.The
bells
of
the
horses
jingled
as
they
went
;
the
melancholy
shrilling
of
insects
rose
from
the
fields
all
round
;
the
vine‐garlands
creaked
in
the
wind
.
The
two
children
were
speedily
asleep
—
one
with
her
head
on
Hamlin’s
shoulder
,
the
other
wrapped
in
her
nurse’s
shawl
.
Anne
Brown
bent
over
the
side
of
the
waggonette
,
a
dark
outline
,
the
damp
night
breeze
catching
her
hair
.
Neither
spoke
.
Hamlin
felt
a
sense
of
guilt
stealing
over
him
;
of
guilt
for
nothing
very
definite
;
of
guilt
towards
no
one
else
,
but
towards
himself
.
The
drive
passed
like
a
dream
.
Suddenly
the
wheels
grated
on
the
gravel
of
the
villa
garden
;
dogs
barked
;
lights
appeared
;
the
children
were
lifted
out
of
the
carriage
asleep
;
and
the
voice
of
Perry
whispered
to
Hamlin
—
“
I
caught
it
nicely
when
I
came
home
—
I
don’t
know
why
,
upon
my
soul
!
I’m
sure
I
wish
I
had
remained
and
amused
myself
with
you
.
”
“
I
wish
you
had
,
”
said
Hamlin
quite
seriously
,
always
with
the
sense
of
vague
guilt
towards
himself
;
then
added
,
—
“
By
the
way
,
old
man
,
I
fear
I
really
must
go
on
to
Florence
to‐morrow
afternoon
.
”
CHAPTER
IX
.
PERRY
could
not
at
first
understand
his
friend’s
sudden
decision
,
and
violently
combated
it
.
But
after
a
little
while
he
said
to
himself
that
it
must
have
been
fearfully
dull
for
Hamlin
at
the
Villa
Arnolfini
,
and
that
to
have
stayed
so
long
was
already
much
more
than
a
miserable
being
like
himself
could
expect
.
So
that
when
his
wife
nearly
went
into
hysterics
at
the
notion
of
Hamlin
—
their
poet‐painter
,
as
she
called
him
—
suddenly
departing
,
he
represented
to
her
,
with
more
emphasis
than
was
his
wont
,
that
Hamlin
had
bored
himself
to
death
,
and
must
be
bored
no
longer
.
“
And
where
are
you
going
?
”
asked
the
limp
and
Sapphic
lady
,
as
they
sat
at
lunch
.
“
I
have
no
notion
,
”
answered
Hamlin
.
“
I
know
nothing
beyond
Florence
for
three
days
.
I
may
go
on
to
Rome
,
Naples
,
Egypt
,
America
,
Japan
,
or
return
to
Hammersmith
.
I
have
no
notion
.
”
“
Ah
,
these
poets
!
”
cried
Mrs
Perry
;
“
they
never
can
tell
whither
their
soul
may
waft
their
body
.
”
When
they
had
finished
,
Hamlin
asked
whether
he
might
say
good‐bye
to
Anne
Brown
.
“
I
have
a
little
farewell
gift
to
make
her
,
”
he
explained
.
Anne
Brown
was
summoned
into
the
studio
;
she
evidently
had
only
just
heard
the
news
.
“
Are
you
going
away
,
sir
,
really
?
”
she
asked
.
“
Yes
,
”
answered
Hamlin
,
drily
;
“
I
expect
the
gig
must
be
waiting
for
me
already
.
”
“
And
—
are
you
not
going
to
return
,
Mr
Hamlin
?
”
“
Oh
no
;
I
think
I
shall
go
to
America
this
winter
.
”
She
was
silent
,
and
stood
by
the
table
in
the
attitude
of
a
servant
waiting
for
further
orders
.
“
Before
I
go
away
,
”
said
Hamlin
,
“
I
want
to
thank
you
,
Miss
Brown
,
for
your
kindness
and
patience
,
which
have
enabled
me
to
make
a
sketch
which
will
be
very
valuable
for
one
of
my
next
pictures
,
and
,
”
he
added
,
as
she
merely
nodded
her
head
,
“
I
want
to
beg
you
to
accept
a
little
gift
in
remembrance
of
all
the
trouble
I
have
given
you
.
”
Anne
Brown
flushed
,
and
her
face
suddenly
changed
,
as
if
a
whip‐cord
had
passed
across
it
.
Hamlin
took
the
little
vellum‐bound
volume
from
his
pocket
.
“
You
told
me
you
had
never
read
the
‘Vita
Nuova
,
’
Miss
Brown
,
”
he
said
,
“
so
I
venture
to
ask
you
to
accept
this
copy
of
it
.
I
don’t
know
whether
you
like
old
books
;
I
think
them
much
prettier
to
look
at
.
Good‐bye
.
”
The
girl’s
face
cleared
into
a
kind
of
radiance
.
“
Thank
you
so
much
,
”
she
said
;
“
I
will
read
it
often
.
”
“
And
think
of
me
sometimes
and
the
trouble
I
gave
you
?
”
“
It
was
my
duty
,
since
Mrs
Perry
wished
it
,
sir
.
Good‐bye
—
a
good
journey
to
you
.
”
“
Good‐bye
,
Miss
Brown
.
”
BOOK
II
.
CHAPTER
I
.
WALTER
HAMLIN
did
not
go
to
America
.
On
leaving
the
Villa
Arnolfini
,
he
met
at
Florence
some
artist
friends
,
who
,
in
his
condition
of
utter
absence
of
plans
,
easily
drew
him
on
with
them
to
Siena
and
Perugia
,
thence
into
the
smaller
Umbrian
cities
,
and
finally
into
a
wholly
unexplored
region
between
the
Abruzzo
and
the
Adriatic
.
By
the
time
that
their
sketching
and
article‐writing
expedition
was
at
an
end
,
the
winter
had
come
round
,
and
more
than
three
months
had
elapsed
since
Hamlin
had
parted
with
the
Perrys
.
Would
Hamlin
return
with
his
friends
to
England
?
He
had
often
said
that
he
had
had
enough
of
Italy
—
that
he
would
go
home
and
shut
himself
up
in
his
studio
at
Hammersmith
,
among
smoke
and
river‐fogs
,
seeing
not
a
living
creature
,
learning
Persian
and
studying
Sufi
poets
until
next
spring
,
when
he
would
set
off
for
the
East
,
never
more
to
return
to
Europe
,
except
for
the
Grosvenor
private
view
.
But
when
the
moment
for
return
north
approached
,
Hamlin
began
to
hesitate
;
and
the
very
day
before
his
friends’
departure
,
he
informed
them
that
he
had
come
to
the
conclusion
that
there
was
still
some
work
for
him
to
do
in
Italy
.
“
I
shall
be
in
England
at
the
end
of
two
months
at
latest
,
”
he
said
.
And
on
their
remonstrating
at
his
fickleness
,
he
merely
answered
—
“
I
have
a
notion
for
a
new
picture
,
and
I
think
I
have
found
my
model
for
it
.
”
“
‘The
Queen
of
Night’
in
your
portfolio
,
”
suggested
one
of
his
friends
.
They
had
noticed
and
generally
admired
that
strange
head
,
the
like
of
which
none
of
them
had
ever
seen
before
,
and
they
had
given
the
drawing
,
which
Hamlin
described
merely
as
“
a
girl
near
Lucca
,
”
the
nickname
of
“
The
Queen
of
Night
.
”
“
Yes
,
”
answered
Hamlin
,
“
that’s
the
one
I’m
thinking
about
.
”
So
the
rest
of
the
party
set
sail
from
Civita
Vecchia
;
and
one
drizzly
,
foggy
morning
,
Hamlin
got
into
the
train
to
carry
him
northward
to
Florence
.
During
those
three
months
,
he
could
scarcely
himself
have
explained
when
or
how
,
strange
notions
had
come
into
Hamlin’s
head
,
and
a
still
stranger
plan
had
finally
matured
in
it
.
