 Chapter 5 of our friend the Charlatan, this is the LibriVox recording, all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Our friend the Charlatan by George Gissing, Chapter 5, so the next morning he packed his bag, drove to Houston, and by midday was at Hollingford. The town hitherto known to him only by name, had little charm of situation or feature, but dice on his way to a hotel looked about him with lively interest, and persuaded himself that the main streets had a brisk, progressive air, he imagined liberalism in many faces and noted cheerfully the publishing office of a liberal newspaper. If his interview with Lady Ogrum proved encouraging, he would stay here over the next day and give himself time to make acquaintance with the borough. At his hotel he made inquiry about the way to Rivernoke, a name respectfully received, Lady Ogrum's estate was distanced some two miles and a half from the edge of the town. It lay hard by the village of Shaw, which was on the high road to places wherewith dice had no concern. Thus informed he ordered his luncheon and requested that a fly might be ready at three o'clock to convey him to Rivernoke. When that hour arrived he had studied the local directory, carefully looked over the town and county newspapers, and held a little talk with his landlord, who happened to be a political malcontent, cautiously critical of Mr. Robb. Dice accepted the fact as of good augury, it was long since he had felt so light-hearted and sanguine. Through an unpleasant quarter devoted to manufacturers, his vehicle bore him out of Hollingford and then along a flat, uninteresting road, once at moments he had glimpses of the river Holling as it flowed between level fields. Presently the country became more agreeable, on one hand it rose gently to wooded slopes, on the other opened a prospect over a breezy common yellow with gorse. At the village named Shaw the river was crossed by a fine old bridge, which harmonized well with grey cottages and an ancient low-towered church, but the charm of all this had been lamentably injured by the recent construction of a large paper mill, as ugly as mill can be on what was once a delightful meadow by the water side. Dice eyed the blot resentfully, but he had begun to think of his attitude and language at the meeting with Lady Ogrum and the gates of Rivenout quickly engaged his attention. The drive wound through a pleasant little park less extensive perhaps than the visitor had preconceived it and circled in front of a plain Georgian mansion which again caused some disappointment. Dice had learnt from the directory that the house was not very old, but it was spoken of as stately. The edifice before him he would rather have described as comodious, he caught a glimpse of beautiful gardens and had no time to criticize anymore for the fly stopped and the moment of his adventure was at hand. When he had mechanically paid and dismissed the driver the folding door stood open before him, a man's servant with back at the reverent angle on hearing his neighbor once begged him to enter considerably more nervous than he would have thought likely and proportionately annoyed with himself, Dice passed through a bare lofty hall then through a long library and was ushered into a room so largely constructed of glass and containing so much verdure that at first glance it seemed to be a conservatory. It was, however, a drawing room converted to this purpose after having served during the late Baronet's lifetime for such masculine delights as billiards and smoking. Here, as soon as his vision focused itself, Dice became aware of three ladies and a gentleman seated amid a little power of plants and shrubs. The hostess was easily distinguished in a very high-backed chair made rather throne-like by the embroidery and gilding upon it sat a meager lady clad in black silk with a silvery gray shawl about her shoulders and another of the same kind across her knees. She had the aspect of extreme age and of outworn health. The skin of her face was like shriveled parchment. Her hands were mere skin and bone. She sat as though on the point of sinking across the arm of her chair for very feebleness. But in the whitey yellow visage shown a pair of eyes which had by no means lost their vitality so keen were they so darkly lustrous that to meet them was to forget every other peculiarity of Lady Ogrum's person. Regarding the eyes alone, one seemed to have the vision of a handsome countenance with proud lips and carelessly defiant smile. The illusion was aided by a crown of hair such as no woman of Lady Ogrum's age ever did or possibly could possess in her own right hair of magnificent abundance of rich auburn hue plaited and rolled into an elaborate coiffure. Before this singular figure, Dice Lashmar paused and bowed. Pale, breathing uneasily, he supported the scrutiny of those dark eyes for what seemed to him a minute or two of most uncomfortable time. Then with the faintest of welcoming smiles, Lady Ogrum, who had slowly straightened herself, spoke in a voice which startled the hearer so much louder and firmer was it than he had expected. I am glad to see you, Mr. Lashmar, pray sit down. Without paying any attention to the rest of the company, Dice obeyed. His feeling was that he had somehow been admitted to the presence of a sovereign, and that any initiative on his own part would be utterly out of place. Never in his life had he felt so little and so subdued. You have come from town this morning? Pursued his hostess still closely examining him? This morning, yes. Lady Ogrum turned to the lady sitting near her right hand and said abruptly, I don't agree with you at all. I should like to see as many women doctors as men. Doctering is mostly humbug, and if women were attended by women, there'd be a good deal less of that. Miss Bright has studied medicine and a very good doctor she would have made. Dice turned towards Constance of whose proximity he had been aware, though he had scarcely looked at her, and as she bent her head smiling, he rose and bowed. The lady whom their hostess had addressed, she was middle-aged, very comely and good-humored of countenance, and very plainly attired, replied to the blunt remarks in an easy, pleasant tone. I should have no doubt whatever of Miss Bright's competence, but Lady Ogrum interrupted her, seeming not to have heard what she said. Let me introduce to you Mr. Dice Lashmar, who has thought a good deal more about this kind of thing than either you or me, Mrs. Gallantry, Mr. Gallantry. Again, Dice stood up, Mr. Gallantry, a tall loose limb, thinly thatched gentleman, put on a pair of glasses to inspect him, and did so with an air of extreme interest, as though profoundly gratified by the meeting, seldom breaking silence himself, he lent the most flattering attention to anyone who spoke, his brows knitted in the resolve to grasp, and assimilate whatever wisdom was uttered. Did you walk out from Hollingford, asked Lady Ogrum, who again had her eyes fixed on the visitor? No, I drove as I didn't know the way. You'd have done much better to walk, couldn't you ask the way? You look as if you didn't take enough exercise, driving one never sees anything. When I'm in new places, I always walk. Miss Bright and I are going to Wales this summer, we shall walk a great deal. Do you know, Brecknock, few people do, but they tell me it's very fine. Perhaps you are one of the people who always go abroad. I prefer my own country. What did you think of the way from Hollingford? To this question she seemed to expect an answer, and Dice, who was beginning to command himself, met her gaze steadily as he spoke. There's very little to see till you come to Shaw. It's a pretty village, or rather it was, before someone built that hideous paper mill. Scarcely had he uttered the words when he became aware of a change in Lady Ogram's look, the gleam of her eyes intensified, deeper wrinkles carved themselves on her forehead, and all at once two rows of perfect teeth shone between the pink edges of her shriveled lips. It is paper mill A. She exclaimed on a half-laping note of peculiar harshness, I suppose you don't know that I built it. A shock went through Dice's blood. He sat with his eyes fixed on Lady Ogram's powerless to stir, or to avert his gaze, then the courage of despair suddenly possessed him. If I had known that, he said, with much deliberation, I should have kept the thought to myself, but I'm afraid there's no denying that the mill spoils the village. The mill is the making of the village, said Lady Ogram emphatically. In one sense, very likely, I spoke only of the picturesqueness of the place. I know you did, and what's the good of picturesqueness to people who have to earn their living? Is that your way of looking at things? Would you like to keep villages pretty and see the people go to the dogs? Not at all. I'm quite of the other way of thinking, Lady Ogram. It was by mere accident that I made that unlucky remark. If anyone with me had said such a thing, it's more than likely I should have replied with your view of the matter. You must remember that this district is quite strange to me. Will you tell me something about it? I'm sure you had excellent reasons for building the mill. Be so kind as to explain them to me. The listeners to this dialogue betrayed approval of the young man's demeanor, Constance Bride, who had looked very grave indeed, allowed her features to relax. Mrs. Gallantry smiled a smile of conciliation, and her husband drew a sigh as if supremely edified. Lady Ogram glanced at her secretary. Ms. Bride let him know my excellent reasons, will you? For a long time began Constance in clear balanced tones. The village of Shaw has been anything but prosperous. It was agricultural, of course, and farming about here isn't what it used to be. There's a great deal of grass and not much tillage. The folk had to look abroad for a living. Several of the cottages stood empty. The families that remained were being demoralized by poverty. They wouldn't take the work that offered in the fields and preferred to scrape up a living in the streets of Hollingford if they didn't try their hand at a little burglary and so on. Lady Ogram saw what was going on and thought it over and hid upon the idea of the paper mill. Of course most of the Shaw cottages were no good for such employment, but some of the young people got taken on, and there was work and prospect for children growing up, and in any case the character of the village was saved. Decent families came to the deserted houses and things in general looked up. Extremely interesting moment, Mr. Gallantry, as though he heard all this for the first time and was deeply impressed by it. Very interesting indeed, said Lashmar with his frankest air. I hope I may be allowed to go over the mill. I should like nothing better. You shall go over it as often as you like, said Lady Ogram with a grin, but Miss Bride has more to tell you. Constance looked inquiringly. Statistics, she asked when Lady Ogram paid no heed to her look. Don't be stupid telling what I think about villages altogether. Yes, I should very much like to hear that, said Dice, whose confidence was gaining ground. Lady Ogram doesn't like the draining of the country population into towns. She thinks it a harmful movement with bad results on social and political life, on national life, from every point of view. This seems to her to be the great question of the day, how to keep up village life, in face of the fact that English agriculture seems to be doomed. At Shaw, as Lady Ogram thinks and we all do, a step has been taken in the right direction. Lots of the young people who are now working here in wholesome surroundings would by this time have been lost in the slums of London or Liverpool or Birmingham. Of course, as a mill owner, she has made sacrifices. She hasn't gone about the business with only immediate profit and view. Children and girls have been taught what they wouldn't have learnt but for Lady Ogram's kindness. Admirable, Mr. Gallantry, true philanthropy and true patriotism. Beyond a doubt, agreed Dice, Lady Ogram deserves well of her country. There's just one way remarked Mrs. Gallantry, in which it seems to me she could have deserved better. Don't be angry with me, Lady Ogram. You know I profit by your example in saying just what I think. Now if instead of a mill, you built a training institution for domestic service. Bah, spoke in the hostess, how you harp on that idea. Haven't you any other? One or two more. I assure you, replied Mrs. Gallantry with the utmost good humor, but I particularly want to interest you in this one. It's better that girls should work in a mill in the country than go to swell the population of slums. I grant you that. But how much better still for them to work in private houses following their natural calling, busy with the duties of domestic life? They're getting to hate that as much as their men folk hate agricultural labor and what could be a worse symptom or greater danger. Pray, cried Lady Ogram, in her grating voice, how would a servant school have helped the village? Not so quickly perhaps, but in time. With your means and influence, Lady Ogram, you might have started an institution which would be the model of its kind for all England. Every female child in Shaw would have had a prospect before her, and the village would have attracted decent poor families who might somehow have been helped to support themselves. Lady Ogram