Marjorie Bowen

“ AUSTIN BROGRAVE settled himself in the corner of his railway carriage with a very comfortable sensation of well-being. After a prosperous year of successful work, it was most pleasant to be going on a long holiday to his own people attended by every circumstance that makes for happiness.
The delightful little house-party at Raynham Place would consist, he knew, of all the old friends his parents could gather together, and a round of Christmas festivities was eagerly looked forward to by the clever young barrister who had worked so hard and fortunately for the last six months. ”

“ Brograve felt as if the visionary horrors of the night before had become concrete facts. Scarcely able to conceal his agitation, he took the first excuse to leave the house and escape into the woods that surrounded Raynham.
He went in the direction of Chilworth, for it gave him a certain pleasure to feel that he was approaching Rosabel Aubrey; but he did not intend to see her, conscious that he had very little excuse for doing so, and almost ashamed to meet her face to face. ”

“ And Brograve was by no means humdrum, but quite a spirited and talented young man, rather exceptionally good-looking in just that dark, authoritative style likely to be of use to him in his profession, and it was with a genuine thrill that he thought of pretty Mary Garnett, and finally decided, with a sense of satisfaction and perhaps a trace of self-complacency, that he would propose to her this Christmas, and add another sparkle to the pleasure of the holidays by the news of a happy engagement. ”

“ Having carefully returned his treasures to an inner pocket, Brograve took out a letter-case and, selecting from the papers therein a rubbed engraving, looked at it intently.
This represented another romance in the life of the prosperous young man, something so remote and intangible as to be kept a dark secret almost, as it were, from himself, for Brograve had all the Englishman's horror of the queer and fantastical. ”

“ The young man steadily scribbled a note of apology and despatched it with the seed pearls that he was now beginning to heartily dislike, for they were as the silent witnesses of a secret infidelity. Half chagrined and half exultant, he was now forced to disclose his meeting with Miss Aubrey.
"Isn't she a dear?" said Mrs. Brograve comfortably. "They are all very nice people, and I am sure, Austin, that you will like them very much. ”

“ She might easily, in a sort of womanish cunning, have considered that neither Brograve nor Miss Aubrey was likely to press the loss of the pearls if they suspected her, and five thousand pounds was a large sum.
Of course, when the Christmas bells finally roused him from an unsatisfactory doze, such reflections as these became a nightmare of the dark; to be dismissed as fantasy. But there was a great deal that could not be dismissed, and many problems that were not fantasy before Austin Brograve. ”

“ Brograve disappeared for the greater part of the morning, and when she returned admitted that she had been visiting the "poor Garnetts."
"Only think, Austin," said the good-natured woman, "Mary is going to sell her jewels. She has quite a good pearl necklace, given her by a godmother, worth quite a lot of money."
"I've never seen it," replied Brograve rather faintly.
"No, no one has ever seen it. They thought that it was too valuable to wear. And now the poor girl has to sell it! But Mrs. Garnett says the money will be a blessing. They haven't a penny." ”

“ For quite a long time he had decided to marry Mary, but his affection was grounded in a prudence that was not dishonourable, and he had not declared himself while the only alternative to a reckless marriage had been a vexatiously long engagement, for Mary was portionless, and Brograve, brought up in ease, had a wholesome dread of even the milder shifts of poverty. ”

“ I dare say you noticed how pale poor Mary looked."
"No, I didn't," said Brograve truthfully.
"Well, it is all very unfortunate, and she just came over to say that they couldn't come over. They don't feel like meeting people. And I thought, Austin," continued the amiable woman, "that if you had a little present for Mary—I know you generally bring her something—I thought it might cheer her up if you were to give it to her now."
"Good Heavens, mother, whatever has happened?" asked Brograve, feigning the interest that alas! he no longer felt in the Garnetts. ”

“ While he was enthralled in this gay conversation, Brograve was racking his brain for all he had heard his mother say about the Aubreys. He had taken so little notice of these details at the time that he now could recall nothing save the fact that they were rich people who had recently bought a large house near Raynham. "Such nice people," kind Mrs. Brograve had called them, and her son, who was used to her generous opinion of everyone, had taken no further notice.
A happy accident furthered Brograve's acquaintance with Miss Aubrey. ”

“ Half an hour later, when Brograve, quite uproariously joyful, was having tea with the Garnetts and the exemplary Murray, prefatory to sweeping them all off to the Brograve festivities, he asked—
"By the way, did you hear any more of Miss Aubrey's necklace?"
"Oh, yes. She telephoned to us last night, because I'd told Mrs. Aubrey the case had come here. Of course, it had been empty all along! Rosabel is so careless! Her maid brought the real jewel case with the other things, and this was some box waiting to be mended that she picked up. She always will travel with a lot of odds and ends." ”

“ Nor did his secret anticipations lack the tinge and colour of romance, that word which, however much abused by the writers of newspaper reports, really does still mean something potent once at least in the lives of everyone but the most humdrum. ”

“ The firm curves of the contours, the extreme delicacy of the features, the straight nose, full lips and brilliant complexion, the quantities of very dark hair crisply waving, above all, the large, lustrous, and appealing eyes composed a beauty truly more often seen in pictures than in real life. ”

“ But we have seen a great deal of him since he came back from Australia."
"So—you are all right?" asked Brograve rather blankly.
"Yes, it is really settled. Murray is very rich. Anyhow"—a glorious colour flooded her eager face—"thank you for the necklace, Austin," she continued breathlessly. "But perhaps I ought not to keep it. You see, I'm going to marry Murray!" ”