Florence Warden

“ Rachel Davison was rather bitter about it.
“It’s all very well to talk,” she said, “about the right of woman to act for herself, and to make a position for herself, and the rest of it. But you want more than the right: you must have the power. And that is what we shall never get,” she added, with a sigh.
Gerard argued with her.
“Why shouldn’t they have the power?” he said. “When once the barriers of prejudice are pulled down, what’s to prevent a woman from entering any field where she feels her talents will be best employed?”
She raised her eyebrows. ”

“ In vain Gerard told himself that he was glad to have seen her with Denver Van Santen, that now he could go his way with an easy mind, secure in the knowledge that Rachel Davison was merely a friend and accomplice of thieves, shop-lifters, and other undesirable persons, and that the very fact of her allowing herself to be made love to by this swaggering gamester proved conclusively how unfit she was to be loved by any honest man. ”

“ I know you are leading a life you hate, and that you are doing it because you are under the influence of a will stronger than your own. I know that you wish you could break away from it, that you would give the world to be free. And I know that something stronger than yourself holds you down and binds you, and forces you into ways that torture you, and into a life that is a living tomb for all that is best in you. Rachel, Rachel, tear yourself away from it—break loose; say you will be free, and with my help you will be.”
His words had the most extraordinary effect upon the girl. ”

“ She was dressed in écru-colored lace over pale pink, and her sunshade matched her gown. A hat of pale pink with écru-colored outstanding feathers completed an elaborate and handsome toilet.
Gerard was suddenly convinced, as he had not been before, that it was she, and no other, whom he had met, in the shabby frock and battered hat, that night in the crowd. He went up to the side of the carriage and raised his hat, feeling, as he did so, as if the excitement and the suspicions he felt must be discernible in his looks. ”

“ Gerard gave the cabman a shilling, and hailing a hansom, helped her in and told the man to drive to the nearest tea-shop.
Then he jumped in after her, feeling his heart sink.
For the delight and relief of the first moment, when he had been ready to look upon her appearance by herself, a free woman, as a sign that she was innocent and that he had misjudged her, had given place to a dread that the danger was not over yet, and that she knew more about the affair of the shop-lifting than for the moment he had supposed. ”

“ Before tea was brought in, Rose had contrived the introduction, and Gerard found himself in conversation with the girl whom he felt to be the nearest he had yet met to the sort of floating ideal of what is most gracious in woman, which he, in common with most young men, carried about in his mind, ready to crystallize into the face and form of some human, breathing, living girl. ”

“ Gerard, however, took fire and made a brave stand for his own choice.
“Miss Lilian is a lovely girl,” he said, “but pretty and charming as she is, I confess that a woman of more character has still greater charm for me. Now Miss Rachel has not only her beauty, but she has something besides, some soul, some capacity for deep feeling which, while no doubt it makes her miserable sometimes, makes her interesting too.” ”

“ Now Gerard Buckland, although he was very much in love, was not a fool. And it was not necessary to consider very deeply the facts connected with the brilliant Rachel Davison’s existence to feel quite certain that, however handsome and however attractive she might be, it was the height of folly to lose one’s heart to a woman of whom so much to her disadvantage was known to him. ”

“ I believe it’s difficult to understand any woman; but certainly I never believed it until I met you. But it seems to me that you unite in your own person all the puzzling attributes of all the women who ever lived. The consequence [276] is that I adore you at one moment, I hate you the next. One day I believe that all my suspicions of you are flimsy and groundless, and that I only want the key to solve the mystery which will show you to be all I want to believe you; the next day I can see in you only a malignant enchantress, charming men to their undoing, without heart and without conscience. ”

“ The girl’s face beamed with affection as she answered—
“I adore Rachel. She’s so wonderfully clever and energetic, and good to us. Do you know that she has changed everything for mamma and me, by her cleverness and her hard work?”
“I’m not at all surprised,” said Gerard heartily. “I told her when I met her first that I was sure she would find some opening for her talents. She said she had none, but I knew better.”
“No talents! Yes, isn’t it absurd? That’s what she always says,” cried Lilian merrily. ”

