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- 5. © 2011 LauraPortolese Dias, published by Flat World Knowledge 1 Chapter 07 Retention and Motivation True/False Questions Section One 1. Loss of an employee is termed as retention. False; Easy 2. Voluntary turnover is the type of turnover in which the employee initiates for different reasons. True; Easy 3. The turnover rates of different departments of an organization are identical to the overall turnover rate of the organization. False; Easy 4. Direct turnover costs are the only costs associated with high turnover rates. False; Easy 5. Recruitment process has no role to play in retention of employees. False; Easy Section Two 6. The Progression of Job Withdrawal Theory focuses on behaviors of employees to accept their work situation. False; Easy 7. The Hawthorne studies were conducted by Elton Mayo between 1927 and 1932. True; Easy 8. According to Maslow, if an individual has received a salary for the current month, then his/her physiological needs may not continue to serve as a motivating factor for him/her. True; Easy 9. Theory Y is also called the authoritarian management style. False; Easy 10. The carrot and stick approach can be traced back to the British Seven Years’ War. True; Easy 11. The carrot approach does not de-motivate employees because of its emphasis on rewards and incentives. False; Easy
- 6. © 2011 LauraPortolese Dias, published by Flat World Knowledge 2 12. The Job Descriptive Index enables comparisons of job satisfaction across time and industries. True; Easy Section Three 13. Health plans and paid time off are beyond the scope of a comprehensive compensation package. False; Easy 14. Outcome fairness is the process used to determine the outcomes received. False; Easy 15. When the employee feels that the concerns of all stakeholders involved have been taken into account, the outcome fairness of a conflict can be termed as representative. True; Easy 16. The first step in handling a conflict should be arbitration. False; Easy 17. Task significance measures the degree to which the job has impact on others, internally or externally. True; Easy 18. Job enlargement involves adding new challenges or responsibilities to a current job, creating job satisfaction. True; Easy 19. A systems approach focused on policies and procedures is adequate to help employees maintain satisfactory work-life balance. False; Easy 20. In a merit-based pay system, all the employees are rewarded irrespective of their performance against the projected targets. False; Easy Multiple Choice Questions Section One 21. Losing an employee is called _____. a. replacement b. turnover c. succession d. retention e. arbitration b; Easy 22. When employees have no choice in their termination, it is called _____ turnover. a. voluntary
- 7. © 2011 LauraPortolese Dias, published by Flat World Knowledge 3 b. autonomous c. optional d. involuntary e. elective d; Easy 23. Five out of the twelve employees who left their jobs at Xenon Inc. in the last quarter were from their R&D division. The R&D division, which was thirty people strong at the beginning of this quarter, is now short five valuable employees. Which of the following is the right turnover rate for this division in this quarter? a. 41% b. 16% c. 5% d. 12% e. 30% b; Hard 24. Which of the following is an example of indirect turnover costs? a. Costs of leaving b. Administrative hiring costs c. Replacement costs d. Loss of production e. Transition costs d; Easy 25. _____ outline the strategies that the organization will use to reduce turnover and address employee motivation. a. Pension plans b. Health-care plans c. Retention plans d. Staffing plans e. Rightsizing plans c; Easy 26. The primary focus of retention plans is to outline strategies that: a. enable a company to produce a diverse and cost-effective product line. b. help a company reduce turnover and address employee motivation. c. provide a company with powerful marketing strategies at low costs. d. enforce the organizational hierarchy and bring in a high degree of control. e. align organizational activities to its values and mission. b; Easy 27. Emily Jones, a junior design artist with a studio called Eye for Design, was known to be very good at her job. She had a lot of experience from working on numerous projects and she often mentored new employees successfully. She was paid well and her colleagues and peers, some of whom Emily knew for four years, appreciated her helpful and lively nature. It came as a surprise to everyone when Emily resigned after the recent round of annual appraisals. During her exit interview, Emily said that the only reason that she was taking this move was because she had a strong feeling that she was stagnant in her career. Her reason for leaving is the _____ in her job in this company. a. lack of growth
- 8. © 2011 LauraPortolese Dias, published by Flat World Knowledge 4 b. internal pay inequity c. problems with management d. heavy workload e. mismatch between jobs and skills a; Moderate 28. A poor work-life balance seen in employees who have no time for recreation and family life shows the direct impact of _____ as a reason for turnovers. a. internal pay inequity b. lack of growth c. mismatch between jobs and skills d. heavy workload e. favoritism d; Easy Section Two 29. A set of systematic HR practices that create an environment where the employee has greater involvement and responsibility for the organization’s success is referred to as the _____. a. high performance work systems b. employee referral programs c. global expansion plans d. market development plans e. career development programs a; Easy 30. The Progression of Job Withdrawal Theory focuses on: a. the physical and environmental factors of the workplace affecting performance. b. a set of behaviors employees develop in succession to avoid their work situation. c. the five distinct levels of needs through which human motivation may be understood. d. the various aspects of the work environment that cause satisfaction or dissatisfaction. e. the impact of management styles on employee motivation and retention. b; Easy 31. John Dakota works in the sales division of a large consumer goods company. Many of his coworkers have noticed a drop in his performance over the last few months. He has been taking frequent leaves, or calling in sick as well. He recently asked his manager, Mr. Carr, to transfer him to another division of the company and has been asked to substantiate his request with reasons. Which of the following statements is true with regard to John? a. John’s physiological and safety needs are unmet. b. John’s work environment provides a lot of motivators for him. c. John is in the physical withdrawal stage. d. John’s behavior change in the recent past has gone unnoticed. e. John is disengaged and completely uninvolved in his work demands. c; Moderate 32. The conclusion drawn from the Hawthorne studies was that worker output increased dramatically because: a. employees were allowed to decide their break times autonomously.
- 9. © 2011 LauraPortolese Dias, published by Flat World Knowledge 5 b. there was a high degree of micromanagement. c. employees were allowed to choose the type of jobs they did. d. employees received attention and felt valued. e. managers satisfied all their demands regarding work conditions. d; Easy 33. Which of the following levels of needs from Maslow’s Theory of Motivation represents the basic needs of an individual? a. Self-actualization needs b. Physiological needs c. Esteem needs d. Social needs e. Safety needs b; Easy 34. Which of the following levels of needs from Maslow’s Theory of Motivation is aimed at helping an individual better him- or herself by realizing his or her complete potential? a. Self-actualization needs b. Esteem needs c. Social needs d. Safety needs e. Physiological needs a; Easy 35. The implication of Maslow’s theory is that to motivate an employee, the provided opportunities for need satisfaction must target: a. only the basic and instinctual needs that everyone seeks to meet. b. higher order needs alone because they relate to growth. c. all five types of needs that operate within any individual. d. those needs that have already been satisfied by the employee. e. all needs except for social needs, as they are unrelated to work performance. c; Easy 36. What was the term used by Herzberg for factors that satisfied the employees? a. Satisfiers b. Need factors c. Hygiene factors d. Withdrawal factors e. Motivators e; Easy 37. Company policy and salary are examples of _____ factors. a. need b. hygiene c. satisfaction d. withdrawal e. motivational b; Easy 38. Theory X is also called the _____ management style. a. authoritative
- 10. © 2011 LauraPortolese Dias, published by Flat World Knowledge 6 b. permissive c. authoritarian d. democratic e. liberal c; Easy 39. Which of the following statements represents the Theory X view? a. Most people want to make an effort at work. b. People will apply self-control and self-direction in pursuit of company objectives. c. People usually accept and actually welcome responsibility. d. Most workers will use imagination and ingenuity in solving company problems. e. The average person needs to be directed. e; Easy 40. The belief that employees enjoy work, accept responsibility, and exercise self-direction is endorsed by _____. a. Theory Y b. Two-factor theory c. Hierarchy of Needs theory d. Theory X e. Progression of Job Withdrawal theory a; Easy 41. Which of the following will a Theory Y manager do? a. Threaten employees with punishment b. Blame employees of avoiding responsibility c. Provide employees with detailed directions d. Use his/her authority to make employees work e. Allow employees to use self-direction e; Easy 42. The stick approach utilizes _____ to maximize employee performance. a. rewards b. monetary incentives c. punitive actions d. appraisals e. promotions c; Easy 43. If a manager gives his employees an ultimatum that they need to increase sales in the coming quarter by 20% or leave the company, he is following the _____ approach. a. carrot b. Theory Y c. incentive d. stick e. authoritative d; Easy 44. Which of the following is true with regard to the carrot and stick approach? a. Incentives represent a negative approach to motivating employees. b. The carrot approach takes a punitive look at retention.
