Cynthia

“ What was even more remarkable in Cynthia than the beauty of her face was the perfection of every line and contour of her body; the supple, swelling, lissom figure was full of absolute grace; she could not have been awkward if she had tried. It was the characteristic that chiefly earned her the admiration of men; women looked more often at her face.
"Are you alone?" said Hubert, smiling, and holding out both his hands, in which she impulsively placed her own. ”

“ CRI. Adored Cynthia, and bright Arete, Another might seem fitter for this task, Than Crites far, but that you judge not so: For I (not to appear vindicative, Or mindful of contempts, which I contemn'd, As done of impotence) must be remiss: Who, as I was the author, in some sort, To work their knowledge into Cynthia's sight, So should be much severer to revenge The indignity hence issuing to her name: But there's not one of these who are unpain'd, Or by themselves unpunished; for vice Is like a fury to the vicious mind, And turns delight itself to punishment. ”

“ I am like you in that, Cynthia, eh? We neither of us wear our hearts upon our sleeves or are fond of talking sentiment. But I am compelled to to-night. I think the most beautiful thing in the world is a couple of young lovers facing all the unknown future, hand in hand, high of hope and courage, and serious with the uplifting seriousness of love. Now you are not in love, Cynthia, and he's not young. So, from my point of view, on both sides this marriage falls short of the marriage which should be."
"Captain Rames is not old," replied Cynthia. ”

“ Her traveling coat and hat, her street shoes were with it. Cynthia grabbed the lot and opened the door again. Then came a moment of fright, for the maid, Agnés, stood just outside in the corridor. But she was wreathed in smiles, already primed by Serena for the enlévement, the elopement, and her ancient romantic heart was in the job. She piloted Cynthia along the corridor and down the servant’s stairway, then out through an alley behind the garage, put her finger to her lips as a vow of silence, then blew a kiss into the air as a gesture of her best wishes for the bride and groom. ”

“ He says often enough he does not care what he does so that he gets me to be his wife; and that after that he is sure he can make me love him.' Cynthia began to cry, out of weariness of body and despair of mind. Molly's arms were round her in a minute, and she pressed the beautiful head to her bosom, and laid her own cheek upon it, and hushed her up with lulling words, just as if Cynthia were a little child. ”

“ The idea of Cynthia doing anything so violent as “ramp and rage” seemed impossible to realise, as one looked at her dainty figure and sweet pink-and-white face. All the same it was a pleasure to find that she did not belong to the wax-doll type of girl, but had a will and a temper of her own.
“Yes, you may laugh,” she cried, laughing herself, “but it’s quite true. Or perhaps it would be more ‘lady-like’ to say that I feel like ‘a caged bird,’ as people do in books. In future I shall console myself with the thought that I may be the lever which supplies the force. ”

“ Cynthia drew back with a jerk, scrupulously honorable, as usual. "Ought we to read it, Joyce? It's a letter!"
"I did," whispered Joyce. "I couldn't help it for I didn't realize what it was at first. I don't think it will harm. Oh, Cynthia, read it!" And Cynthia, doubting no longer, read aloud:
My dearest Mother,—the best and loveliest thing in my life,—I leave this last appeal here, in the hope that you will see it later, read it, and forgive me. ”

“ What say you to Cynthia, Arete, Phronesis, Time, and others there? CUP. They are divine. MER. And Crites aspires to be so. [MUSIC; THEY BEGIN THE THIRD DANCE.] CUP. But that shall not serve him. MER. 'Tis like to do it, at this time. But Cupid is grown too covetous, that will not spare one of a multitude. CUP. One is more than a multitude. MER. Arete's favour makes any one shot-proof against thee, Cupid. I pray thee, light honey-bee, remember thou art not now in Adonis' garden, but in Cynthia's presence, where thorns lie in garrison about the roses. Soft, Cynthia speaks. ”

“ She was still Cynthia—more than ever Cynthia, he understood; but there had been a fascination when "Cynthia" was a goddess to him, which an acquaintance with strings and buttons had destroyed. The corylopsis stood in a squat little bottle with a silver lid among brushes and hair-pins on a toilet-table, and his senses swam no more when he detected its faintness on her frock.
Companionship, and not worship, was required now, and neither found the other quite so companionable as had been expected. This the girl in her heart excused less readily than the man. ”

