The Daffodils

Chapter I

A sweet disorder in the dress Kindles hi clothes a wantonness ; A lawn about the shoulders thrown Into a fine distraction ; An erring lace, which here and there Enthrals the crimson stomacher ; A cuff neglectful, and thereby Ribbons to flow confusedly ; A winning wave, deserving note, In the tempestuous petticoat ; A careless shoe-string, in whose tie I see a wild civility ; — Do more bewitch me, than when art Is too precise in every part. Herrick. ' Tell me, shepherds, tell me ! Have you, have you seen my Vadney pass this way ? It's all right, Denver, Here's the trail, you see,' and, stooping, Jim Bowman picked up from a doorstep a fragment of coarse saffron tinted embroidery, such as ladies have been using lately to trim their morning robes with. 'Just like Vadney, untidy girl that she is !

Cut it off with her palette-knife, I daresay, because it caught on something, and she hadn't sufficient patience to disentangle it.' ' Miss Vadney is certainly a marked contrast to her B cousin in that respect,' returned the other gentleman, smiling ; ' in the neat perfection of Miss Rhoda's attire one never sees a stray hair out of its place.' ' Well — yes,' assented Jim, with some reluctance, for he did not care much for the elder, and he adored the younger, Miss Clifford ; ' but, then, you know, Rhoda would look nothing without that neat perfection, while Vadney ' here he paused, afraid of being betrayed into unguarded and unmeasured enthusiasm. ' While Vadney can afford to dispense with it, because everything becomes her? Well — much as I admire in general the trim appearance of our English girls — I must confess that, in this particular instance, you are quite right.

What is it old Herrick says ? ' and he quoted the lines given at the beginning of this chapter. ' By Jove ! that describes our Vadney to a nicety. What a fellow you are for apt quotations, Denver ! It makes one wish one had had time to cultivate poetry and that sort of stuff. But then you were born with a silver spoon in your mouth, while a poor beggar like me has to grind away in the mill, every moment of his existence, in order to make both ends meet.' ' And do you always accomplish that feat?' asked Denver, scanning with languid curiosity the shabby garments of his companion. ' Generally ! sometimes they gape a bit, and then one has to give an extra pull to draw them together. But never mind ! I am young enough yet, and can afford to wait for my ship coming in. Luck will be sure to change some day ; and, in the meantime, I have health, and excellent spirits, and some jolly good friends, and — I'm not so badly off, after all !

I wonder which way we ought to turn now ? ' They had reached a place where two exactly similar streets met, and they looked -with indecision down the different ways. They were in the old quarter of the town of Frank fort-on-the-Maine. The noonday sun blazed down upon their heads, and brought out, at the same time, in full perfection a few of the indescribable odours that lurk for ever in that picturesque locality. ' I vote for the fuden-gasse,' said the older man ; ' those queer, old, tumbledown houses, with their gables and red flower-pots, would certainly possess an irresistible attraction for your artistic friend.' This surmise proved correct. Before long they came in sight of the young lady, who was busily employed in sketching one of the aforesaid picturesque houses, which were to be speedily demolished in order to give place to wider, and it must be confessed more sanitary, thorough fares. ' Great Scott !

There's consummate cheek for you ! If the young wretch isn't sitting on the very steps of the synagogue. I wonder the population hasn't risen en masse and stoned her for the sacrilege.' ' Small fear of that. Much more chance of their having levied a heavy tax on her : they would be civil enough if there were any chance of getting her to pay her way,' replied Denver cynically. ' I have never heard that the Hebrew race has lost its most marked charac teristic — the love of money.' ' Well, Miss Vadney, you see we've found you out,' taking off his hat ; ' and I hope we are not entirely un welcome disturbers of your solitude ? ' The artist looked up from her sketch, and in her surprise dropped the brush she was holding. ' Mr. Denver ! Jim ! Why, I thought you were both i; far away in the depths of the Black Forest by this time,' she exclaimed ; ' but I'm awfully glad to see you, all the same.

