Sabine

“ You will go through it, Sabine, if you have not already done so. It seems we suffer all the time, because when that is over then we learn to appreciate gentleness and chivalry—and probably by then it is out of our reach."
"I don't believe anything is out of our reach if we want it enough," and Sabine closed her firm mouth.
"Then I wonder what you want, Sabine—because I know you do not really want Lord Fordyce—he represents chivalry—and I don't believe you are at that stage yet, dearest." ”

“ No one suffered more keenly from Sabine’s triumphant return than the invincible Aunt Cassie. In a way, she had always looked upon Sabine, even in the long years of her voluntary exile from the delights of Durham, as her own property, much as she might have looked upon a dog, if, indeed, the old lady had been able to bear the society of anything so untidy as a dog. ”

“ Incautiously, Sabine had chosen the very means to wound this noble gentleman most cruelly, for her whole beauty blazed out as, inflamed by her passion, she spoke so eloquently of Andre and drew such a parallel between the two young men.
“Now, sir,” said she, “do you comprehend me? I know the terrible social abyss which divides me from the man I love, and the future may hold in store some terrible punishment for my fidelity to him, but no one shall ever hear a word of complaint from my lips, for——” she hesitated, and then uttered these simple words—“for I love him.” ”

“ That was one of the wisdoms Sabine had learned since she had escaped from Durham into the uncompromising realities of the great world.
When she spoke, she said in a noncommittal sort of voice, “Mrs. Struthers is a remarkable woman.”
And O’Hara, turning, looked at her with a sudden glint of humor in his blue eyes. “Extraordinary ... I’m sure of it.”
“And a powerful woman,” said Sabine. “Wise as a serpent and gentle as a dove. It is never good to underestimate such strength. And now.... How do you like your tea?” ”

“ You forget, monsieur, that I am half blind, and that, by reason of this infirmity, I am doomed to ridicule, to poverty, or a humiliating idleness. I, who can never be anything but a burden to those who feel an interest in me, the idea that I should have the audacity—No, no, I repeat it, I even swear, that I have loved and still love Mlle. Sabine as one loves the good and the beautiful, without any other hope than of the heavenly felicity the love of the good and the beautiful inspires. ”

“ We shall not wait, my child, till you are in extremis before coming to your relief. Keep a good heart! Your grief to-night is so bitter that my secret escapes me; but it is impossible for me not to give you a little hope."
"Will it make Calyste unhappy?" asked Sabine, looking anxiously at the duchess.
"Oh, heavens! shall I ever be as silly as that!" cried Athenais, naively.
"Ah, little girl, you know nothing of the precipices down which our virtue flings us when led by love," replied Sabine, making a sort of moral revelation, so distraught was she by her woe. ”

“ But that is his only fault, my dear father," added Sabine, with charming ingenuousness, "and though he surely cannot be held accountable for it, Suzanne is pitiless toward it, for she is always making fun of him."
"You do not make fun of him, I am sure."
"It would be cruel in me to do that, father, for he tries to be the first to laugh at his mishaps, though they worry him terribly. It is so sad to be almost blind. And this very evening—you can judge from that how courageous he is—he scalded his hand nearly to the bone with boiling water. You will see, father, what a dreadful burn it was. ”

“ Sabine clasped him in her arms, and held him tightly to her breast with her head on his neck, faint with the weight of happiness, not for the piece of furniture, but for the dispersion of her first dark doubt. It was one of those magnificent transports which can be counted, and which no love, however excessive, can prodigally spend, or life would be too soon burned out. Then, indeed, men should fall at the feet of women to adore them, for such moments are sublime, moments when the forces of the heart and intellect gush forth like the waters of sculptured nymphs from their inclining urns. ”

“ Sabine, watching them from the window of her tiny motor, was thankful again in a comfortable indefinite fashion that she had escaped from their insufferable pomp into the tiny, exquisite house in the Rue Tilsit.
Of late she had come at times to forget all the secret misery of the twelve years; she had been almost happy, as nearly happy as it was possible for her to be. It seemed to her now that circumstances had been cruel. She should have been born a man; and as a man, with a freedom from all the world of Mrs. Champion and her Virgins, she would have turned her mind to science. ”

