XIX

Which sets forth how My Lady Peggy recoversof her illness—gets once more intohoops and petticoats—and putsa very fine and noble younggentleman into anearthly paradise.

Which sets forth how My Lady Peggy recovers

of her illness—gets once more into

hoops and petticoats—and puts

a very fine and noble young

gentleman into an

earthly paradise.

Until midsummer he rides over to Kennaston twice each day, morning and night, to find out how it fares with her, and ’twas not until then that the Earl gave him hopes he might see her, perhaps within the se’ennight.

Notes there had been, daily, as soon as Chockey had let him know that her mistress was in her head once more, and the two surgeons, down from London, had pronounced Her Ladyship on themend; notes, and flowers and fruits, and game and fish to tempt her appetite; a little dog from Pomerania; a Persian boy to wait upon her whims; a mare, as white as milk; sweetmeats from the Indies; damasks from China and France; shells and curious beadwork slippers from the American Colonies—whither, it is needless to say, a certain good ship had sailed, leaving a certain young gentleman behind—all these things, and many more besides, were offered up at Her Ladyship’s shrine, but never yet had she been able to bring herself to scribble one line to her suitor, or to send any message, save polite civilities by Chockey.

’Twas only after the buxom damsel (having the night previous heard from Grigson that his master was like to die of suspense, and having imparted the same to Her Ladyship), together with the Lady Mother and the Earl, had argued and preached into her the great and chivalrous devotion of Sir Percy, that Peggy at last had brought her mind into a condition of acquiescing in his coming up to her morning-room on the Thursday (being St. James’s Day) after the sixth Sunday after Trinity; which same she carefully marked in herprayer-book with a dab of the crimson her mother sent in to beautify her pale cheeks with, against Sir Percy’s advent.

“Oh, slitterkins! Madam,” cries the Abigail under her breath, “and asking Your Ladyship’s pardon, but how can I do up Your Ladyship’s hair an’ it no longer than the peltry of a meadow-mouse!”

“True enough, Jane Chockey,” replies her mistress, contemplating her countenance in the mirror. “Of a fact, I resemble nothing so much as one of those weazen little vermin; my nose is sharp, too, and my cheeks—”

“Stay, My Lady,” says Chock, taking up the rouge, and putting on layer after layer. “Who’ll say Your Ladyship ain’t handsome now? Lawk, Madam! You look like an angel! What a blessing of Providence the French is with their nostrums!”

Peggy regards herself.

“Now, My Lady,” cries Chockey, “would you but borrow your Lady Mother’s worked head, a cup of powder, and Her Ladyship’s pink feathersatop of it! What a sight would you be for Sir Percy to behold!”

Peggy shakes her head. The three feet of wire, wool, pommade, frizz and plumage the hand-maiden suggests, even causes her to laugh aloud as she figures it above her own face.

“Nay, Chock, none o’ that!” says she, “I’ll do as I am. Sir Percy has seen my cropped head; faith, he ’twas, you tell me, that fetched the tail of my locks to Kennaston in his saddle-pocket, or tied upon him somewhere?”

“Aye, My Lady, Mr. Grigson says never, since Adam and Eve began courtin’ under the fig-tree, has any young nobleman been seen in such a frenzy as Sir Percy about Your Ladyship. Lawk, Lady Peggy! When a young gentleman goes off his feed, ceases swearin’ and cursin’ his man, and stops down in the country nigh three months in the season, a-readin’ loud to his deaf aunt, there ain’t no sort of doubt as to the quality of his passion!”

Her Ladyship smiles as she spreads her train and glances at it over her shoulder.

“Chock,” says she, “look you, now, while I crossthe room; does the paduasoy stand out well over my hoop?”

“Like the dish-clout, My Lady, when I spreads it to dry over one of the biggest hen-coops. ’Tis monstrous fine, finer, I should swear, than anything Lady Diana could have!” Chockey sighs, lost in admiration. “Though belike Lord Kennaston wouldn’t think so.”

“And, Chock, look again.” Her Ladyship crosses back to the divan. “’Tis thus the town ladies give the true quality sweep to their trains. Give me the trinket Sir Percy sent me last night.” Peggy takes a fan of most beautiful feathers from a mother-of-pearl box and waves it back and forth. “’Tis so, Chock, the London fine ladies flutter the fan, as ’tis called, and every wriggle hath a different meaning!”

“Oh!” Chockey is well-nigh speechless as she watches her mistress sidling, bridling, agitating the fan back, forth, hither, and yon. “Madam, ’tis amazin’ grand! A glass of port now, My Lady, as by the orders of the surgeons?”

“Nay,” says Peggy, “I ain’t in need of such.”

