The House of the White Shadows. Farjeon Benjamin Leopold

have been if everything had happened in the way it ought to have done. I was cheated and tricked into a marriage with a man whose heart has room for only one sentiment-ambition. I am bound to him for life, but I am yours till death-although the bond which unites us is, as you have taught me, but a spiritual bond.

      "Are you angry with me for putting all this on paper? You must not be, for I cannot help it if I am not wise. Wisdom belongs to men. Come, then, and give me wise counsel, and prevent me from committing indiscretions. For I declare to you, upon my heart and honour, if you do not very soon present yourself at the House of White Shadows, I will steal from it in the night and make my way to the mountains to see what wonderful attraction it is that separates us. What food for scandal! What wagging and shaking of heads! How the women's tongues would run! I can imagine it all. Save me from exposure as you are a true man.

      "You have made the villa beautiful. As I walk about the house and grounds I am filled with delight to think that you have effected such a magic change for my sake. Master Lamont has shown really exquisite taste. What a singular old man he is. I can't decide whether I like him or not. But how strange that you should have had it all done by deputy, and that you have not set foot in the house since you were a child. You see I know a great deal. Who tells me? My new maid Dionetta. Do you remember, in one of the letters you showed me from your steward, that he spoke about the old housekeeper, Mother Denise, and a pretty granddaughter? I made up my mind at the time that the pretty granddaughter should be my maid. And she is, and her name is Dionetta. Is it not pretty? – but not prettier than the owner. Will that tempt you? I have sent my town maid away, much to her displeasure; she spoke to the Advocate in complaint, but he did not mention it to me; I found it out for myself. He is as close as the grave. So I am here absolutely alone, with none but strangers around me.

      "I am very much interested in the pictures in the studio of the old châlet, especially in a pair which represents, the first, two lovers with the sun shining on them; the second, the lovers parted by a cold grey sea. They stand on opposite shores, gazing despairingly at each other. He must have been a weak-minded man indeed; he should have taken a boat, and rowed across to her; and if he was afraid to do that, she should have gone to him. That would have been the most sensible thing.

      "I could continue my gossip till daylight breaks, but I have already lost an hour of my beauty sleep, and I want you, upon your arrival, to see me at my best.

      "My heart goes with this letter; bring it swiftly back to me."

"Yours for ever,"Adelaide."

      CHAPTER XI

      FIRE AND SNOW-FOOL FRITZ INFORMS PIERRE LAMONT WHERE ACTUAL LOVE COMMENCES

      "News, Master Lamont, news!"

      "Of what nature, Fritz?"

      "Of a diabolical nature. Satan is busy."

      "He is never idle-for which the priests, if they have any gratitude in them, should be thankful."

      "You are not fond of the priests, Master Lamont."

      "I do not hate them."

      "Still you are not fond of them."

      "I do not love them. Your news, fool-concerning whom?"

      "A greater than you, or you do not speak the truth."

      "The Advocate, then?"

      "The same. You are a good guesser."

      "Fritz, your news is stale."

      "I am unlucky; I thought to be the first. You have heard the news?"

      "Not I."

      "You have read a letter, informing you of it."

      "You are a bad guesser. I have neither received nor read a letter to-day."

      "You have heard nothing, you have read nothing; and yet you know."

      "As surely as you stand before me. Fritz, you are not a scholar, but I will give you a sum any fool can do. Add one to one-what do you make of it?"

      "Why, that is easy enough, Master Lamont."

      "The answer then, fool?"

      "One."

      "Good. You shall smart for it, in the most vulnerable part of man. You receive from me, every week, one franc. I owe you, for last week, one franc; I owe you, for this, one."

      "That is so."

      "Last week, one; this week, one. I discharge the liability." And Pierre Lamont handed a franc to Fritz.

      Fritz weighed the coin in the palm of his hand, spun it in the air and smiled.

      "Master Lamont, here is a fair challenge. If I prove to you that one and one are one, this franc you have given me shall not count off what you owe me."

      "I agree."

      "When one man and one woman are joined in matrimony, they become one flesh. Therefore, one and one are one.

      "You have earned the franc, fool. Here are the two I owe you."

      "Now, perhaps, you will tell me what I came here to tell you."

      "The Advocate intends to defend Gautran, who stands charged with the murder of the flower-girl."

      "You are a master worth serving. I have half a mind to give you back your franc."

      "Make it a whole mind, Fritz."

      "No; second thoughts are best. My pockets are not as warm as yours. They are not so well lined. How did you guess, Master Lamont?"

      "By means of a golden rule, an infallible rule, by the Rule of One-which, intelligibly interpreted to shallow minds-no offence, Fritz, I hope-"

      "Don't mind me, Master Lamont; I am a fool and used to hard knocks."

      "Then by the Rule of One, which means the rule of human nature-as, for example, that makes the drunkard stagger to the wine-shop and the sluggard to his bed-I guessed that the Advocate could not withstand so tempting a chance to prove the truth of the scriptural words that all men are liars. What will be palatable information to me is the manner in which the news has been received."

      "Heaven keep me from ever being so received! The Advocate has not added to the number of his friends. People are gazing at each other in amazement, and asking for reasons which none are able to give."

      "And his wife, Fritz, his wife?"

      "Takes as much interest in his doings as a bee does in the crawling of a snail."

      "Rogue, you have cheated me! How about one and one being one?"

      "There are marriages and marriages. This was not made in Heaven; when it came about there was a confusion in the pairing, and another couple are as badly off. There will be a natural end to both."

      "How brought about, fool?"

      "By your own rule, the rule of human nature."

      "When a jumper jumps, he first measures his distance with his eye. Do they quarrel?"

      "No."

      "Does she look coldly upon him, or he upon her?"

      "No."

      "Is there silence between them?"

      "No."

      "You are a bad jumper, Fritz. You have not measured your distance."

      "See, Master Lamont, I will prove it to you by a figure of speech. There travels from the south a flame of fire. There travels from the north a lump of snow. They meet. What happens? Either that the snow extinguishes the fire and it dies, or that the fire puts an end to the snow."

      "Fairly illustrated, Fritz. Fire and snow! Truly a most unfortunate conjunction."

      "She was in the mood to visit you yesterday had you lived a mile nearer the valley."

      "You were out together."

      "She and Dionetta were walking, and I met them and accompanied them. She spoke graciously to the villagers, and went into the cottages, and drank more than one cup of milk. She was sweeter than sugar, Master Lamont, and won the hearts of some of the women and of all the men.