 CHAPTER 40 LONDON The winter passed. In the spring Betty received a letter from Mrs. Dallas, part of which ran as follows. My husband and I have a new plan on foot. We have been meditating in all winter, so it ought to be ripe now. We are going over to spend the summer in England. My son talked of making us a visit again this year, and we decided it was better we should go to him. Time is nothing to us, and to him it is something. For although he will have no need to practice in any profession, I agree with him and Mr. Dallas in thinking that it is good a young man should have a profession. And, at any rate, what has been begun had better be finished. So sometime in May we think to leave Seaforth on our way to London. Dear Betty, will you take pity on an old woman and go with us to give us the brightness of your youth? Don't you want to see London? And I presume by this time Pitt has qualified himself to be a good Ciceroan. Besides, we shall not be fixed in London. We will go to see whatever you would most like to see in the kingdom. Perhaps run up to Scotland. Of course what I want to see is my boy. But other things would naturally have an attraction for you. Do not say no. It would be a great disappointment to me. Meet us in New York about the middle of May. Mr. Dallas wishes to go as soon as the spring storms are over. I have another reason for making it his journey. I wish to keep Pitt from coming over to America. Betty's heart made a bound as she read this letter, and went on with faster beats than usual after she had folded it up. A voyage, and London, and Pitt Dallas for a showman. What could be more alluring in its temptation and promise? Going about in London with him to guide and explain things, could opportunity be more favorable to finish the work which last summer left undone? Betty's heart jumped at it. She knew she would say yes to Mrs. Dallas. She could say nothing but yes. And yet, questions did come up to her. Would it not be putting herself unduly forward? Would it not look as though she went on purpose to see not London but somebody in London? That would be the very truth Betty confessed to herself with a pang of shame and humiliation. The pang was keen, but it did not change her resolution. What if? Nobody knew, she argued, and nobody would have caused to suspect. There was reason enough, ostensible, why she should go to England with Mrs. Dallas. If she refused to visit all the old ladies who had sons, her social limits would be restricted indeed. But Mrs. Dallas herself would not she understand? Mrs. Dallas understood enough already, Betty said to herself defiantly. They were allies in this cause. It was very miserable that it should be so. However, not now to be undone or set aside. Lightly she had gone into Mrs. Dallas's proposition last summer. If it had grown to be life and death earnest with her, there was no need that Mrs. Dallas should know that. It was life and death earnest, and she must go to London. It was a capital plan. To have met Pitt Dallas again in Seaford and again spent weeks in his mother's house while he was there would have been too obvious. This was better every way. Of course she could not refuse such an invitation. Such a chance of seeing something of the world. She who had always been too poor to travel. Pitt could not find any matter of surprise nor any ground for criticism in her doing that, and it would give her all the opportunity she wished for. Here, most unopportunely, came before her the image of Esther. How those two would soon chudder. How infallibly Pitt would be devoted to her if he could see her. But Betty said to herself that she had a better right. They did not know each other. He was nothing to Esther. Esther was nothing to him. She said her teeth and wrote to Mrs. Dallas that she would be delighted to go. And then, having made her choice, she put away thought. All through the voyage, she was the most delightful companion. A little stifled excitement, like forcing heat in a greenhouse, made all her social qualities blossom out in unwanted brilliancy. She was entertaining, bright, gay, witty, graceful. She was the admiration and delight of the whole company on board, and Mrs. Dallas thought to herself with proud satisfaction that Pitt could find nothing better than that, nor more attractive, and that she need wish nothing better than that at the head of her son's household and by his side. That Pitt could withstand such enchantment was impossible. She was doing the very best thing she could do in coming to England and in bringing Betty with her. Having meditated this journey for months, Mr. Dallas had made all his preparations. Dallas had been engaged in a pleasant part of the city, and there, very soon after landing, the little party found themselves comfortably established and quiet at home. Nothing like England, Mr. Dallas grumbled with satisfaction. You couldn't do this in New York. They understand nothing about it, and they are too stupid to learn. I believe there is no lodging house in all the little Dutch city over there. You cannot find a single house where they let lodgings in the English fashion. Mr. Dallas, it is not a Dutch city. Half Dutch, and that's enough. Have you let Pitt know we are here, wife? Mrs. Dallas had done that, but the evening passed away, nevertheless, without any news of him. They made themselves very comfortable, had an excellent dinner, and went to rest in rooms pleasant and well-appointed. But Betty was in a state of feverish excitement, which would not let her be a moment at ease. Now she was here, she almost was ready to wish herself back again. How would Pitt look at her? How would he receive her? And yet, what affair was it of his, if his mother brought a young friend with her, to enjoy the journey and make it agreeable? It was nothing to Pitt. And yet, if it were nothing to him, Betty would want to take passage in the next package ship sailing for New York or Boston. She drew her breath short, until she could see him. He came about the middle of the next morning. Mr. Dallas had gone out, and the two ladies were alone, in a high state of expectancy. Joyous on one part, most anxious and painful on the other. The first sight of him calmed Betty's heart beating, at the same time it gave her a great thrill of pain. Pitt was himself so frank and so quiet, she said to herself. There was no occasion for her to fear anything in his thoughts. His greeting of her was entirely cordial and friendly. He was neither surprised nor displeased to see her. At the same time, while this was certainly comforting, Pitt looked too compositely happy for Betty's peace of mind. Apparently he needed neither her nor anybody. Do men ever? said Betty to herself bitterly. And besides, there was in his face and manner a nobleness and a pureness which at one blow drove home, as it were, the impression of the last year. Such a look she had never seen on any face in her life, except, yes, there was one exception, and the thoughts in another pane of pain through her. But women do not show what they feel. And Pitt, if he noticed misfair at all, saw nothing but the well-bred quiet which always belonged to Betty's demeanor. He was busy with his mother. This is a pleasure to have you here, he was saying hardly. I thought we should have seen you last night. My letter was in time. Didn't you get it? It went to my chambers in the temple, and I was not there. Where were you? At Kensington. At Kensington with Mr. Strahan. Not when Mr. Strahan said Pitt gravely. I have been with him a great deal these last weeks. You got my letter in which I told you he was ill? Yes, and that you were nursing him. Then you did not get my letter telling of the end of his illness. You left home before it arrived. You do not mean that Uncle Strahan is dead? It is a month ago or more. But there is nothing to regret, mother. He died perfectly happy. Mrs. Dallas passed over this sentence, which she did not like, and asked abruptly. Then what were you doing at Kensington? There was business. I have been obliged to give some time to it. You will be as much surprised as I was to learn that my old uncle has left all he had in the world to me. To you, Mrs. Dallas did not utter scream of delight or embrace your son, or do anything that many women would have done in honor of the occasion. But her head took a little loftier set upon her shoulders, and in her cheeks rose a very pretty rosy flesh. I am not surprised in the least, she said. I do not see how he could have done anything else. But I did not know the old gentleman had so much sense for all that. Is the property large? Rather large. My dear, I am very glad. That makes you independent at once. I do not know whether I ought to be glad of that. But you would never be let off from any line of conduct you thought fit to enter by either having or wanting money. I hope not. It is not high praise to say that I am not mercenary. Who was thinking to bribe me? And to what? Never mind, said Mrs. Dallas hastily. Was not the house at Kensington part of the property? Certainly. And has that come to you too? Yes, of course, just as it stood. I was going to ask if you would not move in and take possession. Take possession? We? Yes, mother. It is already. The old servants are there and will take very passably good care of you. Mrs. Bunce can cook a chop and boil an egg and make a piece of toast. Let me see what else can she do? Everything that my old uncle liked, I know. Beyond that, I cannot say how far her power extends. But I think she can make you comfortable. My dear, aren't you going to let the house? No, mother. Why not? You cannot live in chambers in there too. I can never let the house. In the first place, it is too full of things which have all of them more or less value. Many of them more. In the second place, the old servants have their home there and will always have it. You are bound by the will? Not at all. The will binds me to nothing. Then, my dear boy, it may be a long time before you would want to set up housekeeping there yourself. You might never wish it. And in the meantime, all this expense going on? I know what Uncle Strahan would have liked, mama. But apart from that, I could never turn a drift his old servants. They are devoted to me now. And, besides, I wish to have the house taken care of. When you have seen it, you will not talk any more about having it let. You will come at once, will you not? It is better than this. I told Mrs. Bunce she might make ready for you. And there is a special room for Ms. Freer, where she may study several things. He gave a pleasant glance at the young lady as he spoke, which certainly assured her of a welcome. But Betty felt painfully embarrassed. This is something we never contemplated, she said, turning to Mrs. Dallas. What will you do with me? I have no right to Mr. Pitt's hospitality, generous as it is. You will come with us, of course, said Mrs. Dallas. You are one of us as much as anybody could be. And you would be very sorry afterwards if you did not. I can tell you, said Pitt frankly. My old house is quite something to see. And I promise myself some pleasure in the enjoyment you all will have in it. I hope we are so much old friends that you would not refuse me such an honor. There was no more to say, after the manner in which this was spoken, and from embarrassment Betty went over to great exaltation. What could be better than this? And it even her dreams offer her such a bewildering prospect of pleasure. She heard with but half an ear what Pitt and his mother were saying. Yet she did hear it and lost not a word, braiding in her own reflections diligently with the thoughts that suggested. They talked of Mr. Strahan of his illness through which Pitt had nursed him, of the studies thus interrupted, of the property thus suddenly coming to Pitt's hands. I do not see why you should go on with your law-reading, Mrs. Dallas broke out at last. Really, why should you? You are perfectly independent already without any help from your father, house and servants and all and money enough your father would say too much. Haven't you thought of giving up your chambers in the temple? No, mother. Any other young man would. Why not you? What do you