- 11. © 2011 LauraPortolese Dias, published by Flat World Knowledge 7 c. The stick approach involves offering of some rewards and incentives. d. The carrot approach fails when extremely challenging goals are set. e. The carrot and stick approach arose from modern management theory. d; Easy 45. _____ interviews are used to gain information as to what the employee liked at the organization, and what he/she believe should be improved. a. Screening b. Exit c. Selection d. Stress e. Intake b; Easy 46. Which of the following is a standardized and widely used measure of the five facets of job satisfaction? a. Job Descriptive Index b. Job Design Index c. Job Safety Analysis d. Job Characteristics Index e. Job Enlargement Index a; Easy 47. Which of the following is desirable when developing an employee satisfaction survey? a. Exclusion of management from the process b. Dissemination of results of survey to employees c. Lack of anonymity in employee responses d. Nondisclosure of the purpose and goal of the survey e. Wide-ranging questions about peripheral issues b; Easy 48. The first step in retention planning involves: a. collating JDI and other survey findings. b. evaluating current retention plans. c. setting clear goals for reduced turnover. d. creating individual strategies for the goals. e. budgeting to track money spent on the retention plan. a; Easy Section Three 49. _____ is the formalized process to assess how well an employee does his or her job. a. Succession planning b. Management training c. Performance appraisal d. Conflict management e. Job enrichment c; Easy 50. _____ is defined as a process for identifying and developing internal people who have the potential for filling positions.
- 12. © 2011 LauraPortolese Dias, published by Flat World Knowledge 8 a. Succession planning b. Management training c. Performance appraisal d. Conflict management e. Job specification a; Easy 51. _____ refers to the judgment that people make with respect to the outcomes they receive versus the outcomes received by others with whom they associate with. a. Personal judgment b. Outcome fairness c. Procedural justice d. Biased judgment e. Moral fairness b; Easy 52. When the employee perceives that the person making the decision does not have bias or vested interest in the outcome, it is called _____. a. confirmation bias b. judgment bias c. omission bias d. congruence bias e. bias suppression e; Easy 53. An employee determines the outcome fairness of a conflict to be consistent when it is consistently: a. based on correct information. b. aligned with moral societal standards. c. applied across other persons and periods of time. d. perceived to be free of bias and vested interests. e. believed that any mistakes in the decision or process will be remedied. c; Easy 54. The first step in handling conflict should involve: a. arbitration with the help of an outside person. b. discussion between people in conflict with each other. c. mediation with the help of a neutral third party. d. discussion with a panel of representatives from the company. e. communication with lawyers to initiate legal action. b; Easy 55. _____ is when a neutral third party from outside the organization hears both sides of a dispute and tries to get the parties to come to a resolution. a. Arbitration b. Dissolution c. Mediation d. Bias suppression e. Disciplinary action c; Easy
- 13. © 2011 LauraPortolese Dias, published by Flat World Knowledge 9 56. The degree to which the job has an impact on others, internally or externally, is referred to as its _____. a. skill variety b. task identity c. functional autonomy d. role definition e. task significance e; Easy 57. _____ means to enhance a job by adding more meaningful tasks to make the employee’s work more rewarding. a. Job rotation b. Job analysis c. Job enrichment d. Job specification e. Job differentiation c; Easy 58. The process of adding new challenges or responsibilities to a current job is called _____. a. job rotation b. job analysis c. job specification d. job differentiation e. job enlargement e; Easy 59. An assembly line job has: a. low task identity. b. high skill variety. c. low predictability. d. high requirement for analytic skills. e. high self-direction. a; Moderate 60. Employee empowerment is characterized by: a. restricting innovation to focus on the most efficient use of resources. b. reducing autonomy to bring order and accountability among employees. c. managing employees through close task supervision to ensure high quality. d. providing employees with information to reduce dependence on managers. e. creating a structure where employees are not burdened with decision-making. d; Easy Short Answer/ Essay Questions Section One 61. What is meant by turnover? What are the two types of turnover? Losing an employee is called turnover. Two types of turnover are voluntary turnover and involuntary turnover. Voluntary turnover is the type of turnover which the employee initiates for many different reasons. Voluntary turnover can be somewhat predicted and
- 14. © 2011 LauraPortolese Dias, published by Flat World Knowledge 10 addressed in HR. Involuntary turnover is where the employee has no choice in their termination, for example, employer-initiated due to nonperformance. Easy 62. Explain the various costs associated with turnovers with examples. The costs associated with turnovers can be divided into indirect costs and direct costs. Direct turnover costs include the cost of leaving, replacement costs, and transition costs, while indirect turnover costs include the loss of production and reduced performance. To avoid these costs, HR departments develop retention plans. Easy 63. What are the causes of employee turnover? Common causes of employee turnover include: • poor match between the job and the skills of the employee • lack of growth or opportunities for upward mobility in the company • internal pay equity or dissatisfaction in one’s pay in relation to that of others • management practices like micromanagement, favoritism, and pressure • workloads that reduce the level of job satisfaction and work-life balance Easy Section Two 64. Describe Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs with one example of how it can be used to enhance employee motivation. Maslow divides the needs into physiological, safety, social, esteem, and self-actualization needs. Maslow proposed that if one already has a need met, giving more of that same need will no longer motivate. Many companies only motivate based on the lower level needs, such as pay. Development of training opportunities for example, can motivate employees on higher level self-actualization needs. Easy 65. How can high turnover be explained in terms of Herzberg’s Two-Factor theory? Herzberg developed motivational theories based on actual motivation factors and hygiene factors. Hygiene factors are those things which are expected in the workplace, and will de-motivate employees if absent, but not actually motivate them when present. If managers try to motivate only based on hygiene factors, turnover can be high. Motivation on both of the factors is vital for a good retention plan. Easy 66. What is an exit interview? How can it improve retention plans? Exit interviews of employees who are leaving the organization can provide important retention information. An exit interview is an interview performed by HR or a manager which seeks information as to what the employee liked at the organization, and what they think should be improved. Exit interviews can be a valuable way to gather information about employee satisfaction and can serve as a starting point for determining any