He
had
been
haunted
by
the
remembrance
of
the
Perrys’
nursemaid
at
the
Villa
Arnolfini
,
and
gradually
taken
to
brooding
and
day‐dreaming
about
her
.
He
had
made
up
his
mind
that
Anne
Brown
was
the
most
beautiful
girl
,
in
the
strangest
style
,
whom
he
had
ever
met
.
What
was
to
be
her
future
?
Of
two
possibilities
one
must
be
realised
.
Either
this
magnificent
blossom
was
to
be
untimely
nipped
,
—
this
beautiful
and
strange
girl
was
to
fritter
away
her
life
,
unnoticed
,
wasted
,
to
little
by
little
lose
her
beauty
,
her
dignity
,
her
grandeur
,
her
whole
imaginative
aroma
;
or
the
rare
plant
of
beauty
was
to
be
cherished
,
nursed
into
perfection
,
till
it
burst
out
in
maturity
of
splendour
,
a
thing
of
delight
for
the
present
and
of
wonder
for
the
future
.
Either
Anne
Brown
must
turn
into
a
sordid
nursery‐governess
,
or
into
the
avowedly
most
beautiful
woman
in
England
—
that
is
to
say
,
in
the
particular
pre‐Raphaelite
society
which
constituted
England
to
him
.
Yet
not
necessarily
;
there
was
still
a
middle
course
—
she
might
marry
some
small
shopkeeper
or
teacher
of
languages
at
Florence
;
or
,
perhaps
,
some
artist
might
notice
her
,
make
her
his
mistress
,
perhaps
his
wife
.
This
last
thought
of
Anne
Brown
as
the
possible
wife
of
some
other
Melton
Perry
(
for
they
were
all
Melton
Perrys
at
Florence
)
filled
Hamlin
with
a
vague
disgust
and
irritation
.
Much
better
that
she
should
end
her
life
as
a
nursery‐maid
,
or
a
daily
governess
at
a
franc
the
hour
.
Still
,
it
was
dreadful
to
think
that
something
so
unique
should
be
lost
,
wasted
for
ever
.
“
Such
things
must
be
,
”
said
Hamlin
to
himself
;
“
it
is
sad
,
but
it
can’t
be
helped
.
”
And
he
wrote
two
sonnets
,
“
Lost
Loveliness
,
”
and
“
Stillborn
Joy
,
”
which
were
extremely
beautiful
,
and
quite
among
the
finest
he
ever
wrote
.
But
this
did
not
despatch
the
subject
.
The
sense
of
having
made
the
most
of
the
fact
that
this
loveliness
was
to
be
wasted
,
this
joy
of
beauty
to
be
stillborn
,
did
not
make
up
for
the
consciousness
that
the
waste
,
the
abortion
,
had
not
actually
taken
place
,
might
yet
be
prevented
,
and
were
dreadful
in
themselves
.
Was
he
,
Hamlin
,
to
marry
Anne
Brown
?
He
shrank
in
terror
from
so
Quixotic
,
and
at
the
same
time
so
commonplace
,
so
school‐girlish
a
thought
.
But
if
he
did
not
marry
her
no
other
man
could
;
at
least
,
no
other
man
who
was
to
prevent
the
act
of
wastefulness
to
be
consummated
.
She
might
marry
a
clerk
,
a
shopkeeper
,
even
a
servant
,
or
even
some
miserable
little
Anglo‐Florentine
artist
;
but
if
she
married
a
man
above
that
,
a
man
to
appreciate
and
make
the
most
of
her
,
that
man
must
evidently
be
himself
.
It
is
difficult
to
follow
the
logic
of
this
notion
;
but
certain
it
is
that
Hamlin
never
doubted
for
a
second
that
either
Anne
Brown
must
bloom
for
him
and
by
him
,
must
be
his
most
precious
possession
and
his
most
precious
loan
to
the
world
—
or
that
Anne
Brown
must
be
simply
and
deliberately
buried
under
a
bushel
.
Such
arguments
are
matters
of
character
,
I
suppose
;
be
it
as
it
may
,
the
argument
was
absolutely
cogent
.
When
Hamlin
had
got
thus
far
he
stopped
for
a
long
time
,
revolving
the
matter
in
his
mind
in
a
purely
abstract
way
,
without
attempting
to
realise
how
things
might
be
settled
.
He
was
not
a
man
of
action
or
of
resolves
,
and
would
usually
let
things
slip
on
and
look
at
them
slipping
;
and
during
this
ruminating
condition
,
he
did
not
once
seriously
ask
himself
whether
he
intended
marrying
the
Perrys’
nursemaid
.
But
suddenly
,
the
very
day
before
his
friends
were
to
carry
him
back
to
England
,
a
new
notion
came
into
his
head
.
His
life
seemed
suddenly
filled
with
romance
.
The
matter
was
settled
in
a
minute
.
Anne
Brown
was
to
be
filched
triumphantly
from
oblivion
:
he
telegraphed
Perry
to
hire
him
rooms
in
Florence
.
As
the
meeting
of
certain
chemical
substances
will
sometimes
produce
a
new
and
undreamt‐of
something
of
wholly
unprecedented
properties
,
so
ideas
had
come
in
collision
in
Hamlin’s
mind
,
and
out
of
a
mere
perplexity
had
arisen
a
stranger
scheme
—
out
of
the
question
what
should
be
the
fate
of
Anne
Brown
,
had
originated
the
decision
what
was
to
be
the
future
of
Walter
Hamlin
.
The
situations
seemed
changed
:
instead
of
his
being
a
mere
possible
,
but
by
no
means
probable
,
instrument
of
a
change
in
her
life
,
she
was
the
predestined
instrument
for
the
consummation
of
his
life
.
Anne
Brown
should
live
for
the
world
and
for
fame
;
and
Walter
Hamlin’s
life
should
be
crowned
by
gradually
endowing
with
vitality
,
and
then
wooing
,
awakening
the
love
of
this
beautiful
Galatea
whose
soul
he
had
moulded
,
even
as
Pygmalion
had
moulded
the
limbs
of
the
image
which
he
had
made
to
live
and
to
love
.
The
idea
,
once
present
to
Hamlin’s
mind
,
had
been
accepted
at
once
;
and
in
another
hour
he
had
worked
out
all
the
details
of
the
real
romance
in
which
he
was
embarking
;
he
had
determined
exactly
where
he
would
send
Anne
Brown
to
school
,
where
he
would
go
during
her
stay
there
,
what
settlements
he
would
make
to
ensure
her
complete
freedom
of
choice
when
she
should
choose
him
,
in
what
part
of
London
he
would
buy
a
house
for
her
,
which
of
his
female
relations
should
have
charge
of
her
,
by
whom
she
should
be
introduced
into
artistic
society
;
—
he
began
to
imagine
all
the
details
of
his
long
courtship
.
Beyond
the
courtship
,
into
their
actual
married
life
,
his
fancy
did
not
carry
him
;
it
was
that
year
,
or
two
or
three
years
of
gradually
growing
devotion
,
upon
which
he
cared
to
dwell
.
Whether
such
a
scheme
was
wise
or
right
it
never
occurred
to
him
to
question
.
He
had
determined
on
educating
,
wooing
,
and
marrying
a
woman
like
what
Anne
Brown
seemed
to
be
,
as
a
man
might
determine
to
buy
a
house
in
a
particular
fishing
or
hunting
district
—
the
only
thing
is
to
make
sure
whether
the
particular
house
is
the
suitable
house
.
The
only
further
concern
of
Hamlin
was
to
make
sure
that
Anne
Brown
was
really
all
that
she
seemed
to
him
to
be
;
and
Hamlin
looked
forward
as
to
a
kind
of
preliminary
romance
to
the
strange
inspection
,
this
minute
examination
of
a
creature
who
should
never
guess
the
extraordinary
metamorphosis
which
might
,
or
might
not
,
be
in
store
for
her
.
CHAPTER
II
.