“ Sabine gave an inarticulate cry of rage, like a wild beast at bay. "It's a lie! A lie! I never deceived him. It's he who deceived me; but let me tell you this: when a woman like me promises to marry a man, she keeps her word. Do you understand? She keeps her word! I am going to marry Thomas Ned. He cannot escape me. I will go to the priest. I will go to the lawyer. There are plenty of ways."
The blonde girl sank trembling into a chair.
"He cannot marry you," she gasped. "He cannot. He cannot."
"No?" cried Sabine, with ringing mockery. "And why not?"
Tina's lips moved inaudibly. ”

“ It was Sabine de Mussidan. The Count, as the season came on, had gone to Germany, the Countess had flitted away to Luzon, and the daughter was sent to the dull old country mansion in charge of her old aunt. It was the old, old story; two young hearts loving with all the truth and energy of their natures. They had exchanged a few words on their first meeting, and on the next Sabine went on to the balcony and watched the rapid play of Andre’s chisel with childish delight. For a long time they conversed, and Sabine was surprised at the education and refinement of the young workman. ”

“ Sabine, too, belonged in a way to the family; she had grown up enveloped in the powerful tradition which made Pentlands of people who were not Pentlands at all. Perhaps (thought Olivia) the key to Sabine’s restless, unhappy existence also lay in the same dark struggle. Perhaps if one could penetrate deeply enough in the long family history one would find there the reasons for Sabine’s hatred of this Durham world and the reasons why she had returned to a people she disliked with all the bitter, almost fanatic passion of her nature. There was in Sabine an element of cold cruelty. ”

“ It was perhaps this strange desire which led Sabine to surround herself with what Durham called “queer people,” who were, after all, simply people like Higgins and the kitchen-maid who happened to occupy a higher place in society.
“The air here needs clearing,” Sabine was saying. “It needs a thunderstorm, and it can be cleared only by acting.... This affair of Jean and Sybil will help. We are all caught up in a tangle of thoughts and ideas ... which don’t matter.... You can do it, Olivia. You can clear the air once and for all.” ”

“ As if to give more emphasis to his words, Andre started to his feet. “This,” cried he, “this man, who has so suddenly appeared upon the scene, will marry Sabine, not only against her own will, but against that of her parents, and for what reason? Who is this man, and what is the mysterious power that he possesses? His power is too great to spring from an honorable source. Sabine is sacrificing herself to this man for some reason or other, and he, like a dastardly cur, is ready to take advantage of the nobleness of her heart.”
“I admit the correctness of your supposition,” said he ”

“ Andre worked harder than ever, and Sabine encouraged him by fresh promises. Sabine was even more free in Paris than at Mussidan, and her attached maid, Modeste, would have committed almost any crime to promote the happiness of her beloved mistress. The lovers now corresponded regularly, and Sabine, accompanied by Modeste, frequently visited the artist’s studio, and never was a saint treated with greater respect and adoration than was Sabine by Andre. ”

“ Sabine, better let her come up here. That’ll be all for to-night.
(He hangs up the receiver, walks up and down again and finally opens the hall door. There is quite a pause as he stands, smoking a cigarette, awaiting her. Finally, Mrs. Sabine enters, leaving the door open.
She is in her late twenties, of rather restless beauty, which under her shifting expression becomes hard and cynical. She apparently has little resistance and suggests a love of excitement and sensation. Her manner is flighty though worldly. She is handsomely dressed, with beautiful furs upon her sensuous shoulders.) ”

