A Woman's Reason by William D. Howells

By t/z e S a me A u t/ wr .
A F E AR F ! L RE S P O N S I B I L IT Y .
x vol . xz mo .
Ex q uisi te i e e s of w o rkm n s h i , re fl e ti n
p c a p c g the b ri g h t
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a n d a m us i n g s tmj' , n i tl d e t e
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x vo l . xz mo .
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S p i i g a d fe l i c ito u a ud c i t y
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R gi t r
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ur r s n n Ci i ti s a . tr s an e s e
Lik v e yth g th a t c om f om M H o e l l th to y i
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e e r in es r r. w s, e s r s
t ue to l if d e l ic t f ull of v e y fi e t o uc h
r e, a e, t t e m pe e d r n es , sw e e -
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a ll y p e ta ti v of ou t i m a d ou pe o p l
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a d
n re re re s n eB o to r e n r e . s n
A d ve ti e r s r .
A MO D E R N I N S T A N CE .
r vol . xz mo .
A Inst n
M od is a th oro u h y i n t ere s i n n o ve
e rn a ce g l t g l It
i s on e o f th os e b oo ks for w h i h the s to k h rase of ud ati o n
c c p la
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i s th t the r d r
a n n o t l ay th m d o w n ti l
ea e ca e l he has fin is h d
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th e m " P a ll Al a]! G a z
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ette
!L on d on ) .
T h e re has b ee n n o more ri i d l y rti s ti w riti n d o n e in

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g a c g
A m e ri Si n e H w horn e s t i me ” Til
ca c a t e
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J A M ES R . 0 8 0- 0 0 0 CO .
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A W O MA N S R E AS O N
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A N OVE L
u m
W I LL I AM D OW ELL S
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A ! T H OR or A M O DE R N I N S T A N CE , D OCT O R B RE E N S P R ACT ICE ,
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A F on ac on a CO N CL ! S I O N , n rc
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B O ST O N
JAME S R . O S G O O D AN D CO M P AN Y
1 883
A W OMAN S R E AS O N
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THE day had bee n very opp r ess i ve and at hal f,
past five in the aftern oon the heat had scarcely

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abated to the perce ption of Mr Joshua H arkness

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as he walked heavily up the Park Street mall i n

Boston C om m on . W hen he came opposite the
Brewer Fountai n w i t h its Four Seasons of severe
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drouth he stopped short an d stared at the bron ze

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group w i th its insufficient dri bble as if he had ,
never seen it be fore Then he felt in firml y about

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the ground with his stick stepped aside and sank

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tre nl ul ously into one ofthe seats at the edge oi the

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path The bench Was already partly occupied by a

young man and a young woman ; the young man
had his arm thrown al ong the b ack of the seat
beh i nd the young woman ; the i r heads were each
til ted toward the other and they we r e m aking
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love al most as frankly in that publ ic pl ace as they

might i n the seclus i on of a crowded railway trai n .
They both glanced at the in truder and exchanged ,
smil es apparently of pity for h i s i ndecency and

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A
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2 A WO M AN S REAS O N .
the n went on w i th their love mak i ng wh ile Mr -
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H arkness unconscious of his offence star ed eagerly

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out over the C ommon and from time to time made

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gestures or signals with his stick i n that d irection .
It was that one day o f the week when people are

n ot shouted at by a multitude of surly sign boards -
to keep offthe grass and the turf was everywhere

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dotted with lolling and lounging groups Perh aps .
to compensate for the absence of the s i gn boards -
!which would reappear over night like a growth of

disagreeable fungi ) there was an unusual number of
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policemen sauntering about and it was on e of these ,
whom Mr Harkness was trying to attract with his

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cane Ifany saw him none heeded and he had to

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wait till a policeman came do w n the mall in front of

him This could not have been so long a time as it
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seemed to Mr Harkness who was breathing thickly

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and now and then pressing his hand against his fore
head like one who tries to stay a reeling bra i n
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Please call a carriage he panted as the officer , ,
whom he had thrust in the side wi th h i s cane

stopped and looked down at him and then as the man
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seemed to hesitate he added : My n ame is Hark
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ness I live at 9 Beacon Steps I wish to go home .
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at once I ve been taken faint .
Beacon Steps is not Beacon Stree t but it i s oflike ,
blameless social tradition and the name together , ,
wi th a certain a i r of moneyed respectability in Mr .
H arkness had i ts effe ct with the po l i ceman

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Sick ? he asked W ell you are pale
. Y ou ,
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j ust hold on a mi nute ,
Heh there l he h 1 he .
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A WO M AN S REA S O N ’
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shouted to a pass i ng hackm an w ho prom ptly ,
stopped turned his horses and dre w u p beside the

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curb next the C ommon “

N ow you take m y arm
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Mr Harkness and I ll help you to th e carriage
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He raised the ge n tleman to his benumbed feet and ,
got h i m away through the gathering crowd ; when

he was gone the crowd continued to hang about the
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place where he had b ee n sitting in such numbers ,
that the young man first took his arm down from
the back of the seat and the you n g wo m an tilted
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her head away from h is and then they both with , ,
vexed and impatien t looks rose and walked away , ,
seeking some other spot for the renewal of their

courtship .
The policeman had n ot been able to refrain from

driving home w ith Mr H arkness whom he patro.
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n i se d with a sort ofmunicipal kindness on the way ; ,
and for whom when h e had got him in d oors an d

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comfortably stretched upon a lounge in the library ,
he wanted to go and call the doctor But Mr . .
H arkness refused saying that he had had these

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attacks be fore and wo uld soon be all right He

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thanked the officer by name after aski n g him for it , ,
and the officer went away leavi n g Mr Harkness to ,

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the c are ofthe cook who in that mid su m mer time

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seemed to have sole ch arge of the house and its

m aster .The policem an flipped the dust from the
breast and collar of his coat in walki n g back to his ,
beat with the right feeling ofa man wh o would like

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to be better prepared i f summoned a second time to

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befriend a gentleman ofMr Harkness s standing and .
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4 A WO M AN S R EA S ON .
to meet i n coming out O f his house a young lady O f

such beauty and elegance as he had j ust encountered .
This young lady as b e closed the door behind him

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had run up the steps with the loop O f her train i n

on e hand — after the fashion O ften years ago and in ,
the other a pretty travelling b ag ca rried with the -
fearlessness O f a lady w ho knows that people are out

of town . She glanced a littl e wonderingly a little ,
defiantly at the policeman who seeing that she

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must drop one or other O f her burdens to ring politely ,
rang for her .
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Thank you ! sai d the young lady speaking a ,
little more wonderingly a little more defiantly than

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s he had looked .
! uite welcome Miss returned the pol i ceman

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and touched his hat in going down the steps while ,
the yo ung l ady turned an d stared after him leaning ,
a little over the top step on wh i ch she stood w i th ,
her back to the d oor She w as very pretty indeed

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with blue eyes at once tender and honest and the ,
fair hair that goes with their beauty hanging loosely

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upon her forehead Her cheeks in their young

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per fection O f outline had a flush beyond their usu al

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delicate colour ; the heat and her eager dash up the

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steps had suffused them With a dewy bloom that ,
see med momently to deepen and soften Her love .
l in ess was saved from the insipidity of faultless l i nes

by a little downward curve a quirk or call it dimple , , ,
at on e corner O f her mouth which especially in , ,
repose gave it a touch Of humorous feel i ng an d

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f orm ed its final charm it seemed less a tr ait Offace

A WO MAN S REA S ON 5
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than of character That fine positi ve gr ace which

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i s called style and which i s so eminently the gi ft

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O f exquisite nerves had not cost her too much 5 she

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w as slim but not fragile and her very mot i onless

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ness suggested a v i vid bird like mobility she stoo d -
as if she had alighted upon the edge O f the step A t .
the opening O f the do or behind her she turned alert]y

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from the perusal of the policeman s retreating back ,
and sprang within .
H OW d do Margaret ?
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She gr ee te d the cook i n
a vo i ce whose bright kindness seemed the tran sl ati on
O f her girlish beauty into sound Surprised to se e .
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me 2 She did not wait for the cook s answer but ’
put down her bag and began pulling O ff her gloves

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after shaking out her s kirt and giving that pene ,
tratin g sidelong downward look at it whi ch women ,
always give thei r drapery at moments O f arrival or

departure She turned into the drawing room from
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the hall an d went up to the long O ld fashioned

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mirror and gl anced at the face which it dimly

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showed her in the close shuttered room The face had

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apparently not changed since she last saw it in that

mirror and on e might have fanc i ed that the young
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lady was somehow surprised at this .
May I ask w hy policemen are coming an d go i ng

in and out ofour house Margaret 2 she demanded O f
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the cook s image which further down in the m i rror
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hesitated at the doorway .
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He come home with your father Miss Helen , ,
answered the cook and as Helen turned round and

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stared at her in the fl esh she continued : He had ,

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6 A WO MAN S REAS ON .
He
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on e O f his faint turns i n the Comm on . s lay i ng
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down in the library n ow Miss Helen ,
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0 poor papa l wailed the young l ady who kne w
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that in spite Of the cook s pronoun it could n ot be ,
the policeman who was then reposi n g from faintness

in the library She whirled away from the mirror
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and s w ooped through the doorway into the hall and ,
back into the roo m where her father lay “

The .
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heat has been too much for him she moaned in , ,
mixed self reproach and compassion as she fl e w ;

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and She dropped upon her knees beside him and ,
fondly caressed his grey head and cooed and ,
l amented over him with the irreverent tenderness ,
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he liked her to use with hi m Poor O ld fellow .
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“ ’ ’
s he murmured It s too bad ' You re working
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yoursel f to death and I m going to stay w i th you
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now and put a stop to your being bro ught home by

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policemen W hy you ought to be ashamed break

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ing down in th is way as soon as my back is turned ' ,
Has Margaret done everything for you ? W ouldn t ’
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you like a little light ? She started briskly to her
feet flung up the long window and raising an d
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lowering the shade to get the right level for he r

father s eyes stood silhou etted against the green
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space without a grass plot between high brick walls ,
on one O f which clambered a grape V ine and on the -
other a Wisteria while a bed Of bright leafed plants

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gave its colour in the centre O f th e yard There 1 .
s he said with a gl ance at this succinct landscape

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That s the prettiest bit Of n ature I ve seen since I ’
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left Boston She came back and sat down on a low
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A WO M AN S REA S ON . 7
chair bes i de her father w ho smiled fondly upon he r , ,
and took one Ofher hands to hold whi l e s he pushed ,
back his hair with the o ther .
A re you awfully glad to se e m e ?

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A wfully said Mr Harkness falling in with her
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mood and brightening with the light and her pre

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sence .W hat brought you so suddenly ?
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O h that s a long story
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A re you feeling better .
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n ow
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Yes I was merely faint I sh all be all ri ght
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by morning I ve been a little worn ou t
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W as it like the last time ? asked Helen .
Y e s said her father

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A little m ore l ike

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I don t think it was m ore severe said Mr Hark , .
ness thoughtfully
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W hat had you been do i ng ? Honou r brigh t

n ow : was i t accounts
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Yes i t was accounts my de ar
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The same O ld wretches

The same old ones some new ones too They re , .
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i n hopeless confusion sighed Mr Harkne ss wh o ,

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seemed to age and sadden with the th ought .
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W ell now I ll tell you what papa said Helen
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sternly : I want you to leave al l accounts O ld and ,
new ,
qu i te al one till the cold weather comes W ill .
y o u promise
Harkness smiled as wearily as he had sighed He . .
knew that She was burlesqui n g somewhat her ign or

ance Ofa f fairs and yet it was n ot much burlesqu ed ,
a fter all ; for her l ife like that O f other A merican ,

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8 A WO M AN S REAS ON .
girls o f prosperous parentage had bee n almost as ,
much set apart fro m the hard realities O f bre ad w in -
ning as the life O f a princess as ent irely dedicate d to ,
society to the studies that refine and the aecom

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p l is hm e n ts that grace society The question of .
money had hardly entered in to it Since she was a .
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little child and used to climb upon her father s knee
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and ask him in order to fix his status in he r fairy

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tales whether he was rich or poor she might be said

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never to have fairly thought O f that mat ter O f .
course she understood that she was n ot s o rich as

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some girls but she had ne ver found that the differ
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ence was against her in society ; she could not help

percei ving that in regard to certain of them i t was
i n her favour and that she might h ave patronised
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them if she had liked and that they were gl ad of

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her friendship on any terms Her father s great .
losses had come when she was too young to se e the

di fference that they made in h i s way of living ; ever
since she could remember they had kept to the sam e
scale O f simple ease in the house Where she was born ,
and she had known n o w ish that there had not been
money enough to grati fy Pleasur es of every kind
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had al w ays come to her as freely and with as little

wonder on her part as if they h ad been like her ,
youth her bounding health her beauty the direct

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gift O f heaven She knew that the money came from

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her father s business but s he had never really asked
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herself how it w as earned It is doubtful if s he .
could have told what his business was ; i t was the

India trade whatever that was an d of late years he
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A WO MAN S REA S ON
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had seemed to be m ore worri ed by it than he used to

be and she had vaguely taken this il l as an ungrateful
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return on the part of business O n ce he had gone .
s o far as to tell her that he had been hurt by the
Great Fire somewhat But the money for all her .
needs and luxuries !she was n ot extravagant and ,
really did not spend much upon herself ) h ad c ome

as before and walking throu gh the burnt district
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and seeing how handsomely i t had been rebuilt she ,
had a comfort i ng sense that i ts losses h ad all b een

repai red .
“
Y ou look a little flushed and exc i ted my dear , ,
said her father in evasion of the co mm ands laid

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upon him and he touched her fair cheek H e was

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ve ry fond of her beauty and of her style ; in the

earlier days of her young ladyho od he used to go ,
ab out with her a great deal and was angry when h e ,
thought she did not get all the notice she ought ,
and a little j ealous when she d i d .
Yes I am flushed and excited papa she owned

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throwing hersel f back in the low chair she had pulled

up to his sofa and beginning to pluck n ervously at
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those l ittle tufts of silk that rough ened the cob

webby fabric O f the grey summer stuff she w ore .
Don t you think she asked lift ing her downcast

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eyes , that coming home and finding you i n this
state is enough to make me look flushed and ex
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cited ?
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Not qu ite “ ’
sa i d h e r father quietly
, It s not .
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a new thing .
Helen gave a sort of lamentable l augh I .

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kn o w I was humb ugging and I m as sel fis h as I ,
can be to th i nk more of myself even now than I do

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of you But O h papa l I m so unhappy
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looked at him through a mist that gathered and fell

in silent drops from her eyes without clearing them ,
s o that she did not see him carry the hand she had
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abandoned to his heart and check a gasp I ,
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suppose we all have our accounts on e way or other , ,
and they get confused like yours Mine with .
with —a certain person had got so m i xed up that ,
there was nothing for it but j ust to throw them

away .
“
Do you mean that you have broken w i th h i m
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finally Helen ? asked her fath er gravely
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I don t kno w whether you call it final ly said
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Helen ,
but I tol d him it was no use — not j ust in
those word s —and th at he ought to forget me ; and
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I was afraid I wasn t equal to it ; and that I couldn t
s ee my way to it clearly ; and unless I could s e e
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my way clearly I oughtn t to go on any l onger
I wrote to him last week and I thought—I th ough t
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that perhaps he wouldn t answer it ; perhaps he
would come over to Rye Beach —he could easily
have run over from Portsmouth — to see me —about it
B ut he didn t —he didn t —he —wrote a very short
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O h I didn t see how he coul d write such a

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letter ,
letter ; I tried to spare him in every way ; an d

yesterday he — he —s —s —sailed l Here the storm ”
broke and Helen bowed herself to the sobs wit h

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which her slimness shook lik e a tall flower beaten ,
i n the wind Then she suddenly stopped and ran

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12 A WO MAN S R EAS ON .
broke down a n d bowed h ersel f O ver th e r u i n she

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had made O f her life .
I don t think you n eed despai r said her father

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soothingly yet with a sort of physical e ffort wh i ch

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escaped her self centred grief R obert is suc h a
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good fellow that if you wrote to him

W hy papa A re you crazy
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shouted th e youn g
ffor three years and

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girl . W rite to him H e s Of ,
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I don t think he d come posting back from C hina if ,
I did write to him A nd h ow could I write to hi m .

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even i f he were in the next room

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It wouldn t be necessary in that case sai d her , ,
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f ather .I m sor ry he s gone for S O l ong he added
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r ather absently .
If he were gon e for a day i t couldn t m ake any ,

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difference cried Helen inexorably
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I ar gued i t all ,
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o u t,
— and i t s a perfect ch ’
ain oflogic — before I wrote
t o him I looked at it in this way I sa i d to myself ‘
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that it was no use having the affair offand on any ,
l onger It woul d be perfect misery to a person O f

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my temperam ent to be an O fficer s wi fe and have my ’

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h usband with me to d ay and at the ends o f the earth

to— morrow Besides h i s pay wouldn t support us
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Y ou told me that yoursel f papa ,
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Yes said Mr H arkness
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But I though t
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R obert might leave the navy and ,

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I n ever would h ave let hi m l Helen burst in .
He woul d h ave be en as unhappy as a fish out of

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wate r and I wouldn t have his wretchedness on m y
conscience and his idlenes s —
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,
you kn ow how long that
splendid Captain Seymour was trying to get i nto
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A WO MAN S REA S O N . 13
bus i ness in Boston after h e l eft the se rv i ce : an d

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then he had to go to C ali fornia be fore h e could find

anything to do and do you supp ose I was going to
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have R obert mo oning round in that way for ages ? ,
He might have gone into business with me for the

time being said Mr Harkness no t very hopefully
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O h yes ! you could have made a place for him ,
I know A nd we should both have been a burden

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to you then But I shouldn t have cared for all that
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I would have met any fate with R obert if I had ,
bel i eved that I felt toward him just as I should But .

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don t you see papa ? If I had felt towards hi m in
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that way I never should h ave thought O f any— any

—prudential consideration s That was what con
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V in ce d me
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that was what I couldn t escape from ,
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turn which way I would Th at was th e point I put

to R obert himself and and —O h I don t se e how
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he could answer as he did I don t se e how he could 1
Helen convuls i vely clutched something in the han d
which she had thrust into her pocket It isn t that .
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I care for mysel f ; but oh I am so sorry for him , ,
away Of f there all alone feeling s o hard and bitter ,
towards me and thinking m e heartless and I do n t

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know what all and hating me so ,
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Wh at did he say Helen ? asked her father , ,
tenderly She snatched her hand from her pocket

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and laid a paper crumple d bewept distained i n the

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hand he stretched towards her and t h en bowed her ,
face upon her knees .
Helen and her father were O ld con fidan ts an d S h e ,
h ad not more reluctance i n showing him this letter

14 A WO M AN S REA S ON’
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than most g i rls would have had i n trust ing such a

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paper to their mother s eyes Her ow n mother had .
died long ago and in the comradesh i p of her young

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li fe her father had entered upon a second youth ,
happier or at least tranquiller than the first She

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adored him and petted him as a Wi fe could n ot and

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this worship did not spoil hi m as i t might if it

had been a conjugal devotion They had always a .
perfect understanding ; she had not withdrawn her

childish intimacy of thought and feeling from him
to give it to h er mother as she would have done if
,
her mother had lived ; he knew all her small heart

af fairs without asking more or less in a tacit way ;
,
and she had an abidingly grate ful sense of his

w i sdom in keeping he r from follies which she co uld
s e e she had escaped through i t H e had never .
before so directly sought to kn ow her trouble ; but

he had n ever before seen her in s o much trouble ;
besides he had always be en R obert Fenton s friend
,
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at court w ith H elen ; and he had quietly kept his

hopes O f their future through rather a stormy an d
uncertain present .
He liked R obert for the sake O f R obert s father ’
who had been captain and supercargo of on e Of

Harkness and Co s ships an d had gone down in her
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on her home voyage when he was returning to be
j unior partner in the house after a prosperous ,
venture O f his own in W enham ice He l eft this .
boy and a young wife who died soon afterwards

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Then Mr H arkness who was the boy s guardian

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gave him and the small property that remained to

A WO M AN S REA S O N
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h im more than a guardian s care He sent h i m to .
school but he made h i m at h ome i n his ow n house

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on all holidays and in vacation These soj ourns .
and absences beg i nning when R obert was ten years

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O ld and continui ng through his school boy age had

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renewed alternately his intimacy and strangeness

with Helen and kept her a mystery and enchant
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ment w hich grew with his growth while to her ,
consciousness he was simply R obert a nice b oy w ho , ,
was n ow at school or now at h ome an d w ho was

, ,
O ften S O shy th at it was perfectly silly W hen he .
was O ld enough to be placed in some career he was

allowed to choose Harvard and a pro fession after
wards Or any more techn i cal training that he liked
,
better He chose neither : the se a called him as

.
,
the O ld superst i tion is and every nerve i n his body

,
responded He would have liked to go into the

.
trade in which his father had died but here his ,
guardian overruled him He kne w that the India

.
’
trade was dying out If R obert s soul was s e t upon
.
the sea O f which there seemed n o doubt i t was

, ,
better that he should go in to the navy ; at A nnapolis

he would have a thorough schooling wh i ch would ,
stand him in good stead if future chan ce or choice

,
ever cast h im ashore to live .
Helen was in the sophomore year O f the cl ass

with which she was dancing through H arvard when
R obert came home from his first cruise She was .
then a very great lady and S he patronised the mid

,
shipman w ith killing kindness as a younger brother ,
though he was i n fact hal f a year her senior H e .

16 A WO M AN S REA S O N ’
.
now fe ll i n love with her out ri ght : very proud love ,
very j ealou s very impatient Sh e could n ot under

,
.
stand it She said to her father it was S O queer

.
.
She never thought of suc h a thing W hy Robert ! .

,
I t was absurd Besides he had such a funn y n ame ;

.
,
F en ton / B ut a pass i on like his was n ot to be

quenched with reasons even so good as these H e .
went to se a again bitterly rapturously brooding , ,
over her idea and came home i n the autumn after

,
Helen s class day All the fello w s had scattered

’
-
n ow ; and she was left much younger and humbler
in her feelings and not so great a lady for all he r

,
triumphs T w o O f her class had proposed to her

.
,
and lots had come near it ; but her heart had been
left untouched and she perceived or thought she
, ,
perceived that the se young gentleme n who we re

, ,
w i se an d mat ure enough for their age though neither ,
Solomons nor Methuselahs were all silly boys I n , .
herself on the contrary the tumult of feeling w it h

, ,
which she had first entered the world had been

succeeded by a calm which she might well have ,
mistaken for wisdom She felt that she n ow knew .
the world thoroughly and wh i le she was resolved ,
to j udge it kindly s he was n ot go i ng to be dazzled

,
by it any longer She had become an observer O f

.
human nature she an alysed her feelings sometimes

she made cutting remarks to people and was d read
,
fully sorry for it She w i thdrew a great deal from

.
society and liked be i ng thought O dd

, She had .
begun to take lesson s in painting with a number of

’
ladies under an artist s criticism ; she took up
’
A WO M AN S R EA S O N . 17
course s of reading ; she felt th at li fe was a ser i ous

af fair . O n h i s return R o b ert at first seemed to
,
her m ore boyish more brotherly than before But

,
.
i n talk i ng w i th him ce rtain f acts of his h i story

came ou t that S howed him a very brave and manly
f ello w and good too
,
Th i s gave her pause ; so
, .
keen an O bserver O f human n ature at once dis

cerned i n this young m an w ho did n ot b rag Of his ,
experiences nor yet af

,
fect to despise them as trifl e s ,
but honestly owned that at on e time he was scared ,
and that at another he would h ave g i ve n everything

to be ashore an O bject worthy O f her closest an d
,
most reverent study She proceeded to idealise

.
him and to stand i n awe of him O h yes ! w i th a

,
.
deep sighing breath and a l o n g dreamy l ook at him

—he ’ W hat he had been through must have
,
changed the whole w orld to h i m A fter th at n ight .
i n the typ hoo n—w ell noth ing could ever have been
,
th e same to her after that H e must find al l the .
i nterests at home s i cken i ngly mean Th i s was th e .
tone she took w i th him driving h i m to despair , .
W hen he aga i n urged his suit she sa i d that s he ,
could not s e e why he s h ould care for her A t the .
same time she wanted to ask him why he did not

Wear his uniform ashore instead of that unnatural ,
civil dress that he seemed so anxious to make him

sel f ridiculous in Being pressed for some sort Of
.
ans w er she said th at she had resolved never to

,
marry .A fter this R obert went Of f very melan

chol y upon his third cru i se But she wrote him .
such kind and sympathetic letters that he came

B
18 A WO MAN S REA S O N ’
.
home from this cruise w hi ch was a short on e more

, ,
fondly in l ove than ever but more patiently m ore , ,
pleasingly in love and he n ow behaved so sen sibly ,
w ith so m uch apparent consideration for h er n u oer
tainty of mind that she began to think seriously of

,
him But t hough she liked him ever so much and

.
,
respecte d him beyond an ything the very fact that ,
she w as wondering whether she co ul d ask him to
l eave the n avy or not and where and how they ,
should live seemed sufficient proof to her that she

,
did n ot car e for him in the right way Love she .

,
knew did not consider ways and mean s it did n ot

,
stop to argue ; it found in itself its ow n reason and

the assurance of a future I t did n ot come afte r .
years ofshilly shal lyin g and be ating about the bush

-
, ,
and weigh i ng this and that and scrutiny of one s ,

’
emotions If she loved R obert so little as to care

.
what happened after they were married s he did ,
n ot love him at all Something like this but

.
,
expressed with infinite kindness was what she had

written from R ye Beach to R obert stationed at
Ports m outh She ended by leavi n g the case in his
.
hands She forbade hi m to hope but she told him

.
,
that there had been a time a m omen t whe n she , ,
thought that sh e might have loved him .
R ober t took all this awry H e did n ot deign to .
ask her when this mysterious moment was far less ,
w hether i t might ever recur ; he did not answer one

of her argumen ts ; he did n ot even come over to
R ye B each to combat and trample on her reasons .
He wrote her a furious foolish reply in which he , ,

’
”
I wasn t thinking of i t said her fath er meekly
’
, ,
“
accepting her reproof It s n oth i ng The w i nd .
’
.
’ ”
has changed hasn t it ? I feel the east a little
,
.
“
You re chilly? ’
Helen w as n ow temp te d to be
really harsh with him for his remissness but she did ,
n ot stay fro m running after the wrap soft an d light , ,
which she had brought back from the s ea side with -
her and had thrown down with her bag in the hall
, ,
and though she bemoaned his though tlessness as she ,
flung it over him still she did n ot pour ou t upon,
hi m all the self reproach i n her heart -
She went .
an d hurried Margaret with the tea and then set an ,
old fashioned tea poy bes i de the sofa and when the
- -
tea came she drew up her ch air and poured i t

, ,
for him She O ffered to pull down the window bu t

.
,
he made her a S ign to let it be ; and in fact it was ,
not cooler W ithout than withi n and n o chill came ,
from the little yard on whose l ofty walls th e sunset,
w as beginning to burn i n tender red light She .
poured hersel f a cup of tea when S he came back ,
and when she had made her father repeat again and
again that he felt mu ch better s he began to see the ,
absurdity of being tragic about Robert at this late

d ay when S he had s o often refused him before
,
without the leas t tragedy This to be sure was .

, ,
n ot quite like the other refusal s ; n ot s o on e sided -
but really except for R obert s ow n sake what had

,
’
,
she to be sorry for and Why shoul d she pity his ,
towering dudgeon ? A n ache faint and dull m ade , ,
itsel f felt deep in her heart and She answered sadly , ,

” ”
W ell to her father s tentative Helen
,
’
.
A WOMAN S REA S ON ’
. 21
“
He d i d not go on and she asked presently W hat , ,
”
is it papa ?
,
O h noth i ng
,
There was something I was going
.
to speak to you about B ut it will do an other time . .
Helen recollected that once or twice before this her

father had begun in the same way and postponed ,
whatever he had been going to say in the same fashion '

.
I t was not a thing to be curious about and she had ,
never pressed him to speak She kn ew that he .
would speak when he really th ought best But S he .
wondered n ow a little if h i s mind were still runn i ng

upon R obert .
W as i t someth i ng i n regard to —to me papa ? -
,
”
W hy yes Yes ; i ndirectly
, . .
W ell then don t think of it any more

, ,
I shal l ’
.
”
not I m sorry I worried you about it
.
’
.
”
A bout what my dear ? aske d her fath er who , ,
could n ot have followed h er .
”
R obe rt l said Helen abruptly ,
.
Oh
’
I wasn t thinking about R obert .
Because if yo u were papa I want to tell you

, , ,
that I am quite reconciled to have everything end as

it has done R obert and I will al w ays be good friends
. .
’ ”
Y ou needn t be troubled about th at .
”
“
O h yes certainly assented her father cl os i ng
, , ,
his eye s .
Helen sat look i ng at him as if she wo uld like to ,
go on B ut she was a little ashamed and a little

.
,
piqued that her father shoul d shut hi s eye s i n that

way while she was talking O f R obert H e had taken .
the whole affair rather O ddly She had b een prepared .

’
22 A WO M AN S REA S O N .
to defend R obert if her father were an gry with him ,
as She expected but instead ofbeing angry he had ,
really seemed to side with R obert and had somehow , ,
by his reticen ce implied that he would have been

,
glad to h ave her humble herself to R obert .
”
“ If you wish to sleep papa S he sa i d with a
, ,
dignity wasted upon him for he still l ay with his

,
”
eyes closed I will go away
,
.
” “ ’
“ I m dro
’
w sy said her f ather
,
But don t go .
,
Helen Sit do w n here

. .
He made a motion for her to Sit beside him an d after ,
an instant s further resentment she drew up her chair

’
,
and laid her beautiful head down u pon the cushion by

his She gave him a kiss and dropped a large tear
.
,
against his withered cheek and wiped it away with ,
her handkerchief and then she hid her face again and
, ,
wept peacefully till all her tears were gone A t last .
s he lifted her face and dried her eyes and sat

, ,
dreamily watching the red sunset light creeping up the

wall on which the Wisteria clambere d It rose S lowly .
,
l eaf by leaf till it lit an airy frond at top that swayed

, ,
in it like a pennon Suddenly it leaped from this an d

.
left it dark and a shiver coursed thro ugh the next

,
rank of foliage It somehow made her think O f a Ship

.
going down below the horizon an d the waves running ,
along the sky where the streamers had j ust hung .
But R obert must have been out O f sight of land for

two days an d more before that
'
.
H E LEN sat b es i de h er father w hi le t h e soli tude O f
,
the house deepened from silence to silence Then .
Margaret came to the door and l ooked in as if to

,
ask whethe r it was no t time for her to fetch away
the tea things Helen gave her a n od o f acquiescence

-
.
,
and presently rose and followed her out to the kitchen

, ,
to tell her that S he was going to her own room and ,
to say that she must be called when her f ather woke .
’
B ut in the kitchen Margaret s company was a te m p
tati on to he r l oneliness an d she made on e little
,
pretext after another for remaining till Margaret ,
set her a chair in the doorway Margaret had bee n

.
i n the house ever since Helen was born and Helen ,
still used the same fre edom with her that she had
i n childhood an d gave herself the range ofpl aces to
,
which young ladyhood ordinarily denies its radiant

presence She had indeed as much i n ti macy with
.
the cook as could cons i st with their different ages and ,
she got on smoothly w i th th e cook s temper which

’
had not been so good as her looks in youth an d had ’

,
improved q ui te as little with age Margaret was O f .
a remote sort of Irish birth ; but her n ative l and

h ad s carcely m arked he r accent and but for he r ,
23
24 A WO MAN S REA S ON
’
.
church and her sen se O f place which was somet imes

,
very re spectful and sometime s very high and mighty

with those above her she might have been mistaken
,
for an A merican ; s he had a l ow v oice which only

grew lower as she grew angry A family in which .
s he could do all the w ork had been her ideal when
S he first came to Boston but she had failed of this

,
n ow for some thirty years and there seem e d little

,
hope that the chances woul d still turn in her favour .
In Hele n s childhood when she used to ask Margaret

’
in moments Oftenderness foll ow i ng the gift of dough

,
i n unexpected quantity whether she would come

,
and live w i th her after she got m arr i ed Margaret ,

’
had always answered ,
Yes if you won t have any
,
”
on e else bothering round which was commonly too
,
much for the j ust pride of the actual second — girl .
She had been c ook in the family S O long ago as when

Mr Harkness had kept a man ; she had pressed
.
upon the retre at O f the l as t man with a broom i n her

hand an d a j oyful sarcasm on her lips ; and she
woul d w illingly have kept vacant the place that sh e
h ad made too hot for a long succession of second
girls In the intervals of their going and coming
.
,
she realised her ideal of domestic service for the
time being ; an d in the summer when Helen was

away a good deal S he prolonge d these interval s to
,
the utmost She was n ecessarily much more the

.
housekeeper than Helen though they bo th respected

,
a fiction of co ntrary effect and Helen commonl y

,
left her the choice Ofher helpers She had not been .
surpri sed to find Margaret alon e i n the house but ,

’
A WO M AN S REA S O N .
S he thoug h t i t well to ask he r how she w as gett i ng

on with ut anybody
o .
O h ver ywell M i ss Helen ! You k n o w your

, ,
’ ”
f ather don t make any trouble .
W ell I ve come n ow an d we must get some b ody

,
’
,
sa i d Helen .
W hy I thought you was going back on Monday

, ,
Miss Helen an swered Margaret ,

.
’
N o I S hall n ot leave pap a I th i n k he s n ot at
, .
al l well .
“
He does seem rather poorly Miss Helen But I , .
’
don t see why you need any on e in the summer this , ,
way .
“ ’
W ho s to g o to the door ? as ked Helen .
Besides you couldn t take care O f both O f us

,
’
,
Margaret .
’
Just as you say Miss Hele n I d j ust as l i ves , ,
“ ’
answere d Margaret stubbornly It isn t for me to ,
.
’
s ay but I don t see what you want with anybody
”
you won t s e e a soul
’
.
O you never can tell Margaret

, You ve h ad a ,
.
’
good rest now and you must have somebody to help ,

” ’
you . Helen s sadness sm i le d at this confus i on of
ideas and its suitableness to Margaret s peculiar
,
’
attitude Get somebody that you kno w Margaret

.
,
and that you 11 like But we must have somebody ’

. .
She regarded Margaret s S ilent and st i f f displeasure

’
with a moment s amusement and then her bri ght ’

,
face clouded and she asked softly D id you kn ow

Margaret that R obert —that L i eutenant Fenton
,
, ,
’
26 A WO MAN S REA S O N .
Wh y Miss Helen ! Y ou don t mean that ?

,
n o,
’
W hy I thought he w as going to stay the summer at

,
”
Portsmouth .
“
He w as sai d Helen in the same low voice
, , , ,
”
but he changed his mind it seems , .
“
Sailors i s a roving se t anyway Margaret , ,
“
generalised Then she add e d : D id he come down
.
to say good bye to your father ?

-
”
“
W hy n o sadly answered Hele n wh o now
, , ,
thought Of this for the first time Her heart .
throbbed indignantly then she reflected that she

had kept hi m fro m coming She looked up at the .
evening blue with the swal lows weaving a woof of

,
flight across the top of the space framed in by the

“ ’
high walls on every hand and He hadn t time I , ,
” ’ ”
suppose she said sadly
,
He couldn t get O ff . .
’
“
W ell I don t call it very nice his no t comi n g
, , ,
“ ’ ’ ’ ”
persisted Margaret I d a deserted first Her . .
associations w ith naval service had been through

gallant fellows who were n ot in a position to resign .
Helen smiled so ruefully at this that she would

better for cheer fulness have wept But she recog .
’
n i s ed Margaret s limitation s as a confidant and said ,
n o more She rose presen tly and again as ked Mar

.
,
garet to look in pretty soo n and se e if her father ,
were awake and call her if h e were : she w as going

, ,
to her room She l ooked i n a momen t hersel f as

. .
as S he went and l i stene d till she heard him breath

,
ing and so passed on through the draw i ng room and

,
-
trailed heavily up stairs -
The house w as rathe r ol d fash i oned an d it was -
,
28 WO M AN S REA S O N
’
A .
after the taste of Cole and Poussin i n great carved ,
and scrolly frames Helen had once thought of

.
making a raid upon these enemi e s of art and in fact ,
she had contemplate d remodelling the whole equip
ment of the parlours in conformity to the recen t

,
feel ing in such matters but she had n ot got fur ther
than the incomplete representation of some golden
rod and mullein stalks upo n the panels of her ow n
-
chamber— door and now that the fervour of her first

enthus i asm had burnt itself out she was not sorry ,
she had left the old house in peace .
Oh I should think you d be so rej o i ced sa i d the

’
, ,
’
ch i e f ofher fri ends it s such a comfort to go into
’
on e house where you don t have to admire the artisti c
sentiment and where every wretched little aesthetic

,
prig of a table or a chair i sn t asserting a princ i ple ’
”’
or te aching a lesson Don t touch a cobweb Helen !
.
,
It had never even come to a talk between her and

her father and the house remained unmolested the
,
home o f her childhood She had not really cared.
much for i t sin ce she was a child The sense .
of our impermanent relation to the parental roof
comes to us very early in li fe ; and perhap s more

keenly to a young girl than to her brothers They .
are ofthe world by all the conditions oftheir active

positive being almost from the firs t —a great world
,
that is made for them ; but she has her world

’
to create She cannot sit and adorn her father s
.
house as she shall on e day beauti fy and worship her

,
’
husband s ; she can indeed do her duty by it but ,
the restless longing remains and her housewifeliness ,

’
A WO MA N S REA S O N . 29
doe s n ot vo l untari ly blosso m out b eyond the prec i ncts

ofher ow n chamber which she makes her realm of
,
fancy and o f dreams She could not be the heart of

.
the house i f she would as her mother is or has , ,

’
been and tho ugh i n her mothe r s place S he can be ,
housekeeper thrifty wise and notable still some

, , , ,
mysterious essent i al is wanting which i t is n ot i n her

nature to supply to her father s house
-
’
Helen went to her ow n room and fl i nging up the , ,
windows let i n the noises ofthe streets A few feet

, .
went by i n the secluded place and a sound of more ,
frequent trampling came from the street into which

it opened Further off rose the blu rred tumult of
.
business softened by the stretch ofthe Common and

, ,
gr owing less and less w ith the lapse of the lo n g

summer day It w as already a little cooler and the
.
,
smell of the sprinkled street stole re fresh i ngly i n at

the window It was still ve ry light an d wh en Helen
.
,
opened her blinds the room brightened cheerfully all

,
about her and the sympath etic intimacy of h er ow n

,
closest belongings tenderly appealed to her A fter .
something has happened an d we first see fam iliar ,
th ings about us as the v were there comes just before , ,
the sense ofdi f ference in ou r selves returns to torment

us a moment ofblind and foolish obl ivion and this
, ,
’
was Helen s as she sat down beside the windo w an d ,
looked round upon the friendly prettiness ofher room .
I t had been her roo m when she was a child and ,
there were childish keepsakes scattered about in odd

places out ofthe way ofyoung—
,
ladyish luxuri es high ,
shouldered bottles ofperfum e and long handled ivory ,

-
’
brushes and dainty boxes and cases an d starred and

, ,
bevelled hand glasses and other sacred mysteries of

-
toilet O f the period when S he had thought h ersel f

.
wedded to art there were certain charcoal sketches

pinned against the wall and in on e corner n ot very
, ,
definite at first gl ance under the draperies tossed upon

i t from time to time was her easel O n proj ections
,
.
’
of her mirror frame hung souvenirs of R obe rt s first
-
cruise which had been in the Mediterranean ropes of

,
R oman pearls ; nets and brace lets and necklaces of

shells and beads from Venice filigree sil ver j ewellery
from Genoa ; strands and rosaries of black barbari ,
cally scented wooden beads from the Levant : not

things you could wear at all but very pleasant to ,
have they gave a sentiment to your room when you

brought any one into it they were nice to have
lying about and people liked to take them into their
,
hands they were not s o very uncommon either that , ,
you had to keep telling what they were She had .
never thought that possibly R obert had expecte d her

to wear the absurd things W ith an aching recurrence .
to their quarrel !it could be called no less ) and a

penitent self pity she thought of it now It did not
-
, .
seem to h er that she could touch the m but she went ,
languidly to the mirror and took some ofthem down ,
and then all at once fantastically began to array her

self i n them : like a m ad girl she re flected Sh e , .
threw the loops ofR oman pearls and the black strands
of Levantine beads about her neck she s e t a net of
the Venetian shell work on her hair an d decked he r
-
wrists and her l ovely ears with the Genoese filigree ; a

’
. 31
pe rf ectly frantic comb i nation she mused as s h e shook

, ,
h er head a little to make the ear bobs dance -

Yes .
,
pe rfectly fran tic she said alo ud but n ot much think

, ,
ing of the image confronting her from the mirror ,
thinking rathe r ofR obert and poignan tly regretti n g

,
that she had never put them on for him and think
ing that if the loss ofhim had made her certain about
him too late for ever how fatal l y strange that w ould
,
be Again she went over al l the facts of the affair

.
,
and was able to make much surer ofR obert s motives ’
than of her ow n She knew that i f he had under

.
stood her saying that she might have loved him once
to be any encouragement for the future he would not ,
have written as he did She could imagin e R obert s

.
’
being very angry at the patronising tone of the rest

ofher letter ; S he had entire faith in his stupidity ;
she never doubted his generosity his magnanimous ,
i ncapability of turning her refusal Ofhim into a refusal

ofher h i s was n ot the little soul that could rej oice in
such a ch ance She wondered if n ow far out at se a
.
, ,
sailing sailing away three years away from her he

, , , ,
s aw anything in her letter but refusal or was he still
i n that blind rage ? Did he never once think that

it had seemed such a great thing for her to m ake con
fe ssi on which meant him to come to her 2 B u t had
,
she really meant that ? It s eemed so now but ,
perhaps th en she had only thought of mingl i ng a

drop O f kindness in his bitter cup O f trying to spare ,
hi m the m ortification Of h aving loved a person w ho

h ad never thought for a m oment O f loving him ?
Fro m time to time her im age appeared to advance
,
’
upon he r from the depths O f the mirror decked i n all ,
that incongruous frippery and to s ay with trembling ,
lips ,
Perfectly frantic perfectly frantic while the
, ,
tears ran down its face ; and she found a wil d

com fort i n regarding herself as quite an insane ,
irresponsible cre ature who did not kn ow what S h e

,
was about She felt that fate ought n ot to hold her

.
to account The door bell ran g and she snatched

.
-
the net from her hair with a fearful shudder and ,
flun g down al l the ornaments in a heap upon her

dressing table Bumping sounds in the hall below
-
reminded her that i n her trance be fore the glass she ,
had remotely kn own of a wagon stopping at the

door and presently she heard Margaret coming up
,
the stairs behind the panting express man who was -
fetching up he r trunk She fled into another roo m

.
,
and guiltily lurked there till they went out again ,
before she returned to unlock an d unpack the b ox .
’
It was on e of Helen s econom ies not to d ri ve home
from the station but to send he r baggage by express
,
and come up in a horse car The sums thus saved -
S he devoted to a particular charity and was ve ry ,
ri gid with herself about spending every hal fdo llar -
coach fare for that object She only gave t wenty

-
five cents to the express and she made a merit O f the,
fact that neither the coach h ire n or the charity ever -
cost her father anything R obert h ad once tried to .
prove that it al w ays cost hi m seventy five cents -
but she had easily seen through the j oke and had ,
made him confess i t .
She was still busy unpack i n gwhen Margaret came

’
A WO M AN S REA S O N . 33
up to say that her father was awake n ow an d then ,
she left off at once to go to him The gas had been .
lighted in the hall and library an d that made life ,
another thing Her father was in his arm chair and

.
-
was feeling decidedly better he said ; he had told ,
Margaret to h ave tea there in the library Helen .
l aughed at him for having two t e as within two

hours he owned to being hungry and that reminded ,
her that she had eaten n othing since an early dinn er .
W hen the tea and toast came in and the cloth was ,
laid half across the round table in the mellow light ,
of the study lamp they were very cosy Helen

, .
,
w ho was always th i nking O f R obert whatever else ,
she thought of began to play in fan cy at a long li f

, e
of devotion to her fathe r in which she should never
,
marry She had al w ays imagined him living with

.
her but now she was living with him and they were
, ,
to grow O ld together ; in twenty years when h e was ,
eighty She would be forty three and then there

,
-
would not be much difference between them She .
now finally rel i nquished the very last i dea O f R obert ,
except as a b rother She did not suppose S he should

.
ever quite like h i s w i fe but she should pet their

,
children .
Helen sai d her father breaking i n upon these

, ,
ideas how S hould you like to live in the country ?

,
”
W hy papa I was just thinking of it ! That i s

, , ,
no t i n the country exactly but somewhere O ff by ,
ourselves just you and I O f course I should like

,
.
,
”
it
I don t mean on a farm pursued h er father
’
, ,
C
’
34 A WO MAN S REAS O N .
but i n some O f the suburban town s where we coul d ,
have a bit of ground and breathing space I think .
it grows closer and closer in town at times i t seems

as i f I could hardly catch my breath I believe it .
’
would agree with me in the country I can t ge t .
away from business entirely for a few years yet — if

the times conti nue so bad I must bend all m y ,
energie s to it in fact — an d I h ave a fancy that the

,
coming in and ou t of town would do me good A nd .
I have a notion that I should like to build I should .
like a new house —a perfectly n ew house W e could .
”
live on a simpler scale in th e country .
“ ” “
O yes indeed ! said Helen
,
I should com e .
i nto town to shop with my initials worked in worsted

,
on the side of my bag and I S hould kno w where the ,
bargains were and lunch at C opeland s I should

,
’
.
”
like it .
“
W ell we must think abou t i t
,
I daresay we .
could l et the house here w i thout much trouble I .
feel it somehow a great burden upon me but I ,

’ ”
shouldn t like to sell it .
“
O n o papa ! W e couldn t think O f selling it
’
.
,
I should j ust like to let it and then n ever go near ,
it or look in the same direction till we were ready

, ,
”
to come back to it .
I have lived here so lo n g continued h er father , ,
making her th e l istener to his musings rather than

speaking to her “
that I S hould like a change I
, .
used to thin k th at I should never leave the house

.
,
but a place may become overcrowded with associa

tions You are too young Helen to understand
.
, ,
’
more like h er such a helples s selfish thing as I am

, , ,
morbidly assented Helen I shoul d only m ake you .
miss her the more .
Why Helen you re a very good girl —the be st

, ,
’
”
child in the world said her father , .
“
0 no I m not papa
,
’
I m one of th e worst
, .
’
.
”
I never think of anybody but myself said H elen , ,
’
who was thinking of R obert Y ou don t know .
how m any ti m es I ve gone down on my mental

’
knees to you and asked you to have patien ce w i th

7)
me .
“
A sked me to have pat i en ce wi th you 1 said her
father taking her by the chin and press in g against
, ,
his cheek the beautiful face which she le aned toward

’
him .Poor child 1 There s hardly a day since you
’
were born that I haven t done you a gr ea ter wrong
than the sum of all your sins would come to Papas .
are dreadful fellows Helen but they someti mes live ,
”
in the hope o f repair i ng their misd e eds .
W rite them on a slip ofpape r and hide i t in a ,
secret drawer that opens w i th a clas p and spring ,

’ ’
whe n you don t know they re there sa i d Helen , ,
glad ofhis touch ofplayfulne ss W e ve both been .

’
”
humbugging and we kn ow it, .
“
He stared at her and sa id You r vo i ce is like ,
’
your mother s ; and j ust n ow when you came in , ,
your movement was very like hers I hadn t noticed .

’
i t before But she has been a great dea l in my

.
”
m i nd o f late .
If he had wished to talk of her mother whom Helen ,
could not rem em ber and who had been al l he r life ,

merely the shadow of a so rrow to her a de ath a , ,
grave a name upon a stone a picture on the wall

, , ,
s he would not spare herself the duty of encouraging

”
hi m to do s o “
W as she tall like me 2 she asked
.
,
.
“
Not so tall answered her father ,
“
A nd she .
”
was dark .
Yes said Helen lift i ng her eye s to the p i cture

, ,
on the wal l .
She had a great pass i on for th e country con ,
i
t n ue d Mr Harkness “
and I liked the town It
.
,
.
was more convenient for me and I was born in ,
Boston It has often grieved me to think that I

.
didn t yield to her I must have been dream ing of

’
.
h er for when I woke a littl e while ago this regret

, ,
was like a phys i cal pang at my heart A s long as .
’
we li ve we can t help treating each othe r as if we
,
’
were to live always But i t s a mistake I never . .
refused to go into the country with her he said as ,
if to appease this Ol d regret I merely postponed

it Now I should like to go
. .
He rose from the table and taking the study lamp ,

-
i n his hand he feebly pushed apart the sliding doors

,
-
that opened into the drawing room He moved -
slowly down its length on on e side throwing the , ,
light upon this object and that before which he ,
faltered and so returned on the other side as if to

, ,
familiarise himsel f with every detail Sometimes h e .
held the lamp above and sometimes bel ow his face , ,
but always throwing its age and weariness i nto relief .
Helen had remained watching him A s he came .
b ack S he heard him say less to her as i t seemed than ,

’
to h i msel f Yes I sho ul d l i ke to sell i t I m t i red

,
“
,
.
’
”
of it.
He set the l amp down upon the table aga in and ,
sank into his chair and lapsed in to a reverie which

,
left Helen solitary beside him “

Ah S he real i sed .
, ,
“
as she looked o n his musing absent face he is ol d , ,
and I am young and he has more to love in the

,
other world with m y m other and both my brothers

,
there than he has in this

,
O h R obert R obert .
, , ,
”
R obert I
But perhaps his absent mi nd was n ot so much
ben t upon the lost as she thought He had that .
way fathers h ave of treating h is daughter as an

equal of tal ki ng to her gravely and earnestly and
,
-
then of suddenly dropping her into complete

nothingness as i f she were a child to be amused for
,
a while an d then set down from his knee and sen t

,
out of doors Helen dutifully accepted this con

.
dition of their companionship ; she cared for i t so

li ttle as never to have formulated it to hersel f ; when
she was se t down she went ou t and ord i narily S he ,
did n ot think of it .
A peremptory ring at the door startled them b oth ,
and when Margaret had O pened it there entered al l

at the same instant a loud kindly vo i ce the chirp
, , ,
O f boots heavily trodden upon by a generous bulk

, ,
that rocked from side to side in its advance and ,
a fragrance O f admirable cigars that active and ,
passive perfume wh i ch comes from smoking and

,
“
being smoked in the best company A t home .
,
Margare t ? asked the vo i ce whose loudness was a ,

’
“
husky loudness in a p ause o f the boots Y es ? ,
.
’ ”
W ell don t put me in there Margaret which was
, , ,
“ ’
apparently in rejection Of the drawing room I ll -
”
j oin them in the library .
The boots came chirping down the h all in that

direction with a sound of heavy breathing Helen
,
.
sprang from her chair an d fled to meet the cheerful ,
soun d ; there was the noise of an encountering

“ ”
kiss and a j olly laugh and W ell Helen ! and
, , ,
”
O h Captain Butler 1 and later
,
H arkness and ,
”
Butler ! as Helen led the vis i tor in .
“ ”
W ell ! said this guest for the third time He , .
straighte n ed his tall mass to its ful l height and ,
looked ou t over his chest with eyes Of tender regard

upon Harkness s thin and refined face n ow lit up ’
,
after the hand shaking with cordial welcome -
DO .
”
you know he said as if somehow it were a curious
, ,
“
fact of natural h istory that you have it u n com ,
m on l y close in here He wen t over to the window

that O pened upon the little grassy yard and put it ,
up for himsel f while Harkness was explaining that

,
it had been put do w n while he was n apping Then

.
.
he pl anted himself in a large leathern chair beside

it and went on smoking the cigar on the en d O f
,
which he had been chewing H e started from the .
chair w ith violence coughing and gesturing to forbid ,
Helen who was hospitably whispering to Margaret

,
.
“
NO no ; don t do it
’ ’
,
I won t have anything I . .
couldn t I ve just dined at the club Yes you may

’
.
’
.
,
”
do that much he added to Helen as she se t a little
, ,
—
table with an ash holder at his elbow “
You ve .
’
40 A WO MAN S REA S ON ’
.
’ ’
n o idea what a night it is It s cooler and the air s .
,
delicious I say I want to take Helen back with

.
,
’
me I wish she d go alone and leave us two O ld
.
,
’
fellows together here There s n o place like Boston .
’
in the summer after all B ut you haven t told me
,
.
”
whether you re surprised to se e me ’
Captain .
Butler looked round at them with something O f the

difficulty of a se a turtle in a lateral inspectio n
-
”
N ever surprised but always charmed said , ,
Helen with j ust the shade O f mockery in her tone

,
wh i ch she kne w suited th i s v i sitor .
“ ”
Charmed eh ? asked Captain Butler A pp ar
, .
ently he meant to say something satirical ab out the

word but could not think of anything He turne d
,
.
”
again to her fath er How are you Harkness ? ,
”
O h I m very well
’
,
sa i d Harkness evas i vely , .
I m as well as usual
’
.
Then you have yoursel f fetched home i n a hack

”
by a policeman every day do you ? remarked Cap ,
tain Butler bl owing a succession O f white rings into

,
“
the air Y ou were seen from the club window
. .
’ ”
I ll tell you what you re sticking to it too close ’
.
”
O yes Captain B utler do get him away sighed
, , ,
Helen while her father who had not sat down began
, , ,
to walk back an d forth in an irritated restl ess way , .
’ ”
For the present I can t leave it said Harkness , ,
“
fretfully H e added more graciously : Perhaps in
.
a week or two or n ext month I can get Of ,

f for a ,
few days You know I was one ofthe securities for

.
”
Bates and Mather he s ai d l ook i ng at Captain , ,
’
Butler over Helen s head .
A WO M AN S REA S ON ’
. 41
I had forgotte n th at an swered Captai n Butler ,
gravely.
’
“
_ They left things i n a complete tangle I can t .
’
tell just where I am yet and of course I ve no , , ,
peace till I know .
” “
“
O f course assented C aptain Butler
’
,
I won t .
vex you with retroactive advice Joshua he added , ,

“
affectionately but I hope you won t do anything O f
,
’
that kind again .
“
N O Jack I won t
,
But you kn ow u n der th e
,
’
circumstances i t woul d have b een black ingratitude

”
to refuse .
”
“
Y e s said C aptain B utler
,
He smoked a while .
’
in silen ce Then he said
. I suppose it s no worse ,
with the O l d trade than with everyth i ng else at ,

”
present.
’
“
NO we re all i n the same boat I believe said
, , ,
Harkness .
H ow i s Marian ? asked Helen a l i ttle restive ,
under the cross firing .
O h Marian s all right But if she were not she

’
.
, ,
wouldnt know it
’
.
”
I suppose she S very much engaged said Helen

” ’
, ,
with a faint pang of something like envy .
” “
Yes said C aptain Butler
,
I thought you were .
”
at Rye Beach you n g lady ,
.
“
I thought you were at Beverley old gentleman , ,
retorted Helen ; she had been saucy to Captain ,
Butler from infancy .
S o I was But I cam e up unexpectedly tod ay

. .
So d id I .
.
D i d you ? Good ! N OW I ll tell you w h y I ’
came and you shall tell m e why you did I came

,
.
because I got to thinki ng of your father and had a ,
fancy I sh ould like to se e him Did you .
Helen hung her head N 0 she said at length .

,
.
The Captain laughed Whom had you a fan cy to .
”
s ee here then at this time O f year ?
, ,
O h I didn t say I should te ll Y ou m ade that

“ ’
.
,
“
bargain all yourself mocked Helen But i t w as
,
.
’
very kind of you to come on papa s account she ,
added softly .
W hat are you making there 1 asked the C apta i n ,
bend i ng forward to look at th e work Helen had

taken into her lap
W ho—I
.
“
she asked as if she h ad perhaps been ,
asked what R obert w as making Her mind had .
been r unning upon him since Captain Butler asked

”
her why she had come up to Boston O h ! she .
recovered hersel f “
W hy this she sai d taking
”
.
, , ,
the skeleton frame work of gauze and wire on her -
’
fin ge r tips and holding it at arm s l engt h with her
-
,
-
head aslant surveying it this is a bonnet for Mar ,

”
garet.
“ ” “
A bonnet hey ? said the Captain
, It looks .
”
like a Shaker cap .
“”
Yes I Helen cl apped it on her h ead and looked ,
j auntily at the captain dropping her shoulders and , ,
putting her chin ou t N ow does it ? ,

“
NO n ot now
’
, The Shaker sisters don t wear
.
”
c ri mps and they don t smile in that wicked way
,
’
.
Helen laughed and took the b onn e t fram e Off

, SO .
’
fathe r l i ked to hear the banter between her and h i s

O ld fri end They both treated her as if she were a
.
child and she knew it and liked i t she beh aved

,
like a child .
Harkness said the Captain turning h is fat head

, ,
hal f round toward his friend who sat a little back ,
ofh i m and breaking of

, fhis cigar—ash into the bronze
plate at his elbow do you know that your remain ,
ing in the trade after all the rest ofus have gone out
”
of it is something quite monumental ? Captain
Butler had a tender and almost reverential love for
Joshua Harkness but he could n ot help using a little
,
patronage toward him since his health had grown ,
delicate and his fo rtun es had n ot distin ctly prospere d

,
.
“ ”
I am glad you like it Jack said Harkness quietly , ,
.
”
The Captai n i s a mass of compliments to night -
r emarked Helen .
“
The Cap tain gr inned his consciousness
_
Y ou are .
”
a m i nx he said admiringly to H elen Then he
, .
threw back his head and pulled at his c i gar uttering ,

’
between puffs N 0 but I mean it Harkness There s
, , ,
.
something uncommonly fin e about it A man gets .
to be n oblesse by sticking to any Old order of things .
It makes one think O f the ancien regime somehow to

’
look at you W hy you re still ofthe oldest tradi
.
,
tion O f commerce the stately and gorgeous traffic Of

,
the orient you re what Samarcand and Venice ’

, ,
and Genoa and Lisbon and London and Salem have

, , ,
”
com e to .
“ ’
They ve come to very l ittl e in the end then ,
sai d Harkness as b efo r e .

’
Oh,
’
I don t kn ow ab out that the Capta i n took
the end of his cigar ou t and lit a fresh on e from it
’
before he laid it down upon the ash holde r ; I don t -
’
know about that W e don t consider m aterial things
.
merely There has always been something romantic

.
,
something heroic about the O ld trade To be sure .

,
’
now that it s got do w n to telegraphing i t s only fit ,
’
” ’
for N ew Yorkers -
They re quite welcome to it
. .
This was not very logical taken as a whole but we ,
cannot al w ays be talking reason At the words .
romantic and hero i c Helen had pricked her ears if ,
that phrase may be used concerning ears of suc h

loveliness as hers and she paused from he r milli ,
“ ”
n ery. A h ha young lady ! crie d the Captain ;
,
“
you re listening are you ? You didn t know
’
,
’
there was any romance or hero i sm i n b usiness did ,
you ?
“
W hat business ? asked Helen .
’
Your father s business young woman ; my ol d ,
”
b us i ness the India trade
,
.
The India trade ? W hy were you ever i n the ,

”
Ind i a trade Captain Butler ?
,
“
W as I ever in the In d ia trade ? demanded the
Captain taking his cigar out of his mouth in order to
,
“
frown wi th more e ffect upon Helen W ell upon .
,
my word ! W here did you think I got my title ? '
I m too Old to have been in the war

’
.
’ ”
I didn t kno w said Helen , .
I got it i n the India trade I was captain and .
’
supercargo many an eleven months voyage j ust as ,
you r father was .

46 A WO M AN S REA S ON ’
.
Hele n was vastly amused at t hi s W hy papa ! .

,
were you ever captain of a S hip

“ ”
For a time said Mr Harkness sm iling at the
, .
,
absurdity .
O f course he was shouted the Captai n .
’
Then w hy i sn t he captain n ow'
Because there s a sort of captain that loses his ’
handle when he comes ashore an d there s a sort ,

’
’ ’
that keeps it I m on e sort and your father s the
.
other It s nat ural to call a person of my model

.
’
and complexion by some kind of title and it isn t ,

’
n atural to call such a man as your father s o Besides .

,
I was captain longer than he was I w as in the India .
”
t rade young lady and out ofit before you were born
, , .
”
I was born a great while ago observed Helen , ,
warningly .
“
I daresay you th i n k so sa i d the Capta i n “ I , .
thought I was a t your age But you ll find as you

, .
’
,
’
grow O lder that you weren t born such a very great
,
while ago after all The t i me shortens up Isn t . .

’
that so Harkness ?
,
” “
Yes said Mr Harkness
,
E veryt h ing h appened
. .
”
day before yesterday .
”
E xactly sa i d the Capta i n
, H elen though t how .
young she must be to have already got that letter of

’ ”
R obert s so many centuries ago Yes the Captai n .
,
“
pur sued .I h ad been in the India trade twenty
five years when I went out ofit i n 185 7— Or it went
out of me He n odded his great close clipped
.
,
-
head in answe r to her aski ng glance It went out .
of a good many people at that time W e had a .

R EAS ON
’
A WO M AN S . 47
grand smash W e had overdone i t W e had warn

. .
’
ings enough but we couldn t realise that ou r world
,
’
was coming to an end It hadn t got so low as .
telegr aphing yet ; but it was mere shop then even

'
, ,
compared w i th the picturesque traffic O f our young

days E h Harkness
.
,
Yes it had lost all attraction but profit

, .
W ere you ever down at I ndia W h arf He l en ? ,
demanded the Captain '
I don t blame you n either

.
’
were my g i rls But were you ?

.
O f course said Helen scorn i ng to lift her eyes

, ,
”
f rom her work The N ahant boat starts from it
. .
“ ”
The N ahant boat ! repeated the Captain in a
“
gr eat rage .In my day there was no N ahant boat
about India W harf I can tell you nor any other
, ,
steamboat ; no r any di rty shanties ashore The .
place was sacred to the shipping of the grandest

commerce in the world There they lay those.
,
beautiful ships clean as silver every on e of them

, , ,
and manned by honest Yankee crews The Captai n .
got upon hi s feet for th e gr eater convenience O f his

“
eloquence N ot by r uf
fians from every quart er of
the globe There we re gentlemen s sons before the
.
’
mas t With their sh are in the ven ture going out for
, ,
the excitement of the thing ; boys from Harvard ,
fellows of education and spirit ; and the forecastle

was filled with good Toms and J ims an d J oe s from
the Cape chaps Whose aunts you kn ew ; good stock
through and through sound to the core The super
, .
cargo w as O ften his own captain and he was often a ,
Harv ard ma n —you know what they are

’
Ni cest fellows in the world consented Helen , .
The Captai n blew a sh aft ofwhite smoke into the

ai r and then cut it through with a stroke of h i s
,
“
cigar . W e had on a mixed cargo , and we might
be go i ng to trade at eastern po r ts on the way out .
N obody knew what market we should find in Cal

cutta .I t was pure adventure and a calculation of ,
chances and i t was a great school of character It

, .
was a trade that made men as well as fortunes ; i t

took thought and forethought The own ers plann ed .
their ventures like generals planning a campaign .
They were n ot going to se e us again for a year ;

they were no t going to hear O f us till we were
signalled outside on our return W hen we sailed .
i t w as an event a ceremony a solemnity ; and w e

, ,
celebrated it w i th song from all the tarry th roats on

board Yes the men used to s i ng as we dropped
.
,
do w n the bay .
“ ”
O h Capta i n B utler i t w as fine ! cr i ed Helen
, , ,
dropping her hands on her work and looking u p at ,
“
the Captain in his smoke c l oud w i th rapture -
Papa , .
,
’
why didn t you eve r let me come down to se e your
ships sail
It was all changed before you were b o rn He l e n ,
began h er father .
“
0 yes all changed
,
cried the Capta i n taking
, ,
“
the word away from him The ships had begun .
,
l ong before that to stop at E ast Boston an d we sold

, ,
their cargoes by sample instead O f handl ing them ,
in our warehouses and getting to feel som e sort of

,
h uman i nteres t i n t h em W hen i t came to that a

.
,
’
mere shopman s speculatio n I didn t much ca r e for

’
,
’
the N ew Yorkers getting it

-
The Captai n sat dow n .
and smoked in silence .
H ow did the N e w Yorke rs get i t ? asked -
Helen w i th some i ndignant st i r in her local pride

,
.
In the natural course ofthings said he r father ,

.
Just as we got it from Salem By being bigger .
”
and r icher .
O h it was all changed any w ay

,
broke in the ,
“
C aptain W e used to import ne arly all the cotton
.
goods used i n this country fabrics that the n atives ,

-
wove on their little looms at home and that had the ,
senti ment you g i rls pretend to find in hand made -
things but be fore we stopped we got to send i ng

,
-
our ow n cottons to India A nd then cam e the .
tel egraph and put the fin ishin g stroke to rom ance

,
-
i n the trade Your father loads n ow according to

.
the latest despatches from Calcut ta He knows .
j ust w hat his cargo will be worth when i t gets there ,

”
and he telegraphs his people what to sen d back .
“ ’
The Captain ended i n a very minor key : I m
’
glad I went out ofit when I did Yo u d have don e .
well to go out too Harkness ,

.
“
I don t kno w Jack I had nothing else in
’
, .
view You know I had become involved before the

.
”
crash came and I couldn t get out ’
.
“
I think you could re turn ed the Captai n stub ,
b orn l y and he went on to S how his O ld friend how ;

,
and the talk wandered back to the great days of

the old trad e and to the merchants the supercargoes
'
, , ,
the captains the mates O f their youth They tal ked

, .
D
’
O f the h i stor i c n ames be fore their date , o f C l eaveland

and his voyages o f H an dasyd e Perk i ns , of B romfiel d
, ,
ofthe gr eat chiefs ofa commerce which founded the

city s prospe rity and wh i ch embraced all climes and
’
,
regions The Dutch coloni es and co f

. fee , the China
trade and tea the N orth west coast and fu rs ; the
,
-
C ape and its wines and O il the p i rate s that used to

,
harass the earl y adventurers ; famous shipwrecks

great gains and m agnificent losses the splendour
of the E nglish n abobs and A merican residen ts at
Calcutta ; mutin i es ab oardship the idiosyncrasies of
certai n sa i lors ; the professional merits O f ce rtain
black cooks : these varied topics and interests con
S pired to lend a glamour to the India t rade as it had
been that at last moved Captain B utler to argument
,
in proof of the feasibility of its revival It w as the .
explanation of this scheme that wearied Helen A t .
the same time S he saw that Captain Butler did not

mean to go very soon for he had already sunk th e ,
Ol d comrade in the theorist S O far as to be saying ,
“ ” “ “ ”
W ell sir and W hy s ir and I tell you sir
, , , , , .
She got up —n ot with out dropping her scissors from

her lap as is the custom of her sex— and gave h i m
,
her hand which he took i n hi s le ft without rising

, ,
.
“ ’
Going to bed That s right I shall stay a bit .
,
”
yet I want to talk w i th your father
. .
Talk him i nto tak i ng a little rest said Helen , ,
lookin g at the C aptain as she be n t over her father to

ki ss him good night -
I shall give him al l sorts Of good adv i ce retu rn ed ,
the C aptain cheerily .

