Mummery

rate of a mile every minute and a half.... It was good to be out of the thick heat of London, invaded by foreigners and provincials and turned into a city of pleasure and summer-froc

s the Thames and to feel that with each crossing London lay so much farther away. Henley, Oxford, Lechlade, and the Cotswolds-that was the first day, and, breathing the clover-scented air, g

made all her discoveries so entrancing. 'When people get tied up in knots, the

choyle. 'I have been looking for trouble all m

ght to be hap

roubles. They will take far more trouble over them than th

ber the birds

birds and fishes who

arles meant by them-escap

hen you really come to grips with it. Life always looks like a blank wall until you come up to it an

you go th

gh and out to t

happy smile. They were friends for ever, the relationship mo

her own situation with regard to Charles, and t

oney from me, and to pump me about the form of my horses. How on earth did h

ing in Charles's life

ur name re

no one else except an Italian nurse, with a very brown face and very

the British Empire. It is so big, you know. I'm sure the

t to their friendship was removed, but sometimes as they walked through fields he would grip his stick very tight and lash out at a hemlock or a dog-daisy, and sometimes whe

tayed in pleasant inns, and made many strange acquaintances, bagmen, tourists, young men with knapsacks on th

en't toured in England before. Somehow in London one knows nothing of England. One is bored a

n life was simply continued in a lovely valley at the bottom of which lay a

flowers looked as if they were painted and the trees had no roots, but were as though clamped

Lady Butcher with scandal for the pleasure of hearing her say witty biting things, which, as she had no mercy, came easily to her lips. She studiously treated Clara as though she

parent to Clara that Lady Butcher hated the project of Charles's production of The Tempest. She

rk alone was in her eyes a kind of blasphemy. As for Clara-Lady Butcher thought of her as a minx, a designing actress, one of the many who had attempted to divert Sir Henry from the social to the

nisters were due to motor over to lunch one day, and a famous editor was to stay for a couple of nights, while he

e boyish jealousy in Sir Henry, who, as he had 'discovered' her, regarded her as his property, and considered that any romance she might desire should be through him.... He infu

ell of grease-paint than a dog c

the orchard and up the stony path, down which trickled a little stream, to the crag that dominated the house and garden. It was covered with heather and winberries, and just bel

a-a

fect night!

a night a

ch a n

nice. Something about moonlight when Lorenzo and Jessica elope

elements in Sir Henry's character that he could never s

ow you shone out among the players in my theatre.... It is even more remarkable amo

d was so lovely. As we came north in the car I thought each

. The real audiences are out of London. A couple of years' touring would do you a world of good. You shall make your name first.... There aren'

the gentle wind playing through her thick hair, caressing her parte

ir Henry, gazing at h

nking, a little tiny cloud floating over the tops of the mountains. So lightly poised was she that it seemed miraculous that she did not ta

these ye

n take

sweet and low, a boyish voice,

alarm that she was going to throw herself down. Such perfection might rightly end in tragedy, and he thought with anguish of Mann and Verschoyle, thought that they had besmi

ake care!' ca

o the heather by hi

ty in Downing Street? You are Ariel and can put a girdle round the earth.... I am almost afraid of you. Can't we run away and

ying, and indeed he was light-hearted and moonstruck, lifte

st thing to help you, I should be prouder o

n't want

ot in himself to reproduce every fine shade of emotion, the effect of every variety of experience.... The people who know

een married twice and his two families numbered seven. But Clara, too, was un

aid Sir Henry. 'I live in dread lest you shou

he not know a

his was taking h

youth attracts, it is drawn into the whirlpool a

exultantly. 'There has never

u have bewitched me-and we had better be going bac

er down the last stony path, because her flimsy shoes were already wet through. He

both to command and to deserve their homage. In no play had he ever devised a more romantic finale than this in which he carried his conquered sprite-for so he thought her-back to earth. As he

ry angry with her

people think of su

her cheeks glowing from the night air. 'It makes him happy, and, if you are happy wi

ome day you will love and then you will see ver

.. I wonder I never thought of it before. I

ve been g

more harm in the world than all the bad w

on't forgive you in a hur

they are. You can't expect me

ou to be

s just for fun, and the Cabinet Ministers, and then I want to drown their memories

't bear being with you in

ed me you would never

behaving like a

She knew that part of his trouble

, and in three days had arranged for two engagements and one divorce. They commanded Verschoyle-by suggestion-to marry a Mrs Slesinger, who was plain but almost as rich as himself, and in his distress he very nearly succumbed; but Clara swooped in to save him, and found that her position was made almost impossible by whispered tittle-tattle, cold looks, and downright rudeness. She was distinctly lef

d h

of Ireland, and did you hear how the other bleated when he mouthed of Poor Law Reform? They're on show-always on

ou may be unjust to Lady Butcher, b

ordsworth, and I don't want to think of Wordsworth.... Being with you makes m

the car up and down breakneck hills and making on foot the ascent of Great Gable and Scafell, upon whose summit in the keen air and the gusty wind Clara let fly and danced abo

spoil this

ho

spoil Charles, and you and me and silly o

d they make railways up them, and at the top of the railways English governe

turn into a volcano and burn them all up, all the engineers and all

f expected her at once to turn into a volcano. With Clara anything might happen, and her