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A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
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 A CHOICE OF EVILS 
 
 H 1Rox>el. 
 
 BY 
 
 MES. ALEXANDEE, 
 
 AUTHOR OP 
 
 " THE WOOING O'T," " FOUND WANTING," 
 A WOMAN'S HEAKT," " FOR HIS SAKE," Etc. 
 
 IN THREE VOLUMES. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 F. V. WHITE & CO., 
 14, BEDFORD STREET, STRAND, W.C. 
 
 1894. 
 
PRINTED BY 
 
 KELLY AND CO. LIMITED, 182, 183 AND 184, HIGH HOLBOBN, W.C., 
 
 AND MIDDLE MILL, KINGSTON-ON-THAMES. 
 
£ 
 
 $ 
 I 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 4 
 
 CHAP. PAGE 
 
 I. — Parting 1 
 
 II. — Randal Palliser of Mervyn Hall . 28 
 
 III. — In the Library 50 
 
 IV. — Morning Visits .... 77 
 
 V. — At the Hall . . . . .105 
 
 VI. — An Important Decision . . . 143 
 
 VII. — Wedding Bells ..... 171 
 
 VIII.— The Daily Round . . . . 199 
 
 IX. — Dappled Skies 229 
 
A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 CHAPTEE I. 
 
 PARTING. 
 
 The pleasant town of Langford in that highly 
 favoured county Southshire, was considered 
 by its inhabitants as quite equal to the 
 capital, in cultivation, enlightenment and 
 society. It stood on the slope of a low 
 range of hills, commanding an outlook 
 over a richly-variegated plain on one side, 
 and the thickly-wooded irregularity of the 
 uplands on the other. 
 
 A number of gentlemen's seats studded 
 the surrounding country, the owners of which 
 were on neighbourly terms with the gentry 
 of the town, the social bonds between them 
 being all the closer, because several of the 
 vol. i. 1 
 
2 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 younger and impecunious members of the 
 county families condescended to manage the 
 Langford banking, legal and medical busi- 
 ness, and deigned to make money in a way 
 that would once have been considered de- 
 rogatory by such personages. 
 
 Eents were low in Langford, so was the 
 death rate, and a fair amount of sport was to 
 be found in its neighbourhood. It was little 
 more than four hours from London, and 
 added to these advantages it possessed an 
 excellent preparatory school for boys. Pretty 
 villas, of various dimensions, from the hand- 
 some Elizabethan house, surrounded by pre- 
 tentious grounds, to small "Queen Anne" 
 structures, with neat gardens back and front, 
 grew up in and about it, besides some older 
 cottage-orne abodes — covered with roses and 
 clematis, and furnished with grass plots, and 
 a flower border behind. 
 
 Of these latter, none were more neatly 
 kept than Navarino Cottage, the residence 
 of Commander, or — as he was usually called 
 —Captain Josiah Eowley, K.N. 
 
PARTING. 3 
 
 It was his own property. He had 
 purchased it on his retirement from active 
 service some fifteen or sixteen years before, 
 when prices at Langford were considerably 
 lower than at the date of this true tale. 
 Here he established himself, a widower with 
 a little fair-haired girl, and a lanky boy of 
 twelve or thirteen. 
 
 One of his chief attractions to Langford 
 was the society of the vicar and his wife, 
 friends of early days, with whose children 
 his daughter grew up, sharing their play and 
 their lessons, taking her turn in driving their 
 village cart, and in riding the shaggy animal 
 that drew it. 
 
 Captain Eowley came of a good old 
 Lancashire family, and, though a stranger, 
 was well received by Langfordians generally. 
 
 He was well-bred in a bluff, sailor-like 
 fashion, and a fairly good shot, while his 
 political views, of the true blue order, 
 were exceedingly acceptable to the majority 
 of his neighbours — moreover, he had the air 
 of sturdy independence which always finds 
 
 1* 
 
4 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 favour with Englishmen, however the pos- 
 sessor may suffer from lack of gold. 
 
 Of filthy lucre, Captain Rowley had but 
 little, though no one ever heard him com- 
 plain. He was a strict economist, and an 
 equally strict disciplinarian, at least as re- 
 garded his son. His daughter — well, this 
 story will show how he managed her. 
 
 It was a glorious autumnal afternoon about 
 five o'clock, when Captain Eowley strolled 
 slowly homewards from his nearly diurnal 
 visit to the club, another of Langford's 
 advantages. 
 
 Navarino Cottage, as everyone who has 
 lived at Langford knows, was situated in 
 Oak Tree Lane, just beyond the turn from 
 the high road to Westerton, which here made 
 a short, steep descent ; consequently the 
 windows in front of that snug little dwelling 
 commanded a wide view over the plain 
 below, now yellow with golden grain ready 
 for the sickle, interspersed with spaces of 
 rich green pasture land. Overhead, a few 
 fleecy white clouds moved slowly across the 
 
PARTING. 5 
 
 bright blue sky, while the sleepy hum of 
 insects was occasionally broken by the tinkle 
 of a sheep-bell from a flock browsing on a 
 piece of common, which stretched downhill 
 at the other side of the lane. 
 
 One of the oak trees from which the lane 
 was named, grew at the north end of the 
 cottage, sheltering with its wide - spread 
 branches the narrow strip of pleasure 
 ground which intervened between a low 
 wooden paling and the house, and which 
 the owner kept in a high state of neatness 
 and greenness. 
 
 It was very warm and had been a breath- 
 less day. Captain Eowley paused on reaching 
 his own little domain, lifted his straw hat 
 and wiped his brows, looking all the time 
 keenly at the shrubs and flowers within the 
 paling as if seeking for some tokens of 
 neglect ; then he opened the gate, and 
 walked up a side path which led past the 
 end of the house to a second wicket, so 
 passing through a small yard into which the 
 kitchen opened and where some fowls 
 
6 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 scratched and clucked behind a wire netting, 
 he entered the house by the back door. 
 Passing the kitchen, into which he looked 
 with a frown, he entered the drawing-room. 
 
 Though low, it was of fair size, with two 
 windows commanding a view over the 
 country below. The furniture was old- 
 fashioned and plain, but a couple of dwarf 
 book-cases well filled, and plenty of ordinary 
 flowers, gave it a home-like aspect. 
 
 The room was not untenanted — on a sofa 
 near the fireplace, now masked by ferns, a 
 young lady half-sat, half-lay, resting on her 
 right elbow. She was reading a rather pon- 
 derous book which was propped up against 
 the sofa cushion, while one foot hung a 
 little below the seat — a very neat foot and 
 ankle showing beneath her fresh blue and 
 white cotton frock ; a large shady brown 
 hat lay on the floor near her, with a 
 pair of wash-leather gloves tossed into the 
 crown. 
 
 She was so intent on her book that, the 
 door being open, she did not hear her father's 
 
PARTING. 7 
 
 approach until he said in a rather indignant 
 tone : 
 
 "Janet!" 
 
 She started from her semi - recumbent 
 position to her feet and stood upright, .a 
 tall, slight, but rounded figure, surmounted 
 by a well set-on head, amply supplied with 
 light brown gently-waved hair, gazing at him 
 with a slightly puzzled expression in her 
 almond-shaped grey eyes from under lashes 
 and brows a shade or two darker than her 
 hair. 
 
 " What are you wasting your time 
 lounging there for ? " he demanded ; " have 
 you nothing to do but to read novels all 
 day?" 
 
 " It's not a novel, but almost as fascinating, 
 at least, all the parts I don't skip are," she 
 returned, a very sunny smile parting her lips. 
 " Have you ever read it, dear Dad ? It is by 
 Gardiner Wilkinson, all about ancient Egypt, 
 with lots of pictures. You can't think how 
 wonderful " 
 
 " I should like to know what good these 
 
8 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 out-of-the-way useless books can do you?" 
 interrupted Captain Eowley. "It would be 
 a great deal better and more improving if 
 you went into the kitchen and saw to the 
 preparation of dinner. Pray do you know 
 that the kitchen door is wide open, and not 
 a sign of Barbara to be seen ? " 
 
 " Oh, yes ! " stooping to pick up her hat 
 and gloves, " she asked leave to go and see 
 her mother, who has a sore throat. That is 
 the reason I stayed in to take care of the 
 house, but she ought not to have left the 
 door open." 
 
 " Great care, indeed ! When you were so 
 lost in that nonsensical book that you never 
 heard me come in ! " 
 
 "Yes, that was rather stupid of me, but 
 then, you know, there are no thieves or 
 burglars in Langford," she returned, watching 
 his face, half-smiling, half-concerned. 
 
 " The fact is you can never manage that 
 girl nor any girl." 
 
 " Perhaps ! but what I can manage is to 
 kiss you ! " and she suddenly threw her 
 
PARTING. 9 
 
 arms round his neck. In truth, she was 
 very nearly as tall as the old sailor, who was 
 neither dignified nor good-looking, having 
 a breadth of shoulder disproportioned to 
 his height, a large, bony, weather-beaten 
 face and thin red hair now toning down to 
 grey, not to omit somewhat fiery steely-blue 
 eyes, into which a kindly expression stole as 
 he yielded to his daughter's embrace with 
 affected reluctance. 
 
 " Oh, yes, that's all very well, but duty 
 before laziness and self-indulgence." 
 
 " Of course, Dad ! I assure you I have 
 done heaps of things this morning, and you 
 are to have a nice roast chicken — and — and 
 peas." 
 
 " You don't know what I am to have ! I 
 ordered dinner at half-past eight this morning 
 myself, and I should not be surprised if the 
 peas are lying still unshelled in the basket, 
 though I gathered them myself this morning 
 at " 
 
 " At six ? — or was it half-past five ? " put 
 in Janet. 
 
10 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 " Early enough, anyhow ! They ought to 
 be ready now." 
 
 " I will go and see to them at once ! " cried 
 Janet, shutting up her book with an air of 
 decision, and betaking herself, hat and all, to 
 the cheery little kitchen. 
 
 Here she soon found the peas still unshelled 
 in their basket, and placing it on the kitchen 
 table, sat down with another basket at her 
 feet, and a nice white basin in her lap, quite 
 in a business-like manner, as Captain Eowley 
 observed when he looked in a few minutes 
 after. 
 
 " Well, as you are not afraid of burglars, 
 I will just go as far as The Grange — they have 
 some capital red-nosed kidneys there. I should 
 like to try some in our potato patch later — 
 for I can't say this year's crop is as successful 
 as I should wish." 
 
 " Very well, and, Dad — if you meet Maurice 
 tell him I am busy, so there is no use in his 
 coming up here. He wanted me to walk 
 with him this evening." 
 
 « Oh, he did— did he ? " 
 
PARTING. 11 
 
 " Yes, you know it is his last week in 
 England." 
 
 " 1 do, and high time for him to be doing 
 something for himself. How many times was 
 he plucked ? " 
 
 " Not oftener than many other people ! " 
 said Janet — but she did not say it saucily, 
 rather sadly. 
 
 " I am sure the Eector ought to be thank- 
 ful to get rid of one more of his numerous 
 brood ! Eemember, my dear, if that jade 
 Barbara is five minutes late she shall go ! 
 What time did you tell her she must be in ? " 
 
 " I did not tell her any time, she said she 
 would be back in time to cook the dinner, 
 and as I was then deep in such a delightful 
 bit about the domestic habits of the ancient 
 Egyptians, I just said very well." 
 
 Captain Eowley groaned. 
 
 " I must wait for my dinner, I foresee ; don't 
 let her hurry and spoil everything," and he 
 nodded to his daughter as he went out, his 
 footsteps soon ceasing to sound when he 
 left the crisp gravel of garden for the road. 
 
12 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 Janet shelled her peas diligently, earnestly- 
 hoping that Barbara would soon return, as 
 she did not feel herself competent even to boil 
 peas undirected. 
 
 " I really must learn how to cook," she 
 thought ; " it cannot be so difficult, or else 
 Barbara would not get on as well as she does 
 with only a cookery-book and her mother 
 coming to teach her every now and then. I 
 am terribly weak and self-indulgent — how 
 often I have determined to stay in the kitchen 
 and see how things are done, and then I go 
 off to something else. Of course I cannot 
 give up these lovely days to such tiresome 
 work — but in the winter I shall get Mrs. 
 Hopkins to give me some lessons." 
 
 Here her reflections were disturbed by the 
 sound of a step in the hall, a quick, firm step 
 — it paused, and then a man's voice called : 
 
 " Janet ! " 
 
 " I am here — in the kitchen ! " she replied, 
 the colour deepening in her cheek, and an 
 amused look coming to her eyes. 
 
 In another moment a young man entered 
 
PARTING. 13 
 
 with an air of being] quite at home, taking 
 off his hat as he crossed the threshold. He was 
 a good-looking youngster, about Janet's own 
 age, of middle height, with aquiline features, 
 dark auburn hair, a remarkably fine pair of 
 brown eyes, and incipient moustaches — that 
 did not as yet hide his pleasant smile. 
 
 " Is this the important business your father 
 told me prevented your coming out ? " he 
 exclaimed, putting down his hat and drawing 
 a chair opposite to her. 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 " And it is such a lovely day, Janet ! " 
 
 " I know it is, and it is a horrid nuisance 
 being obliged to stay in, but I must not go 
 out till Barbara returns. My father wants 
 his dinner at six, you know, Maurice. Do 
 you know if peas ought to be put down to 
 boil in hot water or cold ? " 
 
 " No, haven't an idea ! I should fancy in 
 hot water — they'll be done all the quicker." 
 
 Janet shook her head. 
 
 " There must be some first principles even in 
 boiling peas, which neither you nor I know ! " 
 
14 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 " Well, look here, Janet, can't you come 
 for a stroll later, when the moon is up ? — it 
 will be just heavenly in Eavensbrook Woods 
 to-night. Come up to the Vicarage to supper, 
 and we can take a turn on the way back." 
 
 " I might manage that, for Dad wants to 
 write to Tom this evening." 
 
 " Thank you." 
 
 There was a pause, during which Janet 
 looked thoughtfully at the peas and Maurice 
 Winyard gazed at her. 
 
 " I suppose I shall be on the high seas this 
 day week," he said at length. 
 
 " I suppose so, you lucky boy ! " 
 
 " Yes, I am glad in some ways ; but, Janet, 
 it is an awful wrench saying good-bye to 
 — to you ! " and he bent forward nearer to 
 her. 
 
 " You will be sorry to leave us, Maurice, 
 but you will be all right in a few weeks, and 
 as gay as a lark ! " 
 
 " Do you think me a heartless fellow, 
 then?" 
 
 " No, you have quite as much heart as is 
 
PARTING. 15 
 
 good for you ! The world would come to a 
 standstill if men were always hankering after 
 their homes." 
 
 " Do you know, Janet, I sometimes doubt 
 if you have any heart yourself," he returned 
 with a touch of pain in his voice. 
 
 " Ah, so do I ! " exclaimed Janet, seriously. 
 " I am awfully puzzled about myself. Some- 
 times I am afraid I am only good-natured on 
 the surface, but hard and selfish in the depths 
 below." 
 
 " Puzzling ! Yes, you are puzzling with a 
 vengeance, yet the sweetest, dearest girl / 
 ever knew." 
 
 " Thank you," looking up with a smile that 
 justified the term " sweet," " but you haven't 
 seen many." 
 
 "How do you know? I have been very 
 little at home for the last two years," in an 
 offended tone. 
 
 " You are so used to me, Maurice." 
 
 " That is the most trying thing of all, one 
 can so easily get too used to a person ; but — - 
 Janet! do you remember the Christmas before 
 
16 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 ]ast, when I kissed you under the mistletoe at 
 MervynHall?" 
 
 " I do ! " she returned, taking up another 
 pod, and keeping her eyes on it, " it was a 
 delightful evening." 
 
 "Ah, Janet, I have never felt the same 
 towards you since. Do you know I have 
 wanted to kiss you — ever since ? " 
 
 " Oh, nonsense, Maurice ! It is not polite 
 to talk in that — that childish way ! " 
 
 " It is anything but childish ! " he ex- 
 claimed. " Listen to me, Janet, I am awfully 
 fond of you ! I never can love any woman 
 as I love you ; and now that I really have 
 made a start in life, don't you think " — a 
 short, embarrassed pause, during which he 
 picked up one of the shells and began 
 nervously to extract the peas — " don't you 
 think you could care enough for me to wait 
 till I came back ? — if you would only promise 
 to be my wife ! " 
 
 " Now, Maurice, it would be the very 
 unkindest thing I could do. You are ever so 
 much too young to think of a long engage- 
 
PARTING. 17 
 
 merit ! I should just be a millstone round 
 your neck. You have your own career to 
 make — oh, how delightful it would be to be a 
 man, and have a career — and then there is 
 your mother and the girls ; you are the eldest 
 son, you know, and when the vicar is quite 
 old, they will look to you to take care of 
 them." 
 
 "Well, Janet, you would be the one to 
 help me in doing that ! " he exclaimed, trying 
 to take her hand, 
 
 " No, don't, Maurice ! they are not fit to 
 touch after these peas. Then there's another 
 thing, I am not going to fall in love with 
 any one, that I am quite determined." 
 
 " Why, Janet, you are the very girl to fall 
 desperately in love. You have been always 
 in love with some one. You were very bad 
 about Eobert Bruce, and you had a tremen- 
 dous turn about Garibaldi, and even that 
 high and mighty Palliser, of Mervyn Hall — 
 you talked of nothing else, when his unfor- 
 tunate wife was burned to death in that hotel 
 fire." 
 
 vol. i. 2 
 
18 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 " But, Maurice, everyone was talking of 
 him ! All this is just imagination ; now that I 
 am older and wiser, I am quite determined 
 not to fall in love. Look at Helen Verner, 
 how changed and miserable she is since she 
 was engaged, two or three years ago, and 
 your own sister, since she married Mr. 
 Eobinson, and — oh ! many others." 
 
 "Then do you intend to be an old 
 maid ? " 
 
 "No — o, I am not sure. I shall be 
 probably, for I have no money ! If I marry 
 a nice, kind man, I can be very fond of him 
 without being in love." 
 
 " You are horribly worldly, Janet ! " ex- 
 claimed Maurice, trying to pull his growing 
 moustaches. 
 
 " Perhaps I am, Maurice," thoughtfully. 
 "At all events I never will marry a poor 
 man, never ! I don't mind being poor with 
 my father — dear old Dad. He can't help 
 being hard up, and though he storms at me 
 now and then, he'd give me his life if it could 
 do me any good. I don't care for finery, but 
 
PARTING. 19 
 
 I do like ease, and pretty things, and to 
 travel ; and oh ! I should like to ride. Then 
 to feel oneself a burden on a poor man. Oh, 
 it would be intolerable. Dear, dear Maurice, 
 don't trouble about me, put me out of your 
 head and enjoy yourself. It is a grand thing 
 to feel that the world is before you, and that 
 you have a good start." 
 
 " I can't understand you, Janet, but I see 
 you do not care for me now, I don't believe 
 I shall ever love any girl as I love you." 
 
 " Oh, yes ! you will love a dozen. You 
 are ever so much too young to think of 
 marrying or engaging yourself. If I were a 
 man I would not marry till I was ever so 
 old." 
 
 "But I suppose you don't think yourself 
 too young to marry now ? " 
 
 " No, I am really older than you." 
 " Nonsense. Why, Janet, I am six months 
 your senior ! " 
 
 " Years don't count — a woman of nineteen 
 is older than a boy of twenty." 
 
 "Let us discuss that by moonlight to- 
 
 2* 
 
20 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 night. You will walk with me all the same, 
 eh, Janet ? " 
 
 " I will," putting the white bowl, now more 
 than half full, beside the basket on the table, 
 " for oh, Maurice, I am awfully sorry to lose 
 you, so is your mother," she added hastily. 
 
 " The poor mother will not see much more 
 of me," he returned with a sigh, " and she 
 will feel it awfully." 
 
 There was a silence. Then Maurice, 
 putting his elbow on the table, leaning 
 forward towards his companion till he almost 
 touched her, when his elbow slipped and 
 knocked over the bowl, which stood 
 perilously near the edge of the table, and 
 all the peas were scattered over the kitchen 
 floor. 
 
 u Oh, you awkward boy ! " cried Janet. 
 " What shall I do ? Dad will be furious if he 
 has no peas, and I hardly like to gather any 
 more unknown to him." 
 
 " I am awfully sorry," exclaimed Maurice, 
 profoundly penitent, "can't we gather them 
 up?" 
 
PAKTING. 21 
 
 " Yes," said Janet, with sudden deter- 
 mination, " we must." She jumped up, ran to 
 a cupboard in the wall, and returned with 
 a dustpan and brush. " Just sweep them 
 up Maurice, then I will put them in the 
 colander and pour water over them, they will 
 not be any the worse." 
 
 This had hardly been accomplished when 
 the truant Barbara returned ; she was greeted 
 effusively, and left in possession of the 
 kitchen. 
 
 " It is too late for a walk now, I am afraid, 
 Janet," said Maurice. " Besides, I would 
 rather have a moonlight walk, wouldn't 
 you?" 
 
 " Yes, but I am not sure whether I ought 
 to go," returned Janet reflectively, " suppose 
 we take Mary too ? " 
 
 " I did not think you would be so unkind, 
 Janet ! Why, it will be our last walk together 
 for many a year, though I don't suppose you 
 care about that." 
 
 "I do, Maurice, more than — than you 
 think," she returned with unexpected tender- 
 
22 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 ness. "I will be sure to come up to 
 supper ! " 
 
 Her young lover caught and kissed her 
 hand. 
 
 " Ah, Janet ! you do care about me a 
 little?" 
 
 " Enough to make me long for your 
 success, and that you should become General 
 Sir Maurice Winyard, without losing either 
 legs or arms on the way." 
 
 " If I write — will you answer my letters ? " 
 
 " Yes, Maurice, certainly ! I love writing 
 letters and receiving letters." 
 
 " No matter who writes to you ? " 
 
 "It quite depends on who writes them," 
 said she with dignity. 
 
 "How I shall look forward to yours," 
 began Maurice, when the click of the garden 
 gate closing warned them of approaching 
 interruption, and in another minute or two 
 Captain Eowley came in. 
 
 "Hollo, Maurice! I have just met your 
 mother and sister ; they were going to tea with 
 Mrs. Hastings and begged you would not 
 
PARTING. 23 
 
 be late — half the old women in the place are 
 assembled to bid you good-bye — and, Janet ! 
 Mrs. Winyard wants you to go up to supper. 
 I am going to write this evening, so I shall 
 not want my hit at backgammon." 
 
 " Very well, Dad." 
 
 " I will see her home ! " put in Maurice. 
 
 " All right, my boy ! You'll soon be 
 escorting the belles of Bombay in their 
 morning rides ! Ah ! it's a grand thing to 
 be at the starting point of the race ; be off 
 now, don't keep your mother waiting." 
 
 Maurice caught up his hat, and waving 
 adieu to father and daughter, walked quickly 
 away down the gravel path and disappeared 
 through the gate. 
 
 Captain Eowley sat down and wiped his 
 brow. 
 
 "Whew! It is an exhausting day, and I 
 am growing old! I find working in the 
 garden knocks me up as it used not ! Fetch 
 me my book from the dining-room, my specs 
 are shut up in it." 
 
 Janet instantly obejed. 
 
24 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 " Dear Dad ! " she exclaimed, kissing his 
 brow, as she gave him the book, "you are 
 as young as ever." 
 
 " None of your nonsense, you deluding 
 monkey. Has that baggage Barbara come 
 in?" 
 
 " Oh, yes, long ago." 
 
 " That's right. Then I shall not send her 
 off this time." A pause, while the old sailor 
 adjusted his glasses and opened his book. 
 " I am not satisfied with Tom ! " he ex- 
 claimed abruptly, " not at all satisfied. I 
 told him to write his weekly letter every 
 Sunday, and he has missed twice lately." 
 
 " But dear father, he never fails to write 
 once a week." 
 
 " That's not it ! Sometimes he writes on 
 Saturday and sometimes on Tuesday. It 
 shows a want of method — a— I'll tell him 
 what I think of it to-night ! " 
 
 " Don't write crossly, Dad. It must be bad 
 to have disagreeable letters from home when 
 one is far away." 
 
 " Well, women are contradictious creatures ! 
 
PARTING. 25 
 
 Why, you quarrelled like cat and dog, when 
 you were together ! " growled her father. 
 
 " Never mind, we are very good friends 
 when we are apart." 
 
 " Janet," resumed Captain Eowley, laying 
 down his book after a few minutes' silence, 
 during which Janet knelt on one of the 
 window seats, and resting her arms on 
 the ledge, gazed at the scene before her, 
 without seeing it, so lost was she in 
 her own imaginings, " I wish you would 
 look at my dress suit. I haven't worn it 
 for months." 
 
 "Why? where are you going?" coming 
 to sit on the arm of his chair. 
 
 " Well, you see, I met Palliser just now, 
 as I was going down to The Grange, and we 
 had a talk. He has just come back from — 
 Spain, I think, and intends to stay at the old 
 Hall till after Christmas. Gad, he looks a 
 new man ! You remember what a white, 
 weary, worn sort of fellow he seemed at 
 that Christmas kick-up he gave a couple 
 years ago ? He has hardly been here since. 
 
26 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 Well, he looks as bright, and sunburnt, and 
 jolly as a sand-boy." 
 
 " I hope he will give another party next 
 Christmas," quoth Janet. 
 
 " He is always very friendly to me," 
 returned her father. " I have promised to 
 go up to The Hall for a couple of days* 
 shooting next week, on Tuesday. He has 
 some fellows staying with him, so I must 
 take my best togs, and as I must run up 
 to Town to see why the deuce they don't 
 pay me that legacy poor old Timbertoes, 
 Admiral Hearty, left me, to buy a mourning 
 ring indeed — as if I would spend fifty pounds 
 on a ring — so I think I'll treat myself to a 
 new pair of shoes at ' Thomas's.' It's about 
 five years since I had a dress pair, by 
 George ! " 
 
 " Yes, do, dear ! I am so glad you are 
 going to The Hall, it will brighten you up. 
 And the Squire seems all right ? It must 
 have been an awful shock to him, the cruel 
 death of his wife." 
 
 M It would have been better if she had 
 
PAKTING. 27 
 
 died in her bed, but the death was a great 
 relief." So saying, the Captain resumed his 
 book, while Jar2 f . sat on thinking till the 
 book slid from the reader's grasp, and a low, 
 long-drawn snore proclaimed that warmth 
 and weariness had done their work. 
 
 Then she stole gently away to her own 
 room, and changed her cotton frock for a 
 dress more suited for evening, arranging her 
 fair locks as becomingly as she could, and 
 tying up a little posy of deep red carnations 
 and verbena, placed it ready to fasten at her 
 throat before going up to the Yicarage after 
 dinner. 
 
 "One may as well leave a pleasant last 
 impression," she said to herself as she looked 
 in the glass, but the tears were in her eyes 
 while she thought it. 
 
CHAPTEE II. 
 
 RANDAL PALL1SER OF MERVYN HALL, 
 
 Tbie the inexorable ran on, and Maurice 
 Winyard was gone. 
 
 To the last Janet was kind, but immovable, 
 and a final flash of indignation helped 
 Maurice to avoid a disgraceful break- 
 down, when he finally said good-bye to 
 her. She was, however, wonderfully kind 
 and thoughtful to the tearful mother with 
 whom Maurice was a prime favourite, and 
 with whom she passed most of her time, as 
 Captain Eowley was away for three or four 
 days at Mervyn Hall. 
 
 Yet she was truly grieved to say farewell 
 to her old playmate. Indeed, she was 
 puzzled by her own feelings, and felt 
 vaguely, that had she been less accustomed 
 
RANDAL PALLISER OF MERVYN HALL. 29 
 
 to Maurice, she might have been in love with 
 him. 
 
 Mary Winyard, her chief friend, was rather 
 offended by Janet's indifference to the beloved 
 brother whom she considered irresistible. 
 Indeed, the young ladies had that mysterious 
 passage of arms termed by the experienced 
 in such matters "a few words," the result 
 of which was a temporary coolness, inex- 
 pressibly painful to both, so unpleasant in 
 fact, that it did not last long. 
 
 Three days after Maurice had said his 
 last adieu, Captain Eowley returned, highly 
 pleased with his visit, the sport, the host, 
 the company, and bringing with him sundry 
 brace of grouse, half of which he immediately 
 despatched to his friend the Yicar. 
 
 " Eh ! Janet, my dear, I've had a fine time, 
 but I'm afraid I have stayed a little too long. 
 You are looking dull and white, my girlie ! " 
 he exclaimed when they had exchanged 
 greetings. 
 
 " Oh ! I am quite well, but we have all 
 been rather miserable about Maurice — 1 am 
 
30 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 sorry for Mrs. Winyard, she is not at all 
 strong, and she is so fond of Maurice." 
 
 "But she can't expect to keep a young 
 fellow like him at her apron-string all his 
 life!" 
 
 " I suppose not ! Still, it is rather hard 
 for her to part with him." 
 
 " It seems a great mistake to be too fond 
 of any one." 
 
 " Well, perhaps it is ! " 
 
 " Look here, Janet ! I have asked Palliser 
 to lunch here on Monday. He is coming in 
 to the Bench, and will come on here after." 
 
 " Oh ! my dear father, why did you ask 
 him ? It will be an awful nuisance getting 
 a proper luncheon ready for him. Just 
 think of all he is accustomed to, and then 
 think of Barbara's cooking ! " 
 
 "Pooh; nonsense," returned her father. 
 " Palliser isn't a cad ; what satisfies me, will 
 satisfy him. We'll give him some cold game 
 and a curry. I'll make the curry myself. 
 He will not starve on that, eh ? " 
 
 " No, I suppose not," returned Janet,, 
 
RANDAL PALLISER OF MERVYN HALL. 31 
 
 " you know best, but I shall borrow Helen 
 Yerner's beautiful fruit spoons — and " 
 
 " Gad ! you'll do nothing of the kind. 
 Palliser is welcome to the best I have, but 
 I'll have no sham finery, by George ! " 
 
 " Ah, yes, it was a shabby thought ! I 
 feel rather ashamed of myself. Mr. Palliser 
 impressed me as being a very grand seigneur 
 indeed, certainly not a man to treat lightly." 
 
 " Oh, he seems much younger than he was 
 two years ago. He asked very kindly for 
 you, and seemed to remember you quite well." 
 
 "That is wonderful, for I have not seen 
 him half a dozen times, though I remember 
 him quite well." 
 
 "He is a good-looking fellow, and a 
 capital shot ! I suppose we'll have a grand 
 new mistress of the Hall one of these days. 
 He talks of being down here a good deal in 
 future ; poor fellow ! his first marriage was a 
 terrible mistake." 
 
 "I should have imagined he was too 
 sensible to make a mistake in such a 
 matter " 
 
32 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 " Bless your little heart, you know nothing 
 about it. The wisest make fools of them- 
 selves in matrimonial affairs. I had a very 
 sensible letter from Tom yesterday," he 
 plunged into a disquisition on his son's 
 prospects, and Palliser was forgotten. 
 