.
thoughts ran upon R obe rt again and she heard no ,
more O f the talk below till after what seemed to her , ,
starting from i t a prolonged reverie Then she was

, .
’
aware o f Captain Butler s boots chirp i ng out of the
library into the hall toward the door with several , ,
pauses and she caught fragments of talk again : I

,
“
had no ide a it was as bad as that Har kn ess ,
bad business must see what can be done weather

, ,
it a fe w weeks lo nger confoun dedly straitened -
—
mysel f pull you through and faintly “
W ell ,
”
, ,
” ’
good night Joshua ; I ll see you i n the morning
-
, .
There w as another pause i n which she fanc i ed ,
Captain Butler lighting his cigar at the ch i mney

of the st udy lamp with wh i ch he r father would be
-
following him to the door ; the door closed and her

father went slowly back to the library where she felt ,
r ather than heard h i m wal king up and down She .
wante d to go to him but she would n ot ; she wanted

,
to call to him but she remained silent when at last

,
she heard h i s step upon the stairs heavily ascending , ,
and saw the play of his lamp light on the wall s with -
out she stealthily turned down the gas that he might

,
not think h er awake Half an hour later she crept .

,
to his doo r w hich stood a little aj ar and whispered

, , ,
“ ”
Papa !
“
W hat is i t Helen ? He was i n bed b ut hi s
, ,
voice sounded ve ry wakeful \Vhat is it my .

,
”
dear !
O h I don t know ! —
“ ” ’
, she flung hersel f on her
kn ees beside his bed in the dark and put her arms ,
about his neck but I feel so un happy

’
Ab out b ega n her fathe r, b ut she qui ckly in

te rrup te d .
“
N O n o ! A bout you, papa ! Y ou seem so s ad
,
an d careworn and I m nothing but a b urden and a

,
’
”
trouble to you .
Y ou are nothing but a comfort and a help to me .
’
Poor child ! You mustn t be worried by my l ooks .
I shall be all right in the morn ing Come come .

,
’
But weren t you perplexed somehow about bus i
’
n ess ? W eren t you thinki ng about those accoun ts
“ ”
N o my dear
, .
W hat were you th i nking of

W ell Helen I Was th i nk i ng ofyour moth er a n d
, ,
”
your little brothers .
“
Oh said Helen w i th the kind of recoil w h i ch ,
the young must feel even from the dearest dead .
”
Do yo u often think ofthem ?
N o I bel i eve n ot O ften
,
N ever so much as to
,
.
n ight since I first lost them ; the house seemed full

,
of them the n I suppose these impress i ons must

.
”
r ecur .
“
O h doesn t i t make you f eel strange ? asked
,
’
Helen co w eri ng a l i ttle closer to him

,
.
W hy should it It doesn t make me feel strange ’
”
to have your face against mine .
O don t don t talk of suc h things

’ ’
N o but , , ,
’
or I can t endure i t ! Papa papa ! I love you S O , ,
it breaks my heart to have you talk in that way .
H ow wicke d I must be not to like you to think of

’
them ! But don t t o night ! I want you to th i nk ,
O f me and what we are going to do together and

, ,
54 A WO M AN S REA S ON
’
.
about al l our plans for next winter and for that ,
new house and everything W ill you ? Promise

, .
Her father pressed her ch e ek closer again st his ,
and she felt the fond smile which she could n ot see
i n the dark He gave h er his promise and then
.
,
’
began to talk about her going down to the Butlers ,
which it seemed the C aptain had urged further after

she had bidden hi m good night The C aptain was
-
going to stay i n B oston a day or two and Mr Hark , .
ness thought h e might run down w ith him at the

end of the wee k Helen did not care to go but ,
with this in view she did not care to say so She .
l et her father com fort her with caressing words and

touches as when she was a child an d s he fr ankl y
, ,
stayed her weak heartedness upon his love She

-
was ash amed but S he could not help it n or w i sh to

, ,
help it A S she rested her head upon his pillow she

.
heard hi s watch ticking under i t ; in this sound all

the years since she was a little girl were lost Then .
h i s voice began to sink drow sily as it use d to do in ,
remote times when she had wear i e d h im out wit h

,
her troubles He answered at random and his tal k

.
,
wandered so that it made h er laugh That roused .
“
him to full consciousness ofh er parting ki ss Good .
”
night he said an d held her h an d and drew he r
, , ,
down by it again and kissed her once more

,
.
HE L EN woke the next morn i ng w i th the overn i ght
ache still at her heart she wondered that she could
have thought of leaving her father ; b ut when she
O pened her S hutters and let in the light she was
,
aware ofa change that she could n ot help sharing .
It was the wind that had changed and w as n ow

,
east ; the air was fresh and sparkling ; the hom i

ci d al sun shine of the day before lay in the streets
and on the house fronts as harmless as pa i nted

sun shine in a picture A nother day might transform
.
all again ; the tidal wave of life that the sea had
sent from its deep cistern s out over the land might
ebb as quickly and the w orld find i tself Old an d
,
haggard and suffering once more but while i t lasted

, ,
this respite was a rapture .
Helen came down with someth i ng of it in her face ,
the n atural unreasoned and unreaso n ing h opefulness

’
of young nerve s rej oici n g in the weather s mood ;
but she began at breakfast by asking her father if he
did not think it was rather crazy for her to be
starting O ff for Beverley the very day after S he
had got home for good and had j ust unpacked
,
everything She said she would go only on three

.
’
cond i t i ons —first th at he felt perfectly wel l ; seco n d

, ,
that h e would be sure to come down on Saturday ;

an d third that he would be sure to bring her back
,
with him on Monday .
“
I don t think I could stand Mar i an Butler i n her
’
present semi fl uid state more than three days ; and I

-
wouldn t consent to leave you papa except that

’
, ,
while you re worrying over business you d reall y

’ ’
r ather n ot have me about W ould you .
Her father said he always liked to have her about .
“ ”
0 yes ; O f course sa i d Helen But don t ’
.
,
you s ee I m trying to make i t a v i rtue to go and I

,
’
,
”
can t go unless I do ?
’
He laughed with h er at her hypocrisy They .
agreed that this was Thursday the 15 th and that he ,
should come down on S aturday the 1 7 th and that ,
he would let nothing detain him and that he would ,
come in time for dinner and not put it Of f as he , ,
would be sure to do till the last train Helen gave, .
him a number of charges as to his health and his ,
hours Of work and bade him i f he did n ot feel

, ,
perfectly well to tel egraph her instantly W hen h e

, .
started down town she made him prom i se to drive

home After th e door closed upon him she w On
.
,
dered that she had ever allowed herself to think O f

leav i ng him and indignantly dismissed the idea of
,
going to Beverley ; but she went on and packed her

trunk so as to have it ready when the express — man
came for it She could e asily send him away and
.
,
besides if she did n ot go now there was no hope of

, ,
getti n g her father O ff for a holiday and a little change

A WO MAN S REA S ON ’
. 7
of scene She quitted the house i n t i me to catc h

.
the noon train and rode drearily down to Beverley

, ,
b ut not w ithout the comfort of feeling h ersel f the

vi ctim ofan i nexorable destiny All the way down .
she was in i mpulse rushing back to Boston and ,
astonishing Margaret by her return and telling her ,
father that she foun d s he could n ot go and being ,
fondly laughed at by him She was almost i n tears .
when the brakeman shouted out the n ame O f the

station and i f Marian Butler had n ot been there
,
with he r phaeton in O bedience to the Captain s

,
’
’
telegram announcing Helen s arri val she would have ,
hidden hersel f somewh ere and taken the next train ,
back to town A s it was she descended into the

.
,
embrace of her friend who was so glad to see her ,
that S he tried to drive through the train just begin ,
ning to move off on the t rack that crossed the i r

,
road an d had to be stoppe d by the baggage master

,
-
,
’
who held the pony s nose till the train w as well on
i ts way to Portland A t the door of th e cottage
.
,
when the pony had drawn up the phaeton there ,
fected air ofbeing driven up Mrs Butler

w i th a well af -
,
.
met Helen with tender and approving welcome and ,
said that they could never h ave hoped to get her father
“
to come unless she had com e first This change .
i n the weather will be everything for him and you ,

’ ”
mustn t worry about him she said laying a sooth , ,
“
i ng touch upon Helen s lingering anxieties ’
I f he .
has any business perplexities you may be sure he d ,

’
r ather have you out of the way I have seen some .
th i ng Of business perp le x ities in my t i me my dear , ,

’
.
an d I kn ow what they are I sh al l telegraph to Mr

. .
Butler to bring your father i n the same train with

him and not g i ve h i m any chance ofslipping through
,
”
his fingers .
Mrs Butler was on e O f those pale slight ladies

.
, ,
n ot easily imaginable apart from the kind of soft

break fast shawl which she wore and which har ,
~ ~
m on is e d with the i nvalid pu rple under he r kind eyes ,
the homes of habitual h eadache ; and the daughters

ofthe marriage Captain Butler h ad made rather late
i n li fe with a woman fifteen years younger than

h imself were as unlike the i r mother as their father
,
w as . These large warm blondes invited all the

,
coolness they could with their draperies and stood ,
grouped about her so many statues O f health and

,
young good looks an d perpetual go od n ature w i th -
bangs and frizzes over their wh i te foreheads and ,
shadowing their floating heavily lashed blue eyes

,
-
.
W hen alone they often tended in behavi our to

an innocent row d iness they were so amiabl e and ,
s o glad and so strong that they could n ot ve ry well

, ,
keep q uiet and when quiet espec i ally in their

, ,
’
mother s presence they had a knowi n gly quelled
,
look : in their father s presence they were n ot ex

’
p e cte d nor liked to be quiet They admired Helen .
almos t as much as they admired their mother She .
was O lder than any O f them except Marian and was , ,
believed to be a pattern of styl e and wisdom who ,
had had lots O f offers and could marry anybody

,
.
W hile Helen and their mother talked together they ,
listened in silence granting their superiority with

, ,
’
60 A WO M AN S REA S ON .
and plante d a l arge k i ss upon h i s li ps an d then , ,
w i thout speak i ng to h i m turned to her mother w i th ,
an air of housekeeperly pr e occupation to ask some

thing about the lunch an d disappeared again , .
Mr R ay took everything with grave composure a

.
,
little point O f light in either of his brown eyes an d ,
the slightest curve ofthe small brown moustache that

curled tightly in over his upper lip showing his sense ,
from t i me to time Of what he must have found drol l

i f some on e else had been i n his place H e had an .
affectionate deference for Mrs Butle r that charme d .
Helen He ca rved at lunch w i th a mastery of the

.
difficul t art and he was qui te at ease i n his characte r

,
ofhead ofthe family It gave Helen a sort o f shock

.
’
to detect h i m in pressing Ma ri an s hand under the
table ; but upon reflection she was n ot sure that she ,
disapproved O f it .
She perce i ved that she must rev i se her op i n ion of

Mr R ay W ithout being w i tty his talk was brigh t
. .
,
and to the last degree sensible with an edge ofsatire ,
for the young girls to whom at the same time he was

,
al ertly attentive Helen thought his manner ex

.
q u i si te, especially towards hers elf i n her quality of

’
Marian s O ld and valued friend i t w as j ust what the
mann er ofa m an in his place should be He talked .
a good deal to her an d told her he had spent most of

,
”
the summer on the water W hich accounts she , ,
“
mused for h i s brown little hands not much bigger
, ,
than a J ap law student s and for that perfect mass of

-
’
,
”
freckles He said he was expecting his boat round
.
from Manchester and he hoped that she would come

’
A WO MAN S REA S ON . 61
wi th the othe r youn g l ad i es and take a lo ok at her

after lunch He said boat so low that Helen could
.
j ust catch the word and she smiled i n consenting to

,
go and look at it for she i magined from hi s depreca

,
tory tone that it w as something like a dory whic h

might have been bestowed upon Mr R ay s humility .
’
by some kindly fisherman W alking to the shore by .
’
H elen s side he said something further about running
down to Mt Dessert in his boat and about on e O f his
.
,
men knowing how to broil a mackerel pretty well ,
which puzzled her and shook her in her error just b e

, ,
fore they came upon a vision Ofsnowy duck and paint ,
and shining brasses straight and slim and exquisite

,
as Helen herself in line and light as a bird dipped for

,
a moment upon the water A small boat put out for .
them and they were received on board the yacht with

,
gr ave welcome by Mr R ay whose simple dress —so

.
,
far hitherto from proclaiming itse l f nautical in cut or

colour—now appeared perfectly adapted to yachting .
He did not seem to do the host here any more than at

’
Captain Butler s table but he distingui shed Helen as
,
his chief guest with a subtle accent i n his politeness

,
that g ave her qui ck nerves something O f the pleasure

ofa fine touch in music She was now aware that she
.
admired Mr R ay and she wondered if he did not

.
,
look S horter than he re ally w as .
She found it quite in character that he should have

a friend on board whom he had n ot mentioned to
,
any of them and whom he now introduced in his

,
most suppressed tones The friend was a tall young

.
E nglishman in blue Scotch stuff ; and Helen decided

,
’
at once that his shoulders sloped too much he talked

very far down in his throat and he had a nervous ,
laugh ; Helen d i scovered that he had also a shy ,
askance effect of having just looked at you .
R ay asked the ladies if they would fish an d when ,
they would not he frankly tried to entertain them in

,
other ways It came out that he could both play

.
and sing ; and he p i cked on a banj o the air of a

Canadian boat song he had learned at G asp é the
-
summer before That made t h e girls ask him to

.
S how his sketches O f the habitcms and Helen thought ,
them ve ry good and very droll done with vi gour

, ,
and chic He made the afternoon pass ch armingly

.
,
’
but what amused Helen most was Marian s hav i ng
already got his tone about h i s possession s and
accomplishments ; her i nstinct would n ot suffer her
to afflict him by any show o f pride in them proud ,
as she was of them and on the yacht there was n o

”
approach to endearments between them R eal ly ,
“
thought Helen Marian will be equal to it after
, ,
”
all an d began to respect her sex A fter supper
,
.
,
which R ay O ffered them on board and which that ,
on e O f the men who could bro il a mackerel pretty
well served with touches of exquisite mari ne cookery ,
Helen felt that it would be mean to re frain any

longer . Marian she whispered to her friend
,
“ ”
apart he is p erfect ! and Marian l ooked gratefully
,
at her and breathed Ye s

Helen w as generous but the proxi mity of th i s
,
prosperous love made her feel very desolate and

le f t b e hi nd The aching tenderness for R o b ert
.
,
’
w hi ch was at the bottom of all her moods thro bbed ,
sorer she must still it somehow and she began to ,
talk with the E nglishman As she went on she .
could n ot help seeing that th e young Butler girls ,
i nnocently wondering at her under their b angs were ,

’
s uffering some loss of an ideal and that Marian s ,
’
averted eyes w e re reflecting Mr Ray s disapproval .
,
othe rwise hidden deepe r than the s e a over wh i ch

they sailed .
The E ngl i shman after a moment of awkward ,
hesitation and apparent self question seemed to fall -
an easy prey He presently hung about her quite

.
helplessly ; but his helplessness did n ot make her

“ ”
pity him So n i ce he said as they sat a little
.
, ,
apart after R ay had attempted a diversion with

,
an other Canadian barcarole to be able to do some ,

’
thing Ofthat kind But it i sn t very common i n the .
-
States i s it Miss — Harkness

, ,
’ ’
I don t understand Do you mean that we don t .
’
commonly know Canad i an boat songs ? I don t -
”
suppose we do .
” ’
N o n o ; I don t mean that ! r eplied Mr R a i n
, .
ford i f that was the name which Helen had caught .
“
I meant be ing able to do something you know , ,
to keep the ball roll i ng as you say , .
DO we s ay keep the ball Helen

affected to muse .
I heard it was an A merican i sm sa i d Mr R ain , .
ford laughing at the pretence she made with her

, ,
down ward look O f g i vi ng his words anx i ous thought

, .
I was th i nki ng of the Can adian s w h en I spoke .

’
64 A WO MAN S REA S ON .
They seem to be up to all sorts of th i ngs I was at .
a place last month— O ld Beach or O ld O rchard

someth i ng like that—where the Montreal people
come ; and some O f those fellows knew no end of
’
things Songs like Mr R ay s ; and tricks ; and
.
, .
and— well I don t know

,
’
.
NO we don t h ave those

’
Helen shook her he ad .
,
’
accomplishments in the States as you say W e re a , .
”
serious people .
“ ’ “
I don t know laughed Mr R ai n f ord
,
You . .
h ave your ow n fun I suppose ,

.
“
In our poor way yes W e go to lectures and , .
,
attend the public school exhibitions and — yes we , ,

”
have our amusements .
Mr R ainford seemed carr i ed quite beyond him sel f

.
“
by these ironical impertinences R eally I can t .
,
’
’
admit that they re all of that k i nd I s aw a good .
deal Ofan amusement at the se a side that I w as told -
was not very serious .
Indeed W hat co ul d i t have been ? asked

Helen with the affectation ofdeep interest
,
.
“
O h surely now Miss Harkness you don t ex
’
, , ,
peet me to explain it Al l the young people seemed.
to understand it the C anadi an l adies said it was an

A merican institut i on She did n ot help hi m on.
,
and he had to get out ofthe af fa i r as he could He .
“
reddened with the effort I must say it seemed .
very pleasan t at least for the two people concerned

, .
“
O h only two
,
cried Helen .
The poor young man laughed grateful ly and took ,
up the b urden ofsill i ness wh i ch she n ow le ft wholly

’
to h i m . Yes ; a young l ady—al ways ve ry charm

“
i ng — and
A gentleman always very br i ll i ant and i nte r
esting . O h yes She turn ed about on her
,
camp stool with an unconscious air and began to

-
talk to the young Butler girls She had provoke d .
his recognition of the situation i f he had m eant ,
his allusion to se a side fl irtation s for th at but her

-
fretted nerves did n ot resent it the l ess because S he

was in the wrong She could have said that there
.
was nothi ng in her words and afterwards she did ,
s ay S O to herself ; but as if he found a personal edge ,
i n them Mr R a i nford sat quite blank for a moment ;

, .
then after some attempts at self recovery in talk w i th -
the others he rose and went below

, .
”
N ed sa i d Marian
,
where did you p i ck up that ,
”
part i cularly od i ous E nglishman ? In her vexation
wi th Helen i t was necessary to assail some on e
,
.
”
“
H e s a very good fellow
’
said R ay quietly , .
“ ’
I met him in C airo first He s very clever ; and
, .
remarkably well up in Copt i c — for a lord .

”
Al l the Butlers started as if to pounce upon R ay , .
”
A l ord ! they h oarsely breathed with the bitter ,
sense of loss natural to girl s who m i ght never se e a

nobleman again .
Why did you i ntroduce h i m as Mister ? de

man d e d Mar i an in accents expressive of the common
,
anguish and somehow the revelation ofher victim s

,
’
quali ty seemed to Helen to heighten the folly and

cruelty of her behav i our ; it s eemed to elevate it
i nto a question of in te i n ati on al interest .
E
’
66 A WO MAN S REAS O N .
I said Lord R ai n ford reto rte d R ay , .
You w hisp ered it cried Marian bitterly .
’
W ell he won t mind yo ur calling him Mr R a i n
, .
“ ” ’
ford I can exp lain said R ay
. Don t change ,
.
,
now he added mischievously

,
.
”
A s if we should ! indignantly retorted Marian .
’
A nd let him know that we d been talking about
him N 0 he shall remain Mister to the end of
,
the chapter with us A re you going to b ri ng him .
”
to the house ?
“
I m goi n g to Salem w i th h i m as soon as I put
’
m
’
y ou ashore I d have
. asked you to let me bring hi
’
to lunch if I d suppo se d he was on the boat W he n .
I left him at Manchester this morning he t al ked of ,

”
going to Bosto n by the cars .
” ’
“
I think he s hideous said Mari an for all com , ,
ment on the explanat i on .
“
N ot pretty but prec i ous r eturn ed R ay tran
, ,
“ ’
quilly .He s a good fellow but he knows he isn t ,
’
’
good looki ng He s ra ther sensitive about i t and it
-
.
,
makes him nervous an d awkward with l ad i es ; but he s ’
”
a very sen sible fellow among men R ay concluded ,
.
There was a l ittle unpleasant pause and then R ay ,
and Marian began talking eagerly to Helen as i f they ,
felt a l ittle ashamed and a good deal sorry for her , ,
and were anxious to get her to do or say somethin g

that wo uld bring back the i r good opinion O f her .
They dro pped anchor i n a sheet of sunset r ed off

’
Captain Butler s place and Ray pulled them ashore ,
in his small boat S ome O f them tri ed to sing the

.
.
he added won t you take my arm over these

,
“ ’
”
rocks ?
Helen clung heavily to him as she tottere d up the
“
path I wonder what has brought C aptain Butler
to night she said tremul ously
-
.
“
He wasn t to be .
’
”
here till Saturd ay .
“
I fancy he s persuaded your fath er to come ’
”
with him answered R ay “
,
Look out for that .
”
ston e Miss Harkness
,
.
O h I hope papa isn t worse aga i n sa i d Helen

’
, , ,
stumbling over it She hurt herself an d was glad .

,
O f the pain that let her g i ve their way t o the tears

that came into her eyes .
“
NO ; I should think he was more likely to be .
”
better said R ay refus i ng to s ee her troubl e and
, , ,
real ly lifting her along The others had fallen .
behind a little and these t w o had n ow reached the ,
gravel drive up to the piazza steps alone .
They Saw a quick parley between the Captain and

Mrs Butler and he stepp e d i n doors through on e O f
.
,
-
the long windows While sh e came forward to the ,
“
rail and called out to Marian Your father wants
, ,
all ofyou to go to the o ther door Marian ,

.
“
W hy mamma began Marian
,
.
“ ” ’
G O go ! cried her mother
,
Don t ask ! .
”
E dward bring Helen here !,
“
Yes it s some little surprise said R ay b e
,
’
, ,
“
ginning to laugh Do you like surprises Miss .
,
Harkness
“
I don t believe I do she answered trying to
’
, ,
l augh too .
’
Mrs Butler came for w ard and took her from R ay

.
,
motioning or rather looking him aside as she clasped ,
the girl tight in her arms A t th i s moment she saw .
Captain Butler gl ance ste alth ily at them from within

the room his face was contorted and wet with tears .
“
V hat— what is it Mrs Butler
V
she gasped
,
.
,
weak l y pulling back a l i ttle from her close embrace ,
and facing her .
There was an i nstant i n which the elder woman

dwelt upon her with all of compassion and imploring
i n her eyes Then she sai d Death Helen Your
.
, , .
father is dead
Helen s strength came back A S if many days
’
.
had passed S ince she s aw him T O day ? she asked

“
,
-
”
,
still holding he r hand against Mrs Butle r s breast .

’
where she had pressed it .
”
A t t w o o clock
’
’
Hele n so ftly loosed hersel ffrom Mrs Butler s arms .
,
and sat down i n the chair near which they stood ,
and looked out upon the grounds sloping to the

water the black rocks by the shore the huger rocks
,
that showed their backs like sleeping se a beasts out -
of the smooth water ; the yacht darkening against
the east ; far beyond the rim O f the se a a ligh t ,
j ust twinkling up in the invisible tower at the

hor i zon s verge A thick darkness seemed to come
’
.
down out of the sky over all but Helen would not ,
let it close upon her She fought the swoon away

.
,
and looked up at the pitying suffering face above ,
h er
.
“
I am glad you told me at once Mrs Butler , . .
’
Thank you she sa i d and sank back in her chair

, , ,
while the other fell on her knees beside her and ,
gathered her to her heart again and wept over her ,

.
“
0 my poor poo r child ! It s the on e certain
’
thing in all the world It w il l be known and it w il l .

,
’
be seen W hat wouldn t I have given to keep i t from
.
you for ever Helen ? Y ou and my Marian were

'
babies together I used to know your mother You

. .
are like a daughter to me Helen passively sub .
m itte d to the caresses to the kisses dropped with , ,
tears upon her pale cheeks but she did n ot say ,

“
anything or try to reply
,
But it was n ot to b e .
”
kept Mrs Butler went on
, . It could not b e .
hidden and it seemed the m e rcifull e st and best way

,
not to try to keep it from you i n fool i sh sel f pity for -
”
a moment more or less,
.
“ ”
0 ye s yes said Helen like another person
, , ,
”
hearing O f her ow n case “
I t was best and she .
,
found hersel f toying with the strings O f her hat ,
curling them round her finger and running them out ,
in a long roll .
’
It doesn t k i ll my dear It b rings its ow n cure
, .
’ ’
with it It s sorrow bu t i t isn t trouble ! It passes
.
,
’
over us like a black wave but it d oesn t destroy u s ,
.
’
You don t realise it yet Helen my poor girl but , , ,
even when you do you w i ll bear it Put your head ,

.
down on my shoulder dear and I will tell you It , ,

.
was in his office where he had spent so many years

,
at the work which had given him his hono ured name
and place in the world My husband was there .
with him They were turning over some books

.
’
A WO M A N S REA S ON . 71
together He saw your father put h is hand over his

.
heart and then your fath er sank down in his arm

,
chair and gave a little sigh and— that was all

, ,
.
”
’
Mrs Butler broke into a fresh sobbing on th e girl s
.
neck but Helen remained silent and still letting

, ,
herself be clutched tight to that loving breast .
There was n o pain Helen there was no suffering , ,

.
It was a falling into rest But before h e rested .
before he drew that l ast little sigh my dear —he ,
spoke one word Do you kn ow wh at it was Helen

.
,
She felt the gi rl tremble and as it were lapse in , , ,
her arms I t was j ust your name it w as

. Helen , .
’
You were the last thing in his thoughts upon earth

—the first in heaven ” .
Helen broke into a lon g l ow wail She rose from ,
where she sat and flung Off the kind clinging arms
, ,
as if their pity st i fled her and fled up and down t he ,
verandah a storm of grief that beat fo rth in thick

,
sobs and escaped in desolate m oans

,
.
Mrs Butler did not try to stay her or even to

.
,
approach her as she wavered to and fro an d wru n g

, ,
her hands or pressed them to her streami n g eyes

,
.
A t last after many moments as long as hours of

, ,
common life Helen suddenly checked herself and

, ,
dri ed the tears that drenched her face There had .
come the lull which m ust succeed such a passion .
She stopped be fore Mrs Butler and asked in a .

,
“ ’
husky changed voice
, Isn t there any train up to,
night ?
W hy Helen ,
Because i f there is I must take i t I know wh at , .

.
you ill say but don t say it If you t ry to stop

w ,
’
.
me I will w alk I am going ho me

,
. .
I t was too soon yet fo r her to real i se that she,
should never go home again but th e word went to ,
the mother heart that ached fo r her with the full

-
measure o f its tragic irony and she perceived with a ,
helpless throe of compassion how alone i n the world

th i s fair young stricken creature stood .
R ay had sent word to his E nglish f ri end that he

should not j oin him again on board the yacht that
n ight briefly explaining the trouble that kept him
, ,
and promising to see h im again on the morrow He .
directed the yacht to put in to Salem as had been ,
arranged an d i nstructed his men to tell Lord R ain

,
ford about the trains for Boston He was with .
C apta i n Butler an d the awe str i cken girls in the -
parlour while Mrs Butler kept Helen on the verandah

,
.
,
and he had gathered from the captain such part of

the story as he had n ot already divined .
E dward ! called Mrs Butler from w i thout and

”
.
,
he went to her where she stood with Helen n ow ,

“
perfectly silent and tearless Miss Harkness wishes .
to go home to n ight I S hall go with her Mr . . .
Butler has just got home and She hesitate d to ,
sa
y be fore Helen s affl iction that he had
’
had to o
hard a day already an d She coul d n ot l et him incur

,
the further excitement and fatigue but R ay seemed

to kno w .
Captain Butler had better s tay here he sa i d ,

’
promptly and let me go W e haven t time for the
,
.
seven o clock at Be verley he added glancing at his

’
, ,
y
A WO MAN S REA S O N ’
. 13
watch but we can catch the eight o clock express at

,
’
”
Salem if we start at once .
“ “
I am ready said Helen qu i etly My trunk , .
”
can com e to morrow I haven t even unlocked i t
-
.
’
.
R ay had turned away to ring the stable be l .
Jerry put my mare i nto the two seated phaeton

,
-
.
’ ” ’
Don t lose any time he called out stopping Jerry s , ,
advance up the walk for orders and the phaeton was ,
at the steps a mi n ute or two after Mrs Butler .
appeared in re adine ss to go
'
Helen went into the lighted dining room where -
Captain Butler and the girl s had fearfully grouped

themselves waiting what motion of farewell she
,
should make Her face was pal e and somewhat

.
,
s ter n She went round and kissed them beginning

.
,
and ending with Marian and she did n ot give way , ,
though they each broke out crying at her touch or ,
at her turning from them W hen S he came to the .
Captain she put out her arms and took him into ,
them and pressed herself to his breast in a succes

,
sion of quick embraces while he hid his face and , ,
could n ot look at her .
“
Good bye all she said in a firm tone an d went
-
, , ,
ou t and got into the phaeton where Mrs Butler w as ,

.
sitting R ay sprang to the p l ace beside the driver

. .
”
! uick ! and they flew forward
“
Salem Jerry ,
.
through the even i ng air cold and damp in currents , ,
and warm in long stretches over th e smooth road .
She smelt the heavy scent O f the spiraea i n the

s w ampy places and of the mil kw eed in the sand
, .
She said no She was n ot chilly to Mrs Butler

, , .
’
and from time to time they talked together : ab out

the days beginning to get a little shorter n ow and ,
its n ot being so late as it seemed O nce R ay .
struck a match and l ooked at his watch and the ,
d river l ooked at R ay w ho said A ll ri ght and did , , ,
n ot say anything else duri n g the drive A gain .

,
after silence Hel en spoke

,
“
You know I wouldn t le t you come w i th me if ’
,
”
I could help it Mrs Butler ,
. .
”
You couldn t help it dear an swered the other
’
, ,
.
”
Don t talk ofit
’
.
The station was a blur and dance O f lights ; she

w as pushed in to the train as it moved away She .
sat next the window in the seat with Mrs Butler .

,
and R ay i n the seat before them He did not look .
round n or did Mrs Butler sit very close or take her

,
.
,
hand or try in any futile way to Ofl er her comfort

,
.
T he train se emed to go forward into the night by

l ong leaps O nce i t stopped somewhere on the track
.
remote from a station and R ay went out with some ,
othe r passengers to see what h ad happened Helen .
was aware ofa w ild j oy in the delay and ofa wish ,
that it might last for ever She did n ot care to know .
what had caused it A s the cars drew into the Boston

.
depot she found her handkerchie f soaked with tears

, , ,
in her hand and she pull ed down her veil over

,
her swollen eyes .
“
A t her ow n door she said W ell Margaret like
, , , ,
a ghostly echo of her wonted greetings and foun d ,
Margaret s eyes red and swollen too

’
.
I knew you would come Miss Hele n said Mar , ,

INthose days Helen came to understand w hat her
father had meant by saying that after her mother ,
and her little brothers died the house seemed full O f

,
them and that it did not make him afraid Now

,
.
that he had died the house seemed ful l ofhim and

, ,
she was not a f raid She grew to be weak and sore

.
,
and almost blind from weeping ; but eve n when she

cowered over the dead face and cried and moaned to ,
it it seemed some thing earthl y and perishable in her

,
love bewailing only the earthly and peri shed part O f

him while what w as re ally himself beheld her grief
,
with a high serene compass i on an d an intelligence

, ,
with som e immortal quiet in her ow n soul W hatever .
i t was Whether the assurance O f his life after death or

, ,
the mere blind effect of custom prolonging his pre ,
sence as the severed nerves re fer sensation to the

,
amputated limb and rehabilitate and create it anew

, ,
this sense of his s urvival an d nearness to her was so

vivid at times that she fel t as if S he might could she ,
but turn quickly enough se e him there before her ;

that the inward voice must make itself audible —the
,
airy presence tangible It was strongest with her that

.
first night but it did not cease for long afterwards

, .
76
A WO MA N S REA S ON
’
. 77
He was w i th her as she followed him to the grave ;

an d he came back with h er to the house from which
they had borne him .
In this sense O f his survi val which neither then nor

,
afterwards had any fantastic quality to he r she ,
seemed to dra w neare r to him than ever before .
He understood n ow he knew the depth an d t ruth

,
of her love through all her vanities and follies

,
.
Someth ing inexpressibly sweet and dear w as i n this

consciousness and remained always when its vivid
, ,
ness had faded with the keen anguish O f her grie f .
Such things the comm on experience of all bereave

,
ment are hard to put in words Said they seem

,
.
,
crude and boastful and more than what is felt but

,
what is felt is more than can ever be said .
’
Captain Butler came up th e morn i ng after Helen s
r eturn home and he and Mrs Butler remained in
, .
the house with her till all was over Marian came .
up too and R ay was there with his silen t vigilance

, ,
from which everything seemed done without his

agency Helen had but to weep to sorrow up and
.
,
d own the house ; they gave her an guish way and ,
did n ot mock it with w ords O f comfort W hen the .
tempests ofher grief swept over her they left ber to ,

’
hersel f when the calm that follows such pa roxysms

came they talked to her o f her father and led her to
, ,
talk of him Then she was tranquil en ough At

. .
some drol l things that forced themselves into remem

brance in their talk she even laughed without feeling
,
it treason to her grie f ; and it was not what she

thought or recalled O f him that touched the springs
’
of her sorro w I t was meeting Margaret downcast

.
,
and elusive on the stairs an d saying sadly to her , ,
“
Well Margaret ; or catching sight of Captain
,
B utler sitting O pp osite h er father s vacant chair in ’
the library his grizzled he ad sunk on his breast

, ,
and looking suddenly aged and at the same time , , ,
awkward in his bereavement like a great b oy that , ,
moved he r w ith intolerable pathos .
Mrs Butler went home and h ad out the headache

.
which she had kept back while she must by force of ,
w ill but every day some of them came up to see

,
H elen and reminded her without urgence that she

,
was to come to them soon She said yes she would .

,
come very soon and so remained without going

,
abroad or looking in to the ligh t of the sun A t

,
.
night when she lay do w n she wept and in the

, ,
morning when she woke but through the day her ,
tears were dried She brooded u pon what her father

.
had said and done in the last hours they had spen t
together his longing for change and for a new li fe
,
that now seemed to have been prophetic O f death .
H is weariness of the house that had been his home

took a new meaning ; he must long have been more
i n the other world than i n thi s and but for his ,
pitying love for her he must have been glad when

,
his swift summon s came She realised at last that.
he had been an O ld man She h ad known without .
realising it that his ways were the ways of one who

has outlived himself and wh o patiently remains i n
,
the presence of things that no longer i nterest him .
She wondered i f the tie by w hich S he who w as so ,

’
wholly of the earth had bound her father to i t had

, ,
n ot sometimes been a painful on e She remembered

.
al l the little unthi n king sel fishn e sse s ofthe past and ,
worse than these the consolations which she had

,
tried to o f fer him . She tho ught O f the gentleness

with which he always liste ned to her and consented ,
an d ended by comforting her ; an d she bitterl y

accused herself for not having seen al l this lo n g ago .
But S he had not even s een that he had a mortal

disorder about him ; she had mere l y tho ught him
wearied with work or spent with the h eat in those
, ,
sinkings which h ad at firSt s o much alarmed her .
The hand carried so O ften to his heart that she n ow

recognised it as an habitual gesture had given he r ,
n o warning and she bl amed herself tha

,
t i t had n ot .
But in truth She was not to blame The sources of .
his malady were O bscure and even its n ature had

,
been so dimly hinted to him that doubtless he r

father had justified hi mself in keeping his fear of it
fro m her Perh aps he had hoped that yet someho w
.
he could struggle to a better footi n g in other things ,
before he need cloud her young l i fe with the shadow

that h ung upon his ow n perh aps the end of many
'
resolutions was that h e could n ot do it She won .
dered i fhe had himself known his dan ger and if i t ,
was ofthat which he so O ften began to speak to he r .
But all n ow was dark and this question and every

,
other searched the darkness in vain .
She seemed to stan d somewhere upon a point of

time between life and death from which e i ther world
,
was e qually remote She was quite al ien h e re ;

.
80 A WO M AN S RE A S ON
’
.
w i thout the will or th e fitness to be anywhere else ;

and S he shrank with a vague resentment from the
, ,
world that had taken him fro m her .
Th i s terrible touchstone of de ath while i t r evealed ,
the unimagine d tenderness of many hearts reveale d ,
also to her th e fact that no friendlin ess could supply

the love in which there w as perfect u n ity O f interest
an d desire and perfect rest E very d ay when the
,
.
,
Butlers came to her they bro ught her word from

some on e from peopl e wh o had know n her father
,
in bus i ness from others who had cas ually met hi m

, ,
and who all now spoke the ir regre t for his death .
A rare quality of characte r had given him standing

i n the world that vastly greater prospe ri ty could n ot
have w on him and men who were of quite another
stuff had a regard for him wh ich perhaps now and
,
then expressed itsel f i n afl e ction ate patronage but ,
which was ye t full of reverence They found some .
thing heroic in the quiet co nstancy with which he

’
fought his long losing battle and n ow that he w as

, ,
down at last they had their honest regrets and spoke

,
their honest praises It made Helen very proud O f

.
her father to hear them ; she read with a swelling

heart the paragraphs about him in the newspapers ,
and even the formal preambles an d resolution s

which expressed the loss the commerce of the city
h ad su f fered i n the d eath of a merchant O f his
’
standing an d integrity The se things se t Helen s
.
father in a new light to her ; but wh ile they made

her prouder and fonder o f h is memory they brought ,
her a pang that she should have kn own so little of

A WO M AN S REA S ON
’
. 81
what formed his l i fe and should never h ave cared

,
to know anything of it apart from herself .
This w as n ot the only phase in which she seemed

to have been ign oran t of him She had always .
believed him good and k i nd without thinking of ,
h im in that way But n ow there came poor people

.
to the door who sometimes asked t o s ee her or

, ,
who sometimes only sent by Margaret to tell how ,
sorry they felt for her and to say that her fath er
,
had at th i s time or that be en a good friend to e ach

O f them .They all seemed to be better acquainted
wi th him than she and their simple stories se t him
,
i n a light in which she h ad never seen him be fore .
I t touched Helen that they should frankly lament

’
her father s death as anoth er of their deprivations ,
more than i f they h ad pretended m erely to condole

wi th her an d she did n ot take it ill Of them that
, ,
they generally concluded their blessings on his

memory with some hint th at further benefactions
would be grate fully rece i ved The men accepted
.
her half dollars in S ign that their audience was

-
ended and went away directly ; the women shed

,
tears over the old clothes she gave them an d stayed ,
to drink tea in the kitchen .
O ne day after she had already seen three or four

oft hese visitors the bell rang an d Captain Butler s
’
, ,
boots came chirping alo n g the hall not with their ,

’
O ld cheer ful h int of a burly roll in the w e arer s gait ,
but subdued and slow as if he approached with un

naturally measured t read Helen sprang in to hi s.
arms and broke out crying on h i s breast

,
“
Oh .
’
Captai n Butl er ! I felt j ust n ow that papa must b e

here E ver since he died he has been with me some
.
how . I t seems wild to s ay i t ; but n o words can

ever tell how I h ave felt it ; and just be fore you
”
came in I know that he w as going to S peak to me
, .
The Captain held h er away at arm s length and ’

-
“ ’
looked i nto her face Poor child ! They ve sen t
.
m e to b ring you h ome w i th me and I s ee that I ,

’
haven t come a moment too soon You have been .
alone in this house qu i te long en o ugh My G od .

,
”
i f he only coul d spe ak to us ! The Captain con
trolled h i mself as he walked up and do w n the library ,
with his face twitching and his hand kn otti n g itself

,
i nto a fist at his side and pre sently he came an d sat

,
down in his accustomed chai r near Hele n He .
waited till sh e lifted he r head and w i ped her eyes

b efore he began to speak .
“ ” “
H elen said C ap tain Butler
,
I told you that ,
they had sent me for you and I h ope that you will ,
come .
Yes an swered Helen

,
I shall be very gl ad to ,
’
go with you ; but I think it s hard for Mar i an ,
bringing my trouble there to be a blot on her ,

”
happiness .
’
W e won t S peak of that my dear said the , ,
“ ’
C aptain If Marian can t find her happiness in
.
’
somethi n g besides gaiety she d better n ot think O f ,
”
getting married .
’
I wouldn t come i f I thought I could endure it
’
here any longer ; I wouldn t come i f I had any ,
where else to go cried Helen , .

.
’
you r father s affairs because there has to be some
settlement of the estate you kno w ; and there are ,
circumstances that m ake it d esirable to have an

ea rly settlement The business was le ft in a little
.
’ ”
con fusion ; it S apt to be the case Capta in Butler ,
added quickly .
” “
Yes Helen said papa somet i mes spoke ofth e
, ,
”
perplexity he felt about his accoun ts .
“
Did he ? asked the Captain wit h some relie f .
Then I suppose he gave you some i dea of h ow he

”
stood .
N o he merely said they worr i ed him .
W ell well I do n t kn ow that there w as any

,
.
’
occasion to tell you any occasion for alarm There ,

.
seems to have been no wi ll ; but that makes n o

differen ce The law make s a w i ll and you get what
.
,
there is — that is all there is The Captain had a

,
.
”
certain forlorn air of d iso ccu pa tion wh i ch n ow struck ,
Helen more than what h e was saying .
W ould you l ike to smoke C aptain Butler ? she ,
asked .
“
W hy yes i f you will let me my dear
, , he , ,
sai d with an eager humble gratitude putt ing his

—
, , ,
“ ’
h and quickly into his bre ast pocket I didn t .
know
Helen rose and placed the l ittle tabl e at his elbow
, ,
and set the ash holder on it as she h ad done th at

-
last night when he had sat there wi th her father .
They looked at each other without speaking .
The C aptain struck his match and said apologeti ,
cally between the long whiffs with wh i ch he lit his

’
cigar I talk bette r w i th it an d I h ave so me th i n gs

, ,
”
to explain .
He paused an d s i nk i ng back into his chair ,
with a s i gh of comfort which brought a dim ,
“
AS
’
smile into Helen s face presently resumed : ,
there is no will and no executor there w ill have to , ,
be an admi nistrator \Vhom should you like ap .
pointe d ? I believe the Court appoints any on e you

”
wish .
“ ”
Oh you C aptain Butler !
,
replied H elen in
,
s tan tl y .
“
I expected th i s sa i d the Capta i n an d I sup , ,
pose I am as fit as any on e I m s ure that no on e .

’
’
could care more for your father s interests and
honour and I know r athe r more O f his affairs than
,
anybody el se Y ou will have to make y our wishes .
known in form but that s easily m anaged In the ’

.
’
meantime you had better be away don t you think
, , ,
’
while we are looking into things ? I don t kno w
what the re i s to do exactl y ; but I suppose there s ’
to be some sort of survey or appraisal and—yes

,
, , ,
yo u h ad b e tter b e away when we are looki n g into ,

”
things .
“
D o you mean — away from the house ? asked
Helen .
“
W hy yes the Captain reluctantly assented
, , .
”
It s a for m a n ecessary form
’
.
“ ”
It s quite right said Helen positively A nd
’
—yes I had better be out ofthe way

.
,
”
-
.
,
’
I m glad you see i t in that light my dear re , ,
’
turned Captain Butler You re a good gi rl .
,
’
Helen and you make it much easier for me Pack

,
.
up everything that belongs to you and go as if you ,
were go ing to stay The Captain made a gh astly .
S ho w of heartiness and smoked without looking at ,
“
Helen R un over the house and put together all ,
’
the things that you would like to retain and I ll ,
s ee that they come do w n Helen was trying to .
catch h i s eye and he was keeping h i s gaze fixed ,
upon the ceiling .
“
I don t think I need do that sa i d Helen ; I
’ “
,
should merely have to bring them back with me .
C aptain Butler took his cigar from his mouth in

compassion as he now looked at her puzzled face
,
.
W e don t mean you sh ould come back my dear

’
child W e want you to stay with us

. .
”
O h I can t do that said Helen qu i ckly
’
, , .
’ ”
You can t go on living here alone retorted the ,
Captain .
“
N 0 Helen rue fully assented and faced Capta i n
, ,
Butler in touching dismay .
“ “ ”
You se e he said that you must su b m i t
, , .
”
A nd Helen he said with a S how of brisk business
, , ,
“
like cheerfulness I th i nk you had better sel l this
house If I were you I shOuld sell it at once
.
, .
”
You l l never get more for i t
’
W hy what would become ofM

.
,
argaret gasped
Helen .
“
W ell Mrs Butler h as been talki n g of that
,
. .
”
W e want a cook and we will take Margaret ,
.
Hel en sim ply looked bewildered The Captain .
apparently found it better to go on while S he was in

A WO MAN S REA S ON
’
. 87
“
th i s daze than awai t her emergence from i t An d .
i f I were you I would sell the furniture and pictures

,
and all the things that you have not some particular
association with everyth i ng of that sort I should
”
keep. Helen still made no comment and the ,
“
C aptain went on I know all this is very painful
.
,
Helen
“ ’
It isn t painful said Helen quietly ,
It was .
’
papa s wish to sell the house W e were talking O f .
it that night—the night before He thought O f

bu i lding in the country .
“ ’
\Vell I m glad to hear i t said Captain Butler
, , .
”
Then we can push right ahead and do it .
’ ”
It s very sudden though faltered H ele n
, , .
Poor Margaret ! W hat will S he say

W e will hear what she wil l say cried the ,
Captain ringing the bell before Helen could stop him

,
.
Margaret answered it drying her hands on her ,
apron as S he came in an d then with a prescience O f

, ,
the coming interview resting them folded upon that

,
prop with which nature in process of time provides

“ ”
the persons of most cooks Margaret said the .
,
Captain “
Miss Helen is going to break up house
,
keeping She is coming to us Mrs Butler wished

. . ,
”
me to ask you to come too .
Margaret pursed her mouth and bent forward so ,
far over the natural provision as to catch sight ofthe

“
toe of her neatly shod small foot Should you .
like to come asked the C aptain .
I m afraid I should feel the change said Mar

’
,
garet .
88
’
A WO M AN S REA S ON .
O f course , retorted the Captain sh ortly There .
i s go i ng to be a c hange and you would feel it We , .
understand that But you know me and you know .

,
Mrs Butler and you know whether you would have

.
,
”
a good place .
“
It would be a good place said Margaret still , ,
surveyi n g her sli pper But I think I should feel .
”
the change more and more .
“ ” “
W ell said the Captain i mpatiently
, d o you ,
mean yes or n o ,
“
I think I should fee l the change repl i ed Mar ,
garet .
The Captain was nonplussed by th i s d ry response

to his cordial advance an d he wai te d a momen t ,
“
before he asked : H ave you any other place in
view ?
“ “
I had arranged sa i d Margaret calmly ,
to go ,
’
to a cousin s ofmi ne th at l ives in the Port and then
advertise for some small family i n O ld Cambridge
”
w h ere they only keep on e girl .
’
Helen had felt hurt by Margaret s cold foresight
in having already so far counted the chances as to
have looked out for hersel f ; but at this expression of
Margaret s ruling passion she could n ot help smiling
’
,
.
“
The Captain gave an angry snort Very well .
,
”
then he said
,
there is nothing to do but to pay
,
”
you up and let you go and he took out his pocket
, ,
”
book . How much is it ?
There isn t anything coming to me Margaret
’ ”
,
returned with the same tranquillity Mr Harkness .
paid me up .
’
’
But he didn t pay you up to the present time ,
s ai d the Captain .
I sh ould wish to con sider Miss Helen my guest

”
for the past two weeks said Margaret in the n eat
, ,
ness of an evidently thought out speech ~

.
The C aptain gave a laugh ; but Helen who knew all ,
Margaret s springs ofaction and her insuperable pride

’
, ,
”
interposed : You m ay Margaret S he said gently
“
, , .
”
Thank you Miss Helen said Margaret lifting
, , ,
her eyes n ow for the first to gl ance at Helen She .
turned with a little nod of sel fdismissal and went -
back to the kitchen l eaving the Captain hot and

,
baffled.
I t was some moments before he spoke again .
” “
W ell then
,
he said ; about selling the house
,
do you kno w Helen I think it had better be sold at

, ,
auction ? It might be tedious waiting for a private

sale an d real estate i s such a drug w ith the market
, ,
falling that you might h ave to lose more on it after

,
waitin g than if you forced it to a sale n ow H ow do .
you feel about it

Th e finesse that the Captain w as using in all th e
busin ess w reathing the hard legal exigencies of the
,
case in fl owers O f suggestion and counsel and puttin g ,
on all a smiling air of volition could never be fully ,
known except to the goodness that in spired i t ; but

,
he was rewarded by the promptness with which

Helen assented to everything .
“
I s hall be glad to have you d o whatever you
“ ”
think is b e st Captain Butler she answered I
have no feeling about the house —it s strange that I
, ,
’
’
shouldn t have —and I don t care how soon i t i s sold

’ ’
,
”
nor how it i s sold .
The Captai n instantly adv anced a step further .
Perhaps you wouldn t care to come back to it at ’
all any more ? Perhaps you could put your hand

,
’
on what you d like to keep and I could look after ,
i t for you and He stopped at seeing Helen

,
”
change countenance W ell ? .
Did you think of selling the f urni ture too ? she

asked .
W hy yes ass ented the Captai n

, ,
I said so j ust .
’ ’
n ow . I m afraid you d find it a burden after the
’
house was gone You d have to store i t you kno w
.
,
.
’
Still if you don t wish it
,
“
O h yes said H elen drawing a l o n g breath
, ,
it , ,
”
had better go ! She spoke with a gentle sub mis
s ive n e s s that smote the Capta i n to the heart .
“
You can keep eve rything you w ant my dear ,
you can keep it all he returned vehemently .
”
That would be silly said H elen Besides , .
,
there are very few things I S hould want to keep I .
’ ’
couldn t keep papa s things : they re terrible
’
I .
should like you to take everything that belonged to

him C aptain Butler — except his watch and his Bible
—
,
and give them to some poor people that co uld use

them Then I only want my ow n things ; and per
.
h aps his chair and Helen stopped and the

, ,
Captain not to look at her cast a roving eye about

, ,
the room .
“
Those Copleys ofcourse you would reserve he , , ,
r emarked presently .
’
’
send a carriage to take you down to the fou r O c l ock
train A nyth i ng you thi n k O f afterwards of course
‘
”
will be kept for you .
H e left her to this task It was at least somethi n g

.
to do and Helen went about it with an energy which

,
s he was surprised to find in hersel f A t first the re .
pro ach with which t he silent h ouse seemed to u se her

indifference smote upon her but it did not last long , .
H ome had died out ofit as life h ad gone out of her

,
’
father s dust ; an d neither h ouse nor grave was any
th ing to her She passed from room to room and
.
,
o pened cl osets and drawers and looked at a hundred ,
th i ngs She ended in despair by choosing a very fe w

. .
I f she could n ot kee p all why should she want any ?

,
W hatever it seemed desecration to sell she put on her

memorandum to be given away She selected a large .
number of things for Margaret and when she sat down ,
at the old Bostonian h alf past tw o o clock dinner !to

-
’
w hich her father had always kept) she told Margaret ,
what she had done Margaret took on e or t w o little

.
tri nkets wh i ch Helen O ffered her in her hand and ,
declined the other gifts .
“ ”
W hy what do you mean Margaret ? asked
, ,
’ ”
Helen .W hy don t you take them ?
“ ”
I sho uldn t w i sh to M i ss Helen said Margaret
’
, , ,
pursing her mouth .
“
W e l l have your own way return ed Hele n
, I , ,
suppose this is another O f your mysteries .
“
I should wish to do everyth i ng properly Miss ,
”
H e l en .
“
W hat do you mean by prope rly ? W hy do you
’
M i ss Helen me all the time ? W hat made you so,

”
stiff w i th Captain Butler ? and he s o kind 1
Captain Butler is a very pleasant gentle man said ,
“
Margaret i n her neatest manner ,
but I shouldn t ,
’
wish him to think it w as quite the same as going on

here.
’
You re very fool i sh It would have been a nice
'
”
place .
I wished him to understand th at I felt i t a

”
c h ange .
”
W ell well I cried Helen impatiently
, Y ou .
mus t d o as you please but you needn t have been so ,

’
cross .
Helen s n erves were beginning to g i ve way and

’
S he went on c hild i shl y Y ou act j ust as if we were .
going to be together always D o you know that I m .

’
going away n ow an d not coming back any more ,

”
Yes Miss Helen ,
.
A nd do you think this is the way to treat me at

’ ”
the l ast moment W hy don t you take the things ?
’
“
I shouldn t wish to be under a compliment Miss ,
”
Helen .
W hat do you mean by be i ng u n der a compl i

ment
’
I shouldn t w i sh to be beholden .
’
O h you shouldn t wish you shouldn t wish
’
, ,
This is too bad ! whimpe red Helen

”
W h at am I .
but under a compliment to you as you c all it ? I ,
didn t th i nk you d beh ave s o at the last moment

’ ’
.
But I see You re too proud for anything and you

.
’
,
”
never did care for me .
’
Oh,
M i ss Helen
Yes A nd go to your c ous i n s —the qu i cke r the ’
better —and have your own cross way I m sure I .

’
’
don t care i f you ll be the happier for it I can tell
,
’
.
you what you are Margaret : yo u re a s i lly goose , ,

’
and you make every one hate you The charm S .
broken between as — quite and I m glad ofit ,

’
.
”
Margaret went out without saying anything and ,
H elen trie d to go on w i th her dinner but failed and , ,
began her i nventory again and at last went to her ,
roo m and dressed for her j ourney She came down .
i nto the library j ust before start in g and rang for ,
Margaret W hen the cook appeared the young girl

.
,
suddenly threw her arms round her ne ck “

Good .
” “
bye she sobbed out you good O ld wicked foolish
, , , , , ,
stuck up Margaret I m glad you didn t come to the

-
.
’ ’
’
B utlers it w ould have kill ed me to see you there !
,
Good bye good bye ! R emember your poo r little

-
,
-
’
H ele n Margaret and come to see me
, , I can t bear
to look into the kitchen Say good bye to it for me -
O h my poor Ol d slighted happy home O h my home ,
my home my home Goo d bye good bye good bye

,
-
,
-
,
-
She ran wildly through the well known rooms and -
bade them adieu with hear t breaking farewells ; she

stooped down and kissed the lounge on which h er ,
father used to lie and spread out her empty arms ,
upon i t and laid h er homeless head where his h ad

,
rested A t the sound ofthe be l l s he sprang up and

.
,
opened the door hersel f and fled down the steps and , ,
into the carri age shrink i ng into the furthest co rner

, ,
and thickly h id i ng her face under he r black veil .

’
stood now the secret of Margaret s into l erab le state ’
l i n e ss an d of her reluctance to mar her ideal of

,
hospital i ty by accepti n g a reciprocal benefi t It was .
all very droll and queer but so like Margaret that ,
Helen did n ot wan t so much to laugh as to weep at it .
She saw that Captain Butler was a n noyed at the way

s he took the m atter and s he thought he w ould have
,
scolded her at any other time She said very gently .
“
W e must l et her have her way about it Captai n ,
Butler Y ou couldn t get her to take the money

.
’
back and you would only hu rt h er feelings if you

,
tried Perhaps I can do s omething for her some

.
”
time .
’
Do you mean that you re actually go i ng to stan d
”
i t Helen ?
,
’
Yes why n ot ? It isn t as i f anybody else did it
,
for me — any equal you kno w I can t feel that it s

,
.
’ ’
a disgrace from Margaret ; and it will do her so

much good —you ve no ide a how much She s been
,
’ ’
.
with us ever since I was born and surely I m ay ,
accept such a k i ndness from an old servan t r athe r ,

”
th an wound her queer pr i de .
The Captain listened to these swell i ng words w i th

d ismay This poor girl at whose feet he s aw desti
.
,
tution yawn ing was taking l ife as she had always

,
done en p rin cesse H e wondered what possible con

, .
c e tion she had formed of her situat i on Sooner o

p r .
later he must tell her what it w as .

CA PTA I N B ! TL ER believed that his Ol d fri end
had died a b ankrupt ; he represented the estate as
insolvent and the sale of the property took place at
,
the earliest possible day A red fl annel fl ag on

.
,
whi ch the auctioneer s name was lettered was hu n g

’
out from the tran s om e above t h e front door and at ,

’
ten o clock on a dull morning when the sea turn w as -
beg i nning to break in a th i n chilly r ai n a long

, ,
procession Of u m brellas began to ascen d the front

steps where Helen had paused to cast that look
,
of haughty wonder after the retreat i ng policeman .
The umbrellas were of all qualities from the silk ,
that shuts into the slimness O f a walkin g stick to ,
the whity— bro w n whale bone ri bbed family umbrella

,
-
under wh i ch the hab i tual auction goer of a ce rtain -
s i ze and age repairs to her favourite amusement .
Many of the people had a suburban look and some ,
even the appearance O f having arrived by the Fitch

burg railroad ; but there was a large proport i on of
citizen s and a surprising number of fashionably
“
dressed ladies who nevertheless d i d n ot seem to

, , ,
be of that ne i ghbourhood ; they stared curiousl y

about them as if they had n ow for the first time
,
G
.
ente red a h ouse there They s at down in the sad .
O ld parlour and looked up at the pictures and the

,
general equipment of the roo m with the satisfied air

ofnot finding it after all any better than their ow n .
O ne l arge and handsome woman whose person ,
trembled an d twinkled all over w i th black b ugles ,
stood in the middle of the floor and had the effect ,
of s tamping upon the supposed pride of the place .
People were prowl i ng all over the house from cellar ,
to garret peering i nto closets and feeling of walls

,
and doors ; seve ral elderly w omen in feeble health

were to be met at the turns of the stairways press i ng ,
their hands against their chests and catching their ,
breath with d ifli cul ty Few apparently of the con

.
, ,
cour se had come to buy ; but when the sal e began

they densely thronged the rooms i n which the bidding
successively went on and m ade i t h ard for one
,
another to get out of the packed doorways The .
whol e morning l ong the auctio n eer intoned his chant

“
O f A half and a hal f and h alf do I hear the three
, ,
- - - -
” “
quarters ? varied w i th a qu i ck Sol d ! as from time
to time he knocked offthi s lot or that The cheaper .
carpets ch airs beds and tables were bought for the

, , ,
-
most pa rt by certain fad i ng women who bid w ith a

kind of reluctant greed an d got together each her ,
store ofthose mismated moveables which characterise

’
furn ished lodgings They wore cheap camel s hair
.
wraps an d thread gloves ; others w ho seemed poor ,
mothers of families showed th eir black stubbed

,
fin ge r tips pressed anxiously together outside the

-
edges of imitat i on India shawls and bid upon the ,

’
1 00 A WO M AN S REA S O N .
of E astlake mantel shelves then sett i n g i n w i th

-
great se ver i ty he discovered to be in gr eat request

,
.
His dismay increased as these costly and worthless

treasures accumulated upon his hands for his house ,
was already full of them to the utmost c apacity of ,
its closets and out Ofthe way corners Besides he

- - -
.
,
l aid himself O pen to the suspic i on ofbidding i n and ,
remained under that doubt with many He had .
a haughty way of outbidding that stood him in n o

good stead and went far to conv i nce the crowd that
,
all th e sales to hi m were sham .
The auction which began i n the b asement as

, ,
c e n d e d through the several stories wandering from ,
roo m to r oom till it reached the remotest atti c

ch amber Then all the person al property had b ee n
.
,
sold and it descended a ain to the first floor where

,
g
,
the crowd was already much th i nner than at first ,
and was composed mainly of respectable looking -
citizens who had come to bid on the house or to ,
see how much i t woul d bring The fashionab ly .
dressed women were gone ; it w as n ot long be fore

’
the l as t auction goer s whity brown umbre ll a ex
- -
an d e d after the usual struggle wen t down the front

p ,
steps and round the next corn er The auctioneer

,
.
took hi s stand in the parlour be fore the pier glass -
into which Hel en looked that day to see whether

her trouble with R obert had changed her — with the ,
long windows of the swell front on either side of -
him . H e was a young man eager to win h i s ,
reputation He had been praised to Captai n Butler

.
as a f ri ghtful ly vul gar wretch who could get him ,

A WO MAN S REA S O N 101
’
.
more for the property than an y other auct i on eer

in the city an d the Captain had taken him w i th
,
certain m isgivings A s he n ow confronted his

.
respectable audience he kept his hat a little asl ant

,
he had an unlighted c i gar in his left han d which ,
he put i nto his mouth from time to time and chewed ,
upon nervously ; his eyes shone with a gross ,
h umorous t w inkle and his w hole face expressed

,
a reckless audacity and a willingness to tak e othe r

,
people into the j oke of life s b e in ga swindle anyw ay ’

, .
Gentlemen he said I feel honoured in being

, ,
the i nstrument however humble of Offering this

, ,
property to your consideration ; this O ld family

mans i on rich in trad i t i on and assoc i ation in the very
, ,
heart Of the most select quarter of Boston Y ou .
h ave already exam i ned the house gentlemen from , ,
attic to cellar you have seen that it is i n perfect

,
r epair and that i t has no concealments to make

,
‘nothing extenuate n or au ght se t down in malice ’
as our col oured brother says in the play I will .
n ot insul t your intell i gence gentlemen by dwelling , ,
upon i ts entire soundness Built forty years ago .

,
it is this day a better house than the d ay its foun d a

tion s were laid —better than n ine tenth s of th e -
gaudy and meretricious conceptions of modern archi

tecture Plain substantial soberly elegant —these
.
, , , ,
gentlem en are its virtues which like

, , ,
A b ol d p e asan try, the ir cou n try s p ri d e ,

’
W hen on ce d e s troye d , c an n e v e r b e s upp l i e d .

’
Gentlemen I w i ll not ask your attenti on to the eligible

,
1 02 A WO M AN S REA S O N’
.
posit i on of t h e house I see no n e but Boston face s .

'
here and I am proud to take i t for granted that you

,
need no instru ctions from me upon this point W hen .
I s ay that this is on e of the best S ites on Beacon

Hill I say everyth i ng Y ou know the value of the
, .
location you know the character of the social sur

,
roundi ngs —you know what I mean and al l that I

, ,
mean I do not appeal to strangers here I appeal

. .
to the O ld Boston blood animated by a generous ,
af fection for our c i ty and its h i story and unwilling ,
to se e dishonour cast upon her by the sale even in ,
these ru inous times o f a property in her midst at ,
less than its full value Gentlemen I feel that you .

, .
w ill stand by m e in this matter ; and I have th e

pleasure of opening the sale with a bid of
Is th is so Mr W e the ral l
, .
The gentleman addressed i n the midst of the ,
laughing crowd nodded slightly , .
The auctioneer looked keenly at the faces in an

irre gular sem i circle before him W ith a bid of .
from Mr W e therall h e resumed “

Mr
.
,
”
. .
W ethe rall gentlemen does not want the property

, , ,
and he does not dream of getting i t at a sixth or

seventh — in any other times I should say a tenth
ofits value But h e does n ot choose that i t shall be
.
disgraced by the offer of anyign ob l er sum ; and gentle ,
men ifMr W e therall had n ot made this bid I should

, .
have made it myself i n good faith I am O ffered .
t e n thousand ten thousand ten thous — el euen from

, , ,
Mr YVhe el e r You don t want the property either

. .
’
Mr W heeler but I thank you nevertheless E leven

.
, .
,
104
’
j esting i s past Going at twenty two at twenty tw o

.
-
,
-
twenty two -
Do I hear twenty three ? No only -
twenty — t w o three , I regret to say i t is only twenty

”
two thre e
, .
A quick succe ssion of small bi d s n ow ran the sum

up to twenty fo ur thousand at which point it hu n g
-
in spite ofall the devices ofthe auct i oneer to urge it

beyond .
“
Going going going —he swung his right
, , ,
”
hand threatingly above the open palm ofhis l eft .
going to Mr W hite at tw en ty four thousand dollars

.
-
”
A re you all done ? He scanned the crowd and ,
pierced it to the outer circle with his audacious gl ance .
Going at twenty four thousand dollars to Mr -
W h ite . A re you all done twice A re you all done , ,
three t i me s ? G o w g once going twice going , ,

”
Gentlemen said the auctioneer putting his cigar
, ,
i n his mo uth and his thumbs in his w aistcoat pockets -
and addressing them in a low i mpassioned tone ‘
, ,
“
Gentlemen it s n o mon ey for i t
,
’
I should feel
ashamed pers onal ly disgraced if thi s property went
, ,
for such a sum I should kn ow that i t w as owing to

.
some fault of m ine some failure on my part to im ,
press its value upon you But I have trusted to your .
ow n sagacity to your ow n intelligence to the fact

, ,
that you are all Boston men and thoroughly ac ,
u ai n te d with the prices o f a djacent property and

q ,
the worth ofthis I may have deceived mysel f; but

.
I appeal to you n ow gentleme n n ot to let me suffer , ,
by the confidence I have reposed in you My p ro .
fe ssi on al repute i s i n your hands I f th i s estate goes .
at I am a ruined man A general la ugh in .

