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 THE COPPER QUEEN, 
 
 VOL. III.
 
 THE COPPEE QUEEN 
 
 3. liomance of iS^a-bau iinir yesterirnn. 
 
 BLANCHE ROOSEVELT, 
 
 AUTHOR OF 
 
 LIFE AND REMINISCENCES OF OC'STAVE DORE," " LONGFELLOW's HOME LIFE, 
 
 "STAGE STLUCK," ETC. 
 
 "For time at last sets all things even, 
 And if we do but watch the hour, 
 There never yet was human power 
 Which could evade, if unforgiven, 
 The patient search, and vigil long, 
 Of him who treasures up a wi-ong." 
 
 Mazeppa. Canto V. Byron. 
 
 VOL. III. 
 
 WAED AND DOWNEY, PUBLISHERS, 
 
 12, YORK STREET, COVEXT GARDEN. 
 
 1886.
 
 Richard Clav dr Sons, 
 
 BKEAD STREET HILL, LONDO> 
 
 Bv.'iujay, Suffolk.
 
 V 
 
 THE COPPEK QUEEN. 
 
 CHAPTER 1. 
 
 Enilda and Flora had been but a few days in 
 London when the mail brought them letters from 
 home ; among^st others from Mr. Rozen and Florestan, 
 and a very long one from Mrs. Chromo. Mr. Rozen 
 was full of regret for his dear girl's departure, and 
 fuller yet of his multitude of cares and troubles ; whilst 
 Florestan's letter, although couched in friendly terms, 
 in every word breathed an under-current of love 
 which amounted to a passion ; for if Enilda had 
 known before that he cared for her, she now read 
 between the lines, and saw in every space a newer 
 declaration of his affection. 
 
 Since her meeting with Claremont she had been 
 a prey to such strange sensations that not only she 
 scarcely dared to define them, but she scarcely dared 
 admit even to herself what she felt now to be the 
 
 VOL. III. B
 
 2 The Copper Queen. 
 
 truth — that Claremont held as of old the first place 
 in her heart. The day following her arrival she had 
 refused to see him, and Flora had given him the 
 coveted dish of tea ; but if Enilda refused one morn- 
 ing, fate threw him in her path the next; whilst 
 Lady Mildred, unsuspicious and unwearying in hospi- 
 tality, so managed that not a day passed but they 
 either lunched, dined, or went to the play together. 
 Enilda could not plead ill- health as an excuse for 
 not accepting Lady Mildred's invitations, for in 
 reality she had never been so well before in her 
 whole life. Then, too, since their meeting on the 
 steamer, at sight of his face or sound of his voice, 
 that strange old fascination would creep over her, 
 and as helplessly enfold her in its toils as the boa- 
 constrictor enfolds its victim. She had never yet 
 seen him alone — so far fortune had befriended her 
 — yet she dreaded to think of what that meeting 
 might be, for she felt sure come it must some day. 
 She was turning Florestan's letter over idly in her 
 hand, and thinking — not of him, but of Claremont. 
 She was suddenly startled out of her thoughts by 
 a shriek of laughter from Flora. 
 
 " My dearest child," she cried, " jvdiat on earth 
 are you laughing at ? " 
 
 Flora continued laughing, but explained that 
 she was reading Mrs. Chromo's letter, and the news
 
 The Copper Queen. 3 
 
 Wcas too funny. " Sta}^'* she added ; " I'll read it to 
 you entire. If you aren't surprised I'll give in. Lucy 
 Chromo is a dear, but between ourselves, 'Enilda 
 chile/ as Charlotte Corday says, she's no chicken, 
 and ought to know better. Now, Miss Chandos- 
 Cressy, for instance : she's old enough to eat grass, 
 but I don't believe even she would be as idiotic 
 as Lucy is. Listen : 
 
 "'Dearest Flora, 
 
 "'You wondered why I didn't come to Europe 
 with you ; why at the last moment I had to stop at 
 home ? Well, I may as well tell you the truth, first 
 as last. Nearly a year ago I determined that if 
 Adam Chromo wouldn't give up the glue business 
 — in short, retire on his laurels and money — that I 
 would be divorced from him, as I could no longer 
 stand the sight of those filthy, brazen carts, chirping 
 up and down the Avenue constantly before my very 
 eyes. The end of all is, he wouldn't sacrifice them ; 
 he preferred to sacrifice me : not unusual, dear, when 
 you marry simply that compound of nature's cunning, 
 classically called — man. I did not care to let New 
 York into the secret of my domestic affairs, so have 
 always kept the matter extremely quiet. Before the 
 world Adam and myself have ever preserved an 
 outward semblance of harmony; behind it — well,
 
 4 The Copper Queen. 
 
 not a semblance, but a reality of awful discord. 
 Every word I have spoken to him at meals, or before 
 a servant, has been taken down for me by my 
 faithful Zenobia; for Adam, by his equally faithful 
 Tristram. These conversations, I need not tell you, 
 are destined as evidence when our case comes up 
 for trial; the which trial, I need not say, comes 
 off the first of September next. You can imagine 
 how I feel, and what I have borne during the past 
 year. My lawyer, Mr. Harkins, a sweet, angelic man, 
 has heard all my pros and cons. I believe that is 
 the legal way to put it, and he thinks that Adam 
 Chromo is a brute, and has morally mopped the 
 floor up with me for years. Absolute incompatibility 
 of temper is the least I have against him. Oh, 
 Flora ! pity me. Tell Enilda all, and whatever you 
 do, either of you, never marry an idiotic, opinionated, 
 self-made American. Other races of men change — 
 American men — never. Adam could not forget that 
 he had, so to speak, manufactured himself. He used 
 to boast of what he was — a Virginian stable-boy in 
 extreme youth — and what he is noio. I have often 
 told him, that to a proud, even haughty — you know 
 me, Flora, I have often been haughty, but never 
 with you ; — a proud, even haughty woman like my- 
 self, a Mayflower descendant, he was not Hercules, 
 and those Augean reminiscences had an unsavoury
 
 The Copper Queen. 5 
 
 smell in the millionnaire's parlour. I have even said, 
 " Leave me out of the question ; but you — you yourself, 
 have you no pride ? " Result ! Well, girls, both of 
 you — you see he hasn't. I wish you could have seen 
 tlie lawyer's face when he took in our breakfost-table 
 conversation, faithfully reported by Zenobia — too 
 faithfully for Adam, — which was but one speaking 
 instance of the brutality and humiliation we women 
 are subject to at times. Mind, I say at times, for 
 although the race in general deserves wholesale 
 reprobation, I have known some masculine excep- 
 tions, of which I could name three or four on the 
 spot. I have more news, which will keep until my 
 arrival. What sort of a house is it ? Park Lane 
 sounds very nice. Mr. Rozen told me all about 
 it. How many servants are there ? They say 
 June and July are the months in London, so I 
 am counting on a lovely time. By the way, we 
 come over in a large party — Mr. Florestan, the 
 Count, Mr. Cherubini, and your humble servant. 
 Let me not forget Miss Chandos-Cressy, who has 
 just told me that she is great-aunt to a titled lady — 
 married to an old flame of mine, John Claremont — ' " 
 
 "Ah!" 
 
 " What is it ? " 
 
 " I — I thought some one came in ; I see I was 
 mistaken. Go on."
 
 6 The Copper Queex. 
 
 " ' John Claremont, whom I was once — may I say 
 completely gone on ? It wasn't the man, but his 
 manners, they were so different from those of all 
 American men : but that's over — " All's well — that — 
 is worth two in the bush," I shouldn't be at all sur- 
 prised if Professor Protoplasm came with us after all. 
 I believe he's sweet on Miss C.-C. Somethint{ else 
 also has haj^pened, but that must be a secret until 
 after my divorce has been pronounced. I am going 
 to be presented at Court with you girls this season, 
 as no woman, I hear, can go to Court after the little 
 affair above-mentioned has been consummated. 
 Ridiculous, isn't it ? — but I suppose in England they 
 must draw the line somewhere. I am nearly dead, 
 but must add a word to say that Enilda's papa looks 
 very worried and anxious. I see there has been some 
 law-suit on for that Vane, and perhaps Mr. Rozen 
 was worried about it. That comes of being a silent 
 partner. Pve always said they have all the fretting, 
 all the responsibility, and all the work. If Adam 
 would only become a silent partner in his own 
 concern — but that is a dream. 
 
 " ' Don't think I regret the step I have taken. I 
 don't love him, but I still have a sneaking kind of 
 regard for him, and sometimes wonder what will 
 become of him without me ; but he deserves it. Per- 
 haps when he finds me firm he will listen to reason.
 
 The Copper Queen. 7 
 
 He will settle ten million dollars on me, so that I 
 sha'n't starve ; but it seems little compared to what I 
 have been in the habit of commanding. Of course 
 one can live upon that, but it will be an odious 
 thought to say to myself every day and every 
 minute, as I know I shall be obliged to say, " Lucy 
 Chromo, deny yourself this, deny yourself that ; your 
 exchequer is now miserably limited." 
 
 "'We sail in the "Electra;" lovely steamer. I 
 have the bridal chambers, — alas ! strange mockery of 
 a happy past. Forgive me, girls, for wilting now at 
 the last moment, so to speak, but I cannot help 
 it. If I don't leave New York soon, I shall 
 rupture a blood-vessel in the brain, or somewhere 
 else. I have said good-bye to Adam, and — good- 
 bye I feel it is. Will telegraph arrival from 
 Queenstown. 
 
 " ' With fond love, ever the same, 
 
 "'Lucy Chromo.' 
 
 '• Now, Enilda, what can you say to a woman like 
 Lucy Chromo ? " Flora laughed as she spoke. " Isn't 
 she a fool to give up all that money, and — and as 
 decent a man as one could find in the whole of 
 America, hunt where you may ? What do you s'pose 
 the secret is ? " 
 
 " I hav'n't an idea "
 
 8 The Copper Queen. 
 
 " Perhaps she is going to marry again." 
 
 " Perhaps." 
 
 "Enilda, how oddly you answer me; aren't yon 
 well?" 
 
 "Perfectly." 
 
 "Perfectly? Let me see." Flora took Enilda's 
 chin in her hand and turned the fair face up to the 
 light. 
 
 The object of this scrutiny blushed. 
 
 " Nonsense, Flora," she cried petulantly ; " I am 
 perfectly Avell, only — only I was wondering about — 
 about papa. I confess I am worried. Do you think 
 he is seriously ill ? " 
 
 Enilda's eyes filled with tears. 
 
 "I think Lucy Chromo is an idiot," cried 
 Flora. "I'm out of patience with her. Of course 
 your father isn't ill; at worst it could only be 
 some stock s^one wronoj. What is he — a bull or a 
 bear ? " 
 
 " I — ^I really don't know ; perhaps he's both. Per- 
 haps he may be a bear for one kind and a bull for 
 the other; but I've heard people who know Wall 
 Street as well as their pocket-books say that bull is 
 one profession and bear is another. It's as different 
 as being a chemist and botanist, you know," 
 
 "It is all strange talk to me, dear; but I don't 
 believe it is stock ; in fact I know it isn't. I asked
 
 The Copper Queen. 9 
 
 him once, and he said distinctly, No. Perhaps he's 
 in love." 
 
 "Flora!" 
 
 " Well, dear, have you never dreamed that some 
 such thinor misfht be the case ? " 
 
 " Never. Papa adored mamma. Her awful death 
 made him a chano-ed man. He has since devoted 
 
 o 
 
 himself to me, and couldn't look at another woman : 
 every day he seems to love me more. No one ever 
 had a father like mine — like — " 
 
 Enilda stopped abruptly, although her eyes were 
 still overrun with tears. In fancy she went back 
 to a year ago. She was reading Claremont's letter 
 — her father was consoling her — then she was in 
 Naples, in Rome, wandering here, there, every- 
 where; he always silencing her heartaches by his 
 infinite tenderness, his watchfulness, his constant 
 care. 
 
 Flora kissed her. 
 
 "Dear," she said, "I won't quarrel with you 
 about parents, although I think my own are the 
 best 'as ever was;' only you mustn't worry about 
 him; crying and so on: besides, you'll spoil your 
 eyes — 'the loveliest eyes in the world,' as Mr. 
 Claremont says." 
 
 " Flora, what do you mean ? " 
 
 "Enilda, don't fly at me like that. What do
 
 10 The Copper Queex. 
 
 you mean ? Can't a man admire your eyes ? A 
 'cat may look at a king.' I only say if a man 
 admires my eyes, I don't see why he can't come 
 directly to me, and tell me, instead of waltzing 
 around to other women and saying what he thinks of 
 me ! What's that ? — a ' gram ' ; — give it here. Oh, 
 it's for you, Enilda." 
 
 A servant handed Enilda the regulation yellow 
 envelope. 
 
 "They've arrived," she said; "read. Lucy will be 
 here to-morrow, and — and Mr. Florestan." 
 
 Flora jumped joyfully about like a school-girl. 
 
 ''At la^t," she said; "now we can besrin to 
 have some fun. But two things we'll prohibit; 
 — no talking divorce; no abusing Adam Chromo 
 behind his back. What do you say, 'Nilda? — and 
 — and — no talking about your pater, and — and 
 w^orries." 
 
 " I must know exactly how papa is ; but as to 
 talking over her proposed divorce — that — well, that 
 is out of the question." 
 
 "Perhaps she'll abandon the idea if we have a 
 good go at her about it." 
 
 " My dear child, what business is it of yours or 
 mine ? At least leave her to the enjoyment of her 
 own private affairs. Now I have something to 
 confide in you. I have taken a growing dislike to
 
 The Copper Queen. 11 
 
 Count de Marcie. I see him in dreams mixed up 
 with papa, and I can't make it out; after such a 
 night I really wake up with — with — well, with a 
 bad taste in my mouth, if you know what I mean 
 by that." 
 
 " I know exactly ; an encyclopsedia in ten volumes 
 couldn't have expressed it better." 
 
 " I see that Lucy Chromo is getting as thick with 
 the Count as two peas in a pod, and I hope she 
 won't have him here all the time; I feel I couldn't 
 stand it." 
 
 " My dear, the house is yours." 
 
 " Oh no ; I don't mean that. Of course, Lucy is 
 kind enough to chaperone us. The house is hers ; she 
 spoke something about taking it together, and so on ; 
 but that is all nonsense. The best friends in the 
 world fight after a month of having kept house 
 together ; dividing household expenses, and so on. I 
 know of nothing more fatal to mutual esteem." 
 
 * Perhaps as you are not devoted chums it would 
 work all right." 
 
 "Yes; that might be an antidote, but I am not 
 going to try it. Papa has arranged everything. He 
 has invited her to be my guest, but practically to 
 be the head of the house." 
 
 "So we girls are on a visit to Lucy. How 
 funny ! "
 
 12 The Copper Queex. 
 
 " It is funny when you think of it ; but as papa 
 couldn't come, and your mamma wouldn't come — 
 and he — papa — insisted on my coming to Europe, 
 and so did Charlotte Corday — " 
 
 "My dearest Enilda, what has she to do with 
 it?" 
 
 " Oh nothing ; only — only I love her dearly. She 
 has been like a mother to me." 
 
 " Happily she didn't nurse you ; you might have 
 been black." 
 
 " Nonsense." Enilda smiled faintly for the first 
 time since reading her letters. "Nonsense; only 
 Charlotte had a strange fainting-fit ; and after that 
 she kept saying, ' Let's go away, honey chile — away 
 from New York ; ' and when I said papa wishes me 
 to go to London, she seemed tickled to death, and 
 she was so broken-down, poor thing, I thought we 
 might as well come, so — here we are." 
 
 " She seems to enjoy London hugely, and now I 
 think of it looks as spry as a 'possum' — to quote 
 her words. But come, are we o^oingj to the Row or 
 not this morning ? " 
 
 " Oh yes, of course ; I had quite forgotten our 
 engagement." 
 
 " Lady Mildred is a dear, not a bit like the stiff 
 Englishmen you read about — but wdiat a funny 
 country ! — she, my Lady ; he, plain Mister. Imagine
 
 The Copper Queen. 13 
 
 a husband taking a back seat in America — being 
 only—" 
 
 " Only the husband of madam." 
 
 "Yes; and — and do you know, Enilda, I don't 
 believe they're happy together. She loves him, and 
 he don't love her. If I didn't know better, I should 
 sa}" he's mashed on you. It's the clearest case of — " 
 
 In spite of herself Enilda trembled as she thought : 
 " What ! had she alone been blind ? Did John 
 Claremont still care for her ? — and did he respect her 
 — his wife — so little that he let all the world see it ? 
 Could it be possible ? " 
 
 " Heavens upon earth," cried Flora, " what fools we 
 are ! The ship is in ; this gram isn't from Queens- 
 town at all, but from Liverpool. Why, they'll be 
 here in no time." 
 
 Enilda looked again, then rang and began giving 
 directions about Lucy's rooms, the dinner, and — then 
 she reflected. The Claremonts were dining there 
 that very night; should she put them off? Flora 
 divined her brown study. 
 
 " Let's have a grand square-toed dinner in the 
 impromptu line, all together. Lady Mildred is sure 
 to like Lucy, and she won't be too tired after the 
 trip. What fun ! what fun ! Do give orders at 
 once." 
 
 Enilda demurred, but Flora finallv had her wav.
 
 14 The Copper Queen. 
 
 Orders were given ; the girls went to the park ; 
 kmched with Lady Mildred afterwards, and two 
 hours later were embracing Lucy and Miss Chandos- 
 Cressy at the railway-terminus. They were nil 
 lauofhino: and chatterino^ ''thirteen to the dozen" 
 about the trip. 
 
 Florestan shook Enilda's hand warmly, and looked 
 into her eyes with so glad a light in his that she 
 felt a thrill leaping in every vein. She was sorry 
 for him, and yet she could not tell why ; only John 
 Claremont's face always came between hers and any 
 others, if that other happened to be a man's. Would 
 it be ever so ? She had intended welcoming Florestan 
 warmly ; instead, she turned her face away and 
 greeted him coldly. 
 
 "Something has happened," he thought, and his 
 heart died within him. He had counted the hours 
 of the long voyage. Every plash of the waves 
 agaiDst the steamer's paddle, every opaline tint which 
 crested the little hills receding from the stern, had 
 said to him, "You are leaving me behind, but you 
 are going to her;" and on those fair nights when 
 the silver moonlight made an endless track across 
 the broad expanse of water he repeated, " One day 
 more which separated us is gone. I am one day 
 nearer to her." He had looked at the last crests 
 flashing from the bow, and almost heard the last
 
 The Copper Queex. 15 
 
 sound of the screw as the all-potent iron cleaved the 
 impuissant Atlantic ; he had heard " All's well ! " 
 cried out for the last time ; he was landed in London 
 at last, and she — she was standing by his side saying 
 coldly : 
 
 " So glad to see you. I hope you had a charm- 
 ing trip ; you must dine with us to-night. Flora 
 insists on our having a real family party." 
 
 " Flora," he thought ; " ah ! — she it was who asked 
 me, — who cared to see me 1 " 
 
 " And, dear Cyril, you haven't brought him ? " 
 Florestan smiled sadly. 
 
 '"'Cyril is with his grandmamma. I shall miss 
 him, but mother wouldn't hear of my bringing such 
 a little fellow so far." 
 
 "Oh, I'm sorry; I had so hoped to see him. I 
 love him dearly." 
 
 At that moment Florestan was near hating him. 
 "Even my child," he thought bitterly, "she loves 
 him, but — she has no love for me." He was going 
 to refuse the dinner; he conceived the wild project of 
 returning to New York by the next steamer. "She 
 is a heartless woman," he thought, " and I will think 
 of her no more." He looked up brusquely. She 
 was speaking to him in a softer voice ; only a softer 
 voice, one little cadence sweeter than a moment since, 
 and at its music all his latent resolutions vanished.
 
 16 The Copper Queen. 
 
 "I am sure you won't plead a prior engage- 
 ment," she said; "I can't let you say no. There 
 will be some old friends; amongst others the Lady 
 Mildred Claremont, and — and her husband, — delight- 
 ful people ; — also some new acquaintances, Lord and 
 Lady St. Ermine, Baron d'Alfredi, and many others. 
 Lady St. Ermine is a lovely woman, a poetess — not a 
 bit of the has blue." 
 
 He lifted his hands in horror. 
 
 "Prepare yourself," she said laughingly, "for a 
 very young woman, fair, lovely, adorable; eyes like 
 wood-violets shining with morning dew, and a face 
 like an unfinished sketch by an old master — Raphael, 
 for instance, — and she the Sistina Madonna in — in 
 English—" 
 
 "My dear," interrupted Lucy Chromo, "don't 
 spring old masters on me at this stage of the game." 
 Then she added quickly, " How foggy it is ! The 
 Count got off at Queenstown, wasn't it odious of him ? 
 — but — he is coming on to-morrow or the day after." 
 
 Enilda some way breathed a sigh of relief. She 
 was happy to think that even forty-eight hours had 
 come between them. Florestan's voice sounded in 
 her ears. 
 
 " You know your wishes are, as ever, my law. Of 
 course I shall come. Eight, you say? and I add 
 ' eight sharp.' "
 
 The Copper Queen. 17 
 
 The dinner was finished and the men dawdJino- 
 over wine, cigars, and scandal; perhaps political, 
 but certainly scandal. John Claremont was looking 
 at Florestan. His brow was clouded, and a dark 
 light sombred his eyes. He had been thus studying 
 him ever since he had revived a very slight acquaint- 
 anceship began in New York months since. When 
 Enilda left the room he surprised a glance on 
 Florestan's face which roused every bad passion in 
 his nature. 
 
 " He loves her," he thought ; " and she — she has 
 forgotten me. She loves him ; but I would kill her 
 with my own hand before she should ever marry 
 him." 
 
 VOL. Ill,
 
 18 
 
 CHAFTER II. 
 
 At last the great affair was over. Mrs. Chromo, 
 Enilda, and Flora had gone bare-necked on a bitter 
 day to pay court to a Sovereign whose virtues like 
 her name were world-wide. They did not regret 
 the biting^ east wind, the lonsc drive to Buckins^haiu 
 Palace, the long wait before presentation, nor the 
 gradual deepening of the skin from rose to violet, 
 and the standing for hours before their turns came. 
 The three had previously taken lessons from a 
 fashionable drawing-room teacher, and at home they 
 had rehearsed their parts ; Lucy Chromo being the 
 queen, Flora the wife of the Minister for Foreign 
 Affairs, Enilda the victim. Then the roles were 
 reversed, each in turn assuming the state of queen, 
 mistress of ceremonies, and young lady to be pre- 
 sented. Enilda certainly excelled in gi'ace, Flora in 
 audacity, and Lucy in dignity. At last the teacher 
 pronounced them perfect, and declared that from
 
 The Copper Queen. 19 
 
 their ease and manner they might have passed their 
 lives at Court. " It is astonishing," she said, " how 
 Americans get on," and added, " Ladies, I never 
 before had such pupils. It is as if you were born to 
 the purple." 
 
 When they saw their noses and shoulders growing 
 so high-coloured in broad daylight, they began to 
 think that not only were they born to it, but that 
 they had inherited it then and there. 
 
 Few women can stand the crucial test of the 
 Drawing-Room, and long before- they reached the 
 Palace Lucy began to grumble, Flora to fret, and 
 Enilda to declare that " it might as well be in the 
 evening anyway ; " but their murmurings were " a 
 vain thing," and after hours of unavoidable peripa- 
 tetics they finally found themselves in the Royal 
 apartment, where the members of the Royal Family 
 in brilliant automatic guard stood to the risfht and 
 left of her most gracious Majesty the Queen. 
 
 When the important moment came Enilda trembled 
 like a leaf in the storm. 
 
 " I know I shall do something awful," whispered 
 Flora, whilst Lucy preserved such a dignity that her 
 bosom heaved and threatened to burst the bounds 
 of her corsage, whose scantness, the fashion, the 
 dressmaker, and her own personal courage had all 
 mutually agreed upon. It was over : the page had 
 
 c 2
 
 20 The Copper Queen. 
 
 held Enilda's train ; she had advanced as if she were 
 walking on eggs; she had bowed she never could 
 tell how; had stretched out her arm she never knew 
 Avhen ; the Queen had placed a gentle hand thereon ; 
 and she had kissed it she never realized where. 
 
 Flora, in spite of her presentiment, had creditably 
 gone through the same performance ; but Lucy, her 
 face in a glow, her breast in a storm, and her heart 
 like a stone, at the last instant had dropped her 
 superb dignity. As a super drops his mantle at the 
 very moment he should have kept it on, so all her 
 fine airs fled from her the instant she most needed 
 them ; she stumbled in her petticoats ; she couldn't 
 get near enough to the Queen. And the kiss that 
 should have exploded on the royal hand rent the 
 air a few fathoms off like a signal falling foul at sea. 
 Then the agony about the dress was unendurable. 
 She bent, she heard it strain, strain again, then a 
 cunning sound like the splitting of ship's timbers in 
 a gale smote her ear ; in spite of a pound of hair- 
 dresser s pins, her hair, not particular which end it 
 stood on, raised, and the prickling at the roots drove 
 all the blood from her heart to the upper part of her 
 arms. Oh, to dare to look up ; to scream, to do any- 
 thing! — but impossible. Had anything happened? 
 Happily nothing ; for in spite of warnings her bodice 
 proved stronger than her nerves. She finished her
 
 The Copper Queen. 21 
 
 salutation in a whole frock, but a dead faint ; and if 
 she had not created a sensation at her appearance, 
 she certainly did on her disappearance. Proper 
 restoratives brought her to, and when she got away 
 from the Palace she realized the blessedness of 
 exceptions to rules, viz. Tennyson's — 
 
 " Of all sad words of tongue or 'pen, 
 The saddest are these, ' it might have been.' " 
 
 It was indeed over. " The agony was somewhat 
 abated." Happily, although the circumstances were 
 not the same as those Byron describes in — in one of 
 his poems — 
 
 " Alas, we must awake before, 
 We know such vision comes no more ; " 
 
 Lucy knew that her Drawing-Room if not her day 
 was ended, and as they drove down the Mall in the 
 budding twilight Enilda consoled and Flora com- 
 forted : but she for the first time in her life remarked 
 'Hhat she was glad America was a Republic," and 
 grateful tears bursting from her eyes, a calm followed 
 the storm, and she began to think not about her 
 presentation but her dinner. When she fully re- 
 covered the effects of her fright at what might have 
 been, she was so grateful for the escape that she 
 even contemplated making herself a British subject, 
 and paved the way by sending cheques to all the
 
 22 The Copper Queen. 
 
 London hospitals, until her enthusiasm, like her 
 money, gradually grew *' beautifully less." 
 
 Enilda was now in the full swing of the London 
 season. Her title of " Copper Queen " had followed 
 her from America; she was oftener called tliat than 
 by her name. Her beauty, modesty, and manners 
 won all liearts. Royalty smiled upon her, and 
 the upper ten bore her upon its classic but tired 
 shoulders. She was invited to luncheons, dinners, 
 balls, suppers, to routs and to races, to Henley and 
 Hurlingham, to attend fish-dinners at Greenwich 
 and fiuit-stalls at Kew, Her life was one whirl of 
 pleasurable excitement. London was so adorable 
 that she wondered how she had ever even liked 
 New York: 
 
 And John Claremont ! As yet they had never 
 been alone together. When they met he was full 
 of a grave politeness, which, as she became accus- 
 tomed to it, daily threw her more and more off her 
 guard. After that farewell at Euston, where he had 
 pressed her hand with such violence, he had never 
 betrayed himself by a similar movement. They 
 met as people meet who have nothing in common 
 beyond the civilities of ordinary friendship. Enilda 
 no longer trembled in secret, no longer pictured to 
 herself any time when she would hear from his lips 
 an explanation that she had once thought him bound
 
 The Copper Queex. 23 
 
 to give her. But would he ever make that explana- 
 tion ? Was there anything to say ? He had married 
 another woman, not for that other one's money — that 
 she would never admit, but because he no longer 
 truly loved her. It was very simple : men had done 
 those things since the world began. " Perhaps it 
 was half my fault," she would say. " I didn't throw 
 myself at his head, but I certainly made no objection 
 to his throwino; himself at mine." Then she would 
 go on thinking, and lose herself in a maze of fancy, 
 w^hose end w^as what its bemnnino^ had been — 
 irritation. Irritation against herself, against Clare- 
 mont, his wife, Flora, Charlotte, everybody in general, 
 and — Florestan in particular. 
 
 She could not forgive this latter for loving her. 
 She treated him more coldly every day, and yet he 
 did not seem to love her less. She could not under- 
 stand it, and at such times invariably wondered if 
 Claremont still cared for her. Her former lovers 
 passiveness w^as more galling then she had ever 
 dreamed his hatred could be. Did he love Lady 
 Mildred ? No — she was sure he did not. Women 
 have only to spend ten minutes in the society of a 
 man and his wife, of a lover and his mistress, to 
 know which is the one to love. When a man loves 
 a w^oman, he instinctively wants to touch her — her 
 hair, her shoulder, her hand, or a fold of her garment ;
 
 24 The Copper Queex. 
 
 and the merest nothing tells his passion to all the 
 air around him. Long before he comes near her 
 some occult power draws him slowly but surely to 
 her. This moral expansiveness is the expression of 
 the finest spiritual, not material, feeling, and says 
 more for the parity of a man's affection than could 
 a volume of the most eloquent words. The natural 
 instinct of the soul is a finer, subtler sense than the 
 natural instinct of the heart, and in men it is infal- 
 lible, whether shown by the King towards his 
 favourite maid of honour, or the humble student 
 towards his Latin-Quarter grisette. 
 
 And when women love ? Ah ! they may have as 
 many spiritual and natural instincts, but they are 
 more varied, and much more difficult to define. 
 Woman may not knoAV her own heart, but she can 
 tell directly what lies in another woman's. Enilda 
 felt that if there were any passion in this case it was 
 all on Lady Mildred's side. 
 
 She knew it was wrong, wholly wicked and detest- 
 ab^.e, yet she longed to break the icy barrier between 
 Claremont and herself; lons^ed to see him once 
 betrayed out of that calm which he wore with such 
 constant, uncham^^ino- arace. Then she thou<^ht : 
 
 *' He does not care ; he does it to madden me ; but 
 I will show that I can be more indifferent still." 
 
 So the days wore on, and nothing was changed.
 
 The Copper Queen. 25 
 
 If possible, tliere was only more cnlm; but experi- 
 enced mariners know when the sea looks like a o-reat 
 plain of oil, the smoother it seems to-night the 
 fiercer the tempest to-morrow. Enilda, for all she 
 had bought experience with sorrow, was still as 
 unversed in many of the world's signs and warnings 
 as wdien she plucked the flower which grew so wild 
 in the little old Laramie garden. She realized that 
 Florestan loved her, worshipped her, and in the 
 tumult of her heart she often surprised herself, 
 wondering why she treated him so coldly — why she 
 did not give him in return one-tenth the affection 
 he GO generously bestowed ; yet her wonderment 
 finished there. She cried bitterly to herself that no 
 man was worth a woman's pure, honest affection ; 
 she took up her life in its glittering skein, became 
 daily more worldly, and tried to stifle in society's 
 distractions her present, and best thoughts, those 
 which had been bought with the price of her youth- 
 ful hopes and inestimable youthful illusions. 
 
 Enilda was thinking of this one afternoon, when 
 she was interrupted by a visitor — none other than 
 Florestan himself. Flora and Lucy had gone out 
 shopping, and for the first time, so to speak, since 
 their arrival in London, she found herself alone. 
 When the servant announced Mr. Florestan, her first 
 thought was to say, " Not at home ; " but on reflection
 
 26 The Copper Queen. 
 
 she decided to receive him. He came in with so 
 bright a smile that some way it seemed to lighten 
 up even her own gloomy feelings. " What ! " ho 
 said, " alone — I am lucky ! " Then he kissed her 
 hand tenderly. 
 
 " Alone ! " she re-echoed. " I am so glad you came 
 in; I was boring myself to death thinking of — 
 myself." 
 
 He looked anxiously in her face, but he could not 
 make his eyes sad ; some way they were filled with a 
 merry humour. 
 
 " Gaze upon me," he said ; " I don't appear like 
 the orthodox classical Hermes, but I am a modern 
 Mercury, and bring you messages infinite, from at 
 least four very important persons." 
 
 Enilda smiled. " Come and sit down," she said, 
 leading him to a favourite corner, "and let me hear 
 your news." 
 
 ''First/' he said, "a letter from your father, who 
 misses you, but is w^ell and very happy." 
 
 " Ah," she said ; " dear papa ! — that is indeed good 
 news ; — and next ? " 
 
 " Next," he said, " a letter for you from Cyril 
 written by his own hand." 
 
 "No!" she cried; ''give it to me this very 
 minute." She held out her hand. He gave her a 
 very small square of paper, rose-coloared, with a
 
 The Copper Queen. 27 
 
 tiny monogram in the corner, and an enormous bird 
 with an outstretched scroll in its beak. On this sheet 
 of paper were written the words : 
 
 " To my dearest Miss 'Nilda, who I love very much, 
 and send all my love to at once. My terrier was lost 
 Ipr three days, and a wicked boy round the corner said 
 if 1 ever see him any more it wouLl be in a sausage. 
 I miss you very much, and miss my father. I've had 
 my hair cut; and this winter, granny says, I'm to 
 wear pants. I love you very much, and wish you 
 were here to be my mother. 
 
 " With great respect, truly yours, 
 
 " Cyril Florestan." 
 
 " Don't say my child isn't a wonder," said he 
 when she had finished reading ; "and — and the last 
 part of it." 
 
 Enilda blushed and looked down. "You have not 
 told me the rest of your news," she said. He bit his 
 lip, and an expression of sadness overclouded his 
 face. 
 
 " You are right," he said calmly. " The rest is — 
 well, I shan't keep you in suspense — Miss Chandos- 
 Cressy has arrived, and so has Professor Protoplasm. 
 I've just come from Lady Mildred's and witnessed 
 the meeting, the first meeting between aunt and 
 niece."
 
 28 The Copper Queen. 
 
 *' You don't say ! What was it like ? " 
 
 " Like ! Well, it was most curious ; it was like 
 nothing else I have ever seen in my life. You 
 know I'm not much of a gossip; but, shall I tell 
 you all about it ? " 
 
 She nodded a bright affirmative. 
 
 " I'm not betraying any confidence, so I think I 
 may tell you exactly what happened. I was lunch- 
 ing at Allison House ; Lady Mildred was showing me 
 some new plants, when we looked up, and at the 
 open door of tlie conservatory saw — Miss Chandos- 
 Cressy. She stood there — " 
 
 " For Heaven's sake ! " 
 
 " Yes ; wasn't it odd ? You know — Lady Mildred 
 had never seen her; she had been shown by mistake 
 into Claremont's room, he recognized her, and sent 
 her in as a surprise to his wife, wondering how Lady 
 Mildred would take the apparition. She turned 
 pale and grasped my arm. ' Who can it be ? ' she 
 ejaculated in an altered voice; then the apparition, 
 leaning on her ebony cane, said, ' Don't you know 
 me ? I'm your great-aunt and namesake, Mildred 
 Chandos-Cressy.' " 
 
 " What a surprise 1 Why how on earth did she 
 take it?" 
 
 "Take it; she took it as the little joker takes the 
 right bower in euchre. She went up to her, and
 
 The Copper Queen. 29 
 
 held out both hands, but seemed somewhat in doubt 
 where to kiss her, till looking over Miss Chandos- 
 Cressy's shoulder she saw her husband smiling: she 
 cried, ' Oh, John ! ' Then all three burst into a 
 scream of laughter, and they hugged and kissed all 
 round. It was very funny, I assure you. You know 
 Lady Mildred is an awfully good sort, not a bit like 
 a stiff Englishwoman, so she got on tremendously 
 well with her American great-aunt, and when I left 
 they were talking thirteen to the dozen " 
 
 "And you've no more news," said Enilda slily. 
 
 " No ; but I've a favour to ask." 
 
 " Well, what is it ? " 
 
 " You once promised to play something for me ; 
 will you do it now ? " 
 
 Enilda breathed a half-sigh of relief. At that 
 moment the footman announced, " Professor Pro- 
 toplasm." In his heart Florestan condemned him to 
 the nethermost regions, but Enilda w^elcomed him 
 with a cordiality that bordered on enthusiasm. She 
 shook both his hands, and asked him a dozen ques- 
 tions in a breath. Was he well ? Had he had a 
 pleasant voyage ? Were there any nice people on 
 the steamer ? He had come with Miss Chandos- 
 Cressy — quite shocking. Had he seen her papa 
 lately? — and how long was he going to stay in 
 London ?
 
 30 The^ Copper Queen. 
 
 Professor Protoplasm seemed to say yes to every- 
 thing. 
 
 " Let me give you some tea," she said, then added 
 in a stage aside : " I don't dare say a cock-tail ; this is 
 England you know — straight- laced England." 
 
 The Professor smiled as he seated himself, and 
 drew from his pocket a gorgeous silk handkerchief, 
 with which he wiped his lined and unusually moist 
 forehead. 
 
 'Til have some tea," he said ; '' I'm devoted to tea. 
 sn't it odd, speaking of that plant, that although 
 it possesses such stimulating qualities, we, the 
 English-speaking races of to-day, drink it as freely 
 as we do water. Of course this taste has grown and 
 strengthened, a sort of an inheritance handed down 
 for generations, I should say. We could drink quarts 
 of tea and it would have no effect upon us ; but I 
 have every reason to believe that if William the 
 Conqueror were here to-day, and drank a single cup, 
 as strong as we drink it, it would knock him down 
 lifeless, if not stone dead, upon the pavement." 
 
 Enilda raised her hands in holy horror. 
 
 " Happily," she said, " no tea was sprung on him 
 at the time of the Conquest, or — where would we all 
 be now ? " 
 
 "Tis a serious thing to think of," continued the 
 Professor, "and yet the question is a very simple
 
 The Copper Queen. 31 
 
 one — to think that perhaps the whole glorious Con- 
 quest depended at one time upon William taking or 
 noi taking a cup of tea." 
 
 " I don't know about taking tea," said Enilda ; 
 '• but if we are to believe history he took ^latilda 
 by the hair of her head, and, to quote Charlotte, 
 ' yanked ' her from her house into the very streets 
 of Dives before a whole assembled populace." 
 
 " Are you sure ? " said Florestan. " I never heard 
 of that ; and where on earth is Dives ? " 
 
 " Ah ! Mr. Florestan," said the Professor, " you 
 won't mind my saying it, but the Avorld is very 
 ignorant. Few people have heard of Dives ; but those 
 who have not only heard of but seen it, can never 
 forget it; then, too, I have another reason ever to 
 remember it; — but was I interrupting you when I 
 came in ? What were you doing ? " 
 
 " Doing ! " said Florestan, " I was begging Miss 
 Rozen to play for me. Long as I have known her, 
 she has never yet given me that pleasure. I had 
 almost prevailed upon her just as you entered." 
 
 " Let me add my entreaties," said the Professor. 
 
 " Very well," said Enikla, " I promise. Let us have 
 tea first, and then you will regret you ever said play 
 to me ; however, I shall make one condition. Professor 
 — that you tell us your special reason for remember- 
 ing Dives. Ah ! here's the tea ; shall I play first,
 
 32 The Copper Queen. 
 
 or will you tell the story wliilst we are having tea ? 
 Which shall it be, Mr. Florestan ? " 
 
 " The story by all means," and sipping his favourite 
 beverage, the Professor began. 
 
 " It isn't much of a story," he said, " and it happened 
 just one j^ear ago. I was staying at Trouville, where 
 I met American friends staying in the same hotel. 
 One fair man, who was accompanied by a lady of 
 great beauty, came up to me, and finding me 
 disengaged insisted on my dining with him and 
 his party at Dives, in the house of William the 
 Conqueror." 
 
 " * Do you know the lady ? ' he said. I confessed 
 my ignorance, but added how proud I should be to 
 know a person of such surpassing loveliness. He 
 then introduced me to Mrs. Haller, and we were soon 
 bowlingr over the smooth roads leadinsj to the little 
 fishing- village of Dives, which claims the honour of 
 having given birth to William the Conqueror. The 
 house he is said to have been born in is still stand- 
 ing. It is a quaint old inn or hostelry, and in one 
 threat room there is a mammoth chimney-place, and 
 on a brick of one of the panels is scratched the names 
 of Matilda and William.'* 
 
 " I wonder how many times that brick has been 
 renewed since 1300," said Florestan, putting more 
 sugar into his tea.
 
 The Copper Queen. 33 
 
 The Professor looked severe. " I have every 
 reason to believe it to be the original tile, and would 
 not insult history by casting reflections on that 
 battered but time-honoured relic. But to continue. 
 After we had looked at everything in the house, 
 peered out u23on street and courtyard from the little 
 diamond-paned windows, dined at a rickety table 
 off ancient and no less rickety pottery, Mrs. Haller 
 suggested we should inspect the rear of the cottage, 
 and take coffee at the little tables in the back court- 
 yard. No sooner said than done ; when we got 
 there, seeinsr a rustic vine and flower-clad balconv 
 running the whole length of the house she clapped 
 her hands together and said, ' Oh, girls, what an ideal 
 balcony for Juliet ! ' Then she sprang up the quaint 
 staircase, leaned over an arching buttress, cried out, 
 ' Mr. Malcolm, you be Komeo ; ' and before one could 
 realize what it was all about, she struck an attitude, 
 and stretching forth the jewelled hands began, *0h 
 Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo ? ' I can 
 see her before me now as she stood there then, and 
 were I to live a thousand years could never forget 
 the picture ; — the twilight just fading into night ; 
 the little low house; the vine-clad balcony; the 
 grim courtyard with a hostler's lamp — just one — lit 
 up, and shining through a chink of the barn; and a 
 woman, the most beautiful I had ever seen, leaning 
 
 VOL. III. D
 
 34* The Copper Queex. 
 
 against a little trellis one mass of rich blossom, 
 matchless frame to her own matchless beauty, speak- 
 ing those incomparable words in her own incom- 
 parable voice. I'm not given to remember wdiat 
 women wear, but I remember well what she wore. A 
 dress of j^alest yellow silk floated after her, and 
 seemed to lose itself in the amber-hued leaves on the 
 house wall; it was cut in a piece from her neck 
 down, and the shoulders were a mass of Indian muslin 
 and rare lace. A large Leghorn flat covered her 
 head, and two pale plumes floated down her back, 
 mingling their gold with the auburn of her tawny 
 hair. A knot of amber ribbon and deep red roses 
 fastened an old-fashioned girdle, and a fan of yellow 
 feathers swung lightly from a rich chatelaine at her 
 belt. She leant so gracefully, so idly, against her im- 
 promptu-loggia, that it seemed as if she were not only 
 a part of the balcony itself, but some gorgeous flower 
 bursting into bloom amidst those other flowers, one 
 and all master-pieces from great nature's hand. She 
 seemed utterly oblivious to our presence, but went 
 on and on in an inspired measure, which sent strange 
 thrills all over me. She never moved from her first 
 seemingly unconscious position. One jewelled hand 
 was slightly upraised, wdiilst the other, firmly im- 
 bedded in the festoons of the balcony, clutched a 
 handkerchief of priceless lace between its fingers.
 
 The Copper Queen. 35 
 
 After ' what's in a name ? ' she changed her posture 
 
 to one, if possible, of still rarer grace, she went on 
 
 and on, and finally breaking into a shriek of laughter, 
 
 seized her girdle-knot and threw it full into Mr. 
 
 Malcolm's face, crying — " 
 
 " Ah ! " cried Enilda ; " and you did not know, you 
 
 dii not guess — why, she was Adelide Nilsson." The 
 
 Professor wiped his brow. 
 
 ** Yes," he replied quietly. " It broke upon me all 
 
 at once, and you may imagine whose hand led the 
 
 applause ; but — " 
 
 " But what ? " said Florestan. 
 
 " There's a sequel to the story," he added sadly ; 
 
 " I must tell you that. The next night she left 
 Trouville, and as we all said good-bye at the Athenee 
 Hotel in Paris, she seemed strange and wild. Mal- 
 colm left her with peculiar politeness, and that same 
 evening she fell ill. She was ill more than a month, 
 and once tried to kill herself by jumping from a 
 high window facing the new Opera ! No one could 
 ever find the reason of her madness until she finally 
 told it. ' My heart is broken,' she said ; ' I felt it 
 breaking on that night I recited Juliet at Dives, and 
 the next day my only friend abandoned me.' She 
 said, ' I felt the strings snap then ; I will get over it, 
 but I shall never really love again.' She got over 
 it, and even had an unexpected revenge. A year 
 
 D 2
 
 36 The Copper Queen. 
 
 later she was playing an engagement in America, in 
 — say Cincinnati — and coming down the steps of 
 the hotel, on her way to perform Juliet, saw a 
 familiar face behind the glass entrance-doors. It 
 was our old friend Malcolm, reduced from passion to 
 poverty, and from swelling style in the Grand at 
 Trouville to sweeping out hotel-bars in * The Queen 
 City ' of America." 
 
