slight embarrassment made her look like a school-girl.
"Where shall we go for the winter?" said Ford. "I can give you one more
winter over here, and then I must go home and get to work again. And as
we have so little foreign time left, I suggest that we lose none of it,
and begin our married life at once. Don't be alarmed; he does not
understand a word of English. Shall we say, then, next week?"
"No."
"Are you waiting to know me better? Take me, and make me better."
"What are your principal faults--I mean besides those I already know?"
she said, shielding her face from the heat of the fire with her riding
gauntlets.
"I have very few. I like my own way; but it is always a good way. My
opinions are rather decided ones; but would you like an undecided man?
I do not enjoy general society, but I am extremely fond of the
particular. I think that is all."
"And your obstinacy?"
"Only firmness."
"You are narrow, prejudiced; you do not believe in progress of any kind.
You would keep women down with an iron hand."
"A velvet one."
The custodian now took the other shoe.
"He will certainly stretch them with that broad palm of his," said Ford.
"But perhaps it is as well; you have a habit of wearing shoes that are
too small. What ridiculous little affairs those are! Will twelve pairs a
year content you?"
A flush rose in her cheeks; she made no reply.
"It will be very hard for you to give up your independence, your control
of things," he said.
But she turned towards him with a very sweet expression in her eyes.
"You will do it all for me," she answered.
He rose, walked about the room, coming back to lean over the gilded top
of her chair and say, with emphasis, "What in the world does that old
wretch mean by staying here so persistently all this time?"
She laughed. Benjamin Franklin, looking up from his task, laughed
too--probably on general principles of sociability and appreciation of
his fee.
"To go back to your faults," she said; "please come and sit down, and
acknowledge them. You have a very jealous nature."
"You are mistaken. However, if you like jealousy, I can easily take it
up."
"It will not be necessary. It is already there."
"You are thinking of some particular instance; of whom did you suppose I
was jealous?"
But she would not say.
After a while he came back to it. "You thought I was jealous of Lorimer
Percival," he said.
The custodian now announced that both shoes were dry; she put them on,
buttoning them with an improvised button-hook made of a hair-pin. The
old man stood straightening himself after his bent posture; he still
smiled--probably on the same general principles. The afternoon was
drawing towards its close; Ford asked him to bring round the horses. He
went out; they could hear his slow, careful tread on each of the
slippery stairs. Katharine had risen; she went to the mirror to adjust
her riding-hat. Ford came up and stood behind her. "Do you remember when
I looked at you in the glass, in this same way, a year ago?" he said.
"How you talked to me that day about my poor little book! You made me
feel terribly."
"I am sorry. Forgive it."
"But you do not forgive the book?"
"I will forget it, instead. You will write no more."
"Always so sure! However, I will promise, if you acknowledge that you
have a jealous disposition."
She spoke gayly. He watched her in the glass a moment, then drew her
away. "Whether I have a jealous disposition or not I do not know," he
answered. "But I was never jealous of Lorimer Percival; I held him in
too light estimation. And I did not believe--no, not at any time--that
you loved him; he was not a man whom you would love. Why you allowed
yourself to become engaged to him I do not know; but I suspect it was
because he flattered what you thought your literary talent. I do not
believe you would ever have married him; you would have drawn back at
the last moment. To be engaged to him was one thing, to marry him
another. You kept your engagement along for months, when there was no
reason at all for the delay. If you had married him I should have
thought the less of you, but I should not have been jealous." He paused.
"I might never have let you know it, Katharine," he went on; "but I
prefer that there should be nothing but the truth between us. I know
that it was Percival who broke the engagement at the last, and not you.
I knew it when I was here in the summer. He himself told me when I met
him in Scotland just after his marriage."
She broke from him. "How base are all men!" she said, in a voice unlike
her own.
"In him it was simply egotism. He knew that I had known of his
engagement to you, and he wished me to appreciate that in order to marry
that sweet young girl, who was quite without fortune, he had been
obliged to make, and had made, a great sacrifice."
"Great indeed!" she commented, bitterly. "You do well to commend him."
"I do not commend him. I simply say that he was following out his
nature. Being a poet, he is what is called sympathetic, you know; and he
wanted my appreciation and sympathy--I will not say applause."
