ophelia strong had discovered her escape from domesticities a relief after the irritations and petulances of the last few months. married life had proved nothing to her save the inconsiderate bigotry of her husband and the selfishness of men who refuse to reconsider habits formed in bachelor days. ophelia believed herself to be a most misunderstood and ill-used person, a woman sacrificed to the over-fervid rashness of her own heart. her love, a very shallow stream dependent largely on the rainfall of flattery, could easily be turned into other channels. a devotee of sensations, vain and convictionless, it was the most natural problem for her to consider how best she could frame life afresh in order to produce the most palatable and abundant satisfactions to press into the cup of pleasure.
had ophelia strong been possessed of the literary knack, the world would probably have received from her sundry erotic and hysterical effusions upon the supreme brutality of man. ophelia was a feminine realist in the flesh, but she was unable to record her experiences on paper. possessed of a grievance, the modern sappho scrolls out her often sordid wisdom and barters her emotions for the dubious edification of the members of circulating libraries. it is necessary in these days for the feminine realist to display a vivid familiarity with physiological data. the morbid anatomy of her own physical being is placed on record with a sincerity worthy of an encyclop?dist. elaborately stained sections are often remarkably beautiful under the microscope. even diseased tissues tinctured azure and red resemble fine arabesque on rich mosaics. reflect on the suggestiveness of morbid changes, however, and you will perhaps feel that there is something unpleasant in watching a woman preparing specimens to prove how the bacteria of sin affected her moral tissues.
ophelia strong possessed a grievance—a grievance capable of being developed to picturesque effect. she had read much hysterical fiction, and was inclined to believe that there was a distinct melodramatic charm in posing as a woman with a past. it was interesting to be able to hint that her heart had been bruised and trampled by a brutal and insensate fate. like many women, she began to develop a depraved thirst for sympathy and a spurious conviction of a hundred and one imaginary woes.
the particular hydropathic establishment patronized by ophelia at callydon was conducted in a style both plutocratic and pliant. the upholstery was sumptuous, the cooking excellent, the staff discreet and exceedingly servile. a very passable string band played in the winter-garden during the evening. the resident physician was a charming person with a pale face, a little black mustache, and beautifully manicured hands. he was the joy and salvation of all the dames who came to take the “waters.” in the height of his fame, the medical gentleman was permitted to prescribe for the dowager lady punter’s poodle.
the etiquette of the establishment was remarkable for its pliability. there were charades, dances, concerts, billiard matches every evening; coaching parties, tennis tournaments, picnic expeditions during the day in summer. golf appealed to the more strenuous. flirtation bulked largely in the régime. every one was expected to be jovial and mischievous. the society was mixed, but quite picturesque and genial. there was the usual array of stylish men, beautiful creatures who gravitated into callydon at certain seasons of the year. there were maiden ladies of every age and complexion, powder-primed and natural. there were widows, charming souls! who delighted in the atmosphere of youth. there were earnest mothers who yearly brought bevies of daughters with a sly, matrimonial programme. there were elderly men who flirted extravagantly under the pretence of being grandfatherly and sympathetic. there were even a few solemn individuals who crept about morosely and seemed born out of season, individuals who frowned in the reading-room when any one chattered, refrained from festivities, and were generally objectionable. last of all, there was major maltravers, the admirable crichton of the place, who played the violin and had learned morality at simla.
ophelia strong’s first meeting with james maltravers occurred on the collydon golf-links, where she and miss mabel saker had gravitated to play a nine-hole “single” before lunch. major maltravers happened to meet her in the doorway of the pavilion as she returned ruddy and victorious from her morning on the “downs.” the soldier was one of those persons who boasted a cosmopolitan excellence in sport. he could prate of his tiger-skins, his polo matches, his conquests de c?ur with the cheerful optimism of the army. a woman’s points were to him much on a par with those of a horse. he liked breed, spirit, a fine carriage, and the elastic grace of healthy animalism. an?mia and spirituality were not noted in his programme.
