The Golden Calf

with decency; and her stock had been but tardily and scantily replenished during her residence in that manorial abode. It was to her credit that she had contrived still to be cl

e put a few necessaries into a convenient morocco bag, which the girls in her class had clubbed their pocket-money to present to her on her last b

her in the hall, a buxom,

are going to leave

know it already

e young ladies are all on your side; but

cter, because I allowed Mr. Wendover to walk and talk with the Fr?ulein and me for half an hour or s

ff for keeping company with my young man. But she daren't do it. Good servants a

in the market,' said Ida,

you going,

I supp

areless words alarmed th

ome to be going about alone among strangers. It's a wicked world, miss - wickeder

king out Miss Cobb's fat lit

emendous fortune for a schoolgirl; but then it was said th

y of money for my

've got a pound laid by in my drawer ready to put in the Post Office Savings B

money, I'd gladly borrow your sovereign; but M

semaid, after wiping her own paw upo

fervently; 'I shall miss the sight of y

which, despite her dependency and her poverty, she had known some light-hearted hours. Now, where was she to go? and what was she to do wi

t so light and sportive, that now, when she stood, as it were, face to face with destiny, she hardly knew how to think of him, whether as a rock that she might lean upon, or as a reed that would give way at her touch. Rock or reed,

more than two miles distant, a long, straight walk by the river, and then a mile or so across fields and by narrow lanes to an arid

hen she heard the rapid dip of oars, as if in pu

at, and who had caught sight of her in t

k, and standing up in his boat. 'Where are you going at su

nconscious of the impetus which ex

t at this Moment, galled and stung by Miss Pew's unkindness, heart-sick at her own absolute desolation, the sound of his voice was sweet in her ears, the look of the t

-old -quoe velut latis equa trima campis,' quoted B

e answered calmly. 'I

at?' roa

notice - for the impropriety of my conduct in

ollard willow as he talked. He leapt on

ut this beats everything. Expelled! Your conduct impeached because you let me talk to you - I, Bessie's cousin, a man who at the worst h

rd, was it not?'

lady this afternoon, and make her acquainted with my

s wrath; 'it doesn't give me any consola

that I had asked y

u: and she told me that a man in your position, who intended to marry a girl in my

one course open to us, and that is to give her the lie at once - by our conduct. Deeds, not words, shall be our argum

, with downcast eyes and passionately throbb

nly one I will confide all the rest t

ow! No,

e I saw you last Sunday night, looking like St. Cecilia when you joined in the Psalms. We have been both living in the same parish for the last fortnight. I will run up

not for t

xcept in the face of the world, with the full consent of his friends and her own. Her duty was to go

er would object to our

ject,' she answered, smiling w

al benefactions of a rich kinsman, could by any possibility object

you are sure of beforehand! As for my friends, Bessie's people are the n

don't know how she might like me

ittle secret. Bessie sent me here to try and win y

n instinctive notion that her father would think her an arrant fool for delaying so grand a triumph as her marriage with a man of fortune and p

days of the Miss Gunnings have gone by. The world

contingency, was now at her feet. Was she to spurn it, and then go back to th

. Brian would give up his lodgings to her, and would stay at the hotel at Chertsey. Ida listened, and hesitated: before her lay the dry, dusty road, the solitary journey by land and sea, the doubtful welcome at home. And he

; 'I know your heart has decided for m

at him with heavenly confidence in her large

ide, your husband to-morrow, responsib

ountable to no one but you,' she said

ll find me better than old P

. Have you considered what you are going to do? have you thought what it is to marry a penniless g

ever looked upon. Step into my boat, Ida; I must row you up to the lock, and then start f

elief in sitting quietly in the boat, the water rippling gently past, like a lullaby, the rushes and willows waving in the mild western breeze. Henceforth she had little to do in

bright water reflected the cloudless blue above. The bells were ringing for a saint's-day service as Brian's boat shot past th

sey's wooded heights to the level fields beyond, and to a spot where the Thames and the Abbey River made a loop round a verdant little m

ainst the woodwork, tasting the morning air. She was a comfortable, well-to-do person, who rented a paddock or

da out of the boat. 'Miss Palliser and I are going to be married to-morrow morning; and, as her friends all live abroad, I want y

eyed, and gazed a

t isn't it rather sudden? You told me there was a young lady in the ca

he happiest of men some day; but I did not know bliss was so near me. And now I am off to catch the next train

ume more appropriate to the streets of London. He clasped Ida's hand, murmured a loving good-bye, and then ran with l

im as a mere whim of the hour, a caprice, a fancy. And yet there could be no doubt of his affection for her. Even if his nature was somewhat shallow, as s

said to herself; and then in her schoolgir

een kept too neatly during Mr. Wendover's occupation. Presently came the clinking of cups and

ade, and a dainty little cottage loaf, all served with exquisite cleanliness. Ida was too highly strung to do justice to the excellent fare, but she