 The return of the Squire of Mervyn Hall 
 was an important event in the estimation of 
 Langford generally. For some seven or 
 eight years he had been almost lost to the 
 county. On leaving college, he had been 
 trapped into marriage with a fascinating 
 adventuress, and when too late, he discovered 
 details of her past career so disgraceful that 
 pardon and reparation were impossible. To 
 live with her, or to get rid of her, was 
 equally out of the question, for she was 
 exceedingly careful not to forfeit the allow- 
 ance he was compelled to make her by any 
 imprudence, and even contrived, by eloquent 
 and judicious silence, to create a little coterie 
 of sympathisers who looked upon her as a 
 victim. Palliser, a proud and sensitive man, 
 was even more keenly alive to the ridicule 
 
RANDAL PALLISER OF MERVYN HALL. 33 
 
 than to the pain of his position, and when 
 the terrible accident, referred to by Maurice 
 Winyard, freed him from the chains that 
 galled so cruelly, he was ashamed of the 
 joyous exultation which swelled his heart, 
 and seemed to pour fresh youth into his veins. 
 
 Highly conservative by nature and training, 
 the idea that the paternal acres should pass 
 from the direct line to a kinsman he dis- 
 liked was intolerable. Therefore the unex- 
 pected restoration of his freedom was inex- 
 pressibly delightful. 
 
 No wonder then that Southshire and Lang- 
 ford opened their arms to receive Palliser, 
 and no one could have accepted the welcome 
 so cordially offered, more graciously than the 
 liberated lord of Mervyn Hall. 
 
 He dined with all who asked him, and 
 from luncheons or even afternoon teas he 
 turned not away. Moreover, he was lavish 
 of his own hospitalities, at first towards his 
 male acquaintances only, but rumour averred 
 that he meditated a series of dinner-parties to 
 ladies as well as to gentlemen. 
 
 vol. i. 3 
 
34 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 It was therefore not to be wondered at that 
 so young and inexperienced a hostess as Janet 
 Eowley considered Palliser rather a formid- 
 able guest. 
 
 In truth she did not give many thoughts to 
 his coming after the first discussion with her 
 father. They would just do their best, and 
 leave the rest to Providence. She was sure 
 of plenty of flowers, and not even the Mervyn 
 gardens could produce finer pears than the 
 solitary " Marie Louise " tree which was the 
 glory of the Navarino grounds. 
 
 " And you are going to have Mr. Palliser 
 to luncheon," said Mary Winyard to Janet 
 the day before that event was to take place, 
 when the latter appeared in the afternoon 
 with an offering of fruit and flowers, as she 
 often did, for the Vicarage gardens were not 
 so carefully tended, nor was their aspect so 
 favourable as that of Navarino Cottage. 
 
 " Yes, that is, my father expects him, but 
 he may not come ; luncheon is not like a 
 dinner, you know." 
 
 " Oh, he will not disappoint you," said Mrs. 
 
RANDAL PALLISER OF MEJJVYN HALL. 35 
 
 Winyard. " He is very well bred, and, I am 
 sure, a kind, generous man. He called here 
 the day after my dear boy left us, and gave 
 the Yicar a cheque for twenty-five pounds 
 towards the repair of the schoolhouse," and 
 Mrs. Winyard sighed as if the gift was a 
 fresh misfortune. She was a small, gentle 
 woman, with soft grey hair, and pretty 
 though faded eyes. She was a noiseless 
 creature, yet marvellously enduring, and 
 greatly beloved by her numerous children 
 to whom she was a kind of Providence, while 
 the Yicar, a big, loud-voiced man of Low 
 Church and intensely Protestant views, was 
 absolutely ruled by her. Never had her 
 quiet strength been so tried as by the recent 
 parting from Maurice, who was her idol. It 
 was no wonder that all subjects were more or 
 less tinged with a sombre hue, and few could 
 be mentioned without a sigh. 
 
 " That was very nice indeed,'' cried Janet. 
 " Now, dear Mrs. Winyard, you must eat one 
 of my pears. They are my very own, from 
 the tree Dad planted for me the day I was 
 
 3* 
 
30 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 twelve years old, and Mary says you have 
 scarcely eaten anything for the last week." 
 
 " Thank you, my dear, my heart is still too 
 full to eat much, but time will reconcile me." 
 
 " You must try to eat though ; you know 
 fasting will do no good." 
 
 " My mother is not so sensible as you are, 
 Janet," said Mary reproachfully, " you are so 
 wise and so strong, you can see any one go 
 with dry eyes." 
 
 "If I am not naturally tearful, Mary, I 
 cannot help it ! I am sure I miss Maurice 
 as much as any of you," cried Janet quickly. 
 
 " Poor fellow ! few have as much heart as 
 he has," sighed Mary. 
 
 Janet looked at her half angrily, half 
 imploringly. 
 
 " My dear child, you must not fancy we 
 want you to be unhappy," said Mrs. Winyard 
 with a smile. " You must cheer us up. Mary 
 and the rest have had a sad time of it with 
 me, I will not give way any longer. I am 
 thinking of going to my sister at Westerton ; 
 a little change will set me up, I shall come 
 
RANDAL PALLISER OF MERVYN HALL. 37 
 
 back quite myself, I hope. How did your 
 father enjoy his visit to the Hall ? " 
 
 " Very much indeed. He shot I don't 
 know how many birds, and met some pleasant 
 people." 
 
 " Poor Mr. Palliser," sighed Mrs. Winyard. 
 " I remember so well all the talk there 
 was about his wedding. He was a very 
 impetuous, headstrong young man, and has 
 suffered accordingly. He was an only son, 
 you know, and much spoiled. His two sisters 
 were older than he was — I hope he will make 
 a nice suitable marriage now. Are you 
 going to have Hopkins to help to-morrow, 
 my dear ? " 
 
 " Oh, no, it is not worth while for only one 
 person in addition to our noble selves," said 
 Janet, "though Barbara is a little awkward 
 about waiting. However, if my father will 
 only talk and not get cross, we will do very 
 well," and Janet rose to depart. 
 
 " I think we may have a few lines from 
 Maurice to-morrow or the day after," said 
 the mother. 
 
38 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 "I hope so!" 
 
 " Janet does not care for such trifles," said 
 Mary. 
 
 " Why are you so disagreeable, Mary ? " 
 whispered Janet as they left the room 
 together. 
 
 " You know very well," was the stern reply. 
 
 The expected Monday was a wild, wet 
 morning, and Janet found it difficult to get 
 the flowers she wanted. However, she 
 managed to make the table look very pretty, 
 and to put on her best " go-to-meeting " 
 dress of thin, black, gauzy stuff — chosen 
 with a view to economy and durability, which 
 suited her fair complexion and bright locks 
 — before the expected guest arrived. 
 
 He was lounging comfortably in an easy 
 chair when she came in, talking cheerily to 
 Captain Eowley, and he started up to greet 
 her. 
 
 Janet looked at him more carefully than she 
 had ever done before, and at once decided that 
 
RANDAL PALLISER OF MERVYN HALL. 39 
 
 he was much better-looking than she thought. 
 Eandal Palliser was tall and well set up, 
 moreover he had a decided air of distinction ; 
 his hair was dark and curly, his eyes still 
 darker, rather small, exceedingly keen, with 
 a fierce light in them sometimes, a heavy 
 moustache hid his mouth — and so concealed 
 one important indication of character — but 
 the chin was well shaped, though large and 
 strong, with a slight cleft. 
 
 " I am going to venture a personal observa- 
 tion," he said when Eowley introduced him 
 to his daughter, who observed his voice was 
 deep, almost harsh, though his accent was 
 refined. " Miss Eowley has grown consider- 
 ably since I had the pleasure of seeing her ! — 
 May I say so without offending ? " 
 
 " You certainly may," replied Janet, 
 turning from the keen searching glance with 
 which he eyed her from head to foot. " I have 
 passed the age of growing, so do not disdain 
 to be reminded of it, but I don't think I am 
 really taller, I only look older." 
 
 " Well, perhaps so, I can only record the 
 
40 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 impression I have received. It must be two 
 years since we met." 
 
 "Not till Christmas," said Janet, flattered 
 by his recollection of her, "you remember 
 the delightful ball you gave." 
 
 "Very glad it has left such a pleasant 
 memory. Shall I give another next Christ- 
 mas ? " 
 
 " Oh, yes ! pray do ! " 
 
 "Luncheon ready, Janet?" asked her 
 father. 
 
 " Yes, quite," 
 
 " Come, Mr. Palliser, take my daughter." 
 
 The little dining-room looked pretty and 
 comfortable, for Janet, without asking the 
 Captain, had lit a fire of coal and wood, which 
 was particularly welcome on this first wet 
 day after a long spell of' sunshine. 
 
 " It is delightful to see a fire," exclaimed 
 Palliser, " they let me breakfast without one 
 this morning. I have been so long away 
 that I have forgotten how to manage my 
 servants." 
 
 Then the conversation turned on Palliser's 
 
KANDAL PALLISER OF MERVYN HALL. 41 
 
 travels, and he gave some brief graphic 
 descriptions of what he had seen. A bull 
 fight, the Alhambra, the Escurial ; Janet was 
 deeply interested, and put many questions 
 respecting the country and its people that 
 showed she knew more of the subject than 
 the ordinary school-bred young lady. 
 
 " I suspect you are a voracious reader, Miss 
 Rowley ? " said Palliser, with another long 
 penetrating look, a look that, to her annoy- 
 ance, brought the colour to her cheek. It was 
 so foolish — so uncalled for — so like a mere 
 country-bred Miss, to blush when a mere new 
 acquaintance let his eyes rest upon her. 
 
 " I believe you," her father was saying 
 while she scolded herself. " Give her a book, 
 and she'll forget everything and everyone, 
 and read till all's blue." 
 
 " Only when it is a book I like very much," 
 murmured Janet apologetically. 
 
 "It is an idling, useless habit," resumed 
 Captain Eowley, shaking his head. " Janet and 
 I have a bit of quarrelling over it sometimes. 
 What good can poring over books do a girl ? 
 
42 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 — only unfit her for her natural work, and — 
 and spoil her complexion ! " 
 
 " Thank Heaven ! Her studies have not 
 as yet produced that fatal effect on Miss 
 Eowley," said Palliser, smiling pleasantly. 
 "What good can reading do, Captain Eow- 
 ley ? — why, make a charming companion of 
 the reader. You must come up to the Hall, 
 and range through the library at your own 
 sweet will, Miss Eowley ! " 
 
 "Oh, thank you!'' cried Janet, her eyes 
 sparkling gratefully. " You must not fancy my 
 father is the tyrant he represents himself. 
 He gives me an occasional scolding, but 
 really, I have all the reading I want." 
 
 " Yes, I suspect you do very much what 
 you like," returned Palliser significantly. 
 
 "Talking of Spain," resumed Captain 
 Eowley, " I remember when I was with the 
 Mediterranean squadron, making an ex- 
 pedition to Granada with three of my 
 messmates," and he plunged into an account 
 of the difficulties they had got into in 
 consequence of their ignorance of Spanish. 
 
RANDAL PALLISER OF MERVYN HALL. 43 
 
 This lasted till luncheon was finished. 
 
 Palliser did not offer to go away at once, 
 he accompanied his young hostess into the 
 drawing-room, and, as the rain clouds had 
 cleared away, admired the view from the 
 windows, and said that an open prospect was 
 the one thing wanting at Mervyn Hall. 
 
 " It is rather too much shut in with trees. 
 I shall have them thinned in some directions. 
 I expect my sister to stay with me next week, 
 then you must come and have a look through 
 my books — I see a piano ! Do you play, or 
 sing?" 
 
 " Both, but after a very school-girl fashion," 
 said Janet, " in short, I can do nothing in 
 particular," she added good humouredly. 
 
 "Except read, eh?" said Palliser, "and 
 that atones for everything." 
 
 " Not quite, I fear," she replied. 
 
 " The Vicar's eldest boy has just gone out 
 to India, hasn't he ? " said Palliser to Captain 
 Eowley. 
 
 " Yes. His women-kind haven't done crying 
 over him yet, nor this girl of mine either." 
 
44 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 " Ah," said Palliser smiling, while his eyes 
 sought hers, " I think I remember you danced 
 about seventeen times with him at my famous 
 Christmas party." 
 
 " Oh, no, Mr. Palliser. There were only 
 sixteen dances, and I waltzed with Prank 
 Verner and Dick Palliser and two or three 
 others," exclaimed Janet, laughing, and a 
 good deal surprised that the Lord of Mervyn 
 Hall should have noticed her. 
 
 46 Poor fellow," he resumed. " He must be 
 crying his eyes out over the sad parting with 
 his charming playfellow." 
 
 " I assure you Maurice Winyard is not given 
 to shedding tears. He was sorry to leave us 
 
 all, but he was as glad to go as I should 
 
 have been in his place," cried Janet warmly. 
 
 " Then, do you sigh to leave your happy 
 valley, Miss Eowley ? " 
 
 " Yes. I am ashamed to say, for I am 
 very happy, but I suppose people grow rest- 
 less occasionally." 
 
 Palliser did not answer for a moment, then 
 he said : 
 
RANDAL PALLISER OF MERVYN HALL. 45 
 
 " You acknowledge yourself happy ! What 
 a wonderful young lady! By the way, 
 Captain Eowley, why should you wait for my 
 sister's coming to give me the pleasure of a 
 visit ? Will you and Miss Eowley come and 
 lunch with me on Thursday next or any other 
 day that suits you ? I will get Colonel and 
 Mrs. Verner to come." 
 
 " Not on Thursday," said Captain Rowley. 
 " I am going to see my potatoes planted and 
 I can't put it off." 
 
 " Well, Friday then ? " 
 
 " Thank you ; yes, if it is fine. It is rather 
 too long a tramp in wet weather." 
 
 "It is rather too long for Miss Eowley in 
 any weather," exclaimed Palliser. "I will 
 send the carriage for you if you will allow me." 
 
 "Oh, no, it is quite unnecessary," said 
 Janet, " I walk a great deal with my father. 
 I can manage ten miles on end quite well. 
 Mary Winyard and I often walk over to the 
 Hall anditrespass on your grounds. I fancy 
 we know? your woods better than you do 
 yourself." 
 
46 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 " I doubt that," returned Palliser, with a 
 sort of wistful look softening his hard eyes. 
 " I have spent many happy boyish days 
 tramping through them, Miss Eowley, before 
 you were born." 
 
 " Not very long before," she returned. 
 
 " By George, you look three or four years 
 younger than when you were here last," 
 exclaimed Eowley. 
 
 " Well, you must show me through them," 
 said Palliser, rising to take leave, " and we 
 shall see who knows them best. I daresay 
 poor young Winyard is thinking of his last 
 stroll there, for I suppose he too was among 
 the trespassers ? " 
 
 " Oh, yes, of course," returned Janet with 
 a bright smile and a little defiant nod. 
 
 Palliser shook his head as he said good-bye. 
 
 " Then on Friday I hope to see you, and 
 if we have bad weather I will send the 
 brougham. We can amuse ourselves indoors 
 with books and pictures for once. Good- 
 bye, Captain Eowley, and many thanks for a 
 couple of delightful hours." 
 
RANDAL PALLISER OF MERVYN HALL. 47 
 
 And Palliser bowed himself out. 
 
 "Why did you not say how nice he is, 
 Dad ? " exclaimed Janet when he had driven 
 off in the dog-cart which had been waiting for 
 him. " It will be great fun going to luncheon 
 and examining the library, only I hope the 
 books are not too handsomely bound, or I 
 shall not like to borrow them ; and I have 
 read nearly everything at the Vicarage." 
 
 "I think he liked the curry," said her 
 father, disregarding her observations, "and 
 he didn't turn his nose up at the bitter beer. 
 Palliser is too much a gentleman to give him- 
 self airs. He'll be quite an acquisition to the 
 neighbourhood. Janet, my dear, get me the 
 Standard, I've not had time to look at it to- 
 day. I wish you would read a bit to me, for 
 my eyes feel a little tired. There's an article 
 on the present condition of the navy (which 
 is a disgrace to the nation, by Jove !)•; read it to 
 me," and he settled himself in his favourite 
 arm-chair with a disgracefully obvious in- 
 tention of taking " forty winks." 
 
 Palliser drove homewards at a rapid pace ; 
 
48 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 though a rather spoiled man of the world, in 
 spite of the mistakes and misfortunes of his 
 earlier manhood, he had still a certain taste 
 for simplicity and naturalness. He had been 
 sincere in his assertion that he had enjoyed 
 his visit to Navarino Cottage. He had a 
 kind of liking for the old sailor, partly a legacy 
 from his early days, those days " when the 
 light that surrounds us is all from within," 
 and lends a charm to all connected with them. 
 But also he was greatly struck with his old 
 acquaintance's daughter. Janet seemed to 
 him the embodiment of health, mental and 
 physical, without a tinge of the coarseness 
 or loudness that sometimes accompanies those 
 fortunate conditions. With all her simple 
 straightforwardness she had " distinction," and 
 the promise of a superb figure, thought 
 Palliser, "not exactly a beauty, but she'll 
 develop into something quite out of the 
 common ; she seems like a woman one could 
 
 trust, if any are to be trusted, and " here a 
 
 lady passed in a pony phaeton, and bowed 
 graciously. 
 
RANDAL PALISHER OF MERVYN HALL. 49 
 
 Palliser raised his hat, while a hard look 
 came over his face, changing it utterly. 
 
 " Ah, madam," he muttered, " the chances 
 for your son succeeding to the family estates 
 are considerably diminished. How natural it 
 is to hate one's successor, unless he is indeed 
 one's own flesh and blood. No, Mrs. Eichard 
 Palliser, your husband shall not be long heir 
 apparent ! " 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 IN THE LIBRARY. 
 
 The prosperous banker of Langford was 
 second cousin to Palliser, and of the same 
 name. In his boyhood they had been 
 friendly, and he was always welcome at the 
 banker's table, but after his hasty and un- 
 fortunate marriage a strong dislike to his 
 relative grew up in Palliser's mind. His 
 banker kinsman, or Eichard, his son, would 
 inherit after him, if he died without a legiti- 
 mate male heir — and by his own folly he was 
 cut off from the chance of having one, so long 
 as the adventuress who had entrapped him 
 lived and conducted herself decently. 
 
 He had to buy freedom from her presence 
 at a high price, and the sense of relief con- 
 sequent on her removal from this mortal 
 scene was almost intoxicating. 
 
IN THE LIBRARY. 51 
 
 He was anxious to marry, yet half afraid 
 to risk making the all-important choice. 
 
 He must find some one whose past was 
 known to all amongst whom she lived. She 
 must be young, too, and fair — fair with the 
 beauty of health — and well-born. 
 
 Palliser was a passionate admirer of 
 beauty, and eager in the pursuit of whatever 
 was the whim of the moment — two weak- 
 nesses which had betrayed him into the 
 galling position he had endured for more 
 than seven years. But that was all over 
 now, and he felt once more lord of himself 
 and able to think of the future with hope. 
 The sunshine of his mood was reflected on 
 all, down to the humblest groom in his 
 hitherto neglected stables. 
 
 The days which intervened between this 
 
 memorable Monday and the promised visit 
 
 to Mervyn Hall went swiftly, for Janet was 
 
 a busy creature, and rarely found her day 
 
 quite long enough. Indeed, she was apt to 
 
 get her time into a tangle, from undertaking 
 
 rather more than she was able to accom- 
 
 LIBRARV * 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 
 
52 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 plish, and then, instead of keeping steadily 
 at work to clear it off, yielding to the 
 temptation to read "just a few pages more " 
 of some entrancing book ; or " to try over " 
 that new waltz which some one had sent her, 
 when she ought to have been regulating the 
 linen cupboard, or entering items in the 
 " daily expenditure book." Thus she was apt 
 to fall behind-hand, which necessitated a rush 
 and scramble to get things into their proper 
 order, and generally entailed a scolding 
 from her father, a confession on her part, a 
 tender reconciliation and a stern determi- 
 nation in the culprit's own mind, to begin 
 afresh on the following Monday and to keep 
 everything straight for ever after. 
 
 Besides the " Home " office work, Janet 
 was of course as much a district visitor as 
 the Vicar's daughters, a Sunday - school 
 teacher and a member of the Dorcas club, 
 in all of which she was more or less a 
 failure. She believed all the tales the 
 mendacious old women and overburdened 
 mothers told her, and denuded herself of her 
 
IN THE LIBRARY. 53 
 
 pocket-money, which was as a drop in the 
 ocean of misery she tried to relieve, and 
 called down stern rebukes from the Captain, 
 for this misapppropriation of her funds. 
 But with the poor she was an immense 
 favourite. She never preached, she listened 
 sympathetically to their sad stories, and 
 sometimes wept with the narrators. She did 
 not scold them because their houses were 
 not in apple-pie order, moreover she always 
 asked permission to come in as politely as 
 she would at Mervyn Hall itself, and for all 
 her pains, the Vicar declared that two or 
 three visitors of her stamp would suffice to 
 pauperise every parish in the county. He 
 little knew how she hated the work, even 
 more than teaching in the Sunday-school. 
 From this task, however, she took courage 
 to free herself when about nineteen, as there 
 were more volunteers for this work than for 
 other fields of labour. 
 
 She was at times cast down by the sense 
 of her own weakness and imperfections, and 
 determined over and over again to cultivate 
 
54 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 self-control and reason, and above all, the 
 habit of saying "No" — a word very im- 
 possible to Janet. 
 
 "Yet I ought to have a backbone," she 
 thought one day, as she was returning from 
 a very depressing round in one of the 
 poorest districts. " I sometimes fancy I am 
 ever so much cleverer than Mary, because I 
 like to read tough books. But she has far 
 more sense and is twice as useful ! I wish I 
 had not said I would try and get poor old 
 Grannie Brown eighteen pence more out of 
 the poor-box, for I am afraid the Vicar will 
 not give it. He has so much to do with so 
 little money, and I haven't a penny left. I 
 know she will expect it, and will never believe 
 I asked for it ! How tiresome everything is ! 
 I wish I had a great deal of money — money 
 is such a help." 
 
 Here a noise of horse's hoofs on the pave- 
 ment behind made her draw to one side, 
 but the horse paused beside her, and, looking 
 up, she recognized Palliser dismounting. 
 
 " Ha ! Miss Eowley ! " he exclaimed, and 
 
IN THE LIBEAKY. 55 
 
 he drew the bridle over his arm. " You are 
 out late." 
 
 " I have been out for a long time too," 
 returned Janet, with a sigh. 
 
 " And not agreeably employed, I am 
 afraid," returned Palliser with a smile. " You 
 do not look happy." 
 
 " Happy — I am wretched ! I have been 
 visiting the poor people in my district, and I 
 hate it ! " 
 
 " Then don't go." 
 
 " Oh, I cannot refuse to go ! It would be 
 so cowardly and selfish to hold back, and I 
 suppose it does some good," dejectedly. 
 
 " A great deal more harm than good, Miss 
 Eowley ! It teaches these people to look to 
 others for assistance, and destroys the bracing 
 sense of independence." 
 
 " I cannot believe it is not right to try and 
 help the poor souls, they are more helpless 
 than you can imagine. But I am not at all 
 sure 1 am of any real use. The Vicar says I 
 am most injudicious." 
 
 " I have no doubt you are ! " 
 
56 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 " But why ? " she asked earnestly, anxious 
 to get at the reason of her own failure. 
 
 " Because you are much too charmingly 
 sympathetic not to be imposed upon," re- 
 turned Palliser, gazing at her with a look 
 that confused her. "A woman— a young 
 woman, who can deal successfully with the 
 poor must be hard and unloveable." 
 
 "There must be something wrong some- 
 where," said Janet dejectedly. 
 
 " There is a great deal wrong everywhere ! 
 There is nothing more puzzling than the 
 question how to help the poor without 
 pauperising them. And now I am going to 
 set a splendid example of inconsistency," and 
 he took two or three sovereigns out of his 
 pocket. " Will you distribute this among your 
 poor people ? " 
 
 Janet's eyes sparkled. 
 
 " How kind and good you are," she cried. 
 " You make me quite happy, at any rate for 
 the present. I will go and get some change 
 at once and give some of it to the worst-off 
 people before I go home ! There is a poor 
 
IN THE LIBRARY. 57 
 
 sick boy in Miller's Alley, and an old woman 
 who cannot help herself, but dear Mr. Palliser, 
 don't tell the Vicar ! he would want to direct 
 me what I am to do with the money — and — 
 you understand ! " 
 
 " I understand you perfectly, and you may 
 trust me, but are you going to send me off 
 as a reward for divining your wishes ? " For 
 she had held out her hand as if to bid him 
 good-bye. 
 
 " You see I want to go to the grocer's to 
 get change, and I do not want to take you 
 out of your way — so " 
 
 " I understand ! I am dismissed," said 
 Palliser smiling. 
 
 " I really do not want you to go away," 
 began Janet and then stopped, colouring 
 deeply, and greatly ashamed of her own 
 confusion. 
 
 " Ah ! you are too kind to tell me the 
 whole cruel truth, so I shall leave you, but 
 you must not forget your engagement to 
 lunch with me on Friday." 
 
 " Oh, no ! I am very pleased to go, and I 
 
58 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 don't want to send you away, only I do want 
 to go back to one or two of my poor people." 
 
 " Well, good-bye, and when you have any 
 more secrets to keep confide them to me ! " 
 
 " Oh ! I never have any, except this one." 
 
 They shook hands, and Janet turned into 
 the main street, full of exultation. 
 
 "I am terribly late, dearest Dad!" she 
 cried on reaching home, an hour later, 
 knowing what an offence a breach of 
 punctuality was in her father's eyes, "but 
 I will tell you all about it after dinner." 
 
 " I hope you have a good excuse," 
 returned Captain Eowley sternly, "for I 
 have no patience with these irregularities! 
 There's a letter for you from young Winyard, 
 I fancy ; Mary brought it this afternoon 
 — now don't attempt to open it till] after 
 dinner." 
 
 When that meal was over, the Captain 
 solemnly demanded an explanation of his 
 daughter's delinquency ; with much animation 
 she detailed her encounter with Palliser and 
 his generosity to her poor friends. 
 
IN THE LIBEARY. 59 
 
 " Pooh ! " growled Captain Eowley, " two 
 or three sovereigns are not much to him — 
 his readiness to give is anything but a virtue. 
 I shall tell him he could not have a worse 
 almoner than yourself." 
 
 " You are a disagreeable Dad, but do so 
 if you like. It strikes me that he won't 
 refuse when I ask him ! " 
 
 " Look here, Janet ! " said her father 
 seriously, " don't you be conceited, nor 
 make a fool of yourself. These high class 
 men of the world have wonderfully sweet 
 ways with them, and seem to consider the 
 woman they happen to be talking to the only 
 one in the world. But you don't suppose 
 a man like Palliser, accustomed as he is to 
 the finest of fine ladies, would make a fool 
 of himself about a country-bred lassie like 
 yourself! — you are greatly mistaken. I 
 daresay you are worth a dozen of him, 
 but that does not matter, your rusticity will 
 outweigh your merits in his world." 
 
 " What an unkind speech ! " cried Janet, 
 colouring to the roots of her hair, and an 
 
60 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 angry spark lighting up in her very ex- 
 pressive eyes. " Do you think I am so weak, 
 so silly, as to fancy for a moment that Mr. 
 Palliser would think of me as anything — 
 anything but a well-intentioned, inoffensive 
 girl ? — not, remember, that / consider him an 
 unapproachable hero. If he is a well-born 
 gentleman, I am a well-born lady ! But I do 
 think if I wanted help for any charitable 
 purpose, he would give it to me. I wish you 
 had not said what you have. I shall not feel 
 at ease with Mr. Palliser when I see him 
 again." 
 
 " What a fire and tow piece of goods you 
 are, Janet ! By George ! I wish I had held 
 my tongue ! But for all that, it is right to 
 warn you against such a smooth-tongued 
 gentleman. Most young girls are ready 
 enough to swallow all the sweet things 
 offered to them — but " 
 
 "But your daughter has a little more 
 common sense, you will find ! " interrupted 
 Janet, " and now I shall read Maurice's 
 letter," and she was soon deep in its 
 
IN THE LIBRARY. 61 
 
 contents, while Captain Bowley, with a 
 somewhat crestfallen aspect, solaced himself 
 with the one bumper of port which was his 
 allowance after dinner. 
 
 Meantime, Janet's colour gradually toned 
 down. She was pleased and touched by her 
 letter. Maurice expressed himself as sorry for 
 showing the ill-temper of which he had been 
 guilty when they parted, and assured her he 
 was going to take her advice on many points, 
 but that he never would or could regard her 
 as anything other than the queen of his heart, 
 and ended by imploring for a letter to meet 
 him on his arrival at Umballah. 
 
 " I really think Maurice Winyard is nicer 
 than Mr. Palliser," thought Janet, as she 
 folded up her letter. "What fine honest 
 eyes he has ; now Mr. Palliser's make me 
 uncomfortable somehow, but I must not 
 allow myself to be so fanciful. I shall look 
 at him as straightly as he does at me ! 
 Perhaps he thinks I am very badly dressed ! " 
 and she sighed, for Janet had a strong taste 
 for pretty things. " I must write a nice long 
 
€2 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 letter to Maurice and tell him all about Mr. 
 Palliser. I shall miss him frightfully if there 
 is a dance at Mervyn Hall this winter." 
 
 "Well, Janet, what does the youngster 
 say ? " asked Captain Eowley, who was 
 anxious to " open communications " once 
 more with his daughter. 
 
 " Oh ! he seems to have recovered his 
 spirits a little," she returned, putting the 
 letter in her pocket, " he is going to be 
 desperately industrious, and get on at a great 
 pace." 
 
 " I'm sure I hope he will ! Come, Janet, 
 are you going to give me my revenge ? You 
 gave me a tremendous thrashing last night." 
 
 " I don't think I will play with you, after 
 your disagreeable speeches. Yes ! they were 
 most disagreeable ! " 
 
 " Well, I can't help it ! I'll go up to the 
 Vicarage " 
 
 " No, Dad ! you mustn't ! I hear the rain, 
 the clouds were gathering as I came back ! 
 You shall have your game, you suspicious 
 unkind old dear ! " and she went round to 
 
IN THE LIBRARY. 63 
 
 where he sat and kissed the top of his head 
 where there was " a bright and shining 
 place." 
 
 By Friday, the weather had settled again 
 into a fine, grey, autumnal condition, with the 
 wind west by north. The air was fresh, but 
 not cold, and to Janet's delight admirably 
 suited to exercise. 
 
 She greatly enjoyed her walk to the Hall 
 with her father. It was just long enough to 
 make a short rest pleasant, and the movement 
 sent her in with a glowing colour, and 
 sparkling eyes. 
 
 Mervyn Hall was more a charming than a 
 splendid place, situated on the first rise of 
 the swelling upland ; it was richly wooded, 
 with a fine deer park stretching over the 
 steeper part of a slope. The house, of Queen 
 Anne's period, built of red Dutch brick with 
 white stone copings and a fine sloping roof 
 with tall chimneys. 
 
 Janet had often passed the stately front, 
 but had never crossed the threshold except 
 on the occasion of the famous dance, which 
 
64 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 Palliser, from some whim, had given on the 
 occasion of a rare visit to the family seat. 
 
 The sober certainty of daylight stateliness 
 invested the mansion with greater dignity in 
 Janet's eyes, than the sights, the crowd, the 
 hubbub of the dance. 
 