want to study law for anymore? One must do something, you know. Something, but I never heard that law was an amusing study. Is it not the driest of the dry? Rather dry in spots. What is your notion then, Pitt, if you do not like it? I do like it and I am thinking of the use it may be. The use? said Mrs. Dallas bewilderedly. It is a grand profession, he went on, a grand profession when used for its legitimate purposes. I want to have the command of it. If the study is sometimes dry, the practice is often, or it often may be, in the highest degree interesting. Purposes? What purposes, Mrs. Dallas pursued, fasting on that one word in Pitt's speech. Writing the wrong mother and lifting up the oppressed, a knowledge of law is necessary often for that, and the practice too. Pitt, said his mother, I don't understand you. Betty thought she did, and she was glad that Mr. Dallas's entrance broke off the conversation. Then it was all gone over again. Mr. Strahan's illness, Pitt's menstruations, the will, the property, the house, concluding with a plan of removing thither. Betty, saying nothing herself, left the other members of the party. The gleam in Mr. Dallas's money-loving eyes, the contained satisfaction of Mrs. Dallas's motherly pride, and the extremely different look on the younger man's face. With all the brightness and life of his talk to them, with all the interest and pleasure he showed in the things talked about, there was a quiet apartness on his brow and in his eyes, a lift above trifles, a sweetness and a gravity that certainly found their ailment neither in the sudden advent of a fortune, nor in any of the accessories of money. Betty saw and read while the others were talking, and her outward calm and careless demeanor was no true indication of how she felt. The very things which drew her to Pitt, alas, made her feel set away at a distance from him. What had her restless soul in common with that happy repose that was about him? And yet, how restlessness is attracted by rest, of all things it seemed to Betty one of the most delightful and desirable, not to be fretted, not to be anxious, to be never out of sorts, never seemingly discontented with anything or afraid of anything, while these terms were the very reverse of all which must describe her and everyone else whom she knew. Where did that high calm come from? No face that Betty had ever seen had that look upon it, except, oh, she wish she had never seen that other, or that she could forget it, those two fitted together. But I should make him just as good a wife, said Betty to herself. Perhaps better. And she does not care, and I do. Oh, what a fool I was ever to go into this thing. End of Chapter 40, Recording by Nancy Cochran-Gergen, Gilbert, Arizona. Chapter 41 of a Red Wall Flower. 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 Nancy Cochran-Gergen, Gilbert, Arizona. A Red Wall Flower by Susan Warner, Chapter 41. An Old House. Arrangements were soon made. The landlady of the house was contented with a handsome bonus. Baggage was sent off, a carriage was ordered, and the party set forth. It was a very strange experience to Betty. If her position was felt to be a little awkward, at the same time it was most deliciously adventurous and novel. She sat to merely enough by Mrs. Dallas' side, eyeing the strange streets to which they passed, hearing every word that was spoken by anybody, and keeping the while herself an extremely smooth and careless exterior. She was full of interest for all she saw, and yet the girls saw it as in a dream, or only as a background upon which she saw fit. She saw him always, without often seeming to look at him. The content of Mr. and Mrs. Dallas was inexpressive. Where will you find anything like that? Now, said Mr. Dallas, as they were passing Hyde Park. Ah, Miss Betty, wait. You will never want to see Washington again. The Capitol? Who? Who? It may do for a little beginning of a colony, but wait till you have seen a few things here. What will you show her first, Ed? Kensington. Kensington. Ah, to be sure. Well, I suppose your new house takes precedence of all other things for the present. Not my new house, said Pitt. It is anything but that. There is nothing new about it but the master. I thought I should bring you back with me, Mother, so I told Mrs. Buns to have lunch and ready. As I said, she can cook a chop. By degrees the houses became thinner as they drove on. Grass and trees were again prominent. And it wasn't a region that looked at least half country that the carriage at last stopped. Indeed, more than half country, for the city was certainly left behind. Everything was in fresh green. The air was mild and delicious. The place quiet. The carriage turned from the road and passed her an iron gateway and up a gravel sweep to the door of an old house shaded by old trees and surrounded by a spread of velvety turf. The impression, as Betty descended from the carriage, was that here had been ages of dignified order and grave tranquility. The green sword was even and soft and a vivid freshness. The old trees were stately with their length of limb and great solid trunks. And the house? The house, towards which she turned, as if to ask questions of it, was of moderate size, built of stone, and so massively built as if it had been meant to stand forever. That was seen at once in the thickness of the walls, the strong open doorway, and the heavy window frames. But as soon as Betty set foot within the door, she could almost have screamed with delight. Upon my word, very good, very well, said Mr. Della, standing in the hall and reviewing it. And then, perceiving the presence of the servants, he checked himself and reviewed them. These are my uncle's faithful old friends, mother, that was saying, Mrs. Bunce and Stephen Hill. Have you got something ready for travelers, Mrs. Bunce? Dignified order and grave tranquility was the impression on Betty's mind again, as they were ushered into the dining room. It was late and the party sat down at once to table. But Betty could hardly eat for feasting her eyes. And when they went upstairs to their rooms, that feast still continued. The house was irregular, with rather small rooms and low ceilings, which itself was pleasant after the more commonplace regularity to which Ms. Fair had been accustomed. And then it was full. All the rooms were full, full of quaintness and beauty, oakwains cuttings, dark with time, oak and doorways with singular carvings, chimney pieces before which Betty stood in speechless delight and admiration. Small pane windows set in deep window niches. In one or two rooms dark draperies. But the late Mr. Straighthand had not favored anything that shut out the light, and in most of the house there were no curtains put up. And then, on the walls, in cupboards and presses, on tables and shelves, and in cabinets, there was an endless variety and wealth of treasures and curiosities. Pictures, bronzes, coins, old armor, old weapons, curiosities of historical value, others of natural production, others still, of art. Some of all these were very valuable and precious. To examine them must be the work of many days. It was merely the fact of their being there which Betty took in now with a sense of the great riches of the new mental pasture ground in which she found herself. She changed her dress in a kind of breathless mood, noticing as she did so the old-fashioned and aged furniture room. Aged, not in firm. The manufacturer solid and strong as ever. The wood darkened by time, the patterns quaint, but to Betty's eye the more picturesque. Her apartment was a corner room with one deep window on each of two sides. The lookout over a sunny landscape of grass, trees, and scattered buildings. On another side was a deep chimney place with curious wrought iron fire dogs. What a delightful adventure! Was it which had brought her to this house? She would not think of that. She dressed and went down. The rest of the party were gathered in the library, and this room finished Betty's enchantment. It was a well-sized room, the largest in the house, on the second floor, and all the properties that made the house generally interesting were gathered and culminated here. Dark wains cutting, dark bookcases, and dark books gave it an aspect that might have been gloomy, yet was not so. Perhaps because of many other objects in the room, which gave points of light or bits of color. What they were Betty could only find out by degrees. She saw at once, in general, that this must have been a favorite place of the late owner, and that here he had collected a special assemblage of the things that pleased him best. A table at one side must have been made, she thought, about the same time with her chamber furniture, and by the same hand. The floor was dark and polished, and on it lay here in their bits of soft carpeting, which were well worn. Betty event slowly to the corner where the party were sitting, taking in the effect of all this, then almost started as Peck gave her a chair to see in the corner just beyond the group a stuffed bear showing his teeth at her. The father and mother had been talking about various matters at home, and the talk went on. Betty presently left then and began to examine the sides of the room. She studied the bear, which was in an upright position, resting one paw on a stick while the other supported a lamp. From the bear her eyes passed on to a fire screen, which stood before the empty chimney, and then she went to look at it nearby. It was a most exquisite thing. Two great paintings of play class were so set in a frame that a space of some three or four inches separated them. In this space, in every variety of position, were suspended on invisible wires some 20 hummingbirds of different kinds, and whether the light fell upon the screen in front or came through it from behind, the display was in either case most beautiful and novel. Betty at last wandered to the chimney piece, and went no further for a good while. Studying the rich carving and the coat of arms, which was both sculptured and painted in the midst of it. By and by she found that Pip was beside her. Mr. Strayhands, she asked. No, they belonged to a former possessor of the house. It came into my uncle's family by the marriage of his father. It is very old. Pretty old. That is what in America we would call so. It reaches back to the time of the Stuart's. Really, that is not as long ago as it seems. It is worthwhile to be old if it gives one such a chimney piece as that, but I should not like another man's arms in it if I were you. Why not? I don't know. I believe it diminishes this sense of possession. A good thing, then, said Pip, do you remember that they that have are told to be as though they possess not? How can they? answered Betty, looking at him. You know the words? I seem to have read them. I suppose I have. Then there must be some way of making them true. What is this concern, Pip? inquired his father, who had followed them and was looking at a sort of cabinet which was framed into the wall. I was going to invite Miss Fair's attentions to it, yet on reflection, I believe she is not enthusiastic for that sort of thing. That is valuable, father. It is a collection of early Greek coins. Uncle Strahan was very fond of that collection and very proud of it. He had brought it together with a great deal of pains. Rubbish, I should say, observed the other man, and he moved on while Betty took his place. Now, I do not understand them, she said. You can see the beauty of some of them. Look at this head of Apollo. That is beautiful, exquisite. Is that a common coin of trade? Doubtful, in this case. It is not certain that this was not rather a medal struck for the members of the Amphitianic Council. But see this coin of Syracuse. This was a common coin of trade. Only of a size not the most common. All I can say is, their coinage was far handsomer than ours, if it was like that. The reverse is as fine as the obverse. A chariot with four horses, then with infinite spirit. How can you remember what is on the other side? I suppose this side is what should mean by the obverse of this particular coin. Are you sure? It produced a key from his pocket, unlocked the glass