Checkmated [A novel.] ... Second edition

Preface

. o To the . who have so kindly and I'"*"*' ./, <.... tri/.^u L«j». J- '** , . V "•':'' s. oi the book which now, " with all its imperfections on its head," is humbly laid upon the literary altar, I tender my sincere thanks. That the critical acumen of those who may do me the favor of reviewing Checkmated will find grave faults with it, I have no doubt ; but as the critic's vocation is to discover graces as well as to point out defects, I venture to hope that a few stray roses may be found among the thorns. My book purports to be little more than a collection of sketches of curious people I have met with in my travels, woven into a simple though sorrowful story of woman's love and devotion. As it stood originally the work was double its present size, and may be, even now, considered too long.

But be the verdict what it may, I shall bow to it with the resignation of one who has tried " to hold the mirror up to nature " for the purpose of doing honor to truth and justice, under whatever unpretending form they may have presented them selves to my notice, and of showing that crime, in whatever deceptive garb it may be concealed, does not, even in this showy age of veneer and selfishness, unpunished go. I cannot close this brief introduction to the trifle now contributed to Colonial literature without apologising to my i for the delay which, owing to circumstances I could not control, has occurred in the publication of — Checkmated. THE AUTHOR. Melbourne, October, 1878. DEDICATION. To my beloved and honored mother, the remembrance of whose pure life and unselfish love has solaced me through the most bitter bereavement a mother can possibly pass, this book, the preparation of which has served to wile away many a weary hour of sharp but unavailing grief, is dedicated by her affectionate daughter T0 *f > ERRATA.

Page 42, line 16, for turned, read twined. „ 5^' >> 27. >• a flaltairer, ,, un fiatteur. „ 57, >• •> •> requiscat, ,, requiescat. ,, 59, >> 2, ,, i/-e.sancient, ., ir& ancienne. n 83, ,, 31, ,, peaisaire, ,, plaisir. ,, 123, „ 24, „ Liebe, ., Lieher ,, 1S6, ,, 19 ,, vainless. ,, viewless. ,, 194 ,, 16, ,, double en tendre, ,, double entendre. ,, 248, ,, 28. ., nouvelle, ., nouveau. CHECKMATED. INTRODUCTORY. Love comes with the breath of life. The newborn infant, nestling to its mother's heart, conjugates the verb Amo by the pressure of its pouting lips and tiny fingers on her heaving breast. Remove the babe from that resting place and it wails aloud, perceiving a loss of it knows not what. No other hands can touch its tiny form with the same tenderness as hers in whose every nerve and fibre dwells the magic of affection, no other voice thrill with the same deep toned harmony of love.

The dawn of reason is more arbitralily fixed by some object or event, as the glory of the sun, moon, stars — the light and beauty of a flying cloud — the voice of storm — the smile of calm — a scene grotesque — a pageant mournful — or a strain of music. Observation begets reflection, and thus reason expands. My dawn of reason memory thus records : From infant day-dreams I was aroused by my aunt Eliza's voice. " Lor ! Joseph, what a pretty little seller he is, now he's got his jacket on." CHECKMATED. 2 I looked in the direction of the speaker, and perceived a small, wild dog, dressed in a coat of scarlet, yelping round the idy. "Look, missus !" screamed Betty White, my grim grand mother's droll-looking little hand-maiden, grinning delight edly. My grandmother glanced disdainfully at the group, and went on with her knitting.

" Dance, Betty," said Mr. Joseph, "or I will make him bite you." Weirdly chanting an unmeaning stanza, the child began to dance. Although footing it as nimbly as an expert sword dancer, to avoid the dog's teeth, she at length tripped and trod on Jumbo's tail ; he returned the compliment by biting her ; his teeth drew blood. " Stoopid ! " cried Mr. Joseph, cuffing Betty soundly ; she limped away, to weep in a corner unpitied. " Poor little feller," said my aunt, tenderly caressing the dog. " Did she tread on his dear little tail ?" I looked upon the scene with wonder-waiting eyes. Betty was not beautiful to behold. She was stunted in growth, not more than three feet and a half in height, although nearly fourteen years old. Her features were of an abori ginal type. Her face was blackly freckled, and her small snub nose invariably lacked the outer cuticle.

