Mrs. Wallace

“ Miss Perk was so taken up with herself that she failed to notice the countenance of Mrs. Wallace. "Now," she went on, "I've no doubt that if you would induce Mr. and Mrs. Houston to attend our meetings, they would both benefit considerably. As I said, the husband is doubtless an estimable man, but there is certainly room for improvement, mentally if not morally. You, Mrs. Wallace, must naturally be anxious about your niece's welfare, and, of course, it is your duty to influence the young couple in the right direction." ”

“ Wallace laughed.
"Impossible is not a word that I am well acquaint with, madam," he said, "and if, for the sake of the friendship that was between us in the days that are gone, thou wilt lend me some of thine attire, a gown and kirtle maybe, and a decent petticoat of homespun, and a cap such as wenches wear to shield their faces from the sun, I hope I may make good my escape under the very noses of these fellows." ”

“ I would have killed Madame in London if she had not been dragged out of the way by that old man, and did I not watch for you when the man Meredith——"
"Hush," she said in a low voice. "Let us talk about something else."
"Shall I see your father? I am sorry for what I did last night," he said when they were nearing the villa.
"Father has taken his motor-bicycle and gone for a trip into Italy," she said. "No, I do not think I should speak to him, even if he were here. He may come round in time, François. You can understand that it is terribly distressing; he hoped I would make a great marriage. ”

“ One wonders who the beautiful woman can be that adorns the Wallace collection, the splendid brunette so unlike the usual fair-haired female sitters to Velazquez. She belongs to this period of his work, to the ripeness of his middle period. Instinct with life, her bosom seems to heave and the blood to pulsate through her veins. The touch is firm but free, showing the easy strength of the great master. ”

“ In Lorin's sitting-room a cheery fire was burning, and Laline drew old Mr. Wallace's arm-chair towards the blaze, while she herself stood with one hand on the mantelpiece and one foot on the fender, looking earnestly down into the glowing coals.
"What a slip of a girl you are, to be sure, my dear!" remarked Alexander Wallace, as he noticed the graceful but unduly slender outline of her figure in its severely-cut blue-serge gown. "It's time you had some one to look after you and make life pleasanter for you! And what is the exact day you have fixed for the wedding?" ”

“ A diminutive maid opened the door.
"Is Miss Glaum in?" he demanded.
"Yes, sir. Will you step into the drawing-room. All the other boarders are out. What name shall I say?"
"Tell her a gentleman from Krooman Mansions," he answered diplomatically.
He walked into the tawdry parlour and put down his hat and stick, and waited. Presently the door opened and the girl came in. She stopped open-mouthed with surprise at the sight of him, and her surprise deepened to suspicion.
"I thought——" she began, and checked herself.
"You thought I was Doctor van Heerden? Well, I am not." ”

“ Wallace. "Disfeegured through yer ain consate. Eh?"
Smiling ruefully, the grocer rubbed his suffering forehead. "I doot I'll ha'e to get anither hat, efter a'," he said.
"Either that or anither heid," said Mrs. Wallace. "But that's no' the p'int we wis speakin' aboot, Maister Ogilvy," she went on, becoming serious. "Ye ken whit I mean."
"Ay; ye mean Man. Ye wis speakin' aboot Man, Mistress Wallace."
"Tits! Ye're haverin'! That wisna a p'int. Man's o' nae consequence. I meant the business aboot the new jiners."
"Oh, ay."
"An" I want ye to tell David the nicht, Maister Ogilvy. ”

“ The girl smiled slightly and in that smile was paradise, thought T. X.
"The weirdest name?" he repeated, "why I think the worst I have heard for a long time is Belinda Mary."
"That has a familiar ring," said Kara.
T. X. was looking at the girl.
She was staring at him with a certain languid insolence which made him curl up inside. Then with a glance at her employer she swept from the room.
"I ought to have introduced you," said Kara. "That was my secretary, Miss Holland. Rather a pretty girl, isn't she?" ”

