Kinross

“ She was in white now—it was he who had spoken of it—and she hardly knew herself again; for it made her look younger. It was like meeting an old self that was half forgotten. And away from the town and riding out in the desert on camels or on donkeys and visiting the tombs and monuments, she was almost happy.
She had not understood before how full the world was of tombs and tears. The sun was giving her a color, a faint bronze; that African sun of which he had spoken. She liked the Arab guides and donkey-drivers; they paid her such delicious compliments. ”

“ Life
By Albert Kinross
Geoffrey had come; so they were complete—the three sons of the house of Vigo, the daughter, the son-in-law, and their stepmother Lady Vigo, second wife to Sir Anthony Vigo, now dying in the room above. It was the first time the whole family had been together under that roof. All,of them were there, even Geoffrey, who had been cast out, and Sir Anthony, who now lay dying. Geoffrey had seen nothing of them since he had gone away. Then Sir Anthony had not been dying, but very much alive. “Not in my House—not in my house!” ”

“ Kinkel, Johann Gottfried, German poet and writer on æsthetics, born near Bonn; studied for the Church, but became lecturer on Art in Bonn, 1846; two years later he was imprisoned for revolutionary proceedings; escaped in 1850 to England, and became professor at Zurich in 1866; wrote “Otto der Schütz,” an epic, and “Nimrod,” a drama (1815-1882) .
Kinross (7) , small Scottish county lying between Perth and Fife, round Loch Leven, is agricultural and grazing, with some hills of no great height, and coal mines; the co. town, Kinross (2) , is on the W. shore of Loch Leven; manufactures tartan. ”

“ Merceron continued:
"We will take your beauty for granted; you are taking mine?"
The mask nodded, merry-eyed. He followed her down an empty corridor. A tiny conservatory was at the far end, and beyond was a tinier balcony, hidden away under the stars. Piccadilly ran into the moonlight on either hand, the Green Park was a sylvan foreground.
On the balcony sat a stout domino, deep in an arm-chair, and snoring with wide-open mouth. The lady laughed in its face, and it awoke, scared, showing a bald head to the stars.
"We are alone," said the lady, as the stout domino fled. ”

“ The dead underfoot had not stirred, nor shaken their worn bones—an antic chorus.
The village was dumb; only its dogs bayed aimlessly at nothings, or a challenging circle of cockerels crowed from farmyard to farmyard. The light behind the one yellow window-pane had vanished. Perhaps Life had surrendered the dying man, had cast its eye over this still churchyard, sure of succession; while Love sobbed through the dark. ”

“ The caretaker and all his family looked as though they had been mauled or shaken. Only the young girl seemed to have escaped. "Traitor!" she cried, with flashing eyes, as she caught sight of Hester; and then, to the tough lady: "If Mr. Farmer hadn't been rolling in that faggot-wood, I could have set it alight a dozen times. Why didn't we drag them out of it?"
"Men always spoil things!" shouted the tough lady.
The caretaker shot suddenly across the floor, and Mr. Farmer sat up, looked round the room, congratulated himself, assumed a standing position, and made an announcement. ”

“ She had written to Victor Molineux, inviting him for tea. She had not met him at the cemetery. So far she had not been out there.
He found her altered and strangely beautiful, the sun still upon her face; and she was no longer in black, nor with any sign of mourning. It was one of those first radiant days of spring when one could wear soft colors. He looked round the room for his ever-watchful enemy; but the portraits were gone. Only one remained, inconspicuous on a side-table. He need not look at it. The man with the thin hair and eye-glasses could follow him no longer. ”

“ Colin folded the faded papers on his knee, and, candlestick in hand, went over to the empty grate. The ashes drove up the chimney or fell powdered between the bars. The story I had listened to would never be told again—never as I had heard it that winter's night, in all its naked horror.
“To bed,” said Colin,—“we must sleep! The lights can burn.” And thus we left that brilliant room, from whose walls the portraits no longer looked down on us with unseeing eyes. ”