 "Well, I never!" cried Flora, suddenly appearing 
 on the scene. "I know servants give themselves 
 such airs in Cincinnati that they won't sweep out 
 offices, so I suppose now and then the clerks and 
 proprietors have to. I hope she played Juliet well 
 that night, however, if she never did before. Don't 
 stir. Professor ; I have been at the door listening to 
 the Avhole of your tale, and would have wept, but 
 the end was too — prosaic. Lucy's gone up-stairs ; 
 she'll be here in a minute. I'm tired to death ; do 
 give me some tea." 
 
 The Professor was staring silently at Flora. 
 
 " Prosaic ! " he repeated ; " and yet they say 
 ' vengeance is a pleasure of the gods.' " 
 
 "Undoubtedly, when it is a personally directed 
 affair," said Enilda ; " and—" 
 
 "My dear," interrupted Flora, "don't mention 
 gods or goddesses, nor immortals — but us poor 
 mortals. I too shall quote poetry :
 
 The Copper Queen. 37 
 
 " ' Hark ! wliat liglit tlirougli yonder window breaks ? 
 It is a fog, and London is the town.' " 
 
 " No," said a chorus of voices. " No ; it was so fine 
 an hour asjo. A fooj — a real foo^ ? " 
 
 " Yes — yes — yes ; and — yellow. By the way, how 
 could Shakespeare ever have seen such a dawn in 
 England ? I've never struck such an one." 
 
 Enilda explained. " He didn't see it in England ; 
 he saw it in Juliet ; and — " 
 
 Florestan got up. 
 
 "There is no longer any excuse," he said; "your 
 eyes said, ' and I will play you something from that 
 Opera.' " 
 
 She went to the piano. Lucy came in dragging 
 the Count with her, and after hasty mutual greetings 
 Enilda's fingers executed the usual up and down pre- 
 liminaries, and she began an arrangement from the 
 old Bellini and Vacaj's dual score, going from ' Ove 
 sei tu E-omeo,' to the grand finale of the second act ; 
 thence to the still greater page where Romeo arrives 
 at the tomb, and finds his bride in her last mortal 
 resting-place. 
 
 Enilda played as she had never before played, 
 and one by one her guests fell into the spirit of her 
 reverie. 
 
 Were they in London ? Was a yellow fog creejDing 
 over the earth ? was it five of a June day ? — or were
 
 38 The Copper Queen. 
 
 tliey in old Verona, and was the last sleep stealing 
 over " this palace of dim night ? " Was daylight 
 gone out into " inauspicious stars," was Juliet lying 
 on her placid bier, and Romeo singing in that 
 divinest of all inspirations, "Ah, se tu dormi, 
 seveglia ti ? " 
 
 "There was the old house in this city of the 
 Trecento; the deep garden where a thousand flowers 
 were in bloom, and vines loaded with the reckless 
 wealth of a "vvhole summer's grape ; there was a lowly 
 arbour at the foot of a serpentine walk, and underneath 
 this arbour, standing beside a stone sepulchre lighted 
 by midnight stars, was that young lover upon whose 
 fair head the last star had set. Then came a rustling 
 amongst the vines, an incautious footstep, a hurried 
 altercation, one long wailing sob — that of a soul 
 precipitated before its Maker. The sad sighing of 
 the night-wdnd, the breath of a despairing lover, as 
 he drinks from the imperial chalice, drinks, and — 
 Juliet awakes." 
 
 " For Heaven's sake, stop ! " cried Florestan ; '' I 
 can hear no more. You have filled me with such 
 a presentiment of evil that — that — " He stopped 
 abruptly, in spite of himself a prey to violent 
 emotion. 
 
 Enilda looked up wonderingly, whilst her fingers 
 still held down the keys of that last chord. Her
 
 The Copper Queen. 39 
 
 face was whiter than her white hands, or the ivory 
 enamel which gleamed from the oaken case. 
 
 Flora got up. 
 
 " I should think so," she said, " and I propose — " 
 
 "What?" 
 
 " That we all go to the Hay market to-night and 
 see her play the part." 
 
 Florestan came back to the piano. 
 
 "The very thing," he said. "I am like a woman, 
 "Romeo and Juliet always breaks my heart, but I 
 can never forego revelling in the luxury of profound 
 sentiment. And as to her, Miss Flora, of course you 
 mean only one — " 
 
 " The inexpressible she," interrupted Mrs. Chromo 
 laughing. " We'll send at once for a box, and if you 
 break up there to-night, my friend, we'll send you 
 back to New York by the next steamer." She was 
 looking steadily at Florestan as she spoke. 
 
 Somehow, no one could ever tell how, he was 
 beside Enilda, talking to her in a low voice. He 
 turned and smiled upon Lucy, but continued his 
 conversation with the former. Was she angry or 
 pleased with his words ? Evidently angry, for her 
 face flushed and her manner expressed anything but 
 pleasure. She left the piano hastily. 
 
 " Nonsense," she said, " you know I cannot answer 
 now.' '
 
 40 The Copper Queen. 
 
 Flora looked up. 
 
 "My dearest Florestan," she said, "pardon the 
 frankness of an early friend, but — but I believe you 
 are making love to Enilda. Confess, is it so ? " 
 
 The Professor stared. What had happened ? He 
 was in Dives, looking at a beautiful woman on a 
 vine-clad balcony. Love ! What did Miss Grayson 
 mean ? What could she be talking about ? 
 
 Florestan came bravely forward. 
 
 "I always make, love to her," he said, "every 
 chance I get; and just then — " 
 
 " Just then," mimicked Flora. " Suppose we all 
 retire." 
 
 But Enilda wouldn't hear of that. Suddenly she 
 smiled and said brightly : 
 
 "You are a j^nvileged person, Mr. Florestan, and 
 you know I couldn't endure a man who had the 
 poor taste not to make love to me. Yes ; you may 
 accompany us to the Haymarket." 
 
 The party was made up, even to the Count, who 
 at that moment insisted on coming. The even- 
 ing was spent at the little old theatre, and never 
 had the lovely actress played better. Once, before 
 she came to the great potion scene, catching sight 
 of the Professor she stopped and put her hand sud- 
 denly to her forehead. Was she too thinking of the 
 past — of the home of William the Conqueror — and a
 
 The Copper Queen. 41 
 
 page in her life Avhicli slie never had dared nor cared 
 to rej^eat ? 
 
 Fiorestan and Enilda both noticed her orlance and 
 
 o 
 
 expression. The latter seemed some way to reflect 
 itself on Enilda's hitherto calm face, and until 
 the end of the play never wholly left her coun- 
 tenance. Tlie audience was roused to such a pitch 
 of enthusiasm as she had never before seen. Flowers 
 were hailed from. the front to the footlights. Lucy 
 and Flora were left without either courage or hand- 
 bouquets, and Enilda not alone divested herself of 
 her fairest roses, but unclasping a bracelet from 
 her arm, flung it with her lace handkerchief so 
 straight that it dropped fairly at the actress's feet. 
 She was too impressed for words, and too much 
 moved when the performance was concluded to quite 
 realize that it was all over, and they must return 
 home. She got up in a dazed sort of way, and only 
 when the fair Juliet came before the curtains again 
 and again to bow her acknowledgment, could she 
 seem to recollect what it was all about. 
 
 Florestan said nothing, but his fine face was over- 
 shadowed as Enilda had never before seen it. Flora's 
 voice kept rippling forth as they made their way 
 from the theatre. Her eulogia was something to 
 make the accepted vocabulary of adjectives turn 
 pale for very incompleteness.
 
 42 The Copper Queen. 
 
 " It's all right, because Shakespere wrote it," she 
 said ; " but have two people ever died like that for 
 love ? " 
 
 "I don't know about two," said Enilda; "but — 
 but — " She hesitated. 
 
 " Don't mention it," said Flora. " Mr. Florestan 
 seems determined to be your companion in every 
 thing. If you can't hit it off single, I should say 
 the Blackfriars bridge isn't much out of our way 
 — the night is dark — stars — out of the Haymarket 
 at a premium — and — " 
 
 "There are two plays which always affect me 
 strangely," inteiTuptod Enilda irrelevantly ; " one 
 is — well, this one, and the other is, ' La Dame aux 
 CameUas,' — I can never see them too often." 
 
 "My dear," said Flora quickly; "you can hear 
 Nilsson or Patti, or — or that American girl in the 
 ' Traviata ' to-morrow if you like. Then there is 
 another nice cheerful piece on at the Strand, same 
 style, where buckets of tears fall nightly ; but shall 
 it be—" 
 
 " ' Traviata/ " said Enilda laughing. " Mr. Florestan, 
 shall you be free ? " 
 
 " My life is one long rendez-vous," he said ; " or 
 rather rendez-moi, and naturally you may dispose of 
 it and me. Which theatre shall it be, and which 
 star ? "
 
 The Copper Queen. 43 
 
 The Count, wlio had scarcely spoken during the 
 Avhole evening, lifted up a warning finger, for he 
 noticed that Florestan was about making a mem. on 
 his shirt-cuffs. 
 
 " My dear sir," he said, " that we will never allow. 
 This is not New York. And ' Traviata ' — the artists ? 
 — bah ! it doesn't much matter ; they all begin by 
 singing ' Traviata ' at Covent Garden, and end by — 
 by acting it in the Haymarket."
 
 44 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 It was the first day of Ascot. Flora was in a 
 state of indescribable excitement, Lucy Chromo in 
 a flutter over her dress, and Enilda pursued by a 
 train of vague thought inexplicable to herself, and 
 undesirable to any one preparing for the delights 
 of the great races. 
 
 "Enilda," cried Flora, "come and help me write' 
 this note. It's to Baron d'Alfredi ; he says races 
 are almost out of his line ; but if I reminded him 
 the very day, hour, and minute of our departure 
 he might turn up. What shall I say to him ? " 
 
 " Say — oh, say anything." 
 
 " Shall I write to him in the first or third person. 
 I rather prefer the third. I have got as far as this. 
 Listen : 
 
 " ' Miss Grayson presents her most distinguished 
 comi^liments to Baron d'Alfredi, and begs to tell
 
 The Copper Queen. 45 
 
 him that she is very well, very much obliged for his 
 beautiful flowers, which shall be worn on her breast 
 this very morning ; and I do hope you won't forget 
 that you promised to come to Ascot the first day — 
 that is to say if I let you know myself; and we are 
 croinor now, this very minute. 
 
 " ' Always yours sincerely, 
 
 '"Flora Grayson.' 
 
 " Well, what do you think of it ? " 
 
 Enilda was absent-minded : she replied : 
 
 " Why, it reads all right. Do you care about his 
 coming ? " 
 
 " Yes I do ; he's too sweet." 
 
 " And Mr. Pastor ? " 
 
 " Pastor ? my dear child, when a man loves you to 
 that extent it becomes laborious. Life is a struggle. 
 I rnio^ht as well be a washerwoman livino^ in Turk's 
 Row, with eleven small children on my hands to look 
 after, and this — this is affection. I'm fond of him, 
 so I am of chocolate, but I don't live on chocolate as 
 a steady diet, do I ? " 
 
 Enilda agreed that she did not. 
 
 " So of course I must vary my existence somewhat 
 with the society of other men." 
 
 " My dear Flora, do you intend to marry young 
 Pastor or not ? "
 
 46 The Copper Queen. 
 
 *' Yes, yes ; I suppose I do in time." 
 
 '' Then why treat him so ? " 
 
 " Why do you treat Ythan Florestan so ? ' 
 
 Enilda blushed. 
 
 " The case is not the fame." 
 
 " Oh yes, it is ; he adores you, and you like him just 
 as much as I do Pastor. I really think, Enilda, that 
 John Claremont is more in your line. I believe he's 
 in love with you. What a pity he's already married ! 
 I like Lady Mildred; she's a real trump, but he — 
 dark, silent, unsmiling, or smiling frigidly — " 
 
 " Flora, stop, how can you ? " 
 
 " Thanks, Miss Rozen," said a voice at Enilda's 
 elbow. She started violently, for John Claremont 
 stood beside her. 
 
 " Thanks," he continued ; " what have I done, Miss 
 Flora, to deserve such a character at your hands ? " 
 
 Enilda turned pale with annoyance. How much 
 of Flora's chatter had he heard ; how much ? 
 
 Flora laughed. 
 
 " Well, it's the truth ; you know it is. Did you hear 
 me say — well, what were the first words you heard ? 
 — confess." 
 
 He smiled gravely. 
 
 " The first were : ' I like Lady Mildred ; she's a real 
 trump, but — ' " 
 
 " Ah ! no more ; nothinor before that ? "
 
 The Copper Queen. 47 
 
 " Nothing." 
 
 He laid a hand mockingly on his heart. 
 
 " Ah ! ' 'Tis well, Horatio.' Enilda, isn't it nearly 
 time to start ? I am going to put on my things." 
 
 " Mr. Clare mont, what do you think of her dress 
 and mine ? Which do you prefer ? Now look well 
 at us both, and then decide." 
 
 She stood him off at arms' -length. 
 
 He put a hand distractedly to his forehead. 
 
 " How can I ? — both are so perfect. The one I 
 decide against I — " 
 
 " Oh, you make an enemy for life of the other," 
 Flora interrupted. " Beware of me." Flora tapped 
 him cheeiily on the shoulder. 
 
 " Nonsense," she continued ; " speak out like a 
 man. Say that Enilda's is the sweetest, prettiest, 
 most adorable gown, and that in it she is—" 
 
 " The prettiest, sweetest, most adorable woman," 
 cried another voice. Then the Count came forward, 
 superb in racing flannels, holding a bouquet of white 
 roses which he presented to Enilda with elaborate 
 ceremony. 
 
 She took them with thanks, but turned paler than 
 their waxen petals. 
 
 Claremont looked at her for one moment, then he 
 went towards her. 
 
 " You are ill," he said ; " what is it ? "
 
 48 The Copper Queex. 
 
 She was turning her flowers in her hand, and 
 made him no answer. There was an angry pain in 
 her heart. How calm he was, — how cold ! At last 
 she knew that she was nothing to him. 
 
 "Girls, I am going to put on my things," cried 
 Flora, "and send this note to the Baron. I'll be 
 back in a moment, then we can all start off. I must 
 hunt up Lucy too, or she'll be late. " 
 
 " May I come too, Miss Flora ? " 
 
 The Count was calling out to her through the 
 opened door; but her voice answered ringing down 
 tlie staircase as her heels rang up : 
 
 "Come! — I should think not; but Til kiss Lucy 
 for you in the " — her voice was getting higher and 
 higher — "in the — mean time." 
 
 " Count," said Claremont, " may I have one of 
 your flowers ? Miss Rozen, won't you offer me a 
 rose in — in the mean time ? " 
 
 He went nearer to her this time and looked 
 straight into her eyes. 
 
 " Just one," he murmured ; " one for old times' 
 sake." 
 
 Her heart bounded, and as if in a vision she saw 
 the old garden at Laramie ; the moon on the water ; 
 she heard the rushes sing under the bridge, and 
 the cry of the toad who sent one long flute-like 
 note fhrough the still air; she heard a man's
 
 The Copper Queen. 49 
 
 voice say "for ever," felt a kiss on her cheek, 
 and — 
 
 "No," she cried sharply, "I cannot." 
 
 The Count came forward. 
 
 " This," he said, " is a compliment I never ex- 
 pected ; you refuse to give one of my flowers to 
 another man ? " 
 
 Claremont looked up with glittering eyes. 
 
 Enilda remarked their light; in an instant her 
 attitude changed. 
 
 " Ah, Count, that idea alters the case ; now I 
 must give him one " — she tendered Claremont the 
 bouquet ; — " will you choose yourself ? " 
 
 " Thanks, no ; you must choose for me, and — give 
 it me." 
 
 She selected the most perfect flower and handed 
 it to him. By this time she had almost recovered 
 her composure. 
 
 "Permit me," — she looked him full in the face. 
 " I will even decorate you myself." 
 
 Then she fastened the rose in his button-hole ; 
 and he — he bent his head and kissed her hand, at 
 the same time murmuring : 
 
 " Flora was right. I have never changed ; I can 
 stand it no longer ; I must see you alone." 
 
 Enilda staG^gered backwards. 
 
 "Oh!" she gasped, — "oh!" Then in spite of 
 
 VOL. HI. E
 
 50 The Copper Queen. 
 
 herself a look of triumph darkened her eyes and 
 lit up her face to a hitherto unknown brightness. 
 "Oh!" 
 
 " Sh — ! " he murmured, and turned quickly aside. 
 Another head appeared in the doorway. "Mr. 
 Florestan," he muttered, then he gave her a liasty 
 glance which said, " I know all ; he loves you," and 
 went to the window ostensibly to look out on the 
 street. 
 
 Florestan came up to Enilda. "Ah," he said, 
 looking at the Count briefly, "some one has out- 
 witted me. I too had brought some flowers." He 
 held a small parcel in his hand. 
 
 Enilda smiled recklessly; what mattered now she 
 knew the truth ? She would wear all which might 
 be given her. 
 
 "Thanks," she cried gladly, "you know I love 
 flowers, and these are — " 
 
 John Claremont came from the window and held 
 out a hand to Florestan. 
 
 "These are your favourites," cried the latter, 
 shaking hands with Claremont. " Lily of the valley 
 and white roses." He was so happy that he scarcely 
 noticed Claremont, whose face was gathering into a 
 dark cloud, and whose eyes began to burn with a 
 dangerous light. 
 
 The Count came forward.
 
 The Copper Queen. 51 
 
 "You must also decorate Mr. Florestan," he said 
 blandly, "not with one of my flowers, but — one of 
 his own." 
 
 Again the reckless smile came over Enilda's face. 
 "Quite right," she cried. "Here is a white rose 
 in — in remembrance of one which Cyril sent me — 
 long ago. Ah," — Flora came in with Lucy, — " is 
 it time to go ? " She was fastening the rose into 
 Florestan's coat. " Then I must put on my things. 
 Excuse me one moment and I will be back directly." 
 Before Florestan could more than look liis sfrati- 
 tude she had flown from the room, and Mrs. Chromo's 
 voice was trilling out as clear as a cricket's ; chirp- 
 ing about Ascot, the Royal Enclosure, the Royalties, 
 the luncheon, the horses, the house Lady Mildred 
 had taken at the Heath, the weather, the races ; 
 whether or no it would rain ; and what a too heavenly 
 time she intended to have. 
 
 John Claremont looked at Florestan, and the 
 latter looked at him ; neither spoke, but Claremont 
 " smiled a bitter smile," and then turned again 
 towards the window. 
 
 "The horses are o^ettincr restless," he said. "I 
 think I'll run down and wait for you on the box." 
 
 " Oh, we are all ready now," cried Flora ; " let's go 
 out together. Enilda's coming along directly, and 
 Mr. Pastor—" 
 
 E 2
 
 52 The Copper Queex. 
 
 ** Mr. Pastor is here ! " cried out that youth. 
 " Here, and — and he brings you some flowers." 
 
 " Well, I never ! " cried Mrs. Chromo ; " this is 
 quite like a fete in the Botanical Gardens." 
 
 '^ Isn't it curious/' said Flora, sniffing her bouquet 
 violently, " that Englishmen and foreigners never 
 give a lady flowers ? Now in New York, if a man 
 don't send a lady a bouquet, leave it with his card 
 the very day after she's introduced to him, why, she 
 thinks he doesn't know the usages of decent society." 
 
 " But I — I was an apt pupil ! " cried Pastor 
 dehghtedly. " I did exactly that." 
 
 "Well, naturally, after I had nearly hinted my 
 head off the night before. You see I liked you," 
 Flora added with adorable candour. " I was awfully 
 afraid you'd be found lacking, and the thing I never 
 would have overlooked would have been that very 
 thing. So when I saw the flowers — oh 1 here's Euilda ; 
 now I suppose we tnay be off." 
 
 Pastor slipped an arm through Flora's. Then 
 they made their way laughing into the street. There 
 was some demur about seating them all. 
 
 "Everybody wants to be beside everybody else," 
 cried Enilda. " What shall we do ? " 
 
 At last it was settled. She was placed beside 
 Claremont. Florestan sat near, whilst Mrs. Chromo 
 and the Count sat side by side. They were to pick
 
 The Copper Queen. 53 
 
 up Lady Mildred on the way, and the party would 
 be complete. 
 
 Enilda now almost feared a tete-a-tete with her 
 old lover. She could scarcely realize what he had 
 said a little while ago. Was it true he had not for- 
 crotten her ? But now that he had told her of the 
 fact in so many words, her heart grew alternately 
 light and heavy with apprehension. See him alone ? 
 No ; that she would never do. What could he say 
 to explain the past ? what that could change their 
 present ? The assurance that he still loved her, 
 suddenly became a care, a responsibility, which 
 leaded her will and damped her splits. She feared 
 another disclosure, and felt her heart leap into her 
 mouth as she took her seat beside him ; yet one 
 look at his face might have reassured her. It was 
 grave, calm, impassive as ever; and later, as she 
 dared to look at him, he was so cool, so matter-of- 
 fact, tliat she wondered if he had really told her he 
 was unchanged, or if she had dreamt it. 
 
 His talk was not of an amorous turn. He spoke 
 of his horses, of a favourite mare who had broken 
 her knees, and said that the right leader was a 
 spn-ited beast; he hoped he wouldn't give him trouble; 
 Then they picked up Lady Mildred, who took her 
 place beside Florestan; and in a few moments 
 London, with its unpoetic rows of working-men's
 
 54 The Copper Queen. 
 
 liouses, its solitary church spires looming up now 
 and then amidst the monotony of brown tiles and 
 brick facings, even its outskirts were left far behind. 
 The smoke of a distant city still floated mist-like 
 over the moor ; and the sky, now and then breaking 
 into patches of opaline blue, told them that they 
 were really away from the great Babylon ; away into 
 the country, where men's souls are not always like 
 the skies — clearer, but where they seemed to be in 
 contrast with what tliey had left behind. 
 
 Flora, Lucy, Pastor, and Lady Mildred kept up a 
 constant chattering; Florestan was too engrossed 
 with his own happiness to speak. He was thinking 
 about the rose she had given him, and her own 
 reference to Cyril's flower. Why had she spoken 
 of it if it had not been a pleasant remembrance ? 
 The very first opportunity he determined to ask 
 her to marry him, and this time surely she would 
 not misunderstand. 
 
 At last they reached Ascot Heath. The road for 
 some way back had been one brilliant line of drags 
 and carriages, filled with richly-dressed women, 
 pretty girls in smart toilettes, wearing veils which 
 floated away from chip hats, like happy clouds in a 
 summer sky. A light dust arose like a vapour from 
 a hot bath, flashing eyes glanced into other eyes; 
 the ready " Halloa ! " and mirthful " How are you ? "
 
 The Copper Queen. 55 
 
 were flung to passing acquaintances, while the con- 
 fused clamour of a thousand voices — laug^hinof, chat- 
 ting, jesting, or singing all in one, made the air 
 resound to the echo of good humour, as it resounds 
 to the rappel of martial music. There were organs 
 by the wayside ; pianos, harps, and guitars without 
 number; dancing men in black and white, zingaras 
 from Granada, and zitellas from Naples ; flower-girls 
 from Paris, and orange-girls from Seviglia; pale 
 frauleins from Holland, and swarthy tzganes from 
 Hungary. There were white-aproned models from 
 Rome, with dark brows and bead-bespangled collars ; 
 monkey-like Sicilians with crafty almond eyes, and 
 the coloured soiled stays which forms a corselet over 
 their chemise-bodies. There were Italian babes, like 
 the Sistine cherubs, stretching out unformed hands, 
 which like their unformed tongues still managed to 
 articulate — money, not to mention the orthodox 
 beggar who constantly begs, and as constantly ap- 
 pears with new offspring at her prolific breast. 
 There were minstrels, whose colour changed with 
 their song, and who twanged banjos with immoder- 
 ate hand and all too moderate skill, urchins who 
 threw missiles at passers-by, and responsive objects 
 which were hurled back from over-crowded carts ; 
 whilst not unfrequent oath exploded like a rocket 
 in the air.
 
 56 The Copper Queen. 
 
 Finally a band struck up at a distance ; outriders 
 with their chargers pranced along the open ; there 
 was a wild cry from the crowd, which was hurled 
 deep down, and brought as high up again in every 
 throat : " There they come — there are the Royalties." 
 Claremont had barely time to w!]eel out of tlie way, 
 when a noble pageant lighted the heath anew with 
 colour, and the heir-apparent, with his all too lovely 
 consort, was seen bowins^ and smilint? from the 
 depths of his frank eyes — bowing here, there, every- 
 where, upon his friends and future subjects. The 
 crush of the crowd to get a sight of him was some- 
 thing truly incredible. It was as if they had never 
 before seen a Royal personage. The air was filled 
 Avith cries. 
 
 *•' Ah ! that's the Princess ; isn't she lovely ? " 
 *' Oh, she smiled on me ; " and another — " No ; it was 
 me. She bowed right at me." Then more disputing 
 and shrieking ; applause from enthusiastic souls ; more 
 cries — " That's Lady so-and-so — did you see her ? 
 Isn't she too sweet ! " and an infinity of similar 
 expressions all truly unique and appropriate, only 
 to be heard on a typical race-course within the 
 confines of Her Majesty's typical domain. 
 
 Enilda, Flora, and Mrs. Chromo had never seen 
 anything hke this before, and their vocabulary of 
 complimentary adjectives was soon exhausted.
 
 The Copper Queen. 57 
 
 As tliey wished to see ever3^thing, the drag was 
 stationed with other drags, aud the ^urtj soon found 
 themselves on the hiwn outside the tribune, where 
 men were anon rushing to the telegra23h-office ; anon 
 tearing over the turf, rushing to the grand stand ; 
 shaking hands with friends here, there, everywhere ; 
 drinking a glass of champagne from over the ledge of 
 some Maecenas's box, and discussing the jockeys as 
 they came from the paddock. One was pale, another 
 flushed ; one looked tired, another triumphant. Then, 
 there were the horsas and the races, and the odds and 
 the owners. Some had seen the Duke of Mayburn ; 
 he seemed solemn. Perhaps Fairy was lamed. It 
 was a well-known fact that she had refused good half- 
 and-half after her last trial the day before ; perhaps 
 Shrimp had sold her out. It was a put-up job. 
 Shrimp was a known scoundrel. Another would win 
 the race, etc. etc. There was her Grace of Ormond 
 walking with her jockey ; she looking very anxious, 
 — he certainly very angry. Tliere was a Prince of 
 the blood talking confidentially with a book-maker ; 
 and my lady Starfield, white as a sheet, leaning 
 on my lord's arm, drinking a brandy-and-soda, and 
 talkinc' with a voice as hoarse as a rook's cawino^. 
 There were crowds, and crowds, and crowds; and 
 Enilda noticed that they never ran twice up against 
 the same people. The Anglo-Saxon physiognomy
 
 58 The Copper Queex. 
 
 was certainly predominant, and the conversation, if 
 witty, was certainly not without a certain monotony 
 of expression. At one time everybody seemed 
 saying " 'Pon me word;" at another, thousands 
 of "Really nows" broke on the air; and at 
 another, as at a given signal a whole tableau 
 became yellow in a pantomime, so every mouth 
 seemed to utter with one breath, " You down't 
 say so?" 
 
 Flora was enchanted, and Mrs. Chromo's deligjht 
 knew no bounds. After they had gone over every 
 part of the ground they went to the Royal Enclosure, 
 and paid a visit to the pavilion, where the Court 
 stood or sat like a cluster of flowering vines on a 
 garden wall. Enilda, as usual, Avas especially honoured 
 with II. R. H.'s attention. She strolled over the 
 pelouse with him ; she talked horse to the best of 
 her ability ; she nearly killed him with her Ameri- 
 canisms; and they sometimes laughed so loudly 
 together, that vinegar-eyed prudes stared right 
 and left, and smooth-browed dowagers nodded little 
 malicious nods with their top-knots of flaky hair 
 in a distinct rhetoric, which seemed to say, '' You 
 see the audacity; those Americans will dare, will do, 
 will say anything." 
 
 Florestan stood at one side sulk}^ and silent. He 
 was furious Avith Enilda. Why should she talk so
 
 The Copper Queen. 59 
 
 long or ^valk so long with His Highness ? His 
 American hlood boiled. 
 
 Claremont, however, only laughed ; he thought it 
 great sport. " She amuses him," he said ; " you can't 
 tell what a pleasure it is to people who are tied down 
 to a rigid etiquette, who are accustomed to time- 
 servers, and subjects who dare not call their souls 
 their own, to now and then run across frank speci- 
 mens of a race who know no more than to consider 
 themselves everybody's equal ; who say what they 
 mean without fear ; who contradict a Royal Highness 
 if they see fit as they would a plain mister ; who have 
 their own opinions about people and things ; and who 
 do not hesitate to express them freely; wdio treat 
 princes — " 
 
 " Just as if they were human beings like our- 
 selves," said Flora. 
 
 "And," continued Claremont, "who, by their sim- 
 plicity and non-affectation, pay the greatest compli- 
 ment they can to royal intelligences, ' one and all.' " 
 
 " Bravo ! " said the Count, and " Bravo ! " said other 
 voices, as Lord and Lady St. Ermine and Baron 
 d'Alfredi came up towards them. 
 
 " Oh, Baron d'Alfredi, here you are — of course you 
 got my note." 
 
 He tapped his breast lightly. " It shall be found 
 glazed and hung up before my— inner temple."
 
 GO The Copper Queex. 
 
 " Don't," said Pastor. " Inner temple reminds me 
 of briefless barristers and soulless solicitors. I am 
 the former ; and my best friend is the latter." 
 
 Flora interrupted irrelevantly : 
 
 " Baron, which one do you bet on ? " 
 
 " I — oh, I always take the field against the 
 favourites." 
 
 "But how are we to do that? You are just in 
 time for luncheon." 
 
 ''Thanks; it's easy enough; we must make up 
 some private pools. I am rather hungry." 
 
 Making up pools was no sooner said than done. 
 Between sandwiclies, salads, shrimps, and champagne, 
 a respectable sum was collected ; the horses' names 
 were written on slips of paper, lots were drawn, and 
 luncheon went on uninterruptedly. 
 
 Enilda did not return ; she was honoured with 
 an offer to take food in the pavilion. 
 
 " Nonsense," said Flora ; " why didn't she refuse ? " 
 But Eiiilda hadn't refused, and half-an-hour later 
 she was telling her experiences to her friends. 
 
 " I am afraid I did dreadful things," she said. 
 " When the princess got up and spoke to me I took 
 that moment to sit down : you see I felt kind of 
 tired, then Countess d'Ammuuille, — you know that 
 American who married a French General — well, she 
 screamed out to me with a loud voice, quite over
 
 The Copper Queen. 61 
 
 everybody's head, ' You must stand when she speaks 
 to you;' — the screaming her idea of manners, you 
 see. I jumped up so quickly that I tipped over a 
 little table with flowers on it, and the ^vater ran all 
 over her Highness's dress. Then I got so nervous 
 that I fanned myself all the time she was talking to 
 me, and really heard the stick of my fan break in 
 her face. It was awful ; I don't know when I have 
 felt so uncomfortable before in the whole of my life." 
 
 The Baron laughed. 
 
 " What a chapter of horrors ! " he said ; " but there 
 is nothino' to feel uncomfortable about. The things is 
 to have acted there as you would have acted in your 
 own home." 
 
 "Yes," added Enilda, smiling; "but I don't think 
 I would upset tables in my own home, any more 
 than I would fan myself and break the sticks of my 
 fan in any one's face. 
 
 Florestan was interested. 
 
 " It was awkward," he said, " but you meant 
 to do everything quite right;" then added, "Here 
 I've been keeping this place for you. You must 
 have some luncheon." 
 
 He was interrupted by a violent clamour; bells, 
 shoutinoj, screamincr, and untold excitement. 
 
 " Oh, the race, the first race ! " cried Lucy. Then 
 she jumped about, seized a glass, and looked long
 
 62 The Copper Queen.^ 
 
 and earnestly at some dozen slender animals shooting 
 alono: the track. 
 
 " Which is my horse ? — I can't make him out." 
 
 " I see mine/' cried Flora. 
 
 " Oh," said Enilda, " I can't tell one from the 
 other." 
 
 Then there was more bell-rinmno- more shouting ; 
 some names and figures run up on a tablet, and 
 all was over. A crowd of people then poured into 
 the track, swarmed up into the Koyal Enclosure, 
 and stood with flattened noses against the rails, and 
 wide eyes staring through the fence, trying to get a 
 glimpse of the Royalties and distinguished heads 
 which so smartly went back and forth in the charmed 
 circle. Every one that passed in or out was gazed at 
 with sad but earnest gaze, and commented on in 
 that regretful way the English masses have when 
 speaking of or watching their ' upper ten ' on a race 
 day. 
 
 Flora turned to Lucy. 
 
 "I'm tickled to death at this," she said, as they 
 passed out of the gate leading on to the course. " I 
 suppose they take me at least for a Countess in 
 my own right. Look back at the enclosure, Lucy ! 
 isn't it a sight ? It's as thickly dotted with High- 
 nesses as a meadow with daisies. This is too 
 heavenly — Baron, have I won ? "
 
 The Copper Queen. 63 
 
 The Baron smiled. 
 
 " You have lost," he said cheerfully ; " but you may 
 have a better chance for the next race." 
 
 Lady Mildred had won the pool. 
 
 " It's a pot of money," she said, when the stakes 
 were counted. " I — what shall I buy with it, 
 John ? " 
 
 " Keep it," suggested Flora. Claremont shook his 
 head. 
 
 " Buy a new dress of Worth," said Lucy Chromo. 
 " Oh ! by the way, speaking of him, have you ever 
 seen his house at Suresne near Paris ? " 
 
 A chorus of ^' No ! no ! — tell us about it," was her 
 answer. 
 
 " It's perfectly wonderful, and bears the stamp of 
 a most original mind. I advise every woman who 
 has ever paid a loag bill to see where her money 
 has finished. The house is a palace of about five 
 different piles; Versailles or Schonbrunn scarcely 
 equal it. There is one room a porcelain gallery, so 
 filled with plates incrusted in fluted columns or 
 pillars : so many that I wonder any are left for the 
 world to eat on. There is one room with portraits, 
 immense pictures, framed in double frames of 
 Venetian point only a quarter of a yard wide each 
 frame — " 
 
 " Dear heaven, hear ! " said Enilda ; " and we poor
 
 64 The Copper Queex. 
 
 creatures who have felfc rich with one or two dress- 
 panels, a collar, j^erhaps cuffs of the rare work." 
 
 " Oh, that's nothing ! Besides the frames there are 
 chairs and bed-spreads, and even table-cloths. The 
 hangings and tapestries w^ould not disgrace an 
 Oriental palace. The hot-houses are princely. The 
 library is correct, beau ti full y-bound books, and some 
 old MS., wdth a floor of marqueterie. You know 
 that floor in the '67 Exhibition that no one could 
 afford to buy; well, he's bought it, and it was 
 so bio" that he had to take the roof off his house 
 and one wall down in order to get it in ; but there 
 it is, and these feet walked over it." Lucy Chromo 
 stretched out her Mayflower No. 2's in illustration. 
 " But the new mansion in the garden, my dear, that 
 is amazing. Why, he's got all those fluted columns 
 that belonged to the Tuilleries built up wdth brick 
 and beautiful marbles into such a fantastic creation." 
 
 Enilda lifted both hands. 
 
 " What is it that you are surprised at — the 
 columns ? " 
 
 " Oh no ; he began with the Tuilleries ; it is but 
 just that he should end there." 
 
 Lucy smiled and continued : 
 
 "Oh, I don't think he's ended anywhere yet; and 
 the gardens — why, I never saw such gardens, such 
 style, such flowers. He's made a sort of staircase of
 
 The Copper Queen. 65 
 
 marble with three landings going up to the central 
 palace, with a wall to the left incrusted with — well, 
 guess -what ? " 
 
 "We never could guess," said D' Alfred! and 
 Florestan in a breath. 
 
 " Oh, another historical trifle. All the bas-relief 
 medallions of the old Hotel de la Yille. What do you 
 think of that for classical research ? " 
 
 " M. Worth is a genius," said Enilda. "I always 
 thouorht he was the most oriOTnal man in the world ; 
 now I am sure of it. He alone shall be my future 
 dressmaker. What's that ? '* 
 
 A loud ringing of bells was heard. 
 
 " Dear me, the next race ! " cried Flora. " I had 
 forgotten all about this being Ascot — and my bet." 
 
 Then there was a repetition of scrambling to see 
 the horses, another hasty pool made up, another five 
 minutes of breath-holding, and all was over. 
 
 Flora this time bad won. She counted her money 
 with eminent satisfaction. 
 
 "I shall put it by," she said, "and spend it iti 
 dear New York ; that's where most of England's 
 guineas go now-a-days." 
 
 At last the races finished. Lauohino^, chatterino^, 
 
 and occasionally shrieking with excitement, they 
 
 reached Lady Mildred's cottage. Dinner followed 
 
 tea. A band played in the gardens. Not a cloud 
 
 VOL. III. F
 
 (jQ The Copper Queen. 
 
 obscured the blue of the evening sky. There was a 
 dance in an old oaken gallery, and a walk on the 
 terrace at midnight, when heaven seemed one glit- 
 tering circle of jewels. Crowds of visitors had 
 dropped in, and Lady Mildred had to put up half- 
 a-dozen unexpected guests. She Avas equal to the 
 occasion, however, and even Enilda's eyes opened 
 wide on seeing this impromptu version of English 
 hospitality. 
 
 Neither Claremont nor FJorestan had seen Enilda 
 alone. Each waited for his turn to come, and each 
 waited that day in vain. 
 
 The last two figures to walk on the terrace were 
 those of Flora and Pastor. 
 
 He kissed her hand complainingly. 
 
 " Nonsense !" ^she said; "jealous of the Baron. 
 Well you may be, however, but I fear he's not a 
 marrying man. I suppose, Willis, I must marry you 
 to — to get rid of you." 
 
 " If you only would ; will you never give me an 
 answer ? " 
 
 ''Yes, good-night; to-morrow, — to-morrow you 
 shall know your fate."
 
 67 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Ascot week was over ; Lady Mildred's guests were 
 dispersed ; and most of them back in town ready to 
 begin the okl treadmill of society. 
 
 Enilda was in a state of feverish excitement, at 
 one moment wildly gay, at another in a state of the 
 deepest des23ondency. She had not seen Claremont 
 alone, and had prettily baffled every effort of Flore s- 
 tan's to get a chance to speak to her in private. He 
 was not unhappy about this, however, as he some way 
 felt that she was no longer indifferent to him. He 
 saw her every day ; he could touch her hand, her 
 dress, a fold of her garment; could now and then 
 look into her eyes across a crowded dinner-table ; 
 perhaps meet her accidentally flitting along some 
 corridor ; — could give her a flower, or ask for one. 
 Then too, there was always Cyril to talk about. He 
 was an endless theme, and never failed to attract 
 and keep her attention. The hours slipped by, and 
 
 r F 2
 
 68 The Copper Queen. 
 
 yet Florestan did not seek to hurry events. He lived 
 in sweet security, and a certain dreamy unconscious- 
 ness of the lapse of time. He said to himself: 
 
 " I will not worry her ; I feel, I know, she must love 
 me. Perhaps she will be the first to let me know 
 that she will accept her fate. Perhaps that day will 
 come soon." Then he fell to dreaming again, and 
 built castles in the air like a school-girl who packs 
 her boxes to the happy tune, " This is my last term, 
 — now for the future." 
 
 The following Monday there was to be a great 
 musicale at Baron d'Alfredi's. The Baron and 
 Enildawere almost neighbours; and the latter's house 
 in Park Lane was only removed from hers by a few 
 numbers. In fact Flora declared that she had been 
 the means of the acquaintanceship ; for she had 
 noticed the fair nobleman standing on his terrace of 
 a morning. They had exchanged looks across the 
 leads, and later when they had met at a party a 
 swift pact of friendship was concluded on the 
 spot. 
 
 The Baron was fair, handsome, agreeable, and 
 had a certain gentleness which was more like a 
 woman than a man. His eyes were blue, deep, 
 and soft ; his face was pale and overspread with an 
 habitual tired expression, which attracted every one's 
 immediate attention and sympathy. His features
 
 The Copper Queen. 69 
 
 were clear-cut and tired-looking ; his blonde whiskers 
 waved with an air of supreme indifference ; his 
 smile was soft and slow ; his laugh perfectly cadenced 
 but not contagious; when he smiled he exposed a 
 small mouth opening wearily over very white and 
 perfect teeth. His whole appearance was one of 
 extreme naturalness, extremo sensitiveness, extreme 
 nervousness, extreme gentlemanliness — but extreme 
 weariness. 
 
 Flora adored him. She told him as much on one 
 occasion, but he had laughed and said : 
 
 " I am old enough to be your father ; just think 
 how proud I should be to be papa to such a pretty 
 child ; " but Flora wouldn't hear of that at all. She 
 alternately teased and tormented him. She asked 
 him the most personal questions, and one morning 
 invited herself to chip in to breakfast with him, in 
 order, as she said, to see every bit of his 'house, and 
 have him tell her all about it, which he did most 
 modestly ; declaring there was little to see, and 
 nothing at all to tell. By the time the day arrived 
 for the musical party, Flora could scarcely decide in 
 her mind which number in Park Lane she really 
 lived in — whether in Enilda's great mansion or in 
 the Baron's spacious and lovely home. 
 
 The morning of the party both the girls were 
 sitting with Lucy discussing their dresses — an endless
 
 70 The Copper Queen. 
 
 theme — and some invitations whicli they were about 
 to answer. 
 
 "Now," said Lucy, "just listen to this, and they 
 call English a language. Why, it's like the weather 
 in London — there's no climate, only samples. How 
 can one ever spell names rightly when they're. all 
 pronounced wrongly ? I'm going to spell every name 
 just as it sounds; — here you are to Miss Chumley — 
 to Mrs. Beecham — to Mrs. Lewson-Gore, and to my 
 Lady Cooper ; — they'll go fast enough." 
 
 " Why, Lucy, how queer ! Who would ever have 
 dreamed in dear America that Cholmondeley was 
 pronounced Chumley ; Beauchamp, Beecham ; 
 Cowper, Cooper, and so on ? How did you find it 
 out ? " 
 
 " The Count told me." 
 
 " Seems to me you're very intimate with him," 
 liazarded Enilda. 
 
 Lucy flushed. 
 
 " I value his good opinion above that of all other 
 men," she said. 
 
 " Have you ever told him so ? " said Enilda. 
 
 " I didn't need to tell him," said Lucy courageously ; 
 " a man of his superfine instinct could not but feel 
 the appreciation he is held in by every woman." 
 
 Flora and Enilda exchanged glances, but said 
 nothing. The morning was spent dawdling in the
 
 The Copper Queen. 71 
 
 Row ; lunching for a change at an Italian cafe, and 
 the afternoon at the Academy, where the President's 
 pretty women were duly admired; likewise Master 
 Tadema's Greek figures, classic amphorse, and natural 
 mosaics, and Millais's cherubs, which remind us of 
 the Greuzes and Reynolds of the olden time. They 
 paid several calls, drank five cups of tea with 
 five different acquaintances, took a turn in the 
 Park, received callers between six and seven, dressed, 
 dined, and finally found themselves walking between 
 a row of correct lacqueys in the vestibule of the 
 Baron's very perfectly-ordered mansion. 
 
 The Baron was a man — a true man in every sense 
 of the word — and yet he was unlike other men. There 
 was a something womanish in his nature, which 
 betrayed itself not only in his person but in his 
 house. In the adornment of the rooms, in the 
 decoration of his furniture there was little evidence 
 of masculinity, but everywhere the touch of a 
 woman's hand. The mansion from cellar to garret 
 was distinguished by that aroma of daintiness which 
 usually is the sex's sole province. There was a re- 
 finement and elegance in the smallest object which 
 bespoke his supersensitive nature, and fastidiousness 
 seemed as distinctly a part of his person as perfume 
 is a part of the rose. 
 