The more so because the hour approacheth when my tormentors are set loose upon me, and you will assist me to keep them at bay.' She was a rather unusual-looking girl, of some twenty years of age, the sort of girl Jim described exactly when he declared that everything became her. Her colouring was striking, in the first place, and marked her out from the crowd. That complexion of warm, creamy paleness, like to the inner petals of a white rose, combined as it was with hair of dark, yet richly tinted chestnut, and with eyes of an indescribable and capriciously changeful tint, resembling that of the sea, and having withal some thing of the flash and brilliance of that element, formed a combination not to be met with every day. Then she was tall, and her figure was moulded upon a grand scale, although still girlishly slender and supple.

She laughed now as she spoke, and her laugh had a peculiarly fresh and buoyant effect, like that of a child. ' Who are your tormentors ? ' asked Denver, as both the men shook hands with her. 'The children, to be sure. The horrid, inquisitive, persistent little wretches of children, with their huge calf-skin satchels crammed with books, and their spec tacles perched upon their snubby little noses. And I can't find in my heart to be cross with them, when I look at all those piles of books, and think what they've got to cram into their poor little heads. But they're a great nuisance to me, all the same.' ' That they are,' assented Jim, savagely, ' I know them of old. My experience of their tricks and manners makes me loathe them ! ' ' And they are so cheeky. Nothing abashes them. They keep egging each other on ; pushing closer and closer ; leaning on my shoulder ; sticking their heads under my umbrella ; obstructing my view ; getting into the light; rehearsing unexpected foreground effects; giving me their valuable criticisms gratuitously — these latter, I must confess, never of a flattering description — reminding me of things which they imagine I have forgotten to put in, such as die B lumen in the windows ; and worst — at least, more dis composing than all the rest — bursting ever and anon into shrieks of laughter over something funny which they have detected either in my work, accent, or personal appearance.' 'It must be very trying,' said Denver; smiling, how ever, at Vadney's vivid description of her martyrdom. ' Trying ! it's simply maddening !

Nevertheless for the life of me can I avoid laughing along with them ! Yesterday my experience was more trying than ever. A horrid, ill-smelling creature of a man, more than three parts drunk — how does anyone manage to get drunk upon lager beer and syrups, by the way ? — came and propped himself up against the wall, close beside me, and took me under his protection. His intentions were good. He meant to keep me free from molestation, but the pro tector was decidedly more to be dreaded than were the original enemies. Whenever the raid of the children waxed too hot, he rushed at them with a growl like that of some furious wild beast. It certainly sent them flying, but it made me feel terribly afraid of him at the same time, though I had sufficient presence of mind not to allow him to perceive it.

I shortened my sketching time, however, and got away from his vicinity as rapidly as possible, not without some fear of being pursued.' ' You ought not to come to such a place alone,' said Denver hastily, ' I don't think it is safe at all ! Had we been here I would not have allowed it.' Jim Bowman looked at him with something like displeasure. ' Of course / should have come with Vadney, in that case,' he exclaimed, a touch of resentment in his tone. Was he not almost the brother of the two girls ? But Vadney took no notice of the speech, beyond the unspoken one afforded by a slight increase of colour in her cheeks. ' Ah, well, my sketch is just about finished, so it doesn't matter ! To-morrow is the Jewish Sabbath, therefore I must make it do now. On Monday we start upon our homeward journey.

I wish I could forget that unpleasant fact ! ' ' Don't you like going home, then ? ' asked Denver. ' Indeed, no ! How should I ? Just think what it means. Our annual holiday is over. We have scraped, and pinched, and saved, and looked forward to it for a whole year, and now it's gone — vanished — expended. Then ho, for London ; foggy, grimy, dreary old London, and a whole year of hard work ! Is that a pleasant prospect ? ' ' Come now ! you wouldn't care for a life of luxury and idleness, you know,' remarked Jim. ' Would I not ? Just try me, Jim, that's all ! Get somebody to leave me a fortune, and a very speedy process of evolution will begin at once. The grub will at once cast aside its chrysalid — typified by this disreput able old gray linen gown — and become the butterfly, with wings designed by Worth or Felix.

