Miss Halliday

“ Miss Halliday gave a little cry of surprise.
"Why, of course not, Di! How can you ask such a question? Our marriage is what uncle George calls a remote contingency. We are not to be married for ages—not until Valentine has obtained a secure position in literature, and an income that seems almost impossible. That was the special condition upon which Mr. Sheldon—papa—gave his consent to our engagement. ”

“ No suspicion of her friend's secret entered Charlotte Halliday's mind. In all their intercourse Diana had spoken very little of Valentine; and in the little she had said there had been always the same half-bitter, half-disdainful tone. Charlotte, in her simple candour, accepted this tone as the evidence of Miss Paget's aversion to her father's protégé.
"Poor Di does not like to see her father give so much of his friendship to a stranger while she is neglected," thought Miss Halliday ”

“ When he was well gone, Halliday said in a stimulated voice, to Gerald:
'I say, won't you stay here--oh do!'
'You can't put everybody up,' said Gerald.
'Oh but I can, perfectly--there are three more beds besides mine--do stay, won't you. Everything is quite ready--there is always somebody here--I always put people up--I love having the house crowded.'
'But there are only two rooms,' said the Pussum, in a cold, hostile voice, 'now Rupert's here.'
'I know there are only two rooms,' said Halliday, in his odd, high way of speaking. ”

“ There are some people about whose necks the arms of affection can scarce entwine themselves. Diana Paget sat at her eternal embroidery-frame, picking up beads on her needle with the precision of some self-feeding machine. The little glass beads made a hard clicking sound as they dropped from her needle,—a very frosty, unpromising sound, as it seemed to Charlotte's hyper-sensitive ear.
There had been an unwonted reserve between the girls since Charlotte's return,—a reserve which arose, on Miss Halliday's part, from the contest between girlish shyness and the eager desire for a confidante ”

“ Hilda's production of Mrs. Halliday was so perfect that it failed absolutely to touch him, almost to interest him. He had no means of measuring or of valuing that kind of woman, the restless brilliant type that lives upon its emotions and tilts at the problems of its sex with a curious comfort in the joust. He was too far from the circle of her modern influence to consider her with anything but impatience if he had met her original person, and her reflection, her reproduction, seemed to him frivolous and meaningless. ”

“ Love, Miss Halliday, is a delicate plant. It needs tending, nursing, assiduous fostering. This cannot be done by throwing the breakfast bacon at a husband’s head.” ”

“ I will speak about it to mamma to-morrow, and see how it strikes her. Of course there would be a great deal to talk about to Miss Halliday. She may require more money than we should be able to give.”
“I don’t think so,” said Stasy, “but she would tell you. Good-night then, dear. I can see you’re very tired; but I’m so glad you haven’t squashed the idea altogether. I think it would be capital fun! Just fancy all the people coming in and ordering their bonnets and hats. I used to long to go into the shop to take orders, when we were helping Miss Halliday.” ”

“ But I think there are times when one is artificial even with one's best friends. And you are my best friend, Charlotte. I may as well say my only friend," the girl added, with a laugh.
"Diana," cried Charlotte, reproachfully, "why do you speak so bitterly? You know how dearly I love you. I do, indeed, dear. There is scarcely anything in this world I would not do for you. But I am not your only friend. There is Mr. Hawkehurst, whom you have known so long."
Miss Halliday's face was in a flame ”

“ Who shall describe the music that will compare, in Halliday’s bosom, to the pattering feet of his darlings, as they rushed to meet his strong and loving embraces, and shouted, “Papa, papa!” amid their fast falling tears.
Halliday’s wounds, though not fatal, were still serious enough to alarm his wife, and as early in the morning as she dared, she sent one of the negroes for a doctor; but it appeared that every doctor in the vicinity was busy with patients who had been “taken suddenly ill during the night.” ”

“ At least, that's my experience."
"Meaning Miss Halliday, sir?" asked Nancy, simply. "Has she fallen in love with some young chap?"
"She has, and with a young chap who is not yet in a position to support a wife. Now, if this girl were my own child, I should decidedly set my face against this marriage; but as she is only my stepdaughter, I wash my hands of all responsibility in the matter. 'Marry the man you have chosen, my dear,' say I ”