- a long journey, I daresay. Perhaps you would like me to send a boy with a barrow f

ied. Yet how was she to get her box from Mauleverer Manor without provoking dangerous inquiries? And even if she had the box its contents would hardly solve the question of a wedding gown. He

er's. He, to whom money was no object, could so easily get an appropriate costume. It would be only for him to go into a shop and say, 'I want a neat, pretty travelling d

use to the sweet young lady, and threw out as many feelers as an octopus in the way of artfully-devised

hot and so dusty,' said Mrs. Topman, with a despairing effort

f you don't mind, I'll take a book and lie dow

cheffonier. But perhaps you'll be glad to take a little na

; I like th

was alone in the sitting-room which her

ansary in life's journey; and yet, even in the brief space of a fortnight, a ro

acco. That was a small thing, for Ida knew that her lover smoked. She had seen him several times throw away the end of his cigar as he sprang from his boat by the river meadow. But that array

ded to his pipes,' thoug

cheffonier to inspect her l

r Montaigne, Elia, an odd volume of De Quincey, a battered Don Juan, a worn-out

azines, the two last numbers of Punch, and three or four sporting papers. Ida turned from them with bitter disappointment. She seeme

evenings?' she asked herself. 'Has he done

e same with the other magazines. Only the most frivolous articles had

e thought. 'The country must always seem d

is generous affection, his single-minded devoti

all that was laughable in Punch, and the long, slow day wore on som

s back, I suppose, miss? You and he can ha

of hobnobbing alone with a gent

et anything more for me. No doubt Mr. Wendover will dine at the hotel, if

er hands and watch the stream, and not to fear reproof because she had ceased from toil. At Mauleverer, at this tranquil afternoon hour, while those rooks were sailing so calmly high above her head - yonder belated butterfly fluttering so happily over the feathery grasses - all nature so full of rest - they were grinding away in the hot schoolroom, grinding at the weekly geography lesson, add

looking up at the bright blue sky;' can I ever be sufficiently

y, tired and dusty, but delighted to be with her again. He sat down by

ence, I have seen the parson, and he is quite charmed at the idea of marrying us to-morrow morning. He h

n calling out my delinquencies from the house-top? Oh, no - I understand. Tu

s Pew unburdened

k me a dread

ed to be sure of you first. He was all kindness, and will marry us quietly at nine o'clock to-morrow, just after Matins, when there wil

Do you think it will matter much - will you be very much ash

ave brought you a wedding dress from Regent Street; come

ur shabby frock than any other bride in satin and pearl

, but as if it were

to whom the possession of things that money could buy must needs be a dead certainty. But it was

n to happen. Brian was very kind, very good to her; she wished with all her heart that she had loved him better; yet it seemed to her that she did love him - a little. Surely this feeling was love, this keen sense of

rs strewn upon her pathway, carriage and four, postilions in blue jackets and white favours, all the world and his wife looking on and wondering at her high fortune. This is how fancy had painted the picture when Ida discoursed of her future in the butterfly-room at Mauleverer; Miss Rylance listening and making sarcastic comments; Bessie in fits of smothered laughter at all the comic touches in the description; for did not true-hearted Bessie know that the thing was a

onder level meadow. Far away in mountainous regions the same orb was setting in rocky amphitheatres, distant

rous movement by faintest zephyrs - a wind no louder than a sigh. Brian proposed that they should go on the

o, face downwards. The season of golden flowers, buttercup, marsh-mallow, was over.

g the declining light, one list

htful than she had known him in

moon? he asked abruptly, jinglin

ide. I- I know what I shoul

is t

ieppe, where we could see my fathe

rite to hi

hing till after our marriage. You m

For good or ill I am your faithful slave. Yes, we will go to Dieppe if you like. It is late in the year for a

ntleman, and I am sure he will like you very much. My stepmother is - well, sh

r but warm-hearted - misplaces her aspirates - but affectionate! That is the kind of thing one is told when Achilles marries a housemaid. Never mind, Ida, dearest, I feel sure I shall

I long to see him again. How I wish

a little?' said Brian. 'There is something so sweet to me in the idea of you and m

aid Ida, loo

rses of Colonel Bob Ingersoll

as that to

d say that the Infinite Being who made every shining star

the lilies and

. Colonel Bob is not ex

rn of him, Brian,'