Constance of Arles

“ Since then, life had set its mark on Constance. Often now, as a woman of forty-two, she felt a dull melancholy in pondering on her life; she let her life, one woman's life, glide past her gaze once more; she began with her childish years in India; saw once more the splendour and grandeur of Buitenzorg; criticized her own vanity during her girlhood at the Hague; saw her marriage as the great mistake of her life; saw, as the second, irrevocable mistake of her life, all that had happened with Van der Welcke.... ”

“ Now, farewell, dear Constance. Both you and Iola keep quiet above, till all the hurly burly's done; for we shall have hard words going, if nothing harder still, which God forfend."
"Oh, I beseech you, let there be no violence!" said Constance, imploringly.
"No, no, there shall be none," replied Arden. "If they assail not us, we will not assail them. But still women are better out of the way," he added, kissing her hand; "for they scream, you know, Constance, and that makes a noise."
With a faint smile Constance left him ”

“ They are just at the castle gates. Now, Constance," he continued, for his lordship would sometimes venture an insipid joke, "now, Constance, if you would win a rich and noble husband, put on your brightest smiles."
"Who may he be, my lord?" asked Constance, who as well as Iola was ignorant of the names of the persons expected.
"Nay, nay, you will see," said Lord Calverly. "Did not his young lordship tell you?"
"No, indeed!" answered Constance quietly; "but I can wait in patience, my good lord. Time brings all things to light." ”

“ Constance stole her hand into his. “Arthur, what is the matter with you this evening? Is it that unpleasant affair at Mr. Galloway’s?”
He turned from her. He laid his face upon the table and groaned in anguish. “Be still, Constance! You can do no good.”
“But what is it?” uttered Constance in alarm. “You surely do not fear that suspicion should be cast on you, or on Hamish—although, as it appears, you and he were alone in the office with the letter?”
“Be still, I say, Constance,” he wailed. “There is nothing for it but to—to—to bear. You will do well to ask no more about it.” ”

“ And we are all of us, all of us, Constance, very, very sorry."
"Bertha, those two old women only yelled out at the top of their voices, as deaf people do, what the rest of you thought in your hearts."
"Come, Constance, don't be so bitter. You are hard and unjust. I swear that you are mistaken. It is not as you think. Let me show it to you in the future, let me prove it to you . . . and please speak to Van der Welcke and write and tell me a day when we shall find you at home, so that Van Naghel can shake hands with Van der Welcke. ”

“ When Mamma spoke to us, eight months ago, about you coming to the Hague, Van Naghel at once said that our house was open to you and your husband, but that you must not push and assert yourselves.”
“So that was the condition?”
“It was not a condition, Constance: it was merely advice, given in your own interest . . .”
“And in yours.”
“Very well, in ours too. People come to my days, just because of my husband’s position and connections, people who are relations and friends of De Staffelaer’s, people who have never forgiven you and never will. Can’t you see that for yourself, Constance? ”

“ Oh, you are not the free, true-hearted girl, that, twelve years ago, leaped upon your native hills to meet the sunshine and the breeze, and often—alas! alas! that it should only have been in mere sportiveness—declared that—but no matter—I see it all, and future Lady of Burrell, bid you farewell and for ever."
Constance replied with tears, yet calmly and firmly: "Walter, be not cruel; or, at least, be not unjust. You were ever impetuous, but also ever ready to repair the evil you had done. It is ill of you to use so harsh a word against one who has never wronged you. ”

“ But Mamma van Lowe had sent Constance a sweet and loving letter, a letter which Constance had kissed, which had made her sob with happiness. Mamma had written that her child was to come to her, that all was forgiven, all forgotten, that the brothers and sisters would receive her with open arms. And she had expressed her own delight, as the old mother, who found it so difficult to get about, who disliked travelling, though it was but a two or three hours’ journey to Brussels, and hated being so far from her child, for Constance was her child, in spite of all. ”