waved her hand contemptuously. Somehow, that's the way with your conservative reform women, somehow always vague, rambling notions. Conservative reform, exclaim Mrs. Gallantry, showing a little peek, though her face was pleasant as ever, surely your own ideas are to a great extent conservative. Yes, but there's a liberal supply of common sense in them, cried the hostess, so delighted to have made a joke, that she broke into cackling laughter, and laughed until failure of breath made her gasp and wriggle in her chair, an alarming spectacle. To divert attention, Constance began talking about the mill, describing the good effect it had wrought in certain families. Dice listened with an air almost as engrossed as that of Mr. Gallantry, and when his moment came took up the conversation. Mrs. Gallantry's suggestion, he said, is admirable, and the sooner it's carried out, not merely in one place, but all over England, the better. But I rather think that in the given circumstances Lady Ogram took the wisest possible step. We have to look at these questions from the scientific point of view. Our civilization is concerned before all things with the organization of a directing power. The supreme problem of science and at the same time the most urgent practical question of the day is how to secure initiative to those who are born for rule. Anything which serves to impress ordinary minds with a sense of social equilibrium to give them an object lesson in the substitution of leadership for anarchy must be of immense value. Here was a community falling into wreck, cut loose from the orderly system of things, old duties and obligations forgotten, only hungry rites insisted upon. It was a picture in little of the multitude given over to itself into the midst of this chaos Lady Ogram brings a directing mind, a beneficent spirit of initiative, and the means, the power of re-establishing order. The villagers have but to look at the old state of things and the new to learn a lesson which the thoughtful among them will apply in a wider sphere. They know that Lady Ogram had no selfish aim, no wish to make profit out of their labor that she acted purely and simply in the interests of humble folk and of the world at large. They see willing industry substituted for brutal or miserable indolence. They see a striking example of the principle of association of solidarity, a perfect balance between the naturally superior and the naturally subordinate. Good, very good, Marmot, Mr. Gallantry eloquent. I admit the eloquence, said Mrs. Gallantry, smiling at Lashmar with much amiability, but I really can't see why this lesson couldn't have been just as well taught by the measure that I proposed. Let me show you why I think not replied Dice, who was now enjoying the sound of his own periods and felt himself inspired by the general attention. The idea of domestic service is far too familiar to these rustics to furnish the basis of any new generalization. They have long ceased to regard it as an honor or an advantage for their girls to go into the house of their social superiors. It seems to them a kind of slavery. What they aim at is a more independent form of wage earning, and that's why they go off to the great towns where there are factories and public houses, work rooms and shops. To establish here the training institution you speak of would have done many sorts of good, but not, I think, that particular good of supreme importance, which results from Lady Ogrem's activity. In the rustic eyes, it would be merely a new device for filling up the ranks of cooks and housemaids to the sole advantage of an upper class. Of course that view is altogether wrong, but it would be held. The paper mill being quite a novel enterprise excites new thoughts. It offers the independence these people desire, and yet it exacts an obvious discipline. It establishes a social group corresponding exactly to the ideal organism which evolution will someday produce. On the one hand, ordinary human beings understanding their obligations and receiving their due. On the other, a superior mind reciprocally fulfilling its duties and reaping the noble advantage which consists in a sense of worthy achievement. Very striking indeed fell from Mr. Gallantry. You seem to have made out a fair case. Mr. Lashmarsh said his wife, with a good natured laugh. I'm not sure that I couldn't debate the point still, but at present I'll be satisfied with your approval of my scheme. Lady Ogrum, sitting more upright against the back of her chair than before her attack of breathlessness, had gazed unwaveringly at the young man throughout his speeches. A grim smile crept over her visage, her lips repressed together, and her eyes twinkled with subdued satisfaction. She now spoke abruptly, do you remain at Hollingford tonight, Mr. Lashmarsh? Yes, Lady Ogrum. Very well, come here tomorrow morning at eleven, go over the mill, and then lunch with us. My manager shall be ready for you. Thank you very much. Miss Bride, give Mr. Lashmarsh your report. He might like to look over it. Mr. and Mrs. Gallantry were rising to take leave, and the hostess did not seek to detain them. She stood up with some difficulty exhibiting a figure unexpectedly tall. We'll talk over your idea, she said, as she offered her hand to the lady. There's something in it, but you mustn't worry me about it, you know. I cut up rough when I'm worried. Oh, I don't mind a bit, exclaimed Mrs. Gallantry gaily. But I do, was Lady Ogrum's rejoinder, which again made her laugh with the result that she had to sink back into her chair, waving an impatient adieu, as Mr. Gallantry's long, loose figure bowed before her. Constance Bride had left the room for a moment, she returned with a thin pamphlet in her hand, which after taking leave of Mr. and Mrs. Gallantry, she silently offered to Lashmarsh. This is the report, said Dice, many thanks. He stood, rustling the leaves, with an air of much interest, on turning towards his hostess, about to utter some complimentary remark. He saw that Lady Ogrum was sitting with her head bent forward, and her eyes closed. Before the position of her hands, each grasping an arm of the chair, one would have imagined that she had fallen asleep. Dice glanced at Constance, who had presumed her seat, and was watching the old lady. A minute passed in complete silence, then Lady Ogrum gave a start, recovered herself, and fixed her look upon the visitor. How old are you, she asked, in a voice which had become less distinct, as if through fatigue. Seven and twenty, Lady Ogrum, and your father is a clergyman. My father is a vicar of Alverholm in Northamptonshire. She added a few short, sharp questions concerning his family, and his education, which Dice answered succinctly. Would you like to see something of Rivenoke, if so, Miss Bright will show you about? With pleasure replied the young man, Very well, you lunch with us tomorrow, be at the mill at eleven o'clock. She held out her skeleton hand, and Dice took it respectfully, then Constance and he withdrew. This, as you see, is the library, said his companion, when they had passed into the adjoining room. The books were mostly collected by Sir Spencer Ogrum, father of the late Baronet. He bought Rivenoke and laid out the grounds. That is his portrait the painter has been forgotten. Dice let his eyes wander, but paid little attention to what he saw. His guide was speaking in a dry, uninterested voice, she too seeming to have her thoughts elsewhere. They went out into the hall, looked into one or two other rooms, and began to ascend the stairs. There's nothing of interest above, said Constance, except the view from the top of the house. But Lady Ogrum would like you to see that, no doubt. Observing Constance as she went before him, Dice was struck with a new dignity in her bearing, notwithstanding her subordinate position at Rivenoke, and the unceremonious way in which Lady Ogrum exercised, authority over her Constance showed to more advantage here, than on her recent visit to Alverholm. She was more naturally self-possessed, and seemed a freer, happier person. The house guard, though decorous rather than ornamental, became her better than her walking costume. Her well-shaped head and thoughtful, sensitive control features had a new value against this background of handsome furniture, and all the appointments of wealth. She moved as if breathing the air that suited her. From the terrace on the roof, their eyes commanded a wide and beautiful prospect, seen at this moment of the year in its brightest array of infinitely varied merger. Constance, still in an absent tone, pointed out the features of the landscape, naming villages, hills, and great estates, hauling forward partly under a canopy of smoke-lay low by its winding river, and in that direction Dice most frequently turned his eyes. I felt very much obliged to you, he said, for your carefully written letter, but wasn't there one rather serious omission? Speaking, he looked at Constance with a humorous twinkle of the eye. She smiled. Yes, there was. But after all, it did no harm. Perhaps not, I ought to have used more discretion on strange ground. By the by, do you take an interest in the mill? A good deal of interest, I think, that what you said about it was on the whole true, though such an obvious improvisation. Improvisation? In one sense, yes, I had to take in the facts of the case very quickly, but you don't mean that you doubt my sincerity. No, no, of course not. Come, Miss Connie, we must understand each other. She interrupted him with a look of frank annoyance. Will you do me the kindness not to call me by that name? It sounds childish, and I have long outgrown childhood. What shall I call you, Miss Bride? It is the usual form of address. Good. I was going to say that I should like you to be clear about my position. I have come here not in the first place with the hope of personal advantage, but to see if I can interest Lady Ogrem in certain views which I hold and am trying to get accepted by people of influence. It happened that this affair of the mill gave me a good illustration of the theory I generally have to put in an abstract way. Your written improvisation seems to hint that I shape my views to the purpose of pleasing Lady Ogrem. A plain injustice, as you will see, if you remember the letter I wrote to you. Constance was leaning on a parapet. Her arms folded. I'm sorry you so understood me. She said, though without the accent of penitence, for in truth she seemed quietly amused. All I meant was that you were admirable, quick in seizing an opportunity of beginning your propaganda. I don't think you meant only that, remarked Dice Cooley looking at her in the eyes. Is it your habit to contradict so grossly? Ask Constance with a cold air of surprise. I try to make my talk especially with women as honest as I can. It seems near justice to them as well as to myself. And please observe that I did not grossly contradict you. I said that you seemed to me to have another thought in your mind beyond the one you admitted. Tell me, please, do you exact courteorship from men? I imagined you would rather dislike it. You were right, I do. Then it's clear that you mustn't be annoyed when I speak in my natural way. I see no reason in the world why one shouldn't talk to a woman about things in general exactly as one does to a man. What is called chivalry is simply disguise contempt. If a man bows and honeys to a woman, he does so because he thinks she has such a poor understanding that this kind of thing will flatter and please her. For my own part, I shall never try to please a woman by any other methods than those which would win the regarded friendship of a man. Constance wore a look of more serious attention. If you stick to that, she said with a frank air, you will be a man worth knowing. I'm very glad to hear you say so. Now that we've cleared the air, we shall get on better together. Let me tell you that whatever else I may fall short in, I have the virtue of sincerity. You know well enough that I am naturally ambitious, but my ambition has never made me unprincipled. I aim at distinction because I believe that nature has put it within my reach. I don't regard myself as an average man because I can't. It would be practicing hypocrisy with myself. There is, if you like, the possibility of self-deception. Perhaps I am misled by egregious conceit. Well, it is honest conceit, and as it tends to my happiness, I don't pray to be delivered from it. Constance smile. This is very interesting, Mr. Lashmar, but why do you honor me with such confidence? Because I think you and I are capable of understanding each other, which is a rare thing between man and woman. I want you as a supporter of my views, and if I succeed in that, I hope you will become a supporter of my ambitions. What are they just now? Your letter contained a suggestion, whether you intended it or not, I don't know. Why should not be the man Lady Ogram is looking for, the future liberal member for Hollingford? His companion gazed at a far point of the landscape, that is perhaps not an impossible thing, she said meditatively. More unlikely things have come to pass, then it does seem to you unlikely. I think we won't discuss it just now, you see from here the plan of the gardens and the park. Perhaps you would like to walk there a little before going back to Hollingford. This was a dismissal, and Dice accepted it. They went downstairs together, and in the hall parted