,
A WO MAN S R EA S O N 105
’
.
w hi c h th e a uctioneer himsel f j oined so far as to smile ,
met this appeal He ran his eye over the assembly . .
Suddenly he e xclaimed Thank you Mr E verton ! , ,

.
Was it twen ty S ix ! He leaned forw ard over h i s

-
”
desk and beamed w i th a flatteri ng gratitude upon

,
the n ew comer -
“
NO twenty four fifty replied Mr E ve rt on i n a
,
-
, ,
.
weak dry voice , .
Thank you all the same Mr E verton Y ou are ,

. .
none the less my preserver Thank you for twenty .
four fifty \Ve breathe again Twenty four fifty

—do I hear the five ? Tw en tyfour fifty—w ill
-
.
, .
, ,
,
.
you give m e the five ? Twenty five very good -
twenty five thousand twe n ty five twenty five—j ust

, ,
- - -
, ,
on e fourth of the worth o f the estate in pro sperous

-
times N ow let me hear the twenty six ! Gen tle

.
-
”
men said the auctioneer again breaking from his
, ,
chant and lower i ng his voice to the colloquial tone

, ,
“
you all know the O ld story of the sibyl and her
bo oks : how when she cam e w i th nine copies in the
,
first instance S he asked a s um which struck the,
officials as a fancy pri ce ; how she went away and

burnt three of the edition and then asked twice the
original price for the s ix ; and how when she h ad ,
burnt three m ore they were glad to take the re st off ,
her hands at her ow n terms W e have here a .
”
parallel case .
“ ’
Don t se e th e parallel said on e ofthe crow d , .
’
Don t you Mr R ogers ? W ell you will pre , .
, ,
’
se n tl y w h en you ve failed to b uy this property f
, or
’
h alf the money that you d be glad to O ffer the pur
106 ’
chaser for h i s bargain DO I hear twenty six from .

-
”
you Mr R ogers ? Mr R ogers laughed and nodded
, . . .
Twenty S ix it is from Mr R ogers Twenty six

-
. .
-
,
”
twenty six twenty Six will you give me the seven ?
-
,
-
He went on crying this sum in varyi n g tones ofex ul ta

tion reproach and persuasion for several minutes
, , .
A gai n and again he brought h i mself to the point of

kn ocking of f the house at that price an d then retired ,
.
from it upon some fresh pretence of having heard a

higher bid But none came or could be m ade to
.
,
seem to have come ; every on e to wh om he turned

w ith a questio ni ng look S hook his head in prompt
’
denial The auctioneer s mobile countenance took
.
on an air of deep d i scouragement He threw aside .
’
his mallet and pulled down his waistcoat
,
I won t .
sell this property at that price I suppose there are .
men in this city who w ould do it but I won t Captain ,

’
.
”
Butler I should like a word with you
,
He came .
down from his perch and retiring to a corner with ,
the Captain talked with him i n a dumb S h ow ofbitter

and passionate appeal W hen he aga i n mounted to .
his place he wore a look of gri m despair

,
“
W ell .
,
gentlemen I have done my best to persu ade Captain

,
B utler to withdraw the property and stop this bloo dy ,

”
sacrifice The crowd laughed and the auctioneer s
.
’
eye tw i nkl ed But he feels bound by the terms of

.
his notice to you to l e t the sal e proceed The pro .
perty will be sold witho ut reserve NOW let us see .
whether yo u will meet him in the same m agn animous

”
spirit .Captain Butl er l ooked on i n blank amaze
while this statement was making ; but an intenser
108 A WO M AN S REAS ON ’
.
on these occas i ons And you sir I can t call your .

, ,
-
’
’
n ame but I know your face ; I ve seen i t i n State
,
—
Street often can t I get a bid out of you ? ”
The ’
gentleman addressed colo ured and shrank furthe r ,
back in the crowd The auctioneer smiled i n perfect .
good hu m our and turned away for ano ther word

-
with C aptain Butler in private .
“
C apta i n he whispered “
,Mr E ve rto n is go i ng
”
, .
to buy this property D o you th ink he w i ll stand .
another five thousand

Captain Butler who seemed i n a so rt of daze , ,
“ ’
said I don t believe he will But ifyou
, .
“ ’ ”
I 11 get i t said the auctioneer briskly and re, ,
turned to his work into which h e struck w i th a sudden ,
“
and startling energy Going at th i rty thousand .
,
gO Thirty one thirty one thirty one ; at thirty

two ; thirty two five thirty three th i rty three —and
- - -
, ,
- -
, ,
”
five thirty four 1 He clashed O ff the b i ds with a
-
r apid confidence that would have inspired belief i n the

most sceptical Mr W e theral l bid thirty four thou
. .
-
sand five hundred and w as instantly topped by Mr ,

.
E verton at thirty five Thirty five thirty five -
.
-
,
-
thirty five cried the auctioneer

” -
,
“
going at thirty ,
five thousand going going going and sold —given

away—to Mr E verton
, , , ,
Mr E verton came forward with a half frightened

.
,
-
l ook and laid down th e mon ey necessary to secure

,
hi s purchase and received a provisional deed Of the

,
property .
Look here said C aptain Butler as sOon as he ,

’
could get the auctione er as ide I didn t hear any of ,
’
A WO M A N S REA S ON . 109
th ese b ids till W e therall s last ’ ”

The Captain l ooked
.
troubled and unhappy .
The auctioneer l ai d a re— assur i ng ha n d upon his

’
shoulder Y ou haven t got a practised ear Captain
.
,
Butler I have Mr E verton has got a great bar

. . .
gain But i t was hard work in g up to that final

.
,
po i nt .
WH AT perpl exed me the most about it sai d the ,
Captai n to Mrs Butler when he came home the day

.
,
“
after the sale was that the auct i oneer had s o
,
misrepresented his firs t talk with me He n ever .
asked me to withdraw the property at all he knew

I coul dn t ; he merely O ffered to bet me that he
’
’
woul d get thirty thous an d for i t W ell ! I don t
'
’
see what I could do about it I couldn t have .
proved that the bids were fictitious and the attempt ,

’
to try would have made a great scandal That s the .
way Hibbard l ooks at it I went to him for advice ;

I put the case to hi m and he says that there s no
,
’
way of going back o f the fact for the auctioneer ,
would swear to save himself that he heard the bids

, , ,
or thought he did Most probably he did i t was all

.
con fusion ; and my not hav i ng heard them prove s

nothing at all Besides E ve rton was n ot obliged
.
,
t o bid thirty five thousand and he did get a great

-
bargain The property i s worth fifty in any decent

.
,
times. A nd that extra five thousand is a perfect

’ ’
godsend for Hel en poor girl ! It s all she ll have
,
’
in the worl d I tell you my dear I haven t had
.
, ,
many things i n li fe that gave me more satisfaction

1 10
1 12 A WO M A N S REA S ON ’
.
O f respect for J oshua s m em ory and they came

’
ou t ,
out strong now abou t him and said such things ,

“ ”
well I can t tell you said the Captain
,
’
But he , .
,
“
added confusedly I wish H arkness could have ,
been there
Perhaps he was sai d Mrs Butler devoutly ,
. .
” “
E h ? cried the Captain sharply A h ! Yes !
W ell perhaps
,
O ld R ogers asked me to wait a
.
minute an d they had a little confabulation among

,
themselves and then R ogers came forward and asked

,
i f there would be anything left for Helen Then I .
tol d them the estate had yielde d $ 5 000 more than

the indebtedness s o far as I knew ofit and we had ,
c ongratulat i ons all round and i f Joshu a had been ,
alive to resume he might have started business again

,
on a better basis than ever he had in his life I wish

—confound it —I could be sure about those bids
.
”
.
”
“
W hy my dear ! cried his wife you talk as if some
, ,
fraud had been really committed Can t you look at .

’
it as Mr Hibbard does ? Probably the man did hea r

.
’
the bids He wouldn t have dared to pretend that he
.
heard them it wouldn t have been s afe for h i m ’

.
“
NO said the Captain thoughtfully
,
“
W hy of .
,
”
course not he added bri skly after a moment
, Of , .
’ ’
course you re right about it He wouldn t have .
’ ”
dared W here s Helen ?
.
He w ent down and found Helen on the rock s by

the sea where she o ften strayed apart from the
,
others ; they did not follow her they respected ,
her right to what solitude she would Her sorrow .
was no longer a thing of tears and sobs ; but it

’
A WO M AN S REAS ON . 1 13
was no more comprehensible than at first ; he r

bereavement still seemed the on e great unreasoned
fact of the universe She turned the pathos O f .
he r bewildered smile upon the Captain as She heard ,
him climbing the rocks behind her and rose to ,
meet him .
“
NO sit down h e sa i d
, I want to have a little
,
.
”
talk with you H elen as your man O f business
, , .
’
You re my man of business as as papa was -
said Helen w ith a grateful look ,

.
“
Thank you my dear for th at answered the , , ,
“
Captain I ve only tried to do what he would
.
’
h ave done for my girls I don t know my dear .

’
, ,
whether I had ever given you the idea that your

father was in embarrassed circumstances
”
0 yes ; I knew that sa i d H elen , .
’ ’
W ell we won t enlarge upon the fact
,
I t i sn t .
n ecessary W ould you like me to go into particulars

.
about the settlement Ofthe estate

” “ ’
N o answered H elen that isn t necessary e i ther
, , .
I shouldn t be any the w i ser if you did Tell me

’
.
w hatever you think I ought to know C aptai n ,

”
Butler .
“
I was very much afraid my dear said the , ,
“ ’
Captain when I began to look i nto your father s
,
affairs that there would be n othing or worse than ,
nothing left ,
This did n ot seem to af
. fect Helen as
a matter of personal concern and the Captain went ,
“
on : There was a time when I w as afraid that the
creditors would not get more than seventy five per -
cent oftheir money and might be very glad to get

.
,
H
’
11 4 A WO M AN S REA S ON .
that Helen l ooked round at th e Captain wi th a

.
quick glance as ifhere were some thing that touched

,
her. But as I got along towards the bottom ,
things looked better and I saw that unless the sale ,
turned out very badly we should save ourselves ,

.
The sale turned out far be yond my expectations .
”
Helen cried the Captain the prospect n ow is that
, ,
I shal l pay up every cent that your father ow ed i n

the world and have so me five thousan d dollars left
for you .
O h Capta i n Butler
,
It i sn t a great sum ’
’
I t s more than I dared to dream of
B ut if it s carefully handled it can b e made to
’
,
”
go a great way .
“
O h it s ample ample ! But I don t care for
’ ’
, ,
that W hat I think Of— and I feel li ke go i ng down

on my knees for i t—is that no on e loses anything
.
by papa He would rather have died than wronged

.
any on e and that any one shoul d have suffered

,
by him after he w as helpless to repa i r the wrong ,
that would h ave been more than the bitterness

O f death to me O h I m S O happy about this
’
.
, ,
’
Captain Butler ; you can t think how much more of
a comfort i t is than anything else could have been
“
You re a good girl Helen sai d the Capta in
’ ”
, , ,
“ ’
with a reverent fondness ; you re your father s ’
girl my dear H e would have died a r i ch man if

, .
he had not stood by people whom he knew to be in

a bad way because they had helped him long ago
, ,
when i t w as no risk for them to do so .

1 16 A WO M AN S REA S ON ’
.
Y ouhaven t brought any m ore letters for me

’
,
I suppose she said .
“
N O I must have got everything the last time
, ,
repl ied the Captain I went carefully thro ugh all

.
the drawers again before the sale began .
I shall ask you to take care O f those l aw papers -
’
for me C aptain Butler ; I don t know what to do
,
with them The letters were all recent ones I

. .
thought there might have been some Old ones Not .
that I have missed any But you did sometimes .
lose home letters when you were O ff on those long

’
voyages Ofyours didn t you ,
”
No very fe w
,
the Captain responded
,
“
We .
”
get them nearly all sooner or later ,
.
But sometimes they had to wander about after

you
Yes sometimes A nd so m etimes they wai ted
,
. .
”
It must have been terribly distressing said ,
“ ”
Helen to wait for them
,
.
” “
W ell return ed the Capta i n
,
that depended a ,
”
good deal on whom the letter was from Helen .
“
flushed a little There were some letters that I
.
’
shouldn t have cared if I d never ge t But generally
’
.
,
speaking the fellows in the navy had the advantage

,
”
ofus i n the merchant service .
”
I don t see why said Helen
’
,
.
O h their letters were addressed to them through

,
the N avy Department and of course they came the ,
straightest and safest way I recollect once at Singa .
pore and the Captain went on with much circum

,
stance to give a case in point H elen had furnished .

’
A WO M A N S REA S ON
‘
. 117
him a thread Of associati on s which the Captain

never willingly dropped She listened at first .
with interest then patience then respect A t last

, ,
.
S he said it was getting a little chilly and Captain ,
Butler agreed that it was They went back to the .
house together an d parted on the piazza where

, ,
“ ’
Hele n paused a moment to say I ha ven t thanked
you Captain Butler because it seemed no use to try
, , .
”
Where should I end ?
’ ”
Don t begin said the Captain with the smile
, ,
which he kept for Helen ; she was as dear to him as

his own daughters and just strange enough to be a ,
colour of romance in his thoughts It always .
astonished him and slightly abashed him that she

,
should be a young lady ; she had s o long been a

little girl .
She looked fondly into his kind eyes It i s too .
much too much S he cried and S lipped away with ,
a fallen head .
The words made the Captain think of the money

again and the smil e w ent an d the trouble came
,
back to his face as he walked away to find his wi fe

,
.
“
W ell said Mrs Butler . .
“” ’
Catharine said the Captain ,
I m afraid she ,
”
thinks it s five thousan d a year
’
.
“ ’
0 n o she doesn t
,
pl eaded his wife .
Yes she does my dear She spoke of it as an

, , .
enormous s um and I hadn t the courage to m ake the

,
’
thing cl ear I began to an d then gave it up I

.
, .
don t see w hat s to be do n e ab out it I m afraid

’ ’
.
’
it s going to b e a dreadful blow when she finds ou t

’
’
1 18 A WO MA N S REAS ON .
what it really is Captain Butler l ooked ruefully .
at his wi fe .
“ ’ “ ’
I think you re mistaken said Mrs Butler It s , . .
her ignorance o f money that makes her think of five

’
thousand and not the income from it ; but as you ve
,
raised the doubt she must be told that it i s not five

thousand a year and she must be told j us t how ,
nru ch i t is The Captain groaned

. But you .
’ ’
needn t tell her John You ve gone through qui te
,
.
eno ugh I will tell her

. .
C aptain Butler looked ashamed but rel ieved , .
“ ’
W ell my dear I must let you
,
I t s shirking but
,
.
,
I can t help it Y ou can manage it better than I

’
.
can W hen I think of telling that poor ch ild how

.
very little better than a beggar s h e is my tongue ,

”
turn s to a chip in my mouth .
Yes i t s hard But suppose she d h ad nothing

,
’
.
’
Then something better than this might have

been don e with the creditors Some were O ld .
’
friends But you can t ask people to help a girl
.
w ho has five thousand do l lars It sounds pre .
os te rou s
p .
“
I doubt whe ther Helen would have allowed hersel f
to be helped in that way if She had kn own it and how ,
”
could i t have been ke pt from her ? Mrs Butler .
rose to go to another room .
”
Catharine asked the Captain was it at Singa
, ,
pore that I got that first letter of yours after it ,

”
h ad chased me rou n d s o lo n g ?
NO ; it was at Cape Town said Mrs Butler ,
. .
Wh y ?
’
’
l ean i ng for w ard to smooth Helen s hair where ,
she
“
had sunk on the cricket at her feet It was a .
”
perfectly natural thing .
“
O yes only too natural with me I But I hate
,
and detest all that beating round the bush in me , ,

’
even when I m doing it ; and what I came for now ,
Mrs Butler is to ask you how I had better w ri te to

.
,
”
R obert N either found anything worthy O f remark
.
i n this second avowal O f purpose which might be ,
“
said in a manner to supersede the first If it .
’
h adn t been for my wretched shilly shall yin g ways I -
shouldn t have to w ri te to him at all But now I

’
.
must There is s om e tlrin g something —that I must -

‘
tell him for his own sake and —for his peace of
.
mind For i f a person hates any on e especially i f

.
,
’
it s through a mistake I don t think we o u ght to let
’
any foolish pr i de i nterfere ; d o you Mrs Butler ? ,

.
N o Helen said Mrs Butler with perfect i ntel

”
.
, , ,
l ige n ce .
“ ’
That s wh at I think too and it would be per ,
fe ctl y easy— more than easy — to write an d tell him

that and take the consequences whatever they were
, ,
.
You se e it is just this : we had a quarrel before he

went away —or not a quarrel but a misunderstand
, ,
i ng ; that is he misunderstood — and he was so vexed ,
with me that he wouldn t come to say good— bye I ’

.
don t care for that He did perfectly right But

’
. .
what I can t forgive i s his not tryi n g to see papa

’
,
and bid him good bye I can t bear to have him -
.
’
think any longer that I was trifling with him and ,
yet I can t write to him when I think Ofthe way he

’
,
A WO M AN S RE A S O N
’
. 12 1
treated papa It seems very bad hearted in h i m

.
-
O f course I didn t se e how he could have borne to

’
,
see papa under the circum stances and feeling the ,
way he did towards me and of course if papa had , ,

’
lived it would have been different and if i t hadn t ,
’
been for me I know R obert w ouldn t h ave don e i t
, ,
for he s on e Of the best and kindest

’
Helen
stopped and Mrs Butler waited a momen t before
, .
she answered .
“
Did you ever th ink Helen that R obert loved , ,
your father like —n ot like you not like a daughter ,

”
but like a s on ?
Why papa had al w ays been a father to him
,
’
cri ed Helen W hy shouldn t he ?
.
“
A nd were you never remiss with your father ,
because you trusted that someho w sometime the , ,
love you felt for him would more than make it up to

”
him ?
O h a thousand times
,
c ri ed Helen bow i ng her ,
head on Mrs Butler s kne es .

’
.
The pal e hand con tinued to stroke her hair .
That s a risk we all take with those we love I t s

’
.
’
an earnest Ofsomething hereafter perhaps But for ,

.
this world it isn t sa fe G o and w rite your letter

’
.
, ,
”
my dear and give R obert all ou r love
,
.
Mrs Butler lean ed forward and kissed the beautiful

.
,
hea d good night and Helen after a silent embrace

-
, , ,
wen t back to her room again I t was easy now to .
w ri te the letter whic h she had found so hard before ,
and a deep peace w as in her heart when she read it

ove r and found n o shadow of resentment or unkind
,
12 2 A WO MAN S REA S ON ’
.
ness in it She was glad to have abased herself so

.
u tterly before him to have put herself so completely

,
in his power N ow he might do as he pleased but

.
,
he never could h ave it to say that he h ad m i sun d e r

sto od her Or that he had cause to think her proud
,
or cruel .
“ “
Dear R obert the letter ran i t i s five weeks
, ,
n ow since papa died I wro te you a line to tell you

.
the sad ne w s as soon as I could bring myself to put it

i n words and I suppose you will get that letter be fore
,
this reaches you But for fear that it m ay fail !I

.
sent you a newspaper with the account too) I w ill , ,
tell you again that it was very sudden and while I

, ,
was away here at B everley where he expected to ,
j oin me in a day or two I t was at his o ffice .
C ap tain Butl e r was there with him I thought I .
could tell you more about it ; but I cann ot H e .
died ofa disease of th e h eart I will send a cutting .
from an other n ewspaper th at will tell you more .
“
The day before papa died I t old him every
thing about that last letter I wrote you and he ,
took your part The last w ords he S poke of you

.
w ere full O f af
fection an d sympathy I though t you .
woul d like to kn ow this Y ou were mistaken about .
’
that letter R ead it again and se e if it doesn t mean
.
,
something di fferent But I m afraid you tore it ! p.

’
in your disgust with me W ell then I must tell

—
.
, ,
’
ou I did l h
ove you all t e tim e There I don t
y ,
.
.
care what you think ofme Y ou can t think less of .

’
me than I do .
“
The house h as been sold and everything in i t ,
.
’
HE L EN had been three weeks at the Butlers and , ,
i n spite o f th eir goodness which guarded her free

,
dom as well as all her wishes she began to feel a con

, ,
straint which she could n ot throw off Life had .
come to a pause with her and when it should move

,
forward it must be seri ously and even sadly ; and

,
she was morbidly conscious that she someho w

’
clogged the j oyous march O f Marian Butler s d ays .
There had been an effort to keep out of her sight

the preparations for the wedding till she had pro ,
tested against it and dem anded to see every dress

, .
But this very demand emphasised the dark difference

between her fate an d her friend s and Mari an w as’
,
’
apologetically happy in Helen s presence however ,
they both tried to have it otherwise O nce Marian .
had explained w i th tears that she would l ike to put

it Off for Helen s sake i f she could but the time of
’
, ,
the marriage had been fixed w i th r egard to so many

othe r matte r s that i t could not be postponed Helen .
h ad answered that Marian mad e her very wretched

~
talking of such a thing and that she must go at once

,
if Marian spoke O f it again They had embraced

.
with per fect tenderness and sympathy and Helen ,
1 24
’
A WO M AN S REAS ON . 125
h ad rema i ned with the helpless feeling of her in con

grui ty i n a house Of rej oicing It seemed to her .
i ntolerable that S he must bring her sorrow thither ;

she suffered till she could get away with it ; all they
did to make her feel at ease could only heighten her

trouble She had waited with a painful patience till
.
the Captain should report to her on the settlement

’
of her father s a f fairs and she could begin to sh ape ,
her future ; now that he had spoken she need wa i t

no longer .
She found Mrs Butler in the parlour the morn i ng .
after she had wri tten to R obert .
”
“
Mrs Butler she said I want you to let me
.
“
, ,
go away next week .
“
I can t bear to have you talk O f leav i ng us
’
,
”
Helen ! cried Mrs Butler with a wistful trouble in .
,
her eyes and voice yet as if she had expected this , .
“ ”
Yes I know returned Helen but I must go
, , , .
’
It s foolish and useless to keep staying on and now
’
that I ve made up my feeble mind about it don t try ,
’
”
to stop me .
“ ’
Helen sa i d Mrs B utler
,
don t go W e all .
,
want you to stay W e want you to go to E urope .
with us—to be ou r g uest ou r child Put away your

scruples my dear —I understand them and honour
, .
them —and go with us

, ,
”
.
“ ’
You know I can t Mrs Butler ,
. .
B ut i f your father had been living you would ,

”
have felt free to accept our i nvitation .
Perhaps But i t would have been d i f

. ferent then .
’
Don t press me .
’
“ ’ “ ’
I m sorry Helen sighed Mrs Butler
,
I w on t ,
. .
press you But stay with us my dear It d oes us

.
, .
good to h ave you Mr Butler and I often talk of . .
it ; we all feel it Say that you ll stay till we go .

’
’
away an d then we ll feel as if we had parted
,
because we must Helen w as standing before Mrs

. .
’
B utler who had the girl s hands in hers as she sat
, ,
in h er easy —chair and looked up into her evasive ,
face .
N 0 said Hele n gently taking away her hands

, , ,
and sitting down near the other I couldn t Don t ,

“ ’
.
’
’
let us deceive ourselves I m a shadow in the house ; .
N obo dy s to blame
’
we all kn ow it and feel it ,
.
,
”
nobody can help it she added quickly to stay a , ,
“
protest from Mrs Butler but i t s true You .
,
’
.
see how I have to take my blackness out of the

room when your friends co m e I give them a pain
ful shock when they catch S ight O f me ; it checks
the pleasant things they would like to say ; and I
hate myself for glooming about the house in secret ;
I feel that I must cast a shadow on them even
”
through the walls an d fl oors .
“ ’
Helen dear there s n o friend we have w ho i s so
, ,
precious to us as you are

“
O yes —yes ! I know how k i n d you are But .
’
you s ee it can t be I should have to go away at the .
time o f the w edding and you had better let me go ,
before .
G O away at the time ofMar i an s wedding ? Not

’
”
be W hy Hel en ! ,
Yes Thi nk Mrs Butler ! It coul d n t be

.
,
.
’
.
12 8 A WO M AN S RE A S O N
’
.
Street ; on e O f those pleasant O ld houses w i th the ,
threshold level with the side walk I t will be a -

.
”
good place said Mrs Butler cheered w ith the
, .
,
“ —
thought You must let Mr Butl e r arran ge for
.
.
you He
.
”
N o said Helen promptly
, I am not going to
trouble Capta i n Butler any more I m ust begin .
taking care O f myself n ow and I can t begin too ,

’
soon I have my own money and I ought to know

.
,
”
how to use it Human n ature is such a very simpl e
.
as well as complex thing that Helen could feel a ,
childish pride in being absolute mistress of a certain

sum and for the moment could forget the l oss that
,
h ad endowed her with it I am going to be very .
saving O f it Mrs Butler She smiled but the

,
. .
,
smi le took away all hope from Mrs Butler She . .
l ooked at H elen i n despair and did n ot know how ,
to beg i n what she felt it on her conscience to say at

once .
“ ”
O h Helen ! she broke out and then checked
, ,
herself .
“
W hat Mrs Butler ? asked the girl startled by
,
.
,
her accent .
“
O h nothing
,
I mean — has Mr Butler told you .
”
how much it is ? Mrs Butler was ashamed of he r .
fl ighty rel uctance an d indecision and n ow took her ,
sel f firmly in hand .
Yes i t s five thousand dollars — so much more

,
’
than I ever
“
D i d you understand i nterrupted Mrs But l er
N ot —not five
.
, ,
’
that i t s only five thousand in all
’
A WO MAN S REAS ON . 12 9
thousand a year ? Mrs Butler was p re pare d for

.
the worst dismay that Helen could S how but Helen ,
showed none O n the contrary she gave a little

.
,
laugh .
“
Five thousand a year ? N o i ndeed ! W hy Mrs , .
Butler what have you been thinking O f ? That

,
”
woul d be insanity .
Mrs Butler looked like one to whom the worst

.
dismay might have been welcomer than this cheer

fulness : this might be a far more hopeless condition
than the realisation of the fact that the sum Of
five thousand dollars was n ot a fortune ; Helen
might be thinking it was Mrs Butler felt obliged
. .
to ask :
“
DO you kno w how much that w il l give
y ou to live on
“ “
N ot exactly sa i d Helen
,
but not much I , ,
suppose .
Perhaps S he though t a thousand a year Mrs . .
“ ’
Butler must still go on Some of Mr Butler s
. .
Chicago mortgages bri ng h i m nine per cent That

would be five t i mes ninety—four hundred and
.
fi fty
Oh I should never send my money away to
,
Chicago I want i t where I can put my hand on i t

at once I shall deposit i t in savings banks —like
.
Margaret —at six per cen t an d the n I shall get ,
three hundred a year from i t .
“
But poor child ! you can t live upon that
,
’
Mrs Butler besough t her

. .
’
NO I must do something
,
I m determ i ned never
.
to encroach upo n the p rinc i pal wha tever happe ns , .

’
’ ’ ’
Don t you th i nk that s t h e ri ght way ? I ve always
’
heard that it s perfectly rui nous to live upon your
”
pri ncipal .
Mrs Butler could n ot com b at these j ust con cep

.
“
t i ons . Have you thought what you shall do ,
Helen she asked '
“ ’
Yes I ve been thinking about it nearly all night
, .
’
I couldn t sleep and I thought I might as well think , .
I couldn t decide But on e thing I have m ade up my .
mind I S hall not do : I S hall n ot paint holly wood -
boxes They both laughed the elder lady pityingly

.
,
“
an d reluctantly In the first place I paint .
,
’
h orri dly ; but that wouldn t make any difference .
’
W hat I couldn t do would be to ask the outrageous
prices which holly wood boxes bring from symp athis -
ing friends when painted by young ladies in need .
Besides I th i nk the market must be overstocked

,
.
O nly consider Mrs Butler how m any holly wood , .

,
-
boxes must have been painted by this time and what ,
stores of them peopl e must h ave laid by that they ,

’
couldn t give away if Chr i stmas came tw i ce a year
from n ow till the millennium A n d all so m u ch alike .
,
too : a farm house very deep in the snow ; the moon

-
monopolising the sky and Santa Claus very fuzzy .

,
all over and much too large for his sleigh with his
, ,
reindeers and his pipe j ust of a size and fat robins

at each end of the box N o you needn t be afraid .
,
’
ofholly wood boxes f r om me Mrs Butler

-
,
. .
O h Helen you queer child

, laughed Mrs Butle r , .
helplessly .
“
But I w ill confess that when I thought of do i ng
’
13 2 A WO MAN S REAS ON .
’
the Lord i t s so But he s of ’
f for three years he
added with dismay
,
.
She doesn t think ofthat O r pe rhaps she hopes

’
.
he can get leave to come home —or something .
”
Besides such a girl as Helen could wait thirty years
, ,
said Mrs Butler viewing the af

. fair i n the heroical
,
”
abstract Her hope and her trust will support her
. .
Morally perhaps But she would have to be

,
.
”
supported otherwise said the C aptain He refused ,
.
’
to be wholly comforted by hi s w i fe s man ner Still .
,
its probability in the absence ofanything more sub

,
orded hi m a measure Of consolation A t

s tan ti al aff,
.
any rate it was to his thinking the sole hope ful out
, ,
look for Helen Since the hard times began he had

.
seen S O much futile endeavour by able and ex p e ri

e n c e d men to get something to do for even a scanty
,
living that he had grown sceptical of al l ende avour

,
at self help E very year he w as called upon to as sist

-
at the disillusion of a score or more of bright young

sp irits fresh fro m the Un i versity with their academic ,
honours still green upon their brows and e ager for ,
victory in the battl e ofli fe He knew the boys fathers .

’
and mothers and ofwhat exc ellent stock they came

, ,
what honest fellows they were and what go od reason ,
there was to believe them capable of bearing their

part with distinction in any place demanding quali ty
and talent and training But there seemed to be n o
,
.
such place for them the world in which their sires had
prospered did n ot want them did n ot kn ow what to ,
do with them Through the strange blight wh i ch h ad

.
f allen upon a land where there should be work for

A
’
WO MAN S REAS ON . 13 3
every on e an d success for every on e w i lling to work

, ,
there seemed to be nothing but idleness and defeat

for these young men in the city of their ancestry
and birth They were fit to lead in any common
.
wealth but the com m on ill n e ss apparently would n ot

,
have them ; they were so m eho w anachron isms in

their own day and generation ; they were too far
before or too far behind their time The Captain .
s aw them dispersed in a various exile Some tried .
cattle raising in Colorado ; some tried sheep farming

- -
in Virginia and some sheep ranching i n C alifornia

,
-
There were others who tried cotton planting in the -
South and the orange culture in Florida ; there were

-
others yet bolder and more imaginative who tried

, ,
the mil k farming i n Massachusetts The Captai n

-
.
heard O f their undertakings and then he saw them ,
with their hats scrupulously on at the club which a , ,
few oftheir comrades had in a superior wisdom never

abandoned .
The yh ad got back and they were not to blame , .
Perhaps there was some error in the training ofthese

young gentlemen which had n ot quite fitted them
,
to solve the simple yet exactin g problem O f making

a living But then people who had worked hard
.
,
all their lives were not now solving this problem .
Cap tain Butler thought of these n ice fellows and ,
how wi lling and helpless they were and then he ,
thought with compassion too keen for any expression

,
but grim laughter of such a girl as Helen and what

, ,
her training was for the task oftaking care of hersel f .
’
I t was probably the same as Ma ri an s and he knew ,
’
what that was They h ad in fact gone to the

.
same schools an d grown through the same circum

,
stances into the sam e society in which everything ,
they had been and had done fitted them to remain ,
and which was very charming and refined and good ,
i n a good sense and so very very far f

,
rom doing,
’ ’
an ything for anything but culture s or pleasure s or , ,
’
kindne ss sake .
A t five or s i x years O f age Helen had begun to ,
go with the other littl e girl s of her station in li fe to

a scho ol in Which the established language w as
,
French and i n which she acquired a graceful an d

,
ladylike use of th at tongue I t stood her in good .
stead when she went abroad one summer with her

father an d She found that she spoke it as correctly
,
as most E ngl ish girls she met and a great deal more ,
r eadily . But she had too much se n se to be sure of

her accent or her syntax ; at Paris s he found that
her French was good but with a difference and she
, ,
would not have dreamt ofsuch a thing as teaching it .
In fact she h ad not thought of that at any time an d ,
s he had no such natural gift f or languages as would
have enabled her to master it without such a design .
From this school s he went to others where she ,
was taught what p eople must learn wi th thorough ,
ness and with an intelligence very different alike

from the Ol d fashioned methods of young ladies
-
’
establishments and from the hard mechanical

, ,
processes of the public schools She was made to .
feel an enlightened interest in her studies ; she

l i ked some of them very much and she respecte d ,
A
’
13 6 WO MAN S REA S ON .
’
hauer s ph i losophy already familiar to her through
,
the talk O f a premature Harvard man who rarely ,
talked of anything else But it never really came to

.
this ; Germ an literature presently took the form of

’
drama and after H el en s participation in a certain
,
number of German plays it yielded to the pleasing ,
dance Of the same name ; though n ot till it had

superseded Italian as well as French in her affections .
Dante of course on e must always respect but a fter

, , ,
Dante there was so little in Italian as compared

,
with German ! The soft throat from which the

southern vowels came so mellow roughed itself with
g utturals But this like music was only for a time
.
, , .
In the end Helen was always a girl of sen se She

, .
knew that she was n ot a German scholar any more ,
than a great performer and she would have sh runk

,
with astonished modesty from the n otion of putti n g

such acquirements as she had in either to practical
use She hid them away when her frenzy for them
.
,
was pas t as really so little that on e ought to be

,
ashamed O f them .
It was th e same with painting or A rt as she then -
called i t—in which it has already been represented

,
that she at on e time took a great interest She .
really liked it very m uch ; she had that feeling for

form and colour without w hich n o dressmaker can
enable a young lady to dress exquisitely and she ,
enj oyed form and colour in pai n ting But by and .
by as the class fanned i tself down to the grains

,
of wheat in its large measure of amiable and well
m eani ng chaff Helen found that her place was with

,
’
A WO M AN S REA S O N . 13 7
the chaf f It did not n eed the eye of the great

.
painter glancing with a humorous gleam from her

,
work at h er to teach her this ; she had felt it

,
before and she gave it up before she had con sp icu

,
ousl y disgraced herself She was always very glad

.
to have taken to it the attempt to paint for herself

had cl eared and defined her taste in pain ting an d ,
indefinitely enlarged the bounds of her knowledge

and enj oyment But it had n ot done anything more
.
,
and all that Helen had learnt and done had m erely
had the effect that was mean t : to leave her a
cultivated and agreeabl e girl with bright ideas on ,
all sorts of pleasant subj ects Sh e was as the s um .

,
ofit m erely and entirely a lady the most charming

, ,
thing in the world and as regards anything but

,
’
a lady s desti n y the most helpless .
’
It was the fact that Helen s li fe now seemed
wrenched and twisted so far from its rightfu l
destiny whi ch bowed Captain B utler over it in such
,
despair and which well might strike pity into the

,
hardiest beholder Her O ld friend saw n o h ope for

.
her but in the ch ance of there being something as ,
his wife suggested betwe en her and R obert Fenton

, .
Yet it was against this hope that Helen herself h ad

most strenuously steeled her heart She had n ot .
the least doubt Of R obert He was a gentlem an .

,
and he would take what she had written in the

right way She rested in such absolute faith in his
.
generosity that she shrank from the possibility of

,
abusing it as from something like sacrilege If .
R obert were that m oment to com e and ask her to

13 8 A WO M AN S REA S O N ’
.
m arry him S he would not take h i m till She had

,
fairly won him again ; and if when he had got her ,
letter and thought it all over he dec i ded that She

, ,
was too light and fl ipp an t a girl to trust with his

happiness she should kno w j ust how to take it
,
.
She should not blame him ; S he sh ould no t think

him less kind and true he should be none th e l ess
her hero In fact it seemed as if his willingness to
.
,
forget her folly would someho w mar the per fection

of her sel fsacri fic e
-
So while she clung the most

.
,
fondly to the though t of him it was with the ,
austerest readiness to give him up an d even a sort ,
of impatience W omen seldom reason it i s said ;

.
,
when they do so it must be owned th at it is with

,
’
passionate largeness The sum OfHelen s emotiona l
.
logic was that she must plan her f uture wi th as

much severity and seriousness as much will to venture ,
and to endure as i f there were n o R obert Fenton

, ,
or e ver had been in the world Her sole difficulty

,
.
was to imagine her future and to begin to imagine ,
it she mus t first escape fro m the affectionate restrain t

,
O f these kind friends O f hers She had no purpose .
more definite than that .
W hen she went from Mrs Butler to her ow n .
room the chamber did n ot seem spac i ou s enough

,
for t he tumul t i n her mind and now that she had ,
resolved to go up to Boston that afte rnoon and was , ,
as it w ere al ready in m otion the inertness O f the

, ,
place was intolerable She put on a wrap and a hat .

,
and stole out to he r accustomed place on the rocks .
It was a very still morning late i n September after ,

’
0 n o she said and paused n ot know i ng just

, , ,
what else to say .
“
The fact i s the E nglishman continued that I
, ,
had been calling with Mr R ay and he went back a .

,
moment and I stepped down here on the rocks

, ,
and Helen perceived th at he h ad taken in the

fact of her crapes visiting them with a g l ance o f
,
wistful pity as if he would like to s ay something fi t

,
and due about her bereavement But he only asked .

,
“
after his abrupt pause Have you been always w ell
.
,
”
since I saw you ?
She remembered R ay s praises of Lord R ainford
’
’
,
and would have l iked to put hersel f right with him .
She hated to have him thinking her fl ipp an t and

un feeling though she might have proved that it
,
was his faul t she h ad been so But she could th ink .
”
f
o nothing more than
“
Thank you to say ; an d
then she asked Have you been well ?
,
“ ”
O h very !
, an swered Lord R ainford “
my
”
A merican summer has quite se t me up .
This seemed to i mply that he had n ot been very

well when he came but Helen did n ot ask ,
She .
was thinking that when he should have a h eavier

moustache and a beard to th at feeble chin his face ,
and neck might be helped Of f a little but nothin g ,
could ever do anything for those shoulders She .
settled this in her mind before she said rathe r ,
“
absentl y ,
I am gl ad of that Y ou will b e goin g .
home soon I suppose she added from mere dearth

, , , ,
th ough it occurred to her th at this m i ght be set

.
down as an instance of the Yankee inqu i sitiveness .
that E nglishmen are always in quest of .

’
A WO MAN S REA S ON . 14 1
’
Yes ; I m going to sa i l to mo r row said Lord -
“
R ainford Your friends h ave promised to come
.
”
and se e me in E ngland .
They tol d me assen ted Helen , .
“
I m sure they owe me a revenge in that way
’
continued the young m an “

Mr R ay h as done . .
me no end of kindness In fact everybody s been .

’
’
most uncommonly kind I couldn t say eno ugh of .
it
“
I m glad you have enj oyed your stay here said
’
,
“
Helen W e A mericans are rather weak about our
.
country W e like people to like i t and take i t as a

.
,
person al favour when they d o I suppose none of .
” “
us she added does anything to set even the least
, ,
impo rtan t person in it before a stranger i n a false

”
light without feeling sorry
,
She examined Lord .
Rain ford s face for an instant before she dropped he r

’
eyes and saw it kindle with a delicate intelligence

, .
“ ” “
I wish he answered that I could be sure I
, ,
leave everybody in A mer i ca as well pleased with me

”
as I am with al l A merica .
”
Goo d bye said Helen ; we shall be m aking
,
international allusion s to the language of Shake

”
spear e and Milton in another minute .
”
“
NO said Lord R ain ford
,
“
it seems to m e you
’
don t care to do that any more Very c urio us he .
,
’
added I can t get the people I meet to say a good
word for their country They all seem ashamed of .
it an d abuse it no end
, ,
.
“
That s because they want you to praise it
’
suggested Helen .
142 A WO MAN S RE A S O N
’
.
’
A h but they won t l et you praise i t
,
They ll ’
”
let you j oin them in crying it down .
”
But you had better n ot .
A h yes very likely

,
I can t thi n k that a .
’
’
country where I ve met s o many nice people and ,
seen scarcely anything but order and com fort even

in these very bad times can be going to the dogs ; ,
but I can t get anybody here to agree with me — that

’
”
is in society I don t understand it
, .
’
.
”
I can t explain said Helen with a little smile
’
, , ,
‘
except by the settl ed O pposition to our institutions
which pervades the British
“
A h Chuzzl ewit I know But you ll excuse my
, .
’
saying that I think your institutions h ave changed

for the worse in this respect since Mr P ogram s time .
’
.
I think P ogram ism is be t ter than thi s other thing .

”
”
W hat o ther th in g ? asked Helen n ot a great ,
deal interested .
W hy this n ot talking ofA merica at all

,
I find .
y our people —your best people I s u ppose they are ,
very nice very intelligent very pleasan t— only talk

, ,
about E urope They talk about London an d about

.
,
Paris and about R ome ; there seems to be quite a

,
’
passion for I taly ; but they don t seem interested in
’
their ow n country I can t make it out I t isn t as
. .
’
if they were cosmopolitan that isn t quite the im ’
pression though — excuse my saying s o— they try to

,
give it They always seem to have been reading the

.
F ortn ightly and the Saturday Review and the Sp ectator , ,
and the Revue des Dear JlI on des and the last French ,
and E nglish books It s very odd Upon my word .

’
,
14 4 A WO MAN S R EA S ON
’
.
Y ou are very very ki nd Lord R ai n ford

, , ,
answered Helen steadily an d I thank you for ,
speaking O f it I kno w peopl e usually avoid speak

.
ing to others in —mourning — about it to spare them ;

but it s better to recognise it I like i t better than
’
”
trying to ignore i t .
I ve al w ays felt pursued Lord R ai nford that

’
, ,
I was painfully associated in your mind — I mean — I

d on t kno w —I hope you won t always think O f me
’ ’
’
as a particul arly disagreeable part of th at day s e x
”
p eri e n ce Lord R ainford
. still spoke with an awk
ward halt and hesitation but th e genuin e feeling ,
with which he seemed eager to leave H el en a better

impression dign ified hi s mann er If you won t .
’
“ ’
think it egotistical h e hasten ed to add ,
I ll s ay ,
that I believe I m rather a ser i ou s man at least I m

’ ’
a heavy on e and when I attempt anything el se I ,
I know I m disgusting —more disgusting than ordi

’
marily I w as shocked —I can t tell you how much I

.
’
was shocked — to think I had followed you u p almost

to the moment of that —inte lligence with imbecilitie s ,
that must have been a —in distressing contrast I

don t kn ow whether I make myself clear —whether
.
I ought to speak — 4
”
0 yes cried Helen touc hed at his assump ,
“
tion o f all the bl ame I m so glad you have spoken
’
.
ofthat if only f or the se l fish reason that it gives me

,
a chan ce to say how ashamed I am of my ow n part

in it . I never th ought of yours — this was n ot
quite true b ut we cannot be very gen erous and quite
,
true at the same time — “

bu t it was th e th ought of
. 1 45
my ow n fri vol i ty that sometimes h elped to make

what followed so hard to he ar I was very rude .
“ ” “
0 no no ! ans w ered the young man
,
Y ou .
’
said nothing but what I richly deserved If you d .
only said more I should have liked it much better

—afterwards But what I want you to think is
,
.
,
that I shouldn t h ave done so badly perhaps if I d

’
, ,
’
been acting quite naturally or in my own character , .
That is
“ “ ” ’
I m a fraid said Helen th at I can t ask you to
’
, ,
think that I was acting out Of my character— or all

ofmy characters : I seem to have s o many
” ’
Yes i nterrupted Lord R ain ford that s what I
, ,
”
meant .
“
It seems to me that it was only too m uch like
on e of mine — the on e I m most ashamed of You ’
.
”
will have a pleasant time to cross Lord R ainford , ,
she added and took away her hand

,
.
“ ’ ”
W ell I don t know said the other accepti n g
, , ,
the close O f this passage O f their interview and ,
answe ri ng from the conscientiousness i n talk which

'
serves the E nglish so well instead of conventio na l

politeness and is n ot so pleasant
,
there are ap t to ,
be gales at this season you know ,

.
“ ”
0 yes yes ! returned Helen a little vexed at
, ,
“
h erself Gales yes But I was thinking of the
.
, .
”
equi noctial storm being past They say it s past now .
’
.
“ ’ “
I m a good sailor said Lord R ainford I ,
.
think I sh al l take a run over again n ext year ,

.
“
You ve not got enough of Am erica in three
’
mo n ths
.
No ”
’
I h ope i t hasn t got too much of me
. .
He looked at Helen as if h e expected her to s ay

something civil on the part of her hemisphere But .
she refused to b e the national voice except ve ry ,
evas ively .
O h we ought to b e flattered that people care to

,
”
come back .
Y ou know said Lord R ainford that I ve seen

, ,
’
al most nothing of the country ye t I ve not even .

’
been in W as hington an d I want to s ee Chicago an d ,

”
San Francisco Helen did not say that she could
.
not understand why and Lord R ainford went ,
“ ’
on I d only a few weeks in Canada yo u
know before I came down to O rchard Beach —I
.
,
think they cal l it—wi th some Montreal people and ,

’
then I came to Boston and I ve been about Boston ,
and N ewport ever sinc e People have been extra .
ordinarily kind I couldn t really get away an d as .

’
,
I m going away rath er prem aturely n ow I must come

’
,
”
back .
From this outl i ne of h i s experi en ce Helen kn ew ,
quite accurately all its details She co uld have .
told j ust what had happened to him at N e w po rt ,
going thither with Boston introdu ctions wh at lawn ,
parties lunches and dinners had been made for

, ,
him and in whose carriage he had first d ri ven to th e

,
polo grounds He had been perhaps once at the . .
Town and Country Club ; and he had been a good

deal at the bathing beaches alth ough early as sured -
that n obody bathed there any more and the Man ,

~
hattan Yacht Club had sail ed him over all the neigh !
1 48
’
hi s plump expression s O f crude op i n i on professed ,
rather to like his frankness They said that there .
was something in his bear i ng— a simplicity a d i rect ,
ness an unconsciousness w hich showed the advan

,
-
tage of a standard of manners The fact that you .
might O ften thi nk him at first glance the most , ,
plebeian looking pe rson in company showed his ex

-
traordi n ary qualities of race the persistence thro ugh ,
s o m any hundred years O f the ancestral traits , ,
which in the attrition of a democratic society

,
like our own must have been obliterated l ong

ago w as held to be a pecul iar triumph O f a ri sto
,
cratic civilisat i on O ne accomplished gentleman .
had proved himself much better versed in the

R ainford pedigree than L ord R ainford himself .
" Talked to me about my great grandmother said -

”
,
“
the n obl eman afterwards to R ay and my maiden ,
”
step aunts -
Good bye said Helen once m ore and nodding

-
, , ,
she turned a w ay and went down the rocks , .
Lord R ainford bowed and said good bye too ,

-
, ,
following her with his eyes but n ot otherwise pur ,
suing her .
“ ’
You re back soo n he said to Mr R ay when , .
,
the latte r presently j oined him .
A t Salem that afternoon he came into the car

where H elen sat The place beside h er was the .
only vacant on e and he stood leaning against the

,
seat wh ile he expl ained th at he had been le ft by his

train at that station in the m orn ing He l oo ked as .
i f he would like to be asked to take the vacan t seat ,

’
Helen t h ough t but she was perturbe d and pre occu

pied she could not endure the thought oftalking all
,
the way to Boston and she made no sign of invita ,
tion She was sorry but she coul d n ot help it He

.
, .
hesitated an instant and bidding her good bye once ,

-
more said he was going for w ard into the smoking

,
car and she did not S e e him again

,
.
She went first to the post office where she had never -
been before and which was so vast and looked s o hur

, ,
ried an d careless with those throngs ofpeople sweep

ing through its corridors that s he began to question ,
.
whether it could be sa fely intrusted with a lette r

for R obert Through on e of the windows opening
.
i n the long fa cade ofglass above the stretch ofbrass -
drawers which people were unlocking and locking

,
up all about she saw a weary looking clerk toss a

, ,
-
l ittle package into the air for relax ation and then ,
throw it i nto a distant corner and she thought wi th ,
a shudder what if that had been her letter an d it

,
-
had sl i pped under somethi n g and been lost I B e

sides now that she had come to the post otfice S he
,
-
did not kno w in which of the many letter holes t o -
trust and she studied the neigh bouring inscri ptions

,
without being able to make up her mind A t last .
S he asked an ol d gen tleman who was unlocking his ,
box and he showed he r ; she feigned to drop her

,
letter according to his instructions but waite d till he ,
went away and then asked the clerk at the nearest

,
window He confirmed the statement of the O ld

.
gentleman and Helen had almost allo w ed her letter

,
to go when she bethough t herself to say to the

150 WO M AN S REA S ON
’
A .
clerk that i t w as to the care of the N avy Depart

m ent .He smiled — sarcastically Helen fancied
,
and said it was quite the same thing Then she .
dedicated a final blush to the act and posted her

,
letter and found herself q uite at a dista n ce from the

,
post office walking g i ddily along with a fluttering

-
, ,
heart full ofdelicious shame She was h orrified to

.
think she h ad done it and s o gl ad i t was done

,
.
’
place for some on e el se an d that they w ere far from ,
imagin i ng her erra n d to be on her own behalf They .
saw in her an amiab le young l ady interestin g her ,
self for some one who was out of town perhaps an d ,
wished to come in for the winter I t cost Helen more .
to se t them right than she could have believed the

first steps down w ard in the world are not so pain ful ’
from the surprise of your e q ual s as from that of ‘
people on the level to which you descend .
“
It s for myself that I want the rooms said
’
,
“ ”
Helen an d both the Miss A mys s aid O h ! and
,
then were silent till Helen asked if they could

,
recommend her to some good place where she could

find both board and lodging under the same roof .
The Miss A mys thought a while A l l the neighbour .
i ng p l aces were very large boarding houses and the -
,
’
company very promiscuous I don t th i nk you woul d .
”
l i ke it Miss H arkness said the younger Miss A my
, , .
’
“
I m afraid it isn t a question of What I shall like
’
,
” “ ’
any more said Helen bravely
,
It s necessary .
that I should econom i se and if I can get a room ,

”
there cheapl y I must not be fastidious
, .
”
“
O h 1 said the younger Miss A my a little more
expressively than be fore .
” “
Still continued the young girl I shoul d like i t
, ,
better i f I coul d find some place where there were

”
n ot many other boarders .
The elder Miss A my l ooked at the younger with

a blankness for w hi ch the glare of her spectacles
“
was m ainly responsibl e and asked
-
H ow would , ,
’ ”
Mrs Hewitt s do 2
.
’
A WO MAN S REA S O N . 15 3
Mrs Hew i tt s m igh t do assented th e you n ger

.
’
sister .
“
Her rooms are good and the Smileys liked ,
her table B ut Miss Harkness would find it very

.
’ ”
different from wh at she s been used to She .
seemed to add t his caution with a certain i n d efin

able i nsinuation that the cha n ge might be a use ful
,
lesson .
“
O h no doubt ,
said Helen “
but I shall n ot
, ,
m ind if,
It s quite a proper pl ace in every way continued

’
,
“
the younger Miss A my and the neighbourhood ,
unexceptionable If you can get the use of th e

.
parlour to se e your friends i n it woul d be des i r ,

”
able.
’
“
You won t keep all your acquaintance she ,
added ,
but some will remain true We reta i ned .
all that we wished .
”
Yes said Helen dri l y not choosing that Mi ss
, ,
A my should assume the ir equality in that fashion .
The Miss A my s had i n fact declined to their , ,
present statio n from no great social eminence ,
but the former posi tion had been gro w ing in dis
tinction ever sin ce they l ost it and they had so ,
long been spoken of as such gentlewomen that ”

,
they had come to look back upon it as somethi n g

quite commanding and there was a note of warning
’
for Helen in the younger Miss A my s remark as if ,
all persons must not expect to be so fortunate as

“ ”
they. I should like said the young girl w i t h ,
som e state l iness very much to see Mrs Hewitt

, . .
W ill you g i ve me her address 2

’
A WO MA N S REA S ON .
I will write it cards said Miss

on on e Of our ,
A my who found with difficulty in a portable writ

, ,
ing desk on the table a card in scribed with Tim

-
Misses Amy in the ne at pe ncilling of a profess ional

card writer The reception room ofthese ladies w as
-
.
-
respectable in threadbare brussel s and green reps ; ,
a fire ofE nglish cannel coal in the grate seemed to , ,
have been a long time laid and the lumps of coal ,
would have been the better for dusti n g The house .
was clean but it had the dusty smell which small

, ,
city houses have at the end of summer before their

furnace fires are lit and Helen had found the Miss
,
A mys not such n ice Miss A mys as she h ad thought

them in former days when she had come to their ,
house to call u po n some friends there W hen the .
c ard was inscribed with Mrs Hew i tt s address she .

’
,
rose to re ce i ve it .
She felt strangely depressed and the te ars came ,
i nto her eyes as she pulled down her veil and

hurried away She had packed a bag before
.
l ea vi ng Beverley w ith the purpose Of not going

,
back that night for she had n ot thought but that

,
she should go at once to the Miss A mys an d had ,
resisted all entreaties that she would return an d tell

the Butlers about it She would not have gone to
.
the Miss A mys n ow on any account and yet s he fel t ,
somehow hurt at not finding their house open to her

in the way she had imagined She had a co w ardly .
sati sfaction in thinking that S he could easily get the

s ix O cl ock train to Beverley after s he had seen Mrs
’
.
Hewitt .
’
15 6 A WO M AN S RE A S O N .
Do you want more than on e room ?

”
O no I only want one .
The l andlady preceded Helen up the st ri pe of

linen that covered hal f the narrow carpeting on the
“ ”
cramped staircase Parlour she anno unced on
.
,
arriving at the first landing as she thre w O pen th e ,
door of a large room furnished i n much worn brown -
plush Goes with the rooms on this floor ; I always

.
let e m on suit N ow if you wanted anything on

’
.
,
suit
I only want on e room and I don t care for a

,
’
private parlour said Helen

, .
The landlady glanced up the next flight of stairs .
That whole floor is let to one family—l ady and

gentl eman and little boy—and then there s only a ’
”
r oom on the top floor besides said Mrs Hewi tt , . .
’ ”
I ll lo ok at i t please said Helen and followed
, , ,
the landlady up The room had a pretty bed and

.
bureau i t w as very neat and it was rather spacious

, .
f ‘Is there any on e else on this floor 1” asked Helen

,
feeling sure that the cook and second girl must be -
h er neighbours .
The landlady pushed O pen the door across the

“
l i ttle passage way
-
.There s an ar t studen t i n thi s
’
-
room she said

,
.
Art s tu d e n t ? gasped Helen .
“ ”
Young lady from N ashua said the landlady , .
”
O h l c ri ed Helen remembering with relief that
'
art students in our time and country are qui te as apt

-
to be ofon e sex as another and think i ng with a smile

,
that she had been surpr i sed n ot to smell tobacco as

A WO MA N S REA S ON ’
. 15 7
soon as Mrs Hewitt had sa i d art student

. She re -
.
“
fl e cte d that she had once been an art s tud en t herself ,
and wondered what the sketches of the young lady

fro m N ash ua were like W hat would be the price .
”
O f this room 2
The landlady leaned again st the side of the bed .
”
Seven dollars she said in an exper i mental ton e
, .
I used to get my ten and twelve dollars for it righ t ,
after the w ar .
“
I will take it sai d Helen who found i t much , ,
l ess than she feared “

An d I should like to come
”
at once .
T o n ight l asked the landlady look i ng at Helen

’
-
, .
’
Yes i fthe room s ready
O h the room s ready But —d i d you bring a
.
,
’
.
trunk
I forgot It s at the stat i on I can send for i t
’
. .
0 yes the express is right round the corner

,
from here Y ou j ust give e m your check But you

.
’
.
’
better n ot lose any time They re late sometimes .
,
”
any way .
Very well sa i d Helen childishly pleased at

, ,
“
having transacted the business so successfully I .
will take the roo m from t o day and I will pay you ,
”
for the first week n ow .
Ju s t as you please said Mrs Hewitt ,

. .
“
Helen drew out her porte monn aie and said Th e -
, ,
”
Miss A mys can tell you abou t me .
“
O h that s all right
,
answered Mrs Hewitt
’
,
.
,
politely She had perh aps been perplexed to know

.
how S he should hint anyth i ng about reference s to

’
th i s young lady who took an attic room w i th suc h a .
high and mighty air The ir card was suffi cient

. .
W hen Helen came back from her errand to the

express office and went to her room she l aid aside
, ,
her things and made herself at home in i t She did .
n ot know in the least what he r lif e was to be there

but she felt that this whatever it was n ot w as
, ,
escape and independence an d beginning A rapid ,

.
calculation had show n her that her payment of

seven dollars a week wo uld n ot encro ach much u pon
her capital and somehow she would earn enough
,
money to meet her other expenses She could n ot .
s i t still s he rose and opened her closet and found it
deep and convenient ; she p ulled out the bureau

drawers and they were very s w eet and cl ean Sh e
, .
discovered a li ttl e cupboard wit h shelves Where she

thought she would put her books The room was .
very complete there was even a hook in th e ceili ng

by the window where some on e must have hung a
bird cage Helen w as happy w ithout accusing her
-
.
,
sel f for the first time since her father d i ed She

, .
smiled to herself at her landlady s queerness and w as ’

,
glad as young people are to be housed along with a

, ,
character She wondered how the art student looked

.
-
and who the family could be A t the sound of the .
tea bell she felt the emotion ofa healthful hunger

-
There was a dish O f cream toast very hot and ,
fragrant hotter and more fragrant still there w a

, s a ,
dish of oysters delicately stewed and flavoured in

,
a plated basket in the centre of the table w as a

generous stack o f freshly sliced lady cake “
Fro m -
.
.
W ithout definite aims as yet for the future ,

she
fancied that she shoul d try to be Wholly of her pre

sent world and ign ore that in which she used to live
,
.
A lready she felt alien to it s o far as to wish that the

Butlers would n o t sen d people to call on her n or ‘
come much the m

,
selves She kne w that she could.
adapt herself to her circumstances but she dreaded ,
the pain oftheir i nabil ity to realise her in them and ,
felt that their unhappiness about her would be more

than she could bear She planned a geographical
.
limit within which she could live a long time and

not meet any on e whom S he had known and s he ,
resolved n e x t d ay to b egin her exploration of he r

.
solitude The dark gathered into the room and the

.
,
window showed a black frame against the sky b e fore '
she thought of lightin g her gas She was shaking .
her m atch out as women do when a light tap at her

, ,
door standing ajar startled her and then the door ,
was pushed open and the fi gure ofa tall girl stood
,
on the t hreshold
“
Miss R oot : Miss Harkness I
.
,
believe said the figure

,
W ill you lend me a match
.
,
”
please ! I waited for you to light your gas so as
to be sure you had matches before I bothered you .
’
It s such a long j ourney do w n stairs -
Helen smiled in her mo st r adiant way and got ,
the matches saying as she held the m forward

, ,
”
W on t you come in please ?
’
,
“
NO I thank you
,
said Miss R oot taking on e
, ,
“
match only I begin badly But you won t find
. .
’
me a great borrower Have you got eve rythin g you

.
want in your room 1

. 16 1
“ ”
Y e s, everything I believe said Hele n sweep , , ,
i ng it wi t h a comprehensive gl ance .
You ll find Mrs Hewitt pretty pro m pt You

’
. .
won t have anything to co m plain of unless you mind

’
,
being talked to death Good — night and drawing .

,
”
the door to after her Miss R oot returned to her ow n ,
room .
Before she slept Helen heard th e street door O pen ,
and shut and then voices ascendi n g to the third

,
’
floor : a lady s voice and a gentleman s v oice and a
’
, ,
’
sleepy little boy s voice .
“
W ell this is the l ast t i me we shall take T om to
the th eatre said the lady s vo i ce —the voice of
,
” ’
spent nerv es .
“ ” “ ’
Yes said th e gentleman s voice
,
W e shall .
”
confine ourselves to the circus after this T om , .
C i rcuses are the best any way said the child s , ,

’
voice .
“ ’ ”
Hush ! Don t speak so l cried the lady .
W hy they are mamma in sisted the boy

, , , .
This is a question of m orals n ot of opinions , ,

”
T om Y ou re n ot to prefer
’
, said the father .
”
circuses when they re inflicted as a punishment ’
.
They had now reached the ir door as it appeared

.
, ,
for a light flashed into the hall below as from gas
turned u p .
The lady s voice was heard again ’

His forehead s ’
burning hot ! I f that child should have a fever

Here feel his forehead
,
” ’
Forehead s all right ! responded the heavier
voice .
’
.
I shall g i ve h i m three of aconite P) cri ed t h e

la d y.
“
Give him three thousand but put him to b ed
, ,
assen ted the gentleman .
W ill you shut the door ? impl ored the l ady .
”
W aking the whole house 1
’
“
I haven t refused my dear said the g en tleman :
, ,
W hy do you al w ays
The doo r cl osed expressively and m t as Helen
, , ,
’ “ ”
fancied by the gentleman s hand
,
The B raus es .
,
sl i c inferred She fell asleep wondering ifshe could

.
“
indeed be the same girl who had talked that mo rning

to Lord R ainford on the rocks at Beverle y .
’
16 4 A WO MAN S REA S ON .
“
pocket that I found slipped under my door th i s
,
morning It makes a personal appeal to me in the

.
,
name of the Comm onwealth of Massachusetts to ,
to become your trustee O f course it s very fl atte r .

,
’
’
ing and all that b ut I d much rather not You
,
.
must allow me to resign Mrs Hewitt I never ,

.
did understand business ve ry well an d ,
How d they ever get into this hous e without my

’
kn ow i ng it ? That s what I should like to find ’
out said Mrs Hewitt gazing absently at the paper

.
,
wh i ch Mr E vans had given her

. .
“”
W h at does it mean I he asked .
Pshaw cried his landla d y Y ou don t s ay .

’
you n ever was trusteed before 2 And boarded r ound

”
as much as you have I
Trusteed 1 Is i t so common a thing as to have

a parti cipial form 1 Then I needn t have any scruples ’
”
about resigning ?
Mrs Hewitt broke i nto a laugh
. R esigning .
’ ”
Bless you you can t resign There s n o such thing
, .
’
.
Gracious powers N ot resign an O ffice for whic h

I don t feel mysel fcompetent
’
O h come n ow 1 you know very well what it is

, ,
.
”
It s them curtains said Mrs Hewitt pointing to the
’
, .
,
green and gol d trimm e d sh ades

- - ‘
.
Mr E vans rose and curiously exam i ned the

.
shades ; his boy also slipped down out o f his ch air ,
and j o ined in th e i nspection .
Thomas who gave you leave to quit the table ?

,
Come back 1 cried Mrs E vans ”

. .
” “
My dear l expostulated her husband the child ,
. 16 5
very n aturally w is he s to se e what sort of w i ndow

shade it is that thrusts an irre sign abl e office of
honour and profit upon his father Look care fully .
,
Tom R egard the peculiar i ty of the texture ; the

.
”
uncommon tone of the colours .
“
O h psha w Mr E vans ! You stop
,
exclaimed
,
.
“
Mrs Hewitt
. W hen they sent i n their bill I
.
,
’ ’ ’
told em twas too m uch and I shouldn t pay it ,
.
’
I didn t believe they d really go s o far as to trustee ’
me .
“
But w h at does it me an Mrs Hew i tt ? asked ,
.
’
Mrs E vans
. I don t believe Mr E van s knows any
. .
”
more than the rest of us .
“
W hy Mrs E vans it mean s just this that your
, ,
’
husband isn t to pay me any board till this bill i s
’
settled and if he does he s l i able for it himsel f
, ,
.
’
I presume they ll be trusteein all of you I shall ’
.
h ave to pay it n ow .
Is that the law ? demanded Mrs E vans It . .
’
makes on e long for a de l inquent debtor ofone s ow n ’
.
So s i mple yet so e ffecti ve , .
“
W ell you have it to say said Mrs Hewitt
, ,
.
,
surprisingly littl e ruffled by the i n cident that you

“
,
”
n ever Was trusteed in my house before .
“ ”
I certainly h ave that to say admitted Mr , .
E vans “ ’
I m sorry on your account that I can t resign
.
’
my trusteeship and I m sorry on my ow n that it s

’
’
,
such a very sordid a f fair I never happened to be .
appointed to O ffice before and I was feeling rather ,
proud ofthe confidence reposed in me .
They all r ose from the table together and Helen ,

’
wen t up s ta i rs with the Evan ses She and Mrs E van s . .
exchanged a few words on the way and stopped on ,
the first landing to glance i nto the large parlour Mr . .
E vans came after bestriding his boy w ho n ow had

, ,
hold of both his fore fin ge rs— like a walking Colossus

of R hodes He flung open the parlour door which
.
,
stood aj ar in Mrs Hewitt s m anner

,
“
Goes with
.
’
.
the rooms on this floor ; I always let e m on sui t ’

,
n ow if you wanted anything on sui t

,
He looked
Helen for sympathy and she laughed ,
.
”
Y e s I kno w
,
she said , .
’
Mrs Hewitt won t like your jok i ng her so much
.
,
said his wife .
’
She won t know it if I do it beh i nd her b ack , .
A nd she seems to enj oy it to her face .
D o you think she liked your com i ng out about

”
that t rusteeing 1
“ ’
She didn t mind it But I h ave i t on my con .
scien ce to tell Miss Harkness that Mrs Hewitt is .

