 Book 6, Chapter 5 of The Heavenly Twins. This is a LibraBox recording. All LibraBox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibraBox.org. The Heavenly Twins by Sarah G. Chapter 5. Colonel Kahun called next day himself to explain his absence on the previous evening. I forget what excuse he made, but it's a feast. I saw a Vadney, too, that same afternoon. She had been to make a call in the neighborhood and was waiting at a little country station to return by train. Something peculiar in her attitude attracted my attention before I recognized her. She was standing alone at the extreme end of the platform. Her slender figure silhouetted with dark distinctness against the sloping evening sky. She might have been waiting anxiously for someone to come that way, or she might have been waiting for a train with tragic purpose. She wore a long dark green dress, the train of which she was holding up in her left hand. She showed no surprise when I spoke to her, although she had not heard me approach. What do the people here think of me? She asked abruptly, what do they say? They have yet to discover your faults, I answered. She compressed her lips and looked down the line again. That is my train, I think, she said presently. When I had put her into a carriage, she shook hands with me, thanking me gravely, then threw herself back in her seat and was born away. That was literally all that passed between us, yet she left me standing there, staring after her stupidly and curiously impressed. There was always a suggestion of something unusual about her which heaked my interest and kept it alive. During the summer and autumn, I met her at various places, and saw her also in her own house, and she seemed, so far as an outsider, could judge, as happily situated as most women over station, and not at all likely to require any special service at the hands of a friend. Her husband was a good deal older than herself, but the disparity made no apparent difference to their comfort. When he was absent, she never talked about him, but when he was present, she treated him with unvarying consideration, and they appeared together everywhere, mindful of my promise to Lady Adeline. I showed them both every attention in my power. I called regularly, and Colonel Kahoon as regularly returned my calls. Sometimes bringing a bad knee with him. The winter that year came upon us suddenly and sharply, and until it set in, I had only seen her under the most ordinary circumstances. But at the beginning of the cold weather, she had an illness which was the means of my learning to know more of her true character and surroundings in a few days than I should probably have done in years of mere social intercourse. I stopped for a moment one morning as I drove past, as you like it, to leave her some flowers, and her own maid, who opened the door, showed me upstairs to a small sitting room, the antechamber to another room beyond, at the door of which she knocked. I heard no answer, but the girl entered and announced me. I followed her in, and found myself face to face with Evadny. She was in bed, the maid withdrew, closing the door after her. What nonsense is this? I am exceedingly sorry, doctor. Evadny exclaimed feebly that stupid girl must have thought that you were coming to see me professionally. But, oh, do let me look at the flowers. And she stretched out her left hand for them, offering me her right at the same time to shake. And, burying her face and her embarrassment together, her hand was hot and dry. I don't require you in the least, doctor. She assured me, looking up rightly from the flowers. But I am very glad to see you. Why are you in bed? I asked, responding cheerfully to this cheerful greeting. Oh, I have a little cold, she answered. I drew a chair to the bedside, laid my hand on her wrist, and watched her closely as I questioned her. Cough incessant, respiration rapid, temperature high. I judged. Pulse 120. How long have you had this cold? I asked. About a week, she said. It makes me ache all over, you know. And that is why I am in bed today. I saw at once that she was seriously ill. And I also saw that she was burying up bravely and making as little of it as possible. Why isn't your fire lit? I asked. Oh, I never thought of having one, she answered. And what is that you are drinking? Cold water. Well, you mustn't drink any more cold water or anything else cold until I give you leave. I ordered. And don't try to talk. I will come and see you again by and by. I went downstairs to look for Colonel Cahoon and found him just about to start for barracks. I am sorry to say your wife is very ill. I said. She has an attack of acute bronchitis. And it may mean pneumonia as well. I have not examined her chest. She must have fires in her room. And a bronchitis kettle at once. Don't let the temperature get below 70 degrees till I see her again. Her maid can manage for a few hours, I suppose. But you had better telegraph for a nurse. One should be here before night. What a damn nuisance these women are. Cahoon answered cheerfully. There's always something the matter with them. I returned between 5 and 6 in the evening, walked in and not seeing anybody about, went up to a bad knee sitting room. The door leading into the bedroom was open. And I entered. She was alone. And had propped herself up in bed with pillows. The difficulty of breathing had become greater. And she found relief in that attitude. She looked at me with eyes unnaturally large and solemn as I entered. And it was a full moment before she recognized me. The fires had not been lighted in either of the rooms. And she was evidently much worse. Why haven't these fires been lighted? I demanded. This is only October, she answered, gesting. And we don't begin fires till November. I rang the bell emphatically. Do not trouble yourself, doctor. She remonstrated gently. What does it matter? I went out into the sitting room to meet the maid as she entered. Why haven't these fires been lighted? I asked again. I don't know, sir, she answered. I received no orders about them. Where is Colonel Kahoon? He went out after breakfast, sir, and has not come back yet. Has the nurse arrived? No, sir. Well, light these fires at once. I don't light fires, sir, she said, drawing herself up. It isn't my work. Whose work is it? I demanded. Either of the housemaids, sir, but they're both out. She answered, ogling me pertly. I owned that I was exasperated, and I showed it in such a way that she fled precipitantly. I followed her downstairs to find the butler. I happened to know the man. His wife had been in my service, and I had attended her through a severe illness since her marriage. Do you know if there's such a thing as a sensible woman in this establishment? Williamson, I demanded. Well, sir, the cook sensible when she's sober, he answered, pinching his chin dubiously. Does she happen to be sober now? He glanced at the clock. I'll just see, sir, he said. When he returned, he announced with perfect gravity that she was passable sober but busy with the dinner. Then look here, I exclaimed, out of all patience, we must do it ourselves. Yes, sir, he said, anything I can do. When I explained the difficulty, he suggested sending for his wife. Who could manage, he thought, until the trained nurse arrived and help her afterward. It was a good idea, and my man was dispatched to bring her immediately. They're a bad lot, oh, servants, the women in this house at present. Williamson informed me. The missus didn't choose them herself, and he shook his head significantly. But she knows what's what, and they're going. That's why they're taken advantage. I returned to a bad knee, her eyes were closed and her forehead contracted. Every breath of cold air was cutting her lungs like a knife. But she looked up at me when I took her hand and smiled. I never knew anybody so patient and uncomplaining. She was lying on a little iron bedstead, hard and narrow as a camp bed. The room was bare-looking, the floor being polished, and with only two small rugs, one at the fireplace and one beside the bed, upon it. It looked like a nun's cell, and there was a certain suggestion of purity in the sweetness and order of it quite consistent with the idea. But it was a north room and very cold. Evadny had unconsciously clasped my hand and dozed off for a few minutes, holding it tight, but the cough rearoused her. When she looked at me again, her mind was wondering. She knew me, but she did not know what she was saying. I am so thankful, she exclaimed. The peace of mind, the peace of mind. I cannot tell you what a relief it is. Williamson came in on tiptoe and lit the fire, and Evadny's maid followed him in and stood looking on. Half sheepishly and half in defiance, I notice now that she was a hard-faced, bold-looking girl. Not at all the sort of person to have about my delicate little lady. And when Mrs. Williamson arrived, I ordered her out of the room and never allowed her to enter it again. During the week she left altogether, and I was fortunately able to procure a suitable woman to wait upon Mrs. Kahun. She has been with her ever since, by the way. I felt pretty sure by this time that no nurse had been sent for, and I therefore dispatched one of Colonel Kahun's men in a dog cart to Morning Quest to telegraph for one, but she could not arrive before daylight even by special train. And it had now become a matter of life and death. And as Mrs. Williamson had no knowledge of nursing to help her goodwill, I determined to spend the night beside my patient. When Colonel Kahun came in and found me making myself at home in his house, he expressed himself greatly pleased. When I returned this afternoon to see how Mrs. Kahun was progressing, I found that none of my orders had been carried out, and now she is dangerously ill, I said severely. Faith, he replied, changing countenance. I am very sorry to hear it. And I'm afraid I'm to blame, for I was in the deuce of a hurry when I saw you this morning, and never thought of a word you said from that moment to this. Now I'm genuinely sorry, he repeated, is there nothing I can do? Mrs. Orton beg. She's gone abroad for the winter. Ah, to be sure. And everybody else is away who would be of any use, I added. And I therefore propose, if you have no objection, to stay here tonight myself. You'd