“ It might have been a passing insurgency or even a passing mood; for one doesn't often do these things—now, does one? And just then the children rushed out on us; they had been to the village church with Vignolles, and were come back all zeal and mischief, like two colts liberated and free to kick up their heels. And he, good chap, was happy—as happy as I had ever known him; and looking it, too, as his eyes rested on that delightful place, all green and sunlit, and the two children, and Mrs. Tyrrell and me, standing there, both rather happy as well. ”

“ The lady laughed now.
"You pretend beautifully," she said, "and I prefer your new voice to the real one," she maliciously added.
"It shall be permanent."
"Consider the strain!"
"For your sake?"
"That was sweet of you—take me downstairs before you get rude again."
"I will, if you will?"
"What?"
"Give me another chance;" and Merceron extracted three waltzes and supper from the yellow domino. Then they returned to the ball-room.
"That is Lady May," she whispered. Her gesture covered a slight pink domino. "Don't forget me," and she dropped his arm. ”

“ Coming down the hillside warily, he returned to the gay tavern, with its remnant of conveyances. On the road, ahead of him, was a scarlet parasol, and a slight figure marching lonely like himself—the dark girl from the ship, for he recognized the parasol. Should he overtake her and spoil the vision that still filled him? He slackened his pace and let her reach the inn alone.
That evening at Nauplia he found himself with her again. ”

“ He had evidently once been as they, as these people—it was strange! and he turned on the throng of diners, the men and the women; and the women's exceeding beauty made him wonder whether it were ever possible to go back, to return to the days when he lived their life and they were part of his?
"How old do I look, Hutchie?" he asked, across the table.
"Twenty-one this morning," came jestingly from the other side.
"No larking!" protested Merceron, very much in earnest.
"Young—deuced young! I don't want to offend you; you should grow a moustache." ”

“ And now I've seen you, you're no fool; you're not like a fiddler or a pug- faced tenor; you cut your hair and wear your clothes like a gentleman. I know one when I see one. I'm proud of you, Geoff. You're a man, and, though you paint and daub—by Gad, you're as good a man as I am, doing real work!”
“Better,” said Geoffrey. He had been silent up to now.
Sir Anthony looked at him through half-closed eyes.
“Better,” said Geoffrey; “I'll tell you why I am better. Can you stand it?”
“Go ahead,” said Sir Anthony. ”

“ If only he could have seen it that way at the time! "A true Pole—we are all gamblers," the other had laughed; but, by Gum, it wasn't a laughing matter! If it had been his own money he might have stood it and stuck it out—it wouldn't have been joyous exactly. A feeling, recognizable as actual funk, possessed him as the train drew up at Wolomin.
The station was a bare shed, dumped down in the darkness and the snow; beyond it, making a skyline, was the black edge of a forest. Slavin was the only passenger who descended; an official, carrying a lantern, saw the train proceed upon its way. ”

“ She had gone some sixty odd miles out of London this time, with no luggage but her hand-bag. She did not quite know where she was going to sleep, nor did she care. Everything must be clean and simple and cheap; that was the one rule she obeyed. The rest she left to chance and her own good fortune. Usually she hit on some remote farmhouse where the woman was only too glad to have her. A new face was a new face, and eighteenpence for bed and breakfast was money found. And Hester gave no trouble, and was quite ready to help with the extra work she made. ”

“ And then she moved toward me, one step closer, and in her low, sweet voice, "I see—I see," she said. "It had never occurred to me. A woman looks in, perhaps, too much, instead of looking out. And I'm forgetting all about the Sunday dinner, am I not?" she ended. "You'll amuse yourself for a little while?"
She was gone, leaving me alone on the big lawn by the greenhouses; and I was feeling rather the better for having said my say; and if I took the path through the wood, I'd be sure to run into Fred Vignolles and the children, and if I didn't it wouldn't much matter. ”

“ Both were in the firm, had taken the chances that he had refused. He was glad he had refused. Merrick, the elder, seemed smothered, the youth knocked out of him and nothing definite to fill its place, with his long black coat and gentle, hesitating way. Timothy was unhappy. You had only to look at Timothy to see that he was unhappy. His stepmother, Lady Vigo, Geoffrey had never met before. She, like the Earl and his father's baronetcy, must be a later acquisition—a young woman, handsome, well-bred. Geoffrey felt sorry for her. ”

