 Section 24 of the Heavenly Twins. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Jennifer Painter. The Heavenly Twins by Sarah Grand. Book 1 Chapter 22 The ladies of an artist's family usually arrange and decorate their rooms in a way which recalls the manner called artistic. More especially when the artist is a figure or subject, as distinguished from a landscape painter, for the latter lives too much in the free fresh air to cultivate draperies, even if he does not absolutely detest them as being stuffy. And in the same way the bedroom of the only daughter of the Bishop of Morningquest would have made you think of matters ecclesiastical. The room itself with its thick walls, high stone mantelpiece, small gothic windows and plain ridged vault was so in fact and a sense of suitability as well as the natural inclination of the occupant had led her to choose the furniture and decoration as severely in keeping as possible. The pictures consisted of photographs or engravings of sacred subjects, all of Roman Catholic origin. There was a Virgin and Child by Botticelli and another by Perugini. Our Lady of the Cat by Birocio. The Exquisite Vision of St Elena by Paolo Veronesi. Correggio's Eche Hommel. And others less well known, with a ghastly crucifixion too painful to be endured, especially by a young girl, had not custom to dulled all genuine perception of the horror of it. The whole effect, however, was a delicious impression of freshness and serenity, which inspired something of the same respect for Edith's sanctum that one felt for Edith herself, as was evident on one occasion when, the ladies of his family being absent, the Bishop of Morningquest had taken Mr. Kilroy of Ilverthorpe, a gentleman who had lately settled in that neighbourhood, over the palace. When they came to Edith's room he had opened the door absently and then, remembering whose it was, he said, my daughter's room, and they had both looked in without entering and both becoming aware at the same moment that they had their hats on, removed them involuntarily. Edith's dress too was characteristic. All the ornamentation was out of sight, the lining of her gowns being more often more costly than the materials of which they were made. In the same way her simple unaffected manners were the plain garment which concealed the fine quality and cultivation of her mind. She might have done great good in the world had she known of the evil. She would have fought for the right and defiance of every prejudice as women do, but she had never been allowed to see the enemy. She had been fitted by education to move in the society of saints and angels only, and so rendered as unsuited as she was unprepared to cope with the world she would have to meet in that state of life to which she herself would have phrased it. It had pleased God to call her. When she left her room that morning she went to her mother's sitting room which was on the same floor. Edith and her mother usually breakfasted here together. Sometimes the bishop joined them and chatted over an extra cup of tea, but he was an early riser and had generally breakfasted with his chaplain and private secretary and done an hour's work or so before his wife appeared. Mrs. Beale was delicate at that time and obliged to forego the early breakfast with her husband due to being the habit and pleasure of her whole married life. The bishop did not come up to the sitting room that morning however and when Edith and her mother had breakfasted they read the Psalms for the day together and a chapter of the Bible verse by verse. Then Edith wrote some notes for her mother who was busy making a cushion for a bazaar. After which she went into the garden and gathered flowers in one of the conservatories which she brought in to paint on a screen she was making, also for the bazaar. Mother and daughter worked together without any conversation to speak of until lunch. They were too busy to talk. After lunch they drove out into the country and played a call. On the way back Edith noticed a beggar, a young slender, very delicate looking girl lying across the footpath with her feet toward the road. A tiny baby lay on her lap. Her head and shoulders were pillowed upon the high bank which flanked the path. Her face was raised as if her last look had been up at the sky above her. Her hands had slipped helplessly onto the ground on either side of her releasing the child which had rolled over onto its face and so continued inertly. Edith caught only a passing glimpse of the group and she made no remark until they had driven on some distance. But then she asked, did you notice that poor girl, mother? No, Mrs. Beale answered, where was she? Lying on the ground. She had a baby on her lap. I think she was ill. They were in an open carriage and Mrs. Beale looked round over the back of it. It was a straight road, but she could only see something lying on the footpath which looked like a bundle at that distance. Are you sure it was a girl? She said. Yes, quite mother, Edith answered. Stop the carriage then, said Mrs. Beale, and we will turn back and see what we can do. They found the girl in the same attitude. Edith was about to alight, but her mother stopped her. Let Edwards, the footman who was an old servant, see what is the matter? She said. Edith instantly sat down again and the footman went and stood by the girl, looking down at her curiously. Then he stooped, took off his glove, and put the points of the four fingers of his right hand on her chest. Like an amateur doctor afraid of soiling his hands, a perfunctory way of ascertaining if she still breathed. I know who it is, ma'am. He said, returning to the carriage, she's French and was a dressmaker in Morning Quest. There were two of them, sisters, doing a very good business, but they got to know some of the gentry. Mrs. Beale stopped him. She would not have heard the story for the world. She's not dead, is she? Edith asked in a horrified tone. The man looked at the girl again from where he stood. No, miss. He answered, I think not. She's deadbeat after a long tram. The souls are worn off her shoes. Or likely she's fainted. It's a pity of her. He added for the relief of his own feelings, looking at her again compassionately. Oh, mother, can't we do something? Edith explained. But what can we do? Mrs. Beale responded helplessly, looking at Edwards for a suggestion. We're not very far from the workers, he said. Looking down the road, they had just re-traversed. We might call in there as we pass and leave a message for them to send and take her in. Let us go at once, said Mrs. Beale in a tone of relief. Edith, whose face was pale, looked pityingly once more at the girl and her little child as they drove off. It had not occurred to either of the two ladies, gentle, tender and good as they were, to take the poor, dusty, disgraced tramp into their carriage and restore her to life and use and name and fame, as they might have done. The incident, however, had naturally made a painful impression upon them both. And when they returned to the palace, they ordered tea in the drawing-room immediately, feeling that they must have something and went there with their things still on to wait for it. Neither of them could get the tramp and her baby out of their heads, but they had not mentioned her since they came in until Mrs. Beale broke a long silence by exclaiming, We will drive out that way again tomorrow and find out how they are. Edith needed no explanation as to whom she was alluding. They would take her in at once, of course, mother. They could not put it off. She said, Oh no, not when we asked them, her mother answered. The tea was brought at this moment and immediately afterward the footman announced from the door, Sir Mosley Menteeth, and a tall, fair-haired man about thirty, with a small, fine, light-coloured moustache, the ends of which were waxed and turned up towards the corners of his eyes, entered and shook hands with Mrs. Beale, looking into her face intently as he did so, as if he particularly wanted to see what she was like. Then he turned to Edith, shook hands, and looked at her intently also, and taking a seat near her, he continued to scrutinise her in a way that brought the blood to her cheeks and caused her to drop her eyes every time she looked at him. But they were old acquaintances and she was not displeased. He was a good-looking young man, although he had a face which some people called empty because of the singular immobility of every feature except his eyes. But whether the set expression was worn as a mask or whether he really had nothing in him was a question which could only be decided on intimate acquaintance. For although some effect of personality continually suggested the presence in him of thoughts and feelings disguised or concealed by an affectation of impassivity, nothing he did or said at an ordinary interview ever either quite confirmed or destroyed the impression. I thought you had gone abroad with your regiment, said Mrs. Beale, who had received him cordially. No, not yet. He answered, looking away from Edith for a minute in order to scrutinise her mother. He always seemed to be inspecting the person he addressed and never spoke of anyone without describing their charms or blemishes categorically. Fact is, I've just come to say goodbye. I've been abroad on leave for two months. Took mine at the beginning of the season. He looked intently at Edith again when he had said this. Mrs. Orton Beg, a servant announced, Mrs. Orton Beg's ankle was strong enough now for her to walk from her little house in the close to the palace, but she had to use a stick. She was bleached by being so much indoors and looked very fragile in the costly simplicity of her black draperies as she entered. Mrs. Beale and Edith received her affectionately and so Mosley rose and transferred his scrutinising gaze to her while they were so occupied. He inspected her dark glossy hair, eyes, nose, mouth and figure down to her feet, then looked into her eyes again and bowed on being