miliée pour m'avoir app

vous jure que je ne m

: Pluralité

an heiress, but because it was really provoking that a girl whose appearance you could not characterize except by saying that her figure was slight and of middle stature, her features small, her eyes tolerable, and her complexion sallow, had nevertheless a certain mental superiority which could not be explained away-an exasperating thoroughness in her musical accomplishment, a fastidious discrimination in her general tastes, which made

ring, and a certain daring which gave piquancy to a very common egoistic ambition, such as exists under many clumsy exteriors and is taken no notice of. For I suppose that the set of the head does not really determine the hunger of the inner self for supremacy: it only makes a difference sometimes as to the way in which the supremacy is held attainable, and a little also to the degree in which it can be attained; especially when the hungry one is a girl, whose passion for doing what is remarkable has an ideal limit in consistency with the highest breeding and perfect freedom from the sordid need of income. Gwendolen was as inwardly rebellious against the restraints of family conditions, and as ready to look through obligations into her own fundamental want of feeling for them, as if she had been sustained by the boldest spe

t wish to lead the same sort of life as ordinary young ladies did; but what she was not clear upon was, how she should set about leading any other, and what were the parti

ange various dramatic costumes which Gwendolen pleased herself with having in readiness for some future occasions of acting in charades or theatrical pieces, occasions which she meant to bring about by force of will or contrivance. She had never acted-only made a figure in tableaux vivans at school; but she felt assured that she could act well, and having been once or twice to the Théatre Fran?ais, and also heard her mamma speak of Rachel, her waking dreams and cogitations as to how she would manage her destiny sometimes turned on the question whether she would become an

when she had been showing herself in her Greek dress to Anna,

ow, "your arms would do for anything, Gwen. But you

ith decision, "I think a higher voice is more tragic: it is more feminine; and the

on't know what good there is in making one's blood creep. And if there i

f all the great poetic criminals were not women

be alone in the night-I don't think you

ng an opportunity, and said, "Anna, do ask my uncle to let us get up some charades at the rectory. Mr. Middleton and Warham could act with us-just for practice

ar old thing, and he will act Napoleon looking over the

hing at her. "He will turn out to be like those wretched blue and yell

t a scholarship already, and papa says he will get a fellowship, and nobody is better at g

he had to say, 'Perdition catch my soul, but I do love her,' he wou

him, for he admires you very much. I heard Warham say one day to mamma, 'Middleton is regularly spooney upon Gwen

en, rather contemptuously. "Perdi

wish it. And he is to go away soon. But

when I ridicule Rex?" s

one ever thought of laughing at Mr. Middleton before you. Every one said he was nice-looking, and his manners perfect. I am sure I have always been frightened at him because of his lear

th her thumb and forefinger. "I don't ever want to do anything that will vex y

resembling his father's and Anna's, but softer in expression than the one, and larger in scale than the other: a bright, healthy, loving nature, enjoying ordinary innocent things so much that vice had no temptation for him, and what he knew of it lay too entirely in the outer courts and little-visited chambers of his mind f

s not contemplated by her in which her acting was more impromptu. It was at Offendene that the charades and tableaux were rehearsed and presented, Mrs. Davilow seeing no objection even to Mr. Middleton's being invited to share in them, now that Rex too was there-especially as his services were indispensable: Warham,

ccasionally felt that her more formal treatment of himself was such a sign of favor as to warrant his making advances before he left Pennicote, though he had intended to keep his feelings in reserve until his position should be more assured. Miss Gwendolen, quite aware that she was adored by this unexceptionable young clergyman w

d names as rather coarse, would not have seen a fitting bride for himself in a girl who was daring in ridicule, and showed none of the special grace required in the clergyman's wife; or, that a young man informed by theological reading would have reflected t

him to think of his life except as bound up with Gwendolen's. He could see no obstacles, poor boy; his own love seemed a guarantee of hers, since it was one with the unperturbed delight in her image, so that he could no more dream of her giving him pain than an Egyptian could dream of snow. She sang and played to him whenever he liked, was always glad of his companionship in riding, though his borrowed steeds were often comic, was ready to join in any fun of his, and showed a right