 On this particular occasion one recognized every-
 
 72 The Copper Queen. 
 
 ■where this subtle odour of feminality. One felt it in 
 the books and fragile bric-a-brac; in the pictures 
 which were hung on the walls; in the statuettes 
 and inlaid cabinets filled wdtli a thousand trifles 
 collected by a palm seemingl}^ as delicate as Eve's 
 or fatal as Helen's ; in the tables heaped with costly 
 trinkets ; in the little brackets here and there, 
 holding vases carelessly filled with flowers, a blossom 
 hanging over the side perhaps, or a vine trailing 
 unconsciously on some tapestry cover; in a little 
 wi'iting-desk in an out-of-the-way corner, whose wax 
 and seals, violet ink, crystal paper-w^eight, and torn 
 envelope, suggested some hastily-begun and as 
 hastily- finished letter. There were divans, with lace 
 antimaccassars and monogrammcd cushions ; a foot- 
 stool peeping forth from the carved legs of an 
 easy chair, and a book open, with a paper-cutter 
 between its leaves ; there were numerous jewelled 
 frames enclosing innumerable fair faces ; miniatures 
 smiling forth from dark velvet backgrounds, anon 
 reposing on golden brackets, anon encrusted in 
 some dainty panel of the daintier walls; a piano 
 with ivory keys borrowed a deeper tint from the 
 pale marqueterie of its case, and a music-rack with 
 the sheets of music all awry, held a page of Costa's 
 ' j\rignon,' and Tosti's ' Ti rapirei,' folded in together, 
 as if a hasty voice had tried one after the other,
 
 The Copper Queen. 7:^ 
 
 and thrown both aside with equal impatience. A 
 jardiniere of graceful palms in a corner cast tiickerin^^ 
 shadows on the tinted walls ; a box of ferns and fine 
 grasses stood near an open window whose heavy 
 curtains were drawn aside, even the inner lace was 
 caught back with knots of amber ribbon; the 
 jalousies \vere uplifted, and through one crystal 
 half-oj^ened pane, the brightness of a starry night 
 gleamed on the v/hite and green of a matchless 
 terrace, whose flowers, like an endless garden, lost 
 thei-' verdure in the verdure of the Park beyond. 
 This light fell steaddy on the marble floor, gracious- 
 ly adding its silvery radiance to the roseate tints 
 which streamed gently from the shaded waxen tapers 
 of the drawing-room. 
 
 As Enilda ami Flora went forward, they were 
 received by the Baron's sister and family doing the 
 honours of the eveninof, whilst standincj to her 
 right were Florestan, Lady Mildred, and her husband. 
 The rooms were already crowded ; the Prince had 
 just arrived, and the music just begun. There was 
 an incessant hum of polite chatter; a few brief 
 chords were heard on the piano ; and the notes of a 
 clear soprano beginning the inevitable ' Una voce 
 poco fa.' 
 
 Tlie Count, who was just entering with Mrs. 
 Chromo on his arm, stopped suddenly.
 
 74 The Copper Queex. 
 
 " Surely," he said to the Baron, " I know that 
 voice." 
 
 The Baron laughed gaily, and turned to Enilda. 
 
 " A little surprise which I had planned for you. 
 We have Patti and Scalcbi, and numbers of other 
 singers, but I thought you would like to hear an 
 American soprano — Signora Foresti." 
 
 " Charmed, I'm sure," murmured Enilda, while 
 Mrs. Chromo harshly interrupted : 
 
 "Count," she said brusquely, "why didn't you 
 tell me Miss Foresti was in London ? " 
 
 She opened her fan with a whirl, and began to 
 fan herself violently. Flora stared open-mouthed. 
 What a strange tone of voice ! Had Lucy gone 
 crazy ? 
 
 " For the best reason in the world," the Count 
 replied cheerily ; " I did not know it myself." 
 
 At that moment young Pastor came up to 
 Flora. 
 
 " Mind," he said, " I am to take you in to supper ; " 
 then he added in a whisper, *' Have you told them 
 
 yet?" 
 
 " Nonsense," said Flora, sharply. " Don't breathe 
 on my hair like that ; you're positively walking up 
 my dress. Of course I haven't told them ; perhaps 
 I've changed my mind." 
 
 He turned really pale.
 
 The Copper Queen. 75 
 
 " What are you two quarrelling about ? " said 
 D'Alfredi. 
 
 " I was telling him perhaps I'd changed my mind 
 — about having supper," answered Flora promptly.- 
 
 Mrs. Chromo caught the word supper. 
 
 " What, are you hungr}^ already ? Well, T suppose 
 it's not poetic to say so, but I am — I'm starved," she 
 cried. 
 
 "To think such words should ever be heard in 
 my house," said the Baron. 
 
 *'Just the place to hear them," proffered the 
 Count quickly. " One should bring an appetite 
 here, as one brings a fan or a button-hole flower/' 
 
 Clareraont offered his arm to Enilda. The soprano 
 had just reached the ' lo sono docile.' 
 
 " May I tell you something ? " said Claremont 
 earnestly. " I thought I had often seen you looking 
 well before, but to-night you are positively lovely." 
 
 She smiled. "I'm glad of that!" she answered. 
 " It always makes me feel happy to know that I am 
 looking well." Her eye fell on her dress. 
 
 " It's my favourite colour," he said, his own follow- 
 ing her glance. " Blue is true, you know." 
 
 "Ah, I suppose being a colour it knows no 
 better than to be true ; now, were it a man, for 
 instance." 
 
 "You are unjust," he said shortly; then he added
 
 76 The Copper Queex. 
 
 in a softer tone, " It's very hot ; suppose we try 
 and make our way tlii-ougb that crush to the 
 terrace." 
 
 " No ! " she rei^Hed. " I don't feel the heat, and — 
 I don't care to walk on the terrace." She was inter- 
 rupted by a cadenza of such miraculous elaboration 
 that every one involuntarily held their breaths. 
 
 " She's singing admirably to-night ! " said Florestan, 
 coming up and holding out a careless hand. " I 
 thought I should get a chance to speak to you sooner 
 or later." He nodded coldly but politely to Claremont. 
 "You are looking, need I say it— charmingly." 
 
 " I did my best," she interrupted. 
 
 "Your worst would have been anybody else's 
 best," said Claremont, not to be outdone by Florestan 
 in civility. Then he added : 
 
 " It is so hot that I've just been trying to induce 
 Miss Rozen to take a turn upon the terrace." 
 
 Then he stopped abruptly, whilst Florestan could 
 not prevent a look of intense anxiety coming into his 
 eyes. Claremont noticed it, and purposely said no 
 more ; he seemed to enjoy Florestan's suspense. 
 Enilda was the first to speak. 
 
 "Don't be jealous; he asked me to go, but — I 
 declined." 
 
 Florestan quickly caught her bantering tone. 
 
 " It was quite right of you," he rej^lied. " You
 
 The Copper Queen. 77 
 
 know you would have broken my heart had you 
 walked alone with any man on any terrace." 
 
 Claremont could not help a deep flush passing 
 over his face. He was about to make some remark 
 when a hand hghtly tapped his shoulder; his wife 
 stood beside him. 
 
 " I came up," she said, " to say we are to go to 
 the royal table to supper together. H. R. H. pro- 
 posed it. Patti is going to sing after, then we can 
 all get into a quiet corner. She's to sing four songs 
 — the Ernani cavatina ; bolera from the ' Sicilian 
 Vespers ; ' the Romeo and Juliet waltz ; and Dinorah 
 shadow sonsf. Isn't it wonderful her sing^ins^ so 
 often ? " 
 
 The cloud had left Claremont's face. " As wonder- 
 ful as it is agreeable," he said. " One can never hear 
 too much of that golden voice. How did Forrest! 
 dare to sing ' Una voce ' when Patti was in the room ? " 
 
 " Americans will dare to do and say anything ! " 
 said Enildci, and for an instant all talk was at a 
 standstill. 
 
 Then a dark-eyed, handsome young man made his 
 way through the crowd, and seated himself at the 
 piano. 
 
 " Whom are we to hear now ? " said Lady Mildred. 
 At that moment Miss Chandos-Cressy came up on 
 the arm of Professor Protoplasm.
 
 78 The Copper Queen. 
 
 " Oh, is that you, auntie ? " said Lady Mildred. 
 " You look as if you knew the young man ; do you ? " 
 
 "That I do," said Miss Chandos-Cressy cordially. 
 " His name is Eugene Hope, and he is one of the 
 sweetest singers in the world ; his father was a 
 Baltimorian-Huguenot, an old friend of mine " — 
 then Miss Chandos-Cressy sighed as if in memory 
 of a tender past. The young man began to sing, 
 whilst she lifted her glass, the famous French lorgnon 
 that used so to impress Flora in days gone by in 
 Chicago, and as of old the enamelled handle threw a 
 dark shadow on the rose of her delicate cheeks : she 
 stared idly not at the son of her old friend, but at 
 the famous Madame du Barry who hung in pink and 
 white perfection on the opposite wall. Professor 
 Protoplasm followed her glance. 
 
 " When he has finished singing," he whispered ; 
 " I will tell you my private opinion of the du Barry." 
 The song stopped suddenly. " I don't believe 
 D'Aiguillon was her confident ; I don't think she had 
 anything to do with the dismissal of the Parliament 
 in '71. I don't believe she wasted the treasures of 
 the State, and she must have been so fascinat- 
 ing that Kobespierre was a brute for arresting her." 
 
 Miss Chandos-Cressy dropped her glass. "Pro- 
 fessor," she said severely, " I am afraid you were won 
 over by her pretty face." Then she lifted her glass
 
 The Copper Queen. 79 
 
 and stared long and earnestly at the painted 
 courtesan. 
 
 " No, indeed, not her beauty," he responded ; " but 
 she really had some good traits; you know she 
 protected men of letters and artists of the time." 
 
 " Stop," said Miss Chandos-Cressy again severely ; 
 " she only did that because she feared their ridicule." 
 
 " What are you discussing ? " said Enilda. Miss 
 Chandos-Cressy's tone changed from severity to 
 graciousness. 
 
 " Only discussing one of Louis XV.'s favourites, 
 a person who lived many years ago, and whom you 
 never would have met in society, unless in Chicago, 
 or New York," 
 
 Flora was standing near Baron D'Alfredi; she did 
 not point, but she looked at the old gentlewoman and 
 said slily to her host : 
 
 •' Gaze at her and take her in — in penny numbers. 
 Isn't she wonderful ? I call her the little old woman 
 who lived in a shoe." 
 
 D'Alfredi shook his head. " You're a wicked srirl," 
 he said, but he laughed and smiled with her just 
 the same. 
 
 Miss Chandos-Cressy had altered but little in 
 appearance. She still wore her white hair piled 
 immoderately high on her small head ; her com- 
 plexion was still the same pasty mixture of bismuth
 
 80 The Copper Queen. 
 
 and Oriental cream ; her violet eyes, shaded by brows 
 like two bands of black velvet, were as luminous of 
 belladonna as of yore, and as heavily sliaded under- 
 neath with artificial black as they ever had been ; the 
 same unfading rose bloomed on her withered cheeks ; 
 the same cherry paste incarnadined her lips ; tlie 
 same ebony cane supported her limping footsteps ; 
 and the same jewelled chatelaine for fan, handker- 
 chief, and lorgnon depended from her shapely 
 waist. If anything she seemed younger in appear- 
 ance. There were a brightness in her eye, a cheeri- 
 ness in her smile, and an airinecs in her gesture 
 which betokened that season when the earth bursts 
 into verdure, the tree into blossom, and the bird into 
 song. As she made her way through the rooms she 
 was followed by the remarks, looks, and opinions, 
 which follow in the wake of a shootincr-star, or some 
 agreeable phenomena in nature. No one knew how 
 she got herself up, but every one respected that 
 effort to put the best foot forward, which the world 
 not alone exacts, but alone knows how to appreciate. 
 Assume a virtue if yow have it not, or assume a com- 
 plexion if you have it not. Miss Chandos-Cressy 
 certainly did the latter, and by so doing was con- 
 vinced that she had fulfilled all obligations towards a 
 generous world but an incomplete nature. 
 
 She knew every artist who had ever sung. She
 
 The Copper Queen. 81 
 
 spoke of Grisi as if she were still carolling * Qui la 
 voce ' on some back staircase. She remembered Pasta 
 and Pared i, and even told tales of Catalani, whose 
 song like whose motto was gold. She remembered 
 Persiaai's music-box and Sontag's silvery voice, and 
 stopped the Professor as they n eared the piano to 
 tell him that an Italian singer named Tedeschi 
 had such a mercenary father, that one night he 
 kept the house waiting three-quarters of an hour 
 before the opera began, to weigh his daughter's 
 salary to a fraction, exacted and paid the moment 
 before she began to dress; on this interesting 
 occasion the scales had broken down during the 
 operation, and the audience, she amongst the num- 
 ber, had to wait whilst another pair of weights was 
 fetched. 
 
 " They're adorable to listen to, these singers," she 
 said ; " but it is heart-breaking to think that their 
 one idea is money. They're grasping, one and all, 
 and every note that comes from their throats must 
 have its equivalent in filthy lucre. Why don't people 
 sincr as birds sinor ? " 
 
 "Most of them do," said Flora, who came up at 
 this moment, "just about as wildly, with just about 
 as much sense, and always when you don't want 'em 
 to. The genuine canary is the average opera-singer 
 of the day. Shut liim up, he howls ; put him in the 
 
 VOL. III. G
 
 82 The Copper Queen. 
 
 sun, he feeds ; sit down to table yourself, and he 
 begins yelling." 
 
 Flora's remarks were suddenly stopped. The Diva 
 began, and a sudden silence fell on the assembly. 
 One song after another followed. H. R. H. led the 
 applause, congratulated her enough to turn any- 
 body's head, and her music ended, the signal for 
 supper was given by H. E.. H, leading the way to a 
 brilliant room panelled in white and gold, hung with 
 superb portraits, and lit up with a perfection as rare 
 as original. Cunning globes of electric light, peeping 
 forth from branches of waxen tapers, shone as con- 
 spicuous in their setting as the Regent amongst 
 crown jewels. 
 
 Lady Mildred, Claremont, Enilda, Flora, Florestan, 
 and their party found themselves at the daintiest 
 board, where wit flowed with wine, good-humour 
 was the bill of fare, and laughter rang as freely out 
 as the bursting of champagne corks. 
 
 There was a great deal of disgust felt amongst 
 other guests who had not been asked to sup with 
 royalty. The Americans were loudly condemned ; 
 their names sneered at; their fortunes discussed, and 
 their beauty questioned; their manners execrated, 
 and their general conduct be-rated; their clothes 
 alone "sfot off" without the wholesale scathino-. 
 Enilda received the lion's share of condemnation.
 
 The Copper Queen. 8:> 
 
 The name, the Copper Queen, was echoed on all 
 sides. "What is it?" said one; "mines, tallow, pe- 
 trolium, or pinchbeck ? '' and after supper, when 
 she passed through the room on the Prince's arm, 
 remarks were made in her very face, not all compli- 
 mentary, but all more or less vulgar. It had been 
 bruited about that she possessed wit with wealth. 
 Her beauty none could gainsay; her fortune was 
 reputed colossal ; her toilette was the richest in the 
 room; her jewels the rarest; — in fact, it was a home 
 blow that night to many an illustrious noble- 
 Avoman whose family diamonds but not her pride had 
 diminished, to see j)erhaps one of the heirlooms of 
 her house glittering on the bosom of this younger 
 child of a younger branch, belonging to a younger 
 country and a younger race. 
 
 Count de Marcie and D'Orbach overheard some 
 of the grumbling. Lucy was on his arm, and once 
 she stopped suddenly and turned pale ; she declared 
 she heard the word " glue." 
 
 " What ! " she cried, " even here. Why, I thought 
 all one needed to-day in London was money." 
 
 "It's about all one needs anywhere," replied the 
 Count; "and here, having everything else, — birth, 
 title, and position, one may permit oneself the 
 luxury of tolerating that which is all the world 
 anywhere else, yet when you come down to it will 
 
 G 2
 
 8-i The Copper Queen. 
 
 never be anything but money in England. It's a 
 caprice like any other — ah ! " 
 
 The Count stopped abruptly. The Prima Donna, 
 Mademoiselle Foresti, was coming towards him, ac- 
 companied by her lady companion. Lucy looked 
 sufficiently annoyed, but the noble D'Orbach was 
 quite equal to the occasion. He stretched forth his 
 hand with a very grand air, and his face was 
 wTeathed in smiles as he thanked the artist for her 
 sino'ina-, told Fraulein Marx that she " was lookiucr 
 extremel}^ well," remarked "that it was a magnifi- 
 cent evening, he was surprised to see them in 
 London, and — could he be of any service ? " 
 
 " Yes," said Mademoiselle Foresti, half-curtly, 
 " Fraulein Marx is feeling rather faint, and — and — 
 I hardly know how to say, but — will you take her 
 to have some refreshment ? " 
 
 Lucy started, and D'Orbach murmured a few 
 unintelligible words. The last were plainer : 
 
 " Quite at Mademoiselle's service." Then without 
 more ado he offered his arm and walked away with 
 the Fraulein.
 
 85 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Fraulein Marx had black eyes, fair hair, a clear- 
 cut profile, and a mouth that betrayed an indomit- 
 able will. A smile, the very autumn of perfidy, 
 traversed her face as she walked along through the 
 now half-deserted rooms. All the world was at 
 supper, and yet there w^ere still crowds everywhere. 
 A delicious band sent tender strains out upon the 
 air. The French windows were open, and an odour 
 of heliotrope and mignonette stole through, mingling 
 their frasrrance with the heat of the drawing-room, 
 that smell of bouquets of every conceivable flower, 
 of perfumed robes and old laces, toilette-powder 
 puffs, and Oriental cosmetics; in short, the inde- 
 scribable, commingled cosmopolitan perfume of a 
 crowded drawing-rOom, in a great city, on a hot 
 night. 
 
 ''Let us go to the terrace," said the Fraulein 
 softly; "I do not care for refreshment other than
 
 8() The Copper Queen. 
 
 a breath of fresli air. I think it will be less crowded 
 there than here ; — but, Count, you are looking pale, 
 the change will do you good." 
 
 "You are a fiend incarnate," he muttered under 
 his breath ; " at least speak German." 
 
 She raised her heavy black brows. 
 
 " Shall it be the terrace ? " 
 
 " No," he answered ; " I wish to talk with you. 
 There is a tiny library here that I know well ; we 
 will go to it ; but we must first seem to take some 
 supper." 
 
 They re-threaded their way through the rooms 
 via the dining-room, and finally crossing a wide ante- 
 chamber, reached a little apartment, dim, silent, cool, 
 and shadowy ; it was unoccupied, and the Count 
 had chosen wisely in thinking that they could there 
 converse undisturbed. The room was like the rest of 
 the house, a gem in its way ; only to-night it seemed 
 strangely deserted, and the very sort of place in 
 which to talk secretly. A shaded lamp cast flicker- 
 ing shadow^s on the wall; the heavy curtains w-ere 
 hermetically sealed ; a bronze clock on the chimney- 
 piece had run down ; and the walls were tapestried 
 so thick that no sound of the outer world could by 
 any chance penetrate. Graceful curtains fell before 
 the opened door in such ampleness, that it might as 
 well have been shut for all one could tell outside
 
 The Copper Queen. 87 
 
 wliat was going on within. The Count motioned 
 his companion to a seat. She looked at it, at him, 
 and then deliberately sat down in another. She 
 opened her fan, and began fanning herself in silence. 
 Was she waiting for him to speak ? Evidently. 
 She had not long to wait. His words were brief, 
 but to the point. 
 
 " You are a clever woman," he said ; "how did you 
 ojet to New York, how find me ? I — I thoutrht — I 
 had hoped that you were — dead." 
 
 She still fanned herself, but responded with the 
 utmost graciousness. 
 
 " Naturally ; but shall I tell you ? Yes ? You see 
 I am not dead, and — and it was not difficult to find 
 you ; the difficult thing was to get away from — 
 Toulon." 
 
 " Hush ! " he said, glancing^ warily around ; " hush ! 
 walls have ears ; not that name here." 
 
 " You are sensitive," she sneered. " Toulon now- 
 a-days means cholera, or — anything rather than — " 
 
 '•' Go on." 
 
 "After you left me on that night, to do as best 
 I could, I only fell from the frying-pan into the fire. 
 I was arrested, tried, and transported ; but by making 
 love to one of the keepers, I managed to make my 
 escape. I got to a river and a boat, and — a boatman 
 took me in."
 
 88 The Copper Queen. 
 
 '< Wi I — tliat is how I heard you were drowned." 
 
 " Most Hkely ; but the boat was none other than 
 the one prepared for you, and the boatman none 
 other than Ricard who loved me, but whom you 
 were fool enough to hire to put me out of the way." 
 
 The Count turned ghastly with rage. 
 
 "Don't tell me that," he said; ''is there then no 
 more honour amongst thieves ? " 
 
 " No ; this is an age of progress ; there used to be, 
 but dishonour pays better." 
 
 " Spare me your wit ; but he shall pay me well for 
 this." 
 
 " You owe him a deal," she said calmly. " It was 
 through him I heard of your escape, your arrival in 
 New York, your combination with — " 
 
 " I defy you to speak that name here." 
 
 " Oh, as you will ; but — you don't ask me what 
 I want." 
 
 " I received your letters in New York ; they were 
 plain enough ? " 
 
 " I think my speech can be plainer. I thought I 
 was your wife, a countess, — ha ! ha ! " 
 
 Then she laughed so long and so loudly that the 
 very light seemed to flicker anew on the ceiling. 
 
 " Are you mad ? Tell me what you want ; I can't 
 stop here for ever. Is it money ? " 
 
 "No."
 
 The Copper Queen. 80 
 
 " Is it position ? " 
 
 " No." 
 
 " Is it — " Then a sinister look crept into liis 
 eyes. 
 
 " Yes," she said ; " it is revenge." 
 
 He began rapidly pacing the floor, up and down, 
 up and down, until the room seemed rocking. 
 
 "You might have trusted me," she continued. " I 
 was your creature body and soul ; did you imagine 
 for one moment that such crimes as yours, such a 
 life as yours, could ever remain long hidden ? They 
 say — •" 
 
 '' Never mind what they say. I want to know 
 all you have to say, and to end this conversa- 
 tion." 
 
 "' You are impatient. Why did you run away 
 from New York ? Why did you leave your interests, 
 and — and that idiot of a Foresti ; — but now rest in 
 peace. She knows all ! " 
 
 " All ! — good God, are you mad ? What do you 
 mean ? " 
 
 He abruptly ceased his walking up and down. 
 " All what ? Has she dared—? " 
 
 " Oh, nothing ! She came across one of your 
 letters to me, and thinking you were in love with 
 some other woman, fell into hysterics, and confessed 
 everything. She couldn't have come to a better
 
 90 The Copper Queen. 
 
 person, your own lawful wife ; I — I assure you I 
 consoled her." 
 
 " How did you come to be with her at all ? " 
 
 " I followed you to Ems ; but being interested in 
 a good-looking young banker, hadn't time then to 
 interfere with your love-making; only when you 
 went to New York, Kicard, who still adores me, 
 told me I had better be on hand in — well, in case of 
 need. I didn't know you had gone so far with the 
 singer. Bigamy was the one crime of which you 
 were not guilty. And now — " 
 
 " And now ? " 
 
 '' Well now, what do you propose to do about it ? 
 Well, I'll not be hard upon you; I said I wanted my 
 revenge, but I want more than that." 
 
 " You want money ? " 
 
 " Yes ; I want money, but no paltry sum." 
 
 " Well ! " 
 
 " I want you to give me two hundred thousand 
 dollars." 
 
 He interrupted her with an oath. "Are you 
 crazy ? Two hundred thousand dollars ! Where am 
 I to get the money ? And if I could get it, why 
 should I pay you such a sum ? " 
 
 " You will pay me that to get rid of me for ever ! 
 I promise to give you every jmper I possess that 
 could criminate you. I promise to give you our
 
 The Copper Queex. 91 
 
 marriage certificate, and to deny ever having known 
 you, and I promise to take myself out of your sight 
 for evermore." 
 
 " And the consequences if I refuse ? " 
 
 " Ah, if you refuse ! — but you won't refuse." 
 
 " I tell you I must refuse for the best of reasons ; 
 it is absolutely impossible for me to get together 
 such a sum of money." 
 
 " You have rich friends ; you can borrow it. Mr. 
 Rozen, for instance." 
 
 He lifted a warning finger. " Hush ! " he said ; '' I 
 thought I heard some one coming this way." 
 
 She stopped, and held her open fan uplifted in the 
 air. For a moment both listened attentively. Foot- 
 steps were heard coming towards the door, then 
 passing it, and were finally lost in the corridor 
 beyond. 
 
 Fraulein Marx was the first to speak. 
 
 " Whether you can get it or not, you'll have to, for 
 I'll not take a cent less, and I must have it soon." 
 
 He made no reply, and for an instant seemed to 
 be reflecting deeply. 
 
 ''You are thinking it over," she hazarded, and 
 again began fanning herself. " I will give you time 
 to consider." 
 
 " Devil ! — if I could believe you. No, no, Adele, it 
 won't do ; I've no assurance that you would not play
 
 02 The Copper Queen. 
 
 me false. What proof can I have besides those 
 papers ? " 
 
 She hesitated a moment. "You forget that my 
 position in one sense is not all that heart might 
 desire — that I am, like yom'self, an escaped convict." 
 
 " D — m it ! " he said, " will you stop using those 
 names here ? " 
 
 " Well, perhaps you're right ; we ought to under- 
 staad e:\ch other almost without speaking. I will 
 tell you the truth ; I want to go away with somebody ; 
 I want to marry, and lead a respectable life." 
 
 " Ah, how touching ! " 
 
 " Yes, isn't it ? Besides, America is crettinor too 
 hot to hold me, and — I don't wish to be personal, but 
 — I think you yourself had better be looking out." 
 
 Did he turn a shade paler, or did she imagine 
 it? 
 
 " Nonsense ! " he said. " You are the only person 
 who stands in my way, and — " 
 
 "And I suppose you'd like to put me out of it. 
 That game won't do, Fritz ; and let me tell you here 
 that if anything happens to me your head won't 
 be safe an hour. I hope you won't think that 
 anybody could make me forego my revenge, nor any- 
 thing less than the sum I have named. Ah ! " — she 
 got up quickly — "we must be going back to the 
 drawing-room; it is so long since I have had the
 
 The Copper Queen. 93 
 
 pleasure of a conversation with you, that I had really 
 forgotten the lapse of time." 
 
 " Don't say that again. I'm in no temper to stand 
 your sarcasm ; don't drive me too far. I tell you I can- 
 not give you two hundred thousand dollars — Ah ! 
 permit me" — here several persons sauntered idly 
 into the room. She accepted his offered arm. " I 
 think I once saw the miniature here, the most 
 perfect likeness of Madame de Lamballe, they say, 
 that exists." 
 
 The Count and Fraulein Marx made the usual 
 salutations as they passed from the room. 
 
 " They could not have overheard us ? " she 
 whispered. 
 
 "No." Then he added in a louder voice, as if 
 proceeding with an ordinary conversation : " And if I 
 get it, it could not possibly be before my arrival in 
 New York." They were getting into the crowd 
 again. " And when do you return ? — shortly ? " 
 
 " Shortly." 
 
 " I thought it was most imperative. Shall you be 
 leaving this week ? " 
 
 "Scarcely; that is to say, I have not decided; 
 but — " A strong pressure on his arm finished his 
 sentence in a more decided manner. "I think it 
 just possible I may go on Saturday," he added. 
 
 " Pray," she said with an eager voice, " do not go
 
 04 The Copper Queen. 
 
 without letting us hear from you beforehand ; you 
 know Mdlle. Foresti regards you as her most valued 
 friend." 
 
 At that moment Mdlle. Foresti was seen coming 
 towards them. She bestowed an angry glance on 
 the Count. 
 
 "Where have you been so long?" she said 
 querulously. " I'm tired to-death, and my carriage 
 has been waiting more than an hour 1 " 
 
 " Must you go ? " said the Count. " At least let 
 me see you out." 
 
 " Thanks," said Fraulein Marx, cordially, " we 
 could not think of taking you away so early." 
 
 " Ah ! you insist on coming," said Foresti. " It is 
 indeed good of you." 
 
 Then the Count offered his arm, and the three left 
 the room together. 
 
 The Baron, Lady Mildred, Enilda, and several 
 others were taking ices on the terrace. Flora's voice, 
 as usual, was heard high above the rest. 
 
 " It's the dodgiest thing I ever heard of Baron, 
 tell Enilda about your house." 
 
 " Oh, there's nothing to tell." 
 
 " Except that it's all a delusion and a snare," put 
 in Flora. 
 
 "Quite right; all a delusion and a snare," he 
 repeated. " You know, as Hamlet says, ' Look at
 
 The Copper Queen. 95 
 
 this picture, and then on that.' Here, for instance, 
 we have a marble pavement, lovely ladies in lovely 
 dresses, roses, trees, palms, and flowers; but turn 
 over this marble, and what do you see on the other 
 side ? Palms, roses, and lovely forms ? Nothing of 
 the kind. Sweltering cooks in white caps, joints of 
 beef, legs of mutton, featherless birds, bunches of 
 asparagus; and instead of this lovely panorama 
 under a sky filled with midnight stars, a long low 
 kitchen bustling with ranges, and the walls decorated 
 with endless pots and pans." 
 
 "Yes; I know," said Flora; "like that old 
 diplomatist who has just left, who' had" a whole 
 latterie cle cuisine on his breast in the shape of 
 decorations." 
 
 " Exactly," laughed the Baron. 
 
 " A polite way," said Enilda, " of suggesting that 
 the heart of your house resembles the venerable 
 diplomatist's breast." 
 
 "And shows conclusively that, like your terrace, 
 there are two sides to every question," added 
 Florestan. 
 
 "But, happily, hke the terrace, you only see 
 upon one side at a time." 
 
 " Though, like the Baron," said Lady Mildred, 
 " we know how to appreciate both." 
 
 The sounds of a waltz came floating through a
 
 96 The Copper Queen. 
 
 window. A celebrated pianist was playing ; not one 
 of Chopin's immortal inspirations, but a rollicking- 
 tune. 
 
 " Dear me," said Flora ; " I'm dying for an 
 American three-step ! Baron, may we dance ? Who- 
 ever that is playing, he has a perfect Vienna beer 
 accent. You know, Enilda, just the way they play 
 in the garden next the Thalia Theatre in New York. 
 But, Baron, may we ? " 
 
 " You may do anything you like in my house." 
 
 Flora was too late. The Prince had already set the 
 example, and was whirling round with Enilda's 
 predecessor, the last but one imported Transatlantic 
 professional beauty. Soon the floor was filled with 
 flying couples. 
 
 " Dancing on the carpet ? " cried the Baron. 
 "Never!" 
 
 " Oh, that doesn't matter a bit," said Enilda, as his 
 arm encircled her slender waist. " Dancing, like 
 gambling, is a passion ; who loves dancing will dance 
 anywhere." 
 
 By this time the band had taken their cue from 
 the pianist. Dancing was the order of the night, 
 and the concert bid fair to develop into a full- 
 blown ball. Never before had votaries to Terpsi- 
 chore kept time to a more inspiring measure ; never 
 had fairer forms languished on happier shoulders,
 
 The Copper Queen. 97 
 
 or brighter eyes shone into deeper and more 
 passionate ones, than on the spur of this improvised 
 round. Fans, flowers, gloves, charms, rings, and 
 handkerchiefs, made the proudest favours ever be- 
 stowed at any cotillon. The rooms were one whirl 
 of laughing women and enthusiastic men, and the 
 grave musicale suddenly became a very Babel of 
 voices, each voice seemingly louder, clearer, gayer 
 than its predecessor. The evening finally ended like 
 the breaking-up of a children's party. There were 
 more flisfhts to the terrace, and renewed flis^hts to 
 the supper-room ; the sound of rattling Sevres, 
 tinkling crystal, and trickling magnums. There was 
 such hubbub and unceasing echo of merriment, 
 that the contagion spread up and down, even 
 seemed to break through the flooring of the terrace, 
 and descend to the kitchen on the heads of cook-aids 
 and cooks' devils. The whole house was invaded ; 
 footmen were choking with laughter in their white 
 velvet collars ; the pages looked like imps of fun in 
 a pantomime ; and the staid butler, who had wished 
 his master the same unvarying good-night and good- 
 morning for three decades, wore so dazzling a smile, 
 that when he approached a lamp he seemed to 
 totally extinguish its light. 
 
 The Baron was ubiquitous — here, there, every- 
 where; whilst the various members of his family 
 
 VOL. III. . H
 
 98 The Copper Queen. 
 
 seemed social reproductions of himself. The same 
 ease, thoiightfulness, good-humour, and unflagging 
 hospitality were directed towards their brother's 
 guests as if they had been their own ; instead of 
 one host there seemed half-a-dozen, all attending 
 to every one's wants at the same time, spurring 
 on the dancers, wdiipping up the musicians ; not 
 alone interesting themselves in withered w^allflowers, 
 but even flirting if necessary wdth maiden ladies 
 of uncertain years and heretofore most uncertain 
 temper. At last the evening came to an end. The 
 Prince had w^altzed his last waltz, and a galop that 
 w^ould have resuscitated a dying Taglioni, so there 
 w^as nothing for it but to say good-night to the hosts, 
 good-night to friends, and good-bye to one of the 
 hajipiest days in the year ; the maddest, merriest day, 
 and one which Flora vowed she w^ould never forget 
 
 o 
 
 whilst she lived. 
 
 The Baron was looking a little paler, a little more 
 tired, and seemed a little more nervous than when 
 his party had begun ; but think you any part of his 
 house bore the stamp of an evening's wear and tear ? 
 Not a bit of it. The liohts orJeamed as brio-ht as 
 
 o o o 
 
 ever; the flowers bloomed as fair in their magic 
 vases ; the rooms were filled wdth the same mys- 
 terious perfume — that subtle odour of feminality ; yet 
 there were no morsels of lace petticoats decorating
 
 The Copper Queen. 99 
 
 the carved feet of chairs ; no floating ribbons, and 
 no stray flying curls here, there, or in odd corners ; 
 there were no crushed exotics on the carpets, and 
 no stemless gardenias trodden into the dining-room's 
 marqueterie. Enilda thought to herself as she bade 
 their friend good-night : 
 
 " Has there been a musicale ? — has there been a 
 party, a supper, a dance ? — or have we dreamed it ? 
 Have we heard Patti's siren voice, and the waltz's 
 siren strains ? — or have we been asleep in fairy- 
 land, and lived through an Arabian night's enter- 
 tainment ? " Then when the chill morning air blew 
 on her forehead she repeated vaguely to herself: 
 
 '•'Yes; that is it. We have been dreaming under 
 the stars, the dawn has overtaken us, and day- 
 break has come ; our fairy companions have fled 
 with the night; and this — this is the awakening; 
 this is morning: in London." 
 
 H 2
 
 100 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Several days after the Baron's party Enilda 
 wrote her father the following : — 
 
 "Dearest Papa, 
 
 " First, a scolding, because you never hardly 
 ever write to me ; second, a good, long, loving letter 
 to tell you that you are wrong not to let me hear 
 from you oftener, and to repeat that I miss you more 
 and more, and mo-are, as Charles Thorn used to say to 
 Clara Morris in ' Camille.' London is such a big place, 
 such a world ; there is everybody aiid everything in 
 it but my own dear papa, whose face is constantly 
 before mine, whose voice I constantly hear, and 
 whose kind care I constantly miss. I wish you'"d 
 send for me to come home, — won't you ? I dream 
 of you often — so often; and in my dreams you look 
 tired and worried. I am not superstitious, but I 
 wish you'd appear happier when you pay me those
 
 The Copper Queen. 101 
 
 little impromptu nocturnal visits — I wish you would. 
 I have told Charlotte Corday all about them — my 
 dreams, you know — and she rolls her eyes higher 
 than ever and says — can't you just hear her ? 
 
 " ' Honey chile, who knows ? — 'specs Massa Rozen's 
 got things to worry him like, an' if he don't jes skip 
 and chip about in dem dar visions, don't you go 
 for to frettin' ; hev a good time while you can, and 
 don't borry trouble at a dollar a hundred ; real worri- 
 ments come fass 'nuff 'thout scoopin' 'em up from 
 dreams,' etc. etc. 
 
 " There, isn't that Charlotte all over ? Bless her ! 
 But I must tell you she is changed, is grown sad 
 and silent ; I've given her a new Methodist prayer- 
 book, which scarcely ever leaves her hands. A funny 
 thing happened yesterday. Count de Marcie — for 
 whom, by the way, I cannot overcome my aversion 
 — called, and as there were none of the servants 
 about, she went to the door. The bell had rung 
 so often that in desperation I had started to go my- 
 self, so we met in the hall. Charlotte opened the 
 door, and when she saw the Count her face went quite 
 green under her skin ; she put her hand to her heart, 
 and nearly had one of those fainting-fits that she 
 had one day in New York. You must remember it. 
 Oh no, you wouldn't; for she expressly begged me 
 to say nothing to you about it then, but yesterday
 
 102 The Copper Queen. 
 
 I was really alarmed. However, she wouldn't see a 
 doctor, and I suppose it was just as well, for this 
 morning she seems all right again, good soul ! You 
 know, papa, I think she is sicker than we realize, 
 for we shall lose her some day — the dear black link 
 that binds us to the long ago. I must stop this tone 
 or I shall be dropping tears on the paper, and you 
 wouldn't like that, would you ? 
 
 "Now, 'just fawncy,' as they say here, you're de- 
 liberately asking me to tell you everything I do in 
 London, every one I see, everywhere I go, every 
 friend I make, every book I read, every — why every 
 dress I wear ; and yet they say men are not curious. 
 It comes to this, you love me; — you have no one 
 but me ; you miss me, and you want to see me abso- 
 lutely every minute of the twenty-four hours, just as 
 if I were a little girl once more ; just as if I were in 
 — well, in New Ulm ; just as if it were five o'clock, 
 and you were coming home, and going to tell me a 
 fairy story, kiss me, give me some candies, and 
 perhaps a new silver dollar, which you would quietly 
 hunt for, find, and lose again, and then pretend that 
 it dropped from the ceiling whilst my head was 
 turned ! Oh ! I know you, old pater, and I can see 
 through all your dodges just — well, just as easily as 
 I can see myself when I look at myself in the glass. 
 By the way, I do that very often. ' I'm in beauty,'
 
 The Copper Queen. 103 
 
 as they say in London, and, isn't it funny ? — they call 
 me ' The Copper Queen ' ahnost to my very face ; 
 they make remarks on my appearance just as if I 
 were a statue ; speak of our money and my manners 
 quite as if I were the third person singular, and not 
 myself at all. But I like it ; I adore it. I'm getting 
 so vain you wouldn't know me. Ah ! before we go 
 any further, am I spending too much money ? You 
 don't complain. The bills seem something enormous. 
 I thought New York the dearest city in the world, 
 but London is ahead on the spending question. In 
 America, after all, one spends only dollars ; but here 
 it is guineas, right and left; and really a pound 
 isn't a pound, but — five dollars. 
 
 " Ah ! enough of money — talking shop. You 
 want to know where I have been ; well, I will tell 
 you — oh no ! I can't now, for some one has just 
 come, and Flora is shrieking up the balusters for me 
 to go down to the drawing-room. I must dress for 
 dinner afterwards; then after that for the Queen's 
 Ball in Buckingham Palace. July 4th, just think of 
 it. I suppose you are in the Quaker City celebrating 
 the great event of— 1776. How odd it is — we had 
 utterly forgotten our centenary, and in speaking of it 
 at luncheon to-day an old friend said, ' 187(3 — aw, 
 yes — but — but what — aw — has to-day to do with a 
 hundred years ago ? ' ' Nothing,' said Flora— she's
 
 104 The Copper Queen. 
 
 such a quick creature — ' nothing.' Then we all 
 laughed. 
 
 "Good-bye. Don't work too hard, and don't fail 
 to write oftener. 
 
 " Always the same, your own, 
 
 " Enilda." 
 
 At ten o'clock Enilda, Flora, and Mrs. Chromo 
 were on their way to Buckingham Palace. They 
 kept up a lively chatter, in which the dress the 
 Princess might wear, and the tea thrown in Boston 
 Harbour so many years back, w^ere discussed in terms 
 of equal enthusiasm. But time has brought about 
 many changes, and one that of a native-born 
 American, spending the evening of the 4th of July, 
 the glorious anniversary day of their independence, 
 — where ? At the great Centenary Ball in Phila- 
 delphia ? Nothing of the sort. At an English 
 Queen's Ball in an English Palace ; if a hundred 
 years has brought about such a thing, what shall 
 we not see in another hundred ? A Queen in 
 America, or England a Republic ? 
 
 Enilda and her friends were asked to dine before 
 the ball to meet the New American Minister, but 
 refused the distinguished honour. They did well : 
 this individual, one of the greatest snobs America 
 has ever produced, was well calculated to give the
 
 The Copper Queen. 105 
 
 British a nice idea of what some American ropre- 
 sentants are. 
 
 But the Ball ! Their carriage was so long in the 
 line they thought they never should get in. Before 
 they arrived it began to rain, as it almost always 
 does when one is going to a ball in London, and they 
 were in a fearful fright lest they should get their 
 gowns bespattered ; fears, however, were groundless, 
 for they alighted under a covered portico, whence, 
 without fuss or bother, they were ushered in to the 
 ground-floor of the palace. 
 
 Somehow there was no excitement such as there 
 is at the White House balls in America ; no laughing 
 and talking and chattering amongst a crush of 
 people come jDrepared to have a good time. The 
 attendant who removed their wraps was unsmiling ; 
 and when they reached the foot of the grand staircase 
 Enilda reallv had a- frioht. The Yeomen of the 
 Guard, dressed in their quaint Elizabethan costume, 
 standmg around, looked as if they had stepped out 
 of some old picture-frame, and reminded her of 
 Madame Tussaud's; she didn't realize they were 
 Imman beings till one moved. It struck her as 
 incongruous, men and women wearing modern clothes, 
 and the attendants appearing in the costume of three 
 hundred years ago. 
 
 Americans ought to have very tender memories
 
 106 The Copper Queex. 
 
 on coming into any English palace ; being strangers, 
 and only having guide-books to go by, they scarcely 
 ever think of a present, and only think of it as 
 it recalls a past. Although Buckingham Palace has 
 few historical associations, Enilda had half imagined 
 she should run across King George the Third in 
 one corner, Queen Charlotte in another, or Queen 
 Adelaide in another ; yet she found to-day very near, 
 and once having paid a private visit to the palace, 
 instead of a George's Court, saw only the young 
 Queen and her Consort, heard the careless laughter 
 of happy children, and youthful voices echoing and 
 re-echoing through now silent corridors. In one 
 room — one should scarcely speak of it now, except 
 it came so persistently into her mind ? — she remem- 
 bered in this great chamber curtains were drawn, 
 and the light was scarcely ever permitted to enter : 
 that every object was covered with dust, and a long 
 table drawn up near the fireside was left with every 
 article untouched, just as it was when the Prince 
 Consort died ! There were the writing-desk and 
 open ink-bottle, the half-used quill, and an arm-chair 
 turned aside from the table, as if its occupier had 
 been looking at a little portrait just to his right : the 
 picture of a fair young woman with bright eyes, rosy 
 lips, attired in a low dress of apple-green trimmed 
 with white lace, the picture, not of a Queen, but of
 
 The Copper Queen. 107 
 
 " his loving wife Victoria " ; and, strange it was, that 
 passing through all the other rooms, and even when 
 she came to the beautiful ball-room, this silent deserted 
 chamber kept constantly coming into her mind. 
 
 The Court came in punctually at a quarter before 
 eleven : — The Prince and Princess of Wales ; Princess 
 Louise with Lord Lome ; the Princess Mary Adelaide, 
 Duchess of Teck, such a sweet-looking woman; the 
 Duke of Teck, Prince Edward of Saxe- Weimar ; and 
 Heaven knows how many others besides. Enilda 
 stood in the diplomatic circle, much to Flora's and 
 Lucy's disgust, as they had not, like her, been spe- 
 cially asked and taken there by some Diplomat. The 
 number of the attendants on the Royalties seemed to 
 her very fabulous. The Prince and Princess of Wales, 
 followed by the Court, went to a raised dais and 
 stood up before a row of gilt chairs ; whilst the ladies 
 of the Court ransred themselves around ao^ainst the 
 wall in a semicircle of courtly effigies. The dancing 
 began immediately after, and such a quadrille was 
 danced ! The band were all dressed in red, up 
 in a gallery at one end of the room, facing the Court, 
 and Flora declared they reminded her of the organ- 
 loft in the Union Park Cons^reofational Church in 
 Chicago, and the Oratorio Society getting ready to 
 shout " Hallelujah ! " The arrangement of the guests 
 also seemed curious.
 
 108 The Copper Queex. 
 
 The general idea prevails in America that if one 
 goes to a Queen's Ball, one hob-nobs with everybody, 
 even the Royalties; and that every one present is 
 just as good as every one else. On the contrary, 
 the stars of the evening — meaning their Highnesses 
 — are, so to speak, on the platform; to the left 
 is the diplomatic circle ; to the rioht the Bi->- Wio-s, 
 Duchesses, etc. ; and a line morally drawn from the 
 entrance-door where the Royalties come in, separates 
 these privileged few from every other human being 
 at the ball. Of course the other people really are 
 all herded together ; they have no more to do with 
 Royalty than one has with the planet Jupiter ; they 
 pack, crane their necks, and stare right and left in 
 vain, for not a hundredth part of the guests get 
 even a glimpse of the Prince and Princess. When 
 they dance it is amongst themselves, and they never 
 go into the Royal circle unless brought there by the 
 Prince or by some Foreign Ambassador ; in reality, 
 with the exception of seeing their names printed 
 beside Royalty in the 'Morning Post' on the ensuing 
 day, they might as well have been at a ball at a great 
 brewer's, or any of the other fashionable London 
 entertainers. They indeed have funny ideas of 
 things in America. Now, even Enilda supposed that 
 Princes and Princesses would be floating about the 
 floor here, there, and everywhere, like the President
 
 The Copper Queex. 109 
 
 and cabinet in Washington, making themselves 
 generally agreeable, but — she was mistaken. 
 
