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 A D V A N C E S IN

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T h e o r y & A p p l i c a t i o n s
SERIES IN INTELLIGENT CONTROL AND INTELLIGENT AUTOMATION

Editor-in-Charge: Fei-Yue Wang

(University of Arizona)

Vol. 1: Reliable Plan Selection by Intelligent Machines

(J E Mclnroy, J C Musto, and G N Saridis)
Vol. 2: Design of Intelligent Control Systems Based on Hierachical Stochastic
Automata (P Lima and G N Saridis)
Vol. 3: Intelligent Task Planning Using Fuzzy Petri Nets
(T Cao and A C Sanderson)
Vol. 4: Advanced Studies in Flexible Robotic Manipulators: Modeling,
Design, Control and Applications (F Y Wang)
Vol. 6: Modeling, Simulation, and Control of Flexible Manufacturing
Systems: A Petri Net Approach (M Zhou and K Venkatesh)
Vol. 7: Intelligent Control: Principles, Techniques, and Applications (Z-X Cai)
Vol. 10: Autonomous Rock Excavation: Intelligent Control Techniques
and Experimentation (X Shi, PJ A Lever and FY Wang)
Vol. 11: Multisensor Fusion: A Minimal Representation Framework
(RJoshi and A C Sanderson)
Vol. 12: Entropy in Control Engineering
(George N Saridis)

Forthcoming volumes:
Vol. 8: Advanced Topics in Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
(E Sung, D Mital, E K Teoh, H Wang, and Z Li)
 Series in Intelligent Control and \/(~\ I J
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ADVANCES IN COMPUTATIONAL INTELLIGENCE
Theory and Applications
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 Preface

After a half century tumultuous history of research and development, Artifi-

cial Intelligence, the science and engineering of making intelligent machines, still
bears the stigma of failed expectations mostly, and perhaps of forbidden knowl-
edge as well. As a result, AI seems to be in a constant need and search of new
images and new paradigms, as witnessed from disparaged expert systems in the
past, to autonomous multiagents or distributed AI, cognition or cognitive infor-
matics, and computational intelligence in the current studies.
Computational Intelligence was originally defined as the combination of the
methods in fuzzy logic, neural networks, and genetic algorithms. Today, CI has
emerged from the fusion of the fields of granular computing, neuro-computing,
and evolutionary computing, and becomes one of the most active research areas
and widely used techniques in information science and engineering. As it has
been claimed that AI is the way of the future, we might say that CI is the way of
the future computing. Why it is conceived as the way of the future computing can
be precisely summarized by paraphrasing Donald Michie's AI definition: CI is
about making computing more fathomable and more under the control of human
beings, not less.
The name of computational intelligence indicates the link to and the difference
with artificial intelligence. While some techniques within CI are often counted as
AI techniques, there is a clear difference between those techniques and traditional
or mainly logic-based AI techniques. In general, typical AI techniques are de-
veloped in a top-down fashion by imposing the structure and process of solutions
from above, whereas CI techniques are normally implemented in a bottom-up
approach through the emergence of order and structure from unstructured begin-
nings. Another significant contrast between AI and CI can easily be observed from
their respective papers and textbooks. As pointed out by many AI researchers,
AI papers and textbooks often discuss the big questions, such as "how to reason
with uncertainty," "how to reason efficiently," or "how to improve performance

v
VI Preface

through learning." It is more difficult, however, to find descriptions of concrete

problems or challenges that are still ambitious and interesting, yet not so open-
ended. However, with papers and textbooks in CI, concrete problems and specific
algorithms are normally the center and focus of their discussions.
Historically, the areas of interest covered by computational intelligence are
also known under the term soft computing. Many consider the name of soft com-
puting was chosen to indicate its difference from operations research, also known
as hard computing. The two areas are connected by the problem domains they
are applied in, but while operations research algorithms usually come with crisp
and strict conditions on the scope of applicability and proven guarantees for a so-
lution under certain optimality criteria, soft computing puts no conditions on the
problem but also provides no guarantees for success, a deficiency which is com-
pensated by the robustness of the methods. Clearly, the link to soft computing,
especially the nature of "soft" characteristics, is still one of the most significant
features exhibited by CI techniques.
Yet there is no consensus on what CI exactly is at this point. Attempting to
define Computational Intelligence is still a challenge that, even after more than
a decade of research and development, has not been addressed to everyone's sat-
isfaction. For example, a more broad definition of Computational Intelligence is
the study of adaptive mechanisms to enable or facilitate intelligent behaviors in
complex and changing environments. In this book we have taken a liberal and
literal view of Computational Intelligence: that is, the computational part of the
Artificial Intelligence. As a matter of fact, in his classical introduction to Arti-
ficial Intelligence, "What is Artificial Intelligence?" John McCarthy, who coined
the very name of Artificial Intelligence in 1956, responds to the basic question of
"what is intelligence?" with "intelligence is the computational part of the ability
to achieve goals in the worlds In this sense, AI and CI should be tied more closely
and our view of computational intelligence is justified.
This book is edited from the contributions of world-renowned experts, and
some of them are pioneers, in the field of computational intelligence. The ar-
ticles can roughly be grouped into the two categories: theoretical developments
and practical applications. The first group deals with issues in granular comput-
ing, learning methods, evolutionary optimization, swarm intelligence, linguistic
dynamic systems, neurocomputing, and neuro-fuzzy computing; while the sec-
ond group concerns with applications in motif identification in DNA and protein
sequences, adaptive approximation for nonlinear functions, neuromuscular con-
trol, reverse engineering of protein and gene networks, biometric problems, and
intelligent control.
Granular computing is one of the key components in the current study of com-
putational intelligence. In Chapter 1, Pedrycz investigates the role of granular
Preface vn

computing and logic processing in the context of intelligent systems and demon-
strates that both of them are organized into a single conceptual and computational
framework. This chapter provides a general overview of granular computing that
emphasizes a diversity of the currently available concepts and underlines their
common features that make the entire pursuit highly coherent. The logic facet of
processing is cast in the realm of fuzzy logic and fuzzy sets that construct a consis-
tent processing background necessary for operating on information granules. The
synergetic links between granular and logic as well as several main categories of
logic processing units or logic neurons have been examined in order to show how
they contribute to high functional transparency of granular processing, help cap-
ture prior domain knowledge and give rise to a diversity of the resulting models.
This work represents a significant step towards the establishment of a framework
that uses granular computing as a fundamental environment supporting the de-
velopment of intelligent systems. Chapter 2 addresses another important issue in
granular computing, that is, the abstraction of conventional dynamic systems for
the purpose of conducting linguistic analysis based on numerical representation.
To this end, the concepts and methods developed in linguistic dynamic systems
(LDS) by Wang are utilized. Specifically, conventional dynamic systems are con-
verted to different types of LDS for the purpose of verification and comparison.
The evolving laws of a type-I LDS are constructed by applying the fuzzy exten-
sion principle to those of its conventional counterpart with linguistic states. In
addition to linguistic states, the evolving laws of type-II LDS are modeled by a
finite number of linguistic decision rules. Analysis of fixed points is conducted
based on point-to-fuzzy-set mappings and linguistic controllers are designed for
goals specified in words for type-II LDS. An efficient numerical procedure called
a-cuts mapping is developed and applied for simulation studies.
Ever-increasing dataset sizes and ever-larger problems have spurred research
into efficient learning methods. Eschrich and Hall present in Chapter 3 a new
learning algorithm along this direction, called slicing, that embodies the principles
of distributed learning, not only to simplify a learning problem overall but also to
simplify the individual learning tasks. Slicing, or partitioning and learning, can
be seen as a method in which the training set is partitioned into disjoint regions of
feature space and treated as a set of learning tasks that can be run in a distributed
environment without extensive communication. This chapter examines slicing
algorithm with respect to a series of real-world datasets, including a biologically-
motivated problem, and shows that it can be used as a general meta-learning tech-
nique for distributed learning. Clearly, slicing is more accurate than using a single
classifier, can reduce the individual learning task size and provides a mechanism
to distribute the data mining task. Chapter 4 discusses margin methods for both
supervised and unsupervised learning problems. For supervised learning, a com-
Vlll Preface

