Dorothea Deakin

“ There was a pink hollyhock bloom in her black hair, and her eyes were maddening; her cheeks were most exquisitely flushed.
"Oh, Rosette, why are you so very, very beautiful?" said I, sorrowfully. She smiled divinely.
"Am I? More than usual, Jerry? Is it my new gown, do you suppose?"
"It's everything," said I, hopelessly; for, indeed, it was not fair. "And it's cruel, wicked, unsportsmanlike of you. Rosette."
"It's a woman's sacred duty to make the most of the looks God gave her," said she, softly. ”

“ Georgie sighed.
"You're very sweet, Drusie," he said, with a whole-hearted forgetfulness of the past. "You're as true as steel yourself, so you think every other woman the same. But they aren't, and even in the best of them there is something they put before love. Diana's principles come first, and always will. And—" he added loyally, "I'm not sure that I don't admire her for it. I reverence Diana even more than I love her."
"Ah," said Drusilla quietly, "Diana's only a woman, Georgie, and in spite of principles you never quite know what a woman will do. ”

“ This my calm, immovable Rosette?
"You said you liked a woman to be womanly, Jerry. You said you admired the Laura-Matilda kind of girl. You were talking at me all the time!"
I stared at her in amazement.
"You are the most womanly woman I have ever known," said I slowly. "But I didn't mean what you mean, Rosette."
"Yes, you did. Besides, how do you know exactly what I meant that you meant? You said you liked a woman to be clinging! You know you did. I'll take jolly good care that I never cling to—" She stopped in time. ”

“ Drusilla asked.
"Hall Smilo." He spoke with simple pride. In the window the dark-haired comedienne laughed softly to herself.
"I ran the halls under that name," he said, with a large wave of his hand. "I was touring in the Midlands before that with my wife—'Madame Merillian's Choir,' we called it. It was in Lent, you see, and it's always as well to run your show as a Choir in Lent. Gives a pious tone to your bills."
I gasped.
"If I had thirty pounds," said Mr. Lappin dreamily, "I'd run such a little show as you've never seen. I'd wake up the Midlands as no one else has ever waked 'em up. ”

“ I half rose from my seat.
"Poor Penelope!" said Rosette, wistfully. "She did have a wretched time trying to decide. She used to talk to me about it, because she said I was so wise for my age. I've always been considered wise, Jerry."
"Go on," said I.
"I advised her strongly to marry Sir John. 'He has all the strength of character,' said I, 'and all the brains.' 'But Dick is such a dear,' said she, 'and so handsome.' Penelope had no balance, you see. 'If you intend to go by mere beauty,' said I to her, 'take your precious Dick then, and starve with him.' 'I don't want to starve,' she said. ”

“ Rosette sighed. "But about dress, Jerry. It's a dreadfully serious question for a poverty-stricken girl. I used to try to dress to please women once, when I first came out, but I don't now."
"Why not?" I asked, with some disapproval.
"Too expensive." She shook her dark head sadly. "It can't be done. Now, a man—"
"Don't stop. You interest me."
Rosette glanced at her pretty gown and smiled.
"Well, any rag pleases a man if it's pretty and fresh and well-cut."
"What more can a woman want?" ”

“ Georgie said, "calling itself a theatre, and on the wall there was a bill—a flaming thing all scarlet and black; caught the eye like anything, don't you know. But it wasn't only the bill that caught mine. There was some one reading it."
"Ah!" said I.
"What was she like?" Drusilla asked gently.
Georgie flushed.
"She was crying. I could see the tears rolling down her poor little face, and her eyes were red, as if she'd been crying all night. It makes me feel furious to see a woman cry. ”

“ She could do everything the boys could do, just a little bit better, and it was then that Myles (he was just twenty-one) found out that women ought to be womanly. His pride was wounded and he began to snub Primula and make her life a misery to her. She hated sarcasm and didn't understand it, and she began to fret about it."
"'Myles hates me,' said she to me one day. 'What can I do to make him like me again?' 'Turn Laura-Matilda,' said I. Poor child she looked completely in the dark. ”

“ I murmured, with my silly heart in my eyes.
"When I see," said Rosette, hotly, "the hundreds of rich women who help to make our little town hideous instead of pretty, I could kill them, in their tweeds and their friezes and their absurd tartans belonging to no clan in the world. And their hats! Oh, Jerry!"
"I 've seen their hats," said I, with sympathy.
"Dress is everything to a woman," Rosette went on. "Don't talk to me of beauty unadorned!" ”

“ She stopped.
"Unselfishness," I suggested. Rosette shook her head rather forcibly.
"I have my doubts about unselfishness," said she. "More often than not it's selfish to be unselfish."
"Rosette!"
"People do unselfish things generally for purely selfish reasons,—to be liked, or to please themselves,—and it's almost always bad for the other person. It's certainly more blessed to give than to receive, and the unselfish person goes on collecting blessings without giving other people a chance. There's my sister Jane." ”

“ Drusilla rubbed her eyes.
"Oh," said she, "you don't know what love is, Georgie. Money is nothing, nothing, compared with love. If she loves you, she'll be glad to have you back and glad to help you to bear your troubles. She'll be glad you've lost your money, to have the chance of showing you that she loves you for yourself alone. You don't understand how a nice girl feels, the least little bit." ”

“ For there are times when I want people to think me sweet-natured as well as pretty, and then Jane slips in to guard her monopoly."
I laughed.
"If you love people," Rosette went on firmly, "you take a pleasure in doing things for them. That's not unselfishness ; but I can't move a finger for Daddy or Mother without Jane being jealous and injured. Unselfishness, indeed!" ”

“ To say my son will never be a sportsman! What will his mother say to him when she sees that cross little boy? And Phillida—what will she say?"
"Drusilla," said I gravely, "is there any rift in that lute? Is there anything wrong between those two? Why did they let the Goddess Girl go rushing off to visit all those dull people?"
Drusilla was silent.
"Georgie's mother is a darling," she said at last, "but she has ideas about a wife's duties. She thinks a woman ought to be able to cook the dinner she orders, and get up her own muslins and lace and things, even if she never has to do it." ”

“ She's never been able to do a thing for Jane and me, and every now and then she tries to borrow money from Daddy. He does n't lend it to her, of course; but it upsets us all to hear how they never can make both ends met.
I was silent, for I had less money even than her cousin Dick, and I wanted to marry Rosette.
"You see, Jerry, life's a very difficult thing, and even the simplest virtues are complex when you come to look into them, are n't they?"
"I never do," said I, truthfully. "It's a mistake—like inquiring into motives."
"Well, you beware of unselfishness," said she, with a half-smile. ”

“ Anne laughed. "I've known you long enough and well enough, to discuss anything with you, and I was at school with Diana. The question is, does she know you?"
He stared at her uneasily.
"She has been very well brought up, Georgie. She always says and does the proper thing, you know, and she likes her friends to say and do the proper things. She lives in a high moral atmosphere all the time. When I think of what she must expect of the man she is to marry I—well, of course you know all this?" ”

“ You find yourself telling her things before you know where you are, and she'll listen for hours without getting bored. She's been frightfully interested in Violet ever since I can remember."
"Violet? Georgie, you don't mean to say that you told Anne about Violet?"
"Yes, I did. From the beginning. She's a plain little thing, but chock full of sympathy and goodness. I never knew a kinder heart than Anne's."
"I wonder," said I slowly, "that she hasn't told Drusilla the truth. One would think her only sister—"
"Anne never breaks a promise," cried he hastily. ”