Louis got up the next morning with an idea in his head. He had dressed

for a journey, and breakfasted hastily.

Before he had started Viviette came downstairs. Louis, who was now

greatly disturbed about her, went up to his sister and took her hand.

'Aux grands maux les grands remedes,' he said, gravely. 'I have a plan.' 'I have a dozen!' said she.

'You have?' 'Yes. But what are they worth? And yet there must--there _must_ be a

way!' 'Viviette,' said Louis, 'promise that you will wait till I come home to-

night, before you do anything.' Her distracted eyes showed slight comprehension of his request as she said 'Yes.' An hour after that time Louis entered the train at Warborne, and was

speedily crossing a country of ragged woodland, which, though intruded on

by the plough at places, remained largely intact from prehistoric times,

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and still abounded with yews of gigantic growth and oaks tufted with

mistletoe. It was the route to Melchester.

On setting foot in that city he took the cathedral spire as his guide,

the place being strange to him; and went on till he reached the archway

dividing Melchester sacred from Melchester secular. Thence he threaded

his course into the precincts of the damp and venerable Close, level as a

bowling-green, and beloved of rooks, who from their elm perches on high

threatened any unwary gazer with the mishap of Tobit. At the corner of

this reposeful spot stood the episcopal palace.

Louis entered the gates, rang the bell, and looked around. Here the

trees and rooks seemed older, if possible, than those in the Close behind

him. Everything was dignified, and he felt himself like Punchinello in

the king's chambers. Verily in the present case Glanville was not a man

to stick at trifles any more than his illustrious prototype; and on the

servant bringing a message that his lordship would see him at once, Louis

marched boldly in.

Through an old dark corridor, roofed with old dark beams, the servant led

the way to the heavily-moulded door of the Bishop's room. Dr.

Helmsdale was there, and welcomed Louis with considerable stateliness. But his

condescension was tempered with a curious anxiety, and even with

nervousness.

He asked in pointed tones after the health of Lady Constantine; if Louis

had brought an answer to the letter he had addressed to her a day or two

earlier; and if the contents of the letter, or of the previous one, were

known to him.

'I have brought no answer from her,' said Louis. 'But the contents of

your letter have been made known to me.' Since entering the building Louis had more than once felt some hesitation, and it might now, with a favouring manner from his

entertainer, have operated to deter him from going further with his

intention. But the Bishop had personal weaknesses that were fatal to

sympathy for more than a moment.

'Then I may speak in confidence to you as her nearest relative,' said the

prelate, 'and explain that I am now in a position with regard to Lady

Constantine which, in view of the important office I hold, I should not

have cared to place myself in unless I had felt quite sure of not being

refused by her. And hence it is a great grief, and some mortification to

me, that I was refused--owing, of course, to the fact that I unwittingly

risked making my proposal at the very moment when she was under the

influence of those strange tidings, and therefore not herself, and

scarcely able to judge what was best for her.' The Bishop's words disclosed a mind whose sensitive fear of danger to its own dignity hindered it from criticism elsewhere. Things might have been worse for Louis's Puck-like idea of mis-mating his Hermia with this

Demetrius.

Throwing a strong colour of earnestness into his mien he replied:

'Bishop, Viviette is my only sister; I am her only brother and friend.

I am alarmed for her health and state of mind. Hence I have come to

consult you on this very matter that you have broached. I come

absolutely without her knowledge, and I hope unconventionality may be

excused in me on the score of my anxiety for her.' 'Certainly. I trust that the prospect opened up by my proposal, combined with this other news, has not proved too much for her?' 'My sister is distracted and distressed, Bishop Helmsdale. She wants

comfort.' 'Not distressed by my letter?' said the Bishop, turning red. 'Has it

lowered me in her estimation?' 'On the contrary; while your disinterested offer was uppermost in her

mind she was a different woman. It is this other matter that oppresses

her. The result upon her of the recent discovery with regard to the late

Sir Blount Constantine is peculiar. To say that he ill-used her in his

lifetime is to understate a truth. He has been dead now a considerable

period; but this revival of his memory operates as a sort of terror upon

her. Images of the manner of Sir Blount's death are with her night and

day, intensified by a hideous picture of the supposed scene, which was

cruelly sent her. She dreads being alone. Nothing will restore my poor

Viviette to her former cheerfulness but a distraction--a hope--a new

prospect.' 'That is precisely what acceptance of my offer would afford.' 'Precisely,' said Louis, with great respect. 'But how to get her to avail herself of it, after once refusing you, is the difficulty, and my