door of the cabinet, and took the coin from its bed. On the other side was what he had stated to be there. Betty took the piece in her hands to look and admire. It was certainly very fine, she said, but her attention was not entirely bent on the coin. Is this lovely headman for Apollo II? No. Don't you see it is feminine? Serious it is thought, but Mr. Strahan held that it was Arathusa in honor of the nymph that presided over the fine fountain of sweet water near Syracuse. The coinage of that sitting was extremely beautiful and diversified, yielding to hardly any other friendship. Here is an earlier one. You see the very different stage Arathusa had attained to. A regular Greek face remarked Betty, going back to the coin she held in her hand. See the straight line of the nose and the very short upper lip. Do you hold that the Greek type is the only true beauty? Not I, the only true beauty I think is that of the soul, or at least that which the soul shines through. When I was swimming about the head they would seem to indicate a barine deity. The dolphin, the Syracusean emblem. I wish I had been born in those times, said Betty, and the wish had a meaning in the speaker's mind which the hear could not divine. Why do you wish that? Ask Pitt, smiling. I suppose the principal reason is that then I should not have been born in this. Everything is dreadfully prosy in our age. Oh, not here at this moment, but this is a fairy tale we are living through. I know how the plain world would look when I go back to it. At present, said Pitt, taking the Syracusean coin and restoring it to its place, you are not an enthusiastic numismatist. No, how should I? Coins are not a thing to excite enthusiasm. They are beautiful and curious, but not exactly not exactly stirring. I had us collar ones from our Pitt as he locked the glass door of the cabinet, who said I would have opened very wide at sight of this collection. Have you heard anything of the Gainsborough's mother? Betty started inwardly and was seized with an unreasoning fear lest the question might next be put to herself. Quietly, as soon as she could, she moved away from the coin cabinet and seemed to be examining something else, but she was listening all the while. Nothing whatever Mrs. Dallas had answered. They have not come back to England. I have made out so much. I looked up the family after I came home last fall. Their headquarters are at a nice old place down in Devonshire. I introduced myself and got acquainted with them. They are pleasant people, but they knew nothing of the Colonel. He has not come home and is not written. Thus much I have found out. It is not certain, however, grumbled Mr. Dallas. I believe he has come home. That is, to England. He was on bad terms with his people, you know. When are you going to show Miss Freer and me London? asked Mrs. Dallas. She was as willing to lead off from the other subject as Betty herself. Show you London, Mama? Show you a bit of it, you mean. It would take something like a lifetime to show you London. What bit will you begin with? What first, Betty, said Mrs. Dallas. Betty turned and slowly came back to the others. Take her to see the lions in the tower, suggested Mr. Dallas. And the waxwork. Do you think I have never seen a lion, Mr. Dallas? Said the young lady. Well, small ones, said the gentlemen stroking his chin. The tower is a big lion itself. I believe I should like to go to the tower. I have never been there yet, all as I am. I do not want to go to the tower, said Mrs. Dallas. I do not care for that kind of thing. I should like to see the temple and Pitt's chambers. So should I, said the younger lady. You might do worse, said Pitt. Then tomorrow we will go to the temple and to St. Paul's. St. Paul's? Will not hold us long, will it? Said Betty. Is it so much to see? A good deal if you go through and study the monuments. Well, said Betty, I suppose it will be all delightful. But when she had retired to her room at night, her mood was not just so. She sat down before a glass and ruminated. That case of coins and Pitt's old scholar could not find them yet. Yes, and Esther would one day be standing before those coins and Pitt would be showing them to her and she would enter into this talk about them and would understand and have sympathy and there would be sympathy on other points too. If Esther ever stood there in that beautiful old library it would be as mistress and at home. Betty had a premonition of it. She put her hands before her eyes and took a picture. Suppose she earned well of the two and gained their lasting friendship by saying the words that would bring them to each other. That was one way out of her difficulty. But then why should she? What right had Esther Gainsborough to be happy more than Betty Freire? The other way out of her difficulty, namely to win Pitt's liking would be much better and then they both of them might be Esther's friends. I think Betty was certain if she could win Pitt he would be one. No halfway work was possible with him. He would never woo a woman he did not entirely love and any woman so loved by him would not need to fear any other woman. It would be once for all. Betty had never, as it happened, met Thoreau going truth before. She recognized it and trusted it perfectly in Pitt. And it was one of the things she confessed to herself that drew her most mightily to him. A person whom she could absolutely believe and always be sure of whom else in the world could she trust so? Not her own brothers not her own father mother she had none. How did she know so securely that Pitt was an exception to the universal rule? The question might be asked and she asked it. She had not seen him tested in any great thing but she had seen him tried in little bits of everyday things in which most people think it is no harm to Dutch the truth a little and Betty recognized the soundness of the axiom. He that is faithful in that which is leased is faithful also in much. End of Chapter 41 Recording by Nancy Cochran-Gergen Gilbert, Arizona A Red Wall Flower By Susan Warner Chapter 42 The Tower The next morning they went to inspect the temple. Pitt and the two ladies. Mr. Dallas preferred some other occupation. But the interest brought to the inspection was not altogether legitimate. Mrs. Dallas cared principally to see how comfortable her son's chambers were and to refresh herself with the tokens of antiquity and importance which attached to the place and the institution to which he belonged. Betty was no antiquarian in the best of times and at present had all her faculties concentrated on one subject and one question which was not of the past. Nevertheless it is of the nature of things that a high strain of the mind renders it intensely receptive and sensitive for outward impressions even though they may not be welcomed like a taut string which answers to a breath breathed upon it. Betty did not care for the temple had no interest in the old Templar's arms on the sides of the gateways and thought it's medley of del courts and lanes a very undesirable place. What was it to her where Dr. Johnson had lived? She did not care for Dr. Johnson at all and as little for Oliver Goldsmith. Pitt, she saw and cared how odd it was. It was some comfort that Mrs. Dallas shared her indifference. My dear, she said, I do not care about anybody's lodgings but yours. Dr. Johnson is not there now I suppose. Where are your rooms? But Pitt laughed and took them first to the temple church. Here Betty could not refuse to look and be interested a little. How little she did not show. The beauty of the old church, its venerable age and the strange relics of the past in its monuments did command some attention. Yet Betty grudged it and went over the halls and the courts afterward with a half-relectant foot hearing as if against her will all that Pitt was telling her and his mother about them. Oh, what did it matter that one of Shakespeare's plays had been performed in the Middle Temple Hall during its author's lifetime? Or whether a given piece of architecture were early English or perpendicular Gothic? What did interest her was to see how lively and warm was Pitt's knowledge and liking of all these things. Evidently he delighted in them and was full of information concerning them, and his interest did move Betty a little. It moved her to speculation also. Could this man be so earnest in his enjoyment of Norman arches and polished shafts and the effigies of old nights and still hold the views and principles he had avowed and advocated last year? Could he who took such pleasure in the doings and recordings of the past really mean to attach himself to another sort of life? Which with the honors and dignities and delights of this common world have nothing to do? The question recurred again afresh on their return home. As Betty entered the house, she was struck by the beauty of the carved oak staircase and exclaimed upon it. Yes, said Pitt, this is the prettiest part of the house. It is said to be by Inigo Jones, but perhaps that cannot be proved. Doesn't matter, said Betty laughing. No, not to any real lover of it, but to the rest. You know, the name is the thing. Lover of it, said Betty, can you love a staircase? Pitt laughed out, then he answered seriously. Don't you know that all is good and true in a way bound up together? It is one whole, and I take it to be certain that in proportion to anyone's love for spiritual and moral beauty will be Cateris Paribus, his appreciation of all expression of it in nature or art. But, said Betty, spiritual and moral beauty you do not mean that this oak staircase is an expression of either. Of course, perhaps, at any rate, the things are very closely connected. You are an enigma, said Betty. I hope not always to remain so, he answered. Betty went up the beautiful staircase noting as she went its beauties from story to story. She had not noticed it before, although it really took up more room than was proportionate to the size of the house. What did Pitt mean by those last words she was querying? And could it be possible that the owner of a house like this with a property corresponding would not be of the world and live in the world like other men? He must, Betty thought. It is all very well for people who have not the means to make a figure in society to talk of isolating themselves from society. A man may gave up a little, but when he has much, he holds on to it. But how was it with Pitt? He had to try and find out. She accordingly made an attempt, that same evening, beginning with the staircase again. I admired Enigo Jones all the way upstairs, she said when she had an opportunity to talk to Pitt alone. Mr. Dallas had gone to sleep after dinner and his wife was knitting at a sufficient distance. The quaint fancies and delicate work are really such as I never imagined before in wood carving. But your words about it remain a puzzle to me. My words? About art being an expression of truth? Surely that is not new. It may be very old, but I do not understand it. You understand that so far as art is genuine, it is a set or fourth of truth? Well I suppose so, of some truth. Roses must be roses and trees must be trees and of course must look as like the reality as possible. That is the very lowest thing art can do and in some cases is not true art at all. Her business is to tell truth, never to deceive. What sort of truth then? What I said, spiritual and moral. Ah, there it is. Now you have got back to it. Now you are talking mystery or forgive me, transcendentalism. No, nothing but simple and very plain fact. It is this first, that all truth is one and this next, that in the world of creation things material are the expression of things spiritual. So all real beauty in form or color has back of it a greater beauty of higher degree. You are talking pure mystery. No, surely said Pitt eagerly. You certainly recognize the truth of what I am saying in some things. For instance, you cannot look up steadily into the blue infinity of one of our American skies on a clear day. At least I cannot without presently getting the impression of truth, pure, unfailing incorruptual truth in its creator. The rose everywhere in the world so as far as I know is the accepted