that I don't sufl&ciently respect to try them with it. Where did you
get all these ideas, and where did you learn to arrange them so
formidably?
But still the work is useless to me — impossible; and I am
sorry, but hope to have more and better work from you soon.
Yours faithfully,
Max Courteis.
The manuscript was returned. Miriam sat down to
think over the letter and decided that she was at once
disappointed and pleased by it. She read it over and
over and tried to suck all the sweetness possible from
it, but the hard fact remained, that the manuscript had
been sent back, " and all my work has been wasted,"
she thought. Then her better judgment reasserted
itself, and she confessed that the toil had been pleasure,
and must bring gain in the end.
" I wonder if Mr. Gore would read it if I sent it
to him ? " she thought ; " it would show him better
than anything else how carefully I have read his
books." After all. Max Courteis was an excellent
critic, and did he not say that he " doted " on the poor,
returned " Treatise " ? It could not be altogether con-
temptible.
So once more it was folded up and dispatched — ^this
time to Mr. Gore — ^along with a stiff little note to tell
him what Courteis had written about it.
Miriam was far more excited by this sending off than
she had been by the other. It mattered more to her
that Alan Gore should think well of her work than if
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a dozen editors had praised it. She regarded him
much as we poor earth dwellers regard some splendid
planet blazing down from the utmost heavens upon our
dark world.
In reality, it was far more important that she should
gain approval from Courteis, but it did not seem so
to her. As day after day passed, she became more and
more impatient. She watched the postman as he came
up the street, banging carelessly at the doors and hand-
ing letters into other houses — he always passed her
door.
" Mr. Gore has thought my Treatise absurd, and has
decided not to take any notice of it," she thought dis-
consolately. And then one afternoon something hap-
pened all at once ; something that was to mean all the
world to her.
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CHAPTER Xni
It was Joan's " day out," so Miriam had been busy.
She had just removed the tea things from the parior,
and Mrs. Sadler was beginning to wonder if it wasn't
nearly time for her to put on her bonnet, as she was
going out to the prayer meeting, when she saw a car-
riage stop at the gate, and an unknown lady come up
to the door. She looked about her in an inquiring,
perplexed way, and came hesitatingly up the path, as
if not certain whether she had come to the right house.
Miriam went to the door, which stood open, and
confronted the unknown visitor.
"Does Miss Sadler live here? There seems to be
some mistake about her address," the stranger asked.
" I am Miss Sadler," said Miriam, wondering very
much, indeed, who this might be.
" Then I must introduce myself. I am Mr. Gore's
sister ; he sent me to see you."
She hesitated, and looked at the girl curiously.
"Won't you come in?" said Miriam, her heart
beating fast with pleasure; but what to say was the
question. An overpowering shyness possessed her.
She ushered her visitor into the parlor and drew for-
ward a chair for her. Mrs. Sadler rose and courtesied
to the newcomer, flurried and surprised.
" This is my mother," Miriam explained ; " and
mother, this is Miss Gore."
"I'm sure you're very kind, ma'am,'* Mrs. Sadler
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began, though it was hard to say what she meant to
thank Miss Gore for as yet. Miriam, in the meantime,
was realizing that her mother was sure to find out
about the books Mr. Gore had sent, and what would
she say?
Miss Gore turned to Mrs. Sadler and explained the
reason of her visit.
" My brother asked me to come and see your daugh-
ter," she began, " because he has been so much struck
by the article she has written on Democracy, and he
wished me to make her acquaintance. I am staying
at Hindcup Manor."
Mrs. Sadler was entirely bewildered by this explana-
tion. In the first place, who was the lady ; then, who
was the lady's brother ; then, how had he heard about
anything that her daughter chose to write, and what
'was this about an article on Democracy? Then she
hastily gathered up the fragments of memory, remem-
bering something Maggie Broadman had told her
about Mr. Gore and Miriam and books ; she had hoped
that it was all nonsense, as no more had been heard
about it; but this must be the same thing turning up
again.
"I'm sure I scarcely know what to say," she ex-
claimed. " I suppose Miriam's been writing some-
thing, though I know nothing about it, and really I'm
often anxious over these * studies ' she talks about. I
don't know what she studies, I'm sure; but I think
she might well be better employed."
This speech illuminated the whole situation to Delia
Gore. She glanced from the mother to the daughter.