- 15. © 2011 LauraPortolese Dias, published by Flat World Knowledge 11 retention issues that may exist in the organization. However, the exit survey data should be reviewed over longer periods of time with several employees to make sure that retention plans are not based on the feedback of only a few people. Easy 67. Describe the structure and value of the Job Descriptive Index. The Job Descriptive Index is a standardized and widely used measure of job satisfaction that looks at five aspects of job satisfaction: present job, present pay, opportunities for promotion, supervision, and coworkers. Each of the five facets contains 9 or 18 questions and can be given in whole, or only one facet can be measured. The value of the scale is that it enables an HR manager to measure job satisfaction over a period of time and compare current results to past results and even compare job satisfaction at their company compared to their industry. This allows the HR manager to consider changes in the organization, such as a change in compensation structure, and see how job satisfaction was impacted by the change. Easy Section Three 68. What is the role of performance appraisals in increasing retention? Performance appraisal is a formalized process to assess how well an employee does his or her job. The effectiveness of this process can contribute to employee retention, in that employees can gain constructive feedback on their job performance and it can be an outlet for the manager to work with the employee to set goals within the organization. This process can assist in ensuring the employee’s upper level self-actualization needs are met, but also can address some of the motivational factors as developed by Hertzberg, such as achievement, recognition, and responsibility. Easy 69. Describe the meaning and purpose of succession planning. Succession planning is defined as a process for identifying and developing internal people who have the potential for filling positions. Succession planning is sometimes called the talent bench, because successful companies always have talented people “on the bench” or ready to do the job should a key position become vacant. The goals of most succession plans are to identify high-potential employees capable of advancing to positions of higher responsibility and training them to be ready to for a promotion, along with ensuring diversity. Easy 70. “Work-Life balance comes down to not an organizational strategy, but an individual one.” Explain. Most companies look at a systems approach of work-life balance, instead of a systems and individual approach. The systems approach to work-life balance includes policies and procedures which allow people flexibility, such as the option of telecommuting and flextime. However, looking at the individual differences is equally important as the needs of each individual are unique. Easy
- 16. © 2011 LauraPortolese Dias, published by Flat World Knowledge 12 Fill in the Blanks Section One 71. _____ plans are implemented to reduce turnover costs. Retention; Easy 72. _____ is the type of turnover in which the employee has no choice in the termination. Involuntary turnover; Easy Section Two 73. If in the physical withdrawal stage, an employee is unable to leave the job situation, he/she resorts to _____ withdrawal. psychological; Easy 74. The Hawthorne studies were designed to study the impact of _____ factors of the workplace on employee motivation. physical and environmental; Easy 75. _____ are our most basic needs, including food, water, and shelter. Physiological needs; Easy 76. In Herzberg’s theory, recognition is a _____. motivation factor; Easy 77. The Job Descriptive Index evaluates the five aspects of _____. job satisfaction; Easy Section Three 78. _____ is the process of identifying and developing internal people who have the potential for filling positions. Succession planning; Easy 79. _____ is the process of adding more meaningful tasks to make the employee’s work more rewarding. Job enrichment; Easy 80. When an outside person hears both sides of a conflict and makes a specific decision about how things should proceed, the process is called _____. arbitration; Easy
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- 18. "Oh." It was asort of ecstatic sigh drawn from the bottom of his heart-- wherever that may have been. The two girls glanced at each other. "I had the pleasure of meeting Miss Browne a few days ago," stammered Clement. He felt that he was making a great idiot of himself. "I have told Miss Collumpton," said Cecilia, "how much I owed to your kindness on that occasion." "For Mora's sake, Mr. Fildew," said Miss Browne, "I am glad to be able to thank you in person for the service you rendered her. She was coming up to town to stay with me at the time you met her." "How well she acts her part," said Cecilia, to herself, with an admiring glance at her friend. "And how well she would carry out such a part in real life." Clem muttered something about the service he had rendered being a very slight one, after which he took a rather hurried leave. He was glad to get out into the cold, wintry afternoon. It seemed to him that he walked home that day as the gods of old are fabled to have walked--on ambient air. Surely those were not the cold, slushy streets of dreary, commonplace London. Everything seemed as if it had been touched by a necromancer's wand. "Mora." He whispered the word to himself again and again. What a sweet and romantic name it was! He did not venture to say, even to himself, that Mora's surname was either sweet or romantic. But that surname should be changed for another, by and by, or he would know the reason why.
- 19. CHAPTER VII. "SWEET COZ." ClementFildew had not left Cadogan Place more than half an hour when Mr. Slingsby Boscombe was announced. Slingsby had not seen Cecilia since the funeral of the young Earl of Loughton, which had taken place at Ringwood, the family seat, in Bedfordshire. Slingsby had attended as one of the mourners in chief. "I don't think that I was ever in poor Alexander's company more than five or six times in my life," said Mr. Boscombe, in answer to a question put by Cecilia. He was a round-faced, boyish-looking young fellow of two-and-twenty, with a tendency to become abnormally stout even at that early age. "The dowager never cared to cultivate our branch of the family over much, and I have often heard my father speak of her in no very friendly terms." "I believe that Lady Loughton was always noted for having a temper of her own," said Miss Collumpton. "I have been told that when her son's wife was alive--I mean, poor Alic's mother--she stood so much in awe of the dowager's temper that she never would see her when the latter called at Ringwood, but used to lock herself up in her own rooms till she was gone." "When Alic's mother died, of course the dowager went back to Ringwood."
- 20. "Yes, and thereshe has lived ever since, and would, doubtless, have continued to live, but for this terrible accident, till Alic got married, in which case I suppose she would have had to find a home elsewhere." "And very proper, too. From what little I have seen of her I should hardly care to live under the same roof with her." "And yet she must be nearly eighty years old." "And looks likely to live to be a hundred. She is certainly a very wonderful old lady." "I used to like her very well when I went to Ringwood as a child, although, of course, I stood in great awe of her. But after that she and Aunt Percival had some words, and I have not seen her for several years. Fortunately I met poor Alic in the Park only three months ago: we had a long talk about old times. How little I thought that I should never see him again!" There were tears in Cecilia's eyes, and Slingsby forebore to speak for a minute or two. Then he said, "Do you know, Cis, my father never told me till a week ago what a very large slice of the Loughton property was left to me by Alic's father in case Alic should die without heirs! I was perfectly astounded. I suppose the governor's reason for not speaking to me about it before was because he thought the chance of its coming to me seemed so very remote that it was not worth while troubling me about it in any way. But what an absurd proviso is that which precludes me from touching a penny of it till I am twenty-five years old! You can do as you like with your share, although you are four months younger than I, while I shall have to wait another three years for mine. It is really too ridiculous!" "I suppose that when Uncle Charles drew up his will he had an idea that boys remain boys till they are five-and-twenty, which, indeed, quite a number of them seem to do."
- 21. "And meanwhile Ihave to depend on my father for my income." "Instead of earning it for yourself, as so many other young men are obliged to do. How thankful you ought to be that you have such a father!" "As for that, the governor says that I shall have plenty to do by and by in looking after the estates and attending to the property. I am sure that he works as hard as any laborer." "Then why not take some of his work on to those broad shoulders of yours?" "Bless you, he won't let me have anything to do with the management of the property. He says it will be time enough for me to think about that when he is gone." "But you will no longer have to wait for any such mournful contingency. Three years will soon pass away, and then this Loughton property, which will be yours, will find you plenty to do." "And will make me my own master into the bargain, and that is by no means the most unimportant feature in the case. You will, perhaps, hardly credit it, Cis, but I never knew till after Alic's death that the estates were not entailed." "I believe the entail was cut off about eighty years ago." "And a good thing for you and me that it was cut off! By-the-bye, how is his new lordship supposed to be able to keep up the traditional state and dignity of an Earl of Loughton?" "I believe it is not at present known where his new lordship is to be found, or even whether he is alive or dead. If he be alive, it is quite possible that he may have means of his own. If it be proved that he is dead, I suppose we shall have to address you, sir, as my lord earl."