“A mug of ale? cider? milk?”

“I’ll none of ’em, Chock,” returns Her Ladyship, seating herself on the divan, and spreading out the paduasoy as ’twere a tail and she the peacock owning it.

“Set myétuibeside me on the stand; place that large chair far off yonder by the window for Sir Percy, that he may not disturb my furbelows, and—”

“Hark, Madam! Hoofs!”

“Lud!” cries Her Ladyship, “his new horse’s hoofs! I’ve learned the ring of ’em as well as I once knew that of the poor long roan.” Peggy sighs; she has heard much during her convalescence by way of Mr. Grigson and the Abigail.

“Go you down, Chock, and, after a suitable period of waiting,—I mean such decent few minutes,” cries she after the girl, “as may be occupied in dutiful greetings to Dad and Her Ladyship, you may send Sir Percy up to see me.”

She hears his voice in the hall greeting her father and mother; she glances over at the mirror, and, snatching her pocket-napkin from her bag, Peggy tips it to the top of the essence-bottle and rubs the red from her cheeks; she flings the fandown, draws in her splendid train to a crumpled heap about her, gives the hoop as smart a thrust as her feeble strength will permit, hears a footstep, and promptly buries her shamed face in the cushions of the divan.

She does not answer the light rap on the half-open door, nor does her lover wait; he enters, and in a second, kneeling at her feet, his two arms about her, he raises her sweet face and lays his yearning lips on Her Ladyship’s own beautiful mouth.

“Ah, Peggy, my adored one,” says he, devouring her pale face with his happy eyes, stroking her cropped head with caressing fingers.

“Oh, Percy!” says she, with real roses blooming in her cheeks.

Ah, Peggy, my adored one...

“I know a deal,” whispers he, “but one thing I must ask. You’ll tell me at once, will you?”

“What is’t?” says she, smiling, as she leaves her two hands in the hold of one of his.

“Why did you adventure so much? for what, for whom, whose sake? Wherefore?” The young man’s voice is feverish with anxiety.

She hangs her head; raises it proudly; wishesshe had him at a distance, and so, leave to swing her train and use her fan indifferent.

“My beloved,” cries he, “answer me! ’Tis your own Percy, him that worships the ground you tread upon; who has never had a thought apart from you; to whom every other lady on God’s earth’s but a puppet—that asks—eh, Peg, for whom, who?” coaxes he with eyes, lips, hands, heart-beats.

“For your sake, Sir, and none other,” she answers. “’Twas because I knew I’d done wrong and sent you from me careless; I would not give in; but, you up in town, Ken writin’ me as he did—I could abide it no longer—and I went.”

“Now the God above us, bless you,” says he, taking her in his arms, and at the same instant pulling from his waistcoat pocket the scrap of a note she’d written him in the eye of the scaffold.

“Peg, Peg! I’m not worthy to mate with you, and when I learned of all your hairbreadth ’scapes, your twice saving of my life—when I read this, ’slife! My Lady, what’s a man like me to such as you!”

“I’ll tell you,” says she, laying her head on his shoulder, “he’s the man she loves.”

“Will you marry me in a fortnight, Peggy?” asks he, rapturous.

“Nay!” answers she, laughing. “I’ve another suitor to consider, Sir.”

“And who is he?”

“Sir Robin McTart! He was over yesterday to ask my hand from Daddy.”

“The devil!”

“Nay, Sir, not enough courage for that!”

“Peggy, sweetlips, will you be mine the Tuesday after Transfiguration?”

“Lud! No, Sir Percy! that will I not!”

“When will you, then, love?”

“Next Christmas.”

“Split it,” cries he, imploringly, “make it the first quarter of the October moon?”

“Well,” she answers, looking up to where her father and mother stand in the doorway, “an Daddy and my Lady Mother consent, you shall have your way, Sir.”

The young man glances up, following Peggy’s eyes, springs to his feet, raises her from the old divan and leads her before them.

“My Lord and Your Ladyship,” says he, “willyou consent, as Peggy has, to our being made man and wife on October the fifth? and will you give My Lady and my unworthy self your blessing?”

They kneel down and the Earl puts out his hands above their heads; the words stumble, for there are drops in his old eyes, as he looks and beholds about their faces that most splendid of all aureoles, the light of love and faith, honor with youth, and hope and wholesome minds to guide.

A FEW OFGROSSET & DUNLAP’SGreat Books at Little PricesNEW, CLEVER, ENTERTAINING.

A FEW OF

GROSSET & DUNLAP’S

Great Books at Little Prices

NEW, CLEVER, ENTERTAINING.