 The ball-room had never been more brilliant : it 
 was exquisitely liglited, and presented a scene of 
 bewildering beauty. The dresses and jewels were 
 such, Lucy Chromo said her eyes were blinded only 
 to look u]3on them. Such orders, decorations, and 
 stars, from St. John to Catherine of Russia, from 
 Persia to Portugal, from the " Garter " to the 
 " Golden Fleece," and the Annunziata to the Black 
 Eagle of Prussia, and heraldry alone knows what 
 more besides ! The prettiest sight was when the 
 daucino- beo[an. There was nothing^ but valses and 
 quadrilles ; not as in America, — no polka, no polka- 
 redowa, no schottische, no mazurka, and no Prairie- 
 Queen. The Royalties danced every set ; it seemed 
 to Enilda that the Princess never sat down once ; 
 whilst she was so tired standing, she thought she 
 should faint before midnight. She could scarcely 
 realize that she was looking upon so many dis- 
 tinguished people, and unconsciously her thoughts 
 flew to the old days, when m America she used to 
 read about lords and ladies, and wondered what they 
 looked like. She had a vague idea that there would 
 be something about them which would distinguish 
 them from other people; but she had found them 
 exactly like other gentlefolk in England, neither
 
 110 The Copper Queen. 
 
 more nor less well-bred, neither handsomer nor 
 homelier; yet, had she told the truth, would have 
 said " they have a little something in their manner 
 which is like the varnish on a picture ; it gives it 
 a glaze and helps to preserve, but does not radically 
 change it." 
 
 There were numbers of lovely women in the room, 
 the Princess the loveliest of all. Enilda had never 
 before realized what a beauty she was ; for in fairness 
 she stands out amongst other women as conspicuous 
 as a white lily in a bunch of buttercups. 
 
 She had a fine face, with soft expression and 
 marked aristocratic mien; dark, blue-grey eyes, 
 with arched brows ; a low forehead, slightly Grecian 
 nose, small mouth, and a pale complexion, reflect- 
 ing innumerable lights and shadows. Her figure 
 was not only slight and graceful, but so extremely 
 youthful that it was hard to believe her the 
 mother of big boys and girls; her carriage was so 
 distinctly her own that even with her back toAvards 
 one, amongst five hundred, one could single her out. 
 She dressed exquisitely. No other woman in England 
 could touch her for the way she puts on her clothes. 
 She wore a black dress with bands of silver looped 
 up with garlands and bouquets of black currants, 
 black corsage trimmed with Spanish fringe, an 
 incomparable tiara of diamonds, and her breast
 
 The Copper Queen. Ill 
 
 covered with orders like a statesman. One never 
 tired of looking at her; from the tips of her 
 fingers to the last fold of her tulle robe, her 
 person was interesting. She was very gracious, yet 
 Enilda thought her face sometimes impassive. She 
 knew she was a woman and mother, yet could much 
 easier fancy her a vestal kneeling at some shrine, 
 than rocking babies in her arms, or perhaps playing 
 cat's-cradle to amuse them. 
 
 The Princess Louise was the prettiest of the 
 Queen's daughters ; fair, with regular features, with 
 blue eyes, and a most winning smile ; and Lord Lome 
 standing beside her looked as happy and contented 
 as a great school-boy. 
 
 After the first few dances danced in the royal circle 
 
 Enilda slipped out with kind Lord Alfred P , who 
 
 showed her around and interested her tremendously. 
 Of course he was full of India and the trip, and the 
 Prince's first tiger, which she was disloyal enough to 
 declare she believed had in his homage courted his 
 death. Lord Alfred laughed pleasantly and said, 
 " Little lady, you may rally a Prince, but beware 
 how you libel a tiger." She ran up against Flora 
 and Mrs. Chromo, both looking charmingly; both 
 "their eyes in fine frenzy rolling" because they 
 could not get near the Royal circle. 
 
 " It's a delusion and a snare ! " said Flora. " I
 
 112 The Copper Queen. 
 
 wouldn't know what the Royalties were like if T 
 hadn't seen their photos in every shop-window in 
 Regent Street." 
 
 Flora was hanging on the arm of the Equerry 
 of the Duke of Albany, the Earl of H.'s younger 
 brother. A charming man, such a good fellow, and 
 the best imitator of popular artists in the world ; 
 Enilda couldn't look at him without hearing Ristori's 
 fearful throat-rattle as Lady Macbeth, or Frou-Frou's 
 plaintive death-wail, " 2cne j^etit — ef-fleur." She was 
 dying to hear him then and there, but supposed it 
 wouldn't have been quite the correct thing at a 
 State Ball. However, she whispered what had been 
 in her mind to the young Equerry, who rolled his 
 eyes in holy horror at the very thought. Young 
 Pastor was walking behind Flora, following at her 
 heels like a greyhound. Poor young fellow, he was 
 so much in love ! Flora was looking, by the way, 
 wonderfully pretty; and Enilda came very near 
 being jealous of her. 
 
 Lucy Chrorno had the arm of the Russian 
 Ambassador. He was a distinguished-looking man ; 
 tall, broad-chested, straight as a poplar; with very 
 wide-awake eyes, a real Slav look, and a moustache 
 as white as the snow on Mont Blanc. His Excel- 
 lency was too amusing; he spoke English just as well 
 as most English people ; but pretended not to be able
 
 The Copper Queen. 113 
 
 to, and the things Englisli -women had taught him 
 to say ! Well ! — well, a volume would not suffice to 
 put all down. One of his favourite expressions was, 
 " Shut up I" When he first came to London he usid 
 to go and sit by the Prince when he was ill with 
 fever ; and his delight was to tell every one to " shut 
 up," from H. R. H. downwards. Taking pattern of 
 Eno-lish ladies, Enilda had also tauoht him a few 
 words which he was to use on the first convenient 
 occasion ; so he stopped her to repeat them, to see if 
 they were all right. 
 
 Lucy Chromo had been and was still talking 
 about the Grand Duke's di-^monds, and the wretched 
 American, Fanny Lear. All admitted that she was 
 wonderfully handsome, but wished — wished she were 
 not a compatriot. As for him, Lucy declared he was 
 secretly married to her, but Enilda would not believe 
 a word of it. 
 
 Then they ran up against Florestan with Lady 
 Mildred, who looked very bored. Enilda instantly 
 wondered where Claremont was ! She didn't see him, 
 and thought he was probably talking to some 
 
 ])uchess in the corner. The Duchess of M 
 
 perhaps; she knew he admired her greatly. Her 
 Grace had been the theme of European Courts for 
 two decades, and no wonder, for she was still one of 
 the most beautiful women in the world, with a face 
 
 VOL. III. I
 
 114! The Copper Queex. 
 
 and figure that Francis I. might have had repro- 
 duced, like that of Diane de Poictiers, for one of the 
 *' Tliree Graces." Her son, Lord M — , had just mar- 
 lied a lovely American, with eyes hke stars, and hair 
 like Lady Godiva's ; and, speaking of that marriage, 
 another Duke's son, uho all said was destined to a 
 great future, had also married an American, equally 
 charming, but totally different in appearance ; a 
 strange, Juno-like creature, whose deep gray eyes 
 had inky lights in them like quicksilver; she had 
 blue-black hair, and a beautiful face — the very 
 essence of pride and warm blood. Euilda thought 
 at times she looked rather sad, and began, as usual, 
 to wonder, then said to herself, — " No, never mind ; 
 at a Court Ball I won't wonder." 
 
 She walked through room after room_, but they 
 were all empty, and she was surprised, as out of 
 the thousands composing the upper ten, there did not 
 seem to be more than one thousand present, and 
 that one huddled into the ball-room. The other 
 apartments were beautiful, but had an uninhabited 
 look ; a got-up-for-the-occasion sort of air, like the 
 houses smart people hire in London to give balls in. 
 All the chimney-places were filled with banks of 
 exquisite flowers — flowers were here and there on 
 mantelpieces, but they seemed so little alive, that 
 when a lady passed through the room with a bouquet
 
 The Copper Queen. 115 
 
 ill her Land, they gave one the idea of being artificial. 
 Indeed, the decorations, floral and otherwise, seemed 
 to vie with the guests in the solemn state and 
 dignity of their deportment. 
 
 At half past one the Royalties went out to supper, 
 followed by the diploniatic body, and it was a sight 
 to see the people staring, drawn up in lines on either 
 side, with the same insatiable curiosity as if they had 
 never gazed on Royalty before. As to Enilda, when 
 it got to tlie supper hour, she was so tired she felt 
 ready to drop. Many other ladies looked worn-out, but 
 the Princess was as fresh as if she had just stepped 
 into the ball. Enilda forgot her fatigue, however, when 
 she caught sight of the glittering tables, and such a 
 service of gold plate as her eyes had. never before 
 rested upon ; and small wonder either, as it has been 
 gradually accumulating for centuries. She declared 
 the wall looked like a his^h trellis, studded with gold 
 vines, branches of gold, flowers of gold, leaves of gold, 
 and panels literally encrusted with gold; whilst Flora 
 insisted that she would never be happy till she had 
 eaten an American ice-cream off each separate dish. 
 
 The Princess was very gracious, and spoke with 
 them several times. Enilda remarked that one stood 
 very still whilst she was speaking ; called her, as well 
 as the other Royal Princesses, " Ma'm " (Madame) ; 
 and when one came up or went away, dropped a kind 
 
 I 2
 
 IIG The Copper Qceex. 
 
 uf a cheese-curtsey, called a charity bob, a sort of flap 
 down and spring up like a jack-in-a-box ; whicli 
 Enilda had previously thought very odd, but had 
 been told was necessary. 
 
 Finally she danced with the Prince ! He was very 
 agreeable, frank, and handsome, and wore a most 
 winning smile, which lit up his face wonde: fully. 
 Enilda thought this smile explained his extraordin- 
 ary success wdth women ; it was really not too much 
 to say, that he was as handsome for a man as his 
 wife was for a woman, and his tact, bonhommie, 
 and consideration for all had justly made him one of 
 the most popular men in Europe. She must also do 
 him the justice to admit it wasn't a bit because he 
 was a Prince, but simply because he was a nice 
 cheery man, as faithful to old caprices as to new, 
 with a chivalrous fidelity which compelled a respect 
 for whomsoever he had honoured or still honours 
 with his special attentions. 
 
 Of course Enilda met everybody, and tried her 
 best to recollect what people talked about. After 
 supper the Ball was a little less ceremonious, and 
 
 she noticed that Miss , an old friend, was 
 
 brought into the circle by H. R. H., and danced twace 
 with him. It is all nonsense about Americans 
 taking up all the Prince's time. If they amuse him, 
 which is more than most people do, it becomes a
 
 The Copper Queen. 117 
 
 question of give and take. The world in general is 
 tired of hearing that the only reason Americans go to 
 any place is because they have money ; after seeing 
 all these Peers and Peeresses, and their hereditary 
 rank and precedence, which no amount of wealtli 
 could purchase, Enilda came to the conclusion that 
 here there is this distinction and difference — money 
 is a king in every other country, but in England 
 must play second fiddle to birth. And what people 
 talked about? There was such a jumble she had 
 but a confused idea of the whole, only noticed that 
 not one person remembered it was the centenary 
 of America's independence ; fifty people, however, 
 spoke of a war being declared between Servia and 
 Turkey, and as Count S. looked very wise, she sup- 
 posed it meant that Russia would henceforth be on 
 the look-out. 
 
 Florestan came up, and as he could not make 
 love to Enilda, thought he would talk politics ; how- 
 ever, after a few random speeches, he only remarked, 
 " All Dizzy's sympathies are with Turkey." 
 
 Enilda then looked well at the Egyptian Sphinx, 
 whom she saw perfectly well to-night for the first 
 time. She looked many times at his cold, impassive 
 face, and asked herself in vain, " Is this the im- 
 personation as well as the author of ' Contarini 
 Fleming ' ? — this astute, calculating statesman the
 
 118 The Copper Queen. 
 
 expanded blossom of that impetuous, iuipassioned 
 youth ? " 
 
 The Premier was speaking very earnestly with a 
 remarkable person, and — on every subject but the 
 one lying nearest the heart. She thought she had 
 never before seen a man such a very quintessence of 
 insolent grace and ease. He half dropped his eyes 
 whilst he was speaking ; his voice was slow and 
 cadenced, he even seemed to smile as he spoke in 
 iambics. She could scan his response to the Russian 
 Ambassador, just then in conversation with him, 
 beginning, "Ah, Count, you know — the hour is such, 
 etc., etc." 
 
 A brilliant and rising young poet passed and said 
 to him, " Good evening, sir ; I hope you're quite well." 
 
 The Sphinx slipped his hand into his breast, 
 reflected for an instant, and then replied, " I think, 
 sir, we are none of us ever quite well." 
 
 One of the chief topics of discussion seemed to 
 be my Lord Londonderry's son, who nearly broke his 
 head in the polo match the day before — naturally one 
 of the most interesting of the season, and the squabble 
 about the Marquis de Stacpole's child, whether it 
 should be brought up a Catholic or no ; the Ex- 
 hibition at Brussels; and a necklace which Prince 
 Dhulup Shing had thrown at a Prima Donna in a 
 bouquet which had broken her head open ; the blood
 
 The Copper Queen. 119 
 
 only ceased flowing, and the smile only returned to 
 her lips, when she learned that the hard object 
 which had so injured her was a diamond riviere of 
 the purest water. 
 
 For the first time in her life Enilda saw the Scotch 
 Eeel danced by the Court, to the music of the 
 Queen's and Prince of Wales's pipers — a most mad- 
 dening affiir; it made her think of heather and 
 snowstorms, plaids and philabegs, and a subtle odour 
 of whiskey-punch perfuming the night. 
 
 Lord Dudley Avas present, as amiable as ever, with 
 his young and beautiful wife on his arm. She 
 certainly took the palm as being the fairest of London 
 beauties present. The band was most delicious. 
 Enilda had never heard of Liddell before ; and never 
 heard D' Albert's " Sweetheart's Valse " better played. 
 
 A sudden passage in the flutes caused Lord D 
 
 to exclaim to Baron F. de Rothschild, " Dear me, 
 how like Persiani ! — she sang with the perfection of a 
 music-box, you know." 
 
 The diplomatic circle was unusually brilliant, and 
 Enilda evinced not a little curiosity to know the 
 names " and record " of the various envoys. Count 
 
 S described the men with his usual wit and 
 
 pungency, and Michelet or Thiers could never have 
 equalled him in facts: he may not have been 
 diplomatic, but he certainly was historic. He was
 
 120 The Copper Queen. 
 
 interrupted by Madame de Florian, who sauntered by 
 on M. d'Harcourt's arm ; one could see she was a 
 great favourite, for smiles followed her on every side ; 
 she had only just come to London, and found it 
 almost as much of a novelty as did Enihla. She 
 was dressed in a robe of genuine French make, 
 which showed her superb form to perfection, added 
 fairness to her skin, and a deeper violet to her eyes. 
 She even wore jewels whose colour seemed to repeat 
 them in clearness ; and Enilda was so puzzled to 
 know what they could be, that she came very near 
 asking the Countess to tell her about them then and 
 there ; that, however, would have been difficult, as the 
 dancing was going vigorously on, and every instant 
 an elbow knocked against her shoulder, a patent 
 leather cast a shadow on her train, or the sticks of 
 some vagrant fan threatened to dislocate one of lier 
 plumes, which up to the present had remained very 
 upright and stationary in her golden hair. 
 
 Just then the new American Minister passed, 
 and Flora nearly went into screams when she re- 
 membered and told about a dinner he once gave 
 the British Minister in Washington. There wasn't a 
 plate that had not three Marquis's coronets on it, 
 painted on a shield with more quarterings than the 
 oldest peerage since the Conquest. His Excellency 
 was staggered when he saw the porcelain, and
 
 The Copper Queen. 121 
 
 wondered who Lad lent it for the occasion; but he 
 was much more staggered when he was informed 
 that it belonged to his host, and represented the 
 family he pretended to be a member of in England. 
 Perhaps he was; but considering even a Duke's son 
 bears only a title by courtesy, one wonders what 
 right a hundredth American cousin had to full-fledged 
 coronets. 
 
 Lady X was pointed out to Enilda, and her 
 
 hair reminded one of an autumn leaf, brown yester- 
 day, red to-day, and yellow to-morrow ; certainly her 
 locks were warranted to wash and change their 
 colour. Gossip handled the names of well-known 
 people most freely ; one would scarcely write in 
 one's diary one-tenth of the things one heard. All 
 Feminine London declared it to be the smartest ball 
 given at the palace for years — but an end conies to 
 most things, and this Royal entertainment closed only 
 too soon. The court went away before three. There 
 was the same craning of necks and crushing of 
 dresses to look at them ; other's followed, then others, 
 until the ball-room was deserted. Liddell packed 
 away his baton ; only the Yeoman of the Guard still 
 si 'od at the foot of the grand staircase, and the 
 unsmiling maids held waiting wraps in the ladies 
 cloak-room. 
 
 When Erttlda reached home she tore open her
 
 122 The Copper Queen. 
 
 letter, described all she had seen, and added this 
 post scriptum : — 
 
 " I must say it was the loveliest ball I've ever been 
 to. It has just struck me I didn't dance once with 
 Florestan ; in fact, very little with anybody, and I'm 
 so tired I can't write another word. Five A.M. ! — the 
 time I used to get up when I was a little girl, and 
 now just going to bed ! 
 
 " Dearest papa, don't say after this that you 
 haven't at least heard all about the party and every- 
 thing. Take care of yourself Write very soon. 
 Accept love from Flora and Mrs. Chromo, regards 
 from everybody, and a fond kiss from 
 
 " Your own Enilda."
 
 123 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Two weeks had passed since the ball at Bucking- 
 ham Palace. Lady Mildred coidd not disguise to 
 herself the fact that of late her husband had seemed 
 farther and farther away from her each day ; he had 
 never been a passionate lover, and after liis return 
 from America she knew tliat his heart was still 
 more estranged, but as he found her ill, presumably 
 on her death-bed, the change she felt in him was not 
 from his own showing, but her own intuition, which 
 told lier that absence had quenched rather than 
 kindled love's flame. However, from the moment of 
 their first meeting until he had put his hand in hers 
 with the vow " till death do us part," his care of her 
 had been unceasing, and his attentions filled with a 
 grave thoiightfulness which had become monotonous 
 in their daily sameness. She had often questioned 
 him of his life in America, but had elicited little 
 from him beyond his trip, his accident, his being
 
 12-i The Copper Queex. 
 
 cared for by the Rozen family, and tlie casual friends 
 he had made in New York. She loved Lim passion- 
 ately, devotedly, disinterestedly, but the unvarying 
 excellence of his treatment of and manner towards 
 her, instead of sowing contentment seemed only to 
 sow the seeds of discord. Her life flowed on with 
 such cahn, that she began to feel that irritation 
 one feels at sea when in tropical climes day follows 
 day, and week succeeds week, with the same con- 
 stancy of cloudless sky, dazzling sun, gentle winds, 
 and red gold sunsets. Lady Mildred used to say to 
 herself: 
 
 '' If he would only be angry with me, would 
 only quarrel now and then ; would refuse me when 
 I ask him a favour, or contradict me when I tell 
 him anything ! I should think then that he cared 
 sometliino' for me ; but to see him oroinGf on in the 
 same unchanging way makes me feel as if I could 
 throw myself from a window, or jump into the 
 Thames for excitement. His kiss nioht and mornini^ 
 is always the same ; the tone of his voice never alters 
 when he says, " I hope you slept well last night, 
 Mildred ; I hope you feel well this morning ; " the 
 same courteousness before the world, the same 
 civility but coldness behind it. No; he does not 
 love me; he never loved me; he merely tolerates 
 me ; and I am breaking my heart for a man
 
 The Copper Queen. 125 
 
 who will never be any more to me than he is 
 now." 
 
 lady MilJred read Claremont's indifference but 
 too well ; he had accepted his destiny blindly, and 
 finding himself hopelessly entangled in the net 
 fate had cast for him, lived on from day to day 
 taking things as they came, trying to forget yester- 
 day, trying to ignore to-morrow. He had never 
 forgiven his wife the way she had w^on him ; he 
 treated her well, because it was as easy to treat her 
 well as badly : he was like the man who said to a 
 friend, " It is utterly immaterial to me whether I live 
 or die ; " and in response to the query, " Then why 
 don't you die ? " rei3lied, " Because it is immaterial." 
 Claremont's indifference had reached this point when 
 he again met Enilda Eozen ; and since her arrival in 
 London he found his life an impossible one. When 
 alone with his wife it was all he could do to retain 
 his impassive calm ; before the world the task was 
 less difficult. That dissimulation which we absorb 
 with our mother's milk had become a second nature 
 to him, as it has to all society of men and women. 
 Lady Mildred had made him many unreasonable 
 scenes of jealousy as unwarranted as unreasonable; 
 for since knowing Enilda be bad never been suffici- 
 ently interested in any one woman, in his attentions 
 to Jier, to ever exceed the law of accepted common-
 
 126 The Copper Queen. 
 
 lAacQ and society civilities. But strange to say, the 
 one woman be had loved, the woman he still adored, 
 was his wife's chosen friend and comjoanion, and the 
 only woman for whom Lady Mildred had never 
 seemed to feel an atom of jealousy. 
 
 It was the 21st of July, and Allison House v^as 
 being made ready for a splendid dinner and ball, 
 the last important entertainment of the year, which 
 Lady ^lildred offered in special compliment to " the 
 belle of the season," Enilda Rozen, the '" Copper 
 Queen." For days it had been filled with carpenters, 
 florists, upholsterers, and decorators — that galaxy of 
 utilities who have nothing to do with the routine of 
 a well-ordered establishment, yet on occasions of this 
 kind, like the extras in an hotel bill, make a more 
 important item in the end, than the sum-total of 
 the original account. So it was that Allison House, 
 which it had seemed impossible to improve upon 
 before, came forth from these myriad artistic Lands 
 so beautified and embellished, as to bear no more 
 resemblance to its former self, than the low-necked 
 ball-room beauty at midnight resembles her twelve 
 o'clock prototype who walked in a tailor-made dress 
 in the Row that same morning. 
 
 John Claremont awoke in such a frame of mind 
 as he had not experienced for many a long day. 
 Had he been a working man, despair would have
 
 The Copper Queen. 127 
 
 been a luxury he could ill afford, but the aimlessness 
 of his existence, so to speak, brought with it all 
 that bitterness which comes to those who live with- 
 out a serious object in life. Had he been obliged 
 to yield obedience to any master-sijirit, the material 
 exigencies, the duty he was bound iu honour to 
 yield another, would have come between himself 
 and any sentiment emanating from purely personal 
 motives and desires; but although Claremont was 
 his own master, and had lived a life of such absolute 
 selfishness in one sense, there had come, as there 
 always will, a momentary revulsion of feeling, and 
 on this particular day he had awakened with one 
 idea paramount in his mind. He realized that his 
 love for Enilda was no longer a mild sentiment, 
 whose emotions he could check at will, but a domi- 
 nant passion, which, like the drift of the Alpine 
 avalanche, would sweej) everything before it, and he 
 determined on this very day, on this very night, to 
 put her love like his own to the test. 
 
 After this decision he felt freer, and had not 
 been in such spirits for a long time. He spent 
 most of the day in his room, putting his papers 
 in order, and preparing for a step whose issue 
 meant the happiness cf one as well as wreckage of 
 three lives ; he was ffoinf^ to ask Enilda Rozen to 
 run aw^ay with him, and did not even calculate the
 
 128 The Copper Queen. 
 
 chance of her refusal. Manhke, it was impossible 
 for him to realize liis influence could ever be less 
 over the woman who had once devotedly loved him. 
 It seemed as if the evening would never come ; and 
 he finally grew so impatient to see her, to hear her 
 voice, to touch something that belonged to lier, tViat 
 he went to a little box long hidden from view, 
 dragged it to light, and took therefrom some letters 
 which were neither old nor musty, but were sw^eet, 
 fresh, and dainty-looking, as if they had been written 
 yesterday rather than a year ago. He read them 
 over and over again, then he put thera one by one 
 back in the box, until all had been restored to their 
 former position. Suddenly he changed his mind. 
 
 "No," he thought, ''I shall take one and keep it 
 by me until I see her. I'll take the last." Then he 
 hastily run them over until he found the one, the 
 last she had ever wa^itten him. He had but just 
 taken it away from the others when he heard his 
 wife's voice calling him in the hall. He slipped the 
 letter into his pocket, closed the box, and had barely 
 time to put it out of sight when he heard Lady 
 Mildred again, this time accompanied by a tap on 
 the door, and the sound of the handle being softly 
 turned. 
 
 " May I come in ? " she said in a cheery tone. " I 
 didn't know you were here, and I'm awfully glad, for
 
 The Copper Queen. 129 
 
 I want to ask your idea about something. You 
 know, John, you have not taken a bit of interest in 
 the house, and it looks so pretty : I've made the 
 old picture-gallery into a sort of conservatory. The 
 way I've arranged, it now has four exits and 
 entrances, but it seems so barren that I want to 
 divide it, and have come to ask your advice about 
 hanging up some tapestry curtains. The workmen 
 say they ought to be one way, I say another, so I 
 thought I'd ask you, and let you settle it. Are you 
 busy ? " 
 
 " Oh dear no ! " he replied cheerfully. " What is it 
 I can do for you ? " 
 
 She came towards him, but stopped abruptly. 
 
 " What a strange perfume there is 1 " She sniffed 
 tlie air daintily. " What is it ? — something new ? — it 
 smells like — " 
 
 Claremont flushed deeply. 
 
 " Perfume ! — I don't know ; isn't it the same old 
 thing ? W^hite Rose or opoponax ? " 
 
 " No, no ; it's a dead scent, you know, and reminds 
 me of a line of poetry : 
 
 " ' Oh, the faint sweet smell of that jessamine flower ! ' 
 
 But come aloncj, the men are waitincr- there'll be 
 such a crush to-night." 
 
 She slipped her arm around his waist, and 
 VOL. ill. K
 
 loO The Copper Queex. 
 
 together they descended the great oaken staircase ; 
 she chattering in the liveHest fashion, he listening 
 with a smile on his lips, but a mind whose thoughts 
 were anywhere but there. They made their way 
 through numerous rooms, wearing so gay an aspect, 
 that even Clare mont could not refrain from ex- 
 pressing his admiration ; as they neared the old 
 picture-gallery, he even complimented his wife on 
 her taste in the admirable changes she had made. 
 This unwonted kindness so filled her heart with joy 
 that she felt tears rushing into her eyes, and could 
 scarcely keep from throwing her arms round his 
 neck and telling him how much she loved him ; but 
 knowing how he detested scenes, she stifled all 
 thought of sentiment, and continued talkincf of the 
 preparations for the ball as if she had noticed 
 nothing unusual in his speech or tone. 
 
 "I really don't know where we'll put all the 
 people," she said. "You won't believe it, but I'm 
 already tired to death; however, Aunt Chandos- 
 Cressy will do tlie honours in the drawing-room after 
 dinner, and I'll slip away and get a little rest before 
 the ball begins." 
 
 "Ah !" thought Claremont, "that is the time I'll 
 ask her to see me — a most opportune moment." 
 
 By this time they had reached the gallery. It 
 was no longer a cold, bare place, but had been
 
 The Copper Queen. 131 
 
 transformed from a single room into a labyrinthine 
 apartment divided by screens, hangings, and lofty 
 palms and shrubs; arranging the tapestry-curtains 
 to every one's satisfaction, however, was easier said 
 than done. One way was tried, then another ; Lady 
 Mildred suggested, and the workmen explained ; but 
 they were readier with their tongues than their 
 hands, and were so clumsy that finally Claremont 
 mounted the ladder and adjusted them himself. 
 When the last touch was added, Lady Mildred cried 
 out with evident satisfaction : 
 
 " There, that's just it, John ; now let me see," she 
 said, mounting a few steps on the ladder. "All 
 those festoons make the room look like an open rose. 
 Lots of places for flirtations here, eh ? Such quiet 
 nooks and corners ! I'll get out of your way 
 now. Come down. That's all right," she said to 
 the men, " you can go now. Thanks awfully, John. 
 Now I must run away;" and she moved towards 
 the door. " How hot you look ! " she said, casting 
 a backward glance on him. 
 
 " Hot ! by Jove, I should think I was. As Miss 
 Grayson says, ' I've been working like a nigger.' Are 
 you going now ? " 
 
 ''Yes," she said, calUng through the door- 
 way. " I hadn't an idea it was so late. You'll 
 have to take your tea alone, for I'm so fagged ; 
 
 K 2
 
 132 The Copper Queen. 
 
 I'll get a little rest, and have a bath before 
 dinner." 
 
 " Instead of my tub," he called after her, " I'm 
 having a Turkish bath up here." 
 
 Then he pulled his handkerchief from his pocket, 
 began mopping his brow, and idly took in the 
 result of his late exertions. He was so busily 
 occupied that he did not observe a paper he had 
 taken out with his handkerchief, which had fluttered 
 silently down and settled unperceived at the roots 
 of one of the palm-trees. Without giving another 
 glance around he quitted the apartment. He in- 
 tended taking a turn before dinner in the Park, but 
 was interrupted by the arrival of an old college 
 friend, whose unexpected visit, although not most 
 opportune, gave him so much pleasure that time 
 fairly flew, and so engrossed were they by reminis- 
 cences of the past, that even the dressing-bell rang 
 unheeded. Urging upon his friend to come in good 
 time for the evening, he flew to his room, and in 
 frantic haste began to dress. 
 
 Before Lady Mildred went to the drawing-room, 
 womanlike, she bestowed one last look round to see 
 that everything was in proper order. Passing 
 through the rooms she gave a second glance to her 
 improvised conservatory, and felt proud of the skill 
 and taste shown in its arrangement. She was just
 
 The Copper Queen. 133 
 
 saying to herself, " How dodgy it all looks," when 
 she caught sight of a white object gleaming through 
 the shrubs near one of the palms. She hastily 
 picked it up, and saw it was a letter in Enilda 
 Rozen's handwriting, beginning, " Dearest." 
 
 She put her hand to her head, and a vague 
 indefinite pain shot through her heart. " What can 
 it be ? " she thought ; " to whom can it be addressed ? 
 But before she could read further, Flora and Mrs. 
 Chromo appeared in the doorway. She hastily thrust 
 the paper into her pocket. They were both talking 
 and praising the beauty of the house, and Flora 
 added : 
 
 " As we have remarked in London, everybody 
 arrives from a quarter of an hour to an hour late for 
 dinner. I bet Lucy a dozen of Bertin's best, that if, 
 like good Americans, we strolled in in strict time, 
 not only should we be the first, but not even the 
 hostess would be ready to receive us ; and you see 
 how it is." 
 
 Lady Mildred smiled good-humouredly, shook 
 hands with them, and making the slightest sort of 
 an apology they proceeded to the drawing-room. 
 In spite of Flora's prediction no one was more than 
 half an hour late, and soon they were all seated at a 
 brilliant table, where Lady Mildred took her place 
 with Florestan at her risfht. As the dinner was
 
 134 The Copper Queen. 
 
 given to Enilda, Claremont, according to American 
 custom, would have placed her on his right. On the 
 contrary, he was obliged to take in the first lady in 
 rank in the room ; but was agreeably surprised to 
 find that Enilda, on the arm of the Count, was 
 happily seated on his immediate left. 
 
 Lady Mildred never could tell how she got 
 through the dinner. Lons^ before it finished, her 
 eyes wandered in her husband's direction, and 
 each time he seemed just at tliat moment to be 
 in earnest conversation with Enilda ; even seemed 
 pleading with her for something, for she suddenly 
 lifted her head and answered his question by an 
 affirmative nod. In that last movement a veil 
 seemed suddenly torn from Lady Mildred's eyes. 
 
 " I see it all now," she murmured ; " his coldness 
 to me, his going off to America ; his return and 
 altered manner after having lived in that girl's house 
 are proof enough. How blind I have been ! — oh, 
 how blind, how idiotic ! " 
 
 Her only thought now was to get away from table 
 and read the letter. It seemed as if the courses 
 would never finish ; the dessert was endless ; but at 
 last she saw her way clear to give the signal for 
 rising. To her surprise Florestan offered his 
 arm. 
 
 " It is the American fashion," he explained, half-
 
 The Copper Queen. 135 
 
 apologetically; "I brought you in, and must see you 
 safe out again." 
 
 ''What'" she said, half- faintl}^; "you don't want 
 to stop with the men ? You don't want to smoke ? 
 
 ■\-r }) 
 
 lOU 
 
 " Indeed I do not. I'll take you to the drawing- 
 room." 
 
 "Yes," cried Flora; "you'll be the lion in a den 
 of Daniels. We don't want you." 
 
 At that moment Miss Chandos-Cressy took her 
 cue from her niece's tired expression and pale face. 
 " I am sure you're tired, Mildred," she said ; " you 
 must let me replace you while you take a little rest." 
 
 " Why, naturally," cried Flora, Mrs. Chromo, and 
 others in a breath ; and the former added, " a day 
 like this is enough to break up a washerwoman." 
 
 Lady Mildred murmured her thanks, and said 
 she would retire for a little while. She was burning 
 to read the letter, and scarcely heard Florestan as 
 he said compassionately : 
 
 " Do accept my arm. You look so pale ; are you 
 ill ? Don't mind me. The house is so lovely I shall 
 lose myself in these beautiful rooms, and think I am 
 in Fairyland. Are you sure there is not an Aladdin's 
 lamp concealed somewhere ? " Then he kissed Lady 
 Mildred's hand with stately grace as he left her at 
 the door of the drawinsf-room.
 
 13G The Copper Queex. 
 
 Lady Mildred flew to her own apartments, and 
 with tremblinof Anglers took the letter from her 
 pocket. She turned np the gas, and full under its 
 lidit, with beatinor heart and dilated eves, read it 
 from beginning to end ; then it suddenly struck her 
 that she had not once seen her husband's name. 
 Perhaps it was not addressed to him ; but, then, 
 how came it into his possession ? But had it been 
 in his possession ? The events of the day then 
 rapidly passed before her — as in a vision she saw her 
 husband mounting the ladder to arrange the tapestry 
 curtains, and she heard him say, " By Jove, how hot 
 it is!"** "That is it," she said; "he has been shut 
 up in his room all day reading old letters, he put 
 this one in his pocket, and drew it out with his 
 handkerchief when he complained of the heat, and 
 it fell at the foot of the palm-tree. He will look for 
 it first in his coat which he changed for dinner, and 
 not finding^ it he'll s^o back to the conservatorv to 
 look for it; — he'll go there. Ah, if I only knew 
 when ; — perhaps he will go now. \Yhat better time 
 than the present ? At any rate, I have a clear 
 hour before me ; I shall go there myself and hide in 
 a corner, and if he comes in to look for anything I 
 shall then know the letter was addressed to him. 
 First, I must give orders to my maid that I am not 
 to De disturbed."'
 
 The Copper Queen. 137 
 
 In the mean time Florestan wandered from one 
 room to another, until he found himself in the old 
 picture-gallery which Lady Mildred's ingenuity had 
 transformed into so fantastic a creation ; he broke a 
 tiny waxen flower from a full-blown tree that stood 
 in a corner, and took the blossom tenderly in his 
 hands. 
 
 "It looks like her face," he murmured, "as rare, 
 as fair, as sweet, as daintily cut; what if I should 
 ask her the great question to-night, and — why not 
 in this very room ? At least I may imagine she is 
 coming, and sit down in the shadow of this curtain 
 to dream of her. If this flower really were an 
 Aladdin's lamp, and by wishing I could realize all 
 my heart's desires, I should ask for her love and be 
 the happiest man on earth." 
 
 Espying a half-rustic divan that might have 
 tempted even an Endymion to repose, he threw 
 himself upon it, the curtain concealed his recumbent 
 form, and he was soon lost in visionary dreams of 
 Enilda. 
 
 Lady Mildred having given orders not to be dis- 
 turbed, had stealthily left her room, and by means 
 of an almost disused passage found herself by 
 one sudden turning, at the further end of the con- 
 servatory. She had barely hidden herself when she 
 heard not only approaching footsteps but voices.
 
 188 The Copper Queen. 
 
 and to her surprise her husband came towards 
 her. 
 
 Her heart gave a jump, and seemed to leap into 
 her throat, but sure of her hidir^g-place she stifled 
 her emotions and cahiily watched Claremont. 
 
 He looked cautiously around. " There's no one 
 here," he said quickly. " Come in ; I told you I 
 must see you alone." 
 
 A smile of triumph lit up Lady Mildred's face as 
 she saw Enilda Rozen come in through the doorway. 
 She was deathly pale, and her eyes burned with 
 a wild light, yet never had she looked so lovely. 
 Her dress of soft crape trailed mysteriously after 
 her, the dimly-lighted conservatory, the flicker- 
 ing shadows from the waving palms and fantastic 
 tapestries seemed to envelop her with a something 
 so unreal, so unearthly, that Lady Mildred wondered 
 if she were reallv standincj before her, or if she 
 herself were not the dupe of her own over- excited 
 imagination. No; it was no deception, no delusion; 
 at that instant Claremont spoke again : 
 
 " Can you have been so blind as not to have seen 
 all along how I loved you — how I adored you ? " 
 
 " Stop," she said faintly, placing her hands before 
 her eyes and walking towards him as one walks 
 in a dream. " I cannot realize that you — you of 
 all the world — are saying this to me. Surely I
 
 The Copper Queen. 139 
 
 have fallen very low in your estimation ; you can 
 have very little respect for me after what has passed 
 between us to say again, ' I love you. ' " 
 
 "Ah!" gasped Lady Mildred, "after what has 
 passed between them. I thought as much. God 
 help me not to betray myself, but to hear them 
 through to the end." 
 
 Florestan was awakened from his reverie in a 
 manner he had little imagined. Hearing voices he 
 cautiously lifted his head and was about to reveal 
 himself, when to his horror he saw John Claremont 
 seize Enilda's hand and throw himself on his knees 
 at her feet. To listen was unworthy, to retire was 
 impossible ; a thousand thoughts flashed through his 
 mind, the first of which was, "She does not love me," 
 and seemed to place all her indifference and coldness 
 before his eyes in their true meaning. " My heart is 
 broken," he groaned ; " at least, whatever I may be 
 compelled to overhear, I will never look upon her 
 face again." Then sinking wearily back on his now 
 disenchanted couch, he buried his face in his hands. 
 
 "Enilda," said Claremont, seizing her hands and 
 covering them with . passionate kisses, " for God's 
 sake hear me. I swear to you I loved you ; I swear 
 to you I never have loved, I never shall love another 
 woman. Fate came between us — a bitter Fate ; and 
 yet, so help me heaven, I was innocent."
 
 140 The Copper Queen. 
 
 She tried to disengage her hands. 
 
 " Hush ! " she said in a breathless voice, " hush ! 
 3^ou forget yourself, — you forget me, — you forget 
 your wife. I must not, will not, listen to you, — let 
 me go." 
 
 " No ; you shall not go till you have heard all I 
 have got to say." 
 
 " You are mad, I tell you. Unhand me ; I must 
 go. What if we are overheard ? Can you realize 
 what you are doing ? What if some one were to 
 come in ? " 
 
 " No one can come in from three entrances at 
 least," he said brutally, '"'for I have locked the 
 doors. If they come they must face us ; — and you, 
 can you deny that you still remember the past? — 
 that you once loved me — that you still love me ?" 
 
 " The past ! " In spite of herself the wild look left 
 her eyes, and a tender flush stole over her face 
 making it soft and roseate, as a cloud that is kissed 
 by the dawn. "The past!" she murmured. "Ah, 
 if I only could forget it ! — that I loved you, John 
 Claremont ? Yes ; that I shall never deny — that I 
 love you still ? " She laughed a bitter laugh. " If 
 we are to go by the Avay of the world, I ought to 
 adore you. You have treated me badly enough ; — 
 but who shall say whether I do or do not love ? At 
 least you have no r'ght to question me."
 
 The Copper Queen. 141 
 
 " I have a right," he answered, his Ups again 
 touching her hand. " A triple right ; that of love in 
 the past, of adoration in the present, and devotion for 
 the future. I am yours; you shall do with me as 
 you will." 
 
 " And I was once yours, and I gave you my whole 
 heart when you appreciated me, and it is so little 
 that you left me with the words ' For ever ' on your 
 lips, and went straight away and married another 
 woman : that, too, without ever even telling me 
 the reason why. You wrote me a letter; — such a 
 letter ! I have it still, and whenever I find myself 
 in danger of thinking too much of any man, I read 
 it over." 
 
 " Spare me," he murmured ; " for God's sake spare 
 me. He alone knows what it cost me to write that 
 letter." 
 
 Enilda violently wrenched her hands from his, and 
 uplifting them impressively said : 
 
 '■' And what it cost me to read it ! Oh, it was the 
 old story. You gave no reason for changing ; you had 
 no need to ; you simply preferred another woman to 
 me, and you took a perfectly straightforward way 
 of telling me of it. I can't complain. I never com- 
 plained. Am I the first woman who has been 
 abandoned by a so-called lover? Was the art of 
 deception invented for you any more than the gift of
 
 142 The Copper Queen. 
 
 credulity was invented for me? — and yet — and yet, 
 you never can know how truly I loved you. This is 
 piobably the last time we shall ever meet. I am not 
 so weak as to wish it. nor you so base as to wish to 
 bring it about. I will tell you now, if you care to 
 hear it, how I received your letter. I was so sure 
 that you loved me as I loved you, that I read it 
 throuo-h and throus^h before I could realize its 
 meaning, and even then cried to myself, ' There is 
 some mistake, some fearful dream ; it can't be true ; 
 he is only trying me ; he wants to see if I love him. 
 He another woman's husland ! No ! I cannot believe 
 it, and yet? — how could you jest so cruelly? You 
 wonder if I suffered ? — I knew not where to put my 
 head for very shame. My veins ran fire and ice, 
 and my eyes — I could not see out of them; they 
 were bursting — bursting : there were do tears, only 
 thousands of grains of sand cut like needles into the 
 bal's. I could not cry ; even that woman's resource 
 was denied me ; tears used to well up in my heart 
 to flow back again in blood, without once having 
 wet the lids of my poor dazed eyes. Ah, it was 
 because I had tried to see too much. I had strained 
 my eyes to look upon a prospect of happiness that 
 rarely comes to mortals, and like the one who would 
 gaze upon the immortal, my temerity was punished. 
 It seemed so little, the happicess of but two people
 
 The Copper Queen. 143 
 
 ill all this great universe — yours and mine ! why 
 in all this world of misery could not two poor 
 creatures hope to be exempt from the common 
 lot ? Days passed. I tried to think, but could not 
 realize what would become of me; I only used to 
 repeat to myself as each sun rose and set, ' I shall 
 not see him to-day, nor to-morrow, nor yet the day 
 after. I must wake in the morning, and go to sleep 
 at night ; ' always thinking, ' I love him ; he is alive, 
 yet deaJ to me. I shall never see him again ; his 
 words were nothing, only so many lies, and his vows 
 and kisses, lies, — all lies.' As I took up my life 
 at sunrise my prayer was forgetfulness ; at sunset, 
 oblivion. Oh, sir, I was too poor, too weak a 
 creature to have been honoured with so rich a jest ; — 
 only a miner's daughter, and yet you treated me as 
 you might have treated a woman of the world." 
 " Enilda, for heaven's sake spare me." 
 " Spare you ! You had the world to choose from, 
 why not have spared me ? One poor creature, whose 
 worst fault was loving you but too well — that was it 
 perhaps. I did not mask my love, I let you see it 
 too plainly ; but how could I hide what every 
 one seemed to see ? Charlotte — and the gardener, 
 and even that old man Ricard, whenever he looked 
 at me, seemed to know that I was thinking of you. 
 I was so happy ; but you — you have never known
 
 144^ The Copper Queex. 
 
 what it is to love, or you could never have thrown 
 away such a love as mine ! Why, I was yours, 
 body and soul. You became such a part of my daily 
 life, that in every man's face I saw your face ; in 
 every voice I heard your voice ; in every song of 
 nature I heard the music of my love for you, and 
 your answering love for me ; in every book I opened 
 I only read your name ; every word I spelled only 
 said, ' He loves me and we will be happy together ! ' 
 Now that I have everything in the world, I know 
 how little, yet how much I asked of Fate. Then I 
 would have been your slave ; you might have beaten, 
 or starved, or kicked me. I would have accepted 
 all for one crumb of love : I would have gone 
 hungry and cold, and have begged in the streets, 
 only to have been always by your side. Before you 
 went away I knew that my father's position was 
 changed, but I said, ' This money which has come at 
 last, which came yesterday, well, it may go to-morrow 
 for all I care ; he loves me for what I am, and 
 all I ask is his love.' Then when I realized that 
 your letter was true, my heart was deader, colder, 
 heavier, than any leaded sack which has ever leapt 
 into the sea. Then when I could think — " 
 
 " Stop ! " he cried. " I can bear no more. Can 
 you pretend that if you loved me as you say you did, 
 such a love can be dead ? — that one short year can
 
 The Copper Queen. 145 
 
 have so blotted out a past that not one trace of the 
 old feeling is left ? Do you think I, too, can have 
 forojotten it ? A fatal chain of circumstances made 
 me a villain in your eyes and my own. You ask 
 me to tell you why ; alas ! I cannot tell you without 
 betraying a woman, and that woman — " 
 
 "Hushi" she said; "her name should be sacred. 
 Do not intrude it in such a scene as this. Now let 
 me go." 
 
