of 
 the female sex.
 
 102 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA. 
 
 If it would have comforted him in any 
 measure to know that he was not the only 
 person to whom Miss Sylvia proved faithless 
 during the remainder of the evening, that 
 melancholy consolation might have been his. 
 She was, perhaps, too inexperienced to be aware 
 that the throwing over of a partner means the 
 acquisition of an implacable enemy, or too 
 indifferent to trouble her head whether she 
 made friends or enemies in a county which she 
 did not inhabit. Either way, she danced with 
 nobody but Sir Harry Brewster until the pro- 
 gramme was exhausted, and, when her 
 legitimate companions sought her out, dismissed 
 them with a cynical coolness which at once 
 flattered that gentleman's vanity and tickled his 
 sense of humour. 
 
 " Do you make a habit of behaving in this 
 way ? "■ he asked. " It isn't for me to complain ; 
 but I doubt whether you would be wise to pay
 
 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA. 103 
 
 such a compliment to a man twenty, or even ten 
 years younger." 
 
 " Oh, you needn't feel yourself compromised," 
 she answered, laughing ; " you know how to 
 dance, and these people don't, that's all." 
 
 " That's all, is it ? Well, I am glad I dance 
 better than they do ; but I should have been 
 still more glad if you had preferred my 
 company to theirs on other grounds. Are you 
 still in the stage of regarding men merely as 
 dancing-machines ? " 
 
 " I have never been in that stage," Sylvia 
 replied, "and I shouldn't think that anybody 
 ever was. I only wanted to explain why I was 
 thankful of any excuse to escape being bruised 
 all over. Still, I daresay it won't make you 
 very conceited if I own that I would rather talk 
 to you than to a set of yokels. You at least 
 have lived in the world." 
 
 He certainly had ; and his acquaintance with
 
 104 MISS WENTWOETHS IDEA, 
 
 the world had imbued him with a poor opinion 
 of its inhabitants. This, or a portion of it, he 
 confided to the girl whose innocent blue eyes 
 met his from time to time, and upon whom his 
 moralisings were entirely thrown away. That 
 story about the Dead Sea apples is a very stale 
 one, and never since the world began has any- 
 body's experience been of the slightest service 
 to his neighbours. Yet, although Sylvia wanted 
 to see the world, and meant to see it with her 
 own eyes, she did not object to hearing its 
 vanity exposed by one who knew it so well, and 
 she did her best to draw rather more specific 
 and personal statements from him. In that 
 attempt she met with no great success ; but 
 she arrived at the conclusion that he was not 
 nearly as black as he was painted, and she was 
 much pleased when he expressed a wish that 
 they might meet again in London before long. 
 " I shall be going up for a weeksor two when
 
 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA. 105 
 
 I leave this," he said. " Do you think Mr. 
 Wentworth would allow me to call ? " 
 
 " I am sure he would be very glad," answered 
 Sylvia, " and so should I. You can't think what 
 a dull life I lead at home. Muriel hates society. 
 She goes to a certain number of dinners, to 
 which I am not invited, and her one idea of 
 amusing me seems to be to take me to a Satur- 
 day popular concert every week. That is all 
 very well, but one doesn't meet people at 
 Saturday populars, you know, except by some 
 extraordinary chance." 
 
 " It won't be extraordinary if you meet me at 
 one of them," returned Sir Harry, laughing, 
 " because I shall make a point of attending them 
 in future. I am rather fond of music, as it 
 happens. Are you ? " 
 
 Sylvia shook her head. "No; I think I 
 rather hate it. I like doing things ; I don't 
 like sitting still and listening."
 
 106 MISS WENTWOETH'S IDEA. 
 
 " I understand and I apologise. Let us begin 
 to dance again forthwith." 
 
 But there was to be no more dancing for 
 Sylvia that night ; for before she could make 
 any answer she was tapped on the shoulder by 
 Lady Morecambe's fan, and Lady Morecambe's 
 voice, which had an unwonted ring of asperity 
 in it, said : " I am sorry to drag you away ; but 
 the carriage has been waiting nearly an hour, 
 and perhaps it would look more dignified to 
 retire now than to wait until we are God-save- 
 the-Oueened out of the place."
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Sylvia had only been invited to stay at More- 
 cambe Priory until the day after the ball, but 
 she thought it extremely probable that she 
 would be asked to prolong her visit, and she had 
 every intention of yielding to persuasion. She 
 could not, therefore, manage to conceal her 
 disappointment when, on the following morn- 
 ing, Lady Morecambe intimated to her in a 
 cheerful, matter-of-course tone that a carriage 
 would be ready to take her to the station after 
 luncheon. 
 
 " I am very sorry my outing is at an end ! " 
 she sighed. 
 
 " So are we all, my dear, I'm sure ; but you
 
 108 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA, 
 
 must come back to us. I will write and let 
 you know when there are more entertain- 
 ments in prospect and when we can get 
 together a few people who will be likely to 
 amuse you." 
 
 Sylvia declared that the present house-party 
 was quite as amusing a one as she could wish 
 for ; but Lady Morecambe was pleased to ignore 
 that broad hint. 
 
 Without being a very strict chaperon, Lady 
 Morecambe had no fancy for earning well- 
 merited reproaches, and when a young girl who 
 had been placed under her charge took to 
 sitting out several consecutive dances with a 
 man of Sir Harry Brewster's character, the time 
 seemed to have arrived for packing that young 
 girl off home as speedily as might be. Mean- 
 while, Sir Harry, who had breakfasted early, 
 had gone out shooting, and there was no fear of 
 his reappearance before dusk. His name was
 
 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA. 109 
 
 not mentioned to Sylvia ; but in the course of 
 the morning she overheard Lady Morecambe 
 speaking about him in an annoyed tone to one 
 of the old ladies. 
 
 " I really don't see why a man should be 
 allowed to take such liberties merely because he 
 is rather more certain of hitting pheasants than 
 other men. A horse that had never been in 
 harness before ! If it had been anybody else, 
 Morecambe would have been furious ; as it is, 
 the unfortunate stud-groom has been blown up 
 sky high." 
 
 The old lady here made some inaudible 
 remarks ; to which Lady Morecambe re- 
 plied : " Oh, of course I should take very 
 good care to put a stop to anything of that 
 kind." 
 
 It was easy to divine what was the kind of 
 thing to which Lady Morecambe was so deter- 
 mined to put a stop, and for the moment
 
 110 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA. 
 
 Sylvia's sentiments with regard to her hostess 
 were not those of gratitude or affection. How 
 unkind and suspicious people were ! What 
 possible harm could she get from talking to a 
 man who, as he himself had been careful to 
 point out, was old enough to be her father? 
 Anyhow, she would, if possible, say good-bye to 
 him ; and greatly vexed was she when it 
 dawned upon her that this would not be 
 possible. There were several men at luncheon ; 
 but the shooting-party was represented only by 
 Johnny Hill, who explained that he had been 
 11 utterly off it, somehow or other," and had 
 thought it best to come home. 
 
 The ill-advised Johnny followed her out of 
 the dining-room into the library, whither she 
 betook herself while waiting for the carriage to 
 come round, and said reproachfully : " This is 
 too bad of you ! Why do you run away just 
 when I have come down ? "
 
 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA. Ill 
 
 " I give you my sacred word of honour," 
 
 answered Sylvia, with emphasis, " that your 
 
 presence or absence are not in the most remote 
 
 way concerned with my movements." 
 
 " Oh, I know that," the young man re- 
 turned quite humbly ; " but it's a sell all 
 the same. The ball last night was a sell 
 too. If I was to be thrown over, I must say 
 I would have been thrown over in favour of 
 any man in the room rather than that fellow 
 Brewster." 
 
 " I really don't see what difference it could 
 make to you ; but if you have anything un- 
 pleasant to say about Sir Harry Brewster, don't 
 say it to me, please ; because I particularly like 
 him." 
 
 " Oh, all right. You wouldn't like him so 
 much if you knew a little more about him, 
 though." 
 
 " I daresay I know as much about him as you
 
 112 MISS WESTWORTHVS IDEA, 
 
 do : anyhow it doesn't interest me to listen to 
 gossip. I quite understand your being jealous 
 of him, because he shoots and dances so much 
 better than you do ; but you ought to bz 
 prepared for meeting people of that description. 
 There must be a good many of them in the 
 world." 
 
 Having thus crushed her submissive admirer, 
 Sylvia felt a little better and was able to take 
 her leave without making it too apparent that 
 she was conscious of having been sent away 
 more or less in disgrace. But on the homeward 
 journey her spirits gradually sank lower and 
 lower ; so that she reached Upper Brook Street 
 in a frame of mind which was far removed from 
 amiability. To people of an irritable tempera- 
 ment there is apt to be something provoking 
 in returning, after a period of absence, to find 
 everybody and everything exactly in their 
 accustomed places — which must account for the
 
 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA. 113 
 
 somewhat unkindly greeting extended by Sylvia 
 to her aunt. 
 
 "Oh, Muriel," she exclaimed, with a little 
 vexed laugh, " why are you always having tea 
 at half-past five ? — and why are you always 
 sitting in the same chair and looking as if you 
 hadn't moved out of it for the last year or two ? 
 Do you never feel that you would like to make 
 a change?" 
 
 Sylvia VVentworth had acquired a prescriptive 
 right to behave like a spoilt child in the family 
 circle. Her health was not good ; some wise- 
 acre of a doctor had said that she ought to be 
 indulged, and the wiseacre's advice had been 
 acted upon, with results which were scarcely 
 satisfactory in the main. 
 
 Muriel only laughed and answered : 
 
 " I should like very much to make a change ; 
 but I doubt whether sitting in another chair or 
 
 ■s> 
 
 having tea a little earlier or later would answer 
 VOL. I. 8
 
 114 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA. 
 
 the purpose. Well, have you had a good time 
 
 at Morecambe ? " 
 
 Sylvia unwound her boa, threw open her 
 jacket and seated herself upon the hearthrug, 
 holding up her hands to the blaze. " Pretty 
 well," she replied. " The ball was rather a 
 failure ; but there were some tolerably nice 
 people staying in the house." 
 
 "Johnny Hill, amongst others, I hear." 
 
 " Oh, yes, Johnny was there. " Why he was 
 there I can't imagine — poor wretch ! " 
 
 st Harriet Morecambe means to be good- 
 natured," observed Muriel reflectively ; " I 
 suppose somebody must have told her some- 
 thing. But of course it is all perfect nonsense ; 
 and I wish you would leave the unfortunate boy 
 alone, Sylvia. After all, he is hardly worth 
 powder and shot, is he ? " 
 
 " Good gracious me ! you don't suppose I 
 have expended powder and shot upon him, do
 
 MISS WENTVVOKTH'S IDEA. 115 
 
 you?" asked Sylvia disdainfully. "If ever 1 
 
 have insulted anybody in my life, I have 
 
 insulted Johnny Hill ; it isn't my fault if he 
 
 doesn't mind, and it certainly wasn't my fault 
 
 that he was asked to Morecambe. It wasn't 
 
 my fault that I came away either ; but Lady 
 
 Morecambe wouldn't ask me to stay on. Oh, 
 
 dear ! what a deadly dull business life is ! 
 
 What have you been doing while I have been 
 
 away? But I needn't ask. A few dinners, a 
 
 few concerts and a little district visiting — the 
 
 same old bill of fare day after day and week 
 
 after week ! " 
 
 Muriel did not care to mention such variety 
 
 as had been introduced into it by the sermon 
 
 and the visit of Mr. Compton, nor did Sylvia, 
 
 when questioned as to the guests whom she had 
 
 met at Morecambe Priory, care to mention the 
 
 name of Sir Harry Brewster. Hence it will be 
 
 inferred that no great sympathy existed between 
 
 8*
 
 11G MISS WENT WORTH'S IDEA, 
 
 these two young ladies ; although each of them 
 was probably as sincerely attached to the other 
 as to anybody else in the world. They seldom 
 agreed ; yet, by reason of the forbearance of the 
 elder, they very seldom quarrelled ; the only 
 respect in which they could be said to be of one 
 mind was that they were both thoroughly dis- 
 satisfied. 
 
 Therein they differed from Mr. Wentworth, 
 whose epicurean philosophy led him to make 
 the best of life as he found it, and who in fact 
 found it quite tolerable. After a time he 
 strolled into the drawing-room, kissed his 
 daughter, said he hoped she had been enjoying 
 herself, and, without waiting to hear her answer, 
 asked Muriel who was coming to dinner next 
 Thursday. 
 
 Muriel consulted a note-book and read out 
 half-a-dozen names. 
 
 "You might chuck in the Hills mother and
 
 MISS WENT WORTHS IDEA. 117 
 
 son," said Mr. Wentworth. "Just now at the 
 club I came across that Colonel Medhurst whom 
 we met the other night, and I asked him. He 
 isn't a bad sort of fellow." 
 
 Muriel had no objection to Colonel Medhurst, 
 but demurred to the Hills. " Would they amal- 
 gamate very well with the others ? " she asked 
 doubtfully. 
 
 " Oh, no, I shouldn't think they would ; that's 
 one reason why I want them to come. Nothing 
 is more amusing than stirring up ingredients 
 which won't mix and watching the result. 
 Besides Mrs. Hill and I amalgamate splendidly ; 
 I may say without undue vanity that if she is 
 placed next to me she will be happy. Perhaps 
 Sylvia will undertake the head of the Hill 
 family." 
 
 "That I most certainly will not," Sylvia de- 
 clared resolutely. " Send me in to dinner with 
 any old bore you like ; but at least spare me
 
 118 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA. 
 
 Johnny Hill. Why, I have only just escaped 
 
 from him ! " 
 
 " Dear me ! " said Mr. Wentworth, with a 
 subdued chuckle ; " I was quite under the im- 
 pression that he was a friend of yours ; since he 
 isn't, far be it from me to inflict him upon you. 
 No doubt your aunt can dispose otherwise of 
 him. All I stipulate for is that the lovely and 
 accomplished Mrs. Hill shall sit either on my 
 right hand or my left." 
 
 It was easier to accede to his request than to 
 Sylvia's ; but, by some slight disregard of the 
 strict rules of precedence, Muriel contrived to 
 gratify them both, and if all the twelve persons 
 who ranged themselves round Mr. Wentworth's 
 dinner table on the following Thursday were 
 not entirely contented with their neighbours, 
 that, after all, is a misfortune of which hostesses 
 often have to make the best. Mr. Wentworth 
 was fond of giving small dinners, and took
 
 MISS WENTWORIHS IDEA. 119 
 
 pleasure in incongruity, so that his sister 
 had become inured to failures which he never 
 would admit to be such. On this particular 
 occasion she enjoyed herself individually rather 
 more than usual ; for Colonel Medhurst sat 
 beside her and talked about Mr. Compton the 
 whole time. 
 
 " Compton," said he, after eulogising his friend 
 in no measured terms, " is one of the finest 
 fellows living. All the same, if he were dead 
 and if it were proposed to canonise him, I 
 think I should know what to say as advocatus 
 diabolir 
 
 "And what would that be?" Muriel in- 
 quired. 
 
 " It will be my duty to tell you when I hear 
 of your having been admitted as a novice into 
 the Society of S. Francis. For the present I 
 will only say that he doesn't make enough 
 allowance for human frailty. There are things
 
 120 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA. 
 
 which some of us can't do, and when a man 
 keeps on asserting that we ought to do them he 
 rouses the worst side of our nature into activity. 
 But I daresay you will find that out for yourself 
 later on." 
 