oblige me greatly by doing so, he answered earnestly. I don't know what there is for dinner, but I shall enjoy it all the more myself for the pleasure of your company. He made no special inquiries about his wife's condition, and never went near her. But as he was in a tolerably advanced state of intoxication before he retired for the night, it was quite as well, perhaps. Mrs. Williamson had probably done her day's work before I sent for her, and with all the will in the world to wake and watch, she fell fast asleep before midnight, and I let her sleep. There were only the fires to be attended to, at least that was all that I could have trusted her to do, watching the case, generally, and seizing opportune moments to administer remedies would not have been in her line at all. Evadni knew me always, but she lost all count of time. You seem to come every day now, doctor, she said once during the night, and I am glad to see you. For two hours toward dawn, when the temperature is sensibly lower, I gave my little lady up, but she was better by the time the trained nurse arrived, and eventually she pulled through, greatly owing, I am sure, to her own perfect patience. She was always the same all through her illness, gentle, uncomplaining, grateful for every trifle that was done for her, and tranquility herself. My impression was that she enjoyed being ill. I never saw a symptom of depression the whole time. But when she had quite recovered, and although, as often happens after a severe illness, when so-called trifles are discovered, and checked which would otherwise have been allowed to run on until they grew serious, although for this reason she was certainly stronger than she had ever been since I became acquainted with her. No sooner did she resume her accustomed habits than that old unsatisfactory something in her, which it was so easy to perceive but so difficult to define, returned in full force. I had ceased to be critical, however. Colonel Cajon's careless neglect of her had continued throughout her illness, and I thought I understood. Chapter 6 I had necessarily seen much of Evetny during her illness, and the intimacy never again lapsed. Jealousy was not one of Colonel Cajon's vices. He always encouraged any man to come to the house, for whom she showed the slightest preference, and I have heard him complain of her indifference to admiration. She'll dress herself up carefully in the evening to sit at home along with me, and go out to a big dinner party in the doubtiest gown she's got, he told me once. She doesn't care a hang whether she's admired or not, rather objects, if anything, perhaps. Colonel Cajon rubbed his hands here with a certain enjoyment of such perversity, but I could see that Evetny did not relish the subject. It was one afternoon at As You Like It. I was tired after a long day, and had dropped in to ask for some tea. Colonel Cajon came up to entertain me, and Evetny went on with her work while we chatted familiarly. You were never so civil to any of your admirers, Evetny, as you were to that great boy in the regiment. Colonel Cajon continued, quite blind to her obvious and natural, silent objection to being made the subject of conversation. A young subaltern of ours, he explained to me, a big broad-shouldered lad, six feet high, who just worshipped Evetny. Poor boy, said Evetny, sighing. He was cruelly butchered in a horribly fruitless garnish with his fellow creatures during that last small war. I was glad I was able to be kind to him. He was always very nice to me. Well, there's a reason for everything, Colonel Cajon observed gallantly. Don't you like boys? Evetny asked, looking up at me. The ones we have here at the depot, when they first come fresh from the public schools, are delightful with their high spirits and their love affairs, their pranks, and the something beyond which will make many of them eventually. I can never see enough of our boys. But Colonel Cajon very kindly lets me have as many of them here as I like. Faith, I can't keep them out, for they're all in love with you, said Colonel Cajon, and I am in love with them all. She answered brightly, leaning back in her chair and holding up her work to look at it. As she did so, the lower half of her face was concealed from me, and her eyes were cast down. I only glanced at her, but in the act of doing so, I suddenly became aware by one of those curious flashes of imperfect recollection which come to us all at times to torment us, that I had seen her somewhere before I knew who she was in that attitude exactly, but where, or under what circumstance, I failed to recollect. The impression, however, was indelible and haunted me ever afterward. Now there's Diavolo, Colonel Cajon continued. The exchange I had suggested had been effected by this time, and Diavolo was quartered at the depot. Not exactly to Colonel Cajon's delight, perhaps, but he was very good about it. Now there's Diavolo. He tells me to my face that he was the first to propose to Mrs. Cajon and always meant to marry her, and means it still. I coaxingly, only last Friday, when I was coming out of barracks, take me home with you today, sir, and I answered, pretending to be severe, but pulling his sleeve, you know. Indeed I won't. You'll be making love to Mrs. Cajon, and he got very red and said quite huffily, well, I think you might let a fellow look at her, and of course I had to bring him back with me, and he sat down on the floor at her feet there and run with the most ridiculous nonsense. You couldn't help laughing. I should like to kill you and carry her off, he said, for all the world as if he meant it, and no more harm in the boy, either, than there is in Avadne herself. Colonel Cajon added good, humorably. This is a specimen of the man at his best. Laterally I had seldom seen him in such a genial mood at home. Abroad he brightened up, for a process of deterioration had been going on ever since his arrival in Morning Quest. His mind was apt to resemble a dark cave, which is transformed, diurnally, by a single shaft of sunshine which streams in for a brief space at a certain hour. The happy moment with him occurred about the time of the tenth brandy and soda, as nearly as I could calculate, and it lasted till the eleventh, when he usually relapsed into gloom again and became overcast until the next recurrence of the phenomena. But whatever his mood was, Avadne humored it. She responded always, or tried to, when he was genial, and when he was morose, she was dumb. I thought her a model wife. End of Book Six, Chapter Six Book Six, Chapter Seven 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. Chapter Seven After her illness, Avadne spent much of her time in the west window of the drawing room at, as you like it, with her little work table beside her embroidering. I never saw her reading, and there were no books about the room, and the work she did was beautiful. She used to have a stand before her with flowers arranged upon it, and copied them on to some material in colored silks direct from nature. She could not draw either with pen or pencil or paint with a brush, but she could copy with her needle quite accurately and would do a spray of lilies to the life, or in the most approved, conventional manner if it pleased her. Her not being able to draw struck me with this limitation, and I asked her once if she could account for it in any way. I believe I am an example of how much we owe to early influences. She answered, laughing, and probably I have the talent both for drawing and painting in me, but it remains latent for want of cultivation. My mother drew and painted beautifully as a girl, but she had given both up before I was old enough to imitate her, and only copied flowers as I do with her needle, and I used to watch her at work until I felt impelled to do the same. If she had gone on with her drawing, I am sure I should have drawn too, but as it was, I never thought of trying. Moral for mothers, I observed, keep up your own accomplishments if you would have your daughters shine. Evadne was not enough in the fresh air at this time, and she was too much alone. I ventured once in my professional capacity to say that she should have friends to stay with her occasionally, but she passed the suggestion off without either accepting or declining it, and then I spoke to Karol Kahun. He, however, poo-pooed the idea altogether. She's all right. He said, you don't know her. She always lives like that. It's her way. I also counseled regular exercise, and to that she replied, I do go out. I did not go out on the road only the other day. I certainly had seen her more than once alone, miles away from home, walking at the top of her speed, as if impelled by some strong emotion or inexorable necessity, and I did not like the sign. One or two hours walk regularly every day is what you should take, I told her. The virtue of it is in the regularity. If you make a habit of having more sunshine and fresh air, which is what you especially require, in one year then you will in two, if you continue to go out in a jerky, a regular way, and you must give up covering impossible distances and feverish haste as you do now. Walk gently and make yourself feel that you have full leisure to walk as you like. You will find the effect tranquilizing. Take to make a business of taking exercise. I am constantly lecturing my patients about it. If you want exercise to raise your spirits, brace your nerves, and do you good generally, it must be all pure pleasure without conscious exertion. Pleasurable moments prolong life. Thank you. Evadni answer gently. I know, of course, that you are right if it be only to show you how much I appreciate your kindness but I must have a scamper occasionally, a regular burst. You know, please don't stop that. The indulgence when I am in the mood is my petfice at present. The great drawing room at as you like it, which I mentioned in my letter to Lady Adeline is containing the one bright spot in that gloomy abode was an addition tacked on to the end of the house and evidently an afterthought. It was entered by a flight of shallow steps from the hall and was above the level of the public road which ran close past that end of the house. The grounds and approach being on the other side, it was lighted by three high narrow windows looking toward