THE COUSINS
It was midnight when Mary Lys arrived at her aunt's house in Berkeley
Square. Lady Kirwan had gone to bed; but it happened, so the butler told
her, that Miss Kirwan was sitting up in her boudoir, in the hopes that
her cousin might yet arrive that night.
The greeting between the two girls was warmly affectionate. Marjorie had
always loved Mary as a sister, loved her and reverenced her deeply. The
pretty society girl was certainly of a butterfly nature, loving the
bright and merry side of life, and unwilling to look upon its darker
aspects. Yet she was unspoiled at heart, and the constant spectacle of
Mary's devotion to the suffering and poor of the world, her steadfast
pursuit of a hard and difficult path, always touched the younger girl.
"Oh, you poor dear," she said, "I am so glad you have arrived at last!
We have all been so anxious about you. Mother has been actually crying,
and father is in a great way. Mr. Owen, the solicitor who went with you
to poor Lluellyn's funeral, has been here, and there has been something
in the paper, too! We have all been so upset!"
While Marjorie was speaking, her maid had entered and taken Mary's
nurse's cloak from her. Mary sank into a chair.
"Dear Marjorie," she said, "I'm so sorry! I blame myself very much. I
ought, of course, to have sent auntie a telegram. But such wonderful
things have happened and are happening that my mind has been taken from
everything else. It was very wrong of me."
"Never mind now, dear! But how pale you are! You have gone through so
much, poor dear, of course! You must have something to eat at once, and
afterwards you shall tell me everything. Antoinette shall get you
something--would some soup or some chicken-jelly do?"
Mary asked for a bowl of bread-and-milk, and while she was waiting gazed
round her cousin's pretty sanctum with a sense of rest and ease which
was most grateful to her overstrung nerves, her utterly exhausted body
and mind. Marjorie went into her bedroom, which opened into the boudoir,
unwilling to tire Mary by questions until she was refreshed by food.
It was a beautiful place, this nest of the wealthy, happy maiden of
society, though it had individuality and character also. It was thought
out, the expression of a personality, and no mere haphazard collection
of costly and beautiful things flung together anyhow, without regard to
fitness or arrangements.
How peaceful and cultured it all was!
For some moments the tired girl abandoned herself to the gracious
influence of the place, enjoying a moment of intense physical ease.
Then, swiftly, her thoughts sprang over London from West to East. She
saw the huge, gaunt hospital, its dim wards full of groaning sufferers,
lying there in night-long agony that the rich and fortunate might build
themselves just such "lordly pleasure-houses" as this. She thought of
the flaring gin-palaces of Whitechapel, at this hour full of the
wretched and the lost. The noise, the hideous oaths, the battered, evil
faces of vile men and women--men and women made in God's image, men and
women whom Jesus came to save, but who had never had a chance. It all
came to her with sudden vividness: the sounds, the smells, the crude raw
coloring.
A passionate fervor of love welled up in her pure heart, a passionate
rejection of the soft and pleasant things of life. Oh, that she could do
something, something, however small, to help all this sorrow and pain,
to purge London of its sores, to tell those who lived in high places and
wore soft raiment of the terrible Nemesis they were laying up for
themselves in another world!
Marjorie Kirwan only saw a pale-faced and beautiful girl, whom she
loved, sitting at a little octagonal table sipping a bowl of milk. But
if there were any of God's angels in that room--and may we not suppose
that the Almighty Father had given so high and pure a spirit into
especial charge?--if there were, indeed, august and unseen presences
there, they saw a saint praying to God for the conversion of London and
for success in the great battle which she had come to wage with Joseph
and his companions.
"That's better, dear!" Marjorie said, her pretty face all alight with
sympathy, and, it must be said, with curiosity also. "Now, do please
tell me what all these mysterious things mean? What is all this in the
newspaper? And your Joseph, the man with the wonderful eyes, the man we
saw in the cab some weeks ago, before poor dear Lluellyn's death, what
is he doing? Why were you with him?"
"I don't know how I can tell you, dear," Mary said, suddenly alive to
the extreme difficulty of the task which lay before her, for how could
she hope to explain the deep solemnness and import of the coming
mission?
"Oh, but I am sure I shall understand!" Marjorie answered. "And I am
certain it is awfully interesting!"
Mary winced. The light words jarred upon her mood of deep fervor and
resolve; but, gathering her powers together, she did her best.
"I believe," she said, in grave, quiet tones, "that a special revelation
is to come to London in the person of Joseph. Strange and, indeed,
miraculous things have happened. God has spoken in no uncertain way, and
the Holy Spirit has manifested Himself as He has never done before in
our time. I cannot now go into all the circumstances attending my dear
brother's death. That they were supernatural and God-sent no one who
witnessed them can have any manner of doubt. But, briefly, I can tell
you just this. The Holy Ghost has descended upon this man Joseph in full
and abundant measure, even as He descended upon the Apostles of old.
Joseph and a few devoted companions have come to London. I have come
with them. We are about to wage a holy war against the wickedness of
London, and the Spirit is with us.