She was standing with her back towards him. She now walked towards the
door. But her courage failed, she sank into a chair and covered her face
with her hands. "It is too much," she said. "You wait until I have lost
my fortune and am overwhelmed; you wait until I am rejected, cast aside;
and then you come and win from me an avowal of my love, telling me
afterwards--_afterwards_"--Her voice broke, she burst into tears.
"Telling you afterwards nothing but that I love you. Telling you
afterwards that I have not had one really happy moment since our
conversation in this old house a year ago. Telling you afterwards that
my life has resolved itself into but one unceasing, tormenting wish--the
wish, Katharine, that you would love me, I suppose I ought to say a
little, but I mean a great deal. Look at me; is this humble enough for
you?"
He drew her hands away; she saw that he was kneeling at her feet; and,
not only that, but she saw also something very like a mist in the gray
eyes she had always thought too cold.
* * * * *
In the library of Mr. John Ford, near New York, there hangs in the place
of honor a water-color sketch of an old yellow château. Beneath it,
ranged by themselves, are all the works of that eloquent authoress and
noble woman, Madame de Staël.
"You admire her?" said a visitor recently, in some surprise. "To me she
always seemed a--a little antique, you know."
"She is antiquity itself! But she once lent me her house, and I am
grateful. By-the-way, Katharine, I never told you, although I found it
out afterwards: Benjamin Franklin understood English, after all."
THE END
* * * * *
BY MARY E. WILKINS.
PEMBROKE. A Novel. Illustrated. 16mo, Cloth, Ornamental, $1 50.
JANE FIELD. A Novel. Illustrated. 16mo, Cloth, Ornamental, $1 25.
YOUNG LUCRETIA, and Other Stories. Illustrated. Post 8vo, Cloth,
Ornamental, $1 25.
A NEW ENGLAND NUN, and Other Stories. 16mo, Cloth, Ornamental, $1 25.
A HUMBLE ROMANCE, and Other Stories. 16mo, Cloth, Ornamental, $1 25.
GILES COREY, YEOMAN. Illustrated. 32mo, Cloth, Ornamental, 50 cents.
We have long admired Miss Wilkins as one of the most powerful, original,
and profound writers of America; but we are bound to say that "Pembroke"
is entitled to a higher distinction than the critics have awarded to
Miss Wilkins's earlier productions. As a picture of New England life and
character, as a story of such surpassing interest that he who begins is
compelled to finish it, as a work of art without a fault or a
deficiency, we cannot see how it could possibly be improved.--_N. Y.
Sun._
The simplicity, purity, and quaintness of these stories set them apart
in a niche of distinction where they have no rivals.--_Literary World_,
Boston.
Nowhere are there to be found such faithful, delicately drawn,
sympathetic, tenderly humorous pictures.--_N. Y. Tribune._
The charm of Miss Wilkins's stories is in her intimate acquaintance and
comprehension of humble life, and the sweet human interest she feels and
makes her readers partake of, in the simple, common, homely people she
draws.--_Springfield Republican._
PUBLISHED BY HARPER & BROTHERS, NEW YORK.
==>_The above works are for sale by all booksellers, or will be sent by
the publishers, postage prepaid, to any part of the United States,
Canada, or Mexico, on receipt of the price._
BY A. CONAN DOYLE
Mr. Doyle has the gift of description, and he knows how to make fiction
seem reality.--_Independent_, N. Y.
His descriptions are picturesque and vivid, and his narrative powers of
a high order.--_N. Y. Mail and Express._
Dr. Doyle's characters, whether historical or imaginary, are so instinct
with the breath of life that they compel our credence--they are never
puppets, but always creations.--_Spectator_, London.
Few writers excel Conan Doyle in this class of literature. His style,
vigorous, terse, and thoughtful, united to a nice knowledge of the human
mind, makes every character a profoundly interesting psychological
study.--_Chicago Inter-Ocean._
THE REFUGEES. A Tale of Two Continents. Illustrated. Post 8vo, Cloth,
Ornamental, $1 75.
THE WHITE COMPANY. Illustrated. Post 8vo, Cloth, Ornamental, $1 75.