“ This amused Gerald--he wondered what was up.
The Halliday party was tipsy, and malicious. They were talking out loudly about Birkin, ridiculing him on every point, particularly on his marriage.
'Oh, DON'T make me think of Birkin,' Halliday was squealing. 'He makes me perfectly sick. He is as bad as Jesus. "Lord, WHAT must I do to be saved!"'
He giggled to himself tipsily.
'Do you remember,' came the quick voice of the Russian, 'the letters he used to send. "Desire is holy-"'
'Oh yes!' cried Halliday. 'Oh, how perfectly splendid. Why, I've got one in my pocket. ”

“ Gerald watched curiously. The fellow in the doorway was goodlooking and clean-limbed, his bearing was calm, he looked elegant, aristocratic. Yet he was half a savage, grinning foolishly. Halliday went out into the corridor to speak with him.
'What?' they heard his voice. 'What? What do you say? Tell me again. What? Want money? Want MORE money? But what do you want money for?' There was the confused sound of the Hindu's talking, then Halliday appeared in the room, smiling also foolishly, and saying:
'He says he wants money to buy underclothing. Can anybody lend me a shilling? ”

“ He knew the Pussum was merely glad to be rid of him. She had got her Halliday whom she wanted. She wanted him completely in her power. Then she would marry him. She wanted to marry him. She had set her will on marrying Halliday. She never wanted to hear of Gerald again; unless, perhaps, she were in difficulty; because after all, Gerald was what she called a man, and these others, Halliday, Libidnikov, Birkin, the whole Bohemian set, they were only half men. But it was half men she could deal with. She felt sure of herself with them. The real men, like Gerald, put her in her place too much. ”

“ Halliday, before she dies she’s going to say yes.”
Mrs. Halliday nodded approvingly. She went further; she placed a thin hand on Don’s shoulder. It was like a benediction. His heart warmed as though it had been his mother’s hand there.
“Don,” she said, as naturally as though she had been saying it all her life, “I don’t know much about you in one way. But I like your face and I like your eyes. I go a lot by a man’s eyes. More’n that, I know Sally, and there 300 was never a finer, honester girl made than she is. If she has let you go as far as this, I don’t think I’d worry myself to death.” ”

“ Sheldon employed to get lodgings for the family, when it had been ultimately decided that a change to the seaside was the best cure for Miss Halliday.
"I am too busy to go to Hastings myself this week," he said; "but I shall be prepared to spend a fortnight there after next Monday. What I want you to do, Nancy, is to slip down tomorrow, with a second-class return-ticket, and look about for a nice place for us. I don't care about being in Hastings; there's too much cockneyism in the place at this time of year. There's a little village called Harold's Hill, within a mile or so of St. ”

“ Her blood beat black and thick in her veins with rage and loathing. Yet she must sit and watch, watch. One or two people came to speak to her. From every side of the Café, eyes turned half furtively, half jeeringly at her, men looking over their shoulders, women under their hats.
The old crowd was there, Carlyon in his corner with his pupils and his girl, Halliday and Libidnikov and the Pussum—they were all there. Gudrun watched Gerald. She watched his eyes linger a moment on Halliday, on Halliday’s party. ”

“ Garn, it's nothing, man, don't give her the pleasure of letting her think she's performed a feat--don't give her the satisfaction, man--it's just what she wants.'
'Oh!' squealed Halliday.
'He's going to cat, Maxim,' said the Pussum warningly. The suave young Russian rose and took Halliday by the arm, leading him away. Birkin, white and diminished, looked on as if he were displeased. The wounded, sardonic young man moved away, ignoring his bleeding hand in the most conspicuous fashion.
'He's an awful coward, really,' said the Pussum to Gerald. ”

“ Other men had come to the table, to talk with Birkin and Halliday. Gerald said in a low voice, apart, to Pussum:
'Where have you come back from?'
'From the country,' replied Pussum, in a very low, yet fully resonant voice. Her face closed hard. Continually she glanced at Halliday, and then a black flare came over her eyes. The heavy, fair young man ignored her completely; he was really afraid of her. For some moments she would be unaware of Gerald. He had not conquered her yet. ”

“ He wants me to live hidden in the country. And then he says I persecute him, that he can't get rid of me.'
'Doesn't know his own mind,' said Gerald.
'He hasn't any mind, so he can't know it,' she said. 'He waits for what somebody tells him to do. He never does anything he wants to do himself--because he doesn't know what he wants. He's a perfect baby.'
Gerald looked at Halliday for some moments, watching the soft, rather degenerate face of the young man. ”