plete framework of posterior probability support vector machines (PPSVMs) is

proposed for weighted training samples using modified concepts of risks, linear
separability, margin and optimal hyperplane. Within this framework, a new opti-
mization problem for unbalanced classification problems is formulated and a new
concept of support vectors is established. Tao and Wang extend the margin idea
further to unsupervised learning problems and establish a universal framework for
one-class, clustering and PCA (principal component analysis) problems.
Optimization using evolutionary computing is a very important field of stud-
ies. In Chapter 5, Yen describes a generic, two-phase framework for solving con-
strained optimization problems using genetic algorithms. In the first phase of the
algorithm, the objective function is completely disregarded and the constrained
optimization problem is treated as a constraint satisfaction problem. The genetic
search is directed toward minimizing the constraint violation of the solutions and
eventually finding a feasible solution. In the second phase the simultaneous opti-
mization of the objective function and the satisfaction of the constraints are treated
as a bi-objective optimization problem. The proposed algorithm is analyzed under
different problem scenarios using Test Case Generator-2 and its capability to per-
form well independent of various problem characteristics is demonstrated. Note
that Yen's algorithm performs competitively with the state-of-the-art constraint
optimization algorithms on eleven test cases which were widely studied bench-
mark functions in the literature.
Neuro-evolutionary computing, neuro-fuzzy computing, and swarm intelli-
gence are the subject of many current research works in computational intelli-
gence. In Chapter 6, Cai, Venayagamoorthy, and Wunsch investigate a hybrid
training algorithm based on particle swarm optimization (PSO) and evolutionary
algorithm (EA) for feedforward and recurrent neural networks. Particularly, the
applications of the hybrid PSO-EA algorithm for training of a feedforward neu-
ral network as a board evaluator for the game Go and for training of a recurrent
neural network to predict the missing values from a time series are presented to
show its potential. Results indicate that the proposed hybrid algorithm performs
better than individual application of PSO or EA algorithm as a training algorithm.
In Chapter 7, Lin and Wang present a novel approach to combining wavelet net-
works and multilayer feedforward neural networks for fuzzy logic control sys-
tems. While most of the existing neuro-fuzzy systems focus on implementing the
Takagi-Sugano-Kang (TSK) fuzzy inference model, they fail to keep the knowl-
edge structure that is critical in interpreting the learning process and providing in-
sights to the working mechanism of the underlying systems. It is their intention to
utilize individual subnets to implement decision-making process of the fuzzy logic
control systems based on the Mamdani model. Center average defuzzification has
been implemented by a neural network so that a succinct network structure is
Preface IX

obtained. More importantly, wavelet networks have been adopted to provide better
locality capturing capability and therefore better performance in terms of learning
speed and training time. Ant colony algorithms are the pioneers of swarm intelli-
gence. Ant colony optimization (ACO), a new meta-heuristic method based on the
observation of real ant colony activities and behaviors, offers a new way to solve
many complicated optimization problems. In Chapter 8, Zhang, Xu, and Zhang
provide a detailed overview on the principle of ACO and its various applications.
Bioinformatics is an exciting and important area of applications for compu-
tational intelligence. Liu and Xiong start applications with the problem of motif
discoveries in unaligned DNA and protein sequences in Chapter 9. Current popu-
lar algorithms for this problem face two difficulties: high computational cost and
the possibility of insertions and deletions. This chapter proposes a self-organizing
neural network structure as a new solution. This network contains several sub-
networks with each performing classifications at different levels. The top level
divides the input space into a small number of regions and the bottom level clas-
sifies all input patterns into motifs and non-motif patterns. A low computational
complexity is maintained through the use of the layered structure so that each pat-
tern's classification is performed with respect to a small subspace of the whole
input space. The introduction of pairwise distance between patterns enables their
method to deal with up to two insertions/deletions allowed in a motif, while other
existing algorithm can only deal with one insertion or deletion. Note that simu-
lation results show that their algorithm can identify motifs with more mutations
than existing algorithms and their algorithm works well for long DNA sequences
as well. In Chapter 10, Berman, DasGupta, and Sontag present an interesting in-
vestigation on some computational problems that arise in the reverse engineering
of protein and gene networks. They discuss the biological motivations, provide
precise formulations of the combinatorial questions that follow from these moti-
vations and then describe their computational complexity issue, namely efficient
approximation algorithms for these problems.
Similar to bioformatics, biometrics is another focus of current applications of
CI techniques. In Chapter 11, Tian, Chen, Zhang, and Yang provide an overview
of the advances in automatic fingerprint recognition algorithms and fingerprint ap-
plications. More attention has been paid to the enhancement of low-quality finger-
prints and the matching of distorted fingerprint images, both issues are considered
to be significant and challenging tasks. This chapter also includes an interesting
case of application: fingerprint mobile phones that utilize the fingerprint recog-
nition to ensure information security. In addition, two important competitions
for fingerprint recognition algorithms, Fingerprint Verification Competition 2004
(FVC2004) and Fingerprint Vendor Technology Evaluation 2003 (FpVTE2003),
are introduced and discussed.
X Preface

Finally, we consider applications in estimation and control. In Chapter 12,

He investigates a neuromuscular control system for posture and movement. Valu-
able lessons on how to design a versatile control system can be learnt from the
functional structures of the system and strategies in adaptation to various tasks
and environmental conditions. This chapter presents two case studies on how the
neuromuscular control system develops adaptive and predictive control strategies
to achieve effective stability and performance improvement against perturbations.
Results demonstrate that a feedforward predictive control strategy is often devel-
oped to achieve efficient control with satisfactory performance, instead of energy
demanding stiffness control. Although no current CI techniques have yet been
explicitly applied in this study, we believe this is a promising area where CI meth-
ods can play a key and natural role. Chapter 13 discusses the use of adaptive
approximation methods in estimating unmodeled nonlinear functions to improve
tracking performance. Zhao and Farrell focus on methods for the on-line esti-
mation of functions that bound the achievable adaptive approximation accuracy.
Whereas the results currently in the literature involved global forgetting, the adap-
tation laws for the estimated bounds herein involve local forgetting. They show
such localized bounds have utility for self-organizing adaptive approximators that
adjust the structure of the function approximator during system operations. Last
but not least, Yi, Yubazaki, and Hirota propose in Chapter 14 a SIRMs (single
input rule modules) dynamically connected fuzzy inference model and apply it
to the control of several underactuated systems such as truck-trailer system, ball-
beam system, and parallel-type double inverted pendulum system. For each input
item, an SIRM is constructed and a dynamic importance degree is introduced and
consists of a base value insuring the participation of the input item throughout a
control process and a dynamic value changing with control situations The model
output is obtained by summarizing the products of the dynamic importance degree
and the fuzzy inference result of each SIRM. Simulation results indicate that the
proposed model is effective even for very complicated systems.
We have edited this book because we are excited about the emergence of com-
putational intelligence as an integrated science and want to bring the state of the
art in both theories and applications in the Series on Intelligent Control and In-
telligent Automation. However, a volume in the Series can only provide a rather
limited description of the current progress in this new field. Although we have
made every effort to include a broad spectrum of approaches and applications in
recent CI research and development, the coverage is by no means near balanced
or complete.
Realization of this project is due to the generous contributions and assistance
of many distinguished researchers. We would like to express our deep appre-
ciation to all contributors for their great support and significant effort. We are
Preface XI

also grateful to Senior Editor Steven Patt and other editors at the World Scien-
tific Publishing Company, especially for their patience in numerous extensions of
the publication deadline. For assistance with editing, we acknowledge the huge
support from many of our associates and assistants, especially Dr. Yanqing Gao,
Dr. Sanqing Hu, and Dr. Qinghai Miao.

Fei-YueWang DerongLiu
Chinese Academy of Sciences University of Illinois at Chicago
Beijing, China Chicago, Illinois, USA
The University of Arizona
Tucson, Arizona, USA
This page is intentionally left blank
 List of Contributors

Piotr Berman Xindi Cai

Associate Professor Department of Electrical and
Department of Computer Science Computer Engineering
and Engineering University of Missouri-Rolla
Pennsylvania State University Rolla, MO 65409
University Park, PA 16802 Phone: (573)341-6811
Phone: (814)865-1611 Fax: (573) 341-4532
Fax: (814)865-3176 [email protected]
berman @cse.psu.edu

Xinjian Chen Bhaskar DasGupta

Laboratory of Complex Systems Associate Professor
and Intelligence Science Department of Computer Science
Institute of Automation University of Illinois at Chicago
Chinese Academy of Sciences Chicago, IL 60607
Beijing 100080, China Phone: (312)355-1319
Phone: (86) 10-82618465 Fax:(312)413-0024
Fax: (86) 10-62527995 [email protected]
[email protected]

Steven A. Eschrich Jay Farrell

Bioinformatics Staff Scientist Professor
Moffitt Cancer Center and Department of Electrical Engineering
Research Institute University of California, Riverside
Tampa, FL 33612-9497 Riverside, CA 92521
Phone:(813)745-1303 Phone: (909) 787-2159
Fax: (813)745-6107 Fax: (909) 787-2425
[email protected] farrell @ee.ucr.edu

Xlll
xiv List of Contributors

Lawrence O. Hall Jiping He

Professor Professor
Department of Computer Science Harrington Department of
and Engineering Bioengineering
University of South Florida Arizona State University
Tampa, FL 33620 Tempe, AZ 85287
Phone: (813)971-0129 Phone: (480) 965-0092
Fax: (813)974-4195 Fax: (480) 965-4292
[email protected] [email protected]