presented by Mrs. Beale. So Mosley is in the Cahoon Highlanders, the latter explained to Mrs. Orton Beg. He was just going out to Malta to join them. Mrs. Orton Beg looked up at him with interest from the low chair into which she had subsided. You know my niece, I suppose, she said. Mrs. Cahoon? I have not yet had the pleasure, he answered, smiling so that he showed his teeth. They were somewhat discoloured by tobacco, but the smile was a pleasant one to which people instantly responded. He went to the tea-table when he had spoken and stood there waiting to hand Mrs. Orton Beg a cup of tea which Mrs. Beale was pouring out for her. But I have seen Mrs. Cahoon, he added. I was at the wedding. She looked remarkably well. He fixed his eyes on vacancy here and turned his attention inward in order to contemplate a vision of a bad knee in her wedding-dress. His first question about a strange woman was always, is she good-looking? And his first thought, when one whom he knew happened to be mentioned, was always as to whether she was attractive in appearance or not. He was one of several of Colonel Cahoon's brother officers who had graced the wedding. There was not much variety amongst them. They were all excessively clean and neat in appearance. Their manners in society were unexceptional, the morals of most of them not worth describing because there were so little of them, and their comments to each other on the occasion neither original nor refined. Generations of them had made the same remarks under similar circumstances. The bishop came in during the little diversion caused by handing tea and cake to Mrs. Orton-Beg. Ah, how do you do? he said, shaking hands with the latter. How is the foot better? That's right. Oh, is that you, Mosley? I beg your pardon, my dear boy. Here they shook hands. I did not see you at first. Very glad you've come, I'm sure. How is your mother? Not with your regiment, eh? He peered at some Mosley through a pair of very thick glasses he wore and seemed to read an answer to each question as he put it, written on the latter's face. Will you have some tea, dear? said Mrs. Beale. Eh, what did you say, my dear tea? Yes, if you please. That is what I came for. He turned to the tea table as he spoke and stood over it rubbing his hands and beaming about him blandly. So Mosley-Manteath had been a good deal at the palace as a youngster. He and Edith still called each other by their Christian names. The bishop had seen him grown up from a boy and knew all about him, so he would have said, although he had not seen much of him and had heard absolutely nothing for several years. So, you're not with your regiment? he repeated, interrogatively. I'm just on my way to join it now, the young man answered, looking up at the bishop from the chair near Edith on which he was again sitting and giving the corners of his little light moustache a twirl on either side when he had spoken. All his features, except his eyes, preserved an imperturbable gravity. His lips moved, but without altering the expression of his face. His eyes, however, inspected the bishop intelligently and always, when he spoke to him, they rested on some one point, his vest, his gaiters, his apron, the top of his bald head, the end of his nose. Dr. Galbraith, the footman announced, and the doctor entered in his easy, unaffected, but somewhat awkward way. He had his hat in his hand and there was a shade of weariness or depression on his strong, pale face. But his deep grey, kindly eyes, the redeeming feature, were as sympathetically penetrating as usual. He shook hands with them all, except to Mosley, at whom he just glanced sufficiently long to perceive that he was a stranger. Mrs. Beale named them to each other, and they both bowed slightly, looking at the ground, and then they exchanged glances. Not much like a medico if you are one, thought mentee. Not difficult to take your measure, thought the doctor, after which he turned at once to the tea table, like one at home, and stood there waiting for a cup. He was quite unassuming, but he was one of those men of marked individuality who changed the social atmosphere of a room when they enter it. People became aware of the presence of strength almost before they saw him or heard him speak. And he possessed that peculiar charm, common to Lord Dawn and others of their set, which came of giving the whole of their attention to the person with whom they were conversing for the moment. His eyes never wandered, and if his interest plagued, he did not allow the fact to become apparent, so that he drew from everybody the best that was in them. And people not ordinarily brilliant were often surprised on reflection at the amount of information they had been displaying and the number of ideas which had come crowding into their usually vacant minds while he talked with them. He turned his attention to Mrs. Beale now. I was afraid I should be late for tea, he said. I had to turn back about something. I was delayed. We were late ourselves this afternoon, said Mrs. Beale. Curiously enough, the same cause had delayed them both. From Dr. Galbraith coming into morning quest by the road Mrs. Beale had chosen for her drive that day, had noticed the insensible girl and her baby lying on the foot bath, and had got down, lifted them into his carriage and driven back some miles with them in order to leave them at the house of one of his tenants, a respectable widow whom he had trained as a nurse and to whose kind care he now confided them with strict orders for their comfort and the wherewithal to carry the orders out. Dr. Galbraith took his tea now and sat down. He had come for a special purpose and hastened to broach the subject at once. Have you decided where to go this winter? He asked Mrs. Beale. You will be having another attack of bronchitis and then you will not be able to travel, which is not safe to put it off too long. His orders were that she should winter abroad that year and Edith was to accompany her, but they were both reluctant to go because of the bishop whose duties obliged him to remain behind alone. Mrs. Beale glanced at him now affectionately. He was leaning back in a low chair, paunch protuberant and little legs crossed, and he answered the look with a smile which was meant to be encouraging, but was only disturbed. He was a perfect coward, this ruler of a great diocese, in matters which are of moment to the health and well-being of his own family. He hated to have to decide for them. Why not come to Malta? Somosely suggested. That would be nice for a bad knee, Mrs. Orton Begg exclaimed, her mind taking in at a glance all the advantage for the latter of having a companion of her own age and without quirks like Edith and the womanly restraining influence of a friend like dear old Mrs. Beale. What kind of a place is Malta? The bishop asked, generally, tapping the edge of his saucer with his teaspoon. Then, addressing Dr. Galbraith in particular, he added, would it be suitable? Just the thing the latter answered, picturesque, good society and a delightful climate at this time of the year. Accessible, too. You can go directly by P&O and the little sea voyage would be good for Mrs. Beale. It would be nice to have a bad knee there, said Edith, considering the proposition favorably. I've hardly seen her at all since we were both in the nursery. She was such a quiet child, said Mrs. Beale, unnaturally so, but they used to say she was clever. She is, said Mrs. Orton Begg, decidedly so and original or rather advanced. I believe that is the proper word now. Oh, dear, said Mrs. Beale, is that nice? Well, Mrs. Orton Begg answered, smiling, I cannot say it is not a matter of law, you know, but of opinion. Her bad knee is nice, however, so much I will venture to declare. She used to be very good to the little Hamilton Welles' Mrs. Beale gave out as a point in her favor. Oh, did you hear about the heavenly twins yesterday? Edith exclaimed, addressing Dr. Galbraith, they came to call on Papa and he couldn't make out what they wanted. He did look so puzzled, and they sat down and endeavoured to draw him into a theological discussion. After having had a fight on the floor, children, I mean, not Papa, of course, they always endeavoured to adapt themselves to the people with whom they happened to be, said Dr. Galbraith. When they call upon me, they come primed with medical matters and discuss the present condition of surgical practice and the future prospects of advance in that direction, and I rather suspect that my own books and papers are the sources from which they derive their information. I lock up my library and consulting rooms now as a rule when I go out, but sometimes I forget to shut the windows. They are very singular little people, said the bishop, with his benign smile, very singular. They are very naughty little people, I think, said Mrs. Beale. Dr. Galbraith laughed, as at some ludicrous reminiscence. But will you come to Malta? Said Sir Mosley, because if you will and would allow me, I could see about making arrangements for your accommodation. You are very kind, said the bishop. But when should we be obliged to go? Mrs. Beale asked, meaning, how long may we stay at home? You must go as soon as possible, Dr. Galbraith decided inexorably. And so the matter was settled after some little discussion of details, during which Lady Adeline Hamilton Wells and Mrs. Frailing came in. The latter was in morning quest for the day doing some shopping. She had lunched with her sister, Mrs. Orton Big, and had come to have tea with Mrs. Beale. And she and Lady Adeline had encountered each other at the door. Mrs. Frailing looked very well. She was a wonderfully preserved woman, and being of an elastic temperament, a day away from home, always sufficed to smooth out the wrinkles, which her husband's peculiar method of loving and cherishing her tended to confirm. And she was especially buoyant just then, for it was immediately after the battle of the letters. And Mr. Frailing was so meek in his manner, and she felt altogether