A
WEEK
later
Hamlin
was
painting
Anne
Brown
in
a
studio
which
he
had
hired
for
three
months
.
She
had
manifested
some
pleasure
when
,
unexpectedly
,
Mrs
Perry
had
told
her
of
his
return
,
and
of
his
desire
to
have
her
once
more
for
a
model
;
but
the
manifestation
thereof
was
so
calm
,
or
rather
so
mingled
with
her
usual
haughty
indifference
,
that
her
romantic
and
passionate
mistress
had
forthwith
made
up
her
mind
that
Anne
Brown
was
a
mere
soulless
body
,
and
communicated
that
fact
to
her
husband
.
“
I
don’t
see
why
Annie
should
be
particularly
delighted
at
the
prospect
of
sitting
for
two
hours
,
twice
a‐week
,
with
her
head
raised
and
her
throat
outstretched
,
in
a
beastly
cold
studio
,
”
answered
Perry
,
affecting
,
as
he
frequently
did
,
from
a
curious
kind
of
coyness
,
not
to
understand
his
wife’s
underlying
meaning
.
“
She
is
a
mere
soulless
body
,
”
repeated
Mrs
Perry
—
“
as
indifferent
to
Hamlin
as
a
handsome
cow
would
be
.
”
“
Do
you
expect
her
to
throw
herself
into
Hamlin’s
arms
?
”
cried
Perry
,
angrily
.
“
I
expect
her
,
”
answered
Mrs
Perry
,
with
a
kind
of
haughty
mystery
and
sadness
,
“
to
be
a
woman
.
”
“
And
I
expect
you
to
attend
to
her
remaining
what
she
is
—
an
honest
girl
,
”
retorted
Perry
.
“
Melton
!
”
said
his
wife
solemnly
;
and
immediately
poor
Perry’s
principles
drooped
like
a
furled
sail
.
Melton
Perry
had
always
an
uncomfortable
feeling
of
responsibility
regarding
Anne
Brown
;
a
sort
of
sense
that
,
as
poor
old
Miss
Curzon
had
been
grievously
mistaken
in
intrusting
a
girl
like
Anne
Brown
to
a
lady
so
mystical
and
romantic
as
his
wife
,
he
,
on
his
part
,
hardened
sinner
,
social
wreck
as
he
doubtless
was
,
was
in
duty
bound
to
make
up
for
the
good
old
woman’s
want
of
discernment
.
If
it
had
been
any
one
except
Hamlin
,
he
repeated
to
himself
,
he
would
never
have
permitted
a
single
sitting
;
but
Hamlin
was
a
Sir
Galahad
—
at
least
with
regard
to
servant
girls
and
suchlike
—
who
had
always
struck
Perry
dumb
with
wonder
;
and
in
this
instance
in
particular
,
Hamlin
seemed
really
to
consider
Anne
Brown
much
in
the
light
of
a
picture
by
an
old
master
.
Yet
even
thus
,
it
had
taken
him
by
surprise
,
and
relieved
his
mind
of
a
heavy
weight
,
when
,
the
day
before
the
first
sitting
in
the
studio
,
Ham
]
in
had
asked
Mrs
Perry
to
tell
him
of
some
elderly
woman
—
some
former
housekeeper
or
nurse
in
an
English
family
—
who
could
come
to
his
studio
and
keep
it
in
order
two
or
three
times
a‐week
.
“
I
can
recommend
you
a
most
delightful
young
laundress
,
”
exclaimed
Mrs
Perry
with
fervour
—
“
quite
a
Palma
Vecchio
.
”
“
Thank
you
,
”
answered
Hamlin
,
drily
;
“
I
particularly
want
an
elderly
woman
who
can
take
charge
of
my
things
,
and
who
can
be
there
when
—
I
mean
,
who
can
take
Miss
Brown’s
bonnet
and
shawl
when
she
comes
to
sit
to
me
.
”
Mrs
Perry
confessed
to
no
knowledge
of
such
a
person
,
but
sat
down
to
write
to
the
German
deaconesses
,
—
“
such
real
saints
,
”
—
in
quest
of
the
desired
piece
of
elderly
respectability
.
But
when
she
had
gone
to
her
writing‐table
,
Melton
Perry
kicked
Hamlin’s
foot
under
the
table
,
and
said
in
an
undertone
—
“
You
are
a
damned
moral
dog
,
certainly
,
Wat
.
Thank
you
so
much
,
old
fellow
.
”
So
the
old
housekeeper
was
hired
to
go
three
times
a‐week
to
Hamlin’s
studio
,
and
twice
a‐week
she
opened
the
studio
door
to
Anne
Brown
,
and
took
the
girl’s
poke‐bonnet
and
grey
shawl
in
the
little
anteroom
,
crammed
full
of
dwarf
orange‐trees
,
which
opened
into
the
pillared
balcony
circling
round
the
topmost
floor
of
the
old
palace
,
and
from
which
you
looked
into
the
lichened
court
,
and
saw
the
steel‐like
sheen
of
the
water
in
the
well
.
Hamlin
had
determined
to
embody
one
of
his
usual
mystical
fancies
in
his
new
picture
.
His
pictures
came
to
him
first
as
poems
,
and
he
had
written
a
sonnet
descriptive
of
his
intended
work
before
he
had
painted
a
stroke
of
it
.
It
was
called
Venus
Victrix
;
and
the
strangeness
,
the
mysteriousness
which
gave
a
charm
to
his
beautiful
church‐window‐like
pictures
,
and
made
one
forget
for
a
minute
the
uncertainty
of
drawing
and
the
weakness
of
flesh‐painting
—
this
essential
quality
of
the
pictorial
riddle
depended
very
much
upon
the
fact
that
his
Venus
Victrix
was
entirely
unlike
any
other
Venus
Victrix
which
the
mind
of
man
could
conceive
.
Instead
of
the
naked
goddess
triumphing
over
the
apple
of
Paris
,
whom
such
a
name
would
lead
you
to
expect
,
Hamlin
made
a
sketch
of
a
lady
in
a
dress
of
sad‐coloured
green
and
gold
brocade
,
seated
in
a
melancholy
landscape
of
distant
barren
peaks
,
suffused
with
the
grey
and
yellow
tints
of
a
late
sunset
;
behind
her
was
a
bower
of
sear‐coloured
palms
,
knotting
their
boughs
into
a
kind
of
canopy
for
her
head
,
and
in
her
hand
she
held
,
dragged
despondingly
on
the
ground
,
a
broken
palm‐branch
.
The
expression
of
the
goddess
of
Love
,
since
such
she
was
,
was
one
of
intense
melancholy
.
It
was
one
of
those
pictures
which
go
to
the
head
with
a
perfectly
unintelligible
mystery
,
and
which
absolutely
preclude
all
possibility
of
inquiring
into
their
exact
meaning
.
A
picture
which
might
have
been
one
of
Hamlin’s
best
,
only
that
it
was
never
finished
.
For
,
it
must
be
remembered
,
the
picture
,
or
rather
the
painting
of
it
,
was
merely
an
excuse
invented
by
Hamlin
for
an
opportunity
of
seeing
,
of
examining
,
the
creature
whose
future
was
in
his
hands
.
He
wished
to
assure
himself
that
Anne
Brown
was
really
the
Anne
Brown
of
his
fancy
;
and
as
he
stared
at
that
strange
and
beautiful
face
,
it
was
not
in
reality
with
the
object
of
transferring
it
on
to
his
canvas
,
but
to
make
sure
whether
it
was
really
as
strange
as
it
seemed
to
him
.
It
was
also
to
gauge
whatever
mystery
there
might
be
hidden
in
that
singular
nature
.
Whether
he
ever
did
gauge
it
,
it
is
impossible
to
tell
.
There
was
,
he
felt
,
something
strange
there
—
something
which
corresponded
with
the
magnificent
and
mysterious
outside
,
—
a
possibility
of
thought
and
emotion
enclosed
like
the
bud
in
its
case
of
young
leaves
—
a
potential
passion
,
good
or
bad
,
of
some
sort
.
