.. ^■■' ./I 
 
 4.. :•• '" 
 
 . \. 
 
 
 t. ■^ 
 
 f.^
 
 ~?' 
 
 BY THE SAME AUTHOR. 
 
 THE INN OF STKANGE MEETINGS, AND OTHER POEMS. 
 By Mortimer Collins. Crown 8vo. 5s. 
 
 " Abounding in quiet humour, in bright fancy, in sweetness and melody of expression, and, 
 at times, in the tenderest touches of pathos."— Grafhzc. 
 
 "Mr Collins has an undercurrent of chivalry and romance beneath the trifling vein of good- 
 
 hurnoured banter which is the special characteristic of his verse The 'Inn of Strange 
 
 Meetings' is a sprightly ^\cce.."—Athenceum. 
 
 " Pleasant and graceful." — English Churchman. 
 
 "Vigorous and graceful, has many pretty conceits, and possesses a healthy tone." — Standard. 
 "A book of capital drawing-room verses, well suited to interest and vnwis,^."— British 
 Quarterly Rnietv. 
 
 Henry S. King & Co., 65 Cornhill, & 12 Paternoster Row.
 
 MIRANDA; 
 
 A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 MORTIMER COLLINS. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 Why, this is very midsummer madness. 
 
 Though this be madness, yet there 's method in't." 
 
 — Shakespeare. 
 
 London: Henry S. King & Co. 
 
 6s CORNHILL and 12 PATERNOSTER ROW 
 1873-
 
 [A/i rig/its reserved.]
 
 
 6 '<j O 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 tk>Ht(rry 
 
 
 ^.1 
 
 at,. 
 
 
 c5. 
 
 V- 
 
 
 5 
 
 i 
 
 HENRY CAMP KIN. 
 
 POET AND ARC UROLOGIST. 
 
 " Mihi fiejtio est atnicior. "
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 II. A STRANGE STORY 
 
 III. A MAGNETIC LADY 
 
 IV. UNDER THE SOUTHERN CROSS 
 V. THE "mighty metropolis" 
 
 VI. LOTOS-EATING . 
 VIL CROSSING THE LINE 
 VIIL TORRICELLl'S TUBE 
 IX. THE ISLAND OF HAWKS 
 X. THE BIG SHIP . 
 XL THE TROGLODYTE 
 XII. THE BOW IN THE CLOUD 
 
 XIII. TOM'S two SECRETS 
 
 XIV. THE WATCHERS OF THE SEA 
 XV. LIVERPOOL 
 
 ' 
 
 PAGE 
 
 NDMOTHER 
 
 I 
 
 . 
 
 . i6 
 
 . 
 
 • 32 
 
 • 
 
 . 44 
 
 . 
 
 . 59 
 
 
 . 71 
 
 . 
 
 . 84 
 
 • • 
 
 • 97 
 
 . 
 
 . 106 
 
 . 
 
 . 119 
 
 . 
 
 . 128 
 
 . 
 
 . 14 
 
 . 
 
 . 153 
 
 . 
 
 . 163 
 
 
 . 173
 
 IV 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAP. 
 XVI. THE RETURN HOME 
 
 XVII. VOYAGERS AT HOME . 
 
 XVIII. AN INSPECTION 
 
 XIX. AN INSULAR ENCHANTRESS 
 
 XX. ADAM AND EVE AT SARK 
 
 PAGE 
 
 . 183 
 
 . 194 
 
 . 209 
 
 . 221 
 • 239
 
 MIRANDA; 
 
 A M I D S U M iM E R MADNESS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 HER GRANDFATHER AND GRANDMOTHER. 
 
 " Most learned scion of unlearned race, 
 
 Revered far more than parson or than squire ; 
 He lived a century in his native place, 
 
 A strange old village in a strange old shire." 
 
 Whoso makes pilgrimage to the quaint vil- 
 lage of Rothescamp-in-the- Valley, will fmd 
 much to reward him. There is the church — 
 an abbey church originally — with a massive 
 square tower, inhabited by jackdaws innumer- 
 able, and the most daring of flying buttresses, 
 and one of the finest peals of bells in the king- 
 dom. The story is, that when those bells 
 were being cast, Guy de Rothescamp, just 
 returned from the Crusades, threw into the 
 
 VOL. I. A
 
 2 MIRANDA ; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 molten mass all his gold and silver plate. As 
 evidence hereof is engraven on the tenor 
 bell— 
 
 € Sal^raK hnxnnx + nnm ^mia awrrnn. 
 
 Then there is the beautiful rivulet Rothe, 
 always full and free and clear, always con- 
 taining trout innumerable. Then there is the 
 famous old inn and posting-house, the Tach- 
 brook Arms ; — for the Rothescamps have 
 long perished from the land, and their estates 
 and lordships have passed to the Tachbrooks, 
 whose house, at Rothescamp-on-the-HIll, is a 
 famous show-place. Rothescamp-on-the-Hill 
 is five miles away, up over the downs, by a 
 white chalky road, which bears the inappro- 
 priate name of Long River. The great house 
 stands almost alone, only a few cottages clus- 
 tering around its lofty outer walls ; and it Is 
 a long time now since any Tachbrook has 
 dwelt there. The last baronet was killed in 
 a duel ; the present baronet is commonly 
 reported to be in a lunatic asylum. The old 
 house is kept in order by a few staid old ser- 
 vants. The estate is sagaciously administered 
 by a trusty old steward ; but no Tachbrook,
 
 HER GRANDFATHER AND GRANDMOTHER. 3 
 
 save one, has been seen In either Rothescamp 
 for many a year. 
 
 Save one. Walk up the village street, and 
 you will see a long red brick house, two stories 
 high, with a row of pollarded limes In front 
 of It. If the hall-door is open you may admire 
 the old stairway of black oak, and the pleasant 
 garden, which may be seen through an arched 
 doorway. Look at the brass-plate on that 
 entrance-door, and you will see engraven — 
 ''Septimus Tachbrook, M.D." Enter a quaint 
 study on the left, and you will see Doctor 
 Septimus Tachbrook — a spare man, six feet 
 four inches high, with stooping shoulders, an 
 eagle's beak, and eyes so keen that you at 
 once conclude he wears those gold-rlmmed 
 spectacles to moderate their power. 
 
 Doctor Tachbrook is the youngest son 
 of the brother of the last baronet. He 
 is seventh son of a seventh son — a doctor 
 heaven-born. He made himself what he is. 
 His father, considering himself hardly used, 
 because he was the youngest son when he 
 ought to have been the eldest, consoled him- 
 self with wine and the dice, and died an out- 
 law. Septimus Tachbrook's eldest brothers
 
 4 MIRANDA ; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 took very much after their father : they were 
 obliged to work for their Hving ; they did the 
 gentpele^ work they could find. One married 
 a ri(^. widow ; another started a bank on a 
 new principle ; a third got an appointment 
 under Government, and so on. Not so Sep- 
 timus. An old maiden lady, his mother's 
 cousin, seeing that he meant to work, helped 
 him to obtain a medical education. Medicine 
 was his natural faculty. A thorough disciple 
 of Asklepios, he loved the healing art. He 
 practised with success in London for some 
 time ; but when the old lady died, she left 
 him her little property, a few hundreds a year, 
 and he, drawn towards his native air, bought 
 the old house in Rothescamp village, and 
 settled down for life. Soon he had a capital 
 practice, for all the county families for miles 
 round were delighted to have as doctor a real 
 Tachbrook. He ruined two or three rivals, 
 who had previously been trying to ruin each 
 other. He had more than he could do ; his 
 curricle and pair seemed ubiquitous. Nobody 
 of any standing, for miles around Rothes- 
 camp, could be born or die without Doctor 
 Tachbrook's aid.
 
 HER GRANDFATHER AND GRANDMOTHER. 5 
 
 When the Doctor was nearly forty, an ad- 
 venture befell him. Amone his clients was 
 a widow lady of about his own age — Lady 
 Endsleigh — who had several daughter, s, and 
 who kept a governess to look after them. 
 This governess was a Polish girl, with 
 the wondrous name of Sobieska Chlopicki ; 
 amazingly accomplished, mistress of many 
 languages, a musician most perfect and ori- 
 ginal. Her hair was long, and black as 
 midnight ; her face pallid, but looking as if 
 a fire burnt beneath the skin ; her tall form 
 strangely pliant and willowy ; her hands 
 tremulous, nervous, looking like living crea- 
 tures on the strings of a harp, or the keys of 
 a piano. Lady Endsleigh and her daughters 
 were subjugated by her. She became their 
 mistress. They w^orshipped and obeyed her. 
 All the country round used to remark how 
 Infatuated Lady Endsleigh was with that 
 foreign governess of hers. 
 
 One ni^ht, about twelve, as the Doctor was 
 just going to bed, there came a tremendous 
 ring at the night-bell. Opening the door, 
 Doctor Tachbrook saw a carriage with four 
 steaming horses, the lamps throwing vivid
 
 6 MIRANDA ; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 light Upon the dark village street. The man 
 who had rung delivered a note from Lady 
 Endsleigh. It was brief and incoherent ; it 
 simply stated that Miss Chlopicki was sud- 
 denly taken very ill — seemed to be in a sort 
 of trance — would he come at once ? 
 
 " Confound the girl ! " said to himself 
 Septimus Tachbrook, who was rather sleepy. 
 '' Never mind ; it 's a good eight miles to the 
 Lodge ; I shall get half-an-hour s doze in the 
 carriage." 
 
 So he put together such things as he 
 deemed necessary, got into the carriage, and 
 slept till the postilions pulled up at Lady 
 Endsleigh's gate. 
 
 Her Ladyship was a cheerful fussy per- 
 sonage, who took her meals regularly, and 
 delighted in gossip. She was a kind of 
 grown-up child, and as she had married 
 young, her elder daughters treated her very 
 much as if she were merely their sister. The 
 establishment was in a chaotic state until 
 Miss Chlopicki came as governess ; before 
 that time no governess had been known to 
 stay above three months. This Polish girl 
 was a born administratrix. At once she saw
 
 HER GRANDFATHER AND GRANDMOTHER. 7 
 
 the situation. She took Mary Endsleigh, the 
 eldest daughter, a girl of twenty-three, in 
 hand, and told her that her conduct to her 
 mother was improper. Miss Endsleigh 
 laughed at her superciliously : she was no 
 match for the Pole. 
 
 ** You may sneer," she said ; '' you think 
 yourself better than I ; but my father was a 
 prince, and I am a princess in my own right. 
 I am poor, you think — I am ; but I am not 
 so poor in spirit as to treat my own mother 
 with disrespect. Take my advice, Miss 
 Endsleigh, behave to Lady Endsleigh like 
 a daughter ; then, as a reward, I will teach 
 you to play the piano like an artist, instead 
 of thumping it as if all your fingers were 
 hammers." 
 
 It took a little time to carry out the 
 reform, but Sobieska did it. She advised 
 her Ladyship on all points. She induced 
 her to act as mistress in the house ; whereas, 
 previously, orders had been given by all the 
 elder daughters, and when Lady Endsleigh 
 wanted to drive, she would perhaps find all 
 the carriages engaged. Lady Endsleigh was 
 fond of giving dinner-parties, and the three 
 
 i:-f
 
 8 
 
 elder daughters (there were six in all, the 
 youngest fourteen) always joined them. Miss 
 Chlopicki also joined them, and by her quaint 
 beauty, her brilliant talk, and her occasional 
 sly sarcasms, completely effaced these girls. 
 They were beaten at last. They capitulated 
 — and took to adoring Sobieska instead of 
 hating her. 
 
 The one who held out longest was the 
 third — Violet — about nineteen. She was a 
 romp and a hoyden — liked to climb trees 
 after birds' nests, and to wade rivers after 
 water-lilies. She had just emerged from the 
 schoolroom, having learned nothing ; for all 
 previous governesses had been afraid of her, 
 as well they might. One that offended her 
 she tied to a tree in the park, and left her 
 there. She fancied her elder sisters fools for 
 being managed by Sobieska. She rejoiced 
 in her physical strength, and longed to show 
 Miss Chlopicki her superiority therein. One 
 afternoon she entered the schoolroom (a very 
 comfortable room, for Lady Endsleigh liked 
 to make every one comfortable), just as her 
 three younger sisters left it. Sobieska had 
 thrown herself on a sofa to rest. Her eyes
 
 HER GRANDFATHER AND GRANDMOTHER. 9 
 
 were closed. Violet came forward, took her 
 wrists in her hands, grasping them tightly, 
 and said — 
 
 *' Now, Miss Chlopicki, you are in my 
 power." 
 
 Sobieska looked at her languidly, and 
 smiled. 
 
 *' Dear me," she said, " what are you going 
 to do to me ?" 
 
 '* You see I am stronger than you," said 
 Violet. 
 
 " I see you are more foolish," said Sobieska. 
 " Do you really think you can hold my hands ? 
 You are a mere baby." 
 
 Violet, indignant, squeezed her wrists. 
 
 *'Oyes! you hurt me dreadfully. Now, 
 hold fast ; I am going to take my hands 
 away." 
 
 Sobieska, whose father had taught her to 
 fence, gave a sudden turn of the wrist, and 
 was free. So sharp was that turn that Violet 
 almost fainted with pain, and there was a 
 dark line across the palm of her left hand, 
 caused by the rapid movement of Sobieska's 
 right. 
 
 From that time Violet was as docile as her
 
 lO MIRANDA; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 sisters. Another circumstance rendered them 
 more docile still. One winter evening Lady 
 Endsleigh had a dinner-party, and the conver- 
 sation turned on a man who had been lec- 
 turing on mesmerism in the county town. 
 Difference of opinion existed as to whether 
 he did anything inexplicable. Miss Chloplcki 
 said nothinor. 
 
 o 
 
 When the guests had left, the ladies sat 
 awhile around the smouldering fire, and re- 
 ferred back to the conversation. 
 
 " You did not give any opinion, I re- 
 marked," said Lady Endsleigh to her 
 cToverness. 
 
 " No," said Sobleska ; '' my opinions are so 
 decided that your guests might have been 
 shocked." 
 
 '' O, do tell us what they are," said her 
 Ladyship and Mary and Annabel and Violet, 
 all in a breath. 
 
 " The man they heard lecture Is an im- 
 postor," said Sobieska. '^ So was Frederic 
 Antony Mesmer, the inventor of mesmerism. 
 But there Is such a thing as spiritual magnet- 
 ism, and It is a force of immense value. I 
 know it, too, for I can magnetise."
 
 HER GRANDFATHER AND GRANDMOTHER. 1 1 
 
 *' O, do magnetise me !" cried the impetu- 
 ous Violet. 
 
 " It is not a thing to be done for mere 
 amusement. Come to me the next time you 
 feel inclined to be mischievous, and I may 
 try the experiment." 
 
 The time came, and Violet was success- 
 fully magnetised. So in their turn were her 
 sisters. Now, whatever be the true theory 
 of spiritual magnetism — whether It Is a matter 
 of imagination, or of will, or a physical 
 change — assuredly it gives the person who has 
 the power immense ascendancy over those 
 who submit to It. These girls, who had pre- 
 viously rebelled against all authority, became 
 Sobleska's humble servants. She used her 
 despotism wisely. Never hitherto had they 
 learned anything, having always treated their 
 teachers with scorn. Sobleska brought them 
 back to the schoolroom, and did her best to 
 amend their neglected education. The con- 
 sequence of this was that she became lady 
 paramount of Endsleigh Lodge, and that 
 nothing was done by mother or daughters 
 without her. The girls came to her to know 
 if they might accept an invitation. Their
 
 1 2 MIRANDA ; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 mother asked her advice on all matters con- 
 nected with the estate. Both Lady Endsleigh 
 and her daughters regarded Sobieska as their 
 best counsellor ; so no wonder that four horses 
 came at a fast gallop to Doctor Tachbrook's 
 when she was suddenly taken ill. 
 
 When the Doctor reached Miss Chlopicki's 
 room, which was one of the most luxurious 
 in the house, he found her lying supine, per- 
 fectly still, her changeable eyes wide open : 
 there was no sensible pulse. His first step 
 was to turn out fussy Lady Endsleigh and 
 her daughters, who were in a state of chronic 
 lamentation. Then he took a lancet, and 
 slightlypunctured a vein in her beautiful brown 
 arm : the blood moved not. He applied to 
 the delicate nostrils strong liquor miimoniae: 
 there was no sign of consciousness. 
 
 '''It is a cataleptic trance," he said to Lady 
 Endsleigh, whose anxiety was almost amus- 
 ing : surely never was governess so valued 
 before. " One person should always be In 
 the room with her, and not more than one ; 
 the moment she shows signs of awaking, give 
 her wine — a tumbler of champagne with a 
 desert-spoonful of brandy in It."
 
 HER GRANDFATHER AND GRANDMOTHER. I 3 
 
 *' How long will this dreadful trance last ?" 
 inquired her Ladyship. 
 
 " Impossible to say. She may recover in 
 a week ; she may be cataleptic for a year. 
 The great point is, that she should never for 
 a moment be left alone." 
 
 " You will come often, Doctor Tachbrook," 
 said her Ladyship. 
 
 '' Daily.'^ 
 
 He kept his promise. The trance lasted 
 only five days. It terminated, by a fortunate 
 accident, during one of the Doctor s visits. 
 He was alone with his patient, watching with 
 the curiosity of a physicist the unchanged, 
 unlighted colour of her wide open eyes. 
 Suddenly, as he was gazing upon them, he 
 fancied that a scintilla of violet light came 
 from their pupils. 
 
 ''She is coming back," he thought, 'and 
 prepared for her the magic draught. 
 
 He was right. He continued looking into 
 her eyes, and it seemed to him as if they 
 exerted upon his a strange magnetic power. 
 He was aware that she claimed to possess 
 this power, at that time new and startling, 
 though old, at least, as the Pyramids ; and,
 
 14 MIRANDA; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 though by nature and profession incredulous, 
 he could not help feeling that there was some 
 strange attraction In this young woman's 
 eyes. 
 
 The violet scintilla grew to a definite flame 
 of light. The eye began to live. A look of 
 recognition gradually grew there. Sobieska 
 shuddered and moved. The Doctor brought 
 the glass to her lips, and she drank a little. 
 
 " Yes, I knew you would be here," she 
 began to say, speaking slowly and painfully ; 
 " I saw you from the window of papa's palace." 
 
 " You must not talk now," said the Doctor, 
 '' or you will tire yourself. Drink a little and 
 rest." 
 
 She obeyed. After a while, however, she 
 grew restless, and said to the Doctor — 
 
 " How long have I been away ?" 
 
 " Five days," he said. 
 
 " Yes ; that is what I reckoned. I have 
 been to see papa, who Is In some other world. 
 He has a lovely palace there, and a great park 
 with deer, where he hunts, and a gallery of 
 pictures of all the famous things he did In this 
 world. There Is one by Rembrandt of his 
 cutting down an officer who insulted a lady
 
 HER GRANDFATHER AND GRANDMOTHER. I 5 
 
 that was taken prisoner. It is such a deh'ght- 
 ful place ! From its windows you can see 
 the earth — for they are made of telescopic 
 glass, so that the most distant things seem 
 close by. I saw you quite clearly sitting in 
 this room, and looking at what you thought 
 was me, though it was merely my body. 
 Papa pointed you out to me, and I knew you 
 at once." 
 
 Doctor Tachbrook listened, with a kind of 
 belief that the young lady could not yet have 
 gathered up her scattered senses. Her next 
 remark made him feel certain thereon. 
 
 " Fancy what papa said ! He said, ' You 
 will marry that learned physician.' How 
 would you like such a fate, Doctor Tach- 
 brook ?"
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 A STRANGE STORY. 
 " She is a woman, therefore may be won," 
 
 It will be evident to persons of discernment 
 that our singular I jlish maiden was not quite 
 restored to her normal condition, and wholly 
 awakened from her trance, at the time when 
 she informed her saQ-e medical adviser that it 
 w^as her fate to marry him, and consequently 
 his to marry her. 
 
 Although she possessed the mystic consti- 
 tution of the Delphic sybil, she did not lack 
 the modesty of the ordinar}' maid. 
 
 When she was thoroughly awakened to the 
 material ever^^day world, she did not remem- 
 ber that she had made love in an unusual 
 manner to Doctor Tachbrook whilst on the 
 way to earth and in the portal of the Chamber 
 of Dreams.
 
 A STRANGE STORY. I 7 
 
 There Is a curious fact which we oueht to 
 note with reference to abnormal states of 
 being. A man when drunk has been proved 
 to remember circumstances which occurred 
 in a previous state of inebriation, while in his 
 sober condition he had been utterly unable to 
 recall them. His drunken memory is tenacious 
 only of his drunken actions ; when sober he 
 remembers clearly only what he did while 
 sober. 
 
 Sobieska Chlopicki, though her eyes never 
 wholly lost the mysterioui' magnetism which 
 was their birthright, yet Returned absolutely 
 from her dreamland to her old life. 
 
 Doctor Tachbrook did not become quite 
 restored to the serene plane of existence upon 
 which he had formerly stood. 
 
 He was a man with a considerable taste for 
 mystery, though he possessed a keen clear 
 brain which allowed it to be obfuscated by no 
 hallucinatory cobwebs. The medical profes- 
 sion, in however materialistic and incredulous 
 armour it may fence itself, nevertheless, is not 
 quite blind to the occult influences of which 
 sometimes a glimmering is vouchsafed to the 
 student. However much in outward art the 
 
 VOL. I. * B
 
 1 8 MIRANDA ; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 medical physiological leaders of opinion may 
 ridicule Theophile Gautiers idea, '' Sur les 
 sciences occultes les sciences officielles nont pas 
 dit leur dernier motl' yet many of them only 
 do so because such a course Is official and 
 orthodox. Many of them, like Gautier, have 
 known men like Balzac, and have had their 
 inmost and secret faith shaken as to the omni- 
 science of the authorised text-books. Some 
 are known to meet together to discuss with 
 closed doors those occult elements of human 
 nature, these psychologic puzzles and mag- 
 netic marvels, which it would disturb the 
 placidity of society and the nerves of their 
 wealthiest patients to hear of 
 
 Doctor Tachbrook, in addition to having 
 a private taste for the so-called abnormal, was 
 also a man not wholly insensible to the normal 
 feminine magic. Although not far from forty, 
 he was one of those men who grow mellower 
 every year up to seventy ; he was by no means 
 crabbed by study, and never dreamed that a 
 male human being is otherwise than amorous 
 and young at forty. 
 
 As he was returning home he considered 
 his position. Here was a most interesting
 
 A STRANGE STORY. 1 9 
 
 psychologic study ready to hand. Here also 
 was a most interesting and weird maiden 
 evidently only waiting to be wooed, evidently 
 bound to him, even though unconsciously, by 
 a magnetic spell that he had but to awaken to 
 call into action. He was not a superstitious 
 man, but whether or no he had absolute belief 
 in the spiritual palaces with telescopic glass 
 windows of his patient's papa, he nevertheless 
 considered it probable that her dream-message 
 to him was founded upon some fact of their 
 mutual suitability. 
 
 " She 's a sweet allurement," he said to him- 
 self, " and if she tries to manage me as she has 
 managed poor infatuated Lady Endsleigh and 
 her daughters, why, I'll mesmerise her." 
 
 That night Doctor Tachbrook dreamed of 
 Prince Chlopicki's palace. There was the lordly 
 deer park ; there was the Rembrandtesque pic- 
 ture gallery ; there were the telescopic windows, 
 through which he could see his lengthy form 
 wrapped in cosy bachelor bed-clothes in the 
 fire-lit room of the red-brick house in the well- 
 known street of the village of Rothescamp in 
 the valley ; there, too, in his dream was So- 
 bieska, more lovely and magnetic than ever.
 
 20 MIRANDA ; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 Septimus Tachbrook, when he awoke the 
 next morning and found that the princess of 
 his dream was not by his side, stretched out 
 his lengthy Hmbs, yawned, and felt rather 
 forlorn. 
 
 After breakfast, of which he partook with 
 more than usual appetite, for dream-wander- 
 ings during night produce a sensation of 
 emptiness and chill in the stomach the next 
 morninof ; after breakfast, his meditations were 
 so far advanced that he had decided to un- 
 dergo further the enchantments of the fairy 
 princess. 
 
 As she had only revived from her trance 
 the evening before, of course his visit could be 
 made professional and tete-a-tete. Otherwise 
 he would only have been able to see his 
 charmer in the presence of Lady Endsleigh, 
 and such a selection from her half-a-dozen 
 daughters as happened to be at the time in the 
 drawing-room. 
 
 H e went to the house. J ust as his brougham 
 was turning down the avenue he was stopped 
 by a footman who bore a letter in his hand 
 from Lady Endsleigh, which he was on the 
 way to deliver at the surgery.
 
 A STRANGE STORY. 2 I 
 
 The Doctor told his coachman to drive on, 
 and sat down calmly to read her Ladyship's 
 letter. It was as follow^s : — 
 
 " Dear Doctor Tachbrook, — Come at once ! 
 We are all extremely uneasy about dear Miss 
 Chlopicki. What do you think ? She positively 
 declares that she must return to Poland at 
 once. We can get no reason from her for such 
 a strange proceeding, and greatly fear that her 
 indisposition cannot be yet entirely removed ! 
 Do come as soon as you can ! She says she 
 must leave us at noon I It is all very extraor- 
 dinary ; and we all feel so terrified, as if some- 
 thing dreadful were going to happen. — Yours 
 faithfully, Selina Endsleigh." 
 
 *' This is a pretty business ! " thought the 
 Doctor ; " so sensitive an organisation is so 
 soon put out of gear. Still the constitution 
 is manifestly a rare and splendid one, and a 
 little care will soon set the disturbance to 
 rights." 
 
 As he entered the house, he met Lady 
 Endsleigh and four of her daughters in the 
 hall. The two youngest were in hysterics in 
 their bedrooms, and commotion had evidently
 
 22 MIRANDA; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 been acting upon all. Ceremony was aban- 
 doned. ** O Doctor ! " said her ladyship, 
 " I 'm so glad you've come ; you'll find Miss 
 Chlopicki in her boudoir. Please see her at 
 once, and relieve us of our dreadful fears ! " 
 
 '' She 's having her boxes packed," said one 
 of the girls. 
 
 *' She's had nothing to eat this morning," 
 said another ; while a third chimed in, '' She 
 even refused some oysters and sal volatile I 
 took up to her half an hour ago." 
 
 Doctor Tachbrook went up-stairs. Sobieska 
 was in her boudoir, as had been stated. It 
 was true, too, that she was packing her boxes. 
 Several articles of wearing apparel, as well as 
 her collection of jewellery, several handsome 
 pieces of which had been the gift of the 
 Endsleigh women, lay scattered on the floor. 
 
 She started as the Doctor entered, and then 
 looked flurriedly round the room, while an in- 
 tense blush shot visibly through her olive skin 
 over face and neck. He marked the violet 
 scintilla returning to her eye. 
 
 She had not been expecting the Doctor so 
 soon, although well aware that Lady Endsleigh 
 had sent for him. She had not meant to see
 
 A STRANGE STORY. 23 
 
 him, and even Imagined that she had locked 
 her door. 
 
 This precaution she had Inadvertently 
 omitted ; and now it was too late to bar out the 
 foe. She stood fronting the Doctor with eyes 
 fixed on the ground, and a subtle observer 
 might have observed the difficultly restrained 
 and concealed hard-drawn panting of her 
 heart. She wore no longer the assured, almost 
 commanding, manner of old. The pallor of 
 her skin remained ; but even when the first 
 sudden blush had faded from her cheeks, there 
 was still beneath the surface that appearance 
 of a hidden fire, burning more luminously than 
 ever. Altogether her appearance. If more 
 unearthly on account of the weird and un- 
 usual hue of her complexion, w^as yet more 
 human and feminine than usual, inasmuch as 
 the change of her manner from cold and subju- 
 gating to timid and unassertive, added much 
 to the charm of her uncommon and ordinarily 
 too statuesque beauty. 
 
 Doctor Tachbrook happily had studied some- 
 thing of human nature In addition to his 
 drier professional researches in physics. He 
 had seen a singular flash produced from her
 
 24 MIRANDA ; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 eyes, In addition to the flurry which filled 
 them, and the look of vexation even with 
 which she had greeted him. 
 
 Whether the Doctor's guess as to the cause 
 was absolutely and fully correct. It would be 
 Impossible with certainty to determine; but 
 this Is what he whispered to himself — 
 
 " No longer superhuman : the woman has 
 arrived. Could she have any remembrance 
 of her concluding remark to me last night ? 
 Perhaps some flash of feeling of It has touched 
 her without Its being definite enough In mean- 
 ing to put into words." 
 
 Belno- a man of the world. In addition to a 
 man of science, a gentleman, and a possible 
 lover, he did nothing foolish. 
 
 '' Miss Chloplckl," he said, In a decided and 
 professional tone, " will you be kind enough 
 to Inform me what important work you are 
 about here ? You ought not to have quitted 
 the sofa for a minute. I must request an 
 Immediate return to it : your conduct is most 
 imprudent." 
 
 A curious change of expression came over 
 Sobieskas face. A physiognomist would 
 have said that a feeling of relief had passed
 
 A STRANGE STORY. 25 
 
 over it : that a sense of painful suspense and 
 some agitation of shame had been apparently 
 oppressing her, but were now partially or 
 temporarily removed. 
 
 She looked up timidly but with a curious 
 fleet glance that passed over his carefully 
 guarded face, as if to read his inmost secrets. 
 
 '' I find it is necessary for me to return 
 to Poland at once," she said, with a forced 
 sang-froid, 
 
 ''Nonsense!" replied the Doctor, promptly; 
 '' it would be fatal for you to travel in your 
 present state ; oblige me by following out my 
 instructions, and be good enough to lie down 
 at once." 
 
 Sobieska, with a feeble remonstrance and 
 repetition of her plea about leaving for 
 Poland, obeyed his instructions. 
 
 Doctor Tachbrook rang the bell — a servant 
 appeared — and the face of one of the least 
 hysterical of Lady Endslelgh's six daughters 
 was seen behind. 
 
 Her the Doctor did not appear to notice, 
 and as Sobieska had not caught her eye, she 
 retired. He said to the servant, *' A red 
 mullet and a glass of sherry, with a chop and
 
 26 MIRANDA ; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 a glass of stout to follow, as rapidly as 
 possible." 
 
 Then he turned to his patient : '' You have 
 not eaten this morning, Miss Chloplckl, I 
 believe ?" 
 
 " No," she stammered — she who was never 
 known to stammer before. 
 
 " Most injudicious, most foolish ! " replied 
 the Doctor. At every strong word of this 
 kind which he made use of, a very close 
 student of Miss Chloplcki's face would have 
 said that a weight seemed to be lifted off her. 
 The Doctor observed it, and formed his own 
 conclusions. " Loving her self-consciousness," 
 he thought, " she thinks now that her making 
 any unvirginal remarks to me must have been 
 a delusion of her imagination." 
 
 He rang the bell again. '' Ask Lady End- 
 sleigh if she will be kind enough to step up 
 here for one moment ! " he said to the 
 servant. 
 
 Lady Endsleigh had been afraid to enter 
 the room before. Her governess's prolonged 
 trance had much shaken her nerves, and now 
 that there appeared a beginning of new and 
 unintelligible vagaries on Miss Chloplcki's
 
 A STRANGE STORY. 2/ 
 
 part, she had been employing her time chiefly 
 In wringing her hands and taking miniature 
 doses of curacoa In her own room, In order 
 to fortify her In case her remarkable governess 
 should prove to be going mad. But now as 
 the Interview Avas to be In the all-powerful 
 Doctor's presence she felt reassured, and pro- 
 ceeded up-stalrs. 
 
 " Miss Chloplckl," said that gentleman, as 
 her Ladyship entered the room, " Is suffering 
 from a slight febrile malady consequent upon 
 exhaustion, arising from her not having taken 
 sufficient food after recovery from her nervous 
 attack. I have taken the liberty of ordering 
 lunch for her." 
 
 " Then she is not going to start for 
 Poland to-day ?" said Lady Endsleigh, rather 
 inconsequently. 
 
 '' Certainly not, my dear lady ; quite Im- 
 possible for her to travel for a fortnight. 
 Indeed, highly doubtful whether such a 
 journey could safely be performed within a 
 month, or even whether it ought to be 
 attempted at all." 
 
 Lady Endsleigh looked reassured, and 
 after saying, " Then we will not let her go,"
 
 2 8 MIRANDA; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 came by degrees to chat pleasantly, the 
 Doctor carefully leading the conversation. 
 With Lady Endsleigh in the room, some- 
 thing of Sobleska's usual bearing gradually 
 returned, as if the presence of a person 
 over whom she was conscious of intellectual 
 superiority, and over whom she had been 
 wont to exert much half-unconscious influ- 
 ence, restored her her strength. 
 
 Soon the lunch which had been ordered 
 arrived, and under the Doctor's scientific 
 explanations and warnings the Invalid man- 
 aged to eat it. 
 
 In a short time one of the daughters joined 
 the party, and the conversation became more 
 general and ordinary in its character. The 
 oppression which had been weighing on 
 more than one of the household gradually 
 lifted off; and the weirdness of such abnor- 
 mal matters as trance, and the unpleasant 
 feelings caused by unaccountable eccentricities, 
 began to wear away. 
 
 Septimus Tachbrook stayed more than 
 an hour, excusing himself professionally on 
 the ground that Miss Chlopicki's digestion 
 required careful attention.
 
 A STRANGE STORY. 29 
 
 It was to him a most curious time. 
 
 Sobleska sat on the sofa, looking ex- 
 quisitely charming In the glow of returning 
 health, and in the newly-gained freedom 
 from an Indefinable consciousness of some 
 strange relation to the Doctor. She did 
 not quite lose the sense of a singular rapport 
 with regard to him, but the dread of un- 
 maldenly nearness to him faded somewhat 
 from her mind, being relegated as it were 
 from her nerves as they grew serener to 
 the more mysterious depths of her spirit. 
 
 On the Doctor she looked, or appeared to 
 look, with the same eyes as of old, whenever 
 he had seen her on the occasion of his friendly 
 occasional calls upon Lady Endsleigh. 
 
 But ever and anon there seemed to him 
 to be a subtle and novel element In her 
 look, a kind of wooing, unrealised by her, 
 and proceeding from the very depths of 
 her unconsciousness. If her outward de- 
 meanour was ordinary and merely polite, 
 this inward demeanour manifested Itself by 
 flashes of ineffable and extraordinary fasci- 
 nation. 
 
 By the time the Doctor departed, the
 
 30 MIRANDA ; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 portions of his soul which were divided 
 from those devoted to science, and were 
 set apart for love, were filled to the utmost. 
 His whole being for the hour seemed almost 
 to forget science and its incredulities, and to 
 live in love and its faiths. 
 
 As he returned home, through the avenue, 
 after engaging to call again the morning 
 following, his scientific voice said within 
 him, "All smooth now, possibly, now that 
 we have tranquillised the excessive maidenly 
 self-consciousness and reproach." And all 
 the while, throug^h day and night, through 
 work and dream, his love voice kept repeat- 
 ing, '' An exquisite girl, a fascinating spirit, 
 a magnetic miracle, an adorable woman." 
 
 Septimus Tachbrook called at the Hall 
 often and often, at first professionally, and 
 afterwards without that excuse. 
 
 Sobieska, being wooed in ordinary fashion, 
 and not wooing as she seemed to see 
 herself in the horror of a half-remembered 
 dream, did not manifest more terror and 
 reluctance than are usual with maidens 
 who are truly wooed and truly won. The 
 glances of ineffable fascination that at first
 
 A STRANGE STORY. 3 I 
 
 had flashed timidly from the deepest founts 
 of her inner soul, gradually grew in volume, 
 and seemed to come from less distant regions 
 of her eyes, and to be glowing closer and 
 closer to her lover. 
 
 And when the day came that, in manly, 
 straightforward language, normal and un- 
 mystical, he told her that he loved her, she 
 was able to make effable those ineffable 
 gleams of her spirit, and to say in homely, 
 mortal speech the little sweet word. Yes. 
 
 She married that learned physician, and 
 the pair proceeded to enter that lovely 
 palace of love that had appeared in her 
 dreams to be her fathers, but is in reality 
 universal. Doctor Tachbrook had met with 
 his fate.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 A MAGNETIC LADY. 
 
 "Florio. . . . See her eyes ! 
 
 They look you through, they make you shrink and shudder ; 
 
 Yet, for all that, they hold you close, and bind you 
 
 As loadstone steel. You cannot soon forget 
 
 Those eyes ; they haunt you o' nights ; they make you 
 
 wonder . . . 
 Eyes are they, or strange orient talismans 
 Set in a pretty woman's giddy head 
 To madden men ? " — Old Play. 
 
 Adam, when he married Lilith, must have 
 felt rather perplexed as to how to manage 
 her. So must the chivalrous gentleman who 
 married Undine. So, questionless, do a 
 great many persons of both sexes who have 
 the ill luck to wed those whom they cannot 
 understand. Doctor Septimus Tachbrook, 
 however, was a man of unusual perspicacity ; 
 he had the gift of insight, which is the best 
 gift of any doctor, moral or physical. He
 
 A MAGNETIC LADY. 33 
 
 saw clearly that his young wife (she was not 
 much more than half his age) had a curious 
 inexplicable faculty which enabled her to In- 
 fluence others as the serpent Influences the 
 bird, or the snake-charmer the serpent. She 
 became of Immense use to him, for she pos- 
 sessed the clairvoyant faculty ; and when a 
 new patient was heard of, had a knack of 
 discovering what was the matter without 
 diagnosis. 
 
 Not many years before had Mesmer been 
 flourishing In Paris, magnetising ladles and 
 trees, while sturdy Benjamin Franklin did 
 his best to demolish him. Between two such 
 men there Is no osculating point. Mesmer 
 was an imaginative quack ; Franklin was an 
 unimaginative philosopher. Mesmer had an 
 inkling of a great mystery, and tried to make 
 money of it ; Franklin would have scorned 
 the thought of making money, but could not 
 apprehend a mystery. Hence they were not 
 fairly matched, and Franklin's unanswerable 
 arguments were practically answered — since 
 Mesmer flourished. 
 
 Doctor Tachbrook made Lady Endsleigh 
 and her six daughters very unhappy by 
 
 VOL. I. c
 
 34 MIRANDA ; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 taking Sobieska away ; but they gave her 
 superb presents, and it was decided they 
 should never have another governess. They 
 were always coming over to Rothescamp-in- 
 the- Valley to see her. She still advised Lady 
 Endsleigh, still kept the girls in order. 
 Indeed, she very soon became the adviser of 
 the whole village ; and as she insisted on 
 cleanliness and ventilation, the Doctor used 
 to say she was spoiling his practice. 
 
 Over Doctor Tachbrook himself Sobieska 
 exerted a curious influence. He had rather 
 a restless temper, and was apt to think more 
 of a scientific experiment than of all his 
 patients. Sobieska did for him all his deli- 
 cate manipulations ; she taught him tran- 
 quillity ; in the pleasant evenings, after the 
 day's work and worry, she calmed him with 
 choice ballads sung to harp or guitar — ballads 
 that were usually improvisations, words and 
 music too. Here is one : — 
 
 She was tall and fair, and strange and strong, 
 Helen of Troy. 
 . To her did the world's worst war belong, 
 
 And for many heroes grievous wrong ; 
 
 But ah ! there was also Homer's song, 
 
 Worth more annoy.
 
 A MAGNETIC LADY. 35 
 
 II. 
 
 She came, men say, of a strain divine, 
 
 Helen of Troy. 
 The dew on her lips outwent all wine. 
 The light in her eyes surpassed starshine, 
 The pulse of her fair breasts said, Be mitie ! 
 
 Lady of joy. 
 III. 
 Thou shalt never die ; thou art here this day, 
 
 Helen of Troy. 
 So long as the sweet spring breezes play, 
 And the swallow swings in the air of May, 
 Why the men will woo and the girls be gay, 
 
 Helen of Troy ! 
 
 The Doctor grew quite a different man 
 under his wife's tendence, and the village 
 and the vicinage declared that his marriage 
 had marvellously improved him. 
 
 Unhappily for him, his married life did 
 not last long. Sobieska died three years 
 after their marriage, leaving a child for her 
 husband to take care of Doctor Tachbrook 
 was miserable ; he had lost one half of his 
 soul — he longed to recover it. Gladly would 
 he also have passed to the other world ; but 
 the Destinies had other designs. He lived 
 more than half-a-century after his wife's 
 death ; and during all those years had a firm 
 belief that she was present with him. Was 
 he mad, think you 1
 
 36 MIRANDA ; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 The child lived — a boy. He was 
 christened Harold, a family name of the 
 Tachbrooks. He was the oddest of boys. 
 His father let him do just what he pleased. 
 His fancies were eccentric. He sometimes 
 liked cricket and football with the village 
 youngsters, and at such games he showed, 
 easy mastery. He sometimes liked to shut 
 himself up in the Doctor's library and read 
 Homer for hours. When his father talked 
 to him about his irregular habits, he said that 
 some invisible being told him what to do ; 
 he could not help it, he was under orders. 
 The Doctor, who had reason for believing 
 that 
 
 "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, 
 Than are dreamt of in your philosophy," 
 
 did not thwart his son's vagaries. He had a 
 kind of superstition that the wife he had lost 
 held some communication with her boy. 
 
 The young squire, as everybody in Rothes- 
 camp called him, since he was a true Tach- 
 brook, often lounged into the Tachbrook 
 Arms of a morning. The landlord, Tom 
 Ockit, was rather a humourist, and had rather 
 a pretty niece. Edith Ockit was a thorough
 
 A MAGNETIC LADY. 37 
 
 lady, though orphanhood had thrown her on 
 the jolly avuncular innkeeper. Her father 
 was an artist of no common power, and the 
 *' O. or of Orlando Ockit commands thou- 
 sands to-day where he, poor fellow, would 
 have been glad of a ten-pound note. When 
 he died, his jolly brother Tom, innkeeper and 
 farmer, took in the girl right readily ; but he 
 was incapable of seeing that her jfine fibre was 
 unsuited to doing barmaid's business. Harold 
 saw it : Harold fell in love. 
 
 Edith was proud, and slightly inaccessible. 
 Harold played a waiting game. He talked 
 to her at eventide. He told her the most 
 abominable stories. An active imagination 
 is very useful in lovemaking. Harold's was 
 very active ; and in course of time he con- 
 trived to subjugate Edith : which done, he 
 thouo^ht he would talk to his father. 
 
 I should here observe that when Lady 
 Endsleigh died she left Harold a few thou- 
 sand pounds, ''as a testimony of gratitude to 
 Doctor Tachbrook." The Doctor would 
 not be persuaded to accept it for his son 
 till the executors assured him that if he 
 did not there would be a Chancery suit to
 
 J 
 
 8 MIRANDA ; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 make him, which might perhaps ruin the 
 estate. 
 
 Well, Harold came to the Doctor. 
 
 " Father," he said, " I want to marry." 
 
 '' You are young," said the Doctor, gravely. 
 
 *' True," said Harold. " But I have been 
 dreaming, night after night, of my mother, 
 and she tells me to marry Edith Ockit, and 
 to go to Australia within a year." 
 
 " I should once have said," his father 
 replied, " that such dreams were mere reflec- 
 tions of what you thought of during the day. 
 But I have seen so many curious experiments 
 that I cannot reach a conclusion. You shall 
 have your way. Edith Ockit is not your 
 equal in birth, but she seems a remarkably 
 good girl. As to Australia, I see no objection. 
 I shall miss you, but I must find some study 
 to enliven me. You have a little money to 
 start with : I can send you some more if you 
 should want It." 
 
 Harold Tachbrook married Edith Ockit — 
 a calm and thoughtful girl, who quieted her 
 husband's restlessness. But he was still 
 haunted by a phantom that bade him go to 
 the antipodes : so a few months (I forget
 
 A MAGNETIC LADY. 39 
 
 the number) after marriage he engaged a 
 passage for himself and his wife in a well- 
 found sailing vessel, and started for Australia 
 Felix. 
 
 The passage was long and troublesome. 
 The winds blew wilder than ever around the 
 Cape of Good Hope. They were blown 
 about to the verge of despair. Driven out 
 of their course, they were becalmed off 
 Borneo : and there occurred what is in- 
 evitable if the human race is to continue to 
 exist. Mrs Tachbrook gave birth to a child. 
 It was a girl. It cost poor Edith her life, 
 and her body was buried in the sea, amid 
 the tears of passengers and sailors. Folly, 
 of course : but the sadness of death seems 
 increased when the corpse must be left in the 
 untraceable depths of ocean, where no stone 
 can be placed, no flowers planted. 
 
 Mrs Tachbrook, when first she felt what 
 was going to happen, had a presentiment 
 that she was not fated to survive her trouble. 
 Of this to her husband she said nothing, 
 knowinof well how miserable it would make 
 his loving heart. But the feeling haunted 
 her, perhaps rendering more certain the
 
 40 MIRANDA ; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 doom she dreaded : and she thought very 
 sadly, indeed, of Harold left alone in the 
 world, of her unborn child without a mother's 
 loving care. She should never kiss its pretty 
 lips, or lave in fair water its tender form, 
 or feel its little fingers on her breast. That 
 was her presentiment : it proved true. 
 
 Believing that she should die, she wanted 
 to tell Harold concerning an old school 
 friend whom she dearly loved, and to ask 
 him to find her out if she should return to 
 England. Friendships made at school are 
 often durable. This girl was named Mary 
 Fane ; she was under the common height, 
 a delicate creature that you might put under 
 a glass shade. Every part of her body had 
 curious beauty, both of form and colour ; 
 her ears were little shells, her nails pure 
 mother-o'-pearl, her mouth a rose-bed. She 
 was tremulous all through with fire and fun. 
 All her school fellows were in love with her ; 
 but her chosen friend was Edith Ockit. 
 
 Mary Fane was terribly naughty, but so 
 irresistibly amusing that her naughtinesses 
 were always forgiven. They were the out- 
 come of a high and daring spirit in a lively,
 
 A MAGNETIC LADY. 4 1 
 
 lovely form. To her might well have been 
 applied what Wordsworth wrote of Hartley 
 Coleridge in his childhood : — 
 
 " Thou art so exquisitely wild, ^ 
 I think of thee with many fears, 
 For what may be thy lot in future years." 
 