 " No ; not until you have heard me. Oh, Enilda, 
 what I have suffered since our parting no words can 
 ever tell ! I tried to forget you; I tried to accept my 
 fate ; to live an honest life, and be if not a loving, at 
 least a faithful, husband to the woman I had married. 
 I had so schooled myself into saying, ' She is dead to 
 me for ever,' that even my memories of you became 
 like the flowers we place on the grave of our dead ; 
 but when a relentless destiny threw you again 
 in my path, I felt from the first, that my year of 
 agony of patience and of striving had gone for nothing. 
 Do you think in that first sound of your voice, in 
 that first look into your eyes, in that first hand-clnsp, 
 I, too, did not live over and over again every moment 
 of our past ? Oh, Enilda, do you think forgetfulness 
 is so easily bought ? Believe me, love in this world 
 is everything. Don't be cruel; you still care for 
 me ; I throw myself at your feet ; let us give up the 
 
 VOL. III. L
 
 146 The Copper Queen. 
 
 world, and live only for each other. We ^vill go back 
 to Laramie, and re-live the old life ; to the little 
 lantern-like room overlooking the wide, dear river ; 
 and the soft air, perfumed with a thousand happy 
 odours; to hear the murmuring reeds and rushes 
 under the old bridge, and see the moon from her 
 sapphire sea, entangle the weeds and water-lilies in 
 her long silver shafts, magic cypher which only lovers 
 can read. Enilda, will you come ? can't you see 
 two figures leaning on a balcony overlooking the 
 river, their lips and e3'es meeting, their arms round 
 about each other, their very shadows one, their very 
 sighs breathing a love eternal as eternity. Those 
 two figures, Enilda, are yours and mine ; those 
 vows, those kisses, those transports are yours and 
 mine. You were my first love. Fate has again 
 thrown us together, you must be my last." 
 
 "No, no; you were faithless; all is changed; — 
 and — and as thino^s are now, I do not res-ret the 
 past." 
 
 " Not regret the past ! — and as things are now ; 
 what do you mean ? " 
 
 " I mean," she said, slowly pushing him from her 
 and gazing steadily into his face ; " I mean that I no 
 longer love you ; that every word we have said to- 
 night is an insult to your wife, although, God 
 knows, I never dreamed when I consented to see
 
 The Copper Queen. 147 
 
 you that we ever should have spoken as we have. 
 It is true I have often feared that some time — 
 some explanation must come between you and me. 
 It has come ; — it is passed. Know, John Claremont, 
 that I love your wife dearly; and she — Heaven help 
 her ! — she loves you. I shall never willingly see 
 you again, even if by so doing I could buy a perfect 
 future ; for I have so suffered myself, that I would 
 never purchase one hour's happiness at the expense 
 of another woman's broken heart. Even were I to 
 love you — which — I do not — I — " 
 
 " Speak ! You repeat, and to me, that you no 
 longer love me ! — that your love, such a love, is dead ? 
 No, no; I'll not believe it." In his anger and 
 unbelief he laughed almost aloud. 
 
 " I am to blame for coming ; — I have struggled 
 with myself since our meeting on the steamer. I 
 could not analyze my feelings. The sentiment I 
 took for remembrance, was merely the bitterness of a 
 self-love, a self-esteem which had been too cruelly 
 wounded for any true woman easily to forget. I tell 
 you plainly, for the last time, when I heard you say, 
 * Let us live for each other,' I realized then, John 
 Claremont, that I do not love you, — you may 
 believe me or not — I do not love you ; I — I love 
 another. Forget me ; go back to your wife, and tell 
 her—" 
 
 L 2
 
 148 The Copper Queen. 
 
 "And tell her," he interrupted fiercely, "the 
 truth, perhaps? — " 
 
 " Which she already knows," said Lady Mildred, 
 suddenly throwing aside the curtain, and as suddenly 
 revealing herself to their astonished gaze. 
 
 Enilda screamed, but did not attempt to move ; the 
 sudden apparition seemed to freeze her into stone. 
 
 Florestan, startled by Enilda's shriek, rushed for- 
 ward, but either his footfall w^as so licrht or their 
 excitement so intense, that none of the three per- 
 ceived him : Lady Mildred continued, 
 
 " My husband could not speak against a woman, 
 but there is no reason why a woman may not speak 
 against herself. My presence here to-night was not 
 undesigned. I found this," — she held up Enilda's 
 letter in her trembling fingers ; — " I could not help 
 reading it, and I felt that apprehension a woman 
 always feels \xhen on the brink of some calamity. 
 I had a fatal presentiment that all my destiny 
 was written in those lines. Miss Rozen, you wrote 
 that letter to a man whom I tricked into marrying 
 me. 
 
 ** Mildred," began her husband, " for God's sake — " 
 
 " Do not stop me," she said, looking at him coldly 
 and scornfully ; " Miss Rozen's frankness at least 
 deserves mine." 
 
 At this point Florestan, in honour, could no longer
 
 The Copper Queen. 149 
 
 conceal himself. He stepped forward. Lady Mildred 
 was the first to perceive him ; she evinced no surprise. 
 Enilda, wlio seemed still under the influence of some 
 horrid dream, saw him as one sees in a vision, whilst 
 Claremont murmured to himself: " Flore stan ! He 
 too has heard all;" — and before the former could 
 step forward to demand, or the latter to explain 
 his position, Lady Mildred spoke again : 
 
 "It is just that he too should know all; and 
 I repeat, I tricked my husband into marrying me. I 
 feigned an accident which never happened; an ill- 
 ness which fell upon me only in imagination ; and a 
 possible death of which I stood in no peril. You will 
 ask why I did all this ? It is very simple. I loved 
 him ; I felt him drifting each day farther from me, 
 and determined to win him at any cost. I did — at 
 a great one ; but I thought once married that my 
 love would beget at least some responsive passion ; 
 that when he realized how much I cared for him he 
 would grow to like me. I did not know what had 
 happened, and, — and I never dreamed until — I read 
 this letter, that he had in any way ever bound 
 himself to another." 
 
 At that moment the joyous strains of the Blue 
 Danube waltz burst forth. Lady Mildred started, and 
 pressed her hand to her forehead in a dazed manner. 
 
 " Ah ! " she exclaimed. " It is true I have a ball
 
 150 The Copper Queex. 
 
 on to-niglit. I had quite forgotten; can it be so 
 late ? But what have our private feelings to do 
 with the role we must play before the world ? I am 
 not the only woman who must take a broken heart 
 into the glare of flaring lights, the crush and din of 
 an indifferent throng — " At this juncture Florestan 
 stepped forward. 
 
 "Excuse me, Miss Rozen, this house is no longer 
 a place for you ; allow me to conduct you to your 
 carriage." 
 
 Enilda advanced a step, but was stopped by Lady 
 Mildred's tremulous voice and outstretched hand. 
 
 " Miss Rozen," she said, " believe me, whenever or 
 wherever we may meet, I shall cherish for you the 
 warmest feelings of admiration, friendship, and grati- 
 tude. You are not to blame for this night's work 
 any more than I, or perhaps even my husband. I 
 see now that no one can escape his destiny. Ah ! 
 the music again ! I am sure if you have any regard 
 for me, you will not go away now ; as the only favour 
 you can ever do me will be to save a scandal here 
 to-night; we must all play our parts a few hours 
 more, we will at least open the ball together, and 
 after that — " 
 
 Enilda bowed assent to her ladyship's words, 
 placed an icy hand upon Florestan's, and stepped 
 forward. Lady Mildred made way for them to pass.
 
 The Copper Queen. 151 
 
 "After you," she said, smiling curiously; then 
 turned to her husband with the same strange 
 look. 
 
 " Mr. Clare mont, perhaps for the last time — your 
 arm ? "
 
 152 
 
 CHAPTER YIIL 
 
 Although the excitement of this eventful even- 
 ing had been enough to upset the strongest-minded 
 person, Enilda, who had heretofore betrayed but 
 little of the heroic in her nature, on this occasion 
 proved that she was made of the stuff that models 
 heroes, not cowards. The revulsion of her own 
 feelings on listening to Clare mont's outburst, the 
 final letting go of that cable which up to an hour 
 ago had anchored the present to the past, the shock 
 of Lady Mildred's appearance and Florestan's dis- 
 covery of her long-hidden secret, were such vivid 
 realities, that like the brig^htest flash of lio-htnino- 
 before she had completely realized their portent, 
 they had as completely ceased to be. An hour ago 
 might have been yesterday — or dead with seven 
 thousand years. 
 
 She never knew how she left the ball-room nor 
 how she reached home : as she re-entered her 
 house she was met at the door by Charlotte Carday,
 
 The Copper Queen. 15:> 
 
 whose face expressed the liveliest anxiety and con- 
 cern. She began talking at once, expressing her 
 surpr;ie at Miss 'Nilda's getting home so much 
 .eciriier than usual. 
 
 " A messenger has been twice to seek you," she 
 said ; " he left a note and 'claired it was a matter of 
 life and death ; but you look pale, honey chile." 
 
 "Yes, I feel faint, Charlotte; get me a glass of 
 wine ; and what about a letter ? " 
 
 " Take off your things first," she urged, but this 
 Euilda declined to do, and sinking into a chair hastily 
 opened the envelope. As she read a cry escaped 
 her. The letter was as follows : 
 
 " You are a woman, Enilda Rozen, and I know, 
 although 3^ou can't have any love for me, you won't 
 refuse to go to any one in trouble, certainly not to 
 a compatriot who is ill — perhaps dying — 'in a strange 
 land. For Heaven's sake come to me as soon as you 
 get this. I have a terrible story to tell you. Come 
 alone ; or, if you will, bring a servant with you, but 
 neither Flora nor Mrs. Chromo ; some way I could 
 not bear to see them ; but you — you've always 
 heaped coals of fire on ray head, and I turn to you 
 as the only woman in wdiom I can confide. Lose no 
 time, for my strength is fast leaving me. 
 
 "Ida Forrester."
 
 154 The Copper Queen. 
 
 Enilda read and re-read the letter. At first she 
 thought it a trick, but at last was convinced of its 
 sincerity. Charlotte returned with the wine, which 
 she swallowed at a draught, and then announced 
 that she was going out that very moment, and bade 
 her put on her things to accompany her. On 
 their way to Foresti's house she explained as much 
 as she knew, and for the first time noticed that the 
 negress's face wore a strange look. She eagerly 
 questioned her, but Charlotte responded only vaguely 
 until so pressed by Enilda that she said : 
 
 " Yes ; something has happened, Miss 'Nilda dear. 
 Have patience ; you can't know no more to-night. It 
 consarns all on us ; but good news '11 keep, and bad 
 conies fast enough. Wild horses won't fotch nothin' 
 more from me now, so just simmer down, and in good 
 time you'll know all about it." 
 
 Enilda was so wrapped up in thoughts of Ida 
 Forrester, and speculations as to the nature of the 
 confidences she was about to hear, that she did not 
 insist upon Charlotte's explaining further. They 
 threaded their way through dismal streets; for al- 
 though it was barely midnight the great city w^ore 
 a strangely deserted aspect, and the occasional lamps 
 were about as sufficient to light up London, as a 
 single signal to light up the Atlantic. A light 
 vapour streamed up from the earth ; it was neither
 
 The Copper Queen. 155 
 
 fog nor mist, but that indescribable blueish atmo- 
 sphere common to London between the hours of 
 twelve and two : which thickens and renders in- 
 distinct street corners, and makes the various houses 
 in their facings of brown or white or grey, stand 
 forth in the haze like spectres haunting a death- 
 strewn battle-field. 
 
 At last they reached Foresti's house, one of those 
 prolific mansions redolent of lodgings, in the neigh- 
 bourhood of Bloomsbury Square. The house was 
 very dimly lighted from the front, but from the 
 windows of the second story a steady light seemed 
 to indicate the sick woman's room. In a few 
 moments Enilda and Charlotte were admitted to a 
 lofty chamber, where on a bed in the corner of the 
 room lay the poor opera-singer. The pillow w^as 
 scarcely whiter than her cheek ; and her long black 
 hair seemed to curl in endless serpentine rings on 
 the pillow ; her eyes burned with a strange bright- 
 ness ; and her lips, from which every vestige of colour 
 had fled, twitched nervously, keeping company with 
 her hands, which incessantly plucked at the coverlet : 
 this was elaborately trimmed with lace, and to 
 Enilda's surprise a large coronet and monogram were 
 conspicuous in the centre. A night-lamp was on a 
 table beside the bed, and standing beside this table, 
 in a respectful attitude, was Fraulein Marx, the lady
 
 156 The Copper Queen. 
 
 companion. Enilda bowed civilly to her, and went 
 straight to Ida ; she took one hand in hers, kissed 
 her cheek, and said tenderly : 
 
 " You were right to send for me ; I am more 
 grieved than I can tell to find you in this state." 
 
 Ida attempted to speak, but no words came ; tears 
 only rolled from her large black eyes and sank 
 silently into the frills of her night-dress. 
 
 " Don't try to speak now," said Enilda. " I shall 
 not leave you ; I only want to know how to help you, 
 to befriend you if you need a friend." 
 
 Ida murmured a few words about forgiveness — 
 about the past and the old school in Chicago ; — then 
 Enilda began to take off her things, and wdjen she 
 had removed her last wTap, sank down by the bed- 
 side and caressingly took Ida's hands. 
 
 " You must not worry or fret, dear ; perhaps things 
 are not so bad as you think. You are with friends, 
 and you must not tell me anything now, because 
 you're ill, that — that you might be sorry for after- 
 war Js; 1 mean when you get w^ell, you know, things 
 may seem different." 
 
 Ida shook her head wearily, and made an effort 
 to rise from her pillow. Both Enilda and Fraulein 
 sprang forward to help her ; but assuming a strange 
 energy she w^aved the latter from her with a gesture 
 of such horror and loathing: that Enilda raised her
 
 The Copper Queen. 157 
 
 eyes in wonder. The movement lent the same 
 energy to her voice, for she almost screamed as she 
 said : 
 
 " Don't let her touch me, don't let her come near 
 me, she is the bane of my life ; I look upon her as 
 the cause of all my misfortunes. Don't stop me now, 
 Enilda; while I have the strength, I must tell you 
 everything." 
 
 At this moment Fraulein Marx came close to the 
 bedside. 
 
 " Miss Rozen," she said, " I beg you will pay no 
 attention to her ravings, she is utterly mad. She has 
 had a fever, which has left her in such a state of 
 mind that she is not responsible for her words. She 
 has quarrelled with me, with her best friend ; she 
 has got hold of a letter which I held in my possession, 
 addressed not to me but to some one else ; she read 
 it, and her imagination has run away with her to 
 such an extent she almost calls white black." 
 
 Enilda looked up coldly. Charlotte, who had been 
 sitting in a distant corner of the room, drew her 
 chair nearer to the bedside. 
 
 "I scarce know what to believe," said Enilda 
 haughtily; "your words are strong enough, Fraulein, 
 and yet, I'm sure Ida knows perfectly what she is 
 saying." 
 
 ''That I do," said the sick woman, quickly. "I've
 
 158 The Copper Queen. 
 
 sent for you because I want you to help me. 
 It's no use, Fraulein Marx, you saying I am 
 mad, and trying to shut me up. I haven't a 
 friend in the world, Enilda, and I'll tell you 
 everything." 
 
 Ida then began with a voice which was fairly 
 strong at first, but dropped steadily lower as she 
 proceeded with her story. She went back to the 
 time she first came to Europe to study, told of her 
 trials and hardships, the dog's life she had to lead 
 on the stage, and the people she had to cringe and 
 make up to, from a parson to a penny-a-liner : she 
 said when she knew there was no couleur de rose 
 about the stage, she still loved it; its fascination 
 was so much more than its degradation, that she had 
 never resetted the career she had chosen. At last 
 
 o 
 
 she spoke of Ems. " You won't believe it, Enilda," 
 she continued in a sobbing voice ; " but I was so 
 alone, so friendless, that I did as many another 
 woman has done before me." 
 
 Enilda pressed her hand softly. " Don't go on, 
 dear," she said, " it will tire you too much. I know 
 what you are going to say." 
 
 " It isn't as bad as that, Enilda, — only perhaps it 
 is, for it has turned out the same. I met him, and 
 finally consented to a secret marriage." 
 
 Enilda drew away her hand, then instinctively
 
 The Copper Queen. 159 
 
 put it back again. " And so you are married," she 
 said softly. " Go on." 
 
 " Ah ! married — yes ; but can't you understand, it 
 was all a wretched farce ? I used to beg him to 
 acknowledge me, to give me my proper position 
 before the world as his wife. He never would. I 
 can't say that he ill-treated me, but of late he had 
 changed so much that I felt he no longer loved me. 
 His ways became m^re and more mysterious, until 
 finally the other day he brutally told me never again 
 to speak of his acknowledging my marriage, and 
 in spite of my tears abandoned me when I was 
 wretchedly ill in New York. But that's not all. Oh I 
 Enilda, I'm not his wife at all; he's married to 
 another woman, and Fraulein Marx knows all about 
 it, for I've found some letters in her possession, 
 written by my husband years ago, and addressed, 
 ' My dearest wife.' " 
 
 Enilda started up. " Great Heaven ! can it be 
 possible ? The wretch ! to so ruin and betray a help- 
 less girl ! — but are you sure, — quite sure ? This is a 
 dreadful charge to bring against any man. Is this 
 true ? " And she turned abruptly to Fraulein Marx. 
 
 The Fraulein's face was impassive. " I told, you 
 she was raving," she replied ; " but what if I were to 
 say. Yes, it is true ? " 
 
 At this Ida broke into frantic sobbing. She
 
 ino The Copper Queen. 
 
 turned her head on her pillow, and wejDt so bitterly 
 that for a few moments Enilda was afraid she would 
 do herself some harm. 
 
 " It is too late now," she murmured ; " but it is 
 so hard to have misspent my life, to die when I am 
 so young, just when I thought I had a bright future 
 spreading out before me. The Fraulein says I have 
 killed myself, because I took on so when I realized 
 the awful truth : I broke a blood-vessel at the 
 same time I broke my heart. What have I to 
 live for? He can't marry me now, and I am dis- 
 graced for ever." 
 
 " There you're wrong," said Enilda. " You have 
 everything to live for, above all to punish the man 
 who has so betrayed you, and to prove to the world 
 that your misfortune was not your fault." 
 
 Fraulein Marx stood still impassive by the bedside, 
 but Charlotte Corday's head was bowed upon her 
 bosom, and stifled sobs shook her old withered 
 form. Ida was calmer, and her head was half-lj^ing 
 on Euilda's bosom, when the door suddenly opened, 
 and a man entered the apartment. Enilda looked 
 up. " What does this intrusion mean ? " she cried, — 
 " what — ? " But the words died on her lips as she 
 recognized in the intruder the Count de Marcie and 
 D'Orbach. 
 
 "You!" she cried, her arm still supporting Ida's
 
 The Copper Queen. 161 
 
 head. " Can anything have haj)pened, — Flora ! Mrs. 
 Chromo ! Lady Mildred ? " 
 
 He stepped forward gallantly with hat in hand. 
 A light half-opened summer overcoat disclosed the 
 irreproachable dress-suit, and still more faultless 
 gardenia which adorned his button-hole. He bowed 
 with pantomimic assurance, and in the most casual 
 manner in the world came towards the bed whereon 
 Ida was lying. Enilda flushed and half-arooe ; his 
 manner was in itself an offence. 
 
 He made her no answer. 
 
 " You do not speak," she cried ; "what means your 
 appearance at tbis hour, in tliis place ? " 
 
 At this point Ida raised her head, and pointing a 
 finger, slowly murmured, 
 
 " It is but natural, a husband may seek his wife 
 at any hour; but he — he is no more my husband 
 than I am — " 
 
 " What do you mean ? " cried Enilda. " Ida, 
 speak ! It can't be true ; — this — this then is the 
 wretch who betrayed you ? " 
 
 The Count stopped short in the middle of the 
 room; his face wore an expression of mingled rage 
 and astonishment. He swore a vile oath, then 
 rushing forward, seized Ida by the hand. 
 
 " What do you mean ? " he cried. " Haven't I 
 been tormented enough of late, without the addition 
 
 VOL. III. M
 
 162 The Copper Queex. 
 
 of your infernal whining and nonsense ? So you've 
 told her ! A pretty mess, truly — and you think I will 
 forgive such a breach of faith as that ? No — never; 
 and if you were to get well to-morrow, and I were a 
 thousand times free, I wouldn't marry you." 
 
 Fraulein Marx came forward and pulled him away 
 from Ida by main force. 
 
 " Are you drunk or crazy ! " she cried. " Be careful, 
 be careful ; another syllable may be too much." 
 
 Shocked and disgusted, Enilda prepared to leave 
 the room; but Ida implored her not to go away. 
 The Count, evidently under the influence of liquor, 
 turned to the sick woman with such brutality 
 of gesture and manner that she felt her very soul 
 sicken as she gazed upon him, and before she knew 
 how it came about, she had thrust him from the 
 bedside and stood between him and the girl he had 
 so foully wronged. 
 
 "Ha, Miss Rozen!" he laughed; '"The Copper 
 Queen,' — perhaps some day we will not give ourselves 
 such airs." 
 
 " Sir," cried Enilda, " leave the room tliis instant, 
 your very presence is an insult to an honest woman ; 
 as far as I am concerned, never dare to speak to or 
 address me again. Know that I shall have this 
 matter thoroughly sifted ; the world shall hear of 
 your vileness. Ida henceforth is under my pro-
 
 The Copper Queen. 163 
 
 tection ; — no — perhaps I am too harsh ; I do not think 
 you are yourself now, but if you are a gentleman 
 and have one spark of honour left tell me the truth : 
 Is or is she not your wife ? " 
 
 " I am as sick of subterfuge as she is," he replied 
 angrily. " My wife ! No ; — and never was." 
 
 Whilst lie was sjoeaking no one had noticed 
 Charlotte Corday, who had gradually drawn near, 
 and w\^s staring at him with wild dilated eyes ; her 
 face wore the same livid look Enilda had twice 
 seen upon it, and suddenly she began to speak: 
 her voice sounded hoarse and unnatural whilst she 
 cried : 
 
 " Come home, honey chile, come home ; don't go 
 for to mixin' yer self up in odder folkes affairs." 
 
 The Count turned towards her with a hard laugh, 
 which rang out awfully in the hushed room. 
 
 "That's right, Auntie, take her home," he said; 
 " there are some people whose affairs she had best 
 let alone — I am one of those people." 
 
 " I shall never let you alone/' cried Enilda, 
 " until I see justice done. I will tell the world — " 
 
 "No, no, honey chile, come home," pleaded old 
 Charlotte. 
 
 " Ida," asked Enilda, " what do you wish ? — shall I 
 go or stay ? " 
 
 Fraulein Marx answered for the singer. 
 
 M 2
 
 164 The Copper Queex. 
 
 " I think, Miss Rozen," she said civilly, " tliat 
 you had best go ; the doctor ordered quiet. This 
 scene is enough to make even a well woman ill. 
 Trust me : I am her friend, although she doesn't 
 know it, and refuses to believe it." 
 
 " Enilda," said a faint voice. 
 
 In an instant she flew to the bedside. 
 
 "Ida dear, what is it?" she cried, throwing her 
 arm tenderly around her. " Do you wish me to go 
 now ? Tell the truth ; I'll come to you again in the 
 morning, but not if he is here. Think well before 
 you send me away. Can I trust you alone with — 
 with them ? " 
 
 " Put your ear down close to mine," said Ida 
 softly. " Go now, dear, it's better so ; and remember 
 that whatever happens I've told you the truth. I've 
 been vain and foolish, but not wicked. I thoucrht I 
 should be a royal countess, and now — and now; — kiss 
 me just once, Enilda ; I've never been worthy of you, 
 of your friendship, but I ask it for — for to-night 
 anyway. I can't thank you enough for coming ; God 
 won't overlook your goodness to me." 
 
 Enilda felt the tears comincr; she strusfo-led 
 vainly, but they would fall. She signed to Char- 
 lotte to fetch her wraps, and giving Ida one 
 more kiss, one more hand-]3ress, turned to leave the 
 room.
 
 The CoprER Queen. 165 
 
 The Count mockingly stood aside to let lier pass, 
 wliilst Franlein Marx had resumed her old position 
 at the little table. 
 
 This scion of a royal race bowed his Ver- 
 sailles bow as Enilda reached the doorway. His 
 heartlessness and whole manner were so loath- 
 some that she could not forbear turning back once 
 more. 
 
 " Do not think, sir," she said, " that this night 
 shall ever be forgotten. To you at least I and mine 
 say good-bye for ever." 
 
 "You think so; alas, I fear that this is not a 
 case of what woman wills, etc.; for I, on the con- 
 trary, have already forgotten your words, your very 
 presence here this evening ; as my friend Isabella — I 
 beg her pardon. Her Majesty — said when she left 
 Spain, ' I distinctly do not say good-bye for ever ; 
 but — au re voir.' " 
 
 As soon as Enilda reached home Charlotte 
 Corday put a little paper in her hands. It was 
 a telegram. 
 
 " Ye muss jess read dat, honey chile ; for now's the 
 time, and bear up under it. Massa Rozen needs us ; 
 he sent it to me." 
 
 "My God!" interrupted Enilda, "what has 
 happened ? — surely misfortunes never come singly." 
 She snatched the paper and read :
 
 166 The Copper Queen. 
 
 " Tell Enikla that I am ruined — disgraced ; break 
 it to ber; take tbe next steamer bome witbout fail 
 if you still love me. 
 
 ''Eric Rozen." 
 
 Enilda folded tbe missive in ber fingers. 
 
 " Is tbat all, Cbarlotte ? I — I tbougbt be was 
 dead. Ruined ! — wbat is tbat to me ? Money never 
 brougbt us any bappiness. Disgraced ? — tbat be 
 could never be in my eyes. Ob Cbarlotte. let u^o 
 leave London at once and go to bim ; let us go 
 to-morrow morning. I am ill, miserable, unbappy ; 
 everytbing bas gone wrong ; — ob, let us go away ! " 
 
 Enilda fell ratber tban flung berself on to the 
 negress's broad bosom. 
 
 "Honey cbile, don't take on like dot ; baint ye got 
 me and yer fadder en yer frens all jess de same ? 
 Cbair up, en we'll be off quicker'n a possum ud skip 
 a gum-stump; but Miss Flora, en — en Miss Lucy 
 bow 'bout dem ? " 
 
 "'Bout dem," said a voice at tbe door. "Tbey're 
 bere to speak for tbemselves." Flora appeared. 
 "Enilda, wbat on eartb happened at tbe ball, you 
 disappeared so early ? Lady Mildred said you bad a 
 bad beadacbe and migbt be lying down ; tben wben 
 you didn't turn up at tbe last we grew anxious, and 
 sbe explained calmly tbat sbe feared you bad re-
 
 The CoprER Queex. 167 
 
 turned home ; — said it in the coolest way I ever saw. 
 You know wdien you come down to it and want to 
 know anything from an Englishwoman she doesn't 
 want you to find out, you might as well question the 
 rock of Gibraltar. Of course we stayed to the end, 
 and I may say I never spent a more gorgeous 
 evening. I have more cotillon trinkets than — why, 
 what's the matter ? " 
 
 Flora stopped as suddenly as she had begun. In 
 a few moments she would have been told all, but 
 Charlotte peremptorily stopped Enilda's talking. 
 
 " Read this, Miss Flora," she said, handing her the 
 cablegi'am. " Read dot, case you 're a frend." Then 
 she whispered to Enilda and forbade her speakino- 
 then of Ida. " I hev reasons, honey chile, wich I'll 
 gub yer later on — trust old Charlotte, she knows 
 best." She was interrupted by Flora : 
 
 "Well, I s'pose we'll chip off to-morrow. I say 
 we, for you don't imagine I'll let you go alone, 
 do you, Enilda? Not I, although I hav'n't seen 
 the Tower, or the Crown Jewels, or the Church 
 where there is a tablet to Lady Jane Grey, or the 
 field of the forty footsteps. Thank Heaven, I have 
 done Madame Toussaud's, otherwise I could not 
 leave London. Enilda, cheer up. What's a failure 
 in America ? — only one more stepping-stone to 
 success. Pa's the only man who's never failed,
 
 168 The Copper Queen. 
 
 because be never amounted to anytliin^]^ more tban 
 respectable citizensbip, and he always bad a blind 
 sort of luck wblcb even helped bim on in tbat. 
 Ruin ! disgrace ! — nonsense ; the words ouglit to be 
 struck out of the American vo2abulary.'' 
 
 Flora cbattered on; kissed and caressed Enilda 
 until tbe latter even smiled. 
 
 "Lucy's in bed," she added, "and I wouldn't be 
 here, but I was so hungry; give me a dinner and 
 ball tbe same night for pure starvation diet; so 
 hungry, as I say, that I was on my way to tbe 
 kitchen to see what I could devour. Come along, 
 let's interview the pantry, and we can pack up after 
 I've had some food, which, by the way, dearest, 
 you look as if you stood mildly in need of. It's 
 broad daylight." She went to tbe window and lifted 
 a curtain. " Look at this ; I believe I've struck 
 the first sunrise which has occurred to my knowledge 
 since I left dear New York. This early dawn is the 
 explanation of England's power. She not alone lets 
 in daylight on her own affairs, but has enough and 
 to spare to see through the affairs of the whole 
 civilized world." 
 
 She continued chattering, and finally dragged both 
 Enilda and Charlotte to the dining-room, whence the 
 latter was sent on an exploring tour to the larder. 
 
 Flora danced around in glee, and fairly screamed
 
 The CoprEPv Queen. 169 
 
 with joy when Charlotte reappeared with ample 
 edibles. She seized a chicken-wing. " Look at me 
 now, ball dress and all ; oh ! shades of— 
 
 'Born in the garret, in the kitchen bred.' 
 
 Enilda, why don't you laugh ? — this is such a lark, 
 and what have you done to Florestan ? — he looked 
 like a ghost at the ball, — Avhat ? " 
 
 Then Enilda sobbed aloud, and stretched out her 
 hand warningly. The remembrance of that evening 
 passed over her : it was too bitter. She started to 
 tell Flora all, but broke down crying, 
 
 " Oh, Flora, can't you understand ? I— T hke him, 
 and he is lost to me for ever."
 
 170 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Lucy Chromo awakened abruptly, was aghast 
 when informed that Enilda and Flora were on 
 their way that very moment to America. Enilda 
 showed her father's cable, and Lucy's good heart 
 instantly pleaded Mr. Rozen's cause. Nothing had 
 been said of Ida except that she was very ill, and 
 Enilda begged Lucy to look after her. She did 
 not explain what had taken place the night before 
 for two reasons — one her fine sense of honour, which 
 could not betray Ida even to such friends as Flora and 
 Lucy ; and the other an indescribable feeling that all 
 was not yet known, a vague sense of walking in the 
 dark, of being on the edge of a precipice where a false 
 step at any moment might launch her into eternity. 
 She was too troubled, too dazed, to fully appreciate 
 Charlotte Corday's zeal in begging her not to in- 
 terfere with the Count's or any one's affairs. She 
 never questioned the good soul, but went about 
 making preparations for her immediate departure, as
 
 The Copper Queen. 171 
 
 one goes about in a dream. Even the memorj' of the 
 night before was intangible, and only as they were 
 starting off and a certain letter was placed in her 
 hands, did she realize all that had taken place. The 
 letter was from Florestan. He wrote : 
 
 " I know you will believe me when I toll you that 
 my presence in the conservatory was one of those 
 purely fatal accidents which no human power has 
 ever yet been able to avert. I went there to dream 
 of you, the only woman I have ever loved. I in- 
 tended on that very night to ask you, for the last time, 
 to share my fate — to be my wife. How did my dream 
 end ? Great Heaven I was ever such an awaken- 
 ing ? I say no more. A vague idea had often haunted 
 me, the idea that perhaps you had at some time of 
 your life loved or cared for another; but I never 
 speculated upon it; I never encouraged it to come 
 back ; your past was as sacred to me as your present 
 is, as your future shall be, I still love you, but we 
 shall not meet again, not now, unless destiny 
 throws me once more in your path. I am leaving 
 London, I don't even know where I am going, but 
 you shall hear from me some time when I can com- 
 mand my feelings. You ask me perhaps why I am 
 going ? Oh ! Enilda, can't you see that I have no 
 more hope ? I heard you say, ' I love another/
 
 172 The Copper Queex. 
 
 and I am not such a fool as not to realize aU 
 your indifference has meant, how little you care for 
 me, and liow really sliglit a place I have in your 
 heart. No, no, I can't h)p3 any longer, and as I 
 cherish 3^our good-will I don't want to bother you, 
 and shall never tell you again that I love you. Only 
 know that I am your friend, yours till death ; where- 
 ever I may be you have only to call and I shall 
 answer. The world is not wide enough to separate 
 us ; I am taking myself out of your sight for a time, 
 because I think that you do not care even to see me. 
 My presence might stir up sad memories : not bitter 
 ones to you, dear ; you are not to blame ; you have 
 nothing to blame yourself with. You but followed 
 your inclination, and that was so like all your sex. 
 The crown of true womanhood is when the heart 
 speaks, and you — when have you ever been aught 
 that was not most woman ? — when shall you ever be 
 anything else in my eyes ? Forgive my love for you, 
 forgive my bluntness, my stupidity, my persistence, 
 my persecution. All is over now, and in the rever- 
 ential kiss I place upon the hand I once proudly 
 hoped to call my own, receive the assurance of my 
 undying regard, and believe that whatever may 
 happen to you and yours, myself and all I possess are 
 ever at your service. Farewell ! 
 
 "Ythan Florestan."
 
 The Copper Queen. 173 
 
 They had barely arrived in Liverpool when a 
 telegram from Lucy Chromo announced Ida's death. 
 Euilda then told Flora as much as she dared, and 
 although her own heart was filled with trouble it 
 still held a tear of regret for the unfortunate young 
 woman — aloue, betrayed, almost friendless, dead in a 
 foreign land, cut down in the midst of youth's price- 
 less hopes and priceless illusions. It seemed cruel, 
 even wicked, but Enilda scarcely thought of other 
 than her own trouble ; misfortune makes us all more 
 or less selfish. 
 
 The early train had come in, but just before the 
 sailing of the ' Arragona.' They had neither berths 
 nor tickets; but the purser was found, and pro- 
 mised to do the best he could for them ; and 
 Enilda fancied there was something of pity in his 
 manner as he reassured her that he would do all 
 in his power to make her comfortable. A large 
 room was found at the last moment, an ex-pantry 
 made for cabin accommodation when the steamer 
 was overcrowded. The first night Flora's maid 
 and Charlotte Cord ay passed on the cushions of 
 the ladies' cabin, whilst two strangers, bound only 
 to Queenstown, shared the room assigned to Enilda 
 and Flora. They had fondly hoped that chance 
 would leave them to themselves ; but the next day, 
 when they were well out of Queenstown, this
 
 17-i The Copper Queen. 
 
 illusion ^va3 promptly dispelled, as tlie purser showed 
 a lady into the cabin, briefly announcing that 
 she was the occupant of No. 3 berth; and half- 
 an-hour later the door ojiened and another woman 
 stood on the threshold. As she hesitated for some 
 moments, and seemed scarcely to know whether to 
 go or stay, Enilda civilly invited her to come in. 
 Slie took a step forward, saying apologetically as she 
 did so : 
 
 " I don't know why I'm here ; I'm an intermediate ! " 
 Enilda looked surprised, but replied : 
 " An intermediate ! Are you not a first-class 
 passenger ? " 
 
 " Not a bit of it ; but the purser said I was to 
 come here, and here I am. I hope I'm not dis- 
 turbing of yer ? " 
 
 "I don't understand," said Enilda; ''perhaps you 
 do belong here. How much did you pay for your 
 ticket ? " 
 
 The intruder mentioned a sum about one-third 
 of what Enilda had paid, which left no doubt as to 
 the position she would occupy in the steamer; but 
 having been sent there by the purser, she was as 
 much entitled to her berth as Enilda herself. 
 Considering the stranger was a very portly female, 
 Enilda adjudged it prudent to resign the lower 
 bertn to her, and take the upper one opposite Flora's,
 
 The CoprER Queen. 175 
 
 besides she was nearer to the port-hole, and she 
 specially disliked any one over her head. Flora 
 was disgusted when she learned they were to be 
 four in a room, but Enilda was too thankful to get 
 home at any cost to complain of either ship-com- 
 panions or ship-quarters. She and Flora were both 
 deatlily sea-sick, and as usual with human beings 
 in this state, wished for only one of two things — - 
 either that they weuld get better, or that the ship 
 would go to the bottom. The Intermediate happily 
 did not suffer from this almost universal ocean com- 
 plaint, but the fourth occupier of the state room, 
 after vacillating for two days between the saloon 
 and the ladies' cabin, finally yielded to the inevitable 
 and held constant possession of her berth, thus 
 adding to Enilda's and Flora's annoyance by pre^ 
 venting the small consolation that they might have 
 found in talking things over confidentially. 
 
 The weather became fearful, although in the 
 month of July. There was incessant rain, and when 
 the clouds lifted they only seemed to gather them- 
 selves together but to break again, to be followed by 
 violent gusts of wind and tempest. The ship rocked, 
 plunged fearfully forward, or again danced on the 
 wave with the lightness of a cockle-shell. In the 
 mean time Enilda and Flora became not only on 
 speaking, but on very friendly, terms with their room-
 
 176 The Copper Queex. 
 
 mates, and the Intermediate, though not sea-sick, 
 found herself obliged to obey orders and keep in 
 her cabin. No one had thought of danger, but one 
 could not help a certain disagreeable feeling when 
 told that the weather-needle marked a gale, and 
 the steerage were already battened down under their 
 hatches. As soon as the idea of danger came upper- 
 most, as usual all sea-sickness vanished. Flora even 
 got about, and as far as the saloon, whea a sight met 
 her fjaze which sent a cold shudder all over her. 
 Every breakable object was shivered to atoms; the 
 floor and lounf^^es were covered with wrecka^^e of 
 every sort, from a biscuit-dish to a table-rack; and 
 she seemed wading through piles of broken crockerj^ 
 The room was almost in j^itch darkness ; and added 
 to the terrible roar of the waves, was the dire rattle 
 of swinging brackets and such stationary objects as 
 still held fast, but which threatened every moment 
 to wrench themselves from their fastenings and 
 complete the work of general destruction. A sky- 
 lio^ht in the ceilinor was broken, and the tables were 
 covered with a light powder of pulverized glass, every 
 now and then quantities of salt water poured in, 
 drenching everything and enveloping the room in a 
 cloud of spray, not unlike the steam of a va|)our-bath. 
 Flora did not stand, but — rolled aghast. Only one 
 human being was in sight — a steward, — who, in S23ite
 
 The Copper Queen. 177 
 
 of a certain experience of gales, evidently Lad all 
 he could do to keep liis balance. Suddenly there 
 was a terrible suction sound, as if the ship were 
 being irresistibly drawn into some narrow compressed 
 space, followed by a roar passing all description, and 
 a sudden darkness fell upon them. 
 
 " Heavens," cried Flora, " we are lost ; what's 
 that ? " 
 
 The steward smiled glumly. " Only shipping a 
 rover, Miss," he said, and he clutched a near side- 
 board as he continued his rocking. 
 
 " Is it dangerous ? " 
 
 •' I never saw it when it was, which means that 
 wlien it is dangerous people don't live to tell the 
 tale.^' 
 
 Flora heard no more, but with one awful shriek 
 turned to make her way back to the state room. Her 
 terror was so great that she almost walked straight, 
 she finally pitched headlong into her room, just 
 as there was another frightful suction sound ; but 
 again the darkness lifted, and the gallant ship leaped 
 forth from the caverns of the deep. Flora began 
 excitedly to tell all she had seen, and described 
 the saloon in such terms that Enilda almost laughed 
 at her description. 
 
 "Hear it!" she cried; "just listen to the smash- 
 ing ! You see they had the tables just set for dinner ; 
 
 VOL. III. N
 
 178 The Copper Queen. 
 
 I don't believe there's another dish left aboard. 
 This last little act is what they call shipping a rover. 
 I suppose that's the way the ' City of Boston ' dis- 
 appeared." 
 
 Flora clambered into her berth with the utmost 
 difficulty, chatting volubly all the while; she was as 
 comfortably settled as could be, when she made the 
 discovery that water w^as pouring into the state 
 room, and was already two inches deep upon the 
 floor. In vain she rang the bell for the stewardess ; 
 the water kept coming in faster and faster, until 
 finally the cabin trunks, the handbags and articles 
 of wearing apparel deposited in the corner were 
 positively fxoating about like rafts ; to add to their 
 consternation the same terrible suction sound was 
 heard again, and the same ominous blackness obscured 
 the room; the suspense was horrible; scarcely a 
 moment had passed, yet it seemed ages. 
 
 " Ladies," said Flora with solemnity,^' we've shipped 
 another rover, and as we don't come out of it, I 
 guess this time it's dano-erous. I don't want to 
 frighten you, but if I'm not mistaken we stand a 
 show of passing in our cheques this very minute." 
 
 At that moment a howl louder than the howl of 
 wind or wave burst from the lower berth, and the 
 Intermediate sprang from her bed : with the words, 
 " I think it's toime some one was a prayin'," she
 
 The Copper Queen. 179 
 
 flung herself on her knees in the middle of the 
 floor, her skirts flapping and splashing in the water 
 about her, and wildly clasping her hands above her 
 dishevelled hair, the darkness lifting but slightly in 
 the mean while, cried : 
 
 *"' Oh, fathyer beyant, I'm prayin' now for miny 
 raisons, thaukin' ye for all favers, and requestin' that 
 this noight may turn out only as ye wish. I'm one 
 of twelve more or less dead and gone. I left ould 
 Ireland young, but I've niver forgotten it, nor the 
 ould mither as brought me into this world of sin ; 
 and although I'm a poor woman and cud ill afford it, 
 I tuk one trip and left mee husband as is a foirst- 
 class liquor dayler in New York, to go to the ould 
 farm and save me mither from want. And, oh Lord, 
 lay it to my favour, take it into account that I've 
 settled upon the ould w^oman farty pounds a year, 
 which God knows I could ill spare, and which if 
 I'me saved this night I'll make forty pounds more, 
 as sure as me name's Bridget Finnerty. Forty 
 pounds" — then the voice was lost in violent sobs, 
 while Flora, raising herself in her berth, screamed 
 out at full pitch of her voice : 
 
 " Bridget, Bridget, get off your knees, turn round 
 and look at me this very minute. Don't you know 
 me ? I'm Flora Grayson ; I thought your face was 
 familiar, but I couldn't place it." 
 
 N 2
 
 ISO The Copper Queen. 
 
 Mrs. Grayson's former cook — for it was none other 
 — lieard the voice, and made an effort to get up ; but 
 she only managed to half-raise herself, and clinging 
 on to the valise, turned a startled face towards Flora. 
 By this time the darkness was completely lifted, but 
 the storm raged on, accompanied by such a torrent 
 of words from Bridget that a stranger assisting at 
 the scene might easily have feared himself in Pande- 
 monium. The generous woman who had innocently 
 requested of Omnipotence that the footstep of the 
 Mighty Destroyer might be stayed in virtue of the 
 modest settlement of forty pounds which she had 
 bestowed on her mother's declining years, with the 
 addition of another forty in case she were saved, at 
 last managed to struggle to her feet, and with 
 somewhat the security of a weather-vane in a gale, 
 she clutched the foot of Flora's berth, and began 
 pouring forth the history of her life since the 
 Chicago fire : she went on with such joy and 
 exuberance that Enilda and the fourth occupant of 
 the cabin. Miss Walsh, nearly choked in their efforts 
 to subdue their laughter. 
 