At
Anne
Brown’s
actual
character
it
was
difficult
to
get
;
or
rather
,
perhaps
,
there
was
as
yet
but
little
actual
character
to
get
at
.
He
became
more
and
more
persuaded
,
as
he
sat
opposite
to
her
,
painting
and
talking
—
or
,
interrupting
the
sitting
,
playing
to
her
strange
songs
which
he
had
picked
up
in
his
travels
,
and
fragments
of
forgotten
operas
which
it
was
his
mania
to
collect
—
that
Anne
Brown
was
in
reality
much
younger
than
her
years
;
that
beneath
those
solemn
features
there
was
a
still
immature
soul
wrapped
up
in
mere
conventional
ideas
of
right
and
wrong
,
a
few
inherited
republican
formulæ
,
and
a
natural
pride
which
had
grown
,
as
does
any
protecting
skin
,
physical
or
moral
,
where
surroundings
are
for
ever
chafing
and
wearing
.
A
soul
,
above
all
,
which
had
never
yet
sought
for
an
ideal
—
had
never
loved
;
and
this
knowledge
was
to
Hamlin
a
source
of
infinite
satisfaction
.
It
was
a
satisfaction
,
also
,
to
notice
how
,
little
by
little
,
whatever
ideals
seemed
to
bud
in
Anne
Brown’s
mind
,
were
connected
with
him
,
or
at
least
with
the
things
which
he
presented
to
her
imagination
.
Nay
,
with
himself
,
as
a
person
not
at
all
,
but
yet
with
the
books
,
the
music
,
the
pictures
about
which
he
talked
to
her
.
This
studio
,
so
unlike
the
bleak
and
tobacco‐reeking
workshop
of
Melton
Perry
,
with
its
curious
carved
furniture
,
its
Japanese
screens
,
its
bits
of
brocade
and
tapestry
(
rubbish
which
Hamlin
would
have
blushed
at
in
London
)
,
its
shelves
of
books
and
chipped
majolica
and
glass
,
its
quantity
of
flowers
,
was
evidently
a
sort
of
earthly
paradise
to
the
girl
.
And
the
handsome
,
pale
,
serious
young
man
,
with
womanishly
regular
feature
and
world‐worn
look
,
who
treated
her
with
a
sort
of
protecting
deference
,
who
instructed
her
in
what
she
ought
to
like
and
dislike
,
and
at
the
same
time
asked
with
real
earnestness
for
her
opinion
,
was
evidently
its
affable
archangel
.
This
Hamlin
perceived
to
his
pleasure
;
but
,
nevertheless
,
he
perceived
also
that
all
feeling
,
all
ideas
,
were
in
Anne
Brown
vague
,
immature
,
or
merely
potential
—
unless
,
indeed
,
this
tragic‐looking
creature
repressed
and
drowned
in
the
darkness
of
her
consciousness
anything
more
definite
and
developed
.
They
did
not
talk
very
much
,
for
they
were
both
of
them
rather
taciturn
;
but
what
they
said
acquired
therefrom
more
than
doubled
importance
.
And
of
this
talking
Hamlin
did
by
far
the
greater
share
.
Anne
Brown
had
indeed
little
to
say
—
a
nursery‐maid
of
nineteen
has
not
much
to
tell
a
fashionable
poet‐painter
of
thirty‐one
:
slight
descriptions
of
places
she
had
been
to
,
villas
,
or
bathing‐places
,
and
one
or
two
excursions
from
them
;
vague
reminiscences
of
old
Miss
Curzon
,
of
the
books
which
she
had
made
the
girl
read
,
the
music
she
had
heard
,
the
anecdotes
of
Landor
and
Rossini
and
Malibran
which
the
old
lady
had
narrated
;
a
few
allusions
,
short
and
passionate
,
to
her
father
;
a
few
more
,
sullen
and
dreary
,
to
her
own
future
life
;
—
that
was
all
that
poor
Anne
Brown
could
say
.
For
when
he
told
her
the
plots
of
novels
,
and
repeated
scraps
of
poems
to
her
,
she
scarcely
ventured
to
give
him
her
opinion
.
She
was
so
earnest
that
she
felt
that
only
something
worth
saying
should
be
said
;
and
what
things
worth
saying
could
she
say
to
him
?
“
By
the
way
,
”
said
Hamlin
one
day
,
as
she
stood
,
tying
her
bonnet
,
and
looking
out
over
the
sea
of
shingly
roofs
,
the
sudden
gaps
showing
shady
gardens
far
below
,
open
loggias
,
between
whose
columns
fluttered
linen
,
and
irregular
rows
of
windows
with
herbs
in
broken
ewers
on
their
sills
—
“
by
the
way
,
you
have
never
told
me
how
you
liked
the
‘Vita
Nuova
,
’
Miss
Brown
.
”
He
had
talked
of
so
many
books
,
making
her
wonder
and
sometimes
laugh
at
his
account
of
them
,
but
never
about
that
,
nor
about
his
own
.
“
It
is
very
beautiful
,
”
she
said
,
still
looking
out
of
the
window
—
“
but
do
you
think
it
is
true
?
”
“
Why
not
?
”
he
said
.
“
I
don’t
know
—
I
don’t
think
there
are
men
like
that
;
”
then
she
suddenly
added
,
with
a
sort
of
melancholy
humorous
laugh
,
which
was
frequent
with
her
,
“
I
will
make
my
pupils
read
it
when
I
am
a
parlatrice
.
Those
ladies
will
tell
me
their
opinion
.
”
Hamlin
was
looking
at
her
,
as
she
still
turned
her
massive
head
,
with
its
waves
of
iron‐black
hair
,
away
from
him
,
towards
the
light
.
“
Good‐bye
,
”
she
said
,
with
her
hand
on
the
door‐latch
.
“
Stop
a
minute
,
”
said
Hamlin
;
and
going
to
a
book‐shelf
,
he
got
down
a
little
green‐bound
volume
.
“
I
don’t
know
why
,
”
he
said
,
“
but
I
should
like
you
to
read
these
.
It
is
idiotic
trash
after
the
‘Vita
Nuova’
—
but
it
is
mine
.
”
“
Thank
you
,
”
she
said
.
“
I
will
bring
it
you
back
next
sitting
.
I
will
cover
the
binding
.
”
“
I
want
you
to
keep
it
.
Won’t
you
do
me
that
favour
?
”
She
reddened
all
over
her
pale
face
.
“
Thank
you
,
”
she
said
.
“
’It
is
very
good
of
you
.
”
CHAPTER
III
.
IT
so
happened
that
as
Anne
Brown
was
walking
quickly
home
she
was
overtaken
by
Melton
Perry
.
“
What’s
that
book
,
Annie
?
”
he
inquired
,
as
they
walked
side
by
side
.
“
Mr
Hamlin
gave
it
me
—
it’s
his
poems
.
”
“
Let
me
see
.
”
Perry
was
more
peremptory
than
usual
.
He
turned
over
the
leaves
as
they
went
along
,
and
then
returned
it
to
her
.
“
You
may
read
that
,
”
he
said
—
“
it’s
sad
trash
,
but
you
may
read
it
.
All
poetry
isn’t
fit
for
women
to
read
,
”
he
added
,
by
way
of
explanation
.
The
gift
of
this
book
somehow
disturbed
Perry’s
equanimity
.
“
What
made
him
give
you
that
book
?
”
he
asked
.
“
I
don’t
know
,
sir
.
We
were
talking
about
the
‘Vita
Nuova.’
”
“
A
lot
of
confounded
medieval
twaddle
,
”
cried
Perry
.
“
Why
don’t
you
read
‘Lady
Audley’s
Secret’
or
‘The
Heir
of
Redclyffe’
?
that’s
the
right
sort
of
thing
.
”
She
seemed
hurt
,
and
they
were
silent
.
Suddenly
Perry
said
,
with
some
roughness
—
“
I’m
sorry
to
inconvenience
Hamlin
,
but
this
will
be
the
last
of
the
sittings
.