the same evening he was introduced to ophelia in the winter-garden by mrs. hayman, one of the elders of the community, and it was soon evident that he desired to make himself as interesting as his extensive experience and worldly fascination permitted. he was a tall, well-proportioned person with very regular teeth, deep-set eyes, and an emphatic chin. he possessed to perfection what would have been called the aristocratic air, and, despite his sporting proclivities, he dressed quietly and in perfect taste. his conversation partook of that hyperbolical and ironical method that passes for wit in certain circles. he was positively cultured in many ways; even attempted epigrams on occasions, and could quote german philosophy to impress the unlearned. for the rest, his complexion was pallid, his mustache shiny as jet, his person groomed with the most particular care. people considered him a very charming person, world-wise, cultured, a man who excelled in society, and could even express most graceful opinions concerning religion.
it was not long before he bestowed the larger share of his leisure upon ophelia strong and miss mabel saker, her friend, as sparkling a brunette as ever sparkled in yellow-back fiction. they had played golf together, and the major had advanced so far in favor as to be able to discuss his own fancies and foibles with ophelia. he admired her and the trojan splendor of her beauty. moreover, he was an interesting person, polished and rounded by long pilgrimages in the stream of life.
the winter-garden at callydon was hung with electric lights screened under shades of olive-green silk. its glass glittered above the dusky and profuse shadows of many palms; its floor was mosaiced green, blue, and white. ophelia’s lounge-chair was lodged under a tall palm about whose brazen urn a rich company of arum lilies stood in bloom. a mass of azaleas colored a background about her white arms and neck, her lustrous hair and pale-blue dress. a fountain played close by, its spray glittering down with a musical cadence on the drenched green foliage of ferns.
the major had drawn a stool inlaid with ivory and mother-of-pearl beside ophelia’s chair. miss mabel saker had left them early to their own devices. the green palm with its group of white lilies seemed a species of oasis admirably placed for those who desired to be alone.
“playing golf to-day?” the soldier was saying. “not bad links, these. bunkers jolly stiff; regular infernos. i went round in eighty. play much, eh?”
“for health’s sake.”
“nonsense.”
“dr. glibly’s advice. i am his patient.”
“pardon the remark, but you don’t look delicate.”
“appearances are often fallacious.”
“as a matter of fact,” said the major, with confident frankness, “my friend graham was only saying to me this afternoon that you were the most healthy-looking june rose he had ever seen blooming outside the callydon pavilion. now, i come to consider it, you do appear a trifle tired. shut me up, you know, if you think i’m too personal.”
“i prefer frankness,” said ophelia.
maltravers displayed his white teeth.
“it makes life more rational,” he observed.
“one always knows how one stands.”
the soldier produced a cigarette-case from the pocket of his elaborately braided dinner-coat. the string band in an alcove had struck up the overture to a popular comic opera. a party of girls came in from the vestibule, laughing and chattering, their dresses forming a brilliant mingling of colors under the palms.
“do you mind smoke?” said the man, humming the chorus the band was playing.
“not a bit. my husband smokes everywhere.”
“lucky man. you spoil him, of course. is he here with you?”
“no. he spends his time at home grubbing about in books.”
“nonsense!”
“all husbands are spoiled,” said ophelia.
the major elevated his eyebrows and appeared interested.
“what cynicism—at your age!”
“oh, i am not so very young.”
“four-and-twenty?”
“i did not refer to years, but to experience.”
the soldier leaned his elbows on his knees and adopted an attitude that was both respectful and sympathetic.
“i am sorry to hear you speak like that,” he said, with a chivalrous and fatherly air. “i hate to hear a woman hint at disappointments.”
ophelia regarded the man interestedly from under her heavy aureole of hair. he seemed a blunt and brotherly person, and his ingenuous sympathy was quite fascinating, rendered to the languid accompaniment of a waltz.
“some men are impossible creatures,” she said, fingering her rings. “for one thing, i was unfortunate in never possessing a brother.”
“healthy friends, brothers,” observed the soldier. “i remember handling a whip once to good purpose. it instilled excellent moral tone into the young cub i chastened. all girls ought to have brothers.”
“excellent in theory.”
