Henry Seton Merriman

“ Brenda was aware that some great change had come over her life or that of her sister. They no longer possessed a single taste or a single interest in common. Whether the fault lay entirely at her own door, or whether Alice were partially or wholly to blame, the girl did not attempt to decide. She merely felt that it would be simple hypocrisy to pretend a familiarity she did not feel. Yet she loved her sister, despite all. The tie of blood is strangely strong in some people; with others it is no link at all. ”

“ She had not come through fifty years of life, this placid lady, without learning something of the world's ways, and she recognised instantly what Alice Huston's position was. It was the old story which is told every day in all parts of the world, more especially, perhaps, in India—the wearisome tale of a mistaken marriage between a man of small intellect and a woman of less. If both husband and wife be busy, the one with his bread-winning, the other with her babies, such unions may be a near approach to animal happiness—no more can be hoped for. ”

“ For some moments there was a horrible silence, and then Theo Trist spoke in a strange, thick voice, quite unlike his own.
'Alice,' he said, 'do you ever think of Brenda? Do you ever think of anyone but yourself?'
The words came as a cold and chilling surprise to Mrs. Huston, and she began slowly to realize that she had met with something which was entirely new to her. She had come in contact with a man upon whom the effect of her beauty was of no account. ”

“ The trees stand bare and leafless, though rapid green mouldy growths relieve the wet monochrome of bark or rind.
Here, again, as at sea, the atmosphere is singularly gay and translucent. Things afar off seem near, and new details in the landscape become apparent. Any little bit of colour seems to gleam, almost to glow, and the greenness of the meadow is startling. Although there is an autumnal odour on the breeze, it has no sense of melancholy. The clouds may be gray, but they are fraught with life, and one knows that there is brightness behind. With motion, melancholy cannot live. ”

“ As a rival Hicks had no fear of Theodore Trist, who, he argued, was a very fine fellow in his way, but quite without social accomplishments. He was a good dancer—that point he generously admitted—but beyond that he had nothing to recommend him in the eyes of a clever and experienced girl like Brenda, who had had the advantages of association with some of the most talented men of her day, and intimacy with himself, William Hicks. There was only that trivial matter of athletic and muscular superiority, which really carried no great weight with a refined womanly intellect. ”

“ Only her husband will some day awaken to the fact that worship from a distance might have been more satisfactory. The effect of personal beauty is a lamentable factor which cannot be denied. All men, good and bad alike, come under its influence. A lovely woman can twist most of us round her dainty finger with a wanton disregard for the powers of intellect or physical energy.
Brenda was not beautiful; she was only pretty, with a dainty refinement of heart which was visible in her delicate face. But her prettiness was in no way tainted with weakness, as was her sister's beauty. ”

“ She had always been sensitive to the beauties of Nature. A glorious landscape, a golden sunset, or the soft silver of moon-rise, had spoken to her in that silent language of Nature which appeals to the most prosaic heart at times; but never until now had one of earth's great wonders established a longing in her soul—a longing for its constant company which is naught else but passionate love. ”

“ The eye that guides is a woman's heart; the brake that checks is a woman's instinct. Mrs. Wylie was probably, therefore, quite right in her supposition; for it is such men as Theo Trist who leave the impress of their individuality upon those who come in contact with them—men who speak little and listen well, who think deeply and never speak of their thoughts. It is not your talkative man with a theory for every emergency, with a most wonderful and universal knowledge, who rules the world. ”

“ The pleasant evening had been in most cases spent between a nervous concern as to the effect produced by personal and filial adornment, and an ill-disguised contempt for common women who flaunt titles and diamonds (both uncoveted) in the faces of their superiors, possessing neither. But we men cannot be expected to understand those things.
Chiefly was William Hicks' devotion laid at Brenda's feet. For her was reserved his sweetest smile, just tempered with that suggestion of poetic pathos which he knew well how to sprinkle over his mirth. ”

“ Wylie's good-natured patience, scarce concealing her utter lack of interest in the jewellery, and Alice Huston's eyes glittering with reflex of the cold gleam of diamonds; for there is a light that comes into the eyes of some women at the mere mention of precious stones. ”

“ She had grown up in the shadow of this beautiful sister, and men had not cared to seek for intellect where they saw only a reflected beauty. She had passed through a social notoriety, but eager eyes had only glanced at her in passing. She had merely been Alice Gilholme's sister, and now—here on Plymouth platform—Alice Huston was assuming her old superiority. My brothers, think of this! It must have been a wondrous love that overcame such drawbacks, that passed by with tolerance a thousand daily slights. And Brenda's love for her sister accomplished all this. ”

“ You are a born war-correspondent, and I suppose your ambition is to prove that you can do something else—write a novel, or edit a religious periodical—eh?'
Trist laughed, and returned the gaze of a pair of remarkably bright eyes without hesitation.
'No,' he answered. 'I am content with the mark I have made, but there is not sufficient money to be gained at it, considering how much it takes out of a man. I am as strong as a horse yet, but I have noticed that there are some of us who, considering their years, are not the men they should be. ”