- 22. "Provided the missingearl has not left a son and heir behind him." From this it will be seen that the conversation we are now recording took place before that first interview between "Mr. Fildew" and the dowager countess. Mr. Fildew, senior, was cousin to Charles, the seventh earl, who was father of the young lord recently killed. Mr. Slingsby Boscombe was grandson to the youngest brother of the sixth earl, while Miss Collumpton was granddaughter to the only sister of the same nobleman. "It seems rather strange, doesn't it, Cis," resumed Slingsby, "that Earl Charles should pass over his own cousin, the man who, if he lived, must come into the title in case of Alic dying without heirs, in favor of two such insignificant people as you and I?" "The missing earl is said to have been very wild and dissipated when young, and to have got at length into such dreadful difficulties that he was compelled to go abroad. I suppose there was a great scandal about it, and very probably the earl's will was made about the time he felt so much annoyed at his cousin's outrageous conduct." "And this disgrace to the family has never been heard of since?" "Not to my knowledge: most probably he is dead." "Even if he be, the difficulty will be to prove it." Slingsby, having contemplated this difficulty in silence for a minute or two, said: "Do you know, Cis, that my father has been badgering me again about that old family scheme for making you and me man and wife?" "And Lady Loughton has been stirring up my aunt about the same thing. They have become friends again since Alic's death."
- 23. "I wish theywould mind their own business." "So do I, with all my heart." "Do you think we care enough for each other, Cis, to marry." "I think it very doubtful, Slingsby, whether we do." "When you are told from youth upward that you must marry one person and no other, you naturally begin to rebel in your secret heart." "My own feelings exactly." "You know, Cis, I am very fond of you, and always have been." "And I of you, Slingsby--in a cousinly sort of way." "Just so in a cousinly sort of way. But that's hardly how a husband and wife ought to feel towards each other, is it?" "I've had no experience either one way or the other, but I should think not." "Now that we so thoroughly understand each other, may I tell you a secret, Cis?" "A hundred if you like, Slingsby. Being a woman, I am fond of secrets." "But, being a woman, can you keep one?" "I'll try. I daren't say more than that." "In any case I'll trust you. I'm in love." "Slingsby?"
- 24. "Desperately, devotedly inlove. I--I've actually taken to writing verses, and if that's not a sure sign of being in love, I should like to know what is." "Is the lady any one with whom I am acquainted?" "No. She's a doctor's daughter. She lives down in Hampshire, and her father's dead." "What is she like? Pretty, of course." "Not so pretty as you, Cis." "You have no right to say that, sir. If you love her, as you say you do, she ought to be perfection in your eyes." "She is perfection in my eyes, but for all that she's not so pretty as you are. I don't know," added Slingsby, musingly, "that I should care to have a very pretty woman for my wife. I might grow jealous, you know, and that must be a jolly uncomfortable sort of feeling." "Does your father know anything of this affair?" "No--there's the rub. I dare not tell him on any account. His heart is set on my marrying you, and as I'm altogether dependent on him, and shall be for three more years, it would never do to let him into the secret. But you can help me in my difficulty, Cis?" "In what way can I help you, Slingsby?" "By not letting any one know that there is nothing serious between you and me. You have not refused me yet, have you, because I have never made you an offer?" "No; you have certainly not made me an offer, and till you do that, of course I can't refuse you."
- 25. "Then, of course,I can tell my father that you have not refused me; and if I were further to hint to him that you are hardly prepared to marry just yet, that you would prefer to wait, say, a year or eighteen months longer, would that be a very wide departure from the truth?" "It would be no departure from the truth so far as I am concerned. I certainly am not prepared to take to myself a husband for a long time to come." "You know I can continue to look in here once or twice a week as usual; and perhaps you wouldn't mind my being seen with you in the Row, now and then, or at the opera, or the theatre?" "Not at all. Come with me as often as you like. I have very few engagements." "And if your Aunt Percival or Lady Loughton should hint anything to you 'about our supposed engagement, could you not give them to understand that you and I are on excellent terms with each other, and that the less they interfere in the matter the better?" "I certainly could do all that, although the doing of it would involve a certain amount of deception on my part." "But deception that can harm nobody. If these worthy old souls would only leave you and me to look after our own happiness, there would be no occasion for subterfuge of any kind." "Then, under cover of all this, you intend to carry on your flirtation with the doctor's daughter?" "It's no flirtation, Cis, but a real downright serious case of spoons. I've promised to marry her, and I shall do so in spite of everything. If I can only keep my father in the dark till I'm five-and-twenty, then all will come right, and with your help, Cis, I shall be able to do that without much difficulty."
- 26. CHAPTER VIII "GOOD-BYE." "I amrather glad to have found you alone, Clem," said Lord Loughton, as he walked into his son's studio in the course of the day following that on which he had received Mr. Flicker's check for a hundred and fifty pounds. "I have something rather particular to say to you." Clem knew of old that his father's "something particular" generally took the shape of a request for a loan, so he merely said, "Macer won't be back for a couple of hours. Will you have a weed and some bottled ale?" "Thank you, no. I can't stay many minutes. How are you progressing with your Academy picture? That, of course, is the most important affair in the universe just now. I believe, if there were an earthquake to-morrow that swallowed up a thousand people, all that you painter fellows would do would be to cry, 'Save my pictures.' The egotism of art is something sublime." "We dignify it with another name," answered Clem, with a laugh. "With us it becomes 'devotion to art.'" He had had too much experience of his father's tirades to take much notice of them. "I shall get my picture done, I suppose, and send it in. Beyond that I know nothing. But as you don't care about modern paintings, I need not bore you by asking your opinion of it."
- 27. "Well, no, it'shardly worth while. I never see anything later than Sir Joshua that I care about. English art is dead--defunct as a door- nail." "I am glad that the people with money don't all think as you do. But you had something particular to say to me." "Yes; I am going to leave London for a time." Clem suspended his brush in mid-air and stared at his father. "A friend of mine, a gentleman whom I knew many years ago, has just succeeded to a very large property. As he is obliged to reside abroad on account of his health, he has asked me to undertake the management of his affairs for a time. He has extensive estates in different parts of the country, all of which require to be carefully looked after, so that I shall have no fixed location for any length of time. For reasons which you will not ask me to explain, I cannot give the name of my friend, nor can I tell you with certainty where I may be found at any particular date; but that will not matter, as I shall run up to London for a day or two to see la mère and you every month or six weeks. Should any occasion arise for you to communicate with me while I am away, a letter will always find me, addressed 'John Fildew, Esquire, Post-office, Shallowford, Northamptonshire.' You had better put the address down in your pocket-book so as to make sure of it." "Have you broken the news to my mother?" asked Clem, as he wrote down the address. "Yes; I mentioned it to her this morning, and though, of course, poor creature, she was rather cut up at first, she soon recovered her equanimity and agreed with me that it was all for the best. You see, Clem, this is just the sort of thing I have been looking out for for years--gentlemanly, dignified, not too much to do, and yet with an honorarium attached to it that, in the present state of our finances, we cannot afford to despise. For one thing, my dear boy, there will
- 28. no longer beany necessity for my imposing on your good-nature, in addition to which I shall be in a position to make your mother an allowance of five guineas per month. I gave her the first five guineas this morning before leaving home." "You need not have done that, sir," interposed Clem. "My mother should not have wanted for anything during your absence." "I am quite sure of that, my boy. But in making this little arrangement I feel that I am simply doing my duty--and what a luxury for one's conscience that is!" His lordship's conscience had not been used to such luxuries for a long time, and probably appreciated them all the more by reason of their rarity. "In addition to my allowance of five guineas per mensem," continued the earl, "your mother will have her own private income of fifty pounds a year, and will no longer have me for an encumbrance; so that, all things considered, she ought to be, and doubtless will be, tolerably comfortable. There is one thing, however, Clem, that she wishes you to do. After I am gone she would like you to go back and sleep in your old room. She is rather timorous, poor thing, at the thought of being left alone." "Of course I shall do that, sir," said Clem. "Then I need not detain you longer. If you have half an hour to spare this evening before your mother's bedtime, look in and we will talk these matters over more in extenso." And extending a couple of fingers to his son and nodding a good-morning, the earl went, leaving Clem at a loss whether to be more pleased or sorry at what he had just heard. The private income of fifty pounds a year to which Lord Loughton had referred when speaking of his wife was all that was now left of the fortune he had received with her on her wedding-day. It would hardly be too much to say that it was on account of that fortune he had married her. She was an orphan, the daughter of English