 As there is only a step from the sublime to 
 the ridiculous, Bridget's impromjDtu prayer had 
 absolutely annulled the possible horrors of their 
 situation. There are some people with so keen a 
 sense of humour that, if the occasion presents itself,
 
 The Copper Queen. 181 
 
 they must laugh, even with death staring them in 
 the face; not alone Flora and Enilda but evidently 
 Miss Walsh belonged to that category, for from the 
 moment Bridget began her petition until the storm 
 abated in its violence, all thought of danger seemed 
 to have passed ; even Enilda's grave mental pre- 
 occupation had to give way before the combmed 
 chatter of three such room-mates as Flora, Bridget, 
 and Miss Walsh. 
 
 They had baen out six days, and head winds 
 having stopped, considering the weather, they were 
 makinsf fairly o^ood time. Enilda and Flora had 
 both been able to get up, but Bridget steadily 
 declined to leave her cabin. 
 
 Miss Walsh although still ill had aired most of 
 her family history, as well as received sundry visits 
 from her aunt and uncle, whom, she informed Enilda, 
 occupied the bridal chamber on board the steamer. 
 Enilda listened to her talk without either interest 
 or indifference, for as they drew nearer New York 
 she gradually realized the difference between her 
 starting away two months before and her present 
 almost ignominious return. The excitement of the 
 last day in London and her enthusiastic love for 
 her father had almost blinded her to the real mean- 
 ing of his cable, and she began now vaguely to 
 wonder what his words meant — what she was coming
 
 182 The Copper Queex. 
 
 Lome to. Of Florestan she could not think without 
 cominingied feelings of liamiliation, pain, and love, 
 and when she remembered the conversation between 
 herself and her former lover which he had overheard, 
 she thought she must die for very shame. She did 
 not for a moment think the change in her position 
 w^ould make any change in him ; even had she not 
 received his letter, she knew but too well the truth 
 and loyalty of his nature, still on this last day, as 
 they were nearing the shores of Staten Island, her 
 heart was filled with very bitter memories. She had 
 lost him for ever, and all through her own fault. 
 She could now look back upon her conduct with 
 that unflinching microscopic gaze, which a hopeless 
 present always flashes upon the past. She saw 
 every act, every word recorded in letters of fire, and 
 felt that while she had blindly followed her destiny, 
 at the same time her own self-love was the imme- 
 diate cause of the ruin she had sown about her. 
 " He will despise me," she murmured ; " and I merit 
 it. We will probably go away from New York for 
 ever, but some day I shall write and tell him how I 
 cherish his friendship and goodwill. I sliall always 
 love- him, but he shall never know it." 
 
 She was thinking all this over as she dressed 
 herself to go on deck for the first and last time 
 during the voyage; they were veering straight 
 
 r
 
 The Copper Queen. 183 
 
 for the horse-shoe point of water which separates 
 Long Island from Staten Island, and makes the port 
 of New York second in beauty only to Naples or 
 Constantinople. Tlie sun was setting in gorgeous 
 points of brilliant colour which seemed to light up 
 every individual tree, shrub, and flower gleaming 
 from the banks of these water workls. As Enilda 
 went out Flora came in, and Miss Wa^sh said to her 
 briefly : 
 
 " Is there land in sight ? " 
 
 " Yes," said Flora cheerfull}^ " Do you Avant a 
 look at your native clime ? " 
 
 " No," she replied ; then there was a pause. '' Are 
 there any ships in sight ? " 
 
 " Not many. What do you ask for ? Do you mean 
 to say this is your first coming home, and you don't 
 want to look out on the island ? " 
 
 At this juncture Bridget, who had been asleep 
 in her berth, suddenly awoke, and stared sleepily 
 out. 
 
 "No; the truth is," said Miss Walsh, "I hope 
 there are not many ships near, for I want to throw 
 all my soiled linen overboard." 
 
 " What ! " said Flora, thinking she had not heard 
 aric^ht. 
 
 o 
 
 Miss Walsh repeated her remark, adding : " You 
 see it costs so much carrying baggage around on
 
 184 The Copper Queen. 
 
 the Continent, and we've been travelling for five 
 months, over Italy, France, and Belgium, so aunt 
 and I got in the habit of wearing our clothes — well, 
 a sufficient length of time, then throwing them away 
 when too dirty, and buying new ones in the next 
 town we came to. It was the easiest and cheapest 
 in the end. Most people, I hear, give their ship- 
 things to the stewardess ; but I think I'd rather 
 throw mine overboard. Don't you understand ? " 
 
 "No," said Flora hotly; "I don't understand. 
 If that is the style of Americans you know, I hope 
 they'd never speak to me in Broadway, for they'd 
 be cut dead as sure as my name is Flora Grayson." 
 
 It was Miss Walsh's turn to stare. 
 
 " Heavens and earth ! " said Bridget, rolling her 
 eyes and clasping her hands. "I'm only a poor 
 woman, and I've settled forty pounds a year on my 
 mother, that I can ill-afford, not to mention another 
 forty already promised, but I'd be ashamed to live 
 like that. Thank heaven, I have mee own clothes, 
 mee own shinimees, and mee own pocket-handker- 
 chiefs with mee own initials B. F. marked clear and 
 strong on aich corner." 
 
 Miss Walsh, like the soldier in the Light Brigade, 
 felt that "some one had blundered." Flora and 
 Bridget began their packing, utterly ignoring the 
 economical American. Bridget did not spare her.
 
 The Copper Queen. 185 
 
 She fondly overhauled the various under-garments 
 comprising her luggage, and gazing lovingly on the 
 felted B. F. in the corner, chirped oat in tones loud 
 enough to reach the ears of at least one Transatlantic 
 traveller : 
 
 " I'm no millionnaire ; I've not seen Holland, or 
 Belgium, or Italy. I don't have bridal chambers 
 on steamers, and couriers traveUing first-class, but 
 I clintj to mee own linen, and mee own initials B. 
 F., as fondly as the wife of a first-class New York 
 liquor merchant ought to do." 
 
 Night fell and the ship got in sight of New York, 
 but too late to go over the bar; the tired passengers 
 had the prospect of spending another twelve hours 
 on the steamer, as no one could go ashore until the 
 next morning. Some hours previous there had been 
 the usual excitement of taking the pilot aboard. 
 He was an extraordinary individual, wearing a tall 
 hat, frock-coat, spotted neck-tie, and kid gloves of 
 the most approved cut ; his smile was equally 
 fashionable, and an enormous cigar tightly wedged 
 between his lips seemed stuck so fast that it would 
 never come out. 
 
 To everybody's surprise, and to many passengers' 
 disgust, he could bring no news from New Y'ork, 
 having been out himself fifteen days, even his small 
 stock of newspapers and necessaries having been
 
 186 The Copper Queen. 
 
 washed overboard the very day of his starting. In 
 consequence those New World fanatics, who had been 
 obhged to give their minds and bodies ten days 
 absolute rest, who had bsen beyond the hourly per- 
 secution of telegrams, letters, messenger-boys, tele- 
 jDhones, and newspapers, and to whom this enforced 
 repose, however beneficial after two or three days, 
 seemed a waste of valuable time, found themselves 
 oblige 1 to submit to twelve more hours of rest 
 before hurling themselves into the whirlj^ool of 
 agitation called life in New York. 
 
 After the latest table d'hote. Flora declared she 
 was sleepy, and the night being very fine Enilda 
 decided to take a walk with Charlotte on the 
 hurricane-deck. The saloon was filled with a happy 
 crowd of people. Whist, poker, and euchre parties 
 occupied every available place ; in passing the 
 smoking-room, men's voices in animated discussion 
 rang out on the night, and the combined odours of 
 vesuvians and delicate Havanas made the air more 
 redolent of the billiard-room than of the sea. 
 
 Enilda stopped involuntarily; she could never 
 smell tobacco-smoke without seeing before her a 
 lawn, a fair man stretched idly on the grass, and a 
 hundred idle cigarette-rings circling as idly in the 
 summer air. What ! — would she never be able to 
 get away from the past ? — a past which was now
 
 The Copper Queen. 187 
 
 mocking and loathsome. She longed to do some- 
 thing desperate — to scream, to stretch out her arms, 
 to jump from some great height, or indulge in 
 some violent physical action which would burst the 
 band she had for the last few days felt tightening 
 round her heart. She longed to be alone ; even the 
 laboured breathing of the old negress was irritating 
 and painful ; so she placed her in a sheltered seat 
 to leeward, and began a brisk rapid march up and 
 dowm the lonely deck. She was quite alone. In 
 the distance she could see the Captain on the bridge, 
 and farther on, the shadow of the officer told off for 
 the watch of four bells. The night was so peaceful, 
 so calm, so lovely. She leaned over the taffrail, 
 and with hands idly clasped, looked not shore-ward, 
 but sea-ward. The sky was already seeded with 
 stars, and the mingled expanse of broad firmament 
 and great waste of water, seemed in the distance to 
 blend together in one great, one infinite realm : 
 beyond whose confines alone the weary mortal could 
 ever hope for peace. Then she looked again towards 
 the land, and saw the shores of two islands, whose 
 lights glimmering here and there seemed to stretch 
 forth glittering arms to clasp a semicircle of as 
 glittering a sea, and still farther beyond the sky 
 was coloured with that mysterious reflection which 
 streams heavenward from the myriad lights of a
 
 1S8 The Copper Queex. 
 
 great city. Eiiilda was still lost in thought when 
 she heard a man's measured footsteps pacing wearily 
 up and down. The steps drew nearer, then receded, 
 but continued backwards and forwards, up and down, 
 with the same methodical lassitude. 
 
 "Ah," she thought, "some one who like myself 
 longed to get away from the heat and glare and 
 fulsome chatter of the saloon. His step is slow, 
 perhaps he too has brought a breaking heart out to 
 commune with the stars, the silence, and the wonder 
 of this beautiful night." Suddenly the footsteps 
 paused ; she heard a smothered exclamation. In spite 
 of herself she turned hastily around, but recoiled 
 with a scream, for a man stood before her, sfazinof 
 at her with a look of bewildered and supreme 
 astonishment. 
 
 " Mr. Florestan ! " she gasped. " You here ! " She 
 raised both her hands, and placed them before her 
 face, as if to shut out the shame which she felt must 
 cover it. He too stepped forward and placed one 
 hand on the railing as if to steady himself, the other 
 he stretched towards her. 
 
 " Enilda," he said, in a voice which trembled with 
 emotion ; " Enilda, God knows this meeting was not 
 of my seeking. Can it mean, dear, that fate has 
 wished once more to throw us together ? Can it 
 mean that destiny has at last taken in her hands
 
 The Copper Queen. ISO 
 
 those links which are to bind my Hfe to yours ? 
 Listen to me. I left London intending to go abroad, 
 when a longing came over me to see my mother, the 
 house where I was born, and the child who was the 
 means of bringing you into my life. I came aboard 
 at Queenstown, and induced the Captain to give 
 me his upper deck cabin. I have never spoken to 
 a soul, I have lived with the sunshine and shadow, 
 storm and tempest; my only companions my hope- 
 less thoughts of you. I said to myself, 'This is the 
 last niorht on board ; for the last time I shall feed 
 my soul with thoughts of her love. In each bright 
 star I shall read the brightness of a dream for ever 
 past ; but from this night forth, I shall put her out 
 of my hfe.^ Why has fate thrown you once more 
 in my path ? Why ? " 
 
 " Why," she repeated ; "don't you know? Can't 
 you guess ? " Then she withdrew her hands from her 
 lace, and coming slowly towards him placed them 
 both on his still outstretched palms. This time it 
 was his turn to recoil. 
 
 " Stop," he said faintly ; " I could not bear to be 
 deceived again ; tell me quickly what you mean ; did 
 I not hear you say, ' 1 love another ? ' " 
 
 She gazed straight into his eyes with a look he 
 had never before seen in hers. 
 
 " And you did not guess ! — you did not realize
 
 190 Tpie Copper Queex. 
 
 when I said I loved another, who tliat other 
 was ( 
 
 ''Be careful, Enilda, you don't know what you are 
 saying." 
 
 Then she came closer to him. " Ythan, dear," she 
 said, in a low voice, "when I read your letter I 
 intended to write and tell you the truth ; all the 
 past, all my blindness, all my awakening ; and how 
 without knowing it my heart had gone out to you ; 
 but all is changed now; — not that I love you less, 
 but our positions have changed. Before I received 
 your letter a cable from my father told me he was 
 ruined — perhaps disgraced. Ruin means loss of 
 money. I would not insult you by supposing that 
 that could make any difference to you; but the 
 other word " — she shuddered — " disgrace ! that is 
 another thing." 
 
 Then for the first time since they had known each 
 other, Florestan spoke to her as a true man speaks 
 to the woman he loves. 
 
 " God has been too good to me ; your sorrows are 
 mine, and if there be any joy, please Him we shall 
 share it together; if there be aught else, my name 
 shall protect you and yours before the world." 
 
 Early the next morning they went ashore. Flora 
 was so upset by the news of Enilda's reconciliation
 
 The Copper Queen. 191 
 
 with Florestan that she scarcely knew whether she 
 was on her head or on her heels. There was the 
 usual bustle of looking after luggage, the nuisance of 
 the Custom House officers, and the final landing on 
 the crowded wharf. Enilda in her precipitation had 
 entirely forgotten to warn her father of her arrival, 
 but a carriage was soon found, and she and Flora 
 with their maids and luggage were packed off to 
 their respective destinations. The carriage was 
 stopped at the last moment by Bridget, who gave 
 Flora her address, and begged her not to forget that 
 her husband sold the best Kentucky Bourbon to be 
 found north of Mason and Dixon's line. 
 
 Florestan w^as looking^ after the last of his luo-craore, 
 when he was slapped on the shoulder and confronted 
 by none other than Arundel — the same old Arundel, 
 but younger, happier, and more elegant than the 
 former ever imagined it possible he could appear. 
 
 " My dear Florestan," he cried, almost flinging 
 himself into his arms, " I had no idea you were 
 coming ; I came here with a friend who expected 
 relatives to arrive by this steamer; but you don't 
 congratulate me, — you have not heard the news? 
 Why, it's victory, my friend, victory." 
 Florestan stared. 
 
 "What," continued Arundel; "you haven't seen 
 the telegrams or • the papers or heard anything ?
 
 192 The Copper Queen. 
 
 Stand aside, there's such a crush, I don't want people 
 to look at me. You see I'm a sort of hero ; my 
 picture has been in all the illustrated papers, even 
 in the * Police Gazette.' I'm a rich man now, worth 
 millions; — we've won. You remember the trunk, 
 the letters, and the papers ? Well, the trial came on 
 again ; Rozen came up as a witness. That last day 
 when I looked at him, something in his appearance, 
 his manner, voice — I don't know what — the man 
 himself, — but I had a sudden inspiration — it came 
 over me like a flash, and while he was crivinoj his 
 evidence, I stood up in the court and screamed with 
 all my might and main, ' That's him ; I know^ him ; he 
 can't deceive me any more ; that's the man himself.' 
 Then I rushed up and denounced him then and 
 there. I and Parkins quietly drew forth a letter 
 from Rozen speaking about copper-mines, etc. The 
 Court compared that one with those I had, and — 
 the handwriting was identical. I must say he was 
 srame. He was terribly startled at first, then he 
 just threw back his head, while a strange smile ran 
 over his face ; he put his hand to his lips, twirled his 
 moustache and said, more calmly than I'm talking to 
 you now, ' Well, and if I am, what are you going to do 
 about it ? ' Of course that was the end. The letters 
 I had, completely criminated him, and the judge 
 settled in my favour in less than ten minutes. Not
 
 The Copper Queen. 193 
 
 oaly was I his partner in the copper business, but 
 everything he had gone into from that day ice first 
 met and made our agreement. I was to share equally 
 in every affair, profit and loss, until the time I insti- 
 tuted the suit against him, which was just five years 
 ago. Of course Rozen repudiated everything ; the 
 whole of the world is talking about it; even your 
 name is mixed up in the affair; and — the papers are 
 something to read. He was game, that I'll say for 
 him ; but think of him being the man himself all the 
 time ! " 
 
 "The man himself," echoed Florestan; "he — who 
 — what do you mean ? " 
 
 " He — who — what ? " mimicked Arundel, fairly 
 jumping around in his excitement. "Can't you 
 understand ? Why, it was a put-up job, the biggest 
 swindle ever known ; they are one and the same person, 
 don't you see ? — the silent partner all bosh — there 
 wasn't any ; Rozen was Vane and — Vane is Rozen." 
 
 " What do you mean ? " Florestan stood back and 
 stared in helpless amazement. 
 
 "What do I mean? — and you helped me to do it. 
 What do you mean ? — what I've said is clear enough. '* 
 
 " Go ! " said Florestan, " and never let me look 
 upon your face again; through you I've spent the 
 best years of my life to ruin the father of the one 
 woman in the world I love." 
 
 VOL. III. O
 
 194, 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Ekic Rozen had played his best tramp and failed. 
 From that moment in the crowded court-room, when 
 Arundel had stripped the mask from his face, and 
 the mask from his life, his one idea had been 
 revenge; revenge not on the man he had betrayed, 
 but on the man who had so insulted his self-love 
 five years before, by giving all the money he had 
 won from him to the Children's Hospital in San 
 Francisco. He cared nothing for the loss of fortune, 
 nothing for the disgrace, he only faltered when he 
 thought of Enilda, and how he had made himself a 
 criminal for her sake; but even his great love and 
 the humiliation that unsuccessful iniquity brings 
 were nothing to the vengeful torrent that now over- 
 whelmed him. He determined to hunt his enemy 
 down, as he himself had been hunted down. 
 
 The meeting with Enilda had been one brief 
 hurried interview. When she arrived home she
 
 The Copper Queen. 195 
 
 found him so busily occupied in his study that he 
 did not even hear her open the door. When she 
 rushed forward and threw her arms around him, he 
 broke down for the first time since that awful day, 
 his head fell on her shoulder, and he could only 
 gasp : 
 
 " Oh ! Enilda, I am unworthy of any honest person's 
 thoughts. You — of course you know all ? — you have 
 read the papers ? " 
 
 " I know nothing but what you cabled me. I have 
 read no papers ; I want to read none. Nothing, dear, 
 can change you in my eyes ; don't fret over the loss 
 of money ; we were poor once and — and honest. We 
 must take up our lives in the old way. There is still 
 the cottage at Laramie — " 
 
 He sprang frona her with a cry that she could 
 never forget. 
 
 " Don't ever speak of Laramie," he said ; " it was 
 there I met my ruin. Laramie was destined to be 
 fatal to both of us. No, no, Enilda, we — we will 
 think of some future, but — but not yet. I can't 
 scheme very far ahead ; besides, there is this house 
 to get rid of. Most of the servants are gone ; they 
 were too good to stop on with a criminal." 
 
 " Papa, hush ! never that word to me. I don't 
 know what you have done, but had you committep 
 murder you are still my own dLtrliug father. I shall 
 
 O 2
 
 196 The Copper Queen. 
 
 cling to you in the face of everything and every- 
 body." 
 
 Then she stopped as she thought — everybody ! 
 Everybody ? there was one — what would he say ? 
 She was about to tell her father all, but hesitated, as 
 once before in her lifetime she had hesitated. " Not 
 now," she thought ; " now I cannot tell him that any 
 one else is in my mind, that any one else shares my 
 heart or hopes," — so it was that a second time she 
 kept silence. She determined to send an immediate 
 line to Florestan, begging him to say nothing for the 
 present of their changed position, but was so fearful 
 he might call, or write to her father, that she hastily 
 excused herself and ran off to her room to write the 
 letter. Five minutes later a messenger was carrjang 
 a note to Florestan, contain inor the folio wing : 
 
 ''My Love, 
 
 " I find him changed — old, sorrowful, ill. 
 I don't know what has happened. I have heard of 
 men failing before now, but did not dream that any 
 one could be so affected merely by the loss of money. 
 Can't you understand that this is not the moment 
 to speak to him of our love — perhaps we may later, 
 when his business affairs are settled, we may then, 
 but not now. I have said nothing, and if you care 
 for me you will respect my wishes, and keep absolute
 
 The Copper Queex. 197 
 
 silence. Do not come and see me yet. I will write 
 sooa. Kiss darling Cyril for me, and accept for 
 yourself 
 
 " All my fondest thoughts, 
 
 " Enilda." 
 
 When Florestan heard all that had happened, 
 when he realized the innocent although fatal part 
 he had played, he was as nearly distracted as a man 
 can he. He refused to see Arundel — in fact every- 
 body. He shut himself up to think ; to think how 
 he could help the man he had unconsciously betrayed. 
 He could not reason and say that in unmasking a 
 villain he had done service to the world at large, 
 for like the world at large, Ythan Florestan allowed 
 his sympathies to relegate his moral belief. As we 
 all refuse to recognize the shortcomings of those 
 whom we find personally agreeable or useful, and 
 find ample excuse for not only the faults the world 
 lends them, but the faults they really possess, so 
 Florestan found a million excuses for Rozen, and 
 looked upon him as a man who although once even 
 antipathetic, was no longer a malefactor, but an 
 unfortunate man, and above all the father of the 
 woman he loved. 
 
 After hours of communing, he decided to make 
 over the major portion of his fortune to repair the
 
 198 The Copper Queen. 
 
 decision of the Court, and wrote to Rozen appointing 
 an interview. He hoped to make Rozen accept 
 this money, and also to make him reahze that all 
 he had done in the disastrous affair was not from 
 personal motive, but merely to help a man whom 
 fate had sent to his door, and who, by the most 
 inhuman persistence, had succeeded in interesting 
 him in a tale which for strangeness and intricacy 
 he had never before heard equalled. He knew it 
 would be no easy task to convince a man whom he 
 had almost openly insulted five years before that he 
 had been innocent of any wish to work against him, 
 but he determined at least to make the attempt. 
 He could not yet realize what Enilda would say 
 when she learned the part he had played ? Would 
 she not despise him, and likewise refuse to believe 
 that he had been an innocent worker in the affair ? 
 
 " I will go away," he cried, " and not see her face 
 again. If she ever forgive me, if she ever send for 
 me to come back, but — no, that will be impossible. 
 In ruining him the blow has fallen heaviest on her, 
 as usual, on the innocent. I dare not tell Rozen 
 that I love her. He would see in my effort at 
 reparation a motive that does not exist. He would 
 think I offered him money to buy his daughter; and 
 she — God help me, she, after all, might think me 
 base enough to buy her at any price."
 
 The Copper Queex. 199 
 
 His meditations were interrupted by the arrival of 
 her letter. He almost screamed for joy when he 
 read it. Unconsciously she had left him free to 
 act; free for a little while to collect his thoughts 
 — to prepare for his interview with Rozen. He 
 argued that if one man took him by the 'hand 
 another would follow, and things might not seem 
 so bad, time and proper influence would bridge 
 over a scandal at present open and gaping like a 
 fresh sabre-cut. As to remembering it — why, the 
 world moves on so fast that yesterday's horrors fade 
 with yesterday. No one in America has time to 
 think of anything but the present. To-day is dying 
 — to-morrow not yet born. Florestan knew what 
 his influence could be, what his personal support 
 could be worth to any man in a difficult position, 
 and did not underrate the good he hoped to do. 
 If only Rozen would prove tractable ! 
 
 Whilst he was turning these things over in 
 his mind for the hundredth time, Eric Rozen sat 
 alone in his study. His dark eyes were filled with 
 an unwonted fire, his face was stamped with a 
 sinister smile, and his firmly set jaw never once 
 relaxed its rigidity. He had written several letters, 
 and was writins^ another when Arnold brougrht him 
 a note. He read it hastily, and as Florestan had 
 cried aloud after learning the contents of Enilda's
 
 200 The Copper Queen. 
 
 letter, so her father cried aloud when he learned the 
 contents of this. 
 
 " Fate has arranged it for me/' he thought ; and 
 he read : 
 
 " I beg you will come and meet me, as I have 
 something to propose to you which no one but 
 ourselves must hear. God knows I was innocent of 
 any wish to hurt you ; He made me a blind instru- 
 ment in the hands of another. I do not expect you 
 to believe my words, but let me prove them to you. 
 Meet me to-night in West Central Park, between 
 seven and eight, near the clump of beeches at 
 the open space just back of the little hill. We 
 cannot, must not, be seen talking at either your 
 house or mine. I depend upon your secrecy. I beg 
 you will come for — for your daughter's sake, if not 
 for your own. Believe me I would lay down my 
 life for you at any time. My grief for the role I 
 have played in this terrible case never can have 
 words. Perhaps some day you will feel that I am 
 your friend. I have named the hour, seven to 
 eifrht; at that time there's not a soul in the Park, 
 and we can be free to have a long talk. Don't fail 
 me. 
 
 " Yours, 
 
 "Ythan Florestan."
 
 The Copper Queen. 201 
 
 As Kozen read, the light in his eyes deepened, 
 the smile on his face grew even more sinister, and 
 his jaw, if possible, clapped more firmly together. 
 " I shan't fail you," he muttered ; " have no fear of 
 that." Then he denied himself even to Enilda, had 
 some slight refreshment brought to his room, and 
 went on with his interminable writing until the 
 clock struck six. After that he arose, went to another 
 table, and took from the drawer two pistols — seven- 
 shooters. These he loaded, primed, and placed in 
 his pocket, then he dressed himself as if for a 
 journey. 
 
 He went to his desk, and taking up a little picture 
 of Enilda as a child, looked long and earnestly at 
 every feature, at the luminous eyes, and smiling 
 mouth, at the slim hands, the quaintly-dressed hair, 
 and the little old-fashioned dress ; then with it still in 
 his hand, he went towards the wall, whence a maiden 
 in the first flush of womanhood smiled down upon 
 him. Eich robes covered the lovely form ; flowers 
 bloomed on neck and bosom ; the hair was caught 
 back in a newer fashion from the fair forehead, but 
 the face was the same, the eyes were the same, the 
 expression the same — it was his own little Enilda, 
 who looked lovingly at him from the old picture, 
 whose earnest gaze followed him everywhere from 
 the new. He bestowed one more tender unfathom-
 
 202 The Copper Queen. 
 
 able glance, then a sudden film came before his 
 vision. 
 
 " Good-bye," he said tenderly ; " good-bye," and he 
 kissed the lips of the miniature. "I ask pardon of 
 this Enilda, of the little girl I held on my knee, of 
 the little child who used to read to me from her 
 primer, of the little girl who loved her father and 
 knew him when — he was an honest man. Good- 
 bye, dear, and when he is gone try and think of him 
 as he was then; — not — not as the world knows him 
 now." 
 
 Then he falteringly placed the little picture back 
 on his desk, gave one last look around, and prepared 
 to leave the chamber. 
 
 A knock came at that moment, and Charlotte 
 Corday's voice was heard outside. 
 
 " Massa Rozen, massa Eric, may I come in ? " she 
 said. 
 
 He started. " Poor Charlotte I " he muttered. " Yes; 
 why not ? — she's a faithful creature." Then he opened 
 the door ; she came in and closed it quickly behind 
 her. 
 
 "This letter was brought, massa, a moment since, 
 addressed to me, shut up in another, and I was 
 to give it to you immediately. There's no answer." 
 Then she smiled on him, pushed it into his face, 
 and was about to retire. He called her back
 
 The Copper Queen. 203 
 
 as lie opened bis letter, and started as lie saw its 
 contents. 
 
 " I might have known he'd turn up ; it comes at a 
 wrong moment, I've no time for him," he thought; 
 then he turned to the old negress with a look of 
 kindness on his face which even she had never seen. 
 
 ''Charlotte," he said, "I'm going out for a little 
 while ; I sha'n't see Enilda before I go ; I don't like to 
 disturb her. I — I've been thinking of you to-day. 
 You've served me and mine long and faithfully, and 
 I want you to promise if anything ever happens, you 
 — you will never desert her while life lasts." 
 
 "Oh, Massa Rozen, what do you mean? What's 
 going to happen ? You ain't nothin' like your ole self. 
 I'll call her now." 
 
 " No, no," he inteiTupted, " I'm all right, I only 
 need a little air. I'm going for a walk." 
 
 " But you'll be in for dinner, massa ? " 
 
 " Dinner ! " — he smiled strangely. " Oh yes, I'll be 
 in then, or at any rate before it's over, that's all. 
 Good-bye ; — I mean, you may go." 
 
 Charlotte could only obey. She withdrew silently, 
 but with a presentiment of evil, went to her room 
 and dressed herself, descended and prepared to follow 
 her master as soon as he should leave the house. 
 She did not need to read the newspapers or to be 
 told that some calamity had overtaken the house, for
 
 204 The Copper Queen. 
 
 since that night when she had been an unwilling 
 listener in her master's apartment, she had lived in 
 daily, hourly expectancy of a storm which should 
 burst and engulf them all in ruin. 
 
 Rozen read his letter, which was a single sheet 
 of paper wrapped round the half of a blank visiting- 
 card torn irregularly in the middle. On the paper 
 was written : 
 
 " I must see j'ou at once. As you come out of 
 your house a man will walk up to you carelessly, 
 wdll not recognize you, but v/ill give you the corre- 
 sponding half of the enclosed card. Follow him ; I 
 shall arrive at the rendezvous as near as possible 
 at a quarter to seven; don't fail me. The man 
 after indicating to you the place of meeting wall 
 leave you. And as soon as he is out of sight I will 
 appear." 
 
 Rozen with an oath crushed the letter in his hand. 
 
 " What ! he has been my ruin body and soul, and 
 hasn't done with me yet ! The worst is known, and as 
 to other transactions he doesn't know it, but he's out 
 of them altogether." Then he held the bit of paste- 
 board disdainfully up in his fingers. " His old trick, 
 his old signal, — well ! so be it. I'll see him to-night, 
 but I'll send him off in short order, and if he wants 
 another meeting, I'm not sure that it wouldn't be as
 
 The Copper Queen. 205 
 
 well to give it to him after I have seen Mr. Florestan. 
 Why not ? " He put the letter in one pocket and the 
 bit of pasteboard in his watch-pocket, and this time 
 prepared to go out, but he went back again to take 
 Florestan's letter, which he had left on his desk. 
 
 When he reached the door he stopped yet again 
 on the threshold. 
 
 "Good-bye," he said softly, looking at the little 
 picture. "When I am gone the world will soon 
 forget what a villain your father was." 
 
 He closed the door and in another moment was 
 in the street; he did not see a dark shadow 
 which kept him closely in view and followed him 
 stealthily step by step, and had rer.ched the corner 
 of the street farthest from his house when a man 
 brushed by him, held something up between his 
 fingers, then passed on before him. Kozen nodded 
 involuntarily, seized the bit of torn card and followed 
 him. The man, after many circuitous windings in 
 and out, to Rozen's surprise led the way into Seventh 
 Avenue ; he scarcely noticed his conductor was taking 
 the road to the Park, but followed him mechanically. 
 He was filled with such dark, desperate, and reckless 
 thoughts that he scarcely realized what he was bent 
 on doing. He was a godless man, and had little fear 
 of death; and yet he could not think without a 
 shudder that perhaps this was his last night on
 
 206 The Copper Queen. 
 
 earth; he vaguely remembered the time, not long 
 since — when he was honest; perhaps more honest 
 than many another; but now he was tired of life, 
 of these five long years of deceit, lying, and villainy. 
 He loved his daughter so well that he had com- 
 mitted crime for her sake. He said to himself, 
 ** What is this old man's money ? He's a drivelling 
 fool ; he'll be in his grave shortly, and no one will 
 ever be the wiser. Many a man has done worse 
 than I, and has never been found out. What are 
 the successful men of to-day — if you look into their 
 intimate records — other than thieves, liars, and 
 swindlers ? Every railway stock, every mining stock, 
 every new bubble blown on the market, is inflated 
 with the cries of widows and orphans, of starving 
 men, women, and children. The crime to-day is not 
 the being a villain — but in being found out." 
 
 Then he quickened his pace, but stopjDed suddenly, 
 for his guide indicated a rustic bench half hidden 
 between low branching trees, and a mask of shrub- 
 bery as wild and uncultivated as any virgin forest 
 in the heart of the Great West. 
 
 Rozen sank into the seat and smiled bitterly as 
 he reflected that at that very moment, perhaps not 
 a hundred yards away, fashionable New York was 
 driving up and down the . stately avenues of her 
 beautiful promenade; for Central Park is as dis-
 
 The Copper Queen. 207 
 
 tinctly American in its civilization as any of tLe 
 New World's cities, betrayirg on one hand a per- 
 fected cultivation which would not disgrace the 
 famous Bois de Boulogne, and on the other a savage 
 luxuriance of primitive uncouthness. Not a person 
 Avas in sight, and the only sounds heard were the 
 falling of some leaflet, and the rustling of a gentle 
 breeze through the dense foliage ; the incessant call 
 of birds* voices, with the occasional refrain of a 
 mocking-bird, who had brought its notes and song 
 from some magnolia vale of the distant South. The 
 air was perfumed with the indescribable fragrance 
 of ripe summer, but the softness of the scene had 
 little effect on Rozen's remorseless mood. He started 
 once as he heard a carriage roll by evidently very 
 near; he suddenly recollected that the ''jeunesse 
 stage-doree" of New York were in the habit of 
 driving out to dine at High Bridge, a chalet 
 restaurant on the Hudson some distance beyond the 
 Park, and to various similar places of resort dotted 
 here and there about the environs of Gotham. He 
 knew he was safe from observation ; and was calcu- 
 lating on the improbability of being disturbed by 
 any one coming that way without a purpose, when 
 he heard a hasty footstep and the Count stood before 
 Lim. 
 
 " Ah well, here you are," he said with a smile.
 
 208 The Copper Queen. 
 
 "Thanks for being prompt." He held out his 
 hand. 
 
 Rozen got up and his face wore a very black look ; 
 he drew back as he saw the Count's outstretched 
 palm. 
 
 " Never again," said he. " I may be fallen very 
 low, but I'm too good ever to touch the hand of such 
 a blackguard as you are ; and you may as well know 
 first as last that I've done with you for ever. Be 
 brief — my time is short. What do you want with 
 me?" 
 
 " Ah ! not shake hands with me ? As you will. 
 That's scarcely a welcome to a pal who has come 
 straight from the steamer, and hasn't even had time 
 to change his travelling-suit. This is one of your 
 ' high falutin' ' days, Rozen. I hope you don't object 
 to my smoking ? I'm dying for a cigar." 
 
 " Say what you have to say, and be brief. You 
 have no more claim on me ; and now that every- 
 thing is over, what more can you expect from me ? 
 I didn't think it even worth while to mention your 
 collaboration, your name at the trial." 
 
 "There was good enough reason for that," inter- 
 rupted the Count. " What was the use of dragging 
 in a person who has been so useful to you in the 
 past, and who, if not necessary to you in the present, 
 certainly will be so in the immediate future ? "
 
 The Copper Queen. 209 
 
 Rozen laughed scornfully. "You are only right 
 in one thing: there is no past, no future for me; 
 the present is now, and I don't need you." 
 
 '' What were your reasons then for not speaking 
 of me at the trial ? " 
 
 "Very simple. I considered you beneath my 
 notice. My own position was bad enough ; there'll 
 be enough obloquy attached to my name, and I 
 didn't care when you are found out — as you will 
 be sooner or later — to have h^d the honour of a long 
 acquaintance with you, added to the number of my 
 crime? — " 
 
 " Take care," interrupted the Count. " Don't try 
 me too far." Then he blew some rings of smoke into 
 the air, and with his slender bamboo cane began 
 writing the initials of his name in the gravel at his 
 feet. " Don't talk nonsense ! " he went on. "What's 
 a failure ? What's this infernal law-suit any way ? 
 — the fat's in the fire now, but I've thought of a plan 
 by which you can not only recoup yourself and get 
 even with everybody, but revenge yourself on two 
 persons, one that hound Florestan — " 
 
 "Ah!" gasped Rozen, suddenly remembering his 
 appointment to meet the latter. It was drawing 
 near the hour. "I've no time to hear any of your 
 plans," he said brutally. "If you wish a future 
 partner, that partner will not be me. You certainly 
 
 VOL. III. P
 
 210 The CoprER Queen. 
 
 ought to be thankful enough to get off free yourself 
 not to bear me any ill-will for thus abruptly termin- 
 ating our heretofore close relationship. You must 
 have money enough by this time to keep you from 
 want, and you certainly have ingenuity enough if not 
 to suggest new and lucrative fields of adventure, at 
 least to return to your old livelihood, surely. Black 
 Bill—" 
 
 The Count dug his cane more deeply into the 
 gravel, destroying the symmetry of his name which 
 he was writing in elegant scrip, then he jumped up 
 as suddenly. 
 
 " Don't push me too far, Rozen, and don't speak 
 that name here. You are not in a mood for joking ? 
 Well, neither am I. You want me to be brief; you 
 ask me what I want. Well, I'll tell you; I want 
 two hundred thousand dollars, and I want it to-night, 
 and you — you're going to give it to me." 
 
 He did not even wait for an answer to his w^ords, 
 but for the first time during the interview began 
 pacing up and down, and switching his stick right 
 and left at the trees and shrubs bordering the path. 
 He was so excited and Rozen so pre-occupied that 
 neither heard a hurried whispering and half-indis- 
 tinct rumour of footsteps evidently in their immediate 
 vicinity. 
 
 Rozen laughed a short hard laugh and also got
 
 The Copper Queen. 211 
 
 up. He mechanically shook down and settled liis 
 trousers as a man always does after having been 
 seated for five minutes or fifty ; then he spoke hotly, 
 harshly, scathingly, and to the point. 
 
 " What do you take me for ? Two hundred thou- 
 sand dollars ! — why, I wouldn't give you two hundred 
 thousand cents to save you from hell. Henceforth 
 you go your way and I go mine ; besides, you've no 
 right to ask me for money ; I've more than fulfilled 
 my contract with you. Where would I get such a 
 sum to give you ? — you forget you're speaking to a 
 ruined man." 
 
 "But those other transactions — the bonds, the 
 mortgages on the new Leadville mines, the shares 
 in that Pittsburgh coal company, all started this last 
 year, they are worth — " 
 
 "The paper they are printed on — nothing more; 
 and if they were you have nothing to do with them. 
 Know for the last time, that if I had fifty millions 
 I'd see you dead at my feet, I'd see you rotting 
 before I'd give you a cent." 
 
 The Count stopped his restless walk and adopted 
 another tone; this time his was the humble pleading 
 voice. 
 
 "You are not right!" he said. "Were we not 
 partners in everything? Was not I the sole and 
 unique means of your making such a fortune ? Didn't 
 
 P 2
 
 212 The Copper Queen. 
 
 I suggest to you months ago what was coming; and 
 even offer to get that devil Florestan out of your 
 road ? You helped me at a desperate time, and 
 I come now to help you to suggest a plan ; but not 
 until you've helped me first, and you must help me 
 because I'm in danger; that fiend Ricard and a 
 woman you know a little about have determined 
 to ruin me. You'll say, ' What's that to me ? * 
 Nothing ; except that if I'm done for I can't be of 
 any more help to you. You can't get two hundred 
 thousand ? — well, one hundred thousand then ; — that 
 I must have or, by G — d ! " — and he stepped threat- 
 eningly in front of Rozen — " I'll know the reason 
 why." 
 
 " Stand aside ! " said Rozen hoarsely. " I want to 
 pick no quarrel with you ; — you forget I'm a beggar 
 — a disgraced and ruined man ; you at least are free. 
 Stand aside and let me pass. I wish you no harm ; 
 you've been the bane of my life, but we meet to- 
 night for the last time. "Will you let me pass ? I 
 have other work on hand : we are quits." 
 
 " Are those your final words ? " 
 
 " Yes ! — No ! I say once more, hope for no money 
 from me — " 
 
 But the words died in his throat, for the Count 
 sprang at him, seized both wrists in a vice, and 
 before he could even cry for help whipped out a
 
 The Copper Queen. 213 
 
 bowie-knife and planted it to the Lilt in dozen's 
 body. The latter gave one scream, and divining the 
 Count's movement, the instant his hand was free, 
 seized one of his pistols and fired blindly at the 
 murderer. 
 
 At that instant the bushes parted back of them, 
 and Fiorestan and Charlotte Cor day, with loud 
 cries for help, rushed into the pathway ; the former 
 pinioned the Count's arms from behind, and threw 
 him violently to the ground. Meanwhile the victim, 
 half-leaning against the bench, with a steady hand 
 withdrew the knife from his wound, but at the same 
 moment wdth a faint cry sank to earth. 
 
 " Charlotte — Enilda ! " he gasped ; '•' this is my 
 death-blow." 
 
 In an instant the path was filled with men, 
 attracted by the noise of the shot and cries for help. 
 A policeman dashed through the covert, but before 
 the Count's illustrious person could be secured other 
 officers arrived upon the scene, and Fiorestan was 
 soon relieved of his painful position. 
 
 The next thought was for the victim. His head 
 was on Charlotte's bosom. The ground was dabbled, 
 a pool lay beside the bench, and Charlotte's hand 
 and handkerchief, with which she had vainly at- 
 tempted to staunch the wound, were reeking with 
 blood. The officers explained to Charlotte that
 
 214 The Copper Queex. 
 
 Rozen must be carried to the nearest house, and 
 a shutter fetched from a neio^hbourino; chalet was 
 already at hand, whilst a messenger despatched by 
 Florestan's thoughtfulness had already rushed off for 
 Enilda. 
 
 The Count, as soon as he saw himself surrounded, 
 protested his innocence, and declared he had only 
 assaulted Rozen in self-defence. His protestations, 
 however, elicited no response beyond a dangerous 
 look from Florestan, and a lowering glare from 
 Charlotte Corday. 
 
 " Gentlemen," said the Count to his captors, " pray 
 let me give you my name, and you will see that 
 I am a gentleman, and you have no need to detain 
 me by force. I shall be very pleased to give myself 
 into your custody, and see the end of this very 
 painful affair. You forget Mr. Rozen was one of 
 my most cherished friends. I cannot doubt that 
 his attack on me was a sort of temporary madness, 
 and I, alas ! like my esteemed friend Louis — I beg 
 your pardon, the late Emperor Louis Napoleon — by 
 no fault of mine I find myself a prisoner." 
 
 In spite of the nobleman's remarks and self-asser- 
 tions of innocence he was regarded with no special 
 leniency by his guard. These gentlemen, like most 
 of the New York police, being mostly Irishmen, two- 
 thirds Fenians, and the other third Nationalists or
 
 The Copper Queen. 215 
 
 Radicals, had no respect for titles, none whatever 
 for gentlemen, and very little for individuals of any 
 class. As they reached the chalet where Rozen, still 
 unconscious, was laid on a bed, the Count looked 
 back for the last time, waved his hand in touching 
 farewell, and as he was walked away, said : 
 
 •' Alas ! my poor friend, who would ever have 
 believed that he could have turned upon me as he 
 did ? I who have been such a friend, as soon expect 
 a doo^ in a fit of indisrestion to bite his master. God 
 knows, it were almost better to have him murder 
 me than to have retaliated even by a blow directed 
 at my best friend." 
 
 Charlotte and two officers took their place beside 
 Rozen. Happily a doctor, a resident physician, was 
 at that very moment found who succeeded in bring- 
 ing him back to consciousness. He took Florestan 
 aside and told him, after examination of the wound, 
 that the blow was fatal, and that at best Rozen had 
 but a few hours to live. 
 
 " He is a powerful man," he continued ; " otherwise 
 death would have been instantaneous. I'm going 
 to give him a stimulant, and if he has any earthly 
 affairs to settle they must be attended to to-night, 
 and as soon as possible, for his time is very short." 
 
 Florestan then explained the name, position, 
 and estate of the injured man; said that his only
 
 216 The Copper Queen. 
 
 daughter had been sent for, and as their house 
 ahnost adjoined the Park she might be expected 
 at any moment; then as the victim showed signs 
 of returning life the doctor hastened towards him. 
 
 Eric Rozen opened his eyes. 
 
 " Mr. Rozen/' said the physician, with grave cour- 
 tesy, "I am deeply grieved, but it is my duty to 
 inform you that you have received a fatal blow. 
 Are you prepared for death ? " 
 
 Rozen stared strangely at him. The, doctor then 
 told him that whatever statement he made would 
 be regarded as an oath, and after several moments 
 had passed Rozen realized the purport of these words, 
 and raising his hand gave solemn utterance to the 
 formula. 
 
 " Knowing and believing that I am a d3^ing man, 
 I solemnly swear all I say is the truth — the solemn 
 truth." Then he sunk back seemingly overcome, 
 and silence reigned whilst the doctor administered 
 a second stimulatinoj drauo^ht. 
 