Don't you go for to imagine that the butterfly will ever look back with longing eyes to the days of its grubdom, either ! It will then be a long farewell to twopenny omnibuses and shilling dinners ; to the pits of theatres, and to ready made clothing. Honest toil is all very well in its way — for those who like it —but to me, honest luxury would be a thousand times more attractive.' ' How vvould it do for you to marry a fortune, if you cannot inherit one ? ' asked Mr. Denver, watching her narrowly as he spoke. She seemed a little confused by his intent gaze, but laughed and shrugged her shoulders. ' A likely contingency, truly ! Extremely probable that some one I chance to meet in an omnibus or the Underground Railway will fall in love with me at first sight, and turn out to be a millionaire in disguise ?

So many of these same to be found in third class carriages ! ' ' But you go into society sometimes, I suppose ? ' ' Oh, yes ! We go out to dinner, and to " at homes." We go to Lady Lister's and to Mrs. Gregory White's, and a few other people of that set, who are good enough to invite us now and then. But we are branded, in a sort of way. We are with them but not of them. Every body knows that we are only poor artists, and treats us accordingly. Of course there are always men ready to flirt with one, but that's — really, Mr. Denver, I don't know why I should be led into treating you to a history of our humdrum lives. It cannot interest you in the least.' ' But, indeed,*it does interest me exceedingly ! You don't know how refreshing it is to find anyone so candid as you are, nowadays ! ' ' Denver was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, as I was just telling him,' growled Jim Bowman, in a would-be surly manner ; ' it'll do him good to hear how other folks have to live.' ' Well, we shall have to go now,' exclaimed the artist, beginning hastily to gather together her impedimenta. ' Here, Jim, you hold that,' giving him her wet sketch, ' while I catch up the rest.' ' Is anything going to happen ? ' asked Denver, in surprise, looking about and seeing nothing but a couple of dirty-looking Jews, with black bags in their hands. ' We must be off before worse befall us,' said Vadney laughingly ; ' they are going to begin to deal, that's all.

Those horrid black bags are full of old clothes, and pre sently they will bring out garments in various stages of decrepitude, and hold them out at arm's length and shake them, while they expatiate upon the merits or demerits of their goods. And I can assure you we had better go before that comes to pass.' ' I understand ; garments are sometimes occupied,' said Jim, and Vadney nodded. ' Preoccupied,' she said with a laugh. They made haste, therefore, to get away from the unpleasant vicinity of the dealers in old garments, and began to walk in the direction of the river. Jim carried Vadney's painting-traps, and Denver walked by her side. ' And now tell me how you both come to be here, instead of tramping about in the Schwarzwald,' asked Vadney, curiously. ' I am recalled to London,' answered Jim. ' Vadney — wonders never cease ! — I have got a commission — actually a hundred-guinea commission for a portrait ! ' ' No ?

Things are looking up in the world of art. But that's where you portrait-painters have the pull over us,' with a sigh ; ' everyone prefers his own portrait to a portrait of anyone else, however the latter excels the former.' ' On the other hand, think of the painful things that are spared you, my dear child ! Just imagine my new sitter — the wife of a wealthy pork-butcher, who looks as though she had done nothing all her life but sit in an armchair and consume her husband's pig meat, until, by the simple process of absorption, she had approached it in appearance and intelligence. My prophetic soul tells me that she will expect me to paint her in a red satin gown, and with a lavish display of gold chain. Have I taken the edge off your envy, Vadney ? ' ' And why haveyou changed your plans, Mr. Denver ?