with more friendliness on Constance's side, and she had hitherto shown. Dice did not care to linger in the grounds, he strolled a while about the village, glancing over the pamphlet with its report of last year's business at the mill, and the local improvements consequent upon it, then returned on foot to Hollingford, where he arrived with an excellent appetite for dinner. End of Chapter 5. Chapter 6 of our friend the charlatan. This is a LibriVox recording, all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Our friend the charlatan by George Gissing. Chapter 6. Wind and rain interfered with Lashmar's project for the early morning. He had meant to ramble about the town for an hour before going out to Shaw. Unable to do this, he bought half a dozen newspapers and read all the leading articles and the political news with close attention. As a rule, this kind of study had little attraction for him. He was anything but well informed on current politics. He understood very imperfectly the British constitution and had still less insight into the details of party organization and conflict, all that kind of thing he was want to regard as unworthy of his scrutiny. For him, large ideas, world embracing theories, the philosophy of civilization, few Englishmen, had a smaller endowment of practical ability, few on the other hand delighted as he did in speculative system or could grasp and exhibit in such lucid entirety hypothetical laws. Much as he talked of science, he was lacking in several essentials of the scientific mind. He had neither patience to collect and observe facts, nor conscientiousness and reasoning upon them. Prejudice directed his every thought and egoism pervaded all his conclusions. Excelling in speciousness, it was natural that he should think success as a politician within his easy reach. Possessed by a plausible theory of government, he readily conceived himself on the heights of statesmanship, ruling the nation for its behooth. And so as he read the London and Provincial papers this morning, they had all at once a new interest for him. He probed questions, surveyed policies, and while smiling at the intellectual poverty of average man gravely marked for himself, a shining course amid the general confusion and ineptitude. At 10 o'clock, there shot a glint of promise across the clouded sky. Rain had ceased, the wind was less boisterous. Lashmar set forth briskly on foot and walked to Shaw where he arrived in good time for his appointment. The manager of the mill, a very intelligent Scotchman, conscientiously showed him everything that was to be seen. And ice affected great interest, real interest, he felt little or none. The processes of manufacture belonged to a world to which he had never given the slightest thought, which in truth repelled him. But he tried to persuade himself that he saw everything from a philosophical point of view and found a place for it in his system. The folk employed, he regarded attentively and saw that they looked healthy, well cared for. This must all be very gratifying to Lady Ogrum, he remarked, in a voice which struck just the right note of dignified reflection. I understand that it is, replied the manager, and to Miss Bride also, no doubt. Does Miss Bride take an active interest in the mill? In the hands she does, she is an uncommon sort of young lady, and I should say, makes her influence felt. As this was the most direct statement which the Scotchman had committed himself during their hour together, it correspondingly impressed Lashmar. He went away, thinking of Constance, and wondering whether she was indeed such a notable woman. Must he really regard her as an equal or something like it? Needless to say, that Dice at heart deemed all women his natural inferiors, and only by conscious effort could entertain the possibility that one or other of their sex might view and criticize him with level eyes. Six years ago, Connie Bride had looked up to him. He, with his university culture, held undoubted superiority over the country girl, striving hard to educate herself and to find a place in the world. But much had changed since then, and Dice was beginning to feel that it would not do to reckon on any dullness or willful blindness in Constance with regard to himself his sayings and doings. Their talk yesterday had, he flattered himself, terminated in his favor, chiefly because of his attitude of entire frankness, a compliment to the girl, that he had been in the strict sense of the word, open-hearted, it did not occur to him to doubt. Dice Lashmar's introspection stopped at a certain point. He was still a very young man, and circumstance had never yet shown him an all-steer countenance. The sun was shining, the air exquisitely fresh. Lady Ogrum had not named the hour of luncheon, but it seemed to Dice that he could hardly present himself at Riveno before one o'clock. So instead of directing his steps towards the lodge, he struck off into a by-road where the new-opened leaf-age of the hawthorn glistened after the morning's showers. Presently there came, speeding towards him, a lady on a bicycle, and he was sure that it was Constance. She did not slacken her pace. Clearly, she would not stop. Good morning sounded cheerfully from her as she drew near. Have you seen the mill come up to the house as soon as you like? She had swept past, leaving in Dice a sense of having been cavalierly treated. He turned and followed towards Riveno when he reached the house. Constance was walking among the flower beds in her hand and newspaper. Do you cycle? she asked. No, I never felt tempted. Lady Ogrum is having her drive. Shall we stay in the garden as the sun is so bright? They strolled hither and thither. Constance had a glow in her cheeks and spoke with agreeable animation. For a few minutes they talked to the mill and Dice repeated the manager's remark about Miss Bride's influence. He saw that it pleased her, but she effected to put it carelessly aside. How long have you known Lady Ogrum? He inquired. A good many years. My father was once a friend of hers long ago when he was a curate at Hollingford. The circumstances of that friendship and how it came to an end were but vaguely known to Constance. She remembered that when she was still a child her mother often took her to Rivenoak where she enjoyed herself in the gardens or the park and received presents from Lady Ogrum, the return journey being often made in their hostess's carriage. In those days the baronet's wife was a vigorous adherent of the Church of England wherein she saw the hope of the country and of mankind. But her orthodoxy discriminated, ever combative, she threw herself into the religious polemics of the time and that only came to be on very ill terms with her own perished clergyman but fell foul of the bishop of the diocese who seemed to her to treat with insufficient consideration certain letters she addressed to him. Then it was that happening to hear a sermon by the Reverend Mr. Bride in an unfashionable church at Hollingford she found in it a forcible expression of her own views and straight way selected Mr. Bride from all the Hollingford clergy as the sole representative of Anglicanism. She spoke of him as the coming man prophesied for him a brilliant career and began to exert herself on his behalf. Doubtless she would have obtained substantial promotion for the curate of St. John's had not her own vehemence and Mr. Bride's difficult character brought about a painful misunderstanding between them. The curate was not what is known as a gentleman by birth. He had the misfortune to count among his near kinsfolk not only very poor but decidedly ungential persons. His only sister had married an uneducated man who being converted to some non-descript religion went preaching about the country and luckily in the course of his apostolate appeared at Hollingford. Here he had some success. Crowds attended his open-air sermons. It soon became known that the preacher's wife who was always at his side was a sister of Mr. Bride of St. John's and great scandal arose in orthodox circles. Mr. Bride took quite another view of the matter and declared that in doing so he behaved simply as a Christian. The debate exasperated Lady Ogrum's violent temper and fortified Mr. Bride in a resentful obstinacy. After their parting in High Dungeon, letters were exchanged which merely embittered the quarrel. It was reported that the Lady of Rivenoke had publicly styled the curate of St. John's, a low-born and ill-bred parson. Where, too, Mr. Bride was alleged to have made retort that as regards birth he suspected that he had somewhat the advantage of Lady Ogrum and, as for his breeding, it at all events forbade him to ban the insults. Not long after this St. John's had another curate. A sequel of the story was the ultimate settling at Hollingford of Mr. Bride's sister and her husband, where, to this day the woman for some years awaited supported herself by means of a little bakery. I hadn't seen Lady Ogrum for a long time Constance pursued, and when I got my place of dispenser at Hollingford Hospital, I had no idea of recalling myself to her memory, but one day my friend Dr. Baldwin told me that Lady Ogrum had spoken of me and wished to see me. Very well said I, then let Lady Ogrum invite me to come and see her. If I were you, said the doctor, I think I shouldn't wait for that. Perhaps not, doctor, I replied, but you are not me and I am myself, the result of which was that Dr. Baldwin told me I had as little grammar, as stability, and we quarreled, as we regularly did once a week. Dice listened with amusement, and she did invite you, yes, yes. A month afterwards she worked to the hospital, and as the letter was decent, they're very dry. I went to Rivendorf. I could not help but kindly feeling to Lady Ogrum when I saw her. It reminded me of some of the happiest days of my childhood. All the same, that first quarter of an hour was very dangerous. As you know, I have a certain pride of my own, and more than once it made my ears tingle. I dare say you can guess Lady Ogrum's way of talking to me. We'll call it blunt good nature. What are you going to do? She asked, mix medicines all your life. I told her that I should like to pass my exams and practice instead of mixing medicines. That seemed to surprise her, and she pooed the idea. I shan't help you to that. She said, I never asked you Lady Ogrum. It was a toss up whether she would turn me out of the house or admire my courage. She is capable of one or the other. Her next question was, where did I live? I told her I lodged with my aunt, Mrs. Shufflebotham and her face went black. Mrs. Shufflebotham, I've been told, was somehow the cause of a quarrel between my father and Lady Ogrum. That was nothing to me. My aunt is a kind and very honest woman, and I wasn't going to disown her. Of course, I had done the wise, as well as the self-respecting thing. I soon saw that Lady Ogrum thought all the better of me because I was not exactly a snob. This is the first I've heard of your aunt, remark Dice. Is it, didn't your father let you know of the shocking revelation I made to him the other day? He told me nothing at all. Constance reflected. Probably he thought it too painful. Mrs. Shufflebotham keeps a little shop and sells cakes and sweet meats. Does it distress you? Distress was not the applicable word, for Lashmore had no deep interest in Constance or her belongings. But the revelation surprised and rather disgusted him. He wondered why Constance made it thus needlessly and as it was defiantly. I should be very stupid and conventional, he answered with his indulgent smile, if such things affected me one way or another. I don't mind telling you that when I first knew about it, I wished Mrs. Shufflebotham and her shop at the bottom of the sea. Constance laughed, but I soon got over that. I happened to have been born with a good deal of pride and when I began to think about myself, it was only a few years ago I found it necessary to ask what I really had to be proud of. There was nothing very obvious, no wealth, no rank, no achievements. It grew clear to me that I had better be proud of being proud. And a good way to that end was to let people know I cared nothing for their opinion. One gets a good deal of satisfaction out of it. Lashmore listened in a puzzled and uneasy frame of mind. Theoretically it should have pleased him to hear a woman talking thus, but the actual effect upon him was repellent. He did not care to look at the speaker and it became difficult for him to keep up the conversation. Luckily at this moment the first lunch in Bell sounded. Lady Ogrum has returned, said Constance. They had wandered to the rear of the house and thus did not know of the arrival of the carriage. Shall we go in? She led the way into a small drawing room and excused herself for leaving him alone. A moment later there appeared a page who conducted him to a chamber where he could prepare for luncheon. When he came out again into the hall he found Lady Ogrum standing there reading a letter. Seen from behind her masses of elaborately dressed hair gave her the appearance of a young woman. When she turned at the sound of a footfall the presentation of her parchment visage came as a shock. She looked keenly at the visitor and seemed to renew her approval of him. How do you do? Was the current reading as she gave her hand? Have you been over the mill? Greatly to my satisfaction, Lady Ogrum. I'm glad to hear it. We'll