“ And had she alone of them all had the cleverness to escape the net laid for their feet by the police?
Or was she, as he thought much more probable, the accomplice of Cecil Jones, and his assistant in bringing the Americans to justice?
Neither possibility was pleasant to contemplate. If she were one of the friends of these Americans, even though she might extricate herself from all suspicion of being concerned in their misdoings, she could not fail to be dragged into a most unpleasant case, the publicity of which might perhaps offend, if not alienate, her best friends. ”

“ A faint smile flickered over Miss Davison’s face.
“Some of them,” she answered rather dryly, “are very well aware of it, indeed.”
There was an awkward pause. Presently he caught a strange glance from Miss Davison; she suddenly looked at him in a frightened way, as if she thought her last words had contained a confession, and was anxious to qualify them. But before she could speak, he said—
“What makes them do these things then? What makes an honorable woman who is not in want, stoop to such meanness, such despicable dishonesty?” ”

“ She was addressing Rachel, whose face was very grave.
“Of course,” said Miss Davison, “it doesn’t much matter if he does behave as he suggests. Everybody knows you and knows the sort of society you receive.”
“And that you, who have lots of friends in the best society, actually stay with us,” added Delia.
Miss Davison assented.
“I really don’t think you need distress yourself about this silly lad,” she said. “He would harm no one but himself if he were to go to a police-station and tell his absurd tale. He has already made half the people here think him mad, and I’m going to tell him so.” ”

“ He wanted to learn what he could, but it seemed dreadful to have to talk about it to this child, who rejoiced so openly in her sister’s cleverness, and had no thought of harm or of wrong.
“Oh yes, very,” replied Lilian quickly. “That’s the worst part of it, that she never knows what she will have to do next, and has to be at the beck and call of the people who employ her. It’s dreadful to me,” she said, with sudden earnestness, “to have to know that poor Rachel is making herself a martyr to me and mamma, and working too hard, much too hard, just to earn money for us. ”

“ The old lady shook her head slowly.
“One might say so, if one knew the world less well than I do,” she said shortly. “But a handsome wife can do a lot one way or the other with a man.”
“What makes you think Miss Davison’s influence would be other than good?” asked Gerard.
The old lady put her head on one side and looked at him keenly.
“Perhaps it’s a kind of instinct, as one may say,” said she. “Or perhaps it’s something I’ve noticed and wondered at. She’s by way of being a bit of a flirt, isn’t she now, Mr. Buckland? She’s been nice to you, and nice to Denver, of course. ”

“ Miss Davison sighed.
“I believe I should,” she said; “but my mother won’t hear of it. Prejudice again! And I daresay that the talent which seems extraordinary when it is untrained, would turn out quite commonplace if I were to be pitted, at any calling such as millinery, against those who have for years been brought up to it.”
“I don’t think so,” said Gerard. “Indeed, I’m sure you do yourself an injustice. Your lightness of hand and quickness of eye are quite remarkable. ”

“ Gerard echoed the word inquiringly.
Arthur nodded.
“Men don’t like the fellow,” he explained. “He’s too noisy, too—too overbearing; too much side and too much swagger. It’s amazing to everybody that a well-bred woman like Miss Davison should put up with him for a moment. It’s the money, I suppose. Well, will you come?”
Gerard nodded silently. It was of no use to try to be wise where Rachel was concerned. He could only hope to escape being utterly foolish, and without much prospect of success. ”

“ Davison, who was evidently, poor lady, delighted to have someone to break the monotony of the life which her daughter obliged her to lead, “that Rachel should have developed a talent for design, for there has never been any sort of artistic ability in the family, on either side. But I suppose when a girl is very clever, like my Rachel, her talent develops in any direction where it is most wanted.” ”

“ Of course it was true that the hypothesis that she was engaged in sensational journalism held good still. It might be that Rachel, knowing neither her mother nor Lady Jennings would approve of the way in which she would have to gain actual experience by living among people of a much lower social rank than her own, had devised this method of keeping her experiences a secret from them. But even if this were true, Gerard felt that it was too daring a step for a young woman to take without the support and advice of some older member of her own sex. ”