"I cannot measure or define Joseph's new nature. It is all beyond me.
But I have thought deeply about it, and this is what I think. Joseph
seems to be two persons, at different times. It almost appears to be a
case of what the French doctors who are experimenting with hypnotism
call "dual control." Yet both these natures are quite distinct from his
old one. He was an atheist, you know, until he went to Wales, but now he
is the most sincere, and convinced believer that I have ever met. So far
he is no more than a brilliant and high-minded man who is trying to live
a holy life, a man such as one has met before, now and then. But the
other side of him is quite different again. At times he seems to one
almost supernatural--or perhaps _supernormal_ is the better word.
Something comes into him. He is filled with the Holy Ghost. And there
were such strange circumstances about his change of character and dear
Lluellyn's death.... Do you know, dear, I sometimes wonder if it
mightn't be that an angel of God inhabits him at times! People can be
possessed by evil spirits, why couldn't they be controlled by good
ones?"
Marjorie listened earnestly, the light fading out of her bright face as
she did so.
"I don't think I quite understand," she said, with a little shudder.
"Anyhow, it all seems very strange and--What can Joseph do--what can you
do? Surely there will be a great deal of trouble and scandal! And, Mary
darling, you mustn't be mixed up in anything of this sort. Oh, it would
never do! What would father and mother say? Why, it's like"--she
hesitated for a simile. "Why, it's like being a member of the Salvation
Army! You can't go about dressed like that, dear--and in the streets,
too, with a trombone. You are not your dear sweet self to-night, dear,
so we won't talk about it any more now. You have been through so much,
no wonder you are tired. Go to bed now, and you will be better in the
morning. They will have taken your boxes to your room, and I will send
Antoinette to you at once."
Mary rose.
"I do need sleep," she said, with a faint smile. "I do need it
dreadfully badly. But about my boxes, Marjorie dear. I only had one, and
I have forgotten all about it, I'm afraid. I suppose it's at the station
or somewhere. Joseph led us straight from the station to the theatre."
"The theatre! You've been to the theatre to-night! Before coming here!
Are you mad, Mary?"
Marjorie's face had grown quite white, her voice was shrill in its
horror and incredulity. What could her cousin mean? Did she actually
assert that two days after her brother's funeral she had gone to a
theatre with a strange man, and kept the whole household in Berkeley
Square in a state of suspense, while she did this dreadful thing?
"I can't explain, dear," Mary answered, in a tired voice. "But you will
know all about it to-morrow. It is not as you think. And now I will
really go to bed."
She kissed her astonished cousin, and, with a faint smile, left the
boudoir under convoy of the French maid.
After her last prayer--for her whole life was one long prayer--she fell
into a deep and dreamless sleep, but not before she had sent a certain
note....
There was but little sleep for Marjorie that night. The hour was not
late for her, it was not yet one o'clock, and night after night in the
season she would dance till dawn.
But the girl was stirred and frightened to the depths of her rather
shallow nature by the things which she had heard from Mary. The deep
solemnity and utter reality of Mary's words were full of a sort of
terror to Marjorie. They came into her gay, thoughtless and sheltered
life with unwelcome force and power. She wanted to hear no such things.
Life was happy and splendid for her always. It was one continual round
of pleasure, and no day of it had palled as yet. There was nothing in
the world that she might wish for that she could not have. Her enormous
wealth, her beauty, social position, and personal fascination brought
all men to her feet.
And incense was sweet in her nostrils! Heart-whole, she loved to be
adored. Religion was all very well, of course. All nice people went to
church on Sunday morning. It was _comme il faut_, and then one walked in
the Park afterwards for church parade, and met all one's friends.
Every Sunday Marjorie and Lady Kirwan attended the fashionable
ritualistic church of St. Elwyn's, Mayfair. The vicar, the Honorable
and Reverend Mr. Persse, was a great friend of Marjorie's, and she and
her mother had given him three hundred pounds only a few weeks ago for
the wonderful new altar frontals worked by the Sisters of Bruges.
But Mary's religion! Ah, that was a very different thing. It was harsh,
uncomely, unladylike even.
And what did this preposterous business about "Joseph" mean? Marjorie
had seen the paper, and could make nothing of it. And then the theatre!
Mary was making fun of her. She could not really have meant--
With these thoughts whirling in her brain and troubling it, the girl
fell asleep at last. Although she did not know it nor suspect it, she
was never again to wake exactly the same person as she had been. She did
not realize that her unconscious antagonism to Mary's words sprang from
one cause alone, that a process had begun in her which was to lead her
into other paths and new experiences.
She did not know that, at last, for the first time in her bright,
careless life, conscience was awake.
It was not till nearly nine o'clock that she awoke. Antoinette had
peeped into the bedroom several times. When at length the maid brought
the dainty porcelain cup of chocolate, a bright sun was pouring into the
room through the apricot-colored silk curtains.
Marjorie did not immediately remember the events and her sensations of
the night before. When she did so, they all came back in a sudden flash
of memory.