talk about that presently. I'm expecting a gentleman to lunch whom you will like to meet, Mr. Brake Speer, the editor of our liberal paper. Ah, here he comes. A servant had just opened the hall door and there entered a slight man in a long heavy overcoat. Well, Mr. Brake Speer exclaimed the hostess with some heartiness. Why must I have the trouble of inviting you to Rivenoke? Is my conversation so worrisome that you keep away as long as you can? Dear Lady, you put me to shame, cried Mr. Brake Speer, bending low before her. It's work, work, I assure you, that forbids me the honor and the delight of waiting upon you, except at very rare intervals. We have an uphill fight, you know. Pull your coat off. The hostess interrupted and let us have something to eat. I'm as hungry as a hunter, whatever you may be. You sedentary people, I suppose, don't know what it is to have an appetite. The editor was ill-tailored and very carelessly dressed. His rather long hair was brushed straight back from the forehead and curved up a little at the ends. Without having exactly a dirty appearance, he lacked freshness, seemed to call for the bath. His caller did it badly. His collar did it badly. His tie was askew. His cuffs covered too much of the hand. Aged about fifty, Mr. Brake Speer looked rather younger, for he had a very smooth, high forehead, a clear eye, which lighted up as he spoke in a pink complexion, answering to the high, noted and rather floored manner of his speech. Walking briskly forward, she seemed more vigorous today than yesterday. The hostess led to the dining room where a small square table received her and her three companions. Lady Ogrum's effectation of appetite lasted only a few minutes. On the other hand, Mr. Brake Speer ate with keen gusto and talked very little until he had satisfied his hunger. Whether by oversight or intentional eccentricity, the hostess had not introduced him and lashed more to each other. They exchanged casual glances, but no remark. Dice talked of what he had seen at the mill. He used a large, free-flowing mode of speech which seemed to please Lady Ogrum for she never interrupted him and had an unusual air of attentiveness. Presently, the talk moved towards politics and Dice found a better opportunity of eloquence. For some thirty years, he began with an air of reminiscence. We have been busy with questions of physical health. We have been looking after our bodies and our dwellings. Drainage has been a word to conjure with, and athletics have become a religion. The only one existing for multitudes among us, physical exercise with a view to health, used to be the privilege of the upper class. We have been teaching the people to play games and go in for healthy sports. At the same time, there has been considerable aesthetic progress. England is no longer the stupidly in artistic country of early Victorian times. There is a true delight in music and painting and a much more general appreciation of the good in literature. With all this, we have been so busy that politics have fallen into the background, politics in the proper sense of the word. Ideas of national advance have been either utterly lost sight of or grossly confused with mere material gain. At length, we see the conservative reaction in full swing and who knows where it will land us. It seems to be leading to the vulgarist and most unintelligent form of chauvinism. In politics, our need now is of brains. A stupid routine or rowdy excitability had taken the place of the old progressive liberalism, which kept ever in view the prime interests of civilization. We want men with brains. Exactly, fell from Mr. Brake Spear who began to eye the young man with interest. It's what I've been preaching in season and out of season for the last 10 years. I heartily agree with you. Look at Hollingford remarked, the host is smiling grimly. Just so exclaimed the editor. Look at Hollingford. True, it was never a center of liberalism, but the liberals used to make a good fight, and they had so much intelligence on their side that the town could not sink into utter dullness. What do we see now? He raised his hand and grew rhetorical. The class says, Toryism sweeping all before it, and everywhere depositing its mud, which chokes and does not fertilize. We have athletic clubs. We have a free library. We are better drained and cleaner and healthier and more bookish with all that in the old times, but for politics alas, a base level of selfish and perv-blind materialism personified by Rob. At the name of the borough member, Lady Ogrum's dark eyes flashed. Ah, Rob, interjected. Tell me something about Rob. I know hardly anything of him. Picture to yourself, returned the editor with so emphasis, a man who, at his best, was only a stolid country banker and who now is sunk into fatuous senility. I hardly know whether I dare trust myself to speak of Rob, for I confess that he has become, to me, an abstraction, rather than a human being, an embodiment of all the vicious routine, the foul obscurantism, the stupid prejudice, which enlightened liberalism has to struggle against. There he sits, a satire, on our parliamentary system. He can't put together three sentences. He never in his life had an idea. The man is a mere money sack, propped up by totes and imbeciles. Has any other borough such a contemptible representative? I perspire with shame and anger when I think of him. Dice asked himself how much of this vehemence was genuine, how much assumed to gratify their hostess, was Mr. Breakspear inwardly laughing to himself and the company, but he seemed to be an excitable little man and possibly believed what he said. That's very interesting, Dice remarked, in how much longer will Holland Ford be content with such representation? I think, replied Breakspear gravely, I really think that at the next election we shall floor him. It is the hope of my life, for that I toil, for that I sacrifice leisure and tranquility, and most of the things dear to a man philosophically inclined. Can I but see Rob cast down? I shall withdraw from the arena and hum. I have no voice. My nook demittus. Was there a twinkle in the editor's eye? As it met Lashmar's smile, Constance was watching him with unnaturally staid countenance, and her glance ran round the table. I'm only afraid, said Lady Ogrem, that he won't stand again. I think he will, cried Breakspear. I think he will. The ludicrous creature imagines that Westminster couldn't go on without him. He hopes to die of the exhaustion of going into the lobby, and remain forever a symbol of thick-headed patriotism. But we will floor him in his native marketplace. We will drug him at the ballot. Something assures me that for a reward of my life's labors, I shall behold a squashing of Rob. Lady Ogrem did not laugh. Her sense of humor was not very keen, and the present subject excited her most acrimonious feelings. We must get hold of the right man, she exclaimed, with a glance at Lashmar. Yes, the right man, said Breakspear, turning his eyes in the same direction. The man of brains and of vigor. The man who can inspire enthusiasm. The man in short, who has something to say, and knows how to say it, in spite of the discouraging aspect of things, I believe he will. I believe that Hollingford is ready for him. We, leading liberals, are few in number, but we have energy and the law of progress on our side. Lashmar had seemed to be musing, whilst he savored a slice of pineapple. At Breakspear's last remark, he looked up and said, the world moves and always has moved at the impulse of a very small minority. Philosophically, I am convinced of that, replied the editor, as though he meant to guard himself against too literal or practical an application of the theorem. The task of our time pursued dice with a half absent error is to make this not only understood by, but acceptable to the multitude. Political education is our pressing need, and political education means teaching the people how to select its rulers. For my own part, I've rather more hope of a constituency, such as Hollingford, than of one actively democratic. The fatal thing is for an electorate to be bent on choosing the man as near as possible, like unto themselves. That is the false idea of representation. Progress does not mean guidance by one of the multitude, but by one of nature's elect, and the multitude must learn how to recognize such a man. He looked at Lady Ogrum, smiling placidly. There's rather a Tory sound about that, said the hostess with a nod, but Mr. Breakspear will understand. To be sure, to be sure, exclaimed the editor, it is the aristocratic principle rightly understood. It is the principle of nature, said Lashmar, as revealed to us by Science. Science, as Mr. Breakspear is well aware, teaches not leveling but hierarchy. The principle has always been dimly perceived, and our time biology enables us to work it out with scientific precision. Mr. Breakspear betrayed a little uneasiness. I regret, he said diffidently, that I have had very little time to give to natural science. When we have floored Rob, I fully intend to apply myself to a study of all that kind of thing. Lashmar bestowed a gracious smile upon him. My dear sir, the flooring of Rob, Rob and his symbolic sense can only be brought about by assiduous study and assimilation of what I will call biosociology. Not only must we, the leaders, have thoroughly grasped this science, but we must find a way of teaching it to the least intelligent of our fellow citizens. The task is no trifling one. I am very much afraid that neither you nor I will live to see it completed. Pray don't discourage us, put in constants, comprehensive theories are all very well, but Mr. Breakspear's practical energy is quite as good a thing. The editor turned his eyes upon Ms. Bright their expression of respectful gratitude. He was a married man with abundant offspring. Mrs. Breakspear rose every morning at half past six and tore that her domestic duties year in, year out, till 10 o'clock at night. She was patient, as laborious, and had never repined under her lot. But her education was elementary. She knew nothing of political theories, nothing of science or literature. And as he looked at Constance Bright, Breakspear asked himself what he might not have done, what ambition he might not have achieved, had it been his fate to wed such a woman as that. Ms. Bright was his ideal. He came to Rivenoke less often than he wished, because the sight of her perturbed his soul and darkened him with discontent. Discourage you, cried Lashmar. Heaven forbid, I'm quite sure Mr. Breakspear wouldn't take my words in that sense. I'm all for zeal and hopefulness. The curse of our age is pessimism, a result and a cause of the materialistic spirit. Science, which really involves an infinite hope, has been misinterpreted by socialists in the most foolish way, until we get a miserable, languid fatalism leading to decadence and despair. The essential of progress is faith, and faith can only be established by the study of nature. That's the kind of thing I like to hear, exclaimed the editor, who whilst listening has tossed off a glass of wine, the pink of his cheeks was deepening to a pleasant rosiness as luncheon drew to its end. Hoag signa win ses. Lady Ogrim, who was regarding Lashmar, said abruptly, go on, talk away, and the orator, to whose memory happily occurred a passage of his French sociologist, proceeded meditatively. Two great revolutions in knowledge have affected the modern world. First came the great astronomical discoveries, which subordinated our planet, assigned it in its place in the universe, made it a little rolling globe amid innumerable others, instead of the one inhabited world for whose behalf were created sun and moon and stars. Then the great work of the biologist, which put man into his rank among animals, dethroning him from a fantastic dignity, but at the same time honoring him as the crown of nature's system, the latest product of eons of evolution. These conquests of science that put modern man into an entirely new position have radically changed his conception of the world and of himself. Religion, philosophy, morals, politics all are revolutionized by this accession of knowledge. It is no exaggeration to say that the telescope and the microscope have given man a new heart and soul, but he paused effectively how many are as yet really aware of the change. The multitude takes no account of it, no conscious account. The average man lives under the heaven of Joshua on the earth of King Solomon. We call our age scientific, so it is for a few score human beings. Reflecting for a moment, Dice felt that it would be absurd to charge him with plagiarism. So vastly more eloquent was he than the author to whom he owed his ideas. Conscience did not trouble him in the least. He marked with satisfaction the attentiveness of his audience. Politics to be a living thing must be viewed in this new large light. The leader in liberalism is the man imbued with scientific truth and capable of applying it to the everyday details of government. Science, I said, teaches hierarchy order, that is the rule of the few of the select that are blindly appointed, but this hierarchy is an open order open to the select of every rank. The process of perpetual renewal will maintain the health of the political organism. The true polity is only in slow formation, for obviously human reason is not yet a complete development. As yet men come to the front by