 Now, this was rather a clever sort of criticism 
 for a simple-minded person like Colonel Med- 
 hurst to have made, and Muriel would gladly 
 have pursued the subject further ; but unluckily 
 it was not uttered until the fag end of the 
 dinner, so that she took a sense of unsatisfied 
 curiosity upstairs with her. And then her 
 thoughts were diverted from Colonel Medhurst 
 and Mr. Compton by the strange behaviour of 
 Sylvia, who declined in a most determined 
 manner an invitation from Mrs. Hill which, 
 judging by all precedent, she should have 
 accepted with alacrity. Mrs. Hill was going to 
 give what she called " an impromptu afternoon 
 dance " on the following Saturday, and although
 
 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA. 121 
 
 there are, no doubt, many people who abhor 
 afternoon dances, Sylvia Wentworth had never 
 given her friends reason to suppose that she 
 was one of them. Moreover, the excuse which 
 she alleged was obviously insincere. In the 
 first place, she had never promised to go to St. 
 James's Hall with her aunt, and in the second 
 place, if she had, she would have broken her 
 promise without an instant's hesitation had she 
 wished to do so. 
 
 However, Muriel was too considerate to raise 
 her voice in protest. She remained neutral 
 while her niece obstinately resisted the entreaties 
 of Mrs. Hill and the grumblings of Johnny ; 
 and it was only after the party had broken up 
 that she asked : " Why in the world are you so 
 anxious to go to the next Saturday Popular, 
 Sylvia ? " 
 
 " Who told you that I was ? " returned the 
 girl. " I was anxious not to go to Mrs. Hill's,
 
 122 MISS WENTWORTH\S IDEA. 
 
 that was all. You were preaching to me the 
 other day that I ought to leave Johnny Hill 
 alone, and the seed has fallen upon good ground. 
 I am resolved to let him alone, if he will only 
 allow me." 
 
 Well, it was permissible to doubt the absolute 
 honesty of that profession ; but at any rate 
 Muriel could not suspect that a classical concert 
 possessed any special attraction for her niece. 
 It would have been as reasonable to surmise 
 that Beethoven's Symphony No. 4 in B-flat was 
 capable of attracting a sporting baronet. Yet — 
 for improbable events are always occurring — 
 St. James's Hall was graced, on Saturday after- 
 noon, by the presence of the sporting baronet 
 and the unmusical young lady; and a very 
 provoking circumstance it was for one, if not for 
 both of them, that they were precluded from all 
 possibility of exchanging anything more than a 
 distant salute. What is the use of recognising a
 
 MISS WENT WORTH'S IDEA. 123 
 
 friend from afar if you are placed in the very- 
 middle of a row of stalls, with stolid and im- 
 movable persons all round you ? Sylvia frowned 
 and bit her lips and beat the devil's tattoo with 
 her little foot ; but these manifestations of im- 
 potent wrath were wasted upon her neighbours, 
 who naturally did not understand that she 
 expected them to get up and walk about between 
 the pieces. 
 
 Nor was she any more fortunate when the 
 concert was over and the audience had begun to 
 disperse. That opportunity, it might have been 
 supposed, would be seized by any man in search 
 of opportunities ; it would have been so easy for 
 Sir Harry Brewster to shoulder his way through 
 the throng and offer to find Miss Wentworth's 
 carriage for her. 
 
 But it so chanced that Sir Harry's passage was 
 barred by two corpulent old women, and then, 
 as ill luck would have it, the footman, who was
 
 124 MISS WENTWOKTH'S IDEA, 
 
 seldom discoverable when wanted, was for once 
 on the alert ; so that poor Sylvia was hurried off 
 into the carriage before she had time to think of 
 dropping something and being obliged to return 
 for it. 
 
 " Oh, Jiang it all ! " she scandalised Muriel by 
 exclaiming, as she threw herself back in her 
 corner. 
 
 Young ladies ought never to indulge in such 
 expressions ; but everyone will admit that a 
 coachman is entitled, under certain circum- 
 stances, to say something even stronger, and 
 Miss Wentworth's coachman made use of some 
 powerful and striking language when the near 
 horse caught his bit on the pole. The frightened 
 beast began to lash out ; the footman promptly 
 leapt down from the box, rather with a view 
 to insuring his personal safety than to render- 
 ing any assistance ; a crowd collected, and 
 a very pretty scrimmage ensued, in the midst
 
 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA. 125 
 
 of which Muriel and Sylvia were dragged out 
 on to the pavement by some officious by- 
 standers. 
 
 Thus a chance was at length given to Sir 
 Harry Brewster, who, if he was too polite to 
 shoulder aside old ladies, had no such scruple 
 about scattering a street crowd. In a very short 
 space of time he had reached the horses' heads 
 and put matters straight ; after which it became 
 his pleasing duty to reassure the two distressed 
 damsels. 
 
 " It is all right," he said, advancing towards 
 them, with his hat in his hand ; " only I think 
 you will have to let me call a cab for you, 
 because you have broken a trace and your 
 splinter-bar has suffered." 
 
 And when Sylvia had introduced him to 
 her aunt and he had been thanked for his 
 timely aid, he improved the occasion by say- 
 ing: "If you will excuse my telling you so,
 
 126 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA, 
 
 you shouldn't use those old-fashioned bits, 
 and you shouldn't drive about the streets of 
 London without bearing-reins. You may de- 
 pend upon it that you risk an accident every 
 time you go out." 
 
 " I don't know about the bits," answered 
 Sylvia, " but it was Muriel who insisted upon 
 doing away with bearing-reins. She took it 
 into her head that they were cruel." 
 
 Sir Harry explained that that was a mistake 
 into which kind-hearted persons were very apt 
 to fall ; bearing-reins were only cruel if you 
 chose to make them so. He delivered a little 
 lecture upon the subject while helping the ladies 
 into their hansom, and there was a suggestion of 
 expectancy about his demeanour when he 
 wished them good-bye which moved Muriel to 
 say hesitatingly that she hoped he would call in 
 Upper Brook Street some day. 
 
 " T wonder whether it was the right thing to
 
 MISS WENTWORTHS IDEA. 127 
 
 do ! " she murmured anxiously, after they had 
 left him. 
 
 " Of course it was," answered Sylvia ; " and I 
 should have done it if you hadn't. I met him at 
 Morecambe, you know. Isn't he nice ? " 
 
 " He looks like a gentleman," observed 
 Muriel guardedly. 
 
 " A gentleman ? I should think so ! Why he 
 is — well, I can't tell you exactly what he is, but 
 everybody knows him." 
 
 Under the circumstances, it was perhaps just 
 as well for Miss Sylvia that her aunt was not 
 everybody.
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Mr. Wentworth pursed up his lips and raised 
 his eyebrows when Muriel told him the name of 
 the gentleman who had so obligingly befriended 
 them. 
 
 " Sir Harry Brewster ? " said he. " Well, you 
 know — or rather perhaps you don't know, and 
 after all, it's no business of ours. Only he hasn't 
 had precisely an edifying career." 
 
 " I am very sorry I asked him to call,'' Muriel 
 said ; " but I didn't see how I could very well 
 help it." 
 
 "Oh, that doesn't matter. His peculiarities 
 are not likely to be infectious, and if he is good 
 enough for Lady Morecambe, I suppose he is 
 good enough for us. Still there is a certain
 
 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA. 121) 
 
 quaintness in his having been taken up by you, 
 of all people." 
 
 " I never thought of taking him up," answered 
 Muriel, " I knew nothing whatever about him. 
 But I do wish Lady Morecambe hadn't intro- 
 duced him to Sylvia ! All the more so because 
 she has evidently conceived a great admiration 
 for him." 
 
 " She is welcome to admire him as much as 
 she likes," returned Mr. Wentworth placidly. 
 "The man must be just about my own age." 
 
 " He doesn't look it," observed Muriel doubt- 
 fully. 
 
 " Thank you, my dear ; but if you will consult 
 the recognised authorities, you will find that I 
 am not very far wrong. He is by way of being 
 completely ruined ; but that doesn't seem to in- 
 terfere with his keeping a racing stable." 
 
 " I must try to be out when he calls," said 
 
 Muriel in a meditative tone. 
 
 VOL. I. 9
 
 130 MISS WENTWOKTH'S IDEA. 
 
 " I should think it is quite upon the cards 
 that he will not force you to be so uncivil. At 
 his time of life a man isn't usually so keen about 
 making acquaintances out of his own set." 
 
 This was, no doubt, a perfectly just observa- 
 tion, and under ordinary circumstances it might 
 have been as applicable to Sir Harry Brewster 
 as to most of his contemporaries ; but there 
 were reasons which disposed Sir Harry to make 
 an exception in favour of the Wentworth family. 
 Sylvia had succeeded in fascinating him ; an easy 
 feat to accomplish, many people might have said, 
 but in reality not one within the capacities of 
 every pretty little girl. He had not exactly 
 fallen in love with her ; but he thought her 
 charming, he was gratified, although he laughed 
 at himself for being so, by the unconcealed 
 preference with which she honoured him, and 
 he felt that he would be doing himself a great 
 unkindness if he were to lose sight of her.
 
 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA. 131 
 
 Moreover, there was one other consideration 
 which had presented itself to him in the light 
 of a remote possibility. Mr. Wentworth had 
 exaggerated in describing him as a ruined man ; 
 but he had squandered fully three-fourths of a 
 large fortune, and more than once of late he 
 had had disagreeable experience of the incon- 
 veniences attendant upon lack of ready money. 
 Well, Miss Wentworth, as he had understood, 
 was an only child, and her father was said to be 
 comfortably off — something might come of it. 
 But indeed this notion was put forward chiefly 
 by way of persuading his conscience (for he still 
 possessed a conscience, somewhat the worse for 
 wear and tear), that he was provided with what 
 is generally held to be a sufficient excuse for 
 following up a casual acquaintance with a young 
 girl ; he did not seriously contemplate offering 
 his hand to Miss Sylvia, nor could he suppose 
 
 that her relations would hear of such an alliance. 
 
 9*
 
 132 MISS WENT WORTH'S IDEA. 
 
 He was too old ; he was too poor ; above all, his 
 record was too notoriously evil. But as, after 
 full consideration, he decided to call in Upper 
 Brook Street, it will be perceived that the re- 
 straining influence of Sir Harry's conscience was 
 not very powerful. 
 
 It so happened that on the afternoon which 
 he selected for his visit a little group of Indies 
 was assembled round Muriel's tea-table ; so that 
 she was unable to keep watch and ward over 
 him, as she would fain have done. Diffidence 
 not being amongst his failings, he was in no way 
 chilled by the somewhat formal fashion in which 
 she greeted him, but remained standing beside 
 her for several minutes and talking with the 
 assured ease and friendliness of one who dees 
 not doubt his welcome. He then took up the 
 cup of tea which she had poured out for him and 
 calmly walked away with it to the sofa where 
 Sylvia was seated.
 
 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA. 133 
 
 " I have a crow to pluck with you," he began, 
 as he placed himself beside her. " Why did you 
 bolt away from Morecambe in that precipitate 
 manner, without so much as allowing people a 
 chance to bid you good-bye." 
 
 " I went away for the very good reason that 
 my time was up," answered Sylvia. " One 
 can't stay on in a house unless one is asked 
 can one ? " 
 
 " Oh, I don't know. I always do, if I feel in- 
 clined. I don't very often feel inclined, though ; 
 and certainly I didn't feel inclined to linger at 
 Morecambe after your departure." 
 
 " Thank you very much," returned Sylvia with 
 a low bow. " All the same, I don't believe you 
 would have sacrificed a morning's shooting even 
 if you had known that I was leaving." 
 
 " Oh, yes I should ; I should have sacrificed 
 it quite cheerfully, at the risk of enraging Lady 
 Morecambe, who thinks that every effort ought
 
 134 JMISS WEKTWORTHS IDEA, 
 
 to be made to keep me out in the open air 
 when I am staying with her. Lady More- 
 cambe regards me as a reprobate, from whom 
 it is necessary that the young and innocent 
 should be warned off. I shouldn't wonder if 
 she had told you so." 
 
 " A great many people are called reprobates," 
 remarked Sylvia. " I don't know what it is that 
 they are supposed to do or have done ; but I do 
 know that they are much pleasanter to talk to 
 than the saints or the dull respectabilities. Are 
 you really so very much worse than your neigh- 
 bours ? " 
 
 " I am afraid so ; but it is difficult to say, 
 because one can't tell for certain how bad one's 
 neighbours may be. Still I don't quite see why 
 my past misdeeds should make me unfit to be 
 spoken to. So far as our intercourse has gone, 
 you have found me behave pretty well, haven't 
 you ? "
 
 MISS WENT WORTH'S IDEA. 135 
 
 " Oh, yes," answered Sylvia, laughing, " I have 
 no complaint to make." 
 
 She would have liked to hear something rather 
 more precise as to Sir Harry's alleged wicked- 
 ness ; but the subject seemed to be one which 
 demanded delicate handling, and he did not 
 respond to her tentative allusions. Doubt- 
 less he found it pleasanter and safer to 
 talk about her than about himself, and as 
 she had nothing to conceal, he was soon 
 made acquainted with all her aspirations and 
 grievances. 
 
 " It is so hateful to know that at the very best 
 one can only look forward to a few years of real 
 life ! " she exclaimed ; " and to think that one 
 is throwing away day after day of the precious 
 time ! If a woman is clever, if she can do 
 something — such as writing or singing or 
 painting — or even if she is a sort of pious 
 enthusiast, like Muriel, it is different ; but what
 
 136 MISS WEXTWORTHS IDEA. 
 
 is to become of a helpless ignoramus after her 
 
 youth is over ? " 
 
 44 I don't think I pity you so very much," said 
 Sir Harry, smiling ; " you have a good many 
 years of youth before you yet. Besides, if you 
 will allow a man of my age the privilege of im- 
 pertinence, I will make so bold as to remind you 
 that you possess one gift for which the clever 
 women and the pious women would be glad to 
 exchange all their talent and piety." 
 
 Sylvia did not think him impertinent ; but 
 she returned, somewhat petulantly, " I wish you 
 wouldn't harp so upon your age ! It makes me 
 feel as if you thought me a silly child ; and if I 
 am to feel like that, I would rather not go on 
 talking to you." 
 
 In the presence of that threat, Sir Harry pro- 
 mised amendment ; and indeed she noticed that 
 his tone had already become more friendly and 
 less paternal than it had been at Morecambe
 
 MISS WENT WORTH'S IDEA. 137 
 
 Priory. He did not talk like a lover, perhaps 
 hardly even like a potential lover ; but he in- 
 sinuated compliments, every now and then, 
 which sounded pleasantly in her ears, and he 
 propounded various schemes for her diversion. 
 Did she think her father and her aunt would 
 consent to make up a little party to the theatre 
 some evening and allow him to entertain them 
 at supper afterwards ? Was she fond of 
 coaching ? Because, if so, they might choose a 
 fine day and drive down to Richmond or else- 
 where. 
 
 " I have no coach of my own now-a-days," he 
 added, with a laugh ; " times are too bad. But 
 a friend of mine who has gone off to lose his 
 money at Monte Carlo has left me in charge of 
 his horses, and it is my duty to give them 
 exercise." 
 
 All this was very delightful to Sylvia, who 
 began to see blissful visions. Of course the
 
 13S MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA, 
 
 ambition to shine in the fashionable world is not 
 a very noble one ; but ambitions are many and 
 nobility of purpose is rare. Possibly there may 
 be personages holding exalted positions whose 
 moral level is not very much higher than was 
 that of Sylvia Wentworth. 
 
 The ladies who had been chattering over the 
 tea-table went away refreshed ; others, to 
 Muriel's annoyance, came in and took their 
 places ; but still Sir Harry lingered on. As he 
 had truly said of himself, he always stayed when 
 he felt inclined to stay, and he might have added 
 that he always did what he was inclined to do : 
 he had known no other rule through life. He 
 was at length about to rise and take his leave 
 when Mrs. Hill was shown into the room, followed 
 by the docile Johnny. 
 