My grand mother, one of the haughtiest women whom I have ever met, loved to inculcate the beauty of humility. She there fore, as a check to the little maid's feminine vanity, insisted that her hair be worn only half an inch in length. Betty was most unlovely, truly, but yet she was a human being possessing an immortal soul ; why then should she be less esteemed than a dog, and beaten for being bitten, when the dog was caressed sor being trodden upon ? This question, which my dawning reason put to me, I put to Fanny Cathcart, a girl considerably my senior. CHECKMATED. 3 " Why," said she, " Jumbo is your aunt's pet ; Betty, the •creature of* your grandmother's bounty. I like to see her slapped." Years later, I saw Fanny, as a lady of fashion, cast a coin to a mendicant in the streets of a large city.

" Come," said the old man, clawing the money, "here is something to keep life in us. Come ! the wind is as cold as charity." " As death," the woman at his side replied, " but not as charity." * * * * * * " Life's a jest," laughed my grandfather, passing through the room, and glancing contemptuously at the pastime of his youngest born. "Nay, mon frere ; rather like a game of chess, where the pawn is frequently more powerful than the king," replied my uncle Harold, as fine an old soldier as ever doffed cocked hat and sabretache to ply the pruning hook. " Therein lies the jest," Godfrey replied; " for the game is lost and won by the tag or pawn as often as by nobler men." "What matters how you win, as long as you win ?" said Fanny impulsively. " La victorie, victoire, as the French say. Who asks by what stratagem the game was won?

I mean to succeed." " Take care, young lady, that you are not checkmated by honesty," said Colonel Gray, Fanny's grandfather, eyeing her with disfavour. Little dreamed I then, that far away from that log cabin in the wilderness — in scenes remote from those bluesy vapoured hills, and newly-planted valleys, where the orange flowers bloomed freshly — I should witness the sensa- CHECKMATED. 4 tional denouement to the girl's daring career ; or that my pen would record the story of checkmated. * * * * * * * My grandfather and his brother played et la vie, a la mort . " The game is up. Checkmated ! " cried Harold, rising victorious. " But you would not have won had Mr. Godfrey taken advantage of your mistake just now," said Fanny, who had closely attended to the game. " But remember this, young lady," my grandfather replied ; " there are some defeats in the game of chess, as in the game of life, more honourable to the vanquished than victory to the victor."

In the following pages Fanny Cathcart will reappear as the Hon. Mrs. FitzEustace Floss, a lady of fashion ; and of a large portion of ladies of fashion generally Mrs. Fitz Eustace Floss may be accepted as a type. In specially introducing her, she is not presented to the reader as the heroine of the story, but rather as one of the leading characters who achieves a leading position, and by means of whom the career of others is influenced and developed.

Chapter I

A self-made man. The elegant mansion of the Hon. Donald McGrigg adorned the aristocratic suburb of East Melbourne, in the pleasantest part of which it was situated. The Hon. Donald was what is termed a self-made man, an honourable distinction. So many persons of great early advantages of good birth, checkmated. 5 breeding, and intellectual cultivation, are seli-marred men, that they who have "cleft in twain those twin barriers to ambi tion, low birth and iron fortune," to vault or climb to power, justly command the world's esteem. Mr. McGrigg was very popular. Rich, generous, and not offensively proud of his position, his popularity may be deemed no marvel. Of his •three handsome daughters, one of whom had married a man yclept " the rich," the Hon. Donald was decidedly vain. From the crown of his red-haired head, to the soles of his broad flat feet, he was a man of weight.

The gloss upon his well-fitting wide shirt front, and broad, white waistcoat, had a rich look. Large coffee-coloured freckles gave striking variety to his broad face, broad hands, and hairy neck. A red, bristly beard hid his wide cheeks, and a red, bristly moustache adorned his upper lip. The expression of this gentleman's face was canny, but humourous. His large, light brown eyes twinkled merrily, and his upcurling eye brows increased their mirthful expression. The general characteristic of the man was jollity, but at the moment of his introduction upon the scene the Hon. Donald was ■unusually jolly. On a luxurious couch, opposite to her caro sposo, sat Mrs. McGrigg, elaborately attired in a gorgeous silk gown of many colours, adorned with large bows of satin ribbon, and flounced to the waist.