accident, someday they will be advanced to power by an inevitable and impeccable process of natural selection. For my own part, he turned slightly towards the hostess. I think that use will be made of our existing system of aristocracy. In not a few instances, technical aristocracy is justified by natural preeminence. We can all think of examples. Personally, I might mention my friend Lord Dim Church, a member of the true aristocracy in every sense of the word. I don't know him, said Lady Ogram. That doesn't surprise me. He leads an extremely retired life, but I'm sure you would find him a very pleasant acquaintance. Lashmar occasionally had a fine discretion. He knew when to check the flood of his eloquence, a glance at this face and that, and he said within himself, Sat Prata Vibrant. Soon after this, Lady Ogram rose and led the company into her virtuous drawing room. She was beginning to show signs of fatigue. Seated in her throne-like chair, she let her head lie back and was silent. Constance Bright, ever tactful, began to take a more prominent part in the conversation, and Brake Spirit was delighted to talk with her about ordinary things. Presently, Lashmar, in reply to some remark, mentioned that he was returning to London this evening, whereupon his hostess asked, When are you coming back again? Before long, I hope Lady Ogram, the pleasure of these two days, she interrupted him. Could you come down in a fortnight? Easily and gladly. Then do so. Don't go to Hollingford. Your room will be ready for you here. Just write and let me know when you will arrive. In a few minutes, both men took their leave and went back to Hollingford together, driving in a fly, which Brake Spirit had ordered. For the first minutes, they hardly talked. They avoided each other's look and exchanged only insignificant words. Then the editor, with his bland smile, said in a note of sudden cordiality, It has been a great pleasure to meet you, Mr. Lashmar. May I, without indiscretion, take it for granted that we shall soon be fighting the good fight together. While I think it likely answered Dice in a corresponding tone, I have not quite made up my mind. No, no, I understand. There's just one point I should like to touch upon. Today we have enjoyed a veritable symposium. For me, I assure you, a high intellectual treat. But speaking to you, as to one who does not know Hollingford, I would suggest to you that our liberal electors are perhaps hardly ripe for such a new embracing political philosophy. Dice broke into gay laughter. My dear sir, you don't imagine that I thought of incorporating my philosophy in an election nearing address. Of course, one must use common sense in these matters. Practical lessons come before theory. If I stand for Hollingford, he roll the words and savor them. I shall do so as a very practical politician indeed. My philosophical creed will, of course, influence me, and I shall lose no opportunity of propagating it. But I have no fear of my expounding bio-sociology to Hollingford shopkeepers and artisans. Breakspear echoed the speaker's mirth, and they talked on about the practical aspects of the next election in the borough. Meanwhile, Lady Ogrem had sat in a great chair dosing. Constance accustomed to this read for half an hour, or let her thoughts wander, at length overcoming her drowsiness, the old lady fixed a curious gaze upon Miss Bride, a gaze of benevolent meditation. We shall have several letters to write tomorrow morning, she said presently. Political letters? That's Constance? Yes. By the by, do you know anything about Lord Dimchurch? Nothing at all. Then find out about him as soon as possible. What are Mr. Lashmar's means? I really can't tell you. Answered Constance, slightly confused by the unexpected question. I believe his father is very well to do. I've heard him spoken of as a man of private fortune. Then our friend is independent or at all events not pinched, so much the better. Again Lady Ogrem fell into musing. The countless wrinkles about her eyes, eloquent as wrinkles always are, indicated that her thoughts had no disagreeable tenor. Mr. Lashmar impresses you favorably. Constance at length, ventured to ask. Lady Ogrem delayed her answer for a moment, then speaking thickly in her tired voice and with slow emphasis. I'm glad to know him. Beyond a doubt, he is the coming man. End of Chapter 6. Chapter 7 of Our Friend the Charlotin. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Our Friend the Charlotin by George Gissing. Chapter 7. On his return, Lashmar found a letter from Mrs. Wolstan, awaiting him at Upper Woburn Place. The lady wrote in rather an agitated strain. She had to report that Leonard was already packed off to school. The Imperious Bri Bolt having insisted on sending him away as soon as he had recovered from his cold on a pretense that the boy ought not to lose any part of the new term. It is really very hard on me, don't you think? I know nothing whatever about the school, which is a long way off, right away in Devonshire. And it does so grieve me that you couldn't say goodbye to the poor little fellow. He says he shall write to you and it would be so kind, dear Mr. Lashmar, if you could find a moment to answer him. I know how grateful dear Len would be. But we will talk about these things for of course you will come and lunch all the same. At least I hope you will. Shall we say Thursday? I'm not at all pleased with Mr. Ribolt's behavior. Indeed it seems to me very high-handed very. And I told him very plainly what I thought. You can have no idea how galling is a woman's position left at the mercy of a trustee, a stranger too. And now that I am quite alone in the house, but I know you don't like people who complain. It's all very well for you, you know, if I had your independence what I would make of my life. Till Thursday then and don't please be bored with my letters. This Mrs. Woolstam wrote and posted before luncheon at three o'clock in the afternoon just when she was preparing to go out. The servant made known to her that Mr. Ribolt had called. What Mr. Ribolt again? With delay which was meant to be impressive, she descended to the drawing room and coldly greeted the gentleman of the redneck and heavy eyelids. Mr. Ribolt's age was about five and forty. He had the well-groomed appearance of a flourishing city man and presented no sinister physiognomy. One all geared in him a disposition to high feeding and a masculine self-assertiveness. Faces such as his may be observed by the thousand round about the royal exchange. They almost invariably suggest degradation more or less advanced of a frank and hopeful type of English visit. One perceives the honest hearty schoolboy dimmed beneath self-indulgence, soul-hardening calculation, debasing excitement and vulgar routine. Mr. Ribolt was a widower without children. His wife, a strenuous sportswoman, had been killed in riding to hounds two or three years ago. This afternoon he showed a front-all amiability. He had come, he began by declaring to let Mrs. Wolstam know that the son of a common friend of theirs had just on his advice been sent to the same school as Leonard. The boys would be friends and make each other feel at home. This news Mrs. Wolstam received with some modification of her aloofness. She was very glad after all perhaps it had been a wise thing to send Leonard off with little warning. She would only have made herself miserable in the anticipation of parting with him. That, said Mr. Ribolt, was exactly what he had himself felt. He was quite sure that in a few days Mrs. Wolstam would see that all was for the best. The fact of the matter was that Lenn's tutor, though no doubt a very competent man had been guilty of indiscretion in unsettling the boys' ideas on certain very important subjects. Well, admitted the mother, perhaps it was so. She would say no more. Mr. Ribolt, as a man of the world, probably knew best. And now, as he was here, she would use the opportunity to speak to him on the subject which had often been in her mind of late. It was a matter of business. As her trustee was aware, she possessed a certain little capital which was entirely at her own disposal. More than once, Mr. Ribolt had spoken to her about it, had been so kind as to express a hope that she managed that part of her affairs wisely and to offer his services, if ever she desired to make any change in her investments. The truth was that she had thought recently of trying to put out her money to better advantage and she would like to talk the matter over with him. This day proceeded to do, Mr. Ribolt, all geniality and apt suggestiveness as the colloquy went on, a certain change appeared in the man's look and voice. He visibly softened. He moved to his chair a little nearer and all at once before Mrs. Wohlstand had had time to reflect upon these symptoms, Ribolt was holding her hand and making her an offer of marriage. Never it was woman more genuinely surprised that this prosperous financier who had already made one advantageous marriage and might probably, if he wished, wed a second fortune that such a man as Mr. Ribolt would think of her for his wife was a thing which had never entered her imagination. She was fluttered and fluttered and pleased but not for a moment did she think of accepting him. Her eyes fell into Murrah's sadness. Never could she marry again. The past was always with her and the future imposed upon her the most solemn of duties. She lived for the memory of her husband and for the prospects of her child. Naturally, Mr. Ribolt turned at first an incredulous ear he urged his suit simply and directly with persuasion to drive partly from the realm of sentiment partly from Lombard Street the latter sounding the more specious but Mrs. Wolstein betrayed no sign of wavering in truth the more Ribolt pleaded the farmer she grew in her resolve of refusal. When Desensee compelled the man to withdraw he was very warm of countenance and lobster hewed at the back of his neck an impartial observer would have thought him secretly in a towering rage. His leave taking was laconic though he did his best to smile. Of course, Mrs. Wolstein soon sat down to write him a letter in which she begged him to believe how grateful she was how much honored by his proposal and how deeply distressed that not being able to accept it surely this would make no difference between them of course they would be friends as ever nay more than ever she could never forget his nobly generous impulse but let him reflect on her broken life her immutable sadness he would understand how much she would have wronged such a man as he in taking advantage of that moment's heroic weakness. To this effusive epistle came speedily a brief response of course all was as before wrote Ribolt he was holy at her service and would do anything she wished in the matter of her money by all means let her send him full particulars in writing and he would lose no time the yield of her capital might probably be doubled. Mrs. Wolstain after all went no further in that business she had her own reasons for continuing to think constantly of it but for the present felt she would prefer not to trouble Mr. Ribolt impatiently she looked forward to Thursday in the coming of Dye slash Marr he came with a countenance of dubious import he was neither married nor sad neither talkative nor taciturn at one moment his face seemed to radiate hope the next he appeared to fall under a shadow of solicitude when his hostess talked of her son he plainly gave no heed his replies were mechanical when she asked him for an account of what he had been doing down in the country he answered with broken scraps of uninteresting information thus past the quarter of an hour before luncheon and part of luncheon itself but at length Dye's recovered his more natural demeanor choosing a moment when the parlor made was out of the room he leaned towards Mrs. Wolstain and said with the smile of easy comradeship I have a great deal to tell you I'm so glad exclaimed Iris who had been sinking into disheartened silence I began to fear nothing interesting had happened have patience presently after that the meal was quickly finished they passed into the drawing room and took comfortable chairs on either side of the heart May had bought cold clammy weather a sky of billowing gray and frequent gusts against the wind or made it pleasant here by this bright fireside Lashmar stretched his legs smiled at the gym cracks felled and itched about the mantle piece and began talking his description of Lady Ogren was amusing but not disrespectful he depicted her as an old autocrat a vigorous mind an original character a woman to be taken quite seriously and well worth having for a friend though friendship with her would not be found easy by ordinary people as luck would have it I began by saying something which might have given her mortal offense he related the incident of the paper mill nothing could have been better she must be sick and with podiasm and I could see she found my way a refreshing contrast it made clear to hurt once that I met her in a perfectly independent spirit if we didn't like each other goodbye and no harm done but as it proved we got on very well indeed in a fortnight's time I am to go down and stay a ribbon oak really in a fortnight she must have taken to you wonderfully my idea is interested the old lady as I thought perhaps they might she's very keen on political and social science it happens too that she's looking about