I
am
going
to
send
you
to
the
sea‐side
with
the
children
in
a
day
or
two
.
Little
May
needs
change
of
air
.
When
you
return
,
Mr
Hamlin
will
be
leaving
Florence
.
”
“
Yes
,
sir
,
”
answered
Anne
Brown
;
and
a
kind
of
suppressed
spasm
passed
across
her
face
.
Perry
saw
it
.
“
It’s
high
time
,
”
he
said
to
himself
.
Melton
Perry
could
not
screw
up
his
courage
till
he
and
his
wife
and
Hamlin
had
already
finished
dinner
that
evening
.
“
I
say
,
Hamlin
,
”
he
began
,
lighting
his
pipe
,
while
Mrs
Perry
artistically
twisted
a
cigarette
in
her
long
brown
fingers
—
“
d’you
think
you
could
finish
off
that
picture
with
only
one
more
sitting
?
I’m
sure
Mrs
Perry
thinks
it
is
time
for
the
children
to
go
down
to
the
sea‐side
—
only
,
of
course
,
she
doesn’t
like
disturbing
you
in
your
work
.
”
“
Go
down
to
the
sea‐side
!
”
exclaimed
Mrs
Perry
,
not
at
all
mollified
by
her
husband’s
deference
;
“
who
talks
of
going
to
the
seaside
?
and
what
has
that
to
do
with
his
work
?
”
“
You
forget
,
my
dear
,
that
you
said
this
morning
that
May
requires
change
of
air
—
and
,
of
course
,
Annie
will
be
required
to
take
the
children
down
to
Viareggio
.
I
am
extremely
sorry
for
you
,
old
fellow
,
but
I
fear
you
must
finish
that
picture
—
at
least
so
far
as
Annie
is
concerned
—
by
the
beginning
of
next
week
.
”
“
I
see
,
”
answered
Hamlin
,
briefly
.
For
the
first
time
in
his
life
almost
,
he
felt
angry
with
his
old
friend
;
an
unspeakable
resentment
at
this
interference
with
what
he
considered
already
as
his
.
“
I
see
nothing
of
the
sort
,
”
burst
out
Mrs
Perry
;
“
I
will
never
,
never
permit
dear
Hamlin’s
masterpiece
to
be
spoilt
.
I
would
rather
take
the
children
to
the
sea‐side
myself
—
oh
yes
.
I
would
rather
they
did
not
go
at
all
.
My
children
are
the
dearest
things
I
possess
,
but
I
have
no
right
selfishly
to
prefer
their
welfare
to
the
completion
of
such
a
picture
.
I
should
never
forgive
myself
.
That
unfinished
picture
,
that
strange
,
terrible
Venus
,
would
haunt
me
in
my
dreams
,
and
I
should
hear
the
whole
world
asking
me
,
‘What
have
you
done
with
a
thing
meant
for
our
joy
?
’
”
“
Bosh
!
”
cried
Perry
,
stretching
out
his
legs
and
puffing
at
his
pipe
—
“
rubbish
!
A
fine
thing
if
May
gets
low
fever
again
:
much
you’ll
think
of
Hamlin’s
masterpiece
then
.
”
“
May
shall
not
have
fever
,
”
answered
Mrs
Perry
,
haughtily
;
“
and
Hamlin’s
masterpiece
,
which
you
choose
to
sneer
at
—
”
“
Oh
,
please
,
don’t
bother
about
my
masterpieces
!
”
interposed
Hamlin
.
“
—
Shall
not
be
sacrificed
.
You
shall
take
the
children
to
the
sea‐side
,
Melton
;
and
Annie
shall
continue
to
give
him
as
many
sittings
as
he
may
wish
.
”
And
then
,
passing
over
her
husband’s
nauseous
existence
,
she
began
a
mellifluous
and
irrelevant
conversation
with
Hamlin
across
him
.
But
after
two
or
three
minutes
Perry
could
stand
it
no
longer
.
“
Damn
your
sea‐side
!
”
he
suddenly
burst
out
.
“
Melton
!
”
shrieked
Mrs
Perry
,
falling
back
on
her
chair
.
“
Damn
your
sea‐side
!
”
repeated
Perry
.
“
Haven’t
you
eyes
in
your
head
to
understand
that
the
sea‐side
has
nothing
to
do
with
the
matter
?
The
children
no
more
require
to
go
to
Viareggio
than
I
require
to
be
made
Khan
of
Tartary
.
What
is
required
is
that
an
honest
girl
,
who
was
intrusted
to
us
by
an
old
friend
,
should
not
get
to
be
talked
of
as
a
—
”
“
This
loathsome
coarseness
is
too
much
for
me
.
Adieu
,
Mr
Hamlin
!
”
and
Mrs
Perry
flounced
out
of
the
room
.
“
Lord
deliver
us
from
womankind
!
”
exclaimed
Perry
,
as
the
door
shut
upon
his
wife
,
and
he
fell
back
in
his
chair
.
“
What
a
nice
breakfast
I
shall
have
to‐morrow
!
”
Hamlin
did
not
answer
,
but
merely
lit
another
cigarette
,
and
looked
into
the
smouldering
fire
.
“
Hamlin
,
old
boy
,
”
resumed
Perry
,
“
don’t
be
down
upon
me
.
I
really
am
confoundedly
sorry
to
bother
you
—
indeed
I
am
;
but
—
you
see
—
about
this
girl
—
”
“
I
understand
,
”
answered
Hamlin
,
shortly
;
“
don’t
let’s
talk
about
it
.
”
“
But
—
please
don’t
be
in
a
rage
with
me
,
Watty
,
”
cried
Perry
,
appealingly
;
“
really
I
don’t
know
what
to
do
.
You
see
,
it’s
not
as
if
she
were
an
ordinary
girl
or
an
ordinary
servant
;
then
I
should
say
—
hang
it
,
please
yourself
!
”
“
Sweet
morals
!
”
sneered
Hamlin
.
“
But
with
her
it’s
different
;
I’m
sure
you
must
recognise
that
yourself
.
Now
I
don’t
mean
to
say
you
are
in
the
least
to
blame
,
or
that
the
girl
cares
the
least
scrap
about
you
;
but
still
,
this
sort
of
thing
won’t
do
.
I
know
you’re
the
last
man
to
do
a
dirty
thing
—
indeed
you’re
the
only
man
whom
I
would
have
permitted
to
go
on
so
long
.
But
then
,
quite
without
meaning
anything
,
all
that
sitting
,
and
talking
,
and
discussing
poetry
and
‘Vita
Nuova’
together
—
without
knowing
it
,
it
puts
ideas
into
a
girl’s
head
,
makes
her
dissatisfied
,
that
sort
of
thing
,
and
the
result
is
that
she
goes
to
the
bad
.
And
then
,
here
in
Florence
especially
,
a
girl’s
none
the
better
looked
at
for
having
sat
,
if
even
only
to
one
man
.
People
begin
to
talk
(
at
the
villa
it
was
another
matter
)
,
stories
go
round
,
and
it
becomes
difficult
for
her
to
get
a
respectable
situation
.
”
“
You
needn’t
say
any
more
,
”
cried
Hamlin
,
with
almost
feminine
impatience
.
All
this
gave
him
a
sense
of
moral
nausea
.
“
You
understand
,
old
fellow
,
I
don’t
mean
it
about
you
in
particular
,
”
persisted
Perry
;
“
indeed
you’ve
behaved
like
Sir
Bors
,
Sir
Percival
,
and
Sir
Galahad
all
rolled
into
one
.
But
it’s
the
fatality
of
the
circumstances
,
the
beastly
world
about
us
.
You’re
not
angry
,
are
you
,
with
me
?
”
“
Not
a
bit
,
”
answered
Hamlin
,
quietly
,
minutely
examining
one
of
the
pictures
on
the
wall
,
which
was
not
worth
looking
at
,
and
had
been
thoroughly
looked
at
by
him
already
;
“
not
a
bit
,
my
dear
Perry
.
