Gilchrist

“ Dignitaries from different strata were assembling. The Gilchrists were a family whose prestige was ramified by varied contacts. Celebrities of the society columns arrived—famous tea pourers, tiara wearers, charity patronesses. Professional men ranging from retired fuddy-duddies, applying their waning financial talents to the diversion of philanthropy, to corporation heads, prominent legal advisors and medical geniuses renowned for their taciturnity—these came for Mrs. Gilchrist. ”

“ He was still tall, still slender, his features were straight and his carriage good; his grave and very beautiful dark-grey eyes still retained their old trick of lighting up with the least word. His teeth gleamed white and wholesome in his mouth. It was impossible to connect murder with a man like him.
“For some reason or other you look dazed, Gilchrist,” he said. “You seem more astonished than pleased at seeing me.”
“I am amazed at seeing you,” I replied. “I thought—the fact is, you will forgive me, Lidderdale, but I must speak plainly—I thought you were hiding from the police.” ”

“ The word had long been a scoff on the lips of some in Nethermuir, but even the scoffers had to confess that, to some of the missioners at least, something had happened.
There was Peter Gilchrist. If an entire change of heart, and mind, and manner of life meant conversion, then Peter was converted. And that not through the slow process of reading the Bible on the Sabbath-day, or by learning the catechism, or by a decent attendance upon appointed ordinances—not even “under the rod”—the chastising hand of Him who smites the sinner for his good—which would have been reasonable enough. ”

“ It was his habit to glower with dignity, to stare with dignity and to preserve a dignified inanimation when he was silent. He was [Pg 84] pigeon breasted and this helped. In fact his many slight deformities seemed all to contribute somehow toward making him a man of inspiring dignity.
People had little use for Mr. Gilchrist, his father. He was, of course, wealthy but not wealthy enough to earn the regard of the poor. They discussed him, saying, "He's not so simple as he pretends he is. Any man who's made a pile like old Gilchrist in the furniture business has a pretty smart head." ”

“ I said; “there must be some mistake.”
“There is none. Would I invent anything so ghastly? You must see for yourself, Gilchrist, what this means to me. I was the last person with Mainwaring—we parted in anger—the hotel servants will swear as to the length of our interview. I shall be arrested almost immediately—and to confirm matters, to make it impossible for me to escape hanging, there is this, Gilchrist, in my pocket.”
As he spoke he drew out the little bottle of anhydrous hydrocyanic acid. ”

“ Mr. Gilchrist preached from the text about the rich man entering the Kingdom of Heaven.
Dr. Wadham
Always a trifle dangerous.
Mrs. Tice
Yes, and last Sunday it seemed as if he were directing all his remarks at John. We're in the first pew, you know, and John says he doesn't like to complain, but there's getting to be altogether too much of this—Bolshevism. John says the preachers are more than half to blame for the present social unrest. I heard the sermon, and I agree with John that some of it was positively insulting!
Dr. Wadham
Mr. Gilchrist is young.
Jerry
Mr. Gilchrist is a nut! ”

“ Gilchrist has, indeed, shown some anger; but it is an honest indignation, which rises up in defence of the illustrious dead. It is a generous rage which interposes between our ashes and their disturbers. There appears also to have been some slight personal provocation. Mr. Gilchrist, with a chivalrous disdain of the fury of an incensed poet, put his name to a letter avowing the production of a former essay in defence of Pope, and consequently of an attack upon Mr. Bowles. Mr. Bowles appears to be angry with Mr. ”

“ The firm of Mackay and Gilchrist had grown. He flattered himself that its success had been due to his personal prestige. People said, "Oh, that's Aubrey Gilchrist, the writer. Well, that's quite an asset for an advertising concern." And so they [Pg 218] brought their business to Mackay-Gilchrist.
He disliked Schroder because on the few occasions they had met, the man had exuberantly ignored the fact he was Aubrey Gilchrist. Schroder was a man who had no interest in anything outside himself—a noisy, self-satisfied creature with no reason to be noisy or self-satisfied. ”