“ As yet no one but the ladies of Hollingford and Mr Ashton, the vicar—that hopeless and impracticable old bachelor—had seen Cynthia; and what was the good of having a lovely daughter, if there were none but old women to admire her?
Cynthia herself appeared extremely indifferent upon the subject, and took very little notice of her mother's constant talk about the gaieties that were possible, and the gaieties that were impossible, in Hollingford. She exerted herself just as much to charm the two Miss Brownings as she would have done to delight Osborne Hamley, or any other young heir. ”

“ It was Flossy's fault; but one cannot betray a woman, one's sister—can one? Even she would say that. But she has gone away, and she will never come back again. Cynthia—Cynthia! I might call as long as I pleased—she would never come. Why don't you fetch her, some of you? So many people here, and nobody will bring Cynthia to me! Cynthia, Cynthia, my love!"
"I am here, dear—I am here, beside you," said Cynthia.
But he did not seem to understand. She touched his hot hand with her own, and smoothed his fevered brow. ”

“ Then to their surprise Miss Cynthia laughed out. She threw back her head and laughed like a girl—laughed till little tears twinkled in her eyes—and they all joined in, looking at one another shyly.
Cynthia wiped the tears away and regarded Lydia. "You're very conscientious, aren't you, child?" The little quivering smile danced on her lips.
"Yes-m." It was a venture on Lydia's part. She saw deep water ahead.
Cynthia patted the dark, straight little braids. "That's right! But be careful, dear—not to be too conscientious, won't you? It's dangerous, being too conscientious! ... ”

“ The stern class distinctions which had always steeled Cynthia against the friendly advances of her neighbours troubled the younger sister not at all. She remembered none of the past grandeur, the old Blake power of rule, and the stories of gallant indiscretions and powdered beaux seemed to her as worthless as the moth-eaten satin rags which filled the garret. She loved the familiar country children, the making of fresh butter, and honest admiration of her beauty; and except for the colourless poverty in which they lived, she might easily have found her placid happiness on the little farm. ”

“ Cynthia. I don't pretend.
John. [Interrupting her; proud, serious and strong.] How dare you look me in the face with the eyes that I once kissed, and pretend the least regard for me? [Cynthia recoils and looks away. Her own feelings are revealed to her clearly for the first time.] I begin to understand our American women now. Fire-flies—and the fire they gleam with is so cold that a midge couldn't warm his heart at it, let alone a man. You're not of the same race as a man! You married me for nothing, divorced me for nothing, because you are nothing!
Cynthia. [Wounded to the heart.] Jack! ”

“ But the moment he began to speak such a pleasant twinkle of courtesy came into his ugly countenance—by itself it was plain to the point of ugliness, although to this day Cynthia will never allow it to be so—and his voice was so wondrous musical, that straightway we forgot that he had such a singular appearance, and fell in love with him.
"A very good morning to you," says he. "I hope you are drinking in this golden morning that God hath sent us. Hey, what a thing it is to be a human being!" ”

“ Cynthia's father did not get his question answered, because at that moment a thundering knock at the front-door announced the return of Madame, and there was rather a hasty struggle to get him away from the house without encountering that lady's sharp eyes and vivacious questioning, which Cynthia was not at all sure that he could meet with equanimity. For herself she felt at that moment equal to any struggle involving either cunning or courage. She could combat to death for one she loved. ”

“ You do not think I would for anything short of saving—' She was going to have said, 'saving you and Roger from pain.' But Cynthia broke in,—
'For nothing. No reason whatever must make you tell your father. If you fail, you fail, and I will love you for ever for trying; but I shall be no worse than before. Better, indeed; for I shall have the comfort of your sympathy. But promise me not to tell Mr. Gibson.'
'I have promised once,' said Molly, 'but I promise again; so now do go to bed, and try and rest. ”