 She was the plague and the delight of the 
 school ; was more punished and more petted 
 than all the rest put together. She was 
 just the sort of girl whom a wise and loving 
 husband might mould into a perfect woman. 
 Unluckily she was not so constituted as to 
 be likely at first sight to attract a man of 
 this class. 
 
 When Edith Ockit left school and went 
 to live with her uncle, an active corres- 
 pondence (active for days of dear postage) 
 was kept up between her and Mary Fane. 
 It gradually slackened : Edith was very busy 
 with Harold Tachbrook, and perhaps Miss 
 Mary was very busy with somebody else. 
 If so, I warrant he had a fine time of it. 
 
 When Edith became Mrs Tachbrook, she 
 had not heard from her friend for a long 
 time. Preparation for travel gave her no 
 time to discover where she was. On the
 
 42 MIRANDA ; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 voyage she had often talked to Harold, in 
 a pleasant, simple way, about her school life : 
 and Mary Fane was so frequently named 
 that Harold laughingly pretended to be 
 jealous. 
 
 As poor Edith grew weaker and weaker 
 before her baby's birth, with the sad pre- 
 sentiment of never regaining strength, she 
 was haunted by strange dreams of Mary 
 Fane, in all kinds of terrible difficulty, call- 
 ing to her across the sea for help. A sensible 
 woman enough, Edith recognised these 
 dreams as the phantasms of illness and 
 weakness, yet she could not help saying to 
 her husband — 
 
 " Harold, when we go back to England, I 
 want to find out Mary Fane. I cannot help 
 thinking she is likely to get into trouble." 
 
 ^' Very likely, indeed, my pet, from all 
 that you have told me of her," said Harold, 
 laughing. He did not, nor indeed did the 
 Doctor, imagine Edith so weak as she really 
 was. Her cheerful resolute spirit deceived 
 them. 
 
 But when she died, and he felt his great 
 loss, he thought of her anxiety about Mary
 
 A MAGNETIC LADY. 43 
 
 Fane. He resolved that on his return to 
 England he would seek for her. After he 
 had seen his dear love buried in the illimit- 
 able sea, he thought more of this last fancy 
 of hers than even of his little unconscious 
 daughter. 
 
 This little baby girl was the pet of the ship. 
 She was called Miranda. She was happy 
 enough — for there were cows on board, and 
 plentiful milk : there were also ladies on 
 board, and plentiful petting. Harold Tach- 
 brook was miserable. He could not bear to 
 look at his little girl : she was such a dread 
 reminder of her mother's death. The only 
 thing that consoled him was his firm faith 
 that his mother's spirit communicated with 
 him and gave him guidance. He had left his 
 father ; he had lost his wife ; his child was a 
 baby : but he was not alone, for he recognised 
 the spirit of his mother. That spirit had 
 in a vision of the night mapped Melbourne 
 before his eyes, and had pointed to a place in 
 that map as if ordering him to go thither. 
 Harold resolved to go.
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 UNDER THE SOUTHERN CROSS. 
 
 " Bom far from merry England, English folk 
 
 See her in dreams. For them the summer breeze 
 Murmurs through mighty woods of beech and oak : 
 
 They hear her minster bells across the leas ; 
 In vision they behold her cities fair, 
 And drink her rivulets, and breathe her happy air." 
 
 Melbourne was a small place when Harold 
 Tachbrook reached it, bringing his baby-girl, 
 much wondering what he could do with her. 
 The famous English city was but a few years 
 old, and scanty signs appeared of its marvel- 
 lous development. When Harold landed, he 
 seemed to recognise in its right-angled streets 
 the town of his dreams ; and he made his way 
 to the particular point which he fancied had 
 been indicated to him. What he found was a 
 rather dingy lodging-house. It was kept by a
 
 UNDER THE SOUTHERN CROSS. 45 
 
 middle-aged woman called Brown, who had 
 come out with her husband. That gentleman 
 had gone into the bush some years before, 
 and Mrs Brown had pretty well given him up 
 altogether. She was a Wiltshire farmer's 
 daughter, homely and good-natured. Harold's 
 interview with her resulted in his leaving his 
 hotel to lodge there, while he decided what he 
 would do ; and kind-hearted Mrs Brown, who 
 had no children, except a married daughter in 
 England, took to little Miranda at once. 
 
 Close to Mrs Brown s establishment, rather 
 dingy, but not uncomfortable, there was a large 
 piece of waste ground, where rubbish was 
 thrown, and dogs and cats congregated. The 
 old lady one day remarked that she wished 
 she could rent it. At present it v/as quite a 
 nuisance, and she might make a useful garden 
 of it in time. Harold Tachbrook, who was 
 wandering about the infant city in search of 
 adventure, amused himself by making inquiry 
 as to the ownership of this waste spot, and 
 found Its proprietor In the person of an oyster- 
 vendor, who was only too glad to sell his 
 property for fifty pounds. Mrs Brown was 
 delighted, especially when he set to work
 
 46 MIRANDA ; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 energetically to make a fence round it, and to 
 lay out a kitchen-garden. It took some time, 
 some money also, for garden-seeds were at 
 that time scarce in Melbourne. But Harold 
 worked hard, and made Mrs Brown quite 
 a pleasant garden in a month or two. 
 
 One day Harold was down at the docks, 
 smoking a short pipe (for tobacco is always 
 your Englishman's consoler when other con- 
 solation fails), and saw a ship come in — the 
 Albatross from Liverpool — with a large num- 
 ber of emigrants. Looking curiously at the 
 motley groups that landed, he was specially 
 struck by a boy of about fourteen, in jacket 
 and trousers of blue serge, who sprang ashore 
 with only a small bag in his hand, and walked 
 up the beach as if he meant to annex Australia. 
 
 "■ I'll talk to that young gentleman," said 
 Harold to himself; '' he's a runagate, I guess." 
 
 So he accosted the boy, and asked him 
 where he thought of going. 
 
 '' O, I don't care/' said the youngster, 
 laughing; ''I've run away from home, and 
 mean to see the world. If there's anyplace 
 you think will suit me, I shall feel thankful for 
 knowing it."
 
 UNDER THE SOUTHERN CROSS. 47 
 
 " Well," said Harold Tachbrook, much 
 amused, ^* I lodge at a pretty comfortable 
 place; will you come and look at it? But 
 where is your luggage ? " 
 
 ^' Luggage ! this bag is all I have. I may 
 as well tell you that I ran away from school, 
 and determined to put myself a good way off. 
 The fact is, my governor hates me — I don't 
 know why ; and though he has plenty of 
 money, he sent me to a wretched little school, 
 where nothing was taught, and where the fool 
 of a master took delight in flogging. One 
 day I thought I wouldn't stand it any longer ; 
 so, when this fool wanted to flog me, I gave 
 him a jolly good licking, and packed up my 
 bag and went off. I had plenty of money, 
 for an aunt of mine had given me a lot of 
 jewellery my grandmother left for me, and one 
 ring paid my passage out here. Look! here's 
 a satisfactory roll of paper." 
 
 The mad boy took from his pocket a roll 
 of bank-notes, and handed them to Harold. 
 
 ^' What are you going to do ?" asked the 
 latter. 
 
 '' O, / don't know. Enjoy myself and 
 see Australia."
 
 48 MIRANDA ; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 The boy, who gave his name as Tom Jones, 
 which probably was not his name, and who 
 had a fine patrician daring about him, went 
 home with Harold to Mrs Brown. He settled 
 down easily in his new quarters. He took 
 a tremendous fancy to baby Miranda, and 
 would nurse her all day long. He helped 
 Harold Tachbrook in the garden. He per- 
 vagated the infant city, which seemed to 
 grow day by day, so rapid was its movement 
 at that time. He attached himself closely to 
 Harold, who, for his part, quite enjoyed the 
 youngster's energy and pluck. 
 
 Tiring at length of Melbourne, they deter- 
 mined to go on an exploring tour. Harold 
 saw that his little girl was in good hands with 
 Mrs Brown ; so leaving her plenty of money 
 for the child's comfort, he and his young 
 comrade set out to explore the wilds of 
 Australia, at that time a land utterly un- 
 known. Away they went, gaily enough, into 
 the bush, taking with them a waggon and a 
 team of light horses, plentiful provisions, and 
 two enormous mastiffs. Also, they were not 
 without firearms, which are more fatal than 
 the boomerang.
 
 UNDER THE SOUTHERN CROSS. 49 
 
 What adventures had they ? Faith, many 
 bushrangers were out In those days : Harold 
 Tachbrook and Tom J ones killed a few. They 
 killed emus, too, and kangaroos, and made 
 friends with the natives, and lived a half- 
 wild life that seemed to sunburn their souls. 
 Only two books they had between them : 
 Harold had a Bible and Tom Jones had a 
 Horace. There were occasions when they 
 read them very thoroughly. 
 
 By and by they bought between them a 
 great sheep-walk, and went In for oxen as 
 well. They were successful. They had a 
 very snug log-hut, where they enjoyed life 
 thoroughly. Occasionally one or the other 
 went to Melbourne, and Mrs Brown was 
 supplied with funds, and Miranda with pre- 
 sents, and letters were sent to England, — 
 that is to say, Harold Tachbrook wrote to 
 the Doctor, but young Tom Jones wrote to 
 no one. Nor did he receive any letters. It 
 was clear that he had successfully isolated 
 himself, and that no one had the remotest 
 notion of his whereabouts. 
 
 When Harold wrote to his father, he did 
 not forget Mary Fane, whose fate had so 
 
 VOL. I. D
 
 50 MIRANDA ; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 Strongly Impressed his wife on her deathbed. 
 The Doctor made many inquiries about her ; 
 he could only discover that she had left the 
 school at which she and Edith were together; 
 that she had married and gone abroad with 
 her husband ; but the name of her husband 
 he failed to find out. 
 
 Eighteen years had passed. Harold Tach- 
 brook was a stalwart sunburnt long-bearded 
 fellow, hard as nails, brown as a berry, ready 
 for anything from pitch-and-toss to man- 
 slaughter. He was in the very prime of 
 life, and had never known five minutes of 
 dyspepsia. Tom Jones, now about thirty-two, 
 was young for his years ; he had lived a fine 
 wild simple Homeric life, without a worry 
 to wrinkle his brow ; the boy that Harold 
 remembered when he landed at Melbourne, 
 had developed into a man of wonderful power 
 and resolve, with brain and muscle both in 
 noble order. Only the worst of it is, that 
 brain gets few opportunities in a new 
 country. 
 
 One day the two comrades were sitting 
 side by side In front of their rough dwell- 
 ing. It was sunset — such a sunset as one
 
 UNDER THE SOUTHERN CROSS. 5 I 
 
 might see In England. They simultaneously 
 thought oi home. 
 
 ^*Tom," said Harold Tachbrook, ''that 
 American fellow's offer for our sheep-run is 
 not a bad one. Let's sell and go home. I 
 want to see Old England again. I want to 
 see my father." 
 
 " I don't want to see mine," said Tom 
 Jones, "but I have no objection to seeing 
 Enofland. Let 's start at once." 
 
 They sold their property — excellent well. 
 They returned to Melbourne to dwell awhile 
 with Mrs Brown. Miss Miranda had be- 
 come charming : her hair was light, her eyes 
 and eyebrows dark ; she was five feet six 
 Inches high, and as agile as Artemis. Of 
 course Tom Jones fell in love with her at 
 once. 
 
 He had not been In Melbourne before for 
 three years, and in the interval she had 
 grown from a child to a woman. Having 
 spent eighteen years In the bush without 
 seeing any specimen of female humanity 
 except the aboriginal darkle, he was rather 
 wonder-stricken by the apparition of his 
 friend's daughter. For she was a pretty 
 
 iiMix/rooiTV AC illlMlll^
 
 52 MIRANDA; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 girl — in fact, a girl of the old Venetian type 
 of beauty ; In addition whereto she was a 
 girl of amazing cleverness, which cleverness 
 had received cultivation. 
 
 Thus did it happen. Among the guests 
 at Mrs Brown s lodging-house was a young 
 German, engaged as a clerk in one of the 
 Melbourne banks. He had the usual German 
 superficial omniscience and love of lecture. 
 He took to teaching Miranda, and Miranda 
 learnt easily, and indeed rather amazed her 
 instructor by finding out the meaning of 
 things which to him were mere formulae. He 
 taught this girl, consciously, all he knew ; 
 unconsciously, much more : for she had an 
 instinctive power of carrying out to further 
 issues any scrap of knowledge that reached 
 her. This German was a mere smatterer, 
 who loved not knowledge for its own sake, 
 but liked the ostentation of knowledge ; still, 
 even from him, Miranda Tachbrook learnt 
 things which young ladies of her age seldom 
 know. 
 
 She was delighted at the thought of going 
 to England. Can you not understand how a 
 child, born in some colony or dependency
 
 UNDER THE SOUTHERN CROSS. 53 
 
 where everything is new and rough, must 
 long to realise England? Fancy being an 
 English boy or girl born at the antipodes, and 
 not able to picture to one's self an English 'hiM^'Vr^ >•. 
 mayor or an English oak, a foxhunt or an ^'-'^ 
 express tram, a regiment 01 the Guards or a 3^^ h4*^n 
 cathedral, the House of Commons or the /!/ ^*^^ 
 Derby ! Our little Undine was born at sea ; 
 but well hath It been said by Walter Landor — 
 
 " Ubicunque pontus est ibi Britannia est." 
 
 Miranda was sorry to leave dear old Mrs 
 Brown. The old lady had taken care' of her 
 since she was a month old, and had made a 
 great pet of her. She had taught her to read 
 and write when she was a very little girl, and 
 had made all her little frocks, and had taken 
 pride in so doing. She remembered how, 
 when Miranda grew so fast, she was so proud 
 of being up to Brownie's waist. She always 
 called the old lady Brownie. And then she 
 reached up to Brownie's shoulder, and in time 
 left Brownie, who was rather short, far behind. 
 The old lady was incessantly talking on such 
 subjects during these last days before Miranda 
 was to leave her. *' I did hope, sir," she said 
 to Harold, "that you would have settled
 
 54 MIRANDA ; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 down here, In the new country, and have built 
 a fine house, and made my young lady the 
 mistress of It ; though I daresay some good 
 gentleman would have been wanting to run 
 off with the pretty dear," and she cast a side 
 look at Tom. 
 
 '' And no doubt, Mr Tom," she said to 
 him, ''you'll be marrying one of these fine 
 English ladles when you get to England, and 
 I hope you'll send me a paper when your 
 marriage Is announced." 
 
 " O, we won't forget you, Mrs Brown ; but 
 so far as marriage Is concerned, I could be 
 content to marry in this country." 
 
 " But not If a certain lady went out of It, 
 sir." 
 
 " Well, Mrs Brown, when I am married I 
 will send for you to come to my wedding If 
 you like." 
 
 " I am an old woman now, sir, and travel- 
 ling about won't suit me : but I should like to 
 hear of you and Mr Harold sometimes, and 
 I am sure my young lady won't forget me. 
 You won't forget poor old Brownie, will you, 
 dear ? " she said to Miranda. 
 
 *' No, Brownie, I shall always think of you,
 
 UNDER THE SOUTHERN CROSS. 55 
 
 and write to you veryx^ften, and I will have 
 a picture of myself painted In England, and 
 will send it to you." 
 
 Poor old Mrs Brown went up to her bed- 
 room to have a little cry, and to hug some relics 
 of Miranda's childhood that she had by her. 
 A little pinafore was always kept, for Mrs 
 Brown remembered when Miranda one day 
 said as she put on her pinafore, " Brownie, I 
 am getting a woman now — women don't wear 
 pinafores. Mayn't I wear an apron like you 
 do. Lend me one of your aprons, I am 
 ashamed of my pinafore." 
 
 ** But I musn't waste time," thought Mrs 
 Brown, '' there is plenty yet to be done to 
 make everything comfortable for them on 
 board the vessel. Ah, what a mighty fine 
 ship it is ! Times are altered since I came 
 out here in a sailing vessel. I wonder 
 whether England is much altered. I should 
 like to see it again, and see my dear child's 
 home. And I wonder what my own old 
 home in Wiltshire is like ! I daresay it is 
 altered ; but I should know it again." 
 
 Harold Tachbrook and Tom Jones both 
 longed to see the old country again ; while
 
 56 MIRANDA ; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 Miranda, born somewhere near the equator, 
 and therefore a little citizen of ocean, could 
 not help longing to see the Island of her race. 
 Before Harold Tachbrook left Melbourne, 
 he took care to make good Mrs Brown com- 
 fortable. He was the better able to do this 
 because eighteen years before he had fenced 
 in a garden for her. The growth of Mel- 
 bourne had placed her house in the most 
 fashionable of localities, and that bit of garden 
 was coveted by an hotel company as the most 
 '' eligible" in the city of Melbourne. When 
 Harold Tachbrook was known to be its pro- 
 prietor, he had these people after him imme- 
 diately. He showed no eagerness to deal with 
 them ; he allowed them to make offer after offer 
 without even answering their letters ; and the 
 final result was, that he got thirty thousand 
 pounds for what had originally cost him fifty. 
 So he felt he could afford to make worthy Mrs 
 Brown comfortable for the remainder of her 
 life. This done, he arranged with his friend 
 Tom Jones to start for England ; and it was 
 decided they should go together on board 
 the Mighty Met7'opolis steamer, the most 
 famous steamship of the time.
 
 UNDER THE SOUTHERN CROSS. 57 
 
 After eighteen years of sheep breeding, 
 Harold Tachbrook and Tom Jones found 
 the world considerably changed. Even as 
 Tachbrook's fifty pounds had become thirty 
 thousand, so everything had waxed vaster. 
 They had come to Australia in a cranky tub ; 
 they were to return to England in a floating 
 palace, moving so steadily that you could not 
 be sea-sick if you tried, and carrying on board 
 all the necessities of civilisation. When they 
 went over the ship, they found both the 
 library and the wine-cellar well stocked. It 
 was scarcely possible to imagine anything 
 that was not obtainable. 
 
 " I suppose the world has been moving 
 while we have been breeding sheep," said 
 Harold Tachbrook. *' I wonder what Lon- 
 don will look like when we return ?" 
 
 " I don't care much about London," said 
 Tom Jones, *'for I have seldom been there ; 
 but I should like to know whether my old 
 governor is alive still, and if he Is as 
 cantankerous as he used to be." 
 
 ''What do you think about it all?" said 
 Tachbrook to Miranda, who had hardly 
 begun to realise the fact that she had a
 
 58 MIRANDA ; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 father in the flesh. " What Is your notion 
 about England, child ?" 
 
 *' I hardly know, papa. I must have a 
 notion about you, first. You say I was born 
 at sea : I feel just like a mermaid that has 
 come ashore — a fish out of water. I 
 want to go on board the great steamer : I 
 hope it will pass over the very place where I 
 was born and poor mamma was buried." 
 
 '' No chance thereof, my child. We go 
 back round Cape Horn." 
 
 *' I think I must begin to study geography," 
 said Miranda. *' It would be dreadful not to 
 know Cape Horn when you saw It, and I am 
 sure I shall not unless somebody gives me a 
 likeness of It. Cape Horn is suggestive of 
 an old woman in an old-fashioned cape, wear- 
 ing horns." 
 
 *' Madcap," said her father.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE " MIGHTY METROPOLIS." 
 
 " Where lies the land to which the ship would go ? 
 Far, far ahead, is all her seamen know. 
 And where the land she travels from ? Away, 
 Far, far behind, is all that they can say." 
 
 That famous steamship, the Mighty Metro- 
 polis, carried about five hundred passengers, 
 of whom nearly a hundred were in the saloon. 
 A motley multitude, of course, and quite inde- 
 scribable within the limits of three volumes. 
 Still there are a few of them that deserve 
 description. The passengers, however, must 
 give place to the captain, Edward Grainger, 
 a man six feet two inches high, whose 
 battered figure-head, in its handsome ugli- 
 ness, showed that in his time he had fought 
 many ships through many storms. That
 
 6o MIRANDA ; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 osculation of ugliness and beauty is a curious 
 case of my favourite dogma that extremes 
 meet. Grainger was perfectly charming when 
 he talked to a lady, and perfectly furious when 
 he had to fight a hurricane. 
 
 Now for a few of the passengers. There 
 were our friends Harold and Miranda Tach- 
 brook, and Tom Jones. There was an elderly 
 gentleman named Wilson, with a wife and 
 some dumpy daughters, and a very diamonded 
 son. The father was going home to be 
 kniofhted for somethinor or other he had done 
 in the colony. There was a Captain Stuart, 
 dark-eyed and black-bearded, evidently one of 
 those adventurous gentlemen who, like Ancient 
 Pistol, regard the world as an oyster. Stuart 
 was popular, for he could sing comic songs won- 
 derfully, and there was not his equalon board 
 at whist and ecarte. There was a poet, Cin- 
 cinnatus Meunier, who had the wildest eyes 
 and wore the hugest watch-chain ever known. 
 He had been wandering all over the world ; 
 had used up Western America and Southern 
 Australia, and now thought he would try 
 London. That city of giant brains may cure 
 his poetic influenza. There were two pretty
 
 THE " MIGHTY METROPOLIS." 6 1 
 
 girls — twins — orphan daughters of an English 
 gentleman named Mansard, who were going 
 home to the care of their only relation, their 
 maternal grandmother. The poor children, 
 in their deep mourning, looked very unhappy. 
 There was a rather frisky gentleman, called 
 Leary, who showed from the first a decided 
 disposition to be master of the ceremonies, 
 and who started a daily newspaper (in manu- 
 script, of course) called the Metropolitan. 
 His first article was very fine. 
 
 " The sea is the mother of cities ; where the 
 water flows, bringing the masts of all nations, 
 there will cities be built. Nowhere comes 
 the sea without bringing civilisation as well 
 as iodine. We are now on the sea. The 
 Mighty Metropolis may be considered as a 
 city, though rather small in girth — a mov- 
 ing city, even as the earth is a travelling 
 planet. Its king is the captain ; its archbishop 
 is the chaplain ; its premier is the first ofiicer ; 
 its Times is the Metropolitan!' 
 
 There was a good deal more of this sort 
 of thing ; and It was generally agreed among 
 the passengers, that unless a deputation from 
 the Times met Mr Leary the moment he
 
 62 MIRANDA; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 landed In England, offering him any sum he 
 liked to mention for articles, the leading jour- 
 nal of Europe would have decidedly neglected 
 its duty. There were several families of plu- 
 tocratic position, who had picked up gold 
 enough in Australia to make them very bril- 
 liant in England. To them, of course, it 
 occurred not that birth or rank or culture 
 are, even in the England of to-day, thought 
 more of than gold. There was Jack Manly, 
 whose father had sent him out with eio^ht 
 thousand pounds, and who had come back 
 with eighty, and a considerable contempt for 
 the climate. There was Harry Loraine, who 
 had gone out just to see what Australia 
 was like, and who went back to his chambers 
 in the Albany with a well-founded conviction 
 that Piccadilly was preferable to Collins 
 Street, where every Melbourne gentleman 
 lounges on summer afternoons, when the 
 ladies are abroad. Australians know how to 
 enjoy their December midsummer. There 
 were many more, some of whom there may be 
 occasion to name ; but these were the persons 
 most prominent in the saloon group. 
 
 When people are shut up together In large
 
 THE ''MIGHTY METROPOLIS. 63 
 
 or small numbers for any length of time, It Is 
 noticeable that some of them soon take a de- 
 cided lead. So much for equality. The gentle- 
 man who, on board the Mighty Metropolis.'tiX^X, 
 attempted to take the lead, was Mr Edward 
 Wilson. He was as pompous as the man 
 whom Theodore Hook crossed Pall Mall to 
 ask whether he was " any one particular." 
 He was going home to be knighted ! The 
 sublime idea held him with magnetic power. 
 Sir Edward Wilson ! He walked the deck 
 with a feeling that the handle of his name 
 was ready to be prefixed. His superb style 
 especially delighted the hearts of Tom Jones 
 and Harry Loraine. 
 
 The Mighty Metropolis left Melbourne on 
 May the second ; I forget the year. It was 
 the clearest sky in the world, and the serenest 
 sea. Everybody looked on the voyage as a 
 mere trifle — a poetic picnic from Pacific to 
 Atlantic — a pleasant kind of ocean honey- 
 moon. That two or three people managed to 
 experience mat du mer before they lost sight 
 of land, was merely a proof of nervous tem- 
 perament. Nobody need be sea-sick if they 
 only took sufficient champagne. That liquid
 
 64 MIRANDA ; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 was plentiful on board the Mighty Metropolis; 
 but Harry Loraine expressed a suspicion that 
 it was flavoured with the essence of elder- 
 flowers. He had drunk wine in many capi- 
 tals, and on board many steamships. He had 
 come to the conclusion that your Roederer 
 and your Lafitte were a mockery, a delusion, 
 a snare, and that nothing in the world was 
 worthy of touching the English palate except 
 good wholesome ale. 
 
 ** When I get back to my place," he said to 
 Tom Jones, " I shall get some good strong 
 ale that was brewed when I came of age, and 
 has been walled up ever since. You must 
 come and drink some of it." 
 
 " With delight," said our friend Tom. " My 
 governor had some good beer, but I used to 
 get frightfully washy stuff at home ; and I 
 don t care for the bottled ale they send us out, 
 though it is very good in its way. I Ve the 
 recollection of drinking a quart of good ale 
 at a draught." 
 
 "• You can soon do that in England." 
 
 *' Ay ! in England ! England ! — Do you 
 know, I am wild to see England again. I ran 
 away from school at fourteen. I have been
 
 « ^rTr^TTT-t' XTT-T-T.^r,^T TO " 
 
 THE '' MIGHTY METROPOLIS. 65 
 
 breeding sheep ever since. I cannot under- 
 stand what England is like. I wish this ship 
 would travel faster." 
 
 '* A thousand miles in four days is good 
 work," said Loraine. " Yet I understand 
 your impatience. I am never impatient my- 
 self, for -I have been all over the world, and 
 don't know that there is anything new to be 
 seen. You, having lived all the chief part of 
 your life in a colony, may well wonder what 
 civilisation resembles. You know Melbourne : 
 it is a big village. If you were to put a thou- 
 sand Melbournes together, you would not 
 get London. You cannot imagine London. 
 You cannot conceive the exquisite beauty 
 and grace of a London lady, the easy wit and 
 careless courtesy of a London gentleman. I 
 do not mean Cockneys : I mean the men and 
 women who live in the country many months 
 of the year, but are in London for the season : 
 I mean the real English aristocracy. I like 
 them. I like the girls who believe most 
 firmly that they were brought into the world 
 to look lovely, and dress delightfully, and wear 
 costly diamonds and costlier lace. I like the 
 men who drawl and lounge through life like 
 
 VOL. I. E
 
 66 
 
 Alciblades, but who know how to fight and 
 make love if opportunities occur. You will be 
 amazed with London, especially if you see all 
 sides of it There is the daintiest life in the 
 world ; also there is the roughest. There is 
 the most exquisite society in the world at the 
 West ; there is the roughest mob imaginable 
 at the East. London is a nation in a narrow 
 space. I should like to see what you think 
 of it when you get there." 
 
 '' I shall be glad of your guidance," said 
 Tom Jones. *' I suspect my good friend 
 Tachbrook knows very little about London. 
 We shall both of us want a guide, philosopher, 
 and friend." 
 
 " All right," said Loraine. '' You shall do 
 what I tell you. I cannot take you in at the 
 Albany, for the excellent reason that I have 
 only one bed, and it is a devilish narrow one. 
 You shall go to Hatchett's Hotel, and I '11 
 teach you what London is like." 
 
 When the Mighty Metropolis got well out 
 of the Australasian seas, and the passengers 
 grew tolerably stout of stomach, it was sug- 
 gested by Captain Grainger that there would 
 be some fun in concerts, private theatricals,
 
 THE " MIGHTY METROPOLIS." 67 
 
 and the like. Stuart and Meunler and Lo- 
 ralne immediately farmed themselves into a 
 committee to carry out the idea. They 
 determined to make everybody work, male 
 and female. They made an early attack on 
 Harold Tachbrook. 
 
 " Let's have a comedy," said Harold, **a 
 comedy of ocean. We Ve got a poet on 
 board, CIncInnatus Meunler. He can write 
 a play, I guarantee. What say you, my 
 poetic friend ? " 
 
 Meunler found the tables turned upon him 
 rather. 
 
 '' I have written some verse/' he said, 
 " but don't think I could write a play." 
 
 '' Well, I '11 give you an idea for nothing. 
 Shakespeare wrote. As yotc like it ; do you 
 write. As you dont like it. Put In two 
 Rosalinds ; it will just suit the two Miss 
 Mansards, who are so absurdly alike. I '11 
 play Jaques if you '11 write me some good 
 blank verse, and Tom Jones will make a 
 capital Orlando. Now, O poet ! go and begin 
 at once." 
 
 *' Really the Idea is not a bad one," said 
 Loralne. *' Substitute for the Forest of Arden
 
 68 MIRANDA ; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 the deck of the Mighty Metropolis. It is a 
 grand place for Jaques to soHloquise — 
 
 " A fool ! a fool ! I met a fool on deck, 
 With many nuggets hanging at his watch chain ; 
 And when he saw me, he exclaimed, ' Old fellow ! 
 I 'm going home to be a lord in England : 
 They make men lords when they are rich, you know/ 
 I said I did not know it : and he laughed, 
 As who should say, ' Well, this man is a fool 
 Not to know English customs better.' 
 
 Faith, 
 He probably is right, and I am wrong, 
 And great King Mammon makes his puffy peers." 
 
 "- By George, Loraine, you will have to 
 help our laureate," said Tachbrook. *' Come, 
 we '11 talk the matter over with the ladies in 
 the saloon to-night. It will be queer if we 
 cannot get up a play between us." 
 
 So full council was that night held, and 
 much chaff transpired. Ultimately it was 
 decided that As you don't like it was to be 
 the name of the play ; that Mr Cincinnatus 
 Meunier was to write it, putting in as much 
 poetry as he liked, and as much fun as he 
 could ; that there were to be two Rosalinds 
 in doublet and hose, who were to fight for 
 Orlando ; that various other characters from 
 Shakespeare should be introduced, especially 
 Hamlet and Othello, and Romeo and Juliet,
 
 THE " MIGHTY METROPOLIS." 69 
 
 and Jack Falstaff ; and that anybody In the 
 saloon who declined to play any part set down 
 for him or her should be fined champagne all 
 round. The Irrepressible Leary constituted 
 himself stage -manager, and the thing was 
 done. 
 
 It would be Impossible to describe the ad- 
 mirable fun which arose from this new method 
 of treating Shakespeare. CIncInnatus worked 
 out the conception charmingly. The two 
 Miss Mansards were twin Rosalinds ; Tom 
 Jones was Orlando, making love to each in 
 turn, and getting scolded by the other ; 
 Harold Tachbrook was Jaques ; Wilson 
 (Sir Edward) was Hamlet ; Jack Manly was 
 Falstaff; Stuart was Othello ; Harry Loralne 
 was Romeo, and made Tom Jones quite jeal- 
 ous, for Miranda played Juliet. As thus — 
 
 Romeo. " O that I were a glove upon that hand, 
 
 That I might touch that cheek. 
 Juliet. That cheek objects 
 
 To being touched by anybody's glove." 
 
 CIncInnatus Meunler spoke his own epi- 
 logue — 
 
 " We are going home, and the strength of steam 
 Carries us on like a magical dream ; 
 And we have no knowledge of whither we wend, 
 Save that England — England, lies at the end ; —
 
 70 MIRANDA ; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 The land of life and of pov/er and truth, 
 
 Where our dear old fathers lie under the sod, 
 
 Where we wasted the glory of our joyous youth, 
 
 Where live the men who dare believe in God. 
 
 So as home we go, as the great sails fill, 
 
 We lovingly parody Gentle Will — 
 
 The poet of poets, the man of men. 
 
 Who held all life in his wondrous ken. 
 
 O listen to Falstaff's mighty laugh ; 
 
 Hear the mad Prince's easy chaff ; 
 
 Mercutio see, in the street moonlit. 
 
 Ready with rapier, ready with wit ; 
 
 Think of love's fierce fever and fiery fret 
 
 Where Romeo embraces his Juliet ; 
 
 Think of all the scenes in the galleries grand 
 
 Which Shakespeare built for his own dear land — 
 
 Of his Palace of Poetry, noblest far 
 
 That has ever been touched by the morning star. 
 
 Ah here, mid-ocean, on the waters dim, 
 
 We are at home in England when we talk with him." 
 
 '' I call that an excellent good epilogue of 
 yours," said Loraine that evening to the poet 
 Cincinnatus, as they were slaking their thirst. 
 " But when you do get to England, I recom- 
 mend you to get some fellow or other to teach 
 you versification. It's very easy. You 
 should carefully study Dr Watts." 
 
 Cincinnatus ejaculated.
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 LOTOS-EATING. 
 
 yairii AcAjTo^dyuv^ oIt avQivov sJdup 'idovaiv.^' 
 
 Many ways are there of eating lotos. Pleasant 
 Is It to lie on emerald turf under heavy foliage, 
 talking, or dreaming, or reading some such 
 " summer book" as Curtls's " Lotos-Eatlnor/' or 
 those "Leaves from the Diary of a Dreamer," 
 which Pickering published In 1853. Although 
 the Americans are so rapid a race, they excel 
 us in that tranquil style of poetic prose 
 w^hich is represented in such books as these, 
 — In Washington Irving's delightful pictures 
 of the Alhambra and the Generalife, In Long- 
 fellow's '' Hyperion," In Hawthorne's lovely 
 sketches of both hemispheres, in Thoreau's
 
 72 MIRANDA ; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 wonderful researches into nature's mystery. 
 They seem to catch the magic of the world 
 better than we. The reason is clear. As 
 yet there are wide stretches of wild country 
 in the States. You can get beyond reach of 
 the shriek of steam. You can bury yourself 
 in serene and uninterruptible solitude. There 
 are American villages, too, especially in the 
 West, where life is simple and primitive, 
 calm and idyllic. 
 
 Then there are the Adirondac lakes, of 
 which we possess Emerson's magical pic- 
 ture. 
 
 " Ten scholars, wonted to lie warm and soft, 
 In well-hung chambers daintily bestowed, 
 Lie here on hemlock-boughs, like Sacs and Sioux, 
 And greet unanimous the joyful change. 
 
 Up with the dawn, they fancied the light air, 
 That circled freshly in their forest dress. 
 Made them to boys again. Happier that they 
 Slipt off their pack of duties, leagues behind, 
 At the first mounting of the giant stairs. 
 
 Look to yourselves, ye polisht gentlemen ! 
 No city airs or arts pass current here. 
 The sallow knows the basketmaker's thumb, 
 The oar, the guide's. Dare you accept the task 
 He shall impose, to find a spring, trap foxes, 
 Tell the sun's time, determine the true north ; 
 Or, stumbling on through vast self- similar woods, 
 To tread by night the nearest way to camp .'"'
 
 LOTOS-EATING. "J 2, 
 
 There is, however, a kind of lotos-eating 
 in which I think Englishmen excel all other 
 races ; that is, the marine method. Who can 
 yacht like an Englander ? Who can enjoy 
 the sunlit sea of noon, the phosphorescent 
 sea of midnight, so absolutely as an Eng- 
 lishman — finding music the while in the song 
 of rope and shroud, voiced like the swallow, 
 and in the musical moan of the water as the 
 ship cuts its way therethrough ? Still, we 
 can also sympathize with the American poet's 
 happy experience of lake and mountain. We 
 can find a spring with the diviner's hazel rod, 
 and tell the time of day by a dial whose index 
 is the middle finger ; and I have found my 
 way at midnight through the " self-similar 
 woods" of the New Forest to the " Crown " at 
 Lyndhurst, hungering and thirsting for bitter 
 ale and lavender-scented beds, and a joyous 
 morning breakfast of forest bacon, beech-mast 
 fed, and eggs new laid, and butter and bread 
 home-made. These delicacies, and the 
 thought of Leighton's fresco, magnetised 
 me through silvan scene self-similar. I am 
 neither a wise nor a foolish virgin — but I 
 like that fresco.
 
 74 MIRANDA ; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 The quarterdeck of the Mighty Metropolis 
 was a regular Castle of Indolence. Mr Wilson 
 and his distinguished family had established 
 themselves on the larboard side ; their ser- 
 vants brought up and strewed around the 
 most magnificent wrappers, and the future 
 knight lay among them, looking as if ocean 
 belonged to him. His wife was florid — 
 queenly ; his daughters were vulgar prin- 
 cesses ; his son was a delicious mixture of 
 diamonds and dirt. When a stone of the 
 first water calls attention to fingers that 
 demand w^ater, the result is curious. The 
 starboard side had been appropriated by 
 Miranda, who held quite a little court there 
 every morning and evening. Of course she 
 had her father and Tom Jones in close and 
 constant attendance ; but she had also the 
 passionate Captain Stuart, the poetic Cin- 
 cinnatus, the adoring but taciturn Manly, 
 the used-up and yet not altogether useless 
 Loraine. She associated with herself Amy 
 and Alice Mansard, two charming girls, who 
 were beginning to forget some portion of 
 their sorrows under the influence of Miranda's 
 gay and joyous temper. These three formed
 
 LOTOS-EATING. 75 
 
 a trium-femlnate," and governed despotically 
 that corner of the quarterdeck. Even Captain 
 Gralnorer was submissive In their sacred 
 presence. The dear old Captain was a sea- 
 Launcelot. 
 
 Considerable jealousy existed between the 
 two rival leaders of fashion, and this jealousy 
 deepened and Intensified when It became 
 apparent that the son and heir of the Wil- 
 sons, the diamonded Neoptolemus, preferred 
 the company of Miranda to that of his mother 
 and sisters, not to mention his father. One 
 would have thought that, with so magnifi- 
 cently wise a father, Neoptolemus would 
 never have desired to leave home in search 
 of adventure, even to cross a quarterdeck in 
 quest of a pretty girl. Somehow or other 
 he found Miranda irresistible : there was no 
 withstanding that abundant hair, colour of 
 marigold — those lambent electric eyes, colour 
 of onyx — that little red mischievous mouth, 
 colour of damascene rose. Even Neopto- 
 lemus Wilson, a dull fellow, recognised the 
 piquancy of this unusual beauty. His mother 
 and sisters were always worrying him ; but 
 he crossed the deck with perfect regularity,
 
 76 MIRANDA ; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 and was found rather a bore by all the other 
 fellows who were in love with Miranda, for 
 everybody else was in the same category. 
 Captain Stuart laid at her pretty feet his 
 dark eyes and hair and beard, and all his 
 past adventures and projects of the future. 
 Stuart was a man of bonnes fortunes and of 
 misfortunes. He could not exclaim with the 
 Caroline song-writer — 
 
 " If I were only out of debt, 
 
 As I am out of love ! " 
 
 for he was always over head and ears in both. 
 Of course he at once had a grand passion for 
 Miranda ; but that young lady did not seem 
 very enthusiastic In return. Indeed, she 
 treated all her adorers coolly enough ; but 
 Stuart thought himself most favoured, since 
 he was usually chosen to arrange her rugs, 
 and bring her a book or some feminate 
 frivolity nicknamed " work," and generally act 
 the part of a *' tame cat." He played that 
 part extremely well. 
 
 Not so Cincinnatus the poet. He had 
 brought from Arizona to Australia the mad 
 intoxication of the wild mountain air. He 
 had lived from boyhood in wild and desolate
 
 LOTOS-EATING. 77 
 
 places, with a sense of infinite solitude around 
 him. What poetry he had in him was re- 
 ceptive rather than originative, was the echo 
 and reflex of the wild life he had seen and 
 known. Many mad deeds had he done, 
 many mad loves had he loved ; his history 
 could only be told after dinner to people of 
 strong nerves. The river of adventure that 
 swept through his life was known as it winded 
 by a fringe of blossoming oleander. This 
 was all his poetry ; the poetry not of tranquil 
 art, but of a restless spirit. He was a kind 
 of colonial Byron. 
 
 " Pitt is to Addington 
 As London is to Paddington," 
 
 said Canning once ; and these wild Byronic 
 versifiers are to their chief and lord very 
 much in the same ratio. Byron, great as he 
 was, would have been greater without his 
 mental malady : these minor minstrels re- 
 semble him in the mental malady only. 
 
 Cincinnatus was laughable, but a trifle 
 rough— a kind of poetic bear. He amused 
 Miranda, and she tamed him. She laughed 
 merrily at his sentiment and cynicism, and 
 criticised the structure of his verse, which was
 
 yS MIRANDA ; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 uncommonly rough, and mercilessly chaffed 
 him about his false pathos and sham bitter- 
 ness. He would have been angry with her 
 if he could ; but who could be angry with a 
 creature so lovely ? I think she did him 
 good. He was going home to England with 
 the frightfully vindictive design of avenging 
 himself on an inappreciative world by pub- 
 lishing his poems : it is my belief that most of 
 the MSS. was turned into cigar-lights before 
 the Mighty Metropolis sighted Kinsale. 
 
 Then there was Leary. Leary certainly 
 was smitten, but he was not the man to admit 
 it. As self-appointed M.C., and as editor of 
 the Metropolitan, Leary considered himself 
 the most important man on board. He 
 thought nothing of the captain, whom indeed 
 he would as willingly have superseded as 
 Lord Russell would take the command of the 
 Channel Fleet. He rather wished for a 
 hurricane and a shipwreck, that he might 
 show his presence of mind and power of 
 command. Leary would have got on better 
 with the queen of the quarterdeck if he 
 had been rather less boisterous, and rather 
 apter to wash his hands.
 
 LOTOS-EATING. 79 
 
 Poor inoffensive and inefficient Jack Manly- 
 must by no means be forgotten. Miranda 
 struck him dumb at first sight, and he barely- 
 recovered his speech through all the voyage. 
 He was going back to a stern father, in the 
 guise of a penitent prodigal son ; so he had 
 not courage enough to fall in love. 
 
 As to Harry Loraine, I think he would 
 have taken a header into the depths of the 
 erotic ocean, had he not seen that Tom 
 Jones was thoroughly in love — had he not also 
 fancied that Miss Miranda was rather taken 
 with Tom Jones. Loraine was emphatically 
 an unmarriageable man : he hated the idea of 
 losing his independence ; he liked Bohemian 
 bachelorism. Miranda was absolutely the 
 first woman who had made him ask himself 
 the question whether the game of marriage 
 was worth the candle. Her pretty piquant 
 unsophisticated style delighted him as much 
 as her amazing Venetian beauty ; but then he 
 thought of the quiet Albany, the isolated exist- 
 ence of a man without claims or responsibili- 
 ties, the perfect ease and independence of his 
 unfettered life. '* One might have children," 
 thought Loraine. " Fancy, how dreadful!"
 
 8o MIRANDA ; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 However, he joined Miranda's other ad- 
 mirers, and the court she held astern was 
 always lively. It was a trifle exclusive : 
 most of the other saloon passengers were 
 fortunate adventurers, who had made money 
 rapidly, and were going to England to spend 
 It. Still it was not so exclusive as the Wilson 
 society, which was as fashionably select as 
 Almack's when they blackballed Duchesses. 
 
 On the 30th of May the Mighty Metro- 
 polis came in sight of the rocky island of 
 Diego Ramirez, between fifty and sixty miles 
 from Cape Horn. It was growing cold, for 
 the ship was about fifteen degrees from the 
 antarctic circle ; and Miranda was wrapt 
 up in furs and tiger-skins, which her father 
 had providently purchased for her. The 
 weather, hitherto exquisitely calm, had 
 become boisterous ; severe storms of hail 
 had once or twice cleared the decks ; and the 
 cold night winds had made the fast young 
 gentlemen who liked to prowl the deck in 
 the short hours, extremely glad to seek their 
 berths at a reasonable time. Many a wide- 
 winged albatross followed the great ship on 
 its way, as If for company; and as she rounded
 
 LOTOS-EATING. 8 1 
 
 the Horn, the stormy petrels — Mother Carey's 
 chickens — were seen lovingly playing with 
 the crests of the waves. 
 
 Still our pleasant little parliament of wit 
 and flirtation, guided by the trium-feminate, 
 held its sittings regularly. The albatross 
 gave the poet Cincinnatus an opportunity 
 of reciting long screeds from Coleridge's 
 "Ancient Mariner," much to the delight of 
 his audience. But Loraine worried him with 
 parody, exclaiming — 
 
 " I say with scorn, as we round the Horn, 
 And to the Atlantic cross, 
 Bring close to my hand the cruet-stand, 
 And we'll devil an albatross. 
 
 " He'll be fishy and tough, I Ve often heard, 
 But still we'll have our revel : 
 Why shouldn't we devil a fishy bird. 
 When a fishy bard's the devil?" 
 
 Such was the nonsense that amused our 
 party while the Mighty Metropolis made 
 magnificent way through the waters, some- 
 times under canvas, sometimes under steam, 
 but always seeming to subjugate ocean with 
 a splendid mastery. Heartily did Miranda 
 enjoy her voyage : she was an Undine, and 
 the ocean was her birthplace, and the restless 
 
 VOL. L F
 
 82 MIRANDA ; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 waves seemed to be her friends. As she 
 watched them fretting into foam against the 
 great steamship's side, she seemed as If she 
 were at home. Her mother had found her 
 tomb In the Infinite bosom of ocean. Per- 
 haps, thought the imaginative girl, she had 
 come to life again there ; had been nurtured 
 and tended by the gods of the sea ; was even 
 now dwelling in some crystal city where 
 mighty groves of seaweed surrounded palaces 
 built of coral red as blood. In those Im- 
 measurable depths dwell strange creatures. 
 When the kraken rises to the surface, men 
 think it an island, and the . coils of the great 
 sea-serpent are leagues in length. Surely 
 those mighty stretches of submarine land 
 may have inhabitants. So speculated our 
 Undine as she watched the wandering water 
 from the stately ship : of physical difficulties 
 her instinctive philosophy made nothing — 
 rightly, since to the Creator there are no 
 physical difficulties. 
 
 Tom Jones got more and more in love 
 with Miranda every day ; but she maddened 
 that impetuous hero of ours by treating him 
 in a quiet confiding sisterly fashion. She
 
 LOTOS-EATING. 83 
 
 flirted with the captain ; she laughed merrily 
 at Meunier's poetry and Leary's rhodomon- 
 tade ; she patronised Jack Manly ; she co- 
 quetted with Loralne in the most outrageous 
 manner, and he was always lying at her feet 
 on deck, and playing the part of Mercutio in 
 love. But to Tom Jones she was always 
 frank and sisterly and easy. 
 