,
for all I kno w a very just person — and that I m

,
’
surprised she let those shade people get the advan -
tage of her She has a passion like all landladies

.
, ,
for single gen tlemen She i dealises them I am .

,
afraid There haven t been any single gentlemen

.
’
in the house since we came here two years ago , .
W e sometimes fancy that h er preference is founded

upon her experience of Mr H ewitt as a married .
”
gentleman which was probably unpleasant
,
.
“
Is — is she a widow ? H elen ventured to Mrs .
E vans .
W hy not exactly sa i d Mrs E van s

, ,
. .
’
Helen i n ferred that he was some sort oflitera ry man .
She woul d n ot si t down again but p aid a frosty little ,
net work ofcompliments to the souvenirs oftravel that

-
she s aw upon the tables and wall s ; s he praised the
balcony on which on e O f the windows O pened and ,
she smiled upon the flowers with which Mrs E van s .
had filled it In fin e She guarded her distance with

.
the s ki ll that had kept the acqua i ntance at a stan d

still and yet le ft it resumable on more cordial term s
,
at will O ne i s of one s world after all ; and even

.
’
in resign i ng her world as she thought she had done

, ,
Helen had n ot yet made up her m ind to be of a

lower on e .
She h ad prom i sed to go down to Beverl ey on the

m orrow an d tell her friends what she had done as
, ,
the condition of their letting her come up to Boston

at all on that wild enterprise of hers ; and though
she would have been glad no t to go s he kept her ,
word But it w as really not s o hard meeting them

.
as she had feare d Mrs Butler w as forbeari ng and

. .
,
Maria n was preoccupied ; the younger girls saw it

some w hat as Helen did and thought i t an env i able
,
adventure She told the m al l that had happened in

.
detail and made them laugh

,
She partly drama .
tise d her intervie w w i th the Miss A mys and they ,
sa i d i t was perfectly delightful to think of H el en

being patronised by such people They wanted to .
s ee Mrs Hewitt and the fellow boarders they

.
,
-
wished that somebody would trustee th eir mother ;

they sai d that th e life Helen was lead ing was fas
cin atin g .
. 1 69
’
Perh aps you wouldn t find i t so f ascinat i ng if
you were obliged to le ad it said Mrs Butler ,
. .
“
Helen leads it and she finds it fascinat i ng
, .
Helen leads it out of the hardness ofher h eart ,

” ’
because her friends don t wish her to returned Mrs ,
.
Butler fondly .
“
Mrs Butler ! R emember your prom i se ! said
.
Helen
I hOp e you l l r emember yours my dear —
.
’
to , ,
come back to us .
“
O h ! An d what are you going to do Helen ? ,
Wh at are you going to do for a li ving ? demanded

Jessie Butler .
’
“
Jessie cried her mothe r Don t be ab surd .
Do for a living
’
I hope you won t think it absurd Mrs Butler , .
,
“
sai d Helen with serious d ignity for I really want
, ,
”
to do something for a l iving .
Poor child ! said Mrs Butler getting Helen s

”
.
,
’
h and between hers and tenderly smooth i ng i t ,

.
”
W hat could you d o ?
I don t kno w what yet But I kn o w I could do
’
.
’
something She fel t d ispirited by Mrs Butler s
. .
motherly ki ndness and would have liked to take ,
her h and away This was what S he had dreaded

.
,
this feeling on the part of such friend s as the Butlers

that anything useful an d practical was impossible to
her F or the moment this feeling seemed all that
.
stood between her and a prosperous ca ree r of self

help ; it unnerved her so terribly
Do tell us what you ve b een th i nk i ng oftry i ng ’
,
.
pe r sisted Jess i e She was the youngest and s h e

.
,
ventured on almost as great freedoms w i th her

mother and H elen as Marian hersel f did .
“
O h I thought over a great m any things as I
,
”
came down this morning answered Helen But I , .
’
haven t settled upon anything yet Indeed i nd e ed .
, ,
“ ” ’
Mrs Butler ! she excl ai med
. I m very much in ,
’
earnest about i t and don t try to discourage me , ,
”
please !
I won t dear ! Mr Butler assented sooth i ngly
’
,
”
s .
,
as i f Helen were a sick child and must be humoured ,
in her little fancies .
”
How would plain sewing do 2 suggested Jess i e .
O r W anted by a young lady to have the care of

, ,
small children where she would be received as on e

,
O f the fam ily n o objection to the country ; wage s n ot

s o much of an O bj ect as permanent home address ,
H H Transcript O ffice ?
. .
,
They l aughed at thi s Helen forlorn ly and h elp ,
lessly with the rest They could not realise her .
ambition and they did n ot believe in her necessity

,
Mrs Butler because sh e felt that all Helen need

.
really do w as to go to E urope w i th her and retu rn ,
t o marry R obert Fenton as soon as h e coul d get

leave to come home ; th e young girls because they
had n o experience O f life and could not imagi ne ,
Helen s case They were merry about her proj ects

’
.
all th rough lunch and H elen herself felt that she ,
was behaving very ri dicul ously in pretending to be

a n ythi n g but the well taken care Of youn g lady that - - -
she had always been The world which she had .

’
A WO MAN S REA S ON .
I can t draw ’
’
Drawi ng s the very last thing that s wanted for
’
’
art pottery Say that you l l drive over with us and
-
.
select the shapes

You must first begi n with a bean pot like that -
“ ”
pretty little Mrs Gay said Je ssie Butler . Y ou , .
ought to have heard her tal k about it : s o colonial ,

”
s o in character with Beverley ! The young girl gave
the ton e and the languish She decorated i t with
a flo w ering bean ; they say she thought that w as the
’ ’
kind they baked Perhaps you ll find that they ve
.
begun to gi ve b ean pots an aesthetic shape Mi ss -
Harkn ess s bean pots will become the fashion W e

’
-
shall have a course of bean s in the i r n ative ea rthen

ware at dinners and when the p ot comes in every
, , ,
body will put on their p i uce uez and crane over and , ,
‘
ask I s that a Harkn ess Mrs Jones .
, ,
N o n o ! I can t go with you ! c rie d Helen ;

’ ”
“ ”
I m going back to Boston this aftern oon
’
.
They all protested but Helen stood firm , ,
feeling that it was her one ch ance for life or for ,

.
making a l i v i ng If she was ever to put in force

.
her resolutions to be som ethi ng and to do someth i ng ,
she could n ot get away too soon from an atmosphere
i n whi ch no on e n ot even hersel f could regard them

, ,
seriously It w as a trying ordeal this p i ty of Mrs

.
, .
Butler s and this j ocose i ncredulity of the young

’
girls ; yet as H elen rode back to town she was more ,
and m ore satisfied that there was something possible

and practical i n Marian s suggestion S h e r ecal led ’
.
some p retty shape s of pottery which s he h ad seen

’
in a s hop W indo w and w hi ch seemed to h e r more

-
stupidly decorated than anyth i ng she could do i f she

did her worst They were there on sal e and some
.
,
body had been paid for doing them or expected to ,
be paid for it The conclusion from the premises

.
w as irresistible and Helen found hersel f impatient

,
to arrive and begin work She could re ally dra w .
very prettily though she had denied her gift ; she

,
was even a cleve r copy i st but S he knew that she

lacke d the imagi nat i ve impulse and she had n ot ,
cared for wh at she could d o because so many others ,
could do it as well .
A s soon as she left the train she hastened to th i s

shop where besides the decorated pots and vases
, , ,
she had seen a good many uncontaminated examples
O f th e Beverley ware She was vexed to find the .
place already closed and She could hardly wait for

,
the morning .
She hurried from her breakfast to th e shop i n the

morning ; when her purchase came home and she ,
unpacked i t on her bed !the largest and safest surface

i n her room ) she cowered a little to see it s o great
,
i n quantity She blushe d to find herself m akin g

.
such an ambitious b eginning and though five dollars ,
had seemed a great deal to spend she wished for the

'
moment that it had n ot bought quite so much But .
this was foolish ; of course she must spoil some of

the designs and since she was going to try a var i ety
,
of decoratio n s she should want a variety of j ars

, .
She set them all on the shelf of her closet whic h ,
she locked ; she folded up the wrapping paper and -

‘
17 4 A WO M AN S RE AS ON .
tucked i t away she even concealed the string ; and

after putting on her hat and veil for the street she ,
had to si t do w n and have a paroxysm of guilty con

ore she co uld summon courage to go
sci ousn e ss be f
ou t on her next errand .
She was going to a S hop where they sold ar tis ts ’
materials to get her colours and to p i ck up any hints

, ,
they could give her there about her work They .
were not personally very well informed but they ,
sold her se veral little books which had keramic

designs in them an d which would tell her all sh e
,
wished to kn ow After she had bought them S he

.
,
though t them rather poverty stricken in their pat -
terns and as she p asse d a print shop w i ndow sh e

'
saw that pretty serie s of engravings illustrative of ,
the old fable of the storks and the bab i es ; and the
keramic fitness of storks at once struck her The .
pr i nts were rather expensive and Helen thought ,
that she could n ot get on without the whole se t .
Then as the matter devel oped in her m i nd a great

, ,
idea occurred to her : Fl ax m an s illustrations of ’
Homer They were o f course the only things to

.
copy in th e classic shapes The book cost more than

.
s he supposed it would but as she m eant to stop

,
with that she believed she might a fford it and at

, ,
any rate she bought i t She was afraid to l ook the

.
whole sum in the face at fi rst but he r h opes rose ,
with her rapid walk homew ard and she finally con ,
fronted the fifteen dollars w ith serene courage .
The next three weeks were given to v ery ardent

i f not very diligent labour Helen had an insuper .
17 6 A WO M AN S RE AS O N
’
.
S h e had many alte rnating moods of exal tati on

an d despa i r while upon this work but when it was ,
all done and the pots s e t ou t in a fair row on her

,
window shelf and she retired a pace or two with her

-
pencil at her lip to get their entire effect she could ,
not but ow n that they seemed very successful A t .
that distance certain defects of drawing —such as

that which gave Penelope bearing the b ow rather a
pert and mincing look — and other blemishes were
subdued but even when taken up severally and
,
scrutinised merely at arm s length the vases bore

’
,
“
the ordeal of critical inspection very well A nd .
” “
n o on e ,
thought Helen will ever look at them
,
more severely than I have .
She sank into her chair which she drew up i n

,
front of her work and i ndulged a long reverie In

, .
this she dramatised he r appearance at on e of those

charming shops where they deal in such thi n gs ; she
s e t littl e scenes in which the proprietors called on e
another u p to look at her vases ; and she dialogued

their compliments and her ow n evasive acceptance of
them . They ended by ask i ng ve ry respectfully if
she could not be persuaded to e mploy a part of her
l eisure i n do i ng someth i n g of the kind for them ;

an d on her reply i ng that these were f or sale they ,
had instantly offered her a price for them that passed

her wildest hopes ; that seemed so m uch too much ,
indeed that she insisted upon abating something

,
from it Struck by th i s n obleness i n her they had

.
,
conversed i n low tones together ; and then the sen i or

member O f the firm had confessed that they had
17 7
’
A WO MAN S RE A S ON .
some hes i tation in aski ng her to design certa i n friezes

whic h they were to do for a cottage at N ewport and ,
their admiration for her work must be the ir excuse

i f they were proposing something qui te out O f the
way ; but they begged her to remember that two
ladie s i n London had taken up d ecorative arch i
tecture as a profession and they trusted they were
,
n ot wrong Then H elen had replied O no indeed !

.
, ,
She was only too m uch fl atte re d by their confidence

in her and she would be very glad to think i t over ;
,
all that she feared w as that she would not be ab l e

to meet their expectation ; at which they had laughed ,
and said they had no such fear and had drawn her a ,
check for her vases and had added a few hundreds

,
as a sort ofretainer in the matter O f the friezes A t .
this point Helen broke from her reveries w ith W hat“
silly silly nonsense

,
W hat a simp l eton I am
W hile she was in good humour with them S he ,
resolved to pack her vases in the basket that she had
got for that purpose and when each was care fully
,
wrapped and put in she l aughed to find the basket

, ,
looking like that ofan Old J e w who used to come to

the kitchen door to sell Bohemian glass when she ,
w as a child The matter of transportation was on e

.
that she did not consider till the nex t mo rning when ,
it flashed upon her that she could n ot go carrying

that basket about She must dri ve and though
.
,
th i s did not accord with her severe ideas O f economy ,
she had to ow n that s he had been rather l avish i n
her preparation s for work and that i t would b e ,
foolish to try n ow to scrimp at an impossi ble point .
M
17 8 A WO M AN S RE A S O N’
.
She would take a c oup e by the hour and perhaps .
get i t cheaper if she had it several hours ; though

,
when she wen t ou t for the carriage sh e found the ,
dr i ver inflexible and she had to take it at the usual

,
’
rate She bade him drive her to Mrs H ewitt s door
. .
,
and she wanted him to go up with her and carry

down her basket but he seeing her a S ingle defence ,
less woman boldly answered that he could not leave

,
his horse ; and Helen i ndignant and trembl ing for , ,
her secret was forced to bring i t down herself

, .
’
Happily Miss R oot had gone out ; the Evan se s door
,
was closed an d she encountered Mrs Hewitt ne i ther .
in going u p n or in coming down W hen she lifted .
the basket on the carriage seat s he was out of

breath but exultant at her escape and with unbroken
, ,
courage she ordered the driver to go to the address

given him But i t n ow occurred to her that she
.
could n ot lug that great h amper across a crowded

pavement i nto a shop door an d she must sell her -
wares by sample She employed the d rive in tak ing

.
out the best of the stork vases ; one of t he most

characteristic Fl ax m an s an d the blac kberry and
bird banded j ar She scarcely dared lo ok at them
-
now but as S he gathered them to her bosom with

,
one h and While she caught up her skirt w i th the

,
other to alight from the coup e it was with quite as ,
much hope as fear that her heart palpitated against

those classic shapes She pulled down her veil how .
,
ever for she knew th at she was blushing violently

, ,
and when she stepped u p on the ground she found

'
herself giddy .
’
gratef ul f or his pra i se of the others th at she would

wi ll i ngly have allowed this to be a disgraceful
failure.
Have you ever done anyth i ng of this kind b e

f ore asked the dealer .
”
N O replied Helen
,
.
”
“
Very re markable said the dealer He h ad se t
,
.
the vases back on the shelf again and n ow gazed at ,
“
them somewhat absently It sho w s what can be .
done with this sort of thing See here he call ed .
“ ’
to his partner who was also disengaged
,
Here s .
something pretty and rather new ,
Your work Mi ss Harkness ? asked the other

,
partner politely coming up ,

He said much the .
same things that the first h ad said he even stopped

a young lady assistant who was p assing and made ,
her admire the j ars Then he also fell into a musing

.
silence while Helen waited with a thickly beating

,
he art for the rest of her reverie to come true and ,
stayed herself against a counter till these amiable ,
partners should for mulate some offer for her wares .
The young lady assistant ebbed noiselessly away ,
and w ent to writing at a high desk ; the second

partner shifted from his right foot to his left turned ,
his head abruptly an d feigned to be called suddenly

,
by some duty in the direction to which h e looked .
“
His going ro used the first partner Yes he said .
with a deep n asal sigh in coming to himself and

, , ,
was sinking again into his abstraction when he ,
“
seemed to think of someth i ng E xcuse me a .
mome n t h e said and went and looked into the

, ,
A WO MAN S REA S ON 1 81
’
.
show w i ndow and then i nto a dark corne r i n the

,
back part ofthe room “

I thought we had some of .
”
that Cambridge pottery he called out to h i s ,
partner .
“
N 0 said the othe r rema i ning aloo f
,
we only , ,
”
had a few pieces .
W ell ! said the first coming b ack to Helen

”
, .
I supposed we had som e ofit left I was go ing to .
suggest Miss Harkness if you re interested i n this

, ,
’
sort of thi ng that you ought to see that N orth

,
”
Cambr i dge ware Have you ever seen i t ? .
”
N O answered Helen faintly
, .
’
It isn t so native quite in sen t i m ent as th i s
’
Beverley ware but it s much more refined i n form
,
.
It s beautifully finis hed R eall y I don t see how i t

’
.
,
’
falls short of that Copenhagen potte ry in finish If .
’
you have plenty oftime on your hands you couldn t ,
do a better thing than go out to s e e them making it .
I thi nk it wo ul d i nterest you .
“
Thank you said Helen ; her h ead whirled but
, ,
she resol ved to S peak steadily if it killed her

“
I .
shall certainly go I m glad you mentioned i t I

.
’
.
n ever s aw an y of it She fumbled piteously at the

.
papers which she had taken off her vases and ,
the dealer brought some softer stu f f and ski lfully ,
wrapped them up for her .
“
These things are qu i te worthy of Japanese
paper he said indicating the silky texture of the
, ,
“ ’ ’
fabric he had used I m sure I m very much .
obliged to you for l etting us se e your work Miss ,

’
H arkness It s charmi n g I hope you ll keep on at
.
’
.
182 A WO M AN S RE A S O N ’
.
’
it . I m i nterested business wise you know h e -
, ,
“
added in having you ladies take up these graceful
,
arts A nd be sure an d go to s ee that Cambridge

.
”
ware W e can 0get some ofit for you if you wish
.
,
.
H e had followed her to the door and n ow opened it ,
for he i with a bow ,

.
“ ’
Thanks said Helen I w on t forget Good
, . .
”
morning .
Good — morning .
She got into t he coup e and put her vases carefully ,
back in the basket and sat down on the seat beside ,
it She quivered with th e i ntense and bitter disap

.
pointment and she burnt with shame as every

, ,
particular Ofher intervie w blazoned itself upon her

consciousness and She realised that she had no on e
,
but herself to blame for the precise result The .
people had been thoroughly kind and sympathetic

they had praise d her work and had b een far more ,
interested in it than she h ad any right to expect ;

but their taking her on her old social plane had
m ade it impossible for her to meet them on any
other A pparently they had never once imagined
.
,
that she wished to sell these thing s and she had n ot ,
known how to approach the fact They had thought .
she wished merely to sh o w them as matters O f

aesthetic interest but if th e y had n ot supposed she
,
came for advice wh at could they think of her con

,
c e i t in m aking such a display and of staying and ,
staying till she had all but to be turned ou t of

doors ! All that about the C ambridge ware must
have been a polite ruse to get rid of her — to spare -
,
1 84 A WO M AN S REA S ON
’
.
’
Here are some n ew shapes which we ve j ust got ,
”
i n to day -
Helen only glanced at th e vases he indicated “ I

”
see you have some decorated pieces here she said
“
h astily W o uld you like to buy these
.
The man s smile gave pl ace to a look ofsometh i ng

’
like anguish He took offhis h at and scratched his

.
,
head . VVe l l —well — not this morn ing I th i nk , .
The fact is it s a new thing you know ; and these

,
’
decorated pieces are pr i ncipally to show what may

be done with the ware W e do sell them b u t we .
,
don t — w e don t buy By and by I ho p e we sh all

’ ’
.
,
be able to do so but as yet we only expect to supply ,
the pla i n ware to ladies w ho wish to paint it There .
are places where H e looked still more d i stressed ,
and stopped .
Helen hastily wrapped her j ars up again and ,
turned to go The man followed her a few paces . .
Your ow n work ? he asked .
”
Yes said Helen S hortly without looking round
, , .
”
D rive slowly along W ashington S treet she ,
ordered an d as the coup é started she blamed herse lf

,
for not re O pening the parley at the man s last ques

’
-
tion an d trying to learn of him something about

,
those other places he had begun to mention She .
was too much bewi ldered to do that b ut it must ,
have looked like pr ide Helen resolved n ow that .
she would be not only bold but meek .
She had a plan of stopping at var i ous little shops ,
i n whose windows she remembered seeing artistic

’
caprices l ike pictures in b i rch bark and comic

,
-
,
A WO M AN S RE A S O N
’
. 185
design s ji gsawed out of White wood They might

- -
somewhere take a fancy to her vases She stopped .
accordingl y wherever bricabrac showed i tsel f in any

sort The street was full ofpeople th at is to say of
.
,
women thro n ging in and out ofthe shop doors and

,
-
i ntent upon spending the mo n ey of their n atur al

protectors It i s always a wonderful spectacl e and
.
,
in the circuit O f a quarter ofa mile about the con ,
fl u en ce ofW ash i ng ton and W inter S treets it enforces ,
itself w i th incomparable vividness .
There is doubtless more shopping i n N ew York or

Londo n or Paris but in those cities i t is dispersed
, ,
over a larger area and n owhere in the world per ,
haps has shopp i ng such an inten sity ofphysiognomy

as in Boston It is unsparingly sincere in its expre s
.
sion It means business and the sol e business of

.
,
the city seems to be shopping Th e lovely faces of .
the swarming crowd were almost fierce in their pre

occupat i on as they pressed into the shop doors ; as
,
-
they issued from them and each lady stooped and ,
caught the loop of her train in on e hand while she ,
clasped hal f a dozen paper parcels to her heart with

- -
the other those faces exhibited n o rel axation of

,
their eager purpose W here do they all come from .

,
and where does the money all come from ? It is a

fea rful problem and the imagination must sh rink
,
from following these multi tudinous shoppers to the ir

h om es i n city and suburb when they arrive frayed
, ,
and limp an d sore with overspe n t allowances and the

, ,
hard task before them of making the worse appear

the better reason .
’
Helen was dismayed to realise herself the only on e

O f all her sex who w i shed to sell and not to buy , ,
and at the shops whi ch she entered they were

puzzl e d to conceive of her in that unique character .
They were busy with the buyers and when she had ,
waited about patiently and had at l ast foun d a

,
moment to sho w her work they only considered it ,
in various patterns of i ndifference and refusal For .
the most part th ey scarcely looked at it and Helen ,
found her scantest toleration at those places where

she was obliged to deal with women C ommonly .
they could not put her errand and her coup e intel
l igib l y together ; the conjunction seemed to raise
suspicion In on e shop it raised laughte r which
.
,
f ollowed her from the young lady behind the coun te r ,
who said quite audi b l v to the you n g lady at the

“
desk :
A ctually in a coup e ! Think I should walk ,
myself Helen who had n OW hardened her sensi

,
b il itie s to everything took the hint and let the

, ,
carriage come after her from shop to shop But .
that served no purpose except perhaps to excite the

fears ofthe driver lest she should try to escape from
him W hen every place had been tr i ed she still
.
,
had her vases on her arm which when she got them
, ,
back into the bas ket she perce i ved was sore with
,
carrying them .
Home S h e sa i d to the dri ver and leaned back

,
”
,
against the cushions and closed her hot dry eyes

, .
She was so benumbed by what she had undergone ,
that she did n ot feel very keenly and h er physical ,
fatigue helped off the m ental pain Presently the .

’
M—m —no said the gen tleman mus i ngly as he

, ,
turned one O f th e vases over in hi s hand .
’
Helen s breath came again and she turned to get ,
her watch which the workman said w as re ad v on e

,
O fthe wheels had caught m erely ; and there was no ,
charge She took back her vase and n odded to the

.
,
gentleman H e did n ot how very definitively in

.
return but followed her to the door

, .
”
The fac t is he said there s very littl e sale for
, ,
’
these things n ow The whole decoration business .
has been overdone H owever he added after a .

, ,
pause in which he seemed to take in the fact o f

’ “
Helen s black we might ch an ce to dispo se of them
,
for you If you like you can l eave them here on

.
,
sale . Helen promptly handed him the vases .
“ ’ ”
Y ou mustn t form an y expectation s he cautioned , .
It will be a chance Wh at shall I ask for them ? .

”
O h anything — anythi n g you can get

”
,
cried ,
“ ”
Helen desperately N obody wants them . .
\Vell we ll see said the other and he n ow set

’
, , ,
the vases in the window between the j ars ofimitation

fai ence
’
Helen timidly offered him her card and she stol e ,
a glance at the vases from the outside and thought ,
they looked very common and dreadfully personal ,

.
Their being there gave her neither hope nor ple a

sure .
The door o f the coup e stuck fast and while she .

,
stood tugging at it a policeman stepped up and ,

“
O pened it for her See here my man he said to
.
, ,
“ ’
the driver you d better get down and wait on your
,
.
passengers decently or give up the business W hat s

, .
’
”
your number ? and while the man mumbled some ,
t hing in explan ation and excuse Helen l ooked up ,
into the face of her champion She failed at first to .
recognise the civil fellow wh o had come h ome with

her fa ther the day of his seizure and whom she had ,
met on the steps ; but the O fficer kne w her and ,
t ou che d h is hat .
Then she remembered him O h i s i t you she .

,
cried as if it were some ol d friend

,
.
“ ”
Yes said the officer very much pleased
, ,
.
’
I ve always wanted to see you again and thank
you began Helen
,
.
“
O h that s all right answered the O fficer Your
’
.
, ,
father was a man I can tell you ,

I I— I was .
awfully sorry for you Miss Harkness He spoke

,
.
with such simple and honest cordial ity that Helen

felt it nothing O dd to be shaking h ands with a
policeman at high n oon in W ashington S treet .
"
Thank you you are very kind Good bye I
, .
-
shal l never forget your goodness to him that day .
”
“
O h don t mention it said the pol i ceman He
’
, , .
touched his hat again and van i shed in the crowd ; ,
and she reflected th at she h ad not asked his name .
A s she l ooked in the direction he had gone she s aw ,
not him but hersel f She saw herself standing on .
the threshold of her old lost home an d turni n g to , ,
look after this man w i th the stare o f amused haughty ,
wonder that a girl bred in ease and fashion and

, ,
fondly s hielded from all that was rude or was abrupt

in life migh t fitl y bend upon such a curious piece
,
’ ‘
19 0 A WO M AN S R EA S O N .
of the social mechan i sm unexpectedly and in con

,
c e i vab l
y related to herself Her attit ude implied .
secure possession in perpetuity of whatever was

gracefully supreme in the world of wha tever was ,
prosperously fastidious and aloof It was enough .
to remember this attitude n ow .
’
The coup e s topped at Mrs Hewitt s narrow doo r .
,
“
and the man got down and helped her ou t I .
guess the horse is tired enough to stand while I carry

this basket up for you he said , .
Helen had no gratitude to express and she did ,
n ot thank him for this service when she took b ut

her purse to pay him She had k ept the carriage
.
two hours and a half and he said they never counted

,
less than an hour but he w ould call it four dollars

,
.
A s h e folded the bills he said he hoped she did

,
not blame him for not O pening the coup e door for
her ; she got out and i n so often and his horse ,
al w ays started up so when h e left the box .
”
O n o no ! cried Helen
,
“
O nly go please .
,
.
She closed the door behind him and she flung herself ,
upon the bed and hid her face in h er pillow and

, ,
drenched it with her rushing tears Her head ached .

,
and her heart was sore i n he r breast All that had .
happened repeated itself with ceaseless iteration in her

mind all the looks all the tones all the words they
, ,
burnt and rang and hummed in her brain ; the

, ,
long ordeal O f her d isappointment dramatised i tself

to the inner sense in thousand fold swift reverbera -
tion the disappointment was as bitter as i f starvation

were before her and the shock to her pr i de was even
,
’
O pened her eyes there was still some on e i n her

room A S hawl had been flung over her, and Miss
.
R oot was sitting at the windo w looking at her , and

apparently waiting for her to wake up .
N ot going to be sick are you ? she asked ,

.
Y ou ve been sleeping ever since be f

’
ore dinner and ,
Mrs He w itt asked me to look in and s e e how you

.
’
were getting along I guess you haven t taken cold ;
.
”
she put the shawl on you .
0 no said Helen rising briskly i n t h e first free

, ,
moment of waking when care has not yet droppe d

,
back upon the heart I came in with a he adache

.
,
”
and thre w myself on the bed to rest .
”
That some of your work ? Miss R oot i ndicated
with a n od the basket whi ch stood in the middle o f
the floor where the man had s e t i t The paper had .
come off on e of the j ars and showed its decoration, .
,
”
Yes sa i d Helen I did them —I. A thought
flashed into her mind : They are for a wedding
”
present !
May I look at it ? asked Miss R oot .
Certainly said Helen feeling bolder now that

, , ,
she was protected by th i s little out w or k ofunreality
against the invasion ofM i ss R oot s sym pathy She ’

.
unwrapped tw o or three of the jars and se t them on

the windo w seat .
Miss R oot d i d n ot trouble hersel f to tak e them up ,
but stood at a little distance and glanced at th em

with an eye that Helen saw understo od and classe d
them and that made her feel like the amateur she
,
was The girl turned away w i thout comment

. .
A WO M AN S ’
R EA S O N . 19 3
I saw some j ust l i ke them i n a w i ndow as I came

along W ashington Stree t I pity any poor wretch .
”
that expects to live by painting and selling them .
Miss R oo t could n ot ha ve meant her equivocal

speech in unkindness for she added looking back as
, ,
“ ’
s he went out ,
Don t you come down i f you don t ’
’ ”
feel just right I ll bring up your supper to you .
Helen said she was going down an d arming her ,
self with the courage of her despair she confronted ,
the quest i on of the tea table with gaiety even and

-
made li ght ofher long n ap She said she had bee n .
shopping all the morning and the irony of the phrase

,
i n this appl i cat i on flattered her bitter mood It was .
a stroke of the finest sarcasm could they but know ,
i t ; and in her heart she mocked at their s imple

acceptance o f her statemen t .
Mr E vans said he was surpri sed she could s l eep

.
after shopping W hen h i s wife went shopping it

.
kept the whole family awak e for the next twenty

f our hours and careworn for a week
, Mrs Hewitt . .
asked ab out the fashions and said that S he al w ays ,
found th i n gs just as cheap and a good deal b etter at

the large stores and you spent more time and laid
,
ou t as much money running rou n d to the little places .
I t seemed to Helen the height of the sardonic to

answer Yes it w as quite useless to go to the l i ttle
, ,
”
places .
’
D yo n find your letters all right Mi ss Harkness ? ,
asked the landlady when t his talk had taken i ts

,
’ ”
course I put em on the corner ofyour mante l .
“
N 0 said Helen
, I d i dn t look ’
.
’
’ ’
W ell , you ll em when you go back They see .
came after you went to sleep The most curious .
stamps on I ever saw

’
Helen s heart stood still w i th fear and h ope and ,
”
O h papa get them for my collection pleaded the
, , ,
little boy .
Here she said rising and m aking th i s opp or

, , ,
“
tune prayer her shelter come up with m e and you , ,
shall have them and after due reproach from his

mother h e was suffered to go with her
, .
’
It was R obert Fenton s handwriting on the en
ve l op e s It s my an swer— it s m y sentence — and
.
’ ’
I de serve it she said under her breath as she stood

, ,
with the letters in her hand trying to detach one O f ,
the stamps with her trembling fingers .
” “ ’
There cried the boy you re teari ng it
, ,
“ ” ’
N ever mind said Helen they re both al i ke
,
.
’
I ll cut thi s other off for you but her hand shook
s o that she chopped i nto the lette r a little with the
scissors .
“ ”
If I coul dn t out better than that ! roared the
’
boy anx i ou s for the integrity ofhis stamp

, W hat .
makes you get so whi te and then get s o red ? ,
“ ”
O h n othing nothing ! ans w ered Helen i n co
, , ,
”
he re n tl y Here s your stamp S he stooped to ’
.
,
give it Th e child was pretty with still grey eyes

.
,
”
and full l ips W ill you kiss m e Tom she asked
.
, ,
in a very soft trembling voice for good luck ? ,
It seemed as if her fate hung upon his will but ,
when he hastily kissed her an d ran out she still , ,
had not courage to O pen the letters She flu n g .

THE c h aracter of no man i s fixed t i ll i t h as b een
tri ed by that of the woman he loves Till then he .
has only the material s of character and they are all ,
to b e shaped and ordered as newly as if he had

n ever had them be fore The thousand and on e
.
mysteries o f Hel en s girlish uncertainty her fantastic

’
waverings her aesthetic coquetri es wit h the idea of

,
be i ng i n love were as u n intelligible to Fenton as

,
his headlong and outspoken passion was to her .
B u t wh i le she thought his blun tness charming i n a ,
way and constantly trembled nearer and nearer

,
to him in her heart Fenton was far too simple a

,
fellow to feel anything but trouble at the m i sgivings

and delays wh i ch she enj oyed W hen at last he .
made what he felt must be his last offer and she ,
met it with all those freshly alarmed ideal s and

metaphysical scruples which a wiser and worse man
,
would have trampled under foot — tea ri ng her fro m ,
hersel f as she unconsciously meant and mak i ng her

, ,
h is in her ow n despite as she reluctantly wished

, ,
Fenton lost his head i n a deliriu m O f angry and

wounded pr i de .
W hen he awoke fr om i t irretri evably committed

,
19 6
to three years exi le i t was in a self abhorrence and
’
,
-
despair and a sort of stupefaction that he S hould

,
have done what he had done His repentance came .
before he had forgiven Helen and long be fore he had ,
begun to conceive that the letter might have another

meaning than that which he had first taken from i t .
Of his ow n light perhaps he n ever s aw more in it

, ,
than it seemed to say It was without readi n g i t

.
again w ithout h aving the heart to look at it that

, ,
he hated himself for what he h ad don e and loathed ,
h i mself for his futile desire to make reparation I t .
was impossible to repair his fault and if it were ,
possible it would be despic able to attempt it

, .
He went haggardly about his duty a machine that ,
did its work but with no more mind upon i t than a

,
machine There came long spaces of time in which

.
he af te rwards recognised th at he had not known

what he w as doing ; that h e had been altogether
absent without having been anywhere else he awoke
from these absences as from a profound dreamless ,
torpor and with a start of fear and amaze to find

, ,
that all had been going well in the meantime that ,
he had been talking e ating and d ri nking and

, , ,
s hre l y attentive to whatever immediately con

cerned him I t would have been hard for hi m to
.
s ay whether the time when he w as on duty and no ,
on e spoke to him or the leisure in which he was

,
intimately thrown with his brother officers was the

more terrible : his solitude was dense with piercing
regrets that stung for ever in the same pl ace ; his
,
association with others was tormented by an un

19 8 A WO M AN S REAS O N ’
.
forgettable remorse which if it seemed to gr ant him , ,

’
a moment s O bl i vion awoke him presently from , ,
’
somebody s j oke or story to the consciousness that ,
it had only been more deeply and inwardly gnawing

h i s soul .
Some sort of act i on w as indispensable but action ,
which did not relate to Helen was none He began ,

.
to write letters to her He had n o idea of sending .
them but it had grown i nsu fferable to be perpetually

,
talking to her as he was in those airy dramas withi n

himsel f; and since his words could not be m ade
audible he must let them take visible shape This
,
.
became his daily habit and before the ship reached

R io de J an e iro he had accumulated a score of letters ,
w hich he bitterly amused himsel f by reading over ,
and considering an d putting by without destroying , .
He kept them and found a sort of miserable relief

,
in communing wi th them instead of his i ntangible

thoughts His industry did not escape the idle
.
’
vigilance of the ship s comradery ; but at sea every
on e must be su f fered his whim an d after laughing ,
at Fenton s they left hi m to it in the feigned belief

’
, ,
that it was a book he w as writing : a marine novel ,
they decided E ach thought it i n the way of

.
“
his right ful j oke to say Don t put me into i t ,
’
Fenton till Fenton who worked up slowly to his

, ,
repartees found presence of mind at last to answer

,
,
’ ”
NO I can t a f ford to make it dull you know and , ,
the n they left him qui te alone with a re ar at the ,
expense ofthe chance victim Be fore the laugh was .
over Fenton had al most ceased to know what it w as

,
’
ria e list He had not expected that it would

g .
,
neve rtheless he had looked at the marriages on her

account ; an d he w as about laying the paper as ide
when the record o f a s ingle death caught his eye It .
’
w as the death of Helen s father with a dozen lines ,
O f mortuary praise He dropped the paper

. .
“
N othing in the Advertiser ? asked the consul ”
,
who w as busy about some letters without looking ,
up.
”
T OO much ! sa i d Fenton pul l i ng h i s cap over,
h i s eye s .
The consu l thought this was a joke an d laughed ,
i n a companionable uninterested way ,

Fenton .
looked at him and saw hi s innocence and then he ,
s at a long time in silence with his arms folded and

, ,
his head down A t last he asked the consul if he

.
coul d gi ve him a sheet ofpaper and an envelope and ,
b riefly wrote the second ofthe two letters which had

reached Helen together In her desperation she .
,
had found no resource but to open them according

to the order ofthe dates in their postmarks and she ,
had seized first upon that of the 9 th It began .
simply H elen and it ran i n th i s way

, ,
“
I hope you will have patience to read th i s letter
through though I have forfeited all ri ght to a hear
,
ing fro m you I am not going to make an appeal

.
for your forgiveness because I know I ought n ot to

,
have it I have suffered not all that I ought to

.
,
suffer but all that human nature can suf

,
fer for that
letter I sent you from Portsmouth But I shall n ot .
try to work ! pon your pity ; I believe that I have

A WO MA N S REA S ON 201
’
.
that already I only w i sh you to understand t h at in

.
again renounc i ng all pretension s to your regard I do ,
it w i th a full approval of your conduct to me I do .
not blame you in the least thing I see that I was .
altogether to blame I see what I did not se e before.
that you never care d for me and that you tried ,
wi th all your h eart to be kind to me and yet n ot to

, ,
give me h ope I thank you for your goodness and

.
,
I beg you to believe when you have read this letter , ,
that my eyes are open at last and that ifI keep on ,
loving you it is because my love of you has become

,
my life and that I know I am no more worthy to

,
love you than I am to live I cannot help one or the .
other but I can keep either from being troublesome

,
to you and I will So I do not ask you to admit

,
.
any of my former preten sions but only to let me b e ,
your friend in whatever humble and useful way I

,
can I consider myself a disgraced m an and I shall

.
,
expect nothing Of you but the kind of forbearance

and patience you would show some repentant crimi n al
who was depending upon your countenance for
strength to reform himsel f .
I know you have told Mr Harkness of my .
Portsmouth letter and that he must be very much ,
incensed with me But though I do n ot ask your

.
forgi veness Helen I do beseech you to try to get

, ,
me his I owe him all the little good there is in me

.
,
and I ow e him all that I am and have done in this

worl d I could not tell you how clearly and truly I
.
honour an d love him The thought that I ca m e .
away without trying to take leave of him chokes

’
me but after writing you th at fatal letter eve ry ,
thing that was righ t and decent became impo ssible .
Good bye Helen -
,
.
R O B ER T FEN T ON .
Wh en Hel en had finished this letter which in , ,
deed she seemed instantly to divine rather than to

,
read she not only kissed it but pressed it to her

,
breast and locked her arms upon i t clasping it close , ,
as if i t were some living thing and could feel the

wild h appy tumult of her hea rt
,
She wept l ong .
and sweetly over it It might not have been the

.
per fection of reason to another but to he r all the ,
parts were linked together by an impenetrable and

infrangible logic N ay it was n ot that it was no t
.
, ,
eloquence ; i t was the s um of everyt hing i t was ,
love and however hapless l ove to the w ri ter it was

, ,
heaven prospered passion to Helen who seemed i n

-
that fond embrace to i mpl ore to forgive to consol e , ,
R obert as if he were there present and S he had

,
fallen upon his neck They were happy and they

.
,
were happy together ; it was so much to know that

She need never wish to know more .
For some time in the rush ofher emotion she d i d

, ,
n ot realise that it w as n ot an answer to her own
letter But it was infinitely more I t forestalled

. .
and anticipated her letter as that when it came , ,
to his h and would in its tu rn be bot h appeal and

,
response to him Best of all his lette r made the

.
,
fi rst advance towards reconciliation and assumed for ,
R obert the blame for what she had suffered She .

.
b ol d and un fil ial
an swered the seco n d as
? and if she
s he ought would s he n ot appear rese rved and cold

,
with hi m u pon whom her heart had just thrown itsel f

with such tender abandon ? The letters made two
R oberts ofhim an d left her to despair between them
, .
She passed a hapless n ight and in the morning ,
s he took the first train after breakfas t for Be verley ,

’ ’
where she appeared at the Butlers before te n O clock ,
a ski ng in such a high hyste ric key for Mrs Butler .

,
who w as not yet down that they led her at once to ,
her room There she thre w up her ve il revealing

.
,
eyes tragic with tears and wan t of S leep and gave ,

’
the two letters into Mrs Butler s hand while she hid .
’
her face in Mrs Butler s pillo w . .
“ ”
0 Helen Helen ! said the elder l ady when
, ,
s he had spelled through these documents i n the dim

“
light how glad I am for you
,
Come look at me , ,
my dear and let me see your happy face ! Thi s

,
makes up your quarrel and you are W hy , ,

”
Helen ! s he cried when the girl obeying be nt , ,
those eyes oftragedy upon her what is the m atte r ?

Don t you —didn t you
,
’ ’
“ — ”
0 yes I care for him all the world ! Helen
,
broke out But the more I care for him the worse
.
i t is and unless you ca n help m e out of this trouble

, ,
Mrs Butler I shall surely go crazy O h how in

.
, .
,
delicate it is of m e to come to you ! But I don t ’
know what to do—I don t know what to do ; I m ’ ’
’
s o horribly alone ! A nd it s such a very strange ,
”
ri diculo us thing ! She did n ot su f fer hersel f to
pause whil e Mrs Butler stared compassionately at
,
.
’
A WO M AN S REA S ON . 2 05
h er t i ll
,
she h ad put her i n full possess i o n of her
perplexity and explained how it had poisoned al l
,
her j oy .
Mrs B utler did not laugh at her she w as on e of

.
those high spirits who pe rceive the sacred rather

’
than the absurd and amidst the girl s wild talk she
, ,
s aw the reasonableness of pain that to a coarser

sense would only have been ludicrous Y ou must .
n ot think of this second letter at all Helen she said , ,
seriously Shall I tear it up ?

.
“
O h Oh said Helen hal f— reaching fo r it an d
It s about papa an d —it s
, , ,
“
yet holding her hand .
’
,
’
from him She caught her breath and trembled for ,

’
Mrs Butler s decision
. .
“
I ‘d id n t think of destroy i ng it said the other
’
, ,
but I m not going to let you have it back This is

’
.
’ ”
the only letter you ve got Helen for the present , , ,
she added handing the girl the first and putting the
, ,
“
second under her pillow The letter that you sent .
him the other day — wouldn t that be a ki nd o f ’
answer to this
“
W hy yes cried Helen with electr i cal percepti on
, .
W ell then ans w er the first I want you to let me

, ,
.
—
keep this till till I can give it back to Mrs Fenton ”
. .
“ ”
O h ! said Helen .
An d kiss me my dear said Mrs Butl e r fondly , ,

.
and bathe your eyes yonder A nd if you touch the .
”
left hand bell Marian will come up
-
, .
”
O h ! said Helen in the same shaken tone as
befor e . Shall you — shall you tell her
”
NO you shall replied Mrs B utler But when
, . .
’
Marian came i t was Mrs Butler who had to explain

,
.
“
the embrace in wh ich Helen se i zed her and which , ,
first returning w ith mechan ical affection she n ow ,
returned with rapturous intelligence .
”
“
E ngaged ? she exulted “
O h Helen Helen .
, , ,
Hel en
“
W hy cri ed Helen laughing from her h appy
, ,
“
heart and pulling away from her friend
,
I don t ,
’
’
know what you call i t I ve written him a maki ng
.
’
u p l etter and he s written me on e and they ve
’
, ,
”
crossed on the way .
“
O h tha t s an engagement
’
,
said Marian w i th , ,
the authority ofa connoisseur .
“
But he has n t got my let ter yet and I m n ot
’
,
’
engaged till he has .
That s nothing H e 3 engaged because you ve

’
.
’
,
’
got his and in an en gagem ent the man counts for

,
”
everything ; the girl goes W ithout saying Mari an .
Butler was at that period full of those airs of self

abnegation with which women adorn themselves in
the last days of betrothal and the first Of marr i age , ,
an d never afterwards .
’
They talked Helen s whol e affair over i n the ,
l i ght ofthe ful l candour which she w as able to bring

t o bear upon i t n ow fo r the first t i me A s to feelings .
she must still have her rese rves but as to facts she ,
made them littl e by little all theirs it helped her to

realise R obert to be talk i ng Ofhim by his n ame an d ,
to hear o the rs do i ng s o A t the sound of approach

.
ing fo otsteps without Marian said ,
Now mother those children are n ot to kno w

,
.
I should h ave been glad of i t cried Jessie

Butler I should have liked to lug my basket up
and poke i t into their carriage d oors and offer to ~
,
”
sell them the things and s ee how they would l ook I ,
Jess i e said her mother .
”
W ell n ever mind ,
G o on go on Helen ! .
, ,
”
That s all said Helen who had brought them
’
, ,
b ack to the per i od ofher return to her room and her

l ong desperate slumber NO the worst is to come ! .
,
Miss R oot cam e in wh i le I w as asleep and discovered ,
th em and What d o you think I told her ? I told her

”
I h ad been do i ng them for a wedding present !
There was fresh sensation at this but Jessie ex ,
'
claime d Marian Butler shall never have those

,
vases i n the world They shall be sold ! The i dea

.
I will go up and sell them

“
N said Helen soberly ; she must take them ,
Jessie to save me from fibb in g if nothing else

, , .
Besides you suggested painting pottery Marian and

they re Beverl ey ware —all very appropriate you
, , ,
’
,
see. A nd some of them are n ot so bad A nd I .
can t give you anything better t i ll —my ship comes

’
”
home I
A t th i s idea of
a sh i p and of i ts comi n g home , ,
Hel en and Marian simultaneously pressed each other s ’
hands Where they sat side by side on the l ounge

, ,
with del i cious i ntelligence Marian said that s he .
’
should prize Helen s present more than anything el se
that could be given her and that its history which , ,
could not be known out the family w oul d make it all ,
the more precious ; the legend would be someth ing

. 2 09
to tel l the future age It woul d be great to say .

,
O nl y th ink of your great grandmother going about -
the whole day with these beautiful things and n ot ,
being able to sell them for a crust of bread to kee p

her from starvin g .
” ’
Ma rian said her mother I can t l et you m ake a
, ,
’
j oke O f it I can t help thinking how wretched it woul d
.
”
have been if poor Helen had really been in need .
“ ”
Indeed I w as in n eed Mrs Butler said Helen ,
.
, ,
wh ile I w as doing those th ings I felt j ust as .
desti tute I A nd I worked at them early and late as , ,

”
if my life depended upon it .
O h that s a very d ifl e re n t thi n g my dear sai d

’ '
, , ,
“
Mrs Butler
. I t was only play poverty after all
.
,
.
Think if you had really been some poor girl with ,

”
nothing and had met with such a disappointment 1
,
“ ’ ”
I don t believe I could have suffered more sai d ,
Helen confidently, .
I m glad you ve no mean s of know i ng certainly

’ ’
.
But now that you ve tried your experim ent H elen ’

, ,
’
hadn t you better end this li ttle escapade and come ,
back to us ? Things h ave come about very fortu

n ately she added quickly at a l OOk of refusal in
,
”
,
“
Helen s eye and your failure to earn a living makes
’
,
’
it eas i er for me to tell you somethi ng that s been
”
rather weighing upon my mind .
She spoke w ith a double sense to Helen who ,
u nderstood that it w as not her failure but the letter ,
from R obe rt which made it easy for Mrs Butler to say .
what followed .
“
W e have concluded n ot to wa i t a month after
0
2 10 A WO M AN S REAS ON ’
.
Marian is married befo re we sail but to go the n ext

, ,
”
week W e sh all not try to run them down
. Girls ,
s he broke of f and speaking wit h the tone O f authority

,
“
which they kne w when they heard it go and see ,
”
w here your father is and when they were gone she , ,
resu med but w e S hal l follow them up pretty

,
closely and we shall meet them in Venice j us t be fore

,
”
they start from Trieste for E gypt N ow Marian I .
,
“ “ ”
A nd there said Marian Miss Harkness who
, , ,
has co m e to that point with the bride s family will ’
j oi n the happy couple and make on e of their party ,
up the N ile It S to be a tru steeship Helen

.
’
, ,
“
s he cried it can t he resigned ; you must come ’
.
,
W e are going to take a d ahab e iah at Cair o with some ,
Philadelphia friends ofN ed s very quiet people whom ’

,
he took a great fancy to ; and I want you along to

do the correct and elegant an d super i or thing for
, ,
Boston and leave me to uninterrupted enj oyment of

,
the sillies Yes Helen you must come N ed wishes

.
, ,
.
it as much as I and I can t tell you how much that

,
’
is W e want to take you away from yourself and

.
,
we promise to bring you back in a year She

“
hesitated : I w as pausing for want of an idea but
s ay—i mproved in every w ay
,
”
.
O h I can t ! lamented Helen

’ ”
,
She leaned back .
upo n the lounge an d brooded upon the m atter in a

,
“
silence to which the others l eft her unmolested It .
’ ’
i sn t bec ause it doesn t seem the loveliest and kindest
’
thing in the world Marian and I ve no peasan t , ,
pride that would prevent me from accepting it and

it isn t because I think I S hould do better to go on
’
’
Y e s, assented Mrs Butler doubtfu l ly ; . a l i ttle

”
r omantic !
“
D o you thi nk so ? asked Helen rather hu rt ; ,
”
I hoped you would think it sen sib l e _ .
“
I do my dear I do Mrs Butler hastened to
, , ,
.
reply from your point of view

,
.
There s this too Helen added not quite

’
, , ,
“ ’
appeased after a hesitation
,
R obert has n t any .
m oney but his pay and I only have such a very little
, ,
th at we couldn t begin l iving like rich people ; and

’
the question is whether I had better keep on living

’
as I used to do or whether I hadn t better get ,
accustomed to someth ing very plain and s i mple at

”
once .
“
Yes said Mrs Butler while Marian fidge te d
, .
,
i n protest but said nothing

, .
I try to look at it quite dispassionately and in ,
the light of common sense without any foolishness , ,
and i t seems to me that I shouldn t be do ing right ’
unless I were making some sacrifice for R obert an d ,
suffering don t you know in some way ; I S hould

,
’
,
”
not be happy un less I were You kn ow she said .
,
softly that I don t think I always used R obert very

,
’
’ ’
well I don t mean that I meant to ; but I didn t
.
understand myself and now that I do and under ,
stand him I should be detestable i fI went O ff to be

, ,
pl eased and diverted while h e was hurrying h ome ,
with his mind burning upon the thought that I was

waiting here in perfe ct wretchedness till he came .
Don t you se e ? I must be here and I must be

’
,
w r etched to be perfectly true to him

,
’
A WO MAN S REAS ON . 2 13
You are ri ght Helen cried Mrs Butler deeply

,
.
,
“
moved by this divine log i c of the heart Hush .
,
’
Marian don t speak ! Y ou know she i s right
,
.
Come here Helen,

The matron embraced the girl
i n the fervour O f that youth which women of all ages
have in common W e won t say anything more of
.
’
this matter Marian and we will just tell your fathe r

, ,
’ ’
that Helen can t go You won t m i nd my lett i ng out
.
a little ofyour secret to h im

“
0 no blushed Helen I h ad expected you to .
tell hi m ”
.
Captain Butle r would once have teased the girl

’
about her happiness But s i n ce her father s death he
.
seemed not to have been able to treat her lightly ;

her loss and her un certain future made her a serious
af fair to him ; and now that her father was gone ,
Helen was startled at times to find how much his O ld

friend w as like h i m There were tones and move .
ments ofstrange resemblance perhaps the impression

’
came partly from Captain Butler s impaired health
h e was certainly n ot well and that made her think ,
of he r father He took wh at Mrs B utler told him

.
‘
very much as her father would have dOn e she thought , ,
and he expressed his satisfaction almost as quietly .
His only revenge was to ask

Shall you answer in care of the N avy Department ,
”
or would you like to telegraph a reply ?
”
“
O h C aptain Butler cried Helen
,
could I tele
, ,
graph
‘
“
Yes Said the Captai n
,
“
How would you word .
your despatch
’
2 14 A WO MAN S REA S O N .
Mr B utler said h i s wi fe in reproach

. .
’ ”
I I don t know ! gasped Helen
-
.
I t wouldn t r each him now a n y sooner than

’
, ,
your letter of thr ee weeks ago He ll fin d that at .

’
’
Hong Kong when he ge ts there and you wouldn t ,
know where to hit him with a telegram on the way .
I fyour letter was posted at R io the Mus ki ngum ,
Me ssasauga Helen softly corrected him

”
W as it Me ssasauga —is going round the Cape

.
,
of Good Hope and she must have passed that point

,
a week ago and she won t stop at any other tele

,
’
graphic port probably Here said the C aptain

,
.
, ,
”
with ris i ng interest I ll S how you his course
,
’
.
He got a ch art out Ofthe library and Helen began ,
to study navigation with the i mpass i oned devo

tion which love lends to i ntellectual pursuits O ne .
O bserves this ardour in two young persons of O pposite

sexes who take up some branch ofliterature or science
together which they might not perhaps have thought
,
of if they had n ot thought ofeach other

,
It has been .
known to cast a purple light upon metaphysics .
Helen b orrowed the chart and brought i t away Wit h

her .
It was a happy day and i ts memory remained to

,
s w eeten the days in the i ncreasing bustle of pre

’
p arat ion for Marian s wedding when Helen saw ,
her fri ends less an d less and then the days when ,
she s aw them n o more .

’
W hat the dev i l i s the matter w i th you ? I

’
believe in my soul you re trying to make a die of i t ,
said the doctor a cheerful elderly man tight i n his

, , ,
uniform .
N o man ever wanted to l i ve as I do answered ,
Fenton .
W ell then you m ust b r ace up

’
, ,
I l l give you a .
”
ton i c Make you up a bottle an d send it to you
. .
“
Th e doctor felt h i s pulse again and said You re ,
’
either down with the climate and that affects your ,
sp irits or else it s your S pirits that affect your health

,
’
.
But i n any case you must brace up A s Fenton lay .
perfectly still with his face turned away Dr Simmons , .
passed his hand over the top ofhis head where a per
spirati on ofperplexity had gathered i n the scatte r ing
“ ’
down . I can t minister to a mind d i seased you ,
”
know he suggested
,
.
N o said Fenton
, .
You must go to some other sh op .
He got hi msel f with diffic ul ty out ofFenton s door ’
i nto the ward room and presently sent him the

-
bottle It seemed to make him worse and the

.
,
do ctor v i sited him ag ai n in renewed mystificat ion .
A fter the us ual inspect i on he sat look in g at Fenton ,
as before and then said casually

,
W hat a lucky ,
chap N ixon is go i ng h ome on leave so so on

,
Fenton sat up Going home ! 0 my G od ! He

.
”
fell back on h i s pillow and the doctor nodded his ,
head .
’ ’
I thought so You re homesick Ni xon i sn t
. .
going home but if you keep on i n th i s way you are ,

’
A WO M AN S REAS O N . 2 17
—in a b ox
This th i ng w i ll kill you as sure as you
.
live if you don t fight it and if you ve got particul ar

,
’
,
’
reason s for l i ving as you intimated the other day , ,

’
you d better make the most of them Get leave and .
go offsomewhere for a while A muse yourself ; try .
to forget about it You can wor ry i t O ff somehow . .
”
You must and s o I tel l you .
Two days after I sailed the m an w ho had taken

care of me al l my life and been m ore than a father ,
to me died suddenly an d left his only child alone in

, ,
”
the world said Fenton desperate ly
,
How am I to .
worry that off I ought t o be there— to help her to ,
take care o f her to S how the gratitude that common,
decency
“
“
W ell that is bad assented the doctor
, But , .
’ ”
she s got friends ofcourse ? ,
“
O h friends yes
, ,
Y ou must
’
An d of course she ll be looked after .
try to s ee the bright side of i t added the doctor , .
“ ”
There s a bright side to everything
’
.
’
“
Do you think so Then I l l tell you the bright
side to this I came away in a quarrel with th em
.
a quarrel where I was to blame — w ithout seeing them

’
or saying a word to them and I can t as k leave to
go home because I made a point of gettin g ordered
,
’ ”
here That s the bright side of it I
.
“ ”
It i sn t very dazzling admitted the doctor with
’
, ,
’
the smile that men put on at other men s troubles
of sentim ent
“ ’
But it isn t a thing to be morbid
.
’
about Y ou can write home and explain You re
. .
a little under the i nfluen ce ofthe cl i mate here you l l ’

2 18 A WO MAN S REA S ON
’
.
’
se e all th ese th i n gs di f
ferently when you re used
’
to it I d bette r give you some qu inine There s
. .
’
you l l only m ake bad worse

’ ”
n o use i n giving way .
d he shame ofhaving confessed to an anxi ety that

an other seemed to find so slight was a powerful
auxiliary in the e fl ort o f w i ll that Fenton m ade to
'
o vercome i ts physical efl e cts He succeeded so far .
that he was abl e to go on duty again after a week ,
or t w o and to live doggedly on from day to day in

,
that doubl e consciousness where the secret trouble

remains a dull incessant ache underneath all the out
,
ward conditi ons It began to be a superstit i on with

.
h im th at somethi ng must happen some ch an ce of ,
escape must ofl e r ; he could n ot yet bri n g himsel f to

the tho ught ofthe last re sort though th e knowl edge ,
that at the end of all he coul d resig n and go home

continually tempted him .
H elen s letters as theycame were brave and h opeful

’
, , ,
and Fenton only wrote ofthe time when they shoul d

meet ; he in stin ctively wrote as i f this time must be
n ear . Then the me re l apse ofdays and weeks began
to have its effect as it does in every human a f flic tion
i t lessened his burd en by making it a thing of cus tom ,
to which his life adj usted itself He had n ot less to .
bear but he had le arned better how to bear it and

,
’
the p ri de and j oy which he had felt in Helen s love ,
eve n when he felt h i mself least wo rthy ofit seemed ,
more and more his right an d less and less his unlaw
,
ful possession A pparently she was pleasantly placed

.
i n the house which she amusingly described to him ,
and she w as living quietly and trustfully on there ,

’
220 A WO MAN S REAS ON .
li fe and its cares and d ifli cul tie s that make me w i sh

, ,
for your advice but you are too far away for that ;
,
and if you were here I S hould not have the troubles

, ,
and S hould not need the adv i ce I t all comes from .
my not h aving any head for figures and n ot cal cu ,
lating beforehand instead of afterwards when it ,
does no good and then I have to p ay a poor gi rl s ’
penalty for flinging money a w ay as n o r i ch girl

ough t
The day she wrote Helen had met in the street ,
on e of the women whom she had put do w n on he r

“
list of the things To be given away before the
auction for certain tables chairs and bedsteads
, , , ,
which C apt ai n Butler in the u se O f a wise di scretion

, ,
had ordered to be sold for the benefit of the estate .
Mrs Sul livan though poor was not proud and she w as
.
, , ,
on e of those who h ad formerly profite d by the sums
whi ch Helen saved from hack hi re She n ow thanked -
her for a small present of old clothes which being , ,

’ ’
sent her before C aptain Butler s agency in Helen s
char i ties began had really reached her
, Helen .
s aw the expe ctation of future old clothes in the

woman s eye and thought it right to cut Ofl her vain
’
,
hope .
“ ’
I m afrai d I shall n ot have any more cl othes
”
for you very soon she said coldly ,
I must wear .
my ol d things myself after this Then with some .

,
exasperation at being invited to an impossible bene

fice n c e where she had already done so much she
, ,
“
added : I hope you found the furniture useful ,
”
Mrs Sullivan ?
.
’
A WO M AN S REA S O N . 221 .
“
W hat foorn i toor,
M i ss ? quavered the poor
woman reduced to destitution by the idea of the
,
prosperity that had e vaded her ; and it came out

that she had never received the things intended for
her.
Helen did not pause to inquire how th i s had

“
happened There has been some misunderstanding
.
,
“
Mrs Sullivan she said loftily ; but I don t i ntend
.
,
’
that you S hall be the su f

ferer by it
”
She gave Mrs . .
Sullivan everything she had i n her porte monnaie -
“
except some horse car tickets
;
It may not be so
-
’
much as the furniture was worth but i t s ready ,
money an d no doubt you can buy things with it that

,
”
you would rather have .
Mrs Sullivan was apparently n ot i ncl ined to th i s

.
O pinion ; the loss because uncertain seemed greater ;

’
but she did n ot fail to invoke God s favo ur upon
Helen and she asked for her washing as an amend
, ,
for the unmer i ted depri vation which the Sullivan

family had undergone through her Helen hurried .
home and found that she had given Mrs Sullivan

,
.
'
all her money but ten dollars and that n ow she ,
must encroach upon her capital at last She must .
go to the l awyer in whose hands Captain Butler had

left her money and ask him for some of it She
,
.
could have wept for vexation at her rashness and ,
shame fo r the necessity to which it had brought her ;

but the sum O f her varying mo ods was the mood of
self pity in which she wrote that pos tscript to R obert
-
.
She was sorry for it as soon as she had posted the

letter but even then she merely regretted it as the
,
2 22 A WO M AN S ’
REAS ON .
expression of a mood which she had al ways sai d was ,
foolish in writing a l etter .
Fenton had never imagined her poor or i n need ,
ofany kind the fancy ofa lover does not dea l with
m aterial circumstances ; but he n ow made ample
amends for past failure He took unsparing blam e .
to himself for the fal se delicacy that had kept him

’
from aski ng i n what state her father s affairs had
been le ft for not making her tell him how much or
,
h ow little she had A t this first vague hint of care s

.
an d d ifli cul ties —of the necessity of sav i n g— which

,
she had allowed to escape her he saw her i n a ,
poverty th at scarcely stopped short of the mun i cipal

soup kitchen W ith the distance which he had put
-
between them how could he hope to help he r ?

,
How could he even i ntimate his longing to do so ,
w i thout wounding her ? He wore himself out i n vai n

cont ri vance for getting his p ay to her in some
secret and anonymous way .
Her n ext letter was cheerful and happy with n o ,
h i nt of troubl e ; but he could se e nothing in it but

a feint O f gai ety a pretence to keep him in heart ,
about her ; and the cfl e ct of time and w il l were

undon e in him .
I don t understand all th i s bother of yours

’
,
”
Fenton said the doctor to whom he appl i ed once
,
more .But I guess you ve got to go home You re .

’
”
dyi ng here .
’
Going home doesn t follow replied Fenton , .
’
You re useless and worse than useless as you , ,
” “
are here continued the doctor
, ,
I know how you .
2 24 A WO MAN S REA S O N ’
.
’
n ow ,
and I ll m ake you up a bottle that wil l keep
her away till to morrow night anyway
-
,
.
The surgeon had the professional humanity and ,
he would have pitied Fenton as the doctor pities his

patient even if he had felt no personal ki ndness for
,
him But he really had a liki n g for the young fellow ;

.
he respected him as the m ost strikin g case of

nostalgia that had ever come under his notice The .
case was all the more interesting from the character

ofthe man which was on e O f stubborn endurance in
,
everything ; his pride was as eviden t as his quick

temper and yet here he was beaten down perfectly , ,
“
broken up by a purely moral disorder
,
I f I had .
”
n ot got that man away Doctor Simmons could s ay
,
i n imaginable boastings that were to hold future

“
wardrooms in awe he would have died sir ; di ed
, ,
ofsheer home sickness -
O f any other so rt of sickne ss with wh i ch th e

n ostalgia was compli cated n o intimation seemed to ,
’
have penetrated to the doctor s thickened conscious
n ess it was long since he had had any love affairs of
his ow n ; the passion as he had observed it later in
,
li fe was n ot apt to manifest i tself in any such con

,
’
dition as Fenton s he ascertained that the apparition
was that of the li eutenant s adoptive sister and he ’
rested in that knowledge B ut the fact that patients .
s ufl e ri n
g from nostalgia were sometimes haunted by
visions of absent friends w as an incident O f the
malady n oted in the books and upon its occurrence ,
every possible me ans should be m ade to secure their

r eturn home .
A WO M AN S REAS O N ’
. 2 25
It was upon this authority and this conviction

that Doctor Simmons approached the A dmiral in
’
Fenton s beh al f H e explained the case with scien
.
ti fic zeal and then dwelt upon the peculiar circum

,
stances which rendered it i m possibl e for Mr Fenton .
to apply for leave to return while he w as at the ,
same time i n such a condition of mind that to con

d e mn him for service by medical survey an d send ,
him home in that way wo ul d be simply sentencing

,
him to death The doctor acknowle d ged the irre

.
gul arity ofhis ow n proceeding in making this appeal ;

but he urged the extremity and the delicacy o f the
case in j ustification : Mr Fento n would certainly .
n ot survive if he remained in the statio n ; Doctor
Simmons staked his professional reputation upon

that and without presuming to suggest anythin g he
, ,
begged the A dmiral to consider whether some public

i n te re st coul d not be served by Mr Fenton s return
‘ ’
.
on duty The next day Fen ton rece ived orders to

.
sail by the first steamer from Yokoh am a with de

sp atche s for W ashington I t was at the time of the
.
war between Japan and Corea i n wh ich as is well , ,
known certain eventualit i es threatened to compro

,
mise A merican interests .
W hen Doctor Simmon s visited his patient after .
the orders reached him he was rewarded for the tact

,
with which he had accomplished his difli cul t task by

Fenton s accusation that he had brought the result
’
about . He expected this and in the i nterest of ,
science he met the accusation with lies so pro m pt

,
that they would have carried con viction to any mind

22 6 A WO M AN S REAS ON ’
.
’
less sore and disordered than Fenton s He told him
that his orders were a god send and ad ised him -
,
v
n ot to trouble himself about how or why they had
been given In fact the situation admitted of

.
nothing but O bedience upon the face ofit there was

n o point that the most self accusing scruples could -
lay hold of and Fenton discovered with helpless

shame that all the natural forces i n him w e refightin g
against his broken will He was quite ready for the
.
steamer that sailed in a fe w days for Yokohama and

San Francisco ; and he accepted his good fortune .
upon the best terms he could W hen it was too late .
he began to realise his obligation to the m an who

h ad saved his li fe and given it back to him with
,
such hope as now rioted in his heart at every thought

of Helen and of home He was a week out from
.
Yokohama and he could d o nothing but write a

,
l etter to the surgeon trying to make up for his past

,
thanklessness by a vain and remote profusion of

gratitude .
He was as he figured it only a fortnight from

, ,
San Francisco and un less he suffered some detention

,
at W ash i ngton only a little over three weeks from

,
Helen . The p ossibil i ty that he might be ordered

away upon some other serv i ce before he saw her
occ urred to him but only as on e of those disasters
,
which each ofus regards as too cruel and mon strous

ever to happen to him self He be t on the highest .
figures in the pools formed to guess at the run of the

ship from day to day ; and the lady who held the
pools was not l ong i n divining the cause of hi s
’
euchre and s i ng ing hymns and eat i ng bacon and

, ,
W elsh rabbit and implored one an other to say what

-
had happened A ccording to usage everywhere in

.
cases of accident there was no authority to turn to

,
ficers of the S hip were each

for i nformation ; the o f
about his d uty an d they severally and collectively
,
underwent severe criticism from the passengers for

their absen ce from the scene of the common dismay
and curiosity .
Fenton was the first in virtue O f his Ofli ce and ,
mission to learn that the ship had broken her shaft

, ,
and must put back to Yokohama He received his .
sentence with desperate fortitude .
“
I think we might get you back in time for the
”
next boat said the captain considerate of the haste
, ,
“
ofa bearer of despatches but it would be only a ,
chance This is a sailing craft now W ith a fair

. .
’
wind all the way we might do it but that s almost ,
too much to hope for O f course we might meet the .
next boat on her way home before w e make Yoko

”
hama but that woul d b e still more ofa chance
,
.
“ ’
W ell I must go back with you that s all
, , ,
replied Fenton .
’
Yes there s nothing else for it that I see
, , .
The passengers in the saloon were div i ded between

two minds and inclined in about equal numbers to
,
hold a servi ce of song and thanksgiving for their

delivery from dan ger and to organise an indignation ,
meeting for the adoption of resolutions condemning

the captain for snubbing a committee of inquiry ,
which had presented a j ust interrogation as to his

’
purposes i n vi ew ofthe accident I t appeared fro m

, .
,
the best informed that the captain had at once put

,
his ship about not only without consulting the pas

,
’
sengers wishes but evidently without considering
,
whether i t was not quite as feasible to push on to

San Francisco as to return to Yokohama There .
were attempts to commit some of the stewards to

the former hypothesis .
A bout noon the next day the captain spoke a ship , ,
which under a full press of canvas was making

, ,
speed eastward that mocked the laggard reluctance

ofthe steamer on her backward course She proved .
to be the clipper Meteor bound for San Francisco , ,
for a freight ofwheat to E urope The captai n inv i ted .
Fenton 011 to the bridge .
“ ’ “
There s your chance he said if you want to , ,
”
r i sk i t But you must be quick about it ?
.
H ow much ofa chance is it asked Fenton .
Those clippers often m ake ve ry quick runs She s .

