Vain Fortune

Mrs. Bentley.' Hubert bowed, and sought for words. He found none, and the irr

n's face seemed a reproach, and he regretted not having followed his own idea, and invited the

ountry is looking very beautiful just at present. Do you know this part of the

very little out of London for some years, but I hope now

n's great sad eyes, which seemed to absorb the entire face, fixed upon him. They expressed such depth of pathetic appeal that he trembled with apprehension, and

s Hubert's turn to look appealingly at Miss Watson; but her great eyes seemed to say, 'Go on, go on; heap cruelty on cruelty!' Then he plung

they conveyed a meaning different from that which he intended. Certainly his hesit

e intruding; but we are making preparations....

Watson; let me assure

er face in her thin, tiny hands. She sobbed aloud, and ran out of th

ant to tell her I hope she will never leave Ashwood. ... I believe she thinks that I came down here t

is now a little overwrought. The events of

This money I am prepared to give her, and I'm quite sure she is welcome to stay here as long as she pleases. Indeed, she will do me

f during the course of the evening. I

er until she is informed that she is mistaken. I charged Mr. Grandly

y on a matter of business. Of course

moment full of tender admiration for the instinctive generosity which Hubert so unwittingly exhibited, and her eyes told what was p

ill go and try to persuade her to return.... Although only

ionship is remote. Tell her everyth

Then he reproached himself. 'How could I have been so stupid? I did not know what I was saying. I was so horribly nervous. Those strange eyes of hers quite upset me. I do hope Mrs. Bentley will tell her that I wish to act generously, that I am prepared to do everything in my power to make her happy. Poor little thing! She looks as if she had never been happy.' Again the room drew Hubert's thoughts away from his cousin. It

o ladies in the drawing-room, and it was a d

your kind intentions. But I am afraid you must excuse her absence from dinner. I really don't

sn't ill? Had we bette

I assure you, all right,' said Mrs. Bentley, replying to Hubert's alarmed and questioning face. 'I assure you the

g lady up-stairs; and with considerable tact Mrs. Bentley introduced the sub

is now running at t

ut of the bills last Saturday. Satu

un. And the papers spo

y Mrs. Bentley's manner, Hubert told her how happy endings and

nk me very stupid, but I

pathies of his listeners. There was some similarity of temperament between himself and Mrs. Bentley; they were both quiet, fair, medita

grey, and the gold of a bracelet grew darker, and the pink of delicate finger-nails was no longer visible. But the pensive dusk of the dining-room, which blackened the claret in the decanters, leaving only the faintest ruby glow in t

nd there allowed a field to appear. In the foreground a great silver fir, spiky and solitary, rose up in the blue night. Beyond it was seen a corner of the ornamental bridge. The island and its shadow were one black mass rising from the park up to the level of the moon

eemed to him like a harsh, cruel pain that had suddenly ceased. More than he had ever desired seemed to be fulfilled; the reality exceeded the dream. What greater happiness than to live here,

r home. Is not the p

ll her by her Christian name. She is my cousin, and we are going to live together. But,

ards him; he noticed the look of

in with Emily as long as she cares for my society. It is ne

d at the C

n his happiness it seemed to him to be a pit

the piano and sang some Scotch songs very sweetly. Then she took a book from the table and

more shadowy and illusive did the girl seem-that pale and plaintive beauty, looking like a pastel, who had so

low Divorce; but he was unable to detach his thoughts from Ashwood and the ladies he was going to visit to-morrow evening. Hubert and Rose had felt like two school-fellow

red to lend me money once.

e shillings,

t the sum was-we were

still poo

help you.... Allow me to write you a cheque for

r not.... I have som

l your things. Indeed

ight-that is to say, if Ford engages me f

f he d

smile, 'I'll write to you.... We have bee

ll never forget. There is my ad

enius that had been in him once had been exhausted? He remembered the article in The Modern Review, and was frightened to think that the critic might have divined the truth. Once it had seemed impossible to finish that play; but fortune had come to his aid, accident had made him master of his destiny; he could spend three years, five years if he liked, on The Gipsy. But why think of the play at all? What did it mat

turned on the pleasure of life in this beautif

better? I haven't the least idea.' And then, as his th