GRET: The Story of a Pagan. By Beatrice Mantle. Illustrated by C.M. Relyea.

The wild free life of an Oregon lumber camp furnishes the setting for this strong original story. Gret is the daughter of the camp and is utterly content with the wild life—until love comes. A fine book, unmarred by convention.

OLD CHESTER TALES. By Margaret Deland. Illustrated by Howard Pyle.

A vivid yet delicate portrayal of characters in an old New England town.

Dr. Lavendar’s fine, kindly wisdom is brought to bear upon the lives of all, permeating the whole volume like the pungent odor of pine, healthful and life giving. “Old Chester Tales” will surely be among the books that abide.

THE MEMOIRS OF A BABY. By Josephine Daskam. Illustrated by F.Y. Cory.

The dawning intelligence of the baby was grappled with by its great aunt, an elderly maiden, whose book knowledge of babies was something at which even the infant himself winked. A delicious bit of humor.

REBECCA MARY. By Annie Hamilton Donnell. Illustrated by Elizabeth Shippen Green.

The heart tragedies of this little girl with no one near to share them, are told with a delicate art, a keen appreciation of the needs of the childish heart and a humorous knowledge of the workings of the childish mind.

THE FLY ON THE WHEEL. By Katherine Cecil Thurston. Frontispiece by Harrison Fisher.

An Irish story of real power, perfect in development and showing a true conception of the spirited Hibernian character as displayed in the tragic as well as the tender phases of life.

THE MAN FROM BRODNEY’S. By George Barr McCutcheon. Illustrated by Harrison Fisher.

An island in the South Sea is the setting for this entertaining tale, and an all-conquering hero and a beautiful princess figure in a most complicated plot. One of Mr. McCutcheon’s best books.

TOLD BY UNCLE REMUS. By Joel Chandler Harris. Illustrated by A.B. Frost, J.M. Conde and Frank Verbeck.

Again Uncle Remus enters the fields of childhood, and leads another little boy to that non-locatable land called “Brer Rabbit’s Laughing Place,” and again the quaint animals spring into active life and play their parts, for the edification of a small but appreciative audience.

THE CLIMBER. By E.F. Benson. With frontispiece.

An unsparing analysis of an ambitious woman’s soul—a woman who believed that in social supremacy she would find happiness, and who finds instead the utter despair of one who has chosen the things that pass away.

LYNCH’S DAUGHTER. By Leonard Merrick. Illustrated by Geo. Brehm.

A story of to-day, telling how a rich girl acquires ideals of beautiful and simple living, and of men and love, quite apart from the teachings of her father, “Old Man Lynch” of Wall St. True to life, clever in treatment.

Grossett & Dunlap, 526 West 26th St., New York

GROSSET & DUNLAP’SDRAMATIZED NOVELSA Few that are Making Theatrical History

GROSSET & DUNLAP’S

DRAMATIZED NOVELS

A Few that are Making Theatrical History

MARY JANE’S PA. By Norman Way. Illustrated with scenes from the play.

Delightful, irresponsible “Mary Jane’s Pa” awakes one morning to find himself famous, and, genius being ill adapted to domestic joys, he wanders from home to work out his own unique destiny. One of the most humorous bits of recent fiction.

CHERUB DEVINE. By Sewell Ford.

“Cherub,” a good hearted but not over refined young man is brought in touch with the aristocracy. Of sprightly wit, he is sometimes a merciless analyst, but he proves in the end that manhood counts for more than ancient lineage by winning the love of the fairest girl in the flock.

A WOMAN’S WAY. By Charles Somerville. Illustrated with scenes from the play.

A story in which a woman’s wit and self-sacrificing love save her husband from the toils of an adventuress, and change an apparently tragic situation into one of delicious comedy.

THE CLIMAX. By George C. Jenks.

With ambition luring her on, a young choir soprano leaves the little village where she was born and the limited audience of St. Jude’s to train for the opera in New York. She leaves love behind her and meets love more ardent but not more sincere in her new environment. How she works, how she studies, how she suffers, are vividly portrayed.

A FOOL THERE WAS. By Porter Emerson Browne. Illustrated by Edmund Magrath and W.W. Fawcett.

A relentless portrayal of the career of a man who comes under the influence of a beautiful but evil woman; how she lures him on and on, how he struggles, falls and rises, only to fall again into her net, make a story of unflinching realism.

THE SQUAW MAN. By Julie Opp Faversham and Edwin Milton Royle. Illustrated with scenes from the play.

A glowing story, rapid in action, bright in dialogue with a fine courageous hero and a beautiful English heroine.

THE GIRL IN WAITING. By Archibald Eyre. Illustrated with scenes from the play.