ual sensibility. It showed an aspect of her nature which could not have been preconceived by any one who

c. The main source of doubt and retardation had been Gwendolen's desire to appear in her Greek dress. No word for a charade would occur to her either waking or dreaming that suited her purpose of getting a statuesque pose in this favorite costume. To choose a motive from Racine was of no use, since Rex and the others could not declaim French verse, and improvised speeches would turn the scene into burlesque. Besides, Mr. Gascoigne proh

ey should wind up with a tableau in which the effect of her majesty would not be marred by any

eseech you," said Mrs. Davilow; "I

amma," said Gwendolen, whose mention of Rach

d done with. What do you say to Briseis being led away? I would be Achilles,

cceptance. But afterward she said with decision, "No. It will not do.

ntes, and Miss Merry, Paulina, one on each side. Our dress won't signify," he went on laughingly; "it wil

Leontes, instead of embracing her, was to kneel and kiss the hem of her garment, and so the curtain was to fall. The antechamber with folding doors lent itself admirably to the purpose of a stage, and the whole of the establishment, with the addition of Jarrett

of this occasion, for she knew that Herr Klesmer was again at Q

eals in benignant-sounding syllables more or less articulate-as taking up his cross meekly in a world overgro

sed and accidental being of a probable sort-until the incident occurred which showed

it was answering perfectly, and a murmur of applause had been gradually suppressed while Leo

nches, which she counted on as a means of showing her pretty foot

Davilow, who, by special entreaty, had consente

the act of turning toward the open panel were recalled by a piercing cry from Gwendolen, who stood without change of attitude, but with a change of expression that was terrifying in its terror. She looked like a statue into which a soul of Fear had entered: her pallid lips were parted; her eyes, usually narrowed under their long lashes, were dilated and fixed. Her mother, less surprised than alarmed, rushed toward her, and Rex, too, coul

lastik that!" said Kles

undertoned question

part of

Harleth was too much affec

hat there was a painting be

ntricity in one of the Earl'

inful! Pray

t is very mysterious. I

is no mediu

must conclude that there i

was probably the sudden vibration

oming in a clergyman, and she observed in an undertone that Mr. Gascoigne was always a little too worldly for her taste. However, the key was produced, and the rector

its, and evidently determined to ignore as far as she coul

to accept as a belief what was really no more than delicate feigning. He divined that the betrayal into a passion of fear had been mortifying to her, and wished her to understand that h

hat had not, and no one besides Klesmer took the trouble to soothe Gwendolen's ima

the family were out, and getting on a stool to unlock the panel. While she was indulging her thirst for knowledge in this way, a noise which she feared was an approaching footstep alarmed her: she closed the door and attempted hurriedly to lock it, but failing and not daring to linger, she withdrew the key and trusted that the panel would stick, as it seemed well inclined to do. In this confidence she had returned the key to its former place, stilling any anxiet

sted on her more than on the other sisters, and withou

rgive me,

re spiritual restraints, having always disliked whatever was presented to her under the name of religion, in the same way that some people dislike arithmetic and accounts: it had raised no other emotion in her, no alarm, no longing; so that the question whether she believed it had not occurred to her any more than it had occurred to her to inquire into the conditions of colonial property and banking, on which, as she had had many opportunities of knowing, the family fortune was dependent. All these facts about herself she would have been ready to admit, and even, more or less indirectly, to state. What she unwillingly recognized, and would have been glad for others to be unaware of, was that liability of hers to fits of spiritual dread, though this fountain of awe within her had not found its way into connection with the religion taught her or with any human relations. She was ashamed and frightened, as at what might happen again, in reme

l word, but considered as a means of explaining the universe it requires an extensive knowledge of differences; and as a means of explaining character "sensitiveness" is in much the same predicament. But who, loving a creature like Gwendolen, would not be inclined to regard every peculiarity in her a