so free and independent that she had actually ventured to come into morning quest that day without first humbly asking his permission. She had just informed him of her intention and walked out before he could recover himself sufficiently to oppose it. Dr. Galbraith had taken his leave when they entered the room and only waited a moment afterward to exchange a word with Lady Adeline. When he had gone, Sir Mosley asked the latter, who had known him since he was a boy, but did not love him. Is that ugly man a medical doctor? Yes, she answered in her gentle but downright way, he is a medical man, but not an ugly man at all. He's Mosley calling Dr. Galbraith ugly, Mrs. Biel exclaimed. Now, I think he has the nicest face, a most good-looking kind of ugliness, said Mrs. Ortonbeg. Menteeth perceived that any attempt to disparage Dr. Galbraith in that set was a mistake and retired from the position cleverly. There is a kind of ugliness which is attractive in a man, he said with his infectious smile. Edith responded, and then they drew apart from the rest and began to talk to each other exclusively. There was a bright tinge of colour in her transparent cheeks, her eyes sparkled and a pleased perpetual smile hovered about her lips. The entrance of Sir Mosley Menteeth had changed the unemotional feminine atmosphere. He was ineligible and his near-neighbourhood caused the girls' heart to swell with a sensation-like enthusiasm. She felt as if she could be eloquent, but no suitable subject presented itself and so she said little. She was very glad however and she looked so and naturally she thought no more for the moment of the poor little French girl who was just then awaking to a sense of pain, mental and physical to horror of the past and fear for the future and the heavy sense of an existence marred not by reason of her own weakness so much as by the possession of one of the most beautiful qualities in human nature. The power to love and trust. Is the old swing still on the elm? said Sir Mosley. Yes, Edith answered, not exactly the same rope, you know, but we keep a swing there always. Who uses it now? Children who come to see us, she said, and sometimes I sit in it myself. She started laughing. I should very much like to see it again, he said. Come and see it then, she answered, rising as she spoke. Mosley wants to see the old swing, she said to her mother as they left the room together. What a nice looking young man, this is frailing observe. His head is too small, Lady Adeline said. Has he anything in him? Oh yes, well, good average abilities, I should say. Mrs. Beale rejoined. Too much ability, you know, is rather dangerous. Men with many ideas so often get into mischief. That's true, said Mrs. Frailing, and it is worse with women. When they have ideas, as my husband was saying only this morning, they become quite outrageous. New ideas, of course, I mean, you know. He seems to admire Edith very much. Mrs. Ortonbeg observed. Mrs. Beale smiled complacently. Edith sat long in her room that night on the seat of the window that faced the east. She had taken off her evening dress and put on her white flannel wrapper. The soft material draped itself to her figure and fell in heavy folds to her feet. Her beautiful hair, which was arranged for the night in one great flat with the ends loose, hung down to the ground beside her. The moon was high in the heavens, but not visible from where she sat. Its light, however, flooded the open spaces of the garden beneath her and cast great shadows of the trees across the lawn. The somber afternoon had cleared to a frosty night, and the deep indigo sky was sparsely sprinkled with brilliant stars. Edith looked out. She saw the stars and the earth with its heavy shadows and the wavering outlines of the trees and shrubs, and felt a kinship with them. She was very happy, but she did not think. She did not want to think. When any obtrusive thought presented itself, she instantly strove to banish it, and at first she succeeded. She wanted to recall the pleasurable sensations of the day and to prolong them. The last sixteen hours seemed longer in the retrospect than any other measure of time with which she had been acquainted. She felt as if the terrible dream from which she had awakened that morning in a fright had happened in some other state of being, which ended abruptly while she was pacing the shady walks of the old palace garden with Mosley men teeth in the afternoon. And was now only to be vaguely recalled. Some great change in herself had taken place since then. She would not define it. She imagined she could not. But she knew what it was all the same and rejoiced. They were going to Malta. The feeling resolved itself into that clear idea inevitably. And after a little pause followed by the question, well, and what then? But either her mind refused to receive the reply or else in the book of fate the answer was still unwritten for none came to her consciousness. Turning at last from the window she found the eyes of the good shepherd in the picture fixed upon her. The beautiful benign eyes she loved so well. But him responsively she waited a moment for her heart to expand anew and then set herself to meditate upon his life. It was a religious exercise she had taught herself not knowing that the Roman Catholics practice it as a duty always. She thought of him first as the dear Lord who died for her and her heart awoke trembling with joy and fear for the realization of the glorious deed. His tenderness came upon her and she bowed her head to receive it. Her ears were straining as it were to hear the sweetness of his voice. She sank on her knees before his image to be the nearer to him while she dwelt on the mystery of his divine patience and felt herself filled with the serene intensity she recalled the faultless grace and beauty of his person and reveled in the thought of it till suddenly a deep and sensuous glow of delight in him flooded her being and her very soul was faint for him. She called him by name caressingly Dear Lord she confessed her passionate attachment to him she implored him to look upon her lovingly she offered him the devotion of her life and then she sank into a perfect stupor of ecstatic contemplation. This was the way she worshipped dwelling on the charms of his person and character with the same senses that her delicate maiden mind still shrank from devoting to an earthly lover calling him what she would have had her husband be master the woman's ideal of perfect bliss a strong support a sure refuge praying him to strengthen her to make her wise to keep her pure to help, to guide to comfort her and finding in each repetition of familiar phrases the luxurious gladness of a great enthusiasm these emotional excesses were not to be indulged in with impunity when Edith arose from her knees she had already begun to suffer the punishment of a chilling reaction the love-light faded from her face the glow of ecstatic passion was extinguished in her heart the festal robes of enraptured feeling fell from her consciousness and were replaced by the rags of collections she thought of the poor delicate little French girl lying by the wayside exhausted and longed to know if she were at that moment sheltering in the workhouse and rested and restored she wondered what it was like to be in the workhouse alone without a single friend to speak kindly to her but the bare thought of such a position if only she could have befriended that poor creature and her little child the sweet maternal instinct of her own being set up a yearning which softened her heart the more tenderly toward the mother because of the child she did so wish that she could have done something for both of them and then she recollected her horrible dream and began involuntarily to the incident of the afternoon in order to find some faint foreshadowing for her guidance of the one event in the other next day she persuaded her mother to send to the workhouse directly after breakfast to ask if the girl had been taken in and how she was Edwards, the old footman could have told his mistress the girl's whole history and she knew him also to be an honest man of simple speech not given to exaggerate but she scented something unpleasant in the whole affair and she would have looked coldly for the rest of her life on anyone as being a suspicious character who had ventured to suggest that she should make herself acquainted with the details of such a case she considered that any inquiries of that kind would have been improper to the last degree she sent Edwards to the workhouse however to know if the girl had been found and when he brought back word that she had not although the most careful search for her had been made in the neighbourhood Mrs. Beale concluded that she had recovered sufficiently to continue her weary tramp and very gladly dismissed the whole matter from her mind End of Chapter 22 End of Book 1 Chapter 25 of The Heavenly Twins This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by John Brandon The Heavenly Twins by Sarah G Chapter 25 Amalti's Miscellany Death itself to the reflecting mind is less serious than marriage The elder plant is cut down that the younger may have room to flourish A few tears drop into the loosened soil and buds and blossoms spring over it Death is not a blow is not even a pulsation it is a pause But marriage unrolls the awful lot of numberless generations Health, genius, honour are the words inscribed on some on others are disease fatuity and infamy Walter Savage Landor The great leading idea is quite new to me namely that during late ages the mind will have been modified more than the body Yet I had not got as far as to see with you that the struggle between the races of man depended entirely on intellectual and moral qualities Darwin Letter to A. R. Wallace Chapter 1 Meanwhile the Cajons at Malta had been steadily making each other's acquaintance Colonel Cajon had met a lot on board a steamer on her arrival and had found her enchanted by her first glimpse of the place and