the north and three more close together looking west and forming a bay so deep as to be quite a small room over behind the high road only a tall holly hedge being between them but so near that the top most twigs of the holly grew up to the window sill. It was a quiet road, however too far from the town for much traffic and a bad knee could sit there with the windows open undisturbed and enjoy the long level prospect of fertile land, field and follow, wood and water that lay before her. She sat in the center window and I think it was from dance that she learned to appreciate the charms of a level landscape as she looked down upon it about which I heard her discourse so eloquently in after days it was her chosen corner and there she sat silent many and many an hour with busy fingers and thoughts we could not follow communing at times with nature I doubt not or with her own heart to be still. The road beneath her was one I had to traverse regularly and it became a habit to look up as I drove past if she were in her accustomed seat she usually raised her eyes from her work for a moment to smile me a greeting once she was standing up leaning languidly against the window frame twirling a rose in her fingers but she straightened herself into momentary energy when she recognized me and through the rose I had me with her accurate name it was the youngest and most familiar thing I had known her do an impulse of pure mischief I thought for the rose was La France and the sentiment as I translated it was you will value it more than I do for she hated the French there often occurs and recursed the mind incessantly a verse or an apt quotation in connection with some act or event a haunting definition of the impression it makes upon us an avidney in the wide west window bending visibly over her work set my mind on one occasion to a borrowed measure of words which never failed me from that time forward when I saw her so engaged there she leaves by night and day a magic web of color day she has heard a whisper say a curse is on her if she stay to look down to Camelot she knows not what the curse may be and so she weaveth steadily and little other care hath she the lady of shallot but where was Camelot fountain towers just appearing above the tree tops to the north was the only human habitation in sight I had a powerful telescope on the highest tower and one day in an idle mood I happened to be looking through it with no definite purpose just sweeping it slowly from point to point of the landscape when all at once avadney came into the field of vision with such startling distinctness that I stepped back from the glass she was sitting in her accustomed place with her work on her lap her hands clasped before her leaning forward looking up in my direction with an expression in her whole attitude that appealed to me like a cry for help the impression was so strong that I ordered my dog cart out and drove over to as you like it at once but I found her perfectly tranquil when I arrived with no trace of recent emotion either in her manner or appearance when I went home I had the telescope removed I had forgotten that we overlooked that corner of as you like it end of book six chapter seven book six chapter eight of the heavenly twins this is a LibraBox recording all LibraBox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibraBox.org the heavenly twins by Sarah G chapter eight the idea that avadney was naturally unsociable was pretty general and Colonel Cajun believed it as much as anybody for being at as you like it one afternoon when he rallied her on the subject he had stopped me as I was driving past to ask me to look at a horse he was thinking of buying the animal was being trotted up and down the approach by a groom for our inspection when avadney returned from somewhere driving herself she pulled up beside us and got out I never see you driving any of your friends about remarked you're very unsociable avadney oh well you see she answered slowly I like to be alone and think when I am driving it worries me to have to talk to people as a rule well he said glancing at the reeking pony if your thoughts went as fast as blue mick seems to have done today you must have got through a good deal of thinking in the time avadney looked at the pony take him round she said to the groom and then she remarked that it must be tea time and asked us both to go in and have some the air had brought a delicate tinge of color to her usually pale cheeks and she looked bright and bonny as she sat beside the tea table taking off her gloves and chatting with her had pushed slightly up from her forehead it was an expansive moment with her one of the rare ones when she unconsciously revealed something of herself in her conversation there were some flowers on the tea table which I admired ah she said with a sigh of satisfaction in their beauty I derive all my pleasure in life from things inanimate and arrangement of deep tone marigolds with brown centers in a glass like these all a glow beneath the maiden hair gives me more pleasure than anything else I can think of at this moment not more pleasure than your friends do I ventured I don't know she replied in the matter of love surjit amari a liquid friends disappoint us but in the contemplation of flowers all our finer feelings are stimulated and blended and yet there is no feeling to end in regrets or a painful reaction when the flowers fade we cheerfully gather fresh ones but I hope I do not undervalue my friends she broke off I only mean to say when you think of all the uncertainties of life of sickness and death and other things more dreadful which overtake our dears do what we will to protect them and then that worst thing might be ourselves or others I mean change when you think of it all surely it is well to turn to some delicate source of delight like this for relief and to forget and she curved her slender hand round the flowers caressingly looking up to me at the same time as if she were pleading to be allowed to have her own way I did not remonstrate with her I hardly knew the danger then myself of refusing to suffer it was some weeks before I saw her again after that I had been busy but one day as I was driving into morning quest I overtook her on the road walking in the same direction I was in a closed carriage but I pulled the check string as soon as I recognized her and got out she turned when she heard the carriage stop and seeing me at light came forward she looked one and weary those are fine horses of yours was her smile less greeting how are you have you been having a burst I said she was quite 5 miles from home she looked up and down the road for answer and affected to laugh but I could see that she was not at all in a laughing mood and also that she was already over fatigued I thought of begging to be allowed to drive her back but then it occurred to me that even if she consented which was not likely as she had a perfect horror of giving trouble and would never have been persuaded that I was not going out of my way at the greatest personal inconvenience merely to pay her a polite attention but even if she had consented she would probably have had to spend the rest of the day alone in that great west window with nothing to take her out of herself and nothing more in lightning to look at than dreary winter fields under a somber sky and that would not do at all a better idea, however occurred to me I am going to see Mrs. Orton beg I said she is not very well the bad knee have been staring blandly at the level landscape but she turned to me when I spoke and some interest came into her eyes have you seen her lately I continued no she answered as if she were considering not for some time come now I boldly suggested it will do her good I won't talk if you want to think I added her face melted into a smile at this and unseeing her stiffness relaxed I wasted no more time in persuasion but returned to the carriage and held the door open for her slowly although she looked as if she had not quite made up her mind and got in but still as if she were hesitating once she was seated however I could see that she was not sorry she had yielded and presently she acknowledged as much herself I believe I was tired she said rest now then I answered taking a paper out of my pocket she settled herself more luxuriously put her arm in the strap and looked out through the open window the dave was mild though murky the sky was leaden gray we rolled through the wintery landscape rapidly brown hedgerows leafless trees plowed fields a crow two crows a whole flock home returning from their feeding ground scattered cottages a woman at a door looking out with a child in her arms three boys swinging on a gate a man trudging along with a bundle a laborer trimming a bank mist rising in the low lying meadows grazing cattle nibbly sheep but she did not see these things at first any of them she was thinking then she began to see and forgot to think then her fatigue wore off in a sense of relief of ease and of well being slowly took gradual possession of her I could see the change come into her countenance and before we had arrived in morning quest she had begun to talk to me carefully of her own accord we had to skirt the old gray walls which surrounded the palace gardens and as we did so she looked up at them indifferently at first but immediately afterward with the sudden flash of recognition she said nothing but I could see herself together as if she had been hurt do you go there often I asked her no Edith died there and then that child she answered looking at me as if she were surprised that I should have thought it likely she shrinks from sorrowful associations and painful sites I thought but I did not know when I asked the question that our poor Edith had been a particular friend of hers we stopped the next moment at Mrs. Orton Bakes and she leaned forward to look at the windows smiling and brightening again I helped her out and followed her to the door which she opened as if she were at home there she waited for me for a moment in the hall till I put my hat down and then we went to the drawing room together and walked in the same familiar way Mrs. Orton Bakes was there with another lady a child but very comely person handsomely dressed who seemed to have just risen to take her leave the moment Evadney