 A solemn butler conducted Captain Eowley 
 and his daughter to the smaller of two large 
 drawing-rooms where the master of the house 
 was standing before the fire, which was very 
 acceptable in the large and rather uninhabited 
 looking room, and in a low easy chair sat 
 a lady, a very graceful, elegant woman, 
 admirably dressed in a dark heather-tinted 
 tweed morning costume ; she had almost 
 black hair, and dark sleepy eyes, very 
 different from Palliser's in expression, and yet 
 she was like him, a sort of family likeness. 
 
 When the solemn butler announced 
 " Captain and Miss Eowley " in very audible 
 tones, Palliser came quickly forward to 
 receive them with flattering cordiality, then 
 turning towards the fireplace, waved his hand 
 saying : 
 
IN THE LIBRARY. 65 
 
 " My sister, Lady Saville, who surprised 
 me very agreeably yesterday. I did not 
 expect her quite so soon." 
 
 Lady Saville rose languidly, and held out 
 her hand to Janet, and then to her father. 
 " You cannot remember me," she said, " but 
 I hope I have a place in your memory, 
 Captain Eowley, for I have not forgotten 
 your letting me gather strawberries in your 
 garden when my poor, dear mother took me 
 to see you ages ago — not long before she 
 died." 
 
 The old sailor protested gallantly that the 
 halcyon day had been ever present to him. 
 
 " It must be more than ten years since I 
 saw this dear old place," she said, settling 
 herself again in her chair, and continuing to 
 talk in subdued tones to the admiring captain, 
 while Palliser drew Janet to the window 
 to point out where he intended to make an 
 opening in the wood that a peep at the 
 country beyond might be obtained. 
 
 " You walked all the way here ? " he broke 
 off from his explanation to exclaim. 
 
 vol. i. " 5 
 
66 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 "It is not much more than three miles, 
 and I quite enjoyed it," she returned. 
 
 " You look as if you had. I never knew 
 before the beautifying properties of exercise." 
 
 " Pleasant things make one look pleasant, I 
 suppose ! " said Janet in some confusion, a 
 struggle between gratified vanity at his un- 
 disguised admiration, and a vivid recollection 
 of her father's warning, disturbing her 
 equanimity. 
 
 " How does your district get on ? " resumed 
 Palliser, " and have you any more secrets to 
 entrust me with ? " 
 
 " No ; but I have made some poor things 
 very happy — thanks to you." 
 
 "Well, you must let me employ you to 
 distribute my charity again ! " 
 
 " Oh ! my father says I am not to ask you 
 for any more money." 
 
 "He cannot quarrel with you if I offer it." 
 
 " No, I suppose not ; but I shall not want 
 any more for a while." 
 
 " My sister hopes to act as mistress of the 
 house for some time," said Palliser abruptly. 
 
IN THE LIBRAEY. 67 
 
 " Her husband, Sir Frederic Saville, has gone 
 to India to shoot big game, and her boys are at 
 school, so she is alone. I think you will like 
 her, she is bright and very adaptable." 
 
 " She seems charming ! and if she ever 
 talks to me, I am sure I shall be very 
 pleased." 
 
 "You puzzle me a good deal, Miss 
 Eowley," said Palliser, leaning back against 
 the window frame, and looking at her at his 
 ease. "I cannot make out whether you 
 have an abjectly low opinion of yourself, or 
 are perfectly assured ! " 
 
 " Sometimes I am one and sometimes 
 the other," returned Janet thoughtfully. 
 "Maurice Winyard always told me I was 
 dreadfully inconsistent." 
 
 " What an audacious youngster ! I should 
 not dare to make such a speech ! " 
 
 " No, I daresay not, but I have known 
 Maurice all my life." 
 
 " I see the advantages of his position, Miss 
 Eowley " 
 
 The announcement of " Colonel and Miss 
 
 5* 
 
68 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 Verner " broke off their conversation, and this 
 arrival was quickly followed by that of a 
 neighbouring squire and squiress, and a man 
 who was staying with them. 
 
 Then came luncheon, which was the most 
 amusing meal at which Janet had ever 
 assisted. 
 
 The viands, the table decorations, the 
 service, were all superior to anything she had 
 ever seen before, for though some smart 
 dinners were given at Langford, Janet was 
 not invited to them. It was the talk, how- 
 ever, that amused and interested her. 
 
 Lady Saville, without saying anything 
 striking, managed to keep the ball rolling, 
 and to draw out everyone. She sat between 
 Captain Eowley and Colonel Verner, the 
 latter a rather grumpy veteran, whom she 
 soothed and flattered into a very benign 
 condition. Of course, Palliser had the 
 squiress on his right, and Miss Verner — who 
 was a good deal older than Janet — on his 
 left, but the latter was quite happy between 
 the squire and his guest — a bright young 
 
IN THE LIBRARY. 69 
 
 barrister, well-versed in theatres, concerts, 
 balls, and all the routine of London life — to 
 whom she was well pleased to listen — though 
 by no means in silence. 
 
 Luncheon over, the party set out to look at 
 the grounds and stables, and to discuss the 
 improvements Palliser proposed to make, and 
 the sun had disappeared behind the western 
 woods before the Squire's carriage and the 
 Colonel's pony-chaise came round for their 
 owners. Captain Eowley and his daughter, 
 having no conveyance, were free to remain a 
 little longer if they chose. 
 
 " Do stay and have a cup of tea with me," 
 said Lady Saville, in her soft, caressing way to 
 Janet. " Eandal, make Captain Eowley stay ; 
 they can have the phaeton to take them home." 
 
 " Or, better still, I'll drive them back myself 
 in the dog-cart," cried Palliser. " You don't 
 object to a dog-cart, Miss Eowley ? " 
 
 " Oh, no ! I enjoy driving immensely." 
 
 "In the meantime, come and look at the 
 library," he continued. " It was to look at it 
 I lured you here." 
 
70 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 " And you must come with me to my 
 sanctum," said Lady Saville to Eowley. " I 
 do not care for the solemnities of a library 
 — besides, I want to show you some wonder- 
 ful Indian weapons Sir Frederic sent home 
 to my brother." 
 
 " Come then, this way," said Palliser, and 
 Janet followed him down a passage, softly 
 carpeted, and decorated with carved cabinets, 
 huge china vases, and stands full of flowering 
 plants, to a wide door, which admitted to a 
 grand room, with an arched ceiling, lined on 
 three sides with books. The fourth was 
 pierced by tall windows, furnished with 
 window seats, great marquetry tables, and 
 comfortable chairs, sofas and settees, covered 
 with dull green leather, busts, stands for hold- 
 ing heavy books of prints — all the usual furni- 
 ture and decorations of a luxurious library 
 appeared before the delighted eyes of Janet. 
 
 She paused when she had crossed the 
 threshold and looked round. 
 
 " What a paradise of books ! " she said, 
 almost in a whisper. 
 
IN THE LIBRARY. 71 
 
 " I don't know that I should apply such a 
 term to it," said Palliser, smiling. 
 
 " I feel a sort of awe," she went on. " After 
 all, we are in the presence of mighty spirits." 
 
 " Say living influences rather," and Palliser 
 proceeded to explain that the library at 
 Mervyn was originally small, but that his 
 grandfather had greatly enlarged it. He 
 showed her the small space occupied by the 
 original^ collection. " My father was a great 
 lover of books, and bought a great quantity. 
 Had he lived he would have made this a fine 
 library, but he died while I was a child ; since, 
 I have added a few works of importance from 
 time to time." 
 
 " Then you are fond of reading, too ? " said 
 Janet. 
 
 " Well, yes, occasionally ! There is so 
 much to|be done, that one does not get time 
 to do anything well." 
 
 " EvenjI find that," she returned. 
 
 "I should not have thought so," said 
 Palliser with a smile, " but I must not forget 
 your poor old folk." 
 
A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 " Yes," with a sigh, " they take up a great 
 deal of time." 
 
 " Why do you worry about them ? At this 
 side, Miss Rowley, are all the novels, a 
 gorgeous array ; but you must not read any, 
 or all of them, mademoiselle ! you must ask 
 my permission." 
 
 " Very well ! " said Janet, " and these 
 splendid-looking big books ? " 
 
 " They are volumes of history and 
 biography, then travels and geography. 
 Those shelves contain philosophical works, 
 etc." 
 
 " What wealth ! " sighed Janet, as she 
 began to walk slowlyjround, looking at the 
 titles. 
 
 " Ah ! " she exclaimed, " here is one I have 
 read about in the Spectator, ' Buckle's History 
 of Civilisation.' It must be a wonderful 
 book." 
 
 " It is, but I don't think you would get 
 through it." 
 
 "Why?" 
 
 "It is too heavy and indigestible for so 
 
IN THE LIBRARY. 73 
 
 young and bright a creature as you are," he 
 returned. 
 
 " Being young need not make me stupid," 
 said Janet, disregarding the compliment. 
 
 Palliser took down the first volume and 
 handed it to her. 
 
 " Of course not, but there is a certain 
 fitness of things which you outrage by such 
 studies. Nevertheless, take the book if you 
 fancy it.*' 
 
 " Thank you very much. I don't quite 
 like to take it, it is so beautifully bound." 
 
 "Pooh! do not think about that! You 
 will do it no harm ; take both volumes," and 
 he laid them on one of the tables. " Now sit 
 down here and rest. You have been walking 
 about ever since luncheon." 
 
 Janet complied. 
 
 Palliser exercised a sort of fascination over 
 her, though she mentally repeated that his 
 evident interest in herself was only the 
 passing whim of a blase man of wealth and 
 fashion. Yet he attracted her. 
 
 She had a curious longing to try her 
 
74 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 strength against his, still she was a little 
 afraid of him, a little doubtful of him. 
 
 But to-day he was very gentle, and soon 
 drew her to talk of her past life and ex- 
 periences. 
 
 He was much amused at the mixture of 
 simplicity and common sense in her talk, the 
 utmost frankness streaked with sudden eddies 
 of piquante reserve. 
 
 Thus he heard of how she had paid two 
 visits to an uncle in London, the brother of 
 her mother, who went every day to Somerset 
 House, had a daughter about her own age, 
 and also of the wild delight of going to 
 theatres, and her general interest and joy at 
 being in London. 
 
 "I suppose you found Langford rather 
 dull after the strong excitement of Town 
 life ? " said Palliser, watching her through his 
 half-closed eyes. 
 
 "No, not exactly! I love Langford in 
 spring and summer and autumn, but I 
 should like London in winter." 
 
 " What, in spite of the fosrs ? " 
 
IN THE LIBRARY. 75 
 
 " They were not very bad when I was 
 there. I used to enjoy looking at the shop 
 windows when they were lit up." 
 
 " My dear Miss Eowley, that was not at all 
 an intellectual amusement." 
 
 " No, of course not ; but I am not in- 
 tellectual ! " 
 
 " I am not sure ; you have asked for a very 
 tough book." 
 
 " But it may be too much for me ; still I 
 should like to try it," opening the book with 
 a loving touch, and glancing at the contents. 
 
 There was something very charming in her 
 self-forgetfulness, for her candour had in it 
 nothing rough or abrupt. Her voice was 
 soft and low, her manner so reposeful that it 
 took the edge off whatever was sharp or 
 trenchant in her utterance. 
 
 " Then pray take it with you ! If it tires 
 you, send for something else, the books here 
 are quite at your service. Would you like 
 another ? — some poetry. You are fond of 
 poetry, I suppose ? — you look poetical ! " 
 
 Janet laughed pleasantly as the butler 
 
76 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 entered, and observed : " Her ladyship says 
 tea is ready." 
 
 " What a bore ! " cried Palliser; " it is quite 
 heavenly to sit here and listen to «the first 
 volume of your reminiscences." 
 
 "You remind me that I have talked too 
 much," returned Janet, colouring deeply. 
 
 " No, you must not say that ! " exclaimed 
 Palliser, starting up and speaking very 
 earnestly. " Do you think me a humbug ? 
 Do you think me a soulless idiot, that I am 
 incapable of interesting myself in your con- 
 versation ? When you know me better you 
 will think differently." 
 
 " I think you are very kind, indeed I do ; 
 but don't let us keep Lady Saville waiting for 
 tea." 
 
 The drive back was very pleasant, and a 
 fitting finish to one of the brightest days 
 Janet had ever spent. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 MORNING VISITS. 
 
 But the exhilarating effect did not last. 
 
 Usually a day of pleasure supplied Janet 
 with subject matter for animated talk and 
 agreeable thought during a week at least, 
 while this pre-eminently delightful afternoon 
 did not inspire her with any vivid de- 
 scriptions when she spoke of it to Mary 
 Winyard or her mother. Its principal charm 
 was the quiet talk with the master of the 
 house in his delightful library, and on this, 
 she was not inclined to dilate, preferring to 
 describe Lady Saville in glowing terms. 
 
 In truth she was much fascinated by that 
 lady, and flattered by the notice she had taken 
 of a mere country girl like herself. Nor did 
 she get on very well with " Buckle's History," 
 though it was the sort of book she loved. 
 
78 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 She found that Palliser's face, especially his 
 eyes, came between her own and the page. 
 This troubled her a good deal, she did not 
 want to think of him, though she admired 
 him in a reluctant way, and was decidedly 
 gratified by the attention he paid her. It was 
 not unmixed gratification however. There was 
 an odd uneasiness in it, a formless kind of 
 doubt which was inseparably associated with 
 her new friend, and both haunted her to a 
 distressing degree. Busy herself as she 
 would, she could not get rid of the image 
 which was for ever presenting itself. She 
 was for ever on the alert, and imagining she 
 heard the sound of horses' feet, or the wheels 
 of the dog-cart. 
 
 She was infinitely annoyed with herself for 
 this extraordinary weakness. "I am be- 
 witched ! I must be bewitched," she said to 
 herself, " for I cannot get Mr. Palliser out of 
 my head. I am not sure that I really like 
 him, yet I hope he will come again ; perhaps 
 he would do or say something that might 
 break the spell. I wonder if he could be 
 
MORNING VISITS. 79 
 
 revengeful. How useless it is to speculate as 
 to what he is ! I shall never know, and what 
 is it to me?" Here her conjectures were 
 suddenly dispersed by faint sounds which 
 came quickly nearer ; yes, it was the sound of 
 wheels, and visitors in carriages were not 
 frequent at Navarino Cottage. 
 
 Another moment settled the matter, as a 
 low phaeton, drawn by a pretty pair of ponies, 
 stopped at the gate, and she saw that Lady 
 Saville held the reins. Janet went forth to meet 
 her with a frank welcome in her smiling eyes. 
 
 " So glad to find you at home," said Lady 
 Saville, as she alighted and gave the reins to 
 her groom. "I quite intended to come 
 before, but I was obliged to run up to London 
 for a couple of days, and my brother was 
 engaged to a shooting party at the other side 
 of the county." 
 
 " I am very glad to see you," returned 
 Janet. " Come into the dining-room, we have 
 no fire anywhere else." 
 
 " Ah," exclaimed Lady Saville, pausing and 
 looking round, " I remember this pretty little 
 
80 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 garden quite well ; what long years it is since 
 I have seen it ! The thought of them makes 
 me feel quite old. How is Captain Rowley ? " 
 
 " Quite well, but not at home, unfortunately 
 for him," and Janet led the way into the 
 pretty, well-kept house. 
 
 "It is not at all cold," remarked Lady 
 Saville as they came to the dining-room door. 
 " Let us come in here if you do not mind. 
 The view is charming." 
 
 "Oh, yes, certainly," said Janet, and she 
 drew forward an easy chair, but Lady Saville 
 preferred a window seat. 
 
 "The one thing wanting," she continued, 
 " at Mervyn is a view. The house is rather 
 too much shut in with trees, though the trees 
 are very fine. It is such a long, long time 
 since I stayed there. I must say I find it a 
 little oppressive, but Randal will brighten it 
 up. He likes society, and he has had rather 
 a bad time." 
 
 "I hope he may have happiness in the 
 years to come, for he is very generous," said 
 Janet heartily. 
 
MORNING VISITS. 81 
 
 " Oh, yes, he is not half bad. Now, Miss 
 Eowley, I came to ask you a favour ! Will 
 you put on your hat and come with me to 
 return some of these visits ? " and she showed 
 a list of names. " I have been such a 
 stranger in my own country, that I want you 
 to back me up." 
 
 Janet laughed. 
 
 "You do not need backing up, Lady 
 Saville, but I will go with you for my own 
 pleasure. I must give you a cup of tea 
 first." 
 
 %i Thank you ! I should prefer one quietly 
 in this sweet little room to sitting up in 
 state vis-a-vis to a stranger, for, though I have 
 met you but once, I do not feel as though you 
 were a stranger." 
 
 " Thank you ! " exclaimed Janet, " nor do 
 you seem strange to me. Now, if you will 
 excuse me for a few minutes I will bring the 
 tea myself, for our servant has gone out." 
 
 " Oh, do not take that trouble," her visitor 
 cried. 
 
 " It is no trouble ! I should, in any case, 
 vol. i. 6 
 
52 A CHOICE Of EVILS. 
 
 get : .: ready for my rather/ 1 and she left the 
 
 room. 
 Lady Saville looked after her with a 
 
 wondering expression. It amazed her to see 
 gentry — ondoubtei try, bo denuded of 
 
 this world's goods that they had but one 
 servant, and yet looking presentable — quite 
 ■ . v and absolutely happy! Lady 
 
 SaviDe was fairly good-natured and quite 
 willing to do anyone a good turn, provided it 
 did not interfere with herself or her plans. 
 but had never known any material privation. 
 
 Before she had done wondering about 
 tain Rowley's impeeuniosity, Janet came 
 in, carrying a Japanese tray with a pretty 
 little tea service, some brown bread and 
 butter and a small, old-fashioned silver tea-pot 
 with a spirit lamp of less precious metal, also 
 a pile oi delicately-cut bread and butter. 
 
 M You must have had the genius of the 
 lamp to help you, you produced all these 
 charming things so swiftly ! " exclaimed Lady 
 Saville. 
 
 " My genius of the kitchen left everything 
 
MORNING VISITS. 83 
 
 ready," said Janet, smiling, as she brought 
 over a small table to hold the tea-tray, and 
 lighted the lamp. 
 
 Then they fell into easy talk about Langford 
 and its inhabitants. 
 
 " There is one name here I do not seem to 
 know — Winyard, the Yicar of St. Olave's," 
 said Lady Saville. 
 
 "He has been here for nearly seventeen 
 years ; he is an old friend of my father's. 
 Indeed, they are the most intimate friends we 
 have ! " 
 
 "Are there a great many of them? 
 Parsons always have piles of children." 
 
 " Mr. and Mrs. Winyard have five daughters 
 and three sons — the eldest and youngest 
 are boys." 
 
 " How appalling ! " ejaculated Lady Saville. 
 " It is a punishment too great for the worst 
 criminal." 
 
 " They are very happy, however, and Mrs. 
 Winyard is a dear." 
 
 " Poor soul ! I must go and see her," as if 
 that were a sufficient consolation. 
 
 6* 
 
84 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 " Yes ; pray do ! She will be pleased ; she 
 is rather depressed because Maurice has just 
 gone out to India ; she is so fond of him, and 
 he is very good." 
 
 " And a close ally of yours ? " 
 
 " Well, yes," the unmanageable colour 
 coming to her cheek, " though we quarrelled 
 sometimes." 
 
 " What did you quarrel about ? " asked 
 Lady Saville, handing her cup to be refilled. 
 " The usual thing I suppose. He wished to 
 be more than a friend ? " 
 
 " Is it the usual thing ? " 
 
 " Yes, quite, Miss Eowley. People always 
 go over the border in these cases." 
 
 " What a pity ! " exclaimed Janet. " Why 
 is it so ? — and are you sure you are right ? " 
 
 " Yes, quite sure ; as to the reason — well, I 
 do not know, except that the Creator made 
 them male and female! Never be deluded 
 about friendship with a man, my dear Miss 
 Eowley, the thing does not exist." 
 
 " I should be sorry to believe that ! " 
 
 " Now, tell the truth, did not the friend of 
 
MO F KING VISITS. 85 
 
 your youth want you to swear eternal fidelity 
 to him before he went away ? " 
 
 Janet could not help laughing. 
 
 " Yes, to be sure. That laugh was a con- 
 fession, but you must be an unusually sensible 
 girl not to have reciprocated. Why didn't 
 you ? Lovers must be scarce here. What 
 was the matter with him ? — was he very ugly, 
 or very dull, or " 
 
 "No, Lady Saville," said Janet, still laugh- 
 ing ; " he is good-looking and really a nice, 
 good fellow, but he was only my own age, 
 and seemed a mere boy to me. I never could 
 imagine marrying any one who was not older 
 and wiser than myself." 
 
 " Marry ! " exclaimed Lady Saville. " Oh, 
 that would be a terribly serious ending of 
 such an affair ! But you must miss him very 
 much." 
 
 " Yes, we do, immensely ; especially his 
 mother." 
 
 "If it quite suits you, Miss Eowley, I 
 think we might set out. I want to meet my 
 brother at the station ; the train gets in at six, 
 
86 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 and I must make six or seven calls in the 
 interval. You must give me a map of the 
 country, for I don't quite remember the 
 localities, and there has been so much 
 building." 
 
 "Let us begin with the Winyards," said 
 Janet, putting the cups on the tray, "they 
 are the nearest. " I shall not keep you many 
 minutes," and she left the room. 
 
 " No," said Lady Saville to herself, " she 
 does not care about that boy ; she is un- 
 worldly as yet, by and by she will be like 
 other people. I wonder how she will turn 
 out." 
 
 She rose and walked round the room, 
 looking at the ornaments and knick-knacks, 
 neither numerous. " Some very good bits of 
 old china," she thought, "and funny old 
 miniatures. These people come of a good 
 stock ; they are gentry, though reduced to 
 one servant ; the girl looks like it — what a 
 dull life she must have had, yet she is as 
 bright as if all the joys of existence were at 
 her feet. How long will that last ? 
 
MOKNING VISITS. 87 
 
 "I think," she said aloud, as Janet reap- 
 peared, " I should like to go to Mrs. Palliser's 
 first ; they will probably be out, and though I 
 do not want to pass them over, I don't want to 
 meet them. Eandal detests Mr. Palliser, and 
 1 think his wife a horror ! She had a good 
 fortune, you know, and does not conceal the 
 fact." 
 
 " I do not care for her much," returned 
 Janet, " and we scarcely know her ; we are 
 too small in every way for so important a 
 personage, but the eldest son, Dick Palliser, 
 is not bad ; he dances very well, and I 
 generally waltz with him at the dances 
 where we meet — there are generally two or 
 three in the winter." 
 
 " Is he in the bank, too ? " 
 
 " No. The second son is in the bank." 
 
 " Come, then, let us be going." 
 
 As Lady Saville anticipated, Mrs. Palliser 
 was out, and they proceeded through their 
 list of visits very successfully. Most of those 
 they called upon were not at home. Mrs. 
 Verner, who was a professional invalid, and 
 
88 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 Mrs. Winyard were, however, visible. The 
 former had two ruling passions — first, a craze 
 for possessing every malady under the sun ; 
 secondly, for knowing her neighbours' affairs 
 to the minutest particular. 
 
 They found her in a very comfortable, 
 well-furnished drawing-room, established with 
 many cushions, in a large arm-chair and 
 wrapped in a knitted shawl. 
 
 She apologised at some length for not 
 having called on Lady Saville, giving many 
 particulars of the sad state of health which 
 interfered so much with her social duties. 
 
 Lady Saville begged her not to think such 
 an undertaking at all necessary. 
 
 " I will come to you instead," she said, 
 sweetly. 
 
 " You are very good ! " replied the invalid, 
 then, turning to Janet, she asked : " Did you 
 walk up here or come with Lady Saville ? " 
 
 "Miss Eowley is kindly acting as my 
 pilot," said her ladyship smiling. " Langford 
 is so changed and enlarged that I scarcely 
 know my way about." 
 
MORNING VISITS. 89 
 
 " Oh ! indeed — very nice for you, Janet ! 
 All the other young ladies will be envying 
 you. What news have you of your brother 
 Tom?" 
 
 " He is quite well." 
 
 " I am glad to hear it. There was a 
 report that he had got into some sad scrape, 
 when Captain Eowley went up to Town so 
 suddenly ! " 
 
 " There was no truth in it T assure you ! " 
 said Janet, smiling. " Tom never gets into 
 scrapes. He is the steadiest boy in the 
 world!" 
 
 " Oh ! yes, you think so, I daresay ! It did 
 look a little odd, you know, your father 
 going off so unexpectedly, and he had been 
 up in Town in May. He seldom goes to 
 London more than once a year ! " 
 
 " Poor Captain Eowley ! " exclaimed Lady 
 Saville laughing. " Is it against the laws of 
 Langford that he should go to Town more 
 than once a year ? " 
 
 " And are you going to make a long stay 
 at the Hall, Lady Saville? You have not 
 
90 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 been here for many years. I remember the 
 Colonel and I had come to look at the place 
 just after he had left the service, and see how 
 it would suit us. You were at the Hall with 
 Sir Frederic then, and a gay party — I 
 remember, a fete — the Squire gave. The 
 Kector and his wife (poor Mrs. Courtown 
 died about three years after) took us, that is 
 nearly twelve years ago, and I don't think 
 you look a day older — ah ! the Hall has been 
 shut up ever since ! I hope Mr. Palliser will 
 soon bring home a bonny bride and settle 
 down for good and all ! " 
 
 "I hope he will, Mrs. Verner," returned 
 Lady Saville. 
 
 " And so young Winyard is fairly off, at 
 last ? " resumed the inquisitor, addressing 
 Janet, " and a good thing, too ! He had 
 hung about here quite long enough." 
 
 "Not longer than he could help!" said 
 Janet stoutly. 
 
 " No — I suppose not ! Well, I was thank- 
 ful he scraped through at last, and it's just as 
 well for you, my dear, that he is gone. 
 
MOKNING VISITS. 91 
 
 Young people are so silly, and apt to fancy 
 themselves in love. He was everlastingly at 
 the cottage, or rambling about with my little 
 friend here, Lady Saville — a good deal too 
 much, in my opinion, especially as the poor 
 dear has no mother to look after her ! Now, 
 we all know the Winyards haven't a penny, 
 and it would never do ! " 
 
 " No, certainly not ! " cried Janet, with 
 some irritability. " You must not put us all 
 down as imbeciles ! " 
 
 " Ah, it is all very well to talk in that way, 
 but most young people are imbeciles," retorted 
 Mrs. Yerner. 
 
 " Oh, very well ! " said Janet calmly. 
 
 " It must be curious to hear one's possible 
 love affairs discussed before your face," said 
 Lady Saville, smiling. " I must say, Miss 
 Eowley seems to take it with great equa- 
 nimity." 
 
 " Oh, we are old friends," returned Mrs. 
 Verner, "and take a deep interest in each 
 other's concerns." 
 
 " Oh, very profound ! " ejaculated Janet. 
 
92 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 Tea was here brought in, but declined, and 
 then with politely-expressed regrets that she 
 could not wait to see Miss Yerner, who was 
 expected in every moment, Lady Saville and 
 Janet escaped. 
 
 " Your next visit will be very different," 
 said Janet, as her new friend whipped up her 
 ponies, their heads in the direction of the 
 Vicarage. 
 
 Mrs. Winyard and her daughter received 
 them with kindly good breeding, and they 
 spoke together sympathetically, while Mary 
 seemed a little more cordial to Janet than she 
 had been since Maurice had left, and even 
 promised to take over her work the following 
 morning, and spend it with her friend. 
 
 " Yes, she is a different stamp of woman," 
 remarked Lady Saville, as they drove away. 
 " But how careworn she looks, and what a 
 corvee her existence must have been. Good 
 Heavens ! how can you all live here — driven 
 in upon each other, unable to go outside 
 one's own door without running against each 
 other. You must be saints and ansfels not to 
 
MOKNING VISITS. 93 
 
 be the deadliest foes ! Is it possible you can 
 be content with such mental imprisonment ? " 
 
 " I know nothing beyond it ! " said Janet, a 
 little startled by her companion's earnestness. 
 
 "Even so! But" — looking at her watch 
 — " it is ten minutes to six — I must take you 
 with me to the station, or I shall be too late 
 for Eandal, we will drive you home after." 
 
 " No, thank you ! " returned Janet firmly. 
 " I must stop here. I can walk home in 
 twenty minutes, <w& I cannot be late for 
 dinner." 
 
 " Oh, nonsense ! Eandal will be quite 
 pleased to see you. Your father will not 
 mind — I fancy you do pretty much what you 
 like with him ! " 
 
 " No, indeed, and even if I could, it would 
 hurt me to vex him. I would rather say 
 good-bye here. I would, indeed, Lady 
 Saville." 
 
 And Lady Saville, rather to her surprise, 
 saw she was in earnest, so she brought her 
 ponies to a stand, and bid her young 
 acquaintance a kindly good-bye. 
 
94 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 "Bather a curious girl," she thought as 
 she whipped up her steeds, turning them 
 towards the railway. " I thought she would 
 have jumped at the chance of meeting 
 Eandal, for she seemed to find him rather 
 fascinating last week. She is not quite as 
 transparent as I expected. There is some- 
 thing very taking about her, though." 
 
 Meantime Janet walked on rapidly, half 
 surprised at her own resolution, and almost 
 regetting it. She certainly would have been 
 sorry to vex her father by unpunctuality, but 
 that was not the real source of her firmness. 
 It was a sudden unaccountable fear of meet- 
 ing Palliser, though for more than a week 
 she had wondered why he did not come, and 
 wished to see him more than she cared to 
 admit, even to herself. Now when the chance 
 was offered her, she shrank from availing 
 herself of it. She was nervously afraid of 
 seeming to throw herself in his way, and 
 uneasily cautious about letting him perceive 
 the curious mixture of attraction and 
 repulsion he exercised upon her. She was 
 
MORNING- VISITS. 95 
 
 dreadfully annoyed with herself for this folly 
 and weakness. 
 
 " Really the result of it all is that I am 
 less happy, that is, more uncomfortable since 
 we knew Mr. Palliser," she thought. 
 
 These self-communings brought her to the 
 garden gate, and to her great surprise, 
 Barbara announced the extraordinary fact 
 that Captain Eowley had not yet come in. 
 His almost invariable habit was to return 
 home about a quarter to six, and change his 
 morning coat for a rather smart smoking 
 jacket ; then he ensconced himself in an arm- 
 chair in the dining-room, and read some stiff 
 book till dinner was put on the table, the 
 lecture being usually a cover for a gentle 
 and refreshing snooze. To be sure his 
 spectacles were always wide awake, and re- 
 garding the page before them with severe 
 scrutiny. 
 
 On this occasion, however, Janet had time 
 to put away her hat and mantle, and don 
 an old summer dress which constituted her 
 dressing for dinner, before her "Ancient 
 
96 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 Mariner " returned. Evening had quite 
 closed in and the lamp was lit. 
 
 "Why, dearest Dad, where have you 
 been? Do you know, Sir, that there is no 
 more reprehensible habit than unpunctuality, 
 and you are quite half an hour behind 
 time ? " 
 
 " I am indeed," he replied, laughing 
 pleasantly. " I cry peccavi ! Tell Barbara to 
 bring in dinner, I will just sit down as I am. 
 Where do you think I have been ? " 
 
 " Oh, I have not the least idea." 
 
 " I'll tell you as soon as I have taken off 
 the first sharp edge of hunger. What's this 
 we have for dinner ? " 
 
 " Some bechamel of cod and stewed steak." 
 