emblem of love and of another very familiar instance. Christ is called in the Bible the Son of Righteousness that is the life of man. Do you know how close to fact that is? What this earth would be if deprived of the sun for a few days is but a true image of the condition of any soul finally forsaken by the Son of Righteousness in one word, death. And that is what the Bible means by death, of which the death we common speak of is again but a faint image. Betty fidgeted a little. This was not what she wished to speak of. It was getting away from her point. Your staircase sat me wondering about you. She said boldly not answering his speech at all. And yet another connection said Pitt smiling in another connection. You remember you used to talk to me pretty freely last summer about your new views and plans of life. I remember. But my staircase. Yes, your staircase. You know it is rich and stately as well as beautiful whatever it signifies to you. To my lower vision it means a position in the world and the means to maintain it. And I debated with myself as I went up the stairs. Whether the owner of all this would still think of his duty to live all together for others and not for himself like common people. She looked at him and Pitt met her inquiring eyes with a steady penetrating grave look which half made her wish she had let the question alone. He delayed his answer a little and then he said will you let me meet that doubt in my own way? Certainly said Betty surprised. If you will forgive me it's arising. Is one responsible for doubts? One may be responsible for the state of mind from which they spring. Then if you will allow me I will say no more on the subject for a day or two. But I will not leave you unanswered. That is unless you refuse to submit to my guidance and will not let me take you my own way. You are mysterious. Will you go with me when I ask you? Yes. Then that is sufficient. Betty thought she had not gained much by her move. The next day was given to the tower. Mrs. Dallas did not go. Her husband was of the party instead. The inspection of the place was closed and occupied some hours. Pitt being able through an old friend of Mr. Strayhans was now also his friend to obtain an order from the constable for seeing the whole. At dinner Betty delivered herself of her opinion. Were you busy all day with nothing but the tower? asked Mrs. Dallas. Stopped for luncheon said her husband. And we did our work thoroughly mama. added Pitt. You must take time to see anything. Well said Betty I must say if this is what it means to live in an old country I am thankful I live in a new one. What now? asked Mr. Dallas. What's the matter? Mrs. Dallas was wiser that she did not go. Betty went on. I have sucked fall of horrors. Really I have read history. But that gives it to one deluded. I had no notion that the English people were so savage. Come come no worse than other people Mr. Dallas put in. I do not know how it is with the other people. I am thankful we have no such monument in America. I shouldn't think snow would lie on the tower. Dozen often said Pitt. Think Mrs. Dallas I stood in that little chapel there the prisoner's chapel and beneath the pavement lay between 30 40 people the remains of them who lay there with their heads separated from their bodies and some of them with no heads at all the heads had been set up on London Bridge or on Temple Bar or some other dreadful place and then as we went round I was told that here was the spot where Lady Jane Gray was beheaded and there was the window from which she saw the headless body of our husband carried away and there stood the rack on which Anne Sku was tortured and there was the prison where Arabella Stort died insane and here was the axe which was used to be carried before the Lieutenant when he took a prisoner to his trial and was carried before the prisoner when he returned mostly with the sharp edge turned towards him I do not see how people used to live in those times. There are Aunt Bolen and her brother Lady Jane Gray and her husband and other Dudley's innumerable. My dear do stop I cannot eat my dinner and you cannot eat dinner did anybody used to eat dinner in those times did the world go on as usual with such horrors on the throne and in the dungeon it's a great national monument said Mr. Dallas that any people might be proud of proud well I am glad as I said that the sky is blue over America the blue looks down on nothing so fine as our old tower and it isn't so blue either if you could know all where are you going to take us next pit Mrs. Dallas asked to give things a pleasant return how did you like St. Paul's Miss Betty her husband went on before Pitt could speak it's very black that is one of its beauties remarked Pitt is it but I am accustomed to pure air I do not like so much smoke you were interested in the monuments said Mrs. Dallas honestly I am not fond of monuments besides there really is a reminiscence of the tower and the acts there very often I had no conception London was such a place let us take her to hide park and show her something cheerful Pitt I should love above all things to go to the House of Commons and hear a debate if it could be managed Pitt said it could be managed and it was managed and they drove out to see some of the beauties near London, Richmond, Hampton Court and Windsor and several days passed away in great enjoyment for the whole party Betty forgot the tower and grew gay the strangeness of her position was forgotten the House came to be familiar the alternation of sightseeing with the quiet household was delightful nothing could be better might it last could it not last she would have relinquished the sightseeing and bargained for only the household life if she could have retained that Martin's Court what is for today Pitt there had been a succession of rather gay days visiting of galleries and palaces Mrs. Dallas put the question at breakfast I am going to show Ms. Freer something if she will allow me she will allow you of course you have done it pretty often lately where is it now nowhere for you mama my show today is for Ms. Freer alone why may I not go you would not enjoy it then perhaps she will not enjoy it perhaps not but Pitt what do you mean and what is this you want to show her which she does not want to see she can tell you about it afterwards if she chooses perhaps she will not choose to go with you on such a doubtful invitation Betty however declared herself ready for anything though she was under such guidance they took a cab for a certain distance then Pitt dismissed it and they went forward on foot it was a dull hot day clouds hanging low and threatening rain but no rain falling as yet rain if decided to a good degree keeps down exhalations in the streets of a city and so far is a help to the wayfarer who is at all particular about the air he breathes no such beneficent influence was abroad today and Betty's impressions were not all together agreeable what part of the city is this she asked not a bad part at all in fact we are near a very fashionable quarter this particular street is a business thoroughfare as you see Betty was silent and they went on for a while then turned sharp out of this thoroughfare into a narrow alley it was hot and closed and danken up here to make Miss Breer shrink though she would not betray it but dead cats and decaying cabbage leaves in a not very clean alley where the sun rarely shines and briefly then with the thermometer well up on a summer day altogether make an atmosphere not suited to delicate senses Pitt picked the way along the narrow passage and opened into a little court this was somewhat cleaner than the alley also it lay so that the sun sometimes visited it though here too his visits could be but brief for on the opposite side the court was shut in and overshadowed by the tall backs of great houses they seemed to Betty's fancy to cast as much moral as physical shadow over the place the houses in this court if one looks straight up there is a space of grey cloud visible some days it would no doubt be a space of blue sky no the thing even dimly suggesting refreshment or purity was within the range of vision Pitt slowly paced along the row of houses who lives here Betty asked partly to relieve the oppression that was creeping upon her no householders that I know of people who live in one room or perhaps in two rooms therefore in every house there are a number of families this is Martin's court and here he stopped before one of the doors in this house in a room on the third floor let me suppose a case third floor why there are only two stories in the Garrett then there lives an old woman over 70 years old all alone she has been ill for a long time and suffers a great deal of pain who takes care of her Betty asked wondering at the same time why Pitt was telling her all this she has no means to pay anybody to take care of her how does she live if she cannot do anything for herself she can do nothing at all for herself she has been dependent on the kindness of her neighbors and they have their hands full still from time to time one and another would look in upon her light a fire for her and give her something to eat that is when they did not forget it and what if they did forget then she must wait till somebody remember wait perhaps days to get her bed made lie alone in her pain all day except for those rare visits and even have to hire a boy with a penny to bring her a pitcher of water alone all night and wait in the morning till somebody could give her her breakfast why do you tell me all this Mr. Pitt said Betty facing round on him ask me that by and by come a little farther here in this next house but one there is a man sick with rheumatism in a fever when I first saw him he was lying there shivering and in great pain with no fire a girl perhaps a dozen years old was trying to light a fire with a few splinters of sticks that she had picked up that was this last winter in cold weather they were probably stricken since the man had been some time out of work well said Betty I must not repeat my question but what is this all to me I have no power to help them do you know these people yourself yes I know them in the last house of the road there is another old woman I want to tell you of and then we will go she is not ill nor disabled she is only very old and quite alone she is not unhappy either for she is a true old Christian but think of this in the room what she occupies which is half underground there is just one hour in the day when a sunbeam can find entrance for that hour she watches and it comes she takes her bible and holds it in the sunshine to read for that blessed hour it is all she has in the 24 the rest of the time she must only think of what she has read the place is too dark for any more do let us go said Betty and she turned and almost fled back to the alley and threw the alley back to the street there they walked more moderately a space of some rods and words she faced round on her conductor again why do you take me to such a place and tell me such things will you let that question still rest a little while almost as he spoke Pitt called another cab and Betty and he were presently speeding on again with her she knew not it was a good time to talk and she repeated her question instead of answering you I would like to put a question on my side he returned is duty on the part of a servant of Christ towards such cases pray tell me is there not some system of poor relief in this place yes there is the parish help and sorrowful help it is the parishes are often very large the sufferers very many the cases of fraud and trickery almost perhaps quite as numerous as those at least which come to the notice of the parish authorities or but average men is it wonderful if they are hard administrators I can tell you justice is bitterly hard as she walks the streets here and Mercy's hand has grown rough with friction Betty looked at the speaker whose brow was in it and his eye darkened and flashing and she half left you are eloquent she said you ought to be representing the case on the floor of the House of Commons well he said coming down to an easier tone the parish authorities are but men as I said and