“ She has the fineness of a stock outworn, a little too much fineness; but the indwelling rare spirit of her is unmistakable, the sweetness, too. Beauty shadowed by a cloud might partly describe her; and looking deeply into that face, one sees a mirrored fear. Life presses on such people; they lack the strength to cope with it or with themselves. Small wonder that a brain thus overborne had proved uncertain.
Davidson saw the threadbare lodging in which she lived. ”

“ She met a cat on the stairway, and three more were in the parlour, a room rather overcrowded with solid farmhouse furniture—horsehair sofas, massive sideboard, table, chairs, and battered oak bureau. The assembled company consisted of Carrie Hammon, old Mrs. Hammon, and a bald-headed permanent guest, who was deaf and dumb, Mr. Taylor by name, and very quick with his hands and fingers. Hester was properly introduced, and the bald-headed gentleman at once started a digital conversation; but Hester being unable to follow him or answer, he deftly produced a block of scribbling paper and a pencil. ”

“ The interval was filled by Merceron's cry:
"I have it—that man, Carter-Page—he knows—of course he knows!"
Merceron ran off to get a cab.
"I must find the little beast," he muttered on the way. "Of course he knows. Why was he so affable?—he's cut me for three years, and now—thank the merciful God that created snobs! Somebody must have told him that I was at that house last night, or else he saw me there, and she's—'An earl's coronet, a yellow domino, and Knightsbridge!'" cried Merceron joyfully, as he hailed the cab that drove him back to his club. ”

“ The eyes in the box met with more than common understanding.
"Brave old world!" said Lady Grasmere, "I'd sooner be there than in the Royal box!"
"You are not afraid of dragons?" asked Merceron, smiling into the lovely face.
"Is not the Marchioness below?" she asked; and Mrs. Hodgson laughed reproval.
"I had forgotten," said Harvey. "And yet the present has its moments," he added, bending over her with opera-cloak in hands that testified.
Together they went out into the vestibule where Hutchinson and he had stood the night before. Now he was looking for Lady Grasmere's man. ”

“ The Countess was once more beside him.
"You love me, as I love you—as I love you!" was all she said. Criticism of the rarest.
At last it was half-past nine, and Harvey would have to go and join Hancock, who was already down at the station with the baggage.
They parted indoors and again at the lodge gates, where he left her, turning his head every few steps to catch a farewell glimpse of the dim shape that watched him from the roadway. Again his path lay across the meadow and the churchyard.
"A woman!" he was muttering. "A woman—bless her!" ”

“ Well, it was a queer world, concluded Miss Carrie Hammon, and certainly Hester agreed with her.
The bald-headed gentleman eyed the new-comer hungrily the while, as though he had heaps and heaps to say for himself, and would have given anything to speak; but all he could do was to jot down some obvious remark upon his pad and hand it and the pencil over to poor Hester.
"Making a long stay? " he asked. ”

“ He had shaken off most of the caretaker, who now had to content himself with clinging desperately to the enemy's long legs. Mr. Farmer kicked and squirmed amid the faggot wood, and the caretaker clung as a drowning man clings to a surging, storm-tossed piece of wreckage. Mr. Farmer waved enormous hands and writhed like a serpent, and at last he started to pull the caretaker's head off. This was Hester's opportunity. Deftly she went through his pockets, and two further boxes of matches were her reward. ”

“ Ella and her Earl would do as they pleased, and play at life with no remonstrances, no awkward quarters of an hour such as the one now irking them. How the Earl must have hated his new connections—even at a price! And from them Geoffrey turned to Lady Vigo. A change had come over her pale face. A new beauty touched her cheeks with a faint rose and put a strange light in her eyes, as though, instead of “What are all these Vigos to me or I to them?” she were repeating, “I am thirty-three—seven more years in which I can live and love and lose myself ”