“ Again Lady Mar appeared. At sight of Wallace she forgot everything but him; and perhaps would have thrown herself into his arms, had not the anxious earl caught her in his own.
"Are we to die?" cried she to Wallace, in a voice of horror.
"I trust that God has decreed otherwise," was his reply. "Compose yourself; all may yet be well."
Lord Mar, from his yet unhealed wounds, could not swim; Wallace therefore tore up the benches of the rowers, and binding them into the form of a small raft, made it the vehicle for the earl and countess, with her two maids and the child. ”

“ Wallace. If she can’t come to-morrow, send her Sunday. Don’t you take her to Mrs. Wallace’s; I will. She’s a stranger here, going to work for Mr. Lucas where she’ll be noticed. [98] Don’t start her wrong by escorting her to look up her boarding place. People are queer things; they’re more than likely to hope for the worst. Send the girl to me. I won’t take her in here, but I’ll do by her as I’d want done by me, if I was a young Hannah Gallatin, setting out to earn my living in a strange place. ”

“ Then, too, she hinted at some secret, and I am greatly troubled over it."
"Violet," began Wallace, solemnly, as he bent to look into her face, while he held her hands in almost a painful clasp, "are you sure that you love me—that you will never regret the promise that you made me last night? You are very young, you have seen but little of the world, and a larger experience might cause you to change by and by." ”

“ Wallace was a widower with a family of three sons, and six children were born to them. This large family Mrs. Wallace reared, carefully cultivating their particular talents and developing all their powers in every way. All her living children have succeeded in life. ”

“ Cord, will you go for our things?"
It was the count who handed the ladies to their places in the unobtrusively elegant electric coupe, while Van Ingen stood doggedly at his elbow, awaiting a last word with Doris. He was bitterly jealous of his rival, who, to the boy's inflamed mind, seemed perversely lingering over his farewells.
There was some colour for his anger. The count had taken the girl's hand, and bending down so low that the two dark heads almost touched, was murmuring in her ear.
She smiled, but shook her head.
"Every moment to-morrow is already gone. And the next day also!" ”

“ The man grinned, and seemed about to speak, but a sharp voice from the landing called him, and he went out, slamming the door behind him. She crossed to the bath-room, bathed her face in cold water and felt better, though she was still a little giddy.
Then she sat down to review the situation, and in that review two figures came alternately into prominence—van Heerden and Beale.
She was an eminently sane girl. She had had the beginnings of what might have been an unusually fine education, had it not been interrupted by the death of her foster-mother. ”

“ Accidentally the valet's hand pressed against the other's sleeve and he received a shock, for the forearm was clearly an artificial one. It was against a wooden surface beneath the sleeve that his knuckles struck, and this view of the stranger's infirmity was confirmed when the other reached round with his right hand, took hold of the gloved left hand and thrust it into the pocket of his overcoat.
"Where is Kara?" growled the stranger.
"He will be back very shortly, sir," said the urbane Fisher.
"Out, is he?" boomed the visitor. "Then I shan't wait. What the devil does he mean by being out? ”

“ I changed part of the money in Paris, and part in London."
"The woman—there is no danger from her?"
"Oh no, mademoiselle," he smiled complacently. "She is not likely to betray me, and she does not know my name or where I am living. She is a girl I met at a dance at the Swiss Waiters' Club," he explained. "She is not a good character. I think the French police wish to find her, but she is very clever."
"What did you tell her?" asked Jean. ”

“ He rested his elbows on the table and looked at her searchingly.
"You are an heiress," he said, "for, whatever you did, I should never change my mind. Oh, I know you will do nothing of which I should disapprove, but there is the fact. If you marry Frank you would still get your two hundred thousand, though I should bitterly regret your marriage. No, my girl," he said more kindly than was his wont, "I only ask you this—that whatever else you do, you will not make your choice until the next fortnight has expired." ”

“ Then, O, dearest part of myself, let not the completion of my fate shake your dependence on the only True and Just. Rejoice that Wallace has been deemed worthy to die for his having done his duty. And what is death, my Helen, that we should shun it, even to rebelling against the Lord of Life? Is it not the door which opens to us immortality? and in that blest moment who will regret that he passed through it in the bloom of his years? Come, then, sister of my soul, and share with thy Wallace the last supper of his Lord; the pledge of the happy eternity to which, by His grace, I now ascend! ”