they grow suspicious naturally and in any case the relief they give is utterly insufficient a shilling a week or two shillings a week what would they do for the people I've been telling you of and it is hard dealing with the parish authorities I know it for here and there at least I have followed Job's example the cause I knew not I searched out one must do that or one runs the risk of being taken in and thrown many a way upon roads which ought to go to help honest people but that takes time yes a great deal of time if it is to be done often yes Mr. Pitt if you follow that sort of business it would leave you time for nothing else what better can I do with my time just suppose everybody did the like suppose they did what would be the state of things I should say the world would be in a better state of health and the elephant we once spoke of would not shake his head quite so often but you are not the elephant as I pointed out if I remember the world does not rest on your head part of it does go on and answer my question what ought I do for these people of whom I have told you but you cannot reach everybody you can reach only a few yes for those few what ought I to do I dare say you know of other cases that you have not said anything about equally miserable more miserable I assure you said Pitt looking at her what then answer my question like a good woman I am not a good woman answer it like a good woman anyhow said Pitt smiling what should I do properly for such people not to your notice apply the golden rule the only one that can give the measure of things in their place and what would you wish and have a right to wish that someone would do for you what may those who have nothing demand from those who have everything why they could demand all you have got not justly can you not set your imagination to work and answer me take my old Christian near 80 who sees a sunbeam for one hour in the 24 when the sun rises and uses it to read her Bible the rest of the 24 hours without even the company of a sunbeam imagine what would you in her place wish for I should wish to die I think it would be welcome to Mrs. Gregory I do not doubt though perhaps for a different reason still you would not counsel suicide or manslaughter while you continued in life what would you like oh said Betty with emphatic utterance I would like a place where I could breathe better lodgings fresh air I would beg for air of all the horrors of such places the worst seems to me the want of air fit to breathe then you think she ought to have a better lodging in a better quarter she cannot pay for it I can ought I to give it to her Betty fidgeted inwardly the conditions of the cab did not allow of much external fidgeting I did not know why you asked me this she said no but indulge me I did not ask you without a purpose I am afraid of your purpose yes if I must tell you I should say I should say oh and take me out of this let me see the sun whenever he can be seen in this rainy London and let me have sweet air outside my windows then I would like somebody to look after me to open my window in summer and make my fire in winter and prepare nice meals for me I would like good bread and a cup of drinkable tea and a little bit of butter on my bread and clothes enough to keep clean then I would like to live to thank you Betty had worked herself up to a point where she was very near a great burst of tears she stopped with a choked sob in her heart and looked out of the cab window Pitt's voice changed when he spoke this is just what I thought and you have done it? no I am doing it I could not at once find what I wanted now I have got it I believe and tell me what ought to be done with the man in rheumatic fever the doctor would know better than I he cannot pay for a doctor but he ought to have one yes I thought so I see what you're coming to said Betty but Mr. Pitt I cannot see that it is your duty to pay physician's bills for everybody that cannot afford it I am not talking of everybody I am talking of this Mr. Hutchins there are plenty more as badly off as badly and worse you cannot take care of them all therefore what is your deduction from that fact where are you going to stop where ought I to stop put yourself in imagination in that condition I have described the chill of a rheumatic fever and a room without fire in the depth of winter what would your sense of justice demand from the well and strong and comfortable and able honestly why said Betty again surveying Pitt from one side with my notions I should want a doctor and an attendant and a comfortable room I do not doubt his notions would agree with yours if his fancy could get so far but who ought to furnish those things for him is another question another not more hard to answer the bible rule is whatsoever thy hand findeth to do will you ought you to do all that you find to do but Pitt went on in a quiet business tone in that same court I found some time ago a man who had been injured by an accident a heavy piece of iron had fallen on his foot he worked in a machine shop for months he was obliged to stay at home the doctor's care he used up all his earnings and strength and health were alike gone the man of fifty looked like seventy the doctor said he could hardly grow strong again without change of air Mr. Pitt said Betty and stopped he has a wife and nine children what did you do what would you have done I don't know I never thought it was my business to supplement suppose for a moment it were Christ the Lord himself in either of these situations we've been looking at I cannot suppose it how would you feel about ministry then Betty was silent choked with discomfort now would you think you could do enough but Mr. Rare he says it is himself in every case of his servants and what is done to them he counts as done to himself and so it is looking again keenly at the speaker Betty was sure that the eyes which did not meet hers were soft with moisture what did you do for that man I sent him to the seaside for three weeks he came back perfectly well but then his employers would not take him on again they said they wanted younger men so I had to find new work for him there was another old woman you told me of in that dreadful court what did you do for her put her in clover said Pitt smiling I moved Hutchins and his family into a better lodging where they could have a room to spare and then I paid Mrs. Hutchins to take care of her you might go on for all I see and spend your whole life and all you have in this sort of work do you think it would be a disagreeable disposition to make of both why yes said Betty would you give up all your space and pursuits literary and artistic and antiquarian and I don't know what all and be a mere walking benevolent society no need to give them up any further than as they would interfere with something more important and more enjoyable more enjoyable yes I think Miss Betty the pleasure of doing something for Christ is the greatest pleasure I know Betty could have cried with vexation distracting mingling of other feelings admiration of Pitt envy of his evident happiness regret that she herself was so different but above all dismay that she was so far off she was silent the rest of the drive end of chapter 43 recording by Yvonne Theodore chapter 44 of a red wall flower 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 Nancy Cochengurgen Gilbert Arizona a red wall flower by Susan Warner chapter 44 the Duke of Treefoil they drove a long distance much of the way through uninteresting regions Pitt stopped the cab at last took Betty out and let her through one and another street and round corner after corner till at last he turned into an alley again where are you taking me now Mr. Pitt she asked in some trepidation not another Martin's court I want you to look well at this place I see it what for asked Betty casting her eyes about her it was a very narrow alley leading again as might be seen by the gleam of light at the farther end into a somewhat more open space another court here the word open had no application the size of the alley were very near together and very high leaving a strange gap between walls of brick at least strange when considered with reference to human habitation all of freedom or expanse there was indicated anywhere being a long and very distant strip of blue sky overhead when the weather was clear not even that today the heavy clouds hung low seeming to rest upon the house tops and shedding up all below under their breathless envelope hot, sultry, stifling near felt to Betty well my unendurable but Pitt seemed to be of intent that she should endure it for a while and with some difficulty she submitted happily the place was cleaner than Martin's court and no dead cats nor decaying vegetables poisoned what air there was but surely someone else poisoned it the doors of dwellings on the one side and on the other stood open and here and there a woman or two had pressed to the opening with her work both to get light and to get some freshness if there were any to be had half way down the alley Pitt paused before one of these open doors a woman had placed herself as close to it as she could having apparently some fine work in hand for which she could not get light enough Betty could without much difficulty see past her into the space behind it was a tiny apartment smaller than anything this fair had ever seen used as a living room yet a living room it was she saw that a very minute stove was in it a small table and another chair and on some shelves against the wall there was apparently the inmate store of what stood to her for china and plate two cups Betty thought she could perceive what else might be there the light did not serve to show the woman was respectable looking because her dress was whole and horribly clean but it showed great poverty nevertheless being frequently mended and patched and of that indeterminate dull gray to which all colors come with over much wear she seemed to be middle aged but as she raised her head to see who had stopped in front of her Betty was so struck by the expression and tale telling of it that she forgot the question of age age? she might have been a hundred and fifty years old to judge by the life where he sat of her features a complexion that told of confinement eyes dim with overstraining lines of face that spoke weariness and disgust and further what to Betty's surprise seemed a hostile look of defiance the face cleared however as she saw who stood before her a great softening and a little light came into it she rose and dropped a curtsy which was evidently not in your matter of form how do you do Mrs. Mills? said Pitt and his voice was very gentle as he spoke and after Betty's indignation he lifted his hat also this is rather a warm day well it be sir said the woman resuming her seat didn't I stifle the heart in one I do I am afraid you cannot see to work very well the clouds are so thick I thank you sir the clouds is always thick these days had you business with me Mr. Dallas? not today Mrs. Mills I am showing this lady a bit of London and would the lady be your wife sir? oh no said Pitt laughing a little you honor me too much this is an American lady from over the sea ever so far and I want her to know what sort of a place London is it's a bitter poor place for the likes of us said the woman you should show her where the grand folk lives that built these houses for the poor to be stowed in yes I have showed her some of those and now I have brought her to see your part of the world it's not to call a part of the world said the woman do you call this a part of the world Mr. Dallas? I mind when I lived where trees grow and there was primroses in the grass them's happier that it hasn't known it if you asked me sometimes I would tell you that this is hell yet it ain't so bad as most it's what folk call very decent oh yes it's decent it is no doubt I'll be carried out of it someday and bless the day how is your boy? he's fairly sir thank you no better said Pitt gently he won't never be no better the woman said with the dogginess which Betty gasped assumed to hide the tender feeling beneath he's done for there ain't nothing but ill luck comes upon focus lives in such a hole