“ You know our men."
"Yes, and Sabine will then learn that her father, Captain l'Endurci, and her mother's murderer are all one and the same person, and this child, upon whom I have concentrated all my affection for years,—this child who is my only hope and joy and consolation in life,—will feel for me henceforth only aversion and loathing."
Then, after a few moments of gloomy reflection, he murmured, his eyes wild, his lips contracted in a sardonic smile:
"But nonsense! she is rich; she loves an honourable man, who loves her in return. She will still have Suzanne and Segoffin. ”

“ When that they be on dead go to ye seints full sickerly.
TO MÆCENAS
Than you, O valued friend of mine,
A better patron non est!
Come, quaff my home-made Sabine wine,—
You'll find it poor but honest.
I put it up that famous day
You patronized the ballet,
And the public cheered you such a way
As shook your native valley.
Cæcuban and the Calean brand
May elsewhere claim attention;
But I have none of these on hand,—
For reasons I'll not mention.
ENVOY
So, come! though favors I bestow
Cannot be called extensive,
Who better than my friend should know
That they're at least expensive? ”

“ I never break it," Sabine said astonished. "I am longing to be free just like you are, but I had an awful business to get away! I have never been so excited in my life! Their train was late—some breakdown on the branch line—they did not get in until half-past eight, and I dare not be all dressed, but had to pretend to be in bed, covered up, still with the awful headache, when Aunt Jemima bounced in." ”

“ At the moment when the crowd is greatest, we will dart upon our prey. We lack women; we desire wealth. Shall we fail in either, when we have in remembrance the bold deeds of our ancient fathers, when they looked with yearning on the fresh beauties of the Sabine virgins? These Venetian beauties are our Sabines. Thou, too, if the bruit of thy followers do thee no injustice, thou, too, hast been overcome by one of these. She will doubtless be present at this festival. Make her thine, and fear not that each of thy brethren will do justice to his tastes and thine own. Here, now, thou hast all. ”

“ A moment afterward Sabine's captors shared the same fate."
"But who struck them down?"
"Who?" exclaimed Suzanne, with a shudder, and lowering her voice. "A man clad in a strange costume. He wore a long, black jacket and waistcoat, a broad-brimmed hat, and full, white trousers. Axe in hand, he had just burst into the room, followed by several sailors."
"It seems to me that I have heard Mlle. Sabine speak of some other man dressed in a similar manner who, she said, was her mother's murderer." ”

“ Then Sabine hasted and went to Rome, and arrived in the evening, and was lodged in the palace of the Holy Father, who, prejudiced against him, received him coldly, and harshly bade him not set foot outside the house till his case were heard. And at midnight, a strange, unearthly music resounded through the courts, and men started from sleep to listen. Then they were aware of chanting, as of a multitude, and they rose, and the Pope also, and they followed the sound, and till they came to the door of the hall in which the Bishop of Canosi lay. ”

“ Many bourgeois critics unjustly deny the innocence and virtue of young girls who, like Sabine, are truly virgin at heart, improved by the training of their minds, by the habit of noble bearing, by natural good taste, while, from the age of sixteen, they have learned how to use their opera-glasses. Sabine was a girl of this school, which was also that of Mademoiselle de Chaulieu. This inborn sense of the fitness of things, these gifts of race made Sabine de Grandlieu as interesting a young woman as the heroine of the "Memoirs of two young Married Women." ”

“ Suddenly, at a preconcerted signal, there was a general elopement of the Roman youth with the Sabine ladies, who were in the most ungallant manner abandoned to their fate by the Sabine gentlemen. It is true the latter were taken by surprise, but they certainly made the best of their way home before they thought of avenging the wrong and insult that had been committed. Had they been all married ladies who were carried off, the cynic might have suggested that the Sabine husbands would not have objected to a cheap mode of divorce ”

“ She had lived always in such drawing-rooms. And yet there came a night when Sabine turned with her strange abruptness and said apropos of nothing, “I envy you.”
At which Ellen smiled and asked, “Why?{173}”
“Because,” continued the abrupt Sabine, “you will always have the advantage over us (she was quite frank in admitting that they belonged to different worlds) . It is always so with those who make their way by their wits.” ”