Much jewellery was bestowed about her person, and many coloured gems brilliantly flashed back the light from the heavily-set rings upon her fingers. Mrs. McGrigg's wide face reflected the light of her husband's mood. An open letter lay on the table before them, the •contents of which the Hon. Donald and his lady were ■discussing with infinite relish. " Ye'll see, Jean," said he, wiping the perspiration from his forehead, and the tears of jollity from his eyes ; " ye'll see, Jean, that the Colonel wull do what he says ; he's no a checkmated. mon to hae ane he lo'es trifled wi'. She's mistaken her mon ef she thenks him ane to carry on onny o' her rigs wi'. Yon Isac Sham is a horse o' anither colour, ye ken. " " Missus Floss ! " bawled the stolid footman in his grandest tone. " Ta'k o' the deil," murmured the Hon. Donald, looking out of the window, to hide his mirth ; " ta'k o' the deil, and his imps wull appear."

Withdrawing his gaze from the contemplation of the beauties of nature, to concentrate its focus upon those of art, he mingled with his greeting an excuse for leaving the ladies alone, and, choking himself with ill-repressed laughter at the jokes of which their visitor was the subject, ambled out of the room. Mrs. Floss was, in her own opinion, and that of her immediate circle, a charming woman, gifted, graceful, gay. There were those among her acquaintances who formed a lower estimate of her high merits. Mrs. Floss read Jean Jaques Rousseau, and cultivated the sentiments. The productions of Mr. Swinburn she devoured with avidity. Besides the cultivation of the sentiments, Mrs. Floss devoted much time to the embellishment of her personal charms. These she considered should be improved and heightened by every artificial means.

The worthy lady, in pursuance of this object, placed herself early in the hands of her lean and apish looking abigail, who sighed over this daily penance as a priest over his prayers. What pins and pains she bore with the heroism of a martyr, to induce her locks of yellow hair to float in breezy wantonness upon the wind, Lucelle alone could have told. But, when completed, what a masterpiece of art that exquisite toilette was ; something which Madame Rachel herself might have envied. " Ought to bring me in a small fortune ; only the way I CHECKMATED. 7 get up those pale heyes of 'eers," muttered Lucelle, survey ing her work from a distance with the enthusiasm of a great artist. Mrs. McGrigg, admiringly contemplating the grand result of Lucelle's labours, was of the same opinion. " Ye'll be delighted to hear, if ye don't already know it," said Mrs. McGrigg, looking shrewdly into her guest's face, as she opened the conversation, " that Colonel O'Connel will be in Melbourne to-day or to-morrow.

Indeed, he may have arreeved the noo ; and, if so, maybe Maister McGrigg wull hae him hame to dinner wi' 'im. Wull ye no stay, and mak ane o' us ? " "Not to-day, thank you. I daresay I shall see the Colonel as early as any of his friends," Mrs. Floss replied, smiling affectedly. " I attend Mrs. Mushroom's at home to-night, and he may put in an appearance there. Give my love to the girls. I quite regret not seeing them." And Mrs. Floss airily fluttered away, too delighted by this piece of information to continue the conversation. " Ye'll see the Colonel as early as ane o' his stens, nae doot. I ken ye wull ; I ken ye wull," soliloquised the lady, holding her sides and laughing until the tears rolled down her shining cheeks. " And I'd gie a decent sum to be by when ye do see him, wummun dear."

Mrs. Floss's intuition had not deceived her ; the Colonel put in an appearance early that night. An important event followed. "You will, I hope, be at home to-morrow," whispered the Colonel, as he handed Mrs. Floss to her carriage with empressment. Bowing and smiling, the lady whispered "Yes," very gently withdrawing her hand, which, however, had not been attempted to be retained. CHECKMATED.

Chapter II. The Colonel And The Lady

Early next morning (about three o'clock in the afternoon), the admired of some ladies, the idol of one, knocked a loud double knock and rung a peal upon Mrs. Floss' door bell, startling William (called in the Floss establishment Whilhelm) from the dolce farniente of a footman's life to its realities. Mrs. Floss, reclining upon a fauteuil, with the last French novel in her hand, thus aroused from her soft repose by the Colonel's appeal to the bell, darted to the window and recon noitred. She could not see the Colonel, but she knew that it was he. After seeing who the visitor was, she lightly descended the stairs, singing an operatic air. A dainty basket hung upon her arm, in which was a pair of scissors. Thus equipped, she proceeded to the conservatory to cherish her be loved plants. Affecting ignorance of the gentleman's presence, Mrs. Floss crossed the hall.