“ Gilchrist to come. Mr. Gilchrist was an undersized, mild little man with greying sideburns. When he was alone he read a great deal.
He had made money in the selling of expensive furniture. He was part owner of a store in Wabash Avenue. It was generally understood that people with taste patronized the Gilchrist-Warren establishment.
He arrived at the Basines' with his wife and his son Aubrey. Keegan and Fanny had returned from a long walk. They and the judge, Henrietta, Basine and his mother and sister Doris all expressed surprise at seeing [Pg 80] Mr. Gilchrist. There was always about Mr. ”

“ This was nothing less than a balloon about twenty feet in diameter, which was tied down with ropes and securely fastened to an iron ring in the pavement. It swayed to and fro in the gusts of wind.
“Halloa!” I cried, in astonishment, “what is this?”
“Our favourite chariot,” answered Mrs. Kruse, with a laugh. “Wait a moment, Paul, won't you? I want to show our balloon to Mr. Gilchrist. Is it not a beauty?” she added, looking in my face.
“I do not see any car,” I replied.
“The car happens to be out of order. You do not know, perhaps, Mr. Gilchrist, that I am an accomplished aeronaut. ”

“ Laura feels badly to-night, but to-morrow in all probability she will be her own happy self again. The attacks at first are always slight. Laura will be quite well to-morrow, that is, unless she gets a shock. If she gets a shock now she will be a maniac for life. Mr. Gilchrist, I hold you to your promise.”
I was silent.
“You are bound in honour, I hold you to your promise,” repeated the unhappy woman.
“What can be the matter?” said Maxwell's voice at that moment. “Why, Gilchrist, you look quite pale; Mrs. Joliffe, I have come to claim you, this is our dance, is it not?” ”

“ I am a rich man; I heard suddenly that Alma was a widow—I have hurried back to England, and—why, what is the matter, Gilchrist? You look graver and graver. Do you believe that I am inventing this story? ”

“ To-night the folk had their Testaments open at one of the chapters of Galatians, and when Allison’s attention was first caught, the word was being passed backward and forward between Peter Gilchrist, one of the staunchest supporters of the little kirk, and old Saunners Crombie, staunch, too, in his way. Peter had grown both in knowledge and in grace since the day when he had become a friend of the minister, and he could take his part with the rest. He had “grown mair in gress than in knowledge, if sic a thing were possible,” his friendly opponent, Saunners, declared. ”

“ The fact is, there is no accounting for women. I thought she would have been wild about the lad; but, as a matter of fact, never did a woman take a child more calmly. Not that she neglects him—far from that. She sees that he is well looked after, and has him brought to her once or twice daily; but she never pets him—it is a fact, Gilchrist, that I have never seen her once kiss him of her own accord. Bless me, Gilchrist, I don't understand women. It is not even as if Lady Tregenna were a cold, phlegmatic sort of woman; she is all passion, fire, enthusiasm ”

“ Blake's industry throughout life was unceasing, and the mass of work accomplished by the rare union of exhaustless patience with a fiery, restless, creative imagination exceeds belief (see catalogues by W. M. Rossetti in Gilchrist's Blake) . ”

“ Gilchrist, pray,” he said. “Has my—has Miss Rivington commissioned you to bring me a message?”
“Not exactly,” I said. I favoured him with a long glance, and then all of a sudden I resolved to throw prudence to the winds.
“Good heavens! Rivington,” I cried, “if you and I are to save that girl from a fate about the most appalling in the world, we must each throw aside our masks, and talk together as man to man.” ”

“ I was just turning to say something about Lidderdale, when she uttered a little cry of distress.
“Mr. Gilchrist,” she said, “we are thirteen at table—you know of old how horribly superstitious I am. I wish I had not come to dinner.”
I soothed her, and even laughed a little at her fears.
“The age of superstition is quite over,” I said; “you ought not to think of such mediæval follies. Besides, I have something to tell you which will quite turn your attention—our sitting down thirteen to dinner is a mere accident; it is caused by the non-arrival of one of the principal guests.” ”