Kaoru Hirota Yuetong Lin

Professor Assistant Professor
Interdisciplinary Graduate School Department of Electronics,
of Science and Engineering and Computer Technology
Tokyo Institute of Technology Indiana State University
Yokohama 226-8502, Japan Terre Haute, IN 47809
Phone: (81)45-9245686 Phone:(812)237-3399
Fax: (81)45-9245676 Fax:(812)237-3397
[email protected] liny @indstate.edu

Derong Liu Witold Pedrycz

Associate Professor Professor
Department Electrical and Department of Electrical and
Computer Engineering Computer Engineering
University of Illinois at Chicago University of Alberta
Chicago, IL 60607-7053 Edmonton, Alberta T6R 2T1
Phone: (312) 355-4475 Canada
Fax:(312)996-6465 and
[email protected] Systems Research Institute
Polish Academy of Sciences
Warswaw
Poland
Phone: (780) 492-3333
Fax:(780)492-1811
pedrycz @ee.ualberta.ca
Discovering Diverse Content Through
Random Scribd Documents
plum tree, and the long-winded lecture he gave me on the rights of
meum and tuum. I wonder if the sermons he preaches now are as
prosy and as long. If so, I pity his congregation. He was always so
terribly in earnest. What would he say if he knew all about me now?’
And here Miss Llewellyn’s thoughts took a rather melancholy turn,
and she sat in the carriage with folded arms, hardly noticing the
rural scenes through which she was passing, as her memory went
back to her girlhood’s days and her girlhood’s companions. She did
not notice the time either, until a church clock struck two, and
reminded her that she had had no luncheon. She gave the order for
home then, but it was nearly three before she reached Grosvenor
Square, and the first words the footman, who opened the door to
her, said, were to the effect that Mr Portland was waiting for her in
the drawing-room. Nell started. She had entirely forgotten the
appointment of the day before.
‘In the drawing-room, did you say?’ she ejaculated. ‘I will go to
him at once.’
‘Luncheon is on the table, madam,’ added the servant; ‘shall I tell
them to take it downstairs till you are ready?’
‘It is not worth while,’ replied Miss Llewellyn, ‘I shall only be a few
minutes.’
She walked straight up to the drawing-room as she spoke,
throwing the hat she had worn on a side table as she entered.
‘I am sorry to have kept you waiting, Mr Portland,’ she said as he
held out his hand to her, ‘but I have been for a country drive, and
quite forgot the time.’
‘That is a very cruel speech, Miss Llewellyn,’ remonstrated her
visitor; ‘and when I have been counting the moments till we should
meet.’
Jack Portland was always a ‘horsey’ looking man, and it struck
Nell that to-day he seemed more horsey than usual. By birth, he was
a gentleman; but, like many other gentlemen by birth, he had
degraded himself by a life of dissipation, till he had lost nearly all
claim to the title. His features, good enough in themselves, were
swollen and bloated by indulgence in drink; his manners were
forward and repulsive; he had lost all respect for women, and only
regarded them as expensive animals who cost, as a rule, much more
than they were worth. To Nell he had always been most offensive,
not in words, but looks and manners, and she was only decently civil
to him for the earl’s sake. Now, as he seemed disposed to approach
her side, she got further and further away from him, till she had
reached a sofa at the other end of the room. Mr Portland was ‘got-
up’ in the flashiest style, but was evidently nervous, though she
could not imagine why. His suit was cut in the latest racing fashion,
and he wore an enormous ‘buttonhole.’ But his florid face was more
flushed than usual, and he kept fidgeting with his watch chain in a
curious manner. At last he found his tongue.
‘Were you very much surprised when I asked you for an
interview, Miss Llewellyn?’ he commenced.
‘I was, rather. Because I cannot think what you can possibly have
to say to me. We have but one subject of interest in common—
Ilfracombe—and he is quite well and happy. Else, I might have
frightened myself by imagining you had some bad news to tell me
concerning him.’
Jack Portland looked at her rather curiously as he replied,—
‘Oh, no, the old chap’s all right. How often do you hear from him
now? Every day. Is that the ticket?’
‘I hear constantly,’ replied Miss Llewellyn in a dignified tone. ‘I had
a letter yesterday. I was in hopes he might have fixed the date of his
return, but he says his friends will not be persuaded to let him go,
so that he shall be detained in Malta longer than he expected.’
‘Ah! his friends are the Abingers, of course,’ said Mr Portland,
sticking his glass in his eye, the better to observe her features.
‘Perhaps. He did not mention them by name,’ she replied, ‘but I
daresay you are right. However, he is sure to be home for the
pheasant-shooting.’
‘Doubtless,’ replied Mr Portland, ‘unless his friends persuade him
to go somewhere else. But what are you going to do with yourself
meanwhile, Miss Llewellyn?’
‘I? Oh, I shall remain in town till his return, and then I suppose
we shall go to the Highlands as usual. Ilfracombe wants me to go
away at once to some watering-place to recruit, but I should be
wretched there by myself. I shall wait for him at home. He is sure to
come straight to London, because all his things are here.’
She was looking as handsome as paint that day. The long drive
had tinged her face with a soft pink, and her lovely hazel eyes were
humid with emotion, engendered by her subject. Her rich hair had
become somewhat disordered by the open air and the haste with
which she had removed her hat, and was ruffled and untidy. But that
only added to her charms. What pretty woman ever looked so well
with neatly arranged hair, as when it is rumpled and blown about?
She was half sitting, half reclining on the sofa, and her fine figure
was shewn to the best advantage. Portland’s eyes glistened as he
gazed at her. What a handsome hostess she would make—what a
presider over the destinies of his bachelor establishment! How proud
he would be to introduce her to his sporting and Bohemian friends—
the only friends whom he affected, and be able to tell them that this
glorious creature was his own! He became so excited by the idea
that he dashed into the subject rather suddenly.
‘Miss Llewellyn,’ he said, ‘you are aware, I think, of my position in
life. Ilfracombe, dear old chap, has doubtless told you that I make a
very neat little income, and that I am perfectly unencumbered.’
This seemingly vague address made her stare.
‘He has never entered into details with me, Mr Portland; but I
have heard him say you are very well off—the luckiest fellow he
knows he called you.’
‘I’m afraid I’m not quite that,’ said Mr Portland; ‘but still I am in a
position to give any reasonable woman everything she can possibly
require. My income is pretty regular, and I would engage to make a
handsome allowance to any lady who honoured me with her
preference. I tell you this because Ilfracombe has often told me that
you have an excellent head for business. By George!’ said Mr
Portland, again screwing his glass into his unhappy and long-
suffering eye, ‘with such beauty as yours, you have no right to know
anything about business; still, if you do—there you are, you see!’
‘But what has all this to do with me, Mr Portland,’ remarked Miss
Llewellyn with a puzzled air. ‘I am sure any lady you may choose to
marry will be a very lucky woman. Ilfracombe has often called you
the best fellow he knows. But why should you tell me this? Are you
already engaged to be married?’
‘By Jove! no, and not likely to be. Do I look like a marrying man,
Miss Llewellyn? But there!—I can’t beat about the bush any longer!
You must have seen my admiration—my worship for you! It is on
you my choice has fallen! Say that I have not been too
presumptuous; that you will consent to share my fortune; that you
will, in fact, look as kindly on me as you have on my fortunate
friend, Ilfracombe?’
At first she did not understand his meaning; she did not realise
that this farrago of nonsense had been addressed to herself. It was
so entirely unexpected, so utterly unthought of. But when she did
take in the meaning of his words, when she awoke to the knowledge
that Mr Portland, the intimate friend of Lord Ilfracombe, had dared
to offer her his protection, Nell sprung from her position on the sofa,
and retreated to the back of it. Her tawny eyes were blazing with
fire, her hands were clenched, her breast heaved violently, she could
hardly speak. Under the indignation of her burning glances, the man
before her seemed to shrivel like a dry leaf before the flame.
‘How dare you?’ she panted. ‘How dare you insult me like that?
What do you mean? How can I be your friend, or the friend of any
man but Ilfracombe? I am his wife; you know I am; and shall be till I
die!’
 ‘His wife? pooh!’ said Jack Portland, ‘don’t talk rubbish to me like
that.’
‘Yes, his wife! How can I be more his wife than I am? I love him—
he loves me! We are essentially one in heart and word and deed.
What could a marriage ceremony have done more for us, than our
mutual love has done. And then you, who know all this, who have
known us so many years, you dare to come here and insult me, in
my own house, and under the pretence of friendship deal the
deadliest insult you could possibly have hurled at my head! Oh, how
I wish Ilfracombe had been at home to protect me from your
insolence! He would not have let you finish your cowardly sentence!
You would not have dared utter it had he been standing by! He
would have taken you by the collar and spurned you from the door. I
have no words in which to tell you how I despise you; how low and
mean a thing you seem to me; how I wish I were a man that I might
put you out of this room and this house myself! But rest assured
that Lord Ilfracombe shall hear of your baseness, and will punish you
as you deserve!’
Jack Portland still kept his glass fixed in his eye and stared
insolently at her. He had elevated his brows once or twice as she
proceeded with her speech, and shrugged his shoulders, as if she
were not worth a second thought of his; and as she mentioned her
lover’s name he smiled scornfully and waved his hand.
