Fred M. White

“ For the first time for a whole month Dave's face cleared.
He sat in his chair chuckling, secure in the knowledge that he would make Daniel Rhys a walking derision amongst the hills, until the door opened and a child looked in. She danced into the room with a glad cry, her dark, gipsy eyes gleamed, her feet flashed as if the blood in her veins were quicksilver. A wild, eager, alert child, black as the night and cunning as the fox. A queer, Mliss-like little elf, loyal to her friends, and hating her enemies with a passionate whole-heartedness. ”

“ Just before going, Hetty stood on her toes, and kissed her lover lightly on the lips. It was, perhaps, a goodnight caress, for there was a chance that she might not return.
There was a sound at the top of the corridor, just the suggestion of a swish of silken drapery, and Gordon Bruce half turned. Under a cluster of electric lights stood Leona Lalage; she must have seen everything. It might have been fancy, it might have been a guilty conscience, but just for the moment Countess Lalage seemed transformed into a white fury with two murderous demons gleaming in her dark restless eyes. ”

“ But Serena's outbreak of passionate anger was over as swiftly as an April shower. She looked up in the face of her master as a dog might do that had been convicted of theft. Anstruther smiled with the air of a man who merely tolerates a passing anger of a fellow creature. It was as if he had caged this woman so that he could watch her passions and emotions as a naturalist studies the habits and ways of loathsome insects. ”

“ The great cathedral was absolutely packed with people. So great was the crush that the police responsible for order looked grave and anxious. Still the occasion was one of gloom and seemliness, and the procession moved slowly. Even up to the bier the crowd was so thick that only here and there were the scarlet and gold uniforms of the guards picked out vividly against the dense black.
Over the tread of restless feet and the sound of smothered mourning rose the wail of the organ chanting dirges for the departed. The candles guttered and smoked, as the waves of hot air drifted over them. ”

“ Ralph shook his head.
"It was good luck," he said. "And how should I know anything? Ah, a blind man is but a poor detective."
Yet as Ralph passed to his strange quarters, there was a queer look on his face. The long lean claws were crooked as if they were fastened about the neck of some enemy, some foe to the death.
"The hem of the mystery," he muttered. "Patience and prudence, and the day shall come when I shall have it by the throat, and such a lovely throat, too!" ”

“ A cry of triumph burst from Ulric. With three legs only the wolf would be at his mercy. Its instinct would be to turn and fly, pursued by the victor, who had only to track his prey down until, exhausted by loss of blood, the end came. Farsala was saved!
Not yet, not yet. This was no ordinary breed of wolf, as Ulric might have remembered. With an amazing energy and tenacity the beast turned and faced his enemy. He could see Ulric now, and, lying under the ledge of rock, the latter was at a terrible disadvantage. Foaming with rage and filled with lust to kill, the white-throated wolf came on. ”

“ CROSFIELD looked across the camp fire at his friend Norton with the light of battle gleaming in his eyes. They were away up there on the veldt, not a hundred miles from Kimberley, and the fruits of three years' unremitting toil lay in the hollow of Crosfield's hand. To the untutored eye they represented no more than half a dozen round stones like big marbles, but an expert would have had no difficulty in recognising the fact that those pebbles were diamonds of the purest quality—six bits of glorified glass that represented a king's ransom. ”

“ The force of the explosion had literally torn a hole in the dense foggy curtain. The brilliant light of day shone through down into London as from a gigantic skylight.
This is what the amazed inhabitants of central London saw as they rushed out of their houses after what they imagined to be a shock of earthquake. The effect was weird, wonderful, one never to be forgotten. From a radius of half a mile from St. Paul's, London was flooded with brilliant light. People rubbed their eyes, unable to face the sudden and blinding glare. ”

“ I knew that you would come back to me, and give me back some of my lost youth and the happiness that I deliberately shattered, if only my penitence were deep and sincere enough. And Heaven only knows how deep and sincere it has been. It was my pride that held me back—a pride that I look back upon now with horror. It is the coldest thing that a woman can hug to her heart, and well I know it. But I won't say any more about it now. I can guess what sort of a youth yours has been, and it shall be my task to wipe out the recollection of it. ”