’
bound straight for where you want to go I can t .

’
’ ’ ”
ad vise and I don t know whether they ll take you
, .
“ ”
’
I ll risk it ! said Fento n If he had been .
given more time t o hesitate he might have refused

the risk ; but he was not given the time He .
scratched a line to Helen telling her what had ,
h appened for the captain of the steamer to post

,
in Yokohama when he got back S O that she might ,
have some intelligen ce of him in case of further

delay ; but when he had finished his letter h e
, ,
decided that it would distress her with needless

anxiety if it reached her before hi s arrival and that ,
’
i t would i n all probability come after h i m ; and he so
put it into his pocket instead of giving it to the

,
captain In the meantime there w as further um

.
,
intelligible parley with the clipper ; she shortened

sail and hove to and before the other passengers
-
had well realised the fact ,Fenton and his baggage

were in the boat wh i ch the steamer had lowere d ,
and was rising and sinki ng on the long swells that

stretched between h er an d the other ship Mrs . .
B owers had parted from h i m with effusion : I kno w

’
you l l find he r alive and well she whispered i n ,
generous sympathy ; and he volun teered to look

Mr Bowers up in San Franci sco and tell him all
.
,
about eve rything .
The other passe n gers received the adieux which

he waved and bowed them in that awe which ,
A mer i cans like to feel for any representative of the

national dignity : we s ee S O little of it Fenton had .
put on his uniform to affect as powerfully as possibl e

the imagination of the captain of the clipper who ,
was quite master to refuse him passage after all ; ,
the captain o f the steamer had not thought it best

to make too plain his purpose in sending out a boat
to the hasty stranger .
’
Both his precaution and Fenton s had been well
taken W hen Captain R ollins of the Meteor came
.
to understand th e reaso n why h i s ship had been

stopped he discharged a blast ofprofanity ofa range
,
that included nearly everything in animated nature ,
except Lieuten ant Fen ton who stood sternly patient

,
before him until he should finish ; perhaps it devoted

,
’
passengers i n the cabin a young A meri can lady re

turning with her mother from a visit to her brother ,
i n C hina and a man from K ankakee Illinois who

, , ,
had been out looking up the sorghum culture in its -
’
n ative land The s e a monotony which Fenton s
.
-
coming had broken for the moment promptly returned

upon this company The young lady had n ot Mrs
. .
’
B ow ers s art of making attentions to herself appear
an act of devotion to Helen and Fenton O ffered her ,
only the necessary politeness W hat compan i onship .
he had was with the Kankakee man a small meagre , , ,
melancholy figure full Ofan unembittered discourage

,
ment Continual failure in life had apparently sub

.
dued h i m into acquiescence in whateve r happened ,
without destroying his faith in the schemes he p ro

e cte d ; he was disheartened w i th himself n ot with
j ,
them and he had the gentleness of a tim i d nature

,
which cur i ously appealed to th e gentleness of Fen

’
ton s courage He confessed that the first encounter
.
between th e lieutenant and the captain of the ship

had given him apprehensions and he insinuated a ,
’
deep adm i ration for Fenton s behaviour in tha t
d ifli cul t moment He attached himself to the stronger
.
man and accepted h i m i n detail w ith a simple devo

,
tion which seemed to refer as much to Fenton s

,
’
personal presence as to his moral quali t i es ; and in ,
fact the lie utenant was then a gallant figure The

,
.
oval of h i s regular face had been chiselled by his

sickness into something impressively fine ; with his
good n ose and mouth his dark moustache and i m,
p erial and his brown tint he was that sort O f youn g

, ,
’
A WO MAN S REA S ON . 2 33
A merican whom you m i ght pronounce an Italian ,
before you had seen the A merican look in his grey

eyes His slight figu re had a greater apparent height
.
than it really attain ed .
”
You s ee explained the Kankakee man whose
, ,
named proved to be Giffen my idea was that i f I ,
could go right in among the Chinese people and find ,
out how the thing was carried on and mebbe talk ,
wi th some of their leading agriculturists about it I ,
could do more to get the sorghum culture going

among us in six months than the agricul tural depar t
’
ment of W ashington could in six years It s boun d .
to come It won t come in m y time n or through

.
’
,
anything I ve done but that sorghum interest is

’
bound to be a big thing with us yet W e ve got .

’
’
the climate and we ve got the soil for it I ll allo w
,
’
.
I ve had sorghum on the brain ever since I first saw

’
’
i t ; but that s n o reason I m mistaken about it I
’
.
’
know it s got to come and if I could have hit it the ,
way I expected I could have done more good an d

, ,
made m ore money in two years after I got home

than I d known what to do with
’
.
“ ” ’
A nd how was i t you didn t hit it ? asked
Fenton .
“
W ell you see said the Kankakee man whose
, , ,
“ ’
name was Giffen I found I couldn t talk the lan
,
guage for one thing A nd then I couldn t seem to get

,
.
’
anybody interested I d id try to get into the country .
’
districts but I couldn t make an y great headway :
,
such a prejudice against foreigners amongst the

Chinese ; and I h adn t very much m oney with me ’
,
.
and I concluded to give i t up But I found out .
enough to know that our people can t grow sorghum ’
on the Chinese p l an and make it pay ; labour s too

’
’
dear and we ve got to employ machinery I ve got .
’
the idea of a sorghum planter that if I can get any

-
, ,
on e to take hold of it is going to make somebody s

’
,
”
fo rtune Have you ever been to Al aska ?
.
N o said Fenton
,
.
’ ’
They say there s good soil in Alaska and there s ,
nothing to prevent i t s be i ng a great agri c ultural

’
country except the frost four or five feet down Sun .
’
can t get at it on account O f the moss But you .
scrape that moss of f once and let the sun have a f air ,
S how for on e summer —well I believe the thing can

, ,
be done ifany one had the sense to go about it the

,
right way A nd I ve got my eye on a kind of

.
’
co ffee th ey grow on the Sandw i ch Islands that I ,
bel ieve can be introduced with us if the right pa rt i es ,

”
can be got to tak e hold ofit .
The good weather continued for anothe r week ,
with westerly wi nds that carri ed the Meteor on her

course till she had made nearly three thousand miles
since leaving Shanghai E ach day took him two .
hundred or two hundred and fi fty nearer home and ,
Fenton looked forward to a prosperous run all the

way to San Francisco w i th hopes that he dut i ful ly
disguised to himsel f as fears Towards the end of .
the week the wind began to haul back to the south

,
ward and fell till i t scarcely stirred a rippl e on the

,
s ea but he did not lose courage

,
He explained to .
the other p assengers that they co uld afford to lose

2 36 A WO MAN S REA S ON
’
.
The Me teor hung u pOn a coral reef that defined itself ,
under the starlight in the curving hue of breakers

on either hand The seas swept over her where she
.
lay on her beam ends and at every ru sh O f the

-
breakers she pounded heavily on the reef Beyond .
it was a stretch of smoother wate r from which ,
seemed to rise a l ow irreg ular mass of rock forming ,
with the ree f a r ud e quadrangle There was n o hope .
for the ship and n o hOp e for her peopl e unless they
,
could somehow re ac h thi s rock It was useless .
to launch the boats in such a se a ; they tried

on e but it filled as soon as it touched th e water
, ,
and nothing remained but to carry a line if it could ,
be done to the island beyond the reef The captain

,
.
called for volunteers but the men hung back It , .
was n ot the time to parley Fenton passed on e end

of the line round his waist and plun ged into the ,
gul f under the lee of the ship W hen he reached .
the rock he found that two sailors had followed

,
him and these now helped him to pull in the heavier

,
l ine attached to the cord which he had made fast to a

,
point o f the rock A hauling rope was carried along

.
this l ine and in the glare of the lights burned on

,
the ship they began to bring her people away on e

,
by on e A sailor mounted into the sl i n g runn i ng

.
upon the rope with a wom an or child in his arms

, ,
and was hauled to the rock an d back again to the

ship ; and all the women and children were se t
ashore even some poor creatures among the Chinese
, ,
before any of the men were suffered to lan d These .
followed till none of the passengers but the China

,
’
men were left They stood huddled together at the

.
b ow which had shifted round under the blo w s of

,
the surf and was h anging seaward and the lights

, , ,
burning now green now c ri mson n ow purple showed

, , ,
them tossing their arms into the air as if in some ,
weird incantation as they tried to free the wet

,
j oss papers that clun g to their fingers ; their shrill

-
supplications pierced through the roar of the

breakers The captain repor ted that he tried to
.
make them understand how they were to reach the

reef ; but they would n ot or could n ot understand .
He and his oflicers then flung themselves upon

the line straining under the seaward lapse of the
,
wreck ; and at the same moment the vessel parted

an i id ship s and the b ow where the Chinese were
,
grouped weltered back with them into the se a The .
’
lights died out and the ship s bell which had been
, ,
tolling dismally as she pounded on the reef suddenly ,
ceased to sound The broken hulk grew up once

.
more in the dark and the roar of the breakers rushed

,
loud again upon the moment of horror that had been

like a moment ofsilence .
“l he n Fenton first touched the rock where all the

survivors of the wreck were n ow gathered it rose ,
scarcely a fe e t above the water at the highest point ,
and by the time the captain reached it they stood ,
knee deep in the rising tide A n hour after midnight

-
.
i t was high tide and it was only by holding fast to

-
each other that they could keep their footing .
The moon broke from the cl ouds and on e of the ,
sailors w hipped ou t hi s kni fe w ith a cry O f Look ,

.
”
out for yourselves ! and made a cut at somethi ng
in the water Fenton looked and saw that the se a
.
,
arou n d them was full o f S harks He helped the .
captain form the men about the women and children ,
and the y fought the fish away with cr i es and ,
thrusts of their kn ives and blows of the S pl inters

,
an d fragments of the wreck which the breakers had

fl ung them over the reef till the tide turned and , ,
the most hideous of their dangers had passed for the

time .
\Vith th e first light of day came th eir first gleam

O ne of the ship s boats which m ust have
’
ofhope .
,
been carried around the line of their reef came ,
floating to them bottom up on the refl uen t t i de from

, ,
the other quarter It proved to be so li t tle i njured

.
that the captain an d some of his men were able to

put offin it to the wreck where they found tools for
,
repairing it and abundant stores

,
W hen they .
returned to the rock they had a mast with its sail

,
ready to be stepped lying in the boat and several

, ,
pairs of mismated oars which they had picked up,
outside But it was the smallest of the boats and

.
,
the castaways counted each other with cruel eyes as

i t drew near The rock where they stood was on e of
.
those dead atolls i n which the Pacific abounds a tiny

coral isle once tufted with palms an d gay with per
, ,
’
p e tual green which the sinki n g of the ocean s floor

,
had dr opped below the tide and left lurking there ,
with its guardian reef a menace and a deadly pe ril to

,
’
n avigation Somewhere within a day s sail there must
.
be other islands ofki ndred origin but with a certain ,

’
Jake he called to the seamen who still remai ned

,
with Fenton .
N o guess n ot said on e ofthem quietly ,
The matter offact every day character O f th e

- -
,
-
details of the cal amity th e unchanged nature of the ,
actors in this tragedy of life and death robbed it of ,
reality to Fenton s sense and m ade it like some ’

,
crudely represented fict i on ofthe theatre .
The figure o f Giffen interposed itself between h i m

and the captain who stood at the bow ofthe boat in ,
“
the act of offering his hand in farewell E xcuse .
me he said answering Fenton s look

’ ’
“
, ,
I m going to ,
stay But I want C aptain R ollins i f he gets back

.
, ,
”
to wri te to my brother George Giffen at K ankakee , ,
.
The harsh n ame so grotesquely unrelated to any

,
th i ng that was there or then awoke Fenton from his ,
maze W as there a worl d beyond these seas where

.
there were town s and fields chimneys and trees the , ,
turmoil of stre ets th e quiet of fire side s ? His heart

,
seemed to close upon itself and stand still as the , ,
image o f Helen sewing beside the little table in the

l ibrary in th e way he al w ays saw her possessed him
, , .
The n ext moment this in its turn was th e theatrical

,
vision and he was standing on a point of rock in a

,
wilderness of waters the boat at his feet and the , ,

’
broken wreck upon the reef a stone s cast away He -
took from his breast the water tight packet in which -
he carried his despa t ches and wrote upon the back ,
ofon e ofthem a line to Helen with he r address and ,
a request that it might be forward ed to he r Here .
”
are some letters he said handing the packet to the
, ,
A WO MAN S REA S O N ’
. 241
capta i n w i th a light headed sense of sending them

,
-
to some on e in another l ife .
“ ”
W hy bless you man ! cried Captain R ollins
, , ,
I sh al l find l and before night and I Shall be back ,
f or you here by this time t o morrow mor n ing

“ ’
Yes yes ,
returned Fenton Don t stay n ow .
, ,
h e added impatiently Good bye .

-
The four men on the rock watched the boat t ill she
showed so small in the distance that they could n o
l onger be sure whether they saw her or n ot ; then
they turned their eyes upon each other W hate ver .
the t w o seame n left behind with Fenton may have

thought ofhis looks he could n ot congratulate him ,
“
self upon theirs But he said Y ou are the men who
.
,
”
followed me w i th the line last n ight .
”
Yes sir an swered one O f them
, , .
”
You re n ot a fraid any way said Fenton as if
’
, , ,
th i s were the most that could be said for them .
”
I guess we get along said the man I rather be , ,
On this rock than that boat w i th s o much people

, , .
W hat are you asked Fenton for the man S poke

’
w i th a certain accent and a foreign er s hesitation .
’
“
I m Fayal man ; I live at Gloucester Massa ,
chu se tts Joh n Jo n es .
Fenton recognised the n ame under wh i ch most

“ ”
Portuguese sailors ship A nd who are you ? he .
asked of the other who was as tall and fair as the,
Portuguese was dark and short .
He grinned and the latter an swered for h i m

,
He .
’
don t speak much E nglish He s some Dutchman ;
’
.
Icelander I guess ,
.
.
Very well said Fenton Y ou k n o w where , .
we are and what the chances are

, .
“ ”
Yes sir ,
.
“
I reckon sai d Giffen we can make out to
, ,
w orry al ong someho w till the boat gets back The .
sailors had begun to bre akfast on the stores the

boat had brought off from the wreck and left for them
on the rock and Gi f fen turned to with them
, .
I t won t do t o coun t too much upon the boat s

’ ’
”
coming back replied Fento n sudde n ly hungry at , ,
“
sight of the others eating They may find land .
before night and they m ay n ot find it for two weeks

, .
A t any rate the sh arks will be b ack b efore they ,

”
are .
’
G ifl en s jaw dropped w i th a large mo r sel bu l gi ng ,
h is cheek .
Come man ! c ri ed Fen ton sharply

”
, you d ,
’
better have crowded i nto the boat w i th the others ,
i f you re sorry you stayed

’
.
“ ’ ’
I don t suppose I ve got any great physical
” “
courage said Gi f fen in h i s slow weak voice
,
But , .
I m not sor ry I stayed I m ready to do whatever

’
.
’
you say I m a born h i gh private if ever there was

.
’
-
,
”
on e .
“
I beg your par don Fenton began ashamed of , ,
his petulant outburst .
O h that s all right said Gi f

’
,
fen quietly But ,
.
’ ’ ’
I m i n earnest I d rather follow some other man s
luck any time , .
“
I shall n ot ask you to do anyth i ng th at I m n ot ’
“
ready to do myself returned Fenton W e must ,
.
244 A WO M A N S REA S O N
’
.
for i t was the Portuguese w ho found wedged i n

among the s hattered timbers O f the hu l k where some ,
caprice of th e waves h ad lodged it the boat th at ,
had foundere d the night before E very blow of the .
se a had d ri ven it tighter in to the r uin and it w as an ,
hour s struggle in the dark waist deep in water

’
,
-
amid the bodies O f the drowned Chinamen an d j ust ,
wi thin the line ofthe sharks that were preying upon

them before the b oat could be cut out W hen they
,
.
pulled it up on the deck at last it was in a condition ,
that must have seemed desperate to less desperate

men ; but in this extremity Giffen developed the
s hi ftiness of a d abbler in many trades and his r ude ,
knack with the s aw and hammer rendered the

battered boat seawo rthy Fenton foun d a b ag O f .
flour water soaked w i thout but fresh and dry within

,
-
a few b i scuit and some peas and beans w i t h wh i ch ,
h e provisioned her ; and a shot gun with a store ,
ofwater proof cartridges with which he armed her

-
, .
’
W ith G ifl e n s help he fashioned a mast ou t of
’
on e of the broken yards and patched t ogether ,
a sail from the shreds and tatters of canvas hang

ing about i t The wreck was settling more and
.
more deeply into the se a when they launch ed the ir

boat at sunset and re tu rn ed to the rock where they
,
made h er fast .
The last man to come over the s i de of the ship

was the Portuguese who carried i n either ha n d a
,
buckskin bag .
“
That s Captain Rol l in s s money sa i d Fenton
’ ’
, .
Take good care of it

w oMAN s
’
A REA S ON . 2 45
A ll ri ght . I look out for i t ,

an swered the
sailo r .
W ith the re fl ue n t tide the sharks came back again .
The dead Chi n amen came with them and seemed to ,
j oi n in beleaguering the castaways crouch ing in ,
their boat which pulled at her moorings as if strug

, ,
gling to escape the horrors that hemmed them round .
They had found no water on the wreck and a con ,
s um in g thirst parched them W hen the morning .
broke it showed them the su rf beating over the reef

where the ship had hung and the se a strewn w i th i ts ,
fragments .
’ “
W e can t stay here said Fenton W e must
,
.
—
find land for ourselves somewhere and water ”
.
”
That s so admitted G ifl en with feeble acq ui e s
’
, ,
cence .
“
I know they never come back for us sai d the ,
“ ’ ”
Po rtuguese I goin tell you that yesterday
.
, .
They cut their boat from her m oorings and ran ,
l i ghtly away be fore the breeze that carried them

where it would .
The sky was again ofthe blue of the weather that

’
had prospered th e first weeks ofthe Meteor s voyage
agai n its vast arch was undimmed by a cloud from
horizon to horizon and it only darkened to a deeper
blue filled with large so uthern stars when the sun
, ,
dropped below the sea and the swift tropical night ,
closed round them .
The castaways voyaging none of them kn ew

,
where and trusting for rescue to whatever chan ce O f

,
land or passing sail befriended them with the danger ,

’
of tempest and the certainty of starvation a f te r a

,
given time before them h ad al ready div i ded them

, ,
selves i nto two ca m ps tacitly distrustful i f n ot ,
hostile the sailors guarded between them the booty

that they had brought from the wreck and Fento n ,
and Giffen watched by turns with th e gun in their

hands .But at daybreak a common joy united ,
them O n the edge of the s e a a line of dark points

.
printed itself against the sky and as they approached , , ,
these points rounded into tufts and then opened into ,
the feathery crests of cocoa palms with broken ,
stretches Of delicious verdure b etween the stems .
The long white wall beneath that glistened in the ,
ri sing s un like a bank of snow expanded i nto a

, ,
smooth mping beach ; the deep surf flashed and

,
thundered along the outer ree f ; and then the little

coral isl e encircl ing its slu m brous lagoon took shape
, ,
before the i r eyes They tacked and w e re to find a

.
passage through the ree f and so between the islets , ,
of the palm belt over smooth depth s of delicate

-
yello w and apple green they slipped into the still

-
waters ofthe l ake and ran across to the white coral

,
beach They fell upon the sand and scooped with

.
,
their hands a hollow into which oozed a little water

that they co uld drink and then they k i ndled a fire
’
with some matches that G ifl e n had brought from the

wreck and roasted the shell fish the sa ilors found
,
-
among th e rocks .
“ ” ’ ’
I think this goin to be nice place Cap n said , ,
the Portuguese stretching himsel fface d own wards on

,
the clean sand when he had eaten and drunken his

,
.
But you ve got enough here for a reg i ment h e

’
,
added looking roun d on the store of provisions

, ,
cooked and uncooked which was heaped up on the ,
sand .
“
O h plenty more where that come from sa i d the
, ,
’
“
Portuguese They all good cold I don t like
to—
. .
c ookin morrow want to eat and S leep for a

’
”
week .
The Icelander had strayed away agai n an d they ,
s aw him climbing the palms and strewing the earth ,

“
beneath with cocoa n uts Jake seems to be laying .
ou t for a week s rest too said Giffen

’
.
,
The Portuguese laughed at the j oke You better .
”
take that money up to your house Cap n he sai d ,
’
,
to Fenton .
W here is it ? asked Fenton .
The Portuguese showed the two b ags where h e ,
h ad pl aced them i n a t uft ofgrass , .
Fenton hesitated a moment Y ou can br i ng i t up .
”
with you when you get through here he said fin al ly ,
.
The Portuguese and his s hip mate came carrying -
up the provision to the hut after Fenton and Giffen ,
had stretched them selves on their beds O f grass .
’ ” “ ’
Cap n he said waking Fenton
, here s the
, ,
” ’
money W hat we goin d o with that boat ?
.
“
Let her be where she is ; n othing can happen to
”
her answered Fenton heavy in heart an d soul and
, , ,
sodden with sleep as he placed his han d on the,
bags the sailor ha d put down beside him .
“
Y e s chuckled the Portuguese
, I gue ss nobody ,
goin steal he r
’
.
2 49
'
T h e sailors d i d n ot come i nto the hut they bega n

to build a shelter oftheir own an d the n oise of their
,
work followed Fenton into his slee p He had .
watched for three days and nights ; he could not

rouse himsel f fro m the deathly slumber i nto whic h
he dropped agai n in spite of a formless fear that
beset him ; but he woke toward morning with this ,
terror which proved more potent than the fatigue

,
that drugged him The money was stil l there ;

.
the sailors were peacefully snoring in their hut ; and

G ifl e ri lay asleep across the gun He staggered down
.
to look at the boat I t was safe where they had left

.
i t and he returned to their shelter where he watched

, ,
an hour as he thought ; then he woke Giffen and

, ,
bidding him call him in his turn when he coul d n o ,
longer keep a w ake he fel l as leep once more

, It .
must have been his visit to the boat that s uggeste d

the dream which seemed to begin as soon as he closed
his eyes He dreamed that they were at se a again
.
in the boat and that they s aw a sail in the o f

, fing s o ,
near that those on board who did n ot se e them , ,
must hear them i fth ey united in one loud cry They .
rose up together for the e ffort but their voices died,
in a gasp on their lips Fenton burst into a groan

.
ofdespair .
My L ord what s the matter ? cried Giffen

’
shaking the dreamer Fenton scrambled to his feet

the money— bags w ere still there but the sailors were,
gone he tore O pen th e b ags they were filled w i th

shell s and sand He rushed down to the beach ;
.
the boat had di sappeared ; on the horizon a sail ,

250 R EA S ON
’
A WO M AN S .
no bigge r than the petal of a flower fl i cke r ed a nd ,
faded .
It was sunset an d they had slept thro ugh the

,
night and the whole day .
Fenton turned a look on h i s fellow capt i ve which -
G iffen met w ith a face of ghastly self upbraiding -

.
“ “
My God he said
, I fell asleep ! I hated to
,
”
wake you and I fell asleep before I knew it !
,
”
It doesn t m atter replied Fenton with the
’
, ,
“
nerveless quiet of his despair Sooner or later
.
,
”
they meant to do it .
They turned blankly from the fact ; it was days

be fore they could confront it i n speech ; and then ,
w i th the conj ecture that the sailors had set out in

search of some i n habited l and where they could ,
enj oy the spoi l of the ship the i r dese rt i on rem a ined

,
incred i ble un i maginable

,
.
252 A WO MAN S REA S ON
’
.
appeared from the casual con fiden c e s o f the l andlady

that Miss R oot was studyi n g to be a painter and that ,
some ofher work was beauti ful Mrs Hewitt owned . .
that she was no j udge of painting but she said that ,
s he knew what she liked She told Helen also that

.
Mr E vans was on e ofthe editors of S aturd ay After

.
n oon a paper which she praised because S he said it

,
gave you the news about everybody and kept you ,
posted so that you could tell j ust where they were

,
an d what they were doing all the while , she believed
that Mr E van s was n ot connected w ith this ad m ir

.
able part of the paper : he wrote m ostly about the

theatres and the new books .
Helen w as amused by some ofh is talk at the table

but S he was n ot at all sure about the Evan se s She .
could not tell exactly w hy on e never can te ll exactly

why especially if one is a lady Mrs E vans seemed
, . .
well enough educ ated an d well enough dressed she

had been abroad th e usual term ofyears s he neither
unduly sough t nor repelled acquaintance but fro m
the first Helen was painfully a w are of not having
,
heard of her ; and on e is equally uncertain ofpeople

ofwhom one has heard nothing or heard too much , .
A s soon as she learned what Mr E van e s business .

’
w as sh e understood ofcourse that they could never

, , ,
have been people that people knew ; and Vi’

e re they ,
n ot a little Bohemian s he asked rather tepidly on e , ,
day when an ol d friend ofhers w h om she happened

, ,
to meet broke into effusive praise of them on hearing

, ,
that Helen was i n the same house with them .
”
My dear s aid Miss Kingsbury summing up in
, ,
A WO M A N S REA S ON ’
. 25 3
a word the worst that a N ew E ngland w oman can say

of a man he is easygoing! B ut he is very kind ;
“
,
-
and she is the salt ofthe earth .
”
A nd some ofthe pepper ? suggeste d Helen .
A little ofthe pepper without doubt But not ,

.
a grain more tha n is good for him He would be .
”
n othin gwithout her she added i n the superstition
, ,
ladies love to cherish concerning the real headship

“
of the family She makes up all he r own things
.
,
and teaches that b oy herself A nd you h ave another .
person there who i s really a character : Miss R oot .
If you see any of her work you ll se e that she is an ,

’
’
artist ; but you ll have to s e e a great deal of her
’
before you find ou t that she s the best soul in the
world W ith her l ittle time and her little money
.
, ,
sh e does more g ood ! She s p ractical and S he kno w s ’
just how to help peopl e that want to help themselves

poor girl s you kno w trying to learn thi n gs and get
, , ,
into o ccupations A nd so rectangular she is

.
Miss Kingsbury ran Of f professing an instant and ,

’
press ing duty I m coming to see you v e ry soon
. .
Good bye Helen dear ! You know how I feel for

-
you she added tenderly

,
.
Many other people returning to town looked , ,
Helen up an d l e ft cards and messages of friendly

, ,
interest She did not se e any one that she coul d

.
help seeing ; she was doubly exiled by her bereave

ment and her poverty from the gay and prospero u s
world they belonged to ; she kne w that they were
kind and meant well but she knew that he n ce for
, ,
ward she could have few interests in com m on with

254 .
them She was happiest when she was qu i te al on e

.
with her sorrow and with her love which seemed to ,
h ave sprung from it and to be hallowed by it T he rr

, .
transmutation gave her memories and her hope s a

common sweetness which was sometimes very
,
strange ; i t seemed as if R obert were present with

her when she thought of her father and that her ,
father came to S hare all her thoughts ofR obert .
Her old life had otherwise almost wholly dropped

away from her A fter her return from Beverley Mar
.
,
garet came ofte n to see her but the visits were a,
trial to Helen and perhaps Margaret saw this for S he ,
came at longer and l onger intervals and at last cam e ,
no more Helen supposed that she had taken a place

.
,
but waited patiently till S he should reappear .
She spent a great part of each day in writing t o

R obert an d thinking abou t him and trying to con ,
triv e their common future and S he m ade over all

,
her bonnets and dresses She saved a good deal of

.
money by not buying anything new for the winter ,
and after her benefaction to Mrs Sullivan she found .

,
that even with these econ omies she had nothing to ,
buy spring dresses But that mattered very little ;

.
S he had not cared after She first put on black , to

,
mark the degrees of mourning pu n ctiliously ; she had

always dressed qu ietly and now she could wear
,
what she wore l ast year without treason to he r grief .
The trouble was th at she would soon need money

for other things before any interest would be due
,
’
from the mone y in Mr Hibbard s hands and she
.
,
spent several days in trying to put into dignified

2 56 A W OMA N S RE A S ON
’
.
stone unturned ; and she forced hers e l f in going to ,

’
Mr Hibbard s office to pass the store where she
.
,
had l eft her painted vase s on sale s ix months before .
She said to herself that they w ould be all in the

window still ; but when S he dared to lift her eyes
to it there were n one Then S he said that they
.
must have been taken out and stuck away i n some

,
corner as too hopelessly ugly and unsaleable .
The pro prietor of the store came forward with

a smile of recognition and of something more
,
.
“ ”
This is really a coincidence he said W e have
, .
j ust sold your vases and I was beginning to wonder

,
where I should send you the money ; I find there

”
is n o address on the card you gave me .
He fil l ip e d her card w ith on e hand against th e

other and looked at her with friendly pleasure
, ,
while she stayed hersel f against a show case with -
a faintness which he could not se e .
Sold them she whispered .
“
Yes ,
all three Mr T ru fitt was looking at
. .
them yesterday and asked me w ho did them This

,
.
”
morning h e called and took them .
“ ”
How dared he ? cried H elen in a tumul t of
indignation n one the less appalling because wholly
,
unintell igibl e to the person of whom she ma d e the

deman d A t the m ere name of T ru fitt a series O f
.
odiou s facts had flashed without sequence into her

t hought : his obtuse persistence in love ; his bald
ness ; his stinginess ; the fi t o f his pantaloon s ; his
spiritu al aridity and his physical knobbiness She
, .
h ardly knew for whic h of his qualities she disliked

A WO M A N S RE A S ON
’
. 25 7
him the most but she recognised with perhaps

,
superior disdain that after learning that the vases

w ere her work he h ad turned over for a whole day
,
in his frugal min d the question Of buying them .
A fter presuming to think of ow n ing her vases he ,
had also p resumed to hesitate I t was intolerabl e .
W hat right She began on the in n ocent

means ofthe offence but corrected herself so far as to
,
”
ask in stead t y did you tell him who did them ?
,
”
R eally s aid her victim with j ust pique
,
I s aw , ,
’
no reason w hy I sh ouldn t You gave me n o charges .
on that point and I gave the m atter n o reflection

,
.
I seized the first ch ance that offered to sell the m

for you He looked hurt and vexed ; perhaps h e
had made his little romance about servin g th is very
pretty young l ad y in her trouble an d need .
Helen w ould not consider his kindness ; in her

ow n v exation s he con tinued to treat hi m de haut en
”
I can t allow hi m to keep m y vases
’
has. s he ,
“ ”
said You must send for them .
The vases were on sale returned the proprietor , ,

’
and I sold them in good faith I can t ask them .
back .
I will ask them back said Helen grandly , .
”
Good morning
-
W hen she put her hand on the
.
’
bell pull at Mrs Hewitt s she remembered that the
-
.
,
shop m an had n ot given her the money for her vases ,
and that she had again left him without h er address .
This was some satisfaction but i t was n ot enough ,
she would n ot rest till S he had her vases back again ,
and had broken them into a thousan d pieces .
R
25 8 A WO MAN S REAS ON’
.
But she found that the first thing she must do was
to write to the people who h ad sold them and ,
apologise for the strange return she had made for

the interes t they had taken in her recognising the ,
j ustice of their position and the absurdity of her

ow n . It was n ot an easy note to write but she ,
con trived i t at l ast and that gave her courage to

,
think how s he should get he r vases back from Mr .
T rufitt w ho had bought them and had certainly a

, ,
right to keep them She knew why he had b o

. ugh t
them and this enraged her but it did not help he r ;
, ,
she felt that i t would be putting herself in an asking
attitude however imperiously she demanded them

,
again If he yielded it would be i n grace to her ;

.
,
and he might re fuse —very likely he would refuse .
She had n ot decided i n her own mind w hat she

should do in this event when she received a reply
,
from Messrs Pout Lumley enclosing Mr T rufitt s

.
,
.
’
money for her vases l ess their commission Messrs

,
. .
Pout Lumley regretted that their Mr Lumley had .
’
not clearly understood Miss H arkness s wishes in
regard to the vases she had left with them ; but
finding themselves unable to ask their return from
the gentleman who purchased them they had n o “
course open to them but to send her the money for

them .
Helen s aw that she must have writte n her address

at the top ofher letter ofapology and that she must ,
have seemed to them to have repented of h er mag

n i ficen t beh aviour on another gr ound and to have ,
tacitly asked for the money .

.
d i smally accumulated ; and along the base of these

heaps a thin adventurous verd ure showed i tself
, ,
l ike that hardy vegetation which s ki rts the snow

l iu e on the A lps A s Hel en walked across the
.
’
planking on her way to Mr Hibbard s office she .
,
had heard a blue bird i n the blue soft air high

-
through th e n aked boughs of the elms making ,
querulous i nquiry for the spri n g ; and there had

seemed a vernal respite even in the exasperation of
the E nglish sparrows The frozen year in fact was
.
, ,
awaking to con sciousness with secret pangs o f ,
resuscitation that now declared themse l ve s i n an

easterly storm of peculiar spite fulness driving ,
against the umbrellas which she saw ascending the

,
narrow hillside street in gusts that were filled from

,
moment to moment with sleet and rain and snow .
In the little grate in her room the anthracite had

throw n off its first gaseous m alice and now l ay a ,
core of brownish red under a soft lurid blur of flame ;

-
and she stood before it thinking to herself that ,
rather than go out in that weather She would spen d ,
some of Mr T ru fitt s money as S he called it and

.
’
, ,
smili n g faintly at the demorali sation which had

succeeded her h eroics when some one rapped at her
,
door She turned away from th e fire w here she had

.
,
stood smoothing the front of her dress i n the warmth ,
with a dreamy eye on the storm outside and opened ,
the door rather rese n tfully Mrs Hewitt was there . .
w i th a card in her hand which she had apparently

,
preferred to bring in person rather than S end up by ,
the general housework girl Before she gave Helen .

261
’
the card she sai d w ith a stud i ed i nd ifference of

, ,
manner th at might well have invited con fiden ce

I heard him askin for you and I showed him
“ ’
,
into the parlour on the second floor till I could fin d ,
out whether you wanted to se e company .
Mrs Hewitt made her ow n inferences from the

.
flush and then the pallor with which Helen received

the card ; and while Helen stood staring at it she ,
added suggestively Seemed to h ave some kind of a

,
passel or something t he brought with h i m in the

, ,
’
”
carriage .
”
Oh ! said Helen as i f this idle detail had ,
“
clinched the matter then will you tell him please
, , ,
that I ll be down in a minute

’
.
’
She hastily made a woman s imperceptible chan ges
‘
of hair and ribbon and descended to the parlour
, ,
with her line of behaviour distinctly drawn i n her

mind A fter a first impulse to refuse to see her
.
v i sitor and then a full recognition of the stupidity

,
of such a thing she s aw that she must be frankly

,
cordial Mrs Hewi tt had hospitably put a m atch to

. .
the soft coal fire laid in the grate and it was n ow

-
lustily snapping in the chilly air of the parlour but

Lord R ain ford was n ot stan ding be fore it He stood .
with his back to the door with his hat in his hand , ,
and his overcoat on looking out into the storm whose

, ,
national peculiarities might well have interested him ;

he turned when Helen came in and she greeted him ,
with a welcome wh i ch She fel t must have the same

effect o f being newly kindled as the fire in the grate
-
.
He d i d not seem t o notice this but began a huddled ,

’
262 A WO M A N S REA S ON .
and confused e x planation of h i s presence as i f i t ,
ought to be accounted for and justi fied upon special

grounds Helen pulled the wrap she had flung on
.
tightly round her and concealing the l ittle s hiver

,
that the col d air struck through her asked him to ,
s i t do w n .
“
The fact i s , he said “
that I was anxious to ,
put this littl e parcel into your ow n hands Miss ,
Harkness and to make sure that it had reached you

in safety He gave her the package he had been
.
holding and then offered to relieve her ofit

,
.
O h thank you
,
sai d Helen i gnori n g it as well
, ,
as she could while refusing to give it up She had

, .
gathered f rom the fact that Lord R ain ford would

n ot have felt authorised to present himself to her at
that moment i f he had not this c ommission from the
,
R ays that the R ays had sent h er the parcel by him

, ,
and she began to unravel the maze in which he was ,
involving them both by that cle w There had been , .
something in wh at he said about London and N ice , ,
and R ome and A lexandria ; but whether he had

,
been with her fr i ends at any or all of these points ,
she had not made out .
“
W here did you S ee th e R ays last ? she asked .
W ere the Butlers with them or ,
L ord R ain ford laughe d Why the fact i s he .

, ,
“
exclaimed I haven t seen them at al l They made
,
’
”
n o ste p i n E ngl and through some change of plan s , .
“ ”
Yes I know said Helen
, ,
.
A nd l ater I gave up my winter in E gypt

,
I .
found that I could n t go up the N ile and get back ’
,
’
to be anyth i ng subj ect to duty I gave h i m my .
card and address and I did go s o far as to offer

,
”
to deposit a sum ofmoney with him as surety .
”
How very very kind ofyou I cried Helen begin
, ,
ning to be charm ed
“
O h not at all said Lord R ainford colourin g a
, , ,
l ittle. I merely mentioned it because it led up to

s om e thi n
g that interested me He looked at my
~
.
card and then he looked at me and said That it ‘

, , ,
wasn t necessary between gentl emen I

’ ’ ”
’
Helen laughed at the man s diverting assumption
of a community of feeling with Lord R ainfo rd .
“ ”
Y ou must have been e d ifie d she said w i th such ,
an early example ofA merican e quality .
Lord R ainford looked rather mystified and a little

“ ”
troubled I don t know I rather liked it I b el ie ve
.
’
.
, ,
he said tentatively ; as on e does who has n ot been

taken in quite the way he expected .
“ ”
You are easily ple ased cried H elen ; and he ,
seemed still more perpl exed .
But as if he se t these speech es down finally to

“
some iron i cal intention in her he went ou He ,
'
‘
said I could take the box along and then he ’
‘
looked at the address on i t and said O h t s all ’ ’
, , ,
righ t ! I know Miss

W ho in the world could it have been ? wondered
Helen “
I never dreamt that I had a friend at
.
court— or the Custom House -

.
”
Lord R ainford took ou t his pocket book and to -
, ,
“ ’
do this he had to unbutton his overcoat
,
W on t .
“
you lay off your coat ? asked Helen I believe .
’
A WO M A N S RE AS ON . 2 65
we shall n ot freeze to death here n e w The fire i s ,

.
really making an impression .
”
Thank you he said obeying He gave me his
, , .
”
card I have it here somewhere A h here it is 1
. .
,
Helen received it and gazed at the name No .
s he said returning i t with a S hake of the head

, ,
“
it doesn t throw any light on my acquaintance and
’
,
’ ”
I don t exactly understand it .
“
Perhaps it was some other lady of the same
”
name .
’
Perhaps But I haven t asked you yet when
.
you arrived ; and that ought to have been the first

”
q uestion .
He seemed willing to evade it but he said gravely

“
that he had arrived that morning The fact is .
,
he added I had them send the luggage to the hotel

, ,
an d I— took the liberty ofdriving directly here

”
.
”
t y this i s zeal in stewardship l
,
cried Helen .
’
She felt a girl s thrill ofpleasure i n it To see Lord .
R ainford was like meeting an old friend ; she had

parted from the R ays and Butlers long since he had
but his coming on an errand from them seemed like
news from them and she found hersel fat home with ,
him and truly touched by his kindness

,
She had .
been too little abroad to consider whether she w as

behaving l ike an E ngl ish girl under the circum
stances and s he ended by behaving like an A merica n
,
”
girl N ow Lo rd R ainford s he said I m going ’
.
, , ,
to do all I can to reward you and if you were a ,
woman you would feel very lavishly rewarded I m ’
going to open this box at once i n your presence .

’
I m sure you re very good said Lord R ai nford

’ ’
, .
She put the box on a little table near them ,
and I hope i t isn t the kind that open s with a

“ ’
”
screw d ri ver she continued breaking the line of
-
, ,
barbaric seal s which held the edge of the paper

cove ring and then coming to a seco n d wrapper tied
,
with an oriental cord ofsilk for which she required ,
“
the aid of Lord Rai n f ord s penknife W hat a ’
.
pity t break and ou t such things she sighed .
” ’
Why I don t know said the young man not
, , ,
feel ing the occidental strangeness to which the paper

“
and the cord were poetry I t s the way they put
’
.
things up there I dare say their dragoman h ad it

,
.
done at a bazaar .
”
“
Their dragoman ! A t a bazaar ! cried Helen ,
and now he dimly sympathised with her mood ,

“ ”
and said 0 yes ! yes ! while s he tore away
,
wrapper after wrapper v aguely fragrant of musk ,
or sandal and c ame at last to a box i nlaid with

, ,
m other oi —-
pearl in the Persian fancy She O pened .
this and foun d under a n ote from Marian R ay a

, , ,
s e t of gol d j ewelry — ear rings b racelets and neck

,
-
lace rich in the colour of the unalloyed metal and ,
fascinating i n their fantastic nai vel e of design ; as ’
ol d as man as young as ch ildhood

,
.
”
Ah yes said Lord R ainfo rd smiling back her
, , ,
rapture in the trinkets Those goldsmith s things .

’
.
’
They re very pretty A nd it s amusing to see those .
’
fellows work They set up their littl e forge in the

.
s treet be fore their doors an d make the things you ve

’
,
”
ordered while you re waiting ’
.
.
home of v i rtuous poverty on the stage must all be ,
eloquent of a boarding house even to unpractised -
eyes and Helen was in doubt what she ought to do

under all the circumstances She decided upon a bold .
,
indefinite course and asserted that they wo ul d see

,
each other again before he le ft Boston .
“ ”
Thank you he said But he did n ot go He
, . .
looked vaguely round the room .
Your umbrella ? she suggested j oin ing acti vely ,
in the search .
he sai d
“ ’
A h I don t think I brought one
, ,
spec i ously .
t en he was gone Helen put on the trinkets

, ,
and found them very becoming though as she , ,
frankly owned to her reflection in the glass a d ark ,

“
girl would have carried them of f better That .
” “ ’
comes she mused from Marian s want of feeling
, ,
”
for colour I m sure she chose them
.
’
She smiled .
a little superiority at th e mirrored face and then ,
she started away from it in dismay O f course Lord .
R ainford had hesitated in that way because he

‘
,
ficer to come back an d pay

’
promised the Customs o f
duty on the box and she had n ot offered to let him
take i t and he could n ot ask for it Th ere seemed
,
.
n o end to this day s con ti etemp s

’
He had n ot given .
he r his addr ess and there was no telling after that

, ,
sort of parting when she should se e h im again i f

, ,
s he ever saw him again She had placed hi m in a .
c l u e lly embarrassing position for he had given his ,
card to that Mr Kimball The name w as inspira

. .
tion ; she could at least go to the Custom House -
,
A WO MAN S REA S O N
’
. 269
and pay the duty herself and trust to som e future ,
chance of telling Lord R ainford th at she had saved

h is honour with Mr Kimball Kimball . Sh e only
.
wondered that s he sho uld have remembered the

name .
She had n o idea where the C ustom — House was but ,
she wrapped herself against the storm an l took f
a carriage at the n earest hack stand The j anitor -
and messengers who passed her fro m on e to an other

,
in the Custom House w ere ofopinion that Mr Kim

-
,
.
ball was ou duty in E ast Boston but the l ast who ,
“
asserted this i mmediately added O h here he is , ,
”
now ! and called after a figure retreating do w n a
“ ’ ”
corridor Kimball ! Here ! Yo u re wanted ! and
,
Helen found herself box i n hand confronted with

, ,
her old friend the pol iceman

, .
“
W hy is it you
,
she cried as j oyously as i f she ,
had met him in some foreign land .
W ell I thought it must be you he said with

, , ,
the h alf shy half jocose respect of that sort of

-
,
-
A mericans i n the presence ofa fashionable woman .
I t amuses them to se e the women putting on style ,
as they would say ; but they revere them as ladies

al l the same Kimball touched his hat and then
.
,
pu shed it back on his head in token of standing u n

covered while they talked .
Helen c ould not wait till she had transacted her

ow n business before she said But I thought you
“
,
”
were a policeman l
W ell so I was the l ast time I s aw you returned
, ,
“
Kimball . I left the force about two months ago .
2 70 A WO M AN S REAS O N ’
.
G ot kind of
sick ofi t myself and my wi fe was al w ays ,
in a te w about the d anger and bein out so much ,

’
n i ghts an d the new collector was a friend of mine

, ,
”
and he gave me this place said Kimball briefly , ,
putting the e as e into Helen s hands That fellow ’

.
behave himsel f a fter that

”
0 yes answered Helen k n owing that Kimball
, ,
meant the hackman Whom he had rebuked in her

”
behalf ; he was very civil .
“ “
I thought I could fetch him said Kimball I ,
don t kno w as anything while I was on the force

’
, ,
done me s o much good as a chance l ike that now and

”
then . He d ropped his eyes suggestively to the box
’
in Helen s hands but he did not otherwise m anifest
any consciousn ess ofi t an d he l eft Helen to take her ,
ow n time to s ay how glad she was to se e him again ,
and how grateful she had always been to him .
W hen she arrived i n due course at the b ox he , , ,
merely permitted h imsel f a dry smile “

I told him .
”
I k n ew you and this time Helen understood Lord
,
R ain ford and not the hackman

,
I knew it would .
”
be all right .
“
It was very kind of you Mr Kimball and it s , .
,
’
only a chance that it wasn t all wro n g Lord R ain ’

.
~
ford told me all abou t it and I forgot to let him have ,
th e box to bri ng back to you till afte r he had gone ,
and then I hurried off with it myself at once I ,

.
couldn t endure that you should thi n k for a mome n t

’
’ ”
h e hadn t kept his word .
”
O f course n ot said Kimball sympathetically
,
.
”
Full of diamonds ? he asked j okingly as he ,
272 A WO M AN S RE A S O N
’
.
’
taken You ve got to pay fourteen dollars and
.
seventy five cents on this box I wouldn t say it to

-
.
’
’
every one and I shouldn t want it reported but I
, ,
”
think i t s a regular swindle
’
.
“ ”
0 no said Helen sweetly but with a deep
, ,
inward bitterness and finding her pocket with that ,
difficulty which ladies seem always to have she foun d ,
her pocket book and i n i t two dollars and a half

-
, .
I shall have to leave the box with you and come

”
again she said : after resolving to borrow Mr
, .
T rufitt s money for the payment of possible but i m

’
probable duties she h ad come away and left it at

,
home in the letter enclosing it .
“
N o take the box along said Kimball m e asur
, ,
”
,
“ ’
ably consoled at this unexpected turn I t s j ust .
the way with my wife N ever knows how much .
money she takes with her and comes back with her ,
bank bills balled up into little balls like gun—

-
wads ,
’
and her silver layin round all over the bottom of
her bag —what there is to l ay round N ever gets .
home th more than S ixty two and a hal f cents

’
-
’ ’
Don t you fret Miss Harkness I ll make it all right
, ,
”
and you can make it all right with me any time ,
.
’
He would not listen to Helen s protests but forced ,
the box back into her hands and walked along the ,
corridor to the vestibule with her largely waiving ,
each return of her self reproach and gratitude an d -
at the door resolutely changing the subj ect as ,
he took a card from his waistcoat pocket Lord -

.
’
Rainford ! Curious chap Lord R ainford ! D on t .
”
know as I ever saw many lords before he said with ,
’
“ ’
Yankee caut i on Don t know as I eve r saw any he
.
,
added with Y ankee conscientiousness He pondered .
the card with a sarcastic smile as if amused that any ,
fellow creature should seriously call himself a lord and

-
,
“ ’
then broke out in a sort of repentance W ell h e s ,
a gen tleman I guess Had his declaration made out

,
.
fair an d square and opened up all his traps first off

, , ,
’
l ike a man F orced em on to your notice as you may
.
,
s ay
. N o hangin back about him W ell he added
’
.
,
“ ’ ’
after a final inspection of the card it w a n t quite ,
regular as you may say to let him take the box

, ,
along without op e n in it but a man has some disere ’
tion I suppose and — well the fact is I took a

, , ,
fancy to the fellow Seemed kind of human after .

,
all
O h Mr Kimball cried Helen deeply enj oying
,
.
, ,
’
the i nspector s condescen sion but with a sudden ,
superficial terror at the thought that she had not

Lord Rain ford s address and should n ot know how to
’
in form him that his word had been kept for h i m ,

“
let me see his card please ,
”
W hy certainly take it along said Kimball
,
Or
, ,
.
’” “
I don t know he added sheepishly ,
I thought .
my w i fe might like to see i t —kind of a n ovel ty you ,

”
know .
’
“
O h thank you ! I don t w an t to keep i t said
, ,
“
Helen return ing it after a swift gl ance
,
I merely .
wanted to look at it Thank you ever so much 1 .

,
”
W hen she reached home she wrote two letters

on e to Kimball enclosing the money he had lent her
, ,
and another to Lord R ainford telling him what she ,
S
’
.
h ad done Sh e felt t hat finally the w h ole af

. fair was
very funny and she su f
,
fered hersel f to run into a
sprightly little account of her adventure which S he
,
tore up She wrote i t all ou t fully in the letter to

.
R obert to wh i ch she gave up the whole afternoon ;

,
b ut to Lord R a i n ford she merely said that s he

though t he would have bee n amused at Mr K i mb all s.
’
r emarks .
.
Th i nks i t has ? b e repeated with interest .
W hy I mean that with all that acquiescence

, ,
which you found so monotonous th ere wasn t one of ,

’
those people — except a very few S ophisticated in

stan ces —who looked at you at all as people in E uro
pean society would You were hopelessly improbable .
to them no matter how hard they tried to realise

you as a—nobleman E xcuse me cried Helen I
,
, .
,
’
didn t inten d to be personal
“
O h not at all not at all
’
,
It s very interesting , .
,
’ ’
I m sure It s quite a n e w View ofthe matter A nd
. .
you
N ow you are personal
O r,
’
N o , no I don t mean that , . yes perhaps I
,
W ell then even I although I m able to lecture

, , ,
’
so clearly and dispassionately about it I m not sure ,

’
’
that I m able to take the social state of E urope
”
seriously either , .
’
R eally ? I didn t find you such deeply dyed -
democrats .
“
W e re not—i n our opinions ; you found that
’
out ; n or in our practice I suppose But in our tradi ,

.
’
tions and I ve been talking so bookishly already
“
O h i t s quite what they told me to expect in
’
,
”
Boston 1
“
Then you w on t mind my saying — in ou r en viron
’
” “
men t said Helen with a laugh
,
we are For in , , .
stance — an d n ow I m going to be horribly personal ’
as long as we supposed that Mr R ay had introduced .
you as Mr R ainford you were real enough ; b ut as

.
,
’
A WO MAN S REAS O N . 2 77
soon as we found that you were Lord R ainford you ,
vani she d back in to the stage plays and the sto ry -
”
books .
“
O h I m very so rry he said with an accen t of
’
, , ,
so much earnest n ess that s he laughed again and ,
now with a mischievous pleasure whi ch he must ,
“ ’
have perceived : for he added more lightly It s ,
really very uncom fortable you know to be going , ,
”
about as a fictitious character .
’ ”
You can t help it and w e can t said Helen
’
, , .
But I suppose ifyou were to live here a very long

while and were to be very very good we might begin
, , ,
”
to believe a little in your probab ility .
They talked of other matters and she let her ,
visitor go with an uneasy misgiving which haunted

,
her throughout the morning and still lingered ,
about her when Clara Kingsbury came later i n the

afternoo n to beg her to lunch with her the n ext
day
I know you ve not been going out but this will
’
,
be an errand ofcharity Last night I picked up of .

,
all things in the world a l ive lord and before I , ,
knew it I had asked hi m to lunch with me and he

, ,
had a ccepted I suppose that lords are lunched

.
very much like other mortals ii lords are mortal ,

-
but really when he told me that he had met you I ,
was ready to weep on the first person s neck for j oy ’

.
’
You do know him don t you Lord R ainford whom
, ,
you met last fall at the Butlers

“ ” “
O yes said Helen h e brought m e a message
, ,
”
f rom them yesterday .
’
”
How very odd ! cr i ed M i ss Kingsbury I ,
“
’
wonder he didn t mention meeting you yester
day
’
He didn t ment i on going to lunch with you to
”
morrow said Helen defensively betraying the fact
, ,
that she h ad seen him since .
Miss Kingsbury ignored it Then i t must be his .
E nglish reticence How drol l they are ! I should

.
th i nk it would worry them to keep things on the i r

minds th e way they do Y ou must let me send the .
coup é for you Lord R ain ford and Miss Harkness ,
for the first time i n many m onths as the play bills ,

-
s ay really for a lunch in Lent

,
°
O h I think you must e x c us e me Clara Hele n , ,

”
began . You know I can t meet people ’
.
”
I quite understand dear said Miss Kingsbury , , .
There are not going to be p eop le or I shouldn t ,

’
have ventured to ask you There are only to be .
Professor an d Mrs Fraser : Lord R ain ford wanted

.
especially to talk over A ztec an ti quities with him ,
and I promised to get him to come But I must .
h ave some other young l ady besides mysel f ; I can t ’
let it be all Azte cs and antiquities You must come .
to keep m e i n countenance sitting up there behind ,
— —
the tea pot like a a teocallis
-
”
.
Helen laughed and Clara immediately kissed her

, .
I f it were to b e su ch a mild little a f fair she felt ,
that she could certa inly go she could s e e how Clara

would hate to see m to have paired herself of f with
Lord R ainford and she said W ell Cl ara I will go
, , , ,
but I believe that so far as Lord R ain ford is con

,
A W O M AN S REA S ON ’
280 .
some of it back ; or all Tell him that the Briti sh .
aristocracy is the one only solid and saving fact of

’
the universe Good bye dear ! Don t worry about -
it I daresay h e was delighted

.
Helen was afte rwards sorry th at they h ad not

dressed a little more She was necessarily in mourn .
ing and Lord R ainford was dipped in the gloom o f

,
her crape and of three black silks : Mrs Fraser s

, .
’
’ ’
best black silk Miss Kingsbury s Vermont aunt s only
,
black silk and the black silk which Miss Kingsbury

,
hersel f wore in some mistaken ideal of simplicity

, .
Helen longed to laugh but remained unn aturally ,
quiet .
Perhaps the black s i lks were too muc h for th e

’
A ztecs Lord R ainford had the E nglishman s stiff
.
’
ness and Professor Fraser had the professor s sti f
,
f
n ess ; they seeme d unable to get upon common
’
ground or to find each other s point ofview
,
They .
became very polite and deferential an d ended by ,
openly making nothing of each other The Erasers .
were obliged to go early and Helen shortly after ,
wards made a movement towards departure .
Miss Kingsbury laid implo ri ng hands on her .
”
Don t go ! she tragically breathed “
’
Stay and .
,
”
try to save the pieces ! an d Helen magn animously
remained ; under the circumstances i t would have
been inhuman to go She b ri ghtened at Miss .
’
K ingsbury s i mploring appeal ; and they had a gay
afternoon W hen she said at last that now S he
.
really must go she was scared to find that it was ,
hal fpast four She hurried on her sack and bonnet

-
.
. 2 81
and rubbers an d when she came do w n stairs L ord

,
-
R ainford ofwhom she had deliberately taken leave

, ,
was there hospitably followed out of the drawing

,
room by Miss Kingsbury .
I forgive your not taking the coup é she said ,

’
s ubtly seizing Helen s hand for a grateful pressure
,
at parting .
I much pre fer to walk I assure you said Helen , , ,
after being mewed up in the house al l day yester

”
day Good bye
.
-
’
M i ss Kingsbury s man O pened the door and Lord ,
R ainford stood aside for H e l e n to pass out But he ‘

.
hurried after her .
’ ”
If you re walking Miss Harkness he said with , , ,
an obvious effort to cont i nue the light strain in which
they had been laughing and talking I really wish

“
,
’ ”
y ou d let me walk with you .
”
W hy ce rt ainly said Helen
,
I shall be very , .
glad .
But they walked away together rather soberly ,
as people do after a merry time indoors There was .
a constraint on the m both which Hel en had to make

a l ittl e effort to break W hatever caused it on his .
part on hers it was remotely vexation that S he had

,
allowed the afternoon to slip away without going to

see Mr Hibbard about her money ;
. She must wai t
again till the morning .
“ “ ”
I m afraid she said that you found Profes sor
’
, ,
”
Fraser rather an unsatisfactory A ztec .
“ ’
0 no N ot at all ! He s extremely well i n
.
formed I daresay ,
But we approach the subj ect .
2 82 A WO M A N S RE AS ON ’
.
from very different points He i s i ntereste d main ly .
in the pottery as the remains ofan arrested i ndigen

,
ou s civilisation ; and I as an amateur E gyptologist
was rather h oping to — ah —hear something new

, ,
about the monuments —the architectural evidence s .
But the groun d has been pretty thoroughly traversed

in Mexico and we can only look for fresh results
,
”
now in Yucatan and Ce n tral A merica .
He hurried off the statement without apparent

interest i n the m atter and with something ofpre sent
,
impatience The effect was to make Helen laugh a

.
little at which he seemed gratefu l

,
.
I suppose you have come over to look up the

”
ground for yourself she b egan ; but he hastily ,
in terrupted .
’ ’
N o I can t s ay I came for that exactly
,
I can t ,
.
s ay I came for that I should l ike extremely to se e

.
those things for mysel f; but I didn t come for ’
”
that .
Helen was amu s ed at his scrupulous insiste nce on

the point and had a m ischievous temptation to ask
,
him j ust why he had come then ; but she contented ,
herself with saying I always wonder that E nglish

,
’
people care to com e to A merica at all I m afraid .
that i f we had Germany and Italy at our doors we ,
shouldn t care to cross the A tlantic for a run to

”
C olorado and back .
“
The C ontinent i s r ather an old story with us
'
y ou know O f co u
.rse the towns are a good deal
alike here after you leave Boston and there is
, ,
n othing to se e i n the u sual sight — seeing way ; but

REA S ON
’
2 84 A WO MAN S .
about the m ost exclus i ve qua rter of Boston with the

d aughter of a person who h ad bartered beads an d
whisky to the aborigines for peltries for R eally , ,
he said at last I didn t suppose there were enough

,
’
ofthem left i n this region to make it worth any one s

’
while But perh aps he carried on the business at a

distance —in the “fest ?
.
They came to an invol untary pause together i n ,
which they stared at each other “

W hat —do you .
mean ? c ried Hel en .
’
Upon my word I don t know whether I ought
”
to say re turned Lord R ainford
,
.
Y ou d idn t —you didn t suppose

’ ’
Hele n con ,
“ ”
tinned that papa traded w ith our Indians ?
,
’
Lord Rain ford s silence confessed his guilt and she ,
added with a se verity which she c ould not m itigate ,

’
Papa s business was with India ; he sent ou t ships
”
to Calcutta !
O h — oh said he r companio n I beg your .
pardon .
Helen ma d e a polite response and began to talk ,
ofother things ; but in her heart she was aware of
not pardoning him in the least ; and she had an

unworthy satisfaction i n leaving him in evident
distress when they p arted .
The next morning at the earliest permiss i ble

,
ho ur Mrs Hew i tt brough t he r his card with a

,
.
,
confidential i mpressiveness that vexed Helen almost

to the point of asking Mrs Hewitt to say that .
Miss Harkness w as not well and begged to be ,
excused ; but she repented of the i ntention b e fore

A WO M A N S REA S O N
’
. 2 85
it was formed and went down to receive her ,
guest .
She rece ived hi m coldly and his manner con fessed ,
the chill by an awkward constraint in the common

places that p assed be fore he broke out abruptly
“ ’
with ,
I m afraid I must have annoyed you Miss ,
Harkness I m not ready—I don t suppose I ve

.
’ ’ ’
any tact at all — but it would grieve me to think

that I had misunders tood you yesterday in a way to
”
vex you .
“ ”
O h don t speak of it ! cried Helen with the
’
, ,
generosity which his frankness evoked “

There .
”
w as never anything of it
’
and now i t s al l gone , .
She bega n to laugh at the droll side of his blunder ,

“
and she said I was a fraid that I must have seemed
,
very rude the other day in openly reducing you ,

”
to a fairy prince .
“
N o I rather l i ked that said Lord R ainford
, ,
.
It interested me and it explained some things , .
’
I m sure people ge t on better in the end by being
”
f rank .
Oh “ ’
said Helen
,
there s n othi n g like frank ,
ness and at the same moment she felt herself an

,
intricate and inextricable coil ofreservations .
I think the A mericans particularly like it he ,
suggested .
W e expect it said Helen with a subtlety which , ,
he missed .
He went on to say with open j oy in the re stora ,
“
tion of their good understanding : The distinctio n s
you make in regard to different ki n ds of trade rather
2 86 A WO M AN S RE A S ON ’
.
’
puzzle me I don t s ee why cotton spinning should
.
-
be any better than shoe manufacturing but I m told -

’
”
it is .
“
W hy certainly said Helen
, , .
‘
But I don t see the certainly ’
he prote sted ’
,
w i th a l augh .
“ ”
O h but it is ! she explained
,
.
Ah he returned with the air of desisting

, , ,
“ ’
i t s my de fective education I suppose But if , .
’
people go into trade at all I don t se e why they , .
shouldn t go into on e thi n g as well as an other It

’
.
appears al l the same to —u s .

”
The little word slipped out ; and neither of them

th ought of it at the time H e went away happy .
,
i n having m ade hi s peace ; she parted from him

with sufficient cordiality and as soon as he was ,
gone thi s word by which he had unconsciously dis

,
t in guishe d between them and classed her began to ,
rankle and to sting W hen i t came to hersel f she.

,
had the n ational i nability to accept classification ,
which seems such a right and wise arrangement to

E urope an s and w hich some A mer i cans uphold — till
,
it comes to themselves .
She could not get rid of he r resentment by asking

’
herself what Lord Rain ford s opinions and prejudices
were to her and resolving n ot to se e him if he came
,
again and she was s o h ot with it when she went out ,

’
in the afternoon to Mr Hibbard s office at last that .
,
she must have seemed to the clerk who told her he ,
w as n ot i n to have some matter ofpersona l questio n

,
w i th the del i nquent lawyer .