 " Well, I hope to Heaven that girl hasn't 
 hurried it first, and let it simmer to rags 
 after ! " 
 
 Having accomplished the feat of dulling 
 the pangs of hunger, Captain Kowley pushed 
 away his plate and said : 
 
 "I was just coming out of the ebb when 
 Lady Saville drove by, and though it was 
 
MORNING VISITS. 97 
 
 quite dusk, she knew me in a moment and 
 pulled up sharp, right under the lamp. She 
 gave me a smile and said, ' Ah ! you have 
 come at the right time. I shall take you as 
 a hostage for your daughter who has just 
 deserted me. Come, Captain Eowley, I don't 
 like driving to the station in the dark, you 
 must take care of me,' and she went on to say 
 how she had had tea with you, and you had 
 guided her round the town. By George, she 
 is one of the sweetest women I ever met! 
 Yet they say her husband does not get on 
 with her. He must be a brute ! So I got 
 into the phaeton, and she drove away to the 
 station. The train was full ten minutes or a 
 quarter of an hour late, and I'm glad I went 
 with her, for there were a lot of roughs about 
 the station yard. Palliser is a deuced well- 
 bred fellow. He thanked me most politely 
 for taking care of his sister, and insisted on 
 sending the groom back with the luggage 
 and taking his seat in order to give me a lift 
 to the turn of the lane." 
 
 " They are both very nice," said Janet. 
 vol. i. 7 
 
98 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 " Lady Saville came in about half-past three, 
 and we had a cup of tea together. It must 
 be wonderful to be rich as she is, to have 
 only to wish for a thing and to get it — but a 
 little monotonous." 
 
 " Eather a pleasant monotony," returned 
 her father. " I am not greedy of money 
 myself, but the monotony of always screwing 
 and paring is more tiresome than the 
 monotony of riches ! Not, by the way, that 
 the Savilles are rich ! They were, but they 
 have lived very fast. They say Sir Frederic's 
 wish to shoot big game is to mask the 
 necessity of shutting up his town and country 
 houses. I'm told that her ladyship knows 
 how to scatter the cash too. But what can 
 you expect from a woman brought up with- 
 out the least idea of the value of money ? " 
 
 " I cannot fancy anyone in the world not 
 understanding its importance," said Janet 
 thoughtfully. 
 
 "Ah, my dear, that's because you have 
 been pinched all your life, I am sorry to say. 
 But it can't be helped, you see I must keep 
 
MOENING VISITS. 99 
 
 a few pounds together for Tom. I must give 
 him a chance — a boy's career is more 
 important than a girl's." 
 
 " Oh, yes, of course," cried Janet, laying 
 her soft hand on the old man's wrinkled fist 
 as it lay loosely doubled on the table. " You 
 need not trouble about me, dear Dad ! I have 
 everything I want, and Tom deserves to be 
 helped — he is very steady. At the same time, 
 I should like to do something, I mean to earn 
 a little money, not to take everything from 
 you, or to be dependent on Tom by and bye." 
 
 " Oh, don't think of these modern crotchets 
 about independence. Women have a right 
 to be provided for by the men. Some honest 
 fellow will take a fancy to you one of these 
 days, and then your future will be provided 
 for in the most natural and satisfactory 
 way." 
 
 "I cannot see the satisfaction of it," she 
 returned laughing. " A future that depends 
 on some man's fancy is woefully indefinite ! 
 But I hope the best man I know will long be 
 here to take care of me, and be taken care 
 
 7* 
 
100 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 of. I am not going to worry about the 
 future too soon." 
 
 For all answer, the old sailor took and 
 pressed the hand that lay upon his own, 
 saying in a low tone as if to himself : 
 
 " Bless your dear heart ! " 
 
 This was the strongest display of feeling he 
 ever permitted himself, and his daughter was 
 perfectly content, 
 
 ***** 
 
 When Palliser and his sister had deposited 
 Captain Eowley within a couple of hundred 
 yards of his own door, they drove on for 
 some time in silence. 
 
 Then Lady Saville said sweetly : 
 
 "What sort of a time have you had at 
 Morden Grange, Eandal ? " 
 
 " The sport was pretty good, but the 
 company a choice collection of bores — our 
 old member was there looking better than 
 ever. By Jove ! a man ought to be ashamed 
 of ' stopping the way so long,' and the wild 
 Tory trash they all talked was amazing. / 
 am as strongly Conservative as any of them, 
 
MOKNING VISITS. 101 
 
 but you can no more resist the spirit of the 
 age, than you can beat back the rising tide. 
 The only course is to lead, to manipulate the 
 movement, instead of letting it crush you. 
 If I ever get my innings I shall pose as a 
 Conservative Liberal." 
 
 " Why do you hang on, waiting to step 
 into poor old Digby's shoes ? There are 
 heaps of towns and boroughs that would be 
 ready enough to send you to Parliament ! " 
 
 "I don't want a town constituency! It 
 knows too much, and wants to drive, not to 
 be led! Besides, I want to identify myself 
 with the old county, the old place. You do 
 not know how intense the feeling is, and 
 above all, the desire to bury the memory of 
 my contemptible accursed folly under a 
 mausoleum of good strong work ! Old 
 Digby's wonderful vitality will, at any rate, 
 give me time for sowing a fine crop of 
 popularity." 
 
 Lady Saville listened to this aud a good 
 deal more, only throwing in a tactful word 
 here and there. She was not quite as much 
 
102 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 at ease with her brother as with others, 
 especially when alone with him. Then, an 
 invisible observer, had such a thing been 
 possible, would have perceived something 
 in her words and manner like " feeling her 
 way " with the masterful master of Mervyn 
 HaU. 
 
 Palliser spoke more to himself than to her, 
 and she was pleased to let the current of the 
 conversation drift as far as possible from 
 herself. 
 
 It was quite dark when they reached the 
 Hall. The wide open door let the bright 
 lamp-light stream out upon the gravel sweep 
 before the entrance, and attendant spirits 
 in the shape of a clerical - looking butler 
 and two liveried satellites descended the 
 steps to assist their employers in the 
 difficult effort of alighting from the low 
 carriage. 
 
 Palliser gathered up the various letters 
 addressed to him which lay on a table in 
 the large square hall, and retired to make 
 his toilette. 
 
MORNING VISITS. 103 
 
 When he and his sister met at dinner, 
 which was laid in a morning-room less 
 spacious than the great dining-room, but 
 still large and handsome, Lady Saville was 
 dressed with great simplicit}^ though most 
 becomingly, in grey silk with some black 
 lace on the corsage ; her glossy black hair 
 carefully arranged, but without ornament of 
 any kind. Palliser looked at her very 
 searchingly before he fell upon the good 
 things set before him. Neither spoke much 
 during dinner, and what they did say was 
 upon the most ordinary topics. 
 
 The servants having left the room, Palliser 
 filled his sister's glass and his own with old 
 Chateau Margaux, and said with a mocking 
 smile : 
 
 "How have you disposed of your fine 
 clothes, Gertrude — sent them to your 
 uncle's ? " 
 
 Lady Saville laughed. 
 
 "Thanks to your generosity, Eandal, I 
 have kept the few I had, but preserve them 
 for resuscitation and transformation in time 
 
104 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 of need ! Beally, sincerely, I am going to 
 be most economical, even to dowdiness." 
 
 " I never saw you look better than in that 
 gown, Quaker-like though it is," he returned. 
 " Yes, you are a pretty woman, unfortunately 
 for yourself, Gertrude ! " 
 
 " I cannot see that it does me any harm," 
 she said demurely. 
 
 There was a short pause. Then Palliser 
 took a few nuts, cracked one, and said 
 slowly : 
 
 " Yes ! I did you a good turn, now is the 
 time for you to pay me back." 
 
 "I am quite willing to do so, Eandal! 
 Though you do not want much help, you 
 can get what you want without much chatter 
 or scandal ! " 
 
 "I am not sure, Langford is like all other 
 small places, horribly given to gossip, and I 
 especially want to escape being talked about, 
 so you must act screen and carry out my 
 directions." 
 
CHAPTEE V. 
 
 AT THE HALL. 
 
 This visit of Lady Saville's to Navarino 
 Cottage, was the prelude of closer inter- 
 course. As the October days grew shorter 
 and touches of frost crisped the air, 
 deepening and heightening the rich autumnal 
 tints on the falling leaves, few of them 
 passed without a visit from the Squire of 
 Mervyn Hall, or his sister, and Janet began 
 to surmount her uneasy admiration and vague 
 distrust of the former. 
 
 The Captain's territories were situated at 
 the junction of Oak Tree Lane and the high 
 road, before it entered the town ; the 
 growing intimacy between the Cottage and 
 the Hall, did not therefore attract as much 
 attention as if the Eowleys had lived the 
 other side of Langford. 
 
106 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 The Southshire hunting season had now 
 begun, and Palliser, who was a keen 
 sportsman, was out of doors as long as 
 daylight lasted, and often longer. 
 
 " In fact, I am alone nearly all day ! " said 
 Lady Saville one fine sharp morning ; she 
 had come in before luncheon, as she 
 occasionally did, and so found Captain 
 Eowley at home. "I wish you would be 
 'real kind,' my dear sir, as the Americans 
 say, and lend me your daughter for a few 
 days. In November there is to be a big 
 party at the Hall, a man's party, so I am 
 going to stay with my sister until it is over. 
 Her husband General Dashwood, has a com- 
 mand at Aldershot. Then I return and stay 
 till after Christmas. In the meantime, I am 
 bored and dull — do have compassion on me, 
 Janet ! " (she had grown familiar enough to 
 call her by her Christian name). " I have 
 no greater temptation to offer than good fires, 
 a large supply of novels from Mudie's and 
 complete freedom, for Eandal starts off to- 
 morrow to a friend's house in Norfolk." 
 
AT THE HALL. 107 
 
 " If my father does not mind, I should be 
 very pleased to stay with you," said Janet* 
 sparkling all over with a happy smile. 
 She had grown very fond of Lady Saville, 
 whose caressing manners and flattering 
 speech made her almost irresistible to a 
 young imaginative girl. But you too will 
 be lonely, dear Dad, if I am away ? " 
 
 " I shan't mind for a little while," he 
 returned. "I know it will be a treat for 
 you, to stay with Lady Saville." 
 
 " Thank you, my dear Captain Eowley ! 
 and when my brother comes back (he will 
 only be a few days away) you will also come 
 to us ? " 
 
 " Thanks, yes. Just to take this child home 
 
 again. 
 
 " Well, Janet, will you come to-morrow ? 
 Eandal will be driving in to catch the 3.0 
 train, and the carriage can call for you after." 
 
 " Thank you, Lady Saville, I shall be quite 
 ready." 
 
 " Are you sure you don't mind being 
 alone, dear ? " asked Janet, slipping her arm 
 
108 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 through her father's when he returned from 
 putting Lady Saville into her carriage. 
 
 « Who — me ? Not at all. I have a lot to 
 do regulating the garden and the con- 
 servatory, besides my club work — I am on 
 the committee now, and I am convinced there 
 has been no end of peculation and mis- 
 management for the last couple of years ! 
 Don't you trouble about me, my pet, go and 
 enjoy yourself. I am right glad you have a 
 chance of being with a high-bred woman like 
 Lady Saville. It's a sort of education — not 
 that I want you to imitate anyone, my dear — 
 but she is a capital model, and it will do you 
 good to be with her ! " 
 
 " Very well, Dad, but I am afraid my 
 manners will never be like Lady Saville's." 
 
 " They are not bad, anyway " — a pause, 
 during which Captain Eowley seemed lost 
 in thought, then he said, as if to himself: 
 "He'll be away a fortnight at least, I fancy." 
 
 "Who, father ?— Mr. Palliser? " 
 
 "Yes. I suppose he is going to Lord 
 Dacre's. I am told there's a couple of very 
 
AT THE HALL. 109 
 
 handsome daughters there, and I daresay 
 now he is a free man he will want to give the 
 hall a suitable mistress — of course he'll look 
 high for a wife." 
 
 " No doubt," said Janet, and turned away, 
 leaving the room to give some direction to 
 Barbara. 
 
 She was distressed to find what a pang her 
 father's words struck to her heart. What he 
 suggested was probable enough, and yet, if 
 his suggestion proved prophetic, how would 
 it be with herself ? In spite of all her efforts 
 to be reasonable — to avoid construing 
 Palliser's constant seeking for her society 
 into anything beyond pleasant, cordial friend- 
 liness — she knew that she would feel bitterly 
 the sense of desertion and deception of the 
 worst kind — self-deception. Then words and 
 looks — which had made her eyes droop, her 
 heart beat wildly — came back, and roused 
 agitating doubts of the speaker's true meaning. 
 
 Even if Palliser ever dreamed of anything 
 so romantic as marrying her, should she ever 
 feel at rest and at home with him ? She 
 
110 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 almost doubted it. How ardently she wished 
 to break the disturbing spell he had thrown 
 over her, and how profound would be her self- 
 contempt if she found she had given him the 
 gold of passionate affection, for the counters 
 of pleasant passing admiration. . . . How 
 weak — how miserably weak she had been ! 
 Well, in future she would be more worthy 
 of her own respect. She wished the dear 
 father were rich, or at least well off, and 
 could take her away to some of the historical 
 cities of the Continent, where in new scenes 
 she would soon forget. " Surely," she thought, 
 "it is more my fancy, my imagination, than 
 my heart that is touched. I will not think of 
 him any more " 
 
 Nor did she for half an hour. Captain 
 Kowley having gone out to attend a pre- 
 liminar} 7 meeting of the committee appointed 
 to enquire into the club finances, Janet 
 instinctively sought distraction in writing to 
 Maurice Winyard, whose letter, now more 
 than three months old, she had not yet 
 answered. 
 
AT THE HALL. Ill 
 
 This accomplished, a sudden question arose 
 to worry her. Would Mr. Palliser call to- 
 morrow on his way to the station ? Just to 
 say ' Good-bye ? ' It would not be an extra- 
 ordinary piece of courtesy if he did, yet it 
 would try her self-command severely. She 
 was now determined to assume an aspect of 
 pleasant friendliness, and suppress all tokens 
 of shy, almost timid pleasure in his society 
 which she feared she had hitherto betrayed. 
 Why should she treat him as a superior 
 being ? He was richer, and more experienced 
 than herself — he had a dominant air that 
 affected her more physically than mentally, 
 that was all — but it was a great deal ! Yes, 
 she almost hoped he would not come, yet she 
 would be greatly disappointed if he did not. 
 
 It was quite a relief when Captain Eowley 
 came into luncheon, full of the financial 
 iniquities already scented by the committee, 
 and a little elated by his sense of superior 
 penetration and practicality as compared to 
 his committee mates. 
 
 " They have chosen old Dobson because he 
 
112 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 was a lawyer before he came into money and 
 retired from business. By George ! he is a 
 regular timber head, and in such a taking 
 about the responsibility devolving on him 
 that he is no use at all. I wish Palliser 
 (Eichard Palliser, I mean) had come on the 
 committee. He knows what he's about — but 
 he's too big a man to be troubled about such 
 trifles as a paltry provincial club. His 
 private room in the bank is club enough for 
 him." 
 
 "You must keep them right, Dad," said 
 Janet, " and now tell me what you are going 
 to do this afternoon." 
 
 "Well, I don't exactly know. I'm told 
 they are to sell off most of the garden and 
 farming tools at poor Bennett's on Monday, 
 there's to be a division of the property 
 Detween the sons and the step-mother. I'd 
 like to pick up a grass-cutter if there's such a 
 thing to be had cheap. I could do the grass 
 myself then, and it runs away with a deuced 
 lot of money hiring a mower every week or 
 two." 
 
AT THE HALL. 113 
 
 " Let me go with you, then. I want a 
 walk — a walk with you, dearest Dad. 
 Coming back I must stop at the Vicarage 
 and tell Mary about Lady Saville's invitation, 
 she will look after my two particular old 
 women for me while I am away." 
 
 "I shouldn't mind going to see them 
 myself if you wish it." 
 
 "I am afraid you would frighten them. 
 You know, you sometimes have a rather 
 gruff quarter-deck manner," returned Janet, 
 shaking her head. 
 
 "You are as saucy a monkey as ever 
 tormented an old salt. Come along, it is a 
 splendid fresh afternoon, put on your hat, 
 and we'll see what we can pick up at 
 Bennett's." 
 
 <fc t%t 7fc *|c 7|r 
 
 The next morning was fine also, but colder 
 with more wind, and in spite of her stern 
 resolution, Janet felt nervously alive to every 
 sound as the hour at which the express to 
 London was due approached. Two o'clock — 
 if Palliser was going to call, he must come 
 vol. i. 8 
 
114 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 soon. Half-past two ! — Janet hastily put on 
 her second-best frock, which she intended to 
 wear every day while at the Hall, and as 
 hastily recommenced her not very extensive 
 packing. Twenty minutes to three —there 
 was hardly any chance of seeing him now — 
 it would only be "a grasp of the hand 
 hastening on," if he did come. Quarter to 
 three ! — Janet's hurry ceased, and she finished 
 her arrangements with almost sad tran- 
 quillity. 
 
 At half-past three the brougham from the 
 Hall drew up at the door ; the attendant 
 groom sent in a message that he feared the 
 carriage was late, but her Ladyship had 
 given the coachman some commissions to 
 do in the town. With these words the 
 functionary in top boots handed in a brace 
 of plump partridges with " Mr. Palliser's 
 compliments." 
 
 Janet bade her father an effusive farewell. 
 At the moment she felt strangely reluctant 
 to leave him, but he seemed so content at 
 her going, that she told herself she was silly 
 
AT THE HALL. 115 
 
 and sentimental, with which conviction she 
 drove off. 
 
 Lady Saville came down to the door to 
 receive her young guest, and conducted her 
 upstairs to her private sitting-room, where tea 
 was ready. 
 
 What a charming house it was, thought 
 Janet, everything in it was more or less 
 beautiful. It looked as if the owners and 
 occupiers were lifted high above every sordid 
 and degrading want, elegance and nobility 
 must dwell within its walls and happiness in 
 its daily life, yet Lady Saville looked neither 
 well nor happy. 
 
 " So glad you have come, dear child ! I 
 have felt unspeakably desolate since Randal 
 left this morning." 
 
 " I daresay you do, Lady Saville ! He is 
 so bright and amusing, you must miss him." 
 
 "Poor fellow! It is something new for 
 him to be bright and, you know, men are 
 seldom bright with their own people at home. 
 Now, let us have some tea. Then we shall 
 have light enough for a walk, and get up 
 
 8* 
 
116 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 an appetite for dinner. You are a great 
 walker, are you not, Janet ? " 
 
 "lam afraid I am not great at any thing, 
 but I walk a good deal with my father." 
 
 "That is probably the reason that you 
 look in such enviable health! I will try 
 and walk while you are here, perhaps I may 
 reap a similar reward." 
 
 " You are not looking very well, Lady 
 Saville," looking at her with affectionate 
 interest. 
 
 " I often have nervous headaches, and 
 everyone has her own worries, but I shall 
 feel better now you are here ! Eandal had a 
 lot of letters to write. He is thinking of 
 selling a place he has on the Sussex coast. 
 It is a sea-side villa, but a nice enough place, 
 only he has unpleasant associations with it ! 
 This entails no end of lawyer's letters. He 
 is going to stay in Town for a day on account 
 of it." 
 
 " Is there to be a large party where he is 
 going?" 
 
 " Yes, I fancy there will be a good many 
 
AT THE HALL. 117 
 
 in the house. It is a semi-political gathering, 
 which is my brother's real attraction, though 
 Lord Dacre has rather fascinating daughters, 
 but Eandal has not been very much inclined 
 for ladies' society of late years. I am 
 thankful he is taking it up again. It is 
 rather bad for a man to be disgusted with 
 women ! " 
 
 " It is a little unjust to be disgusted with 
 women because two or three are bad, is it 
 not ? " 
 
 " Of course it is ! But do you imagine 
 that men are just ? That is the rarest quality 
 amongst them." 
 
 " Are women more just ? " 
 
 " I do not know ; I do not fancy they are ! " 
 
 " What an unfortunate world, if there is 
 no justice either in men or women." 
 
 "It sounds very bad, doesn't it?" said 
 Lady Saville, " but I am afraid there is not 
 much justice. Now, if you will not take any 
 more tea, we will go out. I think we may 
 manage to go as far as the Home farm and 
 back, but first come and see your room." 
 
118 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 It was a large sunny apartment, hung with 
 pale apple-green chintz covered with roses 
 and deeper green leaves. The furniture was 
 inlaid with various coloured woods, and the 
 drawers and cabinets had finely-worked brass 
 handles and ornaments. There were easy 
 chairs, a sofa, a dwarf bookcase, a writing- 
 table with all the necessary appliances, an 
 over-mantel with china vases, and ^biscuit 
 figures — in short, enough pretty things to 
 make any drawing-room look lovely,*[Janet 
 thought as she looked round. 
 
 " Give Collins (my maid) your keys, and she 
 will put out your things," said Lady Saville. 
 
 Janet laughed. 
 
 " I shall feel ashamed to put so grand a 
 room to so common a use as to sleep in it," 
 she replied. " My poor little box looks ^quite 
 lost. Thank you, Lady Saville, I prefer un- 
 packing my own belongings. I am never 
 long in dressing, and there will be quite time 
 enough to unpack and dress when we come 
 in. You ought to have put me in less splendid 
 quarters." 
 
AT THE HALL. 119 
 
 " Why, my dear child ? It is light and airy, 
 but nothing remarkable otherwise. The view is 
 pretty," opening the window, " it is the same 
 as from the drawing-room ; only better, 
 being on a higher level. This used to be my 
 eldest sister's room, and my sitting-room, it 
 was the school-room ! Good Heavens ! what 
 ages seem to have passed between those 
 bygone days and the present. I sometimes 
 wonder if I can be the same creature I was 
 then. No, I cannot believe I am ! Is it not 
 well the future is hidden from us ? " 
 
 " Perhaps so," returned Janet, " yet I often 
 long to peep behind the veil." 
 
 " Don't try ! " said Lady Saville emphati- 
 cally. 
 
 At the outset of their walking, Lady 
 Saville seemed preoccupied. Usually, though 
 not talkative, she was brightly alive to what 
 was going on, and ready to throw in oppor- 
 tune observations here and there — phrases 
 which often sounded witty, if they were not 
 so really, the result of long social training. 
 Janet therefore tried to talk more than she 
 
120 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 did generally, to cover her companion's 
 silence. 
 
 Gradually, Lady Saville came back to the 
 present, and they discussed many things as 
 they walked briskly along through the 
 grounds, passing a gate leading out of them 
 into the woods, where they trod on the 
 brown-red rustling leaves, as they followed 
 the path winding through them, under nearly 
 bare branches, and listened to the rare note 
 of some lingering bird which had not yet 
 realised that summer was quite gone. Some- 
 times their steps startled a pheasant, who 
 rose with a " whirr " and disappeared, his 
 plumage gleaming through the black stems of 
 the trees. 
 
 " I suppose you can ride ? " 
 
 " I am not sure," returned Janet. " I can 
 ride the old pony at the Vicarage, even with- 
 out a saddle, but he is so quiet." 
 
 " Would you like to ride ? " 
 
 " Oh, yes, immensely." 
 
 " I shall enquire if there is anything safe 
 and fit to carry you, in the stables. Then, if 
 
AT THE HALL. 121 
 
 I happen to have a spare habit here, I can 
 give you a lesson. I do not imagine, you 
 know, I am a good horse-woman. I used to 
 love riding/' 
 
 " Don't you care about it now ? " 
 
 "I suppose I do not enjoy anything so 
 much now. But I am frightfully in the 
 blues, my dear Janet ; you will be sorry you 
 came here ! It has been fearfully dull ! 
 Let us do something to rouse ourselves, 
 though we have not the means to be gay. 
 Shall we ride to-morrow ? " 
 
 " I should like it, Lady Saville, but you 
 see I have no habit." 
 
 "Ah, I will ask Collins if she has both 
 mine here, and then I must interview old 
 Eoger, the head groom. I hardly know what 
 they have in the stables now." 
 
 " But perhaps Mr. Palliser might not like 
 me to ride one of his horses." 
 
 "Who? Eandal? He would be very 
 pleased. I don't think we need have any 
 fears on that score." 
 
 They had now cleared the wood and come 
 
122 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 out on the open, where the plough was at work 
 turning up the rich dark loam. Here were the 
 buildings of the Home farm — its stack yards 
 and fowl yards. The pleasant evening sounds 
 — the lowing of the home-coming cattle, the 
 bark of a watch-dog, the cackle of a flock of 
 geese, the occasional scream of the guinea- 
 fowl, and the tramp of heavy cart horses 
 being led to the stables, it was all charming 
 to Janet. The wind had fallen, and the 
 evening was fresh and clear. 
 
 " We had better not stay here too long," 
 said Lady Saville, seeing that her companion 
 was inclined to linger, " it will be quite dark 
 by the time we get home. You enjoy this 
 sort of thing, Janet ? " 
 
 "Yes, greatly, the air is delicious." 
 
 " I suppose you would like to have such a 
 place yourself?" 
 
 " Oh, no ! It would alarm me to possess 
 so much, a far smaller place would please me 
 quite as well, and a little more money than 
 we have. I could always come here and 
 enjoy the beauty just as much as if it 
 
AT THE HALL. 123 
 
 belonged to me— perhaps more, because I 
 should have no responsibility." 
 
 Lady Saville looked at her keenly. 
 
 " I am not quite of your way of thinking,' ' 
 she said, "I grow dreadfully bored in the 
 country. When one comes to my age, 
 society is very essential." 
 
 "But, Lady Saville, you seem scarcely 
 older than myself," cried Janet. 
 
 "Thank you, but I have one boy on the 
 point of going to a crammer's, and another 
 two years younger," said Lady Saville, 
 laughing. "No, give me London or Paris, 
 or some continental watering place. You 
 cannot have society in the country unless you 
 import it from the great centres ; and then, 
 being shut up in the same house with it, it 
 becomes wearisome ! How much you would 
 enjoy London, Janet ! " 
 
 " I have no doubt I should." 
 
 A pause, then Lady Saville asked : " Do 
 you play billiards ? " 
 
 " No, not at all." 
 
 " Would you like to learn to-night ? " 
 
124 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 " Of course I should, but I am very stupid 
 at games." 
 
 "There is nothing especially difficult in 
 billiards ; then, if we can manage it, we will 
 ride after luncheon to-morrow. I dare say 
 some of the Castle Clare people will come 
 over to-morrow, perhaps to luncheon ; but 
 you would rather not have any strange men 
 with you on your experimental ride ? " 
 
 " Never mind me, Lady Saville, go and ride 
 with your friends. I have more than enough 
 here to amuse me for days." 
 
 " We shall manage better than that." 
 
 This was Janet's first glimpse of the 
 restlessness which overtakes most women 
 who have exhausted all the world can give 
 before they are six-and-thirty, and whose 
 lives are hollow because their hearts are not 
 receptive, or perhaps disappointed. She 
 began to perceive that her new friend— in 
 spite of the sparkling gaiety she could 
 assume at a moment's notice — was anything 
 but a happy woman. Still, for some reason, 
 she made herself most agreeable to her young 
 
AT THE HALL. 125 
 
 guest, and Janet found a lesson in billiards a 
 very pleasant way of passing the evening. 
 The game interested her more than she 
 expected. " Games " to her, meant cards, 
 which she detested, but the movement and 
 physical enjoyment of sending the ball into 
 the pockets, was almost equal to lawn 
 tennis. 
 
 Next day two men from Castle Clare rode 
 over to luncheon. One was the second son, a 
 young Guardsman, the other a London chum 
 of his, and his guest. 
 
 They talked about people, things and 
 places, totally unknown to Janet, of whom 
 they did not take the slightest notice ; while 
 their attention to and admiration of Lady 
 Saville were great and unmistakable. 
 
 Finally they persuaded her to ride with 
 them. 
 
 Janet, when Lady Saville turned to her 
 with a laughing apology, so eagerly assured 
 her that she did not mind in the least being 
 left alone, so long as the library was also left, 
 that her hostess went off to dress, quite 
 
126 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 satisfied that she had not been guilty of 
 objectionable neglect. 
 
 "Will you not stay and entertain my 
 cavaliers ? " asked Lady Saville, finding Janet 
 at her heels when she had left the room. 
 
 " No, thank you ! I would rather not, and I 
 am sure they would rather not. I shall take 
 a ramble in the grounds, and then have a 
 good long read till you come back. Pray do 
 not return sooner than you like, I do not 
 mind being alone." 
 
 " You are really a delightful girl ! " cried 
 Lady Saville, bestowing a kiss upon her. 
 " You seem to me absolutely honest. Now I 
 shall not forget to find out if I have a habit 
 for you, and we shall have our trial trip to- 
 morrow." 
 
 Lady Saville was as good as her word, and 
 Janet had the joy of riding a well-broken, 
 steady horse, quiet yet willing, on the 
 following day. Moreover the old head 
 groom declared the young lady was the 
 making of a good horsewoman, and that it 
 came natural to her to " sit square." 
 
AT THE HALL. 127 
 
 The days flew fast. Lady Saville grew 
 more and more kindly as she perceived that 
 her guest was able and willing to amuse 
 herself, independently of all extraneous aid. 
 They paid frequent visits to Captain Rowley, 
 and he often came to luncheon, which he 
 said suited him better than dinner. 
 
 "I can settle down with my book in my 
 easy chair at home when I am tired after the 
 day, and turn in as soon as I feel drowsy ; 
 whereas if I have to sit up and make con- 
 versation, I'm played out in no time!" he 
 explained to Lady Saville, who was always 
 quite charming to the old man. To do her 
 justice, she considered no one too insig- 
 nificant to be fascinated, down to the 
 crossing - sweeper to whom she threw a 
 penny. 
 
 Janet had now been ten days at the Hall, 
 and began to think she had left her father 
 long enough, but Lady Saville would not 
 hear of her returning home. " You must not 
 desert me ! " she exclaimed. " Eandal has 
 been kept in Town longer than he expected ; 
 
128 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 but he will be at home certainly some day 
 next week. Do stay till he comes ? " 
 
 And Janet consented. 
 
 She was willing and unwilling to remain. 
 It would be pleasant and exciting to be in 
 the same house with Palliser, and she 
 admitted to herself that she would like him 
 to see how well Lady Saville's old habit 
 suited her, though just a little too tight, for 
 her ladyship was petite, but^ coming back as 
 he would be from a houseful of beautifully- 
 dressed elegant people, well versed in the 
 shibboleths of his world, how could she expect 
 that he would notice her much ? — she must 
 keep her father's warning in her mind. 
 
 For some cause, utterly unknown to her, 
 Mr. Palliser seemed to take an interest in her, 
 but it was highly improbable that this would 
 last, and she was too proud, too self- 
 respecting, to give more than was given. No, 
 she would not stay on, once the master of the 
 house was at home. Another reason 
 actuated her, which some may be high- 
 minded enough to consider a 'puerile one — 
 
AT THE HALL. 129 
 
 she had worn her scanty store of frocks over 
 and over again. Should Mr. Palliser invite 
 people to dinner, she had nothing new or 
 suitable to put on. This was what she 
 candidly told Lady Saville, when her plea- 
 sant hostess urged her to come to a dinner 
 to which she herself had been engaged for 
 some time. She did not like to put it off, so 
 she wished to take Janet with her. 
 