Why did you not continue the tour you had planned ? ' Mr. Denver shrugged his shoulders. ' Faith ! I can hardly answer you ! I like society, especially when on a pedestrian expedition. And it has not the attraction of new ground either, because I've tramped it all before. Besides, Miss Vadney, you are surely sufficient reason yourself for my return. Don't you think your own presence a sufficient inducement for any change of plan ? ' Vadney smiled, but shook her head. Jim, on the other hand, looked decidedly glum. ' Look here, Denver ! Don't you begin to air your society humbug off on Vadney. She isn't used to it, and she's too good for that sort of thing. You've got too much common sense to believe him ; haven't you, Vadney? The fact is that he's had a letter from Paris, and some of his swell friends are there.

It will be more lively for him to join them.' ' Ah ! exactly what I should have expected. But now for my next question : how did you find me out, and why did you come after me, instead of Rhoda ? ' ' We went to your rooms, and the landlady said that she wasn't quite sure where either of you were sketching, but that she fancied it must be somewhere amongst the old houses in this quarter. Then we came upon your trail, and were sure of our game,' and Jim brought out from his pocket the fragment of embroidery and, holding it close to that with which the girl's dress was trimmed, chuckled at his own sagacity. Down by the river the trio found Rhoda Clifford, busily engaged in completing a charming little water colour sketch of the old bridge, with its statue of Charle magne, and the muddy waters of the Maine for fore ground. ' How tiresomely the lights do change ! ' she ex claimed, as they greeted her ; ' I shall have to stop work for to-day, because the shadows are all on the other side of the bridge now.' ' Then, since we are all of one mind, and mean to idle away the rest of the sunny hours, suppose we go for a drive?' said Jim Bowman suddenly: 'this is my last day, and I want to have as much good of it as possible.

We can drive out to the woods, and lunch at a restaurant on the way. What do you say to this proposal ? ' ' Say ? Why, that it's a capital one, to be sure,' responded Denver with promptness. ' Bravo, Jim ! You've hit on the right thing this time.' The girls put forth some faint protests, but were at once overruled. Their landlady— who expected them home for a midday repast — would wonder what had become of them. Jim put that right by suggesting that they could drive first to their rooms, and, leaving their painting-traps, bring some shawls instead, because the September sunshine, overpowering as it was at the present moment, was apt to disappear towards sunset, and they were quite determined upon having a long day of it. The Cliffords were thorough Bohemians, and did not make any fuss about etiquette.

It did not appear strange to them to dispense with the services of a cha peron upon this or any other occasion. They were quite able to take care of themselves, and the world might say what it liked. Besides, was not Jim with them — Jim who was to them as a brother, Jim in whose company they had not hesitated to come abroad for this rare and long-talked-of foreign tour ? They were both Bohemians, but with a difference. In every respect, save certain unconventional notions which they shared in common, Rhoda Clifford was the exact opposite of her cousin. She had the neat per fection of attire and finish that Mr. Denver had praised. But she had more than this. There was both character and charm in her small, fair face, with its firm, well shaped mouth, and its strongly moulded chin. Of the two girls it was easy to divine which would be the ruling spirit It would certainly be Rhoda who would have to fight the battles of the pair, did any continuous necessity for warfare arise ; Rhoda whose calm practical common sense would decide any question of momentous issue.

A merrier quartet than these four people it vvould have been difficult to find, as they bowled along a white and glaring road, bordered — directly the town-suburbs were passed — with great stretches of market-gardens, planted with all those strange aromatic herbs the Germans are so fond of using to flavour their greasy, watery soups. Jim and Vadney, in particular, chattered and laughed incessantly. ' I wonder why all the cabmen wear red waistcoats, and black hats with white bands ? Oh, Rhoda ! Just look at those queer peasant women, two of them riding in a carriage like ladies. Wouldn't they paint well, THE DAFFODLLS 12 with those straw hats and huge black bows ? Where are they from ? ' ' From Griesheimer, I fancy,' returned Denver, care lessly. ' Miss Rhoda, are you quite sure that the sun isn't blinding you ?

