Jeanne of the Marshes

already, in fact, pronounced, a success. A glance at his fair neighbour, however, who was lighting her third or fourth Russian cigarette since the caviare, sent

ul. Jeanne and I have wanted so much to see you in your own home. Jeann

e, lifted her remarkable eyes a

ny place that looks in the least like a home is a del

it is in the absence of that primitiveness which he led us to expect. One perceives that one is

y. "You will see nothing but a line of stunted trees, and behind, miles of marshes and the grey

oss the wild empty places which lay between the Red Hall and the sea. A

and in order that we shall realize it, you provide the background of savagery. In the Carlton one might dine like th

ve them renovated or even preserved. They have eaten their way into the canvases, and the canvases into the very walls. You see the empty spaces, too. A Reynolds and a Gainsboro' have been cut out from there and sold. I can show you lon

e he had succeeded in riveting the attention of the girl, whose general attitude

ouse, Mr. De la Borne," she said.

rth looking at. For generations the De la Bornes have stripped their house and sold their lands to hold their own in th

lf brother?" the

y into the position of head of the house. It was so n

to say, for very little. You are never likely to

eaned forward. He hesitated for a moment, even after his lips had parted, as though for some reason he were inclined, after all, to remain silent, but the consciousness

d you, there is very little in it worth seeing. And yet I can show you something,

leaned forwar

," she murmured. "What is i

st shook

of the rich. I had an ancestor who became very notorious. His name seems to have been a by-word, although he was never caught, or if he was caught, never punished. He built a subterranean way undern

d at him wit

?" she asked, "the pa

l no

themselves are like the vaults of a cathedral. All the time at high tide you can hear the s

e declared. "Can you get

l no

rt of apparatus for pulling up the barrels, and a rope ladder for the men. The preventive officers would see the boat come up the creek, and would march down from the village, only to find it

ess sighe

ave been worth while to live. Things happened then. To-d

at he himself benefited a penny by any of his exploits. I

n another guise. The whole world is preying upon one another. We are thieves, all of us,

ly as she glanced across

. My own ancestors sacked towns and held the inhabitants to ransom. To-day I sit down to bridge opposite a man with a well-fille

make Miss Le Mesurier nervous. She will feel that we, and the w

ling. "I do not play bridge, and even my si

g around breathlessly until the happy time arrived when yo

shook h

safe from every one. I am only longing for to-morrow, for

thing seems to have died. There is nothing now to look at but mouldy walls, a bare room, and any amount of the most

wait there, near the entrance, hear the soft swish of the oars, look down and see the smugglers, hear perhaps the muffled

is slight mous

f underground world," he said, "I shall thin

toward her, but Jeanne laughed

look upon them with proper reverence. Don't yo