 " Oh, what a nuisance ! " groaned Sylvia ; 
 " here are those dreadful people again ! " 
 
 Sir Harry had an eye-glass, which he screwed
 
 MISS WENT WORTH'S IDEA. 139 
 
 into his eye, surveying the new-comers. " Dear 
 me ! " said he ; " isn't that our young friend 
 whom you treated so abominably at the ball ? 
 And that very ornate old lady is his Mamma, I 
 presume. Does she make a practice of leading 
 the poor fellow about in this way ? " 
 
 "She does when she calls here," answered 
 Sylvia ruefully ; " and the worst of it is that she 
 is for ever calling here. Whether Johnny likes 
 it or not I don't know ; but he doesn't look as if 
 he did." 
 
 " I should imagine," said Sir Harry, with an 
 amused smile, " that he was not an unwilling 
 victim. What gives him that truculent expres- 
 sion just now is that he thinks I mean to 
 monopolise you all the time he is here. He 
 little knows how unselfish I am and how eager to 
 promote everybody's happiness." 
 
 Mrs. Hill came trotting across the room to 
 embrace her young friend. (If there was one
 
 140 MISS WEXTWORTH'S IDEA, 
 
 thing that Sylvia hated more than another, it was 
 being kissed by Mrs. Hill, and she never failed 
 to show her dislike of the salute after a fashion 
 which there was no misunderstanding.) 
 
 " Well, my dear," the good-natured woman be- 
 gan, " I hope you enjoyed your concert the other 
 day, though I can't help thinking that you would 
 have enjoyed our little dance more. But I know 
 you went to please Muriel, and that was very 
 kind of you, and the next dance we give shall 
 be in the evening, which I daresay you will 
 like better. Johnny is very anxious to con- 
 sult you about a cotillon. Do you think we 
 could undertake such a thing with any prospect 
 of success ? " 
 
 " Not if he led it," answered Sylvia gloomily. 
 
 Sir Harry Brewster was taking leave of Muriel, 
 who was receiving his adieux with a dignified 
 stateliness by which he did not seem to be in the 
 least abashed.
 
 MISS WENT WORTH'S IDEA. 141 
 
 " So sorry to have missed Mr. Wentworth," 
 Sylvia heard him saying ; " but I hope I may be 
 more fortunate another time." 
 
 Then he favoured Sylvia with a valedictory 
 smile, picked his way deftly through the obstruc- 
 tive pieces of furniture with which the drawing- 
 room was encumbered, and departed. 
 
 " What a fine-looking man ! " Mrs. Hill ex- 
 claimed. " Who is he ? Where did you meet 
 him ? Would you like me to send him an invita- 
 tion to our dance ? Any friend of yours would 
 be most welcome, as I'm sure you know." 
 
 It fell to Muriel's lot to explain that Sir Harry 
 Brewster was not a friend, only a very slight ac- 
 quaintance, and that she certainly did not know 
 him well enough to ask or accept invitations on 
 his behalf. Sylvia remained disdainfully silent. 
 Sir Harry, of course, would never dream of going 
 to Mrs. Hill's house, and it struck her as an 
 unwarrantable and provoking piece of presump-
 
 142 MISS WENTWORTHS IDEA. 
 
 tion on the latter's part even to suggest such a 
 
 thing. 
 
 But a much greater act of presumption was 
 about to be perpetrated by one who, whatever 
 may have been his failings, did not often sin in 
 that direction, and Sylvia's breath was fairly 
 taken away when Johnny Hill, speaking in a 
 subdued, but solemn and censorious voice, 
 said : 
 
 " I was very sorry to see that man here ; I 
 hope you didn't ask him to call." 
 
 She was really too astonished to be angry. 
 " My good boy," said she with calm contempt, 
 " what do you know about Sir Harry Brewster ? 
 And what business have you to be sorry or glad 
 because he comes here ? " 
 
 " I am sorry because I can't help it," 
 answered Johnny doggedly. " As for what I 
 know about him, it isn't a secret — although you 
 haven't been told, I suppose."
 
 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA. 143 
 
 Sylvia's curiosity was too much for her dignity. 
 Mrs. Hill was deeply engaged in conversation 
 with Muriel ; Johnny had seated himself in front 
 of her, with his elbows on his knees, and was 
 looking anxiously into her face ; there was no 
 fear that any communication which he might 
 have to make would be overheard, and she did 
 very much want to know of what mysterious 
 crime Sir Harry Brewster had been guilty. 
 
 " Speak on;' said she composedly ; " you have 
 evidently got hold of some choice bit of scandal 
 which will choke you unless you are allowed to 
 utter it, and rather than see you drop off your 
 chair in a fit, I will listen to you. Only it doesn't 
 follow that I shall believe you, you know."
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 "You may refuse to believe me," Johnny said ; 
 " but you will be obliged to believe what I am 
 going to tell you, because it can be so easily 
 proved. It is just as well known as anything 
 else that has been published in all the news- 
 papers, and I can't understand why Lady More- 
 cambe did not warn — speak to you, I mean, 
 about it. Sir Harry Brewster was divorced from 
 his wife two years ago." 
 
 Sylvia's colour changed ; but she laughed with 
 a very fair show of indifference. " So that is the 
 great mystery, is it ? " said she. " Well, I don't 
 see what concern his matrimonial misfortunes 
 are of mine ; though of course I am sorry to hear 
 that he didn't manage to hit it off with his wife.
 
 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA. 145 
 
 It was all her fault, I daresay ; it generally is 
 the wife's fault in these cases." 
 
 Johnny was too meek to suggest that Miss 
 Sylvia's knowledge of the causes which commonly 
 bring husbands and wives into the Divorce court 
 was probably limited ; he only replied, " It was 
 not so in this case. There was not a word to be 
 said against Lady Brewster, and Sir Harry 
 scarcely attempted to defend himself. He only 
 denied certain charges because — well, I can't go 
 into it with you ; but there are certain charges 
 which a man is supposed to deny. Whether 
 they were true or not, quite enough was proved 
 to make the poor woman sure of getting her 
 divorce. It was a very bad case," added Johnny, 
 shaking his head solemnly. 
 
 " How you enjoy saying that ! " exclaimed 
 
 Sylvia irritably. " You couldn't look more 
 
 sanctimonious or more — more idiotic if you were 
 
 a newly-fledged curate ! " 
 
 VOL. I. io
 
 146 MISS WENT WORTH'S IDEA. 
 
 Poor Johnny winced. He was very young ; 
 he naturally believed himself to be thoroughly 
 acquainted with the world and its ways ; it was 
 not agreeable to him to be called sanctimonious, 
 and it was even less agreeable to be likened to a 
 curate. 
 
 "It was a very bad case," he repeated rather 
 sullenly, " anybody whom you choose to ask will 
 tell you so. As for me, I assure you I don't at 
 all enjoy talking about such an unpleasant sub- 
 ject." 
 
 " Don't you ? " returned Sylvia airily. " Then 
 we won't talk about it any more." 
 
 At this unexpected rejoinder Johnny Hill 
 gnawed his nails — a bad habit of which his 
 mother had vainly endeavoured to cure him. 
 " All right," he answered slowly ; " only I hope 
 you understand now that Sir Harry Brewster 
 isn't the kind of man who has any business to be 
 intimate here."
 
 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA. 147 
 
 Sylvia pointed an admonishing forefinger at 
 him. " If you mean to go on like this, Johnny," 
 said she, " I shall certainly understand that you 
 have no business to be intimate here. Do you 
 really imagine that we shall allow you to revise 
 our visiting list for us ? " 
 
 " Of course not ; only, you see, you hadn't 
 heard about Sir Harry, and I daresay Miss 
 Wentworth hasn't heard either. I'll just say a 
 
 word to her before I go, and " 
 
 Sylvia's small fingers gripped his arm with a 
 force and suddenness which made him jump. 
 " If you do," she interrupted, " I will never speak 
 to you again ! Yes ; I mean it, I will never 
 speak to you again — never ! Now, you needn't 
 run away with the idea that I care a bit more 
 for Sir Harry Brewster than I should for any 
 other man who was nice and entertaining ; but 
 it so happens that he is the only nice and 
 entertaining man of my acquaintance, and I am 
 
 10*
 
 148 MISS WENTWOKTH'S IDEA, 
 
 not going to be deprived of him just because he 
 has a divorced wife somewhere or other. What 
 difference would it make to me if he had twenty 
 divorced wives ? " 
 
 " I can't help thinking that that kind of thing 
 does make a difference," said Johnny. 
 
 " It isn't a question of what you can't help 
 thinking ; the only person whose thoughts upon 
 the subject are of any consequence is papa. 
 You say everybody knows about Sir Harry ; so 
 I suppose he knows. Yet, you see, he doesn't 
 forbid him the house." 
 
 " Oh, if Mr. Wentworth approves of his com- 
 ing here, there is no more to be said." 
 
 " Then don't say any more — at any rate not 
 to Muriel. She is so strait-laced that a word 
 or two would be enough to make her rush off to 
 papa, full of horror and dismay ; and then, for 
 the sake of peace and quietness, he would say, 
 1 Oh, very well ; tell the servants not to let him
 
 MISS WENTWORTHS IDEA. 149 
 
 in again.' And if that misfortune were to 
 happen through your fussy interference, I do 
 most solemnly declare, Johnny, that I would 
 never address another syllable to you for the 
 rest of my days ! You might talk and talk till 
 you had no voice left, but I should remain as 
 silent as the tomb." 
 
 Johnny ceased biting his nails, sighed heavily 
 and said, " As you please." 
 
 It was, after all, true that Mr. Went worth 
 could not be ignorant of Sir Harry Brewster's 
 history, and if Mr. Wentworth did not know 
 that the man had been there that afternoon, he 
 would certainly hear of it soon. It might also 
 be true — Johnny tried to hope it was — that Sir 
 Harry was attractive to Sylvia for no other 
 reason than that he was entertaining. Finally, 
 the girl was quite capable, if disobeyed, of carry- 
 ing out her dreadful threat. So Johnny sur- 
 rendered, and to reward him for his submission,
 
 150 MISS WENTWOHTHS IDEA. 
 
 Sylvia not only bestowed a smile upon him, but, 
 
 snatching a flower — any flower — out of the 
 
 nearest vase, stuck it into his buttonhole for 
 
 him. 
 
 " There ! " said she ; " that is because you are 
 a good boy." 
 
 It was at this juncture that Mrs. Hill, who 
 had been saying good-bye to Muriel for a 
 matter of five minutes, turned round to beckon 
 to her son ; and greatly pleased was she to see 
 what an honour was bestowed upon him. 
 Johnny was;patient and dutiful ; yet there were 
 moments when he felt that his mother was 
 nothing short of a scourge, and his unerring 
 instinct told him that one of these was now at 
 hand. 
 
 " Oh, what a lovely flower ! " Mrs. Hill ex- 
 claimed. " Sylvia dear, how very kind of you ! 
 But it is too bad to rob you ! — and with flowers 
 at such a price as they are now ! "
 
 MISS WENT WORTHS IDEA. 151 
 
 " I don't think this one could have cost a 
 very large sum," answered Sylvia demurely ; 
 "it's only a primula, and I'm sorry to see that it 
 is a withered one into the bargain. Still," she 
 added, turning to Johnny, with mock humility, 
 " such as it is " 
 
 The unhappy Johnny, conscious of being held 
 up to ridicule, reddened, gobbled, and shaped a 
 hasty course for the door, colliding heavily with 
 a table on his way. His mother followed him, 
 smiling all over and thoroughly satisfied with 
 the success of her visit. 
 
 Muriel could not help joining in the burst of 
 laughter to which Sylvia gave way as soon as 
 the door had closed, though she felt bound to 
 utter the usual remonstrance. " Why do you do 
 such things ? Why do you hurt the poor fellow's 
 feelings in that way ? What is the fun of it ? " 
 
 " Can you sit there holding your sides, and 
 ask me what is the fun of it ? " returned Sylvia.
 
 152 MISS WENT WORTH'S IDEA. 
 
 " All the same, I am innocent. I didn't want to 
 hurt his feelings, and I'm sure I didn't expect to 
 get any fun out of him. It was all that absurd 
 old woman's doing." 
 
 " But what made you give him a flower ? " 
 persisted Muriel. 
 
 " I gave him a flower because I thought he 
 deserved it/' answered Sylvia oracularly ; and 
 perhaps it was because she did not wish to be 
 questioned any further that she left the room. 
 
 Her face changed as soon as she was out upon 
 the staircase, and by the time that she reached 
 her bedroom all trace of merriment had vanished 
 from it. She threw herself down in a capacious 
 arm-chair by the fire-side (throughout the winter 
 the fire was kept burning in Sylvia's bed-room), 
 and, with her chin resting upon her hand, began 
 to think over the disagreeable news that she had 
 just heard. Being now alone, she admitted that 
 it was disagreeable. She would not have
 
 MISS WEXTWORTH'S IDEA. 153 
 
 minded hearing, in general terms, that Sir 
 Harry Brewster had led a wild, dissipated, 
 extravagant life ; as much might be said of a 
 great many heroes and fine fellows. But this, 
 somehow, seemed to be a rather different affair. 
 This implied — or at least she supposed it did — 
 conduct quite the reverse of heroic. And yet, 
 what right had she to condemn him without 
 having heard both sides of the case ? She 
 resolved that she would find out the truth — if 
 only she knew how to set about it ! She could 
 not condescend to catechise Johnny Hill ; it 
 would be rather a risk to question her father, 
 and Lady Morecambe was out of reach. 
 
 " I know what I will do," she said at length, 
 tapping with her little foot in a determined 
 manner upon the hearthrug ; " I will ask Sir 
 Harry himself! " 
 
 At the same moment Muriel, downstairs in 
 the drawing-room, was confiding some of her
 
 154 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA, 
 
 perplexities to Mr. Wentvvorth, who had just 
 come in. 
 
 " Sir Harry Brewster called this afternoon 
 and stayed a long time," she was saying. " He 
 showed in the plainest possible way that he had 
 come to see Sylvia ; indeed, he scarcely spoke 
 to anybody else. I didn't like it, and he saw 
 that I didn't like it, and he was amused — which 
 I must say I think was rather impertinent of 
 him." 
 
 " I can find it in my heart to forgive him for 
 that," observed Mr. Wentworth, tranquilly. 
 " There is something about your way of demean- 
 ing yourself when you are annoyed, my dear, 
 which is of a nature to overcome the gloom of 
 the most saturnine temperaments. I couldn't 
 exactly explain what it is ; but I assure you it's 
 irresistible. A mixture of frigid dignity and — " 
 
 " Oh, never mind ! " interrupted Muriel ; " it 
 isn't my demeanour that signifies, but Sylvia's ;
 
 MISS WENTWORTHS IDEA. 155 
 
 and I am sure she likes this man. I wish you 
 would tell me what it is that is wrong about 
 him." 
 
 " I'm afraid I can't. I am extremely modest, 
 as you know, and ■ the details of his career are 
 scarcely fitted for the ears of a young person. 
 However, I may mention that his wife divorced 
 him — and showed all the requisite causes for so 
 doing. All of them, you understand ? " 
 
 Muriel flushed indignantly. "That includes 
 personal violence, doesn't it ? " she asked. 
 
 Mr. Wentworth nodded. " As far as I 
 remember, she proved a box on the ear — and 
 once, I think, he threw something at her. It 
 may have been a chair, or it may have been only 
 a newspaper ; anyhow, it was sufficient for her 
 purpose." 
 
 " And quite sufficient," added Muriel, " to 
 justify you in forbidding him ever to enter this 
 house again."
 
 156 MISS WENT WORTH'S IDEA. 
 
 " Oh, I don't know about that, he hasn't 
 thrown anything at me yet, you see. I may be 
 over-sensitive, but I confess that I shrink from 
 making myself so supremely ridiculous as to 
 suggest that I am afraid of my daughter's 
 becoming enamoured of him." 
 