for a liberal candidate to contest hollingford at the next election dice added this information in a very quiet matter of fact voice his eyes turned to the fire upon his here they produce no less any effect than he anticipated a liberal candidate echoed iris a quiver with joy excitement she wants you to go into parliament I fancy she has that idea don't make a fuss about it there's nothing startling in the suggestion it was probably her reason for inviting me to ribbon oak oh this is splendid splendid have the goodness to be quiet so dice it isn't a thing to scream about but to talk over quietly and sensibly I thought you got out of that habit I'm very sorry don't be cross tell me more about it who is the present member dice gave an account of the state of politics at hollingford sketching the character mr robb on the line suggested by rake spear as she listened mrs wilson had much to do to preserve outward calm she was flushed with delight words of enthusiasm trembled on her lips when will the election be she asked in the first pause certainly not this year possibly not even next there's plenty of time oh you are sure to win how can a wretched old Tory like that stand against you go and make friends with everybody you only need to be known how I should like to hear you make a speech of course I must be there when you do how does one get to hollingford where what are the trains if you leave Euston by the newspaper train tomorrow morning said dice gravely you may be just in time to hear the declaration of the poll meanwhile he added suppose we think for a moment of the trifling fact that my income is nothing a year how does that affect my chances in a political career I wonder Mrs. Woolstown's countenance fell oh but it's impossible for that to stand in your way you said yourself that you didn't seriously trouble about it of course you will get an income somehow mean to go in for public life always do don't they she spoke timidly with downcast eyes a smile hovering about her lips dice did not look at her he thrust his hands into his trouser pockets and crossed his legs he smiled frowningly at the fire does Lady Ogrum know your circumstances Iris asked in a lower voice I can't be sure she may have heard something about them from my friend naturally I didn't tell her that I was penniless but if she has been on having you for a candidate don't you think she will very likely make some suggestion a wealthy woman the voice failed the speaker had an abashed air we can't take anything of that kind into account said Lashmore with masculine decision if any such suggestion were made I should have to consider it very carefully indeed as yet I know Lady Ogrum very slightly we may quarrel you know it would be the easiest thing in the world my independence is the first consideration you mustn't imagine that I clutch at this opportunity nothing of the kind it's an opening perhaps but in any case I should have found one before long I don't even know yet whether Hollingford will suit me it's a very unimportant borough I may decide that it would be better to look to one of the large intelligent constituencies I'm afraid he became rather severe you are inclined to weigh my claims to recognition by the fact that I happen to have no money oh Mr. Lashmore oh don't exclaim to Iris in a pained voice how can you be so unkind so unjust no no I merely want to guard myself against misconception the very freedom with which I speak to you might lead you to misjudge me if I thought you were ever tempted to regard me as an adventurer Mr. Lashmore cried Iris almost tearfully this is dreadful how can such a thought enter my mind is that your opinion of me pray don't be absurd interposed ice with an impatient gesture I detest this shrillness as I've told you 50 times Iris bridled a little I'm sure I wasn't shrill I spoke in a very ordinary voice and I don't know why you should attribute such thoughts to me Lashmore gave way to nervous irritation what a feminine way of talking is it impossible for you to follow a logical train of ideas I attributed no thought whatever to you all I said was that I must take care not to be misunderstood and I see that I had very good reason you have a fatal facility in misconceiving even the simplest things Mrs. Woolstand bridled still more there was a point of color on her freckled cheeks her lower lip showed a tooth's pressure after all she said you must remember that I am a woman and if women don't express themselves quite as men do I see no great harm in it I don't think manishness is a very nice quality after all I am myself and I can't become somebody else and certainly shouldn't care to if I could dice began to laugh for baringly come come he said what's all this wrangling about how did it begin that's the extraordinary thing with women one gets so easily off the track and runs one doesn't know where what was I saying oh simply that I couldn't be sure yet whether Hollingford would suit me let us keep to the higher plane it's safer than to familiar detail Iris was not to be so easily composed she remarked a change in her friend since he had ceased to be Leonard's tutor he seemed to hold her in slighter esteem a result no doubt of the larger prospects opening before him she was jealous of old Lady Ogram whose place and wealth gave her such power to shape a man's fortunes for some time now Iris had imagined herself an influence in Lashmar's life had dreamed that her influence might prevail over all other in marrying she had sacrificed herself to an illusory hope but she was now an experienced woman able to distinguish the phantasma from the genuine and of Lashmar's powers there could be no doubt her own judgment she saw confirmed by that of Lady Ogram sharp would be her pang if the aspiring genius left her aside past beyond her without careless nod she have accused him of ingratitude I'm not at all sure she said rather coldly that you think me capable of rising to the higher plane perhaps trivial details are more suited to my intelligence Dice had relieved himself of a slight splenetic oppression and felt that he was behaving boorishly he brightened and grew cordial admitted a superfluous sensitiveness assured his companion that he prized her sympathy counted seriously upon her advice in short was as amiable as he knew how to be under his soothing talk Mrs. Wolstan recovered herself but she had a preoccupied air if you regard me as a serious friend she said at length was some embarrassment you can easily prove it and put my mind at ease How, asked Dice with a quick startle look you've said more than once that a man and woman who were really friends should be just as men are with each other plain spoken and straightforward and and no nonsense that's my principle I won't have any woman for a friend on other terms then here's what I want to say I'm your friend call me Jack or Harry if you like and I see a way in which I can be of use to you it happens that I have rather more money than I want for my own use I want to lend you some until your difficulties are over just as one man would to another her speech had become so palpitant that she was stopped by want of breath a rosy shame faceness subdued her trying to brave it out she achieved only an unconscious archeness of eye and lip which made her for the moment oddly unfamiliarly attractive Dice could not take his eyes from her he experienced a singular emotion that's uncommonly good of you Iris he said with all the directness of his command you see I call you by your name just to show that I take our friendship seriously if I could borrow from anyone I would from you but I don't like the idea you're a good fellow he laughed and I thank you heartily Iris wins that the good fellow why can't you consent to borrow she asked in a note of persistence would you refuse if Lady Ogre made such a suggestion oh Lady Ogre that would depend entirely but you must have money from somewhere Iris urged her manner becoming practical I'm not rich enough to lend very much but I could help you over a year perhaps wouldn't you rather go back to Rivenoke with a feeling of complete independence I see what it is you don't really mean what you say you're ashamed to be indebted to a woman yes I can see it in your face look at the thing impartially said dice visiting in his chair how can I be sure that I should ever be able to pay you back in many matters there is just that difference a man can go to work and earn a woman generally can't do anything of the kind that's why it seems unjust to take a woman's money that's the root of all our delicacy in the matter don't trouble about my affairs I shall pull through the difficult time yes exclaimed Iris with somebody else's help and why should it be somebody else I'm not in such a position that I should be ruined if I lost a few hundred pounds I have money I can do what I like with if I want to have the pleasure of helping you why should you refuse me you know very well at least I hope you do that I should never have hinted at such a thing if we had been just ordinary acquaintances we're trying to be more sensible than everyday people and just when there comes a good chance of putting our views into practice you draw back you make conventional excuses I don't like that it makes me feel doubtful about your sincerity be angry if you like I feel inclined to be angry too and I have the better right again her panting impulsiveness ended in extinction of voice again she was rosely self-conscious though this time not exactly shame faced and again the young man felt a sort of surprise as he gazed at her in any case he said standing up and taking a step or two an offer of this kind couldn't be accepted straight away all I can say now is that I'm very grateful to you no one ever gave me such a proof of friendship that's the simple fact it's uncommonly good of you Iris it's not uncommonly good of you she broke in still seated in her arms crossed do as you like you said disagreeable things and I felt hurt when I asked you to make amends in a reasonable way look here cried lashmar standing before her with his hands in his pockets you know perfectly well perfectly well that if I accept this offer you will think the worst of me Iris started up it isn't true I shall think the worst of you if you go down to lady Ogrem's house and I can speak as if you were independent what sort of face will you have when it comes at last to telling her the truth dice seemed to find this a powerful argument he raised his brows moved uneasily and kept silence I shall not think one bit the worst of you Iris pursued in petrously you make me out after all to be a silly ordinary woman and it's horribly unjust if you go away like this please never come here again I mean what I say never come to see me again lashmar seemed to hesitate looked uncomfortable then stepped back to his chair and sat down that's right said Iris with quiet drunk and she too resumed her chair end of chapter seven chapter eight of our friend the charlatan this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org our friend the charlatan by George Gissing chapter eight under the roof that Rivenoke was an attic which no one ever entered the last person who had done so was Sir Quentin Ogrum on a certain day in 1800 and something the baronet locked the door and put key into his pocket and during the more than 40 years since elapsed the room had remained shut it guarded neither treasure nor dire secret the hidden contents were merely certain essays in the art of sculpture sundry shapes and clay and in marble the work of Sir Quentin himself went up very young man only one of these efforts had an abiding interest it was a marble bust representing a girl or young woman of remarkable beauty the head proudly poised the eyes disdainfully direct on the lips a smile which seemed to challenge the world's opinion not a refined or nobly suggestive face but stamped with character alive with vehement self-consciousness a face to admire at a distance not without misgiving as one pictured the flesh and blood original young Quentin had made a fine portrait the model was his mistress and soon after the bust was finished she became his wife naturally Sir Spencer and Lady Ogrum were not bidden to the wedding in fact they knew nothing about it until a couple of years after went on the birth to him of a son and heir Quentin took his courage in both hands and went down to Rivenoke to make the confession he avowed somewhat less than the truth finding it quite task enough to mitigate the circumstances of Mrs. Ogrum's birth and breeding the exhibition of a portrait paved his way this superbly handsome creature adorned as became her present and prospective station assuredly gave no shock at the first glance by some freak of fate she had for parents a plumber and a washerwoman poor but very honest people was Quentin's paraphrase their poverty of late considerably relieved by the thoughtful son-in-law and their honesty perhaps fortified at the same time Arabella the beauty's baptismal name unfortunately had two brothers sisters most happily none the brothers however were of a roaming disposition and probably would tend to a colonial life Quentin had counseled it with persuasions which touched their sense of the fitting so here was the case stated Sir Spencer and his lady had but to reflect upon it with what private conjectures might chance to enter their minds Quentin was an only child he had provided already for the continuance of the house