“ The deep crimson in Cynthia's cheeks, that her late eminent exertions had induced, lent her even more of an adorable appearance than even I had ever observed in her. And when she tossed me my cloak, and gravely gave one of the posies into my hands, I think I never saw the eyes of a woman beam with such mirth and high spirits. Flushed and breathless as we were, no two human persons could possibly have been happier. Already our haphazard, vagrant life had proved the antidote of that weariness of the world, that fatigue of mind and body, the chains of polite life had induced. ”

“ One of the American tourists had let the group go on without her and had come across to stand behind Cynthia. She was a tall girl, pretty, though pale, with big black eyes and curly dark lashes and a smart American traveling suit of blue and white wash silk. In a low tone she was chatting with the children and with such amazing ease and flourish of idiom that Cynthia, with a pang of envy thought; Canadian ... or Louisiana bred. She’s grown up with the language. Oh darn that model! ”

“ RE-ENTER COS WITH ARETE. COS. Here's the lady Arete, madam. ARE. What, at your bever, gallants? MOR. Will't please your ladyship to drink? 'tis of the New Fountain water. ARE. Not I, Moria, I thank you.—Gallants, you are for this night free to your peculiar delights; Cynthia will have no sports: when she is pleased to come forth, you shall have knowledge. In the mean time, I could wish you did provide for solemn revels, and some unlooked for device of wit, to entertain her, against she should vouchsafe to grace your pastimes with her presence. AMO. What say you to a masque? ”

“ Hudson Bowley had seen them change from the floppy, flowered fashions of twelve years back, to the scant draperies and severe skirts of later times, and then at last to an austerity that seemed to have little relation to the prevailing style—as little as the tenuous draperies of the marble lady there on her pedestal. Cynthia's clothes seemed merely to belong to Cynthia—though they were still very becoming.
He sat looking up at the statue and smoking reflectively. Cynthia had hardly grown—any more than the statue up there. ”

“ And every day Cynthia worked among the flowers.
Hudson Bowley knew pretty well what went on in Miss Cynthia's yard. He passed it four times a day on the way to the mill and back. Sometimes Cynthia looked up and bowed to him distantly. But more often she bent in absorption over her flowers. And he went by without a glance. He had never stood as he was standing now, staring in on the flowers that lifted themselves in the mysterious half-light against the blackness of the house. ... A subtle fragrance stole over the fence, of mignonette and phlox and candytuft. ”

“ For by this time Cynthia had exhausted the resources of the little school among the birches.
The four years of her life in the tannery house which are now briefly to be chronicled were, for her, full of happiness and peace. Though the young may sorrow, they do not often mourn. Cynthia missed her father; at times, when the winds kept her wakeful at night, she wept for him. But she loved Jethro Bass and served him with a devotion that filled his heart with strange ecstasies—yes, and forebodings. ”

“ Cynthia laughed at her openly.
"Of course not. No one—Daffy does, of course. But us?—girls? Just because she's been heavenly to you, you take advantage, to watch her, to judge, to twist all she says and does. Why do you hate her so?"
"I don't." Cynthia pulled herself upright. "My dear, you're wrong there. I like her immensely. She's a real treat. But I don't worship her like you do." [149]
"I don't! I—I just love her." Louise glowed.
Cynthia laughed jollily.
"Oh, well! You'll get over that. Wait till you get a best boy." ”

“ But what could I contribute to the situation beyond a few impotent threats, made in dumb show? I was never had at a greater disadvantage in my life? It was in vain that Cynthia evaded the demand, and besought him by the name of humanity to tell her where I lay. The spirit of mischief in the fellow, inflamed by the quantity of wine he had drunk, caused him to brook no denial.
"Come, my dear madam," says he, "one kiss from those dainty lips is all I seek. Then i'faith shall you know where your husband lies."
"You are no gentleman, sir," says Cynthia, with more spirit than she had yet shown. ”

“ Molly had allowed her fancy to dwell much on the idea of Cynthia's coming; and in the short time since they had met, Cynthia's unconscious power of fascination had been exercised upon her. Some people have this power. Of course, its effects are only manifested in the susceptible. A school-girl may be found in every school who attracts and influences all the others, not by her virtues, nor her beauty, nor her sweetness, nor her cleverness, but by something that can neither be described nor reasoned upon. ”