and couldn't other I'll come and see you about Tim said Pitt keep up a good heart in the meanwhile goodbye I'll see you soon he went no farther in that alley he turned and brought Betty out called another cab and ordered the man to drive to Kensington Gardens till they arrived there he would not talk they'd Betty wait with her questions the way was long enough to let her think them all over several times at last the cab stopped Pitt handed her out and let her into the gardens here was a change trees of noble age and growth shadowed the ground greens wards stretched away in peaceful smoothness the dust and the noise of the great city seemed to be escaped it was fresh and shady and even sweet they could hear each other speak without unduly raising their voices Pitt went on till he found a place that suited him and they sat down in a refreshing greenness and quiet now said Betty I suppose I may ask what did you take me to that last place for that will appear in due time what did you think of it it is difficult to tell you what I think of it is much of London like that much of it is far worse well there's nothing like that in New York or Washington do not be too sure there is something like that wherever Richmond are congregated in large numbers to live Richmond cried Betty yes so far as I know this sort of thing is to be found nowhere else but where Richmond dwell it is the growth of their desire for large incomes that woman we visited what did you think of her she impressed me very much and oddly I could not quite read her look she seemed to be in a manner hostile not to you but I thought to all the world beside a disagreeable look she is a lace mender a lace mender broken Betty down in that den of darkness and she pays did you see where she lived I saw a room not bigger than a good size box is that all there is an inner room or box without windows where she and her child sleep for that lodging that woman pays half a crown a week that is about five shillings American money to one of the richest nobleman in England a nobleman cried Betty the Duke of Trefoil a nobleman Betty repeated a Duke and a lace mender half shillings a week the glass rose of his hot houses and greenhouses would cover an acre of ground his wife sits in a boudoir opening into a conservatory where it is summer all year round roses bloom and violets and geraniums wreath the walls and palm trees are grouped around fountains she eats ripe strawberries every day in the year she chooses and might, like Judah wash her feet in the blood of the grape the fruit is so plenty the while my lace mender strains her eyes to get half a crown a week for his grace all that alley and its poor crowded lodgings belong to him I don't wonder she looks bitter poor thing do you suppose she knows how her landlord lives I doubt if she does she perhaps never heard of the house in gardens at Trefoil Park but in her youth she was a servant in a good house in the country not so great a house she knows something of the difference between the way the rich live and the poor she is very bitter over the contrast and I cannot much blame her yet it is not just which, said Pitt, smiling that feeling of the poor towards the rich is it not? it has some justice I was coming home one night last winter late and found my way obstructed by the crowd of arrivals to an entertainment at a certain great house the house stood a little back from the street and carpeting was laid down for the softly shod feet to pass over of course there were gathered a small crowd of lookers on pressing as near as they were allowed to come trying to catch, if they might a gleam or a glitter from the glories they could not approach I don't know if the contrast struck them but it struck me the contrast between those satin slippers treading the carpet and the bare feet standing on the muddy stones feet that had never known the touch of a carpet anywhere nor of anything else either clean or soft but those contrasts must be Mr. Dallas must they? is not something wrong do you think when the Duke of Trefoil eats strawberries all the year long and my lace mender in the height of the season perhaps never sees one when the Duchess sits in her tower of beauty with the violence under her feet and the palms over her head and the poor in her husband's houses cannot get a flower to remind them that all the world is not like a London alley does not something within you say that the scales of the social balance might be a little more evenly adjusted how are you going to do it if you do not feel that it went on I am afraid that some of the lower classes do I said I did not know whether the contrast struck the people at night but I do know it did I heard words and saw looks that betrayed it and when the day comes that the poor will know more and begin to think about these things I am afraid there will be trouble but what can you do that is exactly what I was going to ask you said Pitt changing his tone and with a genial smile take my lace mender for an example these things must be handled in detail if at all she is bitter in the feeling of wrong done her somewhere bitter to hatred what can not you but I do for her to help her out of it I should say that is the Duke of Trifoil's business I leave his business to him what is mine you have done something already I can see for she makes an exception of you I have not done much said Pitt greatly what do you think it was her boy was ill he had met with an accident and was a thin pale wasted looking child when I first saw him I took him a rose bush in full flower were they so glad of it Pitt was silent for a minute it was about as much as I could stand to see it then I got the child some things that he could eat as well as he ever will be I did not see the rose bush I did not live nothing could there well Mr. Pitt haven't you done your part as far as this case is concerned have I would you stop with that Betty sat very quiet but internally fidgeted what did Pitt ask her these questions for why had he taken her on this expedition she wished she had not gone she wished she had not come to England and yet she would not be anywhere else at this moment but where she was for any possible consideration she wished Pitt would be different and not fill his head with lace menders and London alleys and yet even so things might be worse suppose Pitt had devoted his energies to gambling and hunting Betty had known that sort of thing and now summarily concluded that men must make themselves troublesome in one way or another but this particular turn this man had taken did seem to send him so far off from her what would you do Mr. Pitt she said with a somewhat wary cadence in her voice which he could not interpret look at it and tell me from your standpoint if you took that woman out of those lodgings there would come somebody else into them and you might begin the whole thing over again in that way the Duke of Treefoil might give you enough to do for a lifetime well the conclusion how can you ask some things are self evident what do you think that means he that hath two coats let him impart to him that hath none I don't think it means that said Betty that you are to give away all you have so you haven't left yourself an overcoat are you sure not if somebody else needed it more that is the question we come back to the whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you heal the sick cleanse the lepers raise the dead cast out devils how do you think can I best do that in the case of mrs. Nilsen one thing at a time never mind what the Duke of Treefoil may complicate in the future raise the dead Betty echoed I he said there are worse deaths than that of the body Betty paused but pit waited if they are to be kept alive in any sense she said at last they must be taken out of that hole where they are now and as you truly suggest that the number of persons wanting such relief is unlimited the first thing to be done is to build proper houses for the poor that is what I have said about you have cried Betty I cannot do much true but that is nothing whatever to the question I have begun to put up a few houses which shall be comfortable easy to keep clean and rentable for what the industrious poor should pay that will give sufficient interest for the capital expended and even allow me without further outlay to go on extending my accommodations mrs. Nilsen will move into the first of my new houses I hope next month what have you taken me all this day's expedition for mr. Dallas Betty asked suddenly the pain of the thing was pressing her you remember you asked a question of me to it whether I were minded still as I seem to be minded last year I have shown you a fraction of the reasons why I should not have changed and you have approved them Betty found nothing to answer it was difficult not to approve them and yet she hated the conclusion the conversation was not resumed immediately all the quiet beauty of the scene around them spoke to Betty for a life of ease and luxury it seemed to say keep at a distance from disagreeable things if want and squalor are in the world you belong to a different part of the world let London be London you stay in Kensington Gardens take the good of your advantages and enjoy them that this was the noblest view or the justice conclusion she would not say to herself but it was the view in which she had been brought up and the leopard spots we know are persistent it had been brought up so too what a tangent he had taken from the even round of society in general not to be brought back I see she began after a while from my window at your house I see at some distance what looks like a large and fine mansion amongst trees and pleasure grounds whose is it that is Holland House Holland House it looks very handsome outside it is one of the finest houses about London and it is better inside than outside you have been inside a number of times I am sorry I cannot take you in but it is not open to strangers how did you get in with my uncle Holland House I have heard that the society there is very fine it has the best society of any house in London and that is the same I suppose as to say any house in the world do you happen to know that by experience yes it is positive not its relative character he said smiling but you however I suppose you pass for an Englishman yes but I have seen Americans there my late uncle Mr. Strayhan was a very uncommon man full of very knowledge regarded by those who knew him Lord Holland was a great friend of his and he was always welcomed at Holland House I slept in under his wing then since Mr. Strayhan's death you do not go there anymore yes I have been there Lord Holland is one of the most kindly men in the kingdom and he has not withdrawn the kindness he showed me as Mr. Strayhan's nephew and favorite if you go there you must go into a great deal of London society said Betty wondering I am afraid you have been staying at home for our sakes Mrs. Dallas would not like that no said Pitt the case is not such once in a while I have gone to Holland House but I have not time for general society not time no said Pitt smiling at her expression not time for society that is is it possibly the presence of Martin's Court and the Duke of Trefoil's Alley and the like what do you think said Pitt his eyes sparkling with amusement there is society and society you know can you drink from two opposite sides of a cup at the same time but one has duties to society objected Betty bewildered somewhat by the argument and a smile together so I think and I am trying to meet them do not mistake me I do not mean to undervalue real society I will take gladly all I can that will give me mental stimulus and refreshment but the realm of fashion is somewhat more vapid than ever I grant you after a visit to my lace mender those two things cannot go together shall we walk home it is not very far from here I am afraid I have tired you Betty denied that but she walked home very silently Chapter 44 Recording by Nancy Cochran-Gergen Gilbert, Arizona Chapter 45 of A Red Wallflower 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 Nancy Cochran-Gergen Gilbert, Arizona A Red Wallflower by Susan Warner Chapter 45 The Abbey This interruption of the pleasure