 Book 2 Chapter 5 of the Heavenly Twins. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Jennifer Painter. The Heavenly Twins by Sarah Grand. Book 2 Chapter 5 Mrs. Malcomson had made her way over to where Avadne and Mrs. Beale were sitting. Both welcomed her cordially, and Avadne in particular brightened visibly when she saw her approach. She was worried by these vapid men, who had all said the same thing, and looked at her with the same expression, one after the other, the whole afternoon. Mrs. Zillinger and Mr. Price were also at the party, and Mrs. Malcomson, in a merry mood, was holding forth brightly when Mr. Singham joined them. Oh yes, we have our award, we English women, she was saying. We religiously obey our men. We do nothing of which they disapprove. We are the meekest sheep in the world. We scorn your independent, outspoken American women, Mr. Price. We think them bold and unwomanly, and do all we can to be as unlike them as possible. And what happens? Do our men adore us? Well, they continue to say so. But it is the Americans they marry. Mr. Price twitched his nose and smiled. But tell me, Mr. Price, Mrs. Malcomson rattled on, the fate of nations has hung upon your opinion, and your decisions a matter of history. So kindly condescend of your goodness and of your wisdom to tell us if you think that true womanliness is endangered by our occupations or the cut of our clothes. I have it. She broke off, clasping her hands. Make us a speech. Do. Oh yes, do. The rest exclaimed simultaneously. Mr. Price's mobile countenance switched all over. He looked from one to the other, then, entering good humbly into the jest, he struck an attitude. If true womanliness has been endangered by occupation or the fashion of a frack in the past, it will not be so much longer or the signs of the times are most misleading. He began with the ease of an orator. The old ideals are changing and we regret them, not for their value, for they were often mischievous enough, but as a sign of change to which in itself mankind has an ineradicable objection. Yet these changes must take place if we are ever to progress. For myself, he continued, I should be very sorry to say that anything which honorable women of the day consider a reform and propose to adopt is unwomanly or unsexing until it has been thoroughly tried and proved to be so. It sounds mere idiocy. The thing is so obvious when one reduces it to words, but yet neither men nor women themselves, for the most part, seem to recognize the fact that womanliness is a matter of sex, circumstances, occupation or clothing. And each sex has instincts and proclivities which are peculiar to it and do not differ to any remarkable extent, even in the most diverse characters, from which we may be sure that those instincts are safe whatever happens. And as to the value of cherished ideals of womankind, well, we only have to look back at many of the old ones who had to be abandoned and have been held up to the laughter and contempt of succeeding ages, although doubtless they were dear enough to the heart of men in their own day to appreciate the worth of such. That little incident of Jane Arston hiding away the precious manuscript she was engaged upon under her plain sewing when visitors arrived, ashamed to be caught at the unwomanly occupation of writing romances shrinking with positive pain from the remarks which such poor foolish people as those she feared would have made about her, that little incident alone, which I remarked very early in life, has saved me from braying with the rest of the world upon this subject. If all those brave women sure of themselves and of their message who have written in the face of all opposition had not dared to do so, how much the poorer and meaner and worse we should all, men and women alike, have been today for want of the nourishment of strength and goodness with which they have kept us provided. And you will find it so in these questions of our day women are bringing a storm about their ears, but they are prepared for that and it will not deter them for they have an infallible prescience in these matters which men have not but they know what they are doing and why and could make their motives plain to us if it were not for our own stupid prejudices and density. Ah, these are critical times, but I believe what a fellow countryman of mine has already written. I believe that the women will save us. I do not fear the fate of the older peoples. I am sure that we shall not fall into nothingness from the present height of our civilization by reason of our sensuality and vice as all the great nations have done here to fall, though women will rebel, though women will not allow it, but he added with his benign smile dropping into a lighter tone as if he felt that he had been more serious than the occasion warranted and addressing Mrs. Malcomson especially. But you must not despise your personal appearance. Beauty is a great power and it may be used for good as well as for evil. Beauty is beneficent as well as malign. Angels are always allowed to be beautiful and our highest ideal of manhood is associated with physical as well as moral perfection. Yes, be sure that beauty is a legitimate means of grace and I will venture to suggest that you who have it should use it as such. Here he was interrupted by applause. True beauty, I mean, of course, he added, descending from the rostrum, as it were, and speaking colloquially, not the fashionable travesty of it. Well, that is a piece of civility I have never been so graded as to practice. Mrs. Malcomson exclaimed, Oh, my dear, it does not do to be singular. Mrs. Beale mildly remonstrated. A dance concluded just as the moment and Edith joined the group, followed by Sir Mosley-Menteeth. The ladies looked at her as she approached with affectionate interest and admiration. I'm always conscious of their presence, she was saying. Whose presence, dear? The mother asked. The presence of those who love us, mother, in the other life. She said, looking out into space with great serious eyes as if she saw something grand and beautiful and also love inspiring. The words and her presence changed the whole mental attitude of the group. The intellectual elements subsided. The spiritual, which trenches on sensation and is warm, began to glow in their breasts. Edith was the actor now, and Mrs. Malcomson became a mere spectator. Mr. Syngin was the first to appreciate the change. Edith's presence, more than her words, was enough in itself to relax the tension of pain-reflection, which had possessed him the whole afternoon. It was if a draft of the sacred anodyne to which he had been so long accustomed were being held out to him, and he had drained it eagerly to excite feeling and to drown thought. Mostly does not think they are so near us as I know them to be, Edith pursued, but I tell him if only he would allow himself, he would perceive their presence just as I do. He says this scene is so worldly it would frighten them, but I answer that they cannot be frightened. They are incorruptible so that there is nothing for them to fear for themselves, but they may fear for us, and when they do, we know that it is then that they are nearest to us. They come to guard us. Then Teeth's glance wandered over her person as she spoke, and returned again to meet her eyes. He quite enjoyed a thrill of superstitious awe. It was an excellent sauce-piquant to what he called his sentiments, by which he meant the state of his senses at the moment. He recognised in Edith no higher quality than that of innocence, which is so appetising, but a gentle thrill as of an electric shock had passed through them all, silencing them. Mrs. Beale with a sigh released herself from the uneasy impression Mrs. Balthamson's words had made upon her and felt the peace of mind which she managed to preserve by refusing to know of anything that might disturb it and rouse her soul from its apathetic calm to the harassing point of action restored. Mrs. Silinger gave herself up for the moment also. Her fine nature, although highly tempered and exceedingly sensitive, was too broad to allow her to delude herself by imagining that it is right to countenance evil by ignoring it. She shrank from knowledge, but still she had the courage to possess herself of it. Unfortunately, her very sensitiveness enabled her to turn with ease from the consideration of terrible facts to the enjoyment of a fine idea. Mrs. Malkinson and Mr. Austin Price looked at each other involuntarily. The new element was not congenial to either of them, but Mr. Syngin was satisfied. His heart had expanded to the full. Mr. Price is wrong. Mrs. Malkinson is wrong. It was the new measure to which he set his thoughts. They exaggerated the evil. They have never perceived in what the good consists. And what do they do with all their wondrous clever talk? They withdraw our attention from the contemplation of holy things only to pain and exciters. The sin must continue and suffering must continue and we can do more than we have done. A good example. We have only each to set one and say nothing. Talk, talk, talk. I will listen no more to such tattle. It is