I
suppose
you
have
no
objection
to
Miss
Brown
giving
me
one
more
morning
?
”
“
Not
the
least
—
two
,
or
even
three
,
for
the
matter
of
that
.
I
was
only
anxious
not
to
spin
out
things
indefinitely
.
”
“
One
more
sitting
will
be
more
than
enough
,
”
answered
Hamlin
.
“
By
the
way
,
before
I
go
,
I
want
to
do
a
drawing
of
little
Mildred
.
”
CHAPTER
IV
.
IT
was
a
cold
and
drizzling
February
morning
that
last
sitting
which
Anne
Brown
was
to
give
to
Walter
Hamlin
.
As
the
girl
slowly
mounted
the
well‐like
stairs
of
the
old
tower
palace
,
and
saw
the
distant
snow‐covered
hills
through
the
dim
windows
on
the
landings
,
she
thought
with
sadness
that
this
was
the
last
time
she
should
toil
up
to
Hamlin’s
studio
.
A
lethargy
weighed
upon
her
,
making
her
feel
that
everything
was
dreary
and
unreal
,
such
as
she
had
experienced
only
once
or
twice
before
,
when
one
of
the
few
holidays
of
her
childhood
had
drawn
to
a
close
.
The
cheerless
,
colourless
,
eventless
,
joyless
routine
of
ordinary
life
was
about
to
close
over
,
to
engulf
,
her
little
island
of
brightness
.
She
was
longer
than
usual
taking
off
her
bonnet
and
cloak
in
the
anteroom
filled
with
orange‐trees
,
for
she
felt
as
if
she
must
look
at
everything
well
one
last
time
—
at
the
bits
of
brocade
and
the
photographs
on
the
wall
,
the
plaster‐casts
on
the
shelf
,
the
scarlet
and
purple
anemones
in
the
cracked
china
bow
]
,
the
brass
synagogue
lamp
hanging
in
the
window
.
“
It
is
bad
weather
,
”
said
Hamlin’s
old
housekeeper
.
“
Horrible
,
”
answered
Anne
,
looking
vacantly
through
the
window
at
the
grey
sky
and
wet
roofs
.
The
old
woman
opened
the
studio
door
and
drew
the
curtains
.
Hamlin
,
who
was
at
a
table
writing
,
rose
and
came
to
meet
his
model
.
“
It
is
very
good
of
you
to
come
in
such
horrible
weather
,
Miss
Brown
,
”
he
said
.
“
It
is
the
last
sitting
—
I
thought
I
ought
not
to
miss
it
,
”
and
she
sat
down
at
once
in
the
arm‐chair
of
faded
green
velvet
opposite
Hamlin’s
easel
.
“
Won’t
you
warm
yourself
a
little
?
”
he
asked
.
“
No
,
thank
you
;
I
am
not
cold
.
”
Hamlin
began
to
prepare
his
paints
.
“
You
are
going
to
Viareggio
,
Miss
Brown
,
”
he
remarked
.
“
Yes
;
I
believe
I
am
.
”
“
You
will
enjoy
the
change
of
air
.
The
sea
—
you
told
me
you
liked
the
sea
one
day
,
”
—
and
he
went
on
squeezing
the
paints
on
to
his
palette
.
“
I
suppose
so
.
”
She
said
no
more
.
Hamlin
was
seated
before
his
easel
,
looking
now
at
his
work
and
now
at
her
,
and
making
minute
alterations
with
a
small
brush
.
They
did
not
talk
much
.
He
seemed
bent
upon
his
work
.
He
had
told
her
that
she
need
not
keep
her
head
in
position
,
as
he
was
merely
finishing
some
unimportant
details
.
Her
eyes
wandered
round
the
room
—
at
the
books
,
the
sketches
on
the
wall
,
the
rugs
under
foot
.
On
the
chimney‐piece
was
stuck
a
photograph
of
Melton
Perry
.
If
only
she
might
have
a
photograph
of
Hamlin
!
.
.
.
For
less
than
a
second
she
thought
she
might
beg
for
one
;
then
it
seemed
to
her
impossible
,
and
the
wish
beat
itself
painfully
against
that
cold
,
dead
impossibility
,
like
a
bird
against
its
cage‐bars
.
Hamlin
called
the
old
woman
—
“
Take
that
letter
to
the
post‐office
at
the
Uffizi
,
”
he
said
,
pointing
to
his
writing‐table
,
“
and
mind
you
get
it
registered
.
”
It
was
the
first
time
that
Hamlin
had
sent
the
old
woman
on
an
errand
during
one
of
Anne
Brown’s
sittings
,
when
she
was
wont
to
go
in
and
out
of
the
studio
noiselessly
,
like
a
watchful
duenna
.
The
heavy
stairs
door
banged
behind
her
.
Anne
listened
to
it
dully
,
vacantly
,
as
one
listens
to
things
when
deeply
preoccupied
.
For
a
few
minutes
Hamlin
worked
on
in
silence
,
then
suddenly
,
without
looking
up
,
he
said
—
“
Do
you
remember
my
finding
your
‘Dante’
in
the
vineyard
at
the
Villa
Arnolfini
,
Miss
Brown
?
”
“
Yes
,
”
she
answered
.
“
And
you
told
me
that
you
wished
to
fit
yourself
to
be
a
teacher
?
”
“
Yes
,
I
remember
.
”
“
Well
,
”
went
on
Hamlin
,
“
I
have
been
thinking
about
that
;
and
I
think
it
would
be
a
pity
—
I
mean
—
I
hope
you
won’t
think
it
horribly
rude
of
me
to
say
so
—
I
think
it
would
be
better
if
you
went
to
school
for
a
little
while
yourself
.
”
Anne
stared
at
this
speech
,
and
at
the
close
of
it
her
surprise
turned
to
resentment
.
“
Of
course
it
would
be
better
,
”
she
said
,
bitterly
;
“
of
course
I
shall
always
be
very
ignorant
;
but
I
have
no
wish
to
set
up
for
what
I
am
not
.
I
am
not
going
to
teach
people
anything
—
only
to
correct
their
pronunciation
and
a
few
mistakes
.
One
does
not
require
to
study
much
for
that
,
and
I
shall
be
competent
to
do
it
.
”
In
her
quiet
,
subdued
way
she
looked
very
angry
.
Hamlin
rose
from
his
easel
.
“
You
misunderstand
me
,
”
he
said
;
“
and
indeed
what
I
have
to
say
is
so
strange
and
perhaps
so
unjustifiable
,
that
you
have
every
right
to
do
so
.
Listen
,
”
and
he
drew
a
chair
near
hers
.
“
Please
do
not
think
me
very
bold
,
and
forgive
the
horrid
way
in
which
I
am
forced
to
put
things
,
when
I
tell
you
,
dear
Miss
Brown
,
that
I
am
very
much
interested
in
you
,
and
,
indeed
—
will
you
forgive
a
comparative
stranger
saying
so
?
—
that
I
have
never
felt
so
much
attracted
by
any
one
as
I
do
by
you
.
”
Anne
Brown
did
not
answer
;
she
seemed
literally
petrified
by
sheer
astonishment
.
“
The
time
has
come
when
our
acquaintance
must
come
to
an
end
,
”
went
on
Hamlin
,
rapidly
;
“
but
I
cannot
let
this
happen
without
making
an
effort
to
prolong
it
.
I
have
no
brothers
or
sisters
—
no
one
,
at
least
,
living
with
me
,
except
distant
relations
.
I
have
never
taken
much
interest
in
anybody
.
But
now
I
want
to
know
—
would
you
,
instead
of
our
parting
company
altogether
—
would
you
let
me
become
your
guardian
for
the
next
few
years
,
and
as
such
,
would
you
let
me
take
charge
of
your
education
and
send
you
to
school
?
It
seems
a
very
ridiculous
thing
to
suggest
.
But
still
you
must
not
be
angry
with
me
for
doing
so
.
