Mummery

g, and amusing. The man was tall, big, and queerly compounded of sensitive beauty and stodgy awkwardness. He entered London with an air of hostility; sniffed distastefully the smells of th

hair, an ill-cut black coat, a cloak flung back over his shoulders, a very

tion!' he said, in a loud voic

lo,' replied his companion. 'It f

s Mann, 'I wish we had ar

it matters,' sm

don station should be grand and spacious, the magnificent ante-r

n,' said Clara. 'I wish yo

had hurried away, but Charles Mann was never in a hurry, and he stayed scowl

uttered, 'they understand tha

dge written in her eyes and on her lips, and the charming dress of purple and old red designed for her slim figure by Charles drew the curious and rather scandalised eyes of the women. It was in no fashion, but the perfection of its individuality raised it above that tyranny, just as Clara'

t gifted Englishmen of his time, his work lay, and she felt certain that here, in London, among other artists, it would be possible to extr

age, and at last she ran along the plat

where we are goi

E

ided where we

on. 'It is absolutely necessary for me to have a secretary. I can do nothing wi

r and told him to take t

ooms at the top of the hotel, with a view out over the river to the Surrey hills, and there until three o'clock in the morning Charles smoked cigars a

l have a secretary and an advertising agent, and I shall talk to London in the language it understands.... Paris knows m

al landing at Dover, the detached existence of her three years with Charles, whose astonishing vitality kindled and continually disappointed her hope.... And then queer, ugly memories of her own wandering, homeless childhood with her grandfather

allenging hostility, determined if, as she believed, there was nothing a woman could not do, that L

rawl of the south side of the river to the dome of Bedlam and the tower of Southwa

ated the National Gallery, and to the vulgar Piccadilly Circus.... Piccadilly Circus we can ignore. What we have to do is to stand on the dome o

lauded by people who can't

m going to have bath and breakfas

at,' cried Clara.

a few minutes they were enjoying their conti

dfather.... You are the only creature I have ever met who is younger than myself.

h you

uld be like you

uld be more

'You would reform me out of e

k and make out a list of clothes that he required before she could conside

go up to its owner and say: 'I'm Clara Day; I've just come to London,' but she forebore; and when people smiled at her, as many did, she returned their smile, and hurried on in her eagerness to explore and to understand the kingdom which was to be Charles Mann's-a kingdom, like others, of splendour and misery, but overwhelmingly rich with its huge hotels, great blocks of offices, vast theatres and music-halls, enormous shops full of merchandise of the finest quality; jewels, clothes, furs, napery, silver, cutlery; its monuments, its dense

that a dinner was to be given in his honour, and that he intended to hold an exhibition; and then Charles's views on many subjects were set out at some length, and he

great state of excitement, talking to a thin, weedy l

ou seen the papers? Things move quickly nowa

' Clara protested. 'You promised you wou

'please send a copy of the letter I h

h the alacrity of a man in a new

id Clara angrily,

be a secretary. He has undertaken that by the end of t

is to pay

lara had not the heart to pursue the argument any further. 'London,' he continued, 'is a grea

ed from her and entirely absorbed in what he was doing, only, however, to return like a giant refreshed to enter into her world again and make it more delightful than before. He was absorbed now, and s

I shall have

though he had bee

God,

trange and came from some

is dif

lected as he collected drunkards, cats, dogs, and other helpless creatures, such a will moved, though it cut like hot iron through his soul, he obeyed it without arg

girl--' h

ill have to,' s

his ordinarily firm lips and nostrils. The girl's eyes were blazing at him, searching him, making him f

of c

you w

of c

ny difference to u

f cour

me down. I'm not used to being pinned dow

gree that it would be a good thing if th

ce?' h

ce,' s

trotted away, his narrow little back stiffened by elation. He, a gentleman of the Automobile Club, for whom there was no life outside the narrow circle whose centre is Piccadilly Circus, had been uneasy in his mind ab