- 29. parents who hademigrated to America. Her father had been originally a poor man, but had made a fortune during the last three or four years of his life. She fell in love with the handsome English scapegrace at a boarding-house where they happened to meet, and being her own mistress and well-to-do, and divining that he was poor--how poor she did not know till afterwards--she was not long in letting him see the preference which she felt for him. He, on his side, when once satisfied that her fortune was not a myth, was an ardent lover enough, and at the end of a few weeks they were married. Not till the wedding morn did the bride know that her husband's name was not John Fildew, but John Marmaduke Lorrimore, and that same evening she was made to take a solemn oath never to divulge to living soul the secret of her husband's real name. So faithfully had the promise then given been kept that not even her own son had the remotest suspicion that the name he called himself by was not his own. As years slipped away Mrs. Fildew's fortune also slipped away, till nothing of it was left save the aforesaid fifty pounds per year, the principal of which neither she nor her husband could touch. With the struggling, poverty-stricken years that followed when the bulk of the fortune was gone we have nothing here to do. It was owing to Clem's persuasions that his father and mother had at length agreed to remove all the way from Long Island to London. The lad had developed a remarkable talent for painting, but had got the idea into his head that he could have better instruction and make more rapid progress in London than elsewhere. But, in addition to that, Mr. Fildew, senior, was heartily sick of the States. So to London they had come, and there they had lived ever since. Clem, what with painting and what with drawing on wood for the magazines, was slowly but surely making his way, and was not only able to keep himself--in very modest style, it is true--but could also spare his father a pound a week for pocket-money. What he did in the way of helping his mother at odd times was known to no one but him and her. He had lived at home till home was no longer comfortable for him; and even his mother had at length urged him
- 30. to go intolodgings on his own account. That mother, whom he loved so well, was slowly but surely dying of an incurable complaint. She had been ill for years, and might be ill for years longer, before the end came; but that it was surely coming both she and those about her knew full well. And this knowledge it was that made the one great trouble of Clem's life. The earl felt that he had much to do before his departure from London. After again seeing his son in the evening, but without giving him many more details as to his future proceedings than he had given him in the morning, he set out for the Brown Bear. This would be his last evening at the old haunt for a long time to come, if not forever; and when he called to mind the many pleasant hours he had spent in the little coffee-room, he felt quite sentimental--far more sentimental than he had felt at the thought of parting from his wife and son. There was an extraordinary muster at the Brown Bear this evening, it having got noised about that it was Mr. Fildew's farewell visit. As a consequence, Mr. Fildew had to enter into particulars, which he detested doing, as to the why and the wherefore of his going away. He told them the same story that he had told to his son, with certain variations, the gist of it being that a very old friend of his had come into a large fortune and needed his, Mr. Fildew's, services as guide, philosopher, and friend. Mr. Nutt was unanimously voted into the chair, and a very pleasant and convivial evening followed. Mr. Fildew's health was drunk with musical honors, to which "His Grace" responded in a few well-chosen sentences, and wound up by ordering the landlord to bring in his biggest punch-bowl filled to the brim. On the heels of the first bowl came another; and when twelve o'clock struck several of the gentlemen present were hardly in a condition to find their way unaided to their homes, so that, as several of them afterwards averred, it was one of the pleasantest evenings they ever remembered to have spent.
- 31. At dusk, nextafternoon, Lord Loughton bade farewell to his humble lodgings. His last words to his wife were to the effect that she might expect to see him again in three weeks or a month. Clem's offer to accompany him to the station was firmly negatived. However, Clem saw him into the cab, and heard him give instructions to be driven to King's Cross. Then there was a last wave of the hand and he was gone. CHAPTER IX. TRANSFORMATION. When the Earl of Loughton left home in a four-wheeled cab it was by no means his intention to drive direct to the railway. His first stopping-place, as soon as he got clear of the neighborhood where he was known, was at a French hairdresser's. When he came out of the shop, half an hour later, the cabman did not recognize him till he spoke. He had gone into the shop with a wild tangle of hair, beard, and mustache about his face, neck, and throat. He came out with his hair cropped after the military style, and with his face close shaved except for an imperial, and a thick, drooping mustache with carefully waxed tips, both of which had been artistically dyed. From the hairdresser's he drove to a certain well-known outfitting emporium, and here the transformation previously begun was consummated. Again the cabman opened his eyes, this time very wide indeed. His exceedingly shabby fare, respecting whose ability to pay him his legal charge he might well have had some reasonable doubts, was transformed into a military-looking, middle-aged gentleman (most people would have taken him for an officer in mufti), in a suit of
- 32. well-fitting dark tweed,and an ulster. The frayed black satin stock and the patched boots had disappeared with the rest, and when his fare with delicately gloved hand drew forth a snowy handkerchief, and a celestial odor of Frangipanni was wafted to his nostrils, the man could only touch his hat and say, in a sort of awed whisper, "Where to next, colonel?" Had he been bidden to drive to Hades he could hardly have wondered more. The earl slept that night at the Great Northern Hotel, and went down to Brimley next morning after a late breakfast. He took up his quarters for the time being at the Duke's Head, the only really good hotel in the little town. Everybody was anxious to see the new Lord Loughton, concerning whose early life and long disappearance from the world many romantic tales were afloat, and he was just as willing to let himself be seen. For the first week or two he derived an almost childlike pleasure from hearing himself addressed as "my lord" and "your lordship," and from being the recipient of that adulation, mingled with a mild sort of awe, with which a nobleman is almost always regarded in small provincial towns. Twenty times a day he would gaze admiringly at the reflection of himself in the cheval-glass in his bedroom. He could hardly believe it was John Fildew of Hayfield Street, that shabby, bepatched individual, who smiled back at him from the glass. "And yet I am just the same that I was before," he said to himself with a sneer. "The only change in me is that which the barber and the tailor have effected." He had several suits of clothes sent down after him, and he took a boyish pleasure in frequently changing them. He always dressed for dinner, although there was no one to dine with him. When a young man he had been noted for his white hands, and he was determined that they should be white again, to which end he smeared them every night with some sort of unguent and slept in kid gloves. Every morning he measured himself carefully round the waist, and when at the end of a fortnight he found that his convexity in that region was less by three quarters of an inch, he felt as if he could go out into the street and play leap-frog with the boys. He had made up his