‘Pray don’t take it in this fashion,’ he said, as she concluded. ‘I am
sure Ilfracombe would tell you it was not worth making such a fuss
about. As for insulting you, that is the last idea in my mind. I admire
you far too much. Most ladies would, I flatter myself, have regarded
my offer in a totally different light; indeed, no reasonable person
could say that it was an insult, especially from a man of my birth and
position.’
‘It becomes an insult,’ she answered hotly, ‘when you address
your proposals to the wife of another man, and that man your
greatest friend.’
 ‘Perhaps it would, if she were his wife, or ever likely to be so,’
returned Mr Portland, with a sneer.
‘But I am, I am,’ cried Nell passionately, stamping her feet, ‘and
each fresh word you say is a fresh affront. People with your low
conceptions of life cannot understand the strength of the tie
between Ilfracombe and myself, because it has not been ratified by
the law. You are not honourable enough to see that that very fact
renders it still more binding on a man of honour. Ilfracombe would
die sooner than part from me, and I would die a thousand deaths
sooner than part from him. Our lives are bound up in each other.
And even if it were not so, I could never exchange him for you. Now,
do you understand, or must I say it all over again?’
Under the sting of what his proposal had suggested to her, she
was blazing away at him with twice her natural ferocity. At that
moment she hated him with such a deadly hatred for having
presumed to remind her of the real position she held, that she could
gladly have killed him.
‘Pray say no more!’ exclaimed Mr Portland, as he prepared to
leave her, ‘you’ve said more than enough, my pretty tigress, already;
but the day may come when you will regret that you treated my
offer with so much disdain. Young men’s fancies do not last for ever,
my dear, and a good, sound settlement is worth many vows. If
Ilfracombe ever tires of you (or rather let me say when he tires of
you), you will remember my words. Meanwhile, luckily for me, there
are as good fish in the sea as ever came out of it. So good-bye, my
handsome fury. Won’t you give me one kiss before we part, just to
show there’s no ill feeling? No? Well, I must try to do without it then,
for the present at least, and hope for better luck next time.
Remember me to old Ilfracombe when next you write. Ta-ta.’
He lingered near her for a moment, as though expecting she
would raise her eyes or put out her hand; but Nell did neither, and,
after a while, he turned on his heel, and, insolently humming a tune,
went on his way.
 As soon as Miss Llewellyn heard the hall door close after him, she
rushed up to her own room, and, after locking the door, threw
herself on the sofa, face downwards, and sobbed and cried in the
strength of her wounded feelings and the terrible doubt which Mr
Portland’s words had seemed to imply. The servants came knocking
at her door, and worrying her to come down to luncheon, which was
getting cold, in the dining-room, but she would not stir nor speak to
any of them.
It was the first time since her acquaintance with the Earl of
Ilfracombe that the untenability of her illegal position had been
brought so forcibly before her, and she felt all the more angry
because she had no right to feel angry at all. She believed implicitly
in her lover. She had accepted his assurances of fidelity as gospel
truth, and she was passionately indignant and sorely outraged
because Mr Portland had not considered the tie between her and his
friend as inviolable as she did. And yet she was not Lord Ilfracombe’s
wife. Beautiful Nell Llewellyn knew this only too well as she lay on
the couch, sobbing as if her heart would break. Say what women will
in these days of misrule about the charms of liberty, and the horror
of being enchained for life, there is a comfortable sense of security
in knowing oneself to be honourably united to the man one loves; to
have no need of concealment or mis-stating facts; no necessity of
avoiding one’s fellow men; no fear of encountering insult from one’s
inferiors in birth and morals, because one does not wear a wedding-
ring upon one’s finger—that insignia of possession which is so
insignificant and yet so powerful. What would poor Nell Llewellyn not
have given to have had one upon her finger now?
How terrible is the first dread of the instability of the love on
which one has fixed all one’s earthly hopes! Had her lover been
within reach, Nell would have rushed to him with the story of her
trouble, and received a consolatory reassurance of his affection at
once. But she was alone. She could confide in no one, and Mr
Portland’s proposal, having made her see in what light men of the
world regarded her tie to Lord Ilfracombe, had made her heart
question if they could be correct, and he looked on it as they did.
Her passionate nature, which was not formed for patience or long-
suffering or humility, cried out against the suspense to which it was
subjected, and raised such violent emotions in her breast that by the
time they were exhausted she was quite ill. When at last she raised
herself from her downcast position on the sofa, and tried, with
swollen eyes and throbbing brain, to collect her thoughts, she found
to her dismay that it was past five o’clock, and she had promised to
call for Hetty and her husband at six. Her first thought was to
remove the traces of her tears. She could not bear that the servants
should see that she had been crying. She would never let them
perceive that her position in the house cost her any anxiety or
remorse, but bore herself bravely in their presence as their mistress,
who had not a thought of ever being otherwise. As soon as she had
bathed her eyes and arranged her hair, Miss Llewellyn sat down at a
davenport that stood by her sofa and scribbled a note to Hetty,
enclosing her the seats for the Alhambra for that evening, and
excusing herself from accompanying them on the score of a violent
attack of neuralgia. Then she rung the bell for her maid, and desired
her to send the letter at once to Oxford Street by hand.
‘One of the grooms can go on horseback,’ she said, ‘or James can
take a hansom; but it must be delivered as soon as possible. And
then you can bring me a cup of coffee, Susan, for I have such a
headache that I can hardly open my eyes.’
‘Lor’! yes, ma’am, you do look bad!’ returned the servant. ‘Your
eyes are quite red-like, as if they was inflamed. You must have
caught cold last night. I thought you would, staying out so late, and
without the carriage.’
‘Well, never mind, go and do as I tell you,’ replied Miss Llewellyn,
who felt as if she could not endure her chatter one moment longer.
It was characteristic of this woman that what had occurred had
planted far less dread of the insecurity of the position she held in her
mind than a deep sense of the insult that had been offered to her
love and Lord Ilfracombe’s. She felt it on his account, more than on
her own—that anyone should have dared so to question his honour,
and suspect his constancy. Hers was so ardent and generous a
temperament, that where she gave, she gave all, and without a
question if she should gain or lose by the transaction. She loved the
man whom she regarded as her husband with the very deepest
feelings she possessed; it is not too much to say that she adored
him, for he was so much above her, in rank and birth and station,
that she looked up to him as a god—the only god, indeed, that poor
Nell had learned to acknowledge. He was her world—her all! That
they should ever be separated never entered into her calculations.
He had been struck with her unusual beauty, three years before, and
taken her from a very lowly position as nursemaid to be his
housekeeper—then, by degrees, the rest had followed. All Lord
Ilfracombe’s friends knew and admired her, and considered him a
deuced lucky fellow to have secured such a goddess to preside over
his bachelor establishment. Naturally, the elder ones said it was a
pity, and it was to be hoped that Lord Ilfracombe’s eyes would be
opened before long to the necessity of marriage and an heir to the
fine old estate and title. Especially did his father’s old friend and
adviser, Mr Sterndale, lament over the connection, and try by every
means in his power to persuade Ilfracombe to dissolve it. But the
earl was of a careless and frivolous nature—easily led in some
things, and very blind as yet to the necessity of marriage. Besides,
he loved Nell—not as she loved him by any manner of means, but in
an indolent, indulgent fashion, which granted her all her desires, and
gave her as much money as she knew what to do with. But had he
been asked if he would marry her, he would have answered
decidedly, ‘No.’
 CHAPTER IV.
Meantime the golden hours were slipping away in a very agreeable
manner for Lord Ilfracombe at Malta. He had been accustomed to
spend several weeks of each summer yachting with a few chosen
companions, and as soon as his little yacht, Débutante, had
anchored in view of Valetta, a score of husbands, fathers and
brothers had scrambled aboard, carrying a score of invitations for
the newcomer from their womankind. A young, good-looking and
unmarried earl was not so common a visitor to Malta as to be
allowed to consider himself neglected, and before Lord Ilfracombe
and his friends had been located a week in Valetta, they were the
lions of the place, each family vying with the other to do them
honour. Naturally, the earl was pretty well used to that sort of thing,
especially as he had enjoyed his title for the last ten years. There is
such an ingrained snobbishness in the English nature, that it is only
necessary to have a handle to one’s name to get off scot-free,
whatever one may do. There was a divorce case, not so very long
ago, which was as flagrant as such a case could well be; but where
the titled wife came off triumphant, simply because the titled
husband had been as immoral as herself. The lady had money and
the lady had good looks—how far they went to salve over the little
errors of which she had been accused it is impossible to say, but the
bulk of the public forgave her, and the parsons prayed over her, and