saw this lady she sprang forward oh mother she cried throwing her arms around her neck Evadney my dear dear child the lady exclaimed glassping her clothes and kissing her and then holding her off to look at her why my child out then you are oh mother I am so glad I am so glad Evadney cried again nestling close up to her and kissing her neck and then she laid her head on her bosom and burst into hysterical sobs I instantly left the room and Mrs. Orton Bakes followed me they have not met since just after Evadney's marriage she explained to me Evadney offended her father and there still seems to be no hope of a reconciliation but surely it is cruel to separate mother and child I exclaimed indignantly he has no right to do that no and he would not be able to do it with one of us she answered bitterly but my sister is of a yielding disposition she is like Mrs. Biel one of the old fashioned womanly women who thought it their duty to submit to everything they make the best of everything including injustice and any other vice it pleased their lords to practice but for this weakness of good women the world would be a brighter and better place by this time we see the disastrous folly of submitting our reason to the rule of self indulgence and self interest now however and please God we shall change all that before I die it will be a bold man soon to have the impertinence to dictate to us to what we should or should not do or think or say no one can pretend that the old system of husband and master has answered well and it has had a fair trial let us hope that the new method of partnership will be more successful yes indeed I answered earnestly Mrs. Orton-Bag looked up in my face and her own countenance cleared you and Evadny seem to be very good friends she said I am so glad then she looked up at me again with a curious little smile which I could not interpret does she remind you of anybody of anything ever she asked why surely she is like you I said seeing a lightness for the first time yes she answered in a more indifferent tone there is a lightness I am told right afterward to think that this explained the hunting half-recollection I seemed to have of something about Evadny but it did not on the contrary it reawakened and confirmed the feeling that I had seen Evadny before I knew who she was under circumstances which I now fail to recall thinking she would like to be alone after that interview with her mother I left the carriage for her and walked back to fountain towers and the state I was in after doing the ten miles warned me that I might be luxuriating too much in carriage as lightly and must begin to practice what I preached again in the way of exercise if I did not wish to lay up a fat and flabby old age for myself I made a point of not seeing Evadny for some little time after that event so that she might not feel bound to refer to it in case she should shrink from doing so but the next time we met as it happened I had another glimpse of her feeling for her friends which showed me how very much mistaken I had been in my estimate of the depth of her affections it was at as you like it I had walked over from fountain towers and dropped in casually to ask for some tea and Colonel Kahoon arriving at the same moment from barracks we went up to the drawing room together and found Evadny in her custom place busy with her embroidery as usual she shook hands but said nothing to show that she was aware of the interval there had been since she last saw me when she sat down again however she went on with her work and there was a certain satisfied look in her face as if some little wish had been gratified I knew when she took up her work that she liked me to be there and wanted me to stay for she always put it down when visitors she did not care for called and made a business of entertaining them but we had scarcely settled ourselves to talk when the butler opened the door and announced Mr. Bertram Frailing and a tall slender, remarkably handsome young fellow with a strong family likeness to Evadny herself entered with boyish diffidence, smiling nervously but looking important to Evadny jumped up impetuously Bertram she exclaimed holding out her arms to him why, what a big fellow you have grown she cried finding she could hardly reach to his neck to hug him and how handsome you are they say I am just like you he answered looking down at her lovingly with his arms around her waist neither of them took any notice of us this is your birthday dear Evadny said I have been thinking of you the whole day long I always keep all the birthdays did you remember mine I don't think I did he answered honestly but this is my 21st birthday Evadny and that's how it is I am here I am my own master from today and the first thing you do with your liberty is to come and see your sister said Colonel Kahoon you are made of the right stuff my boy and he shook hands with him heartily Evadny clung with one hand to his shoulder and pressed her handkerchief first to this eye and then to that alternately with the other looking so glad however at the same time that it was impossible to say to laugh or cry for joy but aren't there rejoicings she asked oh yes he answered but I told my father if you are not asked I should not stay for them I was determined to see you today he flushed boyishly as he spoke and smiled round upon us all again but wasn't he very angry Evadny said yes her brother answered twinkling girls got round him and tried to persuade him but they only made him worse especially when they all declared that when they came of age they meant to do something too he said that he was afflicted with the most obstinate ill-conditioned family in the county and began to brow mother as if it were her fault but I wouldn't stand that you are right Bertram Evadny exclaimed clenching her hands now that you are a man never let mother be made miserable did she know you were coming yes and was very glad he answered and sent you messages but here Colonel Kahoon and I managed to slip from the room Evadny sent her brother back that day to grace the clothes of the festivities in his honor but he returned the following week and stayed at as you like it and also with me he formed my first exceedingly good impression of him Evadny quite wakened up under his influence but unfortunately for her he went abroad in a few weeks for a two years trip around the world and I think losing him again so soon made it almost worse for her than if they had never been reunited especially as another and irreparable loss came upon her immediately after his departure this was the sudden death of her mother the news of which arrived one day an occurred note written by her father to Colonel Kahoon no previous intimation of illness having been sent to break the shock of the announcement I can never be thankful enough for the happy chance which brought about that last accidental meeting of Evadny with her mother but for that they would not meet each other again and I had the pleasure of learning eventually that the perfect understanding which they arrived at during the few hours they spent together on that occasion afterward became one of the most comforting recollections of Evadny's life a hallowed memory as she herself expressed it such as it is very good for us to cherish thank heaven for the opportunity which renewed and intensified love and goodness so as to make my last impression of her one which must stand out distinctly forever from the rest and be always a joyful sorrow to recall do you know what a joyful sorrow is? ah something that makes one feel warm and forgiving in the midst of one's regrets a delicious feeling when it takes possession of you you cease to be hard and cold you don't want to do good Mrs. Frailing died of a disease for which we have a remedy nowadays or to speak plainly she died for want of proper treatment her husband gloried in what he called a rooted objection to new fangled notions and would not sin for a modern practitioner even when the case became serious preferring to confide it entirely to a very worthy old gentleman of his own way of thinking who had one qualification who had attended his household successfully for 24 years during which time only one other member of his family had ever been seriously ill and he also had died but I hope and believe that my poor little lady never knew the truth about her mother's last illness she was overwhelmed with grief as it was and it cut one to the quick to see her day after day in her black dress alone, pale and still and on complaining her invariable attitude when she was deeply distressed and not to be able to say a word or do a thing to relieve her as usual at that time of the year everybody whom she cared to see at all was away except myself so that during the drearious of the winter months she was shut up with her grief in the most unwholesome isolation as the spring returned however she began to revive and then suddenly it appeared to me that she entered upon a new phase all together end of book 6 chapter 8 book 6 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 the heavenly twins by Sarah G chapter 9 during the first few days of our acquaintance Evadne's attitude whatever happened surprised me I could anticipate her action up to a certain point but just the precise thing she would do was the last thing I had expected I knew her feeling in fact but I was ignorant of the material it had to work upon and by means of which it found expression I had begun by believing her to be cold and self-sufficing but even before her illness I had perceived in her a strange desire for sympathy and foreseen that on occasion she would exact it in large measure from anyone she cared about it was making much of a cut finger one day that she had let me to expect she would be exacting an illness languishing as ladies do to excite sympathy and when the illness came I found I had been right in so far as I had believed that she would appreciate sympathy but entirely wrong about the means she would employ to obtain it instead of languishing when she found herself really suffering she pulled herself together and bore the trial with heroic calm as I have said she never uttered a complaint she had the strength of mine to ignore annoyances which few people in perfect health could have borne with fortitude certainly