Let me hold your sunshade for you. There, isn't that better ? ' ' Much better, Mr. Denver, thank you ! But I don't like giving you the trouble,' responded Rhoda, as the gentleman placed the sunshade in exactly the right position to shade her face from the too ardent sunbeams and yet not obstruct her view. He bent his dark eyes upon her face as he replied : ' As though anything one did for you could be a trouble ? ' he said tenderly, unheard by the others, who were laughing and talking so much as quite to drown his low-toned sentiment. Julian Denver was a finished flirt. He had made a study of the art until he was a perfect master of it — a proficient in all the delicate shades of sentiment and emotion. It was not that he followed the example of most men and practised it as an occasional relaxation from business of a graver and more serious import : it was to him a part of his daily life, as necessary to his comfort and pleasure as was eating a dinner every day.

He could no more help endeavouring to fascinate and gain some power over every attractive woman with whom he was thrown into contact, than he could avoid the natural act of breathing. It was a dangerous game, this one of making love at the same time to two girls so closely connected by ties of kinship and affection. But the more dangerous the game the more did Denver enjoy it. It lent an ad ditional fascination to the situation that mischief might ensue from it. And it all helped to feed that insatiable monster of vanity within him — that vanity which had grown to be such a very dragon of hunger and greed. They drove through miles and miles of woodland. The timber was of no great size, but the thick leafage afforded a pleasant and refreshing shade. They dined, following the fashion of the country and having a mid day meal, and then they rambled about in the woods, until it was time to return.

Of course the usual thing happened, and they got divided into pairs. Vadney and Jim were together, and she grew quiet and rather dull : a fact the young man was not slow to remark, and to trace to its true origin. ' Hang the fellow ! I wish to God I'd never picked up with him on that confounded Rhine steamboat ! ' he thought somewhat bitterly. ' If Vadney goes and turns soft over him, it'll just spoil everything.' ' Vadney,' he said aloud, looking furtively at her the while, ' what do you think of Denver ? ' Vadney gave a guilty start, betraying the region whither her thoughts had wandered, and she hesitated a little before answering : ' What an odd question to spring on one in that abrupt fashion, Jim ! You ought to give one some warning before you come out with such queries. It sort of takes one's breath away, you know ! ' ' Come now, Vadney, that isn't like you.

You are generally as honest as the day.' ' Well — don't you see that it requires some time to analyse one's impressions of a man in whose company one has only just spent four days. You must admit that, surely ? He is — well — he's very good looking, of course — and has very charming manners. What else do you want me to say ? I don't know, or I'd say it, to please you ? ' ' You're generally quick enough to express an opinion on people, Vadney ! And you've got one about Denver, only you don't choose to give it words. Don't lose your heart to him, that's all ! ' ' Thank you for nothing ! But — why not, if I choose ? ' ' Because I've been told that he is more than a bit of a flirt. He's just the sort of fellow to imagine that all the world is his to pick and choose from — spoilt favourite of fortune, you know !

At least, be you quite sure he means business before you give yourself away ! ' 'Jim! how dare you speak to me like that? I declare you're perfectly horrid, and — and vulgar into the bargain ! ' exclaimed the girl angrily, flushing through all her warm pallor as she spoke. ' Always was, my child ! How is one to help it if one is born so ? ' returned Jim, with undisturbed good humour. ' Are we the sort of girls who go about the world endeavouring to catch men, and to entrap them into what you style " meaning business " ? ' she continued, stamping her pretty foot, and glaring at him with savage scorn ; ' we can afford to leave that to your fine ladies who have nothing else to think about.' ' My fine ladies, indeed ! Now look here, Vadney ! Don't you get your hump up because I take care to warn you in time.