A droll little comedy of misunderstandings, told with a light touch, a venturesome spirit and an eye for human oddities.

THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL. By Baroness Orczy. Illustrated with scenes from the play.

A realistic story of the days of the French Revolution, abounding in dramatic incident, with a young English soldier of fortune, daring, mysterious as the hero.

Grosset & Dunlap, 526 West 26th St., New York

A FEW OFGROSSET & DUNLAP’SGreat Books at Little Prices

A FEW OF

GROSSET & DUNLAP’S

Great Books at Little Prices

CY WHITTAKER’S PLACE. By Joseph C. Lincoln. Illustrated by Wallace Morgan.

A Cape Cod story describing the amusing efforts of an elderly bachelor and his two cronies to rear and educate a little girl. Full of honest fun—a rural drama.

THE FORGE IN THE FOREST. By Charles G.D. Roberts. Illustrated by H. Sandham.

A story of the conflict in Acadia after its conquest by the British. A dramatic picture that lives and shines with the indefinable charm of poetic romance.

A SISTER TO EVANGELINE. By Charles G.D. Roberts. Illustrated by E. McConnell.

Being the story of Yvonne de Lamourie, and how she went into exile with the villagers of Grand Prè. Swift action, fresh atmosphere, wholesome purity, deep passion and searching analysis characterize this strong novel.

THE OPENED SHUTTERS. By Clara Louise Burnham. Frontispiece by Harrison Fisher.

A summer haunt on an island in Casco Bay is the background for this romance. A beautiful woman, at discord with life, is brought to realize, by her new friends, that she may open the shutters of her soul to the blessed sunlight of joy by casting aside vanity and self love. A delicately humorous work with a lofty motive underlying it all.

THE RIGHT PRINCESS. By Clara Louise Burnham.

An amusing story, opening at a fashionable Long Island resort, where a stately Englishwoman employs a forcible New England housekeeper to serve in her interesting home. How types so widely apart react on each others’ lives, all to ultimate good, makes a story both humorous and rich in sentiment.

THE LEAVEN OF LOVE. By Clara Louise Burnham. Frontispiece by Harrison Fisher.

At a Southern California resort a world-weary woman, young and beautiful but disillusioned, meets a girl who has learned the art of living—of tasting life in all its richness, opulence and joy. The story hinges upon the change wrought in the soul of the blasè woman by this glimpse into a cheery life.

Grosset & Dunlap, 526 West 26th St., New York

A FEW OFGROSSET & DUNLAP’SGreat Books at Little Prices

A FEW OF

GROSSET & DUNLAP’S

Great Books at Little Prices

QUINCY ADAMS SAWYER. A Picture of New England Home Life. With illustrations by C.W. Reed, and Scenes Reproduced from the Play.

One of the best New England stories ever written. It is full of homely human interest * * * there is a wealth of New England village character, scenes and incidents * * * forcibly, vividly and truthfully drawn. Few books have enjoyed a greater sale and popularity. Dramatized, it made the greatest rural play of recent times.

THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF QUINCY ADAMS SAWYER. By Charles Felton Pidgin. Illustrated by Henry Roth.

All who love honest sentiment, quaint and sunny humor, and homespun philosophy will find these “Further Adventures” a book after their own heart.

HALF A CHANCE. By Frederic S. Isham. Illustrated by Herman Pfeifer.

The thrill of excitement will keep the reader in a state of suspense, and he will become personally concerned from the start, as to the central character, a very real man who suffers, dares—and achieves!

VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES. By Herbert Quick. Illustrated by William R. Leigh.

The author has seized the romantic moment for the airship novel, and created the pretty story of “a lover and his lass” contending with an elderly relative for the monopoly of the skies. An exciting tale of adventure in midair.

THE GAME AND THE CANDLE. By Eleanor M. Ingram. Illustrated by P.D. Johnson.

The hero is a young American, who, to save his family from poverty, deliberately commits a felony. Then follow his capture and imprisonment, and his rescue by a Russian Grand Duke. A stirring story, rich in sentiment.

WHEN A MAN MARRIES. By Mary Roberts Rinehart. Illustrated by Harrison Fisher and Mayo Bunker.

A young artist, whose wife had recently divorced him, finds that a visit is due from his Aunt Selina, an elderly lady having ideas about things quite apart from the Bohemian set in which her nephew is a shining light. The way in which matters are temporarily adjusted forms the motif of the story.

A farcical extravaganza, dramatized under the title of “Seven Days”

THE FASHIONABLE ADVENTURES OF JOSHUA CRAIG. By David Graham Phillips. Illustrated.