“ And, now he thought of it, it seemed to him highly probable, and not merely possible, that this high-spirited and clever woman, always active and on the alert for the means to make money for her family as well as for herself, should make a practice of disguising herself in the dress of a poor working-girl, in order the more readily to pass without attracting comment among the crowds of London, and perhaps even to collect facts which she could dress up into attractive press articles, or into book shape, with the object of earning a larger income. ”

“ Because she knew her mother would be distressed if she were to know what profession her daughter followed, Rachel had given out that she was an artist and designer, and so got the time she wanted to herself, and represented herself as having a studio near Regent Street, in order to account for the hours when she was occupied collecting information for the editors who employed her.
The longer he lingered upon this hypothesis, the more he liked it; but in spite of his arguments, there lingered at the bottom of his mind a vague fear that his little story was but a fiction after all. ”

“ One doesn’t like to stand out when everybody else is playing,” said Gerard. And, with an uneasy feeling that he was going to have some hint given him, he drew her out. “I happen to have some money with me. I can’t say I could afford very well to lose all of it, but after all, at poker, and these gambling games, it isn’t always the old hands that win.” ”

“ The cruel words stabbed Gerard to the heart. He uttered an incoherent protest, but she would not listen. Going quickly to the end of the compartment, she remained standing, with her back turned towards him and without uttering another word, until the train stopped at the next station, when she hurriedly got out, ran up the steps, and jumped into a hansom, leaving him, remorseful, uneasy, and miserable, on the platform. ”

“ What one person thinks justifiable may shock and disgust another person. If your ideas of what is right are so very lofty, you have no right to take for granted that mine, which may be rather lower, are degrading and wholly unjustifiable.”
“I take nothing for granted. I only see that you are miserable and unhappy, and that you are so because you are acting against your conscience at the bidding of a person whom you fear and whose influence you know to be bad,” retorted Gerard. ”

“ Buckland, to presume to lecture me upon my actions? If I find that I am uncomfortable in the house of one friend, surely it is my own affair if I try another? And pray what fault have you to find with Mrs. Van Santen? Isn’t she a dear old lady, quite as kind in her way as Lady Jennings?”
Gerard frowned in perplexity.
“Oh, I suppose so,” said he. “Still, the whole atmosphere is different, the tone is lower; and what you gain in liveliness and gayety—and I suppose you do gain there—is, in my opinion, more than made up for by what you lose in refinement. ”

“ You may think, too, if you please, that this rich man is not exactly the sort of man I should have chosen if I had been quite free to choose, but that, not being quite free, I was justified in encouraging, and in accepting him.”
“But are you sure he is rich, and that he is not merely dependent upon the pleasure or caprice of a father who may, or may not, approve of him and intend to leave him well off?” argued poor Gerard earnestly. “Miss Davison, believe me, I wouldn’t be selfish and mean enough to say a word against this young Van Santen if I could think him worthy of you. ”

“ Miss Davison came up to them laughing lightly.
“Oh, no, Mr. Denver,” she said, “you mustn’t make Mr. Buckland play cards on Sunday. It’s against his principles, I know. He’s told me so.”
Denver Van Santen thrust his hands into his pockets, and turned to Gerard with a jolly look of incredulous amazement.
“Oh, come now, I can’t quite believe that,” he said. “You don’t mean that in this old country there are still left people, sensible people, who care a fig what day it is on which they have a good time?” ”

“ And the old lady laughed delightfully.
“That may well have been,” said Gerard, smiling.
Lady Jennings looked at him with keen, dark eyes.
“Rachel’s an odd girl,” she said. “I’ve had her living with me for some months now, but I can’t say I understand her yet, though I pride myself on having some knowledge of human nature. She’s singularly attractive, but eccentric, very eccentric.”
“Yes,” said Gerard eagerly, “that’s just what I’ve thought. And that makes her more interesting than other girls.”
“Yes,” said the old lady rather slowly, “I suppose it does. But it’s puzzling sometimes.” ”

“ She was silent for a moment. Then her eyes stole a stealthy glance at the card-playing party in the next room. Gerard watched her, and said—
“I have told you why I don’t believe you can care for Denver Van Santen. I want to know whether you care for the other fellow.”
She turned to him with a scoffing air.
“How on earth can it matter to you for whom I care, Mr. Buckland, when you look upon me as an accomplice of card-sharpers?” she asked lightly. ”