Bernard Capes

“ Possibly, had Camilla been suffered her bent ear her, she would have realised herself, would have married. It might not be too late yet; she might discover, in the atmosphere of rural orthodoxy, that soul's affinity which all the crowded life of cities had been unable to produce for her—poor and unrecommended as she was. It would be right to make a virtue of necessity by giving her the chance. And so the two had arrived at Gorseley; and almost immediately Mr. Spurling had come into evidence.
Mrs. Brodhurst had laughed, rallying her droll Camilla on her conquest. ”

“ The detective checked himself in a hurried movement, and stood aghast.
"Did you think," said Camilla, "that I should have confessed otherwise? I have not broken my trust. You may know at last, since it no longer matters. You may know everything if you will—just as I received it from Francesca's dying lips. She had lived in Paris a great deal, but she was in London when the horrible attempt was made. She had taken no part in it, and the knowledge of her name being implicated almost killed her. It was Italian independence for which she plotted; she knew that no good cause was ever won by crime. ”

“ Spurling breathed out a soft echo of astonishment, "We shall have?"
"The Chevalier du Garde and I," explained the young woman.
"You propose living together?"
"It was my mother's wish," said Camilla. "I promised her, when—when she was dying."
"It cannot possibly be. It must not be, I say." He had come even prepared for some such thunder-clap; yet the directness of it took his breath away. "Do you understand what you are suggesting? It is incredible that the man should have so lingered on under the circumstances. ”

“ Marks seized her hands into his, bade her instantly to be seated, and stood, his light arm over her shoulders, while she leaned her head, with closed eyes, against him.
"Sorry, Spurling," he said. "But you must say whatever else you've got to say to me. I know all about it, necessarily, you see—have known for a day or two. Well, the poor woman is dead, and beyond our righteous machinations. But for the question of this lady's disinterested devotion to a trust, I hold myself answerable. Miss Brodhurst has been terribly overtaxed of late, and I say that the thing must end. ”

“ Spurling took a sheet of note-paper, and wrote a brief letter to the head of the detective force in London.
"There may be something or nothing in it," he muttered, his face very white. "At least there is no harm in trying. She does not know the worst. It may open her eyes to the man's true character. I owe it to myself, to her, to end, if possible, this scandal."
So his passion and his conscience were reconciled.
V Camilla came down to the little parlour, to find two men, the Vicar and a stranger, awaiting her. ”

“ CAMILLA I THE village of Gorseley lay among the South Downs five or six miles distant from the Hampshire capital. Camilla, coming over the hills towards it, met, one after the other, two horsemen, each of whom stopped to put to her the same question:
"How is Mrs. Brodhurst?"
"O! ever so much better, thank you. She seems quite herself again."
The first speaker, the young local doctor, Mr. Marks, nodded cheerily, with a "That's capital," and passed on his busy way; the second, Mr. Robert Spurling, Vicar of St. Woolnoth's, dismounted and walked beside the young lady. ”

“ As it was, she shocked the vicar infinitely more by her heterodoxy and neglect of spiritual observances than ever Camilla gratified him by her pious dutifulness.
But indeed the world had always stood paramount in the good lady's interests. Born St. Marie, the daughter of Bourbonist refugees long settled in England, she had married in 1830 Commander Brodhurst, who, ten years later, had been killed at the bombardment of Acre. ”

“ It was not thus the elect of his cloth were wont to suffer rebuffs—least of all in the homes of incense-proffering virgins. For the moment he believed he hated the girl, with a purely righteous hatred.
Unhappy sophistry. How could one righteously hate what one so passionately desired? The fate of the man exorcised of the single unclean spirit was coming to be his. ”

“ In the meantime, as pastor of my flock, and accountable to heaven for its incorruption, I must not appear even to condone by silence a situation so scandalous. I warn you from my fold; my Church declines you; should you persist in attending it, it will be at the risk of a public denunciation."
"I may not come to celebration?" she asked, her voice trembling a little.
"No," he said; "I speak for the Divinity you affront," and, taking up his hat, he left the cottage.
IV The man who speaks too confidently for God, at heart implies his own omniscience. ”