“ And so I met you, Mary, and discovered that I love you with the same old pure affection, that will go on burning in my heart till I die. It may strike you as strange that a poor man should speak to Miss Dashwood, of Dashwood, like this. Mind you, I am young, and strong, and able, and I shall come into my kingdom again. And love is worth all the rest; it is better far than money, or position, or pride of birth. If I could hear you say that you cared for me now! You are so beautiful; behind all your pride the woman's heart beats true enough. ”

“ The first snows of winter had already fallen before the hut was reached. There was a long journey across the wild and desolate track of country and through the gloomy pine forests before the itinerary was finished. And it was all new and delightful. Even the broad silence of it appealed to Sylvia. It was a pure joy to lie back in the sledge in a mist of furs, and watch those big dogs flying through the snow. ”

“ He was as strong as a bull and as tough as leather, and impervious to pain, and yet three months in gaol would have been the death of him. He would have pined and died, as an eagle droops in a cage. The mere thought of captivity gripped him by the heart and caused his footsteps to falter; but the call of the wild was too strong, and the unseen force dragged him on till he stood ankle-deep in the fallen leaves and saw the pheasants roosting overhead. ”

“ In the midst of the drawing-room Margaret Henson sat still as a statue. The distant, weary expression never left her eyes for a moment. As the stable clock, the only one going on the premises, struck ten, Enid crossed over from the piano to her aunt's side. There was an eager look on her face, her eyes were gleaming like frosty stars.
"Aunt," she whispered; "dear, I have had a message!"
"Message of woe and desolation," Margaret Henson cried. "Tribulation and sorrow on this wretched house. For seven long years the hand of the Lord has lain heavily upon us." ”

“ Outside came a rocking, uneasy din, as an angry sea on a rocky coast. Ever and anon could be heard a sound as of the clashing of arms. In the gloomy niche of a high tomb near the great north porch, the adventurers watched and waited. Higher and higher grew the din outside, so that the good old Cardinal paused in his sermon with a gesture of pitiful patience. Ambrose could see the expression in that grand, broad face, he could see the heaving of the shoulders and the fall of the breast. Then he saw more; he saw the red rose over Marmaison's heart change from crimson to drab, to white. ”

“ Above the terrace of shining rock were the cocoanut palms, and beyond that the jewel beauties of Discovery Island, flashing and glittering like some great gem flung down there on the bosom of the South Pacific. The lagoon itself, with its trending shore, was not less than fifteen miles in diameter, and a land-locked harbour large enough to hold the fleets of the world. And it was this rampart that Lovelace and his crew were going to storm presently, if the god of battle smiled on their side. ”

“ A coldness like the grip of Death held France. The snow pall lay everywhere. Europe had known no such bitter weather for many a year. The frost froze the raw wounds of the horses till the congealed blood glowed like carbuncles; hundreds of birds lay dead upon the snow. And through this white desolation Eustace and Huddlestone had pushed grimly with Red Cross stores for Paris for five weary weeks. They thrust forward now with that dogged determination that has gone so far to make our nation great. ”

“ But for the shades, the electric light would have been garish, bizarre, out of place, a false note amidst surroundings almost mediaeval.
Under the small lamp, with his feet against one of the big brass dogs in a deep Cromwellian oak chair, the owner of Barsac Castle sat. A young man in the prime and vigour of youth, a man with clear-cut, resolute face, yet so pale that his black moustache looked vivid against his fine-grained skin. A powerful face, yet overcast with an expression of deepest sorrow, tempered ever and again by a suggestion of passionate self-pity. ”

“ Silva said. "Why do you come here persecuting me like this? Why cannot you let me alone? But for me your sister would have been in a dishonoured grave by now. I saved her life. I saved the good name of the family. And how am I repaid? What does she care so long as she saves herself. And yet I remember her a sweet and innocent child, just as I remember her own little one. Ah, I was fond of her, and she was fond of me. I could never have gone off and hidden myself, and left little Vera to the tender mercies of the world. ”