she is to be met everywhere, and usually surrounded by a clique of
adoring tuft hunters. Sometimes I have wondered, had she been
plain Mrs Brown, instead of Lady Marcus Marengo, if the satellites
would have continued to revolve so faithfully. But in sweet, simple
Christian England, a title, even a borrowed one, covers a multitude
of sins. The Earl of Ilfracombe had naturally not been left to find out
this truth for herself, but to give him his due, it had never affected
him in the least. He despised servility, though, like most of his sex,
he was open to flattery—the flattery of deeds, not words. Amongst
the many families who threw wide their doors to him in Malta was
that of Admiral Sir Richard Abinger, who had been stationed there
for many years. Sir Richard was a regular family man. He had
married sons and daughters; a bevy of girls on their promotion; and
a nursery of little ones. The Abinger girls, as they were called, were
an institution in Valetta. On account of their father’s professional
duties, and their mother’s constant occupation with her younger
children, they were allowed to go about a great deal alone, and had
become frank and fearless, and very well able to take care of
themselves in consequence. They personally conducted Lord
Ilfracombe and his friends to see everything worth seeing in Malta,
and a considerable intimacy was the result. There were three sisters
of the respective ages of eighteen, twenty and twenty-two, and it
was the middle one of these three, Leonora, or Nora, as she was
generally called, who attracted Lord Ilfracombe most. She was not
exactly pretty, but graceful and piquant. Her complexion was pale.
Her eyes brown and not very large; her nose sharp and inclined to
be long; her mouth of an ordinary size, but her teeth ravishingly
white and regular. A connoisseur, summing up her perfections, would
have totalled them by pronouncing her to have long eyelashes, well-
marked eyebrows, good teeth and red lips. But Nora Abinger’s chief
charm did not lie in physical attractions. To many it would not have
counted as a charm at all. They would have set it down as a decided
disqualification. This was her freedom of speech; her quickness of
repartee; her sense of the ridiculous; and her power of sustaining a
conversation. Young men of the present day, who find their greatest
pleasure in associating with women whom they would not dare
introduce to their mothers and sisters, are apt to become rather
dumb when they find themselves in respectable society. This had
been much the case hitherto with the Earl of Ilfracombe. He had
assiduously neglected his duties to society (if indeed we do owe any
duty to such a mass of corruption and deceit) and had found his
pleasure amongst his own sex, and in pursuing the delights of sport,
not excepting that of the racing field, on which he had lost, at times,
a considerable amount of money. To find that his ignorance of
society squibs and fashions, his slowness of speech and ideas, his
inability to make jokes, and sometimes even to see them, was no
drawback in Nora’s eyes, and that she chatted no less glibly because
he was silent, raised him in his own estimation. In fact, Nora was a
girl who made conversation for her companions. She rubbed up their
wits by friction with her own; and people who had been half an hour
in her company felt all the brightness with which she had infused
them, and were better pleased with themselves in consequence.
Lord Ilfracombe experienced this to the fullest extent. For the first
time perhaps in his life he walked and talked with a young lady
without feeling himself ill at ease, or with nothing to say. Nora talked
with him about Malta and its inhabitants, many of whom she took off
to the life for his amusement. She drew him out on the subject of
England (which she had not visited since she was a child), and his
particular bit of England before all the rest; made him tell her of his
favourite pursuits, and found, strange to say, that they all agreed
with her own tastes; and lamented often and openly that there was
no chance of her father leaving that abominable, stupid island of
which she was so sick. Miss Nora Abinger had indeed determined
from the very first to secure the earl if possible for herself. Her two
sisters, Mabel and Susan, entertained the same aspiration, but they
stood no chance against keen-witted Nora, who was as knowing a
young lady as the present century can produce. She was tired to
death, as she frankly said, of their family life. The admiral would
have been well off if he had not had such a large family; but thirteen
children are enough to try the resources of any profession. Five of
the brothers and sisters were married, and should have been
independent, but the many expenses contingent on matrimony, and
the numerous grandchildren with which they annually endowed him,
often brought them back in forma pauperis on their father’s hands.
His nursery offspring, too, would soon be needing education and a
return to England, so that Sir Richard had to think twice before he
acceded to the requests of his marriageable maidens for ball dresses
and pocket-money. All these drawbacks in her domestic life Nora
confided, little by little, to her new friend, the earl, until the young
man yearned to carry the girl away to England with him and give her
all that she desired. He could not help thinking, as he listened to her
gay, rattling talk, how splendidly she would do the honours of
Thistlemere and Cotswood for him; what a graceful, elegant, witty
countess she would make; what an attraction for his bachelor
friends; what a hostess to receive the ladies of his family. The
upshot was just what might have been expected. Lounging one day
on a bench under the shade of the orange-trees which overhang the
water’s edge, whilst their companions had wandered along the quay,
Lord Ilfracombe asked her if she would go back to England with him.
Nora was secretly delighted with the offer, but not at all taken aback.
‘What do you think?’ she inquired, looking up at him archly with
her bright eyes. ‘You know I’ve liked you ever since you came here,
and if you can manage to pull along with me, I’m sure I can with
you.’
‘Pull along with you, my darling!’ cried the young man. ‘Why, I
adore you beyond anything. I don’t know how I should get on now
without your bright talk and fascinating ways to cheer my life.’
‘Well, you’ll have to talk to papa about it, you know,’ resumed
Nora. ‘I don’t suppose he’ll make any objection (he’ll be a great fool
if he does), still there’s just the chance of it, so I can’t say anything
for certain till you’ve seen him. He’s awfully particular, very religious,
you know, and always says he’d rather marry us to parsons without
a halfpenny, than dukes who were not all they ought to be. But that
may be all talkee-talkee! Though I hope you’re a good boy, all the
same, for my own sake!’
‘Oh, I’m an awfully good boy,’ replied Lord Ilfracombe. ‘This is the
very first offer I ever made a girl in my life, and if you won’t have
me, Nora, it will be the last. Say you like me a little, darling,
whatever papa may say.’
‘I do like you ever so much, and I don’t believe there’ll be any
hitch in the matter.’
‘But if there were—if your father has any objection to me as a
son-in-law—will that make you break with me, Nora?’
 ‘Of course not. There’s my hand on it! But I don’t see how we are
to get married in this poky little place without his consent. But there
—don’t let us think of such a thing. He’ll give it fast enough. But we
had better go home now and get the matter over at once.’
‘You’ll give me one kiss before we go, Nora,’ pleaded Ilfracombe;
‘no one can see us here. Just one, to prove you love me!’
‘Out in the open!’ cried the girl, with comical dismay. ‘Oh, Lord
Ilfracombe, what are you thinking of? You don’t know what a horrid
place this is for scandal! Why, if a boatman or beggar came by, it
would be all over the town before the evening. Oh, no; you must
wait till we are properly engaged before you ask for such a thing.’
‘I’ll take my revenge on you, then,’ said the young man gaily; but
he was disappointed, all the same, that Nora had not given in to
him.
Sir Richard Abinger was unaffectedly surprised when the earl
asked for an interview, and made his wishes known. His daughters
had walked about and talked with so many men before, without
receiving a proposal. And that Lord Ilfracombe should have fixed on
Nora seemed to him the greatest surprise of all.
‘Nora?’ he reiterated, ‘Nora? Are you sure that you mean Nora? I
should have thought that Mabel or Susie would have been more
likely to take your fancy. People tell me that Susie is the beauty of
the family—that she is so very much admired. We have always
considered Nora to be the plainest of them all.’
‘I do not consider her so, Sir Richard, I can assure you,’ replied
the earl, ‘although, at the same time, I have chosen her much more
for her mind than her looks. She is the most charmingly vivacious
girl I have ever come across. She is as clever as they’re made.’
‘Oh, yes, yes, very clever,’ said the old man; ‘but now we come to
the most important matter—’
‘The settlements? Oh, yes! I hope I shall be able to satisfy you
thoroughly with respect to them.’
 ‘No, Lord Ilfracombe, not the settlements, though, of course, they
are necessary; but, in my eyes, quite a minor consideration. My
daughter, Nora, is—well, to be frank with you, she is not my
favourite daughter. Perhaps it is our own fault (for the poor child has
been left a great deal to herself), but she is more heedless, less
reliable—how shall I put it? Let me say, more headstrong and
inclined to have her own way than her sisters. It will require a strong
man, and a sensible man, to guide her through life; ay, more than
these, a good man. The position you offer her is a very brilliant one,
and I should be proud to see her fill it; but, before I give my consent
to her marrying you, I must be assured that the example you set her
will be such as to raise instead of debase her.’
‘I do not understand what you mean,’ replied the young man,
with a puzzled air. ‘How can you possibly suspect me of setting my