her attitude then had excited sympathy and respect as well it was as admirable as it was unexpected I had also perceived that she could not bear anything disagreeable she seldom showed the least irritability herself nor would she tolerate it for a moment in anyone else servants who were not always cheerful had to go and the kind of people who snap at each other in the bosom of their families she carefully avoided turning from them instinctively as she would have done from any perception revolting to the physical senses and that she would fly disgusted from sickening sights or sounds or odors I never doubted but here again I was wrong whether the evidence was utterly misleading I found her one day sitting on the bridge of a little river that crossed a quiet lane near their house and got down from my horse to talk to her and as we stood looking over the parapet looking into the stream the bloated carcass of a dead dog came floating by she could only have caught a glimpse of it for she drew back instantly but she looked so pale that I had to take her to the house and insist upon her having some wine and I once took her and I once took her at her own earnest request to visit a children's hospital but before we had seen a dozen of the little patients she cried so piteously I was obliged to take her away and she could never bear to speak of the place afterward and lastly I had seen how she shrank from going to the palace of the association with Edith's terrible death and the chance of seeing her poor repulsive looking little boy there yet when it came to be a question of facing absolute horrors in the interests of the sufferers she was the first to volunteer and she did so with a quiet determination there was no resisting and every trace of inward emotion so carefully obliterated that one might have been forgiven for supposing her to be altogether callous this happened after her mother's death in the spring when she had already begun to revive and was the first startling symptom she showed of the new phase of interest and energy upon which I suspected she was entering I hoped at the time that the great grief had carried off the minor ailments of the mind as the great illness did of the body and that the change would prove to be better eventually although the first outcome of it was not the kind of thing I liked at all for her I had not seen her for a week or so when she was ushered one morning into my consulting room she had not asked for an appointment and had been waiting to take her turn with the other patients well, what can I do for you I said I was somewhat surprised to see her you don't look very ill prematurely and I don't mean to be ill I have come to be vaccinated ah, that is wise I said you have heard, I suppose that smallpox has broken out in the barracks she said when she was going there are 15 cases four of them women and one a child and they are going to put them under canvas on the common and I shall be obliged to go and see that they are properly nursed that is why I am in such a hurry military nursing is of the most primitive kind in times of peace our doctor is all that he should be but what can he do but prescribe it takes all his time just to go round and get through his ordinary duties did I understand you to say that you are going to look after the smallpox patients I asked politely yes, she answered defiantly, I am going to be isolated with them out on the common patient is already pitched I shall not take smallpox I assure you I don't see how you can be so sure I said, she gave me one of her most puzzling answers one of those in which I felt there was an indication of the something about her which I did not understand oh, because it is such a relief she said, how a relief I questioned, oh I shall not take the disease she repeated, and I shall enjoy it, but this I knew was an evasion however, I had no time to argue the point with her just then so I waited until my consultations were over and then went to see colonel kahoon I thought if he would not forbid, he might at all events persuade her to abandon her rash design I found him at his own place walking about the garden with his hands and his pockets and a cigar in his mouth in his mood, the one of his I most disliked now, you were quite concerned he said, with an extra affectation of broke when I had told him my errand sure, she humbugs you Evadny does if you knew her as well as I do you'd not be troubling yourself about her so much I tell you she'll come to no harm in the world now what do you think were her reasons for going to live a smallpox camp then she has gone, I exclaimed oh, yes, she's gone he answered the grass never has time to grow under that young woman's feet if she's an idea to carry out I will say that for her but what do you think she said when I asked her why she'd be going among the smallpox patients oh, she said I want to see what they look like and she'd another reason too she'll make herself look like an interesting nurse you know and quite enjoy dressing up for the part I felt sure that all this was a horrid perversion of the truth but I let it pass you'll not interfere then I persisted not I, indeed he answered she never comes, commandeering it over me and I'm not going to meddle with her private affairs she doesn't come here bringing infection that's all but she may catch the disease herself and die of it or be disfigured for life I remonstrated and she might catch her death of cold here in the garden or be burnt beyond all recognition by a spark setting fire to her bald dress the next time she wears one he answered philosophically when you look at the chances recently when he had said this and something he saw in my face inclined him to chuckle but he suppressed the inclination twirling his fair mustache instead first on one side and then on the other rapidly in his youth he must have been one of those small boys who delighted to spear a bee with a pin and watch it buzz round the boy is pretty sure the bee can't hurt him but yet half the pleasure of the performance lies in the fact of its having it would not have been convenient for Colonel Cohoon to quarrel with me because there had been certain money transactions between us which left him greatly my deptor but he thought me secured by my interest in Evadny and indulged himself on every possible occasion in the pleasure of opposing me not that he bore me any ill will either I knew that he would borrow more money from me at any time in the friendliest way if he happened to want it I was his honeybee and he was fond of honey but it delighted him also to see me buzz I was obliged to consider my own patients and keep away from the smallpox camp during the epidemic for fear of carrying infection and consequently I saw nothing of Evadny and only heard of her through the military doctor for she would not write his report of her however was always the same at first she was the life of the camp bright, cheerful and active, never tired apparently and never disheartened this went on for some time and then one evening there came another report she was just as cheerful as ever but looking most awfully done at daybreak next morning I drove out to the common and leaving my dog cart outside the camp went in to look for her but she was generally up all night and was therefore prepared to find her about and I met her making her way toward her own tent she was dressed like a french bun in a short dark blue gown made of some washing material with a white apron and white cap and a chateau lane with useful implements upon it hanging from her girdle a very suitable costume for the work but she wore no wrap of any kind and the morning air was keen I noticed as she walked toward me that her gait was a little uncertain once she put her hand out as if seeking something to grasp and once she staggered and stopped I hastened to her assistance and saw as I approached her that she was colorless even to her lips her eyes were bright and sunken with large black circles round them and the lids were heavy I drew her hand through my arm without more formal greeting I asked it gratefully for a moment then dropped it and stepped back I forgot she said it seems so natural to see you anywhere but don't touch me I shall infect you I shall have to go home and change in any case I answered briskly I've been up all night with a poor woman she said and I'm just tired out don't look concerned though I shall not take smallpox anything in disguise and I am sure the absorbing distraction of helping to relieve others she stopped short she stopped short looked about her confusedly and then exclaimed it is quite time I went to bed I declare I don't know the hospital tent from the sandy common nor a rabbit running about from a convalescent child and the wind bushes are waltzing round me derisively she swayed a little she laid to laugh then threw up her hands and fell forward into my arms I carried her to her tent guided by one of the men on the way Dr. James joined us we laid her on her bed and looked anxiously for symptoms of the dreadful disease but there were none no you see Dr. James declared it's just what I expected sheer exhaustion she let her begot out of this atmosphere at once she was in a semi-unconscious semisalm no lense stained half sinky, half sleep and there was nothing to be gained by rousing her just then so we wrapped her up ornly in shawls, sent for my dog cart and lifted her on the back seat where I supported her as best I could while my man drove us to as you like it Colonel Kahoon was not up when we arrived there was some champagne after she had been put to bed and in the meantime the bustle had aroused him when he learned the occasion of it his wrath knew no bounds he could not have abused me in choice or language if I had been one of his own subalterns but I managed to keep my temper until I could get a word in and then I mildly suggested that the best thing he could do as he was so afraid of infection was to give himself leave and be off me and look after your wife I said you'd better go to town it was what he would have done if I had not advised it but the habit of opposing me was becoming so inveterate that he changed his mind and rather than act upon a suggestion of mine ran the risk of living in barracks until all fear of infection was over happily Evadny suffered