 " Ah ! " exclaimed Lady Saville on hearing 
 of this difficulty, " let us run up to Town for 
 a couple of days, and get you a pretty dinner 
 dress. It will be a pleasant break ; our house 
 is unoccupied, but we have a caretaker there 
 who can do what we want." 
 
 " But, dear Lady Saville, I could not ask 
 my father for a new dress until after Christ- 
 mas ! " 
 
 " After Christmas ! " interrupted Lady 
 Saville. " That will just do, for, of course, 
 three months' credit is ready money ! " 
 
 " My dear dad would not think so ! " said 
 Janet laughing. " He never leaves anything 
 unpaid at the end of the week ! " 
 
 vol. i. 9 
 
130 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 "How dreadfully he must cripple him- 
 self!" cried Lady Saville in much surprise. 
 " Well, then, you need say nothing about it 
 till the period when the new garment is due, 
 then present the bill." 
 
 "That is the greatest impossibility of all. 
 I don't think Dad and I ever had a secret 
 from each other in our lives ! Then, as to a 
 new frock, we consult over it for a month 
 before it is bought." 
 
 Lady Saville laughed as if much amused. 
 
 " Yet there is very little of a man-milliner 
 about Captain Eowley ! " 
 
 " Oh, he only listens, and agrees to all I say. 
 I enjoy talking about it — and anticipating." 
 
 So the project was given up, and Lady 
 Saville refused some other invitations in 
 consequence. 
 
 The dinner in question was rather a state 
 affair at the Castle (there was but one 
 " Castle " in Southshire) and as it was a 
 serious function Lady Saville put on her 
 diamonds and a grand court dress, only 
 docked of its train. 
 
AT THE HALL. 131 
 
 It was a fete to Janet to study her new 
 friend's toilette, to gaze with genuine admira- 
 tion on the graceful, queenly look of the 
 little woman, who was every inch a great 
 lady. 
 
 Lady Saville was much gratified, even 
 while she said to herself : " What a child she 
 is ! — she is born to be taken in ! — she will never 
 profit by any of her advantages. Heigh ho ! 
 what would the world be like were it full of 
 Janet Eowleys ? — very peaceful, but — rather 
 flat! Anything would be better, though, 
 than what it is now ! " So thinking, she 
 kissed her guest and departed. 
 
 Janet had entreated to be spared the 
 formalities of dinner by herself, so " high tea " 
 was served to her in Lady Saville's sitting- 
 room as soon as that lady had set out on her 
 six mile drive to dinner, and having dis- 
 patched what refreshment she needed, she 
 curled herself up in a corner of the sofa with 
 a book. A grand fire of wood and coal shed 
 a glow over the prettily-decorated room, a 
 lamp with a pink and white shade stood near 
 
 9* 
 
132 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 her, and shed a becoming light over Janet's 
 fair hair, beautiful complexion and best dress 
 of white muslin with blue ribbons, which, 
 though but the work of a Langford artist, 
 suited her well. This room was at the back 
 of the house, and no ordinary sounds from 
 the front reached the ears of those occupying 
 it. 
 
 The night was clear and cold frith the 
 breath of coming winter, and Janet had to 
 resist an inclination to gaze at the fire and 
 dream, instead of attending to the page 
 before her ; but she did resist stoutly, and 
 had just succeeded in fixing her mind on her 
 book when the door opened and, to her 
 astonishment, Palliser walked in, looking 
 bright and smiling, with a gleam of exultation 
 in his dark eyes. 
 
 Janet started to her feet, feeling half 
 frightened and wholly dazed. 
 
 " Mr. Palliser ! " she exclaimed, and then 
 stood still and silent, the vivid colour fading 
 from her cheek. 
 
 " Good evening," he said, advancing with 
 
AT THE HALL. 133 
 
 outstretched hand. " I fear I must have 
 rather a ghostly appearance, for you look 
 ' skeared,' as the country people say." 
 
 " Well, I am," replied Janet laughing, and 
 rallying from her start, while she left her 
 hand in his grasp. " Lady Saville did not 
 expect you till next week." 
 
 "Lady Saville knew nothing about my 
 intentions, which were to come home as fast 
 as I could, and I should have been here two 
 days ago but for some law matters — infernal 
 nuisance the law is ! " 
 
 Janet had moved to the fire-place, where 
 Palliser followed, his eyes dwelling on her 
 with an expression of delight that made it 
 hard for her to keep up the calm, friendly 
 tone she strove to assume. 
 
 " So Lady Saville is dining at Castle 
 Clare ? " he said. " How charming to find 
 you here to welcome me — you see I venture 
 to take for granted that you do welcome 
 me." 
 
 " Yes, of course I do — to your own 
 house ! " 
 
134 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 " It was not very considerate of my sister 
 to leave you alone ! " 
 
 " She wished me to go with her, but I pre- 
 ferred staying here — I do not mind being 
 alone, in the least." 
 
 " ' The stars in their courses fought for 
 me ! ' " exclaimed Palliser smiling. " I am 
 afraid you have had rather a dull time of it. 
 Now, tell me, have you dined ? " 
 
 " Oh, yes — long ago ! " 
 
 " Then you are ready for another dinner, 
 and the dinner will be ready for us in half-an- 
 hour, by the time I make myself fit to sit 
 down with you. I trust you have not bored 
 yourself very much during your abode in my 
 old place ? " 
 
 " No, indeed ! I have been very happy. 
 Lady Saville is delightful." 
 
 " I suspect that ' the light which surrounds 
 you is all from within ! ' " said Palliser as he 
 went to the door. " I shall not keep you long." 
 
 Janet continued to stand by the fire, when 
 he left the room, her heart still beating almost 
 painfully fast. She must not allow herself to 
 
AT THE HALL. 135 
 
 be so disturbed by so simple an incident as 
 Palliser's unexpected return to his own house, 
 she must not let him see the extraordinary 
 effect he produced upon her. Surely she 
 was strong enough to present a steady front 
 to the — was he friend or foe ? She did not 
 know why, but his eyes always seemed to her 
 like danger signals. She felt she dare not 
 let herself love him — yet was not that 
 question already decided? At any rate a 
 whole evening's tete-a-tete with him lay before 
 her, and it was a fearful joy. 
 
 As she thought, her agitation diminished, 
 her pulse grew more quiet, and she took up 
 her book again, with the hope of acquitting 
 herself like — a woman. 
 
 So engrossed was she in the effort to 
 marshal her moral and mental forces that 
 Palliser seemed to have been but a few 
 minutes making his toilette, yet how perfect 
 it was ! What a distinguished-looking man 
 — how his whole air and countenance bespoke 
 frank pleasure — pleasure at seeing her, but 
 Janet was quite herself again. 
 
136 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 " And how is Captain Eowley ? " asked 
 Palliser, taking his stand on the hearth-rug. 
 (Janet had subsided into a low arm-chair). 
 
 " Very well indeed." 
 
 " Why did he not join you here ? " 
 
 " I don't know exactly, but I think he does 
 not care to leave home when I am away. He 
 is fond of working about the house and the 
 garden, so " 
 
 "Dinner is on the table," announced the 
 butler, opening the door wide. 
 
 Palliser offered his arm to his guest. 
 
 " I really have dined, Mr. Palliser," said 
 Janet, hesitating. 
 
 " What ! would you treat me so scurvily as 
 to let me eat alone ? " 
 
 " Very well ; I will come and look at you," 
 she returned smiling, and they descended the 
 wide stairs together. How strange it seemed 
 to her, yet the feeling of awkwardness was 
 wearing off already. 
 
 Dinner was laid as usual when there were 
 no guests, in the breakfast or morning room, 
 and Janet saw with surprise how complete in 
 
AT THE HALL. 137 
 
 all respects was the repast so quickly pre- 
 pared. 
 
 "And how have you amused yourself?" 
 asked Palliser at last, having done most of 
 the talking up to this question, and persuaded 
 his companion to keep him in countenance by 
 tasting some of the good things before her. 
 
 " I have been abundantly amused ! There 
 was that lovely library in the morning, till 
 Lady Saville appeared, then we talked, and 
 drove or walked, and my father came to 
 luncheon sometimes, and I have been bold 
 enough to ride, or try to ride, one of your 
 horses — such a delightful horse. Lady 
 Saville has been giving me lessons as to 
 holding my reins, and many other things, 
 then, in the evening she sang sometimes, and 
 she has been so kind as to teach me how to 
 play billiards. I find the game less tiresome 
 than I expected ! " 
 
 "Ah! I heard of the riding, but not of the 
 billiard playing. If you are so disposed we'll 
 have a game after dinner." 
 
 " Certainly, if you wish it," said Janet with 
 
138 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 some hesitation, " but I am afraid you will 
 find me rather a bore. I am so unpractised." 
 
 " I shall find you an all-conquering anta- 
 gonist," returned Palliser, covering the 
 warmth of his tone with a laugh. " Come, 
 Miss Eowley, you must drink one glass of 
 Johannisberg with me, or I shall believe you 
 are annoyed at my return." 
 
 " Why should I be ? I am sure we — are 
 very pleased to see you back." 
 
 " Eeally ? " said Palliser, looking into her 
 eyes as he filled her glass, which she scarcely 
 tasted. Then he dexterously led the conver- 
 sation to more impersonal topics, which was a 
 relief to Janet. Presently she asked : 
 
 " How did you manage to arrive here when 
 you did ? There is no down train at Lang- 
 ford after six-thirty, and that would have 
 brought you here before Lady Saville left." 
 
 " Exactly ! I missed that train in London, 
 so I took the four-twenty to Greybridge — you 
 know that line is shorter — then I had a very 
 tedious drive, nearly seven miles, you know, 
 with the most miserable old brute of a horse 
 
AT THE HALL. 139 
 
 I ever sat behind. In fact, I was seized with 
 an extraordinary fit of home -sickness, and 
 was determined to reach the Hall to-night at 
 any cost." 
 
 " Ah, yes ; I understand ! I am always 
 glad to go home," said Janet in a low tone, 
 not knowing exactly what to say. 
 
 There was a pause, then Palliser added: 
 " You must remember that I have not known 
 what home is for years." 
 
 Janet made no answer, every phrase that 
 presented itself seeming unsuitable. 
 
 " Now," said her host in an altered voice, 
 " shall we try our respective skill at billiards ? 
 — that is, if you will not take any more wine. 
 Why, you have not finished what you have. 
 I am afraid it is not good." 
 
 " I have no doubt it is excellent, but I do 
 not like it very much. I rarely taste wine, 
 and do not know good from bad. It has gene- 
 rally rather a disagreeable taste, I think." 
 
 " That is an unusual view of the matter ! 
 Come, Miss Eowley, I am anxious to see what 
 you can do." 
 
140 A CHOICE OP EVILS. 
 
 Hinging, lie ordered the servant who came 
 instantly, to light the billiard-room. 
 
 When Janet found herself in the well- 
 appointed apartment, with her fascinating 
 host chalking her cue, setting the balls and 
 arranging all preliminaries with eager at- 
 tention, her sense of humour — the contrast 
 between her, her insignificance in the social 
 gatherings at Langford, and her importance 
 (even if temporary) in one of the first houses 
 of the county, touched her fancy, and, 
 catching Palliser's eye, she laughed — a low 
 but merry laugh. 
 
 " What amuses you ? " he asked. 
 
 "To be here, playing billiards with you, 
 seems very funny ! " she returned, smiles still 
 dimpling round her lips. 
 
 Palliser paused in the act of making a 
 stroke, and repeated "Funny! 1 find it 
 heavenly ! " 
 
 " Ah, Mr. Palliser, that is rather too much ; 
 please attend to your game." She began to 
 feel sufficiently at home with him to be a 
 little coquettish. 
 
AT THE HALL. 141 
 
 " Believe me," he said in a significant tone, 
 u I am attending to my game very diligently." 
 Then he proceeded to explain and exemplify 
 many mysteries, and seemed determined to 
 keep away from any tempting subjects or 
 allusions. Janet enjoyed her lesson extremely, 
 growing more and more at her ease with him, 
 and, therefore doing herself more justice. 
 At last she looked at the clock. 
 
 " Half-past eleven ! " she cried. " I had 
 no idea it was so late. I must say good- 
 night." 
 
 " No, no, not yet ; wait till my sister 
 comes, and we shall hear some of the 
 brilliant sayings exchanged at dinner " — then, 
 coming round to lounge against the table 
 beside her, " I think you have improved 
 already under my tuition. If you care to 
 play the game and like it, you may become a 
 high-class player." 
 
 " Thank you very much for your lesson ; I 
 should like to play well." 
 
 " I will not say thank you for your lesson 
 yet, Miss Rowley, until I know what result it 
 
142 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 brings forth, but — you have taught me a 
 great deal." 
 
 "Then we are quits, I suppose?" said 
 Janet, but her lips trembled as she said the 
 words, and she wished to be away anywhere, 
 even while a strange thrill of pleasure ran 
 through her veins, when the door opened 
 gently, and Lady Saville came in all smiles 
 and diamonds. 
 
 Janet could have kissed her with joy. 
 
 " My dear Eandal, this is an unexpected 
 pleasure." 
 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 AN IMPORTANT DECISION. 
 
 Lady Saville was a good deal amused by 
 the eagerness of Janet's welcome. 
 
 "Eandal has not been keeping himself 
 well in hand," she thought. "I wonder if 
 he understands what a shy bird it is ? " 
 
 Then she began to describe her evening at 
 the Castle, and to ask questions respecting 
 the party with which her brother had been 
 staying in Norfolk. 
 
 Janet said little, and soon begged leave to 
 retire. 
 
 " Miss Kowley has been dying to go to 
 bed for the last hour," said Palliser, " though 
 she has been playing splendidly ! I only 
 persuaded her to stay by suggesting the 
 desirability of seeing you on your return." 
 
 "You know Janet has been accustomed 
 
144 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 to early hours — we must not pale her roses 
 by keeping her up ! Good-night, dear ! You 
 shall hear the rest of the news to-morrow." 
 
 " Good-night, Mr. Palliser — thank you for 
 your lessons," said Janet. 
 
 He opened the door for her and held her 
 hand, perhaps an unnecessary instant, before 
 she escaped. Then he returned to his sister 
 and threw himself into a chair beside the fire, 
 in silence. 
 
 " This is an unexpected move of yours, 
 Eandal ! " said Lady Saville after waiting 
 for him to speak. 
 
 "Yes!" he returned, "as unexpected to 
 myself as to anyone else. Your letters have 
 been very full and satisfactory, but this 
 morning, I was seized with such an over- 
 powering desire to come and see for myself, 
 that — I came ! " 
 
 " Eandal, you amaze me ! " she exclaimed 
 with a touch of malice in her tone. " I 
 thought your next marriage was to be 
 arranged on the most prudential and 
 hygienic principles, and behold " 
 
AN IMPORTANT DECISION. 145 
 
 " Well, I think I have fulfilled all such 
 conditions," he interrupted. "If — friendly 
 fate has thrown in a handful of sweeter 
 ingredients — why, I think after my 
 experience, I have a right to all the 
 enjoyment I can get, but you are too bitter 
 a sceptic ! " he paused a moment and then 
 continued, " I had a long talk with old 
 Pearson about St. Oswald's. I don't think 
 it will fetch as much as expected. He says 
 if the place had been on the Devonshire 
 Coast, I might have asked a higher price, 
 and a lot more rot! However, he will do 
 the best he can — I spoke about your house 
 
 in E Square, he thinks it will let well 
 
 for the season. I suppose you don't care to 
 let it before Christmas ? " 
 
 Brother and sister talked at some length 
 of their respective affairs, Palliser's last 
 words being : 
 
 " Send a note to Captain Eowley to-morrow 
 
 early, ask him to dine and sleep, and have a 
 
 little shooting on Thursday and Friday, if 
 
 he will stay so long. He is a rugged old 
 
 vol. i. 10 
 
146 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 fellow, but a gentleman and comes of a good 
 
 stock." 
 
 # # # * * #■ 
 
 If the days flew fast when Lady Saville 
 and Janet were alone together, they went 
 still faster when the master of the house was 
 at home. 
 
 He undertook both the riding lessons, and 
 the billiard lessons ; in the former, Lad}^ 
 Saville joined. 
 
 Captain Eowley came to stay for two or 
 three days, which were particularly delightful 
 to Janet ; she had never seen him so bright 
 and even exhilarated ; he seemed to enjoy his 
 visit thoroughly, and Palliser's attentions and 
 kindly care of him irresistibly attracted the 
 daughter's heart. 
 
 The old man was very proud of his prowess 
 in shooting, and Palliser was particular about 
 having the birds forwarded to the Vicarage, 
 labelled, "Shot by Captain Rowley." The 
 old sailor himself was a little surprised at 
 the number which bore this inscription. 
 
 The time was now close at hand when the 
 
AN IMPORTANT DECISION. 147 
 
 guests expected by Palliser were to assemble. 
 Janet therefore made up her mind to return 
 home with her father. He would feel terribly 
 lonely too, after the brightness of his stay at 
 the Hall. 
 
 Neither Lady Saville nor Palliser would 
 hear of this. 
 
 " My dear child ! " cried the former, when 
 Janet suggested leaving on the following day, 
 " what an idea ! are you so faithless as to 
 leave me during the last days of my stay 
 here ? I am sure, Captain Eowley, you will 
 spare her to me for a week longer." 
 
 " I don't think I am likely to say you nay, 
 Lady Saville ! " 
 
 " But I am sure my father will feel being 
 quite alone, after his delightful visit here," 
 and Janet glanced gratefully at Palliser. " I 
 shall feel happier to be with him." 
 
 " I am equally sure that Captain Eowley 
 will be unselfish enough to bear his self- 
 imposed loneliness, for a week," said their 
 host. " Why will he not give us another week 
 himself?" 
 
 10* 
 
148 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 " Because I have stayed already four days 
 instead of one, and I shouldn't be surprised 
 if I found my house burned down, or all 
 the crockery smashed, when I go back ! But 
 you, Janet, you are welcome to stay ! I know 
 it's a treat you don't often get " 
 
 " And," added Palliser, " you require just 
 six lessons more, to make you perfect in the 
 'witching art of horsemanship." 
 
 " Which art you will probably never 
 exercise again ! Nevertheless, learn all you 
 can," said Captain Eowley laughing. 
 
 After some further persuasion Janet agreed 
 to remain. 
 
 In truth, she had never been so happy and 
 at ease with Palliser as during her father's 
 visit to the Hall. She had rarely been alone 
 with her host, and his manner to her had 
 been more friendly and less that of an 
 admirer. The result was that she looked 
 forward with something like dismay to the 
 time now so near at hand when she should 
 no longer see him the first thing in the 
 morning and the last at night. 
 
AN IMPORTANT DECISION. 149 
 
 How foolish she was ! But there would be 
 time enough to fight this matter out when she 
 was at home and alone ; for the present, let 
 her, oh, let her enjoy! 
 
 The following day was wet and gusty. 
 Palliser ordered the brougham, and accom- 
 panied Captain Eowley home himself. 
 
 Lady Saville and Janet were at tea in the 
 smaller of the two drawing-rooms, and 
 evening was fast closing in, when Palliser 
 returned. To his great disgust he found 
 Mrs. Eichard Palliser, a plump, comely dame, 
 and her daughter, established at his sister's 
 tea-table. Mrs. E. Palliser was a somewhat 
 irrepressible woman, perfectly satisfied with 
 herself, her house, her husband, her position, 
 and quite willing to be friendly with the Hall, 
 in spite of the severe course of snubbing to 
 which her husband's kinsman had treated her. 
 She was busy explaining why she had not 
 called on Lady Saville before. 
 
 " You see we went to Yichy immediately 
 after you came, and then Minnie and I went 
 on to Switzerland. Now we are goin^ to 
 
150 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 Yorkshire for a fortnight. In fact, my son 
 is engaged to be married to a very charming 
 girl — Miss Blackett who, besides being a sweet 
 creature, has a very nice fortune. 
 
 "A fortune is always nice," said Lady 
 Saville blandly. 
 
 " That is just what I say," returned Mrs. 
 Palliser. " I am the last person in the world 
 to set much value on wealth, still one must be 
 glad when a young couple have a fair start." 
 
 " No doubt," observed Palliser, who 
 managed to hold himself most politely aloof. 
 
 " I don't suppose the marriage will come 
 off before the new year," etc., etc., etc. — she 
 continued to babble on to Lady Saville. 
 
 Palliser took his cup and brought it over 
 to Janet's side, drawing a seat near her. 
 
 " Well," he said in a low, caressing voice, 
 " I saw ' the dear Dad ' safely installed. I 
 am glad to say the house is intact, also the 
 crockery, as far as I could see. Your neat 
 little damsel seemed very pleased to welcome 
 her master back. Your father found quite a 
 respectable lot of letters which will, no doubt, 
 
AN IMPORTANT DECISION. 151 
 
 occupy him this evening. By the way, he gave 
 me one for you/' taking it from his pocket and 
 handing it to her. 
 
 " Oh, thank you. It is from Tom — from 
 my brother," exclaimed Janet, smiling and 
 colouring with the flitting blush which 
 betrayed her emotional nature, Palliser 
 thought, so delightfully. 
 
 " 1 am so much obliged to you for seeing 
 dear Dad home." 
 
 " Are you ? " said Palliser, looking into her 
 eyes ; " you are often good enough to say ' I 
 am so much obliged to you ! ' — are you not 
 afraid that you are storing up a terrible 
 reckoning, and may beggar yourself when I 
 demand repayment ? " 
 
 " No, you are too generous for that,' 
 smiling upon him. 
 
 " Do not be too sure. Suppose I tell you 
 what my demand will be ? " 
 
 " Very well, only — no one can give more 
 than they possess." 
 
 " No doubt we could come to terms," he 
 returned, with a lingering glance, then 
 
152 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 lowering his voice still more, he asked: 
 " How long is that dreadful woman going to 
 stay ? " 
 
 " How can I tell ? " whispered Janet. 
 " Don't you like her ? — 1 never did." 
 
 " Glad to hear it ! Is that another secret ? " 
 
 Here the visitors rose to take leave. 
 
 " Are you staying here ? " asked the elder 
 lady as she shook hands with Janet. 
 
 « I am." 
 
 " I was going to ask if 1 could take you 
 home — very nice for you, I am sure." 
 
 " Quite delightful," returned Janet joyously. 
 
 " Your father will feel very lonely without 
 
 you." 
 
 " He only left to-day, himself." 
 
 " Oh, indeed ! Well, good morning, Mr. 
 Palliser." 
 
 " Allow me to see you to your carriage ? " 
 he returned with icy politeness, and followed 
 them from the room. 
 
 " Why does Mr. Palliser dislike Mrs. 
 Richard so much ? " asked Janet, moving to 
 a seat near Lady Saville. 
 
AN IMPORTANT DECISION. 153 
 
 " Do you like her ? " was the counter 
 question. 
 
 " No ! — that is, it gives no pleasure to meet 
 her, but Mr. Palliser seems to find her in- 
 supportable." 
 
 " Randal is a good hater. Then the poor 
 woman offends his taste, which is an un- 
 pardonable sin ; besides, her husband is his 
 next heir, and the son after him." 
 
 " Does that annoy Mr. Palliser ? " 
 
 "You know very little of my brother if 
 you ask such a question," returned Lady 
 Saville laughing. 
 
 " Of course I scarcely know him," said 
 Janet thoughtfully. "Is he a complicated 
 character ? " 
 
 Lady Saville laughed again. 
 
 " I can hardly say — I only know he is a 
 very good brother." 
 
 " I am sure he is," replied Janet, and then 
 fell into deep thought. Yes, he was kind and 
 generous, and quite fond of the dear " Dad." 
 How well he seemed to understand and 
 appreciate him, and how dull life would be 
 
154 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 without her delightful host when she returned 
 to Navarino Cottage. 
 
 But the dear old father must see nothing 
 of this when she did go back. At any rate, 
 there were three or four days more of her 
 present blissful life remaining, then Lady 
 Saville was going, and there would be an 
 end of all things 
 
 " You are a very unguarded person, 
 Eandal," Lady Saville was saying when Janet 
 came out of " reverie-land." " Janet has 
 been asking me why you dislike the banker's 
 wife so much." 
 
 " I should never dream of being guarded 
 with Miss Eowley," he returned ; " besides, we 
 have exchanged confidences, she does not 
 fancy Mrs. ' Ingot ' any more than I do. Do 
 you think that young Eichard's fiancee is one 
 of the Blacketts of Cliffe, Gertrude?" he 
 continued, addressing his sister. 
 
 " Yes, I imagine she is." 
 
 " Great luck for him ! — I wonder if any 
 hopes of the Mervyn property may have been 
 used to bait the hook- — eh ? " 
 
AN IMPORTANT DECISION. 155 
 
 '■ Oh, no — not now ! " 
 
 Palliser stood meditatively leaning against 
 the end of the mantel-piece for a moment, 
 then he asked : " Corbyn and old FitzHerbert 
 are coming over to dinner, are they not ? " 
 
 " Yes, I asked them to stay the night, but 
 dear old Fitz is starting for the ends of the 
 earth to-morrow, so they must go back to 
 Bray brook this evening." 
 
 " Ah ! " returned her brother, " if you have 
 gauds, prepare to wear them now ! " 
 
 " Not ' gauds,' my dear Kandal," said Lady 
 Seville laughing, " severe simplicity would do 
 better." 
 
 " You must know, Miss Eowley," resumed 
 Palliser, " that Colonel FitzHerbert is the last 
 of the dandies, the real old, full-flavoured 
 dandy, who will swear you a sounding oath, 
 and drink you a bottle of port, and who is 
 moreover a past master — I should say — critic 
 of beauty and style, and all the other thistle- 
 down ingredients which go to make up social 
 success. You must fascinate him, or you will 
 lose caste for ever." 
 
156 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 " Now do not make her nervous and un- 
 comfortable," said Lady Saville. "Do not 
 mind him, Janet." 
 
 " I assure you I am not in the least uneasy, 
 Lady Saville. I shall never see Colonel Fitz- 
 Herbert again, probably, and his judgment 
 does not concern me. I hope I may not give 
 him an unpleasant shock. I will do my best 
 not to offend his eyes or ears," said Janet, 
 laughing good-humouredly, "but I do not 
 care for his verdict." 
 
 "And you need not fear it," said Palli- 
 ser, thoughtfully, "your spirit will master 
 his." 
 
 " Well, I am tired and a little headachy — 
 I rather think I have taken a chill. I will 
 go and lie down," put in Lady Saville. 
 
 " And I will come with you," said Janet 
 hastily, seeing her friend rise. 
 
 "And who will give me another cup of 
 tea ? " asked Palliser. 
 
 But Janet was at the door and passed 
 through it before Lady Saville could answer. 
 
 " There," she said, turning back with a 
 
AN IMPORTANT DECISION. 157 
 
 smile, and pouring out the desired cup, "you 
 shall have this at least." 
 
 Palliser took it, looking rather blank as he 
 did so, then with a laugh, remarked : 
 
 " Deferred does not mean defeated." 
 
 The two guests that evening were well- 
 trained Society men; the younger was a landed 
 proprietor in the neighbourhood, the elder a 
 more than elderly gent: ;>man, with a red face, 
 a jet black wig, and whiskers, and a some- 
 what alarming range of very white teeth. 
 He wore an eye-glass, and stared steadily 
 at Janet, with an expression which seemed 
 to say — "Where on earth have you come 
 from?" But, "forewarned is forearmed," 
 and Janet bore his scrutiny with great com- 
 posure — moreover, she felt that Palliser was 
 watching her, but in a fashion that gave her 
 a sense of being potently backed up. 
 
 There was much talk at dinner which was 
 Greek to her, some abstract good stories, 
 however, were told, which she took in and en- 
 joyed. 
 
 When the gentlemen joined Lady Saville 
 
158 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 and her guest, the whole party adjourned to 
 the billiard room, where Palliser asked Janet 
 to play, but she whispered a request to be 
 left out of the game, which resolved itself 
 into a match between Lady Saville and Mr. 
 Corbyn, the host marking. 
 
 Presently the Colonel approached her. 
 
 " Are you from Lancashire ? " he asked. " I 
 knew some Eowleys in that part of the world." 
 
 "Yes — my father's family are Lancashire 
 people ! " 
 
 " I remember knowing a young fellow of 
 that name, who was second lieutenant of the 
 troop-ship that took my regiment out to 
 Bombay, in eighteen hundred and — No! by 
 George, I won't give you chapter and verse." 
 
 " Then will you give me the name of the 
 ship?" said Janet, and she looked with a 
 bright smile into the old beau's eyes. 
 
 " Not easy to say you No ! Let me see, it 
 was the Golconda." 
 
 "Then it was my father!" she exclaimed 
 with sudden interest. " I know he served on 
 board that ship." 
 
AN IMPORTANT DECISION. 159 
 
 " Small place this world ! I suppose Rowley 
 has left the service like myself. What is he 
 doing now ? " 
 
 " We live here — in Langford I mean — he 
 is very well and still quite active ! " 
 
 " Ha ! and looks years younger than I do 
 -hey?" 
 
 "Oh, no!" returned Janet, gazing at his 
 abundant wig, and the generally " florid 
 Gothic " of his appearance. " He is not a bit 
 like you ! Then you must remember he has 
 a great daughter to take care of. " 
 
 " Gad ! you ought to grind him young if 
 anything would ! How is it I have never 
 seen you in Town ? Not been presented yet ? " 
 
 " No — not yet ! " returned Janet, shaking 
 her head solemnly. 
 
 " What ! He keeps you mewed up — what 
 an infernal shame! If I were staying on 
 here, I'd call on him and remonstrate, by 
 Jove I would! You get our little friend 
 Lady Saville to present you next spring — 
 couldn't have a better social sponsor ! Hey, 
 i ; alliser ! I'm going to depute you to act for 
 
160 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 me, and read my old acquaintance Eowley a 
 lecture on the iniquity of his conduct in 
 shutting up his daughter," etc., etc., and the 
 talk flowed into other channels, until the 
 visitors took their leave. 
 
 "Deuced fine girl that daughter of 
 Eowley's — a gentlewoman too, so quiet and 
 self-possessed, she has a look of her great 
 grand aunt — yes, it must be a great aunt — 
 the Marchioness of Pennywern ; never made 
 out why Eowley didn't get pushed up, he 
 ought to have had interest, but he was just 
 the sort of man to hide his light under a 
 bushel. I remember him well, some — that is, 
 a good many years ago — but have lost sight 
 of him for ages — made a love match, and 
 bedevilled himself ! " thus Colonel Fitzherbert 
 to his host, on the doorstep. 
 
 " Come, Fitzherbert," cried his companion. 
 "It's too cold to discuss Eowley's life and 
 adventures to-night ; if you keep the mare 
 much longer waiting, she'll kick us into 
 'kingdom come.'" The guests therefore lit 
 up, mounted their dog-cart and drove off. 
 
AN IMPORTANT DECISION. 161 
 
 " There is a decided touch of frost to- 
 night," said Palliser, returning to the warm, 
 well-lit drawing-room where his sister and 
 Janet stood by the fire. " I am afraid we are 
 going to have a spell of hard weather, still I 
 suppose we shall manage a run to-morrow. 
 Miss Rowley, I congratulate you on your 
 subjugation of the Arch Judge! Old Fitz 
 says — but I will spare your blushes, and 
 only say that he observes a striking re- 
 semblance to a certain Marchioness of 
 Pennywern — some relative of yours." 
 