mere pride of intellect which is put to shame by the first gentle, innocent girl who comes strong in purity and faith and simply bids us all look up. Did not our heart burn within us? Was not the worst among us and the most worldly move to repent? He looked across at mentee but suddenly the exaltation ceased and his soul shot with a pang to another extreme. He is not worthy of her. He is not worthy of her. No, no. Heaven helped me to save her from such a fate. His mind had been nourished upon inconsistencies and he was as unconscious of any now as he was when he preached as he had been taught as all things for the best and at the same time prayed him to avert some special catastrophe. Menteeth was bending over Edith. I wanted lunch with you tomorrow. I said, do let me. I love to hear you talk. Just to be near you makes a better man of me but you can make anything you like of me. You know you can. May I come? Edith glanced up at him and smiled and the young man taking this for acquiescence bowed and withdrew in triumph making way for Colonel Cahoon. Evadney looked up at the latter and smiled too. Shall we go? He said. I came to see if you were ready, he answered and then she rose, took leave of the friends about her crossed the deck to where Captain Belliot her host was standing shook hands with him and left the ship. Many eyes have followed her with curiosity and interest and many tongues made remarks about her when she was gone expressing positive opinions with the confident conceit of mediocrity although she had not at that time made any sign of what manner of person she really was she had only been a week amongst them and her mind had been in a state of passive receptivity the whole time subject to the impressions which might be made upon it but not itself producing any. It was her appearance that they presumed to judge her by but her intellect had been both nourished and stimulated that afternoon and when she went to her room that night she hunted up a manuscript book suitable for the purpose and resumed her old habit of noting everything of interest which she had seen and heard. There were blank pages still in the old commonplace book and she had it with her but she never dreamt of making another note in it she had written her last there once for all the night before her wedding expecting to enter upon a new phase of existence and she had indeed entered upon a new phase although not at all in the way she had expected and now she felt that only a new volume would be appropriate to contain the record of it she ended her notes that night with a maxim which probably contained all the wisdom she had been able to extract from her late experiences just do a thing and don't talk about it she wrote expressing herself colloquially this is the great secret of success in all enterprises talk means discussion discussion means irritation irritation means opposition and opposition means hindrance always whether you are right or wrong End of Chapter 5 Book 2, Chapter 6 of The Heavenly Twins This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Jennifer Painter The Heavenly Twins Book 2, Chapter 6 Evadni settled down into her new position at once she took charge of the household and managed it well Colonel Kahun was scrupulous in matters of etiquette and Evadni's love of order and exactitude made her punctilious too so that there was one subject which they agreed upon perfectly and it very soon came to be said of them that they always did the right thing they appeared together everywhere at the palace receptions, the opera entertainments on naval vessels dinners and dances polo and picnics and at church if there was one thing that Kahun was more particular about than another it was in the language of his own profession church parade watching Evadni to detect the first symptom of new tactics on her part became one of the interests of his life it wouldn't have been good form to take another man into his confidence for betting purposes seeing that the lady was Mrs Kahun but a wager laid upon the chances of change in her views was the only zest lacking to the pleasure he took in the study of this new specimen of her sex he used to dance a good deal himself and danced well too but after Evadni joined him he gave it up to a great extent and might often have been seen leaning against a pillar in a ballroom gravely observing her it was a kind of curiosity he suffered from a sort of rage to make her out he was very attentive to her at that period treating her always with a deference due to a young lady and for that reason she accepted his attentions gratefully because they were delicately paid and he was really kind but also as a matter of course they had begun well together from the very first day and she was soon satisfied that her position at mortar was the happiest possible the beautiful place the bright clear atmosphere the lively society all suited her she had none of the trials peculiar to married life to injure her health and break her spirit all of the restrictions imposed upon a girl to limit her pleasures and she enjoyed her independence thoroughly but of course the word drawbacks and the thing of all others she disliked most was being toaded there was one pair of inveterate toadies in the garrison Major and Mrs Guthrie Brimstone they belonged to a species well known in the service and tolerated on the principle of D'Amtois pour vous continue amuse Major Guthrie Brimstone claimed to be one of the morning quest family and he had a portrait of the Duke as the head of the house in his dressing room it was balanced on the right by E.K. Hongwell and on the left by the Sistine Madonna but it was popularly supposed that he worshipped the Duke the pair acted the role of devoted husband and wife successfully being in fact sincere in their habit of playing into each other's hands for their own selfish purposes and people who wished for an excuse to tolerate them because they were amusing might say of them quite truly well whatever their faults they are certainly devoted to each other but it was a partnership of self-interest enhanced by a little sentimentality and they understood it themselves for Mrs Guthrie Brimstone confessed in a moment of expansion that she knew Bobby would marry again directly if she died and certainly she would do the same if she lost him why shouldn't she? Mrs Guthrie Brimstone was a nasty minded woman of extremely coarse conversation and without compromising herself she was a fecund source of corruption in others no younger woman of undecided character could come under her influence without being tainted in mind if not in manners she delighted in objectionable stories and her husband fed her fancy from the clubs liberally her stock in trade consisted for the most part of these stories which she would retail to her lady friends at afternoon teas she told them remarkably well too and knew exactly how to suit them to pallets which were only just beginning to acquire a taste for such fair and were still fastidious wherever she came there was laughter among the ladies of the high hysteric baccante kind not true mirth but a loud laxity into which they were beguiled for the moment and which was the cause of self distrust and regret upon reflection to the better kind if the question of motive is to be taken into account in considering the words and deeds of people it may be confidently asserted that the Guthrie Brimstone's never said a good natured thing nor did a kind one I say Mini if I give that sergeant of mine a goose at Christmas I think I'll get more work out of the fellow next year Major Brimstone said to his wife at breakfast one morning Yes, do his wife answered sympathetically and I say Bobby I'm going to work Captain Askew a bedspread he's an awfully useful little man one form of pleasantry the Guthrie Brimstone's greatly affected was nicknaming they nicknamed everybody always appropriately often happily in the way of hitting off a salient peculiarity but they were not in the least aware that they were themselves the best nicknamed people in the service and they would not have liked it had they known it for they were both exceedingly touchy they held no feelings of another sacred but their own supreme Mrs Guthrie Brimstone was known as the Brimstone Woman her conversation bristled with vain repetitions she was always a worm when asked after her health and everything that pleased her was pucker she knew no language but her own and that she spoke indifferently her command of it being limited for the most part to slang expressions which are the scum of language and a few stock phrases of polite quality for special occasions but she used the latter awkwardly as workmen wear their Sunday clothes of the Guthrie Brimstone morals it is safe to say they would neither of them have broken either the sixth, seventh or eighth commandments but they bore false witness freely not in open assertion however for that could be easily refuted and fair fight was not at all in their line but when false witness could be meanly conveyed by implication and innuendo it formed the staple of their conversation those Guthrie Brimstones should be public