from nothing worse than exhaustion and soon recovered her strength but I never could agree with Dr. James about the merit of her conduct during the epidemic end of book 6 chapter 9 book 6 chapter 10 of the heavenly twins this is a LibriVox recording while LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org the heavenly twins by Sarah G chapter 10 it was about this time that is to say immediately after the outbreak of smallpox was over and in the height of the summer that Mr. and Lady Adeline Hamilton Wells returned from a prolonged absence abroad and settled themselves for a few months at Hamilton house I happened to be in London when they arrived and saw them there as they passed through Lady Adeline made particular inquiries about Evadny I don't think you, any of you understand that girl she said she is shy and should be set going she requires to be induced to come forward to do her share of the work of the world but instead of helping her everybody lets her alone to mope and luxurious idleness and as you like it she is never idle I protested I know what you mean Lady Adeline answered she sits and sows she is waffling for a woman of her capacity she was out of health and good for nothing when I saw her last with Mrs. Orton Beg in Paris and therefore I held my peace but now I mean to take her out of herself and show her her mistake I hope you will be able to do so I said and I was not speaking ironically but all the same I scarcely expected that she would succeed the day after my return home however it was only a week later I called at Hamilton House and it seemed to me then that she had already made a very good beginning it was a brilliant afternoon and I had walked through the fields from fountain towers and found Lady Adeline alone for the moment sitting out on the terrace under an awning somewhat overcome by the heat you have arrived at an acceptable time as you always do she said in her decided kindly way I am enjoying a brief period of repose before the racket begins again and I invite you to share it the racket I inquired no the repose she replied Angelica is staying here and Evadny Mrs. Cahoon and racket I ejaculated well it is difficult to associate the two ideas I confess she answered yourself Angelica makes the racket of course but Evadny enjoys it I went to as you like it as soon as I could without waiting for her to call upon me and I found her just as you had led me to expect all stayed propriety and precision hiding deep dejection beneath an affectation of calm content at least that was my interpretation of her attitude and inclined to be stiff with me but I approached her as her mother's oldest and dearest friend and she softened at once and you brought her here that is quite the proper word for it she rejoined I just brought her I insisted upon her coming I gave her no choice and I also asked Colonel Cahoon but he declined he said he thought Evadny would be all the better for getting away from home and I agreed with him however occasionally and they seemed to be very good friends I don't dislike him at all this was said tentatively but I did not care to discuss Colonel Cahoon and therefore to change the subject I asked Lady Adeline how she found Angelica very much improved in every way she answered the happiest understanding has come to exist between herself and her husband since that dreadful occurrence simply inseparable she said to me the other day that her only chance of ever showing to any advantage at all would be against the quiet background of her husband's unobtrusive goodness and I think myself that a great many people would never have believed in her if he had not all her faults are so apparent alas while the very real and earnest purpose of her life is so seldom seen she has been working very hard lately I believe yes Lady Adeline answered but I am thankful to say she has set up a private secretary and who do you think it is our dear good Mr. Ellis I am heartily glad to hear of it I said both for his sake and hers yes she agreed it did not seem right that he should ever go away from amongst us and you know how we all felt the severance after Diablo went into the service and there seemed no help for it as his occupation was over I am afraid poor fellow his experiences since he left us have been anything but happy all that is over now however and it does seem so natural to have him about again he must make an admirable secretary I said admirable she agreed in every way for I don't think Angelica would ever have got on quite so well without anybody else he was always able to make her respect him and now the habit is confirmed so that he has more influence with her for good than almost anybody else a restraining influence you know her great fault still is impatience she thinks everything should be put right the moment she perceives it to be wrong and would raise revolutions if she were not restrained it is always difficult to make her believe that evolution if slower is sure but here they are as Lady Aniline spoke Angelica accompanied by Mr. Kilroy and Mr. Ellis came out of the plantation to the left of the terrace upon which we were sitting and walked across the lawn toward us while at the same time Diablo and Abadney came around the corner of the house from the opposite direction and went to meet them in front of a parasol but were neither had nor gloves she looked very happy listening to Diablo's chatter Angelica carried a fishing rod and I thought as she approached that I had never seen a more splendid specimen of hearty, healthy vigorous young womanhood Abadney looked sickly beside her and drooping like a pale and fragile flower in want of water the contrast must have struck Lady Aniline also for presently she observed Abadney was as strong as Angelica once do you suppose her health has been permanently injured by that horrid Maltese fever no I said positively if she would give up sewing and take a fishing rod and go out with Angelica in a sensible dress like that she would be as strong as ever in six months but I fancy she would be shocked by the bear suggestion Angelica hugged Diablo heartily when they met and then being the taller of the two she put her arm around his neck and all three strolled slowly on toward us Mr. Alice and Mr. Kilroy having already come up onto the terrace and sat down while greeting the two latter I lost sight of the heavenly twins and when I looked at them again something had evidently gone wrong Angelica stood leaning on her rod berating Diablo who was answering with animation while Abadney looked from one to the other in amazement as the strange good child looks at the strange naughty ones whatever the difference was it was soon over and then they came on again talking and walking bristly followed by four dogs I am vulgar decidedly at times Angelica acknowledged as she came up the steps I shouldn't be so amusing if I were not she held out her hand to me and then threw herself into the only unoccupied chair on the terrace but instantly jumped up again I beg your pardon Abadney she said these are my society manners when I am on the platform or otherwise engaged in unwomenly pursuits outside this fear I have to be more considerate some more chairs were brought out one of which Diablo plays beside me this is for you he said to Abadney I know you like to be near the dawn Abadney flushed crimson did you ever hear that story Angelica asked me Abadney's embarrassment visibly increased Angelica don't tell it she remonstrated it isn't fair Angelica laughed when Abadney first came here she proceeded she sat next to you at dinner one night and didn't know who you were but it seems you made such a profound and favorable impression upon her that afterward she had the curiosity to ask when she learned that you were a doctor a doctor she exclaimed in surprise he is more like a don than a doctor and you have been dawned to her intimates ever since well I feel flattered I said I feel as if I ought to apologize if Abadney began only I meant no disrespect my dear Angelica interposed he is delighted to be distinguished by you in any way but by the pricking of my thumbs something wicked and Colonel Kahoon came out onto the terrace through the drawing room behind us he shook hands with us all his wife included and then sat down I say if Abadney Diablo began my dear boy said Lady Adeline you mustn't call Mrs. Kahoon by her Christian name Christian dear Diablo now that is a good one there's nothing Christian about Abadney we looked her up in the dictionary ages ago didn't we Angelica the name means well pleasing one as nearly as possible and it suits her sometimes Abadney classical Abadney was noted for her devotion to her husband and distinguish herself finally on his funeral higher she expired there we all groaned aloud it was a somewhat theatrical exit I confess Diablo pursued but I say Angelica wouldn't it be fun to burn the Colonel and see Abadney do sati on his body only I doubt if she would he turned to Abadney Mrs. Kahoon he began ceremoniously may I have the honor of calling you by your he the name as in the days beyond recalling when you are good she answered he exclaimed I should have had more respect for your honesty if you said no at once and it is very absurd of you to Abadney because you know you are going to marry me when Colonel Kahoon is promoted to regions of the bless she would have married me first only you stole a march on me sir he added addressing Colonel Kahoon however I feel as if something were going to happen now at last there was a banshee wailing about my quarters in a minor key very flat last night she had come all the way from Ireland to warn Colonel Kahoon and mistaken the house I suppose my dear we all looked round it was Mr. Hamilton Wells addressing Lady Adeline in his most precise manner open French window just behind us tapping one hand with the pince-nez he held in the other my dear the cat has five kittens my dear Lady Adeline exclaimed they have only just arrived and never mind them now she cried hurriedly but my dear you are anxious to know I don't want to know in the least she protested but only this morning you said that was upstairs she interrupted what difference does that make he wanted to know you don't mean to say you are anxious about the cat when you are upstairs and not anxious when you come down Lady