 *' She '11 never care a bit for me," soli- 
 loquised that young gentleman. " I 'm too 
 old — I 'm too stupid. Those fellows, with 
 their chaff and their poetry, take all the wind 
 out of my sails. Confound it! If I were 
 ashore, I might tear myself away from her ; 
 but I can't well jump overboard and swim to 
 Patagonia. No; I'll marry that child what- 
 ever happens. By Jove ! I wonder whether 
 we could get married on board ? There 's 
 the parson coming up the companion ; I '11 
 ask him. No, I won't ; he '11 think I 'm 
 cracked : besides, I 'd better ask Miranda 
 first. Faith, I '11 smoke a pipe, and consider 
 the question. Miranda ! Lovely name, — 
 but not half so lovely as she Is." 
 
 Tom Jones, having smoked his pipe, went 
 below in search of champagne.
 
 J^.^^ 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 CROSSING THE LINE. 
 
 Jj^ iU f^ fr " Oh ! the oak and the ash and the bonny ivy tree, 
 
 They flourish best of all in the North Countrie." 
 
 '' We shall cross the line about four this after- 
 noon," said Captain Grainger, on the 20th of 
 June, to his passengers; ''and please don't 
 give any of the seamen anything to drink, for 
 they always get as much as is good for them." 
 " I suppose we may have a glass of cham- 
 pagne ourselves," said Harold Tachbrook, 
 " eh, Captain ? Only it will make your thirsty 
 sailors thirstier still if they see us at it. When, 
 in my boyhood, I studied geography, those 
 wonderful lines on the maps always used to 
 puzzle me ; and the equator especially was 
 a mystery. I wondered how ships could get 
 over it."
 
 CROSSING THE LINE. 85 
 
 ** I think we shall manage that part of the 
 business," said the captain. ^^ I have passed 
 the line a good many times, and never saw it 
 yet." 
 
 " Well, then, we'll have the champagne," 
 said Tachbrook, laughing. " We '11 drink to 
 such of our old friends in England as are 
 likely to remember us. Tom, my boy, go and 
 make the steward send me up some of the 
 right stuff, and plenty of ice. I know there 's 
 some ice left, and one can't do without it 
 under the line." 
 
 *' Let me share in the festive entertain- 
 ment," said Neoptolemus Wilson, who had 
 joined the group. 
 
 *' Thanks," said Harold, "but I am Presi- 
 dent of Ecuador on this occasion." 
 
 '^ I can't drink to any old friends in England, 
 papa," said Miranda. *' My childish acquaint- 
 ances are all sharks and whales and sea-ser- 
 pents and stormy petrels. * Health and long 
 life to the great sea-serpent ! ' will be my 
 toast." 
 
 Afternoon came, and the Captain caused 
 the moment of crossing the equator to be noti- 
 fied by a discharge of half-a-dozen small brass
 
 S6 MIRANDA ; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 cannon — dogs that could bark, but that could 
 not bite very hard. And then our friends en- 
 joyed their champagne — half-a-dozen bottles 
 decanted at once in a mighty gold jug, em- 
 bossed all over with figures of flying nymphs 
 and pursuing deities, which the Captain had 
 found in his early days among a heap of other 
 antique rarities that had belonged to buc- 
 caneers. 
 
 '' This is a grand jug," quoth the poet 
 Cincinnatus, '* heavy to lift and hard to drain. 
 Tell us all about your finding it. Captain ; 
 it will be a capital yarn for the equator." 
 
 ^' I 've got the story in verse somewhere," 
 said Grainger, " done years ago by a friend 
 of mine, who thought himself a poet, and was 
 wrong. If I can find it, will anybody read 
 it?" 
 
 Leary, of course, offered at once, and the 
 Captain went to find the MS. It was on 
 very yellow paper, and in the crabbedest of 
 writing ; but Leary dauntlessly undertook his 
 task. 
 
 So, as the great gold cup went round, while 
 the steamship clove its way through the tur- 
 bid current that discoloured the sea from the
 
 CROSSING THE LINE. 87 
 
 mouths of the mighty Amazon, eloquent Leary 
 rose and read — 
 
 "It was only a merry corvette that rode the South Pacific sea ; 
 But the man who held that craft in hand was brave 
 
 Lieutenant Lee. 
 And when he was told of slaves and gold in Arequipa Bay, 
 And when there came a spy of fame to show the difficult 
 
 way, 
 ' I '11 hang those rascally buccaneers by their ugly necks,' 
 
 said he. 
 
 " O how soft was the summer air when the little Firefly 
 crept 
 
 Under the low green woodland shores where the villanous 
 pirates slept, 
 
 Under the heavy fringes of foliage, fruit, and flower, 
 
 Where safe, as they deemed, the scoundrels enjoyed their 
 holiday hour ; 
 
 And they drank good wine from stolen cups, and their luck- 
 less captives wept. 
 
 "In she paddled — the Fire fly. \ The channel was hard to 
 
 find; 
 As if to the heart of a forest it seemed to wind and wind ; * 
 But right was the guide ; he knew the tide ; he had been 
 
 there a slave : 
 He longed to see the pirates in conquered agony rave — 
 Came the delight that very night for which he had prayed 
 
 and pined. 
 
 " Quietly lay the Firefly under the great trees, where 
 Never the water rippled, nor soft winds stirred the air ; 
 Never a whisper we uttered, but watched them, lazy as 
 
 swine. 
 Swinging in easy hammocks, while white girls served them 
 
 wine. 
 "Tis your very last day,' said Lee to himself; ' drink on, and 
 
 never spare.'
 
 88 MIRANDA ; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 '' Ay ! we could hear their ribald songs as the sudden evening 
 
 fell, 
 And their bestial jests, that well might shame the lowest 
 
 fiends of hell ; 
 And sobs we heard, and screams and shouts, and a roar of 
 
 impious song ; 
 And we longed with cutlass to strike down the cowardly 
 
 scoundrel throng, 
 But Lee lay close, for he knew his game, and meant to play 
 
 it well. 
 
 " Yes, well it was played : we made our raid when the fools 
 with wine were gay ; 
 
 They were five to one, but the thing was done in swift 
 and sudden way. 
 
 The cutlass bright did work that night, and a horde of 
 rascals killed ; 
 
 But we managed to save the chief, a knave of huge and 
 hideous build ; 
 
 He was hung in his gorgeous gems and gold at the yard- 
 arm next day. 
 
 " Plenty of plunder was there in that base pirate hold ; 
 They had ransacked churches and houses, and taken jewels 
 
 and gold. 
 They had taken beautiful girls, too ; we could but bring 
 
 them backj 
 To the homes whence they were stolen in midnights wild 
 
 and black ; 
 But ah ! they might never know again the happy days of old. 
 
 " This mighty cup was part of my share : when from its 
 
 golden brim 
 The red wine flows, my eyesight grows with tears of 
 
 memory dim ; 
 Since I know with pain that never again I shall sail the 
 
 Southern Seas — [these ; 
 
 Never again shall scour the main for scouhdrels such as 
 Never again my steel shall cleave a pirate limb from limb."
 
 CROSSING THE LINE. 89 
 
 " A capital ballad," said Stuart. '' Did it 
 really happen, Captain ? I 'd like to have 
 been with you." 
 
 " Yes, it happened," said Grainger. " It was 
 the fastest thing I ever saw. Our men had 
 been lying under the shore in grim silence, 
 like chained mastiffs, watching these beggarly 
 thieves, who were drinking and swearing and 
 making the poor unfortunate girls wait upon 
 them. Now there 's nothing a sailor hates so 
 much as seeing a woman abused ; so when the 
 time came at last, and the boats with muffled 
 oars landed us on the other side, we were all 
 mad to get at them." 
 
 ** And you hanged their leader ? " said 
 Tachbrook. 
 
 ** Yes; I shall never forget the fellow. He 
 was immensely tall, and so dark that he must 
 have had nigger blood in him. There were 
 great rings of gold in his ears, which flapped 
 down like an elephant's ; and round his great 
 dusky throat he wore a big band of precious 
 stones of a dozen sorts, worth no end of money. 
 He was lying on a kind of rough sofa, half 
 asleep. One girl was fanning him ; another 
 was standing with a goblet of wine in her
 
 90 MIRANDA ; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 hand, ready if he wanted. Lee had heard of 
 the fellow from our spy, who had been cap- 
 tured by him, and had escaped with great in- 
 genuity ; and he was resolved to make an 
 example of him. So he and I and another 
 made straight to the ruffian, and slipped a cord 
 round his arms and another round his throat, 
 and tied him down securely. Then we went 
 in for a general fight : it was soon over, and 
 of about fifty of the villains, we cut down all 
 but five. We hardly got a scratch." 
 
 " And Lieutenant Lee hanged them ? " said 
 Loraine. 
 
 " He did. He wasn't reprimanded by the 
 Admiralty for inhumanity, as, of course, he 
 would be in these days. He had the pirate 
 captain well flogged first, in the presence of 
 his men, and then he made short work with 
 them. The delight of the poor girls that 
 they had carried off was something to remem- 
 ber. They showed us where the pirates kept 
 their treasures, and we soon cleared it out. 
 It was the first good fight I ever saw." 
 
 *' How old were you. Captain ? " asked 
 Miranda. 
 
 " About seventeen, Miss Tachbrook. If I
 
 CROSSING THE LINE. 9 I 
 
 had met you then, I should have been In love 
 with you directly." 
 
 *' O, I have no doubt you were precocious," 
 she said ; " but have you no more adventures 
 to tell?" 
 
 " It is somebody else's turn now. Come, 
 Captain Stuart," he said, '* pass the mug this 
 way and spin us a yarn." 
 
 *' I've nothing in the way of a trophy like 
 your huge vessel of gold," said Stuart, pass- 
 ing it to Grainger, " but I 've rather a curiosity 
 here, which I got In a curious way." 
 
 He took from his watch chain a small 
 article which he handed to Grainger, who 
 passed it on to Miranda, as lady president 
 of the assembly. It was a perfect icosahedron 
 of crystal, marvellously cut, In the centre of 
 which was a small sphere, the size of a pea, 
 of radiant ruby. It passed round the group. 
 
 " That looks as if It ought to have a his- 
 tory," said Loralne. " Let us hear it." 
 
 '' I had it from a dervish at Bokhara," said 
 Stuart. " I met him on the Lebi Hanz Divan- 
 beghi, and, as he looked awfully miserable, 
 took him to a tea-booth and gave him some 
 tea, which he flavoured with lard and salt."
 
 92 MIRANDA ; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 *' O, was It nice ? " asked Amy Mansard. 
 
 " I didn't try it. It failed to cheer up my 
 pious friend, so I gave him some Scotch 
 whisky from a pocket-flask, and he rapidly 
 improved. We sat down under one of the 
 great elms by the reservoir, and he told me 
 his troubles. He had inherited this talisman, 
 which he showed : the round stone in the 
 centre was then perfectly white, like a dia- 
 mond. He told me that he had inherited this 
 curiosity ; that the natural colour of the centre 
 was red ; that if any piece of good fortune 
 was coming to the owner, it would turn blue ; 
 If of ill fortune, black ; while if he were going 
 to die, it would become white. * You see,' he 
 said, ' it is white ; I shall die before sunset.' 
 I laughed at his superstition, and tried to 
 cheer him with more whisky. Whether It 
 was too much for him I don't know, but he 
 suddenly sprang up, threw the talisman Into 
 my lap, and rushed frantically through the 
 excited crowd that always covers the Hanz. 
 I did my best to follow him ; but there is no 
 moving fast In Bokhara, and one dervish is so 
 like another, that twenty times I thought I 
 had found him, but was wrong. So I was
 
 CROSSING THE LINE. 93 
 
 obliged to keep the stone. It was red, as you 
 see it now, when I looked at it next morn- 
 ing." 
 
 " Has It changed since ? " asked Loralne. 
 
 ''Not once ; and I have had no particular 
 luck, good or ill." 
 
 Many another yarn was spun as the ship 
 flew northwards fourteen knots an hour, and 
 the Captain's great gold jug circulated at 
 about the same pace. It was, as Tachbrook 
 remarked, an apt illustration of the duplex 
 motion which one finds in the planetary 
 bodies. But the dinner-gong sounded at 
 Jast, and Captain Grainger took his place at 
 the head of the table ; and later in the evening 
 there was a dance upon deck in the light of 
 the full moon, for there was a capital band 
 on board. 
 
 The state-cabins of the Mighty Metro- 
 polis were unusually commodious ; and when 
 Harold Tachbrook took his passage, he was 
 lucky enough to get a group of three with an 
 anteroom, which formed a pleasant lounging 
 place for the trio the last thing at night. 
 This evening they sat half-an-hour, Tach- 
 brook and Tom Jones, smoking cigarettes,
 
 94 MIRANDA ; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 which Miranda deftly rolled for them. Tom 
 was very quiet ; he had been for the last few 
 days. There were two things on his mind, 
 and every day nearer home made their 
 burden feel heavier. So Miranda and her 
 father had most of the talk to themselves. 
 
 " Now you're in north latitude, child," he 
 said, ** for the first time in your life. Do you 
 sniff your natural air ? Do you pine for the 
 land of oak, ash, and ivy ? Are you in a 
 hurry to see your grandfather ? " 
 
 '' Yes," she replied, " I am impatient ; and 
 yet — well I don't know, this life is so pleasant 
 and amusing. I like the people on board — 
 most of them. I like the lazy existence, 
 while there is all the time a feeling that you 
 are travelling tremendously fast without 
 trouble to yourself. I think I should like to 
 always make voyages in a big ship with 
 pleasant company and pleasant weather." 
 
 ** How would it be," said her father, " to 
 have a private planet of your own, and go 
 wanderinor all over the universe ? " 
 
 *' O, the idea is too vast. Perhaps it 
 might suit me in my next state of exist- 
 ence."
 
 CROSSING THE LINE. 95 
 
 Tom Jones smoked silently, watching the 
 play of her mobile features, and thinking that 
 he most certainly would like the voyage to 
 last for ever. 
 
 *' Do you think all those delightful stories 
 were true, papa, that we heard to-day ? " 
 
 ** Grainger's was true enough, I don't doubt; 
 but I wouldn't answer for any of the others. 
 I don't think Loraine ever saw a ghost in the 
 Albany ; and I question the probability of 
 Cincinnatus's lady whom he saw drowned 
 in California and afterwards met alive in 
 England." 
 
 "And Captain Stuart's talisman, papa?" 
 
 " Stuart is a humbug!" growled Tom Jones 
 — his first contribution to the colloquy. 
 
 " Well, I think he is, rather," rejoined 
 Tachbrook. ** Still, I may perhaps believe 
 in his talisman when I see it work." 
 
 ** I '11 be hanged if I would," said Jones. 
 
 " O you are cross, Tom," said Miranda. 
 *' You have an evil demon in you, like poor 
 King Saul, who I have always thought was 
 abominably treated. Come, shall I exorcise 
 the fiend with a song ?" 
 
 Tom's eyes brightened as he said '' Yes."
 
 96 MIRANDA ; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 But then, again, he thought to himself that 
 this frank and easy kindness was nothing but 
 sisterly affection. 
 
 Miranda found her guitar, and sang — 
 
 " Summer is here on the sea, 
 And the white foam flashes free 
 
 Around our ship all day. 
 We live in a pleasant dream, 
 While the infinite waters gleam. 
 
 And the swift leagues speed away — 
 No storm, no stay. 
 
 " Ah ! could it ever be so ! 
 Could the magical moments flow 
 
 Under serenest skies ! 
 Could life be always youth, 
 And love be beauty and truth ! 
 Ah ! that is no mortal prize — 
 Life flies, love dies." 
 
 ''After that we'll all go to bed," quoth 
 Harold. '' Come, Miranda, give Tom a kiss 
 to cheer him up." 
 
 She obeyed, and Tom dreamt of it.
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 TORRICELLl's TUBE. 
 
 " With lens of glass'did Galileo probe 
 The secrets of the spheres ; with tube of glass, ' 
 Wherein the liquid metal fluctuates free, 
 His famous pupil taught us how to search 
 The lair of storms." 
 
 For many days the great steamship passed 
 pleasantly on its course, and there were 
 agreeable instances among the parties in the 
 sternsheets of that scientific flirtation which 
 has been described as attention without in- 
 tention. For many days the history of the 
 voyage was eventless ; and surely of a ship, 
 as of a nation, it may be said that it is happy 
 to be without a history. The only discon- 
 tented voyager seemed to be Tom Jones — 
 Jones of the two troubles. One we know; 
 
 VOL. I. G
 
 gS MIRANDA ; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 the other we shall know in time. That 
 known trouble was his love for Miranda, and 
 his heavy fear that she regarded him solely 
 as a kind of elder brother. She never flirted 
 with him, as she did with Stuart and Loraine, 
 and the poet, and even Jack Manly. She 
 treated him with perfect simplicity and con- 
 fidence. Eighteen years in the bush had 
 left him a boy of fourteen still in ignorance 
 of the ways of young ladies ; for when he 
 left England, the question of sex, as Arthur 
 Clough called it, had never disturbed him. 
 He could play cricket and football ; he could 
 knock down his schoolmaster, and run away 
 in search of freedom ; but he looked on a 
 young person in petticoats as an entirely in- 
 ferior animal, not worth a moment's considera- 
 tion. This is ver}^ much the way with boys not 
 too precocious, and it is much the healthier 
 form of development. The boy who begins 
 too early in erotics should be treated as Florio 
 was treated when Biancafiore fascinated him 
 — whereof Boccaccio hath written in very 
 choice Italian. That which is strongest is 
 slowest of growth. A gourd may run up 
 in a night, to oblige a minor prophet : the
 
 TORRICELLI S TUBE. 99 
 
 oak wants his centuries, and waxes strong 
 by battle with the storms. 
 
 One evening early in July, Captain Grain- 
 ger went below to register his barometrical 
 observations and consult his chart. The ship 
 was in about 37° N. latitude and 30° W. lon- 
 gitude. The Captain was pleased with his 
 passage and his passengers ; there was not a 
 cloud in the sky as large as a man's hand. 
 *' All went merry as a marriage-bell." How- 
 ever, as some Frenchman has somewhere said, 
 nothing is certain but the unforeseen. When 
 Captain Grainger looked at his glass, he, a 
 man usually imperturbable, started suddenly 
 back. It had fallen since morning from 30.7 
 inches to 29.3, and the summit of the mer- 
 curial column was concave. Grainger, after 
 meditating half a minute, went rapidly on 
 deck, and said a few words to his chief officer, 
 the result of which was that the great ship 
 took in all sail, and used her screw all the 
 night. 
 
 Although it was late, a few passengers were 
 strolling on deck to enjoy the moonlight ; one 
 of these was Captain Stuart, whose quick 
 ear caught sufficient of Grainger's communi-
 
 lOO MIRANDA ; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 cation to his subordinate to make him guess 
 there was something up. He rejoiced, for he 
 loved adventure. He thought he should like 
 to be shipwrecked on a desert island, with 
 nobody but Miranda. 
 
 When the Captain had made his arrange- 
 ments for the night, which he decided to pass 
 on deck, he went down to the antechamber 
 of Tachbrook's cabin, where he often looked 
 in for a few minutes for a final gossip. Our 
 friends were there, enjoying the coolness of 
 the evening, for the ship was marvellously 
 well built for abundant access of air. Mir- 
 anda, who was very keen-sighted, noted at 
 once that the Captain seemed absent and 
 thoughtful. 
 
 " You don't look well. Captain Grainger," 
 she said ; " I will be your doctor, and pre- 
 scribe a cooling draught." 
 
 '' Thanks," he said ; '' I will take a glass of 
 Mr Tachbrook's favourite mixture, hock and 
 seltzer. I must be moderate, for I have to 
 keep watch to-night." 
 
 ^' Why so ? " 
 
 " The mercury is going down. That, in- 
 deed, is what brought me here. I am afraid
 
 TORRICELLl's TUBE. 10 1 
 
 of rather a gale, and want you, without 
 frightening the ladles, to keep them below 
 to-morrow." 
 
 '' We '11 look after them to-night," cried 
 Tom Jones, whose excitable temper made 
 him almost longf for a hurricane. "It would be 
 absurd to turn In. Tachbrook, let's go on 
 deck ; if anything happens, we can help the 
 women folk." 
 
 " I agree with you," said Harold. " What 
 will you do, Miranda ? " 
 
 " Go on deck with you, papa. If I get 
 tired, I can lie down In my berth just as I 
 am, to be ready for all emergencies. It would 
 be so very chilly to be drowned in one's 
 night-dress." 
 
 " And might shock the Nereids," said her 
 father — " lanassa and Kallianassa, and their 
 forty-eight sisters. Well, Captain, with your 
 permission, we'll all three go on deck, and be 
 ready to take orders from you at any moment. 
 My little Miranda can manage the ladles. 
 She is not easily daunted ; she was born at 
 sea, you know. Captain." 
 
 '' Was she ? " he exclaimed. " Then we 
 are all safe. No ship was ever hopelessly
 
 I02 
 
 wrecked with a passenger on board that was 
 born at sea." 
 
 Tachbrook did not smile at the Captain's 
 superstition. Superstition is a necessity of 
 lonely life. 
 
 The sea was calm. Nothing moved It 
 except the mighty screw, which left a trail of 
 foam that sparkled strangely in the moon- 
 light. The sky had no cloud. The idea of 
 peril could not have entered the most ex- 
 perienced seaman's brain, but for that magic 
 tube of Torricelli. 
 
 Swift moved the ship, but slowly passed 
 the night. The Captain at frequent inter- 
 vals went to consult his barometer. Slowly 
 it sank. It was at 28.9 at sunrise when the 
 Farworker arose in his glory of purple and 
 saffron, and sent long interminable shafts of 
 light across the fire-flushed levels of the sea. 
 
 *' It will be a lonof time comlnof, and will 
 last long," said the Captain In a whisper to 
 Tachbrook. '' Say nothing to any one, but 
 keep your eye on the ladies, so as to get them 
 below in a minute or two if the gale begins. 
 We are just off the Azores — and when It 
 blows there, it does blow. Sometimes the
 
 TORRICELLI S TUBE. IO3 
 
 Storms force islands up from below ; there is 
 one there that came up about 1810 or 18 12." 
 
 " I shall give Miranda some breakfast," 
 said Harold, " and make her lie down for a 
 few hours, and do the same myself. Then 
 we shall, be all right for what may happen. 
 Send if you want us, Captain. Tom, you 
 must do likewise." 
 
 About six o'clock they turned in ; at ten, 
 after sound sleep and refreshing baths, they 
 were perfectly fresh and ready for the events 
 of the day. They found breakfast in pro- 
 gress in the saloon, and the magnificent 
 Wilson lecturing on colonial politics to the 
 small clique that professed to admire him. 
 Tackbrook, who was on as good terms with 
 the cook as with the Captain, got a capital 
 omelet made. After that, and a cup of good 
 coffee, slightly dashed with cognac, they felt 
 ready for the day 
 
 Captain Grainger paced the deck uneasily. 
 At noon the mercury had dropped a ^quarter 
 of an inch. The majority of the passengers 
 were wisely kept ignorant of the situation ; 
 fhey enjoyed themselves in the sternsheets 
 as usual ; but Captain Stuart ostentatiously
 
 I04 MIRANDA ; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 exhibited his crystal icosahedron, the centre 
 of which had turned jet black. The ladies 
 to whom he exhibited it were all terrified, 
 and thought something dreadful was going to 
 happen. Stuart was happy ; he had created 
 a sensation. 
 
 Loraine took the trinket from the hands 
 of Alice Mansard, who had been examining 
 it In a half-frightened way. He touched a 
 spring, and then handed it to Stuart — with 
 the centre white ! 
 
 " You are doomed to drowning, I fear," 
 said Loraine, sympathisingly. 
 
 Stuart looked puzzled, then got up and 
 walked forward. Miranda said to Loraine — 
 
 " What does it mean ? " 
 
 " Those toys are all over Asia," he said. 
 '' I Ve a couple of them somewhere, but I 
 think it 's in London. You turn the handle 
 till it comes the colour you want. Our friend 
 Stuart wanted to hoax you." 
 
 '' What a shame ! " exclaimed Miranda. 
 
 *' Dreadful ! Send him to Coventry, with- 
 out a return-ticket. By the way, I hope he 
 won't droAvn himself to prove the truth of his 
 talisman."
 
 TORRICELLI S TUBE. IO5 
 
 *' Pooh ! " quoth Tom Jones, " that 's not his 
 destiny." 
 
 The day continued calm, but still the column 
 of mercury sank, sank, sank, and with it sank 
 Captain Grainger's heart. Everybody on deck 
 was gay enough. The only three of the party 
 to whom the Captain had spoken were of dar- 
 ing temperament, and easily kept up their 
 spirits, sanguine of good luck in any peril. 
 Dinner went gaily. There was a dance on deck 
 afterwards. Amid all the music and gaiety 
 Grainger perpetually consulted his barometer. 
 At sunset it stood 28.8, yet the sky was clear. 
 
 At ten o'clock most of the ladies had gone 
 below. The only one left, indeed, was Mir- 
 anda, who, leaning on her father's arm, in a 
 state of intense expectation, searched the sky 
 with those clear eyes of hers. Suddenly, in 
 the dim cobalt eastern sky, she saw a small 
 grey cloud, and pointed it out to the Captain. 
 
 *' It is coming," he said, hoarsely. *' Go 
 below, for God's sake." And then he gave 
 swift orders to the crew. 
 
 They were hardly under hatches when the 
 gale struck the great ship like a thunderbolt, 
 and she staggered Into the trough of the sea.
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE ISLAND OF HAWKS. 
 
 " Whence came that marvellous sudden shaft 
 Which cut us down on our path, while we, 
 With singing shrouds, through a summer sea 
 Swept, and the sweet waves softly laughed ? " 
 
 Captain Grainger felt that he could fight 
 any common storm, but this strong rush of 
 tempest was Irresistible. It took the great 
 ship as If It had been a feather, and drove It 
 between air and sea with swiftness unima- 
 ginable. The engines were paralysed ; the 
 masts went by the boards ; Grainger, clinging 
 to the ungovernable helm, said, " We are In 
 God's hands ! " and waited the event with 
 courage and patience Indomitable. 
 
 Quickly did the unfortunate passengers 
 below discover that something terrible was
 
 THE ISLAND OF HAWKS. 10/ 
 
 happening. Tachbrook and Tom Jones tore 
 up some blankets, and fastened Miranda to a 
 stationary couch, so that she might not be 
 shattered to fragments by the furious move- 
 ment of the vessel. They could not get from 
 their cabins to aid any one else, for it was im- 
 possible to stand upright for an instant, so 
 fiercely was the ship clutched and whirled by 
 the cyclone. They held on to the couch 
 where Miranda lay, and resolutely awaited 
 certain destruction. Of such moments, how- 
 ever brief, there is no description ; and when 
 sensations of this sort last, ordinary humanity 
 becomes torpid with terror. 
 
 It was not so with our friends. How long 
 the ship was driven before the gale they did 
 not know, but they managed to say a good 
 many things to each other before the final 
 catastrophe arrived. The roar of the wind 
 was a strong continuous sound, but did not 
 prevent their voices being heard by each other. 
 
 *' The ship must be lost," said Tom Jones. 
 " I wish I were on deck ; I hate being 
 drowned in a hole." 
 
 " You won't be drowned," said Miranda ; 
 "■ I was born at sea, you know."
 
 I08 MIRANDA; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 " We had better look forward to death, my 
 child," said Harold Tachbrook, quietly; "it 
 is the inevitable fate of us all ; and where it 
 happens, or how, is of slight consequence — 
 we are in God's hands." 
 
 He was unconsciously echoing Grainger's 
 exclamation when the wild gale broke loose. 
 It is what men most callous and impious 
 are forced to exclaim when they are power- 
 less amid peril. 
 
 "Yes!" cried Tom Jones, "that is true; 
 and now that we are doomed to die together, 
 let me tell you something, Miranda — let me 
 tell you something, Tachbrook : I am " 
 
 At that instant a mighty shock threw both 
 Harold and Tom from their position, and 
 almost shook Mirandas couch from its 
 strongly-fixed foundation ; then there was 
 quiet. The wind yelled at the sea, and the 
 sea howled like a scourged slave, but the 
 ship was still. 
 
 " We have struck," said Tachbrook, "thank 
 God!" 
 
 They unswathed Miranda from her blankets, 
 and she stood up gay and brave as a daughter 
 of Nereus. It was easy to stand now : the
 
 THE ISLAND OF HAWKS. IO9 
 
 ship did not tremble, though the storm still 
 shrieked like a myriad million of fiends. 
 
 " You see my being born at sea has been 
 of some use, papa," said Miranda. 
 
 '' Immense, child," said her father ; '' I 
 shall try and get on deck. Tom will take 
 care of you till I return." 
 
 Getting on deck was not easy, for the ship 
 was a chaos. Tachbrook struggled to the 
 surface in time, and found that although the 
 gale still blew, it had driven the ship into so 
 sheltered a corner that it was just possible to 
 stand on deck without being blown overboard. 
 Stem on, the Mighty Metropolis had been 
 driven between two lofty ridges of basaltic 
 rock, just wide enough to clench her ; there 
 she lay. while the wind roared over her, fixed 
 as if in a vice. The cliffs were lofty ; it was 
 impossible to see what was beyond ; to 
 Tachbrook it seemed that the best thing he 
 could do was to search for Grainofer. He 
 found him holding on to the helm, almost 
 faint with what he had endured. He made 
 the Captain take a little brandy, after which 
 he soon recovered his faculties. Meanwhile 
 the gale was blowing itself out ; by the time
 
 no MIRANDA; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 Tachbrook had medicated the Captain, there 
 was hardly a puff of wind, and the sun shone 
 brightly on the maddened waters. The 
 passionate wind soon forgets its rage, and 
 gives zephyr-kisses to the sea ten minutes 
 after, but the sullen sea groans and swells 
 and surges for days after the wind's passion. 
 
 Miranda, durlns: her father's absence, had 
 been changing her dress, and came on deck 
 quite a gay little figure, uncrumpled by the 
 storm. The others, as they came up one by 
 one looked each more tattered and disar- 
 ranged than the last. So they served as foils 
 to Miranda. They were a very different 
 party from those whom we have seen enjoy- 
 ing champagne from the Captain s famous 
 gold cup. 
 
 When Captain Grainger made his exa- 
 mination, it was found that there were few 
 casualties during the storm ; which shows 
 that when seamen (or any other men) have 
 a dangerous thing to do, they do it well. 
 Th^re was nobody missing except Captain 
 Stuart, and he would be sure to turn up. 
 
 Grainger soon had his crew at work to see 
 what could be done. It was evident almost
 
 THE ISLAND OF HAWKS. I I I 
 
 at once that they must let down boats and 
 get ashore. The Captain feared the return 
 of the gale, since so long an atmospheric pre- 
 monition clearly indicated a series of storms, 
 worse perhaps than this wild hurricane. 
 Then perchance the power that had fixed 
 his steamer between the rocks mio^ht drae 
 her out again, and shatter her to pieces. 
 So he set all hands at work, and the 
 passengers were landed on a beach of firm 
 yellow sand that lay south of the rocks ; and 
 some sat upon cushions and rugs, and re- 
 freshed themselves, and wrung their hands 
 and moaned ; while others, enterprising as 
 Gulliver or Crusoe, determined to explore. 
 Loraine, Jack Manly, Leary, the poet Cincin- 
 natus joined our party ; and they turned their 
 backs to the sea, and went bravely inland. 
 
 " O how delightful ! " was Miranda s excla- 
 mation before they had walked a hundred 
 yards. They were in a wood of orange and 
 lemon trees, with innumerable fruitage upon 
 the boughs. The oranges were small and 
 sweet, the lemons large and fragrant. Through 
 this wood of glossy leaf and exquisite odour 
 they walked for about half a mile. Then
 
 I I 2 MIRANDA ; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 they came to what seemed a half-wild vine- 
 yard, the grapes ripening rapidly, while 
 here and there stood a group of banana-trees. 
 Through this vineyard sparkled a crystal 
 stream. On they went, not despising a few 
 grapes where the clusters were ripest, and 
 reached an eminent point, whence they could 
 see the ocean on the other side, and many 
 islands of various sizes sleeping in the sun- 
 shine. It was a lovely view, both by sea and 
 on shore. The air was laden with the lus- 
 cious aroma of lemon and citron, coffee and 
 cinnamon, all growing half-wild everywhere. 
 Human habitation saw they none. The sea 
 shone like an oriental sapphire. The blue 
 peaks of the archipelago cut the air like cones 
 of steel. Everywhere reigned beauty and 
 fertility, but everywhere also reigned soli- 
 tude. Stay ! There were goats innumerable 
 capering about the ravines ; and there 
 hovered in aether multitudinous falcons : the 
 acoreSy which gave their name to the whole 
 group of islands. 
 
 " What a lovely spot ! " suddenly exclaimed 
 Miranda. They were on the verge of a 
 gentle grassy slope, which formed a complete
 
 THE ISLAND OF HAWKS. I 1 3 
 
 amphitheatre. Miranda rested on a block of 
 lava that seemed moulded for a seat, and her 
 bodyguard threw themselves on the virgin 
 turf. The bright rivulet from the vineyard 
 became a musical torrent here, throwing 
 itself over a bed of tufa, and rushing wildly 
 into a calm oval lake that lay in the valley 
 below. This lake was a perfect ellipse. 
 Very pure and tranquil it lay, except where 
 the headlong brook disturbed its waters. 
 Harry Loraine, the completest of men as 
 regards the practical apparatus of travel, had 
 not allowed his field-glass to be smashed in 
 the shipwreck, and it hung across his 
 shoulder in its russia-leather case. He 
 was adjusting it to sweep the opposite shore 
 of the lake, when Tom Jones, whose Austra- 
 lian experience from boyhood had made him 
 strong of sight, exclaimed — 
 
 " There 's something in the cliffs there 
 that looks very like the mouth of a cavern. 
 Examine it, Loraine." 
 
 He turned his glass that way ; then, after 
 taking a good look, passed it to Tach- 
 brook. 
 
 *' Certainly a cavern," said the latter, ''and 
 
 VOL. I. H
 
 114 MIRANDA; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 With marks of human artifice about the 
 portal. Perhaps the inhabitants of this islet 
 are troglodytes." 
 
 *' What is that, papa ?" asked Miranda. 
 
 '' Greek, child. ' Troglodyte ' means a 
 dweller in a cave, like some of the Not- 
 tingham people. They used to do it in 
 Ethiopia, according to Herodotus. Shall 
 we go round the lake and investigate ?" 
 
 " Of course !" exclaimed the poet Meunier. 
 '^ Perhaps we shall find an underground 
 kingdom, where everything is reversed — 
 where people are born old and go back to 
 youth — where ice is hot and fire cold." 
 
 " Where poets are fools," interrupted 
 Loraine. 
 
 " What in the world is that ? " exclaimed 
 Miranda, pointing to the lake, a few yards 
 from the other side. *' There is something 
 moving in the water." 
 
 *' Big fish," said Leary. 
 
 Loraine looked at the moving objects 
 through his field-glass. 
 
 *' If it were not impossible," he said, " I 
 should think they were a couple of children 
 swimming. Try your eyesight, Tachbrook."
 
 THE ISLAND OF HAWKS. I 1 5 
 
 *' By Jove, you 're right," he exclaimed ; 
 " a couple of amphibious young troglodytes. 
 Well, there are Inhabitants, after all ; I sup- 
 pose they '11 talk nothing but Portuguese." 
 
 " There 's a Portuguese sailor on board," 
 said Jack Manly. '' He '11 be able to in- 
 terpret." 
 
 The party made their way down the steep 
 grassy sward, and were soon on the lake's 
 margin. They skirted It on a hard beach of 
 lava mixed with strange sea-shells. All the 
 Azores are volcanic In origin. Doubtless 
 this lake was the crater of a submarine 
 volcano, lifted to the surface suddenly. When 
 they came near the point at which their 
 strange fish had been swimming, it was 
 apparent that they had just landed. A couple 
 of beautiful children, nine or ten years old, 
 were racing up and down on a stretch of 
 turf, drying themselves In the sunshine. They 
 had no towel, and apparently no raiment. 
 When they saw the travellers approach, they 
 came running up to them, exclaiming — 
 
 " Hurrah ! hurrah ! " 
 
 "I wonder what that's Portuguese for," said 
 Loralne. '' It sounds ridiculously like English."
 
 I 1 6 MIRANDA ; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 The two children, down whose white skins 
 the spherules still trickled, shook their abun- 
 dant wet hair, and danced gaily, and played 
 all sorts of wild tricks upon the grass. 
 
 " They are wild creatures," said Tach 
 brook ; '' but they seem English in look and 
 language. Let us question them." 
 
 Tom Jones sprang forward and caught 
 hold of the boy. The youngster was not in 
 the least alarmed. He clomb up his stalwart 
 captor's form, and seated himself on his 
 shoulder. 
 
 *' Now," he said, in excellent good English, 
 " what do you want ?" 
 
 " You 've got caught by the young Man of 
 the Sea," said Leary to Tom Jones. 
 
 *' Where do you live ?" asked Tachbrook. 
 
 ''In the cave there," he said, pointing to 
 the arched entrance they had seen from the 
 other side of the lake. It was a noble natural 
 archway. ''Come and see father," the boy 
 went on ; while the girl, a wild creature, ran 
 forward over the grass. 
 
 When they approached the entrance to the 
 cave they heard a mighty roar of water, and 
 at the giant doorway they found a deep
 
 THE ISLAND OF HAWKS. 1 1 7 
 
 chasm, ten feet wide perhaps, and of depth 
 unguessable, far down In which the waters of 
 the lake were evidently discharged by a sub- 
 terranean river. Across this gulf there was 
 a cord stretched tight: the girl walked on it 
 to the other side with perfect ease. 
 
 " Let me go and find father," cried the boy, 
 and sprang from Tom Jones's shoulder, and 
 crossed in like manner. 
 
 Our exploring party stood in amazement. 
 These Inhabitants of an unknown island, wild 
 as savages yet speaking English, perplexed 
 them greatly. They stood on the brink of 
 this wonderful abyss, and waited to see what 
 would happen. Presently there appeared in 
 the entry a tall figure with hair and beard 
 perfectly white. He was apparently about 
 six feet hlorh. He had on a tunic of Croat's 
 
 o o 
 
 skins, and short trews of the same material 
 reaching to the knees. Below, his legs and 
 feet were bare. 
 
 *' Friends ? " he cried Interrogatively ; and 
 on receiving an affirmative answer, he let 
 down a rough plank that just crossed the 
 chasm. For some curious reason connected 
 with the human Imagination, walking a plank
 
 I I 8 MIRANDA ; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 a foot wide is easy enough If you put It on 
 firm ground, but makes you dizzy If there Is 
 space below. It Is noticeable that monkeys 
 do not feel this difficulty — a fact hard to re- 
 concile with Darwinism. 
 
 However, Tom Jones crossed easily enough, 
 and standing midway, offered his hand to Mir- 
 anda, and landed her safely. CIncInnatus the 
 poet, having ascended Mount Tyndall In the 
 Sierra Nevada, had no difficulty. Tachbrook 
 disdained the plank and leaped the chasm. 
 Leary and Manly and Loralne had some 
 slight hesitations. When they were across, 
 the scene was superb. The entrance-hall of 
 this great cavern, or series of caverns, was 
 about three hundred feet from floor to roof, 
 and Instead of being dark, as they anticipated, 
 was suffused with a tender light. For high 
 In the mountain peak there was a natural 
 skylight, catching the meridian sun — and half 
 way up the wall of the cavern was a noble 
 window, of whose form a Gothic architect 
 might be proud, through which poured the 
 western sunset. 
 
 '' This is a palace for a King of the Sea,'' 
 said CIncInnatus Meunler.
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE BIG SHIP. 
 
 " Nequicquam Deus abscidit 
 Prudens Oceano dissociabili 
 Terras, si tamen impiae 
 Non tangenda rates transiliunt vada." 
 
 While our exploring party were cheerily 
 seeking adventure, and realising Mr Disraeli's 
 favourite apophthegm, that ''adventures are 
 to the adventurous," Captain Grainger was 
 doing his duty, not without considerable 
 trouble. He had to provide sustenance for 
 crew and passengers, to keep the former in 
 order, to console the latter. Can you not 
 imagine Mr Edward Wilson, knight infttturo, 
 pompously delivering himself ? 
 
 '' I am very much annoyed, Captain 
 Grainger ; we are all very much annoyed. I
 
 I20 MIRANDA; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 was to have been presented to Her Most 
 Gracious Majesty early in August, and to 
 have received the honour of knighthood ; and 
 here we all are on a desert Island — most Incon- 
 venient for Lady — I mean Mrs Wilson and 
 the Misses Wilson — and It Is Impossible to 
 say when she shall reach England. You 
 know, sir, it Is not pleasant to disappoint the 
 Queen ! " 
 
 Grainger, with less troubles on his broad 
 shoulders, would probably have laughed. 
 As It was, he simply said, with the uttermost 
 gravity — 
 
 ''You may thank God, Mr Wilson, that 
 you have disappointed the sharks." 
 
 The Mighty Metropolis^ jammed by the 
 gale between two rocks, moved not percep- 
 tibly either with wind or tide. She lay high 
 out of the water, and her stern sank a little at 
 first, but now she was stedfast ; and Grainger 
 said to himself that It would take a fleet of 
 steamers to haul her off. She was safe 
 enough — only too safe. Nothing less than as 
 strong a gale from the opposite quarter could 
 drive her back Into the sea. So the captain's 
 first business was to land provisions and
 
 THE BIG SHIP. I 2 I 
 
 articles of comfort — canvas for tents, and 
 mattresses for sleeping. All hands worked 
 hard at this .business, and the afternoon saw 
 the beach a complete encampment, and 
 cookery going on over many fires, and every- 
 body willing to look cheerfully at the situation. 
 Except Mr Edward Wilson, who strutted up 
 and down like an injured turkey-cock, pining 
 for his accolade. 
 
 One of the Captain's most efficient helpers 
 was the surgeon, Mr Brett; and one of the sur- 
 geon's earliest proceedings was to go to the snug 
 little corner known as the surgery, in order to 
 collect necessary medicines. A very small den 
 was the surgery, opening from the surgeon's 
 private cabin, fitted up with cases and chests 
 for various kinds of drugs, and with no furni- 
 ture except a heavy sofa, designed to serve as 
 a basis of operation in case anybody wanted 
 a tooth extracted, or anything worse. When 
 Brett entered this snuggery, he was amazed 
 to see a man apparently asleep on the sofa. 
 It was Captain Stuart. He lay prone, 
 with a phial clutched in his left hand. 
 The Doctor looked at the phial, and 
 felt the Captain's pulse — and came to a
 
 I 2 :2 MIRANDA ; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 rapid conclusion, which turned out to be 
 correct. 
 
 When the gale struck the ship with such 
 awful suddenness, Stuart was below in the 
 saloon. He made a rush toward his own 
 cabin, but was unable to reach it. He fell 
 throueh a door, and found himself in the 
 surgery. He held on to the sofa, white with 
 terror ; he heard the mad conflict of wind 
 with sea, and felt the great ship trembling in 
 every plank as she was driven through the 
 water. Stuart, a man of no faith, and not much 
 reason, was disgusted with his situation. He 
 remembered how, when he went out rabbit- 
 ing in his boyhood, he pitied the poor devil 
 of a rabbit, caught in his hole, the ferret 
 behind him, and the terrier waiting at the 
 mouth. 
 
 " I 'm in a hole now, by Jove," said Stuart 
 to himself, *' and there 's no getting out of it. 
 No ship can live in this gale. We shall all 
 go down ; and where the deuce shall we find 
 ourselves ? I wish it was over." 
 
 Stuart was not a coward. In active daring 
 he had few equals ; but he had no power of 
 passive endurance. Each moment made him
 
 THE BIG SHIP. 123 
 
 more madly impatient. All at once a sudden 
 idea occurred to him ; he managed to stretch 
 over to one of the medicine cases, and to find 
 a phial of chloroform. He emptied the whole 
 of it on his handkerchief, buried his nostrils 
 and mouth therein, and in two minutes was 
 dreamlessly asleep, and quite unconscious of 
 the steamship and the gale. 
 
 Still asleep was Stuart when Brett found 
 him. The surgeon asked the Captain to come 
 and look at him ; and Grainger ordered some 
 sailors to get him into a boat on a mattress, 
 and land him at a quiet spot on the beach, 
 away from the rest of the party. So he was 
 laid on his mattress in a niche of the rocks, 
 whence he could see nothing but sea and sky. 
 
 When he awoke, he was alone, for Brett 
 and the sailors had plenty to do. Where was 
 he ? He felt weak and headachy, and reasoned 
 that such feelings could hardly occur in any 
 world except the earth. Yet he was not on 
 board ship, at any rate ; and for aught he 
 knew, he might be in some easy avenue to the 
 nether world, awaiting a summons to the pre- 
 sence of that monarch whom no man, save 
 Cuvier, has ever foiled.
 
 124 MIRANDA; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 Weakened by fatigue and chloroform, he 
 lay in a dozy lotophagous state, and watched 
 the sky and sea. The calm was perfect. 
 Stuart's brain worked mechanically, and he 
 imagined a host of things which seemed ab- 
 solutely real. He was in that state which 
 opium confers when not used in excess — a 
 state which the Turk calls /eef. 
 
 Brett, having a thousand things to do, left 
 Stuart alone for some hours : when he came 
 to look after him., he found he was in a 
 dreamy half-conscious state ; he administered 
 a little brandy, Stuart gulped it ; looked 
 round ; recognised Brett ; exclaimed — 
 
 " I thought I was in heaven. It can't be 
 true, I know, for Saint Peter would never 
 pass such brandy as that." 
 
 By the time the encampment on the beach 
 was organised, and arrangements made for 
 tolerable comfort. Captain Grainger began to 
 wonder what had become of the exploring 
 party. He was not without hope that they 
 might have obtained information of some 
 value. Having provided as well as he could 
 for his passengers, his next duty was to see 
 what could be done to save the ship — a
 
 THE BIG SHIP. 125 
 
 matter which weighed heavily on the Cap- 
 tain's mind. This was his first misadventure 
 of magnitude ; heretofore his fortunes had 
 been fabulously good. And now he felt 
 rather in despair : for he full well knew the 
 lethargic state of the Azores, and the impos- 
 sibility of obtaining the kind of help he re- 
 quired. 
 