too girlishly glad in the excitement of change and the hustle and movement and novelty to give a thought to anything else The healthy young of the human race have a large capacity for enjoyment and they have also the happy knack of banishing all thought which threatens to be an interruption to pleasurable sensation When a thing was once settled it was of Adne's disposition to have done with it and since she had come to satisfactory terms and recovered from the immediate effects of the painful contest the matter had not troubled her She had perfect confidence in his word of honor as a gentleman and was prepared to find it no more awkward to live in his house and have him for an occasional companion then it would to be a guest of good position in any other establishment His own attitude was that of a kind of pleased curiosity He considered their bargain a thing to be carried out to the letter so long as she held him to it like a debt of honor not legally binding but morally and he was prepared with gentlemanly tack to keep faith without further discussion of the subject the arrangement did not trouble him at all it was original and therefore somewhat peaked and so was of Adne They met therefore without more than a momentary embarrassment and his first glimpse of her fresh young face flushed with excitement and full of intelligent interest and of unaffected pleasure in everything was an unexpected revelation of yet another facet of her manifold nature and a bright one too What a pity she had views but there was always a hope the determination to live up to them was merely an infantile disease of which society would soon cure her Society has views too It believes all it hears in the churches without feeling at all bound to practice any inconvenient precept implied in the faith Colonel Cajon had gone out on a government steam launch to meet the mail as soon as she was signaled and finding Avadne on deck had remained there with her watching the wonderful panorama gradually unfolding itself He showed her the various points of interest as they came along and she smiled silent acknowledgments of the courtesy The sun was just dispelling the diaphanous mists of early morning making them hang luminous a moment and then disperse like tinted gauze that flutter slowly upward in a breeze and vanishes great white clouds crisp pile themselves up fantastically and floated off also leaving the deep blue vault to mirror itself in the answering azure of the sea The eternal calm above awful in its intensity of stillness the ceaseless movement below a type of life throbbing murmurous, changeful more interesting than awe inspiring more to be wondered at than revered Colonel Cajon pointed out the lighthouses of St. Elmo patron saint of sailors on the right and Rickasoli on the left then they were met by a rainbow fleet of diocese, gorgeous in color and propelled by oarsmen who stood to their work and were also brightly clad both boats and boatmen clothed by the sun as it were having blossomed into color unconsciously as the flowers do in genial atmospheres the boats carrying fruits, flowers tobacco, cheap jewelry and coarse clothing for sailors each cargo adding something of picturesqueness to the scene formed a gay flotilla about the steamer and accompanied her she towering majestically above them and appearing to attract them and hold them to her sides as a great cork in the water does a handful of chopped straw the boatmen held up their wares chattering and gesticulating their sun and brown faces all animation and changeful as children's one moment they would be smiling up and speaking in weedling tones to the passengers and the next they would be frowning round at each other and resenting some offense with torrents of abuse so the male glided into the grand harbor evading wondering at the fortifications and straining her eyes to make out somewhat of the symbols alternate eye and ear carved on the old watchtower of st. Angelo noticing too the sharp outline of everything in the pollucid atmosphere and feeling herself suddenly a glow with warmth and color a part of the marvelous beauty and brightness and uplifted in spirit out of the everyday world above all thought and care into regions of the purest pleasure what a lovely place she exclaimed it looks like a great irregular enchanted palace it's very jolly said Colonel Cajon smiling upon the scene complacently and looking as important as if he were himself responsible for the whole arrangement what was too magnanimous to mention the fact I thought you'd like it but wait till you see it by moonlight we'll come off and dine with one of the naval fellows some night I'm sure you'll be delighted it's just like a photograph Vodny found that Colonel Cajon had secured a good house for her and had bestowed much care upon the arrangement of it it was the kind of occupation and he did it well he showed a Vodny over the house himself as soon as she arrived and what struck her as most delightful were the flowers and foliage plants which decorated every available corner and nearly all growing oranges and oleanders and great tubs and palms and ferns and oriental china stands and in majolica vases one only sees it for a ball at home he said were some other special occasion he looked at her keenly a moment her face was serenely content well this is a kind of a special occasion with me he said rather gloomily he went on as he spoke a Vodny following him from room to room pleased with everything and looking at which is a much more convincing token of appreciation than the best chosen words but when they came to the rooms which were to be hers she was quite overcome for Colonel Cajón had chosen two opening into each other as nearly as possible like those she had occupied at Frelingay and had filled them with all the beloved possessions books, pictures and ornaments which she had left behind her how good you are how very good you are she exclaimed impulsively I hope we shall be friends oh we shall be friends he answered with affected carelessness but really well pleased I thought you would settle better if you had your own pet things to begin with I had a great fight with your father about the books he said you'd got all your nonsense out of them but I suggested that it might be a case of a little learning being a dangerous thing so I captured all the old ones and I've got a lot more for you see here's Zola and Daudet complete and George Sand you'll like them better I fancy when you get into them then Herbert Spencer and Francis Galton but I've got you some more of their books as well all that you hadn't got you're really too good getting her the books was like putting butter on the paws of a strange cat to make it settle she sat down beside them and began to take off her gloves at once Colonel Cajon smiled beneath his blonde mustache then pleading regimental duty left her to her treasures assuring himself as he went that he really did know women exceptional or otherwise he had arranged the books himself placing Zola and Daudet in prominent positions and anticipating much entertainment from the observation of their effect upon her he expected that she would end by making love to him in which case he promised himself the pleasure of paying her off by acting for a time after the manner proposed by the barber's fifth brother when they met again a vaudney had read her mother's letter and took him into her confidence about it what would you do if you were me she asked I should write to the papers he answered gravely as if he meant it he did not at all understand the strong simple earnest nature incapable of flippancy with which he had to deal nor appreciate the danger of playing with it and he never dreamt seriously consider the suggestion I cannot understand why my father should continue to feel vexed about this arrangement of ours she said seriously we do not interfere with his domestic affairs why should he meddle with ours it is not at all his business do you think it is is taking it for granted that the arrangement was as satisfactory to him as it was to her and appealing to him in good faith against himself and his own interest as it were touched Colonel Cajon's sense of the ludicrous pleasurably it was always the unexpected that was likely to happen with the vaudney and he appreciated the charm of the unexpected and began to believe he should find more entertainment than he said of his matrimonial venture when all appeared most promising he got on very well with her father but nevertheless when it had at last dawned upon him that she was taking his suggestion about writing to the papers seriously it jumped with his peculiar sense of humor which had never developed beyond the stage into which it had blossomed in his subaltern days to draw the testy old gentleman by threats of publicity it was his masculine mind therefore that was really responsible for her unnatural action in that matter in bygone days when there was any mischief afoot the principal used to be and when she was found the investigation stopped there but modern methods of inquiry are unsatisfied with this imperfect search and insist upon looking behind the woman when low invariably there appears a skulking creature of the opposite sex who is not ashamed to be concealed by the petticoats generously spread out to screen him while the world approves man struts and crows taking all the credit but when there is blame about he winds street Arab fashion it wasn't me Gershey Lafemme end of chapter 25 recording by John Brandon book 2 chapter 2 of the heavenly twins this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer LibriVox.org recording by Jennifer Painter The Heavenly Twins by Sarah Grand book 2 chapter 2 Mrs. Beale and Edith arrived in Walter almost immediately after a bad knee herself and it so happened that the latter, when she went with Colonel Pahoon to call upon them met for the first time in their drawing room to whom she was to become really attached during her sojourn in Malta there were Mrs. Syllinger wife of the Colonel of