 " Where is he ? " said Rozen, half-opening his eyes 
 and speaking in a faint voice. " Ah ! he has done 
 for me at last. I call upon all to witness that I 
 didn't wish to harm him. I begged him to leave 
 me; he was levying black mail I could no longer 
 submit to, and he has murdered me. A Count 
 indeed ; he may be a Count for all I know, but I
 
 The Copper Queen. 217 
 
 know liim better as the thief, forger, and criminal, 
 Black Bill, I was weak enough to help to assist 
 to escape from the jail of Chicago when the city was 
 burnt five years ago." 
 
 Florestan started with horror. 
 
 " Black Bill ! " he exclaimed. " Impossible 1 " 
 
 At the sound of that voice Rozen attempted to 
 open his eyes. " Who's there ? " he asked hoarsely. 
 " Is that Ythan Florestan' s voice ? " 
 
 "Yes, yes," said the latter, pressing forward 
 eagerly. " My poor friend, can I do anything for 
 you ? At least you shall be avenged, for not alone 
 I, but Charlotte Corday is a witness ; we overheard 
 all your conversation, and saw that villain strike the 
 blow." 
 
 " You ! " he murmured, — " you ! Fate is indeed 
 strange, — you a friend. Oh no ! — but Charlotte 
 Corday and Enilda ! Where is Enilda ? " 
 
 " Oh massa, hyare I am," cried Charlotte, throwing 
 herself on her knees ; " and Miss 'Nilda's a coming. 
 Dat limb o' Satan has struck you; but please God 
 you'll get right again soon." 
 
 " No, no, Charlotte, I shall never be better in this 
 world, and before I leave it I only want to see 'Nilda 
 and tell her all the truth." 
 
 " Mr. Rozen," said the doctor solemnly, " we must 
 be prepared for the worst ; your earthly affairs — "
 
 218 The Copper Queen. 
 
 " Are all in onler. I am going out of the world 
 not exactly as I intended, for I came to this Park to 
 meet a man who has been my enemy for long years ; 
 he had nothing against me, and yet he has succeeded 
 in ruininc: and dissfracinor me and mine. You think 
 I've got a settler, doctor; well, it's as easy dying 
 with a clear conscience as a cloudy one, so I'll make 
 a clean breast of it. I wanted to be revenged on the 
 man who ruined me. I came here to do for Ythan 
 Florestan what another has done for me, and then 
 make away with myself — end a life that he has 
 rendered no longer bearable to me." 
 
 "Impossible," gasped Florestan, starting back in 
 horror. " I pray you, gentlemen, take no heed of 
 what he says ; his mind wanders." 
 
 " No, no," murmured Rozen faintly ; " it won't do. 
 I know exactly what I'm saying, and — what's 
 that ? " 
 
 His quick ear had caught a footstep on the gravel 
 outside; and before he could sa}^ another word 
 Enilda burst into the room and flew to her father's 
 side. His face lit up with a radiance which might 
 have beamed from the face of a seraph. At this 
 juncture the doctor insisted on his swallowing a 
 stimulant. He seemed to revive after that, partially 
 raised his head, and lifted his arm, which he tried 
 to place round Enilda's neck ; his eyes seemed still
 
 The Copper Queen. 219 
 
 covered bj the same film, but his voice was a little 
 stronger. 
 
 " Eailda," he said ; " don't cry, child ; we all have to 
 go some time, and it's better for you that my time 
 has come now." 
 
 " Oh papa, don't say that — don't say that 1 " 
 
 He closed his eyes and went on, meanwhile 
 threading his fingers softly through her hair as he 
 had been wont to do when she Avas a little girl, 
 and used to sit upon his knee. 
 
 "I know I'm going to shock you, and break you 
 all up by what I'm going to say, but I can't go 
 before I've told you the truth ; I can't face your 
 mother — for I hope I'm going to meet her — with 
 one lie left on my soul. After she died I went to 
 the bad, but you never knew it. It was out of my 
 love for you. I tried honest means; they didn't 
 work ; then dishonest. I wanted to make a fortune 
 for you, Enilda, so you should hold up your head with 
 any lady in the land. You know you're nobody in 
 America unless you've got money. It don't make 
 much difference how you get it, and I was only 
 worse than other men because I got found out. 
 I met Black Bill at Laramie ; he called himself a 
 Baron; and we had only struck up a sort of a 
 partnership when I found out who he was in 
 Chicago. Then it was too late to back out. I helped
 
 220 The Copper Queex. 
 
 to free liim the niglit of the fire. He ha-j named me 
 Vane long before : it was easier having two names ; 
 it was his idea about do'ng Arundel ; it was — " 
 
 His voice faltered and his head fell on his breast. 
 
 " Enilda," he murmured ; " where are you ? " 
 
 " Here, papa ; — oh, don't tell me any more — what 
 can it matter now ! — you are so ill, don't think 
 of it." 
 
 " Where was I ? " he said, half- raising his head. 
 " Oh yes ; we played euchre in the train, and 
 Florestan — has always been my enemy." 
 
 For the first time Eiiilda seemed to become aware 
 of the latter's presence. Without a word she 
 motioned him to her side. 
 
 " Papa," she said softly, " there's something I want 
 to tell you ; Mr. Florestan — " 
 
 " Oh, sir," cried Florestan, springing forward, 
 " pray forgive me the great wrong I have unin- 
 tentionally done you. I am your friend, I swear it. 
 I love your daughter — do you hear me ? — my one 
 wish on earth is to make her my wife ; — forgive — " 
 
 "Forgive — forgive," murmured the dying man; 
 " yes — all — Enilda, are you there ? It's growing 
 dark, oh, so dark — I'm cold — what's that? — the 
 forest — the Indians, — they could not kill you, my 
 beloved — stand back, she's there, waiting — I hear the 
 brook, and the bird — that mockinir bird that used to
 
 The Copper Queen. 221 
 
 sing. We are poor, 'Nilda; but you say we'll be 
 honest, and when we have each other; — ah — • 
 ah—" 
 
 His head fell backwards, and Eric Rozen's soul 
 jjassed into the dark valley. 
 
 They lifted him and bore him through the Park, 
 now wrapped in the tenderest hues of that fair but 
 dying summer day. Love-birds chanted to their 
 mates, crystal waters cooed and sang in soundless 
 basins, perfumed breezes sighed through arching 
 trees, and as they neared the main avenue faint 
 murmurs of the distant city were borne towards 
 them on the soft night air. The cortege was stopped 
 but once. 
 
 A gaudy break loaded with a party of pleasurers 
 on their way to High Bridge dashed into the 
 path, but so intent w^ere they on their evening's 
 prospective amusement, that not one look was 
 bestowed upon the silent group drawn up by the 
 roadside. 
 
 "You think so," screamed the voice of a cele- 
 brated operatic courtesan. ''Not if I know it; I 
 bet before the day is ended I too will hold a 
 diamond — " 
 
 " Hush ! " cried a companion peremptorily, who 
 at that moment had caught a glimpse of the shutter 
 with its veiled and silent burden. "Hush," he
 
 222 The Copper Queen. 
 
 continued more softly ; " can't you see that is the 
 body of a dead man ? " 
 
 As the break whirled by voices were stilled and 
 hats reverently lifted. Thus Eric Rozen was saluted 
 for the last time, by any members of the New York 
 Stock Exchange.
 
 223 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 The civilized world was ringing with the Rozen- 
 Vane scandal ; even the London press was filled with 
 leaders and articles touching upon America, Ameri- 
 cans, and American society- women in general. The 
 illustrated papers contained portraits of the Copper 
 Queen and her father; society was informed that 
 the lessons to be learnt from this extraordinary law- 
 suit were not few ; that it was time Americans were 
 received with more reserve; that money, beauty, 
 and even brains were not enough, etc., etc. 
 
 Whilst the American newspapers from Maine to 
 California and Minnesota to Mexico teemed with 
 stories of the Copper Queen, her introduction to 
 New York life, her family, her father, her position, 
 herself, one daily had devoted columns to their 
 peculiar position and the terrible deception practised 
 upon, not alone all their friends, but upon one in 
 particular: a nobleman of such birth and position
 
 224? The Copper Queen. 
 
 as the Count de Marcie and D'Orbach, "who, it 
 was feared, would gain the lamentable impression 
 that every luxuriant banquet in New York spread 
 in his honour, was presided over by swindlers, gam- 
 blers, and diddlers in general." But the climax of 
 excitement was reached when Gotham, which had 
 not recovered the shock of the scandal, learned 
 that Rozen was a dead man, murdered, and by none 
 other than the above-named gentleman. When she 
 realized that her beloved guest, her distinguished 
 model in all that was elegant, exact, and irreproach- 
 able was an assassin, excitement knew no bounds, 
 and the city seemed absolutely one voice talking 
 over a murderer and his victim. 
 
 Pending the Count's indictment before the grand 
 jury, for a month he was held in durance vile, namely, 
 a series of perfumed, richly-furnished chambers in 
 the Tombs, with attendance, fjod, and comforts 
 hitherto unknown to him in America. The city was 
 divided against itself into partisans or non-partisans, 
 for while America would believe any iniquity pre- 
 ferred against an American, it was most cautious in 
 entertaining opinions derogatory to a titled foreigner, 
 whose name and presence alone for two seasons had 
 given the city such new social impetus : whose mind 
 had directed Congress and commerce, whose taste 
 had pointed out dishes welcome to even a LucuUus's
 
 The CoprER Queen. 225 
 
 palate, whose waltzing was perfection, wliose inso- 
 lence was delicious, wliose clothes were perfection, 
 and whose manner upon every occasion breathed the 
 quintessence of an Old World refinement which even 
 the most ancient of American towns could in vain 
 attempt to imitate. 
 
 August passed, and part of September; Newport, 
 Long Branch, Saratoga, and Swampscott had one 
 theme — the Eric-Rozen scandal; one refrain — the 
 Rozen murder, and the noble assassin. Count de 
 Marcie and D'Orbach. 
 
 In the mean time Enilda lived with Flora, and 
 was i^ersonally ignored by the cit}^, which but three 
 months before had yielded her that homage the 
 world always yields to the favoured of nature and 
 fortune ; but like the world, wdien Fortune had 
 withdrawn her smiles, the innocent victim to popu- 
 lar caprice became the criminal. Those who had 
 basked in the sunshine of her society, who had drank 
 her father's wine and partaken of his hospitality 
 were the first to denounce both him and her ; those 
 who had danced at her balls and ridiculed the rest 
 of mankind now danced in other circles and ridi- 
 culed her. Only a few old friends remained true — 
 the Chromos, the Graysons, the Professor, and Miss 
 Chandos-Cressy ; and last but not least, Florestan ; 
 — Florestan, who since the night of the murder had 
 
 VOL III. Q
 
 226 The Copper Queen. 
 
 been her shadow, her very second self, but wlio had 
 never urged his love upon her. He had only said 
 once after the funeral : 
 
 " Enilda, I am always yours. I ask nothing now. 
 Look upon me as your friend only. When your 
 father's death is avenged, then I shall come to you." 
 
 He had longed to protect her with his name, but 
 common sense clearly pointed out to him that how- 
 ever much Enilda might love him, then was not 
 the moment to take advantage of her helplessness. 
 It was perfectly understood at Dr. Grayson's, however, 
 that he was her accepted lover, and some day they 
 would be married. 
 
 Mrs. Chromo had returned from Europe and 
 brought scant news of Ida's death. The world looked 
 upon a broken blood-vessel as the apparent cause, 
 but Enilda and her world knew the real reason to 
 be a broken heart. A slight paragraph in a leading 
 theatrical journal was consecrated to her obituary ; 
 it was read in the morning, ignored at noon, and 
 forgotten by night. Lucy Chromo's stock of gossip 
 also comprised the news that John Claremont had 
 gone for a year on a yachting tour in the Mediter- 
 ranean, and that Baron d'Alfredi was much chagrined 
 at Flora's abrupt departure. She Jierself, however, 
 was ill and out of sorts. Her affairs were still in 
 the same state ; with the exception that she had Lad
 
 The Copper Queen. 227 
 
 various interviews with her counsel, Lawyer Harkins, 
 her application for. divorce had been published, 
 commented npon, and formed , a happy pendant 
 to the forthcoming murder trial. Harkins had 
 explained to Mrs. Chromo that her case being a 
 delicate one, the witnesses being the same as those 
 subpoenaed f(jr the great affair, she must absolutely 
 keep her own counsel, confide in and talk with no 
 one before she appeared personally in court. The 
 first hearing of Chromo versus Chromo was set down 
 for the first divorce suit at the opening of the 
 autumn sessions, but as Lucy saw the time approach 
 she began to wish more and more that she had not 
 pushed matters to a crisis. 
 
 New York was in a fair way to have plenty to 
 talk about; and on the first day of September, in 
 the court of Oyer and Terminer, Fritz de Marcie, 
 known as the Count de Marcie and d'Orbach, was 
 brought up to be tried for the murder of his friend, 
 the late Copper King, Eric Yane Rozen. 
 
 Business of the day was given over to attend the 
 trial. Female Gotham had ordered new bonnets and 
 frocks, male Gotham the latest thing in beavers and 
 neckties. Wall Street was even forgotten ; Pacific 
 Mail hadn't budg«ed for days, and the best of preferred 
 stock slumbered on its units as a tired child slumbers 
 on its mother's bosom. The only topic was the 
 
 Q 2
 
 228 Tee Copper Queen. 
 
 murder, the only person talked of de Marcie. Dinners 
 were commanded at clubs, and luncheons at down- 
 town restaurants. Parties were made up to attend 
 at the Criminal Court as they are made up for 
 Henley or Hurlingham : the Attorney-General fore- 
 seeing- the crush to fi^et into the court-room had 
 issued personal invitations for the ceremonies, with- 
 out which invitation no outsider could be admitted 
 — these cards, in pasteboard of ominous red, were 
 printed in black, with ''' De Marcie Trial " in capitals 
 at tlie head, and the name of the guest, Mr. or Mrs. 
 so-and-so, Avritten in elegant scrip in the corner, with 
 the centre-line in blank, to be filled in, like the 
 usual invitation to a ball or dinner. 
 
 New York had talked itself hoarse over the Yane- 
 Kozen scandal ; the new millionnaire Arundel was 
 the hero in financial circles, the well-known million- 
 naire Florestan the hero in social ones, but the 
 attempted murder of the defendant by Gotham's 
 pride, in the way of excitement, had actually para- 
 lyzed the cosmopolitan community : although havincr 
 survived centuries of surprises, having been suitably 
 stirred by one horse-scandals, and moderately moved 
 by esclandres on a grander scale, America still yielded 
 the palm to this latest event as the most interesting 
 affair which had been known in the States since 
 George Washington interviewed that cherrv tree, or
 
 The Copper Queen. 229 
 
 Wilkes Booth immortalized a family of hitherto only 
 passable comedians, by his Good Friday impromptu 
 in Ford's old Baltimore theatre. 
 
 There was as much fass, jealousy, scheming, and 
 rankling to get tickets for that trial as there is to 
 procure invitations to a State Concert in Buckingham 
 Palace or a ball at Marlborous^h House. Althoucrh 
 marked " personal," these happy bits of crimson card 
 were begged, borrowed, and stolen ; were sold at the 
 court-house door from two dollars a single admission 
 and upwards, were advertised in the daily papers as 
 Mitchell advertises his opera-boxes; and one enter- 
 prising firm in Broadway had opened a sucurssory 
 near the court-house where everything was furnished 
 at a moderate price, from an invitation to a bouquet 
 for the murderer, from opera-glasses down to fans 
 and salts, from photographs of the victim and as- 
 sassin, to autographs and complete biographies of 
 all parties concerned in the case. There was even a 
 short biographical sketch and profile of the jury, 
 and an hourly bulletin was issued with accounts of 
 the noble murderer's well-being. 
 
 It was a lovely da}^ in September. The air with- 
 out was balmy, anl bad a suspicion of salt in it, like 
 the air that blows over Sussex from the South 
 Downs. The great court-house was filled with one 
 of the most fashionable and distinguished audiences
 
 230 The Copper Queex. 
 
 Avhich had ever assembled at any criminal trial in 
 Gotham. The windows were thrown open, a fine 
 series of golden rays filled the room with sunshine, 
 and birds' voices floated in happy trills through the 
 airy casements ; within were the commingled odours 
 of mignonette, lily of the valley, and gardenin, while 
 at one time the atmosphere seemed one sole breath 
 of Gotham's pet Jacqueminot, which lay in great 
 crimson heaps on the murderer's table. 
 
 The judge sat cheery and smiling behind his 
 judicial table. He wore a suit of new and stylish 
 plaid in happy checks ; his hair was pomaded, curled, 
 and jaunty, his moustache had a Victor Emanuelian 
 cut ; and his cat's-eye studs, like his watch, were 
 new for the occasion; an orchid loomed in his 
 button-hole, his boots were of patent leather, and to 
 the right of his shapely feet an enamelled spittoon 
 reposed in insolent although customary splendour. 
 
 The jury in their box looked like a party of 
 gentlemen sitting on a race. They kept up a lively 
 hum of conversation between themselves, wdiilst 
 every now and then one nodded in friendly license 
 to some acquaintance in the audience, another made 
 notes on his shirt-cuff, or another sent hasty signals 
 to some crowing child : evidently his tender off- 
 spring, come to take lessons in the science of murder 
 and American jurisprudence. The Attorney-General
 
 The Copper Queen. 231 
 
 and prosecuting lawyers sat at a square polished 
 table, the former idly cutting quills, the latter en- 
 gaged in conversation witli Flora, ^vho looked her 
 brightest and prettiest. In a seat beside her sat 
 Enilda, closely veiled ; to her right at some little 
 distance sat Mr. Florestan, while here and there 
 in close proximity were Prof. Protoplasai, Miss 
 Chandos-Cressy, and Mr. Pastor, naturally arrived 
 from London, with Adam Chromo and others more 
 or less interested in the case. Alone Lucy Chromo 
 Lad not ajDpeared at the trial. She was fretting 
 about her own divorce suit, and waiting at home 
 until she should be notified to appear in that case, 
 of whose judiciousness at the present moment she 
 began to entertain various and perplexing opinions. 
 She was racked between her love for Euilda and 
 regard fur the Count, whose innocence, however, she 
 doubted not, would sooner or later be established. 
 
 The judge was seen to yawn, the jury to con- 
 sult together, the Attorney-General to take up a 
 morning paper. There was a rustle of silks and a 
 confused hum of voices in the outer hall; those voices 
 grew louder and louder, and finally there was a 
 general cry of " Here he comes ; here's the prisoner ! " 
 
 The doors were thrown open and the assassin 
 appeared, walking blandly and upright between 
 two officers, followed by a crowd of pretty women
 
 232 The Copper Queex. 
 
 -who tried frantically to touch the licm of his gar- 
 ments, or to kiss his fat white hand. Those ladies 
 would individually have given a year of their lives 
 to have had his autograph, and have gone without 
 ice-cream a whole summer to have received from his 
 nohle lips one smile or word wdiich could he treasured 
 up in memory's immemorial store-house. There 
 were dozens of youtlis who followed in the train, 
 w^ith eye-glass and the latest cut of dittos, with early 
 winter flowers in their button-l.oles, and pearl kids 
 wdiose silveriness would have shamed even a Beau 
 Brammel's. But all this passed for naught; the 
 ouly one " who held the house " was the star of the 
 occasion, the m )st noble Count de Marcie and 
 d'Orbach who still walked with firm tread, until he 
 neared a table on the rio^ht, identical with that of 
 the prosecution. 
 
 As the Saxon law permits criminals to defend 
 themselves, the Count, being a gentleman of average 
 intelliorence, was not slow to avail himself of this 
 privilege. There was something so courtly in his 
 gait and manner as he strode down the narrow aisle 
 which separated the Attorney-General from the 
 judge and reporters, that a murmur of admiration 
 rose from the crowd : this he acknowledged by 
 frequent bows and bland smiles, as Royalties b )W^ 
 from their carriage in the Park, or the Hippodrome
 
 The Copper Queen. 233 
 
 stars in their Roman chariots bow to the public at 
 the Paris circus. He first sahited his honour most 
 civilly, and his ho :our returned the courtesy in an 
 equally civil fashion ; for it had no more been proved 
 that the prisoner at the bar was a murderer than 
 that he was a Count. He also bowed gravely to the 
 jury and the prosecuting attorney, receiving anon 
 civil salutations, anon half-dazed stares, from the 
 general assembly. He smiled as he passed Flora, and 
 said cheerily : 
 
 " How do you do, Miss Grayson ? " — and to another 
 old friend — "Ah, Stuart, glad to see you; lovely 
 day, isn't it ? Family well ? — that's right ! — all here 
 — naturally. I am glad to see my friends in force 
 on such a memorable occasion." Then he placed 
 his hand on his heart with an air which would not 
 have disgraced Versailles, and turned towards Miss 
 Chandos-Cressy, saying : " Thanks, dear friend, for 
 your touching little note. Ah ! so soon as this un- 
 pleasant little affair is over, we will re-live the i3a?t 
 in an old-fashioned chat in Mrs. Chrome's porcelain 
 gallery." 
 
 A few more nods and gentle salutations final-y 
 brougiit him to a table which was heaped with 
 bouquets, love-letters, letters of sympathy, letters 
 requesting his autograph, and letters from theatrical 
 manao^ers bef]C2:inor the first refusal of a starrino^ tour
 
 234 The Copper Queex. 
 
 over America just as soon as the little affair should 
 be satisfactorily teiniinated. 
 
 The attendance being complete, the crier got up 
 with the usual formula — '' Oyez, oyez. Hear ye, all 
 3^8 persons who have business in this court now 
 opening — draw near and ye shall be heard." 
 
 The court was then declared open, and the clerk 
 of the court called the case. The prosecuting 
 attorney began his case with the usual formula: 
 
 "Mr. Foreman and gentleman of the jury, we 
 are here to inquire into the manner in which the 
 deceased, Eric Rozen, met his death ; and I expect 
 to prove to you that the said deceased w^as foully 
 murdered on the night of August 5th, in the west 
 side of Central Park by the prisoner at the bar, 
 Fritz de Marcie ; known as the Count de Marcie 
 and d'Orbach." 
 
 The District Attorney then marshalled his facts 
 and presented the case to the jury in language of 
 unusual eloquence, then read the deceased's dying 
 declaration, which caused the greatest sensation in 
 the court. The prisoner at the bar, who sat at his 
 flower-bedecked table, retained at first a passive de- 
 meanour ; but he turned very pale when the prosecu- 
 tion read the statement regarding the late trial, and 
 that the Count was none other than the notorious 
 criminal " Black Bill." The audience broke into
 
 The Copper Queex. 235 
 
 threatening demonstrations towards the prisoner, who 
 glanced warily around for a moment, then burst into 
 such a series of ironical shrieks that the court-room 
 became a scene of wild confusion : the hearing of the 
 case was ahnost impossible. Order finally restored, 
 the District Attorney concluded by an offer of 
 evidence direct — eye-witnesses, not alone of the 
 murder, but witnesses who had overheard a con- 
 versation held between the deceased and the prisoner 
 at the bar, the which conversation absolutely nullified 
 prisoner's pretence of justification, self-defence, etc. 
 The first witness was then called. 
 
 Ythan Florestan took his place in the box, and 
 after the usual formnla began to give his testimony. 
 He related all that had transpired already known, 
 but when he came to the question of going to the 
 Park, he \vas interrupted by the prisoner : 
 
 Prisoner. — " Mr. Florestan, you know you have 
 always hated my late cherished friend ; you asked 
 him to meet you in the Park, — can you tell why ? " 
 
 Florestan flushed. 
 
 " Must I answer that ? " he asked. 
 
 The judge ruled that the question was one which 
 required an answer. Florestan began to explain, 
 when be stopped again. 
 
 The Count smiled. 
 
 *'My good fellow," he said, "you asked him to
 
 236 The Copper Queex. 
 
 meet you in the Park for one pnrpose ; — ycai hated 
 him, you hated me, and you longed to get him out 
 of the country. When a man is in love with another 
 man's daughter — " 
 
 Cries of " Shame, shame," re-echoed throughout 
 the court-room. " Silence, silence ! " screamed the 
 crier. Then the Count continued : 
 
 "Well, we'll drop that. What did you want to 
 meet him for ? " 
 
 Florestan looked around helplessly for a moment ; 
 then lifting his head haughtily spoke : 
 
 " I know what I am going to say." 
 
 " Never mind what you are going to say," inter- 
 rujDted the prisoner; "damn it, say what you 
 did." 
 
 Witness. — " I wrote, making an appointment with 
 the decea-^ed to meet me in West Central Park, as 
 I intended offering — " 
 
 Prisoner. — " Never mind what you intended ; what 
 did you do ? " 
 
 The court interposed. The prisoner's interruptions 
 made any statement impossible. The judge ga\e 
 a ruling that the witness's intentions must be 
 accepted as evidence, as they explained the reason 
 of h's having made an appointment with deceased. 
 After that Florestan continued, and not w^ithout a 
 certain embarrassment managed to say why he had
 
 The Copper Queen. 237 
 
 written to Rozen. As he finislied, the Count arose 
 with a laugh. 
 
 "Gentlemen of the jury," he said, "I am franker 
 even than the witness. I can't gain sympathy by 
 saying I went to offer my dear friend a fortune. I 
 didn't ; on the contrary, 1 went to ask my late 
 cherished chum for a trifling sum of money ; my 
 own, note, due to me on account of certain mutual 
 business transactions which had not been settled ; 
 but it seems if a man asks for his own now-a-days 
 he's insulted and treated as I have been." 
 
 The court here interposed and informed the 
 prisoner that his reflections had nothing to do with 
 the case in hand ; and he was ordered either to 
 C(mtinue his cross-examination or to dismiss the 
 witness. 
 
 Florestan was obliged to have recourse to all his 
 patience. The Count's insolence was unbounded; 
 and it was impossible not to see that his coolness 
 and cleverness were producing an immense impres- 
 sion in his favour. The most damning facts were 
 received with perfect equanimity; he turned every 
 phrase against him with a suspicion against the 
 witness, and Florestan was finally so nonplussed 
 as to be unable to speak without saying exactly 
 the opposite of what he originally intended, or con- 
 tradictinsT himself where contradiction was the one
 
 238 The Copper Queex. 
 
 thing to be avoided. The Count i^layed with him 
 as a cat plays with a mouse. At last he said : 
 
 "I have nothing more to ask you, Mr, Florestan; 
 only beg to remark that you painfully exaggerate 
 that last scene. Yoii certainly verified the old saw, 
 that listeners hear no good of themselves." 
 
 A murmur ran through the court-room. Flores- 
 tan's evidence had excited such enthusiasm that 
 little more was left to veibal expression. 
 
 Charlotte Corday next took the stand. As is 
 usual when a negro or negress is seen in any 
 prominent position, the air resounded with rude 
 speeches : " How are you, auntie ? " " Guess it's going 
 to rain to-day." "The air is filled with thunder," 
 etc., etc., but, silence finally imposed, Charlotte began 
 her recital. She took the oath with such solemnity 
 that a hush suddenly fell on the multitude. The 
 prosecution had put but few questions when the 
 Count, proof as usual against any sentiment, broke 
 out : 
 
 " Well, auntie, it grieves me profoundly to see 
 you in this painful position. How things have 
 changed since last we met, eh ? I suppose you 
 have the same cock-and-bull story as Mr. Florestan 
 to relate. Well — when did you first sea me to know 
 me?" 
 
 Charlotte looked disdainfully at him, as if re-
 
 The Copper Queex. 239 
 
 fleeting whether or no she would answer, tlien 
 replied : 
 
 " The first time I seed you, woz won day wen I 
 was in my massa's room — his study ; I was looking 
 for—" 
 
 " My God !" interrupted the prisoner, jumping up. 
 " You were there ? — it was you ? If I had known 
 that you — " 
 
 "Silence!" screamed the crier; "dont interrujDt 
 the witness." 
 
 " Go on ! " cried the Count ; " go on ; — what else ? " 
 
 He vainly tried to hide his impatience, but when 
 Charlotte Corday described her visit to her master's 
 room, her hunt for the picture, and her long con- 
 cealment behind the curtain, he suddenly cried : 
 
 "That won't do! That is no evidence. If you 
 were hidden behind curtains, absolutely out of sight, 
 you couldn't have seen me — or, well, I admit I was 
 there ; but even had you tried — confess you're lying 
 — you never saw any one but yourself ; and you were 
 — gentlemen of the jury, I beg you will not pay any 
 attention to this evidence ; in fact, the old woman's 
 crazy. It's irreparable being black, but it's abomin- 
 able being crazy, and I — " 
 
 The judge interrupted, and ordered the prisoner 
 to use more polite language. The prosecution finally 
 elicited an important fact from Charlotte Corday in
 
 240 The Copper Queen. 
 
 answer to the question as to her recognition of the 
 prisoner. 
 
 " When Massa Rozen thought he heard some one, 
 and came to look, he jes pulled dem curtains onside ; 
 but frew 'em back in sich a way he left a creak — 
 wich I couLl see frew perfickly, but he couldn't see 
 me." 
 
 The prosecution here explained to the court's 
 satisfaction the way in which such a thing could 
 have taken place. The prisoner interrupted with 
 scoffing remarks, and finally Charlotte turned upon 
 him : 
 
 " Jes shet up, varmint. I heered everything then. 
 I saw you want to kill massa den and dar. Massa 
 said, * I ain't worf it ' ; — but you — golly, ef you'de a 
 gub me a chance, I'de a thought no more a puttin' 
 you out of sight nor stampin' my heel on a sarpint's 
 head in de walk. I jes took yer misable face in, and 
 saw it as'in and ao^'in in Lunnen too, and said then 
 the yarth '11 never be clean till it's rid of you ! " 
 
 Charlotte's voice rose to such a pitch of rage that 
 it was impossible not to be impressed. The ex- 
 amination continued, while the Count laughed 
 uproariously. 
 
 P. A. Question. — "What did the prisoner at the 
 bar say to the deceased ? Try and remember his 
 exact words."
 
 The Copper Queen. 241 
 
 Witness. — " He called Massa Vane, and made him 
 mad. Then he axed massa fur fifty thousand dollars, 
 and he said, ' I wanted to have dot last tranaction 
 absokitely in my name.' Massa replied, ' You're 
 modest — is that all ? ' ' No,' sez the Count ; ' a man 
 muss be put out of the way, and — ' " 
 
 "That's a lie!" interru23ted the prisoner; "a lie 
 blacker, if possible, than your face ! " 
 
 ''Silence in the court!" said the crier, while a 
 thrill of horror ran over the audience : the prisoner 
 was seen to chancre colour, and anon fretfuUv drum 
 his fingers on the table, or rake them through his 
 hair. 
 
 Charlotte continued : 
 
 " Massa wuz struck, and said, ' A man — not 
 Arundel : ' but dot vilyian 'plied — ' Suppose I should 
 say Mr. Florestan — ' " 
 
 " This is too much ! " screamed the prisoner ; " am 
 I to have my life lied away by that low-lived 
 wench ? Were I in England I should be tried 
 by Peers; here — this civilized country, gentlemen 
 of the jury, I protest : wait till I cross-examine 
 her." 
 
 The judge arose, but for some moments tried in 
 vain to enforce silence. Charlotte's words had pro- 
 duced an indescribable excitement, and none could 
 doubt their authenticity. Whilst her examination 
 
 VOL. III. R
 
 242 The Copper Queen. 
 
 went on, one could have heard a pin drop in the 
 room. 
 
 P. A. Question\ — " What did the deceased reply ? " 
 
 Answer. — " Massa went white, and sed, ' You are a 
 fiend incarnate. You think all the world like yarself ! 
 Why did I fall so low ? — you're a murderer, a villyan, 
 and a scoundrel ! ' Then lie — massa — said : ' The end 
 muss com' som' time, why not now ? ' Golly, my hair 
 stud on end, but I didn't dare move, 'cause I said to 
 myself, ' Honey, you muss listen now to defend — ' " 
 
 The defence here interrupted the witness, and the 
 Judge ordered her to be more relevant. Poor 
 Charlotte's eyes rolled to their widest when she 
 heard the word relevant, and her facial and bodily 
 contortions were something beyond words. The 
 prisoner, court, and audience were in fits, whilst 
 the prosecution vainly tried to explain to her what 
 the word meant. The Count blandly interrupted 
 between his shrieks of laughter : 
 
 "It's all right, auntie. When one lies by the 
 yard as you do, it doesn't make the slightest differ- 
 ence whether they do it clearly or not ! " Then he 
 was seized with another paroxysm, smelt his salts, 
 and finally gasped out, " Oh, this is too much ! I 
 shall certainly die of cramp ! " 
 
 The step between the sublime and ridiculous was 
 so slight a one that judge, jury, court, counsel, and
 
 The Copper Queen. 243 
 
 audience went off into one long scream ; the room 
 re-echoed again and again to the sound of hysterical 
 laughter. Flora nearly choked, trying to keep her 
 countenance. Adam Chromo was positively con- 
 vulsed ; whilst Miss Chandos-Cressy laughed till the 
 tears canie and watered her cheeks in long streaks 
 with a mixture of black, red, and white — a triple 
 combination of kohl, diluted bismuth, and cherry- 
 paste. 
 
 The judge was the first to recover, whilst Char- 
 lotte, dignified, although fuming with inward rage 
 at the interruption, was in such absolute ignorance 
 of its cause, that her attitude was only the more 
 amusing; but to look at her was to begin again. 
 Finally order was restored, but not silence, and her 
 examination recommenced. The above-named inci- 
 dent had so changed the current of her recital, 
 however, that imagination kept pace with her words, 
 and saw fun in everything she did and said. One 
 could even see her skulking in the study, and 
 almost feel the contortions she must have made in 
 her forced concealment. Little by little, however, 
 she regained lost ground. A nothing sways a mob 
 or a criminal court, and when she neared the end of 
 her recital, and told how she had followed her master 
 to the Park, the excitement knew no bounds. 
 
 " I followed 'im like a cat," she continued ; " he 
 
 R 2
 
 244 The Copper Queen. 
 
 met a man who gave 'im a slip of paper — a piece of 
 a torn card, den dis man went to the Park. Massa 
 Eozen followed him and I followed massa : in the 
 mean time massa sot down on a bench, and I snaked 
 in a thicket right near back of him. Then I saw the 
 Count come up." Here followed a confused but 
 sufficiently clear statement of the conversation which 
 had taken place between the deceased and prisoner 
 at the bar up to the last scene. The prisoner's 
 interruptions were fabulous, but the witness went 
 bravely on : 
 
 " He told massa he must have two hundred thou- 
 sand dollars ; then massa refused. Then I suddenly 
 saw Massa Florestan near, and I beckoned 'im to 
 come softly up to me — which he did — and heard all 
 the rest of the conversation. We was lookmg 
 anxiously when, lo and behold ! dot Count seized 
 Massa R-ozen, whipped out his bowie-knife, and stuck 
 him then and there. Self-defence ! Massa Eric 
 wouldn't have harmed a worm in his path. He had 
 begged the Count before to leave 'im, but he wouldn't ; 
 and the Count killed him, as he wanted to do that 
 day in massa' s own library, only he didn't dare. But 
 God 'ull punish 3^ou." She shook her fist at the 
 prisoner. " Spec's my skin's black, but your soul's 
 blacker den my whole body." 
 
 At this the audience burst into applause. The
 
 The Copper Queen. 245 
 
 crier in vain demanded order. There were screams 
 of " Lynch him, lynch him ! " — and even the prisoner 
 began to show a changing colour. The judge suddenly 
 ruled that unless silence were obtained the trial 
 would be conducted in secret, and the hubbub 
 linally subsided. 
 
 The Count tried in vain to cross-question 
 Charlotte ; she replied with such infinite cunning and 
 skill that, for the moment, he was absolutely quelled. 
 The prosecution certainly had a strong case, and as 
 one after another cjave direct evidence it seemed 
 as though the prisoner were a maniac even to 
 attempt any defence. 
 
 Enilda's examination although short was a most 
 painful one, and tended mainly to prove the con- 
 stancy of the Count's visits to her father's house, his 
 friendly relationship with herself and father, and 
 the deceased's dying declaration which she had 
 witnessed ; what she thought of the Count of late, 
 etc. The Count's cross-examination was merely in 
 name. 
 
 Question. — ^liss Rozen, you say you have seen me 
 many times: at present I will not ask you where 
 nor when ; I will merely remark that whether you 
 did or did not like me has nothing to do with the 
 case. On the contrary, I should have imagined you 
 did from your manners, than which those prevailing
 
 246 The Copper Queen. 
 
 at Schonbrun were not move courtly. I have alwa^-s 
 admired you immensely, and so much regret giving a 
 lady trouble, that I beg you to believe me when I 
 re]3eat that I should be ashamed to put any questions 
 whatsoever to you, and beg you will consider yourself 
 dismissed." 
 
 The prisoner arose as he said these last words, and 
 bowing with the most courtly gravity, placed a hand 
 on his heart with a gesture which would not have 
 shamed Talma. 
 
 Enilda's examination closed the day's proceedings, 
 and the court adjourned until the following morning. 
 As the Count went out he threw kisses to several 
 ladies in the audience, bowed with his usual courtesy 
 to every human being he had ever known, and 
 stopping an instant said to the jury : 
 
 " Gentlemen, believe me I am sorry to give you 
 such trouble. I shall drink your health this evening 
 in a bottle of Mother Clicquot's yelloAv label, and 
 only regret that I cannot have the pleasure of your 
 company — that I must drink alone. Good evening ; 
 ta, ta" — and his retreating figure was lost in the 
 crowd which closed around him, as his wcrds were 
 lost in the storm of hisses which their frivolity had 
 aroused.
 
 247 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 It was the fifth day of the trial, and the prosecu- 
 tion were on the point of closing their case. 
 
 Early in the morning the court-room was densely 
 crowded. The weather was if possible brighter than 
 on the day previous ; there was a hum of cheerful 
 conversation, while now and then the echo of a 
 happ}^ laugh rang around the vaulted chamber. 
 The judge, juiy, and court were seated awaiting the 
 prisoner, who at last appeared in faultless attire, 
 scattering smiles right and left as he came in. His 
 exquisite form and airy motion exhaled the un- 
 conscious fraii^rance that emanates from the wavins^ 
 honeysuckle or the mountain-rose, he scented the 
 very air as he walked. As he passed by, the jury 
 sniffed, and the prosecuting attorney lifted his head 
 with the instinctive gesture of a desk-bound clerk 
 who after ten consecutive months of areas, pigeon- 
 holes and tiles, finds himself taking in a full
 
 248 The Copper Queen. 
 
 breath of sea or meadow air. The prisoner reached 
 his table, as usual heaped with jDiles of letters and 
 superb flowers, but no sooner sat down than he 
 jumped wp, declaring some one had put a pin in the 
 seat of the chair. He turned with a beaminc^ look 
 towards the j^rosecution, and shook a playful finger 
 in Lawyer Harkins's face. 
 
 " Confess," he said playfully ; " Harkins, you did it ; 
 you alone are capable of such a little joke ; but the 
 next time remember that — well, T am not like the 
 British soldier — padded ; and I not only see but 
 feel deeply the point of your little scheme." 
 
 The audience were in shrieks; even Harkins 
 laughed till he cried. The prisoner continued : 
 
 " This is a droll country. Some devils wanted 
 me to start a new paper to describe my wrongs, 
 brought capital to the jail, and said I would have 
 all America at my feet when it was known how a 
 man of my rank was being treated, etc., etc. They 
 were journalists, poor fellows — wretched trade, but I 
 suppose a necessary one in an enlightened country. 
 I need not say I refused the proffered capital and 
 honour." 
 
 The Count sat down with a gentle sigh, and whilst 
 the clerk began the usual ceremony of declaring the 
 court opened, he " ah'd " — " eh'd " — smelt of first 
 one bouquet then another — murmured rapturously to
 
 The Copper Queen. 249 
 
 himself over the contents of one letter, or smiled 
 over the wit of another. He talked with his counsel, 
 who sat modestly at his right, or flung uncalled-for 
 sarcasms at the prosecuting attorney over the heads 
 of his nearest neighbours. His humour was some- 
 thing so gay, so infectious, that its contagion spread 
 like a prairie fire ; even the judge found himself 
 smiling every now and then without the slightest 
 notion why. Ladies in the audience told risky 
 stories to their neighbours, and the jury looked as if 
 out on a holiday. The Attorney-General sat some- 
 what away from his table, and with elaborate em- 
 phasis dreAV special attention to the Count's witty 
 remarks; each time the assassin was particularly 
 brilliant he said joyfully : 
 
 " Just listen to him — isn't he funny ? Isn't it just 
 a circus to Ijear him g^o on like that ? " etc., etc. 
 
 At last the trial resumed. Florestan and Enilda 
 having already given their evidence, as well as the 
 officers who had assisted at Rozen's death, the wit- 
 ness to be examined to-day Avas Ricard, a certain 
 agent of the Rozen-Vane Copper Company. Many 
 witnesses had inadvertently helped the Count by 
 their testimony ; even Adam Chromo had been 
 obliged to state that in mutual affairs with the 
 deceased and prisoner, the latter's dealings had ever 
 been of the most honourable and cordial character.
 
 250 The Copper Queen. 
 
 The prosecution, sure of their case tlie first day, now 
 could not help feeling alarmed at the Count's grow- 
 ing popularity. In short this gentleman so won 
 over court, jury, witnesses, and audience, that a 
 vague idea was current that he was a much-injured 
 man; — he had done well to put such a wretch as 
 Rozen out of the way, etc., etc. 
 
 Ricard entered the witness-box and was handed 
 the Bible. 
 
 As soon as the Count saw him he put his hands 
 on his hips and burst into such fits of laughter that 
 the court in vain called " Order-^silence — order!" 
 When the prisoner could speak from choking, he 
 pointed a finger at Ricard, and gasped out : 
 
 *' Oh ! this is too rich ! — look at him, do look at 
 him!" 
 
 Every one looked. The clerk snatched away the 
 Holy Book, and was about to present it a second 
 time with the usual formula, when a second outburst 
 from the Count and the audience caused him to 
 withdraw it with a bewildered but also gradually 
 dawning smile. 
 
 " Look at the witness," continued the prisoner. 
 
 " Do you know him ? " interrupted the counsel for 
 the State, addressing himself to the Count. 
 
 " Do I know him ? Well, I've kicked him out of 
 my house often enough to know him ; but, by the
 
 The Copper Queen. 251 
 
 way, excuse my smile, and pardon the frankness of 
 an early friend. I know you, Harkins ; it's no use — 
 that last little racket we had at High Bridge, etc., 
 etc. But to continue ; — you hand him a Bible, you 
 ask him to swear ; — oh no, that's really too good ! " 
 
 The Count burst into another scream, and buried 
 his head deep amongst the Jacqueminots on his 
 table. A third time the clerk put the question, 
 '' You hereby swear to," etc., and presented the sacred 
 book. Ricard this time really took it into his hands, 
 when the prisoner suddenly jumped to his feet, and 
 slapping his hand vigorously on his table, cried : 
 
 " This performance is too much, it is an insult to 
 nny gentleman. Women and men of America, it's 
 an insult to you and to your religion, bought with 
 the price of the blood of millions of Christians. He 
 swear ! — he know the value of an oath ! Let him 
 swear, if he wants to, on a package of some of his 
 old clothes sold in Chatham Street. He know the 
 nature of an oath ! Why, you only want one glance 
 at him to know that his ancestors took part in the 
 Crucifixion, and that he himself has never been 
 baptized on the forehead. Oh no, — oh no, Harkins, 
 that won't do." 
 
 The Count sat calmly down ; but the court and 
 witness were so much moved that for a moment 
 nothing could be heard but a pro and con hubbub of
 
 252 The Copper Queex. 
 
 explanation. After im possible interruptions the wit- 
 ness announced that he was of Israelite descent, but 
 now a Catholic, and perfectly capable of taking the 
 oath ; whereupon it was administered to the accom- 
 paniment of a Babel of voices and such ejaculations 
 from every one near the Count, that a stranger to 
 the solemnity of American murder trials turned to 
 a friend, and said : 
 
 " Really one miglit perfectly well take the scene 
 for a most animated conversazione." 
 
 The prosecuting attorney questioned Ricard. 
 
 Q. — "How long have you known prisoner at the 
 bar ? " 
 
 A. — "Longer than ever I should like to tell." 
 
 " Yes, damn it I " interrupted the Count, " I 
 should think so ; I have been his best friend. I — 
 go on." 
 
 Qiocstion. P. A. — "When did you first meet the 
 prisoner at the bar ? " 
 
 A. — Nervously. " Must I answer that ? " 
 
 The court. " Decidedly." 
 
 " Oh, I'll answer for him," interrupted the Count. 
 "Ricard's a poor devil; I met him years ago in 
 Hamburg. He was a footman; seemed to have 
 some disposition for the career, so I took him into 
 my service, and finally kicked him out for — for being 
 a fool. He ran across me in America, and told a
 
 The Copper Queen. 253 
 
 tale of how he had not got on in life, and be«-£fed 
 me to help him to some new place." 
 