wife a bad example?’
‘Not practically, perhaps, but theoretically, Lord Ilfracombe.
Forgive me, if I touch upon a delicate subject; but, in the interests of
my daughter, I must lay aside all false scruples. I have heard
something of your domestic life in England, from the men who have
come over here, and I must ascertain for certain that everything of
that kind will be put a stop to before you marry Nora.’
Lord Ilfracombe reddened with shame.
‘Of course, of course,’ he said, after a pause. ‘How can you doubt
it?’
‘I am aware,’ continued the admiral, ‘that men of the present day
think little of such matters—that they believe all that goes on before
marriage is of no consequence to anyone but themselves. But it is
not so. Some years back, perhaps, our women were kept in such
ignorance of the ways of the world, that they only believed what
their husbands chose to tell them. Now it is very different. Their
eyes seem to have been opened, and they see for themselves, and
act for themselves. I am often astonished at the insight given to me
by my own daughters to female nature. Where they have learned it
in this quiet, little place, I cannot imagine. It seems to me as if they
were born wide-awake. And Nora is especially so. She is ready to be
anything you choose to make her. And if she found out that you had
deceived her, I would not answer for the consequences.’
‘You may rely on my word, sir, that, in the future, I will never
deceive her. With regard to the past, I should like to make a clean
breast to you, in order that hereafter you may not be able to say I
have kept anything back. Others may also have represented my life
as worse than it has been, and, as my future father-in-law, I should
wish you to think the best of me. Some three years ago, I fell in with
a very beautiful young woman, in a humble station of life, whom I
took into my household as housekeeper. After a while—there was
nothing coarse or vulgar about her, and her beauty was something
extraordinary—I succumbed to the temptation of seeing her
constantly before my eyes, and raised her to the position of my
mistress.’
‘I beg your pardon, Lord Ilfracombe,’ said the admiral, looking up.
‘Well, not raised exactly, perhaps, but you know what I mean. We
were mutually attracted, but, of course, it was understood from the
beginning that the connection would only last until I thought fit to
marry. Now, of course, I shall pension her off, and have already
written to my solicitor on the subject. That is really all that any man
can say against me, Sir Richard, and it is far less than the generality
of young fellows of the present day have to confess to. My life has
always been a clean one. I have no debts, my property is
unencumbered, and I have no proclivities for low tastes or
companions. If you will trust your daughter to my care, I promise
that her private rights shall be protected as rigorously as her public
ones.’
‘It is a grand position,’ said the father, thoughtfully, ‘and I do not
know that I should be justified in refusing it for Nora. Only it seems
very terrible to me about this other young woman. How is your
marriage likely to affect her? I could have no faith in the stability of
my daughter’s happiness if it were built up on the misery of another.’
 Lord Ilfracombe looked up astonished.
‘Oh, Sir Richard, you need have no scruples on that account, I
assure you. These people do not feel as we do. I should have ended
the business any way, for I was getting rather sick of it. To prove
what I say is correct, I have already written to my man of business,
Mr Sterndale, to draw up a deed settling five thousand pounds upon
her, which will secure an ample annuity for a woman in her sphere of
life. She was only a country girl somewhere out of Scotland, I
believe. She will be all right, and, honestly, I never wish to hear her
name again.’
‘Very well, Lord Ilfracombe, of course, under any circumstances,
the termination of such a connection is a good thing, and I am glad
to hear that the remembrance of it is distasteful to you. You are a
man of honour, and, therefore, I accept your assurance that it is all
over henceforth, and that you will make my daughter a kind and
faithful husband. But be careful of her, and don’t let her have too
much of her own way. I’ve seen the bad effects of such a course of
behaviour before now.’
So it was a settled thing that Miss Nora Abinger was to become
the Countess of Ilfracombe, and she rose in the estimation of the
residents of Malta accordingly. She had been a fast, bold, flirting girl
as Nora Abinger, but when she was announced as the future Lady
Ilfracombe, it was suddenly discovered that she was really
excessively clever and witty, and though no one could call her
exactly pretty, there was something, a je ne sais quoi, about her
manner of holding herself and the way she turned her head that was
certainly very fascinating. Her promised husband, who had
discovered her fascinations before, and was admitted to the full
enjoyments of all her wilful moods and witty sayings, fell more
deeply in love with her every day, and had hardly patience to wait till
the wedding preparations were completed for the fulfilment of his
happiness. If a thought of Nell Llewellyn crossed his mind at this
period it was only to hope that her interview with Sterndale had
passed off quietly, and that she would have the sense to clear out
without any fuss. So intensely selfish does a new passion make a
man! The time had been when Nell, who was twice as strong,
mentally and physically, as Nora Abinger, was Lord Ilfracombe’s ideal
of a woman. Her finely moulded form had seemed to him the
perfection of symmetry; her majestic movements, the bearing of a
queen; the calm, classic expression of her features, just what that of
a well-bred gentlewoman’s should be. Now he was gazing
rapturously, day after day, upon Nora’s mobile face, on her slim and
lissom figure, which, stripped of its clothing, resembled nothing
better than a willow wand, and listening eagerly to her flow of
nonsensical chatter, during which she successively ‘cheeked’ her
parents and himself, ridiculed her acquaintances, scolded her
younger brethren, and took her own way in everything. In truth, she
differed as greatly from the loving, submissive woman, who lived but
to please him, in England, as she possibly could do, and herein lay
her attraction for him. Nell Llewellyn was more beautiful, more
obedient and more loving, but Nora was more new. He had become
just a little bit tired of Nell, and he had never met a girl who treated
him as Nora did, before. She spoke to him exactly as she chose; she
didn’t seem to care a pin about his title or his money. She
contradicted him freely; refused his wishes whenever they clashed in
any degree with her own, and let him fully understand that she
intended to do exactly as she chose for the remainder of her life.
She was a new experience to Lord Ilfracombe, who had been
accustomed to be deferred to in everything. Perhaps she knew this;
perhaps she was ‘cute’ enough to guess the likeliest method by
which to snare the fish she had set her heart on catching; anyway
the bait took and the gudgeon was netted. The Earl of Ilfracombe
and Miss Nora Abinger were formally engaged and the wedding-day
was fixed. But still the young lady did not relax her discipline, and
her lover’s privileges remained few and far between.
‘Paws off Pompey!’ she would cry if he attempted to take any of
the familiarities permissible to engaged people. ‘Do you want
Vicenzo or Giorgione to make us the jest of Valetta? Don’t you know
that “spooning” is out of fashion? We leave all that sort of thing to
the oi polloi now-a-days.’
‘Oh, do we?’ the young man would retort, playfully; ‘then I’ll
belong to the oi polloi, Nora, if you please! At all events, I’m going to
have a kiss!’
‘At all events, you’re going to have no such thing; at least, not
now. There’ll be plenty of time for all that kind of nonsense after
we’re married, and we’re not there yet, you know. Don’t forget
“there’s many a slip ’twixt cup and lip.”’
Then, seeing him frown, she would add coaxingly, twisting her
mouth up into the most seductive curves as she spoke,—
‘There, don’t be vexed, you’ll have too much of kissing some day,
you know. Come out in the boat with me. You’re the most
troublesome boy I ever knew. There’s no keeping you in order in the
house.’
So he would follow her obediently, with his longing still
ungratified, and always looking forward to a luckier to-morrow.
Whoever had been her instructor, Miss Nora Abinger had certainly
learnt the art of keeping a man at her feet. Perhaps the same
thought struck him also, for one day, when they were alone
together, he asked her if he were the only man she had ever loved.
Nora looked at him with the keenest appreciation lurking in the
corners of her mirthful eyes.
‘Are you the only man I’ve ever loved, Ilfracombe?’ she repeated
after him. ‘Well, I don’t think so.’
‘You don’t think so? Good heavens, do you mean to tell me you’ve
had lovers beside myself!’ he exclaimed, getting into a sudden fury.
‘My dear boy, do you know how old I am? Twenty, last birthday!
What are you dreaming of? Do you suppose all the men in Malta are
deaf, dumb, and blind? Of course I’ve had other lovers—scores of
them!’
 ‘But you didn’t love them, Nora; not as you love me,’ Lord
Ilfracombe asked anxiously.
‘Well, before I can answer that question, we must decide how
much I do love you. Anyway, I didn’t marry any of them, though I
might have had a dozen husbands by this time if I had accepted
them all. As it is, you see, I chucked them over.’
‘But were you engaged to any of them, Nora?’ he persisted.
She might easily have said ‘no,’ but it was not in this girl’s nature
to deceive. She was frankly naughty, defiantly so, some people
might have said, and rather glorified in her faults than otherwise.
Besides, she dearly loved to tease her lover, and tyrannise over him.
‘Oh, yes I was,’ she replied, ‘that is, I had a kind of a sort of an
engagement with several of them. But it amounted to nothing.
There was only one of the whole lot I shed a single tear for.’
‘And pray, who may he have been?’ demanded Lord Ilfracombe,