one of the other regiments stationed on the island Mrs. Malcomson also the wife of a military man the Reverend Basil Singin a man of good family pronounced refinement and ultra-ritualistic practices and Mr. Austin B. Price a distinguished American diplomatist and man of letters to whom she became especially attached Mrs. Beale and Edith also were from that time forward to her dearest and most valued friends she looked very charming on the occasion of that first visit Mrs. Beale received her with quite a lucid kindliness she had promised Mrs. Orton Begg to be a mother to her and had been building a little aerial castle wherein she saw herself installed as principal advisor comforter confidential friend and invaluable help generally under certain circumstances of peculiar trial and happy interest to which young wives are subject Evadney and Edith looked at each other with a kind of pleased surprise How tall you have grown said Evadney and how young you are to be married Edith rejoined I was so glad when Mrs. Orton Begg told us you were here that was one of the reasons which decided us to come I think I hope we shall see a good deal of each other said Evadney that would be delightful Edith answered then suddenly she blushed she had recognized someone who had just entered the room Evadney, narrowing her eyes to see who it was recognized him as some mostly mentee a captain in the Cahoon Highlanders whose acquaintance she had made the day before when he had called upon her for the first time he shook hands with Mrs. Beal and stood talking to her looking down at her intently until someone else claimed her attention then he turned away rested the back of his left hand in which he was holding his hat on his haunch fixed an eyeglass in his eye and looked round with an expression of great gravity twirling first one end and then the other of his little light moustache slowly as he did so he was extremely spik and span in appearance and wore light colored kid gloves the room was pretty full by that time and he seemed to have some little difficulty in finding the person whom he sought but at last he made out Edith and Evadney sitting together and going over to them greeted them both and then took a vacant chair beside them he began by inspecting first one and then the other carefully in turn as if he were comparing them point by point uttering little remarks the while of so thin and weaker nature that Evadney had to make quite an effort to grasp them she had thawed under the influence of Edith's warm frank cordiality but now she froze again suddenly and began to have disagreeable thoughts she noticed something repellent about the expression of Samosley's mouth she acknowledged that his nose was good but his eyes were small peary and too close together and his head shelved backward like an apes she could not have kept up a conversation with him had she wished to but she preferred to withdraw herself and let him monopolise Edith I like you best in blue Samosley was saying will you wear blue at our darts oh no Edith rejoined actually smiling up at him with lips and eyes I have worn nothing but blue lately I shall soon be known as the blue girl I must have a change grey and pink are evidently your colours Evadney Evadney looked down at her draperies as a polite intimation that she had heard but just then her attention was diverted by the conversation of two ladies and a gentleman who were sitting together in a window on her right the gentleman was Mr. Singin the ritualistic divine whose clean shaven face with its firm well-disciplined mouth finally formed nose with sensitive nostrils and deep-set kindly dark eyes attracted her at once he was very fragile in appearance and had a troublesome cough ah Mrs. Malcomson he was saying I should be very sorry to see the old exquisite ideal of womanhood disturbed by these new notions what can be more admirable more elevating to contemplate more powerful as an example than her beautiful submission to the hardships of her love all less effectual seeing that no good but rather the contrary has come of it all Mrs. Malcomson answered that is the poetry of the pulpit and the logic too I may add she said leaning back in her chair luxuriously for what could be less effectual for good than the influence has been of those women poor wingless creatures of the sphere whose ideal of duty rises no higher than silence abject submission to all the worst vices we know to be inseparable from the unchecked habitual possession of despotic authority what do you say Mrs. Syllinger the other lady smiled agreement she was older than Mrs. Malcomson and otherwise presented a contrast to the latter being taller with a prettier, sweeter and altogether more womanly face as some people said a stranger might have thought that she had less character too but that was not the case she suffered neither from weakness nor want of decision but her manner was more diffident and she said less Mrs. Malcomson belonged to a somewhat different order of being she had a strong and handsome face with regular features a proud mouth slightly sarcastic in expression and dark grey eyes given to glow with fiery enthusiasm her hair was dark brown but showed those shades of red in certain lights which betoken an energetic temperament and good staying power it was crisp and broke into little natural curls like forehead and neck or wherever it could escape from bondage but she had not much of it and it was usually rather picturesque than tidy Mrs. Syllinger's on the contrary was straight and luxuriant and always neat it had been light golden brown in her youth but was somewhat faded Mrs. Malcomson spoke as well as she looked the resonant tones of her rich contralto voice pleasing the ear more than her opinion startled the understanding she owed half a success in life for the careful management of her voice by simple modulations of it she could always differ from an opponent without giving personal offence and she seldom provoked bitter opposition because nothing she said ever sounded aggressive if she had not been a good woman she would have been a dangerous one since she could please eye and ear at will a knack which obtains more concessions from the average man than the best chosen arguments it seems to me that your poetry of the pulpit is very mischievous she pursued you have pleased our senses with it for ages you have scattered us into action by it and used it as a means to stimulate our vanity and indolence by extolling a helpless condition under the pompous title of beautiful patient submission you have administered soothing sedatives of spiritual consolation as you call it under the baleful influence of which we have existed with all our highest faculties dulled and drugged detailed our grand power to resist evil by narrowing us down to what you call the women's sphere wherein you insist that we should be unconditional slaves of men doing always and only such things as shall suit his pleasure and convenience ah but when you remember that the law which man delivers to woman he receives direct from God you must confess that alters the whole aspect of the argument Mr. Singin deprecated I confess that it would alter it if it were true Mrs. Malcomson replied but it is not true man does not deliver the law of God to us but the law of his own intonations and by assuming to himself the right among other things of undisputed authority over us he has held the best half of the conscience of the race in abeyance until now and so checked the general progress he has confirmed himself in his own worst vices arrogance egotism injustice and greed and has developed the worst in us also among which I class that tendency to sycophantic adulation which is an effort of nature to secure the necessaries of life for ourselves but women generally do not think that any change for the better is necessary in their position they are satisfied Mr. Singin observed smiling women generally are fools Mrs. Malcomson ruefully confessed and the women generally to whom you allude as being satisfied are the women well off in this world's themselves who don't think for others the first symptom of deep thought in a woman is dissatisfaction wonder men like yourself Mr. Singin Mrs. Cylonship again in her quiet diffident way continues so prejudiced on this subject how you could help on the moral progress of the world if only you would forget the sweet, soporific poetry of the pulpit Mrs. Malcomson calls it and learn to think of us women not as angels or beasts of burden the two extremes between which you wonder what are human beings he protested interrupting her I hope I have not made you imagine that I do not recognise certain grave injustices to which women are at present subject those eyes earnestly hope to see remedied as you do but what I do think objectionable is the way in which women are putting themselves forward who are right there said Mrs. Cylonship I think myself that men might be allowed to continue to monopolise the right of impudent self assertion but do not lend yourself to the silencing system any longer Mr. Singin Mrs. Malcomson implored the silent acquiescence of women in an iniquitous state of things is merely an indication of the sensual apathy to which your ruinous poetry of the pulpit has reduced the greater number of us I quite agree with you Ebadney exclaimed then stopped colouring crimson she had forgotten in her interest that she was a stranger to these people and only remembered it when they all looked at her rather blankly as she imagined I beg your pardon she said addressing Mrs. Malcomson I could not help over hearing the discussion and I am deeply interested I am Mrs. Cahoon she broke off covered with confusion oh I am very glad to make your acquaintance Mrs. Malcomson said warmly I called on you today on my way here but you were out and so did I said Mrs. Syllinger and I hoped to have the pleasure very soon Mr. Syngen added bowing Mrs. Beale joined the group just then you have been talking so merrily in this corner she said sitting down on a