Suddenly perceiving the Colonel (as if for the first time), she started theatrically and dropped her basket. The Colonel stooped to pick it up. Laugh ing coquettishly, the lady stooped also, and as she bent towards the ground her long, far-floating streamers and flossy ringlets swept his cheek. The Colonel caught her pink-gloved hand in his, and held it fast. The lady laughed more coquettishly than before, and struggled to free herself. Both of them had forgotten the presence of Whilhelm. " Your interview with your reverend friend seemed highly interesting to you last night," observed the Colonel. Mrs. Floss really started now. '■ Interview — in the shadow of the ominous cypress trees. Midnight and moonlight. Sounds quite sensational, eh ? CHECKMATED. 9 Madam, I trust that our reverend friend improved the occasion."

" Sir, you are insolent," replied Mrs. Floss, flushing. " You reduce me to despair," replied the Colonel, laying his hand upon the region of his heart, bowing and sighing with mock misery. "The fellow-labourer and follower of a clerical Sham, whose poetic outpourings so beautifully -1 allure to brighter worlds,' although the reverend gentle man does not lead the way I regret to say, and whose dream of a heavenly home must be that of the houris in Mahomet's Paradise, must not be too cruel to her slave." " I know not by what right you presume to comment upon my friendships or my friends, sir," said the lady haughtily. O'Connel cast a quiet look of deep meaning into her cold, hard face. Her eyes fell. A long pause ensued, broken at length by the Colonel. " Subterfuge with me, madam, is useless ; therefore do not attempt it.

Take a hint : nature never intended you for a tragedy queen. Comedy, light comedy, or anything light, is the role best suited to your talents. In justice to those talents, I will say that your power of seeming what you are not is great. But it was not to do homage to those versatile powers that I came hither, nor to inquire for your health, which I see is excellent. The lady in whom I am interested being out of your toils, I take no further interest in your small intrigues." "Are you jesting, or are you mad?" cried she, almost foaming at the mouth with fury. " Neither, fair madam. Now, although I have told you what I did not come here for, I have not informed you of the object of my visit. Do you recognise this petit billet doux ?" As O'Connel spoke he held up a tiny cocked-hat shaped note b etween his finger and thumb, and fluttered it CHECKMATED. tauntingly before the lady's eyes.

With the spring of a wild cat, she bounded forward, and clutched at the paper. With a grasp of iron, and a smile of cool contempt upon his handsome mouth, the Colonel caught her outstretched arm, and restrained her as easily as though she had been a child. Preserving his nonchalant and easy air, O'Connel said, " Your face, madam, is not the fairer for your mental per turbation. You forcibly remind me of a very beautiful but very worthless woman." " It is a matter of indifference to me, sir, of whom or what I remind you," she answered haughtily, her white lips framing the words with difficulty. " The fair she to whom I allude is Julie Countess Fiesco.. I apprehend that you read Schiller?" " You are complimentary," sneered the lady, livid with rage. "And your Leonora — ?" " Is not to be named here."

Cold, pale, and trembling, she confronted him, " Fear in her heart, but fury in her eye.1 The Colonel toyed lightly with the letter. " Resign that paper," she gasped. " Upon conditions." " Conditions, sir ? I will yield to none." " As you will, cara mia," laughed O'Connel, rising. Mrs, Floss rose also. " Name your conditions," she said. The gentleman seated himself at her writing table, and rapidly penned the draft of a letter, addressed to himself, exculpatory of Miss Grammont, and handed it to Mrs. Floss for her signature. CHECKMATED. 11 " I will not thus subscribe to my own humiliation," she cried, tearing the letter to atoms. "I am to understand, then, that you decline?" said O'Connel, coldly. " In that case, I shall be compelled to hand this charming epistle to Mr. Floss." " No, no ; I cannot pay such a price for mere dalliance, but which, misunderstood, might end in disgrace."

" ' When lovely woman stoops to folly,' " observed O'Connel lightly, inhaling the fragrance of the rose which he had removed from his buttonhole, " she must pay the penalty. ' Men were deceivers ever.' " "A pleasing prospect for your Leonora," sneered Mrs. Floss. " What does Schiller say of man's falsehood ?— ' The perjuries of men are so innumerable, 'twould tire the patience of the recording angel to write them down. If their violated oaths were turned to devils, they might storm heaven itself, and lead away the angels.'" " A fair translation. Mournfully true. But we waste time. What is your decision?" and again O'Connel fluttered the paper before her eyes. Like a couchant tigress springing upon its prey, Mrs. Floss attempted to snatch it from him. Again his grasp of iron stayed her hand.