with a sudden access of dignity.
‘Find it out for yourself,’ she said pertly. ‘Oh, he was a dear, quite
six foot high, with the goldenest golden hair you ever saw; not a bit
like yours. I call yours flaxen. It’s too pale, but his had a rich tinge in
it, and he had such lovely eyes, just like a summer night, I nearly
cried myself blind when he left Malta.’
‘It seems to me,’ said the earl, with the same offended air he had
assumed before, ‘that I am de trop here, since the recollection of
this fascinating admirer is still so fresh. Perhaps I had better resign
in favour of him while there is still time?’
‘Just as you like!’ returned Nora indifferently. ‘I have no wish to
bias your movements in any way. But if you did not want an answer,
why did you put the question to me?’
‘But, Nora, my darling, you did not mean what you said? You did
not waste any of your precious tears on this brute, surely? You said
it only to tease me?’
 ‘Indeed I did not! Do you imagine you are the only nice man I
have ever seen—that I have been shut up on this island like poor
Miranda and never met a man before? What a simpleton you must
be! Of course I was engaged to him, and should have been married
to him by this time, only the poor dear had no certain income, and
papa would not hear of it! And I cried for weeks afterwards
whenever I heard his name mentioned. Would you have had me an
insensible block, and not care whether we had to give each other up
or no?’
‘No, no, of course not, but it is terrible to me, Nora, to think you
could have cared for another man.’
‘Rubbish!’ cried the young lady. ‘How many women have you
cared for yourself? Come now, let us have the list?’
The earl blushed uneasily.
‘I have told you already,’ he replied, ‘that you are the first woman
I have ever asked to be the Countess of Ilfracombe!’
‘And I didn’t ask you how many women you had proposed to, but
how many you had thought you loved. The list can’t be so long that
you have forgotten them all? Let’s begin at the end. That will make it
easier. Who was the last woman before me?’
‘That is a very silly question, Nora, and I consider that I have
already answered it. Besides, I am not a young lady, and that makes
all the difference.’
‘In your idea, Ilfracombe, perhaps, but not mine. We women see
no difference in the two things at all. And if you cannot produce a
clean bill of health in the matter of having loved before, you have no
right to expect it of me. Besides, my dear boy,’ she continued in a
more soothing voice, ‘do you mean to tell me, in this nineteenth
century, that you have reached your present age—what is your
present age, Ilfracombe, nine-and-twenty, is it not?—without having
made love to heaps of women? Not that I care one jot! I am not
such a zany! I think it’s all for the best since “pot will not be able to
call kettle black,” eh?’
 And she glanced up into his face from under her long eyelashes in
so fascinating a manner, that the earl caught her in his arms before
she had time to remonstrate, and forgot all about the former lover.
So the time wore away, each day more delightful than the last, spent
under the orange and myrtle trees, or in sailing round the bay, until
the longed-for wedding morning broke, and they were married in the
English church at Malta. Their plans were to go to an hotel higher up
in the island, for a fortnight’s honeymoon, after which they were to
start in the Débutante for the Grecian Isles, before returning to
England. A few days after his marriage, Lord Ilfracombe received a
letter by the English mail that seemed greatly to disturb him. He was
most anxious to conceal it, and his own feelings regarding it, from
the observation of his wife, and this he had no difficulty in doing, as
she did not appear even to have noticed that he was unlike himself.
The letter was from a woman, long and diffusive, and he read it
many times. Then he entered the sitting-room and addressed Lady
Ilfracombe.
‘Have you torn up the paper that contained the description of our
marriage, darling?’ he inquired.
‘What, that local thing? No, I never looked at it a second time. It
is somewhere about. What can you possibly want with it,
Ilfracombe?’
‘Only to send to one of my English friends, Nora. It is so funnily
worded, it will amuse them.’
And then he found it, and put it in a wrapper and directed it to
Miss Llewellyn, 999 Grosvenor Square, London.
 CHAPTER V.
Miss Llewellyn had almost forgotten that she was to expect a visit
from Lord Ilfracombe’s solicitor, Mr Sterndale, when one day, as she
was sitting alone, his card was brought in to her. Hetty and William
had returned to Usk by this time. Their modest resources could not
stand out against more than a week in London, though their sister
had helped them as much as they would allow her. So they were
gone, taking the fresh smell of the country with them, and leaving
Miss Llewellyn more melancholy and depressed than they had found
her. For she had not heard again from Lord Ilfracombe since the few
lines she had received on the day of their arrival, and she was
beginning to dread all sorts of unlikely things, just because the
unusual silence frightened her, like a child left alone in the dark.
Hetty and Will had been most urgent that she should accompany
them back to Usk, and for a moment Nell thought the temptation
too great to be resisted. What would she not give for a sight of her
dear mother’s face, she thought—for her father’s grave smile; for a
night or two spent in the old farmhouse where she had been so
careless and so happy; to lie down to sleep with the scent of the
climbing roses and honeysuckle in her nostrils, and the lowing of the
cattle and twittering of the wild birds in her ears. And Ilfracombe
had urged her to take change of air, too. He would be pleased to
hear she had left London for awhile! But here came the idea that he
might return home any day, perhaps unexpectedly and sooner than
he imagined, and then if she were absent what would he think?—
what would she suffer? She would not cease to reproach herself. Oh,
no, it was useless for Hetty to plead with her. She would come back
some day, when she could have a holiday without inconvenience, but
just now with the master of the house absent, her mother would
understand it was impossible; it would not be right for her, in her
position as housekeeper, to leave the servants to look after
themselves. So Hetty, having been brought up very strictly with
regard to duty, was fain to acquiesce in her sister’s decision, and
comfort herself with the hope that she would fulfil her promise some
day. But when they had left London, Nell felt as if she had escaped a
great danger, and was only just able to breathe freely again. And
had she accompanied them to Usk, and gone to stay at Panty-
cuckoo Farm, she would have felt almost as bad. To live under the
eyes of her parents day after day; to have to submit to their eager
questioning; to evade their sharpness—for country people are
sometimes very sharp in matters that affect their domestic
happiness and very eager for revenge when their family honour is
compromised; all this Nell felt she dared not, under present
circumstances, undergo. So she was sorry and glad to part with her
sister at the same time; but her advent had so put other matters out
of her head, that she was quite startled at receiving Mr Sterndale’s
card. It revived all the old curiosity, which the first notice of his
coming had evoked in her mind. What on earth could he possibly
have to say to her? However, that question would soon be put to
rest, and she was bound, for Ilfracombe’s sake, to receive him. She
happened to be in her boudoir at the time, and told the servant to
desire her visitor to walk up there. Nell knew that the lawyer did not
like her, and the feeling was reciprocal. Mr Sterndale was a little, old
man of sixty, with silver hair. A very cute lawyer, and a firm friend,
but uncompromising to a degree—a man from whom a fallen woman
might expect no mercy. Miss Llewellyn had said in her letter to her
lover, that she knew Mr Sterndale regarded her as a harpy who
cared for nothing but his money, and this estimate of his opinion
was strictly true. With him, women were divided into only two
classes—moral and immoral. The class to which poor Nell belonged
was generally mercenary and grasping, and deserted a poor man to
join a richer one, and he had no idea that she was any different. She
was beautiful, he saw, so much the more dangerous; and all his fear
of late years had been lest the earl should have taken it in his head
to marry her, as indeed, except for Mr Sterndale’s constant warnings
and entreaties, he would have done. Now he rejoiced to think that
his client was about to be wedded to a woman in his own sphere of
life, for the news of the marriage had not yet reached England, and
he had come to Grosvenor Square to fulfil Lord Ilfracombe’s request
that he would break the intelligence to Miss Llewellyn, as calmly and
deliberately as if he were the bearer of the best of news. She did not
rise as he entered, but, bowing rather curtly, begged he would be
seated and disclose his business with her. She had been accustomed
for so long to be treated by this man as the mistress of the
establishment, that she had come to regard him much as Lord
Ilfracombe did, in the light of a servant. Mr Sterndale noted the easy
familiarity with which she motioned him to take a chair, and chuckled
inwardly, to think how soon their relative positions would be
reversed.
‘Good morning,’ began Miss Llewellyn. ‘Ilfracombe wrote me word
I might expect to see you, Mr Sterndale, but I have no idea for what
purpose.’
‘Perhaps not, madam,’ was the reply, ‘but it will soon be
explained. Have you heard from his lordship lately?’
Miss Llewellyn raised her head proudly.
‘I hear constantly, as you know. Ilfracombe is well, I am thankful
to say, and apparently enjoying himself. He has made some pleasant
acquaintances in Valetta, and they are urging him to stay on with
them a little longer. Else he would have returned before now. He is
longing to get home again, I know.’
‘Ah, perhaps, very likely,’ replied Mr Sterndale, who was fumbling