"Antoinette," she said quickly, "find Mrs. Summers"--Lady Kirwan's
maid--"and ask if I can come to mamma's room at once."
In a minute the maid returned.
"M'lady is nearly dressed, mademoiselle," she said. "Elle sera bien
contente de voir mademoiselle toute de suite."
Slipping on a dressing-gown and fur slippers, Marjorie went to her
mother's room immediately. She was bursting with eagerness and anxiety
to tell her the news. She was not in the least ill-natured or
small-minded. She had not the least wish to "tell tales." But she was
genuinely and seriously alarmed about her beloved cousin's future.
She found Lady Kirwan already dressed and sitting in her boudoir. The
elder lady wore a face of utter consternation, and her daughter saw at
once that there was little she could tell her.
Mrs. Summers, an elderly, confidential maid, was in the room, and there
was a pile of morning papers upon the writing-table.
Nothing that went on in Berkeley Square ever escaped the discreet
Summers. She was perfectly aware of Mary's late arrival, and that she
had come without any luggage. When Mary had been put to bed, she had
found out from Antoinette all that the French girl could tell her.
And the morning journals, which Mrs. Summers generally looked over
before taking them to her mistress, supplied the rest.
All London was at this moment ringing with the news of what had happened
at the Frivolity Theatre the night before. There had been several daily
journalists among the audience, and plenty of other people either
directly connected with, or, at any rate, in touch with, the Press.
The news eclipsed everything else. There were columns of description,
rumor and report.
Those who had actually been present had gone straight to the offices of
their papers while still under the influence of the tremendous scene
they had witnessed.
Joseph was in nearly every case identified with the hero of the strange
episodes on the Welsh Hills as exclusively reported in the _Daily Wire_
special of the day before. But the wildest rumors and conjectures filled
the papers.
Some said that the stranger and his disciples had appeared miraculously
in a sudden flash of light, and disappeared equally mysteriously. The
extraordinary and heart-piercing likeness of the stranger to the
generally accepted pictures of Our Lord was spoken of with amazement,
incredulity, dismay, or contempt, as the case might be.
And nearly all of the papers spoke of a beautiful woman's face beside
the preacher, a face like the face of a Madonna--Raphael's picture in
the Sistine Chapel of the Vatican--alive and glowing.
Here was something for an elderly and fashionable woman of the world to
digest ere she was but hardly from her bed!
Lady Kirwan pushed the paper towards Marjorie with trembling fingers.
"Read that," she said, in a voice quite unlike her usual tones of smooth
and gracious self-possession.
Marjorie hurriedly scanned the columns of the paper.
"Oh, mother!" she said tearfully. "Isn't it too utterly dreadful for
words! How can Mary do such things? Lluellyn's death must have turned
her brain."
"Indeed, it is the only possible explanation, Marjorie," Lady Kirwan
answered. "Poor Lluellyn's death and the strain of that dreadful
hospital work. Fortunately, no one seems to have recognized her at the
theatre. This preaching person attracted all the attention. But Mary
must see a doctor at once. I shall send a little note to Sir William
this morning, asking him to come round. Now you saw the poor girl last
night, dear. Tell me exactly what occurred. Omit nothing."
Marjorie launched into a full and breathless account of Mary's words and
behavior the night before. The girl was quite incapable of anything like
a coherent and unprejudiced narrative, and her story only increased Lady
Kirwan's wonder and distress.
"I tremble to think of the effect on your poor father's health," she
said, when Marjorie had finished. "I have already been to his room this
morning. He has seen the papers and is of course very upset. This man
Joseph will of course have to be locked up. He is a dangerous lunatic.
We have sent a message to Mary, and she is to meet us both in the
library at ten o'clock. We mean to speak very seriously to her indeed.
Perhaps you had better be there too. You have such influence with her,
darling, and she is so fond of you."
At ten o'clock Mary went down into the library. She found her aunt,
uncle, and cousin already there. Lady Kirwan kissed her with warm
affection, and Mary saw that there were tears in her aunt's kind eyes.
Sir Augustus could not rise from his chair, but as she kissed him she
saw nothing but the most genuine and almost fatherly feeling was
animating him.
A pang shot through the girl's sensitive heart. How kind and good they
were to her--how she hated to wound and hurt them! Ah, if only she could
make them see with her eyes!
"Now sit down, dear," Lady Kirwan said, "and let us talk over this
business quietly and sensibly, _en famille_, in short."
Mary was greatly agitated. She sat down as she was told. All other
thoughts but those induced by the ordeal which she was about to face
left her mind.
Now, in the early morning, the upper servants of the Berkeley Square
mansion were employed on various matters, and only a young footman was
on duty in the hall.
It chanced that on this morning a raw lad from the country, who was
being trained to London service, was the person who answered the front
door.
Sir Augustus had cleared his throat and had just begun, "Now, in regard
to this man Joseph, my dear Mary," when the door of the library swung
open, and the young footman, in a somewhat puzzled and frightened voice,
announced--
"Sir Thomas Ducaine and Mr. Joseph, to see Miss Lys!"