MICAH CLARKE. His Statement. Illustrated. Post 8vo, Cloth, Ornamental,
$1 75; also 8vo, Paper, 45 cents.
ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES. Illustrated. Post 8vo, Cloth, Ornamental,
$1 50.
MEMOIRS OF SHERLOCK HOLMES. Illustrated. Post 8vo, Cloth, Ornamental, $1
50.
THE PARASITE. A Story. Illustrated. Post 8vo, Cloth, Ornamental, $1 00.
THE GREAT SHADOW. Post 8vo, Cloth, Ornamental, $1 00.
PUBLISHED BY HARPER & BROTHERS, NEW YORK.
==> _The above works are for sale by all booksellers, or will be mailed
by the publishers, postage prepaid, on receipt of the price._
BY RICHARD HARDING DAVIS
Mr. Davis has eyes to see, is not a bit afraid to tell what he sees, and
is essentially good-natured.... Mr. Davis's faculty of appreciation and
enjoyment is fresh and strong; he makes vivid pictures.--_Outlook_, N.
Y.
Richard Harding Davis never writes a short story that he does not prove
himself a master of the art.--_Chicago Times._
ABOUT PARIS. Illustrated by C. D. GIBSON. Post 8vo, Cloth, Ornamental,
$1 25.
THE PRINCESS ALINE. A Story. Illustrated by C. D. GIBSON. Post 8vo,
Cloth, Ornamental, $1 25.
THE EXILES, AND OTHER STORIES. Illustrated. Post 8vo, Cloth, Ornamental,
$1 50.
THE RULERS OF THE MEDITERRANEAN. Illustrated. Post 8vo, Cloth,
Ornamental, $1 25.
OUR ENGLISH COUSINS. Illustrated. Post 8vo, Cloth, Ornamental, $1 25.
VAN BIBBER, AND OTHERS. Illustrated. Post 8vo, Cloth, Ornamental, $1 00;
Paper, 60 cents.
THE WEST FROM A CAR-WINDOW. Illustrated by FREDERIC REMINGTON. Post 8vo,
Cloth, Ornamental, $1 25.
PUBLISHED BY HARPER & BROTHERS, NEW YORK.
==>_The above works are for sale by all booksellers, or will be mailed
by the publishers, postage prepaid, on receipt of the price_.
BY CHARLES DUDLEY WARNER
THE GOLDEN HOUSE. Illustrated by W. T. SMEDLEY. Post 8vo, Ornamental
Half Leather, Uncut Edges and Gilt Top, $2 00.
It is a strong, individual, and very serious consideration of life; much
more serious, much deeper in thought, than the New York novel is wont to
be. It is worthy of companionship with its predecessor, "A Little
Journey in the World," and keeps Mr. Warner well in the front rank of
philosophic students of the tendencies of our civilization.--_Springfield
Republican_.
A LITTLE JOURNEY IN THE WORLD. A Novel. Post 8vo, Half Leather, Uncut
Edges and Gilt Top, $1 50; Paper, 75 cents.
THEIR PILGRIMAGE. Illustrated by C. S. REINHART. Post 8vo, Half Leather,
Uncut Edges and Gilt Top, $2 00.
STUDIES IN THE SOUTH AND WEST, with Comments on Canada. Post 8vo, Half
Leather, Uncut Edges and Gilt Top, $1 75.
OUR ITALY. Illustrated. 8vo, Cloth, Ornamental, Uncut Edges and Gilt
Top, $2 50.
AS WE GO. With Portrait and Illustrations. 16mo, Cloth, Ornamental, $1
00. ("Harper's American Essayists.")
AS WE WERE SAYING. With Portrait and Illustrations. 16mo, Cloth,
Ornamental, $1 00. ("Harper's American Essayists.")
THE WORK OF WASHINGTON IRVING. With Portraits. 32mo, Cloth, Ornamental,
50 cents.
PUBLISHED BY HARPER & BROTHERS, NEW YORK.
==>_The above works are for sale by all booksellers, or will be sent by
the publishers by mail, postage prepaid, to any part of the United
States, Canada, or Mexico, on receipt of the price._
* * * * *
This typographical error was corrected by the etext transcriber:
Roberta overhead this attempt=>Roberta overheard this attempt