earnest problem.' 'Then we are quite at one.' 'We are. And it is to promote our wishes that I am come; since she will do nothing of herself.' 'Then you can give me no hope of a reply to my second communication?' 'None whatever--by letter,' said Louis. 'Her impression plainly is that

she cannot encourage your lordship. Yet, in the face of all this

reticence, the secret is that she loves you warmly.' 'Can you indeed assure me of that? Indeed, indeed!' said the good Bishop musingly. 'Then I must try to see her. I begin to feel--to feel

strongly--that a course which would seem premature and unbecoming in

other cases would be true and proper conduct in this. Her unhappy

dilemmas--her unwonted position--yes, yes--I see it all! I can afford to

have some little misconstruction put upon my motives. I will go and see

her immediately. Her past has been a cruel one; she wants sympathy; and

with Heaven's help I'll give it.' 'I think the remedy lies that way,' said Louis gently. 'Some words came

from her one night which seemed to show it. I was standing on the

terrace: I heard somebody sigh in the dark, and found that it was she.

I asked her what was the matter, and gently pressed her on this subject of

boldly and promptly contracting a new marriage as a means of dispersing

the horrors of the old. Her answer implied that she would have no

objection to do it, and to do it at once, provided she could remain

externally passive in the matter, that she would tacitly yield, in fact,

to pressure, but would not meet solicitation half-way. Now, Bishop

Helmsdale, you see what has prompted me. On the one hand is a dignitary

of high position and integrity, to say no more, who is anxious to save

her from the gloom of her situation; on the other is this sister, who

will not make known to you her willingness to be saved--partly from

apathy, partly from a fear that she may be thought forward in responding

favourably at so early a moment, partly also, perhaps, from a modest

sense that there would be some sacrifice on your part in allying yourself

with a woman of her secluded and sad experience.' 'O, there is no sacrifice! Quite otherwise. I care greatly for this alliance, Mr. Glanville. Your sister is very dear to me. Moreover, the

advantages her mind would derive from the enlarged field of activity that

the position of a bishop's wife would afford, are palpable. I am induced

to think that an early settlement of the question--an immediate coming to

the point--which might be called too early in the majority of cases,

would be a right and considerate tenderness here. My only dread is that

she should think an immediate following up of the subject premature.

And the risk of a rebuff a second time is one which, as you must perceive, it

would be highly unbecoming in me to run.' 'I think the risk would be small, if your lordship would approach her frankly. Write she will not, I am assured; and knowing that, and having

her interest at heart, I was induced to come to you and make this candid

statement in reply to your communication. Her late husband having been

virtually dead these four or five years, believed dead two years, and

actually dead nearly one, no reproach could attach to her if she were to

contract another union to-morrow.' 'I agree with you, Mr. Glanville,' said the Bishop warmly. 'I will think this over. Her motive in not replying I can quite understand: your

motive in coming I can also understand and appreciate in a brother. If I

feel convinced that it would be a seemly and expedient thing I will come

to Welland to-morrow.' The point to which Louis had brought the Bishop being so satisfactory, he

feared to endanger it by another word. He went away almost hurriedly,

and at once left the precincts of the cathedral, lest another encounter

with Dr. Helmsdale should lead the latter to take a new and slower view

of his duties as Viviette's suitor.

He reached Welland by dinner-time, and came upon Viviette in the same

pensive mood in which he had left her. It seemed she had hardly moved

since.

'Have you discovered Swithin St. Cleeve's address?' she said, without

looking up at him.

'No,' said Louis.

Then she broke out with indescribable anguish: 'But you asked me to wait

till this evening; and I have waited through the long day, in the belief

that your words meant something, and that you would bring good tidings!

And now I find your words meant nothing, and you have _not_ brought good

tidings!' Louis could not decide for a moment what to say to this. Should he

venture to give her thoughts a new course by a revelation of his design?

No: it would be better to prolong her despair yet another night, and

spring relief upon her suddenly, that she might jump at it and commit

herself without an interval for reflection on certain aspects of the

proceeding.