- 33. mind from thefirst to go in for popularity. With the change in his fortunes he had in a great measure dropped that curt, sneering, cynical manner which had not contributed to render him popular in days gone by. There was now an easy condescension, a sort of genial affability, about him which charmed every one with whom he came in contact; but then, how little is needed to make us feel charmed with a lord! Everybody knew that he was poor--how poor they did not know--but everybody knew also that he was an earl, and as earls, even when their antecedents are somewhat shady, are no more plentiful than green pease in December, we are bound to make much of such as we have. The news of Lord Loughton's sojourn at Brimley spread far and wide through the county, and he need never have lacked company had he been so minded. Nearly all the best families in the neighborhood left their cards, and he might have had a dozen visitors a day had he not given it out that he did not intend to see any one till he was safely housed in his new home. Laurel Cottage was not much of a place for a peer to take up his abode in, but even peers must live according to their means. It was a little, white, two-storied house, containing only eight or nine rooms in all. Its front windows looked on to a circular grass-plot and a tiny carriage drive that opened from the main road. From its back windows could be seen a lawn, bordered by a terrace, and interspersed with clumps of flowers, with meadow after meadow beyond. Stable and coach-house were hidden away behind a shrubbery to the left. Such as it was it was quite big enough for the needs of Lord Loughton, and he at once secured it. There was one stipulation connected with the letting of it which posed him for a moment, but for a moment only. It was a sine quâ non that the substantial, old- fashioned furniture should be taken at a valuation by the incoming tenant. The valuation was fixed at two hundred pounds. To this the earl, when he had walked slowly through the rooms, made no
- 34. demur. The sameevening he wrote as under to the dowager countess: "My Dear Aunt,,--I have taken Laurel Cottage, near this place, for a term of years, as I told you that I should do. It contains nine rooms. The rent is £60 a year, and it will suit me admirably. But I could not obtain possession till I agreed to take the furniture, which has been valued at £200. As it was an impossibility to live in a house without furniture, the opportunity seemed to me too good a one to be missed. Will you therefore kindly send me a check for the amount in question as early as possible, and oblige, "Your affectionate nephew, "Loughton." After three days came the following laconic reply: "Check for £200 enclosed, but don't do this sort of thing again. An agreement is an agreement, and no further demands beyond the usual allowance will receive attention." The letter was undated and unsigned, but it was evidently in the countess's own writing. A few days later the earl removed to his new home. He started his modest establishment with two women and one man servant. A gardener was engaged to come once a week to attend to the lawn and flowers. When the earl had paid his hotel bill and a few
- 35. other expenses hefound that upwards of two thirds of his 1150 had gone already, while more than two months of the quarter had yet to run. But this did not trouble him. He calculated, and rightly, that when once he was established in Laurel Cottage he might go on credit for everything he wanted for several months to come. As a matter of fact, he was inundated with offers from tradespeople of all kinds, so that his only difficulty lay in choosing which of them he should patronize. Even horses and carriages were pressed on him, but he decided that for the present both stable and coach-house should remain empty. He might, perhaps, have afforded to buy a cheap cob if an opportunity for doing so had offered itself however, there would be time enough to think about such luxuries by and by. But in this matter, as in most others, he was probably actuated by some motive other than appeared on the surface. Long before the earl had got quietly settled down one carriage after another came flashing up to the little green gate of Laurel Cottage. His lordship was at home to everybody that called. Everybody was charmed with his affability and the simple kindliness of his demeanor. "What delightful manners!" exclaimed the ladies, with one accord. "What ease and polished courtesy! A thorough man of the world, evidently." Could these fair dames have seen his lordship six weeks previously, as he sat behind a long pipe in the coffee-room of the B. B., with his brandy-and-water in front of him, what would their thoughts of him have been? Calls, as a matter of course, were succeeded by pressing invitations to dinner. But the earl frankly pleaded his poverty in fact, he almost made a parade of it before his newly found friends. "You say that you live three miles away. Pray tell me how I am to reach you when I have neither a hoof nor a wheel on the premises." Then, of course, came offers to send the brougham or other conveyance for him, which, equally as a matter of course, involved the sending of him home when the evening was at an end. For the earl had made up his mind that if people wanted him they must both send for him and send him back, and before long this necessity came to be accepted
- 36. as a well-understoodfact among those whom he honored with his company. The vicar of the parish was one of the first to call at Laurel Cottage. Before leaving he expressed a hope that he should occasionally see his lordship at church, and his lordship was good enough to promise that next Sunday morning should find him in the vicar's pew. It was quite a novel sensation for the earl to find himself inside a place of worship. The vicar's wife handed him an elegantly bound, large-print prayer-book, which he accepted with a smile and a little bow, but when he tried to follow the service and find the different places he got "terribly fogged," as he afterwards expressed it; and as he was afraid to let people see the dilemma he was in, he shut the prayer- book up altogether by and by, and tried to put on the air of a man who was so thoroughly familiar with the service that the book was rather an encumbrance to him than otherwise. "The places used to be easy enough to find when I was a lad," he muttered to himself; "but I suppose the Rubric has been altered since then, and evidently altered for the worse." He had been rather dubious on his arrival at Brimley whether some of the very big people of the neighborhood might not still bear in mind some of the escapades of his early years, and decline to acknowledge him. But his uneasiness on this score was quickly dispelled. A new generation had grown up since he was a young man, and whatever any of the older people might remember, they held their tongues in public, and welcomed him as warmly as if he were the most immaculate of men and peers. The nearest house to Laurel Cottage was a large redbrick mansion of modern erection and imposing appearance. It bore the dignified name of Bourbon House, from the fact of a certain French prince having at one time made it his home for a few months. As the earl was passing the lodge gates one day a basket-carriage containing two very pretty young ladies was coming out. It then struck him for the first time that he had never been at the trouble to inquire who
- 37. lived at BourbonHouse, neither could he call to mind that any one from there had ever left a card at the Cottage. As soon as he reached home he sent for his man and questioned him. It then came out that Bourbon House was the home of a certain Mr. Orlando Larkins and his two sisters--the pretty girls whom the earl had remarked. The youthful Orlando, it appeared, was the son of a celebrated father--Larkins père having been none other than the inventor and vender of a certain world-famed pill. Everybody has heard of Larkins's pills, and hundreds of thousands of people have swallowed them. As the result, Mr. Larkins, senior, amassed a very comfortable fortune, which he more than doubled by certain lucky speculations. Having done this, there was nothing left him to do but to die; so die he did, and Orlando reigned in his stead. "He's said to be very rich, and he's nothing to do with the pill trade now, my lord," concluded the man. "He's a good-natured, sappy sort o' young gentleman; but somehow the swell people about here don't seem to take to him, and even the lads shout after him, 'How are you, young Pillbox?' when he goes riding into the town." "Very rich and very good-natured, and not received into society," said the earl to himself. "It might, perhaps, answer my purpose to cultivate the acquaintance of Mr. Orlando Larkins." CHAPTER X. INFATUATION.
- 38. At a quarter-pasteleven on the morning of the Thursday following Clement Fildew's visit to Cadogan Place, Mrs. Percival's brougham stopped at the corner of Elm Street, Soho, and from it alighted Miss Collumpton and Miss Browne. They were not long in finding No. 19, and when, in answer to their ring, the door opened apparently of its own accord, they might have been puzzled what to do next had not Clement come rushing downstairs and piloted them the way they were to go. Tony Macer had gone out in deep dudgeon. He was disgusted with Clem for having engaged himself to paint a couple of portraits when he ought to be devoting the whole of his attention to putting the finishing touches to his Academy picture. Indeed, Tony, who had a great opinion of Clem's abilities, did not like the idea of his friend taking to portrait-painting at all. "You will only spoil yourself for better work," he kept repeating. "Why should you fritter away your time in painting the commonplace features of a couple of nobodies? You had better set up as a photographer at once." "Only these two," Clem had pleaded. "When I have finished these I won't try my hand at another portrait for a whole year." Mr. Macer having ascertained at what hour the ladies were expected to arrive, set off growlingly for Hampstead in company with his sketch-book and his pipe. "And this is a studio!" exclaimed Cecilia, as she halted for a moment on the threshold and looked round. "What a very strange place!" "I hope you did not expect to find any halls of dazzling light," said Clem, with a laugh. "If so, it is a pity that you should be disenchanted. A poor painter's workshop is necessarily a poor sort of place."