prosecutors Evadney said to Colonel Kahoon at breakfast one morning commenting upon some story of theirs which he had just retailed to her I notice when anyone's character is brought forward to be judged by society they are always counsel for the prosecution these were the people whom Colonel Kahoon first introduced to Evadney they amused him and therefore he encouraged them to come to the house Mrs Guthrie Brimstone suited him exactly to use their own choice language he would have given her away at any time and she him but that did not prevent them enjoying each other's society thoroughly true to her determination to make things pleasant for Colonel Kahoon if possible and seeing that he found these people congenial Evadney did her best to cultivate their acquaintance for his sake never successfully however and her tolerance was as far as she got but even that was intermittent and the undercurrent of criticism which streamed through her mind in their presence could never be checked but she was slow to read character her impulse was always to believe in people and to like them and she had to acquire a knowledge of their thoughts painfully bit by bit but Colonel Kahoon helped her here he was an inveterate gossip very much in the manner of Mrs Guthrie Brimstone herself only that he was more refined when he talked to Evadney and at breakfast their one tater-tate meal in the day it was his habit to tell her such club stories as were sufficiently decent and what he said and what she said of each other upon which he would strike an average to arrive at the probable truth do you happen to know what is at the bottom of a feud between Mrs Guthrie Brimstone and Mrs Malcomson he asked her one morning at breakfast Mrs Guthrie Brimstone's defects of character obviously said Evadney sententiously then you prefer Mrs Malcomson he suggested now I can't get on with her a bit she always appears to me so cold and sensorious does she said Evadney thoughtfully but she is not really so at all she is judicial though and sincere which gives one a sense of security in her presence but she is deadly dull said Colonel Kahoon oh no Evadney exclaimed smiling you mistake her entirely she made me laugh him moderately over yesterday I should like to see you laugh him moderately said Colonel Kahoon Major Guthrie Brimstone surprised Evadney more perhaps than his wife did she began by overlooking the little man somehow without the least intending it and as he seemed to himself to fill the horizon when in society and block out all view of anybody else he could only believe that she did it on purpose he was by way of being an amateur actor a low comedy man but he was not sincere enough to personate any character or be anything either on the stage or off it but his own small in artistic self and no amount of balling could make him an actor though he bawled himself hoarse as a rule mistaking sound for the science of expression still it was the fashion to consider him funny people called him Grigsby and Kickelberry Brown and laughed when he twiddled his thumbs he was forever buffooning and if he sat on a high stool with his toes just touching the ground his head on one side a sad expression of countenance and the tips of his fingers touching he was supposed to be doing something amusing and the effort would be rewarded with laughter in which, however, Evadny could not join these performances outraged her sense of the dignity of poor human nature which it is easy enough to discount but very difficult to maintain and made her sorry for him his hands were another offence to her he sat and podgy with short pointed fingers indicative of animalism and ill nature the opposite of all that is refined and beautiful truly of necessity and offence to her it was at first that she had overlooked him but after a time when she began to know him better the little, fat, funny man magnetized her attention she could not help gravely considering him whenever she met him and wondering about him wondering about them both in fact she wondered for one thing why they were so fond of eating and drinking her own taste in those matters being of the simplest description I never did I myself anything said Mrs. Guthrie Brimstone and she looked like it Evadny wondered also at their meanness when she saw them saving money and borrowing the carriages of people whom she had heard them class as nothing but shopkeepers you know we shouldn't speak to them anywhere else and whom they ridiculed habitually for the mispronunciation of words and for accents unmistakably provincial what could Evadny have in common with these flippant people scum themselves forever on the surface incapable even of seeing beneath their every idea and motive a falsification of something divine in life or thought they did not even speak the same language to their insidious slang she opposed a smooth current of perfect English which seemed to reflect upon the inferior quality of their own expressions and led to mutual embarrassment Evadny meant every word she uttered and was careful to choose the one which should best express her meaning Mrs Guthrie Brimstone's meanings on the other hand told best when half concealed another difficulty was too that Evadny's clear decided speech had the effect of exposing innuendo and insidcerity and making both bad form which socially speaking is a much more terrible stigma to bear than an accusation of dishonesty however well authenticated and even their very manner of expressing legitimate mirth was not the same for Mrs Guthrie Brimstone laughed aloud while Evadny's laugh was soundless Evadny suffered when she found herself being toaded by these people she said nothing however they were Colonel Cohoon's friends and she felt herself forced to be civil to them so long as he chose to bring them to the house and they were besides an evil out of which good came to her quickly for as soon as she understood their manners and their modes of thought she felt her heart fill with earnest self-congratulation if these are the kind of people whom Colonel Cohoon prefers was her mental ejaculation what an escape I have had thank heaven he is nothing to me End of Chapter 6 Book 2 Chapter 7 of The Heavenly Twins This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org The Heavenly Twins by Sarah G Book 2 Chapter 7 Society in Malta during the sunny winter is very much like Society for London season only that it is more representative because there are fewer specimens in each class and those who do go out alike delegates charged with a concentrated extract of the peculiarities and prejudices of their own set When Avadne arrived at the beginning of winter the rest of the party had already assembled there were naval people, military, commercial, landed gentry, clerical, royalty and beer the principal representative of this latter interest was a lady who Mrs. Guthrie Brimstone called the Queen of Beersheba because of her splendid habiliments and this is a fair specimen of Mrs. Guthrie Brimstone's wit Avadne was received in silence as it were for abroad the question is not generally who are you as at home but what are you like and how much can you do for us and people were waiting till she showed her colours she never did show any decided colours of the usual kind however she was not a beauty beyond doubt some people did not admire her in the least she was not the same or nice to everybody for she had strong objections to certain people and showed that she had and she was not by way of entertaining at all although she did as much of that kind of thing as other ladies of her station but yet with all of these negatives she made a distinct impression on the place as soon as she appeared it sounds paradoxical but she was celebrated at once for her silence and for what she said and if it were fair to call Mrs. Guthrie Brimstone council for the prosecution Avadne might have been set up as council for the defence for it so happened that when she did speak in those early days it was usually in defence of something or somebody people, principals, absent friends or enemies anything unfairly attacked generally when she said anything cutting it was so clearly incisive you hardly knew for a moment where you were injured she did it like the execution of that eastern potentiate who decapitated a criminal with such skill and with so sharp an instrument that the latter did not know he was executed and went on talking his head remained in situ until he sneezed there was one old gentleman Lord Groom whom she had disposed of several times in that way without however being able to get rid of him quite because his stupidity was a hardy perennial which came up all the fresher and stronger for having been lopped he was a degenerated, ridiculous looking old object a man with the most touching confidence in his tailor which the latter invariably betrayed by never making him a garment that fitted him and he had begun by admiring Avadne and had endeavoured to pay his senile court to her the fulsome flatteries in the manner approved of his kind but he ended by being afraid of her his first collision with Avadne was on the subject of those low radicals against