 " How could he possibly know ? " cried 
 Janet in great surprise. " There is a 
 miniature of her at home. You would be 
 amused at the idea of its being like me ! " 
 
 " You must show it to me some day ! " 
 
 " But is it not curious that he should have 
 known my father ? " 
 
 " No, not at all ! In a society like ours, 
 everybody is likely to know everybody." 
 
 Then they exchanged good nights, for Lady 
 Saville was very tired, and Palliser got a 
 book, and lounged long, cigar in mouth, over 
 vol. i. 11 
 
162 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 his dressing-room fire, but he did not read 
 much. 
 
 The next day was splendidly fine, clear and 
 frosty, yet not so frosty as to interfere with 
 the projected run. The meet was at some 
 distance, and as Lady Saville sent Janet a 
 message that she should not get up till late, 
 that young lady did not descend to the 
 breakfast-room until the sound of horse's 
 feet dying away told her the hunter had 
 departed. 
 
 It was rather a long forenoon. Lady Saville 
 seemed very unwell, though more depressed 
 in spirits than physically affected. She 
 evidently wished to be left alone, so Janet 
 took the day into her own hands, mended a 
 little, played a little, dreamed over a fresh 
 magazine, and about three o'clock went out 
 for a solitary ramble, during which she did 
 some self-examination and made a small 
 cairn of good resolutions. 
 
 Evening was fast closing in when she 
 reached the house. 
 
 " If you please, 'm," said the butler, whom 
 
AN IMPORTANT DECISION. 163 
 
 she met in the hall, " Mr. Palliser desired me 
 to say that tea was ready in the library." 
 
 " And Lady Saville ! Is she better — is she 
 downstairs ? " 
 
 " No, 'm, her Ladyship is still in her room, 
 her cold is very severe." Janet went into her 
 favourite haunt. It was unoccupied, she 
 removed her hat and cloak, and took a cup 
 of tea. " I suppose Mr. Palliser has had a 
 long run, and has gone to dress, and rest 
 till dinner," she thought, so she took a book 
 and curling herself up in the corner of a 
 luxurious sofa beside a glowing fire, the light 
 from which caught the golden gleams in her 
 sunny hair and flickered on the arch of her 
 white neck, as she bent over her book ; she 
 read on for a while, till a sudden sense of 
 someone near made her look up, to find 
 Palliser standing beside her. He seemed 
 even taller and more distinguished than ever 
 in his braided smoking jacket. 
 
 " I did not hear you come in," exclaimed 
 Janet, putting down her book. 
 
 " No, I stole in like a thief in the night ! " 
 
 11* 
 
164 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 " How does Lady Saville seem ? " 
 
 " No great things. She is up, but will not 
 leave her room. I have been sitting with her." 
 
 A pause. Janet felt strangely at a loss 
 what to say. 
 
 " Have you had tea ? " 
 
 " Thank you, yes." 
 
 Palliser rang, and ordered the tea to be 
 removed. 
 
 " I ought not to have put off my hat and 
 cloak here ! " she said apologetically. " I will 
 take them away." And she rose as if to go. 
 
 " What can it possibly matter ? " exclaimed 
 Palliser. " And why do you invariably 
 escape, or try to escape, when I want to talk 
 to you ? I did not think I was a disagreeable 
 fellow ! " 
 
 "But indeed you are not /" eagerly, then 
 with a little more caution, " Everyone thinks 
 you agreeable." 
 
 " Then, pray sit down, and let us discuss 
 matters and things in general." And he 
 placed himself beside her. 
 
 There was a short pause, during which 
 
AN IMPORTANT DECISION. 165 
 
 Janet resolved to be very collected and 
 argumentative. 
 
 "What profound subject are you studying 
 now?" asked Palliser, opening her book. 
 " Blackwood ? Oh, this is merely light 
 literature to you" 
 
 " Ah ! Mr. Palliser, you laugh at me, but I 
 really enjoy " 
 
 " Laugh ! " he interrupted. " Do you 
 believe I ever laugh at what interests you ? 
 You are very much mistaken. Women as 
 truthful and natural as you, are never laughed 
 at ! — that is why I like to talk to you, to look 
 into your eyes, because whatever your lips or 
 eyes tell me I feel I can trust. You do not 
 know what a fresh — what a delightful sensa- 
 tion this is to me ! But your eyes tell me 
 very little — you are so chary of your glances 
 — that is one reason why I always seek you, 
 though you do your best to avoid me. Do 
 you know what the other reason is ? " 
 
 Janet, who was now almost past words, 
 shook her head. 
 
 Palliser drew nearer, and resting his arm 
 
166 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 on the back of the sofa, leant his head on his 
 hand, and looked at her intently for an 
 instant, then he said in a low tone and very 
 deliberately : 
 
 " Because I love you ! — love you as you 
 have yet no conception of loving! May I 
 try to teach you ? I will give my life to the 
 task ! " 
 
 There was a moment's silence. Janet was 
 trembling all over, far more uneasy than 
 delighted. 
 
 " Will you speak to me ? " whispered 
 Palliser. 
 
 " I cannot," said Janet at last, clasping her 
 hands together, and turning her face towards 
 him, though with downcast eyes. " It seems 
 so impossible ! " 
 
 " What — that I should love you, sweet one ? 
 Nothing in the world was ever more likely ! 
 You must have known I loved you — you must 
 have felt that the words I have just spoken 
 have been on my lips a dozen times, though I 
 held them back, fearing to startle you pre- 
 maturely. Now, tell me — what chance have 
 
AN IMPORTANT DECISION. 167 
 
 I ? I know it is a great deal to ask, but will 
 you give me yourself? Will you — can you 
 love me?" 
 
 This was so solemn a question that it 
 steadied Janet's nerves, and with sudden com- 
 posure she lifted her eyes to his, saying : 
 
 " I will try to be true — indeed, I am not 
 sure ! It disturbs me strangely when I see 
 you, but when I think of not seeing you — I — 
 I do not like the idea ! I wish you were not 
 so grand and rich ! I wish I had something 
 to bring with me ! " and she clasped her 
 hands ; Palliser caught them in his own and 
 kissed them passionately. 
 
 " You tell me more than I hoped for," he 
 exclaimed. " Say you will give yourself to 
 me — that you will be my wife, and let me 
 win the love you have not quite given me yet ! 
 My love, your father likes me, I am sure he 
 will not object to me!" 
 
 " Ah ! yes, you are so nice and pleasant to 
 him that " 
 
 " You will love me for his sake ? " put in 
 Palliser smiling. 
 
168 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 "I will love you for your own," she 
 returned, with an inexpressible tone of gentle 
 dignity, that touched and calmed her lover. 
 
 " My darling, you are infinitely good ! I 
 will not be unworthy of your affection, and 
 Janet, you do love me — a little ? " 
 
 She looked at him, laughed, blushed, shook 
 her head, and found herself in his arms, held 
 closely to his heart, while his lips clung to 
 her sweet, fresh mouth, as if they could 
 never tear themselves away. 
 
 Yet he soon let her go, when he felt how 
 wildly her heart beat, he feared to agitate her 
 more. 
 
 " You are so sensitive, so timid, with all 
 your pluck, Janet, that I dread offending or 
 alarming you ! Sit down beside me again " 
 — for she had risen in her confusion — 
 " let us talk of our plans — or rather mine. 
 Let me hold your hand — I ask no more 
 
 now." 
 
 And then ensued a long, rambling conver- 
 sation, chiefly on Palliser's side, half- 
 reminiscent, half - prospective, during which 
 
AN IMPORTANT DECISION. 169 
 
 Janet learned how soon Palliser had been 
 attracted to her, and how long his probation 
 had seemed to him, as he had feared to spoil 
 his own game by too early a declaration. 
 
 How sweet was all this folly. Let 
 philosophy and worldliness sneer and shrug 
 — grant it is even beneath the contempt of 
 ordinary common sense — can any of the three 
 give a glimpse of that exquisite fleeting 
 heaven — that temporary paradise of tender- 
 ness and mutual understanding which the 
 first avowal of reciprocal love creates? It 
 may be evanescent, but the life that has not 
 known this gleam of " a light that was never 
 on land or sea " is poor indeed ! 
 
 " But, Mr. Palliser, it is almost dinner- 
 time," remonstrated Janet at last, " and I 
 should like to see Lady Saville." 
 
 "By all means. She will be anxious to 
 know the result of our interview." 
 
 " Why ? " 
 
 "Because," he said, laughing, "she has 
 been my confidante all through. Don't you 
 know my name yet, my darling ? I shall 
 
170 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 never answer to ' Mr. Palliser ' from your lips 
 again." 
 
 " ' Mr. Palliser ' comes more readily to me, 
 but I will try to remember — Eandal ! " The 
 word was held back till she was passing 
 through the door. 
 
CHAPTEE VII. 
 
 WEDDING BELLS. 
 
 The days which followed left a curious 
 impression upon Janet's mind. A kind of 
 glittering confusion through which she 
 seemed passing into a new state of being. 
 
 It was very wonderful to be welcomed and 
 caressed as a new sister by so elegant and 
 distinguished a woman as Lady Saville, and 
 gently chaffed respecting the glamour she 
 had exercised over Palliser! Yet, although 
 she never offended against good taste, it 
 seemed to Janet that Lady Saville hardly 
 treated the solemn subject of impending 
 marriage with sufficient gravity. 
 
 To Janet it was inexpressibly serious and 
 touching. Palliser seemed to her the noblest 
 and most chivalrous of men, and all she 
 asked was to prove herself worthy of his 
 
172 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 affection, for the indefinite admiration of him, 
 which had thrilled her with a strange mixture 
 of pleasure and unrest, had now settled into 
 a kind of proud devotion, even while his 
 passionately-expressed love for herself made 
 repose impossible. 
 
 Their tete-a-tete dinner (for Lady Saville 
 could not or would not join them), had been 
 a tremendous trial ; though Janet did her 
 best to be tranquil and composed when 
 Edwards, the superior butler, offered her 
 Chablis — or James, the accomplished footman, 
 brought her oyster patties, she felt that both 
 were perfectly aware she had just promised 
 to marry their master, and had permitted him 
 to kiss her on the strength of their engagement ! 
 
 Then, although Palliser made a gallant 
 and successful attempt to talk about general 
 topics, he could not keep from a happy smile, 
 or laugh, when he met her eyes, a confession 
 of his own effort to keep up appearances 
 before the servants. When dinner was over, 
 there was a delightful interval of unrestrained 
 talk in the drawing-room, during which Janet 
 
WEDDING BELLS. 173 
 
 began to feel herself a little more accustomed 
 to her position, and Palliser put a fine 
 diamond and sapphire engagement ring on 
 her slender finger. 
 
 " Do you think Lady Saville has gone to 
 bed ? " asked Janet at last. 
 
 " Yes, I do ! She said she would, and I 
 know she wants to be all right to-morrow, 
 there will be a good deal to do. I wish to 
 Heaven I had not asked those fellows, who 
 are coming next week ! They will be 
 hideously in the way, but I cannot put them 
 off, and as I have asked them in relays, it will 
 be quite ten days or a fortnight before the 
 place is clear of them ; and all that time, I 
 can only see you by snatches, for I think it 
 better not to announce our engagement till 
 I am free of my guests." 
 
 " Yes, much better," said Janet, " and, Mr. 
 — I mean Randal — I should like to go 
 home to-morrow ! I do long to be with my 
 dear father, and to hear what he will say ! " 
 There was a slight catch in her voice as she 
 said this. 
 
174 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 " Yes, sweet one ! " returned Palliser, taking 
 her hand in both his, and kissing it. " I 
 understand what you feel, and I will not be 
 so selfish as to try to keep you ; but as to 
 what your good father will say, I can tell 
 you ! When I went home with him yester- 
 day, I told him my aspirations, my love for 
 you, and asked his consent, if I should be 
 so fortunate as to obtain yours. I am glad 
 to say that he is ready to accept me as a son 
 if you are willing to present me in that 
 character." 
 
 " How good and thoughtful you are ! " 
 cried Janet, returning the pressure of his 
 hand, with a franker show of affection than 
 she had yet evinced. " I am so glad the dear 
 old father knows ! " 
 
 "And, if you will pardon the apparent 
 conceit, he seems quite pleased." 
 
 " I am sure he is, he always liked you — 
 Eandal." 
 
 " Ah ! you are kind, my darling, to think 
 of my name. How sweet it is to hear you 
 say it," etc., etc., etc. 
 
WEDDING BELLS. 175 
 
 At length Janet insisted on bidding him 
 good-night. 
 
 " And when you have talked with Captain 
 Kowley, I have one or two petitions to offer, 
 which you must not refuse, my darling ! " 
 were his last words that night, 
 
 " I don't suppose I shall ! " she returned 
 with a sweet bright smile. 
 
 The next morning Janet spent a good deal 
 of time with Lady Saville, who seemed to 
 her weak and low. She was very kind and 
 sympathetic, however, though her slightly 
 depressed tone rather dulled the glitter of 
 Janet's brand new happiness. 
 
 They parted with many expressions of 
 regard, for Lady Saville meant to leave for 
 Aldershot the following day. 
 
 Janet was more overcome than she liked 
 to show, when she reached her modest home, 
 where she found her father evidently 
 expecting her. The thought that soon it 
 would be hers no longer, flashed upon her 
 with sudden force, fancy depicting the dear 
 old man sitting alone, through the long 
 
176 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 winter's evening, pining for his hit of back- 
 gammon, and going off an hour too early 
 to bed because he could not keep his eyes 
 open. She could hardly hold back the tears. 
 How ardently she wished she had not to 
 marry Mervyn Hall as well as Eandal Palliser, 
 but she was silent on many subjects, fearing 
 Eandal might be offended. 
 
 He soon showed that he perceived her 
 emotion, a tender hand pressure assured her 
 of his sympathy, and had they been alone 
 she might have testified her gratitude with 
 a degree of warmth he could not have 
 anticipated. 
 
 After a short visit he took liis leave; saying 
 with his pleasant smile, as he shook hands 
 warmly with his intended father-in-law : 
 
 " I know Janet is dying to see me depart, 
 that she may open her heart to you ! " 
 
 " Yes ! " she returned with shy warmth, 
 " but I want you to come to-morrow ! " 
 
 With what a mixture of pleasure and 
 tenderness she threw herself into the- old 
 man's arms, and kissed him over and over 
 
WEDDING BELLS. 177 
 
 again with tears, much to the excellent 
 Captain's surprise, for a good deal of Janet's 
 finer feelings were incomprehensible to him. 
 
 "What's the matter, my girl? You are 
 not sorry you've promised to marry Palliser ? 
 You'd be hard to please if you don't like a fine 
 fellow like him ! He might take any woman's 
 fancy, and a thorough gentleman into the 
 bargain. I have always been an old fool 
 about you, my pet, and thought no man 
 would be good enough for you, but, by 
 George ! I believe Palliser is ! " 
 
 " No, no, dearest Dad ! I am very fond of 
 him and pleased to marry him, but what — 
 what will you do without me, Dad ? " 
 
 " Do ! I'll do right well ! " stroking her 
 head, while his voice was slightly unsteady. 
 "I'll come and see you and dine with you 
 if I get hipped, and Janet, child, don't you 
 think, that knowing you are safe in a 
 beautiful house, with a good husband to 
 take care of you through the troubles of 
 life, will be a real joy and comfort to me ? 
 And you will be a credit to me, my pet ! " 
 vol. i. 12 
 
178 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 Janet gradually perceived that her pro- 
 jected marriage was a source of pride and 
 pleasure to her father, and whatever effect 
 her absence might produce, the outlook at 
 present was certainly cheerful. 
 
 This did more to restore her equanimity 
 than anything else. Captain Eowley was not 
 at all superior to the exultation naturally 
 consequent on the prospect of seeing his 
 daughter at the head of one of the finest 
 establishments in the county, with a really 
 " fine gentleman," in the best sense, for a 
 husband. Where would the Eichard Pallisers 
 be now, who never asked him or his daughter 
 to their grand ball last spring, or old Lady 
 Melesina Jones, who patronised them in such 
 a palpable manner ? He could venture to 
 expend some of his hard savings in furthering 
 Tom's fortunes now that Janet, the delight of 
 his eyes, was to be so amply provided for. 
 The old sailor grew quite jovial over his 
 dinner, and even took a second glass of port 
 before that meal was over, and Janet began 
 to think herself unnecessarily sentimental. 
 
WEDDING BELLS. 179 
 
 Finally, her father chaffed her with much 
 glee for her inattention to their game of 
 backgammon, which she took in excellent 
 part, occasionally stroking her father's 
 wrinkled hand as it grasped the dice-box. 
 
 " Dad dear," she said, when they had shut 
 up the board and were about to bid good-night, 
 " shall you be going out early to-morrow ? " 
 
 "Yes, my dear, I want to get in a few 
 things, probably Palliser will stay to dinner." 
 
 " Then will you turn in to the Vicarage 
 and ask Mary to come and see " 
 
 " You want to tell her the news ? " inter- 
 rupted her father. 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 " Then don't, my pet. Both Palliser and I 
 have agreed that we'll keep everything 
 4 mum ' and quiet till he has got rid of his 
 party, and then the sooner everything is 
 finished off the better." 
 
 " But Mary would be as prudent and silent 
 
 as possible ; we have been such close friends. 
 
 It would seem unkind, disloyal, to keep her in 
 
 the dark like " 
 
 12* 
 
180 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 " Stuff and nonsense, my dear ! No girl is 
 prudent or silent when there's a marriage in 
 the air ! No, no, Janet ! Promise me that 
 you will not drop a hint to any one ! It 
 would be a devil of a bore if a whisper of the 
 business got about — you'd have no peace of 
 your life nor I either. Besides, Palliser wants 
 the affair announced and carried through at 
 once, and he is quite right ! You know, poor 
 fellow, after the mess he made of it to begin 
 with, he does not want to give the gossips too 
 long a tether ! He'll explain all he wants to 
 you, and plead his own cause a deuced deal 
 better than I can; but I hope you'll show 
 yourself a straightforward, sensible girl and 
 no prude. He'll think all the more of you, and 
 so will I — no, don't talk any more, go to your 
 bed and sleep, you look a little pale and done 
 up, and not a word to man, woman or child 
 till I can announce the engagement all over 
 the place. God bless you, my pet ! Shut up 
 your eyes fast, and don't lie awake thinking." 
 
 Janet felt there was nothing for it but to 
 obey, so far as going to her room went, but 
 
WEDDING BELLS. 181 
 
 sleep would not come when called. She lay- 
 long awake, much exercised in her mind 
 respecting her enforced reserve with Mary, 
 who was so good and true. How could she 
 see her every day and yet deceive her? 
 Still, her father's and Palliser's wishes w T ere all 
 powerful with Janet, and indeed she shrank 
 from drawing down the full storm of observa- 
 tion, conjecture and congratulation upon her- 
 self an hour too soon. Finally, had her 
 father and Palliser determined that the 
 marriage was to take place soon — very soon ? 
 This startling proposition she considered from 
 every point of view. It was less startling the 
 more she looked at it. Janet was especially 
 domestic, she looked forward to settling down 
 into a calmer every-day life when Palliser and 
 herself were united, belonging to each other in 
 the eyes of the whole world, sharing the same 
 home, and duties, and cares ; then she would be 
 composed and at rest, and undisturbed by 
 the strange quivering thrills of almost fearful 
 pleasure which agitated her whenever she 
 found herself alone with Palliser. 
 
182 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 Her uneasiness respecting Mary Winyard 
 was somewhat allayed by a visit from that 
 dear friend early next morning. She was 
 looking bright and very pleased, exercise had 
 given her a colour and made her almost 
 pretty, for Mary was rather a plain likeness of 
 her brother. 
 
 " I am absolutely going away for a month, 
 Janet ! " was her greeting. " Mother's cousin, 
 Mrs. Compton, at Sidmouth, has asked me to 
 pay them a visit, and I am to go immediately 
 — on Saturday, if possible — so I cannot make 
 much preparation. I am so glad to have a 
 quiet talk with you before I go. What a 
 long time you stayed at the Hall ! How long 
 has Mr. Palliser been back — about a week ? 
 Isn't Lady Saville nice ? Had you many 
 parties ? " 
 
 And the two girls plunged into the usual 
 kind of gossip. Mary being so taken up with 
 the sudden break in the monotony of her life, 
 that she did not notice how little of the con- 
 versation fell to Janet's share. 
 
 " You will look after my poor people for 
 
WEDDING BELLS. 183 
 
 me, will you not, Janet ? And oh, do try to 
 look in and have a little talk with mother 
 every day, if possible. Mother is so fond of 
 you, you cheer her up — though Eva is quite 
 able to take my place now." 
 
 " I will, dear, as often as I can — but I may 
 go away for a while myself," returned Janet, 
 with a sound of tears in her voice. 
 
 " What ! are you going to London again ? 
 — you lucky girl ! " exclaimed Mary. " I hope 
 you will not go till I come back. Why, Janet, 
 what's the matter ? You don't seem to like 
 the idea — are you not quite well ? " 
 
 Janet assured her she never felt better, and 
 added with an arch smile that she did like the 
 idea of going to London. Then Mary de- 
 parted, overwhelmed with the sense of all she 
 had to do before Saturday. 
 
 Lady Saville was not quite well enough to 
 start the day she intended, Palliser therefore 
 begged Janet and her father to come over to 
 the Hall for a consultation about future plans 
 
184 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 when, as might have been expected, he had 
 his own way on most points. 
 
 Janet soon saw that everything had been 
 carefully arranged, and that her father had 
 been taken into the council. 
 
 "You see, my dear Janet," urged Lady 
 Saville, with whom she had a long tete-a-tete 
 talk, while Palliser and her father took a walk 
 to the home farm, " it will be much wiser to 
 get through the whole business as soon as 
 possible. Eandal will know no peace, nor 
 give any one else any peace till he is married, 
 and you would be bored to death with the 
 people here. Believe me, you will be much 
 happier when you are settled. I think you 
 and your father had better come and stay 
 with me ; we can make all the preparations 
 so much better in Town, and there will be a 
 great deal to do ! Eandal can come to and 
 fro, or put up at the Club Chambers — he 
 hasn't a Town house." 
 
 In short everything had been thought of 
 and settled, and Janet agreeing with their 
 views in their common-sense aspect, and only 
 
WEDDING BELLS. 185 
 
 held back by a sort of nervous reluctance to 
 break so suddenly with the old life, seeing 
 that her father was strongly on Palliser's side, 
 was carried irresistibly on the stream, and it 
 was decided nem. con. that as soon as Captain 
 Eowley could conveniently leave home he 
 and Janet should take up their abode in 
 Eaton Square, and remain there till the 
 marriage, which was to take place as early 
 in December as could be managed. 
 
 Then at Palliser's request, Lady Saville 
 gave her a history of his first unfortunate 
 marriage. 
 
 " He said he could not bear the humiliation 
 of recounting it himself. It has been a most 
 unfortunate business for him, poor fellow. 
 He has been so awfully ashamed of having 
 made such a fool of himself — the ridicule has 
 hurt him more than anything — he is very 
 sensitive and proud. He went away round 
 the world after that. He need not have gone 
 so far — in a fortnight society had forgotten 
 all about his misfortunes, and had thrown 
 itself on some one else's. Now I fancy he 
 
186 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 would like to stay abroad most of the winter 
 for the same reason — of course, when his 
 marriage is announced there will be a fresh 
 outbreak of talk, perhaps you might like to 
 come back sooner." 
 
 "Oh, no, I shall be charmed to travel 
 about — I always wished to see the places I 
 have read of." 
 
 " That is all very well, my dear child, but 
 do cultivate tastes and a will of your own ! 
 Don't fancy that your husband will think a 
 bit the better of you, or care for you any 
 better because you adopt his ideas and give 
 in to him in everything. They like the 
 excitement of opposition, and the necessity 
 for bringing a wife round to his opinions 
 gives her importance in a man's eyes. I 
 made terrible mistakes at first, and went on 
 making mistakes until it was too late to 
 mend ! " 
 
 " But dear Lady Saville, if two people love 
 and understand each other, all these small 
 matters will arrange themselves." 
 
 " My dear, ' love and understanding ' never 
 
WEDDING BELLS. 187 
 
 affect the everlasting struggle for the upper 
 hand between men and women, or rather 
 between human beings." 
 
 "Still," exclaimed Janet with a sunny 
 smile, " I do not think Randal and I will find 
 much to quarrel about — I should be an un- 
 grateful wretch if I were to vex him." 
 
 " For Heaven's sake, Janet, do not let any 
 absurd notions about gratitude take root in 
 your mind, they will ruin you! You have 
 nothing to be so grateful for — you have made 
 yourself indispensable to Eandal, and he is 
 ready to pay any price to secure you. He 
 is in many ways a good fellow, but like every 
 man that ever was born, he wants manage- 
 ment ! However, I see you do not heed me, 
 so — to return to our muttons, try to come up 
 to me as soon as possible. It would be so 
 much better for you to be away during this 
 tiresome party of Eandal's, and we could be 
 getting on with the trousseau." 
 
 " Ah, yes — the trousseau ! " murmured 
 Janet, her speaking face changing somewhat. 
 " Is it necessary to have a very large one ? " 
 
188 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 "By no means. Just enough to go on 
 with, then, when you are Mrs. Palliser with 
 a proper allowance of pin money, you can 
 get everything you want." 
 
 Janet knew that her father could not give 
 her a fine trousseau, and she shrank from the 
 idea of receiving anything from Palliser 
 before she was his wife, still it must be 
 managed somehow ! Yes, she was very glad 
 to go away from the prying gossips of Lang- 
 ford, only she would like the dear Vicar to 
 marry her ! 
 
 Though Captain Eowley had sternly en- 
 joined silence and prudence on his daughter, 
 he profoundly enjoyed announcing Janet's 
 engagement to the Squire of Mervyn Hall, 
 when the time came, and the astonishment 
 which consequentlylell on Langford, genteel 
 Langford ! 
 
 Janet insisted on telling Mrs. Winyard 
 herself. That much-enduring woman was 
 greatly affected by the news — she even shed 
 a few tears, and solemnly blessed her young 
 favourite, but she did not mention her son's 
 
WEDDING BELLS. 189 
 
 name. Janet well knew, however, that he 
 was in her thoughts, and this made her all 
 the more ready to go away. It was a great 
 relief to quit Langford, especially as she 
 knew she was coming back there to her 
 permanent home. 
 
 " And when we meet again," said Palliser, 
 as he leaned against the door of the railway 
 carriage, waiting for the guard's signal to 
 start, "when we meet again, my darling, 
 we shall have no more parting. You will 
 write to me every day, as I will to you ? I 
 think we are going to have some fine open 
 weather — I hope so ! Hunting will help the 
 time to pass more quickly " 
 
 Here the guard's whistle rang out, and 
 Palliser stepped back. Then they sped away 
 and were soon beyond the limit of Janet's 
 farthest rambles — she felt as if she had already 
 left her old life far behind, and bade it a 
 tender, but not reluctant adieu. 
 
 Lady Saville was waiting to receive them 
 at Paddington, and welcomed them with the 
 graceful warmth she knew so well how to 
 
190 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 adopt, then the visitors, their wraps and 
 small bags, with a huge basket of fruit and 
 flowers from the Hall, were swept away in a 
 comfortable double brougham to Lady 
 Saville's town house. 
 
 Their kind hostess had invited Tom Eowley 
 to meet his father and sister at dinner, and 
 as he came punctually she stayed a few 
 minutes longer over her " toilette," in order 
 to let the family meeting take place without 
 her presence. 
 
 Tom was an unlike likeness of his father — 
 he was short and broad and sandy, but his 
 expression had a touch of foxiness, and his 
 eyes were lighter and less kindly than Captain 
 Eowley's. He was much absorbed in his 
 work and very eager to get on. His sister's 
 grand marriage was a great joy to him ; 
 though fairly straight and independent, he 
 did not see why he should not get some 
 personal good out of it — anyhow he would 
 try. 
 
 Janet was really glad to see him, but a 
 little disgusted with herself for feeling rather 
 
WEDDING BELLS. 191 
 
 disappointed at his appearance. They had 
 not met for more than a year, and either he 
 had deteriorated, or she had grown hyper- 
 critical, but though well-dressed in the 
 evening clothes of everyday humanity, he did 
 not look quite a gentleman. His movements, 
 his attitudes, his voice had in them something 
 indescribable which displeased her ; to be 
 sure, she could not expect everyone to be 
 distinguished like Eandal — no one was quite 
 equal to him, and Tom, poor boy ! had not 
 had many advantages. 
 
 " Well, madam Janet," he exclaimed when 
 the first greetings were exchanged, " you 
 have done well for yourself ! I suppose 
 you'll be a regular swell, too fine for your 
 own people ? " 
 
 " Oh, Tom ! " she was beginning, when 
 Lady Saville came in, and Tom sank into 
 silence, speaking very little during his stay, 
 but evidently appreciating the good things 
 set before him. In fact, he had few subjects 
 in common with his convives, and did not 
 feel quite comfortable with Lady Saville, 
 
192 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 who, though exquisitely polite, seemed a 
 little puzzled with him. 
 
 When he had drunk a little wine, he came 
 out more and mentioned the leading facts of 
 a rather curious case in which his firm was 
 engaged, using a good many technical terms. 
 Then he invited his father to dine with him 
 at his " diggin's " next day, and Janet was on 
 the whole rather glad when he was gone. 
 
 " Janet, my dear," said Lady Saville next 
 morning, " we must be up and doing ! I am 
 going to carry her off, Captain Eowley, to my 
 own particular modiste, who has promised to 
 devote all the resources of her establishment 
 to our service. I want to get as much as 
 possible accomplished before Eandal comes 
 up to Town. We shall find him a great 
 hindrance ! Go and dress, dear, I shall give 
 you a sketch of our proposed proceedings as 
 we drive to Bond Street." 
 
 "Very well, Lady Saville, I am most 
 thankful to you for this help. I really do 
 not know what I should do without you ! " 
 
 As soon as Janet had left the room, 
 
WEDDING BELLS. 193 
 
 Captain Eowley rose, and drawing a note- 
 book from his breast pocket, said with some 
 solemnity, " My daughter is right, you are a 
 sister and a mother to her in one ; but it is 
 enough that you take all this trouble for us ! 
 I don't want you or anyone else to be put to 
 any expense. I'm not a rich man, but my 
 girl must not be indebted to anyone for her 
 wedding gown ! " Here he opened the 
 book and took out an envelope. "There," 
 he continued, handing it to Lady Saville, 
 " you'll find five twenty-pound notes in that, 
 and I fancy they'll buy fallals enough for a 
 princess! Your taste and judgment will 
 dispose of them to the best advantage." 
 
 "Thank you, my dear Captain Eowley, 
 you are most considerate and generous! I 
 shall see that Janet has everything she 
 requires," returned Lady Saville with a sweet 
 smile, and greatly amused at the self-satisfied 
 important air of the simple old sailor, as he 
 made this magnificent provision for his 
 daughter's needs. 
 
 In the disposal of this handsome sum, Lady 
 vol. i. 13 
 
194 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 Saville contrived to endow it with such 
 extraordinary elasticity, that Captain Eowley 
 was excited to swear some almost forgotten 
 sea-going oaths, expressive of surprise at the 
 amount of money's worth she managed to get 
 for it. 
 