 '' Not an engineer in the islands," he thought 
 to himself, " and not a steamer of fifty horse 
 power. I shall have to get to Liverpool any 
 way I can, and then they '11 supersede me, and 
 send some other fellow to save the ship. 
 Well, if one is to be shipwrecked, I should 
 like it to be in some civilised country." 
 
 It was close on sunset when Captain 
 Grainger, who was anxious about his miss- 
 ing friends, saw some of them approaching — 
 four only out of the seven — Loraine, Leary, 
 Jack Manly, and the poet. He hurried to 
 meet them. 
 
 " What news ? '" he asked. *' Where are 
 the others ? " 
 
 *' It's a long story, Captain," said Loraine. 
 *' The worst thing about it is that there 's no 
 chance of any help on the island. There
 
 126 MIRANDA; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 isn't a house upon It. The only inhabitants are 
 a man and two children ; they Hve In a cavern/' 
 
 ** I feared that there was no cIvIHsatlon In 
 the wretched Httle place. Well, I shall start 
 a couple of boats to Terceira and St Michael's 
 before sunrise to-morrow. But how about 
 our other friends ? " 
 
 " O they are going to stay In the cavern 
 with these aborigines to-night," said Leary. 
 " The man is Eno^llsh ; Tachbrook discovered 
 that he knew something about his family — 
 I can't say what — so they have taken lodgings 
 in his cavern, and I 'm sure I hope they '11 
 like It." 
 
 *' You must be hungry," said the Captain. 
 " We Ve plenty to eat, thank Heaven." 
 
 " Well," said Cincinnatus, '' I can manage 
 a slight refection ; but the old fellow in the 
 cave treated us very well. We had stewed 
 kid, with oranges ; and some wonderful purple 
 fish that I never saw before, which he said 
 was never caught except in lakes that had 
 been the craters of volcanoes ; and goat's 
 milk cheese ; and bananas in cream ; and ex- 
 cellent coffee, from berries picked while we 
 were there."
 
 THE BIG SHIP. 127 
 
 '* I hope you got something to drink be- 
 sides coffee," said Grainger. 
 
 " Yes," said Loraine, '' a wonderful brew- 
 age made from grapes, oranges, lemons, 
 citrons, bananas, and cinnamon, that had 
 been allowed to ferment, and was, he said 
 several years old. It was capital stuff, but 
 rather too strong and rather too sweet."
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 THE TROGLODYTE. 
 " In the world's childhood all were troglodytes." 
 
 As man contains In himself the models of all 
 living creatures that dwell on this planet, so 
 the earth Itself contains antitypes of all 
 edifices which men erect, and all Instruments 
 they use. The oar was borrowed from the 
 fish's fin ; an oak has been the pattern of a 
 lighthouse ; the cones of Alps suggested 
 the cathedral spire ; the tors of Devon and 
 Derby the cathedral tower; the frowning 
 entrances of mighty caverns the cathedral 
 gate ; the arches of great forests the cathe- 
 dral aisle, God made models for us, rouorh
 
 THE TROGLODYTE. I 29 
 
 yet sublime, of all that we could do. As a 
 great poet has said — 
 
 " The Bible is the earth ; and we begin 
 To learn a little of what lies within." 
 
 Had there been no caverns on the earth's 
 surface, it may be doubted whether mankind 
 would ever have learnt to build houses. 
 
 The Troglodyte of the Island of Hawks 
 was very courteous to his unexpected visitors, 
 and gave them aboriginal refreshment, which 
 already has been described. The day was 
 hot without ; in the core of that cavern it 
 was delectably cool. Beneath the natural 
 floor the river outlet of the lake made endless 
 music ; while through the great window sea- 
 birds flashed by, sometimes entering the 
 cavern to find their nests in its mighty roof. 
 The two young swimmers served their father's 
 guests, without even the Sca^wo-fia- The scene 
 was curious, and deserves a painter's treat- 
 ment. 
 
 When the meal was over, the Troglodyte 
 led them up rather a difficult stairway to the 
 window looking across the sea, thirty feet at 
 least above the floor of the cavern. There a 
 natural bench existed, whereon they sat com- 
 
 VOL. I. I
 
 I 30 MIRANDA ; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 fortably enough, looking out across the ocean 
 towards America. The children had run 
 •away to amuse themselves. 
 
 " This is a curious habitation for an English 
 gentleman of pretty old family," said the 
 Troglodyte presently. '' As you are all 
 English, I feel disposed to tell you a part 
 of my history ; for imagine ! I have seen no 
 human creature but those two children for 
 the seven years I have been on this island. 
 The island itself is not many years old." 
 
 "What!" said Loraine. "How do you 
 make that out ?" 
 
 " Well, it isn't of age yet," said the old 
 man, laughing. "It was thrown up by an 
 earthquake, or rather a seaquake, about 
 twenty years ago. I expect it will go down 
 just as suddenly." 
 
 " Not to-day, I hope," said Leary. 
 
 " Yours must be a romantic story," said 
 Miranda. " I wish these gentlemen would 
 not interrupt it by unnecessary remarks. 
 Please go on, and I will try to keep order." 
 
 "You shall be lady president," said the 
 Troglodyte, courteously. " I will give you 
 the second half of my story. I came from
 
 THE TROGLODYTE. I31 
 
 England for two reasons — I disliked my 
 relations, and I longed for adventure. I had 
 plenty of money, and can get plenty now. 
 I was shipwrecked on Terceira. There was 
 a good deal of fun at Angra. I had no reason 
 for going away, so I stayed. I fell in love 
 with a most charming Portuguese girl, whom 
 I will call Juanita. She was of good family; 
 was exquisitely pretty — was ineffably lazy. 
 We lived a pleasant easy life, and she gave 
 birth to those two youngsters — and then she 
 died of consumption. Just at that time my 
 love of adventure revived, and I happened 
 to hear of this wonderful island. I deter- 
 mined to explore it ; bought a cutter, which 
 I loaded with all I thought requisite for 
 Crusoe life, and came over here. I have 
 enjoyed it, though I have worn out nearly 
 all my clothes." 
 
 *' But you are not going to stay here," said 
 Tachbrook. " Come home to England with 
 us when we can get away." 
 
 '' I will think of it," he said. 
 
 When they descended again to the cavern, 
 the Troglodyte drew Tachbrook aside, and 
 said —
 
 132 MIRANDA ; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 " Do you know Rothescamp ?" 
 
 " Indeed I do," said Harold, surprised. 
 
 " I wish you would stay here to-night, with 
 your daughter, and the young man you call 
 Jones. I can make you comfortable, really. 
 Will you ? Send the other men on to say 
 you will come to-morrow." 
 
 '' Agreed," said Harold. 
 
 So he told his friends that he had deter- 
 mined to stay the night in the cavern ; and 
 they four, as we have seen, returned to the 
 shore and made their report. When they 
 had left, the Troglodyte asked his remaining 
 guests to stroll on the margin of the lake 
 until he joined them. Hereunto they as- 
 sented, crossing the chasm, and finding the 
 lake more beautiful than before under the 
 slant evening light. 
 
 *' There is something queer about this old 
 gentleman," said Tachbrook, as they loitered 
 beside the lake. *' That he z's a gentleman is 
 clear enough : but what an odd life for an 
 Englishman of his stamp ! And fancy those 
 two little imps of his, running absolutely 
 wild." 
 
 Miranda laughed, for at that moment the
 
 THE TROGLODYTE. I 33 
 
 two naked children were turning the wildest 
 somersaults on the grass by the lake. And 
 much more amused was Miranda when there 
 presently emerged from his cavern the Trog- 
 lodyte himself — but in how different a costume 
 from the scanty goat-skins ! He came before 
 them like one of the sketches in Sams's 
 w^indow — a beaver hat, blue coat with brass 
 buttons, long kerseymere waistcoat, knee 
 breeches, silk stockings, shoes with square 
 toes, and diamond buckles. There, in the 
 Island of Hawks, the Troglodyte looked 
 every inch a member of Brooks's. It was a 
 perfect transformation scene. They stood 
 amazed — the most amazed being Harold 
 Tachbrook, who had some experience of old- 
 fashioned dress. 
 
 The Troglodyte joined them, first ordering 
 the children off to bed ; a couple of young 
 nudities seemed very much out of place 
 near those highly respectable habiliments. 
 Fancy Aphrodite In her customary costume 
 walking down St James's Street under the 
 eyes of the decorous old gentlemen who 
 haunt the bow-windows of clubs ! The Trog- 
 lodyte guided his guests to a group of olive-
 
 134 
 
 trees which overhung the lake ; there they 
 sat down. 
 
 ** I asked you if you knew Rothescamp," 
 he presently said to Harold. '' Let me tell 
 you why. I know it well ; at least, I knew it 
 well, years ago. When a boy I was fond of 
 pictures, and used to spend hours in the old 
 picture-gallery at Rothescamp-on-the-Hill." 
 
 '' I was never there that I remember," said 
 Harold. " I lived with my father in the vil- 
 lage below." 
 
 " I see — I see ! Now I begin to know who 
 you are. Strange that we should meet in 
 this island, where I expected to pass the re- 
 mainder of my life in solitude. Passing 
 strange ! " 
 
 He remained silent for a moment. Then 
 he said — 
 
 '' Your name is Tachbrook ? " 
 
 '' Yes." 
 
 '' So is mine." 
 
 All three of his auditors gave a perceptible 
 start. 
 
 " I found you out," he proceeded to say, 
 " by your own and your daughter's wonder- 
 ful likeness to portraits in that famous old
 
 THE TROGLODYTE. I 35 
 
 gallery — portraits of your ancestors, some 
 centuries old. There is a man painted there 
 by Vandyke, who might be your twin bro- 
 ther. There are several ladles like your 
 daughter ; but one Is so like, that you might 
 think it was absolutely painted for her." 
 
 " Don't say there 's anybody like me," ex- 
 claimed Tom Jones. '' I 'm Jones. I de- 
 cline to be stuck In among your aristocratic 
 people. I should feel quite unhappy In a 
 picture-gallery. Fancy being hung up In the 
 same place for centuries, with nobody to look 
 at but your great-grandmother In a short 
 frock as a shepherdess — ten years old." 
 
 The Troglodyte gave Tom Jones a queer 
 smile, and then said to Harold— 
 
 " You don't, I suppofc, know much of your 
 family history. But of course you can tell 
 me who Is the present baronet ? " 
 
 " Indeed I cannot. When I left England, 
 there was nobody living at the old house, and 
 the rumour of the vlllao^e was that Sir Arthur 
 Tachbrook was in a lunatic asylum. My 
 father used to say that he did not believe 
 that, although certainly of opinion that he was 
 qualified for admission. His letters have
 
 136 MIRANDA; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 never mentioned Sir Arthur, and I am quite 
 uncertain whether he is alive or dead. I do 
 not even know whether he has children." 
 
 *' If not," said the Troglodyte, " I am his 
 heir, for I am his nephew, son of his only 
 brother Theodore." 
 
 *' How extraordinary !" exclaimed Harold. 
 *' Then what relation is there between you 
 and me ? " 
 
 *' We are second cousins, I suppose ; at 
 any rate, we had the same great-grandfather. 
 It is an odd place for cousins to meet." 
 
 *' Very odd, but I am rather a believer in 
 curious coincidences, — for my mother pos- 
 sessed some strange magnetic power, and I 
 have inherited a kind of mystical tendency. I 
 think the air of our Australian steppes has 
 blown It away : I don't now believe much more 
 than I can see." 
 
 '' Don't believe half you can see," said 
 the Troglodyte. '' Since I have lived in this 
 Insular splltude, I have seen the strangest 
 visions. I have seen a great fleet of war- 
 ships pass close to the shore, and suddenly 
 vanish. I have seen a woman walklnof on 
 the smooth surface of that lake by moonlight.
 
 THE TROGLODYTE. I 37 
 
 I have seen an army besieging a city in the 
 clouds of sunset. Between what we see and 
 what we imagine, how sHght is the difference ! 
 And is not imagination often stronger than 
 sight ? However, I don't think we have yet 
 come to the end of our coincidences." 
 
 At this moment Miranda exclaimed — 
 
 " Look at the lake ! How it is bubbling !" 
 
 They all looked. In the very middle of 
 the lake the water was rising in a sort of 
 mound, lifted evidently by some force from 
 below. 
 
 '' That 's no vision," said Tom Jones. 
 ** What does it mean ? " .^ 
 
 *' It means that we had better turn Into the 
 cavern, for there is another storm on the way. 
 That lake is my barometer, as well as my 
 fishpond : it Is evidently the crater of a 
 volcano, for it moves with every impulse of 
 weather. This Is going to be a big storm : I 
 hope your shipmates are well sheltered." 
 
 '' Shall zue be well sheltered ? " asked 
 Miranda, *' if one may put a selfish ques- 
 tion." 
 
 ''No storm has ever troubled my cavern," 
 replied the Troglodyte. *' But as you, being
 
 138 MIRANDA; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 a Tachbrook, are of course a brave young 
 lady, I may venture to say that I never go to 
 bed at night without thinking I may wake 
 at the bottom of the sea In the morning. An 
 island that so unexpectedly comes to the sur- 
 face may disappear just as abruptly." 
 
 " I am not afraid," said Miranda, laughing; 
 " for, don't you know, I am a kind of mer- 
 maid — I was born at sea." 
 
 The Troglodyte guided his guests out of 
 the great hall In which they had dined Into a 
 square chamber of immense height, but not 
 more than thirty feet each way. It had two 
 windows : one looking seaward, a hundred 
 feet from the ground ; the other, not much 
 more than an arrow-slit, close to the floor. 
 From this they could watch the lake. The 
 bore In its centre rose hlofher and hieher. 
 The sky grew as dark as If there were an 
 eclipse. The Troglodyte lighted a fragrant 
 fire of dry cinnamon, which gave them just 
 sufficient light to see each other. Presently 
 lightning zigzagged so vividly that It grew 
 intolerable to the eye. They retreated from 
 the window, and reclined on couches of 
 fragrant leaves and grass, which lay along
 
 THE TROGLODYTE. I 39 
 
 the sides of the cavern. They did not talk 
 much : the heightening fury of the storm 
 absorbed their ideas. The flash of Hghtning 
 and the roar of thunder and wind and sea 
 grew more terrifying every instant. Tom Jones 
 was the only member of the party who seemed 
 thoroughly to enjoy the storm. He leaned 
 on the ledge of the narrow rock-window, and 
 watched the lightning cutting the air, and the 
 water of the lake rising higher and higher. 
 It rose so high that the lawn on which they 
 had walked was now a part of the lake. He 
 could see It advancing towards the entrance 
 of the cavern. 
 
 " It looks as if we should soon be flooded," 
 he said to the Troglodyte. 
 
 "Then we'll go to the first floor," he 
 replied, unperturbed. Rising, he lighted a 
 long stick of cinnamon, and led his guests 
 up rather a rough ascent to a perfect suite of 
 rooms opening one from the other. Rough- 
 hewn they were — unpapered, untiled, un- 
 floored ; but far above possible access of 
 water, and too firmly built to be blown away 
 by wind. There were cosy rugs and wrap- 
 pers for any who desired sleep : but who
 
 140 MIRANDA; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 could sleep while that storm roared outside ? 
 With restless minds in bodies forced to rest, 
 they waited for the dying of the storm. 
 
 It died at midnight ; but, looking down 
 upon the moonlit lake, they saw that it had 
 swelled so high, that to leave the cavern 
 would be impossible until its recession. 
 
 " You are my prisoners," said the Trog- 
 lodyte, gaily. *' How long it will take for 
 the water to recede it is impossible to say ; 
 but there is plenty to eat and drink in store, 
 and I have no doubt we shall manao^e to 
 exist." 
 
 A week passed before the lake reached its 
 normal condition. During that time Tach- 
 brook and the Troglodyte held many con- 
 versations which convinced them both of 
 their cousinshlp. During that time Tom 
 Jones and Miranda had many pleasant hours, 
 though they were Immured in a cavern, with 
 scant glimpses of the llgl^ of the sun. Yet, 
 somehow, they did not reach a complete 
 understanding. Tom was uninstructed In 
 the ways of women, or he would have known 
 the meaning of that diamond light burning 
 in the brown depths of Miranda's eyes, like
 
 THE TROGLODYTE. I4I 
 
 some jewel in fathoms of ocean. Miranda 
 was unskilled In the erotic art, or she would 
 have made Tom speak his mind in very 
 quick time. She knew well enough what he 
 wanted to say, but knew not how to make 
 him say it.
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE BOW IN THE CLOUD. 
 " Hurs <7rn^<^v>sr,v hiv duriroTai ravjffffr} 
 
 There came a morning when the lake Avas 
 calm and still ; when across its misty roof 
 there was arched a marvellous rainbow, vivid 
 in colours, the very bridge for light-foot Iris 
 to cross with message of peace to mortals ; 
 when Adam and Eve (thus had the Trog- 
 lodyte named his children) could rush down 
 and take their matutinal bath in safety ; when 
 they ate some fresh-caught crater-fish, and 
 drank some fresh-plucked coffee on the mar- 
 gin of the lake. Harold and Tom Jones 
 tried the waters of the lake that tranquil 
 morning, and even Miranda had a quiet dip 
 in a shallow place which Eve showed her,
 
 THE BOW IN THE CLOUD. I 43 
 
 where great basalt masses formed a natural 
 dresslno^-room. 
 
 " We shall be able to go to the shore this 
 morning," said Harold. " Grainger will be 
 wondering what has become of us." 
 
 " Let us start at once," replied the Troglo- 
 dyte. " Your daughter had better not come ; 
 let my youngsters show her some of the 
 curiosities of the neighbourhood." 
 
 To this Miranda agreed, and Adam and 
 Eve showed her many marvels. These 
 young islanders trod the rocks with their 
 naked feet more easily than the goats. Mir- 
 anda was horror-stricken when she saw them 
 run easily along a ledge of cliff not a foot 
 wide, with a perpendicular precipice below 
 sheer to the sea. It was the outer wall of the 
 cavern. Beneath you could see the sub- 
 terrene outlet of the lake, through which the 
 water fell in a mighty cataract. These agile 
 children clung to the giant creepers that 
 fringed the rock, and threw themselves into 
 the very midst of the waterfall. 
 
 Then, rushing back, unconscious of peril, 
 they climbed great trees that overhung the 
 cliff, and brought Miranda fruit. They took
 
 144 MIRANDA; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 her to a line of beach on one side the lake, 
 where, instead of sand and shingle, you trod 
 on nothing but sea-shells and fluorine crystals. 
 They showed her a hole a foot wide which 
 reached underground water ; drop in a pebble, 
 and up there came a furious jet of briny spray. 
 They took her by an easy way up to a cliff over-, 
 hanging the sea, where there were thousands 
 of hawks' nests — the hawks so tame, from 
 utter unacquaintance with the mischievous 
 propensities of mankind, that they did not 
 rise as you passed. 
 
 Meanwhile the Troglodyte and his com- 
 panions were making their way towards the 
 encampment through vineyard and orange- 
 wood. When they reached the place, not a 
 creature was to be seen, nor a single tent, nor 
 any vestige of the camp. The sands were per- 
 fectly free from soil ; had evidently been well 
 washed by ocean during the second gale. 
 
 '' They are all washed away, I fear," ex- 
 claimed Harold. *' What a frightful thing ! " 
 
 '' Let us go and look for the ship," said 
 Tom Jones. 
 
 They ran round the cliff towards the chasm 
 into which the Mighty Metropolis had been
 
 THE BOW IN THE CLOUD. 1 45 
 
 jammed. She was gone ! Harold and Tom 
 Jones stared at each other, speechless with 
 amazement. They also stared across the sea ; 
 no sign was there of the mighty bulk of the 
 great vessel. What could have happened ? 
 Where were dauntless Captain Grainger and 
 his splendid ship ? These questions they 
 unavalllngly put to each other, the Troglodyte 
 quietly listening. At last he said — 
 
 " The steamer was jammed between those 
 rocks, you say ? " 
 
 '' Yes," said Harold. 
 
 '' And the passengers and crew were on the 
 beach here ? " 
 
 - Yes.'* 
 
 He remained awhile thoughtful; then he 
 said — 
 
 '' What has happened to the ship I know. 
 What has happened to the men I do not 
 know." 
 
 '* Where is the ship then ? " impetuously 
 asked Tom Jones. 
 
 *' Where ? I am not conjurer enough to 
 tell you that, though I might tell you some- 
 thing that would astonish you more. In these 
 great storms in the Azores the sea rises very 
 
 VOL. 1, K
 
 146 MIRANDA; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 fast and very high. No doubt the steamer 
 was floated out of the fissure into which she 
 was jammed. At the same time, the beach 
 was probably many fathoms deep in water ; 
 so that, if your people remained here, they 
 were all washed into the ocean." 
 
 *' Surely some traces would be left of 
 them." 
 
 " I think not," said the Troglodyte, '' the sea 
 rises and falls too rapidly. The only chance 
 of their escape is, that Captain Grainger 
 knew something of the character of these 
 seas, and got everybody on board when the 
 storm began. If so, they may be safe ; if not, 
 you '11 see no soul of them again." 
 
 '' Grainger knows these seas well enough," 
 said Tom Jones. ** Would the storm give 
 him time ? " 
 
 '' I think it would. If you remember, the 
 bore in the lake rose gradually. I am inclined 
 to hope that, when he saw the weather change 
 and the sea rise, he got all hands on board at 
 once. If he did, and the ship was not much 
 injured by the crash, he may be landing his 
 passengers at Liverpool at this moment." 
 
 '' I heartily hope he may," said Harold.
 
 THE BOW IN THE CLOUD. 147 
 
 ** But now, my good cousin, how are we to 
 get away ? I am the more anxious about It 
 since I found out you were helr-presumptlve 
 to the Tachbrook baronetcy." 
 
 *' Let's make a raft," cried Tom Jones, im- 
 petuously, *' and drift away to the nearest 
 inhabited Island." 
 
 '' I don't think I should like to put Miranda 
 on a raft," replied Tachbrook. *' No ; better 
 keep watch for a passing sail. We are pretty 
 close to the usual track of ships ; we can 
 easily signal them with a flag or a bonfire." 
 
 *' Better not say anything to your daughter 
 about the uncertainty we are In ; she would 
 be so shocked," said the Troglodyte. " Tell 
 her the ship has got off, and left you im- 
 prisoned. And now, as we may as well go 
 back again, I '11 show you a different way." 
 
 Climbing up a steep bit of cliff, they reached 
 an aperture which led to a flight of natural 
 stairs, that seemed as if they descended to 
 the centre of the earth. After descendino- 
 several yards, the steps ended. Through 
 the chasm beneath, the sands were visible a 
 hundred feet down ; but right across this 
 chasm there was another opening. The
 
 148 MIRANDA; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 Troglodyte leapt across with ease ; his com- 
 panions successfully followed him, not without 
 a slight qualm. They found themselves in a 
 kind of natural corridor, with gaps in the 
 rock at intervals, framing superb sea-scapes. 
 Now and then the floor of the corridor 
 ceased, and it became necessary to spring 
 across the chasms thus formed — chasms 
 through which was perceptible either a group 
 of rocks or the sea itself. When they had 
 walked about fifteen minutes, they came to 
 a staircase leading upward. Ascending this, 
 they reached daylight at last — or rather, twi- 
 light. 
 
 Through an archway they came upon a 
 small platform of rock, with a natural 
 parapet. Above, there was the roar of falling 
 water, an inveterate iris colouring the spray 
 as the sunshafts shot through. Below, the 
 mad water flung itself down a sheer abyss, 
 boiling fiercely. It was impossible for the 
 eye to search that awful depth. 
 
 *' Where are we ? " said Harold. 
 
 " You don't recognise the gulf, though you 
 have crossed it," said the Troglodyte, with 
 a laugh. *' This is my moat. Do you see
 
 THE BOW IN THE CLOUD. 1 49 
 
 that tangle of creepers ? We shall have to 
 climb to the surface by that." 
 
 Therewith he caught the natural rope, and 
 made his way upwards. Harold and Tom 
 Jones were obliged to follow, through the 
 blinding mist of the waterfall; but they had 
 been through so many strange adventures, 
 that they gave up being surprised. The 
 strong stems of the creepers formed a con- 
 venient ladder, and they soon emerged, a 
 little damp and out of breath, on the floor of 
 the great cavern. Miranda and her young 
 companions had not yet returned. 
 
 They dried themselves by a fire of cinna- 
 mon, drank some of the Troglodyte's insular 
 liquid, and held a council of three. 
 
 '' What's to be done ?" said Harold. " We 
 cannot be permanent prisoners in this island, 
 pleasant as it is. There would be nobody 
 to marry Miranda." 
 
 ** Pardon me," quoth Tom Jones ; " there 
 are three of us who might be rivals. Our 
 host might marry again, you know ; and 
 then there is myself ; and then there is young 
 Adam. What if he should fall suddenly in 
 love ? He will soon be old enough."
 
 150 MIRANDA; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 " I hope not," said the Troglodyte. *' Let 
 us be serious. Till I met you, I had made 
 up my mind that, if I were obliged to remain 
 on this little island, it would be no great hard- 
 ship. The soil and climate are such that we 
 get all we want with trifling trouble. It is 
 mere amusement to catch crater-fish and make 
 goats' milk cheese — to pick oranges and 
 grapes and bananas. This cavern is a palace, 
 and there are no rent and taxes to pay. Seven 
 years of this isolation had made me rather 
 careless as to whether I ever should leave the 
 place ; but you came, and I recognised a 
 kinsman ; and your talk told me of what was 
 going on everywhere, and I longed to visit 
 my old home. The longing strengthens. I 
 am amazed at myself. After seven tranquil 
 years in this beautiful island, I am rendered 
 restless by my very first visitors, and pine to 
 return to a world wherein I know I shall be 
 infinitely bored." 
 
 " I am glad you have decided to go," said 
 Harold. '' Now, the great question is, how 
 to manage it ? We ought to find a good 
 point to signal from, and keep watch there 
 in turns."
 
 THE BOW IN THE CLOUD. 151 
 
 *' There can be no better point than the 
 conical hill above the fissure into which your 
 ship was driven. It is right in the way of all 
 vessels o^oino^ north-eastward." 
 
 *' Good," said Tom Jones. " Then let us 
 set up a flagstaff there, and light a bonfire at 
 night, and keep watch by turns night and day. 
 What say you ? " 
 
 " First-rate notion," quoth Harold, and the 
 Troglodyte agreed ; and forthwith they set 
 out in search of a tall tree that would serve as 
 a pole. This was soon found : and that very 
 evening the flagstaff was set up, carrying a 
 white flag made out of a sheet. Next day 
 they started in procession ; and drove the 
 staff into the ground, at the lofty point which 
 the Troglodyte had suggested. It was a 
 lovely conical hill covered with grass — on one 
 side you saw illimitable sea — on the other the 
 interior of the island, and the great fleet of 
 islands beyond, ships too strong to be driven 
 from their anchorage by any common gale. 
 And from this time regular watch was kept 
 up both day and night — the flag always flying, 
 and a noble fire built every sunset. This 
 duty of signalling was executed in a frolic-
 
 152 MIRANDA; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 some way : and though the Troglodyte and 
 Harold and Tom did the work nominally, 
 Miranda and Adam and Eve did a good deal 
 of the actual work. As to the children, their 
 young eyes were telescopes.
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 tom's two secrets. 
 
 " If you have a secret, 
 Go tell it in waste places, far away 
 From all but elves and goblins ; yet be sure 
 Some swift inquisitive elf will pick it up ; 
 And what you said at midnight to the stars 
 Shall be proclaimed at the High Cross at noon." 
 
 Tom Jones had the first night-watch — In such 
 matters, jimiores priores. They lighted the 
 bonfire at sunset, and then his friends left 
 him, Miranda giving him a merry smile as 
 she vanished down the pathway. Gradually 
 the magical lights — those ghostly echoes of 
 sunset — died in the east and west ; grey 
 grew the concave sky, and darker grey the 
 levels of the sea. 
 
 Night-watches are good for the restless
 
 154 MIRANDA; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 spirit of man. You are face to face, nothing 
 to disturb, with the most marvellous and 
 inexplicable works of God. No wonder the 
 Chaldean shepherds were astronomers, seeing 
 how close seemed the stars during their long 
 solitary nights. Also, when you are so close 
 to the Creator, you get a new and special 
 introduction to yourself; you are not the 
 same man among your jolly comrades over 
 the wine as when you are absolutely alone 
 upon a windy hill, with nothing between your- 
 self and God. 
 
 Tom Jones had two secrets, and wished he 
 hadn't. He pondered over them through 
 this calm and lovely night, while the bonfire 
 blazed on the height, and the ocean was phos- 
 phorescent, as if to mock the stars. It was a 
 marvellous time. Those stars move faster 
 than the light of ocean ; yet distance makes 
 them seem immovable. They are coming or 
 going with measureless speed, yet we call 
 them fixed. 
 
 Leaning against the flagstaff, watching his 
 bright bonfire, and looking sometimes at the 
 tracks of scintillant light upon the sea, Tom 
 passed the hours in half-conscious soliloquy
 
 TOM S TWO SECRETS. I 5 5 
 
 and self-examination. He looked back over 
 his life with doubtful feelings. Had he been 
 right, after all, to sever himself from his family, 
 and pass eighteen years in Australian wilds, 
 because his father neglected him and his 
 schoolmaster flogged him ? When a man 
 gets an opportunity of seriously reflecting on 
 his past life, he can usually touch one point of 
 departure which was the real commencement 
 of his career, whether that career were suc- 
 cess or failure. At the moment, It possibly 
 seemed to him unimportant which course 
 he took; but the two paths diverged more 
 widely every year, and the time arrives when 
 it was easy to see whether you have made a 
 mistake or not. It is not Impossible that a 
 mathematical formula might be constructed to 
 take In all cases of this kind. The astrologers 
 could do it, doubtless. Some such vague 
 fancy had Tom Jones, as the clear stars filled 
 the air with quiet light. He would have 
 liked to question the stars. Had they Indeed 
 any influence on the lives of men ? Could 
 their runes be read ? What would he not 
 give to know his fate before making an 
 attempt to change its course ! But, probably
 
 156 MIRANDA ; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 because he had not faith enough, there 
 reached him no intimation of guidance, so he 
 had to decide for himself 
 
 "How I love Miranda!" he thought, 
 smoking his pipe by that solitary fire which 
 blazed unanswered. " I have seen no women, 
 and after Miranda I have no wish to see any. 
 Surely she is perfect, if there is any such 
 thing as perfection. She must have some 
 small faults, of necessity : perhaps I shall 
 find them out if I am lucky enough to make 
 her my wife. She can't be quite immaculate. 
 Indeed, I should be sorry if she were ; for I 
 should like to amuse myself by correcting 
 her little peccadilloes. But shall I tell her ? 
 If I do, will she laugh at me as an old fogy, 
 whom she has always regarded as a kind 
 of amateur uncle ? Why have I thrown 
 away my youth on those Australian sheep- 
 walks ? But, then, if I had not, I should 
 never have seen Miranda ; and not to have 
 seen her would have left my life incomplete. 
 Certainly I know very little about women, 
 but there can be no other like her, I '11 
 swear." 
 
 In this fashion through the summer night
 
 TOM S TWO SECRETS. I57 
 
 did Tom Jones meditate on the first of his 
 two secrets. At last he decided to pluck up 
 courage and tell Miranda his first secret the 
 first time there came an opportunity. Alack ! 
 how many an opportunity already had he 
 lost ! If you cannot tell your sweetheart 
 your desire during a month or two at sea, 
 better not try to do so ashore. 
 
 The quiet night went on. The bonfire 
 blazed. An eastern light came slowly up 
 the sky, and slowly grew more strong. Then 
 purple and rose and saffron streaked the 
 heaven ; then came the gold rim of the rising 
 sun, widening and widening till the perfect 
 disc threw level light upon the sea. Tom 
 Jones forget his troubles in the glory of the 
 sight. To him a sunrise was no such novelty 
 as to the jaded citizen who sees it seldom, un- 
 less he is up a little later than usual. Many a 
 sunrise had Tom Jones seen upon the green 
 plains of Australia, when there was a long 
 day's ride to be done ; but this sunrise on 
 the sea appeared to him the loveliest sight he 
 had ever known ; and he looked eastward as 
 eagerly as if he had been Orion in his blind- 
 ness.
 
 158 MIRANDA; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 So eager was his gaze, that he was quite 
 unaware he had a companion. When, hav- 
 ing drunk In the beauty of the scene to the 
 uttermost, he looked round again — behold ! 
 there was Miranda. With long hair freely 
 flowing over rosy shoulders, with cheeks 
 flushed and eyes brightened by exercise, with 
 dress succinct like that of Milton's stripling 
 cherub, she looked the very spirit of the 
 scene. Her bright, brown eyes sparkled 
 with pleasure ; her lips looked so provoklngly 
 kissable that Tom scarce knew how to resist 
 the temptation. 
 
 *' Ah Tom," she said, " I have been by 
 your side these ten minutes, and you did not 
 know it. You look quite romantic, staring 
 at the sunrise. Have you seen any ships, or 
 have you been asleep ? " 
 
 '' What brings yotc here so early ? " asked 
 Tom. 
 
 '' Why, to see the sun rise, of course. Do 
 you suppose the sun is entirely your property, 
 and nobody else may look at it without your 
 august permission ? Quite a mistake, I assure 
 you, Mr Jones." 
 
 She looked so bewitching as she talked this
 
 TOM S TWO SECRETS. I 59 
 
 merry nonsense, that Tom Jones was regularly 
 done for. 
 
 *' May I tell you a secret ? " he asked. 
 
 '' Two if you like." 
 
 "I do want to tell you two. Will you 
 listen } " 
 
 '' Oh ! let me guess what they are. I know 
 — one is that you want your breakfast ; the 
 other is that you would like coffee and a but- 
 tered roll." 
 
 '* You won't be serious," said Tom. *' My 
 secrets are really important." 
 
 *' If so, hadn't you better keep them your- 
 self ? If you tell me, I may forget they are 
 secrets, and tell them without thinking to 
 somebody else. If you can't keep your own 
 secrets, how can you expect me to ? " 
 
 " Now do please be serious," said Tom. 
 
 " O well, I '11 be serious. Don't put on 
 such a long face. Come, I 'm ready. Please 
 begin. Secret number one." 
 
 *' I love you," cried Tom, hotly, taking her 
 plump, warm hand in his. 
 
 ',' O dear, dear ! " she cried, laughing 
 merrily. '' Do you call that a secret ? Why, 
 I could have told you that months ago."
 
 1 60 MIRANDA ; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 " Then can yo7i love me ?" exclaimed Tom. 
 
 *' Asking a question is a different thing 
 from telling a secret," she said. '' I did not 
 offer to submit to be catechised. Come, Tom, 
 out with your other secret. It must be a good 
 one, to make up for the other's being no 
 secret at all." 
 
 ''O you are a wicked witch!" he cried. 
 *' I don't believe you care an atom about 
 me. Now do you ? " 
 
 ** Mr Jones, you are an impostor. You 
 promised me two secrets, and I have not yet 
 had one; and you positively want me to 
 answer your questions just as if you had ful- 
 filled your engagement." 
 
 Tom was silent for a few minutes, and 
 looked at the sea as if he thought a plunge 
 in It would do him good. Then he said — 
 
 '' Well, I know my other secret is worth 
 knowing ; so, if you '11 answer my question, 
 1 11 tell it you." 
 
 '' What a shabby idea ! after having offered 
 me your secrets for nothing. I call it mean 
 Tom. Well, repeat your question." 
 
 " You know what It Is. Do you love me?" 
 
 ''No, not a bit," she replied merrily; but
 
 tom's two secrets. i6i 
 
 there was a look in her eye that made Tom, 
 dull fellow though he was, read her reply the 
 other way. Old Helios, who once informed 
 against Ares and Aphrodite, might on this 
 occasion have given evidence of a meeting 
 of lips. Miranda blushed — for she knew it 
 was the kiss of betrothal. 
 
 ** Now, sir/' she said, " for secret number 
 two." 
 
 A seamew was screaming just above their 
 heads at this moment. Perhaps Tom feared 
 a bird of the air might carry the matter, for 
 he softly whispered his second secret in 
 Miranda's ear. 
 
 ''How delightful!" she cried. "Dear 
 Tom ! is it really true ?" 
 
 '' Quite." 
 
 " But why not tell papa ?" 
 
 *' I think it is better not, till we are In 
 England. We will talk it over. Seel they 
 are cominor to relieve me." 
 
 The Troglodyte and Harold were climbing 
 the hill. Her father looked rather curiously 
 at Miranda, who had the prettiest possible 
 flush of excitement and pleasure on her 
 countenance. She seemed a nymph of hill 
 
 VOL. I. L
 
 1 62 MIRANDA; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 and sea — a creature moulded of the elements, 
 with the glitter of the wave in her eyes and 
 the splendour of sunlight in her hair. As to 
 Tom Jones, he looked quite worthy of her. 
 So at least thought his friend and her father, 
 who guessed, from the aspect of each, that 
 the critical moment had come and gone. But 
 he only said — 
 
 *' Glad you 've taken to early rising, 
 Miranda. Now, Tom, I 'm in charge ; go 
 and refresh yourself. Mind you sleep P'
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THE WATCHERS OF THE SEA. 
 ** Maria vasta visens." 
 
 Watchers of the vague Immeasurable sea 
 are apt to grow despondent when, through 
 long days and nights, no sail Is seen. Our 
 party on the Island of Hawks were not of 
 this temper. The Troglodyte, having dwelt 
 on the mystical island a mystical number of 
 years, was in no hurry to leave it. Indeed, 
 when he thought thereon, he grew melan- 
 choly, well aware that in no other island 
 should he find such rare beauty, such inex- 
 haustible fertility, such absolute quietude. 
 
 " If I get back to England," reflected the 
 Troglodyte, " I may become a baronet, with a
 
 1 64 MIRANDA ; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 great estate. What estate could equal this 
 island ? What is the good of being a 
 baronet ? However, I suppose I must do 
 it for the sake of Adam and Eve." 
 
 Adam and Eve themselves were quite 
 satisfied with their position, and resented 
 being put into rough clothing, which their 
 father made of goatskins and the like, as he 
 rightly thought that, if a ship reached the 
 island, it would hardly do to put on board a 
 couple of young nudities. They had out- 
 grown their clothing long ago, and the Trog- 
 lodyte did not think making more worth the 
 trouble. To these wild youngsters, how- 
 ever, the trammels of dress were an abomina- 
 tion ; only by threat of chastisement could 
 they be induced to wear their rough habili- 
 ments. When they were beyond the paternal 
 ken, they threw their new clothes aside, and 
 rejoiced in freedom from restraint. These 
 young barbarians show us the difference 
 between barbarism and civilisation in its 
 crucial point. Barbarism is unclothed in 
 mind and body; civilisation is clothed as 
 to both — mentally by hypocrisy, corporally 
 by fashion.
 
 THE WATCHERS OF THE SEA. 1 65 
 
 - Harold Tachbrook was the most restless 
 of the islanders. He, though quiet enough 
 during his Australian sojourn, the sojourn of 
 his own choice, was now eager to escape 
 from his enforced imprisonment. He had a 
 kind of calenture. He dreamt of the green 
 fields and good dinners of his youth — of the 
 orchards he had robbed, the trout he had 
 caught, the birds nests he had taken, the 
 girls he had kissed. There is no place like 
 England for boyhood's harmless sports. To 
 be an English boy, wisely treated and in 
 perfect health, is an amazingly fortunate 
 position. George Canning once said, at an 
 Eton dinner in London, " Whatever might 
 be the success of after life, whatever gratifica- 
 tion of ambition might be realised, whatever 
 triumphs might be realised, no one is ever so 
 great a man as when he was a sixth-form boy 
 at Eton." Canning was right. The boy 
 has no cares. His ambitions are free from 
 the dross which clings to most ambitions of 
 manhood. He desires to be the best rower 
 or cricketer — the best writer of classic verse 
 or prose — the best mathematician ; but these 
 desires are wholly unconnected with the
 
 1 66 MIRANDA; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 after-thought of money. The glory of a great 
 pubHc school is, that it is a world without 
 worldliness. 
 
 I am bound to say that the other two mem- 
 bers of the party were not at all eager to leave 
 the island. They had what Americans call 
 a ''good time." Both were rather ignorant in 
 the scholastic sense ; for Miranda had never 
 been taught anything save by that German 
 enthusiast, and Tom Jones had distinguished 
 himself at school simply by reversing the natu- 
 ral order of things, and thrashing his ludi- 
 magister. However, scholastic guidance was 
 in no wise necessary to make them very agree- 
 able one to the other. Adam and Eve (I mean 
 the primevalsj) could have had no education 
 worth mentioning ; it may be questioned 
 whether it ever occurred to them that seventy 
 pence were five and tenpence, or that chemises 
 ought not to be spelt shimes. You see they 
 had no weekly washing-list. 
 
 Watch was kept on the windy peak day 
 after day, week after week ; but never a white 
 sail came that way, night after night, day after 
 day. The Troglodyte began to fancy there was 
 some sort of necromancy, since many a length
 
 THE WATCHERS OF THE SEA. I 67 
 
 of days before ships had passed the Island 
 shore. As to Harold, he looked on ocean 
 with a strange magnetlcal emotion ; as if he 
 could see beneath its water the quaint old 
 village, the landlord's daughter, and his 
 father amid old books shut fast, saying, '' Sons 
 run away, but books will last." But Tom 
 and fair Miranda cared nought for the future, 
 since they shared a perfectly happy life, and 
 knew that each to the other was loyal and 
 true. They lived and loved, and watched 
 and waited — not at all in haste for the good 
 ship fated to carry them off to England. 
 
 Miranda and Tom Jones without a doubt 
 passed pleasant hours where that queer white 
 flag fluttered. A thousand pleasant things 
 they talked about; their lips a thousand curious 
 fancies uttered. Tom used to chaff — Miranda 
 used to pout sometimes, while overhead 
 the strong storm muttered. But lovers little 
 care for change of weather, being alone upon 
 a hill together. 
 
 These two were better off than all the rest. 
 If Tom's watch came by day, Miranda passed 
 her day beside him, no unwelcome guest. She 
 sat and worked, and looked across the vast
 
 1 68 MIRANDA ; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 sea-levels, vexed with many a foamy crest. 
 Tom used to wish that summer day might 
 last always. Time's progress is a perfect 
 pest when you are sitting on the turf beside 
 the lady who Is soon to be your bride. 
 
 And when Tom watched at night she saw 
 him off up to the top of the steep sea-cliff, 
 carrying some slight refreshment. Let no 
 reader scoff at such kind aid. When people 
 think of marrying, they should not let mere 
 pseudo-philosophic fancies guide them. Fair 
 Miranda, tarrying beside the flagstaff, had nor 
 fear nor shame, being Tom's own property, 
 except in name. 
 
 Yes ; but I think that the pleasantest hour 
 was when, in the morning, merry Miranda 
 came and brought her lover his breakfast : 
 goats' milk — a mighty can — and abundant 
 grapes and bananas. Tom used to sit on the 
 grass and be waited on. Tom used to like 
 it. Can you not easily fancy the two, while 
 the orient purple flushed a miraculous sky, 
 and the sea was golden and sapphire ? There 
 they sat like a king and a queen. They were 
 king and queen then — royal owners of 
 youth and of strength, and of beauty and
 
 THE WATCHERS OF THE SEA. 1 69 
 
 courage. Tom ate his fruit like a prince of the 
 earth, and swallowed his goats' milk far more 
 gaily than wine is drunk in pale Piccadilly. 
 
 When Miranda had taken her seat, Tom 
 would lie at his lady's feet ; and the two 
 would gaze across the sea, and wonder what 
 the world would be. 
 
 In this fashion did the two young people 
 chatter nonsense from morn to noon, from 
 noon to dewy eve. They were in love — 
 which means, they saw each other and none 
 else. Not unsuitable seemed they. Tom was 
 a dauntless daring delicious dunce : Miranda 
 was a versatile volatile vivacious vixen. 
 Perhaps Miranda's notion of remaining with 
 Tom on the Isle of Hawks would have been 
 rather a good one, if possibly it could have 
 been carried out. It was not possible. Tom 
 Jones pined for England more than any 
 one of the party beside. His second secret — 
 which none save Miranda knew — impelled 
 him homewards : beyond which there was 
 the natural impulse of a young Englishman 
 who had left England a boy, and now desired 
 to return thither in the very prime and flower 
 of manhood.
 
 I 70 MIRANDA ; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 '^ Miranda, my love," he said, " you know 
 my secret, and you agree with me that It 
 should be kept till we reach England and 
 see how matters stand there. The thought 
 of living a poetic life, all indolence and love, 
 in this happy island,^ is tempting ; but I can- 
 not help thinking I was born for stronger 
 work. I want to be back in England, and 
 learn what England is like, and do my 
 duty." 
 
 *' You are right, dearest love," said Mir- 
 anda ; '' and I am a naughty temptress. 
 Punish me as you like, only don't cease to 
 love me. I have led a lazy life, and the 
 laziness of this island is lovely, and I cannot 
 quite understand your desire to be doing 
 something. But you are my master — do as 
 you will." 
 
 '' Ah ! " he said, drawing a long breath, 
 *' you are a darling — you are my own. I 
 plague you, I know. But I am longing for 
 life — longing to be In the old world — longing 
 to set myself against other men, and to try 
 whether they are stronger or weaker than I. 
 You know, my beauty, what power I shall 
 have to do good, — and God knows I desire to
 
 THE WATCHERS OF THE SEA. I 7 1 
 
 do good, — you know, and you only. It would 
 be wicked of me to pass an easy lazy life, 
 when I have such power within my grasp." 
 
 '' What you say is true," replied Miranda. 
 '' I have been misled by the lovely indolence 
 of our time on this island. Oh ! I wish a ship 
 would come ! I am as tired as you are now." 
 