with some papers he held in his hand. ‘Indeed, I have no doubt his
lordship will be back before long—when he has completed another
little trip he has in contemplation to the Grecian Isles.’
Nell’s face assumed a look of perplexity.
‘Another yachting trip, and not homewards? Oh, I think you must
be mistaken, Mr Sterndale, or are you saying it to tease me? He has
been gone four months already, ever since the fifth of April, and I
am expecting to hear he has started for home by every mail. What
has put such an idea into your head?’
 ‘No one less than his lordship himself, Miss Llewellyn. In a letter
from him, dated the beginning of the month, but which, for reasons
which I will explain hereafter, I have not thought fit to bring to you
till now, he distinctly says that when certain arrangements which he
is making in Malta are completed, he intends to sail for the Grecian
Isles, and does not expect to be home at Thistlemere till late in the
autumn.’
Nell looked fearfully anxious and distressed.
‘I cannot believe it,’ she said incredulously. ‘Why should
Ilfracombe make such arrangements without consulting me first? He
always has done so. I might have wished to join him in Malta. We
have been separated for such a long time now—longer than ever
before, and I have told him how sick and weary I am of it—how I
long to see him again.’
‘The money has not run short, has it?’ inquired the solicitor; ‘for, if
so, you should have applied to me.’
She gave a shrug of impatience.
‘My money has never run short, thank you,’ she replied.
‘Ilfracombe thinks too much of my comfort for that.’
‘It is his prolonged stay abroad, then, that is puzzling you,’
continued Mr Sterndale; ‘but I am in a position to explain that. I
have a painful duty before me, Miss Llewellyn, but I don’t know that
I shall make it any better by beating about the bush.’
‘A painful task,’ she echoed, with staring eyes. ‘For God’s sake,
don’t tell me that my—that Ilfracombe is ill?’
‘No, no, nothing of the sort. But has it never occurred to you, Miss
Llewellyn, that circumstances may alter in this life, that a tie like that
between you and Lord Ilfracombe, for example, does not, as a rule,
last for ever.’
‘No, never,’ she answered firmly, ‘because it is no ordinary tie, and
Lord Ilfracombe is a gentleman. I am as sure of him as I am of
myself. He would never break his word to me.’
 ‘There is no question of breaking his word. You knew the
conditions under which you took up your residence in this house,
and that you have no legal right here.’
‘Have you come here to insult me?’ cried Nell shrilly. ‘How dare
you allude to any agreement between Lord Ilfracombe and myself? I
am here, that is quite enough for you to know, and the earl has said
that I am to remain. I am sure he never desired you to come here
and taunt me with my position?’
‘Taunt, my dear lady. That is scarcely the word to use. I was only
reminding you, as gently as I knew how, that your position is
untenable, and that young men are apt to change their minds.’
‘Lord Ilfracombe will not change his,’ replied Miss Llewellyn
proudly. ‘I am aware you have done your best to try and make him
do so, Mr Sterndale, but you have not succeeded.’
‘Perhaps not. I have certainly nothing to do with his lordship’s
prolonged absence from England. But, since you profess to be much
attached to him, Miss Llewellyn, has it never occurred to you what a
very disadvantageous thing for the earl this connection between you
is?’
‘That is for the earl to decide,’ said Miss Llewellyn.
‘You are right, and he has decided. Lord Ilfracombe is a young
man who owes a duty to Society and the exalted station he
occupies. His friends and family have been shocked and scandalised
for the last three years to witness the outrage he has committed
against the world and them, and that he has never considered the
importance of founding a family to succeed him, and of leaving an
heir to inherit his ancient title.’
Miss Llewellyn’s lip trembled as she replied,—
‘All very true, I daresay, but Lord Ilfracombe prefers the present
state of affairs to the opinion of the world.’
‘Happily, I am in a position to inform you, Miss Llewellyn, that he
has at last come to his senses, and determined to do his duty in that
respect. In this letter,’ said Mr Sterndale, dangling one in his hand as
he spoke, ‘Lord Ilfracombe desires me to break the news to you of
his approaching marriage with Miss Leonora Abinger, the daughter of
Sir Richard Abinger, which is fixed to come off at an early date.’
‘It is a lie!’ cried Miss Llewellyn, as she rose to her feet and drew
herself up to her full height, ‘a mean, wicked lie, which you have
forged for some purpose of your own. Oh, you need not look at me
like that, Mr Sterndale. I have known for long how you hate me, and
how glad you would be to get rid of me. I have too much influence
over Ilfracombe to suit your book. If you could persuade me to leave
this house, and then convince him that I had gone off with some
other man it would fit in nicely with your own little plans, wouldn’t
it? But you don’t hoodwink me. I know your master too well. He
never wished me to leave his protection, nor told you to forge that
lie in his name. He has no intention of marrying—if he had he would
have told me so himself—and not left it to an attorney to deal the
worst blow that life could give me. Leave this house, sir! Till the man
whom I regard as my husband returns to it there is no master here
but I. Go! and take your lies with you. I will believe your statement
on no authority but that of Ilfracombe himself.’
‘And that is just the authority with which I am armed, Miss
Llewellyn, if you will but listen to me quietly. What is the use of
making all this fuss over the inevitable? You are acquainted with the
earl’s handwriting. Will you kindly glance at this, and tell me if you
recognise it as his?’
‘Yes, it is his.’
‘Let me read it to you, and pray remember that the servants are
near at hand, and ready to make copy out of all they hear. Are you
listening to me?’
‘Yes.’
‘This letter is dated 2d of July.
‘“Dear Sterndale,—You will be surprised, and I suppose
delighted, to hear that I am engaged to be married to Miss
 Leonora Abinger, the second daughter of Admiral Sir Richard
Abinger, a young lady of twenty. The wedding will take place
within six weeks or so. Of course, the only difficulty with me
is Miss Llewellyn. The news will be unexpected to her, and I
am not quite sure how she will take it. We have been
together now for three years, and that is a long time.
However, she is a very sensible woman, and must have
known from the beginning that it was impossible such a state
of things could go on for ever. Will you go, like a good soul,
and break it to her? Of course, she must be well provided for.
What would be a suitable sum? Five thousand pounds? Draw
up a settlement for what you consider best, but I want to be
generous to her, for she has been very good to me. I should
consider myself a scoundrel if I did not provide for her for
life; but she will doubtless marry before long, and a few
thousands will form a nice little dot for her. After my marriage
I am going to take my wife straight to the Grecian Isles in the
Débutante, so that we shall not be home till late in the
autumn. You will see, like a good friend, that the coast is
quite clear before then. We mean to go to Thistlemere for
Christmas, and while the town house is being done up.”
‘There Miss Llewellyn,’ said Mr Sterndale, as he came to a full
stop, ‘that is all of the letter that concerns you. The rest consists of
directions about draining and decoration, and matters that ladies do
not trouble their heads about. You perfectly understand now, I am
sure, and will absolve me from attempting to deceive you in the
business.’
He glanced at her as he spoke, and observed she was sitting on
the couch with her head drooping on her breast.
‘May I see the letter?’ was all she said.
He placed it in her hands, and she perused the portion he had
read aloud, mechanically. Then she held it out to him again, and he
pocketed it. But he wished she would say something. He did not like
her total silence. It was so unlike Miss Llewellyn. With a view to
disperse it, he continued,—
‘I told you I had a reason for not having called on you before. It
was because I thought it best to have the settlement, which his
lordship proposes to make upon you, drawn up, that you may be
perfectly convinced of his good intentions towards you. The deed, of
course, will not be complete without his signature, but, with a man
of Lord Ilfracombe’s honour, you may rest assured of his signing it
on the first possible occasion, and meanwhile I am prepared, on my
own account, to advance you any sum of money of which you may
stand in need.’
Still she did not answer his remarks, but sat silent and
immovable, with her features concealed by the drooping of her
head.
‘His lordship is sure to be home before the winter, but if you wish
to have this sum invested for you at once, I know I shall only be
meeting his wishes in helping you to do so. Perhaps you would like
me to put the money into the earl’s own coal mines, Miss Llewellyn.
They are an excellent investment, and the shares are paying seven
per cent., a rate of interest which you are not likely to get
elsewhere. And it would have this further advantage, that in case of
any unforeseen accident, or depreciation in the market, I feel sure
the earl would never hear of your losing your money, whatever the
other shareholders might do. The John Penn Mine is yielding
wonderfully, so is the Llewellyn, which, if I mistake not, the earl
called after yourself.’
‘Are you a man?’ demanded Nell, slowly raising her head, ‘or are
you a devil? Cease chattering to me about your coal mines and
shareholders! When I want to invest money, I shall not come to you
to help or advise me. Do you suppose that I don’t know that if this
letter speaks truth—that if my—if the earl contemplates doing what
he says, it is not owing in a great measure to your advice and
exhortations? You were for ever dinning the necessity of marriage
into his ears. We have laughed over it together.’
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