- 39. "I think itquite delightful, and I like it immensely. So thoroughly unconventional, is it not?" she added, turning to Miss Browne. "For my part, I'm tired of drawing-rooms and fine furniture. One can breathe here." Clem had nailed down a square of green baize on one part of the floor and had hired a couple of chairs and a few "properties" from Wardour Street. Miss Browne walked across the floor in her slow, stately way, and seated herself on one of the chairs. To her the studio was nothing but a dingy, commonplace room. How to arrange her draperies most effectively for the forthcoming sitting was the subject of paramount importance in her thoughts just now. She wore a pearl-gray satin robe this morning. She hoped that Mr. Fildew was clever at painting satin. "Are both these pictures yours, Mr. Fildew?" asked Cecilia, pointing to two covered-up canvases standing on easels in the middle of the room. "No. That one is my friend Macer's; this one is mine." "If I am very good and promise not to make a noise or ask too many questions, may I see them, Mr. Fildew--both of them?" "Certainly you may see them, Miss Browne, and that without making a promise of any kind. But I must warn you that neither of them is finished, and must therefore deprecate any severe criticism." "I don't want to criticise them, but simply to see them," said Cecilia, as Clem flung back the coverings. She looked at Tony's picture first. After contemplating it in silence for a little while, she said softly, and more as if talking to herself than to Clem, "I think that I should like to know Mr. Macer." Then she passed on to Clem's picture. But she had not looked at it more than half a minute before she discovered that one of the two faces depicted in it was an exact reproduction of her own. Sly Master Clem had painted
- 40. her portrait frommemory, and had stuck it into his picture. The warm color mounted to Cecilia's face, her eyes dropped, and she turned away without a word. Clem readjusted the coverings, and when he turned Cecilia was sitting in the chair next to Miss Browne's, apparently immersed in the pages of Punch. Clem got his colors, brushes, and palette, with the view of immediately setting to work. He had already planted his easel on the spot where he intended it to stand. The cause of Cecilia's blush had been patent to him in a moment, and, while sorry to think that his audacity might possibly have annoyed her, he yet could not help feeling flattered by the fact of her having so quickly recognized her own likeness. "I have scared her a little," he said to himself. So for the present he addressed himself exclusively to Miss Browne, of course under the mistaken belief that she was Miss Collumpton, posing her and arranging her so as to suit best with his ideas of artistic effect. Three quarters of an hour passed quickly, and then Miss Browne declared that she was tired. All this time Cecilia had scarcely spoken. "Now, Mora, dear, it's your turn," said Miss Browne to Cecilia. "I am ready any time." Then it was her turn to be posed and arranged. For a little while no one spoke. Then Cecilia said, "Are both those pictures destined for the Academy, Mr. Fildew?" "That is their destination if the Hanging Committee will deign to find room for them." "Then, of course, they are intended for sale?" "But whether they will find purchasers is another matter," answered Clement, with a shrug.
- 41. Cecilia said nomore, and Mora, seeing that she was disinclined for talking, exerted herself for once, and kept up a desultory conversation with Clem till the sitting came to an end: Then the ladies went. There was no sign of lingering vexation or annoyance in Cecilia's way of bidding Clem good-morning, but she took care not to lift her eyes to his while she did so. The next sitting was fixed for the following Monday. One, two, three sittings followed in rapid succession. Cecilia's brightness and gayety did not long desert her. She chattered with Clem as easily and lightly as at first, only she never alluded to the Academy pictures. When the third sitting was over, just as Cecilia was leaving the room, Clem slipped a brief note into her hand. Her fingers closed over it instinctively. She and Mora were to have called at several other places before going home, but Cecilia pleaded a headache, and they drove back direct to Cadogan Place. After two hours spent in her own room, Cecilia went downstairs. But she was restless and uneasy, and seemed unable to settle to anything for many minutes at a time. Sketching, reading, needlework were each tried in turn, and each in turn discarded. Several times Mora looked at her with inquiring eyes, but said nothing. Twice her aunt said, "Cecilia, I do wish you wouldn't fidget so you are as bad as any child of six." The ladies dined early when they had no company. After dinner Mrs. Percival went out. The two girls sat by themselves in the drawing- room. By and by Mora went to the piano and began to play. Cecilia sat and looked into the fire and listened, or, without listening, felt, half-unconsciously, the sweet influence of the music steal into her senses. Then the twilight deepened, and Binks came in and lighted the lamps. But still Mora went on playing, and still Cecilia sat and gazed dreamily into the fire. By and by Mora looked round and saw that she was alone. Cecilia had slipped through the curtains that shrouded one end of the room
- 42. from the conservatorybeyond. There was just enough light in the conservatory to enable Mora to see Cecilia as she sat among the orange-trees at the foot of a statue of Silence, that loomed white and ghost-like above her. Mora knelt by her friend and took one of Cecilia's hands in hers and pressed it to her lips. "What is it, darling?" she whispered. "Tell me what it is that is troubling you." Cold and calculating in many ways as Mora Browne might be, there was at least one sweet, unselfish impulse in her heart, and that was her love for Cecilia Collumpton. Cecilia responded to her friend's question by stooping and kissing her. Then she whispered--but it was a whisper so faint that if the statue bending over her with its white finger on its white lips had been endowed with life it could not have overheard what she said-- "He has written to me and told me that he loves me!" Mora started, but Cecilia's arms held her fast and would not let her go. "Who has written to you? Not Mr. Fildew?" "Yes--Mr. Fildew." "How sorry I am to hear this!" "I am not sorry." "You don't mean to say that--" "Yes, I do. Why not?" Then Cecilia's arms were loosened, and Mora rose to her feet. "Oh, Cecilia, I cannot tell you how grieved I am that I ever was a party to this deception!" "Why should you be grieved, Mora?" "Because if Mr. Fildew had been told from the first who you were, this terrible business would never have happened."
- 43. "I am notso sure of that. Men are sometimes very audacious. But it is no such terrible business after all." "To me it certainly seems so, and I shall never forgive myself for helping to bring it about." "And I can never be sufficiently grateful to you for the share you have had in it." "This is infatuation, Cecilia. But don't, pray don't, tell me that you have any thought of encouraging Mr. Fildew's attentions." "Encouraging his attentions! What phrases are these, Mora? Did I not tell you just now that--that Mr. Fildew has told me that he loves me, and did I not give you to understand that I care for him in return?" "How wretched you make me feel! But you have not told him that you return his love?" "Not one syllable has he heard from my lips." "Then it is not too late to undo all this." "I don't understand you, dear." "You have never spoken to him--you have given him no encouragement--he knows nothing of your infatuation. Such being the case, he need never know. We will go to his studio no more. Some other artist shall paint your portrait. Mr. Fildew shall be quietly dropped, and in few weeks you will have forgotten that any such person had an existence in your thoughts." Cecilia laughed, but there was a ring of bitterness in her mirth. "I might be listening to the maxims of Lady Loughton or my Aunt Percival," she said. "But you have never loved, therefore I cannot expect you to sympathize with me."