 " There would be nothing ridiculous at all in 
 the suggestion," returned Muriel shortly. " It 
 would be a great deal more ridiculous to expect 
 that she will ever become enamoured of Johnny 
 Hill." 
 
 " I must take the liberty of differing from 
 you, my dear. Little girls don't fall in love with 
 men who are well on the wrong side of forty, 
 and Sir Harry Brewsters, when they marry a 
 second time, espouse foolish widows with large 
 fortunes. It isn't worth while to disregard 
 all the known laws of human nature for the 
 sake of providing yourself with an imaginary 
 trouble."
 
 MISS WENT WORTH'S IDEA. 157 
 
 So saying, Mr. Wentworth sauntered off to 
 dress for dinner, leaving Muriel to knit her 
 brows and sigh impatiently and wish she were 
 less impotent. Impotent, however, she un- 
 doubtedly was, as she discovered later in the 
 evening, when she took occasion to say to 
 Sylvia : " I hope we shall see no more of that 
 Sir Karry Brewster. It seems that he is divorced 
 from his wife, whom he treated disgracefully. 
 Your father has been telling me about it." 
 
 " Oh, I know that," answered Sylvia. " At 
 least, I know he is divorced ; I don't know about 
 the disgraceful treatment. Was papa angry at 
 his having called ? " 
 
 And since truth compelled her aunt to con- 
 fess that Mr. Wentworth had not been angry, 
 she resumed : " Then I really don't care whether 
 he is married or single or neither. I hope we 
 shall see a great deal more of him. I think 
 most likely we shall too."
 
 15S MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA. 
 
 This slightly defiant prediction was destined 
 to be fulfilled ; for a few days later came a note 
 from Sir Harry Brewster to say that he had 
 secured a box at the Lyceum theatre, which he 
 hoped that Mr. and Miss Wentworth and " Miss 
 Sylvia" would do him the honour to occupy, 
 and also that he had ordered supper to be in 
 readiness after the play, at a certain well-known 
 hotel. 
 
 It is by no means certain that Mr. Went- 
 worth, who disliked turning out after dinner, 
 and who, in the matter of dramatic entertain- 
 ments, infinitely preferred comic opera to 
 Shakespeare, would have accepted the above 
 invitation, had he not felt a malicious curiosity 
 to watch his sister's treatment of the hero of a 
 hundred scandals. As it was, he decided to go ; 
 and against his decision there was no appeal. 
 He was amply indemnified for some sacrifice of 
 personal comfort by spending a very enjoyable
 
 MISS WENTWOKTH'S IDEA. 159 
 
 evening. Muriel, it is true, disappointed expec- 
 tation, for she was simply cold, monosyllabic 
 and unapproachable ; but Sir Harry proved a 
 delightful companion. He may have tried 
 to be agreeable to Mr. Wentworth ; but if so, 
 the effort was not apparent. He was a good 
 talker; he could tell a capital story without 
 taking too long about it ; above all, he was a 
 most appreciative listener. With Sylvia his 
 manner was perfect. He displayed just so 
 much admiration for her as a man of his 
 years is privileged to display ; there was a 
 touch of old-fashioned courtesy in his atten- 
 tions to her ; he carefully abstained from 
 drawing her into anything like a private con^ 
 versation, and if he did not altogether satisfy 
 the young lady, he at least convinced her father 
 that he was perfectly safe. 
 
 The supper, too, was above all praise. Mr. 
 Wentworth candidly avowed his amazement
 
 160 MISS WENTWORTH-S IDEA. 
 
 that such cooking and such wine should be 
 
 procurable in any London Hotel. 
 
 " But I'm an old fogey," he said ; " I can't 
 pretend to have kept abreast of the times. I 
 don't know how many years it is since I sat 
 down to supper anywhere." 
 
 " My dear Mr. Wentworth," returned Sir 
 Harry, " if you are an old fogey, it is only too 
 plain that I must be another. However, your 
 daughter is kind enough to say that I don't 
 look like one, and I can honestly pass the 
 compliment on to you. After all, I dare say we 
 shall both of us be able to enjoy good things for 
 some time to come yet." 
 
 It might, at all events, be safely predicted 
 that neither of them would neglect any oppor- 
 tunity of so doing which might present itself; 
 and the circumstances being of a nature to 
 promote a certain jollity and recklessness, there 
 was no great difficult)- about arranging that
 
 MISS WENTWORTHS IDEA. 161 
 
 driving expedition upon which Sir Harry had 
 
 set his heart. Muriel neither consented nor 
 
 refused to join the proposed party. Conscious 
 
 of being a wet blanket, yet unable to conceal 
 
 feelings which there could be no possible use in 
 
 displaying, she was almost as much displeased 
 
 with herself as she was with her companions. 
 
 For Sir Harry Brewster she had conceived 
 
 a strong, and perhaps somewhat unreasonable 
 
 antipathy. 
 
 Whether his attentions to Sylvia were seriously 
 
 meant or not she could not tell ; but it was 
 
 beyond doubt that he was turning the girl's 
 
 head, and it was extremely likely that he was 
 
 preparing a great deal of unhappiness for her. 
 
 Her brother's good-humoured selfishness filled 
 
 her with indignation. No help was to be hoped 
 
 for from him ; and as for herself, what could she 
 
 do ? She was without authority and without 
 
 influence. 
 
 VOL. I. II
 
 162 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA. 
 
 " The only thing that makes me of the 
 slightest value in the world," she reflected 
 bitterly, " is my money ; and even money won't 
 cure all evils. I wonder how large a bribe Sir 
 Harry Brewster would ask to take himself off 
 and never come back any more ! " 
 
 Now, Muriel Wentworth, if she had in some 
 respects an ill-regulated mind, was no fool ; so 
 she refrained from futile remonstrances and 
 reached her bedroom that night without having 
 put anybody in a rage. From the moment that 
 her brother chose to make a friend of Sir Harry 
 Brewster, there was nothing to be done, except 
 to await the development of events and hope 
 for the best. Some fine morning he would take 
 fright — for he wished his daughter to marry 
 well, and certainly, he could not wish her to 
 lose her heart to a man who was out of the 
 question as a husband — but until he realised the 
 danger it would be vain to point it out to him.
 
 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA. 163 
 
 Nevertheless, there was something very humili- 
 ating and very unsatisfactory in being so 
 powerless. 
 
 On the following afternoon her thoughts were 
 diverted into a rather more agreeable channel 
 by a visit from Colonel Medhurst, who an- 
 nounced that he had come to ask whether she 
 would care about inspecting " Compton's estab- 
 lishment." It appeared that Mrs. Sumner, the 
 lady at whose house Muriel had made Colonel 
 Medhurst's acquaintance, and who was more or 
 less interested in the Society of S. Francis, had 
 offered to escort him thither. 
 
 " And we thought," the ingenuous Colonel 
 added, " that perhaps you might like to accom- 
 pany us, if you haven't been there already. 
 Have you any other engagement for Thursday 
 afternoon ? " 
 
 No extraordinary powers of divination were 
 
 required to conjecture that this proposition had 
 
 II*
 
 164 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA, 
 
 originated with Colonel Medhurst, not with 
 Mrs. Sumner ; but in truth its cause was a 
 matter of complete indifference to Muriel, who 
 had more than one reason for welcoming it. 
 
 " Thursday would suit me very well, thank 
 you," she answered. " My brother and Sylvia 
 are going to drive down into the country with a 
 friend on that day, and I shall be glad of any 
 pretext for escaping the excursion. Besides, I 
 am very anxious to see Mr. Compton's estab- 
 lishment, as you call it." 
 
 " Ought it not to be called an establishment ? 
 It seems to be a brotherhood and a sisterhood 
 and a hospital and I don't know what else — all 
 under one roof. Anyhow, I also am anxious to 
 see it and prepared to admire it. Not that I 
 approve of Compton's principles, you know." 
 
 " So you gave me to understand. But perhaps 
 you haven't altogether grasped them yet." 
 
 " And you ? Well, we'll bring an impartial
 
 MISS WENTWOKTfl'S IDEA. 165 
 
 criticism to bear upon him and all his works, 
 Miss Wentworth. He has promised to meet us 
 and act as showman, so that we shall have every 
 advantage." 
 
 This also was welcome news to Muriel. She 
 was not quite sure whether she wanted to snub 
 Mr. Compton or to consult him ; but she was 
 quite sure that she wanted to see him again, 
 and her satisfaction shewed itself in the form 
 of gracious kindliness to her visitor, who went 
 away after a time, very well pleased with his 
 reception.
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 The large red-brick building which was the 
 head-quarters of the Society of S. Francis stood 
 in a quiet little square within earshot of the 
 ceaseless traffic of Regent Street and Oxford 
 Street. It included within its walls, as Colonel 
 Medhurst had truly said, accommodation for the 
 male and female members of the confraternity, 
 as well as a hospital for children. It also con- 
 tained a richly - decorated chapel and a well- 
 stocked library ; so that the casual visitor might 
 reasonably infer — and usually did infer — that its 
 finances were in a flourishing condition. As a 
 matter of fact, however, the Society, like all 
 charitable societies which have any vitality in
 
 MISS WENTWOKTHS IDEA. 167 
 
 them, found its funds inadequate to the demands 
 made upon them ; and that was one reason why 
 Mr. Compton, despite his multifarious occupa- 
 tions, felt bound to welcome casual visitors. 
 Any hasty and erroneous impressions which 
 they might have formed could be corrected by 
 an inspection of his accounts, and after the exis- 
 tence of a deficit had been made clear to them 
 they could hardly go away without leaving some 
 pecuniary memento behind them. 
 
 " That is the worst of going to see Mr. Comp- 
 ton," remarked Mrs. Sumner to Muriel, who was 
 sitting beside her in her open carriage, Colonel 
 Medhurst facing them, with his back to the 
 horses ; " one really isn't rich enough to do it 
 often. It's almost as bad as going to the Home 
 for Lost Dogs. One can't buy all the poor dogs 
 and one can't provide for all the sick children ; 
 so that one would consult one's own comfort by 
 remaining away. However, you will both of you
 
 168 Miss wextwokth's idea. 
 
 be immensely interested, I know ; and if you 
 empty your purses you will empty them in a 
 good cause." 
 
 Colonel Medhurst examined the contents of 
 his waistcoat pocket. " Two pounds three and 
 sixpence," said he meditatively. " Compton will 
 have to be satisfied with thirty shillings, because 
 I must reserve myself a little change to play 
 pool with at the club, after you ladies have 
 dismissed me." 
 
 " Is that the way in which you generally 
 employ your spare time ? " asked Muriel, with a 
 touch of scorn. 
 
 " I should feel truly grateful if you could tell 
 me of a better," answered the Colonel, good- 
 humouredly ; " but I assure you it is no such 
 easy matter for a soldier on leave to find occupa- 
 tions for himself in London. I haven't many 
 friends, and I can't afford to train down to the 
 country and hunt. Now I wonder what you
 
 MISS WENT WORTH'S IDEA. 169 
 
 would do, Miss Wentworth, if you were in my 
 place." 
 
 But, as it was not Muriel's business to imagine 
 herself in Colonel Medhurst's place or to devise 
 employment for him, she only shrugged her 
 shoulders. She was, after all, very much in his 
 predicament, without his excuse, and perhaps it 
 is quite as unprofitable to doze over afternoon 
 tea as to play billiards at a club. Mr. Compton, 
 to be sure, had hinted that he could find work 
 for her ; but he had been so uncomplimentary, 
 and had shown so plainly that he did not care 
 about being bothered with her, that she hesitated 
 to remind him of that half promise. She was, 
 in truth, by no means disinclined to quarrel with 
 the man to whose direction she had been willing 
 to submit her fortune and her future ; one does 
 not make such offers as that with the expecta- 
 tion of being benevolently smiled at. 
 
 However, when the carriage stopped before
 
 170 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA, 
 
 the iron gates, surmounted by a cross, which 
 gave admittance to the Franciscan edifice, and 
 when Mr. Compton, attired in a black cassock 
 with a cord knotted round his waist, came down 
 to the steps to receive his visitors, it was evident 
 that no immediate occasion for quarrelling with 
 him was likely to present itself. He shook 
 hands with them all ; he was very polite and 
 pleasant, and if there was something in his 
 manner which suggested the idea that he might 
 be rather in a hurry, he made no verbal admis- 
 sion to that effect. 
 
 " I am quite at your service," he cut short Mrs. 
 Sumner's apologies by saying, " and the children, 
 as you know, are always delighted to see you. I 
 must thank you in their name for the toys that 
 you so kindly sent. But before we go to their 
 part of the house, I dare say Miss Wentworth 
 would like to have a look at our quarters and at 
 the chapel."
 
 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA. 171 
 
 The corridor through which he led the way 
 with Mrs. Sumner was a narrow one, so that 
 Muriel and Colonel Medhurst perforce brought 
 up the rear. At the entrance of the chapel 
 Compton removed his biretta and made a genu- 
 flexion to the altar ; whereupon Mrs. Sumner, 
 who always endeavoured to do the right thing, 
 went through that somewhat ungraceful form of 
 obeisance which is commonly known as a 
 " Royalty bob." Muriel did not imitate her, 
 but gazed up the dark aisle, over which there 
 hovered a faint smell of incense, and sighed 
 wistfully. How happy, she thought, must the 
 men and women be who, after toiling all the 
 day in the outer world, could withdraw to such 
 a peaceful, silent and beautiful place of worship 
 as this ! 
 
 The chapel was a really good specimen of the 
 modern variety of Gothic architecture. It was 
 very ornate ; but the effect of the variously
 
 172 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA, 
 
 tinted marbles, the stained glass and the 
 mosaics was not inharmonious, and the rich- 
 ness of the colouring was subdued by the dim 
 light. Compton pointed out some frescoes, the 
 work of a celebrated artist and the gift of one 
 of his wealthy patronesses ; he also drew atten- 
 tion to a few well-executed brasses which had 
 been presented as memorials. No guide could 
 have been more courteous ; but both in the 
 chapel and in the library, whither they presently 
 repaired, Muriel, watching him, was impressed 
 with the conviction that the sooner his task was 
 discharged the better he would be pleased. 
 
 Two smooth-shaven young clergymen, dressed 
 in the same costume as their chief, were writing 
 at the broad table which ran down the centre of 
 the library. They rose as the strangers entered, 
 were duly introduced and uttered a few common- 
 places. One of them apparently asked for some 
 instructions from Mr. Compton, which were
 
 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA. 173 
 
 delivered to him in a rapid, authoritative under- 
 tone. 
 
 " Our friend is a bit of a martinet, I suspect," 
 whispered Colonel Medhurst to Muriel, "and 
 quite right too. I know by experience that you 
 can't command even a well-disciplined regiment 
 without asserting your personal authority pretty 
 firmly, and I can imagine what it must be to 
 keep a herd of excitable devotees, male and 
 female, under control. He seems to do it, 
 though." 
 
 Whether he did it or not, he certainly seemed 
 to be invested with despotic powers. All the time 
 that he was exhibiting the arrangements of the 
 institution — the refectory, the waiting-rooms, the 
 scantily-furnished bedrooms set apart for the use 
 of such members of the staff as were working in 
 London — he was being continually interrupted 
 by messengers who came to ask for orders or to 
 hand him papers which required his signature.
 
 174 MISS WEKTWORTH'S IDEA. 
 
 All this he took as a matter of course. It did 
 
 not worry him ; but it discouraged Muriel, who 
 
 began to perceive that there was little hope of 
 
 her obtaining so much as five minutes of private 
 
 conversation with so busy a man. 
 
 Possibly, however, he wished to speak a few 
 
 words to her, or guessed that she wished to 
 speak to him ; for when he had led the way into 
 a bright airy ward where some twenty or thirty 
 children were lying in their cots, he fell back and 
 joined her. 
 