“ They were soon married amidst the great rejoicing of the people, and the king and all the land became converted to the Christian faith.
This king also had a mother, named Donegilde, an old heatheness, no less cruel than the mother of the Soldan. She hated Constance because she had been made queen, though for fear of her son’s wrath, she dared not molest her.
After his honeymoon, King Alla went northward to do battle with the Scots, who were his foemen, leaving his wife in charge of a bishop and the good governor, the husband of the murdered Hennegilde. ”

“ This King, Alla, was very tender and good, and when he saw Constance standing in the midst of the people, with her frightened eyes looking appealingly from one to another like a wounded deer who is chased to its death, his heart was moved with pity.
The governor and all his people told how Constance had loved the murdered lady, and what holy words she had taught. All except the real murderer, who kept declaring she was the guilty one.
The king asked her, “Have you any champion who could fight for you?” ”

“ All that was slightly grotesque in his outer man, the broad flat head, the red hair, the sharp wedge-like chin, disappeared for Constance in the single impression of his eyes—pale blue, intensely melancholy, and most human.
“Take up some occupation—some study—” he said to her gently. “You won’t be long here; but still, ask us for what we can give. In Oxford one must learn something—or teach something. If not, life here goes sour.”
Constance repeated Sorell’s promise to teach her Greek. ”

“ I throw all our expenditure in common, you see, tailor and all; I won't buy a waistcoat even without giving you the chance of lecturing if you've a mind; if we find we have all along been within our limit, why we'll make each other a present, or have a jaunt; but in heaven's name, Constance, don't talk to me of your own purse. I've seen enough of that—no, no, let's be open, let's have no concealments or privacies of any sort."
She was so disappointed at this unexpected refusal that she could not restrain her tears, and Allan looked very rueful and uncomfortable at the sight. ”

“ And now to make a conclusion to my tale, this child, Maurice, was afterwards anointed Emperor by the Pope, and did high honour to the Christian church:—but my story is especially of Constance.
King Alla after due time returned to England with his sweet and holy wife, where they lived together in peace and happiness, although, alas! but for a short, though blissful season: happiness in this world is ever fleeting, and so it was with Alla and Constance; for, at the end of a year, death removed him from her; and she, in grief and heaviness at his loss, returned to the land of her birth. ”

“ Your papa is writing to Hamish, and will confirm what I say.”
This much Constance read aloud. Judith gave a glad laugh. “It’s just as everybody told the master,” said she. “A fine, strong, handsome man, like him, wasn’t likely to be laid down for life like a baby, when he was hardly middle-aged. These doctors here be just so many muffs. When I get too old for work, I’ll go to Germany myself, Miss Constance, and ask ‘em to make me young again.”
Constance smiled. She was running her eyes over the rest of the letter, which was a long one. She caught sight of Arthur’s name. ”

“ This was the beginning of Constance's last illness. Mary most impressively informed Miss Holl that her mistress had been out on the previous afternoon in spite of her sciatica, and Lily telephoned the fact to the Doctor. Lily then came down to take charge of Constance. But she dared not upbraid the invalid.
"Is the result out?" Constance murmured.
"Oh yes," said Lily, lightly. "There's a majority of over twelve hundred against Federation. Great excitement last night! I told you yesterday morning that Federation was bound to be beaten." ”

“ It wounded her to oppose her rector, yet the need of a champion for her husband's cause supplied her with speech, and gave to her countenance quiet determination. Constance possessed one of those lithe, nervous personalities, so frequently to be met with in American women of every class, the signal attribute of which is bodily and mental refinement. Her hair was dark, her face thin, her eyes brown and wistful, her figure tall and elastic; her pretty countenance had the charm of temperament rather than mere flesh and blood, and its sympathetic, intelligent comeliness suggested spiritual vigor. ”

“ Secondly, no imputation whatever has been cast on the honor of Constance as a wife and as a woman. The old historians, who have treated in a very unceremonious style the levities of her great-grandmother Matilda, her grandmother Bertha, her godmother Constance, and her mother-in-law Elinor, treat the name and memory of our Lady Constance with uniform respect.
Her third marriage, with Guy de Thouars, has been censured as impolitic, but has also been defended; it can hardly, considering her age, and the circumstances in which she was placed, be a just subject of reproach. ”