Mrs* Sadler spoke hurriedly, in a sort of nervous vex-
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ation ; Miriam sat and listened impassively, looking at
her mother in a curiously impersonal way, as if she
were saying, " She may say any folly she chooses ; I
am not responsible for it."
" Oh, you must not be anxious about your daugh-
ter's studies," Delia exclaimed, anxious to be a peace-
maker. " My brother sent her only the best known
books on the subject, books that could do no one any
harm— only good."
There was an ominous silence.
" Miriam never told me about no books," said Mrs.
Sadler, very sorrowfully and imgrammatically. When-
ever she was agitated, Mrs. Sadler had a trick of
doubling the negative — a trick she had conquered in
calmer moments. Delia looked beseechingly at Miriam
— ^she must explain the situation.
" My mother thinks study will ' unsettle ' me, Miss
Gore," Miriam said, " and keep me from leading what
she thinks is a useful life ; so I never told her that Mr.
Gore had sent me books to study. I asked him to
send them to the house of a friend. That is how it
was."
" Oh, that's what it was," said Mrs. Sadler. " That's
what all the study at Miss Foxe's has been ! "
Delia Gore hastened to relieve the situation as well
as she could.
"Well, Mrs. Sadler, your daughter has made the
cleverest use out of all her reading," she said. " I am
sure you would be pleased if you knew how much we
admire her article on Democracy; it is so new — full
of all manner of fresh views of such a well-worn
subject."
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" What good is it ever to do anyone ? " Mrs. Sadler
inquired, a question which Miss Gore did not go into,
but opened fresh ground by her next remark.
"We wonder if you will allow your daughter to
come and pay us a visit in London," she said. " It
would be a great pleasure to us."
" Miriam visit you in London ! " echoed Mrs. Sad-
ler; "but Miriam's not a lady," she added in a flat
way.
Delia Gore laid her hand for just a moment on the
girl's knee; the touch seemed to convey a world of
understanding. Then she turned again to Mrs. Sadler.
" Oh, please don't bring in these ideas at all," she
said. " I want your daughter to come and stay with
me, if she will, that is all."
This subversive woman was too much for Mrs. Sad-
ler altogether. She rose, as she would have expressed
it, " all in a flurry."
" I'm sure, ma'am, I don't understand about Mir-
iam. I don't understand the girl herself, though
she's my own child; or what you all find in her,
or what's to become of her. I'm just annoyed
about her in every way. I'm sure, being a friend
of her ladyship at the Manor, you mean kindly by
her; but whatever would she do visiting with fine
people like you ? "
Miriam sat listening to this speech, with a curious
smile on her lips. To Delia the scene was extremely
painful. She had come wishing to give pleasure, and
seemed to have done nothing but harm.
" Oh, we are not fine people in the least ! " she cried.
" We won't do any harm to your daughter — we wish
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to know her better, because we admire her powers of
mind."
" Miriam's powers of mind ! " echoed Mrs. Sadler.
Often she had lamented over what she considered the
hopeless stamp of her daughter's intellect. How fre-
quently, for instance, she had been unable to follow
Mr. Hobbes's more argumentative sermons in chapel,
and had not been ashamed to say so. As a rule,
mothers are apt to think too highly of the abilities
of their offspring; but there afe exceptions to every
rule, and Mrs. Sadler was one of these. The dictum
of the Pillar connection had always been that Miriam
was "disappointing," and Mrs. Sadler had agreed in
this verdict. Now from the lips of a stranger she
heard the astonishing statement that her daughter had
powers of mind; she could scarcely believe what she
heard.
Things were then at this disagreeable pass when
Mrs. Hobbes made her appearance coming up to the
door. Never had Mrs. Hobbes been so sincerely wel-
comed before by Miriam. " Mother, there is Mrs.
Hobbes coming to the door ; she probably wishes to see
you," she said. Mrs. Sadler did not need to hear this
twice ; she probably was feeling the situation difficult,
also.
" ril just go and see what she wants, if you'll excuse
me," she said, rising, with an air of evident relief, to
leave the room.
As the door closed, Miriam turned to her visitor.
" My mother cannot understand," she said slowly.
" She does not understand me, or any of the things
I am interested in."
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" I see, I see/' said Delia Gore quickly. " But you
will come, will you not?" She hesitated a moment,
and then added, " You won't have these stupid feel-
ings about class, will you? We think it is possible
to forget them — ^Alan and I — we like to know people
for themselves, not for their circumstances."