 That very evening a small steamer bound 
 for Terceira passed, and perceived the signal, 
 and stood in. There was general excitement, 
 and a rapid rush to get together all that was 
 necessary to carry away. The steamer sent 
 a couple of boats, and the islanders entered 
 them with their scanty luggage. The Trog- 
 lodyte (whom now, as he is going to Europe, 
 we may call Gilbert Tachbrook), his children 
 Adam and Eve, Harold Tachbrook, Tom 
 Jones, Miranda Tachbrook, were the pas- 
 sengers. With regret they left the island ; 
 it was a lovely spot, devoted to the Goddess 
 of Indolence, if indeed there be any such 
 goddess. 
 
 Not far had the boats to go before reaching 
 the steamer. Yet that short distance was 
 not destined to be passed safely. Suddenly 
 the sky darkened ; a black squall smote the
 
 172 MIRANDA; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 sea ; the boat in which Miranda and her 
 father and Tom Jones were passengers was 
 turned keel upwards just as they reached the 
 steamer. There was unutterable confusion. 
 Other boats were promptly lowered ; Harold 
 Tachbrook was picked up quietly floating on 
 his back (a prince of swimmers ! ) holding his 
 daughter's head easily above water. They 
 were got on board as fast as possible. When 
 Miranda came to herself, her first inquiry was — 
 
 - Where is Tom ? " 
 
 Harold Tachbrook, tired with his exertions, 
 had thought that of course Tom was safe 
 enough. But the steamer had almost reached 
 Terceira when Miranda awoke to ask this 
 question, and Tom Jones was not on board. 
 Strange ! for he was an unrivalled swimmer. 
 Harold quieted his daughter, for her own 
 sake, with a mild fiction, and then went 
 astern and looked toward the island, and 
 wondered whether his good friend had landed 
 there. 
 
 " I '11 go straight back at once," he resolved.
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 LIVERPOOL. 
 
 " Did Rome build Carthage ? 
 And were the Hannibals and Scipios partners 
 Ere they grew rivals ? Better than soft friends 
 Are enemies keen." 
 
 It has been said that England built New A^ A< 
 York. Nothing this to be proud of, perhaps ; A^t*-^^ 
 for New York is not quite a model city, and 
 differs widely from Athens or Rome, or even 
 Babylon ; wherefore the builders of cities like 
 Westminster and Winchester have no need 
 to claim this New York as their own. It 
 may, however, be admitted in return, that the 
 United States built Liverpool. That town 
 has never been a favourite of mine, though it 
 is a place where you meet pleasant company.
 
 174 MIRANDA ; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 It Is a monotonous place. The Liverpool 
 folk are very proud of themselves ; and there 
 is a cosmopolitan air about them, brought In 
 by the sea breeze, which comes refreshingly 
 up the Mersey ; and they are singularly enter- 
 prising In their own special groove. But they 
 have one groove only. Some English cities 
 have had a literature of their own : Liverpool 
 has not yet reached this level, notwithstanding 
 what has been done for it by Roscoe and the 
 Broughs. 
 
 The time seems to have altogether de- 
 parted when towns like York, Bath, Bristol, 
 were centres of country influence, of local 
 culture, of literary and dramatic success. 
 London has magnetised all the clever fellows. 
 This is regretable. Country towns of reason- 
 able magnitude give a brilliant man or a charm- 
 ing woman better chances than they can find in 
 what De Quincey aptly called " the Nation of 
 London." Immense cities are self-destructive. 
 Their west end is frivolous ; their east end is 
 squalid ; their north and south are dreary and 
 slow. All cities follow the great geographic 
 law of movement westward, leaving behind 
 them on the north and south the dull dwellings
 
 LIVERPOOL. 175 
 
 of crass citizens. You can tell the man from 
 his abode — the woman also. Wide is the dif- 
 ference between Kensington and Stepney, be- 
 tween Holloway and Heme Hill, though all 
 four are within four miles of the village where 
 Queen Eleanor's Cross stood of old. As the 
 overgrown city pushes its horns westward, 
 Greenford, and Hayes, and Hillington will 
 be fashionable parts ; indeed, it will not 
 surprise me if, in days to come, Stoke Pogis 
 should be looked upon as East London, and 
 a house at Knowl Hill, now letting for fifty 
 pounds a year, should be thought cheap at a 
 thousand. 
 
 What the Troglodyte predicted was very 
 much what occurred to the Mighty Metro- 
 polis. The sudden rise of the tide floated 
 her off. Grainger, an experienced navigator, 
 with some knowledofe of Azore eccentricities, 
 got his people on board the moment he saw 
 the sea rising. The ship, all teak and iron, 
 did her duty well ; and the voyage to Liver- 
 pool was accomplished without difficulty. 
 Clipped as she had been by the rocks — driven 
 fiercely into a via by the wind-driven hammer 
 of the wave — she bore the strain.
 
 176 MIRANDA; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 The run from the Azores to England 
 was in all respects fortunate and favourable. 
 Grainger, loyal to his passengers, and a good 
 king to his subjects, could not help regretting 
 the inexorable necessity which had caused him 
 to leave Harold Tachbrook and his daughter 
 and Tom Jones behind. He determined to 
 despatch a small steamer in search of them 
 the moment he reached Liverpool. His only 
 consolation was that both Tachbrook and 
 Tom Jones were not easily alarmed, and 
 would probably find their way home what- 
 ever happened. 
 
 As to the passengers, their opinions as to 
 their missing fellow-travellers varied. The 
 future Sir Edward Wilson was, on the whole, 
 well pleased : those benighted people had 
 never treated with enough reverence the 
 illustrious gentleman who was going home to 
 be knighted. Nor were his wife and daughter 
 very sad : Miranda s beauty and grace had 
 effaced their aristocratic air of the Antipodes, 
 and had even lured from their side the 
 elegant hope and heir of the house of Wilson. 
 That same hope and heir is believed to have 
 torn his dishevelled locks in the privacy of
 
 LIVERPOOL. 177 
 
 his own cabin. He had just begun to per- 
 suade himself that he had made a sort of a 
 kind of an impression on Miranda's virgin 
 heart. 
 
 Captain Stuart, though rather a humbug, 
 showed real feeling on the occasion. Below 
 the outer crust of this reckless adventurer 
 there was a vein of chivalry ; and though he 
 took chloroform when he thought of beine 
 drowned like a rat, he would have fought 
 like a Bayard for a lady of Miranda s type. 
 Cincinnatus Meunier rushed into verse, of 
 course, and recited it with such redoubt- 
 able fluency, that the sailors sent a round 
 robin to the captain protesting that it was 
 unlucky. 
 
 The two little Mansard girls, whom 
 Miranda had always treated with a kindness 
 born of pity, yet with no pity perceptible in 
 it, managed to make themselves miserable 
 all the way home ; but Leary the Irrepres- 
 sible, and Harry Loralne the Immovable, did 
 their utmost to console them, each in his 
 different way. Leary made fun of the whole 
 business. 
 
 ''Faith," he said, ''it will be Robinson 
 
 VOL. I M
 
 I 78 MIRANDA ; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 Crusoe over again, just for a week or two. 
 There 's plenty to eat on the island. Miss 
 Tachbrook can cook like an angel, as any- 
 body can see, and her father will catch fish 
 and turn turtles, and Mr Jones will shoot all 
 the birds of the air. Egad, I 'd like to be 
 with them, only I should spoil sport ! I don't 
 think Mr Tom and Miss Miranda would care 
 for the third party when papa goes off 
 to smoke his cigar." 
 
 The girls could not help laughing at Leary's 
 way of putting it. Loraine was graver. 
 
 '' I think they are safe," he said. *' Both 
 Tachbrook and his friend had knocked about 
 the world a good deal, and knew what to do 
 in a difficulty. As to Miss Tachbrook, I 
 think she would be ready for anything that 
 happened." 
 
 Both the Miss Mansards enthusiastically 
 agreed. 
 
 When the Mighty Metropolis steamed into 
 Liverpool, Captain Grainger was the hero of 
 the hour, and all the reporters of all the papers 
 wanted to '' interview" him. But he wouldn't 
 stand it ; he used stronger language than he 
 had ever before been known to use, except
 
 LIVERPOOL. 1 79 
 
 in the teeth of a gale ; he went off to charter 
 a steamer In search of his missing passengers. 
 The reporters, in default, went off to inter- 
 view Sir (beg pardon, Mr) Edward Wilson. 
 That illustrious personeity was nothing loth. 
 He liked to be interviewed. It was a high 
 tribute to his dignity. He was clear in his 
 own mind — ('* Observe, gentlemen, this is only 
 the opinion of a person who has obtained 
 merely colonial celebrity, but who nevertheless 
 has been deemed worthy of the honour of 
 knighthood by the singularly able advisers of 
 Her Most Gracious Majesty") — that the 
 Mighty Metropolis was not a vessel at all 
 equivalent to perform the duties expected of 
 It, and that the captain, though a most 
 excellent man, was scarcely the right person 
 to intrust with the care of passengers whose 
 welfare was of importance to the world. 
 
 **By the holy poker!" said an Irish reporter, 
 when the magnificent Wilson had dismissed 
 his deputation with a lofty courtesy that 
 would befit a prime minister, " that man 's 
 delightful. He wants a big ship built specially 
 for him. You '11 see he'll patronise the Queen 
 when she knights him."
 
 1 80 MIRANDA ; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 A few days, and the passengers by the 
 Mighty Metropolis had dispersed over the 
 country. A few days, and the romantic 
 adventure of that great steamship had ex- 
 hausted the fluent pens of a few hundred 
 journalists, and was as completely forgotten 
 as the voyage of Jonah round the Cape of 
 Good Hope. As to the aforesaid passengers, 
 as we shall see little more of the majority, 
 we may wish them farewell now. The little 
 Mansard twins found their mother's mother 
 a charming and loving old lady, with a kind 
 of honeyed strictness about her, living in a 
 quaint old country house of the Elizabethan 
 sort. Their history is no affair of ours ; but 
 I believe they are both happily married by 
 this time. 
 
 Leary, failing an offer from the Times, 
 stayed at Liverpool, and started a newspaper 
 — people are always starting newspapers in 
 Liverpool. Captain Stuart went to London ; 
 so did the poet Meunier ; so did Harry 
 Loraine. They went by the same train, and 
 smoked and talked all the way to town. 
 Loraine was so amused with the aspirations 
 of his comrades, that he asked them to
 
 LIVERPOOL. 1 8 I 
 
 breakfast with him In the Albany next day. 
 They accepted. For himself, he had tele- 
 graphed to his servant to have dinner ready 
 for him, and ready it was. 
 
 When the breakfast-hour came, both Stuart 
 and Meunier were punctual. Though Loraine 
 had been to the other side of the world, 
 everything w^as in perfect order. His people 
 were accustomed to his ways: any morning, 
 when he walked quietly out into Piccadilly 
 and called a cab, he might be going away for 
 an hour, or for a year. Any day he might 
 appear without warning, and expect a good 
 dinner to be served in an hour. 
 
 This day, his guests enjoyed a pleasant 
 breakfast, and there was much easy talk. 
 Loraine quite understood these two men, 
 neither of whom quite understood him. He 
 saw that Stuart was a plausible fellow, with a 
 desire to spend money, but with no knowledge 
 of the right way of making it. He saw that 
 Cincinnatus was an illiterate imitative man, 
 who, having been flattered by fools in far 
 latitudes and longitudes, was now come to 
 London to show himself the greatest poet in 
 the world. He smiled inwardly at both of
 
 ^ 
 
 182 MIRANDA; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 them, listened to their talk, and gave them 
 an excellent breakfast. 
 
 Mr Wilson and family arrived in due time 
 at the Grosvenor Hotel. They took a fur- 
 nished house at Something Gate, Hyde Park. 
 They were knighted — at least Sir Edward 
 was ; but Rumour — wicked witch ! — declares 
 that the magnificent Wilson family do not 
 find themselves appreciated in London. The 
 Colonial Secretary has not yet asked Sir 
 Edward to dinner. Not a single duchess has 
 left her card on Lady Wilson. The whole 
 family are rapidly becoming democratic. 
 
 I must not forget poor Jack Manly. His 
 irascible, but generous father forgave him, 
 saying — 
 
 *' Confound you. Jack ! you Ve good for 
 nothing else : you must stay at home and 
 live with me."
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 THE RETURN HOME. 
 
 Raphael. His village is the best to every villager. 
 
 The Roman erudite poet, reckless yachting-man, 
 Thought Sirmio fairest of the world's peninsulas. 
 
 Alonette. This is the dreariest of existing villages. 
 
 Raphael. Read, child ! 
 
 Alonette. I 'd rather flirt. "What can I read, papa ? 
 
 Raphael. Here 's Villchius De Mysteriis Magicalibus — 
 A most entrancing book. 
 
 The Comedy of Dreams. 
 
 When Harold and his party arrived at Ter- 
 ceira, instant inquiry was made for a vessel 
 that would take them to the Island of Hawks. 
 This was easily found. It was agreed that 
 the Troglodyte should remain at Terceira till 
 Harold returned, as it was necessary to buy 
 some clothes for his children and himself, now 
 that he had given up his wild life. Harold 
 begged Miranda also to stay ; but she was too
 
 1 84 MIRANDA ; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 anxious about Tom, so she accompanied her 
 father. When they arrived at the island, they 
 made their way as quickly as possible to the 
 Troglodyte's cavern, hoping to find Tom there. 
 They knew that Tom, being such an excel- 
 lent swimmer, would be sure to find his way 
 to the Island, and that he would depend upon 
 their sending him means of escape. But they 
 could not find him. The cavern was just as 
 they left It, with the various rude household or 
 cavernhold implements which the Troglodyte 
 had used lying about. There was no sign 
 that any one had been there since they left. 
 They wandered about the Island till It was 
 dark ; they shouted, but were only answered 
 by the echoes of their own voices. They de- 
 termined to search once more on the next day; 
 so they slept in the vessel, just off the island. 
 The next day's search was as fruitless ; so 
 they left and turned back to Terceira sadly. 
 But Miranda was not without hope. '' Do 
 not despair, papa," she said ; *' I know he Is 
 safe. Perhaps we shall find him at Terceira 
 when we return ;" for Harold had asked the 
 Troglodyte to have inquiries made of any 
 vessels that came in, whether Tom had been
 
 THE RETURN HOME. 1 85 
 
 picked up. Every minute Miranda was 
 saying to herself, '' I know he Is safe. He 
 cannot be drowned." Perhaps she was not 
 altogether uninfluenced by the strong spirit of 
 her ancestress Sobleska, a spirit which had 
 while on earth found entrance Into higher 
 spheres. When they reached Terceira there 
 was no news of Tom. Little Adam and Eve 
 were looking disconsolate In ordinary costume, 
 even more uncomfortable than a labouring 
 man looks In his Sunday clothes. The Trog- 
 lodyte was already tired of civilised life, and 
 was wishing himself back at the Island of 
 Hawks. Sorry as he was that no trace had 
 been found of Tom, he could not help being 
 eager to ask how his Island was looking. 
 
 '' There Is one thing very odd about the 
 poor fellow," said the Troglodyte, *' you say 
 he Is no relation to us, Harold ?" 
 
 " None whatever. His name is Jones. 
 We have been knocking about together for 
 eighteen years, and he told me his history — 
 what little there was to tell — for he was only 
 fourteen when he came to Australia, and he 
 had run away from school." 
 
 *' Of course, you must know," said the
 
 1 86 MIRANDA; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 Troglodyte ; '' but if I had not been told his 
 name was Jones, I should have said it was 
 Tachbrook. He is marvellously like the 
 Tachbrooks." 
 
 Miranda was listening eagerly to this, when 
 her father said — 
 
 *' What do you think about it, Miranda ? " 
 
 Miranda seemed a little confused as she 
 said — 
 
 " O, I have not seen any Tachbrooks, 
 except you and cousin Gilbert and myself." 
 
 It was arranged that they should go to 
 England at once. Tom Jones, if picked up 
 by any vessel touching at Terceira, would 
 have reached there ere this. Their hope was 
 that they should find him in England. It 
 was a sad journey for them the next few days. 
 Harold had looked forward to seeing his 
 father, and Miranda to seeing the grandfather 
 of whom she had heard so much. And Tom 
 had talked so much of going to Rothescamp. 
 He was always asking questions about the 
 place. It had been so often described to him 
 by Harold, that he seemed to know every 
 inch of it. And now Harold must go there 
 without him.
 
 THE RETURN HOME. 1 87 
 
 Harold had one hope. The Captain of 
 the vessel which brought them from the 
 Island of Hawks to Terceira said that a 
 strange yacht was seen off the Azores at the 
 time that Tom was missed. ** She was going 
 fast, as if racing," the Captain had said. 
 
 When our travellers reached Liverpool, 
 they at once sent notice to Dr Septimus of 
 their arrival. This was happy news for the 
 Doctor ; for but a few days before, he had had 
 a visit from Captain Grainger, who told him 
 how he had been obliged to get his ship off, 
 and leave Harold and Miranda behind. The 
 Doctor knew he should see his children soon, 
 but he had not hoped to see them yet. 
 When the Captain came down to Rothes- 
 camp, he was, as may be supposed, well 
 received. Indeed, the Doctor and the Cap- 
 tain seemed to become old friends at once, 
 so thoroughly did they understand each other. 
 The Captain had sailed many treacherous 
 seas, and taken ships through many terrible 
 perils: the Doctor had saved many human 
 creatures from falling too early into the 
 grasp of death. They had their common 
 measure. To fight a ship through a storm,
 
 1 88 MIRANDA; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 or a soul through a fever, is of equal 
 moment. 
 
 Captain Grainger had told the Doctor that 
 Harold had found some relation on the 
 island. "What relation can it be ?" thought 
 the Doctor ; '' surely it is not Gilbert come 
 to life again, he has disappeared so many 
 years. Perhaps it's that little rascal of 
 Priscilla's. I wonder who it is ?" 
 
 So when Harold telegraphed from Liver- 
 pool to say that he had arrived, and should 
 come home the next day, the Doctor tele- 
 graphed back, and said — 
 
 " Bring your new-found relation, if he is 
 with you." 
 
 This puzzled Harold, who had intended to 
 surprise his father by introducing cousin 
 Gilbert to him. 
 
 " Who can have told my father? " he said 
 — '' Captain Grainger, perhaps. At any rate, 
 it must be some one from the Mighty Metro- 
 polis, which shows that at least some of the 
 passengers arrived safely in England." 
 
 '' I wonder whether I shall find any more 
 relations besides my grandfather when I get 
 to Rothescamp," said Miranda.
 
 THE RETURN HOME. 1 89 
 
 *'No, I think not," said Harold. . ''We 
 have some distant relations who have never 
 visited Rothescamp for years. The present 
 Baronet lives abroad, and, I believe, was never 
 married." 
 
 The old Doctor^s house brightened up 
 as It had not done for many a year. The 
 lights were twinkling from many of the 
 windows when the travellers arrived. The 
 Doctor, at his books, was trying to appear as 
 if nothing unusual were going to happen. But 
 he did not seem quite to know which book 
 it was he wanted. He found It necessary to 
 go to the book-case often ; and as he passed 
 the window, he would stand for a minute 
 and listen for the sound of wheels. Then he 
 would find that his spectacles seemed misty, 
 and wanted removing frequently. Then he 
 rang for his housekeeper, to ask If she was 
 quite sure the bedrooms were aired — for It 
 was long since he had had visitors ; and was 
 she sure that everything was provided for 
 the young lady which she should require ? 
 
 Now they arrive, and the old man goes 
 out to meet them. The housekeeper, who is 
 standing back in the hall, waiting while Intro-
 
 190 MIRANDA; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 ductlons are going on, catches sight of two 
 rather wild-looking children. 
 
 ** Lawk a mercy !" she thought to herself, 
 " what shall we do with them two children In 
 the house ? " 
 
 And I think before they left the poor old 
 woman was nearly frantic ; for they climbed 
 up the staircase, and up any other dangerous 
 place, like cats, and they asked such wonderful 
 questions of the housekeeper, into whose 
 charge they were given. 
 
 " I say, Mrs Dawson," said Adam, "why 
 does everybody wear clothes here ? " 
 
 *' Clothes, my dear, why, you wouldn't go 
 without them, would you ? " 
 
 *' We never used to wear any in our home." 
 
 Mrs Dawson thought the sooner ''them 
 young savages " went away to the outlandish 
 parts where they came from the better. 
 '' And only to think of them being real Tach- 
 brooks," she said ; " I am sure their mother 
 must have been one of those nigger savages 
 we read of." 
 
 The Doctor was delighted with Miranda. 
 Gilbert he had not seen for many years, 
 and had supposed he was dead. He, who
 
 THE RETURN HOME. 191 
 
 was SO fond of staying at home himself, Hked 
 to meet men who had seen the world, and 
 sought adventure and found it. He and the 
 Troglodyte would chatter pleasantly, and for 
 hours. 
 
 ''And now, we shall be having you at 
 Rothescamp when Sir Arthur dies, I sup- 
 pose," said the Doctor. 
 
 " Yes, I suppose I am the heir, as I under- 
 stand Sir Arthur never married.'* 
 
 '* I think it is generally understood that 
 Sir Arthur never married, but there is some 
 mystery in the family, and there is just a 
 chance that your title may be disputed. But 
 it will depend only on one person, who has 
 not been heard of for about twenty years, 
 and is supposed to have died long ago. 
 Besides, he was a boy when he was lost, and 
 it might be difficult to identify him, suppose 
 any one should lay claim to the title. But it 
 is such an unlikely thing that I need not tell 
 the story; and indeed I think it better not 
 to tell it. You will at any rate disappoint 
 the man who supposed he was heir, the 
 son of a nephew of mine, whom I have not 
 seen for years, and who is an extravagant
 
 192 MIRANDA ; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 worthless fellow. I think you had better 
 look him up, and let him know of your 
 existence, or he may dispute your identity 
 when the time comes, and waste some of the 
 estate in law business." 
 
 The Doctor was disappointed that Tom 
 did not arrive with the party. . Harold, in his 
 letters to his father, was accustomed to men- 
 tion himself and Tom always together, so 
 that the Doctor had learnt to think of him 
 as part of Harold. Miranda persuaded her 
 grandfather that he could not be lost, and 
 that some day he would surprise them by 
 arriving there. 
 
 It may well be imagined that Miranda, 
 glad though she was to see Rothescamp and 
 her grandfather for the first time, was melan- 
 choly about our friend Tom Jones. It is 
 questionable whether she felt his loss so 
 much as her father — his tried comrade of 
 eighteen years. A young girl's love is a 
 pretty thing; but it fortunately does not, 
 with Innocent children, ripen too rapidly into 
 passion. Hence, though Miranda and Tom 
 Jones had fully understood each other, and 
 though Miranda felt for a while that some-
 
 TH£ RETURN HOME. 1 93 
 
 thing had passed from her existence, she grew 
 in time of serener temper, and could not help 
 feeling pleasure in the beauty of Rothescamp 
 scenery, and in the happiness which her 
 father s return and her own gave to Doctor 
 Septimus Tachbrook. The old gentleman, 
 while he had borne his solitude well throuorh 
 all those years, consoling himself probably by 
 the thought that he was doing a weighty 
 work in the world, while his son was merely 
 producing money and a daughter, could not 
 well be otherwise than pleased with the 
 dauo^hter, thouo^h carino- nothino^ about the 
 money. For Miranda was both gentle and 
 sprightly, both duteous and vivacious ; and 
 the old Doctor saw in her character a proof 
 that the life of the Tachbrook race was not 
 extinct. 
 
 VOL. I. N
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 VOYAGER & AT HOME. 
 
 " How many a weary traveller, soiled with dust, 
 After long miles beneath a pitiless sun 
 On white monotonous roads, catches a glimpse 
 Of the remote blue ocean, all alive 
 With yachts and trawlers — a great war-ship spreading 
 Canvas like snow on masts like mighty trees, 
 And thinks, Ah ! surely o?z the sea is rest I 
 Toil on the mainland, rest upon the main 1 " 
 
 A TRILLION Is defined by Dr Johnson as '*a 
 million of millions of millions." A mathe- 
 matician might more conveniently describe 
 it as the number whose common logarithm 
 is 1 8. It would be a remarkably pleasant 
 amount to possess in sovereigns, If only there 
 were gold enough in the world to coin it. 
 The trillionaire might turn patriot, and pay 
 the National Debt without feeling it, much 
 to the relief of the over-burdened taxpayers. 
 Fancy the sensation in the House If the
 
 VOYAGERS AT HOME. 195 
 
 Right Honourable Robert Lowe could get 
 up and announce that Sir Theophllus Tril- 
 lion, Baronet, had sent him a cheque on 
 Drummond's for what the French call a 
 milliard ; so that taxation would cease to be 
 necessary for the present. Nobody would 
 begrudge the generous trillionaire a peerage 
 and a statue. 
 
 People who have lived much at sea find 
 the land unpleasant In certain respects. It 
 is noisy ; it is infested by tramps, and tax- 
 gatherers, and telegraph posts; it is mono- 
 tonous in its fixity. Day after day you see 
 the same place and go through the same 
 routine. If one had the inexhaustible trillion, 
 right pleasant would it be to launch a yacht 
 that resembled a floating island. There 
 might be gardens on deck, and groves of 
 trees ; and why not a Rotten Row for eques- 
 trian exercise ? We do not, as yet, utilise 
 the sea. Byron has made two' false state- 
 ments In a breath in one of his weakest, and 
 therefore most admired, passages. He tells 
 us that — 
 
 " Man marks the earth with ruin ; his control 
 Stops with the shore."
 
 196 MIRANDA ; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 To mark the earth with ruin can hardly be 
 deemed a primary function of the race which 
 builds cities and plants gardens, while it is 
 quite certain that the sea has been controlled 
 ever since Noah launched his ark on the 
 maddened and tormented waters — ever since 
 Jason led forth his band of wanderers. Still 
 our control might be carried further. Build 
 vaster ships — sail on great circles — calculate 
 cyclones — then the sea may become a habit- 
 able country. 
 
 Miranda quite pined for the sea. She 
 felt imprisoned at Rothescamp-in-the- Valley. 
 She longed to wander over the interminable 
 waste of ocean In search of Tom Jones, whom 
 she felt certain she should meet ao^aln, not- 
 withstanding his strange disappearance. Fain 
 would she have persuaded her father to start 
 in search of her lost lover, but it was not to 
 be expected that he should desert the Doctor 
 in his old age. So Miranda perforce re- 
 mained at Rothescamp, and waited, with a 
 firm belief, strengthened by her grandfather s 
 superstition, that Tom would return in time. 
 
 Doctor Tachbrook had by this time wholly 
 relinquished his practice — seldom, indeed,
 
 VOYAGERS AT HOME. 1 97 
 
 went beyond the limits of the quaint old 
 garden behind his house. It was his delight 
 to wander there on fine afternoons, and to 
 hear his son spin yarns interminable. He 
 had lived all his long life at home ; he liked 
 to follow in imagination Harold's wild adven- 
 tures in the world's remotest seas. 
 
 Harold, on the other hand, was eager to 
 hear whether anything further was discover- 
 able concerning Mary Fane. Edith's last 
 thoughts rested on this girl ; and though so 
 many years had passed, Harold was loyal to 
 his lost wife, and longed to find the school 
 friend whom she loved so well. 
 
 "She is untraceable," said Doctor Septi- 
 mus. 
 
 " I shall make another trial, for all that," 
 quoth Harold ; " I will find her, //"she lives." 
 
 Meanwhile Gilbert Tachbrook, betterknown 
 as the Troglodyte, made himself known to 
 Messrs Slierwood and Sherwood, hereditary 
 solicitors to the estate^ who were almost the 
 only people who knew anythingabout the pre- 
 sent baronet, and their knowledge was. limited. 
 Though Rothescamp rumour placed him in a 
 lunatic asylum, and though he was well quail-
 
 198 MIRANDA ; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 fied for such a residence, he was actually at 
 Venice. He lived under an assumed name 
 in a palace on the Grand Canal, and was 
 famed for lying in bed all day, and breakfast- 
 ing at sunset. Though sumptuous in his habits, 
 Sir Arthur lived within the income of the 
 Rothescamp estates. Soon after Gilbert 
 Tachbrook had called on Messrs Sherwood, 
 he received a note from them with intelligence 
 of Sir Arthur's death. He died intestate, 
 and there was rather a large accumulation of 
 personal property. 
 
 The old leofal firm of Lincoln's Inn were 
 quite willing to acknowledge Gilbert Tach- 
 brook as the heir, but there arose an un- 
 expected difficulty. One day an elderly 
 lady in deep mourning called on Mr Sher- 
 wood, junior — junior by courtesy, for he was 
 a man more staid and sagacious than his 
 father — sendinof In a card as Mrs Tachbrook. 
 Sherwood, junior, an attorney not easily sur- 
 prised, was on this occasion slightly startled, 
 for his visitor announced herself as daughter- 
 in-law of the late Sir Arthur Tachbrook, and 
 widow of his only son Harold. 
 
 ''Sir Arthur Tachbrook died unmarried,"
 
 VOYAGERS AT HOME. 1 99 
 
 said Sherwood, junior, with dignified so- 
 lemnity, quite believing the mysterious lady 
 an impostor. 
 
 " Sir Arthur did nothing of the kind," she 
 replied, coolly. " He was married in Ireland. 
 He had one son, to whom I was married at 
 the church of Saint Edgar the King, in the 
 city of London. And my only son is the 
 present baronet and owner of the estates — 
 Sir Harold Tachbrook." 
 
 Sherwood, junior, though startled, was not 
 displeased. He saw chances of a lawsuit. 
 The magic eighty pence, so easily multi- 
 plicable into thousands of pounds, affected 
 his imagination. Could there be any truth 
 in the story told by this lady in sable 
 clothing ? An Irish marriage — invalid, per- 
 haps : infinite doubts loomed in the distance, 
 suggested by the question of religion. Then 
 where was the present claimant ? and why 
 had he sent his mother to represent him ? 
 These last questions Sherwood, junior, put in 
 a quiet manner, but received from the lady 
 this curt reply — 
 
 " Sir Harold Tachbrook, Baronet, of 
 Rothescamp, will be here when requisite."
 
 200 MIRANDA ; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 Sherwood, junior, could only reply — 
 " I shall be very glad to see him." 
 *' You will kindly take from me the notice 
 that he claims the title and estates. As 
 solicitors to the family, your firm will not, of 
 course, act with hostility to the real heir." 
 '' Ah ! but who is the real heir ?" 
 '' My son. Investigate the question. Your 
 duty to the estate is to ascertain the truth." 
 
 *' I admit this ; but I should wish to consult 
 my father and partner before deciding what 
 steps to take. After that, I should be glad 
 to see either yourself or your son. My father 
 is out of town, but will return in a few days." 
 *' I will call again this day week." 
 She passed out of the office in a stately 
 fashion, leaving Sherwood, junior, slightly per- 
 plexed. He wrote to his father^ who was 
 staying in Devonshire ; and the old gentle- 
 man was rather more puzzled than his son. 
 Was it possible Sir Arthur married without 
 a word to anybody ? The old lawyer could 
 not deny that possibility. He had known 
 many mad clients, but none madder than Sir 
 Arthur Tachbrook. 
 
 Sherwood, senior, came to town earlier than
 
 VOYAGERS AT HOME. 201 
 
 he had Intended, leaving reluctantly the river 
 Dart for the river Thames. The matter 
 was important. He and his son having held 
 counsel together, sent for the Troglodyte, 
 who was inhabiting a furnished cavern at 
 the Clarendon. Before their client the two 
 lawyers placed the case as clearly as they 
 could. He listened and laughed. 
 
 ** I think the story likely enough. We are 
 a mad race. If this youngster is the right 
 heir, in God's name let him have it. I re- 
 member that old Dr Tachbrook hinted at 
 something of this sort, but he said that the 
 young man entirely disappeared twenty years 
 ago." 
 
 " The thing must be thoroughly proved," 
 said Sherwood, junior. '* There was some- 
 thing about that woman that struck me as 
 not quite straightforward. At any rate, we 
 must see her son first, and ascertain what he 
 knows of his position." 
 
 " It is odd Sir Arthur, if he married, never 
 mentioned it to me/' said Sherwood, senior. 
 " I was his friend as well as his lawyer, and 
 he gave me confidential information of all 
 his scrapes. That he should marry and have
 
 202 MIRANDA ; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 a son, and take no steps to establish his son's 
 legitimacy, seems almost incredible. Though 
 a very careless man, he had strong opinions 
 in regard to the rights and duties of heredi- 
 tary landowners. He was proud of the Tach- 
 brook blood and history." 
 
 ^' It is curious," said the Troglodyte. '' How- 
 ever, all I desire is to get at the truth ; if the 
 old lady's story is true, the sooner it is estab- 
 lished the better. I have no desire to occupy 
 a position that is not mine." 
 
 The lawyers arranged that Gilbert Tach- 
 brook should meet the lady in mourning 
 when she next called. She came, to the day ^ • 
 and hour. She brought with her a macilent ^ 
 man between thirty and forty, with lank black 
 hair, a sallow complexion, short thin legs,, 
 feet and hands absurdly large. The hands 
 were flat, unwashed, with bitten nails and 
 diamond rings. This uninviting personage 
 was introduced as Sir Harold Tachbrook. 
 He looked rather uncomfortable, but put on 
 an air of baronetcy, and tried to patronise 
 everybody, 
 
 Mrs Tachbrook's story was clear enough. 
 Sir Arthur was married at Athlone to a Miss
 
 VOYAGERS AT HOME. 203 
 
 Geraldine, of the famous old family so called ; 
 date not precisely known, but easily obtain- 
 able ; marriaofe at the famous Protestant 
 church which was celebrated in rhyme by 
 some wicked wit — 
 
 " High church, 
 Low steeple, 
 Dirty town, 
 Proud people." 
 
 Sir Arthur had one son by this lady, who 
 was born abroad, and was named Harold. 
 Lady Tachbrook died young ; Sir Arthur 
 turned misanthropic, and sent his son to 
 England to be out of his way. He was put 
 under the care of a Mrs Hartnoll, who kept 
 a school at Greenwich. There he remained 
 until he grew towards manhood, his father 
 paying a hundred a year for his maintenance. 
 There, at about eighteen, he fell in love, or 
 fancied he fell in love, or perhaps was or- 
 dered to fall in love, with Priscilla Hartnoll, 
 several years his senior, daughter of the 
 Greenwich schoolmistress. That he married 
 her against his will seemed clear to the 
 lawyers from Priscilla's way of telling her 
 story (for this, of course, was Priscilla, the
 
 204 MIRANDA ; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 dignified female in black) ; the fact being 
 that when he was seven or eight, and she 
 seventeen or eighteen, she had been a hard 
 taskmistress to him, teaching him spelling 
 and grammar and geography, not without 
 stripes, wherefore at eighteen he submitted 
 to marry her without venturing to murmur. 
 On his marriage Sir Arthur withdrew the 
 hundred a year, and Priscllla began to fear 
 she had made a mistake ; but when he came 
 of age his father sent him a cheque for fifteen 
 thousand pounds, which he said was his 
 mother's property, and thereafter took no 
 further notice of him. 
 
 When he got this money he became mutin- 
 ous, and rebelled against the lady who had 
 married him. He was a weak member of a 
 strong family. He was obstinate and spite- 
 ful ; his wife, who thought she had done a 
 clever thing, found only that she had made a 
 great mistake. He treated her brutally. 
 They had one boy, on whom he visited his 
 dislike for his mother. He gradually grew 
 worse and worse, and finally died of delirium 
 tremens in a London hospital. 
 
 This is a brief summary of the story told
 
 VOYAGERS AT HOME. 205 
 
 by Priscllla Tachbrook to Gilbert Tachbrook 
 and Messrs Sherwood & Sherwood. It 
 bore the stamp of truth. Many points she 
 was enabled to establish by old letters which 
 she had carefully preserved. When her story 
 was finished, the Troglodyte was first to 
 speak. 
 
 '' I think, Mrs Tachbrook, that your case 
 is too strong for me. All I want is that 
 right should be done ; and if your son is the 
 head of our house, I shall rejoice to see 
 him In his proper place.'* 
 
 " You speak like a gentleman," said Sher- 
 wood, senior ; '' and it is the right way in 
 which family matters should be arranged ; 
 but we, for our own sakes as well as yours, 
 must carefully investigate the records of mar- 
 riage and birth. These investigations, Mrs 
 Tachbrook, shall be made as quickly as pos- 
 sible ; and we shall be glad if you will assist 
 us in any points within your cognisance." 
 
 Sherwood, junior, had said nothing all this 
 time ; he had been thinking. He was not a 
 rapid man, but he was adroit and safe. 
 Something about Sir Harold Tachbrook (so 
 called) jarred on his instinct. There had
 
 206 MIRANDA ; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 been lots of fools among the Tachbrooks, 
 — strong families produce fools ; but this man 
 looked vulgar, and old families do not pro- 
 duce vulgarity. So Sherwood, junior, with a 
 look at his father, which that wary old gentle- 
 man understood, said to the claimant — 
 
 ''Will you look in to-morrow, and have 
 some luncheon with me ? I should like to 
 talk over matters quietly." 
 
 The invitation was accepted, and Priscilla 
 and her son went away. The lady looked 
 triumphant. 
 
 " So I may give up my chance of the title 
 and estates," said Gilbert Tachbrook, laugh- 
 ingly. " Never mind, I '11 console myself 
 with your sherry and Prague biscuits. How 
 is it lawyers always have such dry sherry?" 
 
 " They do a dry business," said Sherwood, 
 senior. " But, Tom, my bay, what 's your idea 
 for having that greedy-looking fellow to lunch 
 with you to-morrow ? Baronet or not, I 
 should not care to lunch with him." 
 
 "He makes me ashamed of the Tach- 
 brooks," said Gilbert. 
 
 " I don't think he need," remarked Sher- 
 wood, junior, quietly.
 
 VOYAGERS AT HOME. 20/ 
 
 ** Why, he's a manifest cad." 
 
 *'Yes; but not a manifest Tachbrook. 
 There is something odd about the affair." 
 
 *' The woman's story is straightforward," 
 said Sherwood, senior. 
 
 " Yes ; she tells a certain amount of truth, 
 but I think it is mixed with lies. That Sir 
 Arthur married Miss Geraldine, I believe, 
 and that their son married — or, rather, was 
 married by — this appalling woman. Poor 
 devil ! Fancy being forcibly married by the 
 educational female who had walloped you in 
 your childhood ! Dreadful fate ! " 
 
 ** But what is your hypothesis.'^" asked 
 Sherwood, senior, 
 
 " I am not sure that I have reached one. 
 I have a kind of attenuated impression that 
 this man is not a Tachbrook." 
 
 "He doesn't look like one," said Gilbert. 
 
 *' No," replied Sherwood, junior. *' So 
 I want to find out two things. Did this 
 woman have a son ? Does anybody know 
 this man ? I will drop a line to Dr Tach- 
 brook, and ask if he knows anything of this 
 business. The first point we shall establish 
 by the registers probably. As to the second
 
 208 MIRANDA ; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 — well, I may know more after we have 
 lunched together." 
 
 *' Come and dine with me afterwards," said 
 the Troglodyte. *' I shall be glad of your 
 news. There's some good claret In Bond 
 Street." 
 
 '* With pleasure." 
 
 Sherwood, junior, when he had attended to 
 a little business, put himself into a hansom, 
 and found his way to Scotland Yard. There 
 he meet Inspector Ubique. 
 
 " Ubique," he said, '' I want to find out 
 who somebody Is. I am going to give him 
 some luncheon between one and two to- 
 morrow at the Pall Mall. You could manage 
 to pass through the room and take a look at 
 him, couldn't you ?" 
 
 " Easily. I '11 see It's done, sir." 
 
 ** Thanks. I '11 come down for your report 
 In the course of the afternoon."
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 AN INSPECTION. 
 "Homo trium literarum." 
 
 The attorney-at-law cannot always pick his 
 company; and Sherwood, junior, having gen- 
 tlemanly proclivities, felt that, by inviting the 
 quasi Sir Harold to lunch with him, he was 
 doing more than ordinary legal service. But 
 he did not believe in this man, and he did not 
 want to see the great estate of Tachbrook fall 
 into wrong hands. Hence he threw himself 
 into the matter with energy unusual. He 
 treated his guest with as much courtesy as he 
 could command ; but it was not without a 
 shudder he sat at the same table with him, 
 disgusted by his dirt and diamonds, and ob- 
 VOL. I. o
 
 2IO MIRANDA; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 serving that the attentive waiters looked also 
 disgusted. Luckily there were few persons 
 In the room at this hour ; and so It was 
 chiefly the waiters' criticism that discomposed 
 Mr Sherwood. He, however, consoled him- 
 self with a good glass of wine, which he 
 administered freely to his companion, desir- 
 ing to develop his loquacity. This had Its 
 effect. At first very shy, Sir Harold warmed 
 Into garrulity, and was soon telling Sherwood, 
 junior, most amazing adventures which had 
 happened to him In all parts of the world. 
 The lawyer listened >vlth avidity. 
 
 So did somebody else. They had only 
 just finished an anchovy salad, and were en- 
 joying the accompanying Montrachet, when 
 a middle-aged clergyman took a seat at the 
 nearest table. He had a companion, a re- 
 tiring young lady, dressed with elegant 
 simplicity, who looked like his daughter. 
 The divine ordered a quiet refection, which 
 he took leisurely, and without much Inter- 
 ruption of talk. He was so seated that Sher- 
 wood, junior, could scarcely perceive him, 
 while Sherwood's guest was almost face to 
 face with him. But the said guest saw no-
 
 AN INSPECTION. 2 I I 
 
 thing, save " an old fogy of a parson," as 
 probably he would have described him ; cer- 
 tainly recognised not the keenest detective 
 eyes that ever London saw. 
 
 And who was the parson's daughter ? 
 Well, Mr Inspector Ubique has an orphan 
 niece, whom he, a bachelor, adopted years 
 ago, and who has entered into the romance 
 and mystery of his profession, and kept his 
 diary of discovery. The worthy and astute 
 inspector is not so keen of hearing as he was 
 once ; his niece's rather nice looking little 
 ears often do shrewd service when there is 
 anything difficult to find out. Moreover, 
 there are delicate enigmas wherein lady ad- 
 venturers are concerned — feminine creatures 
 who dress fashionably and aim at a distin- 
 guished style. Such game has to be tracked 
 in exclusive coverts — in places where It seems 
 as surprising to mark it down as to find a cor- 
 morant close to the tree of knowledge. Miss 
 Lucy Ubique, though an uncovenanted and 
 unrecognised servant of the Government, had 
 once or twice done slo^nal service. She wore 
 this day a very handsome gold watch, given 
 her by a Countess, whom she had saved from
 
 2 I 2 MIRANDA ; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 being the victim of a clever conspiracy. Her 
 uncle is a man of remarkable capacity, yet he 
 owes much of his good fortune and high 
 repute to the acumen of his niece. 
 
 The apparent parson and his supposititious 
 daughter ate their quiet cutlets with a pint of 
 claret between them, while the assumed baro- 
 net and his legal entertainer went through a 
 series of courses, and mixed their wines reck- 
 lessly. Sir Harold talked recklessly. He 
 described extravagant adventures in coun- 
 tries seldom traversed. He had shot lions, 
 caught condors in figure-of-four traps, climbed 
 Andes, been buried in earthquakes. That 
 the fellow was romancing was clear to his 
 auditors ; but every now and then an acci- 
 dental truth crept into his farrago of lies. 
 Those scraps of truth betrayed him. It is 
 an adage that liars should have long memo- 
 ries ; it may further be said that a liar, to suc- 
 ceed in his vocation, should never tell truth. 
 
 The country parson's luncheon was over 
 first ; indeed, Sherwood, junior, had much 
 difficulty in bringing his entertainment to any 
 termination. The quasi-baronet did not tire 
 of eating, drinking, and talking, and it was
 
 AN INSPECTION. 2 1 3 
 
 with a feeling of great relief that the lawyer, 
 late In the afternoon, got him Into a cab, and 
 saw the last of him. This done, he drove off 
 to find his friend the Inspector. 
 
 ** I hardly knew you at first," said Sher- 
 wood ; *' you looked frightfully respectable. 
 What do you thing of my man ? " 
 
 '' I know he 's a scamp," said Ubique. '' I 
 did not at first recognise him, though there 
 was something in his face familiar to me ; but 
 my niece gave me the office." 
 
 *' Your niece looks a very charming girl," 
 said Sherwood. 
 
 " She 's very good, and she 's wonderfully 
 sharp. She 's a regular actress, and can go 
 into any sort of company as if she belonged 
 to them. She twigged this fellow almost 
 directly ; but he used to have carrotty hair, 
 and now it's as black as if he had dipt it in 
 an inkbottle. But he has a queer twitch of 
 the left eyelid if you notice him carefully ; 
 he had it fifteen years ago, and ink won't 
 cure that." 
 
 *' But who is he ? " asked Sherwood, with 
 perhaps more impatience than befits a lawyer. 
 
 "At that time he went by the name of
 
 2 14 MIRANDA; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 Moses Hyam. He was a clerk ; robbed his 
 master ; got seven years. We lost sight of 
 him altogether, and thought he was dead or 
 turned honest — dead most likely. But a 
 couple of years ago he turned up in London 
 again, and made an honest livelihood as a 
 writer of begging-letters. He writes a lovely 
 hand — two or three lovely hands, I may say. 
 Sometimes he is a distressed author ; some- 
 times a widow with many small brats ; some- 
 times a curate in a consumption ; but his 
 favourite part is being a young lady of high 
 position, who has been ruined by a scoundrel, 
 who induced her to run away with him, 
 though he had a wife already living, and who 
 dares not now return to her ancestral home. 
 This dodore is almost infallible. We found 
 him out in it, and stopped about a hundred 
 letters with post-office orders in them ; but 
 he was too quick for us, and got out of the 
 way. I have seen nothing of him since till 
 to-day." 
 
 "He professes to be Sir Harold Tachbrook, 
 Baronet, and heir to an immense property. 
 A person who calls herself his mother has 
 been at our office with a plausible story of
 
 AN INSPECTION. 2 I 5 
 
 her having married the son of the late baro- 
 net, and maintains that this is her^ son by 
 him. I fear her story is true to some extent ; 
 but I can't think that fellow can be a Tach- 
 brook." 
 
 *' I 've seen some rum baronets," said the 
 inspector, sagaciously. 
 
 " Yes ; and so have I. But all the Tach- 
 brooks I know or have known, though often 
 eccentric, have been gentlemen." 
 