“i never theorize. a man who has seen much of the world keeps to facts; theory is a perishable commodity. if a woman does not possess a brother by blood she ought to retain one by adoption.”
“the thing is to discover him.”
“there are plenty of decent, manly fellows knocking about the world,” said the soldier.
maltravers lit a second cigarette, and nodded to two youths in evening dress who were passing, with the complacent patronage of a minister in power. he was one of these men who are never so happy as when they are monopolizing the individual attention of a pretty woman. maltravers preferred to pose as a very superior and sagacious person.
“the folly of matrimony,” he said, “is that women will go and marry young idiots of five-and-twenty, and submit themselves to the conceited and priggish patronage of mere boys. young men are unstable creatures, with the nonsense not knocked out of them by hard experience. love runs with mumps and measles; we are all prone to it in youth.”
the man with the white teeth and the waxed mustache delivered himself of his convictions with concentrated adroitness. his attitude was extremely politic. at all events, it pleased the woman to whom his words were addressed.
“you approve, then,” she said, “of the man of forty as a matrimonial investment?”
“certainly i do.”
“rather an unromantic conclusion.”
“not a bit of it,” retorted the soldier. “do you think all the romance of life belongs to the treacly twenties? your youth of the lily period will swear away his immortal soul ten times in two years. your tough man of forty has lived through his inconsistencies, and falls in love at last with the grim seriousness of one who knows what it means to be in earnest. he does not prattle and sentimentalize for six months and then revert to a barmaid. he loves like the man he is. you will find i am right, perhaps, some day.”
ophelia strong smiled, it being her prerogative as a woman to seem amused. the veteran was refreshing and vigorous.
“your views amuse me,” she said. “i am not so sure that there is not truth in what you say. young men do not realize how much some things mean to a woman. we are very human.”
“exactly; that is my chief point.”
“then you believe that we need much humoring and a great measure of consideration?”
“you repeat my meaning.”
“well?”
“a woman should find out whether a man knows how to love before she marries him.”
“how should she arrive at the conclusion?”
“if the man has any vanity, avoid him as you would avoid satan. a man’s vices and foibles are more than half vanity. if you can tell the particular man that he is ugly or stupid, and he continues to adore you, then take him; he won’t make a bad husband.”
as may be inferred from the characters of the parties concerned and the circumstances in which they were situated, this first debate proved but the prologue to a gradual and more intimate acquaintanceship. callydon was an amiable place, and the proclivities of its visitors were so familiar that no ill-natured criticisms were passed on ultra-platonic friendships. ophelia strong was glad of the man’s countenance. when a woman’s vanity has conceived itself injured by fate, she is in a mood ripe for sympathies that can salve her smarting spirit. nothing pleases her better than being able to hint at her woes to a friend of the opposite sex whose discretion had been matured by intimate contact with the world. it is the old fable of the child playing with fire, the inherent mischief of human nature experimenting with the morbid excitements of the more passionate affairs of the heart. however innocent be the delusion, the forbidden fruit glows amid the green leaves and the antique dragon lies grinning in the grass.
james maltravers was a diplomat of a high psychological order. as a lover, he believed in dramaticisms of an elevated type, tragedy of a picturesque nature, moralities staged to a full orchestral accompaniment. he had studied the methods of certain up-to-date play-wrights, and had come to the conclusion that nothing impresses a woman more than the idea that a man is suffering untold ethical torments by reason of the inevitable fascination of her beauty. the picture of a moral hero struggling in the coils of love impressed him vividly with a sense of dramatic power. such a conviction bade fair to shine with glorious persuasiveness before the fine vanity of the feminine soul. paolo burning upon the grid of fate.
in due course he adopted an air of dejected melancholy in ophelia’s presence, looked at her with sad, saturnine eyes, and seemed like a wounded stag too conscious of the barb. his conversation was often philosophical and pitched to a most elevating refrain. he looked blank verse even to the last tragic cadence of a monologue under the stars. he made much of chivalry; the subject served him well. it was a glittering cloak, a fine robe of tinsel and glass to ape majesty. it suited the man’s part with distinction. maltravers went about on moral buskins, and was altogether a very impressive and romantic figure.