“ Fenwick stood there, his yellow face scared and terrified. Cold as it was, a bead of perspiration stood on his bulging forehead. He looked from one to the other as if he anticipated violence. Le Fenu sat up in his chair and laughed aloud.
"You are but a sorry coward after all," he said. "You have no need to fear us in the slightest. We shall leave the vengeance to come in the hands of others. And now sit down—though you are not fit to take a chair in the company of any honest men." ”

“ In ten minutes more, at the outside, they would know the best or worst of it. And then, just as the heroine was taxing her maid with an act of perfidy which had admitted a predatory lover to the house of sorrows, a thin curl of blue smoke rose from the wings, a tiny tongue of flame zigzagged up the prompt flat—then, as if by magic, the whole thing burst into a dazzling blaze, and a thick, acrid smoke hid the stage from view. ”

“ She loved Evershed, and she knew now that she had given him her heart from the first. She had good health and good looks and unlimited means, but she would have cheerfully bartered these to feel Evershed's arms about her and his lips on hers. If she could only find a way, if she could only provide herself with some bright and shining weapon wherewith to break down the barriers of pride, the day was won. And Pete had been quite right—she loved Bruce, and Bruce loved her, and the rest of the world mattered nothing. ”

“ Mary cried.
"Oh, my dear! happiness and I parted years ago. The old never expect happiness; there are too many ghosts, too many gaps, and too many memories. Peace is the greatest possession that one can expect at my time of life. And if you do this vile thing, then I shall have to go down to the grave without it. I am a wicked old woman; I am suffering now because I dare not tell the truth; but rather than this wrong shall be done, I will speak, though I made a death-bedside promise not to do so. Suppose I told you that you have less right at Dashwood than I have!" ”

“ Towards midday a sport was added to the amusement of the great mobs that packed the main streets. There was not the slightest reason why all London should not be at work as usual, but, by mutual consent, the daily toil had come to a standstill. It was grilling hot with a sun that made the pavement gleam and tremble in the shimmering haze and there was little to quench the thirst of the multitude. ”

“ There were several grains of some sharp powder there which, as Geoffrey held them in his hand, dissolved to nothingness. His face was very pale.
"Darling, this is a dreadful thing," he murmured. "I fancy——"
He paused, fearful of alarming Vera. He saw the hand of fate in this; he saw the sword that was hanging over that beloved young life.
A passion of anger and despair filled him, but for Vera's sake he checked the feeling. And it seemed to him as if he had passed in a minute down a decade of years; as if in that brief space he had left his boyhood behind and become a man. ”

“ He passed the hunting-lodge of the King and turned almost mechanically into a black-throated gorge—a natural amphitheatre through which an amber stream flowed swiftly—a dizzy kind of place, with steep, precipitous rocks, a false step on which would plunge one into the stream below.
"A fine theatre for a fine deed," Ulric muttered. "Here it was that King Max won his crown and his wife, God bless her! But those days are over; no white-throated wolf will ever stray down the Devil's Windpipe again, for the legend is fulfilled, and the old story will some day be forgotten." ”

“ By instinct he seemed to divine the fact that the stranger who knew so much of Anstruther's inner life might also know as much as the man called Nostalgo, otherwise Seymour. This instinct did not play Jack false, for he saw his companion stagger back as if he had been shot. He fell into a chair, and plucked feebly at the arms of it with his fingers.
"You are on dangerous ground indeed," he said hoarsely. "Have you a wife depending on you, or one you love? If so, turn your back upon me at once, and never see my face again." ”

“ My dear girl, I have been doing nothing else all my lifetime. I have been a most undutiful son, and I have no doubt that I have come near to breaking my father's heart many a time, as he nearly broke the heart of his father before him. In common fairness he will have to admit that we Evors are all alike as young men; and, in any case, I couldn't give you up, Beth. Just think how faithful you have been to me all these years, when all the time it has seemed as if I had a terrible crime on my conscience. ”