being of mild disposition the bear net about his head to destiny and after a moderate interval Arabella crossed the threshold of Rivenoke of course there were one or two friends of Quentin's who knew all the facts of the case these comrades he saw no more having promised his wife never again to acknowledge or hold any intercourse with them with his bachelor life had ended the artistic aspirations to which he had been want to declare that he should forever devote himself Mrs. Ogram she had been for a year or two a professional model objected to that un-gently pursuit with much more vigor and efficacy than the young man's parents who had merely regretted that Quentin should waste his time and associate with a class of persons not regarded as worthy of much respect whether the dismissed cronies would talk or keep silence who could say Sir Spencer affected to believe that Arabella when his son came to know her was leading the life of a harmless necessary seamstress and that only by long entreaty and under every condition of decorum had she been induced to sit for her bus to the enthusiastic sculptor very touching was the story of how when the artist became adored and offered marriage dear Arabella would not hear of such a thing how when her heart began to soften she one day burst into tears and implored Mr. Ogram to prove his love not by wildly impossible sacrifice but simply by sending her to school so that she might make herself less unworthy to think of him with pathetic devotion and from a great distance to the end of her days to school in very deep she had been sent that is to say she had all manner of teachers first in England and then abroad during the couple of years before the birth of her child and by this instruction Arabella profited so notably that her language made no glaring contrast with that of the civilized world and her mind seemed if anything more acute more circumspective than women's generally in the sphere to which she was now admitted so Spencer and Lady Ogram did not love her they made no pretense of doing so and it may be feared that the lives of both were shortened by chagrin and humiliation at the age of 30 or so Quentin succeeded to the baronetcy in the same year his son died no other offspring had blessed or was to bless the romantic union behold Arabella erst of Camden Town installed as mistress of a house in Mayfair and reigning over Rinneauk inevitably legends were rife about her where the exact truth was not known people believed worse her circle of society was but a narrow one but for two classes of well-dressed people the unscrupulous snobs and the cheerily indifferent her drawing room would have been painfully bare some families knew her because Sir Quentin was one of the richest men in his county certain persons accepted her invitations because she was not exactly like other hostesses and could talk in rather an amusing way the years went on scandal lost as verger Lady Ogram was accepted as a queer woman with a queer history a rather vulgar eccentric whose caprices and enterprises afforded agreeable matter for gossip no one had ever ventured to assail her post matrimonial reputation she was fiercely virtuous and would hold no terms with any woman not wholly above reproach it had to be admitted that she bore herself with increasing dignity moreover that she showed a disposition to use her means and influence for what are called good ends towards the year 1870 the name of Lady Ogram began to be mentioned with respect then her husband died Sir Quentin had doubtless fallen short of entire happiness before middle age he was a taciturn washed out sort of man with a look of timid anxiety perchance he regretted the visions of his youth the dreams of glory and marble when he became master Vivinoke and gave up his London house Therabella wished him to destroy all his sculpture that no evidence might remain of the relations which had at first existed between them no visible relic of the time which she refused to remember Sir Quentin pleaded against this condemnation and obtained a compromise the fine bust and a few other of his best things were to be transferred to Vivinoke and they're kept under lock and key often had the baronet felt that he would like to look at the achievements of his hopeful time but he never some encouraged him out to the attic his years went by in a moldering in activity once or twice he escaped alone to the continent and wandered for weeks about the Italian sculpture galleries living in the sunny ardent past he came back nerve shaken and low in health his death was sudden failure of the heart's action said doctors in their indisputable phrase and Lady Orgrim shut herself up for a time that she might not have the trouble of grieving before witnesses the baronet had behaved very generously to her in his last will and testament certain sums went to kin's folk to charities to servants his land in the bulk of his personal estate became Lady Orgrim's own she was a most capable and energetic woman of affairs by her counsel Sir Quentin had increased his wealth and doubtless it seemed to him that no one had so good a right as she to enjoy its possession the sacrifice he had made for her though he knew it a blight upon his life did but increase the power exercised over him by his arbitrary spouse but he never ceased to feel a certain pride in her pride in the beauty of her face and form pride in the mental and moral vigor which made her so striking an exception to the rule that low-born English girls cannot rise above their native condition Arabella's family had given him no trouble holding it a duty to abandon them she never saw parents or brothers after her marriage and never spoke of them though violent of temper she never made her husband suffer from this characteristic to be sure Sir Quentin was from the first submissive and rarely gave her occasion for displeasure over the baronet's grave in the little churchyard of Shaw she raised a costly monument its sole inscription was the name of the deceased with the dates of his birth and death Lady Orgrim knew not indeed what else to act fully another 10 years elapsed before the widow's health showed any sign of failing it was whilst passing a winter in Cornwall that she suffered a slight paralytic attack speedily in appearance overcome but the beginning of steady decline her intellectual activity had seemed to increase as time went on outgrowing various phases of orthodox religious zeal outgrowing and unreasoned conservatism and political and social views she took up all manner of novel causes and made Rivenok a place of pilgrimage for the apostles of revolution yet the few persons who enjoyed close acquaintance with her knew that at heart she still nourished the pride of her rank and that she had little if any genuine sympathy with democratic principles only a moral restlessness a perhaps half conscious lack of adaptation to her circumstances accounted for the antinomianism which took hold upon her local politics found her commonly on the conservative side and as certain indiscreet inquirers found to their cost it was perilous to seek Lady Ogram's reasons for this course but there came at length a schism between her and the hollingford Tories it dated from the initial stage of her great quarrel with their representative Mr. Robb Lady Ogram who was on the lookout in these latter years for struggling merit or a talent which she could assist interested herself in the son of a poor woman of Shaw a boy who had won a scholarship at hollingford school and seemed full of promise being about 16 the lad had a great desire to enter a bank and Lady Ogram put his case before the senior partner in the chief hollingford banking house who was no other than Mr. Robb himself thus recommended the boy soon had his wish he was admitted to a clerkship but less than six months proved him so unsuitable a member of the establishment that he received notice of dismissal not till after this step had been taken did Lady Ogram hear of it she was indignant at what seemed to her a lack of courtesy she made inquiries persuaded herself that her protégé had been harshly dealt with and wrote a very pungent letter to the head of the firm Mr. Robb did not himself reply and the grave arguments urged by his subordinate served nothing to mitigate Lady Ogram's wrath insult had been added to injury her lady shipped straight way with drew an account she kept at the bank and dispatched to the MP a second letter so forcible in its wording that it received no answer at all never half-hearted in her quarrels Lady Ogram made known to all her acquaintances in the neighborhood the opinion she had of Mr. Robb and was in no wise discourage when it came to her ears that the banker MP spoke of taking legal proceedings against her it happened that Mr. Robb about this time addressed an important meeting of his constituents his speech was not brilliant and Lady Ogram made great fun of the newspaper report he reminded her she said about especially stupid organ grinder grinding all out of time the vulgarest and most threadbare tunes henceforth applying the name of a character in Dickens she spoke of Holly Ford's representative as Robb the grinder which Mr. Robb heard of it as of course he did very soon by no means sweetened his disposition towards the termagant of Rivenoch a phrase he was supposed to have himself invented I'll grind her remark the honorable gentleman in the bosom of his family and before long he found his opportunity in the next parliamentary recess he again spoke at Holly Ford this time at a festival meeting of the conservative club where the gentility of town and district was well represented his subject was the British aristocracy its glories in the past its honors in the present and the services it would render in a future dark with revolutionary menace the only passage which had any particular meaning or to which anyone listened ran pretty much of us ladies and gentlemen we pride ourselves on the fact that our aristocracy is recruited from the choice representatives of the middle class some they're successful in every that is to say in all the respectful branches of activity see before them the possibility I would say the glorious possibility of taking a seat in that illustrious upper chamber which is the balance of our free constitution may the day never come ladies and gentlemen when ha the ranks of our nobility suffer an intrusion of the unworthy and I would extend this remark to the order below that appears to the hereditary dignity which often rewards distinguished merit may those simple titles so pleasant to our ears whether applied I say to man or woman ha ha never be degraded by ignoble bears by the low born hoe by the tainted and reputed hoe ha in short by any of those unfit whether man or woman ha hum who like vile weeds are thrown up to the surface by the shall I say deluge of democracy every hearer saw the application of this and lady ogrum had not long to wait before she read it in print her temper that day was not mild she had occasion to controvert a friend a conservative lady on some literal point of fact in an innocent costume and that lady never again turned her steps to ribbon oak but worse was to come rarely had lady ogrum any trouble with her domestics she chose them very carefully and kept them for a long time they feared her but respected her power of ruling the rarest gift in women of whatever rank now it befell that the maid in personal attendance upon her left to be married and in her engagement of a successor lady ogrum perhaps because of her turbid state of mind just now was less circumspect than usual she did not ascertain for instance that the handmaid had a sister attached in light capacity to the person of Mrs. Robb nor did she note certain indications of a temper far too closely resembling her own before many days have passed mistress and attendant found themselves on cool terms and from this to the extremity of want was a step as fatally easy as that from the sublime to the ridiculous lady ogrum gave an order it was imperfectly obeyed lady ogrum her eyes bazing with wrath demanded an explanation of this neglect met with inadequate excuses she thundered enlightened any ordinary domestic would have been terraced certain but this handmaid echoed storm with storm she fronted the lady of ribbon oak as no one had ever dared to do the baronette's widow losing all command of herself caught up the nearest missile a little ivory framed handmaid and hurled it at her antagonist who was struck full on the forehead and staggered you shall pave for this you old hag shriek the injured woman I'll pull you up before the holling forward mad just straight and I'll tell them where you got your manners I know now that it's true what Mrs. Robb told my sister that you began life as a Saxon monosyllable on London streets some minutes later a servant sent to lady ogrum's room by the retreating combatant found her mistress lying unconscious for a day or two the lady of ribbon oak was thought to be near her end but the struggle prolonged itself hope was seen and in three months time the patient went about her garden and park in a bath chair doctors opined that she would never walk again yet before six months were out Lady Ogrum was down in Cornwall taking the air very much as of old but her aspect had greatly changed her body had shrunk her face had become that of an old old woman then it was that she renewed her falling locks and appeared all at once