 " Now, Medhurst," said he, " I will leave Mrs. 
 Sumner to introduce you to her little friends. 
 My nose is quite put out of joint when I bring 
 her here, because her advent is always preceded 
 by a shower of toys." 
 
 Colonel Medhurst smilingly obeyed what was 
 not so much a hint as a command ; and then 
 this peremptory little priest began, without any 
 preliminaries :
 
 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA. 175 
 
 " Well, are you still in the same mind ? " 
 Muriel's face lightened up with pleased sur- 
 prise. " Certainly I am," she answered. " And 
 have you changed yours ? Are you willing to 
 admit me ? " 
 
 " Oh dear, no ! I told you there could be no 
 immediate question of that — probably no ulti- 
 mate question. I was only wondering whether 
 I had completely choked you off by what I know 
 you considered my ingratitude." 
 
 " I never thought you ungrateful ; I asked a 
 favour, I didn't confer one. But I did think, 
 and I think still, that the reasons which you 
 gave were insufficient. You yourself would 
 think so if you realised what my position is 
 and what sort of life I lead. I am utterly use- 
 less at home ; my brother wouldn't miss me, and 
 I am supposed to be too young or too weak- 
 minded or something to be of any service to my 
 niece. I can only stand and look on at things
 
 176 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA. 
 
 which — well, there is no time to explain ; but 
 
 sometimes I feel it almost unbearable." 
 
 He nodded. " Yes, I know ; I have made 
 some inquiries and I understand how you are 
 situated rather better than I did. Still I 
 couldn't advise you to desert your post even if 
 it were as unsatisfactory as you make out — 
 which it isn't. Are you fond of children ? " 
 
 " Yes ; I think I get on better with them, as a 
 rule, than with adults." 
 
 " Then you might sometimes come here and 
 help to amuse these waifs and strays. Those 
 whom you see are the best cases, though some of 
 them are incurable, I am afraid. We have 
 another ward which we think it best to leave 
 entirely under the charge of the Sisters ; but 
 here visitors are always welcome and are always 
 a help to us. If you will look in occasionally it 
 will fill up your spare time and may do some- 
 thing towards clearing your mind of morbid
 
 MISS WENTWOKTITS IDEA. 177 
 
 ideas. I can conscientiously assure you that 
 you will be of use by coming." 
 
 " Thank you," answered Muriel ; " I will come. 
 But is that to be all ? " 
 
 " That is all that I can do for you at present. 
 You imagine that you have a vocation. You 
 may be right or you may be wrong — most likely 
 you are wrong. But in any case you can't 
 expect us to accept your mere assertion ; it is for 
 you to give us proofs, and convincing proofs. 
 Do you understand ? " 
 
 It was not a very encouraging, perhaps not a 
 very polite speech ; but Muriel fancied that 
 there was a slightly more sympathising look in 
 the speaker's eyes than she had been able to 
 discern there during their first interview. 
 Besides, she was less exacting now than she had 
 been then. 
 
 " I understand," she answered, "that you insist 
 
 upon my starting from the lowest step of the 
 VOL. I. 12
 
 178 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA, 
 
 ladder. I suppose I have no right to complain ; 
 but — do you take these excessive precautions in 
 every case ? " 
 
 " Not in cases where they would be excessive. 
 Now Mrs. Sumner has made her round, I see, 
 and is anxious to be released. I will give 
 instructions that you are always to be admitted 
 when you come here. One of the Sisters will 
 receive you." 
 
 It was evident that he was quite as anxious to 
 be released as Mrs. Sumner could be. He con- 
 ducted the party downstairs, accepted Colonel 
 Medhurst's dole with thanks and took his leave 
 n the space of a very few minutes. 
 
 " Isn't he quite wonderful ? " Mrs. Sumner 
 exclaimed, as she stepped into her carriage. 
 " So full of energy, and so simple and unaffected 
 with it all ! Of course one can't help regretting 
 his extreme notions, and it seems a great pity 
 that Lord Chepstow should have quarrelled with
 
 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA. 179 
 
 him; still if he were not so unlike the rest of the 
 world, I daresay he wouldn't be so interesting. 
 Shall I take you straight home, Muriel ? I have 
 some visits to pay ; but we will go to Brook 
 Street first, if you like." 
 
 Muriel said she wanted a little exercise, and 
 would prefer to walk home ; whereupon Colonel 
 Medhurst promptly offered to escort her. He 
 looked incredulous when he was assured that 
 young ladies required no escort in the streets of 
 London now-a-days ; it had not been so previous 
 to his departure for India, he said. Moreover, 
 setting other considerations aside, how was she 
 to get across Regent Street without somebody to 
 take care that she was not run over by an 
 omnibus ? If Muriel had objected to his 
 company, his representations would doubtless 
 have proved ineffectual ; but she did not object 
 to it. It was very much the same thing to her 
 whether she walked home with Colonel Med- 
 
 12*
 
 180 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA, 
 
 hurst or alone ; perhaps, if anything, she had a 
 slight preference in favour of the society of an 
 old friend of Mr. Compton's. 
 
 However, Mr. Compton's old friend was dis- 
 posed to be critical rather than laudatory. 
 " Good works are good works," said he, " and I 
 am glad to see the children made comfortable 
 and happy, poor little souls, and — and Compton 
 is a stirring orator. But the whole thing seems 
 to be intended as a means towards an end, and I 
 can't quite gather what that end is. Compton 
 takes a good deal of trouble to keep it in the 
 background." 
 
 " I suppose," answered Muriel, " that he 
 doesn't see the use of talking about it to people 
 who would neither agree with him nor under- 
 stand him ; but I believe he makes no secret of 
 his revolutionary opinions. He thinks the so- 
 called Christian nations are living like heathens 
 — and so do I."
 
 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA. 181 
 
 " Will you make them less like heathens by 
 taking the veil, Miss Wentworth ? " 
 
 " I should make one unit among them less 
 like a heathen by joining the Society of S. 
 Francis, which is a very different thing from 
 taking the veil ; but I am not likely to join the 
 Society, because Mr. Compton is not likely to 
 admit me." 
 
 " He would deserve hanging if he did ! " 
 returned Medhurst warmly, and added, after a 
 pause, " It isn't natural, you know, Miss Went- 
 worth." 
 
 " What isn't natural ? " Muriel enquired. 
 
 " Your wishing to withdraw from the world at 
 your age. I can't believe that you really wish 
 it." 
 
 " Nor can Mr. Compton. In other words, you 
 can neither of you give me credit for anything 
 but selfish motives. Well, perhaps you are 
 right ; perhaps I shouldn't want to leave the
 
 182 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA, 
 
 little world in which I live if I could make it 
 move in the way that I should like. Yet I really 
 don't think I am a selfish person in the ordinary 
 acceptation of the term." 
 
 " I am quite sure you are not," Medhurst 
 declared confidently. 
 
 " Oh, you can't know anything about it. What 
 I mean is that I believe I should be happy 
 enough if I could make the people whom I care 
 for happy. Unluckily they think that they are 
 better judges than I of what may be expected to 
 bring them happiness." 
 
 What Muriel stood most in need of at this 
 moment, was no doubt, a sensible and sym- 
 pathising confidant, and it may have been for 
 that reason that she was led to impart some of 
 her domestic sorrows to Colonel Medhurst, who 
 listened to her with kindly interest. She men- 
 tioned no names ; but he gathered that her niece 
 was in some danger of marrying a very undesir-
 
 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA. 183 
 
 able person, that she was powerless to avert the 
 calamity, and that Mr. Wentworth was too 
 supine to take the precautions which a father 
 ought to take. He was very discreet in his 
 replies. He did not presume to offer advice 
 and contented himself with commonplace con- 
 solations ; only he managed to convey to his 
 hearer the impression that he would be only too 
 glad to serve her by any means that might be 
 within his power — which would have been adroit 
 of him, had he harboured a deep design for 
 winning his way into her good graces. When 
 she shook hands with him at parting her spirits 
 had risen by a good many degrees ; for she felt 
 that she had gained a friend. 
 
 But Medhurst, examining himself seriously 
 that evening, was not sure that he could be 
 satisfied with being only Miss Wentworth's 
 friend. Before he went to bed he stood for a 
 long time before the looking-glass, studying his
 
 184 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA. 
 
 face, which struck him as being deplorably 
 
 lined, weather-beaten and unattractive. 
 
 " Well," he exclaimed at last, "you are an old 
 fool ! " 
 
 And neither his glass nor his common-sense 
 had anything to urge in contradiction of that 
 uncivil criticism.
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 To go straight to head-quarters for information 
 sounds like a wise principle to act upon ; and 
 indeed the system is said to have been adopted 
 with success by certain eminent statesmen and 
 diplomatists. Yet, if the truth were known, it 
 might possibly be found that the statesmen have 
 not wholly disdained other means of arriving at 
 their ends ; because, unfortunately, the desire of 
 the candid inquirer for a plain statement of facts 
 is not always shared at head-quarters. No one, 
 therefore, will be surprised to hear that Sylvia, 
 in spite of her bold resolution to interrogate 
 Sir Harry Brewster as to the circumstances con-
 
 186 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA, 
 
 nected with his divorce, knew very little more 
 about them at the end of three weeks than she 
 had done at the beginning. She did, indeed, 
 summon up courage to put a point-blank 
 question to him ; but his reply was such as to 
 render further questions almost impossible. It 
 was too true he said that he was a divorced 
 man ; but Miss Sylvia would understand that he 
 could not talk much to her upon such a subject. 
 He might add that it was an excessively painful 
 one to him. 
 
 After that, what more could she do ? She 
 ventured upon an occasional hint ; but these he 
 ignored, and finally she said to herself that she 
 really did not care to pry into matters which 
 were none of her business. The past was past and 
 had better be forgotten : the present was quite 
 enjoyable enough to content her. 
 
 If the present had not contented her, no blame 
 could have attached to Sir Harry Brewster, who
 
 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA. 187 
 
 was indefatigable in devising schemes for her 
 amusement. 
 
 Although he did not come very often to the 
 house, he contrived to make arrangements for 
 meeting Sylvia almost every day of the week, and 
 what was still more clever of him was that he 
 also contrived to secure the necessary escort in 
 the person of her father. Mr. Wentworth did 
 not mind incurring a little trouble and incon- 
 venience for the pleasure of Sir Harry's society. 
 Sir Harry was not only himself entertaining, 
 but had a number of entertaining friends whom 
 it was a change and an amusement to meet. As 
 for Muriel's apprehensions and warnings, they 
 were preposterous upon the face of them ; im- 
 possibilities do not occur, and Mr. Wentworth 
 had a comfortable habit of treating all disagree- 
 able occurrences as impossible. 
 
 Muriel herself ended by shutting her eyes to 
 what, after all, was not obtruded upon her notice.
 
 188 MISS WENTWORTHS IDEA. 
 
 When one is helpless, one may as well hope for 
 the best : moreover, she had now a good deal 
 more to occupy her thoughts than she had 
 hitherto had. Every day she spent several 
 hours with the sick children, whose affections 
 she had no difficulty in gaining : the sisters 
 made her welcome and were not averse to 
 chatting with her about the rules of the Society 
 to which they belonged and in the principles of 
 which they had the firmest faith ; from time to 
 time she encountered Mr. Compton, who was 
 always in a hurry, yet never passed her without 
 saying a few friendly words, and she had come 
 to look forward to the visits of Colonel Medhurst, 
 who frequently happened to drop in about tea- 
 time. Upon the whole, her life just now was 
 pleasant to her, notwithstanding the modesty of 
 its immediate aims ; and, that being so, she was 
 disposed to take a more sanguine view of the 
 proceedings and prospects of others.
 
 MISS WENTWOETH'S IDEA. 189 
 
 One day Sylvia received a letter which ought 
 to have delighted her, yet, somehow or other, 
 failed to produce that effect, and the contents 
 of which she did not at once communicate to 
 Muriel. 
 
 " We are going to have our annual ball next 
 Wednesday," Lady Morecambe wrote, " and 
 there will be two others in the neighbourhood in 
 the course of the week ; so you see the time has 
 come for you to redeem your promise. We shall 
 expect you on Monday, and I will undertake to 
 provide you with as many good partners as you 
 can wish for." 
 
 Instead of jumping for joy, Sylvia found her- 
 self wondering whether she could not find some 
 excuse for declining this seductive invitation, and 
 it must be acknowledged that at first she was a 
 little surprised by her own hesitation. However, 
 she accounted for it by reflecting that she really 
 had not more than one ball-dress fit to wear and
 
 19D MISS WENT WORTH'S IDEA. 
 
 that she could not afford two new ones ; also 
 that balls were poor fun when you hadn't an 
 idea of who your partners would be ; finally 
 that Sir Harry Brewster had promised to take 
 her to see a polo match on the day named 
 by Lady Morecambe. The approach of the 
 post hour found her still irresolute, and she 
 was sitting at her aunt's writing-table in the 
 drawing-room, biting the end of her pen 
 and sighing, when Sir Harry Brewster w r as 
 announced. 
 
 Sir Harry, who was always careful to observe 
 the laws of conventionality, hastened to explain 
 that he had asked for Miss Wentworth and had 
 been told that she was at home. 
 
 " One Miss Wentworth is at home," answered 
 Sylvia laughing, " and the other will be soon. 
 Sit down and help me invent a polite fib. 
 Lady Morecambe has asked me to go down 
 to them next Monday for their ball, and I
 
 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA. 191 
 
 don't think I want to go. What shall I say 
 to her ? " 
 
 " When I don't want to accept an invitation," 
 observed Sir Harry, " I always say I am afraid I 
 can't manage it ; but perhaps ladies are expected 
 to give reasons. Why don't you want to go, 
 though ? It's sure to be well done, and I expect 
 you would enjoy it." He added presently, " I'll 
 go, if you will." 
 
 " Have you been invited ? " asked Sylvia, with 
 a sudden change of countenance. 
 
 " No ; but that's a trifle. I'll get Morecambe 
 to ask me." 
 
 Sylvia looked down and began to draw 
 patterns upon the sheet of paper before her. 
 " Do you know," she said hesitatingly at length, 
 " I don't think Lady Morecambe quite — likes 
 you." 
 
 " Oh, if that's all, I'm sure she doesn't," he 
 replied. " Lady Morecambe is — shall we say
 
 192 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA, 
 
 prejudiced against me ? " Then, perceiving what 
 he was probably meant to understand, he re- 
 sumed : " I shan't beg for my invitation until the 
 last moment, you know, and I shan't apply to 
 her ladyship at all. Meanwhile, please write an 
 acceptance. I'll undertake to say that when you 
 enter the ball-room you will find me on the spot, 
 waiting to claim a dance." 
 
 From the above fragment of dialogue it will be 
 seen that three weeks had brought about a 
 decided change of relations between these two 
 persons, and that Sir Harry had, consciously or 
 unconsciously, ceased to pose as the benevolent 
 admirer of mature years. Sylvia scribbled off 
 the letter, pausing every now and again to throw 
 a remark over her shoulder. 
 
 " I don't know why Lady Morccambe should 
 be prejudiced against you," was one of these. 
 
 " Oh, I think you do," responded Sir Harry 
 tranquilly. " In a general way of speaking, the
 
 MISS WENTWOKTHS IDEA. 193 
 
 British matron is prejudiced against me, and the 
 British matron is not wrong. I don't complain 
 — but at the same time I must confess that I 
 don't care. So long as you don't share the good 
 lady's prejudices, she is very welcome to them." 
 
 " But perhaps I should," observed Sylvia turn- 
 ing a somewhat uneasy countenance towards 
 him, " if " 
 
 " If you were as well acquainted with my mis- 
 deeds as she is ? Very likely you would ; and 
 that is why I shall not confess them to you. I 
 will only take the liberty of pleading that I am 
 not quite so black as I am painted." 
 
 During the period of silence which followed 
 this audacious assertion Muriel came in and 
 recognised the visitor with a look of annoyed 
 surprise which did not escape his notice. 
 