whom he had been launching out in unmeasured terms why low? because radical she asked I should have thought amongst so many that some must be honest men and that nothing honest can be low I tell you my dear lady he replied his temper tried by her word but controlled by her appearance I tell you the radicals are a low lot the whole of them ah then I suppose you know them all she said looking at him thoughtfully the want of intelligence in the community at large was made painfully apparent by the stories of her peculiar opinions which were freely circulated and seldom suspected the Queen of Beersheba declared that Avadne approved defrightful cruelties which people inflicted on the nobles during the reign of terror that she had heard her say so herself what Avadne did say was the revolutionary excesses were inevitable they came at the swing of the pendulum which the nobles themselves had set in motion and if you consider the sufferings that had been inflicted on the people and their long endurance of them you would be more surprised to think that they had kept their reasons so long than they should have lost at last pro la populace? ce n'est jamais pas envie d'acquitter qu'elle s'est soulèvre mais pas impatience de souffrir but the French Revolution is an abstract subject of impersonal interest compared with the Irish question at that present time and the commotion which was caused by the misrepresentation of Avadne's remarks about the reign of terror was insignificant compared with what followed her when her feelings for Ireland had been misinterpreted she gave out the text which called forth the second series of imbecilities during a dinner party at her own house one night her old friend Lord Groom supplying her with a peg upon which to hang her conclusions by making an intemperate attack upon the Irish end of book 2 chapter 7 book 2 chapter 8 of the heavenly twins this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Jennifer Painter the heavenly twins by Sarah Grand book 2 chapter 8 Captain Belliot was not one of the guests at that dinner party of Avadne's but he happened to call upon Mrs Guthrie Brimstone next day and finding her alone had tea with her and of course she entertained him with her own version of what had occurred the night before the dinner itself was very good she said all their dinners are you know but Mrs Kahoon was she raised her hands and nodded her head well just too awful she concluded indeed he observed leaning back in his chair crossing his legs and settling himself for a treat generally you surprise me because he has never struck me as being the kind of person who would set the Thames on fire in any way Mrs Guthrie Brimstone smiled enigmatically do you admire her very much she asked with the utmost suavity well he answered warily she's rather peculiar in appearance don't you know Mrs Guthrie Brimstone threw her own conclusions not from the words but from the wariness and proceeded it is not in appearance only that she is peculiar then she astonished us all last night I can assure you he asked to fill up an artistic pause by the things she said Mrs Guthrie Brimstone answered with an affectation of reserve now you do surprise me Captain Belliot declared because I cannot imagine her saying anything but how do you do and goodbye yes and no indeed please thank you and do you think so on my honour those words are all I have ever heard her utter and I have met her as often as anybody on the island now I like a woman with something in her he concluded ogling Mrs Guthrie Brimstone well then she must have been hibernating or something when she first came out for she has begun to talk now with a vengeance Mrs Guthrie Brimstone answered smartly but what has she been saying he asked with great curiosity I simply cannot tell you she answered pointedly so bad as that he said raising his eyebrows yes things that no woman should have said have been subjoined with emphasis there was of course only one conclusion to be drawn from this and it would have been drawn at the club later in the day inevitably even if other ladies had not also declared that Mrs Cahoon had said such dreadful things that they really could not repeat them it is true that some of the men of the party mentioned the matter in a different way when asked what it was exactly that Mrs Cahoon had said even answered casually oh some rot about the Irish question but the explanation made no impression and was immediately forgotten Captain Belliot himself was so excited by the news that he hurried away from Mrs Guthrie Brimstone as soon as he could possibly excuse himself without giving offence and went at once to call upon Evadny in order to inspect her from this unexpected point of view he found her talking tranquilly to Mr Singin, Edith and Mrs Beale and although he sat for half an hour she never said a word of the slightest significance that however proved nothing either one way or the other and he left her with his confidence in Mrs Guthrie Brimstone's insinuations quite unshapen his theory being that the women whose minds are in reality the most corrupt are as a rule very carefully guarded in their conversation although of course they always betray themselves sooner or later by some such slip as that with which he credited Evadny an idea which he proceeded to expand at the club with great effect Evadny's reputation was in danger after that and she risked it still further by acting in defiance of the public opinion of the island generally in order to do what she conceived to be an act of justice Mrs Guthrie Brimstone went to her one morning brimming over with news my husband has just received a letter from a friend of his in India Major Lockside telling him to warn us all not to call on Mrs Clarence who has just joined your regiment she burst out I thought I ought to let you know at once she met her husband in India Major Lockside says and it was a runaway match but that is not all for he says he knows for a fact that they travelled together for 300 miles down country sleeping at all the Dak bungalows by the way before they were married waiting until they came to some place where they could be married I suppose Evadny suggested Mrs Guthrie Brimstone laughed taking a sort of trial trip I should say she mentioned but it was very good of Major Lockside to let us know I should certainly have called if he hadn't you make me feel sick Evadny began I knew I should Mrs Guthrie Brimstone interposed triumphantly sick at heart Evadny pursued to think of an Englishman being capable of writing a letter for the express purpose of ruining a woman's reputation Mrs Brimstone changed countenance we think it was awfully kind of Major Lockside to let us know she repeated perking well I think said Evadny her slow utterance giving double weight to each word I think he must be an exceedingly low person himself and one probably whom Mrs Clarence has had to snub he could only have been actuated by animus when he wrote that letter one may be quite sure that a man is never disinterested when he does a low thing it was a private letter written for our private information Mrs Guthrie Brimstone asserted she was ruffled considerably by this time no not written for your private information Evadny rejoined or if it were you are making a strange use of it I have no doubt however that it was designed for the very purpose to which you are putting it the purpose of spoiling the Clarence's chance of happiness in a new place and it is precisely to the private character of the document that I take exception if this Major Lockside had any accusation to bring against Captain Clarence he should have done it publicly and not in this underhand manner he should have written to Colonel Cahoon nonsense said Mrs Guthrie Brimstone her native rudeness getting the better of her habitual caution at this provocation Major Lockside would not be full enough to report a man to his own chief why? he might get the worst of it himself if there were an inquiry exactly Evadny answered he thinks it's safer to stab in the dark you kindly excuse me I'm very busy this morning writing my letters for the mail but many thanks for letting me know about this malicious story there was nothing for it but to retire after this which Mrs Guthrie Brimstone did discomforted and with an uneasy feeling which had been growing upon her lately that Evadny was not quite the non-entity for which she had mistaken her Colonel Cahoon had lunched at mess that day and Evadny did not see him until quite late when she met him on the baraka with the Guthrie Brimstones it was the hour when the baraka is thronged and Evadny had gone with a purpose expecting to find him there he left the Guthrie Brimstones and joined her as soon as she appeared I have been home to look for you he said but I found that you had gone out without an escort no one knew where I have been making calls Evadny answered and making Mrs Clarence's acquaintance also oh there she is leaning against that arch with her husband have you met her yet let me introduce you she is charmingly pretty but very timid Colonel Cahoon's brow contracted I thought Mrs Guthrie Brimstone had warned you warned