Miriam had quite got over her momentary feeling
of constraint with Miss Gore; something about her
made her feel it easy to discuss even such a difficult
subject as this was.
" I am sure what you say should be true," she said ;
"but if it were only a question of knowing people
themselves, why don't you come and stay here with
me? We would really know each other better that
way; you know nothing at all about my kind of life,
I suppose."
"Oh, how nice you are!" cried Delia, laughing.
Miriam laughed, too, but she added :
" We should then require to talk all the time about
books and ideas, because these would be the only things
we had in common."
" You do go to the very root of things ! " Delia ex-
claimed admiringly.
" I generally see the real truth about things, I think,"
Miriam admitted ; " and that's the truth about this. I
want to come and stay with you, and be friends with
you. Miss Gore, but I wonder if such a friendship could
be possible ? "
" Well, will you come and try ? " Delia persisted.
Miriam sat and thought in silence for a minute or
two. She looked at Delia Gore, at her beautiful
clothes, then down at her own dress. It was not even
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peculiar, just ordinary to the last degree — it spoke
of class: not the dress of a working woman, not the
dress of a lady — just midway between the two.
" I would have to come to you looking as I do to-
day," she said at last ; " and that is quite different from
you. I do not care about dress — I wish I did. I do
not know what to wear, as women like you do."
Delia Gore laughed again.
" The author of the * Treatise on Democracy '
should not have all these scruples," she said.
Perhaps it was this final argument that won the day.
At any rate, when Delia left the house a few minutes
later, Miriam had promised to go to London and stay
with her. Mrs. Sadler came back to the parlor and
sank down into the armchair.
" I really don't know what to say or think," she
said. " Fm so put about I've given up the prayer
meeting. Whatever was this about your going to Lon-
don to visit people you never saw before ? "
Miriam drew her chair nearer to where her mother
sat, and endeavored to make the whole thing plain to
her. But even when she had grasped the facts of the
case, Mrs. Sadler shook her head.
" I don't know as I should let you think of it," she
said. " I must go over to the Manor to-morrow and
see Aunt Pillar about it. I think a g^eat deal of her
advice, and she can tell me all about these Gores."
Miriam said nothing. She knew that as her aunt
decreed, for or against, so her fate would be decided.
From a certain vulgar strength of character, Aunt
Pillar had gained a g^eat ascendancy over her rela-
tives. Combined with this, her position at the Manor
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had given her what her family considered a great
knowledge of the world, and so her opinion was law
with them all.
Aunt Pillar had, as she would have expressed it,
" no opinion " of her niece Miriam. She considered
her a failure — a. woman not likely to marry, and not
able to make a place for herself in the world without
a husband. Once or twice, in a tentative sort of way,
she had suggested that Miriam might be the better
for having something to do, and had even hinted that
it would be possible to " speak to her ladyship for her."
But Miriam did not look upon Lady Joyce as the well-
spring of all things, as Aunt Pillar did, and had re-
ceived the suggestion coldly. She knew that the sort
of position her aunt wanted her to get, would never
satisfy her.
" ril go over early to-morrow," Mrs. Sadler re-
peated; "but I scarcely think Aunt Pillar will ap-
prove of it."
" Very well, mother ; but do you think it much mat-
ters whether she approves or not?" Miriam asked —
an unfortunate question which only provoked the usual
retort :
" Oh, dear! Whatever will you say next? "
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CHAPTER XIV
Mrs. Sadler timed her visit to her sister better
than Miriam had done on that hot and momentous
Sunday afternoon when she first saw Mr. Alan Gore.
Aunt Pillar's after-dinner nap was over, and she was
therefore in a most amiable mood to receive visitors.
Domestic matters had been going smoothly, too, at
the Manor, so she greeted her sister very pleasantly.
" I'm glad to see you, Priscilla ; come and sit down ;
it's not often I've a visit from you. I'll be having my
tea directly," she said, drawing up a chair for her
sister.
Mrs. Sadler sat down and threw oflF her mantle,
exclaiming at the heat.
" I've come to consult you, Susan," she said then,
with an air of great importance.
Aunt Pillar drew her chair closer to the table, and
folded her fat hands on the bright magenta table-
cloth in an attitude of attention.
" Well, and what may it be — ^not. money matters, I
hope? I warned you against them building societies
years ago."