”
Anne’s
big
onyx
eyes
had
opened
wider
and
wider
.
She
flushed
purple
in
the
middle
of
his
speech
,
then
turned
ashy‐white
,
while
she
picked
convulsively
at
the
fringe
of
the
armchair
.
Then
suddenly
a
sort
of
convulsion
came
across
her
face
,
and
,
as
if
from
sheer
unbearable
tension
of
feeling
,
she
burst
into
tears
.
She
gave
way
only
one
second
,
immediately
trying
to
stop
herself
,
but
in
vain
.
Hamlin
felt
that
he
was
making
a
horrible
mess
of
it
.
He
came
close
up
to
the
chair
where
the
poor
girl
was
thrown
back
,
shaken
with
sobs
.
“
Miss
Brown
,
”
he
cried
,
taking
her
hand
—
“
Anne
—
oh
,
don’t
be
unhappy
!
I
did
not
mean
to
offend
you
.
Don’t
you
understand
my
meaning
?
I
wish
you
to
be
what
you
have
a
right
to
be
.
I
wish
you
to
be
in
such
a
position
that
of
all
the
men
in
the
world
you
may
choose
the
one
who
deserves
you
most
.
Anne
,
I
love
you
—
and
I
hope
that
perhaps
some
day
you
may
love
me
;
but
I
want
you
to
be
able
to
love
whoever
may
best
deserve
you
,
and
merely
to
do
my
best
that
you
should
care
for
me
.
I
want
you
to
have
a
future
independent
of
me
—
to
possess
the
education
and
the
fortune
which
shall
enable
you
to
marry
whomsoever
you
will
,
or
not
to
marry
at
all
.
Will
you
let
me
,
for
the
time
being
,
be
your
guardian
,
your
father
,
your
brother
;
let
me
provide
for
you
,
take
care
of
your
money
,
see
to
your
education
?
I
do
not
ask
you
to
love
me
,
but
merely
to
give
me
a
chance
of
trying
to
make
you
prefer
me
.
”
Anne
did
not
cease
sobbing
;
and
every
convulsive
heaving
of
her
body
made
Hamlin
feel
a
sort
of
sickening
terror
.
He
slid
down
on
his
knees
and
kissed
her
hand
.
This
action
seemed
suddenly
to
awaken
her
.
She
started
up
,
and
making
a
tremendous
effort
,
stopped
her
crying
.
He
stood
aside
while
she
went
to
the
mirror
and
looked
at
her
swollen
eyes
and
convulsed
face
.
“
May
I
have
a
glass
of
water
?
”
she
asked
;
then
,
stopping
Hamlin
,
“
never
mind
,
”
she
said
—
“
never
mind
—
I
must
go
;
”
and
she
pulled
her
blue
veil
hurriedly
over
her
eyes
and
huddled
on
her
cloak
.
“
Miss
Brown
,
”
cried
Hamlin
,
“
why
don’t
you
answer
me
?
”
and
he
laid
hold
of
her
arm
as
she
was
about
to
open
the
door
.
“
Because
you
do
not
deserve
it
,
”
she
answered
,
trying
to
loosen
his
grasp
.
“
Let
me
go
,
please
.
”
“
I
cannot
let
you
go
,
”
answered
Hamlin
calmly
,
standing
before
the
door
,
“
until
you
have
listened
to
me
.
Will
you
let
me
provide
for
your
future
,
send
you
to
school
,
and
then
place
you
in
the
care
of
my
aunt
?
Will
you
let
me
act
as
if
I
were
your
guardian
for
the
next
three
years
,
and
at
the
end
of
them
you
shall
have
enough
to
live
and
marry
as
befits
a
lady
,
and
be
as
free
as
air
,
or
become
my
wife
—
whichever
you
shall
choose
?
Answer
me
,
for
I
am
serious
.
”
Anne
Brown
paused
.
“
Don’t
ask
me
for
an
answer
now
,
”
she
said
;
“
I
am
not
sure
that
you
are
in
earnest
.
”
“
I
am
—
indeed
I
am
!
”
cried
Hamlin
;
“
I
have
intended
asking
you
this
ever
since
my
return
to
Florence
.
I
returned
merely
in
order
to
ask
you
.
I
am
in
earnest
;
cannot
you
give
me
a
serious
answer
?
”
“
Not
now
—
I
can’t
think
about
anything
;
I
must
ask
;
I
don’t
know
what
is
right
to
do
.
”
He
opened
the
door
,
and
Anne
Brown
walked
out
rapidly
,
through
the
anteroom
and
downstairs
.
CHAPTER
V.
FOR
a
long
time
Anne
Brown
remained
as
it
were
dazed
,
as
if
she
had
received
a
blow
on
the
head
.
When
she
got
back
to
the
Perrys’
house
,
she
felt
broken
in
all
her
limbs
,
and
slipped
up‐stairs
and
threw
herself
on
her
bed
.
But
it
was
no
use
:
all
that
day
,
while
attending
on
the
children
and
doing
her
usual
work
,
she
felt
as
if
some
one
else
were
doing
it
all
;
while
she
remained
conscious
only
of
something
very
sudden
and
strange
,
of
a
confused
buzzing
in
her
brain
,
through
which
she
heard
the
voice
of
Hamlin
repeating
his
words
in
the
studio
;
words
which
somehow
made
her
indignant
,
angry
,
and
at
the
same
time
filled
her
with
a
sense
of
having
done
something
which
she
should
not
.
This
feeling
increased
at
night
,
and
she
lay
awake
while
the
clocks
struck
hour
after
hour
,
hot
,
red
,
half
deafened
by
her
own
blood
,
fevered
and
vaguely
indignant
.
It
was
as
if
Hamlin
had
struck
her
;
she
felt
insulted
,
outraged
,
by
this
strange
interference
with
her
fate
,
this
wonderful
intrusion
of
excitement
into
her
dull
and
sombre
life
.
It
was
dawn
when
she
awoke
:
a
chill
greyness
in
the
sky
,
reddened
by
the
pale
winter
sun
.
She
knew
that
something
had
happened
,
that
something
was
changed
.
She
was
almost
surprised
to
find
herself
in
her
usual
room
,
with
the
children’s
tea‐sets
on
the
chest
of
drawers
,
the
coloured
pictures
from
the
‘Illustrated’
and
the
‘Graphic’
pinned
on
the
walls
,
the
dolls’
houses
in
the
corner
,
and
little
May
asleep
by
her
side
in
her
crib
.
Then
she
remembered
it
all
,
and
sat
up
in
her
bed
thinking
about
it
.
Things
appeared
to
her
in
quite
a
new
light
.
She
had
been
an
ungrateful
beast
to
feel
as
she
had
towards
Hamlin
;
and
a
great
wave
of
gratitude
and
awe
,
and
love
and
joy
,
welled
up
in
her
heart
.
It
was
as
if
she
were
sitting
in
the
sunshine
:
an
indefinable
kind
of
happiness
.
How
noble
and
generous
and
good
he
had
been
;
and
how
doubly
so
,
being
so
great
,
and
she
being
a
mere
nothing
in
the
world
!
Whether
he
loved
her
or
she
him
,
she
did
not
ask
herself
;
it
seemed
a
thing
to
die
of
for
sheer
happiness
,
that
any
one
should
care
for
her
and
her
future
.
And
just
in
proportion
to
her
usual
pride
,
and
sullenness
,
and
joylessness
,
she
felt
happy
in
the
idea
of
deserving
nothing
and
receiving
everything
,
from
his
kindness
:
and
Hamlin
,
with
whom
she
had
spoken
not
twenty‐four
hours
earlier
,
whom
she
would
see
again
that
day
,
appeared
to
her
as
a
distant
,
dim
,
ineffable
creature
,
lighting
and
warming
her
like
the
sun
,
but
equally
unapproachable
.
But
on
thinking
it
over
,
things
came
round
to
commonplace
actuality
.
What
was
she
to
do
?