me Evadny quietly interposed Mrs Guthrie Brimstone brought me a scandalous story which had the effect of making me call on Mrs Clarence at once I suppose you have seen this precious major loxides letter yes he answered and I am sorry you called without consulting me you really ought to have consulted me it will make it doubly awkward for you having called but we'll rush the fellow I'll make him send in his papers at once why is it awkward for me what is awkward for me Evadny asked why having a lady in the regiments you can't know to begin with and having to cut her after calling upon her he answered if you would only condescend to consult me occasionally I could save you from this kind of thing but why may I not countenance Mrs Clarence you cannot countenance a woman there is a story about he responded decidedly but where is the proof of the story she asked Colonel Cahoon reflected a man wouldn't write a letter of that kind without some grounds for it he said we must find out what the exact grounds were said Evadny well you see none of the other ladies are speaking to her Colonel Cahoon observed with the air of one whose argument is unanswerable they're sheep said Evadny but they can be led a right as well as astray I suppose we'll see at all events but don't let me keep you from your friends I want to speak to Mrs Malkinson there was a quiet sense of power about Evadny when she chose to act which checked opposition at the outset and put an end to our argument Colonel Cahoon looked disartened but like a gentleman he acted at once on the hint to go he did not rejoin the Guthrie Brimstones however but sat alone under one of the arches of the Baraka turning his back on the entrancing view of the Grand Harbour a jewel of beauty set in silence Colonel Cahoon was watching he saw Mrs Clarence turn from the strange Christian women who eyed her coldly and lean over the parapet he saw the influence of the scene upon her mind in the sweet and tranquil expression which gradually replaced the half-pained, half-puzzled look her face had been wearing he saw her husband standing beside her but with his back to the parapet looking at the people gloomily and with resentment but also half-puzzled perceiving that his wife was being slighted and wondering why Colonel Cahoon saw Mrs Guthrie Brimstone also going from one group to another with the peculiar ducking forward gait of a high-hipped, high-shouldered woman followed by her little fat bobby smiling herself and met with smiles which were followed by noisy laughter and he noticed too that invariably the eyes of those she addressed turned upon Mrs Clarence and their faces grew hard and unfriendly and not one person to whom she spoke looked the happier or the better for the attention when she left them Colonel Cahoon, with a set countenance slowly curled his blonde moustache only his eyes moved following Mrs Guthrie Brimstone for a while and then returning to a bad name she was speaking to Mrs Balkamson the latter looked, as she listened at Mrs Guthrie Brimstone then Avadne took her arm and the two sauntered over to Mrs Beale an important person who always adopted the last charitable opinion she heard expressed positively and acted upon it it was Mrs Malkamson who spoke to her and the effect of what she said was instantaneous for the old lady bridled visibly and then set out, accompanied by Edith with the obvious intention of heading the Relief Party herself that very minute she stationed herself beside Mrs Clarence and stood patting the poor girl's hand with bubbly tenderness smiling at her and saying conventional nothings in a most cordial manner Colonel Cahoon had watched these proceedings understanding them perfectly but remaining impassive as at first and Mrs Guthrie Brimstone had also seen signs of the reaction the moment it set in and shown her astonishment she was not accustomed to be checked in full career when it pleased her to be down upon another woman and she didn't quite know what to do she looked first at Colonel Cahoon telling him to rejoin her but he ignored the glance and she therefore found herself obliged either to give him up or to go to him she decided to go to him and set out, attended by her own Bobby by the time she had reached him however the last act of the little play had begun Evadney was standing apart with Captain Clarence looking up at him and speaking with her usual unimpassioned calm to judge by the expression of her face but Mrs Guthrie Brimstone had begun to realise that when Evadney did speak it was to some purpose and she watched now and awaited the event in evident trepidation she's not telling him she never would dare to slipped from her unawares they are coming this way Colonel Cahoon observed significantly I shall go cried Mrs Guthrie Brimstone come Bobby it was too late however they were surrounded be good enough to remain a moment Captain Clarence exclaimed authoritatively then turning to Colonel Cahoon he said and that these people have in their possession a letter containing a foul slander against my wife and myself and that they have been using it to injure us in the estimation of everybody here if it be possible sir I should like to have an official inquiry instituted into the circumstances of my marriage at once very well Captain Clarence Colonel Cahoon answered ceremoniously I'll apologise Major Guthrie Brimstone gasped but Captain Clarence turned on his heel and walked back to his wife as if he had not heard how the inquiry was conducted was not made public but when it was said that the Clarences had been cleared and seen that the Guthrie Brimstones had not suffered society declared it to have been a case of six of one and half a dozen of the other which left matters exactly where they were before those who chose to believe in the calumny continued to do so and vice versa the only difference being that a badness generous action in the matter brought blame upon herself from one set and also, what was worse brought her into a kind of vogue with another which would have caused her to rage had she understood it for the story that she had said things which no woman could repeat added to the fact that she was seen everywhere with a lady whose reputation had been attacked made men of a certain class feel a sudden interest in her birds of a feather they maintained then spoke of her slightly in public places and sent her bouquets innumerable her next decided action however put an effectual stop to this nuisance end of chapter 8 book 2 chapter 9 of the heavenly twins this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Jennifer Painter The Heavenly Twins by Sarah Grand book 2 chapter 9 Colonel Cahoon came to Evadney one day and asked her if she would not go out she put down her work rose at once smiling and declared that she should be delighted there had been a big regimental guest night the day before Colonel Cahoon had dined at mess and was consequently irritable acquiescence is as provoking as opposition to a man in that mood and he chose to take offence at Evadney's evident anxiety to please him she makes quite a business of being agreeable to me he reflected while he was waiting for her to put her hat on she requires me to be on my good behaviour a schoolboy out for a half holiday and thinks it is her duty to entertain me by way of reward I suppose and there upon he set himself determinedly against being entertained and accordingly when Evadney rejoined him and made some cheerful remark he responded to it with a sullen grunt which did small credit to his manners either as a man or a gentleman and naturally checked the endeavour for the moment so far as she was concerned as he did not seem inclined to converse she showed her respect for his mood by being silent herself but this was too much for him he stood it as long as he could and then he burst out do you never talk I don't know she said surprised do you like talkative women I like a woman to have something to save her herself while Evadney was trying in her slow way to see precisely what he meant by this little outbreak they met one of the officers of the regiment escorting a very showy young woman and as everybody in Malta knows everybody else in society and this was a stranger Evadney asked more however to oblige Colonel Kahoon by making a remark than because she felt the slightest curiosity on the subject who is that with Mr Finchley a new arrival I suppose oh only a girl he brought out from England with him Colonel Kahoon answered coarsely staring hard at the girl as he spoke and forgetting himself for once in his extreme irritability he ought not to bring her here though he added carelessly Mr Finchley had passed them hanging his head and pretending not to see them Evadney flushed Croomson do you mean that he brought out a girl he is not married to and is living with her here she asked that is the position exactly Colonel Kahoon rejoined and I'll see him in the orderly room tomorrow and interview him on the subject he has no business to parade her publicly where the other fellow's wives may meet her and I'll not have it Evadney said no more but there was a ball that evening and during an interval between