“ Ever before, by simple, believing Romanist, by reverent, awe-struck pagan, or in the fervent East, the exceptional power had been accepted as a matter of course in gifted men, and had been turned to serious account in the cause of religion. Even so late a manifestation of this abiding tendency (the visionary) in all spiritual persons, as that in the case of Jacob Boehmen in Lutheran time, excited, not sceptical disbelief, but pedantic hostility as, presumably, a delusive gift from the Father of Evil rather than from the Author of all Good. ”

“ One or two doctors said that it was caused by shock, and one man was sufficiently hopeful to hint that another and greater shock might possibly restore me—but that kind of thing cannot be done to order, and my case is without doubt incurable. Now, Gilchrist, the tragedy of the thing is this—that smile and laugh have nothing whatever to do with me: within I am like all other men. I am not the monster my smile would show and my laugh prove. I can love deeply, and I can be stirred to noble thoughts. ”

“ I continued, “and not the least of its charms is the sitting-room, with the cabinets and curios which belong to it. The sitting-room is a good place for a rendezvous.”
“An excellent place,” she replied. “Mr. Gilchrist, we must hurry unless we wish to be late for breakfast.”
“There is plenty of time,” I answered, and now I stood perfectly still and compelled her to face me.
“I want to ask you a question, Miss Enderby,” I said. “Why did you twice visit me in the dead of the night in the sitting-room which is connected with the panelled bedroom?” ”

“ I thought over these words for a moment; meanwhile, Everzard gave a quick glance at his watch.
“How the time has flown,” he said, “we have neither of us another moment to waste. Pray, Gilchrist, hurry up to your room and get into your evening dress. If we don't both hasten we shall not be in the ball-room when the strains of the first waltz strike up. I cannot afford to be absent. You know your way to your room, don't you?” ”

“ We were very much pleased, because we dearly love our friends to be respected by our friends. The most remarkable events of the evening were, that we had a very fine pine apple, that Mr. Phillips, Mr. Lamb, and Mr. Hazlitt played at cribbage in the most polite and gentlemanly manner possible, and that I won two rubbers at whist.
"I am glad Aunty left you some business to do. Our compliments to her [147] and to your mother. Is it as cold at Winterslow as it is here? How do the Lions go on? I am better, and Charles is tolerably well. ”

“ She was standing then, as she had done the night before on the hearth—she wore her black velvet dress and the diamond star glittered in her hair. When she saw me a ghost of a smile flitted across her face, then it vanished. I noticed that her features were drawn, as if in mental agony—her queer, greenish eyes burned with a curious light.
“Well,” I cried, “this is most extraordinary. Will you please explain how you have got into the house?”
“That does not concern you, Mr. Gilchrist,” she replied. “I said I should visit you again—I have kept my word. We hypnotists never break our engagements. ”

“ But, here, I must really take up no more of Gilchrist's time drivelling over the infant. Nurse, take him, will you? See you give him plenty of air; it is a splendid day, and the more he is out in the sunshine the better.”
The nurse, a grave, middle-aged woman, with a dark face and thin, compressed lips, came slowly forward, took the boy in her arms, and vanished with him round a corner of the house.
“We are going to have tea on the lawn,” said Lady Tregenna, turning to me. “May I show you the way?” ”

“ I have studied the disease in the East—there is not the faintest shadow of doubt.”
“But surely such a thing could not happen to an Englishman?”
“In this case there is no doubt.”
“And Hilda knows nothing, my innocent, beautiful girl!”
“She knows nothing whatever.”
“Gilchrist, does the man know it himself?”
“That I cannot tell you, Rivington. I only repeat that, bad as the man is morally, his state of health absolutely precludes marriage. Your sister must break off her engagement, and at once.” ”

“ The next moment we found ourselves in a long, low, cool conservatory, protected from the sun by heavy blinds, which shut out the greater part of the heat of the June day. A very slender young girl was standing under an open window. She was twirling a rose in her fingers. When she saw Maxwell the rose tumbled to the floor, and she advanced slowly to meet him.
“Here I am, Laura,” he cried, “and whom do you think I have brought with me? No less a person than my best man, and,” he added, giving me an affectionate glance, “my greatest friend, Paul Gilchrist.” ”