Enid Raleig

o her mother, who had met her at

in town, isn't he? Why didn't he come to meet m

the moment, all they meant was that at their next meeting she would refuse Vane his long-accustomed lover's kiss, and then, after an explanation occupying some three or four minutes at most,

. I think he doesn't go back to Oxford until the end

y abandon which comes so naturally to people accustomed to comfort all their lives. "Ill! Why, Vane's never been ill

at a brougham rattling over the streets of London was not exactly the place to enter upon such explanations as it was

ht young life which, in the fuller acceptation of the term, was only jus

ften. Saving only those lovers' quarrels which don't count because they end so much more pleasantly than they begin, there had never been a cloud in that morning-sky of life towards which they had so far walked hand in hand. It seemed as though the Fates t

t the terrible explanation had to come, but she very naturally

attle. When we get home I will tell you all about it. Vane himself

been getting himself into some scrape or other-something that has to

dear, I must ask you to say nothing more about it just now. When we g

about it. Of course there must be, or else he'd have come here himself, so we m

f the opposite window of the brougham with a look in her eyes which seemed to

ng her daughter's last sojourn in Paris, and this, with certain interjections and questions from Enid, lasted until the brougham turned into the courtyard and drew up

gs off, Lady Raleigh ordered tea in her own room, and there, as briefly as was consistent with the gra

rtions of the narrative, listened to the story wi

to look upon, and withal possessing a dignity which only comes by birth and breeding and that larger training and closer contact with the world which modern girls of he

nd who seems to have misbehaved herself very badly when Vane was a baby. She is in an asylum, and will probably remain there till she dies. No one but ourselves and this interesting yo

e would expect me to meet her, much less fall upon her neck and greet her as his long-lost sister. I suppose, too, that betwee

ergraduate who took too much to drink that night. Probably several hundreds of them did, and I daresay a good many of them were either engaged or going to be. Would they co

so very dreadful in it. Most families have a skeleton of some sort, I suppose, and this is ours, or will be when Vane and I ar

at your age, but then girls are so different now, and, besides, you always had more of your father's way of looking at things than

nd and make his explanations in person before long, and when he does we will have a few minutes chat à deux-and I don't

at the beauty which went so far towards justifying it. "Well, perhaps you are right. Certainly, if anyone can, you can

cheeks in an instant, and she

if he had a dozen half-sisters as disreputable as this Miss Carol Vane-the very idea of her having the impudence to use his name! No, I shan't think of that-I co

ot knowing that she said it in utte

s the matter there and then; but neither of them gave utterance to the thought. Lady Raleigh, knowing her daughter's proud and somewhat impetuous temperament, instinctively shra

ich, from her point of view at least, was entirely unwarrantable. It was, therefore, quite impossible for her to first suggest tha

bed; and then, as soon as she felt that she was absolutely safe in her solitude, discussed the whole matter over again with hersel

t she was being very badly treated. Vane knew perfectly well that she was coming back yesterday afternoon, and therefore he had no right to let these absurd scruples of his prevent him from performing the duties of a lover and meeting her a

the very last thing that she

alked as he might have walked in a dream, along the main road through Hammersmith and Turnham Green and Kew, and so through Richmond Hill till he had climbed the hill and stopped for a brief moment of desperate debate before the door o

new-grown grass of life's spring-time, and the other dry, rugged and rock-strewn-the paths of inclination and duty: the one leading up to the golden gates of the

hanks to his father's industry, relieved from all care on the score of money, and, better still, he had that within him which made him independe

dy setting. He knew now that the fruit which looked so sweet and luscious had the canker-worm feeding on the core; that the flesh which seemed so healthy was really tainted and leprous; and that, worse than all, the brightest and sweetest prom

ooked at his watch, and found that he had about time to get across the park to Sheen Ga

strides he halted and sat down again on a seat. After all, were he to go home, he could not sleep,

risis of his fate again and again from all possible aspects. And again and again the determination to adhere

he would go straight to Enid's father and admit that, although ties reaching back into her childhood

until, noticing the suspicious glances of some of the early pedestrians, he dec

e in anything of the nature of moping or sulks, she came to the conclusion that a good sharp spin on her bicycle would be the best mental tonic she could have; so she got a c

by Sheen Gate just as Vane, physically weary yet

, but coming to him fresh and radiant in her young beauty, delightful and desirable, tempting almost beyond the powers of human resistance, and his, too, his o

waited, naturally expecting that he would greet her; but he stood silent

not expect to see you here. Cannot you look a little more cheerful?