“ She had a thrilling tale of how Captain Huston, 'lookin' that funny about the eyes,' had rung loudly and pushed roughly through the open door; how there had been loud words in the drawing-room, and then a noise like 'movin' a pianer'; how a silence had followed, and, finally, how Mr. Trist (and not Captain Huston, as might have been expected) had left just a minute ago. But the evening milkman was destined, after all, to receive the first and unabridged account of these events. Mrs. Wylie merely said, 'That will do, Mary,' in her unruffled way, and passed on. ”

“ Mrs. Wylie rose at once with a most reprehensively deceitful smile of welcome. She devoutly wished William Hicks in other parts as she offered her plump white hand to his grasp.
The artist, with passable dissimulation, glanced round the room. No sign or vestige of Brenda! The rose was deftly dropped into his hat and set aside. It had cost two shillings.
'Ah! Mrs. Wylie,' he exclaimed, 'I was half afraid you would be out shopping. The wind is simply excruciating.'
'Then warm yourself at once. I am afraid I am alone.'
Hicks was, in his way, a bold man. ”

“ If I were a ghost, or if I ever come to be one, I shall not take up the old, time-worn craft of frightening people during the stilly hours. Instead of such uninteresting work, I shall make a collection in a phantom pocket-book of asides and murmured reflections. From such, an interesting study of earthly existence, and more particularly of social life, might well be made. ”

“ Trist held fixed opinions about most things, but it was part of his self-reliant and self-sufficing nature to take no pleasure whatever in convincing others that the opinion was valuable. If men chose to think otherwise, he tacitly recognised their right to do so, and left them in peace. Although he held certain doctrines upon the better or worse ways of getting through the span of a human life creditably, he was singularly averse to airing them in any manner.
Now, Mrs. Wylie, in her keen womanliness, knew very well how to deal with this man. ”

“ Hicks was clever enough to know that his mind was in reality of a slightly superior order, and weak enough to value its superiority much more highly than it deserved. He was undoubtedly a clever fellow in his way, but a moderate income and a doting mother had combined to kill in him that modicum of ambition which is required to make men push forward continuously in the race of life. ”

“ Travelling by day and night alike, never resting for many consecutive hours, never laying aside the responsibility that is on their shoulders, they are expected to write amidst the din of battle, on a gun-carriage perhaps, often in the saddle, and usually at night when the wearied army is asleep; they are expected, moreover, to write well, so that men sitting by their firesides in London, with books of reference at hand, may criticise and seek in vain for slip or error. ”

“ From the Eastern lands he knew so well, it is probable that he had brought back some reflection of that strange Oriental apathy of life which is incomprehensible to our more highly-strung Western intellects.
When Mrs. Huston pushed her dainty veil recklessly up over the front of her bonnet, and made no pretence of hiding the tears that rendered her lovely face almost angelic in its pathos, Trist made no further acknowledgment of emotion than a momentary contraction of the eyelids. ”

“ The curse of jealousy has a singular way of opening our eyes, mes frères, to sundry small shortcomings of which we were not aware before. When I saw Angelina, for instance, dance with young Lightfoot in former days, my own fantastic toes suddenly became conscious of clumsiness. Hicks was jealous of Theodore Trist, and while, in a half-hearted way, despising the sturdy philosopher's soldier-like manliness, he could not help feeling that Brenda Gilholme admired Trist for this same quality. ”

“ Wylie had managed to allow the girl an afternoon's leisure, and Brenda was spending this very happily amidst her books and magazines. She was, in her way, a literary person, this brilliant young scholar; but, belonging to a universal age, universality was also hers. With the literary she could show herself well-read; with the purely pleasure-seeking she could also find sympathy. In these times of mixed circles, men and women must needs be able to talk upon many subjects, whether they know aught about them or nothing. ”

“ The door-keeper, who persisted, in face of contradiction, in his conviction that Mr. Trist was a soldier, drew himself stiffly up and saluted as he held open the swing-door. It was one of those cold blustering days which come in early November. A dry biting south-east wind howled round every corner, and disfigured most physiognomies with patches of red, more especially in the nasal regions. Nevertheless, the air was clear and brisk—just the day to kill weak folks and make strong people feel stronger. ”

“ Trist noticed that she never took her eyes off Huston's face, never glanced past the sleek, closely-cropped head towards himself. In some subtle way her wish was conveyed to him—the wish that he should remain there and continue, if possible, to be unnoticed by Huston. This he did, leaning squarely against the wall, his meek eyes riveted on the girl's face with a calm, expectant attention. From his presence Brenda gathered that strength and self-reliance which, I think, God intends women to gather from the companionship of men. ”

“ Tell me why you want to find Alice. What do you propose to do?'
'That is my affair!' he muttered roughly. 'You have no business to stand between man and wife. If you persist in doing so, it must be at your own risk, and I tell you plainly that you run a chance of being roughly handled.'
As he spoke he advanced a pace menacingly. Still she never betrayed Trist's presence by the merest glance in his direction. He, however, moved slightly, without making any sound.
Huston looked slowly round the room with bloodshot, horrible eyes. ”