A young westerner, uncouth and unconventional, appears in political and social life in Washington. He attains power in politics, and a young woman of the exclusive set becomes his wife, undertaking his education in social amenities.

“DOC.” GORDON. By Mary E. Wilkins-Freeman. Illustrated by Frank T. Merrill.

Against the familiar background of American town life, the author portrays a group of people strangely involved in a mystery. “Doc.” Gordon, the one physician of the place, Dr. Elliot, his assistant, a beautiful woman and her altogether charming daughter are all involved in the plot. A novel of great interest.

HOLY ORDERS. By Marie Corelli.

A dramatic story, in which is pictured a clergyman in touch with society people, stage favorites, simple village folk, powerful financiers and others, each presenting vital problems to this man “in holy orders”—problems that we are now struggling with in America.

KATRINE. By Elinor Macartney Lane. With frontispiece.

Katrine, the heroine of this story, is a lovely Irish girl, of lowly birth, but gifted with a beautiful voice.

The narrative is based on the facts of an actual singer’s career, and the viewpoint throughout is a most exalted one.

THE FORTUNES OF FIFI. By Molly Elliot Seawell. Illustrated by T. de Thulstrup.

A story of life in France at the time of the first Napoleon. Fifi, a glad, mad little actress of eighteen, is the star performer in a third rate Parisian theatre. A story as dainty as a Watteau painting.

SHE THAT HESITATES. By Harris Dickson. Illustrated by C.W. Relyea.

The scene of this dashing romance shifts from Dresden to St. Petersburg in the reign of Peter the Great, and then to New Orleans.

The hero is a French Soldier of Fortune, and the princess, who hesitates—but you must read the story to know how she that hesitates may be lost and yet saved.

THE MUSIC MASTER. By Charles Klein. Illustrated by John Rae.

This marvelously vivid narrative turns upon the search of a German musician in New York for his little daughter. Mr. Klein has well portrayed his pathetic struggle with poverty, his varied experiences in endeavoring to meet the demands of a public not trained to an appreciation of the classic, and his final great hour when, in the rapidly shifting events of a big city, his little daughter, now a beautiful young woman, is brought to his very door. A superb bit of fiction, palpitating with the life of the great metropolis. The play in which David Warfield scored his highest success.

DR. LAVENDAR’S PEOPLE. By Margaret Deland.

Mrs. Deland won so many friends through Old Chester Tales that this volume needs no introduction beyond its title. The lovable doctor is more ripened in this later book, and the simple comedies and tragedies of the old village are told with dramatic charm.

OLD CHESTER TALES. By Margaret Deland. Illustrated by Howard Pyle.

Stories portraying with delightful humor and pathos a quaint people in a sleepy old town. Dr. Lavendar, a very human and lovable “preacher,” is the connecting link between these dramatic stories from life.

HE FELL IN LOVE WITH HIS WIFE. By E.P. Roe. With frontispiece.

The hero is a farmer—a man with honest, sincere views of life. Bereft of his wife, his home is cared for by a succession of domestics of varying degrees of inefficiency until, from a most unpromising source, comes a young woman who not only becomes his wife but commands his respect and eventually wins his love. A bright and delicate romance, revealing on both sides a love that surmounts all difficulties and survives the censure of friends as well as the bitterness of enemies.

THE YOKE. By Elizabeth Miller.

Against the historical background of the days when the children of Israel were delivered from the bondage of Egypt, the author has sketched a romance of compelling charm. A biblical novel as great as any since “Ben Hur.”

SAUL OF TARSUS. By Elizabeth Miller. Illustrated by André Castaigne.

The scenes of this story are laid in Jerusalem, Alexandria, Rome and Damascus. The Apostle Paul, the Martyr Stephen, Herod Agrippa and the Emperors Tiberius and Caligula are among the mighty figures that move through the pages. Wonderful descriptions, and a love story of the purest and noblest type mark this most remarkable religious romance.

Grosset & Dunlap, 526 West 26th St., New York

Transcriber’s NoteIn several cases, the author (or printer) uses an apostrophe incorrectly; three times as the possessive pronoun, and once as 3rd person present (‘let’s’). Each has been corrected. Other minor lapses in punctuation have been corrected as well, without further mention.p. 43even than [it’s] forlorn neighborsp. 85hiding [it’s] tell-tale under the skirt of her coatp. 251links his arm in [her’s]p. 266and [let’s] out that I was not she at all

Transcriber’s Note

In several cases, the author (or printer) uses an apostrophe incorrectly; three times as the possessive pronoun, and once as 3rd person present (‘let’s’). Each has been corrected. Other minor lapses in punctuation have been corrected as well, without further mention.

Back to Index Next