" Oh, oh ! Not so fast, my lady," laughed the Colonel. His tone stung her almost to mad ness. Her eyes glowed, and her face was literally blistered with passion. Leaning forward, she hissed some words of hidden import into his ear. Had she been the angel of pestilence, he could not have cast her from him with an expression of deeper scorn and loathing. " It will be well for you to do as I have desired, madam," he said sternly, and, bowing ceremoniously, left the apartment. With her loosened hair fluttering wildly about her, cheeks and lips livid, and teeth clenched in deadly but impotent CHECKMATED. 12 fury, she arose and rapidly paced the room. A letter, written by her to the Rev. Isac Sham, had been inadver tently forwarded to Colonel O'Connel. This letter was of a compromising nature, and O'Connel threatened to expose her to her husband unless she fully vindicated the character of Miss Gammon t, aspersed by her from jealousy. O'Connel loved and intended to marry this young lady ; therefore Mrs. Floss had no alternative but to obey.

Chapter III. Mr

FLOSS. As O'Connel left the house the master of the mansion entered it. The Hon. and learned Fitz-Eustace Floss was the scion of a noble family, a member of the English bar, and a colonial M.P. He was also a man of large property, which he liberally dispensed among the needy and greedy of his acquaintance. Of this benevolence he made no boast. Of his "figaw" the little gentleman was vain, but of his good acts rather ashamed. Mr. Floss had a slight lisp and a drawl, and many other natural and acquired advantages. His hands and feet were very diminutive, and, like all small men, he was very proud of them. Mr. Floss' complexion was as blonde as that of his charming wife, but more natural ; his mouth was tiny, and his teeth small, white, and regular ; his smile was as sweet as that of infancy.

To his dress he was particularly attentive ; his jaunty coat tails were the shortest known to art. It was quite refreshing to see him trotting up Collins street on a sunshiny day, with his hat perched upon one side, and his gold-headed cane poised lightly in his daintily kid-gloved hand; but, small as this staff wa«, it was the mainstay of the little gentleman's ner vous system, and bereft of its support that system would CHECKMATED. 13 have been shattered. Mr. Floss had very little brain, but cleverer men than he might have been proud to have had so good a heart. What an Utopia must Melbourne be when such a butterfly was deemed capable of legislating for the people ! Mr. Floss, to whom the proceedings of the house were a " demned bore," usually went to sleep there, not to dream dreams of a red republic, or the music and song of a nation's cry, The Marsellaise Hymn.

Innately a gentleman, his mood changed rapidly from pained sensitiveness to anger. As he entered his home, the meek little man was surprised to find himself in a passion. That this mental development actually occurred is placed beyond all doubt by his relation of the fact to a military friend some days afterwards. " Ton my thoul," said he, " I wath in a deyvil of a wage. Mithith Floth wath tho dithcompothed that I could not tell what to make of it ; damn me, if I did. O'Connel going going off in that way, too. Mithith Floth ithn't an ordinary woman, you know ; theth stwong-minded. For her to be put out ith not the cheethe, you know." Mr. Floss rounded this period by exhaling light, cloudy wreaths of tobacco smoke in eddying circles from his nostrils, so gracefully that he might have wrung the heart of a Mexican woman with envy to behold them.

A withering sneer curled the lip of his military friend ; but a moustache hid the sneer, and a feigned sauvity of manner veiled his superb disdain, as he laconically ejaculated, " Oh ! to be sure not — a nonpareil woman." " But that reverend stickchs in my throat. What would you do, old fella ? " "Discover whether there is any ground for displeasure,. and if there be horse-whip him in the public streets." "Would you, though? Deyvil!" responded Mr. Floss. Fashionable langour instantly replaced his military friend's fierceness, as he turned his scornful gaze upon the butterfly CKECKMATED. barrister, who continued to murmur, " Would you though, I thay ? Deyvil ! "

Chapter IV

A CRACK PREACHER. The Rev. Isac Sham deserves a special introduction from his chroniclers. This gentleman was a nonconformist clergyman who made his debut in Melbourne some time anterior to the date of his presentation to the reader. The eugolistic announcements of the daily press which had preceded his advent raised public expectation to the highest pitch. Therefore it was not astonishing that, upon the occasion of his " first public appearance " in this city, the sacred edifice in which he preached should have proved inadequate to contain the numbers who thronged to hear him. The rank, wealth, beauty, and fashion of Melbourne were there, to bask and flutter like summer birds in the light of this new risen sun ; and who among these smiling creatures more serenely self-satisfied and charming than daintily dressed Mrs. Floss.