the dances when she was standing beside Colonel Kahoon and several ladies in a prominent position and much observed for it was just at the time when she was at the height of her unenviable vogue Mr Finchley came up and asked her to dance she had drawn herself up proudly as he approached and having looked at him deliberately she turned her back upon him there was no mistaking her intention Colonel Kahoon's hand paused on its way to twirl his blonde moustache and there was a perceptible sensation in the room Captain Belliot shook his head with the air of a man who had been deceived in an honest endeavour to make the best of a bad lot and is disheartened she took me in completely he said I should never have guessed she was that kind of woman what is society coming to she must be dused nasty-minded herself you know or she wouldn't have known Finchley had a woman out with him said Major Livingston whom Mrs Guthrie Brimstone called Lady Betty because of his nice precise little ways with Lady oh trust a prude said Captain Brown they expired all the beastliness that's going Colonel Kahoon did not take this last proof of her bad news peculiar views at all well he was becoming even more sensitive as he grew older to what fellows say or think and he was therefore considerably annoyed by her conduct so much so indeed that he actually spoke to her upon the subject himself people will say that I've married Mrs Grundy he grumbled I suppose so she answered tranquilly you see I do not feel at all about these things as you do I wish you could feel as I do but seeing that you cannot it is fortunate is it not that we are not really married it sounds as if you were congratulating yourself upon the fact of our position he said but don't you congratulate yourself she answered in surprise surely you have had as narrow escape as I had you would have been miserable too he made no answer it is perhaps easier to resign an inferior husband than a superior wife but he let the subject drop then for the moment only for the moment however for later in the day he had a conversation with Mrs Guthrie Brimstone that little business about the Clarences had not interrupted the intimacy between Colonel Cahoon and the Guthrie Brimstone how could it Mrs Guthrie Brimstone was as amusing as ever and Colonel Cahoon remained in command of a crack regiment and was a handsome man well set up and soldier like into the bargain it was Avadne who had caused all the annoyance and consequently there was really no excuse for a rupture especially as Avadne met the Guthrie Brimstone herself with as much complacency as ever Colonel Cahoon had gone to Mrs Guthrie Brimstone's that afternoon for the purpose of discussing the advisability of getting some experienced woman of the world to speak to Avadne with a view to putting a stop to her nonsense and the consultation ended with an offer from Mrs Guthrie Brimstone to undertake the task herself her interference however produced not the slightest effect on Avadne End of Chapter 9 Book 2 Chapter 10 of The Heavenly Twins This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org The Heavenly Twins by Sarah G Book 2 Chapter 10 Those who can contemplate certain phases of life and still believe there is a divine providence ordering all things for the best will see its action in the combination of circumstances which placed Avadne in the midst of a community where she must meet the spirit of evil face to face continually and since acquiescence was impossible force her to develop her own strength by steady and determined resistance but her position was more than difficult it was desperate there was scarcely one even amongst the most indulgent of her friends who did not misunderstand her and blame her at times she kept the pendulum of public opinion swaying vehemently during the whole of her first season in Malta Major Livingston shook his head about her from the first I can't get on with her he said as if the fact were not at all to her credit he was a survival himself one of the old-fashioned kind of military men who were all formed on the same plan they got their uniform, their politics, their vices and their code of honour cut and dried upon entering service and occasionally left the latter with their agents to be taken care of for them while they served Evadne gave offence to representatives of the next generation also seeing that she was young and attractive it was clearly her duty to think only of meriting their attention and when she was discovered time after time during a ball hanging quite affectionately on the arm of Mr. Austin B. Price a dried-up old American and pacing the balcony to and fro with him in the moonlight by the hour together when they were plenty young fellows who wanted to dance with her and when, worse still, it was observed that she was serenely happy on these occasions listening to Mr. Austin B. Price with a smile on her lips or even actually talking herself why they declared she wasn't womanly she couldn't be Mr. St. John was one of the friends who very much appreciated Evadne's attitude at this time he did not speak to her himself being diffident and delicate but he went to Mr. Price who was, he knew, quite in her confidence you have influence with her do restrain her, he said no good is done by making herself the subject of common gossip my dear fellow, Mr. Price replied she is quite irresponsible certain powers of perception have developed in her to a point beyond that which has been reached by the people about her and she is forced to act up what she believes to be right they blame her because they cannot see so far in advance of themselves and she has small patient with them for not at once recognising the use and propriety of what comes so easily and naturally to her so far it's easy enough to understand her, surely but further than that it is impossible to go because she is as yet an incomplete creature in state of progression with fair play she should continue on but on the other hand her development may be entirely arrested it is curious that priesthoods while preaching perfection invariably do their best to stop progress you will never believe that any change is for the better until it is accomplished and then there is no denying it and so you hinder forever when you should be the first to help and encourage you are bringing yourselves into disrepute by it just try and realise the difference between the position and powers of judgement of women now and that which obtained among them at the beginning of the century and think too of the hard battles that they have to fight for every inch of the way they have made and the desperate resolution with which they have stood their ground always advancing, never receding and with supernumeraries ready whenever one falls out exhausted to step in and take her place however dangerous it may be oh I tell you women are grand grand but I don't see how we've imposed upon them Mr. Scent-John objected I can show you in a minute Mr. Price rejoined twitching his face it was the submission business you know to begin with not so many years ago we men had only to insist that a thing was either right or necessary and women believed it and they meekly acquiesced it in it we told them they were fools to us and they believed it we told them they were angels of light and purity and goodness whose mission was to marry and reform us and above all pity and sympathise with us when we defiled ourselves because we couldn't help it and they believed it we told them they didn't really care for moral probity in a man and they believed it we told them they had no brains they were illogical, unreasoning and incapable of thought in the true sense of the word I drove they took all that for granted and such was their beautiful confidence in us they never even tried to think until one day quite by accident I'm sure one of them found herself to be arriving at logical conclusions involuntarily her brain was a rich soil although untilled which began to team of its own accord and that my dear fellow was the beginning of the end of the old state of things but I believe myself that all this unrest and rebellion against the old established abuses amongst women is simply an effort of nature to improve the race the men of present day will have a bad time if they resist the onward impulse but in any case the men of the future will have a good reason to arise and call their mothers blessed good day to you and don't interfere with the fatney and don't think, just watch and pray if you like the old gentleman smiled and twitched his face when he had spoken and they shook hands and parted in complete disagreement as was usually the case end of book 2 chapter 10 book 2 chapter 11 of the heavenly twins this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information auto-volunteer please visit LibriVox.org when any difference of opinion arose between Avadne and Colonel Kahoon they discussed it, tranquilly, as a rule and with much forbearance upon either side and having done so the subject was allowed to drop they each generally remained of the same opinion still but neither would interfere with the other afterwards had