sites was alone in its kind Pitt let the subject that day so thoroughly handled fence force drift out of sight He referred to it no more and continually, day after day he gave himself up to the care of providing new entertainment for his guests Drives into the country parties on the river visits to grand places to picture galleries to curiosities to the British Museum alternated with and succeeded each other Pitt seemed untirable Mrs. Dallas was in a high state of contentment trusting that all things were going well for her hopes concerning her son and his friar But Betty herself was going through an experience of infinite pain It was impossible not to enjoy at the moment these enjoyable things The life at Pitt's old Kensington House was like a fairy tale for strangeness and prettiness living now under a clear impression of the fact that it was a fairy tale and that she must presently walk out of it and gradually the desire grew uppermost with her to walk out of it soon while she could do so with grace and have her own accord The pretty house which she had so delighted in began to oppress her She would presently be away and have no more to do with it and somebody else would be brought there to reign in a joyous mistress It tormented Betty and thought somebody else would come there would have a right there would be cherished and cared for and honored and have the privilege of standing by Pitt in his works and plans helping him and sympathizing with him A floating image of a fair stately woman with speaking gray eyes and a wonderful pure face would come before her when she thought of these things though she told herself it was little likely that she would be the one to think of no other and almost felt superstitiously sure it last that Esther it would be in spite of everything Esther it would be she was almost sure if she, Betty spoke one little word of information would she have done well to speak it? Now it was too late I think Mrs. Dallas should be in one day I cannot stay much longer with you Probably you and Mr. Dallas may make up your minds to remain here all the winter I should think you would if I can hear of somebody going home that I know I will go while the season is good Mrs. Dallas roused up and objected vehemently Betty persisted I am in a false position here she said it was all very well at first things came about naturally and it could not be helped and I am sure I have enjoyed it exceeding me but dear Mrs. Dallas may hear always you know I am ashamed to remember how long it is already my dear I am sure my son is delighted to have you said Mrs. Dallas looking at her he is not delighted at all said Betty half laughing poor girl she was not in the least light hearted bitterness can laugh as easily as pleasure sometimes he is a very kind friend and a perfect host but there is no reason why he should care about you know everybody must care to have you come and be sorry to have you go Betty everybody is a general term ma'am and always leaves room from poor exceptions I shall have his respect and my own too better if I go now my dear I cannot have you said Mrs. Dallas unusually but afraid to ask a question no we shall not stay here for the winter wait a little longer Betty and we will take you down into the country and make the tour of England it is more beautiful than you can conceive wait till we have seen Westminster Abbey and then we will go you can grant me that my dear Betty did not know how to refuse has Pitt got over his extravagances of last year the older lady ventured after a pause I do not think he gets over anything said Betty with inward bitter assurance the decaying that had been fixed for a visit to the abbey Pitt had not many years to take them there had rather put it off he told his mother that one visit to Westminster Abbey was nothing that two visits were nothing that a long time and many hours spent in study and enjoyment of the place were necessary before one could so much as begin to know Westminster Abbey Mrs. Downs had declared that she did not want to know it she only desired to see it and see the monuments and what could be answered to that so the visit was agreed upon and fixed for this day you did not want to bring us here because you thought we would not appreciate it Betty said to Pitt in an aside as they were about entering nobody can appreciate it who takes it lightly he answered that day remained fixed and Betty's memory forever with all its details sharp cut in the moment they entered the building the greatness and beauty of the place seemed to overshadow her and roused up all the higher part of her nature with that it stirred into keen life the feeling of being shut out from the life she wanted the abbey with the rest of all the wonders and antiquities and rich beauties of the city belonged to the accessories of Pitt's position and home belonged so in a sort to him and the sense of the beauty which she could not but feel met in the girl's heart with the pain which she could not bid away and the one heightened the other after the strange fashion that pain and pleasure has of sharpening each other's powers Betty took in with an intensity of perception all the riches of the abbey that she was capable of understanding and her capacity in that way was far beyond the common she never in her life had been quicker of appreciation the taste of beauty and the delight of curiosity were at times exquisite never failing to meet and heighten that underlying pain which had so moved her whole nature to sentient life for the commonplace and the indifferent she had today no toleration at all they were regarded with impatient loathing accordingly the progress around the poet's corner which Mrs. Dallas would make slowly was to Betty almost intolerable she must go as the rest went but she went making silent protest you do not care for the poets Miss Betty remarked Mr. Dallas dracotely I see here very few names of poets that I care about she responded to judge by the rest I should say it was about as much of an honor to be left out of Westminster Abbey as to be put in five, five Miss Betty what heresy is here Westminster Abbey why it is the last desire of ambition I am beginning to think ambition is rather an empty thing sir see here is Butler don't you read Hootibris no sir you should it's very clever then here is Spencer next to him you are devoted to the fairy queen of course I never read it you might do worse remarked Pitt who was just before them with his mother does anybody read Spencer now it is a poor sign for the world if they do not one cannot read everything said Betty I read Shakespeare I am glad to see his monument it was a relief to pass on at last from the crowd of literary folk into the nobler parts of the Abbey and yet as the impression of his wonderful beauty in solid majesty first fully came upon Miss Freyre it was oddly accompanied by an instant jealous pain he will bring somebody else here someday will come as often as she likes be at home here and enjoy the Abbey as if it were her own property and Betty wished she had never come and in the same inconsistent breath was exceedingly rejoiced that she had come yes she would take all of the beauty in that she could take it take it and keep it in her memory forever taste it while she had it and live on the aftertaste for the rest of her life but the taste of it was at the moment sharp with pain Pitt had procured for one of the cannons who had been his uncle's friend an order which prevented them to go their own way and take their own time unaccompanied and untrammeled by vergers no showman was necessary in his presence he could tell them all and much more than they cared about knowing Mrs. Dallas, indeed cared for little be on the tokens of England's antiquity and glory her interest was mostly expended on the royal tombs and those connected with them for was not Pitt now virtually one of the favored nation by habit and connection as well as in blood and did not England's greatness send down a reflected light on all her sons only poetical justice as it was earlier sons who had made the greatness but if that Mrs. Dallas did not think England was an abstract idea of majesty and power embodied in a land and a government and Westminster Abbey was in a sort the record and visible token of the same and testimony of it in the face of all the world so Mrs. Dallas enjoyed Westminster Abbey and her heart swelled in contemplation of its glories but its real glories she saw not lights and shadows coloring forms of beauty associations of tenderness majesties of age had all no existence for her the one feeling and exercise which took its nourishment from all she looked upon was pride but pride is a dull kind of gratification and the good ladies progress through the Abbey could not be called satisfactory to one who knew the place Mr. Dallas was neither proud nor pleased he was however an Englishman and Westminster Abbey was intensely English and to go through and look at it was the right thing to do so he went doing his duty and beside these two went another bit of humanity all alive and quivering intensely sensitive to every impression which must needs to be more or less an impression of suffering her folly she told herself it was which had so stripped her of her natural defenses and exposed her to suffering the one only comfort left was that nobody knew it and nobody should know it the practice of society had given her command over herself and she exerted it that day all she had they were making the tour of St. Edmund's Chapel look here Betty Mrs. Dallas who was still a little apart from the others with her son come here and see this look here the tomb of two little children of Edward III after going over some of the other records ma'am I can but call them happy to have died little but isn't it interesting it tells me there were six of the little princesses brothers and sisters that stood here at a funeral there's among them just think of it around this tomb why should it be more interesting to us than any similar gathering of common people there's many a spot in country graveyards at home where more than six members of a family have stood together but my dear these were Edward III's children yes he was something when he was alive but what is he to us now we care Betty hastily went on to generality seeing the astonishment in Mrs. Dallas's face why should we be more interested in the monuments and deaths of the great than in those of lesser people in death and bereavement all come down to a common humanity not a common humanity said Mrs. Dallas rather staring at Betty all are alike on the other side mother observed Pitt the king's daughter and the little village girl stand on the same footing we once they have left this state of things there's only one nobility that can make any difference then one nobility repeated Mrs. Dallas bewildered you remember the words whosoever shall do the will of my father which is in heaven the same is my mother and my sister and brother the village girl will often turn out to be the daughter of the king then but you do not think do you, said Betty that all that one has gained in this life will be lost or go for nothing education, knowledge refinement all that makes one man or woman really greater and nobler and richer than another will that be all as though it had not been no advantage what we know of the human mind has to think so also the analogy of God's dealings forbids it the child and the fully developed philosopher do not enter the other world on an intellectual level we cannot suppose it but all the gain on the one side will go to heighten his glory or to deepen his shame according to the fact of this having been a servant of God or no I don't know where you are getting to Mrs. Dallas a little vexedly if we are to proceed at this rate suggested to her husband we may as well get leave to spend all the working days of a month in the Abbey it will take us all that after all, said Betty as they moved you did not explain why we should be so much more interested in this tomb of Edward III's children than in that of any farmer's family my dear, said Mrs. Dallas I am astonished to hear you speak so are not you interested yes ma'am, but why should I be for