“ Here was a deadly peril, such a peril as was sure to follow sooner or later upon the attempt to destroy the balance of nature. If a thousand or so of man-eating tigers had been let loose in Sussex, the effect would have been less deadly and more paralysing than the escape of those beautiful insects. They were darting and playing now like a nimbus about the crown of a group of elm trees. Warburton could hear the pinging scream of their wings. They looked unutterably beautiful in the brilliant burst of sunshine, a thing of beauty terribly fascinating. But if they began to attack human life! ”

“ Oh, my dear, I know the beauty of your true nature better than you know it yourself. I can see it all before me as clearly as if I were endowed with the gift of prophecy. We all have our lesson to learn, and it is no fault of yours that the lesson has come so late. And when my confession has followed yours, we shall know the meaning of true happiness, but not before."
As if he had said the final word, Ralph turned in the direction of the house. A world of passionate scorn, defiance, anger trembled on Mary's parted lips. How dare this man, how dare any man, talk to her like this? ”

“ Men shook one another by the hand, hats were cast into the air and forgotten heedless of the blazing sun; up in the Strand where fire-engines were sluicing the streets with water people stood under the beating drip of the precious fluid until they were soaked to the skin; well-dressed men laved themselves in the clear running gutters with an eagerness that the pursuit of gold never surpassed. London was saved from disaster, and Dr. Darbyshire was the hero of the hour.
The great man was sitting up in bed and modestly listening to the story that Longdale had to tell. ”

“ Ralph retraced his steps moodily. For the present he was helpless. He had come across the clue to the enigma, but only he knew of the tremendous difficulties and dangers to be encountered before the heart of the mystery could be revealed. He felt cast down and discouraged. There was bitterness in his heart for those who had deprived him of his precious sight.
"Oh, if I could only see!" he cried. "A week or month to look from one eye into another, to strip off the mask and lay the black soul bare. And yet if the one only guessed what I know, my life would not be worth an hour's purchase! ”

“ I am rejoiced to find that Providence is not going to allow you to wreck your happiness and imperil your future in this way. Nothing could please me better than to see you dependent upon your own exertions for a living. You will be all the better for it; it will cleanse and purify you. And then you will discover that the best thing in the world for a good woman is a good man's love. It is my love for you, Mary, that makes me take this view of things, that impels me to rejoice in the fact that you are nearer to me tonight than you have ever been before. ”

“ A grand old castle looks out across the North Sea, and fishermen toiling on the deep catch the red flash from Ravenspur Point, as their forefathers have done for many generations.
The Ravenspurs and their great granite fortress have made history between them. Every quadrangle and watch-tower and turret has its legend of brave deeds and bloody deeds, of fights for the king and the glory of the flag. And for five hundred years there has been no Ravenspur who has not acquitted himself like a man. Theirs is a record to be proud of. ”

“ Most people had nearly lost all sense of time when dawn ought to have been. People were struggling back to their senses again, trying to pierce the thick curtain that held everything in bondage. Doors were opened and restless ones passed into the street.
Suddenly there was a smiting shock from somewhere, a deafening splitting roar in the ears, and central London shivered. It was as if some mighty explosion had taken place in space, and as if the same concussion had been followed by a severe shock of earthquake. ”

“ Ralph knew quite well what noble qualities lay under that mask of pride and ice.
He could have called the girl his; he knew it. He had only to proclaim his identity, and Mary Dashwood would have asked no better fate than to become the wife of the head of the family; she might have given her heart into the bargain.
But Ralph would have none of it that way. Mary should come to him and sue for pardon; she should proclaim in all sincerity that love was best of all. She should feel that there was something far better than being mistress of Dashwood Hall. ”

“ Geoffrey did so. He saw a face fixed with a grim smile, the smile of the man who can meet death and knows how to punish those who injure them. The face was seared and criss-crossed just like Tchigorsky's and Ralph Ravenspur's; indeed, with its strange disfigurement the dead Russian would have passed for Tchigorsky. ”