 " You will have to dismiss your butler, Miss 
 
 Wentworth," said he ; " his mind is too logical 
 
 for his position. You have evidently given him 
 VOL. I. 13
 
 194 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA. 
 
 a general order to the effect that you are always 
 out when you are at home, and a deductive 
 process of reasoning has led him to conclude that 
 you must be at home when you are out. Any- 
 how, he assured me that you were at home, and 
 on the faith of that statement I followed him 
 upstairs. I can't pretend that I regret having 
 done so — especially as I arrived just in time to 
 persuade Miss Sylvia that she ought to accept 
 an invitation to Lady Morecambe's ball which 
 she was thinking of refusing. Nobody under- 
 stands how to make a country ball go off better 
 than Lady Morecambe." 
 
 " I had not heard anything about it ; Sylvia 
 did not mention it to me," said Muriel, with a 
 perplexed look. And then, as her niece vouch- 
 safed no remark : " Are you going to this ball, 
 Sir Harry ? " she inquired. 
 
 " I am sorry to say that I haven't been asked," 
 replied Sir Harry imperturbably.
 
 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA. 195 
 
 Sylvia bent over the envelope which she was 
 addressing. She was perhaps a little ashamed 
 of her confederate's suppressio veri ; but on th e 
 other hand, the fact that he was making himself 
 her confederate was not disagreeable to her. As 
 for Muriel, she both felt relieved and looked so. 
 
 " Of course you will go, Sylvia," she said. 
 " When did you ever refuse an invitation to a 
 ball ? " 
 
 " Oh, I am going," answered Sylvia. " Only I 
 doubted about it because Lady Morecambe says 
 there are to be two other dances, and I have 
 neither frocks nor money to buy them." 
 
 " If that is all, I'll provide the frocks," said 
 Muriel, who indeed was in the habit of supple- 
 menting her niece's allowance by frequent gifts 
 of that description. 
 
 In the innocence of her heart, she felt quite 
 grateful to Sir Harry for having urged this 
 change of scene upon Sylvia, and began to think 
 
 13*
 
 196 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA, 
 
 that, bad as he was, she might have wronged him 
 by suspecting him of designs which only a 
 hardened scoundrel could have entertained. It 
 was, therefore, with unwonted graciousness that 
 she said : " I hope you will stay and have a cup 
 of tea with us." 
 
 " He will be delighted," answered Sylvia for 
 him. " I say so to save him from telling a direct 
 falsehood. Sir Harry would prefer a sherry and 
 bitters ; he doesn't really like tea ; no man does. 
 Not even your long, solemn soldier, Muriel, 
 though he meekly swallows about a quart of it 
 every afternoon to please you." 
 
 Muriel, slightly displeased, was beginning to 
 say that neither Sir Harry Brewster nor anyone 
 else gave her the least pleasure by swallowing 
 what he did not like, when she was interrupted 
 by the entrance of the long solemn soldier, whose 
 arrival at that hour had, to tell the truth, become 
 a matter of almost daily occurrence.
 
 MISS WENTWOKTH'S IDEA. 197 
 
 The candles had not yet been lighted ; so 
 that Colonel Medhurst did not notice the 
 presence of a stranger until after he had ex- 
 changed a few remarks with Muriel and had 
 turned to shake hands with Sylvia. The latter, 
 since her aunt said nothing, took upon herself 
 to accomplish an introduction by which both 
 men appeared to be disagreeably affected. Sir 
 Harry, on hearing the name of Colonel Med- 
 hurst, rose hastily, made a half bow and looked 
 round for his hat, while the other, standing 
 stock-still, clenched his fists and muttered some- 
 thing suspiciously like an imprecation. There 
 was a brief pause ; after which the Colonel, 
 whose voice was trembling with anger, said : 
 
 " I have not tried to meet you, Sir Harry 
 Brewster ; I know that I should gain nothing, 
 except a little personal satisfaction, from giving 
 you the thrashing that you so richly deserve. But 
 since chance has brought us together in this very
 
 198 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA, 
 
 unexpected way, I will take this opportunity ot 
 telling you that you are no gentleman and that 
 you have no business to be in any lady's house. 
 I am sure if Miss Wentworth knew as much 
 about you as I know, she would not permit you 
 to enter hers." 
 
 " My good man," returned Sir Harry calmly, 
 " there is one thing which certainly ought not to 
 take place in any lady's house, and that is a 
 brawl. Here is my card. If you wish to thrash 
 me and think you can do it, by all means call 
 upon me at any hour which it may please you to 
 appoint ; but, for your own sake, don't indulge 
 in strong language under circumstances which 
 make it impossible for me to answer you." 
 
 Colonel Medhurst was one of those quiet, sen- 
 sible men who very seldom lose their temper, 
 and who consequently have had little practice 
 in the difficult task of self-control. 
 
 " I am not going to treat you as if you were
 
 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA. 199 
 
 a gentleman," he retorted, forgetting that he 
 was asked to show some consideration for his 
 hostess, not for his enemy. " Wherever I meet 
 you I shall say what I said just now, and, as 
 you very well know, I can justify my words." 
 
 " In that case," observed Sir Harry, " it is 
 evident that one or other of us must retire. I 
 will leave you to explain and excuse your be- 
 haviour to Miss Wentworth. No doubt, if she 
 thinks it worth while, she will allow me to state 
 my own case some other time." 
 
 He then took his leave in a manner which 
 was not devoid of quiet dignity ; and, as the 
 slight pressure which he ventured to give to 
 Sylvia's fingers was distinctly returned, he 
 went away without much fear as to ultimate 
 results. 
 
 Yet his predicament was really an awkward 
 one, as he might have realised, had he not been 
 rendered a little dull of comprehension by the
 
 200 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA, 
 
 comparative facility with which he had regained 
 his position in society, after a temporary period 
 of eclipse. Medhurst, when he was left alone 
 with the ladies, grew a little cooler, though he 
 was still much agitated. 
 
 " I suppose I ought to make you an apology," 
 he began ; " I ought not, perhaps, to have 
 brought about a scene in your drawing-room. 
 But I think you will forgive me when I tell you 
 that that man was my sister's husband and that 
 she was compelled to obtain a divorce from him 
 while I was away in India. You won't wish or 
 expect me to give you all the particulars of the 
 case ; but I may say this — that she proved per- 
 sonal cruelty. He struck her on more than one 
 occasion before the servants. And the worst of 
 it is that he has not been punished ; he was 
 glad to be set free. It is she, and she alone, who 
 has suffered." 
 
 " I don't think you owe us any apology,
 
 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA. 201 
 
 Colonel Medhurst," said Muriel, who looked 
 penitent and ashamed. " I knew — my brother 
 told me — about the divorce ; but I didn't know 
 who Sir Harry's wife had been." 
 
 " Your brother told you, and yet you con- 
 tinued to receive him ! " exclaimed Medhurst. 
 " Well — I am surprised. I must say that I am 
 surprised." 
 
 Muriel, feeling that it would be a little un- 
 dignified to plead her own repeatedly expressed 
 reluctance to receive the culprit, remained silent ; 
 but Sylvia said : 
 
 " Why are we to condemn Sir Harry 
 unheard? Of course you are angry and you 
 won't admit that there can be anything to be 
 said for him ; but there are always two sides to 
 a case." 
 
 " It is impossible to explain away facts which 
 have been proved in a court of law," returned 
 Colonel Medhurst coldly. " If you will excuse
 
 202 . MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA, 
 
 me, I will say good night now. I am sorry that 
 this encounter should not have taken place else- 
 where ; but as regards what I said to that 
 man I have nothing to retract and nothing to 
 regret." 
 
 " I can't compliment your friend upon his 
 manners," remarked Sylvia, when the door had 
 closed behind the irate Colonel. " One may 
 forgive him for having insulted Sir Harry, 
 though perhaps it would have been better form 
 to wait until they were both out in the street ; 
 but I don't know what right he had to be so 
 rude to us." 
 
 " He wasn't rude," answered Muriel rather 
 sadly, for she felt sure that her friend would now 
 be her friend no longer — " he was only offended, 
 and he had a right to be that. We ought not 
 to receive Sir Harry Brewster ; I have thought 
 so all along." 
 
 " Papa doesn't think so, it seems," returned
 
 MISS WENTWOKTH'S IDEA. 203 
 
 Sylvia, preparing herself for battle ; " nor does 
 Lady Morecambe. What have we to do with 
 the sins which our acquaintances may have 
 committed in days gone by ? I suppose that 
 even Colonel Medhurst, if he were put into the 
 confessional, would have to plead guilty to a few 
 peccadilloes." 
 
 But Muriel declined the fray. She reserved 
 what she had to say for her brother, with whom 
 she sought an interview in his study before she 
 went to bed and to whom she gave an account 
 of the afternoon's events. 
 
 " Dear me, what an odd coincidence," re- 
 marked Mr. Wentworth, after patiently hearing 
 her out. " Now that you mention it, I think I 
 do recollect that the lady's maiden name was 
 Medhurst. Well, of course we mustn't let these 
 two fire-eaters come to fisticuffs here. You 
 had better give the necessary orders to the 
 servants."
 
 204 MISS WENT WORTH'S IDEA. 
 
 " I doubt whether Colonel Medhurst will ever 
 come here again," answered Muriel : " I am sure 
 he won't if Sir Harry Brewster is to be ad- 
 mitted. Surely there can be no question as to 
 which of them ought to have the door shut 
 against him." 
 
 An unwelcome idea was suggested to Mr. 
 Wentworth by this speech. He had always 
 taken the possibility of Muriel's marriage into 
 account, but only in the same sense as he had 
 contemplated the possibility of the house being 
 burnt down or of his own premature demise. 
 Just as there are a good many non-marrying 
 men, so one occasionally comes across a non- 
 marrying woman. He had mentally included 
 his sister in the latter restricted class, and it is 
 needless to add that he had done so very will- 
 ingly. She was free to marry if she pleased, 
 only her marriage would mean the curtailment 
 of a considerable proportion of his personal
 
 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA. 205 
 
 comforts ; and that may have been one reason 
 why he at once jumped to the conclusion that 
 Colonel Medhurst was in no way worthy of her. 
 
 " I am not prepared to shut my door against 
 anybody," he rejoined rather sharply ; " but sup- 
 posing, for the sake of argument, that I had 
 to be so uncivil, I would rather turn my back 
 upon Medhurst, who is simply a heavy non- 
 entity, than upon Sir Harry Brewster, who is a 
 man of the world and a pleasant companion/' 
 
 Muriel declined to take up the cudgels on 
 Colonel Medhurst's behalf. 
 
 " I daresay you would," she replied : " but 
 why will you persist in shutting your eyes to 
 the fact that you are not the only person in the 
 house? It isn't for your sake or for Colonel 
 Medhurst's, but for Sylvia's, that I want you to 
 put a stop to this intimacy with Sir Harry 
 Brewster." 
 
 Mr. Wentworth laughed.
 
 206 MISS WENTWORTHS IDEA. 
 
 "One of the funniest things about women," 
 he remarked, " is the obstinacy with which they 
 cling to an idea when there is not a tittle of 
 evidence to support it. I have had more oppor- 
 tunities of seeing Sylvia and Sir Harry together 
 than you have, and if you will believe me — but 
 of course you won't — neither of them is dream- 
 ing of a project which is palpably inadmissible. 
 I grant you that Sir Harry treated his wife 
 abominably ; but, as she was not a relation of 
 mine, I don't feel called upon to avenge her 
 wrongs. Colonel Medhurst naturally does. 
 Very well ; let him avenge them in any way 
 that may recommend itself to him. If cutting 
 our acquaintance is one of them, I shall submit 
 uncomplainingly." 
 
 "You don't think it worth while to shield 
 Sylvia from the risk of a great misfortune 
 then ? " 
 
 " My dear Muriel, haven't I just told you that
 
 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA. 207 
 
 the risk has no existence, except in your 
 imagination? If you will only leave Sylvia 
 alone, and give her time, she will probably end 
 by marrying Johnny Hill. She won't marry 
 Sir Harry Brewster for two good reasons. 
 Firstly, he won't ask her, and secondly, I 
 shouldn't allow her to accept him if he did. 
 Colonel Medhurst and he must settle their 
 differences between them ; only, as I said before, 
 I should take measures, if I were you, to prevent 
 a settlement from occurring in this house. Our 
 obvious course is to remain neutral." 
 
 Muriel sighed and left the room. She could 
 do nothing with this selfish optimist ; but she 
 inwardly registered a vow to the effect that if 
 Sir Harry Brewster had the effrontery to call 
 again, he should find neither her nor Sylvia at 
 home.
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 It is not with impunity that a sober, middle- 
 aged man can permit his passions to gain the 
 mastery over him. In the inevitable reaction 
 which ensues, his self-esteem is sure to sink to a 
 very low ebb, and he not only feels that he has 
 behaved like a fool, but is apt to conclude that 
 he has been inexcusable in so behaving. So, in 
 spite of the unbending attitude which Colonel 
 Medhurst had assumed on taking leave of Miss 
 Wentworth, he had not proceeded far on his 
 homeward way before the voice of his conscience 
 began to make itself heard. Nothing — so he 
 said to himself — can justify a fracas in the
 
 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA. 209 
 
 presence of ladies, and if an actual fracas had 
 been averted, the credit was due to Sir Harry 
 Brewster, not to him. For two pins he would 
 have caught the man by the throat or knocked 
 him down. He shuddered as he inwardly made 
 that acknowledgment, and told himself that he 
 was no better than a vulgar ruffian. Of 
 course, what he ought to have done, on hear- 
 ing who the stranger was, was simply to go 
 away. At the most, he might perhaps have 
 explained his reasons for doing so in a few 
 words. 
 
 But it was too late to think of that now. 
 What he had done could not be undone, and 
 he must accept the consequences. One of these 
 certainly seemed to be that a coldness would 
 arise between him and the woman whom he no 
 longer disguised from himself that he loved, and 
 another, he supposed, would be that he must 
 
 make some appointment to meet Sir Harry 
 VOL. I. 14
 
 210 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA. 
 
 Brewster. That the man deserved to be insulted 
 did not alter the fact that he had insulted him ; 
 he could not very well refuse to take any 
 further notice of one whom he had treated in 
 that way. 
 
 At the same time he did not, now that his 
 head was less hot, see what satisfaction either of 
 them was likely to obtain from a meeting. It 
 was all very well to talk about thrashing Sir 
 Harry ; but such things, if they are to be done 
 at all, must be done upon the spur of the 
 moment, and pistol and rapier have fallen into 
 disuse in this country. Under the circumstances, 
 therefore, nothing could be exchanged between 
 him and his enemy except abusive language, 
 which was scarcely a fit method of fighting for 
 men to adopt. More mature reflection, how- 
 ever, led him to believe that there was, after all, 
 just a possibility of some good resulting from 
 the proposed interview. Remembering what
 
 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA. 211 
 
 Muriel had told him about her uneasiness re- 
 specting her niece, it dawned upon him that the 
 undesirable suitor of whom she had spoken 
 could be no other than Sir Harry Brewster, 
 and he immediately made up his mind that he 
 would at least relieve her of that source of 
 anxiety. That it was in his power to do this 
 he felt little doubt. It was not in his power to 
 do anything for his sister; if he killed Sir Harry 
 she would be none the better off, nor would she 
 thank him. Her injuries were irremediable ; 
 but surely, knowing what he did, he could bring 
 pressure enough to bear upon this scoundrel to 
 preserve an innocent girl from sharing her fate ? 
 He had the simplicity to imagine that a threat 
 of exposure would suffice ; for, although nothing 
 was more probable than that the man would 
 tell Miss Wentworth a tissue of lies, these could 
 easily be proved to be lies by the production of 
 
 a file of old newspapers. 
 
 14*
 
 212 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA. 
 