“ You ask me when I am to marry Charlotte Halliday. To-morrow, if our Fates smile upon us. Mrs. Sheldon knows of our engagement, and consents to it, but in some manner under protest. I am not to take my dear girl away from her mother for some time to come. The engagement is to be a long one. In the mean time I am working hard to gain some kind of position in literature, for I want to be sure of an income before I marry, without reference to John Haygarth ”

“ I'm sending you there, Harrison, because your record indicates that you're a go-getter. Maybe what Halliday needs is a little more recklessness, a little more impulsiveness and a lot less caution. I'm hoping that you will act as a spur to Halliday. Think you're up to the job?"
Ward's eyes were flashing with excitement. His bitter disappointment had vanished.
"I'll do my absolute best, sir," he said. The colonel's words had crystallized his swiftly-formed animosity for this Thomas Halliday. ”

“ NO-O, I won't give it to you, I'll read it aloud. I'll read you the choice bits,--hic! Oh dear! Do you think if I drink water it would take off this hiccup? HIC! Oh, I feel perfectly helpless.'
'Isn't that the letter about uniting the dark and the light--and the Flux of Corruption?' asked Maxim, in his precise, quick voice.
'I believe so,' said the Pussum.
'Oh is it? I'd forgotten--HIC!--it was that one,' Halliday said, opening the letter. 'HIC! ”

“ That young lady had been removed from the Scarborough boarding-school to a highly respectable establishment at Brompton, within a few months of her mother's marriage with Mr. Sheldon. She had been a rosy-cheeked young damsel in pinafores at the time of that event, too young to express any strong feeling upon the subject of her mother's second choice; but not too young to feel the loss of her father very deeply. Tom Halliday had been fondly attached to that bright-eyed, rosy-cheeked damsel of nine years' growth, and the girl had fully reciprocated his affection. ”

“ We’re all flowers of mud—fleurs—hic! du mal! It’s perfectly wonderful, Birkin harrowing Hell—harrowing the Pompadour—Hic!”
“Go on—go on,” said Maxim. “What comes next? It’s really very interesting.”
“I think it’s awful cheek to write like that,” said the Pussum.
“Yes—yes, so do I,” said the Russian. “He is a megalomaniac, of course, it is a form of religious mania. He thinks he is the Saviour of man—go on reading.”
“Surely,” Halliday intoned, “‘surely goodness and mercy hath followed me all the days of my life—’” he broke off and giggled. ”

“ Blythe exclaimed.
Cecilia was again playing happily with the glasses, paying no heed to her companions.
“The strangest thing of all to me,” Mrs. Halliday declared, “is his relenting toward his daughter after all these years.”
“You must not forget that Fate had been pounding him pretty hard,” Mr. Grey interposed. “When a man loses in one year two of his children, and the only grandchild he knows anything about, it’s not surprising that he should soften a bit toward the only child he has left.” ”

“ His interest may not be concerned in hindering his stepdaughter's marriage with a penniless scapegrace. He may possibly prefer such a bridegroom as less likely to make himself obnoxious by putting awkward questions about poor Tom Halliday's money, every sixpence of which he means to keep, of course. If his cards are packed for that kind of marriage, he'll welcome you to his arms as a son-in-law, and give you his benediction as well as his stepdaughter. ”

“ I think, little tillicum, that we may write off Chotty Bedell’s many sins as expiated! Now—” and Bill Halliday changed the subject abruptly because he detected signs of weakening in the countenance of Max—“won’t you give me the lowdown on this mysterious treasure. Gosh, I’m aching to have a look at it. Is it in those sacks back there in the cave?”
“Yes, part of it. Come with me,” said Max. “Do you know, I kind of wish we’d let him off with his life?”
“A rattler’s fangs fill up with poison overnight,” responded Bill Halliday tersely. “When one tries to bite you, squash it!” ”

“ Hawkehurst? You know what a dislike Mr. Sheldon has to paying for admission to a theatre, and my pocket-money was exhausted three weeks ago, or I wouldn't think of giving you any trouble about it."
Philosophers have observed that in the life of the plainest woman there is one inspired moment in which she becomes beautiful. Perhaps it is when she is asking a favour of some masculine victim—for women have a knack of looking their prettiest on such occasions. Charlotte Halliday's pleading glance and insinuating tone were irresistible. ”