" No, no ; not money matters at all ; it's Miriam."
The family oracle pursed her lips with an air of
extraordinary wisdom. She had surmised that ere
long Miriam would "cause trouble."
" Fm not altogether surprised, Priscilla," she said.
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" IVe always considered her a strange prl — she's un-
natural. I wish I saw her more like Jim's girls — see
how well they are going off." (By this phrase Aunt
Pillar signified marriage.) " But Miriam never seems
to take up with any young men. She's too fond of
books ; I wouldn't allow it ; you never have been firm
enough with the girl."
Aunt Pillar shook her head, looking very g^ave in-
deed. She had decided not to trouble her sister with
the story of Mr. Gore and the books; but now she
wondered if any whisper of it had reached her.
" You say you wouldn't allow it, Susan ; but the girl
does it in spite of me. She's been what she calls
* studying ' three hours every day of late."
" Come, now, I call that intolerable," said Aunt
Pillar. She brought down her clinched hand on the
table with a thump. " Quite intolerable. Study is just
a luxury for rich people, like any other. If she wishes
to work (but she doesn't), let her be a school-teacher
and do work that will pay, work that there is some
money in. I have no patience with such nonsense ! "
"Well, but listen, Susan. This was bad enough;
but didn't I find out yesterday that she's been writing/'
"Writing I'' echoed Aunt Pillar. "What has she
to write about ? But I'll tell you what it is, Priscilla,
the girl is very conceited. Things have come to my
knowledge you would scarcely believe. I didn't mean
to tell you ; but now perhaps I should "
"Is it about this Mr. Gore?" Mrs. Sadler asked,
unable to restrain herself.
"That's it. So she has told you, has she? Two
months ago she met him in this room, and that same
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week she had the presumption to speak to him on the
road, and ask him to lend her books. I'll warrant she
never told you that,"
"O Susan, it can't be true; my. girl surely would
never be so forward ! "
" As I understand, it was this way : Mr. Gore came
to see me that same evening and asked most particu-
larly about Miriam, your circumstances and altogether.
But I've never heard since if he sent the books ; that's
another story."
" Yes, he did, but not to our house ; they were sent
to the house of that Miss Foxe that Miriam has made
up with, and it's there she has been studying; and now
she has sent this that she wrote to Mr. Gore J*
"You don't say so! 'Tis downright disgraceful!
Whatever can we do with the girl ? And Mr. Gore such
a fine gentleman, too; own cousin to her ladyship!"
" However did my Miriam think to do such a
thing ! " Mrs. Sadler moaned.
" Well, you shall have the truth, then," said Aunt
Pillar ; " and you may believe it or not, as you like.
Hoskins, the butler, told me that on the fete day, Mr.
Alan Gore brought Miriam into the house by the front
door, walked her through the hall and took her into
the library. There they were for close on half an hour,
and Goodness alone knows what the girl was saying
to him all that time. Now, that's gospel truth ; Hos-
kins told me, and Hoskins had it from the footmen
that saw them come in."
Mrs. Sadler was quite overcome by this bit of cir-
cumstantial evidence against her daughter. Dark con-
jectures flitted across her fancy. She leaned forward.
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" What I want to know, Susan, is what sort of a
gentleman may this Mr. Alan Gore be ? "
'*Why, a very fine gentleman, indeed, Priscilla.
One of the Gores of Replands. You may see his name
in the papers any day, too, speakin' here and speakin'
there, and so much thought of. He's never here but
there's a big dinner and half the county to meet
him."
" That kind, I've often heard, are just the worst,"
said Mrs. Sadler; and then dropping her voice to a
thrilling whisper she added, " for running after the
women."
But here Aunt Pillar burst into a huge, unrestrained
laugh.
"O Priscilla, Priscilla! you may keep your silly
mind easy there ! Mr. Alan Gore running after Mir-
iam for bad ends ! Oh, dear I oh, dear ! Miriam that
hasn't a beau in her own rank ; the men never look at
her. No, no, it's not that that troubles me, it's the
presumption of the girl — set her up ! "
Mrs. Sadler was hugely relieved. She had pic-
tured Alan Gore to herself as a sort of Don Juan.
" Tell me, then, why does he take this interest in my
Miriam ? " she asked.
" Oh, 111 be bound she has made up some fine story
to him about her love of study. Mr. Gore's great for
education and philanthropy. That's how she caught
him."