Adeline sank back in her chair and resigned herself to a long altercation before it ended everybody else had disappeared and I saw no more of Avadne on that occasion but during the next few weeks I had many opportunities of observing the wonderful way she was waking up under the influence of the heavenly twins they gave her no time for reflection it was the life of action against the life of thought and it suited her the ladies frequently made my house the object of an afternoon walk and stayed for tea Lady Adeline declared that the girls dragged her over because they wanted a new victim to torment with their super abundant animal spirits the super abundance was all Angelica's I knew but still Avadne wasn't accomplice and they neither of them spared me in those days they would rob my hot houses of the best fruits and flowers disarrange my books turn pictures they did not like with their faces to the wall drape my statues fantastically criticize what they called my absurd bachelor habits and gave me good advice on the subject of marriage Avadne had a passion for the scent of course she crammed pockets sleeves shoes and the bosom of her dress with the yellow blossoms and I often found these fragrant tokens of her presence scattered about my house after she had been there once when we were all out walking together she stopped to take a look at me and said to me I'm going to take a look walking together she stopped to pick some from a bush and as she was putting them into her bodice she made a remark which gave me pause to ponder you will want to know why I do that I suppose she said you will be looking for a motive for some secret spring of action the simple fact that I love the course won't satisfy you you would like to know why I love it when I first began to love it and anything else about it that might measure my feeling for it this was so exactly what I was in the habit of doing with regard to many matters that I could not say a word but what struck me a significant about the observation was the obvious fact gathered by inference that while I had been studying her she also had been studying me and I had never suspected it she walked on with Angelica after she had spoken and I dropped behind with Lady Adeline your Evatni and Colonel Kahoon's wife are two very different people I said the one is a lively girl the other a sad and bitter woman sad, not bitter Lady Adeline corrected I have heard her say bitter things I maintained you may perhaps have heard her condemn wrong ones rather too emphatically Lady Adeline suggested but all this is only a phase she is in rather a deep groove at present but we shall be able to get her out of it I don't know I answered dubiously I don't think it is that exactly I believe there is some kind of warp in her mind I perceive it but can neither define nor account for it yet it is something morbid that makes her hold herself aloof she has never allowed anybody in the neighborhood to be intimate with her even I who have seen her oftener than anybody never feel that I know her really well that I could reckon upon what she would do in an emergency and I believe that there is something artificial in her attitude but why what is the explanation of all that is unusual about her Lady Adeline shook her head and was silent for some seconds then she said I once had a friend but her moral nature quite halted it was because she had lost her faith in men a woman who thinks that only women can be worthy as like a bird with a broken wing but I don't say that that is Evadney's case at all since she came to us she has seemed to be much more like one of those marvelous casks of sherry out of which a dozen different wines are taken the flavor depends on the doctoring here under Angelica's influence why she has filled your pocket with rose blossoms it was true in taking out my handkerchief I had just gathered the flowers and so discovered that they were there then you give her credit for less individuality you think her more at the mercy of her surroundings than I do I said but before she could answer me Evadney herself had joined us I suppose I was looking grave for she asked in a playful tone did he ever frolic Lady Adeline this solemn seeming on was he always an artist even on his mother's lap and occupied with weighty problems of life and death when other babes were wondering with wide open eyes at the irresponsible action of their own pink toes which made me reflect for if I were in the habit of being a dull bore myself it was no wonder that I seldom saw her looking lively the following week Evadney went home and as soon as she was settled and as you like it she seemed to relapse once more into her former state of apathy I saw her day after day as I passed sitting sewing in the wide west window above the holly hedge and so long as she was left alone she seemed to be content but I began to notice at this time that any interruption at her favorite occupation did not please her the summer heat the scent of flowers streaming through open windows the song of birds the level escape here vividly green with the up springing aftermath their crimson and gold where the poppies gleamed amongst the ripening corn all such sweet sensuous influences she looked out upon lovingly and enjoyed them so long as she was left alone on hot afternoons Diabolo would go and lie at her feet sometimes with a cushion under his head and him she tolerated but only I am sure because he always fell asleep I had to go to as you like at one day to transact some business with Colonel Kahoon and when we had done he asked me to go up into the drawing room with him come and I'll show you a pretty picture he said it was a pretty picture they had both fallen asleep on that occasion it was a torrent day outside but the deep bay where they were was cool and shady the windows were wide open the outside blinds were drawn low enough to keep out the glare but not so far as to hide the view behind a bad name was a stand of flowers and foliage plants Diabolo was lying on the floor in his favorite attitude with a black satin cushion under his head and was with his slender figure refined features thick curly fair hair and fine transparent skin slightly flushed by the heat a perfect specimen of adolescent grace and beauty he looked like a young lover lying at the feet of his lady a bad name was sitting in a low easy chair with a high back against which her head was resting half her face was concealed by a fan of white ostrich feathers which he held in her left hand and the moment I looked at her the haunting certainty of having seen her in exactly that position once before recurred to me she was looking well that afternoon her glossy dark brown hair showed bright as bronze against the satin background of the chair she was dressed in a gown of silver gray cashmere lined with turquoise blue silk which showed between the folds cool colors of the best shade to set off the ivory whiteness of her skin Colonel Kahoon considered the group meditatively she keeps her looks he observed in an undertone and Diabolo is catching her up I looked at him inquiringly she's six or eight years older than he is you know, he explained but you wouldn't think it now I wondered what he had in his mind times are changing he proceeded now, when I was a lad if a lady had liked me as well as a bad knee likes that boy I'd have taken advantage of her preference not if the lady had been of her stamp I said dryly it's true for you he acknowledged but it isn't the lady only in this case it's that young himself he's as particular as she is he said the other day at mess it was a guest night and there was a big dinner on and somebody proposed wine and women for a toast but he wouldn't drink it oh, spare me, he said in that slow way he has wine and women as you take them our things as course in the way of pleasure as pork and porter are for food we asked him then to give us his own ideas of pleasure but he said he didn't think anybody there was educated up to them even sufficiently to understand them and he wasn't joking altogether either at that same moment Evadny opened her eyes, wide and looked at us a second before she spoke another sign of surprise I am afraid I have been asleep she said, rising deliberately and shaking hands with me across the prostrate, Diavolo do sit down she sank back into her own chair as she spoke and fanned a fly from Diavolo's face I never knew anyone sleep so soundly she said, looking down at him lovingly he rides out here nearly every day when he is not on duty and she says to her, Anjelica is jealous I believe because he will not go to her he says there is no repose about Anjelica and that it is only here with me that he finds the dreamful ease he loves there was a sound of talking outside just then and a few minutes later Anjelica herself came in with her father oh, you darling you are a pretty boy she exclaimed she saw Diavolo and then she went down on her knees beside him put her arms around his neck pulled him up and hugged him roughly and attention which he immediately resented ah, I thought it was you he said, opening his eyes goodbye, sweet sleep goodbye then he set up and turning his back to a bad knee coolly rested himself against her knee I suppose we can have tea now is something to look forward to Papa, dear, touch the bell to save the Colonel the trouble Colonel Kahoon laughed and rang it himself good-naturedly Diavolo Evadny exclaimed, pushing him away I'm not going to nurse a great boy like you well Anjelica must then he said, changing his position so as to lean against his sister Anjelica laid her hand on his head and her face softened Evadny used to like to nurse me he complained she's not nearly so nice since she's married I say, Anjelica, do you remember the wedding breakfast? when we agreed to drink as much champagne as the bridegroom I swore I would never get drunk again and I never have faith, said Colonel Kahoon there are some who'd like to be able to say the same thing some dogs had followed Anjelica in and had now to be turned out because Evadny would not have dogs indoors she said she liked a good dog's character but could not bear the smell of him and how are the children? Mr. Hamilton Wells asked affably when this diversion was over there are no children Evadny exclaimed in surprise are there not? indeed, now, that