Would
he
ask
her
again
?
or
even
,
had
he
asked
her
at
all
?
It
all
seemed
a
dream
,
and
she
did
not
venture
to
examine
into
its
reality
.
She
determined
to
tell
it
all
to
Perry
,
and
ask
his
advice
;
but
she
felt
as
if
she
never
could
.
She
met
Perry
several
times
in
the
course
of
the
morning
,
but
she
could
not
succeed
in
screwing
up
her
courage
.
What
if
it
should
all
prove
to
be
an
illusion
?
She
took
the
children
out
for
their
accustomed
walk
,
during
which
she
was
even
more
silent
than
usual
.
On
returning
home
she
saw
Hamlin
in
the
street
,
close
to
the
door
.
The
blood
all
rushed
up
to
her
head
.
Hamlin
saluted
her
as
if
nothing
had
happened
,
and
accompanied
her
up‐stairs
.
When
they
were
at
the
landing
he
suddenly
turned
to
her
—
“
Have
you
thought
over
our
conversation
in
the
studio
yesterday
,
Miss
Brown
?
”
he
asked
.
“
Yes
,
”
answered
Anne
,
inaudibly
,
as
he
stood
with
his
hand
on
the
bell
;
“
I
have
.
”
“
Well
,
then
,
”
went
on
Hamlin
,
“
with
regard
to
the
plan
which
I
submitted
to
you
,
what
is
your
answer
?
Do
you
consent
or
not
?
”
Anne
Brown
raised
her
head
.
“
I
consent
,
”
she
answered
quietly
,
looking
full
at
him
,
as
if
to
make
sure
that
she
was
not
talking
in
a
dream
.
He
had
never
seen
her
so
beautiful
and
majestic
before
;
and
she
had
a
look
—
with
dilated
eyes
,
and
rapid
,
oppressed
breath
—
like
the
one
which
he
had
noticed
once
when
she
talked
of
her
father
,
and
of
which
he
had
felt
at
once
,
“
this
is
what
I
want
.
”
“
Thank
you
,
”
he
answered
gravely
,
and
rang
the
bell
.
For
a
moment
they
stood
in
silence
,
till
the
door
was
opened
.
CHAPTER
VI
.
HAMLIN
sat
for
some
time
in
the
dusty
attic
called
a
studio
,
while
Perry
cut
acrobats
and
devils
out
of
black
paper
,
and
stuck
them
on
the
dirty
window‐panes
.
“
That’s
my
vocation
,
”
said
Perry
,
“
and
not
painting
damned
landscape
spinach
and
soapsud
seas
.
Look
!
aren’t
they
jolly
old
fiends
?
”
and
he
held
up
a
group
of
black
clowns
,
standing
on
each
other’s
hands
and
shoulders
.
“
Capital
!
”
answered
Hamlin
.
“
But
look
here
;
I
came
to
tell
you
something
.
I
want
the
address
of
Miss
Brown’s
guardian
,
—
you
told
me
there
was
one
,
—
because
I
am
going
to
have
Miss
Brown
educated
,
with
a
view
,
if
she
do
not
change
her
mind
,
to
her
becoming
my
wife
.
”
Perry
let
his
scissors
fall
on
the
floor
.
“
Damnation
!
”
he
cried
.
Hamlin
picked
up
the
scissors
and
put
them
quietly
on
the
table
.
“
So
that’s
it
!
”
burst
out
Perry
.
“
While
I
was
bothering
my
brains
with
trying
to
take
care
of
Anne
,
you
were
being
inveigled
by
that
cursed
hypocritical
slut
.
”
“
I
shall
be
obliged
to
you
to
speak
in
rather
different
language
,
Perry
,
”
said
Hamlin
,
in
a
tone
of
voice
and
with
a
manner
which
his
friend
was
not
accustomed
to
.
“
Oh
,
beast
!
brute
!
seven‐times‐distilled
and
most‐kickable
jackass
that
I
have
been
,
”
moaned
Perry
,
“
that
I
should
have
let
this
happen
to
you
!
—
that
I
should
have
let
you
be
entrapped
under
my
very
nose
!
But
it
mustn’t
be
,
old
fellow
;
I
won’t
stand
it
.
”
“
You
will
have
to
,
”
answered
Hamlin
,
contemptuously
;
“
and
so
,
let’s
say
no
more
about
it
.
Only
one
word
:
Miss
Brown
has
not
inveigled
me
.
”
Perry
gave
a
sort
of
moan
of
disgust
.
“
No
woman
ever
does
inveigle
a
man
!
”
“
Miss
Brown
has
not
inveigled
me
.
I
conceived
the
desire
of
educating
her
,
and
giving
myself
a
chance
of
marrying
her
if
she
would
have
me
,
long
ago
,
before
I
returned
to
Florence
.
And
,
as
a
favour
,
I
beg
you
will
respect
Miss
Brown
so
long
as
she
remains
in
your
house
,
as
you
would
respect
the
woman
who
is
at
present
my
ward
,
and
may
possibly
become
my
wife
.
”
“
Ward
!
wife
!
fiddlesticks
!
”
cried
Perry
.
“
For
God’s
sake
,
my
dearest
old
Watty
,
don’t
go
and
do
such
a
damnable
thing
!
don’t
be
such
an
idiot
as
to
suppose
you
must
do
it
.
That
was
my
confounded
folly
:
let
myself
be
led
on
,
and
then
thought
it
was
my
own
choice
,
my
resolution
,
all
sorts
of
fine
things
.
No
man
ever
really
wants
to
tie
himself
up
;
it’s
the
woman
who
does
it
,
and
makes
him
believe
it’s
himself
.
All
this
is
bosh
,
mere
bosh
;
you’ll
think
better
of
it
.
”
“
I
tell
you
again
,
Perry
,
that
there
is
no
inveigling
about
the
matter
.
I
made
up
my
mind
to
this
step
while
I
was
away
from
Florence
.
Besides
,
I
am
not
going
to
marry
Miss
Brown
straight
off
;
I
am
going
to
give
her
the
education
which
such
a
woman
deserves
,
to
enable
her
to
marry
me
should
she
care
to
do
so
.
”
“
Education
,
forsooth
!
”
groaned
Perry
;
“
you
will
get
yourself
married
before
you
have
time
to
say
Jack
Robinson
:
and
to
think
that
I
have
brought
it
all
upon
you
!
to
think
that
I
have
driven
you
to
do
it
!
”
Hamlin
could
not
help
smiling
at
his
friend’s
distress
.
“
Really
,
you
need
not
feel
under
any
responsibility
.
I
alone
am
responsible
in
the
business
—
I
and
good
fortune
,
which
has
brought
me
into
the
presence
of
the
most
marvelIous
woman
that
ever
was
—
”
“
But
what
do
you
do
it
for
?
You’re
not
in
love
with
Annie
,
I
do
believe
,
”
cried
poor
Perry
.
“
I
do
it
because
she
is
the
most
beautiful
woman
I
have
ever
seen
,
”
answered
Hamlin
,
deliberately
;
“
and
the
woman
who
,
properly
educated
,
is
of
all
others
the
one
whom
I
should
most
wish
to
love
—
because
,
in
short
,
I
cannot
see
her
wasted
.
”
Perry
flung
his
arms
over
his
head
with
a
gesture
of
grotesque
despair
.
At
that
moment
the
door
opened
,
and
Mrs
Perry
entered
the
studio
.
“
What
is
the
matter
?
what
has
happened
?
”
she
asked
with
a
dramatic
gesture
,
and
a
not
less
dramatic
accent
;
and
she
remained
standing
on
the
threshold
,
raising
the
door‐curtain
with
much
dignity
.
“
Hamlin
wants
to
bring
up
and
marry
Anne
Brown
,
”
yelled
Perry
.
Mrs
Perry
tottered
,
let
the
curtain
go
,
held
her
hand
to
her
head
for
a
moment
.
“
Anne
Brown
—
do
you
hear
that
?
He
wants
to
marry
her
!
to
educate
her
!