and the dawning of an angry light in the gentle eyes, he felt an almost irresistible desire to take her in his arms just as he

hard-set and deep-lined. There were furrows in his forehead and shadows under his eyes. When she had last seen his face it was that of a boy of twe

mood and her voice c

it? Why don't you spe

her back into the park. After a few moments' silence he

I have not been home. In fact, I have been in the park all night. I was shut i

ister of yours. Well, of course, I suppose it was exceedingly wrong of you to get so very drunk. And the rest-I mean about your mother-that is very sad and

would permit her to go. As she looked up at him she saw the pallor of his face change almost to grey.

and generous of you; but I don't think you quite understa

ou can't tell me anything more, I suppose, than I have heard already from mamma. Surely you don't mean that

lips perceptibly tightening; "and that, to

o you, and that if we meet again it must only be as ordinary acquaintances, just friends w

fact that they were walking on the public highway that prevented her from giving way altogether to the sense of despair that had com

himself, had ground the moral into his soul so deeply that not even the sight of her so anxiously longing for just one word from him to bring them toget

as though he was afraid to trust himself too near her, and said, sp

ething infinitely more serious in what has happened during the last few days, i

gh she would interrupt him,

ellows from the 'Varsity do-I went West. By sheer accident I met a girl so like myself that-well, I didn't know then that I had a sister. Yesterday

said Enid, with a sort of weary impatience. "I have heard of this ha

"We will leave her out for the present. In fact, as far

n, Vane?" she exclai

n that, considering everything that has happened during the last few days,

ed her incapable of speech. She, however, like others of her blood and breed, had learned how to see

I have not properly understood what has happened. Perhaps, though, it would have

it did not affect the decision which was, as he had for the time being, at least, convinced himself, i

simply sat down and cried, as, perhaps, nine out of ten girls in her position would have done, his task would have been infinitely more difficult, perhaps even impossible of accomplishment. Her

o I was lying on the floor of the Den at home, blind, dead drunk-drunk, mind you, after this sister of mine had seen in my eyes the sign of drunkenness which she had seen in her mother's-that was my mother, too, an imbecile dipsomaniac, remember-who had sunk to unspeakabl

te I can guess," said Miss Enid, w

mental force. It turned me from a sane man who had had a solemn warning into a madman who had only one feeling-the craving for alcohol in some shape. I smelt again, and the smell of it went like fire through my veins. I tasted it, and then I drank. I drank again and again, until, as

there was a lurking devil in my blood which forced me to drink that whiskey just because it was alcohol, because it was

it is too late to redeem the ruin which has fallen upon me. That, at least, I can say with a clear conscience is no fault or sin of mine. Since then I have thrashed this miserable thing out in every way tha

like as firm as she intended it to be, "you mean, Vane-or perhaps I ought to say Mr

to have you for my wife, I would not make you the wife of a man who could become the thing that was lying on the hearthrug of the Den four nights ago-a man

hat taint in my blood I am worse, a thousand times worse, than a lunatic, and I should be a criminal as

the same devil which had me in its grip the other night. Enid, if you could have seen me then, I think you would have understood better; but if, which God forbid, you could have gone through what I went through after I swallowed that first drink of whiske

a bitterly trying ordeal, but as she noticed a change in his tone a swift conviction came to her that if she remained many more minutes in his company she would certainly break down and there

ere is, of course, nothing more to be said except 'good-bye.' I think we had

m, and, indeed, could not even trust herself to say "thank you." She mounted and rode through the comparatively lonely roads in a sort of dr

er hat and gloves and jacket, and then dropped quietly on the bed and laid there, staring with

y. He had reached the Surrey end of Hammersmith Bridge when the strong smell of alcoholic liquor coming through the open door of a public-house caused him to stop for a moment. Would a drink do him any harm after what had happened? He had passed a slee

ally marked him out for a dipsomaniac, was it any use his fighting against what must inevitably be his destiny? His thoughts were interrupted b

on reaching the house found that h

"I got shut in Richmond Park by accident, and did a night in the open.

and refreshed, and when they were alone he repeated to his

see now you have acted rightly. It is terribly hard on you, but I will help you all I ca