is singular he observed then he looked at me as if he were about to say something interesting he stably interposed I was afraid he was going to speculate about the natural history of the phenomenon which had just struck him as being singular he knew perfectly well that Evadny had no children but he was subject or affected to be subject to moments of obliviousness in which he was wont to ask embarrassing questions the weather is quite tropical was the original observation I made Mr. Hamilton Wells felt if the parting of his smooth straight hair was exactly in the middle patted in on either side then shook back imaginary ruffles from his long white hands and interlaced his jewel fingers on his lap you were never in the tropics I think you told me he said to Evadny with exaggerated preciseness now, I have been off and on several times the heat is very trying I knew a lady, the wife of a colonial governor who used to be so overcome by it that she was obliged to undo all her things let them slip to the ground and step out of them leaving them looking like a great cheese she told me so herself I assure you, and she was an exceedingly stout person the heavenly twins went into convulsion suddenly, is that tea at last Evadny asked Colonel Kahoon and I both sadly moved to make room for the servants who were bringing it in and the conversation was not resumed until they had withdrawn then Angelica began I came to make a last appeal to you Evadny, I want to tell you about a poor girl oh, don't break this lovely summer silence with tales of woe Evadny exclaimed interrupting her I cannot do anything, don't ask me you harrow my feelings to no purpose listen, it is not right that I should be forced to know well, I think you are making a mistake Evadny Angelica replied don't you think so looking at me she is sacrificing herself to save herself she imagines she can secure her own peace of mind by refusing to know that there is a weary world of suffering close at hand which she should be helping to relieve suffering for others strengthens our own powers of endurance we lose them if we don't exercise them and that is the way you are sacrificing yourself to save yourself Evadny, when some big trouble of your own one of those which cannot be denied comes upon you it will crush you you will have lost the moral muscle you should be exercising now to keep it in good working order and develop it well for your own use when you require it it would not be worse for you to take a stimulant to wind yourself up to an artificially pleasurable state when at any time you are not naturally cheerful and that is what a too great love of peace occasionally ends in Evadny waved her ostrich feather fan backward and forward slowly and looked out of the window she would not even listen to this friendly counsel and I felt sure she was making a mistake I only saw her once again that some are under Lady Adeline's salutary influence it was a few days later and Evadny was in an expansive mood she had been spending the day with Lady Adeline and the two had been for a drive together and had overtaken me on the road and picked me up on their way back to Hamilton House I had been for a solitary ramble and was then returning to work but Evadny said I must go back to tea with them for your own sake because it is a shame to waste a summer day in work a glorious summer day so evidently sent for our enjoyment the greatest pleasure in life is to be in perfect condition for the work one loves I answered but I was settling myself comfortably in the carriage as I spoke such is the consistency of man but indeed it was not very difficult to persuade me to idle that afternoon I had been inclining that way for weeks under the influence of the intoxicating heat doubtless and presently when I found myself comfortably seated on the wide stone terrace outside the great drawing room at Hamilton House under a shady awning looking down upon lawns vividly green and lovely gardens all aglow with color and alive with perfume which is the soul of the flowers I yielded sensuous surface to the hour and gave myself up to the enjoyment of it unreservedly Mr. Hamilton Wells was there making tea in the precise manner and looking more puritanical than ever how to reconcile his coldly formal exterior with the interior from which emanated his choice of subjects in conversation is a matter which I have not yet had time to study although I am convinced that the solution of the problem would prove to be of great scientific value and importance I was not in the habit of thinking of him as either a man or a woman myself however, but as a specimen of humanity broadly and domestically as a husband whom I always suspected of being a sharp sword of the law although I had never obtained the slightest evidence of the fact Lady Adeline was lolling in a low cane chair fatigued by her drive and longing allowed for tea and a bad knee was flitting about laughing and talking more than any of us she was wearing an art gown very becoming to her and suitable also for such sultry weather as Mr. Hamilton Wells remarked I suppose you are a strong supporter of the synthetic dress movement he said doubtless, alluding to the graceful freedom of her delicate primrose draperies not at all, she answered seating herself on the arm of a chair near Lady Adeline and opening her fan gently as she spoke I was inspired to ask for more tea just then Mr. Hamilton Wells ported out and handed it to me you take milk, he informed me but no sugar, then he folded his hands and recommends to return to the original point of departure, he began which was modern dress if I remember rightly he smiled round upon us all knowing quite well that he remembered rightly he brings us by an obvious route to another question of the day I mean the position of women how do you regard their position at this latter end of the 19th century of that name I do not regard it at all if I can help it she answered incisively Mr. Hamilton Wells dropped his outspread hands upon his knees if I remember rightly he said you take no interest in politics either that is quite a phenomenon in the 19th century I have my duties the duties of my social position you know she answered and my own little pursuits as well neither of which I can neglect for the affairs of the world but are they enough for you Lady Adeline ventured Evadnik glanced up to see what she meant and then smiled the wisdom of ages is brought to the training of each little girl she said and to fit her for our position is to be agreeable you mean that a woman of decided opinions is not an agreeable person Lady Adeline asked decided opinions must always be offensive to those who don't hold them Evadnik rejoined a woman must know that the future are welfare of her own sex and the progress of the world at large depends upon the action of women now and the success attending it Angelica observed comprehensively yes but she knows also that her own comfort and convenience depend entirely on her neutrality Evadnik answered it is not high minded to be neutral I know when it is put in that way but a woman who is so becomes exactly what the average man taken at his word would have her be and he is we are assured the proper person to legislate she looked at us all defiantly as she spoke and just at that moment Colonel Kahun joined us he had come to fetch her and his entrance gave a new turn to the conversation it had been oppressively hot all day he observed yes Lady Adeline answered and I do so long for the mountains and weather like this oh do you are you subject to the magnet of the mountains I am not I do not want to feel the nothingness of man I like to believe in his greatness in his infinite possibilities I like to think of life as a level plane over which we can gallop to some goal I don't know what but something desirable and the actual landscape pleases me best so the great tumbled mountains make me melancholy they are always foreboding something on toward even at the best of times but the olden spaces when swept and evident I love them I am at home on them I can breathe there I am free this was the natural woman at last in her aspirations unconsciously showing herself superior to the artificial creature she was trying to be I hate the melancholy mountains the ever ready Angelica burst forth I loathe inconstancy the breezy plane for a gallop it is there that one feels free meditatively and slowly twisted each end of his heavy blond mustache I haven't seen you writing for some time now he said and it's a pity for you have a flying seat on a horse I was obliged to make up that night for the time lost in the afternoon and the dawn had broken when at last I put my work away I opened the study windows wider to salute it a lark was singing somewhere out of sight the lurish the m-oven nix doa and the ripples of undecipherable sound struck some equally inarticulate chord of sense and fell full-fraud with association the breeze murmurous amongst the branches set the leaves rustling like silk attire did I imagine it or was there really a faint sweet perfume of yellow gorse in the air a thrush on a bow below began to flute softly trying its tones before it burst forth giving full voice to its enthusiasm in one clear call eloquent of life and love and longing and all expressed in just three notes crotchet quaver, crotchet and rest which shortly shaped themselves to a word in my heart a word of just three syllables the accent being on the penultimate ee bad knee ee bad knee good heavens I roused myself not a proper state of mind certainly for a man of my years and pursuits why how old was I 35 not so old in one way yet ten years older at least then stop, sickly sentimentality life is real life is earnest dreams of scented gorse of posing in daffodil draperies for me must take a holiday and rest take my agreeable ugliness off I was amused when the heavenly twins told me their mother talked of my agreeable ugliness but no did I like it no I was cynical when I said it take my agreeable ugliness off to the mountains turn nine eyes onto the mountains the magnet of the mountains yes I felt it I delighted to do so I was not morbid to the mountains to the cold which stays corruption the snows which are pure and the eternal silence by ten o'clock that night I was well on my way end of book six chapter ten