really, often the farmer's family is the more respectable of the two are you such a Republican Betty I do not know it there is a reason though said Pitt repressing this mile which even a Republican may allow the contrast here is greater the glory and pomp of earthly power is here brought into sharp contact with the nothings of it so much yesterday so little today those uplifted hands in prayer are exceedingly touching when one remembers that all their mightiness has come down to that it is not every fool that thinks so remarked Mr. Dallas ambiguously no, said Betty with a sudden impulse of championship fools do not think at all here is a tablet to Lady Noly said Pitt moving on she was a niece of Anne Boleyn and waited upon her to the scaffold but that is only a tablet said Mrs. Dallas who is this Pitt she was standing for an effigy that bore a cornet Betty beside her that is the Duchess of Suffolk the mother of Lady Jane Gray I've seen, said Betty that the abbey is a woman I've seen, said Betty that the abbey is a compliment of the tower her daughter and her husband lie there under the pavement of the chapel how come she to be here her funeral was after Elizabeth came to the throne but she had been in miserable circumstances for a woman before that I wonder she lived it all said Betty after losing husband and daughter in that fashion but people do bear a great deal and live through it which words had an application quite private to the speaker and which no one suspected and while the party were studying the details of to him with John of Elton Pitt explaining and the others trying to take it in Betty stood by with passionate thoughts they do not care she said to herself but he will bring someone else here someday who will care and they will come and come to the abbey and delight themselves in this glories and in each other alternately what do I hear and what is the English abbey to me she showed no want of interest however in no wandering thought on the contrary an intelligent thoughtful gracious attention to everything she saw and everything she heard her words she knew though she could not help it were now in the flavored with bitterness in the next chapel Mrs. Dallas heard with much sympathy and wonder the account of Catherine of Allois and her remains I don't think she ought to lie in the vault of Sir George Ville if he was father of the Duke of Buckingham she explained that Duke of Buckingham had more honor than belonged to him in life and in death said Betty it does not much make difference now said Pitt they went on to the chapel of Henry VII and here and on the way with her Betty almost for a while forgot her troubles in the exceeding majesty and beauty of the place the power of very exquisite beauty which always and in all forms testifies to another world where its source and its realization are came down upon her spirit and hushed it as with a breath of balm and the littleness of this life of anyone individual's life in the midst of the efforts here made to deny it stood forth in most impressive iteration Betty was odd and quieted for a minute Mr. and Mrs. Dallas were moved differently and this was Henry VII's work exclaimed Mr. Dallas making an effort to see all around him at once well I didn't know that he built so well in those old times let us see when was he buried 1509 that is pretty long ago this is a beautiful building and that is this tomb, eh? I should say this is better than anything he had in his lifetime being king of England was not just so easy to him as his son found it crowns are heavy in the best of times and his was specially it is a strange ambition though to be glorified so in one's funeral monument said Betty a very common ambition remarked Pitt but this chapel was to be much more than a monument it was a chantry the king ordered 10,000 masses to be set here for the repose of his soul and intended that the monkish establishment should remain forever to attend to them here around his tomb you see the king's particular patron saints nine of them to whom you look for help in time of need all over the chapel you will find the four national saints if I may so call them of the kingdom and at the end there is the bridge of Mary with Peter and Paul and other saints and angels innumerable the whole chapel is like those touching folded hands of stone we were speaking of a continual appeal through human and angelic mediation fixed in stone though at the beginning also living well I'm sure that is being religious said mrs. Dallas if such a place as this does not honor religion I don't know what does mother Christ said I am the door yes my dear but it's not all this an appeal to him mother he said he that believeth on me hath everlasting life but have saints and angels to do with it he that believeth surely the builder of all this must have believed said mrs. Dallas or he would never have spent so much money and taken so much pains about it if he had believed on Christ mother you would have known he had no need think of those 10,000 masses to be said for him that his sins might be forgiven and his soul received into heaven you see how miserably uncertain the poor king felt of ever getting there well said mrs. Dallas everyone must feel uncertain he cannot know how can he know how can he live and not know pit answered in a lower tone uncertainty on that point will be enough to drive a thinking man mad Henry the 7th you see could not bear it and so he arranged to have 10,000 masses said for him and filled his chapel with intercessory saints but I do not see how anyone is to have certainty that he said one cannot see into the future it is only necessary to believe in the present believe what the word of the king who promised whosoever believeth and believeth in me shall never die the love that came down here to die for us the love that slipped any poor creature that trusts it yes but suppose one cannot trust so objected Betty then there is probably a reason for it disobedience even partial disobedience cannot perfectly trust how can sinful creatures do anything perfectly fit his mother asked almost angrily mama said he gravely so mrs. Dallas made them reply to that and they moved on surveying the chapels the good lady bowed her head and saw him approbation when shown the place when the body with Cromwell and others of his family and friends were cashed out after the restoration they had no business to be there she assented where were they removed to Betty asked some of them were hanged as they served said mrs. Dallas Cromwell Ierton and Bradshaw at Tyburn it added the others were buried not honorably not far off one of Cromwell's daughters who was a church woman and also a royalist they allowed to remain in the abbey she lies in one of the other chapels over yonder noble revenge said Betty quietly very proper said mrs. Dallas it seems hard but it is proper people who rise up against their kings should be treated with dishonor both before and after death how about the kings who rise up against their people asked Betty she could not help the question but she was glad that mrs. Dallas did not seem to hear it they passed on from one chapel to another going more rapidly came to a pause again at the tomb of Mary queen of scots I am beginning to think said Betty that the history of England is one of the sorrowfulest things in the world I wonder if all of the countries are as bad think of this woman's troublesome miserable life and now after father and gay the honor in which she lies in this temple is such a mockery I suppose Elizabeth is here somewhere over there in the other aisle and below the two two door queens Elizabeth and Mary lying of all together alone personal robberies personal jealousies political hatred and religious enmity they are all composed now and all interests fade away before the one supreme eternal they are gone where the honor that comeeth from God is the only honor left well for them if they have that here is the Countess of Richmond the mother of Henry the 7th she was of kin or somehow connected it is said with 30 royal personages the granddaughter of Catherine of Valois grandmother of Henry the 8th Elizabeth's great grandmother she was by all accounts a noble old lady now all that is left is these pitiful folded hands Mrs. Dallas passed on and they went from chapel to chapel and from tomb to tomb with unflagging though transient interest but for Betty by and by the brain and sense seem to be oppressed and confused by the multitude of objects of names and stories and sympathies the novelty were all and a feeling of some wariness supervened and therewith the fortunes and fates of the great past fell more and more into the background and her own one little life venture absorbed her attention even when going around the chapel of Edward the Confessor and viewing the grand old tombs of the magnates of history who are remembered there Betty was mostly concerned with her own history and a dull bitter feeling filled her it was safe to indulge it for everybody else had enough beside to think of and she grew silent you are tired said bit kindly as they were leaving the confessor's chapel and his mother and father had gone before of course said Betty there is no going through the ages without sympathy for a common mortal we are doing too much said pit the abbey cannot be properly seen in this way one should take part at a time and come many times no chance for me said Betty this is my first and my last she looked back as she spoke towards the tombs they were leaving and wished almost that she were still as they she felt her eyes suffusing and hastily went on I shall be going home I expect in a few days as soon as I find an opportunity I have stayed too long now but Mrs. Dallas has over persuaded me I am glad I have had this at any rate she was capable of no more words just then she thought to move forward when pit by emotion of his hand detained her one moment said he do you say that you are thinking of returning to America? yes it is time I would beg you if I might to reconsider that he said if you could stay with my mother a while longer it would be I am sure a great boon to her for I am going away go run over to America I have business in New York must be gone several weeks at least cannot you stay and go down into Westmoreland with her? it seemed to Betty that she became suddenly cold all over yet she was sure there was no outward manifestation in face or manner of what she felt she answered mechanically indifferently that she would see and they went forward to rejoin their companions but of the rest of the objects that were shown them in the Abbey she simply saw nothing the image of Esther was before her in New York found by pit in Westminster Abbey brought thither by him and lingering where her own feet now lingered in the house at Kensington going up the beautiful staircase and standing before the cabinet of coins in the library above all found by pit in New York for he would find her perhaps even now he had news of her she would be coming with hope and gladness and honor over to see while she herself would be returning crossing the same sea the other way in every sense the other way in mortification and despair and dishonor not outward dishonor and yet the worst possible dishonor in her own eyes what a fool she had been to metal in this business at all she had done it with her eyes open trusting that she could exercise her power upon anybody and yet remain in her own power just the reverse of that had come to pass and she had nobody to blame but herself if pit was leaving his father and mother in England to go to New York it could be on only one business the game for her was up there were weeks of torture before her she knew slow torture during which she must show as little of what she felt as an Indian at this stage she must be with Mrs. Dallas and hear the whole matter talked of and from point to point as the history went on and must help talk of it for if pit was going to New York now that he was not that was a fixed thing she must stay for the present where she was she was a little pale and tired they said on the drive home and that was all anybody ever knew End of Chapter 45 Recording by Nancy Cochran-Gergen Gilbert, Arizona