But Mrs. Sadler had reserved her best news to the
end. She now produced it.
" Miss Gore, his sister, is at the Manor just now, I
understand?"
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"Yes, Miss Delia; what about her?"
" Give me time, Susan. Well, she came to call at
our house yesterday afternoon, and before she left
she had it all arranged that Miriam is to visit her in
London/^
The last clause of this sentence was whispered, and
Mrs. Sadler cast a frightened glance round as she
spoke.
Aunt Pillar made short work with this story.
** I don't believe it," she said ; " and that's flat."
" Well, my dear, you may believe it or not, as you
like, but my ears heard it, and my tongue's telling
what I heard," retorted Mrs. Sadler, a little nettled
by her sister's incredulity.
" Well, I never did ! Miriam to visit with the Gores
in London! Are you sure, Priscilla, that you made
no mistake? "
" None whatever. They seemed to have it all ar-
ranged; but the question is, is she to be allowed to
go?''
Aunt Pillar leaned back in her chair and folded her
hands across her waist. She pushed out her under
lip in an expression of deep deliberation, and sat silent
for quite five minutes, till her sister cried out impa-
tiently :
"Can't you give me an answer, Susan?"
" I'm just calculating back and forth," Aunt Pillar
replied. " This you've told me has altered my ideas
of the girl a good deal. You see, Priscilla, Mr. Gore's
no ordinary man, and if he thinks so highly of the
girl as to condescend to ask her to stay with them,
why, it's plain he must see more in her than we see.
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It may be the making of her in some way. Mr. Gore
has influence, you see, in so many ways; but yet I
can't see Miriam visiting at that house ; why, the serv-
ants' suppers will be finer than the dinners she's used
to at home ! "
"Then, there's another thing," said Mrs. Sadler.
" I've heard Mr. Gore spoken of as a freethinker. I
fear at least he has very loose views on religion."
Aunt Pillar had not, however, the overreligiosity
of her sister; in fact, she had more than once openly
expostulated with her on her overstrict notions.
" You'll never get that girl off your hands, bring-
ing her up so strict," she had said. So now she would
not hear a word of this new difiiculty.
" No, no. Mr. Alan Gore won't hurt your daugh-
ter," she said.
" Then you think she should go? "
** I think so, Priscilla. I think so, on the whole.
Depend upon it, they have some scheme to help the
girl. But I must say of all the ideas — Miriam to visit
with the Gores ! Well, well I "
Had Mrs. Sadler had a scrap of motherly pride in
her nature, this openly expressed astonishment must
have roused it, but she had not. Miriam was the last
sort of daughter she would have chosen to possess;
their tastes were too radically different to meet at any
point; she viewed her with more bewilderment than
affection.
As Mrs. Sadler, a little later, rose to go, Aunt Pillar
asked her to wait a minute. She went over to a writ-
ing table which stood in the window, and unlocking
a drawer, took from it two five-pound notes.
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" Here, Priscilla," she said. " Put this in your purse,
and give it to Miriam from me. Tell her I refused
her money to spend on study; but this is different.
Tell her to get a new dress and hat. A black cash-
mere with some beads would be quiet and dressy both.
She'll need it. See, put these in your purse."
" I'm sure you're very kind, Susan. Miriam won't
know what to say," the mother murmured, as she
squeezed the notes into her purse. "I must be off
now, and thank you for your advice and for this."
Aunt Pillar saw her sister to the door, and then re-
turned to the parlor, there to marvel afresh over the
visit that her niece was to pay to the Gores.
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CHAPTER XV
Miriam stood looking round her bedroom in the
Gores' London house. Her yellow tin trunk had been
brought upstairs, and lay forlornly on the luggage
stand, waiting to be unpacked. She felt very insig-
nificant in the large room; a feeling of shy sadness
came over her; had she come here to stay with these
great, clever people, only to be mortified, and find out
her own worthlessness ?
Instead of unpacking the yellow trunk, she sat down
and covered her face with her hands. There she sat,
reviewing the position in which she found herself.
Here she was, among people whose world was so dif-
ferent from her own, that she sometimes scarcely knew
what they were talking about. The size of the house
bewildered her, the servants frightened her ; and above
all, oh, how she longed to please her entertainers, to
show them they had not been mistaken in her ! What
was the best way to face the situation, she wondered ?
Miriam took from her pocket that little blank book we