Nothing, accordingly, did he say; and conjecturing that she would be

hardly likely to take any desperate step that night, he left her to

herself.

His anxiety at this crisis continued to be great. Everything depended on

the result of the Bishop's self-communion. Would he or would he not come

the next day? Perhaps instead of his important presence there would

appear a letter postponing the visit indefinitely. If so, all would be

lost.

Louis's suspense kept him awake, and he was not alone in his

sleeplessness. Through the night he heard his sister walking up and

down, in a state which betokened that for every pang of grief she had

disclosed, twice as many had remained unspoken. He almost feared that

she might seek to end her existence by violence, so unreasonably sudden

were her moods; and he lay and longed for the day.

It was morning. She came down the same as usual, and asked if there had

arrived any telegram or letter; but there was neither. Louis avoided

her, knowing that nothing he could say just then would do her any good.

No communication had reached him from the Bishop, and that looked well.

By one ruse and another, as the day went on, he led her away from

contemplating the remote possibility of hearing from Swithin, and induced

her to look at the worst contingency as her probable fate. It seemed as

if she really made up her mind to this, for by the afternoon she was

apathetic, like a woman who neither hoped nor feared.

And then a fly drove up to the door.

Louis, who had been standing in the hall the greater part of that day,

glanced out through a private window, and went to Viviette. 'The Bishop

has called,' he said. 'Be ready to see him.' 'The Bishop of Melchester?' said Viviette, bewildered.

'Yes. I asked him to come. He comes for an answer to his letters.' 'An answer--to--his--letters?' she murmured.

'An immediate reply of yes or no.' Her face showed the workings of her mind. How entirely an answer of assent, at once acted on for better or for worse, would clear the spectre

from her path, there needed no tongue to tell. It would, moreover,

accomplish that end without involving the impoverishment of Swithin--the

inevitable result if she had adopted the legitimate road out of her

trouble. Hitherto there had seemed to her dismayed mind, unenlightened

as to any course save one of honesty, no possible achievement of _both_

her desires--the saving of Swithin and the saving of herself. But

behold, here was a way! A tempter had shown it to her. It involved a

great wrong, which to her had quite obscured its feasibility. But she

perceived now that it was indeed a way. Nature was forcing her hand at

this game; and to what will not nature compel her weaker victims, in

extremes?

Louis left her to think it out. When he reached the drawing-room Dr.

Helmsdale was standing there with the air of a man too good for his

destiny--which, to be just to him, was not far from the truth this time.

'Have you broken my message to her?' asked the Bishop sonorously.

'Not your message; your visit,' said Louis. 'I leave the rest in your

Lordship's hands. I have done all I can for her.' She was in her own small room to-day; and, feeling that it must be a bold stroke or none, he led the Bishop across the hall till he reached her

apartment and opened the door; but instead of following he shut it behind

his visitor.

Then Glanville passed an anxious time. He walked from the foot of the

staircase to the star of old swords and pikes on the wall; from these to

the stags' horns; thence down the corridor as far as the door, where he

could hear murmuring inside, but not its import. The longer they

remained closeted the more excited did he become. That she had not

peremptorily negatived the proposal at the outset was a strong sign of

its success. It showed that she had admitted argument; and the worthy

Bishop had a pleader on his side whom he knew little of. The very

weather seemed to favour Dr. Helmsdale in his suit. A blusterous wind

had blown up from the west, howling in the smokeless chimneys, and

suggesting to the feminine mind storms at sea, a tossing ocean, and the

hopeless inaccessibility of all astronomers and men on the other side of

the same.

The Bishop had entered Viviette's room at ten minutes past three. The

long hand of the hall clock lay level at forty-five minutes past when the

knob of the door moved, and he came out. Louis met him where the passage

joined the hall.

Dr. Helmsdale was decidedly in an emotional state, his face being

slightly flushed. Louis looked his anxious inquiry without speaking it.

'She accepts me,' said the Bishop in a low voice. 'And the wedding is to

be soon. Her long solitude and sufferings justify haste. What you said

was true. Sheer weariness and distraction have driven her to me. She

was quite passive at last, and agreed to anything I proposed--such is the

persuasive force of trained logical reasoning! A good and wise woman,

she perceived what a true shelter from sadness was offered in me, and was

not the one to despise Heaven's gift.'




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