2 88 A WO M AN S REA S ON
’
.
stops doing the m She had a kind o f dire satisfac

tion i n dramatising h er ow n desperation ; and the
satisfaction was n ot diminished by the fact that these
ideas had come i nto her head since she had denounced
fran kness to which they had n o relation wha tever
, .
She had meant— i f she mean t anything by that

denunciation —to punish him for the tone of his talk
in the morn i ng She had n ot forgotten his patri
.
ci an us . But the talk was n ow far from that an d ,
he had not been punished .
“ ”
A h he said with feeling that she respecte d i n
, ,
“
spite of her resentment I should be sorry if I
,
seemed i ndifferent to that side of the question It .
w as only that I hadn t thought ofit

’
.
“
I didn t mean that S he returned with an aim
’
, ,
lessness from wh i ch she thought to escape by asking ,

”
Is there anyth i ng up stairs ? -
“ ”
Yes he said ;
,
“
a very beautiful picture —I
fancy a very A merican picture .
The t w o things ought to tempt me said Helen , ,
passing on as i f to te rm i nate their casual inter

view .
She mounted the thickly carpeted stairs which -
s i lenced th e steps behind her ; but she was n ot

urp ri se d to fin d the p ortiere held back f or her to
enter the pretty littl e gallery or to find Lord R ain ,
ford beside her when she stood within There was

,
.
a gentleman there with his hat off after our fashion ,
in picture galleries at home and two suburban ladies

-
with a multiplicity o f small paper parcels in awe ,
stri cken whisper ; but they all presently went out ,

A WO M AN S REAS ON ’
. 2 89
and l eft her alone with Lord R ain ford before the
painting .
A yellow ligh t fell ri c h i nto an O pen space in the

primeval N ew E ngland forest and r evealed the
tragedy of an arrest for wi tchcraft —an old woman
,
haled away in the d istance by the officers with her .
withered arms flung upward i n prayer or im pre

cation ; and i n the foreground a young gi rl cower
ing at the door of the cabin from which her mother ,
has j ust been tor n The picture was an intense ex

.
pression of the pathos of the fact which seemed as ,
wholly unrelated to canvas or pigmen t in the pai nter s ,

’
poet i c treatment as if it were h i s perfect dream of

,
what he had meant to do .
“ ”
Yes ! said Helen w i th a deep sigh of the
,
i mpassioned admiration wit h which she always

devoted her bei n g for the moment to the b ook or
picture she l iked .
O ne of your Boston pa i nters ? asked t h e

E nglishman .
The one answered Helen and she launc h ed out

, ,
in a fury of praise while he continued attentive to

,
her rather than to her words -

.
’
“
I suppose you can t understand how it afflicts
“
me he said finally to find any of the errors and
, ,
”
sufferings of E urope repeated here .
Helen laughed as people do at mysterious grie v

“
auces . W hy no ; as far as such things are
,
’
histo rical I believe we re rather proud of them
,
.
They do something to satisfy the taste for the

pictu r esque tho ugh after all th e y re such a mere
,
’
’
morsel that we l an d in E urope pe rfectly r aven

”
ous .
“ ’
I f they
we r e al l histor i cal I shouldn t m i nd , ,
“
sai d the young man It was finding ou r current
.
superstition s accepted here that surprised and dis

”
appointed me .
“
You don t mea n to tell me that you find any
’
i mperfections —domestic or foreign — in us n ow ?

Ah you get beyond my j oking d epth very soon
, ,
“
he protested I told you once that I w as a serious
.
”
perso n .
“ ”
I didn t believe you could be serious about it !
’
I was I assure you I suppose i t w as my habit

, .
of taking things very seriously that put me at odds
with matters at home and that puts m e at odds ,
with matters here w here I fancied that I might b e

,
”
rather more ofthe regular order .
’ ”
I don t understand said H elen ; an d being ,
cu ri ous and being fatigued she dropped into on e of

, ,
the chairs that the suburban ladies had vacated .
I mean that this morning I was trying to express

the feeling which has made me a sort of white crow
’
among my ow n p eople and which doesn t seem even ,
credi ble h ere I w as very far indeed from wishing

.
to i mply disrespect for any sort ofu sefulness — which

is the only thing I really respect in the world Did .
you understand me to do so
“
N ot exactly that said Helen w i th a reserve , ,
wh i ch he must have seen was as yet inexpugnable .
I daresay it was on e of the misfortunes of my

being a s i ckly boy bred at h ome apart from other
, ,
2 92 A
’
WO M AN S REA S ON .
her to sympathise were r i di culous to her ; she h ad

,
always heard them laughed at and she could n ot ,
i magine how an E nglishman of rank could entertain

them though she had heard that such E nglishmen
,
sometimes did for a while T o hear him talking in

, .
that way made h im seem n ot so much unnatural as

impossible ; i t was so unexpected from him that she
felt a l ittle uneasy as ifhe were not quite in his right
,
mind but she had so far a compassion for his m ania

that she could not find it in h er heart to tell him
that he had totally miscon ceived her and he wen t on ,
to explain further .
“
A nd I w as merely trying to say that I thought
i t odd i n a society where you are all commoners
together — J ’
Commoners cried Helen i n astonished re cogn i ,
tion of the fact .
He did n ot heed this e f fect i n her but went ,
“
on That there should be any such distinction s
’
as ours I ll go further and say that I thought it
.
,
preposterous ; and the other day when I fell into ,
that unaccountabl e blunde r in regard to the India

trade I had n o such feeling as you —as you
,
m ight have supposed If I venture to speak of

.
something that Mr R ay let drop in on e of his .
letters about your determination to trust to your

s elf and your own efforts rather than accep t any ,
sort ofdependence it s because I wish to tell you ’
how m uch I revere and—and —honour it It only

,
endeared you to m e th e more ! Miss Harkness

he cried while s he b egan to look about her with a
'
,
A WO MA N S REA S ON
‘
’
. 29 3
w ild ho pe o f escape it was for your sake that I

,
“
came back
They were quite alone and i f i t were to come to ,
this it might as well have come to it h ere as any

,
where else Helen realised the fact with a superficial

satisfaction follow i ng her s uperficial terror of the
,
publicity ofthe place E ver since I first saw you

.
O h do n t s ay an ymore ! Indeed you mustn t !

’ ’
, ,
Didn t the R ays — didn t t hey tel l you

’ ’
’
I haven t seen them Be fore I went home I .
’
knew that your father s circumstances But I beg
you to do me at least the kindness to believe that i t
made n o difference at all God knows I never con .
Sidere d the c i rcumstances or made the m an instant s ’
questi on .
You are very kind Lord R ainford ; gen erous ,
No .It pleased me to think you had noth i ng .
I woul d rather have found you as I have than in the

’
best house in your to w n ; I don t like people of
fash i on at home and when it comes to what is called
position or loss ofit here
, ,
He len tried to i nterpose again but h e would n ot ,
let her speak .
“
W hat R ay told me only made me the more i mpa
tient to s e e you again and to assure you — to tell you
how wholly I sympathised with your —i deas and to
,
prove my sin cerity in any way you choose I f you .
dislike g oing to E ngland —and I could very well

imagi ne you might for some reasons — I will come
,
’
here It s i ndifferent to me where I l ive so that I
.
,
’
29 4 A W OM AN S REA S O N .
honestly l ive out my op i nions I love you f o r what

“
—
.
y ou are for your courage your sincerity your truth

, , ,
to yourself ; and if you think that your h av i ng

your being
”
O h i t isn t th at at all ! cried Helen piteously
’
, ,
com passionate ly To a girl who had never dreamt of

.
be i ng loved for anything but hersel f and i n her , ,
quality of well born and well bred A merican could

- -
not imagine herself less than the equal of princes ,
Lord R ainford s impassioned misconceptions con

tain e d as many o f fences as could have been put into
as many Words ; but she forgave them all to the
pain that she s aw th at she must inflict He had .
misunderstood everything : all h er assumption s of

e quality on his ow n plane h ad been thrown away
, ,
upon him she had only been his equal as h e ordained

i t and condescended to h er level
,
But she could n ot .
be angry with him since she was to crush him with

,
the word she must speak She had never forgiven .
hersel ffor her reckless behaviour the first time they

met ; and now he must have taken all her kind suf
fe ran c e all her hospitable good w ill of the past week
—
,
wh i ch she had shown i n aton ement —as invitatio n

for him to hope even to expect She hung her
,
.
“
head but she must stop him at once and
,
Oh ! , ,
” ”
Lord R a i nford S he murmured I m engaged !
, ,
’
“
H e turned very whi te I beg your pardon he
.
.
said simply and quietly

, .
I ve been ve ry greatly to blame f rom th e b eg i n

’
ning ; I see it n ow and I ought to have seen it be fore

,
.
But that first day when I met you I w as very unhappy

, ,
HE L E N hurried home and ran u p to her room , .
She had thought she wan ted to hide but n O W she '
found that she wanted to walk to run to fly to get , , ,
into the O pen air again to escape fro m herself some

,
how . She was frantic w ith the nervous access of

which n ow that Lord R ain ford was gon e she had
, ,
fallen the prey She was pulling on her gloves as

.
,
s he rushed down stairs and she al most ran over the

-
servant who was coming up w i t h a card in her hand

,
.
She stopped short and the girl gave h er the c ard

,
.
” “
“
For me 1 she cr i ed in wild exasperation I .
can t see anybody ! Say that I m going out I

’ ’
.
can t s e e an y on e
’
A little old gentl eman with his overcoat on and h i s , ,
hat in his hand who must have overhe ard her came
, ,
ou t of the reception room and stood between the

-
foot ofthe stairs and the street door -

.
I wish to see you Miss Harkness on very im , ,

”
portant business .
’ ’
I can t s e e you n ow I ca n t se e a ny on e ! I .
’
don t know you sir ! W hy do you come to me ?
,
s he demanded indign antly and quiveringwith im ,
patience .
’
“
My name i s E verton I b ought you r father s .
’
house when i t was sold last fall at auction and I ,
came to see you i n regard to some circumstances

connected with that purchase .
’
I don t know anything about the circumstances ,
“
c ri ed Helen You must wait till Captain Butler
.
”
gets home .
“
I w as sure said Mr E verton with i ns i nuat i on
, .
,
that arrested her i n spite of herself that you knew ,
n othing of the circumstances and from What I kne w ,
ofyour father I felt certain that his daughter would

,
”
l ike to know ofthem .
Please tell m e W hat you m ean said Helen and , ,
w i th a glance at the gaping servant girl she pushed -
open the reception room door Mr E ve rton politely

-
. .
refused to enter first and he softly closed the door

,
when they were both within .
I t i s simply thi s Miss Harkness said Mr , , .
E verton who had a small hard neatness of speech

, , ,
curiously corresponding to his small hard neatness of ,
person .
“
I have reason to bel i eve —in fact I have ,
evidence —that I was the victim ofa fraud on the pa rt

ofthe auctioneer and that I was induced to outbid ,
by five or six thousand d ollars bids that were cried ,
by the auctioneer but that had neve r been made at

,
all
”
I don t understand faltered Helen
’
,
.
Mr E verton explained but she shook her head

.
, .
“
This i s all a mystery to m e W hy don t you .
’
wait till Captain Butler returns W hy do you com e

to m e She sudden l y added O r n o I am glad ,
’
29 8 A WOMAN S REA S ON .
’
you came to me I can t suffer any dou b t to rest .
i n your mind for an instant : i f you have been

wronged that s quite enough Thank you for com
,
’
.
”
ing . She rose with a splendour which seemed to
’
i ncrease h er stature and diminish Mr E verton s ,
. .
“
I was j ust going ou t and i f you will come with ,
’
m e I will go at once to Mr Hibbard s ofli ce with .
y o u .He has charge of my affairs i n C aptain

Butler s absence If there has been any mistake
’
.
,
I am sure that he w ill have it corrected imme

”
d iate l y .
She started out with Mr E verton at her side and .

,
swept h aughtily on for several squares Then she .
found hersel f trembling I wish you would call a .
”
car ri ag e pl ease s he said faintly
, ,
.
’
W hen they arrived at Mr Hibbard s o f fice Mr .
, .
E verton allowed her to pay for the carriage he had

shared with her Sh e could not quell h er excite .
’
ment when she en tered the l awyer s private room
“ ”
w ith h im Mr H ibbard she began in a key
. .
, ,
which she knew sounded hysterical and which she ,
“
despised but was helpless to control Mr E verton
, , .
thinks that h e was cheated i n the purchase of our

house ; an d I wish you to hear his story please and , ,
if it i s so I wish him to be righted no m atter wha t

, ,
”
it costs .
“
Sit down said the lawyer He pl aced a chair for
,
.
Helen and allowed Mr E verton to find on e for him

,
.
sel f and then w aite d for him to begin Mr E verton

,
. .
was not embarrassed H e behaved like a man secure .
of his ri ght and told his story ove r again straight

, ,
.
“
r eturned the lawye r br i skl y,I should dou b t your
willingnes s to d o anything ofthe kind .
”
t y?
Becaus e you kno w as well as I do that you ,
have no case that all your suspicions and i mpressions

, ,
’
and conj ectures and hearsay wouldn t amount to ,
”
that i n Court The lawyer snappe d his fingers
. .
You know very well that you went to Miss Harkness

to fortify yourself at the expense of the weakness
you hoped to find i n her and that you have done an ,
i rregular and ungentlemanly thing i n annoying her

with this matter I am sorry to say it to so ol d a
.
man as you Did you e xpect to extort money from

.
her ? Probably you were surpri sed that she cho se

to consult m e at all —Miss H arkness I advise you
.
,
to go home and think n o more about this m atter

,
.
’
There s n othing ofi t
The lawyer rose as if to end the i ntervi ew but
, ,
Mr E verton remained seated looki ng through the

.
,
papers of a l ong pocket bo ok h e had taken from hi s -
coat and unfolded upon his knee and Helen re

, ,
mained seated too fas cinate d by the old man s

,
’
quiet sel fpossession

-
“
I have something here to sho w you h e said ,
tranquilly o ffering the l awyer the paper which h e

,
“
had found A nd I wish you to understand he
.
,
“
added that I am n ot here to be instructed as to
,
the conduct of a gentleman or to account for my ,
conduc t in any way I pre fer that you should .
n ot attempt to account for my possession of this
paper ; and if you ask me any questions in regard to

. 3 01
i t I shal l
,
ans w er them It is suffic i en t fo r you
n ot .
to consider whether it is worth while for you to

go into C ourt against i t I was willing and am .
,
still s o to spare the scandal attending such an affair

,
in Court but I am determined to have the sum out

,
”
ofwhich I have been defrauded .
The l awyer was reading the paper without apparent

attention to w hat Mr E verton was saying but .
,
when he had gone through the paper again he ,
“
turned to Helen and said reluctantly Miss H ark
, ,
’
ness i t s my d uty to tell you what this paper is
,
’
it s a confession from the auctioneer that he did
invent a series of bids by which he ran the price of
the h ouse up from thirty to thirty five thousand -
dollars I haven t the slightest idea th at the case

'
.
,
i f brought into Court would be decided in Mr , .
E verton s favour on any such evidence as this ; in

’
fact I think it would not be easy to bri n g the e ase

,
’
into C ourt at all But Mr E verton hasn t obtained
. .
the paper for any such purpose H e has obtained .
it with a Vi ew of frightening you i nto the pay

ment of a sum — I don t know what figure h e ’
has fixed on i n his m i nd — to keep the matter still .
N ow I advise you n ot to pay anything to keep i t

,
—
still n ot a cent ”
He folded up the paper and
.
handed it back to Mr E verton who put it into his .

,
pocke t book again .
“
W ill you let me se e i t please ? sa i d Helen ,
gently He gave her the paper and she read it

.
, ,
and then restored it to him A fter a while she said .

,
I am trying to th i nk what papa would have done .

A WO M AN S R EA S ON
’
3 02 .
VVasn t Captai n Butler at the auction —wouldn t he

’ ’
have suspected i fanything had gone wrong ,

“ ”
Yes certainly said the lawyer
, , .
A nd if h e had had any misgivings

He would have come to me with th em and I ,
shoul d have told h i m not to pay the slightest atten

”
tion to them said Mr Hib b ard promptly
,
My dear . .
Miss Harkness the whole thing is preposterous That

, .
’
fellow Mortimer i s a scamp but he i sn t such a scamp ,
as h e professes to be If Mr E verton wi ll excuse . .
my fran kness I will s ay that I believe this is purely

,
a financial transaction between himself and Mortimer .
The fellow h ad heard of Mr E verte n s susp i cions .

-
’
,
and when h e wanted money very badly he went to

him and sold out—for a sum which Mr E verton s
,
’
, .
del icacy woul d prevent him from naming ; but pro

bably something handsome th ough Mortimer has ,
b een going to the dogs lately and he may have sold ,
out cheap .
Mr E verton having folded up his paper and put

.
,
i t back into his pocket b ook and restored that to his -
breas t pocket rose and b uttoned his coat over it

-
, , .
“ ”
“
I m sorry Miss H arkness he said
’
,
that you , ,
’
h aven t a better adviser I can t expect you to act .
’
independently of him and that s your misfo rtune ,

’
.
I knew your father and he w as a very honest man , .
”
Good morning
-
“ “
He was too hon es t cried the lawyer to make , ,
any di f ficulty about paying you your cut throat -
”
usury .
“
My loan came at a time Miss H arkness when , ,
’
3 04 A WO M A N S REA S ON .
with a Christian conscience would have asked for

it
And did it save papa from bankruptcy ?
E verybody was i n difficulties at that time ;
”
D o you think pursued Hel en as i f it were a
, ,
branch ofthe same inquiry that he really supposes ,

”
the auctioneer cheated ?
’
Ve ry likely he had his suspicion s He s ful l of .
all sorts of suspicions I daresay h e suspects that .
you and I were in collusion in regard to this matter ,
and prepared for him if he should ever come upon

”
such an errand .
“
Oh m urmured Helen .
W hy should you worry yourself about it ,
Miss Harkness ? A s it was he bought the h ouse at ,

’
a ruinously low figure and it s worth now a third ,
”
m ore than he paid for it six months ago .
But you don t think it i s po ssible the auctioneer

’
”
c ould have done such a thi n g ?
O h possible — yes but extremely improbable
, ,
.
It m akes me unhappy very unhappy said , ,
“ ’
Helen . I ca n t bear to have any doubt about it .
’
I t seems a kind ofstain on papa s memory .
”
“
Bless my soul my dear you n g lady ! cried the
,
’
lawyer ,
what has it to do with your father s
memory
’
E verything if I don t see the wrong righted
,
.
”
But if there hasn t been any wrong ? ’
’
A h that s the wo rst : w e can t find ou t
,
’
Mr . .
Hi bbard you never heard any on e else expre ss any

,
A WO M AN S REA S ON’
. 305
misgivings about the sale ? The lawyer shifted a

little in his chair and betrayed a fleeting uneasiness
, ,
which he tried to hide with a laugh Helen was .
instantly upon him O h who w as it ? ,

’
I haven t admitted that it was anybody .
But i t was Y ou must tell me

There s no reason why I shouldn t It was as in
’ ’
.
”
nocent a person as yourself : it was Captain Butler !
Captain Butler
A nd I can tell you for your entire satisfaction I, ,
hope that he wen t to the auctioneer and laid his

,
doubts be fore him and the auctioneer solemnly ,
assured him th at the bids were all bon a fide j ust as ,
he now solem n ly assure s Mr E verton that they w ere .
fictitious But Captain Butler was n ot s o shrewd as

.
Mr E verton — he di dn t make the auctio n eer put

.
’
himself in writing .
“
Helen pulled her veil over her face A nd i s .
is there no way of solving the doubt ? she made

out to ask .
”
There i s no doubt to solve in my mind said , ,
Mr Hibbard
. I advised C aptain Butler to dismiss
.
the matter altogether as I now advise you I tell , .
you that you ve heard th e last of Mr E verton in

’
.
”
this connection .
Helen did n ot answer But presently she said .

,
Mr Hibbard I was going to come to you for

.
,
some money I understood from Captain Butler

.
that you had ch arge of what was l eft for me and that ,
I could get it ofyou whenever I wanted i t ”

.
”
Yes certainly
, .
’
In such sum s as I like

The lawyer laughed In any sum s short of the
.
’ ”
amount ofMr E verton s claim . .
Helen was daunted to find herself unmasked but

s he only put on the bolder front But if I wish to .
pay that claim ?

Then I should i nte rvene and s ay the claim did ,
not exist .
But i f the money is mine s he urged .
If you insisted upon taking up all your money ,
I should as Captain Butler s friend and as the ol d

,
’
fri end of your father refuse to let you have it unless

, ,
you exp l i citly promised me that you would not give

it to Mr E ve rton For it woul d literally be giving
. .
it to him .
A nd i f I said that you had n o ri ght to refuse

it If I told you that I was of age and that I was ,
determined to have it without conditions

“
Then I shoul d make bold to defy you at an y
risk till I had laid the whole m atter before C aptain
Butler and heard from him in reply N ow my dear
,
.
,
”
Miss Harkness said the l awyer I know just how
, ,
y ou feel about th is matter and I wan t you to believe ,
that if I thought it was just I should n ot only be ,
willing to have you pay Mr E verton s claim but .

’
,
should urge you to pay i t even if it beggared ,

”
you
—
.
W ould it would i t take all the m oney ? faltered

”
Helen .
Yes al l But it isn t to b e thought of the

, .
’
”
w h ol e thi n g s in the air ; it s preposterou s The
’ ’
.
3 08 A W OM AN S REAS O N’
.
A nd n ow I shall be glad to give you any money

”
on accoun t .
’
“
I can t take any said Helen ; i t would be
, w
quite the same thing I n ever could pay i t back

.
,
and i fit turned out that it belonged to hi m I should ,

”
be either a beggar or a thief .
“
The lawyer gave a roar of expostulation But .
i f you are out ofmoney w hat will you do

I have a l ittle yet Captain Butler supplied m e
.
with money be fore he went a w ay and I have still ,
some of it left ”
This was true
. She had been .
using what s he calle d Mr T rufit t s money and she .

’
had a dollar and seventy five cents left of the su m -
that Captain Butler had made her believe was hers .
The la w yer on his part forbore to expl ai n that

, ,
the money Captain Butler gave her must have been

i n anticipation of i nterest on the five thousand
“
dollars he held for her He only said But you
.
,
will accept a loan from m e

N o ; I S ho uldn t fe el that I was making any
’
”
sacrifice then .
“
But why under heaven shovdd you make a
, ,
”
sacrifice ? demanded the business man ofthe girl .
I mus t—to feel true to myself she answered ; ,

”
and something l ike this absurdity she repeated in

answer to all his prayers and reasons and went ,
a w ay empty h anded at t h e end

-
.
’
T HA T evening Helen tapped at Miss R oot s door ,
’
an d entered in response to the girl s invitation to
“ ”
Come in ! W hen she showe d herself within ,
”
Oh excuse me ! cried Miss R oot in the reedy
, ,
n ote which ladies make when they have pins in their

mouths She had her lap full of sewing an d she
.
,
“
obviously could n ot get up I thought it w as
.
Bridget .
’
“
Bridget wouldn t be com i ng to you on my
”
errand sa i d Helen with a bl untness which at once
,
made its way with Miss R oot .
“
W hat is your errand she asked taking three ,
pins out ofher mouth for the purpose .
“
I must earn some money somehow I thought,
.
perhaps you could tell me — advise m e

I can tell you but I can t advise you said Miss
,
’
R oot bending over her work and treating Helen s

, ,
’
extremity as on e of the mo st n atural things in life .
“
I earned money enough to come to Boston an d
”
study Art she pronounced it with the conventional
capi tal rather di sdain fully as ifshe would have chose n
,
a homelier expression if she could have th o ught of

b y hel pi n mother take b oarders IVe took
’
one .
’
’
em our summers and I taught w i nters That s the , .
’
way I earned some money But I suppose you don t .

’
”
want to take boarders .
Helen hardly knew how to interpret the gleam in

”
Miss R oot s eye But NO she answered simply
’
.
, , ,
’ ”
I shouldn t know h ow to do that .
’
W ell neither d o most of the b oard in house
,
-
keepers .Sh e stopped here s o definitively that Helen

was obliged to take the word i f the conversation was
to go on .
I thought she faltered that perhaps you c oul d

, ,
tell m e h ow to d o something with m y pencil that

”
would sell I can sketch a little
. .
“ ”
Yes said Miss R oot non c om m ittal l y
,
I re -
membe r .
“
A nd it seems to me that if I knew how to go
”
about i t I ought to be abl e to turn the study I have

,
”
given i t to some account .
” ’
I suppose sai d Miss R oot that it s for some
, ,
”
charity .
For some charity cried Helen N o indeed .

,
it s for myself
’
.
“
Oh said the other “
Then if I were you I .
,
wouldn t throw my time away You ll never succeed .

’
.
— ”
I don t want to succeed as an artist retorted
’
,
“
Helen with a little pique But I have really come .
to the point where I must either earn some money ,
or else borro w or b eg i t There are plenty ofpeople .
’
who would be ready to give it or lend it but I can t ,
let them and I hoped that you m i gh t b e able to tell

,
me how to earn i t .
’
3 12 .
go to people that have money to throw away for that

”
any more than the o ther thing .
”
N o murmured Helen
, She kne w that Miss .
R oot had at once div i ned that s he h ad come to her

instead of going to an y fri ends of her former li fe
because she did not choose to let them pity her and ,
help her to any sort of trivial work out of pity In .
’
the girl s straightforward sincerity she felt the com
fort that the femin ine soul f i nds i n the frankness of
a man and she subtly perceived that for al l her S how
, ,
of i ndi f
ference Cornelia liked h er and was touched
, ,
by the advance she had made i n coming to her I n .
fact Miss R oot prided herself on her l arge minded

,
-
n ess a quality which she applie d more impartially

,
to p eople about her than is generally done Her .
liberality was not m erely for people of her ow n origin

and experience but for others who had known better
,
fortunes and had l ost them or w ho had them still

, ,
and were unhappy i n them ; an d the severity wh i ch

accompanied her large mindedness began with her
-
self an d extended only to envious and detract i ng

,
spirits If the secret s of Miss R oot s soul could be

.
’
unveiled it would be seen that sh e had been obliged

,
from the beginning to disc i pl i ne herself into accepting

Helen as worthy her esteem and regard in spite ,
ofher beauty her style and her air of a finer world

, ,
than Cornelia R oo t had known except at a distance ,

.
The struggle was sharp but it had ended in the ,
interest of large mindedn ess -

W hen Mr s Hewitt . .
assumed in H elen s absence from dinner wh ile she

,
’
,
’
was lunchi ng at Miss Kingsbury s to be c onfide n tially ,
A WO MAN S ’
R E A S ON . 13
speculat i ve about the E n glish lord w ho seemed to be

coming to se e Miss Harkness pretty o ften and ,
spending a good deal of time when he did come and ,
so tittered Cornelia led off a generous opposition

,
.
” “ ’
I don t know she said how much a l ord s time
’
, ,
’
is worth but if it ain t worth an y more than some
’
of the fellows time that us e d to com e fl irtin round
’
w ith our su m mer boarders I don t se e how he could

’
,
’
put it i n much better I guess he ain t after her .
’ ’
fortune any way ; and I guess he ain t goin to find
'
, .
much more of a lady anywhere If he wants to .
m arry h er I shan t obj ect even if they don t ask

'
’
, ,
me to the weddin I shouldn t want m uch to marry

’
.
’
’
a lord for my ow n pleasure ; but I don t believe
but what i f Miss Harkness does she ll be a credit ’
”
to him.
Cornelia h ad stead fastly se t her face against know

i ng or caring anything about the affair and s uch was ,
n ow her discipline that she believed s he could keep
it up till the end whenever that was She had not

, .
only snubbed Mrs Hew i tt the day be fore but this .

,
evening when Helen early withdrew from tea pale

, , ,
and with the evidence of having passed a day ofgreat

nervo us excitement S he refused even to enter into ,
d iscussion ofwhat Mr E van s called the phenomen a .

,
i n the light ofphil os ophic o economic specu l ation -
“ ” “
Here he contended
, are a most interesting ,
series of facts I suppose that never since the

.
,
earliest settlement of Boston has a member of the ,
British aristocracy called three times on three suc ,
ce s si ve days upon a young lady resident i n a board

,
3 14 A WO MAN S RE A S O N ’
.
i ng house
-
even of such ackn owledged gentil i ty as
,
ours I f Mrs Hewitt will e xcuse me I will assume

. .
,
that i t i s n ot the merits of her establishment which

have attracted him but that he has been drawn here
,
by that charm in Miss Harkness which we all feel He

kne w h er in other days — in better days —and nobly
.
and l ike a n obleman h e has sought he r out i n our

humble mids t—if that is a correct expression —and
,
l aid his coronet—ifi t i s a coronet — which he keeps

somewhere concealed about his person at he r feet ,
.
A s n o human girl of the A merican persuasion was

ever known to refuse a lord i fshe got the cha n ce , ,
the i n ference i s irresistible that our nobl e friend w as

instantl y accepte d an d has already writte n home to
,
have h i s ancestral halls whitewashed up for the recep

”
tion ofhis bride .
l Ve l l you m ay twist it and y ou may turn i t as

,
much as you ple ase Mr E van s and call it p hil osophico

, .
,
e e on om ic speculation or anything you want to , re ,
turned Miss R oot I call i t gossip ; and I never

.
did gossip and I n ever w i l l I don t care if she ’

.
,
’ ’
was goin to marry twenty l ords ; it s none of my
bus i ness A ll I kno w i s that she has behaved her
.
’
sel f like a perfec t l ady ever since she s been i n the
h ouse .
”
“
N ew Hampshire for ever ! c r ied Mr E vans . .
The granite r ibs ofyour native State speak in every

’
syllabl e Miss R oot But you will acknowledge that

,
.
’
you did hate her just a l ittle won t you for her
superi or i ty to us all —which she can t conceal — and
, ,
’
that you would recogni se the hand of Prov i dence in

’
task of treating Helen j ust as she would h ave

treated a girl who h ad always been poor and of not ,
treating her any worse There are a good many .
things that women take up nowadays she said , ,
“ ’
with an aspect o f hard indi f ference Some of em .
learn te l egraphin — that must pay almost a cook s

’ ’
’
wages ; some of em go into the hospitals and learn ,
to be professional n urses — that takes you abo ut two ,
years before you can get a certificate and then it s a ,

’
’
killin l ife there are the public school s but there are ,
so few vacancies and you have to wait and wait for

,
’ ”
months even after you re prepared
,
.
She looke d at Helen as if she thought that He l en

was probably n ot prepared and Helen shook her ,
“ ’
head assentingly N s he sighed . I couldn t ,
’
wait But perhaps I shouldn t want to do anyt hing
.
”
for a great length of time she said i nnocently with , ,
“
the thought of R obert s return in her mind It ’
.
”
might only be for a l imited period .
“ ’ ”
That s wh at I supposed said Miss R oot , .
’
That s the great trouble If a man takes a th ing .
up he takes it up for life but i f a woman takes i t up

, , ,
s he takes it up till some fellow co m es along and tells
her to drop i t A nd then they re al w ays complai nin

.
’ ’
’
that they ain t paid as much as men are for the same
”
work I m not sp e aki n of you Miss Harkness she
.
’ ’
, ,
“ ’ ’
said with a glance at Helen s face
,
and I don t ,
know whether I want to j oin in any cry that 11 take ’
’ ’
women s minds off of gettin married It s the best .
’
’ ’
thing for em and it s about all they re fi t for most
,
’
’ ’
of em and it s n ature there s n o den yin that
’
.
,
’
But i f women are to be helped along independent of

men —and I never was such a fool as to say they
were —why it s a dra w back A nd so most of em
,
’
.
’
’
that can t wait to prepare themselves for anything ,
’
because they don t expect to stick to anything ,
they turn book agents or sell some little p ayten te d

-
,
”
thing or they try to get a S ituation in a store .
Cornel i a began to se w furiously as if i n an e x as ,
p e rati on with her s e x that s he could n ot otherwise ,

”
express A nd you may be sure she said after a
.
, ,
’
silence that every on e of em tries to do something
,
’
better than she s fit for and that s he despises her ,
’
work and thinks S h e ain t paid hal feno ugh for it
, .
”
Helen did not li e ed this last outburst She was .
trying with a sickening chill at heart to realise h er

, ,
self i n the character of those resolute young wome n

who had sometimes won a furtive access to her by
asking at the door for Miss Harkness and sending ,
u p their names as i f they were ac quaintances and ,
then suddenly devel opi n g their specimen Copy ofthe

book for wh i ch they were taking subscriptions or ,
the needle threader or thimble case or converti ble

- -
pen wiper and boot buttoner which they were selling

- -
She could as l ittle imagine herself behind the counter

ofa W ashington Street fancy or variety store stan d ,
ing al l day in the hot dry air and shrilly piping , ,
“
Ca ish
-
as she had heard those poor shop girls -
doing whi le they rapped on the counter with their

,
pencils for the cash boy and munched a surreptitious -
lunch o f crackers and chocolate creams If it must .
come to this she did not know w hat she should do

, .
’
She was as firm as ever that she would n ot touc h th e

’
money i n Mr Hibbard s hands as long as the least
.
doubt tainted it but she began to be frightened at

herself and at the prospect before he r
A nd is there —
.
,
is there nothing else she asked ,
in a voice which s he tried to make steady and only ,
succeeded i n mak i ng almost as l ow as a whisper .
“ ”
0 yes said Miss R oot ; there s the theatre ’
.
,
Helen s heart gave a throb of hope She used to

’
.
pl ay a good deal in private th eatri cals she had acted

a Frenc h monologue once and she had taken a part ,
in a German vaudeville everybody had praised her ,
and she had unquestionably borne the pal m from all

her dramatic co m petitors A brie f but brilliant .
future dazzled be fore her an actress who w as

evidently a lady and carried the air and tone of
,
good society with he r on the stage ; triumphs and

gains in c i ties distant from Boston i n an incogni to
strictly preserve d ; and then a sudden but inexorabl e
retirement after a given time it was easy w ork for
Helen s l i vely fancy to contri ve all this with a
’
,
shining amplificat i on as rapid and full as if she had

,
dreamed it i n sleep Ye s she said with an i nterest

.
whic h she could n ot at once forbid herself .
“
I had a friend pursued Miss R oot a frien d
well she was a kind o f connection —and she came up
, ,
, ,
to Boston the same time I did— craz y to go on the

stage She used to act in the school exhibitions
.
,
and I guess she got h er head turned anyway

n othing e l se would d o her But she was real modest .
about i t th ey all are she on l y wanted to pl ay little

.
pretty long for a page and kind ofbony an d I went , ,
away after the first act I was afraid she migh t

”
come on again .
Helen smiled and shuddered ; the idea of boy s ’
clothes was final even in a rever i e and she hung her

, ,
head in innocent shame .
”
Now said Cornelia with a keen gl ance at her
, ,
abaseme nt and apparently convinced that she had

,
brought he r l ow en ough i f you really do want to

“
,
”
do something I can get you a chan ce to try
, .
”
Helen started “
I n the theatre O h I couldn t
’
.
, .
C ornelia laughed N 0 not in the theatre But .

, .
there s a friend ofmine —well he s a kind of a con ’

’
n e c ti on too — used to have a photograph saloon down
in our place ; used to have it on wheels and get it ,
dragged roun d from on e vi llage to another an d he s ’
’ ’
got Boston bit too and so he s come u p and he s
-
,
’
opened a gallery down in Hanover Street well it s ,
pretty far down W ell he hain t got a very high .

,
’
’
class of custom that s a fact ; and if he had he
,
’ ”
wouldn t have this work to do I presume ,
.
“ ”
W hat i s it ? asked Helen .
’ ’
It s colourin photographs .
’ ”
0 yes I ve seen them said Hele n remem , ,
bering some e xamples of the art hung aloft i n oval ,
frames i n country parlours of which they w ere

, ,
che ri shed ornaments .
’
It ain t a very high kind ofart said Miss R oot , ,
’
as if she found something to reprove in Helen s tone ,
’ ”
but it ain t every on e that can do it l ow as it is ,
.
”
“
I m sure I don t deprec i ate i t returned Hele n
’ ’
, .
’
A WO M AN S RE A S ON . 32 1
I should be only too glad if you though t I could

”
do it .
”
I guess I can get you the ch ance to try said ,
Cornelia ; and n ow as if she wished to leave the ,
subject and prevent the premature acknowledgments

which she felt she had not yet earned she unpinned ,
her sewing from her knee and stood up holding i t ,
at arm s length from her

’
-
“ “ ”
The trouble i s she mused aloud that you , ,
’
can t tell how it s going to hang a fter all your
’
,
”
wor ry .
“
W hy don t you let me drape it on you ? asked
’
Helen .
Cornelia d ropped the l ifted arm and let the skirt ,
trail on the floor W ell i f you thin k Miss Hark .

, ,
’ ’
ness that I ve been hintin round for anything of
,
that kind
“ “ ”
I don t said Helen Honestly
’
,
But I l i ke to .
”
fit dresses I used to h elp our cook with hers
. .
Cornelia R oot had to discipline with uncommo n

severity the proud spiri t that revolted at having the
same hands drape i ts corporeal covering which had
drap ed the person of an Irish cook She subdued .
it but it was not in hum an nature that she should

,
yiel d grace fully I gue ss I better go to a dressmaker .
”
with it she said I don t w an t to trouble you
,
.
’
.
“ ”
It won t be any trouble in d eed said Helen
'
, , ,
taking the d ress from he r .
A fter fifteen minutes of lively discussion of pin ,
ning back and pulling forward and h olding up and ,
letting drop during which Cornelia twis ted her neck

,
X
’
322 .
hal f of f as she said lo oki ng at her ow n b ack she

, , ,
mounted a chai r and surveyed hersel f in the glas s .
W ell you have got a touch Miss Harkness she said

, , , .
” ”
O yes returned H elen s i mply
,
“
I know tha t .
‘
l Vell w hy i n the world

, Corn elia began But .
s he checked herself .
W hy what ? asked Helen ”

.
Oh n othing return ed Co rnelia with the outward

, , ,
hauteur which was apt to mark a spiritual struggle

with her I ll s ee Zenas Pearson to morrow about
.
’
-
”
those photographs .
That will be very kind ofyou said Helen , .
The next day Cornelia brought her three of the

unsparing likenesses in which the art ofphotography
sometimes unm as ks its obj ects O ne w as a gentleman .
i n what he would h ave c alled chin whiskers with -
his hair gathered in a puff over his forehead and ,
a gold watch chain wandering across his bulging -
shirt front
-
The other w as a lady in middle life

.
,
with her small feat ures losing themselves i n the

obese contour out of whic h her eyes looked over
l i ttl e cushions of fat The gentl eman was to b e .
painted of a fair complexion an d the lady as a ,
brunette The third picture was the likeness ofthis

.
lady s ch i ld wh i ch was to be col oured in accordance

’
,
w i th he r presen t appe arance i n the sp i rit l i fe as -
r eported by a writing medium -
“
I don t envy you the j ob any said C ornelia
’
, ,
“
R oot . Zen as apol ogised for n ot havin any place ’
for you to w ork i n his gallery but I told him I ,

”
guessed you d rath e r work a wh ile at home first
’
.
’
people — women —who write for the magaz i nes or ,

”
the newspapers rather ? ,
“
W ell I kn ow on e girl : she s an art student
,
’
-
and she h elps herself out by c orre spon din ; writes ’
for two or three papers up country and out W est ; -
but I never s aw any of her stuff and I don t wan t ,

’
”
to for ofall the p erfect simpleton s 1 Cornelia was
“
expressively silent ; she added thoughtfully : Yes ,
I guess i t must be pretty easy to do i f that girl ca n ,
do i t I wonder I didn t think of it before W hy

.
’
.
don t you ask that ri di c l ou s Mr E van s ? He s the

’ ’
.
’
literary editor ofS aturday Aftern oon and I guess he ,
could tell you all about it .
“
I don t like to trouble hi m said Helen
’
,
.
“ ’
l Ve ll I do then retorted Cornel ia ”
,
W hat s,
.
he here for ?
I can t let you said Helen though t fully folding
’
, ,
the dollar bills that Cornelia h ad brought her

-
This money will last a l ittle wh i le and perhaps ,
” “
perhaps she con cluded rather faintly I can think
, ,
’
of something to do by the time it s gone I know .
”
I m very weak and silly she said lifting h er s uf
’
, ,
’
fused eyes to Cornelia s .
”
“
N ot at all ! cried C ornelia ; and that evening
she cornered Mr E vans as she said an d attacked
.
, ,
him about some sort of newspaper work for a friend

ofhers .
He was sittin g before his fire in a deep c hair ,
with his feet on the hearth of the open soap stone -
stove ; Cornel i a assailed him from a higher chair at

“ ’
a little distance Some young man you re trying
.
’
’
tohelp along ? he asked sm i ling up i nto Cornelia s ,
eyes .
“ ” ’
Y ou know it ain t any young man ! c ried the
Oh !
’
You didn t say r eturned Mr E vans ,
.
“
coolly He asked presently W hy does Miss Hark
.
,
”
ness want to write for the papers ?
“ ’
Mr E vans ! I think you re too bad ! I never
.
”
sa i d it was Miss Harkness .
”
But you won t say it isn t ’ ’
.
I won t s ay anything about it There 1 A nd if

’
.
you can t give me any advice w i th out ask in who

’
it i s
O h that i sn t necessary n ow
’
,
But what I do .
wish to ask Miss R oot— and I think you ow e it to

,
yourself to answer frankly— is simply this : are you

sure that you are trying to befriend Miss Harkness
from the highest motive ?
“
Highest motive demanded Co rn elia whom such ,
an appeal must al w ays arrest W hat does the man .
”
mean ? She was on such terms of offence and de
fence with Mr E vans that she o ften cast aside all
.
,
formal iti es of speech in dealin g with him and came

down to sincerities that seemed to a f ford him the
purest delight .
“
W hat do I mean ? W hy I mean this —and a ,
person who pretends to keep such a con science as

you do always dusted of
,
f and ready for use in any
emergency ought to be able to answer without pre
,
varication A re you sure that you are not doi n g

.
more to help this Miss Hark n ess because she i s a .

32 6 A WO M AN S REA S O N
’
.
lady off allen fortunes th an you would do for some

,
poor girl who was struggling up and trying to sup ,
port inebriate parents and pay a younger brother s

,
’
”
way through college ? Cornelia opened her mouth
“
to protest but he h astened to prevent her
, W ait ! .
’
Don t commit yourself 1 Ar e you sure that her
being visited by a lord has nothing to do wit h your
b e n e fic e n t zeal ? Are you sure that you are not
i ndulging a n ative disposit i on to curry favour w i th
worldlings an d vanities generally A re you certain
,
that at the b est you are seek i ng anything better than

the selffl attery that comes through the ability to
~
patronise a social superior ? I merely ask you to

”
reflect .
These were prec i sely the doubts wh i ch Cornelia had

al ready exorcised ; but they all sprang into n ew li fe
at the touch of the l aughing mal i ce that divi ned
them .
I declare she said you are enough to provoke

, ,
”
a saint 1
“
I m glad to see it said Mr E vans “
Now
’
. .
, ,
I m n ot a sai nt and I can be frank and ope n about

’
,
a great many things that I observe sai nts l i ke to

fight shy of A saint—especially a female on e —i s
.
ab out as difficult a party to bring to book as any I

know N ow I don t mind acknowledging all these
.
’
sh ame ful motives which you feel that you must blink .
I don t m ind say i ng that the notion of throwi n g

’
something i n the way of a young l ady w ho has

moved in the first circles and still asso ciates w i th ,
lords and l adies on equal terms is qui te intoxicating ,

’
3 28 A WO M AN S REAS O N .
and she can review the batch together That i s the .
’
way we do There s quite a range in these on e is
.
an old writer of established fame on e has n ot quite ,
proved himself ye t and one is unknown You ,
would n aturally think that if such books are works

of art they would go to people of experience and
reflection for review but that is a mistake : they ,
go to people w ho can be th e most fl ipp an t an d i m

pertinent abo ut them and we find as a general rule , , ,
that the young ladies who write for us can be more

”
fl ipp an t and impertinent than the young men He .
l aughed as he handed the books to Miss R oo t and ,
watched her face .
If I coul d ever tell she said taking them from , ,
“
him ,
how much you believe d o f what you said it ,
”
woul d be on e satisfaction .
N o n o that isn t i t Miss R oot : w hat you

’
, , ,
woul d like to know is how much you believe of what

I say Very little I imagine The philanthropist s ’
ability to reject any tru t h that tells against h i m —or

.
,
.
her —is unbounded .

”
” “ ’
W ell said Cornel i a I don t know as I care so
, , ,
long as you give her this chance .
O h it s perfectly safe : she ll be s u re to fa il

“ ’ ’
, ,
“
said the editor Tell her I want the n otices next
.
w eek sometime In th e meantime I don t know

, .
,
’
’ ”
who s writing them .
He did not betray himsel f in any way during the

ensuing week and he left Cornelia unmolested wit h
,
a secret wh i ch she did n ot kn ow whether she ought

or ought n ot to keep He l e n worked very hard at .
’
. 329
the cri t i c i sms ; she had i t on her consc i ence to do

them very fairly and j ustly because when she had
,
read the books care fully through she perce i ved for
the first time how much thought and labour must
go to the construc ti on of even i ndifferent stories ;
and she felt that it would be a s in not to do j ustice
t o all this i n the case ofnovels which were certainly
not firs t rate She thought that she ought to be
-
careful about her style and n ot say anything in a

,
slipshod or slovenly way She wrote out her

.
revie w s i n her neatest hand and then she copied

,
them all so th at there w as not one blo t or erasure

,
.
She determined that i f Mr E vans accepted the m

.
,
Miss R oot should tell him who had done them for ,
there were some points which she was doubtful

about and on which she would like his instruction
,
.
She was v ery simple and humble in the matter and ,
in her ow n mind looked up to the j ournalist in his

pro fessional qual ity with an awe that she had n ot
hitherto felt for anything connected with S aturday
Aftern oon . Her father used sometimes to buy that
paper and send it to her when she was away from
,
home and she h ad read its social gossip with a high

,
minded disapproval ofthe entertainment it gave her .
She never thought oflooking at the notices ofbooks

in it and when s he first heard that Mr E vans was
,
.
connected with it she had resolved to be very care ful

what she said before him and she had partly with
,
drawn fro m anything l ike intimacy with Mrs E vans .
for that reason I t was very well for Clara Kings

.
b ury Clara Kingsbury was a kin d ofpublic character

‘
3 30 A W OM AN S RE A S O N .
hersel f with her chariti es and en terpri ses her Homes

, ,
and her Fairs which were always needing newspaper

,
mention but for Helen it was another af fair E ven .
now while the question of the acceptan ce of her

,
work w as pending Hele n asked herself whether she

,
woul d l ike to have the Butlers know that she wrote

for the Saturday Afternoon and was qu i te sure that she ,
“
would n ot If he should take them an d you tell
.
,
hi m who did them pleas e ask Mr E vans not to

, .
”
mention it to any on e she said in giving her manu
,
script to Cornelia R oot who had su f fered everything

,
i n the guilty consciousness that he knew already

who had done them .
”
“
I ain t afraid she said to Mr E vans i n d ischarg
’
,
.
,
“
i ng herself of the business that you ll mention it ; ,
’
but i f you should h ave to re fuse them an d then if you ,
should show ou t any way that you knew it would ,

”
about kil l me .
R ely u pon me Miss R oot returned the editor

, , .
I have rej ecte d s uch loads ofyoung l ady literature -
that I have become per fectly hardened and never S ho w ,
out i n any way that I kno w there are young ladies or
literature i n the world he added ca relessly

.
,
opening the manuscript the bold free hand of , ,
fashion pages n eatly pierced at th e upper right hand -
corner an d strung upon a narrow red ribbon with

,
notched edges faint odour of the young person s ’
”
favourite perfume Yes this is the real thing 1
.
,
He laughed in the way that C ornelia R oo t had more

than once said she could n ot stand when talking with
h i m about seri ous things .
332 A WO M A N S REA S ON ’
.
hope that the doubt could be somehow cleared away

without the cost ofeverything to her .
Is that all he says ? she asked feebly .
”
N o he says he will write He handed her the .
despatch which she mechanically read and then

'
, ,
twisted round her finger .
“
W hat do you think Mr Hibbard ? she asked , .
at l ast pitifully .
The lawyer must have seen so m any peopl e halt

between their interest and their sense of abstract
right and gl adly take advantage of any doubt in
,
their ow n favour that h e could not have wondered

,
“
at her hesitation But he was obliged to say I .
,
can do nothing n e w but rece i ve your instruct i ons I .
will conte st the claim to th e l ast or I will pay it , .
He again explained t h e matter and put the points ,
clearly before h er .
“
A nd there must a l ways b e th i s doubt about it ,
even if we gained the case s he asked .
“
Always E ve n i f that scamp himsel f were to
.
declare in our favour and ac kn ow l e dge t hat he had,

’
played upon E ve rton s suspicion the doubt would
:
,
”
remain .
“ ’
Then I can t bear i t 1 Y ou must pay Mr
, .
” “
E verton 1 cried Helen An yt h ing anything i s .
,
better than livi ng upo n stolen money 1”

A t the
same time that she pronounced this heroic truth ,
which indeed came from her inmost heart she burs t ,
into human tears for the l oss of all that she could
call her own .
”
Miss Ha kness said the ol d lawyer
r I wo ul d
, ,
. 3 33
not let you do this —I would take the r esponsibility

ofdisobeying you and Captain Butler both but—but
I must tell you that my i nquiries i nto the matter have
not been satis factory I h ave talked confidentially .
‘
with several of the gentlemen who were present at

the sale and I find that they all carried away the
,
i mpression that there was something queer about the

bidding towards the last N ow as I said before I .
, ,
’ ’
don t believe that E verton s understanding with
Mortimer will ever allow him to press the question
to an issue and that you could rest legally secure in
,
the possession ofthis money but th i s as I conceive , ,

”
isn t the point with you
’
.
0 no n o no A nd thank you thank you

Mr Hibbard for letting me dec i de the matter —and
, , , ,
.
,
thank God for helping me to decide i t rightly — before

you told me this W hatever happens n ow I shal l
.
,
have the consolation of knowing that I wasn t ’
influenced by the fear o f what people would th i nk

or say I know that I should have been but I know
.
,
” ’
that I wasn t She dried her eyes and controlled
.
,
“
her quivering lips Don t lose an instant please .
’
, ,
about paying him and pay h im every cent A nd

oughtn t I—O ughtn t I— to say something do some
, .
’ ’
thing to S ho w that I was sorry that he was kept out

”
ofthe money so long 1
“ ’
I don t think Mr E verton will care for that .
,
said Mr Hibbard . The money is what he wants. .
I will pay it and then what will you do Miss ,
Harkness ? Y ou were coming to me for mon e y you ,

’
said you mustn t allo w any mistaken feeling
33 4 WO M A N S REA S ON
’
.
’ ”
0n o I won t
,
.
I am sure that Captain Butler will wish me to

”
be your banker till he com es home .
“
Yes certainly ; but I have a little money yet
, ,
said Helen follow i ng M r Hibbard to the door

, . .
’
of an app l e th at hangs u p on the tree f ar i nto the

’
winter s cold and even in the smoothness and clean
,
n ess ofhis conspicuous linen .
H e returne d her absent gaze winking his little , ,
red— lidded eyes . He presently s a id I have had to ,
l ay out a great deal of money on the house and I ,
thought this might as well go into the general account .
The structure was very good but there were many ,
things that nee d ed going over the plumbing espe ,
ci all y .I have had the plumbing put into perfect

order Mrs E verton was very particular about i t
. .
the ladies are I be l ieve I think you would be

, .
”
pleased to see the improvement .
”
Yes said Hel en,
.
I have had brass pipes put in n early everywhere

Mrs E verton had heard that they were very much
.
superior and I was willing to d o anything to gratify

,
her she was very l ow at the time

He coughed behind his hand an d Helen awoke ,
”
from her daze to say gently O h I hope she s better
’
, , .
“ ”
Thank you returned the ol d man ,
But She .
”
i s dead .
”
Oh !
Yes she was so far gone that she could n ot b e
,
moved from our old house I n ever expected she .
could but I made the changes to please her and

, ,
S he went over them all in the architect s plans

’
I .
”
spared no expe n se I don t suppose said Mr .
’
, .
“
E verton with a sort o f brisk appeal to Helen
,
that ,
you would know the place n ow the O ld cornices all

”
down an d fresh paint and paper everywhere
,
.
’
A WO M AN S R EA S ON . 3 37
Helen did not reply ; b ut she looked at the m an

with a patheti c wonder which h e apparently did n ot ,
feel .
I think he continued with a certain insinuation

, , ,
”
i t would interest you to see the changes .
”
0 no l Helen broke ou t .
Mr E verton looked at her and passe d his tongue

.
over his red lips fringed with dry cuticle at their

,
”
edges i n apparent perplexity
, I don t mean to say .
’
,
he resumed that the general plan of the house is

,
’
changed ; that couldn t be done ; Mrs E verton s aw .
that herself I n many respects she was a woman you

.
”
could reason with I t was a great blow to lose he r
. .
”
“
I t must have been said Helen rel enting again ; , ,
but wonde ring a little why Mr E verton should speak .
to her ofthese matters .
“
He explained for himself Your burying your .
father such a short time before I buried Mrs E verton .
—i t seems a sort of coincidence a kind of bond as ,

'
on e may say and makes me feel as if

,
—as if—you
”
could appreciate my feelings .
I am sorry for you with all my heart said Helen , .
’ ”
I d i dn t know she added vaguely that you had
, ,
met with any bereavement .
’
Yes she s dea r sighed th e old man It isn t .
’
’
as if I were broken or hadn t kept my health I m ,
.
’
’
as well as ever I was A nd as strong I m as good . .
for business as any two young men I kn ow of But .
’
it s when I come home from business that I feel it
’ ’
that s where the rub comes i n it s lonely Yes i t s ’
.
,
”
lonely .
.
0 yes said Helen surprised into sympathetic

, ,
confi d ence by the simple words I often felt it in .
’
my father s case especially towards the end when , ,
h e seemed to l ive s o much in the recollection of the

past and I knew that I was scarcely an y companion
,
”
ship for him .
“
Your father said Mr E verton dryl y was a
“
.
, ,
much older m an than I am and he was all broken ,

’
u p before he died I used to notice it I don t b e .
”
l ieve he went on
,
but what you d like the house ,
’
as well as ever i f you saw it I should be very sorry , .
t o think I d done anything to i t that you didn t

'
’
like.
“
It s very very kind ofyou to s ay S o Mr E verton
’
, , .
returned Helen cordially A nd you mustn t

’
think at all about i t W hen I made up my mind to .
part with it I made u p my mind never to care w hat

,
became ofit .
“
W ell that was the right spirit said Mr E ver
, , .
A nd if the chan ges you have made i n i t gratified

your wife in he r las t days I can o n ly be glad ofthem , .
I shall always think o f my ol d home as it used to

be i fit were burned to the ground it would remain ,
”
there j ust as I le ft it as long as I live
, , .
“ ’
W ell I m pleased to hear you say s o said the
, ,
old m an I like to s e e a young lady se n sible

.
”
O h I m not sensible protested Helen but I
’
, ,
’
like what you ve don e because you did it to grati fy
”
your W i fe in her last days that makes it sacred .
”
I was always on good terms with her said the ,
’
S hould soon teach them to attend to the i r ow n bus i

ness if they attempted it My mind is as clear and .
m y health is as good as ever it w as and I would do ,
everything I could for you I admire you and I .

,
respect you I think you have right principles and

.
,
that s a very importan t thi n g I should be proud of

’
.
’
you To be sure we h aven t been much acquainted
.
,
and I suppose i t s only reasonable you S hould want

’
’
time to thin k it over I m i n n o hurry ; though as.
,
”
I said my own mind i s made up
,
.
’
I don t understand what you mean gasped ,
Helen Wh at do you mean ? IVhy should you

.
give me your property ? and w hy

Her eyes d w elt hopelessly upon his face in which ,
a smirk of cunning insinuation struggled with an

anxious perplexity He again passed his tongue over
.
his dry red lips and then cleared his throat an d

breathed hard I mean —al l I have n ot that house
, , ,
but half a—
,
’
dozen houses and everything I m worth
-
,
.
I m not afraid ofwhat peopl e would say If we re

’
.
’
”
both of on e mind the difference i n age is nothing
,
.
A t a sign of renewed impatience from Helen he ,
“
added desperately : I want you to be my wife
She recoil ed with a shudder and her teeth closed
, ,
i n a nervous paroxysm O h 1 she uttered in .

,
abhorrence far beyond rej ection and creeping softly ,
by the wall to the door with her eyes fi xed warily ,
upon him as if he were some nightmare spider that

,
might S pring upon her she vanished out of it an d , ,
fled u p stairs to her own room where she bolted her ,
self in .
’
A WO M AN S RE A S O N . 341
The half ho ur ofself loath i ng that she passed with

- -
her burning face i n her pillow could n ot have been ,
more cruel if what h ad happened were som e shame

ful d eed ofher own She searched her soul for cause
.
of blame but she coul d find nothing worse t h ere

,
than the consciousness of ha ving suffered herself for

on e inappreciable instant to drea m ofher h ome com
ing back to her by the wild poetic chance which the

’
ol d man s words had intimated This point oftime .
,
fine and tenuous as i t was had been vast enough for ,
her to paint a picture on Where S he and R obert d im

, ,
figures o f grate ful reverence had seemed piously to ,
care for the declining years of their benefactor and ,
to com fort his childless sol itude at their fireside .
But the s illyvis ion for wh ich she grieved and blushe d
, ,
was innocent as she felt even in the depths of her

,
sel fab ase m e n t an d the tho ught of i t ended in the

-
,
~
reactio n through which she rose from the bed an d ,
dashed of f a letter commanding Mr Hibbard to pay .
the interest on the money due Mr E verton to the .

,
last cent and not to accep t any sort of concess i on

,
fro m h i m But the horror of his o f

. fer survived an ,
incredible fact which she could n ot reject His age

, .
,
in asking to mate i tsel fw i th her youth had seemed ,
to d ishonour both and had become unspeakably ugly

,
and revolting to her She wondered what kind of

.
young g i rl it could be that wou l d marry an old man ,
and what he had seen i n her that made him think

S he could be such a girl N othing she was sure ;
.
,
and therefore this humiliation when s he was so ,
blameless must be her punishment for sins f r om the

,
342 A WO M AN S RE A S ON ’
.
consequence of which she had seemed to escape for

the way in which she had tortured R obert for her
flirting as she did that first day with Lord R ainford
, ,
f or l iking to be admire d an d for perh aps trying t o , , ,
make people admire her Yes that must be it ; and .

,
as soon as she had fi tted the burden to her S pirit she ,
rose u p with strength to bear it W hatever men

'
have con trive d to persuade themselves i n these latter ,
d ays as to the relations of cause and e f

,
fect in th e
moral world there are yet few women who do not
,
l ike to find a reason for their sufferings i n their sins ,
and they often seem still to experience the h eroic

satis fac tion i n their penalties which nothing but the ,
’
ol d fashioned Christian s privity to th e designs of
-
Providence can give .
W hen C orn elia R oot came h ome to tea she

’
knocked at Helen s door an d passed in round the ,
j amb a hand with which she produced the effect of

rejecting all responsibility for the letter i t conveyed .
“ ’
I guess it s from Mr E vans she said refusing to .
, ,
“ ’ ’ ”
look in . I don t kno w What s i n i t .
Helen was ready i n her penitence almost to wel

, ,
c ome the worst ; but the envelope only conveyed a
printed slip from the publishers of the Saturday

Afternoon in w hich they th anked her for her
,
contribution and begged to enclose their cheque i n

,
’
payment She rapped in her turn at Miss R oot s
.
”
door .
“
Just to tell you the good news S he e x ,
plained to Cornelia s inquiring face while a lau gh

’
fluttered ou t of her throat which j ust failed ofbeing ,
“ ”
a sob . They ve accepted them !
’
She escaped
’
3 44 A WO M AN S RE A S O N .
This seemed to Helen a per fectly simple and natur al

request and she w as n ot perhaps al together w i thout
, , ,
the feeling that Mr E van s ought to be gratified at .
her approach ing him for i nstruction .
W ell there you s e t me rather a di f

,
fi cul t task ,
“
Miss Harkness he said evasively ,
W e usually .
expect the fact that we are willing to print a con

”
tri b u tion to suffice as criticism in its favour .
”
“
Yes pursued H elen but you w ant beginners
, ,
’
to do better and better don t you ? I m n ot saying it ,
’
to fish up a compliment from you ; but I wish really

and truly that you would tell me what my faul ts
”
are Please specify something she said with an
.
,
ingenuo u s sweetness which smote Cornelia to the

soul but which apparently glanced e ffe ctl e ssl y fro m
,
the editor s toughened spirit H e laughed as if

’
.
,
other l adies had said the like to him before .
“
I ndeed I shal l n ot b e hurt at anything you say
,
cried H elen .
“ ’ “
I t s a little academic said the ed i tor But ,
.
’
that s a good fault It had better be that than be .
”
smart .
“
O yes ! I detest smartness i n everything .
She wondered just Wh at Mrf E van s meant by

academic but she did n ot like to ask and she
, ,
consoled hersel f by reflecting that he had said it

was a goo d fault to be academic .
“ ” ’ “
I don t know he continued that it is the
, ,
best plan to tell the plots and explain the char

’
ac te rs s o fully as you ve done ; but that can be
”
easily remedied .
A WO MAN S RE A S ON ’
. 3 45
“
I s ee said Helen ,
It destroys the reader s .
’
”
interest in the story .
“ ”
Yes assented the ed i tor and in th e review a
, ,
little An d I don t think it s best to sum up very

.
’ ’
deliberately at the end and to balance considera ,
tions so formally .
No said Helen She had thought i t w as well ;

.
and she began to wonder why i t was not .
But that part can be easily omitted A nd I .
shouldn t quote from the book unless I could give

’
something very significant or c h aracteristic Your .
sentences are a little long A n d i t i s rather late i n .
the day to open with an essay however brief on the , ,
general effect and tendency of fiction I think I .
shoul d always beg in d i rectly with the book i n han d ,

”
and let those i deas come in incidentally .
”
Yes to be sure said Hel en eagerly
, ,
.
Mr E vans put down her m anuscript which he h ad

.
,
taken up from the table and added lightly I shall , ,
have to work i t over a little before it goes to the

printers and then when you have i t i n the proof
,
’
y ou will s e e what I ve done an d get a better ,
notion of what I mean than I could give you in

words .
“
O h thank you very much
,
That will be so .
”
kind of you ! exclaimed Helen She added : I
“
.
was careful to write only on on e side of the paper .
”
I h eard that the pri nters preferred it .
“
! uite right said E vans with a smile at this
, ,
innocence Cornelia R oot fel t the irony ofit but i t

.
,
“
was simply amiable to Helen They do very .
,
.
’
much It s beautiful copy By the way h re i s the
. .
,
e
Aftern oon for this week if you want to look it over

, .
”
Y ou re on e ofus n ow you know
’
, .
“
Thank you I Sh all be very gl ad of it said
, ,
Helen taking the paper he o f

,
fered her .
Mr E vans seemed to have all his work about

.
him and she though t that she ough t not to keep

,
him any longer She said good night but C ornelia

.
-
lingere d a l ittle ; she could not help i t ; She could

not rest till she kne w from the editor taken al one ,
an d de fenceless whether he thought Helen would

,
ever be able to hel p hersel f by writing and she told ,
him s o in as man y words .
“
I saw you attempting to pierce my i nmost soul
“ ”
all the time Miss R oot said the editor
,
A nd I
, .
tell you frankly you won t get the truth out of me

,
’
.
”
Miss Harkness is a very cultivated young l ady .
H e bent over her MS which he had again drawn .

,
towards him She possesses a neat and polished

.
style I could imagine th at in letter writing she

.
-
would have all the char m that tradition attributes

to yo ur sex in that art In addressing the obj ect .
of her affections — C ornelia gave a start ofindi gnant

protest and disclaimer which had n o effect upon Mr
, .
E vans who went smoothly on

,
she m ust be
fascinating and I have no doubt the fashionable
,
friends to w hom S h e describes ou r humble boarding

house manage thin k she writes delightfully But .
i n appealing to th e general reader through the

medium of the public prints Miss Harkness seems ,
to th i nk i t advisable to present h er ideas and im

’
she do someth i ng for h erself ? The town i s full of

young women who are obl iged to do something f or
’
themselves Th at s the kind of splendour that
appeals to me —the involuntary kind —like my ow n
.
.
,
I s i t any worse for Miss Harkness to work for a

l iv i ng than for the ten s of thousands of other girls
who are doing it ? You h ave worked for a living
yoursel f Miss R oo t Do you wan t me to regard you
,
.
as splendid
Cornelia examined her j ust spirit in silence for a
“ ’ ”
moment I t s d ifferent with us
. she ans w ered , ,
“
because we were brought up to work W e never .
’
expected anything el se and i t i sn t so much of a ,
hardship for us as i t is for a girl like her who i s u sed

,
to being taken care of and n ever had to do or think

,
for herself .
A h my dear Miss R oot it i s the pri ncess in exile

, ,
who appeals to us both ! But i s she more to be

praised for refusing to eat the buttered roll of others ’
prosperity than the peasant maids w ho h ave n ever -
had the chance of refusing ?