Haven't I been as good as a brother to you ever since I had to knock down that young fool for being rude to you at Hamsterley's ? And if you imagine that I'm going to forego the brotherly privilege of advising you, because you choose to cut up nasty, why you're mistaken, that's all ! And I don't intend to quarrel with you either, whatever you say or do. No, not even if you were to box my ears with that ridiculous little white hand of yours, as you are longing to do. And now, Vadney, may I smoke, please ? It will calm my nerves, and your temper — both.' Vadney felt powerless against Jim when he was in this determinedly amiable mood. Do what she chose she could not vex him. So now she laughed, and called him a stupid fellow, as he produced his well-beloved pipe, and proceeded to fill and light it, calmly ignoring her fit of temper.

The sun was setting as they drove homeward, and in the golden light of afternoon the landscape took a fresh charm, and the distant Taunus mountains grew into a delicious, dreamy, purple hue. They all had coffee at the rooms where the girls lodged, and finished up the evening by adjourning to the Palmen Garten, listening to the concert while sitting under the trees, eating ices.

Chapter II

Love, love, what wilt thou with this heart of mine ? Naught see I fixed or sure in thee ! I do not know thee — nor what deeds are thine ; Love, love, what wilt tliou with this heart of mine ? Naught see I fixed or sure in thee ! Shall I be mute, or vows with prayers combine ? Ye who are blessed in loving, tell it me ; Love, love, what wilt thou with this heart of mine ? Naught see I permanent or sure in thee ! Longfellow. But Jim Bowman was not at all content with the position of affairs. His evil genius prompted him to endeavour to stop their progress by an injudicious interference. Jim had so accustomed himself to act the part of brother to the two girls — who were strangely without friends or relatives — that he could not avoid a feeling of responsibility concerning them. And he really knew so little about Denver.

That gentleman had been brought to his studio once or twice by Len Merton, a young artist who had been a fellow student of Jim's ; and who had, to the disgust of matter of-fact Jim, gone off in the direction of mysticism and poetry. Len Merton looked up to Julian Denver as to a sort of prophet of the great and the beautiful, and had fancied that the introduction might prove a step towards educating Jim into the same direction as he had gone himself; but although Denver took to coming to Jim's studio occasionally, and even bought one of his smaller pictures, the young artist's views of life and art underwent no appreciable change. Jim had the contempt of a worker for a dilettante follower of art ; and a fellow who could paint but need not, because fortune had rendered him independent of labour, stood on a footing so different to his own as to preclude the possibility of any very intimate friendship growing up between them.

Nevertheless, their acquaintance was of sufficient standing to justify Mr. Denver in hailing him with effusion three weeks previously, when they had chanced upon each other on board the Rhine steamboat. Jim was travelling in company with Rhoda and Evadne Clifford from Cologne to Mayence ; and he had a shrewd suspicion that Denver would not have been so determinedly friendly had the girls not been there also. Rather grimly, he pictured the different effect that might have been produced had the Cliffords been like some of the frowsy, earnest-minded, hard-featured female artists of his acquaintance. Jim guessed, from something Denver let drop, that the latter gentleman had meant, when they first met him, to go on to Switzerland ; but, if so, he certainly had disguised his intentions very cleverly, and professed that if there was one place in the world that he longed to visit more than another it was Heidelberg, whither the trio were bent at the moment when he was thrown against them.

But, then, two exceptionally charming girls were sufficient reason for any man changing his plans ; even if he meant nothing further than to enjoy their society as fellow-travellers for a time. Jim managed so that the C hours spent in their presence were but few, for he kept proposing short walking expeditions while the girls were busy sketching, giving up in fact a good deal of his own time, which ought by rights to have been devoted to work, to the intruder, with, perhaps, not too pleasant a grace. Nevertheless, he could not altogether prevent Julian Denver from fooling round Rhoda and Vadney in turn, in a way that — while it raised Jim's bile and made him long to kick the fellow — committed him to nothing. Of course if Denver ' meant business,' as Jim had put it to Vadney, far vvould it be from the latter to interfere.