he had anything in him could he have made her feel him to be superior in any way she must have grown to love him with passion once more but as it was he remained only an earring fellow creature in her estimation for whom she grew gradually to feel both pity and affection it is true but towards whom her attitude generally speaking was that of most polite indifference she had her moments of rage however there were whole days when her patient tolerance of the position gave way and one wild longing to be free pursued her but she made no sign on such occasion only sat with lips severely placid felt the knot climbing her throat with her foot unseen crushed the wild passion out against the floor beneath the banquet where meats become as wormwood and uttered not a word yet there was nothing in Colonel Kahoon's manner nothing in his treatment of her in the least objectionable what she suffered from was simply contact with an inferior moral body and the intellectual starvation inevitable in such constant association with a mind too shallow to contain any sort of mental sustenance for the sharing the pleasing fact he and Evanni were getting on well to get the dawned on him quite suddenly one day but it was she who perceived that absence of friction entirely due to the restriction which polite society imposed upon the manals of a gentleman and lady in ordinary everyday intercourse when their bond is not the bond of man and wife I should say we are very good friends of Adne shouldn't you? he remarked in a cheerful tone yes she responded cordially they were both an evening dress when this occurred she sitting beside with one bare arm resting upon it toying with the tassel of her fan he standing with his back to the fireplace looking down upon her it was after dinner and they were lingering over coffee until it should be time to stroll in for an hour or so to the opera by the way he said after a pause have you read any of those books I got for you any of the French ones? her face set somewhat but she looked up at him and answered without hesitation yes I have read Nana, La Terre, Madame Bovary and Sappho she stopped there and then he waited in vain for her to express an opinion well he said at last what has struck you most in them? suffering George she exclaimed the awful needless suffering it was a veritable cry of anguish and as she spoke she threw her arms forward on the table beside to which she was sitting laid her face down on them and burst into passionate sobs Colonel Cahoon bit his lip he had not meant to hurt the girl in that way at all events he took a step towards her hesitated not knowing quite what to do and finally left the room when Evadne went to her bookshelf she discovered a great gap the whole of those dangerous works of fiction had disappeared end of book 2 chapter 11 of the heavenly twins book 2 chapter 12 of the heavenly twins this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Jennifer Painter the heavenly twins by Sarah Grand book 2 chapter 12 Colonel Cahoon had gradually fallen into the habit of riding out or walking alone with Mrs. Guthrie Brimstone continually and of course people began to make much of the intimacy and to talk of the way he neglected his poor young wife but the only part of the arrangement which was not agreeable to the latter was having to entertain major Guthrie Brimstone sometimes during his lady's absence and the lady herself when she stayed to tea for there was really no harm in the flirtation as Evadne was acute enough to perceive Mrs. Guthrie Brimstone was one of those women who pride themselves upon having a train of admirers and are not above robbing other women of the companionship of their husbands in order to swell their own following while many men rather affect the society of these ladies because they are not a bit stiff you know and allow a certain laxity of language which is particularly pecan to the masculine mind when the complacent lady is no relation and is really alright herself you know Mrs. Guthrie Brimstone was really quite right you know she and her husband understood each other perfectly while Evadne on her part was content to know that Colonel Kahoon was so innocently occupied because she was beginning to think of him as a kind of big child of weak moral purpose for whose good behaviour she would be held responsible and it was a relief when Mrs. Guthrie Brimstone took him off her hands No healthy minded human being likes to dwell on the misery which another is suffering or has suffered and it is therefore a comfort to know that upon the whole at this period of her life Evadne was not at all unhappy she had her friends, her pleasures and her occupations the latter being multifarious the climate of Malta at that time of the year suited her to perfection and the picturesque place with its romantic history and strange traditions was in itself an unfailing source of interest and delight to her dear old Mrs. Beale had kept her heart from hardening into bitterness just by loving her and giving her a good motherly hug now and then when Evadne was inclined to rail she would say Pity the wicked people my dear pity them pity does more good in the world than blame however well deserved you may soften a sinner by pitying him but never by hard words and once you melt into the mood of pity yourself you will be able to endure things which would otherwise drive you mad Mrs. Malcolmson helped her too during that first burst of unpopularity which she brought upon herself by daring to act upon her own perception of right and wrong in defiance of the old established injustices of society when even the most kindly disposed hung back suspiciously not knowing what dangerous sort of a new creature she might eventually prove herself to be at the earliest mutter of that storm Mrs. Malcolmson came forward boldly to support Evadne and so also did Mrs. Syllinger Mr. Syngin was another of Evadne's particular friends he had injured his health by excessive devotion to his duties and been sent to mortar in the hope that the warm bright climate might strengthen his chest which was his weak point and restore him but it was not really the right place for him and he had continued delicate throughout the winter and required little attentions which Evadne was happily able to pay him and in this way their early acquaintance had rapidly ripened into intimacy he was a clever man in his own profession of exceptional piety but narrow which did not however prevent him from being congenial to one side of Evadne's nature she had never doubted her religion it was a thing apart from all her knowledge and opinions something to be felt essentially not known as anything but a pleasurable and elevating sensation or considered except in the way of referring all that is noble in thought and action to the divine nature of its origin and influence and she preserved her deep reverence for the priesthood intact and found both comfort and spiritual sustenance in their ministrations she still leaned to ritual and Mr. Syngin was a ritualist so that they had much in common and while she was able to pay him many attentions and show him great kindness for the want of which as a bachelor and an invalid in a foreign place he must have suffered in his feeble state of health he had it in his power to take her out of herself she said she was always the better for a talk with him and certainly the delicate dishes and wines and care generally which she lavished upon him had as much to do as the climate with the benefit he derived from his sojourn in Malta they remained firm friends always and many years afterward when he had become one of the most distinguished bishops on the bench he was able from the knowledge and appreciation of her character which he had gained in these early days to do her signal service and save her from much stupid misrepresentation and last among her friends although one of the greatest was Mr. Austin B. Price Evadny owed this kind, large-hearted, chivalrous gentleman much gratitude and repaid him with much affection he was really the first to discover that there was anything remarkable about her and it was to him she also owed a considerable further development of her originally feeble sense of humour Mr. Price's first impression that she was an uncommon character had been confirmed by one of those rapid phrases of hers which contained in a few words the embodiment of feelings familiar to a multitude of people who have no power to express them she delivered it the third time they met which happened to be at another of those afternoon dances held on board the flagship on that occasion Colonel Kahoon liked her to show herself although she did not dance in the afternoon so she was there, sitting out and Mr. Price was courteously endeavouring to entertain her it surprises me, he said, as an American to find so little inclination in your free and enlightened country to do away with your, politically speaking useless and extremely expensive royal house well you see, said Evadny we are deeply attached to our royal house and we can well afford to keep it up it was this glimpse of the heart of the proud and patriotic little aristocrat