 "It^s very odd the lady should call him 
 her son if he isn't. Did she have a son at 
 all ? " 
 
 " That is a most important point," said 
 Sherwood. " There are several questions we 
 must look into, and I think you had better 
 come and see me some time to-morrow, 
 when I may ask you for more help. I must 
 be off now to dine with Gilbert Tachbrook, 
 whom I believe to be the true baronet." 
 
 *' You hiozu he 's a Tachbrook, then ? " 
 
 *' No mistaking him. He looks like a 
 family portrait stepped out of its frame. Ask 
 your niece to accept this trifle to buy her a 
 locket or a bracelet. Some day or other I 
 should like you to bring her to Richmond or
 
 2l6 MIRANDA; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 Hampton Court. I have a great fancy to 
 hear some of the stories I am sure she could 
 tell." 
 
 Sherwood, junior, drove rapidly back to his 
 own rooms for hasty ablution, and was only 
 just in time for the Troglodyte's dinner. 
 
 " I have made so copious a lunch with our 
 baronet," said the lawyer, '' that I hope you 
 are going to give me the very simplest of 
 dinners." 
 
 '' I am," said the dweller in a cave. 
 *' Oysters, with chablis ; clear turtle, with old 
 Madeira ; a haunch of Exmoor mutton, with 
 Heidseck ; a grouse, with Lafitte. That 's 
 all you '11 get." 
 
 *' I feel already starved," said the attorney ; 
 ** you will find in your bill of costs by and 
 by- 
 
 s. d. 
 To attending you at dinner at the Clarendon, 13 4 
 
 To cab hire, 17 6 
 
 To headache next morning, . . . ^ Z'' 
 
 '' All right ! " said the Troglodyte, '' I '11 
 pay: a humorous lawyer is worth his hire. 
 Come, let us try the oysters." 
 
 Gilbert Tachbrook, having lived so long on 
 an island in solitude, had acquired two most
 
 AN INSPECTION. 2 1 7 
 
 enviable faculties. He could live without 
 gossip ; he could live without anxiety — he 
 was self-contained. It was an apophthegm of 
 his that nothing which can happen to-morrow 
 is worth a wise man's consideration to-day. 
 As to the Tachbrook title and estates, he 
 cared nothing so far as his own interests 
 were concerned. When, by and by, Sher- 
 wood, junior, told him all he had discovered 
 concerning the claimant, the Troglodyte's 
 only feeling of disgust was that possibly this 
 swindler might by ill-hap be a Tachbrook. 
 His chance of the estate gave him no greater 
 concern than the price of the wine he was 
 drinking. 
 
 When they came to a tranquil cigar, with 
 the mocha, Gilbert Tachbrook said — 
 
 " I shall leave this matter entirely to you, 
 Mr Sherwood. My sole wish is that the 
 rightful heir should obtain the estate ; but I 
 certainly shall regret to find the rightful heir 
 a swindler and a felon. I hope better things. 
 However, I am in your hands, and I give 
 you full authority to act for me." 
 
 " I will try to do you full justice," said 
 Sherwood. " I cannot believe this man has
 
 2l8 MIRANDA; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 any connection with your family. I shall 
 make inquiries at once into Mrs Tachbrook's 
 history." 
 
 '* Do what you like. Don't trouble me 
 more than is necessary. I am going to the 
 Channel Islands to-morrow, and will give 
 you an address." 
 
 ** The Channel Islands!" 
 
 " Yes ; Sark. You may have heard that, 
 though I am an ancient mariner, I have a 
 couple of young children to look after. My 
 g-ood cousin, Doctor Tachbrook, wanted the 
 young heathens to come to his place ; but I 
 wouldn't have him bothered in his old age, 
 so they have been at a boarding-house on 
 Wimbledon Common. But, in answer to an 
 advertisement, I have heard of a Miss Delisle, 
 at Sark, a wonderfully ingenious person, whose 
 mission it is to civilise small pagans." 
 
 " At so much a-year ?" said Sherwood. 
 
 '' Of course. The labourer is worthy of 
 her hire. Now these two children, who are 
 called Adam and Eve, have lived in the water 
 from infancy. They know nothing except 
 what they have found out for themselves. 
 They are amphibious. They have lived un-
 
 AN INSPECTION. 219 
 
 clothed till we entered the realms of decorum. 
 They are a couple of superb little animals, 
 and I quite shudder at the notion of educating 
 them. Still, it must be done. Little Adam, 
 you know, may be Sir Adam Tachbrook, if 
 the other fellow turn out a failure." 
 
 *' I shall be greatly interested in the future 
 development of these children ; but what 
 cause have you for sending them to this 
 person at Sark ? What do you know about 
 her.?" 
 
 *' I have made full Inquiries. She is a lady 
 of about forty, of good family and means, 
 with a special faculty for educating children 
 who have been warped or neglected. There 
 is some romance of disappointment about her 
 early life which has caused her to find for 
 herself an unusual occupation. She seems, 
 from all I hear, to have amazing powers of 
 insight and of control. There are children 
 who are thought stupid, because the exact 
 things they could do well are never given 
 them to do. This is one sort of problem she 
 solves. There are also children who become 
 little rebels for want of sensible treatment : 
 they are either coaxed too much or castigated
 
 2 20 MIRANDA ; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 too much. She has discovered the via 
 medial 
 
 " She must be a remarkable woman," quoth 
 Sherwood. 
 
 *'So I think. I am going to take these 
 youngsters over from Southampton to-morrow 
 night, with special intent to see her. And, 
 as I know one can get comfortable quarters 
 in that picturesque islet, I shall probably stay 
 there awhile. So, if you have anything im- 
 portant to say, write to Sark ; if not, don't." 
 
 *'Good!" said the lawyer, taking his final 
 glass of cool claret. " But don't fall in love 
 with this eccentric schoolmistress."
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 AN INSULAR ENCHANTRESS. 
 " Circae pocula nosti." 
 
 Allegory doubtless lies beneath all that 
 Homer tells us, but it is allegory based on 
 actual events. All fiction is based on history, 
 as all language on onomatopoiea. There 
 will never be any adequate explanation of 
 the primeval mythus, yet it is full of sugges- 
 tion and of moral,, and cannot be studied 
 without ample reward. Even to read it 
 backwards is useful now and then. Miss 
 Delisle had read backwards the story of 
 Circe. 
 
 Her own early history was not a happy 
 one. Left an orphan when quite young, she 
 had been taken under the care of a maiden
 
 222 MIRANDA ; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 aunt, who had a fierce temper and a stingy 
 temperament. It was her mothers sister. 
 Both sisters had been in love with Miss 
 DeHsle's father, and the lady who lost him 
 never forgave either of them. Delisle him- 
 self was penniless ; the sisters were co- 
 heiresses to considerable property, but so 
 settled that whichever survived, the other 
 should take the whole^, without any provision 
 for children. Hence the orphan girl was 
 wholly dependent on her aunt, who revenged 
 upon her what she considered the misdeeds 
 of her parents. The poor little animal was 
 half starved, made to do menial work, 
 punished for sheer love of cruelty, taught 
 nothing at all. But in time people talked 
 about her treatment, and the rector of the 
 parish heard of it, and gave her persecutor 
 a good lecture. As the aunt was a lady of 
 exemplary piety, she did not venture to rebel 
 against her clergyman's authority. So at 
 about sixteen the girl was sent to a boarding 
 school — of course, a cheap one. When she 
 had been there a year or two, and had learnt 
 all that the mistress could teach, her aunt 
 made an arrangement by which she was to
 
 AN INSULAR ENCHANTRESS. 223 
 
 become an articled pupil, which in schools of 
 a low order means a person obliged to do 
 work which servants will not deign to do. 
 Even in private families of no culture, tutors 
 and governesses are to this day disgracefully 
 used. Think of the famous Justice Maule, 
 one of the few men who have been both 
 Senior Wrangler and First Smith's Prizeman, 
 as tutor in a highly respectable family, where 
 the smallest child slept in his bed, and had 
 to be washed and dressed by him in the 
 morning! Now that all the world is on the 
 strike, why do not tutors and governesses 
 begin ? 
 
 Margaret Delisle got no holidays; saw and 
 heard nothing of her only relation ; received 
 no letters, except now and then a kind note 
 from the old rector. It was a hard life, but it 
 did not harden her ; it made her, indeed, an 
 intelligently sympathetic woman. The mis- 
 tress of the school did a very peculiar 
 business. You might see in the morning 
 papers, at Christmas and Midsummer, an 
 advertisement, not in the best English, to the 
 effect that she received, on moderate inclusive 
 terms, unmanageable children, or children
 
 2 24 MIRANDA; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 whom It was desirable to send from home. 
 No hoHdays unless wished for. This resulted 
 in her getting a large number of neglected 
 little creatures, some of whom were illegiti- 
 mate, some too much in the way of dissipated 
 fathers or jealous stepmothers. Mrs Runcorn 
 (she was a widow, and had worried her 
 husband into another world) asked no ques- 
 tions, but always insisted on her money in 
 advance. Her system was a simple one ; 
 she regarded all her pupils as " unmanage- 
 able," and began by what she called '* break- 
 ing their spirits." This process was accom- 
 plished by a small allowance of food and a 
 great many sharp blows. A week of such 
 treatment usually produced a perfect cure. 
 
 Margaret Delisle had been sent to this 
 school by her amiable aunt, with a cheque 
 for a year's education, and a note saying that 
 she was a very troublesome girl, who might 
 have lived comfortably at home, but who 
 made mischief, by complaining to the 
 clergyman of the parish that she was badly 
 treated. As a year's payment in advance 
 was four times what she ventured to ask, 
 Mrs Runcom saw at once that Aunt Rebecca
 
 AN INSULAR ENCHANTRESS. 225 
 
 was a most respectable lady, and her honest 
 indignation was aroused at Margaret's wicked- 
 ness. It was just a case for her cure. The 
 girl had travelled a good many miles outside 
 a coach on a frosty day, but no pity on her 
 had this harridan. A servant, having re- 
 moved her bonnet and shawl, showed her 
 into the schoolmistress's private room, where 
 that lady was sitting by a comfortable fire, 
 with fragrant tea and an oily pile of muffins 
 beside her. The sight looked pleasant to the 
 shiverine starvinof child. Mrs Runcom said — 
 
 *' You are Margaret Dellsle ? " 
 
 '' Yes, ma'am." 
 
 ** Always kertchey when you speak to me. 
 I have a letter here from your good aunt. 
 You have behaved most wickedly to her. I 
 wonder you are not ashamed of yourself." 
 
 Margaret said nothing, feeling almost faint 
 with trouble and exhaustion. 
 
 Mrs Runcom went on — 
 
 " You will soon be taught obedience here. 
 I know how to break rebellious spirits." 
 Then ringing the bell, she said to the gaunt 
 servant who entered, '' Take this girl to bed. 
 You know where she is to sleep." 
 
 VOL. I. p
 
 2 26 MIRANDA; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 Margaret unresistingly followed the ser- 
 vant to a long dormitory, in which were about 
 twenty comfortless beds. It was about six 
 on a January evening, and she was almost 
 too cold to undress. Of course all the other 
 beds were as yet unoccupied. The servant 
 hurried her, for her own tea was cooling in 
 the kitchen. 
 
 ''Come, make haste, you little slut ; I can't 
 be here all niorht." 
 
 Wherewith she pulled aw^ay at Margaret's 
 scanty habiliments with a rough hand. When 
 the girl wanted, cold and tired as she was, 
 to kneel and say her prayers, the servant 
 said — 
 
 " Pooh, pooh ! say 'em in bed." 
 
 She bundled her in, gave her a smart slap 
 on the shoulders, and left her in darkness. 
 But Margaret had 'strength enough to get 
 out of bed again and sob an incoherent prayer 
 upon her knees. 
 
 Thus began her career under Mrs Runcom, 
 and it went on in the same way. This ill- 
 conditioned woman was always hardest on 
 her last victim. Margaret, however, dis- 
 gusted her, and tired her out. She liked
 
 AN INSULAR ENCHANTRESS. 227 
 
 children who resisted, rebelled, screamed : 
 she liked to break their spirits. Margaret 
 showed no spirit to break. The fact is, that 
 the good rector, who, all in the kindness of 
 his heart, had transferred her from the frying- 
 pan to the fire, was very apt to take his 
 texts from the Sermon on the Mount. Its 
 wonderful lessons of fortitude and non- 
 resistance he inculcated with gentle but per- 
 suasive eloquence. Indeed, he practised 
 them, which is harder far than preaching 
 them. He had a man-servant who robbed 
 him for years, and was at last found 
 out. 
 
 ** Thomas," said the rector, '' I am sorry 
 you should have taken the corn from my 
 cob ; doubtless necessity pressed you. Here 
 is a sovereign for your immediate wants ; 
 I will increase your wages two shillings a 
 week, which is all I can afford." 
 
 Will it be believed that Thomas refused 
 both the sovereign and the increased wages, 
 and seldom stole again ? Never I must not 
 say, for petty theft had become an inveterate 
 habit with the poor fellow. At last, being a 
 Kentishman, and therefore imaginative, he
 
 2 28 MIRANDA; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 cured himself — or nearly — by this plan. He 
 fixed up a money box in the stable, and when 
 he had filched corn or hay during the week, 
 he put the price he got for it into the box. 
 At the end of a year he brought it to his 
 master, and told him all about it. 
 
 '' Thomas," said the parson, '' you have 
 done wisely. I shall put this in the Savings' 
 Bank for you. Go on In the same way. There 
 will be less money next year, I am sure." 
 
 To return to poor Margaret Delisle. Her 
 perfect submission, her absolute obedience 
 to any order however humiliating, to any 
 punishment however painful, caused Mrs 
 Runcorn to despise her rather, and in time 
 to leave her alone. So Margaret, naturally 
 quick, learned what there was to learn in 
 that sordid seminary, and obtained much 
 influence over her schoolmates, and made 
 herself very useful to her mistress, who was 
 lazy in most things, and only active in cruelty. 
 Margaret became quite a pet, and was there- 
 by enabled to mitigate the sufferings of others. 
 When, at the age of eighteen. Aunt Rebecca 
 proposed that a premium should be paid to 
 make her an articled pupil for three years,
 
 AN INSULAR ENCHANTRESS. 2 29 
 
 after which she would have no more re- 
 sponsibility, the schoolmistress was well 
 pleased ; she took care, however, to assure 
 poor Margaret that she would taste the cane 
 all the same if she were troublesome. 
 
 Now Miss Delisle, who had grown up 
 under all these difficulties tall and handsome, 
 with dark eyes and hair, might easily have 
 defied the schoolmistress. But she still held 
 to the Sermon preached upon the hill of grey 
 olive-trees, and she began to think she had 
 found a mission In life — to tame down Mrs 
 Runcom, and to lessen the troubles of her 
 victims. She set herself to this heart and 
 soul. If she were ordered to punish a poor 
 little child, she would let it off with the 
 mildest of pats, and then, perhaps, the 
 schoolmistress would strike her, and she al- 
 ways submitted without complaint. Many 
 a time has she lost her dinner, because she 
 had, against orders, supplied some child with 
 food. 
 
 Yet had she spirit, as one event will show. 
 One day, Mrs Runcom, who more and more 
 consulted her, showed her a letter from a 
 London tradesman who wished her to receive
 
 230 MIRANDA ; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 his daughter, aged about seventeen. The 
 poor man's case was bad enough. His wife 
 had taken to drinking, and had killed herself 
 with it : worse, she had infected her daughter, 
 who could not resist it. Somebody had re- 
 commended Mrs Runcom, and he offered an 
 unusually large sum if she would try the girl. 
 He described her as quiet and docile natu- 
 rally, but excited by the slightest taste of 
 alcohol. 
 
 A difficult case ; but Mrs Runcom could 
 not resist the money. The girl came, brought 
 by her father, a gentlemanly tradesman in a 
 large way of business. He manufactured the 
 most amazing portmanteaus in the world, or 
 something of that sort. The girl was tall, 
 with a kind of florid handsomeness, and as 
 quiet as a lamb. The father paid his money, 
 had a cup of tea, and went away melancholy 
 but much Impressed by Mrs Runcom's distin- 
 guished manner. Miss Delisle was not pre- 
 sent. 
 
 Now the worthy schoolmistress had a habit 
 of occasionally improving the flavour of her 
 tea with a drop of bright cognac ; and now, 
 unthoughtful of her new pupil's weakness, she
 
 AN INSULAR ENCHANTRESS. 23 I 
 
 went to a corner cupboard with glass front, 
 took from it a small decanter, and was just 
 making the mixture, when the girl rushed 
 wildly at her and snatched it out of her hand. 
 There was a struggle between them, and all 
 the brandy was spilt except a small drop that 
 Mary Booth had managed to gulp — small, but 
 enough to madden her. Mrs Runcom, how- 
 ever, was too strong for her ; her sheer weight 
 threw the girl on the floor and kept her there, 
 and the noise brought in a couple of servants, 
 who soon mastered her. Then, with her 
 arms pinioned, she was marched off to bed, 
 and strone means were taken to break her 
 spirit. Her spirit suffered little ; her body, 
 however, suffered so much that she could not 
 come to the schoolroom for some days. 
 
 When she came she was quiet enough ; but 
 Margaret, a close observer, noticed a curiously 
 cunning look in her eye. The schoolmistress, 
 of course, worried her terribly; found fault 
 with her at every turn, persecuted her miser- 
 ably for weeks. The girl seemed to grow 
 dull and torpid under this treatment, but 
 people with a craze, however caused, are 
 difficult to understand. One day, as Mrs
 
 232 MIRANDA ; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 Runcorn entered the schoolroom, she noticed 
 that her pupil was missing. 
 
 "Where's Mary Booth?" she exclaimed. 
 " Margaret, you are very careless ; you shall 
 be punished for not looking after that girl." 
 
 At this moment Mary Booth entered the 
 door. She had slunk into the mistress's room. 
 In one hand she held a decanter of brandy, in 
 the other one of those slates with wooden 
 frames on which unfortunate children do 
 impossible sums. 
 
 "Here's Mary Booth!" she said. "Do 
 you want me, you old wretch ? " 
 
 And in an instant she struck Mrs Runcom 
 on the head with the flat of the slate, so 
 that it broke in many pieces, and the frame 
 was round her neck ; and then both the 
 schoolmistress and her assailant fell on the 
 floor. 
 
 The former was ill for weeks, being so sud- 
 denly stunned. During that time Margaret 
 was mistress, and everybody was glad. She 
 had spirit enough to curb rebellious children, 
 but she would not torture children who were 
 not rebellious. When I was young there was 
 a schoolmaster who advertised that he kept
 
 AN INSULAR ENCHANTRESS. 233 
 
 order by moral suasion, which the boys de- 
 cided must be Greek for a birch-rod. 
 
 Amazingly did Margaret manage affairs, 
 though only twenty. She had a heavy re- 
 sponsibility. Mrs Runcorn was dangerously 
 ill ; brandy in tea, with many muffins, is not 
 the healthiest of diets. Mary Booth was 
 troublesome for several days ; but Margaret 
 took advantage of her lucid intervals, and 
 tried to tame her. She reasoned with her on 
 the folly of maddening herself with drink ; 
 she showed her that Mrs Runcom would 
 probably treat her with terrible severity if 
 she did not reform ; she depicted her father's 
 trouble ; she tried to describe to her that 
 she might be enjoying life as mistress of her 
 father's house. These arguments, with Mar- 
 garet's natural magnetism, had their weight. 
 One day the girl voluntarily promised that she 
 would never touch anything intoxicating again 
 without Miss Delisle's leave. 
 
 Mrs Runcom took some time to come 
 round. When she did, she was languid — too 
 languid to carry out the vengeance which she 
 had vowed against Mary Booth. Indeed, 
 Margaret would have permitted nothing of
 
 2 34 MIRANDA; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 the kind. She was now mistress of the situ- 
 ation ; she ruled her Httle realm very easily. 
 She received, during Mrs Runcom's illness, 
 one or two new pupils, and treated them very 
 differently from the way in which she had 
 been treated. Her own experience had taught 
 her that children with harsh relations are 
 most of all God's creatures to be pitied. She 
 pitied and consoled and advised, where her 
 unwiser mistress was wont to scold and starve 
 and flog. 
 
 On Margaret's twenty-first birthday she 
 terminated her engagement. On the morning 
 of that day, by a curious coincidence, came a 
 letter from the rector, informing her of her 
 Aunt Rebecca's death, and that she had left 
 all her property to the Society for Preventing 
 the Drowning of Kittens ; but he added that, 
 as it was property in land, the statute of 
 mortmain made the bequest void, and she 
 inherited the whole. 
 
 This letter she read at breakfast, and was 
 unable to munch her thick bread-and-butter 
 for the excitement of it. Just then a servant 
 came to say Mrs Runcom wished to speak 
 to her ; she obeyed the summons. The
 
 AN INSULAR ENCHANTRESS. 235 
 
 schoolmistress, half in her old fashion, and 
 half in her new, said — 
 
 *' This is your last day with me, I think, 
 Margaret." 
 ^ " Yes, ma'am," says she, with a " kertchey." 
 
 *^ You are lauorhinor at me," said the old 
 lady, fiercely. " Don't be impudent. You 
 shall be well whipped, though it is your last 
 day, if you dare be saucy to me." 
 
 '' I am willing to submit to any punish- 
 ment you consider I deserve, madam," said 
 Margaret. 
 
 '' Yes, that 's it. You always did submit, 
 and so you come to command." And then 
 she began to cry. Cruelty and cognac, 
 muddle and muffins, had brought her to her 
 dotage. 
 
 When she became more intelligent, Mar- 
 garet asked her, would she like to retire, and 
 said she would take the school herself, and 
 give her as much for the rest of her life as 
 the present rate of profit ? The old lady, 
 w^hen Miss Delisle explained to her how she 
 could do this, was delighted beyond measure, 
 and the arrangement was very soon made. 
 But, thanks to muffins, the annuity soon fell in.
 
 236 MIRANDA; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 Margaret had no Intention of carrying on 
 the school for any length of time. She only 
 wished to send the pupils back to their 
 parents in a reasonable and reconcileable 
 frame of mind. She had ascertained the 
 histories of them all, had probed their mental 
 bounds, had taught them the unwisdom of 
 rebellion. Most of her disciples — all but one 
 indeed — were, at the end of the half year, 
 restored to their homes In a satisfactory way. 
 
 The one exception was Mary Booth ! 
 
 She declared It would kill her to leave her 
 dear mistress. She would be her servant — 
 her slave. If she had to go away, she should 
 go mad again ; she must live with her. Much 
 wild language, which resulted in a talk to 
 Booth, pater, who was just then thinking of 
 a second marriage to a warm widow; and had 
 also on his mind a new patent portmanteau, 
 with pockets for your own cigars, and your 
 wife's maraschino, and a pistol in the lock 
 to shoot any railway porter who should try to 
 get at either. He offered Margaret a hundred 
 a year to take care of Mary till she was tired 
 of her ; and Margaret said — 
 
 '' I will take your daughter and your money
 
 AN INSULAR ENCHANTRESS. 237 
 
 for a time. When she is of age we will 
 reconsider the question." 
 
 Quite proud was Margaret that she was of 
 age. Mary was only in her nineteenth year, 
 she thought ; a mere chit, a baby. Certes Mar- 
 garet was twenty rather than two years wiser. 
 
 Miss Delisle got her property with perfect 
 ease. She stayed awhile with the dear old 
 rector, and induced him to accept a thousand 
 pounds, the interest whereof should be paid 
 for preaching on the Sermon on the Mount, 
 every Whitsunday afternoon. Then, with 
 Mary Booth as a companion, she travelled a 
 few years, having always been athirst for 
 knowledge of other lands, and at no time 
 dreaming of such knowledge as possible. 
 After being far a-field, for they reached 
 the mount where her beloved sermon was 
 preached, they returned to travel through 
 England, missing no minster tc^n. Eng- 
 land's outlying islands also they saw ; and 
 when Margaret beheld the mad wave boiling 
 in the Creux Terrible, in Sark, she turned 
 to Mary and said, 
 
 ** I shall come and live here, and set up a 
 school ; and you shall help me."
 
 238 MIRANDA; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 Mary would have thrown herself Into the 
 Creux Terrible if Miss Delisle had bidden 
 her. 
 
 Now it was to arrange for Adam and Eve 
 with Miss Delisle that the Troglodyte had 
 come to Sark ; and the first thought that 
 passed through his mind, as he looked at 
 her glossy dark hair and pleasant brown 
 eyes was this — 
 
 '' I'll be hanged if she's forty."
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 ADAM AND EVE AT SARK. 
 
 ** To his side the fallow deer 
 Came and rested without fear ; 
 The eagle, lord of land and sea, 
 Stooped down, to pay him fealty ; 
 And both the undying fish that swim, 
 Through Bowscale Fam did wait on him. 
 
 Gilbert Tachbrook picked up his two wild 
 youngsters at Wimbledon, and carried them 
 off to Southampton by rail. He found them 
 as wild as ever, for they could not understand 
 the usages of civilisation. They had lived in 
 a way which developed their instincts while 
 leaving their reason dormant. This is the 
 simplest form of life. In the antique poetry 
 of any people are found men of heroic mould 
 who scarcely reasoned at all, but who pos-
 
 240 MIRANDA ; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 sessed in a very high degree the spiritual and 
 natural instincts. They saw the Divinity in 
 many forms around them ; they knew the 
 meaning of the sounds uttered by wind and 
 wave, of the flight of birds through the air. 
 They were superstitious, in the nobler sense. 
 This very rational generation laughs at all 
 things superstitious, and has adopted a creed 
 called Positivism (being uniquely negative), 
 which Is only explicable on the assumption 
 that the world is a vast machine that has no 
 motive power and no owner. Many difficul- 
 ties arise in connection with this theory, but 
 they are quietly ignored. 
 
 Now little Adam and Eve both believed In 
 a God ; had an actual personal belief in Him ; 
 fancied even that they had heard His voice 
 and felt His touch. Had they not seen 
 Him afar, when the mighty sun fell westward 
 from the Island of Hawks, attended by a 
 terribly beautiful train of angelic powers ? 
 Again, Adam and Eve were on good friends 
 with all living creatures. Birds would perch 
 on their pretty sunburnt shoulders, fish 
 would come through the water to be stroked 
 by their hands. The very butterflies and
 
 ADAM AND EVE AT SARK. 24 1 
 
 dragonflles recognised them ; they handled 
 bees and wasps and hornets without fear. 
 Yet had their faculty of reason been most 
 imperfectly developed, and they could not 
 understand the mighty motive powers which 
 actuate the majority of their fellow-creatures. 
 
 It must be admitted they were fit pupils 
 for Miss Delisle. 
 
 The Troglodyte started at midnight from 
 Southampton Water, and was off Guernsey 
 Pier at about five on a lovely quiet morning. 
 That troublesome Race of Alderney had not 
 delayed them. He stayed for the slightest 
 possible refreshment, chartered a cutter, and 
 reached Sark in excellent good time for a 
 breakfast of hot lobster at Madame Vaudin's. 
 Then he went with his youngsters to find 
 Miss Delisle's residence, which he ascertained 
 was on the coast above the Chapelle des 
 Mauves. 
 
 Fancy how Adam and Eve, imprisoned 
 awhile at Wimbledon, rejoiced in the infinite 
 space and variety of the never-resting sea ! 
 How they longed to throw away their unac- 
 customed wearisome wrappages, and dash 
 headlong into the green island water — to dive 
 
 VOL. I. Q
 
 242 MIRANDA ; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 below and see the upper world through a 
 ceiling of emeralds ! They danced along 
 Sark's green terraces with more gaiety of 
 heart than they had felt since they left their 
 cavernous island. 
 
 Gilbert Tachbrook found Miss Delisle's 
 house to be an old granite farmhouse, not 
 unlike that Jersey farmhouse delineated in 
 Mr Bertrand Payne's monogram on the 
 genealogy of the Millais family. Quaint was 
 it, long, low, rambling, irregular, buried in a 
 great garden with a double avenue of limes 
 and chestnuts on one side, and on the other a 
 sunny wall covered with chaumontelle pear- 
 trees. Surely the chaumontelle in its per- 
 fection is the king of all fruits. Very green 
 was the turf on Miss Delisle's lawns, and her 
 trees, both fruit and forest, flourished so as 
 to show they were carefully tended. 
 
 When the Troglodyte reached the house, 
 he was shown by a neat servant girl into a 
 wainscoted parlour, with a deep red paper 
 above the wainscot. The lozenged windows 
 were in bars, with low seats around, where 
 you could lounge and see the shadow creep 
 around the sun-dial, while the birds ate the
 
 ADAM AND EVE AT SARK. 243 
 
 cherries. Gilbert Tachbrook had not long 
 waited before there entered a good-looking 
 young lady, of ruddy complexion and pleasant 
 manner, who informed him that Miss Delisle 
 was down on the beach, but would return 
 shortly. This was no other than Mary 
 Booth, whom Margaret Delisle had tamed, 
 and who was now her absolute slave. Miss 
 Booth proposed to take the young people 
 out to see the grounds. They went with her : 
 and in less than two minutes entered Margaret 
 Delisle. We have heard already his internal 
 ejaculation — " I'll be hanged if she's forty." 
 That, indeed, was her scholastic age — an 
 educational brevet rank. It is doubtful 
 whether she was above twenty-eight. The 
 Troglodyte, undoubted member of a family 
 famous for beauty and amorous of beauty, 
 recognised in this lady a rare and superb 
 type of womanhood. Sherwood, junior's 
 humorous warning suddenly recurred to 
 him. 
 
 Previous correspondence with Miss Delisle 
 had cleared the way as to negotiation, and 
 the conversation between her and Gilbert 
 Tachbrook resulted in a brief exchange of
 
 244 MIRANDA; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 histories. Each was amused with the other's 
 apparently unique adventures. 
 
 " I should have thought," said the Troglo- 
 dyte, *' that you had enough of unruly chil- 
 dren with that abominable old woman, and 
 that now you would prefer some other occu- 
 pation." 
 
 *'0 no," she said, laughing. '' I have become 
 quite enamoured of managing the unmanage- 
 able. My motto is suaviter i7i modo^ for titer 
 in re. Miss Booth, whom you saw just now, 
 and who took charge of the children, was the 
 fiercest rebel I ever tamed ; now she is as 
 obedient to me as if she had eaten haschish, 
 and as firm in government as the Caliph 
 Haroun." 
 
 '' You have a magic influence," said the 
 Troglodyte, *'and belong to a famous fraternity 
 who have influenced the world more than 
 men deem. In your case there is freedom 
 from the quackery which entered into the 
 characters of Paracelsus, Swedenborg, Cag- 
 liostro, Mesmer." 
 
 *' Thank you," she said ; " that charming 
 compliment deserves a glass of wine, and all 
 this time I have been neglecting hospitality."
 
 ADAM AND EVE AT SARK. 245 
 
 Thus saying, she found In a corner cup- 
 board of black oak a decanter and glasses, 
 that looked as old as the oak itself, being of 
 Bohemian ware, thin as a soap bubble, and 
 tinged with a flush of colour like a cleft 
 pomegranate. The wine was of much the 
 same colour. The Troglodyte approved it. 
 
 " Have you many eccentric pupils just 
 now?" he asked. 
 
 ** Only four — two girls and two boys — all 
 pretty near the age of your children. You 
 see, I do the work for sheer love of it. I 
 can choose my subjects. Two of my present 
 set are twins, a brother and sister, whose 
 peculiarity is that one cannot live a minute 
 without the other. They are motherless, 
 and their father is in India. They seem 
 always absorbed in each other. They care 
 for nobody else. Now, as there are obvious 
 objections to a brother and sister being linked 
 together for life, I am doing my best to 
 separate them." 
 
 " Shall you succeed ? '* 
 
 ** I think. Your two young people will 
 wonderfully help me, by introducing a new 
 element of Interest. When your Adam and
 
 246 MIRANDA ; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 Eve rush wildly into the sea, perhaps these 
 timid twins will have a desire to follow 
 them." 
 
 " And what are your other two ? " 
 
 " One is a boy of about seven, who came 
 into the world biting and kicking, and has 
 bitten and kicked everybody ever since. 
 They say he was born with teeth, like 
 Richard III." 
 
 *' I wonder you tried so troublesome a 
 customer," said the Troglodyte. " Your 
 amiable old mistress would better have 
 suited him," 
 
 " O I don't know. My sixth pupil is a 
 young lady now about sixteen, a member of 
 a rather large family. She is a curious 
 example of the way in which ancestral pecu- 
 liarities reappear. Her great-grandfather 
 was a Devonshire gentleman of great phy- 
 sical and mental power — famous as a 
 wrestler, a duellist, a parliamentary speaker. 
 Her grandfather was smaller every way, in 
 body and mind. Her father was smaller 
 still ; and though, as is often the way, he 
 married a lady of vast proportions, out of a 
 family of thirteen there was but one of any
 
 ADAM AND EVE AT SARK. 247 
 
 size — my pupil. She was the sixth, I think. 
 At ten years old she was mistress of all her 
 brothers and sisters : her father was afraid of 
 her, and her mother too lazy to interfere — 
 indeed, I think she rather sympathised with 
 the young giantess. However, in time she 
 became intolerable, and so was consigned to 
 me." 
 
 " How did they get her here ? " 
 
 ** She came quite cheerfully : she longed 
 for more worlds to conquer. Having re- 
 duced her family to a state of abject submis- 
 sion, she thought it would be great fun to 
 subjugate a schoolmistress. She had treated 
 her elder brothers and sisters as footmen and 
 waiting-maids. They dared not refuse her, 
 or it would have been a case of haec frangit 
 ferulas, rubet illeflagellis. Had their mental 
 exceeded their corporal vigour, they would 
 have combined against her ; but she is as 
 clever as she is strong, and was altogether 
 too much for them." 
 
 '' A difficult subject," said Tachbrook. 
 *' How in the world could you manage her ? " 
 
 " I took her very coolly, being previously 
 informed as to her peculiarities. She came
 
 248 MIRANDA ; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 into the room laughing, attended by a lady's- 
 maid, and said — 
 
 *' * Now here I am. Miss Delisle — what do 
 you think of me ? ' 
 
 " * I think you have not learnt to behave 
 like a lady,' I replied. ' You are old enough 
 to be rather wiser. Tell me this : have you 
 come here of your own accord ? ' 
 
 "'O quite.' 
 
 '* * You know that you are sent here to 
 be cured of your tendency to bully other 
 people?' 
 
 " ' I know it well — cure me if you can.' 
 
 ** * I will cure you : no fear.' Then I just 
 touched this silver handbell, and a couple of 
 servants came in who were quite capable of 
 mastering the young lady. They took her 
 off to bed in a room which happens well to 
 suit my refractory patients, since it is lighted 
 by a skylight only. Not till the next morn- 
 ing did I visit her, and then I tried to make 
 her see that she was making an immense 
 mistake in life. 
 
 '* ' You are strong and clever,' I said ; *' but 
 there are people stronger and cleverer than 
 you. I admire your power ; but power
 
 ADAM AND EVE AT SARK. 249 
 
 ought never to become tyranny. Now, will 
 you let me guide you ? — or am I to continue 
 to use force ? If you like to live here 
 quietly, and try to get rid of your unwise 
 tendency to govern other people, I think you 
 will soon be a girl of the best sort. If you 
 will not, I shall treat you severely. I can be 
 severe, I assure you.' 
 
 " She looked at me as if she would like to 
 fly at my throat, like a wild cat. I laughed 
 at her. ' Come,' I said, * make up your mind 
 to submit, since you must submit. I will 
 give you somebody to keep in order.' 
 
 " This notion affected her. ' Whom ?' said 
 she. 
 
 " ' A little boy. He scratches and kicks 
 and bites. He is rather less than half your 
 age. Do you think you can manage him ? ' 
 
 " ' Manage him I I should think so. Let 
 me try.' 
 
 " ' You shall try on condition that you 
 obey me in everything I order. I can en- 
 force obedience, as you see. If you are 
 rebellious, you will be in trouble ; if you keep 
 order, you may be as happy as you please. 
 I can see you are a clever girl, and I don't
 
 250 MIRANDA ; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 see why you should not be a good one. 
 Tame this wild boy, and you will tame your- 
 self.' " 
 
 '* Excellent!" said the Troglodyte. "What 
 has been the result ?" 
 
 " The result has been exactly what I ex- 
 pected. The girl and the boy — both fools 
 in the same fashion — have acted and re-acted 
 on each other. Both, in different ways, were 
 under the impulse of physical force. I left 
 Susanna and Dick — those are their elegant 
 names — to fight it out between them. The 
 consequence is, that Dick is very tame, and 
 that Susanna, having found the difficulty of 
 managing anybody else, begins to think she 
 will try to manage herself." 
 
 *' You will have a curious menagerie when 
 my two youngsters are added to these. How 
 are the twins named ?" 
 
 '' Frederick and Ellen ; their surname is 
 unimportant. They are a queer couple. 
 Fred might have been Ellen, or Ellen, Fred. 
 You can see that Fred will never be manly, 
 or Ellen womanly. The sister is far more 
 troublesome than the brother, and I some- 
 times am obliged to use stern measures with
 
 ADAM AND EVE AT SARK. 25 I 
 
 her. She is too forward for a girl, and he 
 is too backward for a boy." 
 
 *' Your menagerie will now be quite in- 
 teresting," said the Troglodyte. " Let me 
 see: — Susanna, the Despot ; Dick, the Rebel ; 
 Fred, the Girl ; Ellen, the Boy ; Adam, the 
 Preadamite; Eve, the Primeval. A charming 
 little colony. Do you think this last importa- 
 tion will improve it ?" 
 
 '' Certainly. Your two children, from your 
 description, are true children of nature, whose 
 faults are those of absolute simplicity. The 
 other four are mere artificial animals. I 
 speak freely to you, Mr Tachbrook, for I see 
 you will not misinterpret what I say. The 
 interchange of sexual intellect between Ellen 
 and Fred is evidently morbid. Boy and girl are 
 both fools ; and I am rather doubtful whether 
 they have intellect enough to recover them- 
 selves. Your little folk — whom, by the way, 
 I have not yet seen — will help to make them 
 healthier. Shall we go and look for them ? 
 I suspect Mary has taken them down to the 
 sands by the Chapelle de Mauves." 
 
 Miss Delisle took her guest down one of 
 those zigzag precipitous paths which are
 
 252 MIRANDA; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 common on the shore of our Norman islets — 
 those islets which remain as gage and pledge 
 that the Queen of England is Duchess of 
 Normandy, and that in days to come Nor- 
 mandy will again be English. Those slant 
 stairs, from summit of cliff to floor of sand, 
 required quick eye and steadfast tread ; but 
 they were child's-play to the Trogjodyte, who 
 had acquired that use of the foot which en- 
 abled Waterton to climb a tree at seventy. 
 If the Creator had designed the foot to be 
 encased in leather, He would have made it 
 toeless. It was meant to do equal work with 
 the hand. Adam and Eve, children of 
 nature, could grasp a branch with the foot, 
 and hang on thereby. 
 
 Down through a narrow many-angled 
 steepness of descent, buried in famous ferns 
 and humid with a trickling streamlet, they 
 reached the wide stretch of sand around the 
 chapel of the seamews. Is there any man 
 who knows the true legend of that mysterious 
 chapel ? What the Troglodyte heard from 
 Miss Delisle was curious. The Chapelle 
 de Mauves is a freak of nature, like the 
 cavern of Wayland Smith. It stands in soli-
 
 ADAM AND EVE AT SARK. 253 
 
 tary beauty on the sands of Sark. It is a 
 granite gem. Always you may see the sea- 
 mews circling around it, and perching on 
 its pointed ridge of roof, screaming a 
 strange bird-litany, which none but Aristo- 
 phanes could transmute into the weaker form 
 of words. And the story which Margaret 
 Delisle, having learnt it from the Norman In- 
 dwellers, told unto Gilbert Tachbrook was, 
 that the famous Saint Magloire, who brought 
 to these Islands of La Manche the imperish- 
 able religion of Christ, was greatly inter- 
 rupted when he brought the good tidings to 
 the Sark folk by the scream of innumerable 
 sea'mews ; for neither on Great Sark nor on 
 Little Sark (unless you creep into a cavern) 
 is there any spot whence you cannot see the 
 sea. So the great Magloire was interrupted 
 by the congregation of shrieking sea gulls, and 
 declared in language to the pagans of Sark 
 unintelligible that the island was cpvXaKr] irav- 
 TO^ opveov uKadapTov Koi fjLefiLorjfjLevoV' And thus 
 in his ire he perorated — 
 
 " Birds ! the sea shall to-morrow build 
 you a chapel of your own." 
 
 And the next day there was a great storm,
 
 2 54 MIRANDA; A MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 
 
 and granite cliffs were torn away by the sea s 
 anger, and the chapel of the seamews stood 
 upon the sands, a myriad of birds hovering 
 around it and screaming a strange kyrie 
 eleiso7i. 
 
 As they stood beside the chapel, with 
 lovely lines of sunset light across the yellow 
 sands, they perceived Mary Booth in the 
 distance alone. Approaching her, they found 
 that she was In the position of that Imme- 
 morial hen who is always calling to her 
 ducklings from the verge of a pond. No 
 sooner did Adam and Eve find themselves 
 by the sea than they stripped off their cloth- 
 ing, always to them a hateful wrappage, and 
 threw themselves into the water with irresis- 
 tible Instinct. Poor Mary Booth screamed 
 after them, but It was useless ; all she could 
 do was pace up and down like a sentinel, 
 doubtless vowing to scarify them on their 
 return. 
 
 Much did the Troglodyte laugh when he 
 beheld Miss Booth in distress, and the two 
 children a mile away in the offing. 
 
 ''You see their habits," he said to Miss 
 Delisle. *' Can you tame them t "
 
 ADAM AND EVE AT SARK. 255 
 
 It Strikes me that she just then looked as 
 if she would like to tame the Troglodyte 
 himself. He, for his part, gave a mighty 
 shout — his customary summons home at the 
 Island of Hawks — and the children swam 
 ashore. 
 
 END OF VOL. I. 
 
 -FRINTED BY BALLANTYNE AND COMPANY 
 EDINBURGH AND LONDON
 
 A Catalogue 
 
 OF 
 
 Hemy S. King & Co.'s publications. 
 
 SOME BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF THE 
 
 XVIlTH CENTURY. By W. D. CHRISTIE, C.B., Author of 
 "The Life of the First Earl of Shaftesbury." 
 
 THE PORT OF REFUGE ; or Counsel and 
 
 Aid to Shipmasters in Difficulty, Doubt, or Distress. By MAN- 
 LEY HOPKINS, Author of "A Handbook of Average," "A 
 Manual of Insurance," &c. Cr. 8vo. 
 SvBjECTS : — The Shipmaster's Position I Raising Money. ^The Charter-Party, and 
 and Duties. — Agents and Agency. — Aver- Bill-of-Lading. — Stoppage in Transitu; and 
 age. — Bottomry, and other Means of | the Shipowner's Lien. — Collision. 
 
 THE PEARL OF THE ANTILLES, or an 
 
 Artist in Cuba. By WALTER GOODMAN. Crown 8vo. 
 
 WHY AM I A CHRISTIAN? By Viscount STRAT- 
 FORD DE REDCLIFFE. Crown Svo. 
 
 THE ROMANTIC ANNALS OF A NAVAL 
 
 FAMILY. By Mrs. ARTHUR TRAHERNE. Crown Svo. 
 los. 6d. 
 
 SHORT LECTURES ON THE LAND LAWSc 
 
 Delivered before the Working Men's College. By T. LEAN 
 WILKINSON. Crown Svo. 2s. Limp cloth, 
 
 " A very handy and intelligible epitome 
 of the general principles of existing land 
 laws. " — Siaudnrd. 
 
 which govern our country. These Lectures 
 possess the advantage of not being loaded 
 with superfluous matter." — Civi^ Serz'ici- 
 Gazette. 
 
 A very clear and lucid statement as to 
 the condition of the present land laws 
 
 A SCOTCH COMMUNION SUNDAY. By the 
 
 Author of " The Recreations of a Country Parson." i vol. Cr. Svo. 
 
 STUDIES AND ROMANCES. By H. SCHUTZ 
 
 WILSON. I vol. Crown Svo. Price ^s. 6cL 
 
 Christmas Dinner. — Agnes Bernauerin. — 
 
 Shakespeare in Blackfriars. — The Loves 
 of Goethe. — Romance of the Thames. — 
 An Exalted Horn. — Two Sprigs of Edel- 
 weiss. — Between Aloor and Main. — An 
 Episode of the Terror. —Harry Ormond's 
 
 "Yes" or '"No"? — A Model Romance. — 
 The Story of Little Jenny. —Dining. — l"he 
 Record of a Vanished Life. 
 
 65, Corn/ii/i ; 6^ 12, Pafci-iiostcr Ro%v^ London.
 
 Works Published by Henry S. King d^' Co. 
 
 THE RELIGIOUS HISTORY OF IRELAND: 
 
 Primitive, Papal, and Protestant, including the Evangelical Missions, 
 Catholic Agitations, and Church Progi'ess of the last half century. 
 By JAMES GODKIN, Author of "Ireland, her Churches," etc. 
 I vol. 8vo. 
 
 SARA COLERIDGE, 
 
 OF. 2 vols. Crown 8vo. 
 
 MEMOIR & LETTERS 
 
 With 2 Portraits. PHce 24^. 
 
 LOMBARD STREET. A Description of the 
 
 Money Market. By WALTER BAGEHOT. Large cr. 8vo. ^s.6d. 
 
 " A comprehensive guide to the Money 
 Market, the Bank of England, the Joint 
 
 Stock and Private Banks, Bill Brokers, 
 &c., &c. 
 
 POLITICAL WOMEN. 
 
 MENZIES. 2 vols. Post Svo. 
 
 By SUTHERLAND 
 
 EGYPT AS IT IS. By Herr HEINRICH 
 STEPHAN, the German Postmaster-General. Crown Svo. With 
 
 a new Map of the Country. 
 
 'ILAM EN NAS. Historical Tales and Anecdotes 
 
 of the Times of the Early Khalifahs. Translated from the Arabic 
 Originals. By Mrs. GODFREY CLERK, Author of "The Anti- 
 podes and Round the World. " Crown Svo. Price 7^-. 
 