with the magnificent crown of Auburn hair which was hence forth to astonished beholders more than 10 years had now elapsed since that serious illness Lady Ogrum's age was 79 medical science declared her a marvel and prudently held it possible that she might live to 90 what to do with her great possessions had long been a harassing subject of thought with Lady Ogrum she wished to use them for some praise worthy purpose which at the same time would perpetuate her memory more than 20 years ago she had instructed her solicitor to set on foot an inquiry for surviving members of her own family the name was Tomlin search had gone on with more or less persistence and Tomlin's had come to light but in no case could a clear connection be established with the genealogical tree which so far as Elabella had knowledge of it rooted in the person of John Tomlin Hackney her grandfather by trade or cabinet maker deceased somewhere about 1840 since her illness Lady Ogrum had fallen into the habit of brooding over the days long gone by she revived the memory of her home in Camden town of her life as a not ill cared for child of her experiences in a West End work room her temptations multiplied as she grew to the age of independence her contempt of girls who went wrong these domestic quarrels and miseries which led to her breaking away and becoming an artist's model how emotive it all was had she not lived through it in a prior existence with rebirth to the life of luxury and command which alone seemed natural to her all but 60 years had passed since she said goodbye forever to Camden town and for 30 years at least the greater part of her married life she had scarce turn to thought in that direction long ago her father and mother were dead she knew of it only from the solicitor Mr. Kirchiever who after the death of Sir Quentin gave her a full account of the baronette's pecuniary relations with the Tomlin household no blackmailing had ever been practiced the plumber and his wife were content with what they received Abella felt the satisfaction in remembering that of her own accord she had asked her husband to do something for them which he might very well have disregarded them all together and the two brothers who were supposed to have left England had never been heard of again the failure to discover anyone named Tomlin whom she could regard as of her own blood was now a disappointment to Lady Ogren sometimes she even fretted about it Mr. Kirchiever had it in charge to renew the inquiry to use every possible means and spare no outlay the old woman yearned full kinsfolk as the younger sometimes do for offspring of their own the engagement of Constance Bride as resident secretary resulted no doubt from this craving in the old lady's mind for human affection perhaps she felt that she had behaved with less than justice to the girl's father Moreover Constance as a little child had greatly won her liking and in the young woman she perceived a capability an independence which strongly appealed to her thus far they had got on very well together and Lady Ogren began to think that she had found in Constance what she had long been looking for one of her own sex equal to the burden of a great responsibility and actuated by motives pure enough to make her worthy of a high privilege had her girl who had fallen into brutal hands Erebella's native savagery would doubtless have developed strange excesses in the life of a social outlaw the companionship of Quentin Ogren a mild idealist could naturedly critical of the common place though it often wearied her and irritated her primitive interests was a civilizing influence the results of which continued to manifest themselves after the Baronette's death on the aesthetic side Erebella profited not at all to the beautiful she ever presented a heart in sensibility and in later years she ceased even to affect pleasure in the things of nature or art which people generally admired her flowery and leafy drawing room indicated no personal taste it came of a suggestion by her gardener when she converted to her own use the former smoking room finding that people admired and thought at the original she made the arrangement of permanence anxious only that the plants exhibited should be nicer and finer than those possessed by her neighbors on the other hand her more life had from the first shown capacity of expansion it held at its service an intellect of no very fine quality indeed but acute and energetic in all practical affairs she was greatly superior to the average woman adding to woman's meticulous sense of interest and persistent diplomacy or breadth of view found only in exceptional males this faculty the circumstances of her life richly fostered and by anomaly advancing age enlarged instead of contracting the liberality of her spirit after 50 years told when ordinary mortals have long since given their measure in heart and brain Lady Ogrum steadily advanced solitary possessor of wealth autocrat over a little world of her own instead of fossilizing and indulged dignity she proved herself receptive of many influences with which the time was fraught she cast off beliefs for what she had held as such and adopted others she exchanged old prejudices for new forms of zeal above all she chose to be in touch with youth and aspiration rather than with disillusioned or retrospective age only when fading health shattered the way before her did she begin to lose that confident carriage of the mind which together with her profound materialism had made worry and regret and apprehension things unknown to her thus when old but by no means seen out she learned that described of conscience so common in our day which has nothing to do with spiritual perceptiveness becomes a habitual concentration on everyday cares and woes on the life of the world as a part from that of the soul through sleepless nights Lady Orgum brooded over the contrast between her own exaltation and the hopeless level of the swinking multitude what should she do with her money the question perturbed her with a sense of responsibility which would have had no meaning for her in earlier years how could she best use the vast opportunity for good which lay to her hand endless were the projects she formed rejected took up again vast was the correspondent she held with all manner of representative people seeking for information accumulating reports lectures argumentative pamphlets theoretic volumes en masse altogether beyond her ability to cope with nowadays her secretary read and digested and summarized with tireless energy Lady Orgum had never cared much for reading she admired Constance's quick intelligence and power of grappling with printed matter but that she had little faith in the future of her own sex she would have been tempted to say there is the coming woman Miss Bride's companionship was soon indispensable to her she began to dread the thought of being left alone with her multiplying solicitudes and uncertainties her great resource in these days was her savage hatred of Mr. Robb and his family and of all in any way adhering to him whenever she fixed her mind on that all wider troubles fled into space and she was the natural woman of her prime once more since making the acquaintance of Dice Lashmore she had thought of little but this invigorating theme at last she had found the man to stand against Robb the grinder the man of hope a political and moral enthusiast who might sweep away the mass of rotten privilege and precedent encumbering the borough of Haulingford she wrote to all her friends of Haulingford and throughout the country making known that the ideal candidate in the liberal cause had at last been discovered and presently she sent out invitations to a dinner on a day a fortnight ahead which should assemble some dozen of her faithful to meet and hear the eloquent young philosopher excitement was not good for Lady Orgrim's health the doctors agreed in prescribing tranquility and she had so far taken their advice as to live of late in comparative retirement her observant companion noticed that the conversations with Lashmore had been followed by signs of great fatigue in agitated manner a temper even more uncertain than usual and physical symptoms which Constance had learned to look for proved during the ensuing days that the indolid was threatened with another crisis acting on our own responsibility Constance addressed a note to Dr. Baldwin who presently as if making a casual call dropped in to see his patient the doctor knew how to comport himself with Lady Orgrim he began by remarking cheerfully how well she looked and asking whether she had settled the details of her summer holiday dull and rather sullen a bear Lady Orgrim replied within significant brevitys then as the doctor chatted on about local matters for interest gradually awoke anything more been done about the new hospital she asked oh there are promises but nothing really important it'll cost far more money than there seems any chances yet of getting we ought to buy that bit of land I told you about on Burgess Hill the price is high but it's a perfect situation and I'm afraid it'll be going to the builders if something isn't soon done Lady Orgrim would have purchased the site in question long since for it was her purpose to act decisively in this matter of the much needed hospital but it happened that the unspeakable Rob was the man who had first drawn public attention to the suitability of Burgess Hill and Lady Orgrim was better inclined to follow where Rob had led she hoped to find a yet better site and by undertaking it once both purchase of land and construction of the building with a liberal endowment added to leave in the lurch all philanthropic rivals for years she had possessed plans and pictures of the Lady Orgrim hospital she cared for no enterprise however laudable in which she could only be a share the initiative must be hers and hers the glory discreetly Dr. Baldwin worked round to the subject of this patient's health he hoped she was committing no imprudence in the way of excessive mental exertion it seemed to him perhaps he was mistaken that talk agitated her more than usual quiet and repose quiet and repose that afternoon Lady Orgrim was obliged to lie down a necessity she always disliked in the daytime and for two or three days she kept her room Constance now and then read to her but persuaded her to speak as little as possible of exciting subjects she saw no one but this companion of late she had been in the habit of fixing her look upon Constance as though much occupied with thoughts concerning her when she felt able to move about again they sat together one morning on the terrace before the house and Lady Orgrim after a long inspection of her companion's countenance asked suddenly do you often hear from your father not often once in two months perhaps I suppose you're not what is called a good daughter Constance found the remark rather embarrassing for it hit a truth of which she had been uneasily aware Father and I have not much in common she replied I respect him and I hope he isn't quite without some such feeling for me but we go such different ways does he believe what he pretends to he has never made any pretenses at all Lady Orgrim that's his character and I try to think that it's mine too well well exclaim the old lady I suppose you're not going to quarrel with me because I ask a simple question you have a touchy temper you know if I had had a temper like yours I should have very few friends at my age Constance averted her eyes and said gravely I try to correct myself by your example you might do worse by the by if you won't snap my nose off I suppose your father isn't very well to do he's very poor such men always are Lady Orgrim lay back amused she had no affection for Constance yet felt more kindly disposed to her than to any other girl or woman she knew consciously or not she had come to feel a likeness between her own mind and that of the clergyman's daughter she interpreted Constance's thoughts by her own indeed there was a certain resemblance both mental and moral in one regard it showed itself strikingly the contempt for their own sex which was natural to both as a mere consequence of her birth Arabella Tomlin had despised and distressed of womanhood the sentiment is all but universal in low-born girls advancing in civilization she retained this instinct and confirmed the habit of mind by results of her experience having always sought for meanness and incapacity in the female world she naturally have found a great deal of it by another way Constance Bright had arrived at very much the same results she made no friends among women and desired none Lady Orgrim and she agreed in their disdain for all woman movements what progress they aimed at concerned the race at large with merely a sliding glance towards the special circumstances of its sex burdened moiety whereover at the time worn woman perceived in her young associate a personal ambition which she read by the light of her own past she divined in Constance a hunger for things that once substantial and brilliant a smoldering revolt against poverty and dependence not for the first time did she remark and study such a disposition the symptoms were very well known to Lady Orgrim but never before had she met it in combination with genuine ability and other characteristics which she held in esteem let us talk about our coming man where in next words they talk to dice flash mark end of chapter 8