true daughter of a nation great enough to disdain small economies and not accustomed to do without any luxury to which it is attached that appealed to Mr. Price pleasing the pride of race with which we contemplate any evidence of strength in our fellow preachers whether it be strength of purpose or strength of passion more than it shocked his utilitarian prejudices when it was evident that Evadny had brought a good deal that was disagreeable upon herself by her action in the matter of the clearances old Mrs. Beale came to her one day in all kindliness to tell her the private opinion of the friends who had stood by her loyally in public I'm sure you did it with the best motive, my dear and it was bravely done the old lady said patting her hand but be advised by those who know the world and have had more experience than you have had don't interfere again interference does no good and people will say such things if you do they will make you pay for your disinterestedness but it seems to me that the question is not shall I have to pay but am I not bound to pay? Evadny rejoined neglecting to do what is to me obviously the right thing and making no endeavour but such as is sure to be applauded working in the hope of a reward in fact seems to me to be a terribly old-fashioned idea miserable remnant of the bribery and corruption of the Dark Ages when the people were kept in such dense ignorance that they could be treated like children and told if they were good they should have this for a prize but if they were bad they should be punished you are quite right I'm sure my dear rejoined Mrs Beale but all the same I don't think I should interfere again if I were you seems that I have not done the clerics any good Evadny murmured one day to Mr Price well that was hardly to be expected he answered at which she raised her eyebrows interrogatively Calum is which attached themselves to a name in a moment take a lifetime to remove because such a large majority of people prefer to think the worst of each other the Clarences will have to live down their own little difficulty and what you have to consider now is not how little benefit they have derived from your brave defence of them but how many other people you may have saved from similar attacks I fancy it will be some time before people will venture to spread scandals of the kind here in Malta again you have taught them a lesson you may be sure of that so don't be disheartened and lose sight of the final result in consideration of immediate consequences the hard part of teaching is that the teacher himself seldom sees anything of the good he has done it was very evident at this time that Evadny's view of life was becoming much too serious for her own good and perceiving this Mr Price let fall some words one day in the course of conversation which she afterward treasured in her heart to great advantage it is our duty to be happy he said every human being is entitled to a certain amount of pleasure in life but in order to be happy you must think of the world as a mischievous big child let your attitude be one of a mused contempt so long as you detect no vice in the mischief once you do however if you have the gift or language use it lash out unmercifully and don't desist because the creature howls at you the louder it howls the more you may congratulate yourself that you have touched it on the right spot which is sure to be tender but he did not limit his kindly attentions to the giving of good advice in fact he very seldom gave advice at all what he chiefly did was to devise distractions for her which should take her out of herself and one of these was a children's party which he induced her to give at Christmas the party was to take place on Christmas Eve and the whole of the day before and far into the night the kahoon house was thronged with actors rehearsing charades and tableaus and officers painting and preparing decorations and putting them up all were in the highest spirits the talk and laughter were incessant the work was being done with a will and none of them looked as if they had ever had a sorrowful thought in their lives least of all of Adney whose gaiety seemed the most spontaneous of all late at night she had come to the hall with nails for the decorators and was handing them up as they were wanted by those on the ladders the men were in their shirt sleeves the most becoming dress that a gentleman ever appears in and during a pause she happened to notice Colonel Kahoon who had stepped back to judge the effect of some drapery he was putting up Mr Price was a little behind him and two of the younger men the three making an excellent foil to Colonel Kahoon Adney was struck by the contrast the outside aspect of the man still pleased her there was no doubt that he was a fine specimen of his species a splendid animal to look at what a pity he should have had a regrettable past the kind of past too which can never be over and done with a returned convict is always a returned convict and a vicious man reformed is not repaired by the process the stigma is in his blood if Adney sighed she was too highly tempered well balanced a creature to be the victim of any one passion and least of all of that transient state of feeling miscalled love physical attraction moral repulsion that's what she was suffering from and now involuntarily she sighed a sigh of rage for what might have been and just at that moment Colonel Kahoon happening to look at her found her eyes fixed on him with a strange expression was there going to be a chance for him after all he did not understand of Adney he had no conception of the human possibility of anything so perfect as her self-control and when she showed no feeling he took it for granted that it was because she had none during the games next day he obtained a glimpse of her heart which surprised him she had paid a forfeit and in order to redeem it she was requested to state her favourite names gentlemen's and ladies Barbara, Evelyn, Julia, Elizabeth Pauline, Mary, Bertram and Everard she answered instantly I do not know if I think them the most beautiful names but they are the ones that I love the best and have always in my mind Colonel Kahoon's countenance set upon this they were the names of her brothers and sisters whom she never mentioned to him by any chance and whom he had not imagined that she ever thought of yet it seemed that they were always in her mind he had so little conception of the depth and tenderness of her nature or of her fidelity that had he been required to put his feelings on the subject into words before this revelation he would, without a moment's hesitation have declared her to be cold and wanting in natural affection a girl with views and no heart but after this a few questions and a very little observation served to convince him that she not only cared for her friends especially her brothers and sisters but fretted for their companionship continually in secret and felt the separation all the more because her father's harsh prohibition was still in force and none of them were allowed to write to her her mother accepted whose letters however came but rarely now and were always unsatisfactory the truth was that the poor lady had relapsed into slavery and been nagged into an outward show of acquiescence in her husband's original mandate which forbade her to correspond with her recalcitrant daughter and in her attempts to conceal her relapse from the latter and at the same time keep Mr Frailing quiet under the conviction that her submission was genuine the style of her letters suffered considerably and their numbers tended always to diminish but the thing that touched Colonel Cahoon was the care which Evadney had taken to conceal her trouble from him the fact that she had not allowed a single complaint to escape her or made a sign that might have worried him by implying a reproach he had his moments of good feeling however and his kindly impulses too being as already asserted anything but a monster and under the influence of one of them he sat down and wrote a sharp remonstrance to Mr Frailing which however only drew from that gentleman an expression of his sincere admiration for his son-in-law's generous disposition and of his regret that a daughter of his should behave so badly to one who could show himself so nobly forgiving with a reiteration of his determination however not to countenance her until she should come to her senses so that no actual good was done although doubtless Colonel Cahoon himself was the better for acting on the impulse it was about this time that he became aware of the fact that Evadney had gradually formed a party of her own and was making his house a centre of attraction to all the best people in the place he knew that such support was an evidence of her strength and would only confirm her in her views especially when even those who had opposed her most bitterly at first were caught intriguing to get into the Cahoon house clique but naturally he was gratified by a position which reflected credit upon himself his respect for Evadney increased and consequently they became, if possible, better friends than ever End of chapter 12