)
She s more to be pitied p
’
R ight again Miss R oot Y ou are always right

,
.
’
By the way why didn t you urge Miss Harkness to
,
attempt something in art ? Miss Kingsbury as ked

’
me i f I couldn t get her some book to illustrate !
’
She said that Miss Harkness s sketche s were e x q ui
site and she asked me i f I had ever see n any of
,
”
them H ave you ?
.
“
Yes Cornel i a r e luctan tly admi tted
, .
W ell ?
’
”
They re h opeless ! cri ed Cornel i a w i th an i n
’
,
voluntary vehemence that delighted E vans .
’
A nd you thought that i f she couldn t draw she
could write That was quite natural .
“
It was her own i dea urged C ornelia ,
.
A nd it was your i dea that she should write for

.
me ! Very good very ri ght very l ike a ph i lan , ,
throp i s t
“
N ow you know wel l enough Mr E vans began
, ,
.
,
“
Cornelia that you were perfectly free to r e fuse
,
’ ’ ’ ’
Miss Harkness s w ritin ; and I a i n t goin to praise
’ ” ’ ’
you up for takin it i f that s what you re after .
“ ’
That s what I m after but I knew I shouldn t
’
get it before you told me W ho praises an editor .
for anything ? Y ou and Miss Kingsbury will only

’ ’
th i nk I ve done my duty when I ve sat up
till midnight putting this pretty r ubbish into
”
shape .
“ ”
Is i t so b ad as that ? asked Cornelia aghast , .
’
W hy didn t you give it back to her and tel l her i t ,
was rubbish ? It would have been the best for her

i n the end
Because I have a t i mid and truckling spir i t Miss ,
R oot and you know it Because I have scarcely the

, .
heart to refuse the rubbish ofladies who tell me they

have produced i t in the interest of some worthy
chari ty or for the purpose of eking ou t their pin
,
’
money ; and I m naturally helpless in the presence
ofa lady who has written it for bread — as I am given
to understand C ornelia was silent and the editor

.
,
continued gleefully : A w oman can sometimes do

“
’
someth i ng w i thout damaging others But when a .
l ady undertakes to help hersel f some man has to ,

’
su ffer for it an d why shouldn t I be the victim ? I
usually devote Saturday night to working on a little
’
play I m trying to write but I daresay the time will,
be much better employed in rewriting Miss Hark .
’ ”
ness s reviews .
’
He watched the travail of Miss R oot s soul in her
honest eyes with a smile of unrelenting enj oyment .
Besides I like to be friend gentility in adversity as

,
well as you do Miss R oot The thought that I am

,
.
actually earning money without her knowing it for , ,
a young lady of Miss H arkness s condescension does ’
my me an and servile littl e soul more good than I

”
can well describe .
C ornelia burst forth with a sort of groan O h it s

“
, ,
’
all wrong I kn ow it is ! But what is a girl fit for

,
’ ’
that s been brought up j ust as a lady ? If there s
anything under the sun that she can honestly do ,
without imposing up on other people and putting ,
them to twice the trouble she takes for h erself for ,

’
goodness sake let her do i t ,
“
Very j ust sentiments but what i s it ?
’ ’
W ell on e thing it tsn t ; and that s w ri ting for
,
the papers and I shall tell her so

,
You h ave no right to abuse m y confidence Miss ,

”
R oot ,
said the editor with superficial gravity ,
through w hich his laughter broke when she turned

f
“ ’
desperately upon him Miss Harkness s failure is
.
my secret If it is a failure I supposed it w as a

. .
shining success ! There are very few young lad i es

35 2 A WO M A N S REA S ON
’
.
ti me , of course , must do so but she was afra i d

she
it might be difficult to make the whole affa i r clear to

R obert at that distance It w as something that could
.
be much better S poken than wr i tten ; she resolved

at least to leave her letter open till morning and ,
dec i de then what she should do .
She was not sleepy but she felt a pleasant languor

, ,
such as comes afte r the fortunate close of a period of

strong exc i tements and S he sat down before the fire
, ,
which was gi vi ng out i ts last delic i ous glow to ,
indulge her fati gue a little more luxuriously She .
looked back over what had happened during the

week with satisfaction now that i t was past ; she
,
was glad n ot only that S he had paid that horrible old

m an his money but that she had been right and n ot
, , ,
as she had sometimes feared morbid and conceited,
about wishing him to be paid She felt that she had

.
behaved in a sensible and business like manner ; that -
’
Captain Butler s action proved this ; and that all the
events sustained her in her first i nstinctive impulse .
A t th i s sa fe removal i n time and S pace Mr E verton s , .

’
proposal did not seem so S imply horrible ; it began

to reve al some amus i ng aspects ; she broke into
a little murmur of laughter when s he thought of
certain moments of perplexity for him .
A s for the money it was a little matter : it was

,
five thousand dollars in the abstract but i n reality ,
it was only six dollars a week ; and with the pro

spect of literary work from Mr E vans and perhaps .
,
other editors she could easily make that up : she

,
had earned ten dollars by her pen already .

’
She unfolded the pape r that Mr E vans had g i ven .
her and the crepitation of its leaves sent a light

,
shiver through her “that would the Butlers say

.
when she sent them the next number with her

reviews marked in it ? She knew from her ow n
fine reluctance that it woul d surpri se them disagree
ably ; and she fancied Jessie Butler supporting and ,
Mrs Butler forgiving while Marian R ay denounced

.
,
her n ew attempt But she reflected she woul d

.
, ,
often have to disagree with Marian R ay and what

ever people sai d of the society gossip i n the Saturday
Afternoon it w as a good literary paper ; everybody
,
acknowledged that She heard hers elf defending it

.
to Marian and i n the rapid process of reverie i t

, , ,
had come to her saying plainly to Marian that she

s aw n o disgrace i n wr i ting for the newspapers and ,
that the only disgrace could be i n writing dishonestly

and vul garly for them She had said she had Clara
.
’
Kingsbury s approval an d Marian had laughed and
,
answered “
O h i f she had Cl ara Ki ngsburys ap
’
, ,
”
proval ! and had retreated aga i n to N aples ; for
Helen n ow had the newspaper quite open an d ,
was looking for the book reviews occupying the place

-
which hers would have the n ext Saturday They .
were rather appallingly well written ; she could se e

that they were indefinitely better done than hers ;
S he wondered i f they were Mr Evan s s and she gave
’
,
.
a little sigh of dismay while her eye wandered idly

to the next column where a name arrested it
, .
The name was Fenton s ; and the paragraph in ’
whic h it occ urre d seemed to b ecome alive and sentient

z
'
’
under her eyes It was a despatch from W ashingto n

.
,
rehearsing with telegraphic brevity the facts of

, ,
the wreck of the Meteor as furnished to the State

,
D epartment by the Consul at Tahiti from the state ,
ments of the survivors .
Five days after the d i saster the French ship

Belle Paysanne which brought them to that port had
, ,
fallen in with an O pen boat containing Captain R ollins

’
and a number of the Meteor s cre w and passengers ,
who reported that Lieutenant Fenton and three

others had volunteered to remain on the ree f where
the Meteor struck till the overladen boat could find
land and return to them The Belle Paysanne .
altered her course and vis i ted the scene of the

,
catastrophe ; but the wreck had then disappeared ,
and there were no traces of the men left behind .
A week later however the ship picked up another

, ,
of the Meteor s boats with the two sailors who had

’
,
remained with Lieutenant Fenton From the narra .
tive of these men it seemed that the wre ck had

broken up the day after Captain R ollins abandoned
her and that Lieutenant Fenton wh o h ad lingered
, ,
on board after helping to launch the boat was ,
caught in the wreck and carried down with her His .
companion a passenger named Giffen was rescued

, ,
by the seamen but he had been so badly bruised by

the floating timbers that he d i ed the following day .
They confirmed the statements of C aptain R ollin s

and all the other survi vors co ncerning the heroic ,
behaviour of Lieutenant Fenton who had chose n to ,
remain on the rock rather than i mperil the lives

X VII .
HE LE N did not come down to her breakfast and ,
C o rnelia R oot w ho was finishing hers about the

,
time there began to be question at Miss Hark

’
ness s absence said she would step in and se e what
,
the matter w as after she got on her things She .
found Helen S itting before the empty grate the gas

was burning and the bed untouched ; and a thrill
,
of terror went through her lest Helen should be

sitting there dead W hen a fter bidding her good .
,
morning in vain she ventured to touch her on the

,
S houlder Helen l ooked roun d with a stare that for

, , ,
the moment made Cornelia repent being s o bold

, .
For the good Lord s sake cried the girl what is ’
it Miss Harkness
,
”
“
O h nothi n g said Hel en
,
She began to laugh and
,
.
,
tri ed to hide under her h ands the newspaper she had in

her lap and then as if at her failure i n this she began
, , ,
to weep piteously Look she exclaimed opening

.
,
the paper and pointing to the story ofthe shipwreck

, ,
O h I ve
’
“
he s dead
’
A nd those men killed him .
,
thought it all out

Cornelia took the paper and after a swift glance , ,
at the paragraph put it aside without questioning

,
. 35 7
“
her. I guess you bet te r lie do w n Miss Hark ,
’
ness and try to get some r est I m going to have
,
.
”
your fire m ade up .
She got her to bed and then she con ferred w ith the ,
landlady o utside the door she ended by sacrificing her

ow n preference f or a female physician and calli n g in ,
the doctor who Mrs Hewitt recollected hearing Miss

, .
Harkness once s ay had taken care ofher father ,

.
She sent a note to Miss Kingsbury telling h er

that she was a fraid Miss Harkness was going to
be s i ck and asking her to come to se e her ; but
,
word was returned that Miss Kingsbury was i n N e w

York and would n ot be home till the latter part of
,
the week It was then too late to move the sick

.
’
girl to her friend s house .
It did n ot need the light wh i ch Miss Kingsbury

threw on her relation to Lieute n ant Fenton to enable
’
Helen s fellow boarders to understand what had
-
happened Cornelia R oot had understood i t at

.
once with austere resolution not to recognise her

,
ow n privity to the fact even to herself ; Mrs E vans .
had divined it and talked it over with her husband

, ,
who halted between remorse for hav i ng laughed at

Helen s contributions and secret question whether he
’
would not be j ustifiable in using a parallel incident

i n his play Mrs Hewitt guessed it out in a hungry
.
,
inability to talk it over with anybody and got her ,
first real com fort out of the expansive desolation in

which Miss Kingsbury confided to them all her
grief for what had happened and stated the facts as
.
f ully as she kn ew them .

’
’
W el l
i t didn t stand to reason said Mrs
, ,
.
“
Hewitt that she would care so much for a brother
, ,
”
and an adopted one at that . .
“ ”
O no ! cr i ed Clara “
It w as much more than .
”
that 1
She got a professional nurse to relieve the devoti on
’
ofall H elen s volunteer nurses and from th i s young
woman Mrs Hewitt at first hoped everything but
.
,
only to be the more keenly disappointed for so far ,

’
from reporting th e tenor of Helen s delirium the ,
n urse wholly refused to t al k of he r patient She .
’
would si t at Mrs Hewitt s ow n table an d bl ink at
.
,
Mrs Hewitt through her glasses and never say a

.
,
word morning n oon or night until Mrs Hewitt did

, , , ,
.
not kno w what w oul d beco m e of her Mrs Hewitt s . .

’
disgust with the nurse authorised the first full laugh

’
which E van s had permitted himself since Helen s
sickn ess began It was after a favourable turn had
.
taken place ; n evertheless Corneli a R oot bent upon

him a look of keen reproof .
O h come now Miss R oot “ ’

“
,
he protested I l n
, ,
’
n ot going to stand that I ve j ust succeeded after .
,
infinite pains and argument in convincing Mrs , .
E vans that I didn t cause Miss Harkness s fever by

’ ’
laughing at her literature whilst I was putting it into

shape that nigh t ; and I still believe that if she had
died my wife would have required me to deliver
myself up to j ustice But I am an innocent man .
,
and I w on t have you going round and looking as

’
though this never woul d have happened if it hadn t

’
”
b een for me .
.
talk of
anyth i ng ending but just stay on and on ,
.
W hy S houldn t you ? W hat would you do

’
A h that s the ol d question

,
’
’
I didn t mean that ! I meant why should you ,
try to d o anything ?
I suppose because I m n ot a lily ofthe field for
,
’
,
”
on e thing Cl ara laughed gratefully for the gleam
.
of gaiety from Hel en w hose sa d ness had been heavy ,
on her heart
“
I S hould be glad enough n ever to
.
d o anything or even be anything again

, Y ou .
understand Cl ara w hat I ve been through ? she

, ,
’
asked .
“
You hinted something once and I could guess ,
the rest .
’ ’
“
Then we won t speak of i t It s such a mercy .
’
we n eedn t ! But you can see that al l the past i s
’
swept away from me There s nothing left I have .
to begin everything n e w with n ew ideas and new ,
objects I used to b e ambitious about helping my

.
sel f b ut I m not n ow ; even my pride in that is

,
’
broken The tears of self pity starte d to her eyes

.
-
Yes I would be humbly grate ful if I needn t do

,
’
anything But I must A nd the old quest i on comes

. .
”
back : what ?
“
O h Helen,
said her frien d devoutly
,
“
if you ,
would only stay and be a comp anion to me

anything 1
Helen smiled To cheer you up —read to you
.
keep you interested— go pleasure j ourneys with you ?

”
Y e s I sh ould be a gay companion
, .
“
W ell then my housekeeper i f you w ill i nsis t
, , ,
’
.
361
upo n usefulness —and I don t blame you for i t ; I ’
should myself W hy shouldn t you be my house

.
’
keeper ? I have heard of girl s trying that

“
I should be glad to learn housekeeping of you ,
Clara You know I d on t know anything about i t

.
’
,
and that you know everything I used to pretend .
to keep house for papa ; but Margaret really did i t

all I must be fi t fo r somethi n g ; but I can t tell
.
’
”
w hat it is yet , .
“
I can t bear to hear you talk so Helen W hy
’
, .
’
don t you try writ i ng again ? I m sure Mr E van s
’
.
”
would be gl ad to have you .
’
cried Helen I couldn t think of any
.
thing I tried before —that She touched her .

”
calamity with the word and then struggled to get

,
away from it with a curious effort of he r broken

spirit which Clara said afterwards made h er think of
,
“
a crippled bird trying to fly I m a fearful proble m
.
’
,
’
Clara But don t w orry over me an y l onger now
.
, .
There must be some very simple answer to me i f we

take time to think i t out and I m afraid I m willi n g ’ ’
’
to take all t he time you 11 l e t me I l l accept any
’
.
sort ofdisgu i sed charity at present an d if yo u wan t

to start a subscription for me Clara you may O n l y , , .
,
”
don t let me know about i t
’
.
A thought seemed to strike Miss Kingsbury ,
which kept her silent for a moment There was a .
Hungarian lady here last year who had a plan of ,
gardening for girls — vege table and flower gardening .
”
I wonder i f you met her .
”
No said Helen
, .
.
’ ’
She w as at the Kelloggs She was Mrs Kellogg s . .
”
religion for the time being H elen did not catch .
hope fully at the gospe l of the Magyar prophetess ,
but l ooked with a rueful surprise at her friend who ,
“
went on : Then there has been a good deal of tal k
about farming for women —small fruits an d poul try , , .
She threw out the suggestion d iffid en tl y but ’

,
gathered courage when once it was proj ected from

her. I suppose one becomes i nterested in it and ,
”
gets very fond of the poor little things .
W hich Clara — the berri es or the chickens

,
asked Helen with a lifeless laugh

,
I S h ould want .
’
to eat the berries but I can t imagine eating poultry
’ ”
ofone s personal acquaintance .
O h I meant h aving an affecti on for the chickens

,
’ ”
you d have to let other people eat them She .
’
j oined i n Helen s l augh at the futility of her sugge s
“
t i ons but she added W ell we must think out the ,
” ’
answer to you There s no hurry
. .
0 no .
That afte rnoon Margare t cam e w i th a heart full

ofproud contrition to blame herself for having b een
in Ireland for the past three months and for having ,

’
just learned O f Helen s S i ckness and wherea bouts .
She wept over Helen s sorrows and over her wasted

’
,
looks and h ollow eyes and the girl was freer to

talk with her of what had happened than she had
yet felt wit h any on e else - .
She told he r about the shipwreck of which ,
Margaret had n ot heard be fore and she showed her ,
a scrap of paper the cover of an ofiicial despatc h

, .
36 4 .
should be much pleased to h ave you come ou t some

day and see i t Miss Helen The w orst of it is that
,
.
,
’
there i sn t en ough to keep a person busy and I m ,
’
’
thinking that maybe I l l take a l oard er There s .
’
a S pare room H e d like to s e e you Miss Helen

.
’
,
.
I ve told him a good deal about you

’
.
Thank you Margaret I will com e ou t some day , ,

.
”
I should like to se e your husband .
’ ’
Oh h e s no great things
,
But he S a very quiet .
b odyf
’
’
Helen was looking at the bonnet on Margaret s
”
head and she answered rather absently
,
Yes ,
.
The bonnet was a combination of purple fruits and

magenta flowers caught i n a net of lace as i f to , ,
protect them fro m the depredation s O f birds and

insects IVhe re did you get your bonnet
.
,
Margaret ?
In Han over Street M i ss H elen said Margaret , ,
.
’ ’
I don t think it s very good ; do you ? I paid
’
enoug h for it ; but money w on t buy the like o f the
bonnets that you used to make me Miss Helen ,
.
“
You d better le t me see what I can d o w ith th i s
’
.
The shape isn t bad said Helen critically ’
,
.
“
O h I couldn t Miss Helen
’ ’
,
A fter what I ve ,
.
”
said to you I should feel as if I d hinted ’
.
“ ‘
Y ou needn t be under a complimen t for it
’ ’
,
”
Margaret said Helen with a sudden inspiration ;
, ,
You may pay m e for making over th e bonnet

”
O h Miss Helen !
,
Yes I need the m oney I must work for my

. .
living now .
A WO M A N S R EA S ON ’
. 65
How good ofyou said Clara when she foun d ,
Hele n with the bonnet in her hands the next day ,
a nd learned whose it was .
’ ” “
It s good for me returned Helen ,
Margaret .
”
pays me for doing i t Perhaps this is the solution
. .
Clara permitted herself a silence i n which her

“
i magination kindled with the idea Helen she .
,
c ried i t is splend i d ! W hy shouldn t you do some

’ ’
“
,
thing of the sort ? There s nothing disgraceful ’
about it and with your taste your gen ius you could
, , ,
make every bonnet a work of art— as they do those

picture dresses in London
-
.
They talked the scheme over and as soon as ,
Helen was strong eno ugh to at tempt it they put it ,
in pract i ce Clara wanted her to se t up a shop i n

.
her d rawing room but they devolved upon some

-
thing more modest i n the end an d Helen took Mrs , .
’
Hewitt s parlour floor Clara advanced the capital
.
a tasteful and recherche stock of frames an d feathers

and ribbon s was chosen and Helen embarked in the
,
enterprise under the favouring smiles of a world at

once fashionable and sympathetic and high minde d -
I t would not be easy to s ay just how the scheme

came to final ruin But w hen once a live l y lady
.
’
had said Miss Harkness s bonnets had so much touch ,
“
and another had answered 0 yes they were al l , ,
”
touch and both had then tittered in tacit recogni
,
tion of a certain amateurish l ack in them it was ,
well on the way to failure By the time that a .
visiting Ne w York lady had said Miss Harkness

seemed to be quite a Boston fashion and had ,
36 6 A WO M A N S RE A S O N
’
.
been answered 0 no ; a Boston p assio n she was

, ,
no longer s o Clara Kingsbury wore her Harkness

.
bonnet to the bitter end !as some on e phrased

i t ) but she was notoriously interested and her
, ,
’
heroic devotion counted for nothing A ll Helen s .
gains went to pay the assistant whom she had taken

from a well known milliner s shop with a just
-
’
,
conv i ction of her ow n un fitn ess for practical details

and when her stock was exhau sted an d the ladies
’
,
had given away her bonnets to their second girls -
she had noth i ng but her debt to Clara for her pain s
They cried over the failure together when they h ad

to f ace i t at last and Clara inveighed against the
,
hollowness and ingratitude ofthe w orld But Helen .
“
took the blame upon herself It was arrogant i n .
me to suppose that I could succeed in any bus i ness

W ithout serv i ng an apprenticeship to i t —without
beginning at the bottom I t was like those silly

.
women who go on the stage and expect to begin at ,
the very top o ver the heads of people who have

,
faithfully worked all their l ives learn i ng to be actors .
’
It s just
“
That doesn t make it any the easier to bear
’
,
Clara repined .
It does for me sai d Helen If the things that

,
.
have happened to m e were n ot j ust I coul dn t endure ,

’
them .
Clara took her in h er arms vowing that she was ,
the best and bravest creature in the world and that ,
s he had n e ver done anything e xcept s ufl e r unmerited

'
wrong She would not hear any talk of the money

.
’
and I se e that I haven t talen t enough to be firs t rate

’
-
i n anything
’
I couldn t endure to be a second rate
.
-
’
artist or writer ; but I don t mind being a second
rate m illiner ; and that s what I m going to be if I ’ ’
,
can A nd n ow I w on t tell you anything more abou t

.
’
my scheme till I se e whether it s practicable People ’

.
will laugh but t hey won t sneer and if they pity me

,
’
, ,
”
I shall be glad and grateful for their pity .
Clara tried to get from her some detail s of he r

plan but she would n ot give them ; she would n ot
,
le ave her any comfort but the fact that S h e could not
say or do anything to prevent her try i ng to carry ou t
her plan .
’
She went out to Margaret s i n the horse cars and -
walked down the l ittle side street to the end of the

row of French roo fcottages in the last and poorest
-
ofwh ich Margaret was s o proud of living Helen s ’

.
sickness an d convalescence and her subsequent ex ,
p e ri m en t in a
esthetic m i l l in e ry had carried he r through ,
the summer and the early fall the young elms al o n g

the side w alk had dropped their last yellow l eaves
-
and the grass in th e n arrow door yards l ay limp and -
flat after the heavy N ovember frosts ; around the ,
O pen lots stretched brown and bare s w ept by an east ,
wind th at brought the sal t savour of the bay rank

across them A few slatternly goats lank an d
.
,
heavy uddered wandered over the dismal expanse

-
, ,
as if to crop the battered tomato cans and O ld boots in -
which i t abounded .
Margaret s house had never had more than on e

’
coat of pinkish brown paint an d it looked rather

-
,
A WO M A N S RE A S O N
’
. 36 9
thinly clad for the S eason but within a pungent ,
heat fro m the furnace which did more th an anything ,
else to make Margaret feel that she was an A merican

householder struck into the parlour where she re
,
ce i ve d Helen It was curious and amusing to se e

.
how little Margaret had pro fited by her life i n

Beacon Steps in arranging and de corating her best
,
room There were n oevidences of the better taste

.
to which she had been accustomed half her days she

had simply tried to make her parlour as like all the
other parlours in that row as she could with a wood ,
coloured i ngrai n carpet tan terry furnitur e and a , ,
marble topped centre table i f She had been a Pro

- -
testant she would have had a large gilt edged Bible

,
-
on thi s ; as it was she had an infant Jesus in wax

,
under a glass bell .
Helen stopped her i n her ceremonious preparations

”
for making company of her "
Margaret S he said .
,
abruptly I w ant to come an d live with you — ifyou

, ,
think you can trust m e for my board a while .
“ ”
Indeed Miss Helen said Margaret with a S plen
, ,
“
dour that w as worth more than money to her I ,
don t know what you mean exactly ; but if you do

’
,
mean to come and live with me there 11 be n o talk ,

’
”
ofboard .
W ell well returned Helen

, ,
we ll talk of that ,
’
later ; we re both pretty headstrong

’
Margare t .
deprecated thi s as faras Helen was concerned with

, ,
“
a flattered simper But n ow I ll tell you what I
.
’
want to do Y ou know I ve been tryin g to set up

.
’
for a fashionable milliner in Bo s ton .

.
Yes Miss Helen s i ghed Margaret

, , .
’
A nd I ve made a failure of it The fashionable .
peopl e don t want my bonnets ’

.
“
They re a set ofhate ful things Miss Helen cried
’
, ,
”
Margare t and the be st of them isn t fit to scrub

“
,
’
”
your floors for you .
Helen laughed at the unmeasured zeal of Mar

g e ret s loyalty expressed in terms s o little fit for the
’
polite ears of those the v devo te d to condemnation .
N o no Margaret they were quite right an d I w as

, , ,
’
all wrong I didn t k n ow how to make bonnets
.
when I began .
’
“
Miss Helen i f there s been on e person spoke to
,
me on this very street about that last bonnet you

done over for me there s been a hundred E very ,
’
body says it s the b ecom in ge st bonnet with more

’
real Beacon Street style to it than any they ever saw

m e have on
W ell I m very glad answered Helen pat i ently ;
“ ’
, ,
an d that brings me to what I wanted to s ay I fI .
didn t know how to make bonnets before I bega n I

’
di d know when I got through —perhaps by spoiling

”
s o many Margaret sn ifl ed a disdain ful denial of
.
the premises and remained with inflated n ostrils

, ,
“
while Helen wen t on A nd what I think is this .
that if I could come out here an d take your spare

room you might tell your friends —those poo r girls
,
that sometimes w aste S O much on bonnets —that I

coul d do their w ork fo r them j ust as well and a ,
great deal cheaper

“
You work for them good for n othing hussies Miss - -
,
372 A WO M A N S R EA S ON’
.
Yes yes ! Indeed I will Miss Helen

, ,
A nd never let your horrid wicked fool i sh O ld , ,
pride inte rfere with your taking the money— i f I

ever ge t i t to pay you
Margaret solemnly prom i sed and Hele n sa i d , ,
Let me go to the room at once then I m so ,

.
’
tired and suffered herself to be helped u p stairs to

the littl e chamber which Margaret h ad adorned in
,
the worst taste of Limeki l n A venue with chromos ,
over the chimneypiece and a set of painted fu m i

,
’
ture grained to m atch the oak paper on the wall

,
-
.
It w as like the i nside of an ugly box ; but Helen

fell upon the clean bed an d slept a sleep which
,
carried her well through the afternoon and left her ,
refreshed and encoura ed to begin the long fight i n

g
,
which she forced Margaret from one stand after an

other in her determination to treat her as a lady
guest .But she understood Margaret well enough
to kno w where to hold her h and and when Margaret ,
sent him to eat hi s s upper in the kitchen and sat stiffly ,
down i n fresh l inen cu f fs and coll ar to pour the tea

for her i n the dining room an d would n ot touch
-
anything on the table hersel f Helen kne w better than

,
to inte rfere .
W hen work b egan to com e to her she resolute ly ,
se t her face against the indignant maj esty with whi ch
Margaret would have treated the poor girls her

’
customers I t was clearly Margaret s intention to
.
make them feel that i t was an honour an d a p rivi lege

to have their bonnets made by her Miss Helen ; at
first she remained present at their interviews brow ,
’
. 37 3
beating them by her haughty silence into acquiescence

’
w ith every suggestion of Miss Helen s and reducing ,
them to a submission S O abject that Helen was sure

some of them ordered just th e ribbons and flowers
they did not want and others bough t bonnets when
,
they had merely com e to talk them over Margaret .
followed to the door on e hapl ess creature who h ad

failed i n her confusion to give an y order with allu
, , ,
’
sions to people who wasted other p e Op l e s time for
nothing s o cuttingly sarcastic that Helen revolted , ,
and positively forbad e her to interfere ; after that

she was obliged to con tent herself with a haugh ty
reception and dismissal ofthe customers .
Helen did her best to serve the simple stupid ,
things cheaply and well She knew that she saved

.
them money and she made their mistake n tastes her

,
ow n,
and i n that way sometime s corrected them ,
without their knowing it and lau n ched them ,
upon the world a little less formidable in s hape

and crude i n colour than they had in tended But .
she instinctively studied to obey on e ofthe first l aws
of business ,
and that was to supply an exi sting
demand till she h ad created another She did not .
attempt to make her shop —for fin ally i t was nothing

more nor less —a school of aesthetics as she had in ,
first attempting millinery she advised and suggested ,
b ut s he decided nothing She put both her pride and

.
her pre ferences into the pocket where she bestowed

’
her customers money and kept only a conscience
,
about giving them the m aterial worth of i t They .
were a great variety of poor girls and w omen begin ,

374 A WO M A N S R EA S ON
’
.
ning with the cooks and second girl s of Margaret s -

’
acquaintance W hose patronage founded Helen s pro

,
’
sperity and rising through economi cal mothers of

,
families to the upper ranks of seamstresses and

sales ladie s
-
.O ne day there came a young coloured

girl when lucki ly Helen was alone ; Margaret would
,
“ ”
never have demeaned hers elf by r ece i ving her but ,
H elen received her and i n due time sent her forth

,
resplendent in a whi te hat t rimmed i n orange and

purple .
This incident ofher n e w career seemed to give it an

ulti mate stamp of authe n ticity and it afl orde d her ,
s u ch saddened satis faction as could come to her

through a sense ofrecognised usefulness She spoke .
of it to Miss Kingsbury and Co rnelia R oot who ,
equally approved ; the former because s he admi re d

everything Helen d id and the l at ter because S he
,
found it as Helen hersel f did a final te stimony to

, ,
her practicality .
“
I t s all very well in that way said Mr E vans
’
, .
,
whom Cornelia had not been able to re frain from

t ri umphing over with a fact that refuted all his
“
predictions of renewed failure for Helen So is .
any on e who cate rs to a depraved popul ar t aste of

any sort practical But what I want you to consider
,
.
is whether there is n ot some thing immoral i n

allo w ing a savage preference for purpl e and orange
to i ndulge i tsel f I f I read my R uskin aright I
.
,
understand t h at there is some sort of occult con

n e ction between a feeling f or col our and righteousness .
N ow you s ay th at Miss Harkness allows her customers

’
s he was going to die and we always try to make

,
interest with the other world by being kind to

people about to go into i t But we never keep it up
.
”
after i f they turn back .
He succeeded n o better than he mean t i n n u

’
settling Cornelia R oot s mind in regard to Helen .
He wished his wife who usually made her ow n

,
bonnets to go out to the Port and order them of

,
Helen and in turn suffered much the same sort of

,
reproach which he was fond ofaddressing to Cornelia .
Mrs E vans said he had never before wi shed her to get

.
her bonnets in C ambridgeport and she understo od ,
that Miss H arkness had quite all the work she co ul d

do She had h elped to take care of Hele n during
.
her sickness and had been devotedly kind to her

, ,
l ike every on e el se in th e house but a woman likes

to pl ace her ow n l imi ts to her benevolence especially ,
towards other women and the husband w ill commit

an error w ho attempts to extend them She asked .
him why he did n ot wish her to get her bonnets of

some of the commo n milliners i n Hanover Street ,
an d he w as u nable to say why .

X V III .
TH E world offashion on whose bonnets Helen had

,
experimented in learning her business accepted the ,
hearsay of her success in a humbler way with self

satis faction and attributed far greater things to her
,
than she achieved It understood that S he was

.
making money and several fiction s in regard to the

,
sums she had amassed had a ready currency The .
world intended to look her up w hen it had time ; ,
it w as neither hard hearted n or in difl e re n t but it

'
-
was preoccupied There were ladies who meant

.
almost every day to drive out and se e Helen there

were others w ho re frained because they fancied she
would rather not h ave them come but all were n u
feignedly glad that the poor thing had found some
thing at last that she coul d do Her experiment .
in aesthetic millinery had thrown a great d eal of

light on her former ende avours ; people said there
was hardly anything she had n ot tried In fine .
,
they practically l eft h er acquaintance and her m e m ory

in the keeping of Clara Kingsbury w ho remained ,
faithful to both and perhaps did the best thing for

,
them in rather hushing them up She was herse l f a .
’
l i ttle sensitive about Helen s first experiment and ,
3 78 A W OM AN S RE A S ON
’
.
she was a w are that m any people held her i nd i rectly

responsible for the ent husiasm with which they had
encouraged i t She al w ays answered inquir ies about
.
Helen in an elusive way ; s he gen eralised her and ,
passed her over as quickly as possible so that ,
really the world had i t to say th at S O far from ,
having dropped Helen she had dropped herself

,
.
I t was certainly n ot to blame for having heard

nothing of her failing health which began to break
,
some six month s after s he had establi shed hersel f at

Margaret s She h ad w orked very hard for she had
’
.
,
i nc urred expenses during her fever at Mrs Hewitt s .

’
,
for whic h sh e was still in debt to Clara Kingsbury ,
and she had cherishe d the secret de termination

to reimburse her for all her losses through her .
She h ad n ot earned enough to d o this but S he had ,
worn herself thin and pale by the time the advancing

S pring made it a year since she had heard ofR ober t s
’
death Her friend wished her to give up an d go

.
down to h er cottage with her ; but Helen refused to

d o more than spare hersel f a little and S he was still
,
’
at Margaret s when the B utlers and R ays arrived
from E urope .
They had been abroad longer tha n they had i n

tended because C aptai n Butler had continued i n
,
feeble health but n ow they h ad come home to stay ,
as Marian w rote fro m London be fore they sailed .
They were all going to be in Beverley together till

R ay could decide W h ether to buy or to build in
Boston and Marian said that the first thing must
,
be an i ndefinite visit fro m Helen There w as a .

3 80 A WO MA N S RE A S ON ’
.
quite E ngl i sh i n her inton ation an d she was at the

,
same time perfectly honest and unaffected i n these

novel phases and as thoroughly good and kind
,
hearted as ever B ut her handsome bulk and her

.
airs of a l arge strange world made Helen feel

undersized and provincial ; i n spite of all she could
do and in spite of her accurate knowledge of j ust
,
what Marian R ay was and had always been her ,
frien d made her feel provincial She had been .
almost two years out o f society and for the last ,
six months her relations had bee n with inferior

people ; s he asked herself if she might not re al ly
have retrograded i n mind an d manners and she ,
gladly escaped from Marian to the others ; to the ex ,
uberant welcome ofthe younger girls ; to the pitying

tende rness of Mrs Butler ; to the quiet and cordial
.
S implicity of R ay — his quiet seemed to have been

,
intensified by absence But what went most to her

.
heart was Captain Butler s tremulous fondness an d

’
the painful sen se that the others were watching ,
w hether they would or n ot for the e ffect of his

,
broken health upon her He brigh tened at meeting

.
Helen ; they said afterward s that he h ad n ot seemed

for a long time so much like himself and they le ft
hi m to entertai n her while they m ade a S ho w of
busying them selves about other affairs It w as pro .
bably an indulgence they had agreed to grant his

impatience He kept her little worn hands in his
.
,
and looked at her forefinger roughed with the needle

, ,
and deeply tinted with the stuffs in which she worked ,
and i t seemed to be this sight that sugges te d his words

A WO M AN S RE A S O N’
. 3 81
I managed very badly for you m y dear ! If it ,
hadn t been for my hesitation when I first doubted

'
that rascal I co uld have made terms for you with

,
’
the creditors I don t wonder you would never accept
.
help from me It s very good ofyou to come to u s

’
now .
“
O h Captain Butler you break my hea rt ! Did
, ,
you think that was the reason ? I only wished to

help myself Indeed indeed that was all
. I , , .
w oul d n t have accep te d any provision from the

’
creditors .
You need neve r have known i t That could .
”
have been arranged said C aptain Butler , .
“
It s been a mercy the work— m y only mercy 7
’
,
”
“ ”
cried the girl 0h Captain Butler ! . She caught ,
her hands away and hid her face i n them and let the ,
black wave of her sorrow go over her once m ore .
W hen it was past she li fte d her dim eyes to those of

,
the old man Did you read about i t— all about it ?

.
”
’
Yes my d ear and many a night I ve lai n awake
, ,
”
and thought about it !
Did you ever think th at he might still be alive
that perhaps those men came away and left him and ,
he escaped somehow ? Don t tell me that you did ’
if you never did

The ol d man remained silent .
The n they must have killed him— to get that

m oney
7)
“
N o ; probably they told the truth I t might .
very well have happened as they said pleaded ,
Captain Butler .
3 82 A WO MAN S REA SON
’
.
Ah you kno w i t couldn t

,
l ” ’
A gain his hope l ess silence assented and Helen ,

“
sa i d with a long deep sigh
,
That is all
,
You ,
.
know how I must have felt There is n o use talking .
ofit . I only wanted to se e you and speak of it just

once because I knew you would know Thank you
, .
she said with a wan de ri ng pitifulness that forced a

,
’
groan from her O l d friend s lips .
“
For crushing your l ast h ope Helen ? ,
’
A h it s better not to have false hopes .
She stole her hands back i nto his and after a while ,
she began to tell h i m quietly of her life and what ,
she had done and expected to do ; and h e gave her
the comfort o f his fatherly praise in which there was ,
no surprise or foolis h admiration such as afll icte d ,

’
her in most people s knowle dge ofher efforts .
“ ”
I don t have to work very h ard she explai ned
’
, ,
“
i n answer to a question of his ; not harder than I
wish ; and I h ave got to working at last as other
people do who earn their living Without thinking at ,
’ ’
all that i t s I that am doing i t That s a comfo rt .
,
a great comfort A nd I know my trade and I m

.
,
’
s ure that I do good work Do you remember when .
I told you that I should b e a mil liner i f I were ever

le ft to take care ofmyself
”
I remember Helen , .
They were both S ilent ; then she said with a light ,
sigh I m only feeling a little fagged n ow

,
’
.
“ ”
You must stay with us Helen began Captain , ,
Butler .
“
I s hall b e glad enough to stay a while she ,
oMAN S RE A S O N
’
384 A w .
sion of de lic ate meals with the pretty chin tz ed and

muslined room in wh i ch she se em e d to drowse her
life away safe from the harms that had hunted her
,
s o long ; and she felt how easy it would be to accept
i ndefinitely the fond hospitality that claimed her .
She said that she must not ; but i n the meantime

she did She had the soft feline pre ference for
.
,
sunny exposures and sun g corners which i s to blame

for so much frailty of purpose or s o much purpose ,
less frailty in women ; and now she was further

weakened by i ll heal th She stayed on and on in
-
.
,
S pite of the feeling that they all regarded her as a

poor broken thing who coul d n o longer be the i deal
, ,
ofthe young g i rls or the equal friend ofMarian

, .
Mrs R ay was much preoccupied with her baby

.
,
with the house th at R ay had decided to build with ,
the friends abroad from Whom she heard and to

whom she wrote She carried w ith her an impres
.
sion Ofwealth an odour o f opulence which accorded

, ,
well with her affluent personality ; she accepted her

lo t of rich woman with a robust satisfaction which
would have been vulgar except for her i ncorruptible
good heartedness She never talked of money but
-
.
,
s he was a living expression of large expenditure ;
and i n discussing the plans of her n e w house with

Helen S he had an unconscio usness of cost as related
, ,
to questions of convenience or beauty which went ,
f urther to plunge Helen i nto hopeless poverty than

any boast of riches could have done Her manner .
was none the less effective for her assumption that

H elen was equally able to pay for such a house She .
’
was n ot planning altogether for her ow n com fo rt an d

splendour though these were duly provided for ; but
,
she was looking af te r the well being of every body in

her household and she was as willing to lavish upon
,
the ser vants quarters as her own

’
.
“ ”
I think i t s barbar i c she said to make t hose
’
, ,
poor creatures because they do ou r work pass their

, ,
days in holes i n the ground an d coops under the roof ,
and I m determined that they shal l be decently

’
housed w ith me at l east I m making the archite ct ’
work ou t this idea—it was something I talked over

.
,
-
with — she added with the effect of feeling it ,
”
absurd to shrink fro m saying i t Lord R ainford .
They both continue d quietly looking at the plan ,
but the word had been spoken and they no longe r ,

’
talked of the servants quarters i n Marian s house ’
.
Helen leaned b ack in her chair with her listless h ands ,
i n her l ap and Marian took up the work she had

,
l aid down before un folding the plan .
”
W hen did you s e e him last ? asked Helen .
”
O h he came to s ee us of
,
f at Liverpool returned ,
Mari an
W as he —well
.
“
Yes as well as he usually i s I believe he s
, .
’
’
never very strong though he s never in a bad way
, .
”
He s much better than he used to be
’
.
Helen w as S ilent Then she began as if in

voluntarily : Marian —and stopped
.
,
“
.
“
W ell
She w as forced to go on Did you know .
”
H e told N ed N ow Helen she added qu i ckl y
.
, , ,
2 B
’
I promi sed N ed n ot to open th i s subject w i t h

you
” ’
You haven t ret urned Helen with quiet sadness
, .
I opened i t I knew that we should have to speak

.
ofi t some time I feel that I was n ot to bl ame and

I have never felt sorry for anythin g but his —disap
.
,
”
pointment .
He never blamed you H e understood j u st how .
i t happene d and how h e had mistaken you

, He is .
”
the soul of delicate appreciation .
“ ”
Yes I know that
, .
A nd hi s only trouble was that he should have ,

”
forced you to say that you were engaged .
”
Yes .
’
A nd I don t believe that any of u s grieved more
”
sincerely for you than he did .
”
O h I believe it
, .
W ell sa i d Ma rian breaking h er n ee dle i n ex

, ,
“
pression of her r esolution I won t tal k with you ,
’
about Lord R ain ford Helen for I can only talk ,
w ith you i n on e way about him and I promised N ed ,

”
n ot to d o that 1
What way asked Helen .
You know
”
N ow cried Helen
, you must tell me all about ,
i t ! IfI didn t believe that I had suf

’
fered as much as
he I couldn t forgive m yse lf How did h e find out
’
abou t —about—R obert ?

.
,
She whispered the l ast

word .
“
W e told hi m
A nd he was sorry for me —he
’
388 A WO M A N S RE A S O N .
have b een
here or seen us run ning after titles
,
abroad can keep fro m laughing in our faces A nd I

,
’
don t wonder that Lord R ainford was cured of his
fancies i n A merica W hy he actually at on e time
.
, , ,
was a sort of repub l ican

“ “
A very curious sort said Helen He said
, .
”
that A mer i cans were all commoners .
Ma ri an paused “
D id h e s ay that ? W ell S he
.
,
”
added with heroic resolution I suppose we are ,
.
’ ”
I don t think s o said Helen “
O r at least i t
, .
”
wasn t delicate ofh im to s ay so
’
.
“ ’
I don t believe he meant anything by it He
gav e us to understand — or R ay at l east—that he
.
particularly adm i red you for your courage in earning

your ow n living and being n o more ashamed of your
,
”
work than if you were n oble .
“ ”
Y es said Helen thoughtfully
,
I suppose it ,
might be natural for hi m if he had those notions to , ,
idealise us h ere just as it would be for on e of u s to

,
”
i dealise them it would be his rom an ce .
“
Certainly said Marian with eager assent as if
, , ,
this mood ought to b e encouraged i n Helen that is “

,
”
j ust the way .
“ “
A nd perhaps Hel en went on
, ,
it would h ave ,
been bette r for m e i f I had been such a girl as he

supposed — trying to hel p myself because I respected
” ’
work and all that But I wasn t
, . .
“
O f course n ot .
’
I was merely doing i t because I couldn t bear to
’
be a b urden to any one ; and I ve n ever h ad an y
higher motive .
’
An d I m sure i t s h i gh enough ,
’ ’
said Mari an .
”
A nd cr azy eno ugh to suit any one she added , .
He would like it all the bette r when he found ou t

what i t really w as especially now that his own ideas
”
have changed a l ittle .
He was an aristocrat at heart all the t i me ,

“
returned Helen If I had been born to work for
my living like the poor girls whom I make bonnets
,
for
It would have been another thing quite W e re , .
’
’ ’
all inconsistent I don t deny it There s n o merit
. .
i n working for a l iving whatever disgrace there is ,

’
i n not doing it You don t find your Bridgets and
.
N orahs or your Sadies and Mamie s s o very superior

,
to human w eaknesses that you wish the rest of us to

form oursel ves on the pattern of working girls .
“ ”
0 no said Helen with humorous sadness
,
!
, .
They re poor silly things most of them and as

’
, ,
’
full ofprejudice and exclusiveness as any on e I ve .
never seen distinctions in society so awful as the

distinction between shop girl s and parlour girls - -
Their differences seem such a burlesque of ours that ,
sometimes I can hardly hel p laughing at the whole

thing I supposed once that al l work people were
.
-
on a level ; but really I had no i dea of inequality

”
till I came down to them I daresay she added .
, ,
“
Lord Rain ford s experience i n coming down to us
’
’
must have been something like it But i t didn t .
m ake i t any pleasan ter to have him suggest his sur

prise A nd I don t know that I need feel particularly
.
’
fl attered at his singling me ou t for prai se because I

39 0 A WO MAN S R EAS O N ’
.
choose to h el p mysel f r ather th an b e w h olly depen

dent —I ve always been partly so It isn t a thing
’
.
’
,
”
as you say that I deserve the least credit for
, .
”
I never said that about you protested Mar i an
and I do think it s a credit to you —or would be
, ,
’
if there were any n ecessity for it .
“
A ny necessity for it
“ ”
I w ill speak now c ri ed Mari an h ospitabl e or , ,
inhospitable and I don t se e h ow it has anything to ’
”
do with i t Helen understood per fectly that these
.
enigmatical sentences were the repo rt s o far as they ,
wen t of some discussion between Marian and her

,
husband and that she was now abou t to break some

,
promise she had made him ou t of hal fconviction -

.
Do you expect H elen H arkness to go back to that

'
, ,
horri d shanty and S pend the rest of your life i n

,
’
making servants bonnets ?
Yes —till I have learnt how to do b etter work .
\Vell then I think i t s a shame

’
, ,
Helen drew
“
h erself up but Marian did n ot quail
,
I think that .
you migh t have had some l ittle consideration f or u s

for all your friends if you had none for yourself , .
WVhy S hould i t have been any more disgraceful to

accept help from papa —from your father s old friend ’
,
who felt toward s you just as he does towar d s h is

ow n children —than to take up such work as that ?
’
If i t comes to that why shouldn t you be dependent,
”
upon u s as well as d ependent on them ?
,
“ ’
I m n ot dependen t on them said Helen and , ,
yo u h ave no right to s ay such a thing Marian , .
But she fel t hersel f physic ally unable to cope with

39 2 A WO MAN S RE A S ON ’
.
pursuing her apparent adva n tage W e v i s i ted him .
at on e of his places in the country an ol d house of

,
the fifteenth century that kings and queens had ,
slept i n and that had been in his family almost as

,
long as it had been built You never saw such a . .
place Helen ! There wasn t much of a park but

,
’
,
there were groups and avenues of beautiful ol d trees

all about and lawn s so fine and close that it seemed
, ,
as if they had been woven and laid down there j ust

for our visit ; i vy all over the front of the house ,
and such gardens with peaches and pears and roses

,
trained along their high walls —just like Tennyson s ’
poems and an exquisite keep in gabout everything that

I never could make you understand unless you had
been there But everything was so fit that you fel t
.
as i f that l ow E nglish sky was part of the place ,
and the arrangement ofthe clouds had been studied

’
for it There wasn t a j ar or a hitch i n anything
.
,
and Lord R ainford himself came in i n such a way that

you would have thought he was as much a guest as
”
ourselves .
“ ” ’
Yes assented Helen ; I suppose they ve brought
,
the art of all that to perfection

It isn t an art wit h them ; it s n ature —second
.
“ ’ ’
n ature This was only on e ofhis places — the smallest

ofthem —but there wasn t the least e f
.
fect ofowner
’
,
ship about him and it wasn t from him you may be ’

,
sure that we found ou t the good he was doing

,
N o I could imagine that He must find a great .
h appiness in it I m glad .
’
O h he didn t seem very happy N ot that he

’
.
,
’
made any parade of melancholy But you can tell .
w hether such a man is h a ppy or not without h i s ,
saying so or l ooking so even

, ,
.
Helen was S ilent and Marian made a bold push ,

.
You know what I mean Helen perfectly well , ,

.
He didn t speak to me about i t but he told N ed

’
,
everyth i ng and N e d told me ; and I don t believe

,
’
’ ”
he s forgotten you or ever will , .
”
He had better then said Helen with a momen
, , ,
“ ”
tary firmness He must . .
“
Didn t you tell hi m that i f you were n ot e n
’
gaged
O h did he say th at ? Then don t talk to me of
’
,
”
his delicacy Marian It was shameful to repeat it
, .
W hat nonsense Mightn t he say it if he were ’
ask i ng N ed whether h e thought you r eally would

” ’
have care d for him if you hadn t been ?
Did he ask that ?
’
I don t kno w But i f he had would it have
.
,
been anything s o ve ry stran ge N ot half so strange

as your saying i t if you didn t mean it W hy did ’
.
you say it Helen ,
You know well eno ugh Marian B ecause I felt , .
so rry for him ; because I had to say something .
D id N ed— did Mr R ay encourage him to think that

.
I meant
O f course he didn t He never ventured a word ’
.
about i t He S eems to think like al l the rest of u s

.
, ,
’
ex ce t me that you re a very peculiar kind of poree
p ,
~
lain with n on e of the flaws of common c l ay and I

, ,
'
can t pe rsuade him you re a girl like o ther girls ’

.
.
But if you come to the common S en se O f the matter

'
,
’
I don t see why Lord R ai nford shouldn t have sup ’
~
posed you meant what you said and that when it ,
was all over

“
Marian
’
W hy he shouldn t have b egun to h ave som e
’
h opes again I m S peaking for your good Helen
.
, ,
’
and I m going to speak plainly I don t see why .
’
’
you S houldn t marry him n ow ! I f you have n o pity
for yourself if you p refer to go on with the wretched
,
’ ’
life you ve planned I don t see why you S houldn t,
’
’
have a little compass i on for him You re S poil i ng .
”
his life as well as your ow n .
Helen h ad to struggle from unde r the c rushing

we i ght of this charge by an effort that resulted i n
’ ’
something l ike levity O h I don t know that it s .
,
spoiling his l i fe He seemed to care for me as an

.
element of soc i al and political r e fo rm and wanted ,
to m arry me because I i llustrated a theory Per .
haps if you told him I didn t really illustrate i t

,
’
,
he would be quite willing to accept the S itua

”
t i on !
She left Mar i an w h ere she was S itting and the ,
subj ect— for that day But the next week R ay went .
of f to town by a train earlier than usual on e m om

ing and Marian went restlessly about the house
, .
The moment she found h erself alone with Helen she ,
began abruptly : Helen I won t have you thinking

’
,
’
it s the same th i ng my talking to you the other day
,
about Lord R ainford as i t would be if R o b e rt ,

”
Fenton had l ived .
’
dented ! I h ardly kno w any other A meri can girl

’
who hasn t bee n married for her m oney i n E urope ;
they re al w ays married for their money even by
’
,
cheap little continent al counts and barons ; and for

an English lord to m arry a p oor A merican girl why , ,
i t s like an A merican man m arrying a woman of

’
rank and that n ever was heard of I want you to

,
’
l ook at it on all sides Helen an d that s the reason
_ ,
’
I m almost perj uring mysel f i n talking to you of i t
’
at all I did promise N ed s o solemnly but i f I didn t
.
’
S peak now I shouldn t have another chance before
,
She suddenly stopped herself and Helen who , ,
h ad been born e down by her tide of words lifted ,

”
her head again : Before what Marian 2 ,
”
“
Before he c omes ! c ri ed Marian hysterically .
’
He s coming h ere t o d ay
Helen rose “
Then I m u st go she said qu i etly
.
, .
It w ould be i ndelicate it would be i ndecent for , ,
m e t o be h ere I wonder Marian you could s e t

.
, ,
such a trap for me .
Marian forgave th e O ffens i ve charge to Helen s ’
”
excitement Trap she repeated
. DO you call i t
, .
a trap when I might h ave let him come without

,
saying a word to you ! I w an ted to do i t ! A nd I

should have had a p erfectly good excuse for we didn t ’
know ourselves that he was coming till this mo rning , .
He wrote us from N ew York and he starte d for ,

’
Boston l ast night I didn t even know he w as i n
.
the country — indeed I di dn t ! She added beginning ’ ”

,
to quail woman as she w as under the awfulness of

, ,
“ ’ ’
t h e r eproach i n Helen s eyes W e couldn t te l l .
’
A WO MAN S REA S O N . 39 7
him not to come ! H OW could we tell h im n ot to

“
come ! There wasn t even time ’
“ “
Yes said Helen brokenly
, I know I don t , .
’
”
blame you But you se e that I can t stay
.
’
.
“ “ ” ’
N o I don t retorted Mari an
,
I don t se e any
’
, ,
”
thing ofthe ki nd
It would be shameful —i t would be a trap for
.
He s a man and he ll never dream of such a

’
,
’
thing ; he s a g entleman and he w on t think so

’
,
’
”
“
But I S hall returned Helen definitively “
It , .
w i ll look as if I had been waiting for him here ;
as i f I wished to see him It leaves me n o freedom .
it binds me hand and foot If he spoke to me aga i n .

,
”
what could I say ? Don t you se e Marian ? ’
,
“ ’ ”
N o I don t said Marian
, But She denied with
,
.
he r lips only .
’
N o matter ; it s quite time I was back with
Margaret I will get ready and go up to Boston at
'
.
,
”
once .
‘
“
Helen ! And when he s crossed the ocean to ’
”
se e you 2
“ ’ ’
Ifhe
done that it s all the more reason why I
'
S ,
’
shouldn t see him He h ad n o right to come It . .
was very presumptuous i t was unfeeling .
You encouraged him to be l i eve that if you had

not been engaged to R obert Fenton you would have
accepted him W hat was he to think ! Perhaps he
.
felt that as a gentleman he was bound to come

, , .
“
Helen panted breathless I must go away .
,
was all She could s ay at last .

’
”
Oh, very well ! cri ed Marian Y ou see how .
“
”
awkward you make it for us .
“
I know I m very sorry But I can t help i t
.
’
.
’
.
H ow soon do you expec t him

“ ’
N ed went up to Boston to m eet h i m I don t .
”
know whic h train they ll be down on retu rned ’
Marian coldly .
“
Then there i sn t a moment to be l ost said ’
,
“
Helen hurrying to the door
,
W ill you let Jerry .
take me to the station 1 she asked formally .
”
O h cer tainly replied Marian with equal state
, , ,
.
A fe w minutes l ater Mrs B utler came to Hel en s

’
.
room her gentle eye s ful l of sympathe tic trouble

,
.
Marian i s feeling terribly Must you go d ear ? .

,
W hy yes Mrs Butler

’
,
Don t you see th at I
, . .
must ! r eturned Hele n w i thout desisting from her ,
packi ng while Mrs Butle r sank upon a chair n ear

, .
the trunk .
“
Yes ofcourse Mar i an see s it too i fyou are fully
resolved not to —to give him any hope
,
But she
though t—w e all though t—that perhaps
.
Helen ,
’
dear I don t wish to p ry in to your a f
,
fairs ; I have
n o righ t
O h Mrs Butler ! cried Helen dropp i ng an
“ ”
.
, ,
armful of clothes chaotically i nto her trunk in order ,
that S he might give the tears with which she was ,

’
bedewing them free course upon Mrs Butler s n eck
, .
,
“
you have all the r ight i n the world Say anything .
you please to me ; ask anything ! H ow should I

”
take i t wrong 1
’
“
There s nothing I w i sh to ask dear If you re
’
, .
4 00 A WO M AN S RE A S ON ’
.
when they ma rry out oftheir ow n country an d their ,
ow n kind ofthinking and living But this isn t the ’

.
same thing Helen — indeed it i sn t

,
H e likes you ’
.
because you re A merican and because you re po or ;

’ ’
,
and the last thing he thinks of i s his title N o dear .

, .
I f h e were some penniless young A merican he ,

’
couldn t be any better or si m pler Mr Butle r and I . .
”
both agreed ab out that .
”
Captain B utler I cried Hele n with the tragedy .
of E l tu B rute i n her tones and the eff

, ,
ect of pre ,
paring to fall with dignity .
Yes He says he never saw any young man

.
whom he liked b etter They formed quite a friend .
ship He was very sweet and filial wit h Mr Butler ;

. .
and w as al w ays making hi m talk about you

A throe of some kind passed thro ugh Helen and ,
’
the arm round Mrs Butler s neck tightened con vul
.
sive l y .
“
I never approved continued the elder lady of , ,
what people cal l marrying for a home but I thought

we all thought — that if when you saw him again , ,
yo u felt a little differently about everything it would ,
be such an easy way ou t ofall your difficulties W e .
approve — all of as —ofyour spirit Helen ; we qu i te ,

’
understand how you sh ouldn t Wish to be dependent ,
and we admire your courage and sel frespect and a ll -
that but we don t like to see you working s o hard

’
wear i ng your pretty young life away wasting your ,

'
best days i n toil and sorrow .
O h Mrs Butler ! the sorrow was sent I don t

’
“
,
.
,
know w hy ; but the work w as sent to save me If .

’
. 4 01
it were not for that I should have gone mad long

ago
“ ’
But couldn t anything else save you Helen
-
,
’ ’
That s W hat we want you to ask yourself Can t .
you let the sunlight come back to you

“
N 0 no cried Helen with hysterical sel fp i ty ;
, ,
-
I must dwell in the valley of the shadow ofdeath

’
all my life There is n o escape for me I m on e
. .
ofthose poor things that I used to wonder at— people
al w ays in black al w ays losing friends always carry

, ,
i ng gloom and discouragement to every one Y ou .
must let me go Let me go back to my work and .
my poverty I will never leave it again D on t ask

. .
’
’ ’
me Indeed indeed it can t b e ; it mustn t be For
.
, ,
’ ’
pity s sake don t speak ofi t any more
,
Mrs Butler rose and pressed the girl to her heart

.
“ ”
in a motherly embrace I won t dear she said .
’
, , ,
and went out O f the room .
Helen he ard her encounter some on e who had j ust

come up the stairs at the head ofwhich a b riefl y ,
m urmured colloquy took pl ace and she heard in ,
Jessie Butler s penetrating whi sper : I Vill she stay ?

’ ’
“fil l she accept him Is s he going to be Lady R ai n

ford O h I hope ,
“ ” ’
Hush Jessie ! came i n Mrs Butler s whisper
, .
,
and then there was a scurry offeet along the matting ,
and a confusion of suppressed gaiety as if the girls ,
were running offto talk it over among themselves .
Helen would not make allowance for the innocent

romance it was to them She saw it only as a family .
conspiracy that the Butlers ought all to have been

2 0
’
4 02 A WO M AN S REAS O N .
ashamed of and she b egan agai n to pack her t runk

,
with a degree of ha uteur wh i ch perh aps never be fore , ,
attended such a task Her head was in a whirl but

.
,
she worked fur i ously for a half hour when she foun d -
herself faint and was forced to lie down She would

, .
have liked to ring and ask for a biscuit and a glass

ofwine b ut she would n ot she could n ot consent to ,
add the sl i ghtest th i ng to that burden of O bligat i on

to wards the B utlers which she n ow foun d so od i ous ,
and on which they h ad s o Ob vi ously counted to ,
contro l h er act i on and f orce her w i ll .
She lay on the b ed growing more and more b itte r

,
agai nst them and quite h elpless to rise She heard

, .
a carriage grate up to the door on the gravel outside ,
and she flung a shawl over her head to shut ou t the

vo i ces of R ay an d Lo rd R ainford S he felt that i f
she heard them S he must shriek ; and S he cried to
herself that she was trapped trapped trapped , ,
Some on e knocked lig htly at he r door and Marian ,
entered i n ans w er to a r eckless i nvitation from the

pillo w It seemed an i ntolerabl e piece O f e ffrontery
.
,
and Helen wondered that M arian was able to put on

that air of cold i ndifference i n proposing to ask h er
to come down and me et Lord Rai n ford b efore h e
’
h ad b een i n the house ten minutes .
”
Helen said Mari an i n a stiff tone of o f
,
fence
, ,
Mrs W ilson i s here and wan t s you to come over

.
,
and take l unch with her I couldn t do less than.

’
prom i se to give you her message Shal l I say that .
you re ly i ng down with a headache

’
”
O h n ot at all Marian said Helen ; there s ’
, , ,
4 04 A WOM AN S REAS ON
’
.
she began to feel how ungracious she had been to

Marian w ho had certainly done everything she
,
could and had behaved very honourably and can

,
d idl y In the undercurrent of reverie wh ich ran

.
’
along e venl y with Mrs W ilson s chat she aton ed to
.
,
Marian with fond excuses and explanations and ,
presently S he found hersel f l ooking at the a ffair

from the B utlers p om t o f vie w ’
It did n ot then .
appear s o monstrous ; S he relented S O far as to

imagine hersel f for their sake and for Lord R ain
,
ford s consenting to what seemed so right and f

’
,
it
to th em She s aw hersel f i n pensively luxurious
.
,
fancy the lady of all that splendid circumstance

,
at which Marian had hinted moving vaguely on ,
through years of gentle b e n e fice n ce and use fulness ,
ch ivalrously attended i n he r i nalienabl e sadness by

’
her husband s pat i ent and forbearing devotion ;
giving him as she could from a heart n ever h is and
, ,
n ow broken respect and h onour that might war m

,
be fore her e arly d eath to s omething like tenderness .
l t was a pi cture that had O ften been painted i n

romance and it satisfied her present m ood as well as
,
i fits false drawing and impossible colour were true

to any human l i fe that had ever been or could be .
By the time she reached Mrs W ilson s cottage .

’
’
R ay drove up to the Butlers and met the surmise
e an d sisters —
,
of his wi f i n law with m onosyllabic -
evasion till h e coul d be alone with Marian I .
”
didn t bring him he explained then because the
’
, ,
more I thought ofit the less I liked our seeming to

trap Helen into meeting him .
“
said Marian That was h er own .
word
’
A WO M A N S REA S O N . 4 05
Then you told her ? I migh t h ave expected

that W ell it was quite right
.
,
W hat did she .
say ?
E verything unpleasant th at she very well could .
You would h ave thought that really we had taken

the m o s t u n fair advantage of her and had placed ,
”
h er where s he couldn t say no i f s he wished ’
, .
“
I could see how it might look that way to he r ,
’
said R ay and that s what I was afraid of It was
, .
’
extremely awkward every way W e couldn t very ,
.
’
well tell him not to come and we couldn t very well ,
te ll her to go ; the only thing I was clear of was

that we must tell her he was coming and l et her ,
”
decide upon her ow n course .
’
That s what I did and she dec i ded very quickl y
—She s gone
,
’
.
I t s tan ta mount to turn

’
R ay looked worr i ed .
’
ing her out of doors I suppose and yet I don t , ,
kno w what else we could have done W el l ! I .
might as well h ave brought him straight here and ,
saved myself all t he dipl omacy ofgetting O l d \Vilson

"
to take him home for the night .
Marian did n ot for the prese n t ask w hat was the

diplomacy which R ay had u sed Mr W ilson . .
s he shrieked Y ou got Mr l Vi l son to take hi m

. .
home for the night ?

” “
Yes returned he r husband quietly
,
W hat i s .
so v ery remarka ble about my getting l Vi lson to do

”
it ?
She did not an swer but burst fro m her door ,
w ith a cry for Mrs Butler that brought al l he r S isters

.
also . Mothe r Lord R ainford has gone home with

,
Mr W ilson
.
4 06 A WO MAN S RE A S ON’
.
Mrs Butler was dumb w i th sensation that S ilenced

.
all h er daughters but Jessie This young lady not .

,
hitherto n oted i n th e family for he r piety recog ,
n i se d a divine intention in the accident : I call

i t a special Providence she exclaimed ecstatic
ally .
W hat i s i t all about ? inquired R ay .
O h nothing ,
replied his wi fe “
N oth i ng at
, .
all ! Merely that Helen was in s u ch haste to get

away that S he accepted an invitation to lun ch with
Mrs IVil son and has j ust dri ven over there w ith
.
,
’
her I suppose she ll accuse us of having plotted
.
”
with the W ilsons to trap he r as s he calls it , .
“
Marian said Mrs Butler with grave reproach .
, .
’ ”
I d o n t care mother ! retorted Marian w ith
, ,
’
tears ofvexation i n he r eyes Can t you see that .
she ll accept hi m over there and that I shall be

’
cheated out ofhaving brought them together when ,

’
I had set my heart on i t so much ? I didn t sup
pose Helen Harkness could b e such a goose after all ,
’
s he s been through
” ’
My dear said her mother I don t wish you to
, ,
speak so ofHelen ; and as for he r accepting him

”
Children she broke off to the younger girls run
, ,
away and they obeye d as ifthey had really been

“ ”
children E d w ard
. s he resumed how in the , ,
world did you contrive w ith Lord Rainford

”
W ell Mrs B utler sai d Ray
,
with men there
.
, , ,
w as only on e way He had told m e so m uch you

.
,
know that I could take certai n things fo r granted

, ,
and I made a clean breast of it at last on the way ,
home I told him she was here an d that I thought

.
,
it wasn t quite fair brin ging hi m i nto t h e house

’
4 08 WO M AN S RE A S ON
’
.
’
Oh, i t ve ry easy to say that cried Marian
s , .
”
But for my pa rt I m sorry I did right
, ,
’
.
’
W ell your doing wrong in this case w ouldn t
,
h ave helpe d My doing righ t alone was enough to

.
”
p u t everything at sixes and sevens .
A S ER I E S of trivial chan ces brought Helen an d
Lord R ainford together alone before S he could get
,
away from the W ilsons after lunch

’
’
The first .
train for tow n did n ot start till three an d i t was ,
impossible that S h e shoul d S h ut h ersel f up i n her

roo m and avoid him until that time I n fact she .
found that there was nothing in h is mere presence

that forced her to any suc h defensive measure w h ile ,
there w as much in the fatal character of the situa

tio n as there i s in every inevitable contingency to
, ,
calm i fnot to console her ; an d the sen se ofsecurity

that came from meeting him by accident where S h e ,
was perfectly free to s ay no an d could not seem by

,
the remotest poss ible implication to have invite d an

advance from hi m disposed her in his favour They
, .
met certainly with open surprise but their surprise

,
7
was not apparently greater than that ofthe \\ i ls on s
i n bringing their guests t ogether ; and when Mr .
IVi l s on explained that he owed the pleasure of

’
Lord Rain ford s company for the nigh t to a domestic
e xigency at the Butlers Helen d ivined that R ay s
’
,
’
tho ughtfulness had given he r this chance of e scape ,
and wondered i f Lord R ain ford was pr i vy to it .
But he was listening with his head down to Mrs .