high chair as she spoke I have been wondering what it was all about women's rights Mrs. Malcomson uttered in deeply tragic terms women's rights oh dear me how dreadful Mrs. Beale exclaimed comfortably I won't hear a word on the subject not on the subject of cooking said Mrs. Malcomson what has cooking got to do with it Mrs. Beale asked why everything Mrs. Malcomson answered smiling if only Mr. Syngen and a few other very good men would stand up in their seats boldly and assure those who dread innovation that their food will be the better cooked and the sphere itself will roll along all the more smoothly for the changes we find necessary there would be an end of their opposition I would not promise women cooks for I really think myself that the men are superior they put so much more feeling into it and I can never understand why they do not quarrel with us for the possession of that department I am sure we are quite ready to design it and really when one comes to think of it it is obvious that the kitchen is much more the man's sphere than the woman's for it is there that his heart is you beguile be my dear Mrs. Beale said smiling but I will not listen to your wicked raileries she looked at Mrs. Sylinger I came to ask if you would be so kind as to play something she said Mrs. Sylinger was a perfect musician and as her bad knee listened her heart expanded when the music ceased she looked up and about her blankly like one who is bewildered by the sudden discovery of an unexpected loss and with that expression still upon her face she met the bright penetrating kindly eye of a small thin elderly gentleman with refined features a wrinkled forehead and thick grey hair who was looking at her so fixedly from the other side of the room that at first her own glance pale but the next moment she felt an irresistible impulse to look at him again the attraction was mutual he got up at once from the low ottoman on which he was sitting and came across to her and she welcomed his approach with a smile excuse the liberty of an old man who has not been introduced he said you are Mrs. Cajun I know and my name is Price I am an American and I came to Europe on official business for my country first of all but I am now travelling for my own pleasure to make your acquaintance have had me answered before they could say another word to each other however there was a general move of guest departing and Colonel Cajun came to carry her off she held out her hand to Mr. Price we shall meet again she said with your permission I will call he answered end of chapter 2 chapter 3 of the heavenly twins this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Jennifer Painter the heavenly twins by Sarah Grand book 2 chapter 3 Mr. Cajun and Mr. Price were staying at the same hotel and they walked back to it together they had only just made each other's acquaintance and were feeling the attraction which there is in a common object pursued by the most dissimilar means they were both humanitarians Mr. Price by choice and of set purpose Mr. Cingen of necessity seeing that he was a good man but unconsciously the consequence being much confusion of mind on the subject and a wide difference between his words and his deeds he preached for instance the degrading doctrine that we ought to be miserable in this world that all our wonderful powers of enjoyment were only given to us to be suppressed and further blessed themed our sacred humanity by maintaining that we are born in sin and sinners we must remain fighters we will to release ourselves from that bondage but yet his whole life was spent in trying to make his fellow preachers better and the world itself a pleasanter place to live in the means which he employed however was the old anodyne believe the best that is to say cultivate agreeable feelings Mr. Price's motto on the other hand was know the worst the foe must be known must be recognized must be met and fought in the open if he is to be subdued at all this was the difference which drew the two together each felt the deepest interest in the point where the other diverged and yearned to convert him to his own way of thought Mr. Price would have had the clergyman know the world Mr. Singin would have taught Mr. Price to ignore it to look up as he called it or in other words to sit and sigh for heaven while the heathen raged and the wicked went their way here understood although he had not realized up to the prison that that was practically what his system amounted to he belonged by birth to the caste which is bowed to the policy of ignoring the sensitive as a woman about delicate matters nationally Mr. Price was the Englishman's son and had advanced a generation men are what women choose to make them Mr. Singin's mother was the best kind of woman of the old order Mr. Price was the product of the new and the two were typical representatives of the chivalry of the past high-minded unformed unforeseen and the chivalry of the present which reaches on always into futurity with a long arm of knowledge not deceiving itself with romantic misrepresentations of things by the way but fully recognizing what is wrong from the outset and making direct for the root of the evil instead of contenting itself by lopping a branch here and there if you said you were going to winter here Mr. Price remarked as they stepped into the street yes, if the place suits me Mr. Singin answered and so far that is to say for the last month it has done so very well are you a resident well no not exactly the old gentleman answered but I have been in the habit of coming here for years it is an interesting place said Mr. Singin teeming with historical associations yes, it is an interesting place Mr. Price agreed making a little pause before he added full of food for reflection life at large is represented at Malta during the winter season and in a little place like this humanity is under the microscope as it were which makes it a happy hunting ground for those who have to know the world ah Mr. Singin ejaculated deliberately I should think there are some very nice people here yes and some very nasty ones Mr. Price rejoined but of course one must know both oh I differ from you there Mr. Singin answered smiling walk not in sinner's way you know on the contrary I should say Mr. Price rejoined smiling responsibly and twitching his nose as if a nap had tickled it but I allow you have got to have a good excuse when you do Mr. Singin smiled again slightly but said nothing there were elephants once in Malta I am told he began after a little pause changing the subject adroitly but they dwindled down from the size which makes them so useful by way of comparison with the ponies before they finally became extinct and there is a set in society on the island now Mr. Price pursued formed of representatives of old English houses that once brought men of notable size and virile into the world but are now only equal to the production of curious survivals tending surely to extinction like the elephant and by an analogous process here we are said Mr. Singin as they arrived at their place of abode will you come to my room and smoke a cigarette with me thank you I don't smoke but I'll go to your room and see you smoke one with pleasure Mr. Price responded when they got to Mr. Singin's room the latter took off his clerical coat and waistcoat and put on a coloured smoking jacket which had the curious effect of transforming him from his refined, intellectual clean shave and face and rather long straight hair most people would have mistaken for an actor suffering from overwork having provided Mr. Price with a comfortable seat in the window which was open he lighted a cigarette drew up another easy chair and stretched himself out in it luxuriously he was easily fatigued at that time and the rest and quiet were grateful after the talk and crowd at Mrs. Beals there was a little wooden balcony outside his window full of flowers and foliage plants and from where he sat he saw the people passing on the opposite side of the street below and could also obtain a glimpse of the Mediterranean appearing between the yellow houses at the end of the street intensely blue and sparkling of the afternoon sun it was altogether a soothing scene and had he been alone he would have sunk into that state of intellectual apathy which is so often miscalled contemplative the homely duties of hospitality however compelled him to exert himself for the entertainment of his guest several of the people they had just met at Mrs. Beals went past together laughing and talking and apropos of this he remarked it's a bright little world yes on the smoothly smiling surface of society I allow it's bright Mr. Price rejoined the surface however is but a small part of it Mr. St. John took a whiff of his cigarette do you see that man Mr. Price pursued indicating a man below the middle height with broad shoulders a black beard and moustache streaked with brown a ruddy complexion and a trusively blue eyes who was passing at the moment Captain Belliot of HMS Abomination Mr. St. John answered using the ship's nickname and holding out his cigarette between his finger and thumb as he spoke his fluent patrician English losing in significance what it gained in melody the Cato intonation of the American yes sir Mr. Price rejoined now he is one of the survivals I just now mentioned a typical specimen I rather like the man Mr. St. John answered he isn't a friend of mine but he's pleasant enough to meet just so Mr. Price rejoined the manners of the kind are agreeable on the surface one must give the devil his due but on closer acquaintance you won't find that their general characteristics are exactly pleasant their minds are hopelessly tainted with exhalations from the literary sewer which streams from France throughout the world and their habits are not nicer than their books oh well said Mr. St. John whose sensitive lip had curled in dislike of the subject it is never too late to mend I believe too that the evil is exaggerated but at all events they repent and marry