 P. A. — "And he really helped yon ?" — to witness. 
 
 Prisoner. — " Look here, Harkins, don't speak of 
 me in that stand-offish fashion. Pray remember my 
 birth. Help him ? — why I got him a place with 
 Rozen. Look here, you vile brute, didn't I — haven't 
 I done everything for you ? Say what you've got 
 to say and leave the box, I'm tired of looking at 
 you." 
 
 The audience burst into applause. " Silence ! " 
 thundered the clerk of the court. The examination 
 went on. 
 
 P. A. — " Now, Mr. Ricard, will you kindly tell me 
 what you know of the prisoner at the bar at- the 
 time you first met in Hamburg ? " 
 
 Ricard paled, rubbed his hands, and looking 
 anxiously around as if seeking some familiar eye, 
 began : 
 
 "When I knew him at Hamburg, he called 
 himself the Baron Marcie. I was his footman. He 
 lived in grand style, but was arrested for swindling, 
 implication in a murder, and was — " 
 
 "You're a d — d bar!" shrieked the Count; "and 
 if I could get near to you, you'd never say that again 
 to me. Gentlemen, th"s is a put-up job," he said, 
 addressing the court and jury ; " he tried to black mail
 
 254 The Copper Queen. 
 
 me the other day. T wouldn't stand it ; he tried 
 the same thing on with my dear friend Rozen, and 
 you see now ; — look at him — the man is mad, and 
 I call upon the court to remove this witness." 
 
 Judge — "Prisoner at the bar, silence! Mr. Ricard, 
 be good enough to continue your evidence." 
 
 W. — " A murder, and — " 
 
 " That a lie," said the Count. 
 
 W. — "A murder, and was tried — " 
 
 " That's another lie " — same interruption, this time 
 without looking up from his table. 
 
 P. A. — " Witness, continue." 
 
 W. — " He was tried and sentenced to — " 
 
 ''Will you shut up!" screamed the prisoner; 
 " what do you want to lie like that for ? Say that 
 you w^ere sentenced, that you got the galleys for life, 
 or at least merited them, but — " 
 
 The judge suddenly sat bolt upright. 
 
 " Order ! " his honour cried. " The prisoner at the 
 bar must observe the rules of the court, or be 
 removed." 
 
 A loud and emphatic general chorus of "Yes — 
 yes — yes " followed this announcement. Ricard as- 
 sumed a waiting attitude, and was again requested 
 to continue. 
 
 At this juncture the Count began to hum in an 
 undertone, " Mother, may I go out to swim ? " beat-
 
 The Copper Queen. 255 
 
 ing the measure in a gentle tattoo on the leg of the 
 table. 
 
 Ricard continued his testimony, and the C(junt his 
 refrain ; but, like Florestan, the former was soon 
 completely off his balance. He recapitulated and 
 wavered to such an extent that even the judge 
 offered ruling, and was obliged to put questions 
 categorically as to their recent connection with the 
 prisoner. In spite of this Ricard was back on the 
 subject of Hamburg, and repeated himself so pro- 
 digiously that Harkins began to despair. 
 
 Question. P. A. — '' How long were you in the service 
 of, not the prisoner at the bar, but of deceased ? " 
 
 W. " Well, if I had stayed with the — the prisoner 
 as I had at first intended ; but he lived in grand 
 style only for a — " 
 
 Interruption. Prisoner again without looking up : 
 "That's stale; we've heard that twenty times; — 
 give us something fresh, my good Ricard." "^ 
 Witness. — " For a year." 
 
 " Well — well — well ! " screamed the Count, this 
 time raising his head ; — " a year ! Why, you've more 
 cheek than an army mule ; a year ! — you weren't 
 with me three months." 
 
 District Attorney, ignoring prisoner's interruption, 
 continued : 
 
 * Guiteau trial, Washington, 1882.
 
 256 The Copper Queen. 
 
 P. A. — "I asked you how long you were in the 
 service of deceased ? " 
 
 Witness. — " 1 — I — well — I met Mr. Rozen, and he 
 liked me very much. I worked for him six years or 
 more ; the Count spoke of Hamburg — " 
 
 " Curse Hamburg," interrupted the prisoner. 
 " Ricard, I guess if you don't want to hang yourself 
 you'd better shut up; you're making more rope for 
 yourself out of nothing than a year's crop of hemp 
 on a Texas farm would produce." 
 
 This little sally was received with general laughter. 
 
 Ricard went on talking, the Count humming ; 
 finally the latter said good-naturedly : 
 
 " Oh, go on with your lies, Ricard, if you like. 
 I don't bear malice. Look here ; how much have the 
 other side paid you to come here and chirp those 
 infernal Hamburg reminiscences ? but — gad, I may 
 say thanks, for it serves to remind me of those 
 adorable days of the past. However, I must add, 
 when my dear friend Joe — I beg your pardon, His 
 Majesty — " 
 
 " Hear him," whispered the Attorney-General, 
 nudging Mr. Pastor ; " what do you think of him ? " 
 
 '' Oh," rejoined Pastor, " delightful ; quite like the 
 Palais Royal; are all American murder trials like 
 this ? " 
 
 *'0h, not quite all," frankly admitted the man of
 
 The Copper Queex. 257 
 
 law ; " but this is a special one, from the fact of the 
 exalted station of all parties concerned. But that 
 man — clever, you know — foreign name or not, he 
 defends himself like an American. Listen to him ; 
 see how he tries to amuse the jury." 
 
 " How he does amuse the jury ! " cried Pastor. 
 
 " Come now," interrupted the Count, " I still have 
 a blank cheque-book ; I bear no malice ; let us — but 
 — judge, by the way, why should w^e hurry this 
 gentleman ? What do you say to a bit of luncheon ? " 
 
 The audience seemed struck by the wisdom of 
 this remark. The judge hemmed — hawed — and 
 after spitting into the enamelled cuspidor at his left, 
 really started to take out his watch, but compro- 
 mised by only glancing up at a huge uncouth clock, 
 modelled after the first Strasburg effort, jauntily 
 bracketed between two windows on the east side of 
 the court-room. The hour of one marked on the 
 open face of this primitive time-keeper spoke in 
 eloquent favour of the prisoner's motion. 
 
 "Well," said Adam Chromo, "not to put too fine 
 a point upon it, the old clock on the stairs seems 
 to be the only clear-headed thing in this concern. 
 I think I'll just chip out and have a blue point stew 
 and get in again. What do you think of Ricard's 
 testimony ? " 
 
 He addressed himself to Florestan, who muttered 
 VOL. III. ../ s
 
 258 The Copper Queen. 
 
 a few words in response, then turned to Flora, 
 Enilda, and Miss Chandos-Cressy, the former an- 
 swered by a " Yes/' and for the next few moments 
 nothing was heard but lively chatter all around. 
 
 The court adjourned for half-an-hour for luncheon. 
 The Count made his way out under his escort as 
 smilingly as he had come in. A cloud of waiters 
 suddenly seemed floating about with suspicious- 
 looking baskets filled with fruits and food for the 
 many who did not care to leave the court-room. 
 Benches were turned into tables, and the air was filled 
 with the cheerful buzz and hum of a perfectly con- 
 tented crowd. Men, women, and children rushed 
 laughing and talking, hither and thither, and some 
 little boys tried sly games of ball or marbles on the 
 conrt-room floor. Had there been giant trees, a lawn 
 and a river in sight in the distance, without the 
 slightest difficulty one could have imagined the scene 
 an American Sunday School picnic. As it was, its 
 hilarity was undeniable, and no amount of bare walls, 
 benches, or instruments of the law could detract 
 from the gaiety of this typical reunion. Punctually 
 to the moment the Court and public re-entered. 
 
 Ricard was still in the witness-box, but he seemed 
 suddenly possessed with a bad memory. " The murder 
 rumour," he said, " was unimportant. The Baron as 
 he then was, went away, and some said he'd gone to
 
 The Copper Queen. 259 
 
 his country seat; others that he had been trans- 
 ported." The prisoner at the bar simply laughed 
 at every word Ricard said, and finally added : 
 
 " Ricard, I guess you'd better let up on the Ham- 
 burg business, or — " 
 
 " I protest," said the counsel for the prosecution, 
 "the prisoner is intimidating the witness." 
 
 The judge, as is usual after the jury have calmly 
 taken in the things they ought not to hear, spoke 
 up energetically, admonishing that august body 
 that the remarks about Hamburg were irrelevant, 
 and could not be admitted as evidence. " ' Somebody 
 said ' is not evidence," declared his honour. " The 
 witness must either know or not know personally, 
 how and in what manner the prisoner at the bar 
 left Hamburg, otherwise his remarks cannot be con- 
 sidered relevant." The judge sat down. 
 
 " Then," said the Count, addressing the witness, 
 "you blundering old blockhead, can't you get up 
 now and flit before you're called off." 
 
 "Silence in the court!" The crier was beginning 
 to look pale, anxious, and haggard-eyed ; even his 
 voice faltered as he pronounced the last word. 
 
 The Count turned angrily round and addressed 
 himself to the clerk. "Shut up yourself; it strikes 
 me this is my funeral, and if any one has got a 
 right to say anything, I have." 
 
 S 2
 
 2C0 The Copper Queen. 
 
 This speech was followed by a general series of 
 expostulations from court, judge, and attorneys. 
 Whilst the excitement was at its height, a lady, 
 closely-veiled and dressed in black, quietly entered 
 the room ; she was ushered in by a mysterious youth 
 wearing a bland but rather idiotic smile. 
 
 Mr. Harkins arose and addressed himself to the 
 judge. 
 
 "I think, your honour, the witness Ricard may 
 be dismissed for the present, but we will call for 
 him to-morrow; meanwhile I have the names of 
 several other witnesses who might be re-examined, 
 amongst others, Mr. Chromo." The court repeated 
 the name without recei\dng any response ; Mr. 
 Chromo was called again. "Not here!" some one 
 answered. '' He has not returned to the court since 
 luncheon." 
 
 "But I am here," called out a muffled voice; and 
 the veiled lady, who had entered a few moments 
 previously, quietty made her way round back of the 
 jury, and before any one could expostulate was 
 hastily conducted into the witness-box. 
 
 "What's this?" said Harkins. " Voluntary testi- 
 mony ? From whom ? " The lady raised her veil. 
 •' Mrs. Chromo ! " he ejaculated. " Impossible ! you 
 were too ill to leave your bed." 
 
 Sensation in the Court. At that very moment
 
 The Copper Queex. 261 
 
 Adam Chromo entered the room, saw his wife in 
 the box, and gasped : 
 
 " Lucy Chromo, what are you doing there ? " 
 
 The Count half rose in his seat, and waved a 
 ringed white hand towards her. 
 
 " My cherished friend ! " he cried ; " this is indeed 
 kind. Welcome, welcome ! " 
 
 "Silence in the court!" thundered the clerk; at 
 the same time the oath was administered to the 
 lady. Absolutely ignoring the nature of Mrs. Chrome's 
 testimony, the jDrosecution cautiously began : 
 
 Q. — " When did you first meet the defendant in 
 this case ? " 
 
 Lucy clasped her hands, and raised her eyes 
 towards heaven. 
 
 " Sir," she responded, " this is unkind ; you begin 
 by touching such a tender chord. Where did I first 
 meet him ? Years ago, when I was a happy child 
 in my mother's house in Schonhegan, and he told 
 me that he loved me ! " 
 
 " What ! " screamed Adam Chromo, " and you 
 dare* to speak of a thing like that at a time like 
 this ! " 
 
 " Silence ! " thundered the clerk, brin^incy his mace 
 to the floor in a terrible thud. 
 
 Mr. Harkins tried in vain to get near enough to 
 Lucy Chromo to stop her; but a new order, "Do
 
 262 The Copper Queen. 
 
 not interrupt the witness," this time from the judge, 
 was followed by a momentary silence. 
 
 Q. P. A. — "You say you met the prisoner at the 
 bar ? " 
 
 Lucy raised her eyes, and murmured to herself: 
 '' Think of his being called that, and all on my 
 account ! " 
 
 " At the bar," continued the prosecution, '•' when 
 3^ou were a young girl ? We do not like to put in- 
 delicate questions to a lady, but could you tell — ?" 
 
 " Oh, you mean how old am I ? " burst out Lucy, 
 sobbing. " What can it matter if I tell the truth ? 
 Thirty-seven; — it was twenty years ago, and I've 
 loved him all my life. Oh sir ! I'm a miserable 
 woman ; I'm utterly wretched ! It's all along of 
 glue. Now that I'm here I wish I wasn't. Don't 
 stop me ; let me go on ; let me tell the truth — God 
 knows I truly love him 1 " 
 
 The judge, jury, court, and jjublic truly wondered 
 what was coming. 
 
 At this juncture Lucy lifted a lace handkerchief 
 to her deluged eyes, and for an instant nothing was 
 heard but short and hysterical mutterings. 
 
 Amazement kept Adam Chromo speechless in his 
 seat, whilst the court seemed equally struck dumb. 
 Before one could address her, however, she tore the 
 morsel of linen from her face and went on :
 
 The Copper Queen. 263 
 
 "I think I've used him very badly, and I now say 
 here before everybody — I mean I really love him 
 and none other ! " 
 
 Q. P. A. — " We must beg the witness to be rather 
 more relevant. I beg your pardon, but what has 
 that to do with this case ? You say you have known 
 the prisoner at the bar — " 
 
 " Twenty years," interrupted Lucy with dignity. 
 
 A low whistle echoed through the court-room. 
 The Count rose hastily, followed by his counsel, who 
 at this juncture thought proper to put a question 
 to the witness; and before his client could speak he 
 said : 
 
 " You say yon have known him twenty years ? " 
 The prisoner at the bar turned pale. " Let up on 
 that," he whispered ; '' when the time comes I'll 
 cross- question her/' motioning the indiscreet ques- 
 tioner back into his seat. 
 
 Mr. Hark ins rose. " I think we may safely ask 
 one question : How long — " 
 
 "Ask me anything you like!" wailed Lucy. "I 
 shall still repeat, ' Long enough to have known how 
 to treat him better.' Don't stop me ; let me speak 
 now and tell all the truth. He would not give up 
 business; I said then it must be a divorce. If he 
 prefers glue to me, then let him stick to it. But 
 now the Count has betrayed me; he is married to
 
 264 The Copper Queex. 
 
 two women, and one dead — " The Count vainly 
 tried to stop the witness ; she continued, turning to 
 the latter, whom she saw smiling at his table. 
 
 " Oh, laugh ! heartless monster, laugh ! I know 
 all ; Fraulein Marx has told all, and I — do you 
 think if I were fifty times free, I would ever marry 
 you ? No. I give up the idea for ever. I hate 
 glue ; but I shall stick to it. I swear I will not be 
 divorced ; — I — " 
 
 " Stop ! " thundered the judge, rising and spitting 
 with violence in the gorgeous cuspidor. " Stop ! — 
 this is ofoino' too far ; remove the witness ! " 
 
 The wildest excitement prevailed. Adam Chromo 
 rushed to his wife ; Harkins rushed to Chromo ; Lucy 
 screamed, and refused to leave the witness-box. 
 The Count kept yelling, " Quite right ; stay there, 
 stay there ! " 
 
 " How dare you treat me so ! " she ejaculated 
 between her sobs. " I — I — haven't I a right to say 
 what I want to at my own divorce suit ? " 
 
 "Divorce!" said the judge. "Divorce!" echoed 
 Flora. '' Divorce ! " echoed the Count ; — " the 
 woman's mad ! " 
 
 Lucy turned pale. 
 
 " Oh ! " she gasped ; " what do you mean ? Going 
 mad ? Ah ! ah 1 I see it all now. A young man 
 took me by the arm, — ' In here,' he said ; ' explain
 
 The Copper Queen. 265 
 
 nothing ; then when you're name is called, rush into 
 the witness-box.' I knew you were deceiving me ! 
 You too, Harkins ; you didn't want to tell me when 
 the day was, but I accidentally read in the ' Herald's ' 
 law list — Chromo vs. Chromo, and I felt at once that 
 you wanted the case to come off and not let me 
 know. Then too — I — I felt sorry for him. But 
 you" — she shook her fist in the face of judge, jury, 
 and court — " fiends incarnate ! you have gone and 
 divorced me without my knowledge ! I am — but I 
 refuse to go till I've had my say; I swear I love 
 him, let all the world hear it ; — I am still his wife, 
 and refuse to leave him, I will not be DivoiiCED 
 there" — and sobbing she flung herself into her 
 husband's outstretched arms, and buried her head 
 on his shoulder. 
 
 " Remove the witness ! " again thundered the judge. 
 " No ; let her stay ! " screamed the audience. " Re- 
 move the witness!" yelled his honour; "is the 
 sanctity of a murder trial — " 
 
 Lucy suddenly came to. 
 
 "What!" she cried; "what do I hear? Isn't 
 this my divorce going on ? What is this suit 
 any way ? " 
 
 "This, madam," said the prosecuting attorney 
 pleasantly ; " this is the Rozen murder trial ; you 
 are evidently labouring under some little mistake."
 
 2G6 The Copper Queen. 
 
 "Mistake? — murder!" screamed Lucy. *'Alil I 
 see now, ah ! — ah ! — with what I've gone through. 
 This isn't my divorce after all ! Husband — help ! I 
 faint, I die ! " and pawing the air frantically, Lucy 
 Chromo fell in a dead swoon back in Adam Chromo's 
 arms. It is impossible to describe the effect of Lucy 
 Chromo's words ; and equally impossible to describe 
 the scene which ensued. When the reason of her 
 appearance was thoroughly understood, in spite of 
 her fainting, the court could no longer contain itself, 
 and joined with the public in the general uproar. 
 
 Enildci, Flora, Miss Chandos-Cressy, Florestan and 
 Professor Protoplasm hastily followed Adam Chromo 
 out. He bore his wife in his strong arms as if she 
 had been a feather weight, and the expression on 
 his face would have baffled a Uembrandt. 
 
 This episode really closed the day's proceedings. 
 Several unimportant witnesses were examined, but 
 their irrelevance threw the court in such disarray 
 that the judge abruptly announced adjournment 
 till the morrow, and thus closed the fifth day of the 
 celebrated Rozen murder trial.
 
 267 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 The sixth day began with testimony from Chicago 
 detectives come to establish the identity of the 
 prisoner with that of the notorious Black Bill, who 
 years before had escaped from the jail on the night 
 of the great fire of '71. This was not easy; and 
 Pinkerton's police, although as celebrated as the 
 Russian " Third Section," Scotland Yard, or the 
 famous Parisian Bureaux, were obliged to admit 
 they could not swear that the Count de Marcie and 
 D'Orbach and the ruffian, forger, and criminal 
 Black Bill, were one and the same man. Having 
 had no photograph of the villain, it was impossible 
 to say positively that the detained nobleman was 
 really the one whose name had become such a terror 
 in the ^\^est. Black Bill was known to have had a 
 sliofht scar on his left arm, whilst the nobleman De 
 Marcie had not alone a scar but a curious, cut or 
 blister which extended nearly to the elbow, and was
 
 268 The Copper Queen. 
 
 altogether different from the one worn by Black Bill. 
 As to the officers who eould swear to liis identity 
 tlirough having seen him in the Chicago jail, two 
 were dead and one a lunatic ; hence the prisoner at 
 the bar need fear nothing from them. 
 
 The trial dra,'ged on. It seemed as if half New 
 York were subpoenaed either for the prosecution or 
 the defence. The former were still hard at it, and the 
 court-room if possible was more crowded than ever ; 
 perhaps a waiting world came also in the hopes of 
 assisting at another Lucy Chromo episode. In vain 
 the daily press teemed with news of the trial. The 
 Chromo divorce furnished, if possible, a more ample 
 theme, until the announcement was publicly made 
 that the suit was withdrawn, and Lucy Chromo as 
 suddenly surprised Gotham by appearing at the trial 
 on — Adam Chrome's arm. 
 
 The weeks had dwindled into months, and still the 
 Count de Marcie was held in durance vile. After the 
 failure of Pinkerton to prove that he was Black Bill 
 public opinion changed, and people asked one another 
 if the noble prisoner were not really a victim to 
 personal spite and revenge, and speculation became 
 rife as to the probable issue of the trial. 
 
 December came with its snow and sleet, and the 
 succeeding weeks witnessed the same brilliant audi- 
 ences, the same enthusiasm, and the same light,
 
 The Copper Queen. 269 
 
 cheerful conversation which had been noticeable on 
 former occasions. On the morning of the '31st, a 
 bright, crisp day had attracted a very full house, more 
 than half the public being ladies. When tlie Count 
 came in, his appearance was somewhat comical owing 
 to the extreme cold. He was shivering, and muffled up 
 in a great-coat. He complained of the cold, and the 
 audience heartily concurred with him, for the room 
 was enormous, and lack of heat caused every one to 
 shiver. Of late the noble prisoner had been some- 
 what crusty and downhearted, but the cheerful 
 sunlight that streamed through the great windows 
 seemed to exercise a joyous influence over him ; and 
 the court, jury, the counsel and audience laughed 
 and re-laughed as he with earnest simplicity shouted 
 out that one of his guards, a member of the New" 
 York police, "had had an eleven pound little baby 
 presented to him as a New Year's gift."* 
 
 After this the Count's interruptions w^ere casual 
 and far apart. Whilst examining his mail he would 
 alternately read and wTite. Owing to the absence of 
 Lawyer Harkins and the Judge there were no very 
 exciting scenes. It was believed that the able 
 Harkins and the Judge were not on very good 
 terms, as it was only yesterday when Judge W — 
 with a friend entering a restaurant near Del's to get 
 * Report, Guiteau Trial, 1882.
 
 270 The Copper Queen. 
 
 a dozen on the half-shell and a bottle of porter for 
 lunch, espying Harkins said disgustedly, " Let us go 
 somewhere else." It seemed evident to all that the 
 Judge had a liking on the quiet for the Count, and 
 yet at times, during the prisoner's cross-examina- 
 tion, his voice rolled thunder and his eye flashed 
 iire. 
 
 The witnesses were well under way giving impor- 
 tant testimony, when the prisoner at the bar took 
 the opportunity of saying that two men had called at 
 the jail to see him, and after the honour of being 
 presented had refused to shake hands with him. 
 
 " They're loafers and cranks," he said irately ; 
 " they are perfect dogs ; they came to insult a high- 
 toned gentleman, and when I get out I'll know how 
 to be even with them." 
 
 In vain the crier ordered silence in the court ; the 
 prisoner remarked, " that this was his funeral, and 
 he was going to see the corpse safe through." 
 
 Finally the prisoner's counsel began the defence, 
 and called witness after witness. They were all 
 more or less unimportant, until the name Friiulein 
 Marx was heard, and Ida's lady companion made 
 her way into the box. 
 
 In the mean time the prosecution and defence 
 remarked that it was not known when the trial 
 would finish, as after the ordinary defence would
 
 The Copper Queen. 271 
 
 come evidence in sur-rebuttal, and there were still 
 an hundred witnesses. 
 
 " Oh ! I don't mind," cried out the Count, " my 
 time is well spent here, and in jail I do little else 
 than to write autographs." 
 
 He stopped abruptly as Fraulein Marx took the 
 oath and prepared to answer the questions which 
 might be put to her. 
 
 The Count's attitude was one of eager expectancy. 
 It was noticed that he had become thinner these 
 latter days, and his face wore a strange smile. The 
 question : " When did you first know the prisoner at 
 the bar ? " put by the prosecution elicited a prompt 
 response : 
 
 A. — " I met him in Hamburg twenty years ago. 
 He was a robber and a scoundrel, called himself a 
 Baron, and was transported with me for criminal 
 complication in a murder." 
 
 The prisoner's eager look turned to one of blank 
 disappointment, rage, then bitter hate ; a cold glitter 
 crept into his eyes. He stretched out his hand and 
 laughed as he said : 
 
 " So you betray me at last ; you want revenge. 
 Well — well — well ; — curse you, get it if you can." 
 
 The excitement amongst the audience became 
 intense. His counsel hastily conferred with him and 
 several waiting? friends. There was a confused murmur
 
 27-2 The Copper Queex. 
 
 throiiffliout the room, whilst the witness stood with 
 an impassive face and cahnly folded hands, looking 
 neither to the right nor left, but seemingly in air. 
 After more discussion a second question was asked. 
 The answer came with amazing promptitude. 
 
 " I married you because I loved you and wanted 
 to be a Baroness, but you betrayed even me. I got 
 away from Toulon in a way intended for your escape 
 — came to xsew York — and very soon recognized in 
 the Count de Marcie the ex-Baron de Maincey of 
 Hamburg." 
 
 " Stop the witness," screamed the prisoner, turning 
 of a still more awfid pallor. " Stop her ; she's the 
 bif:caest liar — " 
 
 Fraulein Marx smiled scornfully. 
 
 " Nothing can stop me," she said. " I escaped — 
 as you did afterwards ; and the German Government 
 has since bestowed a free pardon on me." 
 
 "Which explains your cheek now," cried the 
 prisoner ; " and you knew it — when ? " 
 
 " Before I saw you in London," she replied calmly, 
 '' when I wanted the two hundred thousand dollars." 
 
 The Count laughed ; — laughed until the tears 
 rolled down his cheeks. 
 
 " Look at her," he said ; " isn't she a wife any man 
 might be proud of? Look at her and realize how 
 worthy a woman I married."
 
 The Copper Queen. 273 
 
 " Oh I " interrupted Lucy Chromo in a loud 
 voice ; " oh ! — and to think that he not onl}^ mar- 
 ried Ida Foresti, and broke her heart, but beoo-ed 
 me to get a divorce in order to marry him ! — the 
 wretch ! " 
 
 It was impossible not to understand and fully 
 appreciate Lucy's words. The court re-echoed with 
 exclamations, and the witness was not able to cro on 
 until order was restored. 
 
 She told the history of her life, and the noble 
 prisoner's; of the meeting with Ricard ; the plot to 
 make Rozen rob and betray Arundel; the final 
 rupture, and the meeting in the Park. The public 
 were roused to the highest pitch of enthusiasm by 
 her recital, yet with the exception of the prisoner's 
 scornful and frequent interruption, the dropping of 
 a pin could easily have been heard. 
 
 " I let him — the prisoner — think that I was for 
 him," she added with a rising voice ; " but revenge is 
 sweeter than mone3\" 
 
 "Yes," cried the prisoner, "when you have all 
 the latter you want, and are sure about the 
 former." 
 
 "Then a fire of mutual abuse and retort took 
 place between witness and prisoner. The crier no 
 longer cried silence; the judge no longer gave any 
 ruling; the questions and answers were categoric or 
 
 VOL. III. T
 
 274 The Copper Queen. 
 
 were not; the same mutual>olley of recrimination 
 and insult went on between these two strange and 
 strangely -related human beings. 
 
 At last the prisoner arose with a threatening look, 
 but suddenly sank backwards. 
 
 " Take her away," he cried ; " she'll be my death." 
 Then he placed a hand to his side and looked wildly 
 about. 
 
 The witness continued, and shrewd cross-questions 
 brought out such alarming statements that the 
 prisoner had little show for mercy. The tale of Ida 
 Foresti's life caused a profound sensation, and many 
 an eye filled with tears when she described her 
 death. The witness's cold voice but added to the 
 pitifulness of the story, and after that there was little 
 to tell : she was dismissed and other witnesses were 
 brought forth ; each and all more or less fatal to the 
 defence. Suddenly the prisoner's counsel announced 
 their case was closed. 
 
 The surprise was so great that judge, prosecution, 
 and jury stared for some moments in a helpless sort 
 of maze ; an indefinable murmur ran through the 
 court-room; and at last his honour comprehended 
 that the trial was really at an end. The prosecuting 
 attorney looked upon the announcement as a practical 
 joke, and was so dumbfounded at the trial's abrupt 
 termination that he could scarcely find suitable words
 
 The CorPER Queen. 275 
 
 in which to argue the case to the jury. His perora- 
 tion, however, was a brilliant affair, althoucrh when 
 he had concluded it was difficult to make out 
 whether he thought the prisoner guilty or not. 
 Happily his honour then gently hinted at murder, 
 and gave the jury to understand that a crime of 
 some sort had been committed in which the prisoner 
 was implicated. 
 
 The Count next arose with a beaming smile, and 
 remarked that he had a few words to say; where- 
 upon he bowed to the audience, nodded to the jury, 
 and blowing a white rose open to its fullest, adjusted 
 it in his button-hole and began : 
 
 " Ladies, and gentlemen of the jury, you see 
 before you not a criminal, but an unsuccessful man. 
 I don't need to plead not guilty, because I'm going 
 to tell you truthfully the real story of my life ; and 
 I know, in a land where strusfgle is known and 
 appreciated, when you have heard mine you will one 
 and all but sympathize with me the more. I shall 
 be obliged to inflict some painful disillusions upon 
 you, but in a land where success must be bought 
 at any price, you will realize that I am indeed 
 worthy to be one of you. I early took for my motto 
 the words of Horace, ' Nil mortalibus arduum est,' 
 and determined to make my way in life and prove 
 them at any cost. I shall be brief: the worthy 
 
 T 2
 
 276 The Copper Queen. 
 
 witnesses' pros and cons that you have heard are one 
 and all incomplete, idiotic, no one so far having told 
 you my whole career from the beginning ; helpless 
 blunders have so exasperated the artistic in my 
 nature, that I feel it a duty I owe my talent, my 
 ey.ceptional education, and the world in general, 
 to explain more fully; in fact I owe it to the 
 gracious interest Gotham has ever taken in me, 
 to tell her all I can about myself; and that all 
 shall be told as faithfully as I know how to tell it : 
 as Brutus said, 'If ye have any tears, prepare to 
 shed them now.' My life has been a long conflict, 
 a bitter struggle to succeed and put the best foot 
 forward in the world. It has been short in one 
 sense, but prolific of adventure. I was born a 
 beggar in the streets of Mayence; parents, first in 
 particular — unknown. In early youth I rose to the 
 estate of barber: not caring to continue that humble 
 but happy life, I longed to adventure and see 
 the world. I am still young and — I have seen it. 
 In a Mayence barber's-shop a client used to come 
 to whom I bore a startling resemblance ; an absurd 
 intimacy grew up between ns, and one day the idea 
 struck me to put him out of the way, adopt his name, 
 title, and estate. This I did with great punctuality, 
 and became in twelve short hours the Baron de 
 Maincey. I do not seek to affect you here, although
 
 The Copper Queen. 277 
 
 any one with a spark of soul or feeling Las on^y 
 to reflect on the audacity of my first stroke, not 
 to also realize what fears, what agonies of mind 
 and body I endured; not alone that of being 
 found out, but of checking in its birth a career 
 destined to reflect honour on any beggar, and do 
 good in any world where courage, talent, and heart 
 go hand in hand. Born to the gutter I tired of the 
 j)alace, went to Hamburg, and there met and adored 
 the gentle being you have just listened to, whose 
 wit never equalled either her heart or her beauty. I 
 married her. We became partners in — not iniquity 
 — but the modern commerce of getting on in life. 
 Frau Marx-Maincey soon began to bore me. Money 
 was low, spirits were lower; a robbery and murder 
 done in Lyons with sure intentions, but not sure 
 hands — alas 1 interrupted our career for a little while. 
 Toulon was not a disagreeable place, but my adven- 
 turesome spirit longed to attempt new deeds of 
 daring. I felt the ardour of a Napoleon or a 
 Bemadotte glowing in my veins, and bitterly chafed 
 at the dungeon's restriction. I escaped f heard the 
 dear wife was dead ; then became confidential 
 adviser, butler, valet, I don't know what, to several 
 sovereigns : couldn't stand the routine of royal life. 
 Slavery? — why the galleys was ease compared to 
 it. I longed to see the home of my youth,
 
 278 The Copper Queex. 
 
 returned to Mayence, and found an old uncle, who 
 kindly removed the ' T. F.' so wickedly branded on 
 my arm ; convenient slashes now and then, added to 
 a real scald — result of a railway smash-up — effectu- 
 ally obliterated all traces of the convict's signature. 
 Dear uncle, he is since dead — " 
 
 At this there was a visible interruption, and loud 
 murmurs echoed and re-echoed in the court-room. 
 
 " Your uncle," inadvertently called out the prose- 
 cuting attorney ; " surely not the late Count ? " 
 
 Visions of a cathedral draped in black ; a choir 
 of mortals sinoincr celestial music ; the rich baritone 
 of a sainted voice ; the smell of incense — even the 
 odour of violets — and the stately congregation of 
 Gotham's best — a weeping world, passed in instanta- 
 neous panorama before the minds of all present. 
 The prisoner took up and finished the lawyer's 
 phrase. 
 
 " The same," he said gently ; " a good man — alas ! 
 no Count — although w^ell worthy to be one. He 
 died as he had lived — a simple sausage-maker of 
 Mayence." ' 
 
 " What ! " screamed Mrs. Chromo. " What ! " cried 
 the lawyer ; and " What I " were repeated on all 
 sides. 
 
 The prisoner smiled blandly and reiterated his 
 words.
 
 The Copper Queen. 279 
 
 "This is too much," groaned Lucy; "and my crape 
 dress, amethyst necklace, and the flowers, the post- 
 poning of two balls, and as many as ten quiet 
 luncheons — all, all for a sausage-maker ! " 
 
 " The club flags at half-mast," murmured Florestan. 
 
 "The city-bell tolling down town," said Adam 
 Chromo. 
 
 "Yes," echoed Lawj^er Harkins, "and Gotham's 
 Common Council meeting solely to pass resolutions 
 of condolence to be offered to the Count." 
 
 " The postponement of our Chromo Literary Society 
 for a month," groaned Prof. Protoplasm, wiping his 
 brow w4th a lemon-coloured handkerchief. 
 
 "The condolences telegraphed by the President," 
 said the head juror. 
 
 He was interrupted by a violent fit of coughing 
 and half-strangled sobs which emanated from the 
 judicial chair. His honour did not need to say 
 what his and his wife's expression of regret had 
 been. What they had cost ! Every one present re- 
 membered them. In a vision he saw himself send- 
 ing word to the Bench, " Too ill to sit to-day," — saw 
 himself flying to the tailor's to try on a new black 
 suit ; saw a fond wife and mother sacrificing the one 
 public dinner she gave during the year; and as in 
 a horrid nightmare felt himself writing, signing, and 
 sending, an elaborate epistle attached to a basket of
 
 280 The Copper Queex. 
 
 orchids, ^Yllose ever}^ shade of colour was worth a 
 fortune to a modest horticulturist : — all these efforts, 
 and not for a defunct Count, but for a dropsical, 
 dirty — ah ! 
 
 He fanned himself Violently, gasj^ed, threw back 
 his head as much as to say, "I am better now," 
 then waving his hand wdtli graceful ease directed 
 the prisoner to continue. 
 
 " I am really grieved," said this latter honestly, 
 " to have given you all such a shock ; but how can 
 you appreciate the noble efforts I have made to 
 get on unless you know the truth of those efforts ? 
 Judge, Mrs. Chromo, Mr. Florestan, ladies and 
 gentlemen, let me thank you all here now for those 
 expressions of woe ; letters, flowers, and hand-pres- 
 sures of silent sympathy bestow^ed upon me at that 
 critical moment; for, believe me, it Avas a critical 
 moment, and required no small energy, misgivings, 
 and art, to play it upon Ne^v York as I played it ; 
 especially when you realize that that uncle died 
 fifteen years ago, and the wheels of memory almost 
 refused to run backward. But to my tale : — I came 
 to America; I met Rozen, an honest man but weak; 
 he wanted speedy wealth, but hated great risks. I 
 finally won him over, named him Vane for a travel- 
 ling name, got him in my power, and only put him 
 out of it wdien — I put him out of the way. Oh !
 
 The Copper Queen. 281 
 
 don't look liorrified ! — remember that I felt bound, 
 some way, to elevate Gotham and her moral society. 
 I felt that here I had found my true vocation and 
 right place ; here a title and such talent as I pos- 
 sessed could find the fittest scope for action. I have 
 done five years of good service here in every branch 
 of social life. Rozen stole money ; I spent it, in 
 first helping myself and then doing good to others. 
 Mind, I am not the first man nor the last who 
 personally applies Macchiavelli's saying, ' The first 
 law of every human being is to protect himself — to 
 live — and — to look out for number one.' That is 
 just what I have always rigorously done, and I 
 advise you all to follow in my footsteps. Be careful, 
 however, never to have anything to do with white- 
 livered fools and soft-hearted ones. Rozen was 
 sentimental even when he helped Black Bill to 
 escape." 
 
 " Black Bill ! " echoed a dozen voices. 
 
 " Yes, gentlemen. Black Bill ; I am that dis- 
 tinguished individual Sorry I can't tell you all 
 his history here ; but as this is the century for 
 memoirs, I have no doubt you will before long be 
 speedily enlightened as to all his proceedings. As 
 to the little Prima Donna, I am sorry that she took 
 the affair to heart ; but j^ou remember Julia and the 
 Don: 'Man's love is of man's life,' etc. etc. Most
 
 282 The Copper Queen. 
 
 jurymen have a weakness for Byron, and all seem 
 to know the lines. I won't repeat them here, but 
 women are all alike, take an episode for — an eternity, 
 etcetera. I fear I am tiring you : but a few words 
 more. I don't ask for my life, as you are sure to 
 give me that; but I do ask the court to restore 
 a trunk of relics, carried wantonly off — stolen probably 
 by the police ; these relics I need not say are a 
 souvenir of my tender past, my earliest youth, when 
 ambition warmed me with her glowing fires, and 
 hope was the one lamp of my barber's existence. 
 That trunk contains all my shaving im^jlements ; the 
 razors with which I shaved the Baron ; the old 
 clothes I wore; some letters from my wife Adele, 
 when love was our sole collateral, and a bunch of 
 faded flowers, which alone have power to awaken 
 in me glad memories of a hapj^y joast. How many 
 times after an evening at some ball the Baron would 
 return home, look at his razors, and laugh as the 
 barber at the way he had fooled the world as the 
 Baron 1 Oh ! my friends, those were sweet and in- 
 valuable, unpurchasable hours ! Restore me that 
 trunk, that even in my cell I may re-live them. I 
 cannot say I found society-life agreeable, — jostling 
 with fools, hob-nobbing with snobs, associating with 
 idiots. Alas ! how often, tired of the whole game, 
 have I cried out with Mirabeau : 'My God, give me
 
 The Copper Queen. 283 
 
 mediocrity,' but my cry was never heeded. So I 
 kept on the treadmill, repeating in my heart with 
 Telemachus : ' Services ! talents 1 merit — bah ! belong 
 to a cotery ' — and I did. I must say I have found 
 New York the easiest of all society, as here only two 
 things are required — money and title. I have told 
 you my faithful but partial history, as to the last 
 wishing to do good, I see no earthly reason why every 
 enterprising American may not alone follow in my 
 footsteps but profit by my career ; but let him beware 
 of three things, however, any one of which may at 
 any moment wreck the brightest of futures ; — satiety 
 of too much money — indigestion — and not keeping 
 cool. The first engendered irritation ; the second, bad 
 temper ; and the third, for the first time in my life, 
 caused me to stand in my own light, to forget myself, 
 and — and I struck the blow which brought me here. 
 I take leave of you, gentlemen of the jury, and beg 
 you will restore my cherished trunk, and bear in 
 mind that I am merely a faithful follower, as all 
 Americans should be, of the Macchiavellian precept : 
 'The first law of every human being is to protect 
 himself, and — to live. 
 
 The prisoner sat down amidst deafening cheers. 
 His defence had indeed touched the enterprising 
 American soul. After a charge from the Judge the 
 jury retired; hours passed; his Honour looked
 
 284 The Copper Queen. 
 
 heavenward with vacant face but strangely question- 
 ing eyes ; counsel and prosecution consulted together. 
 The wildest chattering^ went on in the audience 
 when the foreman re-appeared. 
 
 The chief juryman waved his hand and announced 
 neither acquittal nor condemnation, but the dis- 
 agreement of the jury — ten being for acquittal, 
 two for condemnation. • There was a general mur- 
 mur. The Judge smiled broadly ; counsel, witnesses 
 and public joined in a violent altercation, whilst 
 the prisoner at the bar, amidst repeated thanks 
 and protestations of affection for New York, was 
 led away amidst dense enthusiastic throngs to await 
 a new trial. 
 
 :^ >lc il« ifj >|c 
 
 The next morning Gotham received another shock. 
 The Count had died in the night; possibly stricken 
 down by heart disease ; but more probably by his 
 first violent and sustained effort at telHng the truth. 
 He left this assumed will : 
 
 " I go to join the sausage-maker. Gotham, fare- 
 well ! I leave to the New York Central Park Museum 
 my trunk, containing the faithful toys of m}^ youth. 
 I bequeath these cherished souvenirs to budding 
 America, begging it, every time it looks upon them, 
 to asjiire, to reflect, to emulate, to remember. 
 Gotham, farewell ! The end of this trial has brought
 
 The Copper Queen. 285 
 
 repose, repose has brought back the old ambition — 
 the love of adventure is still so strong in mc, 
 that to make the acquaintance of a new world, I 
 quit this one witli pleasure. Alas ! no nobleman 
 dies in cell 16 of the Tombs, but a simple mortal, 
 known to the world as the Baron, Count de Marcie 
 and d'Orbach, but best to himself as the Barber of 
 Mayence." 
 
 There is little left to tell to finish this history. 
 New York, even the civilized world, wept the sudden 
 quenching of a bright light, and never ceased re- 
 iterating -what might have been. But, however 
 much other metropolises may wail and refuse to 
 be comforted, Gotham may still take heart : she 
 cherishes innumerable noblemen in other forms 
 and guises ; perha}3s with less classic memories, but 
 with stronger digestions, colder hearts, and no less 
 authentic titles. 
 
 Lucy Chromo has Avon; Adam will never give up 
 the glue business, but has compromised by driving 
 his carts down every Avenue excepting the Fifth, 
 Flora married Pastor, and was thrown into, not a 
 convulsion, but a marquisate, five days after the 
 wedding; legitimate heritage early assumed by her 
 honourable spouse. Every noAV and then she threat- 
 ens her husband to leave him to marry Baron
 
 286 The Copper Queen. 
 
 d' Alfred!, still the unique object of her affections — 
 best man at her wedding, best friend of her heart. 
 Professor Protoplasm and Miss Chandos-Cressy are 
 still but betrothed. The Chromo-Literary Society 
 ofoes on much the same as ever, and at the last 
 meeting brought up the origin of cats. The Pro- 
 fessor shone. 
 
 And Arundel ? He never recovered the shock he 
 had received on the quay, when Florestan told him 
 the result of his victory. He fell ill, and was taken 
 to his old hydropathic establishment, where he 
 made a will, and left everything he possessed to 
 Enilda. The great trial ended, in a moment of 
 enthusiasm_, still attached to water, he jumped into 
 the river, and his body was recovered, but too late ; 
 life was extinct. Enilda in vain refused the fortune ; 
 but as it was left, not to her, but to her children if 
 she ever had any, and after that to Florestan and 
 his heirs, there seemed no way of getting rid of 
 the money, which, by some peculiar destiny, w^as 
 bound to be her inheritance. Charlotte Corday 
 seemed to otow vounc^er, althousfh she never g^rew 
 w^hiter; while Fraulein Marx respectably married 
 Ricard, and went to Australia to build up a new home, 
 a new house, and a new reputation. 
 
 And Florestan ? 
 
 There was a quiet wedding in Grace Church
 
 The Copper Queen. 287 
 
 one morning in early January. Dr. Grnyson 
 gave away the bride, and Enilda Rozen took 
 Ythan Florestan for better or worse. When her 
 husband gave her his first kiss, Httle Cyril came up 
 timidly : 
 
 "Here is a rose," he said, "a white rose for my 
 new mamma!" Then they walked towards the 
 sacristy to sign the moral doomsday book. 
 
 Adam Chromo and Professor Protoplasm wrote 
 their names as witnesses, in a flourishing hand ; then 
 one by one the party left the church. 
 
 That night Florestan and his young wife arm- 
 in-arm stood in the open doorway of the old house 
 in Tenth Street, looking at the bright crescent 
 wdjch glittered in a pale semicircle in the starlit 
 sky. 
 
 "Enilda?" 
 
 "Yes, darling." 
 
 " Shall I tell you something w^hich will make you 
 happy?" 
 
 " That you love me ? " 
 
 " Yes, always that, but — something else. Perhaps 
 our prayers have been answered." 
 
 " Ythan, what can you mean ? " 
 
 " Shall I tell you ? No ; read for yourself," and 
 leaning on his strong breast she read a paragraph in 
 a London newspaper, which brought a look of perfect
 
 288 The Copper Queen. 
 
 happiness into lier eyes. Only a simple notice of 
 four lines, and yet it said volumes : 
 
 " The Lady Mildred Claremont has given birth 
 to a son, born at Allison House. Mr. Claremont is 
 hourly expected in town. Mother and child are 
 doing well." 
 
 THE END. 
 
 fl> 
 
 Lichard Clay and 6ons, London and Bwiujay.
 
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