The Odd Women

efly dismembered columns, spread in order upon the ground, and looking like portions of a razed temple. It is the colonnade of old Burlington House, convey

ad none, and the knowledge of life she had gained in London assured her that in thus encouraging a perfect stranger she was doing a very hazardous thing. But the evening must somehow be spent, and if she went off in another direction it would only be to wander about with an adventurous mind; for her conversati

nce of a few yards he raised his hat, not very gracefully. Monica did not offer her hand, nor did Widdowson seem to expect it. But he gave proof of an intense

to come,' he said in a low

' was Monica's rather vague reply, as she

I only left home an hour ag

it of picking up an acquaintance with shop-girls. His smile did not return; an extreme sobriety characterized his manner and spee

he country?' was one

y sisters, and in the afternoon

are older th

me years

you went to live

home of our own since

not ill-featured. No particular force of character declared itself in his countenance, and his mode of speech did not suggest a very active brain. Speculating again about his age, Monica concluded that he must be two or three and forty, in spite of the fact that his gri

a Londoner,' he said, w

ow

e any provincial accent. And even if you had been a

or a blunder, and after a short sil

prefer t

ways - no

d friends. So many young ladies come u

, ma

ss which threatened absolute silence. Monica's brain was so actively at work that she lost consciousness

ere near Chelsea Bridge. Widdowson gazed at the pleasure

are to go on

d up with a startled air. She had not thought of

de is still running up. We might go very quietly f

should l

man well trained in this form of exercise. On sitting down, he had taken off his hat, stowed it away, and put on a little travelling-cap, which he drew from his pocket. Monica thought this became him. After all, he was not a companio

ety. 'Direct me. Shall we go quickly - some distance, or

To row much would

to go some dis

ou like. Of course we must

out hi

d there is daylight till nine or a

' Monica answered, with th

we could have started early in the afterno

ned her present. She saw that Widdowson glanced at it from time

not see you today,' he said, as they

ed to come if

y kind to give me your company.' He was looking at the

t one of the sculls, as it rose and fell,

iver two or three times, but alone. This

efer dr

y I saw a day or two ago - down in Surrey. Perhaps some day you will let me. I live rather a lonely life, as you see. I

employ yourse

hopelessly all my life - till a year and a half ago. I began to earn

d Monica, with an odd look t

r me. Yes, I am very idle. A year and a half ago my only brother died. He had been very successful

intending it, she pulled the tiller so

right. Many days I don't leave home. I am fond of reading, and now I

y much, and I fee

for want of oppo

impulse which perturbed her, Monica began to slip o

med Widdowson merrily, when she h

I ought perhaps to have told you mine. It's

ugh it were something fragile, and - the sculls

is your

am twe

strange thing - isn't it? Oh, I remember this book very well, though I haven't seen it or heard of it for twenty yea

self by exerting physical strength, he drove the boat along with half a dozen

sently, 'you are very well contented wi

I am

hardships of such a life. Will yo

om Sunday to Sunday, but without indignation, and

strong,' was Wid

see this afternoon t

work. My wonder is that you endure it at

e possessed, Monica told him that her sisters might perhaps help her to live whilst she was learning a new occupation. But Widdowson had become abstracted; he ceased pulling, crossed his arms on the

ble, good, and brave woman. I'm afraid my father had a good many faults that made her life hard. He was of a violent temper, and of course the deafness didn't improve it. Well, one day a cab knocked him down in the King's Road, and from that injury, though not until a year after, he died. There were only two children; I was the elder. My mother couldn't keep me at school very long, so, at fourteen, I was sent into the office of the man who had bee

t, and began

ned them?'

d was some stern but conscientious man to look after me and make me work. In my spare time I lay about on the shore, or got into mischief with other boys. It needed my mother's death to make a more sensible fellow of me, and by th

d that,' remarked

y n

the kind of man that

direction. I have been all my life a clerk - like so many thousands of other men. Nowadays, if I happen to be in the City when all the clerks are coming away from business, I feel an inexpressible pity for t

got on well. Why d

gree. We alway

ally so ill

th a serious air of investigation which at f

itate me. Some men have told me that I was far too easy-going, too good-natured. Certainly I desire to be good-natured. But I don't easily ma

r always refuse

y-maker. I'll give you an example of how he grew rich. In consequence of some mortgage business he came into possession of a field at Clapham. As late as 1875 this field brought him only a rent of forty pounds; it was freehold property, and he refused many offers of purchase. Well, in 1885, the year before he died, the ground-rents from that field - now

brother an

nothing. In one day - in one hour - I passed from slavery to freedom, from povert

ring you friends a

o have people pressing for my acquaintan

eath silently, then g

hamed to ask them to come and see me. Perhaps they think I shun them because of their position, and I don't know how to justify my

ought to be turning

am sorry the time

s had passed in s

no longer quite a stran

have told m

has been.' He paused, and let the boat waver on the stream for a moment. 'When I dared to speak to you last Sunday I had only

bted whether I ought to

cessary, but you see there may be exceptional cases.' He was giving a lazy stroke now and then, which, as the tide was still, just

of you as a frien

a song of the music-hall or of the nigger minstrels, but it sounded pleasantly with the plash of the

ng? Let me drive you to Hampton Court next S

l be invited to my

ly think of lea

must have time t

to you, say on Friday, would you

se for next Sunday. Th

ch Widdowson silently accepted. The rest of the way they exchanged only brief sentences, about the beauty of the sky, t

quickly home,

t h

m York Road to

d have imagined that he found something to disap

h you to the s

ort distance to York Road. Monica took he

et in an expression of anxiety, 'and make an app

glad to come

a very long

n she looked like one whose mind is occupied with grave trouble. Fat

he was intercepted by a tall, showily-dressed, rather coarse-featu

Madden. Where did you go wit

e distinctive of a London shop-gi

vant? I went no

get into the bus in

'I can't help it if Mr. Bullivant

ht you was to be truste

ow her to use patience with the jealous girl. 'I can only tell you that I have never thought again of

be cross. Come and wal

there's nothing wh

you're going

n, but the girl

't say as you wanted him to go in the bus with

was no business of his. I did what I could for you. I told him that if h

p her head. 'I don't think it wa

think it was very delicate, but haven't y

e I haven't! Worr

eak to me on the subject

he say, when y

't rem

f it had been the other way about, I'd never

d-ni

oyees entered at night. Monica had taken out her latchkey. But Miss E

I'll do anything for you I can

urned ba

n't do more than assure you and promise you

d he say abo

thi

ept a morti

at all. I would have more pride. I w

e? Oh, I do wish you'd find some

l, hesitated, and

have found

all but danced with j

don't troubl

llowed to turn back

. At half-past eleven, when two of the other five girls who slept in the room made their appearance, she was still changing uneasily from side to side. They lit the gas (it was not turned off till mi

my. After a long and acrimonious discussion in the dark as to which of them should find a candle - it ended in

said one of them, lookin

was no

owering her voice, and glancing round at her companions with

ward eagerly, and

hey was going off in a boat from Battersea Park, but I could

an of fifty, ugly and austere. At this descripti

swell?'

trust Miss M. to keep her eyes open.

sly. 'She's just one of those as gets

ith frank contempt because of her ill-disguised pursuit of a mere counter-man. These oth

e to her with remarkable readiness whenever she had need of it. As usual, she began to talk very loud, at first with innocent vulgarity; exciting a little laughter, she became anecdotic and very scandalous. It took her a long time to disrobe, and when the candle

and closed her tear-stained eyes only when the life of a n