and become respectable men eventually well yes sir they marry as a rule Mr. Price rejoined and that's the worst of it Mr. St. John held his cigarette poised in the air on the way to his mouth and looked at him interrogatively well what you call repentance restore a rotten constitution Mr. Price responded will it prevent a drunkard's children from being weekly vicious or the daughters of a licentious man from being foredoomed to destruction by an inherited appetite for the vices which you seem to flatter yourself and in effect when they are appented of you do not take into consideration the fact that the once vicious man becomes the father of vicious children and the grandfather of criminals you persuade women to marry these men the arrangement is perfect man's safety and man's pleasure if there is any sin in it damn the woman she is weak she can't retaliate Mr. St. John's cigarette went out he had begun to think these are horrors he ejaculated but I know, thank heaven that the right feeling of the community is against the perpetration of them that soul unfortunately it is not with the right feeling of the community but with the wrong feeling of individuals that women have to deal heaven forbid that women should ever know anything about it I say so too said Mr. Price at present however heaven permits them by the thousands to make painful personal acquaintance with the subject and I assure you sir the conclusion which has long been simmering in whispers over tea tables in the seclusion of scented boudoirs amongst those same delicate dames whom you have it in your mind to keep in ignorance of the source of most of their suffering mental and physical is fast approaching the boiling point of rebellion do you know this for a fact I do and the time is at hand I think for a thorough ventilation of the subject it is the question of all others which must either be ignored until society is disintegrated by the license that attitude allows or considered openly and seriously that is why I mentioned it I see in you every inclination to help and defend the suffering sets and every quality except the habit of handling facts the subjects repulsive enough I allow right minded people shrink in disgust even from what is their obvious duty in the matter and shirk it upon various pretexts visiting their own pain like Betsy Trotwood when she boxed the ears of the doctor's boy upon the most boxable person they can reach and that is generally the one who has forced their attention to it there was a pause after this then the clergyman observed one knows that there are sores which must be exposed to view if they are to be prescribed for at all or treated with any chance of success yes yes that is just it Mr Price exclaimed you will perceive if you reflect for a moment that there must have been a good deal that was disagreeable in the cleansing of the Orgene stables to which people in the neighbourhood would certainly and very naturally object at the time but it has since been pretty generally conceded that the undertaking was a very good sanitary measure nevertheless and had Hercules lived in Arde and survived the char of stones with which he was sure to have been encouraged during his conduct of the business we should doubtless have given him a dinner or in the other case an epitaph at least but there is work for the strongman still the Orgene the table of our modern civilisation must be cleansed and it is a more difficult task than the other was and one to put him on his metal and win him great renown because it is hell to be impassable he rose as he spoke and looked at Mr Syngin with concern as the latter struggled with a bad fit of coughing I am afraid I have talked too much for your strength oh no Mr Syngin answered as soon as he could speak on the contrary I assure you you have taken me out of myself and that is always good must you go I must thank you, don't rise but Mr Syngin had risen and was surprised to find himself towering over the little gentleman as they shook hands a feeling which recurred to him always afterward when they met there being about Mr Price the something that makes the impression of size and strength and courage which is usually only associated with physical force End of Chapter 3 Book 2 Chapter 4 of The Heavenly Twins this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Jennifer Painter The Heavenly Twins by Sarah Grand Book 2 Chapter 4 Next day there was an afternoon dance on board Captain Belliot's ship HMS Abomination facetiously so called for no particular reason and Evadny was there with Colonel Kahoon she was dressed in white heavenly trimmed with gold and being a bride was an object of special attention and interest it was the first entertainment of the kind she had appeared at since her arrival and not having a scrap of morbid sentiment about her she was prepared to enjoy it thoroughly but in her own way of course which as she was new to the place and the people would naturally be a very quiet observant way Captain Belliot received her when she came on board and they shook hands she was taller than he was and looking down at him while in the act noticed the streaks of brown in his black beard his brick red skin tight as a gooseberries and his obtrusively blue eyes Queen's weather he remarked yes she answered looking out at the sparkling water it's a pretty place yes she agreed glancing toward the shore but seeing only with the mind's eye her pupils dilated however as she recalled the way she had come the narrow picturesque steep streets almost all stone steps well worn with high irregular houses on either side yellow with green wooden verandas jutting out the wharf on which they had waited a moment for the man of war's boat to take them off and the malty's ruffians with their brown faces and brightly coloured clothing lying idly about in the sun or chattering together at the top of their voices in little groups they had seemed to look at her too with friendly eyes and she saw the sapphire sea which parted in dazzling white foam from the prow of the boat as they came along saw the steady sweep of the oars rising and falling rhythmically the flash of the blades in the sunshine the well disciplined faces of the men who looked at her shyly but with the same look which she took to be friendly and their smart uniforms she would have liked to have shaken hands with them all and there was more still in her mind when Captain Belliot asked her if she thought the place pretty yet all she found for answer was the one word yes and he, being no physionomist rashly concluded that was all she had in her to dance he proceeded making one more effort to induce her to entertain him not in the afternoon she said so Mosley Menteeth tried next you've come from Morning Quest do you not? he asked looking into her eyes where people live near Morning Quest she answered ah then I suppose you know everybody there he observed looking hard at her brooch she reflected a moment and then answered deliberately not by any means I should think it is a large neighbourhood he twisted each side of his little light moustache and changed the subject inspecting her figure as he did so to ride he asked yes she answered there was a pause during which she noticed a suspicion of powder on his face and he felt dissatisfied because she didn't seem to be going to entertain him the band struck up a waltz to dance he said looking down from her face to her feet not in the afternoon she answered the dance had begun and a pair came whirling down toward them Evadny moved back to be out of the way and Menteeth looking round for a partner saw Mrs Guthrie Brimstone opposite smiling at him he went over to her well what do you make of the bride she asked a conversation is not exactly animated he answered looking into Mrs Guthrie Brimstone's face intently she was a round flat-faced, high-hipped high-shouldered woman short in the body and tight laced and she had a trick of wagging her skirts and perking at a man when talking to him she did so now nodding and smiling in a way that made her speech with the suggestion that she thought or knew a great deal more than she meant to say he read her acquaintance I suppose Menteeth added oh yes she answered her husband is an old friend of ours you know so Bobby thought we ought to call at once the tone in which she spoke suggested that she and Bobby merely meant to tolerate Mrs Kahoon for her husband's sake Bobby was Major Guthrie Brimstone a very useful little man to his wife by way of reference when she wanted to say a smart thing which might or might not be considered objectionable according to the taste of the person she addressed and she very often did she always presented it as a quotation from him Bobby thinks she added now that if there were an order of the silent sewing machine Mrs Kahoon would be sure to be a distinguished member of it a royal personage whom Edbadney had met at home recognised her at this moment and shook hands with her with somewhat effusive cordiality making her a mark to which she responded quietly she seems to be a pretty self-possessed young woman too Menteeth observed her composure is perfect ah Mrs Guthrie Brimstone ejaculated those stupid people have no nerves now I should shake all over in such a position the band played the next few bars hard and fast the dancers world like T Totems then stopped with the final crash of the instruments and separated scattering the groups of onlookers who rearranged themselves into new combinations immediately Mrs Guthrie Brimstone lent against the bulwarks Colonel Beston of the artillery and Colonel Kahoon joined her also her Bobby and Menteeth remained the conversation was animated Evadney having moved could now hear every word of it and thought it extremely stupid it was all what he said and she said what they ought to have said and what they really meant Mrs Guthrie Brimstone made some cutting remarks she talked to all the men at once and they appeared to appreciate her sallies but their own replies were vapid she seemed to be the only one