“ Without undue haste or eagerness, Mayfield passed into the drawing-room. There was just a sardonic touch in his smile as he noticed the snoring hog on the yellow satin lounge. He quite understood why a sight like that could touch Mary's pride to the quick. Strange what queer pawns in the game of life a clever man had to use at times! Mary was standing in the window-frame looking out into the night. Everything seemed so still and peaceful; there was no jarring note save the snore of the man in possession. Mayfield just touched Mary on the arm and she turned. ”

“ There was Hindoo blood in Marion Ravenspur's veins, but she bore no trace of the fact. And, out of the seven surviving members of that ill-fated race, Marion was the most beloved. All relied upon her, all trusted her. In the blackest hour her courage never faltered; she never bowed before the unseen terror.
Ravenspur turned upon her almost fiercely.
"We must save Vera and Geoffrey," he said. "They must be preserved. The rest of us are as nothing by comparison. The whole future of our race lies with those two young people. Watch over them, Marion; shield Vera from every harm. ”

“ I love you, Mary, and no words could say more. I shall live to see the ice and pride melt from your heart, I shall live to see the beautiful womanhood within you blossom like a rose. The day will come when you will be prouder far to own a good man's heart than you will be to call yourself a Dashwood. ”

“ What is my pride, what is my home here, so long as the happiness of a lifetime is at stake!"
"That is a lesson that I have tried to teach you before," Ralph said quietly. "Mary, I love you. The time will come when you will love me. If ever you needed a friend in your life, you need one at this moment. I could show you a way out, but after that I should never dare to claim my reward, because the obligation in your eyes would be too great. I want you to care for me for my own sake. Still, you need have no anxiety. Within the next few hours Mayfield will be powerless to harm you." ”

“ Mary has a terrible curse, her family pride comes before her duty, and even before her religion. It is the idol that she has come to worship. Mind, I am by no means blind to the girl's virtues; I should not love her as I do otherwise. But I want to break down that family pride, I want to show Mary and prove to her that it is a mere nothing by the side of love and duty and common humanity. That is why it is merely Ralph Darnley who speaks to you today. When Mary owns her love for Ralph Darnley, and holds that love better than her pride of race, then I can speak. ”

“ Those people were occupying my place, the place that belonged by birth to me, Sir Ralph Dashwood. If I had proclaimed and asked Mary to marry me, she would have consented. She would have regarded it as her duty to do so. But that is not the marriage of my dreams. Perhaps I am romantic: I want Mary to marry me, me, plain Ralph Darnley, for love of me, and deem the family pride well lost for a good man's affection. It is the living, breathing woman I want, not the lovely mistress of that family who puts the pride of the Dashwoods in front of everything else. ”

“ Surely sorrow and shame and humiliation would not touch the picture with chill fingers!
There he was, lounging back on a Chippendale couch, with his muddy boots on a hassock of Gobelin tapestry, his sullen face half-ashamed and half-defiant. His profession would have been apparent to anyone who had ever met one of the tribe before. Those men were of a race apart, idlers and loafers, who can face sorrow and suffering and the breaking up of homes without a spark of human feeling. The man looked up at Mary's pale haughty face, with a certain dumb admiration in his bleared eye. ”

“ Love is a sacred thing. Horace Mayfield is a cold-blooded and designing scoundrel. Your beauty may inflame him, but there is no love behind. He calculates that it will be no bad thing to call this his home. He plays upon your sinful pride as a master plays the violin. He knows that you would do anything, even to marrying him, to keep the scandal away."
"It is the only way," Mary said; "Horace Mayfield is too strong for us. What is that?"
Something stirred in the bushes close by, a crooning song was but half audible.
"It is your old nurse, Patience," Lady Dashwood explained. ”

“ Sir George has come within the grip of a scoundrel. I am alluding to Horace Mayfield. He has schemed out all this trouble and disaster so as to get Mary in his power. The girl's senseless pride has been Mayfield's strongest weapon. You know all about those sheriffs men, of course. Rather than have a whisper of the trouble spoken, Mary is ready to marry Horace Mayfield and condemn herself to lifelong misery and humiliation. It seems almost incredible that a girl should be so frozen into the ice of her family pride. But Mary is not going to marry Horace Mayfield, she is destined for me. ”