 As to Janet, she was quite dazed by the 
 quantity of clothes considered absolutely 
 necessary by Lady Saville. 
 
 Morning dresses, walking dresses, carriage 
 dresses, evening dresses, tea gowns, morning 
 gowns, dressing gowns, then the heaps of 
 dainty lace -trimmed under garments, the 
 boots and the shoes, the gloves and the 
 ribbons — Lady Saville wanted to order all 
 and everything. 
 
 Here Janet stood firm. 
 
 " It is absolutely sinful to order such piles 
 of things," she said. " I should be obliged to 
 change my dress every hour of the day, to 
 use even the half of them ! Then fashions 
 change, and I shall want different shapes and 
 stuffs, which I can buy for myself, as I am to 
 have such a large dress allowance ! Of 
 
WEDDING BELLS. 195 
 
 course, poor Dad's hundred pounds can go 
 but a very short way, and — and I want to 
 pay all the rest myself a little later — that 
 is " 
 
 " My dear Janet ! If you intend to waste 
 your allowance in that way, I am sorry for 
 you, you will bitterly regret such Quixotism ! 
 Eandal would be furious if you dressed in a 
 dowdy, economical way." 
 
 " Still, Lady Saville, I will not have all these 
 dresses, at all events until I understand better 
 what I want ; and travelling about I shall not 
 need more than one or two evening dresses. 
 As to having all these boots and shoes made, 
 it is rather waste of time. Why not get them 
 ready made ? " 
 
 "Good Heavens, Janet! would you ruin 
 your feet ? Would you really ivear such 
 things ? " 
 
 " I have worn them all my life, and I do 
 not think my feet are ruined yet." 
 
 At last Palliser, having got rid of his guests, 
 came to Town, and Janet found herself torn 
 between his demands on her time, and those 
 
 13* 
 
196 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 of the modiste and her myrmidons. There 
 was one tremendous evening of excitement, 
 both to Captain Eowley and Lady Saville, 
 when the Palliser family diamonds and other 
 jewels were brought up in charge of one of 
 the clerks from the bank, and tried on the 
 fair fiancee. 
 
 "They are rather old-fashioned," said 
 Palliser, contemplating her critically. "I 
 think I shall have them reset while we are 
 abroad. They would be ready in time for 
 your presentation, Janet ! " 
 
 " Oh ! dear Eandal, they are lovely as they 
 are." 
 
 And an animated discussion ensued in 
 which Janet carried her point. 
 
 " Eeally our ingenue is singularly indif- 
 ferent to the unwonted grandeur with which 
 you load her, Eandal ! " said his sister, when 
 Janet, quite tired out with the rush and strain 
 of the day, had gone to her room. 
 
 " She has the instincts of a gentlewoman, 
 and they lift her over a vulgar delight in 
 finery. Besides," with a smile of undisguised 
 
WEDDING BELLS. 197 
 
 self-satisfaction, " I flatter myself she is too 
 much taken up with me, to care much about 
 my belongings." 
 
 "She is certainly very fond of you,*' re- 
 turned Lady Saville. 
 
 "I hope so, and I am glad she is much 
 more at home with me. At first she was 
 half afraid of me, or of her own feelings ! It 
 was heavenly, but it would have become 
 deucedly inconvenient later." 
 
 When the day of days in a woman's life 
 dawned at last, Janet was thankful that the 
 hurry and high pressure were over, and that 
 repose and a return to something like her 
 normal existence was now within touch. 
 
 She had her wish. The vicar came up to 
 Town the day before to perform the cere- 
 mony. The faithful Mary, however, refused 
 to be bridesmaid, albeit pressed warmly. 
 Her heart was with her absent brother, 
 though she felt she had no right to be angry 
 with Janet. 
 
 The bride, therefore, went unattended to 
 the altar, and her father could hardly believe 
 
198 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 that the stately, splendidly-attired young 
 creature who stood before him, was his own 
 light-hearted, industrious Janet. 
 
 The whole thing was soon over, the 
 wedding was almost private as regards the 
 limited number present, and then Janet 
 seemed to be clothed in her travelling dress 
 with magic celerity, by her new maid, 
 a severe, desperately - experienced elderly 
 widow, of whom her mistress was slightly 
 in awe. In another minute she was clinging 
 to her father with tears and kisses, till her 
 husband gently drew her away. " It is only 
 for a time, dearest, we shall both be with him 
 soon again." 
 
 " And he shall stay awhile with me, dear ! 
 We'll have a grand time together," put in 
 Lady Saville. 
 
 Then Palliser hurried her into the carriage, 
 and so Janet Eowley passed away. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE DAILY ROUND. 
 
 It was at the end of March that our bride 
 and bridegroom found themselves again in 
 Paris on their homeward way. 
 
 Those three months had been rich in 
 experience of many kinds for Janet. After 
 a short stay at Cannes, they had pursued 
 their way to Eome, where they had made 
 many acquaintances, or rather Janet had, for 
 it seemed to her that her husband knew 
 every one in the world already. She had 
 been greatly amused with the people, and 
 profoundly interested in the place. Indeed , 
 as Palliser observed, she had developed a 
 forty-horse power of sight seeing. He was 
 a little bored, a not unusual mental condition 
 with him. He was still very passionately in 
 love, and he wanted to have his wife all to 
 
200 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 himself ; nor was she less enchanted to be 
 alone with him, only when she was not, she 
 could amuse herself very cheerfully. Palliser, 
 though too lazy to care about the society in 
 Eome, was pleased to see how well and 
 successfully Janet posed as Mrs. Palliser of 
 Mervyn Hall. He thought this was the result 
 of some wonderful reserve fund of tact, 
 which he did not dream she possessed, 
 whereas it was the outcome of happiness, 
 the certainty of her position, and the insight 
 of a quick intelligence, not of any fore- 
 thought or worldly wisdom. Her common 
 sense always prompted her to ask her 
 husband his opinion of the various people 
 introduced to her, as she was keenly alive to 
 her own inexperience, and she thus ascer- 
 tained his estimate of others, and the terms 
 on which he wished to stand with them. 
 
 " You are a wonderfully shrewd little 
 woman, Janet ! " he sometimes said to her 
 with lazy admiration. " The way you pick 
 my brains is quite extraordinary, but you 
 are right to take me for your pilot." 
 
THE DAILY ROUND. 201 
 
 So all tilings went well and smoothly, and 
 in this world of grief and trial, sorrow and 
 disappointment, there was one supremely 
 happy creature, for whom the past had no 
 secrets, the future no fears, who, when she 
 stopped to think, was even a little awed by 
 her own bliss. 
 
 " What are you going to do this morning, 
 Eandal ? " she asked one fine mild day, more 
 like the end of April than of March. 
 
 " I don't know exactly — I thought of going 
 over to the Embassy to see Dacre. He 
 wants me to look at a horse at Beauregard's 
 stables — he thinks of buying it, they say it's 
 a pure Arab." 
 
 " Very well ! " said Janet turning from the 
 window, which looked out on the Tuileries 
 gardens, and coming over to the fireplace 
 where her husband was lounging, his shoulder 
 against the mantelshelf. "Then I shall go 
 to poor Marie Antoinette's prison. I have 
 wished so much to see it — these sort of 
 places bore you, as you have seen every- 
 thing." 
 
202 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 " No, not everything, Janet ! You cannot 
 go alone ? " 
 
 "I shall take Eaynes with me, she can 
 speak French fairly well, and seems always 
 to know what to do." 
 
 " You are getting on with Mrs. Eaynes ! " 
 said Palliser, taking the ends of the long sash 
 which fastened his wife's morning gown and 
 twisting them together indolently. " I 
 thought you were a little in awe of her ? " 
 
 " Oh ! I fear no one when you are behind 
 me," slipping her arm through his and 
 pressing it to her side. "Then I have 
 grown accustomed to her, and she to me. 
 I think she is rather fond of me." 
 
 " Impossible ! she is much too severe a 
 British Matron to be fond of anything or 
 anyone ! At all events, she seems to know 
 her business. Your hair is verj^ well done 
 up?" 
 
 u I am glad you like it ! But it is my own 
 doing, I always do it myself in the morning." 
 
 " I believe you have an abstract love of 
 taking trouble ? " 
 
THE DAILY ROUND. 203 
 
 (i There is something else I want to speak 
 to you about. First, how long are we to stay 
 here ? " continued Janet. 
 
 " I am not sure, I rather want to see Lord 
 
 L who will be passing through in a 
 
 fortnight." (He named a well-known Con- 
 servative statesman). " Shall we stay till the 
 last week in April ? " 
 
 " How lovely the woods will be looking ! " 
 she exclaimed. "But if we are to stay so 
 long I should like to take some French 
 lessons. I cannot speak nearly as well as 
 Eaynes, and last night I scarcely understood 
 anything Sarah Bernhardt said." 
 
 " And what am I to do when you are 
 absorbed in profound study ? " 
 
 " Well, Eandal, I like to get up early, and 
 you are rather lazy, so if I get up an hour 
 or two earlier, I should be quite ready to 
 walk or drive with you when you wanted 
 
 me." 
 
 " Where shall you find a teacher ? I don't 
 want you to have a hairy grinning ape of a 
 French master ! " 
 
204 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 Janet laughed. 
 
 " Mrs. Dacre knows a very accomplished 
 French mistress, diplomee and all that ! " 
 
 " Very well ! only you must not desert 
 me ! " 
 
 "I had a delightful long letter from my 
 father this morning. He seems quite well 
 and bright, and longing to see us again. 
 Would you like to read it ? " 
 
 " Thanks, dearest ! you can tell me all 
 about it ! By the way, my lawyers write 
 that the man who has made an offer for 
 that place of mine in Sussex, is Dick 
 Palliser. He offers a very fair price too! 
 Well, he is welcome to it on those terms. 
 But I trust he will never set his foot in 
 Mervyn Hall." 
 
 " My father says he is to be married on the 
 twenty-ninth, and is going to leave the 
 army ! " 
 
 "More fool he! his only chance of 
 distinction was to stick to his profession. 
 Hullo ! that is eleven striking. I had better 
 be off. I promised to breakfast with Dacre 
 
THE DAILY ROUND. 205 
 
 if I could. You'll take care of yourself 
 then ? " He held her to him for a parting 
 kiss and was gone. 
 
 Soon after, Mrs. Palliser and her maid set 
 out for the gloomy portals of the Conciergerie. 
 Janet rather wished that her husband could 
 share the keen interest with which she 
 examined historic sites, and places hallowed 
 by tradition, for every pleasure shared by 
 him was doubled or trebled. She could not 
 help perceiving that in these directions what 
 engrossed her, was weariness to him. To 
 matters connected with hunting or racing 
 he was all alive, but when, anxious to know 
 his opinion, and guide herself by his 
 judgment, she tried to discuss characters 
 and events of the past, he only chaffed her 
 for her earnestness respecting bygone things 
 which didn't signify now and were not worth 
 a thought. 
 
 Of course Janet put this down to his 
 superior knowledge and experience, still 
 she could not wish to forego the vivid 
 pleasure her own freshness afforded her, 
 
206 A CHOICE OF EVIL?. 
 
 even to reach thp high mental level of her 
 husband. 
 
 She gradually came to do all her sight- 
 seeing under the guardianship of Mrs. 
 Baynes, who appeared to know a little of 
 everything, having served a variety of 
 mistresses — the wildly gay, the serious 
 minded, the severely intellectual, but she 
 was not given to talk of her past — only a 
 stray word here and there suggested to her 
 young lady her various experiences. 
 
 Between her sight - seeing, her French 
 studies and her faithful correspondence with 
 her father, Janet had sometimes a push to 
 be ready in time for luncheon with her 
 husband, who amused himself much more 
 in Paris, than in Eome or Florence, and was 
 now quite ready to go out of an evening, 
 and pleased to return the hospitalities of his 
 friends. 
 
 Janet was sometimes amused and surprised 
 at herself for the rapidity with which she had 
 become acclimatized to the habits and 
 customs of the wealthy " upper ten " — 
 
THE DAILY ROUND. 207 
 
 generally this process was facilitated by the 
 good breeding of the people with whom she 
 associated ; of course among them there was 
 a sprinkling of the brusque and insolent, but 
 Mrs. Palliser of Mervyn Hall was too well 
 placed, too well backed up by a husband 
 known to, and versed in, the ways of society, 
 to be troubled by the presumption or ill- 
 nature of these exceptions ; she was calm and 
 fearless, and strong in the affection and appro- 
 bation of her husband. 
 
 The only shadow of difference between 
 them was on the question of dancing. The 
 English Ambassador gave a ball, and Janet, 
 enchanted to dance again, and to such 
 delightful music as she had never danced 
 to before, accepted all offers, and spun lightly 
 round the room with attaches and dis- 
 tinguished foreigners of all nations. She 
 was enjoying herself immensely when she 
 caught a glimpse of Palliser looking after her 
 with an expression such as she had never 
 before seen on his face. 
 
 The moment the dance was over she went 
 
208 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 up to him and, dismissing her partner with a 
 smile and a few pleasant words, she put her 
 arm through her husband's and asked him 
 what had happened to annoy him. 
 
 " Do I show my annoyance so unguar- 
 dedly ? " he asked, his countenance clearing 
 a little. 
 
 " I can always tell what you are thinking 
 about," she said, " I know every change in 
 your face — others may not." 
 
 "I am annoyed, and with you, it is very 
 thoughtless of you to dance — you will over- 
 fatigue yourself, which is never wise, and — 
 and I don't like to see my wife whirling 
 round with every nobody that asks her." 
 
 " But, Eandal," she returned, rather over- 
 whelmed, " I am perfectly strong and well, 
 and these men are your own acquaintances. 
 They are very nice, too, I like them all." 
 
 " Well, / am not so catholic in my likings, 
 and I do not care to see you so — so abandoned 
 to the pleasure of the moment." 
 
 Janet laughed, to Palliser's surprise, who 
 expected to see tears filling her eyes. 
 
THE DAILY ROUND. 209 
 
 " I really think you are very silly, but if 
 it annoys you, dear, I will not dance any 
 more, though " — showing him her card — 
 " you see all the dances I am engaged for ! I 
 do not know how I am to excuse myself — 
 and the cotillon — oh, I should like to dance 
 the cotillon ! " she looked up into his face 
 with a sweet, frank smile — but his brow did 
 not quite relax. 
 
 " It is foolish, and I do not like it," he said, 
 " but you must not make yourself remark- 
 able. I will make your excuses to — let me 
 see " — taking her card — " oh, that Hungarian 
 fellow, well, I shall manage him — he speaks 
 English well. Come, you had better sit down 
 over here beside Mrs. Dacre." 
 
 He turned as he spoke, and his face changed 
 immediately on finding himself face to face 
 with a gentleman, an extremely sunburnt 
 gentleman, fair haired and blue-eyed, shorter 
 than himself, but broader, squarer, and older. 
 
 " Why, Saville, I had no idea you were in 
 Paris ! " exclaimed Palliser, in considerable 
 surprise. 
 
 vol. i. 14 
 
210 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 " Only arrived this morning — met Lord 
 
 D by accident, he asked me to come 
 
 to the ball to-night, and here I am ! Come, 
 my dear fellow, present me to your wife." 
 
 " Sir Frederic Saville — Mrs. Palliser," said 
 her husband in proper form. 
 
 Janet smiled and put out her hand. 
 
 " Lady Saville has so often spoken of you," 
 was her introductory remark. 
 
 Sir Frederic elevated his eyebrows as he 
 took the hand she offered. 
 
 " My dear Mrs. Palliser, it is an awful 
 thing to be discussed by the wife of one's 
 bosom." 
 
 " You would not think so if you had heard 
 the discussion," returned Janet, rather startled 
 by his words ; " we thought you must have 
 returned to England, but I have not heard 
 from Lady Saville for some time." 
 
 " She is not the best of correspondents — 
 but let us find a seat. I have been longing to 
 make your acquaintance. Palliser, dispose 
 of yourself somewhere, and let me make the 
 best impression I can upon your wife." 
 
THE DAILY ROUND. 211 
 
 " Very well — I will go and get rid of one 
 of her cavaliers, at least." And he went off 
 with a smile and a nod which told Janet she 
 was forgiven. 
 
 " Do you know you are not a bit like what 
 I expected you to be ? " resumed Sir Frederic, 
 as he took his place beside Janet on a sofa in 
 a convenient recess, while he looked at her 
 from head to foot very critically. "When 
 Lady Saville did write, she generally said a 
 great deal about you. I believe you are 
 devoted friends, and have as yet had no 
 opportunity of quarrelling ? " 
 
 "Lady Saville has been charming to me, 
 and we shall put off quarrelling as long as we 
 can," returned Janet good-humouredly. 
 
 " Possibly you may manage to keep the 
 peace a little longer — that is, if she intends to 
 favour me with her company — for I am not 
 going to stay in England." 
 
 '•' Shall you return to the East then ? " with 
 some surprise. 
 
 " The East ? Oh, no — I am unfortunately 
 ineligible either for civil or military service. 
 
 14* 
 
212 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 I am going to Scotland for fishing, and then 
 I may go to Norway in June. After, God 
 knows — at any rate if Gertrude deigns to 
 come with me, your friendship may survive 
 a little longer ! " and he laughed — not very 
 pleasantly. 
 
 " I hope you will come and see us, first." 
 
 " Thank you ! It is an age since I was 
 at the Hall — capital hunting country about 
 there — or used to be." 
 
 " It is still good, I believe."' 
 
 " Do you hunt yourself ? I suppose so, as 
 you are country bred ? " 
 
 " No, nor do I think I ever shall. I did 
 not begin early enough to have the nerve ! " 
 
 " Ha ! " with another long, keen look, " you 
 look like a plucky one." 
 
 " Looks are often deceptive." 
 
 " I fancy yours are truthful, at present." 
 
 " What a painfully prophetic tone, Sir 
 Frederic." 
 
 " We'll see, Mrs. Palliser ; so far, it seems 
 to me that Randal is going to have his early 
 ill-luck made up to him." 
 
THE DAILY K0UND. 213 
 
 Janet flushed up to the brow, pained by 
 this careless allusion to her husband's great 
 mistake, and looking round for him, met his 
 eyes with a loving glance which he inter- 
 preted as an expression of penitence for her 
 unconscious misdoing. So mollified, he 
 approached, followed by the dispossessed 
 Hungarian, who addressed her : 
 
 "Perhaps you will be so gracious as to 
 give me one more dance in place of that 
 which I have lost ? " 
 
 " With pleasure, if there is one free before 
 we leave," and she gave him her card. 
 
 Then one of the English attaches came to 
 claim her, and she left Palliser in conversation 
 with his brother-sn-law. 
 
 Before the cotillon arrived, however, 
 Palliser discovered he had a slight headache, 
 that he feared the champagne was queer, and 
 that he should like to go home. Janet 
 laughed at his indisposition, declaring she 
 knew it was only to prevent her from dancing 
 any more, that the headache had been so 
 obliging as to threaten him. She made no 
 
214 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 opposition, however, to his wish to leave the 
 ball-room, and bidding good-night to Sir 
 Frederic Saville, they returned to the hotel 
 contentedly enough. 
 
 The lamp was still alight in the sitting- 
 room, and Janet paused there to rest after 
 the heated atmosphere of the ball before un- 
 dressing. 
 
 " That dress suits you very well," said 
 Palliser, as the dignified Eaynes took away 
 her mistress's cloak. " What colour do you 
 call it ? " 
 
 " Eau-de-Mle. Yes, I like it, and the 
 garniture of water lilies — ' fine feathers make 
 fine birds ! ' You remember the washed-out 
 cotton you first saw me in, Eandal ? " 
 
 " Yes. Well, it was a royal robe, for it 
 was worn by my queen ! Did you think me 
 a disagreeable brute to-night, Janet ? " 
 
 " A brute ! Oh, no — never ! Only it was 
 not exactly ' a lucid interval,' Eandal," 
 holding out her hand to him. 
 
 " You don't know how anxious I am about 
 you, my darling," pressing it tenderly. 
 
THE DAILY ROUND. 215 
 
 " Why ? I am not a delicate, consumptive 
 creature to whom the least additional exertion 
 might be fatal ! " 
 
 " No, thank Heaven ! Still, you must 
 promise me to curb your love of dancing. 
 How would you like me to whisk other 
 women round the room all night ? " 
 
 "I should be charmed to see you enjoy 
 yourself — why, you might even dance with 
 me! I should enjoy a dance with you, 
 Eandal! I am not in the least jealous by 
 nature." 
 
 " Then, pray remember 1 am ! I know I 
 could be desperately jealous and — unfor- 
 giving. Though, if I could ever trust anyone 
 implicitly it would be you, Janet ! " 
 
 " And 1 trust you without an ' if.' Tell 
 me, Eandal, is Sir Frederic Saville a jealous 
 husband ? " 
 
 " Who — Saville ? No, no one can accuse 
 him of that vice," and Palliser laughed. 
 There was a touch of scorn in his laughter. 
 " By the way, I think Gertrude may join him 
 here. If so, she might help you to choose 
 
216 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 some things for your presentation dress. It 
 is a good opportunity." 
 
 61 I have quantities of things waiting for 
 me in London, you know — my wedding- 
 dress " 
 
 " No matter," interrupted Palliser. " Your 
 court dress must be in the latest fashion." 
 
 " I suppose Lady Saville will present me ? " 
 
 " Yes — if she is in Town. She had much 
 better go with Saville to Scotland." 
 
 "Naturally. But she was quite looking 
 forward to having the boys with her at Easter, 
 they were to go to Lord DarreU's place for 
 the holidays." 
 
 " I suppose she will come over here now. I 
 wish she had a little more respect for appear- 
 ances ! " 
 
 " Who ? " asked Janet, immensely sur- 
 prised. 
 
 " My sister. But it is too late to gossip, 
 get to bed as soon as you can — you will find 
 yourself pretty well done up to-morrow — or 
 rather this morning." 
 
 In spite, however, of urgent letters from 
 
THE DAILY ROUND. 217 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Palliser, and, it was supposed, 
 from her husband also, Lady Saville declined 
 to join her relatives in Paris. It was so near 
 Easter that the journey to and fro would only 
 be useless fatigue, and she was particularly 
 anxious to be with her boys, as after Mid- 
 summer the eldest was to go to a crammer's. 
 
 The Lady Darrell with whom the holidays 
 were to be spent, was Sir Frederic's sister 
 and his elder by many years ; she was blest 
 with an only son, Lord Darrell, to whom her 
 life was devoted. 
 
 Janet was sorry that Lady Saville decided 
 to remain in England ; she had always found 
 her sister-in-law a pleasant companion, and 
 was grateful for her many kindnesses. More- 
 over, though he did not appear to have any 
 particular regard for Sir Frederic, Palliser 
 was a great deal with him, and Janet found she 
 had a little more time for sight- seeing and 
 study than she quite liked. She was far too 
 well-tempered and reasonable to let this 
 irritate or distress her. It was a temporary 
 interruption to her delightful tete-a-tete with 
 
218 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 her husband which would soon be at an end, 
 and at Mervyn, the already beloved home 
 which awaited her, their lives would grow 
 more completely into one than they had been 
 yet. 
 
 Still, she could not help perceiving that Sir 
 Frederic Saville's company had not exactly a 
 beneficent effect on his brother - in - law. 
 Palliser was more impatient and dissatisfied 
 than she had ever seen him, and Janet grew 
 quite anxious to return to London, and see 
 with her own eyes how the dear old Dad had 
 borne the long separation from the joy of his 
 life. 
 
 Saville dined with them much oftener than 
 she liked, and, although he professed very 
 openly the greatest admiration for herself, 
 his mode of showing it was extremely un- 
 pleasant. He seemed to have no belief in 
 anything, and his conversation, though kept 
 fairly within decent limits, made her feel 
 rather uneasy as to what was coming next ; 
 with all his talk about beauty and its bound- 
 less power, she could see that his contempt 
 
THE DAILY KOUND. 219 
 
 for women was great, though tolerably con- 
 cealed under the manners of good society. 
 Finally, it seemed to her that he drank an 
 unusual quantity of wine, although it never 
 affected him in the least. 
 
 In fact, the presence of Sir Frederic Saville 
 rather spoiled the latter part of her stay in 
 Paris. She was rarely alone with her hus- 
 band in the evening, and when she was he 
 spoke little and seemed preoccupied. 
 
 "I should not like to be married to Sir 
 Frederic Saville ! " she said on one of these 
 rare occasions, looking up from a letter she 
 was writing to his wife. 
 
 " I hope you would not ! " returned Palliser 
 smiling. 
 
 " Ah ! but I mean, I do not think he can 
 be a kind or a pleasant husband." 
 
 "Well, I am not sure. He is rather an 
 amusing fellow — not exactly suited to holy 
 orders, but generous and good-natured. He 
 is popular with men." 
 
 " But not with women, I imagine ? " 
 
 "Yes, he is — with some kinds of women — 
 
220 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 very popular ! — not with blue stockings who 
 read Buckle's History, etc., etc.," laughing. 
 
 Janet laughed, too. 
 
 " At all events, Eandal, I keep my culpable 
 tastes to myself! I do not bore people with 
 them." 
 
 " No, I must grant that. I assure you, he 
 and Gertrude were devilishly in love with 
 each other, in fact, it was rather a bore." 
 
 " Dear Eandal — what an expression ! Say 
 1 angelically in love ! '" 
 
 " There was deuced little of the angel 
 about him, at all events, and Gertrude, you 
 know, made the mistake women often make — 
 of expecting things to go on at the same high 
 pressure at which they began." 
 
 Janet was silent. Her husband's words 
 suggested a train of not too agreeable re- 
 flection. Palliser watched her for a moment, 
 and was about to speak, when she forestalled 
 him by exclaiming, as if out of her thoughts : 
 " But your sister is so loveable, so full of tact, 
 that I should think her husband could never 
 tire of her." 
 
THE DAILY ROUND. 221 
 
 " Never and for ever are long words, Janet, 
 to apply to any relationship, any state of 
 feeling. It is wise to try and enjoy the 
 present and let the future take care of 
 itself. I see poor Saville is no favourite of 
 yours." 
 
 " Well, no, not yet." 
 
 " You are ungrateful. He admires you 
 loudly ! " 
 
 Janet only shook her head, and went on 
 with her letter. When she had finished it 
 and closed her blotting-book, she came over 
 to where Palliser sat half asleep over a paper, 
 and kissed his forehead. 
 
 " You and I, dear," she said, " are to be an 
 extra sensible couple, and settle down to real 
 comradeship quite soon ! I daresay the ' sober 
 certainty of waking bliss ' in the calmness of 
 everyday life is sweetest of all." 
 
 Palliser drew her down to him. 
 
 " Come what may, darling, the present is 
 delicious — too delicious for sense or calm- 
 
 ness." 
 
222 A. CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 Ten days later they left for London, Sir 
 Frederic having proceeded them. 
 
 It was very delightful to Janet to hear 
 English spoken all round her after more than 
 four months' sojourn among foreigners and 
 the sound of strange tongues. 
 
 Palliser had taken a suite of rooms in one of 
 the huge caravanserais which overlook St. 
 James' Park, from a friend, who had been sud- 
 denly ordered to the Eiviera. Here he proposed 
 to stay till after the Drawing-room, at which he 
 wished his wife to be presented, and Janet, 
 not without some longing to go " home," at 
 once consented ; she had suggested, with a 
 curious, uneasy reluctance, that her father 
 should be invited to stay for a short time, 
 and Palliser had given a brief, abrupt consent. 
 
 How delightful it was to find the dear, 
 broad weather-beaten face ready to meet her, 
 as she alighted at their temporary abode. 
 With what joy she fell into his arms, and 
 eagerly scanned the well-known countenance. 
 
 " Well, my pet ! " cried the old man in more 
 tremulous accents than Janet had ever heard 
 
THE DAILY ROUND. 223 
 
 from his lips before, " you are looking better 
 than I ever saw you. Not quite as rosy 
 as usual, perhaps, and a trifle changed, in 
 fact, my girl has turned into a fine lady ! " 
 
 " Oh, no, dearest Dad, anything but that ! 
 I try to be well behaved and careful of what 
 I assert or admit, but that sort of thing bores 
 me dreadfully. I am happiest when I can 
 say out everything I think to Eandal ! " 
 
 " That's right, my dear, tell your husband 
 everything." 
 
 " Fortunately I can. If he were a different 
 kind of man, I could not." 
 
 " And what's become of him ? Didn't he 
 come with you ? " 
 
 " Oh, yes," she returned. He went on to 
 his club, and will be here soon — you will stay 
 a while with us, dear ? You could not answer 
 
 my letter before we started, but " 
 
 " No, Janet, I don't think I'll put up here, 
 though I'll dine with you occasionally. Tom 
 has found me a room where he lodges, away 
 in the West Kensington district ; it's quite 
 convenient, what with the trains and omni- 
 
224 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 busses. Tom and I have a good deal to talk 
 about and settle. Between you and me and 
 the post, Tom is thinking of being spliced — to 
 a deuced nice girl too ; she's a daughter of 
 Treadaway (Treadaway and Green), a very 
 eminent firm of solicitors, and if we could only 
 scrape a couple of thousand pounds together, 
 Tom would be taken in as junior partner, for 
 Green is in bad health, and they want an 
 active young fellow and a good lawyer, which 
 Tom is. Well, we can manage about seven- 
 teen hundred, so I am going to raise the rest 
 on my house and furniture ; it won't cost more 
 than eight or ten pounds a year, and what is 
 that compared to giving your brother a good 
 start ? " 
 
 " What indeed ! " exclaimed Janet, with 
 eager sympathy, " poor, dear Tom ! I do 
 hope he will be happy ; what is this Miss 
 Treadaway like ? It is a very ugly name ! " 
 
 " I hope she will soon change it for the 
 better ! She is a black-eyed blooming beauty, 
 that is, very nearly a beauty ; none of your 
 ethereal skin and bone creatures, but a fine 
 
THE DAILY ROUND. 225 
 
 woman, and plenty of her ; she may be a month 
 or two older than Tom, but that's his affair. 
 He hasn't popped the question yet, but he 
 may any moment. I hope you'll have them 
 up here to dme. I suspect you and Palliser 
 are very big wigs in Treadaway's eyes ? " 
 
 " I hope she will make Tom happy ! Now 
 that I know what marriage is, I can under- 
 stand how terrible an uncongenial husband 
 or wife must be." 
 
 " I don't suppose Tom has quite the same 
 views as you have on these subjects." 
 
 Father and daughter talked on happily 
 enough, with an interval for dressing, till 
 dinner was ready, and Janet was delighted to 
 hear all the Langford news. Palliser kept 
 them waiting a little, but was very polite and 
 profuse in his apologies. Janet thought he 
 was rather silent and sleepy, but then, he 
 had been up rather late for two or three nights 
 before they left Paris, so she took no notice 
 of his drowsiness. The happy old father-in- 
 law talked for all, and thoroughly enjoyed a 
 good dinner and sound glass of wine. 
 
 VOL. I. 15 
 
226 A CHOICE OF EVILS, 
 
 He was much amused and interested by 
 the " lift," and had some talk with the porter 
 who worked it. 
 
 " Sorry you will not put up with us," said 
 Palliser, as he was bidding the old man 
 good-night. " I suppose you must divide your- 
 self between your son and daughter ? " 
 
 But Captain Eowley did not see as much of 
 his daughter as he hoped. 
 