of the party with any wit Mrs Beston joined her she was a little dark woman with a patient anxious face and eyes that wandered incessantly till she discovered her husband with Mrs Guthrie Brimstone Evadney surprised the glance in treating approachable loving helpless what was it the look of a woman who finds it a relief to know the worst Evadney's heart began to contract the girlish gladness went out of her eyes Mrs Beal and Edith arrived and joined her and came and attached himself to them at once you have put on the blue frog he said softly to Edith looking down at her with animal eyes and a flush partly of gratified vanity on his face Edith smiled and blushed she could not reason about him her wits had forsaken her that's a case I think said Mrs Guthrie Brimstone several more men had joined her by this time and they all looked across at Edith and Menteep half the men on the island took their opinions especially of the women from Mrs Guthrie Brimstone she was forever luring her own sex in their estimation and they with sheep-like docility bowed to her dictates and never dreamed of judging for themselves Mr Price persuaded Mr Shingen to come and look on at the dance they were leaving now against the hall-works beside Mrs Guthrie Brimstone who tried to absorb them into her circle but found them heavy Mr Price despised her and Mr Shingen was occupied with his own thoughts he had passed the night in painful reflection and when he arose in the morning he was more than half convinced that Mr Price had not exaggerated but now with the smiling surface of society of observation and his senses both soothed and exhilarated by the animated scene and the lively music he could not believe it he had thought for the moment that the old American minister was a strong and disinterested philanthropist but now he saw in him only the victim of a diseased imagination the habit of seeing society through a haze of feeling as it should be was older than the American's entreaties that he should learn to know it as it is and he deliberately chose to be unconvinced the person is casting covetous eyes at the bishop's pretty you lamb Colonel Besten observed to Mrs Guthrie Brimstone a kind of bow had been made of the stern sheets by screening them off from the main deck with an awning and from out of this a lady a young widow stepped just at this moment followed by a young man they had been out of sight all together innocently occupied leaning over watching the fish darting about down in the depths of the transparent water the moment they appeared however the men about Mrs Guthrie Brimstone exchanged glances of unmistakable significance and the young widow receiving this flushed crimson with indignation guilty conscience Major Guthrie Brimstone remarked upon this with a chuckle Mr Singin had witnessed the incident and overheard the remark and the import of both forced itself upon his attention Mr Price's words recurred to him you are right they are gross of nature the animal in them predominates at present but the spiritual the immortal part is there too it must be it has not been cultivated and therefore it is undeveloped we should direct our whole energies to the cultivation of it it is a serious subject for thought and prayer Mr Price twitched his nose and studied the physiognomies about him I doubt myself the spiritual nature has been as generally diffused as you seem to imagine he remarked in his crisp dry way but if the germ of it is anywhere it is in the women help them out of their difficulties and you will help the world at large now there is one indicating a vadani who was sitting in the same place still quietly observant I was looking at her Mr Singen broke in she seems to me to be one of those sensitive creatures affected by sun and wind and rain and all atmospheric influences for their joy or sorrow who will suffer a martyrdom in secret with beautiful womanly endurance and be very much to blame for it Mr Price interrupted that is your idea of her character now mine is different I should say that she is a being so nicely balanced so human that either senses or intellect might be tipped up by the fraction of an ounce which is right surely since the senses are instrumental in sustaining nature while the intellect helps it to perfection and as to her beautiful womanly endurance he shrugged his shoulders and turned the palms of his hands upward I don't know of course but I am no judge of character if she does not prove to be one of the new women who are just appearing among us with a higher ideal of duty than any which men have constructed for women I expect she will be ready to resent as an insult every attempt to impose unnecessary suffering either upon herself or a sex at large well I hope she will not become a contentious woman Mr Singin said the way in which women are putting themselves forward just now on any subject which happens to attract their attention is quite deplorable I think and pushing themselves into the professions too and entering into rivalry with men generally you must confess that all that is unwomanly it seems to me to depend entirely upon how it is done and how Christ answered judicially and I deny the rivalry all that women ask is to be allowed to earn their bread honestly but there is no doubt that the majority of men would rather see them on the streets the old gentleman stopped and compressed his lips into a sort of smile I can see, he said that you are dissenting from every word I say but I am not disheartened I feel sure that the scales will fall from your eyes someday and then you will look back and see clearly for yourself the way in which all moral progress has been checked for ages by the criminal repression of women Repression of women exclaimed Captain Beliot who caught the words just as the band stopped Good Lord I beg your pardon Singin but it's a subject I feel very strongly upon it's impossible to tell what the devil women will be at next Why? I went into a hotel in Deppenport for a brandy and soda just before I sailed and I happened to remark to a fellow that was with me that something was a damn nuisance and the barmaid lent over the counter A shilling sir she said with the coolest cheek in the world What for? I demanded A fine sir swearing she answered with the most perfect assurance Now look here young woman I said you just shut up for I'm not going to stand any of your damn nuisance Two shilling sir she said in just the same tone I wanted to argue the question but she wouldn't say a word more She just sent for the proprietor and he said it was his wife's orders She wouldn't have any female in her service insulted by bad language and that fellow, the proprietor actually supported his wife What do you think of that for Petticoat Government He made me pay up too by Joe I was obliged to do it to save a row Now what do you think of that for a side of the times Mr Price twitched his nose and looked at Mr Singin Some signs of the times are hopeful, certainly the latter said inigmatically Talking seriously in these hours of ease Mrs Guthrie Brimstone broke in What is it all about I was just about to remark that I like a woman to be a woman Captain Belliot rejoined ogling the lady and with the general air of being sure that she had at least could have no higher ambition than to attain to his ideal These bold creatures that put themselves forward as many of them do nowadays are highly antipathetic to me and if you saw them the most awful old harridans with voices Shreaking sisterhood doesn't have come up to it Mrs Malcomson passed at that moment Should you call her an old harridan Mr Singin asked smiling involuntarily No The naval man was obliged to confess She's juiced handsome but she presumes on her good looks and doesn't trouble herself to be agreeable I took her into dinner the other night and could hardly get a word out of her Not that she can't talk mind you She just wouldn't to peak my interest you know You may take your oath that that was it There's no being up to women but she'll find herself stranded if she doesn't take care I shan't bother myself to pay her any more attention and I'm a bad prophet if the other men in the place go out of their way to be civil to her much longer either Besides he said to Mr Price, lowering his voice but not enough to prevent Mr Singin hearing Her husband is jealous He turned up his eyes Games not worth you know Again Mr Price looked at Mr Singin The band struck up again another waltz began and the band else had been danced All this eternal one two three Mr Price ejaculated How it wearies the mind Society has sacrificed it's most varied, wholesome and graceful recreation dancing to this manardiness one two three He passed on leaving Mr Singin to his reflections Captain Belliot bent before Mrs Guthrie Brimston Our dance I think said offering her his arm She took it perking and preening herself and began to say something about Mrs Malkinson in agreement with his last remark You're quite right about her Mr Singin overheard She's always jeering at men She abuses you wholesale I've heard her often Captain Belliot's face darkened but he put his arm around his partner and they glided off together slowly When next they passed Mr Singin their faces wore a similar expression of drowsy, sensuous delight which gave them for the moment a curious likeness to each other They looked incapable of speech or thought or anything but the slow measure of their interwoven paces and inarticulate emotion The scene made a painful impression on Mr Singin and he began to feel as much outplace as he looked We churchmen are a failure we thought we have done no good and are barely tolerated Poetry of the pulpit spiritual anodyne What is it? Something I cannot grasp but something wrong somewhere Is Mrs Malkinson right? Is Mr Price? Where are they? They looked about but the dancers with parted lips and drowsy dreaming eyes intoxicated with music and motion floated past him in endless regular succession hemming him in so that he could not move till the music stopped End of chapter 4