 The outcome of his meditations was that, as 
 soon as he had dined, he despatched the follow- 
 ing telegram to the address given him by Sir 
 Harry Brewster : 
 
 11 Shall I find you at home at eleven o'clock 
 to-morrow ? " 
 
 Telegraphing had the double advantage of 
 insuring a speedy answer and obviating all 
 necessity for conventional forms of epistolatory 
 politeness. Sir Harry's reply was not long in 
 reaching him. 
 
 " Glad to see you at the hour named." 
 
 " I wish I could make you sorry to see me, 
 you villain ! " muttered the Colonel, grinding his 
 teeth, as he tossed the slip of paper into the fire. 
 " Ah, if only you and I had lived a hundred 
 years ago ! "
 
 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA. 213 
 
 But one must needs conform to the usages of 
 the period to which one belongs, and an English- 
 man in the latter part of the nineteenth century 
 has no means of healing his wounded honour 
 save such as a court of law may be pleased to 
 accord to him. Colonel Medhurst, therefore, 
 presented himself at Queen Anne's Mansions, on 
 the following morning, like any ordinary visitor, 
 and was admitted as soon as the hall-porter had 
 ascertained that Sir Harry Brewster was out of 
 bed. 
 
 It was in Queen Anne's Mansions that Sir 
 Harry Brewster resided at this time, his family 
 mansion in Grosvenor Square having been let 
 for a term of years owing to unavoidable 
 circumstances. The suite of apartments which 
 he occupied formed very comfortable bachelor's 
 quarters, nor would anyone have supposed, on 
 seeing them, that their owner was suffering from 
 financial straits. Their owner, clad in a crimson
 
 214 MISS WENTWORTII'S IDEA, 
 
 plush smoking-suit, had finished his breakfast 
 and was enjoying a cigarette and the perusal of 
 The Sportsman^ when the grim Colonel was 
 announced. He at once got up. 
 
 " I really don't know whether it is any use to 
 ask you to sit down," he said ; " but pray do so 
 if you feel inclined. In fact, you may consider 
 me entirely at your orders. I am ready to give 
 you a cigar or to clear away the furniture and 
 engage in a stand-up fight — just as you 
 please." 
 
 " I came here," answered Medhurst, speaking 
 in the sharp, staccato accents of a man who has 
 some difficulty in controlling himself, " because, 
 after what I said to you at Miss Wentworth's 
 house yesterday, it seemed to me that I was 
 bound to accept your invitation to meet you 
 alone. It is for you to decide whether there 
 shall be a stand-up fight or not. For my own 
 part, I don't propose to break your bones,
 
 MISS WENTWORTfl'S IDEA. 215 
 
 because I don't see what would be the good of 
 it." 
 
 Sir Harry smiled. " You are a heavier man 
 than I, Colonel Medhurst," he remarked ; " but, 
 lest you should think that I am afraid of you, 
 I may mention that I know how to use my 
 fists about as well as any man in England. I 
 doubt whether you would get a chance of break- 
 ing any of my bones in two hours. Besides 
 which, I agree with you that there would be no 
 particular good in it if you did. Well, what can 
 I do for you ? You consider that I treated your 
 sister badly and I do not deny it. Would you 
 like me to cross the Channel and fight a duel 
 with you ? If so, I'm quite willing to oblige 
 you." 
 
 " No," answered the other gloomily ; " I don't 
 see that there would be any good in that either. 
 And why should I let you have a shot at me ? 
 I meant what I told you yesterday ; you are
 
 216 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA. 
 
 not a gentleman and you have no title to be 
 
 treated as one." 
 
 "From the reason which you gave just now 
 for your visit," returned Sir Harry, without 
 losing his temper, " I supposed that you wished 
 to give me an opportunity of avenging an insult. 
 If you didn't, and if you won't fight, may I 
 venture to ask why you are here ? " 
 
 The question was certainly excusable ; but 
 Medhurst, who had not expected it to be put 
 quite so soon, was not prepared to answer it 
 forthwith. He gnawed his moustache for a 
 moment, and then remarked : 
 
 " You don't deny having treated my sister 
 badly ; but, in my opinion, ' badly ' is scarcely a 
 strong enough word to use. As much as that 
 might have been said if you had at least kept 
 your hands off her ; but to beat a defenceless 
 woman is — well, it is simply to put yourself out- 
 side the pale of common humanity."
 
 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA. 217 
 
 " On my side," replied Sir Harry, " I may say- 
 that ' beating ' is too strong a word to use. I 
 will tell you exactly what happened. Your 
 sister is a pious woman, and, like many other 
 pious women, she has the gift of exasperating 
 sinners beyond all bearing. She so exasperated 
 me by accusing me of misconduct in the presence 
 of the servants, that one evening I took her by 
 the shoulders and pushed her out of the dining- 
 room. On another occasion when her maid was 
 in the room, she came close up to me and poured 
 out a torrent of abuse against a woman of whom 
 she was jealous and whom she mentioned by 
 name. I was angry with her for mentioning 
 names ; I threw up my hand rather with the 
 intention of waving her back than of touching 
 her, and I certainly did hit her on the arm. 
 The maid afterwards swore that I had boxed 
 her ears — which was a lie. Mind you, I admit 
 that I was violent and I admit that my wife had
 
 218 MISS WENTWOKTH'S IDEA. 
 
 reason to be jealous ; only I submit that when 
 
 you speak of my having beaten her, you go too 
 
 far." 
 
 "There is the evidence of eye-witnesses, 
 which was not refuted and which was believed 
 by the jury," returned Medhurst doggedly ; " I 
 am not bound to accept your version of what 
 occurred. I don't care to discuss the matter ; 
 it is past mending. But one thing I wish to say 
 to you : you must cease your visits to Miss 
 Wentworth's house. It has come to my know- 
 ledge that you are paying attention to her niece 
 — a girl who is scarcely more than a child — 
 and you can't suppose that I shall allow that 
 to go on. Even you ought to feel that such 
 attentions on your part are a little too in- 
 famous." 
 
 " I have been very forbearing with you, 
 Colonel Medhurst," answered Sir Harry ; " I 
 have tried to make every allowance for the
 
 MISS WENTWOKTH'S IDEA. 219 
 
 indignation which you express, and which I 
 should express quite as forcibly, I daresay, if I 
 were in your place. But I must point out to 
 you that you are now putting forward claims 
 which are wholly inadmissible. Naturally, I am 
 not going to tell you whether you are mistaken 
 or not in imagining that I am paying attentions 
 to Miss Sylvia Wentworth ; but, if I were, I 
 could not recognise any right on your part to 
 interfere with me. We will drop that subject, 
 if you please." 
 
 " Then I shall direct Mr. Wentworth's attention 
 to the report of the proceedings instituted against 
 you in the Divorce Court." 
 
 "Of course you are at liberty to do so ; 
 although I presume that he is already ac- 
 quainted with them. Possibly, if I think fit to 
 make the attempt, I may convince him that the 
 evidence was not strictly in accordance with the 
 facts."
 
 220 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA. 
 
 " Possibly you may, if you are shameless 
 enough — as perhaps you are. Arid yet it does 
 seem to me that no human being with a 
 spark of manliness left in him could be quite 
 such a rascal. Surely it is no great thing to 
 ask that you should refrain from bringing 
 misery upon a girl who isn't old enough to 
 understand what a history like yours means ! 
 You have escaped scot-free ; nobody has 
 punished you for what you have done ; as I 
 have told you, I myself don't intend to punish 
 you " 
 
 " Oh, excuse me," interrupted Sir Harry ; 
 " you really must not expect me to thank you 
 for sparing me. I have offered to give you any 
 kind of satisfaction that you like to ask for ; if 
 you won't take advantage of my offer the fault 
 is not mine. Upon no conceivable ground are 
 you entitled to dictate to me who my friends 
 shall be."
 
 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA. 122 i 
 
 There was no disputing that assertion, and 
 Colonel Medhurst, after a moment of meditation, 
 realised that he could not dispute it. " Very 
 well," he said; "you will take your course, and 
 I shall take mine. I don't think so badly of Mr. 
 Wentworth as to believe that he will let you 
 into his house when he has heard what I shall 
 tell him about you." 
 
 With that he turned on his heel and left his 
 antagonist, feeling that he had by no means had 
 the best of the encounter. 
 
 And now it seemed to him to be nothing less 
 than his simple duty to call in Upper Brook 
 Street and make a more ample apology to Miss 
 Wentworth for his treatment of her visitor than 
 he had made at the time. He had been in the 
 right so far as Sir Harry Brewster was con- 
 cerned, but he had certainly been in the wrong 
 in creating an embarrassing situation for a lady, 
 and he felt that he ought to say so. Per-
 
 222 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA, 
 
 haps he may also have been influenced by a 
 strong desire to make his peace with the 
 lady in question ; but if so, he was honestly 
 unconscious of it. Towards five o'clock, 
 therefore, he wended his way westwards, 
 animated by sentiments of the most penitent 
 humility. 
 
 Now, it so chanced that at the same 
 hour Muriel was returning home from her 
 daily visit to the children's hospital, and 
 thus it was that she was overtaken within a 
 few yards of her own door by a gentleman 
 whose aspect was very much less warlike 
 than it had been on the occasion of their 
 last meeting. 
 
 Medhurst offered his excuses a little 
 awkwardly, yet after a fashion which was 
 neither unflattering nor displeasing to their 
 recipient. She understood very well that he 
 could not bring himself to express regret for
 
 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA. 223, 
 
 having used plain language to a scoundrel, but 
 that he was mortally afraid lest, by so doing, he 
 should have lost the good opinion of one whose 
 friendship he valued, and she hastened to assure 
 him that there was no ground for that appre- 
 hension. 
 
 "You could not have acted in any other 
 way," she declared ; " you only said what it was 
 impossible to help saying, and I quite agree 
 with you that Sir Harry Brewster ought not to 
 be allowed to enter our house. But what can I 
 do? It is not my house, and my brother 
 laughs at the idea of my setting myself up as 
 a judge of the morality of his acquaint- 
 ances." 
 
 " It isn't as an acquaintance of your brother's 
 that you object to Sir Harry Brewster," 
 remarked Medhurst, unwittingly taking up a 
 somewhat more peremptory tone than he would 
 have adopted, had he been reproached for his
 
 224 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA. 
 
 indiscretion. " I won't pretend to be ignorant 
 of what is so obvious, and it is difficult to 
 me to believe that Mr. VVentworth can be 
 ignorant of it either." 
 
 " He can always manage to shut his eyes to 
 things which he doesn't wish to see," sighed 
 Muriel. " I have told him what I am afraid of ; 
 but he treats it as a mare's nest. He doesn't 
 want to cut Sir Harry Brewster, who amuses 
 him, and he refuses to believe that there can be 
 any danger in the case of a man who is almost 
 as old as he himself is." 
 
 " But even admitting that there is no 
 danger, he must see that his daughter ought 
 not to be upon intimate terms with a man of 
 that character. I think, if you don't mind, I 
 will have a little talk with him upon the 
 subject." 
 
 " Of course I don't mind," answered Muriel, 
 "but I am afraid he will only laugh at you. I
 
 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA. 22-3 
 
 have told the servants I shall not be at home to 
 Sir Harry Brewster in future. That much I 
 was entitled to do ; but I can't prevent Sylvia 
 from meeting him elsewhere. Fortunately she 
 will be going down to the country in a few days, 
 and I have written to beg Harriet Morecambe 
 to keep her as long as possible. I don't think 
 Sir Harry is serious : it is about her that I am 
 frightened." 
 
 In speaking with so much frankness Muriel 
 was giving Colonel Medhurst a proof of friend- 
 ship which he appreciated and which gladdened 
 his heart. 
 
 " We ought to be able to protect your niece 
 between us, Miss Wentworth," said he, confi- 
 dently. " Brazen it out as he may, that rascal 
 must be ashamed of himself and must know that 
 he hasn't a leg to stand upon. Anyhow, I'm 
 glad to think that he won't be received by you 
 
 any more. Probably Mr. Wentworth has for- 
 VOL. I. 15
 
 226 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA. 
 
 gotten some incidents of which I shall take the 
 
 liberty to remind him." 
 
 Muriel, who by this time was standing on the 
 doorstep, smiled and looked doubtfully at him. 
 " You won't be angry if you are politely re- 
 quested to mind your own business, will you ? " 
 she asked. 
 
 " Not I ! I consider it my business to be of 
 use to you in any way that I can — and I don't 
 lose my temper very easily, Miss Wentworth, 
 though I did forget myself in your presence 
 yesterday." 
 
 Muriel smiled again and held out her hand. 
 " I won't ask you to come in this evening," said 
 she, " because I think perhaps you had better 
 not meet Sylvia ; but if you care to call in a few 
 days you can do so without any fear of finding 
 Sir Harry Brewster in the drawing-room." 
 
 So the day ended for Colonel Medhurst a 
 good deal better than it had begun. With what
 
 MISS WENT WORTH'S IDEA. 227 
 
 weapons he was to defeat the machinations ot 
 Sir Harry Brewster he hardly knew ; but one 
 
 thing was, happily, beyond doubt, namely, that 
 
 he had entered into an alliance with Muriel 
 
 Went worth. 
 
 15*
 
 CHAPTER XIL 
 
 " Oh, by the way, Harriet," said Lord More- 
 cambe, bustling into his wife's boudoir with a 
 great show of haste, " I have just had a tele- 
 gram which concerns you rather more than me. 
 I suppose the house isn't quite chock full, is 
 it ? " 
 
 Lady Morecambe pushed her chair back from 
 the table at which she was writing letters and 
 looked sharply at the speaker, whose eyes 
 dropped somewhat guiltily under her gaze. 
 She knew very well that when her husband 
 pretended to be in a hurry it was because he 
 was afraid of being scolded, and although in a 
 general way she was the most good-natured and 
 accommodating of wives, there were certain pre- 
 rogatives of hers to which she clung tenaciously.
 
 MISS WENTWOETH'S IDEA. 229 
 
 One of these was the right to say who should 
 and who should not be invited to Morecambe 
 Priory — a very necessary privilege to insist 
 upon, owing to the indiscriminate hospitality 
 of her lord and master, who, had he been 
 allowed to do as he pleased, would have asked 
 all sorts of impossible people to stay with him 
 upon the plea that they were what he called 
 " good fellows." 
 
 " I can't say whether the house is full or not 
 until I have seen the telegram," she replied ; 
 " give it to me." 
 
 But Lord Morecambe did not seem disposed to 
 part at once with the slip of paper which he held 
 in his hand. " Oh, it's only from Brewster," he 
 said, in a deprecating tone of voice. " Wants to 
 come down for the ball to-night. Rather cool, I 
 admit, but that's just his way, you know. Of 
 course you don't like him ; but really he won't 
 trouble you much this time. One more or less
 
 230 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA. 
 
 among such a crowd of people can't make any 
 
 great difference, can it ? " 
 
 A very angry woman was Lady Morecambe 
 when the name of this self-invited guest was re- 
 vealed to her. 
 
 " I never heard of such impudence in my 
 life ! " she exclaimed. " Most certainly the 
 house is full — and if it was empty there would 
 be no room in it for Sir Harry Brewster. You 
 had better telegraph to him at once and say so. 
 I could believe anything of the man's imperti- 
 nence, but I do think he might have known better 
 than to imagine that he could make a cat's paw 
 of me in such an open way. And really it is too 
 bad of Sylvia Wentworth. They must have 
 arranged it between them. Muriel cannot have 
 any suspicion, because she wrote to me a day or 
 two ago, begging me to keep Sylvia here as long 
 as possible, and hinting that she wanted the girl 
 to be removed from London on account of some
 
 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA. 231 
 
 flirtation or entanglement. It is easy enough to 
 guess who the man must be. Well, he is very 
 much mistaken if he thinks he can use this 
 house as a place of assignation." 
 