“ But just as she approached the house, she became aware of a slenderly built man in flannels coming out of the gates of St. Cyprian’s, the college of which the gate and outer court stood next door to the Hoopers.
He saw her, stopped with a start of pleasure, and came eagerly towards her.
“Lady Constance! Where have you sprung from? Oh, I know—you are with the Hoopers! Have you been here long?”
They shook hands, and Constance obediently answered the newcomer’s questions. ”

“ Tea had been daintily spread for them under a birch-tree near the keeper’s lodge. The keeper’s wife served them with smiles and curtsies, and then discreetly disappeared. Falloden waited on Constance as a squire on his princess; and all round them lay the green encircling rampart of the wood. In the man’s every action, there was the homage of one who only keeps silence because the woman he loves imposes it. But Constance again felt that recurrent fear creeping over her. ”

“ But Constance formed the chief attraction. White men were no novelty to her, but a pale-face woman was something new, and worth studying. She had seen her every Sunday at the church, sitting at the little harmonium, and had been held spellbound by her sweet rich voice joining in the singing. She associated Constance with that strange world, the glorious dreamland, which filled so much of her life, and of which the bell was an important factor. ”

“ Better a thousand times to be laughed at by the critics than to see a pained look of disappointment in Constance’s eyes. Nevertheless he considered his promise sacred, and, after all, it was Constance who had driven him to make it. ”

“ Constance, my darling, what is this grief?”
What were the words but a tacit admission that, if Arthur were not innocent, they should part? Constance so interpreted them. Had any additional weight been needed to strengthen her resolution, this would have supplied it.
“Farewell! farewell, William! To remain with you is only prolonging the pain of parting.”
That her resolution to part was firm, he saw. It was his turn to be angry now. A slight touch of the haughty Yorke temper was in him, and there were times when it peeped out. He folded his arms, and the flush left his countenance. ”

“ So with tears streaming down her dear face, she put her arms about my neck and bade me do as I wished.
"There's no one on earth so good and sweet as you, Constance," I cried, kissing her. Then, not waiting to say more, I ran down to the landing, calling to her to stay where she was until I returned.
The captain of the War Eagle was on the upper deck, and reaching the spot where he stood, I looked back to see Constance, sad and dejected, standing where I had left her. ”

“ Constance, daughter of Sir William Fondlove, and courted by Wildrake, a country squire, fond of field sports. "Her beauty rich, richer her grace, her mind yet richer still, though richest all." She was "the mould express of woman, stature, feature, body, limb;" she danced well, sang well, harped well. Wildrake was her childhood's playmate, and became her husband.—S. Knowles, The Love Chase (1837) .
Constance, daughter of Bertulphe, provost of Bruges, and bride of Bouchard, a knight of Flanders. ”

“ You nourish some secret sorrow, Constance; nay, I am sure you do; and I will write and say so to my sister Claypole, who is worthy to be your confidant, as well as your godmother, though I am not. Nay, nay, I know it well: I admire, but do not quite understand you. The heavens are given us to hope for, and the sun to look upon, and—but dear me! that would be—a simile! I vow that sounded like rhyme; but here comes reason, in the shape of our new knight. Adieu! dear Constantia!—Barbara! that is surely Robin Hays, groping among the slopes like a huge hedgehog. ”

“ Constance turned a little white.
“Why should anybody talk?” she said coldly. “But really, Nora, I must turn you out. I shall ring for Annette.” She raised herself in bed.
“No, no!” Nora caught her hand as it stretched out towards the bell. “Oh, Connie, you shall not fall in love with Mr. Falloden! I should go mad if you did.”
“You are mad already,” said Constance, half laughing, half furious. “I tell you Mr. Falloden is a friend of mine—as other people are. He is very good company, and I won’t have him abused—for nothing. His manners are abominable. I have told him so dozens of times. ”