Mr. and Mrs. Floss were accompanied by their friends Mr. and Mrs. Grant Warner. Mr. Grant Warner, a professional brother of the Hon. FitzEustace Floss, was rather passed middle age ; tall, angular, dark, and fierce as the terrible Bluebeard, Bashaw of three tails. He was a man of harsh and exact ing temper, and his young wife suffered much from this defect. From this all the old ladies affirmed that he was "" too fond of her." Proud, poetic, and sensitive, Gertrude shrunk from this " too much love " with unspeakable revulsion ; and the sombre shadow which clouded her soft face was ominously suggestive of a ruined life. During CHECKMATED. 15 the service, Floss, who sat upon Mrs. Warner's right hand, was lost in melancholy mystification at the novelty of being present in such a scene. A number of the inmates of the charitable institutions patronised by Mrs. Floss were paraded there for the edification of the vulgar.

Withdraw ing her rich dress from the contamination of their touch, she sailed to the uppermost seats in the synagogue. Floss was made so uncomfortable by their becks and bobs of humility, that, to relieve his feelings, he continually dis tributed money among them. So handsome was the gratuity bestowed upon a clamorous " poor blind," as to set that frousy unfortunate up for life by it. "Thesthe people are not fathionable. Why do they come here, unleth iths to do a good twade like the pweacher sthar up yonder; eh, Mithith Warner?" remarked Mr. Floss. Gertrude's low response to this unconsciously witty sally was hushed by the solemn pealing of the organ, to the last notes of which the reverend gentleman entered the rostrum. Gently waving his jewelled fingers over the heads of the expectant multitude, he said, in clear, melodious accents, "We will pray."

Although the gentleman's flushed and kindling countenance wore a becoming expression of exaltation, there were those present ill-natured enough to say that exaltation should read exultation. Several passb virgins whose lamps had long been trimmed in expectation of the bridegroom's coming, ascribed the flush upon his cheek, and the light of triumph blazing in his eyes, to the hectic of internal fever, which they supposed to be too rapidly consuming its frail tenement of clay ; and one fond she pressed a small cornelian heart to her bony bosom, to calm the rapid pulsation of mental anguish caused by this agonizing reflection. The fame of the Rev. Isac Sham spread like wildfire, and CHECKMATED. before the eyes of the delighted community he shone with the fiery splendour of a comet. In short, he became the fashion, and whatever was fashionable Mrs. Floss delighted in.

She therefore delighted in Mr. Sham, and a decidedly warm friendship sprung up between them ; rather too warm, as it appeared afterwards. Floss fumed ; but what could he do ? He possessed no influence over his wife, and her only child was not quite so interesting to her as her pet monkey. It is often the proud boast of persons of aristocratic proclivities, especially ancient ladies of " good family," that " our family came over with the Conqueror," but the illustrious line of Sham and its callateral branch of "Humbug," must have dated its origin from a period shortly after the creation. And how much more fondly a successful Sham is still cherished by a discrimina ting world is made manifest every day. A brilliant humbug proudly rears his lofty crest, " while patient merit pines." The flower of friendship between Mrs. Floss and Mr. Sham was in full blow when a detachment of military, en route for New Zealand, commanded by Colonel O'Connel, arrived in Victoria.

He and Mrs. Floss met at a ball given to the officers. She determined to add him to her list of admirers. The Colonel was amused, Mrs. Floss' vanity gratified, and all went trippingly until Colonel O'Connel's rencontre with Bertha Grammont, a young lady employed as a governess in Mr. McGrigg's family. The Colonel's old regard for Miss Grammont, for they had met before, soon deepened into love. Hence Mrs. Floss' fiery jealousy, and base inventions to the young lady's disadvantage. And who was Bertha Grammont ? CHECKMATED. 17