 IN STRANGE COMPANY ; or, The Note Book of 
 a Roving Correspondent. By JAMES GREENWOOD, ^'The 
 
 Amateur Casual. 
 
 Svo. 
 
 THEOLOGY AND MORALITY. 
 
 the Rev. J. LLEWELLYN DAVIES. i 
 
 Being Essays by 
 
 vol. Svo. "js. 6d. 
 
 Essays on Questions of Belief and Prac- 
 tice. — The Debts of Theology to Secular 
 Influences. — The Christian Theory of 
 Duty. — Weak Points in Utilitarianism. — 
 Nature and Prayer.— The Continuity of 
 
 Creation. — The Beginnings of the Church. 
 Erastus and Excommunication. — Pauper- 
 ism as produced by Wealth. — Combina- 
 tions of Agricultural Labourers. — Com- 
 munism. 
 
 NEW VOLUME OF ACADEMIA ESSAYS. 
 
 Edited by the Most Reverend ARCHBISHOP MANNING. 
 
 The Philosophy of Christianity.— Mys- 
 tical Elements of Religion. — Controversy 
 with the Agnostics. — A Reasoning Thought. 
 — Darwinism brought to Book. — Mr. Mill 
 on Liberty of the Press. — Christianity in 
 
 Relation to Society. — The Religious Con- 
 dition of Germany. — The Philosophy of 
 Bacon.— Catholic Laymen and Scholastic 
 Philosophy. 
 
 65, Corn/ii// ; 6^ 12, Paternoster Row, London.
 
 Works Published by Hetwy S. King 6^ Co., 3 
 
 THE GOVERNMENT OF THE NATIONAL 
 
 DEFENCE. By JULES FAVRE. Demy 8vo. i vol. 
 
 THE RECONCILIATION OF RELIGION AND 
 
 SCIENCE. Being Essays by the Rev. J. W. FOWLE, M.A. 
 I vol., 8vo. IOJ-. od. 
 
 The Divine Character of Christ. — tific Account of Inspiration. — The Inspira- 
 
 Science and Immortality. — Morality and tion of the Jews. — The Inspiration of the 
 
 Immortality. — Christianity and Immor- Bible. — The Divinity of Christ and Modern 
 
 tality.— Religion and Fact.— The Miracles I'hought. — The Church and the Working 
 
 of God. — The Miracles of ISIan. — A Scien- Classes. 
 
 THE FAYOUM; OR, ARTISTS IN EGYPT. 
 
 A Tour with M. Gerome and others. By J. LENOIR. Crown 
 8vo, cloth. Illustrated, ^s. 6d. 
 
 is full of agreeable episodes told in a 
 
 " The sketches, both by pen and pencil, 
 are extremely interesting. Unlike books 
 of travel of the ordinary kind, this' volume 
 
 bright and sparkling style. 
 
 "A pleasantly written and very readable 
 book. " — Exajiiiner. 
 
 TENT LIFE WITH ENGLISH GYPSIES IN 
 
 NORWAY. By HUBERT SMITH. In Svo, cloth. Five full- 
 page Engravings, and 31 smaller lllusti-ations, with Map of the 
 Country showing Routes. Price 2is. 
 
 THE GATEWAY TO THE POLYNIA; or, a 
 
 Voyage to Spitzbergen. By Captain JOHN C. WELLS, R.N. 
 In 8vo, cloth. Profusely Illustrated. Price 21 j-. 
 
 A WINTER IN MOROCCO. By AMELIA PER- 
 
 RIER. Large crown Svo. Illustrated, Pi-ice los. 6d. 
 "An acceptable and entertaining book I manners and customs of Moorish society, 
 to those who are not conversant with the | It is likely to become popular." 
 
 AN AUTUMN TOUR IN THE UNITED 
 
 STATES AND CANADA. By Lieut. -Colonel JULIUS 
 GEORGE MEDLEY. Crown Svo. Price 5^. 
 
 NEWMARKET & ARABIA: an Examination 
 
 of the Descent of Racers and Coursers. By ROGER D. UPTON. 
 Crown Svo. Illustrated. Price 9^. 
 " It contains a good deal of truth ; it who take an interest in horse-flesh." — 
 comes just at a time when some such book Standard. 
 
 is needed : and it abounds with valuable " The pedigrees of the famous horses 
 
 suggestions." — Saturday Ret'iew. I which he gives are alone worth double the 
 
 "A book of the highest importance to ' price of the book." — United Service Ga- 
 breeders of race-horses, and indeed to all zette. 
 
 65, Corfihill ; c5n 12, Paternoster Row, Lo7idon.
 
 Works Published by Hemy S. King &> Co., 
 
 IRELAND IN 1872. A Tour of Observation, with Re- 
 marks on Irish Public Questions. By Dr. JAMES MACAULAY. 
 Crown 8vo. ']s. 6d. 
 
 " A most readable and needful book, of 
 pressing public importance. The electors 
 of this country should be acquainted with 
 its contents. " — Freeman. 
 
 " A careful and instructive book. It is 
 full of facts, full of information, and full of 
 interest." — Literary Chitrclunan. 
 
 "Avery interesting and a very useful 
 book, containing an enormous amount of 
 carefully selected and well-digested matter, 
 and much that is suggestive and original 
 to boot." — Manchester Cojirier. 
 
 " I am much indebted to you for having 
 put my case before the English people 
 with great force and clearness." — Fat/ier 
 O'Keeffe, in a Letter to the Aici/tor. 
 
 " We do not exaggerate when we say 
 that Dr. Macaulay has rendered a public 
 service in writing it. Half a dozen ' Com- 
 missions on the present state of Ireland ' 
 would not have resulted in the collection 
 of more useful information than that 
 which the author has placed before his 
 readers. " — Nonconformist. 
 
 THE GREAT DUTCH ADMIRALS. By JACOB 
 
 DE LIEFDE. Crown 8vo. Illustrated. Price ^s. 
 
 FIELD AND FOREST RAMBLES OF A 
 
 NATURALIST IN NEW BRUNSWICK. With Notes and 
 Observations on the Natural History of Eastern Canada. By A. 
 LEITH ADAMS, M.A., &c., Author of "Wanderings of a 
 Naturalist in India," &c., &c. In 8vo, cloth. Illustrated. i\s. 
 "Will be found interesting by those who naturalist, with first-rate powers of obser- 
 take a pleasure either in sport or natural vation, deduction, and description." — 
 history. " — A thenceuvt. Scotsjuan. 
 
 "The book is the work of a thorough 
 
 BOKHARA: ITS HISTORY AND CONQUEST. 
 
 By Professor ARMINIUS VAMBERY, of the University of 
 Pesth, Author of Travels in Central Asia,"^' &c. Demy 8vo. i8j-. 
 
 " We conclude with a cordial recommen- 
 dation of this valuable book. In former 
 years, Mr. Vambery gave ample proofs of 
 his powers as an observant, easy, and vivid 
 writer. In the present work his moderation, 
 scholarship, insight, and occasionally very 
 impressive style, have raised him to the 
 dignityofanhistorian. " — Satiirday Review. 
 
 " Almost every page abounds with com- 
 
 &c. 
 
 position of peculiar merit, as well as with an 
 account of some thrilling event more excit- 
 ing than any to be found in an ordinary 
 work of fiction." — Morning Post. 
 
 "A work compiled from many rare, 
 private, and unavailable manuscripts and 
 records, which consequently cannot fail to 
 prove a mine of delightful Eastern lore to 
 the Oriental scholar." — Liverpool Albion. 
 
 OVER VOLCANOES ; or, Through France and Spain 
 in 1871. By A. KINGSMAN. Crown 8vo. io.r. (>d. 
 
 " The writer's tone is so pleasant, his 
 language is so good, and his spirits are so 
 fresh, buoyant, and exhilarating, that you 
 find yourself inveigled into reading, for 
 the thousand-and-first time, a description 
 of a Spanish bull-fight." — Illustrated Lott- 
 den News. 
 
 " The adventures of our tourists are 
 related with a good deal of pleasantry and 
 
 humorous dash, which make the narrative 
 agreeable reading." — Public Opinion. 
 
 "A work which we cordially recommend 
 to such readers as desire to know some- 
 thing of Spain as she is to-day. Indeed, 
 so fresh and original is it, that we could 
 have wished that it had been a bigger book 
 than it is." — Literary World. 
 
 65, Cof'fihill ; &^ 12, Paternoster Row, London.
 
 Works Published by Henry S. 
 
 King 6^ 
 
 Co., 
 
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE. Correspondence 
 and Conversations with Nassau W. Senior, from 1833 to 1859. 
 Edited by Mrs. M. C. M. SIMPSON. In 2 vols., large post 8vo. 
 
 21S. 
 
 "Another of those interesting journals 
 in which Mr. Senior has, as it were, crys- 
 tallized the saj'ings of some of those many 
 remarkable men with whom he came in 
 contact." — Morning Post. 
 
 "A book replete with knowledge and 
 t\iong\\t."— Quarterly Review. 
 
 " An extremely interesting book, and a 
 singularly good illustration of the value 
 which, even in an age of newspapers and 
 magazines, memoirs have and will always 
 continue to have for the purposes of his- 
 tory." — Saturday Revie^v. 
 
 JOURNALS KEPT IN FRANCE AND ITALY. 
 
 From 1848 to 1852. With a Sketch of the Revolution of 1848. 
 By the late NASSAU WILLIAM SENIOR. Edited by his 
 Daughter, M. C. M. Simpson 
 
 "The present volume gives us conver- 
 sations with some of the most prominent 
 men in the political history of France and 
 Italy ... as well as with others whose 
 names are not so familiar or are hidden 
 under initials. ]Mr. Senior has the art of 
 inspiring all men with frankness, and of 
 persuading them to put themselves unre- 
 
 in 2 vols., post 8vo. 24^'. 
 servedly in his hands without fear of private 
 circulation." — AthencBinit. 
 
 "The book has a genuine historical 
 value." — Satiirday Revieiu. 
 
 " No better, more honest, and more read- 
 able view of the state of political society 
 during the existence of the second Republic 
 could well be looked for." — Examiner. 
 
 A MEMOIR OF NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE, 
 
 With Stories now first published in this country. By H. A. 
 PAGE. Large post 8vo. "js. 6d. 
 
 " The Memoir is followed by a criticism 
 of Hawthorne as a writer ; and the criticism, 
 though we should be inclmed to dissent 
 from particular sentiments, is, on the whole, 
 very well written, and exhibits a discrimi- 
 nating enthusiasm for one of the most fas- 
 cinating of novelists." — Saturday Review. 
 
 " Seldom has it been our lot to meet with 
 a more appreciative delineation of character 
 than this Memoir of Hawthorne . . . Mr. 
 Page deserves the best thanks of every 
 admirer of Hawthorne for the way in which 
 he has gathered together these relics, and 
 
 given them to the world, as well as for his 
 admirable portraiture of their author's life 
 and character." — Aloruing Post. 
 
 " We sympathise very heartily with an 
 effort of Mr. H. A. Page to make English 
 readers better acquainted with the life and 
 character of Nathaniel Hawthorne . . . 
 He has done full justice to the fine cha- 
 racter of the author of ' The Scarlet 
 Letter.'" — Standard. 
 
 " He has produced a well-written and 
 complete Memoir . . . Amodel of literary 
 work of art." — Edinburgh Courant. 
 
 MEMOIRS OF LEONORA CHRISTINA. 
 
 Daughter of Christian IV^. of Denmark : Written during her Impri- 
 sonment in the Blue Tower of the Royal Palace at Copenhagen, 
 1663— 1685. Translated by F. E. BUNNETT, Translator of 
 Grimm's "Life of Michael Angelo," &c. With an Autotype 
 portrait of the Princess. Medium 8vo. I2j. dd. 
 
 ■"A valuable addition to history.' 
 Daily News. 
 
 "This remarkable autobiography, 
 
 which we gratefully recognize a valuable 
 addition to the tragic romance of history." 
 — Spectator. 
 
 65, Cornhill ; 6^ 12, Paternoster Row^ London.
 
 Works Published by Henry S. King &= Co. 
 
 LIVES OF ENGLISH POPULAR LEADERS. 
 
 No. I. STEPHEN LANGTON. 
 By C. EDMUND MAURICE. 
 
 Crown 8vo. "js. 6d. 
 "Mr. Maurice has written a very inte 
 
 resting book, which may be read with 
 equal pleasure and profit." — JMoriiiiig 
 Post. 
 
 " The volume contains man^' interesting 
 
 details, including some important docu- 
 ments. It will amply repay those who 
 read it, whether as a chapter of the consti- 
 tutional history of England or as the life of 
 a great Englishman." — Spectator. 
 
 ECHOES OF A FAMOUS YEAR. 
 
 By HARRIET PARR, 
 
 Author of "The Life of Jeanne d'Arc," "In the Silver Age," &c. 
 Crown 8vo. 8j. 6d. 
 
 "A graceful and touching, as well as 
 truthful account of the Franco-Prussian 
 War. Those who are in the habit of read- 
 ing books to children will find this at 
 once instructive and delightful." — Public 
 Opinion. 
 
 " Miss Parr has the great gift of charm- 
 ing simplicity of stjde ; and if children are 
 not interested in her book, many of their 
 seniors will be." — British Quarterly Re- 
 viezu. 
 
 CABINET PORTRAITS. 
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF LIVING STATESMEN. 
 
 By T. WEMYSS R E I D. 
 
 1 vol. crown Svo. 7.^. 6d. 
 "We have never met with a work | "We can heartily commend his work 
 which we can more unreservedly praise 
 The sketches are absolutely impartial."— 
 
 A thencenin. 
 
 — Statidard. 
 
 "The 'Sketches of Statesmen' are drawn 
 with a master hand." — Yorkshire Post. 
 
 THE 
 
 ENGLISH CONSTITUTION. 
 
 By WALTER BAGEHOT. 
 
 A New Edition, revised and corrected, with an Introductory Dissertation on recent 
 
 changes and events. Crown Svo. js. 6d. 
 "A pleasing and clever studj^ on the 
 department of higher politics." — Guar- 
 dian. 
 
 " No writer before him had set out so 
 
 clearly what the efficient part of the Eng- 
 lish Constitution really is." — Pall Mall 
 Gazette. 
 
 " Clear and practical." — Globe. 
 
 REPUBLICAN SUPERSTITIONS. 
 
 ILLUSTRATED BY THE POLITICAL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 INCLUDING A CORRESPONDENCE WITH M. LOUIS BLANC. 
 
 By MONCURE D. CONWAY. 
 
 Crown Svo. $s. 
 
 "Au moment ou j'ecris ceci, je recois 
 d'un ecrivain tres distingue d'Amerique, 
 M. Conway, une brochure qui est un 
 frappant tableau des maux et des dangers 
 qui resultent aux Etats Unis de I'institu- 
 
 tion presidentielle." — M. Louis Blanc. 
 
 " A very able exposure of the most 
 plausible fallacies of Republicanism, by a 
 writer of remarkable vigour and purity of 
 style. " — Standard. 
 
 65, Corn hill : 6^ 12, Pater ?ioster Roiv, Lo7idon.
 
 IVot'ks Published by Henry S. King 6^ G?., 7 
 
 THE GENIUS of CHRISTIANITY UNVEILED, 
 BEING ESSAYS BY WILLIAM GOD\VIN. 
 
 AUTHOR OF "political JUSTICE," ETC. 
 Never before published, i vol. crown 8vo. 7^. 6d. 
 
 "Interesting as the frankly expressed 
 thoughts of a remarkable man, and as a 
 contribution to the history of scepticism." 
 — Extract from tlte Editor's Preface. 
 
 " Few have thought more clearly and 
 directly than William Godwin, or expressed 
 
 their reflections with more simplicity and 
 unreserve." — Exauiiner. 
 
 "The dehberate thoughts of Godwin 
 deserve to be put before the world for 
 reading and consideration."— ^i'-^fw^'z^w. 
 
 THE PELICAN PAPERS. 
 
 REMINISCENCES AND REMAINS OF A DWELLER IN THE WILDERNESS. 
 
 By JAMES ASHCROFT NOBLE. 
 
 Crown 8vo. 6j. 
 
 " Written somewhat after the fashion of 
 Mr. Helps's' Friends in Council.'" — Exa- 
 tntner. 
 
 " Will well repay perusal by all thought- 
 
 ful and intelligent readers." — Liverpool 
 Leader. 
 
 "The 'Pelican Papers' make a very 
 readable volume. " — Civilian, 
 
 SOLDIERING AND SCRIBBLING. 
 
 By ARCHIBALD FORBES, 
 
 Of the Daily News, 
 
 Author of " My Experience of the War between France and Germany." 
 
 Crown 8vo. -js. 6d. 
 
 " All who open it will be inclined to read 
 through for the varied entertainment which 
 it affords." — Daily News. 
 
 " There is a good deal of instruction to 
 
 outsiders touching military life, in this 
 volume." — Evenittg Sta7idard. 
 
 " There is not a paper in the book which 
 is not thoroughly readable and worth read- 
 ing. " — Scotsfiian. 
 
 BRIEFS AND PAPERS. 
 
 BEING SKETCHES OF THE BAR AND THE PRESS. 
 
 By two idle APPRENTICES. 
 
 Crown 8vo. 7^. 6d. 
 
 " They are written with spirit and know- 
 ledge, and give some curious glimpses into 
 what the majority will regard as strange 
 and unknown territories." — Daily News. 
 
 " This is one of the best books to while 
 away an hour and cause a generous laugh 
 that we have come across for a long time." 
 —John Bull. 
 
 65, Cornhill ; &^ 12, Paternoster Row, London.
 
 Works Published by Henry S. King 6^ Co., 
 
 THE INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC SERIES. 
 
 MESSRS. HENRY S. KING & CO. 
 have the pleasure to announce that 
 under this title they are issuing a Series 
 of Popular Treatises, embodying the 
 results of the latest investigations in the 
 various departments of Science at present 
 most prominently before the world. 
 
 Although these Works are not specially 
 designed for the instruction of beginners, 
 still, as they are intended to address the 
 
 S^ Prospectuses of the Series 
 
 ■?ion-scientific piiblic, they will be, as far 
 as possible, explanatory in character, and 
 free from technicalities. The object of 
 each author will be to bring his subject as 
 near as he can to the general reader. 
 
 The volumes will all be crown 8vo size, 
 well printed on good paper, strongly and 
 elegantly bound, and will sell in this 
 country at a price not exceeditig Five 
 Shillings. 
 may be had of the Publishers. 
 
 THE 
 
 FORMS 
 RIVERS, 
 
 By J 
 
 Already published, 
 Third Edition. 
 
 OF WATER IN RAIN 
 ICE AND GLACIERS. 
 
 TYNDALL, LL.D., F.R.S. 
 
 With 26 Illustrations. Crown 8vo. ^s. 
 
 AND 
 
 " One of Professor Tyndall's best scien- 
 tific treatises." — Standard. 
 
 "The most recent findings of science 
 and experiment respecting the nature and 
 properties of water in every possible form, 
 are discussedwith remarkable brevity, clear- 
 ness, and fullness of exposition." — Graphic. 
 
 "With the clearness and brilliancy of 
 
 language which have won for him his fame, 
 he considers the subject of ice, snow, and 
 glaciers." — Mo7 ?i.ing Post. 
 
 "Before starting for Switzerland next 
 summer every one should study 'The 
 forms of water.'" — Globe. 
 
 " Eloquent and instructive in an eminent 
 degree." — British Quarterly. 
 
 Second Edition. 
 
 PHYSICS AND POLITICS; 
 
 Or, Thoiights on the Application of the Principles of "Natural Selection" 
 
 and " Inheritance " to Political Society. 
 
 By WALTER BAGEHOT. 
 
 Crown 8vo. 4s. 
 " On the whole we can recommend the and the writer speaks without fear." — Na^ 
 
 book as well deserving to be read by thought- tional Reformer. 
 
 ful students of politics." — Sat2tr day Review. " Contains many points of interest both 
 
 "Able and ingenious." — Spectator. to the scientific man and to the mere poli- 
 
 " The book has been well thought out, 1 tician." — Bir7iii7igJm7n Daily Gazette. 
 
 Just out. 
 
 FOODS. 
 
 By Dr. EDWARD SMITH. Profusely Illustrated. 
 
 Price 5J-. 
 
 The Volumes now 
 
 PRINCIPLES OF MENTAL 
 
 PHYSIOLOGY. With their applica- 
 tions to the Training and Discipline of 
 the Mind, and the Study of its Morbid 
 Conditions. By W. B. Carpenter, 
 LL.D., M.D., F.R.S., &c. Illus- 
 trated. 
 
 THE STUDY OF SOCIO- 
 LOGY. By Herbert Spencer. 
 
 prepanng are — 
 
 ANIMAL MECHANICS; or, 
 
 Walking, Swimming, and Flying. 
 By Dr. J. Bell Pettigrew, M.D., 
 F.R.S. 125 Illustrations. 
 
 MIND AND BODY: The 
 
 Theories of their Relations. By 
 Alexander Bain, LL.D., Professor 
 of Logic at the University of Aberdeen, 
 Illustrated, 
 
 65, Corn/tin ; &= 12, Paternoster Po7C', London.
 
 Works Published by Henry S. Kmg 6^ Co., 
 
 STREAMS FROM HIDDEN SOURCES. By 
 
 B. MONTGOMERIE RANKING. Crown 8vo. 6.-. 
 
 Third Edition. 
 
 THE SECRET OF LONG LIFE. Dedicated by 
 
 Special Permission to Lord St. Leonards. Large crown 8vo. $s. 
 
 " A charming little volume, written with 
 fiingular felicity of style and illustration," 
 — Tivies. 
 
 "A very pleasant little book, which is 
 always, whether it deal in paradox or 
 earnest, cheerful, genial, scholarly." — 
 Spectator. 
 
 " The bold and striking character of the 
 
 whole conception is entitled to the warmest 
 admiration.' — Pall Mall Gazette. 
 
 " We should recommend our readers to 
 get this book . . . because they will be 
 amused by the jovial miscellaneous and 
 cultured gossip with which he strews his 
 pages." — British Quarterly Reviezv, 
 
 Second Edition. 
 
 CHANGE OF AIR AND SCENE. A Physician's 
 
 Hints about Doctors, Patients, Hygiene, and Society ; with Notes 
 of Excursions for health in the Pyrenees, and amongst the Watering- 
 places of France (Inland and Seaward), Switzerland, Corsica, and 
 the Mediterranean. By Dr. ALPPIONSE DONNE. Large post 
 8vo. Price Qj-. 
 
 "A very readable and serviceable book. 
 . . . The real value of it is to be found in 
 the accurate and minute information given 
 with regard to a large number of places 
 which have gained a reputation on the 
 continent for their mineral waters." — /"«// 
 Mall Gazette. 
 
 " Not only a pleasant book of travel but 
 also a book of considerable value." — Morn- 
 ing Post. 
 
 "A popular account of some of the most 
 charming health resorts of the Continent ; 
 
 with suggestive hints about keeping well 
 and getting well, which are characterised 
 by a good deal of robust common sense." — 
 British Quarterly. 
 
 " A singularly pleasant and chatty as 
 well as instructive book about health." — 
 Guardia7i. 
 
 "A useful and pleasantly-written book, 
 containing many valuable hints on the gene- 
 ral management of health from a shrewd 
 and experienced medical man."— Grrt//«V. 
 
 AN ESSAY ON THE CULTURE OF THE 
 
 OBSERVING POWERS OF CHILDREN, especially in con- 
 nection with the Study of Botany. By ELIZA A. YOUMANS. 
 Edited, with Notes and a Supplement, by JOSEPH PAYNE, 
 F.C. P., Author of "Lectures on tlie Science and Art of Education," 
 &c. Crown 8vo. is. 6d. 
 
 " The little book, now under notice, is 
 expressly designed to make the earliest 
 instruction of children a mental discipline. 
 Miss Youmans presents in her work the 
 ripe results of educational experience re- 
 duced to a system, wisely conceiving that 
 an education — even the most elementary — 
 should be regarded as a discipline of the 
 mental powers, and that the facts of ex- 
 ternal nature supply the most suitable 
 materials for this discipline in the case of 
 
 children. She has applied that principle 
 to the study of botany. This study, ac- 
 cording to her just notions on the subject, 
 is to be fundamentally based on the exer- 
 cise of the pupil's own powers of observa- 
 tion. He is to see and examine the pro- 
 perties of plants and flowers at first hand, 
 not merely to be informed of what others 
 have seen and examined." — Pall Mall 
 Gazette. 
 
 65, Cornhill ; 6^ 12, 
 
 Fate?'?ioster Roiv, London.
 
 lo Works Published by Hetiry S. King &> Co., 
 
 MISS YOUMANS' FIRST BOOK OF BOTANY. 
 
 Designed to cultivate the observing powers of Children. From the 
 Author's latest Stereotyped Edition. New and Enlarged Edition, 
 with 300 Engravings. Crown 8vo. 5^'. 
 
 the most recent scientific views, and has 
 been practically tested by careful trial with 
 
 It is but rarely that a school-book appears 
 which is at once so novel in plan, so suc- 
 cessful in execution, and so suited to the 
 general want, as to command universal and 
 unqualified approbation, but such has been 
 the case with Miss Youmans' First Book 
 of Botany. Her work is an outgrowth of 
 
 juvenile classes, and it has been everywhere 
 welcomed as a timely and invaluable con- 
 tribution to the improvement of primary 
 education. 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE NATURAL CREA- 
 TION ; being a Series of Popular Scientific Lectures on the General 
 Theory of Progression of Species ; with a Dissertation on the Theories 
 of Darwin, Goethe, and Lamarck : more especially applying them to 
 the Origin of Man, and to other Fundamental Questions of Natural 
 Science connected therewith. By Professor ERNST HACKED, 
 of the University of Jena. 8vo. With Woodcuts and Plates, 
 
 AN ARABIC AND ENGLISH DICTIONARY 
 
 OF THE KORAN. By Major J. PENRICE, B.A. 4to. 
 Price 2IJ-. 
 
 MODERN GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. By 
 
 T. G. JACKSON. Crown 8vo. Price 5^. 
 " Worthy of the perusal of all who are interested in art or architecture." — Standard. 
 
 A LEGAL HANDBOOK FOR ARCHITECTS. 
 
 By EDWARD JENKINS and JOHN RAYMOND. Crown 
 8vo. Price 5^-. 
 
 CONTEMPORARY ENGLISH PSYCHOLOGY. 
 
 From the French of Professor TH. RIBOT. An Analysis of the 
 Views and Opinions of the following Metaphysicians, as expressed 
 in their Writings. 
 
 JAMES MILL, I JOHN STUART MILL. I HERBERT SPENCER. 
 
 A. BAIN. I GEORGE H. LEWES. | SAMUEL BAILEY. 
 
 Large post 8vo. 
 
 PHYSIOLOGY FOR PRACTICAL USE. By 
 
 various Writers. Edited by JAMES HINTON. With 50 Illus- 
 trations. 
 
 65, Corjihill ; 6^ 12, Paternoster Poic, London.
 
 Works Published by Heniy S. King (^ Co., 
 
 HEALTH AND DISEASE, as influenced by the 
 
 Daily, Seasonal and other Cyclical Changes in the Human System. 
 By Dr. EDWARD SMITH, F.R.S. A New Edition. 7^.6^/. 
 
 PRACTICAL DIETARY FOR FAMILIES, 
 
 SCHOOLS, AND THE LABOURING CLASSES. By Dr. 
 EDWARD SMITH, F.R.S. A New Edition. Price 3^. 6^. 
 
 CONSUMPTION IN ITS EARLY & REME- 
 DIABLE STAGES. By Dr. EDWARD SMITH, F.R.S. A 
 New Edition. Is. 6d. 
 
 A TREATISE ON RELAPSING FEVER. By 
 
 R. T. LYONS, Assistant-Surgeon, Bengal Army. Small post 
 8vo. ys. dd. 
 "A practical work thoroughly supported in its views by a series of remarkable 
 cases. " — Standard. 
 
 IN QUEST OF COOLIES. A South Sea Sketch. 
 By JAMES L. A. HOPE. Second Edition. Crown 8vo. With 
 15 Illustrations from Sketches by the Author. Price 6s. 
 
 " Mr. Hope's description of the natives 
 is graphic and amusing, and the book is 
 altogether well worthy of perusal." — 
 Standard. 
 
 "Lively and clever sketches." — At/ie- 
 ncEian. 
 
 "This agreeably written and amusingly 
 illustrated \o\\xm^."— Public Opinion. 
 
 THE NILE WITHOUT A DRAGOMAN. By 
 
 FREDERIC EDEN. Second Edition. In one vol. Crown 8vo, 
 cloth. 7.5-. dd. 
 
 " Should any of our readers care to 
 imitate Mr. Eden's example, and wish to 
 see things with their own eyes, and shift 
 for themselves, next winter in Upper Egypt, 
 they will find this book a very agreeable 
 guide." — Times. 
 
 "We have in these pages the most 
 minute description of life as it appeared on 
 the banks of the Nile : all that could be 
 
 seen or was worth seeing in nature or in 
 art is here pleasantly and graphically set 
 down. . . . It is a book to read during 
 an autumn holiday." — Spectator. 
 
 "Gives, within moderate compass, a 
 suggestive description of the charms, cu- 
 riosities, dangers, and discomforts of the 
 Nile voya.g&."— Saturday Review. 
 
 ROUND THE WORLD IN 1870. A Volume of 
 
 Travels, with Maps. By A. D. CARLISLE, B.A., Trin. Coll., 
 
 Camb. Demy 8vo. i6s. 
 
 "Makes one understand how going I upon the most interesting features of nature 
 
 round the world is to be done in the quick- j and the most interesting characteristics of 
 
 est and pleasantest manner, and how the i man, and all for its own sake."— i"/^<:/rt/^r. 
 
 brightest and most cheerful of travellers ' "We can only commend, which we do 
 
 did it with eyes wide open and keen at- ; very heartily, an eminently sensible and 
 
 tention all on the alert, with ready sympa- [ readable hook."— Briiish Quarterly Re- 
 
 thies, with the happiest facility of hitting 1 vieiv. 
 
 65, Cornhill ; a^ 12, Paternoster Row, London.
 
 12 Wo?'ks Published by Henry S. Kijig 6^ Co., 
 
 gtilttam Morhs. 
 
 THE FRONTAL ATTACK OF INFANTRY. 
 
 By Capt. LAYMANN, Instructor of Tactics at the Militaiy Col- 
 lege, Neisse. Translated by Colonel EDWARD NEWDIGATE. 
 Crown 8vo, limp cloth. Price 2.s. 6d. 
 " This work has met with special attention in our army." — RlilitariiL IVochenblatt. 
 
 THE FIRST BAVARIAN ARMY CORPS IN 
 
 THE WAR OF 1870-71, UNDER VON DER TANN. Compiled 
 from the Official Records by Capt. HUGO HELVIG. Translated 
 by Capt, G. Salis Schwabe. Demy 8vo. With 5 large INIaps. 
 
 History of the Organisation., Equipnie7tt., and War Services of 
 
 THE REGIMENT OF BENGAL ARTILLERY. 
 
 Compiled from Published Official and other Records, and various 
 private sources, by Major FRANCIS W. STUBBS, Royal (late 
 Bengal) Artillery. Vol. I. will contain War Services. The 
 Second Volume will be published separately, and will contain the 
 History of the Organisation and Equipment of the Regiment. 
 In 2 vols. 8vo. With Maps and Plans. {^Preparing. 
 
 THE ABOLITION OF PURCHASE AND THE 
 
 ARMY REGULATION BILL of 1871. By Lieut. -Col. the 
 Hon. A. ANSON, V.C, M.P. Crown 8vo. Price One Shilling. 
 
 THE STORY OF THE SUPERSESSIONS. By 
 
 Lieut. -Col. the Hon. A. ANSON, V.C, M.P. Crown. 8vo. 
 Price Sixpence. 
 
 ARMY RESERVES AND MILITIA REFORMS. 
 
 By Lieut. -Colonel the Hon. C. ANSON. Crown 8vo. Sewed. 
 Price One Shilling. 
 
 VICTORIES AND DEFEATS. An Attempt to 
 
 explain the Causes which have led to them. An Officer's Manual. 
 By Col. R. P. ANDERSON. Demy 8vo. 14.^. 
 
 " A delightful military classic, and what ' warrant him that let that bit be ever so 
 
 is more a most useful one. The young small it will give him material for an 
 
 officer should have it always at hand to , hours' thinking." — UtiitedSen'icc Gazette. 
 
 open anywhere and read a bit, and we | 
 
 65, CojiiJiill ; &' 12, Patcnwster Row, Lotidoti.
 
 Works Published by Henry S. King &= Co., 13 
 
 Military Works— con^hmed. 
 ELEMENTARY MILITARY GEOGRAPHY, 
 
 RECONNOITRING, AND SKETCHING. Compiled for Non- 
 commissioned Officers and Soldiers of all Arms. By Lieut. C. E. 
 H. VINCENT, Royal Welsh Fusileers. Small crown 8 vo. 2s. 6i/. 
 "An admirable little manual full of facts and teachings." — United Sennce Gazette. 
 
 STUDIES IN THE NEW INFANTRY 
 
 TACTICS. Parts I. & II. By Major W. VON SCHEREFF. 
 Translated from the German by Col. LUMLEY GRAHAM, 
 
 THE OPERATIONS OF THE FIRST ARMY 
 
 TO THE CAPITULATION of METZ. By Major VON SCHELL, 
 ■with Maps, including one of Metz and of the country around. Trans- 
 lated by Capt. E. O. HOLLIST. In demy 8vo. 
 *ii.* The most important events de- 
 scribed in this work are the battles of 
 Spichern, those before Metz on the 14th 
 
 and i8th August, and (on this point no- 
 thing authentic has yet been published) 
 the history of the investment of Metz 
 (battle of Noisseville). 
 
 This work, however, possesses a greater 
 importance than that derived from these 
 points, because it represents for the first 
 
 time from the official documents the gene- 
 ralship of Von Steinmetz. Hitherto we 
 have had no exact reports on the deeds 
 and motives of this celebrated general. 
 This work has the special object of un- 
 folding carefully the relations in which the 
 commander of the First Army acted, the 
 plan of operations which he drew up, and 
 the manner in which he carried it out. 
 
 THE OPERATIONS OF THE FIRST ARMY 
 
 IN NORTHERN FRANCE AGAINST FAIDHERBE. By 
 Colonel Count HERMANN VON WARTENSLEBEN, Chief 
 of the Staff of the First Army. Translated by Colonel C. H. VON 
 WRIGHT. In demy Svo. Uniform with the above. Price gj. 
 
 THE OPERATIONS OF THE FIRST ARMY, 
 
 UNDER Gen. von GOEBEN. Translated by Col. C. H. VON 
 WRIGHT. With Maps. Demy Svo. 
 
 TACTICAL DEDUCTIONS FROM THE WAR 
 
 OF 1870-1. By Captain A. VON BOGUSLAWSKI. Trans- 
 lated by Colonel LUMLEY GRAHAM, late i8th (Royal Irish) 
 Regiment. Demy Svo. Uniform with the above. Price ^s. 
 "Major Boguslawski's tactical deduc- British Service ; and we cannot commence 
 lions from the war are, that infantry still j the good work too soon, or better, than by 
 preserve their superiority over cavalry, placing the two books (' The Operations of 
 that open order must henceforth be the the German Armies' and 'Tactical Deduc- 
 main principles of all drill, and that the tions') we have here criticised, in every 
 chassepot is the best of all small arms for military library, and introducing them as 
 precision. . . . We must, without delay, class-books in every tactical school." — 
 impress brain and forethought into the i United Service Gazette. 
 
 65, Cornhill ; 6^ 12, Paternoster Row, London.
 
 14 
 
 Works Published by He?i7y S. King cn Co. 
 
 Mi LiTARY WoKKS— CO jiihmed. 
 
 THE OPERATIONS OF THE GERMAN 
 
 ARMIES IN FRANCE, FROM SEDAN TO THE END OF 
 THE WAR OF 1870-1. With Large Official Map. From the 
 Journals of the Head- quarters Staff, by Major WM. BLUME. 
 Translated by E. M. JONES, Major 20th Foot, late Professor of 
 Military History, Sandhurst. Demy 8vo. Price gs. 
 " The book is of absolute necessity to the English dress forms the most valuable 
 
 military student. . . . The work is one 
 of high merit and . . . has the advantage 
 of being rendered into fluent English, and 
 is accompanied by an excellent military 
 map." — Utiited Serz'ice Gazette. 
 
 "The work of translation has been well 
 done ; the expressive German idioms have 
 been rendered into clear, nervous English 
 without losing any of their original force ; 
 and in notes, prefaces, and introductions, 
 much additional information has been 
 given." — A thence7mi. 
 
 " The work of Major von Blume in its 
 
 addition to our stock of works upon the 
 war that our press has put forth. Major 
 Blume writes with a clear conciseness 
 much wanting in many of his country's 
 historians, and Major Jones has done 
 himself and his original alike justice by 
 his vigorous yet correct translation of the 
 excellent volume on which he has laboured. 
 Our space forbids our doing more than 
 commending it earnestly as the most au- 
 thentic and instructive narrative of the 
 second section of the war that has yet 
 appeared." — SatJirday Review. 
 
 THE OPERATIONS OF THE SOUTH ARMY 
 
 IN JANUARY AND FEBRUARY, 1871. Compiled from the 
 Official War Documents of the Head -quarters of the Southern Anny. 
 By Count HERMANN VON WARTENSLEBEN, Colonel in 
 the Prussian General Staff. Translated by Colonel C. H. VON 
 WRIGHT. Demy Svo, with Maps. Uniform with the above. Price 6^. 
 
 HASTY INTRENCHMENTS. By Colonel 
 
 BRIALMONT. 
 EMPSON, R.A. 
 
 Translated 
 Demy Svo. 
 to military 
 
 A. 
 A. 
 
 " A valuable contribution 
 literature." — Athe7iceu77t. 
 
 " In seven short chapters it gives plain 
 directions for performing shelter-trenches, 
 with the best method of carrying the neces- 
 sary tools, and it offers practical illustrations 
 of the use of hasty intrenchments on the field 
 of battle." — ^«zV^i^ Service Magazi7ie. 
 
 " It supplies that which our own text- 
 books give but imperfectly, viz., hints as 
 
 by Lieutenant CHARLES 
 
 Nine Plates. Price 6s. 
 to how a position can best be strengthened 
 by means ... of such extemporised in- 
 trenchments and batteries as can be thrown 
 up by infantry in the space of four or five 
 hours . . . deserves to become a standard 
 military work." — Standard. 
 
 " A clever treatise, short, practical and 
 clear." — hivestoT^s Guardian. 
 
 " Clearly and critically written." — Wel- 
 lington Gazette. 
 
 THE KRVIY OF THE NORTH-GERMAN 
 
 CONFEDERATION. A Brief Description of its Organisation, 
 of the different Branches of the Service and their ' Role ' in War, of 
 its Mode of Fighting, &c. By a PRUSSIAN GENERAL. 
 Translated from the German by Col. EDWARD NEWDIGATE. 
 Demy Svo. 5^-. 
 *♦* The authorship of this book was erroneously ascribed to the renowned General von 
 Moltke, but there can be little doubt that it was written under his immediate inspiration. 
 
 65, Cor?ihiU ; <5^' is, Paternoster Row, Londofi,
 
 Works Published by Henry S. King & Co. 
 
 IM I LiTARY Works —contimied. 
 QHSfPil^^Y FIELD DUTY. By Major-General VON 
 MIRUS. Translated by Captain FRANK S. RUSSELL, 14th 
 (King's) Hussars. Crown 8vo, limp cloth. ']s. 6d. 
 *:^* This is the text-book of instruction 
 
 in the German cavalry, and comprises all 
 the details connected with the military 
 duties of cavalry soldiers on service. The 
 translation is made from a new edition, 
 which contains the modifications intro- 
 
 duced consequent on the experiences of 
 the late war. The great interest that stu- 
 dents feel in all the German military 
 methods, will, it is believed, render this 
 book especially acceptable at the present 
 time. 
 
 STUDIES IN LEADING TROOPS. By 
 
 Colonel VON VERDY DU VERNOIS. An authorised and 
 accurate Translation by Lieutenant H, J. T. HILDYARD, 71st 
 Foot. Parts I. and II. Demy 8vo. Price 'js. 
 
 tunately-placed staff-officer is in a position 
 to give. I have read and re-read them 
 very carefully, I hope with profit, certainly 
 with great interest, and believe that prac- 
 tice, in the sense of these ' Studies,' would 
 be a valuable preparation for manoeuvres 
 on a more extended scale." — Berlin, June, 
 1872. 
 
 *»* General Beaucha.mp Walker says 
 of this work : — "I recommend the first 
 two numbers of Colonel von Verdy's 
 ' Studies ' to the attentive perusal of my 
 brother officers. They supply a want 
 which I have often felt during my service 
 in this country, namely, a minuter tactical 
 detail of the minor operations of the war 
 than any but the most observant and for- 
 
 THE FRANCO-GERMAN WAR, 1870-71. 
 
 First Part :— history of the war to the downfall of 
 THE empire. First Section :— the events in july. Autho- 
 rised Translation from the German Official Account at the Topogra- 
 phical and Statistical Department of the War Office, by Captain F. C. 
 H. CLARKE, R.A. First Section, with Map. Demy 8vo. 3^-. 
 
 DISCIPLINE AND DRILL. Four Lectures delivered 
 to the London Scottish Rifle Volunteers. By Captain S. FLOOD 
 PAGE. A New and Cheaper Edition. Price Ij-. 
 "One of the best-known and coolest- 
 headed of the metropolitan regiments, 
 whose adjutant moreover has lately pub- 
 lished an admirable collection of lectures 
 addressed by him to the men of his corps." 
 
 — Times. 
 
 ' ' The very useful and interesting work. 
 , . . Every Volunteer, officer or pri- 
 
 vate, will be the better for perusing and 
 digesting the plain-spoken truths which 
 Captain Page so firmly, and yet so mo- 
 destly, puts before them ; and we trust 
 that the little book in which they are con- 
 tained will find its way into all parts of 
 Great Britain." — Volunteer Service Ga- 
 zette. 
 
 THE SUBSTANTIVE 
 
 LIST. Majors and Captains 
 1st W. L Regiment 
 
 SENIORITY ARMY 
 
 By Captain F. B. P. WHITE, 
 8vo, sewed. 2s. 6d. 
 
 65, Cornhill ; & 12, Paterfioster Roiv, London.
 
 i6 
 
 Works Published by Henry S. King 6^ Co., 
 
 §o0hs 011 Inirbix Sxibjtds. 
 
 THE EUROPEAN IN INDIA. 
 
 A HAND-BOOK OF PRACTICAL INFORMATION FOR THOSE PROCEEDING 
 TO, OR RESIDING IN, THE EAST INDIES, 
 
 RELATING TO OUTFITS, ROUTES, TIME FOR DEPARTURE, INDIAN CLIMATE, ETC. 
 
 By EDMUND C. P. HULL. 
 WITH A MEDICAL GUIDE FOR ANGLO-INDIANS. 
 
 BEING A COMPENDIUM OF ADVICE TO EUROPEANS IN INDIA, RELATING TO THE 
 PRESERVATION AND REGULATION OF HEALTH. 
 
 By R. S. MAIR, M.D., F.R.C.S.E., 
 
 Late Deputy Coroner of Madras. 
 In I vol. Post 8vo. 6s, 
 
 " Full of all sorts of useful information 
 to the English settler or traveller in India." 
 - -Standard. 
 
 " One of the most valuable books ever 
 published in India — valuable for its sound 
 information, its careful array of pertinent 
 facts, and its sterling common sense. It is 
 
 a publisher's as well as an author's * hit, 
 for it supplies a -w^ant which few persons 
 may have discovered, but which everybody 
 will at once recognise when once the con- 
 tents of the book have been mastered. 
 The medical part of the work is invalu- 
 able." — Calcutta G-iiardiaii. 
 
 EASTERN EXPERIENCES. 
 
 By L. bo WRING, C.S.L, 
 
 Lord Canning's Private Secretary, and for many years the Chief Commissioner of 
 Mysore and Coorg. ^ 
 
 In I vol. Demy 8vo. i6s. Illustrated with Maps and Diagrams. 
 
 "An admirable and exhaustive geo- 
 graphical, political, and industrial survey." 
 — AthetKEwn. 
 
 "The usefulness of this compact and 
 methodical summary of the most authentic 
 information relating to countries _ whose 
 welfare is intimately connected with our 
 own, should obtain for Mr. Lewin Bow- 
 
 ring's work a good place among treatises 
 of its kind." — Daily News. 
 
 " Interesting even to the general reader, 
 but more especially so to those who may 
 have a special concern in that portion of 
 our Indian Empire." — Post. 
 
 "An elaborately got up and carefully 
 compiled work." — Home News. 
 
 A MEMOIR OF THE INDIAN SURVEYS. 
 
 By clement R. MARKHAM. 
 
 Printed by order of Her Majesty's Secretary of State for India in Council. 
 Imperial 8vo. Jos. 6d. 
 
 65, Cornhill ; ^^ 12, Paternoster F.ow, London.
 
 Works Published by Henry S. King ^ Co.^ 17 
 
 Books on Indian Subjects — continued. 
 
 WESTERN INDIA BEFORE AND DURING 
 THE MUTINIES. 
 
 PICTURES DRAWN FROM LIFE. 
 
 By Major-Gen. Sir GEORGE LE GRAND JACOB, K.C.S.I., C.B. 
 
 In I vol. Crown 8vo. 7^. (>d, 
 
 "The most important contribution to I than on the acquisition of fame." — London 
 
 the history of Western India during the atid China Express. 
 
 Mutinies which has yet, in a popular j " Few men more competent than him- 
 
 form, been made public." — Athe7iauin. i self to speak authoritatively concerning 
 
 "The legacy of a wise veteran, intent | Indian affairs." — Standard. 
 
 on the benetit of his countrymen rather I 
 
 EXCHANGE TABLES OF STERLING AND 
 INDIAN RUPEE CURRENCY, 
 
 upon a new and extended system, 
 
 EMBRACING VALUES FROM ONE FARTHING TO ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND POUNDS, AND 
 AT RATES PROGRESSING, IN SIXTEENTHS OF A PENNY, 
 
 FROM IS. gd. TO 2.y. 3^. per rupee. 
 