’
4 10 A WO MAN S RE A S ON .
’
W ilson s expl anation chance t hat had g i ve n of the
’
them the pl easure ofMiss Harkness s company ; she
wondered i f h e w ere wondering whether she knew
that he w as coming an d had fled on that account ;
but i t w as impossible to guess from anything h e s aid
or looked and She began to believe that Ray had
,
not told him she was w ith them W ith impartial .
curiosity she took n ote o fthe fact that his full grown -
beard had unquestionably improved his chin ; i t

appeared almost as i f someth ing had been d one for
his shoulders ; certainly his neck w as n ot so long ; or
else S he had become used to these traits and they ,
d id not a ffect he r so mu ch as formerly More than .
once duri ng the lunch she thought him h an d some ;

i t was when his face lighted up in saying so m ething
pleas ant about seeing A merica again H e pretended .
that even twenty four h ours of A m erican air had -
made another man of him Mr W ilson said that . .
h e did not know that th ere had been any Am erican

air for a Week and L ord R ain ford said that he did
,
no t mind th e heat ; he believed h e rather liked i t .
’
But you certainly haven t got it to complain of
”
here he added
,
.
’
“
O h n o it s always cool on the N orth Shore
, , ,
Mrs \Vilson explaine d

. W e shall n ot let you go .
home this afternoon Miss Harkness she turne d t o , ,

“
s ay to Helen you would certainly peris h i n
”
Cambridge .
“ ”
Port added Helen with i nflexible conscience ;
, ,
she never permitted herself or any on e else the

fl attering preten ce th at S he l ived in O l d C ambridge .
” “ ’
Y ou m ust she co n t i nued qu i etly
,
I ve made .
”
al l my preparat i ons This fact was final with a .
.
asked abruptly and striving to catch the eyes she

,
averted .
How sh oul d I she began but he spared her ,
the s i n ofeven an ins i nuated ignorance .
“ ”
I came back for you he said with a straight ,
forward sincerity that shamed her out ofall evasion .
“
Then I am sorry for that S he replied frankly , ,
for you had better have forgotten me .
’
That wasn t possible I couldn t have forgotten .
’
you when I kne w you were not fre e how could I

-
forget you n ow ? For the last year my l i fe has been

a count of days hours minutes I f I have come
, , .
too soon tell me and I will go away till you let m e

, ,
come again I can wait .
He spoke with the strength bu t not the vehemence

of his passion and s he stayed her fluttered nerves
,
against his quiet I f it were to be reasonably talked

.
over and dismissed like any other i mpossibility i t

, ,
would be very simple ; s he liked him for m aking

it so easy ; she felt humbly grateful to him ; she
imagined that she could reconcile hi m to his fate .
You must forgive me he added i f what I say

“
,
”
,
”
i s painful I wil l spend my li fe i n atoning for it
. .
There is nothing to forgive on my part I f you .
can h ave patience w i t h me .
Patience
O h I don t mean what you think
’
,
’ ’
I hope I haven t seemed impatient I couldn t .
excuse mysel f i f I h ad N o on e could have re .
s p ec te d revered your bereavement more than I

,
and
i f I thought that I had sinne d against it i n coming
now
“
NO no -
A W OM AN S REA SO N ’
. 4 13
It seemed to me that I had a kind of warrant

— pe rm ission— i n something you said— something ,
nothing that took away all hope and then became

my hope
” “
O h she trembled
,
what did I say ? ,
“
N othing he said i f you remember n othing
, , .
”
I abide by wha t you s ay now .
She was thrilled with an aesthetic delight in his

forbearance and with a generous longing to recogn ise
,
“
it
. I kno w what you mean and I blame mysel f ,
more than any words can s ay for letting you s up

pose It was my culpable weakness I only
meant to save you— to sp are you al l I could A
dismay came into hi s face that she could not endure
O h don t l ook s o ! Did you —did you
’
to see .
,
really come back on account ofthat ?

“
I m i s understood you —I see N ot perh aps at .
fi rst but afterwards I came back because I thought .
you told m e that i f you had been free you might

”
have answered me d ifl eren tly then
'
“ ’
Yes that s what the words said but n ot what
,
they mean t! She silently grieved for him walking ,
a l ittle apart and n ot dari n g to l ift her eyes to his

,
face H e would not speak and S he had perforce to

’
.
,
”
go on . l Vli y did you ever care for me ? she
implored at last rushing desperately at the question

, ,
as if there might be escape on that S ide .
“ ”
W hy 2 he echoed
Surely the first time we met—what was there
.
to make you e ven endure me

’
E ndure He seemed to reflect I don t .
th ink you were to bl ame But it never was a ques .
Y ou — you were my fancy

’
t ion of that . I ca n t .
.
tell you better than that A nd you have always .
been S O It isn t for what you did it isn t for what

.
’ ’
you said .
It seemed hopeless They walked on and they .

,
only ceased from walk i ng because they had reached

the brink o f th e rocks beyon d which l ay the s e a .
She stood there looking on its glassy levels w hich ,
sh ivered against th e rocks at her feet i n impulses

that were l ike her own feeble and broken purposes .
In a certain way li fe w as past with her ; there could

be n o m ore ofWhat had been n o longer the romantic ,
tenderness the heroic vision O f l ove ; but there

,
could be h onour faith affection The sense o f this

, , .
passed vaguely through her heart and exhaled at ,
her lips i n a long hopeless sigh , .
’
A t the light sound he spok e again But I didn t .
come back to make good any claim upon you I .
cam e to se e you again becau se I m ust and becaus e ,
it seemed as i f I had the privilege o f speaking once

’ ”
more to you But perhaps I haven t
. .
“ ”
O h certainly you have that 1 s he weakly
, ,
assented .
“ ’
I don t urge you to anything I only tel l you .
again that I lo ve you an d that I bel ieve I always ,

’
shall But I don t ask your answer now or at any
.
given time I can wait your will and I can abide

.
,
”
by it then whatever your ans w er is
,
.
A heavy weight was on he r ton gu e which hin ,

”
dered her from making her answer NO A ship .
lagging by in the offing as i f i t panted with full

sails for every breath o f the light breeze the whole ,
S pectacle o f the se a intimated a reproach poignan t

, ,
as fl eeting an d in tangib l e She felt h ers el f drifti ng .

4 16 A WO M A N S REA S O N ’
.
Lo rd R ainford remaine d so l ittl e moved by this

a ssumption o f guilt that S he ad ded A h I s ee you , ,
’ ”
won t belie ve me I
”
NO he said
,
I understood so m ething oftha t
.
fro m R ay an d if I hoped onl y to be your friend

i f I kne w I was never to se e you again —I should
stil l s ay th at you were wrong i n blaming yours elf
now ; that you were right then in wishing to make
sure ofyoursel f before you married him It would .
have been unjust to hi m to have done less .
“ ”
O h d oes it seem s o to you ? s he i mplore d
, .
”
That was the way i t see med to m e then .
“ ’
A nd it ought always to seem s o I f you ve .
m ade it my privilege to speak to you ofthis matte r

“
O h yes ye s !
, ,
Then I say that I th i nk what you d id i n that

matte r ought to be your great e st consolation n ow .
It may be one of those eccentricities which people

’
h ave found in my way of thinking but I can t ,
”
feel less reverently towards marriage than that .
He had never seemed so n oble s o lovable even , ,
as at that moment Her hea rt turned toward hi m

.
i n a fervent acceptance of the co m fort the support ,
h e offered her ; i t than ked him and rej oiced i n

h im ; but it was h eavy again with its former
’
d ismay when he sai d “
I don t urge you to any
,
decision R emember I am always yours whethe r

.
,
”
you refuse m e or n ot .
She pe rcei ve d then th at i t w as n ot really a ques

tio n of her and R obert but of her and Lord Ra in ,
ford and that the dec ision to which he d id not

,
urge her must rest finally with her I f she could

.
.
have been taken from hersel f with out he r ow n

A WO M A N S R EA S ON ’
. 4 17
consent passively negatively it would have been

, , ,
another affair .
She gathered hersel f together as best she could .
’
I am acting very weakly very wrongly I ve ,
.
no excuse but that this is all a surprise to me I .
’ ’
d idn t know you w ere i n this country I didn t .
dream o f ever meeting you agai n till three hours

ago when Mrs R ay told me you were coming
, . .
Then I r an away from her to avoid meeting you .
Yes I had better be frank ! It seemed horribl e to

,
m e that I should meet you in he r h ouse ; you coul d

’
never have believed that I hadn t wished to meet you .
“ ’
That s w hat I should be glad to bel ieve i f I ,
could But I saw— I agree d w ith R ay— that i t

.
might n ot be leaving you quite free in every way ;

and so I was glad to accept his s uggestion that I
shoul d com e here first till someth ing could be
arrange d —till you could be told .
”
“ ”
That was like Mr R ay interru pted Helen .
,
.
’
I see how i t has all h appened ; and O h I m so ,
’
so rry i t s happened
The young m an turned pale But he answered .
“ ’
courageously I m n ot I had to know whether
, .
there was any hope for me I h ad to know it from

”
you.
Yes she assented moved by his courage

, , .
A nd I should not h ave gone a way without at

least making sure that there i s n one and that is all ,
”
I ask you n ow .
“
But i f I can t tell you ? I must wait — I must
’
”
think You must give m e time
. .
“ ”
Did I seem to be i mpatient ? he asked with
exquisite deference and protest .
’
No It
must have been my ow n impat i ence
I don t kno w what —and you mustn t try to se e
.
’ ’
me aga i n — unless A deep blush dyed her face .
She had put some paces betwee n them with a sort ,
of nervous dread that he m ight ofl e r his h and in

’
“ ”
parting She n ow said abruptly Good bye and
.
,
-
turned and ran up toward the house leaving him on ,
the rocks by the sea .
Mrs W ilson met he r hal f way across the l awn

.
-
”
I was coming to j oin you she bega n ,
.
“ ” “
Lord R ain ford is there said Helen Mrs, . .
W ilson I find that I must see Mrs R ay again

,
be fore I go to to w n C ould you l et the m drive

.
”
me across an d then to the stat i o n ?
,
W hy certainly,
sa i d Mrs Wil so n in the
, .
nat i onal terms Ofacqu i escence .

’
in the t rail ing v i nes th at overran the coral bl oc ks ,
wi th n a rrow space s of sea b etwee n which Fen to n ,
l eap ed i n hi s r ound of the is land to fin d him s e lf

, ,
a ai n an d again on the whi te so il of t he groves

g
,
th r o ugh wh i ch the palm struck its roots and anc ho r ed ,
i t se l f fas t to the ree f A t the hi ghest po int the l an d

.
rose fifte e n fe et abo ve the se a ; at the wi des t p lac e

i t m eas ure d a h un d re d yards ; an d if h e had f e tc hed
a c om pas s of the wh ole h e would have w al ke d l ess
,
than t w o m il es They s h ould n ot s tarve th e palms

.
w oul d yi e ld t hem abun da nt fru it th rough the n u

vary in g year ; the se a he kn e w w as ful l offis h As
, , .
he e me rge d f ro m the grove at the po in t at whi ch he

had s tarte d G iffen call e d out to h im
’
,
What s that ,
on the tree ri gh t by your sh oulder Fen ton l ook e d

ro und an d th e b right bl oss o m n ear him tu rn e d i n to
,
a b ird . He put out his han d ; i t di d n ot move ; and

when he l ifte d i t fr om i ts pe rch it r es te d fearles sly ,
on hi s palm He flun g i t f rom him w i th a s i ck eni n g

.
s ensa ti on an d Gif
,
fen came r unn i ng towa rds hi m .
H all o ! what s the ma tte r ? d em anded Fen ton

’ ”
.
I th ou gh t m ebbe i t w as po ison
”
The re s n othi ng to ki ll us here Fento n repl i ed
’
, .
”
Com e we must b egi n to live
,
.
The sailors had l eft be h in d the remnant of the

b ag of fl o u r an d the pea s an d bean s G if
,
fen had .
c a rri ed them up to th e h ut an d on e day Fen ton ,
foun d tha t he had made a g arden an d plante d it with

them Th ey came up quickly an d then as if the s o il
'
.
, ,
l ac k e d vital i ty they w ith ered away all but a v in e

, ,
s p rung from a s ee d tha t Gif fen foun d am on g the peas .

A w oma n s
’
REAS ON . 42 1
He te nderly che ri shed this vin e wh ich he h oped,
would prove a musk melon or at l east a cucumber ;

-
“ ”
in due time i t turned out a gourd My luck he
said and gathered hi s gourd s for drinking—
.
,
,
. c ups .
In the maze which had deepened u pon Fenton ,
the whol e situation had an unreality as of some ,
thin g read long ago an d h al f forgotten and n ow

,
-
slowly recal led point by point ; an d th ere were

,
momen ts of the i llusion in w hich it w as n ot he wh o

w as imp risone d there on th at unkn own i sland but
,
the hero o f adventure s whom h e had envie d an d

adm ire d i n boyhood or known in som e romance of
,
la te r l ife The gun and the cartridges wh ich they

.
treasured so carefully after they found traces of

a forme r sava e habitation ; the tools which they
g
h ad brought from the wreck an d whi ch they u se d

,
i n shapi n g the timbers f or their hut ; t he palm
leaves they plucked for i ts thatch ; the nu ts they

gath ere d for their food and drink ; the fis hin g
lines they twisted from the fibre ofthe cocoa bark ; -
the hoo ks they carved from the bone s of th e b irds

they ate and the traps they se t for game when the
,
w ild things once so tame began to gro w w ar y their

mise rable economies of clothin g ; the rude arts by
which they fas hioned plates from shells and cooki ng ,
u tens ils fro m the clay they foun d in sin king the ir
well the vats they made to evaporate th e s ea— wate r
for i ts sal t : all these thi ngs seemed the well worn -
prope rties and stoc k expe rien ces of the cas taways of
fiction ; he h im self the fi gment of some roman cer s ’
b rai n with which the author w as toying for the

,
’
p urposes ofhis pl ot to be duly rescued an d restored

,
to the world when i t should serve the exigency of

the tale O nce when this noti on was whimsically
.
repeating i tself to Fenton in the silence and solitude ,
i t brought a smile to h is haggard face and when ,
Giffen asked him what the matter was he told him ,

.
” “ ”
N o said Gi f
,
fen it ain t much like us
,
’
.
That two modern men should be lost ou t of a

worl d s o knit together with telegraphs and railroads
and steamships that it seemed as if a whisper at any
,
point must be audibl e at all others was too grotesque ,
a fact too improbable for acce ptance It was not

,
.
l ike them an d it was n ot like any one he could

,
think of and when he tried to imagine some con

,
temporary and acquaintance i n his case it became ,
even more i mpossible than when he supposed it of

himself .
There were i ronical moods i n which b e amused

himself with the carefully ascertained science o f the
story tell ers as h e recalled i t and i n which h e had a
-
fan tastic interest i n n oting how near and yet how far
from th e trut h their study came But there were .
other times when the dreary sense of the hackneyed

character of th e situation overpowered him and he ,
d ropped his work and lay with his face in the sand ,
helpless and hopeless for h ours sick of the re ,
petition of such stale inventions There was no .
greater real ity in it all when he recalled the narra

,
tives of men actually cast away on desert islands ,
though there were moments when the sum O f what

they h ad s uf fered seemed to accumulate i tself upon
.
work of its roots were from shores w here there were

hills and rivers from peopl ed shores that they might
,
reach if they had any craft in which they could

venture to se a .
Giffen walked up an d down beside the l og and ,
examined it critically stooping aside and glancing at , ,
i t as if to make sure Ofits soundness i n every part .
”
W ell ? demanded Fenton .
Chop it along the top and shape it up at th e ends , ,
and dig it out ; and maybe we can fix some sort O f

outrigger to it like they u se on their can oe s around
,
’ ’
here I ve seen pictures of em
. .
He made the sugge stion with mel an choly diffidence

but Fenton caught at it eagerly T he wood was very .
hard an d it co st the m weeks Of labour with the

, ,
tool s they had be fore they were ready to launch their

,
cano e ! pon the lagoon But even i n those placid .
w aters i t proved hopelessly unseaworthy

,
Some .
fatal defect of construction which their skill could ,
n ot remedy disabled it and it capsized with Giffen

, , ,
Who was caught in the outrigger and with difficulty ,
saved from drowning by Fenton .
”
XVe ll sir he said as he walked dripping to the ir
, ,
hut we ve got a lot of good firewood in that thing

,
.
I believe if you hadn t had me around you could have

’
made it go .
But the idea ofescape had taken full possess i on Of

“
Fenton s mi n d and the failur e of the can oe turned it

’
,
all upon another scheme which had beg un to haunt

i t They had kept a fire burning night and day ever
.
since the y had landed on the island to attract the ,

’
. 4 25
notice of any ship that came i n sight ; but

F enton determined to build a tower on the highest
point and light a beacon on it so that n o lookout on
, ,
those seas coul d fail of the smoke by day or the

flame by night .
“
A ll right assented Giffen
,
it will kind of ,
occupy our minds any way .
”
Don t s ay that ! cried Fento n with a pang
’
,
.
’ ”
W ell I won t returned Giffen p en i te n tl y
, , .
The tower was to be n ot only a beacon for friendly

sail but a refuge from wan dering savages wh o
,
caught sight O f it They must make i t the centre

.
of defences to which they could resort if they were

_
attacked and which they could hold against any

,
s uch force as would probably land on their atoll .
Fenton drew a plan and by nightfall they had dug ,
the foundation s O f their fortress They burn t som e .
of the coral blocks wh ich they brought from the ,
reef for lime and laid their wal ls strongly in

, ,
mortar .
Th e days passed and as they toiled together Fen

, ,
ton had at last the heart to talk to hi s fellow castaway -
ofthe world to which they were preparing to re turn .
He found that to speak ofhis affairs in t hat world made

it n ot only credible again but b rought i t very near , .
He told Giffen that he was going to be married as

soon as he go t back to Boston and that he was going ,
to leave the navy and try t o ge t into some sort of

,
business ashore H e described Helen to his comrade

.
,
and what she w e re when he saw he r last an d then

he added that she must b e in bl ack n ow for she
,
4 26 A WO MAN S RE AS ON ’
.
had lost her father who died very suddenly a fe w ,
d ays after he sailed .
I behaved badly he added wit h the feeling , ,
that al w ays struggled for utterance when he thought

of this and which it was a relief to speak ou t n ow
, .
“
W e had a m isunderstanding and I came Of f with ,
”
ou t saying good bye to him -
That was pretty rough said Giffen “

But you , .
can make i t al l right when y ou get back

O h it s all r i ght n ow —with her rej oined Fenton
.
“ ’
, ,
quickly .
“
A nd with him too I reckon suggested his , ,
comrade .
Yes it must be sighed Fenton If the situation

, , .
was in anywise incomprehensible to Giffen he did n ot ,
try to explore i t He remained deferentially content

.
with what Fenton had volun teered and he was ,
sympathetically patient when Fenton tried to make

him understand where Mr Harkness s house was by .
’
a plan of the Common which h e drew on a smooth ,
surface o f the plastered wall with Park Street running ,
u p one side and Beacon Street along the other an d

, .
,
Beacon S teps asc e nding from it into the quiet Place ,
where the house stood He made a plot O f the house .

,
u p stairs and down with the different roo m s marked

.
-
,
’
O ff Helen s room at the front Mr Harkness s
’
, .
room the room that he used to have when he

came home from school ; the parlours an d the ,
l ibrary . He lingered fondly on the details ; and .
then he mapped the whole town for Giffen ao , .
c u rate l y placing the principal street s and sq uare s an d

A W OMAN S RE A S O N
’
428 .
tried all sorts of things with equal disa s te r : h e had

farmed he had kept store he had run a sawm ill
, , ,
he had been a book agent and agent for m any paten t

-
rights In any other country h e would h ave remained

.
quietly i n some condition of humble d ependence ;

but the unrest O f the new world had in fe cted him ;
he had spent hi s l ife in vain experiments and his ,
last venture had been the most ruinous of all H e .
had sold everything to get the mean s of going to ‘
Chin a and when the common calamity th at could

, ,
scarcely be said to have blas ted any hope s of his

‘
overtook him h e was comin ghome little better than

,
a beggar .
E ven in that solitude he m ade F enton hi s idea ] ,
with the necessity that i s in such n ature s to form

themselves upon some other an d appreciated his ,
confidence and frien d ship as grate fully as if the y

had been o f fered in th e midst ofmen where he must
’
have been chosen ou t O f a multitude for Fenton s
ki ndn ess O n his part Fenton learned to admire
.
,
the fineness Ofs pirit which survived all circumstance

in th is poor fellow ; an d when his hopes were highest ,
he formed plans of doing something for Giffen in

the world .
W hen they had finished their tower and removed ,
into it he bade him make on e m ore errand to the

,
b u t they had abandoned an d get fi re to ligh t the

,
beacon .
“
Giffen refused N 0 Si r better n ot have an y of
.
,
my luck about it .
But he was off early i n the day that follo w ed to

, ,
. 4 29
cut wood for their beacon ; and i t was he who dis

covered th at they could make the densest smoke by
day i n drying the fuel for the flame by night .
’
Don t you think we ought to do something with
"
that cano e again 1 he asked on e day .
“
N 0 n ot yet
,
an swered Fenton
, There 11 .
’
’
be time enough for that i f the beacon doesn t suc
ce e d . But it will succeed He formlessl y felt the .
need ofeconomising all the materials of hope within

him I f he turned s o soon from the beacon to some
.
other device for e scape he knew that he must lose

,
his faith in it and he could n ot bear the thought of

,
this loss He w as passion ately devoting h imself to

.
the belie f that it must bring a ship to their rescue .
He divided the day and night into regular watches ,
and whenever he came to relieve Gi f fe n he questioned ,
h i m closely as to every appearance of the s ea ; when

he lay down to sleep he hastened to take upon him
self the burden Of disappointment with which h e
“
must wake by saying to himself I know that he
, ,
will n ot se e anything He contrived to postpone

.
the an guish of his monotonou s failure to conjure

any sail out of th e empty air by saying as e ach ,
week began that n ow they must not expect to s ee

,
anything for at least three days or five days or , ,
ten days to come He invented reason s for these re

.
e ate d procrastinations but he was angry with Giffen

p ,
for acq ui e s cm g i n them h e tried to drive him into

some question of them by maki ng them fantastic , ,
and h e was childishly happy when Giffen disputed

them Then h e urged other and better reasons : if
.
4 30 A WO M A N S REA S ON
’
.
it were fine he said that nothing but stress O f

,
weath er would bring th em a ship and that they ,
could only hOp e for some vessel bl own out of her

course like the Meteor ; when it was stormy he
, ,
argued th at any vessel sighting their beacon would

keep away from it till the storm was past but would ,
be sure to come back then and see what their fire ,
meant .
“
Yes said Giffen but i f we are going to keep
, ,
that fire up at the rate we h ave for the last three

months we must begin to cut our cocoa pal ms
,
.
“ ’ ”
It isn t three months 1 cried Fenton .
Giffen proved the fact by the reckoning he had

kept on a block of coral in the tower : the tal e of
little straight marks one for e ach day was irrefutable
, , .
”
W hy did yo u keep that count ? cried Fenton
“
desperately Let the time go I say and the
.
, ,
quicker it goes and the sooner we are both dead the

, ,
’
better Put ou t the fire it s n o use .
He le ft Giffen in the tower and wandered away , ,
as far a w ay as the narrow bounds of his prison

would permit He stopped at a remote poin t O f the
.
island which he had n ot visited since the first day

,
when he had hastened to explore the atoll The .
hoarse roaring of the surf that beat i ncessantly upon ,
the reef filled the air ; the se a was purple all round
,
the horizon and the sky blue above i t flights oftern

,
and petrel wheeled and shrieked overhead : the sun

shone tempered by the delicate gale and all things
, ,
were a s they had been half a year ago as they must ,
b e hal fa year hence and for ever In a freak of the

, .
4 32 A W OM A N S REA S ON’
.
H ow the boat had reached their atoll and when , ,
remained the secret of th e power that had given i t

b ack to them It was enough for them that the little
.
craft was not beyond repair ; i t w as th oro ughly water

logged and it must be some time before they could
,
begin work upon it ; but they spen t this time in '
preparing material and gath ering provision for their

,
voyage They stocked it with nuts and dried and

.
,
salted fish sufficient to l ast them for six weeks ; they

filled G i ffe n s crop O f gourds with water
’ “
More of
a tank than cucumbers or musk melons would h ave -
been after all ; and better th an cocoa nuts h e

,
-
quietly remarked They were of one mind wha t

.
,
ever happened n ever to return to their atoll ; they

,
had no other definite purpose ; but they talked n ow

as i f their escape were certain .
“ ” ’
It stands to reason said Giffen th at i t s meant
, ,
’
for us to get back or else this boat wouldn t have
been sent for us ; and he bega n to plan a life as
re m O
“
te from th e se a as he could make it W hen .
’
I put my foot on shore I ain t going to stop walking,
till I get where salt water is w orth six dollars a

quart ; yes sir I m going to start with an oar on
, ,
’
my shoulder ; and when some fellow asks me what

’ ”
that thing is I m going to rest and n ot before !
, ,
They built a fire on the tower that would last all day
and night and then they se t sail out Of the lagoon
, ,
and through the breakers beyond the reef The .
breeze was very light but the sky was clear with, ,
the promise O f indefinite good weather ; and before

nightfal l they saw the pl umes of their palms form
A WO M AN S REAS O N ’
. 433
themse l ve s into the tufts into which they had grown

from the point s they had first discovered on the
-
horizon ; they became points again and the night ,
so ftly blotted them from the verge O f the ocean .
They had neither compass nor sextant ; under

strange stars and alien constellation s they were
wandering as absolutely at the will of the w inds and
waves as an y savages of th ose seas For a while .
they s aw the l ight of their beacon d uller and paler

on the waters where their island had been This .
,
too died away and the night fell roun d them on the
, ,
illimitable sea .
Fenton stood the first watch and when he gave ,
the hel m to Giffen h e simply bade him keep the

,
boat b efore the wind I n the morning when he .

,
took it he asked if the w i nd had shifted or freshene d

, ,
and still kept th e boat before it Toward sunset they .
sighted a series of points on the horizon w hich , ,
as they approached expanded into the plumage of

,
’
palms ; the long W hite beach O f an atol l gre w fro m

the water and they heard faintly the thunder ofthe
,
surf along the ree f It looked larger than their .
ow n island and they scanne d it anxiously for some

,
sign of human life But there were no huts under

.
the palms and no smoke rose above their fronds

, .
The breeze carri ed their boat toward the shore ,
and Fenton decided to pass the n ight on the atoll .
If it were as it looked larger than the atoll they

, ,
had abandoned it must be kno w n to navigation and

, ,
sooner or later i t migh t be visited by ships for water ;

or the béche— de mer which abounds in the larger
-
2 E
4 34 A WO M AN S REA S ON’
.
reefs m i gh t bring A merican traders for a fre i ght

,
of the fish fo r C hina They might find traces of .
E uropean soj ourn on the i sland and perhaps some ,
hin t by which they could profi t when they set sai l

again .
In th e failing light they stove their boat on the ,
reef but the breaker that drove them upon it carried

,
the m beyond and once in the smooth lagoon they

, ,
m anaged to r e ach the shore before the boat fille d .
They pulled her up on th e sand and climbed to the ,
top of the low pl ateau on which the palms grew ;

but i t was n ow so dark that they could se e n othing ,
and they waited for th e morning to S how th em the

familiar paths and tree s o f their own atoll and their ,
tower gleaming white through the foliage i n the dis

tance They walke d slowly towards it in silence
.
,
and when Giffen reach ed it he busied himself in ,
searching the ashes o f the beacon for some spark of

fire He soon had a blaze ; he brought water from
.
the well and boiled the eggs of the sea birds which
,
-
he gathered fro m their n ests in the sedge H e broke .
some young c ocoa n uts and p oured the milk into-
the shells they had m ad e for drinking— cups and then ,
h e approached Fenton where he s at motionless and

vacant—
,
e yed and begged him to eat humbly as i f he

, , ,
expected some outbreak from him .
“
“
N o said Fenton quite gently
,
But you eat . .
”
I m not hungry
’
.
”
I reckon said Giffen pite ously the wind must
, ,
h ave changed in the night without my know i ng it ,

”
an d bro ught u s right back .
4 36 A WO M AN S REA S ON’
.
flower and fruit were there at all t i mes and spr i ng , ,
summer autumn and winte r with their distinct

, , ,
variety were ideas as alien as hills and valleys an d

, , ,
stream s in this little land rai sed for the most part
, ,
s carce l a ma n s height above the sea where there could

’
y ,
never even be the names O f these things i n any native

tongue O nce or t w ice the atoll felt the tremor of
.
an earthquake th at perhaps shook continental shores

, ,
or perhaps only sent its vibrations along the ocean
floor and lifted or let fall beneath the waves some

, , ,
tiny poi n t of land like their ow n and on ce there had

fallen a shower of ashes from the clear sky wh i ch ,
must have been carried by a wind current from some -
far of
-
f volcano This with the log that had drifted

.
,
to their reef was the i r sol e message from beyond the

,
w i lderness that weltered around them from horizon

to ho ri zon and knew no change but from cal m to
,
storm and then to cal m again The weather was

, .
n early always fair with light winds or none ; and

,
O ften they saw an approaching cloud divide b e

fore i t reached their atoll and pass on either hand ,
leav i ng it serenely safe between the two paths of

the tempest A t last how long after their return
.
,
Fenton could n ot tell in his indi f ference to the ,
passage o f the weeks and days — a chan ge came over ,
the sky di f ferent fro m any that had portended other

storms and before night a hurricane broke from i t
,
that heaped the sea around their isl and and drove it ,
across the l agoon and high over the plateau For .
tw o days and nights it beat against the walls oftheir

to w er ; then the waters went down and the ravaged ,
’
atoll rose from the se a again But wh en Fenton .
cl ambered to the top ofthe tower and looked out he , ,
s aw that i t could n o longer be a re fuge to them .
The trees of the cocoa grove s were blown down and

flun g hither and thither their tops were twisted Of f
and tossed into th e lagoon their trunks lay tangled
and intertwisted as i f they had been straws in the
,
frolic of a whirlwin d The smooth beach of the .
lagoon was strewn w ith fragments ofcoral torn from ,
the reef and tossed upon it ; the grassy level w here

the sea birds n ested was scattered with their dead
-
bodies caught amo n g the coarse herbage and beate n

,
into the white sand .
He left Giffen cowering w i th i n and ran dow n ,
from the tower to look for the boat He found it .
lodged i n a heap of cocoa fronds and wedged fast ,
among some blocks of coral ; and h e hurried back

with his good news He met Giffen at the door . .
“ ” “
A ll right h e said to the anxious face
,
The boat .
’
is safe and we must get her afloat You s ee w e can t
, .
”
stay here .
”
“
No
’
,
said Giffen we can t stay He looked
,
.
drearily ou t over the wreck of their fairy isle and ,
then with a sigh he turn ed into the tower again ,
and crouched down in the corner where Fenton had

left him .
VVhat s the matter ?

’
Are you sick Giffen ? ,
demanded Fenton .
Giffen did not answer but rose with a stupid ai r

“
, ,
and came out into the sun He shivered but .

,
gathered himself together an d in a dull mech anical ,

4 38 A WO M A N S REA S O N’
.
way se t about his usual work of getting b reak fast .
He ate little but when Fenton had finished he went

, ,
with him and helped him to cut the boat free It

, .
w as hard getting it ou t of the mass of rocks and
boughs and it was noon be fore they had dragged

,
her back from the point where the sea had carried he r
to a free space where they could begin to repair her .
A t the end of a week they had her afloat in the

lagoon once more and provisioned from the stores
,
accumulated in the tower .
The morning when they were to se t sail Gi f fen ,

’ ”
could not r i se from his bed of grass I can t go .
,
h e sai d I m S ick ’
.
Fenton had seen that he was ailing with a fear

from wh i ch he revolted in a frenzy ofimpatient e x e r
tion I f they were but once at sea again he had
.
,
crazily reasoned with himsel f then they could not ,
help the mselves and sick or well they must make

, , ,
the best ofi t This illusion failed him n ow and h e

.
,
abandoned h i msel f to a cynical scorn of all that had

hi therto supported and consoled him E very act o f .
sel f—
s acri fice every generous impulse seemed to hi m
, ,
the part of a fool or a m adman Till n ow he had .
thought that he had someho w endured and dare d all

’
things for Helen s sake that anything l ess than he,
had done would have been unworthy of her ; but

now the devil that was u ppermost i n hi m mocked
him with the suggestion that the best he could ever
have don e for her was to l ive for her and do his ,
utmost to return to her A s he stood lookin gat the.
face ofthe poor wretch who had twice betrayed him

to despair and who at last in this supreme moment
, , , ,
4 40 A WO MAN S REA S O N
’
.
’
W hat had b een Fenton s temptat i on became the
’
burden Ofthe sick man s del irium and h e frantically ,
urged hi m to go while there was still time He .
seemed to wear this notion out through mere i ter

“
ation ; and at last when he awoke on e day ,
I ,
“ ” ”
d reamt he said ,
th at there was a ship 1
,
That
night sleeping or waking he rave d of a ship that
, ,
had come to take them a w ay The third morning .
a fter he O pened his eyes and looked into his com

, ,
’
rade s face with om i n ous recovery of intelligence .
” ”
Has i t come 1 he asked eagerly The ship 1 .
NO you d reamed it Gi f
,
fen returned Fenton , , ,
with a tender c ompassion u nalloyed by self pity -
“ ”
My luck said Giffen He gasped and made a
,
.
,
mechanica l e ffort to rise He gave a s ort of cry .

,
and fixed a stare of wild demand on Fenton who ,
caught him in h is arms .
Fenton covered up the dead face w i th a branch of

palm an d w alked giddily out into the sun It w as
,
.
rising a red rayless ball and against this disk the

, ,
fi gure Ofa ship seemed printed He passed his hand .
over his eyes but when he took it away the spectre

, ,
remained He thought he s aw a boat lying at the

.
lagoon beach and her crew advancing up the sand

-
toward him men with friendly ho m e like faces

, ,
-
They wavered an d glided in the vis i on his watch

worn eyes reported to his reeling brain .
Then on e of them called out to the strange figure ,
with matted hair and long beard and haggard eyes

, , ,
that had stopped as i f with the impulse to turn and

fly
,
Hall o
’
A shudder went through Fenton as he stayed h i m

self and faced the men again He coul d not speak
,
.
,
’ ”
but the men waited A t last For God s sake he
.
, ,
“ ”
gasped are you something in a dream 1
,
N O r eplied the leade r with slow gentleness as

, ,
“ ’
if giving the i dea consideration W e re a boat s
.
’
cre w from the whale ship Martha Brigham O f N e w

-
Bedford come ashore to see what that smoke means

, .
“”
W ho ar e you I
I W I SH to speak w i th you Marian i nstantly ,
-
’
c ri ed Helen re appearing at the B utlers
,
-
Marian .
was alone i n he r room Mrs Butler was ly i ng down .

,
and the younger sisters were on the rocks by the

se a
,
looking across the cove to the rocks on the
W ilson place as i f they migh t hope to rend from
,
the m the secret of what had happened when Helen

and Lord R ain ford met i n the W ilson cottage W ith .
the i nhumanity O ftheir youth and inexperience they

thought i t very f unny and they had come away ,
where they could enj oy this sense of i t apart from ,
those to whom it seemed a se ri ous a f fair .
It had become so serious to Marian that she ,
quaked in rising to meet Helen as i f she had been ,

’
rising to meet H ele n s ghost and she n o more ,
thought ofasking her to sit down than ofO f fering a

chair to an apparition .
’
“
I didn t know he was to be there Helen indeed , ,
’ ”
I d i dn t she made out to say after the moment in
, ,
which she had remained fascinated by the intensity

ofthe girl s fac e
’
.
“
O h it s l ong past t hat
’
,
cried Helen,
W hat .
I wish you to tell me is simply this Marian Ray : Is ,
your husband part of yo ur whole l ife and was h e ,

””
from the very first instant l
’
’
i f I don t love him his being s o good i s all the more
,
r eason why I shouldn t marry hi m Hush ! Do n t ’ ’

.
s ay a word Maria n ! s he c ried hastening to spoil

, ,
he r po int as women w i ll w i th hysterical i nsistence

, ,
.
That d re ad ful O ld man who bought our house came ,
while you were gone and O f fered h imsel f to me on e ,
d ay : i t makes me cree p ! HOW would i t be any

’
better to marry L ord R ainford if I didn t love him , ,
”
than to marry Mr E ve rton ? .
S he did not wait for the indignant protes t that

’
was struggling through Marian s be w ilderme nt at
“
thi s extraordinary revelation and assumptio n I
shal l always s ay that you meant the kindest and
best ; but i f you try to argue with me n ow I shall
never forgive you ! Good—
,
bye dear She fl e w at ,
her friend and catching her round the n eck c on vul

, ,
s ive l y kissed her and ran out of the house without

, ,
”
s ee i ng any one e lse To the station s he gaspe d .
, ,
c limbing i nto the W ilson phaeton “

A nd do .
,
”
hurry please ! ,
Mrs Butler came i nto Marian s room as soon as

.
’
Helen had d riven away W ell ? she said

O h she s refused him —or j ust the same th i ng !
. .
, ,
How shall we meet him ? Wh at shall we do 2 ”
“
I m not con cerne d about that W hat w ill she
’
.
‘ ’
do poor thing ! That s what wrings my heart
,
.
She has thrown away the greatest chance that a

girl e ver did : wealth po sition devoted goodness , , ,
”
the t ruest and noblest heart Ma rian ! cri ed
Mrs B utler ab andoning hersel f for a m oment to
.
,
h er compassionate i mpatience why did she do ,

”
it ?
’
She said s he didn t love him answered ,
’
Mar i an shortly w i th a cast of conte mpt i n the

,
shortness .
W ell well said Mrs Butler w i th resign ation

, , .
,
.
She had found as every woman must who l ives to , ,
her age th at life has s o many great interests besides

,
l ove that for the time she was confused as to the

,
justice o f its paramount clai m in a question of m ar

ri age .
In fact Helen found her champ i ons in two m e n

,
.
W hen Mrs Butler stated the case to the Captain

.
,
’
h e promptly approved of H elen s d ecision .
Mrs Butler stood surprised

. W hy d o you think .
,
that people ought to marry from a fan cy? she

asked .
I hope my girls w ill never m arry W ithout i t

.
said the Captain .
Marion reported the result to B ay with a vexation ,

’
at Hele n s ridicul ous behaviour which he allowed ,
her to vent freely be fore he answered her a word ,
chewing the end of his cigarette as they walked to ,
the house together from the beach w here she found ,

“ ’
hi m pulling his dory u p on the sand It s n ot .
’
only that she s thrown away such a splendid chance ,
’
but she s thrown it away for the mere memory ofa
’
man who couldn t compare with Lord R ain ford i n
any way — even if he were alive A nd when R obert .
’
Fenton w as al ive s he was n t certain till it w as too , ,
l ate that she cared for him and kept him waiting
,
for years and years til l she could make u p her mind , ,
and had to quarrel with hi m then before she was

sure of it A nd now for her to preten d that she
.
’
never can care for any on e else and th at she can t ,
m arry Lord R ainford because she doesn t love him

’
446 A WO MA N S RE A S ON ’
.
asi fshe were -
a girl ofseventeen instead o f twenty ,
five ! Oh ! I
’
ve no patience with her
R ay said n othing for a moment Then There s .
,
’
some d i fference between n ot being sure you do and ,

’ ” “
being sure you don t he remarked quietly and ,
the difference doesn t seem to be in Rain ford s ’
favour . A fter a moment he asked without look , ,
ing at her W hat did you marry me for l

,
’
W hat nonsense You kno w !

Yes I al w ays thought i t was for love How
, .
‘ ’ ”
would you l ike to have me think it wasn t l
’
D on t be absurd cried hi s wi fe But his .
words went deep and at the bottom ofher heart she

,
fel t i n the m a promise O f the perpetual re con se cra

tion oftheir marriage .
A story was at on e t i me current !and still has its

adherents among those who knew vaguely something
ofHelen s romance ) to the eff
’
ect that Fenton returned
at a moment when his presence seemed a miracle
O pportunely wrought to save her fro m further
struggle and to re w ard her for all her su ffering and
’
self sacri fice in the past It fix ed with much accu

-
racy o f date and circumstance the details o f their

dramatic meeting at th e l ittle house in the Port ,
where she found him waiting for her on e hot dusty ,
afternoon i n the summer when she came back , ,
broken i n health an d spirit from a v isit with some ,
friends at the se a side I f the story had been true

-
.
,
i t would have brough t them together the very day

Helen refused Lord R ain ford .
But as a matter of fact she went back to her work

, ,
of making bonnets for cooks and second girls in -

A
’
4 48 WO M AN S REA S ON .
’
Kingsbury s ; when she turned from this misery the
’
next morni n g and ventured back to Margaret s an ,
explosion at the glass works so opportune that it

-
seemed to her for a bl ack instant as i f she were

guilty of the calamity through which she escape d ,
had freed her fro m all she had to dread from Mar
’
gare t s hu sban d .
But quite th e same end o f her experiment had

come . Margaret could n ot l ive upon the l ittle
s u m that Helen paid her for board in spite of her
impassion ed devot i on to he r darling an d her good ,
i ntention !witnessed again an d again to all t he

saints) she was forced to break up her little
,
’
establishment and find a servant s place and Helen
did not kno w where else to go .
In her extremity she appealed of c ourse neither , ,
to the Butlers n or to Clara Kingsbury but to Cor ,
nelia R oot and th i s proved to be the m ost fortunate

,
as well as the m ost n atural course Zenas Pearson .
had j ust moved his ph otographic establishment up

fro m Hanover Street to the fashionable quarter of the
to w n and had applie d to Cornelia for so m e pretty
,
appearing respectable girl to stay i n the front room

, ,
and receive people and S ho w them th e d ifferent

,
styles of photographs and help them to decide in

,
what shape and size they woul d be taken There .
was nothing mean abou t Zen as Pearson and he w as ,
w illing he told Cornelia to pay the right girl ten

, ,
d ollars a week as a start Of f an d to put it up to

-
t w elve withi n the year i f she behaved hersel f and ,
showed any scon ce for the business .
Cornelia trembled wi th excitement and eagerness

in laying the proposition be fore a person s o per fectly
A WO MAN S RE A S ON
’
. 449
adapted to the place i n every respect as Helen an d ,
they did not lose an instant in going to Zenas and

closing with him Did she w ant to come right
.
of f? he ask ed Helen an d at a little hesitation on her

,
part he looked more closely at her worn face and

“
said W ell tak e a week to recuperate and com e
, , ,
’ ’
t he 2 0th I don t k now as I l l be ready for you
.
much before that time any way ,

.
She spent the week w ith the Butlers who were ,
n ow to o w ell used to her eccentricity to attempt any

protest against this n e w phase of it They h ad all .
reconciled themsel ves to he r refusal o f Lord R ain

ford even Marian R ay had accepted th e inevitable ,
and s he and Helen had a long quiet talk about th e

matter in which they fully made up what had
,
almost been a quarrel between them about it and ,
Marian told her the latest news of him and how ,
splendidly he had be haved about he r justifying ,
an d appl auding her with a manly sel f abnegation -
w hich permitted no question ofher conduct thro ugh
out.
“
Yes he is very generous said Helen wi th a
, , ,
sigh and someth ing happened th at day which ma d e

he r feel that the wo r d was hardly adequate Sh e .
had gon e with Marian wh o w ished to give som e

,
instructions about a picture She was h aving framed ,
to the shop where Helen had her memorable meet

ing with Lord R ainford and when the business
was finished the proprietor said with a certain hesi
“
tati on : Miss Harkness you remember bei n g in ,
our place about a year ago with an E nglish gentl e
man wh o was l ooking at some imitation limoges

i n the wi ndow l
’
’
Helen looked an amazed and perhaps alarmed , ,
assent .
He came back and b ought them after you went

away and said h e wo uld send h is address ; bu t
,
we ve never heard of hi m fro m that day to this

’
,
’
and we don t want his j ars and his money I .
thought perhaps you could tell me who he was .
Yes said Helen ,

it was Lord R a i nford B ut .
’
he s in E ngland n ow .
“
Oh ! said the proprie tor An d as she said .
n othing more he presently bowed h i msel f apolo

,
ge tic al ly away .
“
W hy did n t you let me give his address ?
’
asked Mar i an who h ad been checked i n a wish to

,
do s o by a gl ance from Helen .
’
I don t bel ieve he ever intended to take them
”
away ; h e thought they were hideous Helen an ,
s w e re d She added presently He must have gone

.
,
back to buy them because I said that the poor

wretch who painted them was to be p itied
Marian had n ow been at home more than six
months and her A nglo man ia had in some degree
,
-
abated She n o longer expected to establish an

.
h ereditary aristocracy an d a S tate Church among

u s whatever s he se cretly wished to d o
,
She had .
grown res i gned to the anoma lies of ou r civil isation

i n some degree She had rediscovered certai n traits
’
of it that compared favourably even with those of
E ngland ; but S he cherished a conviction that an

E nglish n oble was the finest gentleman in the world
that her ow n h usband was still fi ner was a mystery
of faith eas i ly tenable though n ot sus ceptible of
, ,
exegesis .
A W OM A N S RE A S O N ’
45 2 .
’
Y ou d idn t get it ?
’
I t s all right my W i fe at the time that
I tol d .
I kne w you sent it But I guess somebody in the .
”
Post Of fice got the start ofm e
-
“ ”
W hy di dn t you tell me ? demanded Helen
’
.
’
W ell you know I couldn t do that said Kim
, , ,
ball .
Helen took out her purse There were only twelve .
dollars in i t and Marian had walked on so that S he

, ,
could not borro w of her and make up the whole sum ,

’
at once But she put the money i n Kimball s h and
.
,
“
and said I will bring you the rest this very day
, '
.
Shall I bring it to the Custom House -
“
O no ; there s been a change you kno w
’
My . .
collector was kicked out and all our heads went ,

’
into the basket together I ain t there any more . .
’ ’
I guess we ll call this square now I don t feel .
j ust right about taking this money Miss Hark ,

’ ’
ness But I ve been sick and my wi fe ain t very
.
,
well h ersel f ; and — well I guess i t s a godsend ,

’
.
His l ips twitched I feel kind of mean about i t .

,
’ ’
but I l l have to stand i t There ain t a thing i n .
’
the house or I w ould n t take i t My wi fe and me
,
.
”
both said we kn ew you sent it .
Who i n the world is your shabby friend Helen ,
demanded Mar i an when H elen had overtaken her at

last
.
O h he used to be i n the Custom House

’
,
He s -
’
a character He s the one w ho told Lord R ain
.
ford when h e O ffered to deposit money for the duties

,
on those E gyptian things he brought me from you ,

’ ”
that it was n t necessary between gentlemen !
H ow amusing
A WO MAN S RE ASO N
’
. 45 3
Y e s,
I though t i t was amusing too But I don t ’
.
th ink I can ever l augh at him again She shut .
her lips till she could command her voice sufficiently

to tell what had j ust passed between her and Kim
ball .
Mari an continued to be amused by i t In the

flush o f her re —
.
A nglicisation she said it was a ve ry

,
A merican affair But she added that something

.
ought really to be d one for the chival ric simple

ton and that she was going to tell R ay about
,
him .
During the week that Helen spent with the

Butlers be fore she was to take her place i n Zenas
, .
’
Pearson s Photographic Parlours as he called them , ,
the wisdom of her decisio n was tested by another

incident or accident —on e O f those chances of real
l i fe which on e must hesitate to record because they
have s o much the air of having been contrived .
From her li fe in the Port she had contracted the

suburban habit of lunching at restaurants so alien ,
to the B ostonian lad y proper ; and on e day when ,
she was down town alone she found hersel f at a

,
’
table i n Parker s s o near that o f two other ladies
,
that she could not help hearing what they said .
They Were bot h d ressed with a certain floridity and ,
on e was of a fearless good humoured beau t y who

,
-
stared a great deal about th e room and out of the

w indow and upon the whol e seemed amused to
, , ,
realise hersel f i n Boston as if it were a pl ace whose

,
pecul iarities she had reflected much upon with o ut ,

“
being greatly awed or dazzled by them W e used .
to see a great many Bostonians in Cal ifornia when

the Pacific road was first opened They came out .
45 4 .
there i n shoals and I after w ards met them in Japan

—men I mean ofcourse I had quite a flirtation
, ,
.
, ,
with on e — the pleas antest on e I ever met The .

”
lady breathed above the spoi l o f the quail ou toast

,
- -
before her a S igh to the memory of this agreeable

,
“
passage o f her l ife Yes a re gular flirtation It .
, .
was on the steamer com i ng to San Francisco ; and

he was on his way home to be married poor fellow , ,
and I s uppose h e thought N ow or never ! The ,
steamer broke her shaft and had to put back to ,
Japan and he took passage home on a sailing vessel

,
that we hailed and She w as l ost and the last that

, ,
was known o f him h e was l eft on a ree f in the

Pacific with three oth ers while a boat ful of people ,
went O f fto prospect for land W hen the boat came .
back they were gone and n obody ever kne w what ,
became o f them .
A nd wha tever became ofthe girl Mrs Bowers ? ,

.
O h as to that this deponent saith n ot

, Con .
”
soled hersel f I suppose i n the usual way
, , .
The two women laughed together and began to ,
pull u p their sacks which h ad dropped from their ,
shoulders into their chairs behind them .
Hele n tried to speak but she could n ot She , .
tri ed to r i se and seize th e woman before she le ft

the room to make her r ender some account of her
,
words But the shame of a terribl e doubt crushed

.
her with a burden under which she could not

move W hen the waiter respectfully h ove ri ng near
.
, ,
approached at last and viewing her untouched plate , , ,
suggestively asked i f he could bring her anythi n g

“ ”
more she sa i d N o and paid her check and came
, ,
out .
45 6 A WO M A N S REA S O N
’
.
’
Butl er don t try to soften or break any bad n ews
,
’
to me ! W hat is it I haven t borne that you think
I must be spared now ? Y ou will make i t worse ,
whate ver you are keeping back Did they leave .
him there to starve on that rock ? Did

N o —no
’
I t isn t that Mrs Butler thought
that I could prepare —
. . .
’
w e ve had news
N ews —prepare ? O h how can you mock m e ,

’ ”
so ? For pity s sake what is it ? ,
’
The Captain s poor attempt to mediate bet w een
her and whatever fact h e was concealing broke down
i n the appeal with wh ich he e scaped from Helen
through the ope n door and called his wi fe She ,
.
came quickly as i fShe had been waiting n ear ; and

,
as on that day when she had told the girl of her

’
fath er s death she took her fast i n h er arms Per
,
.
haps the thoughts ofboth went back to that hour

Helen — Helen —Helen ! It s l i fe th i s time !
.
You h ave born e the worst so bravely I know you ,
can bear the best R obert i s here .
The papers of that time gave full particul ars of

’
Fenton s rescu e from the i sland on which he was
c ast away and th e reader can hardly have forgotten
,
them I t i s unnecessary even to record the details

.
ofhis trans fer after several m onth s from the W haler

, ,
wh i c h took hi m off to another vessel homeward ,
bound and of his final arrival i n San Franc i sco

, .
W hen the m iracle o f his resurrection had become

familiar enough for Helen to begin to touch it at
here and there a point she asked him w hy he ,
did n ot telegraph her from San Francisco as soon

as he lande d and instantly an swered hersel f that
,
A WO M AN S RE A S O N ’
. 45 7
it would have killed her i f he had don e so ; an d

that i f he had not been there at once to hel p her
bear the fact o f his being alive she could not h ave ,
borne it .
They were marri ed and went to live i n a l i ttle

,
house i n a retired street of O ld Cambri dge and ,
Margaret came to live w i th them She sacrificed .
’
to this end an i deal place in an expressman s family
i n E ast Somerville where S h e had the sole charge
,
of the housework for twelve persons ; but it was
something that Miss Helen kept no other girl and

i t w as everything that S he could be with her when
Lieutenant Fenton should be ordered away to se a
’
again H e had six months leave and h e tried to
.
,
fin d some occupation w hich would j usti fy hi m i n

quitting the navy He fo und nothing and in the
.
,
le i sure of this time Helen and he concerned them

selves rather with their past than their future .
They rehabilitated every momen t ofit for each other

and as their lives came completely together again
, ,
he developed certain l imitations which at first

puzzled her She did not approach that passage
.
which related to Lord R ain ford w ithout trying to

establ ish de fences from which i f necessary she , ,
could make reprisals ; and she began by abruptly

”
asking on e day R obert w ho is Mrs Bowers ?
, ,
.
“ ”
Di d she turn up ? he asked in reply with a ,
j oyous guiltlessness that at once de feated an d utterly

“
consoled his wi fe That was very kind of her !
.
But how did she find you ou t ? I never told he r

your n ame
“
She never turned u p— directly said Helen ,
458 A WO M A N S REA S ON’
.
and then she told him how she happened to kno w

ofMrs Bowers and of the bad hal fhour that lady
.
,
-
had given her .
W ell she might call it a flirtation said Fenton

, , ,
’
but I didn t kno w it was on e I thought i t was .
j ust walking up and down the deck an d talking

”
about you .
“ ’ ’
I d rather you wouldn t have talked to that kind
”
of peopl e about me returned Helen with a retro , ,
s p e c ti ve obje ction whi ch she tried in vain to make
avail her .
“
How should I kno w what kind of person she
was ? I never took the least notice ofanything she
”
did or said .
This was heavenly hopeless and Helen resolved ,
that for the presen t at least she would not i nc ulpate

“
hersel f But she found hersel f saying Well then
.
, , ,
’
I m going to tell you about something that all came
from my being desperate about you an d flirting a ,
”
little on e day j ust after you saile d She went on .
t o make a full and free confession to which her ,
husband listened with surprisingly l ittle emotion .
H e could not s ee anything romantic i n i t at all .
He could not see anything remarkable i n Lord

R ai nford .
’ ”
Y ou can t he said finally expect me to admire
, ,
a m an who came so nea r making an E noch Ar den of

”
me .
“
Oh you kno w he never came near do ing any
,
”
thing O fthe kind R obert ,
.
He came as near as he could Do you wish me .
to admire h im because you re fused him ? You

”
refused me three times .
’
4 60 A WO M AN S R EA S ON .
wrough t upon the i ma gin ation of a public sp i r i ted -
gentleman who about that ti m e w as maturing his

,
plans for the establishment ofour well known E ver -
ton Institute of Industrial A rts for Young Ladies .
The Institute w as O pened on a small scale i n the resi

dence of Mr E verton at Beacon Steps which he
.
,
devote d to i t during his life and at his death i t ,
w as removed to the n ew building at W est N ewton ;
but from the first Kimball w as put i n charge as

janitor and still h olds his place from the trustees
,
.
He came rath er apologetically to announce his

“ ’ ”
appoin tment to the Fentons I don t seem to feel .
he said as i f i t w as quite th e thing to go i n there

,
without saying By your leave to you Mrs Fenton , . .
’
I hain t forgot the first time I w as i n the house °
’
and I don t suppose I e ver passed it without lookin
’
up at them steps and thin kin of you j ust how you ,
’
appeared that day when you came run n i n up with
”
your bag i n your hand and I let you i n ,
.
“
Y e s I remember it too Mr Kimball
,
But you , . .
’ ’
mustn t think ofit as my O ld home and you mustn t ,
feel as i f you were intruding I f the place could be .
anything to me after Mr E ve rt on had l ived there I

.
,
S hould b e glad to think o f you an d Mrs Kimball in .
”
it looking after those p oor girls as I know you will
, , .
I guess we sh al l d o the best we know how by

’
em A nd whateve r Mr E verton i s —and I guess
. .
’
l east said s soonest mended even amongst fri end s
about him in some respects —you can t say but what
, ,
’
’
i t s a good obj ect If he can have girls without
.
any dependence b u t themselves taught how to do

’
something for their ow n l iviu I guess it s about ’
,
’
equ al to turn in the house i nto a church A nd I .
A WO M A N S REA SON ’
. 61
guess the ol d gentleman s about r i ght in con fin in it ’
’
to girls brought up as ladies I ain t much on caste .
’
mysel f as I kno w of but I guess that s the class of
, ,
”
girls that need h el p the most .
“ ”
O ye s i ndeed ! cried Hele n ferv ently
,
“
Of .
all helpless creature s i n the world they are the ,
m ost to be pitied
’
I kn ow you l l be kind to them
.
,
Mr K imball and save thei r poor foolish feelings as

.
, ,
much as you can and n ot m ind their weak silly little

, ,
”
pride i f it ever shows itsel f
,
.
“
I g uess you can depend upon m e for that said Kim
I understand girls pretty well —or I ought to
,
ball .
,
”
by this time A nd once a lady always a lady I say
.
, , .
Helen even promised to come with her husband

to see the Kimballs in her ol d home She cour .
age ousl y kept her promise and she was re w arded ,
by meeting Mr E verton there H e received her

. .
very cordially showing n o so rt of pique or resent

ment —
,
n o more Fen ton suggested than Lord R ain

, , ,
ford himsel f— and took h er over the house and

, ,
explained all hi s plans to her with a flattering con

fide n ce i n her interest There were alr eady some .
young ladies there and he introduced Helen to ,
them and in the excess of his good feeling hinted

, , ,
at the desirability of her formally addressing them

as visitors to schools are expected to do She .
r efused i mperatively but to on e of th e girls with

whom she foun d hersel f in sympathy she opened
”
her heart and told he r ow n story A nd 011 l she
“
said at the end do l earn to do something that
,
people have n eed of and learn to do it well and ,
humbly and j ust as i f you had been working for

,
your l iving all your li fe Try to notice how men do .

.
’
things and w hen you re at work forget that you re
,
’
,
”
a woman and above all a young lady
, , ,
.
A fter S h e came away she said there was on e ,
more thing s he wished to say to that girl .
”
W hat was that ? asked Fenton .
N ot to omit the first decent opportunity of

”
marrying any on e she happened to be in love with .
’ ”
Perhaps it wasn t n ecessary to say that s ug ,
gested her husband .
”
“
No sighe d Helen ;
’
,
and th at s what undoes
al l the rest .
W h en the Butlers heard of this visit of hers to

her O ld home it seemed to them but another i n
,
stance ofthat extraordinary fortitude O f spirit which

they had o ften reaso n to admire i n her Marian .
R ay coul d not suffer i t to pass however without , ,
some expression ofsurprise that Fenton S hould have

allowed her to go : she was a little his r ival on
behal f of Lord R ain ford still and she seized what ,
occasions she could for an unfavourable comparison of

their characters In fact n ow that h e had really
.
,
come back she had not wholly forgiven him for

,
doing so ; but the younger s isters rejoiced in him

as a thoroughly satis factory equivalent for the
romance they had lost in the nobleman I f Helen .
was not to be Lady R ainford i t was consoling to ,
have her the w i fe ofa m an who had been cas t a w ay

on a desert i sland and had been mourned for dead
,
a whole year and more They were disappointed .

,
however that he should not be always telling the

,
story of his adventures but should only n ow and ,
then drop bits o f it in a scrappy way and once

—but once only— when he and Helen w ere at
,
A WO MA N S REAS O N
’
4 64 .
You have every attribute of a real hero persisted ,
his worshipper .
The hero laughed and did his best to bear th e ,
part like a man A nother of the young girl s took .
up the strain .
Yes you would be entirely satisfactory i f you

,
”
had only had some better companio n i n misfortune .
W ho — Giffen ?
,
Yes He seems so hopelessly commonplace

.
,
sighed the gentle connoisseur O f castaways .
He was certainly not m ore than an average

fello w being said Fenton preparing to escape
-
, , .
“ ”
But he was equal to his bad luck .
W hen he and Helen were alone he was a l ong ,
time silent .
W hat is the matter R obert ? S he aske d ,
te nderly at las t .
O h nothing he said
,
But whenever it comes
, .
’
t o that point I m afraid that Giffen kn ew I wan ted
,
to leave him to die alone there

’ ”
Y ou d idn t want to ! s he protested f or h im .
”
Ah don t put it that way ! he cried “
’
,
The .
’
best you can say for me is that I d idn t do it .
She could only tell him that she loved him more
dearly for the temptation h e confessed than if there ,
had been no breach in his armour He had a simpli .
city i n dealing wi th all the inciden ts o f his experience

which seemed to her hal f divine “Ihen she hotly .
invoked j ustice u pon the wretches w ho had stolen

the boat and abandoned him and Giffen on the
island he said
,
O h what coul d atone for a thing
, ,
l ike that ? The only way was for them to escape

al together He would not even let her denounce
.
A W OM AN S REA SO N
’
. 465
them as co w ards he contended that they had shown

as much mere courage i n remaining to rifle the shi p
as he had i n anything Giffen he said was the only
.
, ,
on e to be admired for Gi f fen was afraid all the time

, ,
and yet remained to share his fate B ut H e l e n con .

'
tended that this was nothing w onderful and again

s he wished to praise him for what he had suffered .
“ ’
A h don t
,
he said wit h tragic seriousness
, .
’
There s n othing in all that It might all h ave .
happened to a worse man and it has happened to ,
many a better on e It hurts me to have you

.
value me for it Let it go an d give me a little

.
,
chance for the future He was indeed eager to

escape from all that related to that passage of his
life and Helen learned to believe th i s A t certain
, .
moments he seemed to be su f fering from some

strange sort of mental stress which h e coul d not ,
explain but wh ich they both thought must be the

habit Of anguish formed in his imprison m
,
ent on the
atoll It sometimes woke hi m from his sleep
the burden b ut n ot the d rama of nightmare —a
.
, ,
mere forml ess horror whi ch they had to shape and

,
recognise for themselves .
It gre w less and less as the time passed and wh en ,
h is orders came to report for duty at W ashington ,
they had strength for th e parting He supposed .
t hat he was to be sen t to sea again but he found that ,
he was to be put in charge for the present ofthe revenue

cutter for provisioning the lighthouses on the Rhode
Island coast ; and when removed from this service ,
he was appointed commandant at the N arragansett

N avy Yard It is there that Helen still finds her
.
home i n a little house ove rlooking the Bay on the ,
2 G
’
height behind the vast sheds i n which t w o frigates

’
ofobsolete model , began i n Polk s time are slowly ,
rotting on the stocks in a sort o f emblematic ex

,
pressio n of the present formidabl e character ofthe

A merican navy .
Fenton is subject to be ordered away at any

moment upon other duty ; but till his orders come
he rests with Helen i n as much happiness as can
fall to the share of peopl e i n a world ofc h ance and
change The days of thei r separation have already
.
faded into the incredible past : and i f her e x p e ri

e nce ever had any peculiar significance to her i t i s ,
rap i dly losing that mean ing .
She remains limited in her O pinions and m ot i ves

by the accidents of tradition and c i rcumstance that
shape us al l at the end she i s neith er more nor less
than a lady as she w as at the beginning She has
,
.
’ ’
acquired no i deals ofwoman s work or woman s des
tiny she i s glad to have solved in the O ld way the
problems that o n ce beset her ; and i n all that has
happ ene d she feels as ifshe had escaped rather than ,
achi eved She is the same and yet not quite the
.
,
’
sa m e for on e never endures or endeavours to one s
sel f alone ; she keeps her l ittle prej udices but s he ,
has acc umulated a stock of exceptions to their appl i

cation ; her sympathies if not her O pinions have
, ,
bee n enlarged ; and abo ve all her unconsciousness

, ,
has been trained to meet bravely and sweetly the

dut i es ofa l ife which she is content S hould n ever be
splend i d or ambit i ous .

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A Woman&#39;s Reason by William D. Howells

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By t/z e S a me A u t/ wr .

T h e re has b ee n n o more ri i d l y rti s ti w riti n d o n e in

THE day had bee n very opp r ess i ve and at hal f,

past ﬁve in the aftern oon the heat had scarcely

abated to the perce ption of Mr Joshua H arkness

as he walked heavily up the Park Street mall i n

drouth he stopped short an d stared at the bron ze

group w i th its insufﬁcient dri bble as if he had ,

never seen it be fore Then he felt in ﬁrml y about

the ground with his stick stepped aside and sank

tre nl ul ously into one ofthe seats at the edge oi the

path The bench Was already partly occupied by a

love al most as frankly in that publ ic pl ace as they

They both glanced at the in truder and exchanged ,

smil es apparently of pity for h i s i ndecency and

the n went on w i th their love mak i ng wh ile Mr -

H arkness unconscious of his offence star ed eagerly

out over the C ommon and from time to time made

gestures or signals with his stick i n that d irection .

It was that one day o f the week when people are

to keep offthe grass and the turf was everywhere

dotted with lolling and lounging groups Perh aps .

to compensate for the absence of the s i gn boards -

!which would reappear over night like a growth of

policemen sauntering about and it was on e of these ,

whom Mr Harkness was trying to attract with his

cane Ifany saw him none heeded and he had to

wait till a policeman came do w n the mall in front of

seemed to Mr Harkness who was breathing thickly

whom he had thrust in the side wi th h i s cane

ness I live at 9 Beacon Steps I wish to go home .

Beacon Steps is not Beacon Stree t but it i s oflike ,

blameless social tradition and the name together , ,

wi th a certain a i r of moneyed respectability in Mr .

H arkness had i ts effe ct with the po l i ceman

shouted to a pass i ng hackm an w ho prom ptly ,

stopped turned his horses and dre w u p beside the

curb next the C ommon “

He raised the ge n tleman to his benumbed feet and ,

got h i m away through the gathering crowd ; when

place where he had b ee n sitting in such numbers ,

her head away from h is and then they both with , ,

vexed and impatien t looks rose and walked away , ,

seeking some other spot for the renewal of their

The policeman had n ot been able to refrain from

n i se d with a sort ofmunicipal kindness on the way ; ,

and for whom when h e had got him in d oors an d

comfortably stretched upon a lounge in the library ,

he wanted to go and call the doctor But Mr . .

H arkness refused saying that he had had these

attacks be fore and wo uld soon be all right He

thanked the ofﬁcer by name after aski n g him for it , ,

and the ofﬁcer went away leavi n g Mr Harkness to ,

the c are ofthe cook who in that mid su m mer time

seemed to have sole ch arge of the house and its

beat with the right feeling ofa man wh o would like

to be better prepared i f summoned a second time to

to meet i n coming out O f his house a young lady O f

This young lady as b e closed the door behind him

had run up the steps with the loop O f her train i n

the other a pretty travelling b ag ca rried with the -

fearlessness O f a lady w ho knows that people are out

deﬁantly at the policeman who seeing that she

must drop one or other O f her burdens to ring politely ,

A Woman's Reason by William D. Howells

A Woman's Reason by William D. Howells