“ Now that the Maid, knowing by inspiration her hour to be even at the doors, and wotting well what the end of her captivity was like to be, yet had the heart to put herself in jeopardy day by day, this I deem the most valiant deed ever done by man or woman since the making of the world. For scarce even Wallace wight would have stood to his standard had he known, by teaching of them who cannot lie, what end awaited him beyond all hope. Nay, he would have betaken him to France, as once he did in time of less danger. ”

“ She was on her feet now, and her face was resolute.
“You’ll do nothing of the sort,” she said quietly. “I absolutely forbid you to see Mr Pallard.”
“What on earth do you mean?” he asked, astonished at her vehemence.
“Exactly what I say,” she said. Her lovely eyes were ablaze with anger; she was in the mood that her less resolute brother liked least. “Have you no sense of dignity, Horace? How can you ask a man to help you for whom you have no good word; of whom you cannot speak without a sneer?” ”

“ She was sitting on a low chair overlooking the sea, whittling a twig with a silver-handled knife she had taken from her bag—a favourite occupation of hers in moments of cogitation.
"All the ladies of old didn't go to the police," she said. "Some of them were quite happy with their powerful lords, especially delicate-minded ladies who shrank from advertising their misfortune to the readers of the Sunday press. I think most women like to be wooed in the cave-man fashion, Marcus."
"Is that the kind of treatment you'd like, Jean?" ”

“ I never forget the shape of a man. But guesswork or not, I am prepared to go to the witness stand and testify on oath that the gentleman who has been shadowing me since I left Meister's is the same man I saw hanging about opposite the station house last night. And if this is police work," he added vehemently, "I'm through with it! I would give three provinces for one hot and comfortable cup of coffee!"
Mary smiled again.
"I won't ask you for your three provinces, doctor," she said. "We always keep coffee made; if you wish, I will heat some up." ”

“ Will you go downstairs and wait until I come?"
"You'll not attempt to leave this house?" he said, and she laughed.
"Really, you're going on like one of those infallible detectives one reads about in the popular magazines," she said a little contemptuously. "You have no authority whatever to keep me from leaving this house and nobody knows that better than you. But you needn't be afraid. Sit on the stairs if you like until I come down."
When he had gone she rang the bell for her maid and handed her an envelope.
"I shall be in the saloon, talking to Mr. Glover," she said in a low voice. ”

“ When you and Mansar get married—bless you!"
He rose, and the sure foundation of his legs held him erect.
"A very good fellow, Mansar," he said and walked carefully to the door.
Before he could open it Gwenda had reached him. She dropped her hands upon his shoulders.
"Look at me, Chick," she said. "Do you think I should marry Lord Mansar?"
"Very nice fellow," murmured Chick.
"Look at me, Chick. Hold up your head. Is that why you drank?"
"Cocktails are not drink," corrected Chick gravely. ”

“ Alexander Wallace's handwriting was small and cramped, but perfectly legible. His letter was written from his London office, and ran as follows,—
"Dear Nephew,—If it be true that a pious and virtuous lady has been so misguided as to link her fate with such an idle and dissipated ne'er-do-weel as I fear you have become, your wife has my heartiest sympathy. But I have a belief which is almost unlimited in the capability of a good woman for reforming a man, however deeply he be sunk in depravity, and I intend, for your wife's sake, to give you yet another chance. ”

“ Much as I love Wallace—and he is like my own son to me—I hope not. A good woman might be the making of Wallace, I do believe, but her heart might be broken in the process. He's a wild harum-scarum fellow, and——"
"Do you think for one moment," cried Laline, indignantly, "that I would break off my engagement with Lorin in order to marry your other nephew? I have seldom met any one I dislike so much as he in all my life!" ”

“ He bent down and smoothed with gentle fingers the soft dusky hair. The fragrance of it filled his nostrils. Its softness sent a delicious ecstasy thrilling from his finger-tips up his arm. He trembled throughout his entire frame. All his life, he declared to himself with passionate sincerity, he would love her like this. All his life he would remember this one moment. He gazed down at her tenderly, a wonderful light in his young face.
"Dear!" he whispered again.
She lifted a pallid face to him. Her violet eyes were misty, and tiny drops of dew were still tangled in her lashes. ”