- 44. "But you certainlywould not marry this man, Cecilia?" "I have never thought of marrying either 'this man,' as you call him, or any other man. But I certainly should not marry any one unless I did love him." "I consider it a great impertinence on the part of Mr. Fildew to have addressed you at all." "In what way is it an impertinence, Mora? However much we poor women may care for a man we cannot write to him and tell him so. We must wait till it pleases him to write or speak. Mr. Fildew is an artist and a gentleman. Perhaps I should not be far wrong in calling him a man of genius. It is I who ought to feel honored by the love of such a man." "I cannot think where you contrive to pick up your strange ideas." "Strange ideas, indeed! Why, Mora, with all my love for you, I believe you are one of those women who would rather marry a dunderhead with ten thousand a year than a Milton in a ragged coat." "I certainly should not care for love in a garret, even with one of your so-called men of genius. And as for Milton, from what I have read of him, he was not one of the most agreeable of men to live with." "The author of Paradise Lost' agreeable! Oh, Mora, Mora! have you no sense of the incongruous?" With this Cecilia rose, and putting her arm in Miss Browne's, went back into the drawing-room. "Since papa died I have not felt so unhappy as I do to-night," said Mora, presently. "And I never so happy in my life." Then, turning to kiss her friend for goodnight, Cecilia added, "There is one thing to be said he is not
- 45. making love tome because I am rich, and that, with me, goes for much. There is another thing to be said," she added, in a whisper; "he has asked me to meet him." "An appointment! Oh, Cecilia!" "Yes, an appointment. Why not?" "But--" "Not another word," said Cecilia, smilingly laying her hand on Mora's lips. "You have heard enough to fill your thoughts for a little while. Goodnight and happy dreams." Next morning Miss Browne was called away by a telegram. Her mother was seriously ill. There was no opportunity before she went for any more confidences between Cecilia and herself. CHAPTER XI. CONFIDENTIAL. Letter from Miss Collumpton, in London, to Miss Browne, in the country. "My Dearest Mora,--Your telegram of yesterday, followed by your letter, which came to hand this morning, was a great relief to our
- 46. anxiety. Pray giveour joint love (Aunt Percival's and mine) to your dear mother, and say how happy it has made us to hear of such a decided change for the better. "Had you not in your letter made a special point of asking me to furnish you with all particulars anent a certain affair, I should not have thought of troubling you at a time like the present. As, however, you want 'to know, you know,' I shall be glad to do my best to satisfy your curiosity. "If you remember, dear, you seemed terribly shocked at the idea of Mr. Fildew having asked me to meet him. And yet, what else could the poor man do? Pray bear in mind that in his eyes I am only an indigent young lady, who earns her living by filling the post of companion to a rich young lady. He could not come to Cadogan Place and ask for me. He knows nothing of my friends and connections. Having very foolishly fallen in love with me, how else was he to plead his cause, how else say all that he wanted to say? I have no expectation of making a convert of you, simply because this is one of those questions that you and I look at from totally different points of view. In the first place, you would never fall in love with an artist--at least, not with one who, like Mr. Fildew, had still his way to fight; in the second place, you would never give any man who had not an assured income the slightest encouragement to fall in love with you. Still, without hoping that anything I can say will induce you to modify your views, I must, in justice to myself, put down some of the reasons by which I have been influenced in doing as I have done. All through the affair I have argued with myself in this wise: Supposing I were really a poor girl who was earning her living in a shop or a warehouse, or it matters not how, and Clement had fallen in love with me, what form would our courtship have taken? how and where should we have seen each other? and so on. Thousands of such courtships are going on around us every day. It was only to imagine that Cis Collumpton had lost the whole of her fortune, or had never had any to lose. In short, I wanted to be loved for myself alone; I wanted to be courted as if I were a girl without a 'tocher.'
- 47. "Well, I methim by appointment at seven o'clock one evening, in a quiet crescent not far from Sloane Street. He lifted his hat, shook hands, and said how pleased he was to see me. Then he put my hand under his arm, and so took possession of me. 'We can talk better thus,' he said; 'I have something particular to say to you; besides, I want to have you as close to me as possible.' "Would you believe it, Mora, I seemed to have altogether lost my tongue,' as we used to say when I was a little girl. For aught I had to say for myself, I might have been brought up in the farthest Hebrides. However, he did not seem to mind whether I answered him or not; he had taken me into custody, as it were, and I had no power to resist--nor any inclination either, for the matter of that. "He began by apologizing for the liberty he had taken in asking me to meet him; 'but as you are here,' he added, 'I may, perhaps, hope that I have not transgressed beyond forgiveness; although, indeed,' he went on, 'I knew of no other mode of obtaining an opportunity of saying all that I want to say.' Still I was tongue-tied, still the words refused to come. The next ten minutes were the most memorable of my life. How my heart beat! how his words thrilled me from head to foot! What he said you can perhaps faintly imagine; if you cannot, I cannot tell you. "He pressed me for an answer. Then my tongue was loosened. It would not be worth while to put down here what I said, even if I could do so, which I very much doubt. The result was that I promised to meet him again the following Friday evening at the same time and place, and give him an answer of some kind. "What that answer would be was a foregone conclusion from the first. I might just as well have said 'Yes' then and there, but that I would not have him think I was to be quite so easily won. He pressed my hand to his lips at parting. I left him at the corner at which I had met him, and ran nearly all the way home. Of course, dear, you may be sure that the first thing I did when I found myself
- 48. alone was tohave a good cry. But what happy tears they were! From all which you will understand that your poor Cecilia's case is a desperate one indeed. "How the time passed till Friday came round I hardly know. I wanted it to come and yet I didn't, if you can understand such a paradox. I longed and yet I trembled, and when Friday evening was really here I wished it were only Thursday. However, I met him as agreed, and was again taken possession of. 'I am afraid you are cold,' he said. 'You ought to have wrapped yourself up more warmly.' I was trembling a little, but not with cold. We walked slowly along, and for some minutes Clement said very little. I think he saw that I was put out, and he was giving me time to recover myself. At length my hand ceased to tremble, and then he spoke, asking me whether I had thought over his words--whether I felt that I could accept his love and give him mine in return? A church clock was beginning to strike eight as he finished speaking. Not till the last stroke had ceased to reverberate did I make any reply. Then for answer I laid one of my hands softly on one of his. 'God bless you, dear one!' he said. 'May you never regret the gift you have given me to-night.' Then, before I knew what had happened, a strong arm was passed round my waist and Clement's lips were pressed to mine. A lamp was no great distance off and a policeman was passing at the moment. The man turned his head and coughed discreetly behind his hand. I turned hot all over, but Clement only laughed, and said it would not have mattered if all the world had been there to see. "After that we had a long, delicious walk through quiet streets and squares where there were few passers-by. There was a sweet, new feeling at my heart of belonging to some one and of some one belonging to me. Clement asked whether he should write to or see my father. Then I told him that I was an orphan and my own mistress. 'In that case our marriage need not be long delayed,' he said. This frightened me. I had never contemplated such a contingency except as something very remote and far-off indeed. After that he began to talk to me about his position and prospects.
- 49. He was farfrom rich at present, he said, and could not give me such a home as he would have liked; but he hoped to be better off by and by. He was getting higher prices for his pictures, and people were beginning to seek him out. If only his Academy picture found a purchaser there was no reason why we should not be married before midsummer. Knowing what I did, I could have clapped my hands for glee as I listened to him. I said I was afraid that I could not make arrangements to be married before Christmas at the very soonest. I could see that he was disappointed. 'I shall certainly hold you to midsummer,' he said, 'unless you can give some good and valid reason for delay.' "' You must come and see my mother before you are many days older,' he said, presently. 'I have spoken to her about you already.' Would you believe it, Mora, a little jealous pang shot through my heart when he said this? I felt as if I did not want even a mother to come between him and me. But next moment I put away the thought as utterly unworthy, and said how pleased I should be to see and know Mrs. Fildew. "Then he told me that his mother had been an invalid for years, and that there was no hope of her ever being any better. He told me, too, how cheerful she was---how bravely she bore up against the insidious disease that was slowly but surely eating away her life. I hated myself for allowing even a moment's jealous feeling to find room in my heart. I would try to love her as much as Clement loved her; but what if she should turn against me and say that her son's choice was a foolish one? "This evening Clement would insist on walking with me nearly to the door. I was in mortal fear lest my aunt should chance to be passing and should recognize me. But nothing happened except that, when the moment came for saying goodnight, Clement repeated the process which had frightened me so much before. But I don't think that even a policeman saw us this time: still I must admit that it was very dreadful. All that night I hardly slept a wink. I felt that I had