 By DONALD ERASER, 
 
 Accountant to the British Indian Steam Navigation Co., Limited. 
 Royal 8vo. lay. 6d. 
 
 "The calculations must have entailed 
 great labour on the author, but the work 
 is one which we fancy must become a 
 standard one in all business houses which 
 
 have dealings with any country where the 
 rupee and the English pound are standard 
 coins of currency." — Inverness Courier. 
 
 A CATALOGUE OF MAPS OF THE BRITISH 
 POSSESSIONS 
 
 IN INDIA AND OTHER PARTS OF ASIA. 
 
 Published by order of Her Majesty's Secretary of State for India in Council. 
 
 Royal 8vo, sewed, zs. 
 
 A Continuation of the above, sewed, price 6d., is now ready. 
 
 £^ Messrs. Henry S. King ^ Co. are the authorised agents by the Government for the 
 sale 0/ the whole of the Maps enumerated in this Catalogue. 
 
 65, Corfihill ; o^ 12, Paternoster Rotv, London.
 
 1 8 Works Published by Henry S. King &^ Co., 
 
 §0iDlis for JufamiUs. 
 
 LOST GIP. By HESBA STRETTON, Author of "Little 
 Meg," "Alone in London." Square crown 8vo. Six Illustrations. 
 Price IS. 6d. 
 
 "The book is full of tender touches." — I "Thoroughly enlists the sj-mpathies of 
 No7icomfor7nist. \ the reader." — Church Revieiai. 
 
 BRAVE MEN'S FOOTSTEPS. A Book of Example 
 
 and Anecdote for Young People. By the Editor of "Men who 
 HAVE Risen." With Four Illustrations. By C. Doyle, y. 6d. 
 
 "A readable and instructive volume." — 
 Exatniner. 
 
 " The little volume is precisely of the 
 stamp to win the favour of those who, in 
 choosing a gift for a boy, would consult his 
 moral development as well as his temporary 
 pleasure." — Daily Telegraph. 
 
 " No more welcome book for the school- 
 boy could be imagined." — Birjuiiighavi 
 Daily Gazette. 
 
 THE LITTLE WONDER-HORN. By JEAN 
 
 INGELOW. A Second Series of "Stories told to a Child." 
 Fifteen Illustrations. Cloth, gilt. 3^'. (id. 
 
 " Full of fresh and vigorous fancy : it is 
 worthy of the author of some of the best of 
 our modern verse." — Staiidard, 
 
 " We like all the contents of the ' Little 
 Wonder-Horn ' verj^ much." — Atkenceian. 
 
 " We recommend it with confidence." — 
 Pall-Mall Gazette. 
 
 STORIES IN PRECIOUS STONES. By HELEN 
 
 ZIMMERN. With Six Illustrations. Ciown 8vo. 5^. 
 
 fantastic, half natural, and pleasantly 
 
 " A pretty little book which fanciful 
 young persons will appreciate, and which 
 will remind its readers of many a legend, 
 and many an imaginary virtue attached to 
 the gems they are so fond of wearing." — 
 Post. 
 
 " A series of pretty tales which are half 
 
 quaint, as befits stories intended for the 
 young." — Daily Telegraph. 
 
 " Certainly the book is well worth a 
 perusal, and will not be soon laid down 
 when once taken up." — Daily Bristol 
 Times. 
 
 GUTTA-PERCHA WILLIE, THE WORKING 
 
 GENIUS. By GEORGE MACDONALD. With Illustrations. 
 By Arthur Hughes. Crown 8vo. y. 6d. 
 
 THE TRAVELLING MENAGERIE. By 
 
 CHARLES CAMDEN, Author of " Hoity Toity." Illustrated 
 by J. Mahoney. Crown 8vo. 3^. 6d. 
 " A capital little book .... deserves a" I "A very attractive story." — Pid>lic 
 wide circulation among our boys and girls " Opinion. 
 — Hour. 
 
 SEEKING HIS FORTUNE, AND OTHER 
 
 STORIES. Crown 8vo. Six Illustrations. 
 65, Cor7ihill ; c5>' 12, Paternoster Row, Lo?idon.
 
 Works Published by Henry S. King o^ Co., 19 
 
 Books for Juveniles — continued. 
 
 PLUCKY FELLOWS. A Book for Boys. By 
 STEPHEN J. MACKENNA. With Six Illustrations. Crown 
 8vo. Price y. 6d. 
 
 " This is one of the very best ' Books for 
 Boys ' which have been issued this year." — 
 Morning Advertiser. 
 
 "A thorough book for boys'. . . written 
 
 throughout in a manly straightforward 
 manner that is sure to win the hearts of the 
 children for whom it is intended." — London 
 Society. 
 
 THE DESERTED SHIP. A Real Story of the 
 
 Atlantic. By CUPPLES HOWE, Master Mariner. Illustrated 
 
 by TowNLEY Green. Crown 8vo. 3^-, dd. 
 
 " Curious adventures v/ith bears, seals, I material with which the stoiy deals, and 
 
 and other Arctic animals, and with scarcely will much interest boys who have a spice 
 
 more human Esquimaux, form the mass of | ofromancein theircomposition." — Courant. 
 
 GOOD WORDS FOR THE YOUNG. The Volume 
 
 for 1872, gilt cloth and gilt edges, 7j. dd. Containing numerous 
 Contributions by popular authors, and about One Hundred and 
 Fifty Illustrations by the best artists. 
 
 N'ew Edition. 
 
 THE DESERT PASTOR, JEAN JAROUSSEAU. 
 
 Translated from the French of EUGENE PELLETAN. By 
 Colonel E. P. DE L'HOSTE. In fcap. 8vo, with an Engraved 
 Frontispiece. Price y. 6d. 
 
 "There is a poetical simplicity and pic- 
 turesqueness ; the noblest heroism ; unpre- 
 tentious religion ; pure love, and the 
 spectacle of a household brought up in the 
 fear of the Lord. , . . The whole 
 story has an air of quaint antiquity similar 
 to that which invests with a charm more 
 easily felt than described the site of 
 
 some splendid ruin." — Illustrated London 
 News. 
 
 "This charming specimen of Eugene 
 Pelletan's tender grace, humour, and high- 
 toned morality." — Notes and Queries. 
 
 " A touching record of the struggles in 
 the cause of religious liberty of a real 
 man. " — Graphic. 
 
 HOITYTOITY, THE GOOD LITTLE FELLOW. 
 
 By CHARLES CAMDEN. Illustrated. Crown Svo. 3.r. dd. 
 THE ''ELSIE'' SERIES, 3^. 6d. each. 
 
 ELSIE DINSMORE. By MARTHA FARQUHAR- 
 
 SON. Crown 8vo. Illustrated. 
 ELSIE'S GIRLHOOD. A Sequel to " Elsie Dinsmore." 
 By the same Author. Crown 8vo. Illustrated. 
 
 ELSIE'S HOLIDAYS AT ROSELANDS. By 
 
 the same Author. Crown 8vo. Illustrated. 
 
 65, Cornhill ; &= 12, Pater Jioster Row, London. 
 
 B 2
 
 20 
 
 Works Published by Heiwy S. King 6^ Co., 
 
 VIGNETTES 
 
 Crown 8vo. 
 
 — ♦ — 
 
 IN VERSE. By Austin Dobson. 
 
 IMITATIONS FROM THE GERMAN OF 
 
 SPITTA AND TERSTEGEN. By Lady DURAND. Crown 
 8vo. 4 J. 
 
 "An acceptable addition to the religious poetry of the day." — Coiiraiit. 
 
 EASTERN LEGENDS AND STORIES IN 
 
 ENGLISH VERSE. By Lieutenant NORTON POWLETT, 
 Royal Artillery. Crown 8vo. ^s. 
 
 "Have we at length found a successor 
 to Thomas Ingoldsby ? We are almost 
 inclined to hope so after reading ' Eastern 
 Legends.' There is a rollicking sense of 
 
 fun about the stories, joined to marvellous 
 power of rhyming, and plenty of swing, 
 which irresistibly reminds us of our old 
 favourite." — Graphic. 
 
 EDITH; or, LOVE AND LIFE IN CHESHIRE. 
 
 By T. ASHE, Author of the "Sorrows of Hypsipyle," etc. Sewed. 
 Price dd. 
 "A really fine poem, full of tender, 
 subtle touches of iQ^\\xi%."—Maizchester 
 
 News. 
 
 " Pregnant from beginning to end with 
 the results of careful observation and ima- 
 ginative power." — Chester Chronicle. 
 
 THE GALLERY OF PIGEONS, AND OTHER 
 
 POEMS. By THEO. MARZIALS. Crown 8vo. 4^. 6d. 
 
 "A conceit abounding in prettiness." — source of keen and legitimate enjoyment. 
 Examiner. The rush of fresh, sparkling fancies is too 
 
 " Contains as clear evidence as a book rapid, too sustained, too abundant, not to 
 can contain that its composition was a be spontaneous." — Academy. 
 
 A NEW VOLUME OF 
 
 C. TENNYSON TURNER. 
 
 " Mr. Turner is a genuine poet ; his song I 
 is sweet and pure, beautiful in expression, | 
 
 SONNETS. By the Rev. 
 
 Crown 8vo. 4^. 6d. 
 and often subtle in thought."- 
 Gazette. 
 
 -Pall Mall 
 
 ENGLISH SONNETS. Collected and Arranged by 
 JOHN DENNIS. Small crown 8vo. 
 
 WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT'S POEMS. 
 
 Handsomely bound, with Illustrations. 
 A Cheaper Edition. 
 A Pocket Edition. 
 
 65, Cornhill ; 6^ 12, Paternoster Row, Lo7tdon.
 
 Works Published by Henry S. Kmg &^ Co.^ 21 
 
 Poetry — continued. 
 
 GOETHE'S FAUST. A New Translation in Rhyme. 
 By the Rev. C. KEGAN PAUL. Crown 8vo. 6j-. 
 
 " His translation is the most minutely 
 accurate that has yet been produced. . . . 
 Has special merits of its own, and will be 
 useful and welcome to English students of 
 Goethe. " — Examiner. 
 
 Faust,' and his translation is as well 
 suited to convey its meaning to English 
 readers as any we have yet seen." — Edin- 
 burgh Daily Review. 
 
 Mr. Paul is a zealous and a faithful 
 
 "Mr. Paul evidently understands interpreter." — Saturday Review. 
 
 CALDERON'S DRAMAS. 
 
 The Purgatory of St. Patrick. 
 The Wonderful Magician. 
 Life is a Dream. 
 Translated from the Spanish. By DENIS FLORENCE MAC- 
 CARTHY. Price \os. 
 These translations have never before I Patrick " is a new version, with new and 
 been published. The " Purgatory of St. \ elaborate historical notes. 
 
 SONGS FOR SAILORS. By Dr. W. C. BENNETT. 
 
 Dedicated by Special Request to H.R.H. the Duke of Edinburgh. 
 Crown 8vo. ^s. 6d. With Steel Portrait and Illustrations. 
 An Edition in Illustrated paper Covers. Price is. 
 
 DR. W. C. BENNETT'S POEMS will be shortly 
 Re-issued, with additions to each part, in Five Parts, at is. each. 
 
 WALLED IN, AND OTHER POEMS. By the 
 
 Rev. HENRY J. BULKELY. Crown 8vo. 5-r. 
 
 tempted what has seldom before been well 
 done, viz. : the treatment of subjects not in 
 themselves poetical from a poetic point of 
 
 "A remarkable book of genuine poetry 
 which will be welcome to all lovers of the 
 Muse."— Ej'ening S tandard. 
 
 " Mr. Bulkeley has successfully at- 
 
 view. ' ' — Graphic. 
 
 THE POETICAL AND PROSE WORKS OF 
 
 ROBERT BUCHANAN. Preparing for publication, a Collected 
 Edition, in 5 vols. 
 Contents of Vol. I. — 
 
 DAUGHTERS OF EVE. 
 UNDERTONES AND ANTIQUES. 
 COUNTRY AND PASTORAL POEMS. 
 
 SONGS OF LIFE AND DEATH. By JOHN 
 
 PAYNE, Author of "Intaglios," "Sonnets," " The Masque of 
 
 Shadows," etc. Crown 8vo. 5-^- 
 " The art of ballad-writing has long been I meet with such a ballad as ' May Margaret' 
 lost in England, and Mr. Payne may claim in the present \o\wva&:' — U cstminster 
 to be its restorer. It is a perfect delight to | Review. 
 
 65, Cornhill; 6-12, Paternoster Row, London.
 
 22 
 
 Works Published by Henry S, Kmg 6^ Co., 
 
 Poetry — continued. 
 
 SONGS OF TWO WORLDS. By a NEW WRITER. 
 
 Fcap. 8vo, cloth, 5j-, Second Edition. 
 
 "The 'New Writer' is certainly no 
 tyro. No one after reading the first two 
 poems, almost perfect in rhythm and 
 all the graceful reserve of true lyrical 
 strength, can doubt that this book is the 
 result of lengthened thought and assiduous 
 training in poetical form. . . . These 
 poems will assuredly take high rank among 
 the class to which they belong." — BritisJi 
 Quarterly Revie%v, April isl. 
 
 "If these poems are the mere preludes 
 of a mind growing in power and in inclina- 
 tion for verse, we have in them the promise 
 of a fine poet. . . . The verse describ- 
 
 ing Socrates has the highest note of critical 
 poetry." — Spectator, February iitJi. 
 
 "No extracts could do justice to the 
 exquisite tones, the felicitous phrasing and 
 delicately wrought harmonies of some of 
 these poems." — Noncoiiforriiist, March 
 
 27tk. 
 
 "Are we in this book making the ac- 
 quaintance of a fine and original poet, or 
 of a most artistic imitator? And our 
 deliberate opinion is that the former hy- 
 pothesis is the right one. It has a purity 
 and delicacy of feeling like morning air." 
 — Graphic, March i6th. 
 
 THE INN OF STRANGE MEETINGS, AND 
 
 OTHER POEMS. By MORTIMER COLLINS. Crown 8vo. 5^. 
 
 " Abounding in quiet humour, in bright chivalry and romance beneath the trifling 
 
 fancy, in sweetness and melody of expres- vein of good humoured banter which is the 
 
 sion, and, at times, in the tenderest touches special characteristic of his verse. . . . 
 
 of pathos." — Graphic The 'Inn of Strange Meetings' is a 
 
 "Mr. Collins has an undercurrent of sprightly piece." — Athenceuin. 
 
 EROS AGONISTES. By E. B. D. Crown 8vo. 3^-. dd. 
 
 "The author of these verses has written 
 a very touching story of the human heart 
 in the story he tells with such pathos and 
 power, of an affection cherished so long 
 and so secretly. . . . It is not the 
 
 least merit of these pages that they are 
 everywhere illumined with moral and re- 
 ligious sentiment suggested, not paraded, 
 of the brightest, purest character." — 
 Sta?idard, 
 
 ASPROMONTE, AND OTHER POEMS. Second 
 
 Edition, cloth. 4J-. (>d. 
 
 "The volume is anonymous, but there 
 is no reason for the author to be ashamed 
 of it. The ' Poems of Italy' are evidently 
 inspired by genuine enthusiasm in the 
 cause espoused ; and one of them, ' The 
 
 Execution of Felice Orsini,' has much 
 poetic merit, the event celebrated being 
 told with dramatic force." — A thetiteutn. 
 
 "The verse is fluent and free." — Spec- 
 tator. 
 
 THE DREAM AND THE DEED, AND OTHER 
 
 POEMS. By PATRICK SCOTT, Author of "Footpaths be- 
 tween Two Worlds," etc. Fcap. 8vo, cloth, 5^-. 
 
 "A bitter and able satire on the vice I " Shows real poetic power coupled with 
 and follies of the day, literary, social, and evidences of satirical energy." — Edinburgh 
 ^oYit\Cd\."—Standa7-d. | Daily Review. 
 
 65, Cor?ihill ; 6^ 12, Fafernoster Row, London.
 
 Works Published by Henry S. King &= Co., 23 
 
 Poetry — continued. 
 THE LEGENDS OF ST. PATRICK & OTHER 
 
 POEMS. By AUBREY DE VERE. Crown 8vo. 5^. 
 
 " Mr. De Vere's versification in hi 
 earlier poems is characterised by great 
 sweetness and simplicity. He is master of 
 his instrument, and rarely offends the ear 
 with false notes. Poems such as these 
 scarcely admit of quotation^ for their charm 
 is not, and ought not to be, found in isolated 
 passages ; but we can promise the patient 
 and thoughtful reader much pleasure in the 
 perusal of this volume." — Pali-Mall 
 Gazette. 
 
 " We have marked, in almost every 
 
 page, 
 kr 
 
 excellent touches from which we 
 enow not how to select. We have but 
 space to commend the varied structure of 
 his verse, the carefulness of his grammar, 
 and his excellent English. All who be- 
 lieve that poetry should raise and not 
 debase the social ideal, all who think that 
 wit .should exalt our standard of thought 
 and manners, must welcome this contri- 
 bution at once to our knowledge of the 
 past and to the science of noble life." — 
 Saturday Revieix). 
 
 THE QUEEN'S SHILLING. By Capt. Arthur 
 Griffiths, Author of " Peccavi." 2 vols. \Just out. 
 
 MIRANDA : A Midsummer Madness. By Mortimer 
 Collins. 3 vols. Vl^i^i out. 
 
 REGINALD BRAMBLE. A Cynic of the 19th Cen- 
 
 tury. An Autobiography. One Volume. 
 "There is plenty of vivacity in Mr. I tory chapter of his autobiography to the 
 Bramble's narrative." — Atkenaum. concluding one, is the best of good com- 
 
 'Tleginald Bramble, from the introduc- | pany." — Court Express. 
 
 BRESSANT. A Romance. By JULIAN HAWTHORNE. 
 
 2 vols. Crown 8vo. 
 
 " Mr. Hawthorne's book forms a re- 
 markable contrast, in point of power and 
 interest, to the dreary mass of so-called 
 romances through which the reviewer 
 works his way. An accomplished native 
 imparts to us, with the vivid and vigorous 
 hand which characterises the best Ameri- 
 can writing, studies of individual humanity, 
 
 which add to what universal interest they 
 
 possess a charm of their own Will 
 
 be pretty certain of meeting in this country 
 a grateful and appreciative reception." — 
 Athenmum. 
 
 " Wonderfully powerful." — Literary 
 Churchtna^i. 
 
 EFFIE'S GAME ; How she Lost and how she Won. 
 By CECIL CLAYTON. 2 vols. 
 "Well written. The characters move, I beings, and we have liked reading aboilt 
 and act, and above all, talk like human | them." — Sj>ectator. 
 
 WHAT 'TIS TO LOVE. By the Author of " Flora 
 
 Adair," "The Value' of Fosterstown." 3 vols. 
 
 A CHEQUERED LIFE. Being Memoirs of Madame 
 La Vicomte.sse de Leoville-Meilhan. By LA VICOMTESSE DE 
 KERKADEC. Crown 8vo. 
 
 65, Cornhill ; 6^ 12, Pater nosier Ro2v, London.
 
 24 Works Published by Henry S. King c^ Co., 
 
 Fiction — conthmed. 
 
 CHESTERLEIGH. By ANSLEY CONYERS. 3 vols. 
 
 Crown 8vo. 
 
 "We have gained much enjoyment from 1 "Will suit the hosts of readers of the 
 the book."- — Spectator. higher class of romantic fiction." — Moni- 
 
 "Is worthy of high praise." — Edin- \ ing Advertiser, 
 bztrgh Courant. I 
 
 SQUIRE SILCHESTER'S WHIM. By MOR- 
 TIMER COLLINS, Author of "Marquis and Merchant," *'The 
 Princess Clarice," &c. Crown 8vo. 3 vols. 
 "We think it the best (story) Mr. Collins has yet written." — Pall Mall Gazette. 
 
 SEETA. By Colonel MEADOWS TAYLOR, Author of 
 ** Tara," *' Ralph Darnell," &c. Crown 8vo. 3 vols. 
 
 "The story is well told, native life is 
 admirably described, and the petty intrigues 
 of native rulers, and their hatred of the 
 English, mingled with fear lest the latter 
 should eventually prove the victors, are 
 cleverly depicted."—^ thencejim. 
 
 " We cannot speak too highly of Colonel 
 Meadows Taylor's book. . . . We would 
 recommend all novel readers to purchase it 
 at the earliest opportunity." — JoJui Bull. 
 
 "Thoroughly interesting and enjoyable 
 reading." — Examiner. 
 
 A New and Cheaper Edition., in I vol., each Ilhtstrated, price 6j-., of 
 
 COL. MEADOWS TAYLOR'S INDIAN TALES 
 
 is preparing for publication. The first volume is 
 The Confessions of a Thug. 
 
 JOHANNES OLAF. By E. DE WILLE. Translated 
 by F. E. BUNNETT. Crown 8vo. 3 vols. 
 
 The author of this story enjoys a high 1 able capacity in ever>' branch of a novelist's 
 reputation in Germany ; and both English faculty. The art of description is fully 
 and German critics have spoken in terms exhibited ; perception of character and 
 of the warmest praise of this and her pre- capacity for delineating it are obvious ; 
 vious stories. She has been called " The I while there is great breadth and compre- 
 * George Eliot ' of Germany." I hensiveness in the plan of the story." — 
 
 " The book gives evidence of consider- I — Morning Post. 
 
 OFF THE SKELLIGS. By JEAN INGELOW. (Her 
 
 First Romance. ) Crown 8vo. In 4 vols. 
 
 " Clever and sparkling. . . . The de- 
 scriptive passages are bright with colour." 
 — Standard. 
 
 " We read each succeeding volume with 
 increasing interest, going almost to the 
 
 point of wishing there was a fifth." — 
 A thencEtivt. 
 
 " The novel as a whole is a remarkable 
 one, because it is uncompromisingly true 
 to life." — Daily News. 
 
 HONOR BLAKE: The Story of a Plain Woman. 
 
 By Mrs. KEATINGE, Author of. " English Homes in India," &c. 
 2 vols. Crown 8vo. 
 "One of the best novels we have met I "A story which must do good to all, 
 with for some time. " — Morning Post. \ young and old, who read it " — Daily News. 
 
 65, Cornhill ; 6^ 12, Paternoster Row, London.
 
 Works Published by Henry S. King 6^ Co., 
 
 Fiction — continued. 
 
 THE DOCTOR'S DILEMMA. By HESBA STRET 
 
 TON, Author of " Little Meg," &c., &c. Crown 8vo. 3 vols. 
 If our readers wish to peruse for the 
 
 sake of pure entertainment, a fascinating 
 story which scarcely flags in'interest from 
 the first page to the last, we advise them 
 
 to submit themselves to the romantic pages 
 of "The Doctor's Dilemma." It is all 
 story ; every page contributes something 
 to the result." — British Quarterly Revieiv. 
 
 THE PRINCESS CLARICE 
 
 By MORTIMER COLLINS 
 
 "Mr. CoUins has produced a readable 
 book, amusingly characteristic. There is 
 good description of Devonshire scenery ; 
 and lastly there is Clarice, a most successful 
 heroine, 'who must speak to the reader 
 for herself." — Athe7iceinn. 
 
 "Very readable and amusing. We 
 would especially give an honourable men- 
 
 A Story of 1871. 
 
 2 vols. Crown 8vo. 
 tion to Mr. CoUins's ' vers de societe,' the 
 writing of which has almost become a lost 
 2.TX.:'— Fall Mall Gazette. 
 
 " A bright, fresh, and original book, with 
 which we recommend all genuine novel 
 readers to become acquainted at the earliest 
 opportunity." — Standa7'd. 
 
 A GOOD MATCH. By AMELIA PERRIER, Author 
 of " Mea Culpa." 2 vols. 
 
 " Racy and lively." — Athencemn. j "This clever and amusing novel." — Pall 
 
 " As pleasant and readable a novel as we 21 fall Gazette. 
 have seen this season." — Examiner. \ " Agreeably written. "^/'«3//V Opinioit. 
 
 THE SPINSTERS OF BLATCHINGTON. By 
 
 MAR. TRAVERS. 2 vols. 
 
 "A pretty story. Deserving of a favour- 
 able reception.'' — Graphic. 
 
 Crown 8vo. 
 
 " A book of more than average merits 
 worth reading."— .fi'.rrtwi'w^r. 
 
 THOMASINA. By the Author of '' DOROTHY/' " DE 
 
 CRESSY," etc. 2 vols. Crown 8vo. 
 
 "A finished and delicate cabinet picture, 
 no line is without its purpose, but all con- 
 tribute to the unity of the work." — Athe- 
 
 " For the delicacies of character-drawing, 
 
 for play of incident, and for finish of style, 
 we must refer our readers to the story 
 itself." — Daily Njws. 
 
 " This undeniably pleasing story." — 
 Pall Mall Gazette. 
 
 THE STORY OF SIR EDWARD'S WIFE. By 
 
 HAMILTON MARSHALL,^ Author of "For Very Life." 
 I vol. Crown 8vo. 
 "A quiet graceful little s\.oxy."— Spec- | . . . Mr. Hamilton Marshall can tell a 
 tator. j story closely and pleasantly."— /"«// Mall 
 
 " There are many clever conceits In it. | Gazette. 
 
 LINKED AT LAST. By F. E. BUNNETT. i vol. 
 
 Crown 8vo. 
 
 " ' Linked at Last ' contains so much of 
 
 pretty description, natural incident, and 
 
 delicate portraiture, that the reader who 
 
 once takes it up will not be inclined to re- 
 
 linquish it without concluding the volume." 
 — Morning Post. 
 
 "A very charming story." — yohu 
 Bull. 
 
 65, Cornhill ; &^ 12, Paternoster Roiv, London.
 
 26 
 
 Works Published by Henry S. King 6^ Co., 
 
 Fiction — contimied. 
 PERPLEXITY. By SYDNEY MOSTYN. 3 vols. 
 
 Crown 8vo. 
 
 " Written with very considerable power 
 . . . original . . . worked out with great 
 cleverness and sustained interest." — 
 Standard. 
 
 ' ' Shows much lucidity — much power of 
 portraiture. " — ILxaminer. 
 
 " Forcibly and graphically told." — Daily 
 Neivs. 
 
 " Written with very considerable power, 
 
 the plot is original and . . . worked 
 out with great cleverness and sustained 
 interest. "Standard. 
 
 " Shows much lucidity, much power of 
 portraiture, and no ijiconsiderable sense of 
 humour."— Exainifier. 
 
 " The literary workmanship is good, and 
 the story forcibly and graphically told."— 
 Daily News. 
 
 HER TITLE OF HONOUR. 
 
 Second Edition, i vol. Crown 8vo. 
 
 By HOLME LEE. 
 
 " With the interest of a pathetic story is 
 united the value of a definite and high 
 purpose. " — Spectator. 
 
 "A most exquisitely written story." — 
 Literary CJmrchmari. 
 
 CRUEL AS THE GRAVE. By the Countess VON 
 BOTHMER. 3 vols. Crown 8vo. 
 
 " Jealousy is cruel as the Grave." 
 *' An interesting, though somewhat tragic I "An agreeable, unaffected, and emi- 
 story." — Atkena;um. \ nently readable novQl."— Daily News. 
 
 MEMOIRS OF MRS. L^TITIA BOOTHBY. 
 
 By WILLIAM CLARK RUSSELL, Author of "The Book of 
 Authors." Crown Svo. 'js. 6d. 
 
 entertaining from the first page to the 
 
 last." — Judy. 
 
 "This is a very clever book, one of the 
 
 best imitations of the productions of the last 
 
 century that we have seen." — Guardiaji. 
 
 "The book is clever and ingenious." — 
 Saturday Review. 
 
 " One of the most delightful books I 
 have read for a very long while. Very few 
 works of truth or fiction are so thoroughly 
 
 Eleventh Thousand. 
 
 LITTLE HODGE. A Christmas Country Carol. By 
 EDWARD JENKINS, Author of "Ginx's Baby," &c. Illustrated. 
 Crown Svo. 5^-. A Cheap Edition in paper covers, price is. 
 "We shall be mistaken if it does not 
 obtain a very wide circle of readers." — 
 United Service Gazette. 
 
 "Wise and humorous, but yet most 
 pathetic. " — Noiiconforinist. 
 
 " The pathos of some of the passages is 
 extremely touching." — Manchester Ex- 
 a7niner. 
 
 " One of the most seasonable of Christ- 
 mas stories." — Literary World. 
 
 Twenty-ninth Edition. 
 
 GINX'S BABY; HIS BIRTH AND OTHER 
 
 MISFORTUNES. By EDWARD JENKINS. Crown Svo. 
 
 Price 2s. 
 
 Sixth Edition. 
 
 LORD BANTAM. By EDWARD JENKINS, Author 
 of " Ginx's Baby." Crown Svo. Price 2s. 
 
 65, Cornhill ; 6^ 12, Paternoster Row, London.
 
 Works PublisJied by Henry S. King &> Co., 
 
 27 
 
 Fiction — continued. 
 
 Second Edition. 
 
 HERMANN AGHA : An Eastern Narrative. By 
 W. GIFFORD PALGRAVE, Author of "Travels in Central 
 Arabia," (S:c. 2 vols. Crdwn 8vo, cloth, extra gilt. \%s. 
 
 " Reads like a tale, of life, with all its 
 incidents. The young will tajce to it for 
 its love portions, the older for its descrip- 
 tions, some in this day for its Arab philo- 
 sophy. " — A thenauin. 
 
 "The cardinal merit, however, of the 
 story is, to our thinking, the exquisite sim- 
 
 plicity and purity of the love portion. 
 There is a positive fragrance as of newly- 
 mown hay about it, as compared vyith the 
 artificially perfumed passions which are 
 detailed to us with such gusto by our 
 ordinary novel-writers in their endless 
 volumes. " — Observer. 
 
 Second Edition. 
 
 SEPTIMIUS. A Romance. By NATHANIEL HAW- 
 THORNE. Author of "The Scarlet Letter," "Transformation," 
 &c. I vol. Crown 8vo, cloth, extra gilt. 9.;. 
 A peculiar interest attaches to this work. It was the last thing the author wrote, and 
 
 he may be said to have died as he finished it. 
 
 The Athen(eiem says that " the book is 
 full of Hawthorne's most characteristic 
 writing." 
 
 " One of the best examples of Haw- 
 
 thorne's writing ; every page is impressed 
 with his peculiar view of thought, conveyed 
 in his own familiar way." — Post. 
 
 PANDURANG HARI ; Or, Memoirs of a Hindoo. 
 
 A Tale of Mahratta Life sixty years ago. With a Preface, by Sir H. 
 BARTLEE. FRERE, G.C.S.I., &c. 2 vols. Cr. 8vo. Price 2 u. 
 
 THE TASMANIAN LILY. By JAMES BONWICK, 
 
 Author of "Curious Facts of Old Colonial Days," &c. Crown 
 8vo. Illustrated. Price $s. 
 
 C^^ C0niljill l^ikn;r3r ai Jfktbn. 
 
 3s. 6c/. per Volume, 
 
 IT is intended in this Series to produce 
 books of such merit that readers will 
 care to preserve them on their shelves. 
 
 They are well printed on good paper, hand- 
 somely bound, with a Frontispiece, and are 
 sold at the moderate price of 3J. 6i/. each. 
 
 GOD'S PROVIDENCE 
 
 HOUSE. By Mrs. G. L, Banks. 
 
 ROBIN GRAY. By Charles 
 
 Gibbon. With a Frontispiece by 
 Hennessy. 
 
 KITTY. By Miss M. Betham- 
 Edwards. 
 
 READY MONEY MORTI- 
 
 BOY. A Matter-of-Fact Story. 
 
 HIRELL. By John Saunders, 
 
 Author of " Abel Drake's Wife." 
 
 ONE OF TWO. ByJ. Hain 
 
 Friswell, Author of " The Gentle 
 Life," etc. 
 
 OTHER STANDARD NOVELS TO FOLLOW. 
 
 65, Cor7ihill ; o^ 12, Paternoster Rote, London.
 
 28 
 
 Wo}'ks Published by Henry S. King 6^ Co., 
 
 Ji0rt^C0mnTg Itofai^b, 
 
 CIVIL SERVICE. By J. T. 
 
 LiSTADO, Author of " Maurice Reyn- 
 harL" 2 vols. 
 
 VANESSA. By the Author of 
 " Thomasina," etc. 2 vols. 
 
 A LITTLE WORLD. By 
 
 Geo. Manville Fenn, Author of 
 '* The Sapphire Cross," " Mad," etc. 
 
 TOO LATE. By Mrs. New- 
 
 MAN. 2 vols. Crown Svo. 
 
 LADY MORETOUN'S 
 
 DAUGHTER. By Mrs. Eiloart. 
 3 vols. 
 
 TWO GIRLS. By Fredk. 
 Wedmore, Author of " A Snapt Gold 
 Ring." 2 vols. Crown Svo. 
 
 HEATHERGATE. In 2 vols. 
 
 ©Ijcokgical 
 
 HYMNS AND VERSES, Original and Trans- 
 lated. By the Rev. HENRY DOWNTOX. Small crown Svo, 
 V' ^d. 
 
 THE ETERNAL LIFE. Being Fourteen Sermons. 
 
 By the Rev. JAS. NOBLE BENNIE, M.A. Crown Svo. ds. 
 
 " We recommend these sermons as whole- " The whole volume is replete with matter 
 
 some Sunday reading."— £fi£'lis/i Church- for thought and study." — John Bull, 
 
 mail. • " Mr. Bennie preaches earnestly and 
 
 "Very chaste and pure in style, simple well." — Literary CInirchman. 
 and neat in arrangement." — Couraiit. 
 
 MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE IN THE EAST. 
 
 By the Rev. RICHARD COLLINS. Illustrated. Crown Svo. 6j-. 
 
 THE REALM OF TRUTH. 
 
 Crown Svo. 5^. 6^. 
 
 By Miss E. T. CARNE. 
 
 HYMNS FOR THE CHURCH AND HOME. 
 
 Selected and Edited by the Rev. W. FLEMING STEVENSON, 
 Author of " Praying and Working," 
 
 The hymn-book consists of three parts : — 
 I. For Public Worship. I III. For Children; and contains Biogra- 
 
 phical Notices of nearly 300 Hymn- 
 II. For Family and Private Worship. | writers, with Notes upon their Hymns . 
 
 65, Cornhill ; 6^ 12, Paternoster Roiv, London.
 
 Works Published by Henry S. King 6^ Co. 
 
 29 
 
 TnY.O'LOQlQ.hX.— continued. 
 Third Edition. 
 
 THE YOUNG LIFE EQUIPPING ITSELF 
 
 FOR GOD'S SERVICE. Being Four Sermons Preached before 
 the University of Cambridge in November, 1872, By the Rev. 
 J. C. VAUGHAN, D.D., Master of the Temple. Crown 8vo. 
 Price 3J'. 6d. 
 
 "Has all the writer's characteristics | everything else that he writes." — Exa- 
 
 of devotedness, purity, and high moral i viitier. 
 
 tone." — London Quarterly Review. " Earnest in tone and eloquent in en- 
 
 " As earnest, eloquent, and as liberal as | treaty." — Manchester Examitter. 
 
 WORDS & WORKS IN A LONDON PARISH. 
 
 Edited by the Rev. CHARLES ANDERSON, M.A. Demy 
 8vo. 6s. 
 
 " It has an interest of its own for not a I such, and if so how best increase its vital 
 few minds, to whom the question ' Is the power?' is of deep and grave importance." 
 National Church worth preserving as | — Spectator. 
 
 LIFE: Conferences delivered at Toulouse. By the Rev 
 PfiRE LACORDAIRE. Crown 8vo. 6j. 
 
 " Let the serious reader cast his eye 
 upon any single page in this volume, and 
 he will find there words which will arrest 
 his attention and give him a desire to know 
 more of the teachings of this worthy fol- 
 lower of the saintly St. Dominick."— 
 Morning Post. 
 
 "The book is worth studying as an evi- 
 dence of the way in which an able man 
 may be crippled by theological chains." — 
 Exnjniner. 
 
 " The discourses are simple, natural, and 
 unaffectedly eloquent." — Public Opinion. 
 
 Fourth Edition. 
 
 THOUGHTS FOR THE TIMES. By the Rev. 
 
 H. R. HAWEIS, M.A., "Author of Music and Morals," etc. 
 Crown 8vo. ']s. 6d. 
 
 " Bears marks of much originality of 
 thought and individuality of expression." — 
 Pall Mall Gzzctte. 
 
 " Mr. Haweis writes not only fearlessly, 
 
 but with remarkable freshness and vigour. 
 In all that he says we perceive a trans- 
 parent honesty and singleness of purpose." 
 — Saturday Review. 
 
 CATHOLICISM AND THE VATICAN. With a 
 
 Narrative of the Old Catholic Congress at Munich. By J. LOWRV 
 WHITTLE, A.M., Trin. Coll., Dublin. Second Edition. Crown 
 8vo. 4J. dd. 
 
 "A valuable and philosophic contribu- 
 tion to the solution of one of the greatest 
 questions of this stirring ^.g,^."—Clnirch 
 Titnes. 
 
 "We cannot follow the author through 
 his graphic and lucid sketch of the Catholic 
 
 movement in Germany and of the Munich 
 Congress, at which he was present ; but 
 we may cordially recommend his book to 
 all who wish to follow the course of the 
 movement." — Saturday Review. 
 
 65, Cornhill ; 6^ 12, Paternoster Row, London.
 
 30 
 
 Works Published by Henry S. King 6^ Co.^ 
 
 Theological — conthmed. 
 
 NAZARETH : ITS LIFE AND LESSONS. By 
 
 the Rev. G. S. DREW, Vicar of Trinity, Lambeth, Second 
 Edition. In small 8vo, cloth. 5^. 
 
 " hi HijH ivas life, and the life was the light of men." 
 
 "A singularly reverent and beautiful 
 book ; the style in which it is written 
 is not less chaste and attractive than its 
 subject." — Daily Telegraph. 
 
 " Perhaps one of the most remarkable 
 books recently issued in the whole range of 
 
 English theology Original in 
 
 design, calm and appreciative in language, 
 noble and elevated in style, this book, we 
 venture to think, will live." — ChurchinaiCs 
 Magazine. 
 
 SCRIPTURE LANDS IN CONNECTION WITH 
 
 THEIR HISTORY. By G. S. DREW, M.A., Vicar of Trinity, 
 
 Lambeth, Author of "Reasons of Faith." Second Edition. 
 
 Bevelled boards, 8vo. Price \os. 6d. 
 
 " Mr. Drew has invented a new method 
 
 illustrating Scripture history — from 
 
 of „ . . - 
 
 observation of the countries. Instead of 
 narrating his travels, and referring from 
 time to time to the facts of sacred history 
 belonging to the different countries, he 
 writes an outline history of the Hebrew 
 nation from Abraham downwards, with 
 special reference to the various points in 
 which the geography illustrates the his- 
 tory. The advantages of this plan are 
 obvious. Mr. Drew thus gives us not a 
 mere imitation of ' Sinai and Palestine,' but 
 
 a view of the same subject from the other 
 side. . . . He is very successful in pic- 
 turing to his readers the scenes before his 
 own mind. The position of i^braham in 
 Palestine is portrayed, both socially and 
 geographically, with great vigour. Mr. 
 Drew has given an admirable account 
 of the Hebrew sojourn in Egj'pt, and has 
 done much to popularise the newly-acquired 
 knowledge of Assyria in connection with 
 the two Jewish Kingdoms." — Saturday 
 Review. 
 
 J. s. 
 
 MEMORIES OF VILLIERSTOWN. By C. 
 
 Crown 8vo. With Frontispiece. $s. 
 
 SIX PRIVY COUNCIL JUDGMENTS— 1850-1872. 
 
 Annotated by W. G. BROOKE, M.A., Barrister-at-Law. Crown 
 8vo. 9J-. 
 
 THE DIVINE KINGDOM ON EARTH AS 
 
 IT IS IN HEAVEN. By the Author of "Nazareth : its Life 
 and Lessons." In demy 8vo, bound in cloth. 
 " Our Cotnmoiiwealth is i7i Heaven.^' 
 
 Price \Q>s. dd. 
 
 "A high purpose and a devout spirit 
 characterize this work. It is thoughtful 
 and eloquent. . . . The most valuable 
 and suggestive chapter is entitled ' Fulfil- 
 ments in Life and Ministry of Christ,' 
 which is full of original thinking admi- 
 rably expressed." — British Qjiarterly Re- 
 view. 
 
 "It is seldom that, in the course of our 
 critical duties, we have to deal with a 
 
 volume of any size or pretension so en- 
 tirely valuable and satisfactory as this. 
 Published anonymously as it is, there is 
 no living divine to whom the authorship 
 would not be a credit. . . . Not the 
 least of its merits is the perfect simplicity 
 and clearness, conjoined with a certain 
 massive beauty, of its style." — Literary 
 Churchman. 
 
 65, Cornhill ; ^ 12, Patemosier Pozv, London.
 
 Works Published by Henry S. King (S^ Co., 
 
 31 
 
 itfe.rf; eiorhs oi t&c geij, #re^. M. ^ohnhon. 
 
 NEW AND CHEAPER EDITIONS. 
 
 LIFE AND LETTERS. 
 
 Edited by Stopford Brooke, 
 M.A., Chaplain in Ordinary to the 
 Queen. 
 In 2 vols., uniform with the Sermons. 
 
 Price 7J. 6d. 
 Library Edition, in demy 8vo, with Two 
 
 Steel Portraits. 12s. 
 A Popular Edition, in i vol. Price 6s. 
 
 SERMONS. Four Series. 
 
 4 vols, small crown 8vo, price 3.5-. 6d. 
 per vol. 
 
 EXPOSITORY LECTURES 
 
 ON ST. PAUL'S EPISTLE TO 
 THE CORINTHIANS. Small 
 crown 8vo. 5s. 
 
 AN ANALYSIS OF MR. 
 
 TENNYSON'S " IN MEMO- 
 RIAM." (Dedicated by permission 
 to the Poet-Laureate.) Fcap. Svo. 2.$-. 
 
 THE EDUCATION OF 
 
 THE HUMAN RACE. Translated 
 from the German of Gotthold 
 Ephraim Lessinc;. Fcap. Svo. 2s. 6d. 
 
 LECTURES & ADDRESSES 
 
 ON LITERARY AND SOCIAL 
 
 TOPICS. Small crown Svo. 3s. 6d. 
 
 \_Pre/>ari)tg. 
 
 A LECTURE ON FRED. 
 
 W. ROBERTSON, M.A. By the 
 Rev. F. A. Noble, delivered before 
 the Young Men's Christian Association 
 of Pittsburgh, U.S. i.y. 6^/. 
 
 Chaplain in Ordinary to Her Majesty the Queen. 
 
 CHRIST IN MODERN 
 
 in St. James'-s Chapel, York 
 Crown 8vo. ^s. 6d. 
 " Nobly fearless and singularly strong. . 
 — British Quarterly Review. 
 
 LIFE. Sermons Preached 
 Street, London. Third Edition. 
 
 . . carries our admiration throughout." 
 
 FREEDOM IN THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 
 
 Six Sermons suggested by the Voysey Judgment. Second Edition. 
 Crown Svo, cloth. 3^. dd. 
 
 ' Interesting and readable, and charac- 
 
 In I vol. 
 
 "Avery fair statement of the views in 
 respect to freedom of thought held by the 
 liberal party in the Church of England." — 
 Blackivood 's Magaziiie. 
 
 terised by great clearness of thought, 
 frankness of statement, and moderation 
 of tone."— Chu7-ch Opinion. 
 
 SERMONS Preached in St. James's Chapel, York Street, 
 London. Sixth Edition. Crown Svo. 6s. 
 "No one who reads these sermons will They are fiery, energetic, impetuous ser- 
 wonder that Mr. Brooke is a great power mons, rich with the treasures of a culti- 
 in London, that his chapel is thronged, vated imagination." — Guardian. 
 and his followers large and enthusiastic. 
 
 THE LIFE AND WORK OF FREDERICK 
 
 DENISON MAURICE : A Memorial Sermon. Crown Svo, 
 sewed, is. 
 
 65, Cornhill ; &= 12, Paternoster Row, London.
 
 THE DAY OF REST. 
 
 Weekly, price OHE PENNY, «'^^ "^ MONTHLY PARTS, /r/f^ SIXPENCE. 
 ILLUSTRATED BY THE BEST ARTISTS. 
 
 Amono- the leading Contributions to the First Year's Issue may be mentioned ; 
 
 WORDS FOR THE DAY. 
 
 By C. J. Vaughan, D.D., Master of the 
 Temple. 
 
 LABOURS OF LOVE: 
 
 Being further Accounts of what is being 
 done by Dr. Wichern and others. 
 By the Rev. W. Fleming Stevenson, 
 Author of "Praying and Working." 
 
 OCCASIONAL PAPERS. 
 
 By the Rev. Thomas Binnky. 
 
 THE BATTLE OF THE POOR: 
 
 Sketches from Courts and Alleys. By 
 Hesba Stretton, Author of "Jes- 
 sica's First Prayer," and "Little 
 Meg's Children." 
 
 TO ROME AND BACK: 
 
 A Narrative of Personal E.xperience. By 
 One who has made the Journey. 
 
 *4^* The late Dr. Norman Macleod, dur- 
 ing the last few months of hisJife, frequently 
 urged the preparation of a series of Popular 
 Papers, by a thoroughly competent person, 
 on the Church of Rome as it really is to- 
 day. " To Rome and Back" is the result 
 of his suggestion. 
 
 SUNDAYS IN MY LIFE. 
 
 By the Author of " Episodes in an Ob- 
 scure Life." 
 
 SONGS OF REST. 
 
 By George Macdonald. 
 
 Price ONE PENNY Weekly. MONTHLY PARTS, Price Sixpence. 
 
 THE CONTEMPORARY REVIEW. Theological, 
 
 Literary, and Social. Price Half-a-Crown Monthly. 
 
 THE SAINT PAULS MAGAZINE. Light and 
 
 Choice. Price One Shilling Monthly. 
 
 GOOD THINGS for the YOUNG of ALL AGES. 
 
 Edited by GEORGE MACDONALD. And Illustrated by the 
 best Artists. Price Sixpence Monthly. 
 
 Bradbury, Agnew, & Co., Printers, Whitefriars. 
 
 IC
 
 .'i, ••<• . ■♦i 
 
 J ;. .. ■•