 " Oh, come," expostulated Lord Morecambe ; 
 " I'm sure you can't mean to accuse a child like 
 poor little Sylvia of doing such naughty things. 
 As for Brewster, his flirtations have always been 
 with married women, you know. Besides, he 
 has turned over a new leaf of late, I'm told. I 
 don't see what chance he can have had of 
 making assignations with Sylvia Wentworth 
 either. In all probability he hasn't set eyes on 
 her since they met here." 
 
 " Unfortunately, that is just what he has ; I 
 have heard of it from more than one quarter 
 during the last few days. Sir Harry was seen 
 driving Sylvia and her father on a coach, and 
 they were at the theatre together too, and some- 
 where else — at Richmond, I think."
 
 232 MISS WENTWORTHS IDEA. 
 
 " O, well, there you are ! " said Lord More- 
 cambe, with an air of relief. " If the girl's 
 father allows Brewster to go about with her 
 — and really I don't know why he shouldn't — 
 it's none of our business to take precautions." 
 
 " I know very little of Mr. Wentworth," re- 
 marked Lady Morecambe ; " he may be a 
 perfect fool, and I dare say he is — nine men 
 out of ten are. But you may depend upon it 
 that he will have sense enough to abuse me if 
 Sylvia gets into trouble, and I don't choose to 
 lay myself open to justifiable abuse. Sir Harry 
 Brewster doesn't cross this threshold — that much 
 I can promise you." 
 
 " But, my dear," said Lord Morecambe, 
 timidly putting forward a consideration which 
 he had hoped would have suggested itself to her 
 ladyship, " how is the thing to be helped ? You 
 see, he must have started by this time, and it really 
 is impossible to turn a man away from one's door."
 
 w 
 
 MISS WEST WORTHS IDEA. 233 
 
 Lady Morecambe replied resolutely that this 
 •as not only possible but that it should be done. 
 It was not her fault if every bedroom in the 
 house was occupied, nor was she bound to prove 
 that such was the case. a We don't keep an 
 inn," she said. 
 
 "No; but Judkins at the 'Morecambe 
 Arms ' does," remarked her husband. " Of 
 course Brewster will go there, and of course he 
 will turn up at the ball to-night. We can't 
 refuse to admit him without having a regular 
 row — which would be deuced unpleasant for 
 everybody." 
 
 Lady Morecambe was constrained to admit 
 that a regular row was certainly undesirable, 
 and, after a few minutes of meditation, she 
 decided that house-room had better be given 
 to Sir Harry Brewster for the night. " He shall 
 leave by the first train to-morrow morning, 
 though," she declared ; " if you don't tell him
 
 234 MISS WENTWOKTH'S IDEA, 
 
 that, I will. And you may give him to under- 
 stand at the same time that he will never be 
 asked here again, in the shooting season or out 
 of it. Of all the wicked things that he has 
 done, it does seem to me that this is the worst 
 and the most selfish. Women who have been 
 out in the world for half a dozen years can take 
 care of themselves ; but no man who was not an 
 absolute wretch would try to break a schoolgirl's 
 heart for the sake of securing a few hours of 
 amusement." 
 
 Lady Morecambe was perhaps justified in ac- 
 cusing Sir Harry of abnormal selfishness, for he 
 was in truth as selfish a man as ever lived ; yet 
 it so happened that in this particular instance 
 he did not deserve the censure passed upon him. 
 He had not attempted to amuse himself with 
 Sylvia Wentworth ; he had not flirted with her ; 
 but, by one of those odd strokes of fate against 
 which age and wisdom afford no protection, he
 
 MISS WEXTWORTH'S IDEA. 233 
 
 had fallen desperately in love with the girl. At 
 the outset, as has been said, he had thought of 
 her probable fortune as an acquisition which 
 might be worth making a bid for, but of late 
 he had put all such mercenary considerations 
 away from him. He would have been willing to 
 marry her if she had not had a penny, nor the 
 prospect of one, and his only dread was that her 
 family would never consent to her union with a 
 divorced man. After the little scene which had 
 taken place between him and Colonel Medhurst, 
 it was of course his first duty to make out some 
 sort of a case for himself with Mr. Wentworth, 
 and he had hesitated for some time before 
 despatching the telegram which had so greatly 
 incensed Lady Morecambc. Eventually, how- 
 ever, he had made up his mind to be present at 
 the ball. For one thing, he had promised Sylvia 
 that he would be there, and for another, he per- 
 suaded himself that he owed an explanation to
 
 236 MISS WENTWORTHS IDEA, 
 
 her rather than to anybody else. He was fully 
 aware that he would not be made welcome by 
 Lady Morecambe ; but that did not disturb him 
 in the least. He took care to preclude the 
 possibility of her shutting her door in his face, 
 and, as he did not propose to remain more than 
 one night under her roof, he was able to contem- 
 plate the prospect of a cold reception with philo- 
 sophic indifference. 
 
 Sylvia, meanwhile, was exercised by grave 
 doubts as to whether Sir Harry would put in an 
 appearance or not. She had expected to hear, 
 directly or indirectly, of him before she left 
 London ; but, since he had made no sign, she 
 was not free from anxiety lest the redoubtable 
 Colonel Medhurst should have scared him away. 
 She did not realise what that anxiety meant ; 
 she was not conscious of being ready to forgive 
 him for any iniquity that he might have per- 
 petrated in the past ; all she knew was that if
 
 MISS WEKTWORTH'S IDEA. 237 
 
 he deserted her, her life would once more be- 
 come as dull and empty as it had been in the 
 old days which already seemed so far away, 
 and against that outlook she rebelled with all 
 the passionate petulance of a spoilt child. But 
 in the course of the afternoon her fears were 
 dissipated, for she knew that Sir Harry was 
 coming. Lady Morecambe, who had hitherto 
 been amiability itself, looked so annoyed and 
 spoke so snappishly to her that she could form 
 a pretty shrewd guess at what had occurred, 
 and it was without any surprise that she heard 
 herself addressed, just before dinner, in a voice 
 which had become both familiar and sweet to 
 her ears. 
 
 " May I be allowed to book two consecutive 
 dances ? " asked Sir Harry hurriedly. " As you 
 may imagine, I want to speak to you, and it is 
 not likely that I shall be granted an opportunity 
 before the dancing has begun."
 
 238 MISS WENT WORTH'S IDEA. 
 
 " I will give you four and five," answered 
 Sylvia, who had already possessed herself of a 
 programme. " Are we to sit them both out ? If 
 so, perhaps you would like to have another one 
 later on." 
 
 " I must leave that to your generosity ; I don't 
 know whether you will be inclined to dance with 
 me later on. I suppose it will depend upon 
 whether you are satisfied or not with what I have 
 to say to you." 
 
 This was all that passed between them ; for 
 now Lady Morecambe abruptly put a stop to their 
 colloquy by leading Sylvia away to the other end 
 of the room. But nobody knew better than Lady 
 Morecambe that it is impossible in a ball-room to 
 separate two people who are bent upon coming 
 together. She did what she could ; she kept 
 Sylvia beside her until the guests began to arrive ; 
 she introduced more young men to her protegee 
 than there were dances on the programme, but she
 
 MISS WENT WORTH'S IDEA. 239 
 
 could not erase Sir Harry's Brewster's name from 
 the card which was attached to Miss Sylvia's fan, 
 nor did her duties as a hostess permit her to quit 
 her post in the doorway. 
 
 And so it came to pass that when the band 
 struck up the opening bars of the fourth dance 
 Sylvia, on Sir Harry Brewster's arm, was being 
 conducted out of the ball-room into an adjacent 
 conservatory, where comfortable seats and sub- 
 dued light and privacy were obtainable by those 
 in search of such advantages. 
 
 " I am going to tell you nothing but the 
 truth," he began, plunging at once and without 
 preface into the midst of the subject of which 
 they were both thinking. " If I don't tell you 
 the whole truth, you will understand that it is 
 because some things can't be put into plain 
 words. That man Medhurst had a right to call 
 me all the bad names in the dictionary ; his 
 sister had a right to divorce me, and all I have
 
 240 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA, 
 
 to say for myself is that I was never guilty of 
 physical violence against her, except in a tech- 
 nical sense. She was one of those good women 
 who make everybody about her miserable. She 
 made me miserable, and I have no doubt that I 
 made her miserable. The fact is that I hated 
 her. Perhaps I might be able to show that 
 there were some excuses for me, though I don't 
 pretend that they were sufficient excuses ; but, 
 before I attempt to do that, I should like to 
 ask you whether, after what I have admitted, 
 you can possibly continue to treat me as a 
 friend." 
 
 Sylvia made the answer which his know- 
 ledge of her character may have led him to 
 expect. 
 
 " I don't make it a condition that my friends 
 should be saints," she said ; " as a rule I don't 
 like saints. I think I can understand that there 
 were excuses for you ; but really I would rather
 
 MISS WENTWOKTH'S IDEA. 241 
 
 hear no more about it. It is all over and done 
 with, and — and I daresay you are sorry. Only 
 I wish that your — your enemy were anybody 
 but Colonel Medhurst ! " 
 
 " You are very kind, and very generous," 
 answered Sir Harry ; " but why do you say that ? 
 Is Colonel Medhurst a more formidable enemy 
 than any other man could be ? " 
 
 " Yes ; because Muriel believes in him, and r 
 although she isn't exactly mistress of the house, 
 she can close it against visitors whom she doesn't 
 choose to see. She has given orders that you are 
 not to be let in again ; I know that from my 
 maid, who was told by the butler." 
 
 "If it had depended upon you, then, that order 
 wouldn't have been given ? " 
 
 " No ; it wouldn't. What have I to do with 
 
 Colonel Medhurst and his grievances ? And 
 
 why should I deprive myself of one of the very 
 
 few friends I have in the world ? " 
 
 VOL. I. 1 6
 
 242 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA. 
 
 Sir Harry's rejoinder was somewhat startling, 
 and in truth he himself had not contemplated 
 coming to the point quite so soon ; but such 
 success as he had had in life had been chiefly 
 due to audacity, and he had acquired an in- 
 stinctive knack of striking while the iron was hot. 
 
 " Shall I tell you something ? " said he. " Cir- 
 cumstances will never admit of my being your 
 friend. I must be more than that or nothing 
 at all." 
 
 And as she drew back with a half-frightened 
 look and made no answer, he went on : "I know 
 it is ridiculous for a man of my age to flatter 
 himself that he can obtain what he might have 
 hoped for twenty years ago, and even if I were 
 younger, I should be heavily handicapped by 
 the events that you have been told of. Never- 
 theless, I can but say that I love you with all 
 my heart and soul. Now give me the coup de 
 grace quickly and put me out of my misery."
 
 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA. 243 
 
 Sylvia was taken by surprise ; yet if ample 
 time for deliberation had been accorded to her 
 her reply would, no doubt, have been the same. 
 She had not until that moment been aware that 
 she loved Sir Harry Brewster ; but she was 
 aware of it now, and that being so, it was 
 neither his age nor his history that could deter 
 her from answering : 
 
 " I can't send you away ; I — I care too much 
 for you. There will be a terrible fuss about it ; 
 but — I don't mind, if you don't." 
 
 What followed was what presumably always 
 does follow a declaration of that nature. Lady 
 Morecambe, released by the lateness of the hour 
 from the task of shaking hands with a multitude 
 of people whose names she could not recollect^ 
 and noticing with alarm that neither Sir Harry 
 Brewster nor Sylvia Went worth were in the ball- 
 room, reached the conservatory just in time to 
 discover the former in the very act of embracing
 
 244 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA. 
 
 the latter. Wrath and dismay rendered her 
 
 speechless for an instant ; but only for an 
 
 instant. 
 
 " Sir Harry," she exclaimed, advancing with 
 rapid steps upon the delinquents, " you are worse 
 than wicked ! I will never forgive you for this 
 — never. If you have an atom of honourable 
 feeling left you will at least keep silence about 
 what has happened ; but I am afraid your 
 honour would be a broken reed to lean upon. 
 You will be so good as to leave us now and to 
 go away by the first train to-morrow morning." 
 
 " I will go away to-night, if you like, Lady 
 Morecambe," answered Sir Harry composedly. 
 " All the same, I don't quite understand what 
 you are so angry about." 
 
 " You don't understand ! " returned the irate 
 lady ; " you don't understand that you have 
 committed an abominable outrage. But of course 
 you do understand, and I have nothing more
 
 MISS WENT WORTH'S IDEA. 245 
 
 to say to you. Please leave Miss Wentworth 
 to me." 
 
 Sir Harry bowed, smiled slightly and retired, 
 throwing a reassuring glance back at Sylvia, who 
 thereupon observed : 
 
 " I think it is you who do not understand, 
 Lady Morecambe. Sir Harry Brewster and I 
 are engaged to be married." 
 
 " Oh, you foolish child ! Don't you know that 
 the man has a wife living ? " 
 
 " I know that he once had a wife, and that he 
 is divorced from her." 
 
 " Good Heavens ! what is the world coming 
 to ? In my young days some people used to 
 call me fast ; but I am sure I never could have 
 spoken of divorce in that cool way. You must 
 have taken leave of your senses, Sylvia. Well, I 
 am not responsible ; I neither asked nor wished 
 Sir Harry to come here, and I wash my hands 
 of the whole business. To-morrow I shall send
 
 246 MISS WENTWOBTH'S IDEA, 
 
 you home to your father, who, I hope and trust, 
 will have the decency not to. blame me for a 
 catastrophe which I have had no share in 
 bringing about." 
 
 " I will take the whole blame upon myself, 
 Lady Morecambe," answered Sylvia submissively 
 but firmly. " I know I shall have a bad time of 
 it, and I don't care. Papa may forbid me to 
 marry Sir Harry Brewster now; but I shall 
 marry him as soon as I am of age." 
 
 Lady Morecambe was a little staggered. She 
 had not been prepared for the girl's quiet deter- 
 mination, which she was unable to shake by a 
 brief but vivid sketch of Sir Harry's career. The 
 fact was that Sylvia had all her life been accus- 
 tomed to impose her will upon those about her, 
 and it was not likely that her self-confidence 
 should desert her in so important a crisis as this. 
 She was happy and she was triumphant ; in her 
 heart she was persuaded that Sir Harry had
 
 MISS WENT WORTH'S IDEA. 217 
 
 never loved anyone but her, and if she thought 
 at all of the woman who had been his wife, it was 
 only with a sort of contemptuous pity. 
 
 Before the evening was over she contrived to 
 exchange a few more words with him. She was 
 returning home on the following day, she said, 
 and she would of course communicate the news 
 of her engagement at once to her people. Per- 
 haps he had better not call until he heard from 
 her. 
 
 " I will do just what you tell me," Sir Harry 
 replied. " We must make up our minds to a 
 good deal of opposition, you know." 
 
 "Oh yes; there will be opposition at first. 
 But they will give in after a time — they must. 
 Even if they succeed in separating us for years — ■ 
 but there is very little fear of their doing that — I 
 shall not change. Will you ? " 
 
 He said what everybody else would have said 
 in his place and said it with as much sincerity as
 
 243 MISS WENTWORTH'S IDEA, 
 
 anybody else could have felt. Like Lady More- 
 cambe, he was astonished at Sylvia's calm deci- 
 sion of purpose, and, unlike her, he was touched 
 by it. If it were truethat a reformed rake makes 
 the best husband, there would perhaps have been 
 no great reason to pity that self-willed and inex- 
 perienced young woman ; but in all probability 
 it is not true. At any rate, a man of Sir Harry 
 Brewster's age is not much more likely to make 
 a fresh start than habitual criminals are to earn 
 an honest livelihood, and it may have been some 
 dim perception of this fact that caused him to 
 sigh in the moment of victory. 
 
 END OF VOL. I.
 
 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS-URBANA 
 
 3 0112 052949127