 The following day Lady Saville came up to 
 visit her brother and his wife, and from that 
 day forth, Janet was handed over to dress- 
 makers, milliners, and last, but not least, a 
 renowned dancing-mistress that she might be 
 prepared to courtesy, and carry her train 
 with grace and dignity at the approaching 
 presentation. 
 
 Janet was very pleased to have the 
 company of her sister-in-law, and much 
 more interested in her court than in her 
 wedding dress. The fact that her appearance 
 and general effect were matters of vast import- 
 ance in her husband's eyes, and therefore t<? 
 her position, had begun to dawn upon her, and 
 
THE DAILY ROUND. 227 
 
 it was consequently very apparent to Lady 
 Saville that her countrified sister-in-law was 
 greatly improved and much more companion- 
 able. While on her side, Janet observed 
 that Lady Saville looked ill and worn, that 
 her gaiety was slightly hysterical, her care- 
 less cynicism was moreover somewhat bitter. 
 She had changed her mind, too, about 
 presenting Janet. 
 
 There was little time for attention to her 
 father, and though Janet asked Tom twice to 
 dinner, her husband was only present on one 
 occasion. Still, Captain Eowley held on 
 contentedly enough, and had the gratification 
 of escorting his daughter to call on the 
 charming Miss Treadaway, when Tom's 
 engagement to that young lady was an- 
 nounced, and also of attending the afternoon 
 tea, at which all Mrs. Palliser's more intimate 
 friends assembled, after the Drawing-room, 
 including Sir Frederic Saville, who was 
 most unpleasantly complimentary, and who 
 brought with him his nephew, Lord Darrell, 
 a good-humoured and apparently good- 
 
 15* 
 
228 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 natured man, not unlike his uncle, only- 
 better and less animal looking. And also 
 that well-known and severe " noblewoman," 
 the Dowager Marchioness of Glendore, 
 a distant • relation of the Pallisers — who 
 had presented Janet. A tall, distinguished- 
 looking personage in spite of DarreH's 
 declaration that she was indecently bony. 
 It was a joyous gathering to Janet — she had 
 got through the rather dreaded ceremony 
 without blundering ; it was all over, and she 
 read admiration and approval in her 
 husband's eyes. 
 
 She had never looked so brilliant as she 
 leant on her father's arm, presenting him 
 with loving care to her new friends, and 
 rejoicing in the pride and pleasure which 
 beamed in his face. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 DAPPLED SKIES. 
 
 Back again in the sweet fresh country, 
 among the lovely woods of Mervyn, clothed 
 with the first flush of tender green, full of 
 perfume and of song, and the unspeakable 
 joyousness of renewed youth ! How en- 
 chanting it was, Janet felt, to come home to 
 such an abode, to find the preparations 
 which had been made for her and which 
 proved the loving thought of her husband. 
 
 Her own bedroom, and a room adjoining, 
 had been newly fitted up with exquisite taste 
 and luxurious comfort, the latter as a sitting- 
 room, with a small piano, and all appliances 
 for writing and for study. She was almost 
 frightened to think of the great happiness 
 which had come into her life, of the bright 
 future which lay smiling before her, and 
 
230 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 murmured to herself with a momentary 
 feeling of superstition, Cowper's rendering of 
 the Latin poet : 
 
 " But oh ! if fortune fill thy sail, 
 With more than a propitious gale, 
 Take half thy canvas in." 
 
 The crown of all was Palliser's love. It 
 might be a little exacting, he might be a 
 little over-anxious that she should always 
 look her best, and wear costly and becoming 
 garments, but all these tokens of his pas- 
 sionate attachment to her were precious in 
 her sight. 
 
 They had stayed somewhat longer than 
 they had intended in Town, but it was 
 difficult to break away from the invitations 
 showered upon them, and Janet enjoyed 
 Society as she did everything else. 
 
 Moreover, Society liked Janet. She was 
 fresh and natural, and free from shyness or 
 rnauvaise honte, because she was herself 
 glad to please, but perfectly innocent of any 
 attempt to create an effect. At some of the 
 houses where they dined, she met men of 
 
DAPPLED SKIES. 231 
 
 culture and high intelligence, to whose talk 
 it was a delight to listen, and from even such 
 as these, her bright face and eager attention 
 attracted a good deal of notice. 
 
 Palliser, fastidious and hypercritical as he 
 was, felt satisfied that he had reaped a 
 deserved reward for his judgment and dis- 
 interestedness, in selecting so sweet a wild 
 flower to share his position, and even to 
 adorn it. 
 
 Janet carried a host of new ideas away 
 with her from the great intellectual cauldron 
 of London Society, and cogitated many plans 
 for her poor people and her schools. 
 Fortunately the modest common sense which 
 stood her in good stead all her life, kept 
 her from troubling her husband too soon 
 about such matters, perceiving that he did 
 not much care for what did not originate 
 with himself. 
 
 He absorbed her time a good deal, and she 
 had to refrain from asking her friend Mary 
 Winyard to stay at the Hall, as she knew 
 that Palliser could not be bored with ordinary 
 
232 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 women, and still preferred a tete-d-tete with 
 herself, to any society save indeed that of 
 men connected with politics. 
 
 The Winyards, however, were always 
 welcome guests when any social gatherings 
 took place. 
 
 It was not easy either to see as much of 
 her father as she wished, but in this matter, 
 Captain Eowley was quite reasonable, as 
 fathers usually are, contrasting favourably 
 with mothers. 
 
 These crumpled rose leaves were of small 
 importance. But even in the happy valley, 
 the demon of discontent will raise its hydra 
 head, and presently Palliser began to want 
 something to do. He did not care for fishing, 
 the only sport available at that season, and 
 he did not seem to care about riding, nor was 
 he inclined to continue his instructions to 
 Janet in that 'witching art. 
 
 " You always contrive to be busy, Janet," 
 he said half enviously one morning, as he 
 lounged into her sitting room, and found her 
 writing diligently in a large book. " What 
 
DAPPLED SKIES. 233 
 
 are you about ? Have you taken the house 
 accounts from Mrs. Dunford's jurisdiction ? If 
 so, we shall have a revolution." 
 
 "And a terrible collapse if 1 attempted 
 such a herculean undertaking," she returned, 
 smiling. " I have no such ambition." 
 
 " What is it then ? " coming over and 
 leaning on the back of her chair. 
 
 Janet suddenly laid her hand on the page, 
 while her neat little ears grew a deep pink. 
 
 " What ! secrets, Janet ? " said Palliser. 
 
 " Oh, no ! read if you like, only — you will 
 laugh at me ! " 
 
 Palliser kissed the ear nearest him and took 
 up the book. 
 
 " Why, what is this about ? ' Impressions ! ' 
 Are you going to rush into print ? I should 
 prefer your muddling the accounts ! " and 
 he carried the book into a bay window which 
 framed in a lovely view over the grounds and 
 woods beyond. 
 
 Janet still sat at her writing-table shy and 
 smiling. 
 
 " Oh ! I see ! impressions of your travels ! 
 
234 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 You really write a good clear hand, Janet, 
 but I should not call it pretty, it is a trifle 
 too firm for feminine grace. I have seen 
 very little of it — we were saved by propin- 
 quity from the foolery of love letters ! Ah ! 
 ' Arrived at St. Eemo twenty-seventh, blue 
 Mediterranean, cloudless skies, golden rather 
 than silver moonlight, olive trees, enchantment, 
 Byron, Shelley,' " turning over the pages, 
 " um — um — Florence, Dante, Savanarola, 
 Eomola, Medici, Eome ! Ah ! one hundred 
 and twenty-five pages about Eome, my dear 
 child ! Every word of this has been said — 
 a dozen — nay — a dozen dozen times before ! 
 Pray do not be tempted to waste time and 
 ink on these scribblings. I hope you will 
 find more natural and womanly occupations." 
 
 He threw the book from him with lazy 
 disapprobation. 
 
 Janet coloured with wounded amour 
 propre, but controlled herself. No doubt 
 it was a silly production, yet it interested 
 her to write, but — she would not do battle 
 over it. 
 
DAPPLED SKIES. 235 
 
 " My poor book ! " she exclaimed, lifting 
 it from the chair on which it had fallen. 
 "I daresay it seems beneath contempt to 
 you, yet it is an innocent amusement enough, 
 and I never intend to trouble anyone with it. 
 The only person I care to show it to is my 
 father. He used to know the South of Italy 
 well long ago. I wrote it partly for him." 
 
 " Ah ! well, as you like, only it is cruel 
 waste of time." 
 
 u It would be, if I had anything real to 
 do, which I neglected for it!" and with 
 smiling lips, which yet quivered a little, 
 Janet put her book in its especial drawer 
 and locked it. 
 
 Palliser looked at her thoughtfully. 
 
 " I too want employment. Time, like the 
 pursuing Egyptians, has had his chariot 
 wheels removed, and drives heavily. I 
 almost wish we had stayed a little longer 
 in Town ! " 
 
 "Don't say so, Eandal! It is heavenly 
 here ! " 
 
 " Put on your hat, and come with me to 
 
236 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 the Home farm. I think the old stable there 
 would be the better of being rebuilt, and the 
 cattle sheds are in a bad state. Put on your 
 hat, Janet, and come with me to have a good 
 look at them." 
 
 " With pleasure ! I shall be with you 
 directly," and she left the room. 
 
 "Whatever happens, she shall not make 
 herself and me ridiculous in print, and 
 scribblings of this kind are the beginning of 
 troubles ! " said Palliser to himself as he drew 
 his brows together, with a look of annoyance 
 which faded gradually when his wife re- 
 appeared in a garden hat, which was large 
 enough to be a parasol as well. Her sunny 
 expression was so innocent of everything like 
 opposition, or self-seeking, that the demons 
 of despotism and temper dispersed before 
 her smiling eyes, as night mists before the 
 fresh light and air of morning. 
 
 " That is not a very becoming hat," said 
 Palliser, parting with his ill-humour reluct- 
 antly. 
 
 " It is very comfortable, and not so bad ! " 
 
DAPPLED SKIES. 237 
 
 " Do you know, Janet, you do not think 
 enough about dress ? A woman ought to 
 make a serious study of it. You do not do 
 yourself justice." 
 
 " My dear Eandal ! " looking gravely at 
 herself in a long glass, "I have exhausted 
 my mental powers in attempting to reach a 
 high standard, and I don't do so badly ; 
 perfection is not easily atttained — give me 
 time ! Don't you like this frock ? " 
 
 " It might be worse ! Come along, we are 
 wasting time." 
 
 " And it is such a heavenly morning," 
 returned Janet, as they went out together. 
 
 She looked round her, rejoicing in the 
 beauty, and perfume, and music which 
 pervaded earth and air, he, with eyes bent 
 upon the gravel which had not been rolled 
 to his satisfaction. 
 
 " Look here," he grumbled, " here are two 
 tufts of weeds, almost in the middle of the 
 path! How those blind idiots could have 
 gone over it without seeing them, is 
 absolutely incomprehensible ! " 
 
238 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 " Come across the grass, Kandal, and then 
 you will not see the weeds. It is a pity to 
 let anything jar upon you on such a morning 
 as this." 
 
 " You are the most desperately-contented 
 person I have ever met," exclaimed Palliser, 
 yielding to her contagious brightness. "It is 
 certainly a delicious day ! " and they went 
 on in silence, which he presently broke by 
 observing, " I suppose your father is delighted 
 with the genius and the originality of your 
 lucubrations, for I presume he has read your 
 6 Impressions ' ? " 
 
 " Yes, of course ! I fancy he is enchanted, 
 though he tried to be severely critical, dear 
 Dad ! He kept the book a fortnight. I 
 shall give it to him altogether when I have 
 added a little bit about Paris. Of course, 
 my father is neither as cultivated nor perhaps 
 as intellectual as you are, and I am not at 
 all shy about showing him my scribblings. 
 Now I am a little alarmed at the idea of 
 your inspection, so you shall see no more of 
 my impressions ! " 
 
DAPPLED SKIES. 239 
 
 u I hope not, because they will not exist ex- 
 cept in the unwritten tablets of your memory. 
 For Heaven's sake do not keep a journal ! " 
 
 " I do not intend to do so ! It would be 
 monotonous, for you have written one word 
 of happiness all over the pages of my life at 
 present," and she gave him a glance full of 
 gratitude and tenderness. 
 
 " Eeally, Janet, you can say a pretty thing 
 very neatly," returned Palliser smiling. " By 
 the way, speaking of your father, I am 
 rather surprised he likes to live in a dull 
 inland village like Langford. Some seaside 
 place where he could see ships and meet old 
 salts like himself, would be much more suited 
 to him — Beachurst for instance. Did he never 
 think of Beachurst ? " 
 
 " I never heard him say anything about it, 
 I could not imagine him anywhere but in 
 Navarino Cottage ; why, his garden is part of 
 himself." 
 
 " Yes ! but now he has lost you, he would 
 be the better of some old chums to drop in 
 and talk to him." 
 
240 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 " Dear Eandal ! he has not lost me ! I see 
 him constantly, and he has the Yicar. I am 
 going to see Mrs. Winyard to-day, and to 
 take some plants to my father, unless you 
 want me to go anywhere with you ? " 
 
 " No ! I shall go with you, after I have 
 examined the farm buildings. I should like to 
 see Perkins the architect, and get some idea 
 of the cost of new ones." 
 
 " That will suit me exactly. I will drive 
 you into Langford. Don't you think I am 
 growing quite a good whip ? " 
 
 "You are growing a conceited young 
 
 woman." 
 
 So talking pleasantly, for Palliser was quite 
 restored to serenity, they reached the farm 
 where much discussion ensued between the 
 Squire and his steward. Extensive improve- 
 ments were planned, and reparations pro- 
 jected. Palliser grew quite eager to go into 
 Langford after luncheon, in order to put 
 things in train. 
 
 Having left her husband at the architect's 
 office, and arranged that he should meet her 
 
DAPPLED SKIES. 241 
 
 at Navarino Cottage, Janet stopped at the 
 
 vicarage. 
 
 She found Mrs. Winyard sitting in the 
 garden, her work basket on a little Japanese 
 table beside her. She was looking very 
 happy, and the lines of her gentle, care-worn 
 face seemed less marked and softer than 
 usual. 
 
 " This is sweet of you, my dear ! I did 
 not expect you to come so soon again," said 
 the vicar's wife, as Janet bent down to kiss 
 her. 
 
 " You know I love , to come, Mrs. 
 Winyard ; but I cannot as often as I should 
 like." 
 
 "No, I understand that! Mr. Palliser, I 
 dare say, fancies he has the first claim on 
 your time and attention," replied Mrs. 
 Winyard, smiling. " Men are always a little 
 grasping, they would not be fit for their work 
 in life if they were not ! Early friends are 
 sometimes great bores to the newly married, 
 especially to newly-married men — as I tell 
 Mary." 
 
 VOL. I. 16 
 
242 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 " Ah ! Mrs. Winyard ! I do so hope Mary 
 does not think me careless or unkind. I 
 sometimes fear I may seem so." 
 
 " She is not as reasonable as / am, my 
 dear ; but she has full faith in you. At all 
 events, she will soon experience the little 
 difficulties of early married days. My dear 
 child has just accepted a gentleman of whom 
 her father and myself quite approve. They 
 are to be married before the summer is over ! " 
 
 "Dear Mrs. Winyard," taking her hand, 
 " how terribly you will miss her ! " 
 
 " I shall, indeed," with a sigh, " but Eva 
 is growing very helpful and handy, and when 
 I look at my Mary's happy face, I cannot 
 regret my loss." 
 
 Then followed a profoundly interesting 
 narrative of the circumstances attending 
 Mary's engagement, and an account of the 
 future bridegroom and his position. 
 
 He was a naval officer holding a good 
 Government appointment in the dockyard at 
 Kingsport, and a good deal older than Mary, 
 but evidently the man of her choice. 
 
DAPPLED SKIES. 243 
 
 " Not especially good-looking," added the 
 mother, " but he has a gentleman - like 
 appearance, and a strong, sensible face. 
 The vicar is very pleased, for he has formed 
 a high opinion of his future son-in-law." 
 
 They talked for a considerable time on this 
 interesting subject. Janet was immensely 
 taken up with the news. Mary had just 
 gone on a visit to the sister of her intended, 
 who lived in Devonshire, and meant to write 
 from thence to her friend. 
 
 " I have overstayed my time ! " exclaimed 
 Janet, looking at her watch. " I am to meet 
 Mr. Palliser at my father's, so I must leave 
 you. I will come over in a day or two, and 
 drive you back to tea at the Hall. The 
 grounds are quite delightful now, it would do 
 you good, though indeed, this garden is very 
 sweet. I have always loved it ! "What news 
 have you of Maurice?" she asked as she 
 stood up to go. 
 
 " Very good indeed ! He was going with 
 his colonel on a shooting expedition. He 
 seems to be rather a favourite — not, as you 
 
 16* 
 
244 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 can imagine, that Maurice says this in so 
 many words, but we gather it from his 
 accounts of himself and his life." 
 
 "Everyone must like him!" exclaimed 
 Janet ; " now I must run away, Mrs. 
 Winyard. I will send you a line to fix the 
 day you will come to me." 
 
 Janet drove off rapidly, full of the news she 
 had just heard, and already debating in her 
 own mind what would be the best and most 
 suitable present she could make her friend. 
 "Kandal must give her something nice too, 
 he is always generous and ready to give. 
 Oh ! I hope she may be as happy as I am — 
 but that is almost impossible ! " 
 
 Arrived at the cottage, Janet found that 
 her father had started to walk out to the 
 Hall about an hour before, and that Palliser 
 had not yet arrived. Janet felt greatly dis- 
 appointed. She had not seen her father for 
 several days, and she had a little scheme in 
 her head for carrying him off to dine, and 
 stay the night. Now that he had gone 
 uninvited, it would not be so easy to manage, 
 
DAPPLED SKIES. 245 
 
 for the old sailor was punctilious about his 
 toilette before leaving home, and did not care 
 to stay away in an impromptu manner. She 
 therefore descended from her pony carriage 
 to inspect the removing of the plants she had 
 brought to a sheltered spot in the garden, 
 and by the time this was accomplished, 
 Eandal appeared. 
 
 "Is it not provoking, Eandal, my father 
 has gone out to the Hall ! I had hoped to 
 take him back to dine and sleep ! " 
 
 " Oh, you did, did you ? " he returned in a 
 somewhat dry tone, and Janet noticed that he 
 expressed no regret, but that, she told herself 
 the next moment, was a mere accident. 
 
 " I, too, was rather unfortunate in missing 
 my man, and waited in that confounded dusty 
 office for some time before Wilkins came in ; 
 and then — what do you think ? He wanted 
 to drag me off to look at some grand erection 
 in the way of stables which he is building for 
 my financial relative. The fellow talks too 
 much ! However, I have told him to come 
 out to-morrow afternoon, and have a look at 
 
246 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 the old buildings. Let us go, the ponies are 
 impatient ! " 
 
 Janet gathered up the reins, and they drove 
 swiftly but somewhat silently back, Palliser 
 employing himself by making pencil notes in 
 his memorandum book. 
 
 The short distance was soon accomplished, 
 and Captain Eowley was soon discovered 
 seated on a bench under the shade of a wide- 
 spreading beech facing the house, with a pile 
 of London papers beside him. 
 
 "Ah ha ! Madam ! ' Come on board ' at 
 last," he cried, as he saw his daughter 
 hastening across the lawn. " Thought I'd 
 wait and see what had become of you." 
 
 "You dear old Dad, I am so sorry you 
 have had this long hot walk. We have just 
 come from the Cottage. We'll have tea out 
 here directly. Could you not stay over the 
 night?" 
 
 "Impossible, my dear. Couldn't stay 
 without my togs. Besides, I have promised 
 the Vicar to take ' pot-luck ' to-day, and talk 
 over Mary's wedding. Hey ! heard the 
 
DAPPLED SKIES. 2i7 
 
 news ? " and they plunged into an animated 
 conversation about the coming event, until 
 Palliser joined them, to whom the news was 
 imparted. 
 
 He seemed quite pleased, Janet remarked, 
 and talked with all his old amiability — a 
 change suggesting to her the difference which 
 had of late occasionally developed itself. 
 
 "You must help me to choose a nice 
 present for Mary," said Janet to her husband. 
 
 " I suppose so," he returned, " and supple- 
 ment it by one from myself, eh ? " 
 
 " I hope you will, dear Eandal." 
 
 Captain Eowley then pointed out a para- 
 graph which had escaped Palliser's notice, in 
 which the public was informed that the 
 Member for Southshire had returned from 
 Vichy, immensely improved in health and 
 vigour. 
 
 " By Jove, that old man will live for ever ! " 
 cried Palliser impatiently, as he set down his 
 cup, " and he is really not the slightest good 
 to the county. Why do not fellows see the 
 wisdom of abdicating when they cannot 
 
248 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 guide their own team — to say nothing of 
 public affairs ? " 
 
 " Quite true," added Captain Eowley, 
 " when one hasn't a strong grip for the 
 rudder spokes, you should give up to one 
 who has, but, Palliser, no one likes to give 
 up," and they fell into a discussion on registra- 
 tion and the balance of parties in the county. 
 
 " Well, my dear father," put in Janet when 
 there was a pause, " if you cannot stay now, 
 when will you come to dine and stay a day 
 or two ? You have not been here for quite 
 ten days." 
 
 " You see, Janet, I am aware I am on the 
 superannuated list, so I don't want to parade 
 my fogeyism too often," he returned laughing. 
 
 " What nonsense. Isn't it nonsense, Eandal ? 
 Come on Thursday and stay till Saturday — I 
 know you like your own church." 
 
 " I hope you will, Captain Eowley," 
 returned Palliser, but a little coldly. 
 
 " Thanks, my dear boy — I shall be de- 
 lighted." 
 
 " If you will excuse me," continued 
 
DAPPLED SKIES. 249 
 
 Palliser, M I will go and write a letter or two 
 — I have just had a long epistle from Darrell, 
 which requires a reply. There is a letter 
 from my sister too. I shall leave it on my 
 writing-table for you, Janet. Good morning, 
 Captain Eowley, in case I should not see you 
 till Thursday." They shook hands, and 
 Palliser walked quickly back to the house. 
 
 " Is he all right ? " asked Captain Eowley, 
 nodding in the direction of his vanishing 
 son-in-law. 
 
 " Yes, quite right, I think. Why do you 
 ask ? " 
 
 " I can hardly say, but he doesn't seem 
 up to concert pitch. Then a man can't 
 be always in the full blaze of good humour — 
 but you are too sensible a girl to ask him 
 what is the matter. If he is not inclined to 
 tell of his own accord, asking won't make 
 him. Ah ! — this is a lovely place — I wonder 
 if an old fellow might smoke his pipe of peace 
 here ? " 
 
 " Yes, of course you may, dear, or shall I 
 get you some cigars ? " 
 
250 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 " No, thank you ! It may not be elegant, 
 but I love my old pipe. Now, my dear, don't 
 let me be late for the Vicar's dinner." 
 
 " I will take care — I will tell Dickson to 
 order the dog-cart for six — that will give you 
 time enough, they dine at a quarter to seven 
 still?" 
 
 Captain Eowley nodded, and continued to 
 smoke in a luxurious fashion — talking from 
 time to time of his son Tom's improved 
 prospects, of his return from his wedding 
 tour, and Mrs. Tom's amiable wish that her 
 father-in-law should pay them a visit. 
 
 "Not just now though, Janet. No, I 
 couldn't put up with London when the 
 garden is looking its best. And, my dear — I 
 miss that stroll round with you in the early 
 mornings, while the tea was drawing ! " and 
 the old man sighed and resumed his pipe. 
 
 " Dearest Dad ! " cried Janet with moist 
 eyes, " I am afraid you miss me terribly — I 
 cannot bear to think of it." 
 
 " Hoot — stuff and nonsense ! " said the 
 Captain stoutly. " I can tell you when I sit 
 
DAPPLED SKIES. 251 
 
 down with my book and pipe, it's un- 
 commonly pleasant to think that when I'm 
 no longer here to look after my girl, you'll 
 have a better fellow than I am to take care 
 of you, and a beautiful home for yourself 
 and your children ! Don't you trouble about 
 the old Dad, he'll have a fine peaceful time 
 of it for the rest of his days." 
 
 Janet slipped her hand into his and they 
 sat thus for several minutes in sympathetic 
 silence. Then Captain Eowley began to talk of 
 his garden and how he intended to place the 
 plants his daughter had left for him. So the 
 time melted away until the sedate Dickson 
 came to say the dog-cart was at the door. 
 
 Janet accompanied her father to the 
 entrance, and saw him start homeward. 
 Then she returned slowly to the house. Not 
 finding Palliser in the library, she went up 
 stairs to dress for dinner. 
 
 " Do you think this becomes me as well as 
 my green with the white lace ? " asked Janet, 
 as she stood before the glass when her toilette 
 was finished. 
 
252 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 " Well, 'm — I should say more so, though 
 the green suits you well, too ; but for your 
 complexion, and in daylight, the pale lilac 
 and just the slight garniture of black Brussels 
 lace is the very thing with your hair and 
 colour." 
 
 " I fear I am growing too fond of dress, 
 Eaynes." 
 
 " Oh, dear no, 'm — if I may make the 
 remark, you used not to care enough about 
 it. A lady like you ought to think a deal of 
 herself — the more she thinks of herself, the 
 more others think of her." 
 
 " That is a dreadful doctrine, Eaynes." 
 
 " But it is true, 'm. I well remember when 
 I was in young Lady Compton's service she 
 was " 
 
 " There is the bell," exclaimed Janet, not 
 sorry to escape Eaynes' discursive remin- 
 iscences. 
 
 Palliser was waiting for her in the bay 
 window of the smaller drawing room, and 
 as she approached she felt that her dress 
 was satisfactory, from the softened expression 
 
DAPPLED SKIES. 253 
 
 that came over his brow and into his eyes, 
 while he offered her his arm, and pressed hers 
 slightly to him while they walked into the 
 dining-room. 
 
 " I find, Janet, I must go up to Town on 
 Thursday. Darrell writes that they — that is, 
 as many of our party who were in Cashmere 
 together a few years ago are in Town — are 
 going to give a dinner to Carthew, the man 
 who was chief of our expedition, and 
 managed everything for us. He has just 
 come over, and I should like to pay him the 
 compliment of being present. You will 
 explain all this to your father. I will try to 
 return on Friday if I possibly can." 
 
 " Yes, of course, Eandal. It will be nice 
 for me to have him while you are away — but 
 come back as soon as you can." 
 
 " Very well, I think I shall bring Darrell 
 back with me — he wants to talk about a 
 yachting expedition to you. He has started 
 a new yacht and wants us to take a 
 cruise with him round the west coast of 
 Scotland." 
 
254 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 "It would be perfectly delightful," cried 
 Janet. 
 
 " You are a tolerable sailor," said Palliser, 
 doubtfully. 
 
 "I am a very good one. Don't you 
 remember how rough it was when we went 
 for a few days to Corsica, and I kept perfectly 
 well?" 
 
 " True ; it could not do you any harm — 
 it will help us over the summer, for, how- 
 ever charming the place and — yourself, there 
 is a certain monotony, so you must talk it 
 over with Darrell. I rather like Darrell — 
 he's a bit wild, but is steadying down. Have 
 you read Gertrude's letter ? " 
 
 " Not yet." 
 
 " Well, I will bring it to you — she does 
 not seem very happy. Saville went off 
 to Norway after a very short spell of Scot- 
 land, and she has been rather unsettled 
 since." 
 
 " I am so sorry ! Are you going to ask her 
 down here ? " 
 
 " Yes — later, and the boys, if Alec passes." 
 
DAPPLED SKIES. 255 
 
 " If not, poor boy, he will want something 
 to cheer him up." 
 
 " Of course ! — in any case." 
 
 " Gertrude is immensely fond of him, but I 
 don't fancy he is over bright." 
 
 They rose from table, and Palliser brought 
 the letter. It was short and said very little — 
 she was in London, waiting for her boy to go 
 with her somewhere — probably to the Isle of 
 Wight. 
 
 After a few words respecting it, Janet pro- 
 posed a stroll by moonlight, and wrapping a 
 lace scarf round her she slipped her arm 
 through Palliser's and they strolled out into 
 the soft darkness of the fresh, fragrant night, 
 while he gradually began to speak of the 
 future — of his strong wish to represent the 
 county. 
 
 "You see, one tires of everything that 
 has not a touch of reality in it," he said. 
 "Now, to be an active politician is an am- 
 bition worthy of any Englishman! I have 
 tried a great many things, but nothing lasts. 
 We must make ourselves popular, Janet ! " 
 
256 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 " Certainly ! " exclaimed Janet, with vivid 
 interest. " Or, rather, increase your popu- 
 larity — you are very much liked already ! 
 How I should enjoy the excitement of an 
 election ! " 
 
 "If I were elected, it would entail a rather 
 racketty life for the larger half of the year — 
 I must have a house in Town. I suppose 
 you would not consider that an attendant 
 evil, eh, Janet ? " 
 
 " I am not quite sure — I love the Hall, and 
 I love Langford, but I found London delight- 
 ful, too." 
 
 They talked confidentially for some time. 
 To Janet it was a peculiarly happy hour, she 
 felt that her husband was speaking to her as 
 to a second self — indeed, that he was barely 
 conscious for the moment that she was a 
 separate individual, so engrossed was he in 
 his own projects and hopes, and Janet was far 
 too eagerly sympathetic to perceive or care 
 how much she was overlooked, only that he 
 might bring his ambition — his noble ambition, 
 as she considered it — to successful fulfilment. 
 
DAPPLED SKIES. 257 
 
 It is well that those we love believe in us, 
 and view us through Love's rose-coloured 
 spectacles ! Colder and more impartial 
 observers might have termed this noble 
 ambition vanity writ large. 
 
 ***** 
 
 Captain Eowley readily excused Palliser's 
 absence, and greatly enjoyed his tete-a-tete 
 visit to his daughter, which extended to the 
 fourth day. 
 
 " Why will you not stay till Monday, dear 
 father ? " she asked the morning he was going 
 to leave. 
 
 " For a couple of reasons — first, I am quite 
 sure Palliser would rather come back to a 
 duet than to a trio, and have you all to him- 
 self after this your first separation, and I am 
 quite of his opinion ; secondly, I prefer my 
 own little den to any other place. Honestly, 
 if I could have you on a visit to me, instead of 
 coming on a visit to you, I should prefer it — 
 but that cannot be. I'll ask the curate to 
 come and dine and have a hit at backgammon 
 — we'll be as jolly as sand boys ! " 
 
 vol. i. 17 
 
258 A CHOICE OF EVILS. 
 
 But Janet prepared herself for the joy of 
 receiving Palliser in vain. Instead, came a 
 horrid telegram, warning her not to expect 
 him till the day but one following. 
 
 The evening was cruelly long and un- 
 accountably melancholy. Janet told herself 
 a dozen times that she was a weak fool. But 
 a sudden grey cloud with a chill and moaning 
 breeze seemed to have come up out of the 
 dim future, and wrapped her in its depressing 
 mantle. 
 
 END OF VOL. I. 